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