Staying Busy

Hey everyone,

Following a Member on a bike with Elder Han

So this week we only have a few hours to email. In many missions missionaries only get a limited time to email, so now I can feel what that is like, as in this mission we don't have any limit. The reason why we have limited time today is due to the library being closed as it is a holiday. So all the missionaries around our area are using one Family History Center at the stake center and we have allotted time slots. 

Kick Ball with the Zone Leaders

This week has been crazy! We have been on two exchanges! I went to the other area both times. I was with elder Han (Who served in San Ramon just before me) and while we were cycling from one end of the area to the other we received a phone call from a member! He wanted to meet us at a corner and then follow him to the chapel as he wanted to talk to us. Here we go: A mini mission! So we followed him and it was a lot of fun! 

We also had fun on P-day last week - we played kick ball! In the evening we looked over the area books and in one of them we saw a ton of former investigators who should not be in the area book! So I threw them on the ground! it was fun to clean the records! 

Throwing Things out of the Area Book

We had a zone training and it was super good! We talked about accountability. What I have seen during my mission is that those missionaries who account to the Lord that all their Key Indicators (indicates what we do in numbers - Missionaries have no quotas to reach at all - but our own goals) go up! Also another cool thing is that the lord will help you remember what you need to do. Elder Otuafi was saying the prayer and during it the spirit brought back to his remembrance that we needed to text someone! So after the prayer we were like, Oh yea! Elder Otuafi also said that the words just came out of his mouth. 

Service and Broken Shovel

We did some service for one of our members who was just baptized and we broke this shovel! haha. 

Missionary work is sweet! The Lord helps us be in the right place at the right time! On Sunday we planned to go to a 5:00 showing of Meet the Mormons at the Visitor Center at the Temple in Oakland. But then we forgot to move our dinner. We tried to move our dinner the day of the dinner to an earlier time but it was not able to be moved as a non-member was going to be there and that was the only time the could do it! So we told the Alvarado family that we couldn't go with them to watch the movie. So they went and saw it at 5. We decided to ask the other people we invited to see if they could go at 7! And they all said yes. But this was a problem since we then needed another man to come with us, since we can't be with girls alone. (The Alvarado family would have been our third male but since they went to the 5:00 one we needed to find someone else.) So we tried to contact a lot of people and everyone was busy! Then on our way to dinner we saw Bother Wilson walking out of another member's home on the same street as our dinner! So he was able to come with us!

Elder Eh and Elder Gubler at Interviews

Meet the Mormons is such a powerful movie and non-preachy that I would like to invite you all to watch it. It is only available in visitor centers for a few months. After that it will be released online. Call a visitor center near you. 

Another cool thing. We always have dinner at 5:00 normally but on Saturday we had it moved back to 6:00! Then the Alvarado family asked if we could teach them at 5:00! Perfect because that was the only time that we could really do it!

Well I have had a fun week and time is going by so fast! I wish I could write more, but I have to go!

P-Day

At the End of One of Our Exchanges

Sunset

This Gospel is true! I love serving a mission. It isn't always easy, but it is so worth it! I know that this is His work, I see so many miracles each day and I know that the Lord puts us in places at the right time for reasons! I know that he Lives and that he loves us too.  And how do I know? Because I have prayed about it. And how do I know I am not being deceived? That answer you can find out in the Book Of Mormon which I know to be true. 

I love you all and thank you so much for all your prayers and support! 

- Elder Kloosterboer

Having a Hard Time? What Helps to Stop Suicide?

​Hey everyone :-)

Time is so weird! This transfer (this was week 4 out of 6) has gone so fast! We are so busy a lot and it is great! I am really enjoying serving in Hayward. We are pretty much full time car which I am really happy about (So I can gain some weight hehe) and it is really nice since we have a lot of hills that would slow us down too much. 

MLC

This week on Tuesday all the leaders in the whole mission came together. This is called a MLC (Mission leadership council). Normally not all the leaders go to this, but this time all the leaders were invited, including district leaders. So I got to go! It was pretty much the whole day until dinner and it was super cool to be part of the council. We talked about a lot of things, but one of them was about how we can be more accountable. 

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but it shows how the Lord knows all. Elder Nelson (my last companion) and I had been trying to contact one young women for about 4 months. Each time we set a time up something would come in the way and for some reason we were never able to meet. Then elder Nelson was transferred to the Young Single Adult ward (A congregation of 18-30 year old singles.) SO we made a list of people we could let the YSA elders teach from our teaching pool and potentials. She was one of them. Finally she sent the YSA elders a text and told them that she would be free that evening. The elders were already busy but decided to go. However, being male missionaries visiting a female they needed a third male (Rules for missionaries.) As they taught a less active male they asked if he could go with them and he said he was busy. Then he asked who it was, they said it was a female and that she was about his age. (Of course) he said that maybe he was free to go with them (He being a single man!) When they got there, this ma

Sunset

n knew the young woman! This shows us that the Lord was letting us wait for the perfect time when this young women would have the perfect friend to help her learn from the missionaries.  

We are so lucky to have a Visitor center here in Oakland. As missionaries we get to go there if we have someone to bring with us. The church produced a full length movie called, "Meet the Mormons" It was in the movie theaters and is now out of them. Now the movie is playing in the Visitor centers near the temple! But it will only be there for a few months! Missionaries watched it before it came out and I really loved it! We have been inviting members to invite their friends to see it with them there. The temple grounds are so special. The spirit is so strong there and the people so nice.

Soup and Elder Otuafi

Yesterday (Sunday the 11th) there was a fireside named Why I Believe. This is where people who just joined the church share why they joined and share their testimonies about the gospel. For missionaries to be able to go to this we need to bring others with us. So we invited a few people. All the men we invited ended up not being able to make it so we were there with a few (5) girls our age! lol. I am wondering if our mission president is going to say anything to us since we are having interviews with him tomorrow.

At the Why I Believe Fireside, some of the people who spoke shared some really funny stories. A lot of them would say things like, "a few years ago I would never have believed that I would Ever be a Mormon!" One man said that when they moved that they would just join the nearest church! And one time they moved and he said that some church was too far, the catholic church was too far, and the only one close was the Mormon church! So in the end they decided to take the lessons from the elders! One man was baptized and he said that something told him that it wast the right church. But he kept going. Then when he was walking to the BART station a voice told him that God was going to give him a sign! He thought the voice came from an elevator above him, so he looked and no one was there! Hehe! He got on the BART and then he saw Mormon church surrounded with deer. The voice told him, that is the sign. A few others that evening also talked about how they felt that the churches they joined wasn't right. And each one was able to follow the feeling and impressions they got. This is the same as those "who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." That scripture is so true.

Soup and Swap

Three of the people who spoke talked about having suicidal thoughts before they met the missionaries. One of them even told us that her marriage was about to end! It is because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they were saved. Jesus Christ loves each one of us unconditionally. Jesus died for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins. Not only did he die to save us from our sins, but he also has felt all that we can feel in our lives.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that this is the Lord's work that I am able to be part of this great work, After all the field is white, already to harvest. I love you all. I hope that you will have a good week!

- Elder Kloosterboer!  

First Week in 2015 !

Hello everyone! Happy New Year for 2015! 

Volleyball on P-day

I hope that you are able to feel the spirit as you read these blogs and that you are able to find some joy out of them. This past week, I decided that I would love to include more stories from my experiences and also to share other people's experiences who I run in to so that your testimony may be strengthened. 

As missionaries we work all the time, but on Monday we have something called preparation day where we can "relax" and get ready for the week. We got to play some volleyball last week with some missionaries from the Tongan program last week which was fun. I decided not to play due to how hard the ball gets hit in people's faces and having seen missionaries get sent home due to injury. 

Movies!

What did you do for New Years Eve? We got to watch two movies! It was so much fun! We watched Frozen and How to Train Your Dragon 2! At first, I was a little uncomfortable as it felt like we were wasting time, but then I was able to relax haha and enjoy the movies. We had SO much food! Our district was in charge of drinks. (Non-alcoholic as we don't drink that) It was really fun being able to relax to watch the movies. 

The next day was my YEAR MARK! It was great! I believe that we went to the Newtons (Some members of the ward) who gave us dinner. It was fun as there was tons of food since it was for a birthday! 

Exchanges

We had exchanges with the zone leaders this week. Elder Gillie came to my area and we had a lot of people that we tried to visit. It was fun because most of the people we had planned for I have never met before since the area in which I serve is a little bigger. I feel this is good, because it shows that you are working and trying to find new people to teach or to find those who you can bring back to the church. We did a little tracting when the people we wanted to see were not there. I have gone tracting for less than 10 hours total on my mission so it is still a little foreign to me because in my first area it was not allowed. 

We also ran into a man who we taught a week or so ago, due to his busy schedule we have not been able to meet with him, or more like he does not want to meet until a few things are in order. But this week as we were going to service to help with Bingo, we saw him in front of his house! So we stopped our car in the middle of the road and started to talk to him for a few minutes. It was cool to be able to see him. We went to service and played bingo with some seniors and then left. And again we saw him! This time we talked for like 30 minutes! We told him that we need to meet with him, but something is holding him back, so we will see where this leads to. 

Waiting for the Elders on P-day

A few months ago elder Nelson and I visited a less active member who complained about a ward that his sister is in and the ward not helping her enough with her spiritual health. As we listened we asked him if she was reading the scriptures, going to church and praying. He later complained to his Home teacher who backed us up. Then he told his sister. A month went by and his home teacher came to visit him again. He told his home teacher that he told his sister those things, to read the scriptures, to pray and to go to church. She listened and all of a sudden her home teachers came by, the bishop came by, and her hospital started to give her better care for her physical health issues. What blessings! 

At dinner we asked some people if they had ever prayed for missionary opportunities and what they had noticed as they did so. This is one testimony that I would like to share. I am going to write it as if I were

Sunset

him, and will try my best to remember everything he said. I am a nurse in the hospital. I had prayed for a missionary opportunity. One person was about to die as the family decided there was nothing left. This person dying had a high heart rate and had asked if someone could get a pastor or someone who could say a prayer. So they sent a runner to me. They asked me if I could come. I went over and said, What do you need me to do? I can do this and this and this. They asked me if I could say a prayer with them and so I told them that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. As I was starting the prayer, I was telling them that it was ok for them to go and their family is all around him. Afterwards the nurses were gathered together around a machine and they printed off the heart beats. On it we saw that when the prayer was said that the heart rate went from high to low. The power of prayer is real. The power of God is real.  

I know that God is in our everyday lives and I know that God loves us all. I know that the power of prayer really is real and that God wants to communicate with us as he Loves us. I know that when we also read our scriptures that God can communicate to us through them and that we are able to feel more peace, more direction and more joy in our lives. If you want that, read the scriptures. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all!

- Elder Kloosterboer