"You know that's true."

Monday, October 30, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

We didn't do a whole lot this week. Just going around to the ward and the investigators and introducing Sister Hansen to them! But there have definitely been some miracles, though. For starters, the trees and the weather! I've been trying to get pictures, but the trees are usually the prettiest when we are driving down the street and the pictures are pretty bad quality because they're quickly taken by Sister Hansen after I yell, "PRETTY TREES! DOCUMENT THIS!"  

Sister Hansen & Sister Kleven - smiling in the car.

We also were able to see C*, and we just go over to read with her. We've just finished The Doctrine and Covenants and we're starting The Pearl of Great Price with her. She's so cute. Every time that we read about something that has to do with God, she stops us and says, "Mhm...You know that's true." I love it. I love C*. I love my area. She said that she's going to lock me in her closet if I get transferred, but not the one near the door because someone would hear me when I bang on the door and try to help me escape. No, the closet in her bedroom is better suited for kidnapping, apparently.  

Sister Hansen & Sister Kleven - modeling in the car with the air conditioner as special effects.

On Thursday, we stopped by an investigator who has been dodging us for a while now. We weren't going to just leave it be, so we decided to catch him unawares one morning. And we did. He was very nice to us and said that we could sit outside at his picnic table in his front yard so that we could talk for a little bit. So I turn around and start walking down the stairs and the next thing we all hear is a very loud shriek. The noise came from near the ground, so we all look down to see what in the blazes it was.  ...I may have accidentally stepped on his dog. The poor thing just booked it inside and I just did a *facepalm* and said really loudly, "I'M SORRY FOR SQUISHING YOUR DOG" ...so we'll see if he keeps his return appointment with us. *sigh* I'm so embarrassing.  

Companions: The long and the short of it.

C* is still doing AMAZING! We have been able to have two lessons with him this week. Both have been at the church because we weren't able to get any women to come with us, but that's okay. There's a special spirit in the church. His baptismal date is still November 11th, but we're trying to decide on a time because-GUESS WHAT??- An apostle of the Lord is coming to our mission! He wants to greet all the missionaries personally and so we're having a mission wide conference on November 11th! We found out this morning that Elder Neil L. Andersen is coming! We are so pumped. C*'s getting baptized and Elder Neil L. Andersen is coming here. Best day ever? I think yes. 

Also, we put N* on date for baptism! On November 25th! We are SO EXCITED!  She was kind of hesitant about committing, but she eventually did. We're still working with her and trying to get her to come to church, but we love her and we know that she can do it. Miracle! 

Pizza. Delish.

I'm probably the strongest missionary you will ever meet. On Saturday, we got a text from Brother B* telling us that he would be working on putting up a deck in his backyard and said that we could stop by to get service hours if we needed them. So, we decided to stop by. WE GOT TO WEAR PANTS! Anyway, when we got there, Brother B* put us to work. And let me tell ya, it was flippin' hard work. We were there for four hours. I was handed a saw and was told to saw through a giant hunk of wood. He told me to just get it started for him, but I sawed through that whole piece of wood with ease. (And by "ease" I mean difficulty. But I am a missionary. And missionaries finish sawing through logs.) Sister B* took a video, so hopefully I can send that to you next week. But then we picked up a HUGE plank of wood, and while we were huffing and puffing and carrying it over to its designated spot, Brother B* was like, "We're pretty much carrying a tree right now." So, family, I carried a tree.  ..."Pretty much."  Then we got to help with hammering and drilling and the such, but I was so short that Brother B* had to stack four giant blocks together to make me a step so that I could reach the top of the deck. Everyone else is tall, apparently. 

Here are pics of us carving pumpkins today:

Anyway, I think that's it. We're still teaching and serving and stepping on people's dogs. You know, the usual. I love The Book of Mormon, and as C* puts it: "You know that's true."  

I love you guys!

Love,

Missionary

Oct 24 - 30, 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

This has been a good week-ish.

So, E* STILL HASN'T COME TO CHURCH. Not only that, but while Elder Codina and I were teaching Gospel Principles, we received a text from her saying that she didn't want to join the Mormon church and not to come around again. This was completely out of the blue; our last lesson two days ago was so good! She said that she felt the Spirit whenever we were there, and that she was super excited to come to church and meet everyone. Elder Codina and I will have to go over later this week and find out what happened.

I'm in the last two weeks of my first twelve weeks, so I'm taking complete control of the area. I can't wait to be finished with my training.

Last P-Day, the Elders in the Zone went fishing at the Busselton Jetty. We caught a ton of squid and a few fish, then we cleaned them and cooked them for lunch. Fun P-Day!

J* still doesn't want to be baptized. English class is going well. I'm learning lots, having fun...  Yeah.

That's about it. When next I email, I'll know if I'm finishing Elder Codina or not.

Elder Kleven

Tiwi Hates Me

Monday, October 23, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

I have a flippin' cold. 

Sister Morin was transferred, so here are some pics of us together before she left.

At the Potomac River on our last day together.

With the M* family.

Sewing my skirt.

Finished skirts!

Okay, so I have a new companion now. Her name is Sister Hansen, and she's from Eagle, Idaho, and has been out for 6 months. She's 5'10'', so it's a pretty funny scene when we walk around outside. Anyway, I met her at transfers, we went to the mission office, and I got my Tiwi card! (That just means that I passed a certain test and I get to legally drive the mission car now.) I have so much power on the road. (Also, I accidentally took us out of our Zone today.  And that's kind of a big NO, so we'll see what the Mission has to say about that.) 

 

Sister Hansen & Sister Kleven

 

Sister Hansen & Sister Kleven - the real height difference!

 

 

GUESS WHAT? I'm the designated driver in the area! YAY! I have been itching to drive since I got here, and it finally happened. Prayers are answered, people. As my subject line so indicates, Tiwi hates me. Now, Tiwi is the little machine that is attached to the car that tracks how fast you're going and how aggressive you're driving. Yeah...he yells at me a few times a day. It's all okay, though, because I yell right on back. Sister Hansen says that I have a little road rage.  Apparently, missionaries shouldn't have that quality. I need to work on it. Virginia drivers are crazy, that's what!

 

I can parallel park in Virginia!

 

Anyway, we met someone named S*, and she said that we could come back and teach her more about the gospel. We were so excited about it! But then the next day, we went to her apartment, and there was a note on her door that said, "Sister Kleven, I couldn't find your number to cancel our appointment, but I don't want to learn more right now. Thank you."  ...and maybe I should be a little more sad than I actually am. I was just surprised that she put MY name on the note. Not my companion's name, but mine! Ah! People notice the things that I teach them! 

 

We had a lesson with C* this week, and everything is going so, so well with him. We read in The Book of Mormon about Abinadi preaching to King Noah and his priests about the 10 Commandments, and C* just ate it up. He loves reading The Book of Mormon every day with his girlfriend. He's kind of nervous about the Isaiah chapters and said that he'll have plenty of questions about it the next time he sees us. Which made me nervous, too! If y'all have any insights, they would be much appreciated. I am so blessed to be able to teach C* from the beginning! I met him, started to introduce him to the church, taught him the lessons, and now I'm helping him prepare for baptism on November 11th. Also, he's moving to Ohio on November 16th, so we just barely made it before he leaves forever! This is the best kind of missionary work. 

 

With C* who is getting baptized on November 11th!

 

This morning, Sister Hansen said, "Did you know that you talk in your sleep?" ...I suppose I forgot to mention that little bit of information to her. She said that I was talking about our schedule and the things that we were going to be teaching that night. That's right. 24-hour missionary. 

 

Dinner with M*.

 

So, we've been working with an investigator, N*, who has been meeting with the missionaries for 5 years now. She's had some anxiety about coming to church and meeting all the new people and coming to a strange, new building. So, I had a brilliant idea, thank you very much. We decided to have a church tour and a lesson with her in the chapel! And she loved the idea! We went to her apartment the other night so that she could drive behind us (which was bad because I had only been to that building twice in my life) (...we had to do many a u-turn), and when we got to the church, she just said, "You were driving like a crazy person, so I could tell who was driving because you're the one from Vegas, right?" and I just sheepishly said, "yes". Ha! Just kidding. It was more like, "HA YES! YOU'RE SO FUNNY!" But then were actually able to have a great lesson in the church. Her daughter wanted to sing a song in the chapel, and I was the only one who would, so we sang the Macarena together because it was the only song that we both knew. (Don't tell anyone!) Turns out, I don't actually know the words and it just sounded like, "Lalalalalalalalalalalalalala, dadadadadadadadadada, tatatatatatatatatatatata, EEEEEEY! MACARENA!" 

We had a miracle yesterday! We went out to try to contact some less-active members, and there was this girl walking down the street, and she just caught my attention. And the Spirit was like, "Hey. Go talk to her." And I was like, "Otay" ...So I did. And she immediately said, "No, thank you." But I wouldn't take that for an answer, and I kept talking about The Book of Mormon and about the restored gospel. Which sometimes really bugs people. But she actually stood there and listened. N* (the lady's name) asked me to bear my testimony to her. And I did. Because I am a missionary. And missionaries bear their testimonies. Then she asked if she could have a copy of The Book of Mormon and asked us to mark any chapters that we wanted her to read before we met with her next. And we're meeting with her on Saturday! We're so excited about this!

Anyway, I think those are the highlights of my week.

 

Twin Power!

 

I love you and miss you all!  

 

Cordially,

Me

Oct 17 - 23, 2017

Monday, October 23, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

Fun stuff this week.

Elder Codina and I met again with E*, (the lady we met who was walking her dog), and she had heaps of questions for us about The Book of Mormon and what she read. She had some really good questions that Elder Codina and I were able to answer for her. She read all of 2nd Nephi and said she loved how similar it was to The Holy Bible. We had the ward mission leader, Brother H*, come with us when we met. Her husband is a non-believer because of so many churches based off of the Bible. Restoration anyone? At least, that's what she said his concern with religion is; we haven't been able to meet with him yet.  She wasn't able to make it to church though, which was a bummer.

The English class went well. All we do for the class is teach them something they can use in everyday conversations - like how to give directions and how to find help at a store. Then we had them role play. Because we don't get enough of that on the mission. It went well, though. We are holding it in the Primary room of the church, which just happens to be the same room where we have District Meeting.

Elder Codina preparing for English Class.

Time is flying! I'm almost done with my second transfer. I know that the Ginger is already on her third though, so this is nothing new or impressive, but it's still going by fast.

I also added a picture of me with the city of Bunbury in the background. (You'll notice there are no mountains, so I have no Idea which way is North, East, South, or West.) 

Elder Kleven

"A Hunting We Will Go!"

Monday, October 16, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

I'm on my tablet, so this will be a short one. 

You see, the reason my time is so short is because we were out hunting all day. And by "hunting", I mean that we were out shopping for everything that Sister Morin will need before she gets transferred out of this area tomorrow. Yes, it's true. She really is leaving. *sniffle* But President assures me it is all for the best. And he's inspired, so I guess I believe him. I harassed him so much about it that he finally told me what his plans were for this transfer last week. He started his email off with: "Please still talk to me. I tried to keep you and Sister Morin together, but it just didn't feel right." And I was like: "....." Anyway, last night was the New and Returning Member Fireside that we were able to go to (A* was speaking!), and President found me and asked if I was still speaking to him. You'll be glad to know that I was not sassy with him. I simply said, "Of course I'm still speaking to you!" when I really wanted to be like: ".....". So, that's my story. We're packing up the apartment now for her and cleaning for the new mish who arrives tomorrow! 

 

Packing and cleaning with Sister Morin.

 

We went on exchanges this week, and cute Sister Moore and I taught the Restoration on the doorstep of a naked man's house. He hid behind the door and just poked his head out and said, "I'm kinda naked right now" but wouldn't accept our invitation to go inside and put some clothes on while we waited for him outside. It was very interesting. Also, we stopped a guy in the streets and he said that he would be willing to record our message and post it on Instagram so that his followers would have a chance to know Jesus. He said it had to be about 10 seconds long, but we did our best! 

 

Exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders.

Cute Sister Moore.

 

C* fed us seafood, and I didn't barf. 

We had a dinner lesson with the S* Family and C*! It was amazing. C* is the best. Also, we had a lesson after Church with him and his girlfriend who was visiting this weekend from Ohio. She said she would invite us to their sealing in a year! I am so excited. I have been able to teach him from the beginning, and there is so much more that I get to experience with him! Yay! 

Okay. I have to leave. I love you all. The Church is true. 

Love,

Me

 

PS, here is a pic of a the A* family and us! 

 

 

PPS, here is a picture of our last District Meeting all together. 

 

Oct 10 - 16, 2017

Monday, October 16, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

Last P-day was our Zone P-day; it was super fun! We went on a hike to the same waterfall that we went to last transfer for Elders' P-day. Pictures below.

This week has been good for the work. Elder Codina and I ran into a lady walking her dog, and she said that she had just moved down to Bunbury two days ago and that she was looking for a church. (HA HA!) We were rather close to the chapel at the time, so we walked with her to the chapel and shared a little about the "Mormons". She was keen and said we could come back the next day to share more. So, we got a member to come with us, and she was super excited to read The Book of Mormon. 

We have also been working with J*. He is from South Korea. He is learning English and has come to church three times now. Elder Codina and I have invited him to be baptized, and he said he would think about it. He is also living with the M* family, a Filipino family who has been fellowshipping him. They said if he wanted to immerse himself in English, to become more fluent, that he could stay with them, and he accepted. 

Elder Codina and I have been working with so many Filipino families and Indonesians and Koreans that we have decided to put an English class together, which we will be teaching... Pray for me. We are still working out when it will be and who will come, but it will be at the chapel... so, yeah.

We also had a Miracle Week as a Zone, in which we basically sent all the miracles throughout the day to the Zone Leaders, and they would share that with the rest of the Zone. We also fasted as a Zone on Wednesday. And we had a Knockout, which is everyone in the Zone tracting at the same exact time.

Elder Kleven

"I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Monday, October 9, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

Guess what? 3 months! Ah!

Also, the fire alarm is going off in our building again. This is the seventh time since I got here. We may have to evacuate, so this could be a short one! 

We were walking on Tuesday, and it turns out there is a huge prison right down the street from where we live. It's hidden behind a plethora of trees. Invisible to the naked eye, but Sister Morin and I saw it. We're so glad that we have that knowledge. Also, we went to dinner with C*! We were supposed to go with Sister C*, but she ended up being too busy, so she asked if C* could feed us, and she said yes! We were so excited.  We got to share the First Vision with her over our delicious Chipotle dinner, and she was really responsive. Also, she is simply the coolest person ever. That's all. After dinner, we had a lesson with C*.  And it went so, so well!! We love teaching C*, and we are so excited for his decision to be baptized. His baptism date is November 11th, and we are working hard to be able to teach him everything within our timeframe! He has the most amazing questions ever. He told us that he facetimes his girlfriend in Ohio, and they read The Book of Mormon every night, and he writes down questions that he has every time they read. It's the best. A few weeks ago, I was able to explain the symbolism in Lehi's Dream, and I could just feel the Spirit in everything that I said. And then that night, we were on our way back to the apartment when the District Leader called us and asked us to pick them up and drive them home. They had gotten to the other side of their area and would have had to walk for two hours before getting to their apartment. So we went to "safe" them. 

With C*, who will be baptized November 11th.

We had District Meeting on Wednesday, and I forgot my name tag again. I just need to get enough to put on all of my shirts and dresses when they come out of the dryer so it already has it on there. I've forgotten my name tag way more times than the normal missionary does. It's concerning. What if I forget who I am? I don't just have a name tag that I can look at and think "Hm. I'm Sister Kleven". Plus, Sister Morin refuses to let me write on her forehead to remember my name tag before leaving the apartment. *sigh* But that night, we went to the B*'s house for dinner, and taught them a lesson. It was nice. And guess what happened?? We got new Area Books!! (That is not excitement, by the way. I've been very cranky-poopy since the switch. Seriously, though. One of my weekly goals is to learn to love the new change. A goal that I am trying very, very hard to accomplish.) 

With the B* family.

We found three new investigators on Thursday! We were being led by the Spirit, apparently....that's all. 

A* agreed to be the first speaker at the New and Returning Member Fireside!!! We are flippin' excited for it! It's this Sunday, so Sister Morin and I are going to meet with A* this week and help him write his talk for it. He's planning on going back to Ghana to be with his family by the end of this year, though. He hasn't seen his family for ten years, and he's always, always asking us to pray for them. Also, we had to try to plan on our new Area Book app today. We ended up laying down towels on our balcony and bringing provisions outside with us so that we wouldn't perish or go crazy from being inside all day. 

We got to meet a new promising investigator that some Elders reassigned to us! Her name is N*, and she is the sweetest. She has two young kids, and her mom is a member. She said that she needs to take her time before she takes the step of getting baptized, so we're working with her slowly. Then that night, we went to the church building because an investigator was supposed to meet us there for a lesson. We walked in , and there were tons of people in costumes, and there was loud music, and people were grooving on the dance floor. When I walked in, I just said "It's a crazy, dancing bear!", and then I laughed because I'm funny, but then I was sad because it reminded me of my childhood when Lucy wants to learn the Jitterbug. Turns out, it was just a wedding reception with the theme of "Adventure is Out There!" The groom was dressed as the Mad Hatter, and the bride was Peter Pan. Also, our investigator didn't end up coming, but we got cake, so it was okay. 

The delightfully lovely Sister Morin.

Yesterday, C* was at church. And guess who else came??? M* and the girls came to church!! We've been trying to get them there for months now! They haven't been to church in over 7 months. We were so, so excited. I think I disrupted Sacrament Meeting because I glanced behind me and saw them and shouted "M*'s here!", and then Sister Morin looked back and shouted "M*'s here!". We weren't very good examples to all of the children in the congregation, but we were excited. Then that night we had dinner with the P*s.  They remind me of Becky and Michael and their kids. It was awesome being in their home because it was like being with family!  

The P*s, who remind me of the Hanks.

Being a missionary is slowly but surely growing on me. Like the lil' orphan Annie says, "I think I'm gonna like it here." 

I love you guys. 

Love,

Me

Oct 3 - 9, 2017

Monday, October 9, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

So this week was sort of eventful, I guess.

Last P-day, all the Elders in the Zone got together, and we drove down to go and see a "Big" waterfall. It was one of the most pitiful things I've ever seen. It took about an hour to drive down there, so instead of driving all the way to another place for some other thingy, although none of us really had any idea as to what we could do or where to go, I whipped out my handy hacky sack, and we played Sepa for the rest of the day. It was fun; I went savage. Everyone else also had a really fun time, especially Elder Nielson and Otuhoma. (I'll see if I can get a picture to send next week.)

The next day, Elder Codina and I went to our normal missionary schedule - we tracted. We ran into a family who seemed rather keen to hear about The Book of Mormon. When I introduced myself and said I was from Vegas, the lady got really serious and asked if I had heard - I thought she was talking about the recent hurricanes. After an awkward moment of trying to find out what the other was talking about, she told me about the shooting.

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this Wednesday; it was fun. I went with Elder Nielson; he's really cool. We had another exchange with the Bridgetown Elders this week. We also had Zone Conference, which was really sweet. President Fife spoke to us about thrusting in our sickles with our might, and he gave us a demonstration with a real sickle on the podium in the chapel.  (Picture below) President Fife is the man!

General Conference was really cool. I like how three different people talked on the importance of The Book of Mormon. It's important.

Something that the Elders in my Zone want to do is start every P-day fishing. So, every Monday we will be fishing; it's heaps of fun. 

Elder Kleven

I'm ready for Christmas!

Monday, October 2, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

Howdy!

I have a very limited amount of time this week to email because Sister Morin and I went to Sister G*'s promotion ceremony. She was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and invited us to go with her! So, we got permission from President Huntsman, and she picked us up right before and drove us to Quantico, which is about 45 minutes outside of our zone. It was us, her husband, her parents, her daughter, and her best friend who came to support her. We were so happy that we were able to be there with her! She's the one who is helping us make skirts. The ceremony was inside of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, so we toured around it for a few hours, and I absolutely loved it!! There was so much history that we got to take in! While we were waiting for the ceremony to start, Sister Morin and I went exploring, and an old security guard, S*, started to show us around his favorite exhibits. He was so cute! And then Sister G* went around the room and thanked everyone and told everyone that we're like her daughters, and she was so happy that we could be there. We love the G*s a whole lot. Here are pics of us at the museum this morning:

Also, on Tuesday, we had interviews with President Huntsman, and he said that he doesn't want to split Sister Morin and me up this next transfer and that "we'll have to see how everything goes".  ...What?? I really hope we get to stay together! If not, that would be fine, too. And then that night, we went to a Relief Society game night to see some less-active members and recent converts.  There were three less-active sisters that we set up appointments with, and we met the most amazing person ever! Her name is S*, and she is the cutest singer-lady who was invited by a ward member. So, we exchanged numbers with her and are actually going to see her tonight to listen to her music (it's Christian music, so I'm not going rogue) and hopefully start to set expectations with her. It's so hard to be a missionary because all I want to do is be friends with her, but I also want to teach her about the gospel! Maybe I just need to tell her, "Look, I want to be best friends with you and hear your music, but I want to be friends for eternity. The way to do that is through baptism." Boom!  Baptismal Date: Set. 

On Wednesday, we had a lesson with E* and T*, and it went really well.  ...I think. We were there for a long time helping to pack up stuff because she's moving, but we also were able to discuss with them about the Restoration and help E* remember the things that the missionaries had taught her before.  Anyway, T* accepted the baptismal invite! But she also said that she hopes that there's a way that she can be a Baptist and a Mormon, and it just made me think of "Sons of Provo" where Danny has a book that says, "Mormons Can Be Buddhists Too", and then I laughed because it was funny.  

We had District Meeting on Thursday, and it went well. Next week, we are role playing teaching the Restoration to those that we meet on the street. Yay. But we got home that night to find out that there had been a fire in our building and that the whole building had to evacuate. The sprinklers had gone off all over, and the walls and carpet were completely ruined because of it. The next day, the fire alarm started going off during weekly planning, so we left everything and evacuated the building again. Then yesterday, another fire started on that side of the building again, and the fire alarms went off AGAIN, and we were all evacuated. There have been three evacuations this week. We'll see what happens.  

Waiting for a teaching appointment.

Also, General Conference was my favorite thing in the whole world. I hope all of you got to watch it and take your own impressions away. It was such an amazing testimony booster for me, and I am so glad that I have the ability and the resources to listen to the Apostles. Go out and serve, love, and teach.

Anyway, my time is just about up here, but I love you all, and I can't wait for Christmas to be here! I am in such a holiday spirit, and the leaves are falling, and the colors are finally starting to change, and I am loving it so much. I am so ready for Christmas. Or at least Thanksgiving. We get this weather in November in Las Vegas, so this is weird. I need to go get some tights soon.  

I have loved growing closer to the ward members, the other missionaries in my district, my Mission President, my cute companion, and, above all, my Savior.  

Cordially,

Me