MTC Christmas Pictures

I love her letters but it is SOOO much fun to see pictures of the people she meets and spends time with in the MTC. She looks so dang happy in all of these photos!! I love her and miss her so much. Everytime she mails some pictures back home it makes it a little more bearable to live without her here. As I look through these pictures and read her letters it just reinforces my belief that she is where she needs to be and is doing what she is suppose to. I love her. Here are some 70+ pictures for your enjoyment! :)

Cara ran into some of her friends from BYUH.

Caralee said, "Personal study is very effective! ;)"

Friends from BYUH.

How the Sisters iron their clothes.

Cutest companions ever.

I'm sure Sister Pantigoso and Caralee get along JUST fine.

I would recognize that box in the background from anywhere. Best. Store. Ever.

I really love this picture.. mainly the bright red leaves that stick out. :)

Sister Christeen Collins leaving the MTC for INDONESIA!!

Saying farewell to Sister Collins as she departs the MTC.

Genius.

That is the Cara we all know and love!

They won a bet against the teacher, so he had to decorate the room with Christmas lights. :)

DEEH!! :)

HELLO HELLO!!

So can you believe this is email number 7! Woo! I leave in two weeks and I"M SO EXCITED!!!!! AHH!!! I can't wait! It's going to be SO great!! Anyway, This week has been pretty good. Sister Pantigoso and I taught our second lesson in all Bulgarian on Thursday... it went pretty well... well as good as can be expected! ha ha But I can feel the language coming slowly so that is encouraging! I'm loving learning it and although I know I won't be able to understand one word anyone says to me over there I still can't wait to go! The language will come eventually! We were supposed to be Hosts this week for the new missionaries but Sister Pantigoso wasn't feeling very well so we didn't end up going, but the rest of our district did. I'm sure you are all wondering how Sister Pantigoso is doing with her health. Well we went in on Friday and got a test done on her gallbladder to see what percentage it is functioning at and it turns out her gallbladder is fine!! The doctor says there is nothing wrong with it according to this test so they don't really know what it is. So we are back to square one. She is now going to all sorts of doctors to try and figure out what it is... she may have to stay behind for a bit until they figure it out because they won't send her out there until she in healthy. She's pretty bummed but she has a really good attitude about it. I know we are going to figure it out and we will get her off to Bulgaria! Even if she has to stay behind for a week or so, she'll be okay. She'll make it out there. Our second counselor's wife, Sister Gale, has been helping us out with all of this. She is a huge support to all of us and we all love her so much! She acts as my companion when sister pantigoso is in with the doctor and she's comes to visit multiple times a week to see how we are doing and bring needed supplies. She's the best!!

So funny story: a few nights ago, Sister Pantigoso was feeling really sick and the pain in her stomach was so bad! She had left her medicine in the classroom and I knew she wouldn't be able to sleep that night. So... I gave her an ambien. Ha I only gave her a half, but oh man she was so LOOPY!! Ha ha it was so funny! She was going off in Bulgarian/french/spanish/ enlglish all night! And she thought every thing was so funny! Let's just say it was quite the entertaining night for us!!

So on Saturday for some reason my teacher thought it would be a good idea to teach us every vocab word that went with the second lesson we would have to teach. There is alot of vocab to learn for that lesson. In one afternoon he taught us 100 vocab words. He gave us 15 minutes to memorize it all and then quizzed us on all of it! My brain was fried!! but I was really surprised with how much I could memorize when I concentrated that hard and worked so hard to do it! I'm still working on retaining all of that information, but it was really neat! Since then I've gotten about 80 more words to memorize but it's all good! I'll get it! ha ha

So wanna hear the BEST PART OF THE WEEK!!!! ahh!!! okay I'll tell you.. ELDER HOLLAND CAME AND SPOKE TO US ON TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so so so so very happy! He is by far my FAVORITE speaker and seriously his talk was so good!! ah It made my whole week and really made me realize some things about my mission. He is an incredible speaker and I am so grateful I got to hear him. I was sercretly hoping he would come speak to us the entire time I've been here! I love it here! This has been an incredible experience! It's interesting to look back on all the experiences I've had in such a short amount of time and see how they have affected me. Often times the experiences and lessons I learn here on the mission are so vital and close to my hear that I cannot find the words to express them. These things become engraven in my heart, but no words could adequately express what those engraven thigns are, only actions. I feel as though these things that are being placed in my heart have the potential, if I let them, to stay there forever. To affect my actions in my life forever. I know this experience will be one that changes my heart forever. I know that because It already has. I pray that I will forever hold those things close to tmy heart, that They may always be the foundation for who I am, What I do and the disciple of Christ I become. I am so grateful to have these experiences to lead me to know Christ better than I've ever known Him before.

Well I'm out of time but I love you and miss you! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Child!

PS Mom and dad you are getting 3 letters, a package, and an email this week! I know I"ve really outdone myself! :)

That package was another set of pictures!!! Which are currently in the process of being scanned... check back later for MORE pictures :)

ER Visit

Hey Hey Family!

So this week has been kinda crazy!! I hope I get to tell about it all. The computer is FREAKING out today so I have very little time. Anyway, this week has been stressful with the language stuff and I think our bodies are feeling it because everyone in my district has been sick this week including me. So we've spent lots of time resting during gym and such to try to get better. Well on Saturday afternoon my companion starting complaining about her stomach hurting her in the lower right side... It kept hurting for a couple of hours and so I thought it might be her appendix, so I took her to the front desk and they said we had to go to insta-care because the clinic was closed. So they took us to the Provo insta-care (yes that's right I got to venture out into THE REAL WORLD!!! WOOT!!! It was kinda weird!!! ) So anyway, they made us wait forever and took blood and urine tests and then after sitting there for an hour or two they decided that her blood test showed signs of appendicitus (spelling? meh..) anyway, so they sent us straight to the ER. They took more blood at the ER (poor girl) and the doctor eventually decided that it wasn't her appendix but actually her gallbladder!! So he sent us down to get an ultrasound to see if she had gallstones. We wheeled her down in her bed and they did the ultrasound. By this point it was about 10 pm and our branch president had shown up because he heard she was in the ER. While we were waiting for the results from the US our branch president was giving us an entire lesson on the Old Testament and quizzing our knowledge (ha ha that's so like him! He's hilarious! I think he likes to quiz missionaries and watch them squirm when they don't know the answer! ha he's an awesome guy! I love him!) So anyway the doctor finally came back and said there was a miscommunication and they tookt he US of the wrong spot so she'd have to go down and get another one! ha so we went down again and got another and then waited another 45 minutes or so for those results. Well it finally came back and she has no gallstones but her gallbladder doesn't work properly so it's hard for her body to digest fatty foods which causes her that pain.

So anyway, we are goign to the doctor again today to find out exactly what to do about it so I'll keep you updated. Anyway, afterwards it's about 11 pm and we are finally ready to go. She was dressed and walking around and we sat there waiting for the nurse to come in to take out her IV. She was completely fine! The three of us were in there talking and I turn to ask her a question and she starts swaying back and forth and doesn't answer. I thought "oh no she's gonna pass out!!" and then SHE DID!! It was good thing President Cherrington was close enough to push her onto the bed when she fell or else she would have fallen right on the tile! ( I know I"m a horrible companion! I don't even catch her when she passes out!!) SO anyway then Presdient Cherrington and I are both just kinda standing there on either side of her with a thousand things running through our heads! (when you are in those kind of situations you're so freaked out that so many things that you shoudl do just go rinning through your mind and its so hard to pick which one to do, so you just kinda stand there with this suprised look on your face. Well that's exactly what President CHerrington and I did. Then someone walked passed and saw her and called for help. The nurses ran in, pumped a liter of fluid through her IV, put her feet in the air,etc. Well she woke up and just started laughing because she thought it was SO FUNNY that she had passed out! Ha ha she's so cute! WEll anyway we were there for quite a bit longer after that and we finally got back around 1 am. The president took us home. She's been in pain the last few days still but hopefully we can fingure out a good solution today. So I will keep you all updated on how she is doing. She's a good sport about it all though!!

Well that was the most eventful part of the week. It's been kinda insane and I can't believe I leave 3 weeks from today to BULGARIA!! ah half of me is SO EXCITED!! and the other really scared! ha ha but It'll be good! I did have an epic battle last night with Sister Kinkead. We needed to let out some stress I think and we got into a little marker fight with each of us in one corner of the room and then we battled! ha it was great! (dont' judge :) ) Anyway, that's about it for this week. I'm out of time but I LOVE YOU!!!! Have a fabulous week and I hope all is well. I'll be sending some pictures in the mail this week so look for them!!

Love,
Sister Child

Pictures! :)

Here are Caralee's pictures from the MTC. They are so stinkin' cute! It looks like she is having so much fun there!

Cara with her companion, Sister Pantigoso.

All the girl missionaries together from the Sophia, Bulgarian district.

See anything wrong with this Finnish clock?

Here they are in the LA Airport, where a stranger bought them all ice cream. Cool, eh?

Cara, her sweet companion, and their 2 other roommates who will be going to Poland.

I love this picture. So cool!

Pointing on the map to where they will be going.

Playing on the LA Airport elevator.

Just need to clarify. They caught her after she got into her PJ's... thus, why she has no name tag.

Right after Sister Pantigoso ate a sucker ;)

A friend from Northridge.

Cara with Christeen Collin's roommates.

Holding the Bulgarian flag proudly!

The NORTHRIDGE crew! Woot woot!

Can you guess who they're trying to be?

The girls with the Gales.

The Bulgarian Elders.

New Year's Day - Just Another Day

Pay particular attention to the P.S. statement at the bottom of the letter... :)

HELLO!!
So this week has been pretty good. We got slammed with some intense grammar stuff in Bulgarian so that's made it kind of a long week for me... but I'll get it someday hopefully! I can't believe I leave here in less than a month! AH!! I feel so not ready seeing as I feel like I know nothing with the language, but it will come I know. We hear from the sisters in Bulgaria right now a lot and that's way nice to know what's goign on there and get advice on what to bring and what not to bring. They are awesome and they will all be our trainers so that's fun to get to know them a bit! Well anyway, GUESS WHAT!!? Today I was in the temple and after we were finished we were going downstairs to get some breakfast at the temple (because its about 10 times better than this MTC FOOD!!) and as I turned the corner.,.. BAM! Guess who I run into!? Sana and Sho Sho! Ha ha they volunteer at the temple on Tuesday to do laundry stuff! ah it was so great to see them! Seriously it made my week! ha they are the best! It was so crazy and my heart like wouldn't stop pounding because it was so weird to see them RIGHT THERE!! IN THE FLESH!! Both of them! :) deeh it was great! I just love them! I was very excited!! They are the best and my companions all just adored them! I mean really who couldn't!? But yes we were all so happy to see them and be with them.. oh and I'm pretty sure they convinced all the Russian Sisters to go to Africa when they get back from their missions! ha ha it was so CUTE!!

So yes that's my exciting news of the week... it's been an intersting week. I just love it here even through the good and the bad. i realized what a beautiful blessing it is to be able to change the lives and touch the hearts of my brothers and sisters in Bulgaria. It is an incredible feeling to know that i can completely forget myself and for the normal worries and cares of life and really dedicate my whole self to God. He gave me my life and now I have the incredible opportunity to give a little bit of it back to Him. I seriously have learned so much here. I knwo that if I were tog o home today, I would forever be changed. I'm a new person today than I was before. This experience has touched my heart in ways that I can never deny. But even now I know this experience is for God's Children. I could never leave because i know I'm meant to help those people, though I'm sure they will help me even more. I feel so blessed to be here and to experience all these things. It's so GREAT!!! :) :)

Well anyway, I hope you know how much I love you and miss you! I've been thinking about you often and pray for you every night! How was your New years? Mine was... just like any other day!! ha ha but that's okay the days are all great so mine was GREAT! Well I'm almost out of time and those red blinking numbers are warning me that I better get off! Sorry this is kinda short, but I love you still the same!!!!!

Love
Sister Child :)

PS... The letters and packages have been kind of lacking this week.. you may want to pick that up a bit! :) ha ha jk................................. but not really ;) ha LOVE YOU!!

MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW!!!

Did you pay particular to the P.S. statement? A quick DEAR ELDER letter can fix that problem. If you're not tech savvy and prefer the old fashioned hand written letter, that would be great too! Trust me, a short letter will make her day, if not, her whole week! If you write the letter and just are too busy (or even too lazy) to mail it - tell me. I will come get it, put it in an envelope, stamp it, and mail it. :) And she will love YOU!