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