Feliz Navidad!!!!

Hey y'all! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas! It was a pretty
good week here in Florida.

Tuesday we had a Christmas centered zone conference which was
incredible. We talked about having joy and where our priorities should
be. Are we with the savior or are we with the world.  Something that I
thought about during the conference is this: Orlando Florida is home
to 2 castles. The castle of the world (Disneyworld) and the castle of
the lord (the Orlando temple) so which one do we want to be ours? Well
the answer is easy for me. The temple. I LOVE the temple. I am so
lucky that I get to drive past that little piece of heaven every day.

I have to testify to you all that the lord knows His children. He
knows who you are and what you are going through. He LOVES you. I love
knocking on a door and having people tell us that they were praying
for help and then we showed up! It's only happened a few times but I
love it.

Being a missionary during Christmas is the best thing ever because you
get to focus completely on the spiritual side of Christmas and don't
have to worry about getting gifts or going to parties or baking treats
for neighbors. We get to dedicate every moment serving the Lord. We
ate dinner Christmas Eve with some members in our ward which was super
fun. After we had to go home so Hermana Brown and I pulled our
mattresses into the living room and slept under our Christmas tree.
Before going to bed we read the Christmas story and watched a little
of meet the Mormons. Christmas Day we went to church which was
amazing!!! I LOVE having Christmas on Sunday. What better way to
celebrate the birth of Christ than to partake of the sacrament and
remember the true reason of the season- the atonement and sacrifice of
our savior. I know this church is true. I KNOW Jesus Christ lives. I
know He loves us and is aware of every single one of us and our needs.
I know the Book of Mormon is true. If you're not reading you need to
be. I PROMISE your life will be enriched if you are reading those
sacred words. Make it your main goal this coming year to draw closer
to your savior and to strive to be better. The atonement is a real
thing. USE IT! Not using it would be like leaving the most beautifully
wrapped present under the Christmas tree and never touching it. IT’S A
WASTE.  I love you all. Christmas Day marked 2 MONTHS for me. So I'll
be seeing you all in 16 months. Haha. I hope you are all doing well
and I wish you a happy new year! 2017 is going to be great!

Love,
Hermana Kent

We bought sweatshirts because sweatshirts are
comfy, not because it's cold

Our zone and a few photo bombers at our zone conference

Christmas Eve gifts from some members.  Elder Isaacson, Elder Hatch,
me and Hermana Brown.  The Windy Ridge Missionaries

Christmas Eve, and my Christmas Jammie's
from home:)

Christmas Breakfast

Skyping the family!

Christmas Ornamants from the Missionary Mommies

Missionary Ornaments from Missionary Mommies

Leaving the Church from P-Day and saw this
beautiful sunset and thought I'd share

Merry Christmas From Florida! A Week of Miracles

This week was crazy! As a missionary you feel every emotion possible 5 times a day. So there is no possible way to generalize a day as a good or bad day. However, we saw lots of miracles this week!

We have this really sweet investigator named Fatima. We invited her to be baptized and she said that is definitely something she wants to do but she wants to wait a little to learn more which is totally natural. I am still way excited. She brought her son and his family as well as her
neighbors to our ward Christmas party. I about fell over when they walked in! Then she told us that she read all of 1 Nephi and loved it!!!!! That's when I started to cry. They all told us they were coming to church on Sunday. Honestly, my lips could not smile any bigger!

The party was a ton of fun! Spanish people are the funnest people in the world. When I say party I literally mean party. There was Spanish dancing and food and Santa clause. Everyone is there
having a ton of fun. The party was still in full swing at 9:00 when we sadly had to leave to be home on time.

Sunday we anxiously waited for our investigators to come to church.  Then we got a text message saying they were at the hospital for an emergency with her daughter-in-law. Crazy stuff!

Saturday we also knocked doors for 4 hours. It was pretty hot so we were very sweaty but tired but the hard work paid off because we found 3 new investigators! One of them is Patricia and her husband is actually a member and served a mission. She has read some of the Book of Mormon and knows a lot about the church. She attends church with her husband but has just never gotten baptized. Well guess what. This Hermana is going to fix that! She is a super sweet woman and wants to go on a temple tour with us!  Hopefully we can get her baptized so they can be sealed as a family.

Thanks for the Christmas package.  I BAWLED as I opened it.  I just cry all the time now!!!!! Remember how I was so not a crier before I left? Well I literally cry all the time. Remember the sloth video with Kristen Bell and how she's says she has a small emotional zone and if she leaves that zone either happy or sad she cries? Yeah. That's me. The elders in the CCM made fun of me because I cried so much. Haha. Trent would be shocked with me because he used to tease me about how I was “heartless" haha. I honestly just felt so much love from home and was so happy. :)

Ok I want to tell you guys the power of social media. We share the churches new Christmas video with everyone that will let us and so many times they say after “oh I saw that on Facebook and wondered what that was about". These are people who don't know about the church but have seen that video! So pretty much I just want to encourage you to continue sharing the gospel through social media. I have seen the impact it has and the people it reaches and it is truly miraculous.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas this week! If you haven't seen the Churches Christmas video go watch it! Enjoy time with family and remember the reason for the season. I love you all and want to thank you for your support and prayers. :) Merry CHRISTmas!

Love,

Hermana Kent

 

Panda Bear socks my family sent me:)
(My nickname is Panda Bear)

Enjoying my package from home:)

Our little dining area

Hermana Brown in front of our tree

O Tannenbaum

Our front window with a candle my mommy sent me.
Family traditions in Florida!

Hogwarts Castle at Universal.  The most I
will get to see of it on my mission.  Ha Ha:)

Our investigator Fatima (in blue) and her family at the
Ward Christmas Party

Another family from our ward that we visit

The neighbors of one of our investigators pays
for a truck to come blow snow on their yard
every year and they have a party.  So we took
pictures with some of the leftover snow.

It's Not the Heat, It's the HUMIDITY!!!

SUNDAY – 12/4
I cried so much today. Haha. I was able to fulfill my MTC goal and
bear my testimony in complete Spanish during testimony meeting. We
were able to watch the Christmas devotional which I loved! After that
our district had to say goodbye to each other. All of us were crying
pretty hard. These elders are my brothers. Like I said, LOTS of tears.

Monday – 12/5

Started VERY early. We woke up at 1:30, I said goodbye to my
companion (this sucked) and sent her off. By 3:00 I left the MTC.  We
had to be to the airport 3 hours before our plane that left at 9 but
for some reason we were there by 5. The. We found out our plane was
delayed because the plane needed its brakes replaced. Haha. So we
ended up leaving at 11:30.  As we landed in Atlanta we literally saw
our connecting flight to Orlando take off so we had an extra 4 hour
layover. It was a long day of traveling with only 2.5 hours of sleep,
but I can't describe the feeling of flying over a city that I know I
will think about every day for the rest of my life. So now I am in
freaking Florida!!!!! I met my mission president who is
amazing!!!!!!!!!! He took us to the mission home where we had a
glorious home cooked meal and some much needed rest.

Tuesday – 12/6
First day in el campo! My trainer is Hermana Brown from Herriman Utah.
I LOVE her. We are serving in the Windy Ridge Spanish ward. She put me
right to work! That night we had a miracle. Every person we planned to
see answered their door, let us in, and listened to our message.  All
the people I met that night were from Venezuela and spoke little to no
English..... So much for being in America. I nearly cried as my heart
filled with joy watching the spirits of these investigators rejoice
as the gospel was shared with them. Missionary work is one big
miracle.

My area is the best in the mission. Seriously. Here are the thing in my area:
Shack
Tiger woods
Universal Studios
Sea World
And best of all, the Temple 😊

Wednesday – 12/7

We had a zone/district meeting. After the meeting we all
went and did service at a local food bank which was super fun. That
night we had 2 miracles. The first was we were trying to find a past
investigator but knocked on the wrong door. However, the person who
answered was very interested. His name is Jean Phillippe. He is trying
to learn English so we teach him in both English and Spanish. He gets
really excited about the things we teach him especially Joseph Smith
and the Book of Mormon. The second miracle is we found a new
investigator named Gipsy. She is so prepared!!!!! When she opened the
door she started crying. She said that she had been praying for
comfort and help..... And guess who answered her prayer..... That's
right, we did! She doesn't speak English but she expressed how much
she appreciates us trying to learn Spanish for her.

Thursday – 12/8

We did temple service as a zone. We planted flowers on the
grounds which was super fun. After, they provided lunch for us. The
coolest thing is that above our heads was the angel Moroni they had
just taken down a few weeks ago. I guess they always keep a spare in
case they need it. It was super cool. I also tried BLUEBELL ICECREAM
for the first time and it was amazing.

Friday – 12/9
Today was pretty basic. We had weekly planning which took up most of
the day. I didn't believe the MTC when they said weekly planning took
hours.......... 5 hours later I learned that it in fact does. We tried
visiting a few people but they're weren't home. We were able to visit
Fatima with a member. She is very sweet. She said she was planning on
coming to church!

Saturday – 12/10

First fresh Florida orange and it was delicious! We had a lot of doors
close in our face today but that's ok. We need bad days to appreciate
the good ones.

Sunday – 12/11
Today was the best day ever!!!!!!!!!!! One of the investigators we met
my first day CAME TO FREAKING CHURCH!!!! My companion said it was a
miracle because she hadn't been able to get anyone to come to church
in several weeks. All week we prayed specifically and individually for
each investigator. I can TESTIFY that if you expect something, work
for it, and finally have faith that the Lord can fulfill it, ANYTHING is
possible. Faith is such a powerful tool that is often taken for
granted. My new favorite scripture is Alma 32:26-27 look it up. It's a goodie.

The church is true. I testify that it is and I can testify
that it is a church of miracles. Jesus Christ lives. He is our savior
and redeemer. Don't forget him. I love you all so much and hope you
are having a good Christmas season. If you haven't seen the churches
Christmas video look it up! It is a huge blessing to us missionaries!
We show it to everyone and it's great.

Love,
Hermana Kent

Pizza Night!

Sunday the Primary got to go sing Christmas Carols
to a Retirement Home, and we got to go!!!

BLUEBELL ICE-CREAM!!!

Hola Mi Familia!

I am here and it is beautiful!!!! Well I haven’t seen it in the daylight yet but I still love it. It is VERY humid and I know it is just going to get more so, but my skin sure loves it already! I am safe, happy, and so excited to meet my trainer and start working in my first area! I will write all details next Monday.  I love you all so much! I am so happy to finally be in the promised land. Until Monday!

 

Love,

Hermana Kent

 

 

NOTE FROM MOM:

We were able to speak with Kensington for a few minutes after she went through customs in Atlanta.  LOTS of tears were shed from both sides of the phone!  She's excited to begin her mission in Florida.  She bore a powerful testimony of prayer.  Every decision she makes since being in the MTC, large or small, she prays first to council with her Heavenly Father.  We're proud of her and our grateful for the many, many prayers offered on the behalf of missionaries.

Ultima Semana en La CCM! (11/30/16)

It is crazy how fast time goes by! Before I know it I will be on a plane to Salt Lake City! I love being a Missionary and I love this amazing Gospel!

Well it has only been a few days since I last emailed so I really don't have that much to say. Our P-day got switched to Wednesday this week because Friday we have lots of pre-field Classes. I think it is about 12 hours in a classroom. We have 3 1-hour breaks and that’s it...... I am way excited.... haha.

Mexico is beautiful! The CCM has put Christmas lights on all the Palm trees and planted Poinsettias (I apologize for my spelling). It feels super weird walking around in the End of November without a coat or anything. I miss the look of snow but definitely do not miss being cold.

We have this investigator named Yael. (It’s really just our teacher) We have been teaching him for about 3 weeks and he is very hard on us. He rarely keeps commitments. This week he told us he no longer wanted to be baptized and that he had started drinking again. We were devastated!! We shared with him some scriptures and prayed that he would receive a confirmation that the church was true. The next lesson he told us he had gone and visited his parents in Veracruz to sort some stuff out and went with them to their catholic church. As he was sitting in church he had a change of heart and realized that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was true. He realized he didn't need to know everything, but if he had faith that would be enough. He told us he wanted to be baptized and he knew that he wanted to be a part of this Gospel. He bore a very simple and sweet testimony. I was so happy!!!! The Gospel truly changes lives.

 I apologize for the short letter but there really isn't much to say! haha. My next email will be from Florida!!! I am so excited to serve my Lord and Savior and to meet the people He has been preparing to hear His Message. This Church is true! I love not having to focus on anything but the Savior and His work. I have learned to rely on Him so much! I am so grateful for the Atonement. The Book of Mormon is true! I have felt like I have been reading a completely different book since being here. There are endless amounts of answers and comforting messages. READ IT!!!!! I love you all so much and hope all is well.

Love,

Hermana Kent

Matching with Hermana Meads. 
A sister in my zone.

Elder Boyer, Elder Metcalf, Herman Lindsey
and I attempting a selfie before emailing.