First Week in Carlsbad!

Holy crap im here. i feel like im having an out of body experience. its crazy. i seriously feel like im walking around and im a camera man and i am watching the tv. it is so surreal. but guess what? im freaking loving it. im loving it here. it is so much better than the MTC. i mean i loved that place and all the people there, but im finally free. it feels like im going to school but like a church school. its wonderful here. the weather, the people, my companion, the freedom, my apartment, im just happy im finally here. and it doesn't feel real.

my companion is hermana Mendez. she is a Latina from Idaho. she is fluent in Spanish and English. so that is a huge blessing. we are like the only Spanish speaking hermanas. she is training me and doing a great job. she is a great missionary. i want to be just like her. word on the street is that i am going to be a trainer after these 12 weeks. and that is super crazy because i feel like i just got here and im not ready to be a trainer. but i mean like i got 12 weeks. 

um im actually understanding the people! i can understand almost everything that they are saying. also i can understand more than i can speak. but we were eating dinner at a member/less actives house one night and i was introducing myself and told them i had studied 3 years of Spanish and was in Mexico for 6 weeks for Spanish, he was surprised and told me that i had pretty good Spanish. that was an amazing compliment. hna Mendez does most of the talking because she understands AND speaks better than i do. we actually do a lot more lessons in English than Spanish. they speak Spanish but they prefer to be taught in English. and i love the people. 

the night i got there we had a lesson with a new investigator family. Alvaro, Mayra, and Bethany. and that night we actually got them on date for BAPTISM. it was my first lesson with them but hna Mendez has visited them before. i just sat there smiling and trying to stay awake and trying to understand what Alvaro was saying. but it was amazing. we just had another lesson with them this past weekend and we taught about the Plan of Salvation and it went so good. i actually spoke too! i testified about prayer and the Holy Ghost was so strong. i wanted to cry. i could feel God's love for this family. they are amazing and understanding. i love the work. 

the next night we went out contacting. which is one of the scariest things ever. we got out of a lesson and just walked around the streets at night in the dark and talked to random people and handed out Mormon.org cards. it was terrifying but i also loved it at the same time. its a weird feeling and combination but its great. 

conference was amazing too. i haven't been too sad...yet...i hope i  don't get too sad. i was missing my family during conference but i also felt the spirit so strong knowing that they were okay and watching conference too. and i also had a feeling my mom would be crying every time they mentioned missionaries and missionary work. i love you mom. 

yesterday was awesome. we went and contacted a woman last night. she had filled out a cuestionario  and we actually taught a mini Restoration lesson right there on the spot. i was able to recite the first vision in Spanish from memory (thank you Hno. Weber and Hna. Alonso for making us memorize those scriptures). and then right before we went home we stopped by another guys house on our way home to set up an appointment and it turns out he is in a GANG. it was seriously so cool. he had face tattoos and a bunch of other tattoos. he spoke in English but we set up an appointment with him and it was killer. he actually had a chargers symbol above his eyebrow near his temple and it reminded me of Talon :)<3 everyone here has chargers swag. 

they say there are so many spiders here and we killed a black widow outside our apartment the first day and i wanted to cry. i haven't seen very many. that is either a blessing or a curse. im sure ill be fine. 

i was worried i was going to be so out of shape from the MTC that i wasn't going to be able to run in the morning, but its actually really easy and im loving it. 

hna Mendez doesn't have her license so i have been having to driving this whole time and that's been really great. its actually a really nice car and the breaks and gas are incredible. im not comparing her to baby grey. i miss you buddy. too bad she has a new owner -_-

send all letters and packages to the following address:)

451 W Bobier Dr
Vista CA 92083-1906
United States

MOM: please send me the family insurance card and if you haven't already, please send me my grey waffle shirt, my elephant skirt, and my black dress:) also how much money do i have on my card?

i love you all so much and im so blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends. i love you guys and i hope you are being safe and having a great time. don't forget to read your scriptures and pray everyday and every night. you will see the blessing tremendously in your lives. keep praying! i love you!

Kiara :) your fellow hermana missionary!<3

Kiara and Hermana Mendez

Helping Hermana Mendez with a bandaid.