First Pictures From New Mexico

Kaylee had to ready to go to the airport at 4:00 a.m.

Travel buddies! 

Kaylee was able to call us from the airport before

she got on the plane. She was pretty nervous to be

heading to New Mexico, but she was also excited! 

Welcome to the desert! 

The Albuquerque, New Mexico temple

Cute bike! 

Rio Rancho

Letter #3

WHAT ?!?!?! I'm in New Mexico?! It's crazy!!
The first night i got here we met the mission president and his wife. they are the nicest people i have met! they are just soo awesome!

We had lunch and then we had some training. it was so hard to try and not fall asleep on the couches! but then during the day they were like "ok we have some missionaries close by, you are going to go out with them and talk to people and place a book of Mormon.!" WHAT?!?! so i went out and the first person we talked to, the Sister with me did it just to kind of show me. then we went up to another person and the Sister was saying all these great things and then she looked to me to say something, and i just blanked, i was just looking at the person we were talking to and i said nothing...so the other Sister kept going! HAHAHA it was kinda funny!

 They had a ton of different missionaries over i was able to see my friend Elder Gardner! that was crazy! It's the best feeling ever to see someone you know! ahh its great! Then the next day was transfers and we got our new companions.

i was also able to see Elder Yates! That was way crazy! i saw him and i almost said " HEY CODY!!!" haha its really weird calling him elder yates! and then while i was there i was also saw Elder MacKay. Not sure if i spelled his name right. 

I'm serving in the Rio Rancho NM area and my companion's name is Sister Baker from Washington state! 

The areas here are kinda weird. So, I'm not serving in a stake, just a ward, because it's that huge! It covers miles and miles and it's just one ward. The ward is called Star Heights and there are like no paved roads. It's all dirt roads...and I'm riding a BIKE!! 

First off, i am going to be sooo in shape because we have to ride up hill on desert roads in skirts while this insane wind is pushing against us! its pretty hard! 

the first lesson i taught here was a guy named Dennis who I'm guessing had a real great time at Woodstock and hears voices in his head! so that was fun! it really was, there is like this excitement of sitting down and sharing the gospel with people! 

The members here are awesome! they are like family, people have us over for dinner every night! so that's awesome! My first meal here was green chili pizza! YUM! its soooo good! but not all the food is good, one night we had a member cooks us like pig skin/fat soup...that was a hard meal to get down. The ward mission leaders name is brother Lockard! and he reminds me of dad! he is always saying dad jokes and is just awesome! 

My companion...is usually pretty good. but these past couple of days have been kind of hard. Whe ever we see someone on the street she always makes me go talk to them because she said she's too scared to talk to them. and she's 21 and went to BYU for 3 years. i have kinda gotten the impression that she doesn't like learning from people who are younger than her. We had had a question about something, so I told her to call our District leader who is almost done with his mission, and she just was like "no he doesn't know anything". She is always talking about her old companion who was 23 and how great she was and how much she misses her. I'm starting to think that i might be here to teach her. but I'm not sure. oh and something else that is really hard is when people ask where I'm from and i say Utah- if they are a member, they know where West Jordan is and ask me if i know people -if they aren't a member, or even some members do this, they just ignore more give me this look like "Oooohh... Utah..." they roll their eyes, its annoying, and Sister Baker bags on Utah a lot too, so that bugs me, but whatever!

Its been pretty hard, but just like the Beatles " Its getting better all the time!" the first few days i REALLY missed home and wanted to come home. but the ward here really is like family. they love the missionaries! so that's good! oh also last night we went to visit a member and....SHE HAD A VIOLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so she is letting me borrow it and i got to play it today! that was fun! oh and people here have NO grass and NO side walks and NO roads, hahah! its very different not a lot of green. Its really dry too! Ill put on lotion, and then 2 seconds later I'm putting on more lotion! but its been a good week! Thank you for all the love and prayers!

I LOOOVE YOU!!!!!!

With love, from me to you,

Sister Markus :)

Week #2 Pictures

This is Sister Tahaafea. She told Kaylee she is her "Tonga Sister"

Kaylee's friend Amber. They went to middle school together

and were both in the orchestra. Sister David is going to Russia.

These are the Elder's Kaylee mentions in her letter.

One is from Puru and the other is from Mexico. 

Letter #2

Hello family!!

It is soo crazy to think that it has been a week and that I'm leaving for New Mexico soon! Like what?! its too crazy! 

Alright so I'm trying to remember everything that happened last time i e-mailed. Thank you for the easter package! i LOVED it! getting packages and letters is like gold!! 
I still have candy! they wont let us eat it in any rooms or anything so the only time i have

to eat it is before bed or in the morning...which I'm ok with! ;)  

I have gym time here so sister poh and i usually play volleyball. and while we were playing i met a sister named Sister Tahaafea! And i just love her so much! She is from Tonga and is going to the Philippines! and over this week we have gotten really close! And i told her i would come visit her in Tonga. So FYI when i get home from my mission im going to Tonga then to Australia, ( to visit sister Piahana!) 

i have met a lot of new friends which i love, but none of them live in America.... -_-

 Also we had a class called in field orientation! it just taught us about being out in our missions and learning different things. so it was fun, i met an Elder from Puru and his companion who is from Mexico! Its so awesome meeting all these people from all over the world and we are all here doing one thing! :) 

The food here was really good for the first few days, now its getting questionable and i

really just want Cafe Rio or Chick fil a! 

So like i said in my last letter, we teach our teachers, who act like investigators so that's good, but this last Monday Sister Poh and i got an investigator called a TRC. Which it is someone who comes to the MTC and they are either a member acting as an investigator or they are a real investigator, BUT THEY DON'T TELL YOU! So we have this TRC who's name is Tayla.. and she is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard! And ahh

it just stresses me out thinking about it. she was asking really hard questions that niether of us could answer! I was getting really mad and stressed because i felt like i didn't know anything! and this weeks been hard because Sister poh and i have had some ups and downs and then feeling like i dont know enough to teach someone; its been really hard. I have a teacher whose name is Brother Cena and he's from Italy and hes the most amazing teacher ever! Everyone calls him DR. Cena because he knows so much and blows your mind. but he really helped me to not be stressed and to understand more.

I read in Ether 12: 3,6 and those really helped knowing that i cant and don't need to know everything, but if i have faith, even in the really hard dark times, the lord WILL help. because yesterday sister poh and i taught tayla and it went AMAZING!!!!!!!

Im going to really miss the mtc but......

I LEAVE FOR NEW MEXICO THIS MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i have to wake up and be ready to leave at like 4 am! ...

My flight is at 9;45 ish i think, sorry i left the paper in my room but i know its around there, and i just asked today if i can call and i think i can! :) i think i have to go to the MTC store and get like a phone card or something? im not sure but i hope i can! there are a lot of elders going with me to NM and only one other sister but she's Spanish speaking. but yeah that's been this week! 

 OH! and i went to the provo temple today.... AMAZING!! it is so pretty and it was weird walking off the mtc! haha i could have run to Eric and Hayley! but it was fun because everyone at the temple was so nice to us so it'll be fun to see what its like when im in NM! Anyways i love you all SOO every much!!!! :)

with love from me to you,

Sister Makus :)

Kaylee's First MTC Pictures

Kaylee's District 

Sister Piahana and Sister Markus 

Kaylee's first companion, Sister Poh!
Crazy story about Sister Poh.... She will be serving in the

New Jersery Morristown mission, which is where one of

Kaylee's good friends is currently serving! What a

small world! 

Sister Markus and the "dork dot"!
The dork dot makes her stand out as a newbie at the MTC! 

Kaylee's First Letter

Wow! Im in the MTC and i am a full time missionary for The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints!!!!!!

After you guys had dropped me off and that Elder helped me with my bags i went into a room and they gave me a little envelope and told me to wait in line. And i was thinking oh my gosh my name tag is in here!! So then i went to this lady and she pulls out my name tag and said "there it is Sister Markus in black and white" and i of course starting crying like any girl would and i couldn't stop telling her how excited i was! Its like at that moment when she put my name tag on i didn't even know what it meant to be nervous! IT WAS AWESOME!!!

I put my bags in my room and went right to a class. And there we just talked and got to know everyone in our district. 

There are two Elder companions and one other sister companions! My companion's name is Sister Poh and she is from

Fresno California and going to..... NEW JERSEY MORRISTOWN!!!! (Same mission as Vickie Bentley!) So that's been fun and she reminds me of Vickie. So i do like her and we get along good! The other two sisters and Sister Houskeeper and Sister Piahana! THEY ARE AMAZING!! I just love them all, and Sister Piahana is from Australia! So that's pretty cool! The 

I love my classes and teachers, the spirit is sooo strong i just feel like i want to either cry or just scream the church is true! on the first day the split some of the new missionaries up and we went into classes and then they would tell us we were going to meet an investigator, there story and then to think how to teach them.

It was pretty cool because we just passed around a mic and talked to them and there are some amazing people here at the MTC!

Thats one of the biggest things we do is practice teaching investigators! 

Yesterday i was kinda hitting a road block and in my classes i couldn't stay focused and i had a hard time understanding what they wanted us to do and how to teach things. We would teach investigators (our teachers) and it was just hard to try and get a lesson and not to be all over the place. So at dinner i was feeling like i needed to ask for a blessing and i kept thinking i should have Elder Jones give it to me. He is one of our zone leaders and also a new convert to the church! His spirit is just amazing as well as his companions! So i asked him for a blessing and it was soooo cool to see that an Elder who knew me only for 24 hours and didn't know anything about me said just what i needed!

After that i felt like a powerhouse ready to take on the world!!

Today had been pretty good, i am starting to understand how to make a lesson and how to teach it with out being all over the place. I love how much it feels like a family here! Everyone says hi to each other and all the Elders always hold the doors for the Sisters so that's fun haha! Oh and today in our morning class Brother Jones told us he wanted us to go up to another missionary or teacher and share our testimony of Christ with them. and i was so nervous. but sister Poh and i found and elder and she went first and then i went. and as i went it was just amazing the spirit was there and i just loved it. well hes learning Portuguese and he shared his testimony with us in that and WOW! i mean i had no idea what he was saying, sometimes it said it in English after some words, but i have no idea what he said, but i knew what he was saying was true and it built my testimony that God doesn't care what language you speak he hears and answers your prayers and the Gospel is true in every language! 

But anyways, I'm loving the MTC and im sooooo excited for conference!! I LOVE you all!!! (oh and thanks for the notes and treats;)

Sister Markus :)