Pizza -- It's What's For Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner

February 29, 2016

HIYA!

This last week was awesome! We focused on finding new investigators and more people to start teaching, and found a lot of success. We found a couple new families to teach and a new investigator that is extremely ready for the Gospel. The new investigator is a woman that has passed through a lot in her life. She has lost children, lost jobs, gotten divorced, and a whole load of other things. But she has finally found where she can find the solace that she is looking for. She is going to be getting baptized on the 13th of March. We are really excited for her.

What really helped us out last week was looking for and asking for and begging for references from everyone in sight. We talked with everyone we could, and asked for people to teach from each one. We finished the week with a personal record for references recieved in a week (58!) the next week we will be getting at least 70. ... That is the goal anyway. We want to find even more new investigators that are ready to progress.

Elder Costello and I are doing well. We are both missionaries that have time in the mission and that have a decent amount of experience, which is nice. It makes doing divisions with the members particularly effective. Love it!

The ward is doing well. Chugging along. Nothing much to report.
Love,
Elder Kennington

 
Sunset in Metepec

And we ordered a huge pizza. Pizza and the BoM. Can't get much better than that. :)

This is a joven that always comes with us. He is twelve years old and a few inches taller than I am. I'm short.

The Elders baptized an investigator on Sunday. His name is Rey David. We totally baptized King David. :):) He is awesome!

The font water was green. It looked like gatorade. Bleh.

And finally, a family that Elder Kennington and his companion spend time with during the week (and who apparently feeds them well!) sent me some pictures they took of Elder Kennington and Elder Costello making pizza at their home.  This is the same family that Owen Skyped from at Christmas.  They are the Garcia family.

Were you caught licking the bowl again?

Nice hairnet Elder Costello!!

Where was Elder Kennington's hairnet?

Glad to see our missionary is displaying the gracious table manners with which his mother sent him into the field.

If you will compare this pizza with the anemic one they purchased above, I think that will explain their glazed, awed expressions.

Baptism and Birds

HI THERE!!! :D 

This last week was all over the place. In some ways it was very successful, and in others it was a little tough. 

We had a baptism yesterday. The young man that we found a few weeks ago just barely got baptized. He has been really excited for a long time. We found him because he broke the law of chastity with a member, and she just had her little baby. Last week he had his interview, and it was incredible. He is a phenomenal example of what it means to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He told us after his interview that he had talked with his girlfriend and they had decided to take a lot of steps to make sure that they keep the commandments until after they are married. He sacrificed a lot to get baptized, including being able to live with his parents (they kicked him out when they found out that he was listening to us), living a normal easy life (instead of abandoning the baby he started working full time to support his baby and girlfriend, despite maintaining his education), among many other things. 

We are struggling to find good strong people that are progressing. We are working a lot with the members and the less actives and the recent converts. We are looking for and working really hard to get references so we can start teaching all their conocidos. So far we have found a lot of success with this, including finding someone that is really, really ready to hear the gospel. We found her in her house, and then thirty minutes later we were planning her baptism with her for the 14th of March. She is awesome! 

Elder Costello and I are doing well. He has a completely different way of working from what I am used to, so we have spent a lot of time these last couple of weeks trying to figure it all out, but we are getting the hang of it really well. He has a lot of experience here in the mission, and I am certain that I am going to learn a lot this change. It would be awesome to stay another one together! 

We have to figure something out about our house. We have a little patio out behind the kitchen where we wash clothes and put them on a line to dry. I keep putting out all my laundry freshly washed, but we have a little problem with pigeons in the apartment complex. And I come outside every day only to find that my freshly washed laundry got decorated by the local flying rats. Absolutely covered in what they were eating the day before... Sigh. I am about ready to track down a BB gun and wait for the little buggers to get there. Harrumphf. :) 

Welp. That about wraps up this last week. 

Love, 
Elder Kennington

 Zone Conference.  The first missionary Elder Kennington trained, Elder Gavilla, is on the far left middle row.  His most recent companion, Elder Fjerstad is right in front of Owen on the front row.  Owen's current companion, Elder Costello, is wearing a red tie on the middle row. And here is a "It's a Small World" connection for you:  Elder Costello was Elder Thompson's MTC companion, and Elder Thompson was Owen's companion in Toluca a year ago. So an MTC companionship shared a mutual companion in the mission field! Crazy stuff.  

Francisco (white shirt seated front row) and his future in-laws at his baptism.  Elder Costello and Elder Kennington are on the back row right side.

Inside the church building before the baptism.

Plucking the Sisters From Danger

Hi there!!!

This last week was completely upside down.

The sister missionaries that we have in the district had a fun time. They woke up last week with a group of men trying to break into their house in the middle of the night. And then the days following afterwards they could hear their footsteps on the roof, they could see guys watching their house, and all sorts of creepy stuff like that.

We spent most of the week out there in Atlatlahuca 2 helping out the sisters with looking for a new house and then helping them move. Where they were living was really insecure. Finally on Saturday we were able to find a house in the center of a really safe pueblo. We are going to help them finish up the move today. They won't have anymore problems in this house. And we didn't even have to crack any skulls or break any kneecaps. :):) .

Elder Costello and I are doing great. We are working hard and I am learning a lot. We get along great, and aren't having any problems with teaching unifiedly or anything of that nature. I love these kinds of companionships!

The ward is doing great. We have been working a lot with the bishopric in getting the ward involved in sharing the gospel with non-members, and visiting those who do not come. We have a big ward-wide family home evening this Friday that will be a great opportunity for the members to be able to participate in just that.

We have an investigator that could potentially get baptized this Sunday who is in kind of an interesting situation. His name is Fransisco. He is a joven of 19 years that was dating a member, and then got her pregnant. Rather than running away from responsibility and trying to simplify his life he started working in addition to going to school so as to support his new little girl (the daughter just got born in December) and his girlfriend so she can keep studying too. He even started listening to us and really wants to get baptized, and for that interest his parents kicked him out of the house. So he is currently living with the family of his girlfriend. But I am not certain if they have to get married before he can get baptized, because they are living under the same roof? The mom is completely against marriage, but everyone else is game. His interview is scheduled for this Wednesday. We will find out this week. :)

Oh. And I forgot to tell you that I am a district leader again. I've been all over the place with my assignments. :) Haha...

Hope that you all have a lovely week!
Love,
Elder Kennington

Mom's Quick Questions
Q: What has your mission president said to the missionaries about the Zika virus?
A: umm... What is that....? :P

Q: What is the name of that electronics shopping mecca you told us about? Where is it?
A: It is in el Zócalo in D.F. I have no idea what it is called... It is a huge store that has a lot of individual booths and sellers. It isn't owned by a specific company or anything. Big specific companies are a little hard to find here in México. :)

Q: Introduce us to your new companion. What is he like?
A: Elder Costello is a stud. This is his second to last transfer in the mission. He is from the generation of Elder Thompson. Actually, he and Elder Thompson were companions in the MTC. :):) He is really calm and collected, has a lot of hilarious stories, has a girlfriend that is in the mission, is 20 years old, is from Mesa Arizona, and is super hilarious. :)

This is like the Mexican version of the Tree of Life. It is really famous here in Metepec (not sure why...). But you've got Adam, Eve, the serpent, the Angel with a flaming sword, and a bunch of weird stuff. I thought that they looked cool. :)

The Sombrero-Wearing Taco Chef Checks In

CHANGES!!

I stayed here in Las Torres, and am now with an Elder named Elder Costello. He is in the last two transfers of his mission (he was going to finish this change, but he extended), and is already a good friend of mine. We have seen each other all over the place, and we are both really excited to see what this change has in store.

Elder Zúñiga went to an área called Los Arcos, which is right next to Chamapa, in Naucalpan (I was in Chamapa roughly a change and a half).

Talking of Chamapa, I just heard from one of my convert families that I have out there, and they are doing GREAT! La familia Avila Aceveda, or Gabriel, Maria Ines, and Meredith, are a bunch of studs. Gabriel and his father-in-law just got the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday, and all have callings. Gabriel teaches the elder's quorum class, and Maria Ines teaches two Relief Society classes. I am so proud of them. :):):) We have a few investigators that are progressing right now, but that need a lot of help. If you have a spare moment it would be awesome if you could pray for them.

This last week was a little tough. Firstly, it was just one of those weeks where nothing seems to work with the investigators but, secondly, a good friend of mine got hurt. Elder Nielson, one of my friends from my district in the MTC fell from some stairs and broke his ankle really, really badly. He had a five hour surgery yesterday to try and rectify everything and it went well, but even then he will likely not walk the same again. As soon as he is well enough to travel, he will be going home. I love him to bits and miss him like crazy. Please remember to keep Riley John Nielson in your prayers, along with his family.

Hope that you all have a lovely week and that you feel the hand of the Lord more constantly.

I love you!
Elder Kennington

Preguntas Bien Rapidito
Q:  Do the families in the pueblos have vegetable gardens on this side of Toluca?
A:  Not really. The people here don't eat a mountain of vegetables. Lots of meat, tortillas, caldos (I don't remember how to say that in English), sopas (that either), and the other such things.

Q:  How do you get out to the pueblos?
A:  We usually walk, but when we are pressed for time and we have money we take a bus (camión, entre comillas... Aquí todo está bien roto. :))

Q:  Tell me about one or two of the active member families there in Metepec you enjoy working with or spending time with.
A:  I love going with a the Garcia Martínez family. They have an investigators friend that we are teaching right now that is progressing rapidly, that will be getting baptized in a couple weeks. Just in time for the visit of President Whitehead. :) This family is very loving, and we always leave their house loaded down with a mountain of food.... That is the family that I skyped with for Christmas. :)

Me cutting onions with Hermana Julietta.  She is the momma of Monserrat, who got baptized last month. 

I'm COOKING CACTUSES FOR US TO EAT!!!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

This is what we were cooking.

I am cooking tacos. With a sombrero.

I found some aviator sunglasses! :D 

Elder Zuniga y Elder Kennington

Our district last change.  Elder Nielson is the one second from the left.  (From left: Elder Zuniga, Elder Nielson before his broken ankle, Elder ???, and Elder Kennington 

This guy had a statue from a favorite family comic (Beetle Bailey).  

And I LOVED this graffiti.  I thought it would make you laugh.  The people here are incredible artists.  They can do magic with spray paint. :) 

This is a less-active family we just finished activating.  The father coming back is a HUGE miracle.  The mom is a returned missionary. :)

A White Week

This last week was all over the place. We spent the majority of the week working on getting everything ready for the baptism yesterday. The baptism went really well. We had a lot of people from the ward show up (a great sign that we are getting the trust of the ward back a little bit), and the service went really well. It was a young girl named Monserrat, who is part of a family that was less active just a little bit ago, that we've been working with for a while. Even though she is terrified of water and had to get baptized twice (because her hair came up out of the water...), she was a real trooper and toughed it out really well. She is awesome.

We are kind of struggling with getting our investigators to church because, while there are many that we are teaching, we still don't have the help of the ward on Sunday mornings to go pick them up ("it's sooooo early in the morning" or "I can't go because I've got to visit ____ because they are sick," and all sorts of stuff like that. We have been passing by for the majority. Even with that considered, it is going well. Elder Zúñiga and I have high hopes for February. We just barely found a couple days ago this huge family that lives in this pueblo out in the middle of nowhere, who just happen to be family of some recent converts. We are excited to start teaching them.

Elder Zúñiga is doing well. He has grown and learned a lot this change, and I am enjoying the time that we have left in this change. I cannot believe that there are only two weeks left until transfers. Time is flying!

It snowed on the volcano this last week. It is gorgeous! Elder Zúñiga and I tried to go today, but there was too much snow and they wouldn't let people go up because of all sorts of "hazards." They told us with wide eyes that there was roughly FOUR INCHES of snow on the mountain. Good grief. School back in Utah keeps going even if we get a foot and a half... :) Haha. But we wandered around for a little bit, enjoying the peace and the quiet. :)

LOVE YOU!
Love,
Elder Kennington

Preguntas Bien Rapidito
Q:  Can you buy wool socks to put on your feet while you are sleeping? If you wear wool socks to bed that will keep your feet warm through the night. Wool socks would also keep your feet warm during the cold mornings/evenings.
A:  I went and got myself a pair a couple of weeks ago. It has been about 30-35 degrees Farenheit here! O.o

Q:  When is the next transfer date?
A:  The first of February. That day I start my last block of changes in the mission... :( Four more changes after this one...

Q:  How is your convert (Juan?) doing? (the one who just showed up at the church building having seen it in a dream)
A:  He is doing AWESOME! He just blessed the Sacrament yesterday. :):) He keeps talking about saving up a lot of money to buy the house where he is renting, moving, then having the missionaries live there with all their groceries bought and not having to pay rent. :) He is doing really well. The bishop feels like he is ready to get the Melchizedek Priesthood two weeks from yesterday. :)

Q:  What is your favorite Alan Rickman (Prof. Snape) role?
A:  The obvious Proffessor Snape. He was the perfect actor for him. ... Man.... I have no idea what everything is going to look like when I get home... Everyone is getting married, getting older, going to school, and dying. Man.... O.o

El Nevado with snow

Baptism of Monserrat

Elder Kennington

Warming Hearts -or- Lions & Tigers & Bears/Flamingos/Snakes/Owls Oh My!!!

Phew.  Crazy last week. :)

We are working really hard with the recent converts and the less actives right now. We have a baptism for this Sunday, which is the young 9-year-old daughter of a less active family that we've been working with (named Monserrat). This family is doing really, really well. The family couldn't be happier.

We are also working with another young man that is the son of a recent convert who looks really good. His name is Ismael, and even though he has a lot of doubts about organized religious activity (He had some horrible experiences with some local pastors when he was younger), he is progressing quite nicely. He went to church for the first time yesterday and he really, really liked it.

We also found a miracle yesterday who also has a lot of potential. Her name is Fabiola, and she is passing through a lot of really hard stuff right now. Her two children are both in the hospital thanks to some really bad accidents and need operations (they are 3- and 2-years-old), and her husband is almost never home thanks to his work. She came to church on her own looking for help and comfort, and found some. :) We are excited to start teaching her this week. She lives in a pueblo that is super Catholic, which is a huge step for the work in this area.

The ward is really warming up to us right now. Many of the families here always invite us out to eat and to spend time with their family. We have to be careful so as to not cross the line of being friendly with the members to wasting time. :) But it is a line that I am grateful exists, because I really struggle in wards where I feel abandoned by the ward. I work best when I feel love and support from those around me. And in my last three areas, Palmas, Haciendas, and Las Torres there has been no shortage of that. :)

Oh. And today we went to a zoo out in the middle of nowhere. I was expecting a dinky run-down sort of place, but it was actually really nice. Almost as good as the Hogle Zoo. :) We went with Ismael (our investigator) and another young guy from the ward. Twas a party!

Hope that you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Kennington

Preguntas Bien Rapidito
Q:  Why do you think the Lord kept sending Lehi’s sons back to Jerusalem on retrieval missions instead of having them gather everything (plates of brass, future spouses, etc.) the first time they left?
A:  Probably for the same reason that I now have more than a year in the Toluca area, and I have three different areas as part of it. I keep coming back here as well. I consider it a huge blessing (even if Laman and Lemuel didn't). It was an awful lot that they had to do. The Lord isn't interested in us having everything all at the same time, even if it would be more "efficient." He has our growth perfectly scheduled. We will not become stronger in the Gospel faster than we are able, and certainly not faster than is His will. I am a firm believer in steady, strong, and constant growth. The strongest converts are always the ones who come to church a few times, reading constantly the Book of Mormon, and all that great stuff. Much stronger than one who just shows up at the chapel and gets baptized that very Sunday. I imagine that there were specific and distinct lessons for Nephi and his brothers on each trip.

Q:  Do you get the Teachings of the Prophets manual for Priesthood to read/study for church?
A:  Yep! I made off with one last Sunday and have already devoured the whole thing... :)

Q:  What was your most interesting encounter this week?
A:  Was it the pack of dogs that chased us around for half an hour? Was it the drunk guy that passed out in front of us and face-planted in the asphalt? Hm. I think it was probably the miracle that came to church on Sunday that I mentioned in my email. :)

We had frost on the ground this morning.  Elder Zuniga about had a heart attack.  It was the first time he had ever seen anything like that.... Ha ha :) Mom Note:  If you look closely you can see how pink his face is from the cold. Love messages from my missionary!

Zacango Zoo Pictures!

El Nevado, the volcano Elder Kennington got to visit before Christmas.

With Elder Zuniga, Elder Kennington, a boy from the ward, and Ismail.

Me and Evan in a nutshell. Ha ha.  Two little angry raccoons!!

I love lions.

Elder Zuniga and Elder Kennington

I found Hermes, the owl that belongs to the Weasley family.  He was having a bad day.

I hope Elder Kennington actually bought one of those.

Elder Zuniga studying in the apartment.  They do not have electric space heaters down there, and the gas ones are too dangerous.

I found a demon Rubik's Cube.... O o

Elder Zuniga got tired.

They had a white tiger!!!

The reptile house was my favorite.

The coloration on this snake reminds me of a popcorn jellybean.

Missionary gorilla and lion!

Ward Building

Boo.

This last week was awesome! And tough at the same time.

Juan, the guy that had a vision of the chapel, just got baptized on Sunday. He is an incredible convert. As of Sunday he has the official assignment of taking care of the door during Sacrament Meeting and welcoming everyone in. ... He got it because he asked for a calling in Priesthood (still before he was baptized). He is incredible! It has been a privilege to be able to work with him. I have learned much about what it means to be a Christlike man from him. The four things that I have grown to respect in a man is humility, love, selflessness, and bravery. And Juan has all four of these qualities in great measure. He has inspirired me to try and figure out what I can do better so as to have these same qualities.

The ward is struggling. These last couple of Sundays the number of people coming to church has dropped drastically. We are hoping that it is thanks to the holidays and the new church schedule (we now start Sacrament Meeting at 8:30). So Elder Zúñiga and I have pulled out the ward list and started working colony by colony, visiting all of the families that are registered there. There are roughly 600 members here in this ward, and last Sunday only 69 came. We really build the ward working with less actives, baptizing part families and reactivating inactive recent converts. There is much to do.

Elder Zúñiga is doing well. He has been battling this awful cough for the last week and a half (I think it is thanks to the cold and the altitude; out there in Chiapas it's hot. Always.) He is growing a lot. I see a lot of leadership potential in him. He has a great way with people.

The area is doing well. We still have a couple of investigators that are progressing, and at least one more that will get baptized this change for sure. She is a young girl that is part of a less active family that we are working on activating right now. She wants to get baptized on the 17th this month, and I think we could work with that... :)

Love you all!
Love,
Elder Kennington

Preguntas Bien Rapidito
Q:  Was New Year’s Day as scary this year as last year?
A:  Nope! Not at all! :D This time it was really really calm. We didn't even see any dead guys.... :/ Not that I would complain about that. :)

Q:  Did you get to do any New Year celebrating?
A:  Yep! We and all the other missionaries in the zone got together in our chapel and played volleyball and had a nice dinner of some diving tacos al pastor. :):) We have a lot of very very very competitive missionaries in the zone who don't like to lose volleyball games... :) Haha.

Q:  Do the little pueblos you serve in have names?
A:  Yep! There are five where we spend most of our time. San Bartolo, San Felipe Tlalmimilolpan, San Juan Tilapa, and Caputitlan. :)

Q:  What is the most beautiful part of your area?
A:  Any part of the pueblos out of the city. When it hits about 6:00 the sun touches the horizon and starts bathing everything in the breath takingly gorgeous gold light. I love it so much... Every day it is a huge struggle to not stop and take an hour's worth of photos... :) Haha. I think I got those genes from you mamí. :)

Juan's baptism

An awesome family that gave us food yesterday, instantly winning our undying loyalty. :) :) Jaja. (So now he is laughing in Spanish?)