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