Best Christmas Ever 12/26/11

Hello family and friends!


So yesterday was the best day!  I was so happy to get to talk to you guys!  It meant so much to me!  This year for Christmas it was really great to get to focus on Christ and not on all the hustle and bustle.  I am so grateful to everyone who sent me cards and packages and everything!  You are all truly amazing and you have no idea how much you helped me. Yesterday and this morning I was able to listen to Grandpa's funeral on the cd's and my heart was so touched. The love that our family has for one another is amazing, and I am so grateful for that. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation.  I know that because of the Savior we will be a forever family. That is the most amazing knowledge ever!  So I will tell you a few things that I forgot yesterday. Christmas eve was cool. We spent it with the Jansson family and the Finnegans.  Sister Jansson made each of us a Cornish Game Hen. And yeah I pretty much downed a whole hen haha dad you would have been proud.  We also had bacon wrapped scallops!  Wow those were great too! Then Christmas morning our present from the Weavers was that we got to sleep in.  So I have been getting up at six thirty for over a year now and my body won't let me sleep too long so I ended up getting up just after seven thirty, and I let my comp sleep a little haha.  Its weird what a mission does to you haha remember how I used to be able to sleep til noon haha stop laughing mom!  Anyway... so this week should be good.  Hopefully people will get back in town and we can find some more people to teach.  We took a girl on a church tour last week but she didn't come to church.  So hopefully she will come this Sunday.  I want you all to know how much I love and appreciate you.  It was so good to talk to you all.  I feel so loved and I can't tell you all enough how grateful I am for you. I know that God lives. I know that he loves us. And I know that he answers prayers. I know that if we follow him we will be blessed!  I love you all so much!  I hope you have a very Happy New Year!

Love,
Sister Katee Balmforth!

Merry Almost Christmas 12/19/11

Hello family and friends!
How are you all doing? Today I am doing pretty well. This past week I won't lie... it has been rough.  But very good learning experiences for me.  I have been a little "under the weather" mom no need to worry... its just a little cold or something.  But its been hard to want to do anything.  But I haven't stopped so the work is still going on haha.  Grandma your 12 days of Christmas have just been making my week!  Thank you so much!  So I honestly don't know what to say about this week because I feel like not much has happened. We have been working really hard trying to find people to teach and it just doesn't seem to be working.  So the other night I asked my companion Sister Chorister if she would like to fast.  So we fasted for 24 hours so that we will be able to find people.  I know that the Lord is about to give us a miracle... I can feel it.  It always happens after satan beats you down.  And that's kind of how things went this week so this coming week should be great!  I am so excited for Christmas!  I can't even wait to talk to you guys! I t will be the best Christmas ever!  I am really sorry I don't have much more to say.... this week was hard but good. We helped a lady on base clean her house so we are hoping that she will come on a church tour this week sometime. This holiday season I am sooo thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ.  I know with all my heart that he lives!  And that he died for each one of us.  I have no idea where I would be without him.  He is my older brother who I love so much!  And it is because of his sacrifice that I can be with my family forever!  The biggest thing that I have learned so far on my mission is the eternal perspective!  Being with my eternal family brings me more joy than I can even explain.  I love you all so much!  I love my Savior and Heavenly Father.  I know that they know each of us by name and they know our needs. And I know that they bless us with miracles every day!  Even when Satan is stupid. :) I love you all so much and I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas, and that we can all truly remember our Savior... because he is the true Miracle! I love you all! Stay Strong!


Love, Kate

12/12/11

Hello family and friends!


This past week was pretty good. Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes.  I loved it!  And to all those who put money in my account or sent packages I really appreciated it. The packages saved me because I won't lie it was a little rough celebrating a bday without my other half.  So mom and dad thank you and also, Calee, Dave, Kels, Riley, Mer and big g, and girls, Court and Healey family, Brooke, and Lynnette, Grandma, Jodi  thank you sooo much! Marilyn and Allison and Patti and Hope thanks for the letters! You guys are awesome!  I hope I did not miss anyone, but there are so many people who are so generous and I can't express how much I appreciate all of you.  So I was well taken care of on my birthday.... The Finnegans surprised me and got me a HUGE basketball cake with the number 11 on it!  It made me cry haha they are truly amazing and I love them so much.  They also bought me some slippers. haha. Kelsee, I am sending your bday package today!  Sorry it took so long but with transfers it was crazy!  So look for it probably Wednesday.  I am also workin on Christmas cards for everyone so sorry and I will hurry! This week has been kind of slow.  We werent able to teach any investigators!  The one family that we are teaching on base bailed on us and I was sooo bummed!  Sometimes I just wish these people could see the bigger picture!  Like really... come on people haha this is salvation here!  But hopefully we will meet with them tomorrow! So tomorrow is our mission Christmas  party in Tacoma and it should be really fun!  Me and Sister Chronister played some mean bball today with the elders.  It was so great!  I could actually defend someone and dive on the floor and everything!  We even fought over a loose ball!  Yeah I would say that I totally won at it but I don't want to be boastful haha just kidding... kinda.  This week has been good.  My main focus right now is to work my butt off because I am about to hit my one year mark and that is crazy!  So I just want to give the Lord everything I have for the next few months!  I can't believe how fast it will go! We are also trying our hardest to tract and to find investigators.  Sometimes its hard I feel like I am on such a high seeing miracles like Will and then it goes to nothing!  Its hard sometimes but I know that the Lord is going to provide us with a miracle!  I know that he is there and that he hears my prayers.  I love him so much. My love for my Heavenly Father and Savior has truly grown so much and it is so hard to explain.  But I do know that he lives and that he loves us!  And this Christmas season I hope that we can all remember the true meaning of Christmas and remember the sacrifice our Savior went through for us!  I love you all so much! Have a great week!  And if you could include me and my companion in your prayers so that we can find some people to teach that would be great!  Thanks!  I love you all so much and can't wait to here your voices in two weeks! Stay Strong! You are the Miracle to me!

Love always,
Katee

I gots me another GREENIE!!! 12/06/11

Sister Balmforth, Sister Holman and the Graves Family

Hello family and friends!

I once again feel like I have so much to tell you and so little time... so here it goes.  First off a shout out to my favorite twin sister ever!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Sunday my other half!  I hope you have a great day and know that I will be thinking about you all day.  I will even make a funfetti cake haha and we all know how good at that I am.  So anyway.... as you can tell from my title, I am training again.  It should be fun and I am excited.  I picked up my new companion in Tacoma yesterday and so far she is great.  Her name is Sister Chronister from Tuscan, Arizona.   And guess what!?......She is a baller! yahoo! she played in high school, and everything.  She is like 5 foot 8 or so!  So it will be fun.  We were talking on the way home and we discovered that we are both in love with basketball and we about freaked haha, yes, I almost screamed like a little girl haha just kiddin.... kinda.  So anyway... then later last night we were talking and some how our high school jersey numbers came up and she told me that she was number 11 and then I really thought that was crazy. Haha, but it was way funny cuz when I told her I played basketball she looked up and said "God loves me." haha it was funny.  So I don't know her to well yet but she seems great!  So saying goodbye to Sister Holman was tough.  It was really hard for her to leave because this was her first area, but she will be great! She is now in Tacoma. This week I learned a lot.  It has been a little slow for the work but I know that it will pick up soon.  We are teaching a family tonight that are eternal investigators and I just hope and pray that they will be hit hard with the spirit.  So anyway... this week the phrase "you are a daughter of a heavenly father that loves you" really hit me hard.  I have said this so many times growing up and saying the yw theme but it really struck me the other day how much my heavenly father really does love me.  And seeing Sister Holman crying over these people that she loves so much made me think of how my earthly parents must have felt sending me off, and also how my heavenly father must have felt when he had to send us down to earth.  I felt like I truly caught a glimpse of that this week and it makes me love even more.  I love the people of Washington... they make me so happy. The other day I got a phone call from Emily Alstead... and wow that was awesome!  She called and said "hey, I have a question for you" and I said okay and she said me and Matt are getting married in August, will you be in my wedding!  I was so excited!  Matt and Emily are going to get married in the temple in August!!!!  I can't even believe it so me and Sister Craig will be in the wedding!  How cool is that?  Also saying goodbye to Sister Craig yesterday was a bummer.  But its all good. She is going to come visit you guys at the first of the year!  So that will be awesome!  Family and friends I want you all to know how much I love you and how much I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Over the past year I have seen the atonement change people.  And I have seen it change me and it has helped me become the person that I am now.  I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I am thankful that he payed the price for me.  I love you all so much and I can't wait for Christmas!  It is the best time of year!  Have a great week!

Love always,
Katee

PS  Brooke thanks for the bday stuff you are awesome!  I haven't opened  it yet, haha I am being good til Sunday! love you!