Getting adjusted to Kiribati-Looks like Elder Kennedy is doing FINE!

Hahaha last Sunday it rained soooooooo hard. Pretty much I might as well have gotten out of the pool. We were soaked allll day. It was sad though because when it rains no one leaves the house they just sleep all day so none of our investigators came... but it was a fun day tromping around in the rain!

Thanks to Granny and Grandpa for this tropical downpour proof bag!

 Let’s see here. First of all how important the Book of Mormon is. My favorite thing is telling investigators how it all relies on the Book of Mormon. If they honestly and earnestly take the time to read it and want to know if it’s true I promise anyone anywhere can receive an answer of the truth. It’s so simple it’s crazy. I love how easy it is to teach people the restored gospel just because it makes so much sense. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the exact same church that Jesus made when he lived on the earth. The world went and changed His doctrine based on their own personal opinions and reasons. But the thoughts of man is not the thoughts of God. I also love teaching the plan of salvation. The opportunity to live on this earth with bodies that we can truly use our agency for good or for evil. Agency is everything. When we use our agency for right, we are truly free. Free from sin, free from guilt, true unadulterated freedom. My favorite analogy is how the devil likes to lead people with a flaxen cord. When we are living without the gospel, everyone loves to use their agency to do whatever whenever. We feel free because we feel like we have no master except our own desires. But it is not true freedom. When we sin we blunt our ability to feel. It’s like playing a piano with boxing gloves. But, when we partake of the Atonement we take off those boxing gloves and are able to feel love, and sadness, more intensely. To be able to truly feel is one of the greatest gifts we can allow ourselves.

There is so much to feel and so much to choose in the world. The sunsets here and just Kiribati is heaven on earth. It is soooo beautiful. Even though we can litter freely here because there is no such thing as a trash can which is really nice honestly, just taking in the beauty of life has no comparison. Happiness and true confidence comes from living the gospel and keeping our covenants. It’s called the Plan of Happiness for a reason. God wants us to be happy. He has showed us how we can be happy, but like all things, happiness is a choice. Where will we find happiness. Happiness from the world? Fleeting, momentary pleasure that we can get from the world's standards? Or true joy and confidence that comes from a committed life. A true man or woman who is strong in the ways of the gospel has no comparison. The sheer power that radiates from our mission president was amazing. He is pretty much goals. I love the gospel and the work --peace out.

Well, week two down!! You can put as much info in the blog as you want really! Up to you. Also tell Sam that the funnest part of turnabout is the group! If he doesn't go in a group it won't be nearly as fun. Well lets see, for starters it was the fastest week of my life... I blinked and I'm back at pday (preparation day) already. And yes i have been stretching every day!!! My sitting cross legged has vastly improved. I can usually sit anywhere for quite a while, and the cramps are only intense after I stand are getting way better. I'm getting these awesome calluses on my feet like all over, the guys that have been here forever have crazy feet. Some missionaries have went months without shoes on outers because it's unnecessary so I'm pumped to try that at some point! 

So the house in the picture is called a booya and that's what everyone here lives in mostly. Tarawa is super rich in comparison to outers though so I wouldn't say I’ve experienced true Kiribati quite yet. I'll probably be here for 12 week total in Tarawa, honestly I don't know how long but I’m happy here! I haven't been clean... ever... so I've gotten used to living dirty super fast. We didn't know we had a filter so we spent the first week drinking dirty well water!

I thought it tasted funny! Saturday the stake had a sing off! So all the wards prepared a song and dance and competed it was so awesome. They had a spiritual song, a fun song, and a funny song for every ward. It was so fun! I participated even though I wasn't 100% on what to do! It was so fun though!

I think this is at someone's house for a birthday party.

This picture shows an Elder's birthday celebration which comes later in the mission but I wanted to show you food.

What else... we went 3 days without eating pretty sure.... oops. We are too busy to eat all day and then we forget to confirm dinner so we snack hahahah it works though, I’m pretty sure the Lord is just making us not worry about it. I usually don't think about it. We had to cast out another devil last night so that was fun. Wayyyyy less intense so that was nice. The girl was like fighting it super hard and we stopped it before weird stuff started happening so huge bonus.

We have some awesome investigators. 5 have baptism dates! Some of my favorite investigators is Robetati, she speaks equal English and Kiribati so I can speak in English some it's so nice. But she is super into it. She is super on track though and honestly wants to know the truth. It was so awesome to give her a Book of Mormon and put it all on the Book of Mormon. It all rides on the Book. If it's true then everything else is too. The sweetest thing I ever heard was when she said "I will do my part and I have faith if it's true God will do His part and let me know" So essentially it's only a matter of time!

Another investigator thats awesome is This guy Parry. He is way educated which is crazy. It's so weird when you meet an actual like real person here. Not saying Kiribati people aren't smart but just the culture they are all just chillin and not American yanno.   Anyway, he is super smart and we just gave him the lesson on the Restoration yesterday and are giving him a Book of  Mormon Wednesday. So I’m pumped for that. All you have to do is read the Book and want to know and everything else falls in place. 

We have our first baptism Saturday! Her name is Euneke and she's a fireball and super pumped to get baptised. The Elders before us picked her up we finished it up so that'll be fun! I am way excited to go outer though.

OH YEAH and our mission president came in and it doesn't get more legit than him. He worked in the Pentagon for like 10 years and then quit and  he designs incredibly jacked up helicopters for princes in the middle east. And he is a Patriarch and just super awesome over all. He talked to us and it was so powerfully awesome!! He is raising the standard of excellence to 4 baptisms a month... So we have to work hard to get it done!!!!

Yeah- we usually just eat with members!!! There are stores and sometimes in the morning we go get things!! Usually we are just too busy though it's ok though I’m not dying or anything. I think a part of the not being hungry is honestly like I don't love the food yet... I enjoy eating but fish isn't my favorite food yet. I think also it's because it's the same meal cooked differently every night. All the food is this ultra fake canned stuff if you get it from the store. It works out though!!

Yeah my language has gone wayyy wayy up. Kiribati is honestly a easy language in comparison to a lot of things. I’m nowhere near competent but if someone speaks clearly a lot of times I can understand a lot and I can usually teach the main point relatively well!! On outer islands those booyas are what

people sleep in but I’m on Tarawa so right now it's a super nice house!!! By American standard it's probably the nastiest it gets but it's probably the as nice as it gets on Kiribati!!! I constantly am getting bit but it doesn't bother me a whole lot. Fortunately I've learned to bear it!!

The funnest thing is to take busses. They just drive up and down the single road in Kiribati all day so you wave one down and you climb in the cramped bus that's just bumping the cheesiest island remixes of popular songs ever. They remixed everything to be super islander and they just bump to it

Elder Miller is way nice and a good trainer!!! I have no complaints!!! Really it's all i can ask for in a companionship! We both want to be exactly obedient and to work hard constantly so really that's all we can ask for!! He's an awesome companion! HE was in the band and played the maroomba in high school so he's a band kid. It's a good time though!!!

I love eating and I eat a ton!! Sometimes we just don't have time is all!!! hahaha don't worry!!! I eat plenty!!! it's just like we snack a little in the day and then I stuff my face at dinners so it's all good!

Cody was dancing with the Kiribati in another video that is too long to post.  So until I figure out how to make it shorter you can enjoy this video from a different time. Maybe the Elder's birthday celebration????

 Here are some Ward Party Pictures:

Elder's Birthday Party

Elder's from MTC intake

District Leader/Cody's trainer Elder Miller and Elder Pearson a member of the Seventy (October 2015)

Elder Kennedy and trainer Elder Miller

Elders catching a ride 

What a week!!! It flew by but it was awesome!! There were some awesome

miracles this week and just awesome experiences. So Monday, Elder

Miller got sick at the end of the day so I let him lay down for a

couple of minutes before dinner, and we planned on going a couple of

minutes late so he could rest. So after we would have left, these

ladies came to our house and asked if we could give a blessing, and we

said yes of course. But we realized these people live like 20 minutes

walk away so we went ahead a started walking, and right when we

started someone pulled over and we climbed into the back and we were

like sweet. So we get there, give the blessing, I tried doing it in

Kiribati so that was fun. Anyways, after we started the walk back,

another person pulled over and drove us back. It was a weird series of

events but I know it was God leading us for sure!  

And then Elder

Pearson came and it was insane!!! He just went off just blowing

everyone’s minds for like 4 hours. It was honestly exhausting but

awesome. We learned a ton and got some super great tips on what we

need to do to improve!! So two things that have been super effective

is one, we pray before and after every lesson. It’s the best thing

ever, it super invites the Spirit and shows God we want to rely on him

instead of ourselves. We obviously can’t do anything by ourselves, it’s

just God working through us. So we pray a ton for guidance throughout

the day and it’s so effective. We forget to pray before some times and

the difference is black and white. One cool thing with prayer that

happened was so one guy wasn’t home so we were like who now. So we

prayed and this lady popped in my head so we went over there and she

was busy, so we were like that’s weird. So we decided to go back to the

first guy’s house and not only was he there, but two other guys were

there too now! They walked in right as we did so the timing was

PERFECT. And the two guys were both sooo solid. It was God working his

way!! 

The work here is insane. 

Kiribati is insane. 

It’s not real.

 We have over 30 investigators, at least 20 of whom will be getting

baptized next month. we have multiple baptisms every Saturday for the

next two months. We don’t know if we can handle any more investigators

because there are so many we don’t have time to teach them. It’s crazy

awesome!!! It all starts with exact obedience though. If you are not

exactly obedient you will have no success. Well-- you will always have

success in Kiribati, but to reach the full potential for sure.

Elder Pearson talked about how we have our divine identity before we came

here. Our identity now on earth is conditioned by our beliefs,

experiences, environments, and everything else. But the people we think

we are is not our true selves. It’s a weird concept but as we draw

closer and closer to God our true identity comes out more and more.

That’s the concept at least. The other crazy thing we have been doing

lately is promising people blessing in the name of Christ. It's

essentially the power slam in any lesson. Once you promise in the name

of Christ, anyone feels the power in the name and the promise. It’s

crazy the calling I have, honestly. There is ridiculous amounts of

power in it if you trust in the calling. The best thing is finding out

the promised blessing to any commitment and promising it to them and

watching it be fulfilled!

We have a ton of golden investigators who

all we have to do is teach them the lessons and baptise them. It's

almost too easy. But our teaching pool is perfect. We have every type

of person dang near. It’s so great because I get to improve and learn

in all the different ways. I’m scared for outies in that respect

because in Tarawa you have meetings and you can learn from all

different types of resources. But on outies, all you have is your

companion and the same 200 or so people on the island. Its nice to

know wherever I go is exactly where God wants me to go.   

 

One cool thing that Elder Pearson said in a testimony meeting with

the First Presidency and the Seventy, Elder Eyring  stood up and was like "I

was contemplating where God and Jesus are right this instant and what

they are doing. I know they are observing this meeting at this second,

and they are pleased. But the one thing God wants more than anything

right now, is that we let him do more" It’s like WOAHH but super

awesome. God wants to do more through us, but we have to let him. It

was perfect to look at myself as just a way God can do great things

for people here, but it takes me trusting in God all the way! It’s all

just great.

Fun things that happened this week. Hmmm well OH YEAH AT

THE ZONE CONFERENCE SOMEHOW THE SENIOR MISSIONARIES MADE BREADBOWL

BROCHILLI AND CHEESE SOUP WITH COOKIES. NO ONE HAS ANY IDEA HOW THEY

GOT IT ITS ABSOLUTLEY INSANE. AND IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOODDDD SOOOO GOOOD.

So good. So much taste and flavor. It was awesome. I’m kinda sick right

now so that’s not fun but I’m getting better!!

September 13,2015

Island life has been insane!!!! It totally has its perks. All the time it rains crazy hard. I was as wet as if i just went swimming all of yesterday. Church was crazy because no one leaves the house when it rains so a lot of our investigators didn’t show but it’s alright.

scriptures to memorize

 Let’s see. One thing I learned is that we go through trials that we can learn and grow through them. We know that the best teacher is experience and that is why we came to Earth right? That we might learn good from evil. The refiner’s fire is an everyday process. We are given trials and forks in the road so we can either strengthen ourselves our weaken ourselves. We have the agency. It’s also so amazing how through daily Atonement we become better everyday. The Plan of Salvation is so key to everything. We are here that we can receive happiness in this life and the next. While we go through hard experiences we also are here that we can receive joy. Life is a thing that we might have joy. How much more sweet is a cheeseburger after we haven’t had nothing but fish for two years. Same concept. When we struggle we grow. Working out is a process of breaking down so that they can grow. The worst thing we can be is content. The only reason people won’t earnestly seek the gospel is because they have enough. Their lives are good they are happy. They have no reason to strive for more because in their lives they have it all. We all like our agency and we don’t like when people tell us how to use it. Or at least that’s the world’s attitude. Living by the higher standard will bring more satisfaction and strength. At the last day when we stand before God we will be able to do so with strength or shame. We all always have the potential to do so with strength through the Atonement. In the scriptures even the greatest repentance stories were not easy. Changing is not easy but like it says in Mosiah ( found in the Book of Mormon) it is essential that we all make the change. We are all born of man automatically but it’s our choice to be born of God. Being born of God is true happiness. The world will offer you just that, the world and unlimited pleasure. But God offers more. Eternal exaltation. It’s our choice to take it up. Amen



 Letter to Kipp: Kiribati is awesome man!! No I haven’t gone fishing yet that’s more of an outer island thing pretty sure!!!! Once I go outer it’ll be sick for sure.




 To Mom: Hi mom it’s your son!!!! I’ve been out here working hard doin what I do!! I totally feel dead on the language it’s hard not speaking freely but its ok its a process. My understanding has gone wayyyy wayy wayy up though for sure. Like i can follow most any conversation and I can hear most the words!!! Which is vast improvement. I had one of the most insane scary experiences of my life this week. ( He tells about neighbors doing black magic on other neighbors.)

 Yes-- we did have thunderstorms. Today we got picked up and rode in the back of the truck getting drenched. IT was awesome! Also if you send flash drives, please send American snacks. We only eat one meal a day and that’s dinner so I’m always starving lolol that’s just the Kiribati way. None of the guys here say it bothers them. But they can also sit cross legged with unnatural ease.

OH!!!! so the ZL (zone leader) here is the actor in the stop bullying Mormon message. The main character brother guy!!!!! hahahhahhahhaah so funny seeing him in real life.


 (To watch the video go to www.mormonchannel.org and look for "Bullying-Stop It")
He is the Elder on the far left.

 To Sam: Not really speaking or understanding ... but I’m learning. IT’s so weird not understanding anything. Yesterday at church I would try to introduce myself to members and they would say something back and I would look so dumb. I either go limp fish or say segiro (means good). Love you buddy. Stay small!! peace out

 (Sam as of today...March 2016 is 6’2 and catching up to Cody in height big time!)

 I miss the family and wish I had taken advantage more. I love you all so much!!! I take comfort in the fact that families are forever so really two years isn’t that long. I’m trying to lose myself in the work because that’s when I’ll really start going. WE have sick investigators. People never ever track but we have just because we whitewashed. (track means going door to door proselyting and whitewash in missionary terms means all the missionaries leave an area and two completely new missionaries come to that area and begin the work again without knowing the area or members or investigators). WE have some super sick people, probably around 8 of them will be baptised as we work with them. Our person that was supposed to get baptised this Saturday ran out of town so that was sad but we don’t know what will happen, I’m sure she will get baptized soon though. a lot of our people have families we are hoping we can get involved so things are looking positive!!! Thanks for being such a good mom, you are truly the best friend I have!! I'm trying to become as Christlike as I can because that’s who I want to be for the rest of my life yanno!! So in two years you will see me still the same but better. Thanks for being the best mom ever is all I love you a lot!!!