Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Mom and Dad's emails...
Hey dad,
And you're definately getting ready for christmas, shop empty of boxes, christmas lights... what! Before we know it i'll be calling home and talkign to you all.
Yeah im not sure how turkey bowl is going to work out... President hasnt officially come out and said no turkey bowl, but he planned our district meetings for thursday morning... which is a pretty big hint if you ask me! lol oh well.
This week was crazy but good. Before i forget, let me tell you a hilarious story that happened this week. So yesterday at church, an investigator, Alvino came to church. He is guatamalan, and basically he kind of speaks spanish, (he speaks Quiche, a dialect) and he is one of those guatamalans that has NO IDEA what is going on and always has a confused look on his face. SO first off, he came to church with a starbucks coffee cup... obviously we havent taught the WoW. The best part though, during priesthood, Bishop asked for all the high priests to stand and give a sustaining vote on the new high group leader... and elder Martins was translating but... somehow Alvino got confused and you better believe it... he stood up and gave his sustaining vote too, with his starbucks cup in his left hand. I think all the spanish missionaries almost peed their wants... i was more embarrassed for the guy... lol it was hilarious. He is definately a sterotypical, "I-have-no-idea-whats-going-on" Guatamalan, also known here in the mission as the 'Esta Bien" guats. lol
Anyways all is well here... thanks for everything
Love you
Elder Kenck
Mommy
So as you correctly guessed, today is still p-day. It will be a messed up week for sure though. Transfers is tomorrow, and my new companion is Elder Rigby, he is from utah and has been in the field for 2 transfers. I am excited for the chance i will get to help him grow and learn, his spanish is really struggling, and i think the next few transfers will eb good for us both.
To answer your questions ...
1. Dinner with the Andertons was good... weird...but good. We ate at a definite "only-found-in-the-south" bbq resturant. It was fun to talk and catch up with them and hear about wenatchee. Sounds like a lot of things have changed. After being with elder Martins as he gets ready to go home, i can definately say i dont want to go home... and i am very thankful for the next 9 months i still have.
2. Suit coat is a 44 regular. Pinstripes are fine (i like them a lot)
3. I will be here in Mobile for christmas... hopefully i am here for a long time. Besides a suit i cant think of anything specific that i would like, please, dont send me stuff just to send me stuff. I will be perfectly fine if i get one present.
4. The translator is good. It'll work out fine now that my 280 lb tranlator is going back to brazil.
5. No flu shot, and i am feeling great. I really dont think it is that big of a deal here.
So this week was really really good. Crazy but good. Basically we spent all week trying to get the Rodriguez (Lara) girls, Ivonne and Georgia, ready for baptism. We had so many road blocks get in our way! Between the stepdad (one of those situation where i wont say anything about him, because i dont have anything good to say about him), and a billion other things, i honestly didnt know if they would get dunked. But after everything they were baptized yesterday after church. It was great! I had the blessing of baptizing Georgia, and then confirming Ivonne (1st confirmation ever). According to the spectators, i mixed a little judo into the baptism and threw georgia prety hard... she didnt know any different and neither did I, but everyoen was laughing when we finished. lol i guess i got a little excited. We got to confirm them on sunday, because next week they will be in Atlanta visiting family. Basically to sum up my feelings, i am so thankful for the chance i had to teach them and continue to teach them.
I am really excited for the next transfer. I have some things i need to change, not big things, just little things, i have allowed myself to get a little lazy on certain things, and i am going to fix it all. I really feel like this new companion will allow me to be the best missionary i can be, with nothing holding me back, and so i am way excited.
I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving. As much as i love thanksgiving at home, i will honestly have to say we have it pretty good here, i think we have 3 dinners planned for thanksgiving... deep fried turkey! lol
love you mom, thanks for everything. I have been looking for those bracelets, they dont have them here, but i guess i could find one at least, right ? lol
love you
Elder Kenck
And you're definately getting ready for christmas, shop empty of boxes, christmas lights... what! Before we know it i'll be calling home and talkign to you all.
Yeah im not sure how turkey bowl is going to work out... President hasnt officially come out and said no turkey bowl, but he planned our district meetings for thursday morning... which is a pretty big hint if you ask me! lol oh well.
This week was crazy but good. Before i forget, let me tell you a hilarious story that happened this week. So yesterday at church, an investigator, Alvino came to church. He is guatamalan, and basically he kind of speaks spanish, (he speaks Quiche, a dialect) and he is one of those guatamalans that has NO IDEA what is going on and always has a confused look on his face. SO first off, he came to church with a starbucks coffee cup... obviously we havent taught the WoW. The best part though, during priesthood, Bishop asked for all the high priests to stand and give a sustaining vote on the new high group leader... and elder Martins was translating but... somehow Alvino got confused and you better believe it... he stood up and gave his sustaining vote too, with his starbucks cup in his left hand. I think all the spanish missionaries almost peed their wants... i was more embarrassed for the guy... lol it was hilarious. He is definately a sterotypical, "I-have-no-idea-whats-going-on" Guatamalan, also known here in the mission as the 'Esta Bien" guats. lol
Anyways all is well here... thanks for everything
Love you
Elder Kenck
Mommy
So as you correctly guessed, today is still p-day. It will be a messed up week for sure though. Transfers is tomorrow, and my new companion is Elder Rigby, he is from utah and has been in the field for 2 transfers. I am excited for the chance i will get to help him grow and learn, his spanish is really struggling, and i think the next few transfers will eb good for us both.
To answer your questions ...
1. Dinner with the Andertons was good... weird...but good. We ate at a definite "only-found-in-the-south" bbq resturant. It was fun to talk and catch up with them and hear about wenatchee. Sounds like a lot of things have changed. After being with elder Martins as he gets ready to go home, i can definately say i dont want to go home... and i am very thankful for the next 9 months i still have.
2. Suit coat is a 44 regular. Pinstripes are fine (i like them a lot)
3. I will be here in Mobile for christmas... hopefully i am here for a long time. Besides a suit i cant think of anything specific that i would like, please, dont send me stuff just to send me stuff. I will be perfectly fine if i get one present.
4. The translator is good. It'll work out fine now that my 280 lb tranlator is going back to brazil.
5. No flu shot, and i am feeling great. I really dont think it is that big of a deal here.
So this week was really really good. Crazy but good. Basically we spent all week trying to get the Rodriguez (Lara) girls, Ivonne and Georgia, ready for baptism. We had so many road blocks get in our way! Between the stepdad (one of those situation where i wont say anything about him, because i dont have anything good to say about him), and a billion other things, i honestly didnt know if they would get dunked. But after everything they were baptized yesterday after church. It was great! I had the blessing of baptizing Georgia, and then confirming Ivonne (1st confirmation ever). According to the spectators, i mixed a little judo into the baptism and threw georgia prety hard... she didnt know any different and neither did I, but everyoen was laughing when we finished. lol i guess i got a little excited. We got to confirm them on sunday, because next week they will be in Atlanta visiting family. Basically to sum up my feelings, i am so thankful for the chance i had to teach them and continue to teach them.
I am really excited for the next transfer. I have some things i need to change, not big things, just little things, i have allowed myself to get a little lazy on certain things, and i am going to fix it all. I really feel like this new companion will allow me to be the best missionary i can be, with nothing holding me back, and so i am way excited.
I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving. As much as i love thanksgiving at home, i will honestly have to say we have it pretty good here, i think we have 3 dinners planned for thanksgiving... deep fried turkey! lol
love you mom, thanks for everything. I have been looking for those bracelets, they dont have them here, but i guess i could find one at least, right ? lol
love you
Elder Kenck
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
bits and pieces of all our emails
To Alli,
Life here is good. Last week we went to play indoor soccer with Ricky Rodriguez, and there were tons of hispanics, like 4 teams of 5 players, and it was a blast. I was the ONLY white guy, and everyone was like, who is this kid that sucks at soccer and speaks spanish. lol it was very funny. Actually i did really good, i scored 2 or 3 times, but... i also tripped over the ball like 5 times. :(
To Dad,
Well its funny that you ask that... "Eaten anything weird lately"... it just so happens that i had my first run in with Menudo this week. To explain the story a little, well about a week or two ago, the other elders (Clements and Allison) came home with leftover Menudo, and they basically explained how nasty it was. They dare me to try some, so i heat it up and stab a piece with a fork. You have to first understand what Menudo is too appreciate it. Yep its Cow Stomach, and just like you when expect, on the inside wall of stomach, there are these spong like, vili looking nasty things made to absorb the food. So i put it in my mouth, and pretty much it was the worst tasting thing... ever. So fast forward a few days, and i am on the phone with Sonia Campos, an nvestigator that both companionships are teaching. I am scheduling an appointment, and i ask her, so what will we be eating? Before she replied i knew, (the spirit warned me i think) "Menudo". Talk about the worst day ever. lol, Leticia Rodriquez actually came over to show Sonia how to cook it, and Leticia is one of the best cooks i know, and it still tasted like cow butt. So i am convinced, if the best cooks still cant make it good, then you probably shouldnt eat it. lol but it was horrible.
To Mom,
Sounds like you all had a good week. I am glad the sisters stopped by and visited you all. From what it sounds like to me, the sisters are doing pretty good there. I might use that idea as an activity... (i like it)... trust the sisters to come up with the best ideas... actually we dont have many sisters in my mission.
So this week we had a wonderful zone conference. A little over a year ago we started "Operation Sanchez" which is the code name for the new stuff we have tried in the spanish work.. aka forming our own spanish zone, new missionary tactics, etc. Basically we taught about the success we are seeing now as a spanish zone. It is amazing the difference, last year at this time we were just starting the spanish work, in all parts of the mission, and there wasnt too much progress. Now in most of the areas (especially here in theodore) we are seeing a ton of progress. We have groups formed in 2 of the areas, and our bishop told us yesterday that by the start of the new year we would have our own group here in theodore. Very exciting news. We currently have 8 missionaries in the theodore ward!! 4 english and 4 spanish. And basically we have baptisms planned for almost every weekend until the new year. It is a very excited place to be right now.
The Rodriquez family is doing great. We had a little scare halfway through the week when we visited the campos family (another story there!) and they told us that the oldest daughter really hated church... but truth be told as much as I love the Campos family, you can and should take what they say with a grain of salt. The Rodriquez family really is progressing, we are going to teach them tonight, and we have a great lesson planned on the promises of the BoM and also of happiness. It will be a little bit of s sticky situation with the divorce, but itll work out in the end. The sisters in the group are really reaching out directly to Leticia. She spends lots of time with all of them now. It is so cool!
But i am doing wonderfully, I am happy, and i am really excited to be here right now. I realize the blessings i currently have in my life and i am so thankful to be here spreading this message right now. I love you mom, have a wonderful week!
Love you
Elder Kenck
Life here is good. Last week we went to play indoor soccer with Ricky Rodriguez, and there were tons of hispanics, like 4 teams of 5 players, and it was a blast. I was the ONLY white guy, and everyone was like, who is this kid that sucks at soccer and speaks spanish. lol it was very funny. Actually i did really good, i scored 2 or 3 times, but... i also tripped over the ball like 5 times. :(
To Dad,
Well its funny that you ask that... "Eaten anything weird lately"... it just so happens that i had my first run in with Menudo this week. To explain the story a little, well about a week or two ago, the other elders (Clements and Allison) came home with leftover Menudo, and they basically explained how nasty it was. They dare me to try some, so i heat it up and stab a piece with a fork. You have to first understand what Menudo is too appreciate it. Yep its Cow Stomach, and just like you when expect, on the inside wall of stomach, there are these spong like, vili looking nasty things made to absorb the food. So i put it in my mouth, and pretty much it was the worst tasting thing... ever. So fast forward a few days, and i am on the phone with Sonia Campos, an nvestigator that both companionships are teaching. I am scheduling an appointment, and i ask her, so what will we be eating? Before she replied i knew, (the spirit warned me i think) "Menudo". Talk about the worst day ever. lol, Leticia Rodriquez actually came over to show Sonia how to cook it, and Leticia is one of the best cooks i know, and it still tasted like cow butt. So i am convinced, if the best cooks still cant make it good, then you probably shouldnt eat it. lol but it was horrible.
To Mom,
Sounds like you all had a good week. I am glad the sisters stopped by and visited you all. From what it sounds like to me, the sisters are doing pretty good there. I might use that idea as an activity... (i like it)... trust the sisters to come up with the best ideas... actually we dont have many sisters in my mission.
So this week we had a wonderful zone conference. A little over a year ago we started "Operation Sanchez" which is the code name for the new stuff we have tried in the spanish work.. aka forming our own spanish zone, new missionary tactics, etc. Basically we taught about the success we are seeing now as a spanish zone. It is amazing the difference, last year at this time we were just starting the spanish work, in all parts of the mission, and there wasnt too much progress. Now in most of the areas (especially here in theodore) we are seeing a ton of progress. We have groups formed in 2 of the areas, and our bishop told us yesterday that by the start of the new year we would have our own group here in theodore. Very exciting news. We currently have 8 missionaries in the theodore ward!! 4 english and 4 spanish. And basically we have baptisms planned for almost every weekend until the new year. It is a very excited place to be right now.
The Rodriquez family is doing great. We had a little scare halfway through the week when we visited the campos family (another story there!) and they told us that the oldest daughter really hated church... but truth be told as much as I love the Campos family, you can and should take what they say with a grain of salt. The Rodriquez family really is progressing, we are going to teach them tonight, and we have a great lesson planned on the promises of the BoM and also of happiness. It will be a little bit of s sticky situation with the divorce, but itll work out in the end. The sisters in the group are really reaching out directly to Leticia. She spends lots of time with all of them now. It is so cool!
But i am doing wonderfully, I am happy, and i am really excited to be here right now. I realize the blessings i currently have in my life and i am so thankful to be here spreading this message right now. I love you mom, have a wonderful week!
Love you
Elder Kenck
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Life in Mobile...
Ok to tell you a little about my week.
I dont even know where to begin! That is a good thing though. Basically this was one of the best weeks in my mission... ever! That doesnt mean it went perfectly, i still had a ton of trials. I still felt amazingly inadequate. BUT i did my best and everything truly worked out in the end.
It all started off with a mission conference on thursday. Elder Mask, from the seventy, came to do the yearly GA visit. It was incredible. Once he found out that there were 12 spanish missionaries in the congregation, he completely went off topic and talked about spanish work for an hour or so. He is half mexican, served a mission in Guatamala, and then has served in many other positions with the hispanic people. Although the english missionaries all say they feel cheated for having to go through that hour of spanish work, i truly believe he branched off for me. I needed to be reminded of the love i have for the hispanic people. ANd he did a wonderful job. I have never felt so much love in my service!
On saturday, the other elders had a baptism, actually i got to see my boy, Elder Clements, baptize his first investigator (proud moment in the life of all trainers!). The rodriguez family came and REALLY enjoyed it. Leticia even teared up at a few moments. Also they came to a halloween activity, and to church. The members are doing an incredible job with fellowshipping! And so naturally, after such a wonderful week, we were going to try and set a Baptismal date. So we came and taught a wonderful lesson, the 3rd lesson that basically talks about what we have to do to return to Him again. And even before we asked them to be baptized, Georgia, the 13 year old daughter, looks at her mom and says, "mom, can i get baptized again?" (they were all baptized catholic), and her mom replies "when you feel you are ready"... !!! Even before we actually invited them. So we extended the invitation, and they ALL accepted (well except for the dad, like usual he wasnt there). We ran into a small wall though, she isnt legally married right now, simply because his ex-wife in mexico refuses to give him the divorce papers. But i am confident that GOd is going to provide a way. We will see some miracles here. She is SO PREPARED. Simplicio and Silvia prepared... speakign of them, one year ago today, they got baptized! Like I said in my email to Pres. as we left there apartment and quickly said a prayer of gratitud in the car, my heart was filled with a joy i honetsly have never felt before. I cant describe it, but i can still feel it.
As you can tell, i am way excited to be here. Thanks for all you do. Thanks for teaching me what you have taught me, and thanks for loving me as well. Have a wonderful week, love everyone a little extra for me, and i promise to do the same.
I Love you
Elder Kenck
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