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