The Twin Towers of Olathe

It has been a super sweet week!

About this Ward:

1. The Ward is awesome. The members feed us regularly and are doing their best to stay involved with the missionary effort and many actually do what the stake president has challenged us all to do as a stake. 

2. This stake is leading the world right now in indexing. At stake conference President Boyack issued a challenge to index 1 million names by next conference and so far we have over 300,000 names indexed and stake conference was only 4-5 weeks ago. Pretty awesome. So far a lot of members have been able to have some cool missionary experiences from it too.

3. The Ward Mission leader is a young guy who knows what he is doing. He is striving to fulfill his calling and has been doing a good job so far. Such a difference when people actually strive to fulfill their callings.

Paul and Kasey Nudson are a father and son who we are teaching. Paul is married to Sister Nudson who is a member that returned to activity about a year ago. He has been taught for a really long time and has been on baptismal date several times. He has a word of wisdom concern he is striving to over come and on Thursday we were able to sit down with him and help him make a plan to overcome and he is on date for Aug 13th. He said that we could have daily contact with him and just see how he is doing each day. Pray for him! Kasey is his 9 year old son. He is a typical 9 year old who struggles with listening but he understands everything pretty well already. We're hoping when his dad gets baptized that he will commit too! The Nudson family is pretty awesome over all. They also have a little daughter, Iris who is 3. She is hilarious.

Last Monday we didn't have a full day because Elder Neil Anderson came our mission and spoke to us!! It was SO POWERFUL. Highlights

- "In this mission there are thousands who await you. In each of your areas there are Dozens who await you. Asking God what it is that is missing from their life."

- "We know that this Mission is Very hard working and Very obedient.

But you need to learn how to have greater faith and pull down the powers of heaven"

- "You are serving in a sacred place. I and the rest of the brethren don't talk about Independence Mo because we know that if we helped saints see how truly important this place was they would flock here."

- we don't always see the fruit of our work and efforts in those that we teach and serve but you still taste of the fruit in your own life because the atonement changes you as you serve the lord. Alma 32:

40-42

He said a lot of other things but those were the best.

Wednesday was District Meeting! It went really well and there was a lot of good discussion. Looking forward to this week's meeting. This District is full of hard workers who love the Lord and you can feel it. On Sunday nights I'm supposed to call each companionship and just talk about their week and it is so interesting and cool how you can just feel the love that Heavenly Father and the Savior has for each companionship and missionary. You can literally feel it. Not sure if that actually makes sense but it's such a blessing to have that experience.

On Saturday there was a stake BBQ and it was the best turn out I have ever seen at a stake activity. Seriously crazy. We were in this park and we covered the entire park. Muggy air. Lots of Mormons. Mounds of food. Doesn't get better than that.

Me and Elder Wright get along really well. He is a hard worker and it so nice to have an extra hour of study each morning again. Really helps you improve faster. He is from Holiday, Utah and I think he went to Olympus High. Not sure where that is. He is definitely the most talkative companion I have had and it's a ton of fun. 

Elder Kelly and Elder Wright

This week we are on foot. We went up to the mission home to see if they have any bikes we can swoop from the bat cave and they are all broken. It'll be a good week of hoofin' it around. Pray for rain. 

Last thought. During the sacrament yesterday's I was reading from 2 Nephi 27

Verses 3 particularly hit me hard. 

"1 But, behold, in the last days, or in the days of the Gentiles--yea, behold all the nations of the Gentiles and also the Jews, both those who shall come upon this land and those who shall be upon other lands, yea, even upon all the lands of the earth, behold, they will be drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations--

2 And when that day shall come they shall be visited of the Lord of Hosts, with thunder and with earthquake, and with a great noise, and with storm, and with tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire.

3 And all the nations that fight against Zion, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision; yea, it shall be unto them, even as unto a hungry man which dreameth, and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man which dreameth, and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; yea, even so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion"

I was thinking about how only through Christ can we actually be filled. That is the only way we can find true fulfillment in this life. 3 Nephi 18:1-11, Alma 36: 12-21, Moroni 10: 32-33, and 1 Nephi 1:15 are examples.

God does live. His son is Jesus Christ. :)

- Elder Kelly

This house has 3 huge dogs that slobber and shed. 

The owner was nice and gave us these apron things to keep our clothes safe. 

Elder Wright's got ripped by the dogs in like two seconds.

Weirdos

Olathe, Kansas

What is up everybody!! This past week has been kind of nuts!! So transfers were on Thursday and I am now serving in the Olathe 2nd Ward which is in Olathe, Kansas. It is a pretty nice area that is a lot more flat than Parkville, MO. It feels a lot like I'm back in Vegas or Utah. It is weird. I am follow up training Elder Wright! He is a stud.  He was being trained by Elder Butterfield who was an assistant to the president when I came out. Elder Butterfield is like a legend in the mission for his missionary skills. Big shoes to fill for sure. Elder Wright is from SLC and graduated in 2015. He is taller than me so we definitely turn heads as if the shirt, tie, and tag didn't already do that. We share the Ward with sister missionaries. Sister Jackson and Sister Garay. Sister Jackson was in my MTC district and we are excited to serve with the sisters in this Ward. Thankfully these sisters are super hard workers. Hopefully we can get double the work done and change the culture of this Ward.

   

On Monday before transfers I was called as a district leader as well so I have a lot of new things to learn that I honestly have no idea about. It is almost funny at how much I don't know. I feel like I am back at the beginning of my mission again. This district has 7 companionships in it, 4 of which are sister companionships. More sister than elders doesn't happen very often. 2 of the companionships are The Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders. Elder Heinrichsen from Shadow Ridge is my zone leader again :)

   

On Thursday me and Elder Wright went to the stake center to weekly plan and coordinate with the sisters about splitting up the Ward roster and such. There were other companionships there; one of which was the Sister Trainer Leaders. They came up to me.

"Hey you're the new district leader right?"

"Yup."

"Sweet! Do you think you could do a baptismal interview tomorrow for us?"

I seriously just started laughing because I had no idea how to conduct one. Nonetheless we planned for the interview the following day. I interviewed Juliano. Super strong testimony builder for me that the things we do as missionaries really do help people come closer to Christ. Sometimes it is hard to really remember that. He told me a lot about his conversion. The sisters only started teaching him about 3-4 weeks ago. The spirit was present and truly led the conversation.  Very grateful for all these extra opportunities to serve!

Also grateful for Elder Wright because he could tell I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and he was just being encouraging and positive.  Always nice to be trained by the trainee :)

Hope you all are seeking to change everyday and find out what the Lord needs you to do. Show your love for the Lord by seeking not your own.

Love Elder Kelly.

Btw my email is messed up so I won't be replying to anything else. I was only able to read dads email.  

Members are EVERYTHING

What is UP!!!!!

So this past week has been really fun! 

On Tuesday we went and saw a guy named Lyndon who is an inactive member of the Community of Christ church. We sat down with him and he started talking about how much he loves the Book of Mormon and D&C. WEIRD.  How are we supposed teach this guy if he already thinks the first vision took place and that the Book of Mormon is true? We just went from the direction of, Is Thomas s. Monson a prophet of God? He said he would pray about it and we could come back later in the week. Well we came back and watched the talk choices with him and he seemed to enjoy it pretty well. He said he felt like he is part of God's church already but is willing to pray and fast again this week to know. Fingers crossed he is able to recognize his answer and have the softened heart to receive one.

Our other really awesome success this week was with Sarah Petty we were able to see her 3 times this past week. Two of the meetings were lessons and they were both with brother and sister Bastow. BEST MEMBERS EVER. Sarah's friend, Ashley Pasley is out of town so we had to do it somewhere else. The Bastows let us come on over and were immediately so friendly to her. They are new move ins for medical school and are in their twenties. Sarah felt comfortable and was pretty open with us and it really helped us be able to address her struggles and concerns. The Bastows were bearing strong testimony of the power of the atonement as we taught and there were a lot of tears all around. We invited her to be baptized on the 6th of August and she said she would think about it. Our second meeting was just as awesome and Sarah said that she is considering baptism seriously now! On Saturday she came to a baptism for another ward and seemed to really enjoy it. The stake president talked to her as did president Vest! So AWESOME! On the way home she said she would come to church the next day and she did! She said she was praying to know if she should be baptized. No answer yet. 

Transfers are this week so it's probably my last week in Parkville :( But this place is so awesome and who knows, I still might stay another transfer. That would be crazy! 

Love you guys

Elder Kelly

Elder Kelly, Brother MacNeil, Elder Childress

God Bless America

Kind of awesome the 4th of July landed on a P-day. It actually feels like it's a holiday today. So grateful that we have this country to worship as we please.

It has been a really good week! We were able to meet with Sarah Petty and she read alma 32! She really enjoyed alma 32:21 and she seemed to understand it pretty well! She was going to come to church but she woke up feeling sick unfortunately. But she texted us later that day and asked for more chapters to read from the Book of Mormon! She is really enjoying what we are leaving with her to read. Hopefully she will be able to make it to church next week!

We Got a new Ward mission leader! His name is brother Smith and he just moved in from the neighboring stake. He has a family of 7 kids and they are pretty awesome. He has never served as a ward mission leader but he is excited and said that he was going to go study up!

Haha we are excited to start working with him.

On Saturday night we got a call from Bishop and he said that there was a family headed to the west coast from northern Alabama. The father in this family was feeling really sick and so he located the nearest bishop and asked for a priesthood blessing. He called our bishop and he asked us to head over and give a priesthood blessing! We were excited to exercise our priesthood. We got to the hotel they stopped in and we gave the blessing and left. The man was not looking good and was talking quietly. He told us he had a fever of 104 and had aches and cold sweats the whole day. The next day was fast and testimony meeting. The man stood up and bore a sincere testimony of the power of the priesthood. He felt completely better and there were no remnants of his sickness from the day before. Small and simple miracles are the most precious. They help us build our faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. The Savior's authority is on the earth today. Thomas S. Monson holds the same keys that Peter was given anciently by Christ. I invite each of you to gain a further testimony of the prophet Thomas S. Monson who leads and guides this church under the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is important to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God but is equally important to gain a testimony of the current prophet Thomas S. Monson

I love you guys!

- Elder Kelly