Nov 21 - 27, 2017

Monday, November 27, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

So, this week was pretty good.

So, nothing really new or important to update you on, except that this mission is really pushing #LightTheWorld. We are doing the most advertising for it in the southwest Pacific area, I'm pretty sure.  There is going to be a plane flying up and down the beach with the flag behind it, the videos are going to be playing about 30 times on television, and we have about 500+ cards per companionship to give out for Light the World. It's something that President Fife really wants to push.

Also, this week there have been 3 Zone Leaders and 3 District Leaders that were released because of disobedience. Elder Nielson and Elder Pryor came back from the Mission Leadership Conference and said that President Fife was rebuking them for almost an hour straight before they even began the meeting. So, he has been cracking down on all the missionaries who might be disobedient this week. Other than that, all good things from over here.

OH! There is actually this one older lady (I*) whom Elder Codina and I tracted into a month ago or so.  She is super friendly and has two broken hips because she fell down.  So, she has been going to the hospital for almost 6 months now for tests and such.  So, we have been going over to check up on her periodically, and she let us in one day and was really complaining about the pain in her leg and hip, so we gave her a blessing.  After that, we weren't able to meet with her for another month or so, then we just met again, and she said that after the blessing that she hasn't been in nearly as much pain and that her hip has really started to heal a lot. She said that she has been telling everyone of the "Darling boys that came and laid their hands on my head and said a prayer." It was super cool to hear her story about that.

That's about it.

Elder Kleven

(I didn't take any pictures this week either, nothing of worth to take a picture of.)

'Tis the Season...

Monday, November 27, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

Mission Picture with Elder Andersen & Bishop Causse.

Our stairwell in the apartment that we walk down every morning smells like smoke. A lot. Sister Hansen doesn't like it, but it reminds me of Vegas, so I just sit there and smell. Who would have thought that I would miss the musty smell of cigarettes? Not me!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!  It was a nice one, too.  We started the day off with going to a luncheon at the church and meeting new people.  Well, not really.  We were supposed to go and meet new people, but just people we already knew showed up.  But it was still enjoyable.  Then that night, we went to S*'s for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was really great!  I had an enjoyable amount of apple pie, which is shocking because I don't like apple pie.  But not on the mission!  

Enjoying a cinnamon roll.

Sister Hansen and I are very sad.  Our miracle investigator that came to church and has been reading The Book of Mormon and taking the lessons and is committed to his baptismal date of December 16th doesn't actually live in our area.  So we have to have a pass-off lesson with the Kingstowne Elders. *sigh*  He was our blessing for letting C* go to Ohio!  But we've taught him enough times that we're allowed to go to his baptism.  It's okay.  We're just going to find more miracles and baptize others who are ready for the gospel. 

Last District Meeting of Transfer #3.

Last District Meeting of Transfer #3.

We went to Mt. Vernon this morning, and it was absolutely beautiful!  It was still very green there, and there were lots of animals to look at.  There was also a camel named Aladdin who was indifferent to all the guests.  It was amazing to be able to step into the history there and learn more about Ol' Georgie.  We were able to walk along the Potomac River some more and explore the forests surrounding his home.  There were museums and exhibits that I didn't get to see, so I'll definitely have to be going back!  I will get that camel to enjoy my presence.  But we did meet a worker there who is a recent convert in Maryland and a lovely family from Nashville who are also members.  It's the best when you meet members!  I love it. Here are some pics at Mt. Vernon.

Anyway, we had transfer doctrine this week, and I'm definitely staying here another transfer.  That will be at least six months here when I leave.  Time is flippin' flying.  

I love you guys!  Sorry it's so short! 

Cordially,

Me

I still don't like bananas.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

I swear, peanut butter is slowly becoming my favorite thing ever.  The other day, I was like, "The mission changes you!  I'm going to eat everything that I didn't like before I came here, and I'm going to like it!"  Turns out, that mentality doesn't make bananas taste any better.  

Also, C* left for Ohio this week.  I'm very sad.  But happy for him!  But still sad. 

We had exchanges this week, and it was awesome!  I always freak out about exchanges before we actually go on them, but I always enjoy them when we're in the middle of them.  Although, I did feel like it was my driving test all over again.  When Sister Lovell got in the car, I was so scared that she was going to criticize my driving, so I started to panic and talk a lot and then too much and then way too much, and I think I gave her a headache.  But overall, it was a great day and I loved being with Sister Lovell.  She's so cute.  We could be companions and there would be so complaints from me! 

 

 

I asked President about transfers, and he said that Sister Hansen and I are going to be together for another transfer.  We're excited! 

Elder Arnold came to the mission, and we had a half-mission conference with him!  He was exceptionally intimidating.  You just knew that he was looking into your soul and listening to your thoughts every time that he saw you.  But he had some really great insights into missionary work.  (Again, I forgot my notebook because we just kind of came to the church on a whim to email because we were close.)  I'll have to include more details about it in my next email, so I can't remember, and I don't have time.  But there was something that I wanted to share with you all about Elder Andersen's visit last week.  He told the story about the Israelites when they were in the wilderness with Moses. Because of their wickedness, God sent down serpents to bite them unless they repented. God told Moses to raise his staff with the brass serpent high above his head and commanded the Israelites to look at the serpent, promising to save them if they did. Some people looked at the serpent and some did not. Because of the simplicity and readiness of the task, they didn't believe that it would heal them. Their labor was to look. Elder Andersen compared this to reading The Book of Mormon. It can seem like such an easy thing to do to help save you, but don't let the readiness make you wary of the promised blessings. The Lord has promised us salvation. You can read this in Numbers chapter 21.  

Oh! There was a huge miracle this week! We were in church, and after sacrament meeting, I heard Brother B* calling my name, and I looked over, and he was sitting next to this man. So, we skedaddled on over there and I introduced myself.  The man's name was P*. He told us that he wanted to learn more and that he came to church because he wanted to be blessed. So, we took him to Gospel Principles with us, and afterwards, he asked us for The Book of Mormon and asked us when he could be baptized.  So, I whipped out my calendar and put him on date for December 16th!  He went to all three hours of church, and we were able to set up another appointment with him for tomorrow night. We are so excited!  I'll let you know how everything goes with him. 

This afternoon, we went to Chili's because it was Sister Lovell's birthday , and then we went to the Masonic Temple with Sister Jackman and Sister Cook. They are probably the cutest people in the world. I'll attach pictures.

 

 

Anyway, I love you guys, and I miss you all so much! 

See you soon! (Ha. JK.)

Love,

Me

 

PS: Enjoy these pictures of fall in Alexandria. It's gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

Nov 14 - 20, 2017

Monday, November 20, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

 

This week was a blur.

Monday was a fun P-day; we were able to play sting pong at the chapel.  I don't really remember what happened on Tuesday. Wednesday night, the Bridgetown Elders came up for exchanges on Thursday, and I was able to meet Elder Angle; he's really cool.  Friday was Zone Conference, which was pretty good; President Fife just went over chapters 4 and 10 in Preach My Gospel, and then he went over the rules and called us to repentance if we were breaking any of them.  He doesn't mess around.  That night, the Bridgetown Elders drove back down to their area, and we went to the Zone Leaders for exchanges on Saturday.  Then we had church on Sunday. After church, we received a referral from the mission office, so we headed out to Glen Iris. We met J*; she is a "spiritualist" who is super interested in other religions and wanted a Book of Mormon. It was interesting because she lives on a street that we tracted a month or so ago; back then, her mother came to the door and was very uninterested. But J* is super interested in The Book of Mormon. We told her about it, and she said she was going to go inside and read it right then.  We'll follow up with her sometime this week. 

That's about it.

 

Elder Kleven

My Favorite Weekend Ever!

Monday, November 13, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

First off, I just want to say that this last weekend has been my favorite weekend ever.  Calvin was baptized and Elder Neil L. Andersen spoke to us.  We were supposed to have a lesson with a miracle family, but the day would have been a little too perfect, so they cancelled on us.  It's understandable.  I probably would have been translated if it had been any more perfect.  

I've been having some back problems this last week because I slipped in the rain the other day (you'll be glad to know that I didn't plummet to the ground in an embarrassing fashion), and it's been hurting ever since.  I talked to the mission nurse, and she said to take it easy for a few days, so that's what we've been doing.  Very little exercise for me!  I didn't know how much I was used to the schedule until I couldn't do my little exercises in the morning.  Now I just sit there and try not to fall asleep.  

So, Saturday was the perfect day that I alluded to.  We got up and went to Ward Coordination Meeting and then left for Centreville so that we could be there early.  We got there and did our personal study in the car until it was an appropriate time to actually go into the building without being there eons before everyone else.  When we got there, I saw Sister Morin and Sister Johns , and it was awesome!  We hugged and laughed and acted like a bunch of annoying girls, but it was worth it.  Then we stood very, very still while they took our picture for half an hour.  Seriously.  We weren't allowed to move or talk.  Then Elder Andersen entered the building, and the spirit was so strong.  His wife is so cute!  We then went single file into the chapel where we got to personally greet Elder Andersen, Bishop Causse, and two members of the Quorum of the Seventy.  After we sat down, we were spoken to by all of them.  I'll try to remember what was said.  (I forgot my notebook in the apartment, and we are in the church building, so I can't actually go get it.)  We were told that WE are the light of the world.  Everyone is the light of the world.  Elder Neil L. Andersen started quoting the scripture in Matthew 5 that says, "4: Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  5: Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."  He was telling us that we need to share that light.  He said that when he looked into the eyes of everyone there, he saw light in everyone's eyes.  He said that there were some people whose light was dimmer than the others and or was just a small flicker, but we need to share the light that we have.  He is such a wise man. I can't wait to actually go back and read through my notes again.  Next time I email, I'll have the notebook with me so that I can expand your knowledge and fill you in on the many details that I'm sure I left out.  When we were singing the closing hymn, I looked up at Elder Andersen and he smiled at me and I panicked so I waved at him and then he waved back and my face started to turn red and I had to look down because I'm such an embarrassment.  I looked down at my watch and realized that we went over time by a half hour.  Which I usually wouldn't care about, but Calvin's baptism was an hour from then and we were almost an hour away.  

So we book it out of the church. Literally running through the parking lot to our car. (I thought my back was going to break.) But we get in the car and I'm going as fast as I can without getting yelled at by Tiwi (which is not very fast at all).  We made it in time!  We were a little bit late for pictures, though.  But that's okay.  We still got pictures taken and it was so much fun.  Then we get inside and we start with the program and Calvin gets baptized and it was beautiful and Mia (Calvin's girlfriend) starts crying.  I'm apparently a sympathetic crier, so the tears start to well up in my own eyes.  But the ceremony was lovely, and I was talking to Calvin afterwards and he started to cry because he said that he felt the spirit so strongly.  I loved it.  He's the best.  He's moving to Ohio on Thursday, but he said that we could stop by his house before he leaves and say goodbye.  Oh!  And I was talking to Mia, and she said that they had picked a day for the wedding! They picked that date because they were sure that all the missionaries that taught him would be back from their missions by then-- but guess who won't be??  Me, that's who!  It's the very end of December, and I come home in January!  I was so bummed out when I heard it, and I told Mia, and she said they would try to change the date to make sure that I could be there, but I told her not to worry about it.  (I didn't want to.  I wanted to say, "Yeah, that would be nice.")  I'm just happy that they will be married in a year!  I did tell them that I would come visit them in Ohio when I was done with my mission, and they said, "Okay."  I was so happy and privileged to be there for Calvin's baptism, and I will never forget it.  

 

 

Sister Kleven, Calvin, and Mia

Sister Morin, Sister Kleven, Calvin, Brother Bowers, & Sister Hansen

Calvin and his missionaries:  Morin, Kleven, & Hansen

Sister Morin, Sister Kleven, and Calvin

Compared to Saturday, nothing too exciting has happened this week.  

I love you all and I miss you all.

Sister Missionary

Nov 7 - 13, 2017

Monday, November 7, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

So, we were able to meet with E*; turns out that she just wants to take time to settle into Bunbury and not rush into baptism. Which is cool, so she's still keen to come to church and investigate, but she wants to take it a bit slower. Which, if she's still investigating, is fine by me.

Most of our other investigators are in a partnership and have kids; they also have some sort of substance addiction, so everyone is slow moving at this point.

We were able to help Brother K* remove a stump from his backyard.  The whole time we were there, all I could think of was The Work & the Glory. We also went back and helped the Indonesian lady with her yard again, and she keeps texting us about when we are going to go back and help her some more. She doesn't want anything to do, though, with the English class or the Church. Now she wants us to trim her big bushes. I think that we should organize a ward service project and show up with half the ward on her doorstep. How would that be for a surprise? Although, she does feed us some interesting spicy Indonesian food, which is cool.

 

 

 

Elder Codina is super trunky (anxious to go home) as he has 35 days left until he goes home. Yes, he's been counting down since 100 days left.

That's all I can think of or remember....

Elder Kleven

"Tim the Toolman Taylor" 2.0

Monday, November 6, 2017

Alexandria, Virginia

Season's Greetings! 

This week was a good week. A busy, but good week. There was lots of excitement because it was Halloween! (Also, the stores are already selling Christmas decorations and playing Christmas music. Sister Hansen thinks it's slightly premature. I think it's awesome.) 

So, because all the little children go traipsing around the neighborhood, knocking on doors and saying "Trick or Treat!" to their kind neighbors who actually open the doors for them, we weren't allowed to go out on Tuesday.  Apparently, that's all very similar to the things that we do.  President said that we couldn't hand out Books of Mormons to the hungry little younguns. Maybe next year... Anyway, so we pretty much just had another P-day, except we weren't allowed to leave the apartment unless we were going to a members house. But that night, we picked up S* to go to dinner at Brother C*'s house!  Another 6-course meal, ladies and gentlemen. I gotta say, this one wasn't all that bad. There were two cakes for dessert that we graciously shared with our district the next day because we are nice and we didn't want to go into a sugar coma.  

The investigator whose dog I stepped on accepted a Book of Mormon on Thursday! We were able to finish teaching him the Restoration and he asked us for a copy of The Book of Mormon, so I whipped one out of my bag, marked the Introduction page with our card, gave him the address to the church, and sent him on his way. We'll be seeing him again on Wednesday afternoon, so pray that we can actually get through the Plan of Salvation. (We've met with him four times and have only just been able to get through the Restoration with him.  He's a talker.) 

It's been a finding week. The mission is trying to find 531 new investigators (1 for each page of The Book of Mormon) before Elder Anderson comes to the mission, so we've been devoting all of our time to do that. And Sister Hansen and I have found 14 new investigators! It's crazy, considering the area that we're in. And you know what? Only one person has been at their return appointment. But it was a miracle appointment. We were trudging along, sad and dejected because nobody had kept their appointment with us thus far, and we knock on her door. And she opens the door right up and says, "Come on in!"  ...and we were like, "....okay" and we went on in. She then called her three daughters over to sit and listen to us (all over the age of eight, by the way) and they were all captivated by the message of the Restoration. The mom said that she had been just talking to her girls and telling them that they needed to find a church to go to so that they could be baptized when we knocked on her door last week. I mean, What?? They all accepted the baptismal invite, said they would definitely come to church, made another return appointment with us, and started reading The Book of Mormon. We are so happy that they were willing to listen to us! They're a family, too! We love teaching families. Anyway, they are probably our miracle for the week. Ah! 

Also, if you didn't know, C* IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! I am so, so excited about it. WE are so excited. Everyone loves C*. He's moving five days after he's baptized, but everything will work out just fine. We were telling him about the missionaries that will be where he's moving and he said that they are going to have to work really hard to compete with the missionaries that have been teaching him so far. (That's me, by the way.) I'll keep you posted on how the baptism goes!  

Okay, so the story behind the subject line is this: We were having a pretty sad Saturday, tracting and having doors shut in our faces, when we decided to go over and help Brother B* with his deck again. He said we are always welcome to come help him work, so we did. And when we got there, he handed us a circular saw and the battery that goes with it. So, I climb up on this teetering ladder while my companion steadies the dangerous thing so that I don't fall to my death, I put on my safety goggles, strap on my gloves, and get to work. My first impression was that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life, considering the amount of sawdust that made its way past my goggles and into my eyes.  My second impression I got was that he was putting a lot of trust in me to make this saw go straight. My third impression was, "More power!" and the weird grunting noise that Tim "The Toolman" Taylor does in Home Improvement. And my fourth impression was that I am mightier than Tim. Needless to say, I still have all ten of my fingers, Sister Hansen did not get a log to the head, I do not have pneumonia from sawing in the rain, and I am one powerful missionary.  

 

 

This week was a week of miracles. It was a hard week, and I'm so very tired.  But I know that when I'm tired, it means that I'm working hard. (I really just want to sleep.)

I love you all!

 

Cordially,

Me

Oct 31 - Nov 6, 2017

Monday, November 6, 2017

Bunbury, Western Australia

Good week! We did a lot of service. There was the Indonesian lady we tracted into a few weeks ago. We offered our services, and this last week she called us up and said she wanted help with her yard.  We went over and moved about 20 slabs of cement, we weeded the side of her house (which looked like a jungle), we mowed her front lawn and back yard, then we laid the cement that we had previously moved over the freshly weed-free side of her house. It was a project that took a good four hours. Afterwards, I had some small red dots on my arms and hands; I realized that I must be allergic to something in her yard, so I took a pill and a few days later they were gone. 

We also helped a few families move this week. On Tuesday, we helped the M* family move from Bunbury city to Dalyellup, Dalyellup is in the Zone Leaders' area, so when the M* family moved, J* went with them, and we lost an investigator. Although, they were able to set J* on a date for baptism, and they said that he remembered all that Elder Codina and I taught him. Team effort!  The other family we helped move was the T* family, recent converts who would have us over for dinner every so often because N* was there (we can only eat dinner with member when a non member is there such as J* and N*). N* is the sister of Sister T*. They moved to Dalyellup as well. The Zone Leaders are taking everyone from our area.

Here are some pictures of the week.  Elder Codina bought a flipping huge camera before he goes home. He took a picture of me with it. I also made a bet with Elder Nielson and Elder Pryor over District P-day that the two who lost at ping pong would have to wax their legs. Throughout the week, both of them have had to wax their legs! Elder Nielson left me a message in our flat. 

Elder Codina and his flippin' huge camera.

Message from Elder Nielson.

Me - A Missionary!

Other than that nothing new, I'm staying here for at least two more transfers, I'll finish Elder Codina off then show someone else the area. 

Elder Kleven