12-15-2014: The Last Missionary E-mail...

The first email of the day from Hermana Kate:

See you Thursday!

Love, 

Hermanita Sangre

The next email of the day:

Just kidding, I'm writing a legit email right now
hah I'm funny, right?

The third and final email of the day:

Helloooooooo!

Ok, Business meeting: 

I Would loooooove to go see the shop around the corner at stanford on saturday night.  Just saying.  All the other ideas sound fantastic as well. :)  

and a mommy daughter lunch date with patty and kathryn sounds great!  i love those ladies. 

end business meeting.

This week has been loco.  But awesome!  I love sister Gentry and Sister Christensen.  Sister Gentry is actually going home on thursday as well, so we call Sister C the assassin since she's killing us both off. :)  hah.  They're in the english ward, so we've been having to balance a lot of their appointments and I've been preparing the spanish sisters area for a "whitewash" (when two brand new missionaries come into an area) AND it turns out it's going to be Sister Ford (my trainee!) and she's going to be training a new missionary! Again!  So my trainee will get to come serve in her mission mama's area.  She's awesome, she's going to do great here. 

But We've been balancing the two areas pretty well, I've had to say bye to a lot of people so that they know two brand new missionaries are going to be teaching them, but it's been good.  Sad, but good.  At the end of Relief Society the Bishop's wife got up and announced to everyone that I was going home and they all did the unison "awwww".  I LOVE this ward and these people so much! 

We went caroling (in spanish) with allll the missionaries in the ward and the ward mission leader to some less actives on Friday, it was so fun!  We sang Away in a Manger and Silent Night about 500 times and I loved it.  Then we finished the night off with some "Pay de queso" aka cheesecake HOMEMADE with some abuelitas hot chocolate, that was one of the highlights of the week. 

AND I had my exit interview with President Ames on Wednesday, it was amazing!  So much revelation received.  One of the things that he told me that I really liked was that he told me that we never get released from our covenants, and that is where the real power lies.  Truth. I'm excited to tell you all the other cool things he told me, it was a really powerful interview.  I love and respect President and Sister Ames so much, they are amazing.  And I love being around missionaries.  I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous about finishing this part of my life, because I feel like the only thing I know about life right now is being a missionary!  But my nametag doesn't define me.  It's awesome to have, but I can share the gospel no matter where I am.  

Missions end, and that's OK.  

I love you all so much.  Thank you for the support and love.  I am excited to see y'all on Thursday! Make sure to tell the boys to not forget their muscles at home, because they will be hauling around some prettttttty hefty suitcases for me! (kidding. I will comply to the under 50 weight limit)

Les quiero. Yo se que la iglesia es verdadera y que Dios nos ama.  Yo se que Dios nos escucha a nuestras oraciones y que el nos cuida en todo momento.  Jesucristo es nuestro salvador y redentor y hermano mayor.  Sin el no podemos vencer la muerte fisica ni la espiritual.  Y gracias a el la muerte y todo lo que nos impide de ser mejor no tiene aguijon. 

Con mucho carino,

Hermanita Sangre

12-8-2014: Mom asks, "Is it too soon to countdown?"

Hello Family!

So here's a curveball for the week!  :)  On Thursday we got a call from the mission office (here I was expecting it to be them wanting to schedule my exit interview with president...) to let us know that Sister Kofe got her visa to panama!! BUT that means that she needs to leave on TUESDAY. aka tomorrow. aka a week before transfers.  So, since I am not allowed to be without a companion, (duh) I will be going to live with my English Sister Training Leaders in the Highland Station ward.  I began my mission in a trio, and I will end my mission in a trio. :) 

 So that means I'm basically already packed and will be living out of a suitcase for a week. #sleepover  My bags are packed, literally the definition of trunky. :) haha But don't worry, I've still got LOTS to do to prepare our investigators and the area to receive two new sisters.  Lots of notes to write and people to visit.  On the plus side, the Highland Station sisters have a really nice apartment.  And a gym.  I will be putting those treadmills to good use during morning workouts!

We're going caroling tonight!  That will be fun. 

Hermanita Sangre with some pre-Christmas Puppy Chow,
scarf & other treats.

So a family in an English ward called us and had us over for dinner on Thursday because their aunt from Honduras was in town and wanted to give her an opportunity to meet the missionaries and hear a message in her own language.  So we had these REAAAAALLY good enchiladas (yum)  and watched the "He is the Gift" video with them.  (christmas.mormon.org)  So sweet.  She's leaving to go back to Honduras soon, but we stopped by last night to teach her the restoration and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon!  Super cool.  A good seed planted.  

Played the piano in Sacrament again.  It's fun :)  The ward is very patient with me and my many messups but it's a fun way to serve.  

Our investigators are doing well!  We'll be trying to visit everyone this week to let them know about the changes and everything.  And we are going to be having LOTS of meals this week, since our meal calendar is full and so is the Highland Station meal calendar....Don't be surprised if I come home 100 pounds heavier.  It will be a fun surprise.  hah

To answer your question, Mom, our transfer meeting is on Wednesday, so Wednesday afternoon President and Sister Ames take all the departing missionaries to the temple and we're there basically all day until dinner at the mission home and a testimony meeting.  Then we get up Thursday morning for our return flights!  Any set-in-stone plans for the weekend with the whole family? :)  AND I am A-OK with keeping the In-n-Out tradition. In fact, I've been planning on it.  Already read your minds.

Hope you all have a good week this week, love you all!  Cuidense y portense bien, ok?

Les quiero,

Hermanita Sangre

12-1-2014: When You Read This, It Will Be DECEMBER!

Sup. :)

This week was SUPER full, and just overall awesome.  I think I say that every week is good, but forreal, this week was REALLY good.  

But then again, only in Texas does the temperature drop 40 degrees in less than 12 hours.  It's fine.

Yesterday we were at church for like a gazillion hours. We had studies in the morning and then we went to our Ward Council meeting at noon. Then church started at 1:30.  Then we had a baptism right after scheduled for 5 BUT the husband of the couple being baptized was waiting for his Dad to drive in from Dallas, so the baptism didn't really start till 5:45, so we didn't end up leaving until like 6:30.  It was like a marathon!  But all good things.  And the spirit was suuuper strong during the baptism.  The couple being baptized were super cool and super prepared, everyone there could feel the spiritual confirmation that God was pleased with their decision.  Man, I love covenants.

So, of course, I was playing prelude for the baptism and the Bishop's wife was like, "Let's sing some Christmas hymns while we wait for Jose's Dad" so we sang Christmas hymns for like 45 minutes.  My hands were cramping.  And she directs realllly fast.  So imagine me running after a moving train, and that's basically what I felt like. haha it was fun.  I give Murlene props for accompanying basically every musical number ever in the history of the world because that is tiring stuff!

Our Thanksgiving day was super fun.  We spent the morning doing weekly planning and then we went and visited some of my favorite families, the Gamboa family and the Franco family.  LOTS of really good food.  Mostly traditional stuff, no rice or beans.  But don't worry, we got our fill of all that the rest of the week.  ;)

Then on Friday we did some service as a district and our Ward Mission Leader invited us all over afterwards to go eat Pupusas--a dish from El Salvador that is really really good.  Man, I love pupusas.  THEN, we had a visit from Hermana Gomez, one of my trainers!! She finished her mission in August and has been at BYU, but she was in town for the weekend visiting the mission and she spent basically the rest of Friday with us going around visiting people.  It was soooo fun!  She's at BYU so I'll see her soon.  I got some pictures with her.  

Saturday night we had dinner with another one of my favorite families, the Bonillas. :)  They are so awesome, they're from Puerto Rico, and they have toooons of health problems so it's hard for them to come to church, but they come when they can and they have the strongest testimonies ever.  So they invited a friend over for the dinner, too.  (i think I've mentioned him before?  His name is Saul.)  And we taught him and he accepted the invitation to be baptized once he knows it's true!  The spirit was really strong in that lesson.  

Sorry, Dad.  No bubba yet.  Don't worry, I've still got 2 and a half weeks, there's still hope.  

I'm glad y'all could have a good Thanksgiving weekend!  And good thing Mom went out to run some errands so that BYU could finally win a game. :) hah 

I like that question about Faith, I'm going to ponder that and get back to you.  

Thanks for being great examples of strength and faith and enduring to the end.  I love you so much.  

Portense bien, ok?

Hermanita Sangre

11-23-2014: Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Hello Beautiful Family!  

Business Meeting: Thanks for forwarding me that email about the apartments and whatnot.  

AND thanks for the Puppy Chow and the scarf and mints and mentos!  :) It is NEVER too early for Puppy Chow season.  Also.  I am currently wearing the scarf. 

This week was really great!  We had an exchange with our Sister Training Leaders and I lightweight abandoned Hermana Kofe as I left her in our area and went to an English ward for the day ;)  haha But Hermana Kofe did great, she's learning more spanish every day!  

We also had our ward Thanksgiving Party, it was a blast!  That day two investigators from some other elders in our ward got married, so the party ended up being a combination ward party/wedding reception and it was SO FUN. I wish I was Mexican so that I could legit go to their ward parties.  And that couple that got married is getting baptized this week, so it was even that much more awesome!  

We also contacted this super sweet referral from a member, and the member went with us to teach her.  She seems pretty open to our message.  We'll be teaching her tomorrow so stay tuned for more.  The bummer: her husband is giving her zero support, and he is her only ride places...so looks like we'll be coordinating a way to get her to church!  

We taught this OTHER super prepared referral from a member and he is like seriously searching for the truth.  We taught him and then he was like, "oh by the way, I'm moving back to mexico tomorrow" jaw drop.  Like, it's cool or whatever.  Sending missionaries to Mexico, no big deal.  

Interviews were this week.  President told me exactly how many days I had left in my mission, but I forgot how many it was.  I'm sure Mom's keeping a paper chain or something and counting down the days ;)

Played piano in sacrament again.  Fun stuff.

This week for Thanksgiving we've got 2 families that we'll be going to.  The Gamboa family (one of my FAVORITE families ever.  So great.  They're returning to activity and I love them lots.)  and the Franco family.  Little Gabby Franco is 16 and she's a super cute, sassy girl.  She comes with her 2 younger sisters to church basically every week with another member that gives them a ride, their Parents work a ton on Sundays, but they've invited us over for Thanksgiving!  yum.  Both said they'll be having Turkey, so it will probably come with a side of Rice and beans ;)  Don't worry, I've got some recipes that I'll be testing with y'all when I get home, but be prepared because just about EVERYTHING they make is fried at least once.  #healthy. yeah right. 

We haven't been able to see the P family this week, but for sure this week.  I'll let you know how it goes with them!  And E too, she is probably having her baby right now.  She was soooo pregnant.  

That's so cool to hear the update about Yuhan!  I hope things keep going well with her.  

Thanks for the Study Abroad app and the Spanish class.  REALLY appreciate it!  

Have a fun Thanksgiving!  Make sure to take pictures and to have fun (as if you need me to tell you...) hah  Don't get into too much trouble.  Tell Nat to follow his own advice, just once won't hurt. everyone's doing it blahblahblah :) 

Love you SO much

Hermanita Sangre

11-17-2014: What a week!

Beautiful family,

This week was quite the week, full of surprises and fun things!

Probably the highlight:  so it's getting cold.  (I think I've been converted to the heat....i'm ashamed to say it.)  And the other week someone rear-ended us (really minor, teeeeeeeny tiny dent in our trunk. AND not my fault, thank you :) so we had to take our car in to get it repaired, and the mission office was going to give us an old car to use for 2 weeks or so, so we drive our fancy newly-dented car to the auto shop and walk about 10 minutes in 40 degree weather (we were prepared with MANY layers) to the mission office to find out....IT WAS CLOSED.  It was right around the time that all the new missionaries were coming in and so all the office people were with them giving them training and such.........so we had to walk ALLL the way back to our car, sheepishly ask for our car back and drive back home.  

Then we got to do the same exact thing the next day, but this time the mission office was actually open :)  Hah.  Me and Hermana Kofe were just laughing the whole time, we felt so silly, but it was fun.  A good story, right?? hah that's what i'll tell myself...

Next highlight, our ward had a baby shower for this lady that just moved into the ward, her name is hna Galo and she is soooo cool.  She comes out with us about once a week and she's living with her inactive sister while hna Galo's husband is in Korea for the military.  So the cooool thing was that her sister (who isn't active) came to the baby shower and afterwards we stayed and talked with her for like a solid hour and agreed to have us come over!  Really neat.  

We're teaching a super cool family that I swear is the most prepared family I've met in my mission. (we met them a few weeks ago, but were JUST able to teach them this week.) They're the P. family, the wife is a less-active Jehovah's Witness and the husband is just a good Christian man. We knocked on the door and immediately he recognized us as representatives of Christ and invited us back for another appointment. We went back and he had all these great questions like, "How can I know which of all the paths are God's path?" and "What makes someone a prophet?" and "How would Christ's church be organized?" I almost started crying I was so excited! We taught the First Lesson and they want to learn more, he wants to know more before coming to Church, but he is committed to reading and praying. His wife also asks questions and seems pretty open to our message! I just have such a great feeling about them. 

Then on Saturday the Stake Young Women's president asked us to help in a conference for the Beehives in the stake. We taught a little workshop about the importance of sharing their testimony, and then they went ahead and took a brand new copy of the Book of Mormon and wrote their testimony in it. They had the option to write it and give the book to a friend, or to give the book to us for us to hand out to someone. Out of the 30 or so girls, we only received 4 copies of the Book of Mormon. Success! I am so impressed with the youth in our stake, truly. Even better, was to hear that some of those girls were hoping to serve missions :)

We're also teaching this super cute lady named E who was taught by missionaries a few years ago but never ended up getting baptized, and we taught her the Restoration a few weeks ago and seemed more open to the message this time around.  Then this week we taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation and she had TONS of questions, it was great!  She said, "man, the last time the missionaries taught me they didn't tell me about all this!"  (which I'm sure they did, she just wasn't as interested at the time!)  But she's like 9 months pregnant and about to pop so we'll probably take a few weeks break before we go back so that she can rest up and such.  But she's just so sweet and it's cool to see how the Lord prepares people to receive his gospel in HIS time.  

A is still a super cool kid, but as usual it's nearly impossible to teach him when his mom is available.  We won't give up, though.  But we are recognizing more the importance of how he won't progress as much unless his whole family is involved.

Hey, did Dad sign me up for a Spanish class next semester? I can't remember.  If not, I'd like to get on the waiting list for one. I think Span 321 or something is a prerequisite for the spain study abroad.

Thanks for the heads up on the speaking assignment on the 21st, I shall prepare :)

Thanks, Mom, for sharing that spiritual experience, I love it when the Spirit touches us like that.

That's so cool to hear about that lady that just walked into the church building!!  President Ames says that there are 3 types of referrals: 1.) Member Referrals (when a member tells the missionaries about a friend) 2.) Missionary Referrals (when the missionaries give an assignment to a member to fellowship an investigator) and 3.) God's Referrals--aka people that are just so prepared that they come seeking out the church.  Sounds like this girl falls into the 3rd category :)  

Speaking of referrals, our ward gave us 2 this week! that hardly ever happens for us, so it was so cool to see it all work out!  We're going to teach them both this week WITH our members, so i'll let you know how it goes next week. 

And Dad, you're exactly right.  I mounted that bike a total of 3 times. hah so much for biking in a skirt...

I love you all soooooooo much.  Cuidense y portense bien, ok?

<3 Hermana Sangre

7-10-2014: In Honor of our Veterans

Hello Family!

This week was a good one, nothing much to tell.  Something we've been struggling with lately is finding new investigators to teach, so that's something that we'll be working on this week.  Axel is an awesome kid, but I think we've been pushing him too much, so we're going to slow the lessons down and try to involve his Mom more.  

This week we had a GREAT lesson with Kristy, and we brought a member and her 3 year old son with us and it was SUCH a great lesson!  Honestly, we didn't teach a whole lot, but Kristy and our member got along GREAT and the kids were all playing and it was so cool to see.  Members truly are KEY to this work.  

So Hermana Esparza comes out with us to teach people every Thursday and afterwards she buys us a shake...sorry if I come back weighing 500 lbs.  :)  

Also, I hope you know that I have been using my piano skills to good use whenever the usual sacrament pianist doesnt come, and sometimes the Primary requests our help during singing time when the chorister is sick.  Fun times in the Hurst 3rd ward.  I love serving here.  And it's official, I will be finishing the last 5 weeks of my mission here!  

No news about Hermana Kofe's visa yet, I figure we'll just get a call one day and she'll have to pack her bags or something the next day.  It will be an adventure!  Sometimes she even forgets that she's a visa waiter, but then when I'll be explaining something about being a missionary/rules or something and I'll say "this is how we do it here, but I don't know how they do it in Panama" and she'll respond "Man, I completely forgot I was going there!"  :)  She's here 100%.

No iPads yet.  Darn.  

Health has been good!  I have miraculously avoided any cold or flu symptoms (knock on wood) unlike y'all, man, I hope you get feeling better!

The members are still wonderful cooks that feed us alllll the time.  I love it :)  When they ask me if I like spicy food I say "yes, I'm from Mexico, remember?"  hah.  They laugh and then bring out the chiles.  

Glad to hear that y'alls week went well, besides the dreaded colds.  Any cool spiritual experiences this week? Do we still have sisters in our ward?  Tell Jake he's not running enough.  He's getting out of shape.  (hah.) 

I love you all so so much!

<3

Hermana Sangre

11-3-2014: And, all of the sudden, it's November!

OK, sorry, i didn't plan my time very wisely...hah So i have like zero time, if this sounds like a babble I apologize!

Yes, I paid my speeding ticket.  They said it would be an additional charge to use my card, so i took cash from my savings instead.  But i did use my card for the bike, thank you!  I really appreciate, you Mom, for keeping tabs on that type of stuff.  

This week was good!  We had lunch with a member on Tuesday and the hermano asked what Dad did, so I said he was a lawyer.  He asked what I wanted to do and I said business.  He then proceeded to lecture me on why I should be a lawyer instead.  hahhaha His main point of argument was so that I could be like my Dad.  Thought you might appreciate that.  

This week we had a suuuper cool dinner with some members the Zunigas.  They are so awesome.  They have some youth-age kids and our Stake President asked the missionaries to teach the youth all the missionary lessons so that they are encouraged to serve missions.  So we went ahead and taught them the Restoration, just like we would to investigators.  The Spirit was SO strong and at the end we were all bearing testimony of why the church was true and how awesome it was for them to have worthy priesthood holders in their home.  Then on Sunday the Hermana went and bore her testimony and said how grateful she was for our visit and how it came at just the right time.  God is aware of each of us and sometimes the people we influence aren't just the less actives or the investigators, but the completely active members as well.  

Axel is doing well!  We're teaching him and his mom tonight to talk to her about his baptism.  We'll see how that goes, she seems pretty open.  

I'm still running every day!  I run for about 15-20 minutes and do situps and pushups for the rest of the 10 minutes of daily exercise.  We don't have a gym here in Hurst so we run outside to the library about half a mile a way and I run around the parking lot while Sister Kofe does situps and stuff.  How about a few group jogs to run off all that puppy chow i'll be eating at home? i think so :)

Halloween was good! no trick-or-treaters.  We did some good planning. :) I love Jake and Dad's halloween pictures!  hahaha  What studs!  And Nat sent me an update about the date he went on, i'm so proud.  I'll respond to him next week. 

Thanks for the classes and everything!  I love you all so much!  I'll keep uncle tom in my prayers.

<3 Hermana Sangre

10-27-2014: Happy Oct. 27th!

Hello Family!

:)

This week was pretty uneventful.  Good things happening, of course, but nothing that really sticks out where I'm like, "MAN that was the coolest thing ever!" ya know?? 

Some highlights:

We had stake conference this week!  It was good.  We have a really great stake president who is just SO dedicated to the work of salvation.  So I got to hear a LOT about inviting our friends to hear about the gospel, Temple work, and Family History Work.  I've basically decided that I want to be involved in all those things actively for the rest of forever, k? k.  :)

We also had dinner with the Gamboa family this Friday.  They are sweet sweet members that have been in and our of activity since I got here a year ago and I have a special place for them in my heart.  But they took us to Chick Fil A (I CANNOT BELIEVE I hadn't discovered that before my mission.  It's like the most delicious thing ever.) and they were talking about their conversion story and everything and the Hermano was just saying some really nice things about how ever since I've gotten here I've watched out for them and made an impact on their lives.  I love them a lot.

Axel is still as bright as ever!  He's a cool kid.  He couldn't come to church on sunday because something came up last minute, but we'll get him next week :)

The S family is soooo sweet.  We had a good visit with them on Wednesday and she expressed more her desires to come back to church and we set up a return appointment.  One day they will be baptized and I will be there.  Then they will get sealed in the temple and I will be there, too.  

AND ok, so super cool story.  I think i told you about how one time we were with a member, we took Hermana Casarez with us to go teach an appointment but the appointment fell through last minute and she was like, "hey, I've got a friend who lives just down the street, let's go visit her!"  So we did and she was interested in hearing our message!  A few weeks later, we come to find out that a family member of Judi (the friend down the street)  passed away in mexico, so she was really sad about that.  We stop by a few days later after we find out (last sunday night) and we awkwardly interrupt a Rosary prayer of her family members (I guess a bunch of her Catholic family members stopped by to pray for the one that passed away) and we happened to stop by right in the middle of it...so she invites us in and they continue their prayer for another 30 minutes and I was just confused the whole time because I had never seen anything like that before and then all the family members leave.  Then we shared a brief message with Judi and she offered the prayer at the end.  It was very sweet, and most people hesitate to pray in front of us, (she was no different) but after we taught her how to pray, we all knelt down and she just said the most humble sweet prayer with a sincere desire to grow closer to her Heavenly Father.  She was crying by the end and it was just a beautiful experience.  

Man. I just love being a missionary.  

Thanks Mom and Sister Kartchner for making sure me and Aub aren't homeless next semester! hah I am A-OK with whatever ends up working.  :)  

Glad to know that the Giants are doing well and in the world series! I had no idea...hah 

Also, unfortunately our ward is not having an activity for Halloween, they're piggy-backing on another ward's party for the kids and we get the great privilege of staying inside our apartment and planning for 3 hours Halloween night! :)  So yes, i'll be dressed up as a sister missionary... :)

Love you all, hope everyone has a wonderful, safe halloween this week!

<3

Hermana Sangre

P.S. I will be sending my bike back today!!!!! OK?? Gracias :)

10-19-2014: Re: Family Weekend in Salt Lake City

Hello Beautiful family!

Man, LOTS to tell this week. where to start.....

First of all, this week we got visited by a member of the 70!  Elder Cardon.  He's pretty cool, VERY intelligent.  We had a 6 hour conference with him on Friday and he explained in detail with lots of scriptures about the abrahamic covenant for like an hour, I ate it up!  It probably looks like it would have been really boring, but I promise it was way legit the way he explained it.  I probably will never be able to do it justice. 

 Want to hear a cool story? I saw Sister Ford at the conference and she told me about someone that we had taught in Arlington. We Met the family of Aracely Garcia because the English Elders in our area referred us to them and the Mother in Law from Houston was staying with them. The two teenage daughters answered the door when we stopped by so we went ahead with the 21 tips service and just as we were about to leave, their grandma from Houston asked us if we could come by again to pray with them! So we did another day, we taught the 1st lesson, got her address and sent missionaries to her house in Houston. Sister Ford told me that she just recently got baptized and that they are still teaching her family in Arlington and they have baptismal dates. Isn't that so cool? I love it when people make covenants.

On saturday we were able to participate in a community service project where we basically did a bunch of yard work for like 6 hours, it was actually way fun!  I am the official bag holder for leaf-raking.  It requires an incredible amount of skill and expertise, i promise.  :)  

Also, I finished the Book of Mormon on Friday and at the conference, President Ames told us that we read the Book of Mormon in about the amount of time it took to translate it.  That book is most definitely the word of God and not the word of Man.  Just over 60 days? A farmboy from upstate New York could NOT do that unless he were directed by God.  

Remember the S family?  They dropped us a few weeks ago and it was really sad for me, but we felt like we should go back so we did and she said that she had been thinking about coming back to church!  We've got an appointment this week so we'll see how they are.  

And we're teaching this super cool 12 year old named Axel.  He's very intelligent and understands the doctrine very well.  He's getting baptized in December!  

We teach a TON in spanish.  I love that language so much!  Hermana Kofe is still learning poco a poco, but it's a good transition, I bet for her to be here before being dropped in Panama.  We don't know how long it will take for her to get her visa, up to 3months?  They don't tell us anything hah SOOOO out of the loop!

Business Meeting:  My former companion says that Pro Witherspoon for spanish 321 is a good choice?  Just sayin for classes and such.  

business meeting concluded.  

I'm glad the gathering for Uncle Lane went well.  And I ditto what Mom said--I'm so grateful for our knowledge of the plan of salvation and the covenants we make in the temple.  

Caleb and Michele--I hope that small studio apartment has enough room for me and a sleeping bag. :) hah just kidding (but only a little)  Good luck michele on the interview and the internship!  

Also, you'll all be happy to know that even though hna kofe is from oakland, she is a niners fan.  :)

Love you all so much!  

<3

Hermana Sangre

10-13-2014: Greetings from Hurst!

Hello!

Yay! I love pictures!  :)  And thanks, Dad, for going ahead and sending in that application for Spain and doing my classes, I appreciate it!  

This week was super fun, as always.  Of course, the weather is bipolar here in Texas so on Friday it was like 90 degrees and then Saturday it dropped to like 60, so we never know what clothes to wear.  It changes every second which makes life exciting.  hah  

On Thursday we had Zone Conference and *gulp* it was my last one!!!  AH!  So I gave my departing testimony (all the missionaries that go home before the next zone conference give a final testimony) and it was sooo weird, I don't feel like I'm going home still!  Well, it's because I'm not, I've still got toooons of time left, right? Well...anyways... :)  During Zone Conference we watched a screening copy of "Meet the Mormons" IT WAS SO GOOD!  I laughed, I cried, I felt the spirit, it is amazing!  If you haven't already seen it or seen a theater it's playing in, I absolutely recommend it.  100000%.  meetthemormons.com  check it out.  It's a documentary made by the church that follows 6 Mormon Families from around the world and their stories and why they believe in God.  It's really a powerful movie.

I also participated in the Primary Program for our ward :)  Man, i love being around the primary kids, they're so fun!  But they needed me to help with a song or something so I sang a little verse to the new song "families are forever" or something like that?  It's a cute song.  It was fun to participate!  

Hermana Kofe says that her mom isn't in the stake YW, she's a gospel doctrine teacher? I think?  But she's in the Oakland East Tongan stake if that sounds familiar.  They meet in the Multi-stake center.  She's super funny, it's fun having her as my companion.  

So a cool experience this week: on Monday I had this impression that we needed to visit with the Flores family from the ward.  But our plans that night wouldn't allow it, and we had appointments the next few days so I made sure to put it in our backup plans for the next few days.  That thought kept coming back to my mind so I made sure to keep them on my mind as a first backup for when our appointments didn't work out, and to make sure to schedule them for the first open opportunity.  Well, Friday night we finally were able to stop by their house and it was neat because both the hermano and hermana said, "man, when you walked through the door we were so relieved, we really needed to feel the peace that the spirit brings tonight!"  Things ended up working out just like the Lord wanted it to.  :)  

Oh, and I keep forgetting to tell you mom, that we have a Bike store here in Hurst/North Richland Hills that will take apart and ship my bike.  The box/disassembly will cost about 50, and then on top of that to ship it.  For Sister George to send her bike to Orem it cost about 120, so do you still want me to send it home?  It will probably cost more to send it to San Francisco.  

Also, thank you for still loving me despite my transgression against Texas State Law :)  

Thanks for keeping HM in your prayers!  He's doing well, he came to General Conference last week and we didn't even know it until we saw his family this week for our appointment!  That's awesome.  

I'm glad y'alls week went well, and that Dad won't have to fend for himself anymore. :) hah  

I love you all so much!

<3 Hermana Sangre

P.S. I got my "trunky packet" this week. (hah)  It's the packet with my flight plans and a letter from President and stuff.  I forgot the exact time of my flight, but I'm flying into SFO on December 18th around 10:30ish in the morning. 

10-6-2014: Conference and Marathon Success!

Hello!

Ok, business items first:

1.)  I got the package of papers!  Thanks for the talks and the email and the school information.  I saw President at a meeting on Wednesday and asked him about the ecclesiastical endorsement--he got out his ipad and did it right then and there.  He's so good!  One thing I don't really know about is the study abroad--the two that really stood out to me were the one in spain during spring and the one in mexico where you go and teach for the summer.  So....basically I don't know which I want to do!  I'm going to do some thinking today, but any thoughts/guidance?  Also for classes: I like the thought you had, Dad, to take it slow.  I don't necessarily have to be decided right now on what I want to do for school/major.  But go ahead and sign me up for some classes and I'll go ahead and change whatever I need to when I get back? I don't know, I trust y'all.  :)

2.) How much do you love me? :)  Ok.  So last week I got a speeding ticket in Blue Mound, TX (basically the smallest town in our area) and it will cost about $180.  I'm sorry.  I was going 13 over the speed limit, and honestly I wasn't even paying attention to the change in the speed.  I'll do better, I promise.  I went ahead and transfered enough money to my debit card and then I'll go ahead and pay it this week.  So if there ends up being only like $5 in both my savings and my checking...that's why. 

But onto the fun stuff! My new companion is a brand new missionary named Hermana Kofe, she's from Oakland!  She's Tongan, 20, has 14 siblings (!!!!) and is super cool.  She's actually just here on a re-assignment waiting for her visa to Panama, but I'm really excited to have her!  

We had a great week with lots of success.  We committed H.M. to be baptized on November 1st!  He's been taught by missionaries on-again-off-again for about 2 years and his wife is a returning-to-activity-less-active.  :)  It was a great lesson and he offered a really sweet prayer at the end.  I love that family a lot.  

We also had a really sweet lesson with the G family, a less active family that I was working with the last time I was here.  The Husband--who is normally very quiet and stoic--thanked us very sincerely for our support.  They've gone through a lot but they are ready to come back to church.  We saw them on Saturday and right after we left the Hermana sent us a text saying that they had just started watching the recording of General Conference.  It made me smile :)  

Speaking of General Conference!  I loved the whole thing!  Literally, there was something cool that i wrote down from every talk.  One particular piece of revelation that I received during one of the talks is that during the time I'm home before going to school, I want to go to the temple at least twice--once to do an endowment session, and a second time to do sealings as a family if at all possible, for family names.  I just love the temple and that was an impression of something that I would like to do while I'm home.  I loved all the talks, some that stood out to me in particular were the one from Elder Bednar, from the member of the 70 who's first name is jorg?  and others that I can't remember at the present time...hah.  But it was great!  It's like Christmas but better!  We have a living prophet on the earth today.  I know that he leads and guides our church.  

Glad to hear that the marathon weekend went well!  When is the next marathon scheduled for so that I can join! (JUST KIDDING.)  hah.  Hope you both have a good week ahead of you.  Love you lots.

<3

Hermana Sangre

9-29-2014: What Happened to September???

​

Hello Family!

This week I absolutely felt the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I've been praying for you all and I'm glad things are going alright.  

So some crazy news, Hermana Lacey George, my current companion is going home on Wednesday! She has finished her mission and she's going back to good ole Orem, UT. :)  ALSO, I'll be training for my last 2 transfers!  Still kind of in shock that I only have 2 transfers left, time just flies by sooooo fast!  Didn't I just get here yesterday??  I guess not... But that will be a good experience, I'm excited!  

Let's see, some good things from this week....We had dinner with this lady Hna Guacaran who is from Venezuela and she told us her conversion story--she was involved in the ministry of another church when the missionaries found her! Nutso, miracles do happen.  She is really cool and has a super strong testimony.  

A cool miracle--we had a member with us to teach an appointment and it turns out that our investigator wasn't home.  So the hermana turns to us and says "you know what? I have a friend who lives just down the street, let's go talk to her!" so we do, and this friend turns out to be the wife of the brother of a member!  Crazy, right? coincidences absolutely do NOT exist.  So we talk to them and they tell us how much they admire their family members that are part of the church and we invited them to learn more and they said YES!  So we'll see how that goes, I'm excited.  :)

We also taught this guy named OM this week--He is married to a less-active member and he has been taught by missionaries for a few years now.  At one point he even had a baptismal date and everything, but for whatever reason he dropped it.  He recently moved into our area so we started teaching him and he came to church on sunday for the first time in a while!  He has real intent and is really searching for an answer from God about what he should do.  We invited him to pray about a date when he could get baptized and he agreed!  We have high hopes for them.

Also, I've decided that Mexicans know how to make good sandwiches.  First they buy special sandwich bread called "Bolillos" and then they toast them, then they put some refried beans, avocado, meat, cheese and mexican crema.  SO good.  I've converted.  

Also, I went to a "New Training Meeting" for the trainers this next transfer and I saw an Elder that is serving in Gainesville! So i asked for updates and he told me about RW who is sooo ready to be baptized and is just waiting to get some paperwork in for something.  (he's one of my black grandpas) man, that is such a cool guy.  

The Women's Broadcast on Saturday was wonderful!  The last couple conferences they've been putting a ton of emphasis on Temples and Covenants and I just reaffirmed the desire I have to be a "temple-going person."  When I'm in Provo, I will probably even be able to go once a week.  Man, I just love the temple so much.  

I'm glad you could go up and visit with Buck and Paula, I'm sure that they felt your love for them and the Savior's love for them.  I hope the time in UT goes well, I wish Daddy and Jake luck in their marathon!  I will be rooting for them from the Hurst Stake Center as I watch Conference.  ;)

I love you SO much.  You are in my prayers always.  

<3

Hermana Sangre

9-22-2014: Sad News...

[Editor's note: Kate's Uncle Lane passed away on Sunday, so it was sad news that we shared with her for her weekly email.  Here is her response.]

Dear Family,

I am so grateful for the joy and peace that the Plan of Salvation brings.  I know that God has a plan for us and that He knows each of us personally and perfectly.  God is a god of Love and of mercy and of light.  I know that Christ suffered everything that is hard and ugly in life so that we don't have to.  Because of Him, death hath no sting and pain has an end.  

I am sorry to hear about Uncle Lane, I love him a lot and I love you all so much.  I will keep him, Buck, Paula, and you all in my prayers.  

Thank you for raising me in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thank you for being such great examples to me of Christlike love and kindness.  

This week I had some good experiences where I've been able to feel a small portion of the Love that God has for each and every one of us, and I couldn't even contain myself.  We can't even comprehend how much God loves us, it is infinite, it is real. It is there whether we feel we deserve it or not.  It is simply there.  

I didn't recieve the email from BYU, they must have sent it to my gmail account, if you could send it that'd be great.

I love you all so much.  Sorry I didn't write more.  

Love, 

Kate

9-17-2014: TEMPLE!!!

Sorry, this week it's gonna be a short email.... :)

so we went to the temple today!  It was VERY needed.  man, I love that place.  it is so peaceful and beautiful.  But as a result, due to traffic and such, it didn't leave a whole lot of time for us to do our weekly things!  So we're running and emailing.  :)  

Basically, we had a good week!  S, our 13 year old buddy, is doing really well!  We're teaching her tonight, actually.  She came to church again on Sunday and she's working towards her baptism on November 1st!  She's super cool and uber prepared.  AND super mature.  When we call her to confirm our appointments she says things like, "Of course it's fine, i'll be waiting for you here" *but in spanish. and when we come in to teach she always offers us something to drink and other small things that girls her age don't usually think to say.  She's just super cool.  

We had a ward party on Saturday!  it was la dia de la hispanidad fiesta and it was suuuper fun.  we had a couple less actives go so that was good, and basically it was lots of goooooood hispanic food and some games and a couple people performing traditional dances from their countries and then (of course) it ended in a dance for everyone.  Hispanics LOVE to dance.  we were leaving right as it was starting, don't worry, missionary mantle intact. ;)  

I've never heard of Just serve, it sounds like a good program!  We're trying to do more service in our area too, we might even teach a spanish class to some old fogies at the senior center in our area.  :) Fun stuff.  

Hermana Sangre's previous district

To answer y'alls question about what we do when we don't have appointments, we have LOTS of resoures to use, like, missionaries keep REALLY good track of every single person they've ever talked to or given a pass along card to or shared a lesson with.  So a lot of time we might go follow up on those people, or we might go knock doors around people we know or we'll work with members to see who they know in their area and who they're working with.  Or we'll do service.  But man, there is SO much work to do, it's insane!  And our area is pretty big, so there's lots of people that we need to meet still that are just looking for the gospel!  

sorry if i didn't get to answer all your questions, I'll get them next week!

Keep on Running, Dad.  You got it!  

I love you all so much!  

Hermana Sangre

9-15-2014: temple!

sorry, I'm on just for a second, but I just thought I'd let you know that I'm actually going to be going to the Temple on Wednesday, so that means we had to change our Pday.  SO that means that I will be giving you my weekly update on Wednesday :)  Just a quick note to let you know since I forgot to tell you last week.  have a good 48 hours until then! 

:)

Hermana kates

2014-9-8: What a Wonderful Week!

Hello family!

We had  a wonderful week this week!

One downside, a family that I really love and had been working with the first time I was here basically said "Thanks but no thanks."  Kind of tough, because I love this family a bunch, but it will be OK because I have faith that they'll accept the gospel another time in their life.  We laid a good foundation.

But on a happier note, we saw a TON of miracles this week!  

First off, we met this super young couple V and D this week, and it's actually pretty funny how we met them.  So...once upon a time our apartment complex decided to change all the toilets in all of the apartments, so one time during our studies this maintenance worker comes in to change our toilet.....he was hispanic and asked how we knew spanish, so we got talking about how we were missionaries and what we did and almost immediately we asked him if he knew anyone who could benefit from a message of Jesus Christ.  So then he starts telling us about his son D, and gives us his address and phone number and everything!  Then Monday this week we stopped by and talked to D and his girlfriend V and just shared something small about the Book of Mormon, set up a return appointment for Saturday where we taught the Restoration and then Sunday they came to church!  CRAZY, they are so prepared and searching for a way to grow closer to God and it's awesome!  I was kind of in shock yesterday, because I feel like I have to fight to convince people that they need to come to church or that they need to read, and V and D are just so cool, they already wanted to do those things, they just needed someone to come and invite them!  

And allllllll  of this started with a toilet.  Whodathunk it.

We also brought this girl S to church, she's 13 and she lives with her super catholic grandma, but spent some of the summer going to church with her LDS mom in Mexico!  So we just found her a week and a half ago KNOCKING DOORS and she already wants to get baptized.  It's fine, no big deal.  She is super cool, shes already talked to her Mom and Grandma about learning more and talking to us and getting baptized and they've both said they would support her in her decision! SO. Cool. 

Last Tuesday in my interview with President he told me that he felt very strongly that I was the person that needed to come to Hurst in the Emergency Transfer, that there were people that needed me here--whether new or people that I already worked with.  It was a cool thing to hear.  

ALSO, last night we were knocking doors and knocked into some members that go to the Tongan ward here!  It was cool, they offered us food or rides or whatever we needed ever.  They were just so generous and loving and it was cool to meet them.  

Basically, the Lord is just blessing us so much.  

I'm glad things have been going well this week and that y'all will be able to rest a little bit!  I'm glad BYU is winning (in Ward Council yesterday, Hermana George was wearing orange, just by chance, and the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric told her that orange was the wrong color because the Longhorns lost, it was good news...hah)  Yay for nat having a roommate!  I hope his classes are going well and that he's calling y'all every sunday night ;)

I love you all so much, have a blessed week this week

:) Hermana Sangre

9-2-2014: Happy Labor Day

OK. So i don't have a toooon of time b/c the library was closed yesterday and we have to run off soon to have our quarterly interviews with President Ames, but i'll try and wrap everything into a nice little bow! :)  

So, long story short: Hermana George (my current companion) was training and her trainee went home.  Not sure completely why, a mix of several reasons including minor health problems and a personal decision, but all I know is that I was in Arlington last monday, recieved a call at 10:15 from one of our assistants saying, "Sister Blood, we need you in Hurst, can you be packed by tomorrow?" 

me: "uhhhhh yeah!  I'll be there."  

I hardly slept at ALL i was so nervous/excited/confused.  But basically Hermana Ford is now in a trio with the other hermanas in the Arlington spanish ward covering those two areas and I came in to Hurst to fill the spot of the sister that went home.  Hermana George is going home at the end of this transfer and she is AMAZING.  She is from Orem and has suuuper good spanish and is 22 and is so energetic and happy and a really amazing missionary.  I have a lot of respect for her and she's handled the whole situation with a ton of grace.   

So i'll at least be in hurst for the rest of this transfer, probably another one after that, and I may even finish my mission here, who knows!  But i love it here, on Sunday it was a big reunion with the ward and the bishop's wife even said, "the prodigal daughter returned home!"  :)  I'm glad the people here consider this place my home and that it's not just me.  We're going to be working with some people that I was working with a YEAR ago when I was here (time goes by waaaay tooo fast!)  and basically it's just going to be suuper super awesome.  I love Hurst.  

Not a lot of time, but we are seeing miracles daily.  We found 4 families this week!  It was really cool.  They all have tons of faith and tons of potential.  It's awesome.  

I'm glad y'alls week has been going well in utah and such! The package arrived safely and I made sure to wear my new fancy BYU shirt to our Pday activity at the church to play basketball and volleyball with some other missionaries in our stake :)  yeah BYU pride!  

In response to your pregunta dad: The book of mormon is SOO key.  Because literally everything our investigators have questions about can be resolved if they know that the book of mormon is true.  I can't remember if i told you this, but our mission is reading the whole book of mormon in 2 months with a specific question in mind, a question we choose personally.  I'm studying the nature of the Godhead but really as i read, I see that this book answers literally any question anyone could have about their life or about God, like, "does God really know me?" or "how can I have better family relationships?" or even "how can i do better in school?"   It is such an amazing book and could only have been written and translated by the power of God. I'm glad that you will be speaking in the spanish ward! say hi to my people :)  

I love you all soooo much!  have a beautiful week!

<3 Hermana Sangre

P.S. I have homework for y'all over the next few weeks: this is for everyone in the family if possible, and anyone you want to forward this on to:  Can you write your testimony and email/send it to me? I want to know what experiences in your lives lead you to know that this church is true.  Basically, y'alls conversions stories.  :)  I know you probably have a million and one things to do, so if it takes some time that's ok, but I was just pondering this the otehr day and thought it'd be a cool thing to have. :)

8-26-2014: New Address!!

Hi Family,

Just a quick note so that you know that my address has changed back to my Haltom City Address, if you plan on sending me anything you can send it to there (I don't remember exactly what it is but it's the 5201 Springlake Pkwy #102 in Haltom City) I think that's what the address is, not 100%.  But without fail, if you send anything to the mission office, it will somehow get to me. 

A sister in Hurst is going home, so President has asked me to go there to fill her spot.  More updates on next Tuesday (b/c I think Monday is labor day?) with details and whatnot.  But just thought you should know. 

love you so much!

<3 Hermana Katie Batie

8-25-2014: Hello Family!

Hello Family! 

This week was amazing. We taught lots of cool people that we love a lot.

We contacted this really cool lady named AH, so apparently when she was like 12 missionaries visited her dad in Ecuador and she met missionaries somewhere recently (she's like 30's)  and told them that story, so they sent us a referral to go visit her!  We called her, set up an appointment and taught a suuuper good lesson about the Restoration, we invited her to church and she was like, "I work sundays...but I can totally ask my boss to change my schedule so that I can come!"  it was great. 

We also taught this cool girl named AG, she's less active but wants to be active!  She's 16 and thinking of serving a mission.  She was talking about church and how she feels the spirit there and really wants to go, just has got to convince her mom.  I just felt the spirit soooo strong when we were teaching her, so I just told her how impressed I was with her and how much God loved her and was proud of her example in her family.  It was great. 

We also contacted a referral from a member in Hurst!  So  (member) Hermana B gave us a ride from Hurst to Arlington after the exchange last week (2 weeks ago...?)  and we were meeting up by an investigator's house and Hermana B was like "hey, my cousin lives in this area and missionaries used to visit her, y'all should stop by!"  sooo we did!  It was awesome.  It's this sweet lady named IR who has suffered from severe joint pain due to an accident she had about 4 years ago so she can't really walk, but she's super faithful and cool.  I'm excited to teach her. 

Alsoooooo I had this thought, and we'll see if it stays or not, but I was wondering about what y'all thought about me becoming a Spanish teacher...???? I'm still so confused, I thought I'd be sooo set on doing Marketing, and I still really like that major/career path but the other day I couldn't get the thought out of my head of how awesome it would be to teach Spanish.  We'll see....

I love you all so much!  Hope all is going well with moving Nattiiebaladiepotatoelenguinispaghettianchovieartichokiekoliepokiebumpo in to BYU.  What classes is he taking this semester?? we'll see if I approve..hah 

Have a wonderful week!

<3

Hermana Sangre