Happy 4th of July! 7.3.2013

Happy 4th!

We had a wonderful week!

OH! I forgot to tell you! Sister Wankier threw a surprise party for me the day after my birthday (such a good daughter!). All the elders went over to Elder and Sister Eberhard's house and she made nachos and tostados. The elders made a three-layer cake that was super impressive. :) I love my distrito!

This week...

M**** read from the Book of Mormon. We have been working with her for 2 months! She refused to read from the Book of Mormon. But last week, she asked us why she felt empty and why she didn't have peace... We told her that it is because she is not keeping all the commandments. We asked her to pray about what the Lord wanted her to do, and promised we would come back the next day to follow-up. When we went back, she had read the Book of Mormon. She really is looking for peace, and I know she will find it. We read the 3rd paragraph of the introduction to the Book of Mormon with her. 

We went to R******'s wedding. It was beautiful! It was supposed to start at 5:30. We showed up at 5:30, and then at 6:30, and then at 8:00. haha. But finally she arrived and we were able to be there for a little bit. 

When Sunday came around, O*******, C******, and P***** came to church. They all loved it, and are wanting to come back. O****** told us that her husband is making bad decisions and she realizes now that she needs to do even more to be a good example to her children. She loved church and will be coming back after her vacation this next week. 

C****** is O*******'s daughter, and she loves church. She wanted to be baptized last summer, but her mom told her she needed to wait. Maybe it's her time now. :)

That family has started to read the scriptures and pray together everyday since school got out. It's obvious the difference it has made. :)

P***** loved it. She made lots of friends. She knew all the young women already, because they had mutual this week and P***** joined them. I love watching them make friendships and get involved. 

She is getting baptized on July 28th. She came to the baptism afterwards, and was just so excited. We talked about how baptism means that you have promised to stand as a witness of God. It was a great lesson!

We also had D****, L**, R***, M*******, and M****** come to church too. 

D**** is 14 and has been nervous to come. Even Sunday morning, we called to remind her and she really didn't want to come, but she did. As she left that building, she had a huge smile on her face and you know that she had missed her friends and the teachings. 

L** came, which was an absolute miracle. R*** is her son and he passed the sacrament. We have been working with this family from week 1 here. They were offended years ago and haven't been back very often. They still have their testimonies though. We are hoping that they will be able to forgive and keep coming. 

M******* is doing great. She loves what she learns at church and know that it is Christ's church. 

M****** is another sister we have been working with. She has been coming regularly and I consider her active now. We need to check with the bishop though. We love her and are so happy that she keeps coming. :)

It was an amazing week in Danbury. I'm so grateful for my time here. I hope I can stay another cycle, but I think I may be leaving. We will find out this week though. 

Love you so much!

Love, 

Hermana Kindlespire

This is my letter to President this week... I cried while writing it. This is truly how I feel. 

Hola Presidente!

Wow... What an amazing humbling week we have had. 

The Lord has seriously proven all of our faith. Not one prayer has gone unanswered. 

 M**** opened up the Book of Mormon for the first time in 30 years. We have been working with her for two months. 

O******* and her children came to church. She is reading the scriptures and praying everyday. She has been talking lessons on and off for a  year. 

M****** let us in to visit her after we came by weekly for a month. She has recognized the Spirit again and has been coming to church for the past two weeks. 

And several other miracles. Danbury has taught me so much. I love this place and the people here. I would love to stay here my last cycle. But like I said in the interview, I will go wherever I need to be. :)

Love you so much!!

Hermana Kindlespire

"It's Me!" 6.26.13

Hello! Have fun in Lake Powell! I sure do love that place!

We went to the temple today, and it went much smoother than it did last time. :) We got Metro-North figured out... Almost. The trickiest part now is Grand Central Station. It's like a maze in there!

Our investigators are doing great! P***** (Dominican) is reading the scriptures faithfully everyday. We just need her to come to church. I'm so grateful for I*****, who has been a member missionary since her baptism last year. 

B**** (Ecuador) is doing great too. The Spirit is working in her, and she is learning to listen. We just need her to come to church too, and get married. 

Speaking of marriage, R****** (Brazilian) is getting married this weekend, and she invited us to attend! We are excited. We only taught her once, but we must have made an impact for her to invite us to her wedding. We are hoping that we will be able to meet with her more often. 

A**** and A***** (Dominican) are the grandchildren of D******. They are adorable! They need a lot of support, so we are helping them a lot. Baptism seems to be pretty far away with them, because their mom won't give them permission, but we are praying for her heart to be softened. 

We saw a miracle with a less-active sister. M******* was baptized five years ago, but fell away shortly after. We have been trying to meet with her for weeks, and she just wouldn't buzz us in to the building. The last time we went, When she asked who it was over the door buzzer, instead of saying "The Missionaries." like we always do, we said, "Me". She let us right in! And we had a wonderful lesson! Haha! :) We talked about how the Spirit will tell you the truth and invited her to come to church again. AND SHE CAME! It was amazing to see her walk in that door. But the most amazing part was during sacrament meeting, she passed us a note that said, "I've received my answer." She knows that she is in the right place, and she is thrilled to keep coming. 

What I find interesting about her story is that, I wasn't ever once worried about the outcome. When we first met with her and her Jehovah Witness friend in the house at the end of May or beginning of June, I wasn't even concerned. I was sure we had planted a good seed and was happy with that. I had no idea that we would be reaping the reward of that planted seed!

I'm so grateful for these experiences. God is so merciful! The mission is so great!

Love, 

Hermana Kindlespire

Happy Birthday Hermana Kindlespire, 6.19.13

Hello Mami!!

First things first: There is a play coming to the Hale Theatre called "The Heights." Can we go?? IT's about Inwood and Domincans! It would be so awesome!

The Newsies was so awesome! I highly recommend it. It's weird that I am at that point in the mission.... That's what old missionaries do!

P****** has a baptismal date! She is a friend of I*****, a new convert. We are so excited for her! She is geting baptized in July. Definitely a miracle. I'm so grateful for members and the examples they set for all their friends. Because of Isamar's example, she is interested and ready. She has seen the difference in her friend. 

I'm sorry the letter is so short this week! We are really short on time. It takes a few hours to get to the city and everything. But I love you! 

I love you. I am so grateful for a loving and merciful Heavenly Father. He's the best!

Love, 

Hermana Kin

Right in front of her. 6.12.13

We had a wonderful week! So excited for my Birthday because... I'm going to see Newsies on Broadway! Pretty sweet, right? I'm really excited.  (note: The missionaries in this mission get to see one Broadway show during their time there...usually near the end of their missions. Fun that Lindsay gets to go on her birthday which is also P-day.)

We are staying super busy in Connecticut. The members have been getting really involved in the missionary work, which has been so awesome! We have received 8 referrals in the last 10 days. Yeah... It's been wonderful!

We are working with E**** (17 years old). She was baptized with her extended family in Peru, but then came here and her parents are not members. The elders have been teaching the mom, but she hasn't been listening very well. We keep encouraging and teaching her though. We had a lesson with her daughter about the Atonement. And she didn't even know what it was! She's been a member for 5 years or so. We just talked about the Atonement for the longest time. It was wonderful. I really realized the importance of family home evening and family scripture study in understanding the doctrine especially for kids and youth. 

We taught M****. She is a less-active member that doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon. We go and read the Bible with her, and share scriptures from the Book of Mormon too so that she can see that they are both the word of God. She is desperately looking for truth and peace, but hasn't been able to find it, because she doesn't know where to look. We hope that she will look, because it is right in front of her. :)

We had a Mission Leadership Conference again. All the zone leaders and sister training leaders get together with the President and his assistants, and we talk about the needs of the missionaries. It's so inspiring! I sure do love President and Sister Morgan!

We taught A**** and A*****. They are D******' grandchildren who have been coming to church for about a month. They are wonderful. We had a great lesson with them, and we hope that we can continue to have inspired lessons. 

We are teaching R****l. He works on Sunday (Darn work!) so he can't make it to church yet, but he really wants to come. We are hoping he can get the day off this Sunday. He has definitely been prepared by the Lord. 

D****** came to visit an old friend  with us. This appointment was so sad! We chit-chatted for a second, and when we said that we would like to read a scripture and prayer, M****** was disgusted and didn't want to. But D****** called her out! Told her that we need to center our lives in the things of God or our lives are centered in the things of Satan. Super strong. I was so glad she was there, because that coming from a friend is way better than it coming from a person you've only met two times. :) Members are so important in missionary work!!

We had a wonderful district meeting on Monday and talked about Luke 5:1-11. I highly recommend it. I've learned so much from that little story!

We met a less-active that we have been trying to meet since we got here! X***** was outside her house playing with her children when we stopped by. MIRACLE! She couldn't say no! :) It was wonderful to just talk to her and get to know her. She has left the church because the little Spanish branch is struggling. She is now attending the Catholic church. It's an interesting situation to be in. Not sure what she needs, but the Lord knows. We are excited to meet with her again next week!

Hermana Q**** is an amazing member of the ward that always feels like she doesn't do enough. (You know the type!) She has to work on Sundays, and can only make it to sacrament meeting, so she doesn't have a calling. But she absolutely does her best and is always looking out for the women that she visit teaches. She serves to the best of her abilities. We had a wonderful lesson with her about faith. We can do anything, with the help of God. I love Him!

We have had a wonderful week. I hope and pray that we can help all the people that we work with move towards conversion!

Love you all so much!

Love, 

Hermana Kindlespire

The Lord will provide 6.5.2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

You are not older than dirt... Dirt is very very old. :) I heard that Nikki and Adam decorated the house too. That's so cool.  I'm excited to meet him. He better be awesome, because Nikki is awesome.

We went to the Yankees game yesterday, and that's why we are emailing today. It was awesome... we won. We got to see the majority of the mission too. Almost everybody went, including President Morgan. It was so much fun.

I'm so happy for Zach! The first weekend is expecially hard, so send him lots of dear elders! Also, what's his email??

We had a wonderful week.... We found two new investigators that we really interested and ready.

P***** is 18 years old and a best friend to a youth in the church. She has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday, and is excited to start coming to church. I think she already knows that it is true.

R****** is Brazilian and friends with a member as well (Members are the best missionaries). She has wanted to talk to the missionaries for years. She's Catholic, but she is ready and willing to learn. We are teaching her again tonight and really looking forward to it. She is very caring and giving. Her son is nine and also really interested in learning more. 

We are also looking into teaching two of D******' grandchildren who have been coming to church for a few weeks. Their mom is a less-active member, and these girls love coming to church. But the mom is super interested in them progressing in the church.

We were on our way to look up a referral that we received this week, but they had  a code on their door and we couldn't get in. Nonetheless, we knew that the Lord would provide. As we pulled into the complex, we noticed a homebound member sitting outside. We went and taught her a nice little lesson, and asked her if she knew how we could get in to visit this referral, and just like that she gave us the code. 

The Lord always tests our faith, and then He will always prove it.  Everytime that our faith is tested, we are really saddened and feel smaller than the dust, but the Lord always builds us back up again. Nothing is impossible with the Lord. He can do everything. 

I love this gospel! I'm so grateful for living prophets and for direct guidance from the Spirit. I'm grateful that the Lord trusts us with His children and His church. I'm grateful for His mercy. And I'm grateful for my family!

Love, 

Hermana Kindlespire

Memorial Day ... 5.29.2013

We had transfers today, but we didn't have any changes at all. Sister Wankier and I are still here in Danbury. Just one more after this, and I think I will be staying here. But who knows??

We had a wonderful week. We worked so hard, and I am sooo exhausted. :)  It's been raining almost all week, but Memorial Day was nice and bright. Tender mercy. 

We got in a car accident last Thursday!! It was so lame! It had been raining all day, and all the sudden it got really bad. We decided it wasn't safe to drive, and as we were pulling off into a parking lot to wait it out, we got in a car accident. :( Nobody was hurt, except for the car. We are going to need a new bumper. 

A less active this week set up an appointment with us to come a visit on Tuesday morning. When we arrived, she had her Jehovah's Witness friend there sharing scriptures from the Bible.... That was interesting. :) She talked most of the time, but we listened nicely and bore our testimony when the Spirit prompted. At the end, we just invited everybody to pray. It was such a cool opportunity. I know that if M******* prays, she will find the truth again. If she is truly seeking it... she will find it. I love that we can have faith in that promise. Our message is true that anyone seeking the Lord, will be able to say that it is true. 

Our investigator B***** is having a hard time with the law of chastity... So many hard times with the law of chastity. But she wants to be baptized, so she really only has one choice... The missionaries have been teaching her for a long time, and she has just never been committed. Now she is committed... We are meeting with her tonight. 

We went on a split with the Sisters in Newburgh. Apparently, Newburgh City is super super sketchy. But don't worry, we were outside of the city. It was a lot of fun! Those sisters are doing great! We got two more sisters there for next cycle. I'm excited to go on splits with them too. 

Also... several members think that we have the priesthood. Haha. They've never had sister missionaries before, so they don't know. Kinda funny. :)

We had a wonderful week. It's been full of miracles and blessings. We are seeing changes... There very small changes, but I know they are being prepared for bigger covenants. 

Love, 

Hermana Kindlespire

"Who is winning today?" 5.22.2013

We had a wonderful week! Sounds like it was a lot similar to Katie's week too. It was a struggle. Our appointments canceled one after the other. On Thursday, everything fell through and we looked up person after person, tracted, contacted, and nothing. As we made our way to eat that night, we ran into a member of the church. She was so excited to see sisters in Danbury. She bought our food, and just made us feel loved. It was so sweet. I know that she was there to help us remember that we are loved and that we are doing our best. I'm so grateful to her!

 

We went to Monticello last weekend and did a split with Sister Barlow and Sister Richardson. We saw miracles there too.... It's a different world out in Monticello... very very different.

 

We met a young single mother of two that had all sorts of trials laid on her. She was a gang leader and an athiest years ago, but completely change because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was an honor to be there. I'm sad it was just for one day. The impact that woman made on my mission, is unexplicable. I'm so grateful!

 

We had Stake Conference this weekend. President asked us to attend the leadership and adult session on saturday. Little did we know that we would be singing in the choir that night. It was a blast! This stake had 24 missionaries covering their area as of January. And now there are 40 (10 sisters).

The Stake Conference on Sunday was broadcast from Salt Lake City and President Packer and Elder Perry spoke. It was a great experience.

 

We taught a less-active on Monday that is really struggling. The theme that we had in the lesson was, "Who is winning today?" If we are reading our scriptures, praying, and serving others, then we can say that Jesus Christ won for that day. On Sundays we can add attending church to the list. It was quite a wonderful lesson, completely directed by the Spirit. We went in planning on talking about the steps of repentance. I've never taught anything similar to "Who is winning today?" And just to find out, that Sister Eberhard (Senior missionary here in Danbury) talked to her about the same thing just a few hours earlier. The Spirit is the best teacher.

 

We've had two investigators tell us their testimonies of the scriptures. J*** saying, "It's more refreshing than my hour walk I do everyday!" and B***** saying "All the answers are here! I always find an answer." The two of them are so close to baptism. At this point, it is getting their lives in order. Please keep them in your prayers.