Joseph Hear Him Out

Well the last few weeks have been a blur. Morgan Park has definitely lived up to its reputation.   It's been so much fun, so crazy, so stressful, and so exhausting but I love it!!  The majority of my time has been spent by doing stop bys for Bible referrals.  We get quite a few of those. The sisters before us we covering 2 wards so they had their hands full!   They didn't get around to doing many of the referrals. When I got here there were a little more than 80 to do so that's been really fun for us.  All of these lessons are practically already set up for us, as long as they keep their appointments.  We've got to meet a lot of sweet people and lots of amazing people with some crazy life experience. We've gone to some sketchy areas and almost been eaten by some scary dogs.  We get lost about 10 times a day and we turn down at least 2 one way streets a day!! It has been so much fun!!  My favorite part though is driving down the street in some of the neighborhoods with the windows rolled down waving.  Everyone takes a double take!  They never thought they'd see a couple of girls like us rolling down their street! It is honesty the best!! Ok enough about the craziness of this area and on to some of the amazing people I've been able to meet here.


Ok so Luis is a member that we meet  with each week, and we were going over the restoration with him this week and as we got to the Joseph Smith story, he was like “girls I know this part”, so we told him that it was his turn to teach us. This is in his words (in the most sincere tone), “my friend Joseph went and he twas readin, looking for some of those churches to join and he knew they wasn't right. So he's like…. go to talk with God. God and Christ came to him and God said something ...oh ya ... Joseph hear him out”.  It was perfect after we got in the car though I couldn't stop laughing welcome to the south side.  Luis is a good guy and this past lesson we had was on the Articles of Faith.  He's going to try to memorize them.



While doing some Bible referrals, we found a woman named Tracy. She had requested that missionaries come by. As we were teaching her, it was blowing my mind. She through her own personal studies throughout the years has developed beliefs and faith that are so similar to ours.  It's crazy! I kept asking her, “so you've never meet missionaries before and you don't know anyone who is a member of the church”? It was funny, one of the last things she said in our first lesson was I'm glad to know someone else believes in this because I was going crazy thinking I was going to have to go and start a church to share these truths. I responded “no, no, no need for that, the church has already been established”. She's a hoot and she loves to talk about God and Jesus.  She loves learning about the gospel.






Next up is Nazaret.   Okay so a little background to her.  She is 14 years old and this is her story. A little bit ago some missionaries knocked on her friend’s door and he was telling her about these crazy people that came by.  She asked if they had left anything and he gave her a pamphlet they had left. Long story short she jumped on Mormon.org and started looking at the website and started chatting with missionaries. The next Sunday she showed up to church. That was about 7 weeks ago. The cool thing is that she comes by herself.  None of her family comes. She's amazing!!  She signed herself up for seminary and is eating up the gospel.  She's so involved. Her the biggest challenge is that we haven't been allowed to teach her due to her mom and her step dad but this week her mom is allowing us to come to the house to share a message with Nazaret.   I'm so excited!!  So Nazaret also has a bit of anxiety and she was super super nervous for school to start last week. I asked her if she would like a blessing. It was the coolest experience! I'm excited to report back on her. It's crazy to me that she is so young yet she is seeking out this incredible gospel and that she is choosing to do this for herself. It has taken Joseph Smith’s story to a whole new level for me.



Last week I attended my last new missionary training.  It is so bitter sweet! It's crazy for me to look back on my mission life and to think back to when I was there.  It's honestly so crazy to me!! Amongst many things President showed a video that I've seen about 26 times but man it hit hard! I can attach the link and encourage you to watch it and think about the questions that are asked.  Replace the word mission with life I hope that your able to feel the same spirit. Man this upcoming week is going to be bomb.  We have a lot happening and I'm excited to share it all with you! I hope all is well! I'll talk to you next week!!

Love Sister Kendrick

Labor Day

No letter today....just a few random pictures

Saying Goodbye to Sister Pruitt

Having extra people in the apartment calls for a lot of chaos

The Bean

New missionaries!!!

I got to see Sister Tanner again!!

South Side

Hey everyone!
What a whirlwind!  Here’s an update on what's been going down here in little old Chicago.

So last week I got transferred!  For the last 6 weeks of the mission, I'll be spending it on the south side!!  I'm white washing and training in Morgan Park and I love it!!   My new comp is Sister Caucut. She is from Orem, Utah.  She is 22 and the youngest in her family!! She is into theater, make up, and movies so it has been fun to be with her.  She has an amazing voice! It is so fun. I just ask her to sing all sorts of songs for me.  She is like my mini radio haha!!  Don't worry we sing church songs (most of the time).

I was so sad to leave North Shore!   So many good things were happening and so many people that I have come to love!! So many memories that I will forever have! I'm so grateful for the many experiences that I was able to have there! On to the next adventure!! And an adventure it will be.

Last Monday was super fun!  We got to go downtown again with the new missionaries. It’s so fun to see their greeny fire!! The whole time I was thinking this is going to be Brod!! So excited!! That night all the sisters slept in our house and if I had the energy I would have taken a picture but I still had not even packed yet, due to finding out late Sunday night and having to go pick up the missionaries. Let's just say it was a late night and then we had to be to the Mission Home at 7:00! We had our new missionary orientation and training meeting (which I can almost quote by now haha). Every time I hear it, it gives me a little push and a boost.  It's just what I always need at the start of a new transfer.  We got the keys to the car and the address to our new home and off we went to the new unknown!! It was something else getting everything figured out and it was quite overwhelming for a few days. My poor new comp!  I'm sure she just wanted to die!! It's been really good for us because all we have is to rely on is each other and the Lord!!

We were able to find some of our investigators and go by and introduce ourselves so that was good. There are two real amazing families that I can't wait to teach!  There is so much potential here!! It's so exciting!  There definitely won't be a dull moment here!!  We get so many Bible referrals, it's amazing!!  We have things coming out our ears! It's so much fun! Our ward is so small it should be a branch but there are individuals called from other wards to sustain the needs and the callings. It's crazy! On Sunday there were 56 people in attendance, with children! It’s crazy to me! A whole new experience, that's for sure but I'm eating it up!! Well I'll share more next week when I actually know myself haha

Well, I love ya all!!
Sister Kendrick

A testimony from Nigeria to America

Hey y'all

Not gonna lie, it was a pretty  good week 

Sunday night we got a text from Funmi that said “Sisters are you coming tonight? I have a testimony to share.  We had not planned on going over that night and we had another lesson set up for that night so we had to wait until Monday to hear this testimony. We sat down Monday night as she shared with us the sweetest story. So, as you already know Funmi's daughters are members in back in Africa.  She has not told them that she has been taking lessons while she has been here in America. In fact, she hasn't talked to her girls since she met us because she doesn't have any good news about getting the girls to come over here, that's beside the point. Anyway, she called them, recorded the phone call, and told them that she has been taking the lessons. She told them that we have been coming over and that we are remind her of them, that she loves the gospel, and that she is going to be baptized. You could hear the daughters in the background just sobbing.  Funmi asked, “are you ok?” and they say “yes mom, I'm okay these are tears of joy…... mom, I have fasted for 5 years that you would soften your heart the first 1 1/2 years was so that you would soften your heart to allow me and my sister to go to church. I also hoped that there would not be any contention surrounding our decision to join the church.  For the rest of the 4 1/2 years I have fasted that the Lord would soften your heart to accept the gospel. Somehow and some way the Lord has answered our prayers”.  The whole time this recording was playing Funmi had a smile from ear to ear she was so so so happy. The recording got over and Funmi said this is a testimony from Nigeria to America. This gospel is true! There is no other way would I have come to accept this gospel had it not been for my daughter. The Lord hears our prayers and your cries. It was something else.  I am so happy me Sister Pruitt and I get to be a part of this.

A member hit us up on Sunday and asked if we could do a church tour for one of his coworkers that he had been introducing the gospel to. It was awesome! Not only did he come on the tour with a desire to learn, and an open heart but he came with a lot of
questions which led to a lot of good discussion. He ended up have many questions on our beliefs, on the purpose of life, and what happens after death.  We left him with a few answers but told him how he could find out the rest. He not only read, but he also came to all 3 hours of church which was awesome!! It's was so neat!  I'm grateful for this great ward and the individuals reaching out to share their testimonies with others.

We had zone conference this week.  As always, it was good!  I wish there was a way to let you all sit through one. There is definitely nothing like it. The amount of learning and spiritual inspiration that comes is crazy. We talked a lot about planning and being the most effective. We also spent a huge chunk of time learning about faith and fore ordination. Both very in depth topics but good. I’ll just share one thing I took from it.
               "Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith"-bible dictionary. As simple as it seems is was a little aha moment, I was like duh Sister Kendrick that's why we have fast and testimony meeting. That is why I am charged to share my testimony a thousand times a day, so that I can help kindle or help jump start other individual’s faith. (if you want a good study this week just go and read “faith” in the Bible dictionary and take something to mark and each time you mark, ask yourself why did I mark that.  What's significant about that, what am I learning)

           This weekend we had mini missionaries.  The kids that are going into their senior year have the opportunity to spend 3 days with us. It's really neat. We got the one and only Annie Bingham, one of President Bingham twins. It was a hoot! She is an awesome girl! We had a lot of fun. Sunday night we had about 40 minutes before we needed to take her back so we went contacting in our favorite complex. No one was having it though, which was okay.  We decided we had time for one more building before we had to leave. We were wrong. As we walked to the next building, there were some young kids out and little girl who was about 8, came up and asked us "what is yous doin”?  We told her we were missionaries and that we taught people about Jesus Christ.  She aside, "Oh really? All about Jesus? Is you goin to go in my house and talk to our gram?"  We told her yes.  We exchanged a little talk with the other kids that were about 12 and 14 and we headed up to knock the apartment building. We talked to her grandma and set up a time to come back. As we were walking out, kids stopped us and asked "wheres you goin, aint you gonna teach us about Jesus"  we told them that we had to go because we were going to be late, but that we would come back when we were going to teach their grandma and we would share something then. The little one said, “but you told me you teach everyone that wants to know about Him and I want to know, what kind of missionary are you.”  Well indeed those were my very words and so the three of us looked at each other, now having been roasted by a 8 year old we decided we better teach her about Christ. All of the 6 children gathered and just started drilling us with some really intense questions. A lot of them pertaining to the plan of salvation. The youngest had been playing with chalk, so I used a small piece and I drew it out for them.  We had quite the talk. We were late to the meeting but a little girl had the opportunity to learn more about Christ.  It was a wonderful way to end the night.

Well, that was a quick look into my week. I hope that you all had one as great as mine!! It was filled to the brim and I wish I had time to tell you it all.  Really, I wish that you could just be here with me!

Quick quote and I will be done:

"Come as you are, A loving father says to each of us BUT HE ADDS: but don't plan to stay as you are" - Elder Holland

I came across this and I feel like it's a good way to sum up everything about what I feel I have become and what I have watched others become.  God can do more things than we could imagine with individuals like us if we will only come to Him and let Him change us into something far more magnificent and capable then we thought possible.

Okay, that is all!   I love you all! Thanks for everything and I truly mean it!! Have a good week!!

Keep smilin

Sister Kendrick

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Well we had quite the week!  A lot of cool things going on! Tuesday the senior couple Elder and Sister Erickson had someone for us to teach but upon arrival he wasn't there. It happens a lot to us missionaries and I guess over the course of 17 months I have been accustom to it but it was so sad to watch the senior couple be so excited and then be let down my heart hurt for them. Elder Erickson said God brought you to these apartments and if it's not for Sam it's for someone else.  So, he invited us to knock the neighborhood. I was a little hesitant because we had already knocked half of it a week prior with no luck.  Nonetheless, we did as he said and we ended up finding three people that we had really good conversations with. One being Mimi and her daughter. They were so sweet and let us in to share a short message. It was so neat because people here are #1 scared of others because if all the crime and #2 they are really busy  or #3 just straight up cruel. I've actually only been let in about 6 times my whole mission. People will let us set up a lesson to come back but never in the same day so that fact that they allowed us in their home was a miracle in and of itself.  . Mimi is on borrowed time. She has cancer and the doctors diagnosed her a month ago and said she would have a month or two max to live. What a sweet woman! We testified to her of the love Christ has for her and her family and then read a few passages with her of how He is always there.  It was a very touching moment.

This week was a miracle!  Fummi and John as of right now are on visitor Visas and have been trying for over a year to start their papers with no luck. It's been terribly discouraging for them! All they want to do is better their lives.  A few weeks back we start working with a member who is from Africa and has experience in helping others progress through papers.  He had an opportunity to speak with the lawyer which is going to help them. To you and me this might not mean anything, but I didn't realize how much it meant until Fummi was all choked up and expressed her gratitude to God for leading them towards us. She continually states that it was by God’s grace that we met and all things have been and will work out for them.  She stated God truly knows us and our needs. So true I love them and I love watching them learn and grow.  It's amazing to me. I have been so blessed to be a part of this ride with them! Amazing people!!

One last story, so on Saturday night we were contacting.  It's getting pretty late and we didn't feel like knocking would be beneficial so we were walking around the complex back to our car when I thought I heard someone yelling. I asked Sister Pruitt and she had heard it too. As we rounded the corner there was an 80-year-old Indian Grandma yelling up by the train tracks her grandson had was up on the tracks and he wasn't coming down. At her age, she could not go get him so I ran up the hill to find this little one. As I came to him, I quickly realized that he had severe autism. After about 20 minutes trying to coax him down the hill he was so scared, he wasn't about to move, I swooped him up and got him down. Then as we were walking to the apartment he had another episode, if you will. He wouldn't go up the stairs 3 stories because it was “too high, too high”!!  Knowing a little bit about how to work with them, we took his mind off the task at hand and started talking about the butterflies and fireflies that he had been catching, knowing that most kids similar to him have a niche.  Little did I know, this was his he loved bugs!! I was able to coax him up the stairs by telling him to come look out the window for more bugs and more fireflies. It ended up that we stayed till about 930, with permission, to help this young boy settle down and his grandma.   as he was climbing in the bed, I think he even wanted a goodnight kiss.  Grandma told us that prior to us showing up, she been praying to God that he would send someone to help her!  I'm so grateful that I could be the Lord’s hands that night and that for whatever reason kids like Alex have taken a liking to me throughout my life so that I could help in that moment.

Oh one last thing that is also a miracle!  Our whole ward gathered together in a fast for missionary work.  Not missionary work in the sense that we can do better as a missionary, but that as members of the Church who've made covenants with God, to have opportunities to share what makes them who they are and how the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought peace and joy and love into their life and their families. There is so much strength that comes as wards gather together to ask for specific blessings.  In my case the fast was for missionary work but in my home ward, it was for the Sexton family.
Regardless, I know that my Father listens to our prayers and he is mindful of each of us.  There is power that comes from a ward fast! Anything is possible with the faith of members who love one another and love God!!  I love you all!  Here's to another great week.

Keep Smilin

Sister Kendrick

Oh I forgot!  I taught the Elders how to sew in district meeting and they have all reported back that they have fixed their clothing!

Last Week's Letter

Hey, so there’s not much to report on for this week. It's been pretty uneventful for the most part. We have been  loving life here!! We taught Fummi and John and Word of Wisdom and for the first time John had a hard time with the teaching but it was really neat because Fummi  was behind the commandment.  They were willing to exercise faith.  Both of them kept saying, “it's too broad” and then they would ask if all these crazy drinks were ok. I kept telling them I don’t know what that is and on about the sixth drink that I didn't know John was like man either you need to go to Africa or you need to bring an African here so they can explain this to me because there is a miscommunication in language. Last Monday we had a lesson with them and we skyped  an Elder from Nigeria that is serving in our mission to help explain it a bit more. Come to find out, the so called tea that they didn't want to give up is essentially chocolate milk haha after reassuring they can still partake of that it went over a lot smoother. They still want to receive a conformation for themselves to believe in it wholeheartedly, which is exactly what we wish for them to do!!  

Sadly Jimmy and Chloe moved out of our area this week and into the Elders area.  It was really sad for me to hand them over, but I know they are in good hands and it will be good for them. 

Ok but funny story, so we were helping them move which was... um.... let's just say my OCD was freaking out they were in a rush and they just had to throw everything and anything they could see into a box and call it good.  (this will come into play in a bit)  not to mention they live on the 18 floor of the apartment. It was a good time, quite the workout.  We used the elevator but that only got us so far. There happened to be one box that had China in it and it had been clinking around already without putting it in a moving truck so I made the wonderful decision to place it into our car so that it wouldn't be tossed around. Ok so it was in our car, we finished the apartment and then we had to go to a lesson. We planned on meeting them at their house after to continue to help. We got out of our lesson and got into the car and itsmelled terrible I was honestly gagging it was so bad.  We could not figure it out it was terrible!!! We pulled up to their new house and Sister Pruitt went to go grab the box in the back seat and it split. Everything was coming out.  I ran up to the house to get a box and when I came back Sister Pruitt was leaning over about to throw up. In the box there had not only been china but about 8 types of raw fish. They had just been cooking in the heat of our car all day!  Man oh man! I almost wet my pants I was laughing so hard! Good times! Next time you move anyone who is Chinese, check for raw fish in the box before you put it in your car!!

Something kind of neat happened this weekend.  Sister Pruitt had some friends come into town and she got permission to have a lesson with them.  One is not a member and she agreed to take the lessons so she'll start that this coming week, which is cool.

As far as the rest of the week goes there's not much to tell that you that you don't already know so I'll leave it at that.  Short and simple 

Love ya all
Sister Kendrick

Happy Pioneer Day

This week was great!  I'll try my best to remember everything! So John and Funmi are doing fabulous. They are seriously the best people ever! We taught them about the sacrament and about the covenants they will make at baptism. They said that they really want to get baptized and make those covenants with God! We put them on date!  We had to teach them about chastity. Ha! There's something funny about a 20 year old girl teaching someone that could be her parents about chastity. It was comical, but the lesson turned out great and the spirit was totally there!  I kept thinking how am I going to approach the fact that they were not married and nor did I know if they wanted to be. I did know that they definitely didn't have the ability to have one of them move out. They are just trying to make ends meet as it is.  I really had no idea how to approach the situation. As I said a little prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father to guide my words and inspire me what to say, (this was about half through the lesson) I really needed to know there personal situation.  I began to speak and John spoke up and asked, “Sisters, this thought just came to me, what does the church say about our situation? Is it ok for us to be living the way that we are?”  It was the exact thing that needed to be said. I was truly grateful that God had directed John’s thoughts and answered my prayers. It was a great lesson!! They want to get married but can't right now because of legal issues. We've been praying like crazy that we can get that all figured out so they can take that next step in their conversion. John also said, "My soul’s desire is to come to church on Sundays but because of work I just can’t." How perfect is he, am I right? Please pray for them that something will come up so they can come to church! It truly is a privilege to teach them.  I wish you could all meet them!  They live just down the road from us 3 minutes and so every night we go over and have a family scripture study and prayer. It's truly my favorite thing I look forward to it every night!! I love love love them !!!! 

    

So on Tuesday morning we get in our car to leave and the whole dashboard isn't working. Our blinkers won't work, our AC is out, windows won't roll down, power steering is out, the whole 9 yards…AND it was about 95 degrees outside.  Our car had been baking in the sun. Luckily, the dealership isn't too far from our house because it was a near death experience, haha just kidding it was that bad.  I just remembered that if your steering goes out speed is your friend, or at least I hope that was the right thing!  haha.  It was scary but we made it! So, it ended up that the main computer module failed which I'm so grateful that it didn't happen while we were driving. That is why I got to drive a truck for a bit Whoot Whoot!! It's a lot harder here than back home though that's for sure!

I think I might have said something about this before in my last email, but we started teaching a lady named Rosa and she is awesome! She is a taxi driver and she just happened to be driving a member of the church. He told her all about the church and got her contact info for us. (I love love love when members do that). We taught her the Restoration and answered many of her questions this week. She was like, “this sounds familiar.” It was so cool to teach her something that sounds so familiar because she actually has heard it before. She is so prepared! It is amazing! She has been through a lot of hard times. I'm excited to see how much the gospel will change her life!  She reminds me a ton of Karla.  I'm So blessed!!  Her questions and comments where just perfect and she is feasting for knowledge! She even came to church this week so that was grand too. We took the Bingham girls to her lesson and it was very sweet. The spirt was strong and those girls just kept testifying of the gospel. It was perfect for her! 

You also asked at the beginning of the mission to tell you crazy things that happen, so here you go. We were walking out of the lesson and this cop pulls up. He says to us, “what are you white girls going here?” Mind you, it is a nice place and it was 10 am. He went on to say how it was not a safe place for us to be, and we should be careful to keep our eyes open and consider finding a different place to hang out. The funny thing is, it is probably one of the safest and nicer places I have knocked at. To top it off, my area is the safest this side of Indiana. Haha 

We started using a new finding method that Sister Pruitt and I came up with in the outdoor malls and it's been working really really well. It has been so much fun! We have talked to so many amazing people! It has been miraculous! I love talking to people I love being a missionary!

Happy Pioneer Day! I hope you take time to remember those that came before us!  Also to remember those who have paved the way for you personally so that you could be a part of this great faith.  Take time to thank those who come to mind and last but not least, go and listen to a little Nashville Tribute Trek and Joseph you won't be sorry!! 

I truly know this is the Lord’s work and that he is a part of it every step of the way. I have truly seen his hand this week! So many miracles! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Keep smilin 

Sister Kendrick 

Chicago Summers

I have a love hate relationship with the Chicago summers but this week was pretty cool. They have probably the best rain storms I've ever experienced!!  There is so much water at once, it is a flash flood. It's really cool to watch from the comfort of your home.

Tuesday were transfers and in the zone I'm in right now, there are only 4 companionships that have cars and about 20 companionships. Even though we were not getting transferred, we had to help get the Sisters who were to the right places. It's not too much fun dragging 100  plus pounds of luggage on the train and walking for a good long while (speaking from experience that is #Boston). It’s crazy to watch the different phases of the mission. I can count on one hand the missionaries that are left in the mission that I knew from the start of my mission.  But, all is well. As of late, we have been getting some amazing missionaries coming into our mission!! It's excited to see their fire and their enthusiasm for the work. Along with new missionaries this transfer, Elder and Sister Bingham came in.  After 16 months they FINALLY made it out to Chicago and how glad we are!! They are by far the sweetest people I've ever meet. They came to a lesson with us this week and man I wish they had been here the whole time!!  

It's funny to me also when we get someone that comes from a farm town out west. The way they talk just makes me chuckle at their little saying because you don't hear it at all out here!! In fact you hear things like this:  We were out trying to find an apartment the other night and as we were walking and talking to people. We came across this mom and her girls and we told them we were trying to find a women by the name of Irina and then we always segway into we're where headed to her house to share a message about Christ and the restored gospel etc...  but before we could even start to segway one of the little girls that couldn’t have been much older than 6 said "she white?" (Referring to the women named Irina)  Sister Pruitt said, “um we don't know, we have never meet her before” and the little girl was like "ummmmmmmhum she white... with a name like that she white!" We lost it!  haha if you can only imagine this little girl she had the hips and the finger moves from side to side! It was so funny!!  See what I'm saying, no funny hick talk out here!

That same night we were contacting and we got out of our car. There was a whole lot commotion and people. They all had candles so I asked if there was a vigil of some sort taking place. The women I asked said, “yes” and continued to tell us that her sister had been shot on the south side and she was running away from the gunmen. It was so sad she just cried. She had a little 5 yr. old. It broke my heart. I was so grateful that I could share a bit about the Plan of Salvation with her. This was the first time Sister Pruitt had experienced this in Chicago. It's terrible and yet it happens all the time here, especially in the summer months. I'm truly so grateful for the knowledge we have of The Plan, the big picture!! I went home that night with a grateful heart that I was able to be there at that time and that place to share that truth with those who truly needed it. 

We had a lesson with Fummi and John this week.  As we were teaching outside, there was a rainbow that came overhead and for whatever reason, Fummi felt the spirt and she just kept saying that all of this was from God that He had a hand in all of it and the rainbow just topped it off for her. It was exciting to see her enthusiasm. I was so happy!!

This weekend the Valpo stake had Youth Conference and they all came up to the temple, so I got to give them all temple tours and see some of my favorite people.  It was a lot of fun. 

Yesterday when we got to church I told Sister Pruitt, “I think I know that guy” while I was looking at the back of this guy’s head as he was walking into the church and then he turned around to hold the door open and sure enough it was Brother Keeler!! I practically ran to him!  By the time I got to him, he was already sitting in the chapel!  So So fun to see him.  Such a fun mishap! It did get me thinking though, I've have had so many great people in my life that have shaped me.  I will forever be grateful!

Quote for the week, "you just have to be as good as you can be, and God will magnify you and make you more than you alone could ever become" 

Ok keep smilin 

Sister Kendrick 

The greatest decision I've ever made

Hello!!

Well this week was great! We had a lot going and so many fun experiences. 

We spent the 4^th with members and John and Fummi. They came to a barbecue and loved it. It's so much fun to watch investigators connect and make friends with members.  It's like a proud mom moment. They are progressing beautifully! Later on in the week they accepted a soft commitment to baptism!! They have been such a blessing to me and truly a tender mercy! Just because I am in Chicago things get a little crazy here at night and especially on holidays we have to be really really careful with what we do, so for the remainder of the night we had to be with a member or at home. We chose to go to a Fourth of July block party at a member’s home. It was really really fun! And to top it off there were a lot of less active and non-members there that we were able to meet and be with. 

Wednesday we were just in the grind. We have been trying to get in touch with quite a few members. It was our last district meeting of the transfer which was really sad because I've grown to love many of the great missionaries I've served around!! 

Thursday after planning a bit we went on exchanges with the YSA sisters. That's always a hoot!! I got to go to the STL area which is always so much fun. They live right on the lake front and right outside the city so there are so many people to talk to and so much going on all the time. We went to dinner with one of the members that just moved in. She just started her residency she's doing her rounds at some of the coolest hospitals here. I was so jealous haha. It’s so fun to be in the city because there is always someone around you that you can share the gospel and the "good news" with. It’s fun to watch people’s faces as they learn what it is we do as missionaries and what it is that we believe. I would say for the majority of the time individuals agree with the things we teach or they like the idea that is presented…family relationships that penetrate  and last beyond this mortal life, the fact that simple truths taught by Christ have been lost and changed by man and that there is a need for a restoration.  These things start the gears going in their heads and you can see it on their faces. They'll nod their head and even share their thoughts on the matter, but there is no desire that pushes them to continue to learn and their desires for other things greatly outweigh their desire to seek spiritual truths. It's really sad to me. 

Yesterday was a lot of fun I started off the day with a giving a talk on the Atonement. I was asked to give it a t 8 o'clock the night before. I'm getting really good at speaking last minute. It's fun for me because in a way, it shows me how much the Gospel is a part of me and that I know what scripture references I can use for this or that and seeing my individual testimony on one subject or another. The Atonement is always a really fun topic but yet always challenging for me because it's hard for me to put words to my thoughts and feelings for the Savior and the role that he plays in my life, in the church, and in the whole plan. I'm always humbled by the opportunity to speak of him.  To make it even better, Fummi came to church!!  This is exciting because they have a very wishy washy job right now and they are taking any work they can get which for the last week has been two 14 hr shifts on Saturday and Sunday so they have yet been able to come to church.  Fummi was able to get work off this week to come!! We had a great day! After church the members came gathering around Fummi and just loved on her it was a proud moment!! She was laughing and she was so happy!! I'm so glad! 

Shortly after church we went to a Mongolian party. It was their national day and there was a ton of people!! By a ton, I mean 4 thousand people haha... I don't know if I have told you this but we are now over the Mongolian group.  A group is a step down from a branch. It's been such a great opportunity.  I'm learning so much. So just a little background, there are so many great Mongolian Saints that have been leaders, missionaries and great Saints that have had great faith, but as they have left Mongolia to come to America, they don't understand the language and they start to fall away from the Gospel because they can no longer understand.  It makes it very difficult for them. Heavenly Father is aware of all his children and he has allowed us to create a group of which Mongolian Saints can gather together and hear the Gospel be taught in their native tongue. It's been remarkable!! We are reaching out to so many who have fallen away and have given them an opportunity to come back, to love the Gospel again, and build that relationship with the Savior once again!!  Hence going to the Mongolian national holiday with some of our members to meet less active, in-actives and their friends was very important. Fun fact… the first child baptized in Mongolia is the group leader. He was also the second stake president in Mongolia and the first Mongolian missionary to leave his country, crazy right!! That’s what I mean by great saints!!  We meet so many people and we're super excited to continue working with them. 

We had dinner with President and Sister Bingham. I love them!! Then we had a lesson with Jimmy and Chloe. Jimmy has been busy studying for the GRE, I think it is.  It has been very stressful for them.  On top of that, they are in the middle of buying a house and moving.  They have been very busy and we haven't had a lesson with them for a bit. They still come to church but they haven't had a whole lot of time lately, so we welcomed the chance to sit down with them again and have a lesson. They are remarkable in their thoughts and feelings towards the church. They have come so far!! 

Man well this week flew by. Today is the last day of the transfer and I'll be staying in my area with Sister Pruitt.  I'm supper excited!   There is so much happening here!  I'm excited for the coming weeks.  

I thought I'd share with you a quote that I've come to love and a quote that I has got me to the point that I'm at today:

"The greatest decision I ever made in my life was to give up something I dearly love to the God I love even more. He has never forgotten me for it.”

Think about that for a moment, if you would....   profound isn't it! It's so true though. This I've come to know:

HE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU FOR THE SACRIFICES YOU MAKE!! 

He has done far more with my life in this past 16 months than I could have done in a lifetime. Giving up my time, my life, to serve God in this great work could be the greatest thing I've ever done and God has truly blessed me for it!!  What things will you give up for the God you love? 

Love ya 

Keep smilin

Sister Kendrick 

Happy 4th

Hey y'all
I'm sorry that I didn't send an email last week!! It was a busy p day and some things came up that I was not intending on. Nevertheless, it was a good week. A lot took place!

This past week we had a meeting everyday but Wednesday. Tuesday the brethren from Salt Lake came in and did a little meeting with about 12 missionaries.  It was a really cool experience. For the first group they
diagramed every second of every day to find out how we do our missionary work. The part of which I played a role was, they asked me what some of the biggest problems were in missionary work. We came up with a focus problem and then they when through a series of problem solving techniques down to ways of fixing it the problem…money aside, material aside, whatever it took to fix the problem and they wanted me to think outside the box. So we started going through ideas and so did the people working for the church. (Interestingly enough there were more nonmembers then members conducting the study) and then they started drawing them out and creating them.  By the end of the session, they had new apps and new features to add to gospel library and new video ideas. They had ideas like, have lunch with the missionaries.  It would be a free lunch, you just come and listen to the message, but then they got all smartsy with it and the app would only be available on the latest and greatest phones and then marked a geographic location.  They had ideas like missionary uber drivers, that one was really funny.  Apps that members would go on and put their schedules on that would map out interests and time available for investigators. Then they could come to lessons and also expand it for the bishops to see who had similar schedules for home teaching and visiting teaching.  They also came up with another app that had current events in geographical locations that were linked to scriptural references that would help transition in contacting. So many more really cool apps and ways of which to do missionary work that I don't even know how to go about explaining. It was crazy!  The members that were there were some big wigs and it was really fun to work with them!  The man that created Mormon.org and his team, the head guy that is in charge of gospel library and the brother over the missionary department and research.  It was so neat to hear their thoughts and ideas as to how to go about making this work go forth and all the new things happening in the mission field.  Like missionaries in the next 6 months with have smart phones and not brick phones which will be so nice.  After fixing all my missionary problems they had us do an interview one on one to see what we would change on the mission and how to better receive data to help missions and missionaries progress.  It was a very neat experience but mentally exhausting I learned a whole lot!!

Thursday was zone training and as always president blew me away with his vast knowledge of the scriptures.  I'll attach a picture so you can do your own studies off of it but he was talking about all the things that were foretold, things would be taken and lost and destroyed due to disobedience of Jerusalem  in Isaiah 3.   And how really all they were referring to was the apostasy and the lack of Christ in their lives. It was really neat.  I wish I could do it justice. Anyway, he turned it into a lesson for us that we need to focus on the Savior in all that we do. We don't want investigators to take the lessons because we want them to know the church is true ect, but to come closer to Christ and in so doing they'll receive their own testimony of the gospel principles. It was a really neat and I had to take a step back and evaluate myself and how I teach and how I contact. Is the main Ephesians around Christ? I made a few small adjustments and the results have been amazing. I'll tell you about it in a bit with Funmi and John’s lesson. 

Friday was new missionary training.  I've been doing a lot of reflecting these past few weeks as I'm reaching the last few chapters of the mission and just training again and trying to remember myself in her shoes. I pulled out some letter/ journal entries from the month marks of my mission and I died.  I had forgotten so much and the feelings came back of being a new missionary just trying to figure things out and the fire and joy. And the way I talked haha I wrote some funny things, some hick lingo that's not used out here. I read it to Sister Pruitt and she died laughing, it was a good time. Anyway, in new missionary training we talked about the different ingredients of a cake and how none of them taste all that well by themselves in fact most are disgusting.  President made the Elders try the ingredients, even a raw egg.  It was quite the show!  Together the ingredients do make a delicious cake though.   He talked about the good times and bad times with a mission and how there are good days and then how the hard days seem sometimes more frequent, and how it can change from one to the other in literally a moments. But all the experiences make up the delicious cake or in this case a wonderful mission and looking back through those letters I can total attest to that. 

Saturday we helped out with a Jamaican funeral our church had over 350 people and only 4 members in the bunch.  It was a really really busy day and long!  I was so tired!! 

So when we didn't find ourselves in meetings or doing service, we had some really cool lessons with Fummi and John. They live around the corner from us so makes it really easy to go and see them every night. I don't think I told you their background story. Fummi and John are both from Nigeria. Fummi has two daughters 22 and 19.  About 3 or so years ago, the older daughter joined the church, in Africa against Fummi’s will.  She was super upset about it. She thought the church was a devil worshipping and money driven church and she would not let her daughters have anything to do with it. Even with the protesting her daughter continued with the Gospel.  Fummi settled down a bit excepting that her daughter would just be damned, that was until her daughter started bringer her younger sister to church and the protesting began again.  She would tell her "its fine if you go to hell, that’s your choice but don't drag your sisters down with you!" When the younger daughter got baptized,  Fummi was angry and sad.  Her daughters often tried to invite her to join them but she never would.  She started to see a change in her daughters and they bore testimony of the goodness of the gospel and the true happiness found inside. Around this time Fummi left Nigeria and she set it in her heart that she was going to find out what it is about this church that made her daughters so happy and why they believe in it. As soon as she got a stable place she looked us up and we started teaching her as I said last week.  She wouldn't touch the Book of Mormon until the spirit was so strong you could cut it, we testified of the goodness of the reality it had in building upon the faith we already had and helping us come closer to Christ and then a member we brought with us hit it home with her families own conversion and they too came from Africa and the role the Book of Mormon had in their life.  It was golden! Then this week, we had several lessons where we focused on Christ. I loved it!! Fummi just kept saying, “sisters, oh sisters I'm getting a lot from this lesson”!! Man it's been an amazing journey with them!!  And it's only been a short 2 weeks. John is amazing. His faith and knowledge is out of this world and Fummi’s desire to know and to learn is amazing!! She told us the last time we were there, “I can't wait to tell my girls that I've been meeting with the missionaries and I have really enjoyed it and I love it”.  They are going to have a heart attack and say, “oh mommy we knew you would” and then they are going to want me to join haha. They are so sweet so amazing and best of all I can officially say prayers are answered.  I have been praying my whole mission to be able to teach an African family!! Silly I know, but it was my one want and Heavenly Father has allowed me to!   What an amazing journey!!  Ah man a busy week for sure but it was a wonderful one!! I love you all and hope you have a good 4th don't have too much fun without me!!! 

Love ya 

Keep smilin

Sister Kendrick 

No Group Letter

Baylee emailed and said she was too busy to write a group email, but luckily I got her companion's letter.  Thank you Sister Pruitt!!

This week was good.  A lot of up and downs, but overall was good!  We have two new investigators!  We didn't even find them, they found us!  Their names are Funmi and John.  They are both from Nigeria.  Funmi has two daughters that still live in Nigeria and they joined the church not too long ago.  They have been telling their mom to find the missionaries so she can join too.  She was super against it, but is all about it now!  When we first met her, she wouldn't even touch the Book of Mormon.  I guess in her native language, the word Mormon means devil worship....YIKES!!  But after we started teaching her the Restoration and then one of my friends in the ward, Sarah shared her families' conversion story, she took the book and agreed to read it!  She is already 15 chapters in!!  So, John is her roommate and he is awesome too.  They are both here trying to establish themselves so they can bring their kids over here.  It's a hard situation. Definitely makes me feel grateful for all that I have been blessed with.  Another obstacle is church attendance.  They want to come to church but their job is all day on Sundays and work is hard to find, especially in their situation.  Please keep them in your prayers!  We are really hoping to figure something out!  We are teaching this other lady named Ebelle.  She is pregnant and doesn't have any family here.  It's so sad.  She says that she's just been relying on God because He truly is the only one she has.  She's awesome!  There's still a few more peeps that we are trying to have lesssons with but with their busy schedules, it's hard to find time.  So, I'm hoping and praying that we can all meet some of the others!  We went out to eat like nobody's business this week!  The members spoil us here!  I sure do love them!  Sister Kendrick and I went downtown today and it was so fun!  Chitown is the bomb!