Pray for my Weight Problems!

Hermana Blackmer y yo.

Well, this week was awesome. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Well, we saw an awesome less active family and watched the Restoration with them. They loved it and have such a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration! They also have a peach tree, so they gave us a ton of peaches. Yum. :)

Tuesday: It was kind of a slow day. We walked around our area knocking for about two hours. When we were done, we walked back to our car (which was parked at the mission office), walked inside the mission office, and grabbed some water. We talked to the office missionaries for a little bit, and they gave us some thank you cards. Then, as we were about to leave, a random guy came in and started talking to us. He wanted to know the process of missionary work, etc..., so we told him. And then he kind of started mocking our beliefs. The office missionaries were super good at confounding him in his own words, though. At the end of our lesson, he took a Restoration pamphlet and asked if he could pray. We said sure. And he prayed. In his prayer, he asked the Lord to help all those that were sick or had issues. He specifically mentioned Hermana Blackmer and I and asked that the Lord would help us with our depression, our thyroid problems, and our weight problems. One of the office missionaries mouthed to me: "Did he just call you two fat?" I died. So please, pray for my weight problems. (I'm actually losing weight, so I don't know what problems I have...) And then later that night, we enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner with fried chicken, tortillas, and rice with a recent convert family that just gets me so pumped for missionary work. It was great.

Wednesday: We had a wonderful zone training meeting where I got to reunite with Hermana Taua! She loves her new area and I love mine, so that's cool. Later on that night, our appointments in a certain trailer park fell through, so we walked around picking up trash. We started a trend. The little kids outside started picking up trash too. When we went back on Saturday, it was perfectly clean. And then we saw one of our on dates for baptism, and found out that he smoked, so we're going to have to push his date back. But, he really wants to be baptized, so all is well.

Thursday: We went on exchanges! I got to leave my area (for the 4th transfer in a row...) and go to the Sister Training Leader's area with.... (wait for it...) HERMANA CAIN! Cain and Kennedy killed it. We walked for a long time. I got sunburnt and I HAVE A FOOT TAN! (All the other missionaries have feet tans and I'm just the white girl with nothing. Now my foot is two different shades of white! It's so exciting!) We met so many people and so many miracles happened! I love exchanges.

Friday: Weekly planning. Plus, dinner with a part member family. He's totally converted, they're just waiting for her divorce so that they can get married. Legal processes. We got some pears and cucumbers out of it though. Yum. Nothing quite like fresh Yakima fruit/ vegetables. We also made a cake for/ gave it to one of our on dates for baptism. It was her birthday, and her family didn't get her a cake, so we did. She loved it, and she's doing everything she can to be baptized on August 29th. I'm so excited for her!

Saturday: We had some awesome district service and had a lot of miracle lessons. Walking and talking to everyone really works, surprisingly. People are actually outside during the day in Yakima. They're inside at night, though, because our part of Yakima is super sketch. And it's the least sketchy part of Yakima too. But, we had a lot of miracle lessons and we got a couple new investigators out of it too! It was a good day.

Sunday: Church was awesome. Only one of our investigators came... And we saw a guy that Hermana Blackmer and Hermana Johnson contacted on exchanges. He's super interested and wants to be baptized. The only problem I have with serving in a language I don't know, though, is that I never know when people are interested in me or in our message. I'm oblivious either way, I guess, so... Anyway. It was a great night, and we met most of our goals for this week, so this week should be awesome!


That's pretty much it. Keep praying for those weight problems, though! Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Hermana Cain y yo

My foot tan. Enjoy.

Hermana Blackmer y yo.

Sunburns and Service

Hola!

Wow! This week was crazy busy! Here's the brief rundown:

Monday: We had three awesome lessons. One with an investigator. We taught the Law of Chastity. He committed to live it. One with a less-active family. We watched the Restoration, and they committed to be awesome missionaries. One with a part-member family about gaining testimonies. It went super well, and the non-member spouse really wants to get baptized! They're just waiting for a divorce from the wife's previous husband so that they can get married. :) For cute.

Tuesday: Did some service at the food bank. I can now spot a bad green pepper from a mile away. We walked. A LOT. No complaints. I got sunburnt. We got to talk to a lot of seriously cool people. We also saw a less-active family, a single mom with 7 kids. She is my hero. One of our on-dates had a breakdown session with us. She has had a lot of problems/ drama since she accepted a date to be baptized. Seriously. If you know Mexican drama, times that by 10 and you get her drama. Ugh. But she's still going strong! She's trying to separate from her boyfriend while finding a job and taking care of her 3 kids. She is Superwoman. Then we saw a recent convert family that's preparing to go to the temple! They're the best! The love the gospel so much! They make me excited to find more people like them!

Wednesday: We had an awesome district council. Which the President and his wife attended. it threw us all for a little loop. But, it was amazing. After, we did some service at the food bank. I now know the code for corn. And peas. And then we went to see some people, but all our appointments fell through, so we walked and found this lady that was washing her car. We asked if we could help, and she said yes! NOBODY EVER LETS US SERVE THEM! So, we took off our shoes and washed that car like there was no tomorrow! Sure she was English. Sure she's agnostic. And sure we got soaked and sunburnt. But that one hour of service was worth it. Always find ways to serve others! Mosiah 2:17. Then we ran to the mission office (because we parked there) and told the senior couples our miracles, and one of the couples found out that we didn't have dinner, so they invited us over for dinner! We quickly saw a less-active that is super sick and we had an awesome dinner with them. Then we spent the rest of the night getting lost. It was kind of fun.

Thursday: Did some service at the Salvation Army. We're tight with the ladies there now. We saw a less active family that wants to come back to church and then we saw a new member that just moved in. She's from Utah. Her husband is Peruvian and she's learning Spanish, so they go to the Spanish branch here. She's super awesome, and we can't wait to get to know her.

Friday: Weekly planning. I also found out where President and Sister Lewis live. Now we can creep on them all we want. We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators. She loved 3 Nephi 11, but she's super busy as a single, working mom, so... Then we had dinner with one of the Spanish members. I never knew fried chicken and tortillas could go together, but they can! We went to try a less-active family, but they weren't home. As we were going to leave, their neighbor started talking to us, so we talked to her, taught the Restoration, and she seems to be really interested! But, we had to refer her to the English elders. :( And then we went home and finished planning.

Saturday: We walked for a while. Met some cool people. Found a guy that wanted to pray with us after we talked to him about the Book of Mormon. Found and gave water to three super skinny adorable kittens. Got sunburnt. And then, we had an awesome lesson with this guy and his wife. They are so ready for the gospel! They are thirsting for it. They couldn't wait to start reading the Book of Mormon! And then we found out they were in the elder's area.  Oh well. We saw another investigator who has super bad arthritis in her knees and she loves the church. She totally believes in priesthood power, and she asked some members for a blessing. They gave her one on Sunday. We had dinner at Panda Express, because I wanted Chinese. And why not? There's one in Yakima, so... Then we saw the on date with the drama. We had a great time with her, and she is working so hard towards baptism! I can't wait to see the miracles she's going to experience.

Sunday: Church. Dinner. Surprise fireside that (guess what) the full-time missionaries had to sing at. It was an amazing fireside, though, so no complaints here! Except that President Lewis wants us to go Christmas caroling now... That's actually not a bad idea. I'm down.

And that was the (simplified?) version of my week! Hope yours was miraculous! Love you!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Todo es nuevo!

Hermana Kennedy and Blackmer

Hola!

Well. This past week was crazy. I left Chelan and now I'm in Yakima! Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Said goodbye to everyone in Chelan. :(
Tuesday: Cried because I had to pack and leave Chelan. :(
Wednesday: I left Chelan. :( But, I came to Yakima and met Hermana Blackmer! And I saw Hermana Taua, who is also serving in the Yakima area. We did some work, and we saw one of our investigators who is on date, Che. Che is a friend of a less-active, and he loves the church! We taught him the plan of salvation, and he reminded us of his baptismal date! He's so amazing!
Thursday: We saw a progressing investigator, taught her the law of chastity, and she is on date to be baptized for August 29th! Her aunt is a member, and she wants to be baptized before her aunt leaves for Mexico at the end of August. Super awesome experience.
Friday: Did some weekly planning and saw a cute less-active family that's totally reactivated! The son even wants to serve a mission! In Spain! Yay!
Saturday: Did some tracting, had a branch activity, heated up some tortillas like the Latino ladies do it. Did some more weekly planning.
Sunday: CHURCH! So, here in Yakima, I'm serving solomente espanol! That means that everything is in espanol! Ward council was a blast. Although, I learned the word "chispas" which means "sparks". The branch here is totally going to become a ward. No question about it. We had an awesome day, and we went home and slept/ cleaned. Because who needs dirty dishes?

Anyway! I love Yakima. We have an apartment all to ourselves, and I get a bunk bed. :) Yay! The members are awesome, the people are awesome, and the mission office and mission home are in my new area. Yikes... President Lewis really wants to keep an eye on me I guess...

That's about it! Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

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