I'm getting released TOMORROW

I can't decide if this is goodbye or hello.  I'm getting released TOMORROW.  I feel at peace with life.  It doesn't hurt that I'm going to run around London and Amsterdam this week.  I'm going to avoid summing up my last 18 months into one last email since it wouldn't come close to doing it justice and my little heart just isn't up for it right now. 

I'm turning back in to Peter Parker.  The tendonitis in my arm bothered me so much before the mission but I haven't felt any pain from it at all for the last 18 months.  That is until now...  So what I'm saying is that being Spiderman for a little while was the best!

I LOVE YOU ALL & I'LL SEE YOU SOON!

-SISTER KATHLEEN ELVA KYLE

La fin.

team Canada's engagement

a 10k run that some of us sisters did to check it off our bucket list

Temple Square's best friend

Whoever said I wasn't the best procrastinator?

Whoever said I wasn't the best procrastinator?  Definitely not my Grade 2 English teacher.  Or grade any teacher.  I still have so much to do as a missionary!  This next week will be my last with a name tag on and I have a long list of things that I want to get done.  Brittany, you're virtual tour of the tunnels is coming right up.  I hope that suffices.  Kim, your treat will be in the mail tomorrow morning.  As for my investigators, I'm doing my best to give them what I can this week.  I expect to see a few more miracles before I start packing. 

I feel like last week never really happened.  So since I can't remember anything that happened, I'll tell you about the motor coach we had this morning.  Since Sister Takahashtag is still relatively new to this whole temple square thing, I wanted to make our large group tour exciting for her.  We put our brains together in companionship study to come up with some original ideas for a 40+ group of tourists.  We were very pleased with how the execution of our plans turned out.  Since it was such a big group, we took with us Sister Chadderton from New Zealand and Sister Magaoay from Hawaii.  Sister Takahashi and I actually took the tour guide on a tour by herself last month which was great because she talked us up to her group that she brought today.  We started in the tabernacle, gave a brief history of the pioneers and then we picked two volunteers from the group to come up on the stage of the tabernacle and do some acting for us.  Sister T and I helped the two act out a short scene from one of the pioneer stories found in, "Our Heritage."  The story is about how Benjamin Johnson gets pointed at with a rifle by a big brute who demanded that he give up Mormonism.  Our older lady who played the part of Ben shrieked and yelled, "Never!"  The bad guy shot his rifle 3 times and was upset because he's had the gun for 20 years and it's never misfired.  Finally the gun goes off but instead of killing the Mormon, that old brute killed himself.  His death was a little delayed yet well done by our deep voiced actor.  That seemed to break the ice pretty well in the tour group and then we went to a good view of the temple to teach about eternal families.  The group asked some good questions, we gave some good answers and read a little from the family proclamation. We then went to the monument of the handcart pioneers and taught about about faith and sacrifice.  We told them about William Clayton who wrote, "Come Come ye Saints."  And then the four of us sand it.  Our Hawaiian started us off with a beautiful solo and then we came in with some harmonies.  That felt good.  We testified and then called it a day.  I felt really good about this tour.  We talked to individuals afterwards about some of the questions that they had and gave them some Church materials. 

I'll be back on here next week with hopefully some good things to say.  Gahahahasajkhdfajkfkagdfhkadhkavdfhkashkfbajksfb!  It's weird to be finishing because I feel like I only just started but I also feel like a new human at the same time. 
Is this real life?

LOVE YOU ALL!!!  

SISTER KATHLEEN ELVA KYLE

Happy Memorial Day, Americans! Canadians, happy Monday.

My people,

Has it been a week already?  

Our mission had the privilege of attending Sister Monson's funeral in the tabernacle last Thursday.  It was cool to be able to share something so important and personal with the prophet and other Church leaders.  We got to sit in the balcony close to the Motab.  The service was very nice, kind of sad but also happy.  My favorite part of the whole thing was just watching the apostles sit up there.  We were so close to them!  President Uchtdorf looks even more like a celebrity up close.  Elder Bednar was helping Elder Hales stand when the family entered and exited the tab, that was precious.  It was also interesting to me just to watch the prophet's family.  They're so normal.  So that was a nice once-in-a-lifetime thing to do on my mission.
  

Now I must tell you about my latest French tour.  I got to announce the tours in French on Sunday and we had a big crowd listening.  I spotted Uncle Eldon and Aunt Carolyn towards the end of our announcing but I got stopped pretty quickly by a woman from France before I could Smith family reunite.  So like good little missionaries, we took this nice lady named Marie-Therèse on a tour with her two friends from Southern Utah.  Marie raved about the choir's performance and she just seemed really excited to be alive so I was looking forward to some French fun.  As I introduced myself and told her I was a missionary, Marie was so quick to tell me that she's a Catholic, not a Mormon and she was going to stay that way.  I said sweet and we started our tour.  I tried to tell her a pioneer story but she kept telling me that I wasn't going to convert her and then she would tell me stories about her life in France and how she saw her house on google recently for the first time.  Neat.  I wanted to take her to see a few places on Temple Square but she kept telling me that she had seen them all.  I asked her what was left for me to show her and she told me that I should come to France.  So, we just kept walking as I listened for a longtime.  As we went up to see the statue of Christ, Marie told me that the Catholics and the Mormons believe in two very different Christs.  I laughed and told her no but she got very serious about it.  I translated her thoughts to my companion and her friend's brother who was luke-warm at understanding French.  They backed me up but then it was obvious that we needed to drop the subject.  I asked if I could play the narration for her in French and she told me no so we moved on to look at some old testament paintings.  At this point we left the Utah friends behind because they needed to check up on someone else.  Marie started telling Sister Takahashi and I about how we don't believe in the Old Testament so she was shocked when I showed her my Bible.  We continued to ask her questions to try to get to know her spiritual side a little better and all of the sudden, she had tears in her eyes that eventually spread to her face.  I didn't really understand where it came from but Marie started telling me all about her husband's death that happened a year ago.  I was about ready to end the tour right before this but it was obvious that our teaching opportunity was revealing itself.  She told me about how much pain she was in because of the loss of her love.  That's why she's been traveling, because she was doing everything she could to forget about him and move on with her life.  As she spoke, I felt a really intense rush of God's love for her.  She told us that she goes to Church for help sometimes but she never reads scriptures.  This to me meant that she had cut off a few tunnels for revelation in her life and somehow God allowed me to be that window to revelation for her.  All I was able to do was bear testimony and give her a hug.  Sister Takahashi quoted some things that were said at Sister Monson's funeral and I taught her about the power of Christ's atonement.  She definitely had a hope in Christ and a hope to see her husband again but that hope didn't seem like enough for her.  We told her that she could know and that as she learns about Jesus more, she can be comforted.  She told us that she felt the Spirit when she listened to the choir sing that morning especially since it was a tribute to memorial day and her husband was in the military.  I've been a missionary for a little while now and I'm convinced that the hardest part about all of this is when I see someone in desperate who reject the cure.  I don't know what Marie-Therèse is going to do next but I know that her heart was touched.  She told us that she never talks to her friends about her husband's death but she thanked us for listening and helping her feel loved.  She told us that she'd always remember her little visit to SLC so that's good.  I'm confident that we did all we could for her at this time. 

The Canadian and I have had a lot of really good tours lately on the square including ones with SLC missionaries and their investigators.  I won't go into more details about the other ones but it's safe to say that I'd like to adopt a Downs Syndrome Ukrainian baby now. 

Happy Memorial Day, Americans!  Canadians, happy Monday.  

LOVE, SISTER KATIE KYLE

CTR people, CTR.

HI FRIENDS!

Elder M. Russell Ballard came to talk to the mission last week.  It was SO AMAZING.  I think he's one of very few people in the Church who actually know what Temple Square missionaries do.  He's very aware that we are a baptizing mission because we keep in contact with the people we find on the square/online and that we teach full lessons on the phone.  What I thought was cool was even though he knows that we see a lot of success, we also see a lot of rejection but he promised us that we only see a tiny portion of our success.  He told us a few stories that just made me want to love everyone I see and help them know Jesus Christ just by the way I treat them.  He also stressed to us the importance of knowing the doctrine so that we can be effective teachers with the Spirit.  We can't be satisfied only knowing how to teach the restoration because when people visit the square, that's not always what they need.  That's definitely something I already knew but it means so much more coming from an apostle!  And it helped me to remember the importance of personal and companionship study.  I get bored so easily so one of my fears about serving on Temple Square was that I would get bored of sharing my testimony of the restoration.  Turns out, it's so different when you teach people because you apply it to them.  Sister Takahashi and I enjoy finding new, creative ways to teach the doctrine so that our people can apply it more effectively.  This makes life mucho enjoyable even after so many months of living on a square.  Beofer Elder B ran away, we got a ten minute Q and A with him.  One of the sisters asked how we can gain more spiritual strength when we are so tired in every way.  He said some pretty profound things and I wish I brought my journal to email because I wrote a bunch of it down.  Essentially he said, look to Christ in everything you do.  He said that he's almost 85 (I think) and he's been around the world.  He's exhausted but he'll go around the world again if he's suppose to.  When he's worn-out he says that he looks to Christ.  "This isn't Gethsemane.  This isn't Golgotha.  When you've done all that you can do, look to Christ."  In response to another question posed by one of the sisters, he told us to relax.  We get too caught up in what we could have done even when things are finished.  He basically just told us not to sweat the small stuff.  We are doing good things.  After listening to a lot of wise counsel from Elder Ballard, the best part was still at the end when he bore his testimony.  He bore the same testimony of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, Thomas S Monson, and Joseph Smith that we typically hear in Church but there was so much meaning behind his words.  It was obvious that his testimony was very real.  The Spirit confirmed that big time to me.  

I love being a missionary.  Nothing beats it.  I enjoy serving in guest services but it's weighing down on me and my compy because it takes away from our teaching time.  We feel good knowing that we're taking one for the team by setting up lessons for the other sisters in our mission so that they can love teaching too.  This makes us captialize on the tiny amount of square/phone time we get.  We're getting it down to a science.  

I gave a talk to my ward of sister missionaries + a few others on Sunday.  I enjoyed the chance to reflect on experiences and things I've learned on my mission so far.  My topic was about how righteousness is very simple.  We gain power from heaven when we make good choices and when we make wrong choices, we don't get this power and we are left alone to fail.  CTR people,  CTR.  

I'm happy.  My companion and I keep asking ourselves if this is real life.  We're pretty sure it is.  Sayonara.

LOVE, SISTER K. KYLE

Happy Mother's Day Boxing Day

Well, what can I say.  Mother's Day did wonders to get me excited about going home.  And by home I mean tour England for two weeks and then home.  Buuuuut I still have a month of work to do before I get my 17 hour nap to England.  The soon to be departing sisters all had a "Finish Strong" meeting today with our mission president.  I don't actually think it's that hard to stay focused for the last little sprint of my marathon mission but I also don't deny the fact that it's ending soon.  There is still so much for me to do here!

We have a precious new investigator who came to Temple Square last month and was briefly taught by some sisters who already finished their missions.  They left me with this super sweet soul from Hong-Kong who lives in California.  It was a bit rough, teaching Edmond at first because he's so quiet and hard to get to know but he is gradually progressing.  We haven't found out yet if he was able to go to Church but he did send us a prayer/poem he wrote.  I'll share with you a good chunk of it.  It's intense. 

"Let the world be my witness, my Lord, That I want to cry out your name Without reserve and repent my sins Until my voice is heard. For all the years I disowned you, I confess that I had found no truth But that which hurt and sickened me. I can no more lie to myself That there is goodness without you; I can no more deny your grace And carry my weight alone; I have yet a chance to work, And yet I am a weary man.  I acknowledge you again, Beauty I dismissed as inequality, And kindness I suspected of duplicity. I was once happy before I disowned you, On some bright days, there is an angel I can see; is she my guide to your salvation? Can she be the immortality of my soul, Which measures no distance to her? Will she be my perpetual home of inner peace? May I be given the chance of a second birth; May I once more appreciate the innocence of a child; May I once more possess the passion of youth, And walk among my kind with the joy of life. I have faith in You, my Lord, Faith that I lost but has come back as a miracle to me; Faith that contains my all remains and worth. Please forgive me and all who have been led astray In the dark forests of lonely hearts. We have suffered so much; We stumbled and cried; We are lost in our own shadows, Until they consume all that's left of us. Please forgive us for the sins we committed against ourselves; We are humble and we don't ask for much, But a chance to live and be our own true selves again. Amen."  <--This coming from a computer science grad student. 

How amazing is this?  Being a missionary is such a sweet experience because we get a small taste of what's really going on inside the outer shell of the people we teach.  The best part is offering them the restored gospel- something they never knew they were looking for. 

Sister Takahashi and I are also working with a young man from New Mexico who found the restored gospel of Jesus Christ a year ago but is in the process of deciding whether or not he wants it.  We had a heart-breaking phone call with him this week but finally saw some progress in our last phone conversation.  There is only so much we can do from so far away especially since it's up to him to decide the level of happiness he wants.  He needs more than what I can give with my companion.  This is why home teaching is so important! 

We are expecting a nice visit from Elder M. Russell Ballard on Wednesday this week!  I'll take good notes.  Also, we passed by the line for the Biggest Loser Auditions.  Don't worry, we snagged some pics.  

LOVE SISTER KATIE KYLE

GS- my natural habitat.

Biggest loser

May the 6th be with you.

HEYYYYYYYYY.

I'm 99% sure that this is already my favorite transfer of my mission.  I've been given just about every assignment at Temple Square to keep me busy for these last months.  It's like they don't think I'm going to stay focused or something!  My companion is the best.  She's basically my new best friend but also my little minion.  We're kind of the same person in a lot of ways so that makes life easy-breezy.  My goal of this transfer is to help her love her mission.  So far so good.  The Temple Square lifestyle is really hard to get adjusted to and she's done really well so now we're learning to love it (more than how mush we love home.)  Sister Takahashi's incredibly teachable so it's a nice, little boost to my self esteem.  She's a sponge for knowledge and just tries to soak up everything I say or teach or do.  This goes both ways though so I'm enjoying learning from her too.  Mostly I feel bad that she can't come party with me and Sister Jardine in the mission afterlife this summer.  We'll both be heart-broken when we have to break up in June.  We love being Canadian together.  The Canadian jokes just keep coming and they're mostly coming from us.  We're changing the name of Guest Services to "The Canadian Embassy" during our hours there.  

Serving at Guest services is nice change.  The mission has been making a lot of changes as a whole so we, as the ears of Temple Square, have the job to implement most of those changes.  So, when the SLC Elders call in saying that they're late to an appointment on the square or that they want to bring an investigator who they've never taught before, I get to give them a piece of my mind as well as the mission president's mind.  I like my job. 

Last week we got to cover Welfare Square for a day.  I accepted it so that Sister Takahashi could experience another square and of course so that I could experience a lot of chocolate milk.  While we waited for guests to come we enjoyed playing the- who do you know in Southern Alberta game.  The game never stops.  After a little wait, our new friend Daniel came in.  It was obvious that Daniel was familiar with Welfare Square because he had been working there.  He seemed odd and we weren't sure if we should give him a tour or not right away but we did.  Since he already knew welfare square pretty well, we started our tour by telling him our secret.  Us missionaries giving him a tour of WS was just an excuse to help him come closer to Christ.  I basically told him that I get bored with facts and numbers so we'd try to help him with his testimony.  The journey with him ended up being a really good one.  It was apparent that he's had some addiction problems in the past/currently but he's on his way up.  I think he's been trying to get clean on his own for a while but that's just not how it works.  I'm not an addiction expert yet but we helped him to see that Jesus Christ helps during the repentance process, not just after.  He's going to read his scriptures everyday this week and we'll check up on him soon through email.  He told us that it wouldn't be a good idea to call him since he's low on meth.  We're pretty sure he meant minutes. 

My minion and I got to experience our first baby motor coach on Sunday.  We took 8 English speakers on a tour while the rest of their huge group enjoyed the mandarin speaking sisters.  Motor coaches are sweet because we get to declare the truthfulness of the restored gospel to a larger number of people but it's also a lot harder to teach it smoothly, with the Spirit, and have the guests trust us.  Our international 8 were so cute.  One Thai lady in our group couldn't speak English but she managed to tell me I'm beautiful.  Precious.  Even more precious, she left the circle of the group to get closer to the statue of Christ and and prayed at his feet.  I think starting at the statue was a good thing for this group because they were all such good Christ-loving souls.  We took them next to a good view of the temple and taught them about eternal families.  We finished up at the pioneer monuments which was a success because there is so much power in telling those faith-building stories.  We realized that we had some extra time so we sneaked into the Tabernacle and were lucky enough to hear and watch the choir/orchestra practice.  The music brought the spirit so clearly to our little group.  It was obvious that everyone was touched.  Instead of having an awkward general invitation for these people to meet with missionaries in their local area, we managed to individually invite the people based on their personal needs.  One old lady was crying in the tabernacle and said that music reminds her of her husband who passed away three years ago.  It was so natural for me to invite her to learn more about the Temple because it is through the Temple that she can be secured to her husband for eternity.  She replied by telling me that she had to go to the restroom.  What the?  Ghhhhh... old people... One of the couples in our group were Catholic/Hindu and they asked really good questions.  My companion answered beautifully.  They even asked why God killed the innocent crickets in the Pioneer story of the crickets/seagulls.  I'm glad she answered that one. 

Quick story.  We had a tour with a Taiwanese man yesterday who didn't really know how to be a social being.  We taught him pretty quickly about faith and how he can get personal answers from God.  Then he asked us why our Church is different from other Christian Churches.  We started to answer but then he told us that he didn't want to debate.  He asked if he could leave us and tour himself around but I wasn't going to let him break up with us that easily.  He had a question so we were going to answer him.  We used the displays to teach him the restoration and then he asked us if he could get a Book of Mormon.  Well, what do ya know.  One minute he hates us, the next he needs us.  

We took a fun lesson with some SLC elders and then we got to go to the investigators baptism!  See pic.

My chair has been sat on long enough.  Peace.

LOVE, SISTER KATIE KYLE

My last transfer is going to be a party!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD.

I have officially started my last transfer.  CRAZY!!!!  Buuuut I feel pretty normal still for a missionary.  I think it won't hit me until my last week; that's when I'll go nuts with every kind of emotion.  They're keeping me quite busy for my last transfer.  My new companion is Miss Canasia:  Sister Erika Takahashi from Calgary!  She waited for her Visa while she served her first transfer in Raymond and then went to the mtc.  She'll be in her 2nd transfer now at Temple Square.  I got to be her zone leader last transfer so I know most of the ins and outs of her mission so far.  At Temple Square, we typically get trained by the same person for our first two transfers but it's not terribly uncommon to switch after the first.  So, I get to be her follow-up trainer.  On top of that, I get to be a district leader for a small group of really amazing missionaries.  Sister Takahashi and I also have a specific assignment to serve in Guest Services.  I'm not sure what our schedule is looking like yet but we'll spend a good amount of time each week in a little booth in the mission office (the south visitor center basement) to practice our secretary skills.  It's a bit of a bummer that Guest Services isn't the most effective thing to do as a missionary but it's more of a service to get the rest of the mission going.  I think it'll just add a little spice to my square life.  I'll be doing things like setting up appointments for the Salt Lake elders to bring their investigators to the square, organizing motor coach tours, telling people to stop calling us but to call the Temple prayer roll, and other such things.  During the slow hours, we can take the time to call potential investigators or teach our progressing investigators over the phone.  I'm sure we'll be able to take the time to do companionship study in our little office as well.  I can also start using google again!  Though I hear google hates Christianity.  Shame.  But in short, my last transfer is going to be a party!  Sister Takahashi and I are already bffs.  Seriously, if I could choose my companion, I would have chosen her or my mtc friends. 

I would now like to take this moment to write about a huge miracle, the biggest I've ever been a part of.  Remember my investigator, Gerie from Scotland who should have red hair?  Well, she has been a faithful fighter of truth against soooo much opposition.  Sister Vach and I had just gotten off the phone with someone and then we got a call on our cell from our Thai and Mongolian Sister combo who had taken a chat online with someone who was asking to speak to us.  They transferred us the chat and then we started chatting with Gerie.  Gerie's name was spelled differently and though she was typing, she did not sound like herself at all.  She essentially told us that she was giving up with the Church.  She knew everything she learned was real and true but she told us that she was throwing in the towel.  Nothing seemed to make sense to Sister Vach and I.  The details of this story are super confidential so I'm going to have to be kind of vague is some areas.  We told Gerie that we would call her in the morning the next day but she kept telling us to give up.  She told us that her parents were threatening the one thing that she cared most about.  I guess they thought she was going through a rebellious stage by going to the LDS Church (pretty sure I know some better ways to rebel) but then thy freaked out when they realized that she was serious and wanted to get baptized.  Gerie's parents had threatened her with the one thing that was the most important to her besides her faith.  We typed a prayer over chat with her right there but she still told us not to bother calling her in the morning.  Sister Vach's tears were all over the keyboard and my heart was in shreds by the end the chat. 

The next morning, we called the sad woman up and had some real talk with her.  She sounded the same on the phone as she did over the chat- defeated.  We gave her some examples of people in the scriptures whose hard times compare to hers.  We asked her a lot of questions to find out what's important to her but she sounded so faithless.  She told us that she had to make a choice between the Church and the thing that was the most important to her.  As she gave us more details about her situation, I was shocked and had to mute my phone to tell Sister Vach my personal thought that Gerie needed to involve a social worker.  As missionaries, we don't have the authority to counsel people- that's what a Bishop is for so I suggested she speak to her Bishop.  I think I could have also spoken my mind to her but the situation was really sticky and I think I would have gotten into trouble if things went bad because of my suggestion.  We testified about miracles and how the Lord is in the details of her life and that she more than 2 options.  After a good long talk about some of the other options she had, we invited her to pray over the phone with us.  She prayed so sincerely while Sister Vach and I just witnessed her relationship with Heavenly Father develop in a very real sense.  I don't know that I've ever wanted a prayer answered more in my life.  She ended the prayer and after a couple minutes of thoughts, she told us that in her head, she saw a lawyer.  I praised the Lord!  We talked about how the Holy Ghost speaks to our hearts.  We told her that the very best way to receive an answer to prayer is by making the decision and then asking God if it's right or not.  We committed Gerie to fast with us for her situation and then hung up the phone. 

While I was fasting during my personal study the next day, I happened to read "Jesus the Christ."  Before I started my fast, I prayed that I would find something that would help Gerie.  I opened up to the page that I stopped on a few days earlier and quickly finished the chapter.  I looked down at the notes for the chapter and read, the paragraph called, "Faith in Behalf of Others."  *I tried to find it on lds.org but I just landed with the audio version here in the chapter "From Sunshine to Shadow."  This little end of chapter note took specific examples from Christ's life but it described exactly my feelings in behalf of Gerie.  After I read that note, I read the next one, "Power Developed by Prayer and Fasting."  WHAT THE?  How did they know?  And finally after that paragraph, I read the third note, "Nothing is Impossible to Faith."  You could say that this was my best fast yet. 

We called Gerie two days later to find out how her fast was and to see if the answer that she received to her prayer was confirmed.  As she spoke, Sister Vach and I witnessed the huge miracle that was beginning to take place in her life.  She ended up contacting a lawyer and she now has the freedom to make her own religious choices.  Her life is going to be completely changed but she is living on faith.  She even had to break up with her boyfriend of 2.5 years because he didn't support her.  We commented to her about how difficult that must have been to break up with him and she replied in her amazing Scottish accent, "Actually, it was quite easy."  Her life is insane right now and she still kills us laughing.  We also found out that her mom was breathing over her shoulder as we chatted with her on that one hopeless day so that's why she didn't sound like herself.  Yikes.  I wish so badly that I could be in Scotland to help this poor girl but the Scottish sister in our mission finishes her mission tomorrow and she'll get home right in time.  Miracle?  Yes.

That's the story of Gerie so far.  I am so invested in her and I'm amazed that the Lord gives me a capacity everyday to keep teaching other people and investing myself in them too.  I love my mission.

only six weeks left

LOVE, SISTER KATIE KYLE

The Church is still true and I'm wearing llamas with a sweatervest.

Hi, my people. 

Imma make this a quickie since my human power is fading. 

 

I'll highlight two of our tours from this week

--> we took a tour with a man who didn't know how to smile.  He told us that in his family, they just don't smile.  So that was nice and weird but we taught him all about the Book of Mormon.  He followed us on everything and asked all the right questions.  We invited him to learn more and he declined the offer because he worried about what his children would think if he didn't look solid on his chosen faith (Church). 

--> we met a cute, roughly above middle aged, New York couple after Music and the Spoken word.  They had visited Utah many times but they wanted to learn the history from the beginning.  All was well with the tour for the most part.  We had a really good trusting relationship with them and then we taught about the great apostasy.  The couple was Roman Catholic and their religion didn't seem to show until we told them that God's authority left the earth after Christ and His apostles died.  Mr. man loved teaching us about how God's authority was given to Peter and is now held by the Pope.  Neat.  (P.S I've been teaching Catholics for over a year now and I'm well aquainted with the Pope's authority).  The discussion got a little luke-warm because it was obvious that the two parties disagreed. 

 *In all of our missionary work, we try to find the concerns or needs of the investigator/member.  The non-smiling man wanted better relationships with his family and a better relationship with Christ.  The NY couple wanted more secure answers on what happens when people die because they're parents are getting close to the finish line.  We targeted both those concerns so easily with the Book of Mormon and it was obvious that they were all spiritually affected by the written words.  Their needs were being met and the Spirit was there yet they still declined.  I don't know what's harder than having someone reject the offer to FIX ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS IN LIFE.  Of course life is always crazy and always needs fixing and that is exactly why people need Jesus Christ and His true teachings.  Can I say that any more clearly?  You could say I'm converted to all of this. 

 

It's maybe true that I'm getting old in the mission or maybe this was suppose to hit me sooner but I see everyone who comes to Temple Square as a poor, lost soul who needs exactly what I have.  I always knew that this gospel is for everyone but I can see it so obviously when I listen to everyone's individual stories and even when I just say hi to a guest.  I think rejection stings a little bit more when I'm focused on the impact that these people's Salt Lake visit can have on their eternal progression.  I haven't yet turned into a completely crazed Sister who yells at people when they reject my message but I only have one transfer left so I still have time. 

 

Chat story of the week:  We chatted with a woman whose real name is Lynn but she chose to put, "BagODoughnuts" as her name online.  We got into a nice conversation with her about if God really exists or not.  I think my favorite part of the chat was when my companion told her very sincerely, "God loves you, BagODoughnuts."  Indeed, he does. 

 

Yep, Imma wrap this thing up.  The Church is still true and I'm wearing llamas with a sweatervest.

LOVE, SISTER KATIE KYLE

North 2 Rollerskating with Conference Bingo prizes.

TABBY

Take off your hood!  Yeah, I'm in the hood!  No, take off your hood!

Busy at work

Jon Schmidt Dit di dit. 

My Canadian goes home next week.

I think we blew their faces off with our intensity.

Last week after our Mexican fiesta, we DID get to meet someone famous.  John Schmidt came and performed for us missionaries!  It was SO COOL!  He started playing Waterfall which I've heard 1000 times mostly from Kenny but it was so cool to watch his fancy finger work.  That's something I won't forget.  Sister Vach and I snagged a pic with him so I'll send that next week.  

In other news, a small group of us sisters got to sing at a Church up by the UofU for some kind of institute director training.  There were a couple (non-12) general authorities there including one of my new faves, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom.  The whole thing was cool but a little strange.  About 20 of us young girls sang to a chapel full of old men in suits.  We sang a precious primary song medley for the prelude and then after the opening prayer, we sang a super intense song about joy and the second coming.  I think we blew their faces off with our intensity and then walked off the stand.  So... on that note they started their spiritual meeting. 

A few days ago, Sister Vachie and I were walking to the south visitor center when we noticed a man just outside the gate who was waving at us to come over.  We looked around to make sure he wasn't motioning to anyone else and at a distance, we saw him raise his Book of Mormon and then put it down on the ground beside him like he was surrendering his gun.  We got closer to him and I told him to come inside the gates.  He told us that he wasn't allowed on the property and then it soon became obvious why.  He told us about how he wants to be filthy rich but he read a scripture that says he needs to seek the kingdom of God first.  So, I think this was him trying to seek God's kingdom.  I asked him what kind of riches he wanted and he said GOLD.  "I love gold.  All kinds of gold!" Then he showed us his gold tooth.  I asked what he wants to do with all the gold and he said, "Everything!  I want to swim in it!"  Then he complained about praying all day outside the Temple.  He didn't want to wait around for God.  I asked him why he was waiting.  We had a 5 minute conversation that obviously didn't go many places.  Our fun ended when President Harmon from our mission presidency came and told our Gold-loving friend, Daniel that we were really busy.  We had another run in with a crazy named Diane but that's another story for another day.

Sister Vach and I have been seeing a lot of success with teaching people on the square and so that and conference quickly led to us being super overwhelmed with our online area book and all of our duties as missionaries.  I never thought I'd complain about having too many precious souls to teach.  We had a tour with an amazing, young, dating couple from France and Texas who live in Oklahoma.  He went to a Christian prep school and she was French so I was a little scared to teach because closed minded Christians and closed minded Frenchies are my worst enemies.  Buuuut, they were amazing.  They wanted to know how our Church was established so we got right into teaching the restoration.  We could see things clicking in their minds as we taught them about Lehi's family traveling to America and building a (sometimes) faithful society.  The best thing though of every tour is a) feeling the Spirit work through me and b) watching the effect of the Spirit in the eyes/on the faces of those we teach.  They couldn't deny the power that came from the eternal truths we were teaching them.  So they took a Book of Mormon each and are going to meet with missionaries in Oklahoma this week.  WHAT UP.

My two favorite investigators are two 18 year old girls.  I've mentioned each of them in my emails.  They don't know each other because one lives in Washington and one lives in Scotland but they lead such similar lives.  Ashley is amazing and her parents still think the Book of Mormon is Satan's book.  She meets with local missionaries occasionally so we just call her once a week.  Her faith goes up and down like any regular human but she knows she wants to follow Christ and be baptize in this Church.  We're praying hard for her parents to be accepting of her so that she can get baptized in a month.  She was so sweet on the phone with us yesterday and wanted to reassure us that our work doesn't go unnoticed and that us teaching her will affect generations.  That is nice to hear because I've seen a heck of a lot of miracles from the initial contact with people but with Ashley, I'll be able to see results.  The three of us (me, Ashley, Sister Vach) are excited for a face to face meeting in Seattle someday soon.  Gerie, our great Scott, is a fireball.  Sister Vach and I both picture her with red hair because she's both fiery and Scottish but apparently that is not the case.  Sad.  She is also 18 and her parents recently softened their hearts and decided to let her keep living with them as long as she never talks about Church.  Being the boss that she is, she still decided to move out so that she can live in peace and maintain a good relationship with her parents.  Gerie thought her and her dad were going to take a ride in the car a few weeks ago but they happened to end up at a Jehovah's Witness Church where Gerie faced 40 elders in the JW high council who accused her of apostasy...  I KNOW!  She said that she knew exactly what apostasy was and she had found a Church that has actual truth in it.  She invited her dad to go visit the lds Church which was just 5 minutes away from where they were.  He refused to go and she paralleled her situation with his.  She's such a redhead.

Well, I'm off to the roller rink with my zone.  CHOW.

LOVE, SISTER KYLE

CONFEROOOOONCE

I survived my last General Conference with a name tag and flag.  I've never been so exhausted but I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE SO MUCH!  

I don't even know where to begin.  Our conference bingo was a success for our zone.  Many companionships got a bingo blackout including Sister Vach and myself.  To complete our bingo card we shared Jeremiah 4: 19-20 and bridged it to the gospel (don't ask how, it all happened so fast),  we sang "How firm a foundation" to one of the members we spoke with, we had to tell our most embarrassing moment so I told about the time I got a goose egg on my head because I ran into a pole just after I got my first cell phone, after a few attempts we successfully started a conversation with "My Brigham Young was a tall man", we challenged an engaged couple to do couples inventory, we finally got a referral from a redhead, and we did many more missionary-like things to further our missionary purpose and fill out the bingo card.  Goooood times.

I loved seeing so many friendly faces from Southern Alberta, Idaho and a few from Ottawa.  Seeing so many friends seemed normal at the time but it's a strange memory now that everyone's gone again.  I think Sister Vach got jealous of my canadian flag.  It attracted so many of my canadian people.  We'd walk anywhere and hear, "Canada! Where you from?" "Yeach Canada!" or "Canada, what part?" Sister Vach started yelling, "America!" every time that happened.  

Let's go back to the fact that I'm so tired!  Actually I'm relatively normal now because I slept in til 10:00 today though I didneed help staying on my feet on Saturday night.  We were on our feet literally all day.  My back got so desperate to sit that I started doing anything I could to rest.  I discussed this with some of my fellow square sisters and realized the geniousness of talking to people outside and sitting down with them in contacts.  What a fool, I had been!  Sister Vach and I got to attend the last session of Conference on Sunday and I was just happy to sit down.  My exhaustion got the best of me in the last half of the session but the first half, when I was conscious, was amazing!  My general conference prayers were answered almost immediately when Elder Holland spoke.  I just sat there in the auditorium so tired but so filled with happiness.  The concerns of my investigators were running through my head as the Church authorities doctrinally attacked Satan.  I can't wait to use those talks in teaching now.  

I feel like this conference, Sister Vach and I somehow found the only non-members who came to Temple Square.  A security guy motioned us over to talk to Nick, a truck driver who parked his truck and walked 9 miles to Temple Square.  He only had 30 minutes to spend with us so we showed him/taught him what he needed.  He's a super nice guy who found Jesus during his short time spent in jail.  Now he's a gospel loving young father and husband.  He had met missionaries years ago in the park and they gave him a Book of Mormon after they agreed to disagree.  He promised his mom that he would come see the Temple in Utah because she was so impressed with it when she visited Salt Lake a long time ago.  We taught him more about the Book of Mormon.  I think the Conference Spirit in the air made me feel like I could be super bold with Nick.  I told him that there is more than the faith that he currently has.  We taught him that there is a prophet on the earth today.  He said that he agrees and then I butted in and told him that the only true prophet called by God is Thomas S. Monson.  He said that it's possible.  The short tour ended quickly after Nick rejected our teachings.  He just wanted to make sure that we knew Christ is our Savior and then he wished us well.  My heart broke.  The Spirit was on our side and I feel like we did a good job of laying the true gospel in front of him for him to take and he straight up said no.  

Last night after the last session of conference, the square was in peaceful chaos.  We went in the basement of the North visitor center, talked to a few people and then we found Stacie who was silently crying.  We asked her how she was doing and she remarked how beautiful everything is.  She was reading about the Church's welfare program and she noticed that the square was filled with good people who believe in Jesus Christ.  Stacie was pretty much an open book with us right away.  She told us that she feels broken because she is recently divorced and now she's reading about how families can be together forever and that was making her feel ashamed of her divorce.  She was in town just for a few days and had spent a lot of time at a work conference with some members of the Church.  She had a lot of really good concerns so we taught her about how the the gospel of Jesus Christ, found in the Bible AND Book of Mormon can resolve her concerns.  She told us that she feels week so we read Ether 12:27 with her.  Her other concern was about not adding to the Bible/the gospel of Christ.  We solved that concern easily since we get it from people everyday.  THIS IS THE SAME GOSPEL.  IT'S NOT DIFFERENT, YOU CAN JUST READ MORE ABOUT IT IN THE BoM!  Though we spent a nice 30 minutes together, Stacie still didn't want us to call her so we gave her a Book of Mormon to read and we got her email.  I told her at the end of the tour that the Church is full of divorced people who find comfort in the gospel and each other.  I told her that her family can still be eternal.  Hopefully she'll believe that soon enough.  

Tonight, we're having a Mexican fiesta with some kind of surprise entertainment.  Maybe we'll watch a Disney movie, maybe we'll meet someone famous.  Both are good.

My body hurts.

LOVE, SISTER KYLE from Canada

Pray that I'll make it in the Ensign!

Bonjour!  

I have big news- my outbound mission pres, President Watkins called this week and they're sending me back to San Jose for my last transfer!  They need me to do some damage control because 4 sisters just got sent home early.  Wait, what day is it?  Psych, my whole life is a lie today because of the foolish month that it is!  I'm just going to type another sentence here so that the last one doesn't stand out when you read this whole paragraph.  Who did I get?  Anyone?  C'mon.  Dad?  Also, I'm pregnant.  Oops.

Missionary life on the first of April is way too easy.  Sister Vach is a surprising prank mastermind so you could say that our roommates had a hard time brushing their teeth this morning.  We didn't get too crazy.  The best though was taking our new sister on a roll-play tour.  Sister Takahashi is basically my new bff from Calgary.  We scored and ended up with her in our zone so we got the pleasure of taking her on a mock tour today.  My poker face was non-existent today mostly because I felt dumb acting but Sister Takahashi did sooooo well.  Probably too good.  At the end of the tour we told her that Sister Vach and I had to discuss things and then we would let her know what we thought.  We told her she did well and we gave her a few suggestions and then at the end they asked if they had officially "passed off" I knew I just needed to close my big mouth or else I would blow our cover.  Sister Vach told her that we spoke with the mission president earlier and he was looking for some specific things that just weren't apparent in the tour that they gave us.  They asked for specifics and Sister Vach made up something that sounded believable.  And finally she said, "Hey, do you know what day it is..."  I watched the relief fly onto Sister Takahashi's Canasian face.  Too easy.  

Conference is here again!  I feel like all I do is talk about General Conference but this is my last one with a tag on!  Sister Vach and I wanted to do something fun for our zone to make this conference just a little bit more interesting than the last.  So, we put our creative juices together and formed Conference BINGO!  I'll attach 2 examples of the bingo sheets we've created so that you get the idea.  I had a few more random ideas to add to the bingo cards but my companion threw them out the window for being too distracting.  That's why we need companions.  So, I think the final products are both fun and missionary-centered.  Mostly.  

Last week we had a lesson with some of the Salt Lake Elders and their investigator.  He was a drug dealer and is committed to being baptized when he is legally allowed.  That was a fun lesson but the point of this story is that we got interrupted on our lesson by some kind of folk rock band.  The girl in the band kind of leeched onto us without realizing she was interrupting anything.  We got her contact info and sent her on her way.  This brings me to yesterday when we called her.  Of course she was laying in her hammock in Arkansas when we called her.  Things seemed to be good when we started the conversation.  We didn't dive into any new information to quickly because we wanted to get to know her first so that we knew what she should teach.  After a 5 minute normal conversation, I asked her how she found her own religious beliefs and then we lost her.  More like she lost us.  The woman knows how to talk.  She had some good questions but she was super hard to teach because she had so much to say about her best friend, mother earth.  She hates American politics.  A lot. She doesn't like to use the word "religion".  She doesn't believe God is a male entity - she believes God is a universe and part of the earth.  She thinks of God as something that encompasses everything.  She sees the earth as having feminine energy and the universe as masculine energy.  Probably my favorite things she said is about how we will face mass famine if we keep purchasing from Wal-mart because the $7 shirt is probably made in a Chinese sweatshop and it's going to make us run out of food.  That was fun.  I think we'll just email her for now.  

Saturday was crazy for us.  It was the Young Women's conference so there were about 21000 young girls touring Salt Lake and it was a beautiful day so there were a ton of other visitors too.  We barely had time to breathe because teaching opportunities were kept being placed right in front of us.  We met a standup comedian in a tank top named Theo who just wanted to what buildings he was allowed to go inside.  Then he told us about how is recently started praying and that helps him a lot in life.  He gave us his contact info without us even asking for it.  We also had a tour with 2 ladies from Australia.  One of the ladies was super nice and had been exposed to the Church when she was a teenager.  The other lady was super rude to me.  She seemed very intolerant of our Church and asked in a very condescending way if I have ever studied other religions.  I was annoyed by the time she asked me that so I told her that I'm actually very educated.  That caught her off guard and then we taught her more about the Book of Mormon.  She tried to tell us that the passage we read contradicted the Bible but then her friend stood up for us and backed up the book.  Saturday was also our day to train a couple visitor center sisters from the mtc and one of them so happened to be Morgan Duval from Chapel Hill.  She's going to the St. George Visitor's Center.  We had a good time catching up with each other.  See pic.  

Okay, gotta run!  Pray that I'll make it in the Ensign!  That was a blasphemous test.  But hey, third time's a charm.  

LOVE, SISTER KATIE KYLE

Boy Scouts Get What Boy Scouts Want

Well, it's been 5 years since I've had a pday and I'm beat.  Beet? No, beat.

We had transfers last week so now pday is Monday again.  I am still serving as zone leader with Sister Vach.  Hooray!  Our specific assignment is to organize the exchanges every Saturday when new sisters from the mtc come to experience a visitor center for a day.  Everyone who is called to a VC gets to come here and so Sister Vach and I get to be in charge of that.  I love it.  Those sisters are so bright eyed and scared so I love scaring them more and breaking them in a bit. 

 

In the last week and a half, Sister Vach and I got to take 3 VIP tours.  All 3 were very different.  Our first VIP tour was with some fancy Europeans.  I still don't really know who they were but I know that I was intimidated by them.  We had a photogropher stalk us the whole tour so I've attached a few pics.  The next VIP tour we took was with the Macedonian Embassador and they were hosted by Elder Hinckley (Gordon B's son) and Sister Hinkley.  We aren't sure if Elder Hinckley trusted us as missionaries at first so he kind of stole the show while Sister Vach and I got in the way until he gave us some air time, 15 minutes into the tour.  He apologized for stealing our show and so then the 3 of us worked pretty well together after that.  Sister Hinkley just kind of twiddled behind.  VIP tours are very strict so we aren't suppose to ask the guests personal questions like we would on any other tour.  We also can't bear testimony (unless of course I decide that rule doesn't apply) and we can't invite them to learn more.  The Macedonian couple was super friendly so it was fun for me to be their friend on the tour while Elder Hinckley took the reigns.  We got to accompany them into the tunnels under the conference center after our tour and I was so badly wishing that we would be stopped by an apostle but that didn't happen.  Side note, Elder Hinckey's ringtone is still a Christmas pop song.  Who knew?  Our last tour was with a group of boy scout executives.  I prayed that they would show up in cargo shorts and matching hats but I was very disappointed.  Most of them were actually from Utah and we knew that a few of the men scouts were members of the Church.  At first the tour felt weird to me because all we could do was teach the history.  I knew they already knew the Utah history and I also knew that the Utah history makes me want to nap but Sister Vach is a whiz at teaching the details.  We figured out pretty early on that only one of the scouts wasn't a member of the Church and he asked a lot of good questions about the Temple and about what we do for regular worship services.  We took them inside the Tabernacle, did a little accoustic demo with the pin drop and then they asked if they could go and see the organ close up.  They neglected to pay attention to the velvet red barrier but boy scouts get what boy scouts want so we showed them the organ.  Richard Elliott, the main organist so happened to be there to help tune the pipes so we had a fun Q and A with him.  We ended our tour at the statue of Christ and we so badly wanted to invite the one non-member scout to learn more about the Church/gospel but we knew we weren't suppose to.  Being the rebel that I am, I decided to get out a referral card and just hold it in an obvious way so that it would be like dangling it in front of the guest so that he would ask for it and sign for up for a missionary visit.  My plan seemed flawless until the host who brought the scouts whipped out a folder with all kinds of Church articles in it.  He didn't give him a Book of Mormon but he gave him the book, "Our search for happiness."  Well, I felt like a secret fool and tucked my referral card away but Sister Vach and I were so happy because the man seemed so interested to learn.  He's been surrounded by very successful/happy people in his line of knot tying work so it's about time he learned where all the happiness and drive come from.  Yay!

 

Last Sunday we had an amazing tour with 2 young man and 1 regular man: Jon, Scott, and Mark.  The two young ones came together and had been working in Utah for a few weeks.  Scott said right away that he was very interested to learn so we took that as a good thing.  The tour went really well.  We had a lot of fun, joking around with the three of them and we taught them about temples and about the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith.  Mark, the older one was in town for skii gliding or something like that.  He taught us about how he's involved in the snow version of paragliding so I've added that to my after mission bucket list.  Mark asked good questions but declined our offer to teach him more.  Jon and Scott stuck around longer to ask us more questions.  We gave Scott a Book of Mormon and we sat down with the two of them and talked and answered questions mostly about the purpose of life and what happends to us when we die.  Scott was so fun to teach because he studies theology and he's just looking for truth.  We were excited to give him truth in the form of the Book of Mormon.  We taught him a few days later while he was on his way home to California and he's already started reading the Book of Mormon.  Most religiously educated people seem hard-hearted and un-tecahable to me but Scott is so great.  We've already sent him local missionaries to meet up with and he's planning on attending Church on Sunday.  Wooohoooo!  Prepared people really do wander to Temple Square.

 

Here's a short story about a very un-prepared for the gospel, man.  Friends call him Larry.  Larry requested a tour so that is what we gave him.  He's a very socially awkward, above middle aged man.  We took our time diving into gospel teachings with him because he seemed so uncomfortable.  Finally, we felt like we had a decent relationship with him and we taught him about the Book of Mormon.  We stopped at a display of how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together to answer people's questions.  He picked a good one that seemed to fit our theme about how we can know if someone is a true prophet.  I felt like the Spirit was with us and that our friend Larry was being touched by the Spirit.  I asked him what he thaught about the answer that the display gave and he paused before finally stating that Mormon women can wear makeup now.  WHAT THE HECK, LARRY!  I swear I wasn't wearing a noticeable amount of makeup.  I told him that we never couldn't and he argued that maybe that was true dince I've been alive.  I love it when people not of my faith teach me about the things I believe.  He asked him if he'd like a BoM and he told us that he didn't want to waste our time.  Lame. 

 

Yesterday Sister Vach and I went with my child, Sister Savelio and her Latvian companion to speak in a random Salt Lake ward.  I talked about pray always.  It was a good time.  Our musical number was sub par but they still smiled.  I've been sitting in this chair for too long so it looks like Imma end this thing soon.

Last story: Sister Vach answered an inbound call yesterday and quickly added me to the line to listen in.  She was talking to a woman who asked all kinds of anti-Mormon, deep doctrinal things.  She told Sister Vach that she wanted all these questions answered because her friend who has been on a "gay conversion" was interested in coming back to Church.  She said that her friend was there with her so she'd put her on the line.  Sister Vach said "Wait, is your friend a man or a woman?" "-kind of both."  What the?  So then Sister Vach had a nice chat with a very nervous trans-genered man or woman about his/her gospel related concerns.  We're still confused. 

 

The end.

LOVE SISTER KATIE KYLE

#1 I knew the camera was on me. That's my Enisgn face

#2 my personal fave

#3 preachin it!