"I don't want you to think I've ever been discouraged. I never have been. Frustrated with the inconsistency of a few people? Yes. Challenged? Yes. But never discouraged. I just have a firm knowledge of the pure love and consistency of my Heavenly Father, and I trust Him completely. So there is no room for discouragement."
Kaitlin usually adds something in her e-mail that makes us laugh. Here is an example:
"There weren't a lot of hilarious things that happened this week, but there was one pretty funny incident. We were in a hurry to get to Lizzy's house on time, and as we were walking past this corner market, I recognized Gilberto Caballero, a recent convert of about a year. He now lives in another area, so we never teach him, but we see him every once in awhile because he works in our area. As we got closer to him, I could see that he had a large mug of beer in his hand, and a bottle of beer sitting next to him. And he was a little tipsy. First of all, you need to know that this man's heart is "as big as all outdoors," as they say. He is such a good man. But yes, he had evidently tripped up a little bit as far as the Word of Wisdom goes. But we stopped to say "hi" to him, and his happiness to see us was a little exaggerated because of the beer I think. "Hoooooooola, hermana!" he said, "I want to buy you something. Anything! Here are some plums, grapes, grapefruit, bananas, oranges, what do you want? You name it, and I'll buy it!" I tried to tell him we were in hurry, that we were grateful for the offer but we had to go, but he insisted. So I said, "Umm, I would like one banana." Devastated, he said, "One banana?! No, no, no, you'll have more than one banana." Then he proceeds to pick up an armload of bananas--22, I counted later--and dump them into my arms. Then we walked into the store to pay for them. The cashier was cracking up, as was Hna. Plummer. Oh, my. I suppose we can now make banana bread for the entire ward. Maybe that will be our P-day activity today."
Kaitlin was transferred a couple of weeks ago from Leopardi to Ita Enramada. She writes of how she felt, leaving all of the investigators she has grown to love:
"...my heart just hurt on Tuesday as I thought about not being there to see them progress and learn and grow to love the gospel more and more. But I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity I had to work with them. They were so much more than just "investigators" to me. They were each individually very much a part of my life, and I love them."
She also was sad to say good-bye to Hermana Plummer. They were quite a pair and got along fabulously. But she was happy to hear that her new companion is Hermana Little, who Kaitlin roomed with at the MTC. She describes her first impressions of Ita Enramada:
"So yes, now I am here. This area is a lot different than Leopardi. It's much more "chuchi," as they say: there are a lot of really nice houses and a lot more cars and paved roads. It was kind of a culture shock, to tell you the truth. But then there's one area, "Jukyty" (which means "really salty" or something in Guarani) that is SUPER poor. It's just a bunch of shacks. So it's an interesting area. There are people from all walks of life, and that makes it kind of fun and exciting. Our apartment is a lot nicer too. It's big, and the apartment in Leopardi was super dinky. So that's kind of fun too."
One wonderful experience Kaitlin recently had was being able to attend the Paraguay, Asuncion Temple. She said she walked through the door and "I just felt this overwhelming feeling of home. And that's all I could think about as the little temple worker from Arizona led us to the dressing room. I almost got a little teary, it just felt so right being there. Ah. The temple really is the house of the Lord. And it's such a unique experience entering the temple after having been in a strange country doing the Lord's work for five months. That feeling of home was even deeper than usual for that reason I think. I don't know. I'm not explaining this well. But it was glorious."
Our family is thankful for this experience Kaitlin is having. It is blessing our lives in so many ways as we see her devotion, testimony, faith, and joy in the Lord's service.
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