A Week of Service

Me and Elder S-- at lunch. :D

Hey ya'll!

This week was great! We busted some buns and got a lot done.

I just wanted to start off by saying that I've never been happier! This mission thing is so darn cool. To all ya'll getting ready to serve a mission get ready for the best time of your life!

This week, we taught a bunch of lessons, and got a lot done!

We were doin' some crazy awesome work with the M-- family in our ward (they ROCK by the way). We were doing a bunch of work on the house, which taught me a TON of useful skills for when I'm trying to fix up my own house.

Elder S-- workin'!

Anyway, we were tearing up carpet, foam and tackstrips, patching up holes and then putting in new carpet, painting, and cleanin' up the mess we made.

Taking a break.

It was super fun to help, and we had a blast working alongside this awesome family!

Doin' studies with L--! :D

It was hard work, but the final product looks great!

We also hauled a bunch of logs up a vertical hill for a part member less active family, which was SUPER hard, but they fed us steaks afterwards which we were A-Okay with.

Man, thinking back on it, it felt like we were in service clothes more then proc.

Ah. Here's my challenge to ya'll: Find a service project. Working to help out is the best feeling in the world!

Not a whole lot else to report... But! I love you all, and I'm so glad to be a missionary!
Love,
-Keppy

I forgot to mention baptism #6...

The Baptism! :D

So, I totally forgot to mention, that last week, was my sixth baptism here in the mission...

Yeah, I can't believe it slipped my mind. :P

Anyway, her name is E---, and she is 9 years old. Her father was inactive, but part of our mission is to find the lost, so, we brought him back to church! We taught him the lessons again, and he found his testimony again! We were teaching him and his daughter together, and E--- said that she wanted to be baptized! So, we taught her the lessons, just like any other investigator, and she got baptized! That day was super stressful though with getting everything set, but we made it through. (See picture below)

STRESSSSS!

As far as THIS week goes, things have been pretty much just us missionaries, doing our missionary thing. 

We teach lessons, see miracles, give blessing, talk to random people, and stay up until 10:30 talking at night.

 Speaking of nights, me and Elder W--- had an interesting night this week. You see, he accidentally over-dosed on his sleeping pills, and, well, he was high as a kite that night, before he finally crashed, and crashed hard. He doesn't remember anything from that night, and he woke up with a killer headache.

*cough*Hangover*cough*

Aside from that craziness, and the fact that I met S--- H---'s GRANDPARENTS UP HERE, things were pretty tame. :D

Anyway, I love and miss you all! And keep writing!

-Kep

S-- Gets Dunked!!!

#1: S--- is prepped for the swim of his life! 
(We're in normal clothes because we all just got done with the Church cleanup.)

This last week has been crazy!

We had A LOT of lessons, and we made a lot of progress!

St. Maries is one of those areas, where you will always gain success equal to the amount of work you do, and we are working HARD.

The highlight of this week was our latest baptism/confirmation, S---! 

He has been waiting since the day I got here to be baptized, and now, at last, he has been baptized, received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Aaronic Priesthood.

The L--- family after S---'s baptism!!! :D

He is so thrilled, and so is the entire ward! In January, our average church attendance out of our 250 members was about 60. Now, we have an average of 75, and it's increasing! We are working hard, and it's really paying off.

Brother B--- cookin' up some grub for the ward BBQ, immediately following S---'s baptism. 

Also worth noting, me and Elder H--- performed a musical number in church this Sunday. I sang, and Elder H-- played piano. We performed "O My Father", and it went VERY WELL! The problem is, everyone wants us to perform musical numbers every Sunday now. :(

To finish, WE GOT TO SKYPE HOME!!!

It was awesome to see everyone, although, its really weird to see how grown up everyone is. SO much has happened since I've been gone, but I know we'll have all eternity to catch up!

In the meantime, it's out to the field to harvest.

We are only asked to work our hardest, do our best, and let the Spirit do the rest!

Love and miss you all, 

Elder Keppner.