Today I bring you, my mission. . .
I'll warn you, this post is quite long. This is my "Final Report" that my Mission President asked me to write upon going home. I figure, a blog is supposed to be journal right? I've done a lot better at keeping this journal than any other one I've had, so this may be the best place for me to record this.
I'm also hoping that those of you who have the time to actually read will have a greater understanding of the experiences I had on my mission. ENJOY! (by the way, I scanned the document from my hard copy, then spent about 30 minutes fixing spelling, grammar and puntuation issues from the scan, some may still be there)
Final Report of Elder Kenney
So, you've asked me to write about the last 2 years of my life huh? Do you have any idea what kind of task that is? What sort of things would you have to say if I wanted you to tell me about everything that has happened to you in the past two years of your life? It's a lot isn't it? Now not only that, but this has been the busiest two years I've ever experienced! I've had more lessons, challenges, fun & games, trials, tests and goings on of all sorts in the past 2 years, than any other period of my life. Do you know what you are asking? Do you have any clue as to what kind of undertaking that is? Well neither do I, so I guess we will find out.
I had always looked forward to going on a mission. Largely because I knew I needed to get it done to progress with all the other things I would eventually want to do in life, with school and family and such. So I worked hard in saving up, and put the paperwork in. I remember getting a little nervous about where I would go, because, of course, there were some places I really wanted to go and, of course, some places I really didn't want to go. I was getting very nervous and a few days before I got my call, I remember praying, "Heavenly Father, just help me to know that the place to which I am called is really the place you want me to go." I wouldn't have minded a call to Ulam-Bataar Mongolia, but I didn't really want to serve in one of those missions that it seems like everyone gets called to. But after earnest prayer, I received the answer that it would all be OK.
So eventually the call comes, and later that night I opened the call surrounded by family, and on speakerphone to a few more families waiting for me to read the magic line. It of course came to "Washington~ Tacoma Mission" and you could hear the cheers blocks away. I took a moment right then to pray and listen to the spirit confirm, "Yes, it's the right place for you to go" and I then knew that it was.
So a couple months pass by, and eventually I drove 45 minutes south to the MTC. I don't remember a lot about the MTC, except a few little things. I do remember having a good time with my district. Elder Hornsby was my companion. He was a goofy kid. I also remember 2 days before Christmas I threw up for the first time in my life since I was like 4 years old. Elder Conger was there with me, he could tell you how nasty it was, I really wouldn't suggest that to anyone.
I recall the classes and the intense spirit that you could feel there. There was so much comradery and testimony, you could cut it with a knife. We were spoon fed shovel fed the discussions, and then promptly hooted out into the mission field.
I spent the first 6 weeks of my mission in a pretty area, pretty ghetto. It was the Brookdale and Summit Wards in Lakewood Zone. I remember falling asleep at night to gunshots right outside my window, and even the flashes shining into our room at times. My trainer was Elder Davis. He didn't have long left on his mission~ so I'll let you devise what opinion of him that you will, but he taught me many of the- basic things a person needs to know about missionary work.;. How to tract (that is an important one), how to teach, how to commit, and how to baptize (those are too). Elder Davis had spent a lot of his mission working with "project missionaries" and training new ones_ He knew the things he needed to teach me, and he did it well He always knew just what to say to really put me in my place at times.
My first day at church in the mission, I remember after sacrament meeting, having an older gentleman, named Charlie Emmett, come up to us and ask us if he could be baptized, and then, a few hours later, after Sacrament Meeting for the other ward, another older fellow, named Dan Pogue, approached us and more or less requested the same thing. I was starting to think, "Man, this is easy" ... ahh .... what a naive young fool I was indeed. But it was a good way to start my mission. We did a lot of teaching and a bit of baptizing in there with it.
I can't talk about Brookdale without mentioning Teresa. What a great lady she was.
When I was there, there was a great big snowstorm, which left many of the roads, very dangerous to drive on, and most all of the schools closed down. I remember the first day I met Teresa, we went sledding down a huge hill in front of her house with her kids and many of the kids in the neighborhood. I'll always remember that day. We developed a great relationship of trust with Teresa, and despite the terrible (and I mean TERRIBLE) things that happened to her both before and after baptism, she has a solid testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I will always love her family.
Then President Allen decides to send me to the exact neighboring ward, into another zone called Puyallup South. So, I crossed Canyon Road barely and moved into the Pioneer Valley ward. I had a great time there. My follow-up trainer Elder John Hanson and I were together for 3 months there. I remember he tried to kill me just about everyday by sending me (on my bike non-the-Less) up and down hills that seemed to be about the size of Mt. Rainier.
We did some good work there, and I was privileged to get to know the Hoagland family. Brother Hoagland was baptized during my stay there, which was one of the many miracles I've seen on my mission. He is an astounding person and a great member of the church. I was very grateful also to be able to witness him being sealed to his family a bit later on. What a very special event that was also. He may not know it, but his conversion really helped establish my own testimony of missionary work.
I remember thinking Elder Hanson was very different from my trainer. He pointed out certain things, which I was originally taught one way, and explained to me that there are of course other ways of doing things. I think that is something that happens with everyone's second companion. He never explained the way things were done or anything. He was a great teacher by example. If there were ever something he wanted to teach me about, he would never bring it up, he would only do it himself and make sure I was watching him very carefully to try to pick up on the things he did well. I know Elder Hanson really cared about the Savior, and had an inherent desire within him to share his testimony of the atonement with others.
It was during this time that we were given the new "Preach My Gospel" program.
We were able to participate as one of the first missions to use it. It was great to be able to work with the old and the new way of doing missionary work. It was a testimony to me of modem revelation through the leaders of the church today.
After 3 months of serving only in Pioneer Valley, they sent away Elder Hanson and pair me up with a missionary in the neighboring ward of Gem Heights. His name was Elder Aisen. I learned a lot from my time with Elder Aisen. I remember he was a very hard worker and had an enthusiasm for the work, which apparently forced him to talk to (and attempt to teach right then and there) just about every person we came in contact with. We had our differences of opinion here and there, but with a lot of effort, we were able to work effectively together. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with Elder Aisen. We were even able to help share the gospel to Sharon Pechoes and help her into baptism.
I think it was also at this time the my Heavenly Father must have decided to focus on me a bit more, because I really started to learn some lessons at that point in my mission. Specifically, he began a very long and drawn out lesson about humility which has been very important for me to learn. He began by compelling me to be humble, and as soon as I realized he was compelling me to be humble, I GOT HUMBLE.
After a month and a half with Elder Aisen, I was transferred to the Gig Harbor and Wollochet Wards in the Tacoma Stake. Gig Harbor is a very affluent area, and missionaries in the past had been having a bit of a hard time having any success there at all. I served my first 6 weeks there with Elder Graff. He was a nice-enough guy who had been in Gig Harbor for a while. He had a way of doing thing-s and really enjoyed being with members, so we did a bunch of member work.
I remember seeing a few Part-member families become complete member families while we were there. We were also able to work with a young lad named Colin Masterson and assist him in coming closer to his Heavenly Father by joining the church.
I continued to learn more, bit by bit, about humility. And then after those 6 weeks, I was joined with Elder Steve Hansen. Elder Hansen had been out a while and felt like he had a firm grip on how to live mission life. We disagreed on a lot of ways of doing things, but not wanting to rock the boat of the companionship boat too much, I conceded on many occasions.
It was then that God turned up the "Compel to be Humble" notch. With far too many experiences to explain, allow me to summarize by saying over this period of time, I really learned, not to lean unto mine own understanding, but leave all problems up to God. I remember it became very clear to me how important obedience on a mission is, and what kind of a difference it can really make in a person.
I was then able to continue to serve in Gig Harbor with Elder McKenzie. He was a great guy, and Heavenly Father allowed for me to try out the new lessons I had learned about recently. It was also here that I was asked to serve as a District Leader and that brought still more humbling experiences about.
I had then been doing member work for quite some time, and up to this point I had only seen true success through member work, so we continued to work that way. We had some great families that we worked with such as the Himmers, the Boyers, the Rischens, and the Cutlers. Elder McKenzie had a great way of talking to people and we spent a lot of time trying to teach people whom the members would refer to us, and trying to obtain those referrals.
I was then rushed from the beautiful shores of Gig Harbor, to the dark winter in, what seemed like upon first arrival, the middle of no-where. Here I was in Yelm, a growing town about 30 minutes from the nearest Wal-Mart in any direction out of town. I was able to follow-up train Elder Stevens here. What a great kid he was too. Never have I seen someone so humble and innocent and yet be able to share some great life stories. He was from a small town in Utah, and yet we discovered that we knew a few of the same people. Elder Stevens could be anyone's- friend. I remember he- had an ability to know just what a person needed to cheer them up, whether it be a spiritual message, or doing something so goofy to really make them laugh.
Elder Stevens and I worked hard in teaching the Haggett family. They were baptized and are a great group of people. Shay Haggett has got one of the sweetest hearts I've ever seen; she just loves her children so much.
After 6 weeks with Steve-Or he took off and they sent in another one for me to follow-up train. Elder Sanford from the bright lights of Vegas to little old Yelm. He and I worked well, and saw some good success together. We worked our hearts out for the Lord and he really blessed us. Elder Sanford was excited to be on his mission. He had come from being trained by a couple of Zone Leaders in another small town, and had some great ideas as- to how to boost the work where we were at. I remember he 'always had the right attitude about work and really desired to be successful, and he really got his desire there.
One experience I'd like to share. We were digging in at a dinner appointment at the local Mexican Restaurant, when the waitress hands me a note, which apparently had been given to her by another customer to hand to us. The note is from a young lady, named Sarah, who had taken the discussions before and, to put it mildly, her parents said no to her baptism. Well, now she had recently turned 18 and figured, what Ma and Pa don't know won't hurt them, so she progresses and eventually is baptized. That was really neat to be a part of.
Next part of the story. So it is the day of Sarah's baptism, and we have an hour before we have to depart to go to Lacey for the baptism. I applied the previously learned lessons of humility, obedience and diligence and we decided to go tracting. But where? We kneel down and pray for guidance, and as soon as the prayer is finished, Elder Sanford jumps to his feet and runs over to our oversized map and "randomly" points on the map. "Figberry Court." Well a1right, so we get in the car and drive there. It was about 15 minutes away, which leaves us about half an hour to tract 6 or 7 houses on this tiny little cul-de-sac.
So we knock around, and with about 10 minutes left, get to the second to last house.
We meet a guy named Robert Parkhill, bigger guy, with a beard, skull rings, skull T-shirt on, and confederate flags decorating his car and trailer. I remember we were both surprised when he accepted our invitation for a church tour. So he came to the appointment, and eventually the next, and even to church. After each of these, when asked what he thought of it, he would respond, "it was different" .... good enough for us. After about 3 weeks, he and his wife Susan are baptized and absolutely love the church. And to think that we found them with 10 minutes to go before we had to rush to a baptism. They are a personal testimony to me of the people whom the Lord prepares in our path and of blessing us when we approach him in humility and obedience.
As you can tell, I quickly grew to love all the people in Yelm and it holds a special place in my heart. The wards there were very supportive. Time flies when you are having fun, so much so, that before I knew it, I was on my way to my next area, Port Orchard.
When I first arrived in Port Orchard, I was assigned to Elder DeGraff in the Sinclair View and Manchester wards, which are the wards on the north side of Port Orchard, which is the town on the south side of the Sinclair Inlet. Elder DeGraff and I worked, and worked, and then we worked some more. Elder DeGraff was obedient. He always did what he needed too and would be able to follow directions to a T. As long as he had good direction and encouragement, he would perform well. My first six weeks in Port Orchard were a bit more difficult because Elder Degraff was having a bit of a hard time, and I didn't encourage him in the way I guess 1 was. supposed to. So it was partially my fault.
After those 6 weeks, I then received Elder Despain as my companion. I had known Elder Despain for a while. He was in the same zone as I in Puyallup, then served in the office (and everyone knows the office Elders) then around him again for a while in Gig Harbor. So we were pretty good friends before we served together. The other thing about the next 6 weeks, w2S that we covered all of Port Orchard on our own. We officially covered 4 wards in two separate buildings. Sinclair View and Manchester in the Hoover building plus they added onto us- Southworth and Olalla. wards in the Mullenix building. Not to mention another assignment of Belfair, which we would go to by appointment on occasion.
So we were quite bus-y_ And we saw some great .successes. Our first week we baptized a young lady named Cory Bryan who was taught the previous Elders and had already made the decision to be baptized. She became a. good member and friend. Elder Despain and I also tracted into Robin Howerton and her son John, both of who progressed well and were baptized. We also tracted into a family with an ll-year-old son named Alex who responded well to the message of the Restoration and was himself baptized as well. 1 remember his mother didn't respond at that time to the church, but 1 am sure one day will be willing to talk with some Elders.
And then there was also Jim Moyer. 1 remember working harder with Jim than any other investigator I ever had. It's not everyday that you arrive on the scene of a member referral and you are taught Adam God theory and the Plurality of Gods on your first contact with the person. Jim is an incredibly smart man (almost too smart for his own good), and definitely deserves the testimony that he has received; he has earned it.
All that plus a few more cherries on top really makes for a lot of great work in an area. Elder Despain and I would go to church on Sundays at 2 separate buildings, each doing 2 missionaries worth of work while we were all alone for- about 8 or 9 hours, and come home completely exhausted: Now that was working will all your might. This all kind of turned into another lesson on humility, cause we were just too tired to put up a fight.
Working 4 wards like that only lasted for 6 weeks though, then they took 2 of our areas and- put us in kind of a different way. They gave us the Sinclair view (Northwest part of the town) and Southworth (the South east part of town) which met in two different building:; at the same time, so we still needed to divide for church on Sunday. They gave Manchester and Olalla wards to two other missionaries who came in. (1 wonder why they did that?)
Elder Despain had a knack for missionary work. He knew it inside and out and knew which things were really successful to do, and which ones weren't. He thrived on the spirit and always desired to do the most effective AND efficient thing possible. With a great care for the people we worked with, we really enjoyed our time there together. Despain was a good friend and 1 really enjoyed serving with him. 1 am glad that I could be the one who "killed him off" or was his last companion. He finished his mission there in Port Orchard with me and then they transferred him to New Mexico, and me to a place that seemed just as far from the mission office; Port Angeles.
The furthest place from anywhere in the mission. The upper corner of the entire mission. And 1 was put there into an area with 3 other completely new missionaries who hadn't ever served there before eithe1:. Elder Andrews was. my official companion, but we were in a foursome companionship with our new zone leaders, Elder Laitinen and Elder Huff. We had the whole town to ourselves concerning missionary work. Not to mention the 4 or 5 more towns that were to the west of us all the way: out to the west coast. So we all gut there and started trying to figure some things out.
We all lived together in a giant apartment called "Fort Watson". 1 remember it was good for all four of us to live there so we could have room- for all of us to live, work, plan, and when the time came and it was appropriate, release a bit of aggression with some intense hghtsaber battles. 1 must admit_ that being quadrupled- in. like that was a reminder of humility. When you hav-e-4 opinions. all at the same time,-you have to be willing to listen to the spirit to decide which one to follow_
First to mention is about. my companions. Elder Andrews was at that point in his last transfer. So I went from killing Despain to killing Andrews. He was a good guy who worked hard all the way to the last day of his mission .. H~ had a bunch of experiences to pull from, and was-very optimistic about serving in the far. end of the mission being quadrupled in.
Elder Laitinen.. was a really cool kid with a subtle opinion. He would also be very considerate and compassionate of the people around him. He could relate very well with people and the things they were going through. He was very sincere and never would want to mislead anyone. He has his way of doing things, which is always good, but is willing to listen to other ideas. Which was good, cause of Elder Huff, who always has an opinion ... about anything.
No I'm serious, Elder Huff has an opinion on EVERYTHING and he will probably let you know what it is. Elder Huff is also probably one of the most dynamic people I've met He was always engaged in missionary work. Elder Huff has also been described as "not afraid to talk" which is all too true. I remember he would argue his opinion till either you or he were blue in the face and then be done with it. And if later circumstances would call for it, he would readily admit fault and humble himself (or at least by the end of my time would be willing to do so).
As for the work, the first thing we wanted to do is get ourselves established in Port Angeles itself. We lived in this city and had no clue of anything about it, so we familiarized ourselves with it thru a lot of tracting. Thru this, Elder Andrews and I found a nice lady on the 4th of July who eventually got baptized. We all worked very hard and got ourselves situated with the area. The next step was to branch out, so Elder Huff began attending Forks by himself, and I attended the Joyce Branch by myself.
You can read Elder Huffs final report in a few months to find out more about Forks since he is the one who went out there. But on the few visits I made, I could tell that the Lord was upon the people out there, because of the preparation of some of the people Huff worked with and baptized out there, more or less by himself.
But I would like to report more about the Joyce Branch. Even though during the time I was there I only saw one baptism, and she more or less came to us, I grew a great love for that branch. It was very neat to see such a great group of members all coming together with a concerted effort to reactivate and do missionary work to truly strengthen their numbers in their own little tiny town~ I remember the Branch presidency there was great. I must also mention one of the other great helpful families there,. the Johnston family. What a great people they were. And there were many more, but too many to mention for this short report.
After 6 weeks, Andrews went home to Roy, and they sent in Elder Robins into the foursome. We kept working as a foursome, but moved into separate apartments. We almost had to dissolve our foursome in the middle of the transfer, but we were working all too well to allow for that, so they gave us until transfers.
I would describe Elder Robins as a devout follower. If for a good cause, I remember he would follow someone to the ends of the earth. He had a good attitude about taking care of his body and lived a very healthy_ lifestyle.
And so things went for another 6 weeks. Elder Robins and I, on one of his random bathroom stops in the middle of town, were able to meet Krystal Sterling. We worked hard, and I know the Bishop and ward did too, to help her come into the church, but eventually she-did so and was able to receive some stability in her life
So of course by this time I've only got 3 months to go, you would think that they would just leave me in that one-area to die. But no, they wanted me to train a brand new Greenie, in the center of the mission so I headed back to a. ward that bordered one of my first. areas. South Hill And-not only that, but the mission. was also nice enough to allow me to slim down a little bit before I go home, so its back to the bike. Well, Elder Greenwood and I worked very hard in this area. I remember a few days of tracting absolutely all. .. day .. long WHEW! Man,.. that can- really make a boy tired. It's a good -thing that I knew all about humility by this point (Just kidding). So tract we did and we met a few nice people along the way.
Elder Greenwood was a good kid, and after the second week, I had to keep reminding myself that he is a greenie. But it didn't hold him back. He was very hardworking and a headfirst kind of missionary. He never had any desire to stop working even for one minute. Elder Greenwood was willing to learn the characteristics and attributes of good missionaries. He regularly was looking to improve.
We got to know Dawn DeLay and her family. She and her daughter Tyran were baptized when I had about 3 weeks to go. I remember meeting them while tracting the afternoon of the ward Halloween Party. Halloween Parties in the church have always been my favorite, and now I have a new reason why. Dawn and her girls came to the party and made some good friends. It was especially nice because they had just moved in about a week before. We also had a random part-member family show up to church one Sunday and the wife, Lory, told us that she was ready to be baptized. So she was baptized along side Dawn and her daughter as well.
The members of South Hill were very helpful. It's never easy being doubled into an area,. especially on bike. They warmly accepted us as their new missionaries and were very supportive since day one. Whenever Elder Greenwood and I were in need, whether it be food, ride, or warmth, we always seemed to run into a member at just the right time. And were also very good in fellowshipping of the converts we brought to them:
Well, I've had quite the wild ride. I of course was not able to mention all the people, places, and events that I would have liked to. I also was not able to report on all the lessons that I had learned or a bit about the person that I've become. I would like to leave my testimony of this work. I know I am a child of Heavenly Father. I know of his love for me. I know of his love for all of his children. I know of hi~ character and personality better now than any other point in my life. He is just as much an existing, thinking, breathing person as you or I with the same sort of passions, love, and laughter that we all possess. I testify of His Son, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are made possible. I testify of his truly merciful spirit and his love for me as well. I testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Church he restored. I also testify of The Book of Mormon as the true word of God today, written for today. I testify of Gordon Bitner Hinckley, the Prophet and Seer of the world today. I know this is God's wm-k upon the face of the earth today. We are his favorite thing, his everything, his only things. I know he loves us all and blesses us with everything we have. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
