A week in the life...

Hey everyone!!

 

Well, i'll be totally honest with you all, this week has been tough.  These past few weeks have been the toughest and hardest weeks emotionally so far for me.  I guess i'm starting to realize that not every week you find a perfect, golden investigator who has no obstacles in sight and baptism is right in view.  I'm also starting to realize that not everybody is ready for the gospel, as hard as you try to make it seem like they are.  Martin is still lost, Tim still doesn't have a testimony, and we just haven't been able to really find anybody new.  Well, i have somebody i can tell you guys about in a bit, but it's been difficult.  But i know that these weeks have for sure been for my benefit and my testimony and trust in the Lord will be much stronger than they were at the start of this transfer.

 

So Martin, I'm pretty sure, is still here in Madison.  We went to his apartment the other day, his car was there, his phone rang, and his apartment lights were on we are pretty sure.  But, he didn't answer his phone and didn't answer his buzzer.  He also didn't answer our ward mission leaders call.  That was on Thursday afternoon and kinda destroyed my day.  I have no idea what got to him but something obviously did.  Something i don't know if i shared with you guys about my previous temple trip was that i prayed to know what we needed to do for Martin and my answer was love and patience.  Love made sense obviously but patience at the time didn't make sense.  But thursday talking to Roberts about that, he was pretty confident and sure that he will still get baptized if i got that answer in the temple.  Definetely a confidence booster for me.  And i know that i myself am not a patient person, so i have faith that this will all work out in the end and not only benefit me, but Martin is probably working something out that may have hindered his path to baptism.  I really just wish that he would answer the phone.  It really stinks not having even talked to him for 2 weeks.  

 

Tim is still working on his baptism as previously stated.  He really loves meeting with us and learning, but just hasn't found out if it's all true yet.  He's doing everything that he needs to to get an answer including coming to FHE and Institute as well as reading and praying.  President told us that we should teach him about prayer though and make sure he is doing everything correctly, all the little tiny details.  So we went over that and we hope he will recieve an answer here shortly.  He opted out of coming to the temple unfortunately.  The sisters have an investigator who came to the temple and she absolutely loved it and has a date for the end of March.  I was pretty sad he didn't come because I have a strong testimony of the power of temples, which i shared with him, and i know he probably would've had prayers answered there.  He also wasn't able to come to church on Sunday, which freaked us out because we thought we may have offended him and he would disappear too, but turns out he went down to Iowa to see his mom and visit her.  That's a good thing though that he did that because he has had a bad relationship with his mom growing up and i imagine he was forgiving her or making restitution or something because he's awesome like that.  Luckily, he returned our phone call and told us that or right now i would be ultra bummed because both our golden's dropped off the earth. 

But let me tell you about one of our new investigators.  Her name is Dawnette and she was found by our ward mission leader on the bus.  He set up a time for us to go teach her and we went and did that Tuesday.  Well, i actually didn't go because we were on exchanges that day, lame.  But the appointment went sweet and we have an appointment with her tonight.  I still haven't even met her yet!  But the lesson rocked last time.  I guess she's been wanting to be Mormon for quite a while now, her daughter is a member in south western Wisconsin and her grandson is on a mission and she has listened to the Book of Mormon on tape.  That's pretty sweet huh?  She wants to be baptized but the only catch, she wants to be baptized in a river.  I wonder if she's forgotten that it's FEBRUARY in WISCONSIN? She wants to be baptized in a river because that's where Jesus was baptized, so that's sweet, but this water ain't gonna be warm here anytime soon.  This ICE won't be melted here anytime soon.  So we're going to see how she feels about being baptized in a font when we talk to her tonight.  I still haven't met her yet, so i can't really tell you too much about her, but i smell another golden investigator with her.  

 

On Friday we got to go to the temple again, definetely a perk about serving in the singles ward, President says that we should be involved with the singles ward as much as possible and go on the temple trips and stuff.  No complaints about that here!  The temple was great though.  I prayed that i would be comforted and calm and destressed in the temple.  It worked and it was awesome.  The temple is so sweet.  "I Love to See the Temple!"  It makes me happy and feel great.  I just wish there was more!!  We're workin on it.  

 

But definetely somethings i've noticed here in the past couple weeks is that missionary work is tough, time is FLYING by (kinda stinks), there's not a lot of time to do other things (like replying to letters, i have like 5 that i need to reply to!!  Sorry!), that i need to be obedient, and that i need to totally and truly apply myself and lose myself in this great and glorious (and hard) work to be totally and truly blessed by the Lord.  The mission has truly been life changing and i have learned and grown immensely, and still have alot of growing to do here in my time as a missionary.  I'm really trying to savor it all and work hard and reap the blessings that come from my work here.  They don't lie when missionaries say time flys!  Elder Roberts says that it gets worse too, so i'm not looking forward to it.  1 week seems like 2 days.  But i am looking to get the fire back and my happiness and optimism back here soon, it's no fun when you're down.  And that's what i'm all about is having fun while you work.  Madison is waiting for the gospel and we're going to find them all and give it to them!!!

I love you guys a ton and a half and am so grateful to have such a sweet and loving family and a ward family and group of friends back home to die for.  Keep on keeping the faith and choosing the right!!  We all go through hard times to shape us and make us into so much more better people.  A talk yesterday at singles ward really stuck out to me. This girl was talking about hard and difficult times and she said that these expereiences either make us into something so much more or they leave us really bitter and holding a grudge.  I think that if we let these experiences make us bitter and grudge-ful (is that a word) we become weak and useless and we lose alot of respect from others and from then on, lots of things will be hard and difficult for us.  So don't do that!!  Let these tests and trials help you become better!!  

 

Alrighty, well, i'm gonna roll out now.  Have a good week!!  You're in my prayers.

 

Love

Elder Kissell  

THE WEEK

Hey folks!

 

Well this week was a different one than what i'm used to.  The past few weeks things have been pretty high flying and sweet and nothing really going wrong.  But this week, we hit a few speed bumps.  Some were a little bigger than speed bumps, some were kind of like brick walls.  But never fear, i'm still smilin and goin with the flow of missionary work.  But, let me ellaborate a little on my week now...

 

So Martin unfortunately will not be getting baptized this saturday.  He wasn't at church yesterday and in fact, we have no idea where he is.  He has Thursdays and Fridays off, so we usually try to teach him on both of those days.  Thursday morning we talked to him and he said he had an appointment at the hospital where he was going to take care of some billing issues because he got medicine from the hospital a few weeks ago.  He was supposed to be done in the evening but he never called us back and he didn't answer when we called and Friday through Sunday, his phone was off.  The only thing we can really think of that happened was that somebody found out he was not a legal citizen.  His visa ran out late last year and technically is an illegal alien now.  So he may be suffering the consequences of that, but we really have no idea where he is.  We kind of figured that unless there was something seriously wrong, he would be at church.  But he wasn't, so that must mean that there is something not so good going on in his life right now.  It is pretty stressful and frustrating.  I really am pretty nervous and freaking out a little about the whole situation.  But i have faith that he'll be found soon and he'll be baptized.  My problem is that i want to know WHEN that will be.  So, pray for Martin and that things will work out for him, whatever his situation may be.

 

Tim still rocks.  We had a couple sweet lessons with him this week.  One about the word of wisdom which he is now living!  He drank alot of tea, but not anymore!!  Sweet.  And then the other lesson was the plan of salvation part 1.  He loved it.  But he did bring up the fact that he wasn't so sure about the whole baptism idea.  He hasn't found out if the church is true yet and isn't comftorable being baptized.  That's good!  But he really needs to come to know if it's true.  Patience i guess.  The Lord works in mysterious ways and those mysterious ways are always the best ways.  And when Tim does find out, i have confidence that it will be a super sweet experience and one that he can't deny and will love and cherish it forever.  That's usually the way it happens!!!  And he wants it to happen too, so do you think the Lord will deny him that blessing?  Nope, me neither.  But Tim loves everything about church, including FHE and EARLY MORNING institute!!  It's not that early actually, it's at 7, but if Tim can do it, so can I!  

 

We went to a hockey game this week!!  It was pretty sweet.  One of the sisters' investigators was playing and the singles ward decided to make a ward activity out of it to go watch.  So that was sweet.  Hockey is way fun, i would totally play it if i could skate.  

 

So this is cool...my hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows all froze this week!!  Not something you can say everyday eh?  And the cool thing was that it wasn't even that cold out.  And you want to know something that i've decided?  The cold feels good!!!  No more weird cold problems!!:)  And it finally snowed again this week, it's about time.  Our snow was old and gross but now it looks good out with a nice new layer of whiteness. 

We have another temple trip this week with the singles ward.  That will be great.  We are planning on inviting Tim to go and sit in the waiting room.  The spirit is so strong everywhere at the temple, even outside.  I think it would be a really great experience for him.  He has said before that he doesn't like big fancy buildings, but we'll explain the reasons behind the temple being so big and beautiful beforehand.  

 

Our ward mission leader found us a sweet new potential investigator on the bus this week!!  And i do smell another baptismal date coming up here this week.  She sounds pretty golden.  I guess her daughter is a member down in a small town in southeastern Wisconsin and her grandson is on a mission.  And she listens to the Book of Mormon on tape and thinks it is sweet!!!  So on wednesday, we should have a pretty awesome lesson i'm thinking.  The Lord does prepare people, this area has made that known to me and there are so many of them.  And this time, a member found us somebody!!  That means YOU CAN TOO!!!!  You love the gospel right?  You love your friends, right?  Well, how about showing your friends how much you love them by sharing with them the gospel.  You can totally do it!

 

The bus was fun again this week!!  I talked to one guy who said i looked like i was off of an MTV show and that i looked totally awesome!!  Not interested at all, but he thought i was pretty hot stuff and made it known to a couple other people on the bus...awkward!  I don't think he was gay though, i sure hope not!  And i talked to some businessmen and hippies and crazy black guys.  The bus is always an adventure!! 

Hmmmm....  well!  I must say that i'm quickly running out of more exciting things to tell you.  I love you all and hope everybody had a sweet V-Day!  Oh and happy Presidents day!!  No mail today!  Lame!!!  Speaking of which...don't  be afraid to write me!!!:)  I heard from somebody that every week was a "write your missionary" week!  

 

Love ya'll!

Elder Jesse Kissell

 

pictures!

 

1.  Frozen hair and eyelashes and eyebrows! Cool!

 

 

2.  Hockey!

 

 

3.  Out on a frozen lake at sunset.  Nice.

February 8, 2010

Hey family and awesome loved ones!

 

The week was great!!  We had some good success and great lessons with Martin and Tim.  We really weren't as productive as we could've been though, so that kind of got us down at the end of the week when we saw how terrible our numbers were.  We're out and about, not sitting in our apartment, but we just don't open our mouths.  I feel pretty bad and am going to step up my act this week.  Don't get me wrong though, we still had a productive week, our numbers just weren't sweet.  So let me tell you about it!

So real quick, Martin update!  He still rocks, still will be getting baptized the 20th of the month.  We had a really good night with him on Thursday when a member invited us and him over for dinner.  He loves the members, and he should, because they have ALL been so welcoming and loving to him.  We talked alot about Ghana and his life before america, so that was interesting.  Grandma, you should send me a list of all the areas you were in on your mission and dates and such so i can show him that!  I bet he would be thrilled.  We shared the story of Ammon with him and the members and he really thought that was exciting and at the same time very meaningful.  I think it's cool when investigators see the need and importance of missionary work.  Ammons story is all about missionary work and he realized that and made several more wise and thought out remarks and statements as he is so good at.  Still, no sundays off.  We fasted very hard for him to receive that blessing yesterday and hope that something comes of it.  He wants so badly to be at church every sunday.  Today is also the year mark since his wifes passing and we are planning on doing something for him like make him cookies or something.  I'm certain he'd appreciate that. 

 

Tim still rocks too!  He came to church yesterday and it was awesome.  You know how they say sacrament meeting either makes or breaks an investigator?  Well, this one totally made him.  He still hasn't found out if the Book of Mormon is true yet and we, including him, fasted and prayed that he will be able to feel and find that out soon.  Testimony meeting was great because almost all those who bore testimony mentioned something remarkable about the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed their lives and such.  Alot was also said about repentance.  He thought it was great.  I know he felt the spirit there and i imagine even his prayer about the Book of Mormon was answered.  We have another meeting with him Tuesday, so we'll be excited to find out then!  But we did have a really sweet lesson with him this Friday.  We talked all about repentance because he kind of needs alot of that before baptism.  We taught alot from King Benjamins address and bore testimony of it.  He didn't like the sound of it at first since King Benjamin is bold and fearless in calling people to repentance, but we showed him other scriptures in those chapters where the blessings of repentance were given and we asked him how he would like to feel and recieve those blessings.  He said that would rock. Then we committed him to repent, he said "of course i will!"  So yeah, Tim is pretty dang awesome. 

We walked around alot this week and tried to talk to people walking and contact former investigators and such, we had some success.  Oh!  So we got a pretty sweet sounding referral last week, a lady went to temple square and really wanted a Book of Mormon, so we deliverred that to her one day.  We rang the bell, and both her and her husband got to the door at around the same time, she looked super excited, him, not excited at all.  But she opened the door and said "are you guys Mormons?"  "We sure are!"  "Come on in!"  We don't hear that too much!!  But after she briefly explained to her husband who we were, he remembered a previous conversation he must have had with her where we were discussed and looked a littlle happier.  But then she asked where the Book of Mormon was, we gave it to her, and then she started telling her husband about Moroni and Nephi and Joseph Smith and stuff!!  And then she asked us if Mormons really don't drink coffee, we said yes, and she said "well, we really love coffee, but i guess we might have to stop drinking that herre soon!"  Woah!!  How many times can i say sweet?!  But, unfortunately, she said she didn't want to talk with us then, but she did want to read the Book of Mormon first, talk to her friend in Utah, and then she would call us.  She seemed very sincere, so we are counting and expecting a call from her in the near future.  But that was a very cool and once in a mission sort of experience!!

 

Thank you all who prayed for me on Friday.  I felt your love and prayers with me exceedingly on that day, not even joking.  I asked for a blessing from my companion the night before just so i could be totally sure i would be ok on friday.  I know that Dad is with me, i really just need to stop and listen and feel and i will notice his presence.  Friday was a good day, taught Tim, did service at the food pantry, a YSA took us out to lunch, and we just kept busy.  I'm so grateful for the comfort of the Holy Ghost and i know that we truly can be blessed, healed, and blessed abundantly from the Holy Ghost.  I'm trying to make dad proud out here!

Well folks, I'm still doing great out here in Madtown.  We have sweet investigators, but want more!!  I'll have something to report back next week about that for sure.  We have a snow storm coming our way tomorrow that should dump 8ish inches on us, exciting!  Something cool i've learned about snow days is that they're WARM!!!  It has to be warm enough to snow, if it's super cold, it doesn't!  So that's something we look forward to on snowy days. 

 

Alright guys, have a good week and choose the right!!

 

Love

Elder Jesse Kissell

 

pictures!

 

 

1.  Meet Elder Roberts!

 

 

2.  Gazing off into the distance to find another golden investigator, where are you?

 

 

3.  Bus ride...dang.  Nobody to talk to.

 

 

4.  We had the not so sweet idea of trying to rearrange our kitchen to see if we could fit a table in there, but if your food cabinent is held together by packing tape, that probably won't go so well.

 

 

5.  The capitol is red for valentines!!  Sweet eh?

My amazing week of awesomeness!

Howdy folks!

Well, this week was a sweet one!  It’ll be a more exciting letter this week, I promise.

So, Martin still rocks the world and guess what?  We met a new investigator who is also pretty darn golden who ALSO has a baptismal date!!!  Sweetness!!  But, let me give you your weekly Martin report.  We were actually pretty nervous for a few days this week because he wouldn’t answer his phone or return our phone calls, but it turns out that he was fairly sick and just forgot.  But he did call our ward mission leader to ask if he could get a blessing.  How did he know about blessings?  Golden I’m tellin ya.  But we didn’t know til a day past that he requested a blessing due to miscommunication with our ward mission leader so we weren’t able to see him and give him one.  But, he finally answered his phone, feeling much better, and we set up a time to go see him.  We shared a lesson on faith.  We did this with the intention being to boost his faith that he will be able to get all Sundays totally off.  He already has plenty of it, so we just reviewed faith basically and shared some scriptures with him that he totally loved.  He really liked Alma 37:6-7, by small and simple means, great things are brought to pass, and Alma 37:36-37, counsel with the Lord in all that you do.  He was all over both those scriptures highlighting them and everything.  So it was a great lesson and he felt a lot and enjoyed it.  And church yesterday was another super great experience for him.  It was ward conference yesterday and the stake presidency gave great talks, I thought that they were some of the best sacrament talks I’ve ever heard before, and they really hit home to Martin.  He really felt the spirit and loved it.  In the second hour, it’s a new stake presidency and so we had sort of just an informal question and answer thing with the counselors of the stake presidency.  The majority of the first questions had to do with young couples asking what they should do with their kids so that they could attend the temple more frequently and still have a spiritual experience and questions a lot like that.  We’ve taught Martin a lot about temples, but he, like the rest of us, still had questions about the temple.  He asked another very profound and amazing question.  He asked “I am fairly new here still and I have heard a lot about temples, in fact, the most beautiful of your temples is in my home back in Ghana, I want to know what the temple is, what you do there, and how I can go inside.”  Whoa!!  The counselors answered his question perfectly and they asked “how long have you been a member for?”  Martin says “well, I am not one yet.”  “You’re an investigator!!  Wow!  Well you need to be a member first and it seems to me like you’re right on track to the temple!”  It was awesome.  Then there were more questions, but to finish up the hour, one of the counselors turned and looked directly at Martin, bore his testimony that the church was true, and closed the meeting.  SWEEEEEEEETTTTTT!!!!!!  It rocked.  We then had a linger longer thing afterwards, a potato bar, and Martin stuck around for that and bishop snagged him and took him to his office just to talk to him and get to know him a little better.   They were talking for 20 minutes or so and Martin came back out and found us and said that bishop made him feel very loved and special and that he was very touched and teary eyed.  He loves church and is so excited to be baptized!!  I talked to bishop about their discussion too and he is totally impressed and excited for him.  All Martin really needs now is to get Sundays off, so please pray for him.  He is so stinkin awesome.  I wish you guys could meet him.

So now, let me tell you about Tim.  Tim is a 29 year old guy who has had one crazy life.  He’s had the kind of life you only hear or see on movies.  He’s been involved heavily with drugs the past 12 years of his life, he had a very hard childhood, he has had some very bad friends that have gotten him into some bad habits, and yeah, his life has been something that nobody should have to go through, but he has.  On new years, he had an epiphone that God really did exist and that he was far from him.  He wanted to be closer to him and to feel clean again.  Since New Years, he has quit cold turkey drugs and alcohol.  He celebrated 30 days of sobriety and being clean just the other day and is loving life so much better now.  He met one of the Spanish elders on the bus and they referred him to us and we went and met him on Wednesday and saw him again yesterday and set a baptismal date for him for the 27th!  He is super humble and wants to be clean again.  He feels terrible for all the things he’s done and been involved with and wants to feel new again.  That’s the atonement baby!!  He’s had some pretty terrible experiences in his life with other people, who he has grown to love and accept and wants to use his experience to help troubled youth like himself stay away from the path that he followed.  He’s so cool.  He also came to church yesterday, only for the first hour though cuz he had to go to a meeting, but he loved ward conference and the messages that were shared as well. He really like the scripture in 3 Nephi 27:19-20 about how baptism cleanses us completely.  We asked if he wanted that and he said “yes, that sounds awesome.”

So yeah, we have some pretty sweet stuff going on here.  I am loving it here in Mad-town.  Despite the fact it’s huge, we are having a ton of fun, we are teaching great people that I am learning so much from, and I am totally loving my mission.  President is very excited about our success and is excited to meet these awesome investigators.  We are also getting to know more members here and they are excited about Martin and are giving us referrals and excited to be involved in the work.  Sweet sweet stuff folks.  Even though it was way cold this week, we were roastin and toastin with the spirituality!!!  Hooray for the gospel and hooray for missionary work!! I love you all!!

Love
Elder Jesse Kissell

pictures

1.  Meet Martin the Great and the card that started it all.  (the Jesus pass along card in the middle underneath the light.)

2.  Thanks mom!  He's gonna love it!