Dear Elder...

September 5, 2011

Happy Labor Day! I’m not sure who to blame for this holiday, but I am so incredibly grateful for them, especially this year. Labor Day comes right after school starts and seems to always be a much needed break for teachers and students, even after just a week or two of school. I was so excited to have a long weekend to play and get things done…but alas, my body had different plans. Right before the BYU game on Saturday, I started to feel super tired. By the end of the game I was running a fever and could hardly keep my eyes open. I have spent the last almost 48 hours sleeping. I was able to get up and go to church yesterday, but I’m pretty surprised I was even able to make it through that. Today is more Homework day than Labor Day for me. I’m digging in to a To Do list that is nearly a page long. Other than the slight fever today things are going well.

As I’m sure you heard from your family BYU won against Ole Miss on Saturday! It was a pretty great game. BYU defense was a brick wall! The offense needs to figure out how to finish their plays, but they didn’t look to shabby. I think its going to be a great season!

School this past week was great. I still feel really good about my decision to go to school Full Time. I love all of my classes and I think its going to be a great semester. I don’t know if I told you my schedule before, but I will list in just in case.

Marketing Management

Music 101 (Intro to Music) 

Joseph Smith and the Restoration

Into to Public Health

Stats 121-Independent Study

Joseph Smith and the Restoration is probably my favorite class. Susan Eastman Black is a hilarious genius. She has photographic memory so she remembers everything that she has ever read. It’s incredible to see and hear her lecture without any PowerPoint or lecture notes. She teaches completely by memory. I would love to take a church history class with you when you get back! I think that would be way fun, and it would be nice to have someone in my class that I knew and could study with.

Because I don’t have any classes on Thursday, I decided that I am going to do Temple Thursday. Every Thursday to help me get up at a reasonable hour, and so I can go to the temple regularly I am going to get up and be at the temple by 9 to do Baptisms. I went this last Thursday and it was so wonderful. I was in and out of the Baptistery and 25 minutes and I spent another 30 minutes in the chapel just pondering and praying. When I walked out of the Provo temple the view was absolutely incredible. The sky was clear so you could see down to the lake and all the way across to the mountains on the other side. The church is so incredibly true, and we live in a beautiful world.

It sounds like the work is really moving along in your area. I loved reading your email to your family about all of the miracles that you experienced in the past few weeks. It sounds like you and your companion are really being blessed for your efforts. I thought that was a great idea to have a challenge to see how many pass along cards you guys could hand out. Setting goals that are fun and reachable makes the actual work a lot easier. Keep it up and you will be so blessed!

The story you told about the baptism you went to for the little boy was awesome. I’m glad that you were able to experience that reminder of your desire to serve a mission. It’s interesting how primary songs have the deepest truths in them and can bring very clear reminders of the things that we know, but may have temporarily forgotten.

Do you have any new stories from this week? How is everything going?

I should really get back to my homework, but I should be on the computer for the remainder of the day if you have time to email back. I’ll leave you with one last story. The Relief Society teacher in my YSA ward told us a story about her Dad a few weeks ago. Her Mother passed away a few years ago leaving her Dad alone. She said that her Dad inspired her so much because every time she calls him and says “How are you doing Dad?” he replies with “I’m doing great. Today is The Best Day Ever”. Regardless of how lonely he feels or how hard things are, he still decided to make every day The Best Day Ever. I think that our attitude makes a huge difference in how our days go. So make today The Best Day Ever, and choose to make this week, and every week, the best week of your mission.

As always, I’m praying for you, your companion, and the work. Remember that The Church is True and you are on the Lord’s errand.

Always,

Kaytlyn M

Survey

What is your ideal wake-up time in the morning? 8:00am, as long as I don't have to wake up to an alarm.


What are some of your favorite movies? You've Got Mail, Finding Neverland, Sweet Home Alabama.


What is your favorite breakfast? French Toast!


What is your favorite cuisine? I love pasta, so just about anything with noodles in it.


What foods do you dislike? I will eat almost anything, but I'm not a huge fan of Asia food. So potstickers, sushi, slimy noodles, and other odds and ends.


What are your top 5 favorite candy bars? Ooh.....Reese's, PB Twix, Snickers, Regular Twix, and Peanut Butter MnM's (does that count as a candy bar, even though its in a bag?)


What is your favorite music group? Francesca Battistelli, Sara Evans, or Lady Antabellum.


Favorite sandwich? Probably a good 'ol PB & J with my Grandma's amazing Jam.


What do you wear most often? Well, I usually spend 45+ hours a week in a skirt, but other than that its usually Jeans and a T-shirt.


If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? It depends on who's going with me. I'm a huge fan of clear blue water and white sandy beaches though.


Favorite item of clothing? Shoes!


Where would you want to retire to? Retire? You mean not work? People do that?


Favorite time of day? Evenings.


Place you were born? Bellflower, California


Sports to watch? BYU Football and World Cup Soccer.


Person who will respond first to this blog? Not sure. My Aunt Shiela is usually pretty good about commenting.


Are you a morning person or night owl? Totally a night owl. But I tend to be much more productive and happy in the mornings when don't have to wake up to an alarm clock.


Favorite animal? Not a huge animal person. But as long as they don't shed fur, lick me, or smell odd then I'm a fan.


Any news you'd like to share with everyone? School started on Monday! Thats pretty exciting! 


What did you want to be when you were little? A Mom, and then a teacher, and then the President of the United States.


In regards to parenting, children are : Opposition or blessing? Totally A blessing. 


What are some of your favorite things to do in your free time? Sleep, eat, scrapbook, and hang out with friends and family.


Favorite flavor of ice cream? Ooh, thats a rough questions. Probably cookie dough or cookies and cream.


If you could make one wish? I wouldn't mind a full ride scholarship so I can finish school in a reasonable amount of time. 


Favorite baked good? ALL of them.


Favorite season? Spring for sure.


Favorite cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory? I'm betting this is a sin in someones book...but I've actually never been.


Ever done something you could've been arrested for? Besides speeding really bad? No, not that I know of.


Favorite color? Blue and purple.


Favorite sport/ activity to play? Soccer and Softball


Favorite flower? Daisies I think, but getting any flower is always great.


Favorite fast food restaurant? I have to choose? It totally depends on the night. I'm a huge Wendy's and Taco Bell fan though.


How many times did you take your drivers test? Just once, and the only reason I was docked points was because he didn't want to give me a perfect score.


Favorite grocery store? Maceys. Kong Kones=Great memories


How many tattoos do you have? None thankfully.


Who sent this to you and what is something you love about them? I actually stole it off of Julina's blog because I'm reading her life story. But I can say something nice about her. She is pretty much the most hillarious person I know. She can quote movies like nobodies business and has the most convincing southern accent I've ever heard. She is just great.


What materialistic thing would you ask for if you had one wish to make? Probably a new car that doesn't struggle so much. Sorry Paul Anka.


Pizza or hamburgers? So many hard questions. Uh...Pizza


Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley? Mr. Darcy


Snacking: sweet or salty? Sweet.


Who's worse: Stephen A. Smith or Charles Barkley (sports broadcasting)? I'm honestly not sure who either one of these guys are. Sorry.


Beverage of Choice? Right now, its probably just water.


Favorite Disney Cartoon? Thats a toss up. Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast.


Book you want to read? I'm trying to get through Jesus the Christ. After that, who knows.


Banana split or rootbeer float? Depends on the day. But probably a banana split.

Dear Elder

August 28, 2011

I'm so glad to hear that you received the packages! It was a really long letter, sorry about all that! I would definitely appreciate a long letter back, but don't take too long to write it. :)

All of the CD's that I sent are some of my all time favorites. The Music for A Sunday Afternoon CD is always in my CD player in my car. It has some of my absolute favorite hymns, and the arrangements are incredible. I Know That My Redeemer Lives, and Lead Thou me on are probably my most favorite on that disc though. They are super powerful songs anyway, but they way that they were arranged really increases the meaning of the lyrics. I'm glad you enjoyed the CD's though! Its always nice to get new music to listen to. I'm not in league with Santa Claus, BUT there are only 119 days until Christmas! My brother started counting down a few weeks ago, and so my Family has started to get more in to it. Its pretty funny, and its makes me anxious for the Christmas season.

School actually starts this next week. I'm excited to start going to school full time. I have definitely missed the college atmosphere and learning. As hard and frustrating as it can be, I actually enjoy doing some homework. It will be weird only working part time, and its going to be kind of tight financially, but I know that it will work out because I feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing in my life right now. I went last week to the BYU Bookstore with my Mom to get all of my books for this semester. It was a pretty heavy load! I'm just glad I don't have to tote them all around every day. So class starts tomorrow morning at 8am! Whoot woot!

I just got a blessing earlier tonight from my Dad for back to school. Heavenly Father has an interesting way of revealing things at what seems like some very odd moments. I'm definitely doing the right thing by going back to school right now, and I feel like I'm doing the things that I am supposed to do, but maybe not for the reasons that I thought I was supposed to. The Lord has a very specific plan for me. I hope that I don't disappoint anyone.

As far as the mission/marriage fund. Its still undecided as to which way its leaning. It all depends on what God has in store for me. The rate of increase in my savings account seems to have come to a screeching halt though, because of how much I have to put towards books and tuition. I promised myself that I would put at least some money in every time I got paid, but its not anywhere near as much as I would like to. Its okay though, the church is still true. :)

My friend from work is planning on going to hair school starting in January. We have spent the last few weeks touring hair schools and doing research about schools to find out which one she wants to go to, so that has taken up a lot of time, but it's been fun and really interesting to learn about the different schools. She is really excited to start and I'm really glad that she has found something that she loves. She was called as the 2nd Counselor in her ward's Relief Society Presidency. She is going to be so great, and I am really excited for her.

Church today was awesome as always. Because it is the Sunday before school starts we were back in our individual wards and there was a completely full house today. There are a lot of new faces, and I'm excited to get to know them and be involved in the ward. The Relief Society Presidency in my ward went around to all of the houses to say Hi to all the girls and give them cookies, it was fun to talk to them. They are such wonderful people and I'm grateful for their examples.

Anyway, its getting late and I need to get a few more things done for School before I go to bed. I can't believe I'm starting again tomorrow! So Excited!

If I don't get a chance to write you again, I hope that you have a wonderful day and an amazing week! As always I pray for you and your companion often. Keep working hard and always live worthy to have the spirit as your constant companion. The investigators will come. Your an awesome missionary, and I'm so proud of you. I can't even begin to tell you how true the church is. Spread the word. :)

Always,

Kaytlyn M 

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

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