The Weeks Fly By

April 13, 2015

From the Letter to the Mission President:

This week just flew by! With two exchanges, the week passed so quickly! It was a wonderful week! :)

My family is doing wonderful! My older sister is getting ready to have her baby! I may have a new nephew in the next week! We are all so excited!

It have been marvelous working here in Santa Maria! We had an amazing lesson with N! We had our lesson at the church and brought a member. It was such a powerful lesson. N really is starting to open up to us. We retaught him the Restoration and committed him to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. We also committed him to pray about the Book of Mormon. I know that one day N will get baptized; it is just a matter of when. We are trying to go back and reteach him some of the lessons to strengthen his knowledge and faith of the gospel. I think N has been investigator for maybe 6 or 7 months. We really want to be able to help him take a step of faith and be baptized. He is doing great! He comes to church every Sunday. He reads in the Book of Mormon everyday. He truly is prepared. We are just working with him to help him see that he is ready. :)

We also were able to have an amazing lesson with a woman named V. She is a less-active member. Of all the less-active members I have ever met, V has the most pure and true desire to come back to church. It was so thrilling. She told us about her life and how she found the church. She knows the church is true. She has two daughters and is working to marry her boyfriend. We definitely felt the spirit in her home. We are so excited to be able to work with this family and help them come back to church. 

We were also able to teach M this past week which was a miracle! M is always working on her house trying to remodel it. We have helped her a lot, but would rarely ever have time to share a gospel message with her. Her boss told her that she needs to learn English in a year or she would be fired, a blessing in disguise. We have been able to teach M English and help her learn how to pray. We explained to her that we cannot do hard things without the help of the Lord. We are going to continue teaching her the principles of the gospel to help her have the faith she needs to rely on the Lord. She also came to church yesterday! :)

Hermana Costilla is like a sister to me! I love working with her! She has been such a great support to me this past week and transfer. She has become one of my best friends. Everyday I continue learning from her.

This week, my testimony of the priesthood has been strengthened. It truly is the power of Heavenly Father given to His children to bless them. I love feeling the power of the priesthood in my life. I am so grateful for all the worthy men who hold the priesthood.

This week we had the opportunity to do service in a thrift store. It was so much fun! The people there were asking us all about what we do as missionaries. It was such a great experience to serve and share. 

This past week was amazing! Somehow, life just keeps getting better and better! I love it! 

---------------------------

MOM! That's crazy about Amber! I'll keep praying for her! I didn't realize that she was that soon! Wow! Also, take lots of pictures!!!

That's exciting for Emily and Adam! I hope they took pictures too! :)

Exchanges with Hermana Cuevas! She came here from Solvang to work with me. We also had exchanges with the Arroyo Grande Hermanas, but I don't have pictures because I temporarily lost my camera. It was a miracle that I found it again! 

I just realized my other hand is awkwardly not touching her shoulder. It must have been an action shot! ;)

Is the package that you are referring to the one with the information about the apartments? Then yes! Oh, that is so helpful! I'm still deciding, but one of my favorites is the Willows. I remember when they were building those. I'm still thinking about where I should go. Thank you! That was a fun surprise!

Holy cow, no, I cannot believe that you got my flight information?! Crazy! Life just keeps passing by faster and faster! I don't know how!

Well, please let me know how everyone is doing! How's Josh and this girl? Do you like her? I have been praying for Josh for a long time! 

Oh, I bet Aubrey did a great job! I wished I could've seen it!

Well thank you so much mom for your love and support. You truly are an angel to me! Whenever I tell people about you, they think you are so awesome, because you are! I love you and pray for you! 

Please be save! Have fun in Nevada! Give my new nephew a kiss for me! 

Que tengan una buena semana! Les quiero muchismo! Suerte con todo!

Con amor,

Hermana Killpack :)

Happy Easter and General Conference!

4-6-15

From the letter to the Mission President:

What a marvelous week it has been! We loved listening to General Conference!!! 

My family is doing great! I just heard that another one of my cousins got a mission call. He was called to serve in the Ghana Africa mission! We are all excited for him!

We were able to see so many miracles this week! We have been teaching a woman named M and her twin boys, A and M. They are so much fun. M is a single mother, and is in the process of remodeling her home. We have been helping her a lot with her home. We were able to have a powerful lesson with M and the boys. We shared Gracias a que El vive. They really liked it. The spirit was so strong. We love this family so much and already feel as if they are our own.

We also had an amazing Family Home Evening this week. Two of our investigators were there. J and N came! We talked about the Word of Wisdom. We made it fun and interactive and everyone loved it! I am so grateful for the members here and their willingness to let us invite our investigators into their homes!

We also started teaching three girls that were recently baptized. E is 10. S and T, twins, are 12. They were baptized in January, but hadn't been back to church for a while. They came to both the Saturday and Sunday sessions of conference! It was so much fun!

We have also been working hard with the less-active members here. A lot of the members want to come back to church, but have something impeding them. I can tell that we are really making a difference in their lives when we bring the spirit into their homes. I loved the Conference Talk by Elder Nielson. We can't ever give up on anyone. I know that with love, patience, and persistence, these members will come back.

Hermana Costilla is such a wonderful companion! Her quiet example of faith and diligence truly blesses me. She is always looking for ways to serve. Everyday she goes out of her way to serve others. She is such an amazing example to me!

This week, I have learned so much! I loved how much the Atonement was mentioned in General Conference. Every talk, every prayer mentioned the Atonement. The Atonement should be something that we remember every single day. It should be something that we should use, every single day. I am striving to remember to use the Atonement more fully in my life each day.

I loved all the talks from General Conference. I am so excited to go back and study each one! I received so many answers to questions that I have had. I really liked President Ucthdorf's talk. As I listened, I received many answers. It wasn't so much as the things he said, but the things that came to my mind as I listened to his talk that helped me. I love how the spirit works. I know that as I study the conference talks, I will continue to receive answers to my questions and prayers.

I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It truly is something wondrous that I hope I will never take for granted. Heavenly Father has blessed me in ways that I could have never before even imagined. I am so grateful for His perfect knowledge of me and my needs!

--------------------

MOM! Thank you so much for your email! I always love hearing from you! That's exciting for Taylor! 

Tell me more about Josh and this girl! Do you have a picture? If not, I bet you could get one sneakily ;)

When is Amber due? She must be close! It's crazy how fast time flies! Thanks for checking about Mixtec. I thought I would try to see if I could find out any
thing. Guess I just stick to Spanish. 

Yes, I went into the Clinic. I'm going this Friday and I will go back next Monday. It only costs $15 so I should be okay. 

Really, they want Andrew to bring a GPS? Interesting. Just tell him to be careful! A lot of people have gotten their GPS's stolen. Hmmm not sure what kind I currently have.  Maybe Andrew could have it... 

Sometimes people "steal" my camera and they take "Selfies..." The evidence...

Sister Coombs and Sister Guthrie!

The girls! "Las Ninas!"

Gabby! She got back from her mission to Brazil last year. She is so much fun! She is planning on going to BYU-I this month!

Hmmm I'll keep thinking about where I should live. The more information I could get about apartments, the better.

Well I am looking forward to hearing back from you! I hope that all is well at home! I love you all!

Have a great week! Happy Easter (yesterday), I love you! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Ashley Rae Killpack :)

To Become Agents that Act, Rather than Objects that are Acted Upon...

3-30-15

From the letter to the Mission President:

We worked hard this week! Exchanges, MLC, and the work here kept us pretty busy. It was a great week!

My family is doing great! My parents are on vacation in California! I am sure they are enjoying being here almost as much as I am. 

This week, we have been going through our ward list trying to find and teach everyone on it. I did not realize how much time it would take to do that. However, I feel that we have been seeing miracles and really helping the members of our ward. I have really thought about what we learned from Elder Nielson. As we have talked with less-active members and their families, I have strived to not only teach the less-actives, but to teach their friends and family who aren't members. I have seen that by getting to know the people, trying to serve them, and truly loving them, they are so much more receptive to the gospel.

Hna L, a less-active, came to church yesterday! Her husband had to work, but she brought her 5 young sons! It was such a miracle! She also came to the General Relief Society broadcast! We already love this family and are excited to help them come back! 

Our 10 year old investigator M told us this past week, that she wants to be baptized! I was in Santa Barbara when Hermana Costilla and Hermana Clark had a lesson with her. M is the daughter of a less-active. We have been working with M's mom, A. We are planning on having  a family home evening with M, her mom, and her brother tonight in another member's home. We love M and are excited to help her prepare for baptism!

We also fasted this past week with N! It was hard for N to fast, but afterwards he told us that he better understands how we as members feel when we fast. We are still working with him to help him take a step of faith to set a baptismal date. He is doing great! He loves the church and the members. Tomorrow we are having a lesson at the church with N and a member and we are planning on setting him with a baptismal date. 

Hermana Costilla is wonderful! :) We love working together! I am continually learning from her example. I really admire the determination she has. She is so much fun! :)

I loved the MLC that we had with Elder Nielson! I have really been thinking about what it means to be agents that act, rather than objects that are acted upon. As I have thought about that, my vision of my purpose has changed. I know that the Lord wants us to be actively engaged in His work. Through the power of the Atonement, we are granted the strength to do that which we could not do alone. I am so grateful that we are able to use the Atonement everyday in order to be agents that act to build the Lord's kingdom.

------------------

MOM! Thanks so much for your email! Wow! You are an amazing missionary! I'm so glad that you listened to the Spirit! I am so proud of you! If everyone would just open their mouth and share the world would be a better place!

So I have a question,  do you know if there are any language books in Mixteco? It is a dialect in Spanish that they speak in some parts of Mexico. We have been running into some people that don't speak Spanish, only Mixteco. I know I don't have a whole lot more time here, but I wanted to learn a little if I could. I only know a couple phrases right now. If somehow you could find a language book to learn Mixteco and send it to me that would be awesome. If you can't find anything, that's okay. I just thought I would try. 

Exchanges with Hermana Johnson in Santa Barbara! I loved going back! :)

Sister Coombs and Sister Guthrie! :) Love them so much!

Baby turtle!!! 

Well thanks so much for both of your letters! I LOVED them! Also, thanks for the package! That is so cute! I'm sure my district will really appreciate the Easter surprise. Thanks for your prayers and love! I love you!

Les quiero mucho!

Con amor,

Hermana Killpack :)