Family!!! December
8, 2014
I saw some awesome miracles this past week that I want to share
with you!
Last Monday, Sister Gonzalez and I did our shopping at Walmart,
went to the church to email and then played soccer and other games for a
District P-day. After the District P-day was over... I realized that I didn't
have my name tag on.... ah! We retraced our steps and looked EVERYWHERE...
including searching every square inch of the soccer field for that thing! I was
so sad when we couldn't find it.... it has been the one and only name tag that
I have used my whole mission... and all the other name tags that I have broke
in my bag... haha I was super worried about not having a name tag for the last
2 weeks of my mission! I was praying about it all day. That night when we got
home, I cleared off everything on my desk, looking everywhere for it. Sister
Gonzalez also thoroughly checked my desk and we both decided that the next
morning I would call Walmart to see if it was at their Lost and Found. That
night I was praying real hard to be able to find that name tag... it might seem
strange... but to me it was a big learning moment: I asked God what I needed to
learn from this experience of losing my name tag because it seemed to have just
vanished in thin air. I got a very clear answer come to me that said, "You
don't need a name tag to be a missionary." Bam! That answer hit me so
hard! It is neat to see how the Lord is preparing me to continue helping this
work move forward when I'm home :) The next morning, we were about 30 minutes
into personal study and I decided to call Walmart. My heart sunk when they said
they hadn't found anything. :( Now this is the crazy part: I kid you not..... I
got off the phone, and RIGHT NEXT TO MY ARM... RIGHT AT THE EDGE OF MY DESK...
in PLAIN SIGHT.... was my name tag!!!!!!!!!! I picked it up in shock and
started to cry a little as Sister Gonzalez and I just stared at it... I PROMISE
you... there is NO WAY that we would have missed seeing that name tag... Both
Sister Gonzalez and I searched my desk multiple times and... it was just RIGHT
THERE!!! It was truly a miracle. The name tag just.... appeared. I don't know
how else to explain it. There is no way that either one of us would have missed
seeing it while looking for it, as we had cleaned on P-day and even while I was
studying for 30 minutes prior that morning! I'm still in shock with how it
happened... I have no idea how to explain or put it all together... because it
doesn't make sense other than that it was by the hand of God. GOD ANSWERS
PRAYERS!!! Most of the time, He may not answer in just huge and sudden ways..
but sometimes.. He does answer in miraculous ways. I'll never forget that!
I went on exchanges to the YSA Buena Vista Ward. The majority of
the YSA are part of the Disney College Program… (aka: Disney Princesses, etc.)
I'm sure Angie would die to be apart of that ward for a summer haha! When we
were on exchanges we went to the Disney CP Housing to contact... but the
security is super crazy. We only had a small patch of sidewalk that we could
walk up and down to talk to the students as they were going to and from the bus
stop. We got to talk to all kinds of people from all over the world. Real neat.
The coolest miracle happened as we were talking to people! We saw these 6
Brazilian girls walking home and were struggling with their grocery bags. We
were able to help them with their stuff and started talking to them as we
headed to the gates of their complex. We were super worried that we were going
to lose contact with them as we approached the gates because you have to go
through this crazy process of being signed in by a gate guard which is quite
annoying and takes several minutes... but they were all for signing us in and
we were able to go with them to their apartment to share a message with them!!
The YSA sister missionary that I was with was super stoked because that was the
first time that she had ever been invited in! Once in the apartment, the 6
girls crowded around us to watch the new Christmas video, 'He is the Gift' and
by the end.. every girl was CRYING! They loved it sooo much and were sooo
excited for us to come back and share more with them! They were the ones that
came up with the idea of adding us on Facebook and getting our numbers, etc.
wow! It was so cool!! I'm really excited to hear what has happened with them
sense!
We had a really powerful lesson with Dave this past week. We
watched 'Finding Faith in Christ' and you could tell that he felt the spirit so
strong! He had more questions on different stories of Christ and so we were
able to relate a lot of those stories to his needs and questions and you could
tell it was a really good thing for him. I talked to him on Sunday and he
seemed really touched by a lot of things that he is seeing in his life right
now and it's really strengthening his faith.
I had my last MLC meeting! I really like MLC. It makes you so
excited and pumped to go out and tell the whole world about the gospel as well
as to be of better help to the sisters under my stewardship. It was sad for
that to be my last time because for the first time I felt like the mission was
replacing me and moving on. Sad realization. I was asked to give a departing
testimony to the MLC. I bore my testimony on love, service and sacrifice for
the Lord, people of Florida and those under our stewardship. I really am so
grateful for the opportunities that I have had to help and serve the sisters in
the mission. One big thing that I have learned is to find success through the
sisters success as you put forth the help them first before yourself. As
D&C 117:3 says.. the Lord sees our sacrifices more sacred than our increase
:)
The Jean family is doing okay. The teenagers.. are being
teenagers.. so we are trying to work that out... but Sylotte, the mom, came to
church for the first time yesterday!!! It was super exciting to have her there.
:)
Sister Blessing, a less active, came to church for the first
time in YEARS this Sunday!! I was so proud of her! She really is looking to
come back. She really liked it. Elder Soarez of the 70 was actually apart of
our Fast and Testimony Meeting yesterday and he bore a really powerful
testimony which matched EXACTLY with the circumstances with which Sister
Blessing is going through at this time. I really feel like his testimony did
all of us good... but if nothing else, he was meant to be there for Sister
Blessing. After he was done baring his testimony, Sister Blessing whispered,
"woah." haha It was amazing how God knows the thoughts and intents of
our hearts and that we can receive answers to our prayers through unexpected
ways through people!
We had another temple service last week and the whole Zone was
together for it. It also just so happened to be President's birthday that
day... so I called him up on the phone and with a 1,2,3 the whole zone got to
sing happy birthday to him :) That was pretty fun!!
I can't believe that I am turning 22 this week. Ew. hahaha I
feel like that is so old! I feel so blessed to have spent my whole 21st year to
have served the Lord and His children!! There really is no better way that I
could have kick started my adult life. haha :)
I love you guys so much! I really am excited for the miracles
that the Lord will continue to rain down upon us this next week. Enduring to
the end!! BUT!! I'm so excited to continue serving and helping when I get home
among the ward family and those that I love.
LOVE YOU!
-Sister Kirkham
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