brrrr

Hello everyone, happy new year! I cant believe that its already 2018. This whole year seemed to just fly by! We celebrated new years by working in the freezing weather. The high the last few days was 4 degrees, and the low was about -25 without wind. It has been so awesome, really cold, but awesome nonetheless. This week was a fun week, church was cancelled on Sunday due to the weather, so President Gardner called a Zone Leader meeting for all of us in Omaha and Council Bluffs. We got trained on using our new phones! It was a really good meeting, and I

 Sign states: Missionaries will be eaten!!

am excited to start using technology to forward the work! The rest of the week was relatively slow, we were able to find a few awesome people, and we are seeing miracles in the area! We have a few progressing investigators who we are excited to continue helping progress. This coming week should be really fun, we have MLC and an exchange lined up with the Eagle Run Elders! Hopefully there willl be more to report next week, but until then, love ya! have a great week!

Elder Kirby 

Jacob 4:7 

Christmas and forts

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you all for all of your gifts and well wishes! I appreciate and love you all! I hope that you had a merry Christmas, it was good out here in Omaha! We went caroling as a Zone on Christmas Eve, and we were able to see so many cool miracles being guided by the spirit to those who needed some Christmas cheer! It snowed just in time too! We had a nice and chilly white Christmas this year! It was also good to get to talk to the family! I wish I could have talked with you all! I love the Christmas season, it gives us a great opportunity to remember the greatest gift of all, our Savior. I enjoyed being able to remember Him, and why we celebrate Christmas, and reflect upon all of the gifts that I have received because of Him. I am so grateful for His sacrifice, for His life, and for His resurrection. I think that the greatest gift that any of us could give Him is our gratitude. He gave so freely for us and asked for nothing in return. By reading our scriptures and praying, repenting daily, and partaking of the sacrament, we show our gratitude for the greatest gift ever given. I would invite each of you as the new year approaches to set goals and plans on how you will show your gratitude to the Savior. Because I know that as you set your goals with faith, that you will recieve strength to grow and change this coming year. I promise you that a new sense of peace and joy will enter into your life as you repent and sincerely change everyday. Life is a constant process of becoming one with our Father, and the only way we can accomplish that vision is through the Savior. Again, thank you all for your prayers, support, and gifts. I love you and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Love,

Elder Kirby

Alma 7:11-13

flat tires and Fontenelle

Hello! Holy cow, my first week in Fontenelle ward was so crazy. Things are a lot different here compared to North Platte! I went from corn fields to sky scrapers. The work here is progressing so much though, and i am loving both of my companions. Trios are definitely the way to go. Our area is crazy, lots of using the freeways to get around, and lots of people to talk to. We had a couple kids this week come up to us and yell at us, and then were throwing little rocks at us. They didn't hit us lol, but it was so funny. Also, it seems like everyone here has a giant pitbull haha. Overall, I am having a ton of fun, the ward is awesome, most of the people here are from Pocatello going to dental school! Is always nice to see Idahomies. So on the way from North Platte to Omaha, I was riding in the transfer van with about 6 other missionaries, and Elder Brinkerhoff was driving. Somehow, the fender on the trailer fell off, and wrapped itself in the wheels, and popped one of our tires. So we had to pull over. So Elder Burbank, Brinkerhoff, and myself jumped out to fix it on the side of the freeway. Well we got it unstuck, but we had to drop the trailer. So I ended up getting all of my luggage and study material the next day! It was crazy haha! We have 7 Elders in our ward, 4 of them are Karen speaking Elders from Burma. They are a hoot, i love them. Fontenelle is definitely one of my favorite areas so far! Its always something new everyday! Anyhow I am doing well, and I am excited for Christmas to come this week! We have Zone Conference on Wednesday! We are all hyped for it! Anyhow, I wish you all a merry Christmas! 

Love Elder Kirby

D&C 63:63 

Rev. 6:5 

 Trio

My trio and the Karen speaking Elders

moving to Omaha

So calls came in from President Gardner last night...I am being transferred back to Omaha, to the Fontenelle ward! I am really excited to go back to Omaha for Christmas though! However, I am really sad to be leaving North Platte, I am truly going to miss this area and all of the amazing members and investigators. But I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for me in Omaha! This week was relatively mellow, we had some great lessons with our progressing investigator families! They are all doing so well, and really soaking up the gospel. We got to go on Exchanges with the Lexington Spanish Elders this week, and it was so much fun, we froze our butts off, and Satan tested our patience, but overall, we were still able to do good things and find people to teach. The ward party this week was so much fun! We dressed up as ancient missionaries. It was great to have the members fellowship our investigators, and develop friendships! We also went caroling with the ward to light the world this week, it was an amazing opportunity to feel the spirit, and to touch others lives, it was definitely something that I won't soon forget. Anyhow, this week seemed to just fly by, I cant believe it! I am so grateful for every day that I have to serve my Heavenly Father, and to bring His message to my brothers and sisters. There is no greater work we can do than that of our Heavenly Fathers. Look for opportunities so share everywhere you go, especially this time of year when the spirit of Christ is so prevalent. Thank you so much for all of your love and support, I hope you have a good week, more to come next week im sure! I love you!

Elder Kirby

 The zone

 Early Christmas

I got no explanation for this photo, so enjoy a bunch of peacocks from Elder Kirby!

reunited

Hello Everyone, this week was a good week, its starting to get cold here again! It's been really nice lately! Monday was good, we had the Mccook Elders and the Sutherland Elders down to play disc golf. We had a blast! Tuesday we had exchanges with the Grand  Island Spanish Elders went with Elder Haight who is from southern California! We had a blast, he is definitely one of my favorite missionaries. We were able to talk to some pretty interesting people, but find some really great people to teach as well. Wednesday for us was another normal day of missionary work! And then Thursday we took off to Omaha to go to MLC, so we drove to Grand Island to stop and do a baptism interview for the Elders there, and then we took off again! Once we got to the Assistants apartment, we stayed the night with Elder Buxton and Osborn as well as Elder Brinkerhoff and Elder Burbank. Then Friday was MLC, and it was fantastic, President gave an amazing training on real intent behind taking the sacrament, as well as our missionary work. It was really awesome! The rest of Friday was spent driving home just in time to help some of our investigators move into their new apartment, which happens to be the same complex we live at! They are an amazing family, they came to church this Sunday, and had a great time. It was awesome to see the spirit work on them as we were asking them inspired questions, Mel opened up a lot with her concerns, and we were able to help her answer her questions! it was really cool! Sunday was awesome, we had quite a few of our investigators at church! It was a really great meeting! We are looking forward to working with all of them the next few weeks. Other adventures of this week included Elder Towne cleaning up my hair and cutting my neck with the clippers, and also having a nerf war with a member family after a dinner appointment. it was an overall great week! I am so thankful to be in Heavenly Fathers service, especially around this Christmas season. Have a great week, talk  to you again soon. love ya!

Elder Kirby

 disc golf

 when your companion gives you a haircut

reunited with Brinkerhoff

turkeyday

Hello! This week was such an amazing week here in good ol  Braska. We had thanksgiving this week, and it was a fun filled day for sure! Elder Towne and I woke up early on Thursday morning, and cooked a turkey for our district pot luck. And surprisingly it turned out pretty good haha! Until we got to district meeting and i made the decision to put it on warm in the oven....it turned to turkey jerky before we got to enjoy it lol. All  the Elders still ate it though!! After district meeting, we went out to the Adams family's house for another dinner, it was awesome, we ate a ton of good food, and then got to go out and feed and play with the cows! It was a good time, the Nebraska plains are so pretty, i love them! Following that dinner, we went and did service with the other North Platte Elders helping a lady in our ward move some stuff from a storage shed. And then....we ate another Thanksgiving meal at the Thornes house with one of our investigators! They are the most awesome family ever. We had a great meal, and then afterwards had a great lesson with our investigator! And then we set up their Christmas tree!! Overall, it was a really fun and enjoyable Thanksgiving. The next day, Elder Towne was sick, so we spent all day in our apartment. It was good, i did a lot of cleaning haha! But we were able to get a lot of work done the rest of the week. I cant believe that its almost Christmas, it sure doesnt feel like it, especially with it being like 75 today...crazy. Anyhow, the work is alive and well in North Platte, we are teaching a lot of amazing people and families that are progressing more and more each day. I am loving my time here! This coming week will be fun, we are headed to Omaha for MLC on Thursday to Friday, so i get to see Elder Brinkerhoff again! Should be fun! Anyhow, i hope you all have a great week! I appreciate all that you do. 

Love, 

Elder Kirby

Mosiah 18: 8-10 

 Football

 My first turkey

 Turkey carving

 District potluck

pretty proud of his bird

ponderingblessings

Hello everyone, this week was a really fast, but really good week. We had interviews with President this week, and they were amazing as always. Afterwards, we had a zone training meeting with some of the Elders and Sisters in the zone, it went really well. I gave a training that President and his wife gave the week before at zone conference...you will never know stressed until you have to give a training that your mission pres and wife gave the week before with Sister Gardner listening...it turned out pretty good haha! We had a great week seeing our inv. Charlie and Rose fed us this week, and we were able to have a lesson right after, they are awesome! We also taught Jana this week, she quit smoking! and she is progressing towards baptism here soon! Overall, we had a good week of seeing new people, and finding new investigators. I am thankful for thanksgiving, and all of the food we will get to eat! Its going to be awesome! We are building a fence and visiting inv. and members all day, so it should be a really fun day! Other than that, not too much else happened this week, Elder Towne and i are working well together, just trying to keep track of the days, because they all just kinda melt together haha! I am loving every second of my mission so far, i cant wait for the next few weeks! Anyhow, i love you all, have a happy Thanksgiving, and take time to ponder on all of the Blessings Heavenly Father has given us. 

Elder Kirby