Learning Great Things

Hey everyone :-) 

This week has been good. We went on two exchanges with elder Gubler and elder Eh! It was really fun! We found this helmet and it worked! haha. We also went to the temple this past week which was really fun! 

Elder Gubler

We are adding sub-areas to our current map so it is going to take a lot of time to assign every member of our ward to each area - that is what we will be doing over the next couple weeks. 

On Exchanges with Elder Gubler

We also tried contacting a few potential investigators and so we got some return appointments set up for this week - should be good. We are also excited as we set up a teaching appointment with one of our member's friends! It is really neat to see when members bring their friends to church as we know it will bless their lives!

I would write more, but we have to go soon and I have a little cold. lol, On Sunday we thought that we had some meetings before church and so we got there but there were no meetings so we just watched some funny videos of when we were on exchanges. While we were on exchanges we found two wasps inside the bathroom! We spent like 20 minutes trying to get them out! 

I know this church is true. It is the best thing in my life! It has brought me great happiness knowing that no matter what I do, that I can be forgiven and His arms are still wide open to me - to you too - so don't say it's too late!

Well things are going good here. I love you all!

Elder Kloosterboer

Blessings

Exchanges with Elder Clarin

Hello everyone :-)

Today is not our preparation day because we are going to the best place on earth - the Temple! We have been allowed one hour to email today though but for some reason I only have 27 minutes left! 

Me Updating Directory

I would like to share one day specifically - Friday. We started our day with about 3 or 4 set plans. As we contacted these individuals they all canceled or re-scheduled. This was great as we wanted to plan for the next week which takes some time. So we started our planning and then we remembered that we needed to pick up Elder Gubler and Elder Eh as one of their bike's inner tubes broke the day before and they needed the car. We gave them the car and then we were stranded at their apartment. Luckily for us the church is right on the other side of the road so we left to go there. 

Inside we saw Elder Han and Elder Clarin - they were setting up for a dinner later that day. Out of the blue two women just walk in and I knew them! Elder Nelson, my last companion, and I had talked to them a few months earlier and had gone to their pot luck dinner with their faith group. 

Crock Pot Dinner

Standing on Wood at Old Apartment

We showed them around the church building and hopefully they were able to feel the warmth from the chapel. (Not heat) Due to this we were about 35 minutes late to our service at a health care center where we help play Bingo at. When we walked in they were just finishing up a meeting and we were perfectly on time! What a cool blessing! Also some old woman asked if we were Mormon - yep - and she said she knew because of how our appearance looked! 

Today we have been busy! We moved everything out of our old apartment into this trailer! It was fun and the 4 older missionaries who came said that it was the fastest shutdown of an apartment they have ever done because we already cleaned it up and put everything ready to move it :-) 

All the Furniture in Here

On Thursday, we were very busy! We went to a Leadership meeting and then we did some service for a member's neighbor - she made us a ton of cookies and brownies :-) Then we taught Cyrena who was just baptized a few months ago. But both these people were females and so male missionaries need another male present there with us. We were finally able to find a male and we called him just as he was leaving his work and it was perfect timing! Then as we were going to El Pollo Loco some members called us and asked us if we wanted to come with them to El Pollo Loco! So we got some dinner! 

Exchanges with Elder Parker, Zone Leader

Some other missionaries asked us to give a woman a blessing. The address they gave us was in our area and we had a member ready to come with us, but then we saw that it was a wrong address and found out that the address was in another area. We picked up the elders over that area and were then able to give a blessing to this woman who is an Indian. Her leg has had problems for 15 years ever since she gave birth to one of her daughters. Doctors could not find anything wrong but it limits her in walking and getting up. We told her about the power of the Priesthood, that she could be healed if she had faith. We were able to give her the blessing and as soon as we finished she could feel whatever it was leaving her! The priesthood is real! 

Well my time is about up! Thank you all for your prayers - you know - they make a really big difference. :-)

I know that this is the true Church of God. I know that the power of the Priesthood is real and that through it we can be healed. I know that Jesus Christ suffered so that he can succor us. 

I love you all! Hope you will all have a great week! 

Elder Kloosterbeor

Different Experiences

Furniture in the Old Apartment

Relaxing in the car after moving

Hello everyone :-)

New Apartment

Glasses in the New Apartment

This has been a different week than usual as we have been moved. We just have a few small things that we still need to take to the new apartment but apart from that, its ready for the mission office to take the rest. We put all the furniture in the middle of the living room and it looks like a lot! The new apartment is very nice with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and two parking spaces. 

We had wanted to pack on Monday, but instead got a little distracted when we started to talk to a group of people we had talked to a few weeks ago. It was cool though as Desiree who the Young Single Adult elders are trying to teach was on a roof near by and shouted "Elder!" haha. She was in a class taking pictures of downtown Hayward! We talked to her only for a few minutes but it was really neat to talk to her as the Lord put us in her path for a reason and she knows it. 

District Meeting - TP in the Church

Stuff in the car, moving

On Tuesday we had a pretty fun district meeting where we all stood on chairs around in a room. We had some toilet paper and we could throw it to someone when we said something we liked about them. 

http://1drv.ms/1E6hWLH

Later that day is when we started to move. The problem was that we didn't have any boxes! LOL! So we got some drawers instead :-) It took a few days and we got some help from elder Gubler and Elder Eh  for a few hours to help us clean the old apartment. 

Moving and other Elders helping us clean

We went to a fireside called, "Why I Believe" last night near the Temple in Oakland which was fantastic! All of them had similar feelings that they felt more peace and joy in life as they joined the church. We invited a few people but most of them couldn't make it. One girl, Tammy, wanted to come but her two friends who normally go with her were sick so her room mate felt bad for her that she was going to go by herself and so her non-member room mate came with her! Which was perfect for us as the YSA elders were there and we were able to get them involved. Went to the Visitor center afterwards which was great. They watched a short movie about how families can be together forever which I know to be true. 

We have been struggling to meet with some of our investigators the last couple of weeks. On Sunday we got a text from a family who we had been teaching for a few months now telling us that they no longer could meet with missionaries. :-( That was a little hard as the investigator was doing so well. But even though in missionary work we face a lot of disappointments we keep on pressing forward. 

What I Normally Look Like - Angry - Lol

I have now been in this area for over 6 months. I was struggling a little bit with the idea that I couldn't do anything else here. The spirit brought into my mind that I should read D&C 110. I read it and I decided to continue reading through D&C 111. As I read this I saw how I could apply it to the situation. Even though that one of our families will stop having the missionaries come by, they are going to still read the scriptures because they believe. From the scriptures I now know that there are treasures in this area and people that we still need to find. I know that the Lord helps all the time. He is aware of what we feel and what we think. He knows the intentions of our hearts and this is part of how we will be judged in the judgment day. 

On Monday after emailing, with a laptop in my hand a man stopped us and asked if we were Mormons. We said we were - then he told us that he had been trying to join the church but then he moved! So we will be teaching him soon! 

I know that this is the only true church of God. 

I hope that you will have a great week!

Love, Elder Kloosterboer 

Elder Anderson Came !

Hello everyone,

Hope that you have all had a good week! We have had a great week! We have been trying to work hard to try to find new people to teach. So we have been trying to visit less active member and on Sunday who let us talk to them and we are going to go back next week! It was pretty funny when she let us in she quickly tried to hide her beer from us! 

Car Wash

We are moving apartments this week. They mission had to decide between two apartments which one they wanted to keep and which one to terminate - so we will be moving to a nicer apartment complex where sisters used to live. :-)

Elder Anderson came to talk to us on Saturday and it was great! He motivated us and now hopefully we can act on his message. It is not usual that we get so many visits from the quorum of the twelve within a few months! 

Service

Elder Bednar came in November and now we had Elder Anderson come! One of the stories was about staying connected to our purpose. Our purpose is to, "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." He shared an experience while he was putting gas/petrol in his car. Two missionaries pulled up next to him and he decided to smile and wave at the missionaries. They smiles and waved back - but that was it. Elder Anderson then decided to go the next step and asked how their day was going. Still the missionaries responded with the least communication. Well how often is it that someone smiles and waves at you and starts a conversation? It is important that we stay connected to our purpose and go and do. No point sitting there being acted upon - what a waste of time! 

Christus Statue

We did a few service projects this week. We helped some members move and that was fun. It was really warm that day and I thought that it was summer! I love service, I feel that it is one of the best ways to be happy! We also helped with getting some wood chips in a bin for some chickens. Along with this, we helped some old people play bingo health care center. 

My Journal

My Desk

I figured out that I will be able to have a few pages left in my journal if I keep writing the same amount as I do now. Two lines per one line in the journal. A member also gave me this Statue of the Christ which I love! I also re-organized my desk - which will be re-organized again when we move things this week. 

I love this gospel! It has blessed my life immensely! I know this gospel is for everyone. 

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

I love you all! I hope you will all have another great week! 

- Elder Kloosterboer. 

A New Transfer

After Exchanges - Exhausted - and with a sun tan in January!

Hey, 

Eating dinner and watching Bible videos

This week was great! We got transfer calls and we are both staying. This means that at the end of this transfer that I would have spent exactly half my mission time in San Ramon and the other half in Hayward! ​

We went on two exchanges this week! One of the days I noticed how big our area is and I am so glad that we have been in a car for this whole transfer! I am probably getting fatter though. Nearly every day we are blessed with members feeding us, but this week we had other plans and we ate at home - as you can see it was nice to watch a few bible videos from the church and to eat some delicious ice cream :-) 

Food!

On one of the exchanges Elder Gubler and I cycled SO much that my legs now feel nice and buff again! We did a lot of service that day where we helped clean up a yard with the people's children and then we helped someone move. It is so nice to help others :-) It is so nice being on a mission because you learn so many skills which can be used in later life. 

It was Elder Otuafis birthday this week, so I decided that the night before I would make a audio recording on the phone and set it as an alarm in the morning. I sang Happy Birthday super soft as it was super quiet in the apartment so I didn't want my companion to hear what I was doing! We started our exchanges and my Happy Birthday alarm was turned off by the elders haha. Anyway, When we ended the exchanges my companion was updating some records and then he realized for the first time that day that it was his Birthday! LOL

Zone Leaders - Elders Parker and Gillie

A funny story: I was in the bathroom, when I hear some loud knocks. Thought it was some strangers trying to rob us, so I called the cops! But it was just the Zone Leaders inspecting our apartment! (There is more to why I thought I should call the police). The police came and it was funny to see the Zone leaders' faces! 

District Meeting

Our investigators are doing great. We are teaching the Alvarado family and we just finished teaching all that 

we teach, so the husband said that he will pray about a baptismal date! :-) I am also super impressed with how much some recent converts are converted. One person who was just baptized went home from college for the Christmas break. Her friends tried to persuade her to drink and such, but she wouldn't. I think it is so cool that we humans can change and that our whole life can change! I know that is what the Gospel is intended for to help us have happier lives and so that we can become clean through the Atonement - so that we can live with our Father who is in heaven. 

This week we taught a lot about CPR - The medical name has a lot to do with the Spiritual meaning. Church, Pray, Read (The Scriptures). Just as CPR in the medical fields can help bring someone back, so does the spiritual. 

Elder Weaver

Small world! I was reading my emails today and I got an email from a sister who just went home about a month ago who served in this mission. While she was home she went to Hong Kong and she met a missionary there who was from San Ramon! And I know him as he was in the ward where I was serving in! What a small world!

I am so glad to be a missionary. I know what we share is true. I know it changes life's for the better. I have seen the light on peoples faces brighten because of the church. I have also seen when people stop learning, and stop going to church, praying or reading that the light diminishes from their face. It is sad to see. But I know that God loves us and that it is His work not mine. 

I know God lives! 

Sunset

Love, Elder Kloosterboer.