Dear President Murphy,
It was an incredible first week in Ecuador. I love my area, and Hermana Giles is the best trainer I could have asked for. She is such an example to me of hard work and loving the people, and I have already learned so much from her. I just love her and this companionship.
We currently have two investigators with a baptismal date--Daisy and Kathy. They're sisters, and we committed them this past week. Their baptism date is April 29th, and we are working to get them to church. We actually planned on them attending this past week which is an interesting story. On Sunday morning, we left our apartment at 7 a.m. to go and pick them up for church. They live in Pijal, at the top of a very big hill. It's about a 30 minute walk there, but since we had to get to church on time, we were walking super fast. I'm hoping that I'll have the leg strength of Hermana Giles soon, because she can walk crazy fast. Anyway, we made it to their house around 7:25, and knocked and knocked, but no one answered. Finally, a brother of theirs came out and told us that Daisy and Kathy were in Quito with their mom. At this point, it was probably 7:35 and church starts at 8 a.m. The fastest way to catch a bus was to walk up the remainder of the mountain to the road. There were points while climbing the dirt path up to the road that I wasn't sure I was going to make it. The combination of the altitude and the speed at which we were climbing resulted in a very difficult climb, but by some miracle, and a lot of help from Heavenly Father, I made it! And somehow, we made it to church five minutes early. It's amazing how I can see God's hand in my life, even in such simple ways.
I really just love being a missionary. I love these people, and this area, and I can't wait to meet more people and share the Gospel with them. This is such an incredible opportunity from God to be here, and thank you for calling me to this area.
Have a wonderful week!
Hermana Kennedy
So, I had my first baptism this past week (sorry, Ethan and Mark). Her name is Joselyn Calle, and she's super sweet. All the people here are super sweet. I am so tall compared to everyone here, including the other Norte missionaries.
Props to anyone (probably Ethan) who understands the reference in my subject line. It's from the Phantom Tollbooth, and it's referencing a half dog/half clock named Tock, the Watchdog. Get it? Anyway, if Ecuador had a symbol, it would be him. Except the clock would be broken and the dog scraggly and very underfed. Bless the people here, but they have absolutely no concept of time. Joselyn's baptism was supposed to start at 3:00, and instead it started at 3:30. It's kind of funny, but also slightly frustrating, because people are constantly forgetting about our appointments, so we knock on the doors of a lot of empty houses. I'm definitely going to learn patience on this mission :-) And there are so many darn dogs here, and some of them are so dang cute that I want to take them home, give them a bath and feed them some ground beef. Most of them are very friendly, and those that aren't never chase us or anything--they're just protecting their peeps.
Also, my sector is San Pablo! It's outside the city of Octaval, and it's in the mountains! It's pretty cold here (which is awesome, thank goodness), and it rains a lot, but my REI boots were honestly the best thing we bought for my mission. I can traipse through mud, rain and dirt, and I'm good to go. Also, they protect my lower legs from the mosquitos! Mosquitos here in San Pablo actually aren't too bad. I've gotten three bites total so far, and I seriously think that my years of being bitten by Michigan mosquitos have helped me build an immunity to the bites here, because they're more annoying than itchy. I haven't even scratched them once--you'd be so proud of me, Mama! :-)My trainer is Hermana Giles, and she is just the coolest person I've ever met. I'm going to get completely spoiled with the companionship because it feels just perfect. She's so relaxed and patient and loving. She comes from a family just like ours. I was actually the only Gringo assigned to a gringo companion which could mean a couple of things: my Spanish is good, and Presidente didn't think I needed too much help; my Spanish is bad, and I need a LOT of help, or Heavenly Father thought it would be interesting to see how a just-finished training Gringo (Hermana Giles) would do training a completely new Gringo (me). Yep, Hermana Giles just finished her own training, so you know she's awesome. I just love her and everything that we do together.
I love it here. It's so cool to see all the Ecuadorian women wearing the traditional clothing which, by the way, is beautiful. And we wash our clothes on this thing called a piedra. It's super legit. Our apartment is actually really nice, and yes, we have electricity.
The story I told Presidente is seriously crazy. Like, I can't accurately describe how dang hard it was to climb that mountain. I was sweating buckets by the time that we made it to the top, and I didn't even stop to take a picture with the two llamas that we saw on the way, because if I had stopped moving, I never could have started moving again. I said like ten prayers to Heavenly Father to help me make it to the top of that mountain, and at one point, I wanted to stop and cry, but I heard Daddy's voice in my head saying, "Don't cry! It wastes energy!" So I reprimanded myself in my head and told myself to stop being a baby and just climb the dang mountain. And when I got to the top, all I could think was how dang awesome it was to have just done that.
Also, DON'T FEED THE MISSIONARIES ANYMORE! We have mamits assigned to feed us every day for lunch, and they give us so much dang food, and I'm expected to finish it ALL! I sometimes feel like I'm gonna vomit afterwards, but Hermana Gies says that you get used to it really quickly. Anyway, I don't need the blessings of being fed anymore, so please don't feed the missionaries in our home ward!
Here (unlike at the MTC/CCM) I can actually print out the emails you send to me, and it is the best thing ever. For the past six weeks, I've seriously felt like Tantalus standing in the lake, unable to get what I need. But I've finally gotten the water in the form of your emails to me, printed on paper that I can keep and read for the rest of the week! I love hearing from all of you, and thank you for your support and love.
Also, Presidente y Hermana Murphy are just the coolest. I love them so much, and I can't wait to work with them for the next 16.5 months!
I love you all so much,
Hermana Kennedy
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