Osky is staying warm with all of this fire in missionary work!

It’s been a super week here in Osky, we’ve seen a lot of miracles with those that we are teaching! Being out of the area for two days straight, the Lord blessed us with lots of opportunity! It’s been windy and cold the last couple of days.. I am pretty sure Heavenly Father just likes to play games with us, one day is 45 degrees the next it’s like 0.. That’s good old Iowa weather for you though!

It looks like the boys have been staying really busy with scouts and school projects. How’s dad liking the new calling? I also got your letter today, the one with Bret making cookies or cup cakes.. now I can’t remember.. haha. O well As well I am glad that everyone else is doing well and alive!

On Wednesday and Thursday we spent our time with some other missionaries on exchanges.. The first stop was to Lenox, Elder Stock and I went out to work and taught with guy named B... Barker and I wanted to keep calling him B...Barker for some reason, it was super funny! B... is now learning about the church! Then we traveled to Chariton and I went with Elder Arrioti, who is one of the missionaries that I will be going home with.. we both couldn’t believe that our time was coming to an end.

We taught M.... G.... this week, she is a new investigator and also is preparing to be baptized on Feb. 15, but we’ll see if she’s ready before that.. hopefully.. ! :) She is an awesome lady, our first lesson with her, she basically said that she already wants to join the church.! super awesome! now we just have to teach her and help her getting ready! you don’t always find people like that.. Brother G.... was doing some home teaching and she sat in on the lessons and it sparked her interest.. thank you spirit! She says that it’s just making sense, she hasn’t really ever been involved in another church before so it’s a little different for her. Tina is also doing very well and is still preparing to get baptized on the 22 of February!

Another family will be moving into the branch this month, after I leave.. darn! The B.....! they are from Salt Lake City and we talked to them on Saturday.. Great things continue to happen in osky!

We also had a super sweet lesson using the Family Proclamation to the world! It was such a powerful lesson, everyone should read and reread it! we taught K...and C... L.... who are preparing for the temple in May, as well their friends also joined us for the lesson.. hopefully we will be able to continue teaching them about the church!

Well there has just been so much going on here and lots of thoughts going through my head as I get closer and closer to the end of the mission that I’ve been called on! So many wonderful things have occurred in my life, that it’s impossible to be able to look back on them and remember them all! All that I can say is that I’m thankful for the wonder blessings of the gospel and most importantly that it is true! The Gospel: or in other words good news! well really it’s the best news and the only news that can help us be happy, even more than happy, joyful!

I love you all and pray that you have a great week and I will most definitely talk to you soon!
LOVE ELDER KIRTON!

ps.. I found this sign on our way to Lenox, I’ve been meaning to take a picture of it..

HELLO from Osky!

I can’t believe that Elder Jade Carr is home! .. super crazy to think about, I am not sure if I believe that he’s home yet, you will have to get a picture with him or something.. haha tell him hi for me.. haha! The new baby is a cute one, tell Kamie and Kevin congratulations! wow some many awesome things happening back home in Draper Utah! I can say the same here in Oskaloosa, Iowa! It’s been a great experience serving here and will be hard to leave when it gets to that point.. in like a year or so.. well I think that’s how much I have left right... haha just kidding but really things here have been wonderful:)

Right before we came to email today, we had an amazing lesson with a new investigator T....M...... She is so awesome and has a true desire to find the truth, it’s a great thing that she’s found the right place... We reviewed the restoration with her and watched the restoration video, by the way everyone needs to watch that again, just because it’s super awesome! Anyway we watched that and she had such great questions and the spirit was there. We extended a baptismal date for Feb. 22.. but she will be ready way before that:-) that was a little miracle for the day and many more just waiting for the rest of the day!

We had a good little snow storm this past week that kept us from going out and doing work. We were actually in Knoxville on exchanges when the storm hit. We had snow like Utah does.. really wet stuff! anyway we got stuck there for the rest of the night and left the following morning. It’s sad to say that I won’t be going on exchanges with any more of these elders, since it’s my last transfer... bummer..

Q...... and K..... are doing great, they are working on picking a day to get married. It’s a big decision that they have to make, so we are letting them pick a day and pray about it.. W..... is also doing really well, we are just waiting for him to move out of the apartment so he can get baptized.. he drove himself to church, even though his ride was supposed to come.. he’s such a great guy. you heard about T.... already.. than we are teaching another lady today, but I will let you know how it goes next week! So Osky is doing well and great things keep happening ad misted all the turmoil:)

Sorry for not sending any pictures this week or last week, I will do much better at that! I promise!

Sunday we had an awesome sacrament meeting! Two great talks really focused on missionary work! The spirit was really Strong and I learned so much! Keep sharing the gospel over there and staying strong in the gospel! The weeks are going by super fast, so there is no time to waste!

LOVELOVELOVEYOUALL!

MUCH LOVE ELDER KIRTON!

Heres a Hi from Iowa!

This has been a very interesting week for me! You will find out further into this email.. For the weather here is warmer than it has been, which is the nicest thing ever! The snow is melting, which doesn’t affect us at all here as a missionary. Conner and Bret hopefully it snows more in Utah for you.. haha

So the beginning of last week was crazy, now not crazy like before but super crazy. The weather dropped to a very low temperature Monday and Tuesday, which resulted in some of our pipes freezing in the apartment. We didn’t have any water for a few days, luckily we have awesome members that helped us out. On Monday night I got sick.. like the flu sick..it wasn’t the funniest night of my life.. the following day we had a meeting that we had to be at in Iowa City. I spent half of the meeting sleeping the sickness off.. anyway the blessing that I received the other day, helped me recover very quickly. After being sick and not having any running water, I was in a state that required me to turn to God. Even though I experience some infirmities and affliction, I know that the lord was watching over me. My mission has taught me a lot about being grateful for what I have, given the circumstances. You can decide how you feel 100% of the time and the lord wants you to turn to him 100% of the time. When you do this you have no reason or rhyme to be unhappy. When you reach low points in your life, often that is when the lord is there to lift you higher than you have ever been! Anyway that is something that I have reflected upon this past week well recovering from being sick.

We spent a lot of time out of our area, for interviews, Mission Leadership Meeting, and exchanges. I had my last interview with President Jensen on Friday, wow I can’t really even believe that I am saying that.. And it’s crazy that Jade will be home next week! wow wow wow!!

On exchanges I had the privilege to go with Elder Jackson, who is a Spanish speaking missionary. So Tod and Jade would appreciate this more.. Throughout the day we spent a lot of time talking to Hispanic people.. well I guess I can’t say that I did, but some of them do speak English.. Anyway it’s a lot of fun to sit in on the lessons. I can’t pick up everything that they are talking about, but I can understand where they are in the gospel. It was a fun experience to just feel the spirit in the lessons, even though I didn’t have any idea what they were saying most of the time.

One of the last experiences I would like to share is about an older lady we taught. We knocked on W....s door, she was a referral from a member here in Osky. We got in and started to talk about family history and what happens after we die, it’s just where the spirit kinda leads it. We read a few scriptures out of the bible, 1 peter chapter 3 and 4. it talks about where Christ went after he died and before he was resurrected. Anyway we taught her about that and she said she never knew that before. She said she’s read the bible many times before... it just goes to show how awesome the restored gospel is. We know a lot of things that people just have no idea about and that is why it is so fun to share it with everyone!

January sounds like a fun month with all of these babies getting born! Jade getting home and lots of other fun things happening! have a great week and know that I love you all!

LOVE ELDER KIRTON!    

 

Pretty darn cold!

 

 

2014!!! IT’S going to be the best year!

Well I am glad that everything is starting to get better with grandma Bonnie! The prayers and blessings really help a lot and I am so grateful to be a part of the true church, so we can have blessings when we are in need :) I hope everyone continues to stay healthy and strong until February 14th!! and ... well a long time after that too.. haha I have been really lucky so far, not to get sick very bad. Everyone around us seems to be getting sick pretty good, but we are dodging it so far:) So yesterday we were informed of some really nasty cold weather coming in. Well they were most definitely right! This morning we woke up and Elder Mattoon went to take a shower... well no water came out.. Our pipes froze last night, so we had to go to our good friend J....'s to eat breakfast and shower.. it was kinda of depressing haha.. but we get a taste of what it’s like without running water.. and let me tell you it’s not super fun! The temp. was negative 16 this morning and with the wind chill it’s close to negative 30 probably! It’s only supposed to last for a little bit and go away.. hopefully!

This past week was a great opportunity for me to reflect upon the last year and think of things that I can work on this year. This last year was one of the best years that I've had, a full year of serving the Lord. And wow it went by super fast! As a mission we were able to see 517 people baptized!! Which is so wonderful to be a part of! There are many things in this world that are fun and exciting, but nothing at this time for me can compare to the salvation of Gods children. The times may get hard and a lot of the time we may want to quit, but the Lord teaches us never to look back! We can only learn from our mistakes and continue looking forward. Press forward to the prize! (Eternal life)

I am super excited to be home and see all of your faces, but until my time is up I have to keep working hard for the Lord! Thank you motivating me to keep working hard until the end, it really means a lot to hear that!

We have been working really hard to get S..... and her daughter E.....ready to be baptized this month. There are just a few last things that have to get worked out and hopefully when all is said and done they will be ready. W..... is also super close, we are just waiting for him to move out of the apartment he is in and then whenever that happens he’s ready to get baptized! It’s been wonderful to see their progression so far. In today's world it’s really hard to see the truth sometimes, there are lots of blinders that the adversary places around us.

The fast and testimony meeting was really good this week, there were lots of missionary moments that went on. It’s so great to see fruit from the labors that you do as a missionary:) There are many great things in store for the Oskaloosa branch! We had dinner with members that have been here when the branch was first started, it was really cool to hear all of the stories of how it came to be and how much work and sacrifice that it really takes.

What are some of the New Year goals you guys have? Going to the temple is definitely more often is definitely one of mine:) Anyway hope you have a great week! love you all!

LOVE ELDER KIRTON!