What's the best way to confuse a Sister Missionary? Make her drive on the wrong side of the road.

August 6, 2013

That is right my friends, I am a legal driver in New Zealand. Aren't you all glad you aren't driving the roads here with me??

Missionaries who are serving in the Wellington Mission.

 My intake from the MTC going to Wellington is 25. That's the largest group they've had come in. Flying into Wellington is quite scary. As the plane is descending you can only see water. We kept getting closer and closer to the water, which made me quite nervous. The runway is right on the edge of the water so you just hope you hit land. I had the first interview with President, then was taken right into town to work on getting my NZ license. There were only 3 of us who got them that night because we have a car and our companions don't drive. My companion is so great! She's been out 15 months so I will be killing her after she trains me. She's from Melbourne Australia and since she'd been working on the North Island, we flew out together. We stayed the night at a Senior Couple's home then we flew in to Blenheim on a tiny 30 person plane Wednesday morning. My companion and I were sitting in the airport just talking to some other missionaries who were there when we heard over the intercom "This is the last boarding call for Rachel Kennedy and Javana Taleni." Surprised, we can to our terminal and walked out to board our plane. There I sat next to a nice guy who is a marketer for a toy shop. My first rejection! Those are getting easier.

Our flat wasn't available for a day and a half because the sale wasn't final. So we stayed in the branch president's home. They're a Fijian Indian family and so nice!! They feed us lots and love us unconditionally. There haven't been sisters here in Blenheim for ages so all the single sisters and families are so excited to see us! Starting a new area is HARD. We've had to figure out things like getting an area book, meeting members and figuring out the city, and building relationships with the town since they've only seen Elders. Our house is really cute though. President Kezerian had only girls so he makes sure we are kept well. They bought us all new supplies in the kitchen and they got us the nicest beds! We love our flat.

This is my companion and I, who were the Coordinating Sisters, and the Zone Leader and his companion at the NZ Temple.

We've spent most of our days finding single sister members, meeting ward members, looking up investigators and potential investigators, and knocking doors. Knocking doors here is pretty interesting. The first couple of doors being shut on us was really hard. Rejection is always hard, you know? But something my companion and Sister Kezerian always stress is the rule of 7. The average person who is baptized had 7 interactions with the LDS church before they listened. They maybe had friends who were members, had the missionaries on their door, or saw an ad. It's important for us to remember that we are part of that 7 and we need to leave a good impression regardless of their answer because we are helping them progress. That helps me keep in prospective and keep happy!

This week we've met with three sisters who all served missions and now aren't with the church. That's been on my mind all the time. We need to endure to the end! These sisters all knew that serving a mission blessed their life and was the truthfulness, but they let silly questions or things in their life lead them away. Be faithful, the gospel makes life happier.

There's a small branch here and they are all great! There's a lot of islanders here and such different backgrounds. Blenheim reminds me a lot of Brigham except they have a bigger shopping area downtown. They still have things like KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds. Ha some things never change around the world. We live close to the downtown so we'll walk or ride our bikes there. We also have a car which is nice to get to all our appointments and visits. The first couple times driving was interesting, I would often turn on my window wipers instead of my indicator, but I've gotten much better! Here in Blenheim they have a lot of vineyards. A lot of members of our branch are here from work Visas and they just come during the growing months to help in the vineyards. When we flew in we would just see the rows and rows of grapes growing.

So here in Blenheim we have two Elders that we share the area with. Then up in a town called Picton are two more Elders. We cover Picton with any single sisters so we'll travel up there occasionally. That makes up our district and they are really so great! I enjoy them all. We're all pretty young. The elders have been out 3 weeks, 4 months, 6 months, and 8 months. Then my companion has been out pretty long, but I think that shows the trust the President has given us here. All 6 of us attend the same branch because it's the closest one. That makes Sundays really fun though, getting to see them all. P-Day is great! We played basketball with the elders, shopped downtown, and walked around the downtown getting a feel for the city. It made me rejuvenated for the week.

Being a missionary is so much hard work! Planning every hour of the day, being willing to talk to strangers, and having the confidence to bear testimony to everyone is hard. It's already been so rewarding to see our efforts helping those we have met! We are meeting with a lady today who has a cool story. We were knocking doors and her husband answered and said his wife would probably like to hear from us. This is our second appointment and she has so much faith so we feel like she could be prepared! Things like that help me to know Heavenly Father has prepared paths for all of us. We just need to be courageous enough to look into the darkness for those paths.

Be good! Pray often.

Love, Sister Rachel Kennedy