with love, elli: Elli's recent letters!

HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL...ELLI'S LETTER FROM DEC 21,2015

Christmas is UPON US! what a marvelous time to be a missionary! I am so grateful for this sacred opportunity I have been given to be here at this time. I love this miraculous work, what a miracle :)

the funny:

we made a super great christmas card with the elders in our ward. ugly christmas sweaters. a campfire. and a creek. what more do you need?

the pranking war... so some other elders found out about this pranking war we were having and decided to jump in. so they took the elder's hub caps and then give them to us. hahaha we played it off like we didnt know where their hubcaps were and then we left one on their doorstep wrapped like a present. they were livid. hahaha for such a harmless prank, you would have thought we had threatened to burn their house down. hahaha in the end they just stole ours and put them on their car and then we just rolled around lookin trashy for a few days. but now all is well and we all have our hub caps. haha

Mustafa gave me the greatest gift of my life today. an emoji pillow. not just any emoji pillow, a laughing until you are crying emoji pillow. gosh dang it life is good.

Miracles:

sister liu and I felt impressed to move lauras baptismal date up a week, to the 16th and in our lesson last week we invited her for baptism on that date. she smiled and said, "wow sisters. I was in my car and was thinking to myself, man i hope the sisters move my date up like a week. the 16th would be good". MAN the Lord is at the head of this work! His work is NOT frustrated!

Lindsay is almost done with 3 Nephi! whoooo! she is SO ready for the 31st. man that girl is a miracle. I am SO grateful for her. in correlation, our ward mission leader - who has seen lindsay from day 1 of being taught to now - was talking about the incredible change he has seen in her and I couldnt help but get teary eyed. the Lord knows His children perfectly. ahhhH!

Torey is magnificent. for that poor girl, when it rains, it pours. She has been sick upon sick upon sick, and yet she made it to the visitors center this week and had a super spiritual experience! it was remarkable. She prays every day that she can be prepared for baptism on the 9th of January and I know the Lord is POURING His mercy down upon her.

a few weeks ago we tried contacting a former investigator for what felt like the thousandth time and she finally called us back! we had a lesson with her this week and it was MIRACULOUS. holy smokes that girl is prepared. she told us how much she wanted to get rid of negative feelings she has and how much she wanted to accept christ. She accepted baptism and wants us to come back in a couple weeks after the holidays. it was a Christmas Miracle and I am SO excited to see her enter into the waters of baptism soon! there is a special spirit about this girl and i am SO grateful for her.

we had another woman who was a former investigator let us into her home where we shared "Why He is Born" and we had a great experience. we invited her to read Mosiah 2 in the Book of Mormon and we invited us back for dinner and a lesson! my 2 favorite things! FOOD and GOD! so many good things.

Jasmin texted us this week and told us she wanted to meet with us again to go over Alma 7! SHE FINALLY READ THE BOOK OF MORMON! and she ASKED us to come over and discuss it with her :) AHHH! Christmas MIRACLES!

AND last but not least, we were able to do some metro contacting this week - my FAVORITE kind of contacting. We were getting blown off right and left and I was on an exchange with a sister who had been out for 4 days and this was her first time street contacting! I said a little prayer we would see a miracle and then nikki came by... She is a homie. we asked her if she wanted a water bottle (we had waters with A Savior Is Born cards in them) and she graciously said yes. we started talking a little and she walked away. A few minutes later I noticed she hadnt gone into the metro yet and that she was just looking at the card. I went up to her and asked if I could show her the video on my ipad, she agreed and we then had an incredible conversation about God and what he has done for us. we talked about the restoration and and said she would love to learn more. I got her information and she grabbed my hand, said thank you, and that she couldnt wait to be contacted by the missionaries in DC. Those are the tender mercies that we live for. I am SO grateful for our Savior, for His sacrifice, His LOVE, and the peace He brings us. He is HERE. He is NOW. I can testify with Isaiah of Old that He was Born to bridge the lonely gap between us and God. "His name shall be called WONDERFUL, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6

Take time this Christmas week to REJOICE. For A Savior is Born. FOR YOU. He is here. He has risen. He lives. and His life was given for YOU to live. I know this to be true and I will preach that truth until the day I die. I love this gospel and the glorious truths I am blessed to proclaim!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

keep it real and keep the faith

sister kennedy

GOD BLESS AMERICA... ELLI'S LETTER FROM DEC 14, 2015

Holy Smokes things are ROCKIN over here in Langley YSA. Man. The
miracles really don't ever cease. This is going to be a short letter,
it's been a crazy day helping out with our sisters and running around
like nuts doing errands but all is well!!

The funny -
So. Last week the elders filled our bath tub with empty water bottles.
This week my lovely old comp Sister Davis gave us a brilliant idea to
get them back... We decorated their car complete with cans tied to he
back, snowflakes taped to the sides, hearts on the Windows and "JUST
MARRIED" on the back window. It was MONEY. They had 7:30 AM stake
correlation the next morning and they were ticked hahah

Well the next night they come over to ask if they can use some laundry
detergent, we give them some and 5 minutes later we hear a huge thud
at the door. We run to open it and we find a nasty dead squirrel on
our door step. So ticked. We thought they were doing something to our
car so we ran to check on our car... Only to find that they had been
hiding behind the stairs leading up to our apartment, so when we ran
away, they ran inside and threw the squirrel on our toilet. It was the
nastiest thing. Ever.

Miracles -

LINDSAY FINISHED ALMA!!! AHHHH she is super ready for her baptism and
got back from a trip to Utah this week. She just rocks. I love that
woman

Laura. Same thing. Just on fire. I love that girl. Like so much. She
is SO READY

Torey. What a WINNER. She is so incredible. So strong. So so prepared.
I love her soooo much!

We have been teaching like mad this week and I have come to love even
more so the simplicity of the gospel that we get to teach! It's
incredible! Life is such a miracle and this gospel really does help us
live to the fullest!!

Ahhhh I just love this Ward! And I love this work! I am so so grateful
to be here at this time! SO MANY MIRACLES!! I love you all!!

Keep it real and keep the faith
Sister Kennedy

LIFE. ROCKS.... ELLI'S LETTER FROM DEC 7, 2015

that is for real the only title I can use for life right now. everything rocks. EVERYTHING. i am SO grateful. SO grateful for the merciful hand of the lord

the funny:

our beloved zone leaders decided to break into our apartment one night before we got home and they filled our shower with hundreds of empty water bottles and milk cartons. It was hysterical until we spent 20 minutes throwing them all into 7 trash bags. #strugglin

we were contacting at the metro this week and it was flooding with Jehovah's Witnesses. it was like a battle to see who could talk to more people hahaa. but more people talked to us. #thechurchistrue

the miracles:

Lindsay is doing. SO. well. she is almost done with alma. just CRUISIN. she is on fire. LOVE that girl. December 31st is going to be an incredibly special day. I am SO excited. She is so wonderful and I am so excited to keep watching her progress.

Torey is also doing incredible. This girl literally has every trial on the planet be it family troubles, health problems, work problems. you name it. and she is a PERFECT example of moving forward with faith. she is SO excited for her baptism on the 9th of Januaryand she wants to do anything and everything that she can to get there. She is incredible.

Laura will forever just be a miracle. Seriously. SUCH a miracle. for goodness sake, the background on her phone is the temple. like for reals? talk about prepared. She is SO excited for January 23rd and has it all blocked off on her calendar with a sticker that says, "best day ever". shes literally the cutest human. I love her. She wants to do anything and everything that she can to be the most prepared she can possibly be for her baptism. She told us "sometimes, I think my date is too far away. we might need to move it up". oh gurl. dont you worry. we can move it up. she is WONDERFUL

Jasmin still ROCKS and ASKED to meet with us this week, at first it was like pulling teeth to set up an appt with her haha but at the last lesson she told us she actually read! and prayed! and she said the most beautiful prayer last week in her beautiful german native tongue. AH she is so ready! she is the best and seriously one of my best friends. I love her!

then we had this sweet member come up to us and ask us if we could teach her boyfriend! DUH! we had an incredible lesson with him this week... hes SO great and we are super excited to keep teaching him!

MAN I LOVE MY LIFE!!! This is seriously the greatest work and the greatest place on the planet earth! I never ever want to leave. These people have touched my heart so deeply and so strongly! this week I heard that a less active family I taught in my first area is getting sealed next month and they have asked that I come! When I heard that news, I broke down into sobs in gratitude for the MERCIFUL plan of the savior.. for this sweet sweet couple, married for 18 years that will finally be sealed for time and for all eternity. What a marvelous work and a wonder. what a joyful work to be a part of!! I seriously can not imagine being anywhere else on earth right now! There is no greater feeling that knowing that you have been an instrument in the hands of the Lord in helping hasten the work.

Last night we were able to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and I couldnt help but cry as I looked down the row of wonderful members and investigators that I was surrounded by all taking the steps necessary to access the atonement. There is no greater feeling than knowing you are accessing the atonement and helping OTHERS access the atonement. I LOVE THE WORK OF SALVATION! thank you all for all that you have done for me and all that you mean to me! I seriously LOVE all of you

sister kennedy