October 17, 2017 P-Day #77

This past week was surreal!! 

I had my last zone conference and had to give my departing testimony!! 

I have felt different since, I think it made it all real 😬 I am at this weird stage where I know it is ending I am feeling lot of excitement about getting to be in Utah again, but I have had to say goodbye to anyone yet so the sadness and finality of it had just not hit...but I know it will...and when it does it will be hard!! I hit my 18 months this Friday..HOW??? Good thing I still have 3 weeks to keep doing my sister thing! We have so many things ahead that I feel like time is going to fly by even fast than it already is.... ahhhhh 

This week was so fun!! Heidi our wonderful investigator is teaching us how to play let it go on the piano 10 min before all our lessons starting last week (: After our first piano lesson I was like, "dang! I wish we had a way to practice" and then the senior sister missionary with us told us the elders had a keyboard they don't used, so we called them up and had a keyboard 10 minutes later #blessed I'll be playing like a pro by the time I am home! 

We also got to go apple picking with the ward!! Our investigator Marilyn came! LOVE HER! She is Louises sister in law (: 

Sister S and I had to run to costco to buy some candy for a youth event we are hosting....we pasted a big bin of teddy bears and just couldn't resist...(: Sister S named hers costco and I died!! ahhh I am going to miss my little finnish friend! 

This morning we went to the titanic grave yard! It was cool! I found my boy Jack!! 

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

-Sista McKell Hird 

October 9, 2017 P-Day #76

Oh whattttaaa weeek!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING YA CANUCKS 

Oh fam life is gooood!! We just competed in a CHM Turkey Bowl!!! Woo woo (I've decided we're doing one in Utah too, so be prepared) 

I have ONE MONTH from tomorrow...whaaaa?!?!?! How does that even happen??? 

First things first, we went to the zoo after emailing last week...it was THE BEST!! It was just like, "we bought a zoo" it was a cute little farm zoo with a big white houes of the family who lives there!! They had farm animals like goats and llamas that you could pet, but they also had lions and tigers and bears (oh my) and much much more!! I didn't even know of my love for llamas until this day!! They are THE BEST! One was like my bff, he followed me around the whole time! We got very close..as you can tell from the pictures...(: I got the princess and the frog and emperors new groove mixed up..honest mistake 

Yet another wonderful adventure this week....We didn't have a chance to do laundry on p-day because we were running around like crazy, so we decided to just do it asap the next morning so it was done before we had to leave the apartment....We go down to the first floor to put some $$ on our laundry card PJ's and all.  We didn't even turn the light on in the laundry room because it was like 6:30am and we hear this weird noise...and I say, "oh its just the drier or something" But I decided to check behind the door just incase....and there HE was!! I homeless man had somehow gotten into our apartment and was sleeping on the floor of our laundry room!! My head almost hit the ceiling I jumped so high! ....so many adventures, such a short amount of time!

This week was just FULL of tender mercies! God is sure giving me much to be grateful for!! 

We had  a meal with Peter (Louis's brother and recent convert) and his wife Marilyn and this engraved bookmark was waiting for us in our spots (: We had talked to them about the whole first name thing I mentioned a few weeks back and so they did this for us! Soooo sweeeeet!! They said, "you've just done so much for us its the least we could do!!" Sister S and I were so touched!! 

I also got to host an exchange with the Halifax sisters..sooo I got to see my people the Morphy's!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I just love them with my whole entire soul! I am going to miss them sooo much! But, I know that wasn't the last time I will see them before I got home! They said, "ohhh no! We are not saying goodbye now! We'll come to Sackville if we have to!" But I think on my last few days I'll get to visit some people, including them (: ( I forgot to take a picture with them until we were in the car...so I hurried and jumped out and got this awkward porch pic haha) 

Oh life is just peachy...except my last zone conference is this week and I am really sad about it!! I have to give my farewell testimony 😬

I love love love youuuu! 

I am so grateful for all of you and your support💛❤

   

  -xoxo Nova Scotia Girl 💋

(that is how I sign all the messages I send to my zone bahaha) 

Sister Hird

Canada Halifax Mission

October 3, 2017 P-Day #75

Oh what a weeeek! 

Its official! I am in my last transfer!! I am sooo old...and EVERYONE feels it’s their duty to remind me all the time haha! Speakin of...that reminds me of a funny story of the week. I was in a zone leadership skype and I am the only sister in it because I'm the only Stl in the zone so it's me and 8 elders. At the beginning I was giving this elder a referral of someone we met, but lived in Halifax, then this other elder goes,"ohhh Sister Hird, I have a referral for you!!" So I was like sweeeet and pulled out my planner to start writing it down. He tells me this guys name and address...in utah and then tells me all the things he enjoys doing and I was just sitting there SO confused and all the other Elders are just laughing so hard and one of them clues me in that I was receiving a marriage referral.... 😐 Life in the last transfer is interesting to say the least haha 

This week was amazing! 

We let with Louise for the 2nd and last time :( She is now home! But I am so confident that she will meet with missionaries in Ontario!! We taught her the plan of salvation and it was just as spiritual as the first lesson if not more! She cared for her husband with a terminal illness until he passed away a few years ago and as we taught the plan of salvation she was just crying and told us,          "when my husband was dying he told me this! He didn't have religious background! He told me about the paradise, the prison, the three kingdoms and I didn't know where it came from and the religious leaders from other faiths told him he was crazy! But, THIS, THIS is what he was talking about! It makes so much sense now!!!"

It was amazing!!! We testified to her that she could be with her husband forever, she just needed to be baptized and sealed and she just nodded her head as the tears spilled out. What a blessing it was to teach and meet her! She said as we were leaving, "I KNOW there is a reason I met you two girls specifically. God has a plan and you were part of mine" 

Ahhh moments like that are what us missionaries live for!

Conference was AMAZING! I just loved it all! How blessed we are to have such devoted and loving men and women who talk to God and then pass on the info!! One of my favorite thoughts was from Joy D. Jones:

"Let me point out the need to differentiate between two critical words: worth and worthiness. They are not the same. Spiritual worthmeans to value ourselves the way Heavenly Father values us, not as the world values us. Our worth was determined before we ever came to this earth. “God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever.”3

On the other hand, worthiness is achieved through obedience. If we sin, we are less worthy, but we are never worth less! We continue to repent and strive to be like Jesus with our worth intact. As President Brigham Young taught: “The least, the most inferior spirit now upon the earth … is worth worlds.”4 No matter what, we always have worth in the eyes of our Heavenly Father."

We will ALWAYS have worth to our Father in Heaven, Always! It's not about what you did or didn't do. It’s about WHO you are and who God is. He is your Father and He loves you. 

Oh life is just dreamy here in Sackville!!  

We have so many fun things this transfer! Next Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving so my p-day will be then instead of Tuesday (: I am just so blessed! Thanksgiving here and then at home!! #winning

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!! 

-Sister Hird 

September 27, 2017 P-Day #74

Well friends...I am going to be spending my last 6 weeks here in Sackville with Sister Silvennionen as an STL!!! Wooo no changes for three transfers now...I'm starting to feel spoiled!! I am really really happy!! I LOVE Sackville and am so glad it’s where I get to be twinkled....everyone says you die as a mission but let’s be real it’s just like death in the millennium...I'll just change in the twinkling of an eye once I've reached a ripe old mission age (: 

Peter, our recent convert (he was baptized by my mission mama Sister Anderson, this past December) has his sister, Louise, in town from Ottawa and while she is here she wants to meet with us!! We taught her the restoration and it was probably the most spiritual lesson I've had my whole mission!! She just absorbed it all up and cried through a lot of it! When I recited the first vision to her the first thing she said when I finished was, "I HAVE CHILLS ALL OVER" It was amazing! The power of the Holy Ghost was so unrestrained because she was so open to feel it!! 

We are teaching her the plan of salvation tonight!! Woooo  

We also got to teach a sweet little old lady in our building, Marian! She is 84 and SO cute!! She is having us over for "squares" once a week and we get to teach her (: 

I love Sackvile and Sister S. so this transfer will be a dream! A very quick dream if it goes by as fast as this one did!! 

I start something called my plan Monday, it’s like a reverse missionary training...it trains you how to go home and get married hahahhaha...yes this transfer will be dreamy indeed 😂

My mission has changed me so much and I intend to stay changed and I am glad I have 6 more weeks to work and be even better (: 

Loves to my loves 

-Sister McKell Hird or as everyone here calls me...The Bird🐦 

             Xoxo

September 19, 2017 P-Day #73

Ohh my soul!! You'll never believe it....we went on exchanges this week and guess what we got????? LICE. Yup you read that right. Lice. And if you are thinking to yourself, "wait didn't she get fleas too?" The answer is also yes. "And she had a mouse??" Yup, that too! I'm not serving in a 3rd world country like some of you wished for me....but don't you worry, still getting the experiences 😊 

Thankfully after the fleas I've really mellowed out. I didn't even cry once...okay that’s a lie...I did cry because I was laughing so hard at Sister King wiggin' out hahah (pictured below) Which lead to Sister Gillett telling me I am a Psycho haha then I found this sweatshirt today...so obviously I had to take a picture with it!! 

So that basically sums up my week! We went down to Bridgewater so I could conduct an exchange and after being there a whole day and night one of the sisters came out of the bathroom crying and told us the news.   A member in their ward had them and passed them too...then they got passed to us! We didn't actually find any in our hair, but since we had been there with them for a night the chances there were eggs was high...so we got to do the 9 hour hair treatment too! We stayed inside all day studying deep doctrine and playing jenga #dreams

Like so much more happened this week but it's all a blur and nothing is more attention grabbing than lice....Sooo that's all I have for you this week!!!

Lots of love!

When you have a rough day this week just remember...McKell had Lice 😂

-Sister McKell Hird (lice girl...uh and right when people quit calling me flea girl...it was nice while it lasted)

I think she may be on to something~!

LICE!!!!  Ewwww!

September 12, 2017 P-Day #72

Hello fall!

It's getting quite chilly up here in Atlantic Canada! Good thing I got the light of Christ to keep me warm (getting cheesy is just a part of mission life..I accept it) 

This week was pure insanity! I think I was with Sister S. like 1 full day all week!! 

I had a leadership conference for two days this week...SO FUN! It was basically all the leaders in the mission getting together, being uplifted, singing campfire songs, and roasting marshmallows (: #blessed I learned so so much!! One of my favorite trainings was about being yourself and owning it! Be you, God doesn't want you to be anyone else...because if he did he would have made you them..but no! You are you, so be it (: 

Highlight of the week, I exchanged with the Halifax sisters on Sunday so I got to go to my old ward! It was a blast!!! I got to see all my old friends! Which was soooo fun!! They were all sooo confused why I was back haha! I got to be with Laur and Belle!!! Woooo! On a mission you just make friends that will last a life time!!! 

Like my dearest Sister Bair!! Who I got to exchange with yesterday (Monday). LOVE her!! We just have a party and a half together!! I am so so sad she leaves in 2 weeks 😢 BUT that's all good because we are both going to be at BYUI....oh yeah...I GOT IN💙💙!!!! 

Life is great!! SO many miracles here and at home! Missions are amazing! 

-Sister McKell Hird

            ^^^^^

We had training on our names at leadership conf. it was given by an Elder who just headed home! Something I love that he said was, "I want you all to think of your first names....now don't shudder because its not bad haha" (seriously it's the weirdest thing ever...as a missionary somehow your first name gets all weird and feels wrong) The lesson behind this and our names was that on a mission I've become better and  become, "Sister Hird" and somehow Sister Hird is not McKell.  Mckell has become who I was and Sister Hird is the new me....but the problem with this?? Well, in 2 months I am going to be McKell again...which means I am the old me....which is not good because new me is much cooler (; Sooo I am going to work on being McKell again so that it becomes who I am, not who I was☀

September 5, 2017 P-Day #71

Awesome week!!! 

I got some answers to some decisions I have to make for when I am home because its like a transfer and a half away 😶😬😅

I had a cool experience with it this week I thought I would share you with you friends(: 

I originally had decided on attending UVU in Provo but felt I just wasn’t receiving the answers I was asking for in prayer regarding school. I was asking and asking about my career choice (with UVU already picked) and was just receiving no answers.  Then I got an email from a sister I served with who is home now. In the email she was talking about BYUI and how she loves it there then, the spirit spoke so strongly to me that I needed to consider attending there. I started to pray about about it. I changed from asking  what, to where.  That’s when the answers started to come.  I felt that Heavenly Father was telling me I need to be in Idaho, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it! I want to be in Utah...my place with my people!!  But still I was getting BYU-I as my answer. Then while I was at a corn boil in Kentville (on exchanges) a non-member was asking me about my plans after my mission and specifically about school.  I told him I was undecided still and then internally was contemplating my options when I looked up and saw some random guy wearing  a BYU-Idaho sweatshirt....oh God, you get me...this blonde needs these kind of answers....so clear I cannot be confused! Haha sooo surprise! I am really excited about it now!!

It was a good reminder that sometimes we don't get answers because we are not listening...to anything but what we want to hear! I am sure Nephi wasn't thrilled to head back to Jerusalem to get the plates, but he went and did because it was God's will (1 Nephi 3:7) God has so much more for us than we can even imagine! We just have to make our plans, His plans so we can accomplish it all!☀

We had a crazy week with exchanges and all that fun!

Tender mercy of the week...I was telling sister S how much I miss my fav broccoli salad from home... then the next day at zone conference WE HAD it! But, the miracle did not stop there...we went straight to a dinner appointment with a member right after...where WE HAD IT AGAIN (but even better, homemade)!!! Then, the next day at the corn boil (the revelatory one) THEY HAD IT AGAIN! I haven't had it in 16 months then I have it 3 times in 2 days...ask and ye shall receive friends 😂

Peace and blessin's, peace and blessin's

Lots of love!

-Sister Hird 🐧

Xoxo

Homecoming Date!!!

Favorite Broccoli Salad - Utah Style