Countdown

Fam.

Ha. I feel totally fried. I should have written this at the beginning of my email sesh, but I did not. And now my head hurts. All the emails I recieved today reminded me of how soon I'm leaving. I feel like it's really unfair that I have to all of a sudden leave all my best friends here in the UK.

Our new year was lovely. I set the alarm for 12 so I could wake up to the new year, but then I was super annoyed when it went off. But our week has been amazing. For some reason, a few of our sisters got ill or injured this week, and since we're the closest sisters with a car, we got to make a few hospital trips. But one was on New Years Eve, so I thought of my dad and watched the fireworks as we drove on the motorway to our destinations. God loves me. #tendermercy

Text from a girl we're teaching from China:

Kuykendall,

I have decided to baptism

10 th

haha

Thank u.

I nearly DIED when I read it. So cute! And so simple. She's been praying and studying, trying to figure out if this is true. She leaves for China when I go back to America, and we challenged her to really try and find her answer before then. And she did :) Her prayers are beautiful and simple. It's amazing to see the transformation of someone who doesn't have any previous knowledge of God to one who knows with all their heart that they're a child of a divine Being. 

The reason I am serving a mission: In Mark 16:15, Jesus Christ says "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Many people I meet (and many people back home) question my decision to come out here and teach the gospel. I mean, it's hard and sometimes not pleasant, and many people haven't wanted to listen. Being obedient to this commandment has honestly been rough. It always will be for everyone. But, I love the Lord, and so my decision was simple in the end. The only way I want to live my life is through the teaching of Jesus Christ. We have Someone who has gone through everything on our behalf. In essence, He lived our life before we did. Why not trust Him? He's gone through it all, He loves me, and He wouldn't tell me to do something that would make me unhappy. I have not yet been disappointed in living the gospel. I am more happy right now than I have ever been in my entire life. Perhaps this may sound cheesy, but I'll never be able to express my feelings about this adequately. I don't understand everything, my life is so far from perfect, but I can be happy despite the hard things that come. So, that's why I preach the gospel. In the Mormon 9:22, it also talks about preaching the gospel to every creature. Jesus Himself taught everyone He met. And that's because He loved those people. And me, and you.

Sorry for the random scattered thoughts. I love you!

Sister Kuykendall