Another day another Destiny

All right. Here we go starting up change # 3 here in Los Libertadores. I’m still here with Elder Larson, whose Spanish is improving. YAY. We have goals that if either one of us says even one word in English they get punched. So far it is working. Jeje. As far as the district goes, Hermana Vengas had changes, and La Hermana Mena arrived here now. She was in my last zone in San Antonio too. Also Elder Manzano the ZL finished the mish and went home so Elder Caballero arrived here with Elder Moser. Those were the changes to the district. 

We are finding more people. Just the other day we found a menos activo part family. She stopped us and asked for a blessing for her son. So we did that and returned and did a Noche de Hogar with them. Se llaman Alejandra, Isabel, Oscar, Jonathan y Francisca. They are very good, but they have a problem with smoking. So we are helping with that. 

Ok, here is a gnarley story. Walking down the street, we saw this poor old dog with 3 legs walking around. We walked up to pet it, and we looked at its leg and saw that it was not a clean surgically removed cut, with bandages to heal it up or anything. This thing had its leg completely ripped off by something and was still dripping blood. This poor dog sniffed the ground and tried to dig at it, but there was no foot to dig with. Holy moly the things that you see in the street.

Anyway. I’m stoked to start a new change. I know we will have success.

Love,

Elder Kennedy 

Last Week of the Change

Well another change past with incredible speed. Elder Larson and I have been working extremely hard. We found a few people to teach this week. YAY. But then we also had to leave a couple for not progressing. We are working sooo hard. We just aren't reaching the people. I'm starting to know how Alma felt when he was rejected in Ammoniah. But I know the Lord still has prepared people here. I love these people, and thats why it's so sad to me when they reject us. The True Gospel Of Jesus Christ is Restored on the Earth, yet the people reject it. The people don't understand, or if they do they under value the eternal importance of that message. But there is really nothing like seeing a person receive this message and change completely because they know it is true. That is what brings me the most joy, and thats what we are looking for here. To be instruments in the hands of the God to bring some soul to repentence; and that is my joy (Alma 29:9). I have a strong testimony of this gospel. And I am so grateful to the Lord to have it, because if I didnt have it I could not possibly struggle this hard and be so happy about it. I know that this Church is true, and it is the only one that has all the necessary ordinances we need to have eternal life. I testify to all that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and His gospel in its fullness has been restored on this earth. We have but to find it, and live it. I love all of you. And I am so grateful for your prayers for me. 

Con amor,

Elder Ian J. Kennedy

The Lord is preparing people for us, the trick is finding them.

Hey Family and Friends! 

We are living the missionary life up here. Talking with everyone we see, walking everywhere, and loving every minute of it. We know the Lord is preparing people for us, the trick is finding them. We have invited 9 people to be baptized this week and five said "no", and four said "yes", but would not commit to a date nor come to church this week. 

We are trying to strengthen the members and help them invite their friends to church, or to activities, but we are having very very little success. We are still yet to have any member of the bishopric be present in the activities we as missionaries do every Tuesday. We still aren´t going to give up. We keep doing work, waiting patiently to harvest some of the seeds we have planted here in this sector. I know the Lord will fulfill his promises. If we keep doing everything we can, he will make this ward prosper. We are preparing our sector to receive these blessings. 

I love this work, I know that the Lord is watching our efforts here. I know that He is pleased with our work here. I love this sector, I know that it has a lot of potential. I love the Lord, and I know He has a plan for us, We just have to do all he asks and Hope in faith that the blessings of our diligence will come. I love you all. I am extremely grateful for your support in my work here in the vineyard of the Lord.

Love always,

Elder Ian Kennedy

P.S. Glad the two earthquakes on the west coast weren't too big and they were far away from you. There have also been a couple of temblores here but not as big. The one biggest one we had was a 5.4

Mission Conference, wedding and washing cars

Hey familia and friends!

Time is flying! Its already March! Ahhh. We are prospering here. The district is doing great. The sisters are going to have a wedding for Moises e Isabel who are gonna get baptized the week after they get married. We are so stoked! First baptism here in Los Libertadores for a while.

Elder Larson and I are doing well. We received a reference for a family of 5 with whom we ate lunch on Saturday. Familia Fuica - Sanchez. They lived in the US for 6 years, and moved back to Chile about 5 years ago. They are super open and very loving people. And once again, Jorge Fuentes attended church with his wife Pamela. He is really cool. We have a lot of work to do to prepare him better for baptism though. 1: being he needs to get married to his Pareja, 2: he smokes. Mucha Oración Por Favor. Ruben has been hard to find in the house, because his brother is in the Hospital.

Anyway, we are keeping busy. We had another 4 mission “The 4 Santiago Missions” Conference which Elder David A. Evans of the setenta came and spoke. It was way awesome. He spoke of how we can truly edify the church in Chile. He said that just baptizing doesn’t necessarily build the church. He also talked about helping our converts truly repent before baptism, and for them to read the Book of Mormon as the way to gain their testimony. One thing he said that caught my attention is that, as much as we want to, we cannot save everyone. We have to focus our efforts on specific things so the Lord can help us. After that I pondered and decided what I could focus on. I am going to focus more on families. Completing families where they aren’t all members. Helping member families receive the ordenazas del temple, and helping children of families to prepare for missions. I know the Lord will help as I focus and do his work. I also saw Elder Dirkmaat there again haha crazy he has been out 6 months already. 

Yeah, quick story- Last Saturday we were doing a free car wash at the church, and doing tours of the building with people waiting. It had worked extremely well the previous week. But this day other people came to wash parked cars to try to earn a few pesos. They started getting mad at us for “stealing their customers” and started taking bad about us to everyone, throwing our signs on the floor and everything. It got to the point where no one came to us to get their car washed. So The Zone Leaders called us 4 district leaders, and we discussed the matter. We read, Alma 58:10-13 and prayed. We sent a few people to the street to send people over to the church building. That day we ended up washing over 10 cars, and doing 23 tours of the church. 5 of which have a fecha bautismal. I know The Lord Helps us as we pray for it. Also, I am grateful for the words of Alma and for the Book of Mormon. I love that book! I’ve now read it in Spanish 5 times and I’m on my 6th. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. It literally will change your life. I love you all.

‘Til next week,

Elder Kennedy