I'm a little sad.  I got transferred for the second time in my mission.  I'm leaving San Sebastian and going to Caguas on the other side of the island.  I love love love San Sebastian, and I know I'll love Caguas (if I keep it up I'm going to die there) but I will miss my area here.  In six months you can get really close to the members, and I have.

We had a good week.  My companion has made huge steps, which as a trainer that is exactly what I want to see.  I know she'll take good care of the area.

This week I had an interesting spiritual experience.  I was reading Jesus the Christ, finishing for the third time in my mission, and while I was reading the restoration chapter, specifically when he quotes JS-H 1:5-26, the Spirit hit me hard and I knew it was true.  It was unexpected, and to be honest I teared up a little.  I've been on a spiritual high the whole weekend.

It looks like I'm whitewashing, which will be interesting!  We'll see how that goes.  I'm going to be really good at contacting (you think you can't get any better, but actually you can.  That is a theme of my mission).

Lots of love from your Borricua-at-heart,

Hermana Kirkland

We had an activity (as part of the effort to have more spiritual church meetings our ward mission leader is teaching "Teaching: No Greater Call" on Thursdays), and he said, "There are many people who want the truth, but why can't they find it?"  I said, "Porque estan cocinando" and my companion said, "Porque estan saliendo ahora."  (The correct answer was, "Because they know not where to find it").  We just have lots of investigators who are never at home whose phones are disconnected.

We also had Zone Conference which was the best one yet.  We're focused on finding, baptizing, and reactivating.  Hermana Boucher talked about fasting and keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and one thing I loved that the President said was, "If they want blessings they have to do something."  Nothing is free.  Except resurrection.

Lots of love,

Hermana Kirkland

A year ago I had my farewell.  A year ago Thursday I entered the MTC.  Time flies when you're having fun.  And working hard.

Keep praying!  I love all of you!  I'll try for a longer update next week.

Hermana Kirkland

So we are allowed to tract.  This is a big deal.  Saturday we left the house at 8 because we had an appointment in Hato Arriba with a reference at 11 and we didn't know how long it would take to walk (it took two hours) but another family randomly invited us in and gave us lunch, and we taught the restoration and they accepted the initial invitation to be baptized.  And so did the reference.  Then we went home, ate lunch, sat on the couches waiting for our new beds to be delivered (so nice) and then picked up a less active girl who went tracting with us for 4 hours, where we yelled at literally every house in one of our neighbors, passed out all of the supplies we had with us (do you know how hard it is to contact with the chastity pamphlet?  Super hard), and got at least 36 contacts and 3 new investigators.  I love tracting.

I have two favorite lines from hymns this week:

"Por sacrificios se dan bendiciones" (Praise to the Man)

"Solo el que trabaja se siente feliz y Dios le recompensará" (Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?)

I hope you all have a great week!  Love you!

Hermana Kirkland

All four of us have had a fun time coming up with words to "I love the Mountains" this week.

In other news, the weather has decided that it would be perfect to start pouring immediately when we leave the house every day.  It doesn't matter what time it is, it just starts raining when we leave.  But at least it's cooler.

My recent convert passed the sacrament for the second time yesterday and I was SUPER STOKED.  One of the great things about staying in an area for a long time is it's easier to see progress.  If you're doing it right.

I love the mission, I love P-Day, I love the sisters, I love my calzoné, I love the whole world and all it's little things...

Hermana Kirkland