Email to Mom: Monday, August 30, 2021

From: Kaitlyn.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, August 30, 2021
Subject: Training, Salem, Witches?

BOM DIA! 

This week was absolutely insane! I honestly don't even know how I'm here right now but hey I'll take it haha! This week was truly one for the books and I don't think I've ever felt so comforted by the spirit than I have this week. Such a cool gift! Anyways, there was was much that happened this week but I didn't have a ton of time to type it all put so when I call you might get more ;) but before this gets too long I'm just gonna hop right into your email:) 

- Salem is truly a Witch Town and we count everyday to see how many witches we see haha! 

- I was in Pawtucket for a long time;) it didn't feel too long though 

- Sister Soares is so so sweet! She's a super fast learner and I honestly got the best trainee 

- What are you and B gonna do together this week? 

- I already told her she can't move to my room because it gets too cold and the one time she slept down there she got all freaked out! Whatta dork! 

- Who would've thought you'd miss mine and Christians HUGE muscles for getting our decorations haha! 

- Thank you thank you for sending that stuff! It freaks me out not gonna lie but right now I just want to stay here and at least finish training. It's so many mixed emotions 

- Because I'm in MA now masks are required in a lot of places :/ I'm just trying to get my face to not break out haha! 

- I don't know what they'll want me to bring but I have everything so vamos ver haha! I know a sister in that mission too so I can ask her :) 

Alright now into my crazy week! 

MONDAY 

Oiiii! Tonight was a little dry not gonna lie. We had a little Bible study with a guy that I pretty sure is more interested in me than the gospel so we'll see what happens with him when I leave. We also had one last class with Alessandro! He's the sweetest little man I've ever met! Haha! Tonight the real highlight and pick me up was some pumpkin whoppie pies we made today! Before we showered and got ready for pros we decided to make them and it was our nice little treat after 9pm ;) 100% worth it and will be making it again haha! I hope you had a good rest of your day! This week is gonna be crazy so I hope you're ready for wither the longest email ever or the shorter because I won't have a ton of time haha! Have the best week!

TUESDAY 

Whatta day! This morning started off with a trainer meeting! Man, this is a lot of pressure and I'm getting more and more anxious honestly. We had a full day that slowly but surely dwindled down. Everyone just wanted to remark and move times all around. It was a bit of a mess but we finally got it. Haha! I got to go say goodbye to sweet Irmã Odete! She's so cute and I'm gonna miss all her fun stories! I finished up my packing today as well whenever I had a free chance. I also did some major purging of my Facebook and made sure Sister Parrish follows all the people haha! We then headed over to say goodbye to CiCi and Jayden. Tooooo sad! We rolled up and CiCi wanted to take all these pictures with us and Jayden so her boyfriend pulled out this big fancy camera and we low-key had a big fancy photoshoot on their lawn haha! I need to get those pictures from Sister Parrish after I leave. We also had one last lesson with Helmer tonight. That one really hurt me I won't lie haha! I just hope he keeps meeting and will progress toward baptism :) it was so sad to have to say goodbye though! The rest of the night was just pretty laid back honestly. I did ask for a blessing from Mons tonight we he was a real homie and gave me one. I haven't been feeling too anxious but but wanted to keep it that way so I just asked for blessing:) It all honestly started to hit me that I'm leaving though. I have so many mixed emotions, I don't want to leave but I'm excited for a new area and new people. I don't know it's just weird haha! Anyways, hopefully tomorrow goes good and I don't break my back moving my suitcases haha!

WEDNESDAY 

Man oh man. Today was a big sad kinda day haha! We woke up and had a mission wide meeting again. This one was actually really good and President Brough is just so cool:) Then it all started to get real haha! We took all my stuff downstairs and got the car all loaded up. We went and said one last goodbye to the Elders and then we were off. It felt like THE longest 45 minute drive of my whole live haha! Sister Parrish and I were just having one last jam out session and talking when both of us started to get major butterflies. It wasn't wasn't butterflies, it was more like bricks. We pulled into the church parking lot and just decided to take the leap and go inside. We had to wait a little bit for Sister Brough to bring all the new missionaries. In the meantime Sister Parrish had her interview interview President and Elder Mons and Holverson showed up. They're both headed to Canada tomorrow so they had last interviews and all that good stuff. Then I saw Sister Brough and my heart started to race so fast haha! My trainee is straight from Brasil and she is SO tiny! You thought I was small, you should cut me in half and that's the size of Sister Soares. She was so scared and just timid so I decided I needed to change that. She's so cute and she's so excited to be here :) What more could I ask for?! After what felt like forever, Sister Parrish was done with her interview and we began the shuffle of luggage, SIM cards, cars, and basically everything the elders had haha! The elders were super nice and had a lot of stuff to tell give us and show us on Area Book. Sister Parrish and I decided to go take our new daughrers out to lunch so we went and got some sandwiches and then we parted ways. Seriously so so sad! I'm also worried about Sister Parrishs trainee and how they'll get along, vamos ver na segunda. Sister Soares is so cute! We talked the whole car ride, she's a little shy but she loosened up as time went on. I'm excited to get to train her and serve with her :) We got right into the area too. Our apartment is nice and we live in the heart of Salem aka a literal Witch Town. I gotta take a video for you or something haha! Anyways, we had a lesson with a friend tonight woot woot! All the people here are Brazilian so that's a huge change. Not just that but the ward is English so that's gonna be interesting for church. It was a good night and I'm excited to be here:)

THURSDAY 

The first real day! Woot woot! Not only that but we had to drive to Revere, MA for interviews. I was supposed to have one yesterday but because I changed zones they were today. It actually was a really good interview. President Brough had some really nice things to say but he also gave me a few challenges that I'm excited to work on :) We literally live out in the middle of nowhere too so everything is super far. With that being said we had an hour drive back after interviews. That took up most of the day haha! Sister Soares is so sweet and man do I want her accent too! Anyways, we've been calling members and introducing ourselves but also we've been calling our new friends here. They do a lot of English classes with spiritual messages and have a really recent convert so that's rad! Tonight we also had cordinação but it's really called correlation haha! We have another set of elders in our ward too so they were there as well. Everything here is on zoom too, kinda weird. It was super cool to see how involved the ward is though. I've made it a personal goal to be active in missionary work when I get home. It was really good though and nice to meet a few people even if it was on zoom ;) Also I realized how many pictures I printed off of haha! I hung them up on my wall and they just have so so many fun memories! I personally love the one I have of Tyler haha! I hope your wrekvis going good and you know how much I love you!

FRIDAY

District Counsel day!!! Alright I gotta say it, this district is weird haha! I guess not wired but they're all just super quiet and don't really talk. It could be too that President Brough joined us through zoom to see how it works and stuff. We also crashed an all elders district haha! It was an interesting DC that's for sure. We had a nice long hour drive back too after, if you have any good tips on things to do we're gonna need the here soon haha! Today we got to meet two members! They're actually super sweet! Everyone here is really excited to have sisters here too, I guess it's been like 15 years since there's been sisters in this area. Crazy! Anyways, this ward is super willing to help and has so so many referrals too! We met with a less active and she's actually from China so that was crazy. She's super sweet though and gave us a tour of her house haha! She has so so many plants! We also met with this super sweet couple that is actually from Utah but has lived here in Salem forever. They were so willing to just help us find everything too. Sister Soares is killing it out here too! Her language still intimidates me but she's so sweet and kind. I seriously couldn't ask for a better daughter ;) We also got in contact with a member that is super stellar I guess! We're teaching his two younger brothers too so that's rad. The nights are a little slow here but I think part of it is just having to go through everything too with Sister Soares. It's crazy just how fast paced missionary life is and I never noticed until I had to stop to explain it to someone haha! I think that's all for tonight:)

SATURDAY 

Man! We live right in the middle of downtown Salem so we get to see and experience soany things haha! Definitely not a dull moment anywhere;) Today we had some weekly planning! It was Sister Soares first one so it took a little longer. I decided that we needed to go out for weekly planning just to help her. She was seeming a little stressed and I thought it would be good to just go get lunch and chat about it. We ended up at this hot dog company haha! I've never really loved hotdogs but this place was super good! Would highly recommend;) We grabbed it to go and headed to a park that's super close to our apartment as well for some planning. Sister Soares is super in tune with the spirit and has a super strong testimony. Man do I have things to learn from her haha! She honestly had some really great ideas and things for our friends. Tonight we got to finally contact some people! We made so many phone calls to dots, members, less actives, anyone! That's the good thing about being new, you don't know anyone and they don't know you so calling is super easy ;) We had a little bit of luck but nothing too crazy honestly. It's been cool to get to slow down and actually understand why we do things as missionaries. I've  noticed really bad habits that I have that I don't want Sister Soares to have so I've been working super hard on them ;) Always room to grow né? I hope you had the most fantastic day!

SUNDAY 

English is weird man! The ward here is English with a handful of português people and man is it weird to sit in an English meeting! I've just been so used and spoiled with a português branch and group before. It feels weird to be leading a companionship and know no members too. Also we literally had the cutest little old lady five us $20 today for our groceries. What?! I feel so bad taking it! I feel like we need to save it and then make treats for the members or something. Church was super good though and a good opportunity to meet the members. Everyone is super sweet and SO excited to have sisters here Holy cow! They have so many youth too! So crazy! It was so nice to go to church today though and just feel normal for a minute. It was the one thing this week that I've not had to worry too much about or think too much, I just needed to take the sacrament. After church though Sister Soares told me with a few tears that it really hit her thag she's on her mission. It broke my heart! We talked it all through and she's good now, but it just made me realize that something must've been wrong with me or is wrong with me because I've never been like "man I gotta get out" Sister Soares wasn't like that but it just made me think of the missionaries that are. Anyways, after we got home there was this huge festival or party thing going on ALLLLLL afternoon! It was the craziest thing ever. It was just all this Spanish music and there was a bounce house too. Oh! My phone was being weird all week too so sorry my videos barely uploaded.Tonight we had a super awesome lesson with a member tonight that just actually got off his mission 4 months ago. We're teaching his brothers and after talking to him I KNOW why I'm here. His brothers have almost almost identical situation with my dad and while he was talking I just had this overwhelming feeling that this is why I'm in this area.  I really feel like I'm gonna get to stay here for at least the rest of this transfer. It was a super good lesson though. We also did a noite familiar with some people in the ward and it was super Spirit filled! Sister Soares is killing it and already holds herself really well! It was such a good way to end the night:) I'm gonna wrap this up because it's late and this is getting long haha! I hope you had the best week and I love you!