Flying to Chile Monday Feb 25th

It was such an amazing day getting to talk to Katelyn before she got on the plane to Chile!!

Saw this on Facebook Monday morning!! So exciting!!

Kelsey Baer----to Katelyn Nicole Smith

Saw Hermana Smith this morning at the airport! She looked excited, fresh and so eager to head out to Chile!! She was literally beaming with the Spirit! It was so fun seeing her with the huge group of missionaries flying out today to Vina Del Mar! I hugged her and sent her love from her family and friends as she sent love back! So happy for her!

Katelyn called at about 3:00p.m. from the Miami airport.  She said I already feel as though I'm in another country in Miami.  Every sign is in Spanish, every announcement is in Spanish.  She said she loved the MTC, she was so grateful for her companion, and she was so excited to get to Chile.  She was so grateful for all the letters, packages and prayers.  She truly has felt so loved by all.

She said" I have been so nervous thinking about how to start talking about the gospel  to people."  She didn't know if she could do that.  So a beautiful (tender mercy) took place from Dallas to Miami.  Katelyn was seated by the window, a women from Peru who spoke no English, was in the middle seat and an Elder was sitting on the isle.  

Katleyn said" hello" to the women from Peru. So Katelyn said to herself  "here goes my Spanish."   Katelyn asked her some questions, the Elder asked her some questions.  She asked Katelyn what all these sister's and elders were doing.  So Katelyn started to tell her  what a missionary does.   The Elder and Katelyn starting talking to her about the Restoration of the Gospel, the First Vision, Baptism, the Plan of Salvation, the Book of Mormon.   She was catholic and said she only recited one prayer.  So they taught her how to pray.  Katelyn said" as we sat on this airplane I asked her if she would say a prayer."  Katelyn said a prayer first., then the Elder said a prayer.  Then Luz (which in Spanish means Light) said a simple prayer.  Her eyes filled with tears, she opened her coat and touched her heart.  Katelyn said" how do you feel. " Luz said" I've never felt anything like this in my life.  I feel so happy!  I feel it in my heart. "  Katelyn read in the Book of Mormon in 3rd Nephi where Christ comes to the America's with her.  As the plane descended they asked around for a Spanish Book of Mormon.  Katelyn wrote down a couple of sciptures for her to read.  Challenged her to read the Book of Mormon & contact the missionaries in Peru. She said she would.   Katelyn then wrote on a napkin, Heavenly Father loves you so much and stuck the napkin into 3rd Nephi.  Hugged her and  got off the plane.  

She said "it was an amazing experience.  I want to talk to everyone I meet now about the gospel. " She said " I don't know very much Spanish.  However I understood Luz and she understood me."  

How great a love our Heavenly Father has for us when we give ourselves to him.  To serve with all our might, mind and strength. He makes up the difference.  Katelyn truly felt His love.  She is a missionary on fire! 

More to come......

Last 4 days in the MTC

The time has come for Katelyn to leave the MTC and head to Chile!! We are so excited for her!  We are so proud of her!!  She will leave on Monday at 3:30 a.m. for Chile.  So this is the last letter from the MTC.  The Mail room isn't open on the weekend so if you want to write her before she leaves today is the last day.  She will then receive it on Friday:)  We will update her address when we hear from her!:)

Hola FAMILIA!!!!! Como le va?! :) :) :) :) :)

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS MY LAST LETTER TO YOU IN AMERICA! The time here as absolutely flown right on by, I can't believe we are now here...leaving to Chile in what... 4 DAYS! I am feeling all sorts of emotions let me just tell you. Estoy muy animada pero tambian muy preoccupada. Es feliz, es triste.... a WHOLE jumble of emotions! But I can't wait for this amazing opportunity to go and teach, become the Lords hands in Chile. Teaching and talking to people... :). I love them already! Every morning this week I have woken up with the thought... this time next week I’ll be in Chile! It's a very surreal feeling!!! I think I need more training her at the MTC, I might ask for an extension. ;) Chiste. :) My thoughts are all over the place with it all. Satan tries to fill my head with many doubts, I don't know Spanish yada yada yada... but I’m not going to have it. Yes, I might only know how to say the first vision, bare my testimony, and pray. But that's all the important stuff right!?? :)  Yes, language is the thing that I get most frustrated with. At some points I feel like I’m going to be the first missionary to go out not even knowing how to speak the language. haha but I know when I give it all I got, the Lord will make it more. With language it's hard not to get discouraged though! But I believe in miracles!! :) Like you said Dad, patience. I have no doubt the Lord is testing me with patience right now, that's one thing i've always struggled with. I've prayed for it every day and i'm definitely learning my lesson! :)

This is about how much Spanish I feel like I know.  It's all going to work out!!

Learning the last little bit before we go on Monday!!

I want to say thank you family for ALL the amazing valentines packages last P DAY!!!!! You're love is SO greatly appreciated! I am so very loved, and I hope you all know that you are loved as well!!! I think and pray for you continually! I got my license and that great package from all the aunts. SO thoughtful of them. LOVE those little microfiber towels.... they really do the trick when it comes to taking off makeup! :) Tell all the aunts THANK YOU SO MUCH for everything!!!! Also got packages from Jordan and Taylor! ALL SO AMAZING AND THOUGHTFUL! Thank you to everyone! All of your support means the WORLD! :) ha dad I loved how you said you are dissecting the pictures... ha. I am so happy and I do love this WORK! I might look tired in them.... cause we always are. Simper. ha. But that's part of it, I’ve gotten used to only getting so much sleep! My body is adjusting! I love wearing the names tag each day. Constant reminder of whose service I am in. What a incredible opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ at all times 24/ 7 :)

 Taylor, you are a sweetheart and know just what I would love!!

Yum, Yum and can I say Yum... Turtle Cheesecake!!

 Should we invite the Elders, what Elders.  Should we use the plates, what plates.

It sounds like you all had such an amazing weekend! I can't wait to hear about your weekend in Jackson Hole boys and Lauren, and Mom and Dad, I'm so glad you were able to go get some sun and spend time in Vegas together! :) Thank you so much for the SD cards (they will be perfect) and the cute scarf and shirt mom! I LOVE IT! :) I'll be looking stylish down in Chile because of you mom!  I hope your headaches have been getting better and you are feeling healthy mom! :) How's the Diet Coke challenge going?! :) Tanner that's absolutely amazing about your science fair project You are SUCH a smart boy. WAY TO GO :) I would love to see pictures!!!! :) Mom I loved your letter yesterday! Thank you so much! Always brightens my day to get a letter from my mama. :) YOU ARE THE MOST AMAZING PARENTS.

Thank you all for your letters they are always so good to get! :) Dad that poem was amazing! I wrote it down in my journal! I absolutely love it! It definitely lifted my spirits... that we can achieve anything we want if we work hard and depend on the Lord! :) And about the Hymns...we always sing Secreta Oracion!!!! It's honestly one of my favorite himinos en espanol! :) Our district also loves scatter sunshine... it gets stuck in your head SO EASILY!!! Simper goze siempre al andar. paz y gran consuelo,  a todo ser^^^^^^^. ha That's our district himino pienso! :) So about everything that's been going on here. We finished teaching out investigators Joana y Jorge yesterday. It's so crazy cause I feel like we didn't teach them for long at all! There is still so much more for them to learn!!! We taught Jorge ayer manana and just said we are leaving to Chile so we can't teach him anymore but we asked if he would like to continue on this path and learning and we would have the other missionaries in the area come and meet him. He said he would like that. We bore testimony of the few things we taught him. We taught him of the importance of baptism and then asked if he would be baptized. He said he likes what he is learning; he wants to keep learning more because baptism is a huge commitment. We butchered Spanish in that lesson, but the spirit always helps us to get our main point across. :) So things left on a good note with him. I wish we could teach him more so we could find out his fears and his thoughts, but it was a gran learning experience! :) We had hosting in the middle of the day yesterday. Got to help all the cute new missionaries! :) I hosted 3 girls, one was going to Chicago Illinois Spanish speaking. I freaked out because KAITLIIN DAVIES just left there on MONDAY! :) Saying goodbye was very hard. I don't really like all of these goodbyes... ha. She is going to be an amazing missionary! After hosting we taught out second investigator Joana. She has grown so much since the first time we taught her. From I hate God. God doesn't love me... to diligently reading the scriptures, pondering them, and PRAYING. Wow. Such an amazing experience to see that growth and that light come into her life. In the beginning we did not like her because she was so hard, but I have come to love her so much! hahahaha sounds weird cause these investigators are just our teachers but the person they portray you really do come to love! In our lesson yesterday with her we taught her about baptism as well. She has been reading Alma 32 and has loved the comparison of fe to a semilla. Just like a seed needs water and sun, we asked her what things she needed to do to "feed" her faith and testimony. In the visit before she expressed the joy she felt when we were there and how she wanted to exhibit more faith. I try. I try. She said. Well, Baptism was just the lesson for her! She loved the idea of getting all of her sins washed away! It was so exciting  to see her reaction! :) She asked many questions like why is baptism in our church any different. We explained it's because we had the Priesthood Authority of God! So... we read a  few scriptures about baptism and then it was my turn to ask her. Right as I was about to ask her I inhaled wrong and started choking. hahaha I literaly could not breath, face was twitching, tears were streaming down my face and both Hermana Pendleton and poor Joana looked at my with WIDE EYES!!! I tried talking but no sound came out... as I turned purple hahahahahahhahaha (if you can only picture this) Joana said Necesita AGUA?!?!? We had to abort the lesson real quickly. Get a drink. Regain my breath. Then we were good. hahahahaha. In a soft voice... or else I would start choking again I asked if she would have the faith and follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. SHE ACCEPTED!!!!!!!! She is getting baptized March 21! :) We expressed how exited we were for her and how great of a decision she is making! :) It was such a great experience and I thank the Lord for it. Even through the choking... ha. I cannot wait to meet those in Chile the Lord is preparing! :)

Every time we walk by this picture, we think yes that's us the tall one and the small one!!

Look at how well we imitate them!

Eating time at the MTC

I have learned so much her in the MTC! I am going to miss this place and the constant spirit I feel here. I am going to miss everyone in my district they are all so amazing! We have all just grown to love each other SO MUCH!!!! I can't say I’m going to miss the food... I’m kind of done with cereal, bananas, and PB and J's ;). I have loved being companions with Hermana Pendleton. She has really taught me so much! That girl is strong. With everything she has gone through in her life she is so amazing. We study hard, and laugh a lot. I can even say enough to both peeing our pants. yeah.... us girls. hahahaha. But l love her! So amazing great memories and experiences here! I have loved the devotionals, the talks we have watched the things our teachers and fellow missionaries have taught... but I’m ready to get to Chile!!!! I cannot wait for this next step of the adventure!!!! :)

"Home is behind, the world ahead, and there are many paths to tread." :) HERE WE GO!

So travel plans  are:

1st flight American Airlines: Flight 436 LV:  SLC 6:00am Feb 25. AR: Dallas/ft Worth, TX 9:45 am

2nd flight American Airlines: Flight 2244 Lv: Dallas/ft Worth, TX 10:55 am AR: Miami, Florida 2:35 pm

3rd flight Lan Chile S.A.: Flight: 501 Lv: Miami, FL 8:25 pm AR: Santiago Chile 6:50 am February 26,2013

^^^ yeah. It's kind of weird to look at that. Is this really happening?!?!? :) Kay so I could call you guys in the morning before I leave Salt Lake just for a bit. Then the majority of the talking time I could do in the Miami Airport!?  I CANNOT WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!!!!! :) :) :) : ) :) THANK YOU SO MUCH! Mix of emotions but I’m exited!!!! :)

 We have talked with a couple of the Chilean workers here and they are like oh it's not even Spanish down there. Don't worry about not knowing Spanish because you won't be speaking Spanish. It's a whole other language! Haha. It's going to be fun :) :) Question for you guys.. Did you ever watch the heavenly father, earthly father Mormon video?!?! IT's unreal huh?!?! Well guess what they came our with ANOTHER ONE yesterday! It's called mountains to climb. It's incredible. I challenge you to watch it as a family. I was balling my eyes out! It's incredible. It just talks about having faith to endure our trials!

I read D&C 78: 17-19 this morning and it really comforted me. "..Be of good cheer for I will lead you along..." I know this is going to be another big change but I know the Lord is with me, with all of us, every step of the way. Footprints in the sand. :)

I want you to know the testimony I have of this Gospel. I know that it is the only true church on the earth today, even that same church in which Christ established during his ministry. I know that through a young fourteen year old's faith and simple prayer that it was restored on the earth in these last days one last time. I have a testimony that with the power and authority of God Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon, which is in deed another testament of Jesus Christ. I have a testimony of prayer and it's importance. For the 2 greatest events in history started in a humble prayer. The Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Restoration of this gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. Here at the MTC I pray all day for strength, for patience, for charity, for answers, for peace, and I TESTIFY the Lord answers my prayers. Not always while I am on my knees but as I am acting, working, and listening. I know that we are literal Children of God and the he loves us. I know He loves his children in Chile as well,. I know that he loves me. I know Christ died and suffered for me so that I may be able to repent and live again. I am grateful for the gift of the Atonement and Repentance in my life. I know that when we turn our lives over to the Lord he is bound to bless us. I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Savoir Jesus Christ. He is my Redeemer and my Salvation. I know with every fiber of my being that this church is true. In a talk in the Sunday night devotional the speaker talked about sharing the gospel. He said if you had an endless pot of gold would you be shy about sharing it? NOOOOOO. You would just want to give and give and give until EVERYONE had it. The same goes for the gospel. This is the most important message anyone could EVER hear. THIS IS SALAVTION! When this was said it really struck me. my goal to to share it with everyone I come in contact with!!! Our brother and sisters need our hands to left them up and come back onto the path! :)

I love you all so much! :) :) Thank you SO MUCH! FOR EVERYTHING you have given me. All that I am I owe to you! :)

Dad had a glass of milk just for you this morning in the temple. Ha taking my last hot showers... I could live without the hot dogs. ;)

Sister Mansfield in our branch presidency lives in Highland, so she offered to take my things I’m not taking and come drop them off at the house! So on Sunday or Monday! She will hopefully be dropping some stuff of for you! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! CAN"T wait to talk to you in just a few short days!!!!!! :)

xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo

Sonrisa. :)

CON MUCHO AMOR SIEMPRE:

Su misinonera, Hermana Katelyn Smith :)

We get to be host's today!!:)

Sister Allie Vincent is in the MTC!!

Mail Room Crazy

Companionship inventory today!! It was a little small! 

Writing home and family and friends... last time from the MTC





Katelyn's 4th week in the MTC

Happy Valentines Day!! Such a great day to hear from our missionary!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY MY AMAZING FAMILY :) :) XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXO

I just want you all to know on this wonderful day full of love :).... that you are ALL in my thoughts! I am so blessed to have the most AMAZING family anyone could ever ask for. I can't even express how much you mean to me. Words cannot even start to help me describe my love for each and every one of you. You have made me the person I am today:)

Dad- I LOVE YOU:) Thanks for being such an amazing example to me. Thanks for being a worthy priesthood holder in our home and always being there when I need you. Thank you for constantly providing (Earthly Father, Heavenly Father Mormon message video) , and never asking for anything in return. I miss your goodnight hugs and kisses :) Pero, yo se que I am supposed to be here :) Thank you for ALL your love and support. I feel so blessed to be able to walk the same ground you have in just a few short...11 DAYS!!!!! :)

Mom- I LOVE YOU:) thank you for being my absolute best friend! You mean the world to me and I look up to you so much! Your constant love and concern for me means the world. I LOVED the package, it put the BIGGEST smile on my face. Loved the heart attack, not quite the same heart attack I sent you ;). haha Thank you for always being there for me. Some day I hope to be the mother you are. In church on Sunday President Jolley's wife spoke and she shared a scripture about how she felt as a mother when all of her kids began to leave the house. It made me think of you mom and how you said you don't know what to do now. It's 2 Nephi 19-22. Please read this scripture mom and apply it to you: "...strait and narrow path of (insert motherhood)..." Continue being AMAZING. I love you. You mean the world to me. Thank you for all your hard work in getting me here! :)

Austin and Lauren :I LOVE YOU!  You guys are AMAZING. Thank you so much for your constant support and love. Your letters are so helpful. I look up to both of you SO MUCH!

Conner: I LOVE YOU :) You are the most amazing boy with such a sweet heart. Keep up the good work. Miss you and your dance moves, and your constant tapping and drumming. ha

Tanner: I LOVE YOU! :) I could not have a better little brother. Even though you are the littlest in the FAMILY I look up to you so much. You set such a great example to all of us of love and concern for others. :)

Hope you guys have an AMAZING valentines day. :) :) I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! :)

Well this week flew right on by. I can't believe it's already week 5... I mean, where did the time go!?!??! Weeks FLY here. Days are the longest things ever.... it's a weird concept. I'm loving it though. Every second of it. It's hard and discouraging at times but what a learning experience! :) I am growing so much! The Spanish... is frustrating but just like you said dad in my father's blessing that I need to have patience.... it's hard though. Especially at 5 weeks I feel like I should know so much more than I do. I know the Lord is teaching me though. I am learning. :) Through small and simple things great things are brought to pass. :) Every day is a small thing, but at some point it will all click, RIGHT!?  Espero:) For some reason my brain will not retain ANYTHING! We go into lessons and it turns to mushhhhh. ha with our investigators we haven't made huge progress, Jorge will accept any commitment with ease and just does everything we ask, but he hasn't felt it yet. Joana... she is difficult. She still continues to think God doesn't love her and it absolutely KILLS me. This gospel is one of happiness and will bring  it, we are continuing to work and try to follow the spirit to say what she needs to hear. Hermana Pendleton is trying so hard with her Spanish and is doing a great job but it's kind of difficult in a lesson when she goes off and I don't even know what she is saying or trying to say hahahaha then she looks at me like okay your turn and I’m all like, where am  I suppose to go with that!??! ha all while our investagor looks at us like you guys are crazy! hahaha. It's coming. Some lessons are good... some need a lot of work! We really focused in class this week on the importance of bringing the spirit. Without the spirit we CANNOT teach. Which I totally have come to find out and know. We did role-plays teaching other companionships about the importance of baptism and easing their fears in Spanglish. It's crazy that even though it was just a role-play how strong the spirit was. Looking into Hermana Godfrey's eyes as she bore her testimony and showing genuine concern,  I even started to tear up a little bit! What an amazing experience :) Personal study or our "sacred grove" part of the day is one of my favorites. I have learned so much about missionary work, about teaching with power AND authority, and loving others from Morni, Helaman, the stripling warriors and Nephi and Lehi (Helaman's sons). I love the scriptures. One thing that Hermana Pendleton and I have started doing that WE LOVE is reading the scriptures in Spanish, and then guessing what the verse says then reading it in English. It's cool to see things click and makes sense! :) The devotionals are definitely the highlight of my week! This Sunday Mark J. L. spoke and gave an amazing talk on just showing love and compassion to your investigators. He even brought up on stage the kids of someone he baptized on his mission and they were getting married in the temple in a few months. They didn't speak any English but just bore their testimony of their love for the missionaries and their gratitude for the blessings they have received because of them. I could pick out some of their Spanish porque it was muy rapido. It really made me so exited to go teach REAL people to meet people and invite them to come unto Christ and change their lives. :) I CAN'T WAIT :) That night for our Sunday movie we watched the talk by Elder Holland called forever a missionary. Seriously rocked my world. It was incredible. It makes me want to work so hard until I’m barely breathing when I get home. hahaha couple huge things that stuck out to me.... Give it everything you got. ALL DAY, EVERY DAY for the whole 18 months! He said when you come home from your mission you ought not to ever be the same again. He shared the scripture in Mosiah 27:11 and related this to our missionary work. GO OUT AND ASTONISH SOMEONE. hahahaha wow. Holland really knows how to say it straight up. He said at this time as a missionary you are the closet you will ever be to being like a member of the 12 apostles. WOW. What an honor. I know I have been set apart with that authority and I work constantly for that power of the Spirit. This is such a powerful message and we should declare it with profoundness. I love Elder Holland.

 In class the other day we read Jacob 5 about the vineyard and relating it to missionary work. It hit me so hard while we were reading this is class... that we are sent to Labor in God's vineyard. Literally I am being sent to God's  vineyard by the sea (vina del mar). :) :) WOW. So amazing:) In these verses God promises that as we missionaries work with diligence we will be blessed. Jacob 5: 75, "...behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard." I'm SO exited to meet all of God's children down in Chile. I know he is preparing their hearts to hear this message of the gospel. :)

So a little bit about our teachers. Hermana Thomas her parents live right across from Angie and Scott and they are in Achievement days together or something?? ha and Hermana Thomas used to babysit Emily?!?! What a small world! ha She is an awesome teacher. She is so tiny probably 5 feet tall and like 80 pounds no joke. And yet... she makes for the most intimidating investigator (JOANA). ha Hermano Miller served in Salt Lake City his mission. I love the way he teaches. Sometimes I feel so bad for our poor teachers our district is kinda crazy sometimes. The Elders can get of subject and Hyper very quickly; they are like a bunch of little squirrels. ha most of them are from Idaho and Georgia so they have the strongest accents when they speak Spanish.

Sleep... not really sleeping to well. ha you know how I am with sleep. I always get this cough at night that keeps me up. Its weird cause I’m nowhere near sick but I cough all night!!! :( ha I think it's just cause we talk all day and it's dry?! No se?!? Hermana Pendleton still has-been having health problems :( Poor thing. Just a bunch of stomach issues. It's hard cause it just happens randomly. So we have to leave class and go home sometimes. Which sometimes can be a little frustrating because we only have 11 days and I need to learn Spanish! ha but talking with Kaitlin about it last night... what matters more. That I get the language right this second or that I help one of his struggling children. The Lord is teaching me such patience here. 

 I am learning to truly look outside myself, of course it's a work in progress but slowly it's coming.  My natural man wants to turn inward and say no I’m going to learn Spanish; I have to write in my journal... all important things. But His children all around me also need help! :) So mom I guess Hermana Pendleton's mom has a blog for her as well! :) You cute bloggers you.  

Sister Manefeild in our Branch Presidency works somewhere I wasn’t quite sure where she said.  She saw grandma and Tami come in. She gave me an air hug from them (can't hug here :( ). SO THANK YOU Grandma and Tami :) :)

Kaitlin Davies leaves on Monday morning!!!! AHHHHH SO CRAZY! We don't really see too much of each other but when I do see her it brighten my day. Today in the cafeteria at the temple she bought my breakfast... cutie. I love her! She IS SO PREPARED  and is going to be UNREAL out in the field! :)

How are things at home?!?! :) I hear that Austin is   taking everyone to Jackson Hole this weekend!!! HOW FUN!?!?!?!? I want to hear all about it. Tell them to be safe and ski a nice slope for me. ;) Hope You, mom and dad have a nice relaxing time together this weekend. :) I love you guys so much! You are in my prayers and on my thoughts. I'm so blessed to have you! :)

p.s. we get our travel plans soon. We were a little impatient so we went to the travel office just to see when we leave. And we leave the 25 reporting at the travel office at 3:30 am!!! I think our planes leaves at 6 or something. I will let you know more when I get more information. :) KAY!?!?!

Con mucho mucho mucho mucho AMOR siempre,

Hermana Smith and her companion Hermana Pendleton

Someone caught us praying!!  Lots of prayers being offered!

The sweet sister's in my district

The Lone Peak Gang!! Can't believe we are all in the MTC at the same time!

such a huge blessing!

Jordan, you are a sweetheart!!

Best Friends Forever!!

Valentines packages, it made our day!!

Giant hugs from me!!! Coming your way!!

Doing our Laundry today, having some fun

The crazy things we do, to make ourselves laugh!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Your missionary Hermana Katelyn Nicole Smith :)

Katelyn's 3rd Week in the MTC

Hurray, we got Kate's letter, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!!

Hola FAMILIA:) :) :) :)

HOW ARE YOU THIS WEEK?!?!? It was absolutely INCREDIBLE hearing from you guys this week and receiving so much love and support from you! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! This week has been absolutely incredible. The MTC is the most spiritual place that I have ever been. There is just a constant spirit that never seems to stop, and I LOVE IT :) It's crazy to think that it has already been 3 weeks. Like you said dad, it's just zooming by. Literally time is of no essence here. Time is LOCO here! The days feel like months and the weeks feel like days. ha... if that makes any sense at all. But in just a few short (19!!!!!!!) days I’ll be going to Chile! That's crazy to think about! I feel like I’m never going to be ready to go!! Ha It's going to come so FAST! I have learned so much here. My Heavenly Father has become my best friend :) My testimony continues to grow each day. Like you said dad, growing takes discomfort. I definitely have felt that. Rapunzel off of Tangled, yeah, I feel like that's me daily. Ha! “YAYYYYYY Let's do this,” to,  “Oh my gosh I can't do this,” to “NOPE we're doing this.” Ha one second laughing so hard my stomach hurts, and the next crying because seeing our investigators in so much pain and not being able to communicate with them is so frustrating. It's a constant roller coaster. But... I have a secret for you. I have begun to enjoy the ride! :)

Mom, yes I have heard from Taylor. He is the sweetest. He always has the best insight and is so encouraging! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I know the Lord needs me here. I know I need to find those people down in Chile! :)  Ever since that day I’ve been doing wonderful :) And I know that is because of your prayers!!! This week I’ve truly felt them. I have been able to be happy, to work hard. So thanks to YOU! :) Thank you for fasting for me. Mom I have felt angels bearing me up. This is a refiners fire, it hurts, but I’m indeed being refined. I know the Lord has a bigger and better plan for me. He knows what I can become. He knows all of our potential. We just need to trust in him and we can be lifted up. :) I have a testimony of that and have felt that when we do all we can the Lord will make it more. :)

Mom I have heard so much about this BLOG! :) Congrats on all the followers. Thanks for taking the time to spell check and crop the emails. I know that is probably a vigorous task.  I hope once I get into the field I can have a quick “look-see” at it because I hear from everyone that it's ADORABLE. :) Thank you so much for doing that mom. You are so incredibly talented. I'm glad to hear that the Relief Society activity went well to with Nickelle and Tami and Lauren. :) OF COURSE you are on the Relief Society activities committee. I bet it looked spectacular. :)

I hope skiing last Saturday was SO FUN! Looking out at those beautiful mountains, I can imagine the skiing was so fun! I'm sure everybody is getting so GREAT :) Can't wait to come home and all ski together again. Poor Tanner. Being sick is NO BUENO especially when you sound like Bentley. It's "RUFF". Get feeling better, okay big guy?! Will you do that for me?! I love you.

So I’m sorry my letters are always so scattered. There is just so much to write and so little time! Ha. So to answer a few of your questions, only me and Hermana Pendleton are going to Viña in our district. And everyone else is going to Santiago East, which is kind of sad. But there are about 4-5 districts here, not in our zone all going to VIÑA DEL MAR. There are so many and all of us are leaving the same day. So look out Chile, here we come! :) As far as teachers, our teachers are fabulous. From day one they have spoken just in Spanish. Sometimes very rarely though they do a little Spanglish... but then again that's a rare occasion. Hermana Thomas teaches us three hours a day and Brother Miller teaches us 3 hours. Our first investigator, Erasmo, was Brother Miller. So after 5 lessons with "Erasmo" we walk into class and BAM now our investigator is our teacher. We were like NOOOOO not Erasmo. Hahaha. How embarrassing. We taught him that the Book of Mormon is bueno, Jesus is Hermana Pendletons love, and the Book of Mormon is the Pearl of Great Price (instead of reading Otro estamento de Jesuscristo. oooops.) Ha. But honestly he is my favorite. He so, so patient. Both teachers are! Our 2 new investigators are Jorge and Joana. Jorge accepts most everything. He is praying. He believes in God and tonight we are teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. Jonana, she is the hard one. She doesn't believe GOD loves her and is there for her. Which breaks my heart! We are really working hard on her. Our lesson with her on Saturday was horrible. Totally spaghetti tongue, and couldn't even remember how to say HOLA. Yeah, bad. Coming out of that lesson was very discouraging. But we taught her again last night, butchered the Spanish. Ha... It's so difficult. But the spirit helped us get our main idea across.  We taught her about the importance of prayer and she FINALLY prayed with us at the end of the lesson. I just pray she continues to keep praying. We promised as she continued to pray in faith that she would feel God's love for her in her life. I love teaching but right now it is still very difficult. Spanish is coming and I have learned so much. Some days I can see the progress and other days I can't even remember how to say thank you. On Monday we had the opportunity to do a couple role-plays about teaching someone about the Book of Mormon. We taught another teacher acting as "Gabriel". Hermana Pendleton and I were lead by the spirit and were comfortably able to get out the few things we know. She turned the time over to me since I had memorized the first vision and I was able to tell the first vision. What an incredible experience. "...Vi una columna de luz...." :) :) Even though we didn't answer all of Gabriel’s questions. We gave a brief summary of the first vision and bore our testimonies. What a great experience. :)After, he was able to give us some feedback which was nice because we never really get that. He said he wished his missionaries worked in unison like we did, and then he asked how long we had been out. “2 1/2 weeks,” then he said, “WOW, by your Spanish I would have guessed you have been out 6 weeks.” I bet he was just trying to make our day. But still it was nice to hear that we are doing well. Because we are trying really hard!  Hermana Pendleton and I are getting along just great. I love her to death. We have so much fun! She is such a chill, just fun loving person! Sometimes though... I’m like, come on... we gotta focus... ha. But she is amazing and has taught me a lot. Dad, I’m smiling and laughing a lot. Maybe a little too hard the other day...if you catch my drift. But so did my companion ;) Love this Worthington bladder of mine. ;) Feel free to crop this out of the email ;)

I would like to share with you another amazing experience I had. So since this last Sunday we had Fast Sunday, we had mission conference, which is just a 2-hour meeting with everyone together instead of relief society and priesthood,

The whole MTC presidency spoke and It kind of centered around bearing your testimony. So in sacrament I decided that I was going to do my best bearing my testimony in Spanish! Ha, talk about the scariest thing! My legs were shaking like I had just climbed Mount Everest or something. But the Lord definitely gave me strength. Even though it was just simple, the Lord was able to help me recall all the Spanish I have learned so far. :) After sitting down and listening to all the testimonies that were being born,I thought to myself... I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING! I can get the gist of what everyone is saying. That in and of itself is a miracle. I remember going with Grandma and Grandpa Worthington to their Spanish branch like 2-3 years ago and not knowing a thing. So that experience and realization was a tender mercy.:) What a miracle! :) I love this gospel. And even though the whole meeting was in Spanish, I could follow, and more importantly, I could feel the spirit. I don't speak Spanish but the spirit does. :) With only a couple weeks left there is definitely a sense of urgency in the air. It's stressful!!! I need to learn Spanish!!!! Ha. But all I can do is try my hardest. Trato trato trato todo dia, cada dia. :) I know in the strength of the Lord I can do all things!

Mom clothes are working out just fabulous. Seriously my skirts are all beyond long enough. Don't know why I was worried about that. Everyone is always borrowing all my stuff, so in some of the pictures you might see my stuff on other people :) Thank you so much for everything and all your efforts in making me a cute missionary. They aren’t very strict here with jewelry or anything... so sometimes I miss my big chucky necklaces. (HAHAHA jk ;) I know that once I’m in Chile all that won't really matter. I still am going to try to look cute though no worries. I'm not "letting go". Hahaha. Food is good. Like honestly, not bad at all. It's starting to get really repetitive. But I eat lots of bananas, PB&J's, cereal or salad... especially with ALL these new missionaries coming in. The lines are HUGE, 800 yesterday and 1000 new missionaries next week. I have no idea how they are fitting all of us in here. I don't understand where they are hiding all of them!

The talks and devotionals here are phenomenal. After listening to them I truly do believe that anything is possible with the Lord! On Sunday, Benson L. Porter and his wife spoke. Then after we watched a talk by Elder Bednar about the Holy Ghost. Seriously BEDNAR is such a profound speaker. This weeks and the first weeks, "Character of Christ" have changed my life. :) :) In my personal study time I have been learning a lot. I'm learning a lot about the Stripling Warriors and their character. In Alma 56:10 Helamen says "and they were worthy to be called sons.." This really got me thinking. What made them worthy to be called sons? Am I worthy to be called a representative of Jesus Christ. It's been a long drawn out study, but I’m getting sucked into the Book of Mormon. I LOVE IT! I am continuing to learn what made them as warriors, and what makes me as a missionary worthy. The biggest is just the FAITH they had. :) :) Tuesday night’s devotional was Don R. Clarke and just spoke on our jobs as missionaries to find, teach, convert, and retain. :)  In the beginning of his talk he asked all the 18-year-old Elders to stand, then all the 19 and 20 year old Sisters to stand. They honestly do this at every meeting! But each time I feel so privileged to stand as one of the first 19-year-old sisters to go on a mission! :) :) What an incredible experience :) :) :) At one point Elder Clarke spoke of a boy that was one of his missionaries while he was a mission president,  that woke up for early morning seminary by his mom splashing water on his face. This boy told his President this and then he asked... Would you be here if it weren't for your mother? I teared up. No you didn’t need to pour water on my face, but mom and dad... I would not be here if it was not for you. Your testimonies are solid and I know without a doubt in my mind you know this Church is true. I am beyond blessed to have you as my parents. Thank you for your constant examples. You are PHENOMENAL and you mean the world to me. One day I hope to become somewhat close to the amazing people you are. Mom and dad, one more time. I would not be here if it wasn't for you. I love you to death:) Thank you for ALL you do. FOR ALL your sacrifices! :) There is a Mormon message video called Earthly Father, Heavenly Father, I swear we watch it every day!!! It's our entertainment here... Mormon messages...  I have it memorized word for word. No joke. But please watch it. It's amazing. As I watched it I thought about you, mom and dad, how day-to-day you go on supporting us as kids, doing what you need to do, constantly providing. Our Heavenly Father does the same for us. How blessed I am to know I am a daughter of a King, but also a daughter of Curtis and Laura Smith. How blessed I am to have loving heavenly and earthly parents. :) I love you guys so much! Please let me know if you need anything or if I can do anything! TE AMO MUCHO :) :) Yo se que las familias son enternas. :) xoxoxoxoxo ALL of you have an AMAZING WEEK! :) :) Can't wait to hear from you! You are in my prayers.

Love, your missionary Hermana Katelyn Smith :)

p.s. Brother and Sister Taylor's from our ward... their nephew is here. Elder  Taylor, and was like hey my aunt told me about you. SO CRAZYYYY!

p.s.s. GUESS WHO I SAW AT THE TEMPLE THIS MORNING?!?!?!? AUNT Elaine. :) She was in our endowment session at the temple! :) So crazy seeing her... but even more crazy, she was like, oh yeah my granddaughter is here too... she is Hermana Anderson, she's a little redhead. Didn't click. Walk into the session and Hermana Anderson is in my district.... is HER GRANDDAUGHTER!!!!!!! WHO KNEW, WE WERE SECOND COUSINS THIS WHOLE TIME!!!!! Her parents are Greg and Kristin, I think she said?!?! Her dad used to do your teeth before you meet dad I guess?!?!?! HA, HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!?!? So yep, my second cousin the redhead in all the pictures.... Hermana Kendle Anderson and she is going to Argentina. WOW. SO INSANE!!!!!!   

The Elders...

The Sister's...

Elder Giles and Sister Smith 

Hermana Smith and her Zone

We decided to have a Super Bowl party since we are missing it! It was all about the chips and salsa.  We are so creative!HA

Katelyn & Emily

Learning us some Spanish!!

 Sweet companions

I love this smile:) She smiles like this when she thinks she's pretty funny.

All the Dear Elder's makes our day!

Aunt Elaine at the Provo temple

Just figured out we are second cousins and in the same zone!

Kenzie Busby from Aunt Shauna's ward