With this post, I am fully caught up with both blogs! So, now it should be easy to just maintain it each week. Here are parts of Kylie's latest letter.


Hey fam!

Hows it going this week? Well, I won't be giving you a book to read today :) ...

I think this week has been a little smoother than the first. I'm becoming more adjusted. ... I'm definitely starting to feel how big it is here! The work in our English area is going amazing. Terry was confirmed yesterday. And I spoke yesterday in church (English) about the nature of the Godhead. They told me they were having problems with the basics, people not knowing that Heavenly Father and Jesus were separate beings, stuff like that. It went pretty well! Afterward, a member of the bishopric came up to me and asked me what I'd done before my mission. He thought I'd been a teacher, or going to school to be a teacher, or something. He thought I was a good teacher! Pretty sure that's the added part of the Spirit that's been with me lately :) He said that the way I taught the doctrine was perfect for everyone, from those life long members to those whom it was their first Sunday, and that was my goal-to cater to everyone. I thought it'd be hard to do, but I suppose the Spirit would touch each person and tell them what they needed to hear.

Some of the Spanish Elders in our district cover the same area that we cover for English. There are these apartments where they are teaching a 12 year old boy in Spanish. That boy gave the Elders a referral for a girl who lives above him. But she speaks English, so the Elders gave it to us. We weren't really sure what to expect, the apartments are definitely... well, a little sketchy. There really are a lot of poor areas here. Anyway, so we tried several times to contact her (they told us her name was Mel). Finally one day she was home! Her name is Mahala, she's 20 years old. She has this crazy story of how she came to be here. And I think that the term "golden" or "prepared" investigator might have been created just because of people like Mahala. For our first visit I felt really strongly that we shouldn't jump right into the Restoration, the first lesson, but that we should really get to know her, and do "How to begin teaching." That's in chapter 10 of Preach my Gospel. Teach her how to pray properly, and end with a scripture for a baptismal invitation. That took faith, because that is scary. Especially when we got there and saw the environment and the craziness (she lives with like 7 Hispanic people). But we did it, and it was a good thing we were so thorough because she's never heard of the word commandment, she doesn't know who Moses was, nor does she know anything about Jesus Christ, except that He was born on Christmas. It was a good lesson. Hermana Palmer and I are learning to teach more unified with each other. For the baptismal invitation we used 3 Nephi 27:20. I took time asking her questions while she read it, and really tried to get the invitation coming from Christ, not us. Anyway, it was just awesome because she accepted! That definitely doesn't usually or ever happen. Usually when someone declines the invitation its just a perfect time to ask why and find out more about them-if they were already baptized or their family is opposed or whatever. But Mahala just has a desire. She told us she really wanted to learn more, and that she had been trying to pray. Anyway, since then she's just been like a sponge. I'm excited to see how it goes. We had several more lessons-all with members present!! (we knocked that goal out of the park this week-for members present I mean). And she came to church on Sunday-one of her first times ever in a church. After teaching about the first vision, we asked her what she thought. She said, "I think if I was that boy I would have been in awe." Haha, when I asked her if she believed that something like that could occur, she said, "Yes. It just makes sense. I've always known there must be something bigger out there." Haha! Classic! Anyway, she has so much to learn, and will have to change her living situation, which I want her to do anyway because her boyfriend is basically a drunk, though she doesn't drink. She settled for so little. Her date is for Sept 8! So we'll see, super exciting!

We have one other baptism on schedule right now for a man named Jeff. He has a testimony, but he's fighting it. How do I know? Because he prays every day, reads the Ensign to find answers, bought his own quad and engraved his name on it, is sincere, and pays tithing.  He PAYS tithing!! He'll be baptized the 24th of Agosto. Our goal is to help him feel more confident and to keep learning how to recognize the Spirit. So basically Mom, I already have 1 baptism to make up to hit my 52 because we won't have one this week. But we should have one each for the 2 following weeks :) {See 8.6.12 letter for joke she is referring to}

Other than that, I am doing well. Hermana Palmer and I get along really pretty well! We are definitely different, but that will always be the case, and that keeps it fun. And most of the small things don't even matter, like her super loud off-key singing (so that people stare at us in whatever meeting we're at), or her driving :) It doesn't really matter. We have good companionship studies and she has incredible faith. We taught a family last week in Portuguese. And by we, I mean Sister Palmer :) because she also speaks Portuguese! ... It is surprisingly quite different from Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish....things are definitely slower on that side. Between the language barrier, and the fact that our circumstance is so different with two sets of Spanish missionaries in this area, its difficult to navigate. ... We don't have any investigators, or potentials. Which makes the whole learning to teach in Spanish part a little difficult. And a little scary since I already have less time than usual to train. Although, I suppose if there's one thing I've already seen here, it's that the Lord prepares a way. And that counts for me too. He prepares a way for me. For me to do what He wants me to.

I was so excited to hear about your time in Blaine! What with Adrienne and Doug and everything. I'm so happy for Adrienne and the changes that are happening for her. I'm grateful she was able to go through the temple! ... Super exciting!!! I was sorry to hear about Grandpa's surgery! I hope he recovers quickly!

I CANNOT believe that Erika and Garrett are going back to school in a few weeks!! I don't feel like I've been gone long enough for their whole summer break to have happened! Just enjoy the time left of summer you have! Don't worry about school till it comes :) Garrett, I'm super excited you're starting football! And not only so you become a buff Man of the North. :) And Erika, you're gonna be a Sophomore! Que en el mundo!! :) Are you excited?!

Mom, I do like having multiple missionaries in the wards, especially in the Spanish ward, because they're aren't many attending members, so to have missionaries scattered throughout the congregation sitting with less actives or investigators is awesome. I think each week, in each ward, between all the missionaries we've had about 10 investigators in sacrament. 10! Awesome!! You'd never see that at home.

Hermana Palmer and I have our times of speaking Spanish and English. I need to ask her to start speaking faster Spanish, because I can understand her, but not any of the native speakers who we visit. That's what I need to work on! ...

I love you all so much!! I'm learning to be more humble, but also to live and act as a called and set apart representative of Jesus Christ with all of the power and authority that comes with that call. It's too easy to see yourself as not important, or without power. But really, that is the nature of this call. And somehow, despite all our weakness and faults, the Spirit still works through us to touch the hearts of others. I love you all! I hope you have a safe rest of the summer. Have fun on the lake, at Silverwood, and work hard! Please remember to read the scriptures each day!! You will feel an added power in your lives. In the family as well as personally.

Love you each so much!!
Hermana Marks

Kylie's first letter from the mission was a little long, to say the least. But she had so much to share, and I am really glad she did. So, here is most of Kylie's first letter.

Hola Familia!

Well, I made it and I haven't completely passed out from the humidity...yet. And yes, I said y'all for the first time in a lesson with some members/less actives last night. They all thought it was hilarious! It's honestly hard not to, I'm gonna sound so weird by the time I get home! When we got off the plane and there was President Wall, his wife, and AP's waiting. What wonderful people. ... Right now I am sitting in a gigantic cool library (and I mean cool as in big and neat, also cool as in AC so I can breathe :) I had a good interview with President Wall right when we got to the mission home and we had dinner and a testimony meeting that night. The next day we basically had training, orientation, and transfers and then I came down here to Metarie/Kenner (the suburb of New Orleans).

My companion's name is Hermana Palmer. Here's what happened-we were the first Spanish sisters here, and Sister Palmer was called English speaking, but she's been learning Spanish for a long time. A lot when she was younger and then school, and even she received a degree in Spanish and Portuguese, so for all intents and purposes she is fluent! ... She's actually a convert of about 3 years, so I think it's pretty neat she's here. She's been through a lot to get to this point I think. We are in a suburb right next to New Orleans. Sisters are not allowed in actual downtown New Orleans, so I am as close as I'll ever get. And we have rules about where we can go and times we can be there. So its pretty safe, all things considered. ... We do live in an apartment, ... And get this: we have our own washer and dryer! I thought that was pretty awesome :)


It's a little confusing to explain the areas we are covering because I'm still confused about it! Basically we are double covering areas so we have one English area and one Spanish. Now, that doesn't mean we're the only missionaries around. It is completely opposite here than at home. At home we might have a set of missionaries covering two or three wards, well here we have 3 sets of missionaries in my English ward, and 6 sets in the Spanish ward. It's crazy!!! Kind of cool though. We are actually the only companionship in the mission that's in more than one ward, let alone more than one area. There aren't a ton of members, the ward bounds just cover huge areas so we're really here to build the wards and work with members, as well as finding new people.

On Sunday in Spanish Sacrament, I led the music ... Spanish hymns. Kind of neat. There was  one or two boys/men from the ward passing the sacrament, and the others were all missionaries. Also, at the beginning of testimony meeting, Obispo called me up to bear my testimony, which I figured was coming :) It went well. It helped that all of the missionaries in the congregation were giving me big encouraging smiles. Probably remembering when that was them :) Well, at least hopefully they were encouraging, not laughing haha. No, they're all pretty nice. I was told that I made a lot of sense, didn't sound like gringo, and actually had some good things to say. I noticed that all of a sudden it's like I can link more together in my speaking. Or at least so I thought until we went to Relief Society where I maybe understood 5% of what was being said. So a little bit of encouragement plus a little big of humility to keep me working hard :) Its a strange thing being the first Spanish sister around (hna walker is in baton rouge) because its kind of like people have already set the standards super high in their minds about how I'm going to be, or should be. Like a native Spanish speaker, or at least a Spanish prodigy, or I'm gonna have a baptism a week. Haha, that's the joke with the Spanish elders in our ward right now. And since we had a baptism on Saturday, Elder Corenjo (I don't know how to spell it, he's from Nicaragua) told me that I'm track to have 52 this year. Kinda funny. So anyway, there's all those expectations, but on the other hand I'm doing pretty decent, and I can only do all I can do. And I think everyone's just excited to have sisters. It made me start realizing that God could have called a native Spanish speaking sister to start out here, but He didn't. That tells me even more that there is a reason that I, Hermana Marks, am here. So I just have to remember that when I feel like I'm barely staying afloat.

... My district is pretty good. Its us and three sets of elders (all in the Spanish ward). The one thing is that the elders who we are now sharing the Spanish area with acted like we kidnapped all their children when they found out we were both in that area ... they did not want to give up "their" people. Which I can understand for investigators that they've been teaching and have relationships with. ... But its not like we're stealing any investigators, they are keeping all the current ones, and we'll take any new ones that live in our part of the area. Mainly, our job right now is to work with the mujeres (women) in that ward. We can get into a lot of places that those elders can't, especially with all the single women. So we're trying to get our feet under us and meet people, and well, basically start from scratch. Like starting an area book and stuff. We're hoping to meet with the RS president tonight. The Ward Mission Leaders here mean serious business, so it should be super fun to work with them. Learning in my last week in the MTC about working with members, and then getting here, I'm getting a detailed look into how it's SUPPOSED to work with members. ... the relationship between the missionaries and the members here is the biggest reason for success in baptizing and re-activating members.


On the English side of things, we had a baptism Saturday night, so that was awesome. I only taught him twice, his name is Terry. He's black, is in his late 20s, early 30s and has some physical/mental disabilities (not really specifically known). That was a neat thing to see (and I played the piano for all the baptisms that night-3 in total-yeah, this mission is hoppin' :). Except, then on Sunday, we got a call from the members he (Terry) was supposed to be getting a ride with saying that he wasn't coming to church. The first time he missed church in 8 weeks, and obviously he needed to be there for confirmation. So we left church to go see him and find out what was up. He is southern, so hard to understand, and vague so it was hard to tell what was going on. He said he didn't want to be bothered with going to church, but then he'd say he just wasn't feeling well, and then a whole bunch of vague weird stuff. So obviously, he doesn't understand fully that a baptism isn't complete without receiving the Holy Ghost .... It was upsetting to my companion, who has been working with him almost this whole time. So we're gonna give him a day and then go see him, teach him, and he said he's be there this next Sunday.

Mom, yes people here are different!!!! In someways it doesn't feel different, and in others it's super different. Like people are always talking about how you gotta come to and believe in Jesus. Not baptists, but Mormons. And the other recent convert Sister Palmer just baptized is named Claudia and she looks like Cher, only 70 years old. I've never seen someone so done up, I don't even know how to explain it. And she's just this sweet innocent southern lady who is poor (but acts like she's not), and gives the longest hugs and calls me her newest sweet little angel. And we went to help her friend "move" the other day. Or so we thought, but she is a hoarder, majorly. Like nothing we ever saw when we went into houses when we had Now and Then. It didn't feel like we got very far in helping. She's kind of...handicapped I guess, and super stressed, so she just sat on her bed and directed us with what to do. When we found a potato she said, "oh good, hand that to me! I need it right here by me!" Sister Palmer and I had a good laugh about that later :) Speaking of potatoes, that is of course all I ever hear about when people ask where I'm from :) And then today we went grocery shopping and there they were: bags of potatoes with pictures of old farmers and Idaho on them. chistoso! {Sp. for 'funny'}

And there are lizards here! And some kind of invisible Jurassic mosquitoes because you'll never see them, but when we were teaching Terry outside one night, in about 10 minutes my feet and legs were covered. Like chicken pox. Just me, no one else. I guess it's all that sweet Idaho blood in me :) And they itch like somethin' else. I will never complain about bites from regular mosquitoes again! And there's these weird birds all over. And mom, we did go over that big lake coming here. It looked like the Atlantic ocean, or the Gulf. Everyone thought it was funny because we were talking and all of a sudden I look up and said, "is that the OCEAN?!?!" It wasn't-just a lake :) I think its a little farther away than a mile, but I don't know how far. And I was surprised to hear that the Mississippi is very close. I honestly feel like I live in a box. Like I guess there's all these amazing things all around me that people keep telling me about, but its really just normal here. Nothin glamorous. I think I'm just trying to get used to living with so many people and crazy traffic all the time!! I haven't seen any other bodies of water except for all of the canals here. Holy smokes! Ok, so all the road systems are different. Whether its just a road or the highway, there are medians between almost all the roads. In that median is a canal. And every block or so is a u-turn over the canal to the road going to opposite direction. ... Its bizarre, I'm scared for the day I have to navigate here! Which actually may in fact be very soon because instead of training with Hna Palmer for 12 weeks like normal, I'll just do 6 weeks of the training program with her, and then either be companions again with Hna Walker and we'll finish training each other, or I'll become a trainer. Which honestly is super scary because I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water with how things are supposed to be done. Partly because we're making it up as we go. Which I am sure President Wall is doing on purpose. I think he just barely gave us enough instruction-like where our apartment is :) and then wants us to grow and figure out the rest. Fun stuff! Anyway, there's all these weird birds that hang out in the grass in the median (if there's any, and the canal). They aren't chickens but they aren't ducks...we're really not sure. The only pelican I've seen is on my license plate. Oh! but the other day we drove by this lawn and there was this huge slender, white bird holding really still. Sister Palmer pointed it out, and I said, "that's not a bird!" I honestly thought it was a lawn ornament, like a flamingo. Then it started moving! I didn't have my camera, but I will next time! The trees are beautiful, but I think they're confused because there's a ton of different types. Like I'm pretty sure I saw a Ponderosa tree just like home, but then I then there's palm trees, and a whole bunch of jungle trees that I have no idea what they are. And yes, I feel like I can't breathe. Only its opposite from Arizona. Up on the canyon it felt like there just wasn't air to breathe, here it feels like I'm breathing in water all the time. And you're sweating all the time, even if you don't feel like it. But its not really cooling you down. So I have to drink a TON of water.

The food....I really haven't eaten enough of it yet to tell you. Sorry! But I'll let you know. All I know is there are a ton of restaurants that say "Po-Boys" on them, which I guess is some southern thing. I don't really know, I just love my water :) But then there's a lots of Japanese restaurants, actually we're trying to contact a man name Hiroshi who works at one. And then on the way to church we passed a Hindu temple. So needless to say, there's lots of diversity here. But Sister Palmer is quite dedicated to her health...which is awesome! We went grocery shopping today and got lots of healthy good stuff. Oh, and at our apartment there's some covered parking. We don't use it, but on top of the cover there are these tennis courts. So at 6:30 my first morning here we went and played tennis with this Vietnamese lady that Sister Palmer met. Kinda cool! And yes, its humid and hot at 6:30 am :) ...

Also-random but Troy Hiatt is in my English ward. One of the Hiatt's sons and he looks just like his Mom. He took lessons from grandma and stuff. What a small world!

I'm glad to hear your summer is going well. I can't wait to hear from Garrett how the LDS encampment. And I'm jealous you're going to the lake! But glad that you get to, and that you're having good weather. When does school start for Erika and Garrett? I can't remember how it is there, but its about to start here. Which feels really weird, because it feels like the middle of summer.  ...

This has been fun because it's probably the longest email I'll ever get to send home!! I hope that it gives you a bit of an idea of what's going on with me. I'm racking my brain for other things that might be useful to tell you, but can't think of any, so just let me know. I don't know if Will has been to the Library yet today, but I'm just going to send him a copy of this email with a little note for him.

I love you all so much! I know that each day changes who I am going to be forever. I'm learning things already that I didn't foresee. I was thinking this morning how its weird that there are things that I'd just never thought about before. But it's super awesome!! Each skill I learn-like having to call and talk to someone is Spanish, which is doubly difficult because the phones are awful (and which I haven't done successfully yet), to preparing these lessons, to walking down a street and praying about what door to knock on, and hoping something comes out of your mouth when they do open the door (unless of course they slam it, then you don't have to say anything ;), to doing all of these things and learning what it means to be a fully consecrated follower of Jesus Christ- I am learning SO much! I love you all, and hope you have a fantabulous week!!

Love,
Hermana Marks

Well, it happened! Last Tuesday Kylie and her companion, Sister Walker, left the MTC at 3:00 am to catch their flight to Dallas, TX and then on to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We had the opportunity to speak to her during her lay over in Dallas. She was doing very well and very excited to finally be on her way Louisiana. She found out that she and Sister Walker are the very first Spanish speaking sisters going to their mission, so it will be really interesting to hear about Kylie's training period.

Well, I have been terrible at updating Kylie's blog while she has been in the MTC (and Kylie writes fairly long letters), so instead of trying to put every letter on here written over the last 9 weeks, I am just going to put some excerpts.

From June 6 (after 1 week at the MTC):

"I am doing SO well!!! I have been doing nothing but eating, breathing, studying, praying, and testifying in Spanish for this last week! Right after you dropped me off I was shown where to put my bags, I got my name tag and ID card, and then was taken to a Spanish class. I sat down in a small classroom (with people I later learned would be my district) and a teacher just started talking to me in Spanish, asking me questions about myself, and expecting me to answer in Spanish! I guess there's no time like the present :) I've only said one prayer in English since I got here. So our prayers and simple, but we are learning to expand our vocabulary for things were grateful for. Also, sometimes they're just kinda spanglish. Fake it till you make it!! Also, we were challenged to bear our testimonies on Sunday, even if they were short. So my companion and I both bore our testimonies in Spanish! And after only three days! They were short, but powerful I think. The Spirit truly does make up the difference.  ...

The MTC is intense!! We leave our room about 6:50 in the morning, and aren't allowed back until 9:30. Most of my day is broken up into different study times. Companionship, personal, language, computer lab (for Spnaish) 3 hours of Spanish class, and sometimes we have workshops that deal with more gospel oriented stuff. So we have to be very disciplined to make sure that we created study plans that will help us to make the best use of our time. There are also investigators here at the MTC. No one really6 says exactly who they are, we're just to treat them as real investigators. So we've been teaching a man named Carlos. Our first lesson was last Friday. And yup, you guessed it, he speaks no Enligsh!! Well, not to us anyway :) So at a certain time we go to a designated classroom, knock on the door, hopefully get in to door (which we did) and teach him a lesson. The most frustrating thing is when we can understand a question he asks, but don't have to the vocabulary to answer him. We've now had 4 lessons with him. So we learn phrases to hopefully go back and answer his questions. But sometimes you just can't create that atmosphere or Spirit again. We particularly felt the Spirit really strong when we taught him to pray. However, he still refuses to pray in front of us. Anyway, its wonderful practice! We're wondering if "Carlos" will actually end up being one of our teachers. We'll see!"

June 20th Letter:

"I LOVE singing in the choir here!! There's about 500 of us, and our director is so awesome!

Last Sunday, Sister Elaine S Dalton was our RS speaker, which was probably the best meeting I've been to since coming here. It was so great because she's been the general YW president for a long time, including all of my YW leaders. Then that night, Sister Sheri Dew was our fireside speaker. It's just crazy the speakers that come here!!! I feel so incredibly blessed to sit at the feet of the Lord's servants and to learn so much."

June 27th Letter:

"Now for the awesome part of my week! As you know, its New Mission Presidents seminar week here at the MTC. The place has practically been locked down to keep us away from all the general authorities. But we knew we'd have someone big to speak at devotional last night, and we were right! It was Elder Perry! what a wonderul man. What was even more amazing was that 10 of the 12 were on the stand. And close to me! I could see all their faces. And all their wives were there. Elders Nelson, Oaks, Christoferson, Cook, Ballard, Holland, Bednar, Anderson and Scott were there with Elder Perry. And the Presiding bishopbric, and Presidents of the 70, 110 new mission presidents, the list goes on. The feeling in that room was AMAZING!!! And of course we sang Called to Serve as our opening song (I think we sing it every other meeting, but I love it) and it was so neat to sing it with all these other servants (apostles) of the Lord, and to think that I'm having some small part in this wonderful work that they are all engaged in. We all have part in it, but especially being set apart full time. It was just a really neat feeling.

Our message is glorious and wonderful, and it makes sense. Jesus Christ lives, and the true gospel is restored to the Earth today. Restored, not reformed. There's a difference. The Book of Mormon doesn't take away from the Bible, just like the New Testament doesn't take away from the Old Testament. The heaven's are open in this last dispensation. I know it without a doubt. And it is a message that I feel humbled and proud to bring the people in Louisiana, and with all I meet. I love what I'm doing!"

4th of July Letter:

"Anyway, its kind of nice to have PDay on the 4th. It's been a little weird knowing what you're all doing today, what with the breakfast, and the lake, BBQ, and fireworks. I missed last year too! Well, two years from now we'll have to go tubing :) I think I've felt my first twinge of homesickness today, but it's not too bad. There's rumors that might even let us stay out till 10:30 and go across to watch fireworks. Of course, there's also a rumor we just have another fireside, so we'll see what happens :) Or maybe I'll have my normal 3 hrs of class. In any case, my heart is so full of gratitude for what this day means, especially thinking about my ancestors who loved country more than themselves, and took part in fighting for this free country we live in. Especially the freedom I have to practice my religion and even to share it with others.

Last Sunday our fireside was really different. It was more of a monologue by Ted Gibbons, acting as though he were Willard Richards. Willard Richards was there when Joseph and Hyrum were martyred and worked really closely with Joseph. All of the history was amazing that Brother Gibbons knew, even more powerful was the Spirit. I was so touched, thinking about the sacrifices not only of Joseph, Emma, Hyrum, but of our own early saint ancestors. I'm so grateful for the restoration of the gospel on the earth today. There isn't a doubt in my mind that there was a need to have the proper authority of Jesus Christ restored to the Earth, and that that happened. At the end of the fireside our closing hymn was "Praise to the Man." Within the first couple lines of the hymn, slowly we all stood up (totally impromptu about 2500 missionaries in that room, along with leaders and senior missionaries) and sang Praise to the Man. "Mingling with gods, he can plan for his brethren, Millions will know Brother Joseph Again." It was a neat experience. I'm not even sure how to explain the feeling that was there. My testimony of the veracity of the first vision was strengthened so much. I felt like I was part of this powerful army who is armed the most wonderful message. All standing as we thought about this wonderful man Joseph who sacrificed so much, and almost yearning to sacrifice as well for this message to come forth over the earth, that every hear will hear."

July 11th Letter:

We had a little adventure two nights ago. At about 12:47 am our fire alarm went off in our building. It was so loud. Seriously, I don't even know how to explain it. I have never heard anything that loud and repetitive. So all the sisters in our building had to evacuate. Everything was fine though. We don't know if it was a drill or some malfunction or someone did something. Anyway, that was about the most exciting thing to happen here in the last 6 weeks :) We had to wait outside for about a half hour. My companion was joking around that maybe it was happening on the other side of campus in some of the buildings of elders, and they were conducting a social experiment to see how elders and sisters would react differently :) Like the sisters being way to chatty for 1 in the morning. Well, not us, we went and slept on the grass. Kinda funny. Although, I learned something. You know that time old question, what would you grab if your house was on fire? Well, the one thing I grabbed on my way out of the room, while I was half asleep, was my nametag. I love my nametag :) Although, I forgot my teddy bear so I'm glad there wasn't a fire :) 

Before I left I was dead set on not cutting my hair no matter how hot it got. Well, I'm not even in Louisiana yet, and I am burning up! And it's not practical, so it's been a hard, long a difficult decision :) but I'm going to cut it!! I figure you all were probably wondering how my hair was doing, so I just thought I'd give you an update lol. We get a free haircut here so I'll get it done soon.

One more thing. One of our investigators name is Carlos, and his baptism date is this Saturday! We had to go over the interview questions with him in our last lesson. And help him understand everything he needs to about the day of baptism and confirmation. Although I learned to be careful about when you read a scripture about baptism by water and fire, because they might think there will literally be fire at their baptism :) lol.  ...  It might seem kind of silly, because it's not "real" or the "real Carlos" but to us he is :)  Anyway, I'm excited, and thought you might think it kind of interesting!! We also have three new investigators! Crazy! K, gotta go!

July 18th Letter:

My week has been pretty good. I have had lots of fear in my lessons about opening my mouth and just trying to express myself in Spanish. It's a long story about the whole thing, but basically, I've been letting myself be frustrated. Then, in a lesson the other night it happened again. We had prepared and practiced so much, it was a really important lesson. And then I froze up in the lesson, letting my fear and nervousness get the better of me. Until, finally I couldn't take it anymore. It was like my testimony was just trying to burst or break out of me!! So, I opened my mouth and I just started teaching and testifying. It was about the atonement mostly. And I felt like for the first time, I was really making a difference, and connecting with this investigator. He needed to hear what I was saying. We've had lots of good lessons, but this was different. The Spirit was strong. It wasn't like the heavens parted and I spoke perfect S
Spanish. But enough that I related to his situation (this investigator was supposed to get baptized but his daughter ran away with her boyfriend and turned his life upside down basically) and.....it was just good. I don't know.  I let go of that fear and just had that faith that it'd be alright. So afterward my teacher (also the investigator) talked to me about it, and I've really been working on finding where that strength came from, and trying to not only lift others but also myself in my thoughts and confidence in the language. I was just frustrated because I felt like I was letting Spanish be a stumbling block. And I just refuse to let that get in the way anymore. Anyway....uh I feel like none of that made sense. But that was just one of the biggest things that happened in my week. It was an amazing feeling! 

What else...I just got a hair cut! It's short! It barely falls to my shoulders, and has layers. Actually looks pretty good :) plus its super light. Also, have I ever told you I read the Book of Mormon and PMG in Spanish everyday out loud? And I've had the first vision, and my purpose, and most of the Articles of faith, teaching points, and scriptures memorized in Spanish? I realized I've never told you that! It's so neat to teach the first vision in Spanish!

July 25th Letter:

Thank you for all of your encouragement Mom. And Dad. I'll be needing your extra prayers this week! Of course I'm both excited and nervous, but there's something else I'm not quite sure how to explain. Maybe....like I'm not ready, but that I also can't wait to meet the people, but I'm also nervous about just putting myself out there and talking to all those people. I feel like the life of a missionary is just full of opposites. You don't wanna go home, you cant wait. You hate the cafeteria food, you're so grateful because you don't know what you'll be eating in a week. You miss everyone, you don't because your heart is so full of gratitude for this call.  I could go on. Anyway, like usual I didn't have time to respond to everything I wanted to in your email, just know that I do acknowledge everything you say. That I read over them, I pray for you each, and I cherish your words and appreciate your prayers. 

Thank you SO SO SO much for who each of you are. There aren't really words for what I want to express to you. I just have so much love for each of you. Thank you for the strength you give me!! Love you all!!! Talk to you in 6 DAYS!!!!