I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

July 20, 2014

My modeling days in Wellington:) haha.

So.. I had a pretty great week!!

Friday was my one year mark, and right after our alarm went off at 6:30 we got a knock at the front door. The post man had this huge box for us. I opened it and found SO MANY LOLLIES. Ha Shaqaila sent them from Flaxmere, but even better were the cards and letters from all my past companions. Ahh!! That was so cool:)

It's real rainy in Wellington,
but umbrellas make for a nice photo :)

I went to my study desk and found Birthday balloons, pictures, candy, and little gifts from my adorable companion:) An hour later, another knock came and I went down to find a member who had dropped us off this big Tongan breakfast. Wow! My companion had been coordinating this all on our exchanges and it was just so sweet to have all my companions be a little part to my day. Ha, it feels so great to be a year old:)

As a present to myself I finished the Book of Mormon. It was the fastest I had read it, just over 2 months. I had to read over 10 pages a day, but it was super fulfilling! I love the Book of Mormon and reading it fast gave me more of a context of the area, people, and timeline of it. It's true.

The fun was a bit halted when we had to do an emergency exchange with some sisters in the zone. It turns out: disobedience really is the worst haha. So this week I went on 2 exchanges, had a lot of headaches, and got to meet with our mission president and his wife and talked to them quite a bit. 

My 1 year skirt burning.

Friday night we went to the beach and out on the dock to burn a 1 year skirt. We had lots of hairspray and a lighter and it eventually worked even with the wind. Turns out I'm afraid of fire when I'm holding it, but I let it burn for a bit then threw it into the ocean. It was my first burning, and it was fun.

Saturday was really neat because we had the baptism of Tomai, our 8 year old miracle. We were excited for his whole family to be there and for quite a few ward members who also came. Primary baptisms are really the best. Everyone was giving him little presents to represent the warmth of the Holy Ghost, and cute little journals. His baptism really touched his mum, which is great because we are teaching her as well. He gave a little testimony after and he thanked my companion and me by name for helping him learn about Jesus which was the best. He's the cutest!

Then, right after the baptism we had the ward talent show. It was so great! We had dancers, singers, violin players, piano solos, taekwondo performance, and even a harmonica performance (check out Kurt Mueller on youtube. He was a finalist for New Zealand's got talent and he plays some mean songs on the harmonica!!). The lady who did taekwondo is actually going to compete in the world championship and represent NZ, so we have a pretty talented ward here:) My companion and I sang a song. A hymn of course because that's all we can sing ha, but everyone said it went well.

Tomai's confirmation day and his mum and sisters.

Sunday was really great because Tomai had his confirmation. In his blessing he was told that he would bring his family to the Saviour Jesus Christ and we thought that was an amazing promised blessing!! Big things are gonna happen for this family.. We can already see them in white:)

Sister Leausa, my companion, is really great at motivating me to memorize scriptures. Each companion study we have a pretty long list of scriptures, and our purpose that we state memorized. One of the scriptures we've memorized is 3 Nephi 5:13, and it helps me remember my worth as a missionary: "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

I love you all heaps! I just want to tell you all how much I love New Zealand, how much I love the people, how much I love my mission, and how much I love my Saviour.

Love, Sister Kennedy

P.S.This is the new blog for our mission: http://newzealandwellingtonmission.