June 13, 2010

Dear Grace,

            Much has happened! I don’t know where to start with all that has been happening! Well let me start with what’s happened first. First of all, I almost cut off my finger the other day while I was helping Grandma make dinner! I was using a cheese knife to cut some cheese, and it slipped and cut right through my finger! I started freaking out because I saw my bone, and I was like, “Oh no! I’m going to have to get stitches! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!” and it wouldn’t stop bleeding so I was really mad, because I thought I was going to have to go get stitches and be late to work. But Grandma was very calm and she was like, “Katie, calm down, it’s okay. I’ve done that to myself dozens of times.”

            So she had me wrap my finger in a tissue and put some pressure on it until it stopped bleeding, and then we put like a million band-aids on it just in case, to make sure it wouldn’t start bleeding again. So yeah, that was an adventure.

            Next, Andrea and I are obsessed with this movie called Labyrinth, (and the only reason we are, is because the main guy in it is really cute) and she was telling me how she was super bummed that there wasn’t a sequel to the movie. So I got curious and I checked on the internet to see if there was a sequel of any kind, and it turns out, there was a comic book sequel after all, that she didn’t know about. So I was so excited to find that, that I ordered it, and now I’m DYING to get it in the mail so I can give it to her!

            Next, I got to sing at the Orem city festival! It was so much fun, because I got to wear this gorgeous dress when I performed, and it made me feel like a princess. I sang Children Of Eden, from the play Children Of Eden. I was playing the part of Eve, (you know, Adam and Eve, Eve?) and she was singing to her posterity (like her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc.) and as soon as we got to the festival, a huge microburst came up and the wind was blowing like crazy, and then it started dumping rain! Fortunately we were already under the tent we were performing in, so we didn’t get wet. Plus the rotten weather drove everyone else into the tent, so we got a big audience to watch us. So that was great! I wished I had taken a jacket though! It was so cold that my fingers and toes went numb! Plus my dress only had one sleeve and a low back on it, so I was pretty cold.

            Next, I have waaaay too much fun at work! I’ve found the most delicious thing to eat for dinner, and I need to stop eating it or I’ll start to look like the Kung-fu panda pretty soon. I order a kids’ meal with grilled cheese with bacon on it and a side of onion rings. I put the onion rings on the sandwich and I slather the whole thing with a butt-load of fry sauce. Gah! I’m drooling now just thinking about it! Then I chase all that down with a bottle of chocolate milk. It is extremely delicious.

            And along with the kids’ meal, it comes with a light-up spoon toy! I’m such a weirdo, but I think they’re SO COOL! They’re like little light-sabers! So now Andrea and I have light-saber wars over breakfast when I sleep over at her house. Yeah, it’s pretty much the shiz J.

            Okay, last story, so I’m going to girls camp this week, right? And since it’s my sixth year of going to camp, I had to go to this sixth year retreat up at a cabin. When we got there, they told us that we would be doing a sensory activity. I wasn’t really sure what that was supposed to mean until they took us all down into the basement and had us sit in rows on folding chairs. They blindfolded all of us and turned the lights down low and turned on some soft music. Then they asked us to keep our hands turned palm-up on our knees. The first thing that I remember was a man began speaking over the sound system, telling the story of Christ’s birth, and how he was born in a stable. As he was talking about baby Jesus, over to my left somewhere, a baby started crying. Instantly I knew it wasn’t just a recording of a baby crying. I knew it was the real thing.

            The next thing I knew, someone had taken my hands and wrapped my fingers around a baby’s hand and a baby’s foot. I can’t describe the shock or awe I felt as I touched that baby. To me, it felt like I was actually touching the baby Jesus. The shock of that thought sent chills through me, and I felt like I had been kicked in the head by the spirit.

            The next thing I remember, was the song His Hands, by Kenneth Cope, started playing. The lyrics are:

His hands
Tools of creation
Stronger than nations
Power without end
And yet through them we find our truest friend
His hands
Sermons of kindness
Healing men's blindness
Halting years of pain
Children waiting to be held again

His hands would serve his whole life though
Showing man what hands might do
Giving, ever giving, endlessly
Each day was filled with selflessness
And I’ll not rest until I make up my hands what they could be
'Til these hands become like those from Galilee

And as I sat there, listening to these words, someone came and stood in front of me and took my hand in His. I can’t describe to you what I felt at that moment. But Grace, in my heart, I felt like the Savior was holding my hand in His. I began to cry, because that was the most incredible thing I have ever known. He kept my hand in his, He stroked it, He pressed it warmly. I kept expecting Him to move on, but He stayed and held my hand for a long time. I have never felt so overwhelmed by the spirit like that in my entire life. The veil was very thin in that room. I was very close to heaven.

The next thing that came was the crucifixion. As they described the brutal tortures that Jesus suffered, I was given a crown of thorns. I clenched that crown in my hands, letting the thorns stab me. And then, as the man spoke of Jesus stumbling through the streets with the cross, a heavy wooden beam rested on my shoulders, and a man whispered in my ear, “Will you…help me…bear my cross?”

The crown of thorns was taken from me, and in its place I was given a huge nail; the kind they used to nail His hands to the cross. The weight and the size of that nail were so unbearable that some of the girls said later that they wished they could have dropped it or thrown it away, because they couldn’t bear to think of anyone doing something that awful to Jesus. I pressed that nail into my hand until it hurt. I will never know just how much it hurt, but to feel the threatening force of that nail in my palm, I felt a little bit closer to the Savior, feeling just a fraction of that pain he went through.

As the story progressed I continued to weep, and in my heart I began crying out, “Brother! Brother! My brother!” and as I thought this, I felt so strongly, more than I ever have before, that he really is my brother. It was the most amazing realization to know that he isn’t just a God and a heavenly being. He is a real person. He is my relation. My brother.

The last thing that came was a sprig of rosemary in my palm, to represent His resurrection. I don’t have a sense of smell, if you remember, so I was certain that I wouldn’t be able to smell it at all, since I had been crying so hard. But when I held the rosemary to my nose, I could smell it. When we took off our blindfolds, we watched a short video about Christ. The best part, I think, was at the end, when He comes to Mary at the tomb after He has been resurrected. She turns to Him and she smiles, and says, “Master.”

I have felt His spirit strongly before, but I have never experienced that kind of power before. I wish more than anything that you, and your mom, and Garrison, and Grandma and Grandpa and Kurt and Josh and Brooke could all have shared in the feelings I felt. I wish you could know how much love he feels for you. It is such an overwhelming feeling of warmth, comfort, love, peace, and joy. It fills your heart and your whole chest up, and it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

So on to what happened yesterday; Mom and Dad and I went down to Manti to see the Manti Pageant, and we were going to be seeing it with Aunt Susan, Uncle Randy, Kori, Kelly, and their ladies, and Grandma and Grandpa Finlasen. So when we got down there, all of the boys went golfing together, so all of us girls (except for Gradma) decided to go rent a paddle-boat, for kicks and giggles. Well as it turns out, they didn’t have any paddleboats available, so instead, we decided to rent a couple of canoes. While we were out on the water, we were joking back and forth and Grandma was just telling Aunt Susan and the two girls not to fall in, when their canoe tipped over. I’ve never felt so concerned and laughed so hard at the same time in my life.

            So then we had to tie their canoe to ours and paddle over to the nearest shore to dump it out. I ended up hopping out of my canoe so I could help drag the other one up high enough on the rocks to dump it out. Other than a scrape on Aunt Susan’s arm and all of us but Mom getting soaked, we got out of that little adventure completely unharmed.

That’s about it for this letter, but I’ll write again soon when I can think of anything to tell you about, okay kiddo? I love you, and I miss you.

Love,

Auntie Katie Jo