Week One With The Youngsters

Hey ya'll!

So, one week down.

YSA work is so weird! Like, we have stewardship of all of Spokane, which is a big difference from being in tiny Moran Prairie. It's good though. The ward members that I've met so far have been AWESOME, and there is a LOT of work to do. I love it though!

Under the freeway- "SKETCH!"
(Anyone know what this means? I need a missionary translator...)

The week started off crazy. P-day, we went under the freeway for an adventure... Super sketch...
On Tuesday, we dropped Elder G- off in Spokane Valley, which was SUPER SAD! I love that guy.

Saying goodbye to Elder G.

Right after that, we rushed to the temple to make it to M-'s endowment session with the M--s.
It was amazing! So flipping happy for her! (She has been called on a mission to Japan!)

M- and us at the Temple

Guys, the temple truly is the most amazing place on the planet. Even our tiny Spokane temple. ;)

After that, it was appointments, lessons, service and just flat out missionary life.

I love it!

At work.

At night.

Not a whole lot else to report... I have a bunch of pictures for ya'll though! :D (The photos in this post.)


This work is amazing! I love every second of it, and I thank God for the opportunity to be here.
God is good! And so is working for him.

Love ya'll!

Road Trips Are for the Elders...

Hallo peeps!

It's been great to hear from you all, and I really appreciate everybody's support back home!

To be perfectly honest, the mission ROCKS! This week wasn't super exciting, but man, God is good! The work moves forward, and MAN does it move fast! Priest River is a GOLDEN area, and I love serving here! I've met so many amazing people here, and I learn so much from them each and every day. The Spirit seems to guide every step, and helps me change, and change again, making me more and more like the man I need to be. The problem is, the more I grow, the more I realize who small I really am. I think having a companion to work with, and lots of time to pray and ponder has really helped me notice just how many flaws I have. And then I think back on who I was back home, and MAN. I was a PUNK! It's sometimes hard not to look back and be ashamed of who I used to be. So many stupid mistakes! So much wasted potential! Man, when I come back, there's a lot of stuff I need to fix.

But you know what, I'll have plenty of time to work on that when I get home. For now, I've got a lot of learning to do. 

Man! People keep telling us that we're here to teach, and I guess we are. But the more I teach, the more I learn, and the more I want to be better. I love this work more than anything I have ever done before, and I'm never happier than when I serve the Lord. This work is truly the Lord's, and I will give this mission thing everything I have in me. THIS IS MY MISSION. THIS IS THE LORD'S MISSION. And I will do my best to go on, and be better every day!

A sunset shot

Anyway, before I sign off, I just wanted to share our last P-day experience:

It started off great! We got up early, and started making our way to the Spokane Temple. The problem was, on our way there, we got lost in downtown Spokane. We finally made it in time for our Temple session, but just barely.

After an awesome session, we headed out to email, and then went and had Lunch with a member Elder Wa--- knows in Spokane. After that, the plan was to head back to Priest River and play some board games or something. What ended up happening was we ended up on the wrong highway, and were heading to Seattle. We finally figured out what was going on when I grabbed the map after driving for an hour without recognizing our surroundings, and found that we were going in the OPPOSITE direction we were supposed to be heading. I yelled something along the lines of "HOLY FETCH! We're freaking heading to SEATTLE!"

Elder W--- slammed on the breaks, all of us Elders flew forward, and we started back down the highway. After getting onto the right highway, we got stuck in road construction traffic for HOURS, and then FINALLY, made it back at about 7:00pm. An hour after P-day should have been over. Yeah, so that was our P-day roadtrip. :/

I love and miss you all, and I'm so happy to be here! Keep it up!

-Elder Keppner

Transfer 5, Week 3

District Temple Trip! :D

Hey everyone!

Man, time is speeding by! We're already half way through another transfer! We're just teaching, preaching, and praying our guts out. There is so much work to do, and I'm busy out of my mind!

We got a two new investigators this week, a mom and her 18 year old daughter, and it's been awesome to teach them! They're both strong Evangelical Christians, but they are willing to learn more about our savior Jesus Christ.

M--, the daughter, has a lot of questions, and it's been really cool to have all of the answers. MAN I love the Spirit! 

A dinner we went to with M--, her mom, and several ward members.

M-- was having a rough spot in her life, and she said: "Out of nowhere, you two came along, and helped me out. You two must have been sent by God."

It was really cool, and both me and Elder W-- agree that this is a Godsend.

Man, Priest River rocks! Our ward members are great, our investigators are great, and I LOVE working! 

A sign we came across...

Man, I hate standing still. I'm kinda the "Go go go!" guy in our district, and you know what? I'm okay with that now. Our District is really close. One of the Elders is having a really hard time right now-- he stood tall though, and we are all working together to get through life's challenges!

So, last night, we went over to a ward family's house for dinner. It's a big family, and they are AWESOME! We watched The Testaments with them, and LAUGHED all night!

We had a good laugh with the family, and then had a really cool lesson! My goal right now is to buy a good guitar with my tax returns. This family is trying to help me find one to buy, but it's kinda difficult. I will go on though! :D

Oh, and today, our district went to the Temple together. It was so awesome! :D

Anyway, I love and miss you all! Keep writing, keep emailing, and I'll keep writing you all back!

Ah! I love you guys!

-Elder Keppner

Techie Work on my mission!!!

Guess who are now companions?!?

Hey Ya'll!

So, a lot happened this week, and I have very little time to write it all down. BUT, I wanted to start with the biggest stuff first. This past Saturday, me and Elder H-- did backstage work for a Talent Show. The show was to raise money for a family in the Ward so that they could retrieve their adopted children from Africa. It was a BLAST! And literally half the town came out to support it!

I ran curtains and props, and Elder H--- was in charge of the lights. We met and talked with A LOT of people there, and people really came to understand that we missionaries are here to help, and that we're real people too. I never thought I would be doing Techie work on MY MISSION, but hey, the Lord works in mysterious ways I guess!

We also have a new investigator! His name is C---, and he was a weapons smith and trainer for the U.S. army for about ten years. He spent that time in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has seen a lot of stuff in his life, but he told us that he had served with two Mormon boys for a couple of years, and he said he decided back then, that when he returned to the United States, he would join the Church! He came to Church this week, and told us he is here to stay! It's been so awesome to get to know him, and he truly has been prepared by the Lord!

(He also told us missionaries, that if the world goes to pot before we get home from our missions, that we are to go to his house and he would take care of us. And trust me, if anyone could survive an apocalypse, it's him!)

Temple trip!

We went to the temple today, and had a wonderful experience! The Spokane Temple is small, but it's beautiful!

Oh, and M--- is getting baptized on Saturday, and that is REALLY exciting! I was there when she and S--- first started being taught, and I'm so grateful that I get to be here for this awesome day for her!

Anyway, I gotta go. There is a member here who is feeding us tonight, and he is, well, kinda an Elderly rock star... He has a recording studio, a BUNCH of guitars, and he and I get along REALLY well. lol He wants me to come back up here after my mission and record and album in his studio, which, I really think I might do.

Godspeed! And I love you all!
-Elder Keppner

St. Maries grammar:
Rig = any motorized vehicle
Crick = Creek
A couple three = a few

St. Maries quote of the week:
"If they come for my guns, they will die in my yard."

Arriving in Washington

President and Sister Mullen greeting Elder Keppner

13 January 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Keppner,

I was pleased to welcome your son, Elder Keppner to the Washington Spokane Mission this week. I’m happy to report that he arrived safely. I had the privilege of meeting and associating with him the day of his arrival and note that it is evident that he comes with a great desire to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Elder Keppner understands the role of the Holy Ghost in accomplishing the work here in the Washington Spokane Mission and has committed to live worthy of that power.

Some of the newly-arrived missionaries!
(Elder K. is standing there with his MTC comp, Elder F___.)

Group Greenie shot

Elder Keppner with his trainer, Elder M___

After prayerful consideration, I have called Elder M___ to serve as Elder Keppner’s companion in the Coeur d’ Alene area. It is our objective to call only the best missionaries to serve as trainers and I believe that your son is in excellent training hands. We expect that your missionary will serve in this area for the next 6 to 12 weeks as he begins his mission.

I have enclosed photographs of your missionary and assure you that Sister Mullen and I will love Elder Keppner. Our great desire is that his time here will further establish him on the path of righteousness, as well as bless the many people he will serve.

The mission has a website where you can see what is happening in the mission. Go to: washingtonspokanemission.wordpress.com

Thank you so much for sharing Elder Keppner with us.

Sincerely,
Donald E. Mullen, President
WASHINGTON SPOKANE MISSION

The mom here: If anyone wishes to write letters or send packages to Elder Keppner, I know he would LOVE it!!! Please send me an email at libermama at gmail dot com, and I will send you his direct address. 

We are so excited to hear that he is in the Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho area! My sister was married there, and my brother-in-law's family still live in the area, I believe. 

Leaving the MTC

Am I really leaving on Monday? Have I really been here that long? I feel like I've only been here a couple of days, and yet, I feel like I've been here my whole life. I've REALLY come to life here, and I LOVE the work. 

There are a lot of Elders with bad attitudes, and many MANY Elders who have no interest in following mission rules. We've seen Elders and Sisters sent home, and a lot of companionships fall apart. But not my district. Me, Elder F____, Elder H____, and all of our wonderful Sisters are so close, and we really do love each other. These Elders are my brothers, and we all trust, rely, and work together.

Speaking of working together, we have a two REAL investigators; Peter and Alexander. Peter is a middle aged man who grew up in New Zealand, and he came to America to find work, and to get married. He is very down to earth, but he has very little education since He became interested in the "Mormons" because of a close friend he has who is Mormon, so he decided he wanted to learn more about the Church, so he took up a job at the MTC to kill two birds with one stone. He is quite open to the Church, and he really likes what our message could mean for his future family.

Alexander on the other hand, is a older, well educated man, and he is also the Ambassador to a country in Africa (I don't remember which one :P), and he was recommended to the MTC by Church headquarters to learn more about what our Church believes. The problem is, he sees Jesus Christ as a great teacher on how to live a fulfilling life, but he doesn't believe that Christ made the atonement, and he has no interest in learning about anything not pertaining to this life.

We taught him last night, and we made some progress, but he is very familiar with how most Christian churches function, and so whenever we start talking about anything other than this life, he stops listening and tells us "I already know that you believe that stuff, and I really don't care about it".

But we had a good lesson last night, and we had a good discussion in our residence afterwards.

Today, we attended the temple endowment session at 7:00am, and we gained some spiritual insights into how we can help our investigators, as well as to encourage us.

This is our last P-day before we leave, so we're trying to take advantage of it (this involves singing, running, working out, gym time, snowman building, and taking pictures which we can't send until we leave the MTC).

Oh! It's been snowing the last couple of days! I can't believe how beautiful it is! The clouds come and sit on top of the mountains and it just snows and snows and snows. I love it!!! The Cafeteria food is great, and there is PLENTY of it. And because I've been working out with my companions, I've been putting on a lot of muscle weight. It's awesome! My spine doesn't stick out anymore, and I don't get tired... Like, EVER... We have a pull up bar right outside our residence door too, which means I get to do it every day. :)

So, as far as letters go, those "dear elder" letters that you sent me made it though! And it was awesome to get them! But you all should go ahead and send my letters to my actual mission since I'll be going to Spokane on Monday. I only get to check my Email on Pday, but I get to read any letters I get as soon as I get them, so those are awesome too!

I miss you all! and I was so glad to hear what's been going on at home!

Please give everyone my mission address! I want to hear from everyone!

{Here's his mission home address!!!}WASHINGTON SPOKANE MISSION820 S Pines Rd. #101Spokane Valley, WA 99206-5420

Love you all, and I'll write you all an Email again next week!

-Elder Keppner