I don't even know where to start. 02/28/11

Family and Friends,
Hello! How are you all doing? Okay so I'm about to tell you a story..... Dad please do not freak out... hahaha. So we were just driving to the library to email, and Sister Nybo doesn't like to drive a ton. Which is fine with me cuz I would rather be in control of the car anyway... You know how I am haha. So we leave the house and she was like you can drive. So i'm like okay... get in the car... start driving.... turn the corner and there is a cop coming down the road. I thought oh Sister Balmforth you better slow down haha so I start slowing down and i get going about 25 mph. So next thing i know his lights come on! Darn it!!!! I HAVE NEVER BEEN PULLED OVER!!!! So i'm sitting there just praying like no other! Because if i get a ticket i can't drive for who knows how long. So come to find out i was in a school zone. Well here in Sequim a school zone is 20mph but in Utah it is 25. So duh Katee!! But I prayed like no other and the lord blessed me haha the cop said just be careful okay? So luckily I DID NOT get a ticket! So Dad no worries! Hahaha anyway how is everyone doing? This week in Sequim has been crazy! Just like Colton it was a weird week. It is so hard because I know the area the best and I am the least experienced missionary. So that is really hard. We are having a really hard time finding people to teach right now. Please keep praying that we will find people. So that is the problem right now. We need to teach! But we have to find people first! Plus it has been a hard week because it SNOWED IN SEQUIM! Thats right Snow! It hardly ever snows here. It doesn't even rain that much. So one day last week i don't remember which day... maybe Thursday. We were told that we couldn't drive because of the weather. People! I am from Utah! I know how to drive in the snow! Plus my dad has taught me so well! But we wanted to be obedient so we stayed home ALL DAY LONG! Longest day of my life!!! We called a ton of people, and got an appointment with one potential investigator for tonight so we will see how that goes! Pray! Also yesterday we had no investigators at church because oh yeah church was canceled for one of the wards because the bishop fell in the parking lot. Oh just FYI Sequim is a retirement community! So everyone is old haha thats why church was cancelled! But the good news is..... Mik was finally baptized last night!!!!!!! Yay!!!! It was funny I looked at his program last night and it said Feb. 27,2011 on it and it made me happy because i remember colton saying that he was going to have a baptism on that day too. So we both had baptisms yesterday! Cool huh? Anyway.... this week has just been weird... things are getting better though... And yesterday Brother Turner (ward missionary who loves me! and wants me to marry his son) told me all about the Jazz! Wow.... all I could think about was how much money I have spent on Dwill stuff and now i am gonna have to spend more money on Gordon stuff haha its all good though. At least I didn't cry like I did when i found out that Jerry retired. It was funny though we were at the store today and we got a call from sister bradley! I was really excited! Cuz technically i don't think she is supposed to call us. But i answer and she says "hey have you emailed yet?" and i said "no not yet" and she said " uh oh, i don't know if i should be the bearer of bad news" hhaha and i said " oh its okay brother turner already told me." it was funny cuz i knew exactly what she was talking about haha! And she was just calling to make sure that i was okay haha cuz the last time she told me news i started balling!! haha it was funny. Man i miss her like crazy! But Sister Nybo is great too! She is a great missionary and i am learning a lot from her. I won't lie It is harder to communicate, and i really try to be patient. But it is getting better, and i love these sisters. Its funny I could totally tell that Colton was having a hard week. I have been thinking about him like crazy this week, so i started writing him a letter this week, and i just finished it today but i don't have his address... Mom can i get that please? he really needs a letter! thank you. I hope he is doing okay. I know he will be just fine. He will probably have a really good week this week. The lord will bless him. I know he will! Oh I forgot to tell you another funny story... The other day we were leaving a members appartment to get to our next appointment, and we were in a hurry so i was running out to the car. Well it snowed here people haha so I',m running and i yell back to my comps " hey be careful its really icey!" So i get almost to the car door and reach for the handle and what happens?!! thats right i biff it! haha it was terrible. Just picture me in my skirt biffing it on the ice! haha Nothing was hurt except my pride so it was okay. But that is totally not like me! i never fall haha i think its the shoes. And luckily i wasn't hurt, thank goodness for all these members feeding me so much i had a little extra padding to break the fall. haha. Anyway this week has been a crazy one. Its one of those weeks that I don't even know how to explain. I just printed pics today so i will be sending them next week for Mom's birth week!!!!!! Yay!!! Also i think presidents day threw the mail system off, cuz i didn't get mail all week and then on friday i open the mail box and BAM! Seven letters addressed to sister balmforth! Yay! you all are so amazing! thank you so much... Mer, Oma, Kels, Lynnette, Carol, Brooke, Janelle, and Marilyn. And i haven't got the mail yet today so if you sent one this week THANK YOU so much. You have no idea how much it helps me. Also Janellee, I had been thinking about you all week! I am so happy for you and I will be writing you soon. Family and friends I love you all so much. Thank you for all of your prayers! I feel them every day! The gospel is amazing and I love it! Even though its been a slow week i know that heavenly father hears me and will help me and answer my prayers and also he will be with all of you! I know the book of mormon is true and i love it! I am so thankful for my savior! I love him with all my heart! I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love, Katee

P.s. I'm, glad the baby shower went great!

Happy President's Day 2/21/11

Family and Friends,
Hello! How are you all doing? I am doing really great! Happy Presidents day to everyone. Haha it's funny because when I was back home I loved random holidays like this haha but as a missionary they can totally stink. One the mail doesn't come, and two you can't use the library for email. But thank goodness a member here is the manager for a software company so we can use their computers. So thank goodness I get to email today. So this past week has been kind of a weird one. My new companion is Sister Nybo. She is from Salem Utah... I probably told you all this so sorry if I did haha. Anyway she is a great missionary and I am learning a lot from her. She is 25 years old. She came on her mission after she finished school so she is a dental hygenist! Pretty cool. So anyway... it is definitely a change. But it will be good for me to learn in different ways. I just absolutely LOVE Sister Bradley. And I know I will love Sister Nybo as well, it will just be different. I totally connected with Sister Bradley instantly! So we will see. But Sister Nybo is great! This week has been really slow!!!!! Ah! That word is terrible but that's how it has been. We found a couple of new people. You remember Shirley? Well she has canceled appointments with us twice and she didn't come to church yesterday! Then Brittany Shea... I don't know if I told you about her. But she is like 22 years old. She has been in and out of rehab. Trying to stay sober. She has been sober for about as long as I have been in Washington. Her husband has been in rehab for the past six months and just got home this week. We have tried to meet with her but she canceled twice as well because she was trying to get things set up for her husband because he will be on house arrest now until October. So yeah... we haven't been able to meet with her and she didn't come to church yesterday either.. The Moan family is doing okay. They have been sick this week. Lynn is really having a hard time with Brett leaving. I feel really bad for her. I know how she feels because it's how my mom felt! But I do think it is hard for her too because she has no backround in the church. She is probably thinking why in the world would he want to do this! So anyway... I totally wish that I could just have Mom call her and talk with her and tell her that everything will be okay. But I can't do that so don't worry we got a sister in our ward... Sister Eveland who has a daughter serving in the Phillipenes, we are going to have her go visit Lynn to see if she can make her feel better. So please continue to pray for these people. We also have Mik who I PRAY EVERY DAY that he will get baptized this Sunday. I sure hope it happens. But if it is Heavenly Fathers will it will happen. So please continue to pray. I know you do everyday, and I am so thankful. I can feel all of your prayers everyday and I really appreciate it. This week we have interviews with President Bowen so that should be good. It will be on Thursday morning so pray for me haha I love the Bowen's, even though I don't know them too well yet I love them. And thats cool that you found out my new pres. mom. Thanks for telling me that. Thats pretty cool. I think another thing that has made this week slow is because Sister Directo and I are the ones who know the area the best. So basically I know the area lol I love Sister Directo she is amazing! But anyway so Mom I did buy a GPS, I hope that is okay. I really needed it bad. Cuz really I still don't know the area like the back of my hand. So it is really hard to plan and stuff. Because I feel like I still have so much to learn and yet Sister Directo and I have to plan for everything because Sister Nybo still doesn't know the area too well. But anyway... I know I need to be better and put my trust in the Lord. I know he will bless me. I just need to humble myself and be better. So please pray that I will be better, and have a better attitude. So anyway... how is everyone doing? Thank you so much for the mail this week. I didn't get a ton because I told everyone to wait til after transfers but thank you somuch for those who did write. I am so thankful. You have no idea how much mail helps me. Dave thanks for your letter, and Marilyn, and Mom, and Grandma, Mer and Riley as well. I will work on writing you all soon. So how is my little Brenna, Ter, and Clara? How is Hope, Brooke,and Courteney? Kels, how are you and Riley? Mom, and Dad how is work? How is the ward? I heard there are two new families? Wow that is soawesome! I'm not gonna know anyone when I come home haha. But that sokay. I am so glad we are growing! I bet Bonnie is happy to have somemore little kids! Any new Young Women? Well Family and Friends... I love you all so much! I miss you like crazy. I hope you are doing great! I want you all to know how important MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK is! I can't even tell you how important the ward efforts are in missionary work. There is a cool thing.... There are like 7 billion people on the earth. And there are 14 million members of the church. And there are 52,000 full time missionaries serving right now. So if each full time missionary baptized ONE person A MONTH, it would take 19,000 years to baptize the whole world! Now if every single member baptized just ONE A YEAR, it would take just over 8 years to baptize the whole world! Now do you see how important it is? We need to share the gospel!!!!People need it so bad!!! I know that this church is true with all of my heart! Otherwise I would not be sitting at this computer in Washington right now! I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lived and died for us. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Book of Mormom! I have never loved it so much in my whole life as I do right now. I feel my Savior close to me every single day. He walks with me, and helps me through hard times. I know that he does the same for you as well! I know that if we pray Heavenly Father will answer our prayers! I know he will and he does! He answers my prayers every day! If ever you feel like he doesn't... Pray HARDER! And look for the ways he answers you, because answers don't always come how we expect or how we want them too! Family and Friends, I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all of you in my life. Have a great week! And if you have time to shoot me a letter that would be great! I love you all so much!

Love,
Katee Sister Balmforth

P.S. Dave your in the High Council now!? Congrats brother in law!

Bittersweet Week 02/15/2011

Hello Family and Friends,
Okay first off.... I have to tell everyone thank you so much. Mom and Dad I got both packages and I am so grateful for you. Thank you so much. Mom the cookies are amazing! I took one out and smelled that homemade frosting and just about cried haha. And Cal thanks for the rice crispies! Love them. and Hope for the valentines! You guys are the best. Lynnette thank you so much for the valentines! I sent you a letter the day before i got the box so i will write you soon. And Carol! You must have felt the spirit when you sent that valentines haha how did you know that i ran out of stamps?! Thank you all so much. And also for the letters this week. Court, Terry Healey, ness.Mer, Mom, Marilyn, Dad, and Laura. Okay so how is everyone doing? Let me tell you about my very hard Saturday that I had. Ugh i don't even know where to begin. So Saturdays are transfer call days. So pretty much i was on edge the whole morning. Like every time the phone rang my heart just pounded! And of course people were just loving calling us that morning for some reason. So sister bradley had said that usually if you are training they will call around nine. And if they don't call by noon you are pretty safe and probably staying in your area. So we wait and wait. noon rolls around and nothing. So i am feeling pretty great! Then the call finally comes at 1:30! We were at McDonalds,(no i didn't eat.) So the call comes and Sister Bradley got transfered to Aberdeen! She is so amazing people! I just started to cry! Ugh.... change is sooooo hard for me! So she is getting white washed in! Aberdeen was an elders area and they just decided to make it a sisters area! So go sister bradley... pray for her people! But she is so amazing she will do great! But really i was crushed! I already miss her like crazy! So me and sister directo were told we were staying in sequim. So that was nice, but bitter sweet. I think i could go anywhere if it were just with Sister Bradley. So then I was kinda in a funk all day because of that. But its okay i know the lord puts us where we need to be and that it will all work out. But still it was a hard day. So then we were delivering thank you cards to people in the ward. We go to the Turners house. They are amazing! Bro turner is from Australia and has a great accent. Picture him cuz he is hilarious! I just wish i could hug this man haha. Anyway so sis. directo and i stayed in the car and sis bradley just ran in to give it to them cuz we were in a hurry. So the Turners are HUGE Jazz fans. So sister bradley comes back out to the car. And she sits down. ( i am driving) and she says... "i have some bad news to tell you." and i kinda panicked because what could get worse right? She said "its about the Jazz" and i said " what happened! Did they lose to the bulls? Did D will get hurt again!" (all things i could live with) and she said "no its worse." And i'm thinking what could possibly be worse than that? And she said "maybe i should wait til tomorrow to tell you." And i said "well you gotta tell me now." and then she said that most heart breaking thing ever! " Jerry Sloan retired two days ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And that totally was the cherry on top of everything... let me tell you. It was a good thing i was stopped at a stop sign because i started CRYING! And not just crying but sobbing! It was so hard!!! I never thought that this day would come! I thought that Jerry would stop being the coach when he died. Oh people i can't even tell you how hard Saturday was. But its okay... Brother Turner and sister bradley comforted me haha i know it will be okay. So anyway... not gonna lie saturday was the longest day of my mission so far! Oh my good crap! I just got a call from President Bowen! Oh geez! Ha my heart is still racing! He is so amazing! I just have to send him something in the mail. So no worries there. But anyway... Saturday was hard. But then it was time for Miracle Sunday!!!!!!!! I had my first BAPTISM!!!! YEAH! And it was a great way to end the transfer! The baptism was sunday and sister bradley left monday so it was great. Kristy and her daughter Zarah were baptized! Oh what an amazing thing. Don't worry the baptism only started 20 minutes late because some crazy sister missionaries may or may not have forgotten that the white clothes were still in the washer and had not been dried yet! Ha yeah that was us lol but mom i know what you are thinking and it wasn't me haha i told em not to even wash them haha i totally would say that. But sister directo put them in the wash the night before and then we were so busy we forgot about it. So needless to say the lord was on our side and it took 20 minutes to dry.,they were just a little damp. Kristy and Zarah glowed and it was amazing! I am so excited! Now if we can just get Mik baptized this week that would be great! Pray for them please! So my our new companion is sister Nybo from Salem, Utah! She is 4 foot 11 and sister directo is 4 foot 10 or 11 ish.... so guess what that makes me?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats right people..... THE TALLEST! HA. Its the first time in my life lol But its great! I really miss my tall sister bradley though! I will be okay thought. I KNOW that the lord has us where he does for a reason! Mom, how is Austin doing? I haven't heard anything about him. How is Janellee? Anyway i am running short on time. But please pray for me this week. Change is so hard. but i am trying! I need to learn to "Come what may and love it" as elder worthlin said. But it will come with time. So its hard though because sister nybo has been out for a year but me and sis directo know the area. But i don't really cuz i've been here for six weeks. And sometimes it is hard to understand sis. directo! But we will get through it! Please pray that we find people! Family and friends I KNOW that this church is true! I know that heavenly father loves me and that he is aware of my needs and that he will help me through hard times. The power of prayer is amazing and i feel all of your prayers every day! I love this gospel! I love that my family is forever! And i love all of you! Have a great week and pray always!
Love, Katee

Beautiful Washington

Sister Balmforth and Sister Directo

Sister Bradley, Sister Balmforth and Sister Directo

A member made them these slippers, Katee is the red.

A couple paid for them to have a nice dinner.

A member made them hoodies with their Mission printed on them.

A member and Sister Balmforth

Yes, it's a real deer. She is in the country.

Sister Directo, Sister Balmforth and Sister Bradley

P-Day playing some hoops

Sister Balmforth with Canada in the background

Sister Directo (4'11) Sister Bradley (6'2) and Sister Balmforth (5'2)

Sister Balmforth and Sister Bradley

Sister Balmforth and Sister Directo

Sister Balmforth hanging out on a members boat. They live on it, no she did not get in the water

First Area Squim Washington Companions Sister Directo and Sister Bradley

Her bed with her Smurf snuggie

On a members boat.

Delivery from her momma, her favorite peanut butter M & M's

Cool picture, Sister Balmforth and Sister Directo walking to an appointment

Sister Directo, Sister Balmforth and Sister Bradley

MTC

Her Fijian roomates, she loved them and her compaion.

The sister missionaries in her district.

Her Christmas present, her Smurf snuggie

Doing her very first load of laundry (ever), her district leader helping her.

Her whites were still white.

Her roomates at the MTC

Receiveing her first package from home.

This lady was a convert to the church and she loved Katee because of her last name. Katee's cousin was the one who baptized her.

The sisters.

Christmas and MTC

She's going to Tacoma.
Opening her presents Christmas morning.
This was actually the missionaries that arrived at the Mission Home in Tacoma

Her favorite MTC teacher

Their little Christmas tree in their room.

Lucky #11

Family and Friends!
Well hello out there in Utah! How is everyone doing? First off... Calee and Dave Happy belated anniversary! Sorry i'm a terrible sister haha but Cal I did just send you a letter and you should get it soon. And i did get your letter so thank you very much. Everyone else that has written me this week you are amazing! Brooke, Mom, Grandma, Patti, Lynnette, Carol, Calee, Marilyn,and janessa i just got yours today,and everyone else... sorry if i'm missing anyone. But seriously you guys are amazing! I feel so loved and you have no idea how much letters help me through out the day. Especially when it is a hard day. Okay so this week has been pretty good. I hope that you got the package i sent mom. It cost me ten bucks my goodness. Haha i'm really cheap lol i still have like over a hundred dollars on my mission credit card for this month and sister bradley has like 20 haha its only the 7th! anyway i'm cheap and i don't starve so i'm good to go. its nice because i really don't need much. So anyway.... this week has been good. It has kind of been slow. I don't really know where to even start. Tracting this week has actually paid off. Sister Bradley was on the phone so sister directo and I started walking up to this door. I kept trying to pump myself up haha so in my head i was givin myself a pep talk. I said "okay, this is gonna be the door! we are totally going to find someone right here at this house that is prepared and ready for us to teach!" so we walk up and the house number is 111! well for those of you who don't know 11 is my favorite/lucky number! So that got me really excited! haha but then as we were walking up i was like ah man this house is dark, no one is home. Was I wrong? yes i was! a very nice lady comes to the door and her name is Shirley! She looked at us and said "i am VERY interested, but i don't have time right now!" So i said, thats okay! can we get your phone number and call you tomorrow? so we got her info and i called her the next day and i set up a church tour with her! she is great! she came on the tour and we gave her the first lesson. She said she would be at church but she never showed. So that was a bummer. its so hard. I sit at church and stare at the door and just wait for our people to show up, and its hard when they never do. But we have an appointment with her on Wednesday so hopefully it will work out. A few weeks ago we also tracted into a 22 year old girl and her name is brittany. She did the same thing and we got her phone number. Well then later we kept trying to call her and the number was disconnected. So the other day we were in her area and sister bradley said lets just go knock on her door. So we did. Honestly i was kinda hesitant. Just because i hate to be overbearing. But we did it and she was there and she had gotten a new phone! So we set up a church tour with her and it went great! I even did the first vision! I was happy with myself haha anyway it was pretty cool but she didn't show to church either. So hopefully when we meet with her it will go good. So the Moan family.....! Do you all remember them? You should cuz they are amazing... anyway we have been teaching them and we committed them to baptism... but they have decided that when they get baptized they want to do it in Oregon because that is where they are from and they have friends there.........BUMMER! I mean we are so stoked that they are getting baptized but sad because we won't get to see it. But thats okay... the most important thing is that they take that step. So in other words... still no baptisms for sister balmforth... its okay though. I know as i continue to increase my faith we will see miracles! It has been a tough transfer as far as seeing success but it has been so rewarding! Kristy and Mik are doing okay. Kristy hasn't had coffee in like a month, and they are both down to like only 3 or 4 cigarretts a day. Which is like amazing for them. Now we just have to find a place for Mik to live because this Co Habing thing isn't working! But we have seriously tried and looked everywhere for a place in his price range, but nothing. And he just needs to go look and put forth an effort. We kinda pulled the transfer card on them and told them that one of us might be leaving next week. So hopefully that will make them work hard to want to be baptized this weekend! Please pray that it happens! I pray everyday for it! But i know it will happen on the lords time. Last night they Elders in our area (they are over a different ward) they had two baptisms and we got to go. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing! The closing song was families can be together forever! It gets me everytime lol I love it. Yesterday was a long hard day too because the Dang super bowl was on. So we were not about to go tracting because it would have been a waste of time. We learned that the hard way when the seattle sea hawks were playing one night. Haha door after door closed. But we did get to eat at a members house last night, and they had a non member family there and then the deprati family was also there. They are recent converts and they are AMAZING! So we taught a good lesson and hopefully the non member family will come on a church tour. So the work is going good. We are staying really really busy and we hope to see some good things come from it soon. I KNOW Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that we will see Miracles soon! Oh Marrissa do you know a sister McCallister from Puallup? She probably went on splits with you? Anyway she said she knows you, but she lives in Sequim now.. Haha i thought it was pretty cool. Anyway... Family and friends thank you so much for all you do for me and for all the prayers you say in my behalf. I feel them everyday, and i am so grateful! I know that my savior Jesus Christ lives! I know that he died for every single one of us. He suffered in the Garden for us so that we can repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father again. The greatest joy that i have that comes from the atonement is the fact that I will be able to be with my family forever! That is the greatest blessing of all. I know how real the power of prayer is. I am grateful for it every single day. I love it and i know that he hears me. He see's my joys and my sorrows. He see's every tear i cry and he helps me through the good and the bad. I love being able to serve my Heavenly Father! It brings me so much joy! Pray to him often! He will never let you down. I PROMISE! Family and Friends have a great week. And please know that i think about you and pray for you every single day! I love you all so much!
Love,Katee