Herbie and Hancock 01/31/2011

Family and Friends!,
Man it seems like I just emailed! Okay so today I have so much to tell all of you. I don't know if I will have time for individual emails today either. ha just like Colton. But I will try! Okay so how are you all doing? Man I have been so spoiled with so many amazing letters this week! Thank you all so much. Kelsee, Mom, Grandma, Marilyn, Brenda, Oma, Mer, Hope Coon Woolley :), Carol, and Brooke, and Court I just got another one from you about a half hour ago! Man thank you all so very much. You have no idea how much it helps and how much it means to me. I worked hard all day today on writing so you should all have letters soon. Court just FYI the one I just got from you was the testimony one. How was Drill region by the way? Okay so today guess what i just did? We went to FORKS! Yes all my twilight people! Forks! It was so amazing! We went to La Push! Sound familiar? Its where Jacob lives! haha anyway we went hiked to 2nd beach! Yes, where bella does her jump off the big rock thing.... i think anyway. Man it is soooooo pretty! Road trip for sure when i get home. It is so green! It was probably one of the most amazing sights i have ever seen. I loved it. After we went to this burger place and half the stuff on the menu is twilight stuff lol so i had twilight punch with my lunch today. They also had the Bella burger but i was tryin to be healthy so i got the grilled chicken sandwich. And yes i had some healthy veggies haha sliced potatoes that were deep fried! Ha! So Forks is amazing, Kels, Hope, Brooke, and Court i am taking you there in 16 months! Okay so now on to another item of business....... So on saturday night we were calling our dinner appointment for sunday to make sure she was still planning on having us. So i called and confirmed with sister jones, and she said, "we are excited to have you, we are having something a little exotic but it is one of our favorites." So I say " okay great we are not picky so we are excited." ha i say that to everyone lol so we head to dinner last night and we are all a little nervous. And we each have things that we don't like, and for the most part we all know about them. So like Sister Bradley cannot handle sea food, and I can't handle mushrooms or raisins. So we decided to come up with a "signal." haha so whenever any of us touch our ear the others know that they have to pick up the slack and eat what is on our plate because we can't handle it. So we go into the Jones house, and it smells pretty good. And we walk over to the table, and my heart sinks!!! Anybody remember my little friends Herbie and Hancock!? (Stop laughing Dad, and Helen!) Thats right people.... we were having DUCK for dinner! Ah! So immedietly we sit down and I don't think i could grab my ear fast enough! Hahaha so brother jones is cutting into my little Herbie, and he says who wants the leg? And sister directo was all over that haha she's from the phillipenes lol Then he gets to another part and sister bradley takes it. Then he says "who wants the back?" Oh geez, i'm like the only one left without meat. So sister bradley had seen my ear pull and said oh she's not a big meat eater so she just wants a little bit. And he says okay take the back it doesn't have that much meat on it. Oh gosh... haha So i start cuttin at it, and I just keep thinking come on Sister Balmforth... or uh Katee haha come on you can do it. Just think chicken or turkey. But duck is all dark meat! We don't eat dark meat! haha So i ate at it and it really wasn't too bad. But man oh man. I turned it over and saw a whole bunch of back bones and nasty stuff so i wanted to lose it after that. but oh man. Then she brings out pinapple upside down cake with cherries in it! Golley... it sure was my night wasn't it! haha anyway.... this past week has been really kinda slow. which makes things hard. on saturday we probably knocked on 50 doors and nothing. we didn't even teach until 4:30 and it was a less active lesson. It was hard. But i know that i am being watched over. He hears me thats for sure. He see's every single tear i cry, and i know that he wants to help me. And he has... because guess what? this week is already better. We had 6 people at church yesterday!!!!!!! Amazing!!!!!! Don't compare to Colton's 20!! Its not fair! He is in Africa! And what the heck haha i'm tryin to keep up bro.! Stop being so amazing! So anyway... baptisms did not happen yesterday but we really think it will this weekend! The moan family we are meeting with them tonight! they are the ones with the 19 year old son thats going on a mission. We are going to try to committ them for baptism tonight! Please pray that they will accept! We really need this.! I have seen so many amazing miracles already and it would just be amazing to see brett baptize his dad! Family and Friends I love you so much and i am so thankful for all of you in my life. I think about all of you every single day! Anyone reading this I think about you! I love this Gospel! I love my Savior Jesus Christ! He lives and loves us so much. I want to share that with people! I want them to be as happy as we are! I want to bring others unto Christ because that is the only way to feel true happiness. Please continue to pray that we will be able to find more people and to teach them. I really haven't gotten to teach that much and i really need the practice. I know that with faith miracles are going to happen. I pray for you all everyday. Know that i love you and miss you all so much. But even more know that our Heavenly Father loves you! He knows your needs and if you GET ON YOUR KNEES he will help you and be there for you. I love you all. Have a great week!
Love, Katee.

FAITH BRINGS MIRACLES! 01/24/2011

Hello my dear family and friends,
okay so i have so much to tell you and always so little time. So family this will be a mass email for everyone and then other little details i will write to you hopefully if i have time. So this week has been so much of a rollercoaster! So many ups and so many downs! I don't even know where to begin. First off, we were almost eaten by a dog haha when i came on my mission i was like whatever i won't need to worry about that. Hahaha i was wrong. We ran back to the car and thanked Heavenly Father for not letting us get eaten haha it really was kinda scary though. Mom, you wanted to know what a day consisted of so here ya go... I wake up at 6:30 unless we go to the Sequim Gym then we get up at 6 but that is hard. The gym is owned by a member so we go for free. Oh and yes i do play ball at least once a week with the zone and its great. Anyway so then we have personal study at 8 comp study at 9 then we go and visit less actives and recent converts and older people. Then we sometimes have lunch and sometimes not. Then we door step people and see if they are home, then we tract from 4-6 every day! Ah i love tracting :) Colton said he has tracted like once for 30 minutes. Haha he said its easier to find people in Africa! Then we eat dinner sometimes and then later is when we have teaching appointments. Okay so this week.... has probably been my hardest so far. All three baptisms that were set up fell through. It was so hard because i don't think i have ever exercised so much faith in those baptisms. Also everything is starting to hit me i think. So needless to say i have had a few crying sessions in the bathroom this week haha. don't worry mom... i am doing great! I love it here in Washington! But things do get hard sometimes. But ya know what, Life is hard because the Atonement was hard. So we just gotta keep on keepin on and stay strong. But here is the thing,,, we were all so bummed because we seriously had so much faith! We fasted for this family twice! And every prayer we said they were in! But i now know that it was not a lack of faith! It is just in the hands of Heavenly Father now! I know they will get baptized! So having so much faith heavenly father keeps his promises and he does and did bless us! While tracting with a split last week.(a laurel by the way was tracting with me.) I talked with two people and i SET UP MY FIRST CHURCH TOUR! All by myself! Thats right! haha then after i ran up to sister bradley (she was waiting in the road) and i starting jumping up and down and dancing with excitement, and she was like smiling and looking back at the house, so i paused and said "please tell me they aren't watching out the window" haha don't worry pretty sure they were! But i didn't care! I was too happy lol So we had three church tours back to back on saturday and we also found a new family to teach! The smith family. We start tomorrow with them! Please pray for them and for Mik and Aiden to get baptized this weekend! FAITH BRINGS MIRACLES people! I promise! Then yesterday driving to an appointment and the phone rings. Sister Bradley answers and says hello this is sister bradley... The next thing i know she is handing me the phone. I said "who is it" and she just shrugged. So i grab the phone and say "hello this is sister balmforth and The person says hello sister balmforth do you know who this is? My heart jumped out of my chest haha yes people it was Marissa. The first thing i said to her was uh is this legal? haha it was really good to talk to her though. Also this week we got a letter from pres bowen because our numbers were so good! Sister bradley said that this was only her 2nd letter from him her whole mission. (she has been out a year) so that was pretty exciting! Kelsee, Janelle, Marilyn, Carol, and Cheryl thank you so much for your letters! I am hoping you get some from me soon. I have written most of them i just need to send them. And mom i have pics to send soon. Hope, Courteney, and Brooke how are you doing? How is school, and work and everything? I hope you are doing great! Write me people! I miss you! Cal, and dave how are you? Grandma how are you? Brenna and ter and brand and mer and clara! How are you? I love you? Ward members and people reading this I love you so much and pray for you all everyday! So this last week I also got to talk at YOUNG WOMEN'S NEW BEGININGS! Oh how i loved it! I miss the young womens a lot! So it was great to talk to them! And this week they asked if we would sing in sacrament! Oh geez haha we are terrible singers but we can't say no haha so i will record the song we are singing on the tape! Its pretty cool. The members here are really good about feeding us. Yesterday our dinner appointment canceled, and i thought man i can't remember the last time i didn't have a good sunday dinner haha. so we stopped by the johnson's house.(amazing members that i love) and they invited us to stay for dinner! I love them. Well family and friends. I love you so much and i can't belive another week has gone by. Transfers are three short weeks away and i have no idea what will happen. I really hope i stay here in Sequim but who knows. I will go where the Lord wants me. Well please know that i pray for every single one of you every day! And i think about you often! Stay Strong. And ALWAYS pray to Heavenly Father and you will be blessed. Faith never Fails! This church is so true and I love it! We are so blessed to have it in our lives! Thank you uncle Kip!!! I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that he lived and died for each one of us. The Atonement makes EVERYTHING possible! Think of anything you want and I promise it wouldn't be possible without the Atonement! I love you all have a great week! Please keep me and Colton in your prayers as i know you already do. But please pray that we will find people and be able to baptize! I love you!
Love, Katee

Email from 01/17/2011

Okay, so wow what a week! I have so much to tell you! First off, please continue making sure this email gets forwarded to all my people and the blog is great too! First off, Hope Michelle Coon Woolley! HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY! Sorry haha side note, its an inside joke for us and I couldn't write it in a letter cuz it had to be today. Haha so Hope i hope you have a great MLKJ DAY! Okay so this week has been AMAZING! Mom and Dad thank you so much for sending all of that stuff, and yes i did get it. I haven't worn the Garments yet but i will let you know how they work. THANK YOU SO MUCH!. And the 3 pound bag of m&m's haha thank you so much. I will probably gain weight here in Sequim. The members feed us great and I munch all the time. Which is terrible but i can't help it. But last night we ate at a members house and oh my goodness..... Lets just say i was dreamin about those cheese potatoes and ribs that you all ate. Oh man it was nasty haha i seriously thought i was eating raw pic cuz the pork was cooked so bad and then this asian stuff and some other stuff that was just bad. But it was the only bad one so far. haha i had curry the other night at the Turners house! They are the ward missionaries in one of the wards i am over and they are great. Brother Turner is from Australia and swears all the time haha Dad you and him would get along great! Kelsee and Riley how is school and work? You dorks haha you are in the same class lol. Calee how are you and my nephew doing? You better be getting fatter :) Oh haha and the other night at the Turner's house I walk in and we were drinking out of a mason jar haha i just laughed and thought of Marissa! I'll probably do the same when i get home. Sister Bradley and Directo are amazing! I love them so much. I can't believe we only have 1 month left together. Transfers are on the 14th! I don't know what will happen, I would love to stay in Sequim but who knows. So on the 14th i won't email just fyi it will be the 15th probably. So don't worry. I almost didn't email today cuz it is Martin Luther King Day. But we found a member with an office full of computers thank goodness. Missionaries aren't big fans of holidays haha cuz no computers and no mail. So yeah. Anyway Brooke how is school and work? Courteney I had a dream the other night that you were on a mission haha it was weird. Write me girl! Hope how are you and stuart? How is school, work, and dance? You need to write me too! :) Big G, Mer, Brenna, Emery, and Clara how are you doing? Grandma how are you? Okay so Mom if anyone adds you on facebook just add them cuz they are probably from Washington, same with email, and please always answer the home phone cuz Sister Mcfarland here is great and she said if we ever need her to she will call you. So just fyi. I am working on a tape, and i got some pics today that i will send soon. I am also working on writing back to everyone who has written me. so be patient cuz i really have no time! Also please print all emails and save letters in a binder cuz some nights i don't even have time to write in my journal. I probably already told you all this. Sorry the days are crazy... half the time i don't remember what day it is haha. it is going by so fast!!!! Probably not for you, but these days are just not long enough! We have so much work to do and the Lord is counting on us! Its hard finding people. Tracting is hard but it will benefit soon! With the help of Heavenly Father! So how is everything else? How is everyone doing? Okay so lets talk about the work! Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Everyone reading this THANK YOU! I know they are working! Our goal of 4 baptisms this month is coming along! We are hoping and PRAYING to actually have three this weekend. If they can quit their bad habits it should work! Please pray! Now let me tell you about the Moan family! Ah they are great! The Moan's have a son who is 19 years old. His name is Brett. He was baptized last year and he is so amazing! Like he is a spiritual GIANT. He prays better than i do haha. Anyway... his parents are not members. But Brett just got his mission call to Berlin Germany! He is so excited. His parents Russell and Lyn come to church with him when he is in town. And since Brett is going on a mission they wanted to see what he would be doing for the next two years so they agreed to take the discussions! So we have been teaching them and they come to church! Tonight we are giving them a church tour! We are firm believers of the church tour here in Washington! Have Marissa tell you what it is! :) So anyway Russell is very opened to everything... like i wouldn't be surprised if he already knew it was true! Lyn is a little hesitant but we will get there! Brett bears testimony to them like no tomorrow and the spirit is so strong when he does! He is going to be an amazing missionary! He leaves for Germany in March so we are hoping that he can baptize his parents before he goes! Wouldn't that be the coolest thing ever! Think of the stories he could tell in Germany! Oh so amazing! I can't wait! I still need you to pray that i can teach better! I know with Heavenly Fathers help i will be able to, and it will come along soon. So that is the Miracle for the week! Also there is a lady here that is amazing! She reminds me of Walt haha she was baptized a few months ago and her name is Joni! She feeds us all the time! And she is a good cook. Mom her baked goods are killin me! It is hard to decline things here haha. Yours are better but hers are good too haha. Anyway we are also teaching her 17 year old brother Clay! He is coming along but we will see how things go. I am so glad Colton is doing great. He emails me and makes me so happy! Ward members I love you! Thank you for your love and prayers and support! Family and friends you are amazing! I want you all to know, that I know that this church is true! Sometimes it is hard when people slam doors in my face or they tell me to go and re look into what i believe because it isn't true! Or they say that they pray for us to get help and to know that what we believe is not true. And that gets hard! But then I think, why are you second guessing yourself Katee!? I KNOW with all my heart that this is the true church, otherwise i wouldn't be here right now, and Colton would not be in Africa! It is TRUE! Heavenly Father knows each of us, and he answers our prayers! I am so thankful for the Atonement in my life! Its why I am serving a mission! Our Savior died on the cross for us so that we can live with our Heavenly Father again! Joseph Smith restored this Gospel! It is the only true church on the earth and i love it with all of my heart! And I love all of you and i'm so thankful for you in my life. I hope you all have a great week! Keep up the prayers. I love you!
Love, Katee

Email 01/10/2011

Hey my people!
Okay first off sorry this is so late. Sis. Bradley likes to email later in the day cuz her sister is serving in the Dominican Republic and she likes to wait to hear from her!!! Cool huh? Okay so first off you are all so amazing!! Today sis. bradley opened the mail box and said woah! and then she said Sister Balmforth I think you scored today! hahaha i was so stoked. I think i got like 8 letters. I haven't even had time to read them all but i have a few. So Janelle, Lynette, Brooke, Laura, Patti,Carol Henline, Oma,Brooke, and Mom THANK YOU so much! I am so happy! It makes me want to go baptize hahaha but its P day lol. So anyway... I make a list through out the week of things i need to talk about in my email, and what do i do? thats right leave it in the car. So i will hopefully cover everthing, and if not sorry. Mom i will try and answer your questions. Maybe ill just write you. We will see how much time i have. Okay so... How are all of you? Janelle, i just have to say that this morning i woke up and said man i need to get me some stickers! Haha prayer was answered! Thank you so much i love them. And i love you. I am so glad to hear my jazz are doing okay. Thanks for the pics brooke. THE BEST haha. I honestly don't think about the Jazz to often, I thought that leaving them would be hard but it hasn't been to bad. It will get bad though when they play in the NBA finals haha. Oh geez. Okay so my comps are great. Except Sister Bradley is not very good with being on time to appoinments and stuff. Uh here is Katee's OCD kicking in. It's okay though. We are all aware of it and working hard to be better. So really I am going to try and write everyone back quickly but it may take a bit. We are so busy it is insane!! Oh Brooke and Courteney, do you know an elder fahey? He is Tim Lesuma's cousin and they are way tight! And he is awesome! I think his first name is Gavin. So you should ask Kelsey Allen about that. Oh and MOM this is important! My straightener does not work! Crazy right! It worked in the MTC and i packed it and got it here and it won't turn on. So what should we do about this? Oh and today is the tenth!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTENEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that you have an amazing day and did you get my card? Write me girl! Ha i hope your day has been amazing! Okay now to the mission......
This week has been very busy. But hard for misison work. We had a mother and daughter Kristy and Zara on date to be baptized on the 23rd but now they keep cancelling our appointments and won't call us back. So discouraging! Our goal this month is 4 baptizms! So please pray that we will be able to find people. Tracting is the hardest part! Door after door closing! Ah! Colton was so right about finding people! I don't let it get to me, its just hard because I have something so amazing to share with them and they can't see it! I know that "the field is white already to harvest" so there have got to be people here in Sequim just waiting for me! Its just finding them that is the hard part. But i had my first "Mission miracle" the other night. We went to visit an old man by the name of brother smouse... he is a less active member and is super old so he wants us to visit and teach him. His care givers are his daughter and son in law. So we go to visit him and start giving the first lesson. And it was so hard cuz he can't hear to well, and when he talks its like mumble jumble can't understand a word, so you just nod your head and say uh huh. haha. so i was just like oh geez we'll be outta here in like five minutes. And the son in law said go ahead and talk with him, i'm just playin my computer game, and i'm not interested. So we start teaching him, and then like five minutes into it Tim the son in law starts turning his computer off. then slowly starts turning his chair haha then out of no where he is asking us questions! Wow! I was like what in the world. So we left him a book of mormon and he said he would read. We talked about faith and it was great! So we will see him again wednesday! I pray that he will listen! and be receptive! He has some word of wisdom issues so... it was great. We walked out and i said, " Sister Bradley... we are going to baptize him!" So things have been really slow please pray for us. I know that if i work harder and try to be better that the lord will help us and guide us. I know that he answers our prayers! I know without a doubt that he is always with me. Even though it gets hard he is with me, and if i exercise my faith i can't go wrong. He IS WITH ALL OF US! Pray to him often! Please please get on your knee's when things are hard. He will help us and guide us! I love you all so much. Stay strong. Love, Katee
P.s . Mom we live in a three bedroom condo, with two bathrooms! Amazing! We got lucky. A member owns the complex! I will answer all the other questions to you. You can post them on the blog i just have to get another half hour on a computer real quick. So I LOVE You!

FREEZING COLD WASHINGTON!!!!!

Family and Friends!
How in the world are you?! I am doing soooo great! Well... let me explain what all went on after I talked to you at the airport! So we got to Washington and get off the plane and we finally find Pres. Bowen and Sis. Bowen! Marissa they LOVE you! Sis. Bowen came up to me and hugged me and said "I have heard so much about you!" Ha and then she said, "So have you talked to Sister King?" I had to think about it for a minute haha Who was sister king? oh thats right its my sister Marissa haha anyway it was pretty funny. Pres. Bowen said she was such an amazing missionary. All the bishops loved you! So anyway... I got to ride with Pres. Bowen and three other elders. Okay.... MOST INTIMIDATING 30 minutes of my life!!!!!! Oh goodness, haha but it was great! so then we got to the church and had a meeting! And guess who is in another TRI companionship!? Thats right.... its me! Marissa you actually trained my trainers trainer! :) figure that one out haha. So hopefully everything I learn will somewhat be from you and I can hopefully try to be as great of a missionary as you were! So my comps are Sister Bradley and Sister Directo! Sis. Bradley is from Holiday and she is 6 ft. 2 in. AND SHE PLAYS BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh happy day!!!! I love her already and I know that i will learn so much from her. Sister Directo is shorter than me and weighs like 83 pounds haha no joke! She is from the philipines and she is actually a temple square sister. So she will be here for another three months or so! They are both amazing! We are serving in an area called Sequim! And Courteney that is super close to FORKS! We are actually going to go to Forks for P day in a couple weeks! I'll let you know how that goes. My address is 812 N. Bakehouse Ct. Sequim WA 98382. PLEASE WRITE ME LETTERS! I really need them. Sequim is pronounced Sqwim like swim just with a q. I already love it here. Sis. Bradley also loves the GILMORE GIRLS! I will be friends with her forever haha but she compared sequim to stars hollow! it was awesome! Okay so after the meeting yesterday we took our two hour journey and headed for sequim. I fell alseep in the car cuz i had been up since 2:40 in the morning, so dad you were right we got to our apartment and put my stuff down and went trackting! Crazy! I actually talked at a door! In my head i was like oh wow haha we are really going down that street! Don't worry mom its not too scetchy! I feel really safe! It's just not what I am used too! So my p days will be mondays but we email today cuz of transfer meeting yesterday! but my next one will be monday! which is nice cuz so is colton's. So anyway... we also did church tours last night and one today! A member bought us lunch today. Pray that i don't gain weight, we got cookies too! From a member that looks just like lynnette layton. Please send this to her by the way.. Tonight we are teaching some people. This lady who is awesome her name is Joni and she has been baptized for 2 months now. So we are teaching the after baptism lesson, and i get to do that tonight! I am scared. Please pray for me! I know it will be okay but its my first lesson! Ah!!!! Well i don't have much time left! Sorry this is short! Please write me though! Dear elder for tomorrow or something! I love you all so much and I am so glad brother is doing so well! Mom, and kels new callings is so great! I love it! Dad i love you! and calee how is my nephew! Janelle, Deann, and Courteney thank you so much for the packages and everyone else for all the letters in the MTC. you have no idea how much they help. I love this gospel, and i can't wait til i can teach it as well as my trainers can. I hope that day will come soon. I tend to freeze up and go blank even though i know about it haha but i know that my savior and heavenly father will bless me and be with me at all times! just like colton says, he will wrap his arms around me and help me throuh anything! And i know he will do the same for all of you. Pray always and talk with heavenly father! I KNOW that he hears me and answers me! And he will for you as well! Write to this address that i gave you cuz other wise it will take forever to get mail! I love you with all my heart! And I am begining to love FREEZING cold Washington! Yes it is COLD haha but i would rather be cold katee than hot colton! I love you so much! Please pray for me and i pray for you 10 times a day at least! Have a great week! I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME! And paying for this mission! I love this gospel with all of my heart! And i love every single person who reads this email! Now go write me haha love you.
Love, Katee!

She's on her way!!! 01/03/2011

We got an unexpected phone call this morning from Katee, she was at the airport waiting to board the plane to Tacoma. We knew there was a possibility that she could call but we did not expect it because if she was told not to, she would'nt. She is definatley like her Mom and not her Dad, he would have been on the phone first thing. (Just kidding Lee) She was the travel leader over 24 or so elders and sisters, so she was a little stressed out about getting them all on the plane. She is doing so well. She loved the MTC but is so excited to go to Tacoma to get to work. All of her letters have been so uplifting and it is really comforting knowing that she will be well taken care of. She misses the Jazz, her friends and most of all her family. She said she only has 17 months left and it will go by so fast. Not fast enough for mom. She has been able to email Colton and has been a huge inspiration to him. She told him that it was really cool that our family was serving the Lord 24/7, because when he is asleep, she is awake and when she sleeps, he is awake. I never looked at it like that, and it is amazing the blessings that come from their service. She wanted me to thank everyone for their letters, love and support, she really appreciates it. She said she will try and write everyone who writes her, but she is really busy. She will do her best. She loves the letters. By now she is in Tacoma and we can't wait to find out where her first area will be. We don't know when her P-day is either and that is when she sends emails. So watch out Tacoma.