with love, elli: Faith, Hope and CHARITY

HALLELUJAH FOR A WEEK OF MIRACLES.

WOW.

NOTHING can express how incredible this week has been!!!!! wow. I am feeling so overwhelmed with love and blessings!!!

starting with Monday: PREPARATION DAY in DC! #holler we were able to visit the holocaust museum and the white house! while we were in the holocaust museum they had videos playing on repeat. In one of the videos there was a man speaking about his experience. he recounted a time when he saw another man praying and expressing his gratitude to God, which made him MAD. he looked at him and exclaimed "HOW could you be praying at a time like this??? God has done nothing good for us! we have nothing! we are about to die!" The man who was praying looked up at him and said "I am expressing my gratitude to God for not making me a murderer like the men who are holding us here."

WOW

That spoke to me so so so deeply. we truly can always find something to be grateful for. no matter what.

TUESDAY WAS EXCHANGES!!! So we get a new companion for a day! I was blessed to be with sister Adair. she. is. a. champ. like literally I LOVE HER. she is this cute litte red head from Draper UT and she is literally my FAV. we saw so many miracles that day we were together. We tracted, taught members, taught some investigators, and had a TOTAL BLAST doing it. I learned so much from her and felt so blessed and watched over to have her as my companion for a day :)

We also got to go to the Temple Visitors Center again with Sister Wright and Sister Asbury! both of them are CHAMPS and I love them. sister wright grew up in Hawaii and was in the military. Then she worked as a head honcho for the department of defense for 35 years... she BLOWS my mind. WE HAD SUCH A RAD TIME WITH THEM. so much fun and so many blessings came from that trip.

MIRACLE OF THE WEEK: Carol, the woman who was going to take us to the capitol building this week wasn't able to go :( she wasn't feeling to good and had a lot to get done. While sister schooley and I were planning who we should go visit for Wednesday we both had carol's name pop in our head! so we wrote it down. the next day, right before we were going to go over, she called us saying she had done something to her back and couldn't walk! We RAN over there and she had to CRAWL on the floor to get around. Luckily we were able to bring her dinner and buy her groceries so she would be ok. THEN! on sunday, our phone was on silent but we had a missed call and voicemail from her. we listened to the voicemail and she was crying on the phone saying she had slipped and fallen and couldn't move. She needed an ambulance ASAP. we RAN OVER THERE (she is our neighbor) and got in to find that she was already gone... The ambulance had come already and taken her. so we drove over to he emergency room where we visited her and will continue visiting her until she is released. I AM SO GRATEFUL for the holy ghost that guides and directs our thoughts and actions so we can help those around us!! We MUST be in tune with the spirit to receive promptings and to increase our faith!

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF THE WEEK: the St. Lawrence Catholic church held a HUGE food drive with the boy scouts of the area in which we decided we would help out with. We got there and holy smokes we got some strange looks when thy realized we were Mormon missionaries! but we just smiled and got to work! Everyone warmed up and was SO nice to us. At the end we all got in a circle and held hands for a prayer. It was great to see the spirit that was there as people of ALL religious backgrounds got together to serve the poor and the needy.

WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!! Her name is Cynthia! The elders tracted into her and told us to TAKE OVER so we did :) she is SO cute! she has to sons, one is 17 and one is 19 and she is half Japanese, half Mexican! (so rad, I know) I LOVE HER! she loves the gospel so far and loves having us over! she is the cutest happiest lady EVER and I cant wait to teach her more!!

Yesterday at church, sister schooley and I taught relief society!!! WHOO HOOO! the lesson was on "proclaiming the gospel". IT WAS SO COOL to see how it all came together. we prayed and prayed and prayed to know what to teach them and it all worked out. there was an incredible spirit in the room. I LOVED it. man the church is so true.

This week was nothing short of miraculous and I know that it is because we are ALLOWING those miracles to happen! when we EXERCISE OUR FAITH in Christ, and we FEAST on his words we will see miracles! CONTROL THE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL! We control if we pray or not. we control if we read scriptures or not. we control if we are happy or not. everything is a CHOICE. you can control a LOT of things in your life if you CLING to your father in heaven and let Him guide you!

This work is life changing, beautiful, and eternal.

I pray for ALL of you. EVERY DAY. the power of prayer is real, I know it. I can feel it. and I testify these things to you all in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

keep it real and keep the faith

sister kennedy