Sister Kaia Kennedy: Welcome to the MTC...Week One....October 6, 2016

Hello Outside World!!

Wow! What a week!! My companion Sister Gilbert says that at the MTC (Missionary Training Center), days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. So very true! But I have loved every minute of it! As I just stated my companion is Sister Gilbert (she is from Lehi, UT) and I absolutely adore her! When we showed up on the very first day with the same bag we knew it was going to be a great companionship. We both think the same and have the same desires. We also view our time here at the MTC the same way which is nice. We like to be able to have some fun every now and then! So far we've gotten matching water bottles, matching sweatshirts, and 2 matching t-shirts and not even on purpose! We both show up to the register with the same things! Just further proving we are twins hahaha! But speaking of the first day, it was so chaotic. One moment I'm driving around with Janine and Ben and the next thing I know I''m being dropped off at the MTC and running around just trying to follow my host to where i was going. She actually at one point told me to keep up and walk faster, so i did which resulted in getting blisters. Yay! But oh well it's all good! Ahh there is so much I want to tell you guys! Anyway, later that day we were at the meeting with the MTC presidency and they have cameras everywhere to show the kids who are talking in the crowd on bigger tv's all around the seats so everyone can see who's talking. (Yes the room is that big!) And, I was just a little tired from the day of craziness so yes i may have fallen asleep during the interaction talk the president was giving. But don't worry they got revenge on me because I nodded off and when my chin hit my shoulder I woke up really fast just in time to see it happening seconds later on the delayed big tv screen. Behind me a girl was talking in the crowd and the camera was on us. Yep that happened. Hahaha hopefully that makes sense! So that woke me up for the rest of the night, which was a good thing because it was only 5:30pm at that point! One thing I loved from that day was something an instructor told us. she said, "You have the next 18 months to serve the Lord, but you have the rest of your life to reflect on how you served Him." I loved that so much and it instantly set the mood for my mission.

Well my district is awesome!! For those of you who don't know...a district is a group of missionaries. Well let's just say a district is like a city and a zone is like a state and a mission is like a country. Make sense? I hope so! But ya my district is amazing! It's barely been a week and we are already family! There are four girls including myself! The sisters names are Sister Gilbert, Sister Winter, and Sister Haws. I love them so much! And I know I keep saying love but I mean it. I love these girls and their spirit so much. (we will all be going to Alabama together!!) They inspire me everyday!! We all room together too which is awesome! Sister Winter and I have the same sense of humor. She can always and I mean always make me laugh. I've laughed so hard until I cried here so many times in this last week I can't even count it! And Sister Haws has the sweetest spirit about her. I love her and the sacredness she brings to the MTC. Let's see what else! Oh right the Elders (the boy missionaries and there are 6 of them....so 10 missionaries in the district)! They are awesome! Took a little time to open up but once they did, we all just clicked perfectly! Fun fact! One of our elders, Elder Young, was born with his fingers webbed so they had to amputate a few, so he only has a thumb and pinkie on one hand and it's awesome! The perfect shaka! He loves that and got everyone to say "do the elder young" and simultaneously we do the shaka! Haha It's awesome! But his sweet spirit often times reminds me of Blake. My district is just amazing! Everyday the sisters or the elders will put up messages to the other group on the white board and it's been so fun doing that! I'll include pictures below of that! They are so much fun!

Okay meeting time! So general conference was incredible. I have never felt the spirit more strongly than when we all stood for when President Monson walked into the room. But in my journal I've written that phrase a lot, because somehow the spirit just gets stronger and stronger everyday I'm here. More times than others, but wow. You don't believe it until you experience it! But ya general conference (a bi-annual general conference we all watch on TV where ever we are in the world) was ah-mazing and all about missionary work! The whole first saturday session was the first lesson we teach investigators! God loves us - gospel blesses families- living prophet- Jesus Christ- Joseph Smith - Book of Mormon- Holy Ghost. We all love that! But even more amazing was afternoon session with the MTC choir! Chills through the whole thing! Please everyone watch when the MTC choir sings "the first vision" and tell me you don't get chills (click to watch). When the man at the very beginning of conference said that that the MTC choir would be providing the music, everyone started cheering. It was so cool! And then went they started singing, hands started shooting up and pointing to friends in the choir. I loved that. Also when we sang "Called to Serve" wow. Just wow. And Sunday conference was just as amazing! Too many great parts to count! I love what David A. Bednar, an apostle, said. "Do you believe what you know?" I'll let you think about that one for yourself! Following that session, we got a music devotional from Vocal Point, an a cappella BYU group, and they were awesome! And following that on Tuesday we got another devotional from Linda K. Burton and her husband here at the MTC! Her granddaughter is here so that was pretty special to hear from her! A lot was said that night was about the mantle we are given as missionaries that come with the missionary name tag. That here are these huge shoes we are trying to fill and feel so inadequate to do so. But slowly and surely we start to feel that mantle of Jesus Christ we are given and that's when we know we've become a missionary. But what happen's when at the end of your mission, your mantle is taken from you? You're only left with what you've become in those last 18 months and I just loved that perspective of it! After her devotional we met as a district to talk about it but it quickly turned into one of the most powerful testimony meetings I have ever been a part of. I will never forget that night and the spirit that was so very present in that small little room at the MTC. Honestly this place just feels like a little piece of heaven!

Sister Gilbert and I taught our first investigator while in the MTC and her name is Jaqui, This cute little old lady from the south, and we adore her. At the very first meeting we just clicked on something very personal near and dear to her heart and we all sat there and cried together as we told her about the plan of salvation and how we will be with our families again after this life. We've met with her 2 other times and that same Strong spirit has been present on both meetings. We love her and she loves us!

One last little tidbit! Two times now we've sang Army of Helamen and have changed the last verse "and we are now the army of helaman and bring the world His truth": And I get chills every time I sing that, because I am now a missionary. Wow. This is so incredible and just no words to describe what it's like to actually be here. I just want to bear my testimony that I know that this gospel is so very true and I am so glad that I am able to be a representative of Jesus Christ and share it with other people. Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God called in this dispensation, so that we might have the gospel. (If you want to know more about him listen to the talk given at this last general Conference by Craig C. Christensen and i promise you, you will feel something when he talks about him and that is the Holy Ghost testifying of it truthfulness unto you.) I know Heavenly Father knows us and loves each one of us and He sent his son to die for us, so that we might be able to return to Him one day.

Love you guys Always!!
Love, Sister Kennedy