The First Email!

Kaitlyn sent my Mom an email this morning and she's doing well! I'll try to sum up what the letter says because she said she only had four minutes and it's kind of hard to follow. (Be prepared for a lot of sentences beginning with "She says," yes I know better but I'm lazy.)

First of all - my Mom (me too hopefully) should be receiving a letter from Kaitlyn in the mail soon. The email said that she was going to try to touch on everything she didn't include in the first letter.

She said that her first day was really easy and that they were all laughing because they had expected such a hard time. Then the second day hit...

She says that the days are so long that she feels like she's already been there a month. They are in class for 12 hours a day.

She has two companieras. Hermana Rodrigues, and Hermana Krambule. Hermana Rodrigues is from California and going on her mission to Seattle and Hermana Krambule is from Wyoming and going to Spokane, WA. She really likes them and says that she got really lucky with companions. She says that sister missionaries are really rare there and she says there are about 2700 missionaries and she'd guess about 100 of them are sisters. Most districts don't have any sisters.

There are 10 people in her district at the MTC, 7 elders and 3 sisters. She says, "For some strange reason we love them, they can be super immature but I think the spirit makes it so we don't kill them." She was told that districts with sisters in them make the Elders grow up a little faster. She says they're all really close which she thinks is weird because she's only been there for a few days but since time feels so different it feels like they've been together for months.

She says that they eat every couple of hours which she finds annoying because she's never hungry in the first place.

Her district was randomly selected for a "Pilot" program which means they're the guinea pigs of a new program to learn Spanish faster. She says it consists of "shoving Spanish down our throats." She says that they "took away" English the first night. They can pray, bear testimony, contact, and do a baptismal challenge in Spanish already! She says she can understand almost everything in Spanish but "I can't get my tongue to speak it the way I want and it's really frustrating because just when you think you're getting the hang of one thing they blow ahead and EVERYTHING is memorization and my mind feels like it's going to explode." She says that sometimes she gets discouraged and prays for help but realizes sometimes she's praying in Spanish without realizing it. She says that she dreams in Spanish as well.

She says that the Spirit is really strong and that she's noticed how being set apart as a missionary has helped her. She can concentrate for 12 hours a day without being too distracted and she sits still for hours on end. And anyone who knows Kaitlyn knows that is quite a feat! She says it's insane how much she's learned not only in Spanish but also the Gospel Doctrine as well. She says that it's overwhelming how much she still has to learn and that while they're told not to worry, it's hard not to.

She said one of the funny things that's happened is that they begin prayers to "Padre Celestial" and that an Elder in her district, Elder Cavetti keeps accidentally saying "Pedro." They say that they keep giving him a hard time and how they hope that Pedro hears his prayers too.

She says that so far, it has been the most humbling experience of her life. She says it's a whole new level of humble. She says that they feel like monks and that everyone will pray in the courtyard in different languages.

She says the best way to describe it is that it's like EFY (Especially For Youth - for those who don't know what that is - see bottom) - she guesses because she's never been to EFY. But she says that it seems like she'll go home after a few weeks but she's there for 9 weeks and then on her mission for another year and a half after that.

She asks that if you could that you would keep her in your prayers with help to learn Spanish.

We can't wait to hear from her again!!



*What is EFY? Click here. (Basically an LDS youth summer camp)
*LDS missionaries are usually grouped together in pairs but in this instance there aren't enough sister missionaries in her district so she she gets two.
*Contact & Baptismal Challenge are terms that missionaries use to "contact" investigators of the Church and a Baptismal Challenge is a discussion they have with people discussing the possibility of Baptism. - If you want to know more please click the link in the side bar.