I'm on the Up and Up! :D

This week was great!

Can I just say, I love being on my mission! This week has been crazy, awesome, and well, just another week in the Washington Spokane Mission! 

Me and Elder W-- are really getting along, and WORKING OUR BUTTS OFF! We've had some really good lessons, and we have been focusing on inviting everyone to be baptized. We are kinda baptism hungry, and we are working hard to do more, and really help our investigators to progress, and come closer to Christ.

A miracle this week we had this week came in the form of an unexpected over-the-phone lesson with our investigator M--. She had a lot of questions about the church. You see, her church had said a lot of less than kind things about us members of the church, and they had made up a ton of lies about us. But we bore our testimonies, and she said that she know that what we had told her was true, and that she wanted to know what we REALLY believe. 

So, we're teaching! It opened doors that otherwise would have been closed. 

The Lord is good! I love this work!

Sorry that it's short today, but I gotta go. :(

Thank you for your emails, and I'll hear from you soon!

Love and miss you all!
-Elder Brennan Keppner

Transfers! 7.5 months, and a whole lot of awesome!

Zone picture!

Hey everyone!

I am happy to announce, that as of today, I will be transferred to PRIEST RIVER IDAHO!!! And my companion in that GREAT area will be: ELDER W--!!! 

Yeah baby! Three transfers with my man Elder W--, and in Priest River! Man, I love this area, I love my companion, and WOW am I ready to do some more work here! I have a lot to learn still, but I know that with the Lord's help, I'm going to be able to improve!

As for what has happened this week, well, lots of awesomeness! Sunday night me and Elder W-- got the call, that we would be getting a Mini-Missionary Monday afternoon. 

Hunting with Slingshots 

Now what is a Mini-Missionary you ask? Well, it's just the BEST IDEA EVERRRR! What it is, is that a Stake organizes all of the youth who wish to participate in the Stake, and gives them some missionary training. Then, they send them all over the local mission to spend an entire WEEK with the full time missionaries, and learn what missionary life is really like!

Brother AWESOME S--

The Spokane Stake did it, and so Elder W-- and I got BROTHER S--! He is 17, and he is a BOSS! Oh my gosh, he was super quiet at first, but as time went on, he started opening up and MAN was he funny. He spent the week with us, and now he is back in Spokane. Me and Elder W-- both really miss him now, but it was SUPER fun while it lasted. I really wish I could have done that before my mission. :(

Oh well. Awesome week! Crazy stuff going on at home, but I'm trying to stay focused and work hard in this awesome area!

Love and miss you all!
-Elder Brennan Keppner

Birthdays and Thunderstorms

Hey everybody!

I love you all!!!! This birthday has been, well, to be honest, my favorite! Everything about it was great! The presents, the food, the "Happy Birthday Elder Keppner!" and all of the awesome letters! Thank you everyone!!! It really meant a lot to me, and I really appreciated it!

...! I found it!

I don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to let you all know that I made some videos, and I'm sending them home on a thumb drive soon for you guys! Also, I'm going to include a TON of pictures on here from my birthday and for the rest of the week.

The Keppner Family Adventure Card Game! :D 
They loved it, and want to play it for a mutual activity. :D

As far as the rest of the week, it was pretty uneventful. But, we had some AWESOME lessons, and I learned a lot personally. You know, this Church really is true. Every day, I see it in action, and I know without a doubt, this IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Beautiful Priest Lake

This week, we had a CRAZY thunderstorm. We were at a dinner appointment when the storm hit, and the power went out. The wind was INSANE and the thunder was SUPER loud. So, we ate by firelight, and didn't think much of it. We were out of cell service, and so as we left. we came into service again, and got a TON of messages on our phone all at once. Asking where we were, if we were alright, and if we needed to be rescued from under a tree. 

Right as we got all these messages, we noticed that all of the houses around us that usually were lit up, were dark. We kept driving in the black, and then noticed something glowing and red in the road. Turns out that it was a road flare put out to call our attention to a massive tree that had fallen across part of the road. We went around, and then headed into town, dodging trees all over the road. All of the lights in town were dead, but from what we could see from our headlights, the town was TRASHED. Roofs torn off, trees everywhere, and a lot of general destruction. 

We hurried into our powerless apartment, got our flashlights out, and went to bed. The next day, we got a million freaking calls from the ward members asking if we were having church with the power out. We hurried over to the church to see if there was power. At 7:30 that morning, and hour and a half before church was supposed to start, the power came on at the church. We made a bunch of quick phone calls, but not many people came to church, so me and Elder W-- ended up blessing the sacrament.

Our moving investigator (right), and a ward member (left)

Also to note this week, one of our AWESOME investigators moved this last week to attend NIC, and while we were sad to see her go, she told us that we brought her closer to God than anyone has before. So, we're going to inform the missionaries in that area, and hopefully she can continue the lessons! 

Elder W--'s "creepy face"

Ah! This transfer is almost over. This is the last week, and this Sunday we get transfer calls again. Elder W-- really wants to leave and see more of the mission, and I really want to stay here in Priest River, so, I guess we'll see who goes where. :)

I love you and miss you, and I pray for you all!

Love,
-Elder Brennan Keppner