God's Plan is Better than Our Plan.

September 17, 2013

Dear family and friends,

 Last weekend we were sitting in our companion study when we saw a family all dressed up coming through our gate. We realized they were Jehovah's Witness and we were terrified! Ha, I mean we're missionaries and that's what we do everyday, but to see other people coming to our door was weird. No one wanted to answer the door, so I finally got up to give it a go. It was a mom with 2 little boys, luckily her husband had stayed outside the gate. They gave us an invitation to a meeting in Christchurch and we had a little chat. It was weird really. Then we were in Picton about a week later. We tried an address of a Less Active member but they must have moved. The girl in the house referred us across the street. So we went, and this Maori guy answered the door. We knew he was serious when he shut the door behind him and came out to talk to us on the porch. He was a Jehovah's Witness and was all eager to "crush us". He kept talking about how in the Garden of Eden, Satan disrupted God's plan for humans. WHAT? We kept trying to say to him, "You think Satan would have the power to overcome the most powerful being in the universe??" I felt sad for him that he thought God's plan for us could be ruined. He was convinced God wanted us to live in a perfect world, and that Satan disrupted that. I realized he didn't understand how powerful our Heavenly Father is and that he loved us enough to send us to this world to learn and to grow. Satan has no power in comparison to God and as we come to understand that we will realize His perfect love and wisdom. He is all-knowing and never changes. He loves us all more than any can comprehend!

This weekend we have a special Zone Conference, District Conference and Mission Tour all in one weekend. Elder Hamula is the Area President and he and his wife came to preside for all the meetings. The District Conference was in Nelson which is about a 2 hour drive through the lush New Zealand mountains. Elder Hamula is a member of the 70 and he has been serving over the Pacific Area for 5 years. His name is Hungarian, cool! He and his wife and our Mission President and wife spoke to us many times. In the adult session of District Conference the 24 missionaries made up about half of the audience. We then had Zone Conference in the morning, and they asked me to play the piano. My selection of hymns is so limited, I really wish I had been a more diligent piano student now. But it's cool I can play some hymns. In the general session of conference was heard from them again and it was so wonderful to have a full audience. It was about the size of my ward back home and this was their whole district.

One of the new Elders in Blenheim brought the wrong bike box so they shoved the bike into our car to take to the Zone Leaders in Nelson. I was pretty angry when we took out the bike and found that it had literally ripped the entire front of my suitcase. Those Elders.. of course I felt bad when Elder Hamula talked about forgiving others and how we must forgive our fellow men if we want to be forgiven from our Heavenly Father. I'm now able to say I have a new credential to add to my list: "luggage mendor". I've started sewing back together all the rips and the torn front zipper pocket. Good thing my Mom made me such a great sewing kit!!

We visited a chocolate factory for P-day!

As we were driving to Nelson for our District Conference we saw fields and fields of baby lambs. So cute!! There are no big predators in New Zealand so that's why sheep and cows do so well. They have nothing to fear or be eaten by. Spring is coming so the little animals are being born. It reminds me of spring time at the ranch and the new animals. Sheep cover the hills here.

Thanks so much for the package Mom!! Seeing pictures from the reunion of all the aunties, uncles, cousins, and great-grand kids was so great. I loved hearing from all my cousins, it was really touching to hear a vote of confidence from them. I was always at the family reunions hearing about my cousins serving missions so it's fun to be on the other side of it now.

Natasha, who is our cute 13 year old with a baptismal date, had a big speech at school. Here, they all have to give a memorized speech in class, then one student is selected from every class to perform at an assembly. She won her classroom, so yesterday we went to her school to watch the big competition! It was so cute to hear about 15 students give speeches on hunting, why kids should be able to eat in school, and why unicorns are better than pegasus. She spoke about "Hate" feeling the negative effects from being a new minority student. She didn't win, but she did so well and it was fun to be able to support her in her academics!

I got to see a bit of Rugby for the first time! 

One of the boys in the branch invited us to watch him play on Saturday.

One of the families in the branch and had a big weekend with their kids and they invited us to come support. Richard invited us to see him play rugby, my first match! We didn't see much of it but it was still exciting. The younger kids were putting on a School Gala and they were performing island dances. We got to see them and it was so fun to support them. We have great kids in our branch and it seems that there's this big gap of members from 18-40. We have to find a way to keep the YSA age members active and involved.

We have a really big weekend coming up! We are putting on an Open Home at the chapel filled with a free car wash, a sausage sizzle, games and treats, and the crowning jewel of a chapel tour. We are very hopeful to see many people come! Of course we will lure them in with the free car wash and food, but then we will spiritually feed them as we show them our chapel. The next day on Sunday is our mission wide Special Sunday Service. We are trying to see an increase of 1,000 people across all wards and branches. We've planned a special program of speakers and we might be singing. This weekend will be so busy but we hope that as people come on Saturday they will feel more comfortable with our building and want to come back on Sunday to see what we are all about. Since we are the Sisters in the District and we are creative and organized we are in charge of the Open Home. We've done so much planning and work so we really hope that is comes off!

Thank you for all those who continue to write and pray for me! The work is progressing here and we feel the pressure to get things done since my companion will be going home after this transfer. It's crazy to get phone calls confirming her flights home and to realize I just got out here. We have a lot of work to get done so we're hard at it every day! Jeremiah said, "External service is usless where there is no devotion of heart and life." Serve others and give with all your heart.

Much love,

Sister Rachel Kennedy

I learned a Maori dance.

September 3, 2013

Peach Days is this weekend! That will be great. I'm not sure who's in the Peach Queen Pageant, but I am excited to hear about it and who wins! Someone will have to let me know. I think this will be my first year ever not watching or being in the parade. Sad!

This is the ocean port in Picton. 

The boats were all out and it was a beautiful day!

I've had such a great week here, we've been able to teach a lot of lessons and we worked hard to meet all of our goals with our key indicators. We did pretty well! Last week I had one of my famous colds. It's hard to be sick when you have work to do!

One of the ladies that we visit is a cancer patient and they had a big Cancer Society event that she wanted help with. It's called Daffodil Day and all of New Zealand works to raise money for cancer research. We agreed to help and so we were stationed outside one of the stores in town with lots of daffodils and a can for donations. We were under the hopes that we wouldn't have to work with the money because we aren't supposed to fundraise on the mission.. unfortunately that wasn't the case. Ha we had fun with it anyway and it was fun to see how busy the town was! Kids from school had come in for games in the square, everyone was walking around with daffodils pinned to their shirts, and yellow balloons filled town.

Saturday the branch put on a Multicultural Night. It was so great!! We'd been passing out invitations all week, we helped set up the morning of, and we'd even been learning a Maori dance that week to perform. The Young Men and Young Women put on the event. They learned about 5 songs each from different cultures. They had Samoan dances, Indian dances, and hip-hop dances. We had a big feed and everyone brought food from their culture. We had amazing Samoan, Tongan, Indian and Kiwi food. I eat too much for my own good but it's hard to resist such good islander food! A Maori lady in the branch really wanted the missionaries to perform, so she taught us a Raukau which is a dance with sticks. She got the Sisters to do it and one of the Elder companionship. We each had 2 sticks and then to her song we would hit them in a way and toss them back and forth. It's actually pretty hard to not drop them as you throw them between each other. During the event we only dropped ours once each, which we were pretty excited about! All the little kids gathered around us to watch and almost everyone in the branch was singing along because it's a pretty familiar Maori song I guess. It was really fun to be a part of the event!

The Kivalu boys cutting off their Dad's tie.

Sunday was Father's Day and apparently it's a tradition to cut off the Father's ties. All the Dads wear an old tie and then they all go into primary and they kids take scissors and go wild! It was a little scary to watch, but the Dads were all good sports and the kids loved having pieces of their Dad's ties and other men in the branch. We helped the branch President's wife during the week to prepare for Father's Day. We made boutonnieres out of roses for the dads, made a handout with a poem, and wrapped chocolates for them. They go all out since they don't have that many members. It was really fun to celebrate the day with Fast Sunday and to think of our earthly father's and our Heavenly Father who loves us so much to send us here.

 While tracting we get to see a lot of different people in a lot of different circumstances. Most people say no to our message but they are quite kind about it. We experience quite often people telling us that they don't want our message but they respect the work that we do and they think it is good. Isn't that interesting that they know we are doing good and they think highly of us, but they won't let that goodness into their life? "Whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledge that he is" Moroni 10:6. All good things come from Christ. We can recognize such good in our lives and recognize when bad thoughts or feelings come it is not from Him! We continue to seek the people who are prepared.

 Two nights ago I was woken up by a pretty good shaking earthquake! We later heard it was size 4.3. That's a pretty scary feeling to be sleeping and then be shaken up. I've been having such wild dreams on my mission so I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not, but it was reality! I hope that all is well at home! Continue serving faithfully in callings, at home, at work, continue to pray and read the scriptures daily. We gain power in doing the small things daily. By small means are great things brought to pass. I love you all so much and pray for you!!

 Love, Sister Kennedy

My Week in Blenheim.

August 27, 2013

I was really surprised when I opened my emails this week and found that my parents are in Poland. What?! That's cool. I realize that everyone has started school now, good luck to you all! I'm pretty happy that I'm not stressing out about my classes and tests, but I am getting sad realizing I'll miss Utah football. For P-day we hiked the mountains of Blenheim. They're more like hills, but they're impressive and green. When we got to the top we could see the ocean dividing the North and South Island and the beautiful mountains around. The city actually looks pretty big from on top! To show my pride for Utah I carried my drum and feather flag to the top of the mountain and gave it a wave.

Sister Taleni, Natasha, and the Birthday cake we baked her!

Last week we had such a special lesson appointment. Natasha is one of investigators with a baptismal date and Wednesday was her Birthday. We came over and taught the Plan of Salvation and that went really well and they understood, which was great! After a lesson of pretending to have forgot it was her Birthday, we can to the car and brought back the cake we had baked for her and some presents. We came in singing Happy Birthday and she just got so happy! She was so surprised and when we asked who would give the closing prayer she quickly raised her hand. She thanked Heavenly Father for the Sister Missionaries and it was then we knew how much we loved her.

While tracting this week we met the most interesting man. He had just poked his head out of the window to check the mail when we were on his door step so we chatted for a bit through the window. He came out to the door so we could have a real nice conversation. When I say we had a nice conversation I mean that he ranted and raved while we listened. He was so anti-church and thought it was ridiculous for us to be out in New Zealand teaching. He told us that no one in New Zealand was religious, and that no one cared about us. He told us to go back home, get an education, and think only about ourselves. He was convinced that us offering service to others was a complete waste because not one person would reciprocate in service and help. We didn't get much of an opportunity to reply to his ranting, but it made me think a lot after we left. The people of New Zealand are absolutely religious. Most everyone we talk to has their own faith, and we see in our members their extreme dedication and love of religion. I have felt so much love serving these people. They show us so much kindness and our love for them grows every day. They continue to ask us how we are and if they can help us in any way. He was convinced that this missionary work would do no good in our future lives. Thinking about what we're giving us to serve doesn't compare in what I'm learning everyday about myself and how I'm growing! This will not be the best 18 months of my life, these will be the best 18 months for the rest of my life. This will help me prepare to be a better student when I come back, a better wife and mother, and a better servant of Jesus Christ. This guy had such passion for what he said, but the difference was that his passion was out of hate and our passion to serve is out of love.

I guess it's been long enough for me to tell my sad story. The first time I used my hair straightener in the MTC I had my power converter on the wrong setting so my straightener got way too hot. I burned my bangs and they turned into a frizzy mess. Ha I've been slowly trimming the hairs out, and when I straighten my hair it looks normal. I didn't want to admit it right away, but now I've figure out the power adaptor and my hair is all good.

Yesterday I got a phone call from the Mission Office from Sister Eames. She told me exciting news that we must be related! She's just seen a letter from Edna Stratford (I was thrilled when I heard I was getting mail!) and she told me that she's Edna Stratford. Her middle name is Stratford because it was her mom's maiden name. I had to pull out my pedigree chart and good thing my Grandma is so thorough because I had to go back to my great-great-great-grandpa Edwin Stratford to find our connection. She screamed when I said "Edwin Stratford" and she recognized the name! She's going to do her research to find how we're related, but it was sure fun to hear her excitement.

Good luck to everyone back home in all the adventures of life! This week I was reminded of a quote that I always saw at Grandma Kennedy's house: "Work as if everything depends on you, pray as if everything dependson the Lord." So true!! Study hard and work hard, so you can play hard. Go UTES!

Love, Sister Kennedy
"Two people can do anything as long as one of them is the Lord"

P.S. Another picture from this week. They had to cancel church due to earthquakes:

The classy sign that was put up on the church fence letting everyone know church was cancelled.

My First Birthday: All Shook Up!

 August 20, 2013 

It's official, I've turned one month old on the mission. In celebration, we have big earthquakes, massive rains, and church was cancelled due to cracks caused by the earthquakes. The Elders gave me my first lava lava and Sister Taleni gave me the cutest card!

The Branch President had asked me to speak on Sunday, which was the one month Birthday, so as a present church was cancelled ha. But really, it was so sad to not be able to take the sacrament and have investigators come to church!! Although.. none have ever come. Time is moving quickly!

 Love, Sister Kennedy

 August 21, 2013 

Sleeping in the kitchen door frame.

Wow, earthquakes are freaky!! I don't know if many heard, but I had quite the experience this past week with earthquakes in New Zealand. While I was in the MTC there was an earthquake that hit Wellington that everyone has been talking about for weeks, so I was waiting in anticipation for my first chance of an earthquake. We were giving service to someone who was preparing their house to move. The Sisters were washing the walls and the Elders were outside cleaning the yard. Sister Taleni and I were alone in the house when suddenly the entire house is moving back and forth, cupboards are rattling, and terrified I run under the door frame with my companion. It lasted for 10 seconds which seemed like an eternity as my stomach is churning. This quake was a 6.9! Elder Edwards is from Farmington and this was both our first quake so we were really quite excited to experience it! Well the excitement left quickly as the shocks kept coming. We were driving home when we could feel our car shaking back and forth and all the power lines above us were whipping around. In the house are cupboards would shake, the doors would open, and I would jump up every time. The first quakes hit us Friday afternoon and the rest of that day there were more than 50 shakes. These weren't small after shocks either, the shocks that came were up to 4 and 5 size earthquakes. My companion and I pulled our mattresses out of the bedroom and we slept underneath our kitchen door frame. Ha it sounds silly, but we were genuinely concerned about our safety! We continue to feel shakes every day, and they are predicting another big one, bigger than the first to come this week or the next. I assumed this big quake I had heard about was pretty bad, but my companion kindly told me these quakes were way worse than what they experienced in Wellington a couple weeks ago. Comforting right?! 

Downpour rain and proselyting.

The earthquakes were bad enough, but for 2 days following we are complete downpour rain. We drove to Picton to teach and make visits and all the fields that we past on the drive were flooded. There were poor sheep standing on the few patches on grass still available surrounded by lakes. We would run from the car to the houses of investigators and be drenched in those few moments. Let's remember, I'm adding lots of rain drops and attractiveness to my future husband:) 

Besides all those exciting natural events, I have really been enjoying my week! They found cracks in the chapel from the earthquake so church was cancelled on Sunday. We still haven't heard word from the inspectors to know if it will be ready for this Sunday. We will try to find another place to meet to take the Sacrament. Isn't that crazy though? The Branch President was calling everyone telling them not to come to church. That's a once in a lifetime command! 

We've had a lot of great lessons with investigators and we see progression! We've also been dropped, people are avoiding us, and we gets lots of door shut in our face. I've come to understand that I don't need to be sad by these people, but continue on and give people the opportunity to learn more. 

Fun facts about New Zealand: 

 -Apparently there's no O-zone here, so sunscreen will come in handy. 

 -All the electrical outlets have on/off switches for each plug because electricity is so expensive here.

 -There are no stop lights here in Blenheim but there are heaps of round-a-bouts! There's also no stop signs, only "give ways". To put you all at ease, I've become a pretty good driver! It seems very natural now to be on the left side of the road. 

 -All the houses have gates around their houses so we just reach our arms over, under, or through and open up the gate to get in. 

 -The houses here don't have obvious front doors. We often will walk all around their house to the back to knock on the door. It seems creepy.. Ha we're very determined to knock every door. 

I love you all so much and am grateful for your support in my life! Although the earthquakes are still happening daily, and they've predicted one bigger than the first to come in the week, I know the Lord will protect us. The Lord will always bless and support us in our trials if we pray to Him and rely on His power. He already knows what we need and desire in our life, we just have to give Him permission to bless us by asking Him for those blessings. Lot's wife was commanded to not look back as they fled Sodom and Gomorrah. She looked back, yearning for the days she'd had before and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Choose to be happy today! Don't look back on good times wishing they would come again and seek for happiness in the future. Be happy now!! 

Love, Sister Kennedy 

 More Pictures from this week: For P-day we had a pizza lunch with the Elders in this beautiful city square. The clock tower behind us is super pretty. 

This is a bridge over the river in town.. it's a little wet at the moment from the downpour of rain over the weekend.