Dear Elder

You are absolutely right! Life is awesome! I’m glad to hear that you still love being out in the mission field serving! It really is the best place that you could be right now.

The kids that you are living with sound like they are a blast. I would love to see a picture of them and you. That story about you taking a drink while you were fasting was hilarious. I have done that before too where you totally forget and grab a drink from the drinking fountain, or someone offers you a piece of candy and you just accept it without even thinking. Sometimes I enjoy it though, because it means that you probably aren’t complaining about fasting, you’re just doing it.

Yesterday was another amazing Sunday. Because so many students are gone between summer semester and fall semester, we had a combined stake meeting yesterday. There were probably about 200 students there and we just had a giant sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and Relief Society. There was a sister who spoke during sacrament meeting about being a disciple. She did amazing! She talked about how true Disciples of Christ use the atonement. She went pretty in depth about how we need to feel true sorry for our sins, but that we can’t let that sorrow cripple us, we still not to learn and grow at the same time.

The sister also talked about experiences that she had on her mission that helped teach her how to be a better disciple. One story she told was about a Buddhist girl that she taught in her first area. She said that every time her and her companion went to visit this girl they thought it was going to be the last time they would teach her because they felt so unqualified to teach her. But week after week when they asked if they could come back again the Buddhist girl kept saying yes. One week, they had a general authority come to their mission and speak about teaching. He said something along the lines of “The thing that will truly convert and convince any investigator to be baptized is their desire to be forgiven of their sins through the atonement”. Wow! How powerful is that?? So this sister and her companion when to teach the Buddhist girl and they were inspired to talk about repentance and the atonement. At the end of teaching the lesson they both shared their testimonies and then the girl said “So, when can I be baptized”. What a cool story! I was so touched by this sister who spoke and her humbleness is sharing her testimony.

Sunday School was amazing as always and Relief Society was incredible. The teacher spoke about marriage and eternal families. She said that it was her favorite topic, not just because she wants to get married, but because she loves her family so much and is so excited to be with them forever. Listening to her talk about her family made me appreciate my family even more. I really do want to be able to spend all eternity with ever single one of my siblings, and also with my husband and children. Its crazy how one day is what changes the rest of eternity. It’s a big decision, but I think that it has the potential to be one of the easiest choices we have to make if we are living our lives in accordance with God’s commandments and council.

This weekend we had a family reunion! It was way fun. A bunch of us went camping on Friday night and then on Saturday we got together and played softball, water balloon games, ate an awesome dinner and watched a movie. It was so fun to have almost the entire family together. We were missing 2 nephews who were at their Mom’s house (My oldest brothers 1st wife), and my brother Hyrum was feeling sick so he stayed home as well. Everyone had so much fun just hanging out. It was really laid back, which I think was nice because it was just family time. Nothing overly scheduled or stressful, just fun.

A few weeks ago my older sister Genevieve asked me if I wanted to play on a co-ed softball team, because they needed more girls. I have never been very good at softball or baseball, but I can hit pretty well, so I said sure. We have had 3 games so far, and we have lost all of them. It has been so much fun to play though. We are slowly but surely getting better. This last Thursday we played and only lost by 2 instead of the usual 12. The final score was 14-16. We scored 13 of our points in the last inning that we played. It was really cool! I had a couple of really good hits, you would have been so proud!

Anyway, I better get back to work. I hope to hear from you soon! Have a wonderful week! Remember, the church is true!

Always,

Kaytlyn M