this is whats up!

Mom Dad Family...OK WOW...talk about a flood of emails. I am soooo very grateful. I got one from Lisa, Dave (his was a novel), Jed, Chrissy, Mariah and you. WOA. I read them all which means a big chunk of my v30 min is gone so I will write a short letter and attach a few pictures.
This week has been,....a blessing and a curse. One of our investigators that were set to get baptized called us 4 days to her baptism. She told us that she told her husband and he told her that she couldnt get baptized, go to church any more, or recieve visits from us. Ah. it was so devastating. I have prayed so much about it and as sad as I am I know that God is so proud of her and her faith, hes going to make things ok. I dont know how but it will all work out.
But Luis did get baptized this week so that was so exciting. Carlos is taking a HUGE leap in progressing and in like two days read 4 chapters of the book of mormon and put the picture of the temple as the background on his computer! Haha. Its sooo cool to see people progress. He asks questions is gospel principles...gets along in priesthood. ext. Its awesome.
Yes we do knock..its fine..not unsafe. Haha people are really nice. The Spirit is so cool. I just have to share this experience. So we were knocking yesterday...and we ran into an english house..she was like..are you church people? I was like...yes and she said taht we wouldnt want to talk to her...and the spirit totally moved me and I dont remember exactly what I said but I remember telling her that God loved her..and it iddnt matter what she had done in the past and I remember telling her that I was a representative of Jesus Christ. She got really teary eyed and said the hairs on her neck were standing up. Woa. The coolest thing was that it had nothing to do with me and it was totally just the spirit working.
As for the package...ummm maybe mariah could just look through my clothes and see if there is anything missionary appropiate? Im lacking on the clothes. Also my watch...and im always down for the crunchy granola bars..they are like candy! haha. I love them.
OK I love you all soooo much and I wish I could comment on everything right now but know that I really appreciate the emails and I will write back either by hand or next week!
Oh and did you get my email last week??? I hope so...

Also tell Cathy Snavley she is a gem and I think of her often
These pictures are me hna frost and Luis, Me knocking Nevada, and a clown in a car..it was funny

Californiaaaaa!

Hola family! Ok so first off I was able to upload some pictures so I hope you can see them, let me know. The first one is of me in Ventura! Holla! It is so beautiful! Second is back at the MTC of my district, it was our last temple walk..sad day. Thrid is of me and my new companion Hermana Frost! Fourth you have me at my first baptism!!! (p.s. i promise I am a missionary..for some reason my tag was covered. Whoops)..His name is Antonio and before he met the missionaries he had been reading the bible and praying for something. So its pretty sweet. Hes really solid and works so hard and still makes time to read the book of mormon. And when I mean he works hard he works 2 jobs and sleeps maybe 2 hours a day...and gave up monsters and coffee to keep him awake. SO COOL! We have 2 baptisms this saturday, Enriqueta and Luis...they are solid as well. Luis was praying for a sign when the missionaries talked to him in the street and one of Enriqueta's roommates got a pass along card and she saw it and called the number. MILAGROS! (miracles) Oh and speaking of Miracles one of our investigators came to the movie night and to all 3 hours of church! PROGRESS! Im so excited for him!

The Ward I serve in wants to serve missionaries ALL THE TIME. Its nice, haha and the kiss everyone. Im such a Mexican! YAA!

Ok, so from what dad said you guys really had a stressful/injury filled week. Im sorry :( that makes me sad. I hope everything is looking up but it is so good to hear that you are all working to help each other out. Keep it up, that is what family i for. Tell Jeff I said Happy Birthday!!

And mom, got your letter, I felt really bad for kinda giving you all grief about not writing me a email last week, didnt know were writting an actual letter. Email is good though. I enjoyed getting your letter and hearing about everything. I miss you all lots, but being a missionary is so awesome! Tell Branden he is so awesome for walking that 20 miles!! Go him! Tell him Im proud of him! Wow, also tell the Elders in the ward to keep it up! Definitley go to the baptisms, new converts need as much support as they can get.
I need to write jamie and jeff, what is there email address??

I can really tell that the world back home is still moving along, which is weird because I feel like everything there should be on pause until I get back. Its a really weird feeling. Like I feel like I'll get back and everyone will be playin poop head and everyone will be the same age. Its a weird feeling, thats the only way I can describe it.

Haha so most of the time I forget Im in california because I mostly feel like Im in Mexico most of the time. Its great though. Vive Mexico! Haha..Also hahaha..ok to me this is funny, but we were visiting a less active member the other day and she told me and her and some of the people in the ward thought I was from Spain. Haha cause I mentioned how Aunt Patty and Uncle Jack live in Mexico and she was like...are you Mexican?...and I was like no I am from Las Vegas...she was really confused. Anyway now I'm from Spain, I'm not an American.

yeah people here are pretty freaked out by the earthquake/ tsunami but I guess because we have the islands right here we are more protected. I still don't feel like any of that is real.

Ok this is going to be a pretty short letter, Im sorry. I love you all. I told myself I would remember everything I wanted to tell you, but I didnt...soooo I guess I'm going to have to start writting it down. Being a missionary is so sweet. Every day Im so ready for bed and tired, but there is nothing I would rather be doing.

Yes it rained here all yesterday, so that was my first experience tracting in the rain. Haha it was great.

People feed us a lot....a lot. Its nice....but I dont get near enough exercise for that. Hahaha...ahhhh. Mexican food is really good. But I dont like their jello...at all. haha. But I know how to eat like a real Mexican now! Yay!

I love you all lots and lots! Tell the Relief Society thanks so much for the package! I will write the ward soon!

I am so grateful for all you do for me, thank you so much, I won't ever be able to repay you Mom and Dad!

Family

Well hola, first off I would like to thank everyone for the weekly emails...and by that i mean thanks dad. Haha. Just kidding..sort of. Anyway today is Monday which is my pdays here in the California, Venutra Mission. Woo hoo! We go to a library and use the computers here with our library card but I had to just get a temp. because I havent had any mail come to me to prove that Im a resident. No worries though. :) So I guess you want the ligustics first. Well I am in good 'ol Oxnard, California haha. I am never more than like 5 miles from the beach...ish. But I never see it. My hair knows though...talk about a fro. haha. My companion is Hermana Frost and she is from Montecello, Utah. She has 2 transfers left in her mission. Crazy. Transfers are every 6 weeks so thats when I can move..maybe (doubt it). So they prefer that all mail be sent through the mission office because we move so often and they can foward it that day so it only delays it a day if that. So put that address up. My address at my apartment though (if you want to google map it or something haha) is 1940 Ginger #50 Oxnard California. We don't live in the area we serve in thoug (because this area is safer haha). We are in a spanish ward and we have a set of Elders that serve in our ward as well. Yeah. haha.
Oh and Dad, just use a picture from the family photos or something. Dont use the one with Landon..that one is awful...out all the pictures i sent you choose that one? haha..it doesnt have to be a full length picture or anything, and i cant email photos...so in order to get the pictures I have now you have to send me my other SD card back. haha :) love you guys.

Ok..well California is beautiful. I love the weather...although its a tiny bit cold for me sometimes. Spanish is awesome...im still learning and im mostly the smiling companion but I do try to put in my two cents when I understand and my companion has been really helpful at helping me teach parts of the lessons. Its great! We have 3 people with baptism dates and they are all super solid! One is getting baptized on saturday. Its so cheesy but even though I just met all these people and I can barely understand what they are saying I love them so much! I also love spanish even though I don't fully understand everything they say. Since I have been here everything has been busy, we knock, have appointment, visit less actives, have dinner with members(ill write more about this), have meetings, ext. Luckily we have a car, a 2010 carolla to be exact. I was also told that I will always have a car so we dont have to worry about the bike thing at all which is nice.

The members are great and we have dinner appointments every night.....and its a really huge deal that im a vegetarian. Hm. Like haha..ahhh. I feel so bad because every time they tell them they seem so beside themselves and worry so much and I dont exactly know what to say either....because I can't really speak spanish haha. But I try. Itll all work out, but its an interesting experience. I havent ever had to talk about my eating habits every single day. Also...haha they feed us a lot of food and they never stop haha. Its a good thing we can run every morning but I dont know if that will make up for it haha.

We have found a new investigator that seems really hopeful. Its so awesome to just be able to testify to people all day about the gospel! YOu just want everyone to accept it. I havent had any doors slammed in my face or yelled at. Pero, one lady let us in and we were teaching her the first lesson and her little kid came up and pulled up her shirt and started nursing. I was like...WOA. haaa. weird stuff. haha also..ok im going to tell you this because my companion is just so sweet but we were talking to these new investigators and my companion was like...what happened to your neck...and she was like..umm thats a hickey..hahahaha. Oh man. I wanted to die it was so funny.

Ok random note but im spying on the elder in front of me and he is adding pictures so i guess I can do that...next week por que my chord is at my house.

My companion told me Im going to make a good Mexican...dont really know what that means but ill roll with it. Lip liner here I come!!! Just kidding. I guess its just because I like all the hot stuff and how every time I see a cart with corn and chili I want to stop and get some..I havent yet but it WILL happen, and i'll say "get that corn outta my face".

It was way good to talk to you all. Even if it was for a very short time and I didnt know exactly what to say. Its always good to hear from home. Are you all excited for conference? I am! I havent figured out if Ill be watching in English or Spanish. I guess I should find that out. Also, sorry if I write in English, I promise I can speak spanish but its just a lot faster and easier in English..plus last time I checked I didnt think you all spoke Spanish.

Let the sibs know they can email me..on this email...and that I check it on mondays haha.

I dont really know what else to say. My investigators are so awesome, my companion helps me a ton, we eat a lot, the weather is perfect, the gospel is true, spanish is the best language ever, i have fro hair, Im not afraid of knocking doors, i read the bom, my family is awesome...yeah.

OH funny thing..so the first night in the mission home I didnt sleep there because...well hi there was 15 elders sleeping there...so i stayed at a member of the stakes house and I had a queen bed and a room to myself (it was really weird)...then we got back together with the Elders. Its the first time I was really home sick while on my mission...and it was for my district at the MTC...how ridiculous is that? Haha.

SO yeah, just have the mission home address on the blog so people can write if they want. Um, OH so there was that earthquake in Japan...so we had our weekly planning that day which means we leave the apartment much later than normal and our first appointment was at like 230? Well they were all freaked out and the elders (every time we eat dinner its with the elders..OH and in spanish culture they feed us but dont eat with us..) ANYWAY..the elders were like can you all swim? Ha...so I guess we had a tsunami warning...news to us. Nothing happened obviously, but it was interesting. I bet there was some sweet waves here...

Ok well I guess this is long enough. Missionary work is awesome! Love you lots and am so grateful for all you do.. Hope you are all still reading the B.O.M!

-Hermana Kayla Tippetts

6 days left in the MTC

Family! How are things? Mom it was great to get a letter yesterday! I love hearing about everything that is going on.

I guess the first thing you guys want to know is....YES I got my flight plans. I leave Monday the 7th and I report to the MTC travel office at 6 am (which is a blessing cause you can report starting at like 3 am). Anyway so here are my flight plans...my plane takes off from the SLC airport at 10:26 am and ill arrive in Denver, Co. at 11:50 (go figure). Then my flight from Denver leaves at 12:50. I arrive in Santa Barbra at 2:20. So crazy right? So yes, the official church policy is that there is no policy on phone calls at the airport, so we can call home. Ill probably buy a calling card. Mom you will be at work though so I dont know how that will work out. So I will be traveling with 15 other people so thats good, since Ive never done a connecting flight before, and ive never been to Denver so thats cool. But yeah, as of this time next week I will be in California. Loco. Its so weird because in a way I felt like I got here yesterday, but I also feel like I have been here for an eternity. So its good. I just got comfortable here which means its time to go haha. Oh so mom one thing you did forget to write me was my mission address, I need it so that I can give it to my district so they can write me. So please send it to me asap. Speaking of address can you change the address on the blog to the mission home address until I know where I am...gracias.

Thank you for sending the package to the mission home. you are the best. About the tape...i dont know. I would hate for it to get here after I leave and it have to be forwarded to California so if you dont think itll make here just wait til I can give you my address in Cali. Oh also I dont know when ill be able to email next because I dont know when my pday will be. You guys can start emailing me, mom dad and sibs. Ummm OH and Im sending a package home today, a shirt I wont wear, a lot of my letters and I dont remember what else. haha,. So yeah look for that.

Im glad you enjoyed the tape. I think its such a fun idea. Dont record over my stuff..i want to keep making tapes so Ill have them. Were you able to find a recorder for them? Did you give the "ward" email to bishop? Oh haha the deacons in the ward wrote me...mostly Brandon and the Deacons quorm president...an Allen I think. Haha tell them thank you for me, and Ginny Young, she wrote me this week too. Tell I give her many thanks.

Man, I dont know what else to say. OH abotu the wheel of fortune thing, dont worry about putting it on the SD card, I love that you are thinking of me but itll be there when I get back and I probably shouldnt be watching it anyway, so just send it back my way. I havent been very good about taking pictures lately. Sorry. Oh you can go on Ksl.com and they did like a special on the MTC...you can see me once in it...Im wearing a purple shirt and its at one of our devotionals...haha my companion is wearing a bright pink shirt if you want to see.

hello this is elder skyler almquist!!!!! yes your daughter is absolutly an amazing hermana, i mean sisters loc cientos i mean sorry wow this spanish is killing me!!!!!!!!!!! well i ama writing you this message to let you knwo the gospel is true, and that Jesucristo is our savior. Remeber hm in your thoguhts and prayers everyday. O my favorite constleation is orian, i don;t know wh but it is my favorite!!

^noob. haha hes in my district the constleation thing is because hermana spillers mom asked what hers was so she could look at it. hahahaha. anyway.

Nothing exciting has happened this week. We got our travel plans and since then we have all kicked it up a notch. I think we are all secretly nervous about our spanish and how well it will work in the field. Im nervous. But Ican speak bad spanish!!! WOOOOOO. Spanish is hard BUT it will get there. I can confidently get through a lesson, not perfectly but the spirit will make up the rest.

Dad! Thanks for writing me, maybe you should carry around a little "kayla notebook" and every time you think about something you need to write to me or want to tell me write it down. Ok? Haha. I enjoy hearing from all of you. Including Mariah. Tell her Im sad I didnt get a letter this week.

Tell Chrissy thanks so much for sending the new temple holder. I LOVE it. I also loved that I kinda found everything out first. Haha. So you all listened to my tape? did you find everything on it? haha Im sorry its all over the place . I really didnt know what I was doing.

Oh ok, so on the first dayhere they take all the new missionaries watch missionaries that are about to leave start teaching people. Well me and my companion get to be those missionaries! Ok..actually me and my companions..We have another companion..Hna. Holder. She has been here for 11 weeks and is going to Texas. She got appendicitis 2 days before she was suppose to leave so shes just been recovering with us. Her spanish is really good so it really has been a blessing to me.

Oh could you maybe see what the weather is going to be like in Ventura/Santa Barbra? I have no idea what Im walking into.

Oh there is a skirt I saw an hermana have. its really cute. Its from urban outfitters online. She said its on the sale page and its like a ballerina looking skirt and its like cream...with like a black band at the top..if it isnt too expensive can you get it for me maybe? also I was wanting that black dress with white polka dots I got at the DI. Long sleeve. My blue and white stripped button up shirt (not the denim one)...Ill write more when I get to cali. Dont send those things yet. Sorry Im a pain. I feel really really bad. You dont have to if you dont want to.

Your putting all my emails on the blog right? oh and the pictures..not all but some. OH I saw Elder Trevor Tonks here the other day...we took a picture, dont worry.

Oh the scripture for the plaque is Alma 29:9-10. If that is too long then Alma 31:34-35. :) I think that should be good.

Tell Mariah good luck on her audition. I really hope she gets the scholarship! Ill be praying for her! She will do great! Tell her to own it and dont worry what the judges are thinking. Dont over think it and do it!

Also my companion got this really cute calender from her friends...its like all these cute epic pictures and stuff for each month I love it. OH speaking of pictures I was wondering if you could send me like some of the pictures from my farewell party. The people I took pictures with...like probably the ones i put on facebook. Thanks. :) you guys are the best.

Anyway I love being a missionary. I love it. Im nervous for the field but it is going to be SO ROCKIN! I cant wait to meet my companion..and see my area!

I guess Ill talk to you next Monday...I dont know what time ill be able to call so Iguess just have your cell phones with you! DOnt forget to send me my address!!1