Hi Everyone!! :D
So I'm going to apologize now.... its been MUCH too long since i've sent along an update with how things are going out here in the mission field! Things have been crazy lately! And we've been without our car for a number of weeks, so our time and plans have been extremely binding! But I suppose those are nothing but excuses....As a formal apology, I'll give you a list of extremely funny and very strange occurrences that have happened in the last little bit. Ones that could ONLY happen to me and Sister Facer, and ones that could ONLY happen in Abbotsford.. I swear.
The First- How I was asked to Perform a Marriage-( Almost)
Sister Facer and I have been walking around the city for nearly a week now, and you can imagine that walking 10k's a day isn't exactly the ideal for me... great for proselyting on the street, not so good for tracting. After nearly every available street had been knocked ( I've knocked the city through at least twice since I've been here almost 5 months), we wandered to a VERY small street behind the mall that had a few houses left untouched. With relatively little enthusiasm, we walked over to this street, and passed a very finely dressed man. He was pacing back and forth, looking rather agitated, when we greeted him, and offered a mormon.org card. After a short conversation about his lack of spirituality, we introduced ourselves, and then bid him farewell. Less than half an hour later, we were walking back down the street when that same man came jogging down the street after us," SISTERS!" Obviously a little flustered, we went up to meet him."Hi Nills, everything okay?" The first thing out of his mouth was," Are you ordained ministers?!" My first reaction was one of defensiveness. Don't judge me too harshly. This town is full of bible-bashing preachers, and I'm never one to allow myself or my companion to be bullied. I fished for my ministerial certificate and boldly proclaimed," Yes, indeed we are!" And imagine my surprise when a huge smile emerged on his face and a cry of ," Great! Are you ordained to perform marriages??" Well, being dumb founded came pretty close to how I felt. After swallowing all of the bible arguements I had been formulating in my head, my companion stared at me, obviously expecting me to answer. "Er..well, not us, exactly. But we have a bishop, the congregation that we belong to has one that oversees us. We'll give him a call!" Nills had been waiting for his minister to show up to marry him for over an hour, she was late! The entire wedding party, including the bride, had been waiting for her! He had been standing outside waiting for her, when we first met him. After a few attempts, we were unable to get a hold of our bishop ( he was out of town). But we promised Nills that if he couldn't find anyone else to do it, we would give second ward's bishop a call. He thanked us for our efforts, gave us his phone number, and walked away. Sister Facer's response," Was it bad that I was praying the whole time that you would say yes?"
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Anti-Mormon Literature, rumors, and lies, unfortunately, are as common as the dead rats on the streets of old down-town abby. And its just as ridiculous as well. For all my time in serving in the Bible Belt of the Great white north, I've heard just about everything from people calling me a polygamist, to asking if I've ever heard of Jospeh Smith's brothel, to a straight faced middle age, educated woman asking me if I had horns hiding under my hair. Honestly! But last week, I heard the most entertaining one yet. We had been tracting in this tiny town home complex, and knocked into this rather strange woman. The first few words out of her mouth after we introduced ourselves were typical, botched bible quotes, along with philosiphies of men. After getting shot down several times, only by the simple flaws in her own logic and understanding of the gospel, she posed this aruguement," Well, you don't need a church to be spiritual! In the words of Dion-," ...Seriously? ,"- Don't need no memorized prayers, don't need no place for church, god is right there!" After realizing that intelligence, nor the spirit was getting us absolutely nowhere, the Lady's kind husband gently scooted her into the car and they drove away. So there you have it. Celine Dion's words have counfounded my testimony and made me question my faith or belief in God. Heavenly Father help me if I have to stay another transfer in this town LOL.
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So there you have it, so many strange things in this town. Including getting handed a Gideon bible, which is an even more botched version of the NIV translation, and Denzil Washington having written the Foreword.... Give me a break!
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And now to the absolutely GOOD part!
President asked us to read the following talk this past week, and I wanted to share a quote with you.
Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” 16 then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life." - Jeffery R. Holland
~~~~~~
The last few weeks have been greatly diffifult, so this talk was a drink of cold water for me. But thanks to the endlessly kind heart of my companion, who is probably one of the best friends I've ever had, thanks to the the warmth, love and support of loved ones and a very awesome best friend, the experience and encouragement from an incredible friend who has already served the Lord, from the very best parents in the world, and from a Loving Father in Heaven and his Son, who have never ever left me alone. I bare my testimony, that angels walk every step of the way with each of us, and I'm SO grateful for the many blessings that I have in my life. As I relfect back upon the years that I've lived ( All two decades haha) I realize how lucky and loved I am. I'm SO grateful for the blessed life that I have, and the very best mission in the world. I love ALL of you! And thank you so much! :D
Miracle of the week by Sister Facer:
Okay, now for the cool miracle of the week.....we've been able to find some really cool people this week....I know Heavenly Father is blessing us tremendously, and a lot of days I feel like we don't even deserve the blessings. This work is incredible, and I love being a part of it.
Last Sunday, this man walks into church and introduces himself...he said he'd been to Salt Lake and had been interested in the church for a while, but they gave him an address to the chapel when he visited this week. Turns out, he works with our assistant ward mission leader at the hospital, so they hit it off as he was teaching the lesson. The lesson was on what makes the Church different...and true! The organization, the principles...everything! We watched a short video on how Wilford Woodruff was looking for the true church his whole life and finally found it, and Roshan (the man) said at the end of the lesson,
"So...how many times do I need to come to church before I'm baptized into the church?"
All of the missionaries hold up three fingers, and Roshan goes,
"I'll have more questions next week. Sounds good to me."
Roshan is getting baptized in the 4th ward on Sunday, his third week at church. It is an absolute miracle to see someone change so fast. Apparently the elders were saying that he committed to live the Law of Chastity, WOW and Law of Tithing all at once...it was incredible! This work is hastening so much, and I know that the Lord is in every detail of this work!
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Individual responses are following shortly, be patient, and I love youuu! :D OH and reason for the email title.. Don't have an icepack, and since we've been walking so much, my lower back has been giving me trouble. So I used frozen peaches for an ice pack.. Sue me!
And picture explanation: The first... because I don't take attractive pics anymore. And the second is Sister Facer's interpretation of Sister Tilleman's rule of a professional edge... turned professional hedge, meaning always be professional with the elders!
<3 With Much Love,
Sister Kennedy
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” 16 then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life." - Jeffery R. Holland
~~~~~~
The last few weeks have been greatly diffifult, so this talk was a drink of cold water for me. But thanks to the endlessly kind heart of my companion, who is probably one of the best friends I've ever had, thanks to the the warmth, love and support of loved ones and a very awesome best friend, the experience and encouragement from an incredible friend who has already served the Lord, from the very best parents in the world, and from a Loving Father in Heaven and his Son, who have never ever left me alone. I bare my testimony, that angels walk every step of the way with each of us, and I'm SO grateful for the many blessings that I have in my life. As I relfect back upon the years that I've lived ( All two decades haha) I realize how lucky and loved I am. I'm SO grateful for the blessed life that I have, and the very best mission in the world. I love ALL of you! And thank you so much! :D
Miracle of the week by Sister Facer:
Okay, now for the cool miracle of the week.....we've been able to find some really cool people this week....I know Heavenly Father is blessing us tremendously, and a lot of days I feel like we don't even deserve the blessings. This work is incredible, and I love being a part of it.
Last Sunday, this man walks into church and introduces himself...he said he'd been to Salt Lake and had been interested in the church for a while, but they gave him an address to the chapel when he visited this week. Turns out, he works with our assistant ward mission leader at the hospital, so they hit it off as he was teaching the lesson. The lesson was on what makes the Church different...and true! The organization, the principles...everything! We watched a short video on how Wilford Woodruff was looking for the true church his whole life and finally found it, and Roshan (the man) said at the end of the lesson,
"So...how many times do I need to come to church before I'm baptized into the church?"
All of the missionaries hold up three fingers, and Roshan goes,
"I'll have more questions next week. Sounds good to me."
Roshan is getting baptized in the 4th ward on Sunday, his third week at church. It is an absolute miracle to see someone change so fast. Apparently the elders were saying that he committed to live the Law of Chastity, WOW and Law of Tithing all at once...it was incredible! This work is hastening so much, and I know that the Lord is in every detail of this work!
------------------------------
Individual responses are following shortly, be patient, and I love youuu! :D OH and reason for the email title.. Don't have an icepack, and since we've been walking so much, my lower back has been giving me trouble. So I used frozen peaches for an ice pack.. Sue me!
And picture explanation: The first... because I don't take attractive pics anymore. And the second is Sister Facer's interpretation of Sister Tilleman's rule of a professional edge... turned professional hedge, meaning always be professional with the elders!
<3 With Much Love,
Sister Kennedy
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