First Post from Chile!

Families and Friends...

It has been a long time coming but I am finally in Chile and I am proud to tell you that I have been assigned to OPEN yes I said open a brand new sector in the city Antofagasta which is called Angamos, I will be serving with Hermana Cram who is from Utah and has been serving for nearly a year now. She is a great trainer so far and has a very loud laugh, teaching with her is so smooth and easy, we really know how to switch off teaching . Of course the first day was overwhelming but things like this, like well moving to a new country always is but by honestly I havent freaked out yet so I suppose I will be anticipated that and let you know when it happens ;) So since Wednesday starting with nothing we tracted and tracted...and yes we walked a lot....my feet sweel throughout the day because we walk so much but honestly it doesnt really hurt. 

So I must tell you about Antofa, it is well ugly to be perfectly honest. Mainly because there are a lot of rolling brown hills just filled with dirt and sand. But I spend so much time in the city that the outside scenary doesnt even matter. The city looks like your typical latin american neighborhood, with so many bright colors, loud music, fast bus and cars, so many smells coming out of tiny tiendas and little venders selling anything and everything you can think of. It is definitely a beach city though no doubt, which I can easily relate to. Hermana Cram and I are the only sisters in our district, the rest are Elders, Elder Congleton is our District Leader, he is a recent convert and from Laguna beach, he is a great leader, he is always giving us so many references and referrals which truly shows that its not about which missionary can baptize the most, but rather how we can work together more efficiency for God´s children. His companion is Elder Silvester, who was with me in the newb group and my flight companion, Elder Marroquin is from Guatemala, oh and by the way our entire zone and mission is about 60 percent latin...he is companions with Elder Sepe who is from Idaho I believe he is a newb as well. 

So let me begin with telling you that on Thursday we found these Colombianos there names are Michael, Luis Miguel and Daniela, apparently Michael had been taught before. They are cousins and we have taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ and they came to church with us this sunday and stayed for the whole 3 hours! They are awesome really, I can connect with Michael the most even through my broken spanish mainly because while we were on a bus ride oh speaking of which, there is no such thing as speed limits here, the buses or micros are crazy...Michael and I figured out that we like the same kind of music and tv shows, he really tries to speak slow for me and I help him out with some English because he really wants to learn it. Most of the time when we tract we contact people who 70 percent of the time have either shared with the missionaries before or have a friend of relative in the church, the people here are kind of funny though and apparently harder to gain interested at least that is what Hermana Cram told me, but I wouldnt know the difference. When you approach them, they are a little weirded out for about a min and then once they realize you are from the US they engage in conversation and I also get brownie points when I tell them I am from California, they all say, "ohhh que linda, que bacan!" Then you come to find out that it is hard to shut them up! hahahaha...Chileno Spanish is well difficult to understand mainly because they do speak so fast and they do cut off a lot. I am not impressed neither am I wooed when they speak HAHAHA. But I try to manage the best I can, some people are harder than others for example men are harder for me to understand and old women. But I just try to say a couple things in every lessons...Hermana Cram has been so excited because she said most trainees dont say anything for a couple of weeks but I try my best to help her out. 

The other day we fasted for our investigators Michael, Miguel and Daniela to come to church and to progress but then on sunday after church we look up an investigator from last years records whose name is Manuel, I can tell you know now that I love Manny and I believe that sometimes when you think you are fasting for something it can prepare you to receive something else and I believe that is what happened with Manuel. First of all he immediately let us into his house by unlocking the gate...oh little tangent, so here in Chile, everyone has a gate around their house and usually there´s a doorbell and speaker but if there isnt then you have to stand outside and yell, Hallo! Usually they either come to the gate to see who is it or they talk to you from their door. So with Manuel´s house we pushed the buzzer and we said, "hola, estamos buscando para Manuel porque somos misioneras de la iglesia de jesucristo del los saintos de los ultimos dias." And then we heard the buzzer unlock he comes out to greet us, brings us inside and we just start talking, we shared the first lesson, the restoration. He said that he had received a message from the missionaries before the gospel of Jesus Christ but hadnt gone to church because he says that he is lazy, but when we asked him to read a passage he needed glasses and I will tell you right now that this man is either not lazy or changed because he spent like 15 minutes searching for his glasses, going outside and inside of the house because he so desparately wanted to read this scripture...once he found them I was impressed to talk about Joseph Smith and recite the first vision along with my testimony about this man called of God, the spirit touched heart and testimonies were strengthened, in what I managed to say in Spanish, I know I dont much in Spanish but I know that this Gospel is true, that is why I am here. We gave him the baptismal challenge and he said that he knows that he does want to get baptize one day and that he will when he gains the strength to go against his family´s wishes because they are catholic and dont want anything to do with the church. I know he will get baptized, his heart is sincere but real intent can get in the way...I hope and pray that he will have the faith to accept the answer he will receive from God. 

I have so much more to tell you about Chile but I am pressed for time, we only get an hour to type and I still have to email President but I will fill in the blanks next week and hopefully I can send some photos already but I forgot my cord so that will probably be next week too, I love you guys so much and I just want you to know that things are going great, they really are, there are but moments when I feel lull but they really do pass and I move on, I hope to hear from you soon because that just adds to my day :) 

Con Amor, Hermana Kennedy

Letter from the Mission President

Dear Parents and friends.

Our new January missionary group arrived today from the United States!  They were tired and hungry but after we fed them and they perked right up.  We are so excited to have them here with us and serving in this wonderful land of Chile.  Your son, or daughter, will be writing to you tomorrow once they are up and running.  We have asked their trainers to take them to a Cyber shop so that they can write to you and let you know of their new assignments.  Unfortunately, several of them are traveling overnight (right now) to their new area which for most is a 7 to 12 hour bus ride……..  A lucky few were assigned to serve here in Antofagasta so they will not have to endure the lengthy bus ride.  Here is a summary of the assignments made today for your missionary:

Elder Skinner (assigned to Elder Ceballos in Arica)

Elder Sepe (assigned to Elder Marroquin in Antofagasta)

Elder Stokes (assigned to Elder McCusker in Tocopilla)

Elder Osorio (assigned to Elder Garrido in Arica)

Elder Stratford (assigned to Elder Newman in Arica)

Elder Church (assigned to Elder Richards in Tocopilla)

Elder Silvester (assigned to Elder Congelton in Antofagasta)

Sister Catron (assigned to Sister Van Meter in Iquique)

Sister Gorge (assigned to Sister Nuñez in Iquique)

Sister Kennedy (assigned to Sister Cram in Antofagasta)

I have attached the photos of our first day together below (just click on “view photos”).  We feel so blessed to have such a great group of missionaries join us!  Thank you for your great sacrifice and dedication to the gospel in allowing your missionary to serve the Lord at this special time.

Presidente Leland E. Bruce

Misión Chile Antofagasta

Ready to leave the MTC!

Chile!

Mission President and his wife (both very attractive people)

Missionary Mug Shot

Missionarios! 

Notches in the New Year

Mi Familia y Mis Amigos!

 

Another year marks yet another accumilation of time and we press forward into 2013. This new year also marks another disposition for change, growth and the classic new year's resolutions and although my first hours of the new year were spent in a fetal position fighting off a violent flu virus; I had a lot of time to meditate about this while in quarantine. 

 

I think as humans we are so hilarious sometimes to say the least...we like to exaggerate how long the 365 days can take but at the same time it happens fast enougth that we can nearly remember exactly what we were doing this time last year. The truth about it is another year passes and another one comes, adding yet another notch onto what I'd like to call our "life belt," please bear with me and the corniness...Imagine that attached to each person is this life belt and each one has these loopholes meant for holding personal tools. Throughout the year we have attained certain tools that go in these loopholes on our belt, ones that we can choose to use whenever we want. Some of these tools can be used to help fix other people's tools so that both can use theirs to help construct what I'd also like to call the "Kingdom of Heaven." (I know how original)

 

Some of us obtain tools disfigured, broken or we let them get rusty, all of which are not very useful-so what is a tool without a purpose? What is a person without tools to create?! We are always creating something that is the beautiful thing that God gave us, the ability to make, shape and form! Whether its from a peanut butter sandwhich to a canvas painting to creating human life; He blessed us and intended for us to create that we may act and not be acted upon. I know that the greatest blessing he has given us is the ability to create a new us everyday, month and every year. He has all given us a tool that we can access so that we may be able to start that change. A tool that never wares, nor breaks nor rusts but if we dont use it often we can forget how to use it or wait too long to think that we dont need to use it. This tool I'd like to call the "fix-all" tool or better known as the Atonement.

 

While here at the MTC, I have realizd some of the tools that I already posses on my belt and definitely some that I need or that need fixing. But most importantly I am learning how to use the Atonement and how to access the several utilities of which it posses in order to make new tools that I need or to mend the ones that are broken. Though this process as most of us know takes a life long effort, I have felt the strength and confidence from my Heavenly Father that I am ready for the field, this has probably taken longer for me to say this than I would have liked but I have just given so much time to thinking about what it is that I can actually do to make a difference to my brothers and sisters out there. It's like you go on a mission knowing what you are getting yourself into but at the same time you dont know...because each person is different and we touch or interact wih so many different people on a daily basis, I just cant imagine the extent of that over a year!

 

But there are some questions that have stood out to me during my stay here at the Training Center and I hope that they continue to stay in the back of my mind and if not the fore front of my mind throughout the mission. The first one is for some of us who already look down and see the long chain of notches each holding plentiful amounts of experiences, thoughts and expressions of a year's time; for us the question is, "You have come so far, how? Why?" The second one might actually help answer the first, it states, "Who do you stand for? Why?" I hope in some way or another we can all answer these questions for ourselves and live true to it because I fear that as I see notches added to my belt and others as I look around, the more I have seen us constantly exchaning and interchaning tool for others whose shaped dont fit nor fix. What do we change for? Do we change just for the sake of chaning? Among a very fast paced world that is always changing and indeed trying to improve technology for mankind-I often wonder that when we choose to change it is because we seek improvement as well?

 

I know that some maybe most are just following suit to the place we inhabit, letting our enviroment dictate how or how often we should change. Perhaps it is of our best interest that we take the time to look down at that perfect, beautiful and indestructable tool we have...becaus before you know it or try to exaggerate it, another year will come and another notch will collect on our string of life. Though I will be thousands of miles away from all of you in a very short amount of time (namely 3 days), I can promise you that I will be comtemplating and striving to change by trying to fix my broken tools and trying to use my own more frequently and I say this in hopes that I will be doing this with all of you too. To those who believe in the unbelief, that think that this year has nothing to offer much like a disappointing last year, I promise you that this is not true. If all your hope is gone or small even starting off in this early beginning, I hope that these words or some sort of inspiration can lift you up enough to keep moving and keeping doing all that you can to build, to create, to fix, to change. 

 

Here's to another notch creating to happen and to a Very Happy New Year!

With Much Much even Mucho Amor, Hermana Kennedy

Almost time for Chile!

Thank you for your several Dear Elders! They were entertaining as usual and detailed which is how I like them...so awesome news today! I got my flight plan!!!!!!! I leave next Monday at 4 in the morning and my flight is at 7 I believe and we have a four hour lay over in LAX so that means I get to call you guys at home, we will have to figure a time when everyone can be home at the same time so I can talk to all of you! Also, because I am leaving next week, that means if you are intending on shipping any packages to me they MUST be sent no later than Monday just to make sure I get them in time. Also, I might be mailing back some stuff that either cant fit in my suitcases or that I see fit to return because I dont want them to either be ruined or stolen on my mission namely those beautiful earrings you gave me, I have worn them here at the MTC but I dont want them to be taken by any Chilean...

 

ALso, im sorry you waited for my email yesterday and it didnt come I was welllll lying in bed sick with yet another virus...shhh Im technically not supposed to tell you this because MTC didnt want a million phone calls from worry wart parents but I will not hold back if you promise not to freak out because everything is all well and good now. So I recovered from my para-influenza virus last week but then two days later I contracted another gastro whatever virus pretty violently and so did at least 10 percent of the MTC. In fact, by the second day of this week, after the virus had been caught within the first 48 hours, every district in the whole MTC had at least one person in their district who got it except for 4 districts in the entire MTC. It was probably the most voilent stomach flu I have ever had which consisted of vomiting and dry heaving a totally of 11 times within 5 hours, diaherrea, chills, abdominal cramps and nausea. It took me a little bit longer to recover because my body was still trying to recover from the previous virus but rest assured that I am well and eating my weight back on, I mainly just wanted to share it because it was probably the most ''exciting'' thing that happened to me and took up more than half of my week thus far.

 

It has been hard to focus more than ever though with our departure so near but I really am going to miss the other districts here and my teachers so much mainly because most of them will have already graduated BYU by the time I return from the mish but with that being said I am so very excited to finallly leave! Mom, I do know Elder Watmough he came in a week before Christmas and is part of the newest district in our zone, he along with Hermanas Cluff and Lefevre are going to Antofa. I do not know the other Elders nor have I met them in the MTC but I do know at least half of the people I am traveling with to Chile, they are my original companion Hermana Catron and two elders from her district Elder Church and Elder Silvester who I have actually come to know pretty well.

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 :)