Hey friends and family from the frigid area of Kenora! I am doing really well, and I appreciate all the support, I am sorry that I have lost a lot of contact, I am going to do better though! I wanted to tell you a little bit about my experiences the past couple of weeks:
1. New investigators.
This week and last we found 6 new people that we are teaching, and we received antother promising phone call that I will tell you about in a bit. The first man's name is tyson. He is thirty years old, and works at Tim Horton's (starbucks equivalent) where the sisters met him and then turned him over. He is a very spiritual native guy, and is just simply looking to make his life better. He is huge! He is a super tall guy, and is hilarious, and is one of my favorite people that we have taught so far. The next one is greg and stephanie, who were found in the former investigator section. Greg and stephanie are not married, but have been living together for about 20 years. they have 3 kids, ages 18, 15, and 13, and Greg invited us back because he wants security for his family, and he wants to overcome his drinking problem. They are really great. Aggie is an older lady, she is in her 60's and is also native, she grew up really spiritual, and experience full healing from being crippled in another church, which is really different, but she loved the book of mormon and desires to learn more! we are going to be working close with her. The next one is stan, we found stan on the street, he was walking to work, and we were able to set up an appointment with him and then teach him about the restoration. He said he had a similar experience to Joseph smith in a dream, which is really neat, and we hope that he may be able to see that this is the path for him. He is kind of slow, but a really nice guy, and it will be great to work with him. The last one is Haven. Haven is Tyson's niece, she's 8 years old, and she was found because Tyson decided to bring her to game night (one of our activities at the church). She is super excited about meeting missionaries, she is really cute and fun, and loved being at the church, we got a call from tyson on saturday saying that Haven really wanted to come to church, so we were able to scramble and find her a ride, and it worked out! She came to church with tyson, the others weren't able to make it even though they were committed to, but we will just keep working on it.
2. Nick
We got a call on saturday night from a man that met with missionaries 4 years ago named nick. Nick is a MMA fighter, and is possibly the nicest guy on the planet, we have only talked with him on the phone, but he expressed a deep desire to meet with the missionaries, so we were able to set up an appointment with him this week. We don't know much about nick yet, but hopefully our appointment with him goes well and that we are able to help him progress in the gospel.
3. Me
I learned a lot this week about being patient with myself. I am really self-critical, and I tend to beat myself up a lot and tell myself that I am not good enough, but I learned that as I slow down, and focus on the small things that I can work on, that the bigger tasks become much more managable. I especially enjoyed reading in 2 Nephi 4 this week, it helped me learn a lot about myself, and I would recommend that you all look it up!
4. Snow
This is the coldest snow since 1974 in Kenora, it was the coldest december since 1893, and on new years day it was more warm on mars than it was here. We have the most snow since 1967 in Kenora, and so most of it is a little past my waist, some spots taller than me, and it is just crazy!
5. miscellaneous
a) We had a specialized training that had to be cancelled due to the fact that a huge storm hit the morning we were supposed to leave (it was a three hour drive... our mission is huge), and we had 4 other elders from a neighboring area staying with us, and they got stuck from wednesday to saturday, so we had 6 elders in our apartment, and had to come up with a lot of work to do. We did tons of service with them, and a lot of shoveling, and the members were very gracious to invite them over frequently, so that was great. All in all, it was just a crazy experience!
b) We are not on facebook nor do we have tablets yet, but we have been told sometime in the early spring, so hopefully we will be on soon. I have talked to other missionaries in other missions and they say that they have it and that it is helpful, so hopefully that will be the case for us here
d) We were invited by a member to join the community choir, and then the men in the community choir invited us to join their choir, so I am singing in two choirs in Kenora! it is really strange, but it is a good thing to be involved in, we are talking with a lot of people, and are hoping that a couple of them will become investigators soon.
c) the members have really come around and we are getting a lot of support, they are planning activities and having us over a lot and giving us referrals a little bit, so that is really exciting! they want us to start musical numbers in sacrament meeting, so I will probably be playing a little bit in church, I don't play a whole lot anymore, so that will be nice. I hope that things will continue to go as they are, I am really loving Kenora, and I hope and pray that things will continue, I know that the Lord has a great work in store for us!
I want to leave you all with my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ is my savior, that He was sent by a loving Heavenly Father to save us, and that through the restored knowledge of the gospel we can enjoy all the blessings that God has promised us. I love you all, I am so grateful for the support, and I hope that you each have a wonderful week!
1. New investigators.
This week and last we found 6 new people that we are teaching, and we received antother promising phone call that I will tell you about in a bit. The first man's name is tyson. He is thirty years old, and works at Tim Horton's (starbucks equivalent) where the sisters met him and then turned him over. He is a very spiritual native guy, and is just simply looking to make his life better. He is huge! He is a super tall guy, and is hilarious, and is one of my favorite people that we have taught so far. The next one is greg and stephanie, who were found in the former investigator section. Greg and stephanie are not married, but have been living together for about 20 years. they have 3 kids, ages 18, 15, and 13, and Greg invited us back because he wants security for his family, and he wants to overcome his drinking problem. They are really great. Aggie is an older lady, she is in her 60's and is also native, she grew up really spiritual, and experience full healing from being crippled in another church, which is really different, but she loved the book of mormon and desires to learn more! we are going to be working close with her. The next one is stan, we found stan on the street, he was walking to work, and we were able to set up an appointment with him and then teach him about the restoration. He said he had a similar experience to Joseph smith in a dream, which is really neat, and we hope that he may be able to see that this is the path for him. He is kind of slow, but a really nice guy, and it will be great to work with him. The last one is Haven. Haven is Tyson's niece, she's 8 years old, and she was found because Tyson decided to bring her to game night (one of our activities at the church). She is super excited about meeting missionaries, she is really cute and fun, and loved being at the church, we got a call from tyson on saturday saying that Haven really wanted to come to church, so we were able to scramble and find her a ride, and it worked out! She came to church with tyson, the others weren't able to make it even though they were committed to, but we will just keep working on it.
2. Nick
We got a call on saturday night from a man that met with missionaries 4 years ago named nick. Nick is a MMA fighter, and is possibly the nicest guy on the planet, we have only talked with him on the phone, but he expressed a deep desire to meet with the missionaries, so we were able to set up an appointment with him this week. We don't know much about nick yet, but hopefully our appointment with him goes well and that we are able to help him progress in the gospel.
3. Me
I learned a lot this week about being patient with myself. I am really self-critical, and I tend to beat myself up a lot and tell myself that I am not good enough, but I learned that as I slow down, and focus on the small things that I can work on, that the bigger tasks become much more managable. I especially enjoyed reading in 2 Nephi 4 this week, it helped me learn a lot about myself, and I would recommend that you all look it up!
4. Snow
This is the coldest snow since 1974 in Kenora, it was the coldest december since 1893, and on new years day it was more warm on mars than it was here. We have the most snow since 1967 in Kenora, and so most of it is a little past my waist, some spots taller than me, and it is just crazy!
5. miscellaneous
a) We had a specialized training that had to be cancelled due to the fact that a huge storm hit the morning we were supposed to leave (it was a three hour drive... our mission is huge), and we had 4 other elders from a neighboring area staying with us, and they got stuck from wednesday to saturday, so we had 6 elders in our apartment, and had to come up with a lot of work to do. We did tons of service with them, and a lot of shoveling, and the members were very gracious to invite them over frequently, so that was great. All in all, it was just a crazy experience!
b) We are not on facebook nor do we have tablets yet, but we have been told sometime in the early spring, so hopefully we will be on soon. I have talked to other missionaries in other missions and they say that they have it and that it is helpful, so hopefully that will be the case for us here
d) We were invited by a member to join the community choir, and then the men in the community choir invited us to join their choir, so I am singing in two choirs in Kenora! it is really strange, but it is a good thing to be involved in, we are talking with a lot of people, and are hoping that a couple of them will become investigators soon.
c) the members have really come around and we are getting a lot of support, they are planning activities and having us over a lot and giving us referrals a little bit, so that is really exciting! they want us to start musical numbers in sacrament meeting, so I will probably be playing a little bit in church, I don't play a whole lot anymore, so that will be nice. I hope that things will continue to go as they are, I am really loving Kenora, and I hope and pray that things will continue, I know that the Lord has a great work in store for us!
I want to leave you all with my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ is my savior, that He was sent by a loving Heavenly Father to save us, and that through the restored knowledge of the gospel we can enjoy all the blessings that God has promised us. I love you all, I am so grateful for the support, and I hope that you each have a wonderful week!
love,
Elder Kendall
