August 29th email

Hey everyone!

WOW!

What a week!

To answer your questions, yes i am getting lots of Dearelders (thank you!) and yes i got my box of ties (thank you again!) also thank the Macs for everything they sent too! For future reference... no more candy for a while. PLEASE! I love the packages, specifically the jerky and crackers, but i am over my head in candy! And i am having problems with the food here as it is! lol

So... my week....

To start things off... and to let you feel a little of the nervous-extreme-pressure i have felt this week... my companion and i were called as the zone leaders this week. In the MTC that means we are in charge of our branch... i do not tell you this to boast or anything, i tell you this to give some idea of the overwhelming feelings i am feeling! We have a group of new missionaries arriving today, and i hope to have the same positive effect on them that Elders Biddulph and Leslie had on me. Speaking of that, i will send you his home address, but Elder Biddulph family are not members, missionaries came to his door when he was 16 and baptized him!

Guess who came yesterday for our devotional??!?! Elder Jeffrey R Holland!!! It was so amazing! In my letter i will share some quotes i got from him and his wife!

Besides that, everything here is going well. I am trying to pick up spanish, but more than anything i am trying to pick up the gospel and increase my testimony in it. Yesterday we went to the TRC, where we teach lessons to "investigators" we spent a while talking in spanish, and we taught the investigator how to pray in spanish! It was incredable! I could understand what he was saying, and then i bore my testimony on what he said and i was so confident. Next tuesday i teach the first lesson in spanish... completely! I am very overwhelmed, but in all honestly i am begining to love it here. OH! Ha last friday another district in my zone (the older district) were celebrating Christmas! Elder Richards (in my district) and i were asked to sing a few christmas hymns for them. Elder Richards sings like a angel, and it was so awesome! The spirit was so strong as we sang these songs in español!

Sister Holland talked about how we need to love and know Jesus Christ. Here testimony was so powerful. And basically what Brother Holland taught was that we need to convert ourselves first. To be able to teach with that power, we have to be absolutely sure. So my biggest goal for the next 4.5 weeks in the MTC is to gain love for the savior and for a strong testimony of His atonement. I need that more than anything else. With that testimony i can do anything. I want to be the miracle in peoples live, because i am so blessed, i want others to recieve these blessings.

Thanks for everything. More than anything thank you for giving me the oppurtunity to be out here. Thank you for all of your examples. Thank you for being willing to push through these next two years. It will be hard, but the blessings will make it so worth it. Read Luke 18:29-30 (i think) and then towards the end of Mark 10 it says the same thing, but more powerfully.

I challenge everyone in the family to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I promise that if you read, and pray, your answer WILL come. Even if you have done it before, do it again. We can never do it enough.

Tell everyone that i love them. Tell nana to feel better, give her an extra hug and kiss. Thank everyone else for the love and support they have always given me.

I love you!

Have a great week!

Elder Kenck

August 22 eMail

hEY Family!

This is your favorite missionary! I currently have 22 minutes left, so lets see if i can make a good email out of it!

I am glad to hear that the sugrgury went well! I was praying and fasting for her yesterday, and i am praying constantly for her!

I am glad you enjoyed the letters. It is good to sit down and write! I am trying my best to write everyone who write me, but that is tough, i only get like 3 hours to write, and you all are my first priority. I am trying to send at least a card or something to people who write me.

This week was really good. I just got back from the temple, and it was incredable. Honestly mom and dad, do your best to make it there as often as possible. I go there with a question or two everytime, and they are ALWAYS answered.

Class is tough. It is up to me if i will be successful or not, and that is the hardest part. It is easy to be pumped up and ready to go, but then you get to class, your tired, and you have to make the specific effort to continue diligently. Alli and Livi, learn how to study in school, it will honestly help so much with your life.

I honestly can't remember what happened this last week. It is all just a blur, it seems like only yesterday that i was writing emails to you. Sundays are amazing though. Sunday is the one day you can actually stop and breathe. I love sacrament meeting, our branch presidency is so amazing. They are all so supportive. On sunday evenings we get to watch church videos... no NOT rm, but like the testaments and Joseph Smith movies. This last week i got to watch the joseph Smith, prophet of the restoration. It was incredable. The spirit was amazing. I realized how great this message is that i have to share.

Also yesterday Elder Neuenschander came and talked abotu how we need to make our mission successful. It was a great talk, i am running out of time so ill tell you about it in my letters!

Oh mom i will get your Elder B's address, if i have it.

Strive for a positive attitude. It makes everything so much easier. Life is still going to be tough, but if you choose to look at the silver lining, then all will be well
In a future package i need some ties, if your going to send food, dont send no-bakes... they were still good, but they were just crumbs when they got here.

Also remember to send my college stuff to BYU Idaho! Thanks. My transcript.

Well, i will go and write you all a letter now! I love you all, have a wonderful week, know that i am constantly praying for you all! Take care of Nana for me and give her and extra hug for me!

Love you all

Elder Kenck

August 15 email

Good luck with school. I kinda miss school... i never had to try to do ok in school. Here i have to try... really hard. I am currently trying to learn how to study. My companion and me are ahead of the rest of the class (in spanish) and so it gets boring, and i have to do A LOT of personal study... but by next week i am sure that i will be learning new things. I wish i would have tried to get into the intermidiate level, but its too late now, so oh well.

Mom, thanks for all the letters and attention, my district is constantly reminding me that i get more letters than everyone else! My district isnt all that bad. They all have their good qualities, and since i am around them for like 14 hours a day, i am trying to focus on them. I get along well with my companion. We teach well together too.

We got to watch President Faust's funeral. What a man. He is one of those people i strive to be like!

Hey i have 8 minutes left! I will get on later!

Love you!

Elder Kenck

First email from the MTC

Mi familia!!!!

Como les van?

So i just set up my missionary account! I can use it every wednesday for 30 minutes! Also i can only send letters on wednesdays (p-day) so that is why i have only written once!

The MTC is amazing!! The first week was a little crazy though. From the wednesday that i came into the MTC, until that saturday night, i was going non-stop. We were in class at 7 in the morning, and we leave class at 9:30 at night. Everything was so overwhelming for those first few days! Thankfully, by Sunday everything started slowing down to a bareable pace. Sunday was amazing! It was testimony meeting and everyone (for the most part) bore their testimonies in spanish! It was an incredable experience! I have learned so much spanish just in the week that i have been here... speaking of which, as of right now i have been here for one whole week!!! But i can now pray and testify in spanish!

My companion is Elder Olsen, and he is ok... he kind of smells... just kidding he is sitting right next to me! He is pretty cool. WE get along good. He is going to Milwaukee. My district is a great group of kids. We are going all in different directions all over the world. WE gave our first lesson on tuesday, it was good... thankfully in english. In three weeks we do EVERYTHING in spanish.

Also, my wonderful companion just happened to give me a sweet cold... and so currently i am pressing on through that. Thankfully everything at the mtc is really cheap, and so i got some medicine and i am feeling ok right now.

Sorry this email is all over the place, i am typing as fast as i can!!

Yesterday was incredable!!! L. TOM PERRY was the devotional speaker and i was in the same exact room as him! He came into the room while the congregation was singing "I believe in Christ" and the spirit was incredable! The spirit is so strong when we sing hymns! The spirit at the MTC in general is so strong! The devotional was amazing, and Elder Perry's talk was so inspiring!

I just got back from the temple! I really enjoyed it! The provo temple is so beautiful!

The work is so hard... but it is so worth it. By the end of the day, i am unable to do anything!

Well i have ten minutes left... i will come back and write specific emails later!

I love you all more than life itself!

Elder Kenck

Entering the MTC

Photo's are of: Elder Kenck and President Webb, Elder Kenck and his mommy hugging, Elder Kenck and his sisters and finally Elder Kenck in front of the MTC (Missionary Training Center)

Taylor will be in the MTC from August 1st to October 2nd