Next stop... ITALY!

She flies out Tuesday morning early and arrives in Italy around 4 a.m. Utah time on Wednesday. She will be 8 hours ahead for the next 16 months! Even though we're not very good about forwarding them on, in her letters she always thanks you for your prayers and support!!!!

Katie’s last letter from the MTC:

We are down to only a few days left in Utah! AAH! I would like to say that I'm calm and collected, but previous events have proven otherwise, haha. I have never ever experienced SO MANY emotions in such a short amount of time. Yesterday was the ultimate emotional roller coaster. I went from being SUPER excited for Italy to SUPER stressed about all the things we have to get done before Tuesday. Wow. I'm just tryin' to make it. :) So far, so good! I cried myself to sleep last night for the first time. It has been a while and it felt nice actually. I just realized how HARD this is. I've been so so so happy here. I feel like every day is productive and I'm always so impressed with the progress of our zone. They are all stellar. Last night while I was praying, I was realizing that this is probably the most important work that can be done on this earth, and Heavenly Father is trusting us with his work in ITALY!! What a wonderful place to be...and so intimidating! We've been practicing doing street contacts lately and I LOVE it. It is much more simple than I thought. The hard thing is trying to capture the greatness of our message in just a few minutes! There just isn't enough time! If you don't get the person interested in your message in those few precious minutes, you lose your opportunity to open the door to sharing the rest of the message. So sad. I have to keep reminding myself that even if we don't get an appointment out of it, we have sure planted a seed. That's good, right? I sure hope that's right.

This experience at the MTC has been unforgettable. I have appreciated the time to learn about the gospel and be immersed in the teachings and truth of the word of God. It truly is a beautiful thing. I've been so touched by the stories that have been shared with us throughout the past 8 weeks of converts and progressing investigators. Each convert has such a sweet, sincere, and true testimony of the gospel. Sometimes I wish we could all have that same experience in some way or another. And actually, we all can! I love that we never have to stop asking questions. There should never be a time in your life where you feel like you know everything. If you need to confirm your testimony in some aspect of the gospel, then all you have to do is ask Heavenly Father again! He will always answer, and you can know with surety that the gospel is true. I often ask for confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true...because sometimes it just seems too perfect. The response is always the same..."Katie, you KNOW it's true...you don't need to keep questioning it, but thanks for asking!" Sometimes, I make up conversations with Heavenly Father so I can just picture what it would be like to be talking to Him as if He were here. It helps. The conversation doesn't always go as I expect, but it is still nice to imagine. :)

Sono grata per l'espiazione di Gesu Cristo. Non posso pensare di una cosa piu grande che la opportunita di essere pura ogni giorno e sappere che io tornerò al mio padre celeste. voglio trattare di essere come gesu nella mia vita affinche potrò dire al padre celeste que io provevo il mio migliore sulla terra. Io SO che  questa chiesa è vera. io SO che Gesu cristo è il nostro fratello. io SO che noi abbiamo l'opportunità sulla terra di pentirsi e venire a Cristo tramite i nostri azioni e il nostro desidero di osservare i nostri impegni.

Next stop, ITALY!!! Vi voglio BENE!! Vi AMO!!!

Sinceremente,

Sorella Beus