Disciple of Christ

Hey friends and family! 

This is unbelievable for me to be writing my final e-mail as a full-time missionary. You'll find that this e-mail is full of missionary cliches, but I don't know if there is any other way to describe what I am now experiencing.

I have hearing about missions all my life. My Grandfathers served missions, my dad served a mission, my older brother served a mission, and I have associated with many other great men and women throughout my life who have also served missions. I heard so much about missions being "the best two years". I heard that "you'll change on a mission more than anywhere else". I also heard that "it's impossible to adequately describe your mission experience". All of those are true for me. This has been the greatest two years of my life so far. I know that there are many great years ahead, but this mission truly has been the greatest that I have experienced. There is no way I could have fully anticipated what I would experience here in Canada, the miracles, the rejection, the feelings of the spirit, everything was so much more than I ever thought it could be. And it has changed me.

My mission has taught me more of the Atonement of Jesus Christ than any other experience in my life. It taught me that when I'm down, when I'm about to quit, when I'm ready to fall, The Lord lifts me up, He comforts me, He strengthens me, He bears my burdens, and He helps me to rise. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, I love the miracle of the Atonement, and the miracle that it's power and influence has had on my life, especially as I represented His name as a full time missionary these past two years. 

The greatest lesson that I have learned as a missionary is how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I thought I knew what it meant to be a disciple before my mission. Disciples go to church. Disciples read their scriptures. Disciples pray, they keep the commandments, and they do everything they're "supposed to do". Although those are characteristics of a disciple, I have learned that a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is so much more. Disciples are on a quest for greater conversion. They are striving to be better all the time, to become more like the Savior, to overcome faults and shortcomings, and to motivate and assist others to do the same. They follow Christ in faith, they obey with a believing heart, they exemplify charity in their dealings with others, they are virtuous, diligent, and they turn their lives over to God. It is possible to keep the commandments and not turn our lives over to God, and that's why a disciple is so much more than a commandment keeper. A disciple is a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I know I am not perfect. I know I have faults, weaknesses, and setbacks that I still need to overcome. However, I want to bear my witness to you all that I know Jesus Christ lives to help me overcome all faults, weaknesses, trials, temptations, and imperfections. And I know He lives for you too. He lives for all of us. If we choose to follow it, and live for it, and give ourselves to it, His restored gospel as taught through His restored church will change us. It will help us overcome all unrighteousness, and it will lift us and lead us to a better way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a better way. The world may fight against it, but you could not convince me otherwise that this is not the path that God has intended for us. On my mission I have witnessed the power of God through conversion, through miracles, and through spiritual experiences that have changed my life and the lives of those I have come in contact with forever. All of that aside, the spirit has borne witness to my soul that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is true. I know it was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, I know that the Book of Mormon is evidence of that restoration and that it contains in its fullness that very gospel. I know that as we come unto Christ, He takes us on a path to help us become the best son or daughter of God we can be, He helps us fulfill our potential, and if we hold out true and faithful, He leads us safely home to our Father in Heaven. 

I love my Heavenly and everything that He has done for me. I love the mission that He allowed me to serve. I love the family and friends that He has blessed me with and who have been a wonderful support for me throughout my missionary experience. And I love my Savior Jesus Christ. The greatest decision you can ever make is to choose Christ in your life. That is my invitation to you. Choose Christ, hold fast to the faith, and stay true to the end.

With Love,

Elder Kendall

God Delivers

Hey friends and family!

I don't know what to say about this week, it honestly has been the hardest two weeks for work that I have had in a long time. We are getting dropped for reasons we don't know or can't explain, people don't want to see us, and we are just facing a lot of rejection. Coming off of a recent success with Ron's baptism makes it even more difficult, but I want to tell you that I know God delivers. 

Sometimes we think that life is going to be smooth all the time. We think that when we live the gospel everything is nice and easy. However, I have really come to know that sometimes life is really hard! In fact, when we are on the Lord's errand, we can expect life to get hard. 

Our lives are set up to refine us. Refining comes through many different trials, testing, and proving, and I feel that my great test is to endure. I have two and a half weeks left on my mission, and in the face of discouragement, I am reminded of a quote from President Monson, who asked, "will I falter, or will I finish?" 

As I thought about this, and considered my mission experience, I realized that if I were doing this on my own power I WOULD falter. But that's just it. I am not doing this on my own. NONE of us are going through life on our own. In these hard times and these tough weeks, we need to ALWAYS remember that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is reaching out to us, seeking to bless us, and hoping to deliver us from our trials. I promise that if you will turn to Him, whether in times of rain or shine, He will deliver you. I know that to be true, and I want you all to know that I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. It was restored through Joseph Smith. And although trials have come my way, I know that through Christ and His atonement, I will not falter, but I will finish.

 I love you all so much, thank you for the support and all that you do for me, I hope that you have an incredible week! 

Love,

Elder Kendall

Final Resting Place

Hey friends and family! 

I don't know if any of you can believe this, but I only have six weeks left on my mission. What in the world is going on? Where has the time gone? I can't believe that it's already here, but something I can assure you is that these will be the hardest working six weeks of my life. We are looking forward to a successful transfer, and I am just really excited about it! 

for the past 7 months I have been serving as a zone leader in the Winnipeg South Zone, and there are two zones here in the city. Actually, there were two zones in the city. They just, shut down the North Zone, and Elder Dean and I will be taking over the new winnipeg zone. It will be an adjustment for sure, quite the extra workload for the final transfer with additional exchanges and training that needs to happen, so if you could keep me in your prayers that would be great! 

We had a FANTASTIC week. The Lord is really bringing miracles into our lives as we get out and work hard and try to bring others to Christ. We found a lot of great people to teach, one of them was named rukky (rookie). It was actually really funny, we saw that there was some sort of social event going on as we were walking down the street, and so we thought we would just go and knock on the door. We got about 6 feet from the door and Rukky just opened it right up, he was on his phone and when he saw us, he hung up and just said "what's up?". Literally all my companion said was "we are missionaries here to teach people about Jesus Christ" and he told us to come in and sit down! He had a million questions for us, was very receptive, and it was just great. We told him we had to leave so that we could get back to our apartment for curfew, and my favorite line of the night was when he said, "I know you have to leave and all, but I feel like we should order some pizza because I just have so many questions". It was hilarious. We found a lot of other new people to teach, so it was a great week, hopefully we can keep up the momentum! 

We also set a baptismal date with Ron, who is a YSA from Winkler, and he is the man. He's super excited for his baptism, and we are too! He'll be a great addition to the ward. 

I hope you all know that I love you, and I am grateful for the support! I know this is the work of our Heavenly Father, and I am grateful to be a part of it! I am looking forward to finishing strong, and doing all that I can to continue to invite others to come unto Christ. Have a great week everybody! 

Love,

Elder Kendall

I'm dreaming of a white birthday....

Hey friends and family! 

Yup, totally snowing on my birthday up here in Canada. Gotta love it.

we had a great week! I'll give you two good highlights:

1. We had a baptism! Her name is tracy, we found her two weeks ago as a member referral, we taught her once, she came to conference, then she told us she wanted to be baptized, and she insisted that it happened this past saturday. So, we turned her over to the sisters (because she's a single sister and we have to do that in the YSA) and they speed taught her all the lessons in a week to prepare her for her baptism! We put everything together, and the sisters were in charge of filling up the font, and they turned it off about an hour and a half before the baptism, just to give it some time before they finished filling it up. Except it wasn't quite plugged all the way. So we go and check it an hour before and the water is seriously ankle deep. So we hurried and turned on the water, then ran to the kitchen and grabbed these giant pots and started running back and forth from the kitchen with giant pots of water to help fill up the font in time for the baptism. Good times. But the service was great! We are just really grateful for tracy, and her faith, and for how ready she was! the Lord seriously prepared here so much, and it was just great to see her progression. God is truly a God of Miracles! 

2. We went to Winkler this week! Winkler always needs speakers, so Elder Dean and I were asked to go down and speak! It was seriously fantastic. Things are great at the fossil museum, they have done a lot of renovating and it looks SO GOOD. And there are people there that I helped to teach that are doing well, a part member family that is really helping out the area, and I am just so grateful for that experience! I know that area will continue to grow, and I am just super grateful for my opportunity to be a part of the work there. 

I want you all to know that I love you, I am grateful for your support, and I know this work is true. I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of all of us, that He truly does love us, and that is why we have the gospel in our lives today. I love this gospel, I love the Holy Scriptures, and I love my Savior so much. Stay close to Him and He will fill your life with light. Have a great week everyone! 

Love,

Elder Kendall

T minus 2 months

Hey friends and family!

Well, I think the title says it all, I have 2 months left and I just can't believe the time is moving so quickly! I love my mission so much, and I am definitely going to do all that I can to make sure that I finish strong. The Lord has done everything for me, and for all of us really, and so for me that just means that I owe Him my everything, He deserves my best when it comes to my mission, and I want to make sure I give Him my best right up to the end. 

Funny story time:

1)We went to go to a dinner appointment at a member's home who lives closer to downtown, and I don't know if I've told you about Winnipeg streets before, but just as a little refresher, they're a nightmare. Honestly, it's as if someone spilled a bowl of spaghetti on the floor, looked at it, and thought to themselves, "This could totally be a map". Yup. That's winnipeg. Anywho, we couldn't find parking in the visitor's lot because apparently everyone and their grandma had to visit that apartment building that night, so we drove around the building. My companion said that the road we needed to be on should be coming up, and as I turned on it the sign said "Buses only". When we had finally realized what we had done, we went to turn around, but a bus pinned us in, and the only way to go was forward... on a bus lane. So here I am on a bus lane, driving through a bus station, wishing I didn't exist. it was pretty scary to say the least. 

2)I was asked to give a talk on sunday, and I was speaking with a young man who has a bit of a mental setback who is in the ward. He's just got some different social tendencies, and we'll leave it at that. Anyways, he got up to speak and said, "I was asked to speak on the resurrection and I am completely unprepared for this". Silence. Complete silence. Then he reads a quote by President Kimball. More Silence. Like a minute. Then he turns to me and says, in the loudest whisper I have ever heard in my life, "Kendall, Help". It wasn't like a desperate kind of thing, it was actually really funny the way he said it, but I just said to him, "You're doing good, keep going!". Silence. Another President Kimball quote, then more silence. Meanwhile, I am going through my scriptures finding a good reference on the resurrection. He then turns to me again and says, "Kendall, HELP". I show him the scripture, I tell him to read it and bear his testimony, and he does, closes, and sits down. Best. Sunday. Ever. I admire his courage though, and it was nice to be able to help in some small way!

Eric from China has a baptismal date! He has no previous knowledge of religion, so teaching him is sometimes tricky, but he is super prepared by the Lord! we also are working to get Ron, Eze, and Dustin prepared for baptism soon, so please keep all of them in your prayers! 

I want you all to know that I know this work is true. I am loving my mission, teaching people, talking to people on the street about the gospel, and sharing the light of the gospel is such a blessing, I hope that you all know that I know this work is true, and that I am so grateful for it in my life. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kendall

Because He Lives

Hey everyone! 

I am having a great time with my new companion Elder Dean! We are working hard and are really starting to see some great success from our endeavors, I am looking forward to what this transfer has in store! We have been teaching more than I have with my previous two companions, so it's really great to be able to get out, work hard, and just enjoy the work of the Lord! What a blessing it is for me to be a part of this. 

Just wanted to let you know mom, I am still being asked to play piano for different events, so yes, I owe it all to you and I never should have quit and I should have believed you from the beginning when I was a kid. The piano is great.

We are doing a lot more teaching in the streets since winter is letting up, and I am just super happy about that! spontaneous street lessons are seriously the best! It's really great to just greet a complete stranger and then help them to learn about the restored gospel. We had a great encounter with a chinese student this week named Erik who is SO SOLID. He has zero Christian background, but he has just been feasting on everything we talk to him about! We taught him on the street and then gave him a church tour and another lesson last week, and he came to church! We are really looking forward to things with him, and we'll keep you posted on the progress! 

With Easter being this week, I wanted to share my feelings regarding the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Our easter initiative this week is called "because He lives" and I want to share with you the blessings that have come into my life because He lives. Because of the life of Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice for me, I have experienced the relief that comes through His forgiveness, the mercy He extends when I need it most, and the love that I receive when I have no where else to turn. He has lifted me when I am down, He has inspired me to be my best self, and I know that through Him I can reach my full potential as a child of God. I am so grateful for His example and His atoning grace, and I testify to all of you that He lives! I know that He can help you overcome your darkest days, your hardest climbs, your most difficult trials, and He will help you to rise up, to stand strong, and to guide you safely home to our Father in Heaven. I love you all, I am grateful for your support and at this special time of year, I hope you take the time to remember Christ's sacrifice for you. I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Elder Kendall

Two more transfers

Hey friends and family! 

It was an overall good week for us, it was a little slow at the beginning because everyone and their dog wanted to feed Elder Schmidt before he left, and for those of you who don't understand the nature of missionary companionships, I have to go with him. Ha ha so we were with a lot of members at the beginning of the week, doing what we can to invite them to participate in the missionary work here in the YSA ward! We are having some good progress, mostly with a guy named Ron. Ron was a referral from a member in the Ward, and he actually lives out in Winkler! He travels in to the city a lot, and we have been teaching him for a few weeks now. He's great! We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this was the first time we had invited him to be baptized, which is very uncharacteristic of us, but the other lessons we just felt like we should hold off from the invitation for whatever reason. But yesterday, we invited him and he said that once he gets his answer he will! So we knelt down right then and there and invited him to pray and then we just sat there in silence. After a few moments passed by, we asked him how he felt, and he said he felt really good, that he thinks he can feel it more and more! We're really excited for him, we set a date for April 18th as a goal to work towards getting his answer, so please keep him in your prayers! 

With the weather picking up, (besides the snow today...) we have just been out working hard, doing a lot more street contacting and we have talked to a lot of great students recently who are ready for the gospel! We're really excited. And, we were walking through a neighborhood, and Elder Dean really felt like he should knock on this door (we don't  usually tract because we would technically be knocking in other ward boundaries and other missionary areas), and we got let in right away! We shared a first lesson, it was really powerful, and they just seemed so prepared! There names are Katya and Todd. We're going to see them again this week and are really looking forward to teaching them more before we have to turn them over to the other elders. 

With all that in mind, I would just like to share my testimony of following the spirit. Without following the spirit, we would not have been able to help Ron experience the gospel in a way that helped prepare him for a baptismal date. Without following the spirit, we would not have met katya and todd. I just know with all my heart that God is in control, and if we will just turn our wills over to Him, and ask the greatest, all-powerful, all-knowing being in the universe what He would have us do with our lives, I know He will show us some incredible things. I am so grateful for my mission and am looking forward to doing all that can to finish strong. I love you all and I hope that you have an incredible week! 

With Love,

Elder Kendall

Ch Ch Ch Charles

Hey everyone! 

I am really excited to tell you about this week, we had a lot of exciting things happen for our companionship! 

First of all, transfer calls. I found out that I will be staying in YSA still, and with two transfers left it is likely that I will end my mission here. No promises, but that's what it's looking like. I am welcoming in Elder Dean, and he is quite the interesting story. He's from Toronto, and started his mission in Portugal, where he served for three transfers, but had to go home due to bad migraines. He got treated for about 6 months and was re-assigned to our mission, and he arrived two weeks ago and has been in a tri-panionship in a small mennonite town just outside of Winnipeg. So, he has only been a missionary for about a total of five months, and has only served in english for about two weeks, and he is coming in to be a zone leader with me! It's quite the call, but I am excited for it, I am sure that it will be a great adventure for sure! 

Kevin has been doing so well, he has a calling, passed the sacrament on sunday, and was a witness at our baptism! We are really excited about his progress and hope that he continues to do well. 

Speaking of baptism, CHARLES GOT BAPTIZED! He is just so incredible, he has so much faith and it is amazing to just see how much he loves to follow the Lord. He was so prepared to accept the restored gospel, and it has been amazing to see the spiritual growth that he has experienced. We are really excited for him moving forward. 

We also were given the privilege of attending the patriarchal blessing of amanda, another recent convert, and that was a really incredible experience as well. It was amazing to feel the strong spirit as she received her blessing, I am sure that it will have an incredible impact on her progression in the gospel.

We have some great weather coming up and I am looking forward to hitting it hard and just enduring to the end as I approach my final two transfers as a missionary! I love you all so much and I am super grateful for the support, I hope that you have an incredible week everybody! Thank you for everything.

With Love,

Elder Kendall

The melting pot

Hey friends and family! 

I am super excited to be writing you this week! Things are going really well for the YSA, we are teaching more and more each week and really putting our best foot forward to hasten the work. Also, it's 6 degrees outside today! SIX! Do you know how warm that is for us? It's fantastic, and it makes the work more productive, more people are going to be out and willing to stop and listen, so we are really looking forward to the spring time.

This upcoming week we have another baptism! His name is Charles, he's from Nigeria, and he is just the best. He has had such incredible experiences with the Book of Mormon, and getting his answer, and he is so faithful. We teach him commandments like the word of wisdom and he's just all "WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" and then he just lives it. Just starts right then and there. It is really exciting, and we're just super happy for him! We'll let you know how it goes! 

Random funny story, we were teaching our new investigator ester (also from nigeria) and as we were teaching, the spirit was really strong, and my companion asked her, "do you feel like what we have taught you has built your faith in Christ?" and she totally misunderstood him, made this totally disgusted face, and said, "NOOO WAY". Wow. If you could have seen the look on his face. We clarified and it turned out to be a good lesson, but those moments? Priceless. 

I called this the melting pot to tell you a little bit more about Winnipeg. There are so many people from so many different countries here, it's crazy. I have taught people from Nigeria, england, paraguay, uraguay, The Philippines, Australia, China, Korea, Mexico, India, Brazil, and so many others, over the course of my time here I must have contacted people from over 30 countries! It's crazy because I have truly come to learn that no matter where we are from in the world, we all have things that we need. We all have burdens that need lifted. We all have a need for the atonement in our lives. I have truly come to see how the gospel is universal on my mission, and I know that because of those experiences that God truly loves all of us, and that no matter where we are or who we are, He is actively seeking us out, and is waiting and willing to bless us if we just simply have faith in Christ. I love this gospel, and I can't wait to share it for at least a little while longer. 

I love you all, thank you for the support, I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kendall

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Hey friends and family! 

We had a so so week this past week, lots of -40 temperatures. It. Was. freezing. we also had an exchange out to portage la prairie this week for a few days, so time spent in our area was minimal. It is really hard to have exchanges, it's great to go out and help the other elders, but our area needs work to be done! We are looking forward to a great week this week though. BUT! I do have some highlights for you.

Kevin got the priesthood this past week, and he is doing INCREDIBLE. seriously though, that guy is a champion. We are so grateful to be teaching him, he has strengthened my faith so much and it has just been really great to see him progress. 

A recent convert named amanda just took her first trip to the temple! She loved every minute of it, she told us that she didn't realize just how much peace you could feel at the temple until she experienced it for herself. I love that! It's great to hear that she is able to have that experience and to be able to take more steps to come closer to her Father in Heaven. 

We had a very powerful lesson with Charles about the word of wisdom and the importance of obeying the commandments of God. It was great to see his jaw drop as we explained that Coffee was against the word of wisdom. However, when we committed him he thought for a while and said, "I had no idea that drinking coffee was against the will of God, but I am willing to do what he asks... yes. I'll live it." WOW. I love watching the faith of our investigators as they make these changes, it's not easy for any of them, but man is it worth it! 

We had a fireside last night and I sang another duet for it. It's weird, I am not a singer by any means but apparently I am doing something right because they keep asking me to do it. Anyways, I am grateful for the experience, it helps me to overcome fear and get out of my comfort zone, I will always remember the advice from my mission president at the beginning of my mission when he told me, "there's no growth in the comfort zone, and there's no comfort in the growth zone. Go out and make yourself uncomfortable!" Ha ha good ol' President Thomas. 

Please pray for Charles, jarrett and Mckenzie, Dustin, Stephen, Matthew, Ron, Eze, and for our finding efforts! 

I want you all to know that I love you so much and that I am grateful for your support. This is a wonderful work and I am so grateful for the part that I play in it. I love being a missionary, nothing has brought me greater joy than to serve the Lord, I know that as I put Him first that everything else will fall into place. I love this gospel, and I am looking forward to another great week! I hope you all have a great week as well! 

Love,

Elder Kendall