Sister Kleven and the Stupid, Smelly Dead Fish Jelly Bean

Monday, March 19, 2018

Burke, Virginia

I am extremely embarrassing. Sister Koch and I were walking down the street, and we were playing the license plate game, and I would try to kick her in the bum whenever I saw a different one (I am apparently not allowed to kick for Virginia license plates.  What's up with that?).  We ended up kicking at the same time, and our legs got all tangled together, and I already have very little stability when it comes to standing, so I toppled over.  Not gracefully at all, mind you. I just yelled, "New Jers-!" and then Boom! In a pile on the ground.  After we could stop laughing enough to actually get me standing again, a guy came out of his house to see if I was okay. Apparently, there were a bunch of people who saw me completely biff it. *sigh* The life of a missionary, I suppose.

At Burke Lake

Beautiful Burke Lake

Two thumbs up for Burke Lake!

We had an awesome week!  It was busy, so that was great.  Yesterday was a crazy day.  We had no time to do anything but go from appointment to appointment.  We started it off with Ward Council, church, lunch at a member's home, getting kicked out of the basketball game we played with their kids because I was so awful, to a lesson with K*, to Gospel Principles in another ward because another one of our investigators can only go at that time, dinner, and then a Safeguards for Technology fireside that we had to help out with.  It was such an awesome day.  Our lesson with K* went so well!  We talked about baptism with her, and she said that she always feels the Spirit when we talk with her and when she reads The Book of Mormon.  She is so sweet,  but we're just not really sure how to help her with making decisions.  Her parents were pretty supportive at first, but now that she is pretty seriously investigating the church, they are starting to become more upset with what she is doing.  Hopefully we can smooth everything out and K* can make whatever decision she thinks is best for her.

In District Meeting this week, the game we had to play was "Bean Boozled", where you have to try the jelly beans and find out if they were the flavors that make you want to barf or not.  The whole time, leading up to my turn, all I could think (and chant, apparently) was "Not dead fish. Not dead fish."  And guess what flavor I got?  Dead flippin' fish, that's what!  I was so upset!  But that's okay.  I am a missionary.  And missionaries are brave. 

We had our first new member lesson with O* this week, and we taught him the Plan of Salvation!  It was awesome.  He remembers everything that we talked about before with him. It's awesome to be able to see his faith and testimony of the gospel grow.  He is so awesome. 

We've been teaching English to a couple of people, and we just got someone new to teach!  She is so cute. She served us water bottles and lifesaver mints on a tray.  It was the first time that someone has put food for me on a tray since being out here. 

We also got to do some service at the mission office this week, and I got to use the giant paper cutting machine to cut some insurance documents.  I felt so mighty.  Don't worry! I still have all my fingers. 

Cutting paper at the mission office.

We were invited to bounce on a bouncy house this week while we were walking around, and we, sadly, had to decline.  Wearing skirts, man! ...It's fine. 

One of the scriptures that I have really been focusing on this week and has made a big impact on me is in 2 Nephi 29:7-11.  It talks about how The Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and that we shouldn't be trying to dispute it, but that we should be happy that we have another record, another account, of Heavenly Father's love for us.  It's another testament of Jesus Christ.  Verse 8 says, "Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also."  It makes me think of President James E. Faust, who said, “Does God love us less than those led by the ancient prophets? Do we need his guidance and instruction less? Reason suggests that this cannot be. Does he not care? Has he lost his voice? Has he gone on a permanent vacation? Does he sleep? The unreasonableness of each of these proposals is self-evident.” I know that The Book of Mormon is the Word of God and that He loves each of us so much. He is waiting and wanting to guide and lead us.  We just need to accept His hand in our life. 

Love you all!

Me

Mar 13 - 19, 2018

Monday, March 19, 2018

Cockburn, Western Australia

I have been transferred out of Bunbury! I left Carey Park three days before L* was baptized!  But it's good! He was baptized, and he is now on the path back home to our Father in Heaven.  It just sucks that I didn't get to see him baptized. Last P-day, we got together with the other district in Bunbury;  That was also really fun.

Last P-day in Bunbury

Playing a game with the elders.

Saying goodbye to L* before transfer and before his baptism

But all is good.  I have gone up north near Perth in Cockburn, and I also have a car now.  And, I am the driver... [Elder Kleven is serving as the District Leader.] I haven't crashed; it's been weird though driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road -- I've hit the curb quite a few times though... but it's a sturdy car.  

Driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road with the elders from Narrogin.

My new companion is Elder Christofferson, distantly related to the apostle.  He's cool and he's tall.  The Elders in my district are in Kelmscott and Narrogin.  Narrogin is a country area. I love my new district; it's fun. I am one of the oldest though.  There is one sister in my district who is almost going home, but otherwise I've been out the longest.  It's a young district.  

Elder Kleven & Elder Christofferson

But me area is HUGE compared to me last area.  Of course, I've got meself a car now, and shopping 'as never been easier. [Don't you wish you could hear him talk, week by week, as he picks up the Aussie slang and accent?]

District Meeting was on Friday this week; it was good.  Elder Hunter (one of the Zone Leaders here in Southern River) brought a bag of Carolina reapers; apparently, they are the second hottest pepper in the world, and we all ate them.  I did fine... it was all too easy -- waxing me legs was worse!

P-day today was fun as!  we got up early and drove out to Narrogin, a two hour drive (but we have enough Ks, or kilometers).  We haven't had a chance to email until we got back to the city, so that's why I'm emailing a little late.  

The 3-story flat in Narrogin where the elders live.

That's about it.  I'll share a spiritual thought with you, though.  Lately I've been studying the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and something that I've been focusing on is why we need it.  And, it's not the answer I have been looking for, but as I have studied the Plan of Salvation and the Fall of Adam and Eve, it's stood out to me that the Lord knows best.  We may be looking for answers that the Lord isn't going to give us right now -- maybe it's because we aren't ready for them or we aren't looking in the right places.  But even though we may not have the answers, He still knows what's best, His plan is perfect, and Christ's atonement was needed.

Elder Kleven 

[Note from Mom: Upon researching the city of Cockburn and its surrounding areas, I discovered that this city was named in honor of Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, who led the British attack on Washington, D.C., in the War of 1812 and was instrumental in the "Burning of Washington."  I'm not too sure how I feel about him living in a place meant to revere the man who nearly destroyed a place that I love! 😜  The irony is not lost on me that he is now serving his mission in a city that honors the man who once tried to burn down the city in which his twin sister is serving her mission!  Here's a link to a cool article from Smithsonian Magazine about how divine intervention saved Washington, D.C. in August 2014.]

Oscar Was Baptized!

Monday, March 12, 2018

Burke, Virginia

 

A picture from Oscar's baptism calendar. It is now his screensaver.

First off, Oscar was baptized! He had his baptismal interview last week, and he passed.  We saw him the night before his baptism, and he just bore his testimony to us and said that he was ready to recommit himself to God.  It was awesome.  He said that he believes in us and trusts us to teach him the truth.  Pressure is on!  Then his baptism day came, and he showed up an hour early to pray and become spiritually ready to take this step.  So cool!  Sister Koch gave an amazing talk on baptism and did a cute little object lesson with it.  And then I had to get up and give a talk on the Holy Ghost.  And you know what?  I wasn't even nervous!  ...ha! Who am I kidding? Sister Koch could probably bear witness to the contrary. Anyway, I finally decided to face the inevitable (that I would be speaking) before we got there. And when we got there, there was a whole slew of missionaries who had brought their investigators! A plethora of youth donning their tags were sitting and watching me. My body apparently thought that I was going to hyperventilate and die because my heart was palpitating to extreme levels. Nevertheless, I gave my talk, and I didn't pass out or barf on Oscar. Success? I think yes. But then Oscar stood up and bore his testimony, and it was so good.  He is awesome.  He talked about how he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he held the priesthood.  Oscar talked about how he is going to use The Book of Mormon as a shield for his life now.  It. Was. Beautiful.  Another one of our investigators came to the baptism, and she said that it wasn't horrible, either! Another success!

Bishop baptized Oscar.

We went over to another less-active member's home, and she has quite an interesting story. She fell away from the church when she was young, and she stayed away from it for about 15 years. Anyway, she has decided that she wants to be temple-worthy now and is living her life so that she is worthy to hold a recommend. She can't actually hold one because her husband won't let her -- not even let her come to church or be involved in any way -- but she has such incredible faith and courage and resilience. She is truly going through the refiner's fire. Even though she isn't able to worship the way she wants, she is the most positive person, and the Light of Christ shines so brightly within her. What a testimony builder! 

With another less-active member and her darling daughter who saw us walking on the side of the road and stopped us to say hello.  This woman has reached out to my mother (who is typing this) by emailing and calling to share this cute picture and to say how much she loves these two sweet sister missionaries!

This morning we went to the church to play volleyball and basketball with the Sisters in our Zone, and it was fun!  We had to get permission, but it was worth it.  I'm suddenly self-aware.  Now I'm fully conscious of just how out of shape I am.  I was huffing and puffing and wheezing all morning.  It was bad.  *sigh*  Here's a couple of pictures of us at District Taco after sports!

We started teaching a friend of some Young Women in our ward, and it has been going great!  She is actually the one that came to the baptism on Saturday.  She is so sweet, and I really, really hope that everything works out.  She seems pretty promising, but we're not 100% sure yet!   I will keep you posted. 

On exchanges with a Laurel in the Burke Ward.

With the F* family - teaching their daughter's friend.

Nothing else really happened this week.  It was kind of a slower one, but it was still amazing.  We spent a lot of it getting Oscar ready to be baptized and helping a lot of less-active members with their lives.  We have seen so many blessings of the Gospel, and I am so grateful that I get to be in a position where I get to serve everyone that I see.  

Here is another amazing family in Burke, Virginia that we love!

Hopefully, there will be more next week. 

Love you all! 

Sister Kleven

Mar 7 - 12, 2018

Monday, March 12, 2018

Bunbury, Western Australia

This week was good.

I did not have another baptism this week as L* relapsed, so he will be baptized this coming Saturday.  It's all good.  The other night, he sent us a text that I took a picture of, and he is Solid AS!  He is Keen As for his baptism, so it's gonna suck to leave.  Because... I'm getting transferred!  I'm going to the Southern River Zone. [The Southern River Zone is two hours north of Bunbury and incorporates Perth.]  I'm gonna miss Bunbury, but what sucks the most is that I'm not going to be able to see L*'s baptism.  But the Lord needs me elsewhere.

We had an exchange with the Zone Leaders this week.  Elder Nielson and I went and put someone on date who I tracted into with Elder Codina in my first transfer.  The Lord is definitely hastening the work.  It's been amazing to see His hand in the work.  

Last week, we went around to a family that we had been teaching and had previously set the wife on date for baptism.  We ran into her husband outside the door, and he told us not to come back around anymore.  Then, this Saturday, the Sister missionary in my district had a baptism, and the wife showed up!  Then , she even made it to church the next day!  Her partner still doesn't want us to come around, but this is something that she really wants; we spoke to her before she left of the situation, and she started to feel discouraged, but we shared with her that with the Lord's hand in the work, his hart will soften and he will accept the gospel sooner or later.

I definitely know that Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us, that we are His children, and that He loves us.  He will be there for each of us and knows what's best for us.  And that as we trust in His timing and His plan, we will be able to see His hand and love in our lives.

Elder Kleven

PS: Here is a photo of Elder Muaiava eating Korean food from P*, a man from South Korea we teach English to.

Photos of Elder Kleven (Aug 2017 - Feb 2018)

Monday, March 5, 2018

Bunbury, Western Australia & Salt Lake City, Utah

Note from Mom:  I've recently discovered a blog kept by Sister Fife, the wife of Donovan's Mission President, with some photos I've missed of him through the past eight months. I'm just uploading them here for archival purposes.

Aug 2017: First Day in Perth, Australia with the other "Goldens" (new missionaries).

Aug 2017: Golden & Trainer missionary lunch in Perth.

Aug 2017: Golden missionary training in Perth.

09/17/2017:  "Come and See Fireside" in Bunbury

Sep 2017:  Bunbury Zone Conference

Sep 2017: Bunbury Zone Conference

Oct 2017:  Bunbury Zone Conference

Oct 2017:  Bunbury Zone Conference

Nov 2017:  Lunch at Bunbury Zone Conference

Dec 2017:  Bunbury Zone Conference

Dec 2017:  Elder Kleven (District Leader & Trainer) with Elder Muaiava (a Golden)

Dec 2017:  One of the many "Light the World" banners flown across Western Australia

Jan 2018:  Continued Training for Trainers with their Goldens

Jan 2018:  Training for Trainers & Goldens (Classic Dono!)

Feb 2018:  Bunbury Zone Conference with Elder Haleck

Feb 2018: Bunbury Zone Conference - Role Playing

Feb 2018:  Bunbury Zone Conference

Who Needs Power When You're Filled with the Light of Christ?

Monday, March 5, 2018

Burke, Virginia

This week was full of excitement. As are all the weeks. 

O* is still going strong and is preparing for his baptism on Saturday!  We had a couple lessons with him this week, and it was just awesome.  We met with him on Tuesday night at a member's home and taught him the rest of the commandments, mostly about Tithes and Fast Offerings. We were a little hesitant to talk to him about that, thinking that tithing would be the point that he would just say, "That's it!  I've had enough!"  But he didn't!  After we invited him to keep the Law of Tithing, he said, "Of course.  I would like to dedicate 100% of my life to God, so I will do everything that he asks of us to do." We were excited about that answer.  We had a lesson scheduled with him on Friday to go over his baptismal interview questions and make his baptismal program, and he said that he had to work, so we couldn't go it.  But thanks to Facebook and our smart phones, we were able to have a lesson over Facetime! (It was also a blessing because I was in pants because we were weekly planning, and I didn't have to change out of them for our lesson.)  He's having his official interview tomorrow, but as we were going over his program, he asked us to give the talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost.  We're excited about that, but I'm also nervous.  I hope I don't botch this.  (Although, I'm speaking on the Holy Ghost, and if I say something wrong, it will already be after he is baptized, so I'm good.)  Before we said goodbye and hung up on him, he said that he was grateful that we take time to help him understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ better.  He also said that he was worried that the ward thought that he was only getting baptized to hopefully "get one of us."  He said that we need to tell the ward that it was because he wants to start over and not because of us so that they don't reassign Elders to work with him.  I thought that was the funniest thing that I have ever heard in my life.  We had another lesson with him last night, and he brought us some dessert for after dinner.  It was delicious and appley and gooey and crunchy and lovely.  And there was ice cream on top, so it's a winner in my book.  We taught him about the Laws and Ordinances of the Gospel, and he is excited to get the Priesthood!  We are too! 

 

Facetime Teaching with O*.

 

Messaging with O*

 

We also had exchanges this week.  I went to Lincolnia with Sister Bargeron. She is a fantastic missionary -- so incredibly bold and so great at teaching and helping people understand the Gospel better.  I want to be like her.  We had a fun day, though!  We got to walk across a pedestrian bridge -- one of my favorite things to do -- and we snuck into a heavily guarded lockout building and got lost inside, so we stumbled upon some people that we shouldn't have, and, thanks to security, we were invited to leave.  I'm just waiting for my chance where I get to stand on a box or a bench and cry repentance to the world and not get kicked out by security or arrested.  I mean, I haven't really tried it yet, but I don't know how long that will last if I can't even peaceably walk down the hallways without being herded out the door.  One day...

We also got to do service at the office with the senior couples again, and it was so much fun!  I love them oodles and bunches.

 

Lunch with the Parkers.

 

The backstory of my subject line is because we didn't have power for almost 24 hours on Friday and Saturday.  And you know why? Because of the blasted wind, that's why!  There was a severe wind warning that said that wind was gusting from 60-80 MPH all of Friday, and that power might be lost. School was cancelled, so the Burke ward put on a volleyball day.  We decided to go so that I could get to know the ward members better, so we went for a little bit that afternoon.  They separated us into teams, and I introduced myself to everyone and apologized for the imminent failure on my part.  People just laughed and said, "You can't be that bad!"  And all I could think was, "Just you wait..."  They didn't have to wait for very long before they realized the validity of my previous words. My poor team.  They ended up positioning all the good players around me so that whenever the ball came my way, someone could dive in and save it from  either creaming me in the face or bouncing off of me and creaming someone else in the face.  But at the very end, the very last ball that was served, the ball came my way and I shrieked and put my arms up and it bounced off of them!  We ended up losing that point anyway, but everyone congratulated me because of how brave I was.  I know.  But back to the story!  Friday, we got to be inside for a while because of weekly planning and such, so we missed most of the storm.  While we were camped inside, the power went off. It didn't really affect us at that point because it was still light outside and there was still some warmth left over from the heater.  But our dinner appointment had to be cancelled because there were trees all over the road and crazy drivers and cops and just a lot of wind.  So we sat at the table until the lights went out and the whole world went dark.  It was delightful.  We drove to one of our member's homes to have a meeting with them that night, and as we pulled up, the husband was on his way to our apartment to make sure we were okay.  Turns out, all the towers were out of commission, too.  They all just started to cry when we walked in and said that they were so worried about us!  Apparently, it was a lot more crazy outside than we had realized.  They gave us two flashlights because we didn't have any source of light.  The next morning, we woke up to a freezing cold apartment.  It was about 50 degrees in there, and it just kept getting colder and colder.  Sister Huntsman was a sweetie and brought us breakfast because we couldn't open our fridge and let cold air out and nothing worked (isn't it incredible how much we depend on electricity for everything?).  We stayed in our beds all morning and just did everything from there.  Then Bishop contacted us and asked us to check on a bunch of people in the ward who hadn't been checked on yet.  We spent a few hours on that.  Anyway, it was, overall, a pretty great day.  We got power back and everything was just dandy.

Planning in the dark.

Breakfast in bed.

 

But then yesterday there still wasn't any power in the church building, so we had to go to the Stake building and crash another ward there.  There was a nice man there who can barely see anything.  He said very loudly in the middle of Gospel Principles, "Hello, Sister! You look very good today!" (now, he's legally blind, mind you)  And I just said, "Well, thank you!"  And then he said, "You know what would make you look even better?  Being in the temple dressed in white."  And then our teacher just came over to us and said, "Wouldn't we all, Tom. Wouldn't we all.  Go sit in your seat."  It was hilarious.  ...Maybe it was a "had to be there" moment.

 

Yesterday, before Church.

 

Love from Burke! 

Me

Feb 27 - Mar 6, 2018

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Bunbury, Western Australia

This was a good week -- there was some stuff that happened.  Here are some pictures.....  Jokes, but I'm probably not going to give much more info than that....  

This week we had Stake Conference; it was good.  I have been here long enough to have two stake conferences... BOOM!  Although, this is the last week of the transfer, so I'm pretty sure that I'm going.  Stake Conference was good, though.  Elder Paul N. Lekias, an Area Seventy, came and spoke to us; it was good.  President Fife spoke as well; it was good.

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week too... I'll attach pictures.  I was with Elder Nielson and Elder La'akulu.  Elder Young had my camera.

Elder La'akulu

Ending exchanges with pizza!

L* will hopefully be baptized this Saturday!  He has come to church three times now and says that he has quit smoking, so if he doesn't break the Word of Wisdom, then he will be baptized!  We are going to meet with him later tonight to see how he's doing.  Hopefully, it goes well.

Elder Muaiava in language study.

P-day is on Tuesday, today, because yesterday was a public holiday; I'm not sure what the holiday was, but there was one anyways.  [Note from Mom: Google says it was Labour Day in Western Australia.  Apparently, each Australian state celebrates the eight-hour workday on a different day of the year.]  Hopefully, some of the people that we tracted into will be keen about The Book of Mormon and the Restoration.  Lately, we've been really trying to focus on teaching about The Book of Mormon or the Restoration, because that is the unique message that we share, and it really brings the Spirit when we teach and testify of Joseph Smith.

Elder Kleven