No scalps this week

Our investigator who's preparing for baptism! I found him and gave him a bag of pretzels!

Well, this week was CRAZY! Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Contacted some referrals. Saw one of our on dates for baptism. He's totally prepared and loved the plan of salvation.

Tuesday: Did some service at the Food Bank. Saw one of our other on dates and taught her the plan of salvation. Bit confusing for her, but still good. Saw a less active. Did some finding. Ate some dinner. Saw some other people. And ended up at a part-member recent-convert family and put the nonmembers of the family on date for baptism after teaching them the plan of salvation. Pretty good night.

Wednesday: We had an awesome district council, watched some 80s missionary videos, did some service at the thrift store, saw a couple of our investigators, taught a lesson to some nonmembers at dinner, saw our other on date and he committed to get Sundays off! Yes!

Thursday: The on date that we saw on Tuesday dropped us while we were doing some service for her. We were ok with it. As we were leaving, she turned to us and said "You know, I was kind of terrified to tell you guys I didn't want to be baptized. I thought you were going to scalp me or something!" No scalps this week. After our lesson with her, we did some finding, ate some dinner, saw a new investigator that really wants to act on the message! She's so awesome! Totally going to be baptized. Then we taught Spanish to one of our less-actives (who came to church on Sunday!). And he sent us out with our own bag of goodies which included an entire box of strawberries, coco water, and a dessert. For each of us. He's the sweetest guy ever.

Friday: WEEKLY PLANNING! We planned. And then we had a ward pot luck for pioneer day, and the on date that we saw on Monday came! Where one of the less-actives told him that it was ok to have a cup of coffee every once in a while... Visit planned. Topic: Word of Wisdom. BUT, he still promised to give up coffee because he knows it's bad. Then, we saw the on date that we saw on Wednesday. He won't be able to get Sundays off for about a months because everyone just quit, but he promised to keep progressing to baptism. :) Good man, that one.

Saturday: Did some service. Got lost and almost drove up to Brewster, but because maps are in every pocket in our car, we were able to get unlost and then run home panicking because we thought we left our member's dog outside. We got home to find her inside. Perfectly fine. Horrid thing, that one. After that, we found some people in Manson to teach, saw one of our recent converts, and went to a member's house who has an ice cream machine because we got transfer calls.

Sunday: Church was morbid. Talks about death and how it was good. Which isn't bad, but when you have an investigator whose son just died, it touches a little too close to home... We went home and cleaned for our members who got home late last night. Their animals had done their business in various parts of the house, so that was fun. Then, we saw a less active family and the on date that came to church, the activity on Friday, and that we're focusing on this week. :) It was super fun and he enjoyed learning about the gospel. He's excited to start living it too.

As for transfer calls, here's what went down:
1. My trainer, Hermana Cain, is now a Sister Training Leader.
2. I'm leaving Manson and Chelan.
3. To go to the Yakima Valley South area.
4. With my trainer's last companion, Hermana Blackmer.



Should be fun.

Well, hope everyone had a miraculous week! Keep on keeping on, and I'll be back!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Say Cheese!

Hermana Streuling y yo.

Our cleaning pictures. We're that awesome.

The Missionary Maids

And my favorite less active family!

Picture Time!

Lake Chelan

My animals. :)

The dog, Ebony.

The cat, Gracie.

I don't even know your grandma!

Well. This week was an adventure. Here's some highlights.

Monday: We ended our day by throwing some rocks into the lake to get rid of our ill feelings for some Bible bashing potentials we ran into. That describes our day.

Tuesday: Did some service. Saw a less active who scared us by being insanely happy. (She's normally quite grumpy, so...) Had two other lessons with one of our investigators and his ex-wife. Met some awesome potentials. Put our golden investigator on date for August 1st. He's totally going to be baptized then, too! He even committed to stop drinking coffee and alcohol because we told him that we don't do any of that.

Wednesday: Had an awesome district meeting. Did some more service. Saw one person. Had dinner and drove to Wenatchee for exchanges! I went to Wenatchee. Again. For the 3rd time in a row. :( I guess God just really doesn't want me in my area... :( But, we started exchanges and had some awesome but weird lessons and met some awesome people.

Thursday: We had an awesome recent convert lesson with one of the Sister Training Leader's recent converts. He's so awesome. Then we tracted until dinner. Haven't done that in a super long time. My feet aren't quite used to it anymore. Then we had dinner at Cafe Rio (yum!) with the Single's Ward Elder's Quorum President. And then, we came home! Well, I came home. And we got a new investigator, contacted a referral, and got to see a part-member family. :)

Friday: Weekly planning. Dun Dun Dun. We met with one of our recent converts whose husband asked the missionaries not to come back. Her husband was there, and he said that he wanted to be baptized! What?! He's on date for August 8th! And they want to be sealed in the temple! MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday: Service. Dropped some investigators. Had dinner with the members we live with. And their entire family. (Family reunion, you see.) And we met with another of our investigators who's on date for baptism with our ward mission leader and his wife! It was awesome, and she appreciates the support. Her brother is preparing to be baptized the same date as she is, but he lives up in Brewster.

Sunday: Church. Some awesome lessons with some less actives. We saw our golden on date and he committed to live the word of wisdom because we actually taught it to him... And then we saw another investigator who would totally be on date if she just prayed to know that the Book of Mormon was true. But, it's ok. We answered some concerns, and she's starting to open up now. :)

And that's about it. This week was fabulous, although, we're dead tired. Hopefully we get to take a nap sometime soon. We need it.

Th-th-that's all folks!

Con amor,

Hermana Kennedy

And Ham married Bread and begat Cheese...

AMALIKIAH'S BAPTISM!

Yes, mujeres y hombres. That is how the book of Sandwiches begins. It's in the Apocrypha. I suggest reading it. (Just not while starving, so on Fast Sundays.) Noah must have been a very proud parent.

Anyway... On to more serious things. Here's the breakdown of this week!

Monday: Had some less-active lessons. I'm apparently going to marry Elder Wright. I served with him last transfer here in Chelan. I don't see it.

Tuesday: Met some solid investigators from the elders. Had quiche for dinner. Went through the baptismal interview questions with Amalikiah who had his baptismal interview on Friday. Yeah. Pretty good day.

Wednesday: Drove around in the heat. Saw a couple of people. Had a couple of appointments fall through. Had ward coordination. Such an exciting day, right?

Thursday: Found a thrift store to do service at in the heat of the day! Did we want to throw away half of the clothes we sorted through? Yes. Did we actually do it? No... After that we had some lessons, contacted a referral, met a part-member family, and taught one of our less-actives how to read and write in Spanish! He's getting so much better! Another less-active moved in right next door, too, so Hermana Streuling taught him in English while I taught the less-active in Spanish. It was pretty fun.

Friday: We drove down to Wenatchee for our interviews with President and Sister Lewis. They are so awesome, and I love them so much! They both have a great sense of humor and are really excited to serve. Amalikiah passed his baptism interview and we tried to see a few people but ended up going home and (doing?) weekly planning. Two hours of our night were spent trying to find a member to drive us down to Wenatchee the next day. We eventually found one, I had a mental breakdown where I went crazy and laughed for about half an hour (Hermana Streuling has video proof, so don't ask for it), and we went to the store to buy chocolate because I really just needed a doughnut. It was delicious.

Saturday: We had an awesome Zone Training Meeting where all I had to do was play the piano, read a few scriptures, and receive revelation for one of our investigators. It went really well, and I'm excited to be a missionary this coming week! We had dinner with a less-active family and the oldest daughter came out with us for the next three hours, so we weren't complaining. We had a lesson with one of our current investigators that we've been trying to see for the past 3 weeks. Hermana Taua and I found him, and we finally taught him the Restoration. The only problem with him is he talks for FOREVER. What should have been a 30 minute lesson turned into a 2 hour lesson, but he understands the Restoration more solidly than any other investigator I've taught.

Sunday: Church. WE HAD 6 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH! WHAT?! (One of them was the man we taught Saturday night.) AND AFTER CHURCH AMALIKIAH GOT BAPTIZED! He just needs to come to church next week so that he can be confirmed. :) Finished weekly planning, Had dinner with some members who had a non-member there. (We may or may not have left him with a quick lesson about the Book of Mormon and a Book of Mormon...) Taught some other lessons and saw a recent convert who gave us a rose out of her garden and asked us to think about her every time we looked at it. Will we? You know it! She's the sweetest! And she's going to the temple next month to do baptisms!! YEAH!

And that was my week. Anyone seen any miracles lately?

Spiritual thought for this week: I had the wonderful opportunity to read the Book of Mormon from front to back. I finished it last Friday. My testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel has never been stronger. I know that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. If you aren't reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying to know that it is true every day, your testimony will get weaker and weaker. But, the opposite is true as well. If you read the Book of Mormon and pray about it every day, your testimony will only grow stronger and stronger.

Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Some mission funnies:

"The Holy Ghost has a pig, John." (Hermana Streuling)

"Sal Lake. It's Spanglish for Sal Lake." (Me)

"I have a Baldwin." (Me) "You have a bald twin?!" (Hermana Streuling)

(After arguing about where a toaster came from) "How did you know that?!" (wife) "Back off, girl. I listen." (Husband.)

I have no hope for humanity.

Something New

Hiola peeps! What's crack-a-lackin?

Well, for those of you who didn't know, we opened a new mission this week! It's so weird not having President and Sister Ware anymore, but President and Sister Lewis are amazing! But, to more important things: the new mission address is

Hermana Anna Kennedy
1006 S. 16th Ave
Yakima, WA 98902

So, this week was kind of a not-great week. We just didn't have a lot of proselyting time. And when we did, everyone was at the lake. Darn heat. It messes with the Lord's plans for Chelan and Manson! But despite it all, we met some awesome potentials and have return appointments with a lot of them. We also have a baptism this upcoming Sunday! He's part of a part-member family and he's so excited to be baptized finally! Hermana Streuling and I also perfected the art of getting lost in Chelan because the Elders left a bunch of bad addresses. We finally figured everything out though, so no worries. We are a lot happier now that we've figured out both our areas. Also, cleaning out the algae from the bottom of a pool around noon is not recommended. It's fun when you and your companion are pretending to be waterbenders, though! *cough*NERDS*cough* Also, if you want to know if an investigator is golden, have them read the Doctrine and Covenants and the church's release on the gay marriage issue, and if they agree with everything, invite them to be baptized! Still need to do the invite to be baptized, but we have an investigator who's exactly like that! She's so prepared, she just needs to be baptized. We'll work on that.

So, on Friday, we had the opportunity to drive down to Wenatchee and meet President and Sister Lewis. They both definitely have a sense of humor and are amazing! They're filled with so much love and excitement for the work. I'm so excited to get to know them both more this week with personal interviews.

And then Saturday was the 4th of July! I was so excited to spend it with salt-water taffy, weekly planning, and a movie night. We had to be in our houses by 6 in the evening, so Hermana Streuling and I ended up watching Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration, Legacy, "Only a Stonecutter", and "the John Tanner Story". It was pretty great. We enjoyed it with popcorn and actually got to bed early! Woohoo!

And that's pretty much it! Except President Packer died. :( And we found out from a member who said it so nonchalantly. *stab to the heart* He will be missed, but he definitely gave his best to the Lord. He's probably up in heaven talking about the good old times with Elder Perry. I can see it now...

Well, have a miraculous week! Te quiero mucho!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy