Oops

Hola familia y amigos!

Well one of my worst nightmares happened in real life last week as I went to send you all an email and accidentally deleted it instead. So just imagine that you are actually reading this last week haha. 

We started teaching a sweet lady named Sarah and her son Angel. They recently moved here from El Salvador. They are facing some big trials in their lives right now and are wanting to get closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Their work schedules are pretty busy, and it makes meeting with them regularly a little tough. However, they have strong testimonies of the power of prayer, and we know that God will help them to have time to meet with us and attend church as we all continue to pray.

We went to the Consulate of Ecuador to get Hermana McInnes' Visa. Now she is just waiting for her flight plans to Ecuador. Afterwards, we were looking for a place to eat lunch. Hermana McInnes and I both love eating at new places. We found a little Mexican restaurant called The Beach House and decided to try it. It had the BEST shrimp tacos I have ever eaten. The Mexican food around here continues to amaze me haha. 

We had a lesson with Alberto to teach him about the Sabbath Day and what to expect at church. We invited him to church, but he seemed a little hesitant. We asked him if there was anything that we could do to help him come, but he wasn't really sure. Then he told us that he came to the church building about a month ago and walked up to the doors but couldn't get himself to actually go inside, so he left. We were so sad to hear that. We offered to do a church tour with him before Sunday to help him get more comfortable with the church building, and he said that he would like that. The day came for the church tour, and it went really well. Alberto still seemed a little nervous, but he said that he would come to church. Then Sunday came and we were waiting for Alberto. He texted a few minutes before Sacrament meeting started and said that he was there. We responded asking where he was since we couldn't see him anywhere. We walked around the church inside and even outside but couldn't find him, and he hadn't responded to our text. Eventually, Sacrament meeting started, so we sat went in and sat down. Alberto ended up being only a few rows in front of us next to some other members of the ward. They were showing him how to read the hymns and explaining a little bit about the meeting. It was amazing! Afterwards, Alberto told us that he really enjoyed the meeting and that he wants to continue coming to church and learning more. 

As I was thinking about Alberto's experience with getting so close to attending church, I thought about the concept of opposition in this life. Alberto was not the first person to be faced with opposition when trying to grow closer to Jesus Christ, and he certainly won't be the last. In a BYU Devotional by Jeffrey R. Holland titled Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence, Elder Holland says "Before great moments, certainly before great spiritual moments, there can come adversity, opposition, and darkness. Life has some of those moments for us, and occasionally they come just as we are approaching an important decision or a significant step in our life." I know that Satan will always try his hardest to keep us from growing closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. However, it is during these moments that God is also right there with us giving us the strength that we need to press forward. I would like to invite you all to remember this quote by Elder Holland the next time that you are faced with adversity and opposition in your life. Remember that God loves you. He has a perfect plan for you. You just need to take that leap of faith. I know that with Him, we can make it through these moments of darkness. I bear my testimony to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all!

Con Amor,
Hermana Kendrick














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