Email home to Mom

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
To: Me! Your Mom!!
Date: Monday, August 2, 2021
Subject: Brasil?! Miracles!

Good morning mom! okay so I have to apologize for the lack of pictures this week but also for how short this email may be. This week was full of stuff and I didn't have a ton of time to write this so hopefully it all makes sense haha! But I'm just gonna get straight into your email today :) 

- The end of the MTC?! How does it feel?! You'll never have to do that again woot woot haha! 

- The lesson actually fell through with the members and Helmer but were trying to set something else up. It's just hard nowvthat he has a job 

- I'm super excited about my VISA! But at the same time it's just another waiting game so I'm just gonna work hard here for as long as I can :) I am super excited through and I'm even more excited about the language:) 

- I seriously can't thank you enough for doing all my VISA stuff! You make life way too easy sometimes ;) I appreciate you more than you know 

- I haven't seen or heard Jen Korth in a longgggg time haha! 

- Christian is hard. I love him but he's always let dad dictate a lot of things too. He always says he doesn't care but then it's stuff like that and it just shows the opposite. I think him being I a literal third world country will help with the whole situation too. He's won't be able to keep up with it that's for sure 

- If it makes you feel any better I think our couch had my butt imprint on it haha! 

- He's gonna have a huge wake up call once he gets out out the field. Well at least I hope he does, just get him to the 5th and I think it'll be good 

- I don't like Costco but they have some pretty good food, they need to bring thay salad back! :) 

- Brooklyn! Man do I miss her! She's so cute and sent me a text yesterday of my plaque and it made my whole heart so happy :) she's the cutest! 

- I've heard of Brookers! Sister Williams loved that place! Haha! 

- How does Chrish feel about his room being all moved around? Does he seem mad? 

- Brittan's birthday is so hard I'll give you that. I think buying anything for boys is hard honestly haha! 

- The temple looks sooo crazy!! I can't wait for it to be done and get to go :) 

- Bryson and Brynlee make mt heart too happy! 

- I loved the pictures and videos this week! :) 

MONDAY 

Ola! Today was a pretty chill pday after we went and took some pictures. We stopped at this Thai food place and it was pretty good not gonna lie. I think it made me a little sick though but that's alright;) Today was too good! Our friend CiCi messaged us today and asked if we could meet up and talk. We set something up really quick and headed to a park to meet with her. She's the sweetest person ever and literally bought us KFC for dinner while we talked. It was super good to just get to talk to her and hear her thoughts. The rest of the night just went by so fast! Having stuff in person just makes things go by so much quicker. I don't know but for me it does haha! I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and how much I miss you! I love getting to see all your pictures every week and getting to talk to you:) I hope you have the BEST week! I love you mom!

TUESDAY 

What a freaking day!! For starters we had interviews with President Brough! When I tell you that man is inspired, man do I mean it! I had a couple things I wanted to address with him and he knew exactly what I needed. I had some homework aka reading material, and I took everything to heart. It helped me so so much and I loved getting to have his input on things. He also gave us this super rad training. We're allowed to contact less actives!! With that being said though, we had to have some training and rule rundown and it seriously was so cool. He told us to keep it to 10 minutes, have a solid invite, and then leave to let the Spirit work on them. We've applied it so much this week and we've seen SO SO many miracles! (Clearly added this later haha!) Right before I was getting ready to finish up he asked me how I would feel about training... He asked me all these questions about my language, my teaching, if I could lead out a companionship, just all these questions. I expected to a be nervous but I was okay. He stressed to me just how important training is to him. He told me that training matters more to him than AP or STLT. If that's not pressure I don't know what is haha!  When we got back we decided to do some sheet work again but then guess what freaking happened??? I checked my email and I had an email to finish the last part of my VISA application for Brasil! My heart literally dropped and I didn't know what to do. I called you so freaking fast! Like I literally got the email and called you haha! Thanks for going through that and spending your afternoon trying to mimic my signature haha; Right now they're taking about 2-3 months to process fully before flight plans so I still have a minute but yeah. How crazy is that?! I'm so excited but now I really hope I just get to stay here in Pawtucket for one more transfer and then leave for Brasil. There is so much here left for me to do, I can feel it. Who knows what's gonna happen though. T-texts are coming and I have ZERO clue about what's even going on I the mission. I guess I just gotta give it up to the Lord right? ;) Today we had some fun getting some member posts for Instagram and Facebook but we also had some fun with our Brazilian friend that we teach English too. I seriously love her (and her accent!) so so much! We also made a crap ton of contacts haha! But I was still kinda hung up on just the roller-coaster of emotions that today was;) It was such a good day! I hope that your day was good and that you've been able to get all settled relax a little bit and not go too crazy with your calling ;) Seriously thabkbyoubagaun for helping me out today! I love you to the moon and back!

WEDNESDAY 

You already know what today was! SERVICE! We love service haha! Today we were given the task to build this metal shelf and boy did we build it :) Sister Parrish and I literally spent forever trying to figure the pieces because there were no instructions so we just had to wing it. We finally got it and to see if it was sturdy enough I did a plank on the shelf. The good news is that we did in fact build it correctly and I did not fall on the concrete. We also found this treasure chest and guess who could fit in it? Me haha! I hope that explains the video you for earlier ;) it actually wasn't too bad in there but I definitely couldn't stay there forever. Tonight we had this English class with a man that literally knew NO English whatsoever. I thought at least some people would be able to say hi or something but I was soooooo wrong. He knew nothing and we had to go really slow to help him. My patience was for sure being tested because he also couldn't remember what we said. We'd ask him what the word for 'he' is and he would say the word for 'girl'. Let's just say that was the longest 30 minutes of my life but hopefully we can start to help him really pick up on the language. Nothing too crazy tonight though. I've decided I need to be better about my nights so I've been trying to be more productive with my time. We're gonna see what happens haha! Today I tried really hard to think of the advice that President Brough gave me and it's actually changed my view of my mission a little bit. That man is too cool :) I hope you guys are all doing good and that the MTC is going good too :) I love you forever and always!

THURSDAY 

How is it already Thursday?! This week has totally just slipped away from me. All the time that I thought I had, I really don't haha! Today we had our good old weekly planning! We decided to head to this local restaurant for lunch and bring it back to eat while we planned. It was actually so good and I would go back. It was super cool too because it was all local farms and stuff that they get their product from. It would definitely be something you'd find in like Provo or Salt Lake. Kinda hippie vibes but it was fun. We decided to plan on the roof today too and I think I got a little sun;) I miss just being outside and getting to feel the sun, hopefully when I get to Brasil I'll be able to get out a little bit. Vamos ver! Today we had to finish up our humans posts for the Instagram and Facebook pages too. We got all of it set up so today was the day that we had to go take the pictures and get their testimonies. All the irmãs are so cute and man do they have confidence! You tell them that they look good and they just say, 'I know' and laugh like no big deal haha! I mean more power to em :) I can't think of anything too crazy that happened today though... The weeks are starting to slow down but also pick up at the same time. I feel like I do a ton of work but when I type it out like this, it seems like I don't haha! It's alright though:) I hope you had the best day and that you know how much I love and miss you!

FRIDAY 

Today was so full of lessons! We love to see it! This week was a little slow when it came to lessons but today I guess everyone could meet or something because we were able to teach. We had a pretty decent DC today, the ZL's gave it but it's hard to relate to them. I don't know how to explain it, it's almost like they have this checklist when they talk that they need to hit every point. I understand the importance of not forgetting things but at the same time if you forget one thing, not the end of the world either. I don't know, they're just hard to relate to because it's like you're talking to a wall almost. Anyways, today we got to go over to Irmã Fatimas house! We purposely didn't eat too much today because she always feeds us so much food. We got their around lunch and bless this woman's soul, she brings out the biggest slice of pudin and two little brownies for each of us. And to wash it all down, some super tart cranberry juice. It was quite the combo and man did my stomach hurt after haha! But I was super grateful for her and for her testimony today :) Our members really are the best! We had a lesson with Helmer today! We haven't been able to meet with him as much because he just got a new job as a truck driver so his schedule is a little weird. But today we were able to meet with him! We had to meet with him at the church today because of the weather but we can't be there alone with him so Mons and Arroyo came and sat in with us. We had to do some translating so that was interesting but we also had to talk about chastity and Tithing. It went good but it was a little weird to have them there for that lesson and have to translate for them. We also found two new people tonight! Well they were gray but now they aren't woot woot! Super excited to get to talk to them and see how we can help them:) Side note for today: today in the elevator Arroyo tried to give Sister Parrish and I wet Willie's or something so I turned to just shove him a little bit and I ended up actually hitting him because he turned into it. Let's just say that I felt really bad and even though Mons was dying and he said he was good I felt bad. It reminded me of the times we used to play the license plate game and I'd hit Tyler and then he'd start to get into it too haha! We shouldn't be allowed to play games like that;) I hopebthat today was fantastic! I love you!

SATURDAY 

I don't know what happened today but the Lord decoded to open up the heavens and just pour down some blessings for us! It all started because Irmã Odete wanted us to come with her to visit her neighbor. She's not a member but a gray dot, technically I don't know if we can do that but it was 12pm on a Saturday so we didn't think she'd be home and Irmã Odete really wanted us to go. One thing President Brough told us was that if a lesson or something fell through we could see who's around in Area Book and knock those doors if we felt like it. He also told us to try to find out why the Lord lead us there that day. We took Irmã Odete back to her house and decided to jusr walk the street. We didn't know why we  were there so we went back to the car a little sad. Right as we were getting into the car we heard this guy yell 'hey sisters!' So we turned around and this guy was getting out of a car in the middle of the road. Come to find out he's a member and used to be really close with the missionaries in the past. He's super inactive but asked us for a Book of Mormon. We gave him one and then he asked me if I had something for him to read I it. After a minute I gave him Moroni 7:41. Ask me how that scripture came to mind? Not a freaking clue haha! He was super chill and told us to keep in touch. We left and I knew that's why we needed to be there! Such a cool experience! Probably the coolest one I've had in Pawtucket when it comes to members or less actives. We also had some time today to stop by another less active. We had 3 people in area book we for sure wanted to stop at and at this point we had no luck. We finally made it to the 3rd door and she answered! She even asked us to come in and talk with her. It was so freaking cool! We got to know her for a minute and even set up a time to meet again! I'm so excited to get to talk to her and hopefully help her feel welcome at church. We had a few things fall through tonight but it all worked out because we found a new friend tonight! I'm telling you, the Lord literally just poured blessings today! It was so crazy cool and I 100% had my testimony strengthened:) Such a good day! It's days like this that trump the slow days that I feelvlilebim doing nothing. I can't wait to talk to you soon!

SUNDAY

Fast and testimony meeting! Sometimes I get nervous for testimony meeting because I never know what I'm gonna feel. Haha! Today we had such cool miracles though! We had two friends that we did not think would ever show up church, come to church! It was so rad to see them come in and watch the ward just welcome them:) We had some pretty solid testimonies too so that was good. After church we decided to make some brigadero for a youth less active. She's the only member and her dad just had surgery so she's taking care of him. We stopped by and dropped off the treats to hopefully jusr help her feel like she has someone ya know? Also, I'm so excited to make brigadero for you when you get home:) I don't know how you'll feel about it but I know Tyler will love it ;) We also got a call from President Fairbank from our branch inviting us to dinner tonight. We couldn't say no so we went and it was so good! This man smoked pork for 16 hours and had pulled pork sandwiches ready for us. It reminded me of Tyler and the Treager bacon! Definitely gonna need some of that when I get home haha! We were able to share a quick message with his family too. They're so so sweet and his daughters are so cute :) I will say though, teaching in English is super weird and foreign and I have no idea what I'm doing haha! I can't even pray in English anymore haha! I think I might find a português ward to go to when I get home. There's one in provo I think but I don't know for sure. Maybe I'll just talk with the Português people that are in our stake and ward, who knows! We had a memeber lesson fall through tonight so we ended up just doing a lot of finding but hopefully that'll lead to something right?  I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow! I love you