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.