DAY 720 - 726!

I go home this week! (Day 729 that is! - but who is counting?)

It is so nice to open the mail box and see my name! hehe. Thank you for all who have sent me mail and email these past years! It is so nice to get such things :-)

This week was full of fun things! We had a Christmas program up by the temple where we heard talks and music that absolutely brought the Spirit. After that we had a white elephant gift exchange which was fun too!

During all the fun stuff this week we have also been trying to visit a few less actives and some families who only have one or two members in the family. We have been sharing the Christmas videos that are located on Mormon.org. We were referred to a less active member last Sunday and so we decided to go by and visit them. But for this visit we shared 2 Ne 32:8-9 which talks about prayer. This then led us to have a good discussion - especially about the modern distractions that we have.  

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! We got to Skype our families that we only get to email once a week and Skype twice a year. We went to the James family - members from our congregation that we serve in. It was a  lot of fun and it was very nice to see my brother who is currently now also serving a mission. After that we played Phase 10, Uno and Monopoly with them. (It was our Preparation day - a new rule in our mission). Then we had dinner with the Baker family and we had some cool conversations about dreams and other things that are spiritual. Was a fun day!

A few weeks ago our mission was inspired to make a goal of 400 baptism in the year 2016! Each one of us - whether we will be here or not - have been asked to sacrifice something. We will not reach the goal if we do not sacrifice something and if we are not humble. But the goal is heaven sent and we can achieve this! I have been pondering and praying about what I can sacrifice - I came up with something but have then had doubts if it is good enough. Then in church we watched a Mormon message which was related to the lesson - but it totally confirmed to me that I should move forward with what I want to sacrifice which is to give service whenever I am asked to help - no matter what, how comfortable I may be or how lazy. I feel this will help me see the real picture of what life is about.

I know that when we help others that we are also helped. My whole mission I have loved giving service to those around me -  not only does it help them but it gives me more physical strength and makes me happy.

As I have served my mission I have been able to have a front row seat and see how the gospel completely changes lives. You see these people - and after they live the gospel you can see the light in them. I have enjoyed teaching people about the gospel, it is a neat experience to study for them each morning for a few hours and then being able to sit down with them to teach them. During those lessons I feel the spirit confirming the truth not only to them, but also to me.

It is clear to me that God lives and that he loves all of us. I have been able to feel part of that love as I have served others. We all make mistakes in life - it is scripture - Romans 3:23, but I know that Jesus Has suffered for all of us and that because of Him we can find hope and peace in this life and we can live again with our loved ones if we and they will just follow Him. Isn't that his invitation anyway?

Love, Elder Kloosterboer

With my Companion, Elder Gardner

Christmas presents from President

Christmas party 1

Hayward district t-shirt front

Hayward district t-shirt back

Hayward district t-shirt sleeve

White elephant gift

With Don

Elder Gardner doing service

Playing monopoly on Christmas Day after the Skype call

Full moon on Boxing Day

Time Flew By

With the Seirra family at the Oakland temple

Alright! 8 minutes to write this! (yep that is why I haven't replied to many peoples' emails - sorry!) We get to Skype this next week! Should be a lot of fun!

So guess what!? We went up to the temple with the Sierra family, who joined the church not too long ago. We watched a live nativity play and as we were standing there Tracy and Philip saw me (I taught Tracy in my last ward and missed her baptism by a week) So it was super cool to see them! We talked for a little while and it was just so much fun catching up! Then we went to the visitor center on the same ground and heard a guy sing - it was excellent! Took some pictures and then they left... But on our way to meet them in the beginning we ran into some Cambodian members from one of my last wards! They invited us to their party that they were having right there, so that is where we went after the Sierra family left. Guess who I see there? Not only the Cambodian Elders who I have been on exchanges with in the past, but Elder Yu was also there (I was his companion for 6 weeks!) It was so cool to see all these missionaries and so many friends from the branch! Fantastic!

Sorry one minute left. So I love this gospel. It brings so much happiness.  I love you all and wish you all a merry Christmas!

- love Elder D. Kloosterboer

On Exchanges with Elder Oborn

 

 

Christmas lights at the Oakland temple

 

 

Pigs with Santa Claus hats on -
reminds me of my sister Yasmina

With Elder Gardner at the Oakland
temple and the nativity scene

Caroling with Elder Oborn

Our goal

Our goal hanging from the ceiling

San Fran

San Fran

 

A New Old Phone

In the street in the warmth

​Hello everyone!

​While we were at the Samaritan house, putting cans of food into bags, our phone broke! This is very interesting as it is the only way we can communicate since we don't have computers or anything else. So for a few hours we were not reachable. But luckily for us some other missionaries came to service and we used their phone to call the elder who is in charge of the phones. We went all the way to Oakland (50 minute drive) to try to fix it. Nothing worked and so we decided to send a few emails and call a few people. We had to call a guy in Salt Lake City, but because of the time difference we could only leave a voice message. It felt so weird being completely disconnected from the world - well we are already but this was even more so! The next day we went back and then we were given a replacement phone. But because our other phone didn't turn on we now have to rebuild our contact list! So it is fun figuring out this new phone and we got it to say, "New message from [name of contact]"! It is super cool!

We have been going through a list of members that we have been asked to visit. Some people have moved but others are there and some are members that have just started coming back! It is awesome to see!

On Friday one of the seventy came, Elder Lawrence came and talked to us. We were seated at 8:30AM and then we didn't leave until about 5:00PM! It was super cool! We talked about the House of Israel and how we are helping the gather those people. We also talked a lot about how we can be better missionaries along with a question and answer with his wife while every missionary companionship was interviews by him! Amazing!

It is so nice to be able to talk about the basics of the gospel because they are the most important to our salvation. The gospel is so basic that a child can understand it but so complex that it will take an eternity to completely understand it.

love Elder Kloosterboer

Santa!

A bridge to Hayward

It's a boy

Christmas lights in the street

Our goal for next year

Our Apartment

Helping with the Christmas lights