Week 8 (June 3, 2013 Warden, WA)

Hello again Mom :)

Here are my answers to these questions: 

Would you like mail sent to your address or mission home?

Probably the mission home because of the same concern you had about transfers and such. But guess what? You know that Dear elder that you sent me with Kam and Kendyls letters on it as well? Well it just got to me today! And I don't know if that is how it usually is but I think that took a while...

Have you received letters or package?

I have received letters but not packages yet :) 

How is your anxiety in the mornings?

It is getting better. I do tell Heavenly Father about everything and I can feel His strength helping me though it. Mornings are still sometimes hard but not as bad. Thank you for all your advice and help mom. I love you so much.

So some other things that I was wanting to tell/ask you:

Thank you so much for the dear elder and tell the girls and joel thanks as well! I love hearing the news and it brings me so much joy! All of those connections with Sis. Earl's family are crazy! Very cool though!
So as you know, lots of things got sent home from the MTC. I might need some of those things later on so I will let you know when. Nathanial's jump rope was in there and I felt really bad sending it home because he gave it to me to use but I just didn't have room. So I can give it back to him when I get home .
 I was wondering if you could send my dads email again as well as the other members in our family. I don't now how hard that will be so if it is too much trouble then no worries but I just want to put them all in my email so I can have them just in case.
Oh and thank you so much for sending me those pics! Especially the one of Kortnie! I wanted to know her address and email so thank you! You just think of everything mom, how in the world do you do it?! 

And thank you for the ss number! You are wonderful mom and I love you so much! I will write my mass email now :) 

Dear Family and Friends,

This week in my mission has been a little less crazy than last week but still very good. I can't remember if I said this in my last email but we had 15 new investigators last week and 26 lessons!!! That is a blessing from Heavenly Father and is proof that He is with us as we are serving in His vineyard. 

So we found Marcelino! That was a wonderful miracle from Heavenly Father this week. We were late for an appointment and so we were trying to hurry and went down the wrong street. So then we had to turn around and go down the right street. When we were almost to the house for our appointment, we saw the back of Marcelino walking down another street. We all looked at each other and started freaking out really. It was so funny. We stopped the car suddenly and rolled down the windows and yelled his name. He turned around and came over to us and we asked him lots of questions. Poor guy haha. He said he moved to a different house and he tried to describe it to us but when we looked for it the next day we couldn't find him. But we saw him again a few days ago and asked him where his house was again and so hopefully we will find it this time! But isn't that just great?! If all those things wouldn't have happened, then we wouldn't have seen him walking down the street at that time. Heavenly Father want His work done and so He puts us where we need to be when we need to be there if we are trying to do His will. And then miracles happen! That experience was definitely an answer to our prayers.

So another big thing that happened this week was an emergency transfer. Hna. Smith got emergency transferred to Ephrata :( I know that it was Heavenly Father's will for it to happen but I it was so hard to see her go! She taught me so much and was just such a diligent missionary and I am going to miss her lots. She was transferred because another sister got her visa and had to leave so Hna. Smith took her place. She left on Saturday and has already been greatly missed!

On Tuesday I ate breakfast in the Celestial Kingdom :) That was pretty much what it was anyway. We were asked to do service by helping out with the seminary breakfast. The student's received either a telestial, terrestrial, or celestial breakfast depending on their scripture study, attendance, etc. throughout the year. We helped with the breakfasts and then taught each group a lesson. It was so much fun! Then at the end us hermanas got to eat the celestial breakfast and boy was it delicious. There was bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, fruit, muffins, fruit, juice, donuts, more fruit, pancakes, waffles, and any breakfast food you can think of pretty much. I think I gained about 10 pounds but it was worth it I would say ha :) Very fun service opportunity.

There is a less active lady named Aurelia and she has a boyfriend named Jose. They live together. We visited with them the other day and taught them about the plan of salvation. They both seemed to enjoy the message and feel the spirit. Especially Aurelia. We told them that they can live with their families together forever but only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and only through a proper temple marriage. Well a few days later we called Aurelia because we wanted to meet with her again and she said she couldn't meet with her that day because...her FIANCE was talking her out to dinner!! We all lit up when we heard her say this and got so excited! Another miracle! She must have really taken to heart the eternal truth that families can be together forever because they want to get married in the temple as soon as they can! I am so happy for them. We will continue to teach them and help them prepare for this. Her fiance isn't a member so we are trying to teach him and get him ready to be baptized. Very neat though! :)

Something that I have noticed that is really ironic here is that we will go into a house that it pretty run down and such and there will be this humongous television in the house. It is really quite funny. And I see it ALL the time. These people would rather have big tv's than a nice home I guess haha :) Just a funny little thing I have noticed.

Sis. Smith didn't like running so we couldn't go running in the mornings which was just fine because there are many other ways to exercise :) But this morning we were able to go running and it was SO nice!! I loved it and I don't know how much we can do it but I was happy to be able to this morning. It was fun to run past the vineyards and other farm land. The country is very beautiful here and I also enjoy the sunsets. I keep thinking I am in Utah still ha :) Heavenly Father has indeed created a beautiful world.

I am so thankful for this time that I have to give my entire life to the Lord and His work. I just hope I can do that. I am thankful for family and friends who learn and live the Gospel. My life is so blessed and I don't know how I got so blessed but I just hope that because I am, I can give all that I have to Him. I love you all so much! Hope all is well with everyone :)

Love, 

Hermana Katelyn Syphus