THE WORK IS NEVER FRUSTRATED... Letter from Oct 12, 2015
Brothers and sisters!! What a great week it has been! SO MANY MIGHTY
MIRACLES!!!!
The funny
1. So we always joke about how EVERYTIME we feel impressed to
contact/tract and area, it's full of Spanish people. Well we choose
another area to knock a few nights ago and it's full of Hispanics
again. Frustrated, but a little amused we finally find a girl not of
Hispanic descent who - turns out - was adopted by El Salvadorians and
spoke fluent Spanish.... #seriously? But even better ---> she told us
she had the priesthood, was healed from 3 diseases, made a paralyzed
woman walk, used to be an opera singer, and made up her own version of
the Bible.
2. An elder in our district who has been out for a solid 3 weeks
accidentally called Kate Kelly - the excommunicated ordained woman -
to set up a member lesson. Hahahahaha she used to be in our stake
3. Suddenly elders have been adding me on Facebook this week (which is
a BIG no-no in our Mission) and so in mission leadership council I
asked if any of the Facebook rules had changed. A little puzzled,
president huntsman said no and the elders asked why. I told them I was
getting friend requests from the elders and they all just started
BUSTING. So uncomfortable. But the zone leaders talked to all their
missionaries about it and I haven't gotten any more friend requests.
YAY!
Miracles:
HEATHER IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! She just called about an
hour ago to work out the details with us:) SHE IS SUCH A ROCKSTAR! We
were feeling a little anxious and wondering if her baptism was too
soon, and so to ask the will of the lord sister Lewis and I, along
with Heather, fasted about it. And this week in gospel principles the
lesson cleared up ALL the confusion. It was rad. She is so so so
prepared and I am seriously so excited about this Saturday. It was
only 6 weeks ago that we knocked on her door and met her for the first
time, and now she is going to be a covenant daughter of GOD :) she is
literally allowing herself to access the atonement this week and I'm
SO HAPPY!
Lindsay is doing SO WELL. We had a wonderful lesson with her this week
about 2 Nephi 31-33. She read it all and came to the lesson with
questions. In the end she told us "I feel like the lord just wants me
to jump. To act on my faith and to jump". Our jaws dropped. That's
literally exactly what we have been trying to get her to feel the last
3 months. And here she is!! Ahhhhh!!!! She is getting so close to
baptism!
Mustafa has kind of fallen off the face of the earth :( he cancelled
both our lessons this week and didnt make it to church. We have been
fasting and praying SO HARD for him... There is so much hope for him,
and a bright future. He is so wonderful.
We found a new investigator names SAI this week, he is from India and
he stopped the Oakton ward sisters on the street the other day. We set
up a lesson with him and a SWEET recent convert from India. He ended
up being an hour late and when he showed up he was sweating super bad.
He literally RAN to the church! His bus didn't take him as close as he
wanted to be and so he just ran the rest of the way. So much
commitment. During the lesson he told us a story of when he was back
in India. He had been going from one village to another when he got
badly injured and couldn't walk. He needed help but there was no one
around, or even close by to help him. Suddenly a man came and helped
him. The man told Sai that God had sent him and that he was there to
help. Sai, not coming from a Christian background, was very intrigued
and told himself he would live a life devoted to God. However, after
this instance his life got confusing and chaotic as he was trying to
get to America, so he put it to the back of his mind. He had been in
the states 2 months when he saw the sisters walking last week. He felt
God tell him that NOW a was the time, he needed to devote his life to
God, and these girls could help him do it. He ran up to them and asked
if he could learn more. And now, here we are, teaching him. SUCH. A
miracle. He already agreed to baptism and we have another lesson
tomorrow :) God is SO GOOD!
We also got a SUPER SOLID referral from a girl in a neighboring Ward
yesterday that we are PSYCHED TO TEACH!
Aaaaand we have a former who watched all 4 sessions of conference this
weekend and she asked us to come and meet with her more frequently.
The words of Gods servants had an incredibly strong impact on her and
she is SO much more prepared now.
These last 2 transfers have taught me SO MUCH ABOUT GRATITUDE. When I
got into this Ward, we had no one in our teaching pool. There wasn't
any work that had been started and we didn't know where to start.
After a lot of prayer and calling upon the lord we felt that we needed
to express more gratitude. Every night, we wrote 5-10 things we were
grateful for on our gratitude wall in our apartment and thanked God
every night for the tender mercies he blessed us with. Suddenly.
People were literally plopping in our laps. We had so much work and so
many people to teach that it was crazy. Nothing about our work ethic
changed, we still tracted, we still street contacted, we still worked
with members, and we still visited less actives. The only thing that
changed was our attitude. Suddenly we had faith in and EXPECTED
MIRACLES because we had seen the hand of the Lord working in our lives
minute by minute and day by day. THE LORD HAS BEEN SO INCREDIBLY
GRACIOUS TO ME. There is not one blessing he has given me that by my
works or my desires I deserve. But His infinite love really is
unfailing. And his mercy is INCOMPARABLE. The work and this gospel
will and does change lives and people. It's changed heather's life.
It's changed my life. And I KNOW it can change yours. Trust in the
Lord, he is the Good Shepard and his mercy is never ever beyond your
reach. I know these things to be true and I am SO indescribably
grateful for my Perfect Savior
Keep it real and keep the faith
Sister Kennedy
Sent from my iPad
MIRACLES!!!!
The funny
1. So we always joke about how EVERYTIME we feel impressed to
contact/tract and area, it's full of Spanish people. Well we choose
another area to knock a few nights ago and it's full of Hispanics
again. Frustrated, but a little amused we finally find a girl not of
Hispanic descent who - turns out - was adopted by El Salvadorians and
spoke fluent Spanish.... #seriously? But even better ---> she told us
she had the priesthood, was healed from 3 diseases, made a paralyzed
woman walk, used to be an opera singer, and made up her own version of
the Bible.
2. An elder in our district who has been out for a solid 3 weeks
accidentally called Kate Kelly - the excommunicated ordained woman -
to set up a member lesson. Hahahahaha she used to be in our stake
3. Suddenly elders have been adding me on Facebook this week (which is
a BIG no-no in our Mission) and so in mission leadership council I
asked if any of the Facebook rules had changed. A little puzzled,
president huntsman said no and the elders asked why. I told them I was
getting friend requests from the elders and they all just started
BUSTING. So uncomfortable. But the zone leaders talked to all their
missionaries about it and I haven't gotten any more friend requests.
YAY!
Miracles:
HEATHER IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! She just called about an
hour ago to work out the details with us:) SHE IS SUCH A ROCKSTAR! We
were feeling a little anxious and wondering if her baptism was too
soon, and so to ask the will of the lord sister Lewis and I, along
with Heather, fasted about it. And this week in gospel principles the
lesson cleared up ALL the confusion. It was rad. She is so so so
prepared and I am seriously so excited about this Saturday. It was
only 6 weeks ago that we knocked on her door and met her for the first
time, and now she is going to be a covenant daughter of GOD :) she is
literally allowing herself to access the atonement this week and I'm
SO HAPPY!
Lindsay is doing SO WELL. We had a wonderful lesson with her this week
about 2 Nephi 31-33. She read it all and came to the lesson with
questions. In the end she told us "I feel like the lord just wants me
to jump. To act on my faith and to jump". Our jaws dropped. That's
literally exactly what we have been trying to get her to feel the last
3 months. And here she is!! Ahhhhh!!!! She is getting so close to
baptism!
Mustafa has kind of fallen off the face of the earth :( he cancelled
both our lessons this week and didnt make it to church. We have been
fasting and praying SO HARD for him... There is so much hope for him,
and a bright future. He is so wonderful.
We found a new investigator names SAI this week, he is from India and
he stopped the Oakton ward sisters on the street the other day. We set
up a lesson with him and a SWEET recent convert from India. He ended
up being an hour late and when he showed up he was sweating super bad.
He literally RAN to the church! His bus didn't take him as close as he
wanted to be and so he just ran the rest of the way. So much
commitment. During the lesson he told us a story of when he was back
in India. He had been going from one village to another when he got
badly injured and couldn't walk. He needed help but there was no one
around, or even close by to help him. Suddenly a man came and helped
him. The man told Sai that God had sent him and that he was there to
help. Sai, not coming from a Christian background, was very intrigued
and told himself he would live a life devoted to God. However, after
this instance his life got confusing and chaotic as he was trying to
get to America, so he put it to the back of his mind. He had been in
the states 2 months when he saw the sisters walking last week. He felt
God tell him that NOW a was the time, he needed to devote his life to
God, and these girls could help him do it. He ran up to them and asked
if he could learn more. And now, here we are, teaching him. SUCH. A
miracle. He already agreed to baptism and we have another lesson
tomorrow :) God is SO GOOD!
We also got a SUPER SOLID referral from a girl in a neighboring Ward
yesterday that we are PSYCHED TO TEACH!
Aaaaand we have a former who watched all 4 sessions of conference this
weekend and she asked us to come and meet with her more frequently.
The words of Gods servants had an incredibly strong impact on her and
she is SO much more prepared now.
These last 2 transfers have taught me SO MUCH ABOUT GRATITUDE. When I
got into this Ward, we had no one in our teaching pool. There wasn't
any work that had been started and we didn't know where to start.
After a lot of prayer and calling upon the lord we felt that we needed
to express more gratitude. Every night, we wrote 5-10 things we were
grateful for on our gratitude wall in our apartment and thanked God
every night for the tender mercies he blessed us with. Suddenly.
People were literally plopping in our laps. We had so much work and so
many people to teach that it was crazy. Nothing about our work ethic
changed, we still tracted, we still street contacted, we still worked
with members, and we still visited less actives. The only thing that
changed was our attitude. Suddenly we had faith in and EXPECTED
MIRACLES because we had seen the hand of the Lord working in our lives
minute by minute and day by day. THE LORD HAS BEEN SO INCREDIBLY
GRACIOUS TO ME. There is not one blessing he has given me that by my
works or my desires I deserve. But His infinite love really is
unfailing. And his mercy is INCOMPARABLE. The work and this gospel
will and does change lives and people. It's changed heather's life.
It's changed my life. And I KNOW it can change yours. Trust in the
Lord, he is the Good Shepard and his mercy is never ever beyond your
reach. I know these things to be true and I am SO indescribably
grateful for my Perfect Savior
Keep it real and keep the faith
Sister Kennedy
Sent from my iPad
WE THANK THEE OH GOD FOR A PROPHET... Letter from Oct 5, 2015
Hey fam!
Sent from my iPad
The FUNNY
-had a semi-good lesson with Dara -(an investigator we kind of dropped then picked back up) this week! Good because her heart is softening immensely! Semi because our member present tried to convince her that BEOWOLF was SCRIPTURE!!!! Just to be clear..... It is not scripture! Not even close. It's actually about a man-wolf who slays sea creatures amongst other things! #thankyouNani
-also found out this week, that it's the new thing for Puerto Ricans to get weaves. Moment of silence please. #holdmyweave
-Had a minor hurricane threat this week. No biggie - #theLordsworkstillmoveson - so we went tracting and found this chill guy named chuck. Big. 6'2. Black. Muscled. Homie. Also smoking a cigarette and drinking a 2-11 (whatever that is....). He wasn't interested, and we didn't really get anywhere... BUT we had a good conversation about prophets, and ended up singing 'I am a child of God' to him. At the end, he genuinely thanked us for our service. He said we put him in a much better mood, and promised us we really were doing the lords work. Then his boy Claude came to join da crew and very bluntly said, "now what are you 2 little white crackuhs doin in a neighborhood like this, at a time like this, in a storm like this? I Seriosuly respect y'all" hahaha it rocked.
-Mustafa. What. A. Cutie! HES ON DATE FOR BAPTISM ON OCTOBER 24!!!!!!!! Please keep him in your prayers! When we asked him if he wanted to be baptized on the 24th, he just pulled out his phone, and made a new event in his calendar! So rad and SO PREPARED. We found ANOTHER turkish speaker who just nailed everything and made such good friends win him, it rocked.
-Lindsaaaay!
She is progressing.
Frustratingly slow.
But she is progressing!
We had a couple of really good lessons this week. She is truly a SEEKER. One thing she is surprisingly good at is keeping the Word of Wisdom like TO THE TEE - so we asked her about it this week and she said, "I figure if I live the word of wisdom it makes it easier for me to be receptive to an answer". BINGO. So so so sweet. She is a rockstar and she is SERIOUSLy getting so close to baptism.
Oh, by the way, did I meantion her boyfriend is a magician? Literally. That's his job. He does magic shows. For elementary schools. It rocks.
HEATHER IS DOING SO WELL! We had 2 rad lessons with her where we talked about her baptism and what she needs to do from now until the 17th. I wish I could tell you HOW MUCH SHE HAS CHANGED. She is literally the epitome of the atonement working in someone's life. Over the past 2 months she has become a new person and you can see that change radiating from her, it literally brings me to tears to talk about it, I love her so so so much.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS I know that this church is true. I am so grateful for general conference and then POWER it brings. I went to conference with a page of questions that I wanted answers to and I left with answers to all of those questions plus tons and tons more. I know that the Lord works through his children to perfect his work on the earth today. I know that all of those men and women who boldly testified are called of God. More than anything else, I know that the atonement is so real and I felt an incredibly strong desire to repent and to change after those beautiful messages we heard. I know that there are some huge changes I need to undergo in order to become the disciple that I am striving to be. I love the Lord and his magnificent work and it is my hope and my prayer that that love can move us all to change and become more like Him. He is the way. He is the truth. And I know He is the light. Of these things I testify to you in the sacred name of his beloved son Jesus Christ, amen.
Keep it real and keep the faith
Sister Kennedy
Sent from my iPad
THE WIN OF ALL WINS.... Letter from Sept 28, 2015
Holy smokes this week ROCKED!!!!
I have like NO time so here are the highlights!!!
1. We helped a sweet little Hispanic man carry his groceries to his
apartment and he spoke no English, but the gift of tongues is real! We
held a conversation with him for the whole 20 minute walk! It rocked!
Also, our car was over-time in the paid parking spot and it didn't
even get towed! It rocked!!!
2. HEATHER IS STILL ON DATE FOR OCT 17th!!!! She came to church
yesterday and still loved it, still working toward her baptism, and
she's just absolutely incredible. I love her so much.
3. WE HAD A LESSON WITH MUSTAFA AND A TURKISH SPEAKER! It was
incredible. Come to find out, MUSTAFA has understood way more than we
thought he could and is way more prepared than we thought he was. It
was SWEET. He is asking us about how to get baptized and what he has
to do to get there. We are going to get him on date this week and I'm
AMPED.
4. LINDSAY JUST GETS BETTER ALWAYS! During last sacrament meeting both
sister Lewis and I were praying that the talks would touch her as they
were about preparing for general conference.... And in our lesson
Monday she read her notes to us about feeling an overwhelming sense of
peace and comfort!!! SHE RECOGNIZED THE SPIRIT AND IT ROCKED. She is
so SO close to getting baptized that it's insane.
5. We have this new girl in our Ward who is from India who had us over
for dinner last week (she is also feeding us tonight ;) ) and I have
never cried from eating something so spicy in my life until then.
Literally I couldn't feel my tongue for a day. And we had just come
from 2 other dinner appointments and were so full... And every bite we
took she filled our plates back up with more food. On a GOOD note
though, her roommates are all not members and one of them was asking
us all sorts of questions about our church, we taught him the
restoration and committed him to watch conference with us! It was
sweet!
6. WOMENS GENERAL SESSION OF CONFERENCE. Can we just... Talk about how
incredible that was. Holy smokes. I literally cried through the whole
thing. The spirit was so strong and I received so many
answers/revelation about SO many things. I am SO GRATEFUL for modern
day prophets and apostles!!!
7. Died my huuuuur today #blonde
I will leave you with my testimony that week by week I have a stronger
love for this incredibly true restored church. I have never felt more
joy in all my life like I do now being in the constant service of the
lord. I am so grateful for the beautiful people of northern Virginia
that bring me so much joy and remind me of God's love for everyone
everywhere. I love these people more than I know how to say. I am in
love with this place. Every morning and every night I thank the lord
for His Bounteous grace and mercy that he so willingly has poured down
upon me to bring me here at this time. The field really is white and
the gospel really is so sweet. I love this beautiful work and I love
each of you :)
Keep it real and keep the faith
Sister Kennedy
I have like NO time so here are the highlights!!!
1. We helped a sweet little Hispanic man carry his groceries to his
apartment and he spoke no English, but the gift of tongues is real! We
held a conversation with him for the whole 20 minute walk! It rocked!
Also, our car was over-time in the paid parking spot and it didn't
even get towed! It rocked!!!
2. HEATHER IS STILL ON DATE FOR OCT 17th!!!! She came to church
yesterday and still loved it, still working toward her baptism, and
she's just absolutely incredible. I love her so much.
3. WE HAD A LESSON WITH MUSTAFA AND A TURKISH SPEAKER! It was
incredible. Come to find out, MUSTAFA has understood way more than we
thought he could and is way more prepared than we thought he was. It
was SWEET. He is asking us about how to get baptized and what he has
to do to get there. We are going to get him on date this week and I'm
AMPED.
4. LINDSAY JUST GETS BETTER ALWAYS! During last sacrament meeting both
sister Lewis and I were praying that the talks would touch her as they
were about preparing for general conference.... And in our lesson
Monday she read her notes to us about feeling an overwhelming sense of
peace and comfort!!! SHE RECOGNIZED THE SPIRIT AND IT ROCKED. She is
so SO close to getting baptized that it's insane.
5. We have this new girl in our Ward who is from India who had us over
for dinner last week (she is also feeding us tonight ;) ) and I have
never cried from eating something so spicy in my life until then.
Literally I couldn't feel my tongue for a day. And we had just come
from 2 other dinner appointments and were so full... And every bite we
took she filled our plates back up with more food. On a GOOD note
though, her roommates are all not members and one of them was asking
us all sorts of questions about our church, we taught him the
restoration and committed him to watch conference with us! It was
sweet!
6. WOMENS GENERAL SESSION OF CONFERENCE. Can we just... Talk about how
incredible that was. Holy smokes. I literally cried through the whole
thing. The spirit was so strong and I received so many
answers/revelation about SO many things. I am SO GRATEFUL for modern
day prophets and apostles!!!
7. Died my huuuuur today #blonde
I will leave you with my testimony that week by week I have a stronger
love for this incredibly true restored church. I have never felt more
joy in all my life like I do now being in the constant service of the
lord. I am so grateful for the beautiful people of northern Virginia
that bring me so much joy and remind me of God's love for everyone
everywhere. I love these people more than I know how to say. I am in
love with this place. Every morning and every night I thank the lord
for His Bounteous grace and mercy that he so willingly has poured down
upon me to bring me here at this time. The field really is white and
the gospel really is so sweet. I love this beautiful work and I love
each of you :)
Keep it real and keep the faith
Sister Kennedy
I CAN'T THINK OF A GOOD TITLE! ....letter from Sept 21, 2015
BROTHERS AND SISTERS!
the work continues to hasten here in Langley YSA and I am so grateful for the miracles that are pouring down on us each and every day! this week has been crazy! but so so so good!
the funny:
the zone leaders were dropping us off at a lesson because another set of elders had our car and while we were at a red light there were 2 YSA aged guys walking across the street. well. I couldn't pass that up. so I jump out of the car with 2 cards in my hand and chase after them. I stop them and start talking and quickly hand them the cards before the light turns green and realize that I gave them both cards in Spanish. and they looked at me like I was the dumbest human they had ever met. hahaha #facepalm
The next day we were laughing about this and pledged to give our precious, and few Spanish cards to only Spanish people... hahaha we were contacting over by mcdonalds and there was a Hispanic man on the phone, I pulled out the Spanish card and cheerfully started giving him the card. then I realized he was from india. but i was so shocked that i didn't even switch the card for an English one. #anothercard...wasted #facepalm
We were in a trio for half of the week and while we were tracting there was a sweet Persian man that kindly tried to tell us to leave or come back when his wife was home... well I guess we were being too persistent and to get us to leave he gave us a persian painting that was hanging on his wall. haha #itscasual
AAAAAND guess who backed into another car for the second time in like a month!? ME! yeahhhh it was sweet. we were on our way to transfers and I couldn't see sister lewis backing me so I just kept backing and hit the car behind me. the elders were peeing their pants. it was horrifc.
MIRACLES:
we had a lesson with heather this week that was so rad. she was telling us that she didn't know if she wanted to join a church that made her give up everything she loved.... she LOVES coffee. we talked to her about why the word of wisdom is important, why we obey, why we follow the prophet, etc. and it didn't really stick. we finally asked her if she had prayed about the word of wisdom and her baptism to know if it was even what she wanted to do. a little taken a back she realized that she hadn't and she prayed with us. While she was praying I felt the spirit say, "October 17th" and I knew that's when she needed to be baptized. when she said amen we had her look at a calendar and we asked her if any dates stuck out. within a few seconds she smiled and said, "October 17th. I can be ready by October 17th". it was sweet. the spirit is so real!
LINDSAY is also doing super well. she is getting SO CLOSE to baptism but she is backed up to a wall of faith and she's deciding whether or not she wants to act or not. We had a sweet couple of lessons with her about faith and about the importance of acting on the faith and believing that god will provide. it was interesting to see that none of that seemed to mean anything to her until we made it relate to her and we testified of God's love for her and how he is aware of her and wants her to move forward with faith. what a miraculous privilege it is to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to have the ability to receive revelation according to people's needs and to be a voice for God in a world full of opposing voices. it really is a miracle.
Mustafa is still the man. love him so much. he is doing so well. he started the book of Mormon in English and he is learning SO MUCH. his English continues to improve by the week and so does his desire to follow Christ. I LOVE TO SEE THE CHANGE THE BOOK OF MORMON MAKES IN PEOPLE'S LIVES! he can barely understand what we say and teach but because he is reading the word in his native tongue the spirit is pricking his heart. he is the most meek and humble person I know and I KNOW that because of that, the spirit is consistently bearing powerful witness to him that the things we teach and the book of Mormon is true. I love it.
Nevin is also doing incredibly well. she is reading and praying so hard and so diligently, its incredible. she asked us last week about how God can be a God of love and mercy when not everyone around the world gets to hear about him and his word... and it was SWEET being able to answer her questions with scriptures and testimonies of the power of the plan of salvation. She told us that she knows what we say is true and the Mormon faith is what she wants to believe and live but she wants her kids to come with her, so we are contacting the missionaries all over the east coast to teach her family. its incredible. the Lord is really hastening his work EVERYWHERE. I am SO grateful!!
THEN! we have a member who brought her friend to church yesterday and she agreed to meet with us on Saturday! she loved church and shes going to come to our stake 5K on Saturday! whooooO!!!
I have an absolute believe and knowledge that God is aware of us. He knows us. He loves us. and He cares about what we care about. These people that we meet and teach every day are so incredibly precious in his sight. what a miracle to be an instrument to feel and relay that love to them as a representative of Christ. These people mean so much more to me than I ever thought possible. They will seriously have a huge place in my heart forever. I have learned and felt the power that comes from putting God first. I have come to understand how he speaks. and I am overcome with gratitude at the fact that he deems me worthy to be an instrument in his hands to suffer shame for the Savior's name. I have said it before and I will say it again. HOW GREAT THOU ART! The mission is a miracle and it has changed my eternities.
keep it real and keep the faith
sister kennedy
HERE ARE SOME FUN PICTURES SHE SENT!
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