Snap

This week's shout out goes out to my bike. I haven't named her yet, but soon. 

I don't even know where to start with this week. Actually I'll start on Monday

So at 5 PM we get a call from the housing coordinator of the mission telling us that we have to take everything out of the apartment because we were closing it down. We panicked because then we had to figure out where ALL the stuff went. Sisters had only been there for maybe a year, but still. Tons of stuff. So we end up spending the whole night packing and I think we maybe only slept from 1 AM- 4 AM. Kept cleaning. Then at 6 we left for Oakland, and we made it in an hour surprisingly. I had a donut hole because I wasn't really hungry.

Transfers happened. I was so sad because Sis Lutui left me... Sister Slaughter and Sister Chen went home... it was just really sad. Got my bike, got my companion, Sister Vaiangina, and got her a bike. Packed all of our stuff into a car, had some elders put our bikes on the bike rack, and drove out to Walnut Creek. We're cruising down Highway 4, when this lady pulls up to my left and she's yelling, "YOUR BIKES!! YOUR BIKES!!" And I look out the window and I'm like "No way. This can not be happening right now." But yes, it was. We pulled over and luckily we hadn't completely lost the bike. One of the pedals had gotten caught in the tire of my bike, and we had just dragged it down the highway at about 65 mph. We hooked the bikes back on, and continued driving. Of course we get lost on the way to our apartment, and we're living with sisters! And they shoot us a text.

"Hey sisters, we just found out our apartment might have bedbugs... so vacuum really good!" So we did.

We decided to go out on bike and explore our area and our bishop had signed up for dinner. We got super lost, and while I was riding, I realized I hadn't eaten anything all day and I hadn't slept at all. So I started panicking. But then I started praying, and I haven't prayed like that in a long time. Nothing hurt, and we got there safely. It was a miracle, really. We had dinner and we had put our bikes in the garage, but we got out and both my tires were flat. First of all, how do you do that. I honestly don't even know what happened. So we borrowed our bishop's bikes and then I got another flat tire... so the bishop's wife came by and took us home. And this was all 24 hours. 

Given that, I don't really know what else to say. I love this area. I love my companion. I love the work. It's hard, but it's so worth it. We truly are blessed in this work, and there have been so many times this week where I've wanted to quit, but that's when I've relied on the Lord the most. He truly has been there. And like President Uchtdorf's talk from the General Women's meeting, He knows us, and He still loves us. So infinitely and eternally. What a blessing it is to be here.

Love you all

Sister Kwan

"You two are probably the coolest Mormons I know"

This week's shout out goes out to my grandma and my uncle. I don't look at the calendar anymore because time is going too fast and I forgot... sorry!

Transfer calls happened! Drum roll......

I'm going to Northgate 2nd! Back to Walnut Creek... my companion is Sister Vai'ingina from... Tonga! Tongan #4. And here's the kicker. We are part time bike. I must really need to lose weight or something... haha. But for real, I'm not sure if I'm angry or happy because I wasn't really seeking this. And we're shotgunning, which means that we are both brand new to this area. It's exciting! I'm going to miss the people in this ward, but the Lord says it's time to move on. I'm excited.Sister Lutui is going to the Golden Gate ward across the bay! And they are taking sisters out of this area. I'm totally bummed they're splitting us though. She's the bomb. 

This week has been pretty interesting. We stayed in for various reasons, but we still managed to get a lot done! Met with some of my favorite families in the ward. 

I don't have a ton of time today, but I have learned so much from being here. It's been really humbling to me and I imagine it's been a test for everyone. I've learned how much love the Lord has for everyone, because I can feel Him giving me some of His vision for this ward and helping me learn to be more Christ-like. It's been really amazing. And this ward has taken care of us like their own children, and I'm so grateful for our members. They're awesome. But I've really grown, and now I'm ready to start working like crazy again. 

Love you all

Sister Kwan

"Oh! So you're as old as the temple?"

This week's shout out goes out to all the troops. Because I have no concept of time, I completely blanked on 9/11 and I was questioning why everyone was praying for the troops. 

This week was pretty crazy. First of all, ran into Mackenzy from the Valley Forge stake. How cool was that? We saw her across the parking lot and I was like "Who's that girl?" And she gets closer and I'm like "I think I know her." And we make eye contact and she starts running and I started racking my brain like crazy. And then she was like "JEANNIE!!!!!" and I was like "Oh shoot! Hey! I'm a missionary now!" and she started laughing and then everything clicked. It blew my mind! 

I don't really have too much time to write this week. I'll try and remember the big things that happened... It was really hot again. It's September, that's not right.

So our car was super messed up. We ran the tires down to the wire, so we had to go get it fixed. We decided we should try and be effective with our time, and we ended up spending half the day with the Antioch 1st sisters. They're pretty cool. We went to a lesson with them, and it was super interesting. Just because there was 4 of us and each of us has a different style of teaching. And their investigator was SUPER confused about everything. They were trying to teach him how to pray and here's how it went

Him: "Ok. So dear Heavenly Father... what am I doing Saturday?"

Sisters: "Thank him for things..."

Him: "Oh. There's 4 beautiful women sitting in front of me. What should I do?"

Sisters: "........keep going"

Him: "Should I get baptized? ......Yeah."

We couldn't contain our laughter anymore. He was so funny. Hopefully he will piece everything together so he can make the right decision! 

We did service at a festival in Oakley and we got a really good job. We stayed inside in the air conditioning and watched the art gallery. What we really ended up doing was helping this small girls with their lives. They came in and were telling us about how they like Drake and indian music and then we just sort of chatted with them. Kids these days. They left to go play so we were just chatting because NOBODY came inside, when suddenly they run in, and they're like "YELLOW SHIRTS! YELLOW SHIRTS! We need your help! We're going to die! I broke her sister's purse! She's going to kill us! Can you fix it??" So we did. And this is probably the best way to make friends, because they would not leave us after that haha. They were so cute. They were so open to everything, but we know their parents really wouldn't have been for it. But yeah, that's how you make friends in an hour. 

This week I've been thinking a lot about the choices we make. It's interesting, because when we make decisions, it tends to be pretty selfish. How will this benefit me? That's the question. But when you look at the big picture, everything has a much much greater impact. Our small decision will impact our future, even if it doesn't seem like it. Luckily, God understands this perspective and has given us the spirit to help us make the right choices. I know the spirit has been a great influence in my life and I'm grateful for it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here right now.

 

Love you all!

Sister Kwan

Ps- how about my future as a firefighter? No?

"His family used to call me Nacho... Nacho girlfriend...."

This week's shout out goes out to my great grandma

It's been a long week... lots of ups and downs. Me and Sister Lutui are doing super great. Reunited and it feels so good haha

First things first, Sandy will not be getting baptized :(( her mom wasn't totally on board. She really doesn't want to commit to coming back to church with her, even though Sandy is super excited for the primary program. It's disappointing. 

An update on the house with the spirits, since everyone's been asking me. We were all sitting there and we brought a priesthood holder with us. He offered the prayer, and he started off stumbling the way me and Sister Lutui did, but he finished strong and as he did, we could all feel the spirit over us. It was super cool. That is what we call the power of the priesthood. 

This was the week of super nasty services. We were cleaning a short sale house that had poop and pee all over the carpet. The microwave took an hour and a half to clean. The drawers took 3 hours and the fridge was ridiculous. It looked like someone had thrown up in it. Fast forward a couple days and we were invited to help some lady clean her house. Well, I imagine that house is what the first house looked like before they sold it. It was so nasty. And there were spiders everywhere and so I'd just be standing there trying to clean something. And then a spider would show up. Next minute, my shoe's off and I threw it at the spider. Super nasty. 

Well. I don't really have time for much else today... But here's a funny story. That's spiritual. The other night I had a dream. I'm sitting at this table in a red room. Me and Sister Lutui are still companions and we are sitting there with one of my friends and Sister Lutui's recent convert, Elijah. He lost his pinky and I was sitting there trying to put it back for him, but it doesn't really work like that. Sister Lutui told me she was going to shower. So I'm sitting there and suddenly my friends comes over and she goes, "You need to make a decision. Like in Mosiah 9." And I was like "Dude there is no way you read the Book of Mormon" and then I woke up. So I open to that chapter and I get absolutely nothing out of it. Fast forward and we had a super hard Sunday. I'm like here. Let's read Mosiah 9. And suddenly she gets all this inspiration. I bear witness that revelation comes in the oddest ways, but it will come. So hang on to it.

Love you all!
Sister Kwan

-insert humorous title here-

This week's shout out goes out to the activity day girls! Thanks so much for the package. The food was very much appreciated :) 

Leave it to America to create a holiday that has the word "labor" in the title, where we should all have the day off (ironically), but 75% of the population still works. 

People have said they've e-mailed me but I haven't gotten anything at all... so just know that if you sent me something and I haven't responded in a month, it's because I haven't gotten it. So re-send it! I don't know what's wrong with this e-mailing system but yeah. Do it. 

So, as of last Tuesday, me and Sister Lutui are companions again! It was kind of a shocker. I didn't have time to write about it last week so I didn't even bother haha. But I walked out of the temple and Sister Lutui and Sister Lepa were there and she goes "We're companions now." and I was like "Huh?" and then she told me what happened and I was like "Shoot you're actually serious aren't you" and so we have been together for a week. It's been an interesting adjusting period. But it's good to be back together :) she's awesome. 

Miracles, miracles, miracles... 

Sandy has a baptismal date! I went over with Sister Lutui and she came up with this metaphor for the gospel using "Plants VS Zombies" and she totally loved it. Then we talked about the questions she would need to answer and she said, "If I knew it was this easy, I would've gotten baptized when I was 8!" She's so cute. The only struggle is the rest of her family. We went to pick her up for church yesterday and she came out and said her family was going to bring her to church. It was kind of lame because they didn't even show up, but it's ok. We are just concerned that they will not be as supportive as we would like them to be. 

We did a ton of service these past couple weeks. We moved a bunch of people from their homes to storage units to pods to whatever. Lots of manual labor. These was this guy who asked us to weed for him. Little did we know that when he said "weed my yard" he meant Discovery Bay. But not actually. His house is on a hill and underneath there's a hill of rocks and then it's water. So I guess we were under the house on a hillside of rocks pulling weeds. It was kind of crazy. No one fell into the water. Not that we wanted to either, the water was nasty! 

Stopped and visited Janey. Right place right time BECAUSE she was like, "You know, I was just thinking this morning that I need to go to church. And I was asking my brothers if they had read the scriptures earlier today. And now you guys show up and you know. I really needed it." What a blessing. What a miracle. When things like that happen, you just want to go and bring the choirs back to sing for you. It was awesome. She was super happy. 

I'm just about out of things to say haha. Something I've been thinking about lately is the temple. It truly is a special place. The people of Oakland are so blessed to have one so close, and we are so lucky to almost have one in Philadelphia! It's great. I love it. 

Have a great week! Love you all.

Sister Kwan