My latter days in St. Maries?

Snowy St. Maries

Hey everyone!

First, I just wanted to say how AMAZING being on a mission is. This is the best thing I've EVER done in my life, and I'm happier than I've ever been out here, serving the Lord.

This Sunday, we find out if either me or Elder M--- is getting transferred. I hope it's not a sin to pray that I get to stay here in St. Maires, because I kinda already did... ;P

Anyway, I've really fallen in love with St. Maries, and all of the people in it. It's a quiet, beautiful town, and the people are kind, understanding, and truly searching for God.

Elder M--- in the snow

This last Sunday was Stake Conference, and we missionaries had seven investigators there with us. Our newest investigator, R---, is a young mother who lives with her boyfriend. She actually came and found US because she had some questions for us. Her first question, which was totally sincere, was:

"So, I don't want to go to Hell. How do I not go to Hell?"

So, we taught her and her boyfriend about the plan of Salvation. She believed every word we said, and told us that every church she had been to, had told her that she was going to hell because she hadn't been baptized into their church. She had a bunch of questions, and we were able to answer all of them through the Spirit. She has been coming to Church ever since, and she is working towards getting baptized! Whooo! 

A Wedding for S--- and M---!

Last night, we had a wedding for S--- and M---, two of our investigators who are working towards getting baptized, got married in the Church building. As soon as they heard about the law of Chastity, they said they wanted to get married, and now that they are, it won't be long until they're baptized as well. :D

AND tonight, S--- and A---, two of our OTHER investigators, are getting married, and then baptized, all on the same night! We're filling up the font now, and all of the decorations are up! They're so excited, and they are so ready.

The Brides!

Me and Elder M---'s goal here in St. Maries has been to ensure that those we baptize are truly converted, and that they wont leave the Church later on down the road. You see, there are two hundred and fifty members in St. Maries, but only about sixty are active (ten of those are because of me and Elder M---!!! :D).

It's the worst feeling I've ever felt, as I see all of these wonderful people, who partook of the fruit of the tree, and then cast their eyes about, listened to the mocking of those in the great and spacious building. If I could do one thing on my mission, it would be to help everyone here be fully converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and help them see the importance of Enduring to the End.

I love these people, and it hurts when they lose sight of what is truly important.

Anyway, before I "Sign Off" I wanted to testify of the power of the priesthood. It is truly the power of God. I've used it to give blessings of healing, which saved a life. I've used it to cast out devils. I've seen and been a part of the miracles that can happen when we truly seek to do God's will. I'm so grateful for God's trust in me, and I'm so honored to be able to help my brothers and sisters through this incredible power. It reminds me every day that I must be worthy, and prepared to do as the Lord directs through his Holy Spirit.

The priesthood is truly God's power, given to man to do his well, and I thank God every day for this opportunity to do miracles in His name.

I love and miss you all. ;) 

-Elder Keppner

The Snow Deepens...

Cool Elder K

SNOWWWWW!!! The snow is going NUTS up here!

We now have about three feet of snow, and it's still coming down! Wedding plans and such continue, and there is A LOT of paperwork we've had to fill out, but, it's all so worth it!

We have two new investigators: L--- and R---.

L--- is a funny guy, and he is a BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN. I mean, he is NUTS about Jesus, and says "AMEN!" to everything we say that he likes, and he is constantly telling us how much Jesus means to him. He went on a Church Tour, listened to our first lesson on the Restoration, and then said he'd pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true.

R--- is a different case altogether. She told one of her Less Active LDS neighbors some questions, and he told her to talk to the missionaries. So we met her and her boyfriend, and the daughter they had together at their apartment, answered her questions, and taught the Plan of Salvation. Some of her questions were: "I'm terrified of dying. What happens when I die?" "I don't want to go to Hell. What do I have to do so I don't go to Hell?"

She also came to church this Sunday, and she really liked Sacrament meeting, so, we have another lesson with her later this week! Yup! She was so sincere with her questions, and she has always been extremely honest. After all three hours of Church, we asked her what she thought of church. She told us that the second and third blocks of Church were "Long, and kinda boring. But I liked the first meeting a lot!"

Also, I wanted to note, that Elder H---, one of my best friends from the MTC just had a family tragedy. His brother committed suicide. Please pray for him. He was crushed, but he gave an amazing testimony about how this is the true church, and that we can't be held back from our calling by ANYTHING. He told us, that no matter what, God will allow us to fulfill our mission. Because of this, and having talked with him, I can truly say, that we have NO excuse to complain or give up on our missions. If he can wade through ALL of this stuff, we can carry on through our small daily challenges.

On a happier note, I can't believe I'm getting close to the end of this transfer! I'm about one seventeenth of the way done with my mission already! It goes by so fast! I really don't want to be transferred out of St. Maries! I love it here, and I feel like I just got here! I hope it's not wrong to ask God if I can stay here for a few more transfers. :-/

I LOVE hearing anything and everything from you guys.

-Kep

(Mom's note here: I am including a picture Brennan sent that shows a REAL road he found called "Kidd Island Road." Those of you familiar with the Keppner Family Game Brennan created will understand! :-D )

Who knew that Kid Island exists in Idaho???

Now things are getting a bit crazy...

Elder Keppner in a Winter Wonderland

Hey everybody! How are you all doing?

I was so happy to get letters from Susanne, Daniel and Valarie this last week, and I'm writing back today. I LOVE letters, so, if you send me any, I'll write you back as soon as I can.

So, here in St. Maries, we now have TWO baptisms coming up, and now, TWO WEDDINGS! You see, in St. Maries, a lot of people have trouble with Word of Wisdom (Smoking, mostly), and/or Law of Chastity. So, once they learn the gospel and accept it, they have to quit smoking and/or quit breaking the law of chastity. SO, this means, that we ended up with two weddings and two baptisms!

Yeah... they call us the "hitching" Elders around here. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, planning two weddings at a time as a missionary, SUCKS. We have so many calls to make, so many things to oversee, dresses, rings, decorations, food, punch bowls, lists of things they are allergic to, cakes, pictures, and guests... AHHHH!!!

It's all good though, and I love and miss you all! Sorry the Email is short, but I have to go get four new tires for our car. (We popped one, and all of them are balding. :-p )

Love you!

-Elder Keppner

Beautiful Narnia-- er, St. Maries

PS: I'm serving in Narnia! I don't know who put it down, but tell them that I'm serving in flipping Narnia! :-D

Weddings, baptisms, and haircuts

My quilt! :D (Made with love by Granna Williams!)

Our apartment!

Hey everyone!

Things have been CRAZY here! My one baptism has now become TWO baptisms and a WEDDING!

Ice Scraping! Every morning! And guess what?
I LOVE the FREAKING COLD!

Here's the story:

S--- was getting set to be baptized, but in our next lesson about Temples with him and his wife A---, they asked if they could be married in the temple if they weren't married legally...

Both me and Elder M--- just about cried.

You see, they had told us that they were married, but it turns out that they CONSIDERED themselves married and that they weren't LEGALLY MARRIED.

When we calmly told them that they would have to be legally married to proceed with the baptism, A--- (the wife) started crying, and saying that they couldn't do it.

When we asked why, she said that they didn't have any money.

We told her that the wedding would be free, and completely provided for by the Church.

She then said that her one and only relative, her grandmother, lived in Florida, and would not be able to afford a plane ticket to see the wedding. She refused to be married without her grandmother.

Me and Elder M--- stopped for a bit so that the spirit could guide our next words, and then we told her that she would have to receive the answer to this problem herself from God. She hadn't prayed up to this point, but she promised that she would pray to know what to do.

The next day she greeted us, and told us to "get in gear for a wedding"! She said that she had received an answer, not only that she needed to get legally married, but that she should be baptized, and that she should work towards being married in the Temple next year. S--- and A--- both then asked to have the wedding, and the baptism on the same day, and we said that we could do that.

So! Now after only a couple of weeks, I'm staring down planning a wedding, AND two baptisms!

I can't tell you how happy I am. For once, I can honestly say that I've "Done some good in the world today". I've been able to be an instrument in God's hands and even if I never got another baptism, I will still feel like I served a successful mission, because God, through me, has made an impact in the lives of these two wonderful people.

My hair before getting it cut...

So, as far as everything else goes, things have been both busy, and productive. We now have five investigators who come each week to Church, and we have taught a LOT of lessons. Everyone knows who us missionaries are here in town, but they all also know that they can trust us, and if they ever need anything, they can "Just ask the missionaries! They can help you!"

My hair AFTER getting it cut. (Today)

Oh, we also get fed by members EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. The ward LOVES us missionaries, and we certainly won't starve out here. We spend WAY under our budget because the members give us tons of food. I now have about $200 dollars on my card, and I'm only given $80 per two weeks. I also wanted to let Mom and Dad know, that I eat EVERYTHING the members serve me!

I now actually quite enjoy Lasagna. :)

Our district pet! He was next to a trash can with a tear under his arm. We patched him up with plastic wrap, and placed him in our living room. :)

I love and miss you all, but I'm safe in the knowledge that you'll all be there when I get back, so I'm far from trunky. (Which is good because I've only been out a month. ;) )

Please continue to write me! Letters are the best gift ever get from home here in the mission field, and I treasure each one!

Love you all!
-Kep

I'm in the Mission field!

Elder Keppner with his trainer, Elder M.

Hey everyone!

Well, it's official; I'm in the mission field!

I'm sorry I haven't written in so long, but my P-days will be on Monday from now on.

The last few days in the MTC were crazy! We had meeting after meeting, and we had spiritual experience after spiritual experience. I got to go through the Provo Temple with the other missionaries in my district (which was amazing by the way), and we had a lot of lessons with investigators.

So you know that investigator A--- I mentioned before? Well, it turns out he is the Ambassador from Haiti. He was in Salt Lake and kept hearing about the "Mormons" so he went to find out what they believe. He showed up at Church headquarters and asked them what they believe, so Church headquarters sent him to the MTC to find out from the training missionaries there.

Right before we left, the other two missionaries who had been teaching him got him to commit to baptism! It was amazing, and all of us were pumped. (Pumped is a word used by missionaries A LOT, so, you can expect me to use it from here on )

Anyway, we got up at 4:00am on Monday morning and took a bus to the airport. We waited around for a bit and called home, and then we all flew together to Spokane. After meeting with President Mullen (He's awesome by the way) and going through some training, we were sent to different homes to sleep for the night.

On Tuesday, we got our new companions, and were assigned to our new areas. Being separated from my district was almost harder than leaving home. I'm really going to miss all of them, and I hope I can serve in the same district as them somewhere down the road.

SO! The big news!

My new area is: St. Maries Idaho!

Look it up on Google maps! It's a small hick town, and it's in some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen.

My first day's impression was this:

-80% of the people here are over 60.

-80% of the younger people have some form of mental disability

-100% of the people that aren't LDS smoke like a chimney

But at the end of that first day, I was feeling like this was the place I was meant to serve.

Oh! My companion! His name is Elder M_, and he is an AWESOME trainer. He also has nearly photographic memory, which helps when you're trying to find the houses 50 miles away from town which are still in our ward boundaries.

After the first day though, a really grew to love this area. I love the people here. Most everyone is so humble, and EVERYONE knows who the missionaries are, and when there's a new one. We've taught a LOT of lessons to investigators, but most of our work is helping inactive members back onto the path.

You see, there are 250 people in our ward, but less than 60 show up to church on a regular basis.

Oh! I've got my first baptism on February 8th! His name is Shane, and he is AWESOME! When I asked him to be baptized, it came so natural and easy, I was worried that maybe I had done something wrong. When he said yes, me and Elder M___ calmly finished the lesson, and then we did and interesting dance once we were outside.

I LOVE missionary work. I feel like I was born to do this, and I've never been so completely happy in my life. This is God's work, and I'm so blessed to be a part of it.

Love you all,

-KEP


Stories:

So, cool story #1. Elder Lohan (He refuses to tell us if he's related to Lindsey Lohan) was going to play Ron in Harry Potter! No joke! He is from England, and he made auditioned to be Ron back when he was eleven. He made the part, but then something happened out of the blue that made it so he couldn't take the part. He told us about how it had been one of God's mercies that he didn't make the part, because if he had, he never would have joined the Church, and he never would have been able to serve a mission. Talk about cool!

Cool story number two. In the MTC, we were assigned to clean the Bathrooms in one of the buildings. The brother in charge split us into two groups and called us Team Rocket and Team Squirtle Squad (ask Lliam, he'll be able to explain it all). Anyway, I was in Team Rocket, along with Elder F___ and Elder H___. While scrubbing, me and Elder H___ recited the Team Rocket theme over and over and over again, and then we would passionately break out into the Pokemon theme song. So, awesome times.

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