Madre,

 

Hola! How are you doing? I hope things are going great for you. The mission field is really weird, especially when I’ve been so out of the world for so long. I am forgetting how to use technology! It’s craziness. Anyway, the spanish is no bueno. I can’t understand half of what anyone is saying because they talk so fast. I can pick out words, but it’s really hard. And I feel so exhausted at night because my brain is working so hard to try to understand people all day. Plus, we teach in english too, which you would think would be nice, but it just confuses my brain, and now I can’t teach very well in either. It’s really hard. I’m don’t feel like I’m learning any spanish at all, but my companion says it will come in time.

 

My companion is Hermana Vaughn. She’s really cool. I’m her last companion before she goes home, so she’s been out for a while. She is from Idaho. She just had surgery to get her gallbladder taken out like a three weeks ago, but she is almost completely better and doing the work like usual. She has a really good spanish accent, and she speaks spanish very well. She is great.

 

But anyways, my first area is a really big area. It’s kind of weird, but I like it. I’ve been meeting a ton of people, and most of them are totally crazy. They say the funniest things, but I never understand them until Hna. Vaughn explains them to me later. But they are pretty much hilarious. We have a few people that they have been teaching for a while that are supposed to get baptized soon, so that’s pretty cool. I think it’s crazy, because when we go tracting, we meet people who have never heard of the Mormons. I thought everyone knew of us, or at least had crazy ideas about who we are. That was definitely eye opening.

 

We had church yesterday, of course, and it was insane. We went to the just spanish ward, and it was so tiny. There are only ten women in Relief Society on a good day, and in sacrament meeting there was only like 30 people. I’m used to really big wards to that was really strange. Since it was fast Sunday, the President asked us to get up and bear our testimonies. So I did…and I slaughtered it. They could all tell what a gringa I am. It was sad. But everyone is really nice so that’s good. I also ended up saying the closing prayer in sacrament too. So that was fun.

 

I will probably call after church on Sunday. We have church at 11 on Sunday too. But since we are an hour ahead, it will probably be between like 3 and 5 ish. I’m not really sure. Just keep your phone handy. 🙂 Anyway, I better go now. Love you lots. I’ll talk to you on Sunday.

  

Love, Hermana Kelsey 

 

Padre,

 

My first week has been okay. The work is really hard, but I like it. The Spanish is crazy! They talk so so fast, and most of the time I don’t know what they are saying. Me and my companion don’t speak that much Spanish with each other, but we talk some. I ask her a lot how to say things, and she’ll tell me so I can say them at another point. It’s fun.

Anway, I better go. Love you lots.

Love, Hermana Kelsey