Weekly Mail

Well family, 

We had another successful week here in Villa Sur. You asked when transfer days were. Well, transfer conference is on Mondays at 10am-ish. The next one is at the end of the change which is the 1st of december. Also, Elder Harries is doing awesomely. We work super well together, we are getting a lot done, and he is stuffed full of that greeny power. So Omar and Coni got married!!! We are so happy for them. They are getting baptized this Saturday. They are so awesome. I cant wait till a year from now when they are preparing to be sealed in the temple. Im also super happy for my district. Elder Stout and Elder Brooks just had a baptism on Saturday! Matias Lorca. And a couple weeks ago, they had the baptism of Manuel Ortiz Aswell. 

It is so cool for me to see the changes that are happening in this mission. We have an awesome Mission President that inspires us to achieve more. We are improving everything. We are leading the area in almost every Key indicator. But we aren't stopping. President is setting higher goals and encouraging us to do more and with the Lord´s help, we are doing it. It's such an exiting time to be in the Chile Santiago West mission. I have seen this mission go from one of the worst missions (as far as numbers go), to one of the best missions in my short time here. All because of a vision of "Lograr Más" (achieve more), and the Lord. It's amazing to see how the Lord blesses those who serve Him with diligence. I know that this is the best place I could be in my life. And I know that the Lord is constantly guiding and helping me here. I love the mission.

Con amor,

Elder Ian Kennedy

P.S. Wow! That's crazy, so many people are going on the mission.!!!! And even crazier Eric is gonna be home soon, thats crazy!!!!

Speaking of my birthday and being an official adult, my license expired... is CA gonna fine me?

The new transfer begins

Family, 

Today was changes, but there were no changes made here in Villa Sur. However, they did take a companionship out of my district. I'm pretty ok with it though because now I only have to do 4 divisions instead of 6. But other than that no serious changes were made. 

Our investigators are progressing super well. This Friday is the wedding for Omar and Coni who will be getting baptized next week! They are so awesome. We are so happy for them. We also put three more fechas with other investigators we have: Irene, Gabriela, and Margarita. It's a family of 6 but the others weren't there for the last lesson. Also Claudio, Clara, and Emilio are progressing super well. Especially Emilio who goes to all the Young Men activities. He even attended Seminary once. But they just have a couple things to take care of before baptism. 

The less actives we are bringing back are doing super well. Patricio Zapata finally got a new job which gives him Sunday's off so he can attend church with his family who has been coming for about a month now. We are super happy about that. We also just found a part member family. The wife is a member but hasn't gone to church for over 25 years, (since she was 16) and her husband and children aren't members. The familia Burgos and they own a Gas company called Willy Gas. We are going to re-activate and baptize the family, and the missionaries are gonna get free gas forever!! NAWWWW ... But we will be trying to help them. haha. 

But mainly we are just exited to start a new transfer and get to work. 

News of the mission: Last month we had the most baptisms in the whole area, and the highest attendance to church. (6,000) Thanks Plan Piloto. The new goal for church attendence in the mission is 7,000. We are getting that for sure. 

Love you all,

  

Elder Ian Kennedy

P.S. Say Hi to Eric for me when you see him.

Week 6

Wow, the mission. I love it so much. Everything is going well and my investigators are doing great! Something I have really been studying lately is the importance of goals. Not just as a missionary, but for everyone. I realized that before the mission I didn’t ever set goals for myself. I realized that if we don’t set goals, it makes it hard to achieve things. What I have decided to do is set goals for myself that will help me progress spiritually, intellectually, and physically. Additionally I want all my goals to help me to be able to progress towards the end goal, which is the Exaltation and Eternal Life. When we have our goals set and we never lose focus on them, they will help us to overcome the difficulties and trials that come. We will be able to see them with an ¨I can overcome this¨ attitude. This week I was reading in 1 Nefi 16: the story when Nefi breaks his bow. In that moment there were many trials that were happening to this family, but the biggest one in this moment was hunger. They had no food, nor means to get food. Because of this trial, everyone began to murmur and complain. Even Lehi ¨began to murmur against the Lord his God; yea, and they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord.” But Nefi didn’t Murmur nor complain. Instead, he chose to act ¨And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?¨ Nefi was able to overcome this trial. But the question I asked myself while I studied was, why didn't Nefi complain? The answer I came up with was: Nefi had a vision and a goal, which was get to the promised land. He knew that the Lord would direct him there if he would remain faithful.  He had that goal, and never lost sight of it. So even when trials and temptations came, he knew what he needed to do. This is something I know I need to do in my life, set righteous and worthwhile goals and never lose sight of them. So that’s what I have begun to do. 

I really love Chile. I never want to leave. The Lord has blessed me so much here, and he continues to bless me still. 

Loving the mission,

Elder Kennedy

P.S. Yeah, that’s cool some of my friends are going home before Christmas. President Barreiros actually gave my group a choice to go home on the 18th of December (because of the change in time in the MTC from 9 weeks to 6 weeks) so there were people technically in my group that would have had three Christmases is the mission. So President gave us all the choice if we wanted to go home on the 18 of December (which would be in the middle of the change) or wait until the change ended on the 12th of January. More than half picked to go home in December. I however, will be going home on the 12th of January.

Conference Week!

My favorite family!

Wow General Conference was amazing. As always, we watched all the sessions in the Stake Center, and we watched them all in english. Although, when the Spanish speakers spoke we changed the channel to the spanish one so we didn't have to hear his message through a translator. I learned so much in this Conference. It's such a blessing we have to be able to listen to modern day Prophets with such ease. 

The work is going well. We are always looking for people to teach, and we are finding many. We are also working very hard with the investigators we have- Claudio, Clara, y Emilio. As well as Omar y Coni. We are super happy for Omar and Coni who are progressing very much. They are reading the Book of Mormon everyday and really study to make sure they understand everything. They are going to get married on the 24 de Octubre and baptized the following week. They have received answers that what we are teaching is true, and are anxious to learn more. Touching story- when we asked her about her experience with praying she said her answer came in a dream in which she was looking around a dark room and saw Elder Harries and I. She said when she saw us we were glowing white, and opened a door in the room that was even more bright. It was so awesome. The spirit was so strong when she told us that. Keep praying for them. They are so awesome. I know they will get baptized, and can already see them going to the temple to get sealed. 

I love being a missionary. It is the best thing I have ever done in my life. 

Elder Kennedy

What a week

Hey family!

What another great week to be a missionary. I love it. This week we did really well. We have been focusing a lot on the standards of excellence in the mission, and we achieved a lot of them this week. We even passed the amount of lessons, and the amount of 'news'!! We have been working hard! And we have been blessed for it. 

Elder Harries is a boss. He is a super hard worker, and we are taking out the trash together. We are super stoked for our fechas, Omar and Coni who attended church this week ¡EJALÉ! They will be baptized on the 1st of November. They have to wait until after the get married which will happen on the 24th of October. They are super prepared! They are such good people. I love them. We are also trying to work with the rest of their family because they live in a house with 11 other people, but the majority don't want much do do with us. However we have been able to share with the mom and sister of Coni. Also, for the other families we are working with, we have Danny e Ingrid. They are awesome as well, but they were out of town so they didn't attend church. And as for the family Morales Gonzalez, (Claudio, Clara, Emilio...) They are doing well too. This week Emilio came to church, and said he enjoyed it, especially being with the youth. Keep praying for these families please. They are all so awesome. 

Anyway, All is well here in Villa Sur II , ¨LO VALLEDOR¨  

Love,

Elder Kennedy

What Ian's companion, Elder Harries wrote about him: "Elder Kenedy is great! He is the District Leader for our district. He speaks the language very well and is friendly! We get along very well. Our personalities are both relatively mild so we haven´t had the least bit of contention this week. As a trainer, it is his responsiblity to take the lead in everything we do, however he is extremely good at including me and asking for my opinions. There hasn´t been a time in which I have sugested something that he completely shut me down. Usually we end up doing what I suggest--he´s just chill about everything haha. He is from San Diego, California and is the youngest of five siblings. He has about 6 months remaining in the mission, which means that we will most likely be together for 6 months here in Villa Sur II. At least that is what he thinks.

The pension we have is pretty average. It is just the two of us together. We have warm showers which is a nice addition. The shower floor doubles as the bathroom floor, and the drain smells and doesn´t drain quickly, but besides that we are several levels above camping:) The electricity goes out whenever you use more than two appliances, but it hasnt really been too bad of a problem. I can´t complain at all though, it is much nicer than most of the homes in which I have been.

Elder Kenedy and I are both new to our sector (white-wash), so our first few days were slow. We also weren´t able to leave the pension at all on Thursday, because aparently the 11 of Sept is a dangerous holiday here. Last year they burnt micros(buses) and crazy stuff like that. We had a lot of fun just the two of us in a 20 by 20 foot space haha. But besides that we have seen some great progess. We have been doing a lot of contacting in our mile by mile (if that) area. I pretty much know my way around. 

We found 5 new investigators this week, and taught 18 lessons. This is an ok week according to mission standards, but we were white washed and in the middle of transfers so we should see some more progress next week. We are one of four missions in the world that is on Pilot Plan. Basically it is a simplified mission work system that helps with reactivation. It seems to have had a lot of success here."

 Elder Stout, myself, Pres Barreiros, Sis Barreiros, Elder Perugorria, Brother Lizardo (ward mision leader) and Elder Goates. This was when President came to speak in our ward.

 Waiting for my Greeny. 

Just met my new "son"

 Sis Barreiros, me, Elder Harries, Pres Barreiros.  

My kitchen 

Mine and my companion's bedroom 

 My bathroom

 The street I live on. (It's actually one of the nicer streets).

 This is our Zone and we are here in Villa Sur II