Final Letter Home

Hey Family and Friends!! Wow where to begin....I never ever thought this day would come, but now it is here!! This last week has been a roller coaster of emotions!! But it has been pretty great! I will give you a quick run down! So Tuesday was p-day and it was a BLAST!! We went to the Canada Sports Hall of Fame museum! It was 100% interactive and we got to learn lots about sports and do lots of fun things. We could have spent lots more time there...but p-day came to an end too quickly. Then we had supper at the Higham's house. They fixed us a Valentine's dinner since I wouldn't be there for Valentines. Aren't they sweet. Well we basically had to eat and leave because we had to go to the Welcome Fireside for all the new missionaries so that Sister Rice could meet the new sister she is training. Her name is Sister Beasley. She is from Idaho Falls. She is really nice, but a little different. It is difficult being on a three-leg, but poor Sister Beasley has not had a normal first week as a missionary. Fun connections about 2 of the sisters that came out though...Sister Wixom: Sadie met her at Wet Seal and Sister Long: Her dad was my grade 6 teacher!! Crazy eh?? It is such a small world! Well then Wednesday was another great day. We went to transfers!! So I got to see most of my favorite sisters to say goodbye to them!! Then we took Sister Beasley home to let her unpack and took her shopping and to the library so she could email her family. Then we went back to study...the great thing about training a new missionary...2 hours of comp study!!! Well then we went to my Farewell Fireside. It was great and I actually held my emotions together better than I thought I would...Sister Rice was crying more than I was. It was great though...we watched a slide show of pictures from all the departing missionaries and then we all had to do a musical number...that we found out about when we got there...and then we all bore our testimonies. After that we got to mingle and talk to all the people that we had invited. It was so great to see most of my favorite people here in Canada!! A lot of the goodbyes have been difficult...but I like to think that they are more like see you laters! Thursday we had weekly planning then went to see Sister Hobbs and cleaned her house. And then we had supper with the Mooney's. After that we all went to the Richmond Ward RS activity. It was all about creating a positive change. Fitting I know... Friday we had to finish our weekly planing and then we met with Sandra. We had a great time with her!! She is so special to me and has made so much progress in the last month or so!! I just love her. We talked with her about priesthood/patriarchal blessings. She already has her patriarchal blessing which is great and then she said she would really like a priesthood blessing. So we set that up for her. That night we had supper with the Sorenson's. Their son just got home from his mission in Dec and is already engaged to a girl he met there...crazy!! Saturday was an amazing day!! So we got to go to the TEMPLE!!! President Nicholas has a new tradition that he takes the departing missionaries to the temple on their last Saturday. It was so great because the Calgary temple has been such a big part of my mission. It was great to spend a little bit more time there before I leave. The Calgary Temple will always be my temple!! I just love the temple so much and can't wait to be able to attend the temple more regularly. When we got back we went to see Carmen and she is doing great like usual. Then that night we had supper with Sister Thomas and Laura. The Elders were also there and also Sister Hyde. It was a blast. We played a fun game where we all had to say 3 things that nobody knew about us. It was pretty difficult! For the lesson we played Stay on the Path and talked about the commandments. Laura had so much fun!!  And then finally we went to see Sister Ford. She is amazing!! She is going through so much, yet has such a great attitude about life! Sunday was the day that things really started to become real that I am leaving because I had to say lots of goodbyes at church. But it was such a good day at church. After church Sandra received a priesthood blessing and it was incredible!! It addressed all the concerns that she had and it really helped her. I think it really increased her testimony! Well that night, we had supper with the Mathewsons. He is actually from Ogden and went to Weber High!! They are a pretty great family...he was recently called into the bishopric. That night we had a lesson with the Ford's. We let them play with cornstarch and water....it was a fun object lesson, and they loved relating it to the gospel. So as I have been reflecting on my mission lately I have been overcome with love from our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful that I was chosen to be part of this great Work!! I am honored to where Christ's name everyday and to represent Him!! I have met the most amazing people here in Canada and I am sad to leave all of them behind. I have loved watching the Atonement become part of peoples lives. I have been able to watch people as they apply the Atonement to their lives that they become happy and excited about what lies ahead. It is such an incredible feeling to be able to watch someone become converted. I also had the once in a lifetime opportunity to play such a huge role in the Calgary Temple Open House! That was really one of the best parts of my mission! I have been blessed with great companions that have all helped me be a better missionary! I was able to serve in great areas where I truly came to know and love the people! This experience really has been the best thing I have ever had! I will never regret the choice I made to be a missionary. Thank you to all of you! You are the ones that helped me!! Thanks Mom and Dad!! It is because of all the things you taught me and have done for me that I am even here. Thanks to all my siblings and your letters! Thanks to my grandparents and all your love and support. Thanks to all my wonderful aunts and uncles and cousins!! Your letters and email meant the world to me! Thanks to all the teachers I have ever had...it was in all those classes that my gospel knowledge started to grow! Thank you to all my friends!! Jenessa and Jenny...your letters literally saved me! I love you guys!! Thank you to anyone who reads my emails...it makes it all worth it!! I know that the church is true!! I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. He loves us so much!! I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Through him the Church of Jesus Christ was restored! I know these things because I have read the Book of Mormon and prayed to know that it is true. The Book of Mormon is true!! I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. He leads and guides this Church. I know the priesthood is the power of God. I know that families are meant to be together forever! I love my family and I am so grateful for them. I know the Atonement is real. It is how we can be forgiven of our sins and one day return to live with our Father in Heaven. I love this gospel! I am so grateful I have been a representative of Jesus Christ for the last 18 months!!! Thank you for all your love and support!! I will see you soon! I love you!!

Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant

February 4, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!! How are you all?? Well things are going pretty great up here in Canada...we didn't have that exciting of a week, but we did stay busy! So here goes...I will tell you all about it!! Well Monday was p-day was just normal...like usual, after we did everything we needed to do, we went to see the Sisters in the office and then went to the church...while we were there, we watched the Elders play basketball. But when Laura got there, we played some games with her! It was fun. Then we had supper with the Gough's. It sure was yummy...like most food here in Canada!! Tuesday was FREEZING COLD!!!! -35C! It was so cold. But we were still missionaries. So we had DDM's and then lunch. When we got back to our area, we had to make a bunch of copies of some ESL material for Sonia. Then the Stanfords brought us dinner....you will never guess what they brought us!!! COSTA VIDA!!!! It finally made it to Canada...and it was so yummy! I don't know how I have lived without that food for this long! It was just like I remember! Then we were headed to ESL, when we got a phone call that it was canceled because it was 'too cold' outside....we live in CANADA...nothing is too cold here. But since we didn't have ESL, we were able to go meet with Sonia and talk with her in English. She is doing so great!! She is so funny and she told us all about how her and Enrique, her husband, met! It was a pretty great story. Wednesday we started our day at Sister Ford's house! She needed some help moving some heavy boxes...so we were able to offer our services. Then after lunch, we went to see Carmen. Today we took someone with us. She is from 4th ward...Sister Nystevold...her sister-in-law was in a tragic accident and has a severe brain injury. One of her friends had given her a copy of Carmen's book to read and she was loving it. She wanted to purchase 15 copies for her family!! So we took her to meet Carmen. It was great! And it was incredible to hear about both Carmen's story and Sister Nystevold's sister-in-law as well. Carmen was ecstatic that she wanted to buy her books! This is exactly what she wants her book to do!! She was just so happy. Well that night our dinner canceled, so we had a fun cold night of stop-bys. Thursday was weekly planning! I am not going to lie...I can't wait to not do that anymore!! That night we had supper with the Larsen's. Their grandson is Elder Merrill who is now serving in Grandma's mission!! Then we had a lesson with the Fords. They are doing great! That night we were just enjoying ourselves when the phone rang. It was the Assistants...we were expecting a training call for Sister Rice. But they didn't say anything about it...they were just asking us about details for our next p-day because we have something fun planned...well as soon as they hung up, Elder Ferrell called and asked if Sister Rice had gotten a training call...we explained what had just happened and then he said, "Oh wait, I have someone on the other line that has something they need to tell you..." It was the Assistants and they told her that she was going to be training! She is going to be a great trainer!! Friday we got to go to the East because we had to get our oil changed. That was fun to drive around over there again. Then we had a lesson with Sandra. She is so great!! I love her so much. So she is definitely progressing. For our lesson we watched the Restoration movie, and we were a little nervous because of the last time we tried to teach the Restoration and she was very defensive, but she really enjoyed it and had a lot of comments! She told us how she feels so welcome at church and that she thinks she is headed in the right direction!! Then that night we had supper with Sister Sells. She is great and showed us all of the sewing projects she is working on! She is very talented! Saturday was a fun day because we went to the Trainer's Training. That was really fun because we got to see all of the other Sisters that are training. I really thought that Sister Brower would be training...but she isn't. Next transfer. It was a great training and then President Nicholas gave all the Sisters permission to go out to lunch at Peter's. It is a famous Calgary Drive In. It was really good and it was fun to have that experience...especially with all of the Sisters. Well then we went to see the Ivany's one last time before I leave. Sister Ivany is so great and her kids are so cute! They are just so loving! That night our dinner canceled, but the Stanfords called and asked if we could come over. It was great, and we had so much fun with them. That night we had a lesson with Christy. We talked about Agency and Accountability in the FSOY. Sunday was just a normal fast Sunday...except for the fact that I realized it was my last opportunity to bear my testimony. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have had to serve here in Canad!! Well after Sacrament we went to Gospel Principles. Brother Walters was going to teach...since we still have no WML, but he forgot, so we quickly threw something together as we went. Sandra came to church again and this week she wanted to go to Gospel Doctrine. It was great! I have really missed that class. That night we had supper with the Salleh family and then we had a lesson with the Fords. Monday was a crazy day!! We had a zone meeting where we had to go over some zone/mission business. It was less than exciting and then we went to lunch. On our way home we stopped by the office to give them some cookies and some paperwork to Elder Wansgard. Every time we go to the office Sister Rice asks if she has any mail...she often doesn't, but for some reason I do...I am going home soon...so this happened again and I am still getting mail!! It is crazy...I expected that to stop over a month ago. But thanks to Grandma I still am getting letters!! It is just kind of funny. Every time Sister Wansgard gives me a letter, I tell her it is going to be the last one. Well then we went to Sister Sells and vaccumed her house and then we had supper with the Istvanffy's. They are great. Well then I had to start packing...because we are getting a new missionary, I have to give up my bed, dresser, closet, and desk...that means I get to live out of suitcases for the next week! yay me! Well I hope you all had a wonderful week! Have another great week this week!! I sure do love and miss you all!!

 

Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant

January 29, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!Oh goodness what a week!! It was a pretty good one though...can't complain. It was a week full of laughter! I love Sister Rice she makes my life so fun and hilarious!! So are you ready to hear all about our week?! Well we will start with Monday...it was P-DAY!!! We had a combined p-day with the East zone!! That meant we got to be with Sister Hayes and Sister Sagers! It was fun. It was also very convenient because I was given calling privliges to call people and invite them to my farewell fireside in a few weeks....so instead of using some of my phone calls...since I only get 20...I used their phone to call some people I love in Chestermere!! It was great! Laura also came to our p-day activities so we played some card games. Then we went to the Ivany's house for supper. It was great and her kids were just as hyper as ever!Tuesday we had DDM's....the actual teaching part was really good, but there wasn't a whole lot of that...I wish DL's took DMs seriously. Well then we went out to lunch and on our way home, we stopped by the mission office to give the missionaries there some cookies we had made for our meeting. As we were walking out, the AP's were walking in and one of them asked us if we wanted to watch the slideshow for the farewell fireside...I came to the conclusion that I am going to be an absolute mess that day! Well by the time we got through all the traffic back to our area, we did a few stop-bys and then went to supper at the Higham's! It was great as usual and very tasty! They are incredible!! One day when I have more time, I will tell you their story! Then we went to ESL...so since we had so many students and they are all at different levels of learning English, we are going to start having 2 classes...We are teaching the beginners. So we took a few of them and worked on building their vocabulary. It was really fun and I realized how hard it really is to learn English.Wednesday we went to Jennie's. It has been almost a month since we had been there, so it was great to be able to serve her. She wanted our help moving a giant hot tub....so we enlisted the help of the Elders...and we were able to do it. Then we went to see Carmen. We helped her with her family history and helped her prepare some names to take to the temple. It was great! I love family history!! I really have caught the family history bug!! That night we had dinner with the Morgan's. So everyday Sister Rice asks me, "I wonder what we are having for dinner? I hope its enchiladas..." I think I have maybe had enchiladas once on my entire mission, so it is funny that she says that everyday. But we were telling Sister Morgan about that when she made us Mexican food last time, so tonight she made enchiladas! It was really funny! On our way home that night, we needed to grab something from the church library...and we only have one set of church keys, on my car keys...well we had been there earlier because we had to make a couple copies and my keys weren't in my bag...so I thought we had locked them in the library...it was when we got home that Sister Rice pulled out both sets of keys from her coat pocket. It was pretty hilarious and we laughed about it for a long time. Thursday was a busy day for us! We started our weekly planning and then we went to the Morgan's house to have lunch. She made us lunch and we helped her do a few things...so a few weeks ago when we had dinner with us, we did a lesson about families and I drew pictures of both our family and Sister Rice's family and we use that as part of our lesson. So she had a friend that has some missionaries out and they are having a hard time right now, so she wanted to do something for them...so she enlisted me to draw them a picture of their family. It turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! And while I was doing that Sister Rice was helping her make invitations for the clothing exchange the stake is having in March. Then we went to see Sister Hobbs. She told us of all the missionary experiences she is having and then we cleaned her house. After that we went to dinner with the Schlicters. But it was only Sister Schlicter. It was great and we had a great evening with her. And finally we had a lesson with the Ford's about the priesthood and how it is the authority from God. We focused on this because Lorenzo is receiving the priesthood on Sunday!! Friday was another busy day. We started off at Jennie's again. We took down all of her Christmas decorations...it took a lot less time to take everything down that it did to put everything up! We were there for a long time though. Then we had a lesson with Sandra. She was a little bit down today, but she really opened up in our lesson. We talked about the Liahona and how the scriptures are our liahona today. So she commited to read the scriptures more and also commited herself to pray more frequently. It was great. Then we had a lesson with Christy. We decided to review all of the standard in the FSOY we have taught so far. She really surprised me by how much she knew and remembered!! That night we had dinner with Sister Ford and while we were there, we also helped her assemble some kitchen stools. I am becoming so handy! Saturday we finished our weekly planning and then for a few hours, we went to see Sonia...she was just baptized, but she doesnt' speak english....so we went to talk with her. She is doing well, but she just needs lots and lots of practice! So that was really fun. We taught her how to pray in English. It was another reminder to us how hard it is to learn English. Well then we had supper with Sister Thomas and Laura!! That was so great! They are some of my favorite people! We will always be friends! We watched the movie "The Labour of Love" with them. It was made in the 80's and it is funny. But it had a line in it that really stood out to me....the missionary says "It's not easy, but it sure helps to have a perfect message." And isn't that the truth!! Anyways then we had a lesson with Sister Kamenka. She is so funny....but so intimidating!! So we had a very intense lesson! We were talking about the Book of Mormon and she had lots of hard questions...but miraculously through the Spirit, we were able to answer all of them. The lesson was nothing we had expected or planned for, but it was great! And it was completely by the spirit!! It was great! Sunday was a great day! We began our day dark and early at Ward Council and then started our day of church. It was a great day there! We also taught gospel principles because we still have no WML. And Sandra came to chruch again!! She stayed all three hours again and this week she didn't even go to 'her' church...the United church. It was great! That night we had supper with the Loewer's in 4th ward and that was great. Finally we had a stellar lesson with the Fords!! We invited Bishop Higham to come because we did a follow up lesson on the priesthood and the responsibilities of the priesthood...so it was great to have him there!! We all had a great time and I learned a lot about the priesthood!! It was great!!So that was all about our great week!! Being a missionary is great!! You should all try it!! Pray for missionary experiences!! It is awesome to be an intrument in the Lord's hands!!

Well I hope you all have a fabulous week!! I love and miss you all! 

Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant