Some pictures of Katelyn

Hope you enjoy! We received these pictures from a newly baptized member Karen. She is extremely thoughtful and loves sending us pictures of Kate. We just love it because we love Kate! Kate's companion Sister Wright recently cut her hair and it is just adorable!


Can anyone tell me how to get the pictures bigger and centered?

Kate gets a new companion

Hey'all
How is it going in the great state of Utah? I am doing good out here in the wonderful city of Gilbert. We had transfers this week and I was not looking forward to them as I really didn't want Sister Wright to leave. I guess it had to happen eventually. It was my first transfers ever and I was so nervous. It seemed like forever before President Holm announced all of the new transfers. Since they dissolved the Georgia, Macon mission we got a handful of the missionaries from there. My new companion had been serving in that mission in the city of Augusta. Her name is Sister Jakob and she is a very bold and hard working person. She talks to everyone and invites them to be baptized. You know me I am not a very bold and outspoken person so I have a lot to learn. I am working hard though and trying to do things I have never done before. I am happy out here learning and changing my life. We had a wonderful week full of new adventures. On our first day together we got caught in a rain storm that came out of no where. We were no where near the car and had no umbrella with us. We had an appointment in the neighborhood so we had to go there dripping wet. It was a pretty funny sight standing there on the porch soaking wet. They got us towels so we could dry off which was nice. I took her to go meet Karen our recent convert which went great. We had the wonderful opportunity the next day to do a session at the temple. The session started at 6 am and we had to be there at 5:30, plus we live an hour away. Karen was gracious enough to take us there and we are grateful for that. She sat in the waiting room at the temple and waited for us. It was pretty hard to stay awake during the session. We almost wished we could have done baptisms to wake us up. I am grateful though that we got that opportunity. I took her to meet Jess and Tony Crago who are the wonderful couple that Sister Wright and I had been working with. They are the couple that had a wedding 2 weeks ago. They are moving to Utah tomorrow and are moving in with his mother for the time being. They had been planning on moving to Utah around Christmas time but some circumstances arose and they are leaving early. They are taking a Greyhound bus there which is like a 3 day trip. Sister Wright and I were not sure they would be baptized before they left. I took Sister Jakob to meet them and we had a wonderful lesson. We asked them to pray about baptism and if that was something they still wanted to do. Before we even left the city they called us and said they wanted to be baptized. We talked to the district leader and set up their baptismal interviews for the next day. They were having a yard sale this weekend to get rid of things they couldn't take with them. They didn't know that they would need to come to church on Sunday to be confirmed. They didn't sell everything on Saturday so they had to it on Sunday also. We had to get special permission to have waterside confirmations. They were baptized in the evening and it was a beautiful experience. I am so grateful I have been able to be part of their conversion process. They are a wonderful couple and still have a lot to learn but by them moving to Utah I know that will help. His mother lives in Nephi but they plan on eventually moving to Provo. I gave them your contact information so if they need any help I told them to give you guys a call. I am so sad to see them go but I know I will see them again soon. They are planning a welcome home party for me already. I love them so much! That is so cool that there are 3 missionaries from our family. Way to represent! To my brother Riley- Thank you so much for the letter that was so nice of you. Please write me more often I love hearing from you. Congratulations on becoming an Elder. I know that will be a wonderful blessing in your life. Allison and Riley Wilson- Thank you so much for the early birthday gift it was great. You both are so thoughtful! I got it on Saturday and it was sitting there in the mailbox waiting for me. The cookies were delicious and managed to get here almost in one piece. A few of them were broken but I didn't care. I am still enjoying them! I love the bracelet too. thank you for that. To the entire Bradshaw clan- Thank you so much for the card! I loved reading all of the notes. I feel so lucky to have a wonderful supportive family. I don't know what I would do without y'all. Thank you so much for all of the love and support you give me. Keep me updated on your lives. Hope all is well. Have a wonderful week. Love, Katelyn

Cow Tongue for Dinner!

Hey'all
I am doing great! Things are going well here in the state of South Carolina. The weather is hot and humid as ever. I had a great week here. We had a baptism on Saturday!!! Her name is Karen and she had been trying to stop smoking and drinking coffee and she finally did. We took her to the temple with a member on Friday and had a wonderful experience there. We got to meet the temple president and his wife along with the first counselor and his wife. That is where she decided to baptized the next day. We went to the bookstore and bought her a CTR ring that she had picked out. We talked with the ward mission leader and made all of the arrangements. She is such a wonderful person and has mad so many changes in her life. She was like a member before she became one. I spoke on baptism at the baptism and played the piano while Sister Wright sang the musical number. After she was baptized she went around and hugged everyone and thanked them for coming. She was confirmed a member yesterday and after she blew a kiss to the crowd and mouthed the words "thank you." She will do well in the church! At church she brought her mother and her two kids. Her daughter is 15 and loved church especially young women's. There a few more potential baptisms for this family. This week is transfers and I will be sad to good bye to Sister Wright. She has been the best companion anyone could have ever asked for. She has been here in the area for 6 months so she is being transferred and I am staying in the area. I am excited to get a new companion and to be able to work with her. I am loving my new hairstyle! I can wear it straight more often which I love. It feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I am running out of ideas of what to do with it. It is a lot cooler so I am very happy with it. I got a letter from Jeff this past week so it was good to hear from him. Not really anything new from him. He tells me things he did on his mission and what he is doing now. This week we went to a part member's family home for dinner. The father is from Mexico so we had some authentic food. Guess what I ate for dinner? Cow tongue! They didn't tell me before and I am glad. I am becoming a lot braver with my food.I still can't believe that I actually ate that. Here are some birthday present ideas: a new watch similar to the one I already have as the one I have is pretty tarnished, I also would love some more church cds as we can listen to more than just the Tabernacle Choir, and maybe some hair accessories for short hair as I don't have much. I hope that gives you some ideas of what to get me. You usually know what I am enjoy. Just make sure when you send it to send it Priority Post. I am glad you all had fun at the family reunion. I always enjoyed getting together and doing stuff like that. I am very surprised about how much I love my mission. I have learned so many things already. I am becoming a different person and I love that. I love the people here they are so wonderful. Being a missionary is awesome! I will try to send some more pictures soon. Thank you so much for all of you love and support! I am so lucky to have a family like I have. Have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you again soon! Love, Katelyn

Katelyn the Wedding Planner!

Hey'all-
Happy 4th! I am doing great today! I am wearing red, white and blue to celebrate as that is really the only thing I can do. No complaints though we have a couple of bbq's to attend today. We don't get to go to any parades or do fireworks which is kind of a bummer but oh well. I had Sister Wright cut my hair on Thursday night. We had some time so we just did it then. I had decided to go short so I would be cooler. She cut off about 8 inches total in an a-line style. It is so cute I love it a lot. She said she thought it made me look older. It feels strange though not having so much hair anymore. I am enjoying the benefits of it though. She is the best! I just figured while I had a hair stylist with me I might as well get it cut. I will send pictures soon. We had a pretty busy week this week preparing for the wedding. Sister Wright is a women of many talents so at first I wasn't sure what I could contribute to the wedding. A member of the ward helped us plan a menu for the wedding as we had no idea what to do. We ended up having chicken salad sandwhichs, spinach dip, cheese ball and crackers, fruit, vegetables and dip along with some punch. We helped decorate the cake and I learned how to make a butter cream frosting and homemade fondont. That was a lot of fun I enjoyed doing that. I bought the fruit, cheeseball and the crackers. The wedding was so great and they were so happy. I am glad that they made the choice to get married so they can get baptized on the 16th of this month. In a year they can make it to the temple which would be great. On Saturday we were out knocking doors and trying to contact as many people as we could. It was a hot July day. By 4pm the sky looked a little clouding and it started to sprinkle. We took my umbrella as I didn't want to get wet. Well, it started to get worse and all of the sudden it started pouring rain and we went door to door both under the umbrella. The rain was blowing and we were getting pretty wet so we decided to stop and head to our dinner appointment at Karen's a little early. We showed up at her doorstep dripping with rain and puddles in our shoes. She gave us clothes to change into while our clothes dried in the drier which was nice. We had a pump up lesson about her baptism and gave her encouragement. All she has to do is to stop smoking and we know she can do that. We had fresh vegetables grilled on the grill along with some steak. It was so good! She and her mom both came to church yesterday which was great. Her mom attends church elsewhere but enjoys coming to ours so she will probably join someday. She wants to get Karen's kids to come. We met the mission president and his wife on Friday. They are so nice I can tell they will be great leaders. I look forward to working them. Got to go have a great day. Love, Katelyn

Kate and investigators go to Stake Conference

Hey'all-
How is it going in Utah? I am doing good here in South Carolina. It is as hot as ever! We did get some rain and it cooled down a little bit. I am glad you enjoyed the video. We run into a lot of dogs out here as they are everywhere we go. I have to pretend I like them even when they like to lick my legs constantly. I have to admit I do miss Bauer though none of these dogs are the same. I am not sure if the video is allowed or not I will have to find that out. She is sweet to do that for us. I have not ridden my bike yet and now it is getting way hot so it wouldn't be too smart to ride them all of the time. We have a little shed out back that we keep them in. We drink a lot of water more than I think I have ever drunk. You know me well, I sweat like crazy every day. It is just lovely. I am glad you had a great time in Kansas, those girls are so sweet. Next Sunday 2 of our investigators are getting married so they can get baptized. They are getting married by the bishop in the church so it will be pretty simple. We are helping out in anyway possible. They are short on money so it will be a small gathering. They are looking forward to it and have invited some family members to come so it should be good. They are getting baptized together on July 16th, so Sister Wright will miss that but she knows that she was a big part of it. Karen has gone 3 days without smoking and is also working on stopping drinking coffee. We will probably have to move her baptismal date to the 9th of July. She is a wonderful lady who is taking small steps to have the gospel in her life. She knows this is the right thing for her in her life right now. We had stake conference this week and Jess came with us to the adult session on Saturday night and loved it. President McConkie and his wife spoke for the last time so I was glad I got to see that. They leave on Wednesday and it will be hard to have them go. They are wonderful people and I plan to visit them when I return. Our new mission president comes this week so we look forward to meeting him. Karen took us and another investigator to stake conference yesterday so that was cool. We got there a little late and had to sit in the back with all of the noisy children. It was hard to hear and I am not sure what they got out of it. We had 3 investigators come so it was awesome. Jess came with some members that were nice enough to pick her up at the last minute. We taught a lot of lessons this week so we have been working hard. We are not sure what we are doing for the 4th of July yet. The library will be closed so we will probably have to email from a member's home. They have lock down 3 times a year which means we have to be in by 6 on that day. They do it for our safety. They 3 days are Halloween, new year's eve and the 4th of July. We are going to have a pre-birthday party as we will not be companions when our birthdays come. She is going to cut my hair and we will do some other stuff. Well, i have got to get going we are meeting with Karen in a little bit. Happy Birthday Brad! I hope you have a great day! I hope you got my card. Allison- Happy Birthday on this coming Saturday! A card is on the way for you. I hope you all have a great week. Thank you for your continued love and support. I love you all! Love, Katelyn

Kate tells more about Karen and thoughts on Christian art!

Hey'all-
For those of you in Kansas I hope you are having a good time. I hope the trip is going well! I knew you would mention something about the pictures you got from Karen. She has these apps on her IPhone that she uses. She showed them to us and I honestly didn't think they were the best looking pictures but who cares she loves doing things like that for us. I hope it is okay that I gave her your email address she really wanted to send those things to you. We met with her several times this week as she loves having us over. We hate to say that it is time for us to go but she knows we always come back. She found out that both of us will eventually leave the area and she was not happy about that. She does understand and wants to make friends with people in the ward. She came to church last week and was going to yesterday but she didn't have her phone which had her alarm with her. She felt so bad that she had missed it but is coming next week. She was going to bring her 18 year old son with her. She also has a 15 year old daughter who is out of town at her aunt's. We met Karen about a month ago just out contacting and she was saying that she didn't really agree with God on some things along with more. She did say that we could come back and tell her more about the Mormons as all she knew were Donny and Marie Osmond. We came back and she had just lost her job and was pretty upset so we talked with her and shared our message with her. She explained the situation about her losing her job and we left her with some scriptures to read to help out. She ended up reading all of the scriptures 3 or 4 times and wanted more. This week we taught her the first lesson and a word of wisdom which she needed as she smokes and drinks coffee and some tea. She realizes that she has a long way to go but wants to take all of the steps to get there. She also broke up with her boyfriend probably over us but she won't let us think that. She can see know that satan is working hard on her but she knows what we are telling her is true. She is an amazing lady and is working towards her baptism on July 2nd. The other girl we are working with Jess is really cool too. We taught her and her husband about temples which was great. We stopped by the next day and were talking with them again. Her and her husband have a common law marriage which is basically her using his last name for tax purposes and othKaer things. They had planned to get married eventually when they had the money. This type of marriage is not acceptable for baptism. We explained this to her and she seemed find with it and would have to tell her gusband about it. She came right out and asked him if they could do that and he agreed so they will be getting married on July 3rd by the bishop. He is supportive of her baptism and plans on coming to church next sunday. She is set for a July 9th baptism and we are hoping he could also get baptized on the same day which would be so cool. She also announced all of this for good news minute in Relif Society yesterday which was so cute. I feel so blessed to be working with these people right now. For the baptism that we had the other week I gave a talk on Baptism and Sister Wright sang a song. He is doing great! He received the priesthood yesterday and after he said that he wanted to go baptize someone. The humidity is getting worse every passing day. Yesterday was pretty miserable out walking. Today it is supposed to be 100 degrees and with humidity it will feel like it is 120 degrees. We just keep working hard out in the sun. We drink as much water as we can and usually run into nice people who give us bottled water. I have thought about her cutting my hair before I go but I can't decide if I just want a nice trim or cut a lot off. I have to decide soon she will get transferred on July 13th. President McConkie get released on July 1st . We had Zone Conference on Thursday which happened to be their last one. It was a great conference I really learned a lot. We had to say good bye to them and he gave us all hugs as we left. It felt kind of strange to do that. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to have him as my mission president for awhile. Both him and his wife are amazing people. They extended transfers by a week as the new mission president will be coming in so I am excited! I love Sister Wright so much and will miss her when she is gone. I have learned so much from her and I know we will be friends for life. I hope you have a great time in Kansas let me know how it goes. I am sending pictures of my 1st baptism so you should get those soon. I hope you put a sticker up on the chart. Thank you so much for all of your love and support. I have the best family in the world and would not be here without you. I love you all! Have a great week! Love, Katelyn

A letter and some Christian art from Karen

Sending you a big hello!

My name is Karen I have the oner to meet sister Wright and Sarafine I just love them they are like family to me.
They come to my home very day with such a big smile and so much love to give. I call them my angels.
We talk about every thing, such smart young lady's. They told me they don't get to talk to you much and I was sad to know that.
My mother and I are very close. So I asked if I could send photos to you so you can see the same sweet smiles I see each and every day.
I love art so I have put together some photos of the girls in my art form. I hope you will love the photos as much as I do.
They send there love and are well and happy.
Moms you did a fabulous job with your young lady's I hope one day my Daughter will shine as they do.
Karen

Sister Wright has told me so much of you and the family. I hope to meet one day.

Here sister Wright and Sarafine are at my home. Singing and reading. Each day they fill my Harte with more hope and understanding of the word of god.

Sister Sarafine is so dear to me what a wonderful lady. She is so kind and we pray together every day.

In this photo the girls where helping me push my lawnmower on to the truck so if could be fixed.
Very strong both of them.

Hope this will find you well and happy.

Karen.