11 more days in the MTC

Hey,

This week at the MTC has been awesome. I have a ton of meetings and interviews to do because I am a Zone Leader. This unfortunately takes a little bit of my study time, but I am still able to prepare for my investigators so that is good. For the past two weeks as a ZL one of the responsibilities I have is to welcome the new incoming Districts. It is awesome cause I get to see how nervous/stressed they are when the first get here, and I get to help make them feel more comfortable here. We give them a tour around the MTC and show them where everything is. I really like doing this because it gives me the opportunity to meet everyone in the Zone. I just received my travel plans yesterday. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will have the opportunity to call home because I don’t have any layovers. It is a straight flight From SLC to SCL. My flight leaves at 1:00 p.m. on March 12th and I arrive in Santiago at 7:25 a.m. on March 13th. I am super excited!

My lessons with my investigators are going well. I love teaching them. My investigators names are Gerver, Regina, Gabby, and Andrea. I love them. They have a variety of different personalities and needs to which I am able to apply all the different aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to. The language is coming very slowly. But I have definitely progressed a lot since I have been here. (However, I am pretty sure I sound like a kindergartener or a 1st grader when I talk to a native speaker). But I am able to get my point across. I love the language. I just need to use it more often. We don’t speak it as much as we should when we aren’t in the classroom and I know that the best way I will be able to learn the language is through speaking it at every opportunity. I made that a goal for this week. An awesome thing that happened this week is M. Russell Ballard came and talked to us for our Tuesday devotional. IT WAS AMAZING! He talked about a variety of things such as the faith and the trust that Christ has in us. He said that this massive influx of missionaries is to prepare this generation to lead the church in the days to come. At one point in his talk he read from 3 Nephi Ch. 11. I have never in my life felt the spirit so strongly from someone reading a chapter from the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome. My district is getting so good and understanding Spanish. Every night we read from the Book of Mormon in Spanish and translate each verse into English. We are getting so much better at it everyday. I love my district so much. I think we are all going be very close friends even after the mission. They are all amazing people and we are only growing stronger and closer together everyday. I miss you all so much, but I love being on a mission. I know the Lord has been blessing me everyday I have been serving and I am so grateful for that. I love you guys!

Elder Kennedy