May The 4ce Of The Spirit Be With You

Hello friends and fam! This week was a good one and it flew by! Just casually but diligently doing the work of the Lord.

This week we had awesome lessons with Christina, Pam, and Lily! We were able to teach Pam about how to recognize the spirit which was so so good! We also stopped by and had casual lessons with some of our other friends! Unfortunately Tommy has shingles so we weren't able to teach him and may not be able to for a while. Overall this was a pretty chill week out here in Creedmoor. 

EXCHANGE TO FALLS LAKE!

That’s right, haha, round 3 exchange to Falls Lake. It was so good this time though. I got to hang with Sister Zameripa! We gave a church tour to this ex search and rescue worker who had all these wild government facts (conspiracies, but he believed them, haha). He also said that “they” didn't want him in any other church besides the LDS church.  So he wanted to learn more about our faith haha. I guess the government is right about one thing cause we're a pretty solid choice! Other than that though he seemed pretty elect so I'm excited to get updates! 

After the church tour we went on this walking path by the lake to do some finding! We were able to talk to these cute Christian girls in their 20s, Rachel and Piper, for over an hour! They were very interested in what it is that we believe. We were able to clear up some misconceptions they had about the church and share our testimonies of the restored gospel. We may not have converted them or even got their numbers but we were able to build a meaningful connection with them by sharing our conversion stories to Jesus Christ with one another. This is similar to a lot of interactions we have here in North Carolina where many people already belong to a church. And who knows? They may remember us in the future and want to learn more.  

Back in Creedmoor this week we also had a long conversation with a mother and daughter from another faith. And guess what?? It was the Jehovah's Witnesses. WE GOT LET IN BY THE JDUBS. We talked to them for a while about what we believe and they were genuinely curious to see how our beliefs are similar and different. They were very curious about what we believe happens to the Earth after we all die. To be honest I didn't really have a good answer since that’s something we don’t really focus on.  So if any of y’all want to enlighten me please feel free.

This week we were also able to do some organizing service! Our poor new member Kody has faced just about every challenge possible in the last 3 months I've been here. One of which was her sewer backing up and flooding her house so we went over to help. (The things you’re willing to do to help someone in need lol). Thankfully it was taken care of so we were able to organize her pantry instead (until it flooded again a few hours later). Now it has been deemed unsafe for us to help.  Send some prayers her way for me because you have no idea, she's really been through it.

UPDATE ON OUR PAKISTANI FRIEND:

We were able to have a phone lesson with Ahtsham on Saturday! He's such a character and so unreal haha. He basically taught himself the lesson by reading the chapter we assigned him, he's pretty smart. He also said that he's been sharing The Book of Mormon with his friends. We were able to send the app to him in his native language of Urdu!  After the lesson we were just chatting with him about life and he asked if we were married and then ended up praying for our future husbands.  It was sweet but hilarious! 

Highlights: 

   –CHURCH! (Seriously the most I've cried in a sacrament meeting I love these people and their beautiful testimonies!). The Creedmoor branch really is just one big family. 

   –Kaylee visited! She was a missionary here in Creedmoor for a while and back at home she was in my grandma's ward.  I was actually able to go to her homecoming before I left for my mission and hear her mission stories.  So it's so cool to serve in the same area that she was in for so long!

   –Ice Cream social at the Baldwins!

   –Delicious African food at the Cobbinah’s!

   –Cute little nature walk with the YW!

Lowlights:

   –In case you needed to hear it, even missionaries aren't perfect. We totally forgot to fast yesterday lol!

   –No one pulled up to church, major L.

   –I'm so tired that I'm lowkey unwell. But I still rise every morning so “I be ok.”

Spiritual thought:

I was able to have a really incredible experience with the Spirit on Saturday night when we were out knocking. We were able to talk to a gentleman who answered the door then came out and sat on his porch. We told him we were the missionaries and asked if we could share a scripture with him. He declined, saying that he'd had enough scripture in his life but that he was an old Army veteran and wouldn't mind if we stayed and talked. So we did. And we found out that he received a brain injury from a bullet that hit him in combat while serving in the Army. This was why he was slow of speech and it took him some extra effort to process information and speak. This man was very broken and you could sense his pain from the tribulations he'd faced. I could feel God's love for him in that moment and I knew I needed to share something with him. While we were talking I found an appropriate time to just start reading him a scripture. This scripture was Alma 36:18-21. The scripture reads: 

“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. 

And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”

As I was reading I felt the spirit so strongly. I've felt the presence of the spirit many times but this was one of those experiences where I really felt the spirit IN me and working THROUGH me to carry what I was saying into William's heart (To the point I felt weak afterwards). I even got choked up while reading and when I looked over at William, he had tears streaming down his face and was trembling. I asked if we could pray with him and he couldn't even speak, so I just started praying and the Spirit lingered. Afterwards, he tried to say the tears were just from his injury and the meds he was taking, but I told him not to discount that it may have been from the Spirit. 

I know that what he felt was the Spirit that I was feeling in that moment as well. And I know he felt the Savior's love for him. I also know he won’t forget that moment as much as he wants to deny it. This is what missionary work is about. It's not about the numbers, but about ministering to the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father as our Savior would. It's about testifying of Jesus Christ and helping them to feel His love and the blessings of His gospel. 

I have a testimony that Jesus Christ LIVES. That He is the Son of God and was sent to Earth to redeem us from our sins. And I know that as we pray mightily to our God in the name of Jesus Christ, His son, that our sins will be forgiven, our misery will be replaced with joy, and our burdens will be lifted. Redemption comes in and through Jesus Christ, the Holy Messiah, who truly is full of grace and truth.   

I invite y'all to exercise the gift of repentance that you've been given so you can truly experience the power of Jesus Christ in your life. And pray to God to have the Spirit to be with you as you strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ as His loyal disciples. If you do this and live worthy to have the force of the Spirit with you, I can promise that in the Lord's timing you will see miracles like this too. 

Have a blessed week ya'll! 

Peace & Love,

Sister Kendrick

Pictures:
Sister Zameripa 
Falls Lake exchange 
Falls Lake 
Another nickname, Sister Bubbles, with Gma's minister Ambe
Book of Mormon Sponge Bob? 




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