Hey Family!!! This week has been super awesome!!! We have got the opportunity to do so much!!! The work is really progressing forward and I am so grateful to be here!! We had some amazing lessons and our investigators are truly the best!!! Sadly with transfers came change and we lost one of our family stakes :( It's really hard to be in the same area and live right up the road from those you love and not get to see them :( but that's how it has to be, for now at least, thankfully I'll get to go on exchanges and be back there for a whole day!!! YAY!!!
So Elder Bednar came this week to devotional which was so awesome!!!! I have never seen an apostle in person so it was so cool!!! What was even cooler is that one of our investigators has some questions about modern day prophets and apostles he's not sure he believes they are true. Well Elder Bednar couldn't have come at a better time, he answered all his questions in the address, and while it is still hard for him to understand he now knows that we do have modern apostles and prophets!!! AWESOME!!! If you cant count on an apostle who can you cant on?! It was really good though! I will say I am glad I am not a student here though. Elder Bednar rebuked them...It was a little sad, but after talking to most the students they feel it was a little necessary. It's been cool to see the change on campus in just this last week. The very spirit that is here is just different.
This week has been stupid cold, and snowy. The roads were finally clearing and it felt like a foreign experience being able to drive on asphalt instead of ice again. Alas, that has ended though and it snowed a bunch this weekend, we're back to ice and slush again. It's fun to have so much snow though so I'll let it slide this time!! One night Sister Poulson and I were driving around and we drove past this!!! An actual Snow Man!!! I just had to take picture of it so I got out of the car and jumped over the snow bank snapped the picture and then when I was headed back you know what happened? The very same snow bank I climbed over two second earlier broke through and I fell crashing down into it!!! I was up to my waist in snow and I was freezing!!! Not to mention snow banks aren't soft and fluffy so I was being attacked by sharp pokey ice!!!!! Thankfully I made it out alive (just barely though) but I climbed out I had some crazy cuts on my knees so I spent the evening trying to keep my tights from sticking to drying blood. Sick I know, but as I thought about this experiences I thought about life. Sometimes we cross a line, in this case I crossed a snow bank, everyone thinks that it's the other side of the line we really need to worry about, which is completely true if we cross the line to the world we are not safe we are making choices in our life that aren't in harmony with what God would have us do. But as I tried to cross back to where is was safe (with my companion, on God's side) I fell through, and I had to face a few trials because of it. As I thought about this though I realized how unsafe it truly is to even walk the line between God's will and the will of the World. Truly we are much safer and better off as we stay as far away from the line as possible. Though I was safe the first time I crossed the second time did not end as well. If we dance the line, though sometimes we'll be fine, more often then not we will find ourselves hurt and wishing we never even put ourselves in that situation. This actual reminds me of Elder Bednar's devotional this week, he warned the students of the path of destruction they are taking but he gave an awesome promise he said
“I promise the Holy Ghost will help you to see yourself as you ‘really are’ and to identify both the things you presently are doing well and the course corrections you need to make in your life.” —Elder David A.
The Holy Ghost is here to help us in our life, he is there to help us know what we do well, and what we can do better, he is truly there to keep us as far from the line as possible, and to keep us safe so that we will be able to live again with our Father in Heaven for ever. It thought it was really cool, and don't worry I wont be climbing over anymore snow banks anytime soon!
There is alot of ice in this place...
On Friday we had MLC with President and Sister Hancock, I love those two they really are the best! Anyway, at MLC we learned some really amazing things, but what really stood out to me was the principle of the Lord's will. Duh. But it was so good, it was just one of those things that really touched me that day. As a missionary we have the opportunity and responsibility to serve according to the will of the Lord. We are truly his hands, and though I have always known that I grew in appreciation for the opportunity I have to do this. Why the Lord ever trusted me with this calling I still wonder, but I am so grateful for his trust, and for the work I have been able to help him accomplish. It is truly one of the greatest gift he has given me, and I will cherish it forever.
So last week I mentioned teaching alot of Chinese people, and now we are teaching even more!!! Which is so cool because really where else are they going to get the opportunity to learn of their Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ. I feel so bad though because I feel like I just don't succeed in teaching them!!! IT IS SO HARD!!!!!! I have never had to help build a complete and total foundation before and I really struggle with it. I have always been comfortable teaching, and now I find myself so excited, but so scared!!!!! But what has been happening with this is really cool, though we always rely upon the spirit in our teaching for me it has gone to an even greater level. I know my skills are not good enough to truly help them, but the Spirit is prepared for all things, and he is truly helping make this possible for me. Every lesson we leave I just wonder "how did we even do that?" "What just happened?" and it always comes back to the spirit, all things are truly possible through the Lord, and these last few lessons have truly made that apparent to me. I am really grateful for this opportunity and I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for this next week!!!!
Well I'am out of time, but I hope you have a great week!!!!
Love,
Sister Kaycie Sondrup
Well this is my last letter as a full time missionary. That stinks. It had to happen at some point right? I feel like something profound is expected but I don't really have much to say. I've done my best and this year and a half has meant more than I could ever imagine. We each go on our missions with some idea of what will happen, but you can truly never know what a mission is until your here. For instance this weekend we got to baptize Mary, she never expected to want to be a member. She said she felt God abandoned her, but in coming here (from Ukraine) she realized that God never left that he has been guiding her her whole life. The power that came from Mary as she spoke and bore her testimony cannot be explained, and for that reason I am so grateful I got to be apart of it! As sad as it is to go home I know my mission has been the perfect spring board for the rest of my life, though it's scary I know the Lord still has true and great things prepared for me and I am so excited to see what they are!!!!
