WOW I am so beyond overwhelmed with the amount of emails sent to me this week!! Thank you for all of your love and support back home. This week was DEFINITELY a better week. I have learned so much this week.

1. I have the best friends and family in the whole world and you aren't making it easy to not be with you.

2. I am so blessed to have the life I have back home and that I have the gospel in my life. I meet so many people every day who just don't understand why this gospel is so amazing and important and it breaks my heart.

3. If you take a new experience one moment at a time, it's a lot easier than taking it all at once.

4. I LOVE LIVING IN UTAH. I love having chapels and temples everywhere I look. And I miss that a lot.

5. I have already been out for a month, that was probably the fastest month of my life. People say it only gets faster. If that's true, I'll be home before I can say "I want to go home"

6. This is the most important. The Lord will NEVER leave you alone. He is by your side always and wants to help you. If you let him, He WILL help you. It may not be the way you expect, but he will. I PROMISE He will. He loves all of His children and wants us to have joy in this life. I have felt my Father in Heaven's love for me more than I ever have in life. "My brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength--that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that reassurance burning in our soul that we
can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor...His divine love and unfailing help will be with us even when we struggle--no, will be with us especially when we struggle." (Elder Holland)

I taught so many lessons and we have five new investigators this week (I told you if you keep faith in Him and ask for help, he will bless you). We had two investigators at church which was also a huge
blessing!! I'm learning and growing so much and I'm so grateful to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love my Savior. I love the opportunity to serve. Stay safe everyone.

I love you and miss you like crazy!!!!

Love,
Sister Montgomery

MY NEW MICKEY MOUSE ONESIE. (Don't worry mom I washed it)

I killed a spider as big as a GOLF BALL. (Not an exaggeration. There was a golf ball next to it and I compared) and yes, dad I killed it by myself. I may have also said a prayer right before I killed it. I vacuumed it up because I didn't want to touch it at all. Sister Koepf: just leave it in there and we'll deal with it in the morning. Me: I don't want it in our house. I then went and flushed Satan's minion.

We got parmo (fried chicken with cream and cheese heart attack) and fish and chips to celebrate my month mark and Sis Koepf's 6 month mark. The parmo was DELICIOUS. The fish wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I'll have it again but it's not my favourite. CUTE COMPANIONS!

If you're wondering what my hair looks like after a rainy day in England. (It's definitely not as bad as I thought it would be but still a bit frizzy)

HELLO

Okay these last two weeks have been the craziest weeks of my life. So my last week of the MTC: we went to Manchester to talk to people for 2 hours and that was definitely the worst 2 hours of my life. I
definitely may have gone behind a wall and cried for a bit because people were not being nice to me at all. We got back on the bus and I was just bawling. I told myself "as soon as I get back to the MTC I'm going to talk to president Preston and tell him I'm going home." I was so frustrated and upset. I started praying and asking "Heavenly Father, you know I am extremely, sensitive to this stuff, why did you send me on a mission? I can not do this" and then and Elder named Elder Santos came over and started talking to my companion. He is from Brasil and is really struggling with English. He was also really struggling to say my name so he was really practising it. He finally learned it so every time he would see me he would yell "Sister Montgomery!!" It was great. So while I was crying on the bus he said "Sister Montgomery!" And I didn't want to show him I was crying but I didn't want to be rude so I turned to him and he saw me crying, looked me straight in the eye and said "do you know God loves you?" And I started crying even more. And then he was talking more to companion and she was asking him how his English was coming along and he said "you know what? I came out on a mission because I love my Saviour. And yes I'm struggling to learn English but I know I can do it because I have my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ on my side." And I started crying even MORE. But it was a huge help for me and I decided I wasn't going to go home. I was still crying a lot though and could not stop for so long. I still had no idea how I was going to do this. I talked to President and he said that I got through the hardest part. It's only going to get easier from here. And he was so proud of me for staying out and saying I was very brave. It made me feel better but I still could not stop crying. I went to my room and just stared praying and I said "Heavenly Father please lift this burden. I can't keep being a missionary if I'm going to feel like this every time I go tracting." And almost instantly, I stopped crying. And I didn't cry for the rest of the day. I felt SO much better. Guys, I can't tell you enough how much Heavenly Father loves and watches over us. He is on our side and cheering us on. The rest of the week was great. It was really hard to leave the MTC because I loved everyone there.

First week in the field:
Street contacting is definitely not as hard as it was at the MTC because I have someone with me who knows what she is doing. I love her and she helps me so much. Her name is Sister Koepf (Keff). She is from Michigan and she only has 3 toes on one of her feet! We get along really well! My area is called Billingham. My zone leaders are in my district and their names are Elder Norton from California, Elder Boswell from Oregon, my district leader is Elder Stahle from Bountiful Utah, and his companion is Elder Verrieras from France. They are all great people and I'm excited to get to work with them. It's definitely been a better week. I have only had one lesson with an investigator last week and were meeting with him again this week. Hopefully everything goes well with that. The members are great. Everyone loves how strong my accent is. Street contacting is interesting because I'll try to talk to someone and they'll say something like "I'm a lesbian" or "I hope the real God blesses you" and stuff like that. It's great. I'm still trying to get use to the lingo. Okay so in England "pants" means "underwear" and "trousers"'mean "pants" SO I keep saying "hey I like your pants!" And people keep looking down horrified that I can see their underwear so I have to be like "sorry!! Your trousers!! I'm American.." And they're like "ha....yeah thanks" it's fun stuff.

GOOD NEWS. In my flat I found a MICKEY MOUSE ONESIE. My dreams have come true. Okay before this email gets any longer, I should end it. I love you all. Miss you lots!!

My trainer Sister Koepf. I was a bit relieved no one was on the bus

We got bored waiting for a less active member at the bus stop on Sunday.

It was poring rain and I was a bit excited about it

The district (minus the Zone Leaders) on Pday. Watching movies and emailing our families all day. BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

Elder Stahle, Sister Koepf, Elder Verrieras

Sporting my Utah necklace and my Snow College hoodie because I miss home lots.

We received this email this morning from Katie's Mission President. We are grateful that she made it safely!

Dear Brother & Sister Montgomery,

Sister Turvey and I have had the privilege of welcoming your daughter to the England Leeds Mission. How grateful we are for her desire to service the Lord.

We are grateful for her smiles, for her warmth, and especially for her sweet spirit.

Her trainer has been prayerfully considered and is Sister Amanda Jo Koepf . They will be serving in the Billingham 1 Area in the Billingham Zone.

We look forward to serving alongside Sister Katie Frances Montgomery and sharing her progress and successes from time to time with you.

We already love them

President & Sister Turvey

P.S. Facebook: England Leeds Mission Turvey 2016-2019

You can send letters to your daughter's flat address, but make sure you remember transfers happen every six weeks. Packages, however, need to be sent to the mission office at the address below. Please be aware that it takes some time to actually get here, then it may take a couple more weeks for us to get them delivered to your missionary.

England Leeds Mission
Lister House, Lister Hill
Horsforth
Leeds LS18 5AZ
England

New Missionaries with President & Sister Turvey

Katie & her trainer Sister Koepf with President & Sister Turvey

This is an email that we received from the England MTC. Katie has had a wonderful experience and is ready to leave the MTC tomorrow. 

Dear Family,

Your daughter will be departing the England Missionary Training Centre on Tuesday morning, 16th August. We want you to know how much we have enjoyed having her with us. Sister Montgomery is a fine young woman and we are grateful for the opportunity we have had to work with her on a daily basis. She is well-prepared for her mission and she continues each day to grow spiritually. She is developing good teaching skills and is excited about the work. She is ready for full time service in the England Leeds Mission.

We love this young woman and are grateful to you for all you have done to prepare her for this wonderful time in her life. Your love and continued support are important to her success. Letters are always greatly anticipated and appreciated. Please address all future mail to:

England Leeds Mission
Lister House, Lister Hill
Horsforth
Leeds
England LS18 5AZ
United Kingdom

May you and your family be blessed as she continues to serve our Heavenly Father.

Sincerely,


President & Sister Preston

England Missionary Training Centre

Hello friends and family!

This week was AMAZING. We were actually able to get out of the mtc and explore some of the towns near Preston. I am so in love with this country and I am so grateful I get to be here for the next 18 months of my life. We went on a church history tour and I actually knew quite a bit because of the Nauvoo and British pageants we saw a few weeks ago. Good news, I played soccer with the elders and one of them is a professional player in Norway and he passed me the ball one time so feel free to call me a pro now. I love every person in the mtc. We all have become so close. My district is like a little family now. I am learning so much it's insane. There have been so many moments when an investigator would ask me a question and I would answer it and think "I didn't even know I knew the answer to that" and it was amazing. The Holy Ghost is real and He touches lives. On Sunday, all of the missionaries sang the efy medley which I loved doing at efy but it was even more amazing doing it as a missionary. We changed the lyrics from "we will be the Lord's missionaries" to "we are now the Lord's missionaries" and I was crying so hard. Being a missionary is the coolest thing I have ever done. Today we went to the Preston temple and fun fact: the Preston temple is the most beautiful temple in the whole world. I absolutely loved it so much. The Church is true, guys. I can not wait to get out there (on the 16) to tell people about it. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. I love you and miss you all so much!!

Sister Eggett is one of my favorite people here. She is from Bountiful, Utah. We bought British soda that really wasn't that great.

Chorley is the cutest town and I have the cutest district Sisters.

 Again, cutest sisters here.

 Our tour guide took us to a sketchy alley to tell us about Joseph Smith's dentist.

 Japanese Garden

 Sister Farnsworth, me, Elder Ritchie, and Elder Stevenson

In our cute raincoats and floral dresses.

I would just like to apologize for my grammar and spelling in advance. the computers here are hard to type on and i dont have a lot of time so im not going to really focus too hard on it so forgive me.

 Also this is probably going to be shorter than what my mom would like but like i said i dont have a lot of time. especially today since im trying to figure everything out with this.

The flight over here was so long and uneventful. it was about 11 hours of travel so if i ever feel like i want to leave my mission early i just have to remember that and that thought will leave right out of my brain.

Getting to the mtc was so overwhelming. i was like "what did i just get myself into? why am i doing this? i can't do this" and i felt like that all day. but then i got my companion Sister Farnsworth and my district and i immediately felt bbetter. i love them all so much. we have become such good friends already. the mtc is pretty small. there are about 90 missionaries total which is the most missionaries they ever had. but the next transfer is going to be even bigger which is crazy. almost everyone here reminds me of someone back home and it makes me happy and sad because i miss you all so much.

All the days have been mushed together so i have no idea what happened when but just know that i just went through a rollercoaster of emotions until sunday. we were all asked to prepare a 3-5 minute talk about the atonement and then at the beginning of sacrament we were told who would be speaking. of course with my luck i was called to go up. but it was okay. i survived. then my district all bore their testimonies in district meeting and the spirit was so strong. i have felt the spirit so much this whole week. i have learned so much as well. more than i think i ever could in my life just in this one week. everyone is so nice and i love hearing all the accents. i truly would not rather be doing anything else

1. Elder Grey, Elder Holyoak, and me about to take on the 7

hour flight to England

2.Sister Bradley and I on our way to the mtc with an Elder

photobombing in the back

3.I'M A MISSIONARY

4. we took a cute walk to the temple

5.my district (Sister Eggett, Sister Bradley, Sister Coons,

me, Sister Farnsworth, Elder Stevenson, Elder Ritchie, Elder Vincent, and Elder Schoonover)

6. Elder Scheffner and I standing at a mission appropriate

distance from each other

7.Sister Farnsworth pointing to her favorite comp

8. THE TEMPLE IS BEAUTIFUL

9.The elders in my district are kind of weirdos

10."can i be in your picture?"

11. "say 'happy birthday from me and my favorite AP' okay?"

-Elder Rickard

12. Elder Vincent, Elder Schoonover, me and Sister

Farnsworth are the ones serving in England from our district.

 I hope the picture worked out. if not....sorry. im still learing this whole mission life thing. also my camera doesnt have the greatest quality either....

 but thank you so much for all of your emails and love and support. im seriously overwhelmed. i have the best friends and family in the world. i bore my testimony on families yesterday with an investigator and definitely shed a few dozen tears. i love you all and miss you so much.

 -Sister Montgomery​