Super Awesome Great Majestic Amazing Grand FLIPPING SWEET WEEK!

"Hey! Can we give you a card from our church?!?"

So, this week ROCKED!

First off, Elder F-- is a BOSS! We get along SUPER well, and we work fetching HARD. Our district set a goal to talk to 65 new people a week, and to everyone that's not a missionary, 65 new people every week, in a town with a population of 350, is CRAZY! But we're already seeing blessings from it! Last week, we talked to 13 new people. This week, we talked to 35 new people. Not exactly 65, but we worked our hardest, and man did it make a difference! We have a TON of new investigators, and all of them we found because of our relentless efforts to help people come closer to Christ. These people have real questions about God, our purpose here on Earth, and how they can be happy. It's great to be able to really help them!

Also of note, I have a reputation around the mission now as the Bible Thumbing Missionary. The problem a lot of missionaries face, is that they ONLY read the Book of Mormon. And they should read from it, EVERY DAY, but to only read the Book of Mormon really seems to deprive a lot of missionaries of the meat and potatoes of Christ's life and ministry. Not to mention, it makes it nearly impossible for them to connect with those of other faiths.

Now even if they DO read from the Bible, literally NO ONE I've met has ever read the Old Testament, which, while reading it again, I've found is full of prophecies of Christ, the Latter Days, and many MANY stories that help us understand who God is, and how we can be more like him.

Anyway, I guess you could say that I'm becoming a regular ol' Bible thumper. :P

Oh well. I'm getting off topic.

Mission life is great! I'm happy to be here, my companion is AWESOME, may area is GREAT, and the mission goes on! :D

I love you all!
-Elder Brennan Keppner

New Area, New Companion, New Opportunities!

Elder Keppner's in the house tonight! Read it.

Hey ya'll!

I'm sorry I missed the last couple of emails. Things have been CRAZY around here! But now they've cooled down a bit, so, that's good. :)

Goodbye to Elder W--. :'(

Now, my biggest announcement is... I've been transferred! :D I was SUPER sad to leave Elder W--, and I'm gonna miss Priest River like CRAZY, but I'm glad that my new companion, Elder F-- is a stud! We get along super well, and man, are we getting stuff done! We upped the numbers like crazy, and now we have an on-date, and five new Investigators! We're working our butts off, and it really is paying off.

Me and my man Elder F--! :D

Man, I love mission life.

There are challenges for sure, but God helps out a LOT. No matter what happens, I know that it will always work out in the end. I've just gotta be patient, and it'll all be worth it. I am of course, looking forward to returning to my loved ones in about 15 months, but I'm for sure, THIS is where I need to be. Ah! I have so little time left to serve the Lord! So little time left to learn, grow, and bring others closer to our Savior Jesus Christ!

My mission is awesome! And I'm just happy to be able to be here, and I'm looking forward to more missionary awesomeness!

o.O Camels... In northern Washington...?

This church is so true. People may not be perfect, but that's why we belong to this Church, and why we turn to our Savior Jesus Christ, BECAUSE we're not perfect, we try to learn from our mistakes, grow from our experiences, and become more like the people God wants us to be.

Goodbye to the Wild Bison! (My old District. :'( )

I can't say it enough, and I won't ever be able to express it fully, but this Church is truly Christ's Church. That's why I'm here. I'm not here because of what people have told me to do, or because it sounded like fun. I'm here because I felt God touch my life through the Holy Spirit, and EVERY time I ask, I get the same answer. THIS IS THE TRUTH.

I know that, and I've bet my life on it.

I love you, and I'm excited for when I can be with you again!

Keep the faith!
-Elder Brennan Keppner

P.S.- This is the Mom. Elder Keppner did forget to let us know that he was transferred to Chewelah Washington. He would still LOVE to receive letters from family and friends, but he's in a tiny town, and would prefer that his letters be sent to the mission home. They get them to him swiftly (It only takes ONE extra day!), so just go ahead and send them to this address: 

Elder Brennan Keppner
820 S. Pines Rd. Suite #101
Spokane Valley, WA 99206

I'm on the Up and Up! :D

This week was great!

Can I just say, I love being on my mission! This week has been crazy, awesome, and well, just another week in the Washington Spokane Mission! 

Me and Elder W-- are really getting along, and WORKING OUR BUTTS OFF! We've had some really good lessons, and we have been focusing on inviting everyone to be baptized. We are kinda baptism hungry, and we are working hard to do more, and really help our investigators to progress, and come closer to Christ.

A miracle this week we had this week came in the form of an unexpected over-the-phone lesson with our investigator M--. She had a lot of questions about the church. You see, her church had said a lot of less than kind things about us members of the church, and they had made up a ton of lies about us. But we bore our testimonies, and she said that she know that what we had told her was true, and that she wanted to know what we REALLY believe. 

So, we're teaching! It opened doors that otherwise would have been closed. 

The Lord is good! I love this work!

Sorry that it's short today, but I gotta go. :(

Thank you for your emails, and I'll hear from you soon!

Love and miss you all!
-Elder Brennan 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

Birthdays and Thunderstorms

Hey everybody!

I love you all!!!! This birthday has been, well, to be honest, my favorite! Everything about it was great! The presents, the food, the "Happy Birthday Elder Keppner!" and all of the awesome letters! Thank you everyone!!! It really meant a lot to me, and I really appreciated it!

...! I found it!

I don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to let you all know that I made some videos, and I'm sending them home on a thumb drive soon for you guys! Also, I'm going to include a TON of pictures on here from my birthday and for the rest of the week.

The Keppner Family Adventure Card Game! :D 
They loved it, and want to play it for a mutual activity. :D

As far as the rest of the week, it was pretty uneventful. But, we had some AWESOME lessons, and I learned a lot personally. You know, this Church really is true. Every day, I see it in action, and I know without a doubt, this IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Beautiful Priest Lake

This week, we had a CRAZY thunderstorm. We were at a dinner appointment when the storm hit, and the power went out. The wind was INSANE and the thunder was SUPER loud. So, we ate by firelight, and didn't think much of it. We were out of cell service, and so as we left. we came into service again, and got a TON of messages on our phone all at once. Asking where we were, if we were alright, and if we needed to be rescued from under a tree. 

Right as we got all these messages, we noticed that all of the houses around us that usually were lit up, were dark. We kept driving in the black, and then noticed something glowing and red in the road. Turns out that it was a road flare put out to call our attention to a massive tree that had fallen across part of the road. We went around, and then headed into town, dodging trees all over the road. All of the lights in town were dead, but from what we could see from our headlights, the town was TRASHED. Roofs torn off, trees everywhere, and a lot of general destruction. 

We hurried into our powerless apartment, got our flashlights out, and went to bed. The next day, we got a million freaking calls from the ward members asking if we were having church with the power out. We hurried over to the church to see if there was power. At 7:30 that morning, and hour and a half before church was supposed to start, the power came on at the church. We made a bunch of quick phone calls, but not many people came to church, so me and Elder W-- ended up blessing the sacrament.

Our moving investigator (right), and a ward member (left)

Also to note this week, one of our AWESOME investigators moved this last week to attend NIC, and while we were sad to see her go, she told us that we brought her closer to God than anyone has before. So, we're going to inform the missionaries in that area, and hopefully she can continue the lessons! 

Elder W--'s "creepy face"

Ah! This transfer is almost over. This is the last week, and this Sunday we get transfer calls again. Elder W-- really wants to leave and see more of the mission, and I really want to stay here in Priest River, so, I guess we'll see who goes where. :)

I love you and miss you, and I pray for you all!

Love,
-Elder Brennan Keppner

Presents, Lessons, and Exchanges!

Hellooo family!

This week has been crazy, awesome, and exhausting! The work is moving forward, mistakes have been made, and the Spirit is on a ROLL!

We taught a lot of lessons this last week, and for our efforts, we have 3 new investigators!

Probably the highlight of this week was the exchange me and Elder Wa--- had here in Priest River.

Elder C--- (our district leader) organized the exchange, and Elder W--- ended up going to Newport with Elder C---, and Elder Wa--- came here in Priest River with me. When Elder Wa--- arrived, I told him that the one thing I wanted from this exchange was to "work our butts off". Elder Wa--- liked the motto, and so that's what we did. We ended up teaching 12 lessons that day, and finding 2 new investigators! We went up and down every street in Priest River, and we talked to EVERYONE! We worked hard, and we had amazing results!

Also this week, I had a talk with Elder F--- from the mission office. He and President Mullen both think that I should try to get my driver's license here in Idaho. I have been in Idaho for more than 6 months, so I have residency! :D So, as of right now, that is the plan!

I'll tell you all how that goes.

Oh! And I got my birthday package this week as well! I haven't opened everything yet, but even the gifts that weren't wrapped were GREAT!!! Videos from home, a new CD, an old card game I made back home a long time ago, and some delicious homemade cookies from my sisters!

AH! I'm so excited to open the rest of the gifts tomorrow!

Some of the ward members are throwing me a bit of a birthday party, and one of our investigators says that they have a present to give me too! Man, a birthday in the mission field rocks! :D

I can't believe I'm going to be 19 already! What the heck?!? I just turned 18! A year into adulthood, and I still feel/act/look like a kid. :/ Ohhh well. :(

Anyway, we're going hiking for P-day today, so, gotta go! :D

Thank you all for your letters, emails, and gifts! It means a lot to us missionaries to get stuff like that. No matter how bad our day, when we get something from home, it really brightens our day! Thank you all so much for all you do, and Godbless!

-Elder Keppner

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