Happy Pictures

Rachel in the snow!

Amazing Experience!

TERESA - Hello! Hello!

My goodness! It is sure winter over here! haha But not to worry, it hasn't been too bad I guess :) It is snowing A LOT! But believe it or not, it's actually been really good for the work! People are a lot happier and more willing to speak with you. Which is strange to me because you'd think with the "blizzard" outside, people would be more eager to be inside instead of standing in the cold talking to missionaries, haha. But they aren't! It's brilliant! We've had another amazing week out here and we feel so very blessed!

Aileen's baptism has been pushed back a week due to weather conditions. But it is definitely still on! I am on top of the world just thinking about it! She is amazing and I am so happy for her decision :) She is one of the most lovely people I have ever met!! I know I was meant to stay here in Dundee for this long just to see her baptism. There is a whole big story with this that is the most heart felt experience I have had so far on my mission!! (I am going to write a hand-written letter about it to you, mom and dad!) I know I am here still because of Aileen! And after the experience I had with her I know that this work is so much bigger than me. When President told me that there were still things that I needed to accomplish here I didn't see what that could've been until now. This is why. And I am just praying that my Heavenly Father wants me here for another moves because there is sooo much I want to accomplish here still! I hope that's what I need to do, but if He wants me to go I will know that it is right because I may not know everything, but He does. I trust Him!! :)

For Church this Sunday we only had a Sacrament/Testimony meeting and then a Munch & Mingle afterwards. But it was really good! Yvonne Cavin was there and I about died I was so happy! She NEVER comes and she was there! Her husband was so thrilled, he was way cheery, you could see the difference in his face :)

OK, so let me tell you one experience that happened to us this week. It all started on Wednesday. We had just gotten out of an amazing discussion with a less-active who's trying to turn her life around. Michelle is making excellent progress! She's also the kind of person that you just love being around, because she's just so fun! OK, but anyway, we got out of that teach and it was 4:00. (Keep in mind; it's already way dark at 4 in the afternoon in the winter!) And we wanted to make some Fall soup. We had gotten all the ingredients except forgot to get the tortellini. So we decided to go to Tesco and get some and then come back and make it. So we made sure we were talking to people as we were going. After a whole lot of "no thank you's" we then stopped this one man coming out of Tesco. His name was Derek and he was in his 50's. We stood and talked with him and he was totally listening! We asked what it would mean to have a book that provided all the answers to life. And he thought for a moment and then said sincerely, "Peace. It would bring me peace." You should've seen our faces! I was in utter shock, this was the kind of response that every missionary dreams and wishes for! He went on to say that he was raised roman catholic but didn't think it had the answers. He then said that he wanted to regain faith and that maybe our church was what he was looking for. And that we found him at the right time! My oh my! We were so happy!

He then gave us his address and Sister Daines wrote it down and then I wrote down his phone number. He said his last name was Smith and commented that it was the most boring name ever, haha. We were going to see him the next night, Thursday.

Thursday. Now, from this point on I’m going to put down what my companion wrote because she can do this experience a lot more justice than me!! It is pretty long but it was an amazing experience! And really special to each of us:

"We came back to the flat for dinner, and while walking home, I began to get a really bad headache. We came in, and I just lay down on my bed it was so bad. I figured it I rested a bit, it would lessen or go away. After a bit, it was still bad, and was actually getting worse. Sister Kullick tried to help me by giving me a head and back massage. That didn’t do anything either. I had taken 4 ibuprofen, and that didn’t touch it. I was getting frustrated, because we were needing to leave soon to go and see Derek and Heather, the man we met last night. I had the thought come to mind that this was an attack from Satan, to make it so we couldn’t go and see Derek. I had been praying in my heart that it would leave, but when this thought came, my prayers increased. I had received some very specific revelation this morning while studying (for Derek), and I knew that it was inspired, and that we absolutely needed to see him tonight. I sat up on the edge of my bed, and said that it might help if I tried to eat something. Sister Kullick was very kind, and heated some soup for me. I tried eating a bit, but it just made me nauseated and I began to cry because I was so frustrated. I told Sister Kullick a bit of how I was feeling, and she made a statement, that it was an attack from Satan. I was grateful that she was in tune with the spirit to understand. In my silent prayer a few minutes before, I told Heavenly Father that I had faith in the power of the priesthood, but that wasn’t available right now. I then said that the next thing I could do was pray, and so I had been pouring out my heart to Heavenly Father. When Sister Kullick made her statement, she asked if we should say a prayer, I said yes. We knelt right there in the bedroom, and she asked if she could say it. I agreed. She said a very touching prayer, and prayed that all that I was experiencing would leave immediately. As she prayed, I had tears streaming down my face, and I felt the spirit. We both hugged following the prayer, and I told her thank you. I told her that I was grateful for her desire to do what is right, and that I wouldn’t want to be serving with anyone else right now. I meant that. My headache didn’t leave right at that moment, but I felt that it was now my responsibility to act in faith, and put my trust in God. I stood up and the first 2 things that I saw were pictures of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. I felt the spirit very powerfully in my heart, and I knew that all would be made right. I did not feel alone. We quickly gathered up our things, prayed and walked out the door.

We arrived at the address Derek had given to us, #38 Ravenscraig Road. Sister Kullick offered the prayer before we went up to the door. I don’t remember what was said, but both of us felt the spirit very strong again. We went up to the door and chapped it, a moment later, a woman came to the door, we asked for Derek, and then a man came to the door. It was not Derek. We asked if he stayed here, or anywhere near, and neither of them had a clue. Sister Kullick then bore her testimony, and we just got rejected. IN both of our minds, we thought that maybe we had just been directed to this door to share our message with them. The answer to that was no. We chapped the door next to it, and another lady answered. She mentioned that she had seen us earlier, and said that we shouldn’t go to the door we had just chapped. She said they were junkies. She told us as many people as she could remember on this road, but could not come up with a Derek and Heather. She was very helpful, but was not interested in our message either. We both felt a need to continue chapping and try and find Derek. So this is what we continued to do. People were very nice, but nobody wanted to listen to our message. WE were practically running from house to house. WE both knew we hadn’t been directed here for no reason. WE went to a house up around the corner, chapped, but nobody came to the door. We chapped again, and a younger woman came to the door. She said that a Derek and Heather stayed just around the corner, two doors in. She didn’t know their surname, but knew that a Derek and Heather definitely stayed there. She wasn’t interested in our message either. We ran back around the corner (even to the point that we were jumping over the big piles of snow), and chapped the door. There was a light on inside, and so we were very excited. Nobody answered. We chapped several times, but still nothing. I wrote a note, and put it through the letterbox. Sister Kullick chapped again, but still no answer. We chapped the doors on both sides of it (which was # 28) and both people said that a Derek and Heather stayed there, but not with the surname of Smith, but of Gordon. This now made us wonder if we had really been given a fake address and name. We chapped another door, and this woman didn’t have any idea. We were going to the house next door when she came back out, and asked us to come back. She said that she thought Derek and Heather stayed down at the end of the road. She even came out and pointed to the house we should try. This got us excited again. So we hurried down to that door, chapped, and man came to the door, but it was not Derek, nor did he have any idea who Derek was. At this point Sister Kullick asked if we should go by and see Stacey, another investigator. I agreed. She said that we go one direction, and I told her that the woman who we had chapped first (after #38) kept coming to mind, and maybe it was her that we were really meant to see. She wasn’t sure about it, but we both agreed to try her again. As we headed back that way (the opposite of where was suggested a bit earlier), we passed by #28 again. We both glanced just passing by, and guess who we saw! It was Derek! HE was out brushing off his car. Sister Kullick and I just looked in disbelief, and then said his name in unison. He looked at us, and pulled out his earphones, we told him we had been by earlier, and he said that he thought he’d missed us. We asked if he still had time to see us, and he did. His wife wasn’t in, so w e could only go in the door and set up a return appointment. But we found Derek! I can’t believe that both of us wrote down the wrong address and phone number that never happens. As we had been chapping the doors, I had the thought that this was an experience to test our faith. I also felt that we were guided by the spirit through the entire experience. I don’t think it was coincidence that we both wrote down wrong information. Derek had been home late from work, and had we not been so thorough in trying to find him, we would not have bumped into him later (by about 40 minutes to an hour later). As we spoke to him while setting up a return appointment, he said that he hadn’t had a chance to read anything from the Book of Mormon, but was planning on sitting down and reading it tonight. He said that he had been studying to be a Priest when he was younger, and had read through the entire Bible. His life had gone the other direction though, and he wants to find his faith, and find answers to his questions. He also asked what it would take to become a member, and when the soonest he could be baptized. We told him, and then said the 26th of December! We also invited him to church on Sunday, and he said he’d come. As we left, I was so lifted by the spirit. He is looking forward to seeing us on Thursday. As we walked down the road to Stacey’s, Sister Kullick asked if I still felt we should go by that woman. I said no, that the thought had come, just to get us back in that direction to find Derek. I told Sister Kullick that my headache was completely gone, and that it had left as soon as we said the prayer to go and chap #38. I know with all of my heart that we were guided by the spirit of the Lord, and that everything that has taken place was such a miracle. My heart is filled with gratitude for all that we are experiencing. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I know that I am in the right place, doing the right things.

I know that we were meant to meet this man, and am looking forward to what he will find as he searches the Book of Mormon, and listens to the message that we share."

This was an incredible occurrence! It may not seem so big to anybody else but that is OK. I know that every little thought that came into our minds was Heavenly Father directing us and I know that all these things happened for a reason! If we hadn't kept looking then we would've never seen Derek ever again. I know that to be true! The only word I can use of describing how I felt during the whole thing would be invincible! Haha I know we were guided and that if you do what's right then it doesn't matter if its the Spirit or you, you'll get there eventually :)

I love you all!

Sister Teresa Kullick

P.S. Please who ever is reading our blogs, send pictures!

SNOW in Dundee

TERESA - Hello!

So OK, it is totally snowing!!! I have zero time to write because most of the computers have shut down because of the weather! So they only gave me a 20 min time slot! ahhh! But I can't even explain to you how incredible this week has been! So many little and big miracles have occurred!! I wish I could write it now but I can't. I think I will write a letter and then mom you can post it later :)

I want you to know that I LOVE you all! Since I've been out here I have learned so many things. But one thing that I've really come to understand is charity. I love these people here and the thought of leaving them just kills me!

Aileen is getting baptized on the 5th and I am so happy about that that I can't even put it into words. I love her with all of my heart and it has been a complete honor to teach her and learn from her! I love my new companion! She is so inspiring to me and encourages me to be better! I LOVE it here! It hit me last Sunday that I go home in a year and let me tell you, that was a nasty shock! I truly realized how precious time is and that I can't waste any of it!! And so far, things have just gotten even better!! :) I am so happy.

Thank you all for your love and support! It means the world to Rach and I!

Love always, Sister Teresa Kullick
Sorry its backwards too! The computers are being weird!

And thanks mom for the camera! It is THE BEST! LOVE YOU!

SNOW in Chorley

RACHEL - Dear Familia!

How are you all?? I hope very well!! I am doing great by the way if you were wondering!

It snowed this morning for the First time in Chorley!! haha what an experience! This will be the first time in my life where I have lived where it actually snows! These past couple nights have been below freezing soo that has been tough to adjust to and to be honest I don't really want to adjust to it! But thank goodness I get two summers instead of two Winters because it is really really chilly here during the winter time and I don't want to have to keep putting on layers! haha 9 Layers one night! My normal outfit underneath:3 layers, 2 sweatshirts, 3 Coats, 2 Scarves and I even broke out the ear muffs... haha yeah I could barely move.

We had our Festival of Nativities here and it was lovely. They have only done it for the past couple of years so they are building it up and continuing to add more to it. It didn't come close to the amount of Nativities I have seen at our Creche Exhibit back home (So appreciate it!).

We sang for the Tri-ward Christmas Devotional Sacrament meeting and that went pretty well. It was just practically just the two Elders and me because Sister Suaybaguio literally stopped singing almost at the very beginning and for the rest of the song just smiled at the congregation! haha man, I couldn't believe it haha it was funny to laugh about though. But we had some compliments afterwards so I guess it went OK.

Sports Day was a Blast!! Oh my goodness, it was like Christmas came early for me! For the first hour it was just the Sisters playing and that was a great time! We played Ultimate Frisbee, a cool new game I learned called Ninja (that was a pretty fun game and hilarious too!) and a little bit of basketball. I then played Football (Soccer) with the Elders for a couple hours straight all the way till the end of the day! Man I had a huge smile on my face the Whole day! Needless to say I woke up not being able to move throughout the entire day without my body aching! haha it was so worth it though!

I saw Patricia yesterday and it was good to talk to her, she feels like giving up and I honestly feel powerless; all I can do is pray and fast for her, she still loves the Gospel though. Our other investigators are progressing well towards baptism on the 18th of December. We are excited for them to eventually enter into the house of the Lord one day soon!

Well, I gotta get going, but thank you Sister Hulme for the letter, I appreciate it! I will talk to you all sooon! Love and miss you all!

Sister Rachel Kullick

8 new investigators!

RACHEL - Hello Family!

How is everyone?? I hope very well!! Mom, I have been receiving your packages and I LOVE them every time!! What are your plans for Thanksgiving? In our mission, we are having a Sports Day for all the Sisters from the mission, which I have been looking forward to since September!! haha This Friday 3 Zones will get together and from 10am to 4pm we will be playing sports!! Sounds like my kind of day! On Thursday the rest of the mission (4 other zones) will get together to play. But I am excited and it should be a blast!

This past week has been filled with miracles!! When all of them were happening, I couldn't seem to process all of them at once! I was mostly walking around in shock this past week. This past week alone we have found 8 new investigators and 7 of them have accepted Baptismal dates!

We have found a family from tracting! They are the Smiths and it is a family of five. The mother and her 3 children who are accountable want to be baptized and are being wonderfully fellowshipped! They are progressing beautifully! We also have a single mother, Sarah, who we also found tracting! We set an appointment with her that night and when we taught her she said that she loves the Book of Mormon and that it fills in holes that the Bible are unable to fill. We are excited to see her progress as well! We have an YSA, Tanya, who was introduced to us by a member and she is taking the discussions and embracing the teachings of the restored Gospel! There is a man, Robert who is 33 years old who we found street contacting and he has that desire to learn more and know for himself. He also greatly desires to come to church and experience the Sacrament. We also found another man named Lister who while street contacting, he was taught a little while ago but now has made the decision to change his life and to be a member of the Church.

Throughout this entire week Sister Suaybaguio and I could hardly contain our excitement! We fasted this Thursday in gratitude of Heavenly Father for simply placing those who are prepared in our paths. We recognize that we must do all we can to remain exactly obedient and to be pure in heart. I am privileged to be teaching these special individuals and having Heavenly Father trust me enough to be able to teach them more about the Gospel. I know miracles happen and that when times seem rough, that means something amazing is going to happen around the corner, we must not loose faith! We must always rely on the Spirit when given responsibilities!

I am so grateful to be here in Chorley for Christmas, right next to the Temple, I am blessed and truly honored to have it so close to me! They are having this big Festival of Nativities (exactly like our Crèche Exhibit at home) and that should be amazing! Also this Sunday will be a tri-ward Christmas Devotional and they asked me and my comp and the two other Zone leaders in the Chorley Ward to sing for it! Ahhh!! This will be in front of hundreds of people!! Exciting! We are singing O Come All Ye Faithful and I'm singing tenor! haha this should be fun!

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Love always, Sister Rachel Kullick

I LOVE meetings!

TERESA - Hello familia!

How are you all? I hope your Thanksgiving is going to be excellent! I know ours will be! A member of our ward, Sister Julie Williams, is wanting to have us over for thanksgiving! She's from England but she wants to make things feel more homey for us :) She's excited to have her first Thanksgiving. This will be great! Isn't that nice of her?

I've recently been getting over a horrible cold that has literally wiped me out. I was down for the count there but now I'm back in the game! haha So I am feeling much better and I am totally amped for this upcoming week! A lot of really good stuff is going to come our way and after some hard work we will see it all pan out :)

So as you all know already, Aileen Baird is getting baptized! YAY! I am sooo ecstatic that I get to be here for it! We went over her baptismal program with her and tried to get everything all organized. And she wanted me to give a talk at it! How amazing is that?! I feel so touched that she wants me to speak and I'm really excited to do so. So I'm going to be speaking on faith and repentance (probably the best topics ever) so wish me luck! haha

We had a Zone Conference this past week. And it was a Tri-Zone one so Edinburgh Zone, Aberdeen Zone, and Dundee Zone were all present. It was sooo brilliant! I LOVE meetings, I really do. I never realized until I got out here, how much I love meetings! They help you so much in learning to be better and more effective and happy in what you’re doing. They are just so great! This one focused on Weekly Planning Session, which I previously hated doing and now I've grown to love them! Crazy huh? And then our Mission President, President Griffiths presented a new thing in our mission. I think I was the only one who knew what this was because of Rachel! Our Mission President is a pal with Rachel's Mission President and he borrowed the Quality Gospel Conversations from the Manchester Mission! How fun, and plus, now Rach and mine's mission experiences will be even more similar! The QGC's are just another way of contacting people on the street. I'm excited to do them too!

Sister Daines and I are getting along splendidly! I am so glad I have her as a companion :) She is just so lovely! She is way in tune with the Spirit and she is helping me so much in becoming a better missionary! I'm glad I have the opportunity to serve with her. And funny thing too, is that even though she's from Utah, she has a Scottish/English accent! haha Everyone keeps saying, "Wait, where are you from again? You're not from Utah." hahaha It is so funny! I think she picked it up while serving in East Kilbride with a companion from Essex, England. So she was lucky enough to let it rub off on her. Pretty sure that is definitely not happening to me, haha, just my same old American accent. But that's OK, a lot of people like that accent! haha

November 14th was Remembrance Day. Where we remember all the soldiers who died in world wars. It was nice; everyone wore red poppies (us too!) to remember them by.

So pretty sure I have succeeded! Let me give you the reason why: The Relief Society President and the Sisters have never seemed to get along so well. Sad, I know. But I'll tell you something; it is very hard to get on with her at times because she just didn't like us. She even yelled at us once in a meeting! (Long story but it was all a big miscommunication, as they all are). But here's the deal; over the past 6 months I decided that this wasn't working and I wanted to the missionaries to have a better relationship with her. So I've been going out of my way to say hi and show love and kindness to her. And what do ya know?! It worked! We are now all pallies! She's having us over for dinner tonight and I'm way excited. She never has missionaries over. Honestly, if you told me 6 months ago that I would be having dinner at the Relief Society President's house and that I was looking forward to it, I would've thought you were crazy! Seriously. It's that big of a change. I am so happy about it! Now I have a firm testimony that even if you can't change the situation you are in, you can do all you can to make it better and maybe even fix it! Life gets better when you try to make it better :)

As of right now, that is all the news I can think of! Sorry if it's not the most interesting. But hopefully next week I'll have some amazing stories to share!! THANK YOU all for the love and support you give Rachie and I! I love you all!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love Always, Sister Teresa Kullick

AMAZING Twin Sister!

TERESA - Hi family!

I wrote you already so there isn't too much to fill you in on. But I'm getting along really well with my new companion, Sister Daines. She is sooo sweet and loving! She reminds me a lot of Shannon Sleagle (a friend from High School) haha, which is neat! She only has 4 months left. Honestly, I always seem to luck out with companions! I love how I always get them when they are almost done with their missions, so that way they are experts and I learn sooo much!! Plus they have all been super amazing girls!

But the work is moving along as well. I'm getting more and more excited when I think about the potential in this area. I know we are going to find people who have been waiting! There is a lot to look forward to!

Mike White has a girlie ehh? haha That is sooo great! I really hope it is what it looked like! (I had written…BTW we saw Mike White there with some girl leaning on him. Girlfriend? I didn't ask.)

I am sooo happy that your stake conference went well!! I must say that I am majorly envious that you had Elder Neil L Anderson there!! How brilliant! I am sure the talks given were superb and really inspirational! I am also so glad that you sang in the Choir! I am positive that you guys did an amazing job!

The weather here is definitely getting colder. A little colder then what I’m used to, lets be honest haha. But people are saying that this is nothing and to get ready for the really awful weather! Gee, I can't wait! Haha

I've been reading Rachel's letters and can I just say, that I have the most AMAZING twin sister ever! I always feel totally amped when I read them and I can feel that she is truly putting all of herself into the work and being the missionary she was called to be! Gosh I love her! But really, who couldn't?

I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon. I am trying to be better at writing everyone letters so hopefully I'll get those going soon! Again, I am so sorry about that! Sorry to who has ever written me and didn't get one in return! I am on it! haha

Love Always, Sister Teresa Kullick