"Will I get my missing letters in Heaven?" - November 11, 2013 from Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Dear Family!  So this week! I need to tell you about R! She has a baptismal date for the 7th of December and she had it before I ever got here but this week was the first week we were able to meet with her. We're really trying to encourage her to come to church with us regularly and we knew she could be ready for baptism if she will just meet with us a lot and come to church every week. And read in the Book of Mormon and pray and really take a little time to strengthen her testimony every day. So I guess she has a lot to do but she's already so great! She made me feel so welcome and loved right away. Sometimes it's a little bit hard to be the "new sister" but she was just so good to me right away. I have very high hopes from her. She's from Africa and we speak English. And yes we still have a lot of diversity among the people we teach.  It’s great.

We had Stake Conference this weekend! (FYI – Twice a year is “Stake Conference”.  A “Stake” is simply a region; a collection of individual wards...congregations....that are grouped together in what is referred to as a “Stake”.  There are individuals who are called to leadership positions in the Stake in a number of areas of responsibility; such as helping the Relief Societies, the Young Men and Young Women’s programs, the Sunday School programs etc. There is also a Stake Presidency who preside at these meetings and are among the speakers who provide counsel.)  It was so good. That means we traveled to Schwammendingen (Zurich) on Saturday for the adult session and to Basel for the Sunday session. (For adults in the LDS Church, the Saturday evening session is always really special.  Our Sunday worship services include all the children, so it can be a little trying as a parent sometimes! But the Saturday night session is a time to sit with friends and, if married, your spouse, to sing together,  to soak up the spirit and the counsel that will lift and sustain!)  We went by train on Saturday and with members on Sunday. Stake conference was so good! I was really impressed with how much I understood of the Saturday session. And President and Sister Miles spoke in the Sunday session! They were so great. Sister Miles just gets up there and gives a talk in German in front of hundreds of people and then President Miles does the same and has everyone laughing. We heard a lot about MISSIONARY WORK and temple attendance in stake conference.

The downside of stake conference is that is far away and expensive to get there so it's hard to get investigators there. We had one come with a member on Saturday but basically when we invited people to church we just had to say, but wait, not this week, next week!

Quote of the week: (me to Sister McEwen) "Do you think I'll get my missing letters in Heaven?" Sister McEwen to me: "Yeah and I better be opening up a package." (she's missing a package and I know I’m missing letters!)

Also did I forget a quote of the week last week? Because here's another one. This is a joke in the church here that I heard last week. So Mommy you know CH that stands for Confoederatio Helvetica (Switzerland's old Latin name). Well, the members joke that it actually stands for Celestialles (yeah please look up how to spell that right in German) Herrlichkeit. A.k.a. the Celestial Kingdom. The Swiss say that means in heaven we will speak Sweizerdeutsch (also spell that right . . . I'm in a hurry!). And hey, didn't President Uchtdorf also say something about speaking German in heaven?

Wanna hear a miracle? We bumped into a former investigator that Sister McEwen has taught but who stopped seeing the missionaries but we saw her and her husband and little boy at the train station and she said to call her and now we have an appointment for this week. Heavenly Father is not giving up on her!

But keep writing letters! Since I've been here I've gotten letters from Linds, Mom, and James (I know Daddy I don't know where yours is! And I know one of Lindsey's is missing too). I love letters!

This week we have zone training and zone conference. Lots of meetings.

I love you! The church is true! In every language! I'm so grateful for your support. Love, Sis. Kate

Also, this was Katie’s response to my question about the picture 

of her and the couple with the book I posted last week….

“Yeah Mom I meant to tell you. I went to my branch president's house (Sister McEwen mentioned that) and I was just obsessed with everything. First, they had little baby things they had collected from their travels displayed in this really cool box, kind of like the baby things that I have collected. Then, they had all these postcards all over their door, like how Grosi and Grosvati have all those postcards up at their house. And then they had all these Schallen Ursli books at their house that I had never even seen! And they had a picture that's from one of the books framed on their wall. And that's how I knew to ask about them. And they've been to Guarda. (a very favorite and beautiful, old, village in the Engadine part of Switzerland where my aunt & uncle own an authentic Engadiner home) and we had raclette and weya or however you spell it for dessert! Yeah so I was right at home.  Love you all, Sister Kate

****

The following is from Sis McEwen’s letter this week.

I thought it was such a sweet summary of mission life! 

So grateful for her goodness and that Katie can share this time with her!

“The alarm rings. My head rolls under the covers. The alarm rings again! Time to get up! My knees touch the ground and im ready to communicate with the lord. My eyes are still closed as i memorise the way to the bathroom. The jumper goes on, shoes tied and the badge goes on. Another prayer, Its out the door. Gym time! We run the road watching the sunset rise, The rush of cold hits my body and my warm spirit heats it up. The door flings open and a rush to the shower. Again the badge goes on and the hair is brushed, Time for breakfast! The pour of cereal, milk and boiling water rings in my ears, Time to eat! My knees hit the ground again i talk to my father, Personal study! My eyes are opened and my brain is clear. The sweet words of hymn tunes come out of my mouth, Its companionship study! We hit the ground in prayer. BIBLE, B.O.M, PHONE, KEYS, LETS GO! Prayer and the sound of elephants run down the stair case for the bus. "Gruetzi" Our morning has just begun……. The door opens softly, too weak to push, our knees ache to get up the stairs and we fall to the ground in prayer to our father in heaven, Planning time! One, two, three potentials…yes we returned with honor! A brush of the teeth and its off to bed but not till i kneel to my father in heaven! I thank my father for my mission!”