Called to serve in the Adriatic North Mission.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014


Hey! I don't have any time to write, since we were in ZADAR today (coast) and took a ferry to an island to hike a mountain to a castle. WOW! It was magnificent. But yeah. We're having an exchange this week (I'm taking Sis Yardley, a sister from my MTC group, back to Karlovac with me -- eek! 2 newbies together!), and decided to make the most of it.

So this week, you're getting a voice recording that we did last night. Enjoy! Maybe mom will transcribe it or something and stick it on the blog. Or just put this on the blog.

Merry Christmas, people! I love you all! The church is so true it's insane!





Sister Watts and her companion were going to Zadar on Monday the 22nd so they made a voice recording the day before instead of emailing, because they knew they wouldn't have time to email on their P-day. You can listen to it all here, or read some of the highlights and low lights of their past week that they talk about.

-They made sushi.
-Sister Watts saw an article in the Liahona on a family she met while she was in Sweden two summers ago.
-One of their investigators that had a baptismal date set is not talking with them any more.
-They gave the people that helped them with their Visas Christmas presents and a Book of Mormon.
-They also gave a Book of Mormon to a lady that works in the insurance office, and she said she would read it.
-Toma, someone that came to their English class, went to their branch Christmas party and to all of church on Sunday and had a lesson right after church.
-They had Mission conference on Friday and met up with people from the MTC.
-Friday night they went to follow up with some potential investigators on the eighth floor of a building, but they didn't answer. Then they were stuck up there because the stairwell door was locked and both the elevators weren't working.
-She and her companion sang two songs in Croatian at their branch Christmas party on Saturday.
-They introduced sugar cookies to some of the Croatian kids at the Christmas party.

Sretan Božić! Merry Christmas!


Monday, December 15, 2014


Hey! The sun came out in Karlovac! Also, it has been 40s and 50s all week, and it will be this coming week too. I am in heaven. I would like a white Christmas, but I won't complain either way. 

This week. Was. Crazy. First off, the exchange in Rijeka was wonderful. The sea is nice, and I gained so much insight on how other people do the work. All four of us sisters involved in the exchange felt like it was amazingly rewarding. I needed it, for reasons I don't really know yet. It just made me more excited about the work. We had a really great meeting while I was there with the rest of the district, and the elders gave a fantastic lesson on faith. I can't even describe it to you, it was so intense. We all were inspired to be better people and rely more on the Lord after that. That's what being out here is all about, after all. I have no right to complain or to doubt my reason for being here. God put me here, and that means that there is something here in Karlovac, Croatia, that I need to do. 

Next crazy thing: while I was in Rijeka, the sisters here in Karlovac found a woman, Nena, who had met with the missionaries several years ago maybe once or twice, but nothing had happened since. She agreed to meet with them, but didn't show up to the meeting place. The sisters left, but then shortly after she called and had come after all! Apparently, something inside her told her to go to the meeting, even though she had guests over. Guess what that prompting was :)

Anyway, so they taught her on Tuesday, and asked her if she would pray and read the Book of Mormon to find out if it was true. And then, they asked her that if she did find out it was true, would she be baptized. And she said yes! And then when I came back we taught her her second lesson, and we asked if she would continue preparing and learning about the church, and if she was ready, would she be baptized on January 24th, and she said yes! So that's crazy. We're teaching her again tonight.

Then, on Friday, we were out contacting (talking to people on the streets), and a woman called and said she was in Karlovac for two hours and she wanted to meet with us. This was a woman we had tried to get in touch with before, but she was always busy. So we met, and she is wonderful! She is a strong believer in God and Jesus Christ, and she also wants to continue to learn more. We are very excited about Kristina.

So basically, Friday was a crazy day. We had 4 lessons. We were just running all over town! It was wonderful. Also, an elder in our district got bit when petting a stray cat, and had to go to the hospital in Zagreb to get checked for rabies! Then our mission president sent out an email telling us to not pet stray animals. Hmm... we thought the whole thing was hilarious, of course.

Also, my trainer and I discovered that we got asked out by the same guy at BYU. We spent a good solid 5 minutes freaking out about that. The Mormon world is small, and funny. 

Hey! Y'all are great! Stay awesome. Get involved. Serve people. All you LDS people, help the missionaries out. We need you desperately. This work is nothing without you. 

Fraza dana:
blebetati -- (bleh-beh-tah-tee) 'To chatter' -- Recent favorite word of ours, since since it literally sounds like you're blabbering when you say it.

Love you all! 
Sestra Watts

This is from a relief society activity we had. The two boys you see are both named Mihael, and are 2 thirds of the youth in our branch. Also, I made that hat I'm wearing! I couldn't be more proud.


Monday, December 8, 2014


My companion and trainer, Sister Walker by the steps of the sea organ.

Hey all,

It's crazy, tomorrow marks 2 weeks in Croatia. Before I know it, I'll have two weeks left. Just kidding, it doesn't really feel that fast yet. I'm still getting used to being here. I'm just taking it one day at a time. 

The good thing is, I love it here! I think I like it more every day. The work is picking up a little bit more, too. We've talked to more people, taught some more lessons, and I feel just a little bit more comfortable with the language. Slow and steady, and all that.

So last week was zone conference, remember? On the coast? It was SO nice. I saw the sun!! That was my first time seeing the sun in Croatia, and I haven't seen it since. Zone conference was really a treat, and I got to see a few of the missionaries that I was in the MTC with. It had only been a week since I'd last seen them, but it's crazy how much I missed them in that time. That was nice. 

Another cool thing: we had a break after lunch, and so my companion and I decided we would walk to the coast real quick (it's like 5 minutes from the church where we met), but then it turned out tons of people wanted to come along, so our mission president pushed back the next meeting a bit, and we all got to go to the coast! It was gorgeous. You'll see pictures. One of the pictures, my trainer and I are standing on these steps by the sea called the 'sea organ'. The thing is, the vertical sides of the steps have bunches of slats cut into them vertically at diferent depths, and when the wind blows across them, it makes notes! It kinda sounds like a really low flute, or a marimba maybe. Maybe a mix. It's beautiful and eerie. It's always windy in Zadar too, so they make noise constantly. I loved it. 


My exchange in Zagreb was fun too! I was with a sister who has only been out here for 9 more weeks (1 transfer) than I have, and she just barely got placed in Zagreb the week before, so we got a little bit lost sometimes. But it was a good adventure, and we talked to some pretty cool people. Zagreb is beautiful, and the sidewalks are packed even in the winter! The square downtown is all decorated for Christmas with wonderful little stalls of delicious things and beautiful trinkets. Good times. 

And then tomorrow I leave town again for ANOTHER exchange, but this time to another coastal town called Rijeka. It's farther north than Zadar, so it will be colder, unfortunately, but still a coast! Man. Feels like I'm never home in Karlovac. This one is a normal exchange though, which means that a sister (or elder) from one companionship will switch places for a couple days with a sister (or elder) from another companionship. This is mostly done so that we can see how other areas of the mission are, maybe what they're doing differently that we can apply, and also because my trainer is a sister training leader (kind of the head sister in the 3 cities that make up our zone), and now she can see how the other sisters are doing, emotionally and mentally and linguistically and physically. Whew.

Okay, I think I've talked your ear off enough. Get back to work! 

Fraza dana:
'Jel?' - (yell) Doesn't have a direct translation. Kinda like when Minnesotans and Canadians end their phrases with 'eh?' Just a thing that you end a sentence or question with.

Love,
Your favorite sister missionary

Overlook on the way out of Zadar. Funny, the Elders just look
dang good, and we're over here just trying to keep our skirts down

Monday, December 1, 2014


Hey!!

This is it, people! I'm in Croatia! Finally! I got assigned to a little-ish town called Karlovac, just 45 minutes from Zagreb, Croatia. I say little-ish because in my mind it's not that little, but everyone says it is. Also it's winter so apparently no one is on the streets right now, even though I think there are bunches of people out and about in this dreary, rainy, foggy weather that has eternally permeated the air. Anyway. I love it!
My trainer is named Sister Walker. She has about two transfers (9 week periods) left on her mission, so she's really good at the language and knows what she's doing. That's nice. Except she just got transferred here from Serbia, so her grammar is a little messed up :) She's really really cool though.
Karlovac is super cool. The church has about 15-20 members that actively come to church, and then about a million inactive members, but even though it seems small, the active members are really strong. Apparently we have one of the strongest branches in the whole mission (which is comprised of 14 cities). Each city in the mission (typically) has one set of elders, one set of sisters, and one set of senior missionaries. Karlovac is unique because 4 months ago, they didn't have enough sister missionaries to fill it, so they put in a second set of elders, and then 2 months ago, the didn't have enough missionaries period, so they actually took a whole companionship of elders out and they've been running short since. Then me and Sister Walker showed up, and now we basically almost have a clean slate. Which is not something you want as a missionary haha. We came in with no one to teach, and anyone who had been taught 2-4 months ago is no longer interested in hearing what we have to say. Which for us means a lot of phone calls and street contacting and going from door to door. But it's been good, I promise!

Some things about the people here:
Everyone smokes. Everyone. I will develop lung cancer (probably). 
Everyone has the same name! You know how when you think of Russian people, they're stereotypically named Valdimir or something? That stereotype is not unfounded. The Slavic people repeat names like nobody's business. One familly has two children: Ivan and Ivana. Another married couple is named Željko and Željka. It's hilarious and I love it. Ivan is probably the most popular name.

I don't remember much about my first day here. The mission presidents welcomed us, we did some stuff, and then they tried to keep us awake so that we could go to bed at night time here and adjust to the time change better. They eventually gave in and let us sleep at 9:00! That's awesome, for those of you who don't know, because on the mission we are normally not supposed to sleep till around 10:30, and wake up time is 6:30 mandatorially. They let us sleep in till 7:00, though! I don't know that a full night's sleep has ever felt so good.

Anyway. I am loving it here. We're right now in a little internet cafe in the old centar of town. Tonight we go to Zagreb so my trainer can go to a leadership conference until tomorrow afternoon, so I get to work with a sister in Zagreb until she's done with that. My first exchange already! I'm excited. And then Wednesday is zone conference, which our zone is made up of all the missionaries in three cities of Croatia (out of 6), and it's on the COAST. Warmmm :) And I'll get to see a couple of my friends from the MTC! It'll be sweet.
Okay good people, it's time for the fraza dana:
Ništa - (nee-shtah) Nothing - they literally use this word all the time. You say "thank you" they say "ništa". You say "we're missionaries" they say "ništa" and they shut the door, haha. One learns to love it.
I love you and miss you all. Don't forget about me in good ol' Croatia!
Peace out.
Sestra Watts

Thursday, November 20, 2014

New address as of Nov. 24:
Sister Katarina Watts
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia

Dobar dan, friends and family!

I don't think I need to say this, but we fly out on MONDAY! As in, four days from nowNovember 24th! The only downside is that we leave the MTC at 3:30 in the morning to catch our 7:30 flight, but it's not like I'll be sleeping much anyway. It's getting real, people!

This week was phenomenal. I love my district. We all decided to make this one awesome, and focus even harder than we have before, and it's worked! I'm so grateful for the people that I have met here and the dedication they have to this work. I can see the Lord's hand in this work when I look at them and how we all work so well together. My companion and I, Sister Washburn, just keep growing closer as we get to know each other better. She has taught me so much. She is the kindest, most caring person that I know, to be completely honest. I am going to miss her and the rest of my district so much when we part ways! Good thing we're in the same mission and will be able to see each other at conferences and such all the time. It just won't be a 24/7 thing anymore. 

This week Sister Wixom (primary general pres) spoke in Relief Society, and Sister Linda K. Burton (Relief Society gen pres) did a devotional. They were both fantastic, and I have come to love and respect them. They are both such strong, influential, spiritual women. If I could be half the women they are at their age, I could die a happy death. What inspirations.

Sorry this was a little quick, but it is dinner time, and I love me some food! Another tender mercy of the Lord is that I'm not sick of this food yet! The church is true, everyone.

Okay, fraza dana. This one is my favorite thing ever.
Ne ću moći doći, ja ću ići kući: (nay choo moe-chee doe-chee, yah choo ee-chee koo-chee) "I will not be able to come, I am going to go home." Probably the most fun thing you will ever say. I can guarantee you that I will use this at every possible opportunity.

I love you all! As ever, thanks for your love and prayers and whatever else you do for me!
 
Vidimo se,
Sestra Watts
Spikeball team.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

My district in the MTC. We have a good time!
Hey all!

It's snowing..... I hate the snow, but complaining is for the weak, so I'm not going to let you know how terribly sad, angry, upset, and in denial I am that winter is here. 

This week was great! Some people told me the last three weeks you get nothing done since you're just so pumped to get into the field, but I am seeing quite the opposite happen. We as a district have been doing incredibly well with maintaining a spiritual and hard-working atmosphere. The MTC is a valuable place.

I am going to miss this place. So much instruction happens here. We have had some pretty cool devotionals this past week that are just all about loving the people you serve. I love them so much already and I don't even know them yet!

Beba Jacobsen is BORN! My teacher's wife finally had her baby! We think. We know she was in labor yesterday at 12 because he called in a sub to work for him. So, hopefully, the baby has arrived. We are all pretty excited. Probably more so than our teacher. 

We should get our flight plans TOMORROW! But who's thinking about that? Not me.

You all have a great week. I know I will. God be with you till we meet again!

Now for the best part! Fraza dana:

Grudva snega: (groo-dvah sneh-gah) Literally, "clump of snow." Snow ball! I hate those. Bah humbug.

Love,
Sestra Watts
This is my room, except for my companion Sister Washburn.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Hey all!

Can you believe that I only have two and a half weeks left in the MTC!? We should get our flight plans by the end of NEXT WEEK! It is not real that we are leaving that soon. I'm not ready! But also, I am so ready! I think 9 weeks is perfect. It's just enough time where you know you're maybe not ready skill-wise, but you'll still go without complaint because you've been here for so long already.

Okay, I have developed a big appreciation for Neal A. Maxwell this week. I read a talk by him called "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father" that was exactly what I needed to hear. I highly recommend it. He is a powerhouse speaker. The Apostles, old and new, really know what they're talking about. 

This week, the MTC had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Tuesday morning devotional on BYU campus! the devotional was really good, but I'm afraid my favorite part wasn't the speaker at all. My brother Clayton is in the BYU Singers, and they performed, and that meant that his wife Shauna and my 1-yr-old niece Ariana were there!!!!! I got to see her walking! I couldn't believe it! She is the cutest thing I have ever, ever seen! Ever! I might have cried a little bit. Or, like, a lot. that was a huge blessing.

GUESS WHAT. We got to Skype a real, live, Croatian-member-who-lives-in-Croatia yesterday! His name is Jusuf. He barely spoke a bit of English, so it was the REAL DEAL! And we did it! We managed to have a conversation! It just made this whole experience so much more real. I can't stop smiling still because of it. I already love him and all of the people of my mission. What an experience.

Alright, so, last thing. This past week was Halloween, and my district decided that I was going to dress up like one of my teachers, Brother West. It was only for that class period, since we didn't think it appropriate for me to look weird all day. Mom will post the picture. It was a hoot! He loved it. He's buff on top, but he has chicken legs, hence the pictures of chickens on my legs. The whole district was in on it.

Anyway. Time for the fraza dana!

Iznenađenje! - (eez-nen-ah-jen-yay) "Surprise!"

Sestra Watts

Friday, October 31, 2014

I asked Rina to send some pictures for her blog and I got an email that said
"blog pictures" and this was the only picture attached. I think she probably meant to add more and forgot.
I don't know who these elders are, but I would guess they are elders in her group.
 I do know that is the Provo temple behind them and that they go to the temple every Thursday.
Hey all!

What a crazy week. And by crazy, I mean not a whole lot happened, but what did happen was intense. I have watched several devotionals/talks/recordings of leaders with a certain theme; that of truly becoming a real missionary. They say some people go on a mission and manage to come back unchanged. Some people go and have a good time and strengthen their faith and teach lots of people, but they didn't actually become a missionary. Becoming a missionary is something that should and will influence the rest of your life. It only happens when I am doing my best to completely and unrelentingly immerse myself in the work with the purest intentions I can give. After seeing and hearing about all these things that I need to be doing better in order to truly become, I got pretty down on myself. I have never seen my pride or selfishness more clearly than in the past few days. 

And that's exactly when Satan started wiggling back into my life. Preach My Gospel, a resource book that is definitely a missionary's best friend, says that there is a substantial and critical difference between getting disappointed in oneself and discouraged. Disappointment leads to renewed determination and re-dedication; discouragement drives the person to give up altogether. I felt myself starting to get discouraged this week, and that's when I knew I needed to change my perspective.

The fact of the matter is, I was called on this mission for a reason. The Lord knows I can do it. Now I just need to know I can do it. And I do. Now. It's hard, but it will be soooo worth it. We have to rely on the Lord. He is the only one who knows us more than we do ourselves.

So anyway! I'm doing fine! Don't worry about me. I'm happy as a clam. Ether 12:4 in the Book of Mormon (my favorite scripture) says "Whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world". We just gotta have faith and hope. I'm not here for myself, anyway. It's about the people.

Okay! This is it for me! Dang, these weeks go by quickly.

Time for the fraza dana-
Šteta -- (shtehtah) "gosh", "darn", "shoot", or any other severely mild outburst. 
Blagoslov -- (blah-goe-slove) "blessing"

Okay, love you all!

Ciao,
Sestra Watts

Thursday, October 23, 2014


Moje prijatelji i obitelj,

Holy buckets, I've been here for 4 whole weeks! I'm, like, 1/18th done! Where has the time gone!?

This week was a real treat. I think I mentioned this, but we got new missionaries to the zone last Wednesday, and it has been a really good time. We played kickball (oldies vs. newbies) on Monday, and even though it was 18 of us against 28 of them, we totally crushed them! Not that we kept score. But you just knew. 

Ooh! To my Minnesota Mormons: y'all know the Driscolls from Medicine Lake? The Torontos' cousins? Elder Tyler Driscoll is in my zone! We had never actually spoken before he got to the MTC, but now we're friends. He's going to the Czech-Slovak mission, but they're in my zone because most of the Eastern Europe missions are pretty dinky. It's a good time.

This week in class we practiced contacting (talking to people on the street)! We started off in English and it was really fun, but then we had to do it in Croatian. Not as fun, but still a good time. Nothing like having to improvise an entire conversation to let you know how little you know of a language :)

We also got to host yesterday! Basically, we welcomed new missionaries as they pulled up and helped them get to their residences and classrooms. It was a blast. And we got to miss class. The sisters I hosted were wonderful and so excited to be here. What an inspiration.

So mom told me to send her pictures, but a sister from my district has my USB converter, so I can't send anything. I'll do better next week, promise!

The weather is getting colder, but we still spend as much time outside as possible, because that's just how we are. The world is beautiful, people!

Okay, now for the fraza dana:

"Što radiš??" : (shtoh rahdeesh) "What are you doing??" This is a popular phrase in our district. We do interesting things.

Okay, it's that time again! Gotta get back to the grinder. 

Love you all!
Sestra Watts

Thursday, October 16, 2014





Bok, moji prijatelji!
Hi, my friends!

I don't know where people get the idea that the MTC is terrible, because in my opinion, it gets better every week. Sure, the food could be better, but can't it always? I'm happy.

It's still hard. It's always going to be hard. But that doesn't mean it's not fun. As I get better at the language, I have a better time teaching our simulated investigators. And I can feel the Spirit more every time, as I come to care more and more about the people that I teach, and worry less and less about what I'm going to say next. This place is invaluable. I'm so thankful I get to be here, even if it's for nine whole weeks, and not just shoved into Croatia and told to get to work. *shudder*

The longer I spend here, the more the lesson is being pounded into my head that this work is not about me in any way. Everything I do is in preparation for helping others come unto Christ. MY purpose is THEM. And I'm coming to love that more and more.

I'm sorry that this is so short, but know that I love you all! I'm so thankful for everyone that has helped me get here in any way. 

Fraza dana:
Nema veze: (Nay-mah vay-zay) "Never mind" or "it doesn't matter." I say this one a lot.

Have a good week!

Love,
Sestra Watts

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Bok, good people!

So, I'm sure some of you are aware that I don't get very much time set aside for emailing every week, and although I hear there's a way I can just make a list of contacts and send them this every week, I haven't figured out how to do that since I haven't had time. So, in the interest of time, from here on out, I will be sending my mass email to my mother and some other family members and missionaries, and the rest of you can follow my blog, either on Facebook or by directly subscribing to it, to get the updates. Sorry for the inconvenience :/

Okay! Second week down, seven more to go here at the MTC. It went waaaay better than the first week, let me tell you. The language is coming along much better, which is a huge relief. I think our practice investigators might understand what we're saying now!

Oh, I sprained my ankle! I was playing basketball on Tuesday, and got too intense, I guess. Anyways, it's not that bad. It is all big and puffy, though, and might turn into a nasty bruise eventually. That would be pretty cool. I never, ever get injured, so I'm actually kind of excited, as weird as that is. I'm having a lot of firsts here at the MTC.

How many of you watched General Conference?? How wonderful was that!? I of course loved Elder Bednar's talk directed to non-members. All my non-Mormon friends HAVE to check that out. (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng) I also really loved Lynn G. Robbins' talk, and, naturally, Elder Holland's. He always has something powerful to say. Nevertheless, I'm appreciating more and more those speakers who maybe don't have as eloquent of words or aren't necessarily the most intense/dramatic speakers. Everyone has something valuable to say. That's why they were asked to speak in front of the entire body of the church.

Also, every time someone mentioned the missionaries, I veritably cried. I'll never get over the fact that it's finally MY TURN. And there's 88,033ish others doing the same exact thing! I cannot get over that.

I just want to give a loving shout-out to all of my friends that I've seen while here at the MTC that either work here, or just happen to be driving by :) Let me just say that it completely makes my day every single time. I sometimes forget this is real life, and then someone from my BYU ward or something yells "SISTER WATTS!" and it reminds me that this is so very REAL. I love it.

Okay, time for the Fraza Dana (phrase of the day!)

Mrzim te -- (pr. like Merzeem tay) "I hate you." It was very important that I learned this one, so that all those people who didn't appreciate "volim te" would have something useful to say. You're welcome.

I love you all, and I appreciate your prayers!
Provo Missionary Training Center


Thursday, October 2, 2014

Dear friends and family,

I finished the first full week of my MTC stay and therefore of my full-time mission! How neat is that? It has been a WEIRD week. I'm not one for cliches, but it has quite literally been a roller coaster of emotions here. The first few days were... rough. I prepared for my mission thinking I was gonna just breeze through the beginning without a sweat and I was going to show up all those haters that told me it was hard. Hahaha oh, man. When we first got to class and the teacher was speaking solely Croatian and we had to teach our first (fake) investigator in the language on the third day, I freaked. Or maybe I should say, we freaked. My companion and I have been in similar boats. The lesson went terribly, but we've had about 4 since then, and each time, the language gets better and we get more relaxed, and sometimes we actually feel the Spirit! Haha.

I fell in love with Hrvatski (Croatian) fairly quickly, actually. It's absolutely beautiful. I feel so cool when I speak it, too. We are also learning Srbski (Serbian), which is almost the same language, but with the Cyrillic alphabet, and that is equally as cool. Think of, like, if the Brits had a different alphabet from us. That's about the difference.

Speaking of which, we have a Welsh elder in our zone who is about the coolest ever. He's 24 and has a rock band that like tours the UK or something. And his accent is to die for. I know that dad would love to talk to him. He says there are castles by where he lives. Ahhhh. I'm so excited to go to Europe where everything is OLD! America can have its "Revolutionary War Era" brick or whatever. 

A really cool thing happened. So every Sunday afternoon, we take a walk around the temple, kind of as a zone. We were hanging out on the grass, when one of our branch presidency just fainted. He was out for a few minutes, and when we tried to stand him up, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed again. Happened a few times. But luckily, he got a healing blessing from some of the elders in our zone, and let me just say, seeing those young men step up to their duties as priesthood holders was one of the sweetest things I've seen. Probably ever. I don't think very many of them had given a blessing before.

Anyway, right after that, me and Sister Washburn (companion) ran to find a phone, and I got to call 911 and talk to the dispatcher! Whoa. It was kind of a rush. But when we got back to where Brother Robinson had collapsed, he was up and walking, with an elder on each arm supporting him. As soon as he heard the sirens, he said, "you are NOT getting me on that ambulance. I REFUSE." And he talked like that for a while. It was pretty funny. And he's doing okay now!

Guys, I have learned so, incredibly much since I got here, about the gospel and foreign language. I am convinced that I wouldn't have been able to without the help of my Heavenly Father in sending His Holy Spirit to aide me. I cannot wait to get out there and invite other people to know what I know. I can feel the urgency.

I love all of you, and I am so thankful for your emails! I'll try as hard as I can to respond individually, but just know that I don't have a whole lot of time allotted to do so :) Stay strong! I'll keep you posted!

Sestra Watts

P.S. I think I'm going to do this thing every week where I teach you some words/phrases na Hrvatskom (in Croatian), so here you go.

Tako -- (pr. like "taco") doesn't have a straight translation, but you'd use it in various situations like if you wanted to say "That's right", or "so," or something. It's a very diverse word. We as a class were very confused when our teacher first introduced us to it. He pointed to me and kind of shouted, "Tako!" when I said something right, and it was hiLARious.

Volim te -- "I love you," for all you romantics out there. Use it well. But remember, romance is gross.

Have a good week!
Katarina and her MTC companion, Sestra Washburn.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

I am Katarina's mom, Tiina Watts. I will be posting some of Katarina's letters and other information on her blog each week.

Katarina is anxious to have mail, even  though she has only been in the MTC one day. You can email her at katarina.watts@myldsmail.net. Don't email anything too long, since she has a limited time to read and respond to emails. Even better, you can send her a letter (ask your mom if you don't know what that is) to the Missionary Training Center at this address:

Sister Katarina Watts
NOV25 ADRTCN
2007 N. 900 E. Unit 67
Provo, UT 84602

 Right after getting set apart as a missionary.
 Taking pictures in front of the Provo temple before going into the MTC.




Here are some excerpts from her first email home. For those who don't know the Mormon Missionary lingo, P-day is short for Preparation Day. Missionaries get one P-day a week to do laundry, go shopping, sightseeing and to read and write emails.

Hi!

I have like 5 minutes to write a message, so....

We don't get P-day this week, so sorry.  I like my companion! Sestra Washburn is great. I'm already seeing God's hand in my time here. I'm so grateful for that. Sooooo grateful. Croatian is awesome! The teacher writes the Serbian lettering right underneath, too. So cool. And Bosnian, I found out, is like also the exact same language, so I'm technically learning ALL THREE. How neat is that. 

Don't remember dad's email. Sorry dad. Post on my FB that people have to email me FIRST because I have zero addresses. 

So far me and my comp have been late to like every meal. We get so caught up in study and whatnot. Also, we woke up late on accident. Only one of us set an alarm, and it didn't go off. Haha. Oh well. I'm in a room of four of us. The other two girls are really great, too. We have a good time. Send me stuff! I've seen a few of my friends that are teachers and stuff here, and that is really awesome. It's how I know all of this is real. Because it still feels like EFY sort of thing.

Okay, that's all the time I got!

K love you bye!