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

The O'Conners

Happy Easter family and friends. I hope you all had an amazing Easter weekend celebrating our Savior's triumph over sin and death. This was probably the best Easter of my life, but I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's start from the beginning (a very good place to start). So nothing super exciting happened during the weekdays this week. We mostly just tried to find and teach people, with much less success than we usually have. Most of our teaching pool are pretty non-committal people, so we are looking forward to doing some major finding this week. Thursday President Kunz came and interviewed the O'Conners for baptism. It was super awesome, and he was just so impressed and happy for how prepared they were to be baptized. So Friday we had zone leader council where all the zone leaders come for a day and we discuss events going on in the mission, and how we can best help our missionaries. It was really great, and Sister Kunz gave an amazing training on the Atonement and the doctrine of grace. So it's sweet, four zone leaders are actually went to Lone Peak and graduate from there, haha. I guess it must be a pretty good high school. We were able to go to the temple after, which was really awesome. Usually we get to go every other month, but we were able to go again for the council, so it was really awesome. The temple here is amazing, and there's such a great pioneer spirit there. I always learn so much when I go there, and ultimately it brings a lot of joy and peace to my soul when I leave there, especially knowing that everything will be alright when we put our trust in the Lord. So Saturday was the O'Conner's baptism!!! It was so awesome. Both the parents, Chris Sr. and Megan, got baptized as well as two of their sons, Racelind and Chris Jr. They also have two other kids, Aiden and Jasmin, who are super cute, but aren't old enough to get baptized. The service was really great. The branch was really involved, and the Stake President was even there. We even had two members of the branch doing some of the baptizing, and I know that they just feel really welcomed and comfortable with the members here. So Sunday in Sacrament meeting they got confirmed. I had the amazing privilege of confirming Brother O'Conner. I can't remember what I even said, haha (that's usually what happens after I give someone a blessing), but I felt the Spirit so strong and knew that this was one of Heavenly Father's choice sons. The Easter service was great as well. Elder Bittner gave a really good testimony, and there were some great musical numbers. We went over to the O'Conner's that night for an Easter dinner, and they totally attacked us with water balloons, haha. It was great, and we just all were able to thank Heavenly Father for what had happened that weekend, not only this year, but 2000 years ago as well. For a present they gave us chocolate crosses, haha, that said Happy Easter. Can't teach them everything at once, right? But I know that Heavenly Father and Christ are filled with immense joy with the O'Conners and I am as well. So Spiritual thought of the week... well... I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the Savior and the Atonement. When we think about the Plan of Salvation and all the wonderful things it encompasses, without the Savior and the Atonement it is just a plan. Without the Atonement we are worms food and angels to a devil as it talks about in 2 Nephi 9. But because of it we have "great reason to rejoice." Not only does the Atonement provide for everyone to unconditionally be resurrected, but it also provides a way that we can be cleansed from sin so that we can return to live with Heavenly Father. Christ satisfied the demands of justice, and offers to us mercy when we accept His sacrifice by living the principles and ordinances of the Gospel. He loved us unconditionally. No one can even begin to imagine the pain and sorrow He went through as He bled from every pore. He was abandoned by everyone, and ultimately, as Elder Holland says, the Spirit of the Father was withdrawn. He did it alone, so that we never have to be. He invites all to come to Him. He asks us to give all that we have, but when we think about it we really don't have much. When we do, He promises us everything that He has. This is the greatest message in the world. I am so eternally grateful for Him, for the things He has done to redeem me in my life, and that He has trusted me to be His servant as I strive to help Him bring our brothers and sisters into His fold. I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week. Godspeed, Elder Chandler Kendall