It is my hope that everyone who is thinking of Katie from afar and praying for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health will be emboldened by her words.
Letter #4 August 13/2023
Dear Mom and family,
Hello!
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies..." Psalm 23:5a
the verse on the screen @ church right now :)
I am currently sitting in the big church theatre right now. Maybe 6 of the recruits around me right now are asleep. I'm actually enjoying this Sunday's pastor. His message is short and simple but true.
There is so much I have to update you guys on. This Friday we had Initial drill, a drill competition within the company, you can look up videos! My platoon felt so good and ready, but then got out on the parade deck and freaked out. We barely passed. I wanted to cry. I had been so so excited to do well, and the 90 of us couldn't pull it off. The DIs were not happy so we got messed with for the next couple of hours. We have 2 weeks to clean up and perfect ourselves before Final Drill, the ultimate competition. You can pray that we prepare properly and gain the confidence needed to do well.
Okay back in the house again for some quiet writing time. Like I said, there is a lot of random things to inform you of. Just some moments worth sharing. And! I just got your letter saying you received my first letter! There are more coming! I have been getting letters from everyone. Ms. Rose, Ms. Zonnoff, Nick, Lucy, Reed, Moniz & SSgt Riley, Grandma and Grandpa B and S. So many people, even from my pool! It has been so heartwarming.
Moment #1 worth sharing: The platoon was practicing drill one day and our J-hat, the DI that instructs Drill walked up to me, slapped my elbow to adjust it slightly and whispers to me "Schei your my best one in 1st squad with the rifle, act like it." It was a hidden compliment, I was trying so hard not to smile, I was honored that she told me. So apparently, I'm good at swinging rifles around!
#2: There are often times when I pipe up and instruct the platoon or tell them something, and people have been following it up w/ "Schei should be squad leader", so after Final drill, I think I am going to try for squad leader or guide. I will let you know how that goes. :)
#3: God has totally been working through me. I've been reaching out to girls in the platoon that are struggling. Just building relationships in general is paying off. This week I had 2 girls come to my rack and wake me up at night to ask me stuff. One, her name is Molina, woke me up to ask if I could help her w/ her hair. There were girls in the head already that helped her out but I was so grateful she came to me first like I told her to. The second was a girl name [can't read Katie's writing here]. She woke me up crying because she had gone to the head and saw she had really bad pink eye in both eyes and didn't know what to do. So I calmed her down and walked her through what she had to do. It was a cool moment despite the pink eye. Then, I was on gear guard yesterday, (gear guard is when 4 recruits stay at the house all day to clean while the platoon is out doing stuff) and a girl asked me what motivated me, what kept me going when things got tough. It turned into this really beautiful conversation. She was having a rough day and i was able to pick her up a bit.
There have been so many good and beautiful little moments, as well as really hard ones, but I have 90+ girls with me all going through the same shit, and I am watching God answer my prayers and strengthen me left and right.
I am already 4 weeks in. I will graduate in 2 months on the dot. It has already almost been 1. It is going by so fast! I am becoming a Marine! That hit me hard yesterday. We are now in phase 2, so we get to blouse our boots and undo the top button to our blouse :) We also all get to wear sock buns now, as long as we keep Senior happy.
This week is swim week, that will be fun, then team week I think. I've heard fun things about that too. Things to look forward to.
I love you all so much. Tell dad to write me! I want to know how his trip went. And hug the boys for me and then have them hug you, Ma. Tell the boys I need some memes. Oh! and Nick told me Mora is going out of business?? If you can, buy a pint of the blackberry ice cream and save it for me.
How is Harper doing? I hope he is continuing to heal.
Hug Jackson and miles for me. We switched places. Me in Cali, I have never been this tan before!
I weighed in @ 135 this morning. So I have actually gained some weight! and it feels like muscle. It feels good.
Okay, I'm going to wrap this up for now. I love you all, I can't wait for your next letter. heart
Your daughter and sister,
Katie
arrow pointing to flip the paper over
oh! And thank you for the stamps!
And could you send more pictures? Of you guys and us. Also, a few of me. Friends are wondering what we all look like as normal people, so if you could send a picture or two of me as a normal civilian, that would be awesome! But, priority photos are of the family.
Thank you Jackson & Miles for the pictures :).
Reed sent me some pictures from some hikes the group has done while I've been gone, that was so sweet. He said when they get together, there is always one person that asks what they think I'm up to. So sweet.
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