Kristen's Mission Email - Week 12

Hi people!! 

It has been a disgustingly hot and incredibly quick week. Here's the rundown! 

Teaching lots of people finally! 

We put Xavier on date for baptism!! 

Exchanges🙌 

The heat is killing me

We are teaching a few people who are progressing right now! We're super excited to help them grow their faith and any prayers towards these friends would be greatly appreciated! 

Khayreesha: she called us out of the blue last week and wants to be taught again! She's worked with missionaries before and really feels like the gospel made her happier and wants that feeling back! We're super excited and she's been progressing a lot already! 

Jonathon: he requested a Bible way back when and wasn't interested in what the elders had to say. Well, we were in the area and stopped by and he's been going thru it. He said he'd love to come closer to Christ, we gave him a Book of Mormon and we're hoping he makes it to church this Sunday! 

Ken: he is a media referral and we're his 4th set of missionaries because he went to the Spanish missionaries, the YSA missionaries, and back here in Walnut Creek to us. He's been taught so much and is so willing to follow Christ! 

XAVIER!!: He's 9 years old, some of his family are members, and his big sister is getting baptized in a few weeks too! His mom is really excited for him and we're glad he's moving forward! He is on date for the end of the month! 

We got to go on exchanges this week and do a blitz (see last week's email) in the YSA ward. I was with my STL while we all proselyted on Citrus College! It's amazing how many people we talk to on campuses! 

Now for the highs of the week...haha, get it? 112° It was a crisp 80° for our 6:30am walk most days and typically 100°+ from 10am to 9pm. 

If you know me, I'm sure you can imagine how chipper and excited I was to go out, but I had to keep telling myself, I can do hard things. Plus, Jesus had to walk in the heat too.

In that same vein, Jesus walks everyday with us. On the one hand, he's felt and went through everything we have. And on the other, we can have His spirit with us always. So when you feel alone or like no one knows what you're going through, consider Christ. Shift your focus to Him and recognize Him walking every step with you. 

Crazy lawn decor in one of our member's yard.

I love you all, have an awesome week!!

Sister Kline!!

Colorado Trail Hike at Kenosha Pass

We left Salida around 9 am on Monday morning with plans to talk to Kristen on the way and then stop for a hike at Kenosha Pass.

Our connection with Kristen wasn't so great and she was feeling some distress, so we pulled over and talked to her for about 20 minutes or so before continuing on our way.

She was on her way grocery shopping so it was a good time to say goodbye. The financial clerk for the mission forgot to transfer money to her account so she needed to use our credit card to buy some groceries.

We reached Kenosha Pass around 11 am. Traffic was heavy on the road with lots of travelers driving home after the long weekend.

We hiked the Colorado Trail next to Kenosha Campground. It was another one of those that went up the down then up again and then down. I wasn't too pleased with the second round of up and down again.

Again, the leaves were starting to change here and there, nothing too drastic yet. There will be lots of yellow leaves in a month as the area was full of aspens.

After hiking part of the way back up the hill, we stopped at an overlook for lunch. There was a big ranch below with a small pond. The ranch wasn't too far from Jefferson Lake but you could only see it when you got to the right spot on the trail.

We hiked for a couple of hours. I got a blister from my new boots. BOOO.

After arriving back at the car, we quickly changed out of our boots, got a snack, and were on the road again in the heavy traffic. It was slow going for awhile, but I think that was because there was a stop light that seemed to slow everyone down.

We got home around 5 pm and Chris helped me unload the car and then immediately started mowing the lawn since he will be gone for the rest of the week.

I worked on unpacking, sorting dirty clothes, getting dinner ready and talking to Kristen. I had to call Chris in around 6:40 pm since Kristen only had 20 minutes left to talk and she wanted to have some time talking to her dad. 

Kristen's Mission Email - Week 11

Hello people!!

Happy to say there's no head trauma to report this week!

Slow week for us. Here's the rundown: 

• Sister Pennington is still recovering from being sick 
• BLITZ in our area!! 
• I love Olive Garden 
• Ukelele jams 
• Sacrament meeting Wins 

We stayed in for a few more days this week because Sister Pennington was still not 100%. We had a slow start to our week with more time inside the pad. With that being said, Sister Pennington did a phone doctor's appointment and was told she just has allergies. Pshh c'mon. I'm not sure either of us bought that. 

Regardless, we're getting back out there this week and doing full days of work again. Friday night, our district did what we call a blitz. Essentially, all the companionships in the district go into one companionship's area and go finding for an hour or two. This week, they came to Walnut Creek. 

There was some cool successes and some additions to our teaching pool. Perks of being in a super small mission I guess!

Wall Art

Still wearing our Minecraft glasses

A sweet member who we did a lot of service for during our first transfer wanted to treat us to a nice dinner and we ended up at Olive Garden. I LOVE OLIVE GARDEN!! She got us all the fixings and was so gracious and grateful about our service. 

We tried to explain that service is part of what we do and we were happy to do it, but I couldn't decline compensation in the form of breadsticks.

Since we've had so much time inside the last two weeks, I've been working on my ukelele skills. Sister Pennington has one and has let me play for hours on end. I've gotten pretty good and my fingers are pretty sore from it, but I might attach a snippet of me playing one of these days.

Yesterday, we had 3 friends show up to church!! It was exciting for us because normally we're lucky if we get one. But it was so cool (and slightly stressful to make sure it all went well) and to see them exhibit faith by showing up! 

Spiritual thought: 2 Nephi 25:26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. 

Christ is the center of this gospel, the chief cornerstone. I encourage you to find a way to talk about Christ, find joy in Him, teach about Him, or look towards Him this week. Pick something you wouldn't have done otherwise.

We find the truest form of joy in Christ, so if you're lacking a bit of joy in your life right now, turn to Him, give Him your attention. See what changes. When we shift our focus to Him, others notice. And sometimes they follow in your footsteps! 

Like I said, slower week this time, but thanks for sticking around and reading. My fellow missionaries can attest that the best feeling is seeing a notification from home throughout the week, so feel free to reach out and tell me about life outside of the mission bubble!😁 

Love you lots, 

Sister Kline

Monarch Ski Resort Hike

Chris and I drove up Monarch Pass while listening to Come, Follow Me podcasts and later General Conference.

Our first stop was close to Monarch Ski Resort to hike the Colorado Trail and part of the Continental Divide Trail. 

There was a lot of uphill, downhill, back uphill again, and then down. I was not thrilled especially since I could see the expanse of uphill that we would have to climb that we had just hiked down. I might have been a little grumpy.

We returned to our car and drove Marshall Pass. We drove this Pass last fall when the fall colors were at their peak. It was still beautiful and you could see hints of color all along the way. 

As we neared the end of the pass, we came across "trip" of goats. One small goat was lying down in the middle of the road and we thought maybe it had been hurt. Turns out it was just a young'un taking a rest. The goats moved out of the way so we could pass.

We stopped again above O'Haver Lake and Campground. 

Misha's Labor Day Weekend

Misha and a group of friends went camping to the Great Sand Dunes National Park for the Labor Day Weekend. Chris and I added her to our annual park pass last year and she was able to save a little money using it. (See the post below about retrieving the park pass along the side of the road!)

Love the expanse of the starry night.

Hot springs.

They left on Friday morning and enjoyed time camping, hiking and playing on the dunes, hiking to the Zapata waterfall, and relaxing at the hot springs recreation center by the sand dunes. Misha was back home on Sunday evening.

Double Rainbow Hike in Salida

Chris found a short hike for us to begin our day in Salida. We weren't sure why it was called Double Rainbow. The hike was through some scrub with only part of the way shaded by trees. Good thing it was only two miles out and back as it was pretty hot even in the 70s.

We enjoyed a relaxing day with part of the time spent at hot springs.

Drive to Salida for Labor Day Weekend

After spending the day with Jen at Alliance, we began the drive from Colorado Springs to Salida. We stopped first in Canon City for dinner at Boudreaux's BBQ. We ordered two plates and shared. The food was good, not as great as Georgia Boys in Frederick, but good.

We still had an hour's drive through Bighorn Sheep Canyon following the Arkansas River until we reached Salida.

I tried to capture this picture of two elk crossing the river.

The sunset was pretty as well and I snapped a few shots along the way as well.

Meeting with Jen, Designer at Alliance

We have enjoyed working with Jen the designer with Alliance Homes. I think for awhile there she agreed with a lot of our selections and then realized that we truly wanted her opinion and input.

Some decisions and selections are so much easier to make in person. On Friday morning after a quick stop at the home site to see the progress, we headed over to the current office/model to meet with Jen. 

The new owners of the house will be moving in in the middle of September so Alliance will be moving out and into the garage of the new model/office until it is fully ready to move into in December. (The new owners of the current model will be adding on an indoor pickleball court to an already huge house!)

Shortly after we arrived at the model, we heard a flyover and rushed out to the deck to see four F-15s flying over. That's gonna be so cool to see more often when we live there. We also saw parachutists practicing as well, probably for the first football game of the season on Saturday. I think Chris will love being a Falcon fan.

We worked on a few tweaks on the kitchen layout, moving the dishwasher, eliminating some cabinets under the island that would be hidden behind stools, widening the footprint a bit, and hopefully adding a bit of depth to the island.

We also worked on a few plumbing selections, looked at exterior colors, interior paint colors, tile selections, and some interior stone.

The back wall (below) is the same color as our board and batten selection plus stone, wood beams, and stucco.

Right before lunch, Chris and I went with Steve (owner of Alliance Homes) to look at the lot and potentially the need for another retaining wall.

We had a quick lunch at Freddy's and then drove over to Alliance's Parade of Homes house (it begins next weekend). We liked the backlit wall behind the headboard.

From there, Jen took us to the new model to look at their standard floor option of site finished hickory in varying widths. I really want to like this selection, but there is just so much variation in the planks and tones. It just isn't my favorite.

Unfinished stair landing of site finished hickory

Kitchen floor that is finished

We do like the built-in stairs outside.

We returned to work at the current model for a couple more hours with Jen and then made a quick stop at Arlun Flooring to revisit the options for hardwood. It was 5 pm and we weren't coming to any great decisions so Heather at Arlun sent us home with two flooring samples and will be ordering two more samples to have sent to our house so that I can see the samples at different times of day in different light.

New House Progress

While we aren't able to be close to see the day to day changes happening with our new house, some of the Alliance employees who work close by send us pictures.

August 25 the footings were poured.

August 28 the forms were delivered.

August 30 forms were being set.

Missed Meet Up with Misha

When Chris and I drove to Monument to meet Meacham's, we left a half an hour early. We were also planning to meet up with Misha in Denver on our way to give her our National Park pass and a few other things. With the traffic as bad as it was, we changed our plans and took the toll road instead.

That meant that Misha had to meet us somewhere off the toll road. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the designated spot, she was still a half an hour or so away. We had dinner plans at 6:30 and just couldn't wait that long. So, we had the items for her in a ziploc bag and found a place off the side of the road to leave them, dropped a GPS pin for the exact location, and sent the pin to her with a picture.

The crossroads

Bag placed by post

We crossed our fingers that the area was not frequented regularly and Misha would have no trouble retrieving the bag.

We felt badly that she had to go so far out of her way to pick things up. It took her about 45 minutes to finally reach the drop off spot and then locate the bag. We joked that it was like geocaching.

She wasn't quite so pleased.

Dinner with Meacham's

A friend, Kate Ashby, in our current ward reached out about a couple who will be serving a mission in Zimbabwe next year who are looking for someone to stay in their house in Colorado Springs while they are gone. Kate and her husband built the house in the Springs and sold it to the missionary couple a couple of years ago.

While we would only be there a short time (especially depending on when we sell our house), Chris and Lesley Meacham invited us for dinner and for a chance to see their home.

Since it was the Labor Day weekend, Chris took Friday off. We drove down Thursday evening for dinner.

The house is lovely and is in a beautiful neighborhood called Cathedral Pines. Though the neighborhood is about twenty minutes from our new home site, it would be a lot closer than Firestone. Because we haven't yet sold our house, we haven't made any decisions about where we will live next, but this house is a possibility.

Kristen's Mission Email - Week 10

The most BONKers transfer day ever! Hello people!! 

This week was an interesting one for sure. Our first few days were pretty regular with the last bit of time with the trio companionship. Then transfers happened and the roller-coaster started. 

Here's the main points: 

• We broke a windshield...WITH MY HEAD (notice the pun in the subject title) 
• Sis Pennington got a cold (with tender mercies of course) 
• We moved back to Walnut Creek Ward 
• We did baptisms at the Redlands Temple with our new convert, Edward 

I'll start by saying I am okay and no damage was done to my tough noggin. However this is perhaps one of the funniest things to ever happen to me. We were picking up some pizza for our dinner and I sat the food in shotgun. Missionary rules say we have to back our companion out anytime we reverse, and so I went and did so. When I went to get back in the car, I was trying to move the pizza out of my seat. 

Somehow, Sister Pennington thought I was in the car with the door closed. I was not. I was about halfway in when she started driving. Once she realized, she slammed on the brakes and my head went straight into the windshield. It cracked considerably (see the pictures below). Poor Sister Pennington thought she killed me and started bawling her eyes out. I told her I was fine and I could barely feel anything. I couldn't stop laughing because I couldn't believe my head had done that much damage. 

Honestly, I felt a little lightheaded that night and was worried about a possible concussion. But, by morning, all tenderness or aches were gone. Don't worry, I had lots of people check in on me and make sure I wasn't in a concussed state of delusion. 

We had to get our windshield replaced later in the week. #safeliterepairsafelitereplace I guess when people call me hard-headed, in a way, they are correct. 

Sister Kline:1  Windshield:0 

The next day, Sister Pennington woke up really not feeling well. We went to the store early to get her some medicine and such, but she was wiped after that. We opted to stay in and that stretched to the next day. I had lots of time to study and clean, which I was grateful for. 

I feel like I never have enough time to study all the things I want, so it was a blessing to have that time. Sister Pennington started feeling a bit better in the last few days but has a cough that won't let up. Of course that lined up exactly with when she's supposed to give a talk in church. But she said as soon as she stood up and spoke she was fine, and when she sat back down it got scratchy again. God is truly a God of miracles! 

We moved back to our original area and we're hoping to find lots of new people to teach! This was definitely not how we wanted our first week of the transfer to go, but we have big goals for our area, and there's always next week! 

We even taught an Arabic lesson entirely over Google translate. We hope that the Spirit got our message across, but the two guys we taught both seemed super excited to learn more! 

This last week, we got to take Edward (our new convert) to the Redlands Temple to do baptisms for the dead for the very first time! He got to take the names of people like his dad and grandma and do their work. He said he felt so good afterwards. It was such a blessing for Sister Pennington and I to take him. 

Bishop accompanied us and was kind enough to get us breakfast, even though they signed up to feed us dinner that night as well. He was amazed by my pancake consuming capacity. 

Here's my spiritual thought: I studied Matthew 4:1-11 this week, when Jesus is tempted by the adversary before his ministry begins. There's an awesome BYU speech by Elder Holland called "The Inconvenient Messiah" that describes it all beautifully in true Holland fashion. Give it a listen. 

Every time Christ was tempted, it was before or after a spiritual high--communing with God, at the temple, and receiving a vision from the Holy Ghost. The adversary comes for us right before or after we've done something great because he wants to a) prevent us from doing something great or b) knock us off our spiritual high. 

So, next time you feel under the pressure of opposition, think...have I done something awesome? Or am I about to and maybe I don't know it yet? 

I love you all and I hope I have less head trauma to report next week. As always, reach out. I love hearing about the happenings of your lives. 

Sister Kline❤️

New Hiking Boots

So, it turns out that I am NOT allergic to my wool socks. I must have stepped in some poison ivy (or something similar). Each week I wore the boots, I would get an itchy rash on my ankles. The last time I wore the boots, the rash was the worst and lasted for over two weeks!

I bought new boots after reading that the oils from the poison ivy can remain in the boots for up to a year. I'll start breaking them in next weekend over the Labor Day weekend.

Chris came home from his work trip with similar itchy feet. I can't imagine he got it from my boots, but perhaps something he encountered in Park City during his meetings last week.

Amy Ward Hopping

Amy has a friend from work, Emma, who lives quite close to Amy now. Amy, along with Emma and her sister Mairin, attended a ward meeting at 1:30 pm.

The chapel was so full that the chairs were all the way back into the gym.

CPR Certified Misha

Misha had a staff meeting where each of the employees were CPR Certified. It takes effort but seems like a great benefit to have as a skill.

Amy's First Day of Her Last Semester...Ever!

It is stating it mildly to say that Amy has been over school for at least 6 years now! But she has stuck it out and she is finally on the final semester.

She shared her online graduation application pic:

And her last first day of school pic: