Hello from Mesa!!!

Kelsey with Pres. and Sister Ellsworth.

Can I just tell you guys that I LOVE it here!!!!!! Mom you seriously have absolutely NOTHING to worry about. I am sooo taken care of! The members are awesome like super stellar and love to help out the missionaries. We have one ward member who takes my district out to lunch every Friday! So sweet! Also we are fed by ward members every single night. Even when we have a shift at the visitors center at dinner time, ward members bring our dinner to us there! I am in heaven. Seriously I can't even begin to describe to you how incredibly blessed I am. Also we live in a beautiful apartment complex. It is basically brand new and super nice! We have a car!!! Alleluia!! The visitors center is my home away from home. I get to go there 7 days a week. I am sooo lucky!! Although I am sad I can't go to the temple every week anymore (but I do get to go once a transfer- so that's a blessing!), the visitors center is on temple grounds and is dedicated so the spirit is just as strong. I love being there. I could stay there all day if I could. I have already seen miracles. My favorite thing about serving in a visitors center is that the people come to you with their questions and then you have all the resources you could possibly need to help them come closer to the Savior Jesus Christ. One of my favorite experiences I had so far happened about 3 days ago. A girl named Taylor (17) and her friend Jorge (15) came into the visitors center. They immediately went and sat by the Christus and you could tell they were loving the spirit there. So my comp (one of them... I have 2! I'll come back to this later though) and I went over to talk to them and by the time we were all done they decided that they wanted to meet with missionaries! The spirit in the Visitors Center touches people's hearts and inspires them to change. Another cool part of working at the visitors center is that we have the call/chat center. So since they are both under 18 I have to contact Taylor's dad to be sure he's on board. Jorge was actually an inactive member, but anyways yeah so miracles happen! So much has happened I really don't even know where to start!


Anyways, so yes I am in a trio. Also we are over 5- yes 5 wards!! One of the wards is a ysa ward though, so i'm super pumped for that! I love it. I love being here! I know this is where I am supposed to be.
Oh my companions names are Sister Anderson and Sister Shurtz. They are amazing and they keep on telling me that I came pretrained. It's because of all of your prayers, I just know it.

Oh my gosh general conference. As you can imagine now being a missionary that general conference was incredibly amazing!! yyyaaayyyy!!!!! I am sooooo glad they changed the ages!! I totally would have gone when I was 19, but I am grateful for the experiences I was able to have before my mission. I know that going to college, transferring schools, working, etc all these things helped prepare me for my mission. I have to tell you though when I heard them lower the age for elders my mind immediately went to Christopher. I personally feel like this is the right time for him. Mom think of all the blessings of having 2 missionaries out at the same time!!!! so cool!!! :D It just makes me soo excited!! Christopher you can do this! This is your time little bro. Go start preparing! I wish that I had gone on more splits with the missionaries before I left and had studied preach my gospel more. you can do this! :) Yayyy we can both be out at the same time! I can't even begin to describe to you how happy this makes me. But of course, it is your choice and you should really think about it and pray about it to know what is right for you. 

Anyways, my companions. They are amazing! I actually love being in a trio for this first transfer. I feel like I am learning so much having 2 different opinions/experiences and personalities. We have so much fun! Oh my gosh I have to tell you about this sweet kid named Robert. He is 16 and had been going to church/dances/hanging out with his member friend Shaun. Members of the church make a difference. In fact they make a huge difference and we as a family need to step it up. There are so many people out there who are ready, but we just assume that they won't want it or need it. This is so wrong! Who are we to judge? We need to help out the missionaries. Invite your friends. Just do it! Allow them to experience the love of God in their lives. They are missing out on the greatest source of happiness and we as members need to stop being selfish and share what we know! Seriously I just wish I could go back in time to high school and beyond and had just been brave enough to open my mouth. That is all it takes. But anyways back to Robert, he is incredible. He was in sacrament meeting one time and he said that he just started crying because he felt the spirit so strong and he knew that he wanted to be baptized. Every time we teach him I feel like he is teaching me. That boy's level of faith is amazing. He is getting baptized in 2 weeks! :) Miracles happen and people are prepared. 


I love you all soooooo much!!!! Thank you for being the very best and amazingly wonderful family ever! I will send pictures next week. Thank you for praying for me. Your prayers are giving me the strength to do thing I never knew I could do before and say things I didn't think I could say. So I thank you.


Love you all!!!


Sister Hamstead