Kylies letter 10-3-11

I GOT A GOLDEN TICKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those exclamation points do not really explain how I felt at that moment in time. Quick recap

So this past week I have really been struggling with the whole visa thing. We had a devotional and the guy told us to start praying for the people where we will be serving. Which I was already doing and I feel like I already love them and the culture and everything even though I have no idea what it is like. I've been praying that the Lord will prepare the Brazilian people for our message and to help me find those that need the message. I've been praying for the people of Brazil. And with the whole visa thing I've was having a inner conflict because I couldn't pray for the people of Brazil because there was a chance I might not end up serving there. We sent out two more districts to the states and I talked to one elder, going to Texas, that hasn't even done his electronic visa and I thought - "that's going to be me". I've been pouring my soul out to God every night long past the 10:30 pm bed time hour. Don't worry I'm in bed and lights are out, I just wasn't sleeping. I explained to Heavenly Father that I believed my call came from Him and that I was called to Brazil, I told him that I was happy to serve Him wherever I might end up but it is really hard for me to be studying a language and to end up not using it. I've failed to learn French, and Spanish, the third time was going to be the charm. It is hard for me to be praying for a people I may never get to meet. I felt like this MTC experience and studying the langage was a leap of faith believing I would get to Brazil. Faith are things hoped for which are not seen which are true. The problem was that I sure did have hope but I did not know if me going to Brazil was true. Every night I plead with Heavenly Father to bless me with hope and to help me have a desire to serve him wherever I end up....but to please help me get to Brazil. I've been praying so hard all day everyday that it was getting to be quite the distraction. I coudln't focus during personal study and would get discouraged during language study. I never prayed so hard for something in my life. I knew my call was from God and it was a righteous desire for me to want to go there. I don't not want to go to states just because I want to go foreign serving. I want to go to Brazil and only Brazil. So I just kept praying for hope or comfort.

 

Lo and behold this last Friday during our afternoon class I got a golden ticket (it was actually a blue slip of paper) that told me to go to the travel office. I grabbed it and screamed and ran down the hall and shouted to everyone on our floor that I got my electronic visa. I've never been so happy in my entire life. I completed my electronic visa and now it is just a matter of time. Who knows how long I'll have to wait until my real visa but I've done my electronic visa. But there is a God and He is too good to me. That was definitely an answer of prayer. And now I truly have faith that I will get to Brazil. When President Uchtdorf gave his talk for the RS (which I watched while the Elders were watching priesthood). HE talked about always looking for a golden ticket and missing the cholcate inside. I know I will get to Brazil eventually but I need to enjoy the chocolate wherever I end up getting temporarily assigned. There still is a chance I may never get my visa - I think it will get it. Besides what missionary can say they served two missions - state side and foreign? Ever since Normal, IL I know I will find good things about anywhere I end up and love the people.

 

I did feel a little bad for my companion - Sister Connell does not have her electronic visa yet while Sister Hall and I both do. It was bitter sweet for her when I got mine. I felt the same way when sister hall got hers. I was happy for her but so insanely jealous. So keep all of us in our prayers that we will eventually get the real visa. Thank you for your prayers for my visa too! They must be working so keep them coming!

 

This past week was conference weekend and what a weekend. I felt like I ate and watched a session, ate and watched another session, ate and watched yet antoher session for two days straight. I did that for all four conference sessions on top of a MTC devotional sunday night and RS broadcast Saturday night. It was very spiritually uplifting yet so uncomfortable. We sat in hard chairs with no cushions for 12 hours. Regardless it was very spiritually uplifting. It was cool to hear them talk about missionaries and think " I am one!" It was also kind of fun to hear all the little whispers of excitement when a favorite speaker got up to speak. And can you believe another temple in Provo!!!! Up from the ashes come the Roses of Success! How exciting! I hope I will be back when they do the open house.

 

The langage is slowly coming. I did my first lesson without any notes or having to memorize any phrases, this week . God is really helping me. I went from having to read everything I said to now being able to speak with a limited vocabulary. I have also started reading the portuguese Preach my gospel and only have to look up a handful of words. So I've got the gospel vocab down - but that's about it. The rest will come later.

 

Hope things are going well back home and hope you are all enjoying the fall colors. Get out into the mountains because you can. My heart hurts everytime I look at them because I can't go climb them.

 

Love you all!

 

Com Fe,

 

Sister P

 

Kylie's letter 9-26-11 Still at Provo MTC

Oi familia! How's it going?

 

So I've done a really bad job keeping up on my journal. There is just to much to study, to many people to write, to many things to read. So it''s my journal that has been suffering. So this letter might be a titch short because I can''t really recall what has happened. My sense of time here is all screwed up. Things that happened this morning seemled like they happened days ago. The days are sooo long yet the weeks go by so quickly. I can''t believe we have already been here four weeks. Yikes. I am so not ready.

 

So this week Elder Nielson came and talked to us about the book of mormon. It was pretty awesome. One of the plusses about being in the provo MTC. He commented on the special edition of the ensign the one about the book of mormon it was very good. It was also a good realization for me that the BOM needs to be used the the lessons because the words found in the book of mormon speak for themselves by the power of the spirit in which they were written. I kept trying to find scripture references in the bible because the majority of Brazis are catholic. So I wanted to use scripture they already believed to help prove my points, but Elder Neilsen was right. The BOM needs to be used and it really does speak for itself.

 

An Elder in our district got his visa and is flying to brazil tomorrow.....I WANT TO GO TO BRAZIL TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a;sldkfj al;kj;ioe1@#(*$&@(#%* Aklsdjfaslkdjfa;slkdjl39. THis is the frustration I felt a long with a slight glimmer of happiness for this Edler. There are 400 of us Brazilian missionaries stuck here in the states for the moment. I pour out my whole soul every night that I will make it to Brazil soon so my portuguese won''t suffer too much. But this week I came to realize God will provide a way for me to learn portuguese even if I spend 3 transfers state side. The beginning of this whole MTC experience I was totally gungho about serving anywhere because I would be serving the Lord. But now, after hearing about Brazil, and praying for the people in Brazil, and talking with my Brazilian teacher, I''ve got my heart set on Brazil. I know I will love wherever I end up. But I feel like I was called there for a reason, and there are people there waiting for me that I can help change their lives and they in turn will change mine. Who knows....

 

So this particular missionary Elder Gleason is a miracle. My companions and I didn't really like him at first. He told us all these stories about how he egged people houses and how for fun he would drive around with his friends and throw tacos or twinkies or stupid stuff like that. And he was proud of it. He also was not very respectful to girls and we had one sister (not in our district) stand up and leave when she was sitting across from him at the lunch table. Over time, we've noticed a change. He started making really insightful comments and he started really using his studying time and he started trying to speak portuguese more and not complain so much. After anazlying all of the elders in our district we labeld him the butterfly elder because he has been slowly gloing through metamorphisis. This past sunday he taught us a lesson on prayer and talked about how he had never ever prayed to God before and he so on the mission he thought - well I guess I better start. At this point he started crying. And he just bore a simple and very beautiful testimony about prayer and how it has changed his life. It was so amazing to see this change! You could totally tell. I worried about him at first but he is well on his way to becoming a very strong missionary. I just hope the change from the US to Brazil won''t shake him up too much. I''ll sincerely miss that guy. Miracles do happen :) 

 

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the mountain colors. I can''t tell you how bad I want to slip away for just a few hours and go on a hike. My companions and I discovered that we could. We had to change our gym time because our teacher couldn''t teach when she was supposed to, so we went outside and exercised while there wasn''t any gym time and we thought someone would stop us but no one did.....don''t worry I'm not getting any ideas....

 

Love you all so much! And you are all in my thoughts and prayers!

 

Sister P

9-19-11

Hello everyone!

 

I would first like to say THANK YOU FOR THE VEGETABLES!!!!!! My heart and stomach was happy this week when I came close to getting my full 3 cups of veggies. Yes, all my comapnions thought I was weird, but they ate the vegetables with me. They later admitted they too miss fresh produce. I am slowly spreading my philosophies of healthy eating!  The Reeses were also very welcomed and lessoned the teases I got for my box full of veggies. I told them they can tease me all they want but when they are in the hospital with strokes, heart attackes, or cancer they will understand why sister p was crazy about vegetables.

 

Sister P is my new christening. No one in our district really calls me Sister Peterson. I like Sister P better because Sister Peterson just sounds so old (that statement was not in any way associated with antoher sister peterson we all know and love...) Everyone usually says it all gansta-ish like "What up Sista P!!" My favorite is when our Tongan elder says it in his cute little tongan accent.

 

This week we got a new teacher sister Jacobs. She is from Brazil and I absolutely lover her. She is a blessing from heaven. Our other teacher Irmao (Br.) Sheffer is great and I really love him there just isn't any structure. But sister Jacobs is very structured and strict - not mean strict but we get things done strict. And I understand her way better than Br. SHeffer which gives me hope because she is Brazilian. So things are looking up for the language. I am still patiently and unwearingly pushing along and thanking my lucky stars that I was not called Russian, or chinese speaking. I would say I don't know how they do it, but I do. With God all things are possible. Even Brice could learn Russian. (Just kidding - Brice is a very smart boy but a little help from up above goes a long way).

 

Also this week there were many sisters and elders (okay like 6 people) that got a golden ticket. My companion included. Sister Hall got her golden ticket which means she filled out her electronic visa. I was so happy and yet soooo jealous. The electronic visa is the first step to getting the real visa. We have an elder in our district that has filled out his electronic visa this past May and he is still here...so it doesn't really mean anything. Pray really really hard that I get my Visa.

 

Also this week, my companions and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the workshop "First Impressions" Background to this workshop - So I heard there was this workshop on makeup and other stuff like that and that you get free stuff so my companions and I decided to try it out. So the workshop was taught by a lady probably in her 60's and she was teaching us how to be fashionable. Does anyone else see the irony in that...? Maybe it is just me. So we sat through an hour long lesson on do's and don'ts of fashion. I think my companions and I broke several ribs trying not to laugh. She first insulted me by having me get up and try on this belt. The point was that belts make every outfit so much cuter and modern, which I do agree with. so she had me try this belt on and then she said ..."see, the belt turns a plain ol' t-shirt into something so stylish. Now, she is so adorable." I wasn't really offended, it was just funny her choice of words and I know she didn't mean it like that. But it sure gave my companions and I a great laugh. She also was horrified that the most popular hairstyle of sisters was a ponytail. Both my compansions had pony tails. She also said to never ever wear a braid down your back because it is associated with the amish and we don't want to look like that. My companion had started the day with a braid down her back but luckily pulled it up after lunch. All in all - we had a very enjoyable time and crack up every time we see some sisters implementing some of the haristyles she taught us. We did get free makup and lotion so I was happy.

 

Another thing about my companions. I am so very grateful that God has given me a soft landing with companions. I love them! The other day we had a sister next door come bawling her eyes out to us because she was having some companion problems. I talked to Danielle and she said she too had a lot of tears and a lot of long talks and too much drama with her companions. Our only problem is that we probably laugh too much. But I love them, and I'm so grateful for them.

 

Thank you so much for all your love and prayers and letters and everything else. I am so happy I am here and I'm so exciting to get out and share this good news! I love this gospel! Everyday, my testimony grows of the power of teaching by the spirit. This campus is filled with missionaries who can't speak but you can feel the power of thier testimonies through their broken portuguese, spanish, cantonies, russian, and whateverele is being taught here.

 

Love you all muito!

Com fe,

 

Sister P

Week 2: 9/12/11

Hey fam!!!

So I've got 20 min. I'll type as fast as my little fingers will go.

How's life, school, extracurricular activities, church, etc. I would ask how temple attendance is going but now I know at least one member of the fam is going :) Yes, the rumors are true I saw our dear sweet little mother today. While writing names for the temple prayer roll, I felt a hand on my shoulder I turned to see someone that looked just like our mom. We hugged I was so excited and happy to see her. It was like finding chocolate your parents have hidden in their closet for a special occasion and eating it without anyone knowing. Well almost like that. As I was hugging her, she started sobbing, then I started crying, then Sister hall my comp started crying too. I said "don't cry" and then we both really didn't know what to do, so we kind of mumbled stuff and then said goodbye. While walking out I thought wait a second, I want to go talk to her. I was so angry I hadn't thought to say anything I was just kind of like a limp noodle....so next time....I'm ready. Mom what I really wanted to say was "How are you? How's the fam? How was the baptism? How are you liking being home? Have things calmed down? and I love you. But we were both a little flustered. I'll keep my eyes peeled though

Okay so this last week has been absolutely wonderful. First off I want to thank you for the packages and letters. My companions and I ate the M &Ms in celebration of one week. We also used Sister Hall's diabetic pass so we had a security guard come and open the cafeteria for us and we stocked up on treats and had ourselves a little fiesta. It was great.

13 min left....this is soooo stressful.

So I just wanted to get this out. Okay, everyone told me that Satan really works hard on you before the mission. I thought yeah whatever I'll be fine. But they were right. While I was in Illinois I stopped reading my scriptures and saying my prayers and my testimony was at all time low. While there, I really loved what I was doing and was having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I would be putting my career and everything on hold.  I didn't want to go on a mission anymore. I really didn't want to go anymore. So I took this to mean maybe I shouldn't go. So I prayed about it and that is when I really got my answer that I needed to go. Before it was just a whatever- god wants me to pick. But that second time I asked I really got a strong yes. So I grudgingly obliged and said I would go. I came home my testimony was still puttered out. i needed to get that fire I once had but nothing seemed to be working. My testimony was not where it should have been at and that is why I freaked out at the temple because I knew I wasn't ready to make those covenants. Even entering the MTC I was not thrilled to be there  I can't do this! Actually to quote my first journal entry I said "What have I done."

But after this week I can finally say my testimony is where it should be. I am loving missionary work and I love everyday and I love my companions. I am finally experiencing the thirst and hunger for righteousness and personal study time ends way to quickly. Yeah - the language is hard and I am struggling but I know that i need to keep working unwearyingly  and just be patient because I know the language will come and I really don't need much of the language just the spirit. And I am sleeping and not stressed either!!!! Yay:) We had a stress management class which actually made me more stressed because everyone was talking about stressed they were but I wasted stressed. But I got over that. I'm just doing my best and giving the rest to the Lord. So I just you all to know I am happy and loving it here and I know I said last week that I couldn't wait to see you in a year and a half. The truth is I can wait to see you in a year an half. I'm so excited to start really sharing the gospel (not with these silly fake investigators)  with real people wherever I end up. Brazil or not - by the way keep praying for visas!!!!

Okay 5 minutes....aaaaagh this is crazy. Um....so quick fun things that have happened this week. I made the mistake of commented that one of our investigators was very attractive...well he became our teacher so now I am the source of constant teasing. Any time I stop to talk to an elder my whole district tells me to stop flirting...whatever. But he really is quite gorgeous. We got to play soccer. Best world cup I've ever seen. We played with sisters from Guatemala, Hong Kong, Kenya, Tonga, Samoa and all over. It was so fun. I love meeting people from all over the world. 2 minutes left.....um......I have seen Rachel pike she teaches Portuguese on my floor love her! Seen Danielle she is doing so well and it was such a happy reunion. Seen Hugh bates.He seemed happy when I saw him on Sunday. I'm telling you Br. Wirthlin was right Sunday always come. The language is coming better I can bear testimony, teach someone to pray, and say a prayer. I can pronounce it all right but I know it will come. Okay times up. Love you all thanks for the letters I would love some pics on email too. Oh you can also send emails because I can just print them off. so whatever will work fine. Love you all!!!!!

Kylie

Kylie's First Letter 9/5/11

Hey you guuuuys!!! So I just like saying that because I can no longer refer to anyone like that here at the MTC. That is actually a hard habit to break. So I've sent letters to everyone today. Mondays are my P-days and because today is labor day everything we planned on kind of fell through. We woke up early to go to the temple this morning and found out it was closed, as well as the bookstore and everything else so we couldn't buy laundry detergent, notebooks, and whatever else we were planning on buying today. So bummer....BUT I hope you all are enjoying the day off! Too bad there isn't any snow...huh dad :) So I made it through Sunday. Everyone just kept telling me make it to Sunday. And now I know why. the first few days were a little rough, as I realized how hard learning a language really is. knowing Spanish is almost a hindrance, but it does come in handy when I guess a word and it is super similar to the Portuguese language. They have a new teaching system here that is pretty weird. Its basically self guided study. But with a huge emphasis on studying the scriptures. So for my first week I started freaking out and using all of my personal study time for language study. I soon came to realize this is not so. Personal study time is for studying the scriptures and language study is for studying the language. We have one hundred bajillino hours for personal study time and only 1 hour of language study time. No joke. After Sunday church, and several devotionals I came to accept and really believe in this concept. It is all about the message and the spirit we teach it then. The spirit is key. Seek the truth, knowledge, and spirit first and language comes second. So I decided to leave it all up to the Lord. I would do my best and follow the rules with exact obedience (I'm really starting to get sick of hearing about obedience) and leave the rest up to the Lord. If the Lord decides not to bless me with the gift of tongues, it will not be my lack of effort of lack of obedience, it will be His fault. So we will see how this week goes with my language speaking abilities. So basically, I'm just patiently waiting for a miracle. I'll be honest though those first few days were really tough, I wished that I had been called Spanish or English speaking because it would have been 10 million times easier. But I know the Lord has put me here for a reason and I will tough it out with a grin on my face (even if I am gritting my teeth the whole time). My teacher Brother Shceffer told us a story from his mission how he bore his testimony and the investigator began crying and when he finished she said "that was beautiful, what did he say?" So It really is all about the spirit. I feel like I have been here foooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. These are going to be a long 8 weeks. I feel like I was born here. The only thing that helps me remember that I've been here for less than a week is this silly campus. It is soooo confusing. All of the buildings look exactly the same, and the buildings are tall enough I can't see the mountains so I get disoriented very easily. Luckily I have to great companions that I just follow along. I just wish they would paint the buildings a different color or something. My companions are Sister Connell and Sister Hall. Sister Connell is from Washington and is a premed major at BYU. Sister Hall is a nursing major from Arizona, and we took several classes together - we didn't know it at the time, but we did. They are both so sweet and I love them very much. They both speak portuguese which was really hard for me in several ways. 1) I feel like an idiot all the time 2) They almost handicap me because when they teach the lessons I just let them go because I can't really say anything. But I guess I better get use to this because that is how it will be for the rest of the mission.... if I make it to Brazil. The last district sent 14 elders to Houston Texas to wait for visas, please remember to pray for our visas!!! I love my district. The elders are sooo funny they keep us laughing. I'll try to send some pictures home, I was planning to today but everything is closed. So a lot of this will be repeat if you get my snail mail, but hey I thought I would use my half an hour. I wanted to thank everyone for all the notes that I keep finding everywhere. You are all so sweet and I love you oh so much, I know this is silly to say but I can't wait to see you again in another year and a half. I'm not homesick yet, I would call it more sick of studying and sitting inside alllllllll day long. Both my companions don't really enjoy running and I need to run. I think I'm addicted or something. If I don't get to do some type of aerobic activity here soon I'll die. All of my gym times are right of meals which stinks! But whatever. So the whole sleeping schedule is working great. I'm exhausted at 10:00 but I ususally wake up at around 6 because my body is not used to sleeping that long. Oh and Dani - I'm using the Justin Bieber notebook for my vocab notebook. Haha - I love it. Life is good and I hope life beyond the fence is treating you all well. I hope school is stressing anyone out too much. And remember to look for my letters in the mail they should be coming soooon :) Love you all muito! - that is the one word I have learned in Portuguese. Just kidding, I can kind of pray and kind of bear my testimony. One elder calls is cave man speaking. You pray - me know God listen....etc. Even though it is caveman English it is amazing to feel their spirit. Some of these missionaries are just so adorable. I love them all! K - two more minutes, hope this gets to someone. Love you all. Sister P That was a way long email so sorry - I just had nothing to read so I spent the whole time writing.....