Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all for your sincere and loving letters. I have loved Reading them and laughing and smiling. There are a lot of things I have to adjust to here and it has been hard. One thing I have found more and more is that my love for the scriptures has increased. When I am tired, hungry, impatient I can find alot of comfort in the book of mormon. One thing that is difficult is that my companion loves to give super super long prayers, like 20-30 min long prayers. on our knees. I am not used to that, and it hurts my knees. She is nice but she doesnt like to change things that she does. There are good times so I am working with her to love the good times.

My list for Salto (My área, Cerro 1)

1. There are so many motorcycles/dirtbikes here. Everyone drives them. The old grandmas and the 7 year olds. Apparently it is cheaper than a car. I went from only seeing motorcyles with men and serioius bikers to everyone. It is a Little different.

2. Alot of things are broken in our apartment (the bathroom mirror, the toilet flushing knob, window, most of the lightbulbs. Also the my companion and her past companion did not clean much or very thourougly so it is kind of gross. Like moldy shower curtain Gross

3. My comapnion is a perfectionist and that is a Little trying sometimes. She wants to help me so much though, it is a Little frustrating.

4. Finally had a meal I didnt like. Like a meat pie with olives and onions and stuff. But I ate it all. Then Hermana Silvia asked me if I liked peaches and I said "Los siento, no) She gave me an orange, but Hermana Gordillo said she may have been ofended. I dont know, she asked me if I liked it.

5. Realizing that you cant translate straight into spanish from english, some things just are not said the way they are in spanish. Oh it is also really great that they want me to learn spanish but language study each day is always the first thing to go.

6. I have learned not to judge a house by the outside. Most of the houses here look like nothing but they are actually prettier on the inside.

7. There are alot of innactive members here in Salto. Like all of them. We go looking for new investigators and find out that they are actually members already but have fallen away. I studied at BYU Family Science and I just see how and why these families have so many problems. We want to help them. All the families want peace and happiness but they are not willing to do anything to have that peace and happiness. They are not willing to pray with their families and teach them the góspel or come to church.

8. One inactive man we went to visit was this big black man that was really scary. He and his mom. Apparently he was baptized but I am not sure how converted he was to the góspel. He smoked 3 cigarettes while we were there. And he kept quoting scriptures about Satan. I dont really know. It was weird. That was a weird day.

9. It was cold for a couple days when I got here but it has warmed up considerably. And the locals say this is nothing and it goes until March or may. I dont know if I will survive. AHHH. I am sweating buckets.

10. I want to wish my lovely sister Angela a very Happy Birthday. I know this is after her birthday but I am thinking about her. I love you.

11. My companion is fairly new, she has been on her misión for 3 months. Sometimes, I dont agree with what she wants to do or how she does things. And even though we both speak english, she is by no means a native english speaker and sometimes when I am explaining something she doesnt understand. I can tell by what she says after I finish. I dont think I have ever had a friend that was from a different culture/language and it is difficult. Communication.

I think that is the end of my list. We are working with a couple investigators that are progressing so that is exciting. Carlos needs to get divorced so he can get married to the woman that he is with before he can be baptized. Aparently that takes a long time here. But he wants to and is really ready. Two sisters we are teaching are not very diligent in their learning about the góspel. We found a family that we are going to teach as well. I dont know how receptive they will be. The father is an inactive member but the rest of the family has never Heard about it. They are going through some financial difficluties.

On sunday, my second. I guess they didnt have enough speakers so they asked the missionaires to speak. At first they said just two, so my comapnin and one of the elders. But then they said they wanted us all to speak for 5 min each. I was like "Are you kidding me" I have talks that I have written but they were at home because I had no notice in advance. So I am trying to find a scripture and I chose Alma 32 about the seed which is the góspel. Later in the chapter it talks about the result of the seed. It mentions that we  need to have faith, patience and diligence to nourish the seed. I know that a lot of people have faith and maybe patience. But how many have diligence. Nosotros necesitamos tener diligencia. Yo se esta dificile pero El Senor pedir nos hacer dificile cosas. Como mi mensaje en extrajero país en mi segundo domingo. Pero este es posible. Yo testificar. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen

But then my comapnion took up all the time. so no I didnt give it but I was confident and happy with what I prepared. Which was a big step for me.

I will finish with my testimony that I know the Lord lives and He has promised to help me do all the things I need to here.

Love you all,

Krista

My picture

1. my district at the ccm. I love them. They were my brothers!

2. My companion in the ccm. Hermana Nielson. Looking back I love her more and more.

3. My comapnion now, Hermana Gordillo. She is from Guatemala and loves oatmeal.

More pictures next week!

Buenos Dias mi Familia y mi Amigos,

 

My dad told me in an email that I had written spanish words in my email, so I decided to add a couple more. Today we are getting a new group of Norte Americans and I am excited to see how much I have learned since my first day here. The elders in my district want to play a little trick on them and not speak any english to them on their first day. Haha I don't think it will actually work because they are way too nice :)

 

Different things about my week

1. Feeling much better, I received a priesthood blessing from my district leader, Elder Billings and I have graudally been feeling better every day.

2. Last Saturday after proselytismo one of our elders found out that his father had died, we had a little testimony meeting in our district. It was pretty awesome. TODAS PERSONAS were crying. It was at the beginning of my cold so I used so many tissues that it was so gross. Crying plus running nose equals a whole box of tissues gone.

3. I really look forward every week to going to the temple. At first I thought it was a little odd what they do there, more and more I appreciate the calmness and quietness of that experience.

4. My hair has been super gross. Greasy. The water here, I guess is different from home. My hair did not react well. For the last 4 weeks I have tried everything. Finally on sunday, I mentioned it in relief society and Hma Openshaw (President's wife) said that she would give me some baby shampoo and it would fix it. YAY! It is such a small thing but I am happy to have clean hair.

5. Pretty much everyday I play pingpong during actividad fisca. Yesterday I was playing with Elder Hilton and we were playing around the world pingpong where you spin after you hit. I spun right into the huge metal trashcan. I have a nice colored bruise on my arm now. Our elders think that my companion abuses me. Hehe.

6. The elders in my district (Alma distrito) tease me alot, they act like my brothers :) I love them alot. They are teenage boys and sometimes I just shake my head.

7.  Katrina asked what we eat here at the CCM. We eat alot of meat. It is alright. Sometimes it is annoying that they give us it on the bone. There is like no meat on it sometimes and all fat. We have french fries sometimes. Every morning we have cereal. Every single morning. I don't love cereal that much. I do like their lentil soup stuff. I did not like the fish or the mushy cornbread lasagne. We eat alot of fruit. It is really good. Everyday they have bread. I really like it when they put cheese and chicken in the lettuce. After lunch every day it is our job to clean the comedor. It is kind of annoying that the cooks always give me less than the elders. I am hungry too. Sometimes I don't eat it all but sometimes I wish I had more.

8. My companion and I are good. I felt like she wasn't giving her opinion and I felt like I decided everything. I hate deciding everything. We talked about it in companionship inventory and she has gotten better at in her words "not being a doormat".

 

Our last weeks proselytismo was so  sososososo much better. We went back to the same area from before. This time we were much more relaxed. We met so many old ladies that gave us hugs and kisses. Here they do the greetings with a kiss on the cheek. We even got into someone's house. I asked to use their bathroom. It was these two older sisters. They weren't interested in the church. I think they had had lessons before because they knew a little about us. They said we prayed alot. I thought that was kind of funny. Anyway they live in this little house and they sew for a living. It was so nice to see something familiar. I am from a family of seamstresses. Unfortunately I didn't know the words for the sewing stuff. I hear stories about how I need to bring toilet paper with me because alot of houses don't have it, well I was happy to say that the bathroom was very well equipped. Although I couldn't find the flush until I realized it was a pulley thing in the hole in the wall. We met some people that were really nice to us and that always makes us happy. We met 3 people that wanted us to come back another time and talk to them about our message. We give their names and addresses to the missionaries assigned to their area and they go and teach them. One woman said that when we knocked on her door, we knocked on her heart. My heart just about broke. I can't say alot in spanish but I said "Puede embraso" or Can I hug? She unlocked her gate and we gave her big hugs. I felt really good to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. There are many people in this world that are lonely and need a hug. One last experience. Towards the end of our time on the outside. I really wanted to go to a store and buy some food. Real Argentinan food. So we went into this little grocery store. It was so much fun. We bought this chocolate. Delicious. Anyway but while we were standing in line at the one register, in front of us was this little boy about 4 or 5 and his grandpa. It was so adorable. The grandpa was bending down because his grandson wanted a hug. I just smiled. Grandpa wanted him to say hello to us and give us kisses on the cheek. He was so shy. :) I just wanted to eat him up he was so cute. Anyway I told him who we were and he really didn't understand that we spoke pretty small amount of spanish. He kept talking and telling us stuff. I really have no idea what he said. I nodded and said si alot. I got the feeling that he was interested in religion and so we handed him a pamphlet and he seemed really excited about it. It was the best feeling. Okay proselyting story over :)

 

This sunday or the next sunday I will give a talk in church in spanish. I am kind of nervous but I have already started writing it. It is about repentance. Buenos Suerte!

 

I have a testimony that Joseph Smith Jr. talked to God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I learn more and more about how it can solve life's problems. I know that I am here for a reason and there are people that I need to influence and people that I need to learn something from. Sometimes I think about what the person next to me will learn from me and it makes me want to be a better person. I love my family and I know that even if I die on the mean streets of Buenos Aires I will be with them forever. They are my life and my joy. I have had to ask for miracles this past couple weeks and it is amazing how the Lord provides. He will give you what you need. I know it. I was sick when we had to go out and talk to people. I thought no one will want to talk to me because I am gross and everyone  will stay far away. I had no problems. I blew my nose a couple times but the Lord worked a miracle in my life. My intentions were pure, I wanted to share the true gospel and He provided a way for me to do that. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you.

 

Con Amor,

Hma. Beatie

(Krista)

Hola! Family and Friends,

I am proud to announce that I know more spanish now than I ever have in my entire life. It took me a while to get going but I am feeling more comfortable in the spanish language.

Exciting random things from the past week

1. Bottle of shampoo fell on our toilet and cracked the toilet seat cover.

2. My blankets fall off my top bunk bed almost every single night so I wake up cold.

3. Going through the temple in spanish is very strange

4. My district is the best and all the elders have this strange obsession with this shack they can see through our window. Apparently it is a grill but the elders swear they catch dogs and cook them up.

5. My new roommates desperately want to teach me spanish but it is a little frustrating when they repeat the same word that I do not know over and over again. I still don't know what it means even after the 10th time. It is better now, we had a little talk.

6. We now have 6 girls to one bathroom so if you want in you have to be fast and a little stubborn.

7. The strangest elder here has a little crush on me and it is a little weird.

8. We have really good talks, devotions and firesides. They are all pretty much the same thing but they call them different things.

9.On sunday we have a movie every night, it is usually something like Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration or a talk or something. We really like it because it is a movie and it is in english!!

10. The elders got in a little trouble because they were wrestling at night and one elder in my district got a concussion. Another elder in my district two days ago got his finger kind of pulled off, super gross. He had to go to the hospital. It was kind of exciting for the rest of us.

11. During Actividad fisica hma Nielson and I were throwing a football back and forth. She doesnt like as she calls it "american football" but I convinced her to practice. I threw so hard with such strength that when she tried to catch it her finger got jammed.

12. We have 2 teachers Hmo. De Oliviera and Hmo. Krasnoselsky. One in the morning and one in the afternoon/evening

So this week. On the saturday after I wrote last week we went proselyting on the mean streets of Buenos Aires. It wasn't my favorite thing but I think every week we will get better. I wish I had had a companion that was older and knew what to do and could speak the language. Here we are with about 2 weeks of language study our by ourselves trying to get people to talk to us. We had one kind of funny experience. We had this lunch that the ccm had given us and so we were looking for a place to sit and eat. There was no park or any tables so we sat on these steps next to the sidewalk. Little did we know that it was a bus stop, so people started hanging out next to us. This guy sat down near us and asked us how we were or something. So we are trying to communicate but it is not working very well. You get used to how your teachers talk and I am sure they talk slow for us so I really had little idea of what he was saying. I asked him if he believed in Jesucristo and pointed to a cross tattoo he had on his hand/arm. He proceeded to pull up his shirt and nodded emphatically pointing to a lovely mural of Jesus Christ on his chest. I was so happy that we understood each other that I was like si si si Jesucristo. We gave him a pamphlet but he had to get on the bus so we didn't get to talk to him much. That day we handed out 4 pamphlets and knocked on almost every single door in our area. The people are mostly nice but most of them did not want to talk to us unfortunately. There were so many dogs....I really don't even know. Luckily all the ones that are wild running in the street are good and don't pay us any attention. The ones behind fences though are are kind of scary. When we got on the bus the elders that were there had not had any luck and so I felt a little better until we got to the next stop to pick up some elders and some of them had taugh 3 lessons and placed 4 book of mormons. I was also tired, really tired. I am not super excited to go out again but I am resolved to talk to more people that walk past me.

I am sick with a sore throat and a bit of a cough. Hermana Openshaw is never around!! We are supposed to talk to her when we are sick but she is always so busy.

I love you all and I do have a testimony that Jesus Christ's gospel is on this earth. It was restored to Joseph Smith Jr so that we could have all the blessings of living by God's commands. The Book of Mormon is a testament of Jesus Christ and His visit to His people in America. He loves all His children and wants them all to "Come unto Him".

Love you all,

Krista Beatie

Dear Friends and Family,

I put off writing the update of my mission until I had answered all my letters. That may not have been a good idea, now I only have 8 minutes to update you on the last week in Buenos Aires. This may actually be good because it will be short haha.

 

One of the first things I learned on the airplane was that it is Buenos Ahhhrrreess. With a rolled r.

 

So the latinos only stay here for 2 weeks and then they enter their mission field. So on tuesday the missionaries left and we lost our 2 roommates. We loved them so it was kind of sad but we know that they are doing good. They gave us gifts of pudding and yogurt haha. One hermana wrote me a note in spanish and hopefully my spanish will improve enough to be able to read it. We got 4 more roommates last night and so it was a little crazy with everyone trying to put their stuff away and get ready for bed. I planned on taking a shower last night but it was so crazy that when the bathroom was empty and we went to wash our faces a hermana was like can I use the bathroom. Uhhh yeah I guess hold on a minute haha. Well all is good here. we had a bit of a scare when there was like 20 planes/helicopters flying overhead. Is there a war we don't know about. I know the Lord will take care of my family while I am away so I don't worry about that too much.

 

Next week I will write this letter first haha.

 

I have a testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ, I know that this is the true gospel. I know because I get a warm comforting feeling in my chest when I think and pray about it.

 

People are yellling wrap it up.

so love you all,

Krista

Maybe photos next week and I know I said that last week but it did not happen this week :)

Hola Family and Friends!

I am here in Argentina but other than the latinos in the hallway it feels like BYU. We pretty much stay in the same room most of the day or on the CCM grounds. It is great that the Buenos Aires Temple is right next to the CCM. CCM stands for something something misionary. It means Missinary Training Center in spanish. As you can tell my spanish is fantastica! It has been both a long week and a really short one. In Atlanta Georgia I met up with 1 sister and 6 elders that were going to the ccm, then we got more elders and more. By the time our flight was delayed 2 hours we had over 30 missionaries on the flight to Argentina. It was really cool! There was this flight attendant that was going to be on our flight that was waiting with us and he was super nice. The hermana that I met orginially is actually my companion now. We were seated next to each other on the flight and kind of became temporary companions before we were officially companions. Anyway one of our flight attendants, he was very interested and helpful in helping us learn spanish. My companion's name is Hermana Nielson and she is a theatre, Harry Potter nerd, and very enthusiastic about many things. It is easy for a couple of days but sometimes I want to be far from her. We are usually good and like to be around each other alright.

So we got to Argentina at like 10 o'clock in the morning of the next day. I was worried they would make us go straight to class and I would be so exhausted. Luckily the day we got here was our P day so it was a little more laid back. I wanted to send pictures of my first day but we are actually not supposed to have pictures yet apparently so I better send them next week. They don't want us taking pictures all the time and want us focused on the work. It is pretty cold here. When we got here we were like oh it is not bad like 50ish degrees but at night and in the morning it can be pretty chilly. There isn't much room for storage so we had to take out stuff that we need for 6 weeks and put the rest in a storage container outside. Luckily I took out my purple coat and my red sweater.

So we are in a room with one other companionship. Herman Niera and Hermana Burgos. They are both from South America and are only here for two weeks. We will miss them alot when we leave. Hma Niera speaks pretty good english so she helps us translate to Hma Burgos. Conincidentally Hma Nielson and I both took french, not spanish, in high school so we were kind of in the same boat. She has been picking it up better than I have but I am getting there. There were a day or two when I was so frustrated, I felt like my memory was failing me. I would learn something and within 5 minutes I had forgotten it. This is a little different from school and it is taking some getting used to.

When I thought about going on a mission. I didn't really think about the CCM. I thought about being in the streets automatically knowing how to speak spanish and teaching the gospel. Well that didn't happen. It is going to be long and hard to be able to speak or even communicate in any way with true spanish speakers. We went the the distribution center yesterday and some guy was tallking to me and I had absolutely no idea what he was saying. I just nodded and said si si. Sometimes that is what you've got to do.

We wake up at 6:30. Breakfast at 7:15. personal study at 8. companion study at 9. the rest of the schedule is a little different depending on the day.

Within like the second day we had to teach a lesson to a (fake) investigator. It was really really hard. We thought we would be able to speak english most of the time but no. We had to communicate in spanish. I feel like everyone else has had at least some training in spanish and I am out here with no education and no memorization skills.

In our district we have 10 elders and Hma Nielson and I. We have no air conditioning in our room and so when it is hot we have to turn on the fan and the fan goes so fast that my papers blow away. For the first couple days (3 I think) we had 6 teachers. Districts are supposed to have 2 teachers, one in the morning and one at night but both of our teachers took off days of work. It was really confusing and disjointed to have so many different teaching styles. We are all new missionaries and we had no idea what we were supposed to be doing half the time. The first day of our schedule Hma Nielson and I thought we were having personal and companionship study in our rooms. It wasn't until almost 10 oclock that someone came to get us. We had already missed half of a lesson and we were really confused.

Fun things about the CCM

1. Smart but kind of intimidating Mission President, his wife is intimidating as well.

2. toilet seat in our bathroom won't stay up when using the toilet and it falls on your back. I find this very annoying.

3. Cold here, but no snow.

4. One of my teachers Hermano Krasnoselsky is kind of attractive (Don't worry I am not going to be distracted :))

5. Good District and District Leader. Our DL really is great about including us hermanas when there are so many elders.

6. I kind of lost my mind. forgetting and losing everything. I am slowly coming back to normal and finding things that I lost.

7. Strange corduroy bedcovers. I do not understand.

8. There are only about 20ish sisers here. There are 2 schedules so we don't see them alot.

9. Food is good most days. I don't like that they put egg in the pizza. weird. had some brazillian food that was good. I try to eat healthy.

10. Nestor is our investigator and we have to focus all of our learning and study on him.

11. I kind of feel too cute sometimes. I am trying to tone it down a bit so that I am not a distraction. Hrma Oppenshaw (our Mission President's wife) gave a lesson on sunday about how we need to be holy women. We shouldnt be flirtatious or wearing tight clothes and gold and tons of makeup. I kind of felt uncomfortable because I had put on my best for church but maybe it was too much. Anyway its all good.

12. Sundays are mostly in english. the only part that is in spanish are the hymns (I don't think they have english hymnals) and the talks.

13. We spend 8ish hours in the same room every day studying. It is a little long. We are supposed to use as much spanish as we can at all times. Some latinos speak a little english but most of them don't know any. It can get confusing. I try to ask them how to say things alot.

14. Starting last sunday, every sunday we have to write a talk in spanish about the assigned topic and during sacrament mtg we find out who is giving their talks. It is a little nerve racking. Last week was about esperanza. translate that.

I feel like I am getting in to the swing of things and I am excited for our next week. I was really sad to leave my family but once I got here I felt like I had something to do. Some of the elders here are straight out of high school and I think they are really sad to be away from their families.

I do have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is my Savior and I am happy to be helping Him in His work. I have read the Book of Mormon and I know that it is truly from God. During our devotional on wednesday (yesterday) we had a lesson on how we have to have faith. I guess I never realized that faith is an action word. We have to trust in the Lord. I realized that I was trying to do all the studying by myself but that is not how I will learn spanish. If I trust the Lord and the spanish words that I do know, I will learn so much faster. I feel much better after learning that. It took a little pressure off my shoulders.

Please don't forget to pray for me because I have many mountains to climb. :)

Love,

Hermana Beatie

(Windy) Temple Day

Today I went through the Kansas City Temple to receive my endowments. Endowments are special blessings given to those who are worthy. It is a little overwhelming but looking back I know I felt the spirit and it was good and right.

I got up at 6:45am to get ready then left at 8:30 and drove for 3 hours. I was in the temple for about 3 hours. It was long and I was tired. We walked outside and this happened....

 We got a couple pictures and then went to Mimi's Cafe. Not my fav, the waitress kept forgetting things. Another 3 hours on the road then drop Julie off, pick this brother up, then pick this sister up. It was a long night to say the least...

Anyone who is considering going to the temple need not worry, there are so many people to help you. We are all just learning and need to take it step by step.

I am thankful for the blessings of the temple and will work to keep the promises I made inside.

Post 2: LDS MISSION adventure

Before I start I just cut my hair today!! I donated about a foot to Locks of Love. It took a ton of courage but I finally did it. It will be much better for where I am going....read below :)

So I created this blog at the beginning of the last school year (Augustish 2012) and I haven't posted since. I have had exciting things happen and I am all like oh I should post about this on my blog then I think "I really just want to enjoy it and I don't have time". I really do have the time but I am a teensy bit lazy.

In General Conference last October President Monson said that they were lowering the age for sister missionaries (and elders) to 19 and 18 respectively. I did not want to serve an lds mission. Even though in the last couple of weeks I had talked to my mom about taking a break from school after Winter semester, it had not crossed my mind to go on a mission.

I was thinking about going to another country and teaching English for a semester or taking a break from BYU and going to cosmetology school. My desire to go to cosmetology school was hard to admit because I am fairly good at academics and my friends are all serious college students with rigorous futures in mind. I felt like whenever I mentioned it people's opinions of me would lower. I always prided myself on my ability to do well in school and this took a bit of courage for me. Some people responded well and other people would (with a kind heart) advise me to get a business degree or any degree first before starting something else. One thing I have learned is that my path in life is not everyone else's path. On that note I will move forward a couple weeks..

So I had just got out of the shower and I was doing my hair and makeup because we had to drive to Salt Lake because we had tickets for the afternoon session. We were listening to the morning conference and all the sudden people were freaking out. I admit, I was not paying as good of attention as maybe I should have been. All my roommates were freaking out that we could all go on missions now and they were so happy and excited. I was like okay.... this does not really apply to me. It was great for them but I had no interest in going.

 I am a little (sorry I mean HUGE) romantic so my dreams were to get married and have a family and buy a cute little house and play in the backyard with the hose and my kids and cook nutritious meals and be a cute, sexy wife to my loving husband.

I called my mom the Monday after General Conference and I was a little upset. I felt like because I was not excited I was not spiritual enough. There was so much hype at this time and every time I talked to someone for the next few weeks it was "So are you going on a mission?" My mom was a little confused because in her mind this was perfect for my need to do something else other than school. She encouraged me to pray about it and ask if it was something that Heavenly Father wanted me to do. I grudgingly said that I would.

That night I prayed to my Heavenly Father, I put all my hopes and dreams on the line and said that if a mission was what I was supposed to do than I would give my dreams up for a time. I am not going to say that I struck a deal with Heavenly Father but I believe we had an understanding that I would receive all my dreams at the appropriate time, after my mission. I cried for a while, I felt the spirit and I knew that this was what I was supposed to do. It was hard to let go of MY pride and MY plans and MY dreams and follow the path that I was guided towards.

My roommate, Kellie, decided to start her papers but my other roommate that had been so excited prayed about it and decided that it was not the path for her. I was resolved by that time and set up an interview with Bishop Fox to start my mission papers. I was following what I felt was right but I was not excited or exuberant about it.

Over Christmas break I can home to Kansas and did all my doctor appointments while I was home. During that time I had a really hard time. I felt fearful and doubtful about the whole thing. I thought maybe I was not supposed to go now. I had heard of girls that felt that they should start their mission papers but the preparation was all they needed and they did not actually need to go on a mission. I thought maybe this is me?? I was very uncomfortable and nervous about leaving my family. We are pretty close and I can get home sick fairly easily. It got so bad that I did not even want to go back to school in Provo, UT. I was so fearful.

I forced myself onto the plane and left. The next morning when I woke up in my apartment I had had a dream about my Grandpa Catmull. I have not thought about him in a long time. He was so big on missionary work, he made it an essential part of his life. He and my grandma served more than 4 missions together as senior missionaries. I started thinking about him and how he would be so proud of me if I when on a mission. I felt him cheering me on from heaven. After that I knew it was going to be all right. I could go on a mission and I would be just fine.

The next Sunday in church I received another witness that God heard the prayer of my heart and my fears. For the opening hymn we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". I knew that song was for me and I felt that no matter what happened on my mission my family was sealed together and we would be alright. My homesickness vanished and I felt confident.

After all these witnesses it is now impossible for me to dispute what Christ's will is for me. I would go on a mission for the Lord.

Even when I sent in my papers I was not antsy but calm. In about 2 weeks I got my call. It was the beginning of March.

I was trying to put up the video that Kellie took of my mission call opening but I couldn't figure out how so maybe later.

I AM GOING TO URUGUAY!

When I first read this I was like where is that? I am not very good with South American countries so originally I thought it was somewhere in the East countries. I am also learning Spanish which I had not expected. I took french in high school and did not like the Spanish language in general so that was a surprise.

I am sorry about the length of this post but it has been a long time coming. I am excited to serve the Lord and the people of Uruguay. I am going to the Kansas City Temple to receive my endowments tomorrow so that is the next adventure in my book. Pictures to come... :)