Buenas tardes, President Murphy,
Well, he did it. Rene was baptized and confirmed. We are so incredibly proud of him. He has waited so long for this, and he just loves the Gospel. Thank you for coming to his baptism. It meant a lot to him to have so many people there supporting him. We are especially grateful that the ward is supporting him. We hope that Rene and Fausto (who was baptized in December) can be a service to the ward soon. And we are so happy that Rene can now tell people that he is a Mormon ;-). And we hope that we can teach some of his family, because almost all of them came to his baptism.
We tried to commit Franklin to baptism this week, but he feels like he still isn't ready. He comes to church every week, and he came to Rene's baptism, but he's usually more focused on his phone than the actual meeting, so we are going to check in with him and see exactly what he wants. He's very sweet and obedient, but we don't know if he's really becoming converted to the Lord. But we are hoping that the baptism could touch something in his heart.
And you met Hugo. He's great and has a baptismal date for the 14th of April. He keeps trying to convince us that maybe he won't be ready by then, but he has such desires to find out if this is the true church, and we know that if he does his part, he will receive an answer.
We found this great new investigator this week. Her name is Nataly, and she was a referral from the zone leaders of Ofelia. She has a four-year-old son named Gabriel, and she accepted the baptismal invitation. She told us she would come to church this coming Sunday and that we can visit her any time Thursday, Friday or Saturday, so we are hoping to set up at least two appointments with her each week.
Everything is great here in Santa Anita. Heavenly Father was so good to us this week in helping Rene be baptized. I know that He is involved in this work, because it is right. He helps us each and every day. I love being a missionary.
Thank you for your hard work and your example.
Have a great week!
Hermana Kennedy
RENE DID IT!! Seriously, we are so, so proud of him! When he walked into the chapel at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday for his baptism, we were like, HE DID IT! He's here! He can't escape now! ;-). Of course, not five minutes later, Hermana Knapp looks out the front chapel doors, and she sees President and Hermana Murphy! I've never had President at a baptism before, so I was like "thank goodness I did my hair, and I look like a missionary!" ;-). We always look like missionaries but for conferences and other stuff with President, we always dress up a little more :-). Anyways, so we walk out to greet him, and while talking to him, Hermana Pincay and her mom walk up! She told me last week that she was coming all the way from Guayaquil, but she didn't know President was coming either so she sees him and does the "what the heck" face! She was even in pants and everything! It was awesome! And Hermana Moss (one of my friends from the MTC and Hermana Pincay's companion here in Santa Anita before me) also came to support Rene. Seriously, everyone showed up for him. Unfortunately, our bishop didn't show up, and he was the only one with keys to the baptismal clothing, so we were calling him and calling him, and finally his wife picks up the phone and is rather upset at Hermana Knapp because they were in the middle of dinner. At this point, it's 6:05, and none of us likes to run late. Thankfully, Sister Murphy gave the bishop a call and he came over to unlock everything. There's always something at a baptism, right?
But it was so beautiful. Patricia Puetate, a recent convert and friend to Rene gave the first message, and she was so nervous, but she gave a beautiful testimony about her own baptism, and afterwards, I gave a small talk on the Spirit. I was super nervous too, but I think it was okay. And then Rene was baptized. It's so funny how he has waited a year for a moment that lasted about two seconds, but the blessings last for eternity. And then the best thing ever happened: people here don't necessarily wear suits and dresses to church. Some do, but a lot wear jeans and sweaters, or something like that, so Rene showed up to his baptism like that, but when he came back in after changing, he was wearing a full suit and tie. It was the cutest thing ever. He told us that he wanted to come out as a new man :-). We just about died.
And the next day he was confirmed a member of the church, and as he passed us on the way back to his seat, he shook our hands and said, "I'm a Mormon!" And after the sacrament, they opened the door so all the people who were late could come in, and I looked up and saw ROSA JUMBO!! She is one of my investigators from Mitad del Mundo, and it turns out that on February 10, she was finally baptized after thirty years.
She sat next to me and hugged me, and I was like, 'What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you, Hermana!"
I couldn't believe it! And, she brought me mandarin oranges and lemons to make lemonade! She and her daughter cried saying goodbye to me after church. It's funny because I didn't even know that I had made an impact in their lives, but I am so grateful to Heavenly Father. I've been feeling lately like I haven't been working hard enough or that I'm not doing enough as a missionary, but not only did I feel like that was Heavenly Father telling me that I'm doing okay, but it also motivated me to want to work even harder to help more people.
And as always, my email wouldn't be complete with some funny animal story. So first, we found these goats on Tuesday, and I was like cool! Goats! Anyway, I started bleating at them as only a Kennedy can do, and they started talking to me! Oh my gosh, Hermana Knapp and I were cracking up! I kept talking back and forth with them for about a minute! Anyway, I can communicate with goats. I can now put that on my special skills list on my resume :-)
Too, last week, while we were contacting on a road, this pack of five dogs came up and started following us. We named them Alma, Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni. They followed us for three hours. So Friday and Saturday, we went back to that same road to try and contact again, and they were all there and they followed us again. Super cute. They're like our protectors.
Also, I woke up this morning with a double ear infection. That was fun. Thankfully, modern medicine is a thing these days, but man, I haven't had an ear infection for like 18 years, but those things hurt like heck!
Okay, I think that's about it folks. I can't wait to here about BB2 next week! I love you all so much!
Love,
Hermana Kennedy
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