Week 1 - Italy, Battipaglia

Whats up famm???
> So i made it to Rome!!! What what?? how crazy is that? So let me give you the lowdown thus far.
> First day we got here we went and visited the temple(which is sooo beautiful) and then we went to the mission office to get orientated and then we went to the mission home and ate dinner with the president and then got interviewed. Then we waited in anxious anticipation for the "golden envelopes" that tell us where we are going and who are trainers are going to be... so I opened mine and am in... drumroll.......... BATTIPAGLIA!!! (now this probably means nothing to you as it did to me when i opened it.. haha) however battipaglia is in the Napoli zone!!! which is super cool because everyone always wants to go to the napoli zone! There are only 4 missionaries here. 2 anziani and 2 sorellae. It is a very small town with only about 30,000 people and our branch has about 35 members in it. our area also includes a couple of others towns including salerno, eboli, and more that i don't remember. Soo woooo!! Battipaglia. It is also home to Italys best mozzerlla di buffalo (aka mozeralla) and then also Sorella Waddoups favorite pizza in all of Italy! We have yet to go there but we are anxiously awaiting that day.
> Okay so next day I travel to Battipaglia and i meet my trainer at the train station! Her name is Sorella Argyle! She is from west jordan utah, is fluent in spanish and italian(though i'm not sure shed agree with me on that last one) and shes only been out for 4 transfers so I am her first greenie!! I feel so sorry for her ebcause i really am not good at Italian.. however she is awesome and has alot of patience and helps me alot so thats is a huge blessing. :) So we took a 4/5 hour train ride to Battipaglia. We got whats called "blown in" which means that there are only 2 sisters here and both of the old ones  left and so both of us came in brand new to pick up their work. This is kind of tricky because we don't know the area, the people, or the members! however Sorella argyle is fantastic and we are totally excited to meet these people. The sisters before us left notes on all of their investigators and we've been going through the area book to figure it all out.
> So the last couple of days we have just been calling and calling and going out and talking to people. We've set up a couple of appointments and have passed out a bunch of pass along cards around town.
> Highlights:
> Sunday: sunday we got to meet our branch!!! WOO. they are so sweet!! There were only about 15 people including us in church this week but it was so cool to meet them all. We had to get up and bear our testimonies and i was so nervous. but i just said a prayer, and got up there and the craziest thing happened! I spoke for 5 minutes! I think that all of the testimony i had been building up and all the words in italian I knew had been building and i finally had a conduit in which I knew how to speak Italian so it just like all came out. It was awesome. The spirit was backing me up 100% and was helping me remember and put together things i never had before in italian.
> Cool finding story: so we were walking around town and we say hi to people when we walk by them all the time. So I walked  by this woman with like 4 kids around her and i was just like buone sera and she was like who are you and why are you just saying good night to people, come here for a second. haha so we went over there and she was rattling off in italian so i was just like holding on by my boot straps to understand what she was saying but the gist of it was she just felt like it was really important for people to know who god and jesus christ were and she didn't understand how you could know which church was true and that she had been wondering that for a really long time, and like a ton of other stuff... and she was super fiesty and it was kind of funny and then in the end we talked to her for like 10 minutes and then sorella argyle got her number and we are going to call her later this week to see if we can meet wither her! hopefully she lets us! she seemed pretty interested :)
> So usually our Pday is monday but instead this monday we went up for zone conference! It was soo awesome. So spiritually tank filling and i didn't even realize how empty i was! I think the coolest part for me was they talked about leaving your area better than you found it and utilizing your talents given to you and multiplying them well your here. Whether you have 10 talents or 2 talents its important to take them and go with them the best that you can and to strive with the lord to develop what you've got and then the lord can be proud and pleased with  you. Thats my goal here for this area, especially because i don't really have the hang of things yet or know italian but i have a few things that i can do to be doing all i can to make a difference and so thats when I'm going to strive to work on and then the lord can help me reach those goals and develop better at the things i struggle with.
> Also cool spiritual thought I had today... In Alma 36:6-7 its talking about how through small and simple things are great things brought to pass and then how by small means doth the lord counfound the wise and bring others to salvation adn i was thinking about this and usually when you hear this you think by small and simple acts.. like praying and reading our scriptures or being kind.. but i also think that it is synonmous to small and simple people. The lord doesn't always pick the brightest, prettiest, or wisest to be his leaders. Missionaries are PERFECT examples of this. We are young, unlearned, and often immature but he picks us to go and preach his gospel and bring people the knowledge of the truth! how beautiful is that. and not only in missionaries but when you think about how christ even came to this earth. the most perfect human to ever live came in a stable, in a young poor couples family, in a manger. The lord works through small and simple people because he knows their hearts and sees their faith and capacity to love and serve.
>
> Italy is amazing.
> LOVE YOU
> Sorella kennedy

I'm HERE!!!!! Day 1 - Dec 10, 2014 - Leaving the US and Arriving in Italy!! Week 6 of mission

Some last pics with the Rome, Italy Crew.

Some of these missionaries will be going to Italy as well....but Milan (Northern Italy) Mission

Missionary Dorms

This one's out of order but is one of the last evening events together with the MTC crew.

She's HERE!!!! That is the New Rome Italy Temple in the background.  It's a 40 acre site on the outskirts of Rome. It will have the temple on the grounds, a visitors center and much more.  If you want to check out pics of the plans and see more information about it here is the link. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/rome/

These are both Milan (northern Italy) and Rome (southern Italy) Missionaries I believe. 

President and Sister Waddoups   Rome, Italy

This picture was taken after leaving the MTC at 6 am on December 9th and flying all night and into the next day and landing in Rome at 12pm on December 10th.  22 hours of travel.....yikes.....

What up??! I made it safe to rome! We are allowed to email from the mission presidents ipad to let you know that we made it safe and sound. We find out later tonight where we are going!!! Woooo :) cant wait. Not gonna lie leaving the US was scary. And hearing everyone speak in italian as fast as a bullet is scary, but i feel so much peace about being here. This is the start of an amazing adventure. Love you so much!!! P.s. I don't know if ill get to read responses so don't worry about that. 

Love you all a 1000

Week 5 MTC - leaving on Tuesday Dec. 9th for Italy

Wow! This week was a spirtually giant week. Let me give you the highlights. 

1. Our surprise speaker was... drum roll... Elder Bednar!! WHAT?? So he and his wife spoke. They did a Q and A sesh where they passed out cell phones then they connected those to an ipad he had so you texted in your questions to his ipad, and he answered them in front of everyone AMAZING. some of the highlights were: 

1. We pray alot, how do you make prayers more meaningful?

be specific. don't just ask for help ask for help with X, Y, Z. THIS WORKS. I experimented this week upon this theory and it is real. I asked for help to develop a spritual gift mentioned in my partriarchal blessing ( discernment, knowing what level to teach people at) and it was amzing how much i recognized the help of the savior in that way and how i read about it in the scriptures more and it was even mentioned in class. Super cool!

2. As seniro couples, how do you deal with being away from family? 

Time spent away is strengthenign those at home, its only for a season and your example with bless generations. I thought this was pretty cool. 

3. Don't beat yourself up. God's timing is not a reflection upon your worthiness. 

4. Qualify yoursellves for the blessings you need and ask for them! 

5. this 18 month or 24 months is bootcamp for the rest of your life. All you are ever going to be is a missionary. Thats WHO YOU ARE. 

Those are just some of the highlights. Anyway.....it was pretty phenomental to have an apostle answer specific questions and the spirit teach our hearts what they needed to know. 

I felt like finally this week I can read in Italian!! Woooo. Like i was reading predicare mio vangelo (preach my gospel) and i Knew what it was saying. Also its weird to hear myself speaking english sometimes.. CRAZY. I'm not even good at speaking but hearing my voice in english is sometimes weird! 

They decorated the plaza here with A TON of christmas lights and a nativity scene! It is so BEAUTIFUL. it makes me so happy when we come out here at night and the whole place is lit up. 

Vocal point came on Sunday night for the devotional and did a singing devotional! That was AWESOME. Soooooooo great to just have some music speak to the soul. 

Sunday Sherri Dew Spoke in RS: 

WOOO. How phenomenal was she. 

Her main question and theme to us was: 

Are you willing to engage in the wrestle?

Then she said that most answers come when wrestled through. Its not so much about your strength either but about your leverage. figure out how to leverage the gospel for your questions. 

This principle of wrestling is SO true. The biggest decisions or biggest questions of life usually do not come easy. We have to ponder it and ice pick our way to the top of the mountain to get it, but once we do oh how sweet is the victory and how firm our knowledge. 

We also listened to this talk Elder Utchdorf gave at the MTC a while ago. A few things that he said that were awesome were: 

While on your mission your potential will be lifted to a level that will bless you for life and into the eternities. 

Think about the people that will marry, love, and serve with the people that you bring into the gospel in the future. You are loved and treasured by those whose lives are effected by your service. Do your work for them. 

So anyways...This week was pretty amazing. I cannot believe that i Head out so soon. I know that this work is good and I am SOO excited to meet the people in Italy. I love them so much already and I don't even know them haha. 

Love you all, 

Sorella Kennedy