Californication

This week's shout out goes out to 680. Not "the 680" just 680. But yes, those are highways. And also the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And Ms. Martin, who introduced me to them. And to Lauren, who's serving a mission in Mexico! Woohoo!

I'm going to try and avoid complaining in this letter, because I really don't have it bad- I could be dead, so it's good to be alive... 

Quote of the week:

Mom: "What else can't we drink that's hot?" (In relation to the Word of Wisdom)

Alicia: "Hot sauce!" 

Transfer day. For some reason this never gets easier. Dropped off Sister Park, grabbed some materials, but we still didn't make it out until kind of late. It was kind of an odd exchange because I know I'll see her again like way soon. So we were just like "...ok bye?" And that was that haha and now I'm with Sister Underwood. I think a fair amount of things have changed, but we still have a lot to work on. Not to brag, but since I'm taller and more muscular than Sister Park and Sister Underwood, guess who had to haul all their suitcases? Yeah. Three flights of stairs, with like seven suitcases. Just you know, working out to get back in shape nbd haha

Tons of miracles this week! Bob came to church! I mean, we kind of had to kidnap him. We sent a member over to pick him up and he was like "Oh! Ok." So he was in on the kidnapping too I guess. But he had to leave early, which was kind of lame, but he sat through the two best talks for him- a talk on how to follow Christ, and faith. I was so grateful. He seemed to enjoy himself, but we will ask him how it wenttomorrow. He seemed really happy and he was crying again, which is a good thing :)

Taught about the Millennium in Gospel Principles yesterday. It was... interesting. We have no clue about anything.. so we had a fairly discussion based class, because a lot of people in there have years and years of knowledge. One thing that I really liked about the format that ended up happening, was that we were able to have a very open environment where everyone could ask the questions that were clouding their mind. I thought it was really neat, I enjoyed it. That's the kind of environment we should have all the time so that people will feel comfortable asking questions!

Dann finally acknowledged that he needed to know the Book of Mormon was true before he could progress. Up until this point, he has just flat out refused to be baptized, but he said he'd consider it this time. I think his heart is in the right place, but he needs to get his mind there too. It's almost hindering him, because he wants to know EVERYTHING. We don't even know everything. And even when we teach it to him, he refuses to accept what we say. So that's kind of a bummer, but we are working on it. 

We were able to teach in Young Women's on Sunday too (we were basically teaching all day...) and we taught with the Elders. It's interesting, because they totally teach different from Sisters. Anyways, it was a very powerful lesson. The girls didn't talk much, and a leader said that it's because they just don't talk. But the lesson was on "Who am I, and who will I become?" And we were really able to tie that in with the Restoration, which was awesome. I'm 100% positive that we need to start working more with the youth. Be it in them inviting their friends, or even just strengthening their testimony, it's so important. I wish I'd had a little more support as a youth, but what I did have was able to carry me to... a mission I guess. Lots of tender mercies, let me tell you. I challenged them to read the scriptures before they sent texts off or did anything they really cared about, so we'll see how that goes :) 

Everyone keeps talking to us about the drought. I heard that California officially declared itself in a drought, so I guess we might be rationing water soon. I guess I never considered that we would run out of water. But the big thing is that Southern California, or SoCal, doesn't have to ration at all, but NorCal does. Which is interesting and kind of lame, but we will see what happens. It's a good thing I have body spray, because I guess I might not be showering as frequently hahaha

This week's goal has been to meet all the members in the ward. Every. Single. One. Which has been a hard task considering there's so many, but I think they are able to trust us, which is very very good. Gotta work hard together :) 

Helped this super less active, Annette, move. She is honestly the sweetest. She had so much ward support and she was crying, and I guess she is going through a divorce, which must've been super hard. We loaded a bunch of boxes into trucks and trailers since the moving van decided not to come and we loaded it and drove it to storage. Me and Sister Underwood stayed back to house sit since there were some rather heavy things left outside that no one wanted to move back inside, and it's a good thing we did. Someone asked if we were having a garage sale and we were like "..nope" so we camped out and read scriptures and such outside. It was a wonderful 72 degrees. 

This week's thought is this:

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” 

And I think with all things in life, you wish you could've known that sooner, applied it sooner. And that doesn't mean you can't start now, because it's better that you start it now rather than never at all. As long as we're changing to try and be better people, that's all God asks. We don't need to be automatically perfect, we just need to try a little harder everyday. One of my favorite quotes is "Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Love you all and hope the best for each of you :)

Sister Kwan