Buenas tardes, President Murphy! Well, this was a week of miracles. Last Sunday, we found a woman and her sister outside of their house. Their names are Janeth and Susana Carrera. Janeth is a mother of three, and is currently dealing with cancer. She's really scared that she will die soon and leave her husband and kids alone. At first, she didn't seem particularly interested, but on Thursday, we went back to visit her and taught the Restoration. We found out that she has spent a lot of time investigating churches, but some don't seem sincere in their hearts, or others are all about getting money, which fit really well into the Restoration. We taught her Lesson One along with a little bit of tithing, and we left her with a Book of Mormon to read along with her 11-year-old daughter, Dayana. We asked to come back on Friday, and she agreed. So, on Friday, we arrived to find that she had indeed been reading the Book of Mormon, so we began with Lesson Two. It was funny, because her nieces and nephew kept coming into the room and interrupting (which, for us, is normal), but she kept telling them to tell their mom that she couldn't talk right now because we were teaching her. As we taught more and more of the Plan of Salvation, she just seemed happier and happier. At the end, she told us how excited she was to be able to see her mom again someday, and I think it probably eased her worries a lot about her future and her family. At the end, Hermana Caceres invited her to baptism, but all she asked was, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ?" and Janeth just said, "YES!" We then finished the statement, and she still agreed, and we set a date for the 9th of December for her and Dayana. We then asked her to come to church, and she said yes to that too, and on Sunday morning, we arrived to find her, Dayana, and her three-year-old niece, Camila, ready to go to church. So we headed out, and she loved church. It was especially fun because it was the Primary program, so she got to see what it is that the church teaches young children, and she was asking questions and participating in the Gospel Principles lesson on eternal marriage. During Relief Society, the lesson was on helping new converts and others feel loved and included at church, and she kept turning to us and commenting on how some people were really friendly and coming up to her to introduce themselves before sacrament meeting that morning. I loved seeing how that lesson impacted the sisters in Relief Society, because afterwards, a couple of sisters came up to her and were talking to her. One sister, Hermana Duenas, talked to her, and we found out that she too dealt with cancer a few years ago, and she wants to have a family home evening with Janeth this next week!
Meanwhile, the other 11-year-old girls had welcomed Dayana with open arms, and Camila came out of nursery with a painting to show her mom. While waiting for her husband to pick her up, Janeth told us all about her family and her life. We gave her her baptismal plan, and we are so excited for her. I think the church is going to be a great blessing for her in her life.
It's amazing to see how Heavenly Father puts people in our path. It's amazing how He shows us miracles after the trial of our faith. We have been feeling kid of bad these last couple of weeks because no one has been coming to church, but to have someone who is so ready and willing is just wonderful.
We have been praying a lot about staying here or not, and we both feel like we still have work to do here in this sector and this ward. We have been praying a lot for the ward, and since we started praying for them, things have been getting better. The bishop finally has a second counselor, and in correlation, he was giving us suggestions as to how we can help the members more. And way more people came up to say hello to Janeth on Sunday than I've ever seen. When I came into this ward, I didn't have the best attitude, but President, everyone is here to learn and to grow, and I'm learning to love better and to have more patience. Our goal is to continue praying for the ward, but to also really get to know the members. I know that there is something we both need to learn for the next transfer here. We feel like there is something that we need to do here.
I love being a missionary. Hermana Careers is helping me find joy in the mission again. She is so patient with me, and she has such a desire to be a perfect teacher. She's so worried about her first verifications, but she can teach Lesson One on her own without any problem. She's such an amazing missionary.
Thank you for your counsel and advice. We sure do appreciate all that you and Hermana Murphy do for us.
Have a wonderful week,
Hermana Kennedy
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| How did I know that I wasn't supposed to climb up it? There's a BREAK in the ropes! |
Also, this past Wednesday, I hit my nine month mark. It's kind of weird to think that I now have less time left in the mission than I have on the mission. Sometimes I think that I still have a whole nine months left, and other times, I'm like, what the heck, I have less than nine months left. That's just weird, especially since in the next two months, we have Thanksgiving (not celebrated here), Christmas, and New Years. After that, I hit a year. Then after that, it's just a few more months! AHH!!
I just love Hermana Caceres. Seriously, before this transfer, I asked Heavenly Father to give me a companion who would help me find joy in the mission again, and she's it, 100%. I love being with her, and we are seeing so many miracles in our sector. She's just the best, and I'm so grateful that not only did I have the best trainer, but I've also had two of the best trainees. I love that with them, I've laughed and laughed, and cried a little. But mostly, I'm just so grateful that Hermana Caceres is helping me feel happy again. I know that when I was home, I wasn't much fun to be around, but it's because I just felt so badly about myself, like a failure, but I began to be happy with you guys again. Then I was so sad to leave you all again, and to think that it would be another year until I saw you, and then I came into that very difficult transfer, and I just wondered why I had come back. But Hermana Caceres is reminding me why I did, in fact, come back, and I am SO happy to be here. I still miss you all like crazy and think about you all the time, but in a happy way, because at the same time, I'm so happy to be here and to have another life-long friend.
Funny little life fact. We live in an apartment complex, and our neighbors next door are the WORST! They always leave their gate open, blocking the sidewalk, and sometimes they'll just randomly be outside and we can feel them judging us as we walk by, but the worst is their DOG! It's a beagle. I know there are some people who love beagles, but never in my life will I have that rat of a dog (and you know that if anyone is a non-animal hater, it's me, so it's gotta be bad). It barks all the time. The other day, the owners left it inside alone for like seven hours straight in the night, so it was barking forever, even after we went to bed. Hermana Caceres woke up a couple times, and found that it was still barking. Before we went to bed, I thought that maybe some food would shut it up, so I went to our back porch (which is connected to theirs), but there are concrete walls in between, so we can't actually see each other. Anyway, I took some crackers and started chucking them over the wall, and it worked, but very temporarily. The funny thing is that Hermana Caceres was watching from the window upstairs, and she didn't know what I was doing, but she saw some stuff going from our side to theirs, and she had a good laugh about that :-)
And yep, that video of me breaking my ankle is pretty gnarly, huh? It's especially crazy that for the rest of that day and the following, I was walking without a boot on a broken ankle. To think that I got on the bus, off the bus and walked to our district meeting and later in Quito, to the hospital. I'm really not sure how it was possible. A lot of Heavenly Father's help, I guess.
I need to thank you again, Mama and Daddy, for buying me Javi (viola) the day before I returned. I love having him with me. I love being able to share the gospel through music. And in the greatest music news of the century, President and Hermana Murphy are planning a Christmas devotional for December in all of the stakes in the mission, and it's a MUSICAL fireside, and they asked me to be one of the performers! How fun is that? I'm super excited. I heard that my current stake agreed, and I really hope all the others do too so that I can get to know the other parts of the mission. It's so fun doing this. Thanks for all those music lessons growing up :-) They sure are coming in handy now!
I love you all lots. Don't forget to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I'm on my second time of reading it in Spanish and my third time on the mission, and there's always something more to find. I love receiving conference talks each week, so yes, please keep sending them to me with your thoughts. I'm SO excited to receive my Christmas package! Okay, I love you. Have a FABULOUS week, and do something nice for someone else.
Love,
Hermana Kennedy
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| Umbrellas are good for rain...and for protecting feet from being sunburned :-) |
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