Work Hard....Play Hard

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!!

This week has been a world wind.  We were crazy busy all week, going from one appointment to the next. Sister Jones says this is the busiest she has been on her whole mission!!   It is wonderful.  I love it!!!

Just a little example of how crazy it was, each night we are suppose  to report how each lesson was and what we taught in our area book.  At one point in the week we had 10 lessons to report on :) GO TEAM!!

Well I’m going to try to fit this week into an email that's not horribly long, but bear with me :)

 Monday

We had a super fun zone activity last Monday so we got to have a good time with all the missionaries in our stake. I love being a missionary and being with other missionaries! We had a scavenger hunt and we asked this kid to hold the Book of Mormon and skateboard...he did it so we could take a picture, but he didn't want to keep the Book of Mormon oh well :). We also had to find things that didn't have to do with being a missionary, and we played the game signs, with all 30 of us! It was a good time :).

Tuesday we went on exchanges, Sister Trowerbidge and I went to town...

We started off at the food pantry and everyone there was so mad.  They thought Sister Jones had left (we have been preparing them, since transfers are this week) they proceeded to tell me that they were going to call the big man in charge "whoever that Is" and request (aka Demand ) that we never leave.  They all want to come to Utah.  They are all planning a trip for when I get married... (aaaa that might be a little scary) hahaha

Amongst a lot of other things the highlight moment of the day is when we taught the Cunnighams. For a good 4 days I had been trying to prepare a lesson for them, and nothing was coming. I knew that I wouldn't be able to rely on Sister Jones either; I was kind of on my own. I had planned on going over their thoughts and questions about the word of wisdom and really helping them see the importance of it, but that's really all I had planned. Totally meant to be... Bishop Jones ended up coming to the lesson and it was so good. Half way through, he turned to me and asked would it be alright if he shared some of his thoughts?  Had I had a huge lesson, like usual, Bishop would have never had an opportunity to share with them.  It was really good too. I ended up asking them if they would like a blessing and Bishop was able to give them one right then and there.  It was so good. They both said later that they felt the spirit!! hip hip hooray!!  They are doing so well. They kept almost every commitment we extend and they started reading the Book of Mormon on their own! They love church and they are SO excited to get baptized! 

Wednesday,

On Monday we got a self-referral, her name is Karla and she’s 19.  We were so excited we were able to set up a time to meet her on Wednesday for the first time.  She is awesome!! She is a young mom and she really wants to know how to be happy again. She has some really good questions and really wants to know the truth!! It was such a good lesson and she was so happy at the end.  She told us that the church was something that she really was interested in she loved the feeling that she felt when we were with her. She was actually really upset when we had to go, but it’s ok because we set up an appointment for Friday. We taught the Restoration.  She was really interested and she wants to learn more. She came to church on Sunday too!!  We promised it will bring her so much joy! She brought her little boy Liam with her to church. Someone asked "is this your first time here?" and Karla said "yes, but it won't be my last!" We are excited to continue to teach her! 

Wednesday night at 8'ock we got a text from the AP's that we would be having a new missionary training the next morning at the mission home... Ahhh,,, so we had to call all of our appointments.  We only got 12 hours notice! So we hurriedly rescheduled everything and went to bed. New missionary training was great though!  It was wonderful to spend one last meeting with President and Sister Woodbury before they are released.  I asked president for any last words of advice, and he said "Heavenly Father has blessed you with many talents that will greatly bless this mission, write them down and figure out how to use them.  And if you do you will greatly bless this mission" so now in need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what my talents are... this will be fun ;D (I feel like that time when my mom made me stitch my positive attributes onto a pillow) hahaha

We also were able to arrange for one of our investigators, Christina, to receive a priesthood blessing that day! It was a big step for her to actually accept and come to the church to receive a blessing.

Friday we did some service for Sister Booth and met with Gail. She is doing so well! She is reading all she can about Joseph Smith on the Gospel Library app. She just cracks us up every time we see her.  On Sunday, Karla needed a ride home from church and we were scrambling to find someone....and then we asked Gail. Karla lives in the completely opposite direction as Gail, but she was so kind to drive her home! We tagged along to help Karla feel more comfortable, and it was a good time :)

Saturday we did LOTS of planning and then we had dinner at the Eagar's, and they invited Frank and Shelley as well as two other members of the ward! It was great. They spoiled us with good food, friends, and fire. I even saw fireflies in their backyard for the first!  I was like a kid in a candy store going all over the place, jumping up and down. It was awesome!! We had a lesson with everyone there and I loved hearing everyone share their testimonies. 

This week has been crazy and that was just brief insight of it. One thing that has been in my head all week is something that Sister Trowbidge said to me on exchanges. She said that about 2 or so months before I came out President was looking to shut down a sisters area, for lack of missionaries.  The STL that was a big help to president suggested and insisted that he shut down our area because nothing good was happening here and many sisters thought that it was a waste of time and effort. Well President proceeded to tell the STL's that this area wasn't even a candidate for him—there was no way he was going to shut it down. They thought he was crazy... but then Sister Trowbrige told me that she believes the reason he didn't shut it down was because he knew the good that was going to happen when Sister Jones and I got together.  I almost started crying. It was so cool... the spirit told me once again that I was where I needed to be and that I was supposed to be here. President is a truly inspired man and I’m sad to see him go but so excited for a new experience and a new chapter to begin.

Sister Jones and I have tried our hardest to make a difference in this area, and until that moment I had not realized what a difference we had truly made. I love the mission and I’m so grateful to be part of this work!! The work of bringing joy to others has truly been a wonderful experience.  Well, I love you all have a great week:)

Keep Smilin

Sister Kendrick

Happy Fathers Day

Hey everyone how are you??
First off, Happy Father's Day to all the dads, grandpas, and uncles in my life.  I love you all. Thank you for making such a big impact in my life.  I love you!!!

So Monday was a lot of fun.  We went to the city it was great... I love it so much. It's so much fun to people watch and to just walk around.  We went to the aquarium and then mural/ graffiti hunting it was great haha. We were so done by the end though.   We figured that we walked a good 10 plus miles #gottagetfit #week :)

When we got home Elder Woods called us and told us some sad news.  Nick had called and his girlfriend (the one who introduced him to the gospel) and her family wouldn't be able to make it to his baptism on June 11.  If they weren't there, he didn't want to do it. He feels like joining the church is something that he has to choose for himself but the date he chooses (aka when he gets baptized) they can decide together. It was a really sad day. But never fear, he still wants to join the church, more than ever actually, it's just a bump in the road hahaha...

We meet with the Cunninghams twice this week there doing really good. It's so exciting to watch them grow in the gospel!!! There so good at keeping their commitments too!  It's fantastic!! We introduced the Word of Wisdom to them and they actually took it better than I expected #prayersdocometrue

Our lesson with Nick this week consisted of explaining the set up of the church, and the fact that he can hold the priesthood.  The spirit was so strong, the whole lesson I was on a spiritual high.  It was fantastic!

We had zone conference this week and it was so good!! It was the last with President Woodbury.  It was really sad but really exciting too :) Sister Jones and I had to teach, that's a whole other story in itself haha ;) but it went really good!! I love the energy and the recharge that comes from zone meetings and conference.   It ignites me and makes me want to push 100 times harder ;)

Our friend initiative took off this week and the ward took to it really well.   I'm excited to see what comes of it.  Well that's all for today. I love you all and I'm grateful for your examples to me... Keep smilin

Love Sister Kendrick

P Day in the City

Ba Bing...Ba Da Boom

Hey all..
One more down, I can't believe it!! The weeks go by so fast.  I hope everyone is doing well at home, I hope your all enjoying the summer!

This week was good!  Sister Jones and I have been putting a lot of work into a plan we (us and the Elders) have to help the members of the ward do missionary work and invite people to our upcoming ward activity! It's called friendship is missionary work.   I may or may not have gone a little crazy, but can I say I'm a big dreamer, hopeful our ward will see the vision I have in my head ;)  In one of the pictures I sent is one of our handouts for it. The idea is every week is a letter and a challenge for the members, in hopes that they will build a friendship with someone new and invite them to our ward picnic!!  I'm so excited stay tune to see how it goes ;)  Sister Schroeder is a wonderful member of our ward and she has been helping us make handouts and flyers, and we have a goal to talk to all the ward leaders this week so we can launch our idea. We are excited!

We got in with Breanna this week, she has been super busy and she has not found time for us to meet with her for about 2 weeks, but we were able to meet with her long enough to share an overview of the plan of salvation before she had to go to work. We are inching along little by little :)

We went over the baptismal questions with Nick to make sure that he didn't have any issues so that he can be baptized this Saturday!  Whoot! Whoot! He was talking about his hard tests and the stress he had, so I asked him if he would like a blessing, he  pounded the table in excitement and practically  yelled yes hahaha.. We taught him about the temple and it was so good. He asked Elder Woods if he would baptism him and Elder Woods heart almost jumped out of his chest! The lesson came to an end and he asked Drew to give him a blessing and the spirit was so strong.  After it ended, all Nick could was say "wow I feel like I need to hug everyone, that was so cool" He had stated in the lesson that he didn't know if the temple could have a spirit stronger then what he had been feeling and then after the blessing he stated that he can't imagine what the spirit of the temple feels like.  The spirit and feelings surrounding the blessing hit him hard. Needless to say he is doing great and we are excited for this weekend:) a little stressed but excited haha!

We taught Sister Watkins this week and we shared the restoration video with her. Afterword, she was like that is a great video.  We proceeded to ask her what her favorite part was.  She was so over come with the spirit that she couldn't hold back.  She started Sobbing.   It was so cool.   She bore her testimony of Joseph Smith with us and how she knew he truly was a prophet, that the spirit behind it testified that it couldn't be made up, it had to be true !! It was so cool!!!  She has such a sweet spirit.  She's begging to understand, and I love it.  It makes me so happy to see her begin to understand the gospel.  She has come so far! I am so grateful to have been able to help her have a spiritual experience. We invited her to the baptism, and she expressed concern about not having a dress or skirt....from that conversation we could tell that she has been thinking about coming to church!! :)

We taught Frank and Shelley Cunningham the restoration this week, and they are so eager to get baptized!  We are a little concerned because we want them to be prepared for that important step, but we helped them pick a date as a goal to work towards. July 2  hopefully we can get them ready for that day.  We will probably end up moving it back but, hey nothing is impossible when the Lord is on your side:) They read the whole restoration pamphlet in preparation for our lesson so we can tell they truly want to learn. :)

We got to help deep clean the church this week! Ironically enough they assigned us to clean the baptismal font :) haha At least I know that it's super clean for Nick this week haha.

We also went to an Italian beef shack called "Ba Da Bing"! Delicious.

I love being a missionary! No day is the same. It is a privilege to participate full time in the work of the Lord! I know He lives!

I love you all keep smilin!
Love Sister Kendrick