Elder Kennedy's current mailing address

PO Box 901
Taylor, AZ 85939

Weekly Update - Week 44 Merry Christmas

Hey Everybody, 

How is it going? Things are going pretty good here. We were able to go on exchanges with Elder Hofman, who is a Assistant to the President, which was super amazing. He is an awesome Elder. Learned a lot of good things from him. While on exchanges we were able to be led by the spirit to a women who is a member of the church but hasn't been back in a couple of years. The first thing she said was "I am not coming back to church." I feel though that maybe with a little persistence and love that her and her family will come back. All of her children are old and are still active in the church. Its just her and her young daughter and there non member husband that are not active. She definitely has some potential though to come back to church. 

We were able to go to the temple on wednesday. Super awesome. I love the temple so much. Brings me such peace and happiness. 

Watch the video on Christmas.mormon.org to get into the real meaning of Christmas. share it with all your friends. Such a good video.

Well I hope you all have a merry christmas. love you all

Love,

 elder kennedy

Weekly Update - Merry Christmas

ey Everybody, 

Hope you all had a Merrry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

This was kind of a slow week, but we can still see the hand of the Lord in our missionary efforts. We should be picking up a new YSA investigator today. So that is super exciting. We were able to do the Cookie Finding activity with a the High Priest Group Leader in 4th ward. We were able to have them make cookies and we were able to deliver them to some of there non member friends on Christmas. We were just on overdrive with sharing the He is the Gift Video since the Christmas season is almost over. Just tried to share it with everyone: Active, Less Active, Non members. Just trying to get it to everyone. It was definitely a great tool in our missionary efforts. 

Got to Skype my family this week. So awesome to see and hear all of you!!!!
Christmas was just fantastic. Got a lot of things that I needed, but its not about the presents its about the real gift which is Jesus Christ.  

Well I hope all is going well with yall. Love y'all.  

Elder Kennedy

Weekly update - Week 44

Hey Everybody, 

Things are going pretty good here in Taylor. The work is kinda slow here, but with the Lords help we can start to pick it up and meeting the people that the Lord has prepared. This whole week has been going around and meeting Ward Leaders. They have given us some names to go by so we are trying to stop by all of them. Saturday I was able to go back to Eagar, AZ for a few hours to see someone get baptized that I have been working with ever since I got there. The family is the Taylor family and their daughter Summer got baptized Saturday. Hopefully the family can use this opportunity to make the steps back to church and hopefully one day go to the temple. They are a super fantastic family. 

Hope all is well with yall. If any of you have not been to the website christmas.mormon.org 

I would suggest that you go and also to share it with all your friends. This website helps us focus on the true meaning of Christmas which is Jesus Christ our Savior.

Love you all. If you want to send letters this Christmas time to me send it to

PO BOX 901

Taylor, AZ 85939

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly Updates - Week 43

Hey Everybody, 

   

So on Monday I got transferred to a town called Taylor. It is about a hour away from where I was serving in Eagar. They made me District Leader here. Whoot whoot. I am really going to miss Eagar, AZ. I was there for about 7 months and they became like family there. I hope that I was able to accomplish all that the Lord wanted me to accomplish there. We were able to have a baptism the last Saturday before I left for a YSA name Bailee Goodman. It was awesome to see her get baptized because she was so prepared. Then Saturday, Sunday and Monday were all full of saying goodbye to people. Super sad, but also exciting to go to a new area. 

Well I hope all is well with everyone. I will give more of an update on Monday about the work in Taylor. Super Blessed to be here. 

Love, 

Elder Kennedy

Pic 1 and 2

Bailee Goodmans baptism

Weekly Update - Nov 24, 2014

Hey Everybody, 

This week has just been full of Miracles. We were able to get 4 new investigators this week alone. To start off we finally got into a part members families home that I have been trying to work with since I first got up here. We were able to start actually teaching there daughter which she just turned nine in september I believe. They finally came to church sunday as well which is the second time they have been since I have come here. The Lessons are going super well for the daughter and she has a baptismal date for December 13th. 

We also started teaching a couple whose name is Kelly and Micah. She says she use to be a member, but now she is baptized in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Her boyfriend Micah is going to be baptized in the next couple weeks in the seventh day adventist church. We were able to start teaching the first discussion with them, but then through them asking questions we kind of got off topic. We talked to her about why she left the LDS faith. She said that she never really had a testimony of the church, but also said that she wants the LDS faith to be true because it is the one church that makes the most sense. So we do have some potential to work with for this family. Hopefully we can meet again this upcoming week with them. 

Another family that we just started teaching with seems super prepared. The other Elders tracted into them when they were contacting a spanish referral. There names are Chris and Shannon Morales. We were able to teach them the first lesson and we invited them to make the temple a goal. We incorporated a baptismal invite by explaining that in order to go to the temple one of the steps is that you have to be baptized by one holding the proper authority from God. He said that before the other Elders came Chris had been talking to his wife about how he needed to be baptized. He took us coming as a sign from God. Amazing miracle there. 

We also met with Nancy Ward who has a baptismal date for January 17th, 2015. We were able to teach the Law of Chasity to her and it seemed to go pretty well. Nancy also fed us dinner on Saturday and gave all the Elders a letter and a present. So sweet of her. 

We also met with Bailee who is our first YSA baptism in a while. She has finally stopped smoking and drinking coffee. She is getting baptized on December 6th and is progressing so well. She has a lot of fellow shippers.

Chris Adams just got back from Payson a couple weeks ago and we were able to take him to the family history center and start to do his family history. We were able to find his Grandfather and pulled up his Grandfathers obituary. Chris just started bawling. The spirit was so strong there. I told him that now we need to take his grandfathers name to the temple and do the work for him. Such an awesome experience.  

I feel like things are going super well in our areas and things are starting to pick up again! So blessed to be were I am at this time.

Love you all, 

Elder Kennedy 

Weekly Update - Nov 17, 2014

Hey everybody, 

This has been a pretty packed week. We had a mission conference tuesday and Elder Lawrence of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy and his wife came and spoke to us. It was a very amazing meeting. With the meeting they also stricken our music rules. Now we can only listen to mormon tabernacle choir. I think this new rule would be pretty good so that we as a mission can become more consecrated missionaries. Thats all i want to be is to become a more consecrated missionary. 

Also lately in order to continue to gain member trust we have been sharing 2 scriptures with them and pledging that we will be obedient missionaries. The first scripture is in John 4:35-38. 

35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on thefields; for they are white already to harvest.

 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth mayrejoice together.

 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

This talks about the different roles that missionaries and members have. The members are called to Sow and the missionaries are called to reap. The next scripture talks about what we need to be doing as missionaries to be prepared for when members give us referalls and when we find people on our own. This scripture is in D&C 58:6.

6 Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you—that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come;

We as missionaries need to be obedient to the mission rules and to the commandments so that we are prepared to testify to those that have been prepared. So that is what we are commiting to members is that we will be obedient and be prepared to share this gospel with those we come in contact with. 

Also this week we were able to watch the temple dedication for the Phoenix, AZ temple. It was such an awesome experience. This is the 2nd temple that I have seen dedicated since I have been on my mission. 

Well things are going good here. Hope all is well with yall!

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - 10/20/2014

Hey Everybody,

This week again was full of miracles. We had an amazing lesson with Nancy this week. During planning for the lesson we were just going to go over repentance, but Elder Carr had the impression to also teach baptism and the holy ghost. So we followed that prompting and prepared to teach all three principles and ordinances. That night we had the lesson with her and the spirit was so strong. We had our WML with us. We stuck to our plans that the spirit directed and she kept opening up to us more and more. Our WML shared a story from his mission about a guy who had never felt the spirit before, but when the missionaries came over he could feel the spirit and knew that they were representatives of Jesus Christ. He asked Nancy if she believed that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. She said absolutely. At that point we started talking about when she has felt that we were representatives. She recalled a time when we gave her a blessing because she was going to go to the hospital. She said that she felt the spirit so strong and that when she went to the hospital everything turned out alright and the doctors were able to heal her. She attributes it to the blessing. After she shared her experience the spirit was so strong and I felt this huge impression to invite her to be baptized. I asked her if she believed that the priesthood authority was again on the earth. She said she did. Then I asked that since she knows that it has been restored would she be baptized. She said that she has already been baptized in the baptist church, but said that at the beginning of the year she would get baptized and join the LDS church. I don't think she truly understands the difference yet, but this was a huge step for her. She also came to church this Sunday which is the first time she has come in the many months we have been working with her. I think one of the biggest things I have noticed when teaching investigators is that you have to love them and truly desire their salvation. That is one thing that I have noticed when planning that as you love them the spirit will be there and share with you what you should teach. She is definitely progressing so much as we continue to teach her by the spirit and following spiritual promptings. 

So many good things happening here. At the end of this transfer I will have been in Round Valley for about 6 months and President Sweeney said I will most likely be here for a little longer. 

Awesome life being a missionary. 

Love yall.

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - Oct 13, 2014

Hey Everybody,

This week was full of miracles. We were on exchanges twice this week. On Tuesday, with Elder Murray, during companionship study we were preparing for a lesson with one of our investigators that we were teaching that day. We were planning on teaching the whole lesson of Gospel of Jesus Christ, but then we had the impression to just teach one point of it. Faith. As we were studying faith and thinking about some of the setbacks that she was dealing with, which include the fact that she hasn't prayed about the book of mormon, we had the impression to teach from the book of mormon about faith and how we don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith. Well revelation kept coming throughout that companionship study and we really felt that the spirit was directing our thoughts and ideas to the needs of our investigator. We really felt prepared for our lesson with her.

When we went to the lesson we knew exactly what we were going to do and teach because we had heavens help. The lesson went amazing and the spirit definitely testified to her. Every point that we felt impressed to share from our companion study fit perfectly in the lesson. She committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She was hesitant before because she is baptist and that is all she has ever known. She also gave the closing prayer and gave such a beautiful prayer. That was the first time she has prayed out loud in a very long time. She didn't accept a baptismal date yet, but since that lesson I can definitely see her progressing and coming closer to gaining a knowledge of the gospel. That thursday she also was able to attend a FHE at our WML's home. They had a testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong there as well. Everyone was crying.

Another miracle that happened this week was on thursday on exchanges. I was at the FHE with nancy and elder hernandez and Josh (a priest) went on splits in amity ward. They were able to stop by a person that we have been trying to work with for a couple months now. They were able to get in. Just that morning in companion study we were able to practice inviting someone back to the temple. They were able to do that for this person and he accepted. That person was on church sunday and that is the first time we have seen him at church in about 4 months.

Well I hope all is going well. Love yall.
Love,
Elder Kennedy

Weekly update - Oct 6, 2014

Hey Everybody, 

We have had a pretty good week. One of our investigators came with us to General Conference this weekend and really had an enjoyable time. He really enjoyed Elder Christofferson talk. Hopefully we can build off the spirit that he has felt as he listened to General Conference. Another one of our investigators was planning on coming to watch General Conference with us. We had a member that was going to pick her up and take her to their house, but Nancy gave the excuse of she had to clean her house. I was kind of sad that she wasn't able to make it because I know that session was meant just for her. As we watched the session there were things that were said that I know would have touched her. Things that she is struggling with and questions she has.

One thing I got personally from General Conference and the message I heard over and over again in the Saturday session is that we need to convert and prepare ourselves so we can be ready to help others when they start to struggle. This really struck me because as a missionary we need to become converted ourselves to the Gospel. We need to truly gain a testimony before we can help others gain one. 

The world is definitely going the wrong direction and we need to be truly converted so that we can be a help to others. We need to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, General Conference Talks and prayer each day. Once we become converted then we can help others come back to the boat (gospel) again. 

Well as some of you may have seen I got on Facebook this week. We have been approved to go on and clean out our Facebooks in prep for us getting Ipads soon. We cant chat or anything though. 

Well hope all is going well.

Love yall,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - 09/29/2014

Hey Everyone,

This week was a pretty fantastic week. Monday we were able to go over to one of our potential investigators house and the spirit guided us to start to talk to him about Prophets. We asked him a lot of questions to kind of open him up and share what he knows about Prophets. He believes that there should be prophets again. We testified to him that we know that the Lord has called a prophet again and invited him to come listen to him at General Conference. The Spirit completely guided our conversation with him. 

Another really cool thing happened this week. We went over to a lesson with one of our investigators Nancy Ward. Her grandson Tyler is on a mission in England and he is the only member of his family right now. Tyler Challenged each one of his family members to read the Book of Mormon by December, so we have been meeting with Nancy and reading from the Book of Mormon with her. Well for this Lesson Nancy invited her friend who lived below in the apartment complex to the lesson. Her friends name is Jackie. Jackie has known Mormons all her life and actually has family that have been sealed in the temple. Jackie is not a member though. Well for the Lesson Jackie played an essential role in helping Nancy understand what was been taught. Jackie was also able to support Nancy and add her own testimony of what was being taught and she is not even a member yet. Jackie defiantly has a lot of Potential. She has definitely been prepared from the Lord. 

Also, we got a referral for a Part - Member Family this week and we stopped by and set up a appointment for tonight. She is 9 years old and her family is not very active. We have been visiting with there dad since June. He has quit smoking, but he needs to start coming to church. We are going to use this time teaching his daughter to strengthen their family as well.  

Today we were able to see the movie Meet The Mormons before it came into theaters. It was probably one of the awesomest things I have  seen. One thing that this movie will do is clear up misconceptions about Mormons. I would definitely encourage you all to go see it and invite your non member friends as well. 

Well I hope all is going well. 

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - 09/22/14

Hey Everybody,

SO GUESS WHAT! On Saturday we got to go listen to Elder Nelson (Apostle), Elder Foster (Seventy), and Elder Hanson (Seventy). It was such an awesome meeting. We were able to shake hands with each one of these great men. Elder Foster talked about how we are the message. We can affect the people around us just by the way we are and act. That we can help our companions out just by being an example to them. Elder Hanson talked about keeping the end in mind when we are teaching investigators. Specifically focusing on the temple and how there are ancestors waiting on the other side that are praying for each one of us to do their work. Then Elder Nelson talked about becoming consecrated missionaries. He even opened up for questions from us missionaries. A lot of the questions were focused on recognizing the spirit more. It was a really awesome experience to be in the presence of an apostle. One awesome things that Elder Nelson said was that our mission was probably one of the best places to be a missionary because the church is well respected here and there was a lot of members who lived right next to a lot of non members. Definitely needed the boast of seeing an apostle. 

Well my new companion is Elder Carr who is from Alaska. He came up from Paradise Valley. His last companion was not the most obedient missionary out here. Woke up at 10 a m. Didn't really follow the white handbook. So Elder Carr is a little bit of a struggle, but we are working the bugs out of him. Definitely a work in progress. Have to reteach him the correct way.

Well so after 16 hours of driving this week for transfers and Elder Nelsons talk not a whole lot of other things happened this week. Things are defiantely going to start to pick up this week though. 

Hope all is going well. 

First Picture is of me and my new companion

Second Picture is of Elder Murray and Elder Hernadez

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - Sept 17, 2014

Hey Everyone, 

Its a brand new transfer now. This week consisted so far of traveling down to the valley and back for transfers. Elder Orme and I are not companions anymore. He got transferred down to Paradise Valley.  Sister Sweeney our mission presidents wife said about Elder Orme that we all have to take our turn and that I did awesome with him! Elder Orme had higher function autism. It was definitely a hard transfer with him, but I have defiantly learned a lot of valuable lessons from him. Patience was defiantly one of them. I am definitely grateful for the opportunity to have been his companion but also am glad that we are split up. 

I got a new companion yesterday. His name is Elder Carr. He is from Alaska. He is 18 years old is on his 2nd transfer out. So I am 2nd half training him. He is way cool and we have a lot of things similar. Don't know to much about him. 

Saturday we are going down to the valley again to hear Elder Russell M. Nelson speak. He is speaking to both the Scottsdale mission and Mesa mission. We are super excited about that! Definitely blessed to be in this mission. 

Not much has happened this week. Just a lot of traveling. 

Hope all is going well. Pictures will come next week. Dont have my cord with me today. Lost it somewhere. 

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - 9/8/2014

Monday - We had P-Day. We spent about an hour with our Recent Convert Lea McNeil (89 Year Old) listening to some old Gospel Classics on her turn table. That was a blast then we ate some cookies and Peanut Butter Pie that she made. That Night we went over to the Davis's House who is first counciler in the Stake Presidency and had FHE with the whole stake presidency. We do this every first monday of the month. This is a awesome time to get to know the stake presidency better and discuss the missionary work in the areas. Then we went over to Mitch Udalls house who is the Branch Mission Leader for the YSA and came up with a Branch Mission Plan. 

Tuesday - In the morning we had a lesson with a Less Active named Judy Miles. She was coming to church for a while in July, but hasn't come in a month so we went by and read Moroni 6 with her and committed her to come back to church. She said she would come back in 2 weeks. Whoot whoot. Something funny happened today while we were contacting a referral. We were walking up to the door and open the front gate to get in when their dog charged us and ran out the gate and down the street. So we are like what the heck just happened. We go up to the door and knock. She comes to the door we tell her we are missionaries. She gets super pissed and says she is busy right now. So we ask her is there a time we can come back. She says never. So after she is super rude then we tell her her dog escaped. Hehe. She then told us to go get it. So we try and get snowball ( the name of the Dog). He doesn't come to us so she comes out tells us to ride away and he will come back. So we did. Well yep. So that night we drove to Snowflake because we had to go to a zone conference in the morning. 

Wednesday - Zone Conference was good. They talked a lot about being bold and spent a lot of time on sharing the gospel online. They hinted a lot that we may be getting Ipads soon. Cross our fingers. Then afterwords we came back to Eagar. A pretty cool experience happened this week related to following the spirit. We had a time to go visit a Potential Investigator, but as we were out visiting people the spirit prompted me to go visit him at a different time. We followed that prompting and as we were riding to his house we found him walking down the street. We hadn't been able to catch him home for about 3 week. So it was a miracle to even see him. We started talking to him and he told us that he had read a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon that we had given him and said he wasn't very interested. He said he was a native and that is what he wanted to stay. We set up an appointment to come talk to him a little more. Then he told us that his brother was actually baptized about 4 years ago and hasn't been to church since. So he directed us to where his brother was. We started talking to him and invited him back to church. He said he was interested in come back. Then the spirit prompted me to invite him to come and listen to the lesson that we were having with his brother the next day. He accepted. I like this experience because it shows that when you start talking with someone and they are not necessarily interested, there is most likely someone else who needs your help. As long as you follow the spirit and be bold enough to invite, then that is all you can do. People have there free agency and all we have been called to do is invite. 

Thursday - Thursday night we went to play softball and then it started to pour and lighting. Since we are on bikes (because one of the Elders on bike broke his toe nail) we basically got shut in. 

Friday - Today was weekly planning so that took up a good portion of the morning and afternoon. Not much happened the rest of the day. 

Saturday - We met with Bishop Teeney this morning and talked about the missionary work in the Amity ward. Then we went to lunch at Sonic which was just delicious. That afternoon we visited with Bishop Poche and had delicious peach smoothies and Blue Bell Ice Cream ( So Delicious). Later we went to a Duty to God Kickoff for the Youth in one of our wards because Elder Orme my companion volunteered to play the piano for them. Then later we went to Mitch Udall and finalized our Branch Mission Plan. 

Sunday - We had Church from 8 to 2pm. We were challenged from our mission president to bear our testimony in each ward that we are over to gain member trust. So I did that for the Amity Ward and the YSA branch. That went pretty good. Then at 3 we had a missionary correlation meeting. We ate dinner at Garret and Lorie Whitings home and they made us Navajo Tacos. Then that night we went out on splits with the Amity Ward. We were able to stop by a LA member who was in a car accident about 2 months ago. He has to wear a Halo type thing around his head. Looks really painful. We were able to give him a blessing. Then I felt impressed like we needed to go and visited brother begay. We stop at his house and knock on the door. No answer so as we are walking away he actually shows up. We were able to talk to him and find out that he is actually leaving in November. He is around 50 years old and we usually play basketball with him. So we were able to fellowship him through basketball. 

Well I hope all is going well. Things are going stellar here. Love you all! 

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update

Hey Everybody,

 

Monday : P - Day : We went out to the Wiltbank's Farm which is about 20 miles outside of Springerville. We spent about 2 hours fishing at a lake they have there and then we went looking at those old Indian Drawings that are on rocks. Then they made us this really good Bar B Que Chicken Dinner with really good potato salad.

Tuesday : We went to the Temple in the Morning. It was a really awesome session. Definitely need a time to just relax and focus on the savior. I was able to receive some revelation for myself on how I can improve as a missionary. That night we went out with our WML in the springerville ward delievering some cheese cakes to some Less Actives and recent converts and also inviting them to a FHE with our WML thursday night. It rained alot that night and we were completely soaked by the end of it.

Wednesday : Had to give a training in District meeting on accountability and how to work in unity with your companion. That went pretty good.

Thursday : Today we went on exchanges with the other missionary companionship. We were able to visit Lea McNeil (89 year old Recent Convert) and listen to some old Gospel Records with her. Tonight we had an FHE with the Quinlans. That seemed to go really good.

Friday : We did weekly planning today. That took a long time. Then we went to a Family Reunion with my Trek Parents (Justin and Alisha Walker) and watched the Trek video. They are some awesome people. They made us some amazing Enchiladas.

Saturday : We are on bike now because and Elder from the other area had to have his toe ripped off so they need the car for the next 2 weeks. We went out and made some visits. A member invited us to go and watch there sons 4th grade football game. We were able to talk with a lot of members there as well. We were able to go over to Brother Quinlan's house and finish a presentation that we are doing tomorrow for the Youth.

Sunday : Today we went to Amity ward first and we had to share a few thoughts about family and marriage to the bishops wife's youth class. That went pretty good. Then in Springerville Ward we gave a presentation about how to share the gospel online. There was a talk recently given by Elder Bednard called To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood. We kind of based our presentation on that. https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/to-sweep-the-earth-as-with-a-flood?lang=eng 

I would suggest everyone to read it. Also We shared a video called Because of Him https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

We commited each youth to share this video on a social media site along with a short testimony about Jesus Christ.

Commitment : I want you all to go and share this video " Because of Him" along with a short testimony about what Jesus Christ has done for you.

Well I hope all is going well.

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update - 8/25/2014

Hey Everyone, 

This last week has been pretty amazing with finding opportunities. One of my goals this week was to open my mouth more. So we did and we were able to give really open of the doors to the gospel for a lot of different people. For example we were at the senior center here in Eagar and I struck up a conversation with an older gentleman. We started talking about religion and somehow we started talking about how in the Marriott hotels all have a Book of Mormon in them. I used this as an opportunity to offer him one and explain a little bit more about what the Book of Mormon was. We got to talking about the Priesthood and a little bit more about what he believes in. The spirit was definitely a driving force in helping me to know what to say and how to share our beliefs in a loving manner. This experience has definitely strengthened my testimony of following the spirit and acting on promptings. He is not from Eagar, but hopefully a seed was planted. 

Another amazing experience happened on Sunday when a member introduced me to a family not of our faith that he brought to hear him speak. I got to talk to this new family a little bit more. I felt impressed to ask if he has ever been to an LDS service before. He went on for a couple minutes on how he loves LDS services and how he has met with missionaries before. He mentioned about how the missionaries bring such a light and happiness to him when met with him. He mentioned how he had a Book of Mormon and use to read, but had lost his. So I offered him another one. He gladly accepted. We invited him back to church again next week and he said he would definitely think about it.

Things are definately picking up again here. 

Could yall pray for a couple investigators of ours. 

Nancy Ward - Had surgery two weeks ago and is in recovery

Megan and Shelbie Hale - Have a desire to get baptized

Cliff Hale - Desire to baptize his daughter and get worthy enough to do

Thansk to all of you for all your support. Love you all!

Love Elder Kennedy

Don't forget the check out the Pictures: Sort by modified date to see the most current ones:
 Mission Pictures

Weekly Update

Hey Everyone,

Things have been a lot better this week. We were able to gain two more investigators. On Monday night we felt impressed to changes our plans and go visit this Less Active. We were talking to this Less Active for a little bit when this Native walks up and starts to talk to us. He was completely drunk. He had a lot of questions for us about what we do and what we believe in. We talked to him for about an hour and a half resolving some concerns that he had. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet. We also asked him if we could come over and share a little more about our beliefs. We set up an appointment for Saturday. That was definitely an amazing experience of following the spirit.

A lot of good things are happen in our areas. We should have a couple baptisms coming up within the next couple weeks. Megan and Shelbie are sisters who want to get baptized together. They should be baptized either next week or the week after. There is a lot of less active work going on to and a lot of them are starting to come back to church as well. A lot of good things happening here.

That pretty much sums up what is happening right now. My companion is a little bit special and it requires a lot of patience to deal with him, but he has a lot of good qualities about him that are beneficial to the companionship as well.

Hope all is going well. Love ya all. 

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update

Hey everyone, 

My old companion Elder Clark went home on Monday because his mission was up. That was sad to say goodbye. He was an amazing missionary. (The first picture is of me and him right before he left). So I had to drive down to the valley on monday to get my new companion then drive back on tuesday. over 500 miles in 2 days. Straight Cray Cray. My new companions name is Elder Orme. (He is the second picture). He has a minor mental disorder. This will definately be a big learning transfer.

So an update on who we are teaching.

We have started teaching an 14 year old, named Megan, who hasn't been baptized. We have set a date for her for August 23rd. Her parents are not very active, but Megan has a lot of support from the young womens and Leaders. Megan is very shy, but is starting to open up a little bit.

Another family we are trying to work with is the Fischer family who has an 9 year old that isn't baptized. They live in a ski resort about 30 minutes outside of Eagar. The Family has a desire to come back to church, but just needs the right push and for him to get off work on Sunday. They are an super awesome family though.

Another Lady we are teaching is Nancy Ward. Her grandson is on a mission in England and is the only member in his family so he challenged his whole family to read the Book of Mormon and meet with the missionaries. As she is reading from the Book of Mormon and meeting with us she definitely sees that what she has heard about Mormons in the past is not true and is starting to warm up to us. She really enjoys reading from the Book of Mormon.

There is a lot of potenital in these areas. A lot of good things happening here!

Well love ya all, 
Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update

Hey Everyone,

There are a lot of good things going on here in Eagar AZ. Not anything to interesting is happening right now. My companion is going home next week and in interviews President was saying that I may be training a new missionary this upcoming transfer. Super scary but super exciting.

We also heard that Elder Neil L. Andersen is coming to the mission September 20th, 2014. That is going to be super amazing. I am super excited for that!

I dont have anything else to report on. I read a super good talk in last months ensign called "Becoming Perfect in Christ". https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/07/young-adults/becoming-perfect-in-christ?lang=eng

This talk is perfect for any who are to hard on themselves. It talks about how through Jesus we can overcome those tendencies.

Well hope everyone is doing well. Love to hear from all of you.

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly update

Hey everyone, 

This was an awesome week and a not so awesome week. The reason why it was not so awesome was our recent convert who just got baptized in June almost died Monday. He was working at the senior center up here and was putting up some posters and had a Tac in his mouth. He accidentally swallowed it and it punctured his throat and lungs about 20 times. He was air lifted down to phoenix and was given a 20% chance of living. He coded about 4 times on the way down to Phoenix. They had to put him in a coma because he was causing to much damage to himself. Something amazing happened. They were about to crack open his chest to get it out when a 3rd year med student pushed the doctors out of the got a suction straw type thing and put it down his throat. She was able to suck the Tac out with out any further injury or having to do surgery. Now Chris is doing good but just has Pneumonia to deal with. While Chris was in a coma he had a NDE (Near Death Experience). He said that he saw our Heavenly Father and our Bishop here, Bishop Poche. He said that Heavenly Father told him that his time was not up. That he had to come to the earth and again and go to the temple. That he still had work to do. That was definitely a interesting experience to hear. He definitely now has a solid testimony of this Gospel.

Now why it was an awesome week. I tried to be more bold this week and just work. As we did my anxiety was definitely lessen. In the mornings I would be pretty anxious, but as we got out and worked I definitely gained more confidence in myself. There were a couple really amazing experiences that we had. It seemed that this week we were always at the right place at the right time. On Wednesday we went to this one house to talk to him about one of our Potential Investigators Nate. This PI father got made at one of our members and just really freaked out when asked if it would be alright if his son took the lessons. We know and Nate has expressed that he wants to take the lessons but his Dad is holding him back. Well as we were going to this house guess who is there. Nate. We haven't talked to him in a couple weeks. That was a really amazing thing to see how Lord inspires us to go places at certain times and those that we need to see are placed in our path.

Another time we were going to eat at a members house and another potential investigator of ours Austin Vigil was there as well. We were able to just get to know him better and really just become his friend. We try to play basketball a couple times a week and he shows up then as well.

One person that we just started teaching this week was a Foreign Exchange student from a couple years. He was living with the Poches and came back to visit. The thing that we are struggling with him is that he doesn't really believe in God. So we spent about two or three lessons this week talking about faith, prayer, watching finding faith in Christ, and just really trying to help him get his own personal witness. He is a very logical thinker and is kinda hard to teach because he keeps saying that the gospel is to good to be true. He leaves this upcoming week.

Hope everyone else is doing well

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update

Hey everyone,

The Monsoons (huge rain storms) are here! It has rained every single day this past week. We have been to snowflake twice this week ( about an hour drive ) for an zone activity and another time so Elder Clark could go to the temple to see his recent convert get endowed and sealed. Its has just been a busy week. A lot going on and a lot of progress.

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders Tuesday and went on exchanges with Elder Greenhalgh and Orr.

We had to give talks this week on Hastening the work. 

The 3 things I Said that we as missionaries could do to help further the work is to 

1. Become converted yourself - focused on making the temple a priority so that your can be spiritually prepared to find those that are searching for the Gospel. 

2. Set a specific date to find someone for the missionaries to teach - almost like making a coventant with God that you will talk to everyone you meet about hearing about the restored gospel and God will promise to put someone in your path that is prepared to hear it. 

3. Become a ward that God can trust - Centered this around Love. when we have love then those who are new or less active will feel that love and want to come back. 

I shared a lot of stories from the book The Power of Everyday Missionaries. This book really did change my view on missionary work and what we can do as members to fulfill our role. The members are full time finders the missionaries are full time teachers.

Hope everyone is doing alright. Hope to hear from yall soon! 

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update

Hey Everybody,

Happy 4th of July week!

We got to enjoy all the festivities here in Round Valley on the 4th. It started off with a pretty awesome parade for a such a small town ( about 5000 in eagar and 2000 in springerville). This place has a lot of Mormon folk ( about 50% of the population is Mormon) so during the parade almost every other float there would be people that would see us missionaries sitting on the side watching and they would scream "hey missionaries" or "look its the missionaries". That was funny to see. We felt like "Super Stars".

Then we got to go to a BBQ that the scouts were putting on and there were a lot of members there so we just stayed there and talked to a lot of people. At night we got to go to a members house and watch fireworks. What was cool was that a family (the Llamas) that we are working with showed up to the fireworks too. So we were able to talk with them and introduce them to some more members.

Something cool that we got to go see on Saturday was cowboy poetry. There is a member her who's name is Chris Isaac and he is a world recognized cowboy poet. He was doing a show outside of his house and did a freaking awesome job! I love cowboy poetry because it just brings out all of your emotions. It can be funny then make ya tear up. There was a man (Bruce Proctor) not of our faith there that we are trying to start to work with. He built a house up here for his wife about a year ago and then his wife died ( really sad ). So we are trying to get his neighbors who are all Mormon to fellowship him and they are doing a fantastic job. We hope to be able to go in there and share with him the plan of salvation and let him know that he can be with his wife again.

Well hopefully things can start to pick up here. We got an email today saying that we may be getting Ipads for our mission in the fall. We would have to pay for them. I believe that they will be an amazing resource in hastening the work of salvation and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well I hope y'all are doing well.

Would yall maybe mind praying for some of the people we are working with.

Investigators -

Austin Vigil (18 year old young man coming to church. Considering taking the lessons)

Nate Guiteriez ( Young man whose dad is completely against the church and was angry when asked if his son could take the lessons. Pray that he may soften his heart because Nate really wants to take the lessons and be baptized but his dad is a completely butt.)
Jesse Smith ( Young man who knows the church is true and has a testimony of Jesus Christ but is hesitant about taking the lessons.)

Jeff and Jennifer Cramer ( A catholic couple that said they would not consider switching to LDS but is reading from the book of mormon and doing all we ask of him. Pray for the spirit to touch him and his wife.)

Nancy Ward ( was challenged by her grandson ( who is on a mission) to take the lessons. Pray that she may feel the spirit and know of the truthfullness of what we teach.)

Robert Denault ( 9 year old child who gets bored when we teach him. Pray that we may find a way to interest him and help him come closer to jesus christ.)

Recent Convert -

Lea McNeil (89 year old women who loves church and is super glad she was baptized. Pray that the ward may find someone to befriend her and keep her company and that she may continue to learn and grow in the gospel)

Chris Isaac (Baptized 2 weeks ago. Mother was put in the ICU and he is down there taking care of her. Bless that she may heal and soften her heart towards the churhc. Pray that he may continue to feel the spirit as he reads, prays and goes to church. Pray that he may have a desire to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead.

Thanks so much everyone.

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly Update

Hey Everyone,

We had another baptism this week for a man named Chris Adams. He is an amazing person with a huge heart. He volunteers about 40 hours a week at the local senior center. He is having a lot of struggles as he has found out that his dad only has about a year to live and that his mom was just put in the ICU. So this is a really tough time for him but we can tell that the gospel has definitely been a huge influence in his life and that he has found comfort in its teachings. Could y'all please pray for his mom that she might get well soon.

That is really the highlight of the week.

Hope all is going well.

Love Elder Kennedy

Weekly update

Hey everybody!

We had a baptism June 21st for a lady named Lea McNeil. She is 89 years old and is probably one of the spunkiest person I have ever met! It took us a while to commit her to baptism, but once she made that step forward and decided to be baptized she said a weight just lifted and she feels so happy now. After her baptism her whole personality changed and she is just really happy! She now has the spirit in her life and loves life.

We have another baptism coming up on the 28th of June for a man named Chris Adams. He was so prepared to hear the gospel in his life. We invited him to be baptized the first lesson and he accepted. When he first started reading the Book of Mormon he said that he just felt so good about it. He prayed and knows this is Christ Church restored on the earth. He feels the spirit every time he goes to church. He truly was prepared by God. We have come to love him as a brother and are so happy that he is making the decision to be baptized.

Those where the main highlights of the week! Hope yall are doing well!

Love, 

Elder Kennedy