conversations with the president.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:


How are you doing President?

I haven't heard from you in a while, I hope you're having lots of fun with your call as Mission President. I've always loved the quote from President Hinkley that says

"In all life have much joy, life is to be enjoyed, not just endured"

I have been trying to make that a bit of a motto in my life, I'm out here and there are plenty of good times and plenty of hardships with trying to teach people the gospel, but I have to step back and have fun while teaching, I have to be happy and enjoy the time that I get to spend out here in the Lord Vineyard, and if there are struggles, I have to rise above them and see the good in every circumstance!

Both Elder Foulger and myself are having a good time in Bismarck and are really excited for some of our investigators and less active families, and for some of the good choices they have been making. We're both a little anxious about upcoming transfer calls, but we know that if either of us get transfered it will be to somewhere we need to be! And that's good enough (wow I'm in a good mood today) Anyway! Hope you are enjoying your time here and having lots of fun!

Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; with the change in my email account some of my old emails were not being forwarded, so i apologise for the past weeks and your not receiveing my letters. i want you to know that i was writing, they just werent being sent. i am grateful that you are busily engaged and enjoying the labors. the work is great and the labors are few but if were united we all things can do. the Lord will continue to bless you as you seek to do His will. love pres layton

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

Ah, yeah this new myldsmail has caused a bit of confusion with some, I suppose it did probably eat up my e-mails, no problem. I'm looking forward to a new transfer with a new companion, we have a lot of new stuff going on with the work too, so it may be good with all this new activity over here. I'm excited and nervous at the same time, and can't wait to meet Elder Richardson.

Like the fish on the wall says "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
Love Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; i have always enjoyed the dont worry be happy fish. i think the Lord said have faith and i will give you joy. i know that you and elder richardson will do many great things in bismark while you are serving together. thank you for all that you are striving to do to build the kingdom. love pres layton

On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 11:02 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

Well, things are definitely different up here in Bismarck, but like I said before different may very well, be a good thing up here, we were looking at a whole new teaching pool, and have since begun to act on that new pool, some of them are wonderful and some are struggling to accept our message. We however keep trying day by day, and won't let the downs keep us from doing this marvelous work. I hope you are enjoying this little heat wave we have been getting. Hope you have lots of fun!

Love, Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; thank you for checking on the storage unit, it helps me to know how we can proceed with our needs in that part of the mission. i promise you that as you seed guidance and work hard that your pool will not only grow but that those you teach will progress towards the truth. thank you for all you are doing and for your desires to fulfill your calling. love pres layton

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 2:01 PM, Brady Kissner wrote:

Oh yeah, no problem with the storage unit, it was good to know that we have enough 'stuff' to help out where it may be necessary. Good things are happening, out teaching pool is beginning to grow as we weed out those who were less interested, we tend to find more that are, and can thus teach more effectively. I regret to say though that our miles on our car are a little on the high side, so Elder Richardson and myself have been doing quite a lot of walking lately, but it's good for us, and we've ran into many different individuals just on the streets. Which reminds me, we were walking just yesterday and ran into someone who was very genuinely interested in the church, however he lives in Grafton, North Dakota, we would like to know if there are missionaries in that area, or that cover that area that may be willing to teach him. His name is Tim and his phone number is 1-816-914-3331, we weren't able to get a home address or last name in the course of the conversation, but he has talked to many LDS individuals before, and was excited when we told him about the temple here in town! If there is any missionaries that are in that area we would love to pass the information on. If not that's alright too, we can try to contact him, and teach him when he's in town!

Thanks for all your support and sorry for the brick of a message!

Love,
Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; you can send me a brick of a message anytime, i enjoy them. i am glad that the weather is turning warmer and it makes walking and biking easier. grafton, nd is 40 miles north of grand forks and it would be in their area. give elder grant and elder woodall a call. walking does have its advantages, keep on doing the great job you are. love pres layton

On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 8:45 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

We've still be walking all over, and were planning on having a good month for miles to make up for the atrocity last month, Thank you for the information on Grafton, as soon as I am done here in the library I plan on calling them and giving them his information. Hopefully things will go well and they will find the time (and means) to make it up to teach him. Things have been going alright down here, with conference behind us and zone meeting coming up tomorrow we're all sorts of pumped up. I hope you're having a great spring, and I'll see you tomorrow!

Love, Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; it was good to be with you at zone conference and to have the chance to visit with you. you are a wonderful missionary and you have my trust and confindence in your abilities to be an effective instrument in the Lords hands. i know that as you devote yourself to the work that many tender mercies will come to you and your family. love pres layton

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 9:51 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

Hey President,

Sorry this week has been such a bad week for us, I've been fighting a flu/cold for the past week, ending each day with a "I'll be better in the morning" so the first few days in the week we stayed in for non-appointments, but as the week went on I couldn't stand it anymore so we still went out and tried people. However, it didn't make up for the unaffective week we had at teaching. However, we did still have some wonderful lessons, and were hoping for a much better week this week. And don't worry about me, I'll be better in the morning!

Love, Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; you might not have been feeling well this past week but at least you did not lose your sense of humor. i hope that by now you are feeling better and back to 100%, i guess it is all of the hot weather that you are having to adjust to. thank you for all you are doing and dont forget to take two asprin and call me in the morning. love pres layton

On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 9:30 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

All's up and up this week, it's been a fairly good week for us, no more flu, and thats good enough for me! we've had quite a few good lessons this past week, and have been making headway into some potentials and older investigators getting them ready for baptism. It's funny, I've noticed it before, but have had it reaffirmed this week, whenever we end the day thinking, wow, today was a great day, I tend to look down at my planner and realize that we did almost nothing that we planned, but one thing led to another and we managed to have a full and productive day none-the-less. Anyway, alls good up here in Bismarck, just looking forward, to housing a gaggle of missionaries and having zone conference next thursday. Hope all's well and stress hasn't held you down!

Love, Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; thank you for your letter, i always enjoy reading them. i hope by the time that you read this response that you have survived the gaggle of missionaries and are settleing in on your new call. thank you for accepting and i know that you will do your best. you have all of my confindence and no one expects you to do more than your best and it will be sufficient. you certainly have a little more area to cover and i hope that we can follow up with potentials in the mandan area book. thank you for doing all that you do, love pres layton

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 9:31 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

It has definitely been an interesting week over here in Bismarck, I've been trying to go around and meet the Mandan Investigators and Potentials, with only a small amount of luck, we've only really gotten in to see some of the less active members, but still we'll keep trying. Were trying to see if we can set up Mandan appointments all on the same days, so that we will be able to just have what were calling 'Mandan days' where we go and try to visit everyone in Mandan, hopefully everything will work out. I have to admit, I'm still a little taken aback with my new calling and not sure if I can measure up all the way, but I promise that I will at least try to do what is necessary. Thanks for all the support president, I hope and pray that this work can continue with ease

dear elder kissner; thank you for your email and for your efforts to bring yourself up to speed in mandan. you most certainly will not lack for things to do to keep busy. i cant promise you that the work will continue with ease, but i will promise you that aa you do your best you will be sustained and make equal to the task at hand. we grow when we stretch. thank you, love pres layton

On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:38 AM, Brady Kissner wrote:

Dear President Layton,

This week was a fairly good week for us, we managed to see lots of different people and get to meet some of the investigators in Mandan, they are starting to warm up to us already and while it sometimes gets confusing and we may reteach certain principles, we still keep trying and teaching. Honestly, I prefer being busy to bored, (not that I was bored before, but now I'll be busy!) so I'm glad that I have to chance to be in Mandan and working with the people there. I wish you the best of luck as you strive to fulfill your calling, I can imagine it a slight bit busier and more stressful then my own. Lots of Love, Elder Kissner

dear elder kissner; the old saying is: busy is as busy does. i know that you are working hard and being blessed for your efforts to teach and to find. i hope that this week went well and was productive. i pray that you and elder richardson are continuing to progress in working in harmony and trust. you both have so much to lend to the Lords work. thank you for being the missionary that your mother thinks you are. love pres layton

Grandpa's first Mission

Lessons sometime come in ways we seldom expect. When I served my mission in Geneva Switzerland back in the 1960s the Church decided to authorize the missionaries to purchase motor bikes. Every missionary that I knew had one and my companion was no exception. As a new missionary, I wrote home and told my folks about it and they sent me the money to buy a new bike. So my companion took me over the border into France, which was part of our mission, to buy a French made Mobilette.


Licenses were not required to operate one of these low powered motorbikes. As Americans we were not familiar with European driving rules and regulations anyway, so that didn’t seem to matter much.

On one particular day my companion and I had an appointment on the other side of town. As was our practice, I followed my companion a few yards behind because he knew his way around and I was still getting my bearings. The cardinal rule of driving in France and Switzerland in those days was essentially a defensive one. Simple and easy to remember: “Priorité á droit!” or the person on the right has the right-of-way. I knew this rule as my companion hammered it into me quite thoroughly. What I didn’t realize was that this rule always applies, no matter what, even for a small truck exiting an alley.

So here I am tooling along behind my companion who had managed to get about 30 yards ahead of me. And this guy pulls out of an alley in his small delivery truck a deux cheveaux (like the one driven by Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther movies). He didn’t look to his left… after all why should he look, he had the right of way… right?

It all happened so fast I had no time to react. My right knee hit the front of his fender which catapulted me over his hood leaving my bike to take the full brunt of the impact with the front of his mini truck. Whether it was my tumbling experience from my High School days, or the manner in which the collision took place, or the Lord watching over me, I cannot say… probably all of the above. But I just landed in such a way that I rolled on my shoulders and came to my feet. Turning about I began to walk back to the truck driver’s window. To discuss with him what had happened. By the time I reached his window, the pain in my knee hit me and I crumpled passed out to the pavement.

I next awoke finding myself in an ambulance sort of floating along. At the hospital they X-rayed my knee and determined that it was only bruised. When my companion finally showed up, I realized that he hadn’t heard any noise behind him so he continued on without looking back. He recounted his version of what had happened.

He had arrived at our appointment and turned to wait for me to show up After what seemed like an eternity, he decided he had better back track and see what had become of me. When he saw the police car and the crowd, he made his way through the throng. When he saw my mangled crumpled bike in front of the deux cheveaux still sitting where it all had occurred, I can only imagine the panic that came over him when he began to inquire as to the condition of the rider of the bike. A woman standing near didn’t help his matters when she asked, oozing pity, “C’était ton ami?” – “It was your friend?”

The police informed him as to what hospital they had transported me giving no information as to my condition. He then beat a path there only to find me sitting on an examination table laughing and OK.

What did we learn that day?

1. To obey all traffic laws even though you may not believe that they apply in all circumstances.
2. Always keep your companion in sight.
3. That the French language has another use of the second person singular form tu-toi-ton. Normally it is reserved for close family and friends and as a form of reverence as in addressing our Heavenly Father. But thee, thou, thy are also used to denote pity or deep caring for the person being addressed. Hence she said “C’était ton ami?” rather than “C’était votre ami?”

Elder Arnold A. Miller

Working hard

So anyway, weather update, I'm pretty sure that I've already told you that North Dakota has the fastest changing weather in the world. Well get this, with us having to go to Mandan now, we made a trip over there earlier this week, the sky was bright and blue, hardly a cloud in the sky, the momment we hit the Mandan border, I had to turn on my windshield wipers to full to be able to see anything it was so bad. Then just 3 minutes later, blue skys again! I love North Dakota... haha


But yeah, eventful week, we got 2 new people on date this week, bringing us to a total of 5, Dion ------, was put on date earlier this week by Elder Callor on his last day in town (he did that on purpose btw, so he could say he put Dion on date) Dion is Curtis's foster child, I've told you about Curtis (BTW, he asked for our phone number so watch out he might call you someday haha) anyway, so Elder Callor, convinced Dion to taking the missionary lessons and then getting baptized... I'm not quite so sure on how we're going to teach him since we know him too well, and he has ADHD. It's like trying to talk to your best friend about the gospel, it just doesn't really work too well, but we'll figure it out and hopefully he'll go through with it.

Also, we got a lady named Denise _________ on date today, she's a native who has next to no religious background. She loves the lessons and especially about prayer and faith as she has seen a marked increase in her life since she has begun praying and having faith that things will turn out all right. She may be on Parol, but we're going to have a 'law of the land' lesson with her to find out where she stands, honestly it's just getting out the big lessons now, we've taught the doctrine lessons, now we just got to teach her the, WOW, chastity, tithing, fasting, LotL, so we better get to work, I really hope that she is willing to change.

You may be thinking huh, why is it that you are putting people on date to be baptized before they know too much, many times when they learn that they can be baptized they start working harder to meet that goal, other times, it becomes harder for them to make any progress at all, but I have faith that as we keep teaching them they will continue to want to go further in the gospel.