with love, elli: Too Blessed to be Stressed

wowzers folks. what a week!

I cant even begin to tell of all the miracles that have happened this week! so many great stories to tell and so much JOY to share!

This week I went on an exchange with sister Thompson :) because both our companions are leaving this transfer they got to go to the temple with president and sister riggs. so we were comps :) and we saw SO MANY MIRACLES! we taught 2 investigators and 2 less actives and all 4 lessons went so well! the spirit was so strong! because we were never companions before and we had never taught together before we HAD to rely on the spirit for what to say! we hadn't met each others investigators and less actives so that made it interesting as well. BUT because we followed the spirit everyone we taught felt of our love and most importantly, of the Savior's love. Another random miracle was that for dinner we went to a restaurant for a 9 year old girl in sister thomsons ward. the 9 year old had her friends there and we got to chat! sister Thomson talked to the moms and I chilled with the kids. That night was THERAPY for me. I MISS CHILDREN SO MUCH. AHHHH. I think that's why I LOVE teaching the members, because I get smothered with little kids jumping on me and chocking me and joking around with me. so it was just a GREAT time and I am so grateful for that exchange :)

ALSO this week we got to go to the temple with one of our recent converts and his wife who is recently coming back to church. it. was. awesome. we taught them in the waiting area of the temple and the spirit was just overwhelming. they just kept telling us how they felt of God's love. They felt like everything of the world just fell off their shoulders as they walked inside because this truly is the HOUSE OF GOD. wow. it was an incredible experience. I LOVE those two and they are trying to hard and working so much to get temple recommends, and eventually to enter into the temple to be sealed. ahhh it is SO cool.

another cool thing, we got to help out the cops this week. #rad yeah im serious. we hander out flyers with them about their food drive they are having! It was awesome! it was just like street contacting, but people actually listen to you because we were telling them about canned food! #hollahhhhh it was actually really fun and we had a lot of missionary opportunities because people saw that we were doing something positive for the community. #SORAD one of the guys I went to hand a flyer to said something back to me but I didn't hear it because his accent was so thick. and then he started laughing really hard because he thought that I was scared of him. hahaha so I just kind of laughed with him and gave him a flyer. When he came back out he had 3 big bags of things he had bought for us and he handed it to me and gave me a hug... super awkward. #missionarylyfe but he was WAY nice haha.

ALSO! a cool prayer experience, I have been feeling really really LONELY this week. which is weird because I have never really had trouble with that before... so I was saying my prayers Saturday night and I just started crying and I asked heavenly father to PLEASE bless me and my new companion to be friends and to have places to go for the holidays. the next day at church this ADORABLE lady in our ward who has a son on a mission invited us over for Christmas so we can use their computer to Skype home! and she invited us over for Christmas eve dinner :) THEN! we had an appointment with the Campbell family (top 5 FAV family in the ward. she is THIS SUPER CUTE little lady from china and he is American from Utah. im literally obsessed with them. they have two little kids, one is 9 and one is 6 and I just want to squeeze them all day) and they invited us over for thanksgiving and I thought I was going to burst into tears right then and there! I get a Chinese thanksgiving meal!!! I am SO EXCITED I COULD JUST START CRYING RIGHT NOW! heavenly father just wants to bless us so much. and HE WILL if we do what we are asked and if we ask him for specific help :) he answered my prayers in a matter of hours! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. It is the hardest thing I have ever done but definitely the most rewarding. I know that as we cleave to our Savior and pray with real intent and with real desire to know His will that we will find it, and thus come closer to Him. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families and for this restored gospel that keeps me happy. This church is so true. The Savior is so real. and this work it so sweet. I truly am too blessed to be stressed :)

keep it real, and keep the faith

sistahhh kennedy