Lessons, Crosswords and Mission Goggles

Family and Friends!! :)

 

Lessons, Crosswords and Mission Goggles

 

First of I would just like to start off the blog post with the announcement that we committed both of our progressing investigators to baptism!! Honestly though, yesterday was probably the best lesson my companionship and I have taught thus far, thanks to Heavenly Father :) I see Hermana Catron almost every day during meal times and she surprised our district by making us a cross word puzzle with our names as the answers, she used scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon as clues, in turn I made her one and apparently it was significantly harder lol. Our zone was pleased to have a new district come in 2 weeks ago, all elders half going to Columbia and the other half going to Mexico, we have gotten along with them awesomely! And yes, I just said awesomely...we noticed earlier this week that they had joined together with our elders in forming number signs on their hands and they notion them to each other, us Hermanas of course do not know the secret code but I will have you know that we sprung their trap. Two days ago, Elder Hill accidently left the "key paper" with all the symbols in sight and Hermana Leavitt saw it as she went to grab it, Elder Hill took it and ripped it up and threw in it the trash. Later that Night, while it was just us Hermanas in the room, we took the paper from the trash went back to our room and taped the pieces back together which said this, "Each Hermana has a number, #1 Kennedy, #2 Whipple and #3 Leavitt, if you show one of these numbers on your right hand, that means you are falling for them, if you show one of their numbers on the left hand that means they are starting to get on your nerves." I can tell you that as a trio we spent ten minutes of straight up laughing...apparently the mission goggles have been coming in fast :)

 

Character of Christ and the Time of His Birth

 

Every Sunday night, we have the privelege of watching recorded devotionals from previous holidays or other significant devotionals namely from apostles or the Prophet, this past sunday we watched the recording on Elder Bednars talk on the Character of Christ, talk about amaaaazing. Really after that talk I was so sad that I couldnt get it typed out or that it was recorded anywhere on lds.org. So I will do my best at paraphrasing this incredible message and spirit he shared with us. As you read the New Testament which contains majority of Christ's ministry and miracles performed on earth, at every possible moment you will notice that He was completely and always selfless. Elder Bednar quotes stating," There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ...He took every opportunity to turn out towards others when we at the natural man always tend to turn in." He continues to say that the three most importants things you can do while living and learing on this earth is knowing that Jesus Christ and the Father do exist, then correctly knowing of His attributes and then alstly knowing that the direction of our path is in accordance with these attributes and His will. There is so much more I want to say but I am running out of my email time, so before I go I would just like to share an exerpt from one of my journal entries.

 

In Alma 34, "For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice, yea not a sacrifice of mand, neither of beast...for it shall not be a human sacrifice but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.." I often forget that the infinite part meand that He suffered for the pain of our sins, mistakes and their consequences for forever. Imagine only making one mistake as small as having a bad thought towards another and He suffered for our probationary state of that unhappiness but also the mark that continues on in the internities, I cannot imagine multipling that by a severity in sin and then multiplied by all the people who have ever lived or have yet to live. So I ask that just during this time of Christmas will you join me in taking the time to stop and think and ponder this in our hearts, I hope by do so we can all have a greater capacity to love one another and enjoy the moments that matter especially during this Christmas season. I know that as you come to know this man, you will know that He was so much more than a man and that He can help you change, your old heart will die and you will be given a new one. I am beginning to know my elder brother more and more each and every day I am here and I couldnt ask for a better Christmas present :) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! :)

 

-Love Hermana Kennedy

First Photos!

 First temple trip!

Thanksgiving...plus a lot more

Apostles, Popcorn and Thanksgiving

 

This letter is a compilation of several journal entries since last Thursday, and hopefully make up in detail since I was ridiculously pressed for time on Thanksgiving! Speaking of Thanksgiving, it was AWESOME!

We were blessed to hear from.....drummm roll please....Elder Jeffery R. Holland! What made it even better was the fact that my companion and I got great seats, we were like 30 feet away from him! His message was bold and powerful as usual, but more importantly he wanted the devotional to feel like a family and "homey" since we are away from our families. Something that pressed in my mind after the devotional that he shared with us were these: "The prophets of old must have known that they were going to loose the restoration of the gospel in their dispensation but pursued in preaching because they had also seen our day the dispensation of fullness of times in which it is the last because the gospel is here to stay on the earth forever." I'd like to echo his closing remarks as well in which he stated, "There is nothing more important that you could be doing with your time...you will never be close to God than you will be on your mission. Everyday and for every hour for 18 to 24 months, from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep you are thinking..you are consumed with how to save the soul's of God's children."  And yes, I did feel like I got hit by a truck...no pressure right? Ha Ha But in all honestly, I could think of no other words of better encouragement :) Following the devotional we made hygiene and educational kits for a village in Malia...we were educating on several humanitarian projects that the Church is currently taking under its wing and I got to admit those charities are the first thing I think of doing when I get off my mission. The presidency of the MTC couldnt have ended our Thanksgiving any better, we were surprised to have musical performances of fiddlers and skits, everyone was clapping and stopping, it was seriously a missionary hoe down, but the president actually encouraged the irreverence! I think it was because he knew that many of us were thinking about home that day and he just wanted it to be fun! So he continued to direct people to throw out kettle corn and then we ended up watching 17 miracles in the giant gym/Lorenzo Snow building!

 

Distrito de Gatos, Superheroes and lots of PMG

 

Last email, I did not do my companion justice nor the description of my district! My companion Hermana Catron has been a great person to teach with. Hands Down. She is tall, skinny with short blonde hair, she hails from Seattle, Washington and because of that she is very apprehensive to serve in the driest place on earth. She has an incredibly friendly personality that comes with quirkiness and spunk...she has a different sense of humor but it makes me laugh! She pushes herself a lot during the lessons and companionship inventory, when we do do our inventory Im merely there to help her relax and reassure her that she is doing GREAT! We have been teaching our "progressive investigator," his name is Carlos Quintero he is from Uruguay and has come to have faith in Christ but is looking for the truth...Golden investigator right?? Yeah that's what we thought too. This investigator is really a member and also one of our teachers, Brother Ferguson who really did serve in Uruguay but plays a real person, one of his favorite investigators from his mission. Along with Maestra Cutler who served in Honduras, they are both amazing teachers and exceptional spanish speakers, they are spiritual power houses. Our district found out the other day what their real names are, it is Ashton Cutler and Steel Ferguson, we decided that their names that belong on a law firm or in comic books, like superhero characters, Ashton and Steel! :)

As for Spanish, well its coming thats for sure...I got the baptismal question memorized in spanish last week so hey what can I say, maybe Mom is right, Im more of a Rivera than a Kennedy ;) Besides Hermana Catron, their are two other sister missionaries in our district and in our residence room, they are Hermana Leavitt (who I knew previously, having been in the same BYU ward for 2 years) and Hermana Whipple (she is a petite ballerina from Utah Salt Lake Valley) We get along great and Hermana Whipple and I like to train each other during gym time, I help her with weights and she helps me with stretching and flexibility...which I found out yesterday my hamstrings had no such thing has flexibilty but we are determined to fix that. The Elderssss, oh the Elders hahahahaha in our district are hilarious. Companionship Elder Carty and Elder Hill are truly the comic relief in our district, Elder Carty (from St. George and convert at age 11) he is a big guy, rugby type and Elder Hill(farmer boy from Idaho) are always making inside joke in Spanish, like when they point at each other and say, "Este Gato..." "This Cat..." Its mostly how they say it not obviously the words being said. Companionship Elder Raine (from Springville) and Elder McAllister (Iowa) are different but still a great addition to our group, they bring the subtle jokes are the meal table. Elder Raine, you can tell is a gifted learner, he has an incredible way of memorization and very much so the engineer type like his declared major at Utah State. Elder McAllister is well exactly like your stereotypical farmin' huntin' boy (who does have a strong mid west accent and told me that before he entered the MTC he stalked up on ammo ever since Obama got re-elected.)

Through out this week, as I read PMG during personal study, I became consumed with studying how to rely on the Spirit..especially during teaching..".[You] as the Lord's servant, are to do His work in His way and by His power."

Sometimes one might think that having more rules to abide by while on a mission are constraining because now there are more things that we can not do that we use to before the mission, but in actuality I am more liberated because I have been given more power by being set apart to receive revelation for the people within my mission field. With worthiness, I have the right to know the things that every single person needs in the Antofagasta Chile Mission and this amazing blessing can only be strengthened and accessed through prayer, I thought I had a testimony of prayer but now I can definitely feel it increase as I apply what Preach My Gospel teaches me and pray by the act of sacrifice because prayer in itself is one. It is or shoul dbe an "act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other."

 

Some more spiritual insights, hasta luego to District 38 A and the TRIO

 

Hermana Catron shared an awesome insight about Atonement and the sacrament the other day. We know that the bread and the water is to remind us of baptismal covenants and of Jesus Christ. But because the sacrament does remind us of our baptismal convenants, it also symbolizes our baptism as well. By reading along the symbolism found in Romans 6:4-6 it describes how each week when we partake of the sacrament we renew covenants and renew by "burying our old self," and resurrecting a "new man," with a new heart. So in a sense, every sunday we are killing the old body and resurrecting a new. I never really thought of it in that particular way but love how it just seems to connect so well with our baptismal convenants and true conversion. Maestra Cutler gave me some words of advice the other day when she was interviewing me aka getting to know me personally interview. After confiding in her my small frustration with the language in teaching the lessons, I told her that sometimes I feel like I could always do more. She said that we are always going to think that we could do more especially when we get out in the field, we are never going to have the perfect lesson in the perfect language and we are never going to be the perfect missionary. You should not measure you success as a missionary based on the number of converts, but rather that I should be assured that God is pleased with my work if the Spirit is working through me. At the end of the day, you ask Heavenly Father if He accepts the effort you put it then you did do enough.

 

On Sunday, was the cafeteria's famous Chicken Cordon Bleu, and with that the Chicken Cordon Bleu Challenge, Elder Hill downed 8 and half (after throwing up a little twice) but lost to Elder Pinegear (elder in another district but same zone) who downed 9...the night before our beloved district 38 A left for their mission fields we sang them, "God be with you til we meet again," en espanol of course, and by the last verse one of the elders was crowd surfing, yes, you heard me correctly he was crowd surfing.

 

Hermana Catron moved into intermediate spanish yesterday, it was actually kind of unexpected since she had inquired about transitioning about a week and half ago but nothing happened until yesterday but by that time she had gotten attached to all of us and us to her. So now I am in a trio with Hermana Leavitt and Hermana Whipple and so far its been great too. I do miss Hermana Catron already, she really helped push me in Spanish, goal setting and lesson planning. I think we could all agree that she was the heart of the district, she naturally reaches out to people in every need and every way even the slightest thing, I admire her for that and hope that I can become more empathetic like her.

 

This concludes the events of just One week! Maybe I should start getting better at condensing my emails, but at the same time it wouldnt be the same without all the details! I just wanted to let you all know that your letters and emails are great and at the end of the day one of the highlights to another busy day, I truly look forward to them. Love you all and wish you the best with your busy schedules especially as the holidays are coming around the corner. Take care Love your fellow missionary, Hermana Kennedy :)

First Email!

Thank you so much for your pieces of advice and the motto, I actually do really like it and with the advice, I have come to find some of those already during this past week before I could email you guys. So today was supposed to be our first P day but it is Thanksgiving today so we have a different schedule which is ya know okayyyy hahahaha its just that I know all of us newbies were looking forward to a P day. So with that in mind, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU! I love each and every one of you so much and am so grateful for you guys in my life. I only have a half hour to type everything I can so Im sorry if I miss some details, I will probably add them in my next emails. Speaking of emails, this is this email program called Dear Elder, it is where you send an email but the MTC prints them out in letter form and we get them the day you email them, which I prefer because that way I can read what you guys are saying and already have responses prepared instead of taking the time to read and then type a response. So all you go to is dearelder.com and type in my name and the program should fill in the rest of my mission address info and it will be sent to me :)

Also, I wanted to wish you, Mom and Dad on your 22nd wedding anniversay that was on Saturday, I thought of you guys on that day :) So with the MTC, I definitely already feel like i have been here for more like 3 weeks than one but i think its because i have gotten just as much work done in one week that would have taken me 3 weeks to complete. Also, I will be in here for 9 weeks instead of 6, the new changes that were made during General Conference will not be active until january 2013 so yeah i missed it by a transfer or two... My companion is Hermana Catron, she is Seattle but her family now lives in London, so she has visited several European countries. She is my age, actually her birthday is August 26th so im just 13 days older than her. Our personalities are different she is passionate like me but she is more emotional than me and expresses a lot more especially when she is frustrated that our lessons didnt go as well as she had hoped but I have learned to handle her tears and worries and help her gain more confidence in our lessons and in herself. Because I do think she is a great companion and we work well together because we both want to be the best missionaries we can by following the mission rules with 100% obedience and setting goals like trying to speak at least 50% spanish a day. Our lessons with our "investigator" were difficult in the beginning because on our third day we had to teach him the first lesson in spanish and there was so much i wanted to testify of but the language barrier sometimes breaks it apart. So i learned on our third lesson to break away from spanish and just say what was in my heart in english because even though we need to get the language down, they are trying to teach us to realize that love and what is in your heart is most important.

This is basically my daily schedule: 6:30 Wake up and get ready and get to breakfast by 7:20, by 7:50 we are in the "classroom" until 10:50 which means we are actually preparing our lesson and studying the language, from 11-12 it is personal study (scripture study and or PMG) then there is lunch for 45 minutes and then we have companionship study from 1-2pm where we share what we learned form personal study and plan goals and read from the white handbook or the biblia blanca, then from 2-5pm we are in the classroom with our muestra, she went to honduras on her mission and she helps us with learning the principles of PMG and spanish phrases and terminology...finally we have dinner at 5 and then at 5:45 until 6:45 we have a language lab where we use a language building program on the computers and then we get gym time for 50 minutes where i usually run a mile and do weights to release stress i didnt know i had built up until i realize how much im running. Then afterwards we change back into our church clothes and have additional study time for an hour and then we read our Book of Mormon for 15 mins in spanish as a district, then plan for our next day in our missionary daily planner and then get ready for bed and lights out in bed by 10:30 and trust me i have no problem falling asleep...its like a nap every night....

My district is AWESOME! the first couple of days we were kinda like not though, it took us a few days before we snapped out of it and started settings goals and really pushed to do stuff together as a district when we finally felt super comfortable and happy to be around each other. Now we joke around maybe a little too much but i have realized that laughing is awesome and things seem a lot funnier now, probably because I immerse myself into things that uplift the tension and long days. I am doing great overall though, some times are harder in the sense where they just seem longer than others like our afternoon class room time because sitting in one seat for three hours IS a long time! But besides that, Im getting used to the MTC well i think, and learning alot. Like our Branch President told us, "you might feel like you are drinking from a fire hose.." and yeah that is a perfect description.

Also mom side note, while i have been here i have noticed that i need a couple of things, so if you could send me a package that would be great :)

-i need a really good facial mask like deep deep cleansing because apparrently my face is telling me i am really stressed out

-STATIONARY! but not like super girlie, just my kind of style ya know

-stamps

There are other things but I wont really need them until later, anyways i got to get going becuase i have a thanksgiving devotional starting like now!!!

LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU :) :D