Well, mission accomplished

Hey everyone! Well this is my last time writing home from an internet here in Colombia, tomorrow I will back in the USA!

This last Saturday I said goodbye to Ibague and to my companion Elder Cuba, he seemed pretty bummed that I was leaving! I hope he can get some good stuff going in Campiña, it is a hard area. His new companion is Elder Bowcutt from Ogden Utah, I flippin love that guy! I am pretty happy about that, he is a great replacement. 

I stayed Saturday night here in La Libertad with Elder Thompson, I flippin love that guy too!! The next morning I attended church at La Libertad, I really really wanted to go to CasaBlanca to say goodbye but unfortunately I couldn't get anyone to accompany me, but I still got to see a bunch of cool people at church at La Libertad. It was fast and testimony meeting, and so of course I got up there in front of the Stake that I love with all my heart, La Libertad. I got up there, and I must be honest it was really hard work to keep myself together, after 13 months of work in that zone I have truly grown a love for them. That is my home in Colombia. 

I also saw the Vargus family there!!!!!!!! I flippin love those guys the most!!! Monday night I got the opportunity to go to their house to visit them and say goodbye... by far one of the hardest things I've ever done. But it was the coolest thing ever to be able to see them. I also got to say goodbye to the Mendieta family from CasaBlanca, and Yuri Garcez form La Libertad. Awesome.

I don't really like change and so finishing the mission has been hard. But I know that I have done all the work that the Lord required of me. I'm going to miss these people and this place so very much. It's going to be super strange to go home and hear people speaking English all the time! 

But that is how life goes. This Mission has changed my life. I have loved all this time that I have served the Lord. Every second was worth the price. There was nothing better than being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 

So, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow!

¡Hasta Mañana!

Love,

Elder Kendall

THE HOMECOMING :)

Arepas De Huevo and Miracle Baptism!

Guess what?? I got to baptize my last Saturday in the mission field!!!!!

Hey everybody! What's up?

 

Well this week went crazy fast. I don't like it. But it still all goes so fast.

 

This week Elder Cuba and I talked to a ton of people and tried as hard as we could to find some new people to teach. We were able to find a couple of new investigators, but mostly the people that seemed like they were really interested fell through, so we have been walking and searching and praying to find more people to teach. I have faith that this week will be the week that we will find God's chosen. It kind of has to be as well because this week is my last one in the field! 

 

But anyways, We worked really hard and invited everybody to the big activity that we had on Saturday, it was a big Family Home Evening with a food that’s called "Arepa De Huevo" and it is pretty darn tasty! We made in total about 180 arepas, and there were only like 6 left over, and so a ton of members and a bunch of investigators were able to come! It was a lot of fun.

 

Before the activity of "Arepa De Huevo", the sister missionaries had a baptism! Her name is Zaida Ramirez, and she was pretty much a miracle! She attended the church for about 2 years in Bogota, but then she moved to a place here in Ibague, and she came with the desires to be baptized! And to my surprise, the sister missionaries told me that I was going to baptize her! I was not expecting that at all, and was so grateful. I had felt a little sad about how in this time we have not been able to have any investigators progressing toward baptism, and I thought that my opportunities to baptize were going to be over. But God truly gave me a tender mercy. God is very good. He blessed me in my last Saturday as a missionary.

 

Also, this was my last Sunday here in Campiña, and the Branch President also surprised me. He called Elder Jones, Elder Cuba and I to go up for the confirmation of Sister Zaida, and then He said to me "This is your last one". And gave me the opportunity to do the confirmation! And I had to say goodbye and give my testimony to the branch. 

 

I love these people, so much. I have been blessed so much by the hand of the Lord. 

 

Here goes to my last week preaching the word! 

 

Love,

 

Elder Kendall

God let me baptize my last Saturday as a missionary!  God is so good!

We also had a super cool activity with Arepa De Huevo!  It was super fun!!

Brother Bedoya, he is flippin awesome!

Arepa De Huevo (with egg).  It is a thing they love here in Colombia!

 

There Must Be An Opposition in All Things

I do apologize, My time is short today. But how is everyone doing over there?

 

It has been an interesting week, we have really seen lots of opposition in our area lately, our investigators have been moving out of our area or telling us that they don't want to be baptized, and we really need some new people!

 

Me and Elder Cuba have been trying really hard to find new people to teach, and we should be able to find more this week. Unfortunatly none of our investigators came to church this week, but I know that in order for us to recieve the blessings we must first go through the tribulation. I am hopeful that we will find someone who is willing to listen and act. 

I gave my last talk here in Campiña this last Sunday, and I felt so happy as I testified of this work. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I just Love it.

 

Love,

Elder Kendall

 

I Am Trying to Treasure the Time I Have Left

Well the time is going way to fast, but that isn't very new. Time has never been very nice to missionaries.

 

Well we had a pipe kinda break in our house this week and so our house kinda filled with water and we had to go to the other Elders house this week pretty much every day untill we could get it fixed. I love the mission, because there is always an adventure to be had, like sweeping up water from your apartment floor! 

 

But we had a hard time finding good people once again this week, although we had the help of a really cool guy named Fransisco Sierra. He is a returned missionary from Venezuela, and he was accompanying us quite a bit. We taught the Sanchez family again Yesterday, the family that we found last week, and they are pretty excited to be able to go back to church! But, unfortunatly nobody attended church this week, it has been a little hard in that aspect. 

 

Me and Elder Cuba have talked and we have felt like we have been getting better working together and trying hard, but the people have been somewhat hard of heart lately. However, Because my time is short I feel pretty pumped to just keep trying and doing the best that I can. We have some good people, we just gotta find some more. 

 

I am trying to treasure this time that i have left, and am really trying to enjoy every last moment, and I just love the mission.

Love,

Elder Kendall

My Last Multi-Zone Conference, With Girardot!

Multi zone conference.... my last one....

Hey everyone... Are we in August already!? Weird... 

This month is windy Kite flying month, so that is pretty cool, there have been a lot of kite buying this week. I remember that a year ago when I was in Casablanca the parks were full of people flying kites, cool stuff!

So this week we had a hard time finding, and the Rodriguez family told us that they thought that they were going into things too fast, and that they probably won’t be able to attend every Sunday and such things. So we are going to focus more on Leidy, who is the oldest daughter who seems to be the most interested in our message. 

I also had my last Multi-Zone Conference this week... on Friday with the Zone Girardot! And at the beginning, I had to give my last testimony. And it was a crazy thing. I can't believe that I have gotten to the point of giving my last testimony, the time has gone really fast. It was a hard thing to do, but I felt good doing it as well. I feel like it still hasn't hit me that I will be home in 4 weeks....

Elder Palma also gave his last testimony. 

And we found a new family on Sunday! Nobody attended church unfortunately, but this family that we met are awesome. They are the Sanchez family, and they live in the same apartment complex as us. We found them looking through our old investigators spot in our area book, and we decided to look for them! They are a family of 4, With the mom and her 3 children. They met the missionaries about 3 years ago, and about a year ago the missionaries never went back. The 2 daughters and the son were going to be baptized, but their mom never gave them permission. But now the oldest daughter is 21, the next is 18, and the brother is 15.

They were pretty excited to have us back, the mom also really likes the missionaries, she just never really listened to their message before. So this Tuesday we are going to teach them again and invite them to be baptized! 

The Lord is always aware of his missionaries.

Love,

Elder Kendall

I got my package

Is my mom nuts?  Soap?  For my birthday?  Is she trying to tell me something?  Am I really that smelly? XD

We went to Juntas again... BUT AS A ZONE!!!!

I love Elder Palma!!!!

A Little Rough to Find New People, But Lechona!

Hey everybody over there! 

 

This week was a little bit harder to find people, but the good thing is that the people we did find are pretty awesome! 

 

News on the Rodriguez family, we were able to teach the mom this week, and we were also to invite her to be baptized the 19th of August with her 2 daughters! It was a pretty awesome lesson, they are just a great family. Leidy has been reading the Book of Mormon pretty much every day, and She with her little sister Caterine came to church this week like they said they would! They are really progressing a bunch, unfortunately the mom didn't go to church, so now we just have to focus on getting the whole family together in order get them all ready. 

 

They also gave us Lechona to eat, which is one of the most classic dishes here of Ibague, and it was pretty darn tasty! They take a full out pig, and they take out all of the insides and fill it back up with the meat and rice and some other little stuff, and then they give you a little peice of it. Like I said, it is pretty tasty.

We are working on getting some new people to teach, as always, and I'm trying to give some more responsibility to my son Elder Cuba so that he can lead the area real good when I'm gone! 

 

It was a little harder week this week, but we are still going strong in the work!

 

And like Nephi, I am going to say that I cannot write 1/100th of what has happened in this week. 

 

Love,

 

Elder Kendall

Well, It Is The Beginning of the End....

Transfers happened this week, and it is official... I am going to die here in Campiña, Ibague with my son Elder Cuba! Here goes my last 6 weeks in the mission.... I can't believe that I have gotten to this point! It is so strange...　

But hey, this week was pretty awesome, we had some people come to church!! So that was really exciting, we are teaching a family named the Rodriguez family, and so far we have mostly taught the oldest daughter Leidy with her little sister Caterine, and it has been going really well. Their Dad passed away in January of this year, and Leidy told us that she has been reading and praying and that she had a dream where she saw her father and he was very happy and at peace! So that is awesome.　

And we haven't really gotten to teach the Mom, Marina, but she showed up to church Sunday with her daughter Caterine, which was a big suprise. They are making big progress.　

We also found a family this week where we knocked on the door, and the Dad opened it up asking who was at the door, and when he saw us he instantly told us "Hey! come on in! Come in!" Super cool! They are the Flores Garcia family, we are going to teach them again today.　

So yeah, that is what happened this week, and I am out of time.　

I am super pumped for these last 6 weeks, and hope we can get some people baptized this transfer!　

Love,
　

Elder Kendall




Birthday photos!  It is tradition, they weren't going to let us leave until they shoved our face in that cake!!

My District!  Elder Hess got transferred though

We played ping pong for P-day and ate KFC!!!!

Also, mom's tag challenge.  I kinda forgot XD (sorry... don't hurt me)  But I did something quick