Week 5 (May 17, 2013 MTC)

Oh Mom, thank you so much for that email :) Family is one of the things that is getting me through and I thank Heavenly Father so sincerely for my family each and everyday. That is so wonderful about Kylie and Greg and Axel! I can't believe it, how awesome!! Sometimes I wish I was there to see everyone, especially after you said that about baby Axel, but I know that I am supposed to be here and that my family is being taken care of. Oh how I miss everyone! The babies will be so grown up when I get home and it will be hard but you are right, all will be well :) It was so great to talk you you all for that short time yesterday. I was so happy to hear your voices. Tell Kam that I am sorry if I sounded mean to her, I was not trying to sound mean at all! :/ I was just so excited to hear her voice and I just love her so much! I am okay but I am so nervous and I this is all so new to me but I also know that Heavenly Father will not make me do it alone. It will be hard but because I know what I know, it will be doable! I have so many other things to tell you mom but I can do that over the phone tomorrow!!!!!! :) :) :)

Dear sweet family and friends,

I GOT REASSIGNED YESTERDAY!!!! :) :) And I am going to the Washington Spokane Mission! Oh my goodness I am so happy and I just know that Christ's Church and Gospel have been restored and that I really am so blessed to have this opportunity to be a missionary in these the last days. So when I read where I was going, it was just like getting my call for the first time! I saw that the paper said that I was leaving Saturday and so I thought to myself "Oh ok, I am going to be leaving 5 days later than my original departure date. But guess what everyone? I kept reading and I said Saturday the 18th of May! And I couldn't believe it!! That is tomorrow! I am leaving Utah in the morning and will be in the mission field TOMORROW! That is so crazy and it was so unexpected and I am as nervous as something that is really nervous but I cannot wait! I am so excited to get out there and meet more of God's children who have been prepared to receive this glorious Gospel. Thankfully today is p day so I can pack and prepare as much as possible. So this email might be short because I don't have a lot of time! :) :) I shed some tears when I read it because I am going to miss this place so much. I am going to miss my district and my sweet companion and my teachers and the amazing spirit I have felt here. I am going to miss Sundays at the MTC! It will be so hard to leave all these things but it has been confirmed to me that there will be even greater things and even greater miracles in the mission field. And I don't know if I am ready but I do know that God will help me prepare and will help me to do His work as long I as I am faithful and worthy. I am happy :) He is the source of my happiness. And I will never doubt that.

THis week has been absolutely amazing. Sunday was just wonderful as usual. First, it was Mother's day and I couldn't help but think about my own sweet mother and the angel that she is in my life and in the lives of so many others. Our district watched a video on lds.org about mothers and by the end of that 2 minute video, there was not a dry eye in the room. It was so beautiful and it made me realize again that my mom really is an angel and that I am so blessed and I just don't know how I was so blessed to have Kim White Syphus as my mother. But I will never complain about that :) So, I just want to hurry and say thank you not just to my own mother, but to ALL those women in my life that have been mother's to me. My aunts, my grandmas, my sisters, my friends moms, my leaders in church, and so so many others. Like the video we watched said, "Life does not come with a manual. It comes with a mother." I agree completely 100% with that statement and I hope that as I grow and get older, Heavenly Father will help be be that kind of wife and mother that my mom is to me and that so many other "mom's" in my life are to me. The speaker in Relief Society was... JANICE KAPP PERRY!! So perfect for Mother's Day. Just so perfect. And let me say this right off, this sweet disciple of Christ reminds me so much of my mom and my grandma's. She was just incredible and the spirit she brought into that room was oh my goodness, so sweet and beautiful. And I believe that the spirit there was so strong because we pretty much just sang songs the entire time and she talked about music and missions and it was unforgettable. Sis. Perry wrote many of the well know primary songs and she also wrote As Sisters in Zion. We sang a medley of all her primary songs and then, the best part, we sang a NEVER BEFORE SUNG version of As Sisters in Zion that she rewrote specifically for sister missionaries. It is called "The Sisters of Zion." It was one of the greatest most amazing things that I have ever participated in and it was so beautiful. I wish we got a copy of the words but we didn't. It was hard to even sing the song because the Holy Ghost was touching the hearts of every single sister in that meeting I believe. And my testimony of music and the power it has and also in missionary work was strengthened and I am so happy to be able to be a missionary, a sister missionary, at this time. It really is a blessing and I hope I will do it in the way the Lord wants me to do it. What a wonderful way to start off Mother's Day and just the week in general. I wish the entire world could have been there to feel the power that was in that room. Because it was there and it was real. I got to shake her hand and her husband's hand after the meeting and they are wonderful wonderful people. I love them and I am thankful to Heavenly Father for blessing them with the talents the have and that they shared with us that day.

I am out of time but I want to say real quick that Russell M. Nelson came on Tuesday for the devotional!!! :) What another wonderful treat and blessing! It was so great to see his personality a little more. He is such a sweet man and I know that he is an apostle of the Lord and that his words are from God. His message was uplifting and was about how angels are with us and that we need to work harder than ever before. I was thankful for his message. Maybe I can say more about it next email.

I love all of you. I know that I have not written many of you back that have given me letters and I hope that you have not lost hope in me! I don't have lots of time to write letters because even p days are busy but I want to tell everyone thank you SO SO MUCH for your letters and packages and emails and all. They are much appreciated i promise. And please don't think I do not care about you because I have not written back. That is definitely not the case my friends. I am thankful for all of you and I love you all so much. Your letters are treasures to me and I hope I will get better at prioritizing my time better so I can write you all back! I hope you can forgive me. The Lord is helping me everyday and He is helping me realize my MANY weaknesses so that I can come to Him for strength. His Atonement is real. I love Him and I love His Gospel. And I love you all!!

Love,

Hermana Syphus :) 

Week 4 1/2 (May 14, 2013 MTC)

Hey Mom! :) First, I love you ever so much. Second, I know that today is not my pday but I received permission from President Tyler to email you. Third, the reason I am emailing you is to let you know that I will be finding out my reassignment this week on either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Ha, I know that is really vague but I just wanted to let you know that whatever day I find out, I get to call home for about 5 minutes and let you and dad know!! YES!! :) So I don't know if dad will be home when I find out and I don't know what time to tell you so that is a bummer :( But just wanted to tell you this so someone answers the phone on those days haha :) Well I wish I could go on but am only able to tell you this one thing. Love you mom, so very much. I think about you and dad every single day. I also can feel the Lord lifting me up every single day and I love that feeling. I hope you had an amazing mother's day by the way! :) Love you!

Love,

Katelyn

p.s. you can call be Katelyn by the way, it doesn't matter to me. I like it :) But either one is fine. Oh and I wanted to email this to dad as well but I don't know his email so would you mind giving that to me? Thanks so much mom! Tell dad that I love him too, so very much! xoxoxox

Week 4 (May 10, 2013 MTC)

Dear Family,

 

First I want to tell my angel of a mother Happy Mother's Day! Mom I hope you have a great day and that everyone is good to you :) Thank you for all you do for me and for the world in general. I hope your day is splendid. I love you SOOO much! I wanted to get a letter to you before Sunday but I am sorry that probably won't happen :(  I just came from the temple because every p day we go to the temple at 6:30 in the morning to do a session. It was so beautiful and I wanted to stay there forever. While in the temple I thought about my family and how grateful I am to have been blessed with the family that I have. I couldn't help but tear up a little thinking of you all. I thought I loved you all before my mission but being here for only 5 weeks has helped me realize that I love my family so much and I am so thankful for the knowledge of the Plan that Father has created for us. I cannot wait to teach people about this truth and see the light in their eyes when they too realize that the can be with their families forever. What a wonderful doctrine to hold in our hearts.

 

Once again this week as been super busy but very good. Thanks to everyone once again for the letters and emails and sweet messages :) I appreciate all of them and I am sorry if I haven't written everyone back that has written to me :( But please know that my love is there and that I am so thankful for everything everyone has done. Mom and dad it was great hearing the news from home. Thank you for all of that :) I love the babysitting stories because they make me laugh so hard :) I also appreciated that insight you gave me about that book you are reading mom, thank you :) You know, I have been reading lots about giving all my heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord so what you told me went right along with that. In D&C 4 it says to give all your heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord. I have never really thought about all of those things carefully. Being on a mission though, I have realized that the STRENGTH part of that really is true. I thought about that for a while, about giving up all of our strength to the Lord. And then I thought well if i do that, then how am I going to have strength to do the Lord's work? Then I thought more and realized that when we give up all of OUR OWN strength in service of the Lord and His work, that is when we receive HIS strength. A scripture in Philippians says that we can do all things, through the Lord who gives us strength. There are also so many other scriptures that I was able to study about this topic. We receive His strength when we give up ours in service to Him. At least that is what I got from studying it ha :) That really has helped me though and I do I appreciate that insight mom :) Dad thank you for your dear elder as well. I always appreciate your wonderful advice and love :)  

 

This is random but very funny. So there is an Elder in my district named Elder Marrow. Well we were practicing a hymn to sing in church on Sunday next and he was telling the guys that they needed to sing bass or "the low notes". Well when they started singing (including Elder Marrow), they all just sang random low notes and no idea what they were doing. But when we finished the song, Elder Marrow says, "Okay that was a lot better guys." HAHAHAHA it was sooo funny! And maybe you had to be there but it was just so cute and great and I got a good laugh from that :)

 

The Argentine Consul came on Monday and we went to visit with him and we signed so papers and it was pretty simple. He talked to us a lot about Argentina and I got really excited about it. I can't wait to get there! He was super nice too. He is white with blond hair and blue eyes which was kinda funny to me ha :) So hopefully I will get my visa soon! One thing he said about Argentina was "If you go there, you can't escape soccer." YES!! I was happy about that :) I think it will be fun to play with the little kids even though they will kick my trash I am sure ha :)

 

Chad Lewis came on Sunday and talked to us for the devotional. His message was so amazing. He is a former BYU football player and then played in the NFL as well. His talk was like a spiritual pep talk before a game that is for sure. He mostly just reminded us of why we are on missions and what our purpose is and that we are where we are supposed to be. He told us some inspiring stories and after his talk, our district was so pumped up and we just wanted to be missionaries forever. It was great! :)

 

I had the wonderful opportunity of hosting on Wednesday and it was so much fun. I hosted a foreign sister from Seoul Korea :) I asked her if she knew an Elder Bennett but no luck ha :) She was the sweetest sister and I was able to help her with some things she needed to do. She showed up in pants because she just came from the airport I believe. She was great and just so excited to be a missionary. She was attending BYU Hawaii and studying music before she came out. She plays the violin :) As I watched the families say goodbye to their kids, I couldn't believe that I was doing that exact same thing just 5 weeks ago. It was a precious moment for me seeing the families and their love for each other. Of course it made me miss my family again but it was neat to be on the other side this time, helping the sisters that were just getting to the MTC. I loved it and it wanted to keep doing it because it just made me so happy!

 

Things with my comp and I are great. We can mostly say everything we want to say in our comp prayers now. We set a goal a few weeks ago to only pray in spanish in our comp prayers and so we have been trying to do that and now we can see the difference from when we first started doing them all in spanish. It is still hard to teach a spanish lesson everyday but I can definitely see that the gift of tongues is a real gift from God and I am so thankful for it.

 

I wish I was a faster typer or something because time is almost up and this email is really short and I still had TONS to say. How am I going to do this Mom and Dad, it just stresses me out! I am sorry if my emails are just lacking in information and if they contain useless information. I want so badly to just call you both up and tell you about everything! It is driving me nuts that I have so much to say and can't say it all. But anyway, thank you for the calling card number and also for the picture of the house :) My skirts and outfits are already falling a part ha. Mom I don't know if you can do this but I never have time to organize this email account of mine and I don't know if you can or even want to do it but if you had time could you maybe do something to organize it? I don't want to place anything hard on you so if that will be too hard then that is fine :) I am worried about my luggage weighting too much because I have all these new spanish books and such and so I hope it all works out :/ I just feel like I don't know how do anything! So many people have written to me and I have not responded to them because I just can't. Can you please tell my grandparents that I love them so much and I am so sorry that I haven't written them yet but that I am thankful for their letters and I love them so much.  

 

Things are great and it is hard but like I say all the time, the Lord is walking beside His missionaries and I can feel that. I am praying for my family and friends everyday and I am so thankful for all of you. I love being on my mission because it is helping me realize so many things that I thought I knew already. The love of Heavenly Father is one of those things. I cannot wait to be in the field and experience great things there. Oh! This sister is going to St. George on her mission and was wanting to know if anyone we know of wants to hear the Gospel message, if y'all know of anyone, just let me know and I will tell her, she leaves on Wednesday :) Love you all and thanks again for everything! Hope everyone has a great week and I hope all of the Mothers that receive this email have a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Syphus :)

 

Week 3 (May 3, 2013 MTC)

Dear Family and Friends,

Have I ever told you that i have the best family and friends in the world? Probably but it's not going to hurt to say it again: I have THE BEST family and friends in the world. I received packages and letters galore from so many people this past week for my birthday. I think there were like 15 letters! Holy cow that's so many. I love you all so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your letters and emails and packages made me ever so happy just like they always do :) Thank you so much! Erik, your package was so thoughtful and also delicious. Thank you so much for that. The donuts were a bit messy but they didn't taste any different so it doesn't even matter :) When I opened it the first thing that came to mind was "I have the best brothers ever." And the next thing that came to my mind was "Are you a fan of delicious flavor?" And of course I responded, "Why yes, yes I am." Thank you so much. They are yummy and my comp think so too :). Mom thank you so so much for the sweet package you sent me. I absolutely love the calendar and I spent a while just looking through the pictures on it. The chocolates are delicious thank you so much for those as well. And my companion and other roommates want me to tell you that the apples are the best things ever. They couldn't believe that they were made at home haha :) They love them and they think that I have the parents ever. Which they are right about :) Thank you for the stamps and letters and everything else! It was great and I was so happy with everything. I can't believe everything that has happened at home! I love hearing the news. Oh how I miss seeing our yard and trees full of fruit. The garden sounds amazing! The birthday's sounded like a lot of fun and I loved reading about Kendyl's surprise ha :) how fun for her. I can only imagine how great Shaun's recital went. Thank you for telling me about everything. Joel has a job!! Oh my goodness that is so great! And I can't believe you won those tickets again mom! That's so funny. I am happy to hear about Kylie and Greg and Axel and their soon to be move :) How exciting for your family. Can't wait to see the house when I get back.

This week as been great. I had a meeting this morning with many other missionaries going to Argentina. We got finger printed for our visas and on Monday the consulate of Argentina is coming to get our visas started. I think I will still be reassigned but we will see. My birthday was great! I absolutely love my district! Besides all the wonderful letters and packages I received from family and friends, the sisters in my district decorated my door with sticky notes and that was a great surprise. They are so sweet! Then my comp. got me a twix and some chap stick and wrote me a note that was really sweet. Lots of people that day told me happy birthday and everyone was so kind. They all helped me to have a great day. We also taught a lesson that morning and it went really well so that was another great present. So you know how Hermama Boothe's dad works here at the MTC? Well he brought a cake secretly and gave it to Hermama Boothe and that night my district surprised me with a cake! It was so great! I couldn't believe that they would do that! They sang to me and it was all just really wonderful. They are so thoughtful and I am so thankful for them.

Hermana Boothe's dad works in the MTC kitchen and made me a birthday cake!

My 20th Birthday at the MTC.  My friends put stick it notes on my door.  So KIND!

On Sunday night I asked my comp if she wanted to go to choir practice and she said sure so we did and it was so great! Music is something that is helping me through the difficulties of being a missionary. I know that it is a tool that God uses to bring peace into our lives and to help us feel the spirit and His love for us. It was so fun to sing with all of those missionaries! We were planning singing at the Devotional on Tuesday night. So when Tuesday came around, we received some news that made us feel overwhelmed and stressed for a bit. So at that point we had two investigators because we had two teachers right? Well one of our teachers wasn't able to work everyday anymore so we now have another teacher which means we also have another investigator. I think that in the moment we heard this news, we all wanted to cry haha. It's not that we don't like having investigators, it's just that it is so hard to plan and prepare lesson in spanish in the little time we have. And now were getting three?! It is very rare to have three investigators in the MTC so we got lucky ;) But in a way we are actually lucky because now we will have more experience with teaching and learning how to rely on the spirit to help us teach. I have really learned that being here and it has been so wonderful. So after we heard this news, Hermana Freestone and I decided that there was no way we could make it to choir practice on Tuesday AND prepare a lesson for our new investigator. So we decided to not do choir this last week. It was a sacrifice but it was good because we were able to have lots of time to prepare a lesson. Having three investigators now is very difficult but when things like that happen I am reminded of the simple yet powerful truth that God will not give us anything we cannot handle. We have committed tow of our investigators to baptism and they have said yes! It was a very special and sweet moment when they said they wanted to get baptized. The Lord is really with us each day. Jacob 5: 72 says "And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things." This is absolutely true! The Lord does labor and is laboring with us. This gives me so much comfort. I love knowing that the Savior of the world is in fact walking beside us and helping us to spread His Gospel.

Hermana Boothe is very sick and had to stay in bed today. Would you all mind praying for her? Mom things with my comp are great thanks for asking :) My eye is getting better. Still a little red but getting better :) Pres. Tyler is not the MTC pres. just the pres. of our zone. Very wonderful and inspiring man. The Pres. is Pres. Nally :)

Well there are more things to say but no time left so maybe next time. But please know how much I love and appreciate all of you and your love and support. This has been a trying experience but it has been so rewarding already. I am nothing without God and he has given me everything. I am so thankful for His love and for you all. Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Syphus 

Week 2 (April 26, 2013 MTC)

Why hello family!

Before I begin telling about my week I will try to get some questions answered and such. First of all, thank you all SO MUCH for the wonderful letters/emails/DearElders, etc. I wish I could email everyone back and thank you personally but since I can't please know that I am so thankful for your love and support.

I can't believe that I have been here for 16 days now. Like they say here at the MTC "The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days." That is such a true statement haha :) Mom thank you so much for all your grand advice about so many things. I will try to get those notes done and limit myself to 1 page in the journal. That might take a while to get down though ha. And thank you for that scripture as well from Mosiah. That is very wise counsel and I really appreciate it. I have actually thought about that scripture a few times while being here and I am working on following it. You and dad take such great care of me, even when I am away from home :) Thank you! I hope to someday be as great of a woman/wife/mother as you are mom. So getting up early has been hard but I really have been fine. I do want to be a diligent, hard working, faithful missionary though and so if my getting up early starts interfering with that then I will work something out. It is hard to get up but once I am up I feel great. Thank you so much for the birthday package!! I haven't received it yet obviously but I am excited to touch something that was in my own home! Ha :) And thanks for sending those few things as well, I appreciate it. I think that I will soon need some more body wash (Dove sensitive skin), and something else which I can't remember right now. But I will let you know when I for sure need more. Thank you! I have been told that I need 200 dollars cash for when I leave on the 20th of May so I need to figure out how to get that. And I WILL be reassigned for sure because the consulate or however you spell that of Argentina will not be here for another few months. I am actually kinda excited for that though because like you said mom (or whoever said it), being reassigned can really help me get into things like the language and such before i head to Argentina. And about Mother's Day, we CANNOT call home :( I was pretty sad when I heard this but it makes sense because there are sooo many missionaries here and it would just be crazy so I won't be calling unfortunately.

This last week has been tough and challenging but very rewarding and special. We now have two new investigators and their names are Israel and Sergio. Oh and I don't know if I mentioned this before but our investigators are our actual teachers just posing as investigators that they had on their missions. But even though we are teaching our "teachers" the experience is so real and I have been able to truly want to help them come unto Christ and it feels so good. I can't even imagine how it is going to be with REAL investigators! :) I just can't wait. I hate to say this but my companion and I ran into a little bit of a rough patch yesterday when planning our lesson. I could tell that she was frustrated about something and so I was harder for me to focus on planning because I was getting frustrated and so I asked if we could say a prayer. That helped us to get the rest of our lesson planned but I could still tell that she was hurt about something. On the way to lunch I asked her if she was okay and she said she was just frustrated but not because of me, just other stuff. I told her that if she wanted to talk about it and let some of it out then maybe we would become more unified and that the spirit would be with us. She then responded, "I know that's how it works but I don't want to talk to you about it!!" Oh my goodness I felt so bad that I had asked that and because she did yell at me a little bit I started getting wet eyes. I said a prayer in my heart that Heavenly Father would help me to be more sensitive with Hermana Freestone and that we would be on good terms again. Well our lesson time comes and our message was on families. I could tell that it did not seem to flow as nicely as usual but Sergio really took interest in it because he is currently separated from his family. After the lesson, Hermana Freestone took me aside and apologized for that entire day. She was so sincere and I love her so much for that. She is a humble young women and I admire her for being so. She said that she really was not frustrated with me but that it was just personal stuff and that because she was frustrated, her mind went blank during the lesson and so that's why she didn't say much. Which I thought she said quite a bit and I mentioned that to her. Anyway, it was a humbling experience for both of us and we are now on great terms again :) She is such a hard worker and a great companion. Heavenly Father helped us through that experience and we both know that we could not be learning and growing at this rate without His help and guidance and blessing.

Me and Hermana Freestone at the Provo Temple

 

Spanish is coming along. It is hard when I can't convey things to investigators that I want to but it is also good in a way because then I have to try and figure out a more simple way to say it with words that I know. And this is better anyway because investigators sometimes need the simple truths first in order to understand. I love my teachers so much! They are great. My district keeps me laughing and having a good time which I think is a good thing while being a missionary, just a long as the things you do do not distract the spiritual environment.

Okay so one of the highlight of this last week was the Tuesday night devotional: BYU MENS CHOIR! It was BEAUTIFUL everyone! And Erik let me tell you this, you are SO good enough to be in that choir. I was thinking about you the entire time in fact, and that it would be so cool to see you singing with them. When they started coming in I heard a girl behind me saying, "Call me maybe!" Haha, silly young woman. It was pretty funny though. But their songs were wonderful. I really believe that listening/singing good music is one of the greatest ways for the spirit to touch our hearts. At least for me anyway. It was a great night filled with joy and peace.

Each day I am here I learn many new things and most importantly I learn to rely on my Savior Jesus Christ. On Sunday Pres. Tyler spoke and his words were inspired and gave me peace. Sometimes I wonder if I really do have the spirit with me. He reminded us that in the sacrament prayers, it says if we always remember Him, keep His commandments, and take His name upon us, that we will ALWAYS  have His spirit with us. I have heard those prayed countless times of course and yet when he said this it touched me and gave me peace. As long as I am doing those things, I will have His spirit to help guide me in all I do. That is a great comfort to me.

I miss home but it is worth it and will just continue to get better. I love you all so much and I know that Heavenly Father is answering our payers. The love of Christ is everywhere although it may be difficult to find it. Because Christ loves everyone, there is something to love in EVERYONE. I firmly believe that. Here at the MTC I can see and feel Christ's love everyday and it bring me hope. Thank you all for everything. Love you!!

Love,

Hermana Katelyn Syphus

My red eye....from what...I don't know :(

 My MTC District
 

              I found my cousin, Trevor Lee, at the Provo temple.  He will soon be leaving for Brazil.

Week 1 (April 19, 2013 MTC)

My Dear Family,

Oh my goodness I have no idea where to start because there has been SO much going on!! I wish I could just call you all up and tell you what has been happening because that would be a lot faster ha. And also, you all know how I can't summarize things very well. But I will try my very best :) First let me say that I am sorry that it has taken this long to write/email! My prep days are Friday (today) and so this is the first time that I have been able to use email. They actually gave us a short prep day last Friday but me and my companion didn't know we could email so we just wrote letters and I didn't finish any of them!! I tried to finish them throughout the week but honestly there is NO time to do anything like that unless it is your prep day. I really don't even know how missionaries can write in their journals and such because it is just one thing after another. We go back to our residence at 9:30 pm and lights have to go out at 10:30 pm, so we have that time to get ready for bed and write in journals and everything but I still seem to never have time to do that. I am sure trying though because I know that these experiences here in the MTC are very precious and I will want to remember them forever. So, the MTC. It has been a great journey so far and I am coming to love it here. The first few days were very hard for me and didn't want to come home but I missed you all so much. But one thing is for sure, Heavenly father is with me because I know I could NOT do this on my own. I have been so used to being with family and coming home everyday to you all and I really missed that the first few days. But I have felt Heavenly Father's love and I know that He is helping me through this experience. The first day was just how Trevor explained it. It was very busy and I was a bit overwhelmed but it was a great experience. It feels so wonderful to place my name tag with Christ's name on it over my heart each day. I am thankful that have this opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ and preach His everlasting Gospel. It is difficult to remember all the way back to last week and I really am shaking right now because there is so much I want to tell you about but not enough time! The range of feelings I have felt in this last week has been crazy. So the first here I of course met my companion. Her name is Hermana Freestone and she is from Morgan Utah. She has been a great example to me of having faith in Jesus Christ and of being happy. She is a much better spanish speaker than me and helps me a lot. Although, sometimes I think she gets annoyed with all the questions I have ha. I am trying to not ask so much and just figure things out on my own, and doing that will help me really understand things more as well.

The district I am in is wonderful!! I have come to love all of them so much and they are all such great people and missionaries. We have all bonded so well and so quickly and it has been a blast learning with them. There are 4 sisters in our district and 5 elders. The first day at the MTC one of the sisters in our district (Hermana Boothe), didn't have a companion because she didn't show up. So we were in a trio for the first few days and that is why that picture has the three of us in it. But a few days later, she was able to have a companion. But not her original one, she still hasn't showed up (Hermana Freestone believes that she got engaged the day before entering the MTC haha probably true but who knows). So her new comp is a sister named Hermana Boomhower. She was originally going to the Las Vegas West mission English speaking but her second day here she broke her foot and couldn't leave to go to vegas when the rest of her district did. So they actually put her in our district and now she is learning spanish but still going to the same mission. It is going to take her foot about 6 weeks to heal and so that is why they put her with us. She had a very hard time the first few days in class because she has no spanish background. She was very discouraged but she has been incredible. The last couple of days she had completely changed her attitude and has complete dependence on the Lord. She is a great example to me in that way.

Spanish is hard. Erik, if you have any advice for me I will happily take it ha :) I knew that being on a mission would be very hard, but oh my goodness it has been even harder than I expected. But the amazing thing is that I am soooo happy. I think about how busy and crazy the schedule is and how tired and exhausted I am, and then I ask myself  "Well then how in the world am I so happy?!" The answer to that is Jesus Christ. I know that I am happy because this is the Lord's work. There is no other explanation. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ were not true and eternal, I could not do this. Because it is true and good and right, I am happy no matter how exhausted I am or how busy it is being a missionary. The first few days I was so discouraged because I did not have enough faith that Jesus Christ would help me do this. Which was a very dumb thing to think I know. It was just so hard and rough and I felt like I was never going to be able to learn the language. The hardest part was teaching an investigator the first Friday I was here. Oh and the lesson had to be in spanish. Just like Trevor said. That must have been the hardest day of my life haha. Me and my companion prayed so earnestly and sincerely and we worked very hard to prepare the first lesson. It was definitely a humbling experience for me. I keep thinking that this mission would be so much better if I could just speak english. Which is funny considering how much I wanted to learn a nre language. I get frustrated because I want to say things in the lesson but I have no idea how to say them in Spanish. I keep thinking that this would be a much happier and spiritual experience for me if only I didn't have to speak spanish. BUT, I have stopped thinking this because really, the fact is that I AM NOT speaking english I am speaking spanish. And this call is a call from the Lord. And I know it is up to me to make this experience a happy experience. My purpose as a missionary is not to learn spanish, it is to help people come unto Christ. And I need to remember that. I know that Heavenly Father know me personally and my testimony of that has grown this last week because I see all these missionaries who are learning Korean or Japanese or Finish and I just think they are amazing! Spanish is one of the more easy languages to learn and it is rough. And I know that even if I did have to speak one of those harder languages, I could do it with the help of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father but it would be difficult. I am so thankful that I am learning spanish and that the Lord knows me and my limits. It is hard but it is coming along slowly and I am receiving lots of help. Well I have lots more to say but time is out so hopefully I can do the rest through letters. I know I didn't really say much about what has been happening but I am going to work on writing better emails. Or at least I hope they will get better ha. I was really rushing through this email so sorry if it doesn't make sense. My brain is going 1000 miles an hour right now it seems. But thank you all so so much for the letters and email and for your prayers and love and support and just everything. I love my family so much and I think of all of you each day. Thank you once again for the letters and emails! They really are treasures! I love this work and I know I will grow to love it even more. Heavenly Father has not left me comfortless. Love you all!!

Love, 

Katelyn :)

Me with Hermana Freestone and Hermana Boothe (my MTC companinons)

MTC Here I Come (April 10, 2013)

Note from mom:

My day was going to begin at the usual time at 5:15 am so I could get in my little bit of exercise for the day; however, at 2:00 this morning I woke up and let my thoughts get the better of me and ended up having a good cry...my first really good one over Katelyn's mission.  I have shed many tears, but this was a good cry.  So, since I couldn't sleep, I got up at 3:00 and wrote a letter to Kate and put it in her luggage.  After that I was finally able to sleep until 6:00 when we aroused the kids for prayers and scriptures.  And at 7:20 we were loaded and out the door, headed to the Provo MTC.  

Karson and Joy were kind enough to lend us their van so that we could fit everyone in it. 

 It was so AWESOME to be together!

 

We met Kylie, Greg and Axel who were living in the Salt Lake area and Erik who was in Provo at the Orem Chuck a Rama for lunch.  

Rob, Kari and their boys weren't able to get away to come with us :(

Kate with Axel and her sweet daddy.

After lunch we had a bit more time before checking in at the MTC so we went to the Provo temple for our final "see-you-soons" and pictures.

I was able to keep my tears in check until this happened.  

I knew that Joel would be gone on his mission when Kate came home so it has a tough time for them.

Since only one vehicle per missionary is allowed in the MTC drop off area we decided to break the law for a few blocks and all piled in the van. 

 It was so good to have everyone with us to see Katelyn off.

The elders were there waiting to escort her to the assigned area.  It was quick and PAINFUL to see her go.  She will be such an awesome missionary.  

She is so ready for this and has wanted to serve her Heavenly Father all her life.  

Argentina will be so blessed to have her!!!

See you soon sweet Kate!!!!!