I Felt Like Fire All Week!

Hey, guess what? Okay I'll tell you.  I love my job!  I felt like fire all week.  Not in a- Carson's legs kind of fire but a- this work is awesome kind of fire.  First off, I got to take the Kyles ft. Kenny, Brittany and Harper on a "french" tour of the Beehive House.  I thought I was all surprised out but apparently there was a secret Kyle reunion in Utah so it was sooo fun to see everyone.  I didn't get to take Brittany on a tour of the Temple Square tunnels but I did explore them a little with my companion a few days ago.  There's like a whole underground village down there.  We weren't sure if we were suppose to be there but hey, our swipe cards unlocked all the doors.  Mostly what I saw were random offices for gardeners and storage space for the tabernacle.  My exploring the tunnels days have only begun. 

 

The highlight of my week was zone conference at President Gillette (my mission pres)'s house.  His house is like a never ending really homey jungle gym.  We were taught there by the president and his wife, the assistant to the Presidents, our zone leaders, and the two senior couple missionaries.  Everything was so inspired and awesome.  I learned about how "The Standard of Truth" applies directly to our call centers.  It goes like so:

 

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

 

I'm still kind of weird about using the phone sometimes but the truth of God will sweep every country and be sounded in every ear by the (temple square) missionaries over the phone.  Who am I to stop that? 

 

The couple missionaries shared so many spirit-filled experinces with us but I'll save that for another time.  In short, I felt like fire all day and then after our zone conference we had a district meeting.  In our role play, I got to play the coveted role of the Spirit.  We had like 7 missionaries involved in the role-play and I got to creep around the circle and act like the spirit by telling people what to say or do.  It was fun but it actually did help me to pay attention to the promptings of the spirit in real life. 

 

We had a couple solid hours of square time yesterday and we had two awesome tours in a row.  I feel so blessed to be a missionary here because I get to teach so many people like a regular missionary does but we have so many things on the square to bring the message to life.  In one tour, we had two members of the Church from Arizona and two non-members form NY.  It could have been awkward for either of the groups but we just turned it into a teaching lesson with members present.  We were able to teach the non-members about our basic beliefs and use the members' testimonies to add to the powerful Spirit that was there.  As we ended our tour a the Christus statue, the couple from NY asked us what we believe about the after-life.  They remembered that we talked about seeing our loved ones again so we re-testified about the atonement of Christ and the rold of the temple.  We could tell that their eyes had been open throughout the tour and they were just hoping that they would agree with our belief in the afterlife so they were releived to hear our testimonies about it.  Then they told us that they had a son and the man's mother recently pass away so they were looking for comfort.  And WHAM, I told them right there that they could be comforted and learn more about the power of the Atonement by reading the Book of Mormon so I invited them to meet with missionaries in NY.  They took the refferral cards and said that they would.  (The goal is to have them fill it out on the spot and give it back to you which they did not do but hey, you can't have it all). 

 

We're teaching a 70 year old man over the phone who committed to going to Church on Sunday if he's still alive by then.  Grandpa Kyle?  Anyway, he's really receptive of the things we teach him but his biggest problem is with Jospeh Smith.  He believes in the first vision but called me out on referring to him as Jospeh Smith not Joseph Smith Jr.  Apparently I give his dad all the credit so that must be corrected.  Shoot. 

 

ADIOS CHACHIS

Love- Sister Kyle

Yo Yo to the Yo

Hola civilians,

 

This week was mostly a party.  I got to see my kids!!!  And some Kyles/other Possins/a Yam.  I'll expect a visit from the Danners and the Airdrie Kyles next month.  One of the T2 sisters told on Linda and said she somewhat passed out in the south visitor centre.  I wish I could have joined...

 

On that same Saturday I got to go to the baptism of Paul... something a-rather.  Paul and his wife live in West Jordan and came with their Elders on a tour of Temple Square so we got to show them around.  His wife is a member but didn't go to Church for a long time until now.  We got to teach them about the Temple and eternal families while we showed them the sites here.  They are both super duper nice and covered in tattoos.  Paul has a tiny heart tattooed under one eye and two deardrops under the other.  Does that mean he killed a man?  Well either way, repentence is a beautiful thing.

 

Name drop of the week: We saw Elder Anderson, one of the twelve apostles, on the square with his wife and three grandkids.  Then his family members came to the Beehive house without him so we took the 4 of them on a tour.  No big deal.  We also got to go to music and the spoken word and the Prophet just happened to be there.  He was guarded safely in a booth so that people like myself wouldn't swarm him.  You win some, you lose some. 

 

On Sunday we received a bomb threat from a canadian man named Shabalaba who called in from Africa.  Sometimes people think they're funny.  Don't get any ideas. 

 

Alright so my favourite lesson of the week was with a member of the Church who sings in the MoTab choir and her non-member friends from Toronto.  Miracles happen when people have their hearts open to learning from the Spirit as we teach.  The member is basically the kind of person I want to be after my mission only I'll have flatter hair.  She gave such a powerful summary of the Book of Mormon and we testified of its truth with our personal experiences.  The non-member woman couldn't understand why people would ever be against such a book with such a promise.  So she downloaded the Book of Mormon on her ipad and I think it's safe to assume that her life got that much better. 

 

The hardest lesson of the week was on Monday.  We took two guests around who both knew nothing about the Church.  One woman from D.C was an angry elf to begin with because I think she came ready to be offended by our beliefs.  The first question she shot at us was about the blacks receiving the preisthood.  We did our best to answer her that God loves his children equally and that everything happens in God's time.  Both of these women could not believe that we had a living prophet today.  Most people who we talk to think that a prophet could be a help in their lives but this one woman in particualr basically laughed at us and mocked us.  She shot so many questions at us the whole time that it was impossible to get anywhere in the conversation.  This is really hard for me because we actually do have an answer for everything but not everything can be learned all at once.  We're just suppose to direct the questions toward the Restoration of the gospel or the reality of Christ's atonement.  Some people give me and my companion less credit like these ladies did because both our parents were members of the Church before us.  We testify over and over again that the things we know are true to us and not just our parents.  They also couldn't believe that I was okay with not being able to hold the Preisthood.  I told them straight up that I don't need the priesthood.  The Lord blesses women with so many other things.  The Preisthood is the power and gift from God given to worthy men and they can use it to bless my life.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  So many people seem to think that being the prophet is the most desired position and ranking in the Church.  We teach over and over that there are so many good people in the world who just don't have that calling of leadership and responisbility that the prophet has.  Anyway, so that tour was kind of a bummer.  Mostly what's hard for me is to be treated like an amish person who doesn't know anything for myself.  I can tell when people are secretly (or openly) mocking me.  I think my companion is blessed to sometimes not be aware of those cases. 

 

This email is long; so sue me.  This morning in the Beehive House we had an amazing tour that reminded me why I'm really here.  We got to take a man from New Jersey on a tour and he had so many questions for us.  His questions were the good kind where we could actually teach him.  We told him that he could have a Book of Mormon which testifies of Chirst and is the evidence of the truthfulness of Jospeh Smith.  He told us that he thinks these things can benefit his life so I've already sent the referral online and he should expect the missionaries in a week or two or hopefully not three.  Yusss!

 

Life is good.  We're headed to East High (where Hish School Musical was filmed) for a zone activity today.  So in short, WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Sister Kyle

CONF WEEKEND!

General Conference is better than my birthday.  I loved everything about the whole week.  Dracula even made an appearance outside the conference centre with his protesting sign...  I've never been more proud to me a missionary. 

We had a pump up meeting on Thursday morning and decided on a mission goal of 7,162 member referrals.  Translation: the 120ish Sisters on the square needed to talk to as many people as possible to teach them, uplift them, and invite them to refer their friends to the missionaries.  And at the end of the 2 day marathon, we needed to have 7,162 names of non-members to contact over the phone. 

My game plan seemed to work pretty well.  All I basically did was find people that I know and then ask them if I can call their friends to invite them to be taught by missionaries.  So this is my SHOUTOUT TO ALL MY HOMIES WHO CAME AND GAVE ME THEIR FRIENDS TO CALL!  BLESS YOUR TENDER SOULS. 

My time was very precious on the square this weekend.  I was ready to have my feet hurt from walking around the whole day but I was frustrated to be trapped in the Beehive House for a few hours each day.  During those hours, I felt like there was a party going on just oustide and I was grounded.  There weren't a ton of people that came to the Beehive House especially during the sessions of conference so we made up for lost time when we got to the square.  Our mission President reminded us to leave it all on the floor and I so I tried my best.  All of the sisters were exhausted on Sunday night because of the extended hours that we were on the square.  I felt like I was on an adrenaline rush all weekend because of the huge amounts of people.  I could have done it all week.

After the last session of conference, Sister Castañeda and I went with the other filipino sister and her companion to the filipino fireside that was held at a Church just behind the conf. centre.  What the random? It felt so strange to be sitting in a chapel in Utah, surrounded by hundreds of Filipinos on conference weekend.  Morgan should have been there, not me.  I tried to talk to as many people as I could so it was alright. 

At 8:30 on Sunday, the whole mission got together in the tabernacle to find out if we had acheived our goal for the weekend.  On Sunday morning we found out that each companionship had to get 72 more referrals that day to be able to acheive our goal.  It basically rained all day Sunday and scared the crowds of people away.  No bueno.  But all the sisters pulled through and we exceeded our goal.  Our perfect Australian assistant to the President reminded us that the 7,541 referrals are not just a number.  They are souls.  Souls who have the chance to learn about the happiness that the gospel can bring.  So now we need to contact them. 

Sadly, I don't think I was on the square long enough to get my picture in next month's Ensign.  Of course the African and Indian sisters scored a picture in Deseret News as well as David Archuletta singing in the MTC choir.  I'm not jealous.  However, I did get to use my secret "call the security" signal on the square this weekend because we spoke to an angry man who strongly thinks that if a leader of the church makes any kind of mistake, they should be ex-communicated.  Riiiiiight.

Monday was heavenly because the president let us sleep in.  "Hangover Monday" is my new fave.  Innappropriate?  I slept in till 11 and then "slept in" till 8 on Tuesday as well.  Also on Monday, our day ended at 5 instead of 9 and we all gathered to eat Mexican food and watch Kung Fu Panda 2 while the mission presidency ran things upstairs on the square.  We were so spoiled. 

It was so fun to see so many people that I know this week. 

Thanks for the letters and love,

Sister Katie Kyle