Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This week has been busy busy, but oh so good. 

Car: I passed my driving test! I will now return home with the best souvenir you could ask for - a British driver's license.

Another great quote!: (as we were teaching our investigator from China about tithing): "So, you said it's sorta like a tax, but that sounds more like an investment." He teaches us more truth than we teach him apparently.

I'm so sorry, but the elders are getting a bit antsy. There's a new one right behind my shoulder waiting to write his girlfriends that he talks about so often. So I'll send a few pictures, and make sure next weeks e-mail is planned out a bit in advance. Sorry mom! Love you.

Sister Kuykendall

P-Day activity last Monday

Something called hot pot. Lots of raw things. Somewhat vile, but we couldn't stop eating it. Went with our friends from China.

I love investigators!

Sorry so short

I feel like our feet are running faster than our minds and strength can handle. We decided this week that we would skip our weekly planning, a few meals, some of our preparation day, etc. so we could talk with a few more people and such. Since we have quite a bit of travelling and meetings, we don't get to do as much in a day as we'd like. We only ended up killing ourselves. Haha, we learned our lesson. We still had an awesome week, and I got to do an exchange in Peterborough with Sister Carter! The sister I trained. I also got to see my cute little recent convert there. Overall, life is good. Honestly, this week was quite a bit more challenging that most in many aspects, but I must say that God does answer prayer. He really does. 

Saddest moment: We had an investigator from China who dropped us this week. She has been super excited for baptism, but she's been forbidden from learning with us :( We were absolutely heart broken. It's not even that we're losing an investigator, but she's become one of our best friends, and now we'll never see her again.

Anyway, not to be depressing, but I'll just do the one sad moment. And now you're going to hate me mom, but I don't have much time to write today so I'll end there. I'm happy and loving life. Coventry is still super. 

Sister Kuykendall the 1st

Amazing week

We had an amazing week, and were blessed to meet some really incredible new people. Also, I'm sorry I start every e-mail with the same sentence. 

This week, we had two exchanges planned. Because of a string of mishaps, the one we planned for Thursday evening ended up being a lot later than we expected. We were in a rush, and as we sped down the motorway at 8:30 at night, our car started to make funny noises. It sputtered, slowed down, and we eventually pulled up to a complete stop. We started to panic because first, we don't know anything about cars, and second, we needed to be in before 9. We tried looking in the hood, but let's be real, we didn't know what we were even looking for. Then, Sister Bertha got these mortified look on her face. She went into the car again and we both realised that we simply had not put petrol into the car in about 2 weeks. We were completely empty. We called our friend Sam, and he drove us to a nearby ASDA, but he had to get somewhere right after, so we were left to our own devices. We sprinted into ASDA, bought a fuel can, bought like £2 worth of fuel, sprinted back to our car, and filled it up. We still had barely enough to make it back to the petrol station, but we made it, filled up, and sped on. Though it was an adventure, and we laughed and took a video of our stupidity, we were really blessed with some kind people along the way, and safety in the dark. Small miracle.

Funny conversation:

90 year old man: You're not from around here... What's that accent?

Me: I'm from America.

90 yo: Oooooooooooooo! Really? Are you really? 

Me: Yeah, have you been there?

90 yo: Nope. But I've got a bus pass.

We met a boy this week from China on Thursday who is absolutely increidble. When we showed him the Book of Mormon, he got so so excited. Seriously, it was the cutest thing. He was bouncning up and down, and he told us he had stolen his roommate's copy of the book. We asked if he wanted one in Mandarin. It almost looked like he was about to faint his smile was so big. He told us he'd always wanted a Book of Mormon, and now he could understand it :) He clung to the book, and wouldn't let go. When he came to church on Sunday, he was still clutching that same book. It already had some wear on it. It made me really thing about how I think of the scriptures. I mean, I do love them, but I think I take them for granted sometimes. 

Being in this area has increased my testimony so much. We are teaching about 7 people from China, and each of them either have a PhD or are working on a PhD. One is working on her second PhD. These are incredibly bright people that are working on and studying things that will change the world. Many of them have also never really heard about God, and don't know who He is in any sense. The idea is foreign and new to them, but they've decide to experiment and see if He's actually there. Each of these investigators have felt the warmth of the Holy Ghost and have accepted the idea that God is there and we can talk with Him through prayer. They aren't dumb. They don't accept it without lots of thought and studying and experimentation. But these people just get it. How amazing is this? These are some of my best friends. 

Sorry for the scattered e-mail. That's how my brain has been the past few months. Love you!

Katie

Exchanges

Conference

Celebrating an early Christmas with Sister B

Sister B, Sister Rasmussen (President's wife) and me

Best week

This was probably the best week of my mission thus far. Though there wasn't a baptism, or anything of major significance, I met some of the most amazing people, and I was able to share my testimony with them. And the week ended with an amazing conference that quite a few of our investigators were able to attend and feel the spirit. One of our friends came to the Saturday morning session. He's from China, and he's about 22 years old. At the start of the conference, he was feeling a little bored. He doesn't know English as well as he'd like, at he didn't exactly understand what he was getting into I guess. He stayed because we had treats, but by the end he seemed a bit frustrated. I asked what he thought of the conference, and in his broken English he said, "Why do I feel the peace in my heart if I didn't know what they say!" Bless. We love him. I'll include a few more investigator quotes from the week:

When explaining the Holy Ghost, our investigator from Korea who's about 29 years old said, "So it's like wireless internet between you and God?"

When we asked one investigator if he receives answers to prayer, he said, "God has given me answers. He gives it in the form of information, that I can either use or not. He can't force me to use it." He's really wise.

Also, I'm in love with investigators' first prayers. They're lovely. One 21 year old boy from Coventry said, "Heavenly Father, I don't know if you're there, but this prayer thing is really cool, I think you're really cool, these girls are really cool, and it's cool I can learn about you." 

Exchange: I got to go on an exchange to Bedworth this past week! It's a way cute leelte place. I was in a trio for the day. A bit #awks, but loved being able to see more of England. 

#ldsconf: One of our investigators came to conference a bit drunk, though he took LOADS of notes. I'm not sure what on, but we're hopeful that it was spiritual impressions.

We set some pretty high goals for this week, because we were surprised at what we were able to do this week. We're quite busy with exchanges, travelling, and meetings, but our hoping our faith will allow is some miracles.. ha. Anyway, sorry if this is short! I'll send some pictures. Love you.

Katie