with love, elli: Blessings, Blessings, Blessings!

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS WEEK!!! I don't even know where to start... we have seen SO many miracles and felt so much love from our father in heaven. SOOOOOO lets start with last Monday. We had preparation day which was low key, not a ton happened but it was good to relax. Then that night we checked up on some less actives and it was WAY fun. although, a lot of our less actives live over by Huntley Meadows Park which is SUPAH sketch... its like the Hyde park of northern VA (isn't that right Isabella? ;) ). So sometimes you really do feel like you are being followed and someone is going to jump out and hurt you, but other times its rad and we teach a lot of people! There are TONS of people from Ghana in that area, and they are always wanting to talk to us, so that is a plus!Tuesday we had district meetings which were SO GOOD. my district is the greatest on earth. we learn SO much together. We talked all about charity and love! and with that in mind, we practice taught street contacting and how to approach people LOVINGLY. it was awesome. I was paired up with our zone leader and it was a blast. I learned a TON from him, he Is such a rad guy. THEN we went to help out this couple that was moving... the elders in our ward (elder shields and elder grow) told us that we should come because the wife doesn't like men... so we went and were unaware of the fact that they were both mentally disabled and needed a LOT of help. So we stayed there most of the day. They are not members of the church, nor do they want to be, but they love missionaries haha. so that was good! we learned a lot from them and were able to clean clean clean their house and throw a TON away. then we tracted that night and got 3 return appointments! 2 of which we went to go meet again and they wouldn't come to the door... and we saw them inside pretending not to hear us knock hahaha #missionarylyfe

The rest of the week was a lot of MEETINGS! we had return and report, which is a meeting for new missionaries and their trainers, so we learned a lot there and it was a good time! and ANDY WAS INTERVIEWED FOR BAPTISM!!!! ahhh we was SO excited and it went so well!! yay!!! Him and Michelle can not wait to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity and they talk about it constantly. SO GREAT!

as many of you know, I AM NOW A FACEBOOK MISSIONARY!!!! WHOOOO!!! with that in mind, I have this account strictly for missionary work. I can not be chatting online or watching youtube videos or any of that jazz. It is so we can allow the kingdom of God to GROW. It is a tool that has recently been implemented by the church to help the gospel reach everyone everywhere!

We teach this CUTE woman in our ward, sister Dorey who is from Georgia and recently converted to our church. She has an 18-year-old son that we are trying to work with but he has ZERO interest in the gospel. we are doing service for her tomorrow with him, so hopefully we can teach him some gospel principles ;)

ANDY WAS BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!! AHHH IT WAS SO COOL!!! Brother Burner baptized him and it was such an incredible day. He was baptized in between conference sessions :) He was so ready and so excited to be following God's plan for him. The more we go back, the more we can see how God truly is working in his, and his wife's life! They have expressed to us that although life is still hard, with the gospel of Jesus Christ, they feel SO MUCH HAPPIER than they have ever felt! They are so great!

Harry came to both sessions of Sunday conference with us!!! he is progressing so well and really being taught by the spirit! he loves coming to church and the members have loved having him! He is such a great kid. We met with him yesterday night and he wants to be baptized!!! YAY! he wants to enter into the kingdom of God and he preparing himself to do so! we are SO excited for that! and hopefully the rest of his family will come around soon :)

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS THIS WEEKEND!!!! HOLY SMOKES. it was so so so rad! I just love the power that you can feel when the prophet and the apostles of God speak!!! MAN! I JUST LOVE IT! I learned so much about the importance of consistently looking to the prophet! He truly is God's mouthpiece and he knows all! how Rad is that!? So rad. I also LOVED the stress of MEMBERS WORKING WITH THE MISSIONARIES!!! My mission president has recently received revelation that we need to work with the members more than anyone else. No more tracting for sistahhh kennedy! With this in mind, we have a goal of getting 120 baptisms from now until the end of the year! THAT IS A TON. but I know that with the Lord's help we can achieve that! MEMBERS. ARE. THE. KEY!!! with that in mind, I challenge ALL OF YOU to pray for missionary opportunities again!!! THEY WILL COME! we can NOT aid the kingdom of God in it's growth if we don't do this! we need to rescue these souls together!

Never forget that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost WANT to help us, and their capacity to do so is UNLIMITED.

How sweet this work truly is. I have never been happier in all my life and I know it is because I am doing the work of the Lord.

I love this gospel, I love all of you, and I am forever 100% in love with being a missionary.

keep it real and keep the faith,

sister kennedy