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