A Tale of Two Missionaries

The four generations of missionaries (from right to left, Hermana Cannon, Hermana Cain, Hermana Kennedy, Hermana Ayala)

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. So begins our story of the past week of missionary work in Yakima, Washington, United States of America. Two missionaries, Hermana Kennedy and Hermana Ayala, set out with the intent to preach repentance to all souls, inviting them to come unto Christ. What actually happened was the following:

Tuesday, November 3, 2015: The week began with a wonderful trip to the temple, crossing mission lines into the previously known world of missionary work in the Washington Kennewick mission. After returning from enemy territory, these two young missionaries drove to a members house who kindly drove them to the barren apple packaging town to visit a golden family. Upon arriving, the family Garcia let them in and invited them to sit comfortably. After a spirit-filled lesson, the family broke the bad news that they had to move and would probably move to Vancouver, Washington--into enemy territory. Also, they told the missionaries that  Hermana Garcia probably had breast cancer. The members offered to come the next night to give her a priesthood blessing. The Garcias generously accepted and they parted ways. The missionaries were dropped off at their apartment where they rested from their labors until the next day.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015: The morning began with some studies followed by service boxing up serrano peppers. After the service activity, the young missionaries contacted some referrals and left to accompany the other sisters to a dinner of tostadas and Mexican hot chocolate. After the dinner, a member kindly picked them up and drove them to the Garcia's home. They arrived and socialized while they patiently waited for the priesthood holders to arrive. Three worthy men arrived and with no further delay, the lesson began. The priesthood was explained, testimonies were born, and a blessing was given to Hermana Garcia. The spirit prevailed in the room so strongly that Hermano Garcia asked for a blessing of comfort and counsel. The blessing was given, tears were shed, and the people parted ways. The missionaries returned to their living quarters once again to rest from their labors until the next day.

P's daughters (3 of them)

Thursday, November 5, 2015: The morning began with studies followed by service at the Salvation Army. While there, a couple that had been progressing so well (before mentioned as M and E) texted the sisters to tell them that they did not want to take their lessons anymore. Thoroughly depressed, the sisters went out to work to cheer up their spirits. After some appointments fell through, and no success was to be found, the two sister missionaries went to the mission home to pick up the sister training leaders from the mission leadership council they attened. While there, Hermana Kennedy found Hermana Cain, her mother. Hermana Cannon, her grandmother, was also there. With four generations of missionaries alive and well, Hermana Brighton decided to take a picture. It will be sent later for your enjoyment. The sister missionaries left to eat a dinner of lentil soup and burritos at a part-member family's home. The other sisters left and Hermanas Kennedy and Ayala taught the family about keeping the commandments. The couple will be married soon so that the husband can be baptized. After, the sisters picked up a member and her daughter and took them to see a very promising single father, P. After a lesson about the Atonement, the sisters were invited to a birthday party for the youngest girl on Sunday. The two missionaries accepted because there was to be tres leches. The sisters dropped the members off at their home, recovered the other sisters from their area of labor, and departed home to rest from their labors until the next day.

Friday, November 6, 2015: The morning began with studies, as per usual, and was followed by a lengthy weekly planning session. After a tear-filled companionship inventory, the two missionaries set off to work. They contacted a referral that taught them the message of how the gospel can change lives. During the lesson, however, Hermana Ayala threw up, and the sister missionaries had to retire to their home early in hopes that Hermana Ayala would feel better soon. They cleaned their apartment and updated their area book and then rested from their labors until the next day.

Saturday, November 7, 2015: After an uplifting zone training meeting, the young sister missionaries went out to work. They contacted some more referrals, received some return appointments, and left to eat dinner. After eating a fast dinner, the sisters drove valiantly on the freeway in the rain to attend a branch baptism. The Spirit filled the room as the young boy of 8 was baptized. After a member who was to drive them to the outskirts of their area canceled on them last minute, the despairing sister missionaries spent thirty minutes calling people to drive them. They miraculously found a ride and were able to keep their appointment with some English elders and their investigator, Eli, who wanted to attend the Spanish branch. After a wonderful lesson, everyone parted in peace, and the sister missionaries retired to their apartment to rest from their labors until the next day.

Sunday, November 8, 2015: After some studies cut short by branch council, the sister missionaries enjoyed three hours of edification in their regular Sunday meetings. After church, they were able to eat dinner with P and his family for his daughter's birthday. The main course was scrumptious and the tres leches was divine. They parted with full stomachs and happiness. After, the sisters saw two of their investigators preparing to be baptized with the branch president. Unfortunately, the investigators, B and E, had not kept their committments, but with unwavering faith, the two sisters taught them about Jesus Christ. After the lesson, the sisters left to see a less-active member who was struggling. After talking with him about prayer and scripture study, they parted ways in peace. The sisters ended their night by talking to everyone and receiving return appointments. They then picked up the other sisters and they all retired to their apartment to rest from their labors until the next day.

Fin.

In other news, this months hashtag spotlight is #gratitude. This week, I would like to recognized my gratitude from prayer. I know that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and is willing and able to help up if we simply lay everything on the table. #gratitude What can you do to make your prayers more meaningful?

Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Halloween and Babies

Hermana Ayala y yo

Escucheis, todos vosotros, extremos de la tierra!

Ok. I just had to start out with scripture. It makes the rest of the email super spiritual. Don't judge me for using the vosotros form either. Think of it as an equivalent of "y'all".

Anyway, this week has been... I don't know the word to describe it. Weird? Long? Sick? Exhausting? Joyful? I don't know. Let's just say that my soul has been out of my body for the past week, so discupleme por mis debilidades. And my random Spanish. I'm getting very good at this whole Spanglish thing. Anyways, I left my planner at home today, so I can't give you an accurate day-by-day breakdown of this week. So you'll have to make do with what I remember:

Monday: P-day. My sister had her baby. And I wasn't there for it. Oh well. You want to know where I was when she was born? In my comfy(ish) bed completely knocked out. BECAUSE we saw M (from M and E) and found out that E had left her. Awkward. We spent a good hour consoling, comforting, mourning, and inwardly rejoicing because the law of chastity wouldn't be a problem anymore. Who knew that keeping baptismal covenants could be so tiring?

Tuesday: We worked. And worked. And worked some more. We walked. And walked. And walked some more. Finally, when we decided to start walking home we started walking. And walking. And we made it halfway home. And then M texted us and asked us if we could come see her. We asked her if we could have a ride. She didn't have her car. E had it instead and was at the store. (Back story, E came back and apologized. Ugh.) So, we decided to race E home. Walking versus driving. After walking the 3 miles back to their apartment in 30 minutes (and having 10 minutes before 9), we knocked on M's door right as E pulled up. 🎶WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS MY FRIENDS! AND WE'LL KEEP ON FIGHTING TILL THE END!!!🎶

Anyway, we had a quick lesson about the Atonement, M gave us a huge tupperware of spaghetti, and the other sisters picked us up to take us home. Where we ate all the spaghetti. Also, we found out that our branch president's wife had her baby too! He is adorable. :)

Wednesday: Did some service at the food bank. And I'm sure we did something awesome that night. We did see M and E and taught them the plan of salvation. They liked it and determined to get to the celestial kingdom. Not bad as far as commitments go.

Thursday: Worked. Did some service at the Salvation Army. Saw Gray and read her Enos because she was cooking and didn't keep her commitment. And then after dinner, we went to Tieton to see our golden family, the Garcia's. (That's not actually their name, but everyone thinks that's their name.) We went with Sister Call form the mission office, and she had a prompting to bring a HUGE Book of Mormon in Spanish. Turns out that Hermano Garcia can't see very well, so the HUGE Book of Mormon is easier for him to read. Following the Spirit guys. It changes lives. Do it. And then we went home early because my poor Hermanita Ayala was sick. We stopped at Wal-Mart (at Sister Call's insistence) to buy some medicine, and you know who we saw? M and E. The one night we weren't planning on seeing them. Miracles.

Friday: Weekly planning. Which we actually finished. Dinner. And then all our appointments except with M and E fell through. Which was ok because Hermana Ayala started feeling really sick and dizzy, so we went back to the apartment, rested for a little while and went to see M and E around 8:30. With their tupperware. We taught them the gospel, and they committed to follow it. We'll see where that goes.

Saturday: Work. Walk. Work. Walk. Work. We saw M and E, answered all their crazy questions about Mormons (no, the bishop does not get the first night of marriage with members of his congregation--see law of chastity), and painted their faces for Halloween. Had dinner. Retired home early, as per mission rules, and enjoyed a night of trick-or-treaters and Meet the Mormons. Guys. Meet the Mormons is awesome. I wish I could watch it with everyone. Watch it. Like, everyday. And notice the little truths outlined in each section. Jesus Christ, the family, keeping the Sabbath Day holy, service, humanitarian aid, and missionary work. See: Tithing slips.

Sunday: Well, nobody came to church, but it was ok. It was a good time to renew my covenants and commit to be better this week. I was even brave enough to use the foot pedals on the organ, and it turned out pretty well. Still need practice, though. I'm sure the branch is just happy to have someone play music for them. After church, we tried by some potentials, recontacted a former investigator that has the coolest experiences with prayer, ate dinner, and worked some more. We worked until the end of the night and we went home exhausted.

Monday: If you didn't notice, Monday wasn't our P-day. Today was. So, we did a district blitz for a dead-ish area in our district that Hermana Taua and her new companion just got doubled into. (They both have never served there.) So, the district split up the area and we all worked different parts. Hermana Ayala and I got a trailer park. In the middle of nowhere. We were there for 30 minutes. Talked to 3 people. And then a random guy comes up and kicks us out of the trailer park. I have been in trailer parks every day of my mission. And NEVER have I gotten kicked out of one. NEVER. So, we left, as polite representatives of Jesus Christ do, and there was nothing. Not a house in sight. So we called some people, and they dropped us off on another street to work. We worked and everyone was so nice! We got 3 return appointments and had an awesome experience! After that, we had dinner, walked, saw a member whose brother had just died, and walked home. And then we died.

So, that bring me to today. Martes el 3 de noviembre. WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE! We went to the Columbia River temple in Tri-cities, and it was SO WEIRD being outside our mission boundaries, but being right next to the mission home where I first arrived. So weird. But, the temple was a much needed refuge of peace and joy. I'm so grateful for the ordinances of the temple and the peace I can feel even after I leave. Which brings me to our "we write of Christ" hashtag for the month: #gratitude. What are you grateful for? For me, I'm thankful for a wonderful Heavenly Father and for his holy house. #gratitude.

Pues, pienso que es todo! Que tengan buen dia. Dios bendiga. Cuidense. Ciao.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy

Our Zone

The First Week of Motherhood

Mi hija. :) 

Well, for those who are interested, I have a new baby! (Background information: in mission terms, somebody is born when they get into the mission field. Their first companion, or "trainer", is their parent--either a mother of father respective of gender. I am currently a trainer, and my greenie was born on Wednesday.) :) Her name is Hermana Ayala. She was born in Mexico City, but currently lives in Murray, UT! (She's only like 20 minutes away family! Go visit her family!) Anyway. She's pretty awesome. She wants to be a robotics engineer for Volkswagen, and I am so excited to be her first companion! 

But, here's your rundown for this past crazy week!

Monday: We saw our philosophical Hispanic investigator and invited him to be baptized. He said yes. We saw M and E too and talked about prayer. That was cool. And then we went home to work on moving two other sisters into our apartment/ get ready for transfers. Did we? Nope.

Tuesday: We started moving the other sisters in, went on exchanges with the new missionaries. I was with Hermana Pons. She's from Argentina and is wonderful. We met some pretty awesome people, but we had to take them back. :( Oh well. After that, we contacted a referral super fast, had dinner with the other sisters, went to visit a recent convert family, went home, moved some more stuff in, dyed Hermana Brighton's hair, and had a sleepover. I had the best night's sleep ever.

Wednesday: We went to transfer meeting where we got a new car (that we still share with the other sisters) and I got a brand new companion! (See above for details.) We went and did some service for a while until we had to go to dinner. We had dinner with an awesome member family who had a non-member there. We had enchiladas and tortas. Mmmm. Delish. It was a great first meal for Hermana Ayala because it reminded her of her home in Mexico. After that, we went back to the apartment to clean everything up because we had apartment inspections on Thursday and there was literally just a small walkway on the floor to the kitchen, the bathroom, and our rooms. So, we cleaned, and put things away, and cleaned some more, and then M and E texted us and asked us to go over, so we went over and when we got home, the other sisters had finished cleaning, so we called it a night and went to bed.

Thursday: We aced our apartment inspection with flying colors. (Then again, they had just come from the elder's apartment...) We went out to work for about 20 minutes where we talked to two people and then we went to do service at the Salvation Army. That was fun. After that, we did some daily contact and went to dinner. Chicken, pineapple, and rice. Yummy. We have the best members. I also learned that porpoises scare sharks away. And the word for porpoise in Spanish. That was cool. After that, we tried some people, but they all weren't home, until we saw a less active family that was sick, so we actually got to talk to all of them! They really want to come to church, but they can't because of work. So pray for them to not have work on Sundays anymore. :)

Friday: We had an awesome trainer-trainee meeting where I was reminded that we do this work because we love our Heavenly Father. Everything in this gospel revolves around love, as a matter of fact. Love. All of our set appointments that night fell through, except for the one with the philosophical Hispanic which we actually brought a member to so that we could have it inside, but we did it outside in the freezing cold instead. :( Oh well. C'est la vie.

Saturday: We did about 5 hours of service installing fire alarms for free for the Red Cross. We had a cool experience. The one house we went to was a Hispanic woman who was making tamales. While the other two people were installing, we were talking to this woman, Guadalupe. More like filling out information to take back to the Red Cross. Anyway, Guadalupe just opened up to us and told us her life story, which is pretty rough. She broke down in tears, and we didn't know what to do, so we told her what we were here to do as missionaries. We ended our visit and got her information so that we could give it to the elders because she was in their area. We gave them the referral and they went back later that night, taught her the Restoration, and put her on date to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! People can recognize that we are missionaries and that the message we have can change their lives. THEY CAN FEEL IT. So that was our super cool experience. After that, we did some weekly planning, got some bread and pizza for dinner, and Sister Call was kind enough to drive us to Tieton. We saw some awesome people, got some new investigators, saw our golden family, and called it a night.

Sunday: Well, it rained, and Hermana Ayala was sick, but we went to church because it was the Primary program. It was so cute. Our philosophical Hispanic and part member family came to church. And then we finished our weekly planning, went to dinner where we had curry. Yum. And we tried referrals all night. One didn't exist. The other was busy. So, we saw Gray. She and Hermana Ayala lived in the same place! It's all who you know, ya know? We had a cool lesson with her about being examples, and Gray was all over that. She loved it. Then we picked up the other sisters (because rain) and called it a night.

As for #ldsconf, this week is the last week for it! So, here's my takeaways from the Sunday Afternoon session:

1. The church (organized religion) was made by God, not man.
2. Ponderize. Prepare spiritually for things to come.
3. Obedience is how we become converted.
4. The commandments are a manifestation of God's love.
5. Obedience is how we show God we love Him.
6. Trust God. Trust Jesus. Trust the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Trust your parents.
7. Repent and be clean! Live the doctrine of Christ!
8. We need to be good at getting better.
9. Learn to be faithful through your trials.
10. Align your will with God's will.
11. We need strong, old men to guide the church.
12. The Lord inspired the calls of everyone in the church, especially the prophets and apostles. When they speak to us, it is the same as when Christ speaks to us.

"Don't be too critical of the barrier. It's the only thing keeping you from being devoured." #ldsconf Don't be too critical of God's commandments. They're the only things keeping you from being devoured by the gaping jaws of hell.

"A powerful message of a lifetime from a man I love." #ldsconf #wewriteofChrist #share1invite1 #sharegoodness Be an example and a light!

Well, family, I love you! Have a miraculous week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kennedy 

Hermana Brighton with M and E and a member.

Hermana Brighton y yo.

Oh. And my shoes died. Here's proof. Examine carefully. 

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