Hi Presidente Murphy,
It was a really nice week, especially with Verificaciones. Hermana Bustos knocked her Lesson One out of the park. I obviously wasn't there myself, but she felt really good about it which is the most important thing. She's got Lesson One down, and she's really helped me do better in teaching Lesson Two.
We had an amazing lesson with Patricio Qiuilumbaquin this past week about the Plan of Salvation, and it's amazing how the Spirit can reside anywhere...even in the back of a ferreteria (hardware store), surrounded by cans of paint and sacks of stuff. Patricio is progressing really, really well. He has now attended church four times, and he keeps coming back without any help from anyone. He even told us this past week that he wants his daughter to serve a mission :-). He's on schedule for his baptism on the 29th, so we are hoping that everything will continue to go well.
Mariana also attended church yesterday, making her number of asistencias four as well! And the best part? Her son, Francisco, is a member, and normally she only comes when he comes, but he couldn't come to church yesterday, but she still came!! She's feeling a lot more peaceful about her baptism now, and I think that after a year and a half of having missionaries in her house, she's finally ready to follow in the footsteps of her sons and be baptized. We are so looking forward to September 2nd!
Charity is amazing. I was so worried at the start of my mission that I wouldn't be able to love the people, because I've never been very good at that, but now I think I love them a little too much, and I never want to leave. These people are my brothers and my sisters, and while I am their teacher, they are my friends, and I'm so grateful to be here with them. It's amazing how God can touch our hearts and help us overcome challenges as well as help us follow the example of Jesus Christ. I know that I'll never be anywhere near as loving and forgiving as my Savior, but I'm grateful that here on the mission, I can try to follow His example and be better than I normally am. I love being a missionary, and I love this church. It teaches such simple, yet powerful truths, and it helps us to be more like our Savior. When we focus on other people and their needs, we can forget our own worries and troubles, and we can feel the love of God more.
Thank you for your hard work and for all you do for us missionaries!
Have a great week!
Hermana Kennedy
So, Hermana Bustos had her first verifications this week. Verificaciones are where the trainers and trainees head to Quito, and the trainees go to a place called Panecillo while the trainers get some training. Afterwards, the trainees teach Lesson One (the Restoration) to other trainers. Anyway, sounds normal and fun, right? Well, it's especially fun when there's only one companionship of hermanas (Hermana Bustos and I), and the rest of the trainers/trainees are elders. So, while Hermana Bustos headed with Hermana Murphy and the other trainees and Presidente to Panecillo, we trainers stayed behind with the four secretaries (all men too). Meaning....I was alone with eight elders for twohours! #powerfulwoman. It was actually really fun, but also really funny, because it's totes magoats not supposed to happen, but oh well! :-). Afterwards, when everyone came back, we headed to lunch with the elders, and while walking, there were three companionships of elders in front of us, and three behind, and I felt like the President of the United States or something, surrounded my security guards in black suits, walking casually down the streets in Quito, Ecuador :-)
So, we found Jonathan David, and it's not good. He's back from Colombia, and now believes that there isn't a true religion on the earth, and we happened upon him while he was doing drugs. So, yeah. That's a little hard to deal with, because, what the heck, dude? Two weeks ago, you wanted to be baptized and be a missionary, and now you're saying that the church isn't true and you're doing bad stuff? C'mon man! Anyway, he didn't really want to talk to us because, you know, drugs and all, so we are going back tonight to talk with him about what happened in Colombia that changed him so drastically. But I think that all along, he's had a drug addiction. He's always had rather strange behavior, and his eyes have always been red, and it's always kind of been in my mind, but I've pushed it aside, because I thought that maybe I was just being judgy. But the Spirit works, and the gift of discernment is real, because I've been having a lot of feelings all along about Jonathan David, and it turns out that they were all correct. Anyway, so that's a huge bummer, but we are seriously hoping that we can find out what's going on tonight.
Also, we had a hilarious Principles of the Gospel lesson yesterday in church on the Word of Wisdom. So, we get started talking about our bodies being like temples, but after discussing what we should and shouldn't take into our bodies (alcohol, etc.), Hermana Casco, our lider missional (and the teacher of the class), starts getting into how actually, all grapes contain a little bit of alcohol, and that eating too many at one time is bad, and that actually consuming too much of any fruit is bad because they're all going to start fermenting in your stomach and produce alcohol. Okay hermano :-). We had some good laughs about that with the elders afterwards, and Mariana thought it was really funny.
I've really felt Heavenly Father's love for me this week. We had some disappointments, but He always came through, and Mariana and Patricio attending church yesterday really emphasized to me the tender mercies of the Lord. I know that compared to some missions (Czech Republic, Russia, Poland), my mission could be considered easy, but every mission has its quirks, and I was struggling a little this week. Even today, I just don't feel quite like myself. I guess I'm worried that I'm getting stuck in a rut after only five months in the mission, and I don't want to be that way. Every day should be an adventure, and every day should be a miracle, but it's just so rhythmic, the missionary life, and I don't know how to change it up. If you guys could just pray for me that I can be happy and work hard. I feel like I'm not doing enough, and that I'm not working hard enough, and I can tell I'm really stressed, because my face is breaking out like crazy, I'm biting my nails, and I've been stress eating which is super bad. My legs, however, are almost completely healed :-)
Also, being a sister missionary is hard sometimes in the places with lots of wind! We were teaching English classes this past Saturday with the elders, and there was a heck ton of wind! So, in order to save myself from major embarrassment, I had to crouch or sit the whole time :-). The elders had a good laugh about that #wearingpantseveryday
Anyways, I love you guys a lot and I'm sorry that there isn't much to report this week. I'm so grateful for your emails and everything, and one of the secretaries told me that it usually takes three months minimum for packages to arrive from the US, so don't worry Mama. I think that in September, Imma start getting some of the packages. I love you guys, and I know that Heavenly Father loves you too. Have a fantabulous week! Say "hi" to Chiefy and Hootie for me!
Love,
Hermana Kennedy
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