A Ministry in Mexico: A Turn-Around in Interest

Bonjo-.... Hall-... Saludo-....

... Hello. Yes, that is how I think you say it in English. ... Pretty certain.

ANYWAY. Once again, we have been pretty busy down here! I have been doing a lot of work with the visas for the missionaries right now. We are starting to have huge waves of missionaries that will have expiring green cards, so I have been working double time. That way the Elders don't have to grow beards to hide from the immigration police.

Elder Goodrich is officially off to Xonacatlan, which is by Toluca (mas o menitos...). I am going to miss working with him a ton! He is truly an exceptional missionary. He is now training a new missionary from Brazil. Elder Souza (He is from Recife. Maybe the great and famous ex-Sister Hicken may have met him?).

We have had a little bit of a difficult time with our investigators this last week. One of our investigators has started ignoring us, not answering her phone or door, even when we see her through the glass and make eye-contact with her and wave and then call her name, only to watch her turn her back and wander into the kitchen to start, by the sound of it, washing her dishes. Harrumphf. :)

Then the couple that we have been working with has stopped progressing. They have always had struggles with their relationship, but since they have stopped keeping their commitments everything has been falling apart. It has been very interesting and very sad to watch. ... They have completely stopped listening as well. So our current pool of investigators is looking about as full as a typical teenage boy's wallet after Prom.

But we are changing that this week. We have the goal to find two new families that we can start teaching and bringing close to Christ. I know that we are going to do it! I am very excited for the challenges that we have this week.

Let's see. What else happened...? Oh. I had a cow brain taco this last week. I really enjoyed the taco. What I enjoyed even more was the look on one of the sister missionaries face when she realized what she was eating, being more than halfway through her taco. :)

That about sums it up for this week, with the time that I have today. I have been doing a lot of studying on the Atonemnet of Christ, and have seen many fruits. Will elaborate in my next email, for this is simply not enough time today to do it justice.

Hope that you all have a lovely week, and that you make at least one good story somewhere.
Love you!
Elder Kennington

Preguntas Bien Rapidito
Q: Which city is Culturas in? I remember cities better than zone names.
A: Ok. There are eleven zones here in this mission. The ones that are in Mexico City are: Chapultapec (where I am at right now), Tacubaya, Lomas Verdes, and Camarones. The Zones Atlacomulco, Metepec, Toluca, and Las Torres are all near/next to Toluca. Culturas is in Naucalpan, which is the part of Mexico City that spills out into the State of Mexico, thus needing a different name. :) Zitacuaro, the last zone, is all of the state of Michoacán that sits in our mission.

Q: Has Elder Goodrich gone out to his new area now that Sister Whitehead has returned?
A: He is out there now! I miss him like crazy.

Q: Will there be any church celebrations of Pioneer Day around July 24th? Who are the Mexican versions of the pioneers?
A: I don't think that we will be seeing any church celebrations. That seems to be a "strictly Utah" sort of thing here. :)

Q: Are there any Mexican LDS recording artists? Like Jenny Frogley or Alex Boye (who was just on the auditions for America’s Got Talent and he rocked it!) or Hillary Weeks?
A: There are one or two, but I cannot remember their names to save the life of me.. :P

Other interesting tidbits Elder Kennington shared with home this week:
--It has been a good day. Running all over the place, doing a little bit of grocery shopping (I bought a package of salad. Are you proud of me or what?! :D). It is hot. And it will be raining super hard over the next few hours anyway. We have officially hit the rainy season!
--Plants vs Zombies [an iPod/iPad game] has been doing some crazy things. They love it here in México, and one of the four year old boys in the ward spent half an hour explaining to me all his favorite points... Haha. :)
-- It is incredible the feeling that having a clean house gives you, huh? I spent three hours cleaning my current room the other day from two years of messy secretaries. It felt incredible! And not just because I found all sorts of cool knick knacks, and about doubled the size of my tie collection. :)
-- I am doing well. Very happy. Working hard. Loving the people. Striving to be 100% obedient. Trying to learn more about Christ, especially His Atonement. :) I am excited to get out of the offices and hit the field, which is a bad sign considering I might be in here 'til November... O.o The only thing I really struggle with here in the offices is that I am in charge of sending all the missionaries home, including those going home early.... It is rather depressing. Especially when they are missionaries that I love and have worked with.

Aaaaaahhhhhh. The boy is eating salad and cleaning things out. Those are the very things that make a mama's heart proud. And of course that he is being obedient and working hard!!!