Many Hero's 04/30/12

Hey everybody!


Hows it going?  So this week has been pretty good.  We are working our butts off trying to find people to teach.  It is so hard because I have tracted the whole area almost twice.  But we are still working.  Last week we placed eight Book of Mormons... so that's good.  But no luck finding anyone that wants what we have.  If only these people knew how this could change their life. Its so hard. I just wish people could understand.


This transfer is going fast and slow. I have been reading the Book of Mormon and I am now about half way through. It is so amazing to me... this morning I realized that I have sooooo many hero's.  Nephi, Abinidi, Alma, Ammulek, Ammon, Aaron and soooo many more!  I love the Book of Mormon so much.  On my mission it has come to life.  I never liked reading... you all know that but now its a part of me.  Its like I feel so empty when I don't read from it.  I love it so much and I know with all my heart that it is the word of God, and it has been put on this earth for us at this time.  This morning I read these versus in Alma 25:3-6 and they really hit me.  It says "and this is the blessing that has been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.  Behold thousands of them do rejoice and have been brought into the fold of God.  Behold the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor.  And behold the number of sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted."  Isn't that so cool!  It meant a lot to me.  Especially when it says thousands of them do rejoice!  There are so many people in the world who could have the opportunity to rejoice but they don't want to change!  I love the Gospel so much and how it changes lives forever!

This past week has been good and I am looking forward to the coming week.  We have a zone conference tomorrow and there is a member of the seventy coming so it should be great!  I am soooooooo excited cuz Sister Chronister will be there!  I can't wait!  That will probably be the highlight of my week haha.


Today for p day we went to point no point light house so that was pretty cool. The Elders have been taking us to cool places. So yeah I don't have much else to say.


Colton, I am really sorry to hear about your comps grandpa but I want you to know that you are with him for a reason.  Heavenly Father is pretty smart huh?


Oh yeah and another cool thing that happened this week.  We have been working with a less active named Megan forever!  She is the one that is sooo close to me and Sister Chronisters hearts!  The other day she tore up her pack of cigarettes that she had just bought and she gave me her lighter haha it was so awesome! She is amazing and the spirit is helping her so much!


I am so grateful for the Gospel and the affect that it has to change us. Where would we be without it!?  I know my Savior lives and loves us.  I know that he knows me personally and that he suffered for me personally.  I have had so many mixed emotions this past week.  I am really struggling with leaving my mission.  It will probably be the hardest thing that I will ever have to do!  And I am so grateful that heavenly father loves me enough to let me serve his children.  I love you all so much!  Brad and Celeste congrats!!!!  I love you guys!

Love always,
Kate

Sister Balmforth gets a visit from her Puyallup friends Matt and Emily.
She was so excited.

Go Climb That Mountain! 04/23/12

Hello everyone,


Well this weeks title probably looks a little familiar.  I don't remember if its a title that I used or one that Sister Chronister used but anyhow... this week its mine.  So It is this title for a few reasons... the reason I'm emailing so late is because the dang Elders just took us to climb a mountain and it took FOREVER!  I'm really sorry to freak you out mom haha.  So yeah, it was a good hike, I'm now exhausted and don't want to move but yeah.  The other reason for the title... hmm.... well that was about it.


This week has been pretty good. We've been working hard. The other day we tracted for over two hours and it was awesome cuz it was SUNNY!  That's right people!  I even got a little pink... It was a huge miracle.  And we also placed a couple of Book of Mormons... so that was good.  Then later that day we worked our butts off and taught seven lessons.  That's a ton for one day. S o that was great.  They were all less actives or recent converts, and I wasn't going to eat dinner until we hit seven.  So after we hit seven lessons we raced over to Wendy's cuz we hadn't eaten all day.  I was so hungry! I  ate a burger , fries, and nuggets.  It still takes me a little bit to eat cuz my neck is dumb but it was great!


This past week a funny thing that happened was we were at a members house and they have like a seven year old named Gill and she is really cute.  It was like 8:30 at night so by this time I'm just wiped out.  And Gill comes over to me and says, "Sister Balmforth.... are you tired?"  I said, "yeah Gill I'm pretty tired." then she said. " you look tired.... you have bags under your eyes." haha it was funny.... there's nothing like having a seven year old tell you that you look like crap.  It was funny.  I think it was a combination of me being way tired and of me being on a mission for so long haha.


Also this week we were knocking on doors and I got a pretty good sliver.... it took like 20 minutes to get out... that was fun.


This week I also realized how much I love the people on my mission. Matt and Emily came to church yesterday in Silverdale just to see me.  It was so awesome!  Then we were visiting some people here and I just sat and realized that I will never get this experience back.  It won't be the same ever again.  And at that moment I just wanted to hang on to my mission as long as possible.  It is so hard that it is coming to an end so soon but I do know that the lord has other plans for me.  And that my mission is supposed to come to an end sometime.  I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity that he has given me to serve.  This has been the best year and a half of my life.  I am grateful for a Savior who knows me and knows the things that I need.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that it truly is HIS gospel.  I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love, Kate

Sleepless in Silverdale! 04/16/12

Hey everyone,


So this week has been..... weird.... I don't really know how to explain it. Monday and Tuesday me and Sister Chronister were busy saying bye to everyone... then we had no time to pack so I won't lie we were up late packing Tuesday night... We drank Coke to keep us awake haha.  Dang that sounds horrible. And we both just cried for like three days.  I have a pic of us and we look horrible.  But oh well.  So then on Wednesday we headed to Tacoma.  I've pretty much just been an emotional wreck lately. Partly because I was losing my favorite companion and partially because I'm freakin out about this being my last transfer. At transfer meeting I just sat and cried. Haha. Its horrible. But I'm doing good.  Me and Sister Jensen are good.  She is from Hooper Utah... I guess its near Ogden.  Who knew?  This week has been good!  We hit our goal of 20 lessons and we placed 6 Books of Mormon!  Miracle!  We also got into some homes of people who NEVER let us in.  So that was good.  It will be a good last transfer... I just need to work hard and keep focused.  It will be good because I just need to train Sister Jensen on the area and then that will be it.  So we will see how it goes.  I don't really know of much else to say for this week.  It has been emotionally hard.  But oh well.  I'll get over it and I know that this is where me and Sister Chronister are supposed to be, so we will make it work.  I know that with Heavenly Fathers help we can do anything.

This last transfer I have made it a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon.  I'm excited!  Sister Chronister is doing it with me and we are going to read Moroni 10 together on the day I leave, so it will be pretty cool. We are reading 14 pages a day to make it.  You really only have to read 12 and a half pages but we all know that I am OCD and have to round up and I hate the number 13 haha so we are reading 14.  It has been really good for me, and it has helped me a lot. I am excited to finish it again right before I come home.

I've been thinking a lot... and its going to be a difficult thing for me... to leave my mission.  It means so much to me!  I can't even explain it.  But I know that Heavenly Father understands... and he will help me.  I know he will because he has many times.  Especially in the last year and a half.  I am so grateful for the power of the Atonement in my life.  My Savior means everything to me, and I know that he knows how I feel.  I love you all so much.  Sorry this is a short email.  I don't have much else to say.  I love you all and I'm sorry I suck at letters!  Pray for me!  Love you!

Love,
Kate

Sister Chronister with goat Bartholemew and Sister Balmforth with Reuben.

Sister Balmforth and Sister Chronister with the Graves family.  They love the Graves, they feed them good food.

Sister Chronister

Sad Day in Silverdale:( 04/09/12

Hello everybody...


How are you all doing?  I am doing pretty good.  Well as good as I can be I guess.  I'm happy don't worry. I'm just pretty bummed.  We got our Transfer call the other night and I will be finishing my mission in Silverdale!  So I am way stoked about that because I will get to meet Matt Leach, Colton's trainer, four days before I come home.  So that is way exciting.  But I'm way sad because my baby Sister Chronister is getting transferred to Steilacoom.  She is going to do amazing there but I won't lie I'm really struggling.  This will probably be the hardest transfer for me to have to say good bye to her.  Uh.... but it will all be okay.  We figured it was coming so we prepared ourselves.  This past week I took up Coke haha kind of... At the beginning of the week Sister Chronister had an upset stomach, so Sister Finnegan went and got her a coke and I drank half of it and then went and got me some more the next day lol.  I know its bad and so not like me but it was good and it made me think of my Grandpa...


(I'm trying to be good like Sis. Chronister and separate my paragraphs so this email is easier to read haha)

So anyway... my new companion will be Sister Jensen.... I will pick her up on Wednesday.  She has been on her mission I think for like seven months now.  It was pretty funny when President called he was like..."well I'm sending you sister Jensen... I hear she plays basketball too."  I have heard that she does play bball too but I guess we will see ha ha.  I think President Weaver was just trying to make me feel better.  So needless to say I have been an emotional wreck for the past two days.  I just look over at Sister Chronister and just start crying haha.  Its horrible.  But that's what happens I guess.  You would think that the whole transfer thing would get easier but it doesn't.  In fact I think it gets harder.  So the other night... we were just chillin sitting on the couch and all the sudden I looked up, and I saw my empty pan from my mac and cheese sitting on the counter.  All the sudden I just lost it and started crying haha, Sister Chronister was like "dude whats wrong?" and I said, "no one makes me mac and cheese like you do!"   Oh gosh at that moment I realized how needy I have been lately lol.   Mostly back when I wasn't feeling too good but I am really going to miss her.  She has become such an amazing friend. But she is going to continue to be an amazing missionary wherever she goes and she is going to love people unconditionally.  I know that she will do great things here in the WA-TAC.


As for me... it is really weird coming up on my last transfer as a missionary.  I don't really know what to do.  I won't lie, I have been freakin out a little this past week, trying to think about everything that I have to do, and all of the stuff that I have to worry about coming home.  But I realized that everything is going to work out and be okay.  Heavenly Father will bless me if I do what he asks.  So I have mixed emotions about this last transfer. It is going to be good. I'm going to work as hard as I can and show Heavenly Father that I care... and I know that he will bless me for that when I come home.  It won't be easy.  Leaving Washington scares me so bad.  Its my second home and I have come to love it so much.  I never knew I could love anyone or anything like I love my mission.  It has changed me forever and it has made me the person that I want to be and the person that my Heavenly Father needs me to be.  I am excited for the future. Whatever it brings................

I hope you all had an amazing Easter... we sure did!  Sister Chronister is AMAZING!  She taught herself how to play the piano, and she found this song called "Redeemer" by Paul Cardall.  And she has been practicing it for me because she is going to play it at the transfer meeting when I go home.  She has never played in front of a crowd before... yeah that's how much she loves me :)  So anyway... someone from the YSA Ward heard her practicing and asked her to play it in Sacrament for Easter!  She agreed!  It was amazing!!!!  She went up and played and I just sat and cried!  Oh how I love this girl.  There have been so many spiritual experiences that we have had over the past four and a half months, and I know that is why we are such good friends.  It is amazing how the spirit works.  I am so grateful for her!


I love this Gospel with all of my heart.  I know with a surety that it is the Gospel of my Savior Jesus Christ.  I know that it is the only true and everlasting Gospel on the face of the earth.  I know that Joseph Smith was the Lord's mouth piece in bringing forth the Restoration. I know that he is and was a Prophet of God sent for us in this day.  I know that by the power of Heavenly Father he translated the Book of Mormon.  I didn't have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon before my mission.  I just knew it was good and that I liked it.  But now I can for sure say that it is true.  Because every morning I read it, it makes me happy.  And the things written are just for me.  I know that my Savior lives and that he loves me.  I know that he died for me, and for all of you so that we can one day return to live with him and with our families forever. I  know that Thomas S. Monson is God's mouth piece on the earth today and that he receives revelation for us.  I know all of these things because I have been able to serve my Heavenly Father and he has blessed me with this knowledge.  I LOVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its simplicity.  I love all of you soooo much.  You all have helped me receive this knowledge! And I will be forever grateful for that!



Emery, Emily, and Brayden I hope you all have great Birthdays this week.  I still suck at letters!  I'm sorry... things have been so busy.  But I will try soon.  Please pray for me and Sister Chronister... Especially around 11 o clock on Wednesday. I love you all!  Have a great week!  See you soon.

Love, Kate

Text Book Delivery! 04/02/2012

Hello everybody!


Okay so this week I am so happy to report that I am feeling sooooo much better!!  KNOCK ON WOOD! Please pray that whatever awful thing was wrong doesn't come back haha.  My neck and back muscles are still tight but I don't even care.  As long as I can eat whatever I want I am happy.  I lost like ten pounds though so I was glad about that haha.  I just wish I didn't have to lose it the way  I did but I guess it was a blessing in disguise.  So I even played a little bball today...(Its been like six weeks since I have) So that was fun.  And it may be the last time I get to play with Sis. Chronister so I sucked it up and played!  This past week was amazing!  I was like a little kid on Christmas waiting for Conference!  I LOVED conference so much.  I prayed right before and said "Heavenly Father I don't really know what it is that I need help with so please help me recognize what I need today in conference." Yeah pretty much all of conference was just for Sister Balmforth I swear!  It was so amazing!  One of my favorite talks was by Elder Andersen... He said something that I thought was way cool. "Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ in these days will be a badge of honor throughout the Eternities." Isn't that flippin amazing!  It hit me like a ton of bricks... pretty much all of conference was that way. Then when Pres. Monson got up to speak at the very end... my eyes filled with tears as he said, "my heart is full... " mine was too.  Then he said something like conference always goes to quickly, and tears began to fall down my face as I realized this was my last conference as a missionary. Then I began to realize that I won't be a missionary for much longer.  Pretty sure Sis. Chron knew what was goin on cuz my emotions just overcame me... and I'm usually not a big cryer haha.  So needless to say conference was amazing!  This past week we also found a new investigator named Brian!  He will be in the YSA ward! He was a referral from a member and he is soooo solid.  We gave him a church tour and then two nights later we shared the message of the Restoration with him.  Oh how I love to share the first vision with people.  It makes me so happy!  Then last night we text him to see if he could meet and he said yes.  He was just getting off duty (he is a cook in the navy) Sister Chronister started the lesson. We planned to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sis. Chron is way good at that lesson.  So we talk about Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end.  He was great with all of it.  So we finished the lesson and I asked Brian where he thought he was on all of these steps, and he looked up and said "hmm... probably between Repentance and Baptism!"  My jaw dropped. S o I just looked up and said "well do you want to get baptized?" haha text book delivery I know.  But he said "yes I do."  So we were way excited.  Brian is on leave today and for the next two weeks so when he gets back we will finish teaching him and he will be baptized!  It was such an amazing way to end the week.  I told Sis. Chron that I was getting lazy in my invitations haha but it was how Brian needed it I guess so it was good.  We also met with a less active yesterday... she has overcome so much in her life and she is amazing.  She is close to our hearts because she is one of the first people that Sis. Chron and Ii started teaching when Sis. Chron came to Silverdale.  And this week has been hard because we are just expecting Sis. Chron to leave in a week and it is so sad to think about.  So we left the less actives house last night and it was really quiet in the car... (sadness).  So I asked Sister Chronister what she was thinking, and she said " I learned how to love in Silverdale." That moment was priceless for me.  I know it sounds really dumb and cheesy, but I know that she has learned what she needed to here, and she is going to find so many more people in other areas that need her and she will be able to love them.  I love her so much!  I suck at letters.  I'm sorry... Lynette thank you so much for the package, and everyone else for the letters!  You rock!  I will try to write soon!  I love this gospel!  I know it is true!  I love serving and I am so grateful for my savior!  I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Kate