The Epitome of a Week in the Life of a Missionary

Dear everybody!

 

Man, so this week was without a doubt the craziest yet on my mission.  Lots and lots of great mission stories and great stereotypes that missionaries get that I haven't experienced yet until now!  How fun :)  Well, some not really, but still pretty sweet.  Let me give you the roll down.

 

So it was a BEAUTIFUL week here in Madison, I've been hearing lots of people say that the only reason they live here and endure the miserable winters is to have days like the ones we have had this week.  So that's sweet!  The only problem I've got with it is that it's so dang windy sometimes.  Isn't my life hard?  Yeah...I'm trying not to complain as much but the wind is super lame when you are biking all over.  Ah well.  But we were able to have alot of really great appointments and this week and were able to meet some great people. 

We met a guy named Tim Crisp, by definition he is an "eternigator".  He has met with several missionaries in the past and believes the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, he's got a quad, a firm testimony, and he says prayers like a champ.  He is the perfect Mormon.  But all eternigators seem to have one hold up.  He feels that he isn't consistent enough in things like prayer and scripture study.  This guy rocks!  I told him straight up that he would make a perfect Mormon and that we and God need him.  (There's another example of how I've changed!  I've become much more bold in what I say!)  But he's super great.  He has read the entire quad and has a testimony of everything.  But now we've just hit this brick wall of what to do.  One thing that he said though that made me feel the Holy Ghost was that we had answered his prayers that day.  I had heard of this guy and just how amazing and how strong a testimony he has and I just was like, I want to meet this guy!  He sounds cool!  So we gave him a call, I left a message (Elder Roberts hates the phone so I have to call everybody all the time!!!!), he called us back about a week later and we set up a time.  But he said that he had prayed that he would be able to come back in contact with the missionaries on duty here in Madison again and here comes along Elder Kissell, just wanting to meet this cool guy in the area book!  The Holy Ghost is cool.  I've come to learn that to feel the Holy Ghost or have promptings by it, your thoughts don't have to be "heavenly" or thoughts that in a sense aren't yours.  Does that make sense?  All I wanted to do was meet this guy who I heard was awesome.  I've heard of other experiences from missionaries that they wanted to go to see one investigator but they remember an old investigator in the area they're in right then and they go and see them and they set a baptismal date with them!  All the Holy Ghost has to do is put a simple thought into your mind.  There has to be SO many times in a day where the Holy Ghost prompts us and we don't even realize it.  It's awesome. 

We spent some time working with less active and returning members of the singles ward this week and 2/3 of them came to church!!!  Yeah!!!!  It's so stinkin fun to work in the singles ward.  We played frisbee golf, ate brats, and taught a lesson to with one of these guys and with the other we talk about sports and then have a lesson with him.  He's so sweet.  He has like 14 various sports balls and a Louisville Slugger in his living room.  Needless to say, we get along good.  And he FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YEAH!!  And the third, we don't know why he doesn't come.  He's the brightest guy and has a super strong testimony.  This work is tough folks, sometimes it's like trying to put a puzzle together that doesn't have all the pieces.  We have to make those pieces and hope that they fit.

 

We saw Martin again too.  Guess what?  He's actually been looking for jobs this week!  But nothing has come up yet.  But we're just happy he is doing something now.  We met with Bo a few times and he's disappeared again, but we'll run into him in the next couple days I'm assuming.  He still isn't making progress with anything.  Donnette is still truckin along.  Still has a great strong testimony.  

So now, time for cool missionary stories.  So Friday was a crazy day as it was, filled to the brim with appointments, and because of that we had to bike.  To start the day off, we had gotten a referral from the MTC for a guy who lives in the dorms and we decided to go contact him.  We just walked in with a ton of other kids and went up the elevator and tried to contact this guy.  He wasn't home, but man... Can I just say I'm grateful I'm going to be going to BYU-I?  The whole co-ed dorm thing can't be good.  Especially the way these girls dress (or don't dress, however you want to put it).  But looking back, it was a miracle in and of itself we even got to the right floor we wanted!  That place had some sweet security and you had to have a swipe card to go on the stairs and a key to use the elevator.  We just followed the crowd!  But that probably won't happen again.  But moving right along...  we biked along the lake and I kicked a goose in the head on accident haha.  Stupid goose.  It got mad but I'm faster than he is!  But same day, right before we got to Donnettes, it started to rain a little, and then during the opening prayer, BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!  Huge thunder clap!  Man...and then we look outside and it's dumping, but then it stops and gets sunny again!  But of course, it starts up again right before we head out.  So we had to ride in the pouring rain and we got totally soaked.  You know how I told you I haven't washed my slacks yet on my mission?  Well, I still haven't, but the rain did a pretty good job on one pair!  But we were soaked.  And that's an understatement.  How great!  All my passalong cards got wet and junked up as did my white handbook and yeah, fun fun.  And I guess that day there was a tornado watch!!!  How exciting!  It was a watch, not a warning though.  Since it's a watch, that just means the conditions are right for a tornado.  It was definetely windy and pretty cruddy looking out there!  I can tell ya first hand.

 

Saturday, man where do I start?  We helped a guy in the ward move a dresser to an office building downtown at like 9 in the morning and when we get down there, there's tons of college kids out!  9 in the morning!  Most of them drinking and dancing around of course.  9 in the morning.  Come on!  We had no idea what we would be getting ourselves into later that day.  We went home, had our studies, and then out we head on our day.  I needed to send a package so we caught the bus downtown and while on the bus, some bum saw us and practically ran off the bus to talk to us.  He wanted to bash with us and he wanted to know where a Goodwill was, bums are fun.  Went and mailed my package, and then off to catch a bus to see Martin.  Little did we know that the craziest event either of us had seen in our life lie in between the post office and the bus stop.  Thousands upon thousands of college kids were roaming the streets of Madison and we keep walking and talking, discovering most of them to be drunker than a sailor, and then walking into the University of Wisconsin renowned Mifflin Street Block Party.  Holy cow.  The stench of alcohol was so bad, the environment was terrible, the feeling there was horrid.  We saw alot of crazy stuff.  When we got out of that crowd, we were both shaking and just felt terrible.  We hadn't done anything but we just felt covered in sin because of the environment we were in.  It was the CRAZIEST thing I have ever seen and I hope to never see anything like it.  And it just so happens to be Madisons 2nd worst (or best, depending on who you are) party to go to.  But guess what?!  That's not all!  We get to Martins and nope, he's not there yet.  So this black lady comes out and she starts talking to us and she says "you don't mind if I drink and smoke right now do ya?"  I said "well no, but there's better ways to get happier than doing that!"  And then she just flipped out on me tellin me that I had a smart mouth and all this other crazy stuff.  She said that the both of us would be a great married couple (uhhh....no we wouldn't) because we disagree on everything.  And she was like "if you think you're so smart, how about you tell me how old I am."  Elder Roberts answered first and said 35, she says "man, that's pretty close!  How bout you smart boy?"  I said 37.  She just shook her head and said, "dang, this boy is smart!"  Haha.  But she was pretty drunk and pretty out of it.  She didn't like me but she said I had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.  Second compliment I got about my eyes that day!  Neat.  But then Martin finally came home and I faked a phone call that he had called me so we could get out of there because she was getting drunker as the minutes went by.  Had our lesson with Martin and then went the long way home so we could avoid that party.  But even by our apartment, a pretty decent part of campus, there were parties going on there!  Campus life, ain't it great?

 

Sunday was such a crazy day of mixed emotions.  There was a baby blessing whic was really neat.  Then right after, the first conselor announced that a young father, one of my favorite people in the ward, had passed away unexpectedly that morning.  He was in his mid 30's, PhD student, 3 young kids, 8,7, and 4, and he died as a result of an aortic dissection.  I, as was the entire ward, was pretty sad.  Life is such a fragile, you never know when it will be your time.  So live it to the fullest every single minute.  I've had lots of experiences where I've seen the need to do that, lots of unexpected medical events that make you think twice about life.  So live the gospel, love your family, have fun, and have no regrets.  We had really great corolation meetings in both wards, in the singles ward we had an intermediate prayer for a recent convert who is slowly becoming less active, it was super powerful.  It was a super emotionally trying day.  Times where I was crying and times where I was greatly rejoicing.  

 

This week has been psycho.  Being a missionary is quite the experience and I absolutely love it.  Keep me, my comp, my area, and my investigators in your prayers.  Keep those letters comin.  Keep being the best people I know.  

 

I love all of you.

Love

Elder Jesse Kissell

 

pictures

1.  I forgot my camera!  Sorry!

The Sweet Life of Elder Kissell

Dear Family and friends-

 

Howdy!  Well, this week was planned to be an eventful one, but unfortunately, it was not. :(  Martin wasn't baptized and neither was Donnette.  Martin was supposed to look for an online job this week and our lesson with him last Saturday was SUPER good and all who were present felt the confirmation that he would be able to find a job this week IF he looked for one.  Well, there's that IF.  He spent like 2 hours looking for a job the entire week.  So that was a pretty huge bummer.  And through talking to him, it seems as if he expects a job to fall right into his lap but it unfortunately won't happen that way.  Things like this especially you have to work for.  And right now, he isn't really exuding any effort.  So that was a crusher for sure.  It would be awesome if we could just spend an entire day with him looking with him, but we have other work to do and Pres. Barrett and ourselves agree that there is more work to be done elsewhere in Madison and it would be unreasonable to spend a whole day or two with him looking.  So keep Martin in your prayers that he will get that motivation to look and be able to get a job. 

 

Donnette wasn't swayed either by us bringing the fact up that her family was going to be here for Stake Conference and that she should be baptized then.  She REALLY wants to be baptized in a river.  And not just any river, she wants the Mississippi.  AHHH!!!!  And still on July 17.   She's one focused woman.  And Pres. Barrett was there for Stake Conference and was able to talk to her about baptism and that it is just as good, maybe even better, to be baptized in a font rather than a river.  Donnette just looked at him and nodded her head and just kept talking about rivers.  So, I guess it'll be the river unless something miraculous happens! 

 

Our contact with Bo is very minimal.  We see him once or twice a week.  He is really bad at keeping appointments now for one reason or another and he won't committ to finding a place of residency.  So that seems to be on hold as of now.  He's a good guy, strong testimony and all, I just wish that him and Martin would come to realize that they need to do just one more thing before they are baptized and ALL these other super great blessings will come as a result of doing just one more thing.  So keep these people in your prayers, they're oh so close! 

 

So needless to say, these events throughout the week have been trying my patience and I thought that my patience had been tested to the max when Martin disappeared a couple months ago.  Ahh!  But with every test, you learn something.  It's just like working out!  It hurts sometimes, but you come out stronger and by the end, you're super buff!  So right now, and throughout the rest of the mission, I imagine I'll be getting tested and learning and growing lots and lots and having my testimony strengthened and fortified.  Awesome! 

But some other things that happened this week were zone conference and an All Campus Party!  Zone conference was good.  And guess what?  I played piano for it!  That was scary, but surprisingly, I didn't make any mistakes.  But now my secret is out in the mission, I can play piano!  That's no good...  So now I'll have to play at everything.  But it's cool because I started out in Marquette being a really bad piano player who hadn't played in 4-5 years and now I'm able to play fairly decently.  Cool.  Zone conferences was really good though.  The theme this time was on prayer.  And strangely enough, the focus at stake conference was on prayer too!  So I had a prayer filled week/weekened.  Prayer is super awesome and can indeed work miracles.  Just think about it.  When we pray, we talk to our Heavenly Father, the father of not only us, but the father of Jesus Christ, the creator of worlds!  We get to talk to him whenever we want!  And when we pray, we are able to ask him questions of the soul (truthfulness of the gospel, Book of Mormon, etc.), we can ask him for help and guidance in our lives, and we are able to repent through prayer.  So many great things.  Repentance is especially amazing because think of how great it feels to truly repent and feel clean and feel that burden taken off your chest.  It feels great!  Only through sincere prayer can that happen.  And it's just so special because Heavenly Father knows each one of us individually.  I'm serving in a city of 210,000, Blake is in a town of 25,000, and Clark is in a city of millions of people and Heavenly Father knows each and every one of those people individually.  How special!  Prayer is awesome.  Elder Bradley Foster of the Seventy, he spoke at General Conference as well, was the general authority at the Stake conference and he had some really great words on prayer.  It was super!

 

The All Campus Party was pretty exciting.  It was a week long thing put on by the University since the semester is coming to a close and one day the main event was an obstacle course throughout all the churches on campus in Madison!  It started out looking like there was going to be 150-200 people participating but rapidly dropped for some reason and we ended up with around 30 people participating.  But the students would all go through the various churches and have to do an obstacle and then run to the next church and do something there.  So the Institute building is a really long ways away from all the other churches but technically still on campus, so it was funny because all these college kids are huffing and puffing by the time they get to the church.  The obstacle at our church was launching water balloons at gophers!  Wisconsins rivals are the Minnesota Golden Gophers, so we had these gopher things that they had to hit with water balloons, it was sweet.  Working on campus is so cool!!

 

Well, I'm out of news folks.  I think this is an average sized letter, maybe, hopefully I'll have some more exciting news next week!  Hopefully Martin finds a job or something awesome like that.  Thanks for being the best family and friends ever!

 

Love

Elder Jesse Kissell

 

pictures

 

1.  Elder Roberts has shin splints!  My hours of sports medicine is paying off!

 

 

2.  We found these in our storage unit.  And there was a Book of Mormon one!  Cool!

 

3.  Throwing water balloons at gophers and eating brats for the all campus party.  How Wisconsin-y!  Brats are goooood.  And super bad for you! :)

 

 

4.  A beautiful blooming tree outside the Institute building. 

Springtime in Madison!

Dearest familia and friends-

 

Hey everybody!  So this week was pretty sweet.  Somewhat of a rollercoaster, but rollercoasters are fun!  Although everynow and then you get sick on a rollercoaster and unpleasant things happen, but it wasn't that kind of a rollercoaster this time! 

 

So Bo didn't get baptized, in fact, we've lost contact with him which stinks.  He dogged several of our appointments and we lost contact with him at the beginning of the week but we miraculously found him again riding the bus!  We took a bus that we don't usually take and lo and behold, we find him at the transfer point that we get off at.  We set up a time to meet with him and he showed up to that appointment but we haven't seen him since.  Not even at church or anything. The lesson we taught him was faith as a principle of action.  It was a good lesson, but the intent we had and tried to make known to him was that he has a ton of faith and so he should now use that faith to find a home.  He didn't really get it, we tried.  So yeah, I don't know what we'll do with him and when we'll see him again.  Missionary work, isn't it great?  

 

We had a super great lesson with Martin on Saturday night.  His date for this Saturday stands!  Providing he gets an online job so that he can go part-time at Wal-Mart and remain active after baptism.  So pray super hard for him this week!  We had the same lesson with him as we had with Bo, faith being a principle of action.  He has this computer that works great, but he just doesn't take the initiative and look for a job himself.  He just prays that one will miraculously appear.  So that shows his great faith, but unfortunately it won't do anything because things just don't work that way, usually.  You have to do something about your faith.  After all, it is an action word!  And fortunately, he got it.  But we already have his baptismal interview setup for Thursday and even if he finds a job Saturday morning before his baptism, he'll get baptized.  But if he hasn't found an online job, he probably won't be baptized this Saturday, but the next one.  But after our lesson, Elder Roberts and I felt super strongly that he could find a job this week if he but put a little effort into it.  It was a great lesson.  We read lots of Nephi's stories and how he would always "go and do" not "sit and wait."  It was sweet.

 

Oh man!  So guess who made a little trip through Wisconsin on Saturday?  .....Elder Oaks!!!  Isn't that sweet?  And a new 70 came with him, Elder Reall.  We've had 3 apostles come to Wisconsin in the past 2 months!  How sweet.  And no, it's not because we're disobedient and a bad mission.  Elder Perry came to talk to the missionaries, the bishops and ward mission leaders about the new ward mission cycle, Elder Christofferson was here for a stake conference and wanted to hold a meeting with us, and Elder Oaks was here for a stake conference as well and wanted to take some time to talk to us too.  Super sweet!  But Pres. Barrett didn't want missionaries traveling from other areas than Milwaukee so only the Milwaukee elders got to meet him and it was broadcast to all the other areas of the mission.  I was kind of jealous because Elder Oaks actually like talked to the elders and got to know them a little bit and he gave some of them hugs and high 5's and stuff.  Elder Christofferson shook our hands and said hello.  But hey, I'm not complaining, I got to shake an apostle of the Lord's hand!  But Elder Oaks gave a really great talk to us.  He's a super funny guy too, not something I can say I expected.  He's kind of like a toned down version of Elder Holland in conference, direct and to the point, but in our meeting, he was cracking jokes and giving elders high 5's!  So cool.  But some really great advice he gave us was 2 things to help us be the best missionaries we can be.  1) Have holy and habits and 2) Have righteous routines.  He said we can make whatever we want of that, but what he said in conjunction with that was to have daily prayer and scripture study, develop charity and love for the people in the area you serve, and keeping the rules.  He also said we should train ourselves to not call missionary work missionary work.  We should call it sharing the gospel!  When you say missionary work, you make it sound hard.  As a missionary you share with people the thing you love most in your life, the gospel!  And of course you do service and stuff, but we're called to share the gospel and establish the church in our areas.  I thought that was really neat.  Elder Oaks is a great man.  I really took alot from that meeting. 

So we found a new sweet investigator for the singles ward this week.  His name is Ryan and he requested a Book of Mormon online and is pretty interested in learning more about it.  He's a busy guy with school and all but we taught him a restoration lesson and he committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.  We hope to be able to set up a time with him again, he says he really wants to learn but right now he's trying to get into vet school and that's really tough and stressful so he says this week will probably be better for him to meet with us.  Hope so!  Because he's sweet.  He says you have to have a 3.96 GPA to get into vet school here!  That's a pretty smart person!  But it was kind of funny, that day we met him we were riding bikes and we locked our bikes up to a pole outside his apartment and then we went and taught him and stuff.  But when we came back out, somehow the combination on Elder Roberts' lock wasn't working and unfortunately we had locked both our bikes together with his lock onto this pole.  So that stunk.  But we decided we could worry about it later and went and did some more "sharing the gospel", not missionary work haha.  But a few hours later we decided we should try to do something about it.  We called a guy in the singles ward who unlocks peoples cars when they lock their keys inside or whatever but this lock was heavy duty and we couldn't even scratch it!  He said we could cut the sign down, but that probably would've been a bad idea and our bikes would still be locked together.  But just for fun, I moved the combination around a little bit and it unlocked!  It was super cool!  Missionaries, we're inspired!  Haha.  

 

But we have a few more promising media referrals to contact this week, college students too.  So that should be fun.  We've been thinking about going tracting in downtown Madison where all the college students live so we can get some more investigators, but it looks like we may not have to do that since we are getting so many media referrals from them.  

 

Well folks, I think I'm outta news.  Enjoy the springtime weather!  Hopefully it's as beautiful wherever you are as it is where I am!  I hear Madison is really beautiful in the summer time and it shows, there's lots of trees in bloom and getting their leaves and stuff.  And it's sweet, I haven't taken any pitures of it yet, but there are lots of pretty tulips around the capitol that are planted in star shapes.  It's super cool looking.  

 

Love ya'll!

Elder Jesse Kissell 

 

pictures

 

 

1.  Some Jesus the Christ reading action... I'm halfway there!!

 

 

2.  Grilled up some Caribou!  Yum!

 

 

3.  Looking down University Dr.

 

4.  Other way

 

 

5.  Our super cool old district!

I'm going to be here forever!

Hello!

 

Well guess what?  I'm going to be staying in Madison 1 more transfer!!  And probably much, much longer.  Elder Roberts goes home at the end of this transfer, so I'll be "killing" him!  That sure is a long time to be with a companion, 4 and a half months.  It's a good thing we get along super good or else I wouldn't be too thrilled about that.  But yeah since he goes home at the end of the transfer, I'll probably stick around another transfer after him to train another elder on the area and stuff but by the end of that transfer the new mission president will be here and I hear that they don't like to make too many changes.  So I could potentially be here throughout the summer!!!  How crazy would that be?!  It's pretty crazy if you ask me.  And also it's a good thing I love this area because again, I wouldn't be too thrilled about staying here for 9+ months if I didn't like the area.  So by the end of my time here in Madison, Martin, Bo, and Donnette should be baptized!  How cool!  And hopefully more of course.  But this week was pretty snazzy, so let me tell you about it.  Lots of cool and funny things...

 

So it was pretty rainy this week and it SNOWED!  How un-cool... It was in the high 70's last week and then it is snowing when we wake up, how sad.  But it only snowed like an inch and melted pretty quick and now it's back to being in the 60's.  So life is good.  But something cool weather related that I saw this week was lightning without thunder!  It was pretty exciting, lots and lots of lightning with no thunder.  Strange, but sweet.  Anyway, it was pretty rainy and it was good because all the sand and salt and junk they use on the roads here got washed away and it is now super green and clean and beautiful.  Just like the primary song "When I am Baptized"!  The earth has been made clean again.  Man, what a good song.  That's a song that I can't sing all the way through because of how sweet it is.  But yeah, I've heard Madison is really beautiful in the summer time, so I'm pretty pumped.

 

We found a new investigator this week!  Actually, he more found us.  He requested a missionary visit online.  Those are media referrals that you don't want to ignore!  But his name is Landis, he moved from Dubuque, IA and was meeting with elders down there and he wanted to continue doing that up here, so he requested us!  He's in his mid 20's and is a SUPER quiet and shy guy.  In our first lesson with him, he said like 20 words.  19 of those were "yes" and "no" and the 20th was a "maybe".  But luckily he has already made quite a few friends in the ward and we have heard him speaking full sentences to them.  He's on disability from the Army, he says he has seizures sometimes.  Who knows what happened, but that's kind of sad.  He went to Institute and to another of the sisters' baptisms this week.  Some members of the ward also invited him to hang out with them on a couple nights this week.  So he definetely is liked and his presence appreciated, so now we just need to baptize him I guess!  

 

So it was pretty funny one day we were walking around contacting less actives and potentials and stuff and an older couple pulls over and says "you the elders?"  "Yeah!" "Well we're in the 4th ward and we're going to get pizza, get in and you will too!"  How exciting!  But little did we know that we weren't going to get pizza in Madison, we were going to go out to the middle of nowhere to this little town called Oregon of all names.  He said that this was the best pizza he'd ever tasted before in his life and has been going there for 50 years.  He must not get out much... but we appreciated the free meal of course!  It was just a funny situation though, he was listening to this Irish drinking music really loud and him and his wife were both rocking out to it and we were driving out in the boonies past cow pastures and corn fields.  Who knew what our fate REALLY was!  But then he started talking about Pres. Barrett and the church so we knew he was a member then and then we finally pulled up to the pizza joint.  Funny people...

 

So Bo was actually supposed to be baptized on Saturday, but he didn't because he has not found a home yet.  We don't really know if he understands the importance of this, so we pound it into his head everytime we meet with him.  His date has been rescheduled to this Saturday, but honestly, he probably won't make it.  But I know he will soon!  This transfer for sure, but maybe not this wek or next.  He comes to church and institute and FHE and thinks it's great.  He is a really nice guy too, as nice as they come.  He shakes EVERYONE's hand that is in the room before he leaves.  It's kind of funny, he'll just go up and tap the person on the arm and shake their hand.   He's a goofy little guy.  

 

The majority of our other visits this week were to people who are results of the "Ward Mission Cycle", people who have been chosen by the bishop for us to go and see/teach.  Since we cover 2 wards, we are starting to get pretty busy with people.  That's always good though.  We are working with a guy who fell off the deep end in his teen years and is back now in full force and wants to get the Melchezidek priesthood.  We are working with a YSA in a similar situation, I may have mentioned him earlier, but he's super super cool.  Proabably one of my faves here in Madison.  He totally went less active, moved to Idaho, got in trouble with the law, and is back in Madison now and wants to be close to Christ and regain his testimony.  With both of these guys, they're both SO excited to be meeting with us and learning about the gospel.  It's really a huge joy and excitement to see how excited they are to relearn the gospel and strengthen their testimony.  So sweet.  The YSA guy, his name is Jake, he gave a talk at the sisters' baptism the other day and it was a very simple, but super super powerful talk because you could just tell it came from his heart and it was all him.  The gospel really has the power to change lives and it's so exciting to see the joy it brings to people.

So one more funny story I had this week, definetely a sweet journal entry haha.  So yesterday we were in the area of a less active lady and we swung by her place and she was home!!  Yay!  But she let us in, we shared a message, and she asked for a blessing.  Uh oh, neither of us had our oil!  I had run out, and Elder Roberts forgot his for one reason or another.  She said she had some olive oil that we could consecrate so we figured we would just consecrate some there on the spot.  Another problem, neither of us had our white handbooks to tell us how to consecrate oil!  So we had to call the Spanish elders and figured out how to do that.  Next problem, what were we going to put the oil in?  Well, how about a shot glass?  Oh man...  But this lady reassured us that liquor had never been in the shot glass and she washed it super well before giving it to us.  So then we poured a drop in, I consecrated it, and then we gave her a blessing.  She thanked us and before we headed on our way she asked if she could give US a message.  We said of course!  Well, her message was short and sweet, BE PREPARED!!  So needless to say, my oil vial is now filled and on our key ring and my white handbook is in my front pocket.  So hopefully we will never have to be in that awkward and embarassing situation again!  It was a good experience and a good lesson learned for the both of us.  

Well Martin is still doing well, still trying to get his computer(s) fixed so he can get a job.  They're both slower than slugs and it takes forever and a half to do anything.  His friend is taking a look at them today.  We're keeping the faith that a miracle will happen so he will be baptized on the 24th!!  We watched Special Witnesses of Christ with him on Friday and he totally loved that.  That was actually a really neat lesson.  Halfway through the video, guess who called him?  His kids!!  He was super excited and put his phone on speaker phone so we could here all his kids talking.  It was really neat.  He sure has alot of them!  And he loves each of them.  It was really special to hear and feel the love he has for them.  I so totally want him to have an eternal family.  That'd be so amazing.  Ahhh I love the gospel!  But after he was done talking to his kids, we finished the video.  It is really fun watching videos and saying prayers with him and stuff because he'll talk.  During prayers, he'll silently say things like "oh yes, Lord" or "yes Lord Jesus" and things like that.  And during videos, he'll talk to the TV!  It's great.  When all of the apostles and President Hinckley were talking, he would shout in joy "Yes, that's right!" or he would just shout "Yes!" really loudly, he's so cool.  At the end of that video though, the song "I Know My Redeemer Lives" is sung.  Somehow, he knew every word to that song and sang along with it!!  The spirit was so strong and everybody was just so happy.  That's why I love being a missionary!  It makes me happy.  That was a moment, another one, that I will always remember as a missionary, Martin singing along with "I Know My Redeemer Lives".  So cool. 

 

Well, my amazing family and friends, I love you.  I love being a missionary.  As I just said, it makes me happy.  When I come home at night, my feet are killing me and I just want to go to bed, but then as I sit on our super comfy couch and think about the day we just had, a smile is brought to my face of how I am a set apart missionary of Jesus Christ and that I am involved in the best work in the world right now and that I am bringing a fulness of joy to these people that I love.  By that time, that joy and spirit I am feeling overrides the fact that my feet are hammered and that I'm way tired.  I love being a missionary and I love this gospel!  It's the only true gospel on this earth!  I love it and I know that if we stick to it, eternal life with Christ and Heavenly Father and our family is ours.  How amazing.  

 

I Love You!!!

Elder Kissell  

 

pictures

 

 

1.  The capitol building is orange!  Isn't it cool how they change the color?  I think it is.

 

 

2.  What a name for a street eh?

 

 

3.  Everybody loves the Book of Mormon, even the campus statues!

 

 

4.  Like my new haircut?  Just kidding, the top is cut off too...

 

 

5.  Costco poppyseed muffins.  Purchased at the only Costco in miles around.  I love Costco!!

Conference is so sweet!

Hey everyone!!

 

Man, so how sweet was conference?!?!  It was so good!!  Definetely the best way to have spent a birthday weekend.  The talks were all so wonderful and they totally filled me with the spirit and made me feel so grateful to be a member of this church, being led by a prophet of the Lord.  So easily and without a doubt, Pres. Monsons Sunday morning talk was my favorite.  In fact, it was the best conference talk I have ever heard.  It was so so so good.  It had me crying by the end.  I just love Pres. Monson and the way he speaks, the stories he tells, and the evident love  he has for every one of us.  It is so wonderful to have him as our prophet.  But the message he shared, about the resurrection and life after death, if we ever had doubts or wondered about that, we should know now with a surety that there is life after death.  I myself knew that there is going to be life after we die, but after hearing the stories, scriptures, and prophetic knowledge that our beloved prophet spoke to us Sunday morning, I know without a doubt that I will live again after this life.  IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TALK!!!! READ IT!!!  But we were blessed to have 2 of our investigators attend conference with us.  We watched it at the institute building where all meals for both days would be provided.  Bo and Abe came and were able to watch it.  Bo was there every session except for priesthood and Abe I think saw 3 sessions.  It was really great.  Martin was invited by a member of the ward to watch it in their home with them but he was really sick this weekened and wasn't able to watch it, so that was a big bummer.  But we will definetely have to watch it, at least bits and pieces of it with him later on.  He would love listening to Pres. Monson.  He prays for him in his prayers, it's really cool.  

 

But man, this week flew by.  It was a really really warm week too.  It was in the 70's all the way up til Saturday so that was exciting.  We don't have to wear our suit jackets when it is above 70 degrees and after conference.  But yeah, it is getting warm!  The trees are starting to bud and the flowers are coming up and lots of exciting new life!  So it's kind of neat in Wisconsin, there are a lot of cardinals, the little red cool looking birds.  Have you ever heard one of those things?  They sound like lasers!  So we call them "laser birds", they're really cool.  When there's like 4 or 5 of them in an area and they start chirping or singing or what have you, it sounds like there's an arcade war going on!!  It's awesome.  

 

So we didn't actually have a ton of appointments this week, something we haven't been used to, free time!  But free time isn't good as a missionary so we had to find things to do and spend more time out and about instead of inside teaching.  But that's ok.  This week is looking about the same too, but hey, that means we can go tracting or street contacting and find some new investigators!  I haven't been tracting that much in Madison, but that's fine.  Although it would be neat to get some new investigators.  So Tim unfortunately totally dropped us this week.  That was a big disappointment.  He hadn't answered or returned any of our calls and we were by his place the other day and decided to swing by.  He said that he just wanted to take a break for now and probably won't be interested in investigating for a while.  He also mentioned that he had been investigating Buddhism.  Hopefully he realizes that the Holy Ghost is not present there and that he isn't feeling it.  I hope he decides to investigate again, but only time and faith can tell.  We had lots of other appointments fall through too and that was annoying, especially when you are on bikes and bike a long ways to see these people.  Oh well, my quads are turning into iron!  Haha.  But we would really rather be inside teaching these great people rather than playing tag with them.  We'll be working on that this week!  We had  a couple lessons with Martin this week that were really wonderful!  So a member couple in the ward was actually trying to get rid of their laptop and they gave it to us to give to him and that was a huge blessing!  It's pretty old and pretty slow.  So we spent a little time fixing it and trying to make it faster.  Well Elder Roberts did it more so, I don't understand computers, they're dumb.  But we got it a little faster and took it over to him.  He was so excited!!  He was so grateful.  So now the online job search begins.  He is really computer illiterate, so hopefully we can find an easy, well paying job that won't confuse him.  And we watched Finding Faith in Christ, he thought that was awesome.  It was funny, he would actually talk to the TV when the movie was telling a story of Jesus or something and he would say things like "oh yes, tell me this story!"  or "oh my, how wonderful." and things to that effect.  Martin is so sweet.  

 

There's a really cool guy that hangs out with the elders alot, he's a Hmong guy named Chia, and he is leaving this week to go to BYU-I and he had a going away party for himself and a birthday party for me and Elder Campbell, his birthday was on April 1.  But it was sweet, lots of people were there and we made and ate lots of Hmong egg rolls.  Yum!  And for my birthday, Elder Roberts made me a cake (thanks mom!) and we played basketball with the singles ward and then went to the institute and had breakfast and watched conference.  Then it was super cool, the sisters, Sister Johnson and Sister Johnson, had made me chocolate chip cookies and they spelled my name out with them and everybody sang happy birthday!  It was a way cool birthday.  I definetely wouldn't have had it any other way!  

 

Huh...well I gues I'm not really full of new news this week!  Bo and Martin are still on track for baptism!  Bo although needs to find a place to live by Saturday...I don't know how that'll work, but hey, I'm a missionary!!  I have faith!  Martin is still going strong for the 24th.  

 

I love you all!  Thank you all again for your prayers in my behalf.  I am super blessed to have such an awesome family, friends and such an AMAZING mission that I love so much.  

 

Love

Elder Kissell       

1.  For all you Chris Farley fans, look who I found!  Look at the top name...  fat guy in a little coat!  :)

 

 

2.  Some cool members of the singles ward feeding us dinner!  By the way, Abe is the guy on the far left.

 

 

3.  Making Hmong egg rolls!  yummmm

 

 

4.  This kid was so cool, and yay for reptile/football lovers!

 

 

5.  The yellow crew!

 

 

6.  Sad day...

 

 

7.  Elder Roberts making me my cake!!

 

 

8.  The big 2-0.

 

 

9.  The Johnson sisters and my super cool cookies!  And my super cool new tie from mom!

 

 

10.  The Kissell cookies :)

Happy and brightly beaming

Hello!

 

Well hey everyone!  Well, the week was pretty good.  We're unfortunately starting to get less busy than we were a few weeks ago, but regardless we're still keeping up on things pretty well.  Some of our investigators have progressed pretty significantly, others have sadly fallen off the face of the earth.  But hey, it happens.  AND we're still happy and brightly beaming :D

 

So Bo and Martin still have their dates set for April 10 and 24.  Both are progressing and doing awesome.  We have met with Bo pretty frequently this week, he's super awesome.  We have taught him the restoration, the plan of salvation, and the commandments.  All within a week!  Crazy!  But he is keeping up and remembers a ton from previously investigating last year.  There are a few times in the lessons we teach him where he totally misses the point, but that's alright, we're still working pretty closely with him and he'll understand all he needs to understand before his baptism in a couple weeks!  Awesome!!  He's a funny guy though.  He's a soft spoken guy as it is, but when he reads aloud from the scriptures or something, he practically whispers, it's funny.  So you have to listen really closely to see if he's even reading the right verse.  And he's overall just a really happy and gracious guy!  Always smiling, he'll laugh randomly, sometimes just because he's happy, not because anything funny was said.  It's really cool.  President Barrett told us to make sure he has a home before he's baptized, so he's starting on looking for one today and I imagine he won't have too much a problem finding one because there are several low income housing opportunities in Madison that he would be able to get one at. 

 

Martin is still as awesome and amazing as ever.  We helped him look around for a online job only to find out his computer is loaded with viruses!!  Computers are so lame...  Oh well.  But there are some members in the wards we cover who are looking to get rid of their computers/laptops so and they would be more than happy to have Martin take a look at them and stuff.  So that's moving along! Hopefully we can get things going a little faster just to insure that things will be superb and ready to go by April 24.  This date is TOTALLY set on faith, so we're praying and fasting super hard for him.  It'll work out for sure.

 

Tim although has disappeared and is possibly avoiding us.  Kind of a bummer after he came to the temple and baptism and all!  But we didn't see him at all this week and he didn't answer or return any of our phone calls.  Dang.  But he is probably doing like he said he would do, checking out other churches.  Hopefully he'll be able to tell a difference and a lack of feeling the Holy Ghost while he is attending and learning of those churches.  I know without a doubt that he felt the Holy Ghost with us in our lessons, some of the best lessons I've had out here have been with him.  And he went to the temple!  Of course he felt the Holy Ghost there!  But time, faith, and prayer will only tell.

 

Carol is super still.  We had a great lesson with her this week on agency and the word of wisdom.  She has a smoking problem that she's trying to boot.  She thinks it's crazy because she quit drugs cold turkey but she's having such a hard time quitting smoking.  But we taught her the word of wisdom and showed her some ways to quit and we also invited her to an addiction recovery program the Madison Stake does, she's totally excited for that. 

 

Donnette is kind of throwing us into a brick wall.  She doesn't want to be baptized until July 17!  So far away!  We've tried every tactic and scripture President Barrett has given us and we just can't seem to help her understand that baptism is better sooner, rather than later.  And she's actually moving, but just a few blocks away, but she'll be out of town for a couple weeks and we won't be seeing her in that time, but she did go to church in the town where she's at for a couple weeks!!  She's still a super great lady, we just want those blessings of baptism to come to her sooner than July and are sad that she doesn't understand it.  But hey, at least she wants to be baptized!!

 

We met with Fidentio again this week.  He is still rockin too!  We tried extending him a baptismal date but he said that he can't commit to a date yet, but he really does want to be baptized, but he can't commit to a specific date yet.  We talked to him about the word of wisdom and the plan of salvation.  It was a really good lesson.  He totally trusts us and loves learning about the gospel.  He just needs to clear some things up in his mind first and then I'm sure he'll be totally excited to set a date with us!  He's a great guy.

 

We also did some less active work this week too.  Elder Perry's ward mission cycle is finally starting to take effect in the wards we cover and we're starting to get some names!  These guys we visited were some of those names.  But we got a cool YSA member to come back out to church for the first time in a long time!  Like a year or so, that was really awesome.  And we're still working with the other guy.  We've got him out to Saturday morning basketball, but not church.  One step at a time I guess!!

 

Well we had a really cool experience yesterday that I actually wanted to tell you all about right now....  So last week that girl the sisters taught, Shylina, the one who got baptized, asked for a priesthood blessing yesterday.  She was at a conference talk read-a-thon at the institute and asked her home teacher if he could come over and give her a blessing and he asked us to accompany him.  So this blessing was done at her house, where Elder Roberts and I first met her a month and half or so ago.  It hit both Elder Roberts and I, which was pretty cool, while we were there, that the last time we were there, we were having dinner with her friend Ethan, an active member of the singles ward and she was there, a non member girl in her pajamas who seemed she could care less about the church.  But then yesterday, Elder Roberts and I were there, she just got home from the institute building and was in her church clothes as a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints asking us for a priesthood blessing.  How cool is that?!  It was one of those times on my mission where I wish I could just stop time and watch it for forever and ever.  But that experience is one of several that has been engraven in my mind on my mission.  And I was privileged to even give the blessing too.  It was a sweet experience.  It truly made me grateful and proud to be on a mission, serving my Lord and Savior.  Man, I love it.  And to make Shylina even cooler, she made me a tie for my birthday!!!  It's way cool.  

 

Well...that's about all the news I have for you this week!  It's been a great one.  I definetely love having a good companion and a good area to serve in.  It's a huge blessing to be out here and I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything.  I love this gospel and I know it's true with all of my heart.  This is the last letter you'll be getting from me as a 19 year old boy!  That's WEIRD!!!  Time flies, I'll tell ya that.  

 

I love you all!!  Choose the right ALWAYS and remember who you are.  And watch conference!!!  ALL of it!  I'm so excited!  Not everybody can say that they're going to watch a prophet and apostles of God speak this weekened.  But guess what?!  You can change that!  Invite your friends to watch conference with you!  It's going to be a great weekened!  Hooray for General Conference!!

 

Hugs, Kisses, and Love!

Elder Jesse Kissell 

 

picture (sorry!  I need to take more for sure.)

 

 

Me, Shylina, and the super cool tie she made for me.  Sweet!

Madison is definitely keeping its downtown elders busy!

Hey everybody!

 

Well this week sure was sweet.  Madison is definetely keeping its downtown elders busy.  We got ANOTHER solid investigator who has a date for April 10th!  This is such a cool story I don't want to wait to tell you about it.  So his name is Bo Khamphoumy, he is Laotion.  I'm tellin ya, I'm serving a foreign mission here!  Haha just kidding.  But Bo is super cool.  He was found by the Spanish elders at a bus stop reading the Book of Mormon!!  He checked it out from the library!  But some more background on Bo is he met with the sisters last year but they lost contact with him because he is homeless.  He is a younger guy, in his 20's, and you can't even really tell he's homeless.  But he is and that obviously makes it hard to keep in contact with him.  But he really loves the Book of Mormon and knows it better than some members I'm betting.  The Spanish elders met him on Thursday, he came to a singles ward baptism on Saturday morning (i'll tell you about that later), and he went to the temple with us on Saturday afternoon!  He said that he felt so good at the baptism and was really honored to have witnessed that and just felt really great there.  And at the temple, Elder Roberts went and helped with confirmations while I stayed in the waiting room with Tim and Bo (yep, 2 investigators at the temple!!!!).  While we were sitting in the waiting room, I just felt really strongly that I should talk to Bo about baptism and set a firm date with him to be baptized.  I said "Hey Bo, can I show you one of my favorite scripture passages in the Book of Mormon?"  "Yes yes I would really love that."  Then I showed him Alma 7:11-15, talking about the Atonement and about baptism.  When we finished reading that, I asked him how he'd like to be clean and feel the Holy Ghost all the time.  He said that he "would love that."  "Well Bo, can we set a date for when you will be baptized?"  "Oh yes, I would love to do that!"  "Well how about April 10th, that'll give you time to come to church a few times and recieve all the lessons you need to recieve."  "Oh yes!  That would be wonderful!"  So April 10th is the day folks.  He's pretty excited and willing to do all he needs to do to prepare himself for that day.  But it was so cool being able to set a baptismal date at the temple!  I can gurantee that that doesn't happen too often.  It was really awesome.  There probably isn't a better place to do it than at the temple, the spirit is always there!  And also Tim came to the temple.  He actually almost dropped us this week too, that was scary.  He just felt crowded by all the church stuff he does.  He really does spend alot of time with us and at church and FHE and institute and things like that, but he was pretty flustered that day and almost dropped us.  Thankfully he didn't.  But he too came to the baptism and the temple.  He thought the baptism was really neat and enjoyed witnessing that and he really enjoyed the temple too.  He did say at the temple he didn't feel anything different  unfortunately.  He is such a good guy though but we need to figure out a way to explain the Holy Ghost to him and help him realize he has felt it several times.  But he said he wasn't bored and that he enjoyed the peace and quiet there and thought it was a really neat looking building.  But I was one happy missionary that day, having 2 investigators at the temple and setting a baptismal date with one of them.  How cool.  I was a little sad though that I may not be able to do anything while I was at the temple but a member of the bishopric wanted me to be able to go through a session before we went home so that was really nice of him.  It was another spiritual and sacred experience for me.  I love the temple.  The Chicago temple really has found a place in my heart.  It's a good one!  

 

So the baptism this Saturday was actually the sisters baptism.  They cover singles ward with us and the girl they had baptized, Shylina, is a super cool girl.  So we actually were the ones who "sparked her interest" and caused her investigating to begin about a month and a half ago.  She's a very close friend of a guy in the singles ward and he felt that it would be better for the sisters to teach her, so they took the reigns from there.  But it was a really neat baptismal service and there were 4 other investigators there, 2 of ours, 2 of the sisters.  So cool.  There's some statistic, I have no idea what it is though, but regardless, investigators who attend a baptismal service are more likely to be baptized themselves.  So we're praying and hoping for the best!

 

So some more good news!  Martin has a new baptismal date!  We're exercising our faith and praying that he will be able to get an online accounting job and only have to work part time at Wal-Mart, thus allowing him to come to church and be baptized into activity instead of inactivity!  His date is for April 24.  He's so excited.  He was so excited that when we were there at his apartment and he went to cut up some fruit for us in his kitchen and he was talking out loud "I need to be baptized!" as he was cutting up our fruit.  It was great.  But President Barrett really feels that this is the answer and that this will be the best thing for him and it will allow him to be baptized.  If President says that's the way, then that is the way! 

 

Hmmm what else...well Fidentio, Donnette, Carol, Abe, and everyone else we are working with are doing great too.  I can't believe how busy we are!  We had interviews with President this Friday and he is really excited to see so much happening in Madison and is really pleased with the way the work is going.  As are we, we can hardly keep up with it!  But thank goodness for prayer and for planners and awesome members.  We tried to set a date with Donnette for April 17 but she prayed about it and doesn't feel that that's right and she wants to be baptized in June or July.  Well, that's plenty of time for her to lose interest in the church and we don't want that!  So we're kind of at a brickwall with her that we can't plow through.  Fidentio still rocks, it's really annoying teaching him with that girl there though, she again threw our plans out of wack and started talking about deep doctrine that an investigator really doesn't need to hear.  But he thought it was cool, so luckily it didn't cause contention or anything, but it is distracting to our main focus points of the lesson.  Carol is still wonderful.  She wants to quit smoking and is starting to pray again.  She stopped doing that for a long time and is starting that back up again, it's great.  She is a strong and receptive woman, it is definetely great to be able to teach her.  And Abe, he's still the best non-member Mormon there is!!  Hasn't prayed still, but soon is what he said. 

 

And the weather sure has been sweet here!  It's been in the 60's a few days here this week.  We broke the bikes out and rode around finally.  That was sweet.  I like riding bikes.  The flowers are starting to come out and 99% of the snow is gone.  Spring is here!  New life and new exciting times and experiences lie ahead.  And even better, I asked President if I would be in Madison 1 more transfer and he said that since we have so much going on and lots of people we need to baptize, he feels pretty positive, but that he'll "leave it up to the Lord."  So hopefully I'll be here at least 1 more!!  Transfers are on April 15. 

 

Oh man!  So one more highlight of my week.  So in interviews, president turns his phone on and plays a message for me that he just got.  It was Elder Olsen (my MTC companion) and Elder Nygard!  Elder Olsen left him a message saying that they just set a date with a lady me and Elder Wessely found!!!  President called them back in my interview and turned the phone on speaker mode and i heard the whole conversation.  It was awesome.  And it's a pretty solid date too it sounds.  She has prayed to know if the church is true and has recieved the answer in the affirmative manner.  Man, I was so happy!  My seed planting up there in the U.P. is being harvested by my best friend and MTC companion.  How cool!!  And Blake called me on Saturday night and told me more about it.  It's so cool.  I love being a missionary, I'm almost always happy!  This is such a great work.

 

Well folks, I think I've scraped the bottom of the bucket on news.  Keep being the great people you are and know that you are loved. 

 

I love you!

Elder Jesse Merrill Kissell

 

pictures

 

 

1. Our version of a motivational poster.  COMMITMENT- Those that dare to venture experience the greatest rewards.  

 

 

2. Driveway of a "Mormon neighborhood" in Madison.  Nicknamed "Little Provo."

 

 

3. My companion is a creep!

 

 

4. Martins temple picture in his apartment!

 

 

5. So this was the day it started out at like 58 degrees and then the temperature dropped substantially and 

started snowing in the evening.  We were totally not prepared.  BRRRR!!!!

 

 

6. Me looking at the biggest snowman I've ever seen.  Even after a week of being 60 degrees!
 

 

7. Look at how massive this thing is.  We talked to a guy walking by and he said it used to be taller than the house.  Woah!!!

I LOVE MY MISSION!

Hey everyone!

 

So holy cow... this week has been crazy!!  Crazy awesome, crazy busy, and crazy spiritual.  Not even joking, we had appointments all day and everyday.  I have never been so busy yet in my mission and neither has Elder Roberts who is almost going home.  It's been so cool.  I really have no idea how we became so busy but it's so cool!  Just for fun the other day I counted all the people we are currently working with.  We are working with 13 different people.  10 of them are investigators!  Holy cow!  Talk about a busy set of elders without a car.  But this week we got some rides with the Spanish elders and some ward members, greatly appreciated.  The buses are still pretty lame and slow.  But when we did ride them this week, i wasn't punched by anymore crazy people!  Haha.  But let me tell you a bit more about our killer week.

 

Tommy, the cool YSA investigator we met last week, his appointment actually fell through.  But we did talk to him briefly about the church and set up a time for this week.  He seems like a sweet guy.  Bummer the appointment fell through.  But we met with Donnette twice this week, both times they were really wonderful lessons.  We taught alot about commandments, Chastity, Word of Wisdom, tithing, etc.  She's such an interesting lady and is so stinkin smart.  She reads and reviews everything before we come over in her Gospel Principles book.  She loves learning and really can't stop.  We tried setting a date for baptism with her again, but it didn't fly again.  We didn't really do it in a bold way though, so next lesson, we're going to be straight up and spiritual about a baptismal date when we teach and testify about the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson.  We know and feel it will go well.  She wants to be baptized, so we aren't being overbearing, we're just setting that date for a more motivational way to get her in gear to prepare herself for that huge step.  Tim is SO CLOSE to finding his testimony.  We also met with him twice this week.  We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and he said that he really felt something that day and felt like a stronger and better person because of it.  Yesterday we went over and just tried to help him find his testimony which he has.  He's starting to find it and this next week or so we'll be continuing to help him find it.  This Saturday the sisters have a baptism of a super cool YSA girl and Tim is excited to go to that and see what it's all about and what will be happening to him.  He says he will be baptized definetely, but he just hasn't felt/found his testimony yet.  But he's SO close.  Also on Saturday there is another temple trip that Tim seems more willing and excited to go on than the previous one.  So hopefully he chooses to go on this one.  Martin is still super.  I actually went with Pres. and Sis. Barrett and one of the assistants to his appointment on Thursday night.  They were all in town for zone conference.  But they all loved Martin so much and thought he was such a great man.  Pres. Barrett being one of the most spiritual and inspired men i know, said that he knows Martin will be baptized and that doors will be opened to him.  He doesn't know what, he doesn't know when, but he knows something will happen and that he will be baptized.  Martin was super excited to hear that and is waiting excitedly for that day.  We, elder Roberts, Pres. Barrett, Martin and I all had a fast for Martin to have doors opened for him and blessings to come to him.  It was really awesome and hopefully these doors will be opened quickly.  He's such a cool guy and so deserving of all these blessings.  Especially baptism and being sealed with his family for eternity.  Isn't the church awesome?  Fidentio, I think i told you about him, he is doing super great too.  He is a friend of a less active/returning member in the YSA ward.  He would actually be attending the first ward though since he is too old to be in the YSA ward, but he isn't really that old, in his mid 30's.  But he is so excited to learn and so accepting!  Yesterday we taught him and we asked him how and what he feels about the church.  And he goes "Well that's funny you bring that up because i was just about to ask you something right along those lines.  Whenever I read the Book of Mormon, go to church, or listen to church music, i get butterflies in my stomach and just get so happy.  Is that what the Holy Ghost feels like?"  You have no idea how big I was smiling right then and how badly i just wanted to jump up and shout for joy and give him a high 5.  He has changed his life drastically this week he was telling us and has quit groups and cut ties to people he knows have and will continue to lead him on bad paths.  We didn't even ask him to.  He just said that he has never felt so happy in his life since being introduced to the church and wants to do all that he can to keep that happiness.  We told him it could be increased and he thought that sounded pretty darn good.  We were going to set a date with him last night, but right when we were going to set a specific date, his friend said that it doesn't matter when you get baptized and that he should probably wait longer and investigate for a few months before he is baptized.  No, don't say that!!  We were a little annoyed by that, so we're going to pull her aside sometime and ask her to support him and encourage him to be baptized as soon as possible and to not wait.  Of course he'll do it when he's prepared, but he is prepared and there is no need to wait.  He's so cool.  Oh and he's a professional cook and he cooked us dinner last night, probably the best meal I've had on my mission.  It was mega good.  We also finally started teaching an "eternigator", an investigator who has been investigating for a really long time.  He's in the singles ward also.  But he's such a good guy, he comes to church, institute, and FHE every week.  He does opening and closing prayers every now and then, plays the piano for meetings, comments on lessons, answers questions, has a leather bound set of scriptures including the Book of Mormon, and really is like the nicest guy you could ever meet.  He was actually the one to set up the meeting because he has never really wanted to set up a time to meet with us when we do the asking.  So we were super excited.  We a really sweet lesson about praying to know if the church is true.  He says whenever he prays, he knows he needs to ask that.  He knows he'll get an answer too that it's true, but he always steers away from asking the question straight up because he knows he'll have to do something with the answer he gets.  He's such a good guy!!  He needs to be baptized!  But we committed him to pray specifically to find out if the church is true and he sat there silently for a few moments and looked up at us and said "soon."  Well, that is a step in the right direction!  But he will do it and he will be baptized, it's only a matter of time.  We also inherited an investigator from the Spanish elders.  I'll be honest, I don't know how far he'll go.  But I will give him as fair of a chance to accept the gospel as everybody else.  He is a guy that has and is definetely involved in the wrong crowd.  He is pretty messed up from marijuana and is really spacy and totally not with it alot.  He's a funny guy, but is really tough to teach.  He does read though, which is cool, and loves the Book of Mormon.  Whenever we read something with him he goes "wow!  Now that's deep right there!"  Every time haha.  He's kind of less accountable but accountable but accountable enough to be baptized.  

So zone conference was this week, it was really cool, probably my favorite since being out.  President talked alot about repentance.  Repentance not only for our investigators, but for ourselves.  One question he posed is how can we expect our investigators to repent when we ourselves haven't repented?  I thought that was a powerful statement.  So i really try my hardest to be a good guy and when i do slip up, to repent.  Even the little things I'm starting to feel ashamed of now.  I'm definetely seeing the blessings of being repentant.  Repentance is such an amazing gift to us.  I love the atonement.  

 

And guess what else happened this week?  I got to meet and listen personally to an ordained apostle of the Lord, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.  It was so cool.  Right when he walked in and was standing in front of me, i just got teary eyed and really just got hit by a ton of bricks how amazing and miraculous that standing before me was an APOSTLE of God!  And man, if that wasn't enough, I got to shake his hand!  And i sat about 10 feet away from him in our meeting in the chapel.  It was a really amazing message that he shared with us and it was so cool being in that room.  The thing that he said that really stuck out to me the most was that when we enter our missions (this can apply to everyone, not just missionaries), we enter in debt to the Savior because of his Atonement.  All of us had to repent and be worthy and clean to come out here.  The only way to do that is to go through our Saviors Atonement.  In our missions, we have really tough trials, like investigators dropping off the face of the earth for 3 weeks, and we have to rely on the Lord even more and use his Atonement even more, thus putting us even more in debt to the Savior.  He said that when we leave our missions, we will be in even more debt to the Savior and that we should continue to get even deeper and deeper as our life goes on.  Elder Christofferson said that this isn't very good worldy economics, but it is superb spiritual economics.  So we will never be able to repay the Lord, he loves us so greatly.  We will never understand.  

 

This week has been amazing.  I've loved every minute of it.  Lots of growth, lots of fun, a trial here and there to make me stronger, and really just a lot of thought on how grateful I am to be out here.  It's been so sweet and I've learned and grown so much.  I still can't believe how busy we are, but i surely won't complain.  I just really really wish we had a car, it would be so much easier!!  But, it's rocked and we hope to keep it going.

 

Hugs and kisses!

Elder Kissell

 

pictures

 

 

1.  Hey!!  Look who it is!  (there was a ton of missionaries at Elder Christofferson's thing and he got to come down!  Cool!)

 

 

2.  My MTC roomates!

 

 

3.  My mission mom and dad!  My trainer/dad, good old Elder Turney, and my mom, Elder Turney's companion before me, Elder Ferris.  And I'm their kid.  :)

 

 

4.  My MTC companion and now Elder Nygards companion Elder Olsen.  Talk about a big kid!