The Year of the Redeemed

Howdy Ya'll! Hope you are all doing great and back into your regular routine after the holiday break. Well I certaintly had a great week. Sorry if last week I was a little depressing. I was definitely getting discouraged, but the Lord is merciful unto those who put their trust in him. I think there are a couple reasons for my discouragement. First of all, we were teaching no one. Everyone was too busy for us, but we were still working as hard as we could because that is what the Lord expects of us. So basically we just knocked doors and people rejected us, and those who did tell us to come back were dodgey. So that wasn't good. Also, I think I lost my enthusiasm for the work, and this is why I think it happened. Because I had just been made district leader and trainer, and took over the area after just 6 weeks, I felt a bit overwhelmed. The reason is, I think, because I now felt like I was obligated to work dilligently and to set a good example for Elder Gonzales and my district. I don't like doing things out of an obligation, rather, I like to do things because I want to do them. So this week I realized that I needed to go out and work, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. When I changed my attitude, the work improved, and this week we we're able to find four new investigators. Three of them come from a part-member family we have been trying to teach for a while, but they told us not to come back until after the new year. Well we called them and they invited us over for dinner. The Dad is a less active member who hasn't been since he was a teenager. The mom and the two kids hardley know anything about the church. But they fed us and then after we had an awesome Restoration lesson. It was certaintly the bost I needed to get me going. It was really good. I also was able to go up to Omaha for a leadership training meeting, which helped lift my spirits a lot. Elder Bell was there and we sat by each other and reminisced about the good old days when we were companions, haha. So this week was definitely a better week, and I am looking forward to being a missionary in 2012!

So Spiritual thought of the week. I don't have my scriptures on me, but I believe the verse comes from Isaiah 63:4. In the verse it talks about the day of vengence and the year of the redeemed. It's interesting to note that we will have trials, symbolized by the day of vengence talked about. While in the trials we may feel hopeless, that there is no escape, and that they will last forever. But then it talks about the year of the redeemed. Although we may have trials, if we endure them well, the blessings we receive far outweigh the struggles that we are going through. That is what every great prophet and member of the Church realizes. Most importantly, it is what the Savior realized. He was willing to go through an infinite amount of pain, but He knew that the reward would far outweigh the price. Because of what He did, He was exalted on high and made sure that every child of our Heavenly Father, His brothers and sisters, had every oppurtunity to receive the same reward. So let us strive to endure our trials and know that although they are difficult, we will receive far greater rewards if we edure them well. I love you all so much. Thank you for all of your prayers, I can really feel them in the hard times. Hope you all have a great week.

Godspeed,

Elder Chandler Kendall

Brothers and Sisters

Hello everyone! Hope you are all having a fun day off from work and
school. Sounds like Utah is finally getting some snow. We finally
had some cold days last week starting Wednesday. It was super windy
and the temperature finally dropped. Still no snow here, and the
weather has been improving again. Normally I'd be complaining that
there is no snow, but considering I have to go out and walk in it all
day, no complaints here. Well, nothing major that is new this week.
The area has been improving though. It has been hard to train Elder
Gonzales with the lack of lessons we have been having, so it has been
nice to get a couple of lessons in this week. We had eight, so things
are improving. We continue to tract whenever we have the chance and
are always trying to improve our door approaches so that we can find
the elect. The funny thing is people are usually very nice to us for
the most part as we knock on their door, but most don't want to let us
in. Almost everyone here is very Lutherian, and if they're not
Lutherian, they're Catholic, and if not Catholic, then Methodist.
We're striving really hard to find families, and we found the one last
week, the Notleys, who are a part member family. The only problem is
they live is Sterling which is pretty far away, and we haven't been
able to see them again because the father works so much. We were able
to put another lady on date, her name is Kathy Young. She was
actually kind of a tract, but also referred to us by a excommunicated
member. Haha, so that is kind of interesting. We try to make things
as fun as we can though. Elder Gonzales always ends up laughing when
we are tracting. We usually try to do it at night, because that is
when people are home, and I think he gets a little punch drunk. The
biggest thing we are trying to overcome right now is trying to see our
investigators more than once a week, or once every other week. They
need to be keeping commitments to progress towards baptism, and we
need to see them to follow up on those so they will be progressing and
keeping them. That's our biggest struggle right now, is finding solid
investigators. Our most solid investigator Tina Cribbs, the one who
got married, was supposed to be baptized this next weekend. But she
has been so sick we haven't been able to see her, plus she is having a
hard time with the Word of Wisdom. We gave her a blessing, and she
got better, but the day we were supposed to see her she got sick
again. So that's also a bit frustrating. So she actually won't be
getting baptized until the middle of Feburary, hopefully. So that's a
bit frustrating, but the most important thing is she is ready.
Despite all the challenges we are having here the area continues to
improve week by week and hopefully we will start to see more
ivestigators progress towards baptism.
So... spiritual thought of the week. So one thing I have a problem
with sometimes is I don't have a lot of love towards people. Sure,
I'm very patient with our investigators, and love them tons. And I
love the members in the branch, they are just amazing. But as I tract
and people turn us down, or others who try to cause contention, I have
a really hard time loving them. But as we have been studying the
teachings of George A. Smith, I have really started to ponder about
how I can better love everyone, regardless of who they are or what
they say to us. Sometimes it is really hard, because once you do
start to love people as the Savior did, you are devestated when they
turn you down, because you love them. But I have seen as I have tried
to improve my love towards others, I can see their potential, and know
that just becuase they turn us down or try to avoid us, doesn't mean I
love them less. I just continue to treat everyone as an individual
and know that they will still have oppurtunities in their lives to
accept the gospel. It helps a lot, and I am much more motivated to
talk to people when I remember they are my brothers and sisters who I
knew before we came here and who also are going through the same test
and life that we all decided we would follow before we were even born.
That is why missionary work is so important, and that is why it is
work. We have to work to help people remember what they came here to
do, and to again make the decision to follow the Savior. So I will
continue to try my very best to love everyone and do everything in my
power to help them come closer to our Savior. As Elder Holland said,
"Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not easy. It never
was. It wasn't for Him, so why should it be for us." I find joy in
knowing that in some small way I am helping the Savior in His work as
I strive my hardest to be the best missionary I can be. Love you all
and hope you have a great week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall

He has not given us the spirit of fear

Greetings everyone from a finally snowy Nebraska.  Winter finally arrived, but I think spring is still fighting for supremacy.  One day it will be freezing cold, and the next it will be super warm.  It's crazy, but fun, haha.  So this past week we found another new family to teach.  I love teaching families.  They are "kind of" interested, and hard to get a hold of, but we had a really good Restoration lesson with them and hopefully they can see how this message really can bless their family.  As always, we've been striving to find like crazy. Saturday basically all we did was walk around and knock doors.  We found a couple of potentials.  The biggest problem we're having is trying to get investigators to progress.  Pretty much all of our investigators are pretty dodgy, and we're lucky if we get one lesson with them a week.  But we are striving to make daily contact with everyone to see if they are keeping their commitments and good times that we can teach lessons.  Wednesday we went up to Lincoln and had interviews with President Kunz.  During the interviews they had us do a role play lesson in front of a camera.  It was interesting to watch myself teach.  I learned a lot about things I can do better as a teacher.  Thursday I went on an exchange to Marysville Kansas with an Elder in my district.  It was a good exchange.  He is struggling right now.  He only has about 4 months left, and I think he's a bit burnt out, so we were able to have a good talk about missionary work.  A lot of the lessons we teach are with people who try to Bible-bash with us.  Not to sound cocky or anything, but most of them I would own in a Bilbe-bash.  But I refuse to do it.  All we can do is teach the Restoration and testify of it's truthfulness.  Until people except the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, I refuse discuss the fine points of religion.  Elder Gonzales is doing well and I'm still learning a lot of patience with him, haha.  But I always tell myself that I'm far from perfect so I can't judge at all. So the Spiritual thought this week comes from a talk I gave yesterday that I entitled, "He has not given us the spirit of fear."  Basically what it's talking about is that we know that our greatest duty as members of the Church is to preach the Gospel.  It's not something we have to pray and wonder about, instead it is a commandment that we should strive to tell everyone about the great blessings we receive from living the Gospel.  If we really do understand what is at stake, then we strive our hardest to tell everyone the great message we have to share.  We do not fear to talk about our beliefs because we love everyone.  Love is the opposite of fear, and as we strive to love everyone we strive to help them gain the blessings that come from the Gospel.  So hopefully we can all strive to share this message with everyone, wheather they are a member or not, and do everything in our power to help others come to Christ.  I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.  Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

Prayer

Hello everyone!  Hope you all had an amazing January and are looking forward to Feburary.  I know I certaintly am.  Well January was definitely tough at first.  But the work has been picking up a lot, which I am very happy about because we have been working our butts off, haha.  So we found this new investigator Jesse.  We actually found him because he came to church with his buddy who's a member from out of town.  Well anyways, he's about 21 and super awesome.  We taught him the Restoration and he said he really want's to find out if it is true.  We've also been able to see a couple of investigators who have been a bit dodgey lately.  I feel like something really good is going to happen soon.  I don't think it's going to be a bunch of people getting baptized while I'm here, but if I'm able to lay a good foundation before I leave then I'm happy.  We've starting taking Jackie, our recent convert, to lessons with us.  She is super pumped to do missionary work.  She lives here in Beatrice, but most of the brach lives pretty far away in outlying towns.  She was wondering why we don't get together more often as a branch and we explained it to her, so she decided we need more members in Beatrice so that we can be a ward, haha.  She is doing great, so that is awesome.  We had a good conference last week in Grand Island which is about 120 miles west of Lincoln.  We're still trying to get people set for a date and get them to sacrament meeting, but I think as we try to get more members at lessons that will happen more.  Well it is transfer week, and I haven't got a call yet, so I don't think I'm getting transfered, which is good.  I don't want to be.  I still feel like I have a work to do here, especially with Elder Gonzales, haha.  He is great though.  I really feel like a father though with him, haha.  But he has grown a lot this last transfer, so no complaints at all.  All is well.      So the Spiritual thought of the week is about prayer.  Prayer has become really important to me throughout my mission, but especially lately.  I have come to realize how really dependant we are on the Lord and His grace.  I have spent nights crying because I just don't know what to do for people, or how to make the area progress, and I always get the reassurance that things will be alright and that the Lord is pleased with the effort I put forth.  Sometimes I get a little stressed because I feel like if the area isn't donig well or if the numbers aren't good then that is a reflection on me as a person.  But as I've prayed and really talked to Heavenly Father he has helped me to be calm and know that I am doing the best I can.  And then He gives me impressions of things I sould do... and they work!  Crazy, right? But prayer really is so amazing.  It is such a miracle that the all knowing, all powerful creator of the universe wants us, His spirit children, to spend time talking with Him, and that He in return talks back.  I love prayer so much and I'm so grateful for all the prayers I receive on my behalf.  They really do work, and the work really does need them.  So thank you all.  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week.  Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

The Inconvenient Messiah

      Hello everyone, hope you all had a great week.  Well, we finally got some snow.  It snowed all Friday night, but it wasn't too bad.  It's warming up again, and it's been a warm winter.  Even Saturday with all the snow, it has been crazy.  So a couple of stories from this week.  First of all, we met this guy at church two weeks ago named Jesse Cross.  Well Jesse visited church with his buddy who is from California.  He invited us back the following Saturday to visit with him and tell him more about the Book of Mormon.  He wasn't home when we went over.  So Sunday we went over and he was there.  He is super nice, and we taught him the Restoration.  He invited us to come back Saturday and we taught him more about the Book of Mormon and asked him to prepare to be baptized on March 3.  He said yes, and he wants to find some time where we could sit down for a couple of hours and read the Book of Mormon.  Golden!  Him and another investigator named Kathy who is supposed to be baptized on March 24 were going to come to sacrament meeting yesterday, and we were so excited.  But then our branch president called and said church was cancled because of all the snow.  Yeah!  But we'll just have to work on getting them here this next week.  Another funny experience was we went to help Kathy with a fundraiser they were having for a homeless shelter that her and a couople of other people we know are trying to start here.  It was at a Lutherian church and we helped serve the soup.  It was really weird to be in another church.  And they had this woman pastor, which was really weird as well.  But it was nice to show that we care and we're not just out to shove Books of Mormon down people's throat.  So right now we have three people with a baptism date.  There's Jesse and Kathy, and then we also have Tina . Tina has been investigating since before I got here, really long story, but she is super ready to be baptized.  She is supposed to be bapitized on Feb. 18, but she has been sick for about the past month, and we haven't been able to see her.  The last time she let us see her we gave her a blessing, and she is still sick.  Along with that she has a Word of Wisdom problem that she has to quit by this Saturday.  We are super unsure of what is going on with her, so yesterday and Friday we had a fast for her. We're supposed to call her today and see how she is doing, so fingers crossed.  Praying for a miracle here, but she is so ready.  Anyways, there's a little glimps into our week.        So Spiritual thought of the week comes from an essay I read by Elder Holland.  It's titled "The Inconvenient Messiah" and I really liked it.  We have a lot of people say to us that all you have to do is accept Jesus and you are saved, which is partailly true, but they don't understand how we show that we accept Him.  If we truely read the Bible, we see that Christ asked all of His deciples to do really hard things.  That had to give up the things they loved most in order to follow Christ, and show Him that they loved Him the most.  When Christ was tempted by Satan, it was all about convenience.  It would have been convenient for Christ to be able to turn the stone into bread to fufill His appetite.  It would have been easy to throw Himself from the temple, have the angels save Him, and everyone would have believed He was the Savior.  But that is not what He did. Lastly, He could have claimed all the kingdoms of the earth as His own, which they eventaully were.  But He decided to do it the right way, not the convenient way.  So let us ask ourselves, are we doing things the right way, the way the Lord would have us do it, or are we taking the easy way, the way Satan would have us go.  Even though the right way may be difficult, in the end the reward is far greater, and Christ will be with us every step of the way.  I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.  Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

A Cold Shower

Greetings everyone and Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you all have the Valentine sweetheart of the Spirit, haha.  Anyways... this was a great week.  So this area is actually picking up, a lot.  I heard a rumor from Elder Bell that President was going to shut down Beatrice, so we are working harder than ever to show that Beatrice really needs missionaries and that there is work to do here.  And there is!  We found five new investigators this past week, one of them being a family.  I love families.  I really haven't been able to teach to many families, just individuals, so it was great to be able to teach a whole family.  They are actually super involved in the church they go to, but they are really nice and have a strong faith in Christ.  They are pretty much Mormons already and are willing to sit down and have the lessons.  So it won't be easy to convert them, but we will try our hardest to help them have the Spiritual experiences they need to know that their family can be together forever.  So Saturday our branch mission leader Bro. King took us and Jackie and Brenda, our recent converts, up to the Trail Center and Temple at Winter Quarters.  It was so amazing.  The Spirit was so strong, and the sister missionaries took great care of our recent converts.  Elder Bell, my last companion, was there as well and it was really awesome to have that little reunion.  I love learning about our pioneer heritage.  I thought it was so boring as a kid, but now it is one of my favorite things to learn about.  It gives me so much faith and strength to hear their stories and see what they did.  It helps me know that if they could do it, then I centaintly can because the Lord loves me just as much and our work is just as important as theirs.  Yesterday we met this 12 year old girl named Saphire.  Her parents didn't want to hear our message, but they said that she could.  So we taught her the Restoration there and asked her to be baptized on March 10.  She said she'd ask her parents but that she would love to, so that was another great experience we had.  Training with Elder Gonzales continues to go well.  He is starting to mature more and more, and he's really a great kid.  All in all life is great!           So Spiritual thought of the week.  So there was this one day I got in the shower and all of the hot water was gone.  It was freezing!  I quickly cleaned myself and got out, and bam! revelation. I realized that repentence is like a cold shower.  Repentence is hard and painful, and that's why many people are scarred of it.  They want to be comfortable and not have to deal with the pain that comes as we repent.  But, just like the cold shower, after we are done, we are clean, and we feel great.  We all have things we need to repent of, wheather they are big or small.  It may be a bit painful, but we will be clean, and that's what we want.  So let us all strive to find those things that are not in line with the will of the Lord, and take our cold showers!  Love you all and hope you have a great week!  Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall 

Pray, Pause, Ponder

To Whom it May Concern,       Haha, what is up everyone.  Hope you are all doing well and had a much better week than I did.  So... last week.  Well, so Tuesday actually wasn't that bad.  We went up to Lincoln for a Zone Conference, and I always love those.  Sister Kunz gave an amazing training on prayer and President Kunz gave the most spiritual training on the Atonement.  It was very fitting for this week, because it was a tough one.  So Wednesday I went on an exchange with one of the Elders in my district named Elder Higgins.  He is awesome.  He is serving in Marysville Kansas which is about 60 miles south of here.  I actually conducted my first interview with one of their investigators who is actually a nine year old kid from a part member family.  They had the baptism up here in Beatrice on Friday because they don't have a font at their building.  Elder Higgins is a great Elder and I enjoyed going on the exchange with him.  Back in Beatrice, Elder Gonzales went on exchanges with Elder Gardner, and they basically stayed in all day and did no work.  So I wasn't happy about that because by the time we got back on Thursday it was as if we had almost taken three days off from the area, with P-day, Zone Conference, and then the next day.  So we went out with much zeal to make contact with all of our investigators and potentials, with little success.  Everyone was very dodgey.  Two of our investigators on date were taken off, one because her parents said that she couldn't.  The other was an investigator named Jesse who is awesome.  He is pretty much my twin, love the Patriots, Red Sox, Irish stuff, you name it.  He is also very Spiritual, so we were crushed when he told us Sunday night that he had prayed very hard and decided he could not meet with us any more.  None of our other investigators who said they would show up to church came, and none of our potentials became investigators.  So... it was rough, haha. Sunday night we basically had a decision to make, are we going to give up and throw in the towel, or are we going to go forth with even more effort and zeal and work even harder to find those that are ready to hear the truth?  Well, we chose the latter.  I've learned a good lesson though.  I think I feel just a tiny bit of what Heavenly Father feels with me.  He is always there trying to help me to be truely happy and all He asks is for me to put my trust in Him and follow him.  I feel that way with everyone I meet, and it makes me sad when they reject that message.  But there is no greater happiness than when someone uses their agency to follow Christ and the message of the Restored Gospel.  So, one bad week, but looking forward to a great one.         So the spiritual thought this week is about prayer.  Prayer is an amazing miracle.  The Supreme Creator and Master of the Universe, our Heavenly Father, invites and wants us, as small and insignificant as we are, to talk and converse with him.  This truely is a great gift, and what is even greater is that He listens and talks back. Sometimes though we have a hard time listening to the answers He give to us.  One way that we teach others to pray is to pray, pause, and ponder.  Too many times we say our prayers and then just go back to our normal life as if we were reciting a poem.  Instead, let us after we pray sit and ponder, and try to discern the things that our Heavenly Father is trying to tell us.  By doing this we show Him that we are listening, and are able to practice listening to the promptings that come from the Holy Ghost.  Then, when we feel He is talking, let us have the courage to follow whatever it is He is trying to tell us. I know prayer has been a huge confort to me in my life, especially this past week, and I know that the Lord is anxiously awaiting to answer our prayers.  I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week.  Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall

Going THROUGH Problems

      Hello there family and friends.  Well, it's the end of February, and I hope it was a great month for everyone.  I know it was for me, and I will forever be changed by the events that have happened in my life this month.  So the last email I don't think was that uplifting, but I said we were going forward with more might and zeal than ever before.  Well, the Lord truely did bless us this past week, and we have seen miracles happen.  So on Thursday our Zone Leaders came down and went on exchanges with us.  They both stayed in our area, and they are in a trio, so we had five missionaries in little Beatrice.  Well, we did work, and lots of it.  I went with Elder Wilky who just got released as an Assistant and actually went to Lone Peak and played lacrosse.  He is a super awesome missonary, and is a great example to me.  He really did lift my vision of what can happen when you follow the Spirit.  I've really started to take seriously receiving revelation contantly and being obedient and worthy enough, and especially courageous enough, to follow it.  We have seen tremendous blessings come from striving to be worthy to receive prompting from the Spirit whenever we need it, which in our line of buisness is always.  So, one of  the families we teach are pretty much already Mormons.  It's crazy.  So it's a family with two girls that are 14 and 8 and they pretty much already believe and follow all the guidelines of the church.  We taught them yesterday and these are some of the things the mom Merith said.  "I wish we had more members of the congregation speak in our churhc."  "I wish we had communion (the sacrament) every week."  "I don't beleive in the concept of the trinity."  "I wish we had more members from our church in our house to visit."  "I love to sing hymns."  "I've always believed that God reveals His words to prophets."  So, yeah, they are pretty much "there", only one problem.  They are super dedicated to their church! But they love sitting down with us and learning from us, and we in turn love learning from them.  I just thought it was funny all the things she was saying and I'm thinking, "Just join us!" Haha, but it will all happen in the Lord's time.  We are having them read and pray about the Book of Mormon, so hopefully they can receive that answer. It will take a lot of courage if they do to leave their church, but I know that the Lord will provide if they are willing to do so.  That was just one little experience that we had this week out of the many miracles we have seen.          So spiritual thought of the week.  So Saturday night we were doing a soup kitchen service for a homeless shelter in a 4H club. There was a sign there that compared Winners to Losers.  It compared some of the qualities of Winners to those of Losers.  One that really stuck out to me was that Winners go through problems while Losers try to go around them.  As a missionary I see a lot of people try to go around problems, and they are always the most unhappy.  Wheather it's drugs, or government assistence, making excusses for laziness, or blaming others for all their problems, people who try to go around problems never seem to realize that their problems stretch in a line forever, and the only way to get through them is to forge ahead.  On the other hand, those who face their problems with courage and dignity are usually happy and strong.  That doesn't mean that everything for them is all sunshine and rainbows, in fact usually they've gone through some of the hardest things in life, but they are able to find much more sactisfaction and joy in their life because they have been able to overcome adversity.  Ultimately we can overcome any problem in life with the help of the Savior and His Atonement if we are willing to take reponsibility for our situations and forge on though.  So I hope that we can all strive to do our best to face our problems, and not give up, but go on though.  I promise you will make it out safe on the other side as you rely upon the arm of the Lord to protect you.  I hope you all have a great start to March and enjoy the great month of the Irish!  Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall