Tough Crowd

Most of the time people around here are pretty nice even when they reject us. But on Saturday we went to a part of our area called Stem and they were a tough crowd. A lot of people were just kinda rude. Especially this one guy who was working in his yard while we were knocking doors. We walked up to him and he was just like, “I've seen you before.” My comp said, “You have?” And he was like, “Not you, the small one, like 6 months ago.” I said that I hadn’t been here that long, but that it was probably a previous missionary he had seen since they do move us around. He said,  “Oh I thought you were just the same girl and had gained a bit of weight over the winter.”  Haha? Excuse me sir? Bro had no manners. It ain't every day you get called small and fat in the same breath. Lol  But, hey I'm not offended as long as it makes for a good story! 

The good news though is that we talked to a lot of people this week and we were able to actually teach a couple lessons! We taught this media referral named Dkwan. He is a pretty broken dude but is putting forth the work and faith to make change and come back to God.

We were also able to have another lesson with Sister Rodebaugh and her health aide whose name is Pam. Pam is such a kind lady and is so elect. It's really awesome to get to teach her and to be able to hear Sister Rodebaugh's insights into the lesson too.  She has so much knowledge!

This week we also had a lesson with this guy named Chris (a different Chris than I've talked about before.) Chris is Baptist and curious about the church. But he seems to be lying about how much he knows because he'll just randomly throw big things at us that he wants us to explain yet still swears he knows nothing about our faith. And they're not the typical questions we get so idk? Not sure how genuine he is. He's also trying to get us to come to his church and he'll come to ours so then we can have a discussion about the differences afterward. Not a good sign. We suspect he may be a spy. haha 

Anyway, this transfer has been fun. I love the district! We have some really amazing missionaries! We were back on for district council this week.  It went well besides the fact that I started getting terrible chills and then was pretty sick for the next few days including today actually haha. Ya, I'm lowkey miserable but missionary work doesn't stop for no one :)

Also I've been warned that the pollen here is terrible, like very visible yellow stuff that gets all over everything. I had pretty bad allergies in Utah so it’s looking like I might just be allergy-sick all the time for the foreseeable future, so that's fun. ️ SOS.

Highlights: 

   –This super sweet older gentleman witnessed to us of Jesus Christ then gave us goodie bags of Christian pamphlets, it was precious!

   –1st transfer training was fun! It was good to see some of my mission friends, especially Sister Moon!!

   –Member meals with the McGannons, Charlie and Jesùs and their families, and the Baldwins. Sister McGannon took us to dinner at an ENTIRELY GLUTEN FREE RESTAURANT!!  (like seriously unless you're gluten free you don't understand the freedom this brings. It was called Bibi bop.) Then she took us to a store with a ton of gluten free stuff and told us to stock up, her treat! She is the best! All our members are! It was so fun to eat with Charlie and Jesùs too. We love spending time with them! At the Balwins, President Baldwin shared a message with us instead of the other way around which was a good way to mix it up haha. He taught us the history of the Catholic church and the denominations that branched off from it which led into a lesson on the deep doctrine of the priesthood. He read Numbers 16 which talks about the Sons of Levi seeking to have the priesthood. It was very interesting. It's always cool when someone can explain the Old Testament because it can be pretty confusing.

Lowlights: 

   –Rude people 

   –Being sick

Living the missionary life is overall going well. My biggest struggle is just having to abide by all the nitty-gritty rules and regulations that come with it. In normal life I like to do things my way but missionary life/expectations doesn’t mesh well with that so it gets frustrating sometimes. There are several rules that I understand why they're there but are just really impractical and annoying. Let’s just say I have a long list of grievances. Lol

Spiritual thought: 

In relief society on Sunday we had a lesson on the talk called Burying Your Weapons of Rebellion by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. This phrase comes from The Book of Mormon story when a group of people called the Lamanites bury their weapons in the ground and swear to never kill again. They repented of their sins and turned their will to God. Elder Christofferson says, “This reference to “weapons of rebellion” was both literal and figurative. It meant their swords and other weapons of war but also their disobedience to God and His commandments…there are things in our lives that may be neutral or even inherently good but that used in the wrong way become “weapons of rebellion.”...May we bury—very, very deep—any element of rebellion against God in our lives and replace it with a willing heart and a willing mind.”

We all have small ways in which we are disobedient to what God has asked of us. I invite y'all to identify the weapons of rebellion in your life so you can more fully align your will with God's will. This will help you see what way God would have you do things rather than getting blindsided by your own way. He has a better vision than you do and knows where to lead you.

Love you guys! Have A blessed week.

Sister Kendrick

Pics

Mission President had back surgery         

Crazy door sign                                   

Sister Kendrick unstable?                         

Danger                                                     

Jesus Loves You!

Another beautiful Carolina sunset 

Scriptures are Fire!