Hola mis amigos,

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high;"   D&C 121:8-9

I read this section this week and I wanted to share it with all those that might need a pick-me-up. It really helps me if I am going through a hard time or need some reasurrance that God is still there watching out for us. I love having a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation because it shows me that the challenges of this life are going to be very small compared to what we will be able to achieve after we die. We taught the Plan of Salvation like three times this week and it is just a reminder of Heavenly Father's existence and love for His children. I just hope that we can all remember why we are here on this earth and remember the joy we can discover through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Oh man, it has actually been super hot here these past couple of days. We did some weeding for this lady we know that is being taught by the English elders and it was actually really hot. And oh my she had so many weeds! It was good and it reminded me of all the yard work that I used to do with dad. Good memories. Fun times. 

Elder Crocco is in Jasper right now. As missionaries we are able to go to Jasper one preparation day in our mission. It is a national park and super beautiful. He left this morning at like 5 and went with a member that he was really close with in the South side. I am excited to go and I am thinking about going sometime next summer before I go home. 

This week was really successful for us. We were able to meet with Mauricio and he decided to move his baptismal date to June 23, the same day as German. It is good for him because he feels like he will appreciate it more if he learns more and I definitely agree. He really liked the review of the Plan of Salvation and saw that it is a really big step in our mortal existence. He is still doing good and we are excited for him. German is still planning on the 23rd of June and he is more prepared for the gospel than I thought. He wants to get baptized here before he goes back to Mexico because he wants to have the Spirit with him when he sees his family so that they can see the change in his life. He is already doing missionary work. He said that the Plan of Salvation made sense to him and he thinks that it feels right. We also taught Alexandra and Chris the Plan of Salvation and they are really excited to get married. They seem to be really interested in going to the temple. We explained what it meant to be sealed and they really liked that aspect of it. 

Oh, my funny side note. On planning day this past Friday we took the car in to get some work done and we planned at the church. While we were walking back I was looking down and I totally hit my head on this sign in the side walk. It really hurt and Elder Crocco was laughing really hard. What made it even worse was that a lady drove by with her window down right as it happened and you could totally hear her laughing. It kind reminded me of something that would happen to mom... he he.

We started teaching a new guy this week and his name is Jorge. He is from Chile and it was kinda hard to understand him. But he hates politics and wants to meet with us again. His wife is Jehovah's Witness and he really does not like the church. When we talked about the Book of Mormon he seems really interested and wants to keep learning more. We finally got in contact with Linda and she wants us to start coming back. We are going back tonight and we are going to talk about the Plan of Salvation because one of her doubts is that she does not believe that Satan exists. So we gave her 2 Nephi 2 to read and hopefully we can answer her questions. One of the members in one of our wards met a woman and her two daughters from Spain this week. It turns out that they are from the Congo and moved to Spain about 10 years ago. 

We had stake conference yesterday, for all the stakes in Canada!! It was really good. William R. Walker (the member of the Seventy that visited our mission), D Todd Christofferson, and Elder Packer all talked in a special broadcast to all the stakes in Canada. German, Mauricio, and Justine and her daughters were all there. So it was a very good day and they all seemed to enjoy it. 

Thanks for all the love and prays. I love you all and I am so happy to be here serving others and my Savior. 

Mucho mucho amor,

Elder Kipp 

Hello familia and friends,

 

How is everything going? Canada is always doing really good and we are having lots of fun trying to bring people to the happiness of the gospel.

 

We were able to meet with lots of people this past week. We were able to see Gerardo in the beginning of the week and talk to him about why he had not been baptized. He told us that it was not his right time and that he did not want to be pressured into it. But we hope that if we can keep talking to him about the gospel and teaching him english that we can fish out a few more doubts that are holding him back. We know that if he understands the importance it has in his life and how much it can affect his family, he will find the "ganas" to do it. We also met with Alexandra and Chris. Alex was running a little late so we talked to Chris and a member of his ward for like a half an hour. He really opened up to us and told us that he wanted to ask Alex to marry him. And that he really wanted her to get baptized and he wanted the Melchizedec Priesthood. It is a big step for them to get engaged. We talked with some ward members about when Alex was meeting with missionaries before and they said that it is a big difference now. I think the biggest reason is that Chris is really stepping up and deciding to come back to church. They have been reading and praying together and she is coming to church by herself when he is at work. They are looking really good!

 

On Wednesday we had Mission Tour. Elder William R Walker came to talk to us. He is from the 70. He talked a lot about really loving people and letting that be our motivation for doing everything. He is a great guy and is a big force in getting the temple work completed all around the wold. He also said some funny things about being a return missionary. He said that pony tails and beards we not ok. And it was funny because Elder Crocco has been talking a lot about doing that the minute that he gets home.

 

Mauricio is still on date but we might have to move it back because he has not been coming to church. We are still working with Ruben and Cindy and they are still pushing along. We just need to keep having patience with them. They are stuggling with prayer as well. So hopefully we can keep helping them out. German, the guy that we met last week has a date for baptism on June 23rd. He is super prepared. Before we came the second time on Saturday he had read 5 chapters in Nephi, watched one hour of conference, and also had searched chapels and temples in Mexico that his family could attend. He really enjoyed church and said he will continue coming. We are really looking forward to meeting with him and seeing his desire to learn and grow even more. He is an ex-Catholic priest so he knows a lot and says that he loves how focused the church is on families.

 

The Spanish BBQ was a big success on Saturday. Gerardo, German and The Bravos, a family from  Columbia were able to come. Also we got a few less active people to come out. It was good to see them meet some more members. They made some super good food. Also, mom and dad, you are going to be surprised to know that I actually am starting to like mushrooms. Gerardo made this mozarella mushroom thing with tortillas and it was delicious.

 

Thanks for all the love. Mucho amor.

 

Elder Kipp

Mis amados hermanos y hermanas,

 

How has everything been going? First of all I would like to thank you Mom for everything that you have done for me in my life. I have learned so much from you and your influence has made me the man I am today. Remember the stripling warriors and how they learned everything from their moms? Yeah, same situation. My faith and testimony would be nothing without your strength and determination. Especailly in the situation of Cass and I.   Heavenly Father knew that He needed a strong woman to just get us into the world. Everyone I share the story of Cass with is just amazed at this miracle. Gracious mi mama y estoy seguro que sin tu ayuda, no estuviera aqui. Te amo mom!

 

Well, this week was better than last week as far as meeting with people goes. We were able to meet with Ruben and Cindy and they are feeling a lot better. They are still trying to learn everything and enjoying the things they are learning. We taught them some of the major commandments including tithing, word of wisdom, and the law of chastity. They both agreed that they didn't have probelms with any of them and when they get baptized they will be willing to follow them. I love teaching about the commandments and then promising blessings that can really come. I can do it because I have seen how much the Lord blesses us in our lives when we follow the commandments. We aslo met with Mauricio and talked about his baptism that he is planning for June 2. We were really excited to see that he was willing to make a goal. The only thing is that he is having some family opposition, but we promised him that if he does what the Lord wants him to do, he will be blessed. When he gave the closing prayer, the Spirit was really strong and when he started talking about his baptismal date, he paused for about 20 seconds and the silence was so comforting. We are super excited for him.

 

We were able to find a new investigator named German and wow, talk about prepared. The first thing he asked us is what does our church have to offer that others don't. We shared the first lesson with him and he really seemed interested. We really feel that he is going to read the Book of Mormon, he actually started before we even left. So we have high hope. It is so great being able to bring something to other people that they don't even know they are missing. We are still trying to work hard and trying to find the things that we need to do to help these people out.

 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I cannot believe I am 20!? I hope that everyone is doing well and keeping the faith. Remember to read your scriptures!!!!

 

Mucho amor,

 

Elder Kipp

 

Spiritual Thought: Read DC 121 and always remember that the Lord is there with us. I love this work!!

Hola familia y amigos,

 

How has everything been going in the lives of all those I love? I have thought a lot this week about the importance of families and that the relationships that we have made here will not end after we die. We will be brought back into the presence of that Being that gave us life among those that we fought for , cried with, loved, and laughed with in this mortal experience. It is such a blessing to have the knowledge that is given from the gospel. I would not be the person I am today or be here in Canada speaking Spanish if it was not for that.

 

It has been super hot these past couple of days. Yesterday it was about 25 celcius, so pretty warm. But it was nice to get out yesterday and go talk to people. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and we met a woman from  Portugal that talked our heads off . But that is what we love. She really admired us for how young we were and the things we were doing. We are excited to go back to see her and her family in about a week. It was kind of cool how much we understood of her. I think she could understand more of what we said, because she mentioned that Portugeuse was usually a little more fastly spoken. And above all she was making gallina and it smelled super delicious.

 

We have come to love tracting. We have come to learn that you have to be real with people. If you just walk up to someone and give them a memorized recitation, they are less likely to listen to you. But if you are able to observe what people need (The Spirit really helps with that), you can have a real conversation and tie in gospel truths to any situation. People want to know that what we have can really apply to their life. Also that is why using the Book of Mormon is so important. When people start to apply the stories and experiences to their own life, that is when the Spirit steps in and they are truly converted. Elder Crocco and I have also been starting to talk a lot about how we are ALL converts to the gospel. No matter who you are you have to gain a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon, and the Gospel for that matter. Without work and faith, you cannot have a solid testimony.

 

Man this week was "hard-to-meet-with-people" week. Ruben and Cindy canceled their appointment with us because they were sick with a cold. It was difficult to get in contact with any of our investigators. But we were able to meet with Mauricio with Hermano Mesen. The lesson went super well and we are excited to see if he will choose to be baptized. He has not been able to come to church, but we are meeting with him tommorow, so I sure that he will be coming on Sunday. A little miracle also happened on Sunday. We were sitting in our apartment on Sunday morning calling people to see if they were going to church, and nobody was coming and we were kind of getting a little frustrated. Right when were about to leave, we got a phone call. We have tracted into this woman about a week earlier and her name was Joy. She is native american and she was really interested in the Book of Mormon and bringing her children to a new church. So we talked to her and left her our phone number. So she called us and asked what time church started. We said we would meet her there. She came with her SEVEN children. She walked and had all her kids walk with her. It was a little crazy getting all her kids to the right Primary classes, but they seemed to really like it. So that was our little miracle for the week, a woman walking her seven children all under the age of 11 to church. The gospel is true.

 

We were also able to meet with some more less-active Spanish members and we are hoping that all these Spanish members can come out of their comfort zone and come to an English-speaking ward. Man, the aftermath of the old Spanish branch is crazy. If we reactivated all the less-actives, with the help of the wards, we would greatly increase the size of some of the wards in our two stakes. It's crazy to think how important home teaching and visiting teaching is. Oh man, I love all the Spanish members. It must be so hard to be in an English speaking country and still have the desire to go to church when you cannot understand much. Oh yeah, something funny happened when we were finishing up the Connie and Gerardo move on Tuesday. They made us quesadillas verdes (which were delicious) and Connie said, "You cannot leave this counrty until you baptize this man"(referring to Gerardo). It is so cool to see her determination and love for him. Just a reminder, Connie got baptized about a year ago, and Gerardo didn't go through with it. But Connie is leaving on Saturday to Mexico for about a month and so we think that we can go over there and talk to him without pressure. Oh yeah and Linda is back!!!  So more news to come.

 

Love you all, may the choicest blessings be yours. Remember if we do our part, the Lord will always do His.

 

Abrazos y Besos

 

Elder Kipp