A Fun Service Project

Goliath in Sunday School

This week has been really good. We have been working hard and have been able to teach a few lessons along with doing a few service projects! We also saw Clayton Christensen this week.

Who did we teach this week? We taught a few people. On Tuesday we were going to teach Holland, but he canceled; a member came out with us that evening and since our plans had fallen through we decided to see if Edward (who we met last week) was home. He was home and so we had a good lesson. I really like that this gospel is for everyone, no matter where or who you are, this gospel is  for you. We taught Holland this week and it was a good lesson, we taught him the importance of coming to church! We won't be able to teach him this  week as he is building houses for Indians! We had a dinner with the Reagens where James (one of our investigators) made some really good ribs! We taught him most of the Plan of Happiness, Brother Preiser was there too and they did a great job helping! Even though I don't know much, I know that I am called by a prophet of God and that what we teach is true.

Fireside at the Temple Complex

On Wednesday we drove to Oakland for a fireside where Clayton Christensen spoke on missionary work directed at members! It was good to hear him speak, every missionary was there so I was able to see Elder Arp, Elder Pua and I missed Elder Fa'alavelave! It was great to see these elders there! On the way back there was a lot of traffic, so we decided to start our planning for the next day. When traffic started to pick up I threw my planner behind me.... We could not find it anywhere! (I thought it was to make us work in unity even more). Luckily my companion found it! I was so happy as it acts like a journal too after my mission. :-)

Nice House for Service

Our ward mission leader took us to Costco this week for dinner and it was great to see how many people talked to us! As we ate pizza, one of our potential investigators walked up to us and said he would set something up for us to teach him and his friend this week! How cool is that. It was great to see a huge smile on Brother Stoddard's face because of all the people who talked to us!

Sisters Stuck in the Pebbles

We were able to do some service this week with the Remingtons and their parents! We invited the sisters to help clean some of their windows. At the end, the sisters tried to leave but in trying to they got stuck in a sea of pebbles! LOL! There was a rock stuck under their car so we tried to dig it out! We got it out and then all of a sudden a contractor came and helped us out! It was fun!

Service and Stuck in the Pebbles

That was my week this week! This coming week we are getting our transfer calls! I have been in this area (San Ramon) for 6 months now!

Another Week in my Mission

Bowling

Here is another week in my mission!

Last week Monday we went bowling as a district. It was pretty fun! We tried to visit some potential investigators that evening and in the process we street contact (talking to people in the street who we see) a man called Edward. The next day we stopped by Edward again as a service project we had planned fell through. We shared a video with him called, "Finding Faith in Jesus Christ". It was a good lesson and I really hope that he can continue to learn of our message of Hope, peace and joy.

Moving Service

On Wednesday morning we helped the Bailey's move some of their belongings into a U-Hall truck. They moved to Utah. it was fun moving a lot of things :-) After we helped, we went to the Cox family to help them move some of their mother in law's stuff into the house as she had just moved in. I found it a lot of fun! We are trying to get up to 10 hours of service a week and we did about 7.5 hrs of service this week :-) 

Brother Cox and Elder Rowley

Elder Hooele at Zone Conference

We were able to do some service on Thursday evening. We helped with putting together care packages for people in the military. That morning we left early to leave to a zone conference. It was from 9:00 to 5:00! There are a lot of things that happen at a zone conference. We are trained to be better missionaries and they teach us what we need to know. We also taught James that day. 

Doing service helped me loose my self in this work. Sometimes it is difficult to stay focused on missionary work as there are many distractions around everywhere, but when I am able to loose my self I feel so much happier, and that is the point of being here - to find joy! I know that is the purpose for us to be here on earth.  It reminds me of what God's purpose is, "For behold, this is My work and My glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39)

The ward (a unit of people in the church) had put together a map for emergency situations which divided the geographical area up into sections. Our map was organized differently and we decided to switch over the ward map. We copied the boundaries and put them on a map that the Stevens (Members of the ward) gave us. We then photo copied the map several times for our own use. We decided to do this as when we print out the list of members in the ward it has the "Geo Codes" on them, and this will help us more easily identify where people live.

Here are also pics of me using the sisters' sunglasses while using their car :)  and also a pic of what the Stevens' gave me for Fathers Day :) .

Thank you for your prayers, support and messages! I love you all! Thanks! Have a fantastic week! 

- Elder Kloosterboer

A Warm Week!

With Jesse Calvi

We have been busy this week!

Last week Monday we had a zone activity where we played games at a park and had some BBQ! It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of food! 

We met two teenagers last week and were able to set up an appointment with them for this past Tuesday.  Zack, who we initially talked to first was there like he said and his friend Chris, who lives there, let us in. We talked about the Restoration of the Church, it went well and we gave them a few copies of the Book of Mormon. We plan on visiting with them again soon!

Elder Willis

With Steph Shaw and family

We also had an Exchange on Tuesday to Wednesday. Elder Willis came over to work with me and we had a lot of fun! All day we tried to talk to as many people as we could! We talked to 21 people that day and it was so hot! We saw a man working in his garage and so we pulled over to see if we could help. He knew who we were and he even said that he had talked to missionaries before! He said that we could stop by any weekend! Sounds good to me! 

On this note, yesterday we went to visit a potential investigator and on the way we went the the opposite direction on the street (same street just numbers were going the wrong way) so we decided to use the court to make a easy U-turn, as we were doing that we saw a man in his garden and so I pulled over and my companion talked about what we do. He then said, "I love Mormons... I will be out here each Sunday drinking my beer!" haha. 

On Thursday we had service set up but we couldn't find it. Because our backup plans fell through we decided to visit Holland, our investigator. He was in and so we were able to teach him about Prophets! I know that God loves us, His children, because of the love I am able to feel for the people who I am able to teach. Teaching lessons is a privilege and the spirit can be there. I have also come to notice that the spirit may also be absent from a lesson especially when the investigator think they are teaching you.

We were able to meet with James again and the member who we brought was able to keep it on topic and simple. James also came to church! It was nice because many of the members know him, one member even set up a dinner appointment with us all!

Tilling the ground

We did some service because we are trying to serve up to 10 hours a week. We tilled a lot of ground at a non-member's home with Elder Fonua and Elder Clarin.

On Fridays we plan for the coming week, and the planning we did for this coming week took us over three days (about 9 hours of planning when it should have taken 3 hours)!  Elder Rowley (My companion) and I decided to visit as many potential investigators as we can this next week and so we went through the many names written in our records that still needed to be followed up on. (This information was written by many other missionaries who met people who have potential to learn more about the gospel and this information is kept in a book called an Area book) 

We also helped with a youth activity called the Amazing race!  The youth (Teenagers) were in 7 groups and they had to start at one point and at each station or point they would have to complete an activity in order to get their next clue! We were at Cold Stone and the youth had to write letters to missionaries serving from the ward. It was fun to see everyone sprint out of the car to us! We then helped with a few other stations which was fun! We then also got a call from Brother Little offering us dinner! We decided to meet with him instead at his house after the activity since we had just finished. 

Brenden Phung had helped us set up an online dinner calendar and so we showed sister Livermoore, who is in charge of the dinner calendar (paper calendar which is passed around during class at church) how to use the online one. We showed her the new responsibilities and even showed her a Facebook page we had created for us. (We are not permitted to use Facebook so a member set it up for us) The idea is for members to get a weekly reminder to sign up online. I am excited to see how this turns out.

We found all these pants in the apartments. An investigator gave them to the other missionaries just before us who lived here and also 2 belts. The are HUGE on me. They cost over 100$ each!

Thank you for sending me news - like email! Everyone is welcome to send me emails, except if you are female and live near or in this mission boundary. As Proverbs 25: 25 says, "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." :-)

I know this Gospel is true, and I know that God loves us all even when we think otherwise. I love being a missionary! 

I hope you will all have a great week!

Cleaned the Church! and Opposition

View From Our Apartment

This week we have been busy. We added an investigator! We found a lot of old Progress Records. On the progress records we keep track of important information and principles that we teach them. We keep an area book where all the records are kept and are only moved if the person has moved, has passed away or has been baptized. The records that we found were not in the area book, so we have suspicions that all those people are not here anymore. We did find one person from those records who we met and then even taught him on Thursday! His name is James. We had a member with us, Brother Draper, who was able to say some really good things. James has been taught many times by many missionaries so hopefully we will be able to help him find what he needs.  

Ed Hall With an Old Camera

This past week we met with brother Fosson and brother Prieser who gave us  information about less active members who we can visit. I like being able to work with leaders as they have so much important information that does help so much! I look forward to talking with all the people. We also set up a Facebook page for the ward where we share spiritual thoughts and such. We started our online dinner calender too which is going to be accessible to the public soon. We are also trying to be exactly obedient, so instead of eating dinner after 6 with members on Mondays and teaching a Family Home Evening lesson we decided to add some requirement. The requirement is simple. They need to have either a non-member present or a less active member or an investigator present, this way we are able to be exactly obedient and also help the members do missionary work. The rest of the days we eat at 5 and finish by 6 with no requirements. (Family Home evening is usually on a Monday evening where the whole family gets together to learn more about the gospel, and to build family relationships)  

After Cleaning the Church

We also cleaned up the church for 3 hours. It was our ward and we cleaned a lot of chairs and also mopped the Gym. Man! I should just do that for my workout! Afterwards we took a picture outside. 

This week we also had a funny experience. We were walking on Iron Horse Trail where we talk with people. We asked one man if we could walk with him. He said no, and then turned around and said, "You're Mormons right!?" We said yes! haha he then said something along these lines, "Who do you think you are! Talking to people about God and people's personal beliefs! You're brain washed baboons!" haha. He then complained that I had a grin on my face! How funny can people get? It puts a smile on my face because I know there is opposition in all things. "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things" (2nd Nephi 2:11, Book of Mormon)
 

I know there is an opposition in all things. This Gospel is simple, and it will bless your life. I love learning about this Gospel. Each day I study for over 2 hours to learn more and I always learn more and more. We all search for happiness in life and that is why I love teaching people about the gospel because it is the plan of happiness for us all.

Have a good day! 

See you all next week! 

Thank you all for your emails!

Love Elder Kloosterboer