An Eventful Week

 My time is super short.  We have been so busy up here.  It’s been so fun, but really crazy all at the same time!  Some days I don’t have time to think!   It’s great!!   Our lessons have been on fire… so many miracles and so many blessings have come our way!!  I’m in heaven!!

Monday

In the morning we had a lesson with a man named Raifu.  He is from Nigeria and such a sweet man.  He and his family are super big on religion; it was a nice and interesting meeting. He shared his beliefs and we shared ours.   Really, it was a grand testimony meeting.  The spirit was so strong as we testified!! I am so grateful for the Wentworth Letter and that my Primary teachers took the time to make me memorize it, because it makes it so easy and simple but powerfully state what we believe in. We are meeting with him tomorrow to go more into depth. We spent the majority of the day in the city which is always a great time! 

Tuesday and Wednesday

I was on exchanges with Hermana Marpel.  I don’t know if I told you or not but I’m also over the Spanish Sisters here,so that’s been a lot of fun!!  Sister Bingham spent the day with us on Wednesday and it’s always a wonderful time when she is around. She has so many good insights and is just a joy to be around. We brought her to Alma’s lesson this week. We taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation, and invited her to be baptized.  She liked the lesson, but was hesitant on the baptism. We invited her to pray about it and she said she would.

Thursday 

Alma came to our Institute class.  We are currently studying the Bible and it’s been super fun for her!  She loved coming to class. Slowly but surely she is coming along. We also had a Face Time lesson with Sue.  She is doing so well!!  Now if we could only get her to come back from Kentucky so that she could go to the temple that would be great!!

Friday

 I wasn't feeling so hot.  We had some strange food and I think it got to me, so that was fun. We still had a really busy day and we were able to get a lot done. Let me tell you about Ikee, Shala, her 2 kids, and Harmony.  They are the people from Africa that we found in our potential new investigator list that aren't in our area. We went and visited them on Friday night and right as we walked in the little girl named Grace ran up to us and gave me a hug. I about died. I wish so badly we were teaching them. The Elders we gave them to called us the other night and said that teaching them was going great, and that we should be jealous. Little do they know, we are super jealous! 

We are starting to meet with a lady named Dez. She's just interested in knowing about our beliefs because she's making a movie, I think.  So we are teaching her about the Book of Mormon, and going through that slowly with her. She asks little questions here and there, but she's really interested in knowing more and meeting with us. I don't think she knows the power of the Book of Mormon yet.

Jimmy and Chloe are doing great. Their aunt Sunny is in town for a month from China for cancer related things. She came to the Women's Broadcast with Chloe. She is not religious at all and I don't think she believes in Jesus or God, but has read the whole Bible. We were able to pull up the broadcast on Saturday right on the spot in Mandarin.   As she was watching the broadcast she talked about how much peace she was feeling and she cried during it. It was cool because all of the talks were about finding peace, and cancer. I felt like she related so much. She didn’t understand what she was feeling but she loved it!! It was such a great experience for me.  The spirit was so so so strong, such a blessing to have technology.  It was so cool how President Eyring touched on how what you felt was the Holy Ghost and how you can remember and feel this way again. Sunny talked about wanting to volunteer at the church in China when she gets back! Sadly she wasn't feeling good on Sunday so she didn't come to church with Jimmy and Chloe, but hopefully next week!

This week has been great!  I'm so excited for conference. I invite you all to do all you need to do this week, so that you have time to watch conference this weekend. You can always go back and read the talks if you miss them, but it's definitely not the same! I challenge all of you to earnestly pray and seek what the Lord wants you to get out of this upcoming general conference. I know there is something specific for each of You!

Have a great week!! 

Love Ya!!

Keep smilin 

Sister Kendrick 

One year!!!

So this week was absolutely crazy AMAZING!!  So much happened I can't even put it into words, nor is there enough time in the day to share all the magnificent miracles and moments that took place this week.  I've tried to compile some of the best into bullet points in hopes to be able to get more things in….

• Zone training…I had to teach.  The topic was on prayer 
• Exchanges with Sister Robinson, she had only been in her area for 9 days, so needless to say we got lost on the busses and trains but it made for a great adventure.  We talked to so so so many people!!!! 
• I did a lot of contacting on and near public transportation 
• In one train ride I meet and spoke to 13 people, all of different nationalities 
• We went contacting in Skokie which is a little city in our area. It's awesome for street contacting. As Sister Silver was telling me that, I made the comment that we should go check it out.  We got there and we started walking and talking for about 30 to 50 minutes, then the people started to disappear. Sister Silver started to lead us back to or car.  Little did I know, she had no idea where we were! An hour and half later, we finally made it to our car.  She just kept saying, the next light we'll turn.  Little stink… we had the blind leading the blind, but it made for some fun contacting and we got some solid potential new investigators!! 
• Sister Tanner and Sister Silver surprised me and got me a cute little gift and balloons for my ONE YEAR MARK. So sweet of them!!

• We also had the mission tour this week with Elder Anderson of the Seventy, which called for special meetings.  They are always amazing!! MLC and a multi zone training!!
• He talked about faith and how we can do all that we want and have all the faith in the world, but unless we act on it, faith is nothing. He also talked about being a Child of God and understanding how important that is in our daily lives.
• Elder Anderson  and his wife ate lunch with Sister Silver and I. We had a great conversation!! What a wonderful people!! 
• We've had lessons out the wazoo which has been so much fun!
• We taught this wonderful African family and we put them on date!!! I was so so so excited because you all know it's my one selfish goal and desire to bring an African family into the church while I'm out here! I was stoked.... and then we found out they were not in our area.  We had to give a whole family to the Elders and I wanted to cry!!! I was so sad that we wouldn't be able to teach them, in fact I'm still a little upset about it but either way they will be able to learn of the gospel!  Maybe I should stop wanting and wishing to be able to teach them and then I might be given that opportunity!! 
• Sunday I had to speak in church with Elder Scott of the Seventy.   I think my talk went well.  Can anyone guess what it was on? Yup no other than temple work!! My favorite thing to talk on in the whole wide world, that and the Atonement but that will be the 7th talk I've given on temples in my life time!! 
• I also had to lead the music in sacrament meeting.  That scared me more than speaking!! I would much rather speak any day then to lead music!

Thursday night we got to have dinner with the Fa'anunu family and Jimmy and Chloe, our investigstors. We made pizza, and Jimmy taught us how to make dumplings. They were super good. We then started teaching then about the Plan of Salvation and talked about our role on earth as we went into faith and repentance, we brought up baptism and Chloe was wondering what that was exactly.  We talked about it and explained a little about how important it is. AND THEN Sister Silver INVITED THEM TO BE BAPTIZED!! So Jimmy and Chloe are on date for the end of April, but that's just a goal for them because we still need to discuss with them either getting married or separating. I love being out here and sharing the gospel! Such a cool lesson though!! We had them watch a Mormon message that was in Chinese. I love the church media and I am so grateful for it. The spirit was so strong while I was explaining the purpose of life was to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ including baptism. Chloe said, “I do not know what that is”. As I explained it she said, “oh yes I want that!!  How can I be baptized”?  GOLDEN!!  Such a sweet spirit was present.  Then Jimmy offered such an amazing prayer. You would never know that over a month ago they didn't even believe in God!  It’s Crazy. I was a little worried that they were just in this for the culture but that lesson proved it to me they truly want the gospel in their lives and they are applying it and using the Atonement!! It's an amazing experience.

Alma has been sick this past week, but we are working on meeting with her sometime this week. 

Sorry my email is so jumbled!  It's been a crazy week, but there was just too much to share!!! Well, one year down and what have I learned?  I can tell you this much, I know that this Gospel can change lives. I know that it is the only way to find everlasting happiness.. I've learned more about myself and who I truly am as I've been out here and the more I turn out to others and the more I give of myself to Heavenly Father, the more I learn of who I am to him and the plan he has for me.  I've learned how the spirit works and I'm starting to understand the language of the spirit. I've learned what the Atonement is and what it can do. Ultimately I've gained such a personal relationship with the Savior and Heavenly Father. I've seen how blessed I truly am and what this gospel has done for me! I'm loving life and I'm living it up!! Here's to the next six months!  I'm going to work hard then ever!! I love you thanks for the support!  I couldn't ask for better friends and family!! 

Have a great week!

Love ya! 

Keep smilin!

Sister Kendrick 

If you didn't know there was a God

What a great week it's been. I'm loving the North Shore 2nd Ward.  There is so much potential here. They have so much going on, I've just hit the ground running.  The ward up here is so diverse!  We have met Jamaicans Koreans, Chinese, Mongolians, Hispanic, Filipino, Australian, Polish, African American, Africans I LOVE IT!!!  It is so cool to experience all this!!   I don't know if I told you this last week but my new companion's name is Sister Silver.  She is from Utah and she's been out for about 6 weeks.  She's  just awesome. I've been so impressed by her these past few days such a great girl :) We are going to be working so hard while we are here. I'm so excited. This week we got everything straightened out so that we can have a great transfer. So here's a bit of the cool experience I've had up her this far:)

On Tuesday I got up to the area and we went contacting.  We went to a outdoor mall and oh my goodness you'll never believe how happy I was.  There were people out and about and I was so excited to be able to do street contacting again!! I was like a kid in a candy shop.  I was jumping around with excitement. Just to put it in perspective, we were able to have contact with 12 people in 35 min and we had a good conversation!  We were able to teach a restored truth, bear testimony, and invite!!  We ended that time with 6 phone numbers I haven't had the  opportunity to contact like that for so long it's crazy !! Its so much Fun !! 

Well here's just a little thing about me. I have found that I can not feel the spirit if the room I'm in is messy or cluttered. This has been a great blessing to come to find out here, although its also a curse :) so That's why in every area I've gone to, I find myself cleaning. So needless to say we took a day to clean out my new apartment. 5 bags of trash and a car full of stuff later, we have a clean home. The Repair man came to look at the things that need to be fixed so now I'm able to feel the spirit and start off this transfer right :)

We had a really cool and spiritual lesson with a Investigator named Alma fancy that......such a sweet lady, I'll tell you more about her in the next  few coming weeks. 
I want to tell you about a couple that we are teaching.   Chloe and Jimmy are from China.   Their story is so cool. So about 4 weeks ago they walked into the church building on Sunday and asked if they could join the church.  When  they came over from China (about 2 years ago) they noticed how much religion played a role in the lives of Americans. In an effort to become American,  they decided that they too needed to get involved with a church so they pulled up google maps.  A ton of churches popped up and they were going through all the name s and chose ours, which  led them to come to church 4 weeks ago. And they haven't missed yet :) 

Some interesting things come with this one being the fact that in China they don't normally have a belief  in God or Jesus Christ. The sisters before me have helped them start to develop faith and now they are praying but its very interesting to me and a its already been a great experience. Can you even imagine going through life not knowing that you are a son or a daughter of a Magnificent God who Cares and loves you more than words can express. Can you imagine going through life with out knowing you have a loving Savior that is with you every step of the way, to know that you have a purpose in this life. The list just goes on and on, its been amazing to me as I have studied and really tried to figure out a way to teach them and help them. The magnitude of what this  gospel  and the knowledge that I've acquired has really done for my life. I Am so indeed grateful. This gospel is going to blow them away and its going to be amazing. I'm so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord and I'm so grateful for this amazing ride I'm on!!  

I love you all Have a Great week:) 

Transfer!!

Hey everyone! 

So before I tell you about my week...I'm getting transferred!! Goodbye Indiana, I’m going to CHICAGO!!! I will be going to the North Shore 2nd Ward.   I'm super excited!!! Pretty stoked about it! My new companion will be Sister Silver.  She's a new missionary so I'm super excited to train again. That will be fun. I'm also going to be an STL again, so it'll be a very busy transfer again!! I'm super stoked to be in the city :) The temple is in my area so I will be able to give tours!! I couldn't be happier!! I love love love the temple!!  I am bummed to leave all the people here in Indiana. I've gotten really close to this ward it feels like family, but it will be okay!

We worked really hard this week and it was a really fun week. We did some door to door knocking in trailer homes and that was interesting. Some guy fell in love with us and I'm pretty sure he was on drugs. Ha. We also had new missionary training on Tuesday! It was really good. We learned how we have the power to change the culture in the mission and to make the mission successful. We also learned how our mind is a powerful thing and we have control over it! We have the power to stay focused and make goals and don't let our minds tell us we can't do it. Only Satan is telling you, you can't do it!

On Wednesday we helped the Elders move this non member out of her house. Her husband kicked her out and said he wants nothing to do with her. How sad....she was super upset that day and trying to be productive but she was torn. I felt really bad for her and we shared a message of how God's plan for us is so great, and even though we might think nothing is going right in our lives, he has something even better for us right around the corner. She was super appreciative.  She is starting to take the lessons and she's coming to church next week and that'll be awesome! I know the gospel will help her so much!! 

On Saturday we were trying to find former investigators to see if they would still be interested. We ended up getting lost.  For lunch I was craving street tacos and I said "man I could really go for some street tacos right now, let’s go inside this restaurant see if they have any!" Sister Tanner was like you dummy street tacos are on the STREET. Haha but anyway I went inside and asked if they have street tacos and they looked at me and smiled. They said yes we do! Haha I was thinking what the heck these people probably think we are the whitest white girls ever. Oh well we got some tacos! And they were bomb.

We also talked to the waitress and she was in her teens. She said she loves to do service and if she could help us whenever we do anything! I thought this girl was amazing and so cool. Not many girls in their teens want to do service. Hahah but we got her number and the new missionaries will have to get into contact with her!

Anyway, this week was amazing! Now we are just packing up and saying goodbye to people. My favorite family in this ward is taking us out to eat tonight! That should be fun. I'll keep you updated on downtown! Wish me luck!! 

The weather this week has been super crazy 

Spiritual thought: Have you thought of the Savior today? What does the ENABLING power of the atonement mean to you? Most times we think of the atonement as a healing power when we've sinned. But we should remember that we can use the atonement in everyday life! Christ knows us and knows our struggles. We need to remember the Savior everyday and strive to do so! Love you all have a great week!

Expect the Unexpected

This week flew by I can't believe it’s Monday already! We had a great week!! 

Monday was awesome!! We had Family Home Evening with one of my favorite families out here!! They had us over for dinner and then we had a great lesson on the Atonement. I love when we go over there because I feel like I'm at home!!  What a great family I love the the Dumas family!!

Tuesday we had a great Zone Meeting. That night we had dinner with a sweet family. They have a 17 year old daughter we have been working with.  At dinner we gave her a hard time for skipping out on church activities and Sister Tanner was able to get her to commit to coming to early morning seminary again, and she actually came the next day!!  I'm so grateful that I never had a rough go throughout High School!! I'm so grateful for great friends and family that kept me pointing in the right direction. That night I went on the last exchange to good old Hebron.  It’s just a bit different from Chi-Hights and Gary haha but it was great all the same. 

Wednesday…So Hebron is nothing but corn fields!! It was so pretty to drive around in. We did a lot of stop bys and we taught some solid lessons. It was a great day! I’ve really enjoyed being an STL this transfer. We have some amazing sisters in the Valpo Zone and it’s been really fun getting to know all of them and getting to work with them. It truly has been a great blessing. I don't know if I mentioned this in any of my last emails, I can’t remember, but we have started a Book of Mormon class on Wednesday nights and it’s been super fun! It was my turn to teach and I loved it!! One thing I’ve learned on the Mission is how much I really love studying and teaching!! I learned a lot and I hope everyone else did too.

 Friday we spent most of the day doing service which is always super fun.  We had a lot of members reach out to us asking if we could lend a hand to some of their friends, which of course we love helping out. We got to throw in a few lessons with non members and let others see what the "mormons" are really all about.  The ward had a family dance which sounded like a lot of fun, we of course didn't go but it was a great thing we were able to invite people to. Instead, we went to go and teach a potential new investigator that is living with a less active family. This week has been good!  We've been trying to build our teaching pool for quite some time. This week we got a glimpse of our work. We've had a lot of members and just individuals in general, interested in learning.  We have a lot of potential new investigators to work with.  Just when I'm about to be transferred!! Well at least the next sisters will have a chance to teach.

 Saturday we had a lesson with Beth on recognizing the spirit.  It was a great discussion we read scripture after scripture in an effort to help recognize the ways the spirit speaks, or gives promptings.  Explaining how to recognize promptings has been one of the hardest things for me to teach on the mission. You can only share ways that the spirit can work and how it can give prompting. You can’t really teach how the spirit will work with each individual on a personal level. And most of the time that’s not much help.  But I hope help we were able to help Beth. 

Sunday was Elder Ward's birthday and we wanted him to have a great day, so as we were putting balloons on their truck 40 mins before church started. A young guy drives up, gets out of his pick up, and asks is this is where the Mormons meet?  Confused and excited we told him yes it is but you're a little early.  Well he told us his name was Robby and he would like to attend today. Long story short he's been going around to every church in a 40 mile radius and the Mormons were next up on the list. He's just looking for the true church. OK SO THIS NEVER HAPPENS.... I dropped the balloons and took him in to the chapel; you always have to expect the unexpected! Hopefully we will be able to start teaching him.  Does his story sound familiar to anyone a young kid looking for the truth?  Ya, we are going to jump on that. 

All and all this week was great 

I hope all is well back home!!  I love you all 

Keep smilin 

Love sister Kendrick