"Oh! Advertising. You're either going to be happy or suicidal."

This week's shout out goes out to the postal service. If you have time you should write my companion.. she needs it more than I do haha

 So this week's weather is supposed to be upper 90's low 100's. We are going to bake. Like cookies. 

We are having a bit of a hard time working with our ward mission leader. When he's no telling the members not to feed us, he is cancelling rides that the Elders have set up for the day. We are struggling to work with him. He has good intentions, but he also refuses to listen to anyone but himself. 

We had an incredible FHE with a family in our ward. They are so cute. There's a set of boy twins and a younger daughter. We spent some time talking about burying our weapons of rebellion and how we could be more like Christ. They really took to it. Then they started playing sports and dancing and singing. Hopefully it was effective, they are the cutest! And then they made us a rainbow cake. I didn't know how easy it was until they told me. You can dye cake! 

Last week was the 4th of July right? Embarrassing story. We were invited to a member's home for dinner, and I forgot what house number he was. So, me being all prideful and what not, led us to the first open gate we saw in the general vicinity. I just walked right in, looked around, and no one was familiar looking. So I slowly backed out and saw my companion just bust out laughing at me. Turns out they were less active though, so it's a good interaction with the missionaries, right? :)

We met with Kassie, who is the cutest ever. She recently got baptized and she's on fire after girls camp. She's amazing. She loves the scriptures and she's so excited. It was neat because we started reading The Book of Mormon and her sister came downstairs (she's 9, her name is Max) and she started reading with us. We had a great conversation and she was super nice. Super cute. And her family is less active, but they are willing to support her in taking her to church. What a blessing. 

So the big thing of this week as the Brentwood Harvest Festival! Formerly known as the Corn Fest. We had two booths, one for the gospel and one for family history. It was really a great demonstration of how the members and the missionaries can work together. They were at the booth with us talking to people, and they kind of got to experience missionary work. Then we had a bunch of missionaries in Mormon Helping Hands shirts asking if people needed help with anything. We really got to know a lot of people and it was really nice. People saw us and they recognized us as good people, not the people who come knocking at random hours of the day. It was really a great time. And of course there was music. So we danced. A little. Haha but my advertising was showing. No one was coming to the booth. So I was trying to think of ways to get people there. Most of the festival was outside and so we were inside in the back corner. Kind of ridiculous. So I was moving around signs and I tried to have my companion walk out with me and hold a sign but she wouldn't go for it. I just thought it was funny. 

This week's thought is about missionary work. We have such a great gift, why aren't we sharing it with others? It's actually kind of rude. Haha but for real, what's holding you back? I challenge you to think about it and ask the Lord to help you overcome. He will. 

Love you all!

Sister Kwan

"It's July 4th, I have to look pretty today"

Jul 7, 2014

This week's shout out goes out to America. What a country, and we are so blessed to live in it.

So Sister Sotele... she's an interesting one. She's absolutely insane. But I love her haha. No, but really, she's awesome. She has a super strong testimony of the gospel, and we'll be having late night pillow talk and she will testify of Jesus Christ while I'm dozing off. She takes care of me though. Sometimes. We are having all the awkward growing pains, especially since she is just coming to the English program and it's totally different from the Tongan program. She hasn't seen this many white people in awhile.

Miracles though. We meet random people and they want to learn more. It blows my mind every time, I need to start being like "Right answer. Let's roll." But I still kind of wonder haha the Lord blesses us so much... We meet people who want to come back to church, only they're scared of the ward.

July 4th was awesome. We got to see fireworks and I ate like a little fat kid. We had two dinner appointments and I was dying but it was really fun. We got to meet a lot of members and I really like this ward. It's so hard to figure out who to go visit when you have 26 pages of membership, but I've committed myself to trying every house on the list at least once.

We met Janyce this week, who is the sweetest lady. Old people are the best. They just say it like it is and don't worry about it at all. She's awesome at painting and things. She doesn't really seem to have a testimony, so that's what we are going to be working on with her next.

This week's thought comes from fast and testimony meeting on Sunday. The girls went to girls camp and had an awesome iron rod experience. What was interesting, was that most of them talked about how they didn't even realize that they had let go and that they only realized when they were talking to someone about repentance. It was crazy. What especially stood out to me was when they said that someone whispered that they were done and that they could leave. Then they let go, but they found out that it wasn't. That's the importance of enduring to the end. In the first 8 years of your life, you've done almost everything necessary. The hardest part is sticking with it. And that's where going to church and reading your scriptures and praying comes in. Just do it.

Love you all!

Sister Kwan

Of Transfers and Tanlines

Jun 30, 2014 

This week's shout out goes out to Sis Lutui. She's awesome.

So here it goes again. We get a call on Thursday telling us that Sis Lutui has to go to the Tongan branch in Oakley because a sister can't drive. So now my new companion is going to be Sister Sotele from the Tongan program. We're excited. We've sort of been hanging out with them this whole time so that's kind of fun. 

We took our investigator to the temple this week! Her name is Sandy. She's really close to being baptized but honestly we have no idea why she hasn't done it yet. But we had a great time and her mom doesn't usually come to church, so it was a great experience. Not only that, we were able to have a member bring us, so we saved miles AND she had friends. It was a really great thing. The member volunteered too, and we all had a really spiritual time. The visitor's center is a great place for us to feel the spirit and invite others. For those who have on nearby, I would highly recommend it. 

So this same day, we decided to give the Elders the car since they never get to use it. But we come back to find that the Elders cancelled our dinner appointment and they are not picking up the phone. We called our dinner appointment and everything ended up being alright so we still had dinner, but we had appointments in Discovery Bay that you can't bike to. We hitched a ride with some members. But man were we angry. Eventually I was just disappointed that it happened at all. It really just wasn't that fun. But we learned a lot about patience. 

We've been trying to hunt down people lately. I guess since it's summer time, we are kind of stuck trying to find them when they're a world away and what not. But we did have some cool proselyting opportunities. We were driving down the road and this small, long-haired dog ran in front of me. I stopped the car and we pulled over to try and catch the thing. It ran under the fence and we decided to knock all the doors in search for the honor, while sharing the gospel. No one was interested, but a lot of people were super nice. We did find someone we could do service for and they were super nice. We will hopefully be back soon! 

Man. I can't remember anything that happened this week. 

So I've been super into sharing videos lately so here's one:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=911029449001

In life it's so hard to look ahead. So much of life is about here and now, and what we're going to do 10 minutes later. That kind of mindset is almost like there's no end in sight- nothing to look forward to, nothing we have to do, no end. But in reality, having an end in sight. A goal. A path. Helps us to make the decisions so we can accomplish our goals. The first step to a tour of Europe isn't to fly there. That's where you want to be. So make the decisions to get there. You know you want to be there, and you know it will be good. So why not?

Love you all!

Sister Kwan

They See Me Rollin...

This week's shout out goes out to Sister Dillon for this conversation

Her: I saw you girls on bike the other day!

Us : ...really?? (Shoot we probably flashed her)

Her: Yeah! Why were you on bike!

Us: The Elders needed our car

Her: They needed it?

Us: Um yeah. Why didn't you honk at us and say hi??

Her: I couldn't believe my eyes!

I don't even know what we did this week... obviously missionary work but I'm not even sure what to highlight. This was my official year mark, and as of right now, I have less than 6 months until I'm home! I wasn't really counting until everyone else started counting and now time is slowing down. It's a weird thing. 

We have seriously met the nicest people ever here. We were helping out with a funeral, and it never ceases to amaze me how many people are willing to pitch in and help. We were asked to house sit because apparently people have been robbed as they leave to go to their loved one's funeral. How awful is that? I have a bone to pick with those people. But this man was an artist. We were at his home, I'll attach a picture. 

All of our investigators have vanished. I'm pretty sure they have all disappeared on their boats and the only way to get them to church is probably if we started a branch on the water... which we are considering. Three hours of church on a boat? I wouldn't be against it. 

I don't know how many people have yelled at us for not going over to their house to eat when we don't have dinner. We'll be sitting there like "Yeah we didn't have dinner the other night, so we went to McDonalds" and suddenly it's like we've burned down the house. It's nice how much they care for us haha but actually I am totally sick of chicken nuggets and french fries as of right now. 

Wednesday we got to see Clayton Christenson, who wrote, "The Power of Everyday Missionaries." It's a great book, from what I've heard. Everyone who went felt super uplifted and enjoyed it a lot! He talked about five key things to remember as we try to share the gospel:

1. It is not our place to judge.

2. I succeed when I invite, not when they accept

3. These are not godless people, they are just people who have rejected falsehood

4. People need to be needed

5. Teach them how to prayerfully and privately read the scriptures

Despite the fact that no one in our ward went to this fireside, me and Sister Lutui felt it necessary to share with everyone. And it's been a great opportunity because everyone loves it. It makes missionary work less scary and totally doable. This ward has a desire, so we are ready to roll :) 

This week's thought is about patience and charity. I'm not going to lie, I totally thought I had it down. The Lord knew otherwise. There's an Elder in this area that's been...trying... And we kind of lost it with him. He wasn't following the spirit, he wasn't helping the work, and we were not ok with it. So we asked the Lord what to do. We ended up sitting him down and just telling him what we felt was wrong. The interesting thing was, when we did it, there was no feeling of impatience or hatred there. It was odd because literally 24 hours ago we probably might have killed him. That sure is an important life lesson, let me tell you. 

1. The Lord loves everyone, even if you are super annoying

2. The Lord doesn't expect you to like everyone, but you have to love them all because they are children of God

3. In times of need, the Lord will help you if you recognize what you need to do, even if you only do it out of responsibility.

Take care! Love you all!

Sister Kwan

It's kind of a long story

This week's shout out goes out to that nice guy on the corner who sold us those strawberries. You rock.

So I don't really have a lot of time considering right now it's already... 5:36. So I'm going to be real quick with this one.

This week we struggled with the Elders in our ward. Honestly, I can not say half the things I feel about them right now, because I know Jesus would never say anything like that. Luckily, we worked it out so hopefully we will be able to work in unity for the ward. 

We met this nice man on the corner wheeling around a ton of strawberries. He told us he had just bought them this morning, so we were super excited. He said $13 and I literally dug everything out of my wallet and came up with a little over $9. He was so nice, he said it was fine and took it. I'm really grateful for that act of Christlike kindness. He had no idea who we were but he was still willing to just take it. As a result, we were able to talk to a lot of people by offering them strawberries. When you have something, you share it right? 

Well, it's the same with the gospel. 

This gospel is fresh. It's good. For everyone. We have it. Are we going to keep it to ourselves? No. That's not the point. When Jesus was on the Earth, he gave everything to everyone. It didn't matter who it was. In fact, he sought those who had nothing and tried to give to them. They still had agency to accept or reject, but ultimately they were given the opportunity. That's all we are asked to do, share. And if God asked you to do something, would you? I sure hope so. 

Anyways. I guess I'm a little grumpy from last week. But it'll be better this week. If not I'll make it so. I appreciate you all- your prayers are definitely carrying me, along with the Lord. I'll send pictures next week too (hahaahah)

Love you all!

Sister Kwan

Sweating's ok if you like swimming

This week's shout out goes out to Brentwood corn. It's seriously good. 

Seriously though, if it gets any hotter, I might die.

On the flip-side, I think sweating is making us lose weight. Sis Lutui was saying how if you wear a garbage bag while you run (like in Silver Linings Playbook) then you lose weight super fast because it's hot. I guess I'm ok with it but it's only a little like drowning. 

This week we met Sandy. When she saw Sister Lutui, she ran up to her and hugged her and wouldn't let go. Needless to say, she's one of the people who remembered Sister Lutui from a year ago (did I ever say that? She was "born" here a year ago when we first got here.) Sandy's prepared for baptism, but she refuses to do it because she hasn't received a spiritual confirmation. Hopefully she will soon.  

We had some great lessons with Craig. His biggest thing is that he isn't willing to change his lifestyle because he's comfortable. Along with that, he feels like the atonement is too good to be true. Like getting something for nothing. Which is understandable. He did say that if he knew this gospel was true, that he would want it for his daughters. Which is good, but really he should want it for himself... but he is so nice. He really is interested in learning more and finding truth. 

We met James this week! It was super cool because we just walked right up to him, and he was looking for a church. That doesn't normally happen. He said he would talk to his wife about us coming back. We haven't yet, but we will definitely follow up. He loves his family and really cares about finding a good church for his kids, so we are excited!

Then we met another sister in the ward with her 2 kids. She told us she's getting induced on Monday, so we are super excited to meet her baby girl! We were talking to her kids about prayer and it was like this

McKenna: Daddy's rude when Gavin prays at dinner time!

Us: Why?

McKenna: Daddy eats! 

  

One of our members who doesn't come out to church a lot had us over for dinner. She lives in "Disco Bay" and she lives on the water. So I will attach pictures. It's pretty awesome. It's SO pretty out there. And I have a bunch of videos to attach. (One time Google caught me before I sent it because I said I needed to attach something. Hopefully I'll remember this time. Ha.) 

Went to Why I Believe because Kim was speaking! She is doing so well. I love her. But there were so many missionaries there! Sister Meredith asked us all to go up and sing "Called to Serve" at the end. It was messy. But a spiritual mess. It was a really great night. We brought someone who comes to church only sometimes and she really enjoyed it. Only she might've gotten a concussion the other day and was experiencing the effects of it while we were there. But she got a priesthood blessing and it helped a little. I think. 

This week's thought is about trusting in the Lord's timing. Sis Tsan, who's serving in Alamo 1st and 2nd, told me that Fulvia is getting baptized! I just looked it up and I don't think I've ever written about her before, but she's a Russian lady that I taught in Alamo 2nd a year ago. She's getting baptized this Saturday! So I'm really excited for her, even though I haven't seen her in a year. But I just think about how we were able to set the pace for her. The first time we met her, she asked us how we knew the church was true. I still remember that today. And she was so nice. Obviously I wish she had been baptized while we were there, but everything happens in God's time. It's hard to wait, but there's always a lesson attached to it. And whatever we do, it's for a wise purpose. Not our purpose, but His purpose. 

Hope you are all doing great! Love you all. 

Sister Kwan

Prayers and Painkillers

This week's shout out goes out to all the missionaries on bike. I don't know how you do it, but holy cow. 

So the title and the shout out all go together, but I'm going to save that for the end because that's like the best and worst part of the week. 

525,600 minutes. That's right. That's a year (says Rent). And that's happening June 5th. It's kind of crazy to believe that it's been so long! We're definitely on the downhill and I can feel it. Time flies so quickly. 

A member referred us to her neighbor, Marilyn. Little did we know that her family would be so open! I missed the lesson because I was on exchanges in the Spanish program, but it sounded like it was wonderful. Honestly, they sound so prepared. She wants to fix her marriage and get her kids involved in a church. And she asked us for a priesthood blessing. Who does that?? She's so awesome. They have a strong testimony of prayer and they have great family values. I'm super stoked to meet with them!

Meanwhile, I was on exchanges with an unnamed Hermana. It's kind of crazy sitting there and hearing a lesson in another language and then have them all turn to you. I just decided to smile. And bear my testimony. But that was really my only contribution haha it was fun though! The reason I'm leaving her unnamed is because I kind of have a bone to pick with her. We start the exchanges in a meeting where we talk about what we want to work on, and one of the Sister Trainers says, "You know, I feel prompted to say this, but we don't need to be cookie cutter missionaries. We can be ourselves AND be obedient." I liked that. A lot. However, the other Sister Trainer, who I was with, did not understand that. I HATE when people are fake. I can't deal with that. And so it was kind of an uncomfortable exchange because I was on my toes the whole time. I'll probably still get in a little bit of trouble because well. If you squeeze a tube of toothpaste, you can't put it back in, right? :) 

So here's the best part. This week, I overcame my fears and rode a bike. It's literally been at least 10 years. If you don't know why, you should definitely consider asking me sometime, because it's a good story. The Elders needed to take our care to Oakland, so we figured. Eh. We need to work. Let's do it. At least now I know that I'm in a lot better shape than I thought. And who ever said stationary bikes are anything like real life? That was a lie. So this trip is supposed to be 6 miles round trip. However, no one said anything about it being completely uphill. And we got lost. And it was way hot. And thus we set out to go and do service. Luckily we got to wear shorts, because the bike was too big for me. We did it, and we survived. Partially. 

That night, we get to dinner and my legs start tingling. It started in my knees and went up into my thighs. And when we got home that night I literally thought I was going to die. At that point, I felt like if I cut off my legs, I'd probably be in better shape, because it hurt like. I can't even compare, but either way, it was more than anything I've ever known. And there I was, dying. And I got down and started kneeling to pray, and I said, "Heavenly Father. I know you know how much this hurts, so I hope you know how much I need help right now too." And so I prayed. And we got some painkillers too. But the next morning, I woke up and holy cow. It was as if nothing's happened. Ever. No pain. At all. And I haven't felt any since. Which really shows the power of prayer. It's never worked so quick for me, but when I needed it, there it was. How blessed we are.

Love you all

Sister Kwan