Hey everyone!! Sorry this will be so short, so much to do today
unfortunately. But I hope things are going well on the home front! We
just got done with a fireside with President Tilleman last night, and
I'm SO exhausted. It took SO much planning, and organizing things! We
had to do a good portion of the work ( because everyone knows you
can't rely on elders ;] ) but everything went pretty well! In fact, an
investigator who had been sitting in the "reflection pool" for awhile,
showed up with her mom! We'll most likely be visiting her again soon;
hopefully, she'll be ready for baptism this time!
I'm so grateful to all of you for all of the love and support you give
me. Especially to my mom and dad, and for all of the amazing,
uplifting mesages I get from them each week. It means so much to me
that the Lord has blessed our family so much! I have tons to say, but
instead, I'll have to cut it short and just leave you with a little
spiritual thought. I found this scripture in my personal study this
morning. Think about a teaching from the Prophet Joseph Smith when you
read this scripture from 2 corinthians 6 =
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness?
Its interesting, also , to consider what the Lord has taught us in
regards to the glories of his kingdoms, " For there are many mansions
in the house of my father." How awesome to know that we have this
amazing Plan of Salvation!
I love you all, and thank you for all the love and support,
Love,
Sister Kennedy
Friday, September 27, 2013
September 9th 2013
HI everyone! Yep, another week in White Rock, yay! The weather has
been a little dreary the passed few days, but now its sunny! And that
means more energy and get-up for the Arizona Girl. Its kind of sad how
much the sun affects my mood. Will I ever live anywhere else but the
desert? ....Thats probably a big fat no haha ;]
Anyways, the Lord has been really trying to teach me something this
week.... and I didn't figure out what it was, until yesteday at
church! I was abslutely miserable the whole morning, and my poor
companion couldn't get me to talk about anything, let alone have a
real conversation or be useful. I honestly didn't know WHAT my problem
was, but I tell you, it felt like I had a 500 lb weight on my
shoulders. Which, interestingly enough, was kind of what the Sister
Trainer Leaders had addressed with me, last week. We had the
oppriunity to do companion exchanges with them, and I had the chance
to work in Langely for awhile. Sister Gibb knew about my severe
insomnia, and she said to me," You know, I have a pretty strong
feeling, that I can promise you, that if you filter everything through
the Doctrine of Christ, and stay as obedient as you can, then you'll
be able to sleep peacefully, every night. And read ALma 23 + 24, the
Lord will do the same for you." This is what I found in my Studies of
these scriptures:
ALma 23:
21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to achasten his people; yea, he
trieth their bpatience and their faith.
22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his atrust in him the same shall be
blifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.
23 For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into
abondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea,
even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob.
Mosiah 24
10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they
began to cry mightily to God.
11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he
aput guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found
calling upon God should be put to death.
12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord
their God, but did pour out their ahearts to him; and he did know the
bthoughts of their hearts.
13 And it acame to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in
their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort,
for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will
covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
14 And I will also ease the aburdens which are put upon your
shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while
you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as bwitnesses
for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord
God, do visit my people in their cafflictions.
15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma
and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did astrengthen them
that they could bear up their bburdens with ease, and they did submit
cheerfully and with cpatience to all the will of the Lord.
16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their
patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be
of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.
17 And he said unto Alma: Thou shalt go before this people, and I will
go awith thee and deliver this people out of bondage.
---------------------------
Basically, what Sister Gibb wanted me to learn, was to humble myself,
and I would learn what the spirit had to teach me. I went to church,
and listened to the messages, but STILL felt depressed. Then, an
unexpected, and incredibly thoughtful gesture by Sister Smigel, lifted
me spirits, because she allowed me to cry.
I was simply missing somone, and she has a talent for writing lyrics,
so she jotted down a quick little inspiration of words, and showed
them to me. They were sweet, and exactly what I would have said to the
person if they were here.
And then the spirit whispered to me ," You can't blame everyone else
for your problems, Sister Kennedy. You must understand the sacrifice
that the Lord requires of his servants, and he will transform you."
Its amazing to me, the way in which the spirit works whithin us. And
I'm so grateful for the chance That i have to be on a mission.
and thank YOU all, for your support and love. You have no idea how
much your emails and letters uplift me! I'm grateful, and SO blessed
in order to be able have so manny of you supporting me!
Stay safe, and never forget to be grateful for all you have! I love you!!
Sister Kennedy
been a little dreary the passed few days, but now its sunny! And that
means more energy and get-up for the Arizona Girl. Its kind of sad how
much the sun affects my mood. Will I ever live anywhere else but the
desert? ....Thats probably a big fat no haha ;]
Anyways, the Lord has been really trying to teach me something this
week.... and I didn't figure out what it was, until yesteday at
church! I was abslutely miserable the whole morning, and my poor
companion couldn't get me to talk about anything, let alone have a
real conversation or be useful. I honestly didn't know WHAT my problem
was, but I tell you, it felt like I had a 500 lb weight on my
shoulders. Which, interestingly enough, was kind of what the Sister
Trainer Leaders had addressed with me, last week. We had the
oppriunity to do companion exchanges with them, and I had the chance
to work in Langely for awhile. Sister Gibb knew about my severe
insomnia, and she said to me," You know, I have a pretty strong
feeling, that I can promise you, that if you filter everything through
the Doctrine of Christ, and stay as obedient as you can, then you'll
be able to sleep peacefully, every night. And read ALma 23 + 24, the
Lord will do the same for you." This is what I found in my Studies of
these scriptures:
ALma 23:
21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to achasten his people; yea, he
trieth their bpatience and their faith.
22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his atrust in him the same shall be
blifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.
23 For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into
abondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea,
even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob.
Mosiah 24
10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they
began to cry mightily to God.
11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he
aput guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found
calling upon God should be put to death.
12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord
their God, but did pour out their ahearts to him; and he did know the
bthoughts of their hearts.
13 And it acame to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in
their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort,
for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will
covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
14 And I will also ease the aburdens which are put upon your
shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while
you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as bwitnesses
for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord
God, do visit my people in their cafflictions.
15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma
and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did astrengthen them
that they could bear up their bburdens with ease, and they did submit
cheerfully and with cpatience to all the will of the Lord.
16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their
patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be
of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.
17 And he said unto Alma: Thou shalt go before this people, and I will
go awith thee and deliver this people out of bondage.
---------------------------
Basically, what Sister Gibb wanted me to learn, was to humble myself,
and I would learn what the spirit had to teach me. I went to church,
and listened to the messages, but STILL felt depressed. Then, an
unexpected, and incredibly thoughtful gesture by Sister Smigel, lifted
me spirits, because she allowed me to cry.
I was simply missing somone, and she has a talent for writing lyrics,
so she jotted down a quick little inspiration of words, and showed
them to me. They were sweet, and exactly what I would have said to the
person if they were here.
And then the spirit whispered to me ," You can't blame everyone else
for your problems, Sister Kennedy. You must understand the sacrifice
that the Lord requires of his servants, and he will transform you."
Its amazing to me, the way in which the spirit works whithin us. And
I'm so grateful for the chance That i have to be on a mission.
and thank YOU all, for your support and love. You have no idea how
much your emails and letters uplift me! I'm grateful, and SO blessed
in order to be able have so manny of you supporting me!
Stay safe, and never forget to be grateful for all you have! I love you!!
Sister Kennedy
September 3rd 2013
"Life has been the same as ever in White Rock; every time we seem to
see a hug surge of miracles, a slow week follows thus, but that's
alright! Basically, it gives me a chance to excercise my faith to get
THROUGH those hard weeks, and deserve the blessings that Heavenly
Father sees fit to bestow upon me! I've been really trying to figure
out what my Companion and I could do differently to affect the work
here in White Rock, hoping to come up with something that could help
me find more investigators... then I decided to crack open Preach my
Gospel and midnight last night when I couldn't sleep ( story of my
life :[ ). It was probably the most productive study I've had in
MONTHS, and thank goodness, because I can't tell you how much more
pumped I am! I figured out the root of my problem....
Faith. Faith is the basis upon which all things are given unto man
kind, and Alma 32 kind of slapped me in the face on the things that
are required to properly understand the blessings that are given to
us.. and in order for us to understand anything pertaining to the
kingdom of God. Lately, my faith has been as up and down as the waves
of the Sea, so no wonder all of my weeks have been up and down as
well! I forgot one of the own "words of wisdom" that I learned in the
MTC. " As a missionary, you are required to constantly and
consistently set goals, act, reevaluate, and adjust in order to meet
those goals." Its amazing to me how forgetful I am ( Not really, I AM
the one who lost the mission car after having parked it on a small
side street LOL ). But I am now re committing myself to study the
things which are so incredibly paramount to the great Lord's work of
Salvation, and I can feel my faith growing, as does my understanding
of the importance of the Savior's atonement.
In my studies, I "tore apart" Alma 32-34, and gained from it SO much
insight as to why Faith, is necessary for mankind to have. For those
who do not have a Christian background, upon what basis are they
supposed to understand Jesus Christ at all?! Let alone his incredible
gift to all of us. But looking at a logical side, the scriptures tell
us that God, is a God of Order. And because God is a God of Order, he
has laws in which he requires us to obey. The scriptures also tell us
that is no respector of persons, meaning he doesn't give unfair favor
to one person or another. If God is a God of Order, and no respector
of persons, then he requires us to obey his laws, "in addition to
obeying those laws himself." Otherwise, he would be hypocritical,
correct?? So here we look at the laws of Justice:
No un clean thing can live in the presence of God, and this is why
those who disobey the laws, or sin, are "cast out" or put in other
places ( Not necessarily hell) For more understanding on this, ask a
Mormon, or read the Bible on "varying degrees of glory".
God does not appear to ever single man, because how much more " in
trouble" would we be if we made a mistake having seen him and known
him perfectly, than if we had simply had faith and believed he was
there?? See Alma 32
19 And now, how much amore bcursed is he that cknoweth the dwill of
God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause
to believe, and falleth into etransgression?
20 Now of this thing ye must judge. Behold, I say unto you, that it is
on the one hand even as it is on the other; and it shall be unto every
man according to his work. "
see a hug surge of miracles, a slow week follows thus, but that's
alright! Basically, it gives me a chance to excercise my faith to get
THROUGH those hard weeks, and deserve the blessings that Heavenly
Father sees fit to bestow upon me! I've been really trying to figure
out what my Companion and I could do differently to affect the work
here in White Rock, hoping to come up with something that could help
me find more investigators... then I decided to crack open Preach my
Gospel and midnight last night when I couldn't sleep ( story of my
life :[ ). It was probably the most productive study I've had in
MONTHS, and thank goodness, because I can't tell you how much more
pumped I am! I figured out the root of my problem....
Faith. Faith is the basis upon which all things are given unto man
kind, and Alma 32 kind of slapped me in the face on the things that
are required to properly understand the blessings that are given to
us.. and in order for us to understand anything pertaining to the
kingdom of God. Lately, my faith has been as up and down as the waves
of the Sea, so no wonder all of my weeks have been up and down as
well! I forgot one of the own "words of wisdom" that I learned in the
MTC. " As a missionary, you are required to constantly and
consistently set goals, act, reevaluate, and adjust in order to meet
those goals." Its amazing to me how forgetful I am ( Not really, I AM
the one who lost the mission car after having parked it on a small
side street LOL ). But I am now re committing myself to study the
things which are so incredibly paramount to the great Lord's work of
Salvation, and I can feel my faith growing, as does my understanding
of the importance of the Savior's atonement.
In my studies, I "tore apart" Alma 32-34, and gained from it SO much
insight as to why Faith, is necessary for mankind to have. For those
who do not have a Christian background, upon what basis are they
supposed to understand Jesus Christ at all?! Let alone his incredible
gift to all of us. But looking at a logical side, the scriptures tell
us that God, is a God of Order. And because God is a God of Order, he
has laws in which he requires us to obey. The scriptures also tell us
that is no respector of persons, meaning he doesn't give unfair favor
to one person or another. If God is a God of Order, and no respector
of persons, then he requires us to obey his laws, "in addition to
obeying those laws himself." Otherwise, he would be hypocritical,
correct?? So here we look at the laws of Justice:
No un clean thing can live in the presence of God, and this is why
those who disobey the laws, or sin, are "cast out" or put in other
places ( Not necessarily hell) For more understanding on this, ask a
Mormon, or read the Bible on "varying degrees of glory".
God does not appear to ever single man, because how much more " in
trouble" would we be if we made a mistake having seen him and known
him perfectly, than if we had simply had faith and believed he was
there?? See Alma 32
19 And now, how much amore bcursed is he that cknoweth the dwill of
God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause
to believe, and falleth into etransgression?
20 Now of this thing ye must judge. Behold, I say unto you, that it is
on the one hand even as it is on the other; and it shall be unto every
man according to his work. "
Sunday, September 1, 2013
August 26th 2013
HI everyone!! :D This week... has been nothing short of absolutely fanastic and amazing. If I've never known that God's hand is in this work, I most CERTAINLY know now. You wouldn't believe the amazing miracles that I've had the honor of being a part of! I don't even know where to begin! But first:
Note: SORRY SHELBEY! I haven't sent your birthday package yet because my stupid wallet.... I finally got my card, so I'll send it off this week! Worst friend ever I know :S
I suppose I'll start in Chronological order ;]
So recently, we've been having a ton of awesome experiences in White Rock with finding those that are prepared. I hadn't handed out a single Book of Mormon in White Rock until a week ago... since then, we've given out four! Its amazing how much the Lord has seen fit to bless me so much! After the wonderful experience we had with Roy last week, the FOLLOWING day, we had an amazing experience with a man named Gary! Sister Smigel and I had been street contacting on 152 st, which is the main drag of White Rock, and had cut our time a little short so that we could arrive at a dinner with one of our members to teach a lesson to a Recent Convert ( Rene, who i'll mention later!). However, we were waiting at a cross walk for this larger man in a wheel chair to finish crossing, when all of the sudden, his wheel chair stopped, mid intersection! Try as he might, he couldn't get it to go anywhere; we assume the battery must have died or suffered some type of dysfunction. Seeing no one else attempting to assist him, I got out of the car, and proceeded to push him by hand out of the way of the Road. My companion parked our car and we stopped for a few minutes to talk to him. He had been on his way to meet some friends at "the White Spot", for dinner. We offered to push him the rest of the way there, ( about five blocks or so down the road.) He agreed, and we had a wonderful conversation about his spiritual background, and of how he was always curious to learn more of Jesus Christ! By the grace of Heavenly Father I managed to push a two hudred or more pound man and his automatic wheel chair up hill all that way.... I was sorely pressed to pass out after we go this phone number... but it was worth it! hahaha :]
The next really amazing experience was one that happened shortly after transfers, and this one... I'll never forget so long as I live. Sister Smigel and I had just gotten back from a long day of meetings in Richmond, and wanted to go finding. We had already planned on going tracting down a few streets, but after a few doors of friendly, but not very interested people, we realized that it just didn't feel right to continue the street. Instead, we drove down 152 ( again) to see if there was enough people around to warrant some street contacting. There was a few out, but imagine the look on my companions face when I squealed and said," IS THAT A BRUSSELS?!" She looked at me and understandably, was confused. Walking down the sidewalk was an older woman, and a youngr man who appeared to be her son, with a small, furry brown fluff ball on the other end of a leash. Excitedly, I told Sister Smigel to park the car, and we did, she had to remind me NOT to run across the street and scare them while we approached! Lol But I approached the lady and after I was certain that I knew what kind of dog she had!
Turns out, it WAS a Brussels Gryphon! And if you know anyhing about dog breeding, you'd know how rare they are! ( not to mention expensive), and they're even moreso in Cananda. Her name was Gay, and her son's name was bryson. She was excited about my knowledge of the silly dog breed, and we had a great conversation. But suddenly, she pulled us aside, and with an extremely embarassed expression, she said," Girls, I hate to do this... but do you have any money? My son and I were actually stranded because our car ran out of gas... its parked at the Mall parkade, and we have no way of getting anywhere. We're locked out of our apartment until our land lord gets home.. and we were just walking around to kill time. We just moved from Penticton and we don't know anyone! I'm so sorry!" Me and Sister Smigel just looked at each other.. she had no cash on her, since she's been paying for our groceries ever since my wallet had gotten stolen. But since we had been in Richmond that day... I had recieved a really amazing card from Aunt Nancy and Uncle Roy which, had graciously contained some american money in it. We walked back to the car with her while she thanked us profusely. She then exclaimed," Wait! I remeber your church! I had the chance to tour one of your temples when it first opened a few years back in Langley! It was such an amazing place! I was so honored that they would allow the public in! I'm getting goose bumps just talking about it!" She then hugged us, and started to cry. "Thank you so much girls.. we've been having a really hard time lately, I'll definitely pay it forward... and we really need your prayers." Her son tried to comfort her, but it wasn't until we said a prayer for them right there on the street did she smile and her son removed his hat during the prayer, he himself was teary eyed. " Thank you so much! Please, here's our number, and when we're moved in, we'll have you over. I'm catholic I mean, but my heart and mind are open."
We're planning on calling her next week! So first, a slightly humble, and HUGE thank you to my awesome mom for having our obnoxious little rats around the house, I mean... Cute adorable brussel sprouts :]
And another huuuugggggeeee thank you to Aunt Nancy and uncle roy to whom I'll be sending a huge long letter too. If one of you has their email, please forward this to them!
I love you all, and I am so grateful for your love and support! I'm so proud of ALL of you for the wonderful influence you have on the missionary work back home, and I hope things are going wel on the home front!!
I love you all to pieces! :D
Love Sister Kennedy
August 19th 2013
Hi everyone! Another Lovely week here in White Rock.... can you believe I've been here a full month and a half already?! Yeesh!! And Tomorrow I've been gone on my mission a full six months! Only 365 days to go! :D Its been an amazing journey so far, and I know that Lord is far from being done with me......-gulp- haha.
Things this past week have been relatively... sad on my part. First, I lost my wallet. Which of course contained my only two means of money ( NOW i get why they tell us to keep Cash at the appartment -_- ), my mission funds card and my personal debit card. THEN, our car over heated. Thankfully, I happen to have been surrounded by car lovers, mechanics and motor heads ( THANK YOU DAD AND ELDER KING!!), most of my life, so I knew what Coolant was, and how to put it in the dang car. A nice guy stopped to check on us, to make sure the engine wasn't going to explode, and we found ourselves a brief oppritunity to share who we were with him. He wasn't interested, but he was super nice!
I've found that following the spirit has been easier lately, but less frequent. Perhaps the contention found in my relationship with my companion is why. We've fought quite a bit recently, but I now understand how that reflects on every relationship in your life. And without the Spirit in this work, I may as well be walking in circles! I AM so grateful for her willingness to help me when I'm being an idiot however ( like when I lose my wallet) And let's be honest, neither one of us were the type of girl to spend THIS much time with another female anyway, so Its quite a tender mercy of the Lord that neither one of us has become a fugitive for murder. ( Only kidding of course ;] )
We had a pretty amazing experience yesterday actually. I've been eager to tract this specific street ( Oxenham ST) the whole transfer, but we've been putting it off, until yesterday! As soon as we stepped onto the street I said, " Yep, our new investigator is on this street!" Seven houses later, we met Ray. We started off the discussion of the Bible, and about the nature of the various translations through out the world. I don't think he realized who we really were until I shared with him this ," We love the Bible! And the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ! But I think its pretty common knowledge that the Bible has been far too changed in the world. So that's why we are grateful for the record of scripture called the Book of Mormon!." His face kind of lit up after I asked him if he had heard about that," Yeah actually. Two young men came around visting in the 60's and gave me a copy of that book. I some of it, and knew there was something to it; its pretty much the same thing as the bible!" Imagine the look on my face when He told us this Lol
We asked if he wanted another copy, and he was actually excited about it! We handed it to him and he said," I always knew there was something to this...Now I'll find out." Needless to say, my heart was soaring. Guys, this is the first Book of Mormon I've handed out in White Rock. I know the Lord prepares those that are ready to recieve the Gospel, it just takes a full heart and mind to keep looking for those that are there. And to Talk to EVERYONE. Tracting will not work for much longer, and when it does stop working, it will be up to YOU, the members! But until then, we'll continue on through the strife and search for those that are waiting for us, whether they know it or not! I love you guys, and I hope everything is going well :]
Love, Sister Kennedy
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