MTC Ghostbuster - March 26, 2013

 Dearest Family!

It was so awesome to see you in the temple! I thought during the very first week in the MTC ... “I wonder if I will ever see any of my family here”...he he, sure enough, I come out of breakfast at the temple and who is there?? YOU WOHOOO! It was so fun to see you...even if we only exchanged a total of about 20 words.

So I got my flight itinerary last week...I'm not sure if that means I have my visa or not. I think/hope it does. I leave on Monday. My flight is at 4:50 and it's Delta Flight 89. It's the direct flight to Paris. THANK GOODNESS!! HAHA I feel bad for those Lyon missionaries. They leave about 5 hours before us and get there 40 minutes after us. They have two layovers. I'm telling you -- Paris is the place to be.

This is France!

Flight Itinerary

On that note, I don't receive letters Saturday afternoon or Sunday and I won't receive them this coming Monday. So be careful of what you send me this week. If you send it through BYU on Friday morning, I should get it but if it's Saturday morning, I probably won’t...and the district after us will be reading my letter. I'm definitely going to miss my district. Out of the 10 of us, only 5 are going to Paris and out of my zone...only 5 are going to Paris. I'm glad that I was put in a group of people that are not in my mission. I have 18 months to get to know all the Paris missionaries. I feel really blessed that I got to meet/know my district. The Elders are AWESOME in our district--truly awesome. Sometimes, when we do language study with TALL (computer program), my companion and I are in a room full of other Elders who are just having fun. I just think of the Elder's in my district and how impressive they are. They don't forget who they are representing. They are going to change the world these next two years!

Thank you for sending the krill oil pills..although, I don't know if you meant to, but you sent me the joint ones. My joints are feeling awesome! ALSO!! Thank you for the dictionaries! They are bomb! The little one is a TRUE pocket dictionary and I love it. I take it with me everywhere. I love the yellow one too because it is organized by category and has REAL pronunciation. Not that upside down e, backwards a weird stuff. Ain't nobody got time to translate that. The dictionary that you sent me uses English words or phenomes to show you how to pronounce certain phrases or words. It is very helpful.

The Old Not So Pocket Dictionary

So story time! This last week, TRC was awesome. It was our first lesson at TRC that was scheduled for 40 minutes. We weren't too concerned about it because every lesson with our investigator/teacher has been 40 minutes so far. We went into the lesson with the idea in mind that we would teach some of the commandments and extend the challenge to have him recommit himself to one of them. When we came in we asked if there was anything that we could help him with in particular. He said the commandments would be fine and so we continued with our lesson.

About 15 minutes into the lesson, I felt strongly that we should share the scripture Alma 7:11-13. I thought to myself "are you kidding? We're talking about the commandments! That is so far off topic. That is about the atonement!" Thankfully the spirit is a little more patient and asked again that I share the scripture Alma 7:11-13. So after Soeur Carter finished her story, I told him I had a scripture that I would like him to read. I opened up my scriptures and I asked him to read. He said "this section in blue?" "Yes please." I replied. He glanced at the passage and then said "Oh. This scripture". He proceeded to read the scripture and as he did, his face turned more and more red. Tears were starting to rim the sides of his eyes.

After this point, he pretty much didn't make eye contact with us for the rest of the lesson. He just stared at the passage while we continued to talk to him about the atonement and that Christ knows how to cover all pains and afflictions, all sins and strife. My companion and I shared an analogy that was shared with us. It goes something like this:

Every time that I fly on a plane, I notice that we have to ascend to a particular altitude. During this ascension, and while we are below the clouds, we often feel turbulences and the plane shakes as it tries to reach the prime altitude (can I just say that President Uchtdorf would love this analogy). Once we are above the clouds, even when the storms come, we do not feel the turbulence as much as before. They do not seem to shake our flight and our sailing seems much easier than when we were below the clouds.

I asked Slade what this could mean to him. He said that the closer we draw to God, the less life's turbulences would shake us (Still of course looking at the scripture in his lap). We continued to explain that God was the sun and that once we are above the clouds, we can feel the warmth of his love, his light and his strength. But, we first had to commit to make the climb. After the lesson, Slade wrote us the NICEST note. He filled the ENTIRE sheet, front and back with this mini chicken scratch writing just thanking us for telling him what he needed to hear. It made me sad for him because I thought to myself "WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE HIS HOMETEACHERS?!" They are supposed to be taking care of him! How long has he been waiting to hear something as simple as Christ knows how to succor his people?? I recommit all you out there reading this: DO YOUR HOME TEACHING AND VISITING TEACHING!

So I'm attaching some photos (for real this time. Not like the fake out last time). One of them has Soeur Carter and me in front of the map. Well, Soeur Carter is wearing the Dress of shame. Refer to said picture during the story below.

So we have this DRESS OF SHAME! And it is being passed around through our district this last week. It started with Soeur Carter. Each night, the sister with the dress, has the power to choose who will be the next to wear the dress of shame and why that sister has been chosen. Well Soeur Carter chose Soeur Christensen.

At this point I would like to tell a 2nd story for context purposes. Every Saturday morning at 6:00 am all of the Sister's in the district (6 of us) do a service project in one of the classroom buildings. We spend about an hour or hour and a half cleaning the building. Well my fellow sisters have found out that I'm not very talkative in the morning. I don't say anything mean, or anything else...just nothing at all. About an hour after we leave, I suddenly get a surge of energy! Well around 7 am, we were about 30 minutes until the end of the service project. Soeur Carter and I are cleaning the toilets and Soeur Christensen and Soeur Deweese are vacuuming. Some of the vacuums in this building are traditional looking vacuums but some of them are these Ghost Buster style vacuums that strap on to your back. It literally looks a prop straight out of Ghost Busters.

Soeur Carter and I moved to the 4th floor to clean the bathrooms and who do I see -- Soeur Christensen with the ghost buster vacuum on her back! She appeared to be concentrating and oblivious to her surroundings. I thought to myself, "the perfect opportunity for a good scare”. The best time to scare someone is when they think they are all alone – MUAHAHAHA”. Because she was vacuuming, I was able to get VERY close to her without her noticing. Once I was about 2 inches from here ear, I said (in a voice similar to Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter) "BONJOUR!!" At which point Soeur Christensen let out a high pitched scream and just toppled over into the wall and then fell to the floor with the vacuum still attached to her back. She looked like a turtle that had been tipped onto its shell. IT WAS BRILLIANT!!

Soeur Christensen has an awesome sense of humor so she also thought it was funny. She has vowed to "get be back!" I simply reply, "Sorry Soeur Christensen, C'est impossible. Je suis la chef". Since she now has the power of the Dress of Shame...I'm pretty sure I will be wearing said dress tomorrow. Another rule with the Dress of shame is that each person who chooses the next wearer gets to make a new rule...I'm fairly positive that Soeur Christensen's rule will be "You cannot accessorize the Dress of Shame". Oh well, perhaps it is time to embrace the shame!

Spiritual Thought of the Day: Moses 1:39, is the classic scripture that God says his work is give his children the opportunity of eternal life and exaltation. What I didn't notice before is the entire rest of the chapter. It describes all the things that God has made. He made the beautiful mountains, he made the birds to sing, he made the heavens and the earth. It continues and continues, describing really awesome things that this earth provides.

Moses 1:39 is really a BUT statement. For example "All these things have I made, but my true glory is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man". Out of all the beautiful things that God has made, the Alps, the coral reefs, the rainforests and the stars...the thing that is his glory...is US! It is really humbling when you stand in nature and think "while this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, God values me above these things". You are all wonderful! Now go forth and act like it!

I love you all so much.

I'm out of time and I still have to attach pictures. The next letter you get will be from FRANCE!! Also, I think I will be calling you from the SLC airport since my flight is a direct flight and the Mission President picks us up personally.

Avec amour,


Soeur Bitter

In Your Grill - March 19, 2013

HELLO FAMILY!!

K so first of all, I love you all. This week was a much better week than last week for letters!! I felt just so loved. It was wonderful. Speaking of which. I have been hearing rumors that people have not been getting my letters. As of right now, everyone who has written me, I have written back (except for those who wrote me this last week. You can be expecting a letter sometime in the next week). Like Renae, I sent you a letter the first week I was here. So hopefully you have gotten it by now!! And Anne, I have sent you a letter every single week...so I hope you have gotten those.

K so business first. I am really concerned that I am losing my memory. Like rapidly. It's terrifying because I used to have a scary good memory and could remember even the smallest details of stories. Now, I can barely remember names. I forgot one of my brothers (not going to say which one) name all day. Someone asked me and I just stared at them completely dumfounded. I forget things in the temple, facts and people from my past. It's getting worse with each passing day. I know what you're thinking "oh it's because you are learning a new language and that is a lot to take into your mind". I thought about that and I really don't think that is it. I know what my brain feels like when it's maxed and I haven't hit that point yet. I don't know if it's the food (I blame everything on the food these days) and I'm not getting the nutrients I need or what. If you have any ideas of something you could send me that would help, that would be awesome. This is probably my only stress right now. I NEED MY MEMORY!

Also, I may or may not have lost my watch last week. I was sending the email last week and it was bugging me so I took it off and set it by the computer...haven't seen it since. haha whoops! It's fine. I'll just be the rogue missionary without a watch. John- I remember you telling me one time that you always had to know what time it was. So you checked like every 5 minutes. I thought that was the most bizarre thing I had ever heard...well since not having a watch now (and most the rooms in the MTC don't have clocks--what a joke) I have become obsessed with knowing what time it is 24/7 haha.

Also, I'm going to attach a picture of the 'pocket dictionary' they gave us. What a joke. I don't know what pocket that could fit in. I really need a pocket french dictionary and they don't sell them in the bookstore. Will you pretty please send me one. OH that leads me to my next story. So on Friday, my teacher came into class and wrote on the board "Week of Consecration" (in french of course) and I just looked at it and thought 'what have we been doing for the last 3 weeks then?? haha Then he goes on to explain that this next week, he wants us each to commit to PVL or speak our language (French) 24/7. No more English. Until next Friday  All of our jaws dropped. I've been improving in French, but I'm not THAT good! I barely learned how to speak in future tense yesterday on my own. Haha anyway at that moment, I turn to my companion and say "Alors, Au Revoir!" Which basically means "Well, Goodbye". I have mastered how to say in French "I'm not mad at you. I'm just not speaking because I don't know how to say what I want in French". Haha. Needless to say, it has been a quiet week. Anyway, that is why I need a pocket dictionary so bad. I can't carry around a 10 lb "pocket" dictionary with me to look up words. It would be great to speak to my companion again. But it has been a blessing for sure. It has made us use the words we know more and expand our vocabulary. It has really pushed me to start learning things on my own. I feel like the MTC doesn't teach you fast enough so my companion and I have started learning grammar on our own.

Also, you know how I said I wouldn't get sick? Well that was a fail. The MTC is like an incubator and do you know what it is incubating?? SICKNESS!! DISEASE!! GERMMSSS!! Also, I feel like some people are not aware that when they are sick, people do not what them touching them. For example, a sister in a district and I were getting ready for bed. I was at the sink next to her with my towel and face wash. She was blowing her nose into her hands into the sink (which is disgusting to start with). After which, she decides to wipe her hands on my towel...the look I must have given her probably wasn't a good one...but it still didn't register why I might not like that. I secretly (apparently not so secretly) blame her for the reason I'm sick. Anyway, but I didn't want to stay in the apartment 1. because that is incredibly depressing and 2. I have lots to learn! So I decided to go to class anyway. 

During gym time I didn't want to rob my companion of her exercise so instead I just grabbed a yoga mat and just laid spread eagle on the floor. I must have been quite a site. Even in my sick state, I found it really funny how I must have looked. I even thought "Who in the world comes to the gym to sleep?? If I saw someone in the real world sleeping at the gym I would most undoubtedly make fun of them". But as a missionary, you do lots of weird things that suddenly feel normal....like sleeping on a yoga mat at the gym. Anyway, but I went to the bookstore when I felt the sickness first coming on, bought like 20 packs of emergen-c and a multi-vitamin. So the illness didn't last long.

Oh! I keep thinking each week how I have forgotten to give my scripture for the plaque. Every week I say I'm going to remember but doo doo doo....forgetful me, I don't. Anyway, the scripture I thought of before the mission was Moroni 10:32. J'aime cet ecriture. Also, Dad/Anne-good job on that French. It was pretty good. You must have used google translate haha.

So on Saturday, we did a mock contacting (where you walk the streets and just meet people to talk about the Gospel with). I guess in Paris, the sisters hardly do any tracting at all...so I will definitely be doing a lot of contacting! Anyway, I thought we were doing well haha was I wrong. So we get back to the classroom and I ask my teacher "so...we're going to have to talk to real people someday. Real people, with real lives, with real commitments, with a real schedule...not other missionaries who are too nice to give a hard time to their fellow sisters. What is an average contact like?" He then says that he will be a French man and me and my companion will be the missionaries contacting him (to which both me and my companion were less than enthusiastic about. Frere Blosil is kind of tough.

Anyway, we get up and he starts racing past us, we try to talk to him he is babbling in French saying how late he is. I'm to frazzled to say anything...instead I just chase him like some crazed lunatic. At the end of the demonstration all I could say is "SLAY ME!". It was definitely overwhelming. He then went on to talk about the culture of France. He said how a lot of people say that the French are really rude. He said that bugged him for a lot of months before his mission and in the MTC. Like "I've been called to teach a rude people" but he said that nothing is further from the truth. He said that they are very genuine and nice people. Soeur Larsen said that every time she would ask anyone for directions, they would take like 20 minutes explaining and even offer to go with them just to make sure they gave them the right path. Frere Blosil said that they are a people who really take pride in confidence. If you are shy or timid about sharing the Gospel, that is when you get a finger shake or a "What do you want?!" When he was telling me this I thought...sounds like Detroit. 

But THEN he said the craziest thing of all. I asked "So how would you have handled the situation you just gave us? Where a contact is basically charging to work". He then told one of the Elders to walk quickly the length-wise of the room. Half way through his walk, Frere Blosil intercepted his path, stepped right in front of him-about 5 inches from his face might I add- and said "Bonjour, J'ai une message de Jesus Christ pour vous". He said that the French feel comfortable when you get up in their grill..basically haha. They are busy people (not necessarily more busy than Americans but they pride themselves with that). If you are bold and basically say with your body language "I'm an incredibly busy person too but this is serious and you need to hear this". They really respond to that type of teaching. I almost died. I am a bold person. But being bold in a language that I barely know--a little harder. haha Oh well. It is all for my good!

Also!! I don't know if I said this above!! BUT CONGRATS RACHEL!! THAT IS SO AMAZING!! I was floored when mayu told me...well not floored...because you are so beautiful and you are in love BUT you have to send me a dearelder ASAP!! I want to hear everything! Also...if not a lot of people were supposed to know about this...then whoops! My bad! I apologize in advance! I love you!

Also, Julie and Tom! I heard you are going to Paris! My teacher Soeur Larsen was talking about this place that she served which was the most beautiful place she has ever seen in France. It was called Blois. She hadn't heard of it before but she fell in love with it in an instant. If you have time, go check it out!!

Anyway, I need to attach a couple of photos! Au revoir!! I love you all

Avec amour,
Soeur Kari Bitter


p.s Did you all hear about the first church built in the Middle East!! It was built in Abu Dhabi!! How amazing! That makes me so happy. You should read the article on it. I guess the people there have so much reverence for that building that the spirit is very strong there.

p.p.s Also, I would love some clementines :)

Reunited With My Violin - March 13, 2013

FAMILY!!!

So I was a little sad on Monday when I found out that I had not gotten a letter from the family...but then that night Jon sent me a letter!! So you are all redeemed. Also, you sneaky little ninjas! I got my violin yesterday during class! It was so surprising! Suddenly a man was at the door and he was like "Sister Bitter" "Yes?" I responded still looking at my french notes. Suddenly I look up and immediately my eyes went to my violin! I'm so happy to have it! That night, during additional study, Soeur Carter and I went to our 'Chapel' and practiced for this Sunday's meeting. I feel at peace to be reunited with my violin. Thanks for sneaking that in. Also, MY SWEATSHIRT IS AWESOME!! I literally felt like the coolest kid on the block. You didn't need to buy a new one though! But I did feel pretty slick. Also, the cashews have been a life saver. I feel I have much more energy with that extra bit of protein. The scary thing about sending food is that the MTC might throw it out! Soeur Carter's sister tried to send her Curry for lunch on Friday and Soeur Carter got a note in the mail saying that MTC services threw it out because you can't accept food...so it's a risky buisness. The only thing that I could ever want is just a normal diet haha. It's not that bad anymore with the cashews. Cuties would be a nice treat but I'm actually pretty content now. Funny story about that. I wrote this story in a couple of the letters but I guess you will all get to read it now. So my teacher the other day told us "I believe that a missionaries trajectory is directly related to how they feel about MTC food. If they hate the MTC food, they will be a terrible missionary." well. IN YOUR FACE FRERE BROSIL! I'm going to be an awesome missionary and I have dreams about escaping this place to have a nice normal meal.

So this week, one of our 'investigators' was a 9 year old child named Morgan. And when I say a 9 year old child I mean our teacher pretended to be a 9 year old child that he had taught in the mission field. Oh that's another thing. Apparently they don't just make up these stories. They base them off of real people that they taught in the mission field. Anyway, so everyone was complaining about how hard it was to teach him. That he would get distracted and he would play with the chair or play with cars or something. Anyway, so Soeur Carter and I decided instead of teaching him a lesson, we were going to teach him "I am a Child of God" or "Je suis ses enfants de Dieu". So we learned it in French and taught it to him and it went AWESOME!! He is supposed to critique us after and he said that he loved our lesson. That it was catered to the investigator and it was spiritual but entertaining. He said we were very enthusiastic and that we would make great moms one day. Our teacher is way nice...evne though he semi implied I would be a terrible missionary because I hate the MTC food. We also taught Danielle this week. When I was lying in bed the night before we were supposed to teach her, I turned to my comp and said "I think we need to teach Danielle about the atonement and scrap our lesson on the plan of salvation." My companion was like "I feel really good about that". So we start teaching her and we find out that she has been carrying a huge burden with her. In her words "someone is dead because of me" (in french of course). She didn't kill this person but she has been carrying around this guilt. When I found this out, I almost cried on the spot just becuase I knew that Soeur Larsen (who was pretending to be Danielle) was reenacting a very real situation that they had on the mission field and my heart went out to that woman.

Also, everyone in my district is sick except for me and one elder. We are holding strong. It might also be because I went to the bookstore and bought a 1-a-day vitamin that I have been taking regularly and on top of that I have been taking emergen-c pretty regularly as well. Haha. I WILL NOT GET SICK!! One of my roommates sounds like a dying old man. The funny thing is, she doesn't cough hardly at all druing the day but as soon as night hits and we are all in bed, the cough attack begins. It's actually pretty funny. She's really sweet so I feel bad that she is so sick.

So to make things interesting and to learn the language more, Soeur Carter and I will either pick a word in English or a word in French that we have to use 4 times in the day. If we pick an English word, we have to slip that word in French conversation. If we pick a French word, the opposite is true. So the word the other day was Tub. You would not believe how strangely people respond to the word tub...especially if they don't speak french and all they hear is TUB in the middle of the sentance.

Fun facts of the week: We are learning the Champs-Elysess song. I love it. I don't know if we are allowed to sing it in the MTC since it is not a church song...but our teacher is teaching it to us so I will just blame him. Also, Soeur Carter and I pretty much get in trouble all the time. They need a white handbook for the MTC because we feel like we get in trouble every single day. For example, the other day, we walked by (wednesday) and the new missionaries were coming. "Oh fun!" we thought "we should great them! Maybe practice our french". It was such a beautiful day and we were excited to be outside of the classroom. Anyway, so we are standing there in the sun, feeling happy and the woman in charge of welcome comes up and scolds us. We quickly appologize and run away. We then stand in front of our classroom, still being happy in the happy sun. She comes over to us again "You can't be out here! I just told you that". So apprently on wednesdays, you can't be outside because of the mass inflex of missionaires into the MTC. Speaking of which, so they used to have 2000 missionaries in the MTC. Now there are over 1000 sister missionaries alone and by the time we leave, there will be 2500 sister missionaries. I don't know how many there are total but I know that we are all filled to capacity...and more. Haha the rooms are really only made for 4 but everyone is having 6 in their apartment. IT WILL BE AN ADVENTURE! It's so awesome though! This outflex of missionaries. Everyone who comes and speaks always comments on how many sisters there are. They always say "You are such a more attractive sight than the missionaries I spoke to last year...Mainly because the amount of sisters here". It is way fun though.

Anyway, I don't have much more to say because this week was not quite as eventful as the first week or San Francisco. It is really cool though that we are finally in a real routine and that the French learning is more structured. I feel I'm picking up on it pretty quickly but at the same time, I'm pretty sure I have moments of speaking hard core cave man French. "Read Book Now" bahaha. Oh well. The thing is, I noticed this the other day, learning a language has really stripped my testimony down to the nuts and bolts of the Gospel. I'm not worried about the wording of English or how to sound intelligent or well versed. Instead all I can do is testify of the Doctrinal Truths...and it takes me like 5 minutes to do so haha. In that time, and in the gaps while I think of what to say, the spirit is really strong. That has been a huge testimony to me of how The Gospel is about the simple things. It is about the simple truths and the power that they carry.

Meg--I'm thinking about you mucho. I wanted to write you a personal letter today but I ran out of time!! SO LAME!! Anyway, I want to hear how you are doing and how things are going with preparing etc. You are in my prayers OFTEN! Like all the time. Know that the weeks leading up to the mission are seriously the hardest. I'm not saying the MTC is easy (but you know how to work so it'll be easier for you than some) but a lot of your worries are just left at the doors of the MTC. It's really great. So people talk about how exhausting a mission is and that's true...but I've seen you work at violin and I know you know how to work so it will be no unusual shock to you. It's really interesting to see the missionaries who have learned how to work before the mission and the ones who are like "WOAH!! THIS IS HARD AND AWESOME!!" haha

Rachel--I know that your concerto performance is coming up and I am SO EXCITED FOR YOU!! You play with so much soul and beauty. I know you will rock it. I really wish I could be there but you will just have to give an encore in august of 2014. hehehe

Jon and Sarah--You two are so awesome. Jon: Thank you for representing the family and sending me a letter. That is why you are awesome. Sarah, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! You are such a good mama to Zoe. I'm excited to see how she grows!

Shelly-You were so right about the MTC. The devotionals are literally what keep me going. THEY ARE SO GOOD! All the spiritual stuff about the MTC is amazing. How are things going? When are you due again?? I can't wait to get to paris and I'll find the most obnoxious touristy baby shirt ever and send it to you and send a matching one to Zoe.

Steven--Or should I say Elder Bitter. You are so awesome!! I tell stories about your mission all the time in our district. There are a couple of Elders going to the Congo speaking French and they love hearing about Uganda. I know they are different but they are more similar than Paris and the Congo haha. Also, I am going to steal as many nutella packages while I'm in France, collect them and try to send them to Uganda...if it's not too expensive. Haha. We'll see if they get there.

Mom & Dad--You guys are awesome! Thanks for sending me all the stuff I have forgotten/needed. I miss you two mucho...especially when we go to the temple...I kind of look around for you guys haha I always think I'm going to see you...but I know you don't even go to the Provo temple and you don't go as late in the day as I go. But still, it's strange to be so close yet so far.

Renae- I don't know why but you have been on my mind! I love you so much! You have always been such a light to me! You have such a love of life and I LOVE THAT!! I bet all the people of rexburg just want to be in your presence 24/7. If not, they are fools and will surely not go to heaven...just kidding...kind of.

Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter

San Francisco Side Trip - March 5, 2013

BONJOUR FAMILLE!!!

So this week a lot happened--as you probably know. We went to San Francisco on Thursday to get our visas and we were able to see the city for a bit. We saw Ghiradelli square and Fisherman's warf and pier 39. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge but avas...it was foggy. We have a theory though. It's like a first date. You can't give away all your secrets all at once. San Francisco is playing a little aloof so that we will come back for more. The coolest part of the whole trip was that we got a little bit of time to tract. In the airport, I met this man who was heading to Salt Lake for the first time for a conference. He came up to me and asked how long the flight was to SL. When he saw our tags he read "Church of Jesus Christ?" Apparently he can read french! What does that mean? And we started talking "So are you like a nun or something?" "Actually no. Sister Callister and I have decided to set aside 18 months of our life to serving God and helping others come closer to Jesus Christ". He was floored. He kept saying "wow. That is so cool. I can't believe that. That is really such an awesome thing". He wanted to know more! So we talked to him a little bit and then we gave him a pass along card that had Soeur Callisters testimony in it. After that we just talked about his business and his life here in the states. After the flight, I hear "Hey! Hey! Excuse me! Sister!" I turn around and I see that same man coming towards me. He comes straight up to me and looks me square in the eyes and says "Thank you so much for that card. I am heading to my hotel right now and I'm going to look up that site (mormon.org). I am really excited about it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you" And then he walked away. I was shocked! I felt an overwhelming love for him and I just wanted to continue teaching him and be there for him to answer questions and teach him how to find answers. Anyway, I wish him the very best. It was an awesome experience. Also, side note, have I been to San Fran before? For some reason Pier 39 looked SO familiar. Espeically the Aquarium of the Bay. Have we been there as a family? Like when we did the Redwoods/Whale watching trip?

Teaching our fake investigator is the funniest thing ever. He is actually our teacher (and he has started teaching us now). The funniest part was when we were teaching him about the plan of salvation. We had planned our lesson anticipating he already knew the story of Adam and Eve and that he could recount it to us--mistake!! When we asked him "Are you familiar with the story of Adam and Eve" He said no! He pretended like he had never heard of them before! Me and my companion look at each other and we keep repeating to him Adam and Eve in every sort of combination. We had NOT prepared the lesson of Adam and Eve in French! STRESS HAHA!! So we go to the board and we start speaking in caveman french (Book Good. Fruit Eat haha) and drawing pictures on the chalk board. The highlight was when he said "So what you're saying is that God told Adam and Eve, if they didn't evat the fruit, the fruit would eat them?" BAHAHA oh fail. The really cool experience of this lesson was actually at the end though. We were teaching and Soeur Carter was doing a great job of answering questions. Suddenly I felt really strongly that I should bear my testimony. WHAT THE WHAT! I can bear my testimony but I felt I should say very specific things and I did NOT know how to say that in French. Finally I folded to the Spirit's wishes and I asked if I could say something really fast. I bore my testimony without any trouble at all. The gift of tongues is real. I was able to express what I wanted and I felt like I was just speaking. The Spirit was very strong. Nicolas was very receptive and he decided he would read the book of mormon haha even though in real life he's already served a mission. Well I left and I felt that Nicolas as a real human being (not our fake investigator) needed to hear some of things in my testimony.

Anyway, the next day I went to S.F. and I didn't think much about it. Well I guess that Nicolas came into our class and revealed himself as one of our teachers. He said we were doing INCREDIBLY well. That it is flooring the other teachers that we are teaching 30-45 minute lessons. In the past, the first 2 weeks, the missionaries teach for 45 minutes all together. So each companionship is like 6 minutes. He then said "Soeur Bitter said the most beautiful thing. She said 'I know I am not very important but I know that if I pray, God will respond to my prayers. I may not be very important but I am very special to him and so are you Nicolas". Something like that. I'm glad I wasn't there because I feel I would have been pretty embarassed. I thought that was nice of him to say and then I didn't think much more of it. Yesterday though, at the end of our lesson, Nicolas bore his testimony and said that he has been going through a hard time. At that moment I felt that he had needed to hear what God had told me to say in my testimony. I realized then that missionary work is about bringing others unto Christ REGARDLESS if they are investigators or not. We need to help and uplift and strengthen even the most stalwart followers of Christ. We all need help at some point.

Sunday is really the best day. We watched an old talk (devotional specifically for the MTC) by Elder Bednar. It was called "Character of Christ" and he really highlighted the difference between having a testimony and being converted. He said that if we only have a testimony of the Gospel, we will most likely fall away. It is only when we are truly converted and striving every day to become more converted that we can be sure that we will always follow God. He talked about how the Character of Christ is about looking outward instead of inward. The natural man wants to look inwards. What are my needs? My problems? "I want Baptisms. I want investigators. I want lessons" me me me me me. But when we focus more outwards and focus on others, that is when we truly find ourselves.

He told a story of this phone call he got one time. He was in the shower and his wife comes in and says "it's an emergency. You have to get on the phone now". He was the stake president at the time and so he runs to the phone and on the other line is one of the Relief Society Presidents of the other wards. "There has been a terrible accident and three of the young women were involved. They are being transported to a hospital near you and I need you to go and identify them. One has been confimed dead and the other two are in critcal condition. Can you do this President". He replied that of course he would. Continuing to talk to her, he discovers two things. 1. one of the daughters is definitely hers. He is not sure which one and neither is she. Is she dead? Is she alive? 2. He hears that she is actually on two phones. One with him and on the other ear she is on the phone with the nurse who is with the girls. Suddenly he hears the nurse tell the R.S. President. "We have successfully identified the deceased young woman. She is your daughter". Elder Bednar can hear this through the phone and he does not know what to do or say. What is going to happen next? At that moment the R.S. President said "President, we have just found that the two young women who are in critical condition are ___ and ___. We need to notify their parents and let them know that they are going to be fine and to meet us as the hospital." She continued to give instructions to Elder Bednar. He was floored! This woman, who just found out that her only child--and only family since she was a single mother was dead, was concerned about the welfare of others rather than the welfare of herself. No one would have blamed her if she would have crumpled to the floor and mourned the death of her child but instead she took the opportunity in a time of stress and need to turn out and serve others.

To add the story, the day of her daughers funeral she gets a call from a "Self-centered woman of the church" (as Elder Bednar put it). She was unaware of the situation with the R.S. Presidents daughter but she started to ream the R.S. President saying "I've had a cold! And NO ONE has brought me any soup! that is your job as the relief society president! To take care of the other sisters" instead of making this sister feel bad or guilty, The R.S. Presdient apologized and she herself delievered some home made soup to this woman on the way to the funeral home. God did not spend his earth ministery in an office behind a desk. He spent it among his brothers and sisters, serving and helping and healing them. Even after suffering in Gethsemane, he took the opportunity to turn out and serve others by healing the ear of the Roman Guard. That could have been a perfect time to mentally prepare for the cross or worry about his own needs. Instead, he was completely focused on the welfare of others. It was a life changing talk. I think we all left feeling extra selfish and that we needed to improve.

Anyway, I have lots more to write but the time says I only have 2 more mintues!! I love you all so much

Mom, in response to your letter-San Francisco was amazing. It was an awesome escape from the MTC and i felt like for once I was able to eat real food!! WOHOO!! Also, I discovered there that I want to end up in California. It just made me happy being there. Or maybe it was the stark contrast of the MTC v San Francisco. We flew out Thursday morning and caught the last flight back Thrusday night. I have been getting your dealelders just fine :) they are great and they always make my day. Also, the blanket was perfect!! I have been sleeping so well. Oh random story! Our floor flooded! Someone left the faucet on and then a pipe burst haha! Everyone's rooms were in water excpet ours and the other sisters in our distict. A few sisters woke up to a couple inches of water in their room. How sad. It smells but we were SO LUCKY!! HAHA That is so funny that your visiting teacher knows my companion! Soeur Carter says hi!!

I bought the usb sd card thing so I could upload pics and the only other thing I can think of that I would need is a sweatshirt. Fail on my part. Also, if you feel so inclined to send any sort of real food, it would be much appreciated. Eating a spinach salad every lunch and dinner and a banana every breakfast is getting kind of bland. I WOULD KILL FOR SOME CASHEWS!!

OH LAST STORY!! I went to the temple today and did sealings. THEY WERE AMAZING!! I think I can count maybe 9 other times I have felt the spirit that strong. That is the center of Gods Gospel. Us returning to him and being with families forever. I loved it. I thought of how grateful I am to be sealed and that I can be promised to see Matthew and Ryan again if I do my best.

Oh and yes! Elder Ballard came and spoke to us last Tuesday!! I found out right after I wrote you guys! It was amazing! He talked about the enabling power of the atonement and for us to stop stressing. We already know the doctrine. Where Kolob is is not the doctrine. We all know the doctrine so stop stressing and just pray.

I love you.

Aubrey and Kati, I love your letters--I hope you're getting mine. I sent you two already. mers, I lvoed your letter last week and I sent you one! Let me know if you're not getting them.

Avec Amour,
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter

P.S. Tell Grandma Bill I've been thinking of her! She's been on my mind for some reason so send her my love!!!

P.P.S UPDATE THE BLOG!!!

First Week in the MTC - February 26, 2013

Dearest family,

So, I don't know if I got everyone's email address' right...I know mom's for sure. So mom the responsibility is on you!!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY MOM!! You don't look a year over 24. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to be there. Things got so crazy before the mission. I feel like we should have celebrated your birthday before I left.

So the week started with Morgan (or Hermana Anderson) being my host!! PRAYERS WORK!! I prayed the night before that she would be my host and show me around...and sure enough my prayer was answered :) AND we found out that her room is only like 3 doors down from mine. So we would get ready for bed together almost every night. But now she is in Chile!! She will be such a great missionary.

I was definitely discouraged the first night. They had a crash course in the language and we had a ton of meetings. In one of the meetings I learned that I would be teaching an investigator on Friday (2 days away)...oh and it would be in French. Well that's awesome since I can't even count past 6. Haha. Then in a late night meeting with the branch presidency, we learned that every Sunday, our sacrament meeting is just with our zone. In our zone is only French speaking missionaries. The way that talks went is that we would all prepare a talk and he would randomly select who would give it...oh and did I mention...this would be in French. I'm actually laughing now that I'm writing it but oooohhh I was not laughing then. Our days are very planned so we all just stared at the branch president and thought "when in the WORLD will I find time to write an entire talk, in a language I don't remotely know, in 4 days???" Thankfully, he didn't end up asking any of the new missionaries to speak this Sunday so we got a free pass. And this Sunday is Fast Sunday! Next free pass!! Although, our district has made a goal that we will all bear our testimony in french this Sunday. Wish me luck!!

Speaking of French, it's actually coming along really quickly. There are weird rules and pronunciations but in general, French sticks to the rules. The hard thing is a lot of the words look a lot like Spanish...and in some cases are spelled exactly like Spanish...but they sound NOTHING like Spanish. HAHA So I speak Sprench. BUT I am learning incredibly quickly for how shortly I've been here. The Lord is definitely blessing his missionaries.

Also, tell Steven that I saw Nathan and Dewey here!! I see Dewey a lot. Nathan I've only seen like twice but it was fun to see them both.

So we started teaching our "investigator" on Friday. His name is Nicolas (pronounced Nicola). He is from Paris and his brother served a mission. The second time we met him, I understood almost nothing. Yesterday when we taught him, I understood EVERYTHING!! Granted, he was not speaking in complex terms...but I was still proud of myself. 45 minutes straight of understanding French and I've been here less than a week. I can't often speak but I'm speaking to Nicolas more and more. So on Saturday, I was discouraged because Nicolas said he didn't want to pray. He said that in France, no one believed in God. It's easy here in America to believe in God but in France, it is much harder. He said that he wasn't ready for the work that was involved with believing in God. Soeur Carter and I left our appointment very discouraged. While Nicolas is actually a return missionary (and our teacher the last 3 weeks) it still felt real. We also realized that when we are in Paris, we will encounter many situations just like that. Because Nicolas served in France, I feel he gives us a lot of the excuses he heard as a missionary. So, I've found myself praying every day for Nicolas and how to help him and what to teach him. Haha BUT on Monday (yesterday) we taught him again and Soeur Carter and I both knew what to say and what direction to take the lesson. I knew what questions he would ask beforehand so I had prepared some answers and ways to share experiences with him. Also, Nicolas found out yesterday that I have only been speaking French for 5 days. He was floored. He said I was doing well and that he was impressed that I could understand what I was saying. That made me happy :)

Speaking of Soeur Carter, she's my companion! She is 26 and she has her graduate degree in English (I can't remember her emphasis). She is PERFECT! She is very hard working and easy to get along with. She is strictly obedient and she is actually pretty decent at French. She's been helping me a lot. She is actually in San Francisco right now. Apparently, in order to get a visa for France, you have to make a personal appearance to the consulate in S.F. I am going to S.F. on Thursday. They said that we would have some time to do some tracting in S.F. I'm nervous but so excited!!

Oh and speaking of Visas, I have an awesome story. So all the Paris missionaries in my district (5 of us) got a slip that we are supposed to come to the travel office in the front of the mtc. So we all head up there but we notice the room they wrote down is not the room of the travel office but in fact the health clinic (ominous sign #1). So we head up to the health clinic and we're all imagining the worse thing that could happen. More vaccines?? No they wouldn't do that to us. They would do much worse. We get into a conference-like room and on the table are 5 white lunch bags. Of course I'm curious so I walk straight up to them and grab the first one. It had my name on it! And it had a "Biohazard" sign on it as well (ominous sign #2). Well next to my name it says Sample Type: Stool (OMINOUS SIGN #3). The only thing going through my mind "RUN FOR THE HILLS!" The other sister I was with assured us "no no come on sisters and elders. They wouldn't have us do that. What would that honestly be for?" So the nurse comes and she says that Belgium (part of the Paris mission) requires a blood sample of 1 T and a stool sample in order to process our visa. They need our poop so that they can make sure we have no parasites. At this point, all of our jaws drop. "you want us to poop in a cup...?" To which she replied "oh no." (temporary relief) "I want you to poop in a cup, then scoop a small portion out, put it in the formaldehyde container, stir it around, put that container in your bag, wash your poop cup and then return the formaldehyde container to me". Silence. We didn't even know what to say!! At this point, the nurse started making poop jokes like "This is a white bag party. Every party has a pooper and that's why we invited YOU!" Haha it was comical but incredibly demoralizing. Thanks Belgium. You're officially on my list. Anyway, to make matters worse, my formaldehyde container wouldn't open...so I had to go back to the nurses office, get a new one and I'll have to go through the whole process again. Every day is an adventure in the MTC.

The Party Poopers

Also, I FELT SO LOVED ON FRIDAY!! None of us got mail until Friday when our District leader was assigned. Then he brought us our packages and our letters. He's like our Santa now :) We love him. Thank you mom and dad for the blanket and the mangos. I was FREEZING in the MTC! Our heat in our room doesn't work (I think because we are right next to the stairwell) so I was very cold. But I got the blanket yesterday and work out clothes. I slept like a baby last night.

Also, Sunday is the BEST DAY!! We had awesome talks and devotionals. In a talk (I can't remember if it was Sunday or some other day) a teacher said "We often are comfortable settling for less in life. God however will not let us settle". For some reason that really hit home for me. We take these evaluations each week and it asks at the end what quality of Christ we want to work on that week. One of mine was Hope. I feel I have a lot of Faith but sometimes my hope is lacking. I guess hope is faith in God's ways and in his timing. I'm hoping (haha) to grow in that area.

Speaking of that. We have the most AWESOME missionary in our district. I wish I knew his mom's email or address so I could send her a letter and tell her that he is seriously the best missionary in the MTC. He is like the sons of Mosiah. Not an exaggeration. He is SO humble and has so much faith and hope. He loves every one and it's impossible not to love him. He is so Christ-like. He is going to convert France. The sisters talk about him a lot. We want him to lead us into Paris. And we'll help him in any effort we can. Anyway, so we were doing these questionnaire things yesterday. At the very end, you click which of the Christ-like attributes you would like to work on. I picked Humility and Hope. Once I was finished, Soeur Carter took my computer and I just waited for her to finish. I am looking around and I see Elder Wood (our son of Mosiah) and he is about at the section. Being the terrible person I am, I want to know what he's going to click!! I'm thinking "Elder Wood is perfect! What could he possibly want to work on?? He is so knowledgeable, humble, so faithful and obedient. He's diligent and has more charity than anyone I've met." So being the awfully nosey person I am. I casually walk by his computer to peak at his screen. How small I felt when I see that he checked every single attribute..meaning he wanted to improve on every attribute of Christ. I felt the spirit testify to me "Now THERE is a missionary" Always improving. Even your greatest strengths can be improved on. It really made me re-evaluate my goals and my aspirations. Our district is so blessed to have Elder Wood. Also I LOVE my district. The sisters are great and so are the Elders. The Elders are HILARIOUS! I feel like they will do just about anything to make the Sister's laugh. They gives us treats and take our trays and will just make fools of themselves to make our days. I forget they are 19!

Best Sisters

Today I went to the temple and it was AMAZING! We were supposed to be there at like the 9:40 or 9:20 session but it was crowded so we ended up being there at about 10. Low and behold! Guess who I see in the Temple! BROTHER AND SISTER WESTFALL!! They are so great. I felt blessed to have Sister Westfall there because it was only my 2nd time and so I felt like she could help me if I needed it.

Anyway, I don't know when I got on but I'm pretty sure I used my 30 minutes. There is a lot more to say but I'll just save it to next week. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! The Gospel is true. The gift of tongues are real! The Gospel takes work though so...get to work!!

Aubrey and Kati and Meredith, Oh my goodness. Such a great week. I felt so LOVED!! I think the other missionaries were jealous :) I am in the process of writing letters to each of you but none of you sent me your addresses. So dearelder your address next time and I'll send it ASAP.

Jon and Sarah--LOVE YOU!! It was so awesome that you came up to UT for my farewell Jon. It was awesome to see you.

Mom and dad, Love you oodles of noodles

Anne, try to stop crying

Fun French fact that I hate. Their language has a thing called the liez on. Basically it means that when a word starts with a vowel, the last letter from the previous word carries over and they become one word. It's hard to catch quick enough when I am reading. An example in english would be instead of saying "I had an impression that I should say hi" It would be "I ha da nimpression tha ti should say hi".

BLARG!! But it sounds beautiful haha.

Love you!!

Soeur Bitter