January 20, 2014 So turns out that I am not being transferred, so I will be in Bethlehem for at least 6 months of my mission! That is if I dont get ET'd out. Which I wouldnt be super surprised about since we are going back to a trio!!! We got a call from the Assistants to the President, and my heart started pounding! The past few transfers they have forgotten to tell people who are being transferred that they are leaving, so I thought they were calling to say just kidding sister Wilson your leaving! But instead they told us to be at transfers to pick up our 3rd companion! So we are both excited for that. Neither one of us really wants to leave, so we are happy to be here. Sometimes I think it would be nice to get a new set of people to work with, but there are a lot of miracles happening around here so I am glad I get to stay. We are working with Katherine, who is on track for baptism in one month! We are quite excited for her! The ward is not fellowshipping her as well as we would like, aka she sits alone in RS so sister Wiehl goes and sits with her, and no one really talks to her. We are taking a different woman with us to each of her lessons and seeing her 3 times a week in preparation for her baptism, so hopefully more people will start talking to her at church so she doesnt feel so lonely and what not. Then we have Cindy and Gentry, who I have only seen once this transfer, so I am glad that I get to be here for another one and really get them back into the grove of meeting every week and back on the road for Cindy to be baptized. I am a little worried about them, and I pray for them often because I love them so much! Then last night we went and talked to the Tobias family, their son is the one who came to church and bore his testimony! They told us that they weren’t ready to be baptized because they still have some investigating to do but that we are welcome to come any time. We set up an appointment to teach them and talked to some of their friends who are members so they will come and fellowship them. I am excited to start working with them, they are a great family with 'old values' they said. Basically they have high standards which is unusual in the world today and so they feel out of place some times, so it will be fun to work with them and help them see that there is a whole culture of people with the same values and they are not weird for thinking that way. The dad told us about how he likes the fact that at church we dont use Hell as a way to scare people into being good. He says he's heard Hell talked about maybe 6 times in his experiences, and he enjoys the fact that we focus on God is our Loving Heavenly Father. He doesnt work on Sundays so that wont be a battle, and church is at 1:00! So I am excited for that in our missionary efforts to get people to church, its easier to come the first time at 1, as opposed to 9! We have a few more potential investigators that we are working with, nothing too solid yet. But we have a bunch of less actives we are working with who are making some great progress. And Ashley is awesome! We introduced her to the family history center and when I tried to schedule an appointment to meet with her I asked her about wednesday night and she said she was going to go to the family history center that night, so as long as we did it before then.... OH MY GOODNESS I was so happy! She has been there the past 2 weeks and plans to be there every week :) :) :) Also, she gave her first talk in church last week, and she was extended a calling this past week. She is also helping to fellowship one of the recent converts who moved into the ward and is around her age. She joined the church at army training and so she has no connection to us or the ward so it is good that they have each other. SO it has been a pretty dang good week! Also we are teaching Cliff.... who is coming to church every week. We started teaching him last week and we meet with him after church with a member couple. He has a lot of questions and they are awesome! But he is a talker and has some major concerns that we are working through with him. I have seen him soften from the first week I was here until yesterday when we met with him, and we are working on that even farther. He has some tough trials in his life and I think the church is bringing a sense of peace and comfort he didnt think he could find in the world. So that is good. And then today for P day we went to Nazareth and toured the Martin Guitar factory, it was pretty cool, they hand make all of their guitars so that was fun to tour, but now time is short! I love you all, I am glad that you are feeling better and I hope that continues to increase. Good luck with finals Keira! And I cant believe your turning 18! Ive been thinking this whole time that you were turnig 17... so that was a shocker, not a big difference but big enough! I want to know as soon as you hear from BYUI! So send me a post card or something when you hear! Im excited for you! As for footwear, I wore boots everyday as soon as the snow came. So you will want at least one or two pairs that are good for snow and keeping your feet warm. Get fun but functional, I had some of those fake ugg type that I weather proofed and they worked rather well, but it would not be a bad idea to invest in a good pair that will last you more than one semester in the snow. I guess that also depends on your track, if your winter term you wont wear anything other than boots, fall you can get away with flats for the first half and spring is all about the sandals! So get good boots that will last you, one to two pairs, just depends on if you want to wear the same shoes all day every day ( I would suggest not) but I hope that helps... you can ask more questions and I will respond as best as I can. You can also talk to Lindy if you need to speak to someone, but Im good with questions. Im glad Garret and Janelle are enjoying Hawaii longer, let me know what happens with re-cope time etc. for him. I will try and send him a letter today, but time is short so who knows what will happen. And we now need to clear out and make room for our 3rd companion in the apartment... so yeah that will take a little bit of time. Love you all! Thank you for all of the letters and notes! I tried to send out postcards but I think they upped the postage because they all came back to me :( So I will try again! Loves to all! Love, Sister Kindra Wilson :)

January 13, 2014 Oh my goodness, the Bowlers are having another one?! Thats exciting! And Danny in Japan, a grandchild on the way and Bradley is already two years into school? I swear they are all still little kids! How exciting :) Tyson is going to Ghana?! I AM SO JEALOUS! That was one place that I really wanted to go, but Im a sister so I am in Pennsylvania, you know, slightly safer. But thats okay, Im glad Im here, I was going to say I get hot showers but that would be a lie, but I do get showers! haha. Man I am dang excited for him! Sending it to the mission office is the best bet now, transfers are next week and since Ive been here for 3 transfers now I might leave, but we shall see. I have been feeling like I will go but also like I will stay so who knows! Every transfer Ive gotten a feeling and been right so far, but I havent decided yet if Im going or staying. We will find out on friday so you will hear next monday, and then to the new area... maybe. Sister Wiehl thinks I am leaving... I hope she hears back soon! I want to know! Also what do we need to do about FASFA for me? Since I will be going back in the 14/15 school year which is the one coming up that would be Keiras first year... just thought about that. Maybe, do you want to get on my BYUI email and check and see what is says? Or maybe get in touch with my counselor and ask what we need to do for financial aid for me? My deferment expects me in school at the latest in spring of 2015. Which is fine by me, I wouldn't mind a winter at home after being out here! I dont really like snow I have firmly decided. Congrats to Rowdy and Taylor! That will be quite exciting! Oh and I had heard that VialFotheringham had moved, but I still dont know where, because I dont know street names... yeah I'll work on that when I am home! Im glad that Jefferson Square is doing that now! I was wondering when they would change their policies... mostly for you since you have been there so long and put so much work into it! Also, get a kick out of this... so our back door has vertical blinds and we are missing a few (thank you elders) and so when we called in a maintenance request to put the towel bar back up I asked about the blinds, they said that it was the tenants responsibility... which I questioned but its a big property and so it is a telephone service for requests so I figured they didnt understand me. When we went to talk to the manager I asked her about it and she said that the blinds were all the tenants responsibility. If they are in good condition when the resident moves out than they leave them up, but because they are such a big property with so many windows they dont take care of the blinds. WHAT?! I thought that was ridiculous. And the silliest thing I have ever heard from a property! Anyhow, I knew you of all people would appreciate the ridiculousness of it. Also we are moving apartments! The Ward Mission Leader owns a cleaning buisness and has some connections so he is calling to figure out where a good apartment complex is that is more central to the area we work in. I guess the office elder over housing called and talked to the bishop who said the elders have loved there for 9 years and he would like to see the missionaries move. So thats the word! I probably wont see it but it will be nice for the next sisters to be in a better apartment. Not that it is bad, its fine, but it could be nicer. But that dizziness does not sound good. How do you get to seminary and back? Is it fine then? I hope that the insurance starts soon so they can figure it out and get everything fixed. Is Keira feeling better? I hope so! And man she is out at 12:30! Spoiled rotten I tell you! haha just kidding. When does track start up again? And how is her photography class coming? I havent heard from her in a while... Hope all is good sister! You can wait until after finals to talk to me, I know how busy that makes you, but dont forget about me! Love you! Good luck on finals! A blessing sounds like a good thing for both of you! I hope you do ask! I have learned that I should not be so hesitant to ask for blessings as I have been in the past. So I hope you do! They bring a lot of added comfort and guidance right when I need it. Between blessings and prayers I have learned a lot and gained much comfort and support exactly when I needed it! It was quite chilly here! It was down to 2 degrees, that day President advised us to do our weekly planning so that we were inside more. Luckily we had appointments that we were able to keep and get inside from the cold. It wouldnt be so bad if it were so dang windy! Thats the annoying part of it all. If there was no wind it would feel 20 degrees warmer! The wind chill kills.... so we bundle up! 5 layers up top and 5 layers on bottom, tights, thermals and leggings and 3 or 4 pairs of socks and boots. You get kinda claustrophobic but at least your warm! Im grateful I have that heavy brown winter jacket THANK YOU for sending it, and Elisabeth for giving it to me! I will probably leave it here for some other lucky sister to wear and use out. Its been a life saver! And still is. Today is not that bad, which is good and bad because Im not wearing any tights today! Thats a first in months! And its nice! No jacket either because I get too hot... in 40 degree weather, man does your body adjust to the weather! So thats lucky, and kind of a miracle when you think about it. God is so smart! I love seeing OR in movies and things too. On postcards and calanders, haystack rock is pretty neat (even if Lindy doesnt get it :P love you!) But Oregon is quite beautiful, I do miss it! Even in the midst of all this green, itis a different kind of green and I am excited to see it again. Im glad Janelle gets to go over again, when does Garret leave? I wanted to send him a card but if he is leaving soon I need to get it sent out... oops! Time does fly by sooo fast! The days pass like months but the months pass like days! I feel like I just got to Bethlehem, but its been 4 months now! The end of January will be the end of my 9 month mark... I will be half way through in 18 days... that is a CRAZY thought! And Im still working up to that hump day right now, so that is good! I feel like I still have time left! Since I do, I know Im only half way, but MAN is life flying before my eyes! Well this week was great! We saw some miracles. We met with a referral from a member. It was his mom. Her name is Katherine, and she is golden! Her understanding is slow, but that means that she is thinking about it and reading the chapters 4 and 5 times. In a week she has gotten up to 1 Nephi ch 5 I believe, and she is taking notes and understanding the content and PRAYING before she starts, which has made all the difference. Its awesome! She has a baptismal date for February 16th! I am so excited for her! She told us in her second lesson that she feels it is true, I asked her if she ever prayed about the Book of Mormon being true and she told me, well now because I already knew it was! Which made me think of Grandpa and telling the elders he didnt need to read the Book of Mormon to know, since he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet! So that was fun :) How is that old man? Give him my love and tell him I am thinking about him! I sent a postcard to Patty and Laurels figuring they would share it with the fam and read it to Grandpa and what not. I think it was a pretty night scape of Bethlehem with the star on the hill. Weve gone to the Moravian Book store a few times because I love their postcards, they are so prettty! And I got a Bethlehem sweatshirt, thank you to the Wilsons! (Dont worry, Im not getting a sweatshirt in every area, I did get a baseball cap in Montrose which I love, and wear in the evenings after were done planning and what not, and yes my companions laugh at me every time! I cant wait to go on a hike and actually have a reason to be wearing it :) And the post cards are a great way to send a little something back to the families who sent me Christmas cards. Thank you to everyone who is thinking of me! I do appreciate getting note and prayers and thoughts! It helps tremendously! Lets see, we also saw Cindy and Gentry this week! The first time since the holidays, I do love and miss them dearly! They are doing well, which is good. We are hoping to set another baptismal date with her this week, but we have to resolve some concerns first. Nothing big, but concerns none the less. We have had quite the busy week! Which is good, I am greatful for the appointments we have been able to have because that means we are teaching people instead of knocking on doors! So thats always good. I would rater be teaching people than trying to find work to do. So keep your missionaries busy wherever you are! Im glad you got the envelope! And that you love the soldier, I saw it and I couldn't resist! A little bit of your mission on my mission :) And Im glad that Keira likes the skirt, did it fit alright? I tried it on and it was tight for me so I figured it would be about right for her. I thought it was super cute, so Im glad that she likes the things I pick for her! It was either that of floral and I thought she would like that one more. I got it at Target too! Man do I love Target :) We also had a super awkward encounter this week. The elders have been trying to pass of an investigator to us because they are english speaking, so we decided to stop by and meet them in person. Well she looked through the blinds, saw it was us and then ran upstairs. The elders then answered the door, which we thought was funny. They were there to pick up a Christmas gift for them, so we couldnt have planned it better to meet this investigator! But she never came back down stairs. The elders left, and then her sister left. She told us she was changing and would be right down, we waited for 20 minutes or so and then we had to leave for another appointment. So that was awesome... just sitting in an empty living room waiting for the girl to come back down stairs. The elders told us she is scared of us... oh and when her sister saw us she said wow your gorgeous! When I heard sister minister people I though you would be all gross and ugly, but your gorgeous compared to what I was expecting! So that was the only positive thing to come out of that encounter... because literally everyone else left the room and told us we could wait as long as we wanted. And if we didnt have an appointment Im sure sister Wiehl would have insisted on sitting in that living room until she was forced to come down and meet us. I say you know what? You can bring a horse to water but you cant make him drink. If she doesnt want to meet us than I guess she is not ready to meet with us. Lets go find someone who is! Which is always a hard call to make and such a fine line. anyhow, thats just a few things of what happened this week. I hope everything goes well this week with your lack of driving and Keiras finals and what not. I will keep you all in my prayers! Love you guys! Especially you mommy :) Love, your favorite sister missionary, Sister Wilson :)

JANUARY 6, 2014 So Sister Hyatt got emergency transferred out this week. President called on Monday and we celebrated the new year by saying goodbye and becoming a duo. It was really weird too, usually they tell you right where you are going and you go to your new area if you are ET'd, but she was picked up by the sister training leaders and taken to the mission home for new years eve. I guess two sisters went home for medical purposes and so they split up some trios :( Not nice, but if that is Gods will than it is His will. Also, I did get boots. We went to Target last week and I got a pair that have actually been really nice. Not lined super well, but I think they will last a long time and I wear multiple socks so my feet are toasty :) So no more worrying about my toes! It is cold out here though. Yesterday church was sent home early, during Relief Society one of the YM came in to tell us that they are calling off church because of the freezing rain turning the parking lot into a big ice sheet. But the roads were fine. They were slushy but not bad at all. Our parking lot at the apartments was also a sheet of ice! So we ate and ended up staying in for a little bit, but we felt that we needed to go to an appointment that we had scheduled with a new investigator so we went, and I am glad we did! Because the roads were fine. We got a nice big long rain storm last night that melted the ice and the snow. Its 38 degrees today and feels warm! Haha, man do I hate winter... It sounds like you had a great seminary lesson. Im glad that you still did your Christmas lessons after the holiday, and it sounds like it was perfect timing to help add to your lesson. And I bet they loved the chocolate letter! I know Sister Wiehl enjoyed hers a lot! We had a ton of sweets from Christmas so we were eating any for a while, in fact we were giving them away, so S. Hyatt didnt get any of the letter, but I think S. Wiehl was not upset about that haha all to herself! Well I have a ton of letters to respond to from everyone, so thank you for thinking of me everyone, and know that I will write back to you... some day soonish! But Mondays just get eaten up and I wonder where the time goes. Im sending out some pretty post cards from the Moravian bookstore, so hopefully thats okay with everyone! Im also glad that you are keeping up the lights. I think they are pretty longer as well! As long as they are not red and green... Lets see what else happened this week? Oh on Saturday we got to attend a baptism for 3 of the 8 year olds in the ward. They asked us to speak on baptism so we gave a joint talk on how baptism is the gate to the straight and narrow path leading back to living with God and our families again. Then we talked about the covenants of taking upon us His name, always remembering Him, and serving Him to the end. Then we talked about the blessings we are given, how baptism is not complete without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (how funny that our baptism isnt complete until God gives us the best gift we will ever receive! I like that) and how we can repent and continue to change and to come closer, and how its the start of a new life because now we have a constant companion (the Spirit) to guide us on our path back to Heavenly Father. It turned out really well! Then we tried to take some pictures of us with the three kids who were baptized, and they were all blurry :( So thats sad. But life goes on! So lots of miracles are happening this week. We havent been able to meet with Cindy and Gentry because of how busy they were for the holidays, but we set up an appointment with them to meet again! HUZZAH! I love them a whole lot :) Then there is a family who the elders were working with before S. Carrigan and I doubled in, the Tobias family. And when we got here we were not able to get in to see them. We tried to set up appointments but nothing ever held. So they were in the back of our minds because we knew that we needed to meet with them. Well I havent ever met any of them. But yesterday one of their sons came to church with a friend in our ward. And guess what? He got up and bore his testimony about how he knew the church was true, how he had been searching for the truth and he has known since the first time he attended a service that this was the true church. So we were introduced to him after sacrament meeting and he told us who he was and I was blown away! We talked about teaching him and how we would need parental permission since he is only 17, he said that his family has meet with missionaries in the past and that sisters they had met with previously were very pushy, so he didnt think that they would meet with us, but he wanted to. So I was confused, I thought he was talking about me and S. Carrigan being pushy, but we had only talked to them maybe 3 times! I was feeling bad that I hadnt done enough for them. Once we checked the teaching record we realized they had met with different sisters. Which made me feel better! And I learned that I appreciate filled records. So fill out your forms people! It helps others after you know what is going on! And relieves me of guilt which I like :) Anyhow, our ward mission leaders family knows them and said that they wanted to be involved in the process of teaching because the son talked to his parents and the whole family wants to meet with us HUZZAH!!!! How cool is that? So we might have a family to teach! Which would be so awesome! Ive never taught an investigator family before! So I hope that it works out how it seems that it will! What else happened? Well the Ortega family is pretty much re-activated! And Ray is even coming with them! Hes been at church 3 times now :) He left early the last time, but we are working on him slowly and carefully. They werent at church this week because the girls were out of town and I guess Ray was in the ER or something. We will find out tonight when we see them. Weve got a pretty good setup for P-days. We teach the Ortega, then we go to the Relitz family for dinner, this week we have an appointment with Pamela who is an investigator. But the Ortegas and Relitz happen every monday, which is nice. It makes planning on Sunday night go quickly, and then we enjoy our p-day eve :) We also got a new investigator this week. Her name is Katherine, she is the mother of a member in our ward. We met with her and taught her the Restoration, I guess she had meet with missionaries in the past so she had a large print Book of Mormon from them, which is good because she cant see very well. But we gave her an assignment to read 2 Nephi 31, which talks about the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism. We called her a few days later to see how she was doing, she told us that she tried to call us a few times because she read the section 3 times and still didnt understand it. Also she read the introduction because she wants to read it from beginning to end. AWESOME! I freaked out, Ive never had an investigator respond so well to an assignment, let alone do it multiple times! Well she was the appointment we went to last night after all the rain. She also had a friend of hers that lived close to her that was interested but only spoke spanish. So the spanish elders were invited and we reviewed the Restoration with Katherine and taught the restoration to Iris her friend, well the elders taught her because I dont speak spanish. The lesson was a little hectic because it was in two languages and at two levels, but after we walked out we talked to the elders and she was agreeing with everything they said. She is interested in learning more, but she lives in a place where they wouldnt be able to visit. So they are going to work on finding a place that they can meet and teach. Also during the lesson Katherine's son was there and he was kind of interrogating her and making her really answer our questions when she would give us answers like 'everything' or 'Christ gave me a new life' so that was good. We learned that she said she knows its true. She is preparing to be baptized and she wants to come back to church every week. HUZZAH FOR ISRAEL! Basically, it went really well. And we are gathering the flock here in Bethlehem. slowly but truly. Well I love you dearly! Thank you for your letters, love, prayers and words of encouragement. I love hearing form you each week and I hope this week goes as well as last week! Especially adjusting back to work and school after the Holidays. One lucky thing about being a missionary? The work never stops so no adjusting back and forth, its kinda nice. Anywho, love you all! Mostly you mommie :) Talk to you next week! Love, Sister Wilson :)

January 4, 2014 Happy New Year!! I just wanted to take a moment and Thank all of you that keep Kindra in your thoughts and prayers, also for all your support, letters and gifts. Our Christmas phone call was WONDERFUL and we were able to conference call with Stuart/Lindy and Garret all together so we could all hear her voice and visit. We even had a quick phone call from Grandpa Blakey and he got to hear Kindra's voice and they wished each other a Merry Christmas. The Lord has blessed our family greatly! At the very TOP of the list of blessings are YOU and your love and support!! We love you and Thank our Heavenly Father for Blessing our lives with each of you! Kindra sends her love and gratitude also for you support and encouragement...as Kindra says...keep those letters coming! Thank you and may the Lord bless you and your families this coming year! Lynn

December 30, 2013 Please forgive me. We are now drinking 1% milk... I know, gross. Its just not the same.... Judy's Neilson’s daughter in laws sister is sister Trulock. We had dinner with them a while ago and figured that out, I thought I mentioned it, but I guess not. Yeah! Her husband is the Ward Clerk so we see him a lot. She is a very sweet lady and they have two adorable little kids! And shes expecting as well. But they are very sweet, I love them...... Christmas: It was great to be able to hear your voices as well! It was nice to just hear everyone and be together for that short time. It sounds like everyone is doing well, and I could ask for nothing more for Christmas! How excited I am for when we do get everyone together again, it will be something to truly celebrate. Also I am glad that we did the phone call over skype or facetime, neither of those worked well for my companions so I think we should do that for mothers day as well. As fun as it is to see each other, we know the phones work and I would rather get to talk to you for an hour than watch a fuzzy picture and be frustrated instead....... Man! Abby is home for a while. Can I have her address? I should send her a letter. I hope surgery goes well for her.... I love that story you shared about the 13 days of Christmas, thats something that I wish we would talk about more. I wish we would celebrate Christmas all year long and not forget our Savior the day after we open gifts, plus what do those gifts have to do with him anyways!? Moving on....... Thanks for the gifts... haha bad timing. But thank you everyone for thinking of me! I am already using the sweaters because its not terrible outside, but it is definitely cold still. Winter will be lovely! Maybe Ill get sent to Delaware where its slightly warmer... not a huge difference but at least less snow! Not that we have any right now anyways... but you know. I wouldnt mind it! Plus I kinda want to serve in all states in my mission. Ive been in PA and I went through the part of NY in our mission... so now its just Delaware, New Jersey and Mary Land :) So here's hoping!.... I am very proud to hear about all of the service that Garret is doing. He has helped set an example for me of how to get involved in the community where you are! I love the fact that he is spending his time helping other people in any way that he can, that service assignment sounds like a big one. I am excited to hear about it! That is one thing that I have decided, when I get home I want to be more involved in the community! I want to get out there and help others and meet people that I would never rub shoulders with if I didn't. And thats something that I wish more members would do, get involved in the communities where you live! ...... We were asked to attend a funeral this week (which was hard and I cried through the whole service) but it was neat. It was an elderly couple and the wife passed away. But the husband spent every minute I saw him at the funeral telling someone around him about the gospel. Half the attend-ees were Lutheran and half were LDS. He would talk about simple doctrines, like the God head and life after death. At the luncheon we went over to talk to him and he then gave us some assignments. He wanted to get the details for a service project our stake had done with our youth, and he wanted to get the word out that the cemetery where he and his wife volunteered at for many years was in need of a younger generation of volunteers. He said that he wanted to get more members out in the community and get them involved in things like this. And I completely agree with him! I wish that I had volunteered in some way before my mission, but I know that I will be involved when I get home from my mission now! What an amazing opportunity to truly live your religion..... And now I am rambling... this week was good. A hard one but a good one. Hope all is well! Love you all! Thank you for your thoughts prayers and support. I need it constantly so thank you! Love sister Wilson :)