North Platte round 4

Well as far as transfers go, I am staying in North Platte for another transfer with Elder Towne!! We are pretty excited to keep the zone family together! 

This week was really good, we did a LOT of walking, but it totally paid off! The Lord blessed us with so many opportunities to talk with people! We have also seen a lot of progress with a lot of our investigators! We had a trunk or treat with our ward this week, and we had a bunch of our investigators come! Us and the other Elders made home made root beer, and passed out candy! it was a ton of fun! We also had an exchange with the Mccook Elders, it was last minute, but it was really awesome! I went with Elder Trotter who has been out for 6 weeks now. He is an awesome missionary, and we had a lot of fun talking to people, and seeing a lot of miracles! Overall it was a good week, it has been getting more and more cold here! its only a matter of time before the snow comes im afraid. 

This coming transfer is going to be awesome! Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Quorum of the 70 is visiting us this transfer and doing a mission tour. We get to be with him twice!! Once for our mission leadership council and then for the actual Zone conference! I am really excited! There is also a lot of changes happening in our mission to help us be better missionaries, and I am really excited for that! Over all I am loving my mission more than anything! I cannot wait for the next few transfers! They are going to be so awesome! Anyhow, Thank you to everyone for all that you do! I love you!

Love Elder Kirby

2 Nephi 9 

Cowboyatheart

This week was awesome! We got to do a lot of driving! First to a zone conference in Kearney. It was so awesome, I learned so much from President Gardener! Especially about Preach My Gospel! It is such an inspired book, not only for missionaries, but for everyone! We then drove to Omaha for MLC this week too, and it was another amazing meeting! I learned a lot about how to solve problems, and the importance of always teaching the Basics. 

The rest of the week was good, I convinced Elder Towne that he was color blind for half of the day, long story, nevertheless, hilarious. We are doing so well together, and we are getting a lot of good work done! Lizz came to church this week, and we are really excited! She is such a good example of how the gospel can change our lives. Overall good week, not too much else happened, just lots of hard work and lots of cool miracles!! Hope everyone has a good week! Transfers are next week, so I am hoping to stay for another one!! Anyhow, until then!

Love Elder Kirby

Excerpt from his email to mom :)

**The Book of Mormon is changing my life everyday. I think of a quote that brings me a lot of peace. "Come as you are, but don't plan on staying the same." All that our Heavenly Father asks of us is that we come to him as we are, and that we continually change our hearts. He accepts us as we come, and then he helps us change for the better. No matter where we are at in life or what we have done or experienced, the invitation is the same. "Come unto me." I can testify that as we come to the Savior our hearts will change, and we will experience joy that we never have before! I love this gospel, and I know that it is true. The Book of Mormon is scripture, it is our Liahona here on the earth. It dispels even the blackest of nights with its bright shining rays of divine guidance. I love it and I know that it is true. The blessings extend far beyond just our own lives!

 still a practical joker

 cowboy at heart

 Corny

Cowboys

baptismsandfall

This week was one of the most amazing weeks of my mission. Paul was baptized this week! It was such a spiritual experience, and I was so happy to be able to baptize him! The service turned out really good too! Paul is such an inspiration to me, he finished the Book of Mormon cover to cover in 6 weeks before he was baptized. He told us he was looking forward to starting again! He is awesome, and we are really excited for him!  That was definitely the highlight of the week! The rest of the week was great too! We got to go up to Omaha to do an exchange with the assistants! I went with Elder Burbank, who actually came out with me! We had a great time, and got to teach a lot of cool people! We hurried back home so that we could do another exchange with the Lexington Spanish elders. I got to go with Elder Guerts, who has been out about 3 weeks now! He is an awesome elder, we got to teach some great people, and had a blast together! I'm still working on my Spanish lol. The weather is getting cold, and the leaves are changing, Nebraska in the fall is my favorite time of year! its so awesome. Anyhow, we are keeping busy out here and Elder Towne and I are having a blast! We are looking forward to another busy week! Thank you for all of your love and support! 

Love Elder Kirby

 The crew

 Poky Pride

 Baking

Baptisms and Fall. My two favorites!!

coldweather

This week was a week of bipolar weather haha! one day it was nice and sunny, and today we have tried to stay in as much as possible. But hey I'm in Nebraska, so can't I complain too much! This week was good, we traveled down to Grand Island to go to a district meeting, which is a two hour drive, and it was an awesome meeting! After the meeting I got to go on exchanges with Elder Hoxer, he is so awesome! We had a great exchange and saw a lot of cool things happen. He is a great Elder! Its weird going out with Elders who are the same age as my little brother haha! We had a great week this week, it flew by so fast! We have been able to teach some pretty amazing people! we had a few people attend church with us this week, including a part member family we are working with, one of the kids who is an investigator actually bore his testimony. It was really powerful. They are so awesome and we are excited to continue to work with them. Paul is set to be baptized this Saturday, before he left he had finished up to 4th Nephi, so we will see him this Thursday for his interview! Its going to be so awesome! Elder Towne and I are doing great together! Seeing lots of miracles and having a ton of fun! The Lord blesses us everyday with miracles. He is truly leading this great work. Busy week this week, with trips to Omaha, and more exchanges! Hopefully more to come next week! Thank you for all that you do! I love you!

Elder Kirby 

Isaiah 49:16

I love conference

This week was so amazing! it went way to fast though! We had exchanges this week with the North Platte 1st Elders, Elder Adams and I had a blast teaching our investigators and finding new individuals. One lady who we saw sitting on a chair in her front yard told us as we approached her that she had just told Heavenly Father that she was having a hard time picking up all of the acorns in her front yard. And then almost right after we happened to show up! it was truly a blessing of the Lord putting us in the right place at the right time. We were able to help her pick them up and then teach her the message of the restoration. She is such a sweet lady. She saw us this morning while she was driving and waved to us! it made my day haha! Speaking of crazy stuff, we had a guy stop us and tell us to preach to him. It was sweet! We are meeting so many cool people, and the Lord is truly blessing us. General conference was so awesome! SO many good talks. I cant even narrow it down to one that i liked! I loved Elder Bednars talk. So good. I cannot wait to study it some more! I felt so uplifted after conference. In fact when we were driving between sessions, i told Elder Towne "man its conference and these people have no idea" so we went around just inviting everyone to come and hear the prophets voice. It was so much fun! I loved the emphasis on the family, charity, and the Book of Mormon. All of my questions were answered. I know and can testify that we truly do have Prophets of God on earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. And i know that because of Jesus Christ, we can be lifted from the lowest of lows. We just have to turn outward. It was also wonderful to hear so many quotations of the Living Christ and the Family Proclamation! Those documents are so inspired, and i would invite everyone to read them every single day! I love them! I love my mission so much. I was thinking the other day about how much my mission has changed my life. I have felt more joy than i ever have in my entire life. I know its because i am sharing the gospel. I have a testimony that through Jesus Christ we can become better than we ever thought we could be. Overall i am just thankful for this gospel, and the miracle of repentance, that enables us to grow and change every day. i cant wait for this coming week, its going to be so much fun! Paul is now in 3rd Nephi 6 as of today, and is hoping to finish by his baptism on the 14th! Anyhow, i hope you all have a good week! i love you and am thankful for you! See ya again soon!

Elder Kirby

chocolate crickets

Hello from freezing cold Nebraska. This week has been rainy and chilly. I even busted out my sweater this week. Crazy stuff. And even though the weather is cold, the work is heating up! So things with Paul have been crazy, he has been faithfully living the Word of Wisdom, and coming to church. But due to general conference and his work schedule, we are expecting his baptism to be on the 14th of October. He is so awesome, he told us he is up to Alma 50 a couple days ago, Paul devotes at least one hour a day to reading the Book of Mormon. It is so cool to see how it has completely changed his life. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Our investigator Penny is doing really well too, she told us she is thinking about being baptized, so that is a lot of progress. She is the sweetest lady ever. We also have a couple other sweet people we are working with, and we are excited to continue teaching them. Elder Towne and I are doing really well together, we are working hard, and not taking no for an answer! We are finding some really solid people, and we are looking forward to this coming week. Cool miracle happened last night! We were just at the end of our evening, and I felt like we needed to stop at the house right next to our car, so we knocked at the door, and the sweetest old lady answered, and invited us in with her husband. We went in and sat down with them and started to talk with them, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of our new pass a long cards sitting on their shelf. So I asked her when she got that, and she told us a few months ago, and then Elder Towne invited them to watch the "Prince of Peace" video that is on the back. As they did, the spirit was so strong. We were able to bear our testimonies of Jesus Christ and his atonement. We talked about prophets and the restoration. And the old woman, whose name is Doris, had tears in her eyes. It was so powerful. We invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. And we are going to go back and see them! But the coolest part, I felt like I had met her somewhere before, and I wasn't sure where, she looked at me and told me that she felt the same way. And she couldn't decide where. I know that Heavenly Father prepares specific people for us to teach, we just have to be willing to listen and follow promptings from the Holy Ghost. 

Also this week, some members bought us some chocolate covered crickets....So I totally ate one and almost threw up...It was an experience none the less haha! Anyhow, the work is going great, I am excited for this upcoming transfer, we are going to do a lot of big things as a zone! Keep up the good work, I love you all and am so grateful for you! Have a good week! 

Elder Kirby

A thought from this week: Time is the most precious gift we have been given. We cannot take it back. We cannot replace it. And we never know how much we have. The best gift we can give our brothers and sisters is our time. 

sametownnewtowne

This week was legendary. One of the busiest weeks I have had on my mission. We did a back to back exchange this week, with the North Platte 1st Elders, and the Lexington Spanish Elders. It was so much fun, I got to go with Elder Jeffers on Tuesday, and we had a blast, and saw some amazing miracles with finding new investigators and teaching a lot of people. One of our investigators sent us off with a tin full of cookies, and as we were walking, we came across a young couple who just lost their home and jobs, and are living out of their car. It was an amazing experience as we taught them, the spirit was so strong, we also got to share our cookies with them! Very sweet couple! Anyhow, the rest of the day was equally as awesome! Then on wednesday, the Lexington Elders came up, and I got to go on an exchange with Elder Rubio. He is probably the funniest Elder I have ever met. We had a ton of fun, and we got to find and teach some really amazing people. After studies the next day, Elder Roos and I packed up and took off to Omaha, where we stayed the night and then had MLC the next morning which was so awesome! President Gardner taught us some amazing things about the doctrine of the Godhead, and Sister Gardners training on Parents was amazing as well! I also got to see Elder Brinkerhoff, and my boy Elder Buxton! Also crazy news!! i found out that i am a GRANDPA!!! Elder stokes is training a new missionary! So that is so cool! Speaking of transfers, i found out this morning that Elder Roos is leaving me, and I am getting Elder Towne! Kinda crazy, but its going to be fun none the less! We had a good week seeing investigators, and Paul came to church again this week, we are hoping to baptize him right after conference!! We also found one of the most amazing and prepared families last night. We have been praying to find a family, and we did! We started teaching a lady on her porch and she explained how she was just so confused about all these different churches and how she wished she could just find the truth. We were able to go inside and teach her husband and daughters. And it was such an amazing spirit filled lesson! They excitedly accepted the invitation to read and pray saying that they would start that night! We are going back to teach them again on Friday! Overall, such an amazing spirit filled week, lots of exciting changes and opportunities to teach the gospel!! Im looking forward to another transfer out here! Anyhow, thank you for everything. I love you all! Keep smiling and have a great week!

Elder Kirby

 serious missionaries

 True colors

 Reunited with Elder Buxton

 Corn

Disc Golf