This week has flown by! Time just seems to go by faster and faster every transfer. This week is board week for President S., and it’s the time that transfers are decided. I’m kind of nervous. We heard that there are two new spanish sisters coming in, and only one is going home, which means that because our number is already uneven, there will have to be another area opened somewhere for spanish sisters. So someone will be whitewashing into an area. :{ Who knows what is going to happen next transfer. I think that I am getting transferred though. 🙁

Anyway, just a couple things that happened this week.

Monday: I took my cans that I have collected to a totally sketch recycling place, and got $3.50. Pretty great right? Ha ha. It was not worth my time, but now I know not to go back to that place. And I was $3.50 richer. Sweet! We also ate dinner with a less active family. They asked us to sing a specific hymn for the “spiritual thought”, and when we started singing, the hermana just started crying. She was so touched because that is one of her favorite hymns. I love that hymns can bring the spririt so freely, most the time even more than words.

Wednesday: We had a great lesson with A. She is the one that her “husband” and her are getting married on the 5th of May. We didn’t end up teaching him, just her. She has been taking the lessons for about a year, so she basically knows all the doctrine that we teach to people in the main lessons we teach. So we just let her ask us questions. She is so amazing. She would ask us something, and then just listen and soak it up like a sponge. She’s just awesome! She wants to get baptized so bad, and the only reason she hasn’t before now is because she isn’t married, but she soon will be. 🙂 We are excited for this Saturday. 😀

Thursday: I turned 1 year old in Texas!! 1 year ago on this day, I was talking to you from the airport, and then I was on an airplane flying into the great state of Texas. Wow! It has gone by quick. Also…drum roll…we FINALLY found J.! Woo!! He told us that the reason he was avoiding us was because all of these problems he was having, and he didn’t want us to get involved with it. But we talked to him outside of his apartment, and he told us he still wants to learn, and we asked him if we could come by later in the evening to visit him. He said yes, so we stopped by later and taught him. He’s still not exactly 100% back, but we’re going to work on him.

Friday: We had a specialized training meeting with President S. Everyone in the mission that has 6 months or less left was invited to go, so I saw a lot of other cool people who I have served with in the past, but haven’t seen for a while. It was so good. We had Elder Roberts of the Seventy there and he taught us about a lot of cool stuff, and President S. shared a very personal story with us. As he was sharing it, he started to tear up. It was so crazy, because if you know President S. at all, you know that he doesn’t cry. He also told us we are the “cream of the crop”, and that we are here to be examples to the younger missionaries. They see us as the older, more experienced missionaries, so we need to show them how things are supposed to be done. It’s weird being here, when I feel like just yesterday, I was the greenie, and everyone else was showing me how to do things.

Sunday: We had stake conference, and J. and A. came. It was a good stake conference. They talked a lot about trusting in the Lord, and dealing with trials. That seems to be a pretty common subject in recent times. I guess people everywhere are going through tough times.

Mom: I’m glad you went to visit Reese’s. I was thinking about them, and praying for them since you wrote me. I cannot even imagine how difficult it must be to lose a child. We met a brother the other day, and he lost his daughter two years ago. She had down syndrome, and she also them got leukemia. After she went through radiation and the cancer was gone, she went home. About a week later she got an infection. Because her defenses were down, she ended up dying from the infection. It was sad. He started crying when he talked about her still. The problem that he has had is that he has pulled away from God, and the gospel. Something that I have been learning lately is that we need to hold onto the Lord when hard times come. Otherwise, it is us against the world, instead of us and the Lord against the world. Everything is easier if you have the Lord to comfort you and bring you peace in times of trouble.

That is also cool you went to women’s conference. Was there any good talks that I should know about, or that I should read later? 🙂

Dad: I’m glad you have been getting some appointments in. How does that work? Do you just go by and talk to them? That’s cool you have been visiting with Mike and Jamie. How are their kids doing? Is Jessica enjoying married life? Ha ha. That is really weird, I’m not gonna lie. Ha ha. Anyway, that’s awesome that you were playing hand and foot. Sometimes of p-day we play card games. Usually we play like scum though, because there are a lot of us. Anyway, I gotta go now.

Emmy: Hey seest! (note to self: do not shorten seester! 😉 ha ha ha) Wow! You are doing awesome! That is so cool that you are doing such great things with your life. Have you decided to go to more college, or are you just going to work after you graduate from high school? What is is exactly that you want to do for work? You are such a nerd taking Harry Potter to people’s doors. It’s funny that you told me about that because, Sister V. was just asking about random things that we have done. I told her about the time you and I went to Costco to get Riley, and we had a dance party in the parking lot. That was the most random thing I have done that I could think of at the time. Ha ha. Good times! 🙂

Well, anyways, I am out of time. I love you all a lot!!!! Be good. See you soon. 🙂

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX 

Things are good here.

Mom: First off, thank you so much for the package! It was awesome! I especially love that cd that has spanish hymns on it. It was great. 🙂

I wish I had prepared more as well, for the mission. I do not feel like I was as ready as I could have been when I came out on the mission, and I wish I could have spent more time preparing myself mentally and spiritually for what was going to be coming on the mission. But I think that is something that every missionary feels, no matter how much they prepare before. It is always an adjustment, and you will always see how much you really do have to work and improve on. You see your imperfections with perfect clarity, and it really is hard sometimes. But it is also so amazing.

2. Sister V. is from Peru. She lived there for 3 years, and then they moved to the U.S. She is the only completely active member in her immediate family. She is amazing. 🙂

3. We are struggling keeping investigators lately. So we don’t really have an except A. and L. They are getting married on the 5th of May, and then baptized on the 12th. A. is so awesome! She has wanted to get baptized for so long, but because she wasn’t married she couldn’t. She is such a strong woman, and yet so sweet and loving and kind. And her kids are adorable.

4. See question 6

5. Sister V. saved a life this week. A little girl was walking down the stairs towards us and Sister V. caught her as she was falling.

6. It’s funny that you asked your special question about dealing with sadness and despair, because Sister V. and I have been struggling with that a little bit lately. We have been going through a kind of “mourning phase” since we lost one of our golden investigators, J. We don’t know what happened to him, but he has been avoiding us for the last 3 weeks. We really don’t know why. We have talked to him a couple times on the phone, and a couple times in the street, but he is so different now from the person we met several weeks ago. We have been so sad, and down on ourselves, and it’s like we don’t know where to go or what to do. Let’s just say it “really threw us for a loop”. But something that has helped me a lot is knowing that the Lord is in charge. He cares for all of his children, and even though they make choices he may not agree with, he still will prepare another opportunity for them to learn, and to grow. I have also taken comfort in the scriptures. This morning I read Alma 28, and it was perfect for me. It talks about a huge battle that takes place and lots of people die. The people that are still living, that lost loved ones, are mourning their losses. In verse 6 it talks about how they were sorrowful, and it was a solemn day, but it was also a time of fasting and prayer. They turned to the Lord in their time of need. Then in verse 8, it talks about the experiences of Ammon and his brethren (who were missionaries at this time, serving in that place) and how they had sufferings, sorrows, and afflictions, and yet they also had “incomprehensible joy”. Even though they had hard times, being a missionary brings them the most joy out of anything. That is something that I have definitely seen in my time as a missionary. Then there was a verse I really loved in Alma 29, verse 13. It says, “…And that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full.” I then started to read through the list of people I have seen baptized. I have watched people come closer to Christ, and seen them make covenants with Him, and that is enough to bring me joy at this time. Life as a missionary is hard. People let you down, people break your heart, people reject you. But there are people out there who are earnestly searching for the gospel, and when you meet them, and help them make changes in their life for the better, it is indescribable the way you feel. (“My cup runneth over” as the grandma says in Hope Floats) So it is not completely okay that J. wants nothing to do with us, but I feel blessed to have had the experiences I do, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Well, I think that is all. I was very longwinded today. Sorry. Well, not really sorry, because I know you love to hear stuff, but now I am out of time. I love you so much!

Dad: That is awesome you are still getting work done. I am so glad I have a dad that is such a great hard worker. I have seen a lot of men on my mission that work really hard to support their families, and I have seen a lot of men that don’t do near enough, and it makes me glad that I have the dad I have. 🙂 Ha ha. That sounds like fun riding the dirt bike up on some dirt. I want to do that! I have gotten Sister V. really into motorcycles lately. It’s funy, because before she didn’t notice them at all, but now she lookd for them, and when she gets home from the mission she wants to buy one. Ha ha. 🙂 Anyway, I have to go. Sorry. 🙁

Emily: Hey sorry this is going to be super short, but I’m glad you had a great b-day….Congratulations on finishing clinicals…..Send me a picture from your senior pictures…I miss being a kid…I think that is all…

I love you all SOOOO much! Have a great week.

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Kelsey and Emily

Dearest family,

Hey howdy hey! How are y’all doing? Ha ha. I don’t really sound like a Southerner yet, but I’m working on it. Just kidding. But anyway, things are good here. We have had a good week this week. We finally got a hold of our two legit investigators that went missing. We still don’t really know what is going to happen with them, but we are still going to try. They were so cool, but now we don’t know what is going on with them.

Just a few things that happened this week:

Wednesday: We got to watch the Joseph Smith movie with some of our recent converts. It is SUCH a good movie. I really love it, and I haven’t seen it since the MTC, where we used to watch it almost every Sunday. I always cry to think about all the things he went through, but because of that, we have the church we have today. One part that got Sister V. really bad, which it never did before, was the part where the missionaries start going out to different parts of the world to preach. She started thinking about how she is doing that now, and it just hit her differently than before. It was pretty cool. Our recent converts loved it too.

Thursday: We had a 24 hour exchange. I went with Sister N., to their area, and her companion, Sister B., went with Sister V. to our area. It was pretty fun. We visited with some really cool people, and had some great times. I got to talk to Elder W., who is one of the elders I came into Texas with. He is so cool. He is the zone leader in their area. It was weird doing english work though. It is very different from spanish work. It is hard to explain, but it just feels different. I didn’t like it as much. But it was still fun. 🙂 Also, it was weird, because we went to eat dinner with this family, and when we pulled up the house, I was like, “I have seen this house before.” But I couldn’t think of where I had seen it. Then all of the sudden, I remembered. My first night that I stayed in Texas, I stayed with Sister W. and Sister M. And then I realized the person we were about to eat with was someone that we ate breakfast with my first day (their ward mission leader). So we went up to the door, and I said hey to the sister that we were eating with. I introduced myself, and she said, “you look familiar.” I told her it was because I had been there before. Then she said she remembered me. It was weird. Like deja vu. Except now I’m a kind of experienced missionary instead of a completely thrown out of my comfort zone greenie.

Mom: Awww! T. and G.! I miss them! I saw a little boy the other day that looked so much like G., and I felt a little bit sad, because I remember when little tiny G. used to cuddle with me in the morning after he woke up, and when I get home, “little” G. will probably be as tall as I am. 🙁 It stinks that things have to change. Sometimes I wish time could just hold still for just a minute. But I know that’s how everyone feels sometimes. Wow…Jessica is going on a mission?! That is so cool! Tell her congratulations, and that she will love it. Spanish is the BEST!! Not that I’m biased or anything. 🙂 Ha ha, but really that is sweet.

Wow, Grandmother and Grandad are married 56 years? That is quite a long time. Not as long as eternity, but that’s still a while. 🙂 That is super cool though.

I love you so much! I had a dream the other night that I was coming home, and I saw all of you at the airport. It made me sad when I woke up, but I know that day will be coming quick, and I probably won’t want it to come when it does. I still have mixed feelings about that. I want to come home, but I don’t at the same time. It’s so weird.

Dad: I’m glad things are still just going along. One of my new favorite quotes goes like this:

“Some blessings come soon, some blessings come late, and some blessings don’t come until heaven, but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” (-Jeffrey R Holland) As long as you are doing what you need to be doing, and living the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will be blessed. Maybe not at this moment, but at some point it will happen. Don’t give up! 🙂 It wil happen. Anway, I think that’s it. Love you! P.S. The sprint is my favorite part. I love sprinting! :):):)

Emmy: Hey seester! How’s it going? Oh wait…HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO EMMYSAURUS REX! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! Woohoooo! You’re almost an adult (officially!) Ha ha. Well, I can’t really do much else for you, so that’s going to have to be your happy birthday from me. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed it.

That is pretty cool that you are doing great with your school, and clinicals and all that. Man, I can’t believe you’ve been getting up that early. You’re a trooper! I still struggle with getting up at 6:30 some days. Being a missionary is exhausting. But awesome, and totally worth it. 🙂 I just think I was never meant to be a morning person.

Oh wow, and you are getting senior pictures?! You should send me one when you get them printed. 🙂 That would be really cool. I don’t even know what all of you look like. It has been like FOREVER! For reals.

Anyway, I gotta go now! I love you all SOOOO much.

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Dear family,

Hey, how are y’all doing? 🙂 This week has been good. We didn’t get hit by any tornados, but about 6 of them touched down in Arlington. President was inspired when he took the sisters out of there. 🙂 Apparently there were about a dozen in total, but none of them came in our area. As far as I know, everyone that is serving in the areas where they touched down are okay. It was weird hearing the tornado alarm though. You don’t hear those in Utah.

Okay so this week…

Monday: We got heart attacked by the elders that live in our apartment complex. It was stinkin’ cute. Our elders are so sweet. We spend a lot of time with them, because we give them rides, and they give us rides, if we are going to the same place at the same time. They are good boys.

Tuesday: I found out that my first convert, Antonio, passed away a little while ago. It was really sad and hard. I was looking forward to being able to go visit him when I come back to visit the mission after I come home, but now I don’t get to. 🙁 But it’s okay, I know that he is in a good place. 🙂 Also, it rained a lot! And I stepped in a huge puddle that was like 6 inches deep, and I almost drowned. Jk, jk, that was dramatic. But it was really deep. Also, we had a baptism!!! H. got baptized, and everything went well. I will attach a photo of all of us together. 🙂

Wednesday: We set a marriage date with two of our investigators (A. and L.) for the 5th of May!!! Woo!!! So they will be getting married, and then after they can get baptized. And L. has opened up to us a lot. Before he used to to not like the missionaries, but he loves us now. And he has read the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true! They are so cool.

Thursday: We had a crazy day. So H. was supposed to get the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, but we went to visit them on Thursday, and J. (her son), had gotten a call from his work that he needed to be in Boston on Monday, and they were driving there. So…they had to leave that night. So we had to do a bunch of calling and get permission, to try to get it so she could get the gift of the Holy Ghost not in sacrament meeting on Sunday. It was crazy stressful, but it happened. She got the gift of the Holy Ghost, and everything is all good. 🙂 We also can write to her now, because she is our recent convert, and is not living in our mission.

Saturday: We got to eat at Texas Roadhouse! It was Elder K.’s birthday, so we got money from our dinner and decided to eat there. He was so embarrased because we had them sing for him. 🙂 Ha ha! But at least we didn’t make him sit on the saddle. I think he would have been VERY angry with us.

Sunday: We went Easter caroling. It was Sister Valdez’s idea, because she never got to go real caroling at Christmas time, so she really wanted to go. It was fun.

MOM: That is such a cool lesson. It really is true. I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day, and I read a verse in Mosiah, chapter 2, verses 23 and 24. It says basically that same thing.

“And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore of what have ye to boast?”

Basically, now matter what we do, we still owe him for everything. But we can give back to him by helping others, and being obedient to the commmandments. I am so grateful for the gospel. 🙂

P.S. To answer your P.S., we have 72 hour kits in our apartment, and they also have papers that we are supposed to keep with us that tell us what to do, in case of a tornado or other emergency. They are very organized in the way they handle things like that. 🙂 Don’t you worry none. 🙂

EMMY: I’m doing good. Man, that is crazy Amanda L. is going to be having a baby. 🙂 And you are turning 18! But that sounds like a lot of stuff you have to do. I will defintely keep you in my prayers. 🙂

P.S. Are you trying to trunk me out?! Ha ha. It won’t work. I’m not trunky like at all. 🙂

DAD: There were some tornados that were close ish, but none of them hit where I am at all. Man, Uncle Scott is crazy. 🙂 Ha. I would maybe consider running a marathon, if my hips weren’t bad. And if I trained for it for a really long time. 🙂 I’m glad grandmother and granddad are doing good.

Well, I better go now. I love you all!

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Dearest family,

This week was pretty great. Well actually…it’s been really crazy. Tuesday, I was feeling kind of weird. Like halfway through the day I was feeling like I was going to pass out and slightly delirious. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t say anything to Sister V. This was our conversation a little bit later.

me: “Do you feel weird?”
Sister V: “Like what kind of weird?”

me: “Like your head is floating?”

Sis. V: “Yeah.”

me: “And you feel weak?”

Sis. V: “Yeah.”

me: “Man, I thought it was just me!”

So we took ourselves to the nearest Walm-mart and decided to take our blood pressure, just in case. Turns out our blood pressure was low for some reason. Then after that we ate which I thought would help. But it didn’t really. I still felt really tired and weak. So I went to bed that night and hoped that everything would be good when I woke up. I felt better (stronger), but also weird. Like anxious, and I couldn’t focus, and my heart kept beating really weird. I spent my entire 1 hour personal study reading 17 verses of the Book of Mormon, and then I didn’t even remember what I had read at all. I basically felt like I was going crazy. Like it was all in my head. But I remembered that the night before, one of my zone leaders, Elder C, asked if I wanted a priesthood blessing. I told him no at the time, because I thought I would just get better. So because it was transfers Wednesday morning, we went to the church, and I got a priesthood blessing. And then I felt a lot better. Then on Friday, my allergies were acting up really, really bad. I used an entire roll of toilet paper soaking up the extra snot pouring out of my face. (Sorry for the visual, but that is what was happening) 🙂 It was crazy. So I got another priesthood blessing on Saturday, right before the morning session of conference. But, don’t worry Mom, now I am all good. Not 100%, but about 97%. 🙂 Missionary work and our schedule as missionaries is taking a little bit of a toll on this little chica., though :I

Other than that, things are great. Conference was amazing, of course! One of my favorite talks was the Jeffrey R. Holland one. He is such a powerful speaker. “It’s getting late.” Ha ha. Whoa! That gave me chills. It truly is “getting late”. The second coming is closer than we think, and now is the time to prepare. I wrote so many pages of notes. I loved that most fo the talks were about marriage and children raising. Ha ha. Sister V was telling me she has never thought about marriage more than in the last couple days, because everyone in conference was talking about it. I think she’ll get married pretty quick when she gets home. I’ll give her 6 months. 😉 🙂 Ha ha. But wow, for reals!?!? My little bro was on tv?! That is so unreal. I didn’t get to watch any of the stuff in between, because  we were eating and going to appointments, but that is so sweet! I wish I could have seen it. I probably would have cried though. I miss my little hyperactive Flexy man! 🙁 I bet he is all grown up now, and mature and stuff.

AWW man! Tashers! I miss that little girl a lot. I was looking at an older picture you sent me of her, compared to the one that you just barely sent, and I still cannot believe it is the same little girl. She is just so big. How did that happen?!

Dad: I truly am jealous that you ate a peanut butter dream bar and swedish pancakes. Oh the simple pleasures of life that you don’t get to have as a missionary! I look forward to the day when you will make me swedish pancakes and I will eat 10 of them. 🙂 Just like the good ol’ days. 🙂 But anyway, conference was great. I always get way more out of it now, than I ever did before. Everything they talk about is so important, and before the mission, I just didn’t get it. But now I’m starting to understand it a little better. 🙂

Emily: OMG! You are not turning 18 in 18 days!!! That is not even real!! You are getting way too big too fast. Just stop it okay!? Jk jk. But really that scares me a lot. Everything is going to be so different when I get home. I’m scared. But I’m sure it will be great. That’s cool you are on spring break. They had spring break here like 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure why, but whatevs. Do you want to hear something sad? I have 0 interest in watching movies anymore. Like I heard that y’all were watching Remember the Titans, and I didn’t even have any desire to watch that movie, or any other one. It’s something weird that happens to missionaries. You become these super boring people that only care about the salvation of souls. But it is great. I love being a missionary! You should be one too someday. 🙂

Riley: Aww that is so cute that Natasha calls Janet “Janny” and “my angel”. She is seriously like the sweetest cutest thing ever!. Ha ha. I mean…that is, until I have kids! Hahaha! 🙂 🙂 Jk, jk. But for reals. Anyway, I gotta go. Keep doing good things. P.S. Did you like conference?

Janet: Ja ja. Que bueno! Gracias por el slang. Mi companera antes siempre decia “Que verguenza!” porque ella es rubio y siempre hacia cosas raras. Ja ja. Pero ya puede decir “Que oso!” en vez de “Que Verguenza!” Pues gracias por tu ayuda. Casi no tengo tiempo entonces tengo que ir. Hablamos luego! Cuidate mucho! 🙂 Y tambien gracias por decirme que esta pasando con mi hermano. Es verdad. El no habla mucho. Es un hombre de pocas palabras. 🙂

Anyways, I gotta go now. I love all of you! Be good. I’ll see you soon. 🙂

Love, Kelsey

I’m glad things are going great for all of you. So this week was great!!!! For reals!! We met a new investigator a couple weeks ago, and he is so legit is isn’t even funny! His name is J., and he has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot, and he told us yesterday that he has been talking to God, and that he knows it’s true. He also told us that he has a very strong desire to quit smoking, and to change his life completely. He gave us his cigarettes yesterday, and then he got a blessing to help him be strong and not go back to it. He just quit cold turkey! It was so great. He is AWESOME!! Very genuine and kind. He understands God’s hand in his life as well. He has seen and recognized the blessings that have come into his life since the elders first talked to him. He’ll get baptized for sure, and he’ll be a great member when he does get baptized. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Anyway, I think I’ll miss his baptism though, because we set his date for the 14th of April, and I feel like I’m going to get transferred this next transfer. 🙁 I hope not, but we’ll see what happens.

Other than that things are good. We are finding a lot of really elect people, which is great for us. A lot of times we meet people who seem nice and everything, but aren’t willing to do anything or change who they are. Lately, we have met a lot of great people who are willing to do things.

We will be having a baptism on Friday! Her name is H., and she is 78 years old. She is the sweetest little old lady! She is the mom of a recent convert that is from Peru. His name is J. 🙂 Anyway, she is so adorable. She will probably be the oldest person I will see get baptized. So that is something cool that will be coming up.

Just a little side note: We were told by our zone leaders that they write every week to President S. about us. So we asked them what they say about us (Sister V. and I), and they said, “We just tell him, ‘They are short in stature, strong in spirit.'” Ha ha ha. It was funny, and cute.

Mom:

Yes, I got the package. Thank you so much! I really needed my medicine. And you are an inspired woman! 🙂 I have been having allergies really bad lately, and the tissues were a life saver. And Sister V. and I have been enjoying the candy you sent. Also, who is that little chikadee in that picture you sent me? Oh wait, that’s my niece? What happened? She’s all grown up!! I couldn’t believe that was her. I seriously looked at that picture for 10 minutes straight trying to figure out how my sweet niece became that little girl. It’s crazy. And she’ll be even bigger when I get home. Weird. I’m glad she remembers me at least. 🙂 I miss her a lot. 🙁

Dad:

Man, that is so cool that you have memories like that with your extended family. Ha ha. And that is funny you destroyed a six pack of beer. We waste a lot of beer as well. Sometimes we find it and dump it out, so little kids don’t find it and drink it. I worry about that sometimes, because we have met people lately that are/were alcoholics, and they started drinking when they were like 5 or 6! That is crazy to me. But I guess if it is available, and your parents don’t care, then I can see how it happens.

Man, that is crazy about grandpa. He is a little troublemaker isn’t he? That’s scary though. I hope everything will be okay with him.

Emmy:

That’s awesome you are doing clinicals. Sister V. did nursing stuff before the mission, but now she decided she doesn’t want to do that, but that she wants to be a teacher. Go figure right? What a change in career field! But yeah things are great. I love being a missionary! I don’t want to come home! Well…like I do, but I don’t at the same time. It’s weird. When you go on your mission you will understand. 🙂

Well, I better go now. Be good. I miss you, but I’ll see y’all soon.

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

This week was pretty good. The days are going by way too fast. It’s so weird. I’m not really sure how I feel about that. I have heard that the last 6 months just fly by way too fast. I am already feeling that quite a bit. Every transfer just seems to get over faster than the last. But I am also excited so see y’all. The mission just gives you so many mixed feelings. You feel so happy, and yet really sad, all at the same time. It’s so weird.

Other than that I’m not really sure what to tell you. I forgot my planner, so I’m not really sure what happened this week that I should write to you about. I think that is something that is going to have to continue for me when I get home. I am so lost without my planner. I never know what is going on without it.

Mommy: That is sad about Aunt Della Mae. 🙁 It’s times like these that people need the gospel more than any other time, because it brings comfort of what is to come after this life, and gives hope that we will get to see the people who pass on again. There is a line in the Preach My Gospel dvds that we use as missionaries, where a woman is talking about the way she feels in the church. She talks about how happy she is, and how welcoming everyone is. Then she says, “If that is how it is here, just think about how it will be in heaven. I just cannot wait.” Everytime I hear that line I get teary, because I think about the way we will feel when we get to see our loving Heavenly Father, and our older brother Jesus, and how wonderful we are going to feel. 🙂 I just think about that when I hear of people passing on. Everything is fine for them.

Wow, I can see y’all have been staying busy. 😉 That was a lot of news all in a few lines. Tell Amanda and Jason congratulations on having a baby! That is very exciting. 🙂

Ha ha. The time change messed with us too. We were commenting all day about how tired we were, because we kept forgetting that we had one less hour of sleep. We were definitely worn out last night. But that is a pretty regular thing for us. I don’t think I’ll feel fully rested until I get to come home and sleep for 12 hours or so. That will be the day. 🙂

Thank you so much for taking such good care of me. I really appreciate all the love and support you give me.  : * (that is a kissy face. I’m not sure how to do it).

Dad: I’m sorry about Grandpa. That is really hard to have to see. But everything will be okay. I’m glad that Grandmother doesn’t have to worry about him so much anymore. That is good for her. How is Stacy doing? It she alright? I feel so out of the loop, because there are family members I haven’t talked to, or hear from at all, for 1 year. I hope everything else is good. That’s cool you are getting in bike rides. There is a senior missionary here, that keeps asking me if I would be willing to ride a bike as a missionary. I told him if I had to, but most the reason I don’t want to, is because (1) I have to wear skirts, and (2) I’m really out of shape. I would probably throw up if I have to ride a bike anywhere. But I don’t think they will make us a bike area. All of the sisters in the mission right now are in cars.

Emmy: Things are good here. Did you find a new job yet? I can’t believe you are graduating soon. I swear you were just a little sprout like yesterday!!! Que honda? Anyway, that is way cool. 🙂 Well, I’m almost out of time, so I better go now.

I love you all lots! Tell everyone I say hi. It seems most of them have forgotten about me. 🙁 But it’s okay. I guess that is what happens after you are out of peoples’ lives for a year. Anyway, it’s all good. Be good. See you soon. 🙂

Love, Kelsey

 Hermana Kelsey 13:2 -email-

 Hola familia!

Hello family!

How are you all doing? I am doing great. Sorry my email was so short last week. This week will also be short, because of some crazy circumstances, including Pep Boys (I really do hate Pepboys!) not changing our oil correctly and it all spilling out, so we no longer have a car to use until they fix it, and Sister V. still not having a library card, so I will be sharing my time I have on the computer with her. But other than that, things are pretty good.

We had a baptism on Tuesday. His name is G. He is twelve years old, but very mature for his age. He is a great kid. He actually had a baptismal date like a year ago, but his dad convinced him not to go through with it. So we finally got him baptized, and his mom will be getting baptized as soon as she and her “husband” get married.

I really can’t believe it has been a year either!! Sister V. and I celebrated our year mark together, and she made tres leches cake, which is cake, but you let it soak in three different kinds of milk for a while, so it is really soggy. I know it sounds gross, but it really is very tasty. But it does take some getting used to. 🙂 But other than that it was just like any other day.

Wow, that’s so crazy all the thigns that can happen in a year! Tell Caleb that the mission is really the best thing he could be doing right now. Sometimes the Lord molds us into the people we need to be by putting us through the refiner’s fire. And sometimes it’s really hard while we are in it, having struggles, but all we have to do is puch forward, and trust in the Lord more than ever and we can make it through. Maybe he needed to go through those really hard things in order to become the person the Lord wants him to be, to be the best missionary he can be. 🙂

Dad: I’m sorry about your face, I hope I don’t have problems with that later on.  :{ It’s crazy you were just thinking about playing tennis, because the other day Sister V. and I were driving, and we saw a sign for a tennis center near our house (kind of), and we were talking about how we really wanted to go play. Weird. 🙂 But yeah, other than that I’m glad things are good.

Emmy: Hey girl! Como estas?! Sorry about all the hard stuff that is going on. Just remember…just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim. 😀 You can do it, I know you can. Trust in the Lord. Remember you are never standing taller than when you are on your knees. Pray for his help and guidance. He will help you. Trust that everything will be okay, even if right now it doesn’t feel like it will. After the storm comes the rainbow. 🙂 I love you so much. Be strong, and know that everything will work out the way it is supposed to.

Well, I gotta go now. I love you all so much!

Love, Kelsey