La Vida Loca

Service at Northwest Harvest

Well this past week has been pretty crazy. Meaning that I actually wrote all of it in my journal, so I don't have to give you a detailed run down! More like I have no time, so here's what happened this week!

Monday: We had an awesome P-day at a member's house. Saw a less active, taught M and E. Called it a night.

Tuesday: We had an awesome district council and lunch. We spent our afternoon ranting to each other about the stupidity and ignorance of people. (Yes, we know we need to work on our charity.) But, we had an awesome member dinner and a miraculous member present lesson at the end of the night.

Wednesday: Did some service at Northwest Harvest. Fun as usual. I can tell a bad green bell pepper when I see one, now. We saw a less active, ate with a member (we confirmed dinner with the wrong member, though... Awkward...) And then one of our investigators who's a single dad with 4 daughters asked us to come over. We hopped on over, saw him, taught the Restoration, and agreed to come back the next day to help out a little bit with cleaning up his house. And then we walked home.

Thursday: We met some awesome people during our afternoon proselyting hours and then did some service for the rest of the afternoon at the Salvation Army and at the investigator's house from Wednesday. It was pretty fun. We went to Arby's for dinner because they have a diving pumpkin cheesecake shake. After that, one of the office missionaries, Mama Call, drove us to Tieton City to see some investigators that are so awesome! It was a great night.

Friday: Weekly planning. Dinner with a recent convert whose daughter is interested in the gospel. A lesson with Gray about the Book of Mormon. She actually understands it now! The only problem is that the ligaments in her shoulder are torn, so she has to get surgery. That's cool. Whatever. It's not like she needs those or anything.

Saturday: Well, Hermana Brighton and I got a fun call from President Lewis. He told us that Hermana Brighton would now be a sister training leader serving with Hermana Bailey literally the next area over. And then he called me to train a new missionary. And to move in together. So now, we will be living with the Sister Training Leaders. We're also still sharing a car with them. As for the rest of that day, we did some service painting over grafiti, and we saw a bunch of awesome people. Marilee, M and E, and we had dinner at the birthday party of our part-member family's daughter. Did we know it was a party? NOPE. Awkward...

Sunday: Church. We got asked to do a musical number last minute, so thankfully we were able to do that. Everyone was in tears. And then later that night, we went up to Tieton with a member, and it was amazing! We taught one family the Restoration, but they were SUPER Catholic. And then we saw our golden family and talked about the gospel of Christ. THEY READ IN THE BOOK OF MORMON! AND PRAYED! All they need to do now is come to church and learn all the lessons, and then they can get dunked. :) We're super excited for them.

So, yes. We received transfer calls. Hermana Brighton is leaving, and I'm staying and receiving a new missionary. It's kind of terrifying. But, the Lord qualifies the called, right? Speaking of, here's the things that I learned from the Sunday morning of General Conference:

1. Be an example because that's how others will see your light.
2. Have charity.
3. The Lord qualifies the called.
4. We need to focus on what we can do rather than what we can't do.
5. To serve others effectively, we have to see them through Heavenly Father's eyes.
6. We need to be seen as distinct and different in our righteousness and happiness.
7. Speak up and speak out! Testify of the truths of the gospel!
8. When we stand up courageously, we take the Lord's countenance upon us.
9. Teach your children about the gospel of Christ.
10. The Holy Ghost makes what is good more attractive.
11. We need to make it a constant quest to have the Spirit with you!
12. We need to act on the promptings of the Spirit!
13. We should choose to obey with confidence.
14. The Holy Ghost helps us make out hopes realities.

"True disciples desire to inspire the hearts of men, not just impress them." #ldsconf

If you want to see awesome pictures, you should go to Sister Lewis's blog: yakimamission.wordpress.com Do it. You won't regret it.

Well, that's all folks! Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Our awesome district. 

My companion is Superman.

The albinos. 

Spiritual Overload

So, Hermana Blackmer and I taught Miguel (Michael) before our area was split. We had put him on date before we left, and he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! It was so amazingly spiritual! I was in tears pretty much the whole time. :) 

Well, mi familia, what can I say? Another week has come and gone, and I'm still here in Yakima overdosing on the Spirit. It's a great feeling. Probably greater than any drug man has ever created. And, it's completely healthy for you too! I recommend using the Spirit on a daily basis to keep up your physical and spiritual health.

I'll give you a brief run down of the week before I talk more about that, though.

Monday: We had an awesome lesson with M and E about Obedience/ the Word of Wisdom/ Following the Prophet. They enjoyed the one session of conference that they went to and asked if they could be baptized last weekend. Unfortunately, we had to tell them know because they have to live the Word of Wisdom for two weeks and come to church twice. So, they're still preparing to be baptized on the 24th. \

Tuesday: We had a FANTASTIC zone training meeting about becoming a full-purpose fourth missionary. A fourth missionary is a missionary who is changed by his mission because he gives his all to the Lord. It was a spiritual high point of the week. After that, we contacted some referrals, one of whom was GOLDEN, but of course he speaks English, so we had to give him up. We had a delicious dinner of soup at our house and were able to visit a less active family with the branch president. It was such a great visit, and such a testimony builder that members are truly the way that we do missionary work. :)

Wednesday: We did some service at Northwest Harvest throwing some squash and pumpkins around. It was back-breaking work, but now I know all the types of squash. We contacted another referral who had just gotten out of the shower. That was awkward. We had dinner with the part member family we're teaching. They're just waiting for a court date, a wedding date, and then he can be baptized. We are so excited for them. We also saw another kind-of less active family who is doing awesome as usual. They shared their favorite scriptures with us, so that was very cool. And then we made some impulsive decisions with the other sisters, got some McDonald's French Fries and one salted caramel shake from Jack in the Box before going home for the night. It was pretty crazy. Sister Brighton made me choke on a French fry, so I almost died, but all is well. I know the Heimlich.

Thursday: We painted some fire hydrants for a couple hours today. Pretty much all of ours had already been done, so we just cleaned them up. We had dinner with our house again and spent the night walking in circles trying to find some referrals. We never actually found them. But, we did stop at Walgreens and we bought some ice cream to make up for the lost calories that just miraculously fell off during our 7 mile circular walk... And to use the bathroom. That was also important.

Friday: We had some great weekly planning and then a member took us up to Tieton City, the outskirts of our area. We contacted some referrals and ended the night seeing a family that just moved up here from California. THEY ARE SO PREPARED FOR THE GOSPEL. They were praying to find a church to raise their kids in up here to give them a change and help them do what is right. (One of their kids got involved in gangs and drugs in California which is why they moved up here.) We were an answer to their prayers. They're super awesome.

Saturday: Well, it rained today, but we were able to see some less-actives, Gray and her family, and some other new people. We made a cake for Miguel's baptism, and then we went to the baptism only to be told that half our branch was stranded in Kennewick (they went to the temple) because of a fire, and that they probably weren't going to make it. Then Miguel showed up. And all the missionaries who taught him showed up. And miraculously his baptism only started 20 minutes late with most of the branch there. I was able to reunite with Hermanas Blackmer, Cain, and Streuling along with Hermano Perez (the branch ward mission leader from Moses Lake) and his mother who drove Hermanas Streuling and Blackmer down. I also found out that Doroteo, the most golden investigator in Chelan, got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I went outside to scream my happiness. That, and Miguel got baptized too, so I'm pretty sure I reached Ammon's point of fainting from joy. It was a good night.

Sunday: BUT, SUNDAY WAS EVEN BETTER! Why? BECAUSE MIGUEL GOT CONFIRMED! *enter tears of joy here* That, and I actually prepared for the sacrament this week, and let me tell you, when you prepare to take the sacrament all throughout the week, it is A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. I LIVE for the sacrament now. Read General Conference talks again to get a feel for what you need to do to prepare for the sacrament. It will change your church experience. We had dinner with our branch mission leader after and then a member (from Utah!) drove us up to Tieton City again. We contacted some more referrals and ended the night seeing the family from Friday. THEY ARE SO AMAZING! They asked us some awesome questions and we got to teach them so simply and powerfully about the Godhead and prayers. They loved it and invited us back. AGAIN. So, we're going back on Tuesday.

And that's about my week. Now for you weekly #ldsconf: Here's what I learned from the Saturday Afternoon session of General Conference:

1. Avoid temptations by looking for warnings. Don't willingly fly into temptation.
2. Save more. Pay your tithing. Get an education.
3. Dating means lengthy conversations.
4. Be worthy of the person you want to marry. Meaning, if you want better, be better!
5. Pray carefully for some life-long advisers or counselors.
6. Hold personal councils with yourself often. Have a self-inventory of your life.
7. Maternal love is divine and is the love that comes closest to the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.
8. Remember Christ, but also your mother, when temptation comes or when you're about to sin.
9. Christ died of a broken heart, so don't break your mother's heart.
10. We need to help our children understand the gospel, not just know the gospel.
11. Go the second mile. Smile. Be compassionate. Be worthy to take the sacrament. Prepare for it!
12. Trust in others, but especially in the Lord.
13. You can choose light over darkness!
14. We need faith if our prayers are going to be answered.
15. Act in faith to feel your spiritual conversion.
16. The Atonement gives us all the strength we need-physically and spiritually.

Some memorable quotes:
"As you come to yourself, the Lord will come to you." #ldsconf
"I've been where you are. I know what comes next, and I will help you through it." #ldsconf
"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure." #ldsconf

Well, I hope your week has been miraculous! I know mine has. Keep on keeping on, and I'll see vosotros en 7 meses!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Conference Weekend!

Well. This week was a miracle week. You don't get many of those on your mission, so when they come, you are supremely exhausted. Here's how the week went!

Monday: Met an inactive whose husband died. Planned to go back and see her. Met a Hispanic that's working on his English, taught the Restoration, and set up a return appointment. Had a family home evening with some members and their neighbors, M and E, who happen to be two of our investigators. We had Mexican hot chocolate for the treat, and we played a fun game. It went REALLY well. And then we called it a night.

Tuesday: Had an amazing district council complete with chips and homemade salsa. Saw one of our on date investigators and had an awesome discussion about baptism with her. Had dinner (carne asada!) with some members. It was TO DIE for. And then, a different member picked us up and drove us to the outskirts of our area, a little town called Tieton, where about 200 people live and 199 of them are Hispanic. We have probably about 10 referrals from the English elders there. So we got there, and we contacted 2. Set up return appointments, and drove home. (I managed to leave my bag in the trunk of our car, so I didn't have it with me all night. We made do with the 1 English Restoration pamphlet and the 1 Spanish Plan of Salvation pamphlet in Hermana Brighton's bag. And it all worked out! We taught those things in those languages. God answers prayers and provides the means.)

Wednesday: We started out at 10 with some service for a part member family. Then we did some more service. Had some members out with us. The lesson we were going to have fell through, but it gave us a great chance to go see a less active family. That was fun. We skipped dinner to go to the clinic because Hermana Brighton's eye hurt. And it was RED. It's not pinkeye, but it's still RED. And then, we took a member to come see our visionary investigator. The member took the initiative and invited him to conference, and he said that he wanted to come! Then, another lady drove by and asked if we were from a church. We said yes, she gave us all her information, and asked us to stop by. Miracle! And then we had a lesson with M and E with their neighbors about prophets. They liked it and committed to come to General Conference.

Thursday: Pretty crazy day. We did some service at the Salvation Army where i got THIN MINTS AND SAMOAS! I haven't had Girl Scout cookies in forever. Yum. :) We knocked and OYMed some people until it was time to go to dinner. We picked up the other sisters and made it to dinner. And then the member we ate with took us to go see Gray. She was the Relief Society president. Gray turned out to have adopted 3 bunnies (ONE OF THEM WAS AN ALBINO!) that she was going to give to her aunt. We read a scripture and the member offered to drive Gray to her aunt's. We had to tag along because she was our ride, too. So, we dropped the bunnies off and stopped at a panaderia where Gray bought us pan. It was delicious. Once you eat Mexican bread, there's no going back... By the time we got out, it was about 9, so we had them drop us off at home. But hey! Fellowship!

Friday: Weekly planning. Finished. And we cleaned our apartment because we couldn't feel the Spirit. We took a break to clean it. We saw all of our on dates and invited them to conference. We went to see M and E and we had invited one of the neighbors to come with us. But the member had invited everyone else to come too without us knowing. So we had a party with the members at M and E's house. We talked about baptism and confirmation, and the members invited M and E over to watch conference. It was pretty cool. Those members are SO solid.

Saturday: GENERAL CONFERENCE! I can't say anything more. After, we went to Gray's house for pozole because it was her son's birthday. We kind of forgot a gift... Then we walked and saw another investigator. His pastor came over, and we had a jam session with them... #awkward. We met some other people on the way home who were very nice and let us use their bathroom. They gave us brownies too, and we answered all their questions. They like it and have decided to get married because we told them they were living in sin. Good times. We ran into a less active too and invited him and his non member friend to conference. And then we walked home.

Sunday: GENERAL CONFERENCE! We had dinner with some members. And then M and E texted us and asked us to come over in about 30 minutes because they were finishing up the reading we left them. We went to see some less actives, but they weren't home. The non-member who was living with them was, though, so we taught him and then made our way over to M and E's. We got there, they had watched conference, and M told us that she was so ready to be baptized! She just has to give up tea and then she's ready! MIRACLE!

Anyway, the hashtag for this month is #ldsconf. So, we'll start with the Saturday Morning Session. Here's what stood out to me!
1. The gospel is simple. Keep it simple.
2. Our goal is exaltation. The path is discipleship.
3. We should hold on to clear and simple eternal truths.
4. We need to focus on keeping the Sabbath Day holy.
5. We need to be centered on Christ.
6. We are the clay in the master potter's hands. He can make more out of us than we can out of ourselves.
7. It will all work out.
8. We need to give place for the Spirit to guide, teach, and direct us.
9. We need to constantly look and ask for ways to improve.
10. We need to truly repent.
11. We need to give our will to the Lord.
12. We need to be ship-shape and Bristol fashion (or worthy of a temple recommend).
13. We need to seek earnestly after righteousness.

So, if I could share a quote on social media, it would be something like this:

"We need to be ship-shape and Bristol fashion!" #ldsconf

Get on it! #wewriteofChrist

Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

#WeWriteofChrist

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Hoy, vamos a hablar sobre hashtages. Que es un hashtag? Porque tenemos que usar los hashtag? I still don't know what a hashtag is, but I use them all the time. Maybe somebody could send me the definition or something. ANYWAY, this week is the start of the last 8 months of awesome letters you will be receiving from yours truly. As part of them, I'm going to start including some special hashtags for the month. I would encourage all of you to use them when posting on social media and other sites. Or, you could even just send them to me. ;) This month, the month of October, the hashtag will be #ldsconf. Share your favorite messages from conference with the world! I'll finish out this letter with my example. If you want more information about this event, go to www.wewriteofchrist.org  or ask Christopher Kennedy for more information. But for now, you must suffer through another day by day breakdown of Hermana Kennedy's week. Listos?

Lunes: We walked and OYMed a lot of people until we finished the night of by contacting a referral. When we knocked on the door, the woman opened the door and invited us in because she saw the scriptures I was carrying. As we talked to them, we found out that they were friends of some members and were actually interested in our message! So we shared a little bit of it, set up a return appointment, and left. Miracles everywhere!

Martes: We were on exchanges today. I was finally in my own area with Hermana Bailey, Hermana Streuling's trainer. We had an awesome day of service where we painted fire hydrants and had to us steel wool to get the paint off our skin. Hermana Bailey also broke our phone, so... It was rough. We got some dinner and then walked. All of our appointments fell through, and we didn't have a car, so we walked and talked and walked and knocked and walked until a member invited us in for some juice. We accepted, shared a spiritual thought, and left. We met some pretty cool people walking, though. The other sisters picked us up and we exchanged back. I learned a lot from Hermana Bailey, and I'm so excited to serve in the same branch as her and her companion! We're super close since we share a car, a branch, and now dinners too! (Next thing you know, we'll share an apartment.)

Miercoles: We knocked and walked and talked until we found an English less-active! Missionaries haven't stopped by for a long time, and she was actually thinking about going back to church. It was a miracle in the middle of a rough afternoon. We stopped by a member and set up a time for her to come out with us. And then we realized that it was during Women's Conference... Needless to say, we changed it. We had dinner with Gray, and she made the best quesadillas! We also had a contest to see how many times it took to throw grapes into our mouths before we actually caught them in our mouths. I won. We then had a two hour discussion with Gray about her life story and how she has seen the gospel change her life and the life of her family since she started accepting it. She is so ready! She just needs to get married, and then she can get baptized! Her esposo is so much happier, too! He never smiles, but when we came over for dinner, he was smiling so big! After our talk, we went to the church and served some members/ set up some appointments for the rest of the week. Hermana Brighton is very good at making bowties out of napkins, so if anyone wants to use her skills, feel free. :)

Jueves: We had an AMAZING zone conference. (Guess who had to do the musical number? Which was actually the closing song...) I still haven't had a chance to wrap my mind around how awesome all the messages from zone conference were. One day, I'll get it. We had dinner with a member. She bought us American food, but gave us tortillas, so it was totally Mexican food. Then we walked to see some of our appointments. They all canceled, so we started to find some members that supposedly lived in the area. The first one we tried had moved, but we got a new investigator out of the single mother living there, so it was ok. We knocked around the apartment complex and found some pretty cool, solid people. Then, as we were walking home, we found two people outside smoking. Tom and Kimmy. They were super anti-Joseph Smith, but as we explained the Restoration, they opened up. Turns out we were the first Mormons they would let talk to them. Kimmy was pretty challenging and said that she would never change her mind about Joseph Smith, but by the end of the lesson she accepted a Restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. And she prayed to know right then and there if it was true! Awesome end of the night miracle. Except that Hermana Brighton and I had to go home and shower so that we wouldn't smell like heavy smokers. Pros and cons.

Viernes: We actually finished weekly planning! On a Friday! And we had an awesome lesson with our part-member family. He's getting baptized next month! Her divorce came through, so they're going to have a wedding/ baptism/ party day! They are SO solid. And then we saw a less-active family that had come to church the week earlier. She gave us some chile reyenos which were delicious, as usual, and we had a good discussion about living the gospel. We invited her to the women's conference on Saturday too.

Sabado: Well, we had an awesome coordination meeting with our branch mission leader. Followed by about 2 hours of walking, falling through appointments, drunk Mexicans, and talking to pretty much everyone we talked to on Thursday. It was pretty fun. We took an earlier dinner. (We made Mac and Cheese with almond milk. It's not bad.) And then we went to women's conference! More to come on that. The rest of our appointments that night fell through, so we stopped by some potentials, and walked and talked with other people. It was pretty fun.

Domingo: Well, church was awesome as usual. The organ broke, so I got to play the piano again. :) And then after church, some members (the new ward missionaries, in fact) fed us some Peruvian fried rice and no bake cookies. (He's Peruvian. She's American.) Twas delicious. Then we went to contact some referrals. No luck, but we met a black lady from Arkansas, and she is so awesome! I'm so sad she speaks English. I wanted to teach her. :( Oh well. We're all on team Jesus, right? Then we saw some investigators that live next door to members, and the members invited the investigators over for family home evening tonight! So we did some service for the members and talked about what we'd do tonight. We are all super excited! We knocked and talked with some white people, and they were all kind of grumpy, so I think the Seahawks lost last night. I've never paid attention to football as much as I have on my mission. (Will, you're going to have to keep me updated on the Seahawks. My mission depends on it!)

Well, that's about it! As for your spiritual thought this week, it comes from women's conference! #ldsconf Something I loved about women's conference was Sister McConkie's talk. She talked about the cause that we are all united in, the work of salvation. The work of salvation is our entire labor here on earth--to help our Father's children return safely as sealed families. We all need to participate in this work. Here's the five steps to participating in the work of salvation.
1. Member Missionary Work. Be a member missionary! Go out with the missionaries or give the missionaries someone to teach! Pray for guidance to know how you can be a better member missionary! #share1invite1
2. Convert Retention. For the recent converts in your wards and stakes, be a friend! Help them to stay active! Give them something to participate in and nourish them with the good word of God,. #sharegoodness
3. Activation of Less-Active Members. The best way you can get less-actives active again is to be a friend. Show them that you care about them, and not just your ward roster or assignment. #sharegoodness
4. Temple and Family History work. GET ON YOUR FAMILY HISTORY! (Myself included.) And then, when you find names, take them to the temple! The temple is the most important part of the work of salvation. It's only through the ordinances of the temple that we can return to our Heavenly Father as sealed families. #findyourcousins
5. Teach the Gospel. In your homes, to others, to friends, to family. I don't care how you do it, but teach the Gospel. This can best be done through the scriptures or the words of the prophets! #wewriteofChrist
There you go! Go and do! Be an active part of the work of salvation!

I love you all so much! Make sure to take some questions to ponder during General Conference this next weekend!

Con MUCHISIMO amor,

Hermana Kennedy

The Missionaries sang as they walked... and walked... and walked....

Me with a mustache and my duck Fernando.

Bienvenidos a todos!

Well, this week was pretty crazy. SO MUCH happened. Here's the chronology of events:

Monday: P-Day! The member we do laundry with gave us a ton of pears, so now I don't know what to do with them. If I could can pears, I'd totally do that, but alas, nobody has time for that. After P-day, we knocked on a less-active's door to find out that she had moved. So we taught the guy behind the door, set up a return appointment, invited him to the branch's fiesta on Saturday, and moved on with life. We saw Gray and her novio and taught them the gospel. He's not quite ready for baptism, but at least he's willing to listen to our message for her sake! And then we saw another investigator and set up a return appointment. It was an eventful night.

Tuesday: We had an awesome district council about church. Church is so important. Sundays are a stressful day for missionaries, but I've learned that we should forget about our worries on Sunday and take the time to rejuvenate ourselves. We need some rest from our labors, and Sunday is the day to do it. What do you do to use Sunday as a day of rest? After district council, we split some apples open with our hands and left to do the work! Hermana Brighton and I walked all day. We OYMed a drunk guy that told us about every person he'd ever known who had died. We met some people that were traveling from Chelan to California. And we walked. And talked. And walked. And sang. And walked. We had dinner with a member who was kind enough to give us a ride and then we saw a recent convert/ less active family and taught them the plan of salvation. :) As we left them, we were walking and we saw a kid walking down the street, so we talked to him. It turns out he's scared of walking home in the dark, so we walked him home. And got a return appointment out of it. We tried to see some other investigators, but they weren't home. So we OYMed a lady outside, and she asked if we were walking. We said yes, and she offered us a ride home. More like demanded that she give us a ride home. We accepted and taught her the Restoration while we drove home. She was actually pretty interested, and nothing bad happened, so... #thethingsIdoasamissionary

Wednesday: We did some service at Northwest Harvest making lunches for schoolkids. And then we stopped by the mission home to get some maps from Sister Lewis. We now know our area. It's a miracle. And then we went home for dinner, saw a less-active and her two less-active daughters who were willing to listen to the gospel again. Yay! All our plans for that night fell through, so we knocked the door next door to the part-member family we were going to see because they looked Mexican. They were and they let us in and listened. They laughed during the opening prayer, so that was fun. And then when we went to say the closing prayer, we were laughing for about 15 minutes straight. It was bad. But hey! They're pretty cool and interested. The little girl already goes to Activity Days with the part-member family, so... they're pretty solid.

Thursday: We had about an hour before some service, so we picked a street and knocked it. There were so many golden people! BUT, they all spoke English. :( Oh well. The other sisters (who were on exchanges) picked us up. Hermana Bailey and Hermana Taua were together for the day, and we spent the two hours of service we did at the Salvation Army plus dinner together. And then they drove us to our area. Our appointment fell through, so they took us to another part of our area and dropped us off before they went back to their area. We knocked and talked and walked and talked and met some awesome people and then we walked the 3 miles home. And NOBODY cat-called us. Until we were about to turn onto the street that would take us home. The elders happened to drive by at that moment and scream "HEY" at us. We almost died of fright. And then literally 2 seconds later, somebody cat-called us. So close. So close.

Friday: Weekly planning. And then we had a lesson with Gray and her novio and some members. 2 hours later is was time to go home, but they promised to go to the fiesta on Saturday! Something good came from it. You can never go wrong with member present lessons.\

Saturday: We went to an awesome family history fair, so now I'm all excited about family history. If I rant about family history, blame Sister Lewis. It's all her fault. We went home, had lunch, finished weekly planning, and walked about a mile and a half to the church for the fiesta. On the way we met a guy who worked at a coffee shop and was walking home. We told him we didn't drink coffee. He asked us why. We taught him the Restoration, and he liked it. He understood everything and got our beliefs. It was pretty cool. We ended up walking him home and then we went to the fiesta, shredded some chicken, took some pictures, and talked for a little. Our investigator won the best sopes contest! She was so excited! But, as soon as we got dragged into the conga line, we knew it was time to leave. Mexicans can party. We left and walked down the street until we saw some longboarders that had some interesting questions. We answered them and taught the Restoration and invited them to church. It was pretty cool. Then, we walked back up to the church to see if the members needed help cleaning up. They didn't, so we stole our investigators who came and the branch president and had an awesome lesson in the foyer. The sisters came and picked us up so that we could actually get home on time, though.

Sunday: Church was amazing! Pretty much all the less actives in our area came! And then the 3 new sisters had to speak, and we did a musical number, so the entire branch was in tears, so, yeah. It was pretty awesome. All four of us sisters had dinner at a recent-convert's house and then we went our separate ways. Hermana Brighton and I spent the night contacting referrals. We tried by 5. We only met 1. But it's ok. We'll contact them all this week.

That's pretty much it folks! Have a miraculous week! And get on that family history! Your spiritual thought this week comes from Moroni 7:4-5: If you are truly the peaceable followers of Christ, you will walk as Jesus walked. You will do the things He did, and by your fruits others will know you. What are some of the fruits of your efforts to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

The coolest wall ever! It's the world with all the temples as little dots!

A shortcut to the mushrooms

The mushrooms

WELL. This week was super eventful! Here's the run-down:

Monday: P-day. Hermana Blackmer packed. We saw Michael one last time. We lost him in our area split. But, he committed himself to be baptized on October 3rd, so it was worth it! And then we went to say goodbye to our branch president and his family, and pretty much the entire branch was over, so we said goodbye to everyone, took some pictures, ate some cake, and went home to do what we do best: sleep.

Tuesday: Did some service at the food bank. Hermana Blackmer said goodbye to Gray, and we took some pictures. Then, we had the awesome experience to take a new missionary out for about an hour to experience mission life! We picked up Sister Christensen, and we went tracting. Surprisingly, everyone was SUPER nice and we even found a pretty solid potential that wanted to start testing the waters of other religions. It was pretty cool. We had a dinner break that consisted of sitting in our car eating hi-chews until we saw a part-member family. His divorce should be finalized within the next month or two so that they can get married and he can get baptized! He's so excited! Then, we saw Amigo for the last time. :( I'm so sad to leave him, but I guess I'll see him at church and everything. After, we saw a recent convert/ less active family that fed us cheesecake and gave us balloons. And a lot of shoes. They're so awesome. I LOVE the members here in Yakima. Then we went home and packed some more.

Wednesday: Well, I said goodbye to Hermana Blackmer. But, I got to say hello to Hermana Brighton! We went to the transfer meeting, took her stuff back to our apartment, did some service at the food bank, went food shopping at Wal-Mart, and then went to the part-member family's house for dinner. They fed us chile reyenos. They were SUPER hot, but delicious. :) Hermana Brighton and I survived. Then we saw Gray and we started teaching her husband, Jeshua! We've been trying to teach him this entire past transfer! #miracles And then we saw a less-active family that had a part-member family recently move in with them! We stopped by and taught the plan of salvation, and we're going to start teaching them now! All the transfer miracles.

Thursday: Hermana Brighton unpacked, I wrote in my journal, we did some orientation for our new area, and then we went and did some service at the Salvation Army. I love the people there. They are so amazing. After that, we walked, knocked, and OYMed people. Had some lessons with them about miracles and whatnot. We had dinner with some members who were kind enough to pick us up and drop us off at our appointment after dinner. We were dropped off in a trailer park and our set lesson canceled with us, so we walked, knocked, talked, saw some less-actives, and had some lessons. Because what else are walking missionaries going to do? Then, the members picked us up and took us home too. My legs really appreciate members now.

Friday: Weekly planning. It was super difficult. Most of the people we saw were in the other part of our area, so I had to do it all by myself with what I knew. I'm surprised it didn't take the entire day. We had pasta for dinner and we had the car, so we tried to contact some referrals, but we ended up helping people fix their cars... And then we saw a neighbor of some members that we met a couple weeks ago. They're a young couple and let us right in! We had an awesome first lesson with them, and they're preparing to be baptized on October 3rd! They're super cool. I'm excited to work with them.

Saturday: Well, we didn't have the car today. It was 90 degrees with no clouds in the sky. And we walked about 7 miles. Guess who's red? Yo. But it's ok. We talked to so many people and had so many lessons! We even found some new investigators, saw some of our other investigators, and got rides from members! One of our investigators lived at the Mexican Frat house. His name means "eagle" in Spanish, so that's what his name will be. He's an amazing guy! He's very polite and has some pretty cool vision in life. He's a very philosophical Mexican. Anyway, we had a 15 minute dinner before we had to leave for another appointment. We saw Gray and then some members stayed out with us from 7 to 8:30. They even drove us home! #mylegsaresodead

Sunday: Church. I tripped up the stairs on my way to the organ. It was pretty loud. Who's a clutz? Yo. We saw Eagle again and gave him a Book of Mormon. He's super excited to read it. Had some dinner. Pasta again. But with some salad and chicken and brownies because a member made it for us. We saw a less-active who just got back from Mexico and doesn't want to come to church. Awkward... And then we saw the couple we met on Friday, gave them a Book of Mormon, and had a lesson with the family next door since they didn't come to church. They had a good excuse. A good family friend was in a pretty serious accident, so they were at the hospital. They're cool, though, and they're coming out with us this week!

As for the subject line, yesterday while eating dinner, Hermana Brighton and I heard some pretty funky noises outside. So, we went outside to find two little girls cutting up mushrooms on our air conditioner. I still have no idea why.

Brief description about Hermana Brighton: She is from Texas. She's the 3rd of 6 children. She's good at math and science. She's a pro in Spanish. She talks to EVERYONE. She is fearless. I love it. She's pretty funny and a seriously dedicated missionary. She just came from Royal City serving with HERMANA HALL! All the connections... She's also a cousin of a good friend of mine, Michelle Dart. Didn't know that.

Hope you have a miraculous week! Keep on keeping on!

Con carino,

Hermana Kennedy

Hermana Brighton y yo.

Don't be a wall

Whelp. This week was less than eventful. Something I learned: whenever somebody starts talking to you, don't be a wall. Respond. It's helpful. Other than that, nobody got baptized, so here's the brief run-down:

Monday: We found a Mexican Frat house. Always fun when you're two blonde, white girls who can barely speak Spanish. Needless to say, I talked to the guy who was interested in the gospel while Hermana Blackmer talked to the two guys who were interested in her. Am I that horrible of a companion? You betcha.

Tuesday: Did some service at the food bank. Hot peppers really don't agree with my skin. It's a good thing I had 3 layers of gloves... We walked and knocked and talked and helped some recent converts put together some beds. (Thanks Dad for teaching me how to read instructions.)

Wednesday: Did some more service at the food bank. Saw some investigators. Got some delicious pizza for dinner. Helped Amigo get a priesthood blessing. We found out that he has colon cancer and wants to stop smoking, so... And we saw another recent convert family that gave us some sketchy pears. But they were delicious, so totally worth it.

Thursday: Had a pretty awesome Zone Training Meeting. I'm so excited to work this next transfer! We're going to see so much success! Did some service at the Salvation Army. Walked and talked and saw some less-actives and formers. Pretty exciting.

Friday: Weekly planning. We had a lesson in Gray's car because it was chilly outside. That was the most eventful thing that happened.

Saturday: Did some service. Drove to Cowiche to knock. Drove to Tieton City to go to a panaderia that wasn't even that good. And talk to 1 person. Saw a less-active who's doing so awesome. Tried to see some other peeps, but ended up seeing Gray again. She fed us dinner and sent us home with a bunch of food. We're not that poor... Hermana Blackmer and I also tried menudo for the first time. Once you get past the slimy intestine part, it's not that bad. Unless you put too much lime in it. Then it's just bad. We also got transfer calls. I'm staying here in Yakima, receiving Hermana Brighton. But, my area is being split in half, and I'm losing Amigo. :( Hermana Blackmer is being transfered to.... wait for it.... MOSES LAKE! Serving with... wait for it.... HERMANA STREULING! I think I was happier than she was when we got the call...

Sunday: Church. I was brave enough to play the organ last week, so I played the organ again this week. Until the last hymn. Then, the organ decided to break and I had to run to the other side of the stand to play the piano for the closing hymn. Only to Hermana Kennedy. Other than that, we saw some investigators and other peeps and then we went home to start Hermana Blackmer packing. :)

That's pretty much my week! Hopefully y'all had a great, miraculous week. I know I did!

Paz afuera!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy