April 15, 2013

Dear Everyone,

I am doing great thank you for all of the e-mails and for the support in me serving a mission. If I could ask one thing though first is that when you right me if you could please include maybe a spiritual experience or maybe a scripture for me to read so that I can more focus on the work here in Philly. Like I said I am doing amazing I love it here and there are so many cool things to see, me and my companion were walking on the railroad tracks the other day so I made him take of picture of me and so I will send that next week hopefully. The weather is also pretty crazy here last week me and my companion were trying to find so people to talk to and then we look up in the sky and see that is is pitch black to the north of us and that is moving south fast so we bolt it back to a Walgreens and go inside instantly after we get it the rain came pouring down it was crazy and then there was lightning everywhere! It was so cool. Well we finally got furniture in our apartment and so now I feel like it is real. I know also understand where my companion kept saying to me you don't even know what a spanish Elder is like because we usually get fed like 2 meals a night and we have gotten maybe 2 this whole past week. But then this past Sunday night there it is 2 dinners one right after the other and I don't really know where the food went to. They are feeding us tons of food and I hope that I just don't come back super gordo. Well ya everything is going great we have been finding everything very well and getting to know the area very well. But I do not want to talk about this stuff to much and I want to talk about testimonies as I titled this e-mail the power of you testimony.

The Power Of Your Testimony:

What a profound and amazing subject. I bet I could ask every single one you you how you use it and you could give 200 examples and they are all amazing and  you should thank God for those times and opportunities. This past week has been rough my trainer is not easy and I am very grateful for that because he makes me do a lot and wants me to be able to take over the area if he gets transferred. But we had an experience the other day when we were doing role plays with each other and I was teaching him The Restoration. Now I had just studied this the past week and I thought that I would be able to figure out how to teach it simply and with power. I then go on to a silent teaching with no words and I was trying to figure out everything that I was going to say. He then goes on to ask me questions about The Restoration and I answer them and he goes well okay but what about this? And I go answering all of his questions. He finally stumps me and I just sit there then he goes on to pressure me and to give him an example and I am trying so hard that I literally thought about giving up. But as I was about to give up I say to him that I guess I don't know The Restoration like I thought I did. What a humbling experience it was for me to confess to my companion that I do not know The Restoration of our church as well as I thought I did. My companion goes on to say to me "Elder you are being way to hard on yourself I know that you are stressed out with the language and with everything I went through it also." He then says: " I can't even imagine being out in the field after only 6 weeks in the field and being asked to do all of this. But I know that you can do it." He then goes on to bare his testimony to me of trials and how he has gotten through them and how I need to look at certain things. His testimony was so strong and I started to second guess my own testimony and getting more worried. But then he says: "You need to remember why you are on a mission and why you came here and to be truly converted to this work." I then go on to think and to pray about what I needed to to do to figure out and to remember these things and so I can conquer this situation.

It was not till last night and today that I truly remembered why I came on a mission. I could say I came on a mission because of the story about my great uncle from Japan but that is not really why. Last night as me and my companion were knocking doors. We were following a referral from and english Elder that was here awhile ago and as we are walking down this street I hesitated a couple of times as we walked down the street think nothing of it maybe we were just needing to knock on this door and maybe there is an elect person in there waiting for us. But as we knocked and there was no one there. I turned and saw a young girl sitting on the curb across the street. I tell my companion lets go talk to her. We walk over and I start to talk to her introducing ourselves as missionaries and that we are trying to find people that need a message of happiness and families and just hope in the home. She then goes on to ask us well what church are you from. We tell her and she notices that we are Mormons. We then go onto share with her The Book Of Mormon and the power it has and how it can bless our lives. I asked her does she believe in Jesus Christ knowing that she believes in the Trinity because she said that she went to the Calvary church but does not go anymore. She then said that she has a hard time believing in Jesus Christ. I then was able to bare my testimony to her of Jesus Christ and that he truly is the Son of God. I can not forget her face as we left her at that curb with a smile and just so happy that we talked to her. She may not call us but atleast I know that through my testimony she truly was spiritually uplifted. I love this Gospel and hope that you are all sharing your testimonies with everyone that you meet. Have a great week you are all in my prayers.

Love you all! Elder Marse

April 8, 2013

Dear Everyone, 

Everything is going amazing I am doing so good and yup I am in Philly! My new companion/trainers name is Elder Mason and he is from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is so amazing and is such a great trainer for me. I am so excited that you could guess my e-mail. The field is great here so much better than the MTC and 20 times harder this is so hard to find people. Me and my companion are re-opening a new area call Souderton (Spanish) I live in this small town called Hatfield just south of it. But we are the only Spanish elders in our whole area so we have to cover a lot! But we do not have the miles to cover all of it which is hard to explain. But I get to drive this sweet 2013 Subaru it only had 15 miles on it when I started to drive it. (I think it is a Hybrid but not sure) I live in this apartment that still does not have a table or chairs we use our suit cases for our desks. But we hopefully sometime this week that will change I heard about this whole e-mail thing and now I am getting e-mails from all my friends its super nice. There are some things if you want to send me a package you need to send it to the address at the bottom of the e-mail that is the mission office and that is where I can get it from. We have like no food it's about as much as the Other Side of Heaven in Philly that you can get. For the first 2 days we were with out a phone and that was rough because we just tracked all day long. It is really hard to find where the Hispanics are in all of these cities but once you find one Hispanic then you find like 40 more. This work is far from easy it is probably the hardest thing that I have done all my life but I feel so blessed to be able to do it and to have the opportunity to serve the Lord our Savior for 2 years. The work is going well though we are starting to meet members now and finding our who the Spanish speaking people are. Me and my companion are trying to only speak Spanish to each other all day long every day but that is super hard when I don't know that much. But I have faith that I will figure it all out sooner or later. It will be on the Lords time not my time for he knows when it is best for me to learn everything. In my mission this is the year of Miracles and we are trying to find miracles every week which this past week as I think about is hard because I did not see very many miracles and I actually had to diligently seek to find some. The first on more of a joking matter it was a miracle that I did not throw up on the plane ride from Detroit to Philly because the plane was the smallest one and it was so so shaky and by the time we landed my and my companion and about 3 others were all pale as can be and just dying to get off that plane. This second miracle is a lot more serious and very close to my heart. As I was thinking about the miracles this past week I was looking for the small and simple things and realized that I had forgot about one of the biggest miracles in my life that is still a miracle today. This miracle is the miracle that I am on a mission right now I have been through so much in my life and you all know that I am still fighting the battle with Satan everyday. Just because you are serving the Lord does not mean the Satan will leave you alone he attacks you more than ever. But I have realized that, that is the miracle for my week. I am here on a mission in Philadelphia serving the Lord in Spanish where he called me to serve and that is a miracle by its self. I love this Gospel so much and am learning more and more about it everyday. I right now am on the PPM (Philadelphia, Penn. Mission) Spiritual Diet and the number one thing that want me to have done before the end of my 12 weeks of training is to have re-read the Book of Mormon. Are you kidding me I already wanted to do that anyways and what a blessing it truly is I learn so much from it and am frequently marking new scriptures that I probably have read multiple times but now I see it a different way. I know that the God helps you in mysterious ways that you may not be able to understand or even see but make sure you always are searching to see these miracles and find one each week and thank God you Heavenly Father for that opportunity to feel His love and to see Him blessing your life. I have had the door many times in this past week shut in my face but do you think that gets me down? No, it makes me stronger and reminds me that I am not here to baptize everyone I am here to find the elect there are people here that have bee prepared for me and are ready to receive our message about the restored Gospel on this earth today. Hey mom I am sorry about the phone call on Tuesday but guess what Mothers day is coming up so I can talk to you then! I love all of you so much and can someone please get me Mandis e-mail address so that I can send these e-mails to her. And let her know that I truly love her no matter what she does and so does Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Till next week love you all.

721 Paxon Hollow Rd. Suite B

Broomall, Pennsylvania 19008

(All Letters and Packages sent here)

Elder Kenneth Marse

March 27, 2013

HOLA!

This is so crazy to think that this is my last week in la CCM! I thought you would like to know when I leave so I will tell you my flight plans. On Tuesday next week I am reporting to the travel office in la CCM at 4:00 a.m. then from there they will drive us up to the airport and my flight leaves at around 7:15 I think. Then guess what I have a lay over in Detroit which is most likely where I am going to call all of you on the phones there in Detroit. Then I fly from detroit to PHILI! And I arrive there at around 3:30 in the afternoon. So ya I am so excited to get out in the field and to start sharing the message of the restored Gospel. I have actually been loving this past week it has been so amazing and powerful in everything that I have been learning. We are able to sing the choir which is awesome. We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer Last night and i really felt like we were telling the story of the Joseph and then my choir teacher said that it was like 588 Elders and Hermanas were bearing their testimonies of the first vision in unison. It sounded so beautiful! And now we practiced to perform on Sunday for a General Authority. I am so excited because I love the song it is a really pretty arrangment.

Well since I thought last week I was getting released as Zone Leader on Sunday. Guess again I am not getting released till I leave me and my companion are training the new Zone Leaders this week but we still do all of the Zone leader stuff because technically we are still the Zone Leaders. I deserved that one for thinking that I was going to be realeased. But anyways I really do love la CCM because you can always feel the Spirit so strong. Yesterday we had a lesson in the morning with one of our investigators and he trully felt and started to gain a testimony about baptism and repentance for himself. Our last lesson is on Friday I think with him and we are going to ask him to be baptized. By the way all of our lessons are in complete spanish so I have been progressing very well. I am slowly starting to understand the El Libro De Mormon when I read it by its self which I think is pretty good. I truly know that the Gift of Tongues is true I could not have imagined myself here and speaking and understanding as much as I do in 5 weeks. I know that as missionaries we are entitled to the Gift of Tongues but it's not just something that is given to you, you have to earn it and that means doing your best in studying and everything you can to understand and practice the language.

I have been doing so great lately with knowing the spirit and being able to recognize it when I feel so prompted to. I have known that through that I have really been able to find the Investigators needs and to help them with it instead of just going along with the lessons one after another. I have loved the investigators we have (they are our teaches playing roles of people from their mission) it si pretty much amazing. I have been also able to welcome the senior missionaries and this is the cool and very blessed part of my life. I first need to tell you that the very first couple that I was host for are going to Fukuoka Japan on their mission the second cool thing is that they want me dad to get as many names from you before I leave so that they can try and bring the Gospel into our family in Japan! I know that they might not accept the Gospel instantly but atleast they can hear about it. Please send me some of our relatives around that area I would love to help them with their mission. Thank you.

I just wanted to bear my testimony to you all since I have not been able to yet. Yo se que el Evangelio es verdad y Jose Smith es un profeta de Dios. Yo se que Dios quiere que ore diariamente a cerca con El. I know that families can live together forever. As most of you know I was not ever able to meet my Grandparents because they died almost 1 year before I was born. But I had an experience in a blessing that we gave as a whole zone to an Elder that was on the brink of going home. And he is in our District. We all came in to the room to give him a blessing and one of the Elders said: "Elder Henrie look how many worthy priesthood holders are here to give you this blessing. And you can not see the majority of the angels here to help with this." I then go to put my hand on his head and when we close ou eyes and start the prayer. As another Elder described it was like I had my eyes closed but there was the bright light coming into my eyes through my eye lids." I then during the blessing had the same thing happen to me. I then out of the bright light saw two of the most loving faces that I have ever seen in my life and I started to cry and I felt so Spiritually drained after this blessing. I saw my grandparents faces smiling down at me. You may think I am crazy or that it was just my imagination. I tell you believe me or not because I know what I saw I know the Spirit that I felt and I know that there is no one that can tell me I did not see my Grandparents. I then later that week was  able to go to the temple on P-Day and in the celestial room have an oppportunity to thank my Grandparents for being there that day. I know that there ar concords of angels on my side and the Satan can not defeat me for he as very few against my army. In the story of Elisha when he opened the little boys eyes to seeing the concords of angels surrounding them when they were surrounded by the all fo Syria. (2 Kings 6 or 5) I know this Gospel is true and I know that my Redeemer lives.

Con mi Amo

Elder Kenneth Marse

March 20, 2013

Hola!

Dear everyone,

I am doing just so fantastic hoy y I am just doing great hear. Me and my companion have been able to share our testimonies with each other and with one of the presidency members of our branch presidency. His name is Brother Monson and if I have notmentioned yet then I am so so so so sorry! Because he is the most amazing person. He is indeed President Monsons nephew. He came into our room last night after talking with my companion and said to me after we talked last week. "Elder Marse you are a man of faith exceedingly great faith. And your companion here is a man of exceedingly great love. Now you need to look out for eachother and make sure you use these special gifts to help the investigators." I was so filled with the spirit and my testimony grew and so did the relationship with my companion. I have been gaining such a testimony this past week of people and where they come from. Because me and my companion come from opposite worlds and trials. But that is what makes us able to relate to most people is through that we can bare witness of the Gospel to anyone that we meet and any thought that comes through spirit. I love this Gospel so much and can not explain the wonderful spirit that I have felt these past couple of days as me and my companion had our semanalmente companionship inventory. We missed one week so we decided to do this one extra good and so we took about an hour and a half just talking about or strengths and weaknesses to eachother and setting goals that we need to accomplish. Luckily me and my companion are going to the same mission and who knows maybe we will become companions!

On Monday we were taught a lesson by nuestro maestro hermano Castro who is so amazing! But sometimes he talks spanish really fast because he is a native speaker. But we were able to learn about the power fo prayer and the amazing effect it can have on your relationship with God and Jesus Christ. He stated that when you pray in this language you need not to rush your prayer because you do not know much but that you need to listen and to wait to hear the Holy Ghost help you with what you need to ask for and give thanks about. He then goes onto say that when you have the opporunity to pray on your knees you should not end your prayer just because they are aching and you can not handle the pain anymore. That is when you need to stay on your knees longer and have the faith and desire to press on and endure to the end for when you are done with your prayer and have expressed all of your love to your Father in Heaven he will bless you with the capacity. I love the power of prayer and the opportunity we have everyday as much as we want to talk to our Father in Heaven who honestly knows our needs before we even know what our needs are. I challenge you to pray for the power of prayer and in each blessing ask your Father for special blessings for people who you think need it. I know I pray name by name for special blessings for specific needs of people that I know of. The longer you are on your knees the more humble you will be to hear the power of the Holy Spirits promptings.

I also have been very blessed with the Gift of Tongues. It is a real blessing and I have experienced it in my life daily. The last lesson we had with our progressing investigator I was able to ask questions and talk to him in regular conversation and I know the Spirit was in that room as I shared scripture and bore my testimony of the Gospel and how it is so important to everyone on this earth to receive it. I pray for all of you daily and alsways ask for special blessings to be upon you and in your times of need as I have been able to talk with my Father and tell him the amazing things that I have felt and confess the sins that I have commited in my daily life to cry for repentance unto the Lord. I say cry with no faint of heart you must cry unto God for his mercy and for your salvation as you strive to be the best you can be he can help you be better. Have faith in Him for he is all knowing and is never faint he knows you better that you know yourself and knows your needs before or even when you do not your own needs. He will bless you everyday even more than he does now if you humble your self to him and cry our his name in your personal prayers. I give you my testimony that this church is true I love it, it has blessed my life so much and is blessing my life everyday. I know that you must always ask for repentance because no one is perfect we all sin and it is common but through the Atonement you can be cleansed don't take the Atonement for granted it is truly a blessing to have that in our lives that we can receive and have the ability to use. Salvation can not wait for your time. 
I stress this because it does not matter where ou are in your life you need the salvation and the longer you have it the more blessings you will receive in your life. Tell Sami and Teage that Unvle Kenny Loves them and that I would love pictures of them and the whole family! I love you all and can not wait to hear from you next week!

Elder Marse

Facts:

I get my travel plans tomorrow!!

I get released as zone leader on Sunday.

We have a general authority coming on next sunday to speak to us for sacrement with the whole MTC.

This is the most important thing. I will be on T.V. inbetween general conferences in 2 weeks for the where in the world thing. I was in the choir and we sang Ten Thousand Legions Marching. It was a song that was rewritten just for us to sing for this occasion and it is so beautiful so look for it!

March 13, 2013

HOLA!

Hola everyone! This week has been so crazy in all the things I am doing to become the best missionary that I can be. I know that mi madre was confudido sobre la zona o distrito leader. I am in fact the Zone leader over 3 districts and after tonight 4 districts with my companion. This is not easy at all because I have never really asked to be put in leadership roles but some how I keep getting called to them obviously the Lord knows me better than anyone. (of course he does) But everything is going pretty great now. I was having a really rough time this past weekend because I was trying to figure out how I can be a leader and what kind of a leader I am. I know that I am a very passive leader not like my companion Elder Rich who is a more aggressive leader pero yo think it is working out pretty well. We have established our zone goals and have shown them to the districts and they seem to like them so that's good. I love how happy everyone is here I have made a best friend this past week his name is Elder Creer he is from Washington and is in my zone when we went on the temple walk on Sunday we went and took nature pictures around it and did commentary for it. He is so funny and we just can not stop laughing when we are around each other! I know that mi madre was confused about how the e-mails should work and I am fine with only 2 e-mails a week from family 1 from Andi and Ty and 1 from Mom, Dad, Mandi, and Sterling (together). I only have 30 minutes to write back to you on Wednesdays. But this experience is truly the best thing that I could be doing in my life right now and I love it so very much. But I would love letters we always have letter talk at night with my roommates and it's fun to tell stories about our friends. (By the way Becca I was planning on writing you today so hopefully you get it by Saturday!)

I know that people always say that one of the hardest things to do on your mission is to get along with your companions and I know that I have been struggling this past week with it a little bit. Most of the time we are best friends and are always having fun and bringing the spirit so much. But as of late my companion has been just speaking Spanish all the time and does not want to slow down for me so that we can learn together and it is really frustrating because one of my teachers does the same thing. Pero yo se que mi companero es a bien persona. He knows that his heart is in the right spot but just worries about his outward appearance more and more everyday since he wears Hugo Boss or however you say it. He has that suite and he does mention it quite a bit and just talks about his possessions I do not know how to really get it across to him that that's not what we are here for and we are here to serve the Lord and it does not matter what we look like as long as we have the Spirit of God with us and are focused on the right things. But I have talked a little to him and he has been working on it more and more which is great.

We were able to here from Paul V. Johnson (Of the Seventy) last night in the Tuesday night devotional and he said some pretty amazing things that really hit home to me. He spoke on the Will of God and how we need to have humility and submit to His will and by submitting to His will we will be blessed and have miracles happen in our lives. It was nice not to have a devotional stressing sin and making everyone feel so guilty. But I know that submitting in the world is not and easy thing to do and is actually frowned or looked as a weakness in the world today. But in our church we look at it very different we look at submitting the Gods Will as having power over yourself to become humble and realize that you are truly nothing in this world and that there is so much more to experience and that if you completely submit yourself to His will that there is nothing that can stand in your way. Ether 12:27 was one of the scriptures he brought up that I truly love so much because I think it is just one of the most amazing things and to the world it may seem more of a weakness but I know that as you submit yourself to God and do His Will then he will show you your weaknesses and he will bring to pass trials in your life. Satan can not control you if you didn't know God controls Satan he will only let him do so much weird to think that way but it is true and and amazing realization that God does not give unto man anything that we can not do if we submit ourselves and do His Will. He also shared a story about two missionaries that were at the MTC together long ago that had two completely different learning styles like me and my companion. And he said that one came in with no language under his belt and the other was gifted to be able to learn a language. The one companion with the gift decided that he would not speak the language until he could speak it perfect and the other spoke as much as he could even if it was bad and guess who spoke better when the came out of the MTC? Missionary two because he was always speaking the language no matter what that is how I feel I must do I love all of you so much and can not wait to hear from you next week or just Dear Elder me.

I love you ALL!

Elder Marse

P.S. I made a hammock in my bedroom with a extra bunk bed. Guess you can't take that aspect out of my life. Hammocks for life.