Hi, Sister Kissner! I asked your son today in church for your email address so I could write to you and let you know how grateful we are to have him and his companion, Elder Brower, here in the Mitchell Branch. We are privileged to have them over for dinner in our home about once a week; what a blessing that is for us. They bring a wonderful spirit! We love both of these young men so much! They truly work well together and are surely among the best missionaries we've ever had serve here...ever!
My son, Trevor, is about two months away from returning home from a mission to Uruguay. I think that's why I just don't take these 19- and 20-year-old missionaries for granted like I probably did in the past. I know that, at home, they have families who miss them and pray for them...and who hope that the people where they serve truly appreciate them for all they've given up and for all they continue to give. They have mothers who have devoted their lives to raising those boys and who have bravely sent them off to faraway places, all the while desperately praying that they were ready and prepared, that they would be safe, that they would be blessed. Maybe it's only me, but I really hope there are families and individuals in Uruguay who love my son and recognize him for the awesome person he is. I hope they feel a need to support him.
I want you to know that that is exactly what we feel about Elder Kissner. We are so grateful to know him! What a spiritual young man he is. Your son has a genuine love for people that we so appreciate. He is humble and self-effacing, and he bears a powerful, yet tender, testimony. We love the messages he shares with our family; they are always very heartfelt and bring the spirit into our home. He's obviously been blessed with a wonderful foundation of gospel understanding and testimony, and I give much of that credit to his parents. Thank you for raising such an outstanding missionary! We have no doubt that he will do wonderful things throughout his life! You should be very proud of the amazing young man he is and for the dedicated way he serves the Lord. He is an example to us all.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy New Year!!
Happy new year indeed... It's misserable to think that at the end of this year I'll be at home
We really didn't do much for New Years Eve, our zone leaders asked us not to go tracting or contacting on either day, so we just sorta tried to visit people (I'd rather do missionary work when i can... So I didn't exactly listen to well to what they told me to do) so it was just another average day, the only difference is that we stayed up playing uno with rage cards, but it was fun cause we got to change the rules around a little bit for all the different cards that are in a rage deck. ie: bonus 5 drops the top five cards off the deck onto the play pile, so the next card is very random, so who knows whats going to drop. or -5 puts the top five cards on the discard aside, so a card previously played is the one they need to keep playing off of, it's kinda fun haha, it kept us busy until midnight... and 12:01 we went to bed. It was basically.. Happy new year! Good night.
The wind chill really is the problem, it's not so bad in warmer climates, but when it's like 5 degrees, a 20 mph wind puts it at like -20, it's bad.
For our branch Sunday meetings we are actually changing times this year, but it's for a different reason, this year we're finally adding a Sunday School class, so we're going to 2 and a half hours, so church is a half an hour earlier and gets done at the same time. So it'll be good, we have church at 9:30 now over here. It's actually surprising, this little branch has seen so much growth in 2010, all our branch presidency moved in in this year, as well as other families, and 2 families have become active, it's insane, I think we had our highest numbers since a missionary farewell talk some 5 years ago. We had 44 people at church this last week. The branch was all way happy and amazed that we're growing so well.
As for missionaries helping out at church, I doubt I'll be asked to play the piano, I can't play even nearly well enough to actually play the piano for people to sing, I still wish I hadn't quit, but that's neither here nor there. I'll have to deal with not knowing unless I spend the time to actually teach myself and practice, which I don't have on a mission anyway, so another time.
We do however give lots of talks and teach classes a lot, but that also is part of being in a small branch, everyone has given multiple talks and multiple musical numbers, it doesn't matter how good/bad you are at singing you'll probably be asked at some point to do such haha.
You know what... When I think about how trials will be in the life to come, I think about the change wrought upon the three Nephites, they were changed to no longer feel pain or sorrow, except for the sins of the world. That "except" rings with me, as it tells me that in the life to come, we won't have to worry about the weakness of flesh, we will have to worry about the weakness of our minds and mindsets, we will be absolutely sorrowed only when we see others making mistakes, or we make mistakes ourselves, God is perfect, and there are only 2 ways we can go in life, progressing or digressing, the only way for God to improve is to see our improvement, so his progression is to make us better, and when we fail to do such, he feels the only negative feeling that you can feel in that perfected state, sorrow for sin. We will not instantly be perfected at the end of times, we will not instantly become like God, it will be a long hard road of progression, that's why we have eternity to do such. And just like any trial, you cannot overcome it alone, without the help of our Father in Heaven, and without seeking the help from those he has given to us, we can't find the end of the road, our eternal progression will never reach perfection without another lifting us up. Even God himself I believe would not be perfect and thereby able to do all things had his eternal companion not been there to lift him up. Nothing in the Gospel is a solo act, everything about the Gospel is a team goal, no matter what you look at in the Gospel, no matter what you study, there will always be a link to how you need someone else to fulfill that subject.
Anyway, it was a fast week, I don't even know what happened this week, I only know it's over haha!
I'll see ya next week
Elder Kissner
We really didn't do much for New Years Eve, our zone leaders asked us not to go tracting or contacting on either day, so we just sorta tried to visit people (I'd rather do missionary work when i can... So I didn't exactly listen to well to what they told me to do) so it was just another average day, the only difference is that we stayed up playing uno with rage cards, but it was fun cause we got to change the rules around a little bit for all the different cards that are in a rage deck. ie: bonus 5 drops the top five cards off the deck onto the play pile, so the next card is very random, so who knows whats going to drop. or -5 puts the top five cards on the discard aside, so a card previously played is the one they need to keep playing off of, it's kinda fun haha, it kept us busy until midnight... and 12:01 we went to bed. It was basically.. Happy new year! Good night.
The wind chill really is the problem, it's not so bad in warmer climates, but when it's like 5 degrees, a 20 mph wind puts it at like -20, it's bad.
For our branch Sunday meetings we are actually changing times this year, but it's for a different reason, this year we're finally adding a Sunday School class, so we're going to 2 and a half hours, so church is a half an hour earlier and gets done at the same time. So it'll be good, we have church at 9:30 now over here. It's actually surprising, this little branch has seen so much growth in 2010, all our branch presidency moved in in this year, as well as other families, and 2 families have become active, it's insane, I think we had our highest numbers since a missionary farewell talk some 5 years ago. We had 44 people at church this last week. The branch was all way happy and amazed that we're growing so well.
As for missionaries helping out at church, I doubt I'll be asked to play the piano, I can't play even nearly well enough to actually play the piano for people to sing, I still wish I hadn't quit, but that's neither here nor there. I'll have to deal with not knowing unless I spend the time to actually teach myself and practice, which I don't have on a mission anyway, so another time.
We do however give lots of talks and teach classes a lot, but that also is part of being in a small branch, everyone has given multiple talks and multiple musical numbers, it doesn't matter how good/bad you are at singing you'll probably be asked at some point to do such haha.
You know what... When I think about how trials will be in the life to come, I think about the change wrought upon the three Nephites, they were changed to no longer feel pain or sorrow, except for the sins of the world. That "except" rings with me, as it tells me that in the life to come, we won't have to worry about the weakness of flesh, we will have to worry about the weakness of our minds and mindsets, we will be absolutely sorrowed only when we see others making mistakes, or we make mistakes ourselves, God is perfect, and there are only 2 ways we can go in life, progressing or digressing, the only way for God to improve is to see our improvement, so his progression is to make us better, and when we fail to do such, he feels the only negative feeling that you can feel in that perfected state, sorrow for sin. We will not instantly be perfected at the end of times, we will not instantly become like God, it will be a long hard road of progression, that's why we have eternity to do such. And just like any trial, you cannot overcome it alone, without the help of our Father in Heaven, and without seeking the help from those he has given to us, we can't find the end of the road, our eternal progression will never reach perfection without another lifting us up. Even God himself I believe would not be perfect and thereby able to do all things had his eternal companion not been there to lift him up. Nothing in the Gospel is a solo act, everything about the Gospel is a team goal, no matter what you look at in the Gospel, no matter what you study, there will always be a link to how you need someone else to fulfill that subject.
Anyway, it was a fast week, I don't even know what happened this week, I only know it's over haha!
I'll see ya next week
Elder Kissner
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Are you having a Really White Christmas?
Oh man is there snow, actually its been a very very calm winter season, we've really only had 2 storms that brought in snow, the third is going on right now, and I'm in Huron, SD for District Meeting, so I'll have to drive home in all this snow... yeah... Actually I very well could live somewhere where there is snow, I honestly have no problem with it, however, I really don't think I had that much of a problem with the heat either, I'd probably get sick of the snow if I lived here longer, eh we'll see what happens haha.
My new area is alright, it's just a little bit smaller then Gillette (the city) but the boundaries that I cover are much too large to be able to cover it all (I cover about 4 branchs, and the branch I'm in spans about 100 miles in width from Salem, to Chamberlain) So we really only go to the one branch here in Mitchell, We don't really have a chapel either, it's more like a refurbished house, but it serves the purposes for the little branch we have.
Well... We've been invited over for Christmas Eve to a few places, but Christmas day is going to just be a long day, we'll probably just stay at home all day... The zone leaders here have asked us not to proselyte on Christmas, so I'll have all day.
Oh hey, that reminds me, you can tell the kids that this year their christmas presents depend on how much they wrote me letters, and that there is still one more week before Christmas, I can definitly send a late christmas present haha!
Keep the smile on your face, if anyone knows, it's absolutely miserable to spend a day without being happy, stay happy.
My new area is alright, it's just a little bit smaller then Gillette (the city) but the boundaries that I cover are much too large to be able to cover it all (I cover about 4 branchs, and the branch I'm in spans about 100 miles in width from Salem, to Chamberlain) So we really only go to the one branch here in Mitchell, We don't really have a chapel either, it's more like a refurbished house, but it serves the purposes for the little branch we have.
Well... We've been invited over for Christmas Eve to a few places, but Christmas day is going to just be a long day, we'll probably just stay at home all day... The zone leaders here have asked us not to proselyte on Christmas, so I'll have all day.
Oh hey, that reminds me, you can tell the kids that this year their christmas presents depend on how much they wrote me letters, and that there is still one more week before Christmas, I can definitly send a late christmas present haha!
Keep the smile on your face, if anyone knows, it's absolutely miserable to spend a day without being happy, stay happy.
Monday, December 6, 2010
How is your new area?
Mitchell is alright, it's small and it'll take a lot of work being a new area, where I don't know anyone really yet. Last sunday was interresting, and an investigator we met Tuesday showed up and bore her testimony about how 'God puts in our paths those who were meant to help us and teach us, and how she was excited to learn about the book of mormon' I'd give a fuller version, but my companions been done e-mailing so It's a little rushed today. Elder Brower is an alright companion, he's a little head strong and thinks that he's always right, but a good missionary, and will do a lot of good work
My new address:
1110 W. Norway Ave. #106
Mitchell, SD 57301
My new address:
1110 W. Norway Ave. #106
Mitchell, SD 57301
Monday, November 22, 2010
Transfer?
Mom: So I've been waiting all week to hear if you got transferred. So, did you?
Brady:
Yes, mam I did, I'm gonna be sending off a letter later today or tommorrow hopefully that has more information on the transfer that I just am in the process of going through, I'm going up to Mitchell South Dakota, an area that hasn't seen missionaries in about a year, And, I'm training another greenie, so I"ll be really busy taking a somewhat new area with a totally new missionary and trying to turn it around... it's kinda funny I sorta regret, almost, turning around Gillette from what it used to be because president is now probably only going to call me to struggling areas..... I really hope I can do it this time... I have noticed that the work is very different the further east you go on the mission, so I hope that I can deal things out right all the way over here on the east side. The good thing is that being in the Sioux Falls zone means that in December I get to go to the temple in Bismarck, and if I can find the time I can go and visit some of the people that I taught when there, like Curtis and the Eagles. We'll have to see!
Yeah, we got the Heavy snow last night and this morning, which is really strange and fortunate, because that means the snow waited until I was out of a biking area to fall making it almost impossible to bike. So I really hope that Elder Schneider and Elder Davis my replacement (again... it's the same missionary who replaced me in Bismarck) can get around all right and still do all the good work that that area needs. I got confidence that If they keep working things will be alright, so what I told Schneider before I left was just keep him working and you'll do good in the area... There was a lot of good things going on in Gillette, and the next few weeks/ months should be really exciting over there.
Yeah I wrote down the addresses of a lot of the people that I taught while I was there so I can write them letters, keep in touch, and eventually go back and visit hopefully. I really want to go back through my mission after I'm all said and done.
Brady:
Yes, mam I did, I'm gonna be sending off a letter later today or tommorrow hopefully that has more information on the transfer that I just am in the process of going through, I'm going up to Mitchell South Dakota, an area that hasn't seen missionaries in about a year, And, I'm training another greenie, so I"ll be really busy taking a somewhat new area with a totally new missionary and trying to turn it around... it's kinda funny I sorta regret, almost, turning around Gillette from what it used to be because president is now probably only going to call me to struggling areas..... I really hope I can do it this time... I have noticed that the work is very different the further east you go on the mission, so I hope that I can deal things out right all the way over here on the east side. The good thing is that being in the Sioux Falls zone means that in December I get to go to the temple in Bismarck, and if I can find the time I can go and visit some of the people that I taught when there, like Curtis and the Eagles. We'll have to see!
Yeah, we got the Heavy snow last night and this morning, which is really strange and fortunate, because that means the snow waited until I was out of a biking area to fall making it almost impossible to bike. So I really hope that Elder Schneider and Elder Davis my replacement (again... it's the same missionary who replaced me in Bismarck) can get around all right and still do all the good work that that area needs. I got confidence that If they keep working things will be alright, so what I told Schneider before I left was just keep him working and you'll do good in the area... There was a lot of good things going on in Gillette, and the next few weeks/ months should be really exciting over there.
Yeah I wrote down the addresses of a lot of the people that I taught while I was there so I can write them letters, keep in touch, and eventually go back and visit hopefully. I really want to go back through my mission after I'm all said and done.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
October 25, 2010
Haha thats funny about the kids praying for me, tell them they did their job right, haha this saturday an entire family is being baptized the Douglas family, their being baptised by their dad (probably, we're gonna invite him on wednesday) who I just ordained to be a priest this sunday, it's funny we found them and started talking to them, and at about the third lesson we had with them, the dad finally said, I was baptized when I was 10 years old... W-What?! I know right haha so he just hasn't gone to church his whole life, since he moved away from his uncle who he went to church with but they are completely active now and totally gung-ho about reading and being part of the church, did I tell you that in just a month and a half, or so, of us teaching them, they read all the way up to Alma 6 as a family? That's way impressive, wish my other investigators were that dedicated. Well, I'm excited for their baptism and so is the ward. We have others that are close, but none others on date yet, keep praying please
Well the cold weather has been starting, but only today was the first snow, so we got a average blizzard going on outside (which is why I thought it prudent to e-mail tonight instead of tomorrow morning, it's alot warmer haha) it's not so bad, but it's got a seriously biting wind, snow shards on a bike hurt like nothing else lemme tell you. But yeah, we are going to have to continue riding a bike... or walking... Bikes are faster, and if we don't want it to take 2 hours+ to get to some of our investigators we're going to have to bike to some of them, we'll just have to be careful about going downhill. It snows a decent amount in gillette, I dunno if I can say an actual number for you since it varies kinda wildly from year to year, but I should have almost a foot or so before I get transfered, so sleet will definitly be fun! haha........
I definitly could probably use more clothes, lots of my socks have holes in them, but I still have lots of pairs, I definitly need to find some kind of winter gear that works well on bikes... the mission rule is if were cold we need to put on suit coats, so my suit coat will probably be very covered in snow, the suit coat rule isn't so bad in car areas, in fact it's a good rule, but on bikes..... it's not gonna be so much fun haha, we'll figure it out. You sent me size 33 pants I believe. I really don't know what I want for Christmas, not really a lot of things that you need while your on a mission, I just gotta think of things to get to everyone else on Christmas which is the hard part.
Acutally for my year mark, I was going to burn an entire shirt and send it to you, but I got lazy and decided to do missionary work all day instead. I may eventually do it and just do it late, but I probably won't do the shirt burn haha. No I really didn't do anything special, just went about my day like normal, me and Elder Schneider just do the work, and thats our motivation, to just do the work every chance we get. I probably get on his nerves a lot, but I just want to get the work done and happening, I really don't want this area to fall stagnant again, and I hope that I can get a lot of work going on here for them to continue with after I leave...
Well the cold weather has been starting, but only today was the first snow, so we got a average blizzard going on outside (which is why I thought it prudent to e-mail tonight instead of tomorrow morning, it's alot warmer haha) it's not so bad, but it's got a seriously biting wind, snow shards on a bike hurt like nothing else lemme tell you. But yeah, we are going to have to continue riding a bike... or walking... Bikes are faster, and if we don't want it to take 2 hours+ to get to some of our investigators we're going to have to bike to some of them, we'll just have to be careful about going downhill. It snows a decent amount in gillette, I dunno if I can say an actual number for you since it varies kinda wildly from year to year, but I should have almost a foot or so before I get transfered, so sleet will definitly be fun! haha........
I definitly could probably use more clothes, lots of my socks have holes in them, but I still have lots of pairs, I definitly need to find some kind of winter gear that works well on bikes... the mission rule is if were cold we need to put on suit coats, so my suit coat will probably be very covered in snow, the suit coat rule isn't so bad in car areas, in fact it's a good rule, but on bikes..... it's not gonna be so much fun haha, we'll figure it out. You sent me size 33 pants I believe. I really don't know what I want for Christmas, not really a lot of things that you need while your on a mission, I just gotta think of things to get to everyone else on Christmas which is the hard part.
Acutally for my year mark, I was going to burn an entire shirt and send it to you, but I got lazy and decided to do missionary work all day instead. I may eventually do it and just do it late, but I probably won't do the shirt burn haha. No I really didn't do anything special, just went about my day like normal, me and Elder Schneider just do the work, and thats our motivation, to just do the work every chance we get. I probably get on his nerves a lot, but I just want to get the work done and happening, I really don't want this area to fall stagnant again, and I hope that I can get a lot of work going on here for them to continue with after I leave...
Monday, August 30, 2010
Training a Greenie
The work is going all right, the kid I gave the shoes to came to church that week, but he hasn't been back since, his mom wants to be active again, they haven't been active for a long time since they have lived so far away from church. His step dad isn't so eager, but he just needs the motivation to make it happen. It's kind of upsetting that he hasn't come in a while, but honestly Satan knows how much we can help and is managed many different times to distract him in every way he can think of to keep him from progressing... Surprise!
We're teaching quite a few people, well at least much more then we used to, and hoping for the number to grow. The most interresting thing about this new upcoming transfer is Elder Flannery is gone, he's going to Sioux Falls to be with an Elder Ezelle, I've met him once and he had a motorcycle injury a few years ago and has suffered brain damage since, he's just a little slower and has short term memory loss so he'll forget if he told you something already, he's also way blunt and will say exactly whats on his mind, but he's such a funny elder.
Myself however, I am getting a greenie. So I Know Nothing. President hasn't even met him yet, thought I assume he will in about 4-5 hours or so. Tonight I should find out who my new missionary is that I'll be training. It'll be interresting, but with the way this area has turned around, i don't think it'll be a bad thing. As long as he's willing to work it'll be sweet.
There are 5 Sets of missionaries here in Gillette, 2 sisters 8 elders, with this new transfer we're gonna have 3 greenies, and one tripanionship with the Zone Leaders again, so we'll be up to 11 missionaries in Gillette, which is cool, I really don't see myself using up that entire resturant coupon on just me and my companion so we'll probably go out with another pair at some point when we both don't have a dinner. Actually... I bike always haha, I don't have a car in Gillette, it's not super bad, we never have to bike more then 40 minutes to get from one end of our area to the other. So no real complaints, our area stretches about 10 miles or so, East to west. Actually i was enjoying the summer here. I really didn't think it was all that hot here. It only got past 100 one time, and that was short lived. I enjoyed this summer and I'm not looking forward to Fall, because that means biking in the snow. Snow starts as early as October here. And I wont be leaving till probably November, So i'll get to bike in the snow for a while...
I'll be sure not to scare the greenie too much... But I will be sure to work him to death!
I'll be fun
We're teaching quite a few people, well at least much more then we used to, and hoping for the number to grow. The most interresting thing about this new upcoming transfer is Elder Flannery is gone, he's going to Sioux Falls to be with an Elder Ezelle, I've met him once and he had a motorcycle injury a few years ago and has suffered brain damage since, he's just a little slower and has short term memory loss so he'll forget if he told you something already, he's also way blunt and will say exactly whats on his mind, but he's such a funny elder.
Myself however, I am getting a greenie. So I Know Nothing. President hasn't even met him yet, thought I assume he will in about 4-5 hours or so. Tonight I should find out who my new missionary is that I'll be training. It'll be interresting, but with the way this area has turned around, i don't think it'll be a bad thing. As long as he's willing to work it'll be sweet.
There are 5 Sets of missionaries here in Gillette, 2 sisters 8 elders, with this new transfer we're gonna have 3 greenies, and one tripanionship with the Zone Leaders again, so we'll be up to 11 missionaries in Gillette, which is cool, I really don't see myself using up that entire resturant coupon on just me and my companion so we'll probably go out with another pair at some point when we both don't have a dinner. Actually... I bike always haha, I don't have a car in Gillette, it's not super bad, we never have to bike more then 40 minutes to get from one end of our area to the other. So no real complaints, our area stretches about 10 miles or so, East to west. Actually i was enjoying the summer here. I really didn't think it was all that hot here. It only got past 100 one time, and that was short lived. I enjoyed this summer and I'm not looking forward to Fall, because that means biking in the snow. Snow starts as early as October here. And I wont be leaving till probably November, So i'll get to bike in the snow for a while...
I'll be sure not to scare the greenie too much... But I will be sure to work him to death!
I'll be fun
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