We've Got Missionary Spirit!

Hey! So ya, Laguna Beach is like the best place on earth. I could definitely see myself living here! 

I will give you the skinny on our ward. There are like 500 members but only 200-300 active which is not to bad. the most insane thing is the fact that a fair number of converts into the church come from the youth inviting in their friends. My mission pres told me I am in the most mission oriented ward -- probably in the whole church. In our ward council meeting I was shocked at how much the ward cares about helping bring back the less actives and fellowshipping the recent converts. Our ward mission leader, Brother Dunning is like the best human being ever!!! We sat down with him and just figured out the best way to help all of our investigators. 

We have 3 progressing investigators, Alexis, Don, Zach and Morgan (brother and sister to a recent convert, Michelle). Alexis is super close to being baptized. She reads the BOM a lot and loves it. She was a big Bible person and loves the plan of salvation. Our last lesson with her went amazing! She had a bit of a problem with the concept of there being a modern prophet cause she felt that it's scary having one person that we follow and not God. But we explained that even though the prophet is at the top of our church, Christ is still the leader. She went into the bishop's office this week and hopfully he will clear up any last fears that she has with being baptized.

Don will be baptized soon. He has a daughter who is dying of cancer and he is waiting for her to die before he goes through with it. He loves the church and he wants us to give his daughter a blessing....YIKES. Like that is going to be the hardest thing in the world, bless someone who knows that she is going to die.

And Zach and Morgan are a crazy long story.

My companion Elder Hancock is way cool. He is a very good teacher. I am his 5th trainee so he has been around the block. He's from Gilbert, Arizona and he is a huge ASU fan. Also he has been out for a year and a half. We don't do a whole lot of door to door but every now and then we go out and do street contacting which is scary and kinda fun. We meet so many cool people and we also get super shot down. So that just sucks.

Our apartment is a casita that one of the members owns and it is tiny. It's a one room kitchenette and bathroom place (it does have a fireplace so that's like awesome). But ya everything is going awesome. I am loving the work and am really enjoying reading the BoM. I am in Alma right now and it is awesome. I haven't had much time to take pictures but I will send some home next week. You will be blown away by the sunsets out here.

Well, till next week I love you all and keep praying for our investigators.

Some pics from the California Irvine Mission Facebook Page

Golden State of Mind

Hey! So I made it to Irvine -- it's amazing!!! I have already had my interview with the president and he is super awesome. I think he said I am to serve in the Laguna Niguel ward and that it is an awesome ward. 

We had a pretty warm welcome at the airport. There was about 15 people - from the presidency and a few elders and sisters. They love taking pictures of everything we do, including just sitting around. 

The best part about today is going to be the nap time they have set aside for us. Then around 4 we are going to have a transfer meeting where any missionary who is getting transferred or put into leadership attends. Also we will find out who our training companion is. 

They have posted a few pics already and there are more to come, also they have a few videos. But the people are amazingly nice and helpful. But I really want to go have my nap time right now so until next Monday this email will have to do and so will the pictures. 

Kye and the Mission President and his wife

Marking where he is from on the mission map

(Utah is in the bottom corner for some reason??)

Kye and his companion, Elder Hancock

MTC Happenings

It's so awesome that Virgil and Alice are back! It doesnt seem that long ago that they left. It's amazing how fast time is passing just being in the MTC. I, for the most part, can't tell  what day it is... the week is going by so fast! But I am LOVING IT! 

Me and Elder Oler got our new investigator on Monday. Her name is Carla. (When I talk to her I always wanna go, "DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU MESS WITH THE WARRIOR!") She is a really nice lady from Indiana and is studying law at BYU. She was born and raised Muslim....ya its pretty tough. But she is getting paid to come and let us practice teaching her. What she doesn't know is that the Lord has presented her this oppertunity and we have answers to some of her problems. The thing That I didn't know is that Muslims believe that Christ was blown out of proportion by man to be the Son of God and that we don't need a savior. It's hard to teach her cause everything we do is centered around Him. But we continue to push forward in faith that something will finally click. 

We had an awesome lesson with her yesterday. We didn't prepare any gospel lesson but just decided to go by the spirit. She really opened up to us. She is feeling very alone cause she is black and she has never felt so out of place in Utah. She feels that no one cares about her. It's been two years since she has been here and has never been asked out on a date. So we just talked about life but at the end I just felt this extreme desire to tell her that we love her and that God and Jesus love her more than she can possibly imagine! I don't know if she felt the spirit but it was there! Just keep her in your prayers also.

It sounds like Kade is loving it. On my first day here I ran into a senior couple here and we got talking. He found out where I live and he just asked me, "Do you know Kade Derrick?" I was like ya he is one of my best friends! He turned out to be Kade's uncle and he is going to go to New Zealand. I talk to him a bunch here and he is super cool. 

          Well I've gotta go! Love you tons! 

Welcome to the MTC! Don't Drink the OJ.

Hey!

So this is my first official missionary email!!!! So far the MTC is AMAZING! Other than the food. I mean it's not bad but it just makes you extremely gassy and I learned real quick not to drink the orange juice (it's super high in fiber!). But other than that I love it here.

 My Companion is Elder Oler. He is a pretty cool dude from Canada and the other companionship in our dorm is cool too. We all know how to have fun but we still work really hard. 

The first day here we were put into a room with about 30 other sisters and elders and a guy came into the room as an investigator and we had to take turns talking to him and figure out his big concern and then teach him the gospel. I have never felt so unprepared in my life. A bunch of the people in the room would hear something the investigator was talking about and immediately just stand up and testify of what ever it is he said the problem is. They weren't looking for that so we have to learn to listen and ask questions to figure out what their deep questions are then testify or teach them about that. 

We had one lady that we just couldn't figure out... like 20 kids got up and bore amazing testimonies and she said thank you but asked if we were listening to her. All she wanted was to get a feeling not answers because she was firm in her beliefs in God but she has just lost trust in Him. So she just wanted to know that it was ok and that there was a way to gain His trust and He would gain hers. 

The spirit here is every where. People all over the place are just happy to be here. It's amazing to know that we all share the same belief and desire to serve God. It's already my favorite thing to do my personal and companion study. You will learn so much more when you are given a profile of an investigator and then turn to the scriptures with the intent to find something that will help them. 

On a less spiritual level, we had an interesting first night. Elder Spotten, who is in our room, set our alarm. When it went off I checked my clock to see what time it was and it said 3. I just figured I accidentally hit a button so I didnt think twice about it but after about 10 minutes Spotten looked at his clock and we finally realized what time it was. That made for a LONG second day. 

Today is our first PDay but it only lasted till about lunch then after that we are back in class. We have time to do our laundry and then write our emails. Oh ya, I forgot I was made our district leader. All that means is that I am in charge of some district meetings with our branch presidency and that I am in charge of getting our zone's mail. It's not too glamorous. 

Well that's about all that is happening. It's not too bad having a really strict schedule. It's kinda nice. We don't have to worry about using our time wisely cause we dont get much time to ourselves. Well I love you guys tons and am super happy to be out here. Thanks again and I LOVE YOU!!!!!  

Getting Set Apart & Heading to the MTC

Kye was set apart as a missionary on Tuesday night (Jan. 6th) by President Harris. 

Before he was set apart, President Harris had some really great advice and counsel for Kye. He told Kye that he hopes he will come back having learned two specific things. First, that he learns to understand and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. And second, that he develops a testimony of the gospel that will stand as a foundation for him for the rest of his life. 

President Harris also took the time to ask Kye what his vision is for his mission {and I really liked his answer, so I hope he's ok with me sharing!}. Kye said as he was looking through the Preach My Gospel manual he felt like all of the lessons are best learned and taught when working with families. So his vision for his mission is to help people develop and strengthen their families so they can better learn and have the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So great. 

He was set apart by President Harris. His dad, Bishop Terry and bro-in-law Dane were also in the circle. After he was set apart he got to officially see his missionary plaque go up on the wall! Yay!

Then the next morning he was headed up to Provo to the MTC! Mom and dad drove him up and said that he was just so excited to get there and get started. My mom said, "... And he's off! Kye was so ready to be at the MTC that it's hard to be sad! Yes, we're sad he's gone, but excited for new experiences awaiting him!"

As they were pulling up, they had two lines to choose from to drop Kye off from. They quickly decided on one and were glad they chose the line that they got to see Elder Chandler Martineau! Hopefully they get to see a little more of each other!

See you in two years Kye! Love you!