Cousins
7 years ago
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Transfers=STRESS 03/29/11
Hello family and friends!
Okay so here is the deal. I got transferred. You all probably know this by now. So if you sent me mail to Sequim, I'm sorry if it takes me awhile to write back. Sister Directo is going to forward my mail to me but it might take awhile. But Carol, Mom, Brooke, and Hope I got your letters and I promise to work hard and get you a letter soon. I love you all. Okay so... I have been transferred to Puyallup South, we cover two wards. Ridecrest and Firgrove. My companion is Sister Soelberg! Yes Sister Soelberg from the MTC. Not going to lie, when they called me and told me that I was leaving Sequim my heart sunk, and then they told me that my comp was going to be Sister Soelberg and I just started to cry. I didn't know what to do . My goodness we've both only been out for a little over three months and we are being thrown into a huge area together! Man oh man. All I can say is Heavenly Father definitely answers our prayers. Sometimes its not how we expect but I KNOW that this is where I am supposed to be. Even though it will be hard I KNOW that Heavenly Father will bless me and help me. So we have already had MIRACLES here in Puyallup! Last night we were tracting and we had an insta tour!!!!! AMAZING! It was my first one ever. We knocked on the door and 20 year old Jordon answers! He was asleep lol we actually knocked on the back door and no one answered and so we start to walk away and Sis Soelberg says "someone's in there!" So we knock on the other door haha it was good we did cuz I almost just passed it by! It was great! So he was like okay I'll come on a tour of the church. And we were like great! Do you have a car? (cuz obviously we can;'t drive him) and he said no. So I didn't know what to do, and I have no idea where we are really because I had only been in Puyallup for a couple hours and it is HUGE compared to Sequim. So i said,... well is it okay if we just walk? haha and he was like okay. So we walked probably a little less than a mile to the church and gave him a tour! It was great and we are meeting with him tonight! So we gave a tour to a kid today as well. His name is Skyler. He is great and wants to know more! We will meet with him again on Sunday. Its been really cool. I know I am here with sis soelberg for a reason. And I have been praying to get more teaching opportunities! And it has happened and it feels good. I have a lot of work to do but I am excited! So the area is really big compared to what I am used too. I miss Sequim like crazy! I cried as we were leaving haha all my emails probably make it sound like I cry a lot. Haha I try not too. But anyway... transfer meeting was great! I got to see Sister Bradley!!!! Oh how Ii love and miss her. She is training a greenie again this transfer hahaha she is amazing! She gave me a little bracelet that says families are forever! Pretty sure I'm her favorite lol Just kidding. And sister directo will be back in slc on the 13th, so she gave her final testimony and it was great! So my new address is 12713 125th Ave. Ct. E. and it is Puyallup, WA. 98374. We live with a member... her name is Sister Walters and she seems really great. I guess she had a kid and her husband killed in a car wreck about 2 years ago... so its way sad but I don't know the whole story yet. But she seems great. We have a room in the basement and a bathroom, but we shower upstairs cuz the bathroom downstairs is just a toilet and mirror to get ready. It is a lot different than Sequim! But it is going to be great! And I am excited to hear stories from Marissa! Family and friends I love you all and miss you like crazy! I hope you are all doing good. I pray for you all every single day. And this week I am going to need your prayers! I know you already pray for me and I am so thankful! I love you all and hope you have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you. Oh and we had Elder Richards from the seventy here last week and it was awesome! I loved it! I love this gospel with all of my heart! It has changed my life! I KNOW my savior lives and loves each one of us. My testimony of him has grown so much and even though I don't understand the atonement that well I am so thankful for it in my life. I love you all! And I'm glad that I can spend forever with you! Have a great week. I love you and miss you like crazy!
Love, Katee
Okay so here is the deal. I got transferred. You all probably know this by now. So if you sent me mail to Sequim, I'm sorry if it takes me awhile to write back. Sister Directo is going to forward my mail to me but it might take awhile. But Carol, Mom, Brooke, and Hope I got your letters and I promise to work hard and get you a letter soon. I love you all. Okay so... I have been transferred to Puyallup South, we cover two wards. Ridecrest and Firgrove. My companion is Sister Soelberg! Yes Sister Soelberg from the MTC. Not going to lie, when they called me and told me that I was leaving Sequim my heart sunk, and then they told me that my comp was going to be Sister Soelberg and I just started to cry. I didn't know what to do . My goodness we've both only been out for a little over three months and we are being thrown into a huge area together! Man oh man. All I can say is Heavenly Father definitely answers our prayers. Sometimes its not how we expect but I KNOW that this is where I am supposed to be. Even though it will be hard I KNOW that Heavenly Father will bless me and help me. So we have already had MIRACLES here in Puyallup! Last night we were tracting and we had an insta tour!!!!! AMAZING! It was my first one ever. We knocked on the door and 20 year old Jordon answers! He was asleep lol we actually knocked on the back door and no one answered and so we start to walk away and Sis Soelberg says "someone's in there!" So we knock on the other door haha it was good we did cuz I almost just passed it by! It was great! So he was like okay I'll come on a tour of the church. And we were like great! Do you have a car? (cuz obviously we can;'t drive him) and he said no. So I didn't know what to do, and I have no idea where we are really because I had only been in Puyallup for a couple hours and it is HUGE compared to Sequim. So i said,... well is it okay if we just walk? haha and he was like okay. So we walked probably a little less than a mile to the church and gave him a tour! It was great and we are meeting with him tonight! So we gave a tour to a kid today as well. His name is Skyler. He is great and wants to know more! We will meet with him again on Sunday. Its been really cool. I know I am here with sis soelberg for a reason. And I have been praying to get more teaching opportunities! And it has happened and it feels good. I have a lot of work to do but I am excited! So the area is really big compared to what I am used too. I miss Sequim like crazy! I cried as we were leaving haha all my emails probably make it sound like I cry a lot. Haha I try not too. But anyway... transfer meeting was great! I got to see Sister Bradley!!!! Oh how Ii love and miss her. She is training a greenie again this transfer hahaha she is amazing! She gave me a little bracelet that says families are forever! Pretty sure I'm her favorite lol Just kidding. And sister directo will be back in slc on the 13th, so she gave her final testimony and it was great! So my new address is 12713 125th Ave. Ct. E. and it is Puyallup, WA. 98374. We live with a member... her name is Sister Walters and she seems really great. I guess she had a kid and her husband killed in a car wreck about 2 years ago... so its way sad but I don't know the whole story yet. But she seems great. We have a room in the basement and a bathroom, but we shower upstairs cuz the bathroom downstairs is just a toilet and mirror to get ready. It is a lot different than Sequim! But it is going to be great! And I am excited to hear stories from Marissa! Family and friends I love you all and miss you like crazy! I hope you are all doing good. I pray for you all every single day. And this week I am going to need your prayers! I know you already pray for me and I am so thankful! I love you all and hope you have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you. Oh and we had Elder Richards from the seventy here last week and it was awesome! I loved it! I love this gospel with all of my heart! It has changed my life! I KNOW my savior lives and loves each one of us. My testimony of him has grown so much and even though I don't understand the atonement that well I am so thankful for it in my life. I love you all! And I'm glad that I can spend forever with you! Have a great week. I love you and miss you like crazy!
Love, Katee
Monday, March 21, 2011
Miracles 03/21/11
Hello family and friends!
How are you all doing!? This week has been sooo busy and I LOVE it! Being busy is the best and getting home at night being exhausted is awesome! So let me tell you a few great things that happened. We went to a less active lady's house this week to meet with her, and her nonmember boyfriend was there. He walked in the room so we could meet him. (Beer in hand) haha. So we start asking him a few questions, and then we start teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. This house smelled like smoke like no other! We all smelled sooo bad after we left but it was worth it. I will probably need to get my coat cleaned.haha anyway...so we were teaching him and he finished his beer, so then he walks out and gets another one lol then we were just about finishing up the lesson and he pulls some stuff out of his pocket and starts rolling a joint right in front of us! hahaha oh my goodness! We walked out and I was like "well i think he has about almost every W.O.W. problem there is haha but it was funny. Another cool thing that happened this week was we found 5 new investigators!!! yay!!!! it was great! my favorite to tell about right now is Brian Green. He has a wife and two kids. We tracted into them on Spruce street. Sister Directo said I think we need to tract there today. So we did, and before we started we said okay... we are going to find a family of four on this road! And we did! It is great. He was really hesitant...so sister nybo said okay how about you let us come and teach you one lesson. And then if you don't like it we won't come back. So he said okay. So basically we new that we had a one time shot with him. We had to get him to feel the spirit or it wasn't gonna work. So we all decided that Sis. nybo would go back with a member to teach him. (we always take fellowship) So... back up a few days. The past few days before this I had been praying to have help to get teaching opportunities. Because both my comps have been out for a year, so they are really experienced. So usually in lessons i don't say much. So i have been praying to have help to teach so i can get better. So Saturday morning comes around. And we are meeting with Brian at 4 in the afternoon. And we were sitting there thinking who can we take with us? And a name came to all of our minds! SISTER Eveland! Sister eveland is amazing! Mom she kinda reminds me of you. Like i think her and her daughter probably have the same kind of relationship as me and you do... anyway... oh and her daughter is serving a mission in the phillipenes. So we call sister eveland and finally get a hold of her. And she says that she will go. She hesitantly said she would go haha. So we go to the church for the elders baptism and then sister evenland was going to pick up sis nybo at the church and sis directo and i were going to do some other visits and stuff. So its almost time to go and sis nybo pulls us out of the baptism and says.. sisters i am not supposed to be at that lesson today! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! Instantly I am TERRIFIED! One because I KNOW that I am supposed to go to that lesson, but i am scared because i have never taught an investigator alone, and because we only have one shot witht his guy. So instantly I start crying hahaha and I think i was crying more because Heavenly Father knew what i needed and answered my prayers, and i felt the spirit. But not gonna lie i was terrified haha So sister evenland was great. I know that she was there for me more than the investigator. So we go and knock on the door and no answer...so i am bummed. then we saw them in the back yard and he let us in and i start teaching about authority and why there are so many other religions on the earth today... And brian looks up and says. "that makes sense" !!!!!!!!!!! oh my goodness... i wanted to be like "well its cuz its true" haha but i was like okay sister balmforth don't smile yet lol. so then we showed him the restoration movie and he said "i like that." so we have another appointment with him this week and i can't wait!!! I ACTUALLY DID IT! It was kinda hard because afterwards all i could think was "man i just wanna call my mom and tell her. "because it was so cool and i really just wanted to pick up the phone and tell you this great news! But i know that's why heavenly father had sister eveland come with us. Because i was able to talk to her and it was great! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It is so hard sometimes but it is so rewarding! I miss you all like crazy, but I now KNOW why I am a missionary! Part of why anyway. I love this gospel with all of my heart! And I can't wait to see others grasp onto it and never let it go. I KNOW that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers! His son lived and died for us, and because of him we will all be together again! I love you family and friends! I hope you all have a great week! Transfers are next week, so don't send mail any later than Wednesday because i could have a new address. I hope that I stay in Sequim. I feel like there is just a little more work for me to do here. So Mom next weeks email will be on Tuesday probably. Okay i love you all. Have a great week!
Love, Katee
How are you all doing!? This week has been sooo busy and I LOVE it! Being busy is the best and getting home at night being exhausted is awesome! So let me tell you a few great things that happened. We went to a less active lady's house this week to meet with her, and her nonmember boyfriend was there. He walked in the room so we could meet him. (Beer in hand) haha. So we start asking him a few questions, and then we start teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. This house smelled like smoke like no other! We all smelled sooo bad after we left but it was worth it. I will probably need to get my coat cleaned.haha anyway...so we were teaching him and he finished his beer, so then he walks out and gets another one lol then we were just about finishing up the lesson and he pulls some stuff out of his pocket and starts rolling a joint right in front of us! hahaha oh my goodness! We walked out and I was like "well i think he has about almost every W.O.W. problem there is haha but it was funny. Another cool thing that happened this week was we found 5 new investigators!!! yay!!!! it was great! my favorite to tell about right now is Brian Green. He has a wife and two kids. We tracted into them on Spruce street. Sister Directo said I think we need to tract there today. So we did, and before we started we said okay... we are going to find a family of four on this road! And we did! It is great. He was really hesitant...so sister nybo said okay how about you let us come and teach you one lesson. And then if you don't like it we won't come back. So he said okay. So basically we new that we had a one time shot with him. We had to get him to feel the spirit or it wasn't gonna work. So we all decided that Sis. nybo would go back with a member to teach him. (we always take fellowship) So... back up a few days. The past few days before this I had been praying to have help to get teaching opportunities. Because both my comps have been out for a year, so they are really experienced. So usually in lessons i don't say much. So i have been praying to have help to teach so i can get better. So Saturday morning comes around. And we are meeting with Brian at 4 in the afternoon. And we were sitting there thinking who can we take with us? And a name came to all of our minds! SISTER Eveland! Sister eveland is amazing! Mom she kinda reminds me of you. Like i think her and her daughter probably have the same kind of relationship as me and you do... anyway... oh and her daughter is serving a mission in the phillipenes. So we call sister eveland and finally get a hold of her. And she says that she will go. She hesitantly said she would go haha. So we go to the church for the elders baptism and then sister evenland was going to pick up sis nybo at the church and sis directo and i were going to do some other visits and stuff. So its almost time to go and sis nybo pulls us out of the baptism and says.. sisters i am not supposed to be at that lesson today! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! Instantly I am TERRIFIED! One because I KNOW that I am supposed to go to that lesson, but i am scared because i have never taught an investigator alone, and because we only have one shot witht his guy. So instantly I start crying hahaha and I think i was crying more because Heavenly Father knew what i needed and answered my prayers, and i felt the spirit. But not gonna lie i was terrified haha So sister evenland was great. I know that she was there for me more than the investigator. So we go and knock on the door and no answer...so i am bummed. then we saw them in the back yard and he let us in and i start teaching about authority and why there are so many other religions on the earth today... And brian looks up and says. "that makes sense" !!!!!!!!!!! oh my goodness... i wanted to be like "well its cuz its true" haha but i was like okay sister balmforth don't smile yet lol. so then we showed him the restoration movie and he said "i like that." so we have another appointment with him this week and i can't wait!!! I ACTUALLY DID IT! It was kinda hard because afterwards all i could think was "man i just wanna call my mom and tell her. "because it was so cool and i really just wanted to pick up the phone and tell you this great news! But i know that's why heavenly father had sister eveland come with us. Because i was able to talk to her and it was great! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It is so hard sometimes but it is so rewarding! I miss you all like crazy, but I now KNOW why I am a missionary! Part of why anyway. I love this gospel with all of my heart! And I can't wait to see others grasp onto it and never let it go. I KNOW that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers! His son lived and died for us, and because of him we will all be together again! I love you family and friends! I hope you all have a great week! Transfers are next week, so don't send mail any later than Wednesday because i could have a new address. I hope that I stay in Sequim. I feel like there is just a little more work for me to do here. So Mom next weeks email will be on Tuesday probably. Okay i love you all. Have a great week!
Love, Katee
Monday, March 14, 2011
03/14/11
Hello Family and Friends!
How are you all doing? So I feel like I have a lot to tell you but then I don't really know where to start! Last Monday after I emailed I got the mail and had a ton of letters! Thank you all so much for writing me! You are great! I am working on writing all of you back so please be patient! I will hopefully have all of the letters written today and sent tomorrow! Yay! Okay anyway... So this week has been good. First I will start off with just some funny things that have happened. So this week we had interviews with President Bowen! He is great. Mine was pretty short because pretty much he looks at all your records to make sure you are doing things right and then he says can I do anything to help you, and thats about it haha because he has so many other missionaries. But the older missionaries usually talk to him for a little while longer because they know more of what to say. So anyway... Poor Sister Directo came out crying because she is really having a hard time with the thought of her having to leave Washington next month! She loves it here. But she loves Temple Square too! So she has mixed emotions about it all. But she is excited to get back to Salt Lake next month so she can meet all of you! I believe she leaves Washington on April 13. So you can probably go see her sometime after that. I am excited for you to meet her. She is so amazing! She has only been a member of the church for five years and her testimony is so strong! I can't imagine being in her shoes right now. Her parent sare not members. Her older sister is, and then she has a couple of less active brothers and then the rest of her family are not members.... YET! Haha we always say that. Anyway she is amazing and I can't wait for you to meet her! Sister Nybo is amazing as well. It has been different but I am starting to realize that change can be good. She is a great missionary. Sometimes it is hard for all three of us to communicate but I'm sure that is the case for most missionaries. And it is hard for Sister Directo to just because of the language barrier and things like that. But its all good, and we all love each other. Idon't know if I will ever love a companion like I love Sister Bradley but I'm sure I will love them all. Speaking of Sister Bradley!......She called me last night!! I'm not sure if that is technically allowed or not, but she always says that she usually calls the people she trains to check up on them, and she said that yesterday she had been thinking about me so she called to see how things were going. She is so great and I miss her like crazy. We talked for a few minutes and I mostly told her about all the people that have died in Sequim the past few weeks! It is so crazy! Sequim is a retirement place though so it kind of makes sense! Lol. So anyway... funny things that happened thisweek. Sister Directo was writing a letter to her family and forgot her address hahaha it was way funny. The funny thing is, is that it is really not that funny but EVERYTHING to a missionary is funny. I mean we laugh way hard at the dumb laffy taffy jokes. (okay i may or may not have done that before my mission...Hope haha) but really everyl ittle thing is funny to us. So she had to call the mission office to get her home address and the sweet sisters there thought it was pretty funny too. Another funny thing that happened was we went to this house with a split, and they had dogs everywhere! Seriously probably six or so dogs and some cats and ferrots everywhere! So I walk in and look down and I was like whoa! Thats a pig!!! hahaha don't worry it wasn't a pig it was just a really really fat dog that looked like a pig! It was so great haha! Me and sister Kieth (our split) couldn't help but laugh! and we were grateful that the owner had walked out for a minute because seriously we could not help ourselves, and of course when we left i was weazing haha but don't worry mom I have only had to use my inhaler a couple times on the mission. But thank you for sending another one by the way. And sister Kieth was sneezing like crazy because she is way allergic to all that stuff too. haha it was way funny. Mom and Dad THANK YOU so much for the package! It was perfect!The conference cds!!!! Excellent! And thanks for the Reeses haha you shouldn't have lol but thank you so much. The peanut butter m&m's are my favorite!!!!! I am glad that Calee is doing good. I am so excited for my little nephew to get here!!! Its so exciting! How is my little Brenna, Ter, and Clara doing? Mer sends me pics of them with every letter that she sends and I CAN'T BELIEVE how BIG they are!! Its crazy! I've only been gone three months and they are huge. I totally just see little Brenna being a Diva haha so funny. Anyway... how is the ward? How is Kels, and Hope, and Brooke, and Court doing? Is everyone excited for Conference!!!??? I can't wait!!! Transfers are on the 28th. So don't plan on an email for that day. I will find out the saturday (26th) if I am getting transferred or not. I hope that I stay in Sequim for at least one more transfer. But if not its okay. I know I will go wherever the Lord needs me. (maybe to aberdeen with Sister Bradley :) hehe just kidding. But really I know that I will go where I am supposed to be. No matter how hard or easy it is. So how about those crazy Tsunami's. We heard about that and were amazed! The Farleys (amazing members here) are retired and they have sailed around the world! And they actually live on their boat! Its pretty cool, but they had a warning and so they were out in their boat all day. I was like oh my goodness that is the last place I would want to be lol. So daylight savings is a hard thing for me. My schedule is kinda messed up but its not to bad. Hopefully I will get enough sleep. Every night I go to bed and when the alarm goes off in the morning it feels like I have only been asleep for like 20 minutes. But I LOVE IT! I love being tired! This past week we had stake conference and it was amazing! Being a missionary is probably one of the most rewarding things that has ever happened to me. I am starting to realize and recognize that if I live worthy I can have the spirit with me ALL the time. And it is so great because I am starting to recognize that I do have the spirit with me, and I feel it all the time. I love how I feel. This morning I was telling Sister Nybo that I don't know if I have ever felt so happy. And it was funny because I said "well, in this kind of way."Because that day when we beat skyline... That was happy. But that only lasted for so long. I am really happy! Even though I have hard days. And some days I just want to stay in bed and cry because things are hard, I know that Heavenly Father is going to make everything okay. I am almost to the point where when I get frustrated or things are hard,I can't even cry anymore because I know that Heavenly Father is going to make everything okay. So I am very happy! And in that sense I don't think I have ever been this happy! Does all that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't but I don't have time to go back and read it haha. So this week we were able to contact some people that we haven't been able to get a hold of forever! So that was great! Remember Shirley that lives on 111 Petal Lane? We got a hold of her yesterday and I am really excited! I was able to share a scripture and my testimony with her and we are hoping that she will come to church on Sunday! We think or I think that she may just be our Transfer Miracle!! Pray for her!! Family and Friends... I want you all to know how much I love every one of you! I love this gospel with all of my heart and I know that it is true! Sometimes I feel like I don't know everything... well I know that I don't know everything but I do know that it is true. And I knowi t is true by the feelings that I get when I live it! I am so grateful for a latter day prophet who leads and guides us! I am so thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith who gave up so much for us, and who died for this great cause. I love the Book of Mormon! I don't think I have ever loved any book so much! And I think the reason why I love it so much is because it testify's of our savior Jesus Christ! I KNOW that he lived and I know that he died for us so that we can all return to live with him again! I love that i will be able to be with all of you. And I can only imagine how that day will be... when we all meet around him and feel his hands and feet. And I only hope that he will be able to look at me and all of us, and say, "well done, thou good and faithful servant.. welcome home!" I love him, and I love all of you! I think about you all every single day and pray for you always! Have a great week!!!! I love you so much!
Love, Katee
How are you all doing? So I feel like I have a lot to tell you but then I don't really know where to start! Last Monday after I emailed I got the mail and had a ton of letters! Thank you all so much for writing me! You are great! I am working on writing all of you back so please be patient! I will hopefully have all of the letters written today and sent tomorrow! Yay! Okay anyway... So this week has been good. First I will start off with just some funny things that have happened. So this week we had interviews with President Bowen! He is great. Mine was pretty short because pretty much he looks at all your records to make sure you are doing things right and then he says can I do anything to help you, and thats about it haha because he has so many other missionaries. But the older missionaries usually talk to him for a little while longer because they know more of what to say. So anyway... Poor Sister Directo came out crying because she is really having a hard time with the thought of her having to leave Washington next month! She loves it here. But she loves Temple Square too! So she has mixed emotions about it all. But she is excited to get back to Salt Lake next month so she can meet all of you! I believe she leaves Washington on April 13. So you can probably go see her sometime after that. I am excited for you to meet her. She is so amazing! She has only been a member of the church for five years and her testimony is so strong! I can't imagine being in her shoes right now. Her parent sare not members. Her older sister is, and then she has a couple of less active brothers and then the rest of her family are not members.... YET! Haha we always say that. Anyway she is amazing and I can't wait for you to meet her! Sister Nybo is amazing as well. It has been different but I am starting to realize that change can be good. She is a great missionary. Sometimes it is hard for all three of us to communicate but I'm sure that is the case for most missionaries. And it is hard for Sister Directo to just because of the language barrier and things like that. But its all good, and we all love each other. Idon't know if I will ever love a companion like I love Sister Bradley but I'm sure I will love them all. Speaking of Sister Bradley!......She called me last night!! I'm not sure if that is technically allowed or not, but she always says that she usually calls the people she trains to check up on them, and she said that yesterday she had been thinking about me so she called to see how things were going. She is so great and I miss her like crazy. We talked for a few minutes and I mostly told her about all the people that have died in Sequim the past few weeks! It is so crazy! Sequim is a retirement place though so it kind of makes sense! Lol. So anyway... funny things that happened thisweek. Sister Directo was writing a letter to her family and forgot her address hahaha it was way funny. The funny thing is, is that it is really not that funny but EVERYTHING to a missionary is funny. I mean we laugh way hard at the dumb laffy taffy jokes. (okay i may or may not have done that before my mission...Hope haha) but really everyl ittle thing is funny to us. So she had to call the mission office to get her home address and the sweet sisters there thought it was pretty funny too. Another funny thing that happened was we went to this house with a split, and they had dogs everywhere! Seriously probably six or so dogs and some cats and ferrots everywhere! So I walk in and look down and I was like whoa! Thats a pig!!! hahaha don't worry it wasn't a pig it was just a really really fat dog that looked like a pig! It was so great haha! Me and sister Kieth (our split) couldn't help but laugh! and we were grateful that the owner had walked out for a minute because seriously we could not help ourselves, and of course when we left i was weazing haha but don't worry mom I have only had to use my inhaler a couple times on the mission. But thank you for sending another one by the way. And sister Kieth was sneezing like crazy because she is way allergic to all that stuff too. haha it was way funny. Mom and Dad THANK YOU so much for the package! It was perfect!The conference cds!!!! Excellent! And thanks for the Reeses haha you shouldn't have lol but thank you so much. The peanut butter m&m's are my favorite!!!!! I am glad that Calee is doing good. I am so excited for my little nephew to get here!!! Its so exciting! How is my little Brenna, Ter, and Clara doing? Mer sends me pics of them with every letter that she sends and I CAN'T BELIEVE how BIG they are!! Its crazy! I've only been gone three months and they are huge. I totally just see little Brenna being a Diva haha so funny. Anyway... how is the ward? How is Kels, and Hope, and Brooke, and Court doing? Is everyone excited for Conference!!!??? I can't wait!!! Transfers are on the 28th. So don't plan on an email for that day. I will find out the saturday (26th) if I am getting transferred or not. I hope that I stay in Sequim for at least one more transfer. But if not its okay. I know I will go wherever the Lord needs me. (maybe to aberdeen with Sister Bradley :) hehe just kidding. But really I know that I will go where I am supposed to be. No matter how hard or easy it is. So how about those crazy Tsunami's. We heard about that and were amazed! The Farleys (amazing members here) are retired and they have sailed around the world! And they actually live on their boat! Its pretty cool, but they had a warning and so they were out in their boat all day. I was like oh my goodness that is the last place I would want to be lol. So daylight savings is a hard thing for me. My schedule is kinda messed up but its not to bad. Hopefully I will get enough sleep. Every night I go to bed and when the alarm goes off in the morning it feels like I have only been asleep for like 20 minutes. But I LOVE IT! I love being tired! This past week we had stake conference and it was amazing! Being a missionary is probably one of the most rewarding things that has ever happened to me. I am starting to realize and recognize that if I live worthy I can have the spirit with me ALL the time. And it is so great because I am starting to recognize that I do have the spirit with me, and I feel it all the time. I love how I feel. This morning I was telling Sister Nybo that I don't know if I have ever felt so happy. And it was funny because I said "well, in this kind of way."Because that day when we beat skyline... That was happy. But that only lasted for so long. I am really happy! Even though I have hard days. And some days I just want to stay in bed and cry because things are hard, I know that Heavenly Father is going to make everything okay. I am almost to the point where when I get frustrated or things are hard,I can't even cry anymore because I know that Heavenly Father is going to make everything okay. So I am very happy! And in that sense I don't think I have ever been this happy! Does all that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't but I don't have time to go back and read it haha. So this week we were able to contact some people that we haven't been able to get a hold of forever! So that was great! Remember Shirley that lives on 111 Petal Lane? We got a hold of her yesterday and I am really excited! I was able to share a scripture and my testimony with her and we are hoping that she will come to church on Sunday! We think or I think that she may just be our Transfer Miracle!! Pray for her!! Family and Friends... I want you all to know how much I love every one of you! I love this gospel with all of my heart and I know that it is true! Sometimes I feel like I don't know everything... well I know that I don't know everything but I do know that it is true. And I knowi t is true by the feelings that I get when I live it! I am so grateful for a latter day prophet who leads and guides us! I am so thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith who gave up so much for us, and who died for this great cause. I love the Book of Mormon! I don't think I have ever loved any book so much! And I think the reason why I love it so much is because it testify's of our savior Jesus Christ! I KNOW that he lived and I know that he died for us so that we can all return to live with him again! I love that i will be able to be with all of you. And I can only imagine how that day will be... when we all meet around him and feel his hands and feet. And I only hope that he will be able to look at me and all of us, and say, "well done, thou good and faithful servant.. welcome home!" I love him, and I love all of you! I think about you all every single day and pray for you always! Have a great week!!!! I love you so much!
Love, Katee
Monday, March 7, 2011
Week of Miracles 03/07/11
Hello Family and Friends,How are you all doing? First off HAPPY BIRTH WEEK TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD. I LOVE YOU. Hahaha so anyway... hello... I am doing really good! Let me tell you why! The begining of this transfer was tough. We were having a hard time teaching any lessons at all. And we were having a hard time finding people! That part of the job is so hard. But soooo worth it when you find one person that is interested. Anyway... so the begining of the week was same ol same ol. Hard to do anything. At night when we would plan for the next day it would take us over an hour because we couldn't figure out who we were supposed to see. So on Thursday we decided to tract on Ryser Rd. It is pretty close to town. And guess what!? We found two people there! One of which has a family! A wife and two kids! One that is 8 and one that is 5. The dad's name is Pat. And then we also found a man named Mark. So Sister Nybo took a split the next day and went and taught Mark the first lesson (restoration) then that night Sister Directo and I took a split over to Pat's house and taught the first lesson. I really haven't had a ton of experience teaching because first off its hard in three somes because i have like a little section to teach and whatever i leave out Sister Bradley usually filled in lol. So I have been praying like crazy to be able to open my mouth and say what the spirit needs me to say. So anyway... we go over there and start the lesson. Sister Directo starts out, and i'm like givin myself a little pep talk haha. So then I take off where Sister Directo left off and I start,and then I get to the first vision! I LOVE THIS PART! mostly because i always feel the spirit with it, and because I studied it before my mission and i have the part memorized. So i say it and i am feelin pretty good about myself. So then Sister Directo starts again... andi'm just sittin there... and all the sudden i wanna hit myself in the head haha. As I was sitting there I realize that I FORGOT the ATONEMENT!!! The most important part of the whole thing and i forgotit!!!!!! Oh geez haha. It was okay though because Pat had touched on it a little bit. But I felt dumb haha. Oh well... its all part of the learning process I guess. So another Miracle we had was Mik's mom who has not been interested at ALL, came to his baptism last week and then the next day she told us she wants to meet with us to talk about"mormon stuff." Yay! Only thing is she is moving to Port Angeles. So we were good Sister missionaries and sent her to the P.A. Elders. Its all good though. As long as she gets baptized thats all that matters. So then the last amazing miracle i want to tell you about really strengthened my testimony this week. So there are three wards here in Sequim. Dungeness, Happy Valley, and Sequim Bay. Us sisters are over the Happy Valley and Sequim Bay wards, and then Elder Wachlin and Elder Black are over the Dungeness ward. So they are bike elders. So we usually help them out when we can and give them rides and stuff. So the other day, we called them to see if they needed a ride. And we asked because we needed to get some paper work from them anyway. So when we called they were like ten minutes away. Like seven miles or something like that. Which really isn't that many but when you are a missionary it is! So we were like okay it will help you get to town quicker anyway so we will come get you. So we start going... and we are seriously like two minutes away from them, and Sister Nybo says...I don't feel like we should get the Elders right now. So i pull over and in my head i am thinking "are you serious! we just drove clear out here and used all of these miles and now we aren't going to get them! "i wasn't mad i was just like..... serious? haha so anyway we call the Elders and tell them that there is something else we need to do and that we will pick them up in an hour. So we go and park the car and we seriously said like eight prayers to figure out what we were supposed to do. Because we had a plan of what to do but none of them felt right. So we sang a hymn and we prayed, and then we prayed some more. So really we sat there for almost an hour. So then we finally decide to stop by a less active. And after that Sister Nybo said "okay lets call the Elders and we can go get them now." So we called them and they were close to town by this time. So we drive into town and we see them, so I honk and then pull into a parking lot so they can come and get in the car. Well across the street there was a lady... who they were going to go over and talk to really quick. And she said to them," hey are you the LDS missionaries?" and they said, "yes we are." and then they sat and had a conversation with her, and they got all her info. and she seemed really interested. And later they were able to set up a church tour with her husband, and he actually had the elders over for breakfast today. So we will see how that goes. But I learned something very important!! NEVER get frustrated, and ALWAYS listen tothe spirit!!! Because if we would have picked the elders up earlier they would have not met this lady! Crazy right!? I felt bad afterwards. But it was okay because i was just frustrated in my head not at my comps. Because really I felt kind of weird about picking them up at that time too, but i just didn't say anything! So ALWAYS listen to the proptings of the Holy Ghost! He will never lead you astray! Oh also the other miracle... the other day I noticed that March 17th is coming soon. And i was telling my comps that every st. patricks day we eat corn beef and cabbage. And how i was going to miss that this year. And guess what happened!!! A tender mercy thats for sure. We had a dinner appointment with a now new investigator and guess what she fed us...???? Thats right... CORN BEEF, CABBAGE AND POTATOES AND CARROTS!!!! It was amazing! Heavenly Father really does look out for me. He really understands my needs and even though that was something so small, he knew that it would help me. I love him!!! So the past week was amazing! And i hope and pray that we stay as busy this week! Because, I LOVE getting home at night feeling exhausted! It is the best feeling ever! How are you all doing! Thank you so much for the letter this week. I don't remember who sent what. Mom, Grandma, Carol,Brooke, Courteney... and more I think. I can't remember if it was last week or not. Sorry.. Anyway... thank you sooooo much. So how is everyone? How is the ward? Mom, Dad, Calee, Kelsee, Dave, Colton, how are you? Hope, Brooke, and Court how are you doing? You should all write me! :) Big G, Mer, Brenna, Emery, and Clara how are you? I hope you are all feeling better! And how is Grandma? And Jodi? And Grandpa?And Oma? Anyway i think i got everyone... but i will write you all soon! This Gospel is amazing and I love it! Being a missionary is great! I still need to improve, and i am trying so hard to become a better teacher! Please pray that i will be able to do that! It is hard. I don't even know how Colton does it in another language! Anyway... I am so thankful for my Savior and Heavenly Father... they are the reason I am still on a mission. My prayers have been answered so many times and I am so grateful! I am grateful for the power of prayer in my life. I know he hears me, and I know that he hears all of you. PLEASE stay close to him. Pray to him often! Pray for guidance and understanding. He will never let you down! Listen to him, and ALWAYS follow the promptings of the Spirit! I love you all!! Have agreat week!
Love, Katee Sister Balmforth
Love, Katee Sister Balmforth
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