The Epistle of Karlee

Y'know how Facebook asks if you want to see memories from one year go or five years ago etc? well, as of Thursday, all my 'one years ago's will include a missionary name tag. Can you believe it? You'd think a year would be more noticeable, but I'm still chatty and loud and scatter brained and quirky(don't think 12 years could take some of that outta me), but I read this talk and it was very fitting to the week: "Several years ago I met one of our sons in the mission field in a distant part of the world. He had been there for a year. His first question was this: "Dad, what can I do to grow spiritually? I have tried so hard to grow spiritually and I just haven't made any progress." That was his perception: to me it was otherwise. I could hardly believe the growth that he had gained in just one year. He "knew it not" for it had come as growth, not as a startling experience." Pretty cool huh? yes, I know.  Our week was full of i...

Hey friends! Pretty simple week for us here in Goldendale, WA. Just a few highlights to share: We got a factory tour of TLC with Kirstin on Monday and finally found out what this company is and how modular homes even work, it was very cool, now I want one lol, and we know almost everyone there so that was fun:) We had to wear hard hats and safety goggles during the tour cause they're building houses around us, which called for a picture  HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to Carson! 💥📣🎉🎊🎆He's officially a teenager.. sorry mom :/ good luck We decided to walk on Thursday, cause it was really nice outside and there were people everywhere and we wanted to talk to them, so we dropped the car and set off on foot. On our way down the street, Sister Glover saw someone sitting at a picnic table across the street, so we turned around to cross so we could talk with her. It was definitely part of the reason we needed to walk that day. She had just gotten out of jail and was waiting for ...

What is up?? (spent 5 minutes trying to come up with a pun about something being up or down, but I've got nothing good, so we'll move on) Big list of excitement to share: Sister Glover and I are stickin together! Kaya got her temple recommend so we're going to the temple!!! On Thursday, we went to go by Aaron's house to see if he had read much(or any) of The Book of Mormon we gave his dad. When we pulled up, no one was home, well there were no cars there, but we decided to have faith and prayed that we would talk to someone and would know what to say, and when we got out of the car we discovered that.... someone had pulled up while our eyes were closed! So we went and it was Aaron! He hadn't been able to find the one we gave his dad and then asked for a copy of The Book of Mormon so that he could read it(which was exciting in itself) WE talked to him for a good amount of time and I coasted on that mini answer to a prayer for the rest of the day. I love seei...

Helloooo outside world!! (real quick) my emails have been spazzing a little lately so if you didn't get one or both of my emails from the last two weeks and still want them, lemme know, I gotchu so, this week. Well,  We had Zone Conference on Tuesday!!!! Elder Klebingat from the Area Seventy Presidency came and it was so powerful. He is, as Sister Jackman says, "very German" in that he's straightforward and no nonsense most of the time. But I loved it. He is unapologetic about his bluntness and strict in his high standards. I don't even know what to share with you. I filled up 9 pages of notes in my notebook with pure golden insights and inspiration.  also, HOLY... miracles. A little bit before I got here, the sisters were told about a girl named Kirstin with whom quite of few of the members of the ward work. We had gone by a couple of times with no luck in meeting her until the Saturday before this last one. She was super nice and we got to know her a lit...

Hello All!! okay, so about 3 or 4 times every transfer, we meet for District Council and we talk about the people we are meeting with and how we can help them, we learn from each other and share insights from our studies. This last District Council, we were setting some goals as a district(because missionaries like goals) and it was awesome. The spirit was very strong and I think that was the best goal setting I have ever been a part of, the most inspired and the most reflective as well. We really got into how we can improve and reach our goals this next month and it really hit me personally of what things I need to sacrifice in order to be prepared to receive miracles in this area. It showed me too how much of a reality it is that the Lord of the harvest sends us miracles. No amount of work that we do will ever result in someone entering the waters of baptism without His say so. I reflected, and realized that every person that taught who ended up getting baptized was literally hande...

Hello friends! So last Monday, we had the best gyros this side of the Atlantic at a Greek Monastery Bakery. It was a blast takin a little trip to Greece for the afternoon :) the bees just loved us lol.  We visited with Katie this week who was baptized a little over a year ago. We watched Elder Taniela B. Wakolos talk from General Conference "Saving Ordinances Will Bring Us Marvelous Light". It was way impactful. She was able to relate it to her and her husband and the way that they are growing together and then we talked to her boys about reading the scriptures every day and showed them the app so they could. Later she texted us "Hey ladies! I just had to share with you thank you so much for recommending the Bible app... We are on our way to the Dalles to go grocery shopping and Evan brought the phone with him and he is reading to Landon... So so cute 😍🙌 he is so excited about it he was like "mom this is so cool they have quizzes, games, the Bible, you can do...

Hey, Hey, Hey!! We met some amazing people this week. People who have a sincere deep-seated desire to learn more and who trust that we are representatives from God to share with them the truth. Yesterday, we met with a man named Rusty in a members home and it absolutely strengthened my testimony of member missionary work and how much more of a solid foundation that can give to someone looking to learn more. Brother Golding has been talking with Rusty for the last few weeks about his beliefs and sharing with him bits and pieces that he felt prompted to talk about. He then invited Rusty to his home and invited us as well. He basically did half of the How to Begin Teaching points from Preach My Gospel and then turned the time over to us. He had another of Rusty's coworkers there who is also a member and it was a wonderful experience to be a part of.  Essentially, I am so very impressed with his initiative, with the example that he is to the people he works with and to our ward, and...