Bring on the heat!

It's been a late summer so far here in Fresno. We've even seen rain a couple of times in June. But that's all coming to a close, as the projected average high for this week in Fresno is 103. This wouldn't be so bad, if they didn't pull our car last wednesday. Now, I've spent the last year and a half of my mission on a bike, inlcuding last summer, so bike ridding is nothing new for me. But our area is roughly 120 square miles or so, with houses and people spread out between most of it. We've been promised a car, we just have no idea when that will be. But the lord will not let us suffer in vain, and I can't wait to see the blessings that he brings our way.

So far things have been going well. We've really been pouring over the the area, and what we can do to improve it, and things look promising. It wont be without work on our part, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, so to speak. It has been a little bit of a shift going from somebody like Elder Seumanu to Elder Broadhead, as they're virtually different in every way, but things are picking up.

Today we have an odd opportunity to watch the Movie "Forever Strong". Our mission president wants us to watch that movie, as well as all of the Extra Features, so we can better come to know President Gelwix, who gets here next week. It should be quite interesting, but I'm certainly not complaining about having the opportunity to watch a movie not on christmas.

That's about all I have to report on right now, but I promise more next week!

I love and miss you all!

It's about freaking Families!

They are literately the answer to everything! I'm feeling ranty, so before I go into that, we'll take care of announcements first.

Transfer calls have come! Elder Seumanu is leaving me to go out to the mountains, up in Modesto North Stake. My new companion is Elder Broadhead. I don't know too much about it, other than I've met him before in passing, but we'll see how things go. I'm at a point now where I'm no longer concerned about getting along with people, and more just concerned that we'll have something in common. So far, not too bad. But that leads me into my first rant.

I've been on my mission for 12 transfers now. As of Wednesday, I'll be on my 13th one of 17. In 13 transfers, I'll have had 13 companions, and It's starting to be a little frustrating. Just when I start to get to know somebody, I then have to learn how to work with somebody else. Remember, I'm not complaining, just ranting.

My second rant is much more important than my first however. My second rant is about families. You ever had one of those moments where you're thinking about something that you've heard a thousand times, but the 1001st time you think about it, suddenly the importance of it clicks? Well I had one of those moments one night laying in bed. I was thinking about the problems that exist in our society, and how it's continuing to get worse. I mean, just imagine the things that were considered obscene and wrong 50 years ago. Now think of how it might be 50 years from now. It can be a scary thought. So I wondered why this decay was there, why was it getting worse, and what could possibly be done to fix it? Its apparent that the problem with our society is a lack of good morals and ethics that are lacking in society. Ok, so we need to be taught better ethics and morals, but how could we possibly teach that? It wouldn't really be effective to try to teach it in the school primarily. Then it clicked. That kind of stuff has to be taught in the families! Now, this was a real duh moment, because how many times have we been told that fixing families would fix the world, but at this moment it really hit home for me. When we shape and raise our children, we are literately helping to shape the future of society. Now, I believe that the degradation of society has been contributed to by a nasty tool of Satan, and that is Divorce.

Now, I understand that sometimes divorce is unavoidable, but at the same time, not when both parties are giving all they can to making it work. When a divorce happens, it doesn't simply effect you. It doesn't just effect your spouse. It doesn't even only effect your Children, but eventually and inevitably, it effects society as a whole, because when children don't have the example of both parents working in a home, teaching them not only in words but by example as well, it does much more for society than children who don't have that example, it does more for children than friends, or school, or church ever could. We literately shape the future by the example we set for others. Teach your kids good examples, not simply so they can be better people, but so that the world can be a better place.

I'm done.

I love and miss you all!

Oh its a blustery blustery day, its a blustery blustery day....

...Its a blustery day all the world...

I have given up all hopes in calling any sort of California weather "Normal" or "strange" Because so far, the weather this year has been nothing like the weather last year, which, from what I was told, was nothing like the weather the year before that. Yesterday and today have been stormy, with highs in the low 70's. Which is actually very exciting. I haven't seen a storm in a year.

Last monday I had the chance to go to a Samoan memorial day BBQ. I was the only white boy there! But we had a lot of fun, eating Samoan food, playing the Ukulele and singing songs. I never thought that Fresno would be a place where I was surrounded by the Samoan culture. We also have a baptism, as well as transfer calls, coming up on saturday! Exciting and terrifiying. Elder Seumanu and I both have a feeling that he is being transferred, which is pretty depressing. I'm tired of switching through companions so fast. But We'll make the best of any situation.

As we where meeting with an investigator who was preparing to be baptized, we decided to bring up a subject that we believed she would have difficulty with. It was a commandment that we where pretty sure she wasn't living, and one we thought would be a make it or break it subject with her. But as we brought it up, she was well aware of it, and had already decided to live it before we even taught it to her. Shame on me for doubting her true conversion. Its just so amazing to see such a change in people, so fast. I can't imagine how selfish it would have been for me to choose not to come on a mission, even though I was worthy to, to help people make this change. I've been told the most important news that anyway could possibly hear. More important than the next election, more important than a cure for a malicious diasease, more important than ending world hunger. Its more than just a choice, or a priveledge I have to be on a mission, but a obligation, and a duty. And one that I love doing.

I love and miss you all!

Elder Keenan Monnett

Closer to home than from it

And with that, comes an increasingly noticeable drop in letters. In fact, I think I hit an all time low this month, with 1 letter in 4 weeks (Props go to Whitney Stankosky). I'm not entirely upset by this. It's to be expected as mission life goes on. People just kind of forget about you, but it happens. Now, If I couldn't email, then yeah, I would be freaking out, but alas, such is not the case, so no reason to fear.

I think I need to start giving some forward thought to what I'm going to say in these weekly emails, because it comes time to write them, and I have no idea what to say, because honestly, between this week and last week, not much has changed, except for the date. My companion and I didn't feel like we worked incredibly hard this week, but then as we turned in our numbers, we realized that we did do quite a lot, and taught about 20 lessons between less actives, recent converts, and investigators. Which means one of two things. Either I've gotten so used to the work that it simply doesn't feel difficult any longer, or what everyone has always told me is a lie, and it doesn't matter how hard I work, I'll still get by. Hmm, what is heavenly father trying to teach me....

But, after a perilous week of dealing with crazy missionaries, missing out on weddings, and Mafia Princess's, I'm ready to enjoy some nice Memorial Day BBQ on my P-day.

I love and Miss you all!

It's [Not] The end of the world as we know it!

And Rapture didn't occur! A good thing? Well, maybe, this world could sure use a second coming, but unless its revealed through the mouth of an actual prophet, I wont read too much into it.

With the passing of another week, we have several miracles witnessed, and handful of new people to teach, and one new person to be baptized! Also gained, is a goose egg for trying to take on some scaffolding with my forehead, but that's another story. Becky Gloria will be baptized on June 11th, and we're super pumped! We have seen her and her family come such a long way, and though I've only been here for the past little bit of it, it's still a miracle to see the changes that keep occurring in the family each and every day. It truly is a motivation to do better in my life, and really see what God can do for me.

So in lew of the supposed Judgement day, it actually created quite the teaching opportunities. A lot of people kept thinking they needed to repent, and they needed to change their lives, and they needed to do better, when in all reality, we should be living in such a way that we are prepared to go whenever it happens. Whether it be the ending of the world, or the ending of our lives. Alma 34:33 says:

"And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

We need to improve ourselves in this life, because after this life, we can't do it. Why is it so important not to procrastinate our repentance "until the end"? Because "...of that day and hour" of the second coming "knoweth no man" (Mathew 24:36). We don't know when it will be too late, so it's better that we prepare ourselves now.

What is another reason why we shouldn't put off our repentance? Because of the wasted time that could have been spent progressing, and because of the difficulty of overcoming a deeply rooted sin. Alma was someone who knew the hardships of sin. He was someone who was called "the vilest of sinners" (Mosiah 28:4), but then later became the leader of the church after a long and painful struggle. He knew something of how it felt to undergo such a painful repentance process, and of the time wasted wallowing in sin. No wonder he cries with so much zeal on the subject that it causes him "great anxiety even unto pain" (Alma 13:27). President Henry B. Eyring taught that "the only way out [is]... to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, to have a broken heart, to repent, and so be cleansed, changed, and strengthened through the Lord’s Atonement. ...it [is] still possible. ...but so much harder than it would... [be] to exercise faith early in [our lives] on the journey home to God... when [you] first [begin] to wander." (Help Them on Their way home; Saturday morning session, April '10)

So let us show our faith early in our life. Let us stop the sins before they overcome us, and let us live is such a way that no matter when the world ends, we will be ready, and grateful for the chance to be "taken home to that God who gave [us] life" (Alma 40:11)

I love and miss you all!

-- Elder Keenan Monnett

What an odd arrangement of people

Riverside ward has some characters. In a good way. I don't know if I've seen such a spread of different types of people in one ward. I'll just use our Ward Mission Leader as an example, because he's the one most likely to find my blog without me telling him about it. Brother Honeycutt is a Computer Programmer (that should say enough, right?), a Father of 3, highly intelligent, and moderately OCD. It is quite the combination, but he keeps us working hard, and he does a great job. What more could you ask for? When we set up chairs in the overflow for Sunday, each row has to be two feet (as in your feet, not 12 inches feet) apart, in straight rows. The hymnals have to be staggered every other chair, face up, with the Title facing towards the back of the room. Never staple a paper diagonally. Don't leave things on the floor. Its really a lot of fun.

We've seen a lot of sucess this last week. Well, it's a lot of sucess for me, seeing as my last two areas weren't so productive, but in all honesty, it's an average week here. I'm loving it. We could use more people to teach, we could always use more people to teach, but I'll take what we do have. This last Sunday, in church, I listened to Brother Honeycutt and another brother discuss something out of the Bible. Both of them knew a lot about what they were talking about, and in that instant, I decided I want to know these things about the gospel, about the scriptures. I want to know, well, everything, but I know that certainly isn't going to come in this life, so I want to know all that I can know. Which leaves a tricky balance of deciding what is important to know, and what isn't, because I can't learn it all. But I want to continue to progress, all of my life. I don't ever want to fizzle out, or come to a stand still. I'll stop learning when the Lord stops giving me new things to learn. Until then, it's full speed ahead.

I love and miss you all!

-- Elder Keenan Monnett

The winds of change. . .

...smell funny.

So let me tell you all about my new area, with my new companion!

First, my new companion!

Elder Seumanu (Wvc, Utah, but originally Compton, CA) is Samoan. My Second Samoan companion! He's pretty chill. He doesn't sweat the small stuff, but he doesn't waste the Lords time. He's a very hard worker, and he is hilarious! I don't quite recall how many Brothers and Sisters he originally had, but his Dad adopted his Aunt and Uncles 11 children from Samoa, so he's got a lot of "brothers and sisters". We're in for a very good transfer. We're also in for a good transfer, because Elder Seumanu has a hurt shoulder, and can't ride a bike. So, because of that, we have a car, with practically unlimited miles. And guess who got to drive for the first time in over a year! YEEEAAAAHHHH. That was pretty awesome. I mean, its an 08 Malibu that gets horrible gas mileage, but it's a car! It was great.

As far as the area goes, it's pretty great too! The Riverside ward used to be the largest biking area in the mission, but luckily, we have a car now. The ward is great, I felt as if I had a pretty warm welcome. Elder Seumanu was telling me that theres quite a bit of member trust in the missionaries here, because the missionaries who have been in this area have been more "real" so to speak. And after meeting the investigators here, I can see why it needs to be that way. Anyway, I'm expecting a lot of miracles, and I can't wait to everyone about them!

I love and miss you all! And it was GREAT to hear from my family! I loved it.

Elder Keenan Monnett