with love, elli: The Lord Blesses the Faithful...

Brothers and sisters! What an incredibly miraculous week it has been.
I can't even begin to express my love and gratitude toward God for the
many marvelous miracles He has brought to pass in the Oak Marr Ward.

FIRST OFF SHOUT OUT TO MY RIDICULOUSLY RADICAL BROTHER CONNER WHO JUST
GOT HIS MISSION CALL TO COPENHAGEN DENMARK!!!!!! LITERALLY SO COOL.
I'm so proud of that kid.

The Funny -
We were meeting with a less active woman this week who is probably in
her late 70s and she was telling us about a horrible fall she took a
few months ago... We were asking her how her healing process is going
and she just says, "well they have me in physical therapy. But I'm
gonna be honest with you, they might as well just call it physical
torture". Hahaha I was dying for like days... I could not stop
laughing.

We had another less active we were meeting with this week that was
totally geekin out on us. She was going off on her comic-con costume,
the latest doctor who episodes, the avengers comics, and some new
avatar book/movie release something? Anyways, I was sitting there
thinking... Hmmm should I be embarrassed that I know how to hold a
conversation on all of these topics? Probably not.
#thankyouKellyKennedy

The Miracles:

Last week we had a member tell us to go check on a family that she
taught when she was on her mission that now lives here. We finally got
over to see them this week and it was miraculous. They are both not
members but the husbands mother is and she is in town from Costa Rica!
Which is also sweet because I was able to connect with them when I
told them that I had ancestors from there... Not sure if they believed
me judging by my pale complexion, but it was sweet nonetheless. They
invited us over for dinner and FHE this week after telling us that
they have been wanting sisters to stop by for years! It. Was. Rad.
Miracles are so real.

Later in the week we were tracting #ohyeahbaby and we tracked into a
Mongolian family! They were very sweet but the wife said they weren't
interested. As we were about to leave she said, but! My little sister
is here visiting from Mongolia and she might be! Uhhh ok sweet. So we
have a lesson with her right there and she loved it all. There was a
very strong language barrier but it as incredible to see how the
spirit worked through us in order for her to understand what she needs
to understand. We are going by aging tomorrow and we are so excited!

Last week we found Bahar, who we street contacted into, and we were
able to go to lunch with her this week! We had a miraculous lesson
about the restoration and about Christ. With her Middle Eastern
background we were really interested to see how the lesson would go
and she accepted everything so easily. She kept saying, "yeah. That
makes sense. It totally makes sense." As we were leaving we gave her a
Book of Mormon, 3 pamphlets and a Proclamation to the Family. She kept
asking for more material to read and it was so rad. She is so
prepared. She agreed to be baptized and we are hoping to put her on
date this week!

We have a neighbor across the way who we saw needed help putting stuff
into her car for vacation so we ran out and helped her, she knew the
sisters before us and invited us to dinner! She had Missionaries from
other churches come to her door and she said, " I kept telling them to
leave because I've got my girls across the way already! Come over and
tell me about you! And your church!" Ok Annie. We can certainly do
that.

And the biggest miracle of all... One night we were tracting (hmmm
surprising) and I was in my iPad looking up an address while we walked
past an apartment complex. Sister Wheeler saw a woman a couple floors
up on her balcony and started talking (well. Kind of yelling because
she was so far away haha) to her about what we do. She kindly told us
she wasn't religious and went back to her computer. We testified of
Christ and told her we would just wanted to share a brief message
about him. She agreed and said we could come back Saturday at 2. So we
went back, and no answer. Although this is very common, we were a
little discouraged because there was something different about her...
Nonetheless we left and went about the rest of our day. That night we
had a lesson with a less active in the area so we went back, while we
were driving we drove past her apartment and we saw her on her balcony
again. Excited, but a little nervous we parked, prayed, and ran to
talk to her. She apologized, told us she forgot, and said we could
meet Sunday! Great! We had a busy Sunday and forget to find a member
to come with us until we were in the bathroom during church and a
sweet woman in our ward was in there too, suddenly the spirit brought
it to my remembrance that we needed someone at the lesson so we
quickly asked her if she was busy that night and if she would be
willing to come to a lesson with us! She agreed and invited us to have
it in her home. Excited, we text Jessica (the investigator) and she
said that would be great. We were waiting at Kristen's house for about
30 minutes without her showing up and we were nervous... And Then she
texted us telling us she was almost there! Yay! We had an INCREDIBLE
lesson about the restoration and the Power of the Book of Mormon. I
wish you all could have felt the power in that room... There is
nothing more powerful than someone feeling for the first time that God
is real and is aware of him/her. I got emotional as I talked about the
Book of Mormon and how it helped me find peace through some difficult
times and then Jessica opened up... She told us of the painful life
she has lived and the indescribably hard trials she has faced... The
spirit was so strong as we invited her to read, pray, come to church
and be baptized and she agreed to all of it with a smile on her face
that was bigger than she was. We are having another lesson with her on
Thursday to give her a baptismal date and I am SO SO SO excited.

It's crazy to think that at times I doubt that God will send us
prepared people, when my heart is so heavy and feet are so tired that
I don't think I can keep going... He is there. He keeps His promises.
God is GOOD. He blesses his faithful servants. Obedience really brings
blessings. And the church is so true. The changes I have experienced
in the lives of these people are indescribable. I love this work. So
much. And I love these people more than I will ever be able to
express. Miracles are real brothers and sisters

Keep it real and keep the faith

Sister Kennedy