Dear family and friends,
For those of you who didn't (cough my family) realized last week I didn't have time to write. I know my mother is off at girls camp or some church camp, and Aaron and Claire are traveling all over the USA and Olivia and dad...I would be shocked if they got on by them selves to check to see if I wrote. But that's cool. My name is Kate Kelemen and I am the 6th of nine children. Yes I'm on a mission in Spain for those of you who still haven't figured out.
Quick story I need to let out: Yesterday was stake conference and Edison (new convert from our ward...Man I haven't told you much about this guy....boy) anyways he gave the closing prayer. Side note, he is single and 35 and really wants to get married. In his prayer (remember this is in stake conference) he said, " we know the best creation you ever made was the women...the most beautiful, kind, amazing and honestly the best creation. But we also know they are the hardest to get." I felt weird saying amen to that. Here's the thing. After all the missionaries were like 'what the?' But all the members were commenting on how beautiful the prayer was...These are the moments I feel like I do not belong here. After I ran into Edison and thanked him for the prayer and he looked at me and said, "it wasn't me. I was just the messenger for God to give that prayer. He just spoke through me, so thank Him." To be honest I don't think that came from above. That definitely came from him.
Yes, right now I am writing you people on my iPad. We got them. For those of you who didn't serve a mission with an iPad...Well then you will never quite understand how different it is. It's weird. At the end of my mission I am going to sound like an old geezer.
Me (next year) -"when I started my mission we didn't have iPads we carried our books, bible and all."
The greenies- "Stop! You're old! Man what was it like? That must have been so heavy to carry all the hard copy books! Tell me your joking."
Me - "I aint lying folks. When we wanted to write back home we had to go and rent a computer for an hour or so."
The greenies - *silent, and jaws dropped
Me - "we also had paper planners to plan for the week...man those were the good old days. Feels like yesterday."
Story: the lessons of the REAL danger of the iPads. So before we got the iPads we were warned of many dangers of the iPad. Pornography was a huge concern. I think to they were worried of us goofing around on the iPad or waisting time on them. Real concerns, yes. But I think there is a greater one. (this is my opinion) They day before we got them Hermana Irgoyen and I planned to show a Mormon message in everyone of our lessons for the next day. But Hermana Irgoyens iPad got locked and she couldn't open it and I didn't have time to download the videos. Frustrated that our plans were ruined we decided just pick a chapter out of the Book of Mormon to meet the needs of the investigators. In every lesson instead of showing a video we read a whole chapter together. All of our lessons turned out AMAZING. The spirit was so strong and needs they were struggling with were met. How was it done? After Hermana Irgoyen and I were talking and we agreed that was a very humbling experience for us both. We learned the lesson. We got the hint. Don't ever underestimate the power of the Book of Mormon. For it is still the greatest tool we have. Later that week we watched the Joseph Smith full movie with an investigator and when it shows the missionaries in England it got me thinking. They had no preach my gospel, general conference magazines, pamphlets, videos, iPads, even church buildings, yet they converted many. How? They had really all they needed, the Book of Mormon. There is a power in the book. The real danger I see is the missionaries forgetting that. Yes the Mormon messages are great, I'm a huge fan. But we can't forget Moroni's promise. He didn't say the "watch the Mormon messages, the videos, and pray to know if the church is true, and God will answer." It's clear, he told us to read the Book of Mormon.
Another cool story about the power of the Book of Mormon, Remember Franscio, the deaf guy? I don't know if I told you, but at the end of this month he is getting baptized. We dropped him two months ago, but one day, out of the blue, after we had dropped him he sent us a text that said, "I read that chapter you left me, I prayed, and I believe you. I know it's true! Can we meet sometime?" When we met him later that week he said he told his friends about the Book of Mormon and they were all making fun of him and this is what he said, " they don't believe me, but I know and I told them all they have to do is read it and pray. Because it's true." Challenge. Next time you have to give a lesson in sunday school, or
share a thought in FHE and you want to share a video...Find a scripture in the Book of Mormon instead. :)
Life's good for Hermana Kelemen, everyday is a new adventure. The other day we contacted this guy and as I was introducing ourselves and I begin to laugh...And then my companion started to laugh and then the guy we were contacting started to laugh. So there we were three random people laughing at nothing. I don't know why I laughed, but I'm just
glad the guy laughed with us and he gave us him number. :) "Laugh and the world laughs with you." Right?
Love, Hermana Kelemen
P.S. I told Daniel the other day that I write home to you guys about him, he did his Sponge Bob laugh and felt so honored. He says hi.
P.P.S. No. we are not using Facebook until our new president comes. So in a couple weeks I think.
