Random Stories

August 14, 2017

It has been a good two weeks!! Two Tuesdays ago we were able to see Jason Huckabee again! We had just finished going out with our ward mission leader for lunch and then drove straight over to meet with Jason. When we got there he asked if we could go get some Canes so right after I had a foot long from Subway I had three finger chicken box. We need to get a picture with this guy next time we meet with him. He is a big guy and is so friendly. We talked about different doctrines (mainly he talked) and we would ask questions every so often. At the end of our meeting he said in his heavy southern accent. "Well gentlemen I have done most of the talkin today... I'm not sure what kind of rules you have or if you need to ask but how about next time we meet we go to my study and we pray and seek the Lord through revelation and I would like to hear more about what you say." Literally our only intention the entire time but I realized we probably could of been a little more up front in our language with a man that studies the Bible frequently and enjoys church so much that he decided to be a preacher. We are pretty excited to meet again next Tuesday.

We also met with Doug that day another time later in the week. He continued reading in the BofM and we are trying to help him understand how to communicate with Heavenly Father. One of our lessons with him was particularly good. We were able to bring a ward missionary out with us, Brother Smith. He and Doug were able to relate over life experience with being rebellious in high school. After we had left Brother Smith and Doug were talking and Doug asked, "So you really think this is true huh?" Brother Smith, "Yeah man!" Haha hopefully that sticks out in Doug's head.

Two Wednesdays ago we had dinner with Brother and Sister Coleman and we asked them who they knew that we could share our message with. They referred us to a woman down the street that they thought would enjoy a visit. We went over to the house and there was an old Hawaiian woman sitting outside named Elmira. She was so kind to us. We introduced ourselves and informed her that we had a message from God to share with her. She was genuinely listening and so we started talking about the BofM and its purpose. She was cracking some funny jokes too. She told us that she was 87 and was too old. We came back a few days later and she had read what looked like half the BofM. She was somewhere in Alma. Unfortunately we got a call from her on Saturday and she no longer would like to meet. She was kind of hard to understand so we aren't fully sure why she doesn't want to meet anymore. So that was a bummer. 

We got to meet with Caleb Miller again as well. He is the 16 year old boy that is very knowledgeable in the Bible. When we met we asked what he had thought about the BofM and the things he brought up made it sound like he had gotten into some of the really simple anti material. Hopefully he has an open enough heart to not give up on it. It has been hard to schedule appointments because he is classic busy teenager. 

Combined District Meeting

Elder Shawgo and I doing some 

food prep before Bingo

The temple trip this Wednesday was great! Elder Christensen and I caught a ride with  Brother and Sister Coleman. We were able to do some of their family names and I had the opportunity to do an initiatory and then head in for a session. In the Celestial room there was a sister probably in her twenties that expressed that she would like a blessing and had recognized that Elder Christensen and I were missionaries. We went off into one of the side rooms where they put kids for sealings and other things and were able to give her a blessing. Then following that we sat in to watch some sealings since we can't participate as missionaries. There were several names that needed to be done and since there was a second sealer in the room and enough men they asked us to go in another sealing room and step in as witnesses. That was a treat too. Afterwards the Coleman's took us out for some IHOP. It was a good time. While we were there a waitress walked behind us with a bunch of food and there was some red pancake syrup that dripped off across Elder Christensen back. None of us noticed but then another waitress noticed and she came over and informed us of the situation and then did her best to clean it off with a wet rag it was pretty funny. 

That night it was about 8:45 and we got a referral over the phone for someone named Sandra. We were walking up to a house right when we got the text. As we were walking up to the house we could see through a really big window that there was someone watching TV in a big recliner. Well we stopped to look at the text before we actually went up to the house. Right as we looked down apparently this teenage boy decided it was his chance to "disappear" so he rolled off the couch and ran into the other room. Well I had looked up right as he was halfway off the couch so I saw the whole thing happen. I had to laugh because that was totally me before coming out here. Anyways we looked up where the referral was and it was less than half a mile away. We showed up and when she answered the door she said, "Wow! That was fast!" Apparently she had been on the phone with one of the church representative missionaries 10 minutes before we showed up. This just goes to show how awesome technology is! Her boyfriend, Ian, came out and apparently he is a member that ended up going less active a while back. We are excited to start teaching them. We might be sending them to the singles ward. We came back two days later and she expressed that she felt really good about being baptized. 

Got to run!! 

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and simply wants us to be ourselves while repenting! So be yourself! Everyone else is taken! 

Love you!

Elder Kelly

Cake

July 31, 2017

I haven't talked about him yet but we are teaching a man named Doug. Doug is a really unique man. I'm not sure how to fully describe him to you. He is just shorter than I am and has strawberry blonde hair that goes down to the middle of his neck. He had a car accident that really messed up his back and he has messed up knees so he can't move around very quickly but you can tell when his body used to cooperate that he was a big man and way strong. Probably pretty buff too. 

Anyways, he has a little bit of a sassy attitude and it has been enjoyable teaching him so far. He has been reading from the BofM and has had a lot of good thoughts about it so far. As we read through the Introduction he said, "You know I think that almost all of modern day Christianity is the work of Satan." He thinks it is a tool Satan has used to deceive people with. He explained that he thinks the people are good but the doctrine isn't. We explained that that was actually prophesied of in the BofM and he was pretty intrigued. 

In one of our lessons he brought up a concern he has about the temple. He feels that baptisms for the dead are taking away people's agency. We tried explaining the Spirit World and how people continue to live there as spirits but he just wasn't comprehending that. We are hoping the spirit will prepare him as he reads the BofM. That way when we teach the plan of salvation he will be ready for it. 

So we were in an apartment complex and had an interesting experience. We felt like we should go talk to a woman and when we walked up to her she was trying to brush us off quickly and started walking away so we walked with her. She was telling us that she was super busy and all the things she needed to do. One of the things she said she needed to do was get rid of some birthday cake. She asked if we wanted some and we accepted. She walked into her apartment and came back out with two plates of cake. She gave it to us and we were expecting her to stand out there and talk while we ate it. She instead turned around and walked inside. At this point we were also pretty tired because it was about 4 pm and we hadn't had lunch (that is a totally different story). So there we were standing in the hot sun sweating with random birthday cake and there were a bunch of kids running around us playing. It was pretty weird. We finished the cake. So we were left with throw away plates but we still had some of her actual forks that were not disposable. Then this girl walks up and takes the forks from us an walks inside. We walked to the trash can and threw away our plates. Then this other random girl walked up to us and said, " hey are you guys church people? I've been trying to find a church." We were more than happy to inform her that we are church people and that she is more than welcome to come to church. She then informed us that she would love for us to teach her so she can learn more about God. We took down her info and will be sending to the neighboring elders because she lives out of our area. It was just a weird day and we have laughed about it a few times. 

Elder Kelly and Elder Christensen 

eating random birthday cake! Weird

Well that is all I have for this week. Love ya!

I know that Heavenly Father is there and that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for us. I know that Christ's way is the only path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. I would challenge you to think of one way you can come closer to Him!

Elder Kelly 

God Loves His Children

July 24, 2017

Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Love.  It was really nice being able to talk one on one and get to know a little bit more of their personality and such. I felt really recharged afterwards and was grateful for that. That night we were able to have dinner with Brother and Sister Graf. They are a younger couple who feed us pretty often and they are the best. They keep their commitments too. It was actually kind of crazy. They were in the the same stake as me in my first area and were reactivated when Elder Conley (my old comp) was in their ward.

Elder Christensen, Elder Kelly with the Tauai family 

Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Shawgo and ran into a man named Michael. We asked if he was a believer in Christ and he expressed that he was actually a member of the church and used to attend the Lee Summit 2nd ward. Elder Shawgo then realized that he had eaten dinner with Michael and his family back at the very beginning of his mission. (Elder Shawgo goes home on Thursday). We were able to get his info so they can pull his info and bring his records to the correct place. Experiences like this always build my testimony that the Lord loves his children and gives us many tender mercies small and large.

Friday was an exchange with Elder Bowser in the Lee Summit 1st ward. He has been out for 1 transfer this week. I learned a really valuable lesson. I noticed that he had extremely high trust in the Lord and it was influencing me greatly even though I had only been around him for a couple hours. In this last conference Robert D. Hales said "The attributes of the Savior, as we perceive them, are not a script to be followed or list to be checked off. They are interwoven characteristics, added one to another, which develop in us in interactive ways. In other words, we cannot obtain one Christlike characteristic without also obtaining and influencing others. As one characteristic becomes strong, so do many more." I had the realization by being with Elder Bowser that the reason he was able to have so much trust in the Savior is because he knew that it was only through Christ that any success was coming. I finally realized that if I wanted to increase in faith I needed to increase in humility otherwise I would continue to rely too heavily on the arm of flesh. I found this very valuable to me and it has helped me greatly.

Saturday on our way home for lunch we stopped by a cupcake shop called Simply Frosted. It reminded me of Retro Bakery back home. A member of our ward owns it and gives us a free cupcake every time. While there we borrowed their wifi and I had the feeling we needed to be somewhere else all of a sudden. I expressed this to Elder Christensen and we got up and went to the car and started to leave but felt impressed to stay. We drove back to the Main Street of the little down town area we were in and parked. We walked up to a shop across the street which was closed. Elder Christensen expressed that he had felt prompted to go into the Bar and Grill right next to us. We decided we would just have lunch there. We walked in, sat down and ordered. Elder Christensen said that he felt that we needed to talk to the people right next to the door we had walked in. We got up and when I walked up to them I said, "So we don't usually do this at restaurants but we felt impressed to come talk to you guys. We are--" The man I had not fully looked at yet cut me off and said, "Well don't you recognize me?" It was a man named Kevin Miller I had met two weeks ago while on exchanges. He had told me the first time we met that he had grown up RLDS and had since left the church and went to a different one. He said he had two other really close friends from high school and one was also RLDS and the third friend was a member of our church and was always trying to convert the other two. Well the 2nd friend that is RLDS was at lunch with them. We talked for a few minutes and it came out that the 3rd friend who is a member of our church was really close with Elder Christensen up in the Liberty Stake. No return appointment came of it but it was just another testament to me that God loves his children and does special things for each of them. After we had stopped talking and went and sat back down the waitress came up to us and told us that Kevin Miller had paid for our food. There are tender mercies all around. 

Sunday we had a coordination meeting with the Stake Presidency and President Love. While there President Love shared a story. While at the MTC they had a dinner on their last night before departure. In attendance was David A. Bednar. Elder Bednar came up to President Love and said, "Missouri Independence huh... We need to strengthen those surrounding stakes and enlarge their borders. We need to raise the center pole there soon." That was very exciting to hear. 

Unfortunately we still have not been able to get in contact with Terry since he went into the hospital. Hopefully everything is going well. 

I know that the Heavenly Father loves His children. I know that we can pray to better recognize the love He has for us. I know that because Heavenly Father loves us He sent His son Jesus Christ. Christ is the Savior of the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hi :)

Alright I'm sorry for not emailing last week. 

We had a really great two weeks. President and Sister Love are here now and they are the best. They are very into hunting and we were able to see some of their hunting pictures. He shot a bear and put a caption on the picture that said, "President Love with a disobedient missionary." He is really into memorizing scripture and I'm all about that. 

Since I didn't talk about it last week I'll quickly mention it. The fourth here is crazy town. It literally sounds like a real war zone. I'm not really sure what people do that have PTSD to handle it. I was flinching all day because people were lighting off quarter sticks of dynamite and such all day. Actually it was basically all day the 3rd and the 4th. We're on exchanges on the fourth. Elder Boyce and I were walking when we came to a long driveway that had about 30 people or more all sittin in a long u shape on the edges of the drive way. We walked up and said, "Excuse me!!" Everyone went quiet and looked. It was great. We briefly explained who we were and what our mission was as missionaries. They were very kind to us and asked a few questions about our belief. We ended up testifying of the BofM to them and went on our way. It was pretty sweet. I love having people's attention with the gospel. 

This week we were in the third hour of church and a member asked us to step out in the hall. There was a man by the name of Jeremy that came in. He explained to us that after his personal study of the Bible he has concluded that our church is, "the head church of the last days" in his words. He is extremely excited to learn more and we will be teaching him on Friday. 

Last night we felt impressed to go to a specific area. We had about 5 sweet interactions down there. Only one of them turned out with a return appointment set but we were also able to bring down some walls with the other people about the BofM. I have realized that so many people have misconceptions of what we believe and who we are because we aren't open enough about with our friends. So many people think Joseph Smith wrote the BofM and a slew of other things. It is my favorite showing people how normal we are.

We also got an email from President Love I wanted to show you guys. We are really excited to see what happens. We have two Stake presidents in our area that are converts from the RLDS church along with our bishop. Here is the email, "I have been pondering on how we can better embrace those whose ancestors were once part of Christ's restored church. They are our brethren and their souls are precious. (Alma  31:34-35). Can we pray, as did Alma for success ?  I feel a sense of urgency. Can we council together on this at our next MLC?

I love each of you,

Pres. Love"

I know this is the Lord's work and we need to saddle up and start helping bring it forth. To this end were we born! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Kelly

Weekly email

So this week was full of awesome experiences. So get ready.

On Sunday Elder Christensen and I wanted to go into the church right next to our apartment. It is a Pentecostal church and we have been trying to meet with other pastors to look for service opportunities with their churches in the community. Well we walked in and the smell of delicious coffee met our nose. We asked for the pastor and a very tall and large man walked through the door named Jason Huckabee. He looked me square in the eyes which is not a common occurrence. He had a southern drawl as if he was from Mississippi or something. We asked if we could meet with him at another time and he invited us back on Tuesday. 

Monday night we started exchanges with Elder Slesk and Elder Bowser. (side note: there is also a Elder Kirby in the zone) Elder Slesk and I were talking before we fell asleep and it turns out that his dad served in the Charlotte, North Carolina Mission the same years as you Dad! I had just finished telling a story from your mission and he told me his dad had some crazy stories from his mission. One of which was about a football game where an elder's arm got messed up! Sounds familiar! Haha that's when I asked what mission he had served in and what years he had served. His name is... Tim Slesk and was married in 91 so could have been serving during the same time.

Well me and Elder Slesk went together the next morning to visit Jason Huckabee. We sat down in his study in the back of the church building. He asked a little about who we are and we explained our purpose as missionaries and where we are from. He seemed genuinely impressed by our efforts and was so kind to us. He explained some of his walls he can't get over in relation to the Book of Mormon which we were able to clarify. Things like the idea that Joseph Smith wrote it. etc.  He then asked.... "So we see by statistical studies that the slowest rate for building membership in a church is through street contacting and door to door with random strangers. In fact the fastest way is what is called "Personal Evangelizing". It is when you are at work and you see that your co-worker is struggling and he needs help. Well you invite him to church. He comes to church, feels the Lord and realizes he has found what he needs in his life. That is how we bring people in." This nonmember just explained to me, member missionary work and seems to understand it better than many active members. We were blown away. We explained our desire to bring further unity to the faiths in the area via service and he liked that a lot. He then explained some of his beliefs using the New Testament. Specifically Acts 2, 10, and 19. They believe speaking in tongues is required to know you have received the Holy Ghost. I won't lie if I had not grown up knowing that this was the church of Christ and was seeking truth I would of ate everything up he said in a heart beat. The power that came just from using the scriptures in his teaching made me seriously marvel. We closed with a prayer by putting our hands on each other shoulders and after he invited us out to lunch after he gets back from a trip. Over this week I have reflected time and time again on our meeting. It has built my testimony of the power and authority of my calling as a missionary and the influence we can have on others by the Spirit we bring. 

As I was reading the Book of Mormon this week I saw an example of how we can't force the Spirit into ones heart but can only bring it unto. Alma 10:6 "Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart.." I was struck by the phrase "therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know" I have reflected time and time again about what things I am not fully allowing into my heart. I have also thought a lot concerning the fact that if Alma had disobeyed the angel then Amulek would still go on unbelieving not to mention the many converts that followed.

Love you guys!! 

Elder Kelly

Running out of Subject Lines...

Well we visited with Terry Johnson three more times this week and he was able to come to church too! We actually were able to meet with a less active member this week and we asked them to take Terri in hopes they would stick around too. Unfortunately they just dropped them off and left.  We taught Terry and his member son, Donny about the Word of Wisdom on Thursday. He has already been trying to stop smoking and is down to less than a pack a day. When we explained that coffee was also not in line with the commandment he was shocked. His response was, "What? I drink 15 to 20 cups of coffee a day! I don't even drink water! It tastes gross!" He committed to try and stop. In the closing prayer it was asked that his desire to have coffee and smoke would leave him. Elder Christensen and I also prayed that night that the desire would leave him. On Saturday we came back and he told us he had only smoked 5 cigarettes and only drank 2 cups of coffee! Our jaws basically hit the floor. We asked him how he was able to cut back so much. His response was, "They both started to taste gross....?"

We are blessed here in this ward! We always are fed by members and have many people to teach. We were able to make plans with multiple families this week of how they were going to help their non member friends come unto Christ. It is so powerful when the members make a plan and follow through with it. The Lord always pours out blessings upon their families even if the individual declines the invitations extended both by them and the Spirit. Usually those families get pretty excited about missionary work and it is as if we introduced a friend to a delicious BBQ place we can enjoy together. 

This is a non-member's license plate

We live in Blue Springs.  The cool part about Blue Springs is that it is half boons and half city. It is a lot of fun.

Love you all! I know that the power of Payer is real. I know that Heavenly Father is Listening to you when you reach out to Him. I know that Christ's grace is sufficient. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen

Transfered...(: :)

Well I am now out of the Overland Park 2nd ward. I am now serving in the Fleming Park ward which is in KC, MO. My new companion is Elder Christensen. He came out a transfer before me. 

Tuesday night we got the information that I would be leaving. Wednesday I packed up and then had the opportunity to say quick good byes to Jeanie Foster and Jim Brown, the Giroux family, Bishop, and Tay and Georgette. It was really weird.... when I said good bye to Jim and Jeanie Foster we got in the car and I started to cry. I didn't even cry when I left home. I don't think I have ever cried over something like that. Elder Limon and I were laughing at myself for the rest of the day because of it. It was weird.

Wednesday we went up to Independence for transfers. Elder Write was moved to OP2 and so I know it is being left in good hands. We technically live in the city Blue Springs not too far from Independence. So far we have had a lot of good experiences!   We felt impressed to knock a door on Friday and we introduced ourselves and felt impressed to ask if we could come in. Our request was quickly granted and we were able to sit down. As we talked to the man, Terri, we learned that his son, Donny, was baptized into the church a while back and when he moved up here he wasn't able to find the church! They scheduled to meet with us three times a week! Should be fun. 

Our dinner last night was with two families. Both of those families have non-members in their home on a regular basis and we purposed that we set goals and make plans to help them enter the waters of baptism. Both families readily accepted the challenge and we will be making the plan with them this up coming Friday! We are very excited to see where this goes.

One of the members of the ward served in the Vegas mission back in 2002-03. Another family just moved from Vegas about two years ago and know President Waite's son who I think was their Bishop. I showed them a picture of you guys, mom and dad, and they said they knew you. I'll have to send pictures when we eat with them or something. 

Our apartment wasn't too bad but it was in need of some serious cleaning. Elder Christensen and I spent about 3 hours today. It was great. We also have been exercising in a member's gym each morning and it is killer. We work out with another companionship and one of the elders is super buff and he keeps putting us through crazy work outs. We did this 800 rep arm work out Saturday Morning and my arms are going to fall off. Me and the weights have never been friends before and I'm not sure how much I like it. 

Our bishop here is actually a convert from the RLDS church. 

We knocked on a door yesterday and after no one answered we walked away. We were a little ways up the street and we heard the door open so we turned around and as we were walking back he says, "So which one of you is Alma, and which one of you is Amulek!?" We proceeded to have a long conversation about all the splinter churches out here. Feels good to be back in the Independence vibe.

Love ya!

- Elder Kelly