Hiya my lovely family!
Here's my letter to President Murphy:
Buenas tardes, Presidente Murphy,
Well, we had a pretty good week, and the time just flew by. We really are trying to find the balance between our studies, finding, teaching, and verifying. We aren't quite there yet, but we are trying to do each one every day. Heavenly Father has really been helping us find great people to teach and is letting us know whether we should keep teaching them or not. Last week, we had an interesting experience. We had an appointment set up with a contact, but she wasn't there, but her daughter was, and so we taught her a really good lesson. However, afterwards we were going down the hill from this tiny neighborhood, and this older woman contacted us! She just said "hello" and asked where we were going, and we got to talking, and we asked if we could come and visit her at that moment. Her daughter just had an operation for thyroid cancer, and she wanted us to talk to her, so we headed up to her house, but her daughter wasn't there, so we asked if we could come back another day, and she heartily agreed. A few days later, we were again heading down that same hill when we again ran into Mariana with her daughter, Dora. They're super funny and sometimes we can hardly get a word in, but this week they let us help move a ton of concrete blocks for them, and they couldn't believe when afterwards, we still wanted to help wash their clothes. But it led to us being able to teach a really sweet lesson with both of them, and Dora's daughter, Allison, on the Restoration. We invited them to be baptized on the second of December, and they accepted. They have such good hearts, and we really hope that all three of them can make it to the 2nd. Our dates for Lilliana and Christian fell through because they weren't able to attend church, so we are going to see if they can really attend church this week, and if they do, we will set another date with them.
Hermana Caceres is just so ready to be a missionary. She has no confidence in herself, and yet she teaches. She doesn't have any fear, and when asked to do something, she does it whole-heartedly. With Mariana, Dora, and Allison, she took the lead on how to begin teaching and on the lesson, and she did just beautifully. She is going to be a force to be reckoned with once she's out of her training.
I'm really very lucky to be training again. When I left after week 8 with Hermana Bustos, I just felt like a failure because I wasn't able to spend the whole 12 weeks with her, and I'm really grateful for a second chance. I promise I'll stay away from any and all slides over the next 12 weeks :-)
Thanks for all that you and Hermana Murphy do for us. I'm so grateful for your examples, and I sure do love being a missionary.
Have a great week,
Hermana Kennedy
Seriously, we must have moved a literal ton of concrete blocks for Mariana. It was awesome.
Okay, so I know that many of you right now are preparing to celebrate Halloween tomorrow. You're preparing costumes, maybe something scary, maybe not so much. Personally, every day I'm scared of going upstairs in the dark because of Diana. Thanks for that, family :-). But let me tell you, nothing anyone will do or see tomorrow on the night of horrors will compare with what I had to endure this past week.
I had to eat guatita.
Guatita, quite simply put, is cow stomach. As in, the innards of a cow. And as some of you may know, I'm not really into weird food textures. It's why I don't eat raisins or shrimp. The other week, we were given octopus which had a weird texture, but it tasted super good, so I just chewed fast and tried not to let it touch my tongue. But when our mamita put a plate in front of us full of rice, avocado, boiled egg, potatoes, and guatita, panic struck my mind. I don't like egg or avacado for texture OR taste. And I thought that maybe it would be okay because maybe guatita wouldn't taste too bad.
WRONGO!
It tastes like NASTY mixed with GROSS. And it is chewy as heck. As in, I almost couldn't chew it, and the taste was so bad that my gag reflex actually kicked in a couple of times. And our mamita was sitting right there, going on and on about how guatita is a delicacy here in Ecuador, and it wouldn't have been so bad eating that big plate except that everything was covered in a sauce made from the guatita juice, so everything tasted like cow stomach.
No joke, the only reason I almost made it through the ordeal was because of the pineapple juice. I was taking a sip after every single bite of the nastiness. Man, after we finally left, I had to head to the nearest bakery to get the taste out of my mouth. And our mamita wouldn't leave, or Hermana Caceres would have eaten mine, because she loved it. She finished it fifteen minutes before I did. Yes, it took me 45 minutes to eat that food...if you can call it food!
Also, super funny story from a bus this week. So, we take busses everywhere, and we see some weird things on busses. People with chickens in bags, dogs, drunks. The usual. But this week, we were on a bus, and every bus has a money collector. And every once in a while, the money collector has to jump off the bus to stamp a time card. So, this bus collector, probably mid-twenties, jumps out, and I think he's going to stamp a card. But he comes back with a big bag, and he starts pulling out clothes--a jacket, socks, and a shirt. I'm just think that's kind of weird, but okay. Then, he does that kind of backward glance and starts unbuttoning his shirt, and I'm just like, "No, he has a shirt on underneath" or something, but NOPE! He just strips off his shirt, and I turn to Hermana Careers, and we just start laughing, and she says, "Look down, Hermana. Look down." We get off the bus and just keep laughing. Good times here in Ecuador. Nothing ghetto at all :-)
Also, this week was the week of colada morada and guaguas de pan. So, there's a holiday here on November 2 where they make something called colada morada, and they shape bread like children with filling inside. So, everyone this past week was making it, so we had it at the house of an investigator, at the house of a random person, and we had a ward and stake activity with colada morada, and a bunch of people eating children. It's sooooo good, and I'm going to be super sad when it disappears after the 2nd!
You know, I think I'm having a hard time being a Latina. I know that sounds silly because I've been here for almost eight months, but I've had three North American companions, and one other Latina companion who was very chill and introverted, but man, Hermana Caceres is just a full blown EXTROVERT! Daddy used to tell us about "Spanish people" and how friendly and outgoing they are, but he hasn't met Hermana Caceres! She puts everyone, especially my introverted self, to shame. She's been explaining to me that with other Latina people, especially other missionaries, I need to smile more and be a little friendlier. So, this week has been a bit of a learning curve. It's not a problem with people in general or investigators, but with other missionaries. I just don't feel this burning need to make them like me, because they aren't why I'm here. But I am trying, if for no other reason than I think Hermana Caceres needs me to try and seem happier when it's just the two of us.
It was interesting picking her up from the airport. I was picked up from my district meeting a little early by a member and his wife in one of those short yellow busses, and they drove me to the airport where we waited for Hermana Caceres to arrive. We didn't know where she was coming from or her flight number or anything, so we were just waiting, and then she came out! I was like..."Hermana! Hermana! A picture!" And then we met, and I told her that I was her trainer, and she was like, "Oh, okay." She then looked at the member's wife and asked if she was the mission mom or something. We then drove an hour and a half back to our apartment to drop off her stuff, and then headed back to Quito to have the new missionary dinner and testimony meeting, so I got to do all of that again. That was kind of fun. We then went back to our apartment, only to return the next morning to go to the training meeting where I was once again the only hermana present. It was just me with 13 other elders who were also training. I'm starting to see a pattern here :-). After the meeting, we then went BACK to our sector to work a little, then headed home at the end of the day. We went to bed super fast because the next day (Thursday), we AGAIN had to head back to Quito for the meeting with Elder Fallabella and Sister McConkie, and we had to get there an hour early so I could practice my musical number with an elder. Of course, this is Ecuador so there wasn't a music stand in sight, so I had to use the podium...which doesn't move....so in order to see my music all the way down there on the Ecuadorian heighted podium, I had to be super ghetto and use hymn books to bring it a little closer to my level :-). Needless to say, it was a little exciting! My number was pretty good, but I was SUPER nervous, and I couldn't get my legs or hands to stop shaking. But Elder Fallabella and Sister McConkie did actually change their talks a little to talk about the restoration, because my musical number was a medley of Joseph Smith's First Prayer, a Poor Wayfaring Man, and Praise to the Man. It was super cool to see them do that.
Anyway, lots of fun stuff. I love you all lots, and I love hearing from you guys each week! I pray for you every day, and I hope you have a fabulous week!
Love,
Hermana Kennedy
And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! I keep thinking that the Brooklyn Nine Nine Halloween episode must have come out! ARGH!!!!!!
And dang Mommy, you sure are a good photographer! Those engagement pictures of Mark and Allison are so beautiful. Also, their eyes look SUPER BLUE!! None of their babies will be sleeping in the basement ;-)
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