Email to Mom: Monday, July 12, 2021

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Subject: Too Good To Be True!

Holy cow! 6 months already?! It's crazy mom! I feel like I just started my mission but also that I've been out for 6 months ;) It's one of those things too that I feel like I've been working hard (definitely can work harder though!) But that I also feel like I've done nothing for 6 months. I just can't believe I only have one year left haha! If you can't tell, this really all just hit me this week:) alright I'm just gonna get straight into your week :) 

- I love that Annie's ice cream get together worked out! She kills me haha! 

- That's crazy about that neighbor, I glad you guys were able to reach out though and leave a good taste in their mouths 

- Yeah what even happened with Aliana? I need the story! 

- The video of the bear blew my mind! I wish I could've been there to see him :) but hey that moose thag one time was pretty rad too ;) 

- That trail experiences some pretty great scares haha! 

- How is mission stuff going for him? I got an email (shorter and later this week) just asking about flashcards and language help mostly 

- This week sounds like it was go go go! Not really the best in the moment sometimes but for sure helps so the week doesn't drag on forever 

- You'll have to let me know how the horseshoe tournament goes! Last year I didn't make it crazy far but man I tried haha! 

- Ps I LOVE the happy bird shirt haha! ;) 

MONDAY 

hey hey hey! Sorry I was lame at texting you back today, I'll be better next week ;) How was the rest of the day up at the cabin? Thank goodness the polar king is still open huh? ;) Tonight was pretty low key really. We just had our English class with Alessandro. He's one of my favorites and we always learn a new phrase from him. Tonight we were talking about pão de queijo and he said 'agua na boca' which is like my mouth is watering haha! Other than that though it was a pretty chill and slow night. We got to listen to the crazy fireworks show but of course couldn't see anything because of where our apartment windows are haha! We alsonhad call ins with the STL's and couldn't go up to the roof. It was only a little bit sad haha! That's about it for tonight though! Thanks for always messaging me and for letting me just rant and talk to you on pdays. Mondays are by far my most favorite days :) I love you mom!  

TUESDAY 

Mom! Como vai? You'll never guess what happened this morning mom! Man do he need need work on my upper body strength haha! Okay so I made a smoothie for breakfast and the nutribullet would NOT open. I tried for like 10 minutes and Sister Parrish tried and we could not get it. We hit on the counter, we ran water over it, nothing worked. We ended up having to call the Spanish elders to come down and get it. Burdick got it like first try so I think we just loosened it for him really. Needless to say, we will not be using that cup anymore because we can't get it off and it was a little embarrassing to have to ask ;) Today went by so fast too! I don't know why but time just flew by. We went over to Irmã Fatimas house and had a little member lesson with her. This woman though! She literally made us rice and she was like, 'no queridas I'll get it for you, you don't eat enough' She comes back with the two biggest plates of rice I've ever seen! And she had juice. Let's just say, I don't need to eat eat years at this point haha! We love her though and I'm super grateful for her :) Julie was super nice and sent me a package today too. Tonight we decided to do an English LIVE on Facebook. I think it went pretty well and we actually found some new people from it. I hope this area starts to pick up a little bit too. Especially because of what I'm about to say. Okay so Sister Parrish and I have been doing some math. There are currently 10 português sisters in the MBM, Sister G is dying and last night Sister Lindberg said she's leaving for Brasil on the 23rd. So now we're gonna be down to 8 sisters. We have 8 new sisters coming in within the next 2 weeks. Training is a real possibility amor. AND the Português Elders area could close (they're the ZL'S and they're both dying this transfer) and we could get it. That means Sister Parrish and I could both stay and train here and this would be a 4 Sister apartment again. Obviously nothing is set this is just our predictions haha! Just so so crazy! I love you mom! ps. We had a crazy rainstorm and I got to see a rainbow! How rad is that?! And I don't know why but everytime it rains I think of Grams because one time she told me it's lile angels bowling or something haha! 

WEDNESDAY 

Hey hey hey:) how's your day been?? I hope this weekbis better with the MTC and that things are starting to fall into place:) Anyways, today was the big day! Today we finally got to meet President and Sister Brough! They also had their family introduce themselves too! They're just the sweetest little family and they clearly love the gospel. President Brough is super cool and I'm actually way excited to get to have him as my mission president. He even asked us what our expectations of him are, of course he gave us expectations but it was super cool just to see how real he is. He's also so so humble and is willing to just shoot us straight. He had some really good insights for zone conference today and the drive I have to work even harder and find people is through the roof. It was like he was just adding gas to a fire, I don't know how to explain it haha! When we got back I worked so hard to contact people and find new people on Facebook. Haha! We had kind of a bust night but man am I gonna try hard to find people! I set a goal for myself for my mission and it's been on my mind a lot so I'm working hard to fulfill thag goal:) I'm super excited to get to work with President Brough and see how this all works out. Also I think you're the number one fan on the MBM Facebook page haha! Go mom!

THURSDAY 

I was gonna start this off in Português but then I realized you'd probably just skim over it anyways so here we are haha! :)  Whatta day! Today I actually felt like I did some kind of missionary work! I mean I always feel like that but today we had some solid lessons and so many miracles! To start out the day I read my Patriarchal Blessing woot woot! We love reading that haha! I don't know if I told you but I have a goal to read it every 3 months on the mission, so it was that time again. It's crazy how many different things I notice just 3 months later too. God is real! Sometimes when I read it, I wonder what other people's blessings say ya know? I'd love to just sit and compare them but obviously that's not gonna happen ;) Today we had a lesson with our friend CiCi! She's been taught for a long time and has EVERYTHING, like even the interview, but she lives with her boyfriend. We went in there to do a DTR and we did! But we also got to talk to her son a little bit haha! He's about 6 and he's probably my favorite little cape verdian 6 year old ever ;) While we were talking to her one of the guys that lives with her, (housing is super weird here I'll have to explain one day haha!) Comes out and says hey to us! Such a miracle that we were able to see him because he's a gray dot! He was like, 'yeah you guys called me right?' So rad! We talked a little bit about meeting up soon so we can all have a lesson together:) Depois isso, we had a lesson with our stellar friend Helmer! Mom I can't even explain! It was so so good! :) He's reading on his own and he's already done with 1 Nephi, we literally met with him like 5 days ago! Today we went over o Plano de Salvação and he loved it! The Spirit was SO strong too!  In person is 100 times BETTER! He told us that it makes total sense and that he would even pray about it. Sister Parrish and I were talking and we think we could invite him to be baptized here soon. He's so ready.  I get super nervous though because of what happened the first time with our friend Elba. Who knows, only time will tell ya know? Tonight we had a lesson with a guy in Brasil so that was pretty cool, we even got to pass him off to the Elders there so he can be taught. Tonight we were making some contacts and we saw a huge miracle! We have this one friend that during weekly planning I felt like we needed to contact her tonight. We were gonna stop teaching her but Sister Parrish and I felt like we'd give her one last chance tonight and see what happens. I bet you can guess haha! ;) We called tonight and she answered! She seemed so happy to talk to us too! Not only that but we set a time to meet with her. It was such a good day and I'm seeing a mão de Deus more and more in this work:) I can't imagine not being a missionary. How cool is it thay I get to do this and to be a literal representatives of Jesus Christ and teach people as He did. So so rad! I love you! ps we played with a tiny little puppy and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen with 4 legs! 

FRIDAY 

Tropical Storm?? I don't think so! Haha! Last night they sent us a text and told us that tropical storm Elsa was headed for us and that we shouldn't leave our apartments for any reason. Let's just say that today, yes it rained a crap ton, but there was no wind or anything that remotely looked like a major storm. The AP's even told us to not go to DC because it was gonna be bad, well jokes on them because we all walk to DC anyways ;) Speaking to DC, today we had a really good training. Na verdade it was actually just really good all the way around. We talked about why we all came on missions. Elder Mons even had me read my call letter (just certain paragraphs) and it really just hit me. I was also fasting with my CTM district today that we can all make it to Brasil soon. It was a super cool experience and I don't wanna say everything came full circle but the Spirit is definitely real :) The area is picking up! I literally got three people to set lessons, and that was just my efforts not even Sister Parrish's. I'm so so excited! I'll have to keep you updated on how they all go :) Tonight we called this guy that I Facebook Found, but man was he weird. He gave me some weird vibes but I thought, "what's what's worst that could happen" Well, he's super weird and I don't think I'll be talking to him anytime soon. I don't know how to explain it but it was like my heart was beating super fast and I just didn't feel good about it. It was fine overall but he thought I was older and then kept giving weird compliments and asking super personal questions. WEIRD! Tonight went by super fast though! This week has just gone by super fast actually haha! Hopefully it feels that way for you guys too :) I love and miss you!

SATURDAY 

IT'S SATURDAY?! Where had time even gone this week?! Today was a super crazy day but so so full of miracles :) Let me back up a little bit haha! So the Spanish Elders had a baptism today and we told our (most progressing!) friend, Helmer, that we would have link so he could watch. Come to findout, they aren't doing links anymore and he couldn't watch. Sad day! Alright just keep that all in mind okay? ;) This morning for comp study we decided to go to a park and look at the farmers market that was there while chatting about our studies. It was cool but I don't know if I would go unless I really really cared about where my produce came from. Okay now back to Helmer! We sent him a text and told him the sad news but then he asked if we could study! Claro que sim! Are you kidding?! We made a quick little lesson plan to go over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we were both super pumped for it :) Last time we met we talked about kingdoms and all that jazz so right outta the gate we asked what questions he had. We know it's a lot so might as well ask ya know? This man looks at us and says, "I don't have questions about any of that, but I do have a question about baptism" YOU'RE KIDDING ME!!! Mom we never have even talked about baptism, we barely even mentioned it last time. This man has only had like 3-4 lessons. We ended up talking with him about baptism and explained everything. He had a lot of questions and we were able to answer them. At one point he even said 'your church' and then switched it to 'our church' It was a crazy lesson and not at all what we thought going in haha! When is it ever what we think?;) It was a super Spirit filled lesson too! When we simply invited him to come to church tomorrow he looks at us and with total firmness says, "I will be there" and walks away. Let's just say I was 100% shocked when we were walking back to the car. It was too good to be true! I just hope we can help him and that he really does have thay desire :) The rest of the day went by pretty quick after that haha! Probably because Helmer lesson took up so much time, I'm not even mad about it. We had an English class tonight that I thought maybe could turn into a lesson but it just didn't feel right sabe? Anyways, we made a quick little trip to go see the Elders and tell them parabens on their baptism:) This transfer is FLYING! And the fact that everyone is leaving is so so sad! I think I understand now when people say they make life long friends on the mission ;) I miss you guys!  

SUNDAY 

Today when I woke up I had the song, 'What I Love About Sunday' playing in my head haha! I think I miss music a little bit haha!;) Today was too good! You'll never guess what happened mom! Home boy Helmer came to church AND so did CiCi! That means we had 2 friends and church and guess what else?! They both stayed for second hour! I'm telling you, it was a good day :) Helmer said he had a few questions about the sacrament so we told him we could meet later this week and talk about it. He's super rad! The rest of the night just went by super quick. We'll at least my studies did haha! I feel like the hour we have to study goes by in like 30 seconds. I 100% took advantage of the free time I had at home to study. Does it feel like like for you when you stufy?? Anyways, nothing to crazy to report here except that our lessons fell through:/ but we remarked with one so BÊNÇÃOS;) I can't believe it's already Sunday and that I get to talk to you tomorrow :) meu coração fica feliz! I hope you had the best Sunday and that Relief Society is just popping!;)   I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow! Love and miss you!