Sister Baylee Anne Kendrick: I love people from 3rd world countries

Hey how is everyone? I hope all is well!! This week, well let's just say everyone has their agency and sometimes people tend to use it like fools :( No one would get back to us and it was really sad! But never fear this week was still great, the work goes on.

Monday, After dinner we went over and visited a less active older man.( he lived on a horse ranch that means land and horses, that's really rare around here).   He was really nice we talked about everything under the sun except for the gospel :( We started out with a prayer and a scripture, and he wouldn't read it, nor did he want to talk about it. He was totally avoiding it.   It made me really sad, but right before we left he made a comment about the Manti temple and the murals inside the endowment room. It made me so sad that he has a lost his
testimony. He still has the knowledge of many gospel things, but he has lost the ....

We had zone training. It was so good.   I love President Woodbury. He is so sweet and so knowledgeable.   It's great. :) The trainings were centered on Christ like attributes, and having faith and always looking to the
Lord, fearing not (Peter walking on water) I love zone training :) Afterwards we went to eat with all of the sisters it was a lot of fun, and it was a great head turner.   I was able to talk to a lot of people, it was great... It's funny because talking to people is not natural to any of the sisters in my zone, and actually they all have had a really hard time getting use to being a missionary. I don't know if it's just because I've been raised to talk to others and be outgoing or what, but it's not a problem for me.   It's wonderful ;) so they all just let me talk to everyone that came into Subway haha ...

We visited with Gail twice this week, once for our normal lesson, then once because she needed to vent. We listened to her, showed her a Mormon message that made her smile, prayed, and had her call the Elders to receive a priesthood blessing. We have become good friends with Gail! and she takes care of us :). It's so fun to see her testimony grow a little bit at a time! The temple is our next goal.

So for the past few weeks we have been teaching this less active couple. They've been members for 30 plus years and they are really cool people. The first time we stopped by just to see who they were. Brother Watkins said that Sister Watkins had just started to read the Book of Mormon recently to find out for herself if it is true. GOLDEN WORDS !!!!! We have slowly been helping them regain their knowledge of the gospel. They keep saying that they have testimonies, but I think what they don't understand is that a true testimony requires us to ACT. If we have a testimony, it changes something inside of us, it makes us want to change, to become how our Savior sees us.    So for them our main purpose is to help them gain a true testimony. Slowly but surely it's coming along :) Brother Watkins knows so much, so many stories.   He studies the early Saints, the temples, Joseph Smith…. his knowledge is never ending he's doing his homework. He's put in the time. He's just never allowed it to change him, and it makes me really sad. BUT never fear they are moving in the right direction. They just need a little push hahaha ....

Because our investigators haven't been getting back to us, we have had a lot of time go and visit less actives, it's been great!! I'm still in awe as to how so many people fall away from the church. I don't know if I was just blind to it at home but there are a lot of people who have just allowed themselves to stay stagnant in one place in the gospel, or so that's what they thought, but we know and they now know too that if we are not constantly pushing forward, gaining more knowledge exercising our faith and testimony the light of the gospel begins to take the form of atrophy. It so sad :(

The best part of the week was probably Sunday. We met Tricia, from Belize, in the park a week or so ago. She is a nanny and her kids were playing a pick up soccer game. We stopped to watch and one of the little kids was so good. I must of commented out loud because she started to laugh. I started up the conversation and boom!!! Soccer is the best!! So I guess when she was younger, 17ish the missionaries came to her house in Belize. She felt so bad for them that she would feed them at least 2 times a week, so when she saw our name tags, she was so happy!! She had loved the missionaries. She had a very hard life.   Her dad left when her mom was 19 and had 5 kids, one being Downs Syndrome. She, being the oldest, had a lot of responsibility.. They were very poor, so when she was 9, her mom left for America and left her and her 4 siblings in Belize. She was to take care of them. Her mom would send money home and slowly they were able to move from a shack to a nicer home, but she still she had a to take care of her little sisters, go to school and be he mom!!! Crazy, right? It reminded me so much of Africa. Long story short, she eventually moved to the USA and has been a nanny for some millionaires ever since. I love her so much!! Well because she loved the elders she had us over for dinner Sunday. She spoiled us with Belizean food and we had a great conversation with her! We talked about prophets, personal revelation, Joseph Smith, and the simple little moments God gives us to
show us His love. She is so amazing and strong! We are looking forward to teaching her! I love her !!!

Well I love you all keep up the good work !!! Challenge for the week invite someone over from your neighborhood or friend group that is less active or non members, and while they are there, share one thing you love about the gospel, it doesn't have to be a lesson or anything big but just share a little bit of how the gospel
has blessed you .. You have until the rest of the month GO AND DO :D

Well I love y'all keep smiling
Love Sister Kendrick