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