Hey'all-
I am doing good here in the lovely city of Gilbert, South Carolina. The weather has been very cold the last 4 days. We are used to it being in the 90s but it has dropped down to 60 degrees. We have been wearing cardigans and longer skirts. It is such a dramatic change; we are not used to it. They say it will get back up there so that is good. Although I am enjoying not sweating and the gnats have disappeared. I absolutely love reading your letters they are great. I feel like I can hear your voice telling me about your week. Just think in about 3 months I will actually get to hear your voice! I am glad work is going well for everyone. Thank you for the update on everyone I never know what is going on with them. My mail has not been as plentiful as it has been in the past but I am not complaining. The weeks just fly by so fast! When you work hard everyday that is when you feel the best. We are still working with Diego who will most likely be baptized this coming Saturday. He is ready to enter into the waters of baptism. He loves coming to church and he knows it is true. We have transfers on the 28th and I am getting a little anxious. We know for sure that at least one of us will be moving out. I hate not knowing what is going to happen. By this time next week I will know for sure what is going to happen so I guess I have to wait until then. Last week we had Zone Conference and we had a general authority come. Elder Paul Pieper of the seventy and his wife came. It was great to learn from him and heed the counsel that he gave us. We had a wonderful time there I wish it would have lasted longer. I wore my suit so I would look nice. Most of the people that we are working have their baptisms set for October and I may not be here. That is okay I know they will still be baptized. I taught some training at district development meeting this week and it went great. I know the Lord knew exactly what I needed to train on. It was on chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel which is on Finding People and that is my main weakness. I am definitely working on doing better at that. Although I enjoy being in a threesome I look forward to working in a pair again. I won't have to fight for a turn to say something I will know when I need to speak up in a lesson. I know Heavenly Father is testing me and thank Him every day for the opportunity I have to go through the trails as a missionary. I know they make me stronger everyday. Thank you so much for sending that package I really appreciate it. I will look for it this week. I really wanted to do something special for her birthday. She doesn't want anyone in the ward to know when her birthday is but we are going to do something nice for her birthday as a companionship. This next Saturday is the Relief Society broadcast and I look forward to watching that. I will miss our annual tradition with all of the girls. Thank you so much for all of the love and support you give to me. I have the best family in the whole world. I hope you have a great week. Talk to you next week. Love, Katelyn
P.S. I am sorry to hear about BYU losing to Utah. Hopefully they can shape up for next week
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Kate passes on dancing as a missionary!
Hey'all-
How is it going? The weather definitely has improved for the better and I am enjoying it. It is still hot but slowly cooling down. I don't sweat as much which is a bonus! I am proud that I survived my first South Carolina summer. I baked snickerdoodle cookies on pday, It was refreshing to be cooking again! I hope they enjoyed them because I don't know when I will ever have the time again. I may send you some more pictures today. We really didn't get to hear much about the 9/11 commemorations, but I did reflect on it myself and what I remember about that day. I was only 14 years old which seems like such a long time ago. We did sing hymn number 338 America the Beautiful and we all stood up and sang. It was pretty powerful. We had 6 investigators at church yesterday which was pretty cool. We are working with a lot of investigators. We have one named Diego that I told you about last week. We were able to have a few wonderful lessons with him this week. He wanted to take us out to lunch so we went to Subway. We had a lesson on prophets and the Word of Wisdom so it was pretty cool. We set him on date for baptism on October 1 so we are excited. We attended a stake activity on Saturday. It was a carnival that they do every year and it was a lot of fun. Diego was able to make it and stayed with us the whole time. Karen Lanz brought some of her family and they had a fun time dancing. You know me and how much I love dancing, so it was really hard for me not to get out there and dance. Karen is dating this guy whose name is Ahmed. He is from Iraq and is Muslim. He seems like a nice guy and has been to church a few times. We will have to see if anything comes from it. I know Karen won't settle for anything short of the temple. The weeks have been flying by way too fast lately. I hit my 5 month mark yesterday of being a missionary in South Carolina. I can't believe I have been gone that long. I am still in a threesome until the end of the transfer which is on the 28th of this month. One sister will be going home and 2 will be coming in so we will be back to an even number of sister missionaries. That means that 1 of us will be leaving and it most likely will be me. I will be sad to leave this area but excited to start some place new. Sister Johnson is a really hard worker and a wonderful teacher. She came from the Georgia, Macon mission before and has learned some different things. We are still working on meshing what we learned from our old mission presidents and applying them to our companionship now. Being a missionary is very stressful at times but I won't change it for the world. I am becoming a new person and people can see that. There are still some things to be working on and I know I will never be perfect. I am glad you had fun kayaking! Maybe I will have to go when I get back. How is work going? How are the little kids? Any misbehaviors? I wish I could hear Jane and Annie singing; they are so cute. I am sure you guys really enjoyed that. Those girls are just adorable. Thank you so, so, so, so much for the card that you sent me!!!!! I had a mail drought for almost two weeks and then I received your letter and it just made my day!! I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I feel so lucky to have such a loving and supportive family. So, my companion from Ughanda, Sister Namutebi's birthday is on the 25th of this month. I wanted to get her a little something and I can't really do it here without her noticing. The other night I was wearing my BYU shirt and she mentioned how much she would like one. I was thinking maybe you guys could pick one out for her and send it here. I can pay you back whatever it costs. I imagine a large would be a good size. She also really enjoys popcorn and those sugar free drink mixes that you sent to me. Let me know what you can do for me. Anything would be appreciated. Thanks again for all of the love and support you give to me. Have a great week! I love you all so much! Love, Katelyn
P.S Can I get Derek and Ryan's addresses I would like to write to them sometime? Thanks
How is it going? The weather definitely has improved for the better and I am enjoying it. It is still hot but slowly cooling down. I don't sweat as much which is a bonus! I am proud that I survived my first South Carolina summer. I baked snickerdoodle cookies on pday, It was refreshing to be cooking again! I hope they enjoyed them because I don't know when I will ever have the time again. I may send you some more pictures today. We really didn't get to hear much about the 9/11 commemorations, but I did reflect on it myself and what I remember about that day. I was only 14 years old which seems like such a long time ago. We did sing hymn number 338 America the Beautiful and we all stood up and sang. It was pretty powerful. We had 6 investigators at church yesterday which was pretty cool. We are working with a lot of investigators. We have one named Diego that I told you about last week. We were able to have a few wonderful lessons with him this week. He wanted to take us out to lunch so we went to Subway. We had a lesson on prophets and the Word of Wisdom so it was pretty cool. We set him on date for baptism on October 1 so we are excited. We attended a stake activity on Saturday. It was a carnival that they do every year and it was a lot of fun. Diego was able to make it and stayed with us the whole time. Karen Lanz brought some of her family and they had a fun time dancing. You know me and how much I love dancing, so it was really hard for me not to get out there and dance. Karen is dating this guy whose name is Ahmed. He is from Iraq and is Muslim. He seems like a nice guy and has been to church a few times. We will have to see if anything comes from it. I know Karen won't settle for anything short of the temple. The weeks have been flying by way too fast lately. I hit my 5 month mark yesterday of being a missionary in South Carolina. I can't believe I have been gone that long. I am still in a threesome until the end of the transfer which is on the 28th of this month. One sister will be going home and 2 will be coming in so we will be back to an even number of sister missionaries. That means that 1 of us will be leaving and it most likely will be me. I will be sad to leave this area but excited to start some place new. Sister Johnson is a really hard worker and a wonderful teacher. She came from the Georgia, Macon mission before and has learned some different things. We are still working on meshing what we learned from our old mission presidents and applying them to our companionship now. Being a missionary is very stressful at times but I won't change it for the world. I am becoming a new person and people can see that. There are still some things to be working on and I know I will never be perfect. I am glad you had fun kayaking! Maybe I will have to go when I get back. How is work going? How are the little kids? Any misbehaviors? I wish I could hear Jane and Annie singing; they are so cute. I am sure you guys really enjoyed that. Those girls are just adorable. Thank you so, so, so, so much for the card that you sent me!!!!! I had a mail drought for almost two weeks and then I received your letter and it just made my day!! I can't tell you how much that meant to me. I feel so lucky to have such a loving and supportive family. So, my companion from Ughanda, Sister Namutebi's birthday is on the 25th of this month. I wanted to get her a little something and I can't really do it here without her noticing. The other night I was wearing my BYU shirt and she mentioned how much she would like one. I was thinking maybe you guys could pick one out for her and send it here. I can pay you back whatever it costs. I imagine a large would be a good size. She also really enjoys popcorn and those sugar free drink mixes that you sent to me. Let me know what you can do for me. Anything would be appreciated. Thanks again for all of the love and support you give to me. Have a great week! I love you all so much! Love, Katelyn
P.S Can I get Derek and Ryan's addresses I would like to write to them sometime? Thanks
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Kate is excited for fall!
Hey'all,
It sure sounds like you have all had a productive week. I also had a very productive week. First of all the Hurricane did not even hit South Carolina like it had originally planned to. We did hear some news about it, just bits and pieces from ward members. It sounds like it didn't do as much damage as they thought it would but it still did some. I would really like it if we could check the weather so we know what kinds of things to bring with us. Instead we just go out every day regardless of the weather. People think we are crazy sometimes for going out in the really hot weather but that is okay. I am getting a little tired of the heat and I hear we still have one more month of it. I really can't wait until October when it will be nice and cool outside. We are working with some really great little families far out in our area. It takes a lot of our miles to get out there so sometimes we have a member come out with us. There is this family of 7 children plus the mother and the grandmother. They all live in one small house and don't have access to a car. The 16 year old son was living with relatives in another city this summer and had been meeting with the elders out there. He was supposed to be baptized but then he moved back home so now we are trying to get him baptized as soon as possible. It may be really hard to find rides for 9 people, so we are praying for them to get a car or something. There are a few more other families out there that actually do have access to a car, now we just need to get them to church. I really enjoy being able to meet so many diverse people. The city of Batesburg-Leesville which is in our area is the only ghetto place so it is fun. My area is very diverse. We can go to rich people up by the lake to the ghetto of Batesburg-Leesville and everything in between. I really love this area a lot and will be hard to leave all of it behind when I leave. This area will be the first area I come back to visit after my mission. Karen Lanz one of our recent converts went out of town this weekend to Atlana but she said she was planning on going to church down there and planned to also visit the temple. She is such a wonderful lady and is doing so well in the gospel. I am glad things are finally getting settled with everyone moving off and starting school. Good luck to those who are starting new jobs and/or a new semester at school. At times I kind of miss school but am grateful I am on a mission. We get to see all of the elders in our district every Monday when we are emailing as we all use the same library. We haven't ever done any sort of sporting actvity yet but maybe I will suggest something. They are all very nice young men as far as I can tell. I know they work hard and serve the Lord which is the most important thing to be doing. We also have district development every Tuesday and those are always really good. Our zone leaders are really great and we occasionaly see them when they come to one of our district development meetings. Otherwise we don't see them much execpt for any trainings or zone conference. Driving is going well. I really enjoy it. I am being the best driver that I can be. If anything bad happens while I am driving I would not be able to drive for the remainder of my mission. I don't want that to happen so I am careful. It is helpful that I pretty much know where I am going since I have been here since mid April. I can just picture everyone fighting over the washer and dryer. Who won? I bet I would have won if I had been there. I am sure it is quite lonely there at the house just you, dad and Bauer. I am glad you guys finally get some time to yourselves to do whaterver you want. I am sure you will always have visitors! I hope everything continues to go well with Grandpa's recovery. Tell them hello from me! Anything new with Brad, Mandy and the girls? Matt,Stacy and Graham? (look Matt you got mentioned in the email). I hope all continues to go well there at home. I am so grateful for your continued love and support, it brings me strength. I love you all so much! Love, Katelyn
It sure sounds like you have all had a productive week. I also had a very productive week. First of all the Hurricane did not even hit South Carolina like it had originally planned to. We did hear some news about it, just bits and pieces from ward members. It sounds like it didn't do as much damage as they thought it would but it still did some. I would really like it if we could check the weather so we know what kinds of things to bring with us. Instead we just go out every day regardless of the weather. People think we are crazy sometimes for going out in the really hot weather but that is okay. I am getting a little tired of the heat and I hear we still have one more month of it. I really can't wait until October when it will be nice and cool outside. We are working with some really great little families far out in our area. It takes a lot of our miles to get out there so sometimes we have a member come out with us. There is this family of 7 children plus the mother and the grandmother. They all live in one small house and don't have access to a car. The 16 year old son was living with relatives in another city this summer and had been meeting with the elders out there. He was supposed to be baptized but then he moved back home so now we are trying to get him baptized as soon as possible. It may be really hard to find rides for 9 people, so we are praying for them to get a car or something. There are a few more other families out there that actually do have access to a car, now we just need to get them to church. I really enjoy being able to meet so many diverse people. The city of Batesburg-Leesville which is in our area is the only ghetto place so it is fun. My area is very diverse. We can go to rich people up by the lake to the ghetto of Batesburg-Leesville and everything in between. I really love this area a lot and will be hard to leave all of it behind when I leave. This area will be the first area I come back to visit after my mission. Karen Lanz one of our recent converts went out of town this weekend to Atlana but she said she was planning on going to church down there and planned to also visit the temple. She is such a wonderful lady and is doing so well in the gospel. I am glad things are finally getting settled with everyone moving off and starting school. Good luck to those who are starting new jobs and/or a new semester at school. At times I kind of miss school but am grateful I am on a mission. We get to see all of the elders in our district every Monday when we are emailing as we all use the same library. We haven't ever done any sort of sporting actvity yet but maybe I will suggest something. They are all very nice young men as far as I can tell. I know they work hard and serve the Lord which is the most important thing to be doing. We also have district development every Tuesday and those are always really good. Our zone leaders are really great and we occasionaly see them when they come to one of our district development meetings. Otherwise we don't see them much execpt for any trainings or zone conference. Driving is going well. I really enjoy it. I am being the best driver that I can be. If anything bad happens while I am driving I would not be able to drive for the remainder of my mission. I don't want that to happen so I am careful. It is helpful that I pretty much know where I am going since I have been here since mid April. I can just picture everyone fighting over the washer and dryer. Who won? I bet I would have won if I had been there. I am sure it is quite lonely there at the house just you, dad and Bauer. I am glad you guys finally get some time to yourselves to do whaterver you want. I am sure you will always have visitors! I hope everything continues to go well with Grandpa's recovery. Tell them hello from me! Anything new with Brad, Mandy and the girls? Matt,Stacy and Graham? (look Matt you got mentioned in the email). I hope all continues to go well there at home. I am so grateful for your continued love and support, it brings me strength. I love you all so much! Love, Katelyn
Kate tells about investigators
Hey y'all-
I am here bright and early as usual! We have permission to use member's computers as the library was going to be closed for the holiday today. We wanted to get to it as early as we could. I am always pretty excited to read your emails each week. Before I forget can you send me my next journal I think I have one more. My week has been great, nothing too exciting happened to us. We have been working with a member's boyfriend and progressing him towards baptism. He is going to be baptized on the 17th so we are pretty excited. He technically lives out of our area but soon after he is baptized they plan to move both of their records to the single's ward. He is a great guy and I know he will be a great member of the church and a worthy priesthood holder. We are also working with this guy and his name is Diego Saurez and he is originally from the country of Columbia. He has lived and worked here for the past 3 years. I met him while I was with Sister Wright and we technically had dropped him as an investigator but we picked him up again. We taught him a 1st lesson and it went very well and we invited him to come to church and he said he would try. He ended up coming to church and he seemed to like it a lot. He usually has a lot of questions and doesn't want us to leave. Yesterday he offered to buy us dinner at Taco Bell so we had to have a lesson on the Sabbath day and he seemed to understand that. It was so nice of him to offer and we assured him that any other day we could. He is progressing slowly in the gospel but I know someday soon he will join the church. We are also working with this nice lady named Cheryl Bieir whom we met awhile ago. She has had a kind of rough past and has worked hard to overcome that. We taught her a 1st and a 2nd lesson this last week. She wants to continue to learn about Jesus so we know she is in the right place. There is this other lady named Franny Peters that I think have mentioned before that we are kind of working with. She has had a rough couple of years and is trying to overcome what has happened. She has been having a lot of health and financial problems that she has been worrying about. We taught her about the priesthood and how she could receive a blessing and she said she would like that. We took the bishop and his dad over and they gave her a wonderful blessing. We talked with her yesterday and she said she has already seen a difference in her life. On Saturday night we knocked on the Harbor's door to talk to them . They were watching the South Carolina game and had previously watched the BYU game. They told me the score and I was happy to hear that it was a victory. Keep me updated on the games I enjoy hearing about them. We have been doing member dinners again because they asked us to. If I had it my way I would just skip those all together but I can't. We have enjoyed them and the member's are wonderful to feed us. I am glad all is going well with everyone in work and school. Thank you for the pictures of Graham they were so cute I can't believe how big he is now! Also thanks for the Jane and Annie pictures, they are also so cute. Thank you for all that you do for me. Thank you for your continued love and support. I really have the best family ever. Have a great week! Love, Katelyn
I am here bright and early as usual! We have permission to use member's computers as the library was going to be closed for the holiday today. We wanted to get to it as early as we could. I am always pretty excited to read your emails each week. Before I forget can you send me my next journal I think I have one more. My week has been great, nothing too exciting happened to us. We have been working with a member's boyfriend and progressing him towards baptism. He is going to be baptized on the 17th so we are pretty excited. He technically lives out of our area but soon after he is baptized they plan to move both of their records to the single's ward. He is a great guy and I know he will be a great member of the church and a worthy priesthood holder. We are also working with this guy and his name is Diego Saurez and he is originally from the country of Columbia. He has lived and worked here for the past 3 years. I met him while I was with Sister Wright and we technically had dropped him as an investigator but we picked him up again. We taught him a 1st lesson and it went very well and we invited him to come to church and he said he would try. He ended up coming to church and he seemed to like it a lot. He usually has a lot of questions and doesn't want us to leave. Yesterday he offered to buy us dinner at Taco Bell so we had to have a lesson on the Sabbath day and he seemed to understand that. It was so nice of him to offer and we assured him that any other day we could. He is progressing slowly in the gospel but I know someday soon he will join the church. We are also working with this nice lady named Cheryl Bieir whom we met awhile ago. She has had a kind of rough past and has worked hard to overcome that. We taught her a 1st and a 2nd lesson this last week. She wants to continue to learn about Jesus so we know she is in the right place. There is this other lady named Franny Peters that I think have mentioned before that we are kind of working with. She has had a rough couple of years and is trying to overcome what has happened. She has been having a lot of health and financial problems that she has been worrying about. We taught her about the priesthood and how she could receive a blessing and she said she would like that. We took the bishop and his dad over and they gave her a wonderful blessing. We talked with her yesterday and she said she has already seen a difference in her life. On Saturday night we knocked on the Harbor's door to talk to them . They were watching the South Carolina game and had previously watched the BYU game. They told me the score and I was happy to hear that it was a victory. Keep me updated on the games I enjoy hearing about them. We have been doing member dinners again because they asked us to. If I had it my way I would just skip those all together but I can't. We have enjoyed them and the member's are wonderful to feed us. I am glad all is going well with everyone in work and school. Thank you for the pictures of Graham they were so cute I can't believe how big he is now! Also thanks for the Jane and Annie pictures, they are also so cute. Thank you for all that you do for me. Thank you for your continued love and support. I really have the best family ever. Have a great week! Love, Katelyn
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