The Mighty Change of Heart

Family,

I have been informed by my kind and loving older brother that my emails are getting hard to read and that I need to start using paragraphs more. Please excuse my shortcomings for I have only been out a transfer. I am so glad to hear that everything has gone well with Torie and the baby. Clara Gene is such a cute name. She looks just like Craig if I do say so myself, a much cuter version of Craig that is!

It is so great that Mom and Dad were able to go and stay with Torie and Craig and experience their ward in Peoria. Church is definitely super different in the mission field and mostly just outside of Utah. The recent converts bear such powerful but simple testimonies that it is impossible not to learn from them. I definitely believe that we need to focus on the simple powerful truths of the gospel to really improve our lives.

This week has been pretty good. Thank you for your prayers for Sarah. She decided on Tuesday to continue with her baptism! We were so excited to see her overcome her fears and show such great faith. I want to tell you more about my experience with Sarah and how I have seen that Mighty Change of heart that is spoken of so many times in the Book of Mormon.

My First contact with Sarah was my first night in the mission. I was tired and scared and extremely overwhelmed. We called Sarah to set up an appointment and proceeded to have an hour long conversation about how she did not want to continue the lessons, she had a really rough week. Sarah struggles with depression and was having a really hard time feeling of Gods love. For the next 3 weeks we would occasionally send a spiritual thought to her in a text. One Sunday we walked into church and to our surprise we saw Sarah sitting off to the side. We were overjoyed to see her at church. We talked to her and set up a lesson for later on that week. We taught Sarah and everything was going great. She came to church and she was really feeling the spirit. We scheduled a baptismal date and then suddenly out of nowhere last Sunday night she dropped us. We were devastated, we had seen her come so far only to have it go no further. We kept in contact with her and tried so hard to figure out her fears of being baptized. Once we had found those fears and helped her know of Gods love and the strength that she can get from the atonement, she was again ready to be baptized. Just this last Friday Sarah was baptized and has now received the gift of the Holy Ghost. She is honestly a completely different person. In her own words she said, "I used to walk around with a fake smile on, but now I don't. Now the smile is real." The gospel gives Sarah and all of us such a beautiful hope and joy for life and for what is to come. It can truly heal any wound! Because of back problems it required two of us in the font to make sure that she was safe. It was an experience I am not soon to forget.

Sarah's Baptism
The font was a little small for all 3 of us but we made it work!

The work is going forward! And there truly are people prepared for this great message! Not much else happened this week. It is the start of a new transfer and we have to get working on getting some new investigators because the two we had last transfer are now recent converts.

Love you guys so much and am so excited to get to watch conference this weekend! Also I hope you wore your fast Sunday ties, cause I surely did.

Love,

Elder Kmetzsch

I Went To The London Temple!

Family,

I love the neighborhood party! I am sad that I missed Dad doing the Beach Boy Medley, ha ha! He is such a goof! Emma had her first morningside! That is super exciting! She should tell me all about it and how she is doing in a reply to the letter I sent her from the MTC!! The little bum, ha ha! 

That is so cool that Cameron got to come home and be ordained a High Priest! That is crazy that he is on the High Council! I know he is going to do great in his new calling and really strengthen the church in Florida! I wonder if he is in Talmage Edwards mission boundaries! He should ask for me. 

I love the temple and I actually got to go to the temple this last Saturday! The ward had a temple trip to the London Temple and Wai Yin our recent convert really wanted to go! Everything worked out for her to go and we thought to ourselves, hey we should ask President if we can go with her! We proceeded to call President and asked if we could go. He said no of course because it is out of our mission boundaries! But he did give us a suggestion to take a picture of ourselves and give it to Wai Yin and have her take it with her to the temple! She did and we got some awesome pictures of us at the London Temple! AHHH, at least our picture got to go! But really we were just very excited that Wai Yin got to go do Baptisms for the Dead and really feel the spirit of the Temple! 

Wai Lin with Me and Elder Worlton at the London Temple

The rest of the week we focused a lot on one of our investigators named Sarah. She was set to be baptised this Friday and we saw her pretty much every day last week and she was progressing really well! Sarah struggles with depression and last night went really low and has decided to drop us.... We are pretty devastated and hope you will keep her in your prayers because what she needs right now is Christ and his Atonement! The Atonement is why I am on a mission! Without it life would be pointless and frankly really sad... To be able to see people learn about something that is so near and dear to me and to accept it into there lives is such a blessing! The church is true! We just need to grab on to the rod and never, ever let go! 

This is my district. Notice how I am drowning in my suit!

Made an awesome Shepherd's Pie. Mom would be so Proud!

Not much else happened last week, and we are hoping for a more eventful week this week. It is transfers this week and it is crazy to think that I have made it through my first transfer! Which I hear is the longest transfer of the whole mission. It's pretty much all down hill from here! We did finally get our washer fixed this week and now I can do laundry after two and a half weeks of waiting! I now understand why Mom washes the towels every week and that white shirts can last much longer than one wear! Man, has Torie had the baby yet? Did they decide on a name? Is she flipping adorable? 

Love you all,

Elder Kmetzsch

Wait, That Lawn Mower Doesn't Have Wheels?!?!

Family! 

This week has been loads of travel and meetings! We had Zone conference on Tuesday which was way fun! I met tons of new missionaries and got to see a lot of my friends from MTC! I also met Elder Packer, and I bet you can guess whose grandson he is! He is a super cool guy! Friday we went to a trainers meeting and that was great cause I got to see everybody that was at the MTC with me! We learned a ton from President Rasmussen! I love President he is so cool and just loving! We took the train to both meetings which was a new experience for me! Though it was a bit like riding the subway in New York. Just a lot bigger and faster! I loved it though cause I got to see more of the country side and I didn't have to bike it! 

Zone Conference

Half of my MTC District

 The rest of the week was pretty uneventful for us though! We are still working hard on building up our teaching pool and just finding, finding, finding! Wednesday was quite the day though, We had an exchange on Wednesday and I got to go with Elder Rutter! Have I mentioned he is one of my favorite humans ever!! So we exchanged after doing service for Rose, and then went strait to service for the Sidhu's. We got locked into what is called an allotment which is just like a community garden for rent! Sister Sidhu said Brother Sidhu would be there soon but he didn't come for a while after that! So we just chilled and pulled weeds and talked about Pokemon, (this is one of the reasons he's my favorite human)! We then got a call informing us we were expected at another members house to do service! So we waited for Brother Sidhu to come  back and then we took off to go and help the Topps. The Topps are moving and needed help cleaning up the yard. I got to mow the lawn, but to my surprise the lawn mower didn't have any wheels... I was a little confused as to why it was electric as well. Turns out it is called a Hover Mower! Yeah you heard right a Hover Mower! Since the lawns here aren't very big they don't need big mowers! So they have little electric ones that hover! It was super fun and I made a big deal about it and they were all laughing at me! But it hovered!!!! Hopefully the video will send! Me and Elder Rutter ended up biking 35 miles over the course of our 24 hr exchange which was sweet!! Not much else has happened this week that is super duper exciting just a lot of finding and rejection! But like my MTC teacher said, "Every rejection is a point towards a miracle! The more points you have the bigger the miracle!" So expect a pretty big miracle for me and Elder Worlton soon!!

The Space Mower

I got my package!! The pillow case is super cool!! And I kinda called that you were gonna send conference candy!!! I told Elder Worlton all about conference candy and how you were gonna send some for my Birthday! Thank you also for the Hot Chocolate! I made myself a cup for my Birthday treat ha ha! Birthdays are so weird on the mish! Doesn't really seem real that I am 19! Weird... 

Birthday Package

Yay for Mint Hot Chocolate!

Well that's all for this week! Love you all tons! 

Elder Kmetzsch 

Don't Text While Biking!

Family!

I can't even believe that I am going to be nineteen this week! Ah, I am soo old! I'm glad Utah is doing well! You may as well keep me updated on how the Y is doing cause I am going to be going there! Also if there are any epic plays please tell me about them!  The hot sauce is actually getting more mild, the more I use it! Cause you know that I love spice! You guys should really send me some of that jalapeño plum jelly cause well that sounds delicious!! That is a lot of plums!! Man, that is so crazy! When I saw the picture I was all "FLIP" that's a lot of plums! I love our plums and you just can't find them over here!

Delicious tacos I made for me and my companion!

Our area in Coventry covers some of the city center and the Northwest section of the city! It Contains places called Allsey, Coudon and Radford. It is a fairly large area but it's not too big.

Man, I don't think I am ever going to find an investigator as amazing as Wai Yin! She is 32 and living in Coventry looking for a job! Her family is all back in Hong Kong and she lives on her own! She is super smart and studies all the time! She was found just before I came in by Elder Smith. She was then passed on to us because they were busy! We taught her all the lessons in the span of about a week and a half and she literally called us and asked how soon she could be baptized! We freaked out just a bit! She was baptized this Saturday and it was such a cool experience! Elder Smith baptized her because he found her, but I got to be one of the witnesses and to be apart of the circle for the confirmation! Brother Hannis confirmed her and it was such a powerful and just awesome blessing! Wai Yin has a lot to look forward to and she is going to be amazing! She actually went out teaching with the one of the other sets of Elders Sunday night! So yeah the day she became a member she went out teaching! She really is the greatest!

Me and Elder Worlton at Wai Yins baptism! 

Besides the baptism, this week has been a pretty great one! I got a haircut and am looking really awesome! Tuesday we biked to Allsey which is a decently far bike ride! When we were biking around looking for a place to go tracting I got a text! We weren't biking very fast so I just decided to not stop and just reply while I was biking, BAD IDEA! I got the text written and sent, but as I was putting the phone back into my pocket I drifted towards a pole so I swerved a bit and pulled my brake. It was my front brake and I didn't have my other hand for support! So I slid right off the seat of my bike and about went over the handle bars! Luckily I stayed on my feet long enough to jump over the handle bars! Though my bike did take a little bit of a tumble and I got a massive bruise on my leg from hitting the frame, I survived! But I will no longer be biking and texting! 

Thursday was my first Zone Meeting and I got to see three of the Elders that I went to the MTC with! Two were in my district and the other one was in my room. So I know them all really well and it was super awesome to catch up and just see how they are doing! I definitely like zone conference minus those darn role plays!!! On the way to zone conference Elder Worlton about died drifting his bike on some grass around a corner, but he only ended up ripping is pants!! It was soo funny!! I forgot to mention that my bike went back into the hospital because there was a bad bottom bracket on it! So I got to ride the awful heavy mountain bike that one of the sisters let me ride before I got my wonderful light hybrid bike! But I got my bike back later that day just in time to ride 6 miles to a dinner appointment! We then rode home and then went strait to an exchange with the other Elders which is another 3 miles! All in all we rode our longest day yet, 25 miles!! It was awesome! The exchange went well and it was fun to see more of the city! 

On Saturday we spent pretty much all day at the chapel getting ready for the baptism! We had to clean the font cause it hadn't been used in a while! While I was standing in the font barefoot and Elder Worlton was climbing out the window to go turn on the water so I could rinse off the bleach, in walks one of the Area Seventy for England! Yes, one of the Area Seventy! I recognized him right off the bat cause he spoke at the MTC while I was there! His name is Elder Dryden and he was at the chapel for a baby blessing of one of his grandchildren! I was a little shocked to see him and was more nervous when he walked up because my companion was climbing in the window of the chapel! It was all good though and we just talked to him for a minute! He is super chill and way cool! It's not often that you get to talk to a seventy while standing in a baptismal font! We laughed pretty hard after he left! Everything went great for the baptism and we had pizza after! 

It was my first fast Sunday in the field and it was not nearly has fun as it sounds! Biking on an empty stomach is not the easiest! But we did get to eat dinner with a member who made some amazing gammon which is just ham! She made this really great orange sauce for it and man it was a good fast Sunday dinner! I hope Dad and the boys remembered there ties! I certainly did!

Thats all for this week I hope you guys are having great week and I hope my lil darling is starting the school year off right! 

Love, 

Elder Kmetzsch (Jakey) 

Don't Ignore The Warning Labels On Hot Sauce!

Family!

Man, this week as been pretty long and slow! It is a really busy time of year with school starting over here. People just keep pushing us back to next week or in a few weeks! Last Monday we went and looked for a winter coat. We found a really nice coat and yes Dad it does have a zip out liner! We also bought some waterproofing spray that we sprayed on the jacket I brought with me! I have worn that jacket everyday! Cause it rains, well, everyday! I don't mind the rain that much, but when the wind is blowing right at you and the rain is coming down it makes biking a lot harder! But biking is actually becoming a lot easier and I like biking a lot more than walking now! 

Bikes get stolen a lot here, so to make them not look brand new or brand name we put tape all over them! I went a little crazy... but it was super fun! And now my bike looks completely different!

After we got home Monday, we baked some cookies for our neighbors. But they weren't home so we ended up just eating them all....  whoops! Later on the night we got a call from Wai Yin! She decided that she wanted to be baptized! It's funny cause we hadn't really asked her to be baptized yet! But she is set to be baptized this Saturday! Man, she is just the perfect investigator! She understands everything and she actually does the reading assignments that we give to her! She already got an answer that the BOM is true and is super excited to get baptized! We have only been teaching her for two weeks now, but she seems like she has been studying the gospel for years! While walking with her home from church we asked what her plans were for the rest of the night and she told us that she was going to go study her scriptures! She also figured out how to use the index all on her own! Man, she is the greatest! She is so smart and just so willing to live all of Gods commandments! So hopefully if things continue as they are, there will be a baptism this Saturday! Man, I'm excited! 

Not much happened Tuesday besides my bike getting a bent back axel! Good thing that I got the insurance plan on it! So we took it in and they told us it was just one defective part! On Thursday we had a good district meeting and then after me and Elder Worlton decided to explore our area and get out of the city. We ended up biking into the middle of nowhere at the edge of our area and we found those rolling hills that everyone was talking about! We biked about 6 and a half miles out to the edge of our area and then back! We ended up biking around 20 miles in total that day! But I did get some nice pictures! 

 The weird thing that I am doing in the pictures means Wow, ha ha!

That night we went on exchange with the Zone Leaders and I stayed in the area with Elder Sommer! It was a super fun exchange and we got a ton of potential investigators and just had a good time! At lunch Elder Sommer found Elder Worltons hot sauce that is crazy hot! He was all, "oh this can't be that bad," so he put a big drop on his mac and cheese! I had been previously warned at how hot this hot sauce actually was and was eager to see if the stories were true! Yes, yes they were! About 30 sec into it it hit him, ha ha! It was so, so funny! I asked him to see the bottle and ended up getting some on my finger and was like oh it can't be that bad! Trust me it was that bad.... At first it was just a nice burn on the tip of my tongue. Then the nuclear explosion went off and the rest of my mouth was suddenly on fire and I was coughing and coking right along side Elder Sommer! It was pretty great and we had a good laugh! The rest of the exchange was really great and we got a ton of work done!

Elder Sommer near tears holding the hot sauce!

Saturday we had football again and it was way fun! A member actually had an extra pair of boots (cleats) and he sold them to me for £5 which is way cheap because they are Nikes! So that's pretty awesome! Saturday we also taught Wai Yin which was super fun, we planned for just a few things and ended up teaching her two lessons plus the word of wisdom! She is just a sponge! Sunday was great again. It's so weird when they talk about the missionaries in church and it takes me about 30 seconds to realize that I am one! We actually sang in sacrament meeting and it was super good! We sang "Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy" to the tune of "If you Could Hie to Kolob"! It actually worked well and we have some really good singers in our district! This morning I went to the dentist to get the chip fixed and have had a numb face all day! It's really hard to drink and when I smile it only half works! Hopefully this week will be a lot busier and will have a good one! 

Love

Elder Kmetzsch

P.S. Has Utah started there season yet? Did they win? Come on Dad I need updates here!