I stayed standing.

Well, I am two hours into consecration week and I am still alive!!  Ha... but, seriously.  I love Hungarian.  Last week my companion and I had three days where we spoke just Hungarian.  It is definitely really hard, but I love speaking it.  I am so grateful that I have been able to learn so much and that I can grow.  Naturally, speaking a new language is difficult, but with the Lord, it will happen.  We started in the Celestial Room in the temple, and we will end in the Celestial Room in the temple.  Kind of a nice way to start and end something I think.  My favorite part about going to the temple is the BREAKFAST!  I had been fasting, so I was so excited to eat, and when I got in line I realized that the man wouldn't understand a word that I said!  So, instead of asking Motra Hoover, who is going to Albanian and can kind of figure out what I am saying, I just did it myself!  The man that was helping me was so fun.  I wanted hashbrowns, bacon, and a waffle.  So, I said it in Hungarian and pointed.  He then told me, remember this for next time--Hashbrowns and bacon.  He said it really slow so I could understand, and then he asked me where I am from.  When I said I was from Brigham City, oh.  The look on his face was priceless.  He looked stunned and confused and then some Elder behind me just said, she is only speaking her language.  It was really sweet.  And breakfast was delcious.  He even made a smiley face on my waffle with whipped cream!!!

 

So, consecration week.  I was really stressing about it, because it really is a great chance to grow and learn new things.  A lot of people give things up and make sacrifices so they can focus more on the work.  I had said in a previous letter that I was going to give up mail, but then I wondered, why?  I realized I was just going to do it because everyone else was, and logically it just made sense.  So, I really started to think about what I really wanted to get out of consecration week.  Honestly, I just want to be a better missionary!  So, I am going to apply myself better and use the time I have been given in the right ways.  I know it will be a blessing, and it will be just what I need.  It took me a week to come up with that.  It was kind of stressful...

 

I loved the wonderful letters I got this week!  I got mom's massive long email, which was perfect and precious.  I loved the imaginery tour I got to go on!  Dad, thanks so much for the words of wisdom.  You have always been a constant example to me of what patience really is, and you encouragement is the best.  Grandma, thanks for the email as well, I will be writing you a regular letter today.  And, thanks to Caitlin Robbins!  She sent me Elder Robbins most recent letters, and it was really great to hear from him and how things are going.  Turns out in Mexico you can sleep on a hammock.  What?!  I doubt I will have anything like that in Hungary...

 

Oh.  Dad.  I was reading my scriptures, and I came across D&C 20:70.  It says something like, you should bless infants in the Father's name.  I had always remembered that was important to you, and I finally found the scripture that says it!  Maybe you already knew... but now I have a scripture for it.  Scripture's teach doctrine.  I wish I was better versed in the scriptures... Definitely my biggest downfall.  I also wanted to share Ether 6:7, something about conversion.  I write down in my planner what I want to talk about... and I honestly have no idea what that scripture is talking about right now... but I obviously thought it was good enough to share.

 

Motra Hoover, Perkins nover, and I sang in Relief Society on Sunday!  It was so incredible.  When we auditioned we were told that we were a yes, but it didn't mean that we would get to sing or anything like that, it was just that we would be put in the stack of performers.  That same day we each got a letter in the mail saying that we were going to be singing in Relief Society!  It was so great!  We had practiced a lot, and were soo nervous, but it was the most at peace feeling I have ever had when I was going to sing.  I really felt the spirit, and I knew he was comforting me and helping me be my best.  Lots of people thanked us for the song, and one sister told me that she had cried during it.  Motra Hoover had recorded it, and we did fine, but I didn't think it was anything spectacular.  Proof again--the Holy Ghost moves people.  The spirit is what touches and changes people's lives.  Not me.  I am just the vessel that is used to take the gospel to God's children.  I love being a missionary.

 

Oh.  So, we leave in less than two weeks!!  Here is my recommendation for mail.  Don't know if it matters, but here are my thoughts.  If any wants to send me a Dear Elder, don't send it after Thursday, Sept. 7, I think it is.  They don't deliver any of those on the weekends, and we can't pick them up until Monday night... and hopefully we will be gone by then.  The post office likes to forward letters to the missionaries, but since I am in Europe it is more expensive, so letters will be returned.  That is something to think about.  Oh.  And... sorry siblings... but I can't remember anyone's phone number!!  So, if I could just get those, maybe I can call everyone just to say hi from the airport.  I am not really sure what the time will be like, but I would like to have everyone's information just in case I have the time.  Wouldn't that be the nicest thing from me?  I know, I am great :)

 

Steven B. Allen spoke to us at the Fireside on Sunday.  He had different people stand up, and that was kind of cool.  He had all of the sisters stand up, so I did.  In our zone there is only 3 sisters now, and we are all in a companionship together, so we kind of cheered silently.  Then he asked us to keep standing if our mother's had served missions, so I kept standing.  There was a lot of sisters that sat down, but surprisingly still a lot were standing up.  There are about 500 sisters here now, maybe less since August is almost over, but it is the record high!  Anyways, there was maybe about 100 ish still standing at that point.  He then asked the sisters to stay standing whose grandmothers had served, and I stayed standing.  It was so cool.  Probably 15 people were still standing.  Maybe he wanted us to only stay standing if our grandmothers had served in their twenties, but heck, my grandma was a single proselyting sister, and that is the same thing to me.  I am so grateful for all of the amazing women in my life that have set such great examples to me or the importance of missionary work.  I love missionary work.  I love my mission.  I am absolutely terrified to go to Hungary, but I know without a shadow of a doubt, that God will me the strength that I need as long as I am doing what I need to.  I realized I have had the desire to be a missionary my whole life, and now that I am here I am realizing my desire isn't to be a missionary, but to serve people.  To love the people of Hungary.  What a great thing.

 

Szeretlek!!!!!

Kennedy nover

Budapest, Hungary

2 Month Recap

Can you believe Caroline has been gone 2 months tomorrow?! Time sure flies by. These are pictures from her departure and we wanted to share them all! Caroline is doing great and as her family we are so excited to see her so excited about her work.

Setting apart: President Smith, Sister Kennedy, President Ferry and President Iverson

Nancy, Ken, Chelsea, Andrew, Sister Kennedy President Ferry, Grandma, Daniel, and Leah

JUMP!

Leaving for New York, the U, and Hungary

Well, hello Elders.

Thank you for all your support in reading this blog and also writing Caroline! It's so fun to update the blog and see how many wonderful people read it, and want to be involved in Caroline's journey. Love you all!

I LOVE TEMPLES

Hello family!!

I hope that everything is going fantastic.  Today is such a beautiful day.  We walked to the temple to do initiatory early, like normal, but today there was no sun!  Pretty crazy that it is so dark now.  The flower smelled beautiful and the smell of the rain about to drop is just what I need.  I love the rain.  On long days in the classroom, all I want to do is stand out in the rain and feel it fall upon my face!  But, it doesnt rain that often in the middle of Utah.

I am so excited to hear all of the news going on at the temple!  What an exciting adventure the people of Brigham City get to participate in.  I cannot wait to go in!  I don't know if I have said this before, but i really want to be a temple worker when I get home.  There are a handful of young sisters serving here and I think it is the absolute best thing.  I would love the hear even more about the temple.  I LOVE TEMPLES!  Mom, Dad, I hope you have a fantastic time volunteering tomorrow morning.

 

Dad, I am glad to hear you are out and about travelling and doing stuff for work.  Somebody's got to be earning money to pay tithing to help support the Church, am I right?  It is so weird to think that I have literally given up almost everything for the next 18 months... Wow.  I mean, 16 months.  But, I never get this time back, so I am working as hard as I can to be good.  Last night, Neil L. Andersen came and spoke to us.  It was really fun.  Because yesterday was President Monson's birthday, we sang happy birthday, and then Elder Andersen taught us things that he thought the Prophet would want us to know.  After devotionals we always get together and we talk about what we learned and what we were impressed by.  Our Branch President, President Oswald, shared some really great scriptures.  One of the points that Elder Andersen said was, Let the Lord shape your back.  We talked about it for a bit, and then President Oswald shared Mosiah 24:14-25.  Life is hard.  Our burdens may never go away, but God has promised to help us.  So, I am looking this week to see any burden in my life and how the Lord can help lift it.  I recommend everyone try it.  Who knows?  Maybe the Lord will help you.  Oh.  And then we were talking to Sister Oswald, and that was really neat!  She has a grandson on a mission in... Croatia?  And he comes home next month.  She is so proud of him and tells great stories.  She has a picture of him in her journal that she takes notes in, and it is a picture of him just walking away into the MTC--so only the back of him.  And she said to me, do you think he had any idea what path he was really taking when he walked in those doors?  Do you think he really knew where his journey would take him?  And then we talked about how cool it will be to look back on the mission and see the journey.  See the progress.  That is what the gospel is all about--progress.  It is an individual thing, and I can only compare myself to... me.  But it is such a blessing!  In Preach My Gospel there are a bunch of quotes from every prophet on missionary work.  President Hinckley said, "Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibilty as is my obligation in my sphere."  I love it.  No matter what our calling or what our duty is, we need to fulfill it, and God can help us!  wow.  The gospel is neat!

 

So... Last week!  i am doing laundry when i got a call from the District President... I was terrified!  I had no idea what it was for!!  But, it was just to get all of the things sorted out for the Hungarian sister in Ogden.  Luckily everything got sorted out and I just took the stuff into the main office and they got it all sent to her!  Thanks so much for the great help.

 

Tomorrow is an exciting day.  Perkins nover, Motra Hoover, and I are all auditioning for a musical number!  They perform in devotionals and meetings and such.  We are excited and nervous.  Naturally.  Tomorrow is also the second day that I will be speaking only Hungarian.  We had our first total Hungarian day yesterday, and it was really difficult.  It is so easy for me to compare myself to everyone in my district.  They all have a lot of really great strengths so I just feel mediocre and average, but it's okay!  I am still learning a lot, and although speaking Hungarian is really draining, it is a blessing, and I know it is helping me so much.  I will say this though, it was weird waking up this morning and just talking in English.  I loved it.

 

Oh!  I have never really talked about gym.  So a couple of weeks ago during daily planning, I thought, yeah!  i am totally going to love and respect my body!  So I started legit working out.  I know I had already mentioned that I had done a bunch of sit ups, but it's been really cool!  Miller Elder, in my district, loves working out!  And there is a building here that has a ton of weights and bikes and some weird exercise video, and so he started showing me how to lift weights and such!  Don't be too nervous, I promise I haven't bulked up... yet!  Ha... I can only bench like... 20 lbs...  But is has been so great.  Motra Hoover and I love gym now!  We ride bikes and run.  i know.  Who have I become?!  i love it though!  I feel so good.  Motra Hoover and I decided to go outside and run, because it was a pretty day, and there was literally no one on the field.  Way weird.  So, we decided to play soccer!  I haven't played soccer in such a long time.  It was really fun, and Motra Hoover taught me how to kick a ball.  It was so much fun!

 

I absolutely love being on a mission.  Can't believe that I am going to leave the MTC someday... it feels like I will be serving here forever!  I know that Heavenly Father's plan for us is real, and that there is a reason that I have been called to serve in Hungary.  There is a reason I have been in the MTC for 12 weeks.  There is a reason I was born into the family that I have.  I am blessed with my experiences for a reason and I know that they can only make me better.  One day, I will find out some of these reasons, but who knows, maybe I won't find out for awhile and I will just have to be patient.  Patience... that is something I think everyone needs to work on.

 

Szeretlek!!

Kennedy nővér

Chocolate milk=csoki té

August 15, 2012

  

     Thanks for forwarding that great message from Bro. Montgomery!  I love his letters and I absolutely love the pictures.  They are really beautiful.  I can't wait to get back and go into that beautiful temple!  I really want to be a temple worker.  I think that would be really cool.  I love temples.  A lot.  Everyone should go.  A lot.  We did initiatory work today and it was fantastic.  We did some Hungarian and French names.  YAY!  It was really great.  Have I ever mentioned the love eating breakfast at the temple?!  Today I had an Italian quiche with hot chocolate and hashbrowns.  So delicious.

     I watched a really good Mormon message this week--It is called Stay Within the Lines.  It is taken from Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, but I don't know which one.  It is fantastic and really lays down the law on how we need to live chaste lives.  Super good.  Everyone should watch it.  Especially all of the young men that are preparing to go on missions.

     Elder Sullivan came and found me during his last MTC devotional on Sunday.  He gave me a handshake and said, this is for Rachel, and then asked that I tell her hello.  So, hello!  Just so you know, he wanted to write you back, but he didn't quite have time with all of the final preparations of things.  Packing and laundry and such.  Turns out leaving is really stressful, and there isn't as much time as one might want.

    OH!!!  On Sunday, Perkins nover had to get to a meeting and I was still eating, so I was just going to go sit with my Albanian companion, Motra Hoover.  As I was walking I hit my tray into the wall, right where the window was.  I watched as my full glass of chocolate milk spilled ENTIRELY on the clean, white drape.  So embarrassing.  It was, literally, a full glass of chocolate milk.  Luckily, it was in a paper cup, so there was no glass or anything, but oh man.  There was chocolate milk everywhere.  There was a group of Elders going to the Phillipines right next to me, and Elder Gibson, I think, got right up and started helping me clean it up.  I was embarrassed, but I tried to be really graceful and pretend it wasn't a big deal.  We got most of it soaked up with napkins and then while I went to tell one of the workers that something had happened he finished cleaning it up.  I later saw him at the temple walk and thanked him again.  He was really great to help me so quickly!  My favorite part of the story--Four days later, and the chocolate milk stained curtain is still there.  It really does make me so happy, even if it is really lame!

     I can't believe our family is literally living all across the United States!  It is very exciting.  Andrew and Matthew.  Get involved with your wards right away!  And then, get involved with the work.  Start looking for people in the ward that you can serve and find the people that are less active and need to be found.  David F. Evans spoke to us on Tuesday, and he read Luke 15.  Read it, and think about how you can find that person that is lost.  There are so many different examples of what it means to be lost in the church--nonmember, inactive, or maybe just unsensitive to the teachings of the spirit.  When we have compassion on the people around us, we are able to testify of God's love in the most beautiful and simple way.  Help everyone!  We keep being told that Hungary needs finders.  We need to find what is lost and help them to know where they belong.

     So, it is week 2 in my second planner.  Week 3 will come and go in a breeze, and then I start week 4.  Concecration week starts on that Wednesday, and will carry on until week 5.  I will probably give up mail or something like that... so if you want to send me a package... please don't delay!!  After concecration week ends on that Wednesday, we have In-Field Orientation on Friday, pack our bags, and I think we leave that Monday on week 6.  AHHHHH!  I was in the shower the other day, and it suddenly hit me.  I can't go on a mission!!  What am I thinking??  Going out and living in Hungary for 15 months and telling people what I know and love?!  How could I go on a mission?  And then I realized, it's too late now!  I am already on one :)  Time is just going by so quickly.  I love the MTC!!  Leaving it seems really, really scary.

     This week in my personal reflection, I started thinking about how I would hate to be anybody else.  I just started thinking about how I really love who I am, and I really love my family, and I really love my friends, and I just thought it would be really lame to be anyone else.  I am so grateful for all of the things that God has given me in my life so that I am comfortable and confident with who I am.  It is amazing how important my mission call is to me.  Hungary means so much to me.  I believe that, just as I was called to Hungary, we have been called to our families and to the lives that we really are living.  This life is a test and we should constantly strive to be our best in everything we do.  I really think it would be too bad to die with a huge list of "to-dos" or if we died with regrets.  I don't know if that makes sense... but I thought about that a little this week.

    On Sundays we take assessments, and this week we had to update our mormon.org profile.  So, I went to the main page and then I went onto Meet Mormons, because I like to see if I know anyone.  This week I saw Hannah McVey's profile!!!  They only put about 25 up everyday, and I was so excited to see it!!  Someone, anyone, tell her that I love her and miss her and that I hope she is killing her bucket list for this year!!

I love you all!  I wouldn't be who I am without you.  That is true for anyone reading this.

Kennedy nővér

I sat on the front row in choir.

      This week was such a treat!  To start off with:  Mom!  Thanks so much for the package.  I love the shoes and everything in it.  So... there is a pair of shoes and the leather is different colors.  I noticed it the first day I wore them... and then the next day I thought, I can still wear them even if they don't match.  Um... I don't know if I can, but I will buy some polish today from the bookstore and hopefully I can make them the same color.  I also want to thank everyone that has sent me their heart felt testimonies!  I have loved reading them, and the best part about it being on a postcard, is it has to be simple.  They are super great.

 

     The weeks are all the same now, and I feel the only thing that changes is when someone in our district says something funny.  Which, is always really good.  We worked really hard this week to recognize and teach with the spirit.  It was a really cool experience working one on one with an investigator, really it was someone in our district just role playing, and talking to them.  Finding out what scares them, what set backs might be in their progression, and then instead of teaching them directly, letting the spirit testify to them.  It was really cool.  I am really growing to love our district, and I imagine them as my happy and cute little family.  We get along really well most of the time, and the other times don't happen very often.  That is good stuff :)

 

    This is the new word I learned this week:  patogató kukorica.  Dad.  I hope you use this word all of the time!  It means popcorn.  I love popcorn.  They have microwaves here and you can buy a bag to pop in a vending machine and make it right there!  Isn't the world fascinating?!  Popcorn in a vending machine?!  Neato!

 

     Grandma, I got your email.  Thank you so much for sending it to me!  I also got your Dear Elder and your snail mail.  You win for the person to have written me the most this week!  Go you!  Expect a real letter in the next couple of days.  I liked that you mentioned President Uchdorf's Forget Me Not talk.  I actually had just read that on Sunday.  It is such a good talk.  I read it mostly because I had remembered the last section was to not be hard on yourself, but then when I read the whole thing I realized it was pure gold, and I was so grateful for it.  Thanks for reminding me about Grandpa.  I wish I had known him better in this life, but it is nice that he can go with me and be an angel to me while I serve in Hungary.  Plus!  One day I can get to know him in the after life.  I think that will be the best day--when I am able to meet all of my ancestors and thank them for the sacrifices and positive examples.  So cool.

 

     Best of luck to everyone in my family that is moving and settling in.  Andrew and Chelsea--Mom sent me some updates from your trip.  Sounds great!  I hope that you get back to 'Merca safely.  Matthew--Please.  Go see Newsies on Broadway.  I can't remember if it is playing... but I do remember that is one of your favorite movies.  Oh.  And have fun living in New York!  Rachel--Your place sounds fun and so cute.  Make sure to send me pictures.  Daniel and Leah--I just didn't want you to feel left out... but!  I want to hear about your garden.  I don't know why, I just do.  And parents--Be safe in Peru!

 

     If anyone reading this goes to the Brigham City Temple Open House, I would love for you to write me and tell me all about it!  Tell me about the spirit your felt, how pretty it was, if you invited someone to go with you--what their thoughts were.  I really want to be involved even though I can't be.

 

    My throat has still been really swollen and I promised Watts nővér last week that if I still didn't feel good this week that I would go to the doctor.  So i did.  And you know what!?  We got to cross the street and go the BYU health clinic.  I am fine.  But, we took steps into the real world!!  The MTC is funny because everyone feels so trapped... but we all chose to come here... and although there is a fence around the campus it isn't like we are being locked in.  Oh people and their silly attitudes and weird perspectives on life.

 

     We have firesides every Sunday and Tuesday.  The choir performes on Tuesday and it is really fun.  The Elders in our district like to be to choir practice early, which is fine for them, but when we show up early we sit on the front row.  YIKES!  These sweet secretaries always ask us, and you can't say no to someone who is trying to help you have a positive experience as a missionary.  So, for the last two weeks, we have sat on the front row.  This week Motra Hoover and I gave the prayers.  Front row.  I love the choir though.  It is really fun.  Everyone should do it.

 

     I am so grateful for the love that my Savior has for me.  I know that Christ is my Savior and that it is because of His Atonement that I can return to live with my Heavenly Father for forever.

 

     Welp!  We get two new Elderek going to Hungary...  So we need to find the Elderek in our district so we can camp out and shout Hungarian phrases at the new Elders when they show up.  When I showed up to the MTC that is what the older district did for us.  It was terrifying... and exciting.

 

Hermana Rhiannon Johnson says, ''Les amo mucho.''

 

    I love you and and am so honored to know you and to have you in my life!  If you want a cool challenge for the week--I challenge you to pray to REALLY have the Holy Ghost in your life this week.

Szeretlek,

Kennedy nővér

I LOVE MY FAMILY

August 1, 2012

     Wow.  What a crazy week!  I just finished reading all of your email and I am so glad to hear all of the great news.  I love the family reunion, and I really was so sad to miss it.  My companions, Perkins nővér and Motra Hoover, played horseshoe with me, just so I could remenise... Umm... I know that isn't spelled correctly.... but for the life of me, I can't remember how to spell it...  Mom, I am glad to hear that 4H is as crazy as ever.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  Sometimes those sergers are terrible demons, sent to destroy, and it sounds like that happened.  I am happy for all of the girls that are doing 4H.  It taught me so many wonderful things about who I am and it helped me become confident and capable.

 

     I am so excited to hear all of the news about the Brigham City temple.  People keep asking me if I want updates on the Olympics.  Nope.  Don't care.  Tell me ALL about the temple though!!  I am so excited to go in there, and I am pretty sure it is the only thing I really miss right now.  Mom.  Dad.  Please tell me all of your experiences that you have talking to people.  AH!  That is so incredible.  You can testify so strongly of God's love for us.  Because He loves us, He gave us families, the most fantastic thing we could ask for.  And, what makes this gift even sweeter, He provided a way for us to live with our families FOREVER!  Now, that is some exciting stuff to talk about.

 

     So...  I have the sinking suspision (again, I don't know if that is spelled right) that Daniel isn't reading my emails... but if he wants my bike, he can have it, he just has to buy it.  I will sell it to him for how much I bought it for.

 

     OH!  Big shout out to Dawna and Danicka.  Techincally, I don't know who Danicka is... but it is what the box said.  Jk.  Thanks Darricka.  They sent me a box with two donuts, a cinnamon roll, and a cookie.  So delicious.  I had a really bad day, and then I looked, and behold, a package?!  Anyways, I don't know how to get in contact with them, so if someone could just text them and say thanks, it was a much needed treat on a really hard day.

 

     I keep seeing people that Rachel knows.  It makes me feel so popular.  I saw Kage Allen, and he seems to be doing really well, just learning the language.  I also see Elder Perrenoud a lot.  We only speak Hungarian at meal times, and that is the only time I see the people I know... so most of them have gotten really good at saying hello.  Lesson time?  Okay.  Hogy mondjak (How do you say)  good day:  jó napot.  good day, formally, literally meaning good day I wish: jó napot kÍvánnok. hello: szervusz, szia, halo.  goodbye: szervusz, szia, halo.  i don't know, probably the thing I say most: nem tudom.

 

     I am so grateful and so blessed to have the teachers that I have.  I know that each one of them is here for a reason, and I selfishly believe that reason is for me.  Everything they do and say inspires me to do better.  The language is still super difficult, but I am starting to respond in Hungarian, and I can think in Hungarian.  I am trying to memorize 15 words a day.  I feel behind in memorization, but I can testify of Jézus Krisztus, and that is where it is at.  I know that serving in Hungary will be one of the most difficult things that I ever do, but because of Christ's Atonement I know that I can be made strong and do all of the things that I need to.

 

     MTC life is the same, week after week, same schedule.  Being Coordinating Sister has been nice because I get to go to meetings and meet the new missionaries in our Zone.  We have 9 new sisters coming in today!!!  I hear that there are going to 100 new sisters that come in this week and that will bring our numbers around 450.  There should be about 2,900 missionaries here in the next couple of weeks.  The work is growing, and I am so excited to be apart of it.  I have realized that I am becoming awkward.  Oh no!  The Zone Leaders and I are in the same district.  We had a meeting and one of the zone leaders didn't need to come, and we were already late and so I walked alone with this Elder to the meeting.  It was terrifying.  Nem sabad (not allowed).  We hurried to the meeting as quick as we could, and we were both freaking out.  Kind of funny... but I am really glad that I am starting to see a change in who I am and how I behave.  Oh.  And, I have gotten very lady like, and I feel like I sit very well in skirts.

 

     A group of Achievement Day girls, I don't know if that is what they really were, were at the temple this morning.  I got so excited to see them, and I just said hi.  They smiled really big and Perkins nővér said that I just set an example.  It was really cool.  I am so grateful for everyone that set such a great example to me--all of my leaders, friends, family, and my mom and dad!  I pray for you everynight and I hope that the Lord smiles kindly upon you!!!

 

Szeretlek,

Kennedy nővér

Best P-Day at the MTC

July 25, 2012

    Today has been the best P-day thus far because... we finally got to go to the temple!  It closed for cleaning the day that we got here and we haven't been able to go yet.  A couple of districts were able to go and clean.  We didn't have that opportunity, but we got to go today and it was perfect.  I love the temple.  I wish everyone could go and draw themselves nearer to God.  I also decided when I get home, maybe I could be a temple worker!  That would be quite neat!  And, the Hungarian district is done speaking Hungarian all of the time, so that is refreshing to hear English come out of their mouths.

    Can I have some family history stories sent to me?  I would love to read them and to share them with people I meet.  Ones about working hard, faith, diligence, anything!  And, if people would send me memories of grandparents that would be awesome too.  And.  If anyone has any thoughts of the night I got set apart or the day I went into the temple for my own endowment I would like those thoughts as well.

    This week I realized that I am extremely blessed in the fact that I don't care about things.  If I go a day without makeup, it's okay.  I don't care.  If it rains and my hair is ruined, it's okay, I don't care.  When the food is not the best some people really complain about it, and I really don't care.  Right now I feel like there are so many other things to care about, and I am glad that you taught me how to have the right focus in my life.

     My teacher says that I say the darndest things.  And, it's true.  I try to speak Hungarian... but most of the time I get things wrong.  Examples?  Okay!  While testifying of the Book of Mormon I told him, "I love you Book of Mormon."  He thought it was funny.  The next lesson I really wanted to tell him that God will bless him, I think I was talking about prayer, anyways, this is what I said, "God will sacrifice you."  He asked if I meant bless, and in my best Hungarian I said yes.  He brought it up in class later.  Way funny.  The language is coming really slowly, but I am learning so much and I am really enjoying the time that I have here.  Can you believe I have been out a month and I'm not even half way done in the MTC?  Ha.  Our second group of English sisters will be leaving Tuesday...  and I will be seeing them off.

     I have been doing sit ups and counting in Hungarian for practice.  If you are interested to know my highest number, go ahead and Google Translate száz.  You will be impressed.  I know I was.

     Oh!  I got a calling.  I am the Coordinating Sister.  This means that I introduce the new missionaries that come on Wednesday and on Thursday I teach them about stuff... I do this with the Zone Leaders, D'Angina Elder and Decker Elder, who are in my district.  I also see of the sisters in our zone and make sure they get checked out alright.  Two sisters are leaving at 4:00 a.m.!!  But, it will be fun to see them off.  We all live in the same room, and so we really are like sisters!  I was called as Coordinating Sister on Sunday and had meeting right away.  My normal casual Sunday was no longer casual, but full of meetings and learning.  By the end of the day I just missed my companion.

     On Sunday the speaker focused on Come, Come Ye Saints.  It was really cool, inspired by Pioneer Day, I am sure, but he had us sing it three times and it was really moving.  Sing through it, and think about how it relates to missionary work.  I really liked this line, which is really well known, Come, come ye saints, no toil nor labor fear.  Cool, right?  I realized I don't need to be afraid.  There is no reason for it.  I decided, if the pioneers can walk to Utah then I can go on a mission.  Technically, I am already on one, but I can keep going with faith.  Awesome.

     I am leaning so much and I am grateful for all of the things I learned at home.  Parents.  Thanks for trusting me and for letting me make my own decisions.  I appreciate it so much.  I am glad for how you raised me and for the lessons you taught me without speaking.

    I love you all so much.  Thanks so much for the prayers and the support.  Everyday I keep feeling better and better and I keep feeling God's love more abundantly in my life.  I hope that you can all feel this same love.  Make it a commitment to study the scriptures and go to church.  Not just because people tell you to, or because I want you to, but because you have the desire to do it.  I have been thinking a lot about desire lately.  How do you gain a desire?  I don't technically know the answer to that... but I know that I have a desire to be on a mission.  I want it.  I am focused on it.  Psalms 37:4 and Psalms 145:19

Szeretlek!

Kennedy nővér