So last week when Kyle emailed me he told me when he was going to be online and said to try and get on at the same time so we could "talk" (email back and forth).  I was super excited when it worked yesterday!!!  So needless to say, there really isn't a letter from yesterday because he used his whole time talking to me!  It was awesome and I'll share with you the highlights of our conversation...


Randi: "How are you doing?"
Kyle:  "I am doing great! I have had a busy week but a good one.  I got to take my blue sticker off which says I am no long new!!!  I got to where I could communicate pretty well with my Brazilian roommates!  I had a lot of fun with them but they left for the field this week which is exciting and sad at the same time.  They said I could come and stay with them for the copa mundial which will be awesome.  My teaching has gotten a lot better as my companions and I have started teaching more out of the Book of Mormon and centering it upon our fake investigators life.  Even though they are not real investigators I feel the spirit teaching me and helping me speak things I never knew I could say in English let alone Portuguese.  Truly if we put in the work when learning a language the Lord helps us make up the difference.  A couple people have asked me if I am Brazilian, so that is a good thing that I am blending in pretty good.  They also say for only being here for 2 weeks my language skills are pretty dang awesome!!!  So hopefully I can keep that up. I enjoy working everyday to improve my language, it is so fun and rewarding!  It's almost like learning the gospel all over again as I have started from the basics of it in Portuguese. One thing I have learned here is that with a little patience and a lot of faith, great things can happen."
Randi:  "Have you been taking your vitamins and how are you feeling?"
Kyle:  "Yes mommo, I have been taking my vitamins and I'm feeling really good.  I haven't been sick at all.  The food in the MTC is great and I eat rice and beans everyday."
Randi:  "Have you been getting letters? "
Kyle:  "Yes, it takes about 6 days to get here.  Other than you and dad I have gotten letters from Davis and Rachel.  Tell everyone that I heard that it takes 3-4 weeks for my letters to get there.  So not to think I'm not writing them back."
Randi: "What do you get to do on your P-day?"
Kyle: "I get to go to the temple.  I went this morning and got to do initiatories in Portuguese.  We get to walk around town and explore.  I do laundry, sometimes sleep and do a lot of writing. I just got back from a bakery and the grocery store.  I bought a key lime tart and some sweet snacks from the grocery store.  I also bought a pair of shorts and a soccer ball!  That was about all I needed for the long hall!"
Randi: "What is the one thing you would like to see in your first package to the mission home?"
Kyle:  "Hmmm...not a whole lot really but a Big Hunk would be awesome!!!
Randi: "What do you eat other than rice and beans?"
Kyle: "A lot of meat, different kinds of bread, lots of bananas and watermelon.  Sometimes honey dew melon and some other weird fruit that's really good.  I tried the salad but it's just crazy different and not good.  The greens are really bitter.  I can't eat it!"
Randi: "Can you open letters you get everyday or do you have to wait for P-day?"
Kyle:  "The mail comes every night after dinner.  I can read those letters when I get them but I can't write back until P-day."
Randi: "So do you have 6 weeks left in the MTC?"
Kyle: "I don't know because I got moved up to a district that was a week ahead, so I might only be here for 7 weeks instead of 8 total."
Kyle: "Alright well my time is almost up so I have to get going but this was awesome!  I love you and tell everyone that I love them too!  Tudo Bem and I'll talk to you next week!"

ok so i have 30 minutes to email so forgive me if there are errors just work throuhg them because \i have a lot to say!!!!!!!!!!

first off i had a great week!!! i love it here, and yes i loved all of you thoughts in my stuff i read them all and kept them as \i weilll keep all the letters sent to me. this is truly a great place. there are spanish speakers here, protuguese and english! never before have a spoke so much spanish! My portugues is progressing very quickly the spanish helped alot! also i have two roommates other than my two american companions, one is from africa and the other is from salvador!!! so we speak some good portu-ingles every night. the people here are so nice they love to talk! especially to people who are just learning portugues. they talk about soccer alot and tell me all about how brasil is the best,and argentina is the worst! people really do love it here which is awesome! i cant wait till i can fully understand all of what they say! i tell people that in portuguese and they laugh and say fala bom! ( you speak good!) Never before have a been so motivated to learn and study! I arise early each morning and pretty much study all day, eat, sometimes have gym where I usually speak a little with brazilians or argentines or yesterday I talked with an Elder from paruguay! we kinda talk in spanich portugues and english, its very confusing, but very fun!! But i love studying i do it all day everyday! we also do a lot of teaching, it is mainly teachers that we teach, the first time we were in a teaching setting they tricked us into thinking it was a real investigator which we thought was crazy, but we talked to her about prayer and never before have i ffelt the spirit so strong as when I testify of a truth of the gospel to an investigator! after that first time teaching I have not had the oppurtunity to again teach in english, it is all in portugues! which is awesome, this is a beautiful language that i enjoy everyday. We also have an oppurtunity one day each week to talk to local members in a teaching setting, the only speak portugues and as we did this for the first time, Elder Jensen ( my companion, the other one is Elder Garn, yes there are three of us) and I were talking to this kid about our age, and as he goes on a somewhat long explanation of how he felt about going to church on sunday, he asked us at the end if we understood, and we looked at each other, then busted up laughing because we hardly got two words out of what he was saying he was speaking so fast! He started laughing to as we said we didnt understand. however we were able to bear testimony of how if he did attend church, even if it would be a little dificult, we knew the Lord would bless his life, and he understood that and said he would come to church! even though it was not a real teaching experience, it was still really cool! It goes to show that simple but sincere testimony is a powerful tool in missionary work! The instructors here are great! we have two, Irmao costa and irmao amalho, (irmao means brother) they are both native brazilians who speak some pretty good english but speak alot of portuguese with us!!! They have not only taught us alot of portugues but they are amazing teachers of the gospel with very powerful testimonies. we went to lunch with them today, this was my first experience with food outside the ctm ( mtc in portugues) and it was true brazilian rodejio style! I ate chicken hearts to my hears content!! It was so good!!!! better than tucanoes but tucanoes is still pretty good! the food in the ctm is really good, I eat beans and rice with almost every meal and i love it! so far no digestion problems!! I also have gurana with alost every meal except breakfast. food is really really good here!!!! except salad, i tried multiple times and im not sure what was us but 8t was so powerful and sour that I just couldnt do it so i just eat fruite now! 

    I was challenged to say every prayer here in portugues, and to this day I have not said one prayer not even my personal ones in english! i even annointed for a blessing for one of the sisters in portugues!!! i had help but i said it!!! It has truly been wonderful, even though my abuility is limited in portugues the Lord still knows what mean. I think it ahs been a great blessing as i have been studying hard to learn the language i can see the Lord helping me learn it. i was placed with a district that had already been here for a week since I came with one Elder who was brazilian already spoke portuguese and three siseters. in my district there is the three ofus Elders, then 7 sisters, its kinda crazy sister missionaries are great but they are sometimes a little hard to work with.

     I went to the temple today and it was great.. the session was in english,  i really wasnted to hear it in portugues but that is ok, but this temple was really really pretty definetly one of my favorites, I love you all and even them I am crazy focused on studying right now you guys are always in my thoughs, be expectin some letter from me i put them in the mail and they said it would probably take about two weeks to get there, tahnks mom for the letter on the first day that was pretty awesome! it took 6 days to get there!!!!

im not ghomesick people sasy the first week is the harderst but its not its the best i love it here and i love learning! i d omiss and love you guys i look forward to your letters

keep the faith

love Elder Krause!

Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.

They now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting.  These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.

The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.

Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.  We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: There is no mortal man that is an interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord, who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children.

Please accept our love,

President Ralph Degn and Sister Mary Ann Degn

Tender Mercies...

I just have to share with all of you the first 2 tender mercies that happened today.  The first one was while Kyle was checking in at the counter, it was taking a while and a supervisor came up and asked where Kyle was going on his mission.  When he said Brazil she got a big smile and said that she was actually from Brazil and that her son was on a mission in Mexico.  She then proceeded to tell the agent to give us all escort passes to get through security so we could say goodbye at the gate.  That gave us an extra hour with Kyle.  I was so grateful.  The second one came as we were getting ready to go through security.  I have my 8 year old nephew staying with us right now as he was a little anxious about going through security and as all of our moods were kinda gloomy I tried to lighten things up by telling him that he had to go through security in his underwear.  This was his reply, "But Randi, I don't have any underwear on!  I'm wearing my swimming suit!!!"
Thank goodness for tender mercies to bring a smile to our faces!

 Time to get ready to go...

 Getting official...

 And now I present you Elder Krause!

 That's my boy...one suitcase weighing in at 50 lbs!

 Checking in...

 This was a hard good bye!

 Saying goodbye to Mason who is in California with the Priests on a high adventure.  Emily was enjoying every last second with her big brother!

I think the gate agent was worried because we were all standing there sobbing.  But as I watched him walk away I knew these were going to be the best 2 years of his life!

Here's everyone at Kyle's setting apart.  You know how we roll at the Krause House...everything turns into a party!  What a neat experience to have the stake president come to your home and set you apart as a  full time servant to our Heavenly Father!  Thanks to all those who shared this wonderful experience with us.

Kyle's Farewell Weekend

Thanks to Kyle's friend McKann for making this funny video of Kyle's Farewell weekend.  We had so much fun having everyone here.  Was a such a great weekend!  Enjoy the video!