Christian!

This was a week of miracles. We saw many obvious events that showed the Lord's hand in our work. It's been a long and draining week, but holy cow I love it here. I love being a missionary. I'm especially excited for Christian! Oh my goodness, what an incredible boy. And you know what the best part is? Madie, Christian, Michelle and I will be serving at the same time. It's crazy the bonds you have with the missionaries serving all over the globe. I'm mostly excited that we all have the same purpose and the same support system. Think of the thousands of others doing the same thing as us! I love this. I'm also super excited for Madie to finally be on her way to Armenia. Sister Grigoryan said that she would be at the Armenian mission office when she got there to greet her.

We were able to meet some really neat people this week and make some new friends. It's always fun when I'm talking to people on the same street that I feel like I've walked down hundreds of times and people start to know my name. One woman that we've become friends with lives in the middle of nowhere in a place called Lampeter. Earlier this week several appointments in a certain area fell through so last minute, instead of doing our backup plans, we decided to go to Lampeter to see if she was there. As she opened the door and saw our faces, she burst into tears. This is not a common reaction of people we speak to. I felt a little worried, as I stink at talking to crying people, but she told us to come in. We sat down and spoke with her, and found that though she wasn't too interested in our message before, she had just gone through a really terrible crisis. As she explained it to us we listened and tried to understand. Seriously, the whole time she was speaking, I was praying to know the right words to say to make everything miraculously better. She then went on to say how she thought the Book of Mormon might be of help and give her the peace she needed. I feel like we didn't even say much. She said everything, yet she was so thankful we had come. The Lord is good. Many of the most spiritual experiences that I've had on my mission have been ones that I've happened upon. They've always been things that have come and gone, and I only realize after the fact that the Lord placed us in the right path and then did all the work. 

I love being a missionary. It's sort of scary that it's been 9 months already. People keep saying things like, "You're on the downhill slope!" and I usually pretend like I can't hear them. I wish I could be back at the beginning once more. I envy Madie right now, as she's just beginning. I guess all I can do is take it all in. The time I have is extremely short. Also, I like the way Madie formatted her e-mail, so I'm going to copy her a bit.

Funny things this week: I tried to give my testimony in Welsh to a woman who speaks Welsh as a first language. Instead of saying "I know Joseph Smith saw God in a grove." I said "I know Jospeh Smith ate the grove." Almost :)

Sad: A man we've been teaching had a family member pass away and hasn't wanted to talk with us anymore. We were super bummed, but there's nothing really we can do but hope and pray that he'll feel peace and comfort at this time.

Sheep: Our car got somewhat stuck on a small road because it was pouring rain like nonstop and it was starting to get flooded. We got out to asses what we should do and saw a heard of sheep to the side of us in the mist. They "baaed" at us and it sounded like cheering. It gave us the motivation to get our car our of danger to safety.

I love this gospel. I love my Saviour, and I know that he lives. Study the Atonement! Just do it. I know He loves you, and the way we can return the love He shows to us is by learning of Him AND serving others.

Special K

Newcastle Emlyn Castle

Playing football with members

Nine months!

Family and friends,

I feel as if this whole experience has flown by at an incredible rate. I only have nine months left! And I'm praying I'll stay in Wales for most of that time. Tonight, we find out about our transfer moves. Both Sister Allred and I are pretty sure we are staying, so probably not too much exciting stuff going on there. We love this area. It's absolutely gorgeous. I think I say that every time, but it's still true. And we've really grown close to the people we're teaching. I feel like they are my best friends, and I'll die if I actually find out tonight that I'm going across the country over to England.

This week we tried some different methods of finding, as it's been somewhat of a challenge to find actual people in our area, let alone prepared people. It's a really big area, and most of it is meadow, grassland, and farmland. Which is super pretty.

Today, we had the chance to go out to the coast of a place called Gwbert. There's a cool lookout where you can watch the seals, and loads of farm animals on the way. So we were loving life. I love Wales.

This week, we met a man who said he was atheist. Upon further investigation, we found that he believed in some form of a higher being (like most atheists over here). We tried to testify that there really is a God who knows and loves him and wants to hear from him. As I finished telling him what I know to be true, he sorta scoffed at me and said "You can't help me. You're too young."   I told him how I knew the things I did, and how I knew he could know as well. I couldn't think of anything else to do but just bear testimony. At the end, he sorta smiled and said "I like you more than the other religious people that come around." He walked away in dramatic fashion. Immediately, I thought about Elder Holland's talk. Though my situation wasn't as bad as having food spit in my face, some of the people we've met are short with us, impolite, or close-minded. As a missionary, I've been put in situations that have forced me to take a stand on many things. I hope that each and every person that reads this knows that I would simply not be here if I did not know that this gospel was true. I just wouldn't be able to do it. I know my Saviour lives. I know it with my whole heart, and I cannot deny it.

I love you! Jesus loves you!

Love,

Sister Kuykendall

                                 My cute district. It's just the elders in Aberystwyth and us.

                                                       Me and loose goat.

                                                                    SHEEP!!

                                                      Preparation Day activity

                                                                                        Gwbert

Conference weekend

Hello friends and family!

I don't have too much time, but we've had a really lovely week and loads of tender mercies. I am in the best mission on the planet. The experiences and trials I've had are perfect.

We've been teaching a very humble man who has had some really rough history and past. He struggles with a few addictions, and we've been helping him to work through them with help from his Heavenly Father. My goodness, he's incredible. He's very receptive to the Spirit. The joy (I don't necessarily like that word, but it's the only one that fits here) that I've felt as I've taught him and others has gone beyond anything I thought possible. No wonder Satan tries to keep us blind from it in any way possible.

Anyway, I love this gospel! I loved general conference. Especially Elder M. Russel Ballard.

Love,

Sister K

                            Another beach one because I can't stand how pretty my area is!

                 I know this looks like a blob of fog and mist, but there is a hidden sheep in there. I love it