Hermana Kennedy and Nothing Says Love Like a Dead Guinea Pig

Hi family!  Here's my email to President:

Buenas tardes, Presidente,

Well, the work continues here in Otavalo!  José passed his baptismal interview on Sunday, so he will be getting baptized on Saturday at 7 p.m.  He and Diana have their marriage appointment with registro civil on Friday at 1:30 p.m.  We are so excited for them.  José really wants to know everything, and even though he has doubts, he still knows that this is the truth.  We were a little worried about tithing, because he was making a little bit of a fuss about it, but he is learning a lot about trusting in God and His commandments, and he says that he knows that he will continue learning little by little and doesn't need to perfectly understand everything right now.  We so appreciate the fellowship that the ward has given him, and they are all asking to go to their wedding on Friday.

We also have Milton Yaselga for the 7th of July.  We are just a little worried because all of last week he was in Quito with his older brother, and so we are going to need to teach him the big commandments and lesson 5 this week.  His mom is all good with his date and everything.  We thought she might freak out because she still thought his date was far away last week, but she knows that he will have his interview this Saturday and be baptized next week, and she is really happy.  I love seeing how baptizing these kids also helps their families become active in the church again. It happened with Melanie, and now with Milton.  Even though he couldn't come because he was in Quito, his mom and three older sisters all came to church yesterday.

Adrian is also progressing really well for the 14th of July.  If we just teach really simply, and do a lot of follow-up right there in the lessons after we teach a principle, he's fine.  He retains the information well when we use examples that he can understand, so it really is about the teaching style.  He is at church every week with his family.

We were able to set a baptismal date with Joselyn Bautista this week.  She's an antiguo whom we found in the Latino carpeta, and she's great.  She comes to church every week, and even though she's a little nervous, she accepted a date for the 4th of August.  She was actually going to San Pablo for a while (even though she lives in Centenario) because her friends all go there.  We are working on finding fellowshippers for her in Latino, and actually we have another investigator about her age, so we are trying to help them get to know one another, because we are planning setting a date with Daniella this week too.  So, we hope that they can go through the conversion process together.

I love this sector.  We see so many miracles here, and I'm so grateful to be finishing my mission here. I'm excited to finish training and to help someone else start here.  I'll do my best to help her as well as the other companionships of hermanas.  Thank you for the opportunities you have given me on my mission.  I won't let you down.

Thank you for your example too.  I know that this is the truth, and that there is no other way whereby we can come to know our Savior than His church.  I love being a missionary.

Have a great week,
Hermana Kennedy

Also, from my letter last week, President sent me this:

Gracias, Hermana Kennedy.  I can't wait for you to get back to a nice keyboard!

You'll do great as you finish your mission, sprinting, helping a new Hermana and also other Hermanas en el campo.  Keep up the great work.

So sassy.  Thankfully, I have a nice keyboard today.  I guess I just can't type anymore ;-)

Okay, well this week was full of ups and downs.  Let's start with the downs, shall we?

So, on Wednesday I got a call from Hermana Willis, an hermana from my group who's a really good friend.  She told me that due to some crazy weird stuff, she has to go home for health problems.  It was like my situation.  Within three days, she found out that she has to leave.  And since Hermana Knapp is also going home for her health, that means that yesterday we had to say goodbye to them.  We had a self-sufficiency training with our whole group, so Hermana Moss and I had to say goodbye to them, and it was awful.  Hermana Knapp and Hermana Willis were both laughing and having so much fun, and Hermana Moss and I were just crying and miserable.  Like, it just doesn't feel right.  We love them so much, and we always imagined being there the last night together, and seeing each other off at the airport, and now they're gone.  We know that their health is way more important, but it's also super sad.

Also, could you guys please pray for Mariana and her family?  I don't know if you guys remember but she's my convert from San Pablo, the one who got baptized after I got sent home.  Her son, Richard, had health problems with his heart and lungs, and on Saturday night we found out that he died.  It was really sudden.  I went to go see them and it was awful.  Her husband is Catholic, so there were all these strangers in their house with the coffin on lifts with a huge cross and everything, and Mariana and her daughter, Abby, were just in another room, crying.  Abby was asking why it's like this.  She just lost her brother, and all these people are there, and the woman talking doesn't even know Richard's name.  It was really awful, and I cried all night.  He was my friend, and I feel so awful that I didn't get to say goodbye.  Please just pray for their family.

So, I will be finishing my mission here in Otavalo as an hermana leader, and I'm training a new missionary for just six weeks.  President is trying something out.  There are 12 hermanas who are coming to the mission, so all the hermana leaders are going to be training...and still function as hermana leaders. And....Hermana Bustos and Hermana Caceres are also training!!!!  I'm so dang proud of them!  Like, seriously so excited for them!  Say lots of prayers for all of us!

Inty Raimi (San Juan) has begun here.  That's the festival where everyone dances in the streets, and as it turns out, my experience last year in San Pablo was tame.  Saturday night was when it really started, and seeing that we live on the street with Plaza de Ponchos, it meant that everyone in Otavalo had come out and was singing and dancing until 5 a.m. on Sunday.  Everyone was burning stuff and crazy stuff like that.

However, earlier on in the week, we heard singing outside of our window, and we saw what at first we thought was San Juan, but you should know that the indigenous people here have a tradition for a marriage proposal:  they have to bring fifty pounds of food to the girl's house along with dead and live animals, and fruits, and bread, and potatoes.  So when we looked out the window, we saw a line of people carrying racks of dead chickens and guinea pigs, swinging back and forth, with a live sheep on a leash, and trucks full of fruits and drinks and potatoes behind the people.  The other day, an hermana was talking to us and said that her son doesn't want to get married, but he came up and argued that he does want to get married, but he wants a girl who doesn't want all of that ceremony because it's silly.  The hermana was so exasperated with him, but we had a good laugh.

I've gotten to be companions for the last two days with Hermana Moss, and it is so fun.  She's the other girl from my MTC group, and we have always wanted to be companions, but it never happened (which is okay). On Sunday night, I stayed with her and her companion, and we made tacos at night, and sang together, and just talked.  Yesterday, we had to go to training, and then we came back to Otavalo to go to appointments, and one of her investigators said that we should just stay companions because she can see how happy we are.  And we are together today until we pick up our trainees tomorrow.  I just love that the mission has helped me make such good friends.

I ugly-cried.

I am so freaking tall.

Doesn't Hermana Giles have the cutest family ever?

And speaking of good friends, I got to see Hermana Giles this week!  She came back with her family, and they are so cute, and she brought me a three pound jar of PEANUT BUTTER!!! I just about died!

And Mama, I'm so glad that Michigan is turning out to be so good with friends and everything.  And tasty food.  There will still be some for me, right? Because chicken and rice are starting to uninterest me.  Chicken here is really good, but I miss the variety.  And I'm really hoping that the lungs I've gotten here stay with me.  Running isn't too bad here anymore, but I think Ethan and Mark's overly long wingspans will give them a win in a pool over any lung capacity I have, but who knows?


Okay, I love you guys!  I can't believe that the mission is coming to an end, but I'm really grateful that I'm training, because I really think it'll help me keep going until the very last moment.  Look for pics with my new trainee from President Murphy--I guess we'll find out who she is together!  I love you guys.  Pray for me.  I'm just really, really tired.

Love,
Hermana Kennedy

Hermana Kennedy (top row, right) and the trainers with their new trainees.

Here's Hermana Bustos with her new companion, and look at what she's wearing?
It's the dress you sent her for Christmas, Mama!

Hermana Kennedy and the Flight of the Bumblebeads

Hi family!  Here's my letter to President (sorry thats it gonna be another hashtag emailcuzbadspacebar):

Buenas tardes, Presidente Murphy,

It was great to see you this week.  Thank you for your advice in my interview.  I think I've been struggling with a lot of self-doubt lately, and it was exactly what I needed to hear.  I guess I've just been feeling like I'm not doing enough, and I know that we can always improve. I also need to remember that I can't be perfect, and that's okay, but I should give a perfect effort.  Thank you for your advice.

So we changed the baptismal date for José because they changed their marriage date.  He and Diana are getting married on Friday because her sister is getting time off work to come and be there with them.  The ward is also asking at what time so that they can go too.  So his interview will be Saturday, and he will be baptized on the 30th. We started teaching him about tithing this week, and he seems a little unsure, so this week we are going to focus on him gaining a testimony of obedience and understanding the doctrine behind it.  He knows that the church is true and he prays each time to Heavenly Father to help him be baptized (and to later help his family be sealed in the temple), so we know that he has desires, but he is also not about following blindly.  We are going to make sure he understands and that he feels comfortable with everything.

Miton is still set to be baptized on the 7th of July.  Every time we visit him, he tells us all of his goals for the future including being baptized, receiving the priesthood, serving a mission, and being sealed in the temple :-)  It's amazing to see how much he understands.  Sometimes we use scriptures that after reading them, we think that they're maybe too intense for a child, but then we ask what he understood and he understood what we read perfectly.  I truly believe the his Spirit is ready for this Gospel, and he has a sincerity about him that will help him a lot in the future.  The only worry we have with him is his mom.  We said this past week that he is getting baptized in about three weeks, and his mom burst in saying that he isn't getting baptized until July 7th, but I think it's snuck up on her that June is almost gone.  Anyway, this week we are going to make sure that she knows that his interview is in two weeks, and his baptism is in three weeks, because we don't want any surprises.

And Adrian is set for the 14th of July.  We changed up how we are teaching him with a lot of verification in the lessons, and it's going much better.  We verify his understanding of every principle, and if he didn't understand, we go back and teach it a different way.  It takes a little more time, but it's helping and that's what matters, that he understands.  His mom is also doing a lot better, and she is so diligent and faithful in involving her kids in the Gospel.  I love their family, and even though I'm helping baptize a lot of kids here in Otavalo, I'm grateful to meet these families and see how the Gospel helps them as a whole.

We love working with Barrio Latino.  They are giving us a lot of referrals, and we have plans to set three more baptismal dates with their referrals this week.  They are really trying to work hard with us, and we have a mission leader again for which we are very grateful.

I love Otavalo.  I really am so grateful for being able to come back here to finish my mission.  It's like it all came full circle.  Thank you for all the opportunities you have given me and are still giving me.  Thank you for your example and diligence.

Have a great week,
Hermana Kennedy

Me with some dope street art.

Okay, so cool thing.  Adrian's mom, Dolores, makes Dream Catchers (I think I've mentioned this in a past email).  It's super cool because when we are over, we help her sometimes, so little by little, I'm also learning how to do it.  I know how to wrap the outer circle, how to make the star in the middle, and how to add the feathers at the end.  It's just a few middle parts that I'm missing, but I've got seven more weeks to learn :-)  I actually want to do an hermana's activity next transfer with her teaching us all how to do it.  Anyway, like a week and a half ago, after teaching Adrian (because we always teach him, and then help her), she brings out this huge bag containing beads from a couple of big containers that she knocked over.  They were now all mixed together.  She asked if we could help her sort them a little.  Well, we barely made any progress, but I offered to take them home and work on sorting them in my free time in the morning and at night.  Honestly, you know how monotonous tasks help me with my Tourette's, and since my symptoms have been off the charts with the stress lately, I was really more than happy to help her!  And she was thrilled when I said yes!  Well, there were four main colors mixed together, along with a couple of other stray colors--black, brown, light blue and purple.  Let me tell you, those beads consumed my every spare moment.  Seriously there must have been two thousand of them, and they're so small, so I became super focused separating them.  But I also loved it because it was something I did that gave me control (#BeingAMissionaryIsntAlwaysEasy).  Anyway, I finished Saturday night, and I thought I was done with them.  However, after finishing triumphantly on Saturday, I went to bed only to then DREAM about those darn beads!  I was like NOOOOOOO!!!!  I gave them all to her Sunday at church only to then have another dream Sunday night.  Oh my goodness, I was so glad to see those beads go...only to have them come back.  AHHHHH!!!!!  But it's okay--I was so glad to help her, and I love that I'm learning a new skill.

A wall of cats. You could say it's a caterwaul ;-)

Also, Happy Father's Day again yesterday, Daddy.  I love you a lot.

It's starting to turn into summer here.  The rain has sadly stopped, and the season of wind and dust has begun meaning that I'm going to be walking around half blind all the time.  And San Juan starts this Sunday!  That's that holiday I told you about last year where people go out and dance in the streets.  Everyone is getting ready, and the ward loves making jokes about inviting me to come and play my viola with them while they walk since we can't join in the dancing ;-)

Me with the other hermana lideres (sister missionary leaders)

I had a lovely P-day today, running all of our errands early this morning, printing out my emails, stopping to buy Argentinian empanadas and heading home.  I changed into pants and a shirt, I sat in bed reading and eating.  Also, I totally ate more than to the middle of a $4 box of Froot Loops I bought today.  Man, do I miss cereal.  It was so good.  Like, amazingly good.  But man is American cereal expensive here, and it's limited to Froot Loops, Trix and Frosted Flakes.  I don't think things like Cracklin' Oat Bran or Grape Nuts will ever catch on here, but that's okay.  God Bless America.

Me with Hermana Willis and Hermana Millburn, two hermanas from my group.

Speaking of which, I'm getting really excited for the 4th of July.  I have lots of plans to celebrate our beautiful country.  I love America, and this past week, I started randomly singing the National Anthem, and it made me a little teary-eyed because seeing the contrast between there and here and thinking of all the rights and liberties we enjoy in the States just makes me love our country more.  I always think of the Air Force base in Germany--how when they would play the anthem at 5 p.m., everything and everyone would stop, and people would get out of their cars.  I just love America.

Okay family.  I love you a lot.  Like, more than you all know.  Thank you for writing me and loving me and supporting me.  I sure am lucky.  And a special thanks to you, Mama, and Glo.  So many missionaries don't get any emails from their family, but I know that come heck or high water, there will be an email from you and another form Glo each week, and those are the two I look for first each week.

Also, those pics of Baby eating her bagel are adorable.  All the pics you send me of her just solidify the fact in my mind that she is, in fact, a Kennedy <3

Also, I get to see Hermana Giles tomorrow, and I'm so excited!
Love,

Hermana Kennedy

Hermana Kennedy and the Blue-Eyed Bandit

Hi family!  Here's my letter to President:

Buenas tardes, President Murphy,

Well, it was interesting week here in Otavalo since we now have to be inside at 8 p.m.  Normally, I feel like we have so much time but phew, this week, I felt like the days went by so fast!  Thankfully, the work continues, and it isn't too bad, but it is an adjustment!

We had an activity this past week with Diana and José to raise money to get married.  Diana had her mom and sister there to help her, and we got there early in the morning to help as well. It was okay, but unfortunately the members didn't plan or organize very well, so we were a little scared for the first two hours that she wouldn't even break even.  Thankfully, near the end, the members showed up, and it was a good opportunity for them to meet her and find out a little more about her.  We are planning José's interview for the 19th since he needs to be married to have his interview.  They are planning on just doing registro civil on Monday, and then it's official!  He is well on his way to being ready--he just lacks a testimony of prophets.  We are going to work with him this week on explaining prophets, and we are praying that it all works out.  If all goes well, he will be baptized on June 23rd.

Milton is also doing great.  He loves the lessons and is reading his Book of Mormon all on his own. His whole family seems happier now that they are consistently coming to church, and his mom especially can see the difference in him.  He is still set for the 7th of July, and we will continue with the lessons this week.  We are especially grateful that his mom and his sisters are so supportive of him.

We changed Adrian Yamberla's date from the 23rd of June to the 14th of July.  His understanding is really slow, and we aren't sure why.  When we ask questions he more just guesses names or words from scriptures rather than trying to answer, and he doesn't understand the Book of Mormon.  His mom gets a little frustrated with him in lessons, and so we decided we need to go slower with him and teach him very didactically.  When we use examples related to regular things, he understands, but as soon as we try teaching doctrine or something more complicated, he doesn't get it, and so we are going to start over because he doesn't remember anything about Joseph Smith or the Restoration.

I love working with the hermanas here in Campo. Each one of them is so different and so happy, and it is such a privilege to work with them.  I love them a lot, and thank you for letting me work with them.

Thank you for your example and your advice.
Have a wonderful week,
Hermana Kennedy

You know, the weeks are going by way faster now that I'm in single digits.  It still doesn't seem real that I'm gonna be home in less than two months.  That's super crazy and super weird.  We had a sister missionary come home this week from her mission in Argentina, and she was so sad.  You know, I'll be sad to leave Ecuador, but I won't be sad to come home.  There's a big difference to me.  My body is done, my mind is tired, and I understand why women don't serve two years.  I don't mean to sound like a feminist wimp--it's just we give so much emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.  I'm so excited to see you guys!  Anyway, Imma keep working as hard as possible in these next eight weeks, because they are disappearing super fast!

And Mommy, I need a hair appointment, optometrist appointment (yes, I can't see anymore out of my contacts or glasses...and we didn't think my prescription could get any worse), and a dentist appointment (cleaning and whitening because my teeth are SOO YELLOW!!!!). Also, I just want to eat good food, go running, and play games.  Also, can we please have things like peanut butter, chocolate chips, cheesecake, burgers, grilled corn, chocolate cake, macaroni and cheese and lots of deli meant when I get home?  And go to places like Panera and Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse?  I love the food here, but it is the same everyday, and I miss variety!

Okay, so I had two great exchanges this week.  I seriously love the hermanas here.  They're so great and so fun, and I just love being around them!  I'm sad because a lot of them are just starting their mission, and I'll only get to know them for these twelve weeks.  I wish I could be here in the mission for their missions to find out how they progress and everything, but everyone reaches the end of their time and the work continues without us, so it's all good.

Super funny story.  So yesterday, an hermana asked us if we would be willing to help her.  We were like, "Sure!"  Turns out, she needed help taking her dog from one end of Otavalo to the other for free vaccinations....and her dog is a Malamute!  For those of you who don't know, that's a BIG DOG!  Anyway, we get to her house, and she brings down this monstrous (but gorgeous) dog, and he is in the midst of blowing his winter coat.  In other words, he is shedding like crazy.  His name is Mushu which means "beginning" in Quichua, but I just think of Mulan ;-). Anyway, we decided to remove all his old fur as well, and no joke, it's one thing to groom our dogs, but we seriously could have made a blanket or two from all of Mushu's fur!  And we didn't even get it all.  But we had to head out because they were only doing vaccinations until 5 p.m.  Well, she's a small lady, and so is my companion, so guess who had the task of holding the leash?  Yep, yours truly.  I felt a little stressed because if anything happened to him, that's my fault.  Anyway, walking across a normal city isn't too bad, but when it's a city full of stray dogs looking to pick a fight, it's a little hard to say the least! Mushu hardly ever gets to go out so it was already exciting enough for him, but then every time he sees another dog, he totally freaks out.  At one point, the hermana had to run back to her store to pick up her phone, and I'm standing there, talking to my companion, and Mushu is sniffing at something behind me when suddenly I get whipped around because he saw another dog and TOOK OFF!  Thankfully, I am just barely stronger than him so I was like, "No way in heck, dude.  We ain't doin' that!"  It was really funny too because he's a Malamute so he's black and grey and white, and I was wearing black and white yesterday, and he has bright blue yes like mine, so we were basically twins ;-). The hermana couldn't stop laughing at how cute we looked, and everyone was staring at us.  I mean, the Otavalans rarely see a blue-eyed white girl, but seeing one walking that blue-eyed Abominable Snow Monster?  Of course, I didn't have my camera, but the hermana took pictures and said that she would send them to us.  Anyway, after about an hour, we get to the park, and my nerves are like done because there were so many other dogs.  We even had to run at some points because it was the only way to distract him from going after them.

Anyway, the people doing vaccines are gone.

Yep, they already left.

So, we just walked Mushu as service.

I honestly couldn't believe that I have to do that all over again, and the hermana was like, "Oh no, Hermana, it's okay.  We will take a taxi."

Say WHAT?????  We could have taken a TAXI????

Hailing a taxi home.  No problemo, right?

The taxis would all stop and let the hermana and my companion in, but as soon as they saw that I was getting in with the behemoth snow dog, they would quickly tell us that they weren't taking the dog.  After this happened several times, it became my task to hold the leash (with said dog attached) and wave down a taxi so that the drivers could see what they were getting themselves into.  A bunch of taxis would flash their lights and slow down, but as soon as they saw Mushu, they sped up again!  The hermana was laughing her head off  because I just looked so pathetic with his huge dog at my side, trying to wave down anyone.  Finally, a taxi stopped and I was like, "Will you take the dog?" and to my surprise, he said, "Of course!"  Anyway, we squeezed in and that poor dog.  It was like when Chief would go running with Daddy, and as soon as he got home, he didn't try to jump or run or basically do anything.  He just walked slowly up the stairs and sat down!  So cute!  But goodness, I understand wholly now the importance of training a dog and making sure that they can have exercise.  Poor puppy!  But it was really fun.

Okay, that's all the big stuff for this week.  It was chill.  I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU GUYS!!!!!  Also, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DADDY!!!!!  And all other fathers!  You guys are awesome, although I really do have the best Daddy.  One hermana this week asked me about my dad, and I got really nostalgic talking all about Daddy and the funny things he does.  Asking me to plant 78 tomato plants for a dollar, taping the tithing envelope to the steering wheel so I'll take it to church for him, stopping on the highway to scoop dead animals off the road.  The list could go on forever.  Love you, Papa!

Okay, have a fantabulistic week!
Love,
Hermana Kennedy

Hermana Kennedy and Leading the Charizard

Hi beautiful family o' mine.  I sure do love you guys.  Here's a spiritual update for the week:

Buenas tardes, Presidente Murphy,

Alejandro was baptized on Saturday!  It was really great because he had a lot of support there.  Last Tuesday, we showed up for an appointment with them, and he and his mom opened the door crying.  We just hugged them for a while before going inside and finding out what was wrong.  Turns out, her husband told her that he doesn't feel anything for her and wants a divorce.  Alejandro was almost hysterical, and at one point, starting bawling and ran into his room.  After a little while, we were able to help them distract themselves from their thoughts and talk about it.  We thought at first that maybe they wouldn't want to go ahead with the baptism because that's a lot to handle in one week, but before we could even say anything, they started talking about how excited they were for the baptism.  Jennifer invited all of her family in Quito to come, and she invited the whole ward too.  And later in the week, she told us that position is cool, because what happened with his dad really reinforced his testimony.  I guess before, whenever his mom would talk about his baptism, he said he was excited, but not really showing it.  But after all of this she said that he walk around talking about his baptism all the time and seeing his family and how he knew that everything would be okay. I am happy to report that his entire family and a lot of the ward showed up, as did his dad.  It was really beautiful, especially when Alejandro bore his testimony and said that he knows families can be together forever, and that he knows that the church is true.

We also have José Inlago with a baptismal date for the 23rd, and a marriage date for the 18th.  They are doing well.  José is waking up early in the mornings to read his Book of Mormon, and they are studying together at night.  We just really need the ward's support in their activity on Saturday to earn money to get married.  But José is progressing really well, and he loved stake conference, especially since so many members from Otavalo were talking to him.

We also have Adrian Yamberla set for the 23rd, so he and José will be baptized the same night.  He is the son of Dolores Yamberla.  We talked to you about him this week, and his mom had an interview about her activity and everything.  He says that she's very active and good to go and that he knows Adrian will stay active.  Dolores is going through some difficulties in her life, but she talks to us all the time about how the church brought light back into her life after a dark time, and she won't leave again.  Adrian is reading his Book of Mormon, and they came to Alejandro's baptism on Saturday.

Milton is set for July 7th in Latino.  He is such a great kid, and it was really sad.  Last night, we went to visit them and got there to find his inactive older brothers drinking, and Milton and one of his sisters crying.  We weren't sure why, but it turns out that it's the anniversary of their dad's death, and Milton is sad because he grew up without a dad.  It was a little hard because of his brothers, but when they went into the other room, Milton told us that he wanted to tell us something.  He went onto this speech of how the church is true, and he knows that if his brothers would just come back, their family would be happier.  He knows it's hard for his mom, and he wants to always support her and help her and his sisters.  He wants to go to church, and he wants to be baptized so that he can see his dad again someday.  I felt like in the moment in 3 Nephi when they say that the children began to speak marvelous things that couldn't be written, because I couldn't believe what I was hearing from a nine-year-old.  I felt the Spirit while he spoke, and I know that what he said is true.

There really is so much sadness here in Otavalo, but I think that's what helps the work progress.  These people need the gospel in their lives because it brings joy and peace to their hearts.  Even amidst their trials, they are able to stay firm in their faith in Christ and His Atonement.  It makes me so sad to see all of their problems because they open their hearts so easily to us, but their faith and determination to follow Christ amazes me.  I love this beautiful place, and I love the people here.  Thank you for allowing me to come back here.

Well that's about it for this week.  Thank you for all that you do.  I will see you tomorrow.  Have a wonderful week.
Hermana Kennedy

And now the fun update, or shall we say the fun-date?

Okay, so this week was awesome because I had three exchanges with three awesome hermanas!  I love the hermanas here in Campo, and it was so fun to have time to get to know them better.  So, the first day of exchanges was super funny for a couple of reasons.

First, we went to a pet store to teach a recent convert named Maritza.  She's super sweet, and it was super cool, because as we were sitting teaching her, the vet for the pet store walked in and sat and started to listen to us as well, so we got to introduce ourselves to her.

As we were finishing up, these two teenagers came in and sat down, waiting for the vet to finish her other appointment.  Anyway, I'm like, "Awesome!  More people!" so I contact them.  Well, one tells me that he doesn't believe in God and he's all science-y, and I'm like, "That's cool.  Me too, and I still believe in God."  He then asked us what we do as missionaries which led to him asking us if we go to parties.  Basically, he was trying to flirt with us, but little did he know that everything he was saying was directly opposite to what we believe as missionaries, so I was like, "Okay, let's skedaddle out of here."  I left first, and my companion, Hermana Rodriguez asked me after we left, "Did you hear what he said?"  I was like, "What?"  "He said that if we went to parties, he would invite us."  That got us laughing for while, since we obviously wouldn't be able to accept his invitation anyway. #ThatHermanaLife

We then headed to correlations and for some reason, in the room in the chapel, there was a STUFFED CHARIZARD!  We have correlation with our mission leader and with the elders since we share the ward.  So the elders start doing a photo shoot with the Charizard, and then ask Hermano Chuquin (our mission leader) if he knows if it belongs to anyone.  He says no, and that they can take it.  So we head out.

What you need to know is that what always happens when we leave the building is that the elders lock up the chapel behind us, and we hermanas walk in the same direction as the elders are going.  Without fail, they will come up suddenly behind us and scare us, so I decided to turn the tables on them.  When I heard their footsteps behind me, I unhooked my umbrella from my bag and whipped around and yelled in their faces, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"  Needless to say, the looks on their faces were priceless, but even better was the fact that one had the Charizard in his hands, so it looked like I scared all THREE of them!  Fun times.

Also, with Hermana Moss on another exchange, we were contacting pretty high up in the hills of our sector when we came across a pig.  Well, I love pigs, and Hermana Moss said, "Scratch its belly."  So, I crouched down and started scratching his belly, and he flopped on his side, and goodness me, was that a happy pig?!  He was so cute!!!  And unlike some humans I know, he was willing to listen to our message :-) Seriously, I love animals.  They're the best.

I'm also learning how to make dream catchers.  I've never been like, "Wow! Dream catchers!" but they are so cool once you learn the mechanics of them.  Hermana Dolores makes them to sell, and so when we go over, we teach her and help her make the dream catchers.  Yesterday, she actually gifted me this gorgeous printed one for helping!  It was so sweet.  But man, they are a ton of work.  I'm thinking I should start my own business when I get home :-)

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARKIE!!!  How old are you? 25? Man, you're so old.

And in response to all of the family news, I feel so happy that the house finally sold.  Like, I feel like you and Daddy can get started with your lives again.

Also, I hadn't heard about President Nelson's challenge to fast from social media for a week.  I'll give it a try this week too ;-)

Man, I want to be in Young Women's with you.  That sounds so fun!  Maybe for the two weeks I'm home, I can be your assistant :-)

Yes, yellow is a very happy color.  I've actually been thinking about my room at college, and I'm buying stuff here that all has the same color scheme so that it'll be beautiful and Ecuador-y and make me happy.

I also sent in my other summer assignment to my hall advisor last week, but I apologized if there were any typos and explained that I only have a few minutes to work on it, and the Ecuadorian keyboards aren't great.  She wrote back, "Sooooo, just realized that you are still on your mission.  Don't worry about doing the assignments right now.  You can do them when you get back!"  Isn't that awesome?

I'm feeling much happier this week, because I got some breaks from that trial we all know looms over every missionary.  When I saw Hermana Knapp in Quito for leadership council, I just hugged her, Mommy, and started crying.  I love her so much, and I love that she understands how I feel.  Me Monsters are always difficult for anyone, I think.  But the hermanas here are AMAZING, helping me feel like we are working together towards a goal.

And I can't wait to get your morale package for our sweet hermanas!  I'm going to make invitations for the party and use all the decorations and tasty treats you send, and we're going to have a GRAND old 4th of July!

Well, that's a very long email, but it's because I have a good, fast keyboard today. Man, I love good technology.

Okay, I LOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEEE YYYYOOOOUUU ALLLLLLLL!!!!!!  Have a fantabulous week!  Haben sie eine schöne Woche!!!!!  I'm practicing my German.  Is that the right grammar?  Hehe.

Love,
Hermana Kennedy

Leadership Council