TRUST IN THE LORD... Letter from August 3, 2015
Brothers and Sisters what a great week of learning it has been, so
many miracles :)
The Funny -
I asked a woman today if her and her twin brother were identical...
She looked at me like I was the dumbest human she'd ever met. Sorry
lady. I don't know much about twins.
Our English class Gets funnier by the week... Last week we had the
elders teach because we switched out Preparation day and when we got
to class this week all the girls were a little upset to see that we
were back. (Side note They all call Caucasians "yellow", not "white")
and they kept saying, "a www where's the cute yellow boys? We miss the
yellow boys!" Hahaha
Miracles -
JESSICA AGREED TO LIVE THE WORD OF WISDOM! It was so so so sweet. She
smokes and so we were really nervous that that would keep her from
keeping her baptismal date... But we taught the word of wisdom and she
agreed without any hesitation!!! She just looked at us and said, "I've
been looking for a reason to quit for years now, and this is perfect
reason to quit". AHHHH HAPPY DAYS. It was so sweet.
We also had a rad lesson with Gerelee and Namin :) they are both
reading the Book of Mormon and have INCRED questions, it's been sweet
to see how much the Lord is preparing their hearts to receive this
message!! They are so solid and the YW in the ward are so excited for
them too! They want to help as much as they can and its incredible.
We have this lady that we do service for who went and saw "The Book of
Mormon" musical last week and she had TONS of questions about it. I
guess in the program for the play the church has an ad that says, "The
Book is Better" and SHES ACTUALLY READING THE BOOK!!!! She took us
hiking this morning (this lady is from Queens NY but I'm pretty sure
she was switched at birth and was supposed to live in Durango... She
doesn't have chacos and a Green Subaru Outback, but other than that,
she's as RAD as you can get, and more environmentally aware than any
other human I know.) and while we were on the hike she started asking
us about the Brass Plates, Why Laban had them, why Nephi killed him,
etc. and we were like uhhhhh how do you know all of this? She casually
let us know that she's almost done with first nephi and she started
reading last week. SHE IS SO COOL.
PREETI AND RIA CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK!!!!! Preeti is an investigator
that was going to be baptized last month but then decided not to
unless her family is willing to do it with her... Well her daughter
let us know that she wanted to go to our church and they came!!! As
they were leaving, Ria, the daughter, came up to us and said, "you
guys should come over again this week. I really want you to". She is
so great and so prepared, we are pumped to keep teaching her.
Our awesome part member family we are working with are coming along
slowly but surely... They are working on reading scriptures together
and we know that when they can start that steady, consistent habit of
doing it that they will all want to come to church together.'SCRIPTURE
POWER IS REAL.
This week I really felt more than ever before on my mission that Satan
really is real. And he really is trying to keep this work from moving
forward, it felt like EVERYTHING we wanted to do and everyone we
wanted to see was falling through. I was feeling really really down
one night and while I was praying I got a very distinct impression
that God is here. He really is. And when He is really for his children
to accept this message, they will. That may seem really obvious but it
was a slight "ah-ha" moment for me as I realized that each and every
week I am reminded to just TRUST IN THE LORD. He knows all, He sees
all, and He LOVES all. He will guide us every step of the way. I am so
grateful for that knowledge. I LOVE THIS CHURCH. I love being a
missionary. I love my eternal family! I love living in VIRGINIA! I
love these people! And I love my Savior Jesus Christ.
All my love, prayers and hope
Sister Kennedy
Keep it real and keep the faith
many miracles :)
The Funny -
I asked a woman today if her and her twin brother were identical...
She looked at me like I was the dumbest human she'd ever met. Sorry
lady. I don't know much about twins.
Our English class Gets funnier by the week... Last week we had the
elders teach because we switched out Preparation day and when we got
to class this week all the girls were a little upset to see that we
were back. (Side note They all call Caucasians "yellow", not "white")
and they kept saying, "a www where's the cute yellow boys? We miss the
yellow boys!" Hahaha
Miracles -
JESSICA AGREED TO LIVE THE WORD OF WISDOM! It was so so so sweet. She
smokes and so we were really nervous that that would keep her from
keeping her baptismal date... But we taught the word of wisdom and she
agreed without any hesitation!!! She just looked at us and said, "I've
been looking for a reason to quit for years now, and this is perfect
reason to quit". AHHHH HAPPY DAYS. It was so sweet.
We also had a rad lesson with Gerelee and Namin :) they are both
reading the Book of Mormon and have INCRED questions, it's been sweet
to see how much the Lord is preparing their hearts to receive this
message!! They are so solid and the YW in the ward are so excited for
them too! They want to help as much as they can and its incredible.
We have this lady that we do service for who went and saw "The Book of
Mormon" musical last week and she had TONS of questions about it. I
guess in the program for the play the church has an ad that says, "The
Book is Better" and SHES ACTUALLY READING THE BOOK!!!! She took us
hiking this morning (this lady is from Queens NY but I'm pretty sure
she was switched at birth and was supposed to live in Durango... She
doesn't have chacos and a Green Subaru Outback, but other than that,
she's as RAD as you can get, and more environmentally aware than any
other human I know.) and while we were on the hike she started asking
us about the Brass Plates, Why Laban had them, why Nephi killed him,
etc. and we were like uhhhhh how do you know all of this? She casually
let us know that she's almost done with first nephi and she started
reading last week. SHE IS SO COOL.
PREETI AND RIA CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK!!!!! Preeti is an investigator
that was going to be baptized last month but then decided not to
unless her family is willing to do it with her... Well her daughter
let us know that she wanted to go to our church and they came!!! As
they were leaving, Ria, the daughter, came up to us and said, "you
guys should come over again this week. I really want you to". She is
so great and so prepared, we are pumped to keep teaching her.
Our awesome part member family we are working with are coming along
slowly but surely... They are working on reading scriptures together
and we know that when they can start that steady, consistent habit of
doing it that they will all want to come to church together.'SCRIPTURE
POWER IS REAL.
This week I really felt more than ever before on my mission that Satan
really is real. And he really is trying to keep this work from moving
forward, it felt like EVERYTHING we wanted to do and everyone we
wanted to see was falling through. I was feeling really really down
one night and while I was praying I got a very distinct impression
that God is here. He really is. And when He is really for his children
to accept this message, they will. That may seem really obvious but it
was a slight "ah-ha" moment for me as I realized that each and every
week I am reminded to just TRUST IN THE LORD. He knows all, He sees
all, and He LOVES all. He will guide us every step of the way. I am so
grateful for that knowledge. I LOVE THIS CHURCH. I love being a
missionary. I love my eternal family! I love living in VIRGINIA! I
love these people! And I love my Savior Jesus Christ.
All my love, prayers and hope
Sister Kennedy
Keep it real and keep the faith
HAPPY DAYS.ALL IS WELL letter from July 29, 2015
Brothers and Sisters. The tender mercies of the Lord continue to rain down upon us as we strive to consistently bring others closer to Christ. I am so grateful for the blessings that fall so heavily when we put the Lord first.
the funny:
I hit a guys car this week backing out of our parking lot... and he was an angry hispanic man. hahaha just picture it in your head and then multiply it by 10, thats how funny it was.
MIRACLES:
This Thursday we were at the chiropractor for my back. While we were waiting for the doctor we were talking with a sweet older woman who was waiting for her husband to get out of his appointment. They were super behind in the office so we talked for 20+ minutes about her life and about her favorite parts of living in DC. We had a lovely chat and then I got called back into the doctor and said goodbye. When Sister Wheeler and I got into the car after I was done she looked at me and said, "you're not gonna believe what just happened..." I listened as she told me that I got called back, the woman and her husband left, and the receptionist looked at sister wheeler and just started crying as she just kept thanking her and I for talking with this woman. she told Sister Wheeler about what horrific things this older woman has been going through and said, "your short talk with her brightened not only her life, but our entire office, and I felt it". Sister Wheeler (being the awesome greenies she is) used this to her advantage to invite the woman to take the discussions and to learn more about what we do, she agreed and we are so so so excited. The tender mercies of the Lord are REAL!NAMIN AND GERELEE ARE A MIRACLE!!!! Last week I told you about a sweet Mongolian teenage girl we were working with. This week we went back for a lesson and her sister told us that there is another Mongolian girl her age whose mother heard about what we do and she wants her
daughter to meet with us!!! (Funny side note: her mom is meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses but would rather her daughter learn from us hahaha) excited we told her we would love to meet with her and she invited the girl over right then! She came and LOVED what we talked about. Both of them came to English class twice this week and we have had 3 lessons with them! Gerelee (one of the teenage Mongolian girls) after our last lesson asked, "can I please say the prayer? I have been waiting!" It was so sweet, we taught both of them how to pray this week and it was incredible. They keep expressing how they are read to believe in Jesus and they are ready to have peace in their life. So so SO cool. We are hoping to get them on date next week!
Bahar has been in Raleigh NC for some doctors appointments but we are hoping to meet with her his next week, she is still SO SOLID and so so so ready.
JESSICA IS ON DATE FOR BAPTISM FOR AUGUST 22nd!!!! AHHHHHH!!! We had the most miraculous lesson with her about the plan of salvation and before the lesson even started we asked her how she felt about baptism and she told us she feels she finally found where she needs to be. We used that to our advantage and asked her right there if she would prepare herself to be baptized on August 22nd and with tears in her eyes she smiled and nodded "yes". She went on to say, "I have felt so happy knowing that everything I have ever dealt with and every sin I've committed, every sorrow I've felt can be taken away with Jesus Christ". As we taught the plan of salvation she just kept smiling and saying, "I get it. It just makes so much sense!" She didn't grow up with any Christian background and knew very little about Christ until about a week ago when we started meeting with her... She is seriously an absolute miracle. And to think, we just stopped and talked to her on her porch 2 1/2 weeks ago, and before then she hadn't even heard of our church before... GOD IS SO GOOD.
We had an awesome lesson with Brother Mercer a couple weeks ago where we talked about gaining faith. (he's a less active who doesn't believe in God, has 1 less active daughter and 1 non-member daughter) we had a great lesson and I had felt impressed to share experiences I had had where I felt my faith was wavering. When we got out of the lesson I kept thinking to myself, "why the heck did I share that? That had nothing to do with anything...." But I brushed it off and forgot about it. Well this week at church he came up to me and thanked me for sharing those experiences with him. He was getting a little emotional as he expressed that the stories I shared have been on his mind every day for the last 2 weeks and they have brought him a lot of peace to know that he doesnt have to have it all together now or ever. He said, "sister kennedy, those words comforted me more than I can tell you, and I hope you know that". It was sweet.
yesterday we had dinner with the Delhoyo family :) (Mckenzie's grandparents) and one thing sister Delhoyo said really stuck with me. she said, "When you meet the Lord on your mission, that is when you come home a changed missionary". how true those words are brothers and sisters. I am so grateful for this week work and for the miracles that so frequently come to those who wait and are faithful through all. all my LOVE, prayers, and hope
sister kennedy
(keep it real and keep the faith)
Just me and Sis. Wheeler
Here we all are!!! The entire DC South Mission!
With my previous Mission Pres and his wife... Brother and Sister Riggs!
With McKenzie's grandparents!!
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