February 24th 2014

Dear .....Everyone, :]

 

I'll apologize now for my terrible, terrible lack of dedication to keeping you updated! But I have many stories to make up for it! Pictures will follow shortly. But the work here in Abbotsford has been going remarkably!

This has been one of our best weeks yet this transfer! We found 9 new investigators, taught five member present lessons, and had three investigators at church! It took quite a bit of stretching, and trudging through the rarity of a February snow, but we saw many miracles and blessings this week! I'll share my most favorite:

The work, though still always difficult in the "bible belt," is going quite well! To explain the email title, it comes courtesy of our 12 year old investigator named Nathan. Sister Facer and I had tracted into Hilde (Hill-dee) and Nathan two transfers ago, and it was always difficult to get a gold of her! Hilde is originally from Africa ( Somewhere near Congo), and works two jobs at around 80 hours a week! She was raised in Africa, and came to Canada in her 20's with her mother. She had expressed a desire for her son Nathan to learn more about God, and become interested in a church.  Her previous efforts to catch his interest with the Baptist church and the Catholic church failed. So you can imagine her surprise when he became interested in ours! It wasn't immediate by any means! In our lessons with Hilde, he had never been around, or was in and out of the room. Sister Dexter and I had tried once or twice to attempt to get a hold of Hilde, but succeeded until only last Sunday! We knocked on the door and Hilde let us in, expressing extreme frustration and sorrow over her relationship with Nathan. Apparently they had gotten into a rather bad fight, where Hilde was tired of asking him to do something, and overreacted. After a huge misunderstanding, they both were extremely upset. So we sat down to talk to them, and what,of all things was to be sitting on Nathan's lap? A neat little stack of Naruto Mangas. Talk about Heavenly Father using the talents and interests of his missionaries as the "bishop's store house". ;]

After helping them come to the understanding that they were both highly overreacting, we invited Nathan to come to church. This would be the condition that his Mother would lay off a little, and that he would do what she asked. He agreed! The following week, we drove to their house and managed to pull Nathan out of bed, and into the car of one of our wonderful members! During sacrament, he asked many incredibly insightful questions. We left him in the hands of our Young Men's president, and went to our Gospel Principals Class with our other investigators and less actives. After church, our member swooped him up before we could even see how it went! So we visited him not long after we were finished at church, and caught both his mother and him together! Hilde said," The first thing he said when he came home, was how good he felt there!" Nathan expressed to us how much he enjoyed being allowed to ask questions, and getting answers! He enjoyed the other kids his age, and is quite looking forward to coming back again, this time, in the company of his mother!

A little later, after answering some of his questions about the ten commandments, he paused for a moment. He said," So... I have a question. Is flirting a sin?" We chuckled and said  of course not! Though his mother appeared a little concerned and said," What kind of flirting? Like touching? You're awful young for that..." He raised eyebrows and scowled, and said," Touching?! No! That's not flirting, that's harassment!" I had to bite down a very loud laugh at this... well mostly bit it.

Nathan is a remarkable kid for his age. He's witty, and has a heart of gold! Heavenly Father has truly blessed us with this wonderful little family to teach! Hilde also has another daughter named Anastasia, who is non-verbal autistic. She's the most beautiful girl on the earth! She's 15, so not much older than Nathan,  but you just can't get any closer to the Celstial kingdom than she can!

I simply would like to bare you my testimony on the importance of two things. The first, would be missionary work. A quote from my favorite talk of all time:

After a joyful reunion with the resurrected Jesus, Peter had an exchange with the Savior that I consider the crucial turning point of the apostolic ministry generally and certainly for Peter personally, moving this great rock of a man to a majestic life of devoted service and leadership. Looking at their battered little boats, their frayed nets, and a stunning pile of 153 fish, Jesus said to His senior Apostle, “Peter, do you love me more than you love all this?” Peter said, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”¹⁰

The Savior responds to that reply but continues to look into the eyes of His disciple and says again, “Peter, do you love me?” Undoubtedly confused a bit by the repetition of the question, the great fisherman answers a second time, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”¹¹

The Savior again gives a brief response, but with relentless scrutiny He asks for the third time, “Peter, do you love me?” By now surely Peter is feeling truly uncomfortable. Perhaps there is in his heart the memory of only a few days earlier when he had been asked another question three times and he had answered equally emphatically—but in the negative. Or perhaps he began to wonder if he misunderstood the Master Teacher’s question. Or perhaps he was searching his heart, seeking honest confirmation of the answer he had given so readily, almost automatically. Whatever his feelings, Peter said for the third time, “Lord, … thou knowest that I love thee.”¹²

To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”

Then, turning to all the Apostles, He might well have said something like: “Were you as foolhardy as the scribes and Pharisees? As Herod and Pilate? Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this?”-Jeffery R. Holland

Each time these words enter my heart, I wonder, Am I working the way the Savior would have me work? I have to admit, I would most certainly be reconsidering some things I haven't been doing lately. If the savior were to come in two months, would there be something I would reconsider? Would there be something I would change? This question, though haunting, has been a massive call to repentence.

I simply want to share with you, Brothers and Sisters, this wonderful knowledge that I have acquired in my service as a missionary. And that's, that god LIVES. His son Jesus Christ rose from the tomb three days later after the wicked men of ancient Jerusalem gave him up; he was slain for the sins of the world. I can't tell you how much his love means to me; how much it has saved my life in the mission field! All I can do, is tell you how much I love YOU. And how the love he has for each of us, minuscules anything else we could ever comprehend.

I hope everything is going well at home! Save a spot for me! Only 209 more days left to go! I love each and every one of you! :]

<3 Sister  Kennedy