Master teacher! Elder D. Kelly Conrad

Mom- Nov 23, 2009
Well there has been a lot that has happened this past week and have very little time to tell you about it.
This past week I saw three of my old companions bear their departing testimonies during zone conferences. When Saturday came around I thought about how much my mission will change with these three missionaries leaving, I will lose some of my best and most trusted friends. These are the missionaries who have helped me get form where I was to where I am now. I owe everything to these elders and see how they have changed my live. I will really miss them. I was pretty much the biggest wreck when I came out here and I was so lost and Elder Harrison and Jacobson have helped me overcome most of my social anxieties and my inability to function around people. I remember the only good thought that I could hold onto during my struggles was a scripture that is found in Either 12 where it says that when we come to Christ he will turn our God given weaknesses into strengths. Now that I look back I have a pretty powerful testimony of that scripture, along with many other doctrines taught in the church.
Well this week has been filled with a lot of learning, my new companion has been teaching me a lot about refinement and I have really seen a change in me because of it. The change has come in the music I listen to, the words I use when I speak and the way I conduct myself around others.
Some times I even forget that I had a life before I came out here. Every week I go through my pictures of my mission and review things that I have learned through out it and today while I took my trip through memory lane I couldn't remember life before my mission. I can't see myself without this name tag and tie. The reason I'm having these thoughts is because my companion is going home in four weeks and he tells me that it's gone by too fast, so it's got me thinking about how fast it really has gone by. It is really helping me see what I want in the future and I am setting goals right now to get me there, not just goals for things that I want to do before I leave the mission, but even goals for after the mission. I remember when I first came out when I learned something I was looking for ways to apply it in my normal life, and in my missionary life, but later as my mission went on I lost my focus and felt like what I was learning was just for my life as a missionary, but my mission president has helped me get on track by reminding me that what I'm learning now will help me be a better father, elders quorum president, home teacher and so on. It's really helped me understand why I do things and most the time I see how it won't only help me in my life as a missionary, but even beyond this life.
Yesterday I went on exchanges with the other Elders here in New Haven and I went to teach these two men, Eddie and Doyle. Both are pretty humble and in pretty humble circumstances. As Elder Whitaker and I taught them it was a very powerful experience that taught me even more about becoming a master teacher. I learned that the scripture are laid out perfectly to teach every principle and teaching it in order. For example as you read section 20 after the church has been organized it teaches us the most important doctrine, which is the true relationship we have with Heavenly Father, and then continues on through everything thing from the way some one is brought into the church, the duties of the members and the sacrament, and as you read it builds from one doctrine and principle to the next. The Lord is a master teacher and there is a lot of power in the doctrine that is taught in that section.
I am amazed that I have even able to learn from the scriptures like this, studying for school should be a piece of cake after learning how to study and learn from the scriptures.
Well for Thanksgiving there is going to be a lot of eating at members homes who I have never met, and we also be eating at the mission home with the mission president and his family who is coming in tonight. We will be playing some football and Broom ball with several ward members. I can't wait to get a little dirt on my knees and show some one that I can do more then just teach!
So I thought that after I left Fort Smith I was done having success with basketball on Mondays but today I was proven wrong. As we played we had two kids come up to us, whose names are Zack and Raymond who wanted to play ball with us. We didn't play because we had just gotten done, but I was able to talk to both of them and get their numbers and committed them to come play next week. As we got to know each other I found out that both of these kids have close family who are members of the church and Zack's older brother is serving a mission in Utah right now. So I can't wait to see where things are going to go from here. I guess basketball is one of the many styles I have at doing missionary work.

Thank you for all that you are doing for me, and the family.

Elder D Kelly Conrad