A Week Full of Service!

Having just planted a tree.

This week has been good. We have done a lot of service this week! On Tuesday we helped our ward mission leader move some furniture in his room so that they could paint the walls! That was fun since it was fast and easy... and it took us longer to cycle there than to do the service. After that we headed over to a non-member's home where we continued to pull weeds and do other yard work for them. After a few hours we left because we had a dinner appointment. (Our ward is super good at feeding us super well!) We arrived at the McCrew's house a hour early before dinner because we helped them plant a new tree! It was a lot of fun digging the hole and then getting everything right. That was fun! 

My new shirt.

Later in the week we helped the Bairds do some weeding in their back garden and that was pretty good too. They gave us a massive dinner two times in a row and we were also able to teach them a missionary discussion. It is great to be able to teach members the missionary discussions as we do get a good relationship with the members! The Bairds also gave us some shirts and I had asked them to sign the one they gave to me. (I don't think you can see it on the picture.)

 

After the interview with the Mission President.

This week we also had exchanges! I went to Danville with Elder Clarin. We both found it fun even though we were both hit with some thing. Not sure what, but I started sneezing like never before! And Elder Clarin had a headache and started to be weakened. Not sure if we needed to learn something or stay away from something, but it was a great exchange! We also visited some less active members and met some members who gave us dinner. Elder Ah Mu, by the way, has Samoan in him. He was called on an English speaking mission but when he got here they wanted him to do Tongan so he still has to do language training every day. I've tried but can't speak that - he said I said a swear word, lol.

 

We had interviews on Thursday with our Mission President, President Meredith. he gave us a little training and we talked a little. It was a good interview because it only lasted a few minutes. We took a picture after the interviews. I am pretty happy because these last weeks I have been able to get a lot of music that I am allowed to listen to! I have a few hundred songs now and my collection is still growing :-D In a minute we will drive to a members home to pick up a few more cds!

 

Waiting for Zone Training.

On Saturday we had a zone training. We learned how to make general lesson plans (basically the lesson plans at the end of each lesson in Preach my Gospel. There are 5 lessons in PMG.). The Danville elders are now on bikes also. This means that we share a car now! We have had the car since Saturday and will keep it until Tuesday. So far we haven't used many of the miles. It feels a bit weird to have a car. (Especially since it was made in 2014) it is really nice though because we can visit people faster. Being in a car makes it more difficult to sleep though! - as not as much exercise.

 

Well that is it for this week. I also noticed that I have been on my mission for over 100 days now a few weeks ago! How cool is that! Time is slow, time is fast. Time is weird. I hope you all had a good Easter... I know my teeth didn't!

 

I love being able to share my testimony with others and being able to feel the spirit all the time.

I love you all,

 

- Elder Kloosterboer!

New Companion!

Transfers happened this week. I got a new companion and his name is Elder Ah Mu! He is from Orem, Utah and is pretty funny! He has been out about 14 months now and is pretty relaxed. 

This picture was taken when we drove down on the highway to the mission home in Oakland to pick up my new companion. It was really nice that day. I love being able to drive the mission cars! They are kept up really well, but I am a lot happier with my bike as it has many more benefits. On Tuesday, when we I met my new companion we went to a bike store. We walked in and within 5 minutes Elder Ah Mu had bought a bike! We also had a district meeting right after and made is just in time!

 

We had an event this week where two professional opera singers came and sung a few songs about Jesus Christ. We hung up about 3000 door hangers and the event was great! We had bought too many cookies though and that is what I am eating in this picture (Left over cookies!) We gave a box to the sisisters. We plan on freezing a few for later... We might also go to less actives and offer them some cookies to show them that we are normal....

 

We taught a few investigators this week. The first investigator we taught was Holland. He brought a friend over which was super cool because he asked us good questions! It was a good lesson because brother Cox was able to come and offer his knowledge. We taught the Cox family lesson number 3 on Monday and so it was great preparation as we taught Holland the same lesson. We also had dinner at the Little's this week. Brother Little sent us a text a few hours before the dinner and asked us to do an object lesson! 

We couldn't think of one and then we came up with an idea to draw a picture (my companion drew it) and then get the children to put all the pieces together with only being able to see the back of the paper (it being blank). We then told them that they needed some instructions from the prophet (well that is what we wanted to do - we think the parents got the message) so we gave them instructions about where to place each piece and then they were able to see the picture after they turned them over. It was pretty fun.

 

We also had the opportunity to do some service on Saturday! We started the day by giving water to people on the Iron Horse Trail. We had a few good conversations with people. Then we did some other service.  The Danville elders picked us up, Elder Fonua and Elder Clarin. Danville is the next town north of us.  We helped some people who are not members do some yard work. Elder Ah Mu and I decided to cut the grass at the front and then Elder Fonua and Elder Clarin pulled some weeds in the back. We spent a lot of hours there and it was a lot of fun because we only wore our shirts and ties for about 2 hours that day. Though because we were in the sun the whole day I am now sunburnt :-)... the second time this week. Man, it is nice though because it turns brown in a few days! I love service! It's the best! I love being a missionary and having this great opportunity to help people all the time!

 

I was also given two hair clippers today :-) - the sisters found them in their apartment so now we have them.  Yay, now I can cut my own hair whenever I need to!

 

I know this church is true! I love feeling the spirit when we teach a lesson and I know the things we are teaching are true. 

 

I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Kloosterboer

Transfers

Transfers! 

I have now been on my mission for 3 months! I will tell you what is happening for transfers later on in the blog.

 

This week we have been busy trying to hang up a ton of door hangers that our ward mission leader ordered for a concert activity. We planned to hang them all out this week but we were too busy! While we were hanging up the door hangers it started to rain and also hail! Luckily we had umbrellas that kept us mostly dry. I did find it a lot of fun walking door to door hanging these flyers up while it rained. 

 

Last week we were talking to people and on our way back to the apartment we saw a women checking her mail. We started talking to her and then she had said that she had been thinking about what she wanted to say at her dad's funeral, as it was being held at an LDS chapel. After talking more to her we had to leave and as we were leaving she said that we had made her day! That is the best! We also saw her the next day and had a good conversation. Her dad was LDS, but she is not. It is good to be able to put a smile on someone's face!

 

We are now teaching more members so that we can improve our teaching and also help them gain a stronger testimony. I have really enjoyed teaching memebers and it helps out a lot. We were able to teach Drew again for the second time this week and we had a really good questions and answer session.

 

This weekend we were able to watch conference on TV. Becuase the stake center was not showing the sessions we were able to find a few members who let us watch it with them. On Saturday we went to the Remington's home, where we stayed all day until the end. Those sessions were super good! I really enjoyed all of them! On Sunday we went to the Kruger's home. They even gave us breakfast! We ate this apple thing from Denmark, where you are supposed to put waffle mix around an apple. We did not have any apples to put in them so we just ate it plain, they were super good! I am really looking forward to reading all the talks! I love hearing the words of all the speakers and especially the Prophet!

 

We took a picture of our district before transfers happened. I am staying in San Ramon, and my new companion is Elder Ha Mu. I am not sure where he is from, but I will find out tomorrow :-)  Elder Fonua, whom I was on a split with a few weeks ago, is in the picture by himself and is our new district leader.

We have a special ringtone for the mission president so we will know when it is him calling. On April 1st, 2014, April fool's day, my companion, Elder Brown decided to play a prank! Because of transfers president calls certain people to leadership positions and so it was perfect timing for him to call. Elder Brown decided to set an alarm with the same ringtone on April 1st. When it sounded I got a mini heart attack only to see it was a stupid alarm! haha, later that day I decided to play the same prank! haha It worked well!

 

Thank you for all your emails and letters!

 

I know that we have a living prophet of God on earth today.

 

I love you all!

- Elder Kloosterboer

A New Investigator

Hello everyone!

 

This has been a good week with lots of rain!

I enjoy the rain, because it means that I get to take longer showers ! This has been a good week though like always because we have found a new investigator. (An investigator is someone who wants to learn more about the church) We found him through tracting! I also got a hair cut!

 

Last Monday Elder Heaton, another elder in a different district, came over to cut Elder Brown and my hair for us. Hehe, it looks good. We just hung out afterwards for a few hours since it was a P-day (Preparation day, basically our weekend).

 

Because of the rain, not many people were outside and so we talked to 74 people this week. We are still improving and it feels great when people stop and talk to you. 

 

We went on exchanges this week. I led the area and Elder Clarin enjoyed it. We tracted one street and the very last house that we knocked on was a young man, who let us in!! He said that he had said a prayer for us to come over and talk to him. he had a lot of good questions and wanted to know more about the church :-) We will be teaching him more this week which I am pretty excited about :-) It was also fun that day because we got a ride up to the church for our last scripture study class. It is good because we got to cycle down this long hill!

We also fed some ducks and they didn't want to leave!

 

Yesterday I decided to get up to bear my testimony. When I got up I was fine for the first 2 seconds or so but then I started to get very light headed. My vision started to get blurry and I was not able to concentrate on much. I felt like I was going to faint and I could hear and feel my heart slowing down a ton! Well I decided to interrupt all my plans on what to say and just ended it. I made it back to my seat but I noticed that I was sweating a bunch! Well I share this because I have never had that happen to me before! It was a good experience.

Lots of different people have been emailing me lately - also all my friends from school. It's really fun!  

I also did my finances! It is so much fun to do your finances! I like it ha ha. Though I forgot how to do it all so I just guessed. Elder Brown is also memorizing the order for all the lessons in the book, so that is all the cards on the floor!

 

That is it for this week in short. I love being a missionary! It feels great and it is so rewarding! I have put on a few pounds. I am still skinny but now weigh 143 pounds! I weighed about 130ish before I left on my mission. I know this gospel is true and I know that God answers our prayers. He is always ready to listen to what you say and he will never not listen to you.

 

I love you all!