Side note: I've been a missionary for 5 MONTHS!!! Woot woot!
It was such a chaotic yet great week for me. This is my last email from the US! For all my stateside readers, you'll now get my emails on Sunday evenings since Adelaide is 18.5 hours ahead of California (rip the inevitable jetlag).
I fly out tomorrow and will completely skip Wednesday and arrive in Adelaide Thursday morning and I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I'll find out my new companion and area after I arrive, so that's something to look forward to for next week!
Here's the haps!
- Quad shenanigans + picking up our new missionary
- Sister Goss finished her mission
- I got to see Sister Pennington and Whitlock before they went home!! (tender mercy)
- Spirit cameos
If you remember from last week, we're in a quad (4 sisters in one companionship) for the week. One of those sisters is brand new from the MTC and being trained by Sister Williams. Her name is Sister Briggs and she's so sweet and excited to try new things! However, four sisters is A LOT. Rather than having four 19 year olds show up on people's doorsteps, Sister Fullmer and I opted to go off on our own most of the time and cover more ground.
It was actually really beneficial to have two duos in one area, we saw a lot of success!
People are always so shocked when they hear Sister Fullmer and I are from the same stake, but it's actually so fun. I guess we're used to it now, but every once in awhile we remember how insane it is that we have so many of the same experiences from Longmont and we just happen to be companions now.
Rest assured, the Longmont Colorado stake is being well represented in the California Arcadia mission 💪
Sister Fullmer and I are besties, we giggle lots and talk about our Colorado lore and she makes the work so joyful!
We dropped Sister Goss off at the airport Wednesday morning. We had some sad goodbyes but we had to book it from Ontario to Arcadia to go get into our new companionships at the mission office. She made such an impact on the areas she served in and I'm grateful for the time we served together!
We drove a lot that day (and we had to go back to the office that night to go pick up Sister Briggs) and I spent most of the day doing Spanish work with Hermana Tischner so it seems like a blur now.
Before missionaries go home here, they get to attend the temple and have dinner with the mission president. We went to pick Sister Goss up from her temple trip and I happened to see my favorite people ever too, Sister Pennington and Sister Whitlock, one more time before they would leave the next day.
It's so sad to say, "See you in 2026." But the Lord knew that seeing them would mean so much to me, they're the best and I miss them already!!
Every night when I journal, I do what's called a spirit cameo (shoutout Sister Weyand for the idea) and I identify at least one point where I saw the guidance of the Holy Ghost that day.
Here's a few of them from this week:
- We were guided to and knocked on Justin's door and he was so kind and open and had a cute dog
- We had our final zone testimony meeting for the Rancho zone and I said some cool stuff.
- Gregory said he felt the Spirit so strongly over the phone as I bore my testimony to him for the last time.
- Found a long lost member while knocking doors who wants to come back, and we don't have his records so we never would've found him otherwise
- Brainstorming ways to come back with one of the YSA recent converts who had been drifting but wanting that motivation to do it.
It's wild that I'm actually out here changing lives and affecting people's stories. I'm so grateful that God chooses to use me in this great work, despite my flaws.
I've been focusing on joy lately and how to have it, even when circumstances don't necessarily entail it. Someone said it best in one of our sacrament meetings yesterday. We find joy when we progress. Self-improvement and moving forward propels us closer to our Savior and makes joy even more available.
I don't really like when people say, "choose joy". I would say "choose to improve" and joy usually follows.
You probably could've guessed this quote was coming: "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” (President Russell M. Nelson)
If you're lacking some joy right now, ask where and how the Lord wants you to move forward in your life. This life is a time for us to progress and grow, but also a time to feel joy. Those two things are correlated.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I'LL SEE YOU DOWN UNDA NEXT TIME!!!!!
Please feel free to reach out, it's so nice to hear from you!
Sister Kline💗