Last O th' Transfer

Ohhhh shunk.

This is the last week of the transfer already. Well shoot...

Well, I hope I stay and that I get to keep Elder E--, but I always hope for that, so, I guess whatevs. I hate change.

Elder M-- (Right) and Elder E-- (Left)

But this week rocked. We worked our butts off, and had a grand old time. I think I'm starting to see how this mission thing is supposed to pan out.

Oh, and I gave my first District Meeting since being here in the ghetto. All of the companionships in my District are Sisters, so it's been a bit different than I'm used to. But it was really good.

They said they liked my training though, so I guess that we'll have to see.

It was super fun! I trained on the three top things I've found we need to be as a missionary:

-Obedient

-Hard Working

-Real

So, that's my rant for the week.

I love and miss all of you!

This mission thing is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love this stuff folks. I'm just ticked that transfers are coming up.

Love ya all!
-Keppy

Improvement and Progression!

Serious selfie...

Heck yeah!

It's a new week folks, and there is a lot going on here in the not-so-frozen-north. For one, it's not frozen. Yup. This time last year it was blizzarding, -15 degrees and cloudy. Now, it's sunny with a high of 55. It's so fetching hot! I'm out and about in rolled up sleeves and tryin' to stay cool while walking around. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to deal with Arizona heat again. :P

Aside from that, the work has been great! We're able to be up and about and people have become a little less reclusive. Now, whether that means they want to talk to us is a different deal altogether. People have been pretty responsive though, which we're A-OK with.

We've been working a lot with our investigator B--, and she's really been making some great changes in her life. She came to church for the first time yesterday, and it was super awesome!

Now, yesterday was Stake Conference, and good grief was it interesting. It started fine; Elder S-- and I were at the Honeysuckle building with B--, watching the Conference on the big screen. About 45 minutes in, BOOM: the internet died.

There was a five minute pause, and then our Bishop went up to try and fix it. Fifteen minutes later, it came back up, and we watched the next five minutes of it in peace. Then, BOOM, it crashed again. Once again, Bishop went up to fix it and called someone over at the Stake Center, but after ten more minutes of trying to fix it, he announced over the pulpit that the server at the Stake Center had crashed, and that it wouldn't be possible to fix by the end of Stake Conference. So, a new solution was presented: Bishop had a guy at the Stake Center call him, and put the phone next to a speaker at the Stake Center, and then bishop plugged his phone into his computer, which was hooked up to the church speakers.

We heard about every other word.

Super interesting stuff that. :P

Also, getting back to B--, She's quitting smoking next week! We're super pumped, and we're praying like crazy that she will be able to make it. Keep a prayer out for her!

Well, the rest is the same old same old.

Teaching, finding, tracting, praying, laughing, crying and being a missionary.

I should also mention that Elder S-- has been an amazing help at this point in my life. It's amazing all of the different things I've learned from each companion.

Guys, this mission has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I am not the same scared little kid that stepped onto the plane in the Phoenix airport more than a year ago.

God is real, folks. He really cares about us, and no matter how many times we screw up, and no matter far we fall, He'll pick us up and save us from ourselves. He has changed my life, and I've seen Him change hundreds of lives around me.

To anyone who doesn't know if they want to serve a mission, all I want to ask is: Are you happy with where you are? The mission will change you. It will make you the best YOU you can be. You will grow so much. It will hurt. Sometimes you'll break down and just scream because of how hard it is and how much it hurts, but no matter what, if you keep on keeping on, you'll find a weird energy helping you on, and guiding you.

That energy is God.

Guess what, no matter what you believe or don't believe, God still is there, and he loves you. Deal with it.

Peace out guys,
I love you.
-Keppy

Lots of Craziness!

E.K. serving in the world renown city of Hayden Idaho!

Hey everyone!

Nothing too crazy this week. Me and Elder S-- have made it a goal to teach ten lessons a day, and it's been going great so far! We've really been having a blast, and the work has been exploding! The Super Bowl has made a bunch of folks up here grouchy though, so, that's made things interesting with people driving by and shouting profanities at us missionaries every day. It's all good though! The Lord is awesome, and he helps us out.

 Goodbye to Teancum and Friends. The band has finally broken up. We finished our album though! :D

I'm out of time, but I thought I'd include a bit of a Q&A things that my mom asked me this week. If anyone else has questions they want answered in my next email, just send me the questions via email, and I'll answer them. :)

Love you all!
-Keppy

Q&A:

#1- Where is Elder S-- from?
 Elder S-- is from Palmer Alaska. He's been there pretty much his entire life, and he can take the cold like a boss.

#2- How often do you eat out with other missionaries?
 I eat out with other missionaries usually 1-2 times a week, although later in the month that dies down due to funds getting short. I'm trying to figure out how to get the social and District unity aspects, and yet not get unhealthy, so, it's a weird balance. Working on it!

#3- Do you cook some of your own meals? What do you cook?
I cook pretty much all of my own meals. I'm on what is now known as the Cheap n' Healthy Mission Diet. I make a banana and honey smoothie every morning as my breakfast. For lunch, I will either make eggs in one form or another or a ham sandwich. Dinner is usually with members, and if not, I eat leftovers. When I first came out, I wasn't the best with eating right, but I didn't have as much energy as I wanted, so I experimented until I have the diet I do today. :)

#4- What are your duties as a District Leader?
As District Leader, my duties are to take nightly accountings from all of the missionaries in my District, take all of their weekly numbers Sunday Night, give District Trainings once a week, accept or deny requests from the missionaries in my District to go to other missionaries areas within my District, and go on Exchanges for twenty four hours at a time to help the missionaries in my District with aspects of the work they may be struggling with, or see what things they are doing well.

#5- Are you teaching someone in this area? What are your investigators' names?
Yes, me and Elder S-- are teaching a lot of somebodies. We currently have seven investigators, and we are working consistently with all of them. We also work with Less Active members pretty heavily, and we try to help them get back to church and live the commandments. Our investigators names are B--, R--, A--, M--, C--, H--, and G--.

#6- What does your typical day look like?
Well, to lay out a typical day would take a day to write, so I'm going to refer you to the White Handbook daily schedule. https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/topics/missionary/MissionaryHandbook2006Navigate.pdf?lang=eng That's what our day looks like, and we follow it religiously. (lol, get it, religiously? lol Yeah...)

#7-  Has anyone ever been mean to you as missionaries? How do you respond when someone is not nice to you?
Yes. I've had everything from guns, swearing, dogs, chainsaws and drive by fruit throwing. Recently we've been getting a lot of people yelling at us as they drive by. So, in response, I've started shouting back at the top of my lounges "Jesus loves you too!". It gets all my energy and anger out, and I'm still fulfilling my purpose. As far as things like anti, my new strategy is to laugh, and say "Man, thanks for your time, but we got things to do. Have a good one kay?" It's not worth talking to people who come up to you to anti them. They are there for a fight, so you just don't play there game. Enders Game style.

#8- What is the weirdest experience you have had in the missionfield?
The weirdest thing... Probably being made District Leader to be honest.

But for more interesting stories, I'd have to say that the weirdest thing was getting asked to Homecoming by some girls in Chewelah. Me and Elder F-- were in the parking lot next to the High School eating our dinner, when a couple of girls parked next to us. It was a nice night, and we had our windows down, so they rolled their windows down and called out to us, asking if we had dates to Homecoming (which was apparently that night). We laughed and said no. They mentioned that they didn't have dates either, so it was perfect. We then told them that we were missionaries, and before we said much more, they looked sheepish and drove off. So, yeah. Weird, and kinda sad. It's the tag man. Don't know what it is about it. ;P

So this week we ha- CHRISTMAS!!! :D

Holy heck, Christmas is coming! Caroling, parties, gifts, Christmas lessons, I love it all!

*Pant* *Pant*

Mkay.

This week was AWESOME! My companion and I worked our BUTTS off, and we've really started to see the results! We've all been having a blast with six of us living in one apartment, but now the Dalten Gardens Elders have to go back to their old house. :( Oh well, it was super fun while it lasted.

Elder S likes it! 

Speaking of fun, we had an interesting experience with our phone this week. You see, the phone I had when I first got here had been broken for quite a while, and the mission office finally decided to send us a new phone. Problem is... Well, look at the picture if you have any questions. My new companion Elder S-- likes it a lot though.

Oh well, life goes on, even if it is with a phone pinker than even my moms phone... ;)

Elder Keppner's hand holding his new PINK phone

Life has been great here! Thanksgiving week was slow because if people are even home, they are in the middle of a family reunion, and don't want to talk to a couple of kids off the street about Jesus. Thanksgiving dinner was good though. We had a quiet short dinner at a members home, and then went back out. So, really, it was about the same as every other day.

But now, CHRISTMAS is coming! Christmas is a missionaries dream! Everyone wants to talk about Jesus! We have plans to go caroling every night in different parts of our area, and share short Christmas messages with them.

Well, not a lot left to report, but I wanted all of you to know that I love and miss ya, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Love,
-Elder Brennan Keppner

Here and GONE!!!?

My companion, Elder G--

Hey ya'll!

CRAZY stuff going on here! My companion Elder G-- has been the BEST! We work so dang hard, and the only thing he complains about is the cold (it's 19 degrees). But now, as my good friend Elder M-- says: "Plot Twist!!!" Elder G-- got his Visa to Taiwan! So, we're dropping him off tonight at a mission office couple's home to stay the night so he can catch his early morning flight. So crazy! I LOVE this kid, and I'm really gonna miss him. I hope I was able to teach him what he needs to know. :'(

Goodbye to Elder G--, my son. He will take my posterity to all the world! :D

So, I'll be getting a new companion soon, and so the work will go on.

As far as the area goes, it is DANG COLD! I LOVE it! But everyone else here doesn't seem to like it so much. Oh well. Riding a bike in it is COLD to start with, but when you ride uphill for a few minutes, you're all warmed up. So, I tend to bike without a jacket.

The members here are GREAT! We get SO many referrals, and the members are good at following up too! The ward loves us, which is AWESOME because we love them too!

My only hope now is that my new companion will be as hard working and obedient.

I'm running low on time, but I wanted you all to know that I'm doing GREAT! I love the work, and I love being here.

We've started putting bananas in the hands of anyone caught sleeping. It is a tradition never to be forgotten. ;D

Love and miss you all!
-Elder 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

Priest RIVER!!!

Hey everybody!

This week has been a bit slow, but we are SO PUMPED for this next week. As a district, our goal is to teach 100 lessons! Me, Elder W---, Elder C---, and Elder W--- are READY FOR THIS!

We all see each other every day, and we all ride to P-Day and meetings together, so we are all aware of what everyone else is doing. 

Our firework show with a member... :D

All of that aside, this week was good too! We saw some CRAZY firework shows, some crazy wildlife sightings, and lots and lots of lessons learned. Also as general news, one of the Sisters I was in the MTC with went home this month. The announcement said Medical Release, but me and the Elders that came out with me are kinda worried about her. She was kinda the big sister of the group, and so we're all praying for her.

One of the 500+ eagles I've seen while on my mission.

Me and Elder W--- have done a lot of talking recently. Elder W--- and I are both dominant personalities, but I tend to back down rather than let it come to an argument. (Don't act so shocked mom. I really don't like to argue. ;P) President Mullen, our Zone Leader, and our District leader all gave us some advice and suggestions on how I can take the lead more, and how Elder W--- can submit more, and we are both working hard to follow their direction. Elder W--- and I are close friends, and so we talk about everything openly, and we help each other out. Man, I love this guy. :D

Priest River beauty! :D

I LOVE THIS WORK! I love being here, and seeing all of these miracles! I love the people I meet, and I'm so glad that I came out here! This is the BEST DECISION I've EVER MADE! This Church is true, and I would die defending that truth. I would also live my life to show my faith, hope and knowledge. IT'S ALL FOR REAL!!! I promise! With everything I am, I KNOW that this is true! And I'll praise God every day of my life! :D

More of this amazing area!

Nothing else big has happened, but I've got a bunch of pictures to send home now!

I love and miss you all,

-Elder Keppner