Trunk or Treat!

So this past week has been very unique compared to the rest of them! It had its ups and downs but for the most part a really awesome week! So last Monday we had the chance to have dinner with a Part member family and they fed us authentic Mexican food! So that was really awesome. We were able to share a dinner message with them and it went really well. You can definitely feel the spirit in their home. It was a great experience and i look forward to seeing where this family will go!

On Tuesday we had a really funny experience while we were out knocking doors. So we approached this door and we heard a lady telling her kids to pick up the living, and then right as Elder DeRosia was about to knock she opened the door while his hand was in mid swing and it scared the daylights out of her! We had a good laugh about it for a minute and then she told us that she wasn't interested but it made for a really good story! 

Arizona Sunset

Continuing on to Friday we had Interviews with President Wheeler. I was really glad that i had the opportunity to be able to sit down and get to know President better. He is definitely an inspired man. I have already learn a lot from him.

So later that day Elder DeRosia and i were riding our bikes around one the neighborhoods and we saw a lady unloading dressers and boards from the back of a truck all by herself so we stopped to help. (it turns out she was a member) So we took the dresser inside the house and met this lady's daughter. We introduced ourselves and she proceeded to tell us that she had just quit the satanic temple that morning and she was looking at the LDS church because that is what most of her family and friends go to. I was kind of shocked at this but we shared a quick message with her and then she asked if we had any "literature" for her. So we gave her a Book of Mormon. That was a miracle in and of it self! So we went outside to help unload the rest of the things and we found that the lady in the back of the truck had her knee give out while she was standing in the bed and that she had fallen and was laying on the ground. We were really surprised to walk out and see that. So we first made sure that she was alright and then helped her sit up. She had done something to her knee and she hit her head pretty hard as well. Even after all that she said that she was okay and we eventually were able to help her get into a chair so that her daughters could help her. She told us that we were a God send and she thanked us for helping. 

So that was quite the experience! All of that happened in about 20 minutes. After we had left i had no idea what to think of all of it. I don't know why we were riding our bikes down that particular street at that time, but i do know that God can influence us whenever and wherever he needs us. Sometimes we feel his influence without even knowing. That was a big testimony building experience for me. I know that the Savior lives and he loves us. He will guide us to those in need. The Gospel can and will touch our lives if we listen to the promptings of the spirit. I love this work! I hope that all of you have a week filled with miracles. I love you all! 

Trunk or Treat

Trunk or Treat

Halloween tonight 2 of the zones are getting together to watch a church movie in a church. They don't want us out on the street tonight haha. So that's what my night will consist of haha!

One more thing..I wanted to tell you that I wont be emailing until next Wednesday because we are having Elder Cornish of the 70 come to the mission on Monday! So that will be the next time you will hear from me.

Love you!

Elder Ben Kestner

At one of our Wards Trunk or Treats

Mountain Biking & Primary Programs

Hello Family and Friends!

So this has been a pretty eventful week! 

Since today is our P-day we had a member give us the chance to go and mountain bike some of the local trails. I had pretty high expectations, coming from the Pocatello trails back home, but it was such a blast! We rode about 6 1/2 miles and all of it was so much fun! me and the member were flying down the trail. He was trying to lose me but I wasn't having any of that! It was a great time there are so many members in the other elders ward that want to take us biking I am so pumped that I bought the right bike! It was a great way to start out a week and it was so great to get out and have some fun with the elders in our zone. I look forward to the next time we get to go!

So we also had the great experience of watching the primary programs in both of the wards that we cover. The kids did such a great job and you can see how Christlike they are just through there actions and they way they deal with each other. They are the "army of helaman" I know that they are being taught wonderful things. You cant help but see great attributes in all of them!

It is so nice seeing pictures of the snow peaked mountains because it is still in the high 90s here! I think my blood thinned out because it doesn't feel as hot as it did a few months ago. haha

Sorry for such a short email today i am running out of time, but the work is going great and i love serving in this area. Missionary work is real and it lives! I love all of you and hope that you all are doing great!

Elder Ben Kestner

Elder Merritt for the day

Special Olympics & Obedience

Elder DeRosia and I after playing indoor soccer for our P-Day activity

Hello Everyone! 
So this week has flown by so fast! We had a lot of really great moments and some cool experiences. One of the highlights of the week was helping out with the Special Olympics. We were in charge of the aquatics section. So we just had to make sure that all of the athletes knew where they were supposed to be. It was a unique experience and i am so glad that we had the chance to help out with it. 

I am still getting used to this new area. We live 8 miles away from our area so we drive to our church building and then bike around from there. I really like being on a bike it gives us a chance to talk to everyone that we meet on the street. 

Special Olympics Service

So we recently just had a baptism in our area and right now we are currently in finding mode so we can start doing more teaching between the 2 wards. There is a lot of potential here and i know that as we search for those in this area we will find people to teach. The members are awesome and are really supportive of missionary work. They play a vital role in someones conversion! 

Along with having awesome members i was so glad to have the chance to speak in sacrament meeting. The topic that i chose to speak on was how the LDS church is unique from other church's. So primarily i talked about the Book of Mormon. It is the only book that i am aware of that asked to to ask God himself if it is true. People can tell you all day that it is true but it comes down to you wanting to know for yourself. If any of you want to know for yourself you can ask and receive an answer that will stick with you. I love how central the Book of Mormon is to us. 

I am so happy being out here. All i want is to be an obedient missionary. I am turning the things that i want to do away. I only have these 2 years to be a full time consecrated servant of the Lord. I know that there is so much power with being obedient to all of the rules. I have found myself changing to be a better person. Even when it comes down to my appearance. Out of all the places in the world I know that the Arizona Gilbert Mission is the best mission out there for me. I love serving here.

I love being here and i am so anxious to see what the future of this area holds. I love receiving all of your weekly emails! You are the best! I love you all! 

Elder Ben Kestner

Elder Willyerd and I....I don't know how to explain this!

Desert Ridge

Me on Goldmine Trail

Hey All!

So this week was transfer week! I am now serving in the Desert Ridge Zone! My new companions name is Elder DeRosia and this is his last transfer before he goes home. So this is going to be an awesome transfer! We met on Wednesday and we have just been getting to know the members and the church leadership in the 2 wards we cover. One really awesome experience that i walked into was Mathews Baptism. Elder DeRosia and his last companion met Mathew and he was just baptized on Saturday so that is a great tone to set for these next few weeks.

The Sunrise

So the beginning part of the week, when i was still in GIlbert zone, we had the opportunity to go hike the gold mine trail as a zone. We woke up at 4 A.M. and head out towards the trail. So we were able to see the sunrise over the "mountain range". Overall is was a great way to end my first transfer in the mission. The memories were amazing and i learned so much about what kind of missionary i want to be. It really set the tone for the rest of my mission. 

Gilbert Zone Hiking

Wednesday came and so did transfers and i am now with Elder DeRosia! Elder Derosia is from Springville Utah and he has been serving in this area since January. I have a lot to learn about this area but i am so ready for the challenge. The members here are awesome and i can tell that they are a great support system to missionary work. I am still learning this new area. We have a car now because our area is like 8 miles away from where we live. So we pimp around in a 2015 Ford Fusion. We normally just park at the church building and then bike from there. It is new to me but have a car feels like luxury after putting on 360 miles last transfer haha. I am so glad to be serving in this area. I know the Lord sends us to the places that we need to be. I cant wait to see all of the things that he has in store for me. The Gospel holds the same truth no matter where it is! All and all this week has been one of many great weeks. I love all of you!
Elder Ben Kestner

Elder DeRosia & I

Bible Bashes & B Dubs

Biking through the rain last Sunday

 Hello Everyone!

So this has been a very eventful week, I don't even know where to start! I guess I'll start by saying that we got transfer calls! Last night we got the call and Elder Peterson, McKown and myself are going to be leaving the area. We don't know where we will be going to but all we know is that we are leaving the Gilbert Zone. I have grown to love this zone over the past few weeks. I have seen so many miracles happen. We have 3 progressing investigators and I love the members here. I don't know where I will be serving yet but I will find out on Wednesday. My time here was amazing but I know that I am being sent to somewhere else that I am needed. Along with that being said the first 6 weeks have been completed and I feel so great! It has been such an amazing experience and I cant wait to see what the next 22 months will hold. It seems like the time is flying! 

Our District in Gilbert

So this last Sunday we did a stake wide fast for missionary opportunities. I know that fasting and prayer will help us! We had such a great week and we met some amazing people right after the fast ended. So on Monday we were finally able to meet with Jim! He was so awesome to meet with. He has been reading a little bit out of the Book of Mormon which was awesome. We taught him the message of the restoration and it was so powerful. He said that recently he has been avoiding situations where trouble might be. I am really excited to hear where he goes as an investigator. Such a cool experience!

Beautiful Arizona Sunset

So on Wednesday we were heading over to follow up with a guy who we met on the street. He invited us over so we could talk about religion. When we knocked on his door he gave us a nice welcome in and then he grabbed his bible, tablets, notes and the whole works. As soon as him and his wife got all there stuff and sat down I knew what they wanted to do haha. I knew what we were getting into. It was actually a really nice lesson, they agreed with us on everything up until we started talking about Joseph Smith and how we have a true church on the earth today, but unfortunately that's when lesson went downhill. It was interesting to see someone else's point of view as well. So that was my first time meeting some people that were anti Mormons and I am sure that there will be many more to come haha.

A professional chef in our ward made this for us! 

Because it is Elder Reynolds last week in the field, we went out to Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday! It was nice to have a good lunch and to talk with all the Elders in our zone. Elders Reynolds is a great missionary and I have learned a lot from him. He showed me how to work hard and how to have a good time doing it. That is something that I will remember for the rest of my mission. So to finish the week off we had the opportunity to watch General Conference. That was a great experience! I learned so much about Christ's love and how much he does for each and every one of us. We are so blessed to have a living prophet on the earth today who can lead and guide us through our trials. 

I hope that you are having a great time with the seasons changing!

Well that has been my week. I love you all and I look forward to hearing from you next week.
Elder Ben Kestner

Head Banging and Sweet Collisions

Hey All!

So it has been awesome week! I have learned so much!

It still gets in the 90's here BUT the nights cool off so that is definitely nice. They say that during the winter I will need a light jacket because it can get down to 40 degrees during the nights. Like that's a big deal! haha 

So the Elders in my zone decided that we were going to start waking up at 520 in the morning and go do basketball workouts. The first few days of waking up that early were rough but it is totally worth it and we have a really good time. So every P day we get a few zones together and play some kind of sports. Today we played flag football which was awesome. Some pretty sweet collisions happened but we all escaped with no injuries haha. This past week has flown by so fast that it is hard to remember it all!

Yesterday in both of the wards that we cover, they did their primary program. The primary programs are always so fun. There was one kid who screamed his line into the mic and when he realized how loud it was he finished his line while whispering. It was so funny! Another kid with a Mohawk and green bow-tie was "head banging" to the song Praise to the Man. It was hands down the best thing I have ever seen! Hahaha. Kids are so awesome they only see the good in people and things. Also at church Elder Ralph and I had the opportunity to teach the Teachers Quorum how to teach the message of the Restoration. I really like how they are teaching 14 and 15 year old's how to be missionaries. It is so awesome to see missionary work happening with the members. They are such a huge support to the work in their area!

So on Saturday I went out on splits with Elder Reynolds who is one of the Spanish speaking elders and it was an awesome day! We went out into my zone and we talked to everybody that we saw on the street and it was such a cool experience. We want to reach out to everyone we come in contact with so we can teach them about how great the Gospel is in our lives! Elder Reynolds goes home in 8 days so I was really glad that I could learn from him. One thing that I learned is that it is really effective if you are a personable person. So that is definitely something I am going to work on!

Overall a really awesome week. I am so glad with all the missionary opportunities that we have received. We see miracles every single day and that alone is so special. I love being out here doing the Lords work. The Gospel will brighten our lives if we want it to. I love you all and I look forward to hearing from you next week!

Elder Ben Kestner

Pic #1 This is some people from my zone with the Gilbert Temple in the background.
Pic #2 Last week we did some service for a guy and he needed us to tear out his bathroom wall. (So I was a little late on getting the pic)

There is no growth in the comfort zone and there is no comfort in the growth zone!

Just because I am kind of weird!

Hey Family and Friends!
This has been an awesome week! My weeks as a missionary fly by so much faster than they did back home! 
There was so many cool things that happened this week! On Friday we had the chance to go to the Gilbert Temple with our zone! We get to go once a transfer! How cool is that?! So after that we went to Kneaders, a bakery and café in Gilbert, and we tried to beat the record for what zone could eat the most pieces of French toast. So the record was set with 14 missionaries eating a total of 68 pieces. We only had 10 missionaries and we ate 59 pieces. I ate 7 pieces and I was so stuffed. 6 slices is a loaf of French bread!! We were so sad when that's all we could do haha but it was totally worth it! 
Another cool thing that happened was we helped a guy tear down a bathroom wall in his house. The demolition is always the best part so I enjoyed that until I was leaning over knocking a stud out with a sledgehammer and a piece of the AC ducting came down and hit me in the back of the head. It left a nice bump on the back of my head so that was pretty cool! I like doing service. It gives us a chance to help others and by doing that we can help others feel the love that the savior has for them.

We did a service project with the BSA. It was like a huge merit badge POW WOW

SO on Thursday all of our trainers had MLC that they had to be at so that left Elder McKee, Campbell, and myself to go out on splits for the better part of the day. All of us arrived in the field on the same day so it was a little interesting having all of us be new and going out by ourselves. Overall it was actually really cool. I know that I learned a lot about myself and I definitely learned some things I can improve on. There is no growth in the comfort zone and there is no comfort in the growth zone! 
One other really cool experience we had this week was hearing about a guy named Jim that we gave a book of Mormon to a few weeks ago. We haven't had the chance to meet with him, but we did meet with his girlfriend who says she is catholic. Anyways, I guess Jim has been reading from the Book of Mormon and he said that she can see a positive impact that it has on him. I was so excited to hear this! I can hardly wait to meet with him and talk about this journey that he is on! Miracles do happen!

This is a new development in our area. I thought it looked pretty cool.

This week I was hoping to hit 250 total miles since the time that I got here on my bike but I only got to 243 bummer deal! I think that I am acclimatizing to the heat because it isn't bothering me as much as it did when I first got here. 95 degrees feels really nice now haha. I really enjoy biking around here it gives us a chance to talk to everybody we meet on the street. It doesn't matter if they are playing basketball or waiting to pick their kids up from the bus. Spreading the gospel is such an amazing privilege to those that want to listen! 
Don, one of our investigators, seems like he is starting to make progress for baptism. He told us that he wants his decision to be between him and the Lord and nobody else's. He is an awesome guy and I know that when he knows that it is the right thing for him, he will make that commitment to follow Jesus Christ and his example. It is a special thing that he is doing and I am always excited to meet with him.
 I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Elder Ben Kestner

FHE with the Kerby's. 

It is my companion, Elder Ralph's birthday today! The WML, the Hatch's gave us some goodies!

Laser Tag, Sasquatch and Gladys Knight!

Hello Family and Friends! 
So the weeks have been flying by since being in Arizona! I cant believe that i have almost been here a month! So today was one of the best days so far! On P days we get a few zones together and either have a big indoor soccer game or a big basketball tournament for a few hours. It is so much fun and it gives us all a chance to let loose and have some fun competition for a little while. Well then we got lunch and did our shopping and then the Gilbert zone came back to the church to play LASER TAG. Yes laser tag in the church building! It was LIT! We all played for like 2 hours! So it has been a long but fun day so far! 

We had a lot of teaching opportunities this week, which is really cool. One thing that we have been promoting is a Gladys Knight Fireside. She is coming to Gilbert soon and there has been a very good reaction to it. We are mainly trying to have non members be there, because Gladys has an amazing conversion story. Through all of these firesides that she does people start to take a serious interest in the church and it brings a lot of work for missionaries. So i am very excited for this event! Beside promoting this fireside i feel like Elder Ralph and I have had a lot of success street contacting people. We have given away several Book of Mormon's and it seems like those who accepted them have an interest in the church, so we will be following up with them this week! 

So the member support here is so awesome! They feed us every day of the week. All of the members and even non members want to feed us! They are all so awesome! Last night we ate with with the Woods they are a younger family and we had a very nice in depth conversation about Sasquatch and UFOs. It was one of the better parts of our week haha. 

So every week it seems like we hit milestones. Whether it be the number of people we talk to or the amount or the amount miles we put on our bikes.(which as of today is 175 miles since i have been in the field) Elder Ralph and I love talking and meeting with people, we just want to share the sweet message about how we can center our lives around Christ. I know that the message of putting Christ first is the way that we can grow closer to him! 

Overall i love teaching people. I know that message that missionaries share is true. We have nothing to fear because we want all people to come unto Christ! 
Oh one thing i forgot to mention is that I sprained or rolled my ankle earlier this week. Whoops! Its doing better now. haha Crap happens so i just keep moving forward. I hope that home life is well, but i want you to know that being on a mission is the right thing for me and i wake up so happy everyday because i know that there is a possibility of bringing souls unto Christ! I have to go now but I love you and look forward to hearing from you next week! 
I love you all! 
Elder Ben Kestner

PS..

The Crawfords fed us on September 7th..Sister Crawford's sister is Mrs. Koski who teaches at Pocatello High School. Small World

113 miles in 12 days!

Hey Everybody! So this week has been really amazing and it seemed to fly by really fast. This week we were able to get a kid named Cody on date for baptism! Cody is 8 right now and his mom was a convert to the church like 12 years ago, so she wanted him to have the missionary lessons before he made the decision to get baptized. He is so knowledgeable about the Gospel and our purpose here on earth. It was an awesome lesson and i know that Cody is really excited to be baptized. Anyways we have been putting in some work to get to know all the people in the area. The members are really supportive and they are so welcoming. They have sent us to a few people that we were able to have nice gospel conversations with. The Gilbert zone has a really high percentage of members, but there is a lot of people who still haven't heard of the LDS church. I have set a goal to invite everyone that we talk to on the street to do something to come closer to Christ. One thing that i have definitely learned is that you cant judge a book by its cover! 

So yesterday we did exchanges with the APs so Elder Broulim came out with Elder Ralph and i. Elder Broulim is from RIgby Idaho and he is an awesome missionary. Anyways yesterday we were just riding around and we stopped and talked to a guy named Jim. So Jim is a pretty rough looking guy with tatoos all over. He talked with us for a few minutes and it turns out that he spent like 28 years in jail, but now he gives a lot of credit to Jesus Christ to where he is now. He said that he wants to grow closer to Christ because he realizes how he has helped him since being out. He accepted a Book of Mormon. and said that he would read and pray about it with his girlfriend. We will follow up with him later this week. Meeting Jim reminded me that we cant judge a book by its cover and that we are all Children of God. 

For Gabbi

One of the highlights of my week was talking to this family who had a 4 year old kid. We were on our way home for the night and we saw this family just chilling in their front yard. So this 4 year old kid asked us what we were were doing. We told him that we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ and he said that "Jesus lives in the sky and satan lives in the dirt" it was super awesome and then he asked, "so are you going to sing or talk to us?" so i looked at Elder Ralph and then i asked the kid what he wanted us to do. He said "i want you to sing for me!" So he literally pulled up a seat and we sang i am a child of God for him. It was so awesome and then we shared a short message about the Gospel with his family. It was so much fun and we had a good laugh because the kid was so funny! 

Overall this week was awesome. In just 12 days we put 113 miles on our bikes in the nice heat of Arizona. This area is really nice for biking actually and it is a great way to meet everybody on the street. I love being here! I would love to hear from all of you! I love you all and hope that all is well! 

Elder Kestner

My 1st week in Arizona

So this week has been a lot to take in! So I left the MTC on Tuesday morning and flew into Phoenix and then we drove to Gilbert where we had a few orientations and such. Well the next day I received my companion, Elder Ralph! So my zone is right in Gilbert and we are covering two wards.We live in what we call the Honeysuckle Crib. It is like a true apartment area in the corner of probably a million dollar home (i kid you not) It is really nice. We share our apartment with another set of elders who have a car because they cover the singles ward in the area. So we do have access to a car for groceries and things like that. So right now we are in a biking section and it has been pretty fun so far. The hottest it has been so far is like 105 degrees but its not as bad as its sounds, i know its going take some getting used to, but i love it already! 

Oh and for more excitement my companion and I are "white washing" the area. This means that Elder Ralph and I have been sent to an area that we both have not served in, so that means that we kind of have to start from the bottom and go through all the records so we can find all the people who were previously meeting with the missionaries. So we are starting to build up the lists of people to teach! Elder Ralph is a stud though i know that we'll be able to build up our area and it will be awesome! Its all so new but the work is so great! We have been able to find some people to teach this past week though and some are looking really promising! Being in the field is so awesome. 

So yesterday we went to greet everybody at church to get to know the members around here. Members are so important in missionary work they have the "in" in all the wards and neighborhoods. There is some work to do here and i cant wait to find those people! The members feed us dinner every night, so they are so awesome and supportive of us! One of the highlights of the week was going to Freestone Park on Sunday night just to talk to people. Freestone Park is like a big complex with volleyball courts a skate park, soccer fields, baseball fields, and basketball courts. So everybody hangs out around there at night because everything is lit up. Anyways so my comp and I went over to some guys playing basketball on one of the courts and we starting play some "proselyting ball". So we got a game going with some of this guys and it was a pretty cool experience. Elder Ralph's team won but it was all good. After the game we talked to them about how important families are in the gospel. It was a unique experience and i am really looking forward to the rest of the mission. 

"Elder Kestner shared a great message with us and bore his testimony of eternal families" Bishop & Sister Turley

Anyways I love being here in Arizona. I know this is where i am supposed to be and it truly is a blessing to me. The Gospel is real and it can change us if we want it to and if we act in faith. I love you all and hope that all is well! 
Elder Kestner

God Speed the Right!

The District

So its the Final Countdown! 
This past week has been so awesome! Starting with today, being P day, we started by going to an early morning temple session. I always look forward to going every week here there is just something so relaxing and calming about going. I just makes you feel like you are home for a little bit haha. So let me tell ya a little bit about my District. There are 7 Elders and 4 Sisters and they are my family here. We spend more than 14 hours a day together so i feel like i have known them forever. Our district leader Elder Wilkerson (in the pictures) is so awesome he is like my brother from another mother! My companion is Elder Campbell and he seems to be pretty alright. It takes some getting used to when you have someone by your side 24 hours a day but we are just about used to it now. The sisters in are districts are rock solid. They are not called to serve missions like the Elders so because they are here you know that they are here to help others come unto Christ. We all came from different ways of life before coming out but because we all have a purpose in being here it is so worth it all of us, and we cant wait to get out to field. One of the Elders in my District is actually from Gilbert Arizona, so he has been giving me the low down on some of the local spots, which is super cool. 

One scripture that keeps on coming up this week is Helaman 5:12 It talks about how if we set a firm foundation based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its teachings we can withstand anything. It is such a blessing to have a roots that is so strong in the Gospel that we can not be moved if we stay faithful. We have investigators here and it is something so unique to be able to hear someone who has zero to no faith in Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ and just after one week they can pray and rely on the Lord to answer there questions, because thats what he wants us to. It has been such an amazing experience and such a testimony builder to see progress like that. On the other hand there has been some almost approved rumors that Elder Holland will be speaking at our devotional tonight!! I dont know if its true yet or not, but i will definitely keep you all posted on that. 

Overall a wonderful week with both highs and lows. The highs are way more memorable than the lows and i love it and its truly has changed the way that i think and do things. I leave next Tuesday to Arizona and im so excited for everything except the heat haha. I would also love some dear elders for the last week here at the MTC :) 
I love you all and God speed the right! 
Elder Kestner

Elder Wilkerson & I

Photo Bomb