Holy Boldness!

Sister Thompson, Sister Maez, Hermana Cain, y yo. 

Well, last week was my first transfer week out in the field, so my first zone is gone and another has come. We are down to four sisters, though. I'm really going to miss Sister Gamble (she went home) and Sister Allred (She got transferred to Richland). But, we still have Sister Maez and Sister Thompson, who are no longer walking missionaries!

In other news, I don't really know what to talk about this week. I guess the weather. The sun has finally made an appearance, so the skies are no longer gray and cloudy! It's been really nice weather--sweater weather, in fact. No more boots. No more coat. I only have to wear one nametag. It's pretty exciting.

Um... This week was pretty slow. Really slow, actually. Until Friday. We had a surprise training for new missionaries who are on their second transfer in the field. IT WAS AMAZING! I don't have my journal with me, otherwise I would just type up my notes and send them to you. I guess what I want you guys to do is study 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11 this week then start to live the doctrine. If you don't know what the doctrine is, it's a five-step process! The first step is having faith in Jesus Christ. The second step is repentance. The third step is baptism (or the sacrament). The fourth step is receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (or seeking the Holy Ghost always). And the fifth step is enduring to the end. LEARN IT. LIVE IT. LOVE IT. And I'll be following up with this commitment next week, so I'd suggest that you'd do it unless you want to see me be devastated.

And then Saturday came. The most unromantic Valentine's Day of my life. I LOVED IT! We went around having lessons with people about how much God loved them. We had a ton of lessons and got three new investigators! #MosesMiracles Oh, and we had dinner with some lovely members who made my favorite just for me. I really felt the love. They gave us a chocolate / candy care package, so don't worry. I got something for Valentine's Day.

I think that's about it. Besides the fact that we met a new friend this week, Toby, who likes to bite skirts. And we have new faces all over Moses Lake. That's different. Oh, and we learned all about how to have Holy Boldness (Having a balance of spirit and boldness when we teach). That is pretty much why we did so well on Saturday. It's pretty great.

Oh, and one more thing. White people are rude. Don't be rude white people that tell the sister missionaries to drop dead on your front porch. Just don't be rude. Other people really appreciate it.

Have a miraculous week!

Love,

Hermana Kennedy

Dogs

Sunsets

My trip to Washington

Distrito en fuego!

The story behind the subject line: It seems that every day whenever we approach a door that's open or a house where the family is staring at you out the window, I trip. I'm a tripping. Every day. It's great. It makes for a pretty great ice-breaker as well, so no complaints here.

So... The first week of February. I guess it was ok. Pretty much every lesson we ever planned fell through, though, so we got to meet a ton of new people! We had a record of 49 OYMs this week. (An OYM is a time when a missionary approaches a person they've never talked to before, explains that they're representatives of Jesus Christ, tells a restored truth about the gospel, and leaves them with an invitation.) And we talked to more people than that! It's pretty great. The only set lessons we seem to have is with our recent converts. And even then, surprise birthday parties for the recent converts are thrown in the way... Story to be explained later.

SOOOO..... Thursday was the miracle day this week! We began by serving in the Catholic soup kitchen. The dishwasher, Grandpa Bob, came up to us and told us "You tell your bishop that Grandpa Bob says that the Mormons need a soup kitchen". Bishop Hansen, I have now told you. Feel free to get on that whenever your heart desires. Or whenever the Spirit prompts you to do so.

Then, we went to go see a lady we met a couple of weeks ago, but she wasn't home, so we knocked the apartments around her. One Spanish lady opened her door and gave us the whole "Somos Catolicos" deal. But, we kept talking to her and she let us in. We taught the Book of Mormon (in Spanish). And then she asked us what we thought about teenage pregnancy, so we taught the Law of Chastity. She liked it. (Her 19 year old son's 17 year old girlfriend is pregnant, so that's why.) We set up a return appointment for this Tuesday, and hopefully she'll become a progressing investigator!

Then, we went to go see our recent convert, Emma, with another recent convert family, the Hi-Chews. But it was Hermana Hi-Chew's birthday, and Hermano Hi-Chew threw a surprise birthday party for her. So, we showed up to the lesson and pretty much the whole branch was there. But, they had food, so it was all good. I taught Emma the Book of Mormon while Hermana Cain taught the Hi-Chew's non-member son. Divide and conquer has never had more meaning to me.

Saturday, we found a secret hidden corner trailer park that has no name but is full of Latinos! #MosesMiracles We'll be doing a lot of week there in the coming weeks.

The funny moments from this week:

Thursday during 9th branch coordination, Hermano Perez (our Branch Mission Leader) brought cookies and milk. I was only eating the cookies. He asked my why I wasn't drinking any milk. I told him that I didn't want any milk. so he told me to "drink the darn milk!". So, he poured me a glass and while I was drinking it, he made me laugh and it came out of my nose and onto Hermana Cain's coat. It was pretty funny. Although, milk coming out of your nose is kind of nasty.

Also, Hermana Cain was sick this week, so she apparently sounded like a cat being strangled. It led to this redneck quote: "Man, I hate it when them birds choke on peanuts. They sound like cats being strangled."

We also met three dogs yesterday whose names were Cocoa (she was a brown pug), Banshee (a Dalmatian) and Littlefoot ( a German Shepherd). And then two Corgis that we named Max and Charlie. They're super cute and follow us everywhere.

Spanglish joke of the week:
Me: "... juzgados."
Hermana Cain: "Whose gatos?"
Jajajajajaja.

Have a happy Valentine's day! Or just be aware of how single you are. That works too.

Love,

Hermana Kennedy

So we recreated the picture behind us. I think it's pretty legit. 

Hermana Cain with Charlie and Max.

January

I need to come up with more creative subject lines, I know. A day may come when I have a creative spark, but it is not this day! (Maybe that could be the subject line...?)

ANYWAY. In missionary news,

Nobody was baptized or confirmed this week.

Nobody was on date to get baptized this week.

2 of our investigators were at church.

We had 5 lessons with a member present.

We had 6 other lessons, but only in our 9th branch area and not our 8th ward area.

We have two progressing investigators in 9th branch. None in 8th ward.

8 received referrals.

1 contacted referral.

4 new investigators.

5 lessons with recent converts or less active members.

As you can see from this key indicator report... We got nothing to indicate. This week was a hard week, especially because it was Super Bowl week. Everyone's a Seahawks fan. Everyone doesn't care about the Gospel because they care more about a bunch of guys throwing a ball. Not cool, Satan. Not cool. BUT, I'm sure everyone has been sufficiently humbled in Washington to realize that they need something better in their lives. Something like.... the restored gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! This week is going to be better. I feel it. This week was also super hard because we didn't have a car for four days. It takes around an entire day to walk the whole area that we cover. But, our legs are buff and in shape, now. Hopefully the rest of our bodies will be by the end of our missions. Also, if you're a returned missionary, you should go on splits with the missionaries. They really appreciate somebody who doesn't mind tracting with them for 2 hours. It's pretty sweet when you have a sister RM who's willing to drive you and be with you for 4 hours of the day. It certainly increases your chances of getting in doors and actually having lessons, too!

This week was President Interviews, and I love them! Everyone should have a personal priesthood interview once a month! It's so amazing! We also had exchanges this week, so I got to do some work in the YSA area with Sister Allred (who's from Utah!). WE HAD A CAR. Which was good because we had to go out to the college for institute! (I met a Whovian who was wearing the 4th Doctor's scarf. We had a fabulous conversation about how the Gospel relates to Doctor Who.) We also knocked on this one woman's house who had a sign that said "Remove thy shoes!" I'm pretty sure you need that sign, mom. I'm pretty sure it's scripture. Somewhere in Exodus when there's the burning bush and Moses. Also, I discovered that all college students have cats and all other people have dogs and more dogs, most of the time they're chihuahuas. Nasty. Anyway, we got our car back on Friday! We missed Toulouse so much. 9th branch also had a fiesta which included pesole, horchata, and Latin dancing! Loved the pesole. Loved the horchata. Ran away when it came time to dance.

Also, this week we focused on following the Spirit, and MIRACLES CAME. But only when we really tried to follow the spirit. Listen for the spirit. Just shut up and listen for like 30 seconds everyday. When you do, miracles happen!

My motto for this next week is something President Ware shared with us:
President Hinckley taught truth; “The best antidote for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired.” Keep working hard and the Lord will bless you!

Love you all! Have a miraculous week!

Love,

Hermana Kennedy

Miracle! Miracles everywhere!

From left to right: Hermana Kennedy, Hermana Cannon, Emma, Hermana Cain, Hermana McArthur (My MTC comp!)

OK. The week of January 19th to January 25th. And go:

Monday the 19th: We found out that we won't have a car for four days this week, so we began preparing ourselves mentally for that. We also had a lesson with one of our converts about missionary work and sharing the gospel on social media. I'd encourage each of you to create a mormon.org account and share something spiritual on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or other sites EVERY WEEK. #spiritualsunday #mormonmonday #templetuesday #webelievewednesday #throwbackthursday (to pioneers, etc...) #faithfulfriday #saintlysaturday Just some ideas for you.

Tuesday the 20th: Had an awesome district meeting about being examples of Jesus Christ in EVERYTHING. Definitely something we all can work on is developing Christlike attributes. Find one and work to develop it this week. We met our new ward mission leader for 8th ward. His wife is a ward missionary as well, so we're excited to start working with them! They have a huge great dane who's a foot shorter than me... And he sheds a lot too. But, oh well. Este es la vida.

Wednesday the 21st: We talked to everyone about the gospel today! And we met a ton of less actives in 9th branch! Hopefully they'll all start coming to church again... We also OYMed this golden couple IN SPANISH!!!! I understood the entire conversation, and they want to come to English class and church! We're going to get them to come this week. They even complimented my Spanish!

Thursday the 22nd: We talked to a lot of people today, too! We had dinner at Taco Bell because our dinner fell through, but man, I needed those cinnabon delites. Mmmm. We had English class, but nobody was there, so we had Spanish class instead. I learned that I can't speak Spanish. Fancy that. Gift of tongues is so real.

Friday the 23rd: Weekly planning day where no actual planning got done! Because we taught everyone! Well, one person, but hey, one person is enough. We also found a secret less active whose records weren't anywhere and invited her to church. But, at 8:30, our investigator who was getting baptized the next day at 12:30 texted us and told us her mom wouldn't be home until 2 the next day, and she asked us if we could move the baptism to 3. So, we called our ward mission leader and everyone else who was involved, moved the baptism to 3, and attempted finishing our weekly planning. No go, but we tried.

Saturday the 24th: The sun was out today! Emma showed up to her baptism at 3:30, but she was there! With her mom! And her sister! It was amazing, and the spirit was so strong! Hermana Cain's trainer, Hermana Cannon came from Yakima to see the baptism because she's pretty much the reason Emma decided to get baptized. It was awesome. Then, 10 minutes after the baptism (the first house we knocked on) we found a new investigator! He's so prepared to hear the gospel, and we can't wait to see him next Friday. Also, we discovered that family history is a great way to get people into the church. You should all encourage someone who's not a member to come with you to do family history. It's awesome!

Sunday the 25th: Emma was confirmed!!!! And nothing else that happened today really mattered because of that.

Hope you all had a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,
Tu favorita,
Hermana Kennedy

DOS MESES!!!!!

My companion, and our district. Yeah. We're great. We know. 

So, today marks my two month TO THE DAY mark. It's pretty exciting. Sixteen more months! (Not that anyone is counting...)

This week has been pretty eventful. Last Monday, one of the members we were with backed into our car so we had to fill out paperwork for the next two days in order to get our life sorted out. Not fun. Thank goodness the church is so organized. We've been approved to get it fixed next week, so Toulouse will be out of commission for four days next week.

We talked to more people than either of us ever have in a week this week! We have a goal we have to set for OYMs (open your mouth) experiences. We had 31 this week! My companion and I have never gotten above 28!!! It's exciting to share a restored truth with so many people. I encourage ustedes to open your mouth to anyone about the gospel! You'd be surprised what blessings come because of it.

We had to drop two of our investigators this week because they never opened the door to us, even though they were totally home. We haven't been able to see either of them for the past 4 weeks, so I guess it's a good thing. Pretty much all the rest of our lessons fell through this week, except our lessons with Emma which were amazing! She was interviewed and passed! She's going to be baptized this week!!!! Hermana Cain and I are so excited!

We also found this super sketchy small trailer park BUT IT'S FULL OF LATINOS!!!!! It's a golden place. Except the old Catholic guy fixing his lightbulb ran away while we were talking to him. And George had a rooster... Awkward moments of my life.

Other than that, we had a fireside last night about member missionary work and how members can more easily participate in this marvelous work. I always said, "Oh missionaries don't need me" back when I was home. I WAS STUPID!!!! MISSIONARIES NEED MEMBERS MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE EXCEPT THE SPIRIT!!!! There is nothing better for an investigator or a recent convert than a friend who is a member. It gives them an immediate support system so that they don't have to learn how to walk all on their own. So: find someone that you want to share the gospel with, call the missionaries, and GO WITH THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every lesson for a missionary should be a member present. Yeah. That's difficult when members don't know that.

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Study the Atonement this week and try to apply it to your life EVERY DAY! It's actually really easy. If you want to go really in depth, study the Mount of Transfiguration because Elijah and Moses appeared to Christ to comfort Him. It's ok to accept comfort from others. Christ needed a lot. We do too.

Love you! Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

My companion decided to be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was fitting because it snowed that day.

Expect Miracles

Hermana Kennedy and her Companion Hermana Cain

Hola mi familia!

Este Semana: (Also, no real names will be used except my companion's name)

Monday: We had a miracle lesson with a new investigator, Hilary. She just wants to know what church is true! We haven't been able to see her since, but we're sure she is progressing.

Tuesday: Yeah. Today was a horrible day, BUT, we worked at the food bank and got to bag frozen peas. So much fun. After that, everything in our life fell through, and nobody was home, so...

Wednesday: I almost got kidnapped to Utah. We obtained a ride from a member whose name will not be disclosed for legal purposes in order to go to Kennewick for our trainer trainee training. She was driving to Utah and was thinking about taking us with her. But, she didn't and we got to see the Columbia River temple instead! We also had a miracle lesson today with an old Catholic lady, Ashley, who is so open to the gospel and relates so well to all of it! We're meeting with her again tonight at 8. :) She makes me super happy!!!!!!!!!

Thursday: Today was pretty pointless, BUT, I got to practice my Spanish. We started teaching this lady named Sweet. She was originally being taught by the elders, but they gave her to us because her husband didn't like the fact that she was being taught by 2 guys. HER SPANISH IS SO FAST. The only reason I could understand it was because the Lord blessed me with the gift of tongues! It's real. It's really real. She has a ton of questions though, and is a solid investigator!

Friday: A fabulous day. Hermana Cain and I taught Sister Silver. She's been praying every day since we last met with her, and she has changed so much!!! She's so much more open to the gospel now, and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for her! We also did weekly planning and had dinner with an awesome Spanish family, the Avacados. Their son served in Ogden, and the mom, Marianne is from Guadalajara. We had some bonding since Nate served in Guadalajara.

Saturday: We had Zone training today. Our zone song is "The Family is of God". Yeah. I had never heard of it either. And now it's stuck in my head every day. We had dinner with a wonderful family, the Bufandos. He gave us our spiritual thought about how God's ways are not man's ways. Man would want a person to change his environment in order to change his nature. Christ changes nature and then the people change themselves. It was an awesome thought and definitely one to ponder. We had an awesome member-present lesson with our on-date investigator, Emma. She's so excited to be baptized! But, the rest of the night, we had no lessons because there was a Seahawks game. Everyone here is a Seahawks fan, and you don't interrupt their football time. Don't do it. Bad things happen. You'll get chihuahuas sicked on you.

Sunday: I'M BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND CHURCH IN SPANISH!!!!!!!!!!!! It's amazing what's possible with the Spirit. We had two miracle new investigators today. One is the dad of two of our investigators, Jack and Will, and the other is a single mother Jennifer. #werebringingformersback

My spiritual thought of the week is to expect miracles. There can be miracles when you believe. (It's a song from the Prince of Egypt. It's also Hermana Cain's and my theme song. Listen to it.) Faith and works produces miracles. So does exact obedience! Look for a miracle every day this week, and I promise you will be able to find one if you're doing everything the Lord has asked you to do!

Funny: Two of the elders in my zone were commentating our basketball game last Monday. Their conversation went like this:
Elder Rosero: "You know, Elder, we're so in sync that we finish each others..."
Elder Richins: "Sentences!"
Elder Rosero: "It's sandwiches, actually."

Frozen references EVERYWHERE.


Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

The Columbia River Temple

The Columbia River Temple

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

There is no time for life in the mission field!

Seriously. There's no time to go to the bathroom, teach everything that you want to teach, clean your room, unpack, etc... Luckily for me, I came in on New Year's Eve when we had to be home no later than 6. After eating dinner with the bishop of the 8th ward (It feels like home!) we went home and I had time to unpack. #tendermercies

SO.... I don't have much time, so here's the policy version of my life:
1. My new companion is Hermana Cain. She's a southern Georgia peach and has seen Gone with the Wind. It's her 3rd transfer in the mission field, and was only in the MTC for 2 weeks in Provo.
2. My first area is...*drumroll* MOSES LAKE!!!! I love. The sunsets here are DA BEST. The people here are DA BEST. The weather here is... a lot like Virginia mixed with a hint of Utah dryness. Oh, and it snowed, and I had to teach Hermana Cain how to drive in snow. She only ran two stop signs, slid across 3 intersections, and fishtailed 5 times. (Over exaggeration because she's a southern gal.) We're still alive though.
3. Spiritual thought of the week: When you're doing the Lord's work, He'll bless you so much! Example: We had to drive up a really big hill IN SNOW. As we were driving up, we saw a pickup truck that had slid down the hill and backed up into the bank. They looked at us and wished us luck. Oh they of little faith. Little did they know that angels were pushing our car up the hill. That's true power right there. #Mosesmiracles
4. New Year's is the best time to start a mission. You get all the horrible stuff done and over with. You've already talked to all the drunk and high people, so there's not much left that's bad.
5. NO TIME. GOTTA RUN. Bye!

Oh, favorite experience: We are teaching this one family, the Silver family (Names are changed). The parents speak Spanish and can't read. The kids speak English and can read. THEY ARE SO AMAZING!!! We prayed with them our last lesson, and the mom just broke down. She felt the Spirit and God's love for her so much! She was the one praying, and we never actually finished the prayer before we left... Oh well. That Spirit though. Strive to always have it with you.

Love you!

Hermana Kennedy

P.S. I no longer like Wal-Mart. I can't listen to hymns, etc... in there. So when all my old favorite songs come on... Darn you, Satan.

Singing at the Visitors Center

Sister Kennedy's MTC District