"Nothings too hard for the Lord!"

Hey Y'all-
Ahh mi familia y mis amigos- como estan? Sorry, I have a lot of Spanish stuck in my head, I made this crazy deal with a good friend of mine back home. I had to give up English all this week and she had to give up "fluff" aka TV, movies, internet, stuff that gets in the way of focusing on the important things in life. So anyway this deal would have been great had I not just lost my native Spanish Speaking companion! Lol But hey this is an experiment and it will for sure have some interesting results!

So anyway, on to my new companion- Sister Alyse Johnson from Lindon utah! She was called as an English Speaking sister, so when it comes to the Spanish, it's all me! She has been out on her mission for about 5 months and this is her second area. She just came from a very suburbia like area up in North Austin so when we got to Pleasanton she was in shock! So different!!! She loves every minute of it! It is so cute she is always like, oh I need a picture of that, oh my goodness look at that, etc etc. She loves the small town feel down here. Lol She is an amazing missionary who has a great knowledge of the scriptures and a positive attitude about, well everything!! We have had an amazing few days together and already are teaching in such unity. We are so excited for what this transfer is going to bring. This week we taught 25 total lessons- the most I have ever taught in a week, and that is crazy especially since it was a transfer week and those are notoriously bad across the mission. So anyway things are really great here- I miss Sister Larrosa, but she is doing amazing up in Austin and she called me last night and they just committed a family of 5 for baptism! Way sweet!! So yes, good things going on all over the mission!!

As for our week here in Pleasanton- it was FABULOUS!! Our investigators are doing so well. Clarrisa came to church yesterday and she also came to the new member lessons and we went over and taught her and her boyfriend Gary twice this week. Gary is actually coming along now. At first he refused to even listen to us, and I kept hoping she would leave the jerk. But the Lord has softened his heart and there is hope for them and their relationship now. Yesterday we went over to answer all of Gary's questions and concerns- we didn't even plan a lesson we just told him to make a list of questions. After Gary was being kind of non committal and wishy-washy Clarissa looked at him and said, "I have a question for you Gary- Do you know who Joseph Smith is?" He said no, so we taught him and watched the Restoration video. After talking about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it, he said "so what I really got to do is Pray. I have to pray to find out if this is all true" We were like, Yes!!! So ya Gary is finally starting to progress in the gospel. Clarissa is as amazing as ever. Yesterday something came up about our mission calls and how it is decided where we go, so we told them and then Clarissa looked at me and said "I think you were sent here for me" I got all teary eyed cause I had been thinking the same thing all week. It is also so cool because I feel that Sister Johnson is here for Gary. She can answer his questions and talk to him in a logical way that I just don't do as well. I am so grateful that the Lord knows us all and our strengths and weaknesses. I am grateful he gives us companions to help even us out. So also this week we taught Toby and that went well. He came to church as well and loved it. That makes 3 times he has been to church and 2 times for Clarissa. I KNOW that both of them will be getting baptized this transfer. Toby is so excited to get baptized, he told us yesterday that his mom said she wants for him to make his own decisions and if he wants to get baptized then he has to really know that this church is true before he does it. So Toby is doing all he can to find out if it is true! It is so amazing!!! We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation with him and tonight we are going to teach the Gospel and also tithing. I am hoping we can double up on the lessons from now on, teaching 2 at once, that way he will be getting the info he wants, sooner! We are working on getting Shaun prepared for the priesthood, then he can baptize his son, how cool is that?! So ya anyway those are our two progressing investigators.

We also have a few other people we are working with, all of them part member families. One of them has a cool story as to how we found them. Yesterday I was thinking about Rudy and Vanessa and whether we should go over and visit them or not. Well as Sister was saying a prayer as we were about to leave the apartment after dinner she asked that the Lord would guide us to the people we needed to talk to. As soon as she said that, I got the distinct impression that we needed to go see Rudy and Vanessa. SO we went over there and we knocked on the door and Shaun answered. We went in and talked with Shaun and the boys for a minute but Rudy and Vanessa weren't there. So we left feeling a little sad that we had felt impressed to go there and they weren't there. For a second I started doubting the impression, but before we got in the truck to leave I had this thought to go visit the across the street neighbors, the wife is a less active member of the church. SO we wen't over there and their home teachers were there and they finished up their lesson and left us to sit and talk with this couple- the Pattersons. We talked with them and they told us that they needed to quit smoking and read the Book of Mormon. We then asked Doug if he wanted to be baptized, he said he did but he wanted to read the Book of Mormon. So we are going over there tonight to get them started in the BoM and to work on getting Doug ready for baptism. It will be a long process but with the Lord's help it will all happen according to his will. So after we left their house and got back in the truck sister Johnson and I looked at each other and were both just so grateful for that prompting I received. I learned a VERY valuable lesson- sometimes we don't quite understand the meaning of our promptings or they don't work out the way we think we should, but we need to just trust in the Lord and follow them. I am so thankful that I was able to follow the prompting to go to Rudy and Vanessa which ended up being a way for the Lord to get us over to the Pattersons. So neat!!!

Well I want to end this week with a thought I learned from Scritpure Scouts- "Nothing's too hard for the Lord!" It's a song that "Nephi" sings right before he leaves to go get the plates. I have had that song running through my head all week and it sure keeps me going. Especially when we are knocking doors in 105 degree weather and the humidity is so high that everything is sticking to me and giant drops of sweat roll down my face as I contact people on the street. This is the Lord's work and He can do it, I am just his instrument and I will trust in him, "cause nothings too hard for the Lord for the Lord, nothings too hard for the Lord."

Love y'all very much, thanks for all your support!!!!!!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler