CONNER'S LETTER FROM DEC 23, 2015
Merry Christmas everybody! I hope all of you are having a splendid Christmas season!
Funny
Stories: On Thursday this past week we had a thing called TRC which I
have no Idea what it stands for but it's when we have a lesson with
members of the Church that are actually from Denmark! So me and my
companion were teaching an old man about prayer and I asked him to read
ten verses out of the Book of Mormon. He grabbed the book from me and
squinted at the words, and then said (in danish) "My eyes are bad in my
old age. I can't read this very well. Can you read it?" This was
literally my worst nightmare because pronunciation in Danish is
RIDICULOUS! My teachers literally tell me to pretend I have a potato in
my throat.... Yeah, it's rough. So I had FAITH and I began to read the
verses.... One verse and 30 seconds later he shook his head and started
to laugh. Then he said "Give that book back to me." Then he read the
verses..... #humbled.
Another
story!! Me and my companion were teaching an investigator yesterday and
we were explaining the Atonement to him. I was hardcore feeling the
spirit and I started to explain how when Christ was on the Earth he was
killed by his own people for our sins. However, my Danish is obviously a
little rough so I sincerely declared to him that JESUS CHRIST KILLED
OTHERS FOR OUR SINS. When the investigator started cracking up, I
realized that something was wrong. He said "I'm pretty sure Jesus was
not a murderer." Yeahhhh.... Oh well.
This
week has been tough. I'm literally so humbled everyday here and I
realize that I can not do this ALONE! Thank you so much for all of your
prayers!!
We
had a devotional last night and Larry H. Neilsen spoke (I'm not sure if
I got his name right). It was amazing! The spirit was so strong and he
spoke about an experience he had in KAZAKHSTAN where he went to a
meeting to discuss getting missionaries into the country! He said that
there was a Jewish Rabbi, a Baptist Minister, and a Catholic Dude and
they were asking him how in the world the church can get 85,000 18 and
19 year olds to serve 2 YEAR missions across the world. They said they
can't figure out how to get their youth to church. No offense to my
Non-Lds friends reading this, but the answer to that is THAT THE CHURCH
OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS IS THE RESTORED GOSPEL OF JESUS
CHRIST ON THE EARTH! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!
I will send some pics soon! It's super difficult with these computers to do anything....
Ældste Kennedy
CONNER'S LETTER FROM DEC 16, 2015
Quick
funny story. When I was teaching an investigator earlier this week it
was time for me to say a prayer at the end of an awesome lesson... I
already knew what I was going to say so when it came time, I was
prepared. I said normal prayer up until I said "Hjaelper Charlotte ved
at dig vil Svaert huns beder." I wanted to say "Help Charlotta know that
you will answer her prayers" but in Danish I prayed to have Charlotte
know that God can "HARDEN" her prayers.... Luckily she didn't get
offended. But I didn't realize I said it wrong until a few minutes after
the lesson when my companion told me.... oops.
This
week was CRAZY! I already feel like a veteran of the MTC! It has been
awesome! It is truly amazing how much I have learned in Danish. I teach
two "investigators" every day completely in Danish already! Like wow! Me
and my companion can have conversations completely in Danish! The Lord
is truly helping us learn our language!
Our
ENTIRE zone left on Wednesday except for us... It was pretty tough
saying goodbye to all of them because we had gotten so close to all of
them! But I know that they will be amazing missionaries in
Belgium/Netherlands. Because everybody left, me and my companion were
made the zone leaders of our zone, which literally means nothing because
we were the only two elders in our zone haha. However, we just got an
elder from New Zealand who came in yesterday and he's a stud... We also
get restocked with new elders in a few hours, so hopefully they're
cool.... Anyways, The work is GOING FORTH on this world and I am so
excited to be a part of it!
Merry Christmas everybody!!! Love you all!!
Ældste Kennedy
CONNER'S FIRST LETTER FROM THE MTC! DEC 9, 2015
EVERYBODY!! I'M ALIVE! First of all, you guys should all write me. But do it through www.DearElder.com
because I can read those the day you send them! You guys are all
awesome! Sooo this week was super fast! I feel like I got here
yesterday! One of the elders that I met said that every day in the MTC
feels like week, and every week feels like a day! It is so true.... My
companion is Ældste Brown. He's a total bro... We're basically the same
person. We both love basketball (Thank Goodness) and we are both excited
for the Work! We watched the same movies right before we left and it's
actually kind of ridiculous how much we like to do the same things. He
had to wait like 5 months after he opened his call to enter the MTC
too!! #tendermercy.
Anyway, not gonna lie, this has been one of the hardest weeks of my
life. My teachers only speak Danish to me and I could not understand a
single word they said on the first and second.... and third day. It was a
struggle. My companion lived in Norway for 10 months and Norwegian is
quite similar to Danish, so he had a pretty good headstart. I expected
this language thing to be easy, but for some reason Himmelske Fader
(Heavenly Father) is making this really difficult for me. I have never
been so humble in my life.... I know that I can't do this alone! I have
been working so hard trying to learn the language and it is slowly
coming!!! I can probably understand like 60-70% of what my teachers say
now, but it's only because they talk to us like we're 3 years old. Oh
well, I have the faith that I will learn it!
I
have some awesome zone leaders.... Elder Sutherland and Elder Mancer.
Sutherland is from California and Mancer is from England! They are
awesome missionaries and they are so fun to hang out with! I've already
gotten so tight with all the Elders in my zone, even though they are all
leaving for Belgium next week! It's kind of a bummer, but its Aight.
So
we have gym time every morning and me and my companion have played
basketball every time. We always play these Elders going to Costa Rica
and Baltimore, and we wreck them. We're only allowed to play 3 on 3
which kind of stinks but it cool. Yesterday we played our games to 11
and in the second game we played I scored all 11 points....
#BlessingsFromTheMissionAlready.
I
truly love it here! The spirit is so strong and you always feel good!
Sooo, we got this German Elder in our companionship who was supposed to
leave yesterday but, because of medical reasons, he has to stay another
ten days. We're already tight, but he already has to leave because he
has to be with all of the new German Elders who came in today! Oh well.
Right
now, me and my companion are teaching an "Investigator" who is a
Denmark Native! It's quite intimidating. She is super nice, but we don't
really know how to say anything. Whenever she asks a question I
literally just say "Jeg ved at Mormons Bog er Sand!" which means I know
the Book of Mormon is true.... I'm a great question answerer. But
luckily my companion can do a little bit more than I can or else we
would be struggling hardcore.
I need to give a quick shoutout to Nick Emery.... You're still a stud in my heart no matter what anyone else says....
I KNOW this church is true and I'm here to help others! I KNOW this gospel changes lives and can make ANY life better!
I love all of you guys! WRITE ME! I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR LIVES!
Ældste Kennedy
My new zone!
