Dear Elder

I hope that you haven’t gotten on yet, so that I can actually get an email sent to you on time! Sorry about the last 2 weeks. I had Pioneer day off, and the next Monday things were really busy here at work. How is everything going? Any news on transfers or a new companion? How was your hike in Port Alberni?

Things here are going well. I have a letter for you that is hand written and everything! I’m sending it out at lunch today, so you should receive it soon! This past week has been really good. It seemed slow while it was happening, but now that I look back it totally flew past.

Yesterday I got up early to make a chocolate sheet cake for my family. We do dessert Sunday on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. It’s really hard to make chocolate cake while fasting! Oh the temptation. J We had most of the family over last night, and it was so fun to play with my nieces and nephews and to visit with my siblings. My niece Meg, who is 3 is absolutely adorable. She drew me 3 pictures yesterday. The first was of me with “big teeths”, the second was me with “lots of feets”, and the last was a picture of “a boy with a hair”. She kept drawing them and then folding them up really small so that she could put them in my bag. It was really funny.

Church was so good yesterday! The spirit was so strong in fast and testimony meeting and we had awesome lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society. I’ve been going to the Preach My Gospel class for Sunday School. They aren’t always the best lessons, but I have been learning a lot. Yesterday, the lesson was on teaching by the spirit. The teacher did an awesome job of teaching the importance of inviting the spirit in to your life and living close enough to have The Holy Ghost as your constant companion. He said something that I loved and that I actually mentioned in your letter as well. He said that as a missionary (both full time and a member missionary) we need to learn how to ask deep questions, or questions that can and will change lives. Meaning, that we need to ask the right questions in order to get the investigator to really think and evaluate their life and how the Gospel can truly enrich their lives and bless them. He also talked about making promises to those that you teach. He said that when you live close to the spirit you will be prompted to make promises to those that you teach that will help to inspire and encourage them to read The Book of Mormon, come to church, or be baptized.

The teacher who taught Relief Society is a child psychologist, so she has an interesting way of teaching. She talked about learning to love ourselves for who we are. At the beginning of the lesson, she asked us who kind of things we thought when we first looked in to the mirror in the morning. From there she asked what kinds of feeling that generated, and how the rest of our day went because of those thoughts. She then went on to talk about the choices that we can make to change our thoughts and to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for us. I laughed when she said “We are all really good at pointing out the negative things in ourselves and others, so let’s develop a new talent and look for the positive things”. She was so good at explaining things and making the whole lesson a very positive experience. I think that learning to love and appreciate ourselves for who we are is a lesson that we all need to hear from time to time.

Anyway, I have to get back to working, but hopefully I will be on later when you get on. Thanks for sending me updates, its always so nice to hear from you. If I don’t get a chance to send you another message, remember that I’m praying for you, that the church is so incredibly true, Heavenly Father has a plan for you, and make it a wonderful week!

Always,

Kaytlyn M