Hello hello!
Well, I was complaining about the weather being cold last month, 50 degrees on the first of July…but let me tell ya, it was stinkin hot this week!! It was in the mid 90’s and super humid all week and elder Turney had the sweet idea of us riding bikes this entire week everywhere!! So, possibly why nobody wanted to talk to us was because of us dripping in sweat. It was so hot. I didn’t even sleep with the covers on at night. We would be sweating without any physical exertion. Pretty cool…not really. But, that’s all part of the fun right? But it is good for working out and stuff. Last pday, I bought some of that protein powder stuff. I made fun of a lot of people for using that stuff but I got to thinking about it, that all the buff guys I know, like Blake and some of the elders out right now, use that stuff. So we’ll see what it does to me haha. It’s really good so even if it doesn’t work, it tastes way good.
Anyways, this week was pretty good. Kinda a down week but I’m not letting it get to me. We have a lot of investigators, but none are really progressing. So we just did a lot of tracting and doorstop visits with these investigators. It’s kind of annoying because they all say they’re so busy and don’t have time to meet with us, yet they always seem to be home whenever we try by them. Whatev. But hopefully we can give them something they love and spark some interest so they do want a return appointment and to start progressing. But tracting was fun. Met some interesting people out and about. Marquette is the home of Northern Michigan University, so we are getting quite the influx of students now. There are several professors in the ward and they said to expect about 10,000 students coming in these next couple weeks. Pretty crazy. But yeah, hopefully we’ll see about getting some college kids interested. We’ve talked to several already. One thing that really bugs me about elder Turney is that he NEVER talks to teenagers. He is also very VERY by the book. Drives me nuts. So if we see a teenager outside, boy or girl, he just acts like they aren’t there and then he tells me later that we aren’t supposed to talk to teenagers…but it never says that in the white handbook and tons of baptisms have come because of teenagers. But oh well, I still do what he says. We have been playing a fun game though…the license plate game!! We have found 26 of the states up here in the U.P.!! Who woulda thunk it? I just barely found Washington, so I’m pretty stoked about that. But my goal is to find at least 49, Hawaii would be cool, but probably won’t find it.
One of the guys we are sort of teaching, that super old guy Tom Normand, he’s 77, he told us some of his daughters friends were mormon, but we had never heard of them, so we got their addresses and went and checked it out the other day. They definitely were not, and were not too happy to see us. But, they did give us referrals!! Even referrals from grumpy non members are good. So give the missionarys referrals!! But anyways, they told us, “well, you could try by our drug dealer and drug pushing neighbors, they aren’t too good and need some religion in our lives. You could also try by our other neighbors, they’re way weird, but they could use some too.” So, you know, not really the people I’d like to meet the most, but hey, those are some of my lost brothers and sisters! Unfortunately, they weren’t home… darn. But, we will be trying again.
This is an exciting story…so, on Saturday, we decided to go out to Ishpeming and Negaunee. We tried by this guy named Grant who has been dogging us the past times we’ve tried by him, but we finally caught him home this time. But, he was drunker than a sailor. Turns out he found out that his wife/girlfriend was cheating on him and was “sippin” some vodka that day. I’m pretty sure he had to have downed at least a few bottles. But he was cussin every other word, sayin weird stuff, and just talking nonsense. Elder Turney was like awestruck, almost like he’s never seen a drunk person or something…but I have and I wasn’t too worried or afraid like he was. It was pretty funny. So I did all the talking this time. He seemed to like me. But this was the funny part, he was talking just about how awesome he thought he is and just cranked Bruce Springsteen and started rockin out to it and singing and dancing and stuff. And then he’s like “I can do stuff that most other men can’t do, even if I was crippled I could still do this stuff.” Except throw in several cuss words and you’ll understand more…but turns out he’s a chainsaw artist and is quite good if I do say. He was showing us some of his things he made, and several pictures, all the while rockin out to Springsteen. Elder Turney was pretty uncomftorable and asked him to turn it down, about the only thing he said the whole time. But after a while, he got back on the topic of his girlfriend. I asked him if he prayed about it or read the bible to comfort him. He said no but that that was a good idea. I asked him if he liked Garth Brooks and if he had listened to the song Unanswered Prayers. He said that it was funny I asked that because he’d just bought his CD that day with that song on it, and he doesn’t even really like country that much. But I told him I love that song and that he should have a listen and maybe that would help him out a little bit. See mom, country helps everything! But yeah, that had to have been the most interesting experience of my mission thus far.
We had zone conference this week. It was down in Shawano Wisconsin, like 5 hours away from Marquette. We’re so isolated up here, it’s kinda lame. But anyway, I saw Elder Cottle and Olsen from my MTC district there! Elder Olsen was my MTC comp if you forgot. But it was awesome to see them and catch up with them and stuff. Our transfer theme this time is repentance. So we talked a lot about that and how we should have better faith not only in ourselves, but in our investigators to overcome obstacles and trials in our lives. Pres. Barrett also emphasized praying for, and expecting results. If we don’t expect, then why should we receive? I really liked that and have been doing that since then. So I would encourage all of you to do likewise. Prayer is so amazing and I know that even though your prayers may not be answered your way and in the time you want it, they will be answered. Well heck, you might as well listen to Unanswered Prayers yourself!! Good song, but I do love prayer, anything is possible with our faith in Christ and in prayer.
This week should be exciting though, we are helping out at the U.P. State Fair!!! Woohoo!! I love the fair! But it will be way fun. The church has a booth set up and we are signed up to help out one of the days. So I’m pretty pumped about that. Also, Pres. Barrett will be up here next week to hold a fireside for the ward, probably about missionary work. I’m pretty excited. I love Pres. Barrett so much. He is totally awesome. And I keep trying to imagine what Curt is like as a mission president. It seems like, and is, a ton of work. I couldn’t do it. But a lot of people say they couldn’t be missionaries, and I’m doing that!! But I love being out here, I’m learning so much, meeting a ton of cool/interesting people, helping them have a chance to hear the gospel, and just doing my job as a missionary. Nothin better in the world!! I’m glad that I was raised in such a way to be here and that the church is true. No way I would be here if I didn’t know that. That’d be quite the waste of time if I didn’t know it was true and was trying to convince others that it was true. But even now still sometimes, I pray and take up Moroni’s promise, to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. That is found in Moroni 10:4-5. I would encourage you to do the same. Ask in faith and it will be made known unto you. I already know that it’s true, but I just love the feeling the Holy Ghost brings to me and I don’t know anybody who doesn’t enjoy it. So that’s my commitment I leave with you this week! Read and pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true. And also, continue to pray for the missionaries and that our investigators will have that desire to keep learning and having that desire to grow.
I love you all!!
Keep those letters coming!
Love,
Elder Kissell
p.s.... I need some music!! I'm all about country music you all know, but it needs to be church appropriate, and i have found some country gospel CD's at Walmart with Alan Jackson and Randy Travis. MoTab is good too, but i really don't like Elder Turney's musical selection, he probably doesn't like mine either, but CD's would be sweet!! Love you!
PICTURES!!!!!
1,2,3,4 are all just air views of Marquette. Notice the large and in charge Catholic Cathedral...
5. Bad picture of what i thought would make a good picture in an elevator...oh well
6. Our apartment, can you find Jesus?
7. We got a trophy for having the cleanest truck at zone conference... a cow.
8. The truck.
Well, I was complaining about the weather being cold last month, 50 degrees on the first of July…but let me tell ya, it was stinkin hot this week!! It was in the mid 90’s and super humid all week and elder Turney had the sweet idea of us riding bikes this entire week everywhere!! So, possibly why nobody wanted to talk to us was because of us dripping in sweat. It was so hot. I didn’t even sleep with the covers on at night. We would be sweating without any physical exertion. Pretty cool…not really. But, that’s all part of the fun right? But it is good for working out and stuff. Last pday, I bought some of that protein powder stuff. I made fun of a lot of people for using that stuff but I got to thinking about it, that all the buff guys I know, like Blake and some of the elders out right now, use that stuff. So we’ll see what it does to me haha. It’s really good so even if it doesn’t work, it tastes way good.
Anyways, this week was pretty good. Kinda a down week but I’m not letting it get to me. We have a lot of investigators, but none are really progressing. So we just did a lot of tracting and doorstop visits with these investigators. It’s kind of annoying because they all say they’re so busy and don’t have time to meet with us, yet they always seem to be home whenever we try by them. Whatev. But hopefully we can give them something they love and spark some interest so they do want a return appointment and to start progressing. But tracting was fun. Met some interesting people out and about. Marquette is the home of Northern Michigan University, so we are getting quite the influx of students now. There are several professors in the ward and they said to expect about 10,000 students coming in these next couple weeks. Pretty crazy. But yeah, hopefully we’ll see about getting some college kids interested. We’ve talked to several already. One thing that really bugs me about elder Turney is that he NEVER talks to teenagers. He is also very VERY by the book. Drives me nuts. So if we see a teenager outside, boy or girl, he just acts like they aren’t there and then he tells me later that we aren’t supposed to talk to teenagers…but it never says that in the white handbook and tons of baptisms have come because of teenagers. But oh well, I still do what he says. We have been playing a fun game though…the license plate game!! We have found 26 of the states up here in the U.P.!! Who woulda thunk it? I just barely found Washington, so I’m pretty stoked about that. But my goal is to find at least 49, Hawaii would be cool, but probably won’t find it.
One of the guys we are sort of teaching, that super old guy Tom Normand, he’s 77, he told us some of his daughters friends were mormon, but we had never heard of them, so we got their addresses and went and checked it out the other day. They definitely were not, and were not too happy to see us. But, they did give us referrals!! Even referrals from grumpy non members are good. So give the missionarys referrals!! But anyways, they told us, “well, you could try by our drug dealer and drug pushing neighbors, they aren’t too good and need some religion in our lives. You could also try by our other neighbors, they’re way weird, but they could use some too.” So, you know, not really the people I’d like to meet the most, but hey, those are some of my lost brothers and sisters! Unfortunately, they weren’t home… darn. But, we will be trying again.
This is an exciting story…so, on Saturday, we decided to go out to Ishpeming and Negaunee. We tried by this guy named Grant who has been dogging us the past times we’ve tried by him, but we finally caught him home this time. But, he was drunker than a sailor. Turns out he found out that his wife/girlfriend was cheating on him and was “sippin” some vodka that day. I’m pretty sure he had to have downed at least a few bottles. But he was cussin every other word, sayin weird stuff, and just talking nonsense. Elder Turney was like awestruck, almost like he’s never seen a drunk person or something…but I have and I wasn’t too worried or afraid like he was. It was pretty funny. So I did all the talking this time. He seemed to like me. But this was the funny part, he was talking just about how awesome he thought he is and just cranked Bruce Springsteen and started rockin out to it and singing and dancing and stuff. And then he’s like “I can do stuff that most other men can’t do, even if I was crippled I could still do this stuff.” Except throw in several cuss words and you’ll understand more…but turns out he’s a chainsaw artist and is quite good if I do say. He was showing us some of his things he made, and several pictures, all the while rockin out to Springsteen. Elder Turney was pretty uncomftorable and asked him to turn it down, about the only thing he said the whole time. But after a while, he got back on the topic of his girlfriend. I asked him if he prayed about it or read the bible to comfort him. He said no but that that was a good idea. I asked him if he liked Garth Brooks and if he had listened to the song Unanswered Prayers. He said that it was funny I asked that because he’d just bought his CD that day with that song on it, and he doesn’t even really like country that much. But I told him I love that song and that he should have a listen and maybe that would help him out a little bit. See mom, country helps everything! But yeah, that had to have been the most interesting experience of my mission thus far.
We had zone conference this week. It was down in Shawano Wisconsin, like 5 hours away from Marquette. We’re so isolated up here, it’s kinda lame. But anyway, I saw Elder Cottle and Olsen from my MTC district there! Elder Olsen was my MTC comp if you forgot. But it was awesome to see them and catch up with them and stuff. Our transfer theme this time is repentance. So we talked a lot about that and how we should have better faith not only in ourselves, but in our investigators to overcome obstacles and trials in our lives. Pres. Barrett also emphasized praying for, and expecting results. If we don’t expect, then why should we receive? I really liked that and have been doing that since then. So I would encourage all of you to do likewise. Prayer is so amazing and I know that even though your prayers may not be answered your way and in the time you want it, they will be answered. Well heck, you might as well listen to Unanswered Prayers yourself!! Good song, but I do love prayer, anything is possible with our faith in Christ and in prayer.
This week should be exciting though, we are helping out at the U.P. State Fair!!! Woohoo!! I love the fair! But it will be way fun. The church has a booth set up and we are signed up to help out one of the days. So I’m pretty pumped about that. Also, Pres. Barrett will be up here next week to hold a fireside for the ward, probably about missionary work. I’m pretty excited. I love Pres. Barrett so much. He is totally awesome. And I keep trying to imagine what Curt is like as a mission president. It seems like, and is, a ton of work. I couldn’t do it. But a lot of people say they couldn’t be missionaries, and I’m doing that!! But I love being out here, I’m learning so much, meeting a ton of cool/interesting people, helping them have a chance to hear the gospel, and just doing my job as a missionary. Nothin better in the world!! I’m glad that I was raised in such a way to be here and that the church is true. No way I would be here if I didn’t know that. That’d be quite the waste of time if I didn’t know it was true and was trying to convince others that it was true. But even now still sometimes, I pray and take up Moroni’s promise, to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. That is found in Moroni 10:4-5. I would encourage you to do the same. Ask in faith and it will be made known unto you. I already know that it’s true, but I just love the feeling the Holy Ghost brings to me and I don’t know anybody who doesn’t enjoy it. So that’s my commitment I leave with you this week! Read and pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true. And also, continue to pray for the missionaries and that our investigators will have that desire to keep learning and having that desire to grow.
I love you all!!
Keep those letters coming!
Love,
Elder Kissell
p.s.... I need some music!! I'm all about country music you all know, but it needs to be church appropriate, and i have found some country gospel CD's at Walmart with Alan Jackson and Randy Travis. MoTab is good too, but i really don't like Elder Turney's musical selection, he probably doesn't like mine either, but CD's would be sweet!! Love you!
PICTURES!!!!!
1,2,3,4 are all just air views of Marquette. Notice the large and in charge Catholic Cathedral...
5. Bad picture of what i thought would make a good picture in an elevator...oh well
6. Our apartment, can you find Jesus?
7. We got a trophy for having the cleanest truck at zone conference... a cow.
8. The truck.
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