Sacrament and Sacrifice

      Hello friends and family from the somewhat warmer Spencer, Iowa.  Hope you all had a "Hoppy" Easter, and really felt the Spirit as you celebrated the resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ.  Easter was fantastic here.  Elder Elison and I were able to give talks about the Atonement and the Sacrament, as well as our branch mission leader Bro. Swenson gave a talk about the resurrection.  It was super great.  We had so many of our investigators come and attend, five in fact, which is a miracle, since most of my mission it has been the biggest struggle to get people to church, but here it has been rather easy.  We had a great branch mission party at one of the members houses as well.  There was an Easter egg hunt, and a great dinner, and afterwards we played games.   It was a blast, and it was good to get to know more of the members of the branch.  So one thing we've been focusing on lately is bringing up families as much as we can as we seek to find people to teach.  We strive to relate everything back to families, and how the Gospel blesses families, gives us a taste of our premortal family, and prepares us to have eternal families.  We were talking to a lady named Leah, who's daughter actually attended church with one of our youth.  We taught her about the Priesthood, and how it binds families together, and how it has been restored to the earth.  Well she was really interested in that.  We only had a few moments to share a message, but we had a prayer, and she said we could come back this week to share more about our message with her and her family.  It was awesome to see how talking about families can really open up someone's heart and help prepare them to receive the message of the Restoration. 

      So my spiritual thought this week is about the Sacrament, since that is what I gave my talk on yesterday.  The rood for the word sacrament and also the word sacrifice come from the same word in Latin, sacer, which means holy.  I ponder on all the symbolism of the sacrament, in helping us the ultimate sacrifice that Christ gave us through the Atonement, but it is also an invitation for us to sacrifice at the alter of the sacrament our our personal disobedience, fears, and pride and seek to walk in the footsteps of the Savior.  Only in this manner can we be changed from our carnal and fallen state, and become born of God, and saints through the Atonement of Christ.  So this week, and every week, as we partake of the sacrament, let us ask ourselves if we are willing to sacrifice all, and seek to give up those things that prevent us from fully participating in our covenants with Heavenly Father.  I love you all so much, and hope that you have an amazing week.  Happy April Fool's Day! :)

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall
 

Light an Life of the World

     Hello friends and family from the still wintery and snowy Spencer, Iowa.  Hopefully you are enjoying more of a spring-like day than we are up here, haha.  So exciting news, transfers were last week and I received a brand new missionary named Elder Elison.  He is pretty awesome.  He is from Richfield, Utah, and is one of the new 18 year old missionaries.  He actually turn 19 on April 3, which is kind of crazy, because that makes him the same age as Carsen, so it's kind of like training my younger brother to be a new missionary.  It is definitely a unique experience.  He is willing and ready to learn though and we've already had many wonderful experiences together.  So I wanted to share an awesome experience I had over this past week.  So one thing that I've really been pondering about is how to effectively share the Gospel with people while we are knocking their doors.  We have such a short time to help them see how the Gospel could bless them, and I felt I was definitely living below my potential in this area of the work.  As I pondered what to share with people, I realized that they really don't care too much about modern day prophets, and most of them believe that their families will be together in heaven anyways.  As I pondered this, I thought of what people are searching for, and I realized that they don't have happiness.  So many people in the world are looking to be happy, and they have no idea how to find it.  So, pondering this a lot, I was down in Sioux City for the day waiting to get my new companion.  The Elder I was with and I went knocking doors, and this lady opened the door.  She looked very tired, and not very happy.  The other Elder started sharing with her about the Restoration, and she responded that she attended the Catholic church.  Things weren't going anywhere quick, and she was about to close the door, when I told her that we were there to teach people to be happy.  She paused, and then opened the door again, and asked what I said.  I repeated it, and she responded that she had been praying that day that she wasn't happy and she didn't know why.  So we read her a scripture from Mosiah 2:41 which talks about the "blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God..."  She pondered it for a bit, and said, "That is a good scripture.  I don't think I am keeping all of the commandments.  I don't even know what all of the commandments are."   We then were able to testify that our message and the Gospel could teach her these things, and she invited us back to meet with her.  I have no idea what has happened with her since, but I was grateful that Heavenly Father lead us to her through the Spirit, and gave to us the things that she needed to hear.  

       So my spiritual thought this week is about a scripture from Mosiah 16: 9 which states, "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless..."  I think about all of the problems and challenges and trials we face in life, and the world has an endless supply of means that we can try to fix them.  The world tries to tell us that there is any other way, besides the Gospel, that can be an answer to our problems.  Usually this comes in the form of something that seems, on the surface, convenient.  One funny way we can see this is in the following example:  The world will tell us that to have a toned out body all we need to do is to take a diet pill, and the fat will magically go away and will be replaced by bulging muscles.  But we know that that is not the case.  If we want to stay in good shape, we have to nourish ourselves with wholesome foods and be physically active.  Well, the same applies to the challenges we face in life.  The answers the world gives us are fake and finite, but the light that comes from the Savior is real and infinite.  It is endless.  There is no problem or challenge that we have that He cannot help us with.  And that is our message to share.  Just as this lady was looking for happiness in all the wrong places, there are many around us who are doing the same thing.  You can help them as you share the light of the Gospel, and show them the way to access an endless light that will never grow dim, and that will illuminate the way to the power of the Atonement.  I hope that we can share this with all those that we meet, especially those who are struggling.  I love you all and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed,
Elder Chandler Kendall   

Treasures in Heaven

    Hello friends and family from the still very snowy Spencer, Iowa.  I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's day and had much Irish Luck.  We certainly had much luck, or more like grace, as we taught a part member family yesterday.  So here's the story.  Last night we went to eat dinner at a family in our branch's house named the Thompsons.  Sister Thompson and all of her children come to church every Sunday, but her husband is not a member and I've never seen him at church.  But he is a really nice guy, so we have a good time when we go over there.  Well, for dinner we had taco salad, a great St. Patrick's Day meal, haha.  But it really was good.  Well, afterwards we were trying to have a lesson, and the kids were being crazy out of control.  So it was hard to keep focused.  They also had this little dog that kept on jumping all over me and biting me (Cassandra would have been freaking out) and that was distracting as well.  We were trying to teach Bro. Thompson about being born again through the Gospel and Sis. Thompson was being very pushy, although out of a sincere desire to help him.  So, pretty much everything was working against us, but we were somehow still able to teach him a lesson and invite him to be baptized in May.  Well, he accepted, which was a miracle.  He said, "Well, I guess it's time for me to man up."  Haha, it was amazing.  The cool thing was I had been preparing for this lesson all week, and even though things seemed to be going wrong, the Lord made up for it, and I realized as long as we did all we could on our part, He would make up for our weaknesses.  

     So spiritual thought of the week is about treasures in heaven.  One of the great ironies of our day is people's constant search for happiness in material things, never realizing that any worldly thing we find pleasure in will eventually have an end.  That is why for us as Latter-day Saints, we need to show that we are true disciples of Christ by searching for and enlarging upon treasures in heaven.  So what are treasures in heaven?  They are blessing from Heavenly Father that allow us to have eternal joy, and are eternal in themselves.  Accesses the atonement through the principles and ordinances of the gospel are a treasure in heaven.  Our family is a treasure in heaven.  The church and our wards are treasures in heaven.  The gift of the Holy Ghost is a treasure in heaven.  True love, or charity, is a treasure in heaven.  The scriptures and the words of Christ are a treasure in heaven.  There are so many treasures in heaven that we have been blessed with.  If we are truly grateful for the things that we have been given, we must seek to impart these gifts to all of those around us.  Whenever we can we should testify of the immense joy that comes from the blessings we receive as Latter-day Saints and invite others to come and partake of these treasures as well.  I know that as we seek out the best of gifts that our Father in Heaven will give them to us, and to those that we love.  I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed,

Elder Chandler Kendall

Learning to be a good Friend

   Hello friends and family from the very snowy Spencer, Iowa.  Sounds like things are pretty warm back home, but we definitely got the most snowfall that we have had this whole winter.  I'm certainly ready for spring, but it's better than having a super hot summer, so I won't complain, haha.  This past week was super awesome.  Seeing that there was next to no work when I first came to this area, it is amazing to see how much can happen in just a short month.  The Lord is providing us with many people to teach, and many of them are part-member families, so that is really exciting.  I will tell you about one awesome investigator we got this past Sunday.  Her name is, if you can believe it, Kendall, haha.  She is the girlfriend of our branch president's son.  She just graduated high school, and he is a senior in high school.  So let me tell you about her.  She has already read the whole Book of Mormon and knows that it is true.  She showed us a notebook that she has of notes that she has taken about things she's learned in there and other doctrines that she has learned about the Church.  The lesson we had with her was super powerful.  The biggest trial she's having right now is that her parents are devout Lutherans, and aren't very pleased with her interest in the Church.  We asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she just burst out in tears saying that she really wanted to, but she didn't know how to confront her parents about it.  We shared a scripture from Alma 37:37 talking about counseling with the Lord in all of your doings.  She said it was one of her favorite scriptures, and she already had a poster of it in her room.  She gave one of the most heartfelt prayers afterward, and received an amazing blessing from President Olsen.  The miracle came on Sunday when she actually showed up to church.  She said she probably wouldn't, because she goes with her mother every Sunday, but she showed up, and it was awesome.  She is also going to BYU this fall, so she is just jumping right into the Mormon life, haha.  Also, we have another new investigator who is a nine year old from a part member family named Chandler.  Haha, so now I'm teaching Chandler and Kendall.  Heavenly Father definitely has a funny bone, haha.  

        So my spiritual thought this week is about being a friend.  One of the greatest blessings that I have received in my life, next to my wonderful family, is all of my wonderful friends.  In fact, I would say that is one of the reasons that my family is great, is because we are all such great friends.  I have seen the incredible change that can come to peoples' lives when they have a good friend that they can rely on.  So what makes a good friend?  Well I think a good friend is always willing to listen to others problems and give them comfort, even when there isn't much they can do to help.  A good friend does all they can to help when they can.  A good friend doesn't do something against their standards just because their friend is, but is there to be a righteous example for good, while not condemning their friend for the unwise choices that they make.  A good friend serves like Christ would, and seeks to lift others burdens.  A good friend is not only willing to help their friends, but to receive help and blessings from them as well.  There are so many things that I could say about being a good friend.  But this world is running out of good friends, and everyone needs a good friend to be there for them, to help lift their burdens, and to love them as Christ would.  So, pray for someone around you who may need a good friend, and then ask Heavenly Father who you can do to be a good friend to them.  I promise as you do you will make a significant change for good in their life.  I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed, 
Elder Chandler Kendall

True Faith

      Hello friends and family from the very icy Spencer, Iowa.  Hope you are all doing amazing and enjoying the new month of March.  March is a great month.  Not only does it have my favorite holiday, but it also is my mom's birthday.  Plus, this year we get Easter in March as well.  Many wonderful things to look forward to this month.  So this past week was an amazing week.  There were so many awesome/crazy experiences it would be impossible to tell them all to you.  One cool thing though is that we are teaching a new investigator named Amanda.  She is the upstairs neighbor of a young family in our ward named the Schmids.  Sis, Schmid just starting talking to Amanda one day and they were getting to know each other.  The subject of religion came up and Amanda said she didn't know much about the Bible or about Christ.  Well they started talking and reading the Bible together and she was really learning a lot.  Sis. Schmid told her about us, and invited us over to teach her.  The first lesson we had with her she talked about how she has never been baptized, and that she wants to be.  It was really awesome.  The next lesson we took her on a tour of the church, and watched the Restoration video.  She said she could really relate to Joseph Smith, and that she believed what happened to him was true.  It was really awesome.  On Sunday we had a great stake conference that was broadcast from Salt Lake City to all of the stakes in nine states across the mid-west.  Elder Oaks and other general authorities spoke, and it was really amazing.  It was like a little taste of what is coming with conference.  

      So spiritual thought this week is about true faith.  Last night we watched a CES fireside devotional with the YSA's and Elder Bednar spoke.  First of all, he is probably my favorite current apostle, so I was very excited to hear him speak.  He spoke about trials and about true faith.  He talked about a young man who had just barely been married three weeks earlier and was told he had bone cancer.  As he was going through this trial, Elder Bednar stopped and visited him.  The man asked him to give him a blessing.  Elder Bednar said he would, but first he asked him a question.  He said, "Do you have the faith not to be healed?  If it is the Lord's will to transfer you to the spirit world, will you accept that?"  What a hard question to ask.  This young man wrote about how he learned then what true faith was.  True faith is believing and knowing that Heavenly Father does have the power to do anything, including healing this young man.  Although we have the belief that He can do that, true faith is manifest when we accept the Lord's will for us.  What an eye opening realization for me.  Although we will not all have the same trials as this young man, let us all learn to learn of the power of the Lord and learn to submit to His will, knowing that all things will work together for our good.  I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week.

Godspeed,

Elder Chandler Kendall

Go about Doing GOOD!!

     Hello friends and family from the lovely Spencer, Iowa.  What an amazing place this is here.  I came and talked to a guy and said, "Is this heaven?"  He responded, "It's Iowa!"  See if anyone caught that movie reference, haha.  Anyways, things here are going great.  Last week a big snow storm hit, so that was pretty crazy.  We were actually down in Council Bluffs for a zone conference, which is about three hours south of here.  We left to go there on Wednesday, the conference was Thursday, and because of the snow we didn't get back to our area until Friday evening.  It was a great conference, but I really do hate leaving my area, even for a day.  But the Lord makes up for the time that we miss.  One cool experience we had this last week was while we were up in a town called Spirit Lake.  We were having dinner with a family, but we had some extra time before we were meeting with them, so we decided to go finding.  We prayed where we needed to go, and we were prompted to go to a neighborhood with nicer houses.  Now normally we try to not go to places like that because people are generally less humble, but we followed the prompting and started knocking doors.  The first few houses were what we expected: short, cold conversations.  We approached another door and met a man named Chris who was super nice.  He started talking about how much he loved Mitt Romney, haha, and how he was always curious about the Book of Mormon.  He talked about how he is Greek Orthodox, but that he goes to the Methodist church because there was not Orthodox church around. We started sharing the Book of Mormon with him and his wife came out.  She was super nice, and talked about how she was Irish, and that she was preparing for St. Patrick's Day.  Well we instantly connected there, and she saw that we were sharing about the Book of Mormon.  She said she also was curious about it, and as we handed it to her she said it was a treasure, and was very grateful for us bringing it to her.  It was a wonderful experience that showed me the importance of following the Spirit, and how there are prepared people in all areas of the world.

        So my spiritual missionary thought this week is about going about doing good.  Sometimes we wonder, how am I supposed to find people to teach?  How will they be able to tell that we are representatives of Christ?  What would motivate someone to listen to our message, let alone change their religious beliefs?  The answer comes when we realize that at baptism we covenanted that we were willing to take upon ourselves the name of Christ.  This is more fully explained in Mosiah chapter 18 where Alma describes this part of the covenant as bearing one another's burdens, mourning with those that mourn, and comforting those who stand in need of comfort.  I am reminded of the hymn, "Have I Done Any Good".   Are we going about doing good for people, "that they may see [our] good works, and glorify [our] Father who is in heaven"?  Do we realize that although helping people to relieve their burdens is part of our covenant to be like Christ, that it also provides for us an opportunity to share the Gospel, which is the greatest thing above all else that we can offer them?  Always look for ways to do good, not only for the intent of lifting burdens, which is a very good thing, but for the ability to touch their heart so that they will see you as a disciple of Christ, that their heart may be softened, and that you may have an opportunity to share the great message of the Gospel.  I love you all very much, and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed, 

Elder Chandler Kendall    

Elder Kendall and his companion!

  Hello to everyone from Spencer, Iowa.  Hope everyone is doing well and loving life.  So last Wednesday I got the call from President Weston that I would be transferred the next day to the Spencer Branch.  I was expecting to leave, but it is always hard nonetheless.  I had a great farewell from the Singles Ward though.  We all went out for dinner at Golden Corral and they made me a big goodbye card that they all signed.  It was super nice of them.  I will miss that ward a lot, but I knew that it was time to move on.  This is the first time in about a year that I've been in an area where there aren't a lot of missionaries, so that is taking some getting used to.  My companion is Elder Wallace, who is actually from Alpine.  He also went to Lone Peak, but graduated a year behind me, so I didn't really know him too well.  He is really awesome though and is a very happy person.  He is also my second companion that went to the same high school that I did.  Spencer is a cool little branch.  It's the most northeast part of the whole mission.  All of the members here are really great.  One cool thing is that at the community college here the soccer coach is a member, and he does a lot of recruiting out in Utah.  So we actually have a small group of about 15 or so YSA's that we get to work with.  Pretty much it's a perfect combination of my two favorite places, branches and YSA's.   It is the best!  There are a couple of towns up north in our branch by these lakes, and they remind me of small coastal towns that they have back east.  It was really fun to be up there, and we even went out and saw a guy out on one of the frozen lakes who was ice fishing.  He was the husband of a member, so it wasn't just some random guy, haha.  But I am really excited to be here and to try and face the new challenges and blessings that a new area brings.  

       So my missionary/spiritual thought today is on having courage to follow the promptings of the Spirit.  One thing that we need to realize about the members of the Godhead is that their view and perspective of life is much larger than ours.  When we realize that their whole purpose is to bring about our immortality and eternal life, as well as everyone around us, we can trust that the things that they reveal to us are for our benefit, and the benefit of all those around us.  As we realize this, we seek their guidance, realizing that the things they tell us to do don't always make sense.  Sometimes it is a fearful thing to follow a prompting that forces us to go outside our comfort zone, but we can have full trust that as we rely on the strength of grace that comes from the Atonement, we can have the courage to follow uncomfortable promptings.  Most of the time, these will come in an effort for you to be a blessing to someone else's life.  After you prove you're willing to follow the Spirit, he will bear witness that what you did was right and true in the sight of the Lord.  I pray that we can all seek to follow the Spirit and muster up the courage to be an effective tool in the Lord's hands, despite any challenges the world will throw at us.  I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week. 

Godspeed, 

Elder Chandler Kendall