"I'm afraid of ghosts. And sheets with holes in them. And regular sheets. I'm a hufflepuff."

This week's shout out goes out to the moldy pumpkin we just threw away. Gross. 

So I got a new companion, Sister Olsen. She's kind of insane but in a good way, not the bad way. At least thus far. She's been in San Fran for the past 10 months, so I guess the crazy kinda rubs off on you eh haha no, but seriously. She's great. We work pretty hard and it's just. Good. Great. Awesome. 

Tuesday I dropped off Sister Slaughter at the mission home and I had a 3 hour wait period. So I hitched a ride with the Visitor Center sisters. Actually they recruited me to help them move. So I got to visit Berkeley! It seems really cool. I wanna go there. But anyways, we're moving all this stuff. Like food, clothes, like who knew sisters needed that much. Well, we do. We get to the door, and the door is locked. So the sister pulls out the key to open the door, and nothing. There we are in the middle of Berkeley with like 5 suitcases and a locked door. Here's where the story gets good. I'm with 2 other sisters, and one of them pulls out a screwdriver. First of all, wow. I wouldn't think to carry around a screwdriver, but I guess it's totally necessary. And she pulls all the screws out and nothing even happened. So I'm like here let me use this bobby pin. I had it all ready but I didn't have enough leverage and torque to twist it. So, if anyone wants to send me a lock picking kit, feel free. But yeah, just picture 2 sister missionaries at a pink house trying to jiggle the door with a credit card and a bobby pin, and the other sister missionary making calls. 

Met this lady on the street and she had this mega brain tumor and she's a walking miracle. She also has a pet goat. But she really believes in Christ and we are going to start teaching her! Hopefully. We are going to go back and rake leaves and such and then try and teach her. She's so nice. Her and her fiance got us some soda and just talked to us for a really long time. 

We got to go to this really cool choir concert that basically all the youth in the ward were in. They did a fantastic job. Monte Vista. They are traveling all over Europe this summer, lucky dogs. They really did a great job though, it felt like. Actually hold on. Maybe I will commission them to follow us around and sing. This is it- this is the choir I've been looking for to follow us around. Just kidding. Sort of. But it was a really great concert though! Obviously it was boring like most are, but. 

Trunk or Treat this week! Man I miss Pretty Little Liars. I was so stoked when that family dressed up as them. Also, Becca came dressed as the lady joker from a comic book. She's so creative. And then there's Bella, the ex-con. She's the cutest. The other day in church we offered her a brownie and she kind of looked happy enough to cry. And then there's the angel and the devil. That's probably my favorite this week. I was going to have them sit on my shoulders, but they said it'd be a bad idea. The one who dressed up as a devil is Sarah. She's like my favorite, I love her haha. Then the angel is her friend Erin, who just moved here from Jersey. God bless her. She said her brother lives in Bryn Mawr and I was like "OH MY GOSH ITS SO GOOD TO HEAR THAT" I don't really know, it's weird but you kind of miss things like that when you're away from them for so long. So we talked about the shore and the east coast and I was just really happy afterwards. It's such a small thing but I'm so grateful

Speaking of gratitude, Thanksgiving is coming up! There's so much to be grateful for. But we were in young women's yesterday and they were talking about it and it really is important. No matter what, being grateful will make everything better. So I'm too lazy to count out how many letters are in the alphabet and I'm not sure when Thanksgiving is, but I would like to extend a challenge to all of you. If you will start today at the beginning of the alphabet and list all the things you're grateful for starting with that letter and go until Thanksgiving (So like, start today and do the letter A, then tomorrow do B, and so forth), I can promise that you will be happier. God blesses us a lot more than we are aware. And I'm so grateful for everything I've got. 

Love you all! You're the toppings to my pizza. 

Love,

Sister Kwan

A Farewell to Arms (because they've been slaughtered)

Sister Slaughter is having a transfer tomorrow!

This week's shout out goes out to Sister Slaughter. Hopefully we've opened your eyes enough to prepare you for San Fran haha lucky dog. 

Dang what even happened this week.. We lit off fireworks the other night. Totally illegal in this area hahaha they were just small ones. 

Hmmm........

Oh dude we set up and worked a 60th anniversary party for 60+ people. Insanity. The set up was normal, just like 10 tables and 60 chairs, no big deal. I guess they hadn't mowed the lawn, so the daughter's out there with a pair of scissors. It was hilarious haha We used GLASS PLATES with CHILDREN. I was like "Wait. Wait wait wait." I'm surprised none of them were broken. But holy dish pile. And the people were all... not in their prime anymore so we had to escort a couple and get them food. It was a very good party. Great food, great people. 

Carving pumpkin day on Preparation day!

Sister Chen

            
We got to teach 2 first discussion this week! In one day! And we didn't have dinner! The sacrifices we make, goodness. We taught Becca, who's 14, and a member of our ward's niece and nephew. 

We were going to teach Tallia, who's 9, but... she's a bit of a. She's basically gotten everything she's ever wanted and doesn't need anything else. Or so she thinks. But yeah things will be interesting. 

I gave a training the other day! I taught on listening. Which is crucial to just about everything. If you aren't listening to people, you should be listening to the spirit. But I think it went really well. I think we all learned a lot. If not, we learned not to let me teach hahaha

 Sister Lerubwara

My companion's pumpkin

We got to teach primary, I forgot how cute kids are. There's only 13 of them, but still. We talked about missionary work and their first question was "Why can't you go swimming" I don't really know why. I think Satan might have power over the water or something, I don't know

This week's thought comes from a song. It goes something like this "Regrets collect like old friends, here to relive our darkest moments" and well. It's true. Sometimes our lives get crazy, and we all make too many mistakes. But we shouldn't let them get to us. We just gotta keep our heads up and let the Lord carry our burdens so we don't have to. And it's definitely not easy, our biggest mistakes are the hardest to let go of. But it's possible. 

Keep on rollin (like a stone)

Love

Sister Kwan

The Chanting's Back Pt. 1

This week's shout out goes out to

What an area this is. To be completely honest, I don't really want to leave. Me and Sister Slaughter are doing great. It's actually kind of weird that you can live 4 months with a person and not totally hate them by the end of it. It's different. And it's weird because we actually had a really really slow week. Appointments dropping faster than this state into the Pacific Ocean, mean people behind doors, trying to find people to teach and finding no one. And yet. I sleep pretty well at night. But I think that's because I've done everything I can and I've worked hard, so I'm grateful. 

I'm 95% sure we found Kristie Yamagutchi's house. She's got the most gorgeous view. And she drives a BMW convertible. Smart woman. 

We had exchanges this week! Me and Sister Ierubwara ran around knocking doors. All day, erryday. It's the life. All our appointments fell through that day haha but there was this one door we were super grateful for. He didn't have interest in the church, but he really liked the "Witnesses of Christ" card we gave him. He was blind though, but I'm sure he will feel the Spirit. Then he gave us these interesting drinks. With no sugar or calories or protein or.. anything.We still have no idea what it was haha but we were super grateful. We will have to go back sometime. 

I don't remember if I ever wrote about this, but the other week there was the MASSIVE black widow. I didn't want to step on it because. Ew nasty. So the girl runs inside her house and comes out with a freaking blow torch. It died. 

Remember the girl who sang with us in Sacrament meeting? Well, she came to Young Women in Excellence last night and wants to get more involved! I mean, she told us that she came 50% for food and 50% for us. Not bad. I think she is going to be great. She committed to reading the Book of Mormon and she WANTS to know that it's true. It's insane. The Lord has blessed us so much. Honestly, she loves us though. Transfers are coming up and I've got an iffy feeling in my stomach. Not enough to make me nervous, but a little uneasy. 

The Broby's and our mustaches! :D

A tree fell on Glendoris's car and she had a bill she needed to pay on the dashboard so here come the missionaries. I'm like standing there in a skirt with my arm in the car, and Sister Slaughter's got a metal broom to hold up all the broken glass. Tempered glass still shatters. So I mean, yes, I got cut. But they aren't Celestial Kingdom worthy, they're just minor cuts. 

My companion's pumpkin

Pictures from this week... a member invited us over to celebrate her son's birthday! He's in Berlin on a mission. And my district! And carving pumpkins! Guess which one's mine... And 'staches. 

You all are cooler than the flipside of my pillow. Rock on. 

Love,

Sister Kwan

Guess which one's mine... And 'staches.

Sis. Chen made 'Scary Potter'

All Roads They Lead To Here

This weeks shout out goes out to my dad. Happy birthday! Love you! Don't spend too much time writing poetry. 

It was a really odd week. I had two and a third exchanges. Two 24 hour exchanges and one 8 hour exchange. The 8 hour one was a trio with Sister Evans and Sister Seegmiller. They're pretty cool. We just ran around trying to find people, no big deal. The other two... I don't even know where to begin. They're the "rebellious" companionship in our area. Super sweet, both of them. But we learned that one of them isn't actually rebellious haha

So the first exchange with the actually rebellious one was interesting. We stumbled upon a patch of strawberries and she was like "YES" so she started eating them and offered some to me and the other sisters. It was kind of like Genesis 3:6. Then one of the sisters notices there were worms on some of them. And then she opens one and they're IN the strawberries too. Not even in a foreign country and I can still manage to get worms. Actually I'm not sick. I think. But we also did service for our recycling champion. Or I did. I was leveling her lawn to help make steps. 

The second exchange, we decided unconsciously to stay up late. At least for missionaries who need to be up at 6:30 AM. We had a very very good talk. She's the greatest. She's had an interesting life. And I mean, everyone has, but not everyone tells you their whole life story. Or some crucial parts in it. It was a good day. We were tired, but we got to talk to a lot of people. 

We were at a member's house yesterday. They've had this platter of nuts on their table... probably since before we got here. Sister Slaughter opened up a walnut, and I wanted to try to so I picked up this thing that kind of looked like a hazelnut. And then I was like "Wait this might be an acorn. Are those poisonous?" And I still have no idea if that's true or not. But I opened it and ate it and it was RANCID. It tasted so nasty. Nothing's ever made me feel that sick to my stomach. I choked it down. But the taste was in my mouth all night. Gross.  

Azadeh is rocking on. She's so great. Sister Slaughter asked her if she had read and prayed to know that the Book of Mormon is true, and she says, "Honestly, no. But why should I doubt it?" And that was one of those moments where I wish I had a Southern Baptist choir following us around all day. With like streamers and fireworks and cannons. Because it was a glorious moment. And if we were anywhere else and I wasn't a missionary, I would've jumped up and started dancing and stuff. But anyways. 

Wasn't General Conference great? It was. It really was. One of the things I REALLY liked was when Elder Holland said "If the bitter cup doesn't pass, drink it and wait for better days." Isn't that just so. Ugh words. But lets get real for a second. Life isn't great all the time. In fact, most of the time, it sucks. And what do we have to do? We have to deal with it. And we are promised better days, it's just a matter of when. And that's exactly what he's saying. D&C 121 is one of my favorite chapters, but my least favorite thing is when the Lord says "thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment." And I'm like "HOW LONG MUST THIS LAST????" So. Impatient. But in the perspective of forever, 100 years is nothing. I've got a lot of work to do. But. I've got a lifetime of knowledge. Hahahahaha I hope someone gets that. 

Hope you all have the best weeks ever!

Love
Sister Kwan

Don't pay no minds to the demons, they fill you with fear

This week's shout out goes out to Mikkel. Heaven help your parents... :)

I learned that if you check your watch a lot, you'll eventually check it in your dreams and it'll be like inception and you can change your dreams cuz time gets really funky. Look out Leonardo DiCaprio.

We got to see a general authority this week! Elder... Audikitis. I think. He's from Brazil. But it was great! 5 hours and I totally spaced out (silly attention span) but it was really good. He talked a lot about setting goals and what not. It was really good. So this week we have a goal for 2 baptisms. I'm not entirely sure how we will get there, considering we don't really have anyone, but I'm sure the Lord will make it happen if it is supposed to. 

Azadeh is doing great. She just absorbs everything. Like an absorbent towel. She came to church this Sunday, and we had the primary program. It was fantastic. There were only 13 kids, but they all did such a great job and they were all so cute. But she loved that, and she wants a Children's Songbook to send to her daughter. She is soooo ready for the gospel. I just hope her father and her ex-husband are okay with it. But even if not, Heavenly Father knows the desire of her heart and she will be totally fine. 

The relief society talked about me! Only in name. Which I can't reveal at the present moment. But I was mentioned! And so was Ashley. Shout out to my favorite. But it was a great meeting too haha

I totally don't want to write anymore. I think I'm almost done.

We had a "linger longer" yesterday and it's just where we stay after church and eat food. But this cute little girl named Mikkel loves Veggietales and has to tell Sister Slaughter everytime she sees her, so she started purposefully running by us while we were standing there. She's so cute. But then we were sitting down and she was talking to Sister Slaughter, and I was talking to another kid at the table, and then Mikkel totally jacked my name tag. Punk kid. She's the cutest though. I ripped a piece of paper and wrote her last name on it so it could actually be hers and she was so excited to be a missionary. So then I sat down and took some paper and created name tags for her and her companion, Allie. They were sooo cute. And then we took pictures together and they're hilarious. So I will have to get them to you later because they are on Sister Slaughter's camera haha. 

So I quoted the song "Home" by Phillip Phillips in the subject heading. And obviously there's a reason for that (I couldn't think of a Taylor Swift song with a spiritual message). But actually, this song converted someone. Good stuff, huh? And it was the last song I learned to play on guitar. But I think there's a lot of good that comes from that one line. Demons can be pretty freaky. I've watched my share of horror movies, and yeah, scary. Sometimes. But for myself, a lot of my demons are from within. Conquering these demons is impossible on your own, and sometimes they aren't meant to be conquered. Sometimes you just gotta tame them. But in Moroni 8:16, it says "And I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." Which is totally true. A lot of times if you love, you forget about yourself. It's a neat thing, to care that much for others that you forget yourself. Just forget about the demons. Which is pretty hard actually. But I know that if we try really hard and actually just give it over to the Lord, He will take care of it. Like everything else in this world.  

I hope you all know I love you!

Love,

Sister Kwan

My Life is a Gourd

This weeks shout out goes out to the moth who decided it would be a good idea to fly near our less active's face and literally got thrown on the ground. Take it easy little buddy. 

                               

Best FHE ever!

We had a crazy number of things happen this week. Unfortunately because I'm almost positive that Alzheimer's is infectious and I've hit my head too many times, I am not sure this e-mail will have everything. 

We got the prompting to walk around the streets at night and we find this day planner. We crack it open, and it is sooo packed of events. I like delved into it so we could figure out who's it was, and this woman was a shrink. There was so much private information in there, it was crazy. We opened to the front page and there wasn't any contact information in there, but I saw this sheet of paper with some like suicide hotline numbers on it, and there was a name on top and I felt like we should call it, so we did. She gets our call and is super grateful. We met her at like 10 at night in a bank parking lot and it was super shady. Like the one tree in the park at noon on the hottest day of the year type shady. But she's apparently met with missionaries before but... she was nice haha

Singing in church. Talk about a huge kick in the face. Of the spirit. I'm like playing the piano and listening to them was like. Holy cow it blew me away. So awesome. And her mom recorded it and said she'd put it up on Youtube, hopefully it'll be up soon haha I'll get the link out. Everyone told us it was fantastic, and with this ward... either they're super nice like your grandparents and would lie to you no matter what... or they'll tell it to you straight up, so. 

We had this awesome fireside called "Why I Believe" and they have recent converts get up and bear their testimony and talk about their conversion stories. It was way cool. Way way awesome. These people have great stories and there's a common element in all of them- member missionary work. Boom. But the best talks were the ones where people didn't write anything. Like they just spoke by the spirit and rocked it.

And I've picked up this awful habit this week. I'm telling people that they're my favorites. And not like everyone, but it's starting to become like everyone. But I mean it, nbd. But what I did learn is that I really love this ward. The old people are great, the teenagers are sassy as all get out, but they love me and I love me, so I must be pretty awesome. Haha and I love those punk kids too. It's weird that they're only a couple years younger than me. And I love the ten people that are between there and below there. This is a great ward. So grateful. 

This week I really liked Alma 26:30. You all should look it up yourselves, but that's basically a mission. At least for me. 

Keep Rockin On

Love

Sister Kwan

Carry on

This week's shout out goes out to... errybody. You're awesome, and don't you forget it. Sure do love you all. Seriously, I'm always super grateful when I hear from you, but it's weird because I can feel the prayers too. Really you should pray for the people meeting me haha but I need it too, so thanks :)

Our walls are super thin and our neighbor has been playing this weird chanting music. I can't even begin to describe it but every time it starts up I feel like pieces of my soul are getting chanted away in the beat. 

Yesterday in one of our meetings, we had a social media training. Which was odd, because most of these people don't have Facebook. And they viewed it as time consuming. And I was like "Yo it only takes 20 seconds tops once you figure out what you're doing" but yeah. At least they are trying. I might be writing soon about sitting there and trying to teach people how to create an account. 

I HAD COTTON CANDY GRAPES YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!11 They were so cool. It's this green grape, but then like. You bite it and it's like a cotton candy explosion. It was only a little uncomfortable. Haha no, it wasn't. It was yummy. 

We got a prompting to buy ice cream for a girl in our ward, so we went to buy it, and then we needed gas, so we went and got gas, and there's Glendoris, the recycling champ, dumpster diving (called it). We were like "Hey! Do you want ice cream?" And she's like "yeah!" So we bought her some. And the girl in our ward wasn't home. So I'm pretty sure we were only inspired to buy ice cream because of Glendoris... but she enjoyed it, so that's always good. 

On preparation day... lunch with other sisters from the district.

One of our youth almost ran me over last night. Only, it was more like I was standing outside and I see her car coming at me so I move but she rolls up and she says "I thought about hitting you" and in my head, my first thought was "Headline: Local missionary hit in church parking lot." I would say we have a good relationship with our ward haha but seriously, they love us :D like everyone else in the world.

We also found out Hilary Duff and Kristi Yamagutchi (sp?) live around here. Talk about the best incentive to go knock doors. Gotta convert 'em all 

And now for an inspirational story by yours truly. 

So I'm praying, and an idea hits me like a brick wall. Like a freaking bullet to the gut. And mentally I was like "no... are you freaking... nonono... NONONONO- fine." I'm laying in bed waiting for Sister Slaughter to finish her 35+ minute prayer, and I'm like "I got inspiration but I don't like it... we have to sing in Sacrament meeting" And it's funny, because everything fell into place for it to happen. The music coordinator asked us if we could sing without us even asking, crazayyyyy. But the day she gave us was, drum roll, the 22nd! For some reason I thought it was like a month away. Totally false. That's this Sunday. Then here's the kicker/miracle. We were just going around asking for help picking a song, and we are at this girl's house, and she isn't a member but she has a great voice, so we were asking her for help. Then Sister Slaughter was like "I can't do this! I get so nervous, and there are so many people, and-" And this girl says "It's ok, I'll be there. I'll sing with you!" And we both did a double take like "WHAT" but yeah. This is the story of how God makes things happen when you do what He tells you to. Obedience, what up. It's also the story of how Sister Kwan is playing "I Will" on the piano again after 3 years of not playing it and miraculously remembering, and how you get a non-member to perform in Sacrament meeting with you. #churchistrue

                        Becca, the investigator who sang with Sister Slaughter at the sacrament.

Hope everyone is having a fanflippintastic week!

Love,

Sister Kwan 

Oh man, I totally forgot! Our Muslim investigator is so great. We are still being careful because she needs to talk to her dad, who is most likely to be against it, but still. We dropped off a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and she read it all by the next day when we went to see her. She asked us about tea, but she drinks herbal tea, so everything is right on track. But the greatest part was when she started bearing testimony to us of the Word of Wisdom. Talk about power.