Kelsey and Emily

Dearest family,

Hey howdy hey! How are y’all doing? Ha ha. I don’t really sound like a Southerner yet, but I’m working on it. Just kidding. But anyway, things are good here. We have had a good week this week. We finally got a hold of our two legit investigators that went missing. We still don’t really know what is going to happen with them, but we are still going to try. They were so cool, but now we don’t know what is going on with them.

Just a few things that happened this week:

Wednesday: We got to watch the Joseph Smith movie with some of our recent converts. It is SUCH a good movie. I really love it, and I haven’t seen it since the MTC, where we used to watch it almost every Sunday. I always cry to think about all the things he went through, but because of that, we have the church we have today. One part that got Sister V. really bad, which it never did before, was the part where the missionaries start going out to different parts of the world to preach. She started thinking about how she is doing that now, and it just hit her differently than before. It was pretty cool. Our recent converts loved it too.

Thursday: We had a 24 hour exchange. I went with Sister N., to their area, and her companion, Sister B., went with Sister V. to our area. It was pretty fun. We visited with some really cool people, and had some great times. I got to talk to Elder W., who is one of the elders I came into Texas with. He is so cool. He is the zone leader in their area. It was weird doing english work though. It is very different from spanish work. It is hard to explain, but it just feels different. I didn’t like it as much. But it was still fun. 🙂 Also, it was weird, because we went to eat dinner with this family, and when we pulled up the house, I was like, “I have seen this house before.” But I couldn’t think of where I had seen it. Then all of the sudden, I remembered. My first night that I stayed in Texas, I stayed with Sister W. and Sister M. And then I realized the person we were about to eat with was someone that we ate breakfast with my first day (their ward mission leader). So we went up to the door, and I said hey to the sister that we were eating with. I introduced myself, and she said, “you look familiar.” I told her it was because I had been there before. Then she said she remembered me. It was weird. Like deja vu. Except now I’m a kind of experienced missionary instead of a completely thrown out of my comfort zone greenie.

Mom: Awww! T. and G.! I miss them! I saw a little boy the other day that looked so much like G., and I felt a little bit sad, because I remember when little tiny G. used to cuddle with me in the morning after he woke up, and when I get home, “little” G. will probably be as tall as I am. 🙁 It stinks that things have to change. Sometimes I wish time could just hold still for just a minute. But I know that’s how everyone feels sometimes. Wow…Jessica is going on a mission?! That is so cool! Tell her congratulations, and that she will love it. Spanish is the BEST!! Not that I’m biased or anything. 🙂 Ha ha, but really that is sweet.

Wow, Grandmother and Grandad are married 56 years? That is quite a long time. Not as long as eternity, but that’s still a while. 🙂 That is super cool though.

I love you so much! I had a dream the other night that I was coming home, and I saw all of you at the airport. It made me sad when I woke up, but I know that day will be coming quick, and I probably won’t want it to come when it does. I still have mixed feelings about that. I want to come home, but I don’t at the same time. It’s so weird.

Dad: I’m glad things are still just going along. One of my new favorite quotes goes like this:

“Some blessings come soon, some blessings come late, and some blessings don’t come until heaven, but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” (-Jeffrey R Holland) As long as you are doing what you need to be doing, and living the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will be blessed. Maybe not at this moment, but at some point it will happen. Don’t give up! 🙂 It wil happen. Anway, I think that’s it. Love you! P.S. The sprint is my favorite part. I love sprinting! :):):)

Emmy: Hey seester! How’s it going? Oh wait…HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO EMMYSAURUS REX! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! Woohoooo! You’re almost an adult (officially!) Ha ha. Well, I can’t really do much else for you, so that’s going to have to be your happy birthday from me. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed it.

That is pretty cool that you are doing great with your school, and clinicals and all that. Man, I can’t believe you’ve been getting up that early. You’re a trooper! I still struggle with getting up at 6:30 some days. Being a missionary is exhausting. But awesome, and totally worth it. 🙂 I just think I was never meant to be a morning person.

Oh wow, and you are getting senior pictures?! You should send me one when you get them printed. 🙂 That would be really cool. I don’t even know what all of you look like. It has been like FOREVER! For reals.

Anyway, I gotta go now! I love you all SOOOO much.

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Dear family,

Hey, how are y’all doing? 🙂 This week has been good. We didn’t get hit by any tornados, but about 6 of them touched down in Arlington. President was inspired when he took the sisters out of there. 🙂 Apparently there were about a dozen in total, but none of them came in our area. As far as I know, everyone that is serving in the areas where they touched down are okay. It was weird hearing the tornado alarm though. You don’t hear those in Utah.

Okay so this week…

Monday: We got heart attacked by the elders that live in our apartment complex. It was stinkin’ cute. Our elders are so sweet. We spend a lot of time with them, because we give them rides, and they give us rides, if we are going to the same place at the same time. They are good boys.

Tuesday: I found out that my first convert, Antonio, passed away a little while ago. It was really sad and hard. I was looking forward to being able to go visit him when I come back to visit the mission after I come home, but now I don’t get to. 🙁 But it’s okay, I know that he is in a good place. 🙂 Also, it rained a lot! And I stepped in a huge puddle that was like 6 inches deep, and I almost drowned. Jk, jk, that was dramatic. But it was really deep. Also, we had a baptism!!! H. got baptized, and everything went well. I will attach a photo of all of us together. 🙂

Wednesday: We set a marriage date with two of our investigators (A. and L.) for the 5th of May!!! Woo!!! So they will be getting married, and then after they can get baptized. And L. has opened up to us a lot. Before he used to to not like the missionaries, but he loves us now. And he has read the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true! They are so cool.

Thursday: We had a crazy day. So H. was supposed to get the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, but we went to visit them on Thursday, and J. (her son), had gotten a call from his work that he needed to be in Boston on Monday, and they were driving there. So…they had to leave that night. So we had to do a bunch of calling and get permission, to try to get it so she could get the gift of the Holy Ghost not in sacrament meeting on Sunday. It was crazy stressful, but it happened. She got the gift of the Holy Ghost, and everything is all good. 🙂 We also can write to her now, because she is our recent convert, and is not living in our mission.

Saturday: We got to eat at Texas Roadhouse! It was Elder K.’s birthday, so we got money from our dinner and decided to eat there. He was so embarrased because we had them sing for him. 🙂 Ha ha! But at least we didn’t make him sit on the saddle. I think he would have been VERY angry with us.

Sunday: We went Easter caroling. It was Sister Valdez’s idea, because she never got to go real caroling at Christmas time, so she really wanted to go. It was fun.

MOM: That is such a cool lesson. It really is true. I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day, and I read a verse in Mosiah, chapter 2, verses 23 and 24. It says basically that same thing.

“And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore of what have ye to boast?”

Basically, now matter what we do, we still owe him for everything. But we can give back to him by helping others, and being obedient to the commmandments. I am so grateful for the gospel. 🙂

P.S. To answer your P.S., we have 72 hour kits in our apartment, and they also have papers that we are supposed to keep with us that tell us what to do, in case of a tornado or other emergency. They are very organized in the way they handle things like that. 🙂 Don’t you worry none. 🙂

EMMY: I’m doing good. Man, that is crazy Amanda L. is going to be having a baby. 🙂 And you are turning 18! But that sounds like a lot of stuff you have to do. I will defintely keep you in my prayers. 🙂

P.S. Are you trying to trunk me out?! Ha ha. It won’t work. I’m not trunky like at all. 🙂

DAD: There were some tornados that were close ish, but none of them hit where I am at all. Man, Uncle Scott is crazy. 🙂 Ha. I would maybe consider running a marathon, if my hips weren’t bad. And if I trained for it for a really long time. 🙂 I’m glad grandmother and granddad are doing good.

Well, I better go now. I love you all!

Love, Kelsey

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX