This Library Smells Funny

Monday, July 31, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

Lovelies,

This week has been...wowza! (Oh, the eloquence.) But let's all take a moment to be grateful that I am still alive, because apparently in the Virginia/DC area, you don't have to pass a driving test. I think they just hand them out to anyone, whether blind or a child! They are crazy drivers! I'm not allowed to drive here... yet. I have to get a special card and pass a special test, but if I were driving, I would need to repent a lot. You should hear me now, though.  I'm all "Child of God, you are going too fast!" or "You didn't use your blinker, but would you like to build your faith in Christ?!" ALSO, speed bumps here are called "speed tables"!! I think that is so funny.

On Tuesday, I woke up, had a breakfast of toast and jam, and got in the car that took me to the place where my life would be forever changed.  Yes. The Stake Center. We went in, got some training (which I really hope I wasn't actually supposed to remember. I'll have to ask.), and was taken into a room where there were many bright-eyed missionaries waiting to be assigned their trainee.... They all seemed a little too excited. They probably know something we don't. But I walked in, and they started pairing everyone up with their trainers, and I was paired up with the loveliest Sister Morin! She is just the cutest. My cute companion is from Quebec, Canada and speaks fluent French. One of my transfer goals is to learn a little bit of French from my Canadian friend. So, after much tears were shed, I said goodbye to my little group of MTC buddies, and we skedaddled on our way. Into the wild, blue yonder.  Into the sky. We went finding for a bit, then we met our Hungarian bishop, went finding some more, and then we got to meet C*. She's a recent convert from Ghana, and she loves to read the scriptures, so we go over there to read with her. Side note: I have never been asked to pray more in my life. 

Saying hello to Sister Morin.

My trainer and me. It's official: I'm a missionary.

Wednesday was not a horrible day, either! Oh, the tender mercies. We went to District Meeting in the morning, and our District Leader is the best. He actually called me last night, and I have to give a training at our next meeting. And I said yes. Because I am a missionary. And missionaries teach. But that day, we came home and had a corn on the cob each as our lunch. I was all "I'm a growing person!" but then I looked in our fridge, and I saw that there were very few choices, so I was content with the corn. Then we met with F*, an investigator. He's from Sierra Leone. We read the scriptures with him (don't you just love teaching the Isaiah chapters to a new investigator whose native tongue is some form of African? Because, I gotta tell you, it's one of my favorite things), and he said he would like to be baptized. But apparently he has been saying that for a few weeks now, so Sister Morin wasn't as excited as I was. He just won't come to church and won't marry his lady friend. Then we saw F*, who is also from Sierra Leone. She doesn't smile much, but we talked about tithing and fast offerings, and she seemed interested. Then we went finding again, and there were no people who wanted to talk to us. One guy at the door was like "I believe in science. Do you believe in science?", and I was kind of offended, but then I just remembered in Nacho Libre when he says "I believe in science" but then comes to love the orphans and the Lord. So, there is hope for everyone, I suppose. BUT NOT FOR MY LEGS. Apparently, my blood is a nice, gourmet feast for the mosquitoes. They are all over my legs. And the mission nurse said she thinks I'm allergic because they started to swell up, and now I look like a leper. We had dinner with R* that night, and she took us to a Sushi and Hibachi Grill. It was so cool, and I got yummy, yummy chicken. And the guy threw it in the general direction of my mouth. And I caught it. Yeah. I'm so fly. 

Twins - even in Virginia.

On Thursday, guess who we ran into?? Jehovah's Witnesses. We went finding in the park (which is absolutely beautiful. I have pictures to show you! Seriously, so, so green. Sister Morin was like "Trees, cool" and I was like "TREES! SO COOL! LET'S TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS AND A PICTURE OF THAT AND LOOK! MORE TREES!") and we kind of ran into them. I was ready to mark my territory with some karate moves, but Sister Morin invited them to church. (I see why she is the senior companion.) But we ended up just leaving them be as we were going home for lunch anyway. And then we met the Ward Mission Leaders.  They are so cute. They're a newly married couple with no babies. But it was so fun to be around them. And she gave us cookies, and ever since then, I have been craving cookies!! But we met them, went to Dunkin' Donuts to use their Wi-Fi (which is broken), and this weird guy wanted Sister Morin's phone number. So we gave him a card about Christ with our phone number on it and the address to the church building. He was super poopy about that.  But I was all "Can't you see this woman is a nun?" HAHA I'm so funny. (Seriously though, my poor companion.) Then we had dinner with a lovely woman and her two-year-old boy, and that was so nice. I just love the members in the ward. The spirit in their homes is so, so special. Every time we go to dinner at someone's house, I just get so excited. Anyway, then we went finding again, and someone let us in!! It's a cute, young couple who were just sitting down to dinner and they were great. They were open to our message, and they willingly accepted The Book of Mormon from us. It was so amazing. So we're going back on Thursday to teach them and to make them like us. I'll keep you posted. We also got to meet a woman named K*, and she's from Ghana. She wants to read The Book of Mormon with us, so we're going back on Wednesday to read it with her. She also said she would consider baptism. So, yeah. I'm a missionary. 

Trees #1

Trees #2

Trees #3

Trees #4

Friday was a planning day, and it was awesome and also not awesome. We spent all morning inside when it was raining! I was like "Really? You give us rain when we're not actually to leave the apartment?" but then I had to repent because rain is good for the trees whether we're inside or outside. After planning, we checked up on some people who didn't let us in. And we didn't have anyone sign up to feed us dinner, so we went out to eat. We went to this Japanese place and had this really weird cilantro ramen thing (not my brand), and then we got a doughnut to share because I was cranky-poopy that I didn't enjoy our lovely night out. But it was still raining outside, and I got to be happy for a little bit!! Then we saw Stephanie, a former investigator, and she said we could come back and share a message with her again! Huzzah!

On Saturday, it was still raining in the morning (yay!) and we went to a meeting with the Ward Mission Leaders. Then we went to the library and did a report thing for Ward Council the next day. Then we went finding again , and it was scary as butt. There were a lot of weird people there. That night, we had dinner with the S* family, and they were super nice. The husband told me all about his travels to Morocco, Thailand, Oman, Jordan, and Egypt. And then we went to a complex and started finding, and all of a sudden, when we walked past a door, someone knocked from the other side. We didn't even have to think twice before we booked it down the stairs, away from said door. (and when I say we, I mean I booked it down the stairs and just hoped that my companion was following me) (...she was) So, we left.  And then we gave The Book of Mormon to G*, our front-door man.  We're not allowed to really talk to anyone about the church in our apartment, but he kept asking us questions and said he wanted to read it, so we gave it to him. Who knows? We may have just saved his soul. Then we went to bed. 

And yesterday, we went to church, and it was awesome. I had to bear my testimony, but there were a lot of people who came up to me and said it was exactly what they needed to hear. I talked about the power of prayer. Prayer is a huge blessing here. It's what has really gotten me through. Also, my companion. And we had dinner with a cute family, and it made me miss my family a lot. I love you guys! Also, they had cookies for dessert, and my cookie craving still isn't sated. 

Sister Kleven & Sister Morin

The companions.

This morning, we went shopping. So I'm not going to starve anymore. 

I also found out that I will not be coming home until January 21, 2019. So I will not make it home for Christmas. But I'll think about you when it comes around!!

I love you guys and the Church and the rain! Mwah!

Love,

Sister Kleven