I Think I Died & Went to Heaven!

Made it!! Love you! :)

That's all she wrote, but I'll record some of the conversation we had with Kaeli on the phone while waiting during her layover in Chicago on her way to Rome.  (She flew out on Tues. June 11th from Salt Lake City with a layover in Chicago and a layover in London.  She arrived in Rome, Italy on Wed. June 12th around 2:00 pm Rome time or 5:00 am Arizona time.  She traveled for a total of about 24 hours.)

The phone rang at almost exactly 2:00 pm Arizona time.

She sounded happy and excited on the other end, explaining that it was loud and hard for her to hear.

Thankfully Trayser had the day off from work, Brian was home from work by then, and I left work early to be home in time for her phone call so we could all talk to her as a family.

I talked to her for a minute and then put her on speaker phone so we could all hear her.  We were all piled on my bed and it felt like she was right there hanging out with us like any other day.  

She explained that she had a head cold and didn't feel well and hardly slept the night before.  They had to be to the Salt Lake City airport early - so she had to get up at 5:00 am after hardly sleeping all night.  She said she was tired, but the excitement at finally being on her way outweighed her cold and exhaustion.

We asked her to say something to us in Italian.  So she told us she would recite the First Vision to us.  Her Italian is SO good!  It is amazing to me that she could go into the MTC six weeks ago not knowing a single word of Italian and now she is reciting the First Vision to us like she's been speaking Italian for months!  She bore her testimony to us about how real the Gospel is and the gift of tongues is real.  And I know that it is.  How else can these missionaries learn a language so quickly?  

She told us her goal is to be fluent in her Italian by November 1st.

I think she is going to make it from what I could hear.

She was very excited to tell us that she already had her first teaching opportunity as a missionary with a real person.  :)  She said they were on a small plane and she was on the back row of seats so she was sitting next to the flight attendant.  He asked her if she was a missionary and she said yes and explained that they were flying to Italy.  He asked her some questions about the church and she gave him a pass along card with a phone number he could call for the missionaries to come see him if he would like.  She was feeling so happy about that!

After a few minutes on speaker I handed the phone to the boys and let her talk to each of us individually.  She was already practicing her teaching on her little brother.  She committed Colten to read the Book of Mormon this year.  He explained that we are working on a 100 day reading challenge that our Ward is participating in.

Then she talked to Trayser and then to her Dad before the phone came back to me.

After about thirty minutes the boys started doing what boys do... poking and bothering each other... making too much noise... so we kicked them out and Brian and I had her all to ourselves for the last fifteen minutes or so.  (I mailed her a prepaid phone card so she could call us from the airport and it had 60 minutes on it.)

At this point we asked her about her time in the MTC and what she had learned.  Her testimony is solid.  She expressed her sincere desire to be obedient to the Lord's commandments and to the mission rules.  She recognizes that the Italian has only come as well as it has because she is trying to be obedient.  She also expressed her testimony in the truthfulness of the Gospel and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lord's church on the earth today.  Her love for her Savior and Heavenly Father are deep and apparent by the reverence in which she speaks of them.

As a mother, it comforts me to know that she KNOWS what I also know.  My love and admiration for Kaeli is insurmountable and indescribable.  She has truly been a blessing to our family and to so many people she has associated with throughout her life.  

She finished up by telling us how grateful she is to have this opportunity to serve a mission and that she can already see that it will change her life forever for the better.  She said she always believed the church was true, that the Book of Mormon was true, etc.. but now she KNOWS it.  She knows it with every fiber of her being that it is all true.

We didn't cry until it was time to say good-bye.  We only shed a few tears, because we aren't sad.  A few tears are ok because she misses us and we miss her, but she is happy.  And we are happy that she is happy. She is in the Lord's hands.  He will keep her and protect her while she is away.