Easter is the Best

Well  a lot has happened this past week. We hadn't been able to meet with Jeanie for two week and finally got in to see her and Chris this past Friday. Jeanie was not in a good mood and you could tell there was a lot of contention in the house. We asked how they were preparing for the wedding and where they were with that whole thing. She said she wasn't ready for that kind of commitment yet. We tried our best to help invite the spirit into the meeting with little success. Chris made a comment that made Jeanie mad and she walked out. It was a really sad meeting to walk out of. They have felt the spirit testify of what we have taught. It is sad to see them kind of push it off farther and farther. We invited them out to church again for Easter but they didn't show up.

               Sabrina has been doing good. We met with her twice this week and she committed to study the scriptures every day FOR REAL this time. We send her a chapter from the bible and BofM every morning so she has something to read related to what her questions are and the lessons we last taught. She has been enjoying that I think. She was out of town for Easter so she didn't make it to church with us.

               The Avalos family finally committed to attend church with us on Easter! We were stoked! Confirmed the night before and then they didn't show up the next morning.

               Satan knows the importance of church. Obviously.

Easter Sunday was great!! I felt the spirit a ton! We just held a normal fast and testimony meeting and they asked everyone to keep the focus on Christ. Very powerful meeting. Then in Gospel Principles we watched the "Testimony of John". You should all go watch it. It should be on LDS.org. Then in Elders Quorum we discussed the talk "What Lack I Yet" from conference. Many prayers were answered yesterday.

Then for dinner we ate at the Skousen's home. They are a younger couple and we had a TON of food. Mashed potatoes, Ham, Rolls, Peas, Grape juice, and Crepes for dessert. Holy cow it was good.

Today for P-Day we went to our bishop's gymnastics gym and just messed
around the whole time. It has some tramps and basketball hoops that
we have been playing around at. It is pretty fun honestly.

I love you all.

I know Jesus Christ lives and has a perfect body. Because of him we can have eternal life. :)

Elder Kelly

               

Missions are Great :)

Lots to talk about.

               Well on Tuesday we met this family who let us into their home and we shared the Easter message with them. We have a return appointment this week and we are pretty excited to teach them. They were all pretty cool and very friendly.

               This week we met with Sabrina a total of 5 times! She is awesome and is progressing pretty well! We took her to the Liberty Jail on Friday and when we got there she seemed angry (She always seems angry and then when she starts talking you realize oh she is fine) but I just didn't pay much attention to it. The whole tour went really well and I was praying Sabrina would feel the Spirit testify that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. After we asked what she thought and she said. "I don't want to talk about it." (Still looking angry too) WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?!?!  When we got back home we invited her to write down her thoughts and feelings she had at Liberty jail so she wouldn't forget (decided to just trust she felt the spirit) We haven't really brought up the visit since then but she is still continually gaining a testimony of what we are teaching her so it doesn't matter right now.

She came to church but left early because of her son. That night we had dinner with the bishop and she came as well. It was very good for her to meet him and we taught about keeping the sabbath day holy afterwards. As we were walking out to the cars she said she enjoyed that lesson. MUSIC TO OUR EARS

               On Saturday we taught these two Ethiopian college students that we found last week and man they are so prepared! They are coming to church next week!

               Well I love and miss you all!

-Elder Kelly

Hallelujah

This week has been one heck of a week! Lots has happened; lots has been
learned! To start I had a really humbling experience that helped me
realize I really needed to make sure I was teaching with the spirit
and that I was full of love for those I was teaching. We were teaching
Sabrina, our neighbor, and she has a really hard time swallowing the
idea that the Book of Mormon is needed and that we are the only church
on the earth that has priesthood authority. We have all gotten really
comfortable around her because we have helped her with random
things (putting a shelf together, replacing shower head, stuff like
that) she needed help with and she is so kind. She is college aged and
has a little boy. It is honestly like teaching someone from high
school or something because we all get along pretty well. Anyways we
were teaching her one night and the member we had with us was
explaining how it is a choice she will have to make one day if she is
going to be baptized or not. She said, "Yeah I know I want to make this
choice for me. And HE (turns and points right at me) Keeps trying to
force it on me!" Honestly I was about to cry. I never want to hear
those words come out of someones mouth EVER again. I realized I had
some repenting to do. No teaching will work if you don't have true
charity and teach out of love. We had another lesson with her a couple
of days later on Saturday night and the spirit was way strong this
time and we committed her to attend church the next day! She showed up
at the end of sacrament because she forgot to set her clock forward.
But she had a good experience in the last two blocks and when she went
and picked up her son from nursery he said, "I made a friend mom!" So
it turned our pretty good.

Jeanie and Chris FINALLY set a marriage date for April 15th and Jeanie
will be baptized on the 16th! We have had some awesome lessons with
them lately full of the spirit and I love their family so much. They
also forgot to set their clock forward so they didn't come to
church... LAME

Last awesome thing is that Elder Stevenson from the Quorum of the
twelve came to our mission on Saturday!!! We had an all mission
conference and all got to shake his hand and then he addressed us! He
talked a lot about teaching with the spirit and it was definitely what
I needed to hear!

Anyways I love you all very much and enjoy the emails you send!

-Elder Kelly

The Trio

Elder Kelly, Katoa, Herrod

This is what happens when you let

a missionary cut your hair!

Crazy Week

This past week has been a lot of fun!

Tuesday was Mid-trainers meeting at the mission home and man it was so good to see all the people I was in the MTC with. The other reason any mission meeting is awesome is because you feel like a spiritual beast when you leave and you are just so pumped for the work. President Vest and his wife are so awesome too. They always give great training and councils!

Wednesday we had no car because it was at the Chevy dealership getting work done. We taught a recent convert that night and her kids. The kids are all high school age. She is a black lady with this southern ghetto swag and it is so funny when she gets animated in her speech.  At the end of the lesson the kids were just being dumb and talking smack about sports. She turned to us laughing and said, "I'm gunna beat em with my Holy Ghost Stick!" So funny!

Thursday was transfers and we got another elder in our companionship so now we are a trio! His name is Elder Herrod. He has been out for 19 months and is a cool kid! We spent a lot of time rearranging on Wednesday. We got rid of two couches we never used, got another desk, another bed, and a dresser. Our room is almost one big bed now. We have about 8 inches between each bed. Good thing we are never in that room other than for sleep!

Elder Kelly, Elder Katoa, Elder Herrod

Fast and testimony meeting was really good this week! I love hearing testimonies from other people. We are truly brought together to build one another up.

Tips about life:

1. If you are having a bad day... Read your scriptures 

2. If you need help with anything... Read your scriptures 

3. If you get angry... Read the scriptures 

4. Every day of your life.... YOU NEED TO READ YOUR SCRIPTURES!!!!!!!

The scriptures answer every question of the soul and will help you in all aspects. Don't ignore them!!!!!

-Love Elder Kelly

Elder Katoa and Kelly teaching

Getting creative with breakfast

This little girl is in our ward and 

reminds me so much of Tess

This is how we Pday!

Elder Katoa, Elder Kelly, Sister Matagi

Perfecting the Saints

This week has been another great one! I don't have much to say about investigators really. The only thing interesting that happened was that we had a trip planned to the visitors center on Friday with Jeanie and Chris and then they cancelled last second and didn't show up to church either. So now she isn't progressing technically but that's ok we will get her right back on the move towards baptism. Some stuff came up with their work I am pretty sure. We have an awesome lesson planned tonight on the Word of Wisdom and the atonement. We are way excited to teach it.

We met the sweetest lady named Angie who was so awesome! She told us her house burnt down last November and she started to cry as we spoke.  She has been living out of her car for the past few months. She knows God will get her through it because she believes she was saved from dying when she was 16. She wasn't supposed to live but she did! She is very kind and we teach her again on Tuesday! Can't wait to fill her heart, that seems to be pretty broken, with the gospel.

Something that crossed my mind this week was that Christ commands us multiple times to be perfect. Kind of interesting. Then I got thinking. We need to work on perfection now. If we really use the atonement the way it is intended to be used we will eventually reach perfection. Obviously this takes a REALLY long time but there is no point in waiting to start. The time is now! The trick is understanding the atonement and the powers it posses. There are both enabling and redeeming powers that Jesus Christ has created for each of us. We must use both DILIGENTLY so when we look back on a year we can say "WOW!  Look at where I have come from!" (And then thank God and Jesus Christ) Jesus Christ expects us to become perfect. The way to perfection is not confusing or complicated. It is so simple. Use the atonement everyday and start NOW.

Love.

-Elder Kelly

This past week I decided I am only emailing family every week. Friends will get emailed once a month. So please don't think I hate you all. I will respond I promise.

Hurrah for Israel!!!

This week has been so much fun!

Sister Baier is so prepared! They are making arrangements to be married legally so she can be baptized soon! They came to a baptism with us on Saturday and she had a good time! They drove us out there and they are the funniest people ever. One night we were teaching them and we were teaching the plan of salvation! It was almost like the moment after we said that was what we were teaching that he gets all excited grabs his quad next to him and opens the front cover and proudly shows us the plan of salvation taped in from when he was in primary. It was hilarious. She is excited for her baptism and has been telling her family to come! Hopefully we don't get transferred before it happens!

Can't believe it has almost been one transfer!

This week on exchanges Elder Porter and I found 5 new investigators in about 2 hours. It was miraculous. They were all within a 50 yard diameter!

Earlier this week we committed 4 people on baptismal dates! Jeanie is the only one that has continued to progress but hopefully we can get the others to have the fire lit in them.

Powerful

Whole Milk or Die

The Art of Mixing Cereal

Lunch to Make Your Momma Proud

Learning How to Be a True Harvester

Family and Friends!

This mission thing is so great. If anyone tells you their mission was boring or not the best two years of their life then they weren't actually serving the lord by bringing others to truth. I love reading your guys emails and honestly hate emailing back because it stresses me out a little so I am doing my best!!! (Don't think I am saying I don't want to email you guys though because that isn't the case) This past week was faster than the last and I don't know how it works. My best guess is that it is because as we continue to be on the Lord's errand doing his will and not ours we begin to operate in his timing too. Not doctrine just a funny thought.

Just got done with a game of 21 and I love that game so much! These high tops are coming in clutch for all that dunking! (JK)

Elder Katoa is continuing to be one great trainer! He helps council me on what I need to fix and thankfully is very kind about it. He lets me realize things myself but sometimes points things out when I don't seem to realize I'm doing the same wrong thing over and over. So honestly he is a great trainer. Together we are realizing what it means to truly be a harvester and how to accomplish that effectively. We just need to bear testimony and see who responds to an invitation to follow Christ. I love serving with him.

We are going to start a new trend.

So since elder Katoa is a District leader and he has to go on exchanges every week I do to! And this week it was me and Elder Smith (also a brand new missionary) who were together. Well neither of us have taken the mission driving test so guess what we did..... RODE BIKES! Honestly I felt like a lost dog. We were both new and I had never done a biking day so I didn't really know how to effectively go through the day without back tracking over and over. Honestly probably one of the longest days of the mission because out here there aren't mountains just really big hills. Also if you want to sufficiently feel really dorky... Wear Sunday clothes with a helmet and ride a bike that has really bad gears that don't want to shift. I felt like a naked man or something. Oh and  it was in the 30s with some nice wind. Oh and I was wearing those behind the head ear muff things under my helmet straps. I need to take that test.

Last night we ate with the Horrocks family and I felt like I was at home! :) Their family just kind of reminded me of that feeling of being home. Oh and the food was BOMB. They made fondue pots (a valentine tradition for them I guess) and there was some Spinach one and a cheddar one and then just a plethora of stuff to dip in it. I pigged out! Then we had dessert fondue as well and pigged out again.

Me and elder Katoa were so full.

I am really beginning to love exercising in the morning. I'll have to send progress pics one day ;). Getting mad gains out here with a total of 5 pounds. (Full of sarcasm)

We just started teaching a woman by the name of Jeanie Biaer. Her husband, Chris, is already a member but he is inactive. Both have expressed desires to be sealed in the temple for time and eternity in the Kansas City temple. They also have made it very easy to teach them by asking if we could come as frequently as possible in the evening after they put their kids to bed. Hopefully we can have daily contact with them one way or another and help them work hard to become ready for a baptismal date. Chris has a desire to baptize his wife so hopefully this will really strengthen them as a couple and family.  This is the family that we were looking for and instead found Raymond and Nathaniel. (By the way we had to drop Nathaniel)

Elder Katoa and I got to speak in church yesterday on the plan of salvation and it was so much fun! I loved it! Spoke for about 15 min each.

I know this is the Lord's work and in turn God's work. Do not fear! It is breaking your baptismal covenant.

-Love Elder Kelly

This is Jeremy Guthrie. If you don't know who that is, he pitches for the Royals and was a major pitcher last year in the World Series. He is a beast when it comes to missionary work. And has found us two solid investigators (Bobbie and Israel. I'll tell you about them next week) He goes on team ups with us all the time too. So I am basically famous now!