Week 6 - Battipaglia, 1/19/2015

Well this week consisted of alot of finding! We also went to Pozzuoli to do exchanges with the other Sorelle (sisters) in the Napoli zone! That was super neat. Pozzuoli is BEAUTIFUL. 

Highlights:

Most cities in our mission of an English course where for free the missionaries will teach English. So here in Battipaglia we are known for having a very small class who has been coming for 4\5 years; all of them. They know all about the church and have been taught the lessons. We have been trying to find some new people and this week our prayers were answered. On Tuesday like 10 new people showed up including a whole family and then like 6 Young Single Adults. It was awesome and they are so nice. 

Side note. (it is amazing to see how the Lord blesses us in ways we do not expect but that help Him fulfill his purposes. Sorella Argyle and I are doing alot of finding and so we've been pryaing to be more bold. When I started praying for this I imagined that it would just be help in being braver talking to people on the streets or speaking more italian, but that is not quite what the Lord had in mind for our increase in courage:) !

Okay so in English Class we give spiritual thoughts and Thursday we were in charge so we wanted to do something super cool because we have so many new people and we just felt like we should really do something more than just share a scripture. Soo... in Preach My Gospel there is this section that talks about how the BOM answers questions of the soul and then it lists all these questions with corresponding scriptures.  So we decided, being a new year and a new EC that we would give an introduction to the BOM and then help them answer one of these questions to the soul every week. Ahh. Okay so we made snickerdoodles to soften their hearts a little bit :) and brought a bunch of copies of the BOM for them. So 1st we wrote on the board "is there a God" and then I started and said what the BOM was and then Sorella Argyle talked about how it has the power to answer questions of the soul such as the one on the board. Then we invited them to take a copy of the BOM and look to see the answer or wait until next class when we would answer the question with the book. Then we each testified of the BOM and its truthfulness and its power. The spirit was so strong. So afterwards we had 5 people come up and take a BOM! 3 of them asked specifically where to read to find the answers and one of them said he wanted to come to church. 

The Lord answered our pleas to be more bold but in a different time and setting then we had anticipated. It was scary to be so straight forward with so many people. Would they not come back? Would it be to much? But the Lord gave us the courage to be bold and helped us testify with the spirit so these people could feel that there really are answers in the BOM. 

We had some pretty neat experiences during finding this week. Its hard to explain but I truly can testify that the Lord knows his children and knows where they are. We ran into this woman and after talking to her it was just purely the power of God that brought us together at that moment and in that time. She needed the message of the peace and comfort of the Plan of Salvation and that God loves her and knows her. It was crazy to hear her story and see the pain and ache in her eyes and know that we have the power to help her come unto Christ and to know him and to be healed by his Atonement. AHH. The knowledge of this gospel is SUCH a blessing. TRULY. 

Hope all is well!

Love

Sorella Kennedy 

 haha! okay so that sign in the photo said that the people downstairs should close the door so that unwanted visitors did not come door to door... aka us and the jehovas witnesses... but we were doing it anyways... haha it made us laugh. 

Passalong card on the railroad track :/ 

These pictures of the coast are the view from the church in Pozzuoli. it is INCREDIBLE! 

Week 5 - Battipaglia, 1/12/2015

We had some pretty cool experiences this week!! Here are some highlights. 

The time our branch sang in a Catholic Church

So there is this man who comes to our little branch here in Battipaglia just to play the organ. He is very catholic but heard that Brigham Young let some catholics who were opening a mission in Salt Lake use a room in the Mormon tabernacle while they had nowhere else to go and so to show his gratitude for this act he plays the organ in sacrament meeting every week. Then once a year he invites us to come sing with him in his church. So ya that was super cool! He is a really neat man. We (the branch) went and sang our little hearts out with an organist, a guitarist and a piccolo player in a catholic church. Our investigator came with us to and we got to eat dessert and mingle with all the catholic choir people and it was super cool to see our branch and this church be good friends and you could see that it really meant a lot to him that we all came. 

We learned the amazing impact of preparation. 

So we were walking to a town nearby called Belizzi to try and find some less actives in our branch but didn't realize how far away it was and so we walked really far and then had to turn around because we had another appointment. But the whole time Sorella Argyle and I were roleplaying the restoration because we were going to teach it to our new investigator that night and then later when we went to teach it I was able to actually teach some of the doctrines of the lesson and able to bear part of my testimony because we had been practicing all day. It was a super powerful lesson and the most i'd ever spoken during a lesson. In the end she even agreed to be baptized if she received an answer that it was true. WOO. She also came to church again this week. She is a really neat, kind, loving woman. But anyway....it was amazing to feel the difference practicing so much had made even though it was tedious. I was able to listen to the spirit more because I wasn't worrying so much about what I was trying to say. 

Funny Story of the week:

We stopped (held up) a train!!! So we were getting off this train and none of the doors were opening and we had to get off because we were going to teach a family and so I hop through this door at the last minute and Sorella Argyle is still on and the door closes!! So i'm like pulling on the door and shes pulling on the door and we can't open it. So i'm like standing there and then the conductor's yelling at me to move so the train can leave and i'm trying to explain to him in Italian that she's my companion and then he's starts motioning me to have her come through his door (which is the only one that is still open) and so she's running through the cabins and I'm running on the outside and people are just staring at us and then finally we reached the open door and all was well. But moral of the story was we held up an entire train. But also talk about blessings that we had a nice conductor because otherwise we would have been seperated and that would have been a disaster....haha

So ya those are the highlights of the week! These next couple of weeks are going to consist of ALOT of finding. We have exhausted our area book and we just need new people. We are praying for strength and courage in speech to find those that the lord has prepared to hear us. 

Thanks for everything! 

Also shoutout to the Westpark ward for my wonderful package!! Seriously you guys ROCK!!! It was exactly what i needed. 

Love,
Sorella Kennedy 

SPONGEBOB!!!!!

So happy to receive all of these Christmas cards!! You guys are awesome!!  

Week 4 Battipaglia, 1/5/2015

So this week was seriously a week of miracles. Day after day we saw so many blessings from the Lord. 

1. Last monday we had been finding in Salerno and could not talk to anyone... seriously what a pain. So then on our way back there was this woman sitting on a bench smoking and I was like im going to go talk to her... So we went up and I was like "hey we're missionaries and we want to share a message about Christ and the restored gospel and then she was like oh okay tell me more...and i was literally so stunned I didn't know what else to say because that hadn't ever happened and then Sorella Argyle took over and taught like a brief 1 minute summary of the restoration. IT WAS AWESOME! 

2. On New Year's we did deep cleaning. After we were done our power went out... and then we thought it was the whole building and we couldnt get it to come back on so we waited for like 1.5 hour and then it still wasn't on so then we went over to our land lord, who is crazy, and realized that the power was out in just our apartment... (strange) and so then she helped us fix it and then she invited us (forced us) in to eat cake. So we go inside and then her son and his family are there and his wife started asking questions about the church and we taught a whole restoration lesson right there!! Like totally crazy and she said she wanted a Book of Mormon and then we were like okay we'll go get one right now... and then she said she wanted to meet with us again sometime!! THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. So were pretty sure our power went out so that we could go and meet her. :) 

3. January 2nd was a whole day of miracles. 

A while ago we called this old simpatizzante in the area book and asked if she was interested anymore. She said she was but was busy at the moment. Then early this week she texted us and was like hey can I pick you up on friday and you can come teach me? and we're like ya! So then this morning she texted us and was like could you come at like 3, I want my husband to be home so that you can teach him too. And we were like uh ya!..... we'll be there whenever you want! Then she texted us again like an hour later and was like "oh ya.. my moms going to be there too".. and i quote "we are really excited to listen to you". Ya.... just let that sink in for a moment.. WHAT?!!! We were freaking out. So we went over there and the husband ended up being busy but we talked to her and the mom and then the mom had to leave so we talked to her and she was just amazing. She LOVES Christ. Seriously loves him and was super interested in the church. She said that she would read the Book of Mormon and then ...... Sorella Argyle asked her if she received an answer if this church was true if she would be baptized and she said...YES. AHHHHHHH. So we are meeting with her again when she gets back from a trip she is going on to Milan to take a test for school. 

4. We have been working really hard on a ward mission plan to help get the members excited about referrals and so we went to present it to the ward mission leader and he said it was awesome!!!! We were stoked because he is kind of intimidating and he liked it!! :)

5. Saturday night we did this thing called Jesso with the Anziani where someone draws something in the plazza like the plan of salvation or tree of life and then while people are gathered around it we talk to them about the gospel. So we did this and I was sooooo scared because I knew I was going to have to talk to people on my own... in italian... about the church. yikes. But i had started my fast for sunday for help with the language and I had prayed alot. So we went and the first person I tried to talk had been watching us for like 10 minutes, but when I starteed talking she didn't understand a lick of what i was saying.. lol. So then I invited Anizano Tingey to come talk more and she ended up giving him her address so she could meet with them!! Then after that the more I talked too, the better it got. I ended up talking to this father of a family and he and his wife seemed interested and then he gave me their  number so we could call them and meet with them. WHAT. That was soooooo coool. I ended up having full conversations with 8 people, which was Huge and SUCH a blessing... actually more of a miracle. ;) 

6. Alright last miracle... but its the craziest. So we are going about our chruch business as usual and then 2nd hour this lady just showed up and was like I wanted to come to church today, I live across the street. :O (thats a gasping emoji) So we ended up teaching a whole gospel principles class because the anziani had 2 investigators at church and we had 1... Whoa! Then she went through sacrament meeting which was really nice and then we asked if we could come meet with her later this week and she was like yes, how about today? and we were like uhhh... yes. of course. So we went over at 6 and talked to her and she is just a super neat lady. She is a beautiful painter. She said that she had been wanting to come to our church for years and this morning she just plucked up the courage and went. She said that she just feels as though something has been missing in her life and she wants to find it. We ended up teaching her how to pray and then about the book of mormon and she agreed to pray and read the introduction and we asked if we could meet with her again later this week and she said YES! and shes coming to our branch activity tomorrow!! WOOOOOO. what a blessing. 

Other lesser but still miraculous events:

It snowed in battipaglia... THIS NEVER HAPPENS. In fact when we got here all of our english course students said that it never does. False. There was snow. 

We were doing tracting one day and we felt like we should try using geneology as an approach.. so we rang one door bell and said we had a message about geneology and it worked!! She said we could come back at least.. then we found a woman on the street who wanted our number for geneology!! 

We called 38 people one night. 8 of them answered. you can judge which part of this was a miracle. 

We have reorganized the area book because it was a mess. But we have been reading scedas (information of old simps less actives, etc.) and it is amazing the love that I feel for these people I don't even know!! Heavenly father and Christ loves them SOO much. I just want to contact them all and tell them. It is such a privilage to get to feel a piece of gods love for his children because it truly is infinite!! 

Anyways that was the week. 

Lots of Love,

Sorella Kennedy 

Christmas Letter for the family (cousins) 12/29/2014

Hello Family!

Ciao! I just wanted to take a minute and send a special Christmas letter. I want you all to know how much I love you. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family in my life. I really appreciate everyones emails and updates. Its super great for me to hear everything and to still feel important. haha

To all my cousins:

I love you guys! i hope you are having an awesome break outside of school and that school is going well. You are all so amazing and I sure missed seeing you this christmas! 

Spiritual Thought for the day:

Alma 43:19,20 

The lamanites and Nephites are going into battle. The lamanites come in thinking they are so brave and strong and there are so many of them that this battle is going to be a piece of cake. Then Moroni and the Nephites march over the hill small but decked out head to toe in armor and they win the battle. This is very similar to how we as LDS need to be. We wake up every morning and must put on our armor! We cannot be naive like the lamanites who thought they could do it by their own strength alone! NO! Would a wise soldier ever go into battle without his armor? NO! and neither should we. We must learn to rely on the lord and take the steps necessary to put on our armor. Pray, Read our scriptures, be nice to our siblings and our parents, ask the lord for help in whatever you are doing. Part of you armor is your family! Never forget it. Moroni (the greatest captain, the strongest dude) asks the prophet for military help! He doesn't pull a "lamanite" and think he can do it alone, but turns to someone who knows alot, is wise, and intune with the spirit. Don't think you have to fight the battle without armor. You've got your family, your friends, the scriputres, and best of all the Lord. He won't leave you unprotected. 

I love you all so much!!! Merry Merry Christmas! 

Love,

Sorella Kennedy 

Week 3 Battipaglia, 12/29/2014

Merry Christmas!! Here are the haps of the week:

One day me and Sorella Argyle had been practicing roleplaying the restoration to one another during companionship study.. that night we were on a train and started talking to this really sweet girl and we ended up teaching her the whole restoration lesson in like 10 minutes just like we did when we practiced. I even said the 1st vision!! super cool. So crazy how the lord prepares you for people and you don't even realize it! 

There is this family in Battipaglia who has been investigating the church for a long time. One of the sisters is totally active, the father is inactive, and the 2 younger sisters, one is 21 and one is 19 come to english course and have taken the discussions but are not baptized, (yet) :) so the sister that is 19, rosela, is a dancer and she invited us to her dance recital but we couldn't come so instead we brought flowers for her for afterwards!! It was awesome. Their whole family wanted to take pictures with us and it was just super sweet and you could tell that it meant alot for her. 

We had District Meeting and the Zone leaders came and so that was super cool and just got me and Sorella Argyle all fired up to try and help our small branch grow. There is just so much to do! haha, we are really hoping we can find ways to help members grow stronger and become more unified so that if we find people that want to be baptized then they can come and feel loved and welcomed and they will stay active! We also talked about how finding is an act of obedience and faith. I had never really thought about it like this but it really changed Sorella Argyle's and my perspective on going finding and how even if we don't talk to anyone or no one listens to us we are doing what we are supposed to be doing and showing the Lord that we are putting ourselves out there so the Lord knows we are ready. 

Sorella Argyle taught me how to approach people on the streets so we went and did finding in the next door city called Belizzi and I approached 3-4 people and they took pass along cards and one even gave us her number!! WOO. That was super phenomenal. 

Christmas Eve day:

We went up to Napoli to go caroling with the rest of the zone. This was so so fun and it was just super neat to see how the spirit of the hymns stopped people on the streets. They would just stop and listen to us sing and alot of them talked to the Anziani (elders) about the church and some where taking pictures... but you could just feel this spirit of calm around the missionaries away from the hustle and bustle of the people shopping. Then... we had a secret santa exchange and one of the zone leaders gets up and says "i dont know alot about gift giving but ive been taught to just get what you would want someone to get for you, so Sister Kennedy here you go" and I'm like thinking "what in the world could this be?"... I open it and it is.....wait for it.....Nunchucks!!!!! hahahahahaha Yes!! like legitment nunchucks!....and everyone was just dying laughing...and it was just so funny.  So now i have nunchucks :) 

Christmas Day:

We made breakfast burritos!! It was delicious. Then Carrie this woman from California in our branch, invited us over for dinner but then asked us come over early to watch our 2 movies (we were given permission to watch 2 movies from the president on Christmas) with her son. So we got to go over there and watched Malificent and Frozen!! Woooo. Then we had dinner and it was just the best and we played games with her family and then walked down to the beach by her house and it was so great to feel apart of a family and to feel not so lonely on christmas away from my own family. Seriously the biggest blessing. 

Other than that the only other highlight was yesterday we made CINNAMON ROLLS. They were seriously DELICIOUS, like almost as good as my moms. AMAZING. Then we went and did casa to casa (tracting, knocking door to door) in the rain and I just felt so hard core haha like a legit missionary. 

Overall this week was just great. A huge blessing and i just feel a strong resolve to try and talk to as many people as I can. I'm not very good at talking so this is scary... but i feel very strong that the Lord just wants us to open our mouths and if people are ready they will hear the spirit. 

I miss and love everyone!!!
love,
Sorella Kennedy 

Week 2 Battipaglia, 12/22/2014

First Companion in Italy, Sister Argyle

Week two, just chilling here in the little town of Battipaglia! I actually feel much better than I expected I would. Sometimes I feel really achy in my heart because I miss you guys but I feel very peaceful, like I just know in my bones that this is where I'm supposed to be; which is a huge blessing and comfort because it keeps me grounded and not so anxious about not knowing what anyone is saying or about not being with you. 
This week was LONG. Seriously haha. There is little to no work here in Battipaglia so the days consist of a lot of walking and little to no success. My trainer said that the first few weeks feel really long and then getting blown in (this means that they are both new to the area and no previous missionaries remain) is even worse. So thats been really hard...I have missed you guys a really really lot this week. Its been hard and sad for me. But I read the letters you wrote me all the time and the ones I keep in my secret jacket pocket when I am sad.
Its pretty hard and scary sometimes. You feel very small. But I carry you guys with me everywhere I go. In fact I know that that has been something heavenly father has blessed me with because I can feel you guys with me alot of the time and whenever we travel places or go somewhere and my heart misses you guys I can feel you with me and makes the ache a little less. 
Miracle of the week was that we spent like 2 days making goodie bags for our ward and less actives because theres only like 13 active people so we figured it would be a good way to get referals, let the ward know we care and such. So we had had no success all week. No one wanted to see us. None of the old simps of the old investigators wanted to see us. nada. So we started our fast and then we set off to go deliver our first batch of treats. We went to the first woman who was active and she gave us a referal without us even asking. That was crazy. Then we went and visited and moral of the story is we got let in to 2 less active's houses and they want us to come back and we shared a spiritual thought with them. IT WAS A MIRACLE. Seriously! I prayed and prayed "thank you" to the Lord because I really needed that.

My apartment is... nice... haha the sorellae before did not clean well...like at all...so we are constantly cleaning trying to get it less yucky... but we did some serious mopping and disenfecting today and that helped ALOT. The weather is good; kinda of cold and today its thunder-storming. But its so beautiful and sick... like i love it. My companion is sweet. She's kind of quiet and introverted but is super neat when she starts talking and shes really loving and smart and just good. She's really cool. 
[asked how are the mission presidents....her response] 

The waddoups are funny, super laughing and joking and kind. They're kind of intimidating but they care alot about the work and about the missionaries which is awesome.