Staying Positive

Hello friends and family!  Merry Christmas once again.  It is really great to be a missionary during this great time of the year where we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and thank our Heavenly Father for the great gift He gave us through Him.  What a wonderful time of the year to spread the Spirit of Christ and His Gospel to people, and help them reflect upon the Light of Christ that is in them.  Well, being in a singles ward, everyone is getting their things and heading home for the holidays, so we've been having a jolly good time finding what we should do with our days.  Although many of our investigators are busy with finals, and leaving for home soon, the Lord continues to provide work for us to do, and people for us to teach.  One person we are still teaching is Simone.  One thing that is great about Simone, and our ward, is that even when her friend who originally brought her to church isn't around, Simone still comes to church, and even spends time hanging out with members of the ward during the week.  I've seen her change a lot.  She's had to make some hard decisions, because her mom is against her joining the church, but she has held faithful, and is more committed than ever to be baptized and continue to endure to the end.  So that's the main thing going on for us right now.  It's funny being a missionary, because for some reason everyone feels like they can tell you everything about their life.  So, being in a singles ward, everyone tells us about their relationship woes and asks us for advice for what they should do.  Usually we tell them to read their scriptures and ask Heavenly Father, haha.  But I think this break will be really good for everyone in the ward. :)
     So, spiritual thought of the week is all about staying positive.  I'm sure you've heard many times about people who become interested in the Gospel because they said a member they saw had a glow about them.  Well, one of the reasons we have this glow about us is because we, or at least we should, have a perfect brightness of hope that comes from our faith in the Savior and the Atonement.  Now, I've not always been the best at this, in fact, I'm probably one of the worst at it. But lately, with the struggles and trials that we all face in life, I've had to make the decision to turn away from myself, and focus on others and making them happy.  I realized that almost every time I get down in life or as a missionary, it is because I am too focused on myself, and what others think of me.  Instead of doing that, or every time I am tempted to do that, I think of ways I can serve others, and make them smile for a while.  Accepting people for who they are right now, including myself, has allowed me to have more of the Spirit, and when people feel the Spirit, He can testify to them how they can change in a way that we never can.  And then we make progress, and it happens without us dwelling on ours or others weaknesses, or the negative things that they do. When we focus on the positive things that people do, it consumes them more and more, and it drowns out the negative parts of their life. I promise as we strive to be positive, forgive people for the bad things they have done, and accept them for who they are, we can make a great difference in the world, and people will want to be better, and they will want to change.  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week.  

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

Christmas Time is Here

 Hey fiends and family, hope you are all doing well.  Christmastime is here, and it is one of my favorite times of the year.  So... Merry Christmas!  So, let me tell you about some of our fun adventures during this past week.  One of our investigators named Simone is doing really well.  She was investigating, and then we weren't able to see her for a couple of weeks because she was so busy.  Her mom wasn't really pleased with her joining the Church, so we were worried what was going on without a lot of contact with her.  But we were able to meet with her again and she said she told her mom she's getting baptized.  Luckily, she is really close to her grandma, who is really supportive of her, so that helps.  She has a great testimony though.  I can see the positive impact the Gospel is making in her life, and I know that many great blessings await her as she enters the Gospel path.  One thing I've really gained a testimony of lately is talking with everyone, no matter what.  Most people are really nice once you start talking to them, even if they aren't super interested, and I'm always surprised at the people that are.  We met one Chinese man named Wang who is really interested in Christianity.  We taught him a bit about the Plan of Salvation, and he said he really wants to learn more.  We are excited to teach him after his finals are over.  The Lord continually provides us with people to teach when we faithfully and diligently go about His work.  Also, I won a prestigious award this past Saturday.  Our ward had a Christmas brunch with an ugly sweater competition, and I was the winner, haha.  The funniest part was that the prize was a $15 iTunes gift card, haha.  But hey, I guess I'll just have to use it for some cool new music when I get home.  All in all life is great, and it is great to be a missionary around this time of year.  
          So spiritual thought of the week.  I am always amazed at how much I feel the Spirit when I listen to the General Authorities. I know that they are chosen servants of our Father in Heaven.  Last night's devotional was great.  Any time I need to strive to refocus my life on the Savior, I listen to or read the words of the prophets, and then apply the things that I have learned.  I was thinking about this in terms of missionary work.  While it is vitally important to testify of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith, another vital part of sharing the Gospel is bearing testimony of our current Prophet and Apostles and share the words they are giving us in this day.  I love sharing with our investigators current messages that help them in their everyday life.  It helps them to grow their testimony of the Restoration, and have an assurance that the heavens are not closed, and that we still continue to receive revelation in our day.  So, when sharing the Gospel, look for opportunities to share the words of modern day Prophets.  One great way to do this is to post little clips on your facebook from lds.org.  I know as we do this that people will want to hear more about what we have to offer, and their testimony of Christ will be increased.  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

Happy Thanksgiving

 Hello friends and family!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, especially those who were on the videos, and even those who weren't, I love you as well.  So... this past week was great.  Despite the break, we were able to teach a good amount of lessons, and we even found two awesome new investigators named Nya and Chuol.  Their family is from Sudan, and they are super humble and ready for the Gospel.  After the second lesson we were able to invite Nya to be baptized in January and she said she would prepare to do that.  I was really awesome.  Thanksgiving was great.  We were able to limit ourselves to two dinners, despite the many offers, haha.  The first was with the family of a guy in our ward who just got back from his mission named the Bishoffs, and the second was with a family in another ward named the Paces.  It was really enjoyable and I felt right at home.  We even played Apples to Apples.  Other than that, not much major happened.  Elder Chesley and I are getting along great, and we are excited to spend another transfer together in the University ward.  We have so many great people we are teaching, and I hope that I can see many of them enter the waters of baptisms (but I think the Christmas break might put a damper on that wish). 
       So, for my Spiritual thought.  One thing that I think is important as Christians and in doing missionary work is to show people how grateful you are for everything in life.  We often learn how important it is to be to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings that He gives to us, and it is a very important principle of the Gospel.  But I also think that part of the second great commandment, loving our neighbor as ourselves, is learning how to show our gratitude towards others.  There are so many opportunities in life to express our gratitude to people, even for the little things.  And I am almost sure that we cannot say thank you enough for some of the amazing things that people do for us in our life.  When people see that we appreciate them for who they are and the things that they have done, then they want to be around us more, and also understand why it is that we are so happy.  We then have an opportunity to testify of our Heavenly Father's love for us, and how we also seek to love everyone around us.  I promise as we strive to do this we will find hidden talents in ourselves and others, and we will be happier in our lives.  I love you all very much and am grateful for all of the support that you give to me.  Have a great week!

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

Obtain the Word

Hello friends and family!  Welcome to November.  This is going
to be a great month for everyone I am sure.  So this last week was one
of the busiest weeks that I've ever had on my mission.  Between
splitting time between zone leader duties and meetings, preparing two
musical numbers for stake conference, a fireside last night, and the
normal responsibilities we have in our own area, we were pretty busy
and tired.  I cannot even imagine how the general authorities do all
the things that they do, and still have time to spend with their
families.  But, although there is much work involved, it is always
very rewarding.  So yesterday was stake conference, and it was
amazing.  President and Sister Weston were there and they gave great
thoughts.  They have so much love for us as missionaries, and are very
dedicated to doing missionary work.  We also had a missionary choir
that had all the missionaries from our stake that I was in charge of
directing.  We sang "Called to Serve" and also our own arrangement
that we made of "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go."  It was really
great, and the Spirit was very strong.  Our stake president also asked
our recent convert Doug to go up and bear his testimony.  It was
really amazing.  He shared about how through the Book of Mormon, he
was able to gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  He
shared the verse that helped in his conversion, 2 Nephi 31:20, and
then went on the explain phrase by phrase what that verse meant to
him.  It was super awesome, and very rewarding to see as a missionary.
 All the thoughts were amazing, and I know that the Lord has great
plans for the work and people here in Lincoln.  We were also able to
last night have a fireside for our ward.  In it we had a presentation
the Church made called "The Mormon Next Door."  It outlined the way in
which Latter-day Saints live their lives, and what measurable benefits
there are from living the Gospel.  We also had a Q&A afterwards with
members of the ward on a panel.  It was a great fireside, but I wish
there were more people there.  I struggle to help people really see
the vision of the Gospel, and how desperately we need to share it with
everyone in the world.  All people, whether they are content with
where they are in life or not, need the Gospel.  Other than that,
Ashley and Simone are doing really well, and I'm looking forward to
see what happens with other new investigators we are teaching.
       So for the missionary thought of the week I wanted to share
about obtaining the word of God before we share it.  D&C 11:21 says,
"Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and
then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have
my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of
men."  How do we obtain the word of God?  We must diligently study the
words in scriptures and from modern prophets.  We must make
connections on how different scriptures work together.  We must seek
to apply them in our lives.  We must learn to recognize the Spirit,
and follow His promptings.  We must learn to pray, and ask to know
God's word.  As we do these things, we obtain the word of God, and
then as we desire to share it, our tongues will be loosed, and we will
have the power to convince others of the truthfulness of the Gospel.
I know that as I have done this on my mission, it has changed people's
lives, and as you seek to do the same, you can share with them the
same words that Christ Himself would say.  I love you all so much, and
hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

The Importance of Families

Hello friends and family!!!  Happy Halloween this week!  I
hope you all have great costumes picked out.  I think I'm just going
to be a missionary for Halloween, haha.  Most people think we're
pretty scary, so I think it's a good costume.  Well, this past week
was a bit slower than usual.  Not that we weren't busy.  One thing
that is really hard about being a zone leader is spending a lot of
time out of your area doing things for the mission.  It is really
making me learn how to have good time management.  One thing I've been
thinking about is how quickly I've grown up.  I couldn't even imagine
having the responsibilities I have right now, not only in helping all
of the people in my area, but helping the missionaries in the zone.  I
know I couldn't do it without the Lord and the Atonement, but lucky
for us, the Gospel is true, and divine help is always there.  I love
serving in the singles ward though, if I had my choice I would spend
the rest of my mission here.  Elder Chesley and I get along really
well, and we have a lot of fun going out and talking to people about
Christ and His gospel.  We've had some challenging experiences with
our investigators, and people in general.  One of our investigators,
who we thought was doing great, texted us and told us she could never
be baptized.  That was Saturday, and we haven't been able to get a
hold of her since, so that's a bit concerning.  We've also had a hard
time getting people to come to church.  But I think the biggest thing
we have been struggling with is finding new investigators.  Most YSA's
we find on our own really don't have time to meet with us, and the
solid investigators we get are usually from members, which hasn't been
happening as well.  But I'm not discouraged about it, I'm just
learning a lesson of patience.  I know that if I seek to be diligent
and obedient, the Lord will provide investigators for us, and we will
find those who are prepared.  Luckily Simone and Ashley are still
doing great, and they should both be getting baptized in December.  I
just pray that I'll still be here for that.
         So spiritual thought of the week.  When doing missionary
work, it is always important to touch on families, because our
doctrine on families is very unique, and give people a lot of hope.
Even with YSA's, they still care about their families and it is
something that is important in their lives.  The funny thing about a
lot of people is that they believe that families will be together
after this life, but we are the only church that teaches that.
Furthermore, we are the only church that has the sealing power that
can bind our families together, and ensure that we will be together as
long as we remain faithful.  This is such a great message, and it is
all because of our Savior's sacrifice that this is possible.  So,
whenever you have to opportunity to testify to someone about families,
please do so.  I promise as we seek to do this that people will have a
desire to learn more about how their family can be eternal.  I love my
family so much, and I can't wait to spend eternity with them.  It's
going to ROCK!  Love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing
week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

The Restoration

Hello friends and family!  It is really great to hear from you all
and to see that amazing things are happening in your lives right now.
Isn't it great how the Lord provides for us experiences for us to
learn and grow?  I am so grateful for the blessings of the Gospel, and
the opportunity every day to change and become more like Jesus.
Although I have a long way to go, I can feel the power of the
Atonement in my life, and the enabling power of grace allowing me to
do things I never could be able to do on my own.  This last week was
an amazing week.  Being who I am, I often worry about my investigators
and how they are doing.  I always want to be right there with them,
and hold their hand to do everything, but that is not the way it
works.  I have to have the faith that as long as we teach with the
Spirit and help them to understand the Gospel, they will act on their
own impressions and do things in their lives that will bring them in
line with the teachings of the Gospel.  One investigator named Bryanna
is doing really well, but I was worried that she wasn't becoming as
converted as she needed to for her baptism.  She was supposed to be
baptized this Saturday, but we had a really good lesson this week in
talking about gaining a sure knowledge and testimony of the
truthfulness of the Restoration and the Gospel.  The Spirit was very
strong, and we were able to push her baptism back to November so that
she can have enough time to do those things that will bring true
conversion.  We have another investigator named Simone who I talked
about a couple of weeks ago.  We had a couple of weeks where we didn't
get to see her because she was sick, but now she is better, and we've
been having great meetings with her.  She really gets the Gospel, and
has been searching for a church her whole life where people actually
live what they preach.  So, take note, remember that you are an
example to others who are trying to know if the Gospel is true.  Each
day I feel the Spirit so strong, and I have experiences that are
making eternal ripples in my life.
       So this weeks spiritual missionary thought is about the
Restoration.  When talking with people about the Church, almost always
they will say something that can relate to the message of the
Restoration.  Whether they are talking about families, work, or
wanting direction in life, everything relates to something that was
revealed in the Restoration.  So, when seeking to do missionary work,
find some part of the Restoration you could share.  It could be about
prophets, The Book of Mormon, eternal families, or the Plan of
Salvation.  Whatever the Spirit tells you to do, share what you know
about it, and then bare testimony of how you know it's true, and how
it has blessed you in your life.  I promise as we share our
testimonies of the Restoration that we will feel the Spirit testify to
people through us, and they will want to learn more about what you
know to be true.  I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing
week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Invitation to Act

Hello friends and family! Wow, what an amazing general conference
we had.  I am so excited for the announcement about missionary work.
It is a testimony to me that the work of the Lord will continue to
roll forward, and that He is ready for the next step in that work.  It
truly is a marvelous work and a wonder.  So this past week was
transfers, which are always bitter sweet.  Luckily I'm staying in the
University ward, and my new companion is named Elder Chesley.  He is
from Cedar City, Utah and is an awesome missionary.  He kind of looks
like Justin Beiber if he had spiky hair, haha.  He's really awesome
though and we're already getting along really well.  We are going to
do work this transfer.  So we had a really awesome experience this
weekend.  We had to drive up to Omaha on Friday to pick up a couple of
things for transfers.  We had a pretty busy day with appointments, so
we weren't able to head up there until the evening.  About ten minutes
after we left Lincoln, we got a call from the assistants.  They said
that there was a concert fireside going on that night that was really
important for us to go to.  The concert was by Gladys Knight and her
choir she directs called the Saints Unified Voices.  It was super
awesome.  They had it in the stake center up in Omaha, and I felt for
a night that I wasn't a Mormon, haha.  She and her choir did all this
jazzy gospel music (Carsen would have loved it) and they rocked the
house.  Although the music was fun, the testimonies that her and her
husband gave were powerful.  When I was serving in Conestoga one thing
that was a challenge was the cultural barrier between most blacks and
the Church, which is predominately white.  I believe it was a very
positive experience with the Church and the black community, and it
was one of the most spiritual meetings I've ever been to.  Gladys and
her husband both have amazing conversion stories, and I'm very
grateful I was able to go.  Other than that things are going great.
Our investigator Ashley is doing really well, and Bryanna is still on
track to be baptized on the 27th of this month.  Our ward is the best,
and I'm so grateful to be here.
       So, probably until the end of my mission, for my spiritual
thoughts I'm going to share with you how you can do missionary work.
I've realized that I've asked many of you to share with me missionary
experiences, and although they are definitely there everyday, I know
that before I was a missionary I didn't really know how to share the
gospel.  My first piece of advice would be to read Preach My Gospel.
Preach My Gospel to me is like scripture, and like the Book of Mormon,
has strengthened my faith in Christ and increased my ability to live
and share the Gospel.  Sometimes when we talk to people about the
Gospel we have a good experience explaining our beliefs and sharing
our testimony.  While these things are vital and important, they
ultimately lack in helping others live the Gospel, unless we invite
them to act.  Usually when a conversation like this happens, people go
away feeling enlightened and informed, but they don't know what to do
with the information they have been given.  There are plenty of things
we can invite people to do.  If it's a close friend we can invite them
to dinner, church activities, family home evening, firesides, and even
church if we are feeling really saucy.  Often times we meet people
only for brief moments, like on a plane for example.  It's important
in these situations to have something you can give them.  A copy of
the Book of Mormon is a great tool.  You can give it to them, invite
them to read it, mark some passages, and also invite them to pray
about it.  Another great tool that everyone should have received with
the Ensign are mormon.org cards.  Mormon.org is an amazing website
that is non-threatening and allows people to learn more about the
Church.  Even better, there is a spot when you can put a link to your
mormon.org profile on the back.  This is a great way for people you
meet to read about your testimony and the ways that you live the
Gospel in your life.  The most important thing when we talk about the
Gospel, however we share it, is we always need to invite people to
act.  I promise that as we do this, we will see those we speak to
become converted to the Gospel, and we will in turn be more converted
as well.  I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

P.S.- A big shout out to my good friends Zach and Laura who just got
married this past Saturday!  Love you!  :)

Missionary Work Really?

Hello friends and family!  You can wake up now, September is
over.  Haha, I'm funny.  Anyways... life is great as always.  Sorry if
I ever sound repetitious.  Missionary work is that way.  I think it's
funny when we try to have conversations with members, they always ask
us what's new, and we say, "Nothing much.  We're still missionaries,
and we still are spreading the gospel."  Although it's pretty routine,
the miracles I see every day are very unique and specific to the
challenges and trials that the people we meet with are going through.
So... not much is new this week.  Doug is a member now, so that is
great.  We can take him to go teach people with us now, which is
awesome.  We actually have an appointment tonight with a girl named
Ashley that we are teaching, so that will be great.  We actually
started teaching Ashely last week, she was a referral by the Spanish
Elders.  Let's just say she is your stereotypical cheerleader/blond
(no offense to smart cheerleaders and blondes).  :)  So that is fun.
We also are teaching a couple of people out in a small town called
Seward right now.  They don't have missionaries right now, and since
we cover the whole zone we go out and teach them.  One of them is
named Bryanna and she's pretty awesome.  She's actually the brother of
a less-active that I taught in Beatrice, and she's also the friend of
a recent convert here in the University ward named Josh, so we take
him out there with us to teach her.  It's been going really great, and
she should be getting baptized at the end of this month.  The work
continues to progress, and despite our inability to find investigators
through our own efforts, the Lord continues to provide people for us
to teach.  It's great!
        So, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to share this
week, and I thought I might share something about missionary work.  I
love being a missionary, and one of the saddest things for me is that,
one, I wasn't more of a missionary before my mission (I had plenty of
opportunities), and two, that the members of the Church aren't
catching the vision of missionary work as well.  I feel like we have
so many opportunities in our lives to share the Gospel, and the Church
would grow so much if we just opened our mouths and invited people to
learn.  I know it's awkward at first, and that we feel like we might
be pushing it on others, but that's not the case at all.  The Gospel
is the greatest blessing in this life and in eternity, and we cannot
be content with just keeping that for ourselves.  This applies to
everyone, even you people that live in Utah.  This is coming from
someone who lived in Utah most of his life, served part of his mission
there and saw much success, went to a high school that was 95% LDS and
still had a ton of friends who weren't members of the Church, had
three roommates in college who weren't members either, and also have
family members who are not active in the Gospel.  There are PLENTY of
chances, wherever we are, to share the gospel.  And Joseph Smith said,
"After all that is said and done, our most important duty is to share
the gospel."  So my challenge to you, every time I hear from you, I
would love to hear about a missionary experience that you have had.  I
promise as you search to share the Gospel, the Lord will put people in
your path who need to hear it.  You will feel the amazing joy that
comes from helping others find the truth, and you will be able to see
the vision that the prophets and apostles want us to have, and more
importantly that our Heavenly Father and Savior want us to have.  I
love you all so much, and hope you have a great experience this week
in sharing the Gospel with someone.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Good Works Openly

Hello friends and family from the much cooler Lincoln, Nebraska.
Hope everything is going well wherever you are and that life continues
to be enjoyable and adventurous.  Well the big news from this week is
that Doug was baptized!!!  It was very awesome.  He is probably the
most prepared person I've ever taught, and it was a great experience.
I had the opportunity to be the person to baptize him, and it was
amazing.  First, there was so much support there.  Probably
three-fourths of the ward showed up to support him.  Even the Stake
President was there as well.  Luckily, we only had to dunk him once,
haha.  After he was baptized and him and I were in the back room
changing, he told me how much he felt the Spirit and how amazing it
was.  He said he truly did feel something, and he couldn't wait to
call his mom back in California to tell her all about it.  After we
came back out he bore a powerful testimony of his Savior, and of the
Prophet Joseph Smith.  It was awesome.  The next day Elder Jackson
confirmed him, and he is now officially a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Yay!  The Lord is indeed merciful,
and I continue to see his hand in my life as well as in the life of
those I teach.  Doug is now an amazing member of the Church, and I
know that he will change many people's lives.
       So, spiritual thought this week is about doing good works.  I
was reading in the Book of Mormon, and also the New Testament, about
secret combinations and how spiritually destructive they are.
Although in the scriptures secret combinations were usually to murder
people, I think about our own lives and the things that we do in
secret.  I think of how the Savior would wish us to act.  He wants us
to do many good things openly and without shame.  Although we may do
good things anonymously, we would never be ashamed if someone found
out that  it was us who did that.  On the other hand, Satan wishes us
to do bad things for our own benefit secretly.  We know that if others
found out about these things, that we would be ashamed, and seek to
hide ourselves.  I think this is a good indicator that we can follow
in our lives to see if whatever we are doing, big or small, is
acceptable to the Lord.  If we feel like we would be ashamed if
someone we looked up to saw what we are doing, especially if the
Savior was there, we probably shouldn't do it.  On the other hand, if
we feel like the Savior would be please if we were to do something we
maybe wouldn't do because of slothfulness, then we might think about
doing that thing.  I promise that as we seek to have integrity and
follow the teachings in the scriptures, we will have the Spirit with
us more, and He will be able to guide us to a greater extent in our
lives.  I hope as we all do this that this promise will be fulfilled.
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Eternal Perspective

Hello friends and family.  What a great time to be alive.  I
hope that everyone is doing great, and receiving the strength that
they need to get through any trails you are facing.  I know that our
Heavenly Father and His Son are very mindful of everything that you
are going through, and they are seeking earnestly to help you rise
higher.  Things are going great here in Lincoln.  We had a very busy
but spiritual week last week with several meetings throughout the
mission.  I'm starting to see the big picture, and the plans that the
Lord has for this mission.  I know that if but have the faith and
courageously follow the things He wishes us to do, we will be able to
see the fruits of our labors and have a bounteous harvest.  So Doug is
still doing great.  He is so prepared.  He had his interview for
baptism last Friday and passed with flying colors.  I talked to the
Elder who interviewed him afterwards, and he said that before he even
asked Doug any questions he started talking about how great it is to
repent, and how now that he understands it he repents everyday.  He is
really a great example to us and to the ward, and I can't wait to let
you know how things go on Saturday.  I think I also told you about
Simone.  Well, we were supposed to teach her on Saturday, but she
ended up getting really sick, and had to cancel.  But miraculously she
called a member and came to sacrament meeting the next day, even
though she was still really sick.  It's amazing the things that our
investigators will do to show that they are trying to live the gospel!
 We also have two new investigators in a small town called Seward that
are ready to be baptized next month.  One of them is the sister, and
the other is the girlfriend, of a less-active we used to teach in
Beatrice.  It was really fun to see him again, and to see that those
close to him are seeking to accept the gospel, and to help him live
it, as well.  Although we didn't have a lot of time in our area, the
Lord blessed us with the ability to make the most of the time that we
did have.  It just goes to show that this is His work, and we are just
His servants.
      So spiritual thought of the week is about eternal perspective.
One thing that I've noticed as a difference between Latter-day Saints
and most other religions/ people is our focus on eternity.  Often I
ask people what they believe is the purpose of this life, and where
they go after they die.  Although they may be very knowledgeable about
religion, few have the mindset that we are here to prepare for
eternity.  I think about all of the major choices I've made in my
life, and many of the choices I make on a day to day basis, and it
always seems that eternity and the future have a big impact on what my
decision will be.  That was even one major motivator to go back out on
a mission.  I knew that I needed to have the experiences here to help
me be a better servant of the Lord, and better father, and better
husband, a better friend, and eventually to prepare for the next life.
 I'm so grateful for the Lord for allowing me to see this, and I know
that He will do the same for all of you as you seek to be guided and
follow your own path back to Him.  I love you all so much, and hope
you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Mormon Cresindo

Hello friends and family.  Welcome to fall.  I hope everyone
is enjoying the cooler weather.  I know I certainly am.  What an
amazing week this past week has been, as always.  So the reason I'm
writing a day late is because yesterday we had a general authority
come and speak to us.  His name is Elder Nash and he is from the First
Quorum of the Seventy.  It was super awesome.  He is an amazing
teacher, and I learned so much.  We were able as zone leaders to have
a meeting with him after, and he answered a lot of questions that I've
been pondering a lot about lately.  Sometimes we pray about something,
and we get an answer that we are able to tie into what we are
pondering.  Other times, we not only can tie in our answer, but our
answer is so explicitly clear that we cannot miss it.  Well... that's
pretty much what happened yesterday.  All I can say is that the Lord
is always mindful of us, and this is in reality His work.  More on
what Elder Nash said later.  Other than that everything else is going
great.  Despite our lack of success in finding people with our own
efforts, the Lord continually is leading people to us that are
prepared to hear and accept the Gospel.  One person, who I think I
mentioned last week, is named Simone.  She was the one who came to
church for the first time and got up and bore her testimony that she's
been looking for a church her entire life.  Well I was talking to her
friend yesterday who brought her to church, and she said she almost
didn't even invite her.  She had a prompting though that she should,
and she didn't even find out she was looking for a church until she
got up and bore her testimony.  Sweet, aye!  We had a great first
lesson with her on Wednesday, and she really had great questions that
we were able to answer with the scriptures.  It was a great
experience.  Doug is still doing amazing.  He continues to progress
and grasp the Gospel.  He is already learning how to really apply the
Book of Mormon to his life, and gain the answers he needs from it.  He
has his interview Friday, and we are really excited for that.
Everything is going amazing, and I love where I am serving.
           So, spiritual thought this week comes from Elder Nash.
There are so many things he shared, it is hard to decide what to tell
you.  I've decided to share about what he called the "Mormon
Crescendo."  For those of you who are musically talented (Carsen) you
know what this is.  A crescendo is something that grows bigger and
bigger and more grand, as when in music it seems to swell and have
more energy in it.  He talked about what people are calling the
"Mormon Moment" and said first of all that there has never been a
greater time in the history of the world to be a missionary.  People
are curious about Mormons, and they what to know what we really
believe.  The Lord, in His infinite knowledge and power, is providing
a way for the Gospel to reach more people, and for people to desire to
learn about it.  Us as Latter-day Saints have a great responsibility
and opportunity to share the Gospel with EVERYONE!!!  And the best
part is, it's not hard.  All it takes is for us to open our mouths and
tell people who we are and what we're about.  It's not hard to bring
the Gospel up in everyday conversation if it is truly part of our
lives.  If it is, then nothing could be more natural.  I cannot stress
enough how many opportunities we have to make meaningful impacts in
others lives in helping them receive and live the Gospel.  The point
Elder Nash goes on to make is that this moment, and the world sees it,
will only continue to grow until the coming of our Savior.  So... let
us make the most of every opportunity we have to share the gospel and
make the most of this chance to truly show others that we are
disciples of Christ, and that this Gospel is the only way we can be
relieved of our burdens and return to our Father in Heaven.  I love
you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

An Ensign to the Nations

 Greetings friends and family from Huskerville.  Hope everyone is
doing fantastic and really getting into the routine of school and
fall.  As always, being a missionary continues to be amazing.
Everyday is a challenge and a growing experience.  It's amazing that
Heavenly Father always gives us personally tailored challenges and
trials in life that help us to learn and gain experience.  Not that
I'm going through any major trials right now, but new experiences
always bring new challenges to overcome, and right now the challenge
is trying to figure out how to serve in a singles ward.  It is
certainly unique.  But this is the Lord's work and He will make sure
it is taken care of as long as we are willing to follow him.  So last
week we were able to take Doug up to Omaha to the Trail Center to see
it the temple and watch the Joseph Smith movie.  It was awesome, and
he loved it.  His testimony is growing so much, and we're so excited
for his baptism on the 22nd of this month.  It was funny, because we
actually took a group of us up there from the singles ward, and the
Sister who was taking us on tour couldn't tell who was the
investigator, haha.  Sometimes Doug is a better fellowshipper than a
lot of our members.  We also have a new investigator who came to
church for the first time Sunday, where we met her.  Her name is
Simone, and she grew up in Omaha by the Trail Center and Temple, so
she knows a fair amount about the Church.  She has a friend in the
ward who invited her to church, so she came.  And get this, she bore
her testimony.  It was awesome.  We were able to talk to her after,
and we're really excited for her first lesson tomorrow.  Other than
that things remain the same.  We still continue to struggle finding,
and the best way it seems is by members bringing their friends to
church.  Really looking forward to this transfer though.  We just
moved into a new apartment that is way closer to campus, so we're
excited to be able to make more effective use of our time.
     So spiritual thought of the week, one of my favorite phrases in
the scriptures comes from Isaiah where it talks about being an "Ensign
to the Nations."  One way I think we can truly be an ensign to the
nations is by our personal standards.  When I look at the standards of
the world, they are very low, and differ widely.  People do not see
the importance of keeping the commandments.  As Latter-day Saints we
have a great opportunity to raise the flag of righteousness by the
example we set to others.  We must realize that people are always
watching us, and often base what they will do off the example we show
to them.  I know that as we strive to be more like Christ, people will
notice, and they will desire to do the same.  This is what our Father
in Heaven expects of us, and I promise as we do so that we will see
the blessings of influencing others for good.  I love you all so much,
and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Preparation

 Hey there friends and family!  Wow, what an amazing week.  I just
love being a missionary.  Definitely the most rewarding calling in the
Church.  The funny thing is that nothing major has happened this week,
but the daily experiences that I have with the Spirit and the miracles
that I see bring so much joy to my life.  It is great!  But there were
some pretty awesome things that happened this week nonetheless.  So
last week I think I mentioned briefly Doug, the guy who came up to us
in church and asked if we could teach him.  Well, we went and taught
him on Wednesday and it was a super sweet lesson.  We had it at the
institute building, and there just happened to be a super cool
returned missionary there as well, so she joined us for the lesson.
He really enjoyed it, and invited us to have a lesson the next day.
So then we had a lesson on Thursday, and he wanted another one on
Friday.  So we had another one.  We asked him what his favorite things
he's learned about so far, and he said the Atonement.  He is awesome,
and is planning on getting baptized on September 22.  We are really
excited.  Everyone at church on Sunday thought that he was already a
member and had just moved in, so they were very surprised to learn
that he wasn't.  Good times.  Also, last night.  So UNL had this thing
where all of the organizations were able to set up a booth and all of
the students came and found out about the different organizations.  We
met a ton of people.  It was like missionary heaven.  It was pretty
funny as well, we had these two fairly good looking members at the
booth as well, so we were able to get a lot of guys to come talk to us
and see what we're about, haha.  We'll use anything I guess to get
people interested in the Church.  It was sweet though.  You can just
see in so many people's eyes that they are looking for something, and
our job is to help show them that what they are looking for is in the
Gospel.  We had a sweet zone conference as well on Wednesday and we
now have an extra half of an hour to study the Book of Mormon together
in the morning as companions.  It has been great, so I am grateful for
this wonderful opportunity.
        Well, spiritual thought of the week.  So I've been thinking a
lot about preparation and how it helps us gain the spiritual power
that we need to make decisions in life.  One quote I really love is
"Prior Preparation Precedes Power."  It is a true principle that the
Lord will prepare us for decisions we have to make in life.  From day
to day we all make decisions that, although are small, effect our
eternal destination.  Often times we have no idea when we are going to
be required to make a decision that will be of eternal importance, and
we must always be prepared for what path we will chose.  The best way
we can be prepared is by making sure we have the Holy Ghost with us.
His power will allow us to make those hard decisions in life when they
come.  Best of all, we can commit now the decisions we will make when
those times come.  By doing this, a critical moment in our life
doesn't become hard, but is simple and easy because we are prepared.
I know that as we strive to prepare as Moroni did in the Book of Alma,
our enemies will not be able to overcome us, and we will stand strong
on the foundation of Christ and His gospel.  I love you all so much,
and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Kendall

Comfort and Growth

Hello friends and family from the greatest city in Nebraska,
Lincoln.  As always, it is amazing to be a missionary, and I thank the
my Father in Heaven every day for giving me the opportunity to come
back out on a mission.  Although we go through trials, the Lord is
always there, and will lift us out of them.  So, this week was
interesting.  We had our first zone training with our zone.  It's a
new meeting that the First Presidency has implemented where once a
month we get to gather our zone together without the mission president
or assistants and train them as zone leaders.  It went really well.
Many of the Elders in our zone have unique challenges, so it was a
great experience to be able to pray for what they need and seek to
minister unto them.  We were able to give a training on the principles
of finding, and also the Christ-like attribute of humility.  We
learned a lot, and hopefully they did as well from the Spirit.  So
being in a singles ward we have some very unique ways of trying to
find people to teach.  One way is we play ultimate frisbee with the
ward on Thursday nights.  Well, last Thursday we had two non-members
show up who were friends of a recent convert.  After we played the
member, who's name is Josh, texted us and told us that they both
wanted to start taking lessons.  It was awesome.  Then at church on
Sunday, there was a non-member there from California who said his
buddy had taken him to church a couple of times there and he wanted to
get serious about joining.  The Lord truly sees the desires of our
hearts, and although we don't have many investigators now, he is
providing people for us to teach.  President Weston came on a team-up
with both of us on Thursday.  It was fun.  We took him tracting.  It
was fun, but weird, because he was asking us for advice on how to
tract and what to do with the mission, since he is so new, haha.  We
also had the Sister missionaries come down to Lincoln last night to do
their pioneer concert.  All the Sisters serve in Omaha, so they never
get down here.  It was good, and our missionaries brought a good
amount of investigators and members brought a lot of their friends.
So, although it was a bit of a slow week, all is well. :)
            So spiritual thought of the week is about growth.
President Kunz would always say, "There's no growth in your comfort
zone, and there's no comfort in your growth zone."  That is so true
about life.  It is so important to never become complacent.  Sure, we
should be grateful for the things that we have been given, but we
should always seek and strive to be better.  That means that we need
to put ourselves in situations that will stretch us.  I think of
Nephi, and what an amazing example he is to us.  He constantly put
himself in situations that would make him grow, even though he didn't
always know what to do.  He trusted that the Lord wouldn't give him
anything more than he could bear, and then faithfully walked out into
the unknown.  Whether it was getting the plates, creating a bow, or
building a ship, Nephi was always growing.  It's like my Mom always
says to me, "I can do hard things."  So, this week, do something that
is hard.  Life is all about growth.  Pray for mountains to climb.  I
promise as you do that the Spirit will be there to strengthen you and
you will become more like our Savior.  I love you all so much and hope
you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Service

           Hello friends and family from once again from the
Cornhusker capital of the world.  I hope you are all having a great
time in life, and looking forward to all the great opportunities that
will happen as summer comes to a close and school and fall enter the
picture.  I'm super excited for school to start, because that means we
will actually have people to teach here in the student ward, haha.
I've never been so excited for it in my life.  Despite the lack of
young single people to teach, I've still had some awesome experiences
this past week.  So on Thursday I was on an exchange with one of the
assistants Elder Geddes.  He's pretty sweet, and we both love Sci-Fi,
so we had to try to not talk about that and focus just on working.  He
came to my area, while Elder Jackson went up to Omaha, so we were
doing some finding.  We prayed to know where to go, and the Spirit led
us to this apartment building by campus.  While we were knocking we
saw a guy outside putting his bike away, and we felt prompted to go
talk to him.  For some reason we just started talking to him about
prayer, and receiving guidance from the Holy Ghost.  He talked about
how he was Catholic, and he prays, but not really to receive guidance,
but more just to vent to God.  He also informed us that he works for
NASA, which is awesome, and he invited us back to share more about the
Restoration.  We had a sweet second lesson with him, and really were
able to testify about prophets and Christ's Church.  It was an awesome
experience and it showed that the Lord still will help us find those
who are prepared even if they are few and far between right now.  We
also had Zone Leader Council which was great since I got to see Elder
Carrier and Elder Bell, my former companions.  It was really good, and
President and Sister Weston are great.  It was a hard transition, but
I am fully committed to following their council and guidance.
Yesterday was sweet as well because my good friend Zach Anderson from
Omaha came and visited me.  It was good to see him, since he moved
away from Nebraska in May, but he'll be getting married in October to
a recent convert from up there named Laura.  They are both great
friends, so it was really nice to see him.
             Well, spiritual thought of the week is on service.
August is actually service month in the Church.  Obviously we should
always be serving, but we have a special opportunity to really focus
on and pray about how we can best serve others.  Often we think about
doing big service projects as the only way we can serve, but in
reality, there are so many different ways we can serve others on an
hourly basis.  Think about the Savior, He didn't wait to be asked to
serve others, but He earnestly sought out ways that He could help lift
others burdens.  We have that same opportunity.  Although we aren't
perfect like Christ, we have all been given talents and abilities and
spiritual gifts to help serve others.  These are given to us not for
our own benefit, but for the benefit of lifting others' burdens.  And
often, all we need to do is sacrifice a bit of our time to be with
others, and talk with them.  Find out what those around you are
concerned about, and then follow the Spirit on how you can best help
them.  I promise as you do so, the power of the Spirit will increase
in your life, and you will know the Savior better.  I love you all so
much and hope you have a great week serving others.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Spiritual Power

Hello friends and family from the not so hot as it normally
is Lincoln, Nebraska!  So this past week was pretty great.  I'm
starting to get adjusted to being in a singles ward.  It's really
weird.  To get the members to trust you and help you out, you have to
treat them more like your buddies.  It's weird because I really have
to focus to keep my missionary identity but at the same time just let
others know I'm a normal person.  It's lots of fun though.  We had
someone bring their friend yesterday who we are going to start
teaching.  Her name is Terra, and she actually served a mission in
South Africa for a non-denominational Christian church, so we were
able to talk about that a little bit.  The week went by quick,  but we
weren't able to spend a lot of time in our own area, which is fine,
since school hasn't started yet.  President Weston had us go on a
couple of exchanges with companionships in our zone.  And guess what,
I was able to go to Beatrice.  It was so awesome.  I was able to
impart some of my wisdom on the area there since the Elders there are
struggling a bit.  It was also fun to see a couple of members and
recent converts from there.  The next day I went with a companionship
who is struggling to get along with each other.  I had to sit them
down and talk to them, I pretty much felt like I was doing marriage
counseling, haha.  It was good though, and I think it was a great
experience to help me when I have my own kids who won't get along.
Elder Jackson is awesome, we get along really well.  We were able to
do a bit more finding with single people, and we found a couple of
potentials over the weekend that hopefully we'll start teaching this
week.  When I first got here we literally had no one in our teaching
pool, so it's been good to slowly find some people in the next couple
of weeks.  We've been living in another companionships apartment and
helping in their area when we can, but we'll be moving back into our
place next week, so that will be really nice to just have to focus on
our area.  The only thing I don't like about being in a sinlges ward
is I love teaching families, so we'll find really cool families, but
then we have to turn them over to whatever area they are in.  Oh well,
life is good.
          So spiritual thought of the week is about spiritual power.
So, we've all been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is awesome.
 By having this gift we have the right, whenever we are worthy, to the
constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.  However, our ability to
have a greater and greater influence of His presence in our lives and
guidance from Him is bases largely on how well we are living the
gospel.  If we are daily repenting and striving to be obedient, we are
going to have an increase of spiritual power.  If we are following
courageously the prompting from the Spirit, our spiritual power
increases.  When we develop good habits of scripture study, daily
prayer, and participation in church, we are increasing our spiritual
power.  Even though we have all been given the gift of the Holy Ghost,
we can all increase our spiritual power, and our ability to fully
follow the prompting He will give us.  It is a noble pursuit to want
to do good, but the greatest thing we can accomplish in this life is
being fully under the influence of the Spirit.  By doing so, we can
know that what we are doing is what the Savior would want us to do.
So, this week, find someway that you can increase your spiritual
power.  I promise as you do so you will find greater success and
satisfaction in ever aspect of life.  I love you all and hope you have
a great week.

Knowledge

Hello friends and family from Lincoln, Nebraska!  So, I got the call
last week that I would be transferring down here to Lincoln to serve
in the singles ward for the University of Nebraska and to be a zone
leader down here.  I was really shocked.  On the one hand, I've always
wanted to come to Lincoln and serve here, and I've always wanted to
serve in a singles ward, and what better on to serve in than the one
for the Huskers?!  On the other hand, I loved Omaha and Conestoga, and
I wasn't expecting to leave quite yet.  So, it was definitely
bitter-sweet, but one thing I've learned on my mission is to never
make plans, because the Lord always has other ones.  So my companion's
name is Elder Jackson and he is from Cash Valley.  He's pretty cool.
It's really nice to be senior companion again, haha.  It will be cool
to be in this zone because this is the zone where Beatrice is so
hopefully I'll be able to go visit some of my friends down there.
Right now the work is a bit slow in the Univesity ward because it's
summer, so we are also helping out with the Yankee Hill ward here.  We
live with the two companions that serve there, but we'll probably move
back into our other place in mid August.  We've already seen a couple
of miracles though.  We've really focused on following the Spirit in
our firding, and it's super awesome, becasue every time we do He leads
us exactly where we are supposed to be.  You know how people always
use the term "last floor, last door?"  Well... I don't believe in
that.  I believe in first floor, first door, meaning that if we follow
the Spirit, He will show us exactly where to go and who we need to see
at exactly that time.  So yesterday was my first day in the ward and
it was interesting.  First of all, it's weird being in a ward since
I've been in a branch for so long.  Second of all, the maturity level
is much less lower in a singles ward than a family ward if you know
what I mean?  I feel so much older than most of the members, so that
is going to take a bit of getting used to.  But it's a new experience
that the Lord wants me to have, and I know as I follow the Spirit on
how to work with the members we will be able to find a lot of success.
         So...  spiritual thought of the week is about knowledge.
Knowledge is so awesome, and is one of my favorite Christ-like
attributes.  One thing I think we often overlook is this attribute.  A
major part of our Church is that we have the correct knowledge of the
doctrines of the kingdom of God.  The scriptures say that a man cannot
be saved in ignorance, and furthermore, any knowledge that we obtain
in this life will be with us in the next life.  The more knowledge we
gain in this life will give us that much more advantage in the next
life, but it will also help us greatly in this life.  Too often in the
Church are there false teaching taught in classes and talks.  Although
we are all still learning, we should strive dilligently to learn the
basic and fundamental doctrines of the gospel.  As we do so the Spirit
will be stronger as we give talks and lessons, and will further be
able to show us what to say and continue to unfold the mysteries of
God unto us.  The best way we can really learn these doctrines is the
scriptures.  There is no study manuel, no deseret book book, no guide
for life, that will help us as much as the scriptures.  I promise as
we focus on truely studying and applying the scriptures, our knowledge
will grow, and we will be well preparred to face our challenges in
life.  I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

Tranfers

Hey Mom and Dad!  Quick update. I'm going to Lincoln to be a Zone
Leader there.  It is the singles ward for the University.  Elder
Carrier is staying here in Conestoga.  He's been here 8 months
already!  I'm super excited.  Love you lots.  Let me know if you need
anything

Virtue

 Greeting friends and family.  Hope you are all doing great in
the middle of this summer weather.  I love what President Uchtdorf
wrote in the Ensign this month about being in the midde.  While I am
literally in the middle of my mission, and I am loving it, I hope that
I can continue to feel the joy and have the attitude towards my
mission that I do now throughout the rest of my mission.  I know if I
have the righteous desire and focus my thoughts on the Savior that He
will help me to do so.  So this last week was pretty great.  We had 12
lessons with a member, which is really amazing.  We usually have
between 4 and 8, so we were really blessed.  It is so cool to see the
branch get involved and fired up about missionary work.  Speaking of
that, our branch mission leader just got released, which was a big
disappointment, because he is amazing.  We just had a couple move into
the branch though named the Maesers who are awesome and he got called
as the branch mission leader.  So many changes happening, it's crazy.
I wonder what the Lord is trying to teach me/ prepare me for, haha.
Well we're teaching so many people, I wish I could tell you about all
of them, but I'll tell you about one investigator we have.  His name
is Bobby Lucas, and he's a lay minister who is not practicing right
now.  We've been teaching him for about six months, and he's finally
starting to get the Restoration.  Over the past couple of weeks we've
had some amazing experiences in the Book of Mormon, and talking about
Joseph Smith.  Last week he told us that he believes that this really
is Christ's Church, and that Joseph Smith truely was a prophet.  The
only thing that is keeping him back, is his wife.  She is also a
pastor and has her own chruch right now, and she doesn't really like
us.  So that is a big hurdle, especially because a big part of our
message is about families.  But Christ said himself that he is here to
bring division, among those who are truely willing to follow Him, and
those who are not, even in families.  So we just continue to pray for
him, and hope that he can have the stength to overcome adversity and
truely find the joy that comes through the gospel of Christ.
            So Spiritual thought this week is on virtue.  Virtue is
awesome, and has a lot to do with holiness.  When we think of virtue,
we think about being clean and pure before the Lord.  Virute means
doing the right thing, even when no one else is around to see us.
Often we think about virtue with the thoughts that we are having,
since no one else can hear our thoughts, it's something that is very
personal to us.  One thing that we promise when we are baptized is
that we will always remeber Christ.  If we are always remembering
Christ, we won't have to worry about having impure thoughts.  But
there is also a difference between never forgetting and always
remembering.  If we never forget Christ, that implies that He is
somewhere in our brain, but not always at the forefront.  Always
remembering Christ means that we are consistently striving to make a
concious effort to remember Christ and act in the way that He would,
and to do the things that He would do.  By striving to always remember
Christ, we can truely have virtue, and know that we can be clean and
pure before the Lord.  So let us  this week strive to have virtue and
always remember Christ.  I promise as we do so we will better be able
to have the Holy Ghost, who will tell us what to say, where to go, and
what to do.  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week.

Song of the Heart

 Greeting family and friends.  What a great week it has been.
We have certaintly been busy with many meetings this week, which isn't
always the greatest, but I always get something great out of them.  So
we had the opportunity to meet President and Sister Weston this week.
They are great!  They have 10 kids.  All of them are grown, except for
their son Jackson who is 11.  They are from Logan, and everyone in
there family is an Aggie, so that is sweet!  He is a farmer, so that
is great, and he was a stake president right before he came out.
Sister Weston is a sweetheart, your typical Mormon mother.  So
basically all week as zone leaders we've been having tons of meetings
with them, which pulled us away from our area, but the Lord made sure
those that we are teaching were taken care of.  We did have a couple
of set backs though.  So we were teaching the couple that were solid,
just ready to be baptized, but they are living with their family.
Well, their family environment isn't the best, and they have a 4 year
old daughter.  So they decided to move to a different part of Omaha,
which means we don't get to teach them anymore, which is fine, but it
is a little sad for us because we love them so much.  Our investigator
Charles went to get interviewed for baptism on Saturday.  Because he
is on probation, he had to be interviewed by President Weston.  Well,
he can't get baptized for another year because that is when his
probation ends.  But get this, he's been on probation already for 9
years, and his crime was writting an insufficiently funded check!
Luckily our branch president is going to talk to his probation officer
on Thrusday to see if anything can be done, and if that doesn't work
we'll appeal to the First Presidency.  Luckily Charles is taking
everything really well, and he still came to church yesterday, just a
sign that he is truely converted.  Even though we are losing some of
our "golden" investigators, the Lord continues to provide us with
those who are preparred for the gospel.  One great man we are teaching
is named Bobby Lucas.  He is a minister, but isn't ministering right
now.  We are getting him into the Book of Mormon, and he loves it.
Hopefully he will get baptized soon as well.  All in all things are
great, and the Lord always provides us with His tender mercies.
          So my thought this week is on music.  Music is so awesome,
and it is such a great tool to bring the Spirit into our lives.  As
with all things, there is counterfiet ways that Satan tries to use,
especially with music.  I've experienced both sides of the music
world, and it is so refreshing to be on a mission where you don't have
to worry about driving the Spirit away by what you are listening to.
Being in the hood, you hear a lot of music that is very vulgar, and
you can see it reflected in the lives of the people.  But good music
can uplift us.  I think of the Psalms of David, and how beautiful they
are.  As D&C 25:12 says, "For my soul delighteth in the song of the
heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it
shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."  Let us seek the
blessings that come from listening to wholesome and uplifting music.
I promise as we do our testimonies will grow, and we will truely feel
an increase of the Spirit in our lives.  I love you all so much, and
hope you have an amazing week.

Being Meek

 Hello friends and family!  Hope you are all doing great and enjoying summer.  It is so hot here! And humid!  I hate it, but luckily I love being a missionary more.  I walked outside yesterday and it was so humid that when I got out of the car my glasses fogged up and I couldn't even see, haha.  Well this past week was a very emotional week.  On Wednesday we had our departing mission conference with President and Sister Kunz.  I was so sad.  They are just such amazing people, and truely radiate the love of Christ.  It was the worst, because President Kunz gave his departing words, and I was just balling.  Then they let the two zones separate so that we could train as zone leaders while President and Sister Kunz said individual goodbyes.  So I had to pull myself together to do that.  Then they took me out and said goodbye to me, and I started crying again.  And then I had to go back and give another training.  It was the worst.  But it was such a spiritual conference.  I'm sure I felt a little of what the desciples felt when Christ had to leave.  I'm sure they longed for Him to stay, but He had to leave, and they still had a work to do.  It's so conforting to know that, no matter when those we love leave, we have the companionship of the Holy Ghost and an assurance that we will see them again, whether it's in this life, or in the life to come.  President and Sister Weston will get here Friday, and it will be my fourth mission president!  Sometimes I wish  I could just have one.  But I've learned much from each one, and President Kunz said, "Change is constant, change is hard, but chage is good."  That's definitely been a hard lesson for me to learn in my life, but obviously one I am glad to learn so early.  Other than that our week was great.  It was the best week I've had on the mission so far as far as lessons go.  Charles is still doing great.  It's been amazing to see the change in his life.  He just seems happier and more joyful, and I know that once he is baptized and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost that the joy will be increased dramatically.  We took him to a concert that the Siter missionaries put on last night about the pioneers and he really enjoyed it.  It truely is amazing to be a missionary and to see the change that people make when they allow the message of the Restoration to truely enter their hearts. 

        Well, spiritual thought of the week.  So I've been thinking a lot about meekness lately.  I haven't always been so meek on my mission.  Often times I just rebuke people and am pretty pushy and forceful about missionary work.  One thing I've been striving to develope a lot lately is true love for people, and I think that a huge part of that is being meek.  It's so important to keep our emotions in control, and to truely be at peace so that we can listen to and follow the promptings that will come from the Holy Ghost.  Meekness is not weekness.  Instead it shows that we are truely patient, and that we desire to allow the Spirit to direct us.  We are at peace, and although others may be angry or frustrated, as we strive to be meek they will see our true love that we have for them, and the love we have for the Savior.  Meekness comes as we gain a remission of sins.  The Book of Mormon says, "And the remission of sins bringeth meekness and lowliness of hear, which meekness and lowliness of heart bringeth the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which conforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by dilligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God."  What an amazing promise.  As we stive to keep our coveants, and truely gain a remission of sins, we can become meek, gain the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and be filled with perfect love.  I hope we can all strive to love others as the Savior did and truely be meek.  I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week.

 

Godspeed,

Edler Chandler Kendall

Choose to be Happy!

Hello friends and family from the home of the College World Series!  First of all, Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world.  He turely is an amazing example and one of the best friends I've ever had.  So thanks for everything Dad!  So hope you are all doing great!  The weather is soooo hot here, I hate it, but at least I'm a missionary, so that's good.  So the College World Series started this past weekend and the Stadium is in our area.  It's pretty sweet, because there is a ton of people here from lots of different places.  We really want to go watch a game, but we can't. :(  Luckily I already got to go to one, so at least I've got that, haha.  So a couple of cool experiences we've had this week.  So we were out tracting and we saw these two kids run into a house.  We figured it had to be a family because we saw kids.  So we stalked them and knocked that house, haha.  Well the mom came out, her name is Carmelitta, and talked to us.  She said we could come back that night to have a lesson.  Well we went back and she brought her three kids in and we taught the Restoration.  They were asking all the right questions, and we talked about the Book of Mormon.  We left them 3 Nephi 11 to read and she said that they would read it that night as a family.  They invited us to come back next week as well.  It was sweet, and the Spirit definitely knows what it's doing, we just have to follow it.  So we also had our investigator Charles come to church again.  It was super awesome.  People were so good at fellowshipping him.  Our ward mission leader gave him a ride home, and he said that Charles loved church, and talked to him about his baptism.  It was really cool.  That's just a couple of things that have happened.  We see so many miracles every week, it would be impossible to tell them all, but I truely know that this is the Lord's work. 

So spiritual thought of the week.  So I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately.  It seems like there's a lot of unhappy people in the world, and there's also a lot of happy people as well.  The unhappy people always seem to blame something in their environment that is the cause of their unhappiness.  Either they don't have enough of something, or they wish they were somewhere else.  They have a lot of excuses for being unhappy.  On the other hand, happy people of generally always happy, regardless of what is going on in their lives.  Sure they have challenges and hardships, like we all do, but they don't let it get them down.  The happiest people I've always seen are those who have an understanding and live the gospel of Christ.  When we're happy, we're patient, we realize that things will happen in the Lord's time.  When we are happy we have gratitue, we are grateful for every little thing the Lord has blessed us with.  When we are happy we have charity, and truely seek to love others as children of a loving Heavenly Father.  Happiness is a choice.  When we chose to act instead of be acted upon, and live the Gospel, we can have true happiness.  We know that all things will one day be made right, and that our Heavenly Father loves us and desires to bless us.  I love being a missionary, and I am happy every day for the opportunity to help and serve others.  I hope we can all seek to be happy, and to radiate the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Godspeed,

Elder Kendall

The Yoke of the Lord

Hey there friends and family!  Sorry I didn't write you all last week.  It was crazy with transfers.  Well... Elder Carrier and I are staying together, again!  This is our third transfer together.  That hardley ever happens, especially for Zone Leaders.  Elder Tanner got transferred to an area in the zone, so that will be good that he'll still be close.  We have a new companion named Elder Weber who has been out 21 months.  He is awesome.  He has a lot of health problems though, with allergies, and he's legally blind, so that is crazy.  Last week was good though.  Elder Bell also became a Zone Leader so that is great.  He is in the other zone for Omaha, so we'll get to see each other a lot.  I went on an awesome team-up with our branch president.  He is really awesome, his name is President Wilkinson and just one of the most loving and caring people I've ever met.  The branch here is amazing.  There is so much sacrifice, and everyone would do anything for anyone else.  There truely is the spirit of Zion here.  We had a member bare her testimony that if the Savior were to come to Omaha, it would be to the Conestoga branch, and it's so true.  We had an investigator finally come to sacrament meeting yesterday.  His name is Charles, and he's been investigating for a couple of months now.  He's pretty much done everything: had a church tour, been to the trail center, been to a baptism, the whole nine yards, so statistically he should get baptized, haha.  He's scheduled to on July 14th, but I think it will be hard to get him back to church.  He doesn't like being around a lot of people, but the branch is small and he stayed involved, so we'll see.  The weather has been hot!  It is so humid here.  But once I make it past summer on my mission I will be good with weather, since I love the cold.  Right now, as always, we're justing trying to find people to teach who are ready for the gospel.  It seems like everyone that will meet with us lately have just been Bible-bashers, and they've been trying to shake our testimonies.  Luckily our testimonies are not for sale.  It's so amazing the Spirit I feel every time I read the Book of Mormon.  Well, sorry I'm boring this week, but that's about all that has happened.  

So spiritual thought of the week is about the burdens.  In Matthew 11:30 the Lord says, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  So many people think that the Gospel is just too hard.  They feel as if they don't have enough strength to follow the commandments, or to go to church, or to read the scriptures.  They feel as if Christ is inconviencing them.  But everything about the Gospel is to lift burdens from our shoulders.  The yoke is what they would put on animals to pull whatever load they were carrying.  When we put on the yoke of the Lord, He is right beside us to help us carry our load.  By His strength we can overcome anything that lays ahead in our path.  It may not be easy, but it's a lot easier than if we had to do it on our own.  Everyone has to go through this life, and everyone will have trials and hardships, but if we seek to allow Christ to help us out, we can have peace as our burdens are made light.  I hope we can all place our burdens before the alter of the Lord, and He will make sure that we are well taken care of.  I love you all, and hope you have a great week.

Godspeed,

Elder Chandler Kendall      

A Happy Missionary!!

Happy at the Ball Park!

A year ago Chandler came home from his mission early!  It was struggle with what he was going through.  After much prayer and fasting and lots and lots of talks- He went back out on his mission.  He started in Payson Utah and then was reassigned to the Omaha Nebraska Mission.  He has had a wonderful experience and has grown so much.  Some great friends from Las Vegas were at the ballpark where Chandler was able to sing the National Anthem.  They snapped some random pictures of Chandler at the ballgame.  LOOK AT HOW HAPPY HE IS!!!  This was the best picture of him just having fun.  We are sooooo thankful for his recovery and how well he is doing!  Thanks friends and family for all the prayers in his behalf.  

Revelation

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great Memorial Day and are getting ready to enjoy summer! Well things are certaintly getting hot here. It's super humid here, which doesn't make any sense at all, so I think that Heavenly Father should make it not so humid so that everything will make sense, haha. The one upside to the hot weather has been the fireflys. I've never seen them in my life, and they are awesome! I saw them for the first time this week, so they've made me very happy. Well last week was a fun week. The Salt Lake Bee's came to Omaha, and I was chosen to be in a group of 12 missionaries that got to sing the National Anthem for the game. It was super fun, and a once in a mission opportunity. Elder Carrier and Elder Tanner didn't get to go, so they were pretty jeleous. I got to sit next to President Kunz during the game, so it was definitely really fun. Well, most of our investigators are doing well. We have a lot of different people that we are teaching. It's pretty easy so find people to teach here, but most of them are not very commitable, so that makes it hard to help them progress towards baptism. One of our best potentials Shaq, pretty much knows that everything is true. But guess what? She almost dropped us on Saturday!!! We were freaking out. She still hasn't prayed about all of this, and refuses to come to church, because she said she's afraid of the answer she will get. She knows that this will make her life better, but she doubts if she'll be able to make the necessary changes in her life. Hopefully the more she knows about repentence, the more she'll know that she doesn't have to be perfect, and that this really will bless her life in ways she can't even imagine. On Friday we were able to go to the Temple as a zone. It was really great. I always feel so peaceful in the temple, and it always helps me resolve any concerns that I may have. We took one of our investigators named Charles to a baptism on Saturday. He is really awesome. He used to be an alcoholic, but has been sober for several years now. He has a couple of mental problems, but is just the nicest person, and willing to learn as well. He went with our second councilor Brother Newland to the baptism, and he is also a former alcoholic, so they actually knew each other from AA. It was great, and he said he is really ready to get baptized now. He struggles with coming to church though, because he doesn't like crowds, so we're trying to overcome that right now. I've had so many experiences, and I wish I could tell all of them to you, but those are just a couple of highlights from the week. So Spiritual thought of the week. Lately it seems like we've had a couple of investigators who are willing to talk with us, and think we are really nice people, but just sit down and bash on our faith. They bring up arguments like grace vs. works, our potential to be like God, ect. They also just read a bunch of different scriptures to us, and try to convince us they are right. I pretty much feel just like Joseph Smith did when everyone was telling him different interpritations of the Bible. Luckily, we have the truth, and I am so grateful for modern day revelation. It truely is a miracle that Heavenly Father continues to speak to His children, and that Christ continues to lead His church thought a prophet. I have no idea where I would be or what I would believe if it weren't for modern day revelation. There are so many things that we can learn, not only from the things that Joseph Smith received, but especially from the things our current Prophet and apostles speak to us. My testimony is strengthened so much every General Conference, and we always receive exactly what we need for our lives at that time. If we are ever feeling confused in life, or especially in the Gospel, we shouldn't. All we need to do is read the words of our modern day prophets, and then pray to have a spiritual witness that they are true. We can all have Joseph Smith-like experiences, and come to know as much as He did, that the Gospel is true. I love to teach others abuot prophets, and I hope we can all seek to follow their teachings and seek to know the eternal truths they have revealed. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

Sacrifice

Hey everybody! Hope you are all doing really well. Welcome to May, I can't believe it's already the 7th. Well this last week was really good. We were super busy, as always, with things for the zone, but we managed to make most of our goals for the area as well. We're still having a hard time getting people to church, and that's pretty much how it's been my whole mission. I feel like Christ is asking me to walk on water when we try to get people to church. But we'll just keep trying I guess, and eventually people will feel the importance of church attendence. So on we Elder Carrier and I found out on Monday that we had to give a 50 minute training last Friday to all the leaders in the mission on the Law of Chastity, haha. We thought, "Great! What are we going to talk about for 50 minutes?" We also had a lot of zone buisness to do and we were on exchanges a lot, so we weren't even together most the week. But we found time here and there to prepare it, and it turned out really well. I started out the training by saying, "Buckle your seatbelts everyone, because the world is on a rocketship to Venus, the goddess of lust, and we've got to keep them grounded!" Haha, that got their attention really quick. On Saturday we were in a Cinco de Mayo parade down in South Omaha where all the hispanics live. It was really fun. We dressed up as pioneers and pulled handcarts and gave away mormon.org cards. There were a ton of people there, so it was really cool. I felt like I was in Mexico, haha. So we're teaching this single mom named Shaq who is super sweet. She's had a rough life, like almost everyone in our area, and is looking to get back on the straight and narrow. We actually went and talked to her when she was just walking in the street, and she had just been looking up churches on the internet. It was way tight, and she loves meeting with us. Other than that, things are going great, and I see miracles every day. So spiritual thought of the week is about sacrifice. So I was thinking about sacrifice and all of the blessings it brings. I think when we first go on a mission or first join the church we feel like we've sacrificed everything we can. There are commandments and rules and we think, "What more could I sacrifice?" And then we start to pray and read our scriptures and we learn that there is always more that we can give to the Lord. The best part about sacrifice is that we really aren't losing anything, we're just preparring for something better. I've seen that the more I've sacrificed for the Lord in my mission, the more He has blessed me with strength, guidence, and success. So let us look for something in our life that we can sacrifice to the Lord so that we can enjoy the blessings that come when we put our trust in Him. I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week. Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

Families and Temples

Greeting friends and family! Sorry I missed you all last week, it's been crazy! First of all happy birthday to the best sister in the world Cassandra! I can't believe she's already 14. From everything I hear you are doing great so keep up the good work, and stay away from boys! Well, another transfer over, and another one begun. Elder Bittner went to Beatrice to finish up all my work there, haha. Elder Carrier stayed, and we got another Elder, his name is Elder Tanner, and he's from Canada. He's pretty sweet, and he's been out just about as long as I have, so it's been fun. Well, I feel like I have two full time jobs right now that I'm trying to balance, between the zone and our area, we are constantly running everywhere. Time is just flying, so if I haven't written you, I am sorry, I pray about everyone a lot, but I haven't even had a whole P-day to myself in a while, so yeah. But it's good. I love my zone, and I'm making so many eternal friendships. Things are going well in the work. Right now we're trying to find some commitable investigators, and the most promising is a family right now named the Thompsons. They are hillarious. It's a married couple and their roommate who in a former alcoholic. They have a pretty rough background, but they love having us come over. The hard part is getting them to read and come to church, but they said they'll get baptized if they receive an answer that it is true. So we just have to work on motivating them. We have to take things pretty slow, but it's good to learn some patience. Last night there was a concert at the trail center that the Sisters put on dedicated to the pioneers. It was really good, and it was great to have so many members and missionaries, as well as non-members, there listening to some great gospel music. I had a lot of fun. This morning we helped to build a fence around a cemetary in the middle of no-where Iowa, so that was fun, haha. All and all life is good, and I'm just taking things day by day, which they are flying! Good thing I have another year. So spiritual thought of the week. So I was thinking about the temple and how amazing it is to be in there, especially with my family. But being the oldest, none of my brothers and sister have been in there with me. Even though I've felt so much joy being in there with my parents, I think the ultimate joy will be when the whole family is there together. So first of all, Carsen, Cassandra, and Craig, even though I don't get worried about you at all, make it to the temple! It won't be truely happy without you there. I also know that there are a lot of families who read this that aren't all worthy to go to the temple. My challenge, get worthy, so that you and your entire family can go there together and experience the eternal joy that we feel in the temple. The gospel is about families, and the temple is the ultimate symbol of that. I love you all so much, and I can't wait to talk to you soon. Have a great week. Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

The Spirit of Elijah

Hey there friends and family! Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying spring, although it doesn't sounds like there's much of a spring in Utah. Well, this last week has been a pretty good week. Things slowed down a bit, but overall they went well. I had my last interview with President Kunz, that was pretty sad, but it was really good. He is amazing, and has consecrated himself so much to the Lord and doing His work in this mission. It will be very sad to see him leave, but I'm enjoying being close to him here in Omaha while I can. So this branch had been pretty spoiled with baptisms since the year started, and I think we ran out of "golden investigators" to baptize, so our focus this past week has been on finding new investigators, particularly families, to teach. I personally love finding, and tracting is one of my favorite things to do. We always meet really interesting people. Most people will kindly talk to us, even if they are not interested, which makes things hard some times as well. We have to distinguish between those who are just being nice, and those who are really motivated and preparred to hear the message of the Restoration. We've found a couple though, one in particular was a sweet lesson with a younger lady named Crystal. We taught her in front of her appartment and it was a really powerful lesson. The best part was we were able to testify of the Atonement and how it could really bless her life. So Elder Carrier really likes this band called "The Faint" and we actually tracted into their lead singer the other day. It was so funny to see his reaction. He lives only a block from our house, so every time we drive by it now Elder Carrier makes a comment, haha. Today we actually got to take a tour of the Kaynesville Tabernacle which is where the church regrouped itself before making the final treck to Utah. It was really awesome, and Elder Scott, the senior missionary who gave us a lecture, was awesome and I learned a lot about Church and American history. Other than that nothing major is happening. I see tender mercies and miracles everyday, and I know that this work is really being led by the Lord, and that this really is His Church and His gospel. So spiritual thought of the week may seem a little strange for a missionary to be talking about, but I thought it would be appropriate after today. The Spirit of Elija is such an important part of the Gospel, and especially for us saints in the latter-days. In no other time in the history of the earth has there been such a tremendous opportunity to help redeem those who we deprived from hearing and receiving the message of the Gospel. It is such a remarkable thing that us today have the opportunity to search for those names of family that has past on before, and perform in temples the ordinances of salvation. I know that I always have felt a strong pull and spirit from my family who has gone before me, and I am so grateful for every person who has preparred the way so that I can have the Gospel today. We cannot even begin to understand everything that our ancestors have done for us, and it is vitally important that we seek them out, for without them we cannot fully enjoy the blessings of the celestial kingdom. I hope to learn more of my family history, and am so grateful for the oppurtunity to search as a missionary for families to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. Love you all, and hope you have a great and productive week. Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall