Week 19!...I think :)

It is currently raining super hard outside with some nuts thunderstorms. The weather here is really weird and it's hot, cold, rainy, hailing, tornado watch, REALLY raining, in mood swings about every couple hours.

This is Mark, a new ward missionary.  We love it when 

he comes out with us because he is so funny.

Last week's p-day me and Elder Childress wanted to run some ladders before we left because we are getting fat. And when I say "we" I mean him. We did a few races with it and it was fun. I won't lie though I was so tried at the end of that day and slept hard. We had a lesson with Chris and Jeanie that day and just really talked to them about committing to make the changes necessary to progress towards June 25th. We helped them see how nothing we teach them will benefit unless the do what the Lord has asked. We further went on to show them that even after they are baptized none of this will profit them if they aren't in a good habit of church attendance. I think it seemed to sink in pretty well. This was our second CTJ meeting with them and it has seemed to work.

Wednesday at district meeting was awesome. I honestly live for those meetings. They are the only thing that keep me going spiritually. After, we exchanged with the Leavenworth 2nd Elders and I went with Elder Staheli back to his area. He came out with elder Katoa back in July and we had a really fun exchange. He is new this transfer and this was my first exchange with him so it was just really fun getting to know him better.

Friday was super exciting! Had a mini exchange with the other District leader's comp was with elder Childress at a trading for a couple of hours. We are really tight on miles this month and so we decided to bike to service at thrift shop while they were gone. It was a really fun bike ride actually and it was nice to get a good work out in twice that day. It is really hilly here and while going up one hill my legs were burning so bad and I was reminded of the crazy mountain biking experience up at Navajo lake. LOL  Later that day we went and taught Ashley Pasley's friend, Sarah. They are both graduating this year and it was a really awesome lesson! We taught the restoration and at the end invited Sarah to say the closing prayer and the spirit came rushing in as she prayed and she began to cry. She expressed how it is nice just knowing that God is always there as an unchanging strong hold while life is so crazy. She also expressed that she felt that this is where she needs to be. We teach her again tomorrow.

When we did weekly planning this week and we were really excited that we finally got to do step 2 (Set goals and make plans for investigators to be baptized and confirmed in the coming week) WOOT!! Sharon is doing awesome! We went over the interview questions with her and she really does understand the gospel through and through. We asked her to share her testimony at the end and she testified that she knows when we pray with a sincere heart and real intent we receive answers. That was the extent of her testimony but I loved it because that is so central to continuous conversion!

When you finally get to do Step 2 in planning!

Sunday! Chris and Jeanie finally came to church again! WHAT!!!! They both seemed to enjoy it too! It was so good to see them making the changes!  Rick Harmer (A less active we have been working with since February) finally came to church too! He has made really slow progression. But progression and it was so exciting to see him there.

Me with Rick Harmer

Some things that I have been really pondering this past week.

1. We taught a lot of lesson on prayer this week and we found a common theme to people have mediocre prayers is that they don't listen. So I would pose the question to each of you. Do you listen after you pray? If not your missing the other half of the prayer. Talking to yourself is considered insanity right? #listen

2. A story was shared in sacrament about a family who had 5 sons on a mission at once and the parents always made sure that they wrote their sons about their personal missionary efforts. So I just wanted to ask any of you that write me to please share the missionary experiences and efforts you are making. If you don't have any then it sounds like a good time to start!!!!!

Love you guys! 

-Elder Kelly

Shatto Milk #bomb #banana

Mirrors that hate tall people.  So annoying

Warren K, aka Chip, is a recent convert that we have been teaching.

When he saw this picture he said "Holy Smokes! Am I getting a gut again!"

Weird Weather

So a common game we play on Pday lately is Revenge. We play it all the time because everyone can play. It is the same as knockout but whoever wins has to get everyone out. So if the person that got you out gets out you are back in. In makes for some long games but it is such a good work out because you are running so much. At the end of the day we had a guy call us who we had given a Book of Mormon in passing a couple days earlier. He was genuinely interested and we were able to go meet with him and teach the whole restoration. He said he would read and pray! Has a lot of real intent in his attitude so we are excited.

I have been memorizing a lot of scriptures lately and it is making me so much more happy. It's kind of cool how the scriptures can actually enlighten your mind.

Working on memorizing all of these scriptures that go with each doctrinal point we have to memorize.  (see attachment Image)  It has been fun so far. You should memorize these because you can answer any doctrinal question through these.

On Wednesday we had district meeting and Elder Childress asked if I would give a training on Charity and as I was studying for it I found a really cool scripture about love and how God works. 

3 Nephi 27:15.  

 "And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works."

When I read this I was just think about why I am drawn towards Jesus Christ. In my head I would have to say I am drawn to him because of the love He shows me. Christ says that he will draw all men to him according to the power of the father. God's power is love. No wonder charity is greater than all others to have at the last day.

Sharon Burns asked us to baptized!!! She is being baptized on May 28th! WOOT WOOT! We are so excited to see her take this step forward! She continues to amaze us with her knowledge every time we teach her.

After that lesson with Sharon we went and taught Mary Pruess and her daughter Anna. Mary is the woman that took us to dinner before we ever taught her or anything like that. She just thinks the missionaries are awesome people. We taught them the whole first lesson and the spirit was definitely present.

Friday we got to go to seminary at 6 in the morning. It made me not miss early morning seminary even a little bit. We got to do a Q&A about missionary work and missions. It was kind of fun to answer their questions.

Friday we were giving service at a local thrift store and there was this teenager girl there who was looking for a book to take to a book exchange at school. We told her we would give her a Book of Mormon for free to take. Apparently she posted something about it on Instagram because a girl in our ward texted us and said that she saw her friend's post and texted her about it. The girl now wants to learn more and we have an appointment on Friday!

As I have prayed these last couple nights before bed I can feel Heavenly Father's love for me so strong. It is a marvelous feeling. God lives and His son Jesus Christ is our savior. Don't ignore them for things of this world that don't matter. Treasures in heaven are more important!

Love

- Elder Kelly

Mother's Day

Some things of note.

There is a young man named LJ that we street contacted into back in March I think. Well we went and tried him when we had an appointment fall through with a member team up. He answered and we got the chance to teach him the whole entire restoration! He was really humble and sincere. We set a return appointment and when we went back we taught him again! At the end of the second lesson we asked him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and after everything he said that he felt enlightened! Those that are humble are always more susceptible to the spirit that others. SO BE HUMBLE!

Youme and Jeanie didn't come to church :( church is always the biggest let down to be totally honest. It stinks.

As I am writing this we had someone we street contacted call us back!

That is always so exciting because it is so rare.

I love you guys and I am so sorry this is short but I don't have time!

Love you guys

-Elder Kelly

Fast and Testimony Meeting...Always a Hoot!

Great week! Elder Childress and I get along extremely well! He told me that my MTC comp (Who he trained) said that me and elder Childress were very similar. Kinda cool. He is super good at talking with everyone and it's so awesome! Makes me always want to try harder! He is from Gilbert AZ and graduated back in 2010. He used to have way long hair and rock a mustache! Like a long mustache. I'll send pictures.

Not going to tell much but just some crazy stuff from this past week.

Wednesday We got a call from a sister in our ward asking for help moving.

"Oh you and brother hall are moving out?" (They aren't married yet).

"No we split up last night"

"Oh ok, see you at 3"

We got there and she is like rushing to get this truck loaded and I'm thinking. "Am I helping this lady sneak out before her husband gets back from work?!" Oh well. When I went into the house at one point I saw this note written on the white board. Yup, she was sneaking out.  Kinda crazy!

Then when we went to teach some lessons and we were talking with a member and he straight up started bashing with us. Arguing about priesthood authority and such it was really weird.

Fast and testimony was the cherry on top for weirdness. The testimonies are great. Just one after another. Then we had a member get up right towards the end and start teaching some serious false doctrine. Always awkward. Then following that person another woman got up; a non-member. She gets up and starts declaring from the pulpit that she is so grateful for Doctor Roy Hall (member of our ward) for saving her life by bringing her to church. She is practically yelling and also decided to declare that she had unprotected sex with a professional athlete when she was a Chiefs cheerleader and had an HIV scare and Brother delivered the news that she was ok. She also asked the congregation to pray for her because she had cancer. It was the weirdest thing. Very nice lady just TMI!

Anyways, sorry I don't have a ton of time this week but I love you guys. Have an awesome Mother's Day!

-Elder Kelly