youth have a powerful influence over the hearts of the people

hey mom! 

it was a another quick week! i got to see Elder Brockbank and it was heavenly. sat next to him for MLC and man i miss him. they are having ridiculous success in Baluarte! like 6 of our investigators are going to be getting baptized here soon! helps as well to have a filipino over there. a little better than 2 weird foreigners. 

Conference was super super good. it was cool standing with my tiny band of filipino members during priesthood. even though only a handful of the whole district came out, the power was felt. i've never felt like i've had more clear direction in my life. stay posted. I liked Elder Bednars, Bishop Causse's, Lynn G. Robbins (he's my guy) and President Nelsons talks alot. 

heres a cool experience from the week for the youth:

We had this experience this last week where we were teaching this LA man and we had a struggling youth come along to teach with us. the youth was in full proselyte... looking good. anyway this LA man has an LA son but the son would just leave when we would share. so we start our lesson and i just assume the son (who is like 30 btw) is out of there but as we teach he stands in the doorway for a time, we continue, then he sits in the lesson! it was super neat and than at a random time near the end of the lesson the LA says "I see my past self in that youth. i'm jealous of the opportunity he has now to be with the missionaries and active in the church. its time for me to return". it was super cool. then at the end of the lesson instead of asking the nice father to pray, we ask the son, he almost says no but instead just gets to his knees and we follow and than he prays very slowly and carefully. with some emotion and then says afterwards "this is my first time praying in a very long time." the father than came to church on sunday. the son i know will be following shortly. Youth have a powerful influence over the hearts of the people, it helps as well when they dress the part. 

life keeps moving :) 

Elder Kearl

Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day

I've had an amazing mission so far...

hello po nay,

Please make sure to message Sister Hiatt ASAP once david is born so she can inform me. thanks :) 

Elder and I had a very successfull week! we had an investigator at church for each branch, dinners at LA's houses, members introducing us to LA's, and a good council meeting with the Elders Quorum of the Lord. 

I've been feeling good. It's been hitting me how close I really am to coming home. I've been getting good emails from Danny and Scott Wolff and Jesse which was super great! 

Edwins wife flies into the Philippines tomorrow and Preisdent is allowing for his WHOLE family to meet us for lunch one pday here. i am soo excited to see him. Ill be seeing Elder Brockbank on Thursday and a holy kiss may be in order. 

All in all: we have been greatly blessed lately and I've had an amazing mission so far. mom, i cant wait to just go for lunch with you once I'm home :)

Thats it, thats all. Heres some things from my friends emails this week:

1. We don't earn heaven, we learn heaven.

2. We aren't just saved by grave, it must also change us.

3. God does not send angels bearing a book for a generation to whom it has no relevance. We ignore that book and/or take it lightly at our peril and condemnation. It is not just a nice book with nice principles.

4. No matter what we do we can never do more than is required of us--meaning we never become the issuer of debt to the Lord.

5. Faith simply cannot be dependent on circumstance, that defeats the whole purpose of it. Faith in its purity, and by nature, is unwavering and immovable. Meaning we cannot wait for a green pasture to renew our faith, the faith must take us there.

6. We cannot maintain an even level of folly. We are either moving up or down, and every step up is a righteous one. 

7. Holiness and righteousness are inseparable.

8. The value of love is not found in it's reciprocation.

9. God is perfectly capable of hearing every silent prayer you utter and is also perfectly capable of communicating with you in ways that keep you on your toes in all the best, but perfectly stretching, ways. 

"Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping."

Elder Kearl

Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day

what a blessing to come from strong stakes back home

you would think i would have more to report on right now but can't say there is a whole lot. experiencing some Burgos life. in the middle of nowwhere trying to get friends to come back and enjoy the restored gospel. 

had a pretty special experience blessing the sacrament. not many Priesthood holders in the second branch so they utilize us pretty good. When i was a 16 yo back home it didn't mean a whole lot to me tbh bc i didn't really understand what it was. even for a big part of my mission i didn't know a lot about the sacrament but 3 nephi 18 makes it so clear and it is an amazing chapter. had some really strong feelings lately of having to do my best while i'm here especially as we were blessing the sacrament that i really just got to do this well bc i want the people to be happy and i've been taught and have blessings that others need to know! pretty emotional. 

also taught a RC older couple temple preparation class with no preparation on my part and that was interesting. super cool to see them take this step. but they started looking more and more worried as the class went on. I'm very grateful for Grandma Rosenvall's friend for preparing Ben Palmer and I so well in there home:) kind of a sweet experience now to look back on.

really appreciate living in a country where the church is very established. what a blessing to come from strong stakes. 

i've been having similar good struggles like i had in my first area which is cool! it feels like my mission has started to repeat its self for some round 2 growing and learning. feeling more dedicated that ever and i'm excited :)

We have had a dinner appointments every night since i've gotten here (many at LA's or non members) and have some service planned for a LA friend.

wish i had more to say, sorry!

Elder Kearl

Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day

text from sister hiatt...his mission mom!

Hi Sister Kearl,

Still loving the energy and positive attitude of your son.  He has another zone leader assignment in a zone and district with the opportunity to exercise in his priesthood leadership.

Unfortunately, his time is ticking away too fast.  

Hope all is well in your home and life.

Love you all,

Sister Hiatt

I added extra photos because I know you are excited to see him.  I am rejoicing with you but very sad to see him go.  He's endeared in my heart with his contagious happiness.

hey, no more counting days mom, i'm anti that

super cool stuff. when you look at it alot is really going on back
home. i love telling people that we will have a new baby in the family
soon. i hope you relize that like 5 diffrent people a day see you and
the family haha.
HELLO PO NAY!

so big week! President gave me a pretty neat assignment to finish me
off. me and a fresh Zone Leader (Elder Ricarte (also my batch (we
arrived at the same time))) opened the zone leader area of Burgos on
wednesday. The guys we replaced are great missionaries who were doing an
amazing job but this weird place "needed a fresh look" -Pres.. The
missionaries left the place with some solid people to teach but i can't
help but really miss Baluarte. it was hard saying good bye to some of
my new best friend who i grew to love over the 7 months i was there.
but it'll be good using my last 3 months here.

about the place. it sure is weird. its the equivalent to like
standoff. the place right before cardston. you travel between 2 kinda
big cites in a hot bus/van thing for like 30 mins surrounded with no
houses just farm and then stop at a gas station and resturant and then
your here. BURGOS, ISABELA. our house is legit tho with cheap air con
all day ere day and my comp is clean :) easy apartment to keep up (not
like the last one). we live in a compound with a bunch of members but
only a few (maybe 1) are active. the place feels like UTAH bc so many
people are members and everyone calls you elder and not just brother.
but soooo many endowed members are LA so president told us to focus
there.

the area is tiny! but we live in our area, close to the church, and
just walking everyday which is something im really not used to! first
in my mission! no roomates which has been nice tbh but were covering 2
branches! the boundries and everything is super confusing bc members
just go to church at whatever time they want. hard keeping track of
everything. we live across the street from a great member family and
every one here just works on the farm. its honestly really cool here. i
really enjoy it. no ones busy ever and its super rural. i rode a
caribao! (water buffalo thing). just feels like i'm in a western movie
at all points of time.

life is moving on. starting to hit how much time i don't have left but i
dont wanna think about it. hey no more counting days. i'm anti that.

2 years ago i got my mission call and endowed. crazy.

-- 
Elder Kearl
Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day

things are looking way too good in this area

North Carolina??? how cool for eric and emily. where? are we gonna visit? im really excited to go to a restaurant just the 2 of us... 

thats crazy about baby david coming so soon. whats the plan with him? 

lifes been so good mom. it feels good. i think i'm starting to get nervous about coming back.

HELLO PO NAY!

so we had a lesson with a young mother of 2 and she ended up crying at the end and then her and her husband came to church! its good stuff. feels good.

so on the way to church from our further area with Edwin and that new couple in tow, there was a check point set up to catch people w/o licences or something. so it was set up in a very visible place and when people would see it they would just stop and turn around and the cops didnt care an ounce. one guy even walked over, asked the cops what was going on and who's getting busted, walked back to us bc we stopped and told everyone how to get through. turns out they were just checking vans. of course the cops all had big ol' rifles! hardly anyone got checked. very casual situation. i hope you get how funny it really was. if not, it's just how it goes :) 

We started speaking english with Edwin recently and it is so funny! he wants to learn so were helping him out. turns out his wife is coming in april to visit for a month but big chance i'm not here. this is actually really hard for me. 

nothin else but things are looking way too good in this area. 

Elder Kearl

Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day

there is so much goodness going on in this area

hi mama, 

thats cool your staying busy and baby David is getting spoiled! when are you finishing school? like for good and also this summer? what is you and dads plan? just keep plugging along or like moving to italy? anything crazy? kick me out or something! mix it up! 

no travel plans yet. probably end of this month. its close to 100% im out of here on june 6th. no way around that we will just see how long it takes me to get there.  please make doctors and dentist appointments for me please.

HELLO PO NAY,

quick higlight: so geese are really aggressive here and always act like there going to attack you. not cool. so i walk past a goose who is just giving me the biggest stink eye and stares at me as i walk past him and when my body passes him this guy takes a lunge at me! what a freak! but i quickly turn around so it doesn't bite and i mange to grab its super long neck and throw it to the side making it do a 180. not cool.

Hey, so Samuel and Joesphine who got baptized last weekend have been working with us a bit! its cool hearing what Samuel had to say. he said that he didn't want to waste our time and have us keep coming back for no reason so he took the challenge and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true. He said he had one dream where a voice told him very clearly that "the Book of Mormon and what we teach him will help make him clean." super cool to see. His neighbour and daughter will be baptized here soon. that neighbours wife is like "yeah get baptized! i love the mormons!" and shes over in japan or something. hopefully Amy will find her.

Edwin killing it again! so we had a FHE with edwin the other day and his crew and they loved it! the crew had another one and they invited 3 of their friends and 2 of those friends went to church! one of them was a dad named Vangel who drinks a lot and we taught him a while back but didn't really care. but after teaching him once again after the FHE he comes to church because he wants good family strength. and the other friend was a fellow teenage girl who didn't seem to interested at first but is pretty into it now. 

there is so much goodness going on this area its hard to balance everything. crazy.

 

Elder Kearl

Any Day Above Ground is a Good Day