Sharla Kjar

Girls are like Apples

2011-12-19T04:16:00.001-08:00

It's 4:45 in the morning, I can't sleep. I could say so much but I don't want to offend anybody. I am really frustrated and I found this poem that puts into words exactly how I feel right now.

Girls are like
apples on trees. The best
ones are at the top of the tree.
The boys don't want to reach for
the good ones because they are afraid
of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they
just get the rotten apples from the ground
that aren't as good, but easy. So the apples
at the top think something is wrong with
them, when in reality, they're amazing.
They just have to wait for the right
boy to come along, the one
who's brave enough
to climb
all the way
to the top
of the tree.

The G String

2011-11-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

So the other day I had a funny experience and I'd though I'd share it with my friends and fam for some good laughs.

First of all, let me describe my harp teacher to you so this story can make a little more sense. Sister Pack is around 65-70 years old and she is the ultimate Mormon mom/grandma. She is probably 5 foot nothing and has a cute little hunched back. Her hair is like a salt and pepper fro that just bounces around everywhere she goes. She wears the same thing everyday - Some color of tights with a homemade skirt that comes to her knees with a cardigan. She is a trained opera singer and is a music fanatic. She can do anything. She has had around 15+ children. . . haha just kidding, I think just 10. One of her neighbors once told me that when she had more and more children she would just build another wall in her house to make an extra room. All of her daughters play the harp and she is a self-taught harpist but not runs the whole harp program at BYU Idaho. She writes almost all of our music for our harp ensemble. She would never hurt a fly but she hates attention of any sort. She is so so humble and innocent.

Anyways so that is a little taste of who she is so this story can be even better.

So I have lesson with her every Monday at 9:20. This particular monday I was playing a song on the harp on campus and I reached down to play the lower G and we both realized at the same time that it wasn't there. It had broken and we didn't even notice. So she pulled out her strings and asked me, "Will you help me fix my G string?"

So without laughing, because I knew she wouldn't even know what a G string is, I accepted. But it didn't end there. After I helped fix the string, she kept thanking me for helping her "fix her G String". Keep in mind, that there are harp students coming in and out of the room to get to the other harps. So I'm sure they were all wondering what was going on. But I thought it was so funny because Sister Pack is so innocent and has no idea what she is even saying.

So now everytime I wear my G-string I think of Sister Pack. . . . jk I don't wear them!! Just G's.

I DID IT!!

2011-11-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

This picture was the early morning start of a LONG day, but a monumental one at that. My costume was a "fire fairy". A costume that was easy because my mom had already made for my brother Danner before. Throughout the day I was called all kinds of things because when you look at my costume you don't think "fire fairy" right off. What even is a fire fairy? I have no idea. I was called a pumpkin, statue of liberty, fire, and the best of all "a helpful goblin." My awesome sister-in-laws decided to join me in the race. LaCol is a cute girl scout and Becca is a Rip-Roarin Referee! We had so much fun together.

13.1 miles - To tell you the truth, it was really hard!! Especially the last 3 miles!! My Ipod died, my legs were cramping, and I could feel a huge blister forming on my right foot. But I did it!! I finished in 2 hours and 11 minutes. It felt good to finish, then the aches and pains started setting in. But nothing was able to take away from that feeling of accomplishment after 8 weeks of training. I remember my first run was 3 miles and I was in such bad shape that I pulled my groin muscle after just 3 miles!!!

One of my bucket-list items I can now check off.

And I would run 5,000 miles!!!

2011-10-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

In the last 8 weeks I have been training for a half Marathon. The time is finally here that I have been training for!! This Saturday in Provo at 9 AM I will run the Halloween Half starting above Sundance resort, going down the Provo canyon and into Provo.

I added up roughly how many miles I have run in the last 8 weeks and I have run AT LEAST 120 MILES!!! That is like running from Centerville to Provo and then back.

Do I feel like I have run that much? YES!! It was freakin hard but worth it. I really enjoyed running the back roads of Rexburg, seeing all the farming neighborhoods. It has given me a lot of time to think about what goals I want to achieve and the things I need to do better on.

I am so excited to run this saturday!! I'm sure I will be posting soon about this weekends' adventures!!

NACHOOOOOOOOOOO!

2011-10-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

I watched Nacho Libre with some of my friends for the first time since my mission. That movie makes me laugh so hard. It is the kind of weird random humor that I love. Not to mention. . . they all have those Mexican accents that I love. But I made this cape out of a T-shirt and I reenacted this scene from the movie.

We were also trying to practice our Nacho smiles, do I look like I belong in the movie?

2011-09-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

There's Too Many Kids in This Tub!

By Shel Silverstein

There's too many kids in this tub

There's too many elbows to scrub

I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine

There's too many kids in this tub.

We found this picture recently and it makes me think back on the days when everyone was at home in my family. Life was so exciting and filled with drama - a different kind of drama, like "Mom, Adam just took my seat!" or screaming when my brothers came near and before they even touched me because I knew they would hurt me soon. My sisters when they were at home were the ones that protected me. Those days were so fun, this bathtub were one of those fun moments. I loved growing up in between all my brothers. They have all become my best friends over the years. I hate to think of what my life would be like without even one of my siblings, they all play such a huge role in my life. I remember the day my mom said we had to graduate and start getting in the shower. Adam and I would hide under the little stand thing that the shampoo would sit on because it was scary. Ben and Luke would slide on their bums all over the place, such a thrill!!

Well hope you don't mind a little reminiscing of old times. Enjoy every moment. Live in the moment!!

Hiking Heaven

2011-08-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

Early one morning my sister Katie and I decided to hike a trail above the Bountiful temple and watch the sunrise. It was a good hike and it was so great to have a good talk with Katie, who I consider to be one of my best friends. I love the outdoors and it always rejuvenates my spirits.

Can you see the top of the Bountiful temple?

A beautiful overlook of the whole valley

Another Friend Tied the Knot

2011-08-22T15:36:00.001-07:00

Elise, one of my very best friends was married August 16, 2011. We have shares so many memories together. We started off on the same competitive soccer team in 9th grade and then we hung out all throughout high school. We have kept so close throughout the years and I love her so much!! We both served missions in Argentina which brought us a lot closer because we understand exactly the feelings that we felt as a missionary. We both love the Argentine people and culture.

The ceremony in the Bountiful temple was so beautiful, her grandpa was the sealer. Her husband Mike is such a humble, quiet stud that treats her so well. I was so grateful to be there with her the whole day. They are so happy and will create a great family together. Congrats Mike and Elise!!

Our good friend Stacey is on her mission in Nashville and we missed her greatly that night.

Grandma's Garden

2011-08-22T15:15:00.001-07:00

So while I was on my mission my mom told me that she was renting a garden plot and was growing a garden. Then while I was in Jerusalem, she told me she was doing it again. When I thought of garden, I thought of maybe a couple squares and a couple vegetables. But her garden exceeded all my expectations!! She grows everything and lots of it!! Tomatoes, pepper, Kale, lettuce, green beans, carrots, potatoes, all kinds of herbs, onions, green onions, spinach, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers and many other things.

The Gardener herself

My niece Kalia and I reaping the rewards

After we gardened we went and had a picnic with our little Bennet boy, I love his new tombstone!!

My New Goal

2011-08-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to do a half marathon, and I couldn't think of a better time to do it than right now. I better start training because it is on the 29th of October. WOW!!! I am so excited, go to the this website and check out the movie. I need to start planning out my costume to run 13 miles in!!

Please join me in this adventure, you will get hooked.

http://www.halloweenhalf.com/index.php

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo!!

2011-08-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

So when you live somewhere for a while, you have to hit up the local zoo. So we DID!! It was one of the best zoos I have ever been to!! I loved it! They had so many animals and the atmosphere was so great. Some of my favorite animals were the monkeys, penguins, elephants, and zebras. I felt like a kid again and also was reminded of how awesome our God is. All these animals have totally different lives, but all are so beautiful in there own way and all know how to survive in there own way.

Of course I had to take a picture of the Zebra butts - they are so beautiful!!
These bears were so pretty and really entertaining.
They were drinking the nectar with there tongues. I thought I was smart, so after the nectar ran out I covered up the cup so the birds couldn't see there was nothing in it and I tried to get them to come on my arm again. One of them was close, and kept trying to look inside. When she finally got a good look inside and saw there was nothing she bit my finger and flew away. She knew I was tricking her!! I just laughed for a little while because I thought I was so cool and smart.

And last but not least. . . . . the elephant show. They put on an impromptu show for us. We loved it and I didn't know that elephants loved to swim so much.

The Saltiest body of water on earth. . . . can you taste it?

2011-08-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to taste, feel, and float in the waters of the DEAD SEA!!

It was so interesting to float so much that it was hard to even get your feet under you. There were definitely parts of your body that stung really bad so most of us could only handle for about 15 minutes. But it was fun! It is 3 times more salty than the Great Salt Lake. It was so salty that if it got in your eyes it stung and if you licked your finger you could get your full intake of sodium for the week. After we dried off there was a salt layer on our skin. The water is really blue and pretty, and under the water the rocks have beautiful salt crystals on them. There were many people that rubbed the mud all over them to get softer skin, but the mud smelled like poop so I decided against it. But it was a great experience to partake of the salty waters of the DEAD SEA. Now I know why they call it the dead sea.

This is the cave where they found most of the Dead Sea scrolls. It is a near a town called Qumran that is on the northeast shore of the Dead Sea. They found all these scrolls by accident from about 1947-1956 when a shepherd went into the cave looking for a lost sheep and found bottles filled with ancient scrolls that were written by the Essenes in the 3rd century BC. There are many different caves around these parts, but this cave is where they found most of the scrolls.

Faces of the Holy Land

2011-08-02T01:50:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share a couple pictures that my friend Adam took while we have been here. There are so many different cultures and people here. These pictures give you a little taste of what we see everyday.

Capernaum, Capernaum, Capernaum

2011-07-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Capernaum is a town in which the Savior spent most of his ministry. Many miracles that he did happened here in Capernaum. Just to name a few: healing of the man with Paulsy that was put the the roof, woman who touched the hem of his garment, the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and many others. It is a very special place.
There are still a couple wall that exist from Peters house. This is where the Savior spent a lot of time because he didn't have a place to call home. He also healed Peters mother-in-law
in this house. Here it shows the two different layers of rock foundation. The darker rock is the exact synagogue that Jesus taught in and where he performed many miracles. It was cool to think that Christ actually touched those exact same rocks. If only the rocks could talk and tell us what they saw 2.000 years ago. It was a great experience to be in the very spot where he performed so many miracles. I just sat there and imagined what the people would have thought and felt at that moment.
So in this picture we are in the Synagogue in Capernaum where Christ healed the withered hand of a man after the Pharisees were tempting him to see if he would do it on the Sabbath. I am supposed to be Jesus healing Becca's hand in this photo.

Mt. of Beattitudes

2011-07-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

We visited the Mount of Beattitudes where the Savior gave the Sermon on the Mount and included the Beattitudes or "positive and loving version of the 10 commandments." They built a church on the top of the the Mount, of course, because that's what they do in every sacred place in Israel. But on the two slopes that go down the mountain there is a natural theatre that is there with great acoustics. So the Savior could have taught many people the Sermon on the Mount by standing in a special spot where it would pick up his voice.

The grounds were so beautiful!! The nuns take such good care of this place and we saw a lot of nuns meeting outside for class, singing, and studying the good word. It was a good place filled with the Spirit.

Sister Mary Rose, one of the Nuns there at the church, gave us a humble speech about the Beattitudes and the love that Jesus showed when he gave the Sermon on the Mount. With every single one of the Beattitudes there is a blessing. It shows us what kind of intention we should have inside when we keep the commandments. Sister Mary Rose really had good intentions and was really trying to do what the Lord wanted her to with all the love that someone can give. She bore the strongest testimony to us of the reality of our Savior and that we can only be saved through him. I loved her sweet humble testimony. While visiting so many churches here in Israel I have been so appalled at the love that the nuns and munks show towards us. Every time I talk to them or introduce myself, he hold my hand, bless me, and show so much love to a me - a stranger but also a sister in Christ. They come from all different countries to work here in Israel because it is so Holy. Through all these experiences with other religions I have learned that there are so many doing the best they can with the knowledge they have. They have such strong testimonies even though they can't explain everything. The Lord loves them so much and blesses them with his Spirit.
I thought this sign was funny. Can you tell what is weird about it?

I swam where Jesus walked

2011-07-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

The Sea of Galilee - my new favorite place to be!!!

"Oh Galilee, sweet Galilee, where Jesus loved so much to be!"

This is part of a hymn that was taken out of the new hymn book but is one of my new favorites. Jesus spent most of his ministry teaching in the surrounding towns of Galilee. I now know why he loved it so much. It is such a beautiful fresh water lake with green beautiful little towns all around it. We stayed in a Kibbutz resort called Ein Gev for 12 days in little cabins right on the beach. During that time we had class and a lot of time for swimming. We also took a lot of field trips to all the places that the Savior was in around the Sea of Galilee. It was incredible!!

We are showing off our Galilee sun tan lines. It was sooooo hott!!!

A group of us outside our cabin on Sabbath morning.

This is me on a boat out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee about the same size as the fisherman's boat that Jesus was in. We sang "Master the tempest is raging" and we read the scriptures of Jesus calming the seas and walking on water. I learned so much about Peter and how much faith it would have taken to take that step out in the water especially when it was rough water. I want to be more like Peter and try to do hard things and have faith that I can do it with the Lords help. Jesus and Peter are the only ones that have walked on this water.

They found this boat within the last 20 years at the bottom of the Sea and they figured out it is about 2,000 years old. So this is similar to a boat that Jesus would have been in.

We did bonfires on the beach with smores, campfire songs, games, and skits. It was incredible! There is nothing like it!!

The sunsets were always so beautiful. Across the Lake was the city of Tiberias with all the beautiful city lights shining every night.

We are happy to be at Galilee!!!

Nazareth - Home of the Savior

2011-07-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

We visited Nazareth, located close to the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. It was cool because the city is still pretty small and also

Proud to be an American

2011-07-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

There are things you don't really realize you are grateful for until you see other people who don't have what you have. Being in Israel on the fourth of July made me realize how grateful I am to live in a country where we unite when hard times and tragedies come. We sang together the national anthem and a girl kind of bore her testimony of why she was grateful to live in the USA. I am so grateful and proud to be an American. We also sang that song "I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me." Those words have never meant so much to me.

Ok, so for the fun part of the night. We celebrated the 4th of July on the 8th, because we were in Bethlehem on the 4th. Our cooks made it a special night and did a big barbeque outside. We had hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, salads, barbequed chicken and steak, and all sorts of good American food that always tastes better when you eat outside.

This is one of my really good friends, Ashton. I have so enjoyed getting to know her. Can you se the gold roof of the dome of the rock in the background?
Sister Jackson, one of our doctors here and some other friends.
We also had a little carnival with fishing games, face painting, American music, and 3 legged races. I felt like a child. The only thing we were missing was a parade!!

These are a couple of my young women that live in the center with me. Carrie and Tashara, they are so sweet and have become my good friends.

I will never forget this fourth of July that I spent in Israel.

Christmas in July

2011-07-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to everyone on the fourth of JUly!! That's how we celebrated the 4th of July this year - singing Christmas songs in Bethlehem. It was a great experience. My favorite part was sitting in Shepherds field, reading my scriptures to myself. I read the part in Luke 2 where the shepherds see the angels. They go with haste to the child then go tell everyone that Christ is born! They were some of the first Christian missionaries ever! I am so grateful for their obedience and example.

This is where they say that Mary had the baby, you can touch the rock that she had the baby on.

This is a picture of inside the Church built in Bethlehem, they have all kinds of different catholic shrines in one church.
This is in Shepherds field, where the angel announced to the humble obedient shepherds that the Christ child had been born.

We're gonna party like we're ARABS!!

2011-07-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well one of the funnest things I have done since I have been here is participate in an ARAB WEDDING!! They guy that we exchange all of our money with is named Aladdin, and his son was getting married and so he invited a few of us students. We couldn't pass up the opportunity because we hear the weddings going on the time, and THEY KNOW HOW TO PARTY!! So we got all dressed up and showed up at the really nice hotel for 3 hours of pure fun and dancing!!
If there is one thing that I can say about Arab weddings it is that - THEY NEVER STOP DANCING!! The whole night they had songs pumping and the entertainment going. They fed us some good Arabic food and normal wedding cake. We were definitely the only people there that were not Arabs, so it was kind of awkward at first but they were so nice to us. They were begging us to come dance with them in every song. So basically we sent the night on the dance floor with the bride and groom and their family.

I spent too much money at the Olive Wood shop!!!

2011-07-05T05:43:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite parts about Jerusalem is the amazing olive wood shops that they have. Those who know me, know how much I love Nativities. In all my travels I try to buy a nativity from each country. I bought an amazing nativity and also spent some money on gifts for other people. I splurged and bought this bust of Christ, I just had to have something that I could leave out all year.

There were so many amazing nativities that I would buy in a second if I had the money.

This is a camel from the 3000 dollar nativity. So much detail in beautiful wood, this is my dream nativity!! One day. . .

This is Omar, who I bought most of my olive wood stuff from. He caters to the mormons because we buy so much from him. This is the bust that I bought, it was the best Christ face that I found.
Although I spent a lot of money, I know that I bought things that I will use my whole life and they will be a symbol of my love for Jerusalem and everything that I learned here.

. . And was baptized by Immersion, in the River Jordan's Flow

2011-06-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, I don't know why these pictures flipped.

The Jordan River is the border between Israel and Jordan. So while we were sitting on one side of the river in Jordan, we looked over the other side and saw people sitting in Israel. You can see the Israeli flag flying in the background.

One of my favorite parts of the whole Jordan trip was the Jordan River - where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It just amazes me how perfectly law-abiding Jesus was. He was so perfect, but knew he had to be baptized to abide by the laws. He was perfectly obedient in every way. That is such a great lesson for us all. Even when we don't understand the importance of certain commandments, we must follow the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be perfectly obedient.
It was amazing to be in that very river where Christ was baptized. What an amazing event, to have Christ there being baptized by John the baptist who Jesus said was one of the best prophets ever. Baptism is such an important step, it took me back to my baptism. I am so grateful for the decision I made to enter into covenants with him and enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

PETRA!!

2011-06-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

Petra, Jordan - One of the worlds wonders!! It lived up to every one of my expectations!! There is no wonder that it is a wonder of the world - no pun intended. I loved the beautiful colors of sandstone and all the amazing things they carved right outside of the side of the cliff. I also loved the people that live there that we met. They try so hard to sell their things that they make and they all want you to ride their mules, horses and camels.

These are two different kinds of soldiers. The one in the blue suit is the Tourist police and the one in the dress is the Bedouin police.

Just riding my camel Sally outside the Treasury, does it look familiar? The treasury is in the movie Indiana Jones.

Look at all these tombs carved into the mountain

This is the Monastery, you had to hike for a long time up hundreds of stairs to reach this place. It was so pretty though!!

Beautiful rock formations

A Bedouin girl that I made friends with, she was so cute.

There are so many beautiful colors in the rock.

This is what they do for a living there

I bought a little bottle of sand from this man, he doesn't use glue or anything, he is so talented with sand art, he even wrote my name in the sand, I don't know how

This rock looked like melting chocolate.

Hezekiah's Tunnel - Sloshin' through the Gihon Spring

2011-06-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

Hezekiah's tunnel was built by Hezekiah in 701 BC to protect the water source of the city of David - the Gihon Spring. It was also built to take the water from inside the city walls to a water reservoir that would allow more people to get to it more easily. It is about 1500 feet long and it was carved out of pure limestone. Not an easy feat!! He had carvers start at both ends and they finally met in the middle. The tunnel is not very wide, there are many parts where my shoulders touched both sides and the water was usually up to my calves the whole time. We had such a fun time sloshing through the water in the dark. Although, my head suffered a few bumps. We tried to be more adventurous and turn off all of our lamps, until my head started pounding from all the bumps against the wall.

This is my teacher, brother Judd and some of his daughter, aren't they so cute and little!!

WE did it!! WE got through it!!

I look like I'm granola, hard core!!

I know I look hott with my head lamp on.

Garden Tomb & Golgotha

2011-06-24T04:25:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of places in Jerusalem that have to do with the life of Christ. Sometimes it is hard because when you go to a place where Jesus had walked or performed a miracle you expect to feel the spirit really strong. But they have done so many things to these places, like built a mosque or synagogue over the top or adorned it with Gold and statues, that it kind of loses it's Spirit. You have to find the Spirit inside yourself and search to find meaning or ponder about what really happened there.

But, the Garden Tomb is not like all those other places. There is a really special spirit in this little place. First of all, it is owned by English Christians who really believe in Christ and it is kept up very well. The gardens around it are beautiful and there is a lot of room around to sit and ponder or sing hymns. The tour that we were given was by a man from England. At the end of the tour while we were sitting right outside what they predict is the tomb that Christ was in, he bore the strongest testimony of Christ and how life is better when we accept his assistance. He also bore witness that Christ was resurrected and that he lives today. I loved the spirit he brought to the tour.

This place is one of my favorite places in all of Jerusalem. I feel so comfortable and it is fun to do on a Sabbath afternoon. What a Sabbath outing, huh?

This is Golgotha. They think it is golgotha because it means skeleton. And there is a skeleton face in the rock cliff. Can you see it? Sadly, it has now been turned into a bus station. But Golgotha is right next to the Garden Tomb. Golgotha is also on a major highway that was present when Christ lived, so they figured also that that would make sense because they always crucified people on very busy streets so everyone would see the consequences of bad decisions. It is so sad to think about.

Rappin it up in the Talent Show

2011-06-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

If you didn't think I could pull off being a gangster, this video will prove you wrong!!

For the informal talent show I found two friends that knew how to beat-box. We got together and put together a little something. We had so much fun and even included some costumes. We wrote the words to the rapping part of the song. We start off really serious and in the end we full out rapping with gangster clothes on. So homies, let me know what you think? Did we bring down the house or did we not?

Paul's Missions in Turkey

2011-05-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

I think the best part of all of Turkey was studying how hard Paul worked to share the gospel with a really stubborn people that were worshipping pagan gods.

One of my favorite stories rom Acts is the very end of Acts in chapter 20, verses 17-38. He is meeting with the Elders from the church and he gives a powerful sermon. He shares with the leaders, that he feels no remorse or guilt because he has preached all he could. He says, “I am pure from the blood of all men.” He encourages them to keep going in their service and to watch out for the “wolves” that will tear apart the church from the inside out. It is also a touching moment because he tells them that he will never see them again and they fall down and kiss his feet. We can see in this moment the service that Paul was to these people. He had worked tirelessly to help the church grow in that area and they were sad to see him go.

I think what I learned from being in Turkey was from seeing the landscape and also the huge cities and theatres that they built. First of all that it is no small chore to get from place to place. Paul traveled all over Turkey and did most of it by foot or by boat. We were on the bus for many hours just trying to get to the cities that he visited, and he took the same routes but it took much longer. Secondly, I noticed what a hard chore it must have been to get these people that had been worshipping Greek Gods and statues to put away their foolish traditions. They had to change their whole lifestyle and learn what God is and that he is our father. So many of them were so worldly and loved the large statues and Gods that they thought gave them success and money. It would have been really hard to get them to change their worldly lifestyles. But he did it because of his faith and dedication to the Savior. “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

Some spiritual principles that I learned is how to seriously turn everything over to the Lord and make your whole life dedicated to his work and his will. He is such a great example of a true missionary that gave everything to do what the Lord commanded him to do – Preach the gospel to all, Jew and Gentile alike.

A scripture that helped me understand this story and gave me additional insight is found in Moroni 9:6. “And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.” I love this scripture because it is between a father and his son that were separated but both watching their people get destroyed by wickedness. They probably thought there was nothing they could do to help. But even when it is hard, like Mormon said, we can’t stop working. We can never give up, even if we feel like no one is benefiting from our words. There will always be a greater reward for those who never give up.

My younger brother Danner and I had overlapping missions. I remember when he started the mission and was struggling with being a new missionary I was also struggling with the transition I was going to have to make when I went home. We made a motto for ourselves. It was Never Ever Give Up!! This scripture in Moroni was our motto scripture and it helped us those days that we thought we would never find someone who wanted to listen. The Lord’s work is not always easy and smooth and the people don’t always want to listen to our wonderful message of happiness. But I know that if we do what Paul did and work so that we can say, “I am pure from the blood of all men,” we will be blessed and have our reward in the end. Even though we may feel that we are not doing much or not affecting too many lives. We will see the repercussions later, maybe not until we are with God. I have learned much from the faith and hard work that Paul showed, his whole life was make sure that everyone knew wherever he went that Christ is our Savior. I hope to be like him someday.

Beach Day!!!

2011-05-30T01:40:00.001-07:00

We had a couple free days two weeks in a row so we spent a couple of days - a week apart at the beach in Tel Aviv. It was perfect weather both days. It was heaven, all the things I love to do - play sports, people watch and be outdoors with people I love. All we did was play sand volleyball, play soccer, swim, and get to know each other better. Afterwards we were exhausted and burnt, but it was so worth it!! We had so much fun!!

It was really weird, almost all of us girls had black swimsuits so we had to take a pic. I'm sure all the people were wondering if that was part of our religion or something, because everyone else was wearing bikinis.
This is some of the amazing people watching we were able to do. This yoga was man was amazing, he was out there all day and did crazy moves on his head. He was super flexible!
We decided to recreate Hagia Sofia in the Sand, I think we did a pretty good job. We didn't really think wisely though because after we finished making this mosque we realized that we were on a beach of Israeli/Jewish people. Good thing we left soon after! I'm surprised we made it out alive:) oops

Arab Night

2011-05-30T01:38:00.002-07:00

We had a night dedicated to Arab culture. We had some Arab come and sing the call to prayer and sing the Koran like they do in the mosque. They were really good and it was beautiful. We also dressed up like Arabs, most people dressed up like skanky Arabs with little belly dancing outfits on but I decided to go the modern route. I seriously looked like they picked up an Arab woman up off the streets of Jerusalem. It was so fun. The food was also incredible. All kinds of Arab delights!!

There were some Arab dancers that came to teach us how to dance. It was so fun!!

Troy!!!

2011-05-30T01:38:00.001-07:00

Turkish Rug Factory

2011-05-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

Turkey is known for their beautiful rugs. We visited a rug factory in Turkey and also one in Beersheba when we got back to Israel. Here are some pics of the steps that they go through to make the rugs. They are super complex and super expensive too!! They make two different kinds of rugs - wool and silk. The silk was my favorite, so soft!! I loved watching them spin the silk thread from the silk worm cocoons. It is a crazy process and the cocoons come apart like strings of a spider web. The whole process that we learned was so hands on. We were able to touch everything and they even taught us how to do the double knot that they use on the turkish rugs. It takes about 4-6 months for one person to do each carpet. What a labor of love!!

All the threads are dyed with natural dyes.

These are the silk worm cocoons that they boil to make the silk thread

This video is my favorite because in the show room the guy in charge was ordering his little flingers around. They were basically flinging this rugs all sorts of ways and we agreed that it is officially a new sport. WE were laughing so hard!! Check it out!!

Some of my favorite things about Turkey

2011-05-30T00:34:00.000-07:00

Besos and little old ladies - We were able to spend a few nights walking the bay and experiencing the night life. It was so pretty. A couple of our hotels were located right on the coast. This little old lady we met on the dock and I just smiled and said hi to her. The next thing I know she had me cheeks in her hand and she was kissing me, like they do in Argentina. She kept saying things in Turkish and she seemed so excited. You can see how happy I am in the picture. She was so sweet and we bonded in that 5 minutes, even though we couldn't understand each other. I really love those besos!!

This was sunset on the bay!!

We saw shepherds herding their sheep in the plains of Turkey. It was beautiful. One day we stopped to talk to a shepherd and he let us pet some of his sheep, it was so fun to live the Bedouin life for 10 minutes. It really brings to life the reason behind why they call Christ the shepherd. Each shepherd knows there sheep and the sheep only respond to his voice.

Best Baklava EVER!!! Our guide to us to a shop in Istanbul that was simply amazing! All they make is baklava and they specialize in Pistachio baklava. It was so good!

And yes, they had to show us their pan of baklava that they made into Obama. We all were pretty impressed.

We ate at some pretty good seafood places right on the coast. This is the fish that we ate, eyeballs and all! It was good and a great adventure.

The grand Bazaar is the biggest shopping place in the world, dedicated to mostly tourists. There is over 4000 shops there and it is almost too overwhelming because a lot of them sell the same thing. It has been there for years, so it is pretty famous. And of course, I did find some pretty sweet souvenirs there.

This awesome picture I took was of a huge underground cisterne that held water for all of Istanbul for a long time. It was so pretty inside.

So Picturesque!!!

2011-05-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

While in Turkey we were able to take quite a few ferry boats. We even got on a ferry that we loaded while still on the bus, that was cool!! But because of that, we were able to get some really cool photos from the water, and it was the first time I had been on a boat for about 2 years, maybe longer. I really enjoyed it!
Turkey is almost completely surrounded by water so it is so pretty!! Here are some pictures of our ferry adventures.

Mosques and Arab Women

2011-05-24T04:37:00.000-07:00

While we were in Turkey we visited many mosques. You could spend a year in turkey and visit mosques all day, everyday and still not see all of them. About 90 percent of Turkey is Muslim, so they need a lot so all the people can worship. They are asked to go to the mosque 5 times a day to pray, so they are always going to the mosque. In Istanbul alone there are 3,000 mosques.
You have to take off your shoes before you go in and the woman have to cover their head and wear long sleeves. The Muslim people wash their hands, feet and faces every time they go into the mosque. They are very devoted worshippers.
One thing that I love about he mosques is that there are no idols or statues. They do not worship any kind of statue.
Two of the main mosques we went to were in Istanbul and they are the "blue mosque" and the Aya Sophia. They were both so pretty. We took some good pictures of us as Arab women. It was really fun and adventurous.

I am back!!!

2011-05-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. . . so I will be posting little by little my adventures in Turkey. There is so much I can say about the amazing adventures we had.

Gobble, Gobble! Turkey here we come!!

2011-05-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

This morning we are packing up to go to Turkey for a week! We are going to study a lot about Pauls missions to the people there and also some history stuff. I have heard so many amazing things about this wonderful place. It is beautiful! I don't know much about anything, but here are some pictures of some of the sights we are going to visit, they make me so excited!

Topkapi Palace

Ancient Outdoor Theatre in Ephesus

Celsus Library in Ephesus

Largest Shopping center in the world with close to 4000 shops - The Bazaar in Istanbul

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul

My Birthday in Jerusalem

2011-05-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

This is David and his harp. Mom and Dad, can I get a harp like that for my birthday?

Who can say that they celebrated their birthday in Jerusalem? I CAN!! It was such a good day, really chill, and filled with emails and letters from those I love. The day was pretty normal except everyone in the center knew it was my birthday, so I don't think I have ever heard that many birthday wishes in one day. All 80 of them made sure to wish me happy birthday at least 7 1/2 times each. haha, that is a bit of an exaggeration. But really, way to many times!!
After lunch I went out with a couple friends, Scott and Jason, and we explored the city. We found some awesome places and our favorite was the dormition abbey. A huge christian church, but downstairs is a round stone room. People came down to sing and pay their respects to Mary, the sound was incredible and we loved sitting and listening to the beautiful sounds.
We also went to 2 places where they claim the last supper took place, that was really interesting.
And before dinner we grabbed a few of the delicious Israeli pastries that remind me so much of Argentina. It was so Fun!!
The students wrote me notes and taped them on my door and my young women also made me a big poster. I also received a few gifts from other students. It was such a fun day!! I can't believe I am another year older. Doesn't 23 sound old to you?

Shout to to my sister Mandy - she is famous!!

2011-05-12T01:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a little shout out to my older sister Mandy! She had a whole thing done on her experience with her little Bennett passing away. Here is the link to her blog and her video.

Check it out!!

http://sunshinepromises.blogspot.com/2011/05/fresh-off-press.html

Some faces of Jerusalem

2011-05-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

These are just a few random pics that I took, I hope you enjoy.

A cool picture of some castle, sorry for some reason it wouldn't rotate

We all had matching hymnbooks and we had to take pictures.

This is me pointing up at the Jerusalem center on the hill (the one with the arches)

Jerusalem has some awesome gummy stores, all kinds of gummies.

This is a picture inside one of the Jewish synagogues, they have all kinds of prayer books.

This is a very normal sight in Jerusalem, soldiers with big guns, and Jews and Arabs walking by all dressed up.

I thought these obama T-Shirts were pretty swell

This guy was super shy, but was willing take a picture with me. I didn't really get what he was trying to say with his signs. But, it was funny.

This is the Cardo, or what the old city streets looked like before. And my friend Jennifer tried to fit into the mural. Can you see her?

So I saw this and had to take a picture. This is a family inside joke, the paper says Challah covers. My little brother used to always call me Chulla, and it kind of stuck. They started calling mm Jewish bakery roll because they said challah, or chulla meant Jewish bakery roll. Apparently it means some kind of pillow too. But it was covering me, so it is officially a Chulla cover in more ways than one.

This place is so beautiful and is a light to the whole city. Too bad we can't see inside.

I like to sneakily take pictures of people like this to show some real culture.

Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho!!

2011-05-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Today we journeyed to Jericho. There is a long stretch of absolute nothing with a lot of hotness and sweat between Jericho and Jerusalem. Of course we didn't walk there like Elisha and Jesus, but we did sweat a lot while climbing those mountains. One of my favorite parts was seeing all the Bedouins with their little shacks built on a mountain of pure sand. They follow their little flocks around all day. I was thinking to myself, what do these animals eat? There is nothing!! But I guess the dried grass is brown and you can't really see it, but they say it is pretty delicious. I asked on of the goats and he told me it was not BAAAAAAAD. So there you have it.

We visited many places, but one of my favorite parts was seeing where the walls came tumbling down miraculously in the battle of Jericho and also Herod's palace. We saw the remains of the wall of Jericho that fell. It is another living testament that God lives. I was so amazed at how these simple acts, if we follow exactly what the Savior says, can help us work miracles. The Lord will do what is necessary

to protect us if we just follow what he says. We read the scriptures while we were sitting on top of those walls and I could just imagine them walking around the city everyday. The city of Jericho is actually really cool because between Jerusalem and Jericho there is nothing but hills of dirt, but when you get to the city of Jericho everything becomes green again because of one spring in that city that gives live to everyone therein. This spring was blessed by Elisha and made sweet, and ever since then the whole city has been able to live off of it. It's not that small though, so it would be hard to walk around the city everyday and especially 7 times the 7th day. But because of their obedience they were able to w

in the battle.

The lesson I learned in this is that no matter how hard or unreasonable commands from the Lord may sound, we must do it no matter what and have faith that he will do his part. Because I know he will, even though it doesn't make sense why we should do it.

This is Brother Chadwick who teaches us our Ancient near eastern studies. He is an archeologist and pretty much knows everything about everything. So it is so fun to have him with us to explain the why's of history.

These are the Bedouin homes that are on the rocky hills between Jericho and Jerusalem, they live to follow their livestock.

This is Lizzie and I at Jericho next to the spring, Jericho is actually below sea level, so we sang Under the Sea many times together.

This is the tree that short Zacheus climbed in the Bible so he could see Christ better when he came by, and Jesus saw him and said, "come down, I am coming to dine at your house tonight." So we had to stop and take pictures.

This is Amanda Judd and I on our field trip. She didn't really want to take a picture, haha. She is my Old Testament teachers daughter. It is so fun to have some kids around.

Shabbat Shalom!!

2011-05-07T04:39:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the time of my life celebrating the bringing in of a new Sabbath day. I asked myself, why don’t we do this? Why aren’t we as excited as they are for a new Sabbath day to dedicate to the Lord?
I unfortunately don’t have any pictures or videos because it is against the rules on the Sabbath to use phones, cameras or anything of that sort. They will get mad at the tourists that come if they pull out a camera. But I will do my best to describe this amazing even that we were part of. This is a Jewish tradition. Shabbat means Sabbath in Hebrew. Their Sabbath starts Friday night at sundown and ends Saturday at sundown. Hundreds of Jews gather at the western wall and pray and celebrate the coming of another Sabbath day. The wall is divided so the women have their own side and the men have their own side. You will see a lot of Jewish women, in long skirts and high-necked shirts. The women who are married have to cover their hair with a scarf or a wig. The men where large hats or yarmulkes, long curls right over their ears, have long beards, and usually a white button up shirt with dark slacks. They prayer to the wall and rock back and forth and then they back away with out turning their back on the wall. Sometimes they stick notes in the wall to, but on the Sabbath is against the law to write so they can’t do it on the Sabbath.
We were standing on the women’s side watching them sing prayers out of their little books, I was surprised at how many young women our age there were. All of the sudden they started circling up and dancing, we got pulled into the circle and we celebrated with them. Even though we don’t speak Hebrew or even though we aren’t Hebrew they wanted us to celebrate with them and we loved it!!
We spent about an hour dancing and singing and watching the men do the same on the other side.
I have been so excited for the Sabbath day before. It is something that I will never forget. Lots of singing, chanting, praying, and dancing – my favorite.
If there is something that I have learned on this trip it is to not judge. We can learn something for every culture and the way they do things. I learned that we should celebrate the Sabbath every week and be grateful to worship the Lord. I also learned to accept others, celebrate with them!!! It doesn’t matter what you believe or how different you are, we can celebrate our Lord together!!
Shabbat Shalom everybody!! Shabbat Shalom!!

Here is a link to a video I found, it shows a little taste of what it looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18tZLwcVO2Q

Keepin it Kosher

2011-05-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

In Jerusalem there is no such thing as a cheeseburger. Why you ask? Because it is not kosher. I have learned a lot about this since I arrived here in this beautiful land. They cannot mix meat with dairy. For example, if they eat meat they have to wait 6 hours before they eat any type of dairy. So a cheeseburger is definitely out of the question. There is a McDonalds in West Jerusalem and we walked in just to check it out and look at their menu and see how it was different. The main difference. . . . NO CHEESEBURGERS!! What is McDonalds without cheeseburgers? The answer is KOSHER. So here in Jeru we are keepin it Kosher☺

Just a few of my adventures this week

2011-05-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

We were able to walk along the wall of the old city and have a birds eye view of what goes on and the people and culture, we loved it!! I was about 2 miles long. Can you see the dome of the rock in the background?

Here I am walking the narrow walkway on the top of the city wall with some good friends.

With some more friends overlooking the city.

Standing in the middle of the old city with a my friends, we were shopping and looking around, just exploring. We usually get out and do that for a couple hours a day. It is so fun! I don't think there is another city that is packed with more culture and diversity than Jerusalem. And to think, Jesus walked these streets!!

I have loved studying all the churches that we have been to, even though they are not of our faith, we take apart all the symbolism and relate to what we believe and the symbols we have in our temples. There are many similarities. This church was a Lutheran church called the Augusta Victoria, we were able to climb the big tower and look over the city.

I love this map in West Jerusalem. In this artists rendition, Jerusalem is in the center of the world, everything revolves around it. I love it!!! It kind of feels that way sometimes.

We were wandering through the old city and kind of got lost and found ourselves in the allies with a ton of kids playing, it was a more rural part where they had little apartments. It was cool to see all that, everything is so compact in the old city. Some people that live with in this small space, don't leave for months at a time because everything they need is inside.

This is Lizzie and I at the western wall. Crazy story, Lizzie is actually the sister of Hermana Tingey, who I trained in the mission. It has been awesome getting to know her. It is so incredible to see these devout Jews pray to God. I respect them very much for what they do and they way they actually LIVE their religion. They rock back and forth and chant prayers and sing. They also write prayers on papers and shove them in the walls. It is an amazing sight. If the men want to get close to the wall they have to where a yamaca, or something covering their head. I will tell you more about this later, because on Friday we are going as a group to watch them welcome in the sabbath at night. I am so excited!!

Abraham's Painful Journey

2011-05-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

We are studying about Abraham. When we read the story of how he was commanded to sacrifice his own son Isaac, it took on a whole new meaning to me. This story has always astounded me, but lately having watched my sister lose her baby, this story holds new meaning. I have never been a mother before but I have seen my sister ache and mourn for the loss of her child. Isaac was the child that Abraham and Sarah were promised and they had waited a long time for Isaac. So when the Lord commanded him to kill his own son Isaac, this must have been incredibly hard. I would have thought, What? Are you kidding me? This is the child that you said would carry our posterity? But he says “Here I Am” and doesn’t murmur for one second. He doesn’t even have to ask why the Lord would want him to kill his own son. The next morning he arose early and prepared for the journey, a very hard journey. The last journey he probably thought he would take with his son Isaac.

God always tries with the trials that would help us grow and depend on him the most. He was commanded to do the hardest. In the beginning he probably thought that he would never have children and then Sarah conceived and he was so happy. Now the Lord is commanding him to kill their only son? What? The Lord has us suffer our worst thing. This is why Abraham had to be tested this way. The Lord was planning to give him some amazing blessings, but he had to see that Abraham would be faithful and obedient in all things before he gave him the blessings and before he became the father of all the righteous.

This is a picture right south of Jerusalem on a mountain called Haas promenade. This mountain is the one that Abraham climbed up from behind, coming from the city of Hebron, and looked over the small city of Jerusalem. Mt. Moriah was empty when Abraham saw it, but now on Mt. Moriah the Dome of Rock is there to remember Abraham and the faith that he showed at that moment.
As I stood over looking Jerusalem and Mt. Moriah and as I walked in the footsteps of Abraham our great grandfather, I was in awe at the faith and trust in the Lord that he had to obey the Lord and not murmur for one second, even if it didn't make sense. I hope we can all do the same in our lives. He lives, and has a perfect plan for us, even though it might not make sense.

I'm Here!! Jerusalem is amazing!!

2011-04-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Jerusalem after a long long day of traveling! Everything went as planned with my group of travelers. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This experience outweighs all of they expectations I ever had. The people, the city, the Jerusalem center, the professors, and the chance I have to share my talents. Seriously, all this put together make one incredible experience!! After just the first flight I felt so close to everyone I was with. Everyone here is so outgoing. I feel shy here, and I have never felt shy in other social settings, haha. They are so well-rounded, talented, smart, and happy. I haven't met a bad one in the bunch.
I have felt the love of my savior so strong this past couple days.
Experience #1: During our first orientation meeting we met in the big auditorium where we have sacrament meeting every Saturday. The curtains were closed. The organ started playing and they opened the curtains to the windows that look right over the whole city and the dome of the rock. I can't describe the feeling I felt. Something told me. . "Do you know how lucky you are? Do you know how much I love you? I sent you to this place to learn something and because I love you. Don't take advantage of it." I never really knew what I was getting my self in to. But I am so excited that the Lord gave me this opportunity to learn more about his life and to feel his love for me.
Experience #2: So today was the Sabbath for us. We had church at 10 in the morning and choir practice before at 9. It was awesome what we could put together a prelude song in just a short time. So we sang right before the meeting and we had a full meeting, there was a big Mormon tour that was passing through. So we took the sacrament looking over the exact city in which the Atonement happened. Wow!!
Also, today I was given a calling. I am the new YOUNG WOMEN''s TEACHER!! There are 5 Young Women in this branch and there are only 13 in the whole country of Israel. So we are so lucky!! The Young Women are so amazing!! They are all from the US but here with there parents for work. 3 of them live right here in the center. They are so knowledgable and know the gospel really well. I am learning so much from them. There is a President of YW that we work with, her name is Sister Bentley from California. Shelby - another studentd, and I will be teaching every other week. I am so excited!! I have always wanted to work in Young Womens.
But the best part about this whole experience on the Sabbath was the blessings that Brother Muhlstein gave me when he set me apart after church. He doesn't even know me well at all, but I feel so much love coming from him. He is one of my professors but also in the Branch Presidency. In the blessing while he set me apart. He blessed me that I would love these girls like the savior does. He also told me that the Savior had a perfect love for me, that his love is overflowing and something that I cannot even imagine. He told that I am doing what the Lord wants me to be doing right now, and that my sins are forgiven me. I was shocked at the words he said!! I have never had such a personal and loving blessing while being set apart. Afterwards he thanked me for the willingness to serve and told me that this calling would change my whole experience here at the center. I know it will!! I felt so good after that blessing.

After church we went on a walk to visit the Garden of Gethsemene. I can't believe that I was standing in the spot where Jesus suffered for my every sin. The big gnarly olive trees were exactly as I had expected. It was really cool. Then we walked into the big church right next to it and there were holding a big Catholic mass in Spanish so I was able to understand a little bit and talk to some people from Spain. My day was complete!! I ended with a little Atonement and some good ol' Espanol!!

P.S. I also found out today that they might be able to get a harp for me to play. Across the street is the Hebrew University and I guess we can rent instruments from there. I hope that can happen because I would absolutely love to play in this beautiful auditorium looking over the whole city of Jerusalem.

Tomorrow we start all of our real classes, they are going to be intense!!
Love you all!

Today I Am Grateful for a Righteous Father

2011-04-24T12:41:00.001-07:00

Lately, having seen many good men fall to temptations and lose their testimony, I have been so grateful for a pure father who honors his Priesthood. I have total and complete trust in him. I know he will never do anything to disappoint my family or stray from the church. There are not many men that I can say that about.
My dad has an incredible faith in the Savior. He will do anything that is required to serve in the church and give whatever is needed. He truly gives EVERYTHING to the church. His life totally revolves around the Lord and this wonderful church.
Today something happened that reaffirmed my total trust and gratitude for my father. Today is Easter Sunday, which means we ARE singing in the ward choir. It is something that we have done as a family for a long time. We had a choir practice at 8:20 before our meetings began. When my dad woke up that morning, he was swollen all over. He had had a allergic reaction to something the night before. His tongue, lips, hands, and feet were all swollen and itchy. My mom told me that dad was not going to choir practice because his tongue was swollen and he couldn't even talk very well.
While I was getting ready I heard my dad get out of bed and come out of his room. I had to go see how looked, poor thing. Let's just say he didn't look perky and ready for choir practice. I felt so bad. Well, my dad realized the importance of Easter sunday and also that he was one of the only Basses in our choir. He got ready in a jiff, and he was in the car before I was. I was shocked to see him ready for choir practice.
Not only did he go to sacrament meeting, he went early to practice, and stood in front of the whole ward with his swollen face. Where do his priorities lie? What is most important to my dad? The Lord and the church are much more important than his appearance. Not many people noticed this small act of dedication to the church. But I sure noticed it and I will never forget it. I will never doubt that my father will choose the church above all other things, no matter what trials and pestilences come. I love him!!

"The Last Lecture"

2011-04-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

For my D&C religion class for our final class we had to write our own "Last lecture." Basically what that means is the speech we would give if we were going to die tomorrow. What means the most to us and what are we made of? This was really hard for me and it took me a lot of pondering to dig up what I really value most. Our only criteria was to include doctrines found in the first half of the D&C. So I would like to share what means most to me to all my family and close friends. Read it and then go make your own, it is a great thing to have and to think about.

“The Last Lecture”

My time has come to join the missionaries on the other side of the veil. But I hope that through my life I have been able to touch your lives as you have touched mine. My life has been nothing but pure joy found through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joy, meaning the inner peace that we feel even when hard times come. The Lord said to Thomas B. Marsh in D & C 31:2,3 “Behold, you have had many afflictions because of your family, yea, your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church. Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.” We have to find that inner peace and joy even when we are hit with trials that we think we can never get through. The only way we can trudge through those hard times is to look for the sunshine in the storm and turn to your father in heaven as said in D & C 59:7 “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things” Anything is possible with the Lord. Through his Atonement we can get through anything. He went through all of it already so we wouldn’t have to do it alone. In D&C 6:37 he said, “Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.” He has already paid the price and if we turn to him we can inherit the kingdom of heaven just like he promised. “There is none other name given whereby man can be saved;” D & C 18:23.

I have found in my life that true comes only from the things of God – the things of eternity. No matter how many toys or clothes we have, we will still feel exactly the same if we are empty inside. In D & C 38:39 it reads “And if ye seek the riches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity; and it must needs be that the riches of the earth are mine to give;” We will feel truly rich when we feel that our life is in accordance with the will of God. There is no other object or wealth that can make up for that feeling.

LOVE with all your stinkin little heart. Don’t judge, look at people as if you were seeing them through the eyes of Christ. Life is too short to judge others. In every person there is a treasure lying inside that is waiting to be found. Each person in this world has something to offer. I have learned in my life that I can learn something valuable from everyone I meet. I can learn to love something about everyone I meet. They are children of God and they are lovable and yearn to be loved. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (D & C 59:6)

The Gospel and Family is what it’s all about. The happiest moments of my life were spent in the service of the Lord and with my family. I can’t wait to spend eternity with my family doing the things we love to do together and helping the Lord build his kingdom. The good news that we have is meant to be shared. Let your light shine and stand above the rest so they will notice that what you have is different. The Lord says it best in D & C 18:15, “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!” We will find great joy in the service of our Heavenly Father, rounding up his children so we can live with him again.

Do all you can to be in the presence of God for eternity. Put off what you want now for what you want later. Live everyday like it’s your last and treasure the memories that are made. Don’t have any regrets, God loves you and wants you back. I love you and hope to be live with you again in the mansions of our Father. God be with you ‘til we meet again.

We'll Bring the World His Truth

2011-01-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Today we finally gave a present to my grandma that we have been working on for awhile. It was the best present I have ever given to anyone. She appreciated it so much, and it was so worth it. What Synthia and I did was make a map with the places that all of her children and grandchildren served. In total there were 45 missionaries and they have served all over the world. It was so fun to do and we know that this map will be in our family for generations.

I loved my grandma's reaction in this video. One little humble family really can make a difference in the world, especially with the only true gospel on this earth. I am so grateful for the legacy my Grandparents have left for us. I love them so much.

Nuevo Area!

2009-11-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Familia!!

Gracias gracias for your letters. Mom I loved your letters and updates and everything made such better sense. Wow it is crazy, you never know when someone can die in an instant, even when they are way healthy. I´ll bet that was way hard for Tyler Bastian.

The retreat sounded way fun, you are right I was there with you in Spirit. I can just imagine it, I would have loved to have been there especially for the testimony meeting. I hunger things that now. Because those are the memories that we will remember, not what we bought, but what we felt. I am learning a lot about that right now.

Dad I absolutely loved the pictures of Danner. He is the cutest fairy I have ever seen. Was that for the Halloween dance? Who did he go to homecoming with? OH and dad, that last email you sent with the picture of the retreat, there wasn´t a pic attached. Gracias for updated me on everything.

Well to say the least this last week has been one big surprise. I was transfered but to the area right next door. There are only 2 areas for Hermanas in the big city of Mar del Plata and the area right next door is Centro. It is a different stake and zone, and it is the center city of the center, in this large city of Mar del Plata. So most of it is shops and high rises. Even more city than my last area. But I am excited. The one thing that is nice about this situation is that we do divisions with each other almost every week so I will get to see my converts in this area so I haven´t really left my area. In the summer time, which is soon, pretty much all of Argentina shows up to vacation here. So it will be interesting to have Christmas hear with all of the world in hot weather.

The other interesting thing is that the two sisters that were in Centro, one of them is coming to Pompeya, so all we did is a swap. So I know my companion, her name is Hermana Lindsey Koch pronounced Cook, she is from Woods Cross believe it or not. What a small world. She has 11 months in the mission and is really great. I am excited. The other day we were talking and I couldn´t get myself to talk in English. Because it has been so off limits for me with my other companions. But I hope I will keep that habit up because I am getting to the point where I don´t have to think much to talk in Spanish. I was so blessed to have Latinas in the first 6 months of my mission. I am excited to get to know another ward and new people. I need a change, even though it isn´t a big change, but I´ll go where he wants me to go. It has kind of been funny. Life is definitely an adventure!

WE HAD A BAPTISM THIS WEEK! It was so great and so natural. This boy is 14 years old and so great. He is quiet but is so firm and responsible. He life hasn´t been easy and doesn´t really have a good relationship with his parents. He came to church with a friend and now all the young men in the church and always hanging out together playing soccer at the church. His name is Walter and yesterday was his baptism. We had a lot of lessons with him and the young men fo the ward, which are all new converts. I loved teaching them becuase we were able to do a lot of fun things and I love seeing their excitement to keep the commandments. Yesterday we were at the church early with all the chicos and walter and Walter came in at 5¨30, a half hour before his baptism with all his white clothes on, he was so ready to be baptized and so excited. We laughed and laughed, such pure spirits. I absolutely love my converts. This week I said goodbye to some of the members and they were so cute and tender. My new favorite thing is giving besos to all of the Hermanas and little kids. I think I am going to start that tradition in the US when I get home. When a little kid walks in the room they are trained to give a beso to everyone sitting in the room, especially visitors. I absolutely love it and love the respect they have here.
Well my testimony is stronger than ever and I am ready to work and work. I love you and thank you for your constant support!!

Hermana Kjar

P.S. have you gotten any letters from me in the mail? I believe I sent one to Ben, Katie, and Danner. And ask mandy if she is working on my Send out card for my 6 month mark. She hasn´t emailed me back.

Six month mark

2009-10-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've never been the kind to testify
I don´t have the words his truth deserves
But it´s a simple thing he asks a worthy heart and willing hands
He says if I make the choice He´ll help me find my voice
He calls me to serve and I cannot fail him
The one who has given me all that I have
I place my trust in him alone, he knows the yearnings of my soul
Because he believes in my I will go willingly
How can i keep this gift to myself when I can lift somebody else
I am a witness of his miracles and his mercy
I put my future in his hands knowings he´s made me all I am
When I put my faith him, then truth begins to speak
His power is real it moves me until, I CANNOT BE STILL.

I have reached 6 months, living the sweet life of a missionary. These 4 months in Argentina I have spent in Mar del Plata in the same area with native companions. I have had to learn the language fast, but it is a blessing. The mission is amazing. I love every part of it. From automatically loving the people you have never met before, having new adventures everyday, feeling that no one wants to listen, spending every hour of your day thinking about how we can bring others to Christ, feeling the love fo the members, being led in the most interesting ways to discover someone in need, Panaderias, knocking door after door knowing you are one door closer to that person searching, eating every part of all kinds of animals, searching for the will fo the Lord in all things, saying 20+ prayers everyday with your companion, witnessing the gospel change hearts and then change lives, returning after a hard day of the Lord work and knowing you did your best in the Lords vineyard. Like Elder Nielson of the Seventy said in the last conference, this is our calling and responsibility as the rising generation to take the gospel to every nation. I feel blessed to be a part of this marvelous work and am trying to become who that Lords wants me to be.

Hermana Kjar

HOllllaaaaaaaaaa

2009-10-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, I was not expecting that news. How did Rick die? The Lord works in interesting ways. Who is in our new STake Presidency? Dad thanks for the update and the miracles. The Lord has a plan for everything. I can´t believe that half of their family now is on the other side. But luckily we have this knowledge, this knowledge I get to share with people everyday on the streets. Knowledge that is so different and if people are ready, this knowledge can turn their heads and cause them to change their lives. I can´t believe we had another 2 deaths in our ward boundaries. MOm and Dad, are you thinking of moving out of the ward yet? jk, man that is crazy.

WEll this week was great. We completed all of our goals and even planned and executed a ward activity. Let´s just say when I say ward activity don´t think of a ward activity in Utah. Think of a pary with 2 people, even though our ward probably has the same amount of people as my home ward. But we had fun and laughed a lot. We had everyone bring fruit and together we made a delicious fruit salad and talked about the unity of the barrio that we need so badly. Then we did some scripture skits and we laughed so hard because they never do stuff like this here so the acting skills were funny. It was fun and I am glad we did it.

This week is probably my last week in Mar del plata so we are living it up! Today we went to Puerto, or the Port and saw sea lions large ships, fresh fish, fisherman, and took long walks up and down the port. WE had a lot of fun just the two of us.

This week we were able to spend more time with Jessica (my convert) and her family. WE can finally enter her house and teach her children. It brings me so much joy to be with her family because she has changed so much and it shows in her family. He children want to be baptized so in time they will be. I had to break the news to her that I will probably be leaving on Sunday and she started bawling and was scared that I would never see her again or write her. This will be hard to leave, especailly because it is my first area. But I can feel it is time. The language is coming, I am feeling a lot better and can understand everything and surprise myself sometimes at how much I can say.

My ankle is feeling a lot better. We starting running in the mornings again and I think that has helped strengthen my ankle. The Lord is blessing me.

I am so grateful especially at this point of my mission to be growing. The Lord is helping me so much by telling me things I need to improve and I feel my spirit growing so much. We have a baptism this sunday with a young 14 year old boy named Walter. He is really shy but really firm. I hope it all works out and his parents cooperate.

On thursday I complete 6 MONTHS in the mission, can you believe it! Also Happy Halloween. It doesn´t feel like halloween at all. Because it is Spring and hardly anyone celebrates Halloween here, but we will do something special. Me and my companion were thinking about dressing up as each other. haha, that is just about as crazy as we can be in the mission.

I love you all so much!! besos, besos
Hermana KJar

Besos

2009-10-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

October 19, 2009

Familia – mi solcita, amorcita

I just got an email from Luke and Becca, how exciting, I hope it really does turn out to be a boy. I am so grateful to hear that the CNG and Autosource thing is working out well. How convenient. I´ll bet it is a lot easier for Jeremy.

This week has been good. I was sick but we still went out and worked and I think I am getting over it. My ankle has been bothering me but I am scared to go get it checked because going is home is my worst fear.(no offense family) But it isn´t way bad, but it bothers. My body is going to be so worn out and tired by the time I get home.

Yesterday was mothers day in Argentina, it was kind of sad to not have a mother to celebrate with and all the members didn´t want to invite us over because they had all of there family over. So we decided to go visit a few sisters in our ward that are in rest homes. It was so perfect and helped us forget ourselves and help others who needed our help and comfort. We went to visit one old lady named Isabel and her family didn´t even come to say hello to her. But she was so happy, especially when we showed her the pictures of the temple and the prophets. There was a lot of lonely mothers there and we did a little cheering up. There was a piano and I started playing songs, and it is really rare for people to have musical talent here so they were all so surprised. But it made my day and we want to go back more often. Oh and mom - Feliz Dia de la Madre from your daughter in Argentina. I love you and miss you.

We made little papers with dried flowers to give to all the women in our ward to thank them for being out mothers away from home. It was a good day. We have a ward activity that we are planning for this Friday. We will be making fruit salad together and doing scripture skits. I hope people come and we can get out point and lesson across – ward unity. Pray for us!

I heard about the girls retreat from Becca, how fun to have all the sister in laws. It all sounded amazing. Can we do it after I get home next year? In the end of October or November. I love my sisters so much and miss every one.

The work is moving along and we are working hard. I love every minute. Elder Bowen from the Seventy that took Elder Robbins spot came to visit us. He laid down the line and I learned sooooo much. I am so grateful for righteous leaders that recieve revelation from God to help us improve. It was an awakening that I need to do better. I have two more weeks in Pompeya and am enjoying every bit of it!

Keep the Faith and remember your covenants you made in the temple.

Love you more!
Hermana Kjar

2009-10-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

October 12, 2009

Querido Familia,

Como esta C-ville y mi familia? Gracias for the update from the Homecoming stuff. Sounds so fun!! It is so great that Danner has parents that help him with everything. Who did Danner take? Dad I can´t believe Blaine Cox is back in church. What a missionary you are! That is so great!

Mom I got your package last week, it was amazing. Did I tell you I needed socks and nylons? Everything you sent was perfect. Just so you know I think your package came in exactly 2 weeks.

This week was really good and was a testimony that the Lord really does have a hand in this work. There was one day that we were so tired and sick of walking and knocking doors just to have people reject us and tell us they are Catholic or we are wrong. We had walked all morning and every appnmt fell through and we hadn´t entered one house. We returned to our house for lunch and we were both really frustrated and wondering what we are doing wrong. So I said a long prayer and told the Lord everything I was feeling. Then we were back out on the streets at 3.30. It was so interesting because we had so much success that afternoon and people actually started talking to us. We ended up getting 5 new investigators which is really good. And we entered the home of a family that is way crazy but so fun. Our lessons were so distinct and humorous.

The first was with 2 grandpas who were chillin in the street and started talking with me because one of them knew a little bit of English – hahaha. We had a really powerful discussion and the Spirit was so strong during the first vision. It was a testimony to my companion and I that we are doing the right thing. But both of them ended up telling us that they like our message but they are catholics and have their Bible. Some people are so hard!!

The second discussion was with a grandma who couldn´t hear anything. When we started the discussion she kept telling us to talk louder and then would scoot her chair closer. By the end we were about 4 inches from her face yelling in her ear. Haha, I think the whole block heard our message. That´s what we want right?

The third was with this family that is way outgoing and crazy. They were so curious that once we started answering one question they asked a new one and we ended up teaching a little bit of every discussion. It was pretty fun!!

Well we have our new bishop and it has been amazing. He is so organized and young and wants to do so much. It is a breath of fresh air to our ward. Our ward is taking a new turn and I hopw a lot of people reactivate. We are doing great and trying to stay focused in teh work. I am a little sick because I had a sore throat and then we were outside all night in a really bad rain storm and decided to take advantage of the puddles. So we came back to the house soaked and I caught a cold. Oops!! But all is well. We are going to play sports on the beach, and tomorrow I think I am going to chop my hair, awwwww!

Love you so much,
God bless -
Hermana KJar

2009-10-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

October 5, 2009

Dearest familia,

I feel so blessed right now at this point of my mission. There is no where else I would rather be. (even though I am sad I missed the trip with danner, how fun!) We were able to watch every single session of conference, except priesthood of course. I was so spiritual fed, it was like a feast and something I hunger for especially here in the mission. Being here far away from Salt Lake City gave me a stronger testimony that our prophets and apostles really are the seers for the whole world called of God. We had 4 investigators come to conference and each one absolutely loved it. It is good for investigators to see the organization that we have and feel of the power and spirit that is in each word. I especially loved the last session with elder holland and Elder nielson of the seventy, because they were about missionary work and I was filled. I was grateful for all the talks about Gods love because it is something that we talk about alot with people because they are always asking why there is so much bad and suffering people when there is a God that loves his children. They have a seperate room for the missionaries from the US to listen to conference in English. It was great to hear the real voices of the prophets.
This week was good, we found more success in our work and have some new investigators. My companion is great and we are having fun. I love listening to her sing in English, aka jibberish. We bought a huge watermelon the other day and are still working on it. It reminded me of summers with dad- pounding all the watermelons in the store and making a scene, and then eating it in large slices with salt. I miss little memories like that. This week I completed 5 months in the mission, I can´t believe it. It was also Hna Fierros 22nd birthday and we celebrated with brownies and a tour of Mar del plata (haha, because we took the right bus but the wrong direction). It was definetely an adventure and our bus hit another car and this older lady that was standing next to me got clotheslined by my arm when we crashed and she basically bit my arm because her mouth was open because she was screaming when my arm clotheslined her. I couldn´t stop laughing and she was kind of upset. Oops, it provided for a good day of fun.

MOm and Dad, those pictures look so fun! I loved everyone. Danner is such a lucky ducky! I am excited to hear who the new stake presidency is. Did they have a ceremony for Tank? Wow, haha, what kind of dog does grandma have. My brothers are becoming the new crocidile hunters, eh? what adventures they have while their wifes are laying on teh beach watching thier bellies grow. When does Haley and Becca find out what they are having?

Well I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon!
Hna Kjar

The True Church

2009-10-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

September 28, 2009

Dear family,

I am content in my service. This week was good, cold, trying, tiring, fun, spiritual, frustrating, new, and fulfilling. Everytime I think about what I want to write my family I am reminded at how many emotions are involved in this work. I can´t imagine the work of the Lord and how Bipolar that can be. But I am staying grounded in the gospel. No matter what happens in our live the only thing that will stay constant and firm is the gospel of Jesus Christ and our relationship with God.

This week we did a lot of searching and knocking doors. The Argentine people can definitely be tough sometimes. But we try to continue on with a smile knowing that one day we will find that person and it will be all worth it.

Hermana Fierro is great and we laugh a lot. She is a little bit more laid back than Hna Lopez and in someways that is good but it some ways that can be bad. But we work good together. Both of my companions have had one parent that is not a member. It is amazing to see their desire to have a family like mine. I have taken for granted the opportunity to have a family that is sealed in the temple. And I didn´t have to work for it, I was born into it. Mom and dad, thank you for living worthy lives and staying strong to be married in the temple. So many people would give anything to have a complete family that is all mormons. Hna Lopez told me that she learned a lot from my family. Just through your little gifts or notes, it impacted her a lot.

I am so glad to hear the baptism was great. I love watching newbies enter the church, they are like little children. I about started crying when I read what danner said in his testimony. I am so grateful for him and his friendship. The least I could do for him is help him learn a little more before he serves a mission. He is more of an example to me. I can´t wait for our Kjar bear hug in 3 years!! But time will fly and we will be mature adults!! Haha, Love you bud, write me! Continue the missionary work, I am sure there are others waiting. Pres Hinckley said every member knows someone that is ready to be baptized, even in Utah!

Dad thanks for you story about our missionary in Denmark. That story will help me in lessons or other things in the mission. People ask me about when my ancestors joined and I can´t tell them much, so thanks.

Our ward had a major change this week. We changed bishobrics and now we have a 27 year old bishop, and the two counselors are 27 and 25. So it is a huge change but they all served missions so I hope missionary work is important to them. This will shake our ward a little bit, so we are focusing on visiting a lot of members this week. I am feeling the weight of the world really strong in this work. The second coming is drawing close and the hearts of the people are hardening. The Lord is sifting out the week from his ward and branches and it is tough. At least we know we are on the Lords side.

I am glad to heare grandma smoot is home but sad to hear Tank died, is he that old?
This week we found a few investigators that we are so excited about. One is named Enrique, he is 75 and has a son that is inactive. But he doesn´t know much and we taught him his first lesson about the plan of salvation. He was on the edge of his seat teh whole time because he wanted to learn so bad. This information is so important, it is about thier salvation and eternity. His wife died a long time ago and so he was really curious. He is definitely prepared, and he asked all of the dream questions that a missionary wants. He told us he knew that our life was eternal. He also asked, but what is the purpose of life?? And he also knew that there had to be something else because there was ancient life in the Americas also – the book of Mormon. We about fainted and taught him an amazing lesson. He was so excited to learn. Pray that he will read and pray to know it is true. We also found a family just knocking doors who had mormon friends who gave them a Book of Mormon and just that seed helped us set an appointment. The dad kept saying, you Mormons are good people, you know that? We were a little flabbergasted because all of the others were slamming doors in our faces. But the work goes on and I am grateful for my time here.

Love you more!
Hna Kjar

Blessings

2009-10-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

September 21, 2009

The Church is true and the book is blue. I love this church with all my heart and I love seeing peoples lives change. This week we were able to baptize Hector. Hector is 67 and stopped smoking, drinking, and lost a lot of weight. He looks so good and now he wears a shirt and tie to church. The change in his countenance alone is amazing. The baptism on Saturday was really good and Hna Lopez and I sang a song together. The talks were really good and hector loved it. Yesterday in our Sunday school class he bore his testimony of the change he feels. Yesterday he was also confirmed and he was so ready and excited. He will be a firm member and we need all we can get here. Jessica finally got confirmed!!!! She is doing so well now because we had a lesson with her and my companion laid down the line!! She told her that riches is not what her children need. If they live in a shack eating polenta everyday but have the gospel and are a happy family, that is better than having all the riches of the world. So Jessica kicked Antonio out of the house for good and was confirmed, she also brought all of her children to church.

Yesterday was the farewell of Hna Lopez, she has been in pompeya for 4 months and has changed this ward. There was many tears with all of the members and we both gave talks in church and sang. She has done wonders in this ward and I hope I can continue her legacy with my new companion.

I got so lucky. The companion that Hna Lopez was hoping that I would get -- I got!!! Her name is Hermana Fierro and she is from Chile. She is really happy and a little harder to understand because of her accent. But she works like Hna Lopez and is obedient so I couldn´t ask for more. I need more practice with my Spanish also. It was a little hard to say goodbye to my madre- hna Lopez but she is going to open a new area with a mini missionary. Today we played ultimate frisbee on the beach with the Elders and my companion actually likes sports and running and eating healthy so it will be great!! I feel so blessed to have had the best sisters in the mission especially in the begginning because it will help me set my standard and learn to work hard.
One thing I have realized that many people come and go and things are always changing in the mission, which is really different for me because I have lived in Centerville all my life and lived in college with my best friend. But the mission is a growing experience because the only person that is always with my is the Lord. He is my companion always and this relationship that is growing between me and the Lord is going to bless me for the rest of my life no matter what happens.

How is Grandma Smoot? Danner good luck with your baptism this week, please write me and tell me all about it.

I am so freakin jeleous that you are going to Palmyra, that has been my dream for a while. Dad will you take me there after my mission? I also would like to return home and then come back to my mission together. So let me know what you think.

Love you more,
Hermana Kjar

Spring is here!

2009-10-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

September 14, 2009

Sorry my email didn´t work last week. I am doing great and loving life. Everyday is a new adventure. . . that is for sure. We meet some pretty interesting people and also some amazing people that put me in awe. The adventures of the mission are adventures that I will never experience again. And you know me. . . I love adventures and trying new things!!
I was sad to hear about Grandma Smoot but I hope everything is going ok. Whatever happens I know the Lord is in charge of that women´s life. She has been a light to many and hope that she can get well soon.

Dad thanks for the BYU football update, that is amazing! I wish the best for my cougs. At least we know we have the Lord on our side, right?? Ha ha

Well this week was really good, the weather has been amazing. I love Spring. With the Stamenz family, the 2 girls were supposed to be baptized yesterday but the mom wants them to investigate the church longer. It is so amazing to see how some children are so sensitive to the spirit and what god wants. I know now why the Lord tells us to become like children. Esperanza, age 10, told us that she has been praying to know if this is the true church. Before this she had been going to other churches to investigate and she loves to read. She had a dream God told her that this was the only true church of God. So she knows without a doubt that this is the church for her. I love teaching children the gospel because they soak everything up, and it is always more exciting.

On Saturday we have 2 baptisms with Hector and Juan Ignacio. Hector is an older man who just stopped smoking and has been attending church for over a month. He remembers everything that is said in every meeting and reads the Bof M every night. Juan is a 9 year old boy. His mom, claudia, has been a member for 30 years but also inactive for 30 years. We reinactivated her and Juan has been coming to church. He wants to be baptized.

This week was really great because we achieved our of our goals that were set really high. There is a new rule with our new President that we can´t count someone as a new investigator unless we enter into their house and teach them a lesson. That is really hard to do around here because no one can trust anyone. But this week we set our goal for 10 new investigators and we did it! The assistants to the presidents called us to congratulate us because it is really unheard of. This is probably my last week with Hna Lopez and I am praying that my next companion will like to work and is Latino. I need to improve my spanish still and I know it will be a hard change to a new companion.

Last night we had a FHE with the Bishops family and we made fruit pizza with the sugar cookie mixes that mom sent with Mattias. They thought it was the best thing ever! It was so fun and we love there family so much. Thanks mom for that!!

I am reading the Bible a lot lately and I have absolutely fallin in love with the New Testament. I am in Matthew and everytime I read I can´t get enough. The scriptures are so amazing and Christ is the ultimate example of love.
This mission is the best thing ever and I am enjoying my self so much.

Love you more!
Hermana Kjar

Mom, can you send me pictures that we took at Thanksgiving at the cabin with the fam and with Danner? Also I need the wedding date of Katie.

Mandy,
I am so glad to hear Lindsey is in Gracie´s class! Give her a huge hug for me and tell her I love her. I am sad I missed her wedding. I also was looking through a missionary book that a member family has of letters and pictures from missionaries and guess who I found?? Ryan Arrington. What a small world huh? The Savoia family in Pompeya. Lacol sent me a picture of Ben and your children, holy crap!! Your children are getting old! Ashton is huge and also the Baby is grande!! How fun, I hope your anniversary was so fun. Can you believe it has been 8 years! Wow, you two are such great examples.

Danner,
I am so happy to hear about your baptism with your missionary investigator! Good luck with that! Make sure you check up on him throughout the week because I have found when the date is set Satan starts working really hard. You need to stop by just to check up on him. That is such awesome preparation for you mission. Congrats bud! I want to hear about your officer duties and the start of your senior year. When is Homecoming? Who are you going with? I love you so much and always think about you and love to tell everyone about my best friend Danner. Love you bud, cuidese.

Katie,
I love you to bits and am always thinking about you? How is Kalia and Tyler? How is your life and Send Out cards?

Mucho amor de su Hermana Kjar

2009-09-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

August 31, 2009

Como anda familia? Mom, thanks for your email. Yes I do read my patriarchal blessings often because I am hoping that those blessings will someday appear. Haha, I guess I need to seek them. I got your package today from Matias and he said that I have the most beautiful family... and I agree!!

THank you so much for everything, we are going to make cookies and fruit pizza with the cookie mixes. My companion almost died when I gave her the shirt. SHe told me she is going to kiss my mom and thousand times if she ever meets you, I told her I would do the same if I could see my mom and dad and family.

THe weather has been amazing this week. I want it to stay like this and not get any hotter. It is spring and all the trees are blooming. THis morning was amazing, we were able to walk to the beach, which is only 5 blocks from our house and run along the beach. Well, I did while my companion watched..hehe. It is sofunny we are such opposites in so many ways, but it all works out. She doesn't like sports, is majoring in chemistry, is dramatic, and has a short temper.It just makes me laugh sometimes. Anyways, I ran along the beach in perfect weather and watched the sun rise.

This week we found some really good investigators that are moving along. One lady is named Sylvia and her boyfriend is a member. She told us she is a strong catholic and she was confused with the feeling she felt in our church and in our discussions. She described it as an urge to start crying, but we all know what she is feeling. She is really sweet. WE are also teaching a cute old man, ps, the old men here are even cuter than in the US and there are more of them!! He will probably be baptized on the 13th. Also we found a family!!!! THe mom and her 4 children are really interested but it won't be an easy road. I love teaching families though. It is so powerful when they can read and pray together. Jessica has yet to be confirmed but she said Atonio has been better this week. We have had interesting things happening in our ward. Many people are being offended, and sometimes it is really frustrating especially when we bring investigators. But we have already seen a change since we came to the ward. WE have lunch planned with members this whole week, and that is unheard of for Pompeya!!

Last night we had an interesting experience. We went to go visit an older member who is alone and was feeling sick. She didn't look to good and we felt we needed to take her to get checked. SHe didn't want to but we took her anyway. After 3 hours of testing and waiting we found out she has a bad case of pnemonia and has to stay in the hospital for a while. People can only visit her if they are wearing masks and she is on oxygen 24-7. So today we were also running around doing all the paper work for her medical stuff and we are exhausted. But really she has nobody!!!! I don't know what she did before she was a member. It is amazing the support this church provides. Her name is Amelia and she loves her dogs. Everyone has dogs here and love them more than there kids sometimes. THe first thing she said when they told her she was sick and had to stay in the hospital was: Mis perros!! she was so worried about her dogs, wow!!

The work is moving along and everyday I am more grateful for your support and the way I have been raised.

Love you lots, cuidense
Hermana Kjar

WOWWWWWWW!!!!

2009-09-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

August 24, 2009

Familia, gracias for all of your support. I got letters from a lot of you and feel very blessed to hear that you are all doing well. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed your time with Mattias. He is awesome and I am surprised he said that my Spanish is good because their family saw my lack of knowledge from the very begginning. haha.

WEll this week I have realized that the mission is a roller coaster of emotions, seriously!! My companion was sick this week, so for 2 days we were in the house. I decided to make a really big Book of Mormon to use to contact people in the plaza. So I did and it turned out really well. On Thursday we had all of our District in our area working. WE had one elder wear the book of mormon and the rest of us gave out Bofm in the plaza. It was really fun and different, me and my companion are trying to find different ways of contacting people because knocking doors isn´t working very well and the members are really struggling right now. Then on Saturday we finally got a hold of Jessica and had a lesson with her. We cried together because she has suffered so much and Atonio is very abusive. We kind of suspected when we called us really mad last sunday that something was going on and Jessica wasn´t safe. BUt there is not much we can do. SHe is trying to find a house to move out but she is scared and I don´t know if she has the guts to make the move. She told us is wasn´t important that she was being beaten because she has been her whole life. She feels like it is her fault. BUt we tried to get into her head that she is daughter of God and deserves more. Also, that after much tribulation comes the blessings. SHe has so much faith and has no family or parents to protect her. She told us that she wants so badly to have a mother to tell her she loves her and to hug her. It just breaks my heart and I realize that my life is so easy. But she told us that she was going to show up for sacrament and be confirmed, but that didn´t happen and we don´t know what´s up. So please continue praying for her.

Right after out appointment with her Fabiana and Omar called us to tell us that they werent´coming to church and they didn´t want to continue learning more. We were shocked because they are so close to quiting smoking and had so much faith the day before. BUt Omar said he prayed again and felt a bad feeling. We told them it was ok,, that everyone has their own time. THey haven´t closed the door though. They still want us to visit and they are still praying.

Pompeya is doing fine, we have really been working hard with our relationship with the members. My companion is great and is teaching me a lot. I love it here and have made some incredible friends.

WE have been running in the mornings and working on our exercises, my body is starting to get tired, I need to exercise. BUt I am fine and healthy.

Did you get my package from Ali and Lincoln? THank you for your package you sent with Mattias, I can´t wait. Who do I have for Christmas? And Mom and Dad what year were you married?

Muchos besos y abrazos, Te amo muchissimo!!

Love,
Hermana Kjar

Spring is Here!

2009-08-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

¿Como andan familia? This week has been good and the weather is perfect. I love the spring weather and I don´t want it to get any hotter. jaja, I am going to die this summer!!

As far as my investigators go, Fabiana and Omar, the hippie couple are doing well and we started goals with them to stop smoking. They love it when we come over and always have something for us to eat. ONe thing about Argentine families, every time you enter their house they ask you if you want something to drink and usual pull out cookies or crackers or something to eat. This week we were at a lady´s house and she really has nothing. She gave money to here daughter to go buy us some cookies so we could have something to eat, I know that they don´t have money and it is hard to accept there service sometimes. After talking to this lady for about an hour about our church, she told us she new sister missionaries once, and then she pulled out a picture of her BAPTISM!! We were shocked that she was baptized, but she never went back to the church after. We had a good laugh over that one. Also, one other funny story, that I am sure I will be known throughout the mission for. We were tracting with another Hermana from Argentina, so there were three of us. We knocked a door and a large man answered the door. We explained who we are and then in he said in a stern voice, "Son Yankees?" which is a rude way of saying are you North Americans? My first reaction was to shake my head no, because I was scared. Haha, then my companion said, well I´m not and she isn´t, pointing to the other Hermana, but she is, and pointed to me! During this time I was in the process of shaking my head no, haha, I was caught!! I don´t know what I was thinking. THe man then said, well then girls, no thank you. Then he slammed the door. We practically peed our skirts right outside his door because we couldn´t believe what had just happened.

Things with Jessica have been really hard this week. Things in her life this week have been falling apart but we had a good lesson with her on Saturday to get her ready for her Confirmation on Sunday. When we went to go pick her up her X answered the door and told us she will not be coming today. We called her phone later to see if she was ok, he answered and chewed us out. Telling us that we are ruining his life and that we don´t need to call ever again. So we are praying really hard in what we need to do with this situation. I just hope that Jessica and her children are ok.

This morning the Etchebest family called me to tell me that Mattias had a really good visit with my family last night. I am glad to hear it. Isn´t he awesome? I just love their family. Yesterday after lunch at there house the Bishop pulled out his guitar and we sung hymns and Folklore tunes of Latin America. He is amazing and has been in many bands. He always wants me to sing for him. But i love it. THey are like family to me. Yesterday I felt like I was at home.

One word of news, they have stopped all Pouch mail to all missions. So you will not be able to send mail through Salt Lake to me. Please use the address that you use for my packages with a 98 cent stamp. THanks!

Mom and Dad, Happy anniversary this week! I am so grateful especially right now for the covenants you made it the temple many years ago. I love bearing testimony everyday that I know my family will be together again.

Hope your day is the best! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO, I love you more!
Hermana Kjar

Opposition In All Things

2009-08-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

¿Como andan familia y amigos? This week has been good but I can tell you that Satan really does not want these Saints to be baptized. Everything with Jessica has gone wrong. She wasn´t smoking until the day before her baptism and so we had to move her baptism to next Saturday. She needed to come to church in order to get baptized, but Atonio, her X, wouldn´t allow it! All of her family is now against her, exept her children. WE have been trying to express that this is all Satan. We have been talking a lot about Jose Smith and his challenges and we also watched Legacy. She loves hearing the history of the church. She really does want to be baptized but Satan is working so hard against her. Everytime we have a baptism or someone who has a date, everything in their live is turned upside down. But hopefully in the next couple of weeks she will be baptized for real.

Good news, we have found a couple that is progressing rapidly. There names are Omar and Fabiana. They are kind of hippies that make stuff out of rabbit fur and sell it. They are so funny and they love having us over. But they need to get married and stop smoking. I hope everything works out for them. THey came to church yesterday and everyone was really accepting of them. We are working on building relationships with the ward right now. That is a problem in our ward, we aren´t united and no one really wants to help us or feed us. We taught a lesson on Sunday about Missionary work and told them that they are our only family that we have and they need to help us out. We had more people come make appointments with us. Hopefully it will work out. This Sunday is transfers and I think me and my companion will remain together, but who knows. Family, I am excited to here the good news of everybody. So do I understand correctly, Luke and Becca are expecting also????????? If so, Congratu -freakin-lations!!!! (that one was for you Lukie) That is so exciting. Well I am glad my service as a missionary has helped my brothers out in their endevors for a family. When me and Danner are both out, we will be popping em out of everywhere! Maybe Mom??? haha, jk, that is really way incredible though. I have been thinking about Katie a lot, and I am glad to here that they are doing better. Mom and Dad, congrats on your bike riding, I could tell you have lost some weight in the pics that Kevin sent me. That will help you out immensely!! The reunion looked so fun, looks like you have everyone there!! What a blessing.

Mom the son of my bishop is in Utah and is going to visit the Edgeley´s sometime in the next week, his name is Mattias and I see him a lot. I think he is planning on stopping by to visit my family. So keep an eye out. If you can send with him, a packet of mix for chocolate chip cookies, syrup, and a shirt that says BYU on it, my companion wants one. Look in the black bag in my closet for one, also look for my black jacket in there, it has red interior. THank you so much for everything, I am so grateful for your support, I can´t wait for my package. I still haven´t gotten your first package. Did you send one? Oh and could you tell me who I have for Christmas? I have ideas and I want to start now. Also mom, I need you to check on my bank account. I think I need money. I lost my mission card, so I have had to use some of my own money for now.The Lord is becoming my best friend and I love helping others find Christ and the Lord. My favorite thing is bearing my testimony everyday and it doesn´t matter that most of the people don´t want to talk to us.

Love you so much!!!

Love,
Hermana Kjar

Mi Primero Bautismo

2009-07-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

Que tal Familia? I am so happy to hear that everything went well and no one got hurt at the reunion. I was praying really hard and hoping Greg O. wouldn´t break anything on the water weenie again. I was right there with you on the day that Grandpa died. I really feel his help here in the mission. I am his only missionary right now and I know he is proud of me and watching over me. I am so glad to hear that Alli and Lincoln are visiting. Can you give me the exact dates? Mom as far as a package goes- me and my companion would like CTR rings in English, both size 10. Send some pictures of the church, probably half page size. They don´t have pictures here. Maybe CHrist pictures or Prophet. Also send some candy like- Starbursts and Small Reeses cups. My comp would love anything from the US. ANything that you find that I could gift to the members too. A couple boxes of Mac and cheese. ONe more XD Fujifilm memory card for my camera. Thank you so much for everything. I haven´t gotten any of your letters yet hopefully today. I know today I will recieve your package. I am so excited to get see Lincoln and Alli, I will get permission from the Pres this week for them to visit me. Preferably between the hours of 1230 and 330. Ok well about my week. It has been really rewarding and good. The weather was absolutely horrible this week. Probably the worst in a long time. Many places got snow and that is really different. We had agua nieve, which is kind of rain mixed with snow. My companion wants it to snow so bad, this is her first Winter ever. WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM! Janina, the girlfriend of the bishops Son got baptized really fast because they want to get married soon. So we taught her almost everyday and she was baptized on Sunday. It was actually really funny and many things went wrong. The baptismal font overfloaded into the women´s bathroom during Sacrament meeting and Janina almost didn´t get baptized because she has a phobia of water and the water was pretty cold. the bishops wife basically pushed her into the font while she was saying, I don´t want to. I was on the verge of laughter but it was a really sensitive moment. She was really grateful afterward and she thanked us after. My companion and I sang her a song, Tu eres una hija de dios. It turned out well. I will send a package home with Lincoln and Alli with more Argentine treats and pictures. And we also have 2 other fechas or dates for baptism. WE had another miracle happen with Jessica. THe Lord is just guiding her by the hand to baptism. She has waited so long to find the truth and be happy. She felt really bad for her man, ANtonio because he was going to be all alone and she didn´t know how to tell him he wanted to move out. She was praying so hard for the Lord to help her because she couldn´t do it on her own. This week Antonio told her that he needed to move out because he could tell it would be better for her and for the kids. So he is still going to keep paying for the house but also find a different house for him. How incredible is that! So on Tuesday he will move out and she will rearrange the house for her and her kids. Antonio and Jessica have been sleeping in different rooms ever since she learned about the Law of Chastity. She wants so badly to change. So we set her baptismal date for August 8, but this week she called us and told us she doesn´t want to wait any longer so hopefully this Sunday she will be baptized. Our other baptism is a man studying Law, we have a date for him on August 8. After seeing people enter the waters of baptism it makes all of our sacrifices worth it. I really do love this work and am so glad to see our work pay off. The Lord has really blessed us.

Te amo mucho!

Love,
Hermana Kjar

Weeks fly by and Days seem so long . . .

2009-07-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Familia,

First of All, HOLY FREAKIN PORQERIA! I almost starting screaming when I got Adam´s email about his new little Brooks or Ava. How incredible and stupendous! I am so happy for both of you! I can´t wait to see this beautiful baby! Felicitaciones!

This week has gone by so fast! Wow I feel like I just wrote you. But I do have some good news. We had church meetings this week, but we couldn´t shake hands or even give besos. Do you know how hard that is for Argentine people? A lot of them just went in for the kiss anyways. They don´t care. JAJAJAJAJ, JIJIJIJIJI: that is one of my favorite things in Spanish. When they write Ha ha and he he they use different letters, like jaja and jiji. When I saw that in my comps email I started laughing so hard. But we all laugh and smile in the same language. ONe thing about Argentine humor, I don´t know the language well enough to get their jokes. So it is kind of humorous trying to guess when I am supposed to laugh or frown. Usually I just do everything that my comp does. OH I love life!

This week we have had a little bit more success with the investigators. I think we knocked about 1,568 doors and walked about 79 miles. But those are just approximations. Our investigator Jessica opened up to us one night and gave us her life story. I only understood like half of it, my companion explained it to me. Jessica has had a rough life. From the age of 14 she has been forced to be a prostitute because she is really pretty and her mom and dad made her when she was younger because she needed money for her family. She has three children and she doesn´t even know who the fathers are. Her lover that she has been living with for 13 years is a jerk and hooked on porn. 4 years ago he made her go back to being a prostitute because they needed money for their kids. She just cried and cried because she knows this is true and she wants so bad to feel clean. She wants so bad to seperate from him but she is afraid she will have no one because her family isn´t around and she has no good friends. SHe calls us her angels. I love her so much. She smokes 3 cigarettes a day and so on Tuesday we made her a goal schedule and a pack of ´cigarillos de fe´ or Faith cigarettes. Yesterday was her first day of smoking 0 cigarettes. We call her every night at 9:30 to see how her smoking went. SHe also loves to talk to me because she is trying so hard to learn English. She keeps saying, ´Vamos a Utah´she wants so bad to come to Utah with me. On Tuesday the Bishop also gave her a blessing of strength and comfort so she will be able to make decisions to seperate. A couple of days later she found out she can graduate in August instead of December, so she can start working as a nurse in August. She knew this was a blessing from god so that she could seperate from him. She has so much faith and is so faithful in reading and praying everynight. I am praying that her husband will not be abusive when she tells him she wants to seperate. I hope that we will be able to baptize her the end of August.

I sang a solo and bore my testimony in Church on Sunday. It was good. NO one sings or plays the piano here, so they are so grateful for anything. I was funny to see there reaction because I just sang I stand all Amazed and the accompianist wasn´t even that good, but they thought it was amazing. It really brought the Spirit though, It was really fun!

THe language is coming, I understand probably about 60 percent now and I can talk more with the people. THe Lord is blessing me for my efforts. This area is a little harder than others because the people are a little harder, but we are searching everywhere.

We have 2 baptismal dates with a girlfriend and boyfriend of members. So we are working on getting them prepared. Adam thanks for what you said about loving the people. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. Becuase I really do feel a strong love for them but I can´t communicate with them the way that I want. But I need to work on that. THere are other ways I can show my love. It is true, the members are the key.

Good luck with the reunion! I think it is awesome that you will all be together the day grandpa died. Give everyone my love, I will be praying for you.

I love you so much! Besos y besos!

Love,
Hermana Kjar

Cuidese

2009-07-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Mar de Plata beach

Sharla and fellow sister missionaries

Sharla, Hermana Lopez (her trainer from Columbia) and two other sister missionaries on P-day

Asada aka Argentine BBQ

July 13, 2009

Hola Peeps,

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for your emails. I really enjoyed them. Mom I really did burst into tears when you said you wish you could reach through this email and rock me. I know that sounds weird, but I really need that right now. My mission President is the one in the picture with the map. The other one is my old mission pres. My pdays are on Monday. Sorry for the confusion, don´t worry about it. Mom I hope you birthday was great. We celebrated with cake and icecream. I will send you a pic of our celebration. I love you so much. That is incredible what happened with Dave and Mandy, what an incredible blessing. It all pays off in the end. Mom and Dad I am glad to hear of your new callings and the work you are doing at home. You are incredible saints in the church. You don´t find people like you in the church here in Argentina.

Here are some things I have learned in the past week and a half.

1. Argentina doesn´t celebrate the 4th of July, haha. But we had a BBQ with the Elders to celebrate.

2. My new pet peeves are cold toilet seats and Elders who get trunky and don´t do anything for the last 2 months of their mission.

3. People aren´t afraid to stare. I get a lot of stares and I really don´t think that I look that different but my companion assured me I do. I hope that is a good thing. I have had many people ask me if I am from Holland. I guess the Princess of Argentina married the Prince of Holland, and I look a lot like her. Or something like that.

4. Blood sausage is not that bad. I tried it thinking it was normal sausage and it wasn´t bad. But I couldn´t eat anymore after they told me what it really was. I am starting to experience true Argentine food. An asado here puts any American BBQ to shame.

5. The mission is way hard. This week has been the hardest week of my life, but I really have loved it and had some really incredible Spiritual experiences.

6. My favorite lesson to teach is the Plan of Salvation. Especially to those who have never heard of anything like it. Everytime I teach it I feel so excited for judgement and resurrection. I cannot wait to see my Savior again. I know that this is the path I am supposed to be on. I also love bearing testimony that my family will be eternal. That is a huge blessing to me, especially being away from them right now.

7. Complete families are way hard to find here. Everyone lives with there boyfriend or they are single women with children. The law of chastity is probalby the hardest thing for the people here.

8. In Pompeya, there are more dogs than people. Oh, I am growing a dislike for dogs now. It is so crazy, I don´t think I have been in a house without a dog. They are also laying all over the streets.

9. Argentines have really pretty green teeth, if they even have any. It makes it even harder when people don´t have teeth because then I really can´t understand them. It is really funny sometimes.

10. A scarf is a necessary thing to have in Argentina. It is so cold here right now, but Rexburg was a good prep for me. I am doing fine with the coldness. Well, I love you all and love to hear the good news from home. Our investigators have been struggling this week. We have two that really want to get baptized but they can´t becarse they can´t move out with their boyfriend. That get´s really frustrating. We really are working our tails off and hopefully this week we will see more success. Anybody have any creative ideas for contacting people or getting investigators? Please pray for my Spanish, I am really trying hard. I find I am a little more shy in Spanish, haha, I wonder why. Here are some scriptures that have really brought me comfort this week D & C 84:88, 6:35 The Lord is shaping me into what he wants me to be and bringing me to my lowest point so I will really turn my will over to his. It is not easy but like the quote says “I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.”

Cuidese, Te amo. Besos, besos.

Hermana Kjar

2009-07-06T11:59:00.000-07:00

(Sharla and her Mission President)

Well, I just tried to send a long letter but it closed out all of the sudden. ARGGGG!! So I just want to let you know I am ok. I really do love being here, I will share more next week with more pictures. On friday, after our first real day of work I was really frusturated and alone. I didn´t say anything the whole day and I couldn´t understand anything they were saying. I felt so alone and was exhausted and couldn´t talk to anyone because I can´t express myself in Spanish. So I hopped in bed and offered a long prayer. I know the Lord is trying to humble me becuase I can still feel in my heart that I am focused on myself. I love my ward and our investigators are doing well. My companion is a great teacher and example. The gripe A is really big here. They just cancelled all of our church meetings for the next month!! So it is interesting to do missionary work with no meetings.

I found out you can write dear elders to me here. You can also email me. . . hint hint. Thank you so much for you support and love, I can really feel you prayers. Just know that I love you and I really do know the church is true.

Estoy Aca!!!

2009-07-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hermana Kjar in front of the Buenos Aires Temple

Sharla with her trainer (from Columbia) Hermana Lopez who doesn't speak a lick of English . . .

GO SHARLA!!!

July 3, 2009

familia,

Wow I don´t even know where to start. First of all, I feel so freakin blessed right now. I got put into the best area with the hardest working companion in the whole mission. Her name is Hermana Lopez, and guess what. . . she doesn´t speak English. Let´s just say my dictionary is my best friend. But I can see that is a huge blessing for me. We do a lot of hand actions and she has to find different ways of explaining things. But I can understand her Spanish really well. She is from Columbia and already has 24 baptisms with only 11 months in the field. Do you know how rare that is? she is number 3 on the baptism list out of all the missionaries in our mission. I guess our area is on fire, I think we have a baptism on sunday with Paula, please pray for her that she won´t smoke before then. THe "Gripe A" or swine flu thing is really big here now, so we might not even have sacrament meeting on Sunday.

I am about 7 hours from the mission home in Bahia Blanca in an area called Pompeya, right on the coast. The general area is Mar del Plata. It is so beautiful and this is probably the wealthiest area in the mission. I absolutely love the people and culture here. Yes everyone stares at me, even when I stare back. BUt it´s all good. I love being a Yankee! That´s what they call us here. The food is simply amazing. I have had some awesome empanadas, alfajores, and candy. Our apartment is pretty ghetto "VILLA", and really cold at night. But it is fun. We just got into our area last night at 12.30. After traveling for 2 days we arrived in Buenos Aires and were taken to the temple, where we ate and went through a session. It was way small. but it is so beautiful. I did give a spanish book of mormon away on the plane to a couple that was sitting next to us. We were talking, in spanish, about Jesus and how we need him in our life. He is a Evangelical Pastor though, so I think he was just interested. But they really do believe and know Christ. I understood about 50% of what they were saying but I got by ok. After we went to the temple we ate some amazingpasta and took a small airplane to Bahia blanca. It was just me and 5 other elders. 4 from my district, and one othere native. When we arrived the old mission pres and the office elders were there waiting, they were so welcoming. We went to the mission office and had dinner together and got to know each other. A lot of them knew Elder Lawrence. Then after dinner they took me to stay with some Americana sisters that lived in the area. THey were really nice and we had fun. THe next morning I was taken back to the office to do some paper work and then about 11 the sisters picked me up and we went to lunch with a member family. It was so fun, but I couln´t understand anything this woman was saying. After Siesta, a 2-3 hour break in the apartment for studying, we went and knocked doors for about 5 hours. I tell you what we were in the ghetto of the ghettos, where the dirt roads are with the shacks. We usually have to stand outside there fence and clap until they open there window and tell us they are not interested. We did talk to about 5 people though, outside there door, and we gave them a pamphlet and challenged them to pray. MOst of them had Book of Mormon´s I was kind of surprised. THey call getting new investigators aggrigating here. It is kind of funny. But I love missionary work, and sometimes when I think of how much longer I have, and that I don´t know spanish very well I get overwhelmed. but I am just taking in one day at a time.

Here are some pictures of my companion and my Mission president. I really do love my President so much and am excited to get to know him better.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPPORT! I love you all so so much.

Hermana Kjar

Ultimo dia de preparacion en el CCM!

2009-06-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hola Familia! This week has been really rough and really good at the same time. There were a couple days where our Spirits were kind of down and we had no motivation. But Yesterday was incredible! These last couple of mornings we have sung for the mission presidents seminar. While we stand outside waiting to go sing, we see all the apostles walk into the meeting. I have seen Uchtdorf, Eyring, Scott, Perry, Anderson, Holland, and I also was able to say hi to Elder Robbins for a second. They absolutely love our singing! I am going to have to say I thing we sound pretty good myself. Our choir director said it is the best he has had in a long time. A lot of the mission Presidents have tears in their eyes after we sing. It is very powerful to have a group of full time missionaries singing praises to our Lord who we are giving our lives to. Mom, I am sending a tape with some good times and recordings of our choir. I hope you enjoy. Pictures will be coming soon with a small package I will send home probably MOnday morning. DId you get my package from Elder Robbins. I hope he picked it up at the front desk. I got your package. Thank you so much! I loved the pencil and warm leggings. The cookies were simply amazing and they will help me clear out my intestines, that is how healthy they are! Hopefully I will be able to call you around 1:30 on Monday at the airport. If I don't though, I'm sure I will find a time later in my travels. Just giving you a heads up! My flight takes off at 2:30.

A couple things that happened this week. Hma Morley and I got new mattresses in our rooms. But we also have 4 vacant beds in our room and we were instructed to take they down 2 flights of stairs. We aren't no dummies, so we took advantage of the opportunity. Tile stairs and old mattresses = some darn good fun! We rode the four mattresses down the 2 flights of stairs. It was so fun and we did it one at a time so it lasted. Don't worry we got pictures and videos. MOm and Dad, don't worry this was during our 30 minutes of free time before bed.

I was reading in Alma, my new favorite book, and these verses that I found really summarize why I am on a mission. Alma 29:6-10. Please read them they are amazing. It is sad to think that I will be parting from my companion soon. Luckily we are flying all the way to Buenos Aires together. Last night we did our last lesson in Spanish at the TE. We taught a new convert that really didn't understand the Atonement. When he said that we got excited because we love teaching the Atonement. At the end he was really impressed and me and Hma Morley walked out now knowing what we just said because we felt so guided by the Spirit. He asked us after we were done, did you bring your investigator closer to Christ? We said, yes I think so. He slapped the table and said, "you better say yes!" That feeling is none like any other. And we didn't even teach a real investigator! We really made him want to change and use the Atonement in his life. I also did my first call in the RC in Spanish. This Mexican woman who was a new member answered and it was kind of scary because she was talking so fast I couldn't understand some stuff. But I was able to share a scripture and bear my testimony.

Yo se que el Evangelio es Verdadero! La Expiacion es la unica manera a regresar a Dios con nuestros familias! I love you so much, please pray for me as I make this journey to ARgentina! YOu are always in my prayers. Te amo mucho mucho mucho!

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Hermana Kjar

Le Semana Mejor

2009-06-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

June 12, 2009

Well fam,

I have alot to tell you. And first of all I just want to say a couple of words. I got dad's letter about Girls Camp, I am so sorry it was so hard. Mom and Dad, you are so patient and faithful. I am sure that was really frusturating. I was praying for you, I hope it all turns out. Dad's right, there will be something good that comes out of it. Dad did you get my email about the books last week? Mom I got your LARGE package. You are so awesome, aka Bomb.com!!! Thank you so much. I hope you didn't think I didn't like the last clothes you sent. I really did love them. I will send back the ones that don't work with the Robbins, do you know what day they are coming? Is Mary coming? Thank you so much for taking all that time for me, I love new things. I loved the stationary also. I also got my brown shoes and slips. I really like my shoes, they are just great and really comfortable. The slips will work great also. I am trying to get a tape together with some recordings of us singing and some Spanish. Did you get the list of things that I need that was included in Danner's letter? Did you look in my car for my black jacket? Look in my drawer for the pen that mary sent me. Was Katie ever able to send out thank you letters for me? Also, an Elder in my district really wants Kimball Kjar's address, he was his coach. And I need my Argentina addresses sent to me ASAP. Thank you. How is Katie, Luke, and Adam doing? I haven't heard from them in a while?

Mandy, please repost my Argentina addresses again. I think that was one of the first posts right before my mission. OH and I got the pictures of your perfect Bennett. I almost cried, really. He is the most adorable thing I have ever seen. I love the picture with the girls holding him and also with Ashton. How is Ashton dealing with it? I'll bet the girls love it. I will be sending something for Emma's birthday before I leave.

Jarrett sent me a straight up ball in the mail. Like the bouncy ones in the big cages at walmart. It wasn't in a box or anything just the ball with my address and a letter written all over it. I laughed so hard! Isn't that so clever? He is so creative.

Now on to the news of the week. Alot has happened this week. On Monday my companions Grandpa died, so that was a little hard. But he was 95 so it wasn't a huge shock. I also found out from mom that Jamon Davies died, I hope Taylor and Jordan are ok. Taylor left the MTC a couple of weeks ago. He is one of the happies people I know, just like his mom. THat was sad to hear though. On Tuesday I was chosen to be in a small MTC choir of 36 people to sing at the Mission Presidents conferences. I feel so lucky to have this opportunity. We practice everyday for an hour and then starting Thursday we will be performing in meetings every morning. These meetings will have many of the 12 apostles in them and on Sunday we will be singing in a Sacrament meeting with President Monson. I can't believe I get to do this right before I leave. I am also expecting some really good firesides this week too, since we will have a lot of the big wigs around here. Our choir sounds so good and I love the director. Hopefully I will meet my new mission President soon. Also on Thursday we got our flight plans. We fly through Dallas Forthworth then on to Buenos Aires. I think we are taking a bus to Bahia Blanca from there. Luckily my companion along with 5 other elders will be with me until Buenos Aires and then 4 Elders go with me to my mission. I love my Elders so much and I am so excited to see them grow this next 16 months.

On Tuesday I signed a Declaracion de Independencia from the English language. So my companion and I have been speaking Spanish pretty much 24-7. It is really funny sometimes because we can understand each other but we don't really know if it is actually correct Spanish. I am getting really excited to leave.

This morning I did initiatories again and I was so touched. The ladies that were there were so tender. They were all so emotional and sincere as they were performing the ordinances and it made it so good. They told me over and over that they were so grateful I came in. I felt so good this morning. I really need those blessings of good health while serving the Lord. I was teaching the Palabra de Sabaduria (W of W) this week and it all came full circle in my head. I know why I keep the word of wisdom, it is because my body needs to be healthy so I can serve the Lord for all of my life. Mom and Dad, I really want you to serve a mission. How is your health? I know it might be better to stay home and serve a missiona in the ward, but pray about it. In the firesides they talk to the older missionaries a lot. One thing they said was that as Saints we should expect to serve many missions. It is something that is required of us especially living in this time. I have met some missionaries here on their 7th mission! How awesome!

I love missionary work and am excited to get in the field but I know I will struggle with the language. Prayer for a good trainer! I love this gospel and am trying hard to keep focused. 2 people in my district leave on Thursday so we will be saying goodbye to some of them this week. It will be a sad day! Elder Beardall got surgery on his knee and has to stay 6 more weeks here at the MTC. Poor guy! Elder Brown is out of Quarantine and is doing fine. I prayer I will stay healthy. Thank you for your support! I love you so much! Y se que Dios quiere que nosotros regresemos con El con nuestros familia! Nuestra Familia puede ser Eterna!

Hermana Kjar

I Love You More

2009-06-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

June 12, 2009

Familia,

This week has been really good. I have grown a lot in my Spanish and spiritually. The best part of the whole week was devotional. Right before it started I said, wouldn't it be cool if it was Elder Bednar, I love him. Then two minutes later Elder Bednar walks in with his wife. I about peed my pants. I absolutely ate up every word he uttered. It was incredible. So he talked about the question he is always asked everywhere he goes. How do I know if I am being prompted by the Spirit or just me? He gave us the short answer then shared 3 incredible stories illustrated this in his own life. This was his answer: "Quit worrying about it! Be a good boy, be a good girl, keep you covenants, keep the commandments and walk steadfast with faith and he will guide your footsteps. Don't worry about if it is the Holy Ghost or not, every good thing cometh from God and he trusts us." He explained that there are few answers to prayers that come in a large way. The HOly ghost is quiet and subtle. It was incredible. I also love the part when apostles bear their testimonies. He said Iam a WITNESS of Jesus Christ and I know and WITNESS that he guides and directs this church. My testimony was so strengthened that night. I have a new appreciation for prophets and apostles. They speak with such power and authority.

Well this week two of my roommates left, and it was good to see how excited they are! It makes me excited, I think we will get our flight plans tomorrow. . . maybe! I can't believe I am this far. We also got 4 new sisters in our Zone. They are all so adorable. Sister Morley and I are the only other sisters so she is the RS coordinating sister and I am the music coordinator for our Zone. We had fun welcoming the sisters and getting to know them. I am trying out with another girl to sing a duet in a devotional or something so pray for me, I will do it on Thursday. I am also singing a solo in my ward on Sunday. This week we have had so much fun. We know each other so well we just love to laugh together. Our District is interesting, there are some Elders that are dragging us down a little bit. I think Pres Shelley thinks we are the trouble district sometimes. But I love them all and have learned a lot. Pray for us!

Mom thank you so much for the package. I really loved some of the things, I am glad to hear I will see Jan Robbins, that is so exciting! Where do I pick up my shoes? Hermana Morley would love that wood puzzle. So I need some pictures of Bennett! Hope your Father's day is great! I love you all.

Hermana Kjar

Piggie Flu Alert!

2009-06-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

June 5, 2009

Well Familia,

The piggie flu is live and well at the MTC! Ha ha, it is kind of ridiculous what has been going on lately. It has been an interesting week. We had missionaries who were quarantined in there bedroom for days just because they had a fever. The district in our zone was supposed to leave next week and they told them they wouldn't leave for another week, but yesterday they informed them they are leaving next week actually. So I guess things are getting better. But I know missionaries who will be here for 11 weeks to learn Spanish because of the flu scare. You see people walking around with medical masks on, it is really funny. My district got them just to be cool and weird. They parents of the new missionaries this week had to drop them off at the curb, but I think that will remain a permanent thing. We will see. I didn't see anyone I knew at the temple today. . whew!! I am glad Brett called you mom. We taught our first lessons in Spanish this week. We have taught the first lesson 4 times now. It is so hard and frustrating sometimes. But I really love it and it makes me teach more simply. THere are definitely some long pauses sometimes. it is so funny, i automatically count and pray in spanish now. it is hard for me to do some things in english. anyway, mom i am so excited to get my package thank you so much. i really need a couple more skirts, one beige color, and anothere fun one. have you ordered those shoes yet?

it is so fun to hear about the new baby, i love that he has a lot of hair. i am glad to hear everything went well. so what is his name? i hope i get some pictures soon. congrats dave and mandy. can you believe you have 4 children already? you only have 9 years to pop out 6 more, you can do it.

i have sung in the devotional choir for the last 2 weeks, and i love it. especially because there are only like 30 girls and ton of guys. me and another girl i know are working on a musical number to try out to sing for large group meetings. i am so glad my companion plays the piano. when wednesday comes we will be the only sisters in our zone because the others are leaving. but we get new missionaries on wednesday so i hope we get more sisters so the weight won't be completely on us to be the guiding mothers for our whole zone.

dad, mom and danner, thank you so much for your letters. i absolutely loved them. thanksk for the addresses. i got letters from dan's mom and also denise with the addresses also. i think i just need elise's. danner i will be writing you today. i can't believe i only have three more sundays here. i absolutely love it here. i can tell i have gained a little weight, but all is well. mom i am taking my vitamins and flossing. i love you. did you ever find my black fleece jacket? did you look in my car? i love my district so much and we are so dang close. sorry this looks illiterate, my keyboard is having problems. sorry my letters are so boring. but just know i am doing well and that the lord is leading me along and humbling me.i really appreciate all of your support, i really feel loved.

con amor,
hermana kjar

MTC Hump Day

2009-05-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Querido Familia,

Te amo mucho! Today is officially my Hump day, I have been out for 1 month and only have one more month left! This week has been another busy one. We got rid of a district from our zone that we were really close to. They were so fun and hilarious. One of them, Elder Maxwell, has this one hair that grows randomly out of his forehead. He decided to grow it out in the MTC. They plucked this 4 in long hair the last day they were here, oh how funny! They presented this hair to me so I could make a bookmark with it. It will send pictures when the bookmark project is executed:) We recieved 8 new Elders this week in our Zone that are going to Mexico. All of them are pretty shy but we will get them to come out.

My district is actually doing really well. It is hard sometimes to see the growth when you are with them all day. But I look back and see how far we have come, it is a miracle. Elder Gerardi left last Friday, it has been a good thing for our district though. It was the right thing for him to do. So we have a threesome of elders now, only 9 in our district. I am so close to them. They are all so adorable to me and I love their little 19 year old quirks. Last night we were playing some music in our classroom and interpretive dancing. Oh I laughed so hard, Hermana Morley had some amazing modern moves while rolling around on the ground. I feel like I can totally be myself. I am going to miss the four that don't go to my mission.

We had a meeting with the Consol from Argentina yesterday. He has to meet us all before he signs our visas, so he flew in to have this meeting with us. I absolutely loved his accent and he answered a lot of questions we had about Argentina. One of the things that I liked he said was "There is a law, but it is very blurry. In America stopping at a stop light is mandatory. In Argentina it is just a suggestion." Ha ha, I am excited also for buses that don't stop, I can't wait to chase after this buses and hop in, all while being in a skirt! He also described how people are going to be very curious of why we Americans are in Argentina learning their language. That is what we want right? It made me really excited to fly away to Argentina.So this week Hermana Morley and I have been 2 days so far where we didn't speak hardly any English the whole day. It is so fun and we find it really humorous sometimes. I really love the Spanish language.

Crazy Random Story: This morning we did a sesssion at the temple. I walk into the waiting room chapel and guess who is sitting in the row in front of me? BRETT IPSON!! It was so surprising and crazy. He was with his brother Matt and his roommate. We couldn't really talk until after the session in the Celestial room, but it was good to see him. I promise we didn't plan anything and I hope he doesn't come every week because that would be a distraction. He was crying a little bit when I was talking to him about the impact of the mission and how it shapes us. I love talking to him about those kinds of things. But we had a good chat and he told me he would give you all a big hug for me!

This week we also taught the most amazing lesson to our investigator. The last 2 weeks in the TRC, where volunteers come to pretend to be investigators, we taught the same girl, her name is Merilyn. She is our age and is from Peru but speaks really good English. She has been thinking about a mission and so this week we decided to prepare a lesson for her and not a pretend person. She was surprised when we told her this but the lesson was killer. She was so touched and we had been prompted to prepare exactly what she needed. This last week she was praying and fasting for an answer. Through our lesson we helped her decide to go by sharing our experiences of how we decided to go. We were all crying and it is so good to have a real investigator for once. This is what this work is all about! If I had that much joy for helping her make that decision, I can't even imagine the joy of a baptism! I absolutely love the work of the Lord, I am trying so hard but sometimes I feel it isn't enough. I love the Lords university!

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for your letters of advice, it really helps. I will take anything I can get. How is the cabin, garage, financial situation, and ward? I would love to hear about it all. I will say that I am not jeleous I wasn't there to clean the blessed garage. But I think about you often. How is Katie? Mom I can't wait to get my package, you are the best. I did my cookie package, there was so many but again, my zone and district loved them.

THanks a million.
Hermana Kjar

Te Amo

2009-05-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Querido Familia,I just feel so grateful for you in my life right now and for the decisions I have decided to make thus far. This morning in the temple we did initiatories because we had a meeting at 9 for our paperwork on our visas. But I am so glad we did because I love initiatories. I felt today that God is proud of me and really knows how hard I am trying. Every time I do initiatories I feel so blessed to have a healthy body and I know that God is pouring down his blessings so abundantly and I don't deserve them most of the time. Sometimes I get frusturated because I feel like I could be doing better, there is always room for improvement. But I can't let my mind do that because it just slows me down. I need to be optimistic. An EFY song that I have fallen in love with goes like this:

I don't have the words his truth deserves
He says if I make a choice
He'll help me find my voice
He calls me to serve and I cannot fail him
The man who has given me all that I have
I put my trust in him alone
He knows the yearnings of my soul
Because he believes in me I will go willingly

I take great comfort in the words of that song. I am so grateful for him and for the gospel that we have on this earth. I love sharing with people that we do have a church on this earth today that can answer every single one of their questions. Do you konw how many people are looking for that kind of knowledge? We are so blessed to born into that great knowledge. Our district is doing ok, one boy will probably go home this week. It is kind of sad, but I think it will be good for our district to move on and become better. We are speaking a lot of Spanish. Our teachers have converted over to 100 percent Spanish and Hermana Morley and I are trying our hardest to speak as much as we can together. WE are on the same level, so it is really good. We taught the second lesson in English this week and it went really well. I love teaching if the Spirit is there. I love bearing testimony and telling my investigators that God really does love them and know who they are. I can't wait until I have real investigators!! Since being here we have had Elder Nelson, Elder Ballard, and Elder Neuenschwander at our Tuesday devotions. How lucky are we? I love it. Alos, we just watched the most amazing talk by Holland at the MTC. It is called "the miracle of a mission" from 2000. If you can get your hands on it, you would love it! Danner how was your big 18th birthday? What did you do? Ben Happy Birthday on Sunday and Gracie Happy Birthday next week! Mom did you get my package with the birthday presents in them? Mandy there is package coming for your family. I will be sending more pictures soon. I am doing well and loving every minute. Please pray for me to do my best and stay focused! Te amo, te amo, te amo! Dios quiere nuestros familia ser eterna! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Hermana Kjar (also known as Hermana "Kjar package" by my district because I got a package everyday of last week, Ha ha, thanks for your support!)P.S. I saw the Taylor Davies yesterday! He just got here, it is good to see familiar faces. Adam Bavelas is so adorable and is growing up fast! He is Zone leader and so cute!

Que pasa calebaza?

2009-05-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Como le fue su semana? This week was definitely a good one. We had many amazing experiences as always. Hmmmm.. . I never know where to start in these emails.

Well my Hermana Morley and I set up a lot of appointments at the teaching evaluation center lately. It has been so good! I am surprised at the compliments we have been given by the teacher mentors. We have become a lot better at getting to know the person first, then teach through the Spirit according to their needs. And sometimes we might only cover 1 principle from the first discussion, but that is ok.

I have learned so so much about teaching lately. I have grown to love love love teaching. We teach really good together and we teach the same way, we are so much alike, it is so funny. A couple of really cool experiences we have had lately. . . we made a goal to contact 2 people a day, English or Spanish. We went to dinner and saw 2 construction workers eating together, they were a little rough looking but it looked like a great opportunity. So we approached them and started getting to know them. I asked if we could share our testimonies with them and one said, well I am an athiest but go ahead. The other younger man with earrings said they both grew up in the church but he became inactive a couple years ago at 18. So this was perfect! I was so happy when I found out they weren't members. So we bore our testimonies about how Christ loves us individually and he has a plan for us and wants us to be happy. If we pray to know the truth and if this church is really true he will answer us, I know this because he has answered my questions. I could tell the younger one was listening intently and we might have sparked something. But then we said thank you and left. Even though they didn't commit to anything it made me so happy and I wanting to go tracting and get some doors slammed in my face! It is crazy how it excites me! I just love telling people that my God really does know me because it strengthens my testimony and makes me feel so happy.

We have also been chatting online in the Referral Center with people to get on to chat at mormon.org. I have chatted with a few people who have had some questions. I love telling them that our church can answer ALL of the questions they have. And I don't have to doubt that, I know it! I am so grateful for that comfort of knowing that!

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for making my birthday so Fun! I got 4 packages and many letters from friends and family! Mom my district says that you take care of them more than their mom does. So you have been voted to be our district mom! We had so much fun with the cake and other goodies, it was a good day. My district made it their responsibility to scare me everytime I walked in the room so I had enough birthday scares, don't worry Danner! Tell mary I got her package and I am sending her a letter today! Stacey, Mandy, Katie, thank you so much for your wonderful packages too!

Our district is still working on exact obedience, so please pray for us. WE have had some Elders really struggling to know if they really want to be on a mission. I know I was meant to be in this District to provide support though. I love them so much and I see so much potential in all of them. They just need to put away childish things and become men.

Well, I am really trying to focus 110% of my thoughts and time to my mission. So I am trying to not think about things at home and college a lot. This is the only 18 months that I have with just me and the Lord and I want to make it the best. So I still want to hear from all of you, but I won't be writing a lot of letters. Please stay updated on my blog! Sorry but I really need to have total focus.

I love you all so much, your support means so much and I pray for you every night. I really do feel your prayers for me!

Love you more! God speed!
Hermana Kjar

Holy Canoly!

2009-05-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hola mi familia y amigos! Como le va su dia? Sorry it has been awhile, today is finally my first P-day that I have to write letters. SOOO much has happened and I will try to get all of it in this short half hour I have to write. Here are some things I have grown to love this last week:

1. I have a 5th appendage now, it is called my missionary tag. It says Hermana Kjar, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. I think that it has become my favorite thing. I feel so naked when I am not wearing it. It will be like tearing off a limb when I have to take it off. I feel so honored to wear my best friends name right over my heart. I love having Christ close to my heart always.

2. I have grown to love mail. It makes my day when my District leader, Elder Beardall brings back a letter or package for me. I really now understand the love that my brothers and sisters had for mail while they were on their missions.

3. I love my companion Hermana Morley. She is going to Salta Argentina so I will miss her when we part. WE really are so much alike. We have the exact same temperment and we laugh at the same things. It is so fun! There are some days when we cry we are laughing so hard.

4. I love my gym time that I have everyday! We only have an hour but we have been outside everyday. Hermana Morley and I love to play soccer, softball, and especially sand volleyball. We whip the elders butts! Unfortunately we are not allowed to play football, so my football skills will be very poor when I get home.

5. I am learning to have Christ-like love for my Elders. We have 8 Elders in our district and 4 of them are going to my same mission. And of course, some of them are still 19 and it is very evident sometimes. But there are a couple that are so freakin hilarious, but that is also dangerous because sometimes it loses the Spirit. But they treat us so nicely and I feel like there mothers sometimes. One day we were leaving the room to study somewhere else. And they begged us to stay, they said "if you stay, we will be quiet we promise!" We thought that was so funny that they really wanted us to stay that badly! But I really love them. We know each other so well now, they even know my menstrual cycle now and know when to stay away! Jk, but they really did write it on their calendar! Oh Elders!

6. I love letters from my parents. I have only been able to write you that one short letter. But mom and dad, everytime you send me a letter to answer a prayer of mine and give me the advice that I really needed at that time. Dad I have been trying to find ways to get the Elders to stay on task, and your last letter helped me so much. YOu are right I need to treat them like the Elders I want them to become and then they will live up to that. I have tried and I think I see it working. Thanks mom and Dad! I did get your cinnamon rolls and cinco de mayo package and I absolutely was thrilled. WE had a little party as a District and they all wanted me to say thanks and they love you already! Tell the other siblings to write me!

7. I love love love the many hours I have set aside to study preach my gospel and the blessed scriptures. It has made me so much more humble and helps me keep the Spirit. This will never happen again in my life so I am taking advantage of all of it! Please read preach my gospel, everything you can think of is in there!

8. I love obedience. Everyone told me before I came to worry about being obedient and everything else will be fine. That is so true! WE have had so many talks on that. I know that if I am exactly obedient I have the right to call on the lords help because he is bound when we do what he says. And I know how great that is. I can always expect help when I am keeping my part!

I love you so much family! Mom happy mothers day, there is a card coming for you!

Mucho amor,
Hermana Kjar

Sharla's First MTC Letter

2009-05-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2009

Dear Familia,

Today has been good and a little overwhelming. I am so relieved that my companion is normal. We have so many things in common. She was actually in the same orientation meeting as our family. She was in the back with a green shirt on. Her name is Sister Morley from Midvale, UT. We both love sports and music. She does choir and plays the piano. She loves sports and is way laid back. I feel like we are sisters already. She is so cute and I am excited to grow with her. She is a little more shy than me.

I met my branch presidency and district today. It was so good to finally put faces to them. They are mostly pretty mature and I am so excited to grow with them.

I saw Adam Bavelas a lot today. He looks so good! We did shake hands even though we aren't supposed to because of the swine flu. Ha ha! Who does that?

Everyone is so friendly here and the sisters are treated like queens. The elders have to take our trays and stand up every time we walk in the room. We are the only sisters in our district of ten but I love it! Four of the other elders in our district are going to my same mission, so I will get to share my whole mission with them. I feel really lucky.

The food so far is great! There are usually a lot of choices. I can't wait to get out of all the orientation stuff and have a real normal schedule. I kind of feel lost right now.

I am really surprised to see that I am not homesick at all. All I needed to do was to get to work and forget myself. Those last couple of days at home were so emotional and long! Now I can focus.

My two teachers are Hermana Penaflor from Peru and Hermono Farrell. I really like them - they are master teachers.

I have seen the most random people that I know, it is crazy! Familiar faces are good!

I have grown so much and it hasn't been easy. I can't wait to see the growth when I leave in 8 weeks from this wonderful place.

Love you more!
Sharla aka Hermana Kjar

* Kjar cheer - (clap, clap, "WOOO!!!")

Hermana Kjar LOVES MAIL!

2009-04-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been asking for my addresses, here they are! Put them to good use, I would love to be updated on what is going on in your lives. I will keep you updated letters, emails, and this blog too! God be with you till we meet again!

MTC address: (until about June 30)

MTC Mailbox #227

ARG-BABL 0629

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

Letters: (POUCH - meaning it can only be one piece of paper folded into thirds, no envelopes)

Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130

Packages:

Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission

Las Heras 124, Piso 1, Oficinas 1-3

8000 Bahia Blanca

Buenos Aires

Argentina

Farewell Fantastic Fellow Friends and Family

2009-04-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well my farewell is over, I am so glad. But Sunday was so good and it couldn't have gone better. I was so astonished at the people that made the trek out to come see me. I really do have the best friends and family! Adam Mullen wins the prize, he traveled 13 hours one way, love you Adam! I am feeling so stoked and a little nervous. With 19 hours left until I am in the MTC, I am feeling the time ticking. I took a nap today, last nap I'll take in a long time. But there is nothing better that I could be doing, so I never look back, just forward. I will miss you all but I will be a much better person because of it, and I want to share with Argentina the love of Christ.

2009-04-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hola Amigos!

Please join me as I embark on this new adventure.

I will depart for the Provo MTC April 29. I speak in Sacrament Meeting

April 26, 2009 @ 11:00 am

1450 N. Main Street

Centerville, UT 84014

There will be food and visiting at the Kjar home afterwards.

Thanks for your influence in my life!

Hermana Kjar

Easter Egg Hunt!

2009-04-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

My roomies and I for our last week decided to do an Easter egg hunt. We went to the duck pond and Ronnie hid our eggs and candy for us. It took me back to hunts in my grandma Smoot's backyard. The anxiety was killing me! We had so much fun and I remembered the joys of childhood!

Change is Constant

2009-04-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

I am ending a period of my life and starting a completely new one. I just finished my last semester at BYU Idaho before my mission. I sadly had to say goodbye to many friends that I don't know if I will ever see again. Many of them will be married, moved and graduated by the time I come back. I dreaded the day I had to say goodbye, but I was so surprised at the peace that I felt. The Lord really blessed to feel peace that what I am doing is right. I receive these little confirmations every once in a while that makes it all worth it. One thing I have realized while having a mission call is that Satan really does not want me to go on a mission and bring others to our gospel family.

My life hasn't been full of much change. So this definitely will be trying and different. But I am so stoked! I cannot wait to wear the missionary badge and be called Hermana Kjar.

I have been blessed with the best friends and roommates at college. I will miss them so so much but the memories will always be treasured. Thanks to everyone who has made my college experience so enjoyable. I will not miss the homework, but I will miss the adventures and wonderful people that I rub shoulders with. One thing I have learned is that Change is the only constant thing in life.

Grateful Days

2009-03-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

On this fine sabbath day I feel so grateful for what the Lord has blessed me with. In Luke it says "to whom much is given much is required." I feel like I need to show my gratitude more than ever before at this time of my life because I feel so blessed. So here is just five things I feel blessed to have today:

1. Sister-in-laws - This weekend my sister in law Haley came to visit her sister while Adam was out of town, and they stopped by to see me. We ended up spending the whole Saturday night together and I just adore her. I feel so lucky to have 3 sister in laws that are so genuine, kind, lovable and accepting of me. They feel like best friends to me. I cannot wait to watch these righteous women raise families with my brothers. (hint, hint)

2. Light of Christ - I am grateful to be a literal spirit daughter of Christ. We each have some little part of him in us, it is called the light of Christ. When I do things to spark that light of Christ it makes me want to increase that light and rely on him more so he can impute more of his light in me to serve more faithfully in his kingdom. It is something that helps me overcome the natural man on those really rough days.

3. Rhythm - My mothers heart must have been really loud while I was in the womb because I feel like rhythm runs deep in my veins. No matter where I am, whenever I hear a rhythm my body has to follow it. The best is when I get to make the rhythm or really us my creativity to dance to the rhythm. In my clogging class we are doing an accapella dance kind of like the Broadway musical Stomp. I get to make as much noise as a want, and we make up our own rhythms and see how they fit together. It makes my heart so happy!

4. Successful but Righteous Father - I am writing a paper on wealth vs. poverty in my religion class according to Luke. There is one particular story in Luke that really made me think how I would react. One righteous wealthy man asks Christ how he could gain eternal life. Christ tells him to sell all he has and follow him. But he is sorrowed because he could not get himself to get rid of his wealth. My father is a successful man that has provided for our family. One thing I am grateful for is that he never put his riches or status above the work of his family or the church. I know that if he was asked by the prophet to sell his belongings and serve the church the rest of his life, he would. I will be very lucky if I can find a man that is like my dad.

5. Guy Friends - I feel very blessed this month to have good Priesthood holders as friends. I have found that I always need to have at least a couple really good guy friends around me, especially while here at school. I grew up with brothers that I was always really close with, and I feel like I can relate to males better than the female gender. There is nothing like a good guy friend that gives good man hugs on those days that you are feeling down and helpless. I have made some great friends at this University that I consider to be my brothers. It will be hard leaving them because I know once they get married our relationship will be deceased. Ha ha, sad but true. It has been great to have them around to realize what kind of men are still out there.

Rodeo Baby!!

2009-03-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

So in February I did something that I think I will never have the opportunity to do again. I rode a steer in a Rodeo. Yes, yes, I know, it sounds ridiculous and not believable, but it was so fun! I only stayed on for about 2 seconds, but I consider myself up there with the Rodeo Queens. This amazing outfit shown in my picture I got at DI. So everyone thought I was a regular, but I was just a poser. So cowboy hats off to me, I had the adventure of a life-time! Here is the link if you want to see the video, enjoy!

Click here to view

Celestial Smiles

2009-03-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today I was able to spend almost 3 hours with some of the most genuinely happy people I know. I played basketball and went bowling with the Special Olympics students. I have so much fun with them and notice that they always seem to bring out the best in me. Isn't that what we are looking for in true friends? I always find myself so accepted for who I am, and so complimented by their words. I will never stop loving these special people. They are Christ's chosen who were sent to make our lives more exciting and to make us happier by following their example.

CABIN FEVER!!

2009-03-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

I feel so blessed at this time for amazing friends. My friends are my family away from home now, and I really feel so close to them. I had the great opportunity to take my friends to my cabin over the long President's day weekend. We had so much fun and I felt so much closer to all of them when I left. Mama and Papa Kjar made it possible, and my friends fell in love with them. I brought 8 people from Idaho and 4 friends from Centerville met us there also. We had so much fun snowmobiling, tubing, playing games, and laughing until our tummies ached. The seclusion of my cabin helps bring us closer together when we can't be distracted by other outside things. I love the outdoors and I feel so rejuvenated every time I am dropped in the middle of it. I will never forget this weekend!

I hope they call me on a mission!!

2009-03-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

Well sorry I haven't posted for a long time. But I have some exciting news in my busy life! The very end of January I went home to open my mission call. I have been called to serve in the Argentina Bahia Blanca mission, speaking Spanish. I report to the MTC April 29th and I couldn't be happier. Everything has just worked out perfectly and I couldn't be happier with my call. I have always had a love for Spanish and now I feel so humbled to serve the people of Argentina. I know it will be tough. In my favorite hymn, I'll go where you want me to go, it says:

It may not be on a mountain height or over the stormy seas

It may not be on the battles front my Lord will have need of me

BUT if my a still small voice he calls to paths that I do not know

I'll answer dear Lord with my hand in thine

I'll go where you want me to go

It is kind of intimidating sometimes to be sent away to somewhere you have never been and you know you don't know anyone there. The people don't understand what you have to offer and they don't even speak the same language. But I need to go, want to go, and he calls by a still small voice to paths I do not know. So my job is to answer to his call with my hand in his and he will direct my paths and always be there with me.

Funny White Elephant

2008-12-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Last year I saw his gift that was being given as a joke or white elephant to some close girlfriends. I thought it was hilarious, check it out!

HIlarious videos!

2008-11-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

I have seen two hilarious videos on YouTube lately. This is real humor not crude or high school humor. They are so funny the first one is called Catherine Tate Translator, and the second is called German Coastguard. Check them out!

Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

2008-11-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

Today for FHE we went to the Joseph Smith movie in Idaho Falls. I absolutely love this movie because I learn something new everytime and I have better motivation to share the gospel. I love the prophet Joseph Smith and his courage and pure patience to go through all that he had to. In the movie Emma says after a difficult experience, do you ever wonder if the Lord asks too much? Joseph answers and says, I don't let myself. That is so powerful to imagine and apply in our own lives. We need to control our thoughts and try not to ask the Lord, why me? But instead take advantage of the things that can be learned from this experience. My favorite part is the end, after Joseph finally passes away and is able to escape from all his trials, he looks to heaven and says "My Lord, my God." Then some text come across the screen explaining that Joseph Smith died for the truth, Should we not go on in so great a cause? That statement always gets me and drives to be better. Joseph did so much to bring this gospel forward and the least I can do is share it and live it. It makes me feel and greater need to step it up. Praise to the Man!

ARRRRRGH!!!!!

2008-10-27T23:36:00.001-07:00

Today we carved pumpkins as an apartment. I decided to do something different and do a pirate with an eye patch. We named him Archibald, but ARRRchie for short:) Let me know what you think matey!!

Incredible Intramurals

2008-10-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

I have been blessed to have very active and athletic roommates. We have been involved in a lot of teams. We have a soccer, football, and basketball team. The yellow team is our football team, and this is a picture of our last game. This other pic is of our ward basketball team. Our soccer team is doing well and the tournament game is tomorrow so I will let you know how is goes. I absolutely love it and hope to be this involved and active every semester. Go TEAM!

Brotherly Visitation

2008-10-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ben, Danner, and LaCol came to visit me the weekend of October 17th. It was such a refresher and we had so much fun. My brothers are so uplifting and I find it harder to quarrel with them the older I get. Of course Danner had to give me the regular smothering, but I can handle that every once in a while. Deep down I love it. Friday night we went to the dunes and did a bonfire and Saturday they came to watch my harp rehearsal. Of course they were such gentlemen and brought flowers and donuts to my rehearsal. We also made it over to Big Jud's to share a pounder hamburger. It was so enjoyable and I realize how much I miss them when I am with them. Everyone is is love with them the minute they meet them.

Show Biz

2008-10-13T15:30:00.001-07:00

This last weekend I went to two amazing shows, and I want to let you know about them. First one is the new movie Forever Strong, filmed at Highland High in Salt Lake. It is about a High School Rugby team and the amazing coach that helped them become better people instead of just better athletes. It is so good and there are no bad parts at all. I definitely recommend to anyone! Also, Natalie McMaster came to BYU Idaho. She is a fiddler with her own band. She does all kinds of music a lot of Celtic, scandinavian, and some Jazz. She was a showman and put on such an energetic show. She also clogs while she fiddles, and she is 5 months pregnant! Her husband is part of the Leahy family band, which is also one of the best shows I have ever been too. They do the same kind of music.

LEROY

2008-10-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

I just carved my first pumpkin of the year. His name is Leroy and he is the best yet. This year I did something different - I added some ears to the pumpkin. Due to the fact that we can't have candles in our apartment, I used my scentsy to light Leroy up! He is such a de-light to our apartment and everyone that walks past. I love Autumn!!!

Mama's Weekend

2008-10-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

I had a little piece of home with me this weekend. My miracle worker mother came to spend the weekend with me for BYU Idaho mother's weekend. It is so cool to see all of the students with their mothers on campus. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mother! That is a hint to all you single men out there:) It was so enjoyable to have mom here. My mom always finds the small ways to make me feel at home, whether it be food, help cleaning, or just saying the right things that only a mother can say. Now that I am older, I love hanging with just my mom. I can talk about anything with her, she is the best listener in the world! We had a lot of fun talking about some gospel topics this week. Some things we did were a fireside, religious workshops, eating, movies, carving pumpkins, cooking, games, the Natalie McMaster concert, church, and more good eating. I am so proud to call her my mom and everyone that meets her loves her. She is classy and so easy to take places because everyone automatically feels so comfortable around her. I want to be just like her one day!