Hermana Katelyn Nicole Smith : 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