with love, elli: just.be.yourself

BROTHERS AND SISTERS. WHAT A MIRACULOUSLY RAD WEEK!!! man am I grateful for all that has happened this week! WOW, so much good! I love it!

I went on exchanges this week with Sister Eddy. so lets be real. theres not anyone quite as rad as sister eddy. we had SO MUCH FUN. we met some hilarious people and got a lot of return appointments while tracting! which was SO cool! I learned A TON, she is a champ.

WE GOT 4 REFERRALS THIS WEEK!!! how cool is that? we have been trying SO HARD to ask EVERYONE for referrals, and it worked. I was SO PUMPED. and 2 of those referrals were from this random family we tracted into... #miracles.

We also had our Mission Christmas party! #HOLLER. so I got to see my mayn laydeez. sistah Ka$h Kelly and sitah "crocs" Williams. so much cool... I cant even take their swag levels. we had a BLAST and we learned SO much. President Riggs is SO inspired.

The "awkward" of the week. we were going through the Taco Bell drive thru... because that's our crib, and the guy at the window was SO AWKWARD. "hey pretty baby, what was your total?" "uhhh 11.51" "haha, guess again" "uhhh 11.52? I don't remember" "try again!" "I don't know, can you just swipe the card, there are people waiting" "it was 11.51 ;) nice try baby" LIKE GET ME OUT OF HERE. I thought sister malufau was going to fall over she was laughing so hard... hahaah good times in Kingstowneeee.

As of late, our mission president has really been pushing each and every missionary to put their personality into the work. This may seem super obvious, but after tracting 30 doors, your approach gets to be pretty rote sometimes. Same goes for the lessons we teach, when we are teaching the same principles over and over you start to say the exact same things, hahaha. SO this week I decided I REALLY wanted to take on this challenge.

I decided I would try to focus on my strengths and use them to better benefit me and work... well I couldn't really think of my strengths... So I prayed and prayed and prayed to know what I could personally bring to the table. And finally, I recognized in myself that I have a very natural ability to truly LOVE people inside and out. So I decided to use that... I tried SUPER hard to not only listen with my ears, but with my HEART so that these people we meet with can see my love for them. As I did this the results were INRCREDIBLE. all of the sudden, I was remembering talks, scriptures, and videos that related to what they were going through! I was able to teach these people what they needed to hear! we were CONNECTING with people so much better than before! We were in lessons with people and they would just start to cry because they felt of our love and of the SAVIOR'S love. it was so cool!!!

we went to check up on a potential investigator and he let us right in! #rad. so we sat down with him and his wife and we talked about LIFE. In a normal setting, we would get right into the gospel and try to commit them to baptism, but the spirit was telling us to "lay low" so we did! We talked about life, and then principles of the gospel EASILY made their way into our conversation! By the end of our time there, the husband looked at us and said, "because of how you have sat here and talked with me, without throwing your religion at me, you have made me want to change. I want you to come over next week and teach me more." #WHAT. yeah. that really happened. I thought I was going to cry. it was incredible. the spirit will work through us as we are sensitive to it and as we try to BE OURSELVES. THAT is when we connect with people and THAT is when people want to know what we are all about. Of course, HUMILITY plays a big role in this as well. I cant even believe how BLESSED I am. I am 110% certain that I am exactly where I need to be right now and I am FOREVER grateful.

May we all seek this Christmas season to find our talents. As we do so I know that the Lord and our Heavenly Father will aid us in blessing the lives of others. I know that the Savior loves us. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. I know that the Savior died for each and every one of us individually because of the infinite LOVE he has for each of us. I am so grateful for this missionary work, I am so grateful for this gospel, I am so grateful for my family, and I am SO grateful for the Saviors atoning sacrifice. I love you all SO MUCH and so dearly.

Keep it real and Keep the faith,

sistahhh Kennedy