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

Gah!

It is incredibly frustrating. It's annoying. It's depressing. I absolutely cannot STAND it. But I do it anyway. Why? Because the Lord knows a heck of a lot more than I do about what is best. That's right, its transfer time again, and this time, both mean AND my companion are leaving. We're being doubled out, or, as it is more commonly known in other missions, whitewashing the area. But we're doing more than just that. They're actually closing the area, and another set of missionaries will be covering this area as well as there own. It can be a little scary when that happens, because of a natural tendency, those missionaries will most likely focus on their original area more than they will ours, and some of our members or investigators have the potential of being neglected. BUT, as was said before, the Lord knows best. I'm just a soldier on the front lines, and don't see the big picture nearly as well as the General over us. Where am I going you ask?

I am being transferred to Riverside ward. I don't know how many times I'm going to screw that up, seeing as I'm going from Riverview ward to Riverside ward, but it is about 5 miles from where I'm currently sitting, and borders the Fig Garden ward, where I've previously served. My new companion will be Elder Seulamalu (I think). I don't know too much about him (other than he's big. Like, football player big), but I'm positive we'll get along great. I'm sad to see Elder Willman go. We got along much better than I ever thought we would (not that I thought we wouldn't).

It's interesting; no matter how many times I make the resolve to not get attached to people in a ward, or to an area, or to a companion, they still managed to sneak their way into my heart like a wide eyed little puppy, and then they're violently ripped out of my heart. I know it's coming. I know it has to happen. But it never seems to make it any easier.

This last weekend we had the wonderful privilege of hearing from Elder Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy, and H. David Burton, the presiding Bishop over the church. We had a mission wide conference (the first in this mission that anyone is aware of) while these two great men spoke to us. Elder Snow stressed the importance of "hearing the words not spoken" and listening to the Holy Ghost, and it's true. One thing I noticed in General conference was that most of the things I learned or felt had very little to do with what the speaker was saying. I also learned what it is a Presiding Bishop does! Had no idea about that. He is responsible for all things temporal in the church. Meeting houses, Temples, finances, the fun stuff. They then opened it to questions, but told us that they have "no idea where the sword of Laban is" and "haven't seen the three Nephites in a long time", then told us to direct our doctrinal questions to our High Priest group. It was great. I feel as if I learned a lot from these men, and hope I'm able to apply it, not just to my mission life, but to my eternal one.

My goal for the week: Be more enthusiastic!

I love and miss you all!

Elder Keenan Monnett

P.S. Holy cow this was flipping long for me.

P.P.S. I'm inlcuding a link to my mission map! So instead of you just hearing about the areas I'm serving in, you can see them! Enjoy! My Mission Map

What's that smell?

We just got back from the Zoo! I haven't been to a zoo in ages. Now, the Fresno Zoo may not be anything to impressive, but it was worth the $7 (which could have been 6 if I had known that there was a coupon in the phone book). But I digress. Saw some animals that I haven't seen in a long time, some that I've never seen (Giant Cockroaches anyone?). It was fun, I'll admit it, though I was a little skeptical when I first heard we were going to the zoo for our zone activity.

We're having a special stake conference this weekend. Bishop Burton, of the presiding bishopric of the Church, will be attending ours and speaking to us. We don't get quite as lucky as Fresno East Stake, who is getting L. Tom Perry. So close. We got a little excited, because we found out that we're having a mission wide conference on Saturday, which has been done in the time that I've been here before. We all assumed that because they were gathering everyone in the mission together, and that L. Tom Perry justhappened to be in town that day, that we were going to be hearing from him. Well, according to the assistants, he's not. Sad day, but I'm still super excited to hear from Bishop Burton and Elder Snow of the seventy. I'm sure that they'll have lots to share with us, and I can't wait to learn.

On an odd note, I've been learning a lot about Bees lately. Bees are actually very interesting insects, and one of the most profitable. In the summer time, bee keepers use the bees to make honey. During other parts of the year, they use them to pollinate. Mostly Almond Orhcards here, but they'll take them up north this time of year to pollinate apples in places like washington and the like. Theres a bee keeper in our ward, and he is going to try and take us out and be bee keepers for a day! Sounds like a blast. So do you want to know some random facts about bees? You do? Ok!

The only bees that do the work, like collecting pollen, making honey, and the like, are females. These are called the working bees. There only purpose is to work.

The male bees, or Drones, serve only one purpose. Reproducing with the queen. They have no stinger. When they reproduce, the queen bee flies up as high as she can go (usually around a mile in the air) and all the Drones fly after her. The one who gets there first, gets to do the reproducing, but theres a catch. After they're done, their male bits break off, and they die. Not so awesome. You can hold a Drone bee in your hand, and he can't hurt you. Its pretty awesome.

You know, they often compare the church to a bee hive, and I'm sure they're comparing it to the efficiency and hard work of a bee hive, but people already believe some strange things about us..... haha.

I love and miss you all! Happy Easter!

Elder Keenan Monnett

What does the Atonement mean to you?

It's a question that we should all ask ourselves. We each know the sunday school answer of course. Jesus Christ lived and died for us so that we could make it into heaven. It's the greatest sacrifice ever, yadda yadda yadda. But what does it really mean to you? Do you really know that he did that? Do you really understand what that means? Do you show proper appreciation for it? I don't. Not as often as I should, anyway. Do you really understand what role it plays on a personal level? That you can use it to literately change your life? Do you strive constantly to use it? Do you hold it close when nothing else seems to be working? Are you constantly attempting to learn more about it? Do you know what it means to take the sacrament? What does the atonement mean to you?

--
Elder Keenan Monnett