Brave New Year

Yeah, I'm skinny again. (Awkward selfie #296)
{He was sick all last week, so he lost a little weight.}

Hello hello!

Happy New Year, ya'll!

Things here in the good ol' Hayden 2nd are just cruisin' along. We got two feet of snow last night, but it's been raining since this morning, so, we'll see how long it lasts. If it drops below freezing, we're all in for a CRAPPY time on the roads. But, me and Elder S-- walk everywhere, so I guess we aren't affected by it much.

Let's see, what else interesting happened... Errrr. Uh, well, NEW FETCHING YEARS!

In our mission, we are allowed to watch one movie a year, on New Years Eve, from a list provided by President Mullen. This year, me and my peeps chose to watch How To Train Your Dragon with the M-- family, and we ate a TON of Papa Murphy's pizza to go with it. It was awesome! I love that family a bunch, and I'm so glad we got to chill with them.

Prepped for adventure! (Awkward selfie #297)

Also this last week, THE J-- FAMILY CAME TO SEE ME!!! Oh my heck, it was awesome to see them again! We all met up at Burger King, had a good chat, and played a bit O' geetar. AND, I may or may not have gotten a new and AWESOME guitar! Ah! So much awesome!

Now, I'm gonna take a chill, and finish off by saying: This day last year, I was in the MTC. At this moment last year.... I was probably on the toilet due to the MTC food that caused most of us to live on that ivory throne for two weeks.

Sorry, I'm hyper, tired, and kinda crude right now. I love you all though, and I'm thinkin' of you! 

Keep your cool, and know that this Church is true, the Book is Blue, and Jesus is a Mormon.

Love you all!
-Elder Keppner

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

FIRST LETTER!!!

We were surprised to receive our very first letter from Elder Keppner today! He entered the MTC this past Wednesday (January 1st!), and we were not sure when we'd hear from him.

But here's his letter below, with the names of the other Elders in his district abbreviated to maintain their privacy.

Hey everyone!
I'm not sure how to tell you everything that's happened to me in the last few days, so, please be patient with me as I spew all of this out. :)

As I walked alone through airport security, it really hit me that I wouldn't be coming back for two years. While I waited for my flight, I looked out the window, and realized that this was the last time I would be in Arizona for a long time. After that, I said a prayer in my heart, asking God to help me, so that I would not be homesick at any time during my mission. He answered my prayer. :) 

Anyway, while I waited, I bumped into SIX other missionaries (three sisters and three elders) going to the MTC that day with me. We talked a while, and when we boarded the plane, we were generally clustered together at the back of the plane. 

Flying is AMAZING! I sat at the window staring out like a wide eyed six year old as the plane took off, and flew over the route to Utah I know so well. After less than two minutes, we were out of the Valley, and over the mountains. Less than fifteen minutes in, we were over Flagstaff. I was in awe at how fast we traveled the distance that took us hours and hours to drive. Anyway,after our plane landed, we missionaries all met back up, got our bags, and rode the shuttle together over to the MTC.

OH! Ask Brother W. if he was running in Orem Utah by any chance on January first! I swear I saw him running as my shuttle drove by.

When I arrived at the MTC, we were taken through a quick introduction about where we would be staying and where everything was, and then we started classes, immediately. After the first few classes, we were each assigned a companion. Our district had four elders and four sisters, all of us heading to Spokane Washington. My companion, Elder F., is a wrestler from ___. He is six foot, and more ripped than Tanner (his cousin). The other two elders in our district were Elder H. (a big Polynesian) who is also a wrestler from ___, and Elder B., a small and thin elder from __.

From the first day, we all bonded as brothers. We all LOVE the gospel, and all of us feel very strongly about being here. There are a lot of elders that act like their here to screw off, but not these elders. MY elders. These elders are my brothers, and we all really love and respect each other. We've all worked so hard, and we are really working to improve, and bring others to Christ by invitation, and by simply allowing the spirit to work in their lives. One of our focuses is making sure that the Spirit teaches, not us. We try and make sure that this is all about the investigators relationship with God, and that we are simply to love them.

Our sisters are amazing (and beautiful, which is something we elders make sure we help each other with. Not because there is a problem, but because we want to make sure that our thoughts are where they need to be), and we are so blessed to have them. As a district, we are all truly brothers and sisters, and we ALL are completely focused on the gospel, the spirit, and helping others.

I can't tell you how much I've grown. For the first time, I feel completely alive, completely focused, and completely centered on Christ. We talk about the gospel 24/7, in our residents, in our classroom, in personal study, at meals, in the gym, it doesn't matter. We have deep discussions constantly about ways to improve, and ways to make sure the spirit is teaching. We also have A LOT of inside jokes about certain gospel topics (never say that it was "sweet to the taste" around Elder H.), and we LOVE being here. I really do love it here, and even though we work non-stop, I've never felt more at home.

Now, on a sad note, Elder B. was yesterday treated by the MTC doctor, and found to have a depression disorder which requires medical attention which would need to be resolved back at home. He was a spiritual giant, and he had NO interest in going, but the district President talked to him, and it was decided, that after he resolved the issue, he would be able to return to the MTC and continue his mission. We were all crushed to have lost him, but we all agreed, that no matter what happened or how long it took, we would all be in the Washington Spokane Mission together, and that we would sacrifice whatever the Lord required us to sacrifice to get there. We had a testimony meeting last night, and we were all comforted, and received personal revelation from God.

This morning we got up at 4:00am to take him to the shuttle and say goodbye. There were some tears, but the Spirit was strong, and we all were strengthened by it.

So, for mom's benefit, I have slept well, I shower regularly, I shave, and I follow ALL of the mission rules with exactness. I'm so happy here, and I am so excited to be here, and to work for something that I care about so much. I've only been here a few days, but it feels like I've been here my whole life.

Thank you all for everything you've done. And write to me! I'm the only one who has received no letter of any kind here at the MTC, and Elder H. is starting to think that I must have ticked everyone at home off for some reason. Please write!

I love you all,
-Elder Keppner
"Kep"

P.S.-- Oh! I'm also a zone leader. ;)

We don't have his MTC address yet, which is why we haven't sent him anything, yet! :-(

Yes, we're newbie parents at this missionary thing! LOL! Hopefully, he'll answer our return emails soon and give us his MTC address.