Third Letter from our Sister K! Glad to hear she had a good 4th of July and had people to celebrate with. :) Hope everyone had a terrific Fourth of July as well!
Take Care
PS Sister K said she can now receive email from both family and friends, so if you have some time, send her a line or two :) She'll be checking each Monday.
karissa.skinner-karatassos@myldsmail.net
Dear Family and
Friends,
I want to wish you
all a belated Happy 4th of July!!
I hope you all had an
enjoyable holiday! Our ward here had a yummy breakfast for every one, which was
so fun! We got to talk and meet with a lot of new people. We were also blessed to have a ward member invite
us over for their 4th of July dinner! They also had their extended family over so there were a lot
of kids. I loved being around the
children. They were so cute and they all
wanted to talk and play games with my companion and I. (And yesterday they all waved when they saw
us at church) :) We ended the day’s celebrations by watching fireworks from the
parking lot of our apartment. We had to be in early so I am so glad we had a
good view and could see them! It was such a fun ‘getting to know you’ type of
day. I am so thankful and blessed to live in this beautiful and free country. :)
FAMILIAR FACES
I've been blessed to
see some familiar faces since I left. I've mentioned some of them earlier, but
there is one more I need to mention from the MTC, Sister Camry Bennion. We met
while taking a folk dance class at BYUH and now we are serving in the same
mission! But while I am a Sister she will be a Hermana :) She learned Spanish
while living in Guatemala so she only had to be in the MTC twelve days like me.
It was wonderful to fly out together!
While we were at the
airport at Salt Lake, ready to head out to the field, I saw five more friendly
faces. The Gardener family from my home ward was there! They were visiting
family in Utah. It was so nice to see some friends from home before I left and
it helped to brighten my day:)
Once I got to
California I received one more surprise. At the transfer meeting I saw my really
good friend Kevin from BYUH! We took one my Uncle Ben's Physical Science
classes together. His home is in my mission area so he was picking up some
Elders to take back to where he lives. It was exciting to see him! And it
felt like another blessing was being given to me.
FRIENDLY FACES
My area is about
thirty minutes from LA in a little town called Simi. Everyone is so nice here. I’m really grateful for that. Even when you pass people on the street, they
smile and say hello. Serving in this area has been such a blessing. Our ward is
the best! So many people have told my companion and I that they have been
waiting to have Sisters again :) So that makes us feel good. They are so welcoming. I feel comfortable
around everyone in the ward already. I am truly grateful for everyone's
kindness.
One person that makes
our ward feel great is our Bishop Page. He is such a great example and works
hard to help us missionaries. He is a convert to the Church and his story is
pretty amazing. One day his friend brought over the missionaries and they began
to teach him. He wanted to learn more and more so they taught him all the
lessons in one night! And that's not the craziest part, the next day Bishop
Page was baptized. He's amazing and has a wonderful spirit of love about him.
He's very spiritual, but he also has a sense of humor and likes to joke with us
Sisters. Since my companion and I have hard names, he takes pride in
pronouncing them correctly :)
Another blessing in
the ward is Sister Jenkins. She is a Ward Missionary and one of the sweetest
people I've ever been blessed to meet. She's always looking out for us in
different ways. The second day we arrived here, she invited us over to her home
for dinner. When we were done she gave us three bags worth of groceries and
some supplies from Bath and Body Works. We were so thankful! She's also in
charge of the Missionary Dinner Calendar and she makes sure every day is filled
so that we always have somewhere to go for dinner. She's seriously an angel.
Brother Jenkins, her husband, is very sweet as well. They have a daughter on a
mission in Texas right now and you can tell how much they love her. They said
they like us to eat with them because it reminds them of their daughter and
best friend coming over to visit :)
I should call this
email ‘blessings’. :) I am also so blessed
to have a wonderful companion. Sister Xayadeth is a great example and has
helped me so much. Her last name is pronounced 'sigh-a-det'. To help people
remember she tells them to think 'sigh because you are in debt' :) We get along
great and like we’ve known each other for a long time, instead of a few weeks.
We have similar senses of humor so we make each other laugh a lot. We are both
pretty happy people so it's a blessing since we are around each other all the time :)
We also pray, read scriptures, and teach well together which is important. I am
so blessed to have her as my trainer!
I also met two more
friendly faces this week, my new mission president and his wife! President and
Sister Felix are from Utah and they are so sweet. You can tell they are a loving married couple
and work as a team. We only met briefly,
but I know they will be great church leaders to guide us:)
I've now had a full
week in my first Mission area! As we've met new people each day I've realized
how blessed I have been to meet many kind and loving people throughout my life.
So this email is a shout out to all of you as well! Thank you for your love and
support. You are each a blessing in my
life. Your friendship means a lot to me
:) I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. I love how others look out for one another and they are always looking
for ways to serve. As the scriptures say, "When you are in the service of
your fellow beings, you are in the service of your God" :) If you want to
look up some great scripture verses read - Matt 25:34-40. Matt 25:40 “And the King shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
I forgot to mention last
week, but I am now able to email friends as well as family! So please feel free
to send me something throughout the week. I will be able to see them on
Mondays. I have been printing my letters
off and I read them throughout the week. They make me smile every time I read
them :)
I love you all! Have
a great week!
Sister Skinner -
Karatassos :)
No comments:
Post a Comment