Greetings from...

Hello everybody!!!!

Well, I’m kinda annoyed right now… I just spent 45 minutes writing a letter to you guys and it all got deleted!!! uggh annoying. But here I go again.

Well here is the news you’ve all been waiting for… where in the wide sweet world of Wisconsin are you Elder Kissell? well, I’m NOT in Wisconsin!! I am in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan in Marquette. Pretty awesome. It is great up here. I’m so glad I’m not in Milwaukee right now! The weather was quite disgusting there.

But, day 1. The flight here was great. I’m so glad I got to talk to you for so long mom!! I found out why our plane was delayed…the plane wouldn’t start. Not something you would tell your passengers I don’t think. But whatever that’s just me. So they got a new one. But the plane was really small, smallest I’ve been on. The flight was pretty short, 2 hours or so, and I just wrote letters and relaxed the whole time. good stuff. Then when we got to Milwaukee, we flew over Lake Michigan and over downtown. It’s pretty big. In between the size of Spokane and Seattle. But when we landed we had to walk outside then into the airport. The weather was so miserable!! HOT and MUGGY!!! it was literally like walking into a sauna. Terrible. I was sweating after just walking 2 minutes into the airport. but Pres. Barrett was there to greet us along with Sis. Barrett and a few elders. Pres. Barrett is so cool. He is a big old previous football player and is just awesome. He greeted me in German and I responded likewise. Pretty funny. But after getting all of our bags and stuff we headed out to do missionary work!! We were each given 2 Book of Mormons and a few pass along cards and were separated into groups. Pres. Barrett was in my group along with new missionaries Sis. Hogge and Smaelie. An older elder, elder Godfrey was also in our group. So we went down to the lakefront, hot and nasty central, to do our thing. It was crazy. It reminded me a lot like the beaches in Hawaii except the palm trees were replaced by big oak trees. But white sandy beaches, bikini clad rollerbladers, ripped shirtless muscle dudes, black guys breakdancing by their cars, volleyball, beach balls, umbrellas, beach towels, the whole shebang…in Wisconsin. It was pretty weird. But quite a few people just walked by us and were jerks about it. So I wasn’t too motivated, but we finally talked to a way cool guy and he took a BOM and we talked for 10 min or so. So that was cool. But we had a total of 6 BOMs and we each had to get rid of 2. So I was pretty scared but I did it. Not too hard. pretty easy actually. But after the 3 of us (Smaelie, Godfrey, and I) were done with that, we met back up with the sister and Pres. They’d given all theirs away too. So then we headed back to the mission home and got to write our letters home…have you gotten that yet? I imagine it’ll take awhile. But I wrote you something and the Barretts said they were gonna stick some other things in there too. Anyways, wrote letters and got situated for the night. Then we had a delicious dinner. SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MTC!! I love real food!! Crazy. After dinner we had a real nice testimony meeting and I shared my reason for coming on a mission in my testimony….i don’t know if you know what that is so I’ll tell you. It’s because of the plan of salvation and the role that it has played in my life. I love it so much and am so excited to be with you all in heaven after earth and I want to share that joy and happiness with other people. So I talked about dad in that testimony and shared about why I’m here. It was good. Then after testimony meeting we had our interviews with Pres. Barrett. He asked me about dad and my testimony I bore and asked if I would go more in depth about it and I said of course. So I shared everything I loved and knew about dad and how and why he died and just everything. I unloaded pretty much. I bore my testimony on how I knew it was true and that the church was true and the spirit was just so strong and I could totally feel dads presence there. After I was done, almost in tears and my voice shaking, Pres. Barrett just sat there for a few moments looking at me and smiling and said “He’s here right now.” It was so cool that he could feel him too. I couldn’t describe it. It was just amazing. I know that he is a man called of God and I already love him so much. I know that I am here for the right reasons and that I’m supposed to be here. I’m so glad I am. We then proceeded to talk a bit more about him and then some other mission stuff and then I had another interview with some older elders. They too asked me why I was here and I told them again and they were really touched by what I said. Then they asked me to teach them a lesson on the plan of salvation as one of the elders role played as a father who just lost his son. So I taught and bore my testimony. After I was done they were both shaky and gave me a big hug and said I would be a great elder and that I had one of the stronger testimonies they’ve heard. So that was pretty awesome. I’m way excited to teach that for reals. Then blake and I played some killer ping pong and hung out with everybody til bedtime.

Next day was the day I found out where I was going and who my trainer was. My companion is Elder Turney. He’s way cool. he was actually born in Germany because his dad is a teacher at a military base and he has lived there his whole life and is fluent in german. Pretty cool. but he is a really nice guy, almost too nice, and we get along great and teach great together. We have been getting along great and I don’t think we’ll ever not get along like elder olsen and I haha. He isn’t weird like him. But ya he’s awesome. He’s also the district leader so we are pretty by the book and rule obeying elders. Lame…just kidding. I plan on being totally obedient don’t worry. But after a few meetings and lunch and stuff, we headed up to our area. There are 3 sets of elders in the UP. One set in Houghton (furthest north), one set in Marquette (2nd furthest north) and one in Marinette (right on the Wisconsin/Michigan line). So we started our 6 stinkin hour drive to Marquette. Oh and before I forget… our mission cars are TRUCKS!!!!! Sweet!! Not as cool as my truck but still cool. Little Chevy Colorados that get terrible mileage. Oh well, it’s a truck. So after resting in Marinette for a while, we started our commute again up to Marquette. Still a good 3 hours away. The scenery was really pretty. Green open pastures with black and white cows and bright red barns and farmhouses, dense clusters of trees, and rivers here and there. In Michigan, it is just dense lush green forests and grass. Pretty awesome. It is pretty wet over here so it is green all the time I guess. The weather is SO MUCH better than in Milwaukee too. There isn’t a ton of humidity and the temp. is perfect. But we got there at like 10 oclock. By the way, we are on Eastern Standard Time here in Marquette. So 3 hours I believe ahead of Washington. So we crashed that night with the Houghton elders stayin the night with us. Our apartment is sweet too. It used to be a 4 elder apartment so now it’s 2 and there is a lot of room. we have big kitchen and a sweet workout room with free weights!!!! Makes me happy.

Wednesdays-Fridays we do service at like the coolest place in Marquette. It’s at a childrens museum and we volunteer down there. Guess what we get to do…you won’t believe me but do missionaries lie? No they don’t. I get to PLAY WITH REPTILES!!!!! so cool. There’s about 6 snakes, 6 turtles, and 10 different kinds of lizards. There’s a big old boa constrictor, about 6-7 feet long named Zeus I like to play with a lot. He’s awesome. They’re getting a chameleon so I’m pretty excited about that, and lot’s of other stuff. And this place is just cool. There are a lot of awesome interactive displays and sweet things like that. If you all are ever up in the UP for some reason, definitely go there. I’m so happy I get to do that for SERVICE of all things. You have no clue.

But I got introduced to tracting that day, not my thing. I just wish the people would come to us. It’s scary but I gotta stop being a baby and just do it I guess. Lots of slammed doors and jerks. Oh well. But we went and met a lot of members and current investigators so that was good. They all thought I was cool and enjoyed talking to me. We met our investigator and his fam with a baptismal date. his name is zach and he is way excited to be baptized. It’s on July 11 and it’ll be great. We’ve been teaching lots of members lessons about the restoration so that they will see our way of teaching and begin to trust us. It was a suggestion from the MTC on how to get member referrals. It is a lot of fun for me to teach and I love feeling the spirit while doing it. All the members seem to love me, so no complaints there. Church was pretty different though in a missionaries shoes. Lots of meetings you have to go to before. But they’re interesting and I don’t mind it. but I met the rest of the members I didn’t meet and so that was cool. I gave the opening prayer too. It was pretty awkward though, NOBODY sings. I started to sing at my regular loudness level and I was the loudest one. Pretty awkward but oh well. I think they whisper sing or something. But went to the classes and everything and after church we taught a few lessons to new investigators and those all went great too. The spirit is an amazing teacher, not Elder Kissell. So it’s always good to have him on your side. We had dinner at a member’s house and I ate some things I didn’t like and it wasn’t too bad!! like key lime pie. it was actually pretty good though. But I heard pie is a big thing up here and BBQ is too. So I think I came to the right place if they love everything I do. Also had a great experience tracting too yesterday. Marquette is a college town (Northern Michigan University) and so we went on a college street and talked to a lot of drunk and stoned college kids. But we went to a nicer home and a lady your age mom came and talked with us for about 15 minutes and we are going to see her again in like 2 weeks. She is definitely ready and I hope we are able to teach well. It was great. after that we went and taught a few more lessons at members homes and then the elders give the sacrament to a lady in the ward here so we went and did that with one of the 2 priests. his name is James and he’s way cool. But it was neat doing the sacrament again and talking with her. She really likes my voice for some reason and just smiled whenever I talked. Kinda funny. After that we went home and did our nightly planning and went to bed.
Saturday was a pretty rough day though. All our appointments fell through and nothing worked out. It was depressing and annoying and we drove all the way up to these weird towns called Negaunee and Ishpeming. We are allotted 1900 miles every month and you’ll be surprised how fast those go. So that was a waste. But oh well. At dinner time I prayed that things would start going better and that we would be more motivated and have a better day. Prayer is so cool. My prayer was answered through a lady named Sis. Salani, a less active older woman who is an RM herself. We told her our day kinda stinked and she bore her testimony and gave us some great advice. it was awesome. And things just started getting better from there. It was great.

Marquette is a totally sweet place. Right on the shore of Lake Superior and trees all over the place. Everything is lush and green. It’s a small town of like 19000. There is a big catholic cathedral, so lots of catholics. As well as lots of Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and people like that. Not a ton of LDS. But that’s what I’m here for! It is a beautiful place though and I am gonna learn to love it and the people here for sure.

Mom can you send me those family pictures you were going to give me? I’d also like some more of you and dad too if you could. I’ll be sending you mine as soon as I get my cord or buy one! so next pday definitely. I’m developing some today so you’ll probably get some in the snail mail this week hopefully.

But I gotta go now…hopefully this one won’t be deleted. I’m buying a bike today so hopefully I have money!!

I love you so much mom!!!! I’m glad I got to talk to you and am excited for Christmas/ I love the rest of ya’ll too!!! You are all in my prayers and I pray a lot so I hope you guys are all doing great!! I know I’m in all of your prayers too so thank you very much. I need them. I love you all so much!!!!

Love
Elder Kissell

by the way…my address is this for at least until August 6th, more than likely longer.

Elder Jesse Kissell
725 Grove St. #11
Marquette, MI 49855

and if you guys send me a package, send it through the USPS. I think you send those right to the mission office and it is free for them to forward it to me. if it is anything else I have to wait until zone conference to get it or I have to pay for the postage to get it up to me. so it makes it easier for all of us. but I love you all!!!!!!