¡Hola!

Hey,

 

All the libraries in the city were closed yesterday and Monday. So sorry for not updating you until now. But it was great to see everyone on Christmas. I wish I could have talked longer but it was a great Christmas present. Being away from family, even for this short of time, has made me appreciate everything they do and helped me stay motivated to become a great missionary. Yes it is hard, but it is all worth it. I have met so many people that have affected my life so much and am so looking forward to all the experiences the Lord has in store for me.

 

But last week was a little hard to get in with people because of the holiday season. But we still managed to get in with Mario Fica. He is currently in the hospital because of bad circulation in his legs and we hope to see him up and walking here soon. But we went and visited him on Monday in the hospital and he seemed to be doing well. He was excited to see us and and is always telling us how much he likes us. It makes us feel good, even though we know that we did not do that much. We just stopped by and said "hi" about once a week. We also met with the Cruz family again on Christmas Eve and sang a Christmas carol. Por su puesto, we sounded horrible and gave them some cookies to make up for it. It was really fun last week as we got to go around with about 3 other sets of missionaries and sing Christmas carols to members and investigators. I really could feel the Spirit of Christmas and found out that people are still receptive to good old fashioned Christmas music sung by Elders with bad voices. Luckly we had some sisters with us to liven it up.

 

On Christmas Eve, we stopped by some less active members homes and also some people that we are trying to teach. But we then were invited to go with the zone leaders to dinner and play board games with people in their ward, the Stebners. We had a blast playing Uno and Cranium. Christmas Day and Christams Eve, starting at 6 p.m., were non-proselyting days. So we got a little break to spend some time with members. The Stebners gave us all pajamas and I told them that this was the best gift ever because we always got pajamas from our parents on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we went to church and were asked to give our testimonies in Spanish. It was nerve-wracking but I got through it and I think it sounded somewhat ok. The Lord really helped me out on that one. But then we were able to go over to Brother Raydom's, a less-active member, and make him some steak and potatoes. He had no one coming over for Christmas and it felt good to spend half the day with him. We then headed over to the Anderson's home. The wife is from Chile and a lot of her family was there. It was a great experience to share Christmas with people that we have grown close with.

 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that we can always remember the real reason why we celebrate it. Keep strong and keep faithful!!!!

 

Mucho amor

Elder Kipp

¡Feliz Navidad!

¿Comó están? ¿Dónde están sus sonrisas? ¡Porque es la Navidad!

 

Well this week started out pretty brown - ha ha. Not a lot of snow has been falling lately and finally yesterday we got some snow. We have been hoping for a white Christmas. It really makes it seem more like Christmas when there is snow on the ground. Everyone here is truly in the Christmas spirit and we love going to member' houses and sharing Christmas messages about the true meaning of Christmas.

 

On Wednesday, we visited la familia Cruz, the less active family that we have been working with, and finally met the people that were living downstairs: The Contreras family. They are all from El Salvador and they are actually leaving this week to go to El Salvador and wont be back until January. But it was really good to make contact with them and meet them. We also visited Mario Fico, our little Argentinian friend on Thursday. He was really sick because of his diabetes and could not walk at all. We felt that we needed to help him and asked him what he needed. He responded that he needed eggs and chocolate milk. So we went to the store and got him that. He was so thankful and we then gave him a blessing. I hope that he can get better. He is going to the hospital and hopefully they dont have to remove his legs.

 

We had dinner with the Cuevas family on Friday and they insisted that we try their fried jalepeños. They were so hot! Elder EZ was practically dying and could not feel his face. It was a funny experience. They were proud of us for trying them and asked if we wanted more. Ummm, definitely not! Spanish people really know how to cook.

 

On Saturday, we had Vianney's baptism. It had to be one of the happiest moments of my life. From the moment he walked into the church he had such a big smile on his face. If you guys remember we started teaching him and then had to turn him over to the other Spanish missionaries because he moved. But I remember when we started teaching him and thinking that he would be baptized. He had such a light to him and he seemed ready. It truly is a miracle to see someone that you just met enter the waters of baptism and see the joy in their faces. It makes you so happy. It is so hard to explain and I will never forget it. But Elder EZ got to baptize him and it made him so happy and honored. It gives us both motivation to find more people to teach. I want more people to feel the joy that he felt.

 

Yesterday we met with Ruban and Cindy. They are both very religious and study the bible a lot. We are going to need to bring reinforcements (the bishop) because he knows the bible inside and out. But he has great faith in Christ already and is really happy to be meeting with us. We shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and they both said they would read it. We are going to start working with them and hopefully we can get them to church on Sunday. We then had some more time before we had to go home and so we tried an ancient address in our area books. We showed up and found a man from Africa that speaks Spanish. He speaks many other languages so we do not know what language he will want to be taught in. He was a great guy and was happy to talk to us. The crazy thing about it is we looked back later and saw that the address we put in the GPS was wrong. The work of the Lord goes forward.

 

Spiritual Thought: I was reading about the 2000 stripling warriors this morning. And I love the verse that talks about how they were taught by their mothers the ways of the Lord. (Alma 56:47-48) This is so true. I give a shout out to all the mamas that taught their children the right things. Always remember 

where you came from and who taught you.

 

Mucho amor!!!

 

Elder KIPPPPP

¡Hace frío!

¡Hola muchachos! ¿Cómo están?!?

 

Well, last week was a great week. We had no snow but it is still getting pretty cold. The lowest we saw last week was about -13. I feel myself getting used to it a lot more, but when it hits -40 I don't know what I am going to do. I just pray that the Spirit can warm me up. I just hope that we can have a white Christmas.

 

This week we had a lot of our lessons cancel, but many little experiences made up for it. We had to say goodbye to one of our best members named Modesto. He is from Mexico and is up here for work. His family used to live here about two years ago but they left and he stayed behind. He has decided to move back to be with his family. But he is a truly great man. I met with him about 4 times in my time here and he helped us find a great person to teach. He is really missionary minded and I really am going to miss him. He is probably one of the most humble people that I have ever met. I will truly miss him and hopefully I can stay in contact with him.

 

We were teaching a younger guy named Vianney and we had to turn him over to the south side when he moved. He was one of the first people that we taught while I was here and I was really sad when we could not teach him anymore. But we are happy to hear that he is getting baptized on Saturday and he asked if Elder EZ could baptize him. We are really excited that he has made the choice to be baptized. Even though we did not get to teach him the whole time, I recieve joy that he is going to change his life for the better. He was really funny in the beginning because he had so many good questions and he was honestly interested. AHH I'm so excited.

 

I have to tell you guys about an experience we had on Saturday. We went to try to visit a less-active member and they were not home. But, as we left the door and started walking into the street, a car pulled up and a young man yelled out his window and said, "Are you mormons? I want to ask you some questions. Get in my car and we can go talk." We explained that we could not get into his car but we could follow him to his apartment. We went and started talking to him and noticed that he has a Spanish accent. It turns out that he is from Argentina and had a lot of good questions for us. We invited him to the ward party that night and he came! He met some of the Spanish members and he seemed to have a good time. He has to work and is going to be out of town until January. So we are going to get in contact with him then and meet with him. Elder EZ and I really felt the Spirit strong when we were talking to him. He seems like a great guy. I'll keep ya posted.

 

On Friday we had our Christmas conference. It was super fun. We had some trainings by President Campbell and his wife to bring us into the Christmas season and then we had a great lunch. It was super delicious and it ended with the best dessert...cheesecake. Then we had a talent show. Many people in our mission are musically talented, by not our zone. So we performed Johnny Lingo. It was super cheezy but super fun. Then Elder Ez planned a funny skit with President. To get his hair cut in front of everyone. They planned to just have President call up a volunteer to demonstrate proper hair length. It was a surprise and everybody bought it. We all got gifts from our wards and got to sit on Santa's Lap. Ha ha!  It was a older elder from the office. But a fun day to help us remember Christmas and the real meaning.

 

But my Spiritual thought for the week is not a scripture or any deep doctrine. Probably the most simple thing that the Savior taught to us: Just go out of your way to say hello to someone and share a smile with someone. The Saviour taught us that we need to treat others with kindness, not just around Chirstmas but all the year. Let this special time of year remind us that we are trying to be like Jesus. This is what will make us truly happy.

 

¡Les amo muchísimo! ¡Feliz Navidad!!!!

 

Elder Kipp

HOLA!!!

¡Buenos Dias! ¿Cómo está todo en el mundo afuera de la misión?

Well, this week it started out snowing a bunch. It is not so cold but it is turning out to be a white Christmas. I haven't seen a white Christmas in a long time. But everything is getting colder and whiter. I pulled out my overcoat to keep me warm and snow boots to help me not slip this week. Alberta is weird like that. It will snow a bunch and then get hot so it all melts. Then it all melts and freezes. So it can get a little dangerous. I have only fallen once. Thank goodness, because the thing in the mission is if you fall you have to buy your district doughnuts. That is a good purk, except when you are the one falling!

This week was really good. We started off rough with a lot of people cancelling on us and not showing up for appointments. But that just gives us more motivation to find more people to teach. We have been working a lot with the less active members and getting their trust in order to get them back to church. We met with a older lady named Sister Orellana. She is so sweet and her little dog loves me so much for some reason. Both times we have visisted her, the dog has jumped on my lap and won't move. We talked about faith and tried to get her going to church. But she is going back to El Salvador for about a month and hopefully she will return and get back to church. Also, we are working with the Cruz Family from Columbia and they are really hard to get a hold of but have been back to church once.

We went on exchanges with the the district leader on Tuesday. It was really fun to be with Elder Skousen again, even though he is a goofball. We helped someone move for about 2 hours and it brought me back to the summer when I worked for Muscular Moving Men. The woman that we helped move reminded me of mom during moving times. She was super OCD about the placing of her things and where she wanted them. It made me laugh. But we met with a return missionary that went to Chile. His name is Brother Myer. He is super cool and I got to share the message in Spanish. It was a little nerve racking but i got through it.

We were trying to get in touch with a former investigator that Elder EZ knew and couldn't for a long time. But we were near her house and it just so happened that we found her. We talked for a while and invited her to one of our ward's Christmas parties. Her name is Marcela and her mother's name is Synthia. They want to go to church but they both have to work. So I'll keep you posted on their situation. Yesterday, we were asked to help out with a recent convert's baby blessing. He is actually in Mexico trying to work out his citizenship here. But it was a great experience and we were honored that we where able to help. We then went over to a member's house named the Cristanshens. He is from Columbia and they made us dinner and we watched the Christmas devotional. It was really exciting. I recommend it if you have not seen it yet.

I also recommend pupusas if you have not had them yet. A member made them for us and they were amazing. But everything is going good. Still trying to keep the work going and doing what we can in the vineyard. Thanks for all the support and prayers. Keep the faith and the fire of Christ burning always!

Mucho amor,

Elder Kipp!!!