Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April 28: 3, tres, 1-2-3... TRIO


Oi cute family!! How is everyone doing? Thank you so much for the WONDERFUL emails this week. Seriously. Loved every single one. You are the best :) Sounds like you guys are busy as every with the yard and everything else. Lots of work! Summer cleaning haha.. we are preparing to take on the winter here :) But how great to hear that everyone is well. Jess, way to go on your talk :) I know you did wonderful, because you have such a powerful testimony that it doesn´t even matter if you were nervous because your testimony was certainly carried into the hearts of everyone there :) Love hearing about all the mission calls. Crazy things are happening! The Lord is hastening the work. So cool to see it all rolling forth. 

Everything is going great on this end of the world. One sister who lived with us went home this week because of health problems, so we are in TRIO now :) Haha I´ve never heard anyone speak highly of a trio, and admitedly it´s not proving to be my favorite thing in the world. I think we have 3 of the most opposite personalities in the world. But it really is going well :) We are laughing up a storm in the streets. We´ve started a new game that we play in the streets.. it´s a word game, it´s rather ridiculous, but we never cease to laugh throughout the day. It´s good to keep our spirits hight, no matter how ridiculous our ways are :) Our teaching as a trio has definitely got some work to do... but we´ll get there. Besides it´s only going to be for two weeks until transfers. 

We´ve got a great group of investigators right now. We have two baptisms set for this week. One is the mom of the young girl we baptized a few weeks ago. She is SO special!!! Ah, she brings such joy to my heart :) The sweetest spirit is always present when we teach her. They are truly the humblest of families. This family has nothing. Nothing. But they are deeply rooted in their faith in Christ and find joy in what matters most. It´s going to be such a special baptism! Yoohoo!!

Yesterday was a conference via satellite with the 4 (i think) southern states of Brazil. We heard from various area leaders and then from Elder Richard G. Scott. Oh, he´s so wonderful :) He speaks Portuguese... he also speaks Spanish... and sometimes he forgets which language he´s speaking and mixes the two :) Hahaha is portugues is very difficult to understand, but it was great anyway. He´s such a dear! 

In other news.. I have athlete´s foot... hahahah seriously Brazil is not doing much for my beauty or for my feet. Gross. But... I´m treating it and it appears to be getting better. (Thank goodness for that first aid kit you sent with me mom! It had exactly what I needed :) ) 

Passed 5 months in the mission this week...can you believe it?? Holy cow. It goes fast. 

This week I studied the sermon on the mount again. It´s so beautiful. If you´re needing something to study this week, study that. It´s great. So applicable. Also if you haven´t read Our Search for Happiness, READ IT. It´s perfect. This goes for family, friends, members, and non members. This book is perfect. It will help your faith and answer any questions you have about the gospel and the church :) 

Well.... I think that sums up the week okay. I am one happy little missionary. Life is wonderful in the service of the Lord :) 

Have a wonderfully happy week!! Know that you are all in my prayers. Thank you for your love and example! I feel your prayers and support daily. I LOVE YOU, family!!! 

Sending ALL my love from Brazil, 
Sister Kane

Monday, April 15, 2013

April 15


Bom dia familia! 

Thank you so very much for all your emails and wonderful words of wisdom :) I love you! So great to hear about all the happenings back home. You all sound wonderful. Keep the good news coming, okay?:) Did you guys enjoy conference? How´s school, work everything going? Mom, glad you got connected with the branch president here!! It will be so fun to have that link! He´s great and loves talking to our families :) 

Então... I´m here in São Borja!! It´s going great! So much to tell... let´s begin eh? Well, leaving Parque Pinheiro was very difficult... I cried, Sister Nascimento cried, we all cried :) A lot. But, eventually we had to just rip of the bandaid and I had to leave my little family there and my mommy and head on to new adventures! I don´t know if tranfers get easier over time, but I hope so! Haha because it felt like I was leaving home all over again. And leaving behind our investigators was one of the hardest parts.. to now leave them in the hands of other missionaries after you develop such a love for them and desire for their well being and progression in the gospel. But I suppose that´s the way the mission goes huh? And of course, Heavenly Father kees a close eye on all of them. But, we arrived here late Tuesday night and entered into the nightmare of a house we live in :) it´s horrid, but.. i was also very spoiled with the house in Parque Pinheiro, so... I guess it´s only fair to have a crappy house now haha. But it´s right next to the chapel which is SO nice. Everything is very close to home here which is great. We live in the city here.. it´s refreshing.. civilization :) It´s a nicer area here than the other area.. there´s some beautiful homes here! And there´s stop lights.. also something we didn´t have in the last area haha :) My companion, Sister Prisbela is great. She works so hard! She has a huge desire to talk to everyone, to teach everyone. I think that she and Sister Nascimento are possibly the two most opposite sisters in the mission :) But she really is great, and I know I`m going to learn a lot with her. She has a great love for the work and for the Lord. 

We had two baptisms yesterday! It´s a little different because I met them just a few days ago and haven´t been a part of their journey, but it´s still wonderful to see people take this step in their lives and to see the happiness that shines from their eyes :) I´ll send pics. 

This week has been a little bit of a whilrwind and I´m not completely settled in yet. But I really am very excited to be here. The Lord always knows best, and though it was a huge surprise and challenge to be transferred, I know the Lord has great things in store here in São Borja and that the timing of the change was wisdom in Him. It was time for the baby bird to leave the comfort of the nest :) The Lord is truly in the details of our lives. Every little thing. He organizes it all. And with so much care and love. I know that this is truly His work, that the gospel brings a deep joy and happiness that nothing else in the world can bring. I know that our Savior lives and that He sacrificied everything that we might have JOY. The Lord desires nothing more than our happiness in this life and the life to come, and the gospel is the way to obtain it :) 

Have I mentioned how great the mission is? :) It´s really really great.

I love you to the stars and back, cute family. You are my light and joy! Thank you for the prayers, love, and support. I feel it daily and couldn´t do this without it! Have a most wonderful week, FULL of joy and laughter :)

Sending all my love from Brazil, 
Sister Kane

April 8

Bom Dia Familia!! Como vocês estão?? 

Well, I just had a whirlwind of a moment... I logged on, was reading emails chipper and carefree as can be... then we got a phonecall from the LZ... I´m being transferred! Holy cow... I´m in a little bit of shock right now... We thought we were safe :) President had told us both that we´d be together until the end, all our leaders ensured us yesterday that we´d stay together until Sister Nascimento goes home after this transfer... but..... the Lord has other plans it looks like :) Bah... I´m a little shaky and the tears are fighting to come out. I´m headed to São Borja tomorrow morning... 6 hours from here. My new companion is going to be Sister Prisbella, a Brazilian. Very sweet. A little bit nervous based on some of the things I´ve heard, but.... we´re walking forward with faith :) I´ll say tchau to my sweet companion tomorrow morning and hope to see her again at some point after the mission. She is an angel. Funny how the Lord works... I sent an email a couple weeks ago feeling stressed and frustrated with the companionship, and now I´m sitting in tears at the thought of having to say goodbye to her. We´ve grown closer than ever this past week and half or so and are genuinely the best of friends at this moment. Ah, minha nossa. But, here we go :) This is the mission and I know the Lord knows what´s best for me. I know that I´m headed onto a new area, new adventures, and new experiences. It´s going to be great! Faith in every footstep. :)

Okay, anyway... thank you so much for all the emails! Everyone sounds wonderful! Joe, look how cool you are on TV!!!! I had a feeling you´d be interpretting for conference finally :) How neat. I really wanted to watch conference in ASL.. but the other Americans weren´t all over that idea :) But what a neat experience! You are incredible! Glad to hear you guys had such a wonderful time in St. George :) 

This week was great. Really. Sister Nascimento and I had more challenges and more difficulties, but more laughs and friendship than ever before. We have some wonderful people here that we are teaching and I know Sister Nascimento will continue to help them progress to baptism. It´s been a wonderful, wonderful journey here in this area and ward. 

Conference!!!!! Yoohoo!! Oh, it was so so so wonderful. I was on cloud nine all week anticipating conference, and on cloud ten the whole weekend. It was amazing. Conference was a little different than sitting at home on the plush couches with the smell of mom´s homemade food, but it was just as wonderful and sweet. We watched it in English which was the first greatest blessing :) I was a little worried that we wouldn´t be able to. But we had 6 of us americans crammed into the ward secretary´s office and watched it online :) It was so great. And we only spoke english while we were in there which was also great haha. It´s refreshing once in a while :) But the talks were absolutely incredible. Exactly what I needed. And definitely powerful for our investigators as well. Oh, how I love this beautiful gospel. What a blessing to have the truth. What a blessing to have a living prophet and apostles. THIS is true, and everlasting happiness that ONLY comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Well, my mind is a jumble right now so I´ll leave at that for this week :) Until next week from São Borja.... bah. Send prayer please, I need them :) I love you to pieces. You are the light of my life! Thank you for all your love and support! 

I LOVE YOU!! 
Sister Kane

Monday, March 25, 2013

March 25


Hello cute family! How are you doing?? So lovely to hear from all of you! You are such rays of sunshine. Time is super short so I apologize in advance....

This week has been a little slow.... Lots of walking, lots of trying to find new people. But its been good. Lots of learning and trials this week, which always brings a little bit of growing pain, but it´s been good :) The weather is a little nuts... hot, and cold, hot and cold. Sound familiar, utah? :) 

We found a very special family this week! They have great desires to change and accept the gospel fully in their lives. We found them when they were at the lowest of lows, the dad without a job and food nearly running out, and they were desperately searching for some light in their lives. Good thing we´ve got light to share :) The dad has since found a job, they are growing happier each day, the son will be baptized this Saturday, they are preparing to get married and the rest of the family will be baptized in April :) They are wonderful. 

This week has placed many challenges in our way, and the difficulties of a companionship have shined through many a times this week. As much as we love each other, there´s always going to be difficulties. But each difficulty presents a new way to learn and to better ourselves! 

The Lord is completely in control of our lives. He is in the details of every day, every moment. He knows our thoughts, our feelings, our difficulties, our desires, everything. And He knows exactly how to help us as well. He stands ready to help us and walk with us. But it all depends on us--it depends on our faith, our willingness to do our part, our diligence. And it´s only after we exercise our faith and do our part, that the miracles come. That the changes we desire come. It all comes down to faith and work. But I´m certain that when we do what He asks, He jumps at the chance to help us in every single way. 

That´s been the majority of my thoughts during this week. Lots and lots of learning. And lots of outpouring of love from Heaven :)

Thank you so much for all your support! For the many emails of love and support I received this week. I am so very blessed! 

I´m sorry this email is so short... and boring.... :/

I love you all so much! You are incredible! You are always in my prayers! Have a most wonderful week, filled with joy and blessings and lots of laughs :)

Sending all my love from Brazil, 
Sister Kane

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Pic from March 18

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March 18

Oi queridos!! Tudo bom?? Can you believe it´s P-day already? Holy cow. I think I say that every week. But this week went especially fast!

So lovely to hear from you all! My goodness, Bentley is darling. So stinking cute. I die every time I get a new picture! So so darling. Is he signing yet? :) You all sound wonderful though! Becoming an apple family are we? ;) Que legal.

Okay so new rules on emailing! First rule, we only have 40 minutes now... boo. Just FYI. I´ll be even more rushed now, but going to do my best to send a decent email out, tá bom? :) Second rule, the first presidency just changed the rules this week for all missionaries everywhere that we can email friends, recent converts, whoever we want now. Interesting! Don´t now why the change, but kind of cool! So friends, feel free :) I´ll do my best to be in contact with everyone! I love hearing from all of you.
But don´t worry, family, you definitely come first :) Always and forever.

So.. this week... we had two baptisms on Saturday! Our little eleitinhos :) Rafael e Ricardo. I´ll send photos. They´re great. Little powerhouses.

The work is going. It´s a little slow right now.. We have 3 families that we´re working with that are all very special. Two I´ve already talked about, that have received the missionaries several times. But they´ve both committed to try again and that they want to progress and prepare for baptism. They are incredible families! Theyre just very very slow to take action and to actually progress. But we´ll see what happens. All in the Lord´s hands :) The other family we found this week. They have 3 sons. They are very humble, very sweet. And searching for the truth. They are ready for the gospel! We just have to wait for the parents to get married legally which takes at least a month if not more, and then I´m certain they´ll be baptized! They have great faith and huge desire to follow Christ. Perfect, right? :) Just have to deal with that marriage thing first. Nobody here is legally married... it´s very rare to find it. But the other 2 families already were married! Yoohoo!

Umm... what else. Oh, COLD. Winter has begun. It´s very early here to start with the cold. But it has definitely begun. Last week we were dying of heat during emails, and this week we´re bundled up in boots and scarves. Seriously. It´s FRIO. Nighttime is sooo cold. Thermals, leggings, sweats, 3 blankets... that´s what I used last night :) Haha at night when the sun goes down, we cling to eachother in the street with shattering teeth just trying to keep warm until the next house. But I love it! I love this weather! Life is good here in Santa Maria :)

Well.... that´s about it for this week. Not much too exciting! My English is a joke. Yes, my english. You´re going to laugh when we talk on Mother´s day. Holy cow.. can you believe how soon that is? Almost 4 months in the mission already... sheesh!

I´m going to attach photos now. Sending all my love!!! You are the best! Anjos do céu. Thank you for all your support, love, and prayers! Miss you!
Hugs and kisses from Brazil,

Sister Kane

March 11

Oi queridos!

Thank you so much for the emails! How wonderful to hear from each of you. You are the coolest! Seriously. I love hearing all the cool things you´re doing and all the great experiences you are having. You are such rays of sunshine. I love ya with all my heart!

Mom and Dad, can´t wait to hear about your cruise and see pictures!!! How fun for you. I´m excited to know everything that you did! And mom, so so cool about your experience with the Book of Mormon! Look at you! So very cool. I´m so proud of my missionary mom :) Really, that is so neat. That she accepted with tears in her eyes, and full of gratitude. Please write me and tell me all the details of that experience!!

Baby Bentley gets cuter and cuter every single week. Seriously. Oh I want to hold that cute little face!!! Minha nossa, he´s going to be running and talking and signing by the time I get home... crazy. By the way, it´s half way through March... did you know that? I cannot believe it! Where is the time going? Holy cow.

Okay, well admidetly (I don´t know how to spell that word...) I don´t much to report this week! It was a rather slow week here... most of our plans every day fell through and our investigators are slow to progress. But we found some really great people this week too! The other day we were in a neighborhood, second day in a row, trying to make contact with two young men that have gone to the church several times already, but we´ve yet to find them at home. We had just knocked on Rafael´s door and no one answered, but we knew there were people in the house. We walked away with the idea that he wasn´t interested and we were going to have to find others. We were talking about how we wanted to find more "Henriques" (he was our baptism last month and was just so powerful, so prepared). Next thing we know, we hear "Sisters!" from down the street and turn around to see Rafael. Long story short, we ended up teaching him and his mom, and he is SO powerful! He´s only 13, but he is an outstanding kid, I tell ya what. So humble, so well mannered, understood everything we taught perfectly. Then right after we went to teach the other young man, his friend as well, Ricardo. Also outstanding and powerful and ready for the gospel. We´re hoping to baptize the two of them this saturday :) We´re calling them our "mini Henriques" or "eleitinhos". (Eleito means elect in Portuguse, but you can add ´´inho´´to mean little... our little elects haha).

Anyway, they are great. We´re excited for them. We´re also working with a wonderful family of 6, who already seem to be members. They are awesome and have a very strong faith. They´ve already received the missionaries many times, but I think we´re going to be able to succeed this time. They seem to be ready now. Ah! A family!

Satan is working hard here in this area. The ward has a lot of issues, and probably triple the number of inactive members than there are active. If not more. But, we´re going to bring them back! Lots of work to do!

Things are going well.. the other sisters are powerful and very hard working. We´re just trying to keep up with them haha. They´re great. It´s a little tough having two in the same area because we knock on the same doors and visit the same members sometimes, but the Lord needs us all here and so we´re making it work!

Hmm... I´ve been trying to remember other things...... But know that your daughter is well and happy! How grateful I am to Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime.

Time is winding down.. gotta run. I love you with all my heart! You are incredible! I thank Heavenly Father every day for giving me such a wonderful, strong family. What a blessing. Truly. That so many people don´t have. Thank you! I LOVE YOU!!!

Have a marvelous week! Filled with light and faith!

Sending all my love from Brazil,
Sister Kane

Feb 25

Hi sweet family!! How are you?! So lovely to hear from everyone as always. Thank you for all the updates and stories! Mom and Dad, your cruise is this week!!! Woohoo!! How fun! I want lots of pictures and stories okay? Have the time of your lives! Congrats on 25 awesome years :) You guys are the coolest. Loving all the Baby Bentley stories as usual :) So fun. OH, I got two packages earlier this week! One was from Mr. Cheneys for St Patricks Day :) THANK YOU!! Always lovely to have more cookies and treats :) and the other was the package with the memory card! Thank you so much!! It was so fun to sit and look at all the pictures of baby and all the happenings as of late. So so fun. I love you guys! You are each looking just as beautiful and dashing as ever. Especially Baby B. Give him a big kiss for me today.

Então... this week was nuts! So busy, so strange, so good. Lots of everything. First off, BAPTISM! Everything went so well and the Spirit was beautiful. He is a very special young man, and he and his wife will become strong leaders in the church, no doubt. Haha the confirmation on Sunday was a little stressful... He didn´t show up until right before the meeting started (we have classes first, sacrament last).. we were running around trying to find a phone to call him and find out where he was at and if he was going to show or not... but all went well, and Henrique is officially a member of this beautiful church :) What a blessing. It was great weekend.

In other news..... I´ve got a nasty ingrown toenail that has caused a whole lot of trouble this week. We had to come into the city two different times to go to the doctor and have it removed. It was horrid... I ´d let it go for way too long and it was all sorts of infected and gross, and so painful... she looked at it and just shook her head with dissaproving eyes at the silly american who can´t cut her toenails right... oops. But she proceded to just dig at it... no anesthetic, no nothing... just went right in. Haha the assistant was pinning my leg down with one arm and I was squeezing all the blood out of her other hand.... I cried. I admit. It was awful. BUT, that´s what I get, right? :) Haha what a pleasure. WE had to stay in the house the rest of the day because she wanted it elevated (It bled a lot..) and I couldn´t walk. She was also very concerned about the infection spreading... Haha sorry Mom, I know I shouldn´t be telling you all of this... I´m fine, I promise :) But we had to go back two days later and she dug at it again.. it had gotten worse, yay! But she wrapped it up and everything again... we had to stay in the house that day as well... and now we are going back later this afternoon... hopefully it´s getting better and not worse. We´ll see! So.. it´s been a fairly intersting week haha. Lots of time sitting in the house because I wasn´t allowed to walk... lots of time lost because of this. But, we still had a baptism and still met a lot of our goals, so tudo bem :)

The work is going... we´re still trying to find new people. People who are ready and going to progress. A huge problem here is that everyone lives together but isn´t married.. and it takes about a month to process everything to be legally married and nobody has the money to do it... so we´ve run into that problem multiple times, where we are kind of at a stand still with our investigators. But hopefully things will move forward and we can find new people this week!

The new girls are coming this week! One Sister, Sister Robinson, is an american who will be training a brand new Brazilian straight from the CTM. Sister Robinson is actually from Riverton and went to Riverton High! Funny. I didn´t know her in high school, but I recognized her and we know several of the same people. Small world! We´re excited though. It´s going to be fun. Mom, you asked about the house.. it´s very big, very nice... the nicest house in the mission. Plenty of room for two more sisters. We ´ve got a lot of work to do here to strengthen this ward, so it´ll be grea tto have two more to help!

Que mais... Portuguese is good. Still frustrating sometimes.. but it´s getting there. I can understand much more now.. still lost at times.. but I´ve now become a master at just watching the facial expressions of my companion when people are talking and just mimicking that.. haha it´s ridiculous. But it´s going well... talking and underst anding more every day. There were a couple times this week that I spoke with people in English and it was so very strange.. It sounds so weird now. And I kept getting confu sed and thinking I was speaking incorrectly. Funny. Sign of progress in Portuguese though, right? :)

All is good. We are happy. Things are happy. All is well :) I´m learning ever so much here. Every day. So much about myself, especially this week.. .lots of reflecting and self evaluating this week. I´ve got so much to learn and to change! All in time though, one thing at a time... I´ve been studying a talk called A Four Missionary (I think... I don´t know exactly how they translated it.. I have it in Portuguese), but it´s so powerful! It´s been teaching me a whole lot and I´m trying to apply things from that.

Well.. that´s about it on this end of the world... Tudo certo :) I love you so much, family! You are angels. Thank you for all your support and love. I rely on it daily! You are the greatest examples. I love you so very much! Miss you tons.

Have a wonderful week!!! Mom and Dad, have so m uch fun!!!!

All my love,
Sister Kane

Monday, February 11, 2013

Feb 11 pic

Feb 11 pics

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Katie's Feb 11 email

Boa tarde, familia! Tudo bem? Como vocês estão?

I cannot believe it´s already been another week... my goodness time is flying. I feel like I just barely wrote and everything is the same.. haha I´ll try to think of some stories.

First off, how are each of you? Please keep the pictures of Bentley coming! What a little cutie. Oh I can´t wait to just mush him and love him everyday! So fun. Love all the stories and updates. Why is everybody sick?! Bah! I hope you all get feeling better soon.. that´s no fun. Bec, thank you for your email! It´s so great to hear from you! Oh all you cute faces.. I miss you! But glad to hear everyone is well. How is school and work going? Can you believe it´s February?! Sheesh. Tell me more of what´s happening, alright?

I got a letter from mission ties last week with pictures of baby :) So fun. Thank you! Also, got a letter from Grandma Carol which was so sweet. Thank you, Grandma! I´m still horribly behind on letters so bear with me for a little while...

Well, this week was good! We´re teaching a lot and we have some really good people we´re working with right now. A few.. but we´re struggling with our group right now because nobody is really progressing. And those who are progressing are progressing very very slowly. So it´s been difficult because many are ready and they want to move forward, but they have fear or hold ups somewhere and are not moving. We´ve been trying this week to focus again on finding new people. We´re working in different areas and different neighborhoods to try to find people who are ready for the Gospel, but it´s proving to be a very difficult task. So so many people we talked to this week either have already met with the missionaries and aren´t interested, or met with the missionaries and think it´s all good but aren´t willing to change, or are already baptized and have left the church for various reasons... bah. It´s been a challenge. But not a challenge that we can´t handle with the Lord´s help. So we´re just striving to do everything we need to be doing in order to be worthy of the Lord´s help so that we can find the right people and really begin to do what we´ve been sent here to do.

I´ve been studying a lot about faith this week. And been doing a lot of searching.. searching my heart, searching the scriptures. My companion and I have been talking a lot this week about how we can have more `fogo nos ossos´ or fire in the bones´.. how we can have more desire and passion to be doing what we´re doing. Some days we´ve been walking around just doing what we need to do, without really remembering why exactly we´re doing it, or remembering how important this work is. That´s been a lot of our focus this week is trying to really focus on what we´re doing and how we can best help this people. To genuinely lose ourself in this work, so begin to love the people more fully, and to be in tune enough with the Spirit to know how to help them. It´s a work in progress. Hopefully this week we´ll get better.

This morning we studied a talk called ´´A Four Missionary´´ (I think) and it´s so powerful! It talks all about becoming who we want to be. To creating a vision of the kind of person we want to be, and then acting on the vision and doing everything we can to strive to be that person every day, every moment, in everything that we do. And as we do that, then soon it will become our nature and we´ll genuinely be that person. I´m going to be focusing on that this week as well.. really striving everyday to become the kind of missionary I thought I would be and that I want to be.

Man, I´m boring this week! Sorry... I´m completely exhausted in every way :)

I finally tried matte (not sure how to spell it..) yesterday.. it´s a drink here that EVERYONE drinks all the time. I dont know how to explain it very well.. (lookit up on google), but it´s essentially this green herb or plant stuff that they put in these certain type of cups and then hot water and drink it... horrible explanation haha sorry. Look it up. But it´s the thing here. And everyone just passes it around and drinks out of it. So yesterday we were at a member´s house and they made me try it... they were trying to explain exactly what the green stuff was, and ignorant me was pointing outside at the grass and asking how to say that because it looks like shredded up grass... when they realized what I was getting at the whole room was rolling and saying, no no no no! You can´t call it that! Apparently it´s very offensive to the Gauchan (I don´t think that´s a word...) culture to say they´re drinking grass, `the food of cows´as they said... haha oops :) But I tasted it.. and it is grass. I´m convinced. Looks and tastes like grass. It´s gross. But, it´s a huge part of the culture, so I had to try it. Maybe one day I´ll learn to like it..... then I´ll be a true Gaucha!

I think we´re going to start teaching English this week... hoping it´ll help us find new people! I have no idea how to teach english though... it´ll be an adventure! I´ve also been asked to teach a few members how to play the piano... we´ll have to see how that goes too!

Okay, going to cut it here because I´m just as boring as boring can be. I´ll send some pictures to make up for it :)

I love you, cute family! I pray for you every day. I hope you can feel my love and prayers being sent your way! You are the best ever examples to me. Thank you for your faith! You are an inspiration to me and I look to your letters and examples often for advice and how to handle situations. You are such a blessing to me! I LOVE YOU! Have a most wonderful week!

Until next week...

Sister Kane
Xoxo!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Katie's Feb 4 Letter

Boa tarde, familia! Tudo bem?

Can you believe it´s already been a week? I can´t! Holy cow it went fast. So great to hear from you all! Thank you all for your emails and love and support! And to the friends that emailed, thank you!! I love to hear from you as well. You are welcome to email me as often as you´d like, I just can´t reply. I´ll do my best to get letters sent back in reply when I can! I´m horribly behind on letters... there´s just not enough time in the day, I tell ya what. But I´m working on it, so be patient with me :)

Okay, Bentley is the cutest thing in the world!!!! Oh, I´m gonna die he´s so darling!!!!! I just wanna squeeze him!!!!! Oh, so so so darling. I love all the stories and pictures!! Please keep them coming! Ahhh so cute! I´m just gushing on the inside right now. Take all the pictures you can! And Kels, just go ahead and plan on having another baby in about a year and half when I get home, okay? :) 

Glad it´s warming up for you guys! Oh how I envy the fact that you have winter right now... I am beyond excited for the day when it cools down here! Skiing sounds like it was a blast! 

I have to admit, I miss the CTM for one reason and that´s I miss getting letters from my cute family throughout the week! It was the best! But, I´m learning to be patient with letters I suppose :) Mom, after emailing yesterday, I got a letter from you!!! We ran into the Elders on the street and it was the best surprise to get a letter! Thank you!!!! I sent one to Missionties today so hopefully you´ll get that through your email in about a week when it arrives there.  Watch for it to come through! 

Okay, my turn I guess? This week has been good! Really good. It went so fast! But things are definitely getting better. Each day it gets better, I feel more comfortable, I understand more, I speak a little more. Each day gets better. It is definitely still a rollercoaster, and there´s ups and downs throughout every single day. My emotions are very much so closer to the surface here in the field haha :) But it´s great. Everything is going really well. 

It´s hot hot hot hot hot here. There were a few days this week where it had to be close to 100 degrees, zero wind, and a blazing sun. Carumba. ´Ta loco. We were a little concerned about fast sunday to say the least, because walking around in that kind of heat all day without water is not safe.... so we prayed for rain, multiple times leading up to the weekend. Let´s just say, Heavenly Father answers prayers! Saturday it rained almost all day and cooled everything down which was the biggest blessing. But it wasn´t a ton of rain, just rained a little here and there throughout the day. Sunday we woke up and everything was still wet and overcast but it wasn´t raining. I figured we were just going to be walking a few houses to make sure our investigators were going to come to church, to the chapel and back and we´d be fine without an umbrella........ Oops! We got to our first investigators house and it started to sprinkle.. we stood under a tree and thought we´d be fine... then we started walking to the next house when I swear the heavens opened and dumped down every drop of rain they had. It was out of control. We rain to a member´s house and were literally dripping when we got there after just a couple of minutes. But, we had work to do, so we braved it, linked arms, and ran back outside to the next house! After talking to all the people and ensuring a way for everyone to get to church we were soaked from head to toe. Literally as if we had jumped in a pool. Everything was wet. So, we laughed our way through the streets back to our house, quickly changed into dry clothes, and went on our merry way to church with wet hair, no makeup, and a big smile on our faces because all of our investigators came to church :) What a day! So just remember, if you ask Heavenly Father for something, be prepared to receive it :) 

We are trying hard to turn things around here. And the ward is finally jumping on board and helping us! I think they finally saw that we are actually here to work and want to help this ward, and so we´ve finally received support and enthusiasm from them which is going to help tremendously. 

We´ve found some great people here who are ready for the gospel in their lives! We´ve got a good group of people to teach now, which makes the days much better. Still always looking for more though. It´s been great to teach more and see people really start to open up to the gospel. 

Dad, you had mentioned something to me in a letter a while back about missionaries in some areas knocking on doors and asking to leave a blessing on their home and just saying a prayer with them. It´s a great way to work because people are more willing to listen to something like that! We do something similar here, just me and my companion, I don´t think many others do this. But we both were blessed with half way decent singing abilities, so we knock (or rather clap outside the gate) and explain we´re missionaries and what we´re doing, and that we would like to sing a hymn for them. So we go in sing a hymn, say a prayer blessing their family, and ask to return another day to share a message. It seems to be really effective and has helped us talk to a lot of people! Any fear I had of singing in front of people is gone now haha. 

Other news.... we´re excited to finally have money to be food! Haha we were waiting for our funds to come through forever and the bank is forever away and can only be used on P Day, so we´ve been scrounging to get by. But we have money now so we´re excited about that :) 

All is well here in Brazil. It´s all starting to feel a little more normal and a little more like home :) Day by day, that´s the key. 

I am grateful and excited to be here. It´s not easy, I promise you that. But it´s worth it. That´s the promise, right? I can already feel things changing within me and I´m excited for this time in my life. There´s some very special people here. I know Heavenly Father is a part of every detail of our lives and He watches over each of us very closely. 

I love you, family! With all my heart! I pray for you everyday. I pray you are well and happy and being blessed with all the things you need :)

All my love, 

Sister Kane

Monday, January 28, 2013

Pics, 2 from Katie's last day at MTC and her new nephew

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Katie's Jan 28 email

Last week we didn't get an email because Katie traveled from the MTC to Santa Maria.  She was able to call and talk to me (mom) for a few minutes, which was priceless.  She sounded SO HAPPY and was really excited to be out in the mission field.  This is her first email from her area.

Oi familia!!! I am so so happy to finally be able to talk to you and tell you all about life here! Ive got a lot to tell you, not a whole lot of time, and a weird keyboard, so bear with me :)

I am here! It´s real life! I still am a little bit in shock!!

But FIRST! BABY IS HERE!!!!! HE´S BEAUTIFUL!!!! Congrats Kels and Joe!!!! Oh he looks so precious. I want to just hold him and kiss him and love him!! You guys look so happy. Thank you for all the details and stories about it :) I cant wait to meet him! Please give him lots of love from me, okay? Keep sending stories, updates, and pictures! Oh he´s so precious!!! I am so excited to meet him! Congrats again! So very happy for you :) Im so glad everyone is happy and well. My prayers are always coming your way!

Okay... I´ll just jump in because I gotta hurry!

So, I am here! Okay, so we arrived at the airport on Tuesday afternoon and the APs picked us up.. guess who? Ross Pagotto! So strange! Such a small world. Then that first night we met our President and his wife, they are wonderful! Then we met our trainers! Sister Nascimento is my companion :) She is darling. Smaller than me.. for the first time in my life I feel like a giant. She really is wonderful. So sweet. Such a hard worker. She is Brazilian, and does not speak English :) She has been in the mission for 15 months already.. she´s pretty sure this will be her last area. She leaves the week before Mother´s day I believe? She is from Joao Pessoa which is northeast. Side note... my companion in the CTM is going to Joao Pessoa and I´d always tease her because the accent from the northeast is so strange and so difficult to understand. So we were always talking about how difficult it was going to be to get used to that accent and that she was going to talk funny too..... and then I got a companion with that very accent :) Funny. At first it was so hard to understand her because it really is very differenet from the Sao Paulo accent which I was used to. But, now I can understand her better than any one else here! But Im going to talk so strange... Sao Paulo mixed with Northeast mixed with Gaucho.... ooorrr... probably I´ll just have an American accent :)

Anywho, she´s great. So patient. And works works works. Its so good for me. I know Im going to learn a lot from her.

Okay, we are here in Santa Maria. Not in the city itself, we´re 30 mins outside of the city. And, yes, we are opening the area. I don~t know exactly what the elders who were here did, but from what we can gather they didn~t work much. We were left with no direction, no investigators, no support from the ward, and a very very very messy house! (We spent the first two days here just cleaning. Then luckily the mission presidents wife came and saw and sent someone to clean it for us because it literally would have taken a week.. it was outrageous! But a huge blessing that we got help. Now its a great house! The biggest and nicest one in the mission in fact! Its great.) So anyway, we are starting from scratch here! Its going to take a lot of work to turn this place around and to find people, but were going to do it!

Its definitely not like I imagined it... But it´s beautiful! Very diverse... everything from rather rich to dirt poor. It´s been humbling.

The language.... Oh the language.... I thought I was getting by okay in the CTM..... Truth is, they just talk very very slow in the CTM and we only talked about gospel matters which is the only vocabulary I know.... So... that´s also been an adventure! I really can´t understand much of anything. Ever. My companion is a professional, and so personable and is great with the members and everyone we meet. I am doing my best to understand bits and pieces... It´s going to come. I know it will. But right now, it´s just a huge struggle to follow any conversation. I can communicate with my companion fine. But when we´re with other people and they´re just talk talk talking a million miles an hour... I´m completely lost. So I don´t say much then. But, it´s okay :) I´m pushing through it and know that the language will come with time. I just need to be patient!

I logged on to my email and their were a few emails from other missionaries that I read and were exactly what I needed... just about having an optimistic attitude, being humble, and having hope and faith that things will get better. And one about the Savior and everything that He endured during His mission, and when we put that into perspective we have nothing to be complaining about. And we were called to do what the Savior did, and we stand as His representatives, so we need to keep going, work hard, have faith, and serve with our whole hearts. So thats what I´m going to do! Everything will fall into place. One thing is for sure.. I have never prayed so much in my life :) And I have never been so sure that God lives. I am absolutely certain, with everything that I am, that God LIVES. That He is in the details of our lives. He is watching out for each of us at every moment of every day. He is guiding us and pouring out His love to us. I am certain of that. He loves us more than we can even begin to comprehend. He IS our Father in Heaven and we are His children. I have never been so sure of anything in my life than I am of that one fact. I love my Father in Heaven and am more grateful for the knowledge of His love than words can express.

Okay, time is up... I´ve got to go. But I love you with all my heart, cute family! I miss you! Know that I am well. That I have an excellent companion, and that I am in the Lord´s hands. And doing my very best to do the work I´ve been called to do. I pray for each of you every day! You are the greatest examples to me! Thank you for all your love and support!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Kane

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Katie's Jan 15 email

Oi familia!
How is everyone doing?! Is there a baby yet?!? I got some letters from Sunday that said not yet... I'm so anxious!!! He needs to come before I leave the MTC so I can get pictures the next day!!! Otherwise I'll have to wait a whole week or more! Tell him to get on it, will ya Kels? :)
How is work? School? Winter and snow? Everything else you've got happening there? I love to hear it all!
Okay I've got a lot to tell you, so I'm just going to jump right in!
First off... LAST P-DAY! Holy cow. Time has flown! I am SO excited and anxious to be leaving. A week from today I'll be sitting in the mission home in Santa Maria... Nossa. We're doing all the greatest things today before we go! We went to a churrascaria (spelling?) today.. it's like Rodizio's but real life. Real Brazilians. Real Gauchos. And much cheaper :) It was delicious! So. much. meat. And that's going to be everyday in the mission where I'm at... nossa.
Next, we got a new companion!!! She was the only one to get a Visa from ALL the people waiting in Provo. She had been there for 6 weeks already. So she was in the same week as us and now we are in a trio! It's been so great. She is awesome. So happy, so positive, so funny. It's been such a blessing to have her with us! Sister Christensen's the name. She's a keeper.
We had an awesome experience last Saturday. Every Saturday night we have a workshop with all the North Americans and it's usually in English. Which is refreshing to say the least :) It's a different workshop every week and we never know what we're going to be doing. So this week we were divided into groups and it happens that they always put the sisters together in their own group. Being that there's, well, three of us here, it was just my companions and I in a group. We had 4 different "investigators" that we were to teach. In English. It was a strange transition at first and we kept accidently saying things in Portuguese. Funny. But once we got into it it was SO neat to just be able to really express ourselves the way want to, to be able to say everything we want to, to not be stumbling over every other sentence, and to just TALK. I LOVE Portuguese, and love learning it, and love teaching in it.. don't get me wrong. But I just cannot yet express myself how I want to in Portuguese, so this was a refreshing night. We got to our last investigator and started talking to him. We went into every lesson blind and had to figure out what each person needed. So we started talking and found out that his wife had died not too long ago and he was struggling so much, searching for answers, for hope, anything, and was completely lost. As he talked to us and we started teaching about the hope of Jesus Christ and the gospel, and that he would be able to see his wife again, there were literally tears in everyone's eyes. We were able to express everything we wanted to, and understand every thing that he was saying which... doesn't always happen in Portuguese. Yet. But the Spirit was so strong and powerful. It was the neatest experience. I sat there thinking "WOW. This is why I'm here. This is why I am doing what I'm doing. To bring people hope! To give them something more in life! To tell them that they really do have a Father in Heaven who loves them and understands everything they're going through. To tell them they have a Savior who can make every wrong right. THIS is why I'm here." My companions and I walked out just in awe and so grateful for that experience. It gave me hope. I look forward to the day I can have that same kind of power in words in Portuguese :) One day... one day. It may have all been role playing, but it made me realize that there are people in Santa Maria who will have real pains like this, and that the message of the gospel will give them real hope like this. I'm SO happy to be here! And it's going to be REAL in just a week!!! :)

Also... it actually already became real yesterday! We went proselyting! We were not expecting to, because it normally happens on week 8 and 9. We're on week 7, but we are leaving on week 8. So we thought we were just going to get jipped and only have one day of proselyting. But they came up to our classroom after lunch and said we were going out in half an hour! We were given 4 copies of the Book of Mormon to give out, and were sent on our merry little way, out into the big scary world of Sao Paulo. It took my companion (only Sister Christensen and I went, because Sister Anderson isn't leaving a week early) and I a few minutes to really grasp that this was real. I felt a little like I was thrown in the hunger games arena where it's like real life but actually it's not and all the people were actually just members who we were going to practice with... okay hunger games is a really bad analogy. Scratch that. It didn't feel real. Better? :) But once we got up our courage and started talking to people it was awesome. Okay.. after the first creeper old man who tried to kiss us and said after we asked if he believed in Jesus Christ, "Oh yes, if two beautiful girls like you believe in Jesus Christ, then I definitely believe in Jesus Christ!" Good grief. So... after him, then it was great :) Also, about half way through the afternoon, the skies opened up and the rain came down! It went from nothing, to pouring in about two seconds. We literally ran back to the CTM and were SOAKED in just a few minutes. So, we changed, grabbed our umbrellas and headed back to slosh around in soaking shoes all afternoon. It was the best! Really, I loved every minute of being out yesterday and being a "real missionary" as we kept saying to ourselves. Also, I have the worst wardrobe and shoes in the world for Brazil. :)
Okay, I am out of time... I'm not sure if I'll be able to call when I am at the airport.. I'll try! Mom, will you send me a letter through mission ties giving me a few phone numbers in case you don't answer? I actually don't remember any of them... :)
I love you so very much!!! Thank you for all your support and love!! I miss you and pray for you everyday. Be happy, keep working hard :)
Ahh, next time we talk I'll be in Santa Maria!!! LOVE YOU!!! Tchau tchau :)

Sister Kane

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Katie's Jan 8 Email

Well hello out there!
Tudo bem?! How is my cute family doing? Thank you so much for the letters this week! It's always a pleasure to hear from you. Mom, you're my number one fan and I love every single letter :) My district always rolls their eyes at me during mail time, but I appreciate all the letters so THANK YOU :) Also, huge shout out to the sweet friends who have sent letters! It's SO nice to hear from you guys too!
I AM SO ANXIOUS TO HEAR ABOUT BABY BENTLEY!!! My poor companion is surely getting tired of hearing about it :) All morning I've just been so anxious to know if baby was born! But no luck this week, huh? Hang in there Kels :) I'm definitely expecting a mission ties letter or an email next week with pictures! If you don't have him by next week... I'm so so sorry! Ahhh I'm so excited!!!! And I'll get to meet him over skype in just a few months! So exciting. Please keep me updated :) Sending all my love your way! And lots of prayers that he won't hang out too much longer, Kels :) Oh, he's going to be the CUTEST!
Mom, LOVED hearing about all the things your doing as a family. It sounds like it's been such a good experience for you guys so far! Keep it up! That's so awesome. And so great to hear about the Jordan River temple renovation! I'm excited to hear about it. Are the kiddies back in school yet? Dad, how's work? Joe and Kels, are you ready?!? And so anxious? Joe, are you taking some time off work I hope?
Also, all your sweet Christmas letters came!!! The ones you sent through FedEx! It worked! She said the flat envelopes usually have a better chance of getting here. I was so happy! They were the sweetest letters. Thank you so much :) I am a very blessed girl. I appreciate your support and love more than I can say.
SO, I guess it's my turn? It's getting to the point where most every week is the same here! But I'll try to find some things to tell ya :)
Well, all our friends left this morning! Another huge group is gone. The north american numbers are dwindling fast. We are entering week 7 now, and we are still the "youngest" group here. We were the very last group to come in, 7 weeks ago. Because of visas, everyone has been going to Provo. We have gotten a few groups over the weeks that have come from Provo, but no one else has come straight from home. So next week we will officially be the oldest and the youngest group here. I hope the visas start coming through! But they also have said that starting soon they will not be transferring any missionaries from Provo. So if they start in Provo, they finish in Provo. Sad for them! This is a great place to be. But, in March they are scheduled to recieve over 100 SISTERS from North America! Sheesh!!! That's nuts. The most we've had is 10! It'll be a mad house here. I'm glad to be leaving before all of that :)
We got new roommates!!! Brazilians. So happy. They are darling. And so funny. And one of them is coming to Santa Maria with me :) And there's two other Brazilian sisters that came this week that are also going to Santa Maria. I am so happy! They are all great. One of them is Silvia's friend that she was telling me about! Will you tell her that for me? Also, tell her Sister Steadman works here and we talked one day for a long time all about her and her cute family :)
But.... here's the other thing. There is a small group coming from Provo tomorrow (I believe they'll be the last to transfer over), and one of them is a sister! She's in the same week as us, so guess what that means? TRIO. She'll be put with us, and we are going to lose our Brazilian roommates :(, but it'll be good. I'm excited. I think it'll be good for me and my companion. Definitely an adjustment, because Sister Anderson and I have the greatest friendship and we work so well together. So it'll be different, but I'm excited :) Aaand if it's a train wreck, then it's only a couple of weeks so it's okay :)
I am the only "advanced" pianist left here. Everyone else has left. So I am playing hymns and accompanying (I can't spell that) the choir twice a week or more. It's kind of overwhelming sometimes, because I'd rather study the language than go practice so sometimes I'm sight reading, but it's been good. My comp plays the flute, so most of the pieces we do together. It's fun. Also, we sang a quartet on Sunday for the fireside. That was definitely a first! I sang soprano... truth is, I'm an alto! It was neat though and we got a lot of really nice compliments. I think I'll stick to the piano though, I'm more comfortable there :)
You guys need to look up a video about the Brasil Manaus temple. It's on lds.org and it's called "Our Temple in The Amazon". It's so neat. You'll love it. Please watch it.
Okay a couple notes to my dear friends...
MISSION CALLS! I know several of you are waiting for them or have received them... please email me and tell me where you're going!!! And LIZZIE SPENCER! COSTA RICA!!! Heyo!! That's so cool. You're going to LOVE IT. You'll learn Spanish SO fast. When do you leave?? The rest of you, please tell me where you're headed! Also, if any other friends are engaged, I need to know that too :)
Also, there's a few of you leaving for the mission SOON! So, GOOD LUCK! My thoughts and prayers go with you! I am so excited for you!!! You will be incredible! And you will never regret it. Don't look back! Have faith, and GO :) The Lord is on your side, and I promise you'll be happier than you've ever been before. Trust me :)
ECUADOR: Karly, Kate, and Emily... will you please give me some updates on the babies? I've been thinking about them this week and would like to know how they're doing. Thanks :) Also, the above definitely applies to the three of you as well. Please tell me what's happenin!
Okay well, that's about it for life here in the CTM :) I get more and more excited every day to go to the field! Only a couple more weeks!!! My how time is flying.
Oh, we had our first full day "English fast" this week. Boy was that fun! I was SO EXHAUSTED by the end of the day. But it was really great. It's amazing how much we've learned here. Our next one is scheduled for Thursday!
We had mission conference this past Sunday. It was phenomenal. I am so grateful to be here. This place is amazing. The Spirit is nearly tangible. I am learning and growing so much. The mission is incredible. There is no place I'd rather be. I can't possibly imagine leaving this place right now. Brasil is incredible. I feel so blessed. This Gospel is true. I know it. I live it. I love it. I am so excited to share it.
The smiles, the laughter, and the Spirit never stop here. I am just happy. So very happy. Every day.
I love you all to the stars and back!!! Thank you so so much for your support. You mean the world to me, and I'm so very grateful to be sealed as a family for all eternity. Isn't that the most beautiful thing in the world? So wonderful. Count your blessings. Life is so beautiful.
Alright, until next week! Have the most wonderful week! Know that I am always praying for you.
All my love,
Sister Kane
PS: Kiss Baby Bentley a thousand times for me!!! Xoxo

Monday, January 7, 2013

Sister Kane's Jan 2 letter

Oi minha familia!
 
Another week has flown by here at the CTM. I can't believe how fast it's going. Wasn't I just emailing yesterday? Wasn't it just Christmas?! Sheesh.
 
Thank you so much for all the letters this week! Everything was backed up last week because of Christmas, so then I got a whole stack of letters when they started coming through again. Friends and family both. So thank you SO MUCH! I love hearing from all of you.
 
It's been such a wonderful week here. Probably my favorite yet, actually. I just love it here. I love being a missionary. We had a nice surprise on New Year's Eve.. we weren't planning on anything happening, just normal class until 9 and then bed. They came around around 5:30 and strictly informed us that we weren't going to have teachers tonight because they were all going home to celebrate, and that we were to stay in our rooms and study until 9:00. Okay okay, no big deal, we're used to that. Then just minutes later they came around and informed us the plans had changed! Instead of studying, we had an hour and a half of gym time to play volleyball or whatever we wanted, then we got to watch the Emma Smith movie which was phenomenal, then we watched a little short film about the Savior (I'll expound on that in a second) and then instead of the normal snack, we got ice cream and brownies. It was the BEST. We're spoiled here. I think it was even a little better than Christmas because we were totally not expecting it. But then we went to bed as normal at 10:30 (I felt no desire to stay up to ring in the new year... sleep is so precious here!). We were woken up several times through the night by all the fireworks which was fun. Fireworks are the thing here.. it's out of control! But it was a great new year's eve :) I can't believe it's a new year already! It went so fast. It's going to be a GREAT year though. I'm so excited. What are your new years resolutions? Sounds like you guys had a fun night :) 
Last night we had a fun surprise. My companion and I were sitting in our room talking, it was about 10:15, and all the sudden she stops and looks out the window for a second and says, "Serio?! De novo??" Fire alarm. Again. Yes, this has happened before. It's the funniest thing really. All of us just start flooding into the halls, into the stairwells, and before you know it there's 200 missionaries in pajamas standing on the track outside, no one has a clue what's happening. We just stand around for a while, make jokes, stand around some more, and when it goes off we flood back into the stairwells, into the halls, and back to our beds. Last time it was a bit more frantic because it was the first time. This time it was just funny. We still don't know what set it off. Last time it was an iron. Who knows! It'll probably happen again next week :)
So, big news. Great news. I think I'm leaving a week early....!!! I'm doing so well with the language that they decided to put me on the fast track and let me go a week early....... Okay tricked ya. I really am leaving a week early, but that's not why. Remember how I was supposed to report a week earlier than I did? Well, because of that they're expecting us in the mission on that original date, so there's a whole group of us that will be leaving after 8 weeks. It's not set in stone yet, but we're about 90% sure. I'm SO EXCITED! I just want to be out there, working, and walking, and helping real people. I love the MTC, but I'm so excited to go. So, plan on that :) It should be January 22. I'll confirm next week. Letters have been taking anywhere from 8-15 days to get here so you can probably send letters up until next week. Then I'd go ahead and send them to the mission home in Santa Maria. But don't stress too much, Sister Steadman will forward them to our mission if letters come and we're already gone. January 22.. that's the day! Three more weeks! Hoorah!
 
I don't have much else to say... it's been a great week. Oh quick note about the video we watched.. it was taken from a mission conference which means you can't find the talks anywhere (boo!) but it was words from Elder Eyring and Elder Holland about the Savior and it had the testaments video playing in the background. It was SO powerful. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. The thing that stuck out the most was when Elder Holland said, "Salvation isn't cheap. It isn't easy. It never was and it never will be." And so the mission won't be either. But it will be so worth it. Can't wait!
 
All is well, the language is great, got a lot more to learn, our teachers our awesome, our district is the coolest. I'm happier than I've ever been.
 
I pray for you all everyday. I love you so so much! I think of you often and hope you are all so well and so happy :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG NA! I am sending a letter through email later today for you :)
 
LOVE YOU! Have a WONDERFUL week!
 
Love,
 
Sister Kane
 
PS: Mom, our district will have our pizza party next week :) You're the BEST! Thank you so much! You've already won the hearts of all the elders :) xoxo!