Last Weekend in the US

November 15, 2013

Hi everyone! 

So I leave for Ecuador on Monday morning!!!  I have to be at the travel office at 2:30 in the morning to make my 6:25am flight.  Not super looking forward to that, but I want to try to place a Book of Mormon in one of the airports before I get to Ecuador.  I'm kind of terrified to do it, but I better get used to it since that's what I'll be doing for a year and a half.  I actually have two short layovers; I and another elder fly from Salt Lake to Dallas, and then from Dallas to Miami, and THEN from Miami to Guayaquil.  It's gonna be a long day.

The weather has been pretty mild recently, except that it got colder today.  It's been raining lightly all day.  I'm glad I have a raincoat at least, and also that I'll leave for a much warmer climate in three days. (!!!!!)  Apparently it's supposed to snow on Sunday or something, which I'm not looking forward to.  I REALLY did not want to be here when it snowed, but I'll escape pretty soon after.

Katie messing around

Showing off her apartment

Katie being Katie

It was pretty cool this week, because we had Elder L. Tom Perry of the Twelve speak at devotional Tuesday night!  And I got to sit pretty close to the front!!!  It was so cool.  He was just kind of adorable, and the longer I looked at him the more I wanted to just give him a big hug.  That is honestly the hardest thing so far about being a sister missionary, especially a solo sister in a district of all elders.  I get close with these elders and they've become like brothers now, and I won't be able to give any of them a hug when we leave.  It's okay, we're planning an MTC district reunion in a little over two years, so I'll do it then haha.

Katie and her district (Elders Bueno Cabral, Robins, Burnett, Williams & Howell)

Yesterday we had in-field orientation on main campus for like nine and a half hours.  It was actually not as bad as I'd heard it was.  They had us move rooms a lot and had a bunch of different workshops, so we didn't totally die of boredom.  We learned about planning and setting goals and working with members and a bunch of other stuff that we'd need to know about going out into the field.  I met a girl in my workshop group who had the same name as me: Sister Iverson!  When I saw her walk by me, I didn't know what to say, so I just pointed at her name tag in shock and then pointed at mine, and after several seconds I finally said something like "That's my name!" or whatever.  It was really embarrassing haha.  I got to talk to her later and found out her family is Dutch and came across the plains with the pioneers, not Norwegian and from Minnesota.  Oh well.  But still, I've never met anyone with the same name as me before!  It was so exciting.

With friend Katy Armknecht (met at EFY)

with Keely Lu (from San Jose--going to New Zealand) 

It feels so surreal that I'm actually going to Ecuador finally, but whenever I'm not freaking out and getting all stressed about it I realize that I actually am ready to go and do this.  It's going to be hard, really hard, but I'm excited to push the boundaries of my comfort zone and grow in my testimony.  I'm really excited to go to Ecuador and do the Lord's work.  I just have to remember that all of these feelings of fear and doubt don't come from my Heavenly Father, but the adversary.  I know that God will protect me as I bring His children the truth of the gospel of His Son.  

Yo sé que Dios es mi Padre Celestial y que Su Hijo Jesucristo murió para mi y pagó el precio para mis pecados y los del mundo.  Yo sé que él les ama Sus hijos y quiere lo mejor para ellos.  Mediante la expiación, podemos ser limpios y llegar a ser como nuestro Padre.  Si hacemos todas las cosas que nos pida, podemos tener vida eterna y vivir con nuestras familias por siempre.  Estoy muy agradecida y animada para servirle la gente de Ecuador.  Vaya con Dios!

Love,