A Door Slammed in My Face for the First Time

Vanessa was baptized this week.  LOVE HER!

It has been a rainy WEEK!

This is how we get around Chinandega- in Triciclo.
 This cart is attached to the front of a bike and someone hauls us around town.
 And these are two sweeties that we brought home after an activity...
we are trying to learn patience for when we are moms....
we've got a long way to go haha.

This week has been full of experiences! The rainy season is starting up here and it hit us HARD this week. It brought me back to my days in Tipitapa and Matagalpa. I love the rainy season here because everything cools off for a moment or two but it always brings a few challenges to the work... So this Wednesday is when the rain really started to hit us. It just so happened that we were also on divisions this day. I was with sweet Hermana Melendez in her area when we got dumped on! It had been an awesome day because we had worked hard and found new families for them to teach. At about 6pm we started teaching a new investigator when the rain hit us hard! The houses here are made out of tin so when it starts to rain it is SUPER LOUD! You will be right in front of the person and have to scream. So there we were teaching the First vision and we had to SCREAM it at her haha. It was a pretty funny experience. We asked her to offer the closing pray and she was really nervous. I then told her not to worry because we probably wouldn’t hear her anyways haha. We ended up having to wait out the storm in her house for almost a WHOLE HOUR! When the rain finally settled down we left to find that the streets had been converted into a river. IT is then I was reminded of Tipitapa. Haha we went on our way to find the chosen. It was pretty funny trying to walk through the NASTY water but we were blessed for it and made some great memories. 

The next day we were hit with the SAME rainstorm! The thunder was SO POWERFUL. Louder than I have ever heard. Once again it hit at the opportune moment... trying to put the fecha. The investigators accepted and we once again waited out the storm. I love having the rain but it does present some challenges with the extra noise in the house and the FLOODED streets! The flooded streets are an extra big problem here because the water is SO DIRTY!!! I don’t like thinking abut it. O well we just enter and wash off real well when we get home. 

The nice thing about the rain is that it cools us off for a minute. Sadly, it is just a minute. Afterwards, we are always hit with an AWFUL heat... Eh not everything can be perfect right? That would be too easy! 

This week has been really special because we have been able to find a lot of new families and we have received several references. The past couple weeks, my comp. and I have been really worried about sacrament meeting attendance. As a result we have made several plans and goals to increase attendance. We have been having very short lessons with members and the leaders EVERY DAY to excite them. As part of this visit we have also been inviting the members to search for the ppl in their lives that are prepared to hear the gospel. It has been AWESOME to see how these visits have been helping in the work. This week the attendance shot up big time and we have received TONS of references. Our ward rocks and I can’t wait to keep working with all the members here. 

Vanessa was baptized this Saturday! Yay!! She seriously is so awesome and I love her with all my heart. When we found her she told us that she felt alone in this life and didn’t know where she could find happiness. Something was missing. The Gospel immediately filled this hole. She was SO PREPARED to hear the gospel. We had several beautiful moments with her and especially with the BOOK OF MORMON! She knows it is true from sacred experiences and has a firm testimony. Her baptize was kind of CRAZY due to the rain, but it happened and she felt Great! She told us everything is different now. She will be an amazing addition to the ward! 

Well, this week I have learned several things but I mostly just want to encourage you all to be a part of this extraordinary work. The Lord needs us ALL in order to bring about and accelerate the work. I have seen time and time again that members make the best missionaries. I know the Lord prepares his children in EVERY part of the world and that we all have someone in our lives that can be changed by Jesus Christ. We have the truth, LET’S SHARE IT! 

Thank you all for your love and support ALWAYS! I love you guys! 

Love, 

Hermana Kendall 

P.S. Presidente came and had a meeting with our zone this week that was AWESOME! He talked about being HUMBLE in order to learn. He also asked me to sing a quick song in front of everyone... Still trying to get over stage fright when it comes to singing! 

P.P.S. I got a door slammed in my face for the first time EVER in my mission this week! It was really odd. Everyone here is just so friendly. It made me appreciate all the missionaries in the world so much!

Fish for Lunch

My lunch today.

My breakfast, lunch and dinner!
There are avocados the size of my head everywhere you look right now!

My comp and I in front of the church!

So this week has been a little crazy for us. We have been working with a lot of the Sister missionaries so my comp and I didn’t see much of each other. We were still able to see miracles though and get some WORK DONE!!

This week has been full of miracles concerning the Book of Mormon! I love this book. It really is the best missionary. The Lord is so perfect and made it so this book could come forth at this time to convince men that Jesus is the Christ. The Book of Mormon really does make the difference. It makes me so happy when I can see the Recent Converts and especially investigators reading it. It changes their hearts and prepares them to make covenants with their Heavenly Father. This week we found TONS of new investigators but there are two in particular that I am really excited about. First would be Joel , he is 19 years old and looking for the truth. One day this week while teaching a recent convert we asked her if she knew anyone else we could teach. She quickly got up to introduce us to her neighbors. When we got there just Joel was home but he was VERY interested in hearing about the Gospel. We taught him the Restoration, of which he had MANY questions. He really is looking for the truth and doesn’t know where to find it. He was so interested to hear that we have a living prophet and it makes sense to him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and made an appt. to come back the next day. When we returned he had read a TON in his Book of Mormon and was reciting it all back to us. He loves reading it and feels like it is true. He also has lots of questions concerning the Plan of Salvation. I love teaching him and helping him feel the spirit in his life. Sadly, there were problems this Sunday and he didn’t make it to church. But we know if he continues reading he will be baptized!!

Another sweet investigator we found is named Reina. She is a single mom working hard to support the family. She also is searching for the truth. She is so pilas and is reading her Book of Mormon as well. She loves the teachings in the book and has many questions every visit. She said she is going to read it until she FINISHES!!! PILAS! Sadly, she didn’t make it to church either this week. So neither of them are progressing right now but we know that through the power of the Book of Mormon and the Spirit we will be able to help them go to church.

Going to Church is definitively the biggest challenge here. Every accepts to pray, read and be baptized BUT.... going to church is so hard for them! Satan really works on them in this area of the work. The people here ALWAYS have an excuse even if that excuse is just that they are too lazy to go. Here that is an acceptable excuse to people. Satan knows that and knows that in the church they will feel the spirit so he works very hard on that front. We are working harder though and I know the investigators will overcome any temptation and make it to church.

Despite all the challenges this week we were able to bring investigators to church and all that went had a great experience.

This Sunday was actually kind of funny because we got to church and the speakers and music director hadn’t shown up so all of a sudden it became the Hermana Kendall show. Somehow,  I was talked in to giving a talk on the atonement and leading all the hymns. It is so funny how much the mission has changed me. If someone in the states would have asked me to give a talk upon arriving at the church, I would have told them that they were CRAZY! Let alone a talk in Spanish. But now it just seemed so normal to go up there without preparing, talking and sharing my testimony! All we need is the SPIRIT!

So this week really has been great for us. We have found several new families, we should be baptizing Vanessa this Saturday and we are working hard to prepare our other investigators for baptism. I know that with the Lords help we can hasten the work here and see miracles every day!

OH! I almost forgot!  Steven  got baptized Saturday. He is seriously the BEST!! I love this guy. He was so prepared for baptism and is really intelligent. He is going to be a great addition to the young men’s program. His baptism was really beautiful and sweet. I am so happy that now the whole family will be able to go to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity! That is what it is all about!

Well, I love you all and hope you have the best week!!

Love,
Hermana Kendall

The One Year Mark!

This is what my cute comp gave me for completing one year!

Me with Hermana Teichert - My first companion in the MTC.
Who would have thought we would make it to one year!
 TIME FLIES!

The amazing Sisters in my ZONE!
 *Note from Savannah's Mom -I don't know why I love looking at their shoes,
 because I'm not a shoe person. But, take note at how bad their shoes look -
they are all such hard working Hermanas and their shoes prove it!

After teaching a lesson to some investigators, we went into their "backyard" to
pick mangos y papaya mangos (or giant mangos)!

They FILLED my backpack with the Giant MANGOS!
 That wasn’t heavy at all...

So this week has been full of trials, miracles and hilarious experiences that I will NEVER FORGET!

Everything started with meetings with the President and other leaders this Wednesday. It was a Council that I will never forget. President showed up with a ball in his hands and said "Everyone outside." We quickly were put into two teams and were told we would be playing kickball! Oh great...I am horrible at sports and even worse in a SKIRT! Haha I pretended to be excited though and went for it. It actually ended up being really fun. It was hilarious to see how into it the Elders got. I am not sure how much I helped, but our team did WIN! Afterwards, Presidente explained to us how kickball would now be applied to mission work. President had a meeting with the Area presidency this last week and LOTS of things are going to be changing in the Central America missions. It just so happens that our mission is the first to try out all the new ideas they will be implementing into the work. I am so excited about the new format they have created and I know it is going to bless the work here. The idea is that we double the baptisms. President promised us that if we apply all the new things we learned into our work we will double the baptisms within 6 months. LET’S DO THIS!

Something I loved that Presidente repeated several times is that if we want different results we have to do something different. So many times we say okay next week we are going to improve in this and this and then we continue to do the same things. If we want different results we have to do something different.

He also talked to us about working out of Love. So often we get caught up in the numbers and logistics of it all. BUT that is not why we are here. We are here because we Love Christ and He loves us. He died for us and Lives for us. And because of Him we can all receive Eternal life. As we really learn to love Christ and in return love the ppl we teach we can see miracles. Needless to say... Council was AWESOME!

Well Council got out a little late so we rushed off to the buses to try and catch one that would get us to Chinandega. We got there in the NICK of time, the last bus, and it was JAM PACKED. We thankfully got a seat but the poor elders were left standing- it's a solid 3 hour ride- poor guys. We took off and were in the middle of Managua, about ten minutes into our trip, when the bus over heated and DIED in the middle of the road. Instantly EVERYONE on the bus started screaming, running around and reaching for things (Nicas are a little dramatic). My companion couldn’t hold in her laughter and yelled THE SECOND COMING! Haha we were dying laughing. Finally after being shoved, pushed and thrown around we got off the bus. We were all really stressed because that was the last bus to Chinandega for the night.   We were sitting on the side of the road trying to decide what to do when by some miracle another bus going to Chinandega passed by. Once again CRAZY Commotion! EVERYONE started running to the already full bus and shoving to get on. I seriously could not get on because everyone was shoving us so hard and trying to get on first. The elders got swept onto the bus by the crowd and my comp and I BARELY got on as the bus was already driving away. It was crazy!! We were half laughing-half crying. Once we finally got on we saw that there weren’t ANY SEATS. We would be standing for the next 3 hours. It was a hot and long couple hours but we made it to CHINANDEGA!! Lets just say you haven’t experienced public transport until you have been to NICARAGUA!

This week we have been working with several families and individuals that are very special to us. Junieth and Luis are AMAZING! As you know they were supposed to be baptized this past Saturday. Well Satan attacked and they weren’t able to get married because of problems with birth certificates and parental permission. Therefore, they weren’t able to get baptized. We are confident they will be able to work it all out though and they will be baptized this week! I love them with all my heart and want nothing more than for them to be able to be an eternal family. I know the Lord led us to them for a reason and I know He will help us baptize them.

We have also been working with a really special lady Rosa.   Ahh I love her! She is so positive all the time and has been so prepared by the Lord. She accepts EVERYTHING we teach her and can’t wait to be a part of the Church.  Her husband doesn’t want anything right now but is willing to support her so she can be baptized. I know little by little the Lord will touch His heart.

This week has been a week of miracles in regards to less actives and Recent Converts. We have been working really hard to raise the attendance to sacrament meeting by the recent converts and less actives. We have been visiting them constantly and this Sunday we had the highest attendance I have seen since getting here.

I love this work and I am grateful to be a part of it. Something my comp and I have been saying lately is that every new day brings new experiences. Some experiences are difficult and challenging. Others are Hilarious and embarrassing. Lots of experiences are full of the spirit and the love of our Lord. But we learn from them all and we are so grateful to have the chance to experience life EVERY DAY!

I love the Lord and I know He lives. This is His work and He leads it!
Love you all!!!
Love,
Hermana Kendall

P.S. I completed one year this week! What the!! I also received letters and your package. BEST ONE YEAR MARK EVER! THANKS!!!