Love

Hola todos!

I hope that you are all doing well! We had an amazing miracle-filled week here!

It's transfer week! Hermana McInnes leaves for Ecuador tomorrow morning and Hermana Harrop will be joining me here in Vía Verde. I'm super excited to serve with Hermana Harrop. We have served around each other a little bit and she is absolutely amazing! 

We had a couple of visits with Alberto last week, and he accepted an invitation to be baptized on September 9th! He came to church on Sunday and brought his cute little boy, Emanuel. Alberto is getting to know more people in the ward, and he is starting to feel more comfortable sharing his thoughts and asking questions during our visits. He is so sweet and has a genuine desire to get closer to Jesus Christ. Alberto is from Columbia, and a new senior missionary couple from Columbia just moved into our ward last week! Their last name is Gonzalez. Last night, we had another visit with Alberto, and the Gonzalez family joined us. Alberto loved getting to know them, and it was incredible to see how quickly they connected with one another. It's incredible to see how mindful God is of each one of His children. His plan is perfect. 

We were finally able to have another lesson with Sarah and Angel. Hermano Montoya came with us and was an amazing fellowshipper. He committed Sarah and Angel to come to church and him and his wife even gave them a ride there on Sunday. The Montoyas have been amazing fellowshippers and friends to Sarah and Angel. Sarah and Angel enjoyed church and Sarah even participated during the second hour. They are going through some difficult things right now, but the Montoyas have been amazing at helping them navigate through it all. They are genuinely kind people. It has been amazing to see how strong Sarah and Angel's faith is in Jesus Christ as have as they have been going through these trials. 

We started teaching a new friend named Noel. We had been communicating with him over the past few weeks, and he kept saying that he was going to come to church but never did. This past Sunday, he came to church and really enjoyed it. We had a visit with him yesterday. Some members from the ward joined us for the visit and Noel was excited to get to know them. He doesn't really know anyone here so it was awesome for him to make some friends. 

On Sunday, after Sacrament Meeting ended, Elias came walking up to us. He had gotten so busy with work that he hadn't been able to come to church or have lessons with us for a few weeks. We were surprised to see him. He told us that he wants to start having visits again and coming to church. We visited him last night and it was amazing to teach him again. He has lots of sincere questions and a strong desire to learn.

One day last week, we had some time before dinner to find more people to teach. We decided to go knock doors and talk to people on a certain street. As we were walking by one of the houses, a man came out of his house and waved at us. We stopped to talk to him. His name was Lorenzo and he said that he had met with missionaries before. He didn't end up getting baptized because he started having health issues and had to move here to Arizona. He told us that he believes that his health issues are actually a blessing from God because they have made him turn to Him. He said that he is interested in meeting with missionaries again, but he spoke English so we referred him to the English missionaries. Although we aren't the ones who will be teaching Lorenzo, I know that God put us in the right place at the right time so that we could help him find the missionaries who can teach him. 

Last week, I listened again to the General Conference talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland titled The First Great Commandment. In this talk, Elder Holland shares the story in John Chapter 21 when Jesus appears to His disciples after His Resurrection and repeatedly asks Peter if he loves Him. In his talk, Elder Holland says, "My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: 'Did you love me?' I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.' And if at such a moment we can stammer out, 'Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,' then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty." I know that the best way for us to show our love for Jesus Christ is to be loyal to Him. When our love for Him becomes our only motive in life, everything becomes clearer. Our love for Him leads us to be kind, serve others, read the scriptures, attend church, and so much more. I would like to invite you all to do one thing this week to more fully show your love for Jesus Christ. I promise that as you do so, you will be blessed with whatever you stand in need of at this time. I know that Heavenly Father has countless blessings waiting for you and He will bless you with them as you choose to follow His son Jesus Christ. I bear my testimony to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Con Amor,
Hermana Kendrick


















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