San Mateo

view from my apartment

Here I am in this library in San Mateo and it is kind of awesome! But it kind of sucks at the same time. This has been an interesting week!

Let me rewind to the beginning of last week. Monday evening had a great lesson with Tracy, who is now a member as she was baptized and then confirmed the next day to receive the Holy Ghost! Too bad I was not able to see her baptism because I left to this area on Tuesday morning!

Tracy's baptism

planner cover

Well this side of the Bay is a lot more compact and it feels a lot more modern :-) but I do miss so many people who I gained friendships with in my last areas. But I guess I can do that here too!  

view

We are working a lot to bring less active members back to church and thus far we may have found a few who will come back :-) We have a ward directory, a car, and a GPS. That is all missionaries need and since we cover like 3 cities and have over 900 members in this ward the missionaries in the past divided the area up into 9 sections. So we look and go to an area like area 5 and then we look at the directory and see who else lives in that same area and then we travel there. We knocked on Sharins door like 5 times in the night time - just as we were about to walk away she opened the door and after a few minutes talking invited her to come to church to which she said that she has been thinking about that for a few weeks now. So we will call her and see if we can go and help her return.

Even though change is difficult at times I do know that this is the Lord work and I see his Hand in the work everyday and in all the details. I honestly feel a little bit of His love for all of us as we go out and try to bring people into this fold - not to increase our numbers - but to share what we know and add to what they already know to be true. I know that this is Christ's church and that he used Joseph Smith to restore it. I know that if we follow God's commandments that we will feel closer to Him and feel peace and joy in our lives. If we follow Him we will be happy.

Love, Elder Kloosterboer

watching movie in the church

our beds

My Final Transfer!

With Tracy

Hey everyone, 

This week was pretty good. On Saturday I was filled with a lot of  joy because Tina, who I taught in the beginning of my mission went though the temple for her first time! There I saw a few people from San Ramon 2nd ward which was extremely nice to talk to them again. 

On Tuesdays we go with the High Priests to visit those members who are now less active. We had a successful night and were able to visit 4 people that evening. It is a lot more effective to go on splits with members as we can visit more people and I noticed that people are more open to letting you in if they know the other person. 

Tracy is doing awesome! She will be baptized this Saturday! Last week we went over to sister Jackman's home where her boyfriend, who is also called Tracy, was there. She asked us for two copies of the Book of Mormon and she said that she would make us pumpkin pie - so we came and made the transaction :-). We now have two pumpkin pies in the fridge with whipped cream :-). But I won't see any of this food anymore, nor will I see Tracy be baptized.  

With Jale Silatolu

I am getting transferred! I will be in Crystal Springs 2nd ward for my last 6 weeks! This is on the other side of the Bay so it will be my first and last time to serve over on the other side. 

Well, I have enjoyed serving in Hayward 4th and now it is time to finish up my mission with a blast in a new area! Each area that I serve in I learn to grow and love the people there and I learn so much from everyone around me. I love it! 

10lbs of candy!

Even though I know I am not allowed to come back for a few hours to see Tracy's baptism I know it is important to listen to our inspired leaders - even if it doesn't make sense to us. If we obey then we are blessed. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (Doctrine and Covenants 

130:20-31.) I know that is true by experience and seeing it in action. And God does not lie. In the name of Jesus Christ amen. 

Sinterklaas pakketje from Holland

Tracy

Future Events

November 9th, 2015

Hey,

We were able to go to the temple this week and it was a neat experience. In the Temple we can seal up blessings for those who have passed on to the other side. After that we went over to the mission office and we played a few games, and BBQ. We were asked to set up the volleyball net and we tried our best... 

We attended a graduation party for CJ - a member in the ward - and Jake and Claire were supposed to be there but their flight from the Philippines was delayed :-( 

We are working with the ward to start family mission plans. This is where the family decides what goals and actions they want to take to further their missionary work and their own conversion. We are also going to go out on splits with some of our members on Tuesdays from now on to visit members who are not as active and who may like a a visit and a spiritual boost - which would come fully if they came to church. I love church! I feel a lot of happiness when I go to church and being able to learn more about Christ. On my mission a lot of people ask why they need to go to a organized church - I read a talk that answers that. Here it is:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/why-the-church?lang=eng 

It is really cool how this church is organized and how it offers others. In a church you can reach out to others a lot faster. 

I know that the gospel has been restored to this earth and what a blessing it is! How would it feel like if the church was not restored, if there was no light or revealed truth today? I know that we have  living prophet today and that God called him. I know that God has a plan for us and that He loves each of us. 

I love you all! 

- Elder Kloosterboer 

Pictures

It Rained

November 2nd, 2015

Well it hasn't rained here that much at all so since it it did rain today I decided to put it as a title for this blog. Also California is going trough a pretty bad drought.  ​

On Monday we had a lot of fun by playing volleyball as a district - it was a lot of fun and the ball went over this fence a few times so I had to hop it to get it back! Afterwards we went to Quickly (a Chines store). 

 

Well,  we worked hard and went on splits with some members which was interesting. (Splits is when the missionaries split up with a member each.) Usually when you go to teach a lesson your companion and you both know exactly what is supposed to be said - but since members usually don't know the order in which a lesson is taught it makes the missionary speak a lot more. I found it fun - but also a lot more pressure is on me then. So instead of me doing a lot of talking I asked the member some good questions which then provided him the opportunity to testify and so forth. 

In church we showed members how they can invite their friends to church as many people are either scared that they might loose friends, or they may be shy, or they may not know how to invite. Our Ward Mission Leader took charge on the training and he asked us to do a little role play in front of everyone which people seemed to like. We will be going around the active members homes and do set some goals with them to see what they can do. 

Tracy is doing swell and she is progressing very well she has come to church every week so far!

We taught Ron but he has a lot of doubts. He knows that he needs to read the Book Of Mormon and pray about it to gain a testimony but he is having a difficult time doing that so far, but he is moving forward. 

Also, we met with another guy this week who used to investigate the church. We learned that he was on home arrest, and the member that was with me shared his experience about how the church saved him. 

When we taught Rosemary one of her extended family was there who had investigated the church before and he had a lot of questions. 

Modi has left to India without telling us. 

We also had a trunk or treat here and that was sweet! We were the judges along with another member and it was super difficult to pick 3 winners. For Halloween we had to do a deep clean and it took us like 5 total hours. But now our apartment is super clean and it is nice to be in.

Pictures

One meal from Tongans

Study

Clean apartment