Elder Kasey Lightheart

Hello all!! This week I was issued a phone, and I've taken it upon myself to draft up my blog email early this morning, that way I can really type up as much as I would like about my amazing week, because it truly has been just such an incredible week. On Tuesday I had my first Zone Conference, which is basically a meeting of all the zones in the mission, in which we received about 5 hours of council, goals and reminders, as well as an amazing lunch. We also got to enjoy the company of all the other missionaries in our mission and we  took a huge mission picture . It was super nice as well to get to see Elder Blackwell again, who was in my district in the MTC, He has been serving in the only Portuguese ward in our mission. Although I'm a bit jealous that he gets to attend a Portuguese ward, I'm still so grateful for the ward I am currently attending in Cypress Creek. Elder Blackwell was telling me how sacrament meeting for him was crazy, and very hard to understand, as...

Unfortunately, this blog will have to be super quick and short, since I don't have much time, but for those of you who don't know I have been serving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while waiting for my visa in order to serve in Brazil. This week has been crazy!!! My new companion and trainer is Elder Hansen, and he is super cool. He has a super strong testimony and has been super nice to me this first week. My area in the mission is called Cypress Creek, and it is a full bike mission, meaning that we have to bike everywhere, and don't have our own car, like most other missionaries in our mission. It's actually been great riding around on bikes though!! Other than one time, on my first day, that I ran into a pole that was just around a corner, riding around each day wasn't too bad.  This week I was able to help teach several interested people that my companion was previously teaching and acquainted with, and one of which who is committed to be bapt...

Wow, this week has been crazy!! For those of you who don't know, for the last 6 weeks I have been in training at the missionary training center in Provo, Utah, learning both how to speak Portuguese, and also learning how to teach others, and be an effective missionary. To be honest, it has been a ton of work, and I have been itching to leave for a while this week, that I might be able to go out and truly serve.  However, I am so grateful for all the experiences I have had here.  I have learned so much and have changed greatly.  I can honestly say that I'm not the same person I was when I came here just 6 weeks ago, and that makes me all the more excited to see how the Lord will change and shape me and my life over these next 2 years. This week, as we have been preparing to leave the MTC, it has been fun to hear lots of stories from our teacher, the best teacher EVER, Irmao Childs.  This week Brother Childs brought in tons of journals, notebooks, and plan...

Hello everyone!! So this week has been pretty amazing, if I'm being honest, for quite a few different reasons. First off, over Christmas break our teacher that we have had since day one, Irmão Childs, was gone to visit with family, and we had a ton of Portuguese subs. You never realize how much you love your teacher when you have substitutes, because none of the subs we had had anything on Irmão Childs. When Brother Childs returned this week we were all so happy, and we also were reassured, as we were told we might be given different teachers after the new year, but Irmão Childs stayed as our teacher, thank goodness.  Funny story, in Brazil it's pretty popular for missionaries to buy these nice leather scripture cases that have engraved on them their mission boundaries, the mission scripture or motto, your favorite scripture and your name. Well during his last couple weeks on his mission in Santa Maria Brazil, Irmão Childs decided to order one of those scripture ca...

Merry Late Christmas everyone!!  This week was most certainly a standout, largely because we got to celebrate Christmas here at the MTC as missionaries, but for other reasons as well.  From the sharing of Christmas treats to beautiful choir singing, and from watching my favorite Christmas movie of all time to saying goodbye to one of our own loving missionaries from our Branch, this week was most certainly jam packed.   This week started with our P-day on Monday, and was followed by Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Basically, the first 3 days of this week were just days off.  We still had class Monday night, and had another TRC (Teaching Resource Center) appointment, where we taught an actual Brazilian couple from Sâo Paulo, who recommended that we try the pizza in the city.  The lesson went great, and although it was near impossible to understand the husband due to his super speed speaking, I was able to understand the majority of what his wife wa...

This week was seriously sick! Literally. But even though I caught a cold this week, I have to say, it was probably my favorite week yet.  For one, I've grown so much closer to my district, District 23-A. To give you a run-down, my district consists of 8 elders including myself, and 1 solo sister missionary. My companion Elder Ruis is honestly one of the best matches for me. He can be pretty sophisticated, and he is super smart considering he tutored Calculus and Physics in high school to many many students. He also, however, has a very goofy side, and says some of the most random things ever; you have no idea. He is from Southern California, and claims to know all the trends and memes of our generation, and is constantly singing a different rock, rap,or even Taylor Swift song while walking from place to place. He has a strong testimony of this gospel, and is just the most wonderful companion. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes we can get defensive or cranky, and since we...

These are photos of all the elders in my zone that we took on Sunday! This week has been so slow, and yet so fast at the same time.  Funny how that works.  The days here are just going by faster and faster each day as I get used to the schedule of things. Although, that's not to say that things aren't still changing and ramping up.  The first 2 weeks here we taught an "interested person" about the gospel in English, but tomorrow we are teaching a lesson to 2 members of the church in Portuguese, so wish my companion and I luck! Seriously though, it is incredible how quickly I am learning the language here.  Sometimes I still feel inadequate when comparing myself to others and how much of the language they know, but when I take on an outside perspective, I realize just how amazing it is how far I have come.   On Tuesday December 10th we had a huge special devotional in which President Dallen H. Oaks and M. Russel Ballard attended...