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. Elder Chandler Kendall
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