Hi President Murphy,
We had another great week here in Otavalo. I've been a little stressed lately, because we just haven't had much time to find new people, and I've been feeling really down about it, but I was able to pick my animo up more this week, and we were able to see great success. I think I had just stopped focusing so much on using the Book of Mormon as the true center in contacting, and this week, we worked on using it as often as possible. It made a big difference--people were more open to us, and we were able to introduce it a lot more.
Adrian was baptized and confirmed this week! He's such a great kid, and it's really amazing to see the change in him since we began teaching him. He's happier, and he understands so much better now. I just wish his mom would be a little easier on her kids. She expects them to work to help support the family, and it's affecting her daughters a lot. We are really hoping that Adrian's baptism can help their family a little bit, having something beautiful and important happen in their lives.
We were also able to set a date with an investigator named Daniella Castillo. She's in Latino ward and is a referral from the bishop's daughter. We starting teaching her about six weeks ago, but we could never set a baptismal date because she didn't feel worthy of being baptized. She is 20 years old, and she recognizes that she has made some mistakes in the past, and she just feels really bad about them, but this past Saturday, we were able to talk about worthiness and how it relates to Christ and his Atonement. We talked about perfection and how it works, and then we invited her again, and she asked us to choose two dates for her. She wanted one in July, so we suggested the 28th of July and the 4th of August, and the next day in church, she told us that she feels it should be the 28th. She already has all the lessons up to Lesson 5, so we will teach her that this week, and she is already ready for her interview on Saturday. She has come to church every week on her own. She is honestly one of the happiest people I know, and she just love everyone. It's funny how she, of all people, thought she wasn't worthy of being baptized when she is already an example and representative of Jesus Christ. We are so excited for her.
We were able to find a couple new investigators with good potential this week. We had exchanges three times, and I had both companionships in Otavalo because I needed some help, and I wanted Hermana Meza to have a chance to lead a little bit. She did a good job, and I was grateful for Hermanas Cragun, Pfocco, and Hale for helping too along the way. The hermanas are doing really well here in the Campo. These are such wonderful hermanas, and they work so hard, and even though they have hard days too, they know their purpose and why they are here, and so they go out and do it. Thank you for letting me work with them.
Thank you for your example, and for all the sacrifices you and Hermana Murphy make on a daily basis in our behalf. I love being a missionary, but I'm especially grateful to be here in the Quito North mission with you and Hermana Murphy in charge. Thank you for being here.
Have a great week,
Hermana Kennedy
Oh my gosh, there is so much to do. I'm worried I"m going to forget something, because I have like two million things going on in my mind. I have to write reports on exchanges and write letters for other hermanas, and prepare Hermana Meza for her verifications this week, and make calls, and find and teach and baptize, and also keep working on my RA stuff (another assignment came today for a welcome checklist), and I am EXHAUSTED! Thankfully, I got to register for classes this week, and I had two on a waitlist, and both got added to my schedule, so that's one less thing about which I need to worry. Also, I'm coming home in, you know, like three weeks, so I have to start thinking about stuff to leave with people, and letters and cards to write, and I'm going to see Hermana Bustos and Hermana Caceres for the last time this week, and I feel like there just isn't enough time in the day. Oh my.
de Imbabura today which is one of the volcanoes around here. I've decided that it's called The Heart of Imbabura because a man named Imbabura hiked the mountain, and when he got to the top, his heart gave out from the strain, and he died.
For real.
Legit, it was awful. But I'm getting ahead of my story.
We heard it was a three hour hike going up, and an hour and a half coming down. Well, that's for the Ecuadorians who have lungs of steel and legs of iron for sure.
We woke up at 3:50 a.m. to get out to the truck at 4:30 a.m. to start hiking at 5 a.m. At 8:30 a.m., we were still hiking and we weren't even close to the top. No joke, we started in the city below the volcano and attempted to hike to the top, and it was awful. There were points where we were crawling, and another hermana and I were just hanging on in the back. First, it was s light incline on a dirt path. Then, we graduated to a steep incline with dry dirt and wet grass, which as you can imagine, made for a "fun" little trip.
Legit, crawling up.
Then we changed to just the side of the mountain, but with long meadow grass, so we had to use every ounce of will power to pull ourselves up through he grass, and Hermana Cragun and I were just suffering, but our companions were just chugging along (we think it's because they're smaller, so less weight to pull and smaller feet for all the footholds--at least that's what we tell ourselves). We just kept going, but I haven't ever complained so much in my life. Normally, it's fun to do stuff like that, because it's an adventure, but we both just hated our lives because it was so hard.
And then the blessed call came. Like, a phone call. On our phone while crawling.
Our zone leader was up ahead, and he called us and said, "Hermanas, I don't think you should try to come up to the top." He still hadn't arrive there at this point. We asked why, and he told us that the physical strain would interfere with the work for the rest of the week.
That was good enough for me. I mean, I wouldn't want anything to interfere with our missionary work.... ;-)
We were never so happy to yell at our billy goat companions (who were much further ahead, grazing on grass and taking naps in the sun, I'm sure) that our leader was telling us not to do it. I thought maybe Hermana Cragun was unhappy that we had to stop, but then she looked at me and said, "Hermana, I was praying for a way to not have to go all the way up." We had a good laugh about that. I think that may be the one time ever when I haven't been able to finish something, and I don't care, because it was just so awful. My legs felt like Jell-O.
And then we had to go back down.
Which as it turns out was just as bad.
We were falling all over the place, slipping in the dirt and grass, rocks were flying everywhere, and Hermana Cragun twisted her ankle a little bit, and I fell on my butt like seven times because my legs were unable to support my body, and we came away from it dirty and tired and sore. Even my hands are sore from having to pull myself with the grass. I've never been so happy to touch flat ground! My goodness. What I wouldn't have given to have been able to turn into a bird at some point. But it was fun talking to Hermana Cragun. And who knows? Maybe I lost weight from how heavily I was breathing the whole time.
And speaking of losing weight.... I thought you might like that picture of me playing the air viola. I'm trying to be creative with pics, especially since I lost the first year of mission pics (thanks, Ecuadorian thief), but in some ways, I'm a little grateful because I was SO FAT! Oh my gosh Mama, I can't believe how heavy I was. Like, I'm still a little chunky, but I can't believe I didn't see that I was gaining weight. Ugh. Seeing some of those pics actually makes me feel gross, thinking I was that heavy. Everyone who sees pics from my training or even before the mission asks if I was heavier then. Yesterday, we were at lunch with our mamita, and her husband just decided to go on the ward directory and look us up since we are technically part of the ward. So he just randomly turns the phone around. I was shocked to see my pic with my purple shirt with PA in the background. The first thing he says is, "You were a little fatter then, weren't you?" Oh my gosh, que verguenza, seriously. I'm really happy to have lost a little weight here.
I am so exited to come home. For real. I am leaving basically everything here except meds and books and scriptures, and I'm just bringing home souvenirs. Everything here is so cheap, so how could I not?? I'm excited to go back to school, and to be an RA, and to be able to talk to you guys all the time, and play games that make you think, and read a real book, and watch a movie, and be able to sing to good songs, and ride in cars, and be able to sit down and take a nap whenever I want. I love being a missionary, but I am just worn out, and I feel that my time here is done. I'll keep working til the last moment, but I think I've done what Heavenly Father needed me to do. I'm so grateful that I came back.
Well, that's about it. It was a good week, but I am very tired. I can tell that my body is just done. I'm having back and knee pain, and I'm a little stressed, but rather than bite my nails, I'm grinding my teeth, and I think I'm just tired on all accounts, but it's okay. Gotta work til the last moment, right?
Okay, I love you all so much. I'm super excited to see you all super soon.
Love,
Hermana Kennedy
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