Bugs, Garage sales

Dad,
So yeah, ill be 20 this week... not sure how i feel about that.

The good news is i will be worrying more about getting people to church on sunday anyways. Garage sales here in the south are ridiculous. It is like a sporting event here. Its probably because everyone here is super-cheap.
Exciting, earwigs! reminds me of some experiences i have had on the mission. This week we taught one lady in her apartment, and within 30 minutes i had seen 5 cockroaches, not the giant ones (thankfully those freak me out) but the littlier quick ones. One time we taught a family (elder clements and i) and in a matter of 15 minutes i had seen 3 giant roches, like 3 inches giant. I hate roaches with a passion. Crazy! Tyson is going to be a daddy? I dont believe it. lol. Hopefully its born on the 6th, i would love having a birthday buddy in the famiily.
Life is treating me well, believe it or not this will be the funnest transfer of my mission, but probably the hardest as well. Elder Jambon is the definition ADD. but he is good at finding people. I just am doing everything and anything to see success right now. In anyway. I am ready to teach some progressing investigators again, and i would DO ANYTHING to see another baptism here before i go. I really do love it here though, and i just want to do my best.

Well i gotta go, love you and thanks for everything, dont let mom cry too much on sunday!

Elder Kenck

Taylor the bowling king??

Elder J

Hello father... ha

This has been a wild week. I dont know where to start, so here goes nothing!

Elder J came and everything has changed. The apartment looks like a bomb hit it... well that bomb was Elder J, hoenstly the messiest person i have ever met. Believe it or not, i am actually very clean, and not messy now, so it is driving me insane. But regardless of the random remarks and the awkward situations, i do enjoy having Elder J here. We have a lot of work to do. His spanish is non-existant, and so i am doing my best to help him sit down and study... i know you have taught many add/adhd kids, now imagine trying to get a 21 year old to sit down and study! lol, this week we will be studying spanish togetther, my studies have been struggling as of late anyways.
But the problem of a trio companionship is that one of always left out/in that awkward spot, and right now that is elder A. I think i got him make or something in the last few days, and so hopefully i can straighten that out here soon.

The work is booming here! I thought i knew every hispanic in town, evidently last week there were 11 i didnt know. lol. We have a biggerand stronger teaching pool know, and i am really excited for our new family we are teaching. Please pray for them (carlos and Diana).

Hey birthday wise just send me usefull things. Dont worry so much about resturant cards, i cant afford to eat out (i currently weigh 190:(

Gotta go computer is kicking me off! I love you thanks for everything

Elder Kenck

Mom,
What a crazy week it has been!

Well this was probably the most exciting/random/stressful/successful week of my mission. We went to pensacola this week to pick up Elder J, and it hasnt been the same since. He is INSANE> in a good way... but it is so different than anything i have ever experienced. Since than i have been put in the most awkward moments of my life, where he says or does the dumbest thing ever, right in the middle of the lesson, i cant even describe it. I thinks it is hilarious, i will learn to enjoy being out of my own comfort zone... literally all day. I think it is taking it's toll on my other companion, elder A. I think he is annoyed with both of us, unfortunately. But i have seen a lot of progress in his spanish. My biggest goal for him will be to help his spanish and to destroy the contention in our companionship. It is weird going from my time with elder clements, who is my favorite comp so far and probably will be forever, where we were perfectly unified and taught amazingly together, to now where there is little contention and not much unity. That will be a lot of hard work to counter, but i am willing to do it.

This week, somehow the Lord used us to find 11 new investigators! That will probably be my mission record, it is a HUGE number. In that 11 new investigators, we started teaching a couple that elder clements and i met a long time ago. And they might be golden. Well as Elder J says, "everyone is golden until proven bronze." They are Carlos and Diana, both are from Miami, and he is in the army. We had one of the greatest 1st ever. It was a funny story because we planned to skim quickly over the restoration and talk about the plan of salvation for most of the lesson. Elder J was assigned to skim over the 1st, and like i said he is unpredicable... and when they told him he could speak in english (they both speak fluently... theyre both basically americans) jhe went crazy and honestly taught the most complete 1st lesson i have ever heard. IN the process, he mentioned a million things that gave them a million questions, and the next day (sunday) they invited us back and we taught them the book of mormon and committed them to pray about it.

Overall it was an incredible week.

I am having a blast and i love it here. There is a lot of work to do and i am excited to do it!

i love you and thanks for everything..

Elder Kenck

From Ocean Shores (Parking lot of Shilo--to get wifi)

Hey mom, am glad you are having a good time at the beach! I am a little jealous, i wont lie.. but i am glad you get to enjoy that time together.

This week was a tough one. After saying goodbye to my kid, and helping elder andrews get setup, we got to work. Thankfully elder andrews and i get along fine. Unfortunately NOTHING happened this week. Honestly, we spent three days going bye all of our investigators houses and either they dodged us, werent home, were ignoring us... etc. And for the 4th week in a row, NO ONE came to church. That hurts. The branch is struggling right now, too many people are not coming to church, and it is really tough. The good thing is, the work can only go up now. We will be working a lot with the members here. WE got to get them active, and then on fire with missionary work. Also, we recieved direction that we need to do some major sifting of the investigators we currently have. No one is progressing, and so we are going to be knocking a lot of doors from now on out. Also, i will be going on a lot of trade-offs with members and leave the two others behind. I want to gain the members trust, i really have no idea how... believe it or not, i have become rather shy on my mission... well i dont talk very much anymore. lol
But i look forward to getting a lot of work done. This weekend was a little humbling though, its funny how many times we need to be humbled in life. We are continuelly reminded that when we rely on our own strength, we will fail. That is the reason the book of mormon talks about all those wars. Notice how everytime that the protanganists went up, "in the strength of the lord" they conquired. When we rely on ourselves, our own nothingness is quickly revealed to us.
But i am very excited to be here. It wont be easy, but it will be worth it. I know that this transfer will test me and i know i will learn so much!
Thanks for all your love and support. Enjoy this summer and know that i love you more than anything!

Love

Elder Kenck

New photos from Florida

Getting Hot in Florida

To Alli,
Hey you how are you doing? i hope you are well!

So school is out this week or next week? Crazy! Summer is here, and it is HOT in florida. Everyday it has been in the 90s, and the humidity is the big killer! Thankfully being on the beach we get an occasional cool breeze.

Im doing well, learning a ton, but doing well! Some random things we did this week... elder clements and i... 1) stole a couch from the english elders 2) hid moonpies everywhere in all of the english elder's stuff 3) last night we attacked the english elders with squirt guns

So we have been busy!


WEll i gotta go, love you and have a good week!

Elder Kenck

Mommy


I am doing well! It was a tough week, but i still learned a ton and
hopefully some growing will take place! Nothing too new is going on,
that i can think of... not really. YEs there are sister missionaries
here, not many, and i honestly never get to see them, the spanish elders
are VERY sheltered and we honestly know no one.

So what's all this about you being sick? Will you stop with the sick
thing already? Just kidding, i will keep you in my prayers. Being sick
isnt fun, i have avoided a lot of sickness on my mission (knock on wood)
but i know it is just a matter of time until i get food poisoning from
the lovely food we get to eat. lol With spanish missionaries, it really
is just a matter of time!

And you only have 6 days of school left! Weird! I am excited for you all
this summer, it sounds like you will have a really good time. Enjoy
your time together, you wont have too many experiences like that without
me! I look forward to our future adventures together!

Everyone is getting married as well? What! It is weird to me that i am
that old. That whole "experience" isnt that far down the road....
weird.

Well this week... had its ups and downs. Basically just to hit the
downs, our amazing family who we were sure would be getting baptized
told us they arent looking for a church and basically told us to leave
them alone. It was a heartbreak, we knew something was up (the spirit
is amazing!) but we didnt think it was that big. It was a very quiet
car ride home from their house... but we both learned a lot from the
experience. Also, it was our second week in a row with 0 investigators
at church.. and so that was tough as well. But, one of the head dudes of
the missionary department for the church came last week to the mission
and we had a wonderful training with him. I am learning a lot about
personal revelation, and i am trying to apply that principle into my
life. That has been the focus of my study this week, and i would urge
you to seek for personal revelation in your school, church and family
life.

Elder Clements and I get along well, just like brothers, and we are
working hard. I think it is a matter of time before we have some sort
of success here, and i wouldnt be surprised if we stayed together one
more transfer.

I really do love this work mom. It is hard, but it is worth everything.
I am learning so much about the gospel, and my life has and will change
so much. That is what happens when we apply the gospel in our lives, we
change. Have a great week mom, stay happy, healthy and grateful and i
will talk to you next week. Hopefully i will have some miracles to tell
you about next week, and i have faith that i will.. so stay in tune!

Love you got to go!

Elder Kenck