God's Will

Hola todos!

I hope that you all had an amazing week! 

On the 19th, I reached one year as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its amazing to look back at the last year and think about all of the wonderful people who I have met and the incredible experiences that I have had. This truly is the Lord's work, and I am so grateful that I get to be a part of it. As missionaries, we are able to go to the temple every six months. Hermana Harrop is also about to reach one year as a missionary, so her and I went to the Mesa temple today. It was the first time that I had been to that temple. It is absolutely beautiful inside and out. Being in the temple and feeling the Spirit there was incredible. It truly is the House of the Lord. 

Last week, we had interviews with the Fisks and our Zone Leaders. Interviews are always awesome. Its so cool to have one on one time with President Fisk to counsel and ask questions. 

One of the young men in our ward gave his mission farewell talk on Sunday. He is headed to the Ogden, Utah mission, which means that he could end up serving in Cache Valley at some point! He has been called to serve in Spanish though, so I don't know that he will ever serve in any of your wards. He gave an amazing farewell talk, then Hermano Montoya spoke for a few minutes. Hermano Montoya talked a little bit about his mission and how grateful he is for the missionaries who found his great grandparents. During his talk, he said "Missionaries invite everyone to come unto Christ, not go to Christ. Why is that? It is because Jesus Christ is right by their side." I loved this quote by Hermano Montoya. It is incredible to know that as a missionary, I am a literal representative of Jesus Christ and He is right here with me. 

There is an older woman in our ward named Hermana Carrillo. She doesn't have a car, so she needs someone to give her a ride to church. We usually call her in the middle of the week to see if she has found someone to give her a ride and if we can help in any way. A few weeks ago, we called her and she told us that she was in Mexico for a couple of weeks, so she wouldn't be needing a ride. Last week, we planned to call her to see if she needed a ride to church this past Sunday. I was the one who would be talking to her on the phone, so I planned in my head what I was going to say when she answered the phone. We called and asked if she was back in town yet. She said that she had just gotten home a few days earlier. I opened my mouth to ask if she needed a ride to church, but completely different words came out. I said that we were glad that she made it back and asked if there was a day that we could visit her. She was excited and we set up a visit for a few days later. We went to the visit and the Gonzalez couple came with us. Hermana Carrillo opened the door and we asked how she was doing. She said she was doing well then we started walking inside. Hermana Gonzalez asked again how Hermana Carrillo was doing. She started to cry and said that she was very sad. There are some really difficult things going on with her family right now, which was why she went to Mexico for a little while. She said that she was so grateful for our visit because she has been feeling very alone. We were able to talk with her for a little bit and share some words of peace and hope. Elder Gonzalez was also able to give her a priesthood blessing. By the end of the visit, Hermana Carrillo was smiling and laughing. She was completely changed from when we arrived. After we hung up the phone with Hermana Carrillo a few days earlier, I wondered why I had just asked if we could visit her when that wasn’t our plan at all. After the visit, I knew why. I know that although that wasn't my plan, it was God's. As I was thinking about this experience, the scripture Luke 22:42 came to my mind. In this verse, Christ said to Heavenly Father "not my will, but thine, be done." There are a lot of things that happen in life that we don't fully understand why. We sometimes figure out the reason later in life; however, othertimes we go throughout our entire lives without ever knowing. I would like to invite you all to submit yourselves to God's will, whatever it may be. Follow the promptings that you receive from the Holy Ghost. I know that it can be hard and oftentimes confusing, but I know that God knows best. His plan is perfect. He loves you. He will guide you as you trust in Him. I bear my testimony of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I love you all!

Con Amor,
Hermana Kendrick





















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