finding white dogs

This week was a good one, we got to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week, I went with Elder Jhonson! He is from Rexburg! He is such a stud, we had a good exchange, we taught a deaf man and we communicated with a notebook and a pen! It was super cool, we acutually set him for baptism! It was a super cool experience to say the least. So this week had some really sweet miracles, but this one was my fav! Ok, so I received a prompting one night to look for a white dog in the area we were tracting, and so I was super motivated and was just going ham looking for this dog. Well I started to get discouraged because I just couldn't find it, and by the end of the night I was really down. Well just yesterday, we were walking down a road to try one of our gators and this girl yells "hi Elders" and I had no idea who she was, so we just said hi and blew it off. Well we set up an appointment, and turned around and in the front lawn of this house is a white dog. So I felt impressed to go over and talk to the 3 people outside. As we did, one of them was inactive and was getting her kid for the weekend, but the young guy and his wife said they had talked to missionaries before, so I asked if we could share a message, and we taught them for an hour!! and they are now new investigators for us! but I found my white dog!!

Easter this week was amazing, I loved the sacrament especially this week. I was looking at the sacrament table and all I could imaging was the Savior laying in the tomb, and his sacrifice for us. I was brought to tears as I watched the young priesthood holders pass the sacrament, and thought how great a blessing it was to have that sacred power restored to the Earth. I love this Gospel. Thank you to everyone for the Easter cards and gifts. I appreciate them very much. I love you, and thank you. May we ever keep the Saviors sacrifice on our minds.. even long after this Easter season.

Elder Kirby

 Exchanges

 Downtown

Return of the yoyo

Transfers

Wow, what a crazy and exciting week. Elder Kendrick got transferred to Brandon, SD. So that was sad, I loved that kid so much. However,  I got a brand new missionary this week! His name is Elder Stokes. And he is from Plain City Utah, just outside of Ogden. He is an awesome kid who has a big heart. He is a hardworking machine. He loves to drive CAT equipment, and hopes to own his own business one day. I love working with him. We are having a ton of fun together. This week was just crazy because of transfers and whatnot, but we were still able to get a lot of work done and find some more investigators. We have been truly blessed. One of the coolest things actually happened this Sunday. We were invited to teach the Priest Quorum the Restoration, just like we would to investigators. Well I had one of the most profound experiences of my life. As I was going through the different points, I began to quote the first vision..and as I did, the spirit hit me so strong. And I couldn't help but cry as I continued on with the prophets words, and as soon as we finished teaching, the Spirit was so strong, and I knew in that moment that the spirit was confirming to me the truthfulness of the things I had just taught. It was an amazing experience. I would encourage all of you to think about how precious the simple truths that we have in our church really are. We hold the keys to happiness because we have the fullness of the gospel. Just remember that everytime someone asks a question or you feel prpmpted so say something. I love this gospel, and have a testimony that our Savior lives, and that he stands at the head of this church. I testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I know that by abiding by its precepts, a man can get closer to God than by any other book. Joseph Smith was a prophet. I have no doubts about that. I love this work and this gospel. And I leave you my witness of these things, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Kirby

 Elder Stokes

Road kill or pet??

A Temple!

What a blessing it is to be able to have a temple! When that announcement was made, I couldn't help but cry tears of joy. I was and am so happy. General Conference was so amazing, couldn't even pick my favorite talk. All of it was awe inspiring. I love our sweet prophet. He is truly an inspired man. His talks were definitely something to remember.

This week was an awesome week. With conference it was a bonus, but I wanted to focus on a really sweet miracle that I saw. That really strengthened my testimony of the priesthood. So a couple weeks ago Elder Kendrick and I gave  blessings to the Sister missionaries investigators, I gave a blessing to a 9 year old girl who had chronic migraines..they were so bad that this poor little girl couldn't hardly function. Well her mother asked if I could give a blessing I agreed and blessed her that she would be healed according to her faith. One of the most miraculous experiences of my life, I could literally feel the faith that this young girl had coming from her as I laid my hands on her head. It was truly an experience that I won't soon forget. Well just yesterday at conference, this young girl accompanied by her mother, came up to me and shook my hand, showed me her doll and said thank you for the blessing, I don't get headaches any more. Wow. that hit me. And what topped it off was looking at her mothers tear filled eyes as she explained that Elder Kendricks blessing had healed her as she was finally progressing to get over her illness. Her mother also explained that her daughter who had headaches at least 3 times a week hadn't had one for 2 weeks. I was overjoyed. I couldn't hardly believe it. My testimony for the priesthood authority of God increased so much. I have always had a testimony of its power, but that experience boosted my testimony so much. I love being a missionary, and I know that Heavenly Father cares for all of his children,  and if we are prepared, then he can use us as a tool in his hands to benefit his children. I love this gospel and all that it has to offer.

On a side note President Gardner called me and asked me to train another missionary! I am super excited! and so thankful for another opportunity to serve! Ill keep you updated on the new guy lol! Until then, Love,

Elder Kirby

 District Meeting

 A hat (gift from a member)

 Huskers Stadium

Future Athletic Director??

zonolympics

First of all, I absolutely love Nebraska. It is the most beautiful place in the world. The sky out here is amazing and all of the corn fields grow on ya after a while...

My week this week was pretty good, we had Zone Conference this week and it was amazing, I got called on to show a diagram that I drew, it was pretty scary lol. We also had Zone Olympics, I won the sprints because the guys that were in first, second, and third all tripped, so I just coasted in lol! You know how I feel about running anyway. I got second in 3 pointers and second in push ups and like 3rd in stick pull! it was really fun! It was all the way in Grand Island though, so we are not looking good on miles haha. But that's ok! We were able to find 8 more investigators this week! it was so awesome! We are finally finding the families that we have been praying for! It is truly amazing to see how the Lord will bless us with specific results as we pray for specific people. I love it haha! We are working on helping our investigators get to church, because that is one of the struggles we are having, but we have been praying for miracles in getting them to church! Other than that, not much has happened this week, we drove out to Eagle because we have a few investigators out there now! One of them is named Luke actually lol. But it has been cold and rainy all week, and the roads in Eagle are all dirt, so our car is filthy, and we didn't even have to try. I almost got stuck on one road. Its pretty nuts, but I love it so much. We get to do a stadium tour today, so I am super stoked about that! I love Lincoln so much, and I am having a blast on my mission! I have been studying in Mosiah still, and I love the stories in there, you should definitely study it! Especially chapters 11-15 they are my fav.

Anyhow, thank you for all that you do, I love you!

Love, Elder Kirby

Questions:

1. Any requests for treats in your next package?  Nah, anything is good.

2. Where did you get your Mcdonalds t-shirts?  They were a gift!

3.  What's your conference plans?  Headed to our church!

4.  What's one thing about Nebraska that reminds you of home?  McDonalds

ZONOLYMPICS PICTURES

courtesy of sis Gardner

Zone Conference

Hot and cold

Pretty good week here in NE, it was hot and cold and everything in-between. This week started out kinda poopy, lots of appointments falling through, and for a while it seemed like we couldn't find anyone. But Elder Kendrick and I decided one day that we were going to go out to Eagle again and try a little bunch of houses. We both felt really good about it so we started going and we ended up talking to a bunch of people, and acutally found a few people to teach! We were so excited, and so thankful for Heavenly Father answering our prayers. It was truly a miracle. This week ended up being really good haha, its hard to complain with 80 degree weather, and a two liter bottle of Kool Aid. Dameris got a calling as a ward missionary. She is going to do awesome!  She is the sweetest lady. This week she fed us like 3 times and bought us a bunch of groceries. She is so awesome! Her mom is pretty sweet too, we call her "mama Hernadez" And she calls us her "little babies" she is always taking care of us too and making us good food. She is hilarious. They are such a good family, and I am super excited for Damaris to go to conference!! She has been talking about how excited she is! We also played some basketball with some of the local kids..they were really good, and we had a ton of fun! Also weird random fact, I ate a real mango for the first time ever! I loved it! other than I covered it with a lot of chili powder, so it was a little spicy haha! Anyhow this week was a good one, we have zone conf this week and some exchanges on Thursday with the other Trendwood Elders. I am super excited! Anyhow until next time!

Love Elder Kirby
Mosiah 14: 1-11

* on a side note I hit 170 this week!

Questions:

Is there anywhere you hope to get transferred? I'm gonna be in Lincoln for awhile.

How's the Olympic training going? I decided to just wing it!

Any talk of wrestling out there? Yeah, we heard about Penn State!

How was your temple trip? It was amazing!!

 Eagle, NE

 Bunk beds we made on our balcony (our apartment was too hot), yes we slept there all night!!

 Temple trip

Temple trip

Bipolar weather

Hey everyone, this week was a good one, not too many crazy things happened! We are finally finding a lot of families and we are super excited for that! I do hate the super bi polar weather! On the sunny side, we get to go to the temple at 1 today, so I am looking forward to that!

So this week a guy who we started teaching, he's completely crazy... well we asked him to come to church, and it was a total disaster. He was saying so many bad things and telling us and some members we were wrong. I was so stressed out that I could barely keep from sweating through my suit. So this sunday was good but stressful. I had to see him yesterday and try to explain the characteristics of the true church. I thought he was going to hit me. However, he actually opened up and we had a decent conversation towards the end. He even gave me one of his 300 lighters that he collects.

 Also so I had to do a baptismal interview for the Nebraska City Sisters so I was like cool this is my first one, I'm a little nervous, well first off..we have to drive an hour to get there, then the sisters are late...And then everything kinda slows down and the interview is going well..and wouldn't you know it...I GET A FLIPPING BLOODY NOSE!! I had to stop the interview, and go clean up...it was super embarrassing, however she did pass and everything ended pretty well haha! That's about as crazy as my week got.....you are never going to believe this, but I got a bloody nose as I was typing this letter and had to leave and go clean up. After trekking across the entire library with blood everywhere. Maybe I should get it checked out lol. Anyhow, all is going well here in Lincoln! I am loving everyone here and having a blast with Elder Kendrick! Hopefully we get to do another transfer together...(its not likely) but I have the faith! Sending prayers and love your way, stay warm, stay safe, and read the Book of Mormon!

Love Elder Kirby

 Cutest kitty!

 just me

 When Elder Kendrick and I wake up

       Doing the hurr!                                                                                    Snacks!

towed

So this week was an interesting one. Our car got towed Tuesday morning, because we forgot to transfer stickers into our new car from our old one.. So that kinda sucked, because we had to pay $140 dollars for it.. Its all good though, we got it back! This week we also had a sweet Zone training that I had the opportunity of conducting. It was a ton of fun and we had some really good trainings on the 4th missionary talk, as well as some others on seeking personal Revelation. After that, our week was seeming to kinda fall apart. We had to drop a bunch of investigators because they weren't really progressing, which always sucks and hurts a little bit. One man in particular, is a single dad of two kids who has been through everything you can imagine. we have been teaching him for a while, and he hasn't really progressed. He is a terrible alcoholic, and doesn't really want to change. Well Elder Kendrick and I decided that we needed to stop going by even though we really loved this man. So we went last night to drop him, and he broke down and talked with us on his porch about how hard his life is and all that he is going through. We testified that the Savior and his Atonement can fix literally anything. And he just wouldn't listen. I began to get frustrated because he had the answers to all of his problems, yet he just wouldn't accept them. Finally Gerald went inside and just before he shut the door, he said "I love you boys" My heart and Elder Kendricks was completely shattered. We sat in our car not necessarily knowing what to do. Gerald did invite us over tonight though. We have been praying that all will go well. This was a testimony to me of agency. No matter how many times or sincerely we share our message, people still have the opportunity to choose. At times its kinda frustrating, but truly the plan that Heavenly Father has laid out for us is beautiful..and that is what this experience taught me. We do have a plan, and we can only be helped if we are willing. I am excited to work with Gerald tonight, it will be good. I have faith in Heavenly Father and his timing.

On a side note, we were knocking some houses in our area, one of them being a trailer park, and we knocked on one that smelled like weed super bad, and a guy answered the door and just swung it wide open... and wouldn't you know it, there was a man sitting on the couch cleaning his arm and getting ready for what looked like a needle full of heroine.. it was a little shocking, but we tried to share a message anyway haha! They declined and we went on our way! And one day we were knocking some doors in the more ghetto part of our area, and one fence said beware of dog.. so of course I was like we need to try that house. So we did, and a little boy swung open the door.. and out came two ripped pit bulls... I took a couple steps back when they started barking! Luckily though alls they did was lick my hands and let me pet them,  still kinda freaky though haha! Anyhow this week was a good one to say the least, some trials, but we also had lots of success in finding families. I love every day that i have out here. I cant wait for the next few months to come!! More to come next week!

Love Elder Kirby

I feel like I should add that I was definitely prompted by the spirit to knock the pit bull house, I wasn't being an idiot haha! just so everyone knows!

Questions:

1. Where do you do your laundry? A members house

2. Most embarrassing moment? Peeing my pants! (no further explanation)

3. What events are in the zonolympics? Stick pull, 3 point shooting, running, curls, push ups, and sit ups.

4. Which ones are you doing? All of them! I qualified in 3 pointers, I hit 3 of the 5! (thanks cedar hills young men)

5. Strangest thing you've had happen? Saw a guy doing heroin.

6. Spiritual thought or message?  The Atonement has been on my mind a lot this week, and to understand the atonement we have to be prepared to walk just a fraction of what he walked. Not saying we could endure what the savior did, because that would be frankly sacrilegious. But we must be prepared to endure somewhat of the sorrow the savior did. Somewhat of the humiliation he went through. "Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience."- Jeffery R. Holland This statement was from a compilation of talks called "Missionary work and the Atonement" The Atonement to me is everything to me. As soon as we are willing to submit our will to the Fathers, and face our challenges head on..then can we truly feel the power of our Saviors infinite atonement. I testify of this and of its healing power in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

 Zone Training.

Zone Training

Photo credit Sister Gardner