They are going to the Temple!

Hermana Maria gave us delicious mangos from her tree! LOVE HER! 

My companion turned 20 this week! I tried to heart attack the room
but I didn't make as many hearts as I thought.....
Haha it is hard to surprise someone that you are with 24/7!

The most delicious birthday dinner for my comp that a member made!

20 AÑOS and a cute cake!

Our investigator Hermano Enrique, from Cuba,
invited us over for a REALLY FANCY DINNER.

This is us "helping him".

A cuban soup Enrique made us!

The first pasta salad I have had in Nicaragua.

My comp accidentally, went the whole day without her name tag.....whoops.

This week has been pretty crazy! We have been running all over the place. We have been in lots of meetings and divisions. We were able to go to Leon and learn from Presidente as well as have interviews with him in our own area. I was able to learn a lot from Presidente this week and I am so grateful for all he does for us, as well as his family. They really take the time to get to know each and everyone of us and support us. I am really grateful for the revelation that he receives and that he shares it with us all. This week I was able to learn how to be more connected with the heavens so that I can help as many ppl as possible here in Nicaragua.

I also had the privilege of working with two more NEW HERMANAS. Both of which are from the states. It was so fun to work with them and animate them to make the VERY BEST of their mission and to take advantage of ever moment. They are both so pilas and I feel so blessed to be able to learn from them. We were able to work a lot on listening to the spirit and inviting it in to the lessons. I know they are going to see miracles throughout their missions. This is the best mission in the world!

Hermana Alan and I have been Running ALL OVER the place to be able to visit all our investigators, recent converts and less actives. We have been really blessed this week to receive several references. I am telling you, references and lessons with members are KEY to having success. All my baptisms in Chinandega have been from references. Thanks to the members we have found several new families and ppl to teach that really are interested in the church. I want to encourage all of you to pray to know which of your friends and family members are ready to accept the Gospel. The Lord is preparing them and He trusts that we will do our part and share the gospel with them. I know there is at least one person in each and every one of your lives that is searching for the truth and you can be the difference. Share what you love with those you LOVE! The Lord will sustain you and help you share what is true with those that are ready to hear it.

3 of my favorite investigators are Enrique, Victor and Maria. Victor and Maria are the cutest family in the entire world. I LOVE THEM with all my heart and they are so prepared. They have come to church two times as well as a ward activity. The members accepted them with open arms and they feel so great in the Lords house. They have a strong faith and a beautiful testimony of the Book of Mormon! I love listening to Victor talk about the Book of Mormon. He loves reading it and is sharing it with all his friends and family. They will be getting baptized this weekend. They need your fervent prayers though. Satan is always working on them and they need the support of faithful prayers. Enrique is their good friend and he is the best. He is from Cuba and is ALWAYS HAPPY!!! I love teaching him because he is intelligent, sincere and searching for the truth. He is a friend to all and LOVED church this Sunday! HE is always taking care of us and even made us a 5 star dinner from Cuba. We had pasta, salad, soup, chicken, rice.... you name it, we ate it haha. Please keep them in your prayers and all the ppl that we haven’t found yet but will this week. That they can be prepared to hear our message and to make changes in their lives.

I love being a missionary! I never want to stop sharing the gospel and I never will!

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!
Loves,
Hermana Kendall

P.s. My comp turned 20 this week! Woohoo! We had a nice little dinner for her and celebrated today by going shopping....Girls will be girls.

P.p.s. I got news today that Enrique and Corina are going to the temple in AUGUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I couldn’t be happier!! Seriously nothing in this world could make me happier than knowing that they are going to be an eternal family!

GIANT RATS to Families Searching for the Truth

The old school mouse trap we put out. That is the food we tried to trick it with!

This week has been really special. We have been blessed with a sweet spirit and have been able to work with so many choice people! We had many experiences that I will never forget. From GIANT RATS to families searching for the truth. 

This week while on divisions I was able to work with two new sisters, Hermana Ponce, from Honduras, and Hermana Reyes from El Salvador. It has been so fun working with the new sisters these past couple of weeks. I am learning a lot from them. Hermana Ponce and I worked in my area this week and we found MANY investigators. I loved teaching with her because she teaches so simply and clear. She teaches in such a way that the ppl understand. She has a giant testimony and I know she is going to change many ppls lives through her hard work. 

Hermana Reyes is a real example for me. She is the only active member in her family. Her mom lives in Panama and Her dad in the States. She doesn’t talk with either of them and they aren’t members. She lives with her Gma and brother, both of which are less active. She made the decision to leave and serve the Lord. She has such a genuine testimony and is learning how to share it with others in a way that touches them. We worked on putting fechas this day and she put her FIRST FECHA! She was beyond thrilled after and made the goal to place 1 fecha every day this week. PILAS!

I love doing divisions of course but it was great to work with Hermana Alan again afterwards. She is the best. We really have been blessed with so many new investigators and positive families this week. We have found families that were going to church and stopped just because missionaries left but that are now ready to be baptized. We have found families that are looking for God in their lives and families that LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON. My favorite family of all though is Victor AND Maria! Ahh I LOVE this family. They are so special to me. They remind me a lot of Corina and Enrique. They are looking for the truth. Victor told us that he has been searching for God and wants to communicate with Him in the right way in His true church. Maria is the SWEETEST woman on this planet and loves her husband so much. She is really shy but wants to know the truth and is willing to follow him. They are reading the Book of Mormon and LOVE IT. They both have a strong testimony that it is true and are praying for help to keep the commandments. They are working towards being baptized the 27th of this month. WE NEED LOTS of prayers so they can reach their goal. I know with all my heart that they are chosen of God. I know they can be an eternal family and that this is their time. After Sunday School Victor gave the closing prayer and thanked God for leading him to the truth. LOVE THEM!

This week we also had one of the most incredible lessons of my whole mission with a woman named Alba. She was a referral from one member and is SO READY! When we went by her house to teach her she had been waiting for us and was so eager to learn about Christ. She shared her testimony with us of the role God has played in her life. She has had so many experiences that have prepared her to receive the gospel. We were all in tears as she shared her life trials and triumphs with us. After teaching the restoration she told us she was going to pray and ask God if this is the truth, if she receives her answer she will be baptized and all her family as well. I love her. She is a cancer patient and is suffering from many complications right now. I know the gospel is what she needs. Please pray for her so that she can overcome Satan and the world, trust in the Lord and be baptized. 

I love being a missionary. This is the Lords work. He leads and directs us. 

Love you all!!

Love, 

Hermana Kendall 

P.s. This week has been OUTRAGEOUSLY HOT!!!!!!!! Hermana Alan and I couldn’t sleep because it was too hot in our house at night and we would have to ring out our clothes from sweat after lunch every day...GROSSS!!!!!!!!!

P.P.S. Like I said last week we are suffering from a giant RAT problem. And I mean SUFFERING! We killed one last week and thought we were safe. Sadly, our neighbors told us they saw another one run into our house one night. PANICKING we put out poison, traps and more poison! All the members were searching for methods to kill the nasty things for us haha. After 3 days of not catching anything we assumed it had eaten the poison and died...Oh were we wrong. This morning we woke up to a HUGE RAT IN OUR TRAP!!!!!!!!!! We obviously ran out SCREAMING and our neighbor had to take it and kill it. NO MORE RATS!!!!!!!

Gummy Worms and a Rat

We baptized 102 FAMILIES this month!

Finally the photos of my FAMILY! I love these two with all my heart.
 They are so special and it has been incredible to see their conversion.

We put fecha with this family to during divisions.
 She kept saying we were long lost sisters because she is white!

The first week of JULY!! I say it every week but I can’t believe how quickly the time is going by. It just isn’t fair!  We were able to start off the week with Council in Managua. Where we learned that we had accomplished the goal of 102 FAMILIES!!! WHAT A MIRACLE. It was so fun being able to hear the miracles that all the missionaries were able to see this past month. The Lord really carried us through the trials and challenges and blessed us with such an incredible miracle. We were able to evaluate what things we did well and how we are going to continue baptizing EVERY WEEK!

This week we also were able to do divisions with two new missionaries. 9 new sisters came this change and it is going to be a blast working with them all. It was so fun seeing their faith and desire to learn. It reminded me so much of when I was starting the mission. I know I have already said it but the missionaries are coming more and more prepared every time. The Lord really is hastening His work and He can see the potential of this mission. He is sending the best of the bests. I worked with Hermana Reyes who has 1 week in the mission. We had a great time putting fechas. She had told me that she had a little bit of fear to put fechas so we made the goal to invite EVERY CONTACT to be baptized. It was fun to see her grow and improve throughout the day. I know they are going to see countless miracles in their area.

I was also lucky enough to do divisions with Hermana Raymond, the TL in Managua. I learned SO MUCH FROM HER! She is an incredible missionary and we felt such a special spirit through out the day. (I was also shocked at how much COOLER Managua is than Chinandega. I was a little Cold! What the??) I loved learning how to teach more simply and powerfully. She teaches with a great love and power. We were able to put fechas, find news and commit ppl to change their lives. I always love learning from the other hermanas and then applying those things in my work.

Hermana Alan and I weren’t able to work many days together but the days that we did have together were AWESOME!! Chinandega has been RIDICULOUSLY HOT this week and I am burnt to a crisp but it has all been worth it because of the experiences we have had. Every day we have been finding positive families that want to change their lives. We can see that the Lord really is putting ppl in our path and we are doing EVERYTHING in our power to help them. We are working with 10 families right now but the most positive is Darlin and David! Okay this family is GOLDEN. They are a young couple and have 3 children. They are so in love and are looking for the truth. They are committed to be baptized but need to go to church. We did OUR EVERYTHING to take them to church this past week but it just didn’t happen. I KNOW with the members help we can take them next week. We would love your prayers so we can help them be baptized and start their new life in the True gospel. We are also working with Enrique and Alejandra and Victor and Maria. They are both really positive families that have so many questions. They are reading the Book of Mormon right now and I have all the confidence that the Spirit is going help them know that this is the truth.  We are also trying to reactive Eddy, Reina and then baptize their kids. They came to church this week (YAYA!!) and loved it. I know they can be an eternal family and we are so happy to continue helping them. We really are seeing miracles EVERY DAY! WE have several ppl that are progressing towards baptize but just need assistance with church members. Please pray that each and every one of them will commit to the Lord to keep His commandments and attend church. I know the Spirit will invite them to do it if we exercise the faith and pray for them daily.

We are working like crazies right now to help the sisters and take care of our area. We really can see how the Lord is helping us and guiding us every day. I know as we are obedient and do our part the Lord will show us the miracles. I love the mission and feel so blessed to be here EVERY DAY (even when I am melting).

Love,
Hermana Kendall

P.S. WE HAD A GIANT RAT in our house. I mean GIANT!!!!! It snuck in EVERY NIGHT and when we woke up in the morning we could see where it had been from its poop...NOO!!!!! Well one day when getting home from divisions we sat down to pray and all of a sudden saw the GIANT RAT RUN UP THE WALL!!!! I wish you could have seen our faces, pure TERROR!!! We were screaming bloody murder and Left RUNNING from our house. We ran to our neighbors and asked them to kill it. THEY DID EVERYTHING in their power to kill it but sadly it got away from them... NO! They gave us an OLD SCHOOL TRAP (wooden with cheese) and told us to put it out at night. Well we put it out and when we woke up the cheese was gone but the rat wasn’t there. Turns out IT IS A SMARTIE PANTS. Well we were not going to go one more minute with the nasty thing so we decided to put gummy worms in the trap and try it.........I left for Managua and anxiously awaited the call that night. FINALLY at 10pm my comp texted me and told me they had killed it!! WOOT!!!! We can now sleep in PEACE!......... well we thought so. Our neighbor told us this morning she saw another giant rat this morning. Please No!  We already put out the trap and poison. I'll let you know how it goes this week.