Howdy Y'all!!!
Happy Memorial Day to Y'all! Here in Texas- Memorial Day truly is a day of remembrance, and food! Ha ha Since it is a holiday the libraries are closed and we have permission to email at a member's home. We are at the Swaim Family's home and they are all geared up for a bbq and a good 'ol fashioned good time! I love being in the homes of members and feeling the spirit and love that encompasses them! So ya I am kinda distracted right now, lots of little kids running around in their red, white and blue! I am gonna be honest I really would rather go play with them then sit here at the computer! ha ha So ya I think I am gonna make this short! lol
Well ya'll this week was another one of SICKNESS! Not in a good way. lol I caught some obnoxious flu bug and then Sister Larrosa caught it and it hit her WAY worse than me- so it's been some tough work lately but we are recovering now. I am all better and Sister Larrosa got a blessing yesterday and she is doing better now. We have managed to get some work done this week, not a whole ton and nothing super awesome but we are trying! lol So now for the stories of the week....
First off, my hump day came and went. I woke up sick that morning which was a bummer, but we had district meeting so we drove up to San Antonio. The Elders were really sweet and put together a cute little "party" for me! We had a great district meeting and the elders even made me brownies with candles to blow out and everything! I got spoiled! :) We then went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch with our district. After that we drove to the part of San Antonio that is our area and we went to work. The best part of the whole day was.... a super sweet spirit filled lesson with a new investigator!! Elizabeth was a member but she asked for her records to be removed, but now she wants to come back and bring her non member boyfriend with her. We had such a powerful lesson with them and they were both very touched. We will see them again this week and continue to work with them. They will have a lot to overcome- Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity issues for sure. But after we left their house after the first lesson I had this great picture in my head of them all in white with giant smiles on their faces! They are gonna get baptized- I know it, it's just a matter of time! :) So ya that was way sweet and sure made my hump day- I can't believe I am half way through my mission- crazy!! As for an update on Rudy and Vanessa- well she has pneumonia so ya that is a problem. She is recovering right now, so we weren't able to teach them last week and they couldn't come to church. We stopped by and Rudy came out and talked to us- he said that he isn't sure yet whether he is going to change his religion, but he likes having us over. lol So ya that is every missionaries dream to hear their investigators say that- NOT! lol It's like when the guy you like tells you that he would rather just be friends! lol SO anyway that's our investigators.
So this week instead of doing anything for a baptism the phrase was I would do anything to get someone to church! lol We were visiting a less active who hasn't been to church in a long time and he said he wanted some oatmeal cookies. SO we told him we would make him some oatmeal cookies to bring to church and if he came he would get them and if he didn't I would eat them and take pictures of me eating them and we would bring him the pictures! Lol So ya he didn't come to church so I guess I get to eat some cookies! lol Seriously it is amazing how much fun you can have with missionary work!! I truly am having a blast out here in Texas! I have even learned to love the country. I am gonna be a cowgirl after all! ha ha So ya things are going great out here honestly as always we could have more investigators, we could have had some people at church yesterday, we could have more teaching appointments, we could have more members who like us, we could have a lot of things- but that is not what matters. What I am learning out here is that it is all in how you look at things! I am so happy to be serving the Lord and to have a few investigators who truly do want to learn more about the gospel. I am in the home of an amazing family right now which I have come to love VERY much! I am working my butt off for the Lord and I am truly happy. I am choosing to look at my life and all that is going on in it as if from the perspective of Nephi. I am finding the positive and it ROCKS! Lol
So I have one last story for y'all. And it involves.... Police officers! Geez what is with me and the cops- this makes 4 times now that I have had a run in with the fuzz while on my mission. OK so here's the story- we were in Jourdanton, a town right next to Pleasanton, and we picked a street to knock. SO I parked the truck at the end of the street and we started working. We knocked all the way down one side of the street and it was a LONG street!!! So about an hour and a half later we walked back up towards the truck. The closer we got to truck I was starting to wonder why their were so many people outside right by our truck. Of course my missionary brain was so excited thinking- lots of people to EBP!!! So as we get down there- I get pounced on, is that your truck? Uh, yep! Oh man we were so sacred! (I'm thinking why cause the Mormon girls are here to convert you?) This lady goes on to say that she saw our truck parked in front of her house and she got so worried cause her dad was out of town and they didn't know whose truck was parked in front of their house. SO they got all worried and called the cops. SO then when they found out that it was us they called the cops back but it didn't work, they were already on their way. SO I real quick like got in the car and just as we were driving off they came and the cop pulled us over lights and all. He makes me get out of the car, walk to the back the whole nine yards! lol So he asks what we were up to and we explained. I totally EBP'd the cop! Ha ha and he asks for my license and then asks if we have bibles in the car and I was like ya you want to see them! Ha ha silly country folk- don't have much to worry about except everybody else's business. So the cop let me go after checking out my record and seeing I was scott free. SO ya just another run in with the police to add to the list. :)
Alright well I gotta go- it's time for a good 'ol fashioned Memorial Day BBQ at the Swaims!! I love y'all much and hope you have a great week!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE,
Hermana Kleisler
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Pics from Pleasanton!
OK so first...
Sister Larrosa caught a virus this week and so we spent all day Wednesday at the apartment. She felt so bad, she kept telling me she was sorry that we couldn't go out and work. I told her to stop it... I didn't mind, in fact I was grateful cause I got to spend the ENTIRE DAY reading Ensigns, I was in Heaven!!!! :)
Next...
Me and one of my heroes, Captain Moroni- this hangs above my bed along with my Title of Liberty that I made this week to remind me of my goals. I made a set of goals for the last 9 months of my mission, and so every night I go to bed and every morning when I wake up I remember them!
Sister Larrosa caught a virus this week and so we spent all day Wednesday at the apartment. She felt so bad, she kept telling me she was sorry that we couldn't go out and work. I told her to stop it... I didn't mind, in fact I was grateful cause I got to spend the ENTIRE DAY reading Ensigns, I was in Heaven!!!! :)
Next...
Me and one of my heroes, Captain Moroni- this hangs above my bed along with my Title of Liberty that I made this week to remind me of my goals. I made a set of goals for the last 9 months of my mission, and so every night I go to bed and every morning when I wake up I remember them!
Of Miracles and ....... RABBIT!!
Hey Y’all!!!
Well there is much to talk about this week for sure!! First off we had zone conference on Saturday. It was a special zone confrence. All of the missionaries in San Antonio and also down on the border came to this conference. There were about 115 of us there in total. The only ones missing were the Austin Area missionaries- they had a confrence the day before. So why on earth would 5 zones gather together for a Saturday conference? Cause our area seventy General Authority Elder Richardson came. It was great!! He spoke to us and then let us ask him questions. We learned a lot and the spirit was very prevalent. It was also SO MUCH FUN to get to be around 100 other missionaries!! I got to talk to my friends from other zones and we just laughed and shared stories and had a great time!! Later Sister Larrosa was telling me it was so funny for her to watch me float around the room talking to like every one!!! I have been in three different zones now and I know a lot of missionaries so I had tons of people to talk to! Poor Sister Larrosa has been stuck down here in Pleasanton her whole mission (only 3 months, but still) and so she didn’t really know anyone. Man I was running around talking to everyone! :) I love it when we missionaries all get together!!!!! SO ya zone conference was Great!!!
Now onto the news… investigators. Well I guess I need to start kinda at the beginning with this story. There is this guy Shaun Roberts who was baptized the week before I was transferred to Pleasanton. He is way great and he told the sisters that he was going to get his “brother” Rudy to come to church. Well Rudy is his best friend in the whole world, he practically lives at Rudy’s house and so he has always called him his brother. So anyway Shaun would say he was gonna bring Rudy to church but then nothing happened, some reason or another he couldn’t come. So we were like ok, well it’s not our position to push this recent convert into handing over his friend to us, so we just kinda let that be. Well 2 weeks ago we were out tracting and the area we picked was like empty, hardly any houses, so then I tried to find another spot, but I was just having no luck, so finally I just turned off onto this little street where I knew that a less active lived and so I figured we could knock the few houses and then go talk to her. As we were going about this I had no idea at the time just how much I was being led by the spirit. So we knocked up to the Less Active’s house, taught a lesson to her and then when we left her house and went to go knock the rest, we saw a familiar face waving at us. Shaun!! He was hanging out at Rudy’s house as usual! Well we ended up standing there and talking with him and Rudy for awhile, not talking about church just about Rudy and his hobbies. I was “Building Relationships of Trust” like no other!!! He then said something about hunting and we talked about that for awhile, I talked about how my cousin Jake killed a bear when he was like 14. Rudy thought that was pretty cool! Then we kept talking and he said he was gonna hunt Rabbit that weekend and that we should come over and he’d BBQ them for us. Now the look on Sis. Larrosa’s face was priceless- she had no interest in eating little Peter Cottontail, and I’ll be honest I didn’t either, but I’ll do anything for a baptism!! Ha ha j/k. But seriously I told him that would be great! So then I asked him if he was coming to church on Sunday and he said yes and that he was gonna bring the whole family. So we waited for them at church, and nope didn’t show. Shaun didn’t come either. Later when we called him he said he was sick. So we went about our week this week and just kinda left that whole topic alone, didn’t think much of Rudy and his family. Well then on Friday I got the feeling that we should pop by Rudy’s house again. I was thinking, no way, we can’t just keep showing up at this guy’s house, he’s not even an investigator and what is our recent convert Shaun gonna think. But I got that feeling again so I said ok let’s do it! Sis Larrosa was pretty nervous, she was like what are we gonna say to them?!? I said, ehh the Spirit will guide us. I mustered up all my boldness and we pulled up to Rudy’s house. He welcomed us warmly we had another nice BRT conversation (Building Relationships of Trust) and then I brought the subject around to the rabbit. He said oh ya we need to cook that for ya!! I said yup- I gotta eat me some rabbit! He laughed and said ok, Sunday, we will bbq up a bunch of stuff and y’all will come over. I said great, what time. He said I dunno yet, but we will hash out the details Sunday morning at church. I said, are you coming???? He said yes of course. So yesterday at church Rudy and his wife and their 3 kids (2 of which are baptismal age) showed up to church!!! I about died at first cause we were all the way across the chapel when they came in and sat down on the first row where the deacons sit. I was like oh crap oh crap oh crap!!!!! But they were politely asked to move by the High Priest Group Leader and so they weren’t totally offended. So ya they came and we set up the time to go to their house for rabbit at 4 o clock. So after church we went over and the food was still cooking and Rudy was busy with that and it was perfect b/c it gave us the chanc e to sit and talk with his wife. She is AMAZING!!! At first we thought she was gonna be the hard one, but actually she is so elect! She has been searching and she had amazing questions and she felt the spirit! We ended up teaching her parts of the first 3 lessons to answer her questions and so that was sweet! Then it was time for food! I ATE RABBIT!!! Sis Larrosa refused, but I promised to do it, and you know what it wasn’t that bad, tastes kinda like a turkey leg. So after dinner we watched the restoration video with them and the spirit was strong!! We committed them to read and pray and we have a return appointment on Wednesday night. It is so sweet!!!!!! So there are several things I learned from all of this. One is that you MUST follow the spirit even if it seems crazy. I am so glad we were prompted to just pop by Rudy’s house 2 weekends in a row- the Lord knew that if we were gonna get anywhere with the Ramos family we had to build up a friendship first. It worked- they loved having us over and talked to us as if we were their closest friends- we were honored guests in their house and we hadn’t even taught them a lesson yet!! Such a blessing. So I am so grateful to the Lord for leading us to Rudy in the right way and I am also grateful for….RABBITS! ;p
Well I love y’all very much and I hope to hear from y’all soon!!!! Have a great week!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Well there is much to talk about this week for sure!! First off we had zone conference on Saturday. It was a special zone confrence. All of the missionaries in San Antonio and also down on the border came to this conference. There were about 115 of us there in total. The only ones missing were the Austin Area missionaries- they had a confrence the day before. So why on earth would 5 zones gather together for a Saturday conference? Cause our area seventy General Authority Elder Richardson came. It was great!! He spoke to us and then let us ask him questions. We learned a lot and the spirit was very prevalent. It was also SO MUCH FUN to get to be around 100 other missionaries!! I got to talk to my friends from other zones and we just laughed and shared stories and had a great time!! Later Sister Larrosa was telling me it was so funny for her to watch me float around the room talking to like every one!!! I have been in three different zones now and I know a lot of missionaries so I had tons of people to talk to! Poor Sister Larrosa has been stuck down here in Pleasanton her whole mission (only 3 months, but still) and so she didn’t really know anyone. Man I was running around talking to everyone! :) I love it when we missionaries all get together!!!!! SO ya zone conference was Great!!!
Now onto the news… investigators. Well I guess I need to start kinda at the beginning with this story. There is this guy Shaun Roberts who was baptized the week before I was transferred to Pleasanton. He is way great and he told the sisters that he was going to get his “brother” Rudy to come to church. Well Rudy is his best friend in the whole world, he practically lives at Rudy’s house and so he has always called him his brother. So anyway Shaun would say he was gonna bring Rudy to church but then nothing happened, some reason or another he couldn’t come. So we were like ok, well it’s not our position to push this recent convert into handing over his friend to us, so we just kinda let that be. Well 2 weeks ago we were out tracting and the area we picked was like empty, hardly any houses, so then I tried to find another spot, but I was just having no luck, so finally I just turned off onto this little street where I knew that a less active lived and so I figured we could knock the few houses and then go talk to her. As we were going about this I had no idea at the time just how much I was being led by the spirit. So we knocked up to the Less Active’s house, taught a lesson to her and then when we left her house and went to go knock the rest, we saw a familiar face waving at us. Shaun!! He was hanging out at Rudy’s house as usual! Well we ended up standing there and talking with him and Rudy for awhile, not talking about church just about Rudy and his hobbies. I was “Building Relationships of Trust” like no other!!! He then said something about hunting and we talked about that for awhile, I talked about how my cousin Jake killed a bear when he was like 14. Rudy thought that was pretty cool! Then we kept talking and he said he was gonna hunt Rabbit that weekend and that we should come over and he’d BBQ them for us. Now the look on Sis. Larrosa’s face was priceless- she had no interest in eating little Peter Cottontail, and I’ll be honest I didn’t either, but I’ll do anything for a baptism!! Ha ha j/k. But seriously I told him that would be great! So then I asked him if he was coming to church on Sunday and he said yes and that he was gonna bring the whole family. So we waited for them at church, and nope didn’t show. Shaun didn’t come either. Later when we called him he said he was sick. So we went about our week this week and just kinda left that whole topic alone, didn’t think much of Rudy and his family. Well then on Friday I got the feeling that we should pop by Rudy’s house again. I was thinking, no way, we can’t just keep showing up at this guy’s house, he’s not even an investigator and what is our recent convert Shaun gonna think. But I got that feeling again so I said ok let’s do it! Sis Larrosa was pretty nervous, she was like what are we gonna say to them?!? I said, ehh the Spirit will guide us. I mustered up all my boldness and we pulled up to Rudy’s house. He welcomed us warmly we had another nice BRT conversation (Building Relationships of Trust) and then I brought the subject around to the rabbit. He said oh ya we need to cook that for ya!! I said yup- I gotta eat me some rabbit! He laughed and said ok, Sunday, we will bbq up a bunch of stuff and y’all will come over. I said great, what time. He said I dunno yet, but we will hash out the details Sunday morning at church. I said, are you coming???? He said yes of course. So yesterday at church Rudy and his wife and their 3 kids (2 of which are baptismal age) showed up to church!!! I about died at first cause we were all the way across the chapel when they came in and sat down on the first row where the deacons sit. I was like oh crap oh crap oh crap!!!!! But they were politely asked to move by the High Priest Group Leader and so they weren’t totally offended. So ya they came and we set up the time to go to their house for rabbit at 4 o clock. So after church we went over and the food was still cooking and Rudy was busy with that and it was perfect b/c it gave us the chanc e to sit and talk with his wife. She is AMAZING!!! At first we thought she was gonna be the hard one, but actually she is so elect! She has been searching and she had amazing questions and she felt the spirit! We ended up teaching her parts of the first 3 lessons to answer her questions and so that was sweet! Then it was time for food! I ATE RABBIT!!! Sis Larrosa refused, but I promised to do it, and you know what it wasn’t that bad, tastes kinda like a turkey leg. So after dinner we watched the restoration video with them and the spirit was strong!! We committed them to read and pray and we have a return appointment on Wednesday night. It is so sweet!!!!!! So there are several things I learned from all of this. One is that you MUST follow the spirit even if it seems crazy. I am so glad we were prompted to just pop by Rudy’s house 2 weekends in a row- the Lord knew that if we were gonna get anywhere with the Ramos family we had to build up a friendship first. It worked- they loved having us over and talked to us as if we were their closest friends- we were honored guests in their house and we hadn’t even taught them a lesson yet!! Such a blessing. So I am so grateful to the Lord for leading us to Rudy in the right way and I am also grateful for….RABBITS! ;p
Well I love y’all very much and I hope to hear from y’all soon!!!! Have a great week!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sights of The Country (Pics for the week)
Ok so these pics are from an hour of knocking in the country!!
The first is a sign we saw as we were about to walk back to the house on this property. We saw this sign and it made me think twice about knocking the door! lol Man these redneck hicks! ha ha
The next pic is a random donkey we saw as we were knocking doors in a trailer park! Ha ha he was making sounds at us, it's like a dog but country style! lol
Here is the sign in front of this local place that some members took us to eat at- yup the Fat Cowboy! ha ha It was pretty good.
Next is me with a horse! Some members out in Floresville own a lot of property and have some horses and took some pics of us with them, it was cool! I haven't petted a horse in a LONG time!
The first is a sign we saw as we were about to walk back to the house on this property. We saw this sign and it made me think twice about knocking the door! lol Man these redneck hicks! ha ha
The next pic is a random donkey we saw as we were knocking doors in a trailer park! Ha ha he was making sounds at us, it's like a dog but country style! lol
Here is the sign in front of this local place that some members took us to eat at- yup the Fat Cowboy! ha ha It was pretty good.
Next is me with a horse! Some members out in Floresville own a lot of property and have some horses and took some pics of us with them, it was cool! I haven't petted a horse in a LONG time!
Proselyting in Pleasanton
Hey Y’all!!!
So for most of you- I just talked with you on the phone last night so there really isn’t anything to report on that is new or exciting! Ha ha But I can say that it was SO great to talk to the fam last night- those phone calls always give me such a boost!!! I love y’all so much and your support is such a blessing- y’all rock!! Ha ha speaking of y’all, I guess you enjoyed hearing me say that a lot last night. Now you know, I don’t just write it, I say it too! Ha ha ALL the time!! But anyway so I am trying to think of something to tell y’all. This will prolly be a pretty random email! Ja ja (ha ha in espanol)
Well first off I guess there really isn’t too much to say as far as the work goes, there are a few exciting prospects, but no one worth mentioning yet. We are just doing our best to work hard and not die in the heat!!! It is wicked hot here!!!! Last week it got in the hundreds, which I am used to in Arizona but I am not used to the humidity- that part just kills!!!! It is so miserable to be hot and sweaty. But we are being very good little planners and try to visit members and Less Actives or potentials during the hottest parts of the day. Then we do our street contacting and knocking at night. It has been working out pretty well. The days go by so fast on the mish but here in Pleasanton when I look back on the day it always seems like we got so much accomplished so that is so great!
Well the race for baptisims is on- our mission has a goal of 100 baptisims every month and this month is May which is the month of MIRACLES!! We are praying that we are actually going to hit our goal this month!! For the past 2 years I believe the mish has had the goal of 100 people baptized every month and we have never hit it! Last May they got 97 which is the closest we have ever come!! I think we might actually do it this time, I am a little worried about my comp and I’s part- we are supposed to be contributing 2 baptisms to the one hundred and right now it doesn’t look like that is gonna happen but luckily We Believe In Miracles!!! We are gonna keep work’n and pray’n for those 2 baptisms!!!
So I don’t have too much to tell you so I thought I would describe Pleasanton a bit more for ya. Well first off the city of Pleasanton has about 8,000 people and then the surrounding cities are smaller. Pleasanton is kinda the middle of the country- it is the “town” if you will. Ha ha People talk all the time about going into town and that really just means going into the heart of Pleasanton to the wal-mart or the post office! Lol But ya we have a few restaurants, there is a Chili's and Little Caesar's and then a few local places. We have a Wal-Mart and a dollar tree and a Beals. That is about it though. The town itself consists of some pretty old houses, most of which are run down, the more country part of it has some much nicer ranch type houses and what not then you also have your trialer parks, so there is a decent amount of variety in socio economic status. The nice thing I have noticed so far here is that people in the country don’t seem to look down on each other so much, there isn’t any “oh well I have five horses and you only have a pony” so that is cool. There are lots of cows and horses!! Oh and guess what there are long horns too!! I had never seen a longhorn in any of my other areas but here they are everywhere and they are cool! So the ward here is pretty funny, lots of personality. Most folks have been in Pleasanton all their lives. Our ward mission leader is from ahh crap I can’t remember which state, but somewhere in the US and he went on his mish to the TSAM and served down here, met a girl in the Pleasanton ward and then after his mission came back and married her! Ha ha Ya so our ward is full of a bunch of characters. No one is super motivated to do missionary work and the ones that are already have like 5 callings. SO it is rough, it is one of the challenges that I will have to work with here in Pleasanton but it’s all good, we will get this ward into missionary work for sure!
So I told y’all about my area, now I will tell ya a little bit about life as a missionary. Well let’s take a typical Wednesday for instance. (Mondays aren’t typical cause they are P-days, and Tuesdays aren’t typical cause they are Diestrict Meetings) So on a typical Wednesday I get up at 6:30, fight very very hard with myself to not push the snooze button, and get up and put on my tennis shoes. I throw on my hat and we pray then head out the door to go exercise. We are very fortunate to live across the street from the church and so we can take the 30 sec walk to the cultural hall and play b-ball every morning!! Tender Mercy for me!!!!!! I shoot hoops and practice my 3 pointers while Sister Larrosa stretches and does sit-ups and stuff. Then she might shoot with me a little bit or play a game of pig and then we go back home. I get in the shower and then get dressed and do my hair and make- up. While I am doing that Sister Larrosa is doing her personal study. Then after an hour we switch. I do personal study while she gets ready. I love personal study time!! I read a chapter form the BoM and then a chapter from the new testament and then I read an article or two from the ensign. Then at 9 o clock it is time for companion study. We sing a hymn together and then pray. Then we state the TSAM purpose statement (same type of idea as like reciting the yw theme) and then we read two pages from the missionary white handbook (our rule book) and then we tell eachother about what we learned in our personal study. Then we make lesson plans for the lessons we are going to teach for the day. If we have left over time we will do an activity from preach my gospel or read an ensign article together. Then at 10 o clock it is time for language study! I study Spanish and Sister Larrosa studies English. Then at 11 o clock we typically have lunch. Lunch can be whenever we want but I like having it at 11 so that way we can leave the apartment and be gone all day. For lunch I will make some mac and cheese or ramen or a sandwich and use the remainder of my time to read in the ensign or write in my journal or play the guitar. Then at 12 it is time to go out and work!!! Each day is a little different it just depends on what lessons we have planned, but usually the day consists of at least a few of the following: at least one hour of knocking doors, contacting random people on the street, visiting less active members, visiting active members, looking up potential investigators (people previous missionaries had talked to that sounded at least somewhat interested in the gospel), looking up former investigators (people who had been taught by the missionaries before but were dropped for some reason or another) and then of course teaching lessons. Then in the evening if we are lucky we have dinner with a member and if not then we go back to the apartment and eat. Then at 9 o clock we have to be back in the apartment and start planning for the next day. Then we have companion prayer, take district call and get ready for bed! That is it- that is the day in the life of a missionary!!! Pretty cool, huh? Ha ha :)
Alright well, I am gonna sign off now and I will talk to y’all next week! I hope everyone is doing great and I would love to hear from you soon!!! :)
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
So for most of you- I just talked with you on the phone last night so there really isn’t anything to report on that is new or exciting! Ha ha But I can say that it was SO great to talk to the fam last night- those phone calls always give me such a boost!!! I love y’all so much and your support is such a blessing- y’all rock!! Ha ha speaking of y’all, I guess you enjoyed hearing me say that a lot last night. Now you know, I don’t just write it, I say it too! Ha ha ALL the time!! But anyway so I am trying to think of something to tell y’all. This will prolly be a pretty random email! Ja ja (ha ha in espanol)
Well first off I guess there really isn’t too much to say as far as the work goes, there are a few exciting prospects, but no one worth mentioning yet. We are just doing our best to work hard and not die in the heat!!! It is wicked hot here!!!! Last week it got in the hundreds, which I am used to in Arizona but I am not used to the humidity- that part just kills!!!! It is so miserable to be hot and sweaty. But we are being very good little planners and try to visit members and Less Actives or potentials during the hottest parts of the day. Then we do our street contacting and knocking at night. It has been working out pretty well. The days go by so fast on the mish but here in Pleasanton when I look back on the day it always seems like we got so much accomplished so that is so great!
Well the race for baptisims is on- our mission has a goal of 100 baptisims every month and this month is May which is the month of MIRACLES!! We are praying that we are actually going to hit our goal this month!! For the past 2 years I believe the mish has had the goal of 100 people baptized every month and we have never hit it! Last May they got 97 which is the closest we have ever come!! I think we might actually do it this time, I am a little worried about my comp and I’s part- we are supposed to be contributing 2 baptisms to the one hundred and right now it doesn’t look like that is gonna happen but luckily We Believe In Miracles!!! We are gonna keep work’n and pray’n for those 2 baptisms!!!
So I don’t have too much to tell you so I thought I would describe Pleasanton a bit more for ya. Well first off the city of Pleasanton has about 8,000 people and then the surrounding cities are smaller. Pleasanton is kinda the middle of the country- it is the “town” if you will. Ha ha People talk all the time about going into town and that really just means going into the heart of Pleasanton to the wal-mart or the post office! Lol But ya we have a few restaurants, there is a Chili's and Little Caesar's and then a few local places. We have a Wal-Mart and a dollar tree and a Beals. That is about it though. The town itself consists of some pretty old houses, most of which are run down, the more country part of it has some much nicer ranch type houses and what not then you also have your trialer parks, so there is a decent amount of variety in socio economic status. The nice thing I have noticed so far here is that people in the country don’t seem to look down on each other so much, there isn’t any “oh well I have five horses and you only have a pony” so that is cool. There are lots of cows and horses!! Oh and guess what there are long horns too!! I had never seen a longhorn in any of my other areas but here they are everywhere and they are cool! So the ward here is pretty funny, lots of personality. Most folks have been in Pleasanton all their lives. Our ward mission leader is from ahh crap I can’t remember which state, but somewhere in the US and he went on his mish to the TSAM and served down here, met a girl in the Pleasanton ward and then after his mission came back and married her! Ha ha Ya so our ward is full of a bunch of characters. No one is super motivated to do missionary work and the ones that are already have like 5 callings. SO it is rough, it is one of the challenges that I will have to work with here in Pleasanton but it’s all good, we will get this ward into missionary work for sure!
So I told y’all about my area, now I will tell ya a little bit about life as a missionary. Well let’s take a typical Wednesday for instance. (Mondays aren’t typical cause they are P-days, and Tuesdays aren’t typical cause they are Diestrict Meetings) So on a typical Wednesday I get up at 6:30, fight very very hard with myself to not push the snooze button, and get up and put on my tennis shoes. I throw on my hat and we pray then head out the door to go exercise. We are very fortunate to live across the street from the church and so we can take the 30 sec walk to the cultural hall and play b-ball every morning!! Tender Mercy for me!!!!!! I shoot hoops and practice my 3 pointers while Sister Larrosa stretches and does sit-ups and stuff. Then she might shoot with me a little bit or play a game of pig and then we go back home. I get in the shower and then get dressed and do my hair and make- up. While I am doing that Sister Larrosa is doing her personal study. Then after an hour we switch. I do personal study while she gets ready. I love personal study time!! I read a chapter form the BoM and then a chapter from the new testament and then I read an article or two from the ensign. Then at 9 o clock it is time for companion study. We sing a hymn together and then pray. Then we state the TSAM purpose statement (same type of idea as like reciting the yw theme) and then we read two pages from the missionary white handbook (our rule book) and then we tell eachother about what we learned in our personal study. Then we make lesson plans for the lessons we are going to teach for the day. If we have left over time we will do an activity from preach my gospel or read an ensign article together. Then at 10 o clock it is time for language study! I study Spanish and Sister Larrosa studies English. Then at 11 o clock we typically have lunch. Lunch can be whenever we want but I like having it at 11 so that way we can leave the apartment and be gone all day. For lunch I will make some mac and cheese or ramen or a sandwich and use the remainder of my time to read in the ensign or write in my journal or play the guitar. Then at 12 it is time to go out and work!!! Each day is a little different it just depends on what lessons we have planned, but usually the day consists of at least a few of the following: at least one hour of knocking doors, contacting random people on the street, visiting less active members, visiting active members, looking up potential investigators (people previous missionaries had talked to that sounded at least somewhat interested in the gospel), looking up former investigators (people who had been taught by the missionaries before but were dropped for some reason or another) and then of course teaching lessons. Then in the evening if we are lucky we have dinner with a member and if not then we go back to the apartment and eat. Then at 9 o clock we have to be back in the apartment and start planning for the next day. Then we have companion prayer, take district call and get ready for bed! That is it- that is the day in the life of a missionary!!! Pretty cool, huh? Ha ha :)
Alright well, I am gonna sign off now and I will talk to y’all next week! I hope everyone is doing great and I would love to hear from you soon!!! :)
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Monday, May 4, 2009
Pics from San Antonio
The first pic is me and my new companion Hermana Larrosa at transfers! Our first day together, so great!
The next one is me with my pretty gray 2009 Chevy Colorado- I think I am in love! ha ha Just Kidding! But it is a sweet truck!!
Sister Dodge and I with our Companionship unity shirts for San Antonio. I have to get a comp unity shirt with every companion- it's a tradition I started with my trainer, but Sister Dodge and I decided since we served together in two different areas, we needed two shirts! So we got Spurs shirts- not because I like them, I HATE THEM!! But it is a VERY San Antonio thing so we got 'em. It's funny!
Next is me packing, myself! Ha ha I hate packing, but I have gotten pretty good at it! :)
These are the goodbye pics! Saying goodbye to Elder Dutson and Elder Hauter and also Elder Saldana.
The next one is me with my pretty gray 2009 Chevy Colorado- I think I am in love! ha ha Just Kidding! But it is a sweet truck!!
Sister Dodge and I with our Companionship unity shirts for San Antonio. I have to get a comp unity shirt with every companion- it's a tradition I started with my trainer, but Sister Dodge and I decided since we served together in two different areas, we needed two shirts! So we got Spurs shirts- not because I like them, I HATE THEM!! But it is a VERY San Antonio thing so we got 'em. It's funny!
Next is me packing, myself! Ha ha I hate packing, but I have gotten pretty good at it! :)
These are the goodbye pics! Saying goodbye to Elder Dutson and Elder Hauter and also Elder Saldana.
Banished to the Boonies!
Hey Y’all!
I hope all is well with everyone back home! So I guess you are all wondering where the heck I am? Well the answer is- THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Ha ha President banished me to the boonies!! I am serving in Pleasanton Texas- which prides it self on being the birthplace of the cowboy. It is the boondocks!!!!! I am in the country for sure, and our area is huge!! We are south of San Antonio, our area covers the very bottom of South San Antonio as well as like 7 other little cities below San Antonio. The church is in Pleasanton, which is where we live. We cover an area that is bigger than the entire city of San Antonio (that’s big!) We have a bunch of cities, I don’t know all of them, but some of them are: Floresville, Elmendorf, Poteet, Charlotte, Lytle, Jourdanton, Pleasanton, a small piece of San Antonio and a few other little cities. This area is the furthest south that our mission goes. But ya, it is huge and we are the only missionaries down here. In fact we are the only missionaries for MILES! The closest missionaries to us is our DL and he is 30 minutes away. When I said we were serving in the boonies- I meant it!! So ya it is a pretty big change to go from serving in the city to here!! Our ward here is pretty small, about 80 active I would guess. It is hard to get to know the ward members here cause they don’t feed the missionaries hardly ever! They have a legitimate excuse I guess, but still. Everyone lives so far away so they don’t sign up to feed us cause we would have to drive 30 miles one way just to get to their house for dinner! Then we would have to drive back too, so ya it’s crazy. But we are working on getting members to sign up to feed us and then we will go to whichever city they are in and work there all day-that way it is not a complete waste of miles. We for sure don’t have enough miles for how huge our area is!! We have 1,500 miles but we need so much more. I get to drive now, which I am VERY happy about!!! I drive a 2009 Chevy Colorado! We have to have a truck out here because well, this is the country and some of the roads are pretty bumpy! Ha ha Man I never pictured myself living in a place like this, but it’s funny what you will do when the Lord tells you to!
So ya that is my area- Pleasanton. Now about my companion- she is AWESOME!!!! Her name is Hermana Larrosa and she is from Paraguay. She has lived in Uruguay part of her life and Paraguay the rest. She has only been out two transfers and is fresh off her trainer so I am her second comp also known as her “step-mom”. She is learning English, she grew up speaking Spanish and they would teach her English grammar in school, but she never would have to speak it or anything. Kinda like how we learn a language in college but never use it! Lol So ya she speaks fluent Spanish which has been so fun for me!! I am going to really improve my Spanish now, serving with a native and all. Her English is really good for only having been in the United States for 3 months!!! She speaks very well, ha ha but sometimes has a hard time understanding me. But that is cause I speak SO fast and also I speak in Slang English! Lol I have been teaching her lots of words, he hee. :) But anyway Hermana Larrosa is a very hard worker but also like to have fun so we are getting along GREAT!! She loves it here in Pleasanton, but this is her first area so she really doesn’t know any better! Lol I do like it here, it’s just gonna take some getting used to. The hardest thing for me will be to live so far away from all the other missionaries and also most of the members. We aren’t around anyone that actually likes us and that can be kinda hard. So that just means I am gonna need extra love and support from all of you! SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WRITE ME SOME LETTERS AND SEND YOUR LOVE, I am going to need it now more than ever so please help me out and write me! I promise you will get a letter back! Ha ha I have nothing else to do here on P-day, we can’t go to zone activities cause it is too far and there is nothing to do in this po-dunk town. SO on P-day we email, do laundry, shop, write letters and sleep. That’s it! Lol So ya, write me and I will for sure write y’all back!! Also I should be able to get those packages off sometime this transfer to all those people I owe packages to! I have some time now. :)
Alright well I guess I will tell ya about our investigators here- um none. Ha ha Ok so ya this area was on fire- but they just baptized all their investigators! Lol They had 3 baptisms last month and now are teaching pool is empty. So yay back to finding again. I always seem to be in an area where I have to do all the nitty gritty work, the finding and the weeding out the elect from the non-elect. So we have a lot of work to do here and we will do it! It will be fun too!!! Here in Pleasanton it is so different from other areas I have served in. People here aren’t in a hurry so they will stop and listen to you. I have gotten 9 lessons just in the 4 days I have been here! That is cause people will let us teach them, but the problem is they are not willing to act on it. So ya lots of dropping people. My first full day here we dropped 3 of their investigators ha ha fun stuff. Sister Larrosa had never done a “drop talk” before, but man I am a pro at it I have done it so many times! Lol So I taught her all about that. SO ya there is only one way to go from here- UP!
I am excited to be serving here and I know that the Lord called me to the middle of nowhere for a reason. Sister Larrosa says that President sent me down here because he can really trust me and knows I will work hard. He only sends the kind of sisters he feels he can trust all the way down here where no one can check up on them. Lol I said njavascript:void(0)o President just sent me here so that he doesn’t have to worry about me! Lol Out of sight out of mind! Ha ha but no really Pleasanton is a great area to serve and it is going to be a fun experience for sure! I can now say I have truly been to Texas. This is the place people think of when you think of Texas. Cowboys, dirt roads, small towns. Fun fun!!! Yee-Haw!
Alright well next week I will have more to report cause we are gonna work our butts of this week and get us a ton of new investigators!! Yay! Well here is my address so y’all can write me!!!
Sister Kleisler
701 Oakhaven #402
Pleasanton, TX 78064
So please write soon- I can’t wait to hear from y’all!!!!!
MUCH LOVE COMING ALL THE WAY FROM THE COUNTRY-
Hermana Kleisler
I hope all is well with everyone back home! So I guess you are all wondering where the heck I am? Well the answer is- THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Ha ha President banished me to the boonies!! I am serving in Pleasanton Texas- which prides it self on being the birthplace of the cowboy. It is the boondocks!!!!! I am in the country for sure, and our area is huge!! We are south of San Antonio, our area covers the very bottom of South San Antonio as well as like 7 other little cities below San Antonio. The church is in Pleasanton, which is where we live. We cover an area that is bigger than the entire city of San Antonio (that’s big!) We have a bunch of cities, I don’t know all of them, but some of them are: Floresville, Elmendorf, Poteet, Charlotte, Lytle, Jourdanton, Pleasanton, a small piece of San Antonio and a few other little cities. This area is the furthest south that our mission goes. But ya, it is huge and we are the only missionaries down here. In fact we are the only missionaries for MILES! The closest missionaries to us is our DL and he is 30 minutes away. When I said we were serving in the boonies- I meant it!! So ya it is a pretty big change to go from serving in the city to here!! Our ward here is pretty small, about 80 active I would guess. It is hard to get to know the ward members here cause they don’t feed the missionaries hardly ever! They have a legitimate excuse I guess, but still. Everyone lives so far away so they don’t sign up to feed us cause we would have to drive 30 miles one way just to get to their house for dinner! Then we would have to drive back too, so ya it’s crazy. But we are working on getting members to sign up to feed us and then we will go to whichever city they are in and work there all day-that way it is not a complete waste of miles. We for sure don’t have enough miles for how huge our area is!! We have 1,500 miles but we need so much more. I get to drive now, which I am VERY happy about!!! I drive a 2009 Chevy Colorado! We have to have a truck out here because well, this is the country and some of the roads are pretty bumpy! Ha ha Man I never pictured myself living in a place like this, but it’s funny what you will do when the Lord tells you to!
So ya that is my area- Pleasanton. Now about my companion- she is AWESOME!!!! Her name is Hermana Larrosa and she is from Paraguay. She has lived in Uruguay part of her life and Paraguay the rest. She has only been out two transfers and is fresh off her trainer so I am her second comp also known as her “step-mom”. She is learning English, she grew up speaking Spanish and they would teach her English grammar in school, but she never would have to speak it or anything. Kinda like how we learn a language in college but never use it! Lol So ya she speaks fluent Spanish which has been so fun for me!! I am going to really improve my Spanish now, serving with a native and all. Her English is really good for only having been in the United States for 3 months!!! She speaks very well, ha ha but sometimes has a hard time understanding me. But that is cause I speak SO fast and also I speak in Slang English! Lol I have been teaching her lots of words, he hee. :) But anyway Hermana Larrosa is a very hard worker but also like to have fun so we are getting along GREAT!! She loves it here in Pleasanton, but this is her first area so she really doesn’t know any better! Lol I do like it here, it’s just gonna take some getting used to. The hardest thing for me will be to live so far away from all the other missionaries and also most of the members. We aren’t around anyone that actually likes us and that can be kinda hard. So that just means I am gonna need extra love and support from all of you! SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WRITE ME SOME LETTERS AND SEND YOUR LOVE, I am going to need it now more than ever so please help me out and write me! I promise you will get a letter back! Ha ha I have nothing else to do here on P-day, we can’t go to zone activities cause it is too far and there is nothing to do in this po-dunk town. SO on P-day we email, do laundry, shop, write letters and sleep. That’s it! Lol So ya, write me and I will for sure write y’all back!! Also I should be able to get those packages off sometime this transfer to all those people I owe packages to! I have some time now. :)
Alright well I guess I will tell ya about our investigators here- um none. Ha ha Ok so ya this area was on fire- but they just baptized all their investigators! Lol They had 3 baptisms last month and now are teaching pool is empty. So yay back to finding again. I always seem to be in an area where I have to do all the nitty gritty work, the finding and the weeding out the elect from the non-elect. So we have a lot of work to do here and we will do it! It will be fun too!!! Here in Pleasanton it is so different from other areas I have served in. People here aren’t in a hurry so they will stop and listen to you. I have gotten 9 lessons just in the 4 days I have been here! That is cause people will let us teach them, but the problem is they are not willing to act on it. So ya lots of dropping people. My first full day here we dropped 3 of their investigators ha ha fun stuff. Sister Larrosa had never done a “drop talk” before, but man I am a pro at it I have done it so many times! Lol So I taught her all about that. SO ya there is only one way to go from here- UP!
I am excited to be serving here and I know that the Lord called me to the middle of nowhere for a reason. Sister Larrosa says that President sent me down here because he can really trust me and knows I will work hard. He only sends the kind of sisters he feels he can trust all the way down here where no one can check up on them. Lol I said njavascript:void(0)o President just sent me here so that he doesn’t have to worry about me! Lol Out of sight out of mind! Ha ha but no really Pleasanton is a great area to serve and it is going to be a fun experience for sure! I can now say I have truly been to Texas. This is the place people think of when you think of Texas. Cowboys, dirt roads, small towns. Fun fun!!! Yee-Haw!
Alright well next week I will have more to report cause we are gonna work our butts of this week and get us a ton of new investigators!! Yay! Well here is my address so y’all can write me!!!
Sister Kleisler
701 Oakhaven #402
Pleasanton, TX 78064
So please write soon- I can’t wait to hear from y’all!!!!!
MUCH LOVE COMING ALL THE WAY FROM THE COUNTRY-
Hermana Kleisler
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