Another Week of Canifornia Fun

Cute Kids

Companions in the Bushes

A Little Push

Smoothie Time!

Smores

FHE Bowling

1st Time Bowling

In Action

Scores

Recycling Time

Gettin' WiId in the Van

Wild Ride

We Survived!

Super Cute Family

Reading Time Reactions

Floss Party

 
Hello again! :)

This week has been so wild! I love serving with these awesome sisters! :)

So first of all, a lot of members have been trying to figure out all of the things that Sister Naitoko has yet to experience in America so far. SO for Family Home Evening, we had a night of firsts for her with the Hebton family. :) We started off by having grilled cheese sandwiches, but they weren't just average grilled cheese sandwiches! They were done Hebton style and they were the BEST! Okay so they use this fancy white cheese and put JAM on the inside! It sounds so gross and I was so nervous to try it, but I was blown away by its majesty! I will never have a normal grilled cheese sandwich again! Then they found out that Sister Naitoko didn't like pudding, so they pulled out the best pudding I've ever had in my whole life so that she could see if she would like it. Unfortunately for her, she hated it... a lot. So much that she was yelling in the bathroom and barfing it up for like 10 minutes. Hahaha. :) Poor Sister Naitoko! She was still down for the night of firsts though, so we all walked to 711 afterward to get slurpees! :) They were SO good! :) Then we all went bowling together and it was the best of times. Best FHE ever! :)

Tuesday was another day of firsts, but not as extreme. Haha. :) We went to a less-actives house where they made us smoothies and smores. Sister Naitoko LOVED making the smores! She kept talking about how we roast marshmallows the way that they roast pigs and dogs in Tonga hahaha. So now I know how to roast them well. :) On a sadder note though, Sister Naitoko received a letter that day saying that her little brother had passed away. I was so so sad for her. She is probably one of the strongest people that I know though! She just keeps working hard and doesn't let her circumstances stop her from being everything that the Lord wants her to be. She's incredible!

The rest of the week consisted of a lot of tracting and not a lot of success haha. We chased one of our less-actives down the street, got stood up by someone who we had planned to have a lesson with, and the list goes on. But all is well and I know that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do. :) It was kind of hard not to get discouraged though. I felt as though I wasn't doing enough (even though I was doing my absolute best) because we weren't seeing any sort of success. I prayed to Heavenly Father on Saturday night and asked how I was supposed to do better and if He could let me know whether or not I was a good missionary. The next day during church, we were talking to the bishop's wife. She pulled us aside and told us that she had been talking with a lot of other members and they had all been saying that we were the best sister missionaries the ward has ever had. I almost cried haha. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and recognizes our efforts- even if we don't see immediate results.

Anyway, I'm so thankful for all of you and for everything you do for me! :) I love you so much and I'll talk to you next week!

xoxo
Kimmie

Polynesian House

T25

T25 Tongan Style

Sister Naitoko sleeping in Primary

Her first time ever seeing a gun

Selfie

Sister Naitoko

Lays from the Tongans

Sister Naitoko asleep in the closet

 

Glamour

Group Selfie

Sister Naitoko sleeping on couch

Member Missionary

Polynesian House Family Photo

Elder Headlee

Lava Lavas

Hello again, my friends and family! :) 

This week has actually been pretty normal. Haha. :) On Monday night we went and had FHE with this waaay cute family! They showed me how to make these rubber band bracelets which I guess became a thing while I was in Ukraine. But anyway, it blew my mind! You just put the rubber bands around this thingy and move them with another thingy and then BOOM! You have a whole BRACELET! Can you believe it?? 

The next day we went to young women's to see if our investigator would be there, but she didn't show up. Dang it. BUT we found this bird whose wings were broken and the young women all wanted to save it, so one of them ended up taking it home with her. It was so nice, but it died. Whoops. Anyhoo...

A couple of days later, we went over to a member's house to help her to get ready for girl's camp (she's the stake young women's president). There were sparkles and crowns and ribbons all over the place! I couldn't believe my eyes! But we had a good time helping her to get ready to go. :) I miss girl's camp. Bleen. 

On Saturday after we went to the soup kitchen, we went to go visit with a member. Man oh MAN I just LOVE them! They are from France and live in this way cute apartment and as soon as you walk in the Spirit is SO strong! So yeah, I loved getting to go visit with them. :) 

Yesterday was FATHER'S DAY! :) HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!!! Anyhoo, a family in the ward found out that we didn't have anywhere to go for dinner for the holiday, so they invited us over. I am always so blown away by how nice everyone is to missionaries! So we went to their house and had tacos with them. :) They are definitely one of my favorite families in the ward! After that, we went to go meet with a lady who had come to church activities a few times before. We stopped by and she wasn't interested and I felt a little bit heartbroken haha. Sometimes it's hard to be in an area where I rarely see any success, but I am grateful for this lesson of patience that the Lord is blessing me with. I have learned so much about enduring, even when times get hard. Another cool thing is that whenever I get discouraged, He sends me people to lift me up and make me feel better. For example, after the lady rejected us, we walked outside only to see the French lady! :) She invited us to come over and talk to her for a few minutes and my whole night was changed. I am so grateful for a God that wants us to be happy. :)

Okay so today the BEST thing happened! SO there is this program for members here where they are allowed to serve missions with us for two weeks. Guess who got one? ME AND SISTER NAITOKO!! AHHHHHH!! She is Samoan and she is just the coolest ever! She is also waiting on her mission call right now! Woo hoooooo! :) So yeah, I feel very white at home now haha. It's a good time though. :)

Anyhoo, thank you so much for all that you do for me! I love you all so much and I'll talk to you next week! :)

xoxo
Kimmie

At least the yogurt was good...

Hello again! :) 

I forgot my card reader again so NO PICTURES THIS WEEK! I will never get caught up on pictures and I am sorry. Bleeeen... 

Anywhooo, So... this week was not the most eventful, but it was still quite a good one, so it's whatever. Also, congratulations to Brandy Lion for graduating!! :) Pip pip de doodly doo! 

Well, Monday and Tuesday were just not even exciting at all, so I am going to skip to Wednesday. WEDNESDAY was wonderful! :) We went on exchanges with the sister training leaders, so I went on over to Rancho Cucamonga with Sister Redd! :) She is serving in the single's ward there, so we talked to a bunch of young people that were my age there. It was so weird. NO ONE I ever teach is my same age/laughs at the same things as me/has anything in common with me, so it was wild. We young and wiiiiiiiildin'!! Anyhoo, we had an appointment to meet with this member to get frozen yogurt. We were pretty stoked, BUT he invited his other member friend so then it looked like we were on a date and I just wanted to cut someone up. The NERVE! AISH! But at least the yogurt was good. I will move on. SO then that night we met with a member and his friend and attempted to teach the restoration, but the member's uncle was just wildin' about slaying demons and what not. In short, we did not teach the restoration haha. But that's okay, they'll teach it to him soon. :) 

On Thursday the awkwardness continued. So a member had invited us as well as the elders over for dinner that night. Unfortunately for us, the member who was making us dinner had to keep escaping to get ready for an appointment. In short, we were trapped eating with just the elders and again, I wanted to cut someone. It's all good though, we escaped. :) 

Saturday was the most wild day of the whole week! We went to the soup kitchen to help feed the homeless and I got to tell three people about the church while I was there! :) We haven't had a whole lot of success lately, so I was just so happy to get to share the gospel with so many people who were open to it. :) After the soup kitchen, a less-active lady called us and asked us to help her re-do her cupboards. We agreed and went over. Well, we ended up being there for about three hours, but now her cupboards look really awesome. AND she gave us cupcakes! Oh man, I love cupcakes! After the morning of service, we went home and I felt prompted to text one of our investigators, Crystal. She ended up telling me about how one of her goals for the summer is to gain a testimony of the church!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! :D I'm so excited for her and am so happy that she has such a great desire to learn. :) 

Ooh! There are NUNS in the library! Real nuns! HOLY COW THIS IS AWESOME!! 

Okay so yesterday we went to church and it was so good! We had to help out in primary again, which is always a good time. :) We were singing that one, "Hello, hello, hello, hello, we welcome you today" song and they wanted to say hello in a different language. So of COURSE I suggested saying privyet! :) After the song had finished, the chorister was like, "now wasn't that a fun way to sing it?" The primary was quiet and then this little girl yelled, "That was HARD!" Russian is indeed a struggle. Haha. Anyhoo, we went to a member's house for dinner and Sister Naitoko got to hold a gun for the first time in her life. It was quite the event. :) 

I think that's about it for this week! Sorry that there's nothing too exciting, but you know how it is. Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful week! :) I love you and I'll talk to you next Monday! 

xoxo
Kimmie

2nd Post Today... I Love the USA!

Yes it's True that I miss Ukraine, but I have to admit... I LOVE THE USA! Pizza and Grocery Stores and water you can drink from the tap without having some... uncomfortable side-effects. HA!   SO, once again, I have a ton of pics to share in this post. Some are from Ukraine and some from France and from the good ol' U.S.A, so enjoy!:)

Sister Ford

Final Street Contact in Ukraine

The Temple at night

Last Sunrise in Ukraine

Getting Ready to Board

Getting ready to land in Paris

1st meal back in the U.S.A.!

Jet Lag

Jet Lag Drama

From Sestra Ouker (Cectpa Bokep) to Sister Walker

A Hike with Sister Naitoko

Frozen Yogurt!!!

Groceries!!!

Arm Wrestling

PIZZA! Did I mention that I Love the USA!

Sweet note. Made my day:)

The Tongans are feeding us... again

Yep... I'm THAT Happy!

Hello Again! :) 

It feels like I just wrote all of you haha. Probably because it's only been 6 days this time, but still! Cray cray fo shooo. 

Anyhoo, last Tuesday was crazy! Sister Naitoko was so sore that she couldn't even walk haha. She kept talking about how she had become a cripple, so we had to stay inside. It was pretty funny. :) 

On Wednesday we had zone conference and guess who I saw? Tyler Headlee! It was so crazy to see him again! It was a really cool experience for me though since I knew him before my mission. It was cool to see how much I really have changed for the better because of my mission and to see that I'm not the same person that I was when I left for Ukraine. I'm so happy that the Lord has blessed me so much throughout these past few months. :) After the zone conference we came home and I was studying in the Book of Mormon about burying weapons of rebellion. I sat back and thought about all of the things that have been keeping me away from being as close to the Savior as possible. Sister Naitoko and I sat down for a while and had a good talk about it and decided to bury all of our weapons of rebellion. My biggest one was unhealthy snacks; every time I eat them I just feel tired and lazy for the rest of the day. SO we went through our kitchen and threw all of them away! There were a lot of other things that we did too, but that was the main one. After "burying our weapons of rebellion," I have felt such peace in doing the Lord's work. :) I'm happy that he has blessed me so much for making the decision to be closer to Him. 

On Thursday we had a whole lot of nothing to do, so we decided to tract. :) It was actually really fun and we just laughed the whole time. We ended up meeting this one guy named Aaron, so hopefully that will go somewhere. :)

Saturday was hands down my favorite day this week! :) We went to this old lady's house to help her move for about 3 hours. It was so crazy! She had so much random stuff and I loved it! :) I was quite congested for the rest of the day because of all of the dust, but it was fun anyway. Later that night, the ward had put on a musical fireside thingy. I haven't felt the spirit so strongly in so long! Music invites the spirit more than almost anything else we can do. It was a memorable night of my mission for sure. :) 

Yesterday at church, Sister Naitoko and I were assigned to teach the Sunbeams and it was CRAZY! One of them would be like, "I have to go to the bathroom!" and the next thing I knew, they were all yelling about toilets and what not and flocking out the door in their screams! Da eck? And THEN as soon as I said that we were going to play a game they all started wildin' all over the place and throwing toilet paper from who knows where all over the room. So yeah, it was a good time. Haha. :) 

I think that is about it for this week though! I'm so happy to be serving the Lord here in California. :) I love this work so much and I don't ever want to stop being a missionary. 

Anyhoo, I hope that you all have a great week! I love you! :)

xoxo
Kimmie