Staying Positive

Hello friends and family!  Merry Christmas once again.  It is really great to be a missionary during this great time of the year where we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and thank our Heavenly Father for the great gift He gave us through Him.  What a wonderful time of the year to spread the Spirit of Christ and His Gospel to people, and help them reflect upon the Light of Christ that is in them.  Well, being in a singles ward, everyone is getting their things and heading home for the holidays, so we've been having a jolly good time finding what we should do with our days.  Although many of our investigators are busy with finals, and leaving for home soon, the Lord continues to provide work for us to do, and people for us to teach.  One person we are still teaching is Simone.  One thing that is great about Simone, and our ward, is that even when her friend who originally brought her to church isn't around, Simone still comes to church, and even spends time hanging out with members of the ward during the week.  I've seen her change a lot.  She's had to make some hard decisions, because her mom is against her joining the church, but she has held faithful, and is more committed than ever to be baptized and continue to endure to the end.  So that's the main thing going on for us right now.  It's funny being a missionary, because for some reason everyone feels like they can tell you everything about their life.  So, being in a singles ward, everyone tells us about their relationship woes and asks us for advice for what they should do.  Usually we tell them to read their scriptures and ask Heavenly Father, haha.  But I think this break will be really good for everyone in the ward. :)
     So, spiritual thought of the week is all about staying positive.  I'm sure you've heard many times about people who become interested in the Gospel because they said a member they saw had a glow about them.  Well, one of the reasons we have this glow about us is because we, or at least we should, have a perfect brightness of hope that comes from our faith in the Savior and the Atonement.  Now, I've not always been the best at this, in fact, I'm probably one of the worst at it. But lately, with the struggles and trials that we all face in life, I've had to make the decision to turn away from myself, and focus on others and making them happy.  I realized that almost every time I get down in life or as a missionary, it is because I am too focused on myself, and what others think of me.  Instead of doing that, or every time I am tempted to do that, I think of ways I can serve others, and make them smile for a while.  Accepting people for who they are right now, including myself, has allowed me to have more of the Spirit, and when people feel the Spirit, He can testify to them how they can change in a way that we never can.  And then we make progress, and it happens without us dwelling on ours or others weaknesses, or the negative things that they do. When we focus on the positive things that people do, it consumes them more and more, and it drowns out the negative parts of their life. I promise as we strive to be positive, forgive people for the bad things they have done, and accept them for who they are, we can make a great difference in the world, and people will want to be better, and they will want to change.  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week.  

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

Christmas Time is Here

 Hey fiends and family, hope you are all doing well.  Christmastime is here, and it is one of my favorite times of the year.  So... Merry Christmas!  So, let me tell you about some of our fun adventures during this past week.  One of our investigators named Simone is doing really well.  She was investigating, and then we weren't able to see her for a couple of weeks because she was so busy.  Her mom wasn't really pleased with her joining the Church, so we were worried what was going on without a lot of contact with her.  But we were able to meet with her again and she said she told her mom she's getting baptized.  Luckily, she is really close to her grandma, who is really supportive of her, so that helps.  She has a great testimony though.  I can see the positive impact the Gospel is making in her life, and I know that many great blessings await her as she enters the Gospel path.  One thing I've really gained a testimony of lately is talking with everyone, no matter what.  Most people are really nice once you start talking to them, even if they aren't super interested, and I'm always surprised at the people that are.  We met one Chinese man named Wang who is really interested in Christianity.  We taught him a bit about the Plan of Salvation, and he said he really wants to learn more.  We are excited to teach him after his finals are over.  The Lord continually provides us with people to teach when we faithfully and diligently go about His work.  Also, I won a prestigious award this past Saturday.  Our ward had a Christmas brunch with an ugly sweater competition, and I was the winner, haha.  The funniest part was that the prize was a $15 iTunes gift card, haha.  But hey, I guess I'll just have to use it for some cool new music when I get home.  All in all life is great, and it is great to be a missionary around this time of year.  
          So spiritual thought of the week.  I am always amazed at how much I feel the Spirit when I listen to the General Authorities. I know that they are chosen servants of our Father in Heaven.  Last night's devotional was great.  Any time I need to strive to refocus my life on the Savior, I listen to or read the words of the prophets, and then apply the things that I have learned.  I was thinking about this in terms of missionary work.  While it is vitally important to testify of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith, another vital part of sharing the Gospel is bearing testimony of our current Prophet and Apostles and share the words they are giving us in this day.  I love sharing with our investigators current messages that help them in their everyday life.  It helps them to grow their testimony of the Restoration, and have an assurance that the heavens are not closed, and that we still continue to receive revelation in our day.  So, when sharing the Gospel, look for opportunities to share the words of modern day Prophets.  One great way to do this is to post little clips on your facebook from lds.org.  I know as we do this that people will want to hear more about what we have to offer, and their testimony of Christ will be increased.  I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

Happy Thanksgiving

 Hello friends and family!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, especially those who were on the videos, and even those who weren't, I love you as well.  So... this past week was great.  Despite the break, we were able to teach a good amount of lessons, and we even found two awesome new investigators named Nya and Chuol.  Their family is from Sudan, and they are super humble and ready for the Gospel.  After the second lesson we were able to invite Nya to be baptized in January and she said she would prepare to do that.  I was really awesome.  Thanksgiving was great.  We were able to limit ourselves to two dinners, despite the many offers, haha.  The first was with the family of a guy in our ward who just got back from his mission named the Bishoffs, and the second was with a family in another ward named the Paces.  It was really enjoyable and I felt right at home.  We even played Apples to Apples.  Other than that, not much major happened.  Elder Chesley and I are getting along great, and we are excited to spend another transfer together in the University ward.  We have so many great people we are teaching, and I hope that I can see many of them enter the waters of baptisms (but I think the Christmas break might put a damper on that wish). 
       So, for my Spiritual thought.  One thing that I think is important as Christians and in doing missionary work is to show people how grateful you are for everything in life.  We often learn how important it is to be to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings that He gives to us, and it is a very important principle of the Gospel.  But I also think that part of the second great commandment, loving our neighbor as ourselves, is learning how to show our gratitude towards others.  There are so many opportunities in life to express our gratitude to people, even for the little things.  And I am almost sure that we cannot say thank you enough for some of the amazing things that people do for us in our life.  When people see that we appreciate them for who they are and the things that they have done, then they want to be around us more, and also understand why it is that we are so happy.  We then have an opportunity to testify of our Heavenly Father's love for us, and how we also seek to love everyone around us.  I promise as we strive to do this we will find hidden talents in ourselves and others, and we will be happier in our lives.  I love you all very much and am grateful for all of the support that you give to me.  Have a great week!

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

Obtain the Word

Hello friends and family!  Welcome to November.  This is going
to be a great month for everyone I am sure.  So this last week was one
of the busiest weeks that I've ever had on my mission.  Between
splitting time between zone leader duties and meetings, preparing two
musical numbers for stake conference, a fireside last night, and the
normal responsibilities we have in our own area, we were pretty busy
and tired.  I cannot even imagine how the general authorities do all
the things that they do, and still have time to spend with their
families.  But, although there is much work involved, it is always
very rewarding.  So yesterday was stake conference, and it was
amazing.  President and Sister Weston were there and they gave great
thoughts.  They have so much love for us as missionaries, and are very
dedicated to doing missionary work.  We also had a missionary choir
that had all the missionaries from our stake that I was in charge of
directing.  We sang "Called to Serve" and also our own arrangement
that we made of "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go."  It was really
great, and the Spirit was very strong.  Our stake president also asked
our recent convert Doug to go up and bear his testimony.  It was
really amazing.  He shared about how through the Book of Mormon, he
was able to gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  He
shared the verse that helped in his conversion, 2 Nephi 31:20, and
then went on the explain phrase by phrase what that verse meant to
him.  It was super awesome, and very rewarding to see as a missionary.
 All the thoughts were amazing, and I know that the Lord has great
plans for the work and people here in Lincoln.  We were also able to
last night have a fireside for our ward.  In it we had a presentation
the Church made called "The Mormon Next Door."  It outlined the way in
which Latter-day Saints live their lives, and what measurable benefits
there are from living the Gospel.  We also had a Q&A afterwards with
members of the ward on a panel.  It was a great fireside, but I wish
there were more people there.  I struggle to help people really see
the vision of the Gospel, and how desperately we need to share it with
everyone in the world.  All people, whether they are content with
where they are in life or not, need the Gospel.  Other than that,
Ashley and Simone are doing really well, and I'm looking forward to
see what happens with other new investigators we are teaching.
       So for the missionary thought of the week I wanted to share
about obtaining the word of God before we share it.  D&C 11:21 says,
"Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and
then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have
my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of
men."  How do we obtain the word of God?  We must diligently study the
words in scriptures and from modern prophets.  We must make
connections on how different scriptures work together.  We must seek
to apply them in our lives.  We must learn to recognize the Spirit,
and follow His promptings.  We must learn to pray, and ask to know
God's word.  As we do these things, we obtain the word of God, and
then as we desire to share it, our tongues will be loosed, and we will
have the power to convince others of the truthfulness of the Gospel.
I know that as I have done this on my mission, it has changed people's
lives, and as you seek to do the same, you can share with them the
same words that Christ Himself would say.  I love you all so much, and
hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall