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.