¡Buenas Tardes Amigos!

Hola chicos,

It has been cold today. - 20 C is hard to get used to for anyone. But we are staying warm up here doing the work of the Lord. Have I told you guys it' the best. Probably have, but it is the best.

I have felt lost these past couple of weeks. My scriptures fell apart and I couldn't use them to teach. But I got them redone be this guy that the LDS bookstore here endorses. He did a wonderful job. They look better than they did before. And that is saying a lot. But we should not take our scriptures for granted. They are some of the most effective tools we have as missionaries. The word of God changes people's hearts. I am a witness of that. I know that if we prayerfully read the scriputres daily we can stay on the right path all of our lives.

Eduardo got baptized on Saturday. It was really an amazing experience. It has been such a pleasure to teach him. He was so ready from the beginning and we have learned through him that the Lord leads His people to His Gospel. Eduardo found a Mormon.org card in a Spanish shop and called in to have missionaries come stop by. Go tiendas latinas!! He is such a trooper because he was working all week and got pretty sick. We kept saying that not only was he going to get spiritually cleaned but that he would get rid of his sickness when he went down in the water. He felt really good and you could tell that he was really affected by the ordinance. His two youngest children who are both in high school were able to come. The Spirit was really sweet and his children where affected by it as well. It was actually quite funny. They were holding hands as he went down into the water. You could tell that they were both nervous, but at the same time proud of their father. Elder Schubert got to perform his first confirmation and it was a great one at that. He was like, "I can't even remember what I said." That's the best feeling ever. We are really excited to keep working with his family and we are so proud of our new friend and new brother.

Martha is doing great. She got to say the prayer in sacrament meeting, and totally in Spanish! Such a milestone for her. I love how the stake she is in is so flexible with Spanish work. We are still pushing along. Winning the fight with perservierance. I totally spelled that wrong. I have to tell you all that trying to learn Spanish in an English speaking place is really funny sometimes. Its kinda like I have two libraries on each side of my brain and a bridge connecting the two. And there is a little man running back and forth on the bridge switching between Spanish and English libraries. Sometimes he gets really tired and he passes out on the bridge. That is when I can't remember a word in English or Spanish. It is really fun.

Well, I love you all and hope that you are all pressing forward in the ways of the Lord. Remember to stand in holy places and leave enough room for other to stand there with you.

Mucho Amor,

Elder Kipp

Let It Snow!

Hola vatos!

¿Cómo le va el frio? I hear that it has been pretty cold down in the states. That is good. Now you all can know how we all feel up here in Canada. It hasn't been extremely cold here, but we are getting lots of snow. I call it heaven dust. It just looks so good on all the pine trees. The roads have been a little bit more slippery, but Elder Schubert is a great driver and we have a Subaru Impreza that is all wheel drive, so great in the snow.

I have to say that I am still happy to be here in this area. After almost 15 months in the same place, you really get to know the memebers and learn how to work with them. The Lord is blessing this area with people that want to hear the message and I am so grateful to be here to see it all pan out. We keep finding people to teach and that is the important part. It was hard to say goodbye to our Elder Doxey, but I know that he will do a great job down in the south side. Elder Schubert and I both looked at each other when we got back to the pad, we looked around and it felt quiet and empty. But we are doing better now. Still pushing the work forward.

We had a great week last week. We picked up some new investigators that we are hoping can start coming to church. One guy's name is Miguel and we met him through an inactive guy. He is from Mexico and up here working. Really humble and we feel like ready to hear the message we bring. We are also teaching Ruben and Cindy again. It has been about 6 months and we got to talking with them on Friday and they seem to be open again to meeting with us. But its amazing to keep in contact with people and see how much they have changed in six months. I am super excited to meet with them again. Eduardo is still on track fot the 26th of January. The underlying theme yesterday at church was true conversion. It really hit home with him and he is looking forward to his baptism. He is a little scared though to get into the water, but we reassured him that he could plug his nose. haha We found a guy in his ward that drives trucks as well, and they really get along. Remember to always keep yourself open to fellowship people that are trying to learn about the gospel.

I have been studying a lot lately on the "enabling power of the Atonement". It is really helping me realize that people who have a temple reccomend and are following the commandment, still need to utilize the atonement. Not to go from bad to good, but to go from good to better. It is really true. Missionaries use the Atonement so much to become more like the Savior. When there is a problem that we can't fix we rely on the power of heaven to give us strength. The Lord never really takes the problem away, but he gives us the strength so that it does not seem that bad. I love the Atonement and realize how infinite it really is everyday.

I love you all and I love this work.

Mucho Amor,

Elder Kipp

Hello My Friends

¿Cómo están todos?

We got transfer calls this morning and......I am staying in the North baby!! Elder Doxey is going down to the south and Elder Schubbert and I wll stick around up here. We are looking forward to seeing what will happen in the coming months. But we are really sad today because the three amigos are breaking up. But they are making fun of me and saying that my posterity is already filling the land. he he It is good for everyone to go through change every once and a while. Some of you might be asking if I have grown tired of my greeny area. But I have to say I have not. I have seen so many miracles up here and we are expecting more. I love the people up here and I am excited for what the Lord has in store for us next.

Eduardo is planning to get baptized on Jan. 19th. He is really looking forward to making this important step. His children sat in on the lesson on Thursday and they really opened up to us more after that. We are hoping to see them progress as well and hopefully they can feel something at the baptism. I am so excited!

Don't have too much time this week, but I wish you all a happy new year full of blessings. Remember the Lord loves you...more than you know.

Mucho amor,

Elder Kipp

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Hey guys,

Hope everyone had an amazing time during the holiday season. I know we are all feeling a little more bloated than usual, I know I do. I think it is really funny how people think that missionaries are starving during the holiday season. We are probably the best fed of anyone. My favorite thing though has to be the tamales that almost all Spanish people make during this time of year.

But we had a wonderful Christmas week. I love this time of year because everyone is a little bit more kind and open. We were able to go to a members house on Christmas eve with 8 other missionaries and they made us dinner and we sang Christmas carols. It was a great time and it really reminded me of home. That night I opened up my pj's (family tradition). We woke up and were able to go over to the stake presidents house and have brunch. They gave us some little presents and a lot of food. It was good to spend some time with them. We played some card games and it was really good to just relax. But I have to say that I would rather be out working. Its crazy how much my desires have changed. We made phones calls home at the same place that we did last year. That was cool. It was good to talk to the fam and see how everyone is doing. We then visited some investigators that had nowhere to go for Christmas. It felt really good to make them feel a little less lonely. Begin away from your family is hard during the holidays but it was cool for them to have someone to relate to.

Martha's baptism was on Saturday. It was just beautiful. The Spirit was so strong and many of the people of her ward were able to come out and support her. We had some investigators there and it is amazing to me how people can receive answers to prayers at baptisms. One of our investigators Manuel expressed that he felt more comfortable about the idea of being baptised after seeing someone else do it. Other peoples baptisms are great tools for other peoples conversions. She is so funny and after the ordinance she didn't realize that we still had more program to do. So she was taking a long time getting ready and doing her hair. Reminded me of mom. Just kidding. But it was all such a good experience. She later said that she felt like a new person. I got the privilege to confirm her the next day at church and it was an awesome blessing. Repeatedly it was said that Heavenly Father was proud of her decision and that he is right there by her side. I love her and am excited to see her continue to progress. She loves the new feeling of the Spirit and keeps telling us that she feels "different", it's perfect.

I love this work and will continue firmly in it. I hope that I can continue to grow in the ways of the Lord. I got a long way to go.

 Mucho Amor,

 Elder Kipp