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