The good and bad of the World Cup

Hey! So Beau Barton is going to Sao Paulo? He is going to love it there! This month of June is flying by. So guess what? I was transferred. It was the last transfer of President Lanius and he transferred everyone, (well half of the mission). Now i am in Curado. My companion is Elder Ferreira, again.. so stoked. He "dies" this transfer, so he is out of his mind. 

We did have investigators that went to church in Vítoria and we marked the baptism of Sara. It was pretty sad to be transferred after marking a baptism but it's all good. We are all on the same team here. Here in Curado there is an investigator with a desire to be baptized, or so my companion tells me. I am stoked to get to know Curado and the members/investigators here. Our apartment is cool because it is literally next to the chapel. in Vítoria I had to walk 45 min to get to church. So this is an upgrade, Curado is a blessing. 

So USA blew the game at the end vs. Portugal. Brasil plays today and they have to win. 

My area is only a few miles from the stadium. So on p-day we are totally going to the stadium (I think the stadium is part of our area). So I'm preparing myself for even more world cup madness. There is also the sad but real side to the Cup and many are protesting and vandalizing several cities. I am not sure if I agree with the World Cup here. I certainly don't agree with everything, but corruption exists everywhere. Protesting is not a bad thing but protesting in the form of violence and vandalism is completely wrong! People need to learn from the example of Jesus Christ.

I love you all and I'm sending pernambuco happiness your way.

Elder Kennedy

Eventful week

Hello Family!

Recife is pretty excited about the world cup. I really respect the love that these people have for their team. It’s pretty patriotic. The roads here are all decorated with green and yellow ribbons and almost every other car has a Brasil flag on it! It has been a week of fire works and partying. Especially when Brasil opened up the 2014 world cup with a win. I saw the lame penalty but I feel Brasil still deserved the win. Today the US plays against Ghana. I’m nervous.

The opening day of the World Cup was basically a P-day. We went out to work at 9 in the morning but as you can imagine it was a bit hard. We visited some old investigators and got some decent lessons in. Then we had lunch with some awesome members and watched the game!!! After that we went home and watched the fireworks that our neighbors were letting loose in front of their house. They were all partying in front of the house listening to music and celebrating the win. I have to send pics, I’m just slow. Everywhere I look someone has a Brasil jersey on. kkkk

The temple was awesome! It was such a great session with my zone. We had Burger King before the session, which was nice. The temple was sweet. It’s been about 3.5 months since the last time our zone went. Summing up this week: it was super awesome but a bit difficult to focus on the work when the subject for everyone is Futebol. We did have a successful day of knocking doors and found two investigators with a lot of potential. Unfortunately no new investigators went to church on Sunday hahaha and I doubt any of the members would go if Brasil were playing during a church meeting.

It’s crazy how big the OLIVENHAIN WARD IS. What is the frequency of the Olivenhain ward????

Joe and Renee- sick you guys got to do a La Jolla paddle out!!! Jealous. I want the beach right now and futebol. BUT all in good time. Right now I am perfectly happy where I am. Missionary work is the best subject for any meeting, it never ends!!!! You mentioned Tony Gwynn died! Noo way! That’s super sad. Also, thank you for the package you sent.

The world cup has actually helped with making street contacts. When people see me in the street they have a new interest in talking to foreigners so everywhere I go people ask where I’m from and if I am enjoying the World Cup. It’s been a real good missionary opportunity to share with people exactly what I do, which is helping others come unto Christ.

I love you all so much and am praying for you all.

Boa copa pra todos!!!!!

Love,

Elder Kennedy

Joe: That’s cool you like Aston Villa. I really like them too!! Arsenal is the best of course, but respect homey!!! Renee is a barn for liking Chelsea, worst team ever behind Man U!!! hahah

World Cup

Hey! So my new Mission President comes in on the 24th of June. Yeah, so the World Cup is going to start up this week. Pretty crazy. But 50% of the people are excited and the other 50% don’t even care because of all the politics that went into it.

So, this past week was cool. But we didn’t have much success/time to work in our area. I went to Recife three times (Thursday-Saturday). Thursday was a Zone Conference with President Lanius and the other two days I was in a division with Elder Hatch who has a gnarly toe infection. The foot doctor is in Recife. The good news is that we still had two investigators come to church. Leninha and Ángela. One needs to be married first in order to be baptized. So we are working on that. Angela is gaining a testimony still. Wednesday we will go to the Temple as a Zone and the next day is the first game of the world cup! They are recommending that missionaries not be out working during the games or after because there will be craziness in the streets like fireworks being thrown around. The streets here are all decorated and full of Brasil banners and colors. It’s super awesome!!!! Sao Joao is around the corner.

The coolest thing that happened this week was at the conference with the President. I feel like I know my Pres. better and have more faith and trust in him. It’s sad he will be leaving soon. He opened the last two hours of Zone Conference up for questions in relation to doctrine or his personal life and it was super epic!

I love you all so much. These next five months are going to go by too fast. Next week I’ll try and write more ;)

Love,

Elder Kennedy

9 days until the World Cup

Dear Awesome people,

This computer is super slow. Also, there is a USA game that will be played in Recife. Super cool! I got the package Mom and Renee sent- well not yet, I will get it tomorrow during our District meeting. But they called to tell me that it arrived haha. I love you all so much!

This week was a super spiritual one. We had a ton of awesome lessons and some crazy special activities to spark peoples interest in the Book of Mormon. Here in the center of Vitoria there is a big park between two really old and nice Catholic Church's. So this week the Elders from the Vitoria branch and eu e meu companheiro had a Book of Mormon stand with a big old poster of Christ visiting the americas and information about the Book of Mormon. At night on the weekends this park is full of people and tons walked by interested and wanted to know more because the majority of people have never heard of the Book of Mormon. It was such a great activity and I am sure it will continue every weekend. 

We have tons of fresh people to teach. Also this Saturday or next I will begin teaching English for free at 7:00 pm at the church if any of you would care to join me and sharpen your English skills hahaha. I can't wait and I know the Lord will bless us with even more opportunities to open our mouths and share the Gospel. I know this is Christ's church and that his love is infinite. Keep up the good work and be a light unto the world. I only have a few months left on my mission and I am trying to finish strong!

All of my love,

Elder Kennedy

P.S. Tell Uncle Steve Happy Birthday for me.