Pics from Windcrest

So this first pic is of the insanely green view from our balcony! I love it!! This was in the middle of our planning on our big weekly planning day- it was raining and gorgeous outside so we took a break and took a picture! We were so grateful the rain stopped before we had to get out on the bikes! :)

This pic is of my Birthday decorations- effected by humidity! ha ha If you've ever been to my house around anyone's b-day you will have seen these "boingies" hanging up in our kitchen- a Kleisler family tradition. So mom sent them to me to put up in our apartment for my b-day but after about 2 days they looked like this- ha ha they lost all their "boing" cause of the humidity now they just hang straight! Gotta love Texas! :)

Rock on Windcrest........ROCK ON!!

Hey Y’all!!

So seriously things continue to ROCK ON here in Windcrest!! First off, we had an investigator at church yesterday!!!! Those have been few and far between on my mish so I was pretty excited for sure!!! Her name is Vonya and she is from Hawaii. We taught her the Restoration on Saturday and then she came to church the next day- score! So here’s her story. She is 24 got a bachelors in nursing and is an RN. She was looking for a job in Hawaii but just couldn’t get one; they kept telling her that she didn’t have enough experience. Lame Sauce. But hey, it brought her here so it’s all good. She decided to enlist in the army and have them help her get the nursing experience she needed. So she is in an office basic training program right now at Fort Sam Houston and then after that she will begin the medical training and what not. I know nothing about military stuff but I figure I will learn this transfer because there are A LOT of military people in our ward cause Fort Sam is in our ward boundaries. So anyway here’s how we ended up finding Vonya or should I say how Vonya found us- she has a good friend in Hawaii who she grew up with. She should I say “likes” him and he has been there for her through all her trials. He has always talked to her about the church but her family is baptisit and she has really had no interest. But when he got his mission call he told her and she just happened to be over by the temple and so she went into the Visitor center and told them she wanted to know more. Well she was moving to San Antonio two days later so they sent the referral on to us. So we called her up and now she is our investigator!!! So sweet! Well then yesterday after church I looked at her and was like, ok questions comments, concerns- shoot. She was like well, it’s a lot to take in and so many different words and things I am not used to. So if I am gonna do this I need to be completely sure this is true, so I am going to read and pray all week, I will read more in the Book Of Mormon (she had already read the introduction and 3 Nephi 11 the night before) and this book (the gospel principles book the ward mission leader gave her) and then we will talk this weekend I will tell you if I know that this is true and this is the path I want to take. I was like- sweet yes, sounds like a plan! I would love to see her in the middle of the week but she has baisc training all day and stuff so she has no time. But ya, I just have this feeling about her and I am pretty sure she will be baptized in April!! So sick!!! We have a few more new investigators but Vonya is the most promising and in all honesty the coolest! Ha ha

We are also teaching the daughters of a recent convert in the ward. They are 12 and 14 and it is so fun teaching them! The 12 year old is eating it up and loves learning about the gospel, but then the 14 year old is in the rebel stage and she doesn’t really want to go to church but her face tells it all- she likes it when we come over! Ha ha So ya they are sweet. We also have some others we are teaching, one of which is an old Hispanic lady who is so ready to be baptized we just have to teach her a few more things (she was a former) and she has to come back form Mexico- that is the key there!

So the work continues here and we are searching high and low for those elect people ready for the gospel. This past week it was searching while on bikes. The elders decided that we should do a week on and a week off, so they had the car all last week and we were on our bikes ALL WEEK. Then this week we have the car… muwahahaha. But I have decided that I almost like the bikes better because sister Dodge freaks out when shes driving and doesn’t know the area. I navigate which I have gotten pretty good at- Thank You Heavenly Father, and she drives but man it’s insane! Ha ha She either drives like a grandma or she drives like a maniac there is no in between! Lol So ya the bikes might actually be safer! Ha ha It’s pretty funny though to EBP people here in San Antonio. Ha ha We went up to this guy on the street the other day and told him about the church and what not and he was like “I’ve heard of a lot of churches before, but NEVER on a bike!” ha ha that was funny! Speaking of EBP we got it 5 days in a row this week- a new record for us! Also I believe we made a record in the zone this week- we EBP’d 31 people in one day! That was INSANE!!! Our Zone Leaders were pretty proud of us! Ha ha yay! So ya we are working hard here and trying our best to bring people unto Christ and it is awesome!!!

Well not much else to report except for to say that I am so excited for conference next week!!! I hope y’all enjoy it! If you want to make it even more meaningful to you I suggest going into it with a question. Think of something you’ve been struggling with or something that’s been on your mind lately and pray about it and go into the session with that question on your mind and through the words of our apostles and prophets it can be answered!!! That is just mind blowing to me- we have a living prophet on the earth today who speaks to us directly from God, how lucky are we to be able to sit in our houses in our PJ’s and listen to the words of these amazing men! Man we are blessed!!!

I hope all is well with y’all and know that I would love to hear from y’all- letters are my favorite thing in the world other than baptisims!! Lol :)

SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler

Hermana Kleisler's New Address!

Hermana Kristi Kleisler
6700 N. Vandiver #905
San Antonio TX, 78209

Welcome to.....Windcrest

Hey Y’all!!!

WICKY WICKY Windcrest! Ya baby I am serving in the Windcrest Ward and it ROCKS so hardcore!!! So ya I’ll give ya the low-down on the ward and the area and everything.  Well on Thursday when we had transfers we got dropped off at our apartment by our District Leader Elder Dutson (who also shares the Windcrest ward and the car with us) and we walked into our apartment and it was all nice and clean and sweet, but then I looked around and we basically had nothing! The mish gave us a couch, table and chairs, two beds, a dresser, a vacuum, a broom and a box filled with some mugs, random plates bowls and some silverware and a cheapy plastic shower curtain.  Well I was like… um….. –Seriously not til the mish did I really realize what a spoiled rich girl I was growing up- So I was not so sure what to do.  We didn’t have a microwave, we didn’t have any pots and or pans and I had no clue how to make any dinner with out the stove or a microwave! Ha ha ya plus one of the beds we were given was a queen and neither of us had queen sheets.  We didn’t have garbage cans, or toilet paper or food or a lot of things that I am used to having! We weren’t sure what to do, we called Elder Conrad- the senior Missionary in charge of finances and he said the mish could reimburse us for a few things.  Well neither of us had much money to buy hardly anything and then wait for the mish to reimburse us in a few weeks.  SO we bought a pot, and some essential things like shower curtain rings and then prayed that some how something would work out.  Well the next morning we had correlation with our ward mission leader and I mentioned something about us not having much in our apartment and boom- it was off! He took us grocery shopping, members have started bringing us food, they passed around a sign up sheet in relief society, we have received sheets, a bookshelf, a chair, toilet paper, a microwave and a bunch more stuff! Geez it is so sweet! This ward jumped at the chance to serve us!!!! So yay for an amazing ward! This ward is HUGE!! About 700 plus people on the list, 300 active.  They are a very missionary minded ward.  Our Bishop is amazing! We love him already! Our ward mission leader is also amazing! On Sunday I cannot count how many people came up to dodge and I and told us how excited they were to have us in the ward!!!! They love the sisters! We had a person ask us for a BoM to give out to their friend, another person gave us a referral, another asked us to help teach their lesson next week at church, and countless others offered to feed us, give us things, etc etc! Man I am not kidding you I did not think I would ever be able to find members that I loved as much as the San Marcos ones, but then they sent me to Windcrest! I am so blessed!

So as for the area.  We split it down the I-35 with the Elders.  SO we happen to have the rich half- oh goody! Ha ha ya, um the peeps here are not as nice as the ones in San Marcos! We have had several doors slammed in our faces, a guy yelled at us in an apartment complex and said that we needed to leave, Sister Dodge got bit by a dog! Lol ya it is a bit rougher here in San Antonio.  So our ward is technically in the City of Windcrest, but it is just a small little city within San Antonio.  Our area is mostly San Antonio with a little city- Terrell Hills inside of it (it’s a rich little community).  So ya.  OK so my new address is… 6700 N. Vandiver #905    San Antonio TX, 78209 
So y’all have no excuses not to write me! Ha ha!!!

So ya the area is kinda rough but it’s all good cause we have a lot of members to work with and we are gonna get referrals for sure!!! We are loving it here so far! Sister Dodge has a bit of a hard time with the transition.  She is not so good with change.  But for some reason I love change so this has been great for me, it’s like a new adventure!! The only thing I didn’t like was our apt cause we had nothing, but the ward changed that way fast and now I am happy happy happy!! I am so excited to be serving here and with Sister Dodge.  We teach each other a lot and each bring different strengths to our companionship! So as for now we don’t have any investigators because we opened up a new area and were given a blank area book! Ha ha sweet! But we have been finding and we will be getting this area going in no time!

Thanks to all of you who sent me love and packages and cards for my b-day! It was great thanks to y’all! I love y’all so much and can’t wait to hear from you!

SMILING ALL THE WHILE!
Hermana Kleisler

Pics!

Cold and rainy Texas!!!!!! So fun! Ha ha. We sure made the best of it
though ! But now the weather is back to normal. 80's. :)

Expect the Unexpected!

Hey Y'all!!!!

There is SO much to tell this week!!!! I have had an amazing week! Absolutely awesome! I guess first off I will tell you about transfers cause y'all are prolly wondering. Well I got the call last night and when the AP (Assistant to the President) told me I did NOT believe him!!! Here is what's happening, I am leaving San Marcos. I am being doubled in or in Kev's terms "whitewashing" a new area. Well that was pretty crazy exciting news to begin with but then it gets even better.. Sister Dodge is leaving too which means we are having a double-out here. The even better part...Sister Dodge is doubling in too! WITH ME!!! So what all this means is both Sister Dodge and I are leaving San Marcos and both going to open up a new area together!! Man we are SOOOO excited!!!!!! So here is what we know: Our new area will be a car share, meaning we have to take our bikes with us and we will use them half the time and share a car with some Elders (like what I did in the beginning of my mish). That is pretty much all we know for sure. But we have some pretty good ideas about the rest. Since there are only 20 sisters in the mission we can make 9 phone calls (there are 10 companionships including us) and find out pretty much who's going where and with whom. So here's what we think- we are pretty sure we will be together I guess it's not for positive but we have a very good hunch that we will be doubling in together. So as for the area, we are pretty sure we are going to San Antonio!!! Yay!! I am so excited cause that means  But if we are, temple! I miss the temple so bad! I haven't gone in 6 months!  Serving in San Antonio we get to go to the temple once a transfer! YAY!! So the area we think we are going to is Windcrest ward. It is in East San Antonio. The District Leader there and the Elder that we would be sharing a car with is..Elder Dutson! For those of you who don't know, Elder Dutson was my DL and then my ZL my first time in the MTC so we are good buds and have A LOT of fun together so that will be so awesome!! I called him this morning and got all the details on the area and the ward. Basically the ward and area seem like a giant version of San Marcos! I am so excited! They have Spanish Translation in Sacrament meeting there, they have some ghetto areas, some ritzy rich places, some middle class suburbia- everything! The ward is huge, 700 or so members about 300 active! The area is giant so basically they are splitting it down the middle and putting us in one half and leaving the Elders who have been there in the other. So we will be sharing the ward with Elders again just like before in San Marcos. Plus they are renting a new apartment that we will be living in so that will be cool for sure. So man I am excited, I sure do hope it is Windcrest we get transferred to!!! I will find out for sure on Thursday, which means y'all will find out on Monday! Lol So as for my reactions to the transfer- I am stoked! I had been thinking about it a lot before we got the transfer call, and I really didn't want to leave the members her but I just felt like it was time for me to move on and grow somewhere else. I also didn't feel quite right about leaving sister dodge. True it has been a bit of a bumpy transfer with the two of us but we have really figured things out and have taught each other so much and president must have seen the potential still left in us. SO ya I am way excited because I think Sister Dodge and I will make an amazing doubling in team and we  SO are becoming such good friends, I love her so much!  So what does this mean for y'all- DON'T SEND MAIL TO SAN MARCOS ANYMORE! Lol That's what's most important right? Lol Ya if there is any already on the way that's fine we will make the elders coming in forward it to us, but don't send anymore please. Also don't send anything to the mission home- that never gets to me and if it does I get it a month later all ripped and stuff because it comes by way of "Elder Delivery" which is not the most reliable mode. Lol So ya I will give y'all a new address next week. I am really just so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so besides all the transfer news there have been some AMAZING things going on here in San Marcos!!! First off, Francisco he is from Honduras, been in the U.S. for most his life, speaks both Spanish and English and is so sweet. We met him last Tuesday while we were riding our bikes. We were going to go follow up with this couple we taught last week and we saw him sitting on the stairs at this apartment complex. SO we went up and EBP'd him. Well it turns out the second he saw us he knew who we were and he told him self if they come talk to me I am going to listen and I am going to join their church. Well we talked to him and he had met some missionaries in California three years ago and he had gone to church and went to the temple visitor's center and saw the restoration video, he liked it all but he just wasn't ready for a change in his life. Well when we found him last week he was searching for a change. He had been sober for 150 days and he wanted to get closer to his Savior Jesus Christ. We taught him about the restoration right there on the stairs. The spirit was the strongest I have ever felt it as I was saying the first vision.  Man it was insane.  Francisco was so touched and he was so excited to come to church but he works on Sundays and he said eh was going to try and get work off for next week or something.  So anyway we had to go a whole week without talking to him cause he works everyday but Tuesday and he works ALL DAY!! He is a cook at this restaurant in town Taste of China.  So anyway we had an appointment set up with him today at 11 am and even though it's our p-day we went anyway, that is just how elect this guy is that we ditched out on part of p-day.  So anyway our lesson today was AMAZING!! He has been reading the BoM every morning this past week and he loves it. He has been praying he listed some personal experiences he has had in the past week and he knows it is all true! I committed him for baptism and he is being baptized next month!!! So amazing!  So ya Francisco is so sweet, sadly we will not get to teach him anymore or see his baptism, but we found him and put him on the right path and that is all that matters.  So the Elders who come in and take our place are some lucky dudes for sure.  Also this past week had another awesome finding experience.  We were knocking in the rain- it rained a whole ton this week!!! That was not fun cause Texans hate rain! The second it gets cold and rainy they hide! So ya knocking was way tough this past weekend!  But anyway we had faith and boy did we find! We found this AMAZING girl Christina. She is a Jr. at Texas State plays soccer there and also wakeboards and is just so cool.  SO the second we started talking on the doorstep I felt a connection with her.  She let us in and the second we walked in the house my eye went straight to the bong on the table, and then to the wall of liquor bottles on the wall.  Well it turns out her roommates are big partiers and they have big parties there all the time so she always leaves cause she does not like that whole scene.  So ya then we started to get to know her and then went on with the lesson.  The whole time I talked with her I just felt this connection I was meant to find her! She is just awesome she was so riveted to us and the message and I am pretty sure she will be getting baptized here pretty soon! So ya we found two amazing people right as we are getting transferred, but hey that's how it goes.  Ha ha But ya this has been an amazing week!!! I love being a missionary! I have felt y'all's prayers cause man I had been having a bit of a tough time, but it is like night and day from last week to this and I know a lot of it is due in part to y'all's prayers and love!! Thank you!!!!  So ya I am doing truly amazing and loving my life.  Some fun little things from my week that I will leave ya with- today we went out tracting before our appointment with Francisco and we met these two Jdubs (Jehovah’s Witnesses) and we politely talked to them and got out of there as soon as the conversation became pointless (yay for us!) but anyway the funny thing was that one of them asked me, where is your accent from? I was like dude I am from Arizona! Ha ha I am pretty sure I don't have an accent but then Dodge and I were talking about it later and it is true in a way cause once we start our doorstep approaches or are in lesson wee turn on our "missionary accents" and talk in a totally different voice! Ha ha crazy! So the other thing, we were knocking doors this week, in the cold and rain, and this guy told us he wasn't interested and that he was a Lutheran for life.  SO I walked away after politely bearing my testimony and then I looked at sis Dodge and was like, Lutheran for life, what the heck is that?  Then I was all, I am a Mormon for eternity! Beat that! Lol So ya, that was funny!!!!! So ya that's what is going on around here.  Lots of awesome good stuff.  So ya I will be somewhere else next week, hopefully in Windcrest!!! Alright well I love y'all and hope you have a great week!  Talk to ya soon with a new address and y'all can keep sending those awesome letters! ?

Love ya,
Hermana Kleisler

Totally SMILING ALL THE WHILE

More mission pics!

So the first one is my companion and I under a flag hanging at the intsitute building in Austin. More UT pride!!

The second pic is me with some of our zone at the bowling alley! the top one is Elder Estrada- he's crazy but way nice!, then the one with the I love you sign is Elder Walton- he's awesome!!, then Elder Burr- he's one of the Kyle Elders and my buddy, then Dodge and me!

This pic is the winning envelopes from the envelope decorating contest! Like I said there were so many good ones- I couldn't decide. There was also many honorable mentions.

Last Pic- Last week we went up to Austin for P-day to join our zone in bowling at the alley located in the student union on UT campus. Look at my burnt orange UT shorts! I am a total university of Texas fan! Woot woot!

My Run-in With the Anti!‏

So this week was um, a little rough!!!! Ha ha so ya remember that investigator I told y’all about last week- Joy and her family. Well on Friday we had an appointment with Joy and when we got there her husband was there as well. We were so excited cause we could teach the whole family and Joy had just seemed so elect the last time we taught her. Well we go in and get to know the husband better and everything and talk and stuff and he says that he has actually talked to some missionaries here and then he lists their names. A set if sisters and a set of Elders all of whom I knew of and then eh also lists some friends/acquaintances they had who were Mormon and I knew all of them as well. So in my mind this just keeps looking better and better. They are so ready for the gospel, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!! After we say the opening prayer and I go to start the lesson, he says he has some questions first. Well he pulls out these packets he had put together with quotes from our prophets as well as scriptures from the B of M and the King James Version of the Bible. So he hands us these and we were like huh? Then he asks us about some theory and if we’d ever heard it before. Well we both hadn’t and he was pretty emotional about that and then went on to tell us that we were being deceived and he was truly concerned for our souls and according to our own prophets we were going to be damned. I will not go into detail nor will I tell you of the doctrine he was referring to because it is not necessary and I don’t want anyone else to even think on it. I will say that the hour we spent in their home was one of the worst of my life. I tired many times to get out of there politely while my comp just sat there saying nothing. I bore testimony and tried to leave but he just kept on talking to us! It was horrible! He was so Anti Mormon it truly scared me. When we finally got out of there Sister Dodge had taken the packet he gave us. I left mine at his house and told him no thank you- I know what I believe and I know the church is true! Well we got in the car and I looked at my comp and asked her why on earth she took the packet. She said she was curious about the theory/doctrine he brought up. In her defense this guy was convincing and had real quotes from Spencer W Kimball and Bruce R. McConkie. But I just looked at her and said is your testimony ok? She says she wasn’t quite sure. I also was not doing so well. My testimony was fine- you couldn’t bust that thing with a freak’n bulldozer, no way not after all the things I’ve been through in my life. What really bothered me was the awful feeling that was present when that guy was anti-ing us. The spirit left completely and I felt miserable!!!! I was upset that the whole thing had to happen. SO sister Dodge and I didn’t know what to do. SO when in doubt, call president. We called President, he first resolved Sister Dodge’s concerns about the doctrine and then talked to me. He asked me how my testimony was and if I was shaken. I told him that I had two problems with the whole thing, first that we fell into that trap. Why did we think they were so elect and then boom we were tricked into this AWFUL experience and the second thing was the miserable feeling I felt when the spirit left and that really bothered me. So to the first issue President said- what happened when Joseph Smith went into the grove to pray? I was like, oh geez president okay I get it opposition in all things. He said –Exactly! To the second problem he said well now I know what it feels like when the spirit leaves and I will be sure to get out of those situations quicker next time now won’t I? Ha ha so ya President always seems to know what to say. It helped us a lot and we were able to get over our horrible experience with the Anti.

So other things, well we had stake conference this week which was amazing- it was a broadcast one and President Uchtdorf spoke and it was amazing!! We didn’t have any investigators at church. We did find 3 new investigators this week, so that was cool. We have been doing a lot of finding. President is trying to pound it into my head that finding needs to be like breathing, something I do naturally. We have been really working on our EBP lately. I am gonna go ahead and explain what EBP is so y’all will know what I am talking about cause I will refer to it a lot! So EBP stands for Elder Ballard’s Proimse. Elder Ballard came to our mission about a year ago and spoke and he gave our mission this promise. If we Have companionship Study every day, ask everyone we contact for referrals and if we contact 10 extra people everyday outside of knocking on people’s doors- we will find more people to teach and baptize. SO ya a pretty cool promise. What we have been focusing on is finding the ten extra people- that’s the part we always refer to as EBP my comp and I have no problem doing the other 2 parts. But sometimes finding 10 people on the street to go up and talk to and get them to listen to us- that can be hard. We can’t just hand them a pass along card either- we have to teach them at least 2 principles of the gospel, testify and then commit them to something. It is hard to get EBP!! But we have been working on it! Yesterday we got it! Yay!! But ya I have realized that once I get in the swing of things I am on a roll and I will go up to every person I see and talk to them about the gospel. So the rest of this transfer the main focus for me and my comp is going to be doing our hour of knocking every day and also EBPing! I will make finding become a part of me if it’s the last thing I do! Ha ha

So in other news, the envelope contest is over!!! It was so hard to choose!! Geez! But I finally decided that for first place there is a three way tie between Cristina, Moran and Kevin! The Second place winner is Adam. Once again it was tough to choose! So C, Moran and Kev you will be getting packages from me, but prolly not until next transfer cause things are SO insanely busy right now. Adam you will be getting a Texas souvenir, and you are right you prolly are the person who will enjoy it the most! Long Live Tejas! The picture of the winning envelopes will be attached this week. 

Ok well I had better go! For P-day today our whole zone is coming down here to San Marcos and we are going shopping at the outlet malls and then we are going to play capture the flag at this really cool park by the San Marcos river! Hope no one falls in! lol J/K Have a great week y’all and I will talk to ya soon!

SMILING ALL THE WHILE,
Hermana Kleisler