I'm not dead, I swear!

This week's shout out goes out to the earthquake. Very timely. 

So I don't have very much time this week to e-mail because we went to the temple! What a blessing it truly is to have a temple so close. So blessed.

Speaking of earthquakes. We had 2 preparedness nights this week. Thursday and Saturday. And then Saturday night we felt the earthquake! Well, it woke my companion up and she was like "Uhhh why is Sister Kwan shaking my bed." But I was not the source of it. It was an earthquake. But it didn't do anything haha

Uh so I really don't have time to write anything more but there were so many miracles! Someone remind me to write about it next week. 

Love you all! 
Sister Kwan

I don't have a creative title for this week. (8/18)

This week's shout out goes out to hot pockets. I decided to leave you for about a year and now that I've gone back, I'm not sure why I did.

As always, it's interesting adjusting to a new companion. Sister Fiefia is older than me and she is from Tonga. Legitimately from Tonga. She keeps telling me that my future holds a lot of Tongans since this is my 3rd companion from there, but we will see. She got super sick this week and so we haven't been out much and now I'm starting to feel kind of weird. Hopefully I stay strong haha

We met with a surprising amount of people this week! More than we ever have before.

Had a birthday party for our favorite Hawaiian lady who's not actually Hawaiian but loves it there. We sang Tongan hymns and ate cake. It was kind of awesome, and she was crying. The spirit was there and it made everyone really happy. And then at the end, they danced for us! She promised that she wouldn't dance for anyone (Well. She promised Sis Sotele that she would dance at her wedding) but she broke that promise because she really enjoyed us taking time out of our day to wish her a happy birthday. She is the sweetest lady.

The same day, we managed to have 2 dinners and 3 desserts. I need to go on a diet of some sort. But we all know that's impossible on a mission... But I was impressed by how much we ate. I was dying by the end of the night though, but yeah. These people take time to make food to feed us, I just feel bad... not eating it...

So there's this one less active lady that we've been visiting and we've been getting weird vibes from her house. Like a couple weeks ago, me and Sis Sotele were there and we had felt like a spirit had followed us from her house. It scared the pants off me. That day I learned how to cast out spirits and also how quickly God responds to us when we are panicking. We just kind of shrugged it off as a one time thing, but this time with Sis Fiefia, her and the member we brought were suddenly struck with sickness. It was the strangest thing. And we talked with our member about it, and he was like "You felt it too?" And so we are planning on going back and blessing the home. Our member had home taught the last family that lived there, and he mentioned some really bad feelings in that home. It was pretty crazy.

And then there's Lynda. What a lady. We were there and her neighbor Sharon, who's a less active member, was visiting too. They tend to argue whenever we go over, and it's always interesting. The topics of discussion aren't usually gospel, but we can make them switch it over when it's time. But this is where we had the best conversation of the week. So they're just sitting there fighting, Sharon's complaining about how hard her life is, and Lynda is not having it.

Lynda: "Oh, is that how you got diabetes then?"

Sharon: "No, I got it from my neighbor!"

Everyone: ".................."

Lynda: "You can not contract diabetes that way, don't you ever say that to anyone ever again."

Sharon: "No, it's because he caused me stress!"

Us: "HAHAHAHAHAHA"

Honestly, I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. Old ladies are the best.

So there's this new video out
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001 

Super awesome. Highly recommend it. I was thinking about it the other day and you know. We truly are blessed with this knowledge that we have. I think about how God loves us and how sometimes we look for Him in all the wrong places. It's like going to McDonald's and looking for clothes. You just can't do it. You might not necessarily know how He will reveal himself to you or what will happen, but you have to be open to any sort of solution, not just one that you seek. The Lord loves you.

Take care! Love you all :)

Sister Kwan

Too many feels (8/11/2014)

This week's shout out goes out to the Ponce family. They aren't actually less active, but they pretend like they are so they can hang out with us haha

I'm super bummed out right now. The Lord has decided to split up me and Sister Sotele and given me another Tongan companion and keep me here. Obviously it'll be good but. I'm super sad.

This week we met with a lot of the ward members since a bunch of our appointments fell through again. Sometimes I feel like we're drying to draw water from a well with a bucket full of holes. In this ward, we deal with a lot of less actives who really don't feel welcome at all, whether they are less active or even active. It makes me really sad. We aren't entirely sure what to do, because this has been an ongoing problem and it doesn't seem like anyone's taking any steps to solve it. For me, it just goes to show the dangers of getting comfortable. When you're comfortable, you don't feel the need to change, and it makes everyone else uncomfortable. We will see. 

We got to do some really great service this week- pulling weeds, killing black widows, it was crazy. I might've mentioned it last week but I'm too lazy to click back and look. The yard looks awesome now. It's crazy that sometimes you can actually see the fruits of your labors! 

I also learned how to can tomatoes this week. It is a LONG process. But now I am a professional tomato peeler. Haha but that's all I did for 2 hours. It was long, but super fun. And by the end of it, I looked like I had killed someone. The sister we did it for really appreciated it though, we took care of 30 pounds of tomatoes! It was pretty awesome. 

Well this week I was thinking a lot about the choices we make. A member at church on Sunday asked us "What would happen if there were no consequences to our actions?" And it kind of blew my mind. I think a lot of what's happening today is because there's no IMMEDIATE repercussions for the things we do. It's not like touching a stove. It's a slow process sometimes. But when we feel like we're "getting away with things," there's no incentive to change. What we have to recognize, is that for everything we do, there ARE consequences. Which is kind of scary. And growing up, I always hated the word "consequence." It was always so evil. But now I realize that if there were no consequences, there would be no change, and that's exactly why we are here. 

Take care! Love you all!

Sister Kwan 

Wait what, it's August?

This week's shout out goes out to my companion. Everyone thinks we don't like each other, and they're right. Haha I'm just kidding, I love her to death. 

So not really much to report on this week. Well actually I have like 5 minutes left so that's what there isn't much coming to mind. 

It was kind of cool because I got to be in the Tongan program for a day. (It's a LONG story.) They are the sweetest people, for real. They are so nice and they're always looking out for us. It was interesting because even though there totally is a language barrier, I could understand these people and their life situations. They're super nice. Consecration is not an issue at all. It's truly amazing. 

We met with a bunch of less actives this week- they all have wonderful stories and lives. We sit there and we think. Imagine how much happier your life would be if you embraced the gospel that you KNOW is true. It's hard because the world casts such a dark mist on what truly brings us joy. 

We also met Art! He met with the missionaries before and now he's meeting with us! He is a super funny guy. He was telling us all about how the government is watching all of us. Kind of freaked Sister Sotele out, but he wouldn't tell us what his job is. Then we texted Sister Tsan and she told us haha but he made such a big deal out of it! He's read the Book of Mormon twice, and the missionaries came at a time that he really needed it, so he has a wonderful opinion of the church. And he goes to church all the time! We are so excited to meet up with him again. 

Well. Last week's message was super angry and I apologize. I shouldn't write on an empty stomach. This week though, I learned a lot about patience. I have the hardest time trusting in the Lord's timing. I always want instant answers and I want the answers that I give. Obviously, that is not the case. We don't get to pick the time or the outcome- so why do we always want to? I've realized that things will never go the way I want them to- and that's made life a little easier. When we recognize that we are in God's hands and that whatever he's going to give us is best, that's when life starts getting good. That's when miracles happen.

Love you all!

Sister Kwan

"You know where you shouldn't go to get Chinese food? China."

This week's shout out goes out to the pioneers still- because I'm assuming they were still traveling at this part of the year. 

But here's my little rant about pioneer day... why is the only Mormon holiday we have in the middle of summer? We should put one that takes us out of school. Maybe like a week in March, because we all know that BYU doesn't celebrate Spring Break. So let's celebrate.. Missionaries. Let's take a week and all go out with our missionaries and love them. And take a week off. 

This weather is pretty extreme. We were above 100 all week and I think it's supposed to be the same this week. Pretty crazy. BUT not as crazy as the fact that we had 12 set appointments this week, and they ALL fell through but 1. It was really tough. This whole agency business is really killing me. Obviously numbers aren't everything (I actually get really mad whenever people ask me how many people I've baptized. That's not even the point of a mission.) but when people are kind of laying into you because your numbers are low, it's kind of rough. If there's one thing I've learned so far on my mission, it's that no matter what you're doing, people have agency, and we can't control that. And as much as we'd like to do everything in our time, it's all on the Lord's time, which we have no control over. 

The good news though, is that school starts up again this week! So everyone's home! We've been able to catch a lot of people and set up more appointments. And remember the Harvest Festival from awhile back? We all got referrals from it, and we contacted a lot of them and they said that they didn't want help, but one lady said she could really use it. She told us that she's currently going through a divorce, and you could tell from her voice that she is really struggling. We are going to head over on Wednesday, and I'm really excited because I know how much this is going to help her in her life. More than just amateur lawn care, but for the eternities. I'm excited. 

We met with Kris this week, who we helped move her stuff like crazy about a month ago. She's so sweet. She's between a rock and a hard place, but she has such a positive attitude. She really is a good example for us. You wouldn't know that she was struggling until she said something. Always got a smile on her face, she's so cool. She told us that she's not really into the whole religion thing, but people change all the time :) haha

Lynda is a hilarious less active in our ward. Oh my goodness, she's so funny. She told us about how she can't stand hot headed people, so one time she was at this concert (under some influences..) and she yelled at the lead singer of the band for not taking the time to sign something for someone. And she said that she wouldn't have gotten escorted out for yelling at him, but she did because she yelled at him 6 inches from his face. Man. She's so real though, I really appreciate it. She has a testimony, she just has a lot of other things going on in her life that pull her away from church. We're going to start working on it. 

Went to the stake picnic in celebration of pioneer day this week and it was pretty fun. Sort of. I think the only fun thing about it was how much cotton candy I got to eat. I miss eating clouds. It was really funny because they had all these kids making it for us, so they were all up to their armpits in cotton candy, and there was so much floating everywhere. It was kind of hilarious. And we were sitting under this wooden structure with benches and suddenly we start getting misted. Like vegetables. I'm pretty sure that's what broccoli feels like in the grocery store. It felt nice because it was over 100 but it was probably by far the weirdest picnic I've been to in awhile. Or ever. 

My thought this week comes from a wonderful Relief Society lesson on "What Are You Thinking" from General Conference. This quote I wanted to share is this:

All of us, though covenant children of a loving Heavenly Father, have regretted jumping headlong from the high seat of self-righteous judgment and have spoken with abrasive words before we understood a situation from another’s perspective. We have all had the opportunity to learn how destructive words can take a situation from hazardous to fatal.

I am sick of dealing with judgmental people. It really bothers me and I hate that it does but I'm like. What makes you better than anyone else here? And even if you are better, what would Jesus do? I'm going to stop ranting before I get mean. But I hope we can all take a second and check out the motes in our eyes before we try and pull out each other's splinters. 

Love you all!

Sister Kwan 

"...you're breathing really well today"

This week's shout out goes out to the pioneers. I didn't realize how big a deal July 24th was until half of my companions came from Utah and told me. 

I went on exchanges into the Spanish program! Everyone thinks I'm Filipino. And they told me I eat like a hispanic haha just send me to Mexico already. But it was really neat. I was trying really hard to pay attention because EVERYTHING was in Spanish and I don't speak Spanish. So I was sitting there listening, and I would understand. It didn't happen all the time, because at dinner, Sister Hernandez was sharing the spiritual thought and the wife just started crying out of nowhere. Turns out she is having a super rough time and I guess we shared just the right thing. It was a blessing to be there. But even though I didn't understand everything, I understood enough. And we had some service to do and the lady was so grateful. 

We helped a bunch of people move this week. This is a super transient area. My muscles are getting bigger. Or something. 

We were able to meet with a bunch of less actives this week. They are always welcoming to us but when it comes to actually going to church, they won't do it. For the most part, they're either having too much fun, or they were offended. We really do have a million reasons to leave the church, but the reason we stay is the reason we should cling to. We have eternities to lose for moments. 

The ward put on a hoedown this week. It was a great opportunity to meet the members! There are so many and they were so happy to see us there. We got to know them on a close level and interact with them. Super nice. In addition, we also got roped into square dancing! Me and Sister Sotele were just kind of chilling there so I was like "We should just do it" and she was like "No." repeatedly. And so I gave up but then this old man in our ward came over and said he needed a partner, and Sister Sotele pushed me over to him so I got stuck. Then after that another guy went over and asked her to dance and she couldn't say no. I just about died laughing. It was the best thing ever. However, we were also able to meet with our recent converts and a bunch of non-members. It was truly a blessing that we attended the ward activity. 

I guess I'm super behind but last week I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting! They gave me an open topic, so I just talked about my life story and how I was converted over time. The ward really enjoyed it because well. I'm kind of funny sometimes. But also I think they enjoyed how real it was. Overall it was a success. I had actually written 3 different talks before because they felt like good topics at the time, but none of them ended up being good. So I sat up there on the stand and waited for the inspiration to come... and it did. 

Despite the fact that all our appointments that we set fell through, and my companion's emotional struggles, we still had a good week. We were really blessed. And it brings to mind President Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude from this past general conference. He talked specifically about being grateful IN our circumstance. We acknowledge the fact that we have a problem, but at the same time we can see that things are ok. Being grateful is supposed to be proven to make us happier (Oprah? I don't know who said that). But I'd like to challenge you all this week to log three things that you're grateful for each day. I know it works and I can promise you that things will lighten up. 

Love you all!

Sister Kwan 

"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