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!