staying focused Elder Kelly Conrad

Mom and Dad 09 May 2010

It was good to talk to everyone today. I was so caught up in the
moment that I forgot to tell you Happy Mother's Day mom! I hope we talked
about everything we needed to. It felt really good talking to all of you. It
really helped me see that when my mission is over it doesn't mean that my
life is over. I realized when talking to everyone that I am pretty serious
about this calling and mission. Telling you my plans for the next three
months has helped me see my purpose for the next two transfers.

There is a scripture found in the Doctrine and Covenants section 84 verse
33-34, that have really helped me stay focused and keep myself from being to
trunky. When my last companion went home I was probably the trunkiest that I
have ever been, and after studying this section I have found my peace and
have been able to stay focused. In verse 33-34, it gives a list of things to
obtain and do in order to be found as the elect of God. It says that those
who are faithful in receiving the two priesthoods and magnify their callings
are sanctified by the Spirit, unto the renewing of their bodies, and become
the sons of Moses and Aaron and the seed of Abraham and the church and
kingdom and are the elect of God. To make a long story short, I want to be
faithful and magnify my calling so that I can be called the elect of God and
be sanctified. So, that scripture tells me that I have to live my life in
such a way that the current calling is the most important thing until the
calling is over. Basically, I am not going to slack off because I'm coming
home soon, I'm going to live the rest of my mission the way I have lived it
so far untill the end when I am released, and when I am released I will be
able to move on.

I learned an important lesson this week. I learned that as a leader I will
sometimes be called to do things that will not bring me the most popularity.
We taught the mission about the importance of setting goals, making plans,
and being held accountable. We tried to help them gain a vision of the
purpose of weekly planning and daily planning. It wasn't the most fun of
all the Zone Conferences that I have been involved in, but it was certainly
one of the most powerful ones. I have gained a testimony about the
importance of setting goals and making plans, and being held accountable and
we tried to convey to the missionaries the importance of all these things
and the roles they will play in their life as a missionary and to their life
after the mission. I have learned that if I don't set goals or visions for
myself, I will go nowhere.

I don't have much else to say. I think we talked about it all on the phone
this morning. I love you family. It was really good to hear all your voices
today,it really helped me out.

Love,

Elder Kelly Conrad

small and simple Elder Kelly Conrad

Mom and Dad 02 May 2010

Things went well this week. It's always fun preparing for zone
conference and trying to stay focused and normal throughout all the studying
and planning.

We stopped going to the Riverside ward in the morning which will
make it easier for me to call home on Sunday. I will be able to call in the
morning; I'll call around 10:00 my time. I'll be calling your cell. We will
be calling from the mission office so that my companion is going to call
from the land line here and I'll be on our cell phone. I guess we will talk
about other things and I will be able to answer more questions then.

So the week went well. We have gotten a lot done and prepared
for this upcoming Zone Conference. I feel like there have been a lot of
achievements this past week, but when I look at my planner and review the
week there wasn't really all that done. We have spent a lot of time getting
ready for this next week and I would have to say that I have the best
feeling about this zone conference then I have since I first came here.

This week I have done a lot of studying about the family because of topics
spoken about in General Conference, and because of some needs that our
investigators have. I was talking to one of the missionaries that we
livewith, Elder Greg Otterstrom, about missionaries and he called to my
attention a thought that I once had several months ago that helped me learn
a lot about families. He said that you can observe missionaries and get a
general idea of what their family was like back at home by the way the
missionary acts. So, with all my thoughts I had that came from my studies
about the family, thrown in along with this concept of seeing how
missionaries life's were back at home with their families; I got to thinking
about my family and how it prepared me to serve a mission. Here were some
of my thoughts: My family and life did prepare me to be a missionary. Moving
from place to place, going from school to school, and ward to ward, and
sometimes branches, has equipped me with understandings and perspectives
about many situations that one can live in. Missionaries out here are
shocked when they are placed into a ward, or branch that covers counties,
instead of street blocks. When I was in an interview with Sister Merkley,
during their first transfer in the mission field, I asked her what it was
that prepared her the most to serve as Mission President and wife, and her
response caught me off guarded, she said that life had prepared her and
President Merkley to serve. It was an answer that has changed my view on
things and has continued to teach me even till this day. Life and family
really do shape the person that you are. Even though I might not want to
admit it sometimes, I am really just a product of my parents, family and
upbringing. There was more that went into those thoughts, but that was the
main theme of things.

Teaching Amy is going well. She still is coming to church and taking the
lessons, which is good. Teaching her is defiantly a learning experience; she
is helping learn how to be patient and to have long-suffering. It's all
about waiting with her right now, the desire to be become a member is there,
but there are other things that need to be cleared up before we can proceed.
The feeling that I get is that we are going to be waiting a long time
because there are some major events that need to take place before she can
be baptized.

We have another family that we started teaching this week! We are teaching
the Coleman family. It's a family with a husband and a wife with four kids.
We have taught Brother Coleman before, but this week he actually became an
investigator. Our lesson went really well, he read the scriptures that we
left him last time and he was prepared and ready for what we planned to
teach him. In our first lesson he told us that he felt like he has never
received and answer to his prayers, so in this week's lesson we planned to
teach to this concern. We used Moroni chapter 10 and 7 to help him see how
the Holy Ghost will testify of truth, and along with personally experience,
helped him see how he might receive an answer. It went really well, I feel
really good about him and his family. They are coming to church on Mother's
day next week.

That's all for this week family. We've got some things to do before we take
off tomorrow, so I've got to go. I love and thank you for all that you are
doing for me. I'm excited to get to call home and talked with you.

Love
Elder Kelly Conrad

PS the picture with all the missionaries is the picture of all those who
came to our Zone Leader Council this past Tuesday. The next picture is of
the Haynie family. Sam is the one who always comes out with us when we go
and teach Amy. This family is the sweetest! They feed us all the time. I
spent last Thanks Giving and Christmas at their home.

FW: how to repair

Dear Mom and Dad 25 April 2010

Things have gone well this week all things considered. We have
made a lot of progress that was very much needed. This week is week number
one of the transfer and we are doing all the necessary preparations for
weeks 2 through 6 and even for the next two transfers.

We were able to teach Amy this week. She is sweet,
nothing can get her down. She has received a lot of opposition these past
few weeks but she is so resilient. We have been helping her along through a
very long and tiresome repentance process. The way she came in contact with
the church were not in the normal conventional ways of watching a television
ad, or having missionaries talking to her. It is a miracle that we are even
teaching her. In my second transfer here Elder Hancock and I made the
choice to start going to the Riverside ward on Sunday along with our normal
ward. The reason we deceived to do this was so that we could inspire the
Riverside ward to be more missionary minded; we hoped that by having
missionary leaders in the ward that they might see it as a chance to utilize
the missionaries and get more organized. So, on the Sunday that Amy came to
church wanting to learn more about the church she talked to Elder Hancock.
We were at the right place at the right time, for the right person.

This week we were interviewed by some high school students for
an AP English project. It was an amazing experience. They were doing some
comparing of the different churches here in Tulsa. They brought with them a
video camera and sound equipment and filmed the whole interview. They said
they are going to send us a DVD next week with their final project, so I
will send that home so you can see how things went.

We had 11 new missionaries come into the mission this transfer.
All 11 of them are outstanding, they are defiantly better then I was when I
first came out. As we sat down with them and did some role plays it was very
apparent that they were prepared and ready for the people they are called to
serve here. New missionaries always bring a new excitement into the mission.
As you sit in the room with all of them you can just feel their faith and
anxiety. It's good to know who the mission's hands will be in a few months.

We are focusing the mission now on being better planners and
using daily and weekly planning as times to show the Lord that we are
prepared disciples that He can send His prepared people to. We have created
several power points that we are using to teach and instruct missionaries on
how to better use goal setting and plan making principles that some of us
older missionaries have learned to use. 75% of our mission is missionaries
who have only been out under a year. The younger the mission the more time
you spend training and that's what we have been doing these past six months.
In the next three transfers we are going to be losing the bulk of our
leadership and its going to require younger missionaries to step up and take
on some of the responsibilities. We older missionaries have the
responsibility to pass on what we have learned so that the mission can
continue to grow. I am excited to see how Zone Conference's goes this
transfer and to see how the missionaries apply what is taught.

I love you and thank you for all that you are doing. I will be
writing another tape this week filling you more in about things.

Love your son,
Elder Kelly Conrad