always #training4ukraine

I was planning on just sending you a picture of a journal entry... but my camera broke so. Ok :) 

Hello family! I love you guys so much. Can you believe I am almost going to Ukraine. One PDAY LEFT AND I WILL BE THERE. Today we may get our travel PLANS. DO YOU WANT TO SCREAM WITH ME CUZ IM GOING TO SCREAM. UKRAINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick business:

*Please say thank you to the Christensen's for the donuts and for the sweet note. Best thing ever and they sure tasted delicious.

-Any updates on the world outside the MTC?????

So anyway just an entry for this week:

So me and Cectpa Rubio are teaching a real person named Lisa right?! And she is incredible. We asked her to pray and she was so nervous to do it at home. What if there was a God, what if not? But we just talked about it until she was like ok I will do it. I will pray to see if God is really there. Now she has had a pretty rough life right? So after that I am just begging God to answer her prayer when she got down on her knees. 

(Sorry that was a preface- now my journal entry)

April 23, 2015

"All day I worried. And all day I realized that I just need to have more faith and worry less. I just hoped Lisa had prayed and that God was there and that He told her He loved her. I begged God all day, that he would talk to her. but why did I beg? Of course He talked to her. I told her to pray and promised her an answer beacuse I knew that God would anwer her. I felt it. The spirit was the one prompting me to tell her everything that I did say. 

Anyway, I guess I got nervous because I thought maybe God was preparing me for her to come back and say that she did not feel Him there or she didn't get an answer. Because all day things happened like: 

Casha's Mom (our practice investigator) is against the Mormon church and he was told he has to choose between her and us. He doesn't want to choose. He knows he needs the church but he can not figure out what to do. After we talked for what seemed like ages trying to figure out what to do, crying I told him that he needs to pray everyday, come to church one more time, read his book of mormon everyday, and if he gets and answer that the church isn't true then he can stop listening to our message, but if he feels it is true and he feels he needs to keep talking to us, even though his mom will be upset, he must keep listening. It is salvation! I know God wants him to keep listening and that God will bless his mom. It will be hard but this gospel is worth it. 

Then in class we talked about how to talk to someone when they decide they don't want to hear the message anymore. So I just felt nervous... 

So later in the day we went to talk to Lisa, my mind going crazy. Guess what?! She prayed and she knew God was there and that he was listening. She told us that she didn't really have time to read the book of mormon but that she had anyway and was already to nephi 8 and that she loves it. The first verse in 1 Nephi 1 stuck out to her in a way I had never thought of. It compeletely related to her life: Nephi had many afflicitions yet at the same time he was loved by god. She realized there can be both at the same time and said it completely related to her life. We told her a ton. She asked how if people felt like this how could they ever leave the church? Her ex husband used to be a memeber of the church before she married him and she just doesn't get how someone could ever leave after feeling this way. Golden oppurtunity to ask if she will be baptized. We exaplained all of it (because she has never read bible or really known anything religious besides prayer). She said if she knows it is true she just might :) She clung to everything we said. We invited her to church. Her friend has asked her 14 times to go and she always told him to stop asking, yet now she is going to ask him to go with him. She asked us if you can feel the spirit in the church like you can here at the MTC. YES! she is gonna get baptized :D"

April 28, 2015

"So it has been a few days since I have written. I do not know how I used to have time to write as much as I did everyday...

LISA WENT TO CHURCH. Cectpa Rubio and I sprang forward in our seats when she told us the news. Oh, if only you could meet this woman. She is incredible and is so much our friend.she wants this gospel. Tomorrow we will try to find her again. She is so sweet and contstantly telling us how amazing we are. But I just feel blessed to talk to her and to get to share this! The people in the ward welcomed her and sweet friends took her to church. She was even asked to say the prayer in Sunday School (in sign lanugage)! She was nervous so she didnt but we are still so proud of her. Everytime we talk to her even if it just a quick 5 minutes here and there we bear our testimony and of the gospel and it's importance. She always feels it. I just love that Lisa. :) I am so grateful for my companion and the prompting she recieved to talk to her. I just know, Lisa needs this. She is going to accept it, no matter how long it takes. I am SO HAPPY!"

I am good and the MTC is really a great place. I want to leave to be able to go to Ukraine but I do not want to leave Lisa. She is really making this MTC the very best thing ever. Please pray for my Russian. I felt like I was doing really amazing but suddenly feel like I have hit a wall. I will pray harder and work harder but man it is so hard you guys. The cases and the grammar is basically killer. I love it so much, I hope I can speak it. I have faith he will help me, but added prayers are always the best. I love you guys. So good to hear from you. Send me BUCKETS of Dear Elder this week if you want. It is getting pretty close to not being able to do that anymore. I LOVE YOU! Have a great week. I know this gospel is true and being able to come to our Savior is the greatest gift in the entire world. There is nothing so beautiful as His love for us, which makes all possible. Keep working hard. I know that we can do hard things. It is worth it. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. 

And as always, I am training for Ukraine. :D 

Love, Cectpa Karren 

Our teachers in the MTC. 
Brat (Brother) Gill, Cectpa Eyring, Brat Froelich

A REAL HUMAN BEING

Kylie Sighting @ MTC by Kim J

Reddings found my Ky! :D

On Apr 22, 2015, at 1:34 PM, Kylie Karren <kylie.karren@myldsmail.net> wrote:

What is TIME?! Crazy.
2 MORE WEDNESDAY'S UNTIL UKRAINE. <3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON FRIDAY MY CUTEST MAMA IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. I LOVE YOU!

Shout out: Rasmussens and Rheddings and Kim J because I got to see them at the MTC this week! Please thank the Christoffersons for the best Dear Elder from their cute family. :) And Mama Janeal for the inspiring and happy Dear Elders that make me so so happy!

Ok. Cectpa Rubio and I have a REAL investigator. Did you hear what I just said?! My heart is like.....AAAAAAH! This is the best thing ever. Her name is Lisa and she is old(ish). She is from Wyoming and is going to school and working here right now and her friend told her she had to come to the MTC. So yesterday as we are walking we see her just sitting at a table and so we walked up and asked her if she was waiting for someone. 2 days in a row she has had appointments with missionaries and they did NOT show up. SO SAD. But kinda a gold opportunity for us. So we just sat down right there and began to get to know her and teach her. SHE IS REAL. Talk about awesome. Today we have the first real lesson planned with her this afternoon. Talk about the best PDAY ever. Pray I can teach her in English because every time we practice it comes out in Russian... She thinks we are absolutely nuts because we are going to Ukraine. I told her we kinda are crazy. But why are we doing it? Why are we not afraid? I am like, PLEASE, let me tell you! :D Because this gospel is such a tremendous blessing in my life and has given me so much, and because I know it is true I know that I MUST go tell other people about it. I can not be selfish and hold onto all the blessings for myself. Not when there are people out there who don't know their purpose. Don't know God, don't know that everything bad can be made alright through the Savior. How on earth could we just sit back and not help God, let his children know He loves them!??!!?!?!!?!??!!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?

I am sorry. I get SO passionate about the gospel. I will probably cry because it is just the most beautiful thing. And we have it! How blessed are we. And what an obligation we have to serve and help others in any way we possibly can. All deserve to know.
So I will go to Ukraine. :D

Random thoughts and quotes:
"Just because something amazing happens everyday, DOESN'T mean you shouldn't mention that it is amazing EVERYDAY!" Missions are amazing. Tough, very tough, but also so fun. Missions take BRAVERY, LOVE, and SINCERITY. It is so worth it. Because people are just simply amazing, everyone!

Wilford W. Andersen from the 70 came and spoke at a devotional here last night. (Same man who spoke in conference about the medicine man and hearing the music when we dance). So I want to tell you a little bit about it. Think about the verb "to know" It is a sacred word!
How do we know something is true about the gospel? Well we need 3 key knowledges in order to know.
1. Head Knowledge:
-it is necessary to our journey or returning to God to have head knowledge.
-we learn with our brains which is very important!
-head knowledge alone does not create desire which is key to know
-Desire comes from heart knowledge
2. Heart Knowledge:
-to learn the things of God we must feel the Holy Ghost in our hearts.
-revelation is a combination of head knowledge and heart knowledge.
-NO ONE can change their hearts without outside help-which comes from the Holy Ghost
-we need to desire a change of heart
*Alma 10:5-6
-We learn true doctrine with the mind, then the Holy Ghost can testify to our hearts it is true.
3. Soul Knowledge:
-more than correct info or feelings and desires. SOUL knowledge requires action.
*John 7:17
-Soul knowledge is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.
-Practice serving as Christ serves and loving as He loves.
-We come to know Him by becoming like Him.
-Soul knowledge is digging deeper.
To be truly converted we need to use and have all 3 knowledges, or we will not come to know. We have to always commit to be better and act. If we live our commitments our faith increases.
PRETTY COOL HUH.

I really hope you are all doing well. I need more Dear Elders please. While we can just keep them coming! I love to hear about your lives even if I don't have a ton of time to respond.

REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!
and always remember who you are as  a child of god and really commit to know Him. Desire to continually change and to continually take upon us the name of our Savior and be born again, over and over and over. no matter out circumstances in life, we can always come to know he Savior which is the ultimate blessing.
Never take the book of Mormon or anything we have or our membership of this church for granted. We need to always strive to go deeper to do more and to rekindle excitement. Never just do, just to do. Always have a purpose and a plan in mind and always talk to God. Always turn to the Savior is good and in bad. Never grow complacent. In the end if we lost everything, if we had nothing-I hope we would all still have our testimonies. Ultimately it is our testimony we need to hold onto. If that is all we have, we can make it through. Have FAITH. Faith is having the courage to go on, no matter what. Remember "we walk by faith, not by sight." There is much to be done before Christ returns. Let us have the faith to do it!

I am doing great and I love you! mom I will send letter about prophets. I love you guys! Have a wonderful week!

Oh and guess what I am practicing the piano today because PEER PRESSURE happens even here and I am auditioning tomorrow to play "I know my Redeemer Lives" with Cectpa McDermott singing. We are auditioning to play in front of the entire MTC at a Sunday Evening Devotional. Since when do I do stuff like that?! GAH! scary. Giant leap of faith.

K I love you and I will talk to you soon!

Love,
Cectpa Karren

MIRACLES

FAMILY.

I am so happy you are all having fun in Hawaii without me. BUT I am kind of in Hawaii too... our room literally is HAWAII now, thanks to my cute mama. BEST PACKAGE ever! 

-and in case you wonder what i look like when you send me GIANT packages... ;P I have included a picture below. 

Stuff:

-Please thank Suzy Hunter for her easter package and note. It meant so much to me. she is so sweet. tell her I love her! 

-OH MY GOODNESS congrats to Ashley and Kim. I opened that letter just SHOCKED! I am so excited. I love them so much. and babies!!! WOWWWWW! 

-Let me know ASAP when you know if AK made chamber choir. :)

-Also please tell Calyn congrats for me. That is truly an amazing thing. I am so happy she got her mission call! Leeds is stinkin' lucky! My mind is blown she is going to be such a great missionary.

-Say hi to Cary Packer for me- tell her I am PUMPED to finally meet her (soon). I have been hearing stories about them here and I am so dying to GO!

-COWS. Pops told me they got cows. Nana and pops are so cute. Go visit the baby cows mom, and at least send me a picture. 

-Please send a picture of the huli trailer I want to see it! 

-I got all the packages you sent. Thank you it made me so happy!

EASTER!

The seostri and I set up and easter egg hunt for our Elders and it was epic. (Later that night us girls had one in our Dom and it was even more epic. I loved this weekend oh so much I was dying. Watching conference with hundreds of other missionaries all eagerly listening to gods word was incredible. honestly you can't even get me started beacuse I could go off forever about it. I loved it so much, I have never loved it more. 

OK: do you want to hear about my miracles on tuesday?! 

So Tuesday I woke up feeling really sick. Sore throat, achy body, stomach, headache, all that fun stuff. I just went on to have a normal day, and it was actually a really good day but all day I just felt awful. That night one of the Elders asked me if I needed a blessing so of course I said sure! My branch President gave me the blessing. It was a healing blessing and it was beauitful and two things really stuck out to me. 

1. I was commanded to be healed and that my body would return to its normal function. I instantly felt better. Pretty incredible right?

2.I was told that many angles would be with me and I was blessed to especially be able to feel their presence strongly. I immediately new that David my sweet Uncle, was right there. I felt it so strong. I was embarssased to cry in front of my President but he said that I should be crying because the veil was thin and that he had specifically felt to bless me to feel my angels STRONGLY. 

SO MIRACLE 1 was I was healed. 

Miracle 2 was I felt David with me.

And Miracle 3 happened a little later that night. Every Tuesday we go and set up and take down the autotorium for deviotionals. IT is a big job. Well after my blessing we headed over and i was very spiritually overwhelmed. We started cleaning up and one of the jobs we do is stack big heavy chairs on this wheel thing and then take this very talk very large very heavy stack to a back room. I was wheeling it back pushing with all my might and as I went to get it through the door, it would'nt roll over the lip in the door. So naturally I push harder. They started to tip. I tried to stablize them and they began to fall right on top of me. I did not have time to move enough to get out of the way. A second later there was a giant crash. I was not crushed by the chairs. Only the toes on my right foot and my left elbow were glazed. Immediately people gathered to help and wondered how in the world I was not crushed by the chairs, because I should have been. I know it is because of my angel, David. I was overwhelmed again and so grateful. 

Earlier that day I had written in my email how I want to notice the miracles in everyday. Now these were really big ones, but I feel so blessed to see the hand of the Lord in my life. I also had so many small miracles I just can't help but cry and thank my God and my Savior for all they do for us, for the help they send us through angels both on the other side and angels here. I had so many angels today here taking care of me. I just love this gospel so much and I feel tremendously happy to know it is true. Our Savior loves us. He wants us to know Him. Everything the Father does is for us to be happy. We are His children. I just know it and love it.

Look for the miracles. I love you guys and I miss you but this is the work of the Lord. This gospel is true, it is good, it is important. I love you guys and have such a great week. Soak up the sun for me. 

All my Love

Cectpa Karren

let's do this thing!

Getting Kylie's Emails makes my heart happy!  She played an April Fools Prank on us telling us she had been reassigned missions...little stinker!  Her Email address is kylie.karren@myldsmail.net if you want to write :)  Her P. Days are on Wednesdays. 

CK

FAMILY!!!

How is it already Wednesday?! I am so happy. :D

Well first off I think that I have become an ultimate player of charades. Because my companion is constantly laughing at me as I act out words to her. For example: "smash" How do you describe that word to someone who doesn't know it? Well you put your body between the wall and the door and you "smash" it on yourself over and over, making an aw! aw! aw! sound. ;) She starts cackling and you know you have done well. Cectpa Rubio now understand the word "smash".

So far I have made some silly mistakes in Russian when teaching. Would you like to know some of them? OK. 

-I told one investigator that the church is a "worldwide war" meaning of course world wide church not just American.

-I told another investigator that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the legopiece of God. (meant power of God).

-And another investigator I told that we feel the Holy Ghost in heat. I meant in our heart! 

Gotta laugh right?!? ;P 

The days are blending all together so this email is hard to write. Maybe I will just tell you some thoughts from this week?

Our Sister Training leaders just left the MTC for Ukraine wahoo! Before they left they gave us "an extreme pep talk" as they call it. How do you feel the spirit? RIGHT NOW get out a pen and paper. Yes, you reading this. Do it, I dare you. Anyway. Write down specific instances in your life where you have felt the spirit or how you feel the spirit. 

I feel the spirit during a beautiful sunny day, it makes my heart happy. I feel the spirit when my mom stays up late with me and we just talk about this gospel. I feel the spirit when we go scuba diving exploring the ocean and this beautiful planet God has given us, all the creations. I feel the spirit when I sit down and just play the piano. I feel the spirit in a laugh or a warm hug from someone I love. I feel the spirit as I have learned to deal with physical pain - learning to feel grateful for my body and knowing God loves me and is teaching me strength and perseverance. I feel the spirit on a bad day when an angel, a friend comes to cheer me up. I feel the spirit as a swimmer when I would jump into the water lungs burning, racing, because I know that I can do all that I can do, BECAUSE of God. I feel the Spirit in a smile, in goodness, in all things. I feel the Spirit when I pray because Heavenly Father and my Savior are my best friends. I get to talk to them all day. Remember that only good comes from God, and that your spirit is good. 

I just want you all to know I am committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will do anything the Lord asks me, because I am dedicating my life to Him. All of it! 

This is the best thing ever! I love the "growing pains" because through those "growing pains" I am able to grow taller and stronger than I could without them. Not because of myself, but because I have God and my Savior helping me every step of the way. I have never been happier. 

What a privilege it is to work with my Savior. And guess WHAT?! Mission or not we are all a part of this work. We will chase away darkness from this world. We are the ones ushering in Christ's second coming. We are at the forefront. HOW COOL IS THAT?! All previous dispensations have ended in apostasy. BUT NOT THIS ONE. Christ is coming back. He is COMING! I know it. Let us prepare. Prepare the world to receive her Savior. Everyday we need to ask ourselves "am I a convert today? Have I grown stronger in my conversion today?" -Jeffery R. Holland

Don't just endure. ENJOY. Life will always have its hard moments. Find joy in this gospel and in Christ. Rely on His atonement. Do hard things, do it because we love Him. As we work for Him, we will become increasingly closer to the person who created all, who created us, who loves us more than anything we can imagine or comprehend. He sent His son to atone for us, to die for us so that we may live again. What a beautiful gospel. It just doesn't get any better than this. Nothing the world offers even compares. Who cares about all this instant gratification stuff only the world has to offer? It doesn't matter. When we truly rely on the Savior and His infinite, continuous atonement you will feel joy like you never have before, you will feel peace, you will work harder, you will love unconditionally, because how can we not when we know all we know? Jacob 4:7, and Jacob 4:12, then Mosiah 27:29 then Mosiah 28:3 (READ THESE seriously so good). 

We are so blessed to know we are children of God. Christ is our light and we can have joy because of HIM. 

SO LET'S DO THIS THING! 

I love you guys so  much. Know I pray and pray and pray all the time for you. So excited that I get to spend eternity with you. Know that I am OK. Because this is God's work- it is His time and I absolutely love it. I hope and pray you are all doing alright also. I love you. 

I will talk to you soon. Thank you always for notes and packages. Reading letters always makes my LIFE. You are all my heroes and examples. You make my heart happy. How lucky and I am to have you guys as my dearest family and friends. Thanks for all you do for me. I love you. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

Love, 

Cectpa Karren

PS: Happy April. Me and Cectpa Rubio totally ganged up on our district today and silly stringed them up. (Thanks mama for knowing my pranking SOUL). Then we turned and sprayed each other. Pretty epic.

PPS: secretly hoping you all going to Hawaii in April is an April fools day joke but if you are it is fine you little stinkers going back after 2 months without it. ;P 

always training for ukraine and I love you!

Selfie anyone? ;)

My Zone and Branch President Heaps

Spring @ the MTC!

Ukraine Sisters. Sister Training Leaders (right 2) There are 4 of us left and we leave in about a month! YAY!

I draw on the board wayyy too much!

A scene for y'all.