All the Good Stuff

So the family we met at the gas station, Tyron Aden Tyvia. We haven't been able to meet with them since last week so that is a bummer. But we did find two more guys that wanted to here our message!

We got a call on Friday from some guy named Michael who said we had talked to him and that he wanted us to come by. Elder Taylor and I could not recall any Michael. As we drove over there we finally remembered who he was. We had been driving to church and we saw a guy on the side of the road that we felt like we needed to talk to. So we pulled over and went and gave him a BofM with our number in it. Well we told him we would come to his house a coupled days later but elder Taylor and I totally forgot to put it into the area book because we were running to get to church! Well when we went and visited him and his cousin Deondre was also there. We taught them the restoration and they accepted a baptismal invitation for Oct 29th!  They weren't able to make it to church because of a family function but Elder Taylor and I feel that they will definitely progress to baptism.

Friday was Zone Training and there was such an awesome spirit there!

Elder Taylor trained on the enabling power of the atonement. He did a great job and had us split into different groups and discuss different scriptures and quotes from "in the strength of the Lord" by David A.Bednar. Always a good topic to think about and discuss.

Sunday Cameron received the Aaronic Priesthood and I was blessed to be able to confer it! Always a blessing to be able to exercise the priesthood.

We have been able to have Tony, one of the priests, come out with us pretty frequently the past two weeks and it has been a lot of fun getting to know him. He is the son of our ward mission leader, brother Johnston. A couple weeks ago we invited them to read the scriptures everyday and I guess Tony has been quite the stickler about it. He will call his family at the time when they usually read scriptures if he isn't there and remind them. We heard one of the conversations...

"Hey did y'all read scriptures yet?..... Ok well are you going to do it?..... Mom I need an affirmative Yes or No..... Well can I at least get an I love you?..."

Such a funny kid

Gotta Run!!

Love,

E. Kelly :)

Missions are the BEST!

Transfers!! Thankfully Elder Taylor and I did not get split up. Although I'm nervous that he might get pulled half way through this next transfer to be the new assistant. He and President are pretty tight and one of the assistants has been there for 6 months now. So hopefully that doesn't happen so I don't have to go to a trio for the last two weeks of the transfer and split the area with some other elders. That will be a sad day.

The zone had quite the face lift. 10 out of the 17 companionship were switched to some degree. So we are looking forward to getting to know everyone! 

Saturday night Elder Taylor had to use the bathroom super bad so we went to this gas station and it turned out there was no bathroom there. As we walked out to go somewhere else There was a family getting into the car that we stopped to talk to.  Tyron and Tivia are their names. They have two young girls under the age of 6. We shared the Book of Mormon and asked if we could come back the next night and teach the family. They accepted after some thought and we were pumped! We went by Sunday night and they were in fact there and they had in fact read what they had said they would read! We had a good lesson and set up a return appointment for Tuesday night!

Later that night on Sunday we went over to a different family that we had briefly talked to once or twice before.  Just the wife, Sivita, was there and she said her husband would be home in about 20 min so we left and went to another gas station because again we had to use the restroom. When we got there we saw a man and started talking to him. He told us that he had felt something when we pulled up and wanted us to come by and share a message with him and his wife. We gave him a Book of Mormon, used the restroom, and then headed back to Sivita's house. Her husband still wasn't there so we taught her outside with Josh Thieme, a return missionary who served in Vegas about 10 months ago. He knows a bunch of the people from out there. Oh he said hello to sister Ennis. Anyways as we taught the restoration the spirit was so strong! At one point Sivita talked about how she had always been frustrated by the fact that no churches taught that there was a Heavenly Mother. She said, "If our families are supposed to go on forever how is there not a Heavenly Mother?! There has to be!" Haha Elder Taylor and I were super pumped and had to restrain greatly so we didn't go on a tangent off on the awesome doctrine that she believed. She and her kids should be at church this next Sunday! :) She also asked if there were people in our church that visit the members to help them strengthen their testimonies so we explained what Home Teachers are and she asked if she could "Have some of those". We told her of course and can't wait to visit with her and her family again.

I am reading through the New Testament right now and found a really awesome JST

Matthew 16: 24-29

25 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.

26 And now for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments.        

27 Break not my commandments for to save your lives; for whosoever will save his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come.

28 And whosoever will lose his life in this world, for my sake, shall find it in the world to come.

29 Therefore, forsake the world, and save your souls; for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

I italicized the JST. The last one is my favorite! 

Love you all! Done forget to forsake the world and put off the natural man! :)

-E. Kelly 

Happy Happy Happy

Well this week was fast but slow with P-day being on a Thursday. It was weird because it felt like we have had 3 weeks in 1 and a half. 

Thursday at the endowment it was so amazing to see Patrick there. He is so humble and open to learning everything he can. President Vest went up to him in the Celestial room and asked if he had any questions he wanted to ask. He said, "No... I'm good. This is the happiest day of my life." Patrick is one of a kind. He is also in love with wearing garments. He keeps saying.  "Dude! They are so soft. I love it!"

Tuesday we had interviews and it is always awesome to sit down with president and visit a little bit. He always has our best interest in mind. While Elder Taylor was being interviewed I was talking with Sister Vest and asking her all her tips and tricks with cooking. She is probably the healthiest eater in the state of MO; it's kind of crazy. But it was also good to talk with her. 

Saturday morning session of conference we went and watched it with Patrick. Every Saturday we make him breakfast because he has to take some medicine on Friday nights that make him super weak the next morning. So on Thursday while we were shopping we bought some stuff to make biscuits and gravy. Elder Taylor got a recipe from his mom that was super good and we enjoyed that with Patrick as we watched that first session. Saturday afternoon we watched at the stake center with Levi and some members. Unfortunately we weren't able to get anyone to come to conference on either day that wasn't a member. Levi enjoyed it and came away with lots and lots of questions. We are excited to answer them all. 

Sunday morning we headed over to the Clark's house. They are some empty nesters that moved here from South Africa about two months ago. They cooked us up some delicious lunch for after the session was over. Pork, Butternut Squash, and a plethora of other food I don't know the name of that was quite delicious. 

We then headed over to the stake center for the afternoon session and we were able to get a less active over to watch. But he left early and haven't been able to figure out why. Hopefully he felt the Spirit.

Some of my favorites from conference:

- "When we pray. We pray to Heavenly Father, In the name of Jesus Christ, with the Guidance/assistance of the Holy Ghost. Engaging all three members of the God head at once." WOW!

- When we read the Book of Mormon we approach Jesus Christ.

- Elder Holland and Henry B. Eyring's talk during priesthood session. Both were AMAZING!

Transfers are this week and Elder Taylor and I are hoping so badly we don't get moved. We both love serving in Raytown and are having a lot of fun together. We are on the same page with almost everything. Always makes things much easier.

We have been listening to a song you all have to go listen to. Elder Taylor begged me to listen to it because I did not want to at first but after listening to it I was converted. It is "Silent Night" by Idina Mendzele. We listen to it all the time and we are not ashamed to say it even though it was the beginning of September when we first listened to it. You have to listen to the whole thing because the very end is so good.

I hope you all know i love you and miss you!

E. Kelly

MIRACLE

Well it has been one busy week and a half.

Let's back up to about two weeks ago on the 15th. Elder Taylor and I were weekly planning for the following week and realized that the Saturday of that next week was the 24th of Sep. At the beginning of the month we set the goal to baptize on the 10th and 24th of Sep. We had prayed about it and felt that we could do it as we turned more fully to Heavenly Father for help. Well Cameron was baptized on the 10th and now we had 9 days to find someone to be baptized since no one had progressed to that point yet. A rule here in this mission is that an investigator has to go to church at least twice before they can be baptized. No one in our teaching pool was at that point. As we discussed what our goal was for that next week in relation to baptizing and confirming someone we still felt that we had set that goal at the beginning of the month in faith with Heavenly Father's guidance. So we were going to stick to it and make a plan to find someone ready. We decided to fast on that upcoming Sunday. We fasted specifically that we would receive a referral of someone who was already prepared to be baptized that weekend and that was moving into our ward. We closed our fast on Sunday night and we were so excited to see what was going to happen that week. We both felt that somehow that goal would indeed be hit with the Lord's help.  Monday night we got a call from some Elders in a neighboring ward informing us that they had an investigator named Levi Watters who was scheduled to be baptized on Friday that would be moving into our ward. I had actually had the opportunity to interview Levi for baptism the week prior. For about an hour Elder Taylor and I couldn't say anything but WOW! Over and over and over. We said many prayers of thanks and gratitude.  Levi was baptized on Friday and confirmed this last Sunday. He is an energetic 20 year old who is on fire for the gospel right now. He loves to come on team-ups with us and is always bearing humble testimony as we talk to everyone we see.

God does not cease to be a God of miracles. He hears your prayers and is willing to answer them as we are proactive in trying to help Him do so. As a ward we just closed a 40 day fast and during that 40 day span of time 4 people were baptized in the Raytown ward. 3 of those people didn't even live in our area before the fast started. God really does answer as we ask, seek, and knock.

The reason I am E-Mailing on Thursday is because today we get to go to the temple!!!! Patrick Murphy is the guy who has MS I sent a picture of a few weeks ago. He is receiving his endowment today and we get to go!! He is so excited and we are so excited to see a large support from the ward there with him. He has been talking about it for months. Last night actually we went over just before going to our apartment to help him make sure he had everything ready. Just before we left he realized that his temple recommend was no longer where he had let it sit each day for so long. We searched the apartment for about 20 min and finally found it in a fire safe he has. He still isn't sure how it got there and neither are we. It had literally sat there in the same spot for weeks and then the day before it was moved. haha.

Sorry there are no pictures. I actually had a lot to send but on Tuesday this week I accidentally left my iPad on top of the car and we can't find it. So all my pictures are gone :(

But hope all is well!

Love Elder Kelly!!

:)

The weeks fly by. Already half way through September??? Weird.

Elder Taylor and I are having a pretty good time here in the Raytown Ward.

For the last three months a big focus in the mission is having the faith to pull down the powers of heaven to facilitate miracles. At zone training two weeks ago we invited the zone to read a talk called, "The Challenging and Testifying missionary". It is an amazing talk and everyone who participates in missionary work should read it. Well a big focus of it is to invite, invite, invite and testify, testify, testify so you can see and find those who are really prepared to follow the voice of the Lord. So more often than not we extend baptismal invitations in our first contact with people on the streets, at doors, etc. And it works.

1. The missionaries personally become more amped and bold in their work as we started to realize that there really are those out there who are prepared to receive this message. Just in the last two weeks we all have been able to feel the spirit so much more because we are so much more focused on helping people feel the comforting feeling of the spirit and then extend an invitation to see if they will act on the feeling they are having.

2. We have been forwarding out each of our miracles to the zone so that we can all see the miracles flow throughout the day. Nothing boosts your morale more than when you get a text saying that someone accepted a baptismal invitation in their first or second contact with missionaries. You start to walk with a little bit more speed in your step and focus in your thoughts.

3. We have been able to testify plainly and boldly to people simply about how aware God is of each of them. Often times we distinctly feel prompted to go talk to people yet they aren't interested in learning more or meeting with us. So we testify to them that we were sent from God and that we know even though they may be in a low spot at this time in their life (because more often than not they are) that God has a plan for them and that they can choose to be happy or sad in this life because of Jesus Christ and the Atonement that he performed. It is powerful to see the Spirit pull down walls of fear or doubt when we testify to people about this. They almost always walk away with a smile on their face and a slight glint in their eye. Probably one of the most fulfilling things we get to do.

We are teaching one of the families in the ward the lessons and on Friday we were teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have 7 kids that are all pretty young and so we needed to get their wiggles out and Elder Taylor suggested we play a quick game of Shurrades (not sure how to spell that). Well all the kids went first and it was funny to watch them impersonate animals and other things. Then it was Elder Taylor's turn. He is obsessed with Spiderman so he came in swinging on webs and fighting off bad guys. Super funny and then I came out walking on my knuckles like a monkey and started jumping up and down screaming like a chimpanzee. We were all laughing pretty hard at the end of everyone's turn.

It is pretty cool I won't lie to see children the age of 4-10 understand the doctrines of the gospel. Which by the way if you haven't seen the kids bible videos yet you need to go watch them. They have young kids describe events in Christ's life. Very powerful.

Hope all is well and beautiful!

E. Kelly

Cameron Is a Happy Man

Well it has been one busy week!

Tuesday we found out that Cameron could be baptized this weekend!!

Elder Taylor and I were pretty animated about it.

Elder Kelly and Elder Taylor

This is Patrick Murphy.  He is a recent convert of a year.  He has MS and cannot walk

so three times a week we go visit with him and continue to teach him.  He is probably

 the funniest person I have met.  We love to take him out with us. Thursday he joined

us at the visitors center.  (Elder Beyeler thinks his guns are bigger than mine.  He is wrong.) 

Wednesday night we were on exchanges with the Assistants and Elder Beyeler came with me to my area and E. Taylor left to the other area.  Elder Beyeler is awesome and I really enjoyed the exchange. That night we went to the Liberty Jail with Cameron and Brother Clark. When we picked up Cameron he came out of his house looking low down. I asked if he was doing alright. Apparently the night before he was jumped and robbed while he walked home from work. They took his phone and wallet.  It has been very apparent how much Satan does not want Cameron to be baptized. But Cameron just being himself said he hopes those men can one day see the happier life style they can live. Not the slightest tone of malice in his voice. WOW!

The spirit at LJ was so strong and it was perfect because Cameron could apply the principles that JS learned while in LJ. Then on Thursday morning we took Cameron to the Visitors Center and watched one of the new Meet the Mormons videos the church came out with. The one we watched is called "The Horseman" We taught a lesson based off the principals found in the video on eternal marriage and temple work.  (Kind of crazy I'm pretty sure Lindsey Kelly was in it for a split second. Someone needs to check on that for me.)

Friday was Zone Training and it was a lot of fun! One sister trained on faith and hope but went about it in an interesting way. She told us to identify some of our hopes and fears. She invited us to take every fear we had written down and find a scripture that can answer that; can take that fear and replace it with faith. Very powerful exercise with scripture.

Elder Kelly, Cameron, Elder Taylor

Saturday was the baptism and it was AWESOME! Cameron was so happy and there were a good amount of members who attended. As we sang the opening hymn we all sang very animated and loud! It was so powerful to be sitting in the front of the room and hear the power of each person singing behind me. Cameron asked elder Taylor to baptize him and he was very excited about that. I had mentioned before Cameron has a lot of really unique experiences with the spirit. Well as he and Elder Taylor were changing back into their suits Cameron said, "You want to know something kind of crazy?"

E. Taylor "Sure"

"About a year ago I was with my dad and I had a very distinct impression to go to Dallas. So I acted on it and went to Dallas, TX seeking work so I could move there but nothing ever happened so I left. Well I ended up here in MO and one of the missionaries that teaches me is named Dallas... Kind of cool huh?"

Elder Taylor and I did indeed think it was "cool" to say the least.

The next day Elder Clark confirmed Cameron!

So exciting to see people act on the message of the restoration!

Love you all!

- E. Kelly

Labor Day

Well it has been a very fun week. 

Good bye Elder Wright

Elder Wright made this bomb dinner so I could 

finish packing.  Super yum.

Elder Taylor and I continue to find out weird things that we are very similar in. Life experiences, choices of food, etc. This new ward is so much fun and the people that live here super humble. We are right in the heart of where the "Community of Christ" and "RLDS" churches are the strongest. We have a lot of weird conversations with people who totally believe that the Book of Mormon is a real book of scripture but also believe that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet after translation, but also believe that Joseph's son was the next prophet, but also believe that the Book of Mormon is just a "good book" but not actually scripture. It is super weird. Satan is pretty cunning by taking the truth and just twisting it .0001% to make everyone disagree on things. So rude. 

The apartment we live in has been occupied by missionaries for a few years now and it is pretty obvious by the many hand prints on walls and doors that don't really want to come off. Gross. Thank you for teaching me how to clean and stay clean! Me and Taylor are pretty sure that we are 2 of 5 white people in the entire complex.

This last week Elder Taylor's trainer and family came out and took us to get some BBQ. We ate at "Author Bryant's". Its world famous and several presidents have gone there apparently. Pretty tasty stuff I'll say. 

Elder Monroe was just released from the MIM.  

He used to live here in Vegas and we knew his family.

Elder Taylor was trained by Elder Monroe a year ago.

We met with Cameron every day this past week and He was indeed able to come to church as well!!! He makes me and Elder Taylor so happy every time we meet with him. He is so faithful and holds tight to the Iron Rod. So far the adversary has worked really hard to keep him from getting baptized with a plethora of different temptations such as"

- old friend asking to have sex

- people telling him not to get baptized until they can come

- mockery by co-workers for his decision

- etc. etc.

The coolest part is that Cameron recognizes it is the adversary and Cameron just chuckles right in the adversary's face and keeps moving forward in faith. So exciting!!

This last week we had two lessons with him at the Visitors Center that he really enjoyed. We were able to learn a little bit about church history there in MO and listen to the testimony of the modern day prophets. We also helped him set up a study plan so he can begin to understand the scriptures more fully. 

PSA!!!

ALL OF YOU WHO DON'T STUDY THE SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY ARE LOOSING THE BLESSING OF KNOWING THE WORD OF THE LORD!!!! MAKE A PLAN AND READ FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! 

Anyways. Cameron had his baptismal interview last Tuesday and we found out that we might need to push his baptism back a little bit. There are some legality things that need to be confirmed and cleared before we can move forward. Even that didn't seem to make him skip a beat. He told us he wants to make sure it is done the right way and is willing to wait as long as it takes. 

In his studies he found a scripture that helped him out.

2 Nephi 6:7 

"and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me."

The zone we serve in here is so awesome. We cover all of the Visitor Center sister companionships so there are a lot of us here in the Independence Zone. Oh fun fact I forgot to mention last week. President Kato ,the stake president, is a convert from a restoration branch that was a break off from the Community of Christ church and he actually used to be one of their bishops. Super awesome man full of energy for missionary work. Oh another fun fact is that our bishop has the hobby of being an Elvis impersonator and he does it on the weekends for extra money. Kind of funny. 

We serve really close to down town Kansas City and so whenever someone needs a blessing and asks for the elders to do it we get sent because they don't want the missionaries from all over the mission driving super far. So we went to the hospital last week. The hospital is called Children's Mercy and it is probably the coolest most kid friendly hospital I have every been to. It smelled like cotton candy and other sweets throughout a majority of the building. Also all the halls had different names as did the Elevators.

Example: Purple Castle Hall (entire hall decked out it a purple castle feel to it) pretty awesome I'll say. The only down side.... is that this place is a labyrinth. There is no order to the halls it seems and it took us a good 30-40 minutes to navigate to where we needed to be. 

I hope all is going well with each of you!!!

- E. Kelly