Monday, July 27, 2009
Longhorns! Pics for the Week
Have you ever seen a longhorn? Well I have- LOTS of them!!! This week I have some picture proof for ya! They really are pretty cool looking. :)
The Hottest Summer in Texas!
Hey Y’all!!
Another email from your favorite Sister Missionary! :) So first I will give y’all an update on my “wittle teefies” as my mom so lovingly put it, I went to the dentist and he filled another tooth-this one had a cavity of my own making and then one that had developed underneath a filling. Oh geez! So I have one more dentist appointment and then I will hopefully be able to call it quits until I go home and get some insurance- dentistry is expensive!!!! So the day that I went up to San Antonio to go to the dentist, Sister Partridge took us since she was headed up there anyway for a doctor’s apt for her mom. We got to my appointment and then by the time I was done theirs hadn’t even started. So we were gonna be stuck in San Antonio for a few hours without a car. Hmmm, so we put our little missionary heads together and figured out whose area we were in and called those elders. It was the west zone zls and we asked if they had any work we could do. They said, SURE do you want to knock some doors, we said of course! So they came and picked us up and we went to an apartment complex. They knocked two buildings and we knocked two buildings. They found a less active who didn’t have their records here yet and we found two college guys who study religion and we taught them and gave them each a Book of Mormon. SO it was a successful knocking session in San Antonio. So anyway that is my teefies situation.
As for the work- well we’ve been burned A LOT this week!! I am not gonna lie this week has been one of the rougher ones of my mission. Melrose who we set with a date last week avoided us for a few days and then finally when we got a hold of her she said she was going to go ahead and stick with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, since she had been with them so long she couldn’t just drop them now. Sister Johnson was just heartbroken so she stood there in quiet shock- I on the other hand was, well, mad. I looked her in the eyes and said, is this about them or is this about God. She said God, so I said ok, well have you asked Him about this decision? Have you prayed about this? She said no. I said well than I think you had better do that then, considering He is the one that knows everything. Our own logic is nothing, so you better get on your knees and pray- we will be back in a few weeks once you have had a chance to pray. Then I turned and left with Sister Johnson following behind me still in shock. Our other investigators that we had also burned us and we started the week back off at square one. We taught this guy Oscar who Sister Johnson found last Saturday while I was sick at the Swaims. He was way cool and we had an awesome lesson and we set him with a date and the man didn’t come to church yesterday! Geez!!! So we are once again back at the beginning, but honestly as hard as this is I know that it is just gonna make me stronger! We will find someone here in Pleasanton to teach and we will work our butts off till we do!
So as this week was a bit on the difficult side I had a hard time keeping a float, but I discovered something so amazing this week that I have seriously started to devour!! Guess what it is…. It is this super sweet book that was written by prophets in the ancient Americas and it is also known as another testament of Jesus Christ. Any guesses? Yup you got it; it’s the BOOK OF MORMON!!! I don’t know why it has taken me so long to fall in love with this book, but I finally have. I can’t put it down, I find myself trying to sneak reading verses during meetings or comp study and sometimes it’s gotten so bad as having to make sure the book isn’t in front of me when we say prayer cause I will open my eyes and start reading!! Ha ha So what started this love affair you might ask? Well, it was my deep feeling of depression and sadness for the current situation of our area. I was feeling really down and then I read an article in the good old Ensign by Joseph B. Wirthlin about the importance of the Book of Mormon. It hit me HARD!!! I picked up the Book of Mormon and haven’t been able to put it down since. I am so grateful to have a book that brings such peace in my life and can help me to feel my savior close to me. Yesterday I was blessed to have a very neat experience with the Book of Mormon. We were reading a chapter with this Less active lady and her non member husband and we read 2 Nephi chapter one and it was fine and the spirit was there but I felt an urge to read the second chapter as well. So we proceeded and it was such a neat experience for me. If y’all recall the second chapter of second Nephi is all about agency and opposition and the fall of Adam and Eve. It talks about our consequences being a result of our actions. Well this couple that we were reading with have made some very poor choices in their life and are living with the consequences. They are trying to get back onto the right path but keep making bad choices. As we read this chapter it hit them so hard and it brought so much meaning to the chapter for me. I guess it’s kinda hard to explain, but let’s just say I got a firsthand experience in what it would feel like if you were making the choices that will lead you to death and destruction, and now I am making much better choices that will lead me to eternal life and peace. So to see this couple making those same poor choices over and over it was such a neat experience to show them this chapter and have it really sink into them that they needed to think about their actions because they have eternal consequences.
I have a bit of a little “soapbox” for ya’ll if you will. I am taking a page out of Kev’s book for a minute here. So there was a talk last conference by Elder Hales about service and at the very end of it he talked about going to church. He said that sometimes we get stuck in such a rut thinking “what can I get out of church this week” when instead we can realize that when we attend church we have the opportunity to give something to others. Each of us has special talents and abilities and there are people in our wards who need us. I got a personal testimony of this principle yesterday. I was having a rough day, heck I was having a miserable one, and when it came time for relief society I was pretty down in the dumps. Well then as I was sitting there waiting for the class to start in walks my Mama Swaim with a big smile and a giant hug for me! She hadn’t been at church for sacrament and Sunday school (her baby was sick) but she and her husband traded off and she got to come for the last hour. What a blessing that was for me. I needed her more than anything at that moment and I am so grateful that she came to church. During Relief Society she sat by me and I laid my head on her shoulder and just felt loved. Then after the meeting she talked to me a bit about what was going on and then when I told her she was like well, “change your attitude, stop throwing yourself a pity party! I know what it really is- you are upset cause you wanted to be transferred, but guess what you’re still here- you are in Pleasanton, there is a reason behind it, so get to work” It was just the kick in the pants I needed. How grateful I am that Sister Swaim came to church, and how grateful I am for the unselfish service of others. Hopefully we can all realize that going to church isn’t just about us, you’ll never know just whose life you can touch by showing up to church!! Ok end of soapbox. :)
OK well that’s all I have got for you today. I want to thank y’all for the letters and packages. Thanks C and Kilie and Aunt Elaine! Y’all rock!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Another email from your favorite Sister Missionary! :) So first I will give y’all an update on my “wittle teefies” as my mom so lovingly put it, I went to the dentist and he filled another tooth-this one had a cavity of my own making and then one that had developed underneath a filling. Oh geez! So I have one more dentist appointment and then I will hopefully be able to call it quits until I go home and get some insurance- dentistry is expensive!!!! So the day that I went up to San Antonio to go to the dentist, Sister Partridge took us since she was headed up there anyway for a doctor’s apt for her mom. We got to my appointment and then by the time I was done theirs hadn’t even started. So we were gonna be stuck in San Antonio for a few hours without a car. Hmmm, so we put our little missionary heads together and figured out whose area we were in and called those elders. It was the west zone zls and we asked if they had any work we could do. They said, SURE do you want to knock some doors, we said of course! So they came and picked us up and we went to an apartment complex. They knocked two buildings and we knocked two buildings. They found a less active who didn’t have their records here yet and we found two college guys who study religion and we taught them and gave them each a Book of Mormon. SO it was a successful knocking session in San Antonio. So anyway that is my teefies situation.
As for the work- well we’ve been burned A LOT this week!! I am not gonna lie this week has been one of the rougher ones of my mission. Melrose who we set with a date last week avoided us for a few days and then finally when we got a hold of her she said she was going to go ahead and stick with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, since she had been with them so long she couldn’t just drop them now. Sister Johnson was just heartbroken so she stood there in quiet shock- I on the other hand was, well, mad. I looked her in the eyes and said, is this about them or is this about God. She said God, so I said ok, well have you asked Him about this decision? Have you prayed about this? She said no. I said well than I think you had better do that then, considering He is the one that knows everything. Our own logic is nothing, so you better get on your knees and pray- we will be back in a few weeks once you have had a chance to pray. Then I turned and left with Sister Johnson following behind me still in shock. Our other investigators that we had also burned us and we started the week back off at square one. We taught this guy Oscar who Sister Johnson found last Saturday while I was sick at the Swaims. He was way cool and we had an awesome lesson and we set him with a date and the man didn’t come to church yesterday! Geez!!! So we are once again back at the beginning, but honestly as hard as this is I know that it is just gonna make me stronger! We will find someone here in Pleasanton to teach and we will work our butts off till we do!
So as this week was a bit on the difficult side I had a hard time keeping a float, but I discovered something so amazing this week that I have seriously started to devour!! Guess what it is…. It is this super sweet book that was written by prophets in the ancient Americas and it is also known as another testament of Jesus Christ. Any guesses? Yup you got it; it’s the BOOK OF MORMON!!! I don’t know why it has taken me so long to fall in love with this book, but I finally have. I can’t put it down, I find myself trying to sneak reading verses during meetings or comp study and sometimes it’s gotten so bad as having to make sure the book isn’t in front of me when we say prayer cause I will open my eyes and start reading!! Ha ha So what started this love affair you might ask? Well, it was my deep feeling of depression and sadness for the current situation of our area. I was feeling really down and then I read an article in the good old Ensign by Joseph B. Wirthlin about the importance of the Book of Mormon. It hit me HARD!!! I picked up the Book of Mormon and haven’t been able to put it down since. I am so grateful to have a book that brings such peace in my life and can help me to feel my savior close to me. Yesterday I was blessed to have a very neat experience with the Book of Mormon. We were reading a chapter with this Less active lady and her non member husband and we read 2 Nephi chapter one and it was fine and the spirit was there but I felt an urge to read the second chapter as well. So we proceeded and it was such a neat experience for me. If y’all recall the second chapter of second Nephi is all about agency and opposition and the fall of Adam and Eve. It talks about our consequences being a result of our actions. Well this couple that we were reading with have made some very poor choices in their life and are living with the consequences. They are trying to get back onto the right path but keep making bad choices. As we read this chapter it hit them so hard and it brought so much meaning to the chapter for me. I guess it’s kinda hard to explain, but let’s just say I got a firsthand experience in what it would feel like if you were making the choices that will lead you to death and destruction, and now I am making much better choices that will lead me to eternal life and peace. So to see this couple making those same poor choices over and over it was such a neat experience to show them this chapter and have it really sink into them that they needed to think about their actions because they have eternal consequences.
I have a bit of a little “soapbox” for ya’ll if you will. I am taking a page out of Kev’s book for a minute here. So there was a talk last conference by Elder Hales about service and at the very end of it he talked about going to church. He said that sometimes we get stuck in such a rut thinking “what can I get out of church this week” when instead we can realize that when we attend church we have the opportunity to give something to others. Each of us has special talents and abilities and there are people in our wards who need us. I got a personal testimony of this principle yesterday. I was having a rough day, heck I was having a miserable one, and when it came time for relief society I was pretty down in the dumps. Well then as I was sitting there waiting for the class to start in walks my Mama Swaim with a big smile and a giant hug for me! She hadn’t been at church for sacrament and Sunday school (her baby was sick) but she and her husband traded off and she got to come for the last hour. What a blessing that was for me. I needed her more than anything at that moment and I am so grateful that she came to church. During Relief Society she sat by me and I laid my head on her shoulder and just felt loved. Then after the meeting she talked to me a bit about what was going on and then when I told her she was like well, “change your attitude, stop throwing yourself a pity party! I know what it really is- you are upset cause you wanted to be transferred, but guess what you’re still here- you are in Pleasanton, there is a reason behind it, so get to work” It was just the kick in the pants I needed. How grateful I am that Sister Swaim came to church, and how grateful I am for the unselfish service of others. Hopefully we can all realize that going to church isn’t just about us, you’ll never know just whose life you can touch by showing up to church!! Ok end of soapbox. :)
OK well that’s all I have got for you today. I want to thank y’all for the letters and packages. Thanks C and Kilie and Aunt Elaine! Y’all rock!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Lots of Pictures from Pleasanton
So- to show our appreciation to the Swaims for all that they have done for us we made them this super awesome superman cake!!! It took a lot of time and effort but they loved it!
This is us with the Swaim boys, if you can look closely they were a bit anxious to eat the cake and some of the frosting happens to have disappeared! lol From oldest to youngest- Barrett (7) , Marshall (4) and Walker (1) oh and Brother Swaim is chilling in the background ha ha!
At the San Antonio Temple with Sister Johnson
Next- Sisters!!! What a fun Dinner. We went to a really yummy Italian place and I hardly ate cause we just talked the whole time, we were so excited to see each other!!!!! Me, Byrne, Davenport, Johnson
We went to Fat Cowboy's yesterday for lunch and Sister Johnson wanted to take a picture with the FAT COWBOY! ha ha
We taught Shaun's boys the other night and we had a lesson about prayer. We did a fun activity where we went on a field trip to find cool rocks and then we came back and painted them and made them prayer rocks. The boys loved it!!! Left to right -Toby (10) Billy Boy (6) Mallory (7)
The last pic was on P-day last week, we walked around downtown Floresville and took some pics.
This is us with the Swaim boys, if you can look closely they were a bit anxious to eat the cake and some of the frosting happens to have disappeared! lol From oldest to youngest- Barrett (7) , Marshall (4) and Walker (1) oh and Brother Swaim is chilling in the background ha ha!
At the San Antonio Temple with Sister Johnson
Next- Sisters!!! What a fun Dinner. We went to a really yummy Italian place and I hardly ate cause we just talked the whole time, we were so excited to see each other!!!!! Me, Byrne, Davenport, Johnson
We went to Fat Cowboy's yesterday for lunch and Sister Johnson wanted to take a picture with the FAT COWBOY! ha ha
We taught Shaun's boys the other night and we had a lesson about prayer. We did a fun activity where we went on a field trip to find cool rocks and then we came back and painted them and made them prayer rocks. The boys loved it!!! Left to right -Toby (10) Billy Boy (6) Mallory (7)
The last pic was on P-day last week, we walked around downtown Floresville and took some pics.
My Teeth Week
Hey Ya'll!!!
Lots to talk about today- I’d say that it’s been a bit of a busy week, so I’ve got four sub categories of my letter for ya'll. So enjoy my craziness!
TRANSFERS
Well we got our transfer call last night and I honestly thought that I would be going. I was getting pretty burnt out of Pleasanton and ready for a change. Well it turns out that the Lord has something else in mind for me, cause we got the call- Sister Johnson and I are staying together in Pleasanton for another transfer. In other transfer news, Sister Dodge is training in Windcrest. This will be her 4th transfer there, but she is excited to train and I know she’ll do great! So ya not much else exciting happening with transfers- we’ll be getting a new district leader but that’s about it! So my whole summer will be spent in Pleasanton, ha ha goody!
TEMPLE
This week we went to the San Antonio temple to do a session! It was so great to get to go up there and just feel totally at peace. Sister Swaim came with us and drove us up. We went to the distribution center and the church bookstore that is across the street- seriously we are like kids in a candy store at that place!! Lol So fun and so many things that we could use! Then when we got up to the temple we went in and guess who else was there- Sister Dodge and her comp! It was so great to see her. After the session we sat and talked for like half an hour and it was so great. We were able to talk about all the experiences we have had since our transfers together and all of the amazing ways we have both grown. It was really neat to talk with her and realize how much we needed each other and why the Lord put us together as companions. At the time we were serving together we could have killed each other, but now we are best friends and we treasure that time that we had together and all the things that we learned from one another. After our temple session Sister Swaim took us out to dinner and we were in the Encino Park area where my good buddy Sister Byrne is serving and her companion is Sister Johnson’s trainer, Sister Davenport. We were like man, it would be fun if they came and joined us. Sister Swaim told us to call and invite them, so we did! It was a BLAST!!!! Such a pick me up to spend time with my good buddy Sister Byrne!!! So ya our temple trip this transfer was AWESOME!
MY TEETH
This week was consumed with my teeth!! On Tuesday morning when I woke up to get ready to go to the temple I had an insane pain in my mouth. I thought it might be from the tooth that I noticed a few days before that had a filling missing. But the pain was in a different place. So I popped some ibuprofen and called it good. Throughout the day I kept taking ibuprofen and at one point Sister Swaim asked me how many I had taken in total- umm well, she didn’t like the answer. Apparently I had overdosed a lot! Whoops. So when I woke up the next morning and was still in pain Sister Swaim was concerned. I told her that after transfers we could take care of it and Sister Cutler would help me figure it out. Well Sister Swaim being the amazing woman that she is decided that something needed to be done about my teeth sooner! So she called around, found a Mormon dentist and made sure that I would get a discount (since we don’t have dental insurance) and then got me an appointment for the very next morning. She called around and found a member to take us there (it was all the way in San Antonio) and got the doctor to call me in a prescription for pain killers. So the next morning I went to the dentist- Dr. Lunt, he took one look at my mouth and was like, whoa! Apparently what I thought was a missing filling was actually a tooth full of decay. I had never even had a filling in that tooth but it decayed so bad that it made a hole all the way down almost at the root. I was just days away from having to have a root canal, but he caught it just in time. He fixed that tooth and said I had about 4 other cavities that are DEEP and some other decay as well. He questioned the education of my dentist prior to my mission because he thinks some of these cavities were there before I left. So anyway he called in an antibiotic for me to take along with the pain killer and said that the pain might very well explode on me this week, but he set me up for another appointment which is tomorrow. Well I took my pain killers cause the pain did explode, but the problem was the pain killers made me really drowsy and totally made me out of it. So when we got back from the dentist I called up Sister Swaim. She said I could go lay on her couch all day and she would take care of me and we got another member to go out on exchanges with Sister Johnson. So my mama Swaim took care of me all day Thursday and then again all day on Saturday. I haven’t been able to do much missionary work, but Sister Johnson has gotten a lot done! The moral to this whole story is, one make sure you have a good dentist, two make sure you FLOSS your teeth- not just brush, and three the Lord sends us angels when we need them. Mama Swaim was totally an angel that the Lord sent to me; she has been such a tender mercy in my life. You know how when you’re sick and you just feel crummy, all you want is your mommy; well that is how I felt this week. I wanted my mommy but I couldn’t have her, so the Lord sent me the next best thing, he sent me my Mama Swaim. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for always looking out for me and sending me these angels to help me out in my life and make me feel loved.
NEW INVESTIGATORS
Despite my teeth issues, the work has been able to progress here in Pleasanton. Sister Johnson did a lot of finding and when I was able to, I helped a bit too. We have three investigators right now who are pretty cool! One of which is a bit of a miracle story. Saturday night Sister Johnson was able to get Vanessa to go out and knock doors with her while I stayed at the Swaims. Before they left I told Sister Johnson to remember that we needed to set someone with a baptismal date. Our zone leaders gave us all a challenge to set one more person with a date by Sunday the 19th. So we hadn’t found anyone to set yet, I told Sister Johnson I would be praying for her. She laughed and was like ok, I’ll try. Well she came back to get me late Saturday night with a big old smile on her face! They found someone and set them with a date for the end of August! It was way sweet. I got to meet her yesterday, her name is Melrose and she is pretty cool. She has been meeting with the Jehovah’s Witness’s for years so when we taught her she was getting confused, which religion is right. But then we asked her about how she felt when she read out of the Book of Mormon or when we taught her. She answered that she feels amazing, goose bumps, warmth etc etc. Sister Johnson then asked if she ever felt like that with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. She said no. We were like, whoa well there’s your answer. SO ya that is pretty cool! She loves the Book of Mormon, we went over the day after Sister Johnson had given it to her and she was already on 1 Nephi chapter 16!!! So sweet! We also have a lady we are working with named Patricia who is pretty cool, we have taught her 3 times now and tonight we are going over to get her started on the stop smoking program. We are also teaching a lady named Pricilla and her 10 yr old daughter Sabrina. So ya we have a lot of stuff going on in Pleasanton.
Alright well now you know all that is going on with me and my area, I hope y’all have an awesome week and write me soon!! I have had a pretty empty mailbox lately and when you are in pain lying in bed a letter sure could cheer ya up, you know?
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Lots to talk about today- I’d say that it’s been a bit of a busy week, so I’ve got four sub categories of my letter for ya'll. So enjoy my craziness!
TRANSFERS
Well we got our transfer call last night and I honestly thought that I would be going. I was getting pretty burnt out of Pleasanton and ready for a change. Well it turns out that the Lord has something else in mind for me, cause we got the call- Sister Johnson and I are staying together in Pleasanton for another transfer. In other transfer news, Sister Dodge is training in Windcrest. This will be her 4th transfer there, but she is excited to train and I know she’ll do great! So ya not much else exciting happening with transfers- we’ll be getting a new district leader but that’s about it! So my whole summer will be spent in Pleasanton, ha ha goody!
TEMPLE
This week we went to the San Antonio temple to do a session! It was so great to get to go up there and just feel totally at peace. Sister Swaim came with us and drove us up. We went to the distribution center and the church bookstore that is across the street- seriously we are like kids in a candy store at that place!! Lol So fun and so many things that we could use! Then when we got up to the temple we went in and guess who else was there- Sister Dodge and her comp! It was so great to see her. After the session we sat and talked for like half an hour and it was so great. We were able to talk about all the experiences we have had since our transfers together and all of the amazing ways we have both grown. It was really neat to talk with her and realize how much we needed each other and why the Lord put us together as companions. At the time we were serving together we could have killed each other, but now we are best friends and we treasure that time that we had together and all the things that we learned from one another. After our temple session Sister Swaim took us out to dinner and we were in the Encino Park area where my good buddy Sister Byrne is serving and her companion is Sister Johnson’s trainer, Sister Davenport. We were like man, it would be fun if they came and joined us. Sister Swaim told us to call and invite them, so we did! It was a BLAST!!!! Such a pick me up to spend time with my good buddy Sister Byrne!!! So ya our temple trip this transfer was AWESOME!
MY TEETH
This week was consumed with my teeth!! On Tuesday morning when I woke up to get ready to go to the temple I had an insane pain in my mouth. I thought it might be from the tooth that I noticed a few days before that had a filling missing. But the pain was in a different place. So I popped some ibuprofen and called it good. Throughout the day I kept taking ibuprofen and at one point Sister Swaim asked me how many I had taken in total- umm well, she didn’t like the answer. Apparently I had overdosed a lot! Whoops. So when I woke up the next morning and was still in pain Sister Swaim was concerned. I told her that after transfers we could take care of it and Sister Cutler would help me figure it out. Well Sister Swaim being the amazing woman that she is decided that something needed to be done about my teeth sooner! So she called around, found a Mormon dentist and made sure that I would get a discount (since we don’t have dental insurance) and then got me an appointment for the very next morning. She called around and found a member to take us there (it was all the way in San Antonio) and got the doctor to call me in a prescription for pain killers. So the next morning I went to the dentist- Dr. Lunt, he took one look at my mouth and was like, whoa! Apparently what I thought was a missing filling was actually a tooth full of decay. I had never even had a filling in that tooth but it decayed so bad that it made a hole all the way down almost at the root. I was just days away from having to have a root canal, but he caught it just in time. He fixed that tooth and said I had about 4 other cavities that are DEEP and some other decay as well. He questioned the education of my dentist prior to my mission because he thinks some of these cavities were there before I left. So anyway he called in an antibiotic for me to take along with the pain killer and said that the pain might very well explode on me this week, but he set me up for another appointment which is tomorrow. Well I took my pain killers cause the pain did explode, but the problem was the pain killers made me really drowsy and totally made me out of it. So when we got back from the dentist I called up Sister Swaim. She said I could go lay on her couch all day and she would take care of me and we got another member to go out on exchanges with Sister Johnson. So my mama Swaim took care of me all day Thursday and then again all day on Saturday. I haven’t been able to do much missionary work, but Sister Johnson has gotten a lot done! The moral to this whole story is, one make sure you have a good dentist, two make sure you FLOSS your teeth- not just brush, and three the Lord sends us angels when we need them. Mama Swaim was totally an angel that the Lord sent to me; she has been such a tender mercy in my life. You know how when you’re sick and you just feel crummy, all you want is your mommy; well that is how I felt this week. I wanted my mommy but I couldn’t have her, so the Lord sent me the next best thing, he sent me my Mama Swaim. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for always looking out for me and sending me these angels to help me out in my life and make me feel loved.
NEW INVESTIGATORS
Despite my teeth issues, the work has been able to progress here in Pleasanton. Sister Johnson did a lot of finding and when I was able to, I helped a bit too. We have three investigators right now who are pretty cool! One of which is a bit of a miracle story. Saturday night Sister Johnson was able to get Vanessa to go out and knock doors with her while I stayed at the Swaims. Before they left I told Sister Johnson to remember that we needed to set someone with a baptismal date. Our zone leaders gave us all a challenge to set one more person with a date by Sunday the 19th. So we hadn’t found anyone to set yet, I told Sister Johnson I would be praying for her. She laughed and was like ok, I’ll try. Well she came back to get me late Saturday night with a big old smile on her face! They found someone and set them with a date for the end of August! It was way sweet. I got to meet her yesterday, her name is Melrose and she is pretty cool. She has been meeting with the Jehovah’s Witness’s for years so when we taught her she was getting confused, which religion is right. But then we asked her about how she felt when she read out of the Book of Mormon or when we taught her. She answered that she feels amazing, goose bumps, warmth etc etc. Sister Johnson then asked if she ever felt like that with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. She said no. We were like, whoa well there’s your answer. SO ya that is pretty cool! She loves the Book of Mormon, we went over the day after Sister Johnson had given it to her and she was already on 1 Nephi chapter 16!!! So sweet! We also have a lady we are working with named Patricia who is pretty cool, we have taught her 3 times now and tonight we are going over to get her started on the stop smoking program. We are also teaching a lady named Pricilla and her 10 yr old daughter Sabrina. So ya we have a lot of stuff going on in Pleasanton.
Alright well now you know all that is going on with me and my area, I hope y’all have an awesome week and write me soon!! I have had a pretty empty mailbox lately and when you are in pain lying in bed a letter sure could cheer ya up, you know?
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Friday, July 17, 2009
All Done Baptizing, Now Back to Finding!!
Hey Y’all!!
Wow I am floating on super high clouds right now!!! I just got finished reading all the super sweet emails from my family!! I love y’all so much- hearing from y’all every week makes my day and it makes me smile! I am pretty darn blessed- that’s for sure!! Well, we had a great week and things just keep on rock’n in the life of this sister missionary! We had Toby’s baptism yesterday and that was cool. This week we also have been doing a lot of finding cause our teaching pool has dried up! Ha ha We baptized them all!!! So now it’s back to finding mode which is the hardest- but it also builds the most character.
So I don’t really feel like I have too much to say about this week. I spent most of my afternoon Wednesday trying to take care of my speeding ticket. I ended up driving all around San Antonio and it was a mess- but it is over. I paid a chunk of money and got my ticket deferred, so now if I don’t get a ticket for the next 90 days then my speeding ticket will disappear and not go on my record. If I do get another ticket, well then I am in trouble. So I called President and asked if we could switch the designated driver from me to Sister Johnson, that way there is no way I can get a ticket, cause I won’t be driving! Ha ha So he said yes and now for the next 90 days I have red dotted myself (aka I made it so I am not allowed to drive). Also that same night while Sister Johnson and I were planning I was sitting on the edge of our coffee table that is made of wood but has four glass inserts and well, all of the sudden I heard a loud crack and so I jumped up and looked down, and sure enough my big fat butt cracked the glass!!! So right then and there I told Sister Johnson, I have got to lose some weight!!! She said ok, were gonna go on a no sugar diet! I was like woah, wait a sec!!! That would mean, no big red soda, no blue bell ice cream and no wal mart bakery cupcakes!!! She was like, well, look at the glass! Ha ha I was like ok, your right! So for the next 90 days not only am I not driving, but I am not eating sugar. So all of you amazing people out there who send me packages, please refrain from tempting my will power by sending me sugar! Thanks!!!! We de-sugared our house on Saturday, we took 4 bags full of food to a needy family in our ward, they were appreciative. So now it begins, not only am I not eating sugar- but I am running in the mornings too. I will be pretty fit when I come home- I hope! Ha ha :) So on to spiritual things. We had a cool New Member Lesson on Wednesday night. We asked a guy in our ward to teach on Follow the Prophet and he ended up teaching a little bit on that and then getting off onto talking about the atonement. It was perfect!!! Totally what they all needed to hear! The spirit guided that one for sure!
Well y’all sorry this is short, but it’s sweet, right? Lol Things are going well we are tracting a lot in the heat which is never fun but proves just how dedicated we are to the Lord’s work! :) Transfers are next week, so I will be emailing on Tuesday and then y’all will know what is happening with me!
I love y’all mucho and appreciate your support!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
PS thanks Jennie for being the only one to send me any mail this week. And thanks Moran for the Congrats card last week, you are the best Madre ever! :)
Wow I am floating on super high clouds right now!!! I just got finished reading all the super sweet emails from my family!! I love y’all so much- hearing from y’all every week makes my day and it makes me smile! I am pretty darn blessed- that’s for sure!! Well, we had a great week and things just keep on rock’n in the life of this sister missionary! We had Toby’s baptism yesterday and that was cool. This week we also have been doing a lot of finding cause our teaching pool has dried up! Ha ha We baptized them all!!! So now it’s back to finding mode which is the hardest- but it also builds the most character.
So I don’t really feel like I have too much to say about this week. I spent most of my afternoon Wednesday trying to take care of my speeding ticket. I ended up driving all around San Antonio and it was a mess- but it is over. I paid a chunk of money and got my ticket deferred, so now if I don’t get a ticket for the next 90 days then my speeding ticket will disappear and not go on my record. If I do get another ticket, well then I am in trouble. So I called President and asked if we could switch the designated driver from me to Sister Johnson, that way there is no way I can get a ticket, cause I won’t be driving! Ha ha So he said yes and now for the next 90 days I have red dotted myself (aka I made it so I am not allowed to drive). Also that same night while Sister Johnson and I were planning I was sitting on the edge of our coffee table that is made of wood but has four glass inserts and well, all of the sudden I heard a loud crack and so I jumped up and looked down, and sure enough my big fat butt cracked the glass!!! So right then and there I told Sister Johnson, I have got to lose some weight!!! She said ok, were gonna go on a no sugar diet! I was like woah, wait a sec!!! That would mean, no big red soda, no blue bell ice cream and no wal mart bakery cupcakes!!! She was like, well, look at the glass! Ha ha I was like ok, your right! So for the next 90 days not only am I not driving, but I am not eating sugar. So all of you amazing people out there who send me packages, please refrain from tempting my will power by sending me sugar! Thanks!!!! We de-sugared our house on Saturday, we took 4 bags full of food to a needy family in our ward, they were appreciative. So now it begins, not only am I not eating sugar- but I am running in the mornings too. I will be pretty fit when I come home- I hope! Ha ha :) So on to spiritual things. We had a cool New Member Lesson on Wednesday night. We asked a guy in our ward to teach on Follow the Prophet and he ended up teaching a little bit on that and then getting off onto talking about the atonement. It was perfect!!! Totally what they all needed to hear! The spirit guided that one for sure!
Well y’all sorry this is short, but it’s sweet, right? Lol Things are going well we are tracting a lot in the heat which is never fun but proves just how dedicated we are to the Lord’s work! :) Transfers are next week, so I will be emailing on Tuesday and then y’all will know what is happening with me!
I love y’all mucho and appreciate your support!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
PS thanks Jennie for being the only one to send me any mail this week. And thanks Moran for the Congrats card last week, you are the best Madre ever! :)
Monday, July 6, 2009
Happy day, happy pics!
I love this pic- it's pretty much the three happiest girls I have ever seen in a picture! lol :)
This is us all in white! hee hee. Sis Johnson, Brother Swaim (with his baby boy Walker, love the boots btw), Clarissa, and me! Happy Day!!!!!
Next is us asfter the baptism with Clarissa her two boys, Aaron (4) Emerick (11 months) and Gary's parents. Her boyfriend Gary didn't come, but his parents did. They are awesome!! We are working on getting them to let us teach them. :)
Fireworks!!!
The Partridge family -Sister Fallon Partridge, Brother James Partridge and their little boy Vance. They had us over for a bbq and took us to Jourdanton to see the fireworks at the city park! It was a fun little small town production, totally different from what I am used to. I liked it!
I love my John Deere!!!!!
We took this pic when we were over at Vanessa's and so it's Vanessa, her baby, then Aaron, Clarissa and Emerick, another one of Vanessa's kids (I am covering her with my big head) two more of Vanessa's kids, Raymond and then Sis Johnson and Me! :)
This is us all in white! hee hee. Sis Johnson, Brother Swaim (with his baby boy Walker, love the boots btw), Clarissa, and me! Happy Day!!!!!
Next is us asfter the baptism with Clarissa her two boys, Aaron (4) Emerick (11 months) and Gary's parents. Her boyfriend Gary didn't come, but his parents did. They are awesome!! We are working on getting them to let us teach them. :)
Fireworks!!!
The Partridge family -Sister Fallon Partridge, Brother James Partridge and their little boy Vance. They had us over for a bbq and took us to Jourdanton to see the fireworks at the city park! It was a fun little small town production, totally different from what I am used to. I liked it!
I love my John Deere!!!!!
We took this pic when we were over at Vanessa's and so it's Vanessa, her baby, then Aaron, Clarissa and Emerick, another one of Vanessa's kids (I am covering her with my big head) two more of Vanessa's kids, Raymond and then Sis Johnson and Me! :)
My First Baptism!
Hey Ya'll!!!
Wow what a week! Oh how I love being a missionary!!!! So first off I am sure y'all are dying to hear about the BAPTISM!!! Well, like I said last week- the week before the baptism is a killer- and we sadly had a casualty. Toby did not get baptized yesterday. His mom talked to Shaun on Thursday and said she just didn't feel Toby was ready. Well that didn't go over well with Toby- he told his mom how badly he wants to be baptized and why he wants to be baptized. Well we got a phone call late Thursday night saying that Toby's mom gave permission for Toby to be baptized next Sunday as long as Shaun doesn't perform the baptism. So sadly we have to play by her rules because technically Shaun has no rights over Toby- he's not really his kid. Shaun married Toby's mom while she was pregnant with Toby so Shaun raised him, but legally he is not his dad, his real dad died. So anyway all is well though because Toby will be getting baptized on Sunday the 12th.
But now onto the exciting part... CLARISSA GOT BAPTIZED!!! Woot Woot! It was so amazing,the poor girl cried all day long. :) Throughout the baptism she was just in steady tears. After she came up out of the water, Sister Johnson and I were standing there with a towel and she gave us big wet hugs with the biggest smile on her face! I loved it! I asked her how she felt and she said "CLEAN!!" Oh man what a day that was for me. The coolest part though was when we were sitting there listening to the Baptism talk and my mind started wandering, we had a tv set up that we used for while Clarissa was changing, and so I was staring at it and I saw my reflection. As I look at my reflection, a 22 year old girl with a white shirt and a black name tag sitting next to a smiling girl in a white jumpsuit I flashed back to my own baptism. I remembered myself sitting in the front row smiling all big with my daddy sitting next tome in a white jumpsuit. I thought about what that little 8 year old girl would have said had she have known how things would have turned out. Me sitting there witnessing a baptism of another special soul who I HELPED to come unto Christ. How special this all really is!!! I am so grateful that I was given the privilege of having such a hard mission and having to wait 11 months to have a baptism. I appreciate that sacred ordinance of baptism so much more now than I would have had I gotten on my mission and right away started baptizing. I also learned avery powerful lesson as I struggled through the first 10 months of my mission trying so hard to help someone towards baptism. -THIS IS THE LORD'S WORK!!!- Without him, well it's not possible. In order to help bring His children unto the waters of baptism I have to forget myself completely. I wasn't able to do that when I first came on my mission but through my trials and struggles I have grown!!!! What a blessing it was for me to help Clarissa to be baptized- she was the person I was sent to Pleasanton to teach- I know it!!! There is a purpose for everything here in the world- a learning opportunity at every turn and I am so grateful that I am able to begin to recognize the lessons that I have learned and the reasons the Lord has put certain people and situations in my path. So some of you might recall me telling you that my mission president told me that he sent me here to Pleasanton with a purpose. There was a reason I am here, he didn't know what it was, but he felt so strongly that this was where I was supposed to be. He also told me that I would learn things here in Pleasanton that would help me for the rest of my life, once again he didn't know what it was but he felt strongly about it. This week I saw this all come true!!! Not only in the baptism of Clarissa, but also in a series of experiences that I have had these past two transfers all culminating in an experience that I had this weekend.
The biggest and most amazing lesson I have learned here in Pleasanton is how to recognize the promptings of the spirit. Someone once asked me, "can you tell the difference between your own thoughts and the spirit?" At the time I had to answer, no. Because I honestly couldn't, but now I can and it is the most amazing blessing that my Father in Heaven has given me as a result of serving a faithful mission. This weekend we were up in Floresville and late in the afternoon I started getting a real bad feeling but I didn't know why. The day progressed and turned to evening and we ended up driving back to Pleasanton to have dinner at our apartment. As we were eating dinner this feeling came to me that we needed to go see Clarissa, this feeling pushed the bad feeling out of me that had been with me since late afternoon and I knew that this prompting to see Clarissa was from the spirit. I was really confused because we had talked to Clarissa earlier in the day and she was fine. But there was no doubt in my mind that this was a prompting and so I faithfully decided that we needed to stop by Clarissa's house. I then began thinking about what to teach her or share with her- another thought popped into my mind, Sister Johnson's song. Well my companion Sister Johnson likes to write songs on my guitar and recently she changed the words to an old country song and it turned out really cool and pretty spiritual and so I asked her if she wouldn't mind bringing my guitar and playing this song for Clarissa. She said ya no problem. So just as I was locking the door to leave the apartment Sister Johnson ran back in real quick and grabbed a paper. I asked her what it was- it was a talk she had asked Sister Partridge to print out the day before and it was about marriage and the Law of Chastity. I asked her why she brought that, she told me that she felt avery strong prompting that she was supposed to bring it. So off we went to Clarissa's with a spiritual cowboy song, my guitar and a ten page talk on Chastity by Jeffery R. Holland. We pulled up to Clarissa's house and her car wasn't there, I got a thought in my head automatically that was a whispering from the spirit -go to Vanessa's- so I listened. I drove to Vanessa's house (Clarissa's member friend who introduced her to the gospel) and sure enough Clarissa's car was there. So we grabbed the talk and the guitar and went to the house. They let us in and all gathered 'round as I explained that we had no idea why we were there but the spirit had told us to come. Vanessa, Raymond and Clarissa were all there with big smiles on their faces and invited us to proceed. We had a prayer and then Sister Johnson sang her song. The spirit was very strong and afterwards we ended up having a mini testimony meeting where everyone including Raymond and Clarissa who were both investigators, bore their testimonies! It was awesome. I then got another prompting that we weren't done yet, we needed to stay longer. So I asked if they wanted to sing a hymn with us. They said yes and we got our hymn booksout of the truck. After singing "I know that my redeemer lives" and having a closing prayer by Clarissa we were still prompted to stay put. Then Vanessa said something- she said, we actually wanted to talk to ya'll. We were like ok cool, what's up. Vanessa then told us about how they had been praying about what they can do to improve their situation and make it so that Raymond can get baptized and things have fallen into their laps in a way that Raymond could move out and they could break up and he could get baptized. They asked us a few questions about the situation and then asked if it would be possible. We said we'd have to ask president because honestly they have little kids together and they want to be together it just wouldn't be right to break them up so that Ray could get baptized but not be living with his family. They need to just work on getting their divorces taken care of and then get married to each other and then Ray can get baptized. But I wasn't quite sure what to say to help them with all of this and so I looked at Sister Johnson and she had this crazy look on her face and then it clicked- the talk!!! So I said "ok Sister Johnson has something to say now!" So she gave them the talk and told them to read it and pray about it. We left and got into our truck and offered a prayer of thanks to our father in heaven for helping us to be lead by the spirit. The whole thing was an amazing experience and I learned that I do know what the spirit feels like when I am being prompted and that if I listen right away without hesitating, amazing things can happen!!!
Alright well ya'll thanks for always being there for me! I am learning so much on my mission and continually growing. I am so grateful to beout here serving in the Mighty TSAM!! I miss ya'll tons but the experiences I am having and the lessons I am learning are life changing and I wouldn't give them up for anything!!!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Wow what a week! Oh how I love being a missionary!!!! So first off I am sure y'all are dying to hear about the BAPTISM!!! Well, like I said last week- the week before the baptism is a killer- and we sadly had a casualty. Toby did not get baptized yesterday. His mom talked to Shaun on Thursday and said she just didn't feel Toby was ready. Well that didn't go over well with Toby- he told his mom how badly he wants to be baptized and why he wants to be baptized. Well we got a phone call late Thursday night saying that Toby's mom gave permission for Toby to be baptized next Sunday as long as Shaun doesn't perform the baptism. So sadly we have to play by her rules because technically Shaun has no rights over Toby- he's not really his kid. Shaun married Toby's mom while she was pregnant with Toby so Shaun raised him, but legally he is not his dad, his real dad died. So anyway all is well though because Toby will be getting baptized on Sunday the 12th.
But now onto the exciting part... CLARISSA GOT BAPTIZED!!! Woot Woot! It was so amazing,the poor girl cried all day long. :) Throughout the baptism she was just in steady tears. After she came up out of the water, Sister Johnson and I were standing there with a towel and she gave us big wet hugs with the biggest smile on her face! I loved it! I asked her how she felt and she said "CLEAN!!" Oh man what a day that was for me. The coolest part though was when we were sitting there listening to the Baptism talk and my mind started wandering, we had a tv set up that we used for while Clarissa was changing, and so I was staring at it and I saw my reflection. As I look at my reflection, a 22 year old girl with a white shirt and a black name tag sitting next to a smiling girl in a white jumpsuit I flashed back to my own baptism. I remembered myself sitting in the front row smiling all big with my daddy sitting next tome in a white jumpsuit. I thought about what that little 8 year old girl would have said had she have known how things would have turned out. Me sitting there witnessing a baptism of another special soul who I HELPED to come unto Christ. How special this all really is!!! I am so grateful that I was given the privilege of having such a hard mission and having to wait 11 months to have a baptism. I appreciate that sacred ordinance of baptism so much more now than I would have had I gotten on my mission and right away started baptizing. I also learned avery powerful lesson as I struggled through the first 10 months of my mission trying so hard to help someone towards baptism. -THIS IS THE LORD'S WORK!!!- Without him, well it's not possible. In order to help bring His children unto the waters of baptism I have to forget myself completely. I wasn't able to do that when I first came on my mission but through my trials and struggles I have grown!!!! What a blessing it was for me to help Clarissa to be baptized- she was the person I was sent to Pleasanton to teach- I know it!!! There is a purpose for everything here in the world- a learning opportunity at every turn and I am so grateful that I am able to begin to recognize the lessons that I have learned and the reasons the Lord has put certain people and situations in my path. So some of you might recall me telling you that my mission president told me that he sent me here to Pleasanton with a purpose. There was a reason I am here, he didn't know what it was, but he felt so strongly that this was where I was supposed to be. He also told me that I would learn things here in Pleasanton that would help me for the rest of my life, once again he didn't know what it was but he felt strongly about it. This week I saw this all come true!!! Not only in the baptism of Clarissa, but also in a series of experiences that I have had these past two transfers all culminating in an experience that I had this weekend.
The biggest and most amazing lesson I have learned here in Pleasanton is how to recognize the promptings of the spirit. Someone once asked me, "can you tell the difference between your own thoughts and the spirit?" At the time I had to answer, no. Because I honestly couldn't, but now I can and it is the most amazing blessing that my Father in Heaven has given me as a result of serving a faithful mission. This weekend we were up in Floresville and late in the afternoon I started getting a real bad feeling but I didn't know why. The day progressed and turned to evening and we ended up driving back to Pleasanton to have dinner at our apartment. As we were eating dinner this feeling came to me that we needed to go see Clarissa, this feeling pushed the bad feeling out of me that had been with me since late afternoon and I knew that this prompting to see Clarissa was from the spirit. I was really confused because we had talked to Clarissa earlier in the day and she was fine. But there was no doubt in my mind that this was a prompting and so I faithfully decided that we needed to stop by Clarissa's house. I then began thinking about what to teach her or share with her- another thought popped into my mind, Sister Johnson's song. Well my companion Sister Johnson likes to write songs on my guitar and recently she changed the words to an old country song and it turned out really cool and pretty spiritual and so I asked her if she wouldn't mind bringing my guitar and playing this song for Clarissa. She said ya no problem. So just as I was locking the door to leave the apartment Sister Johnson ran back in real quick and grabbed a paper. I asked her what it was- it was a talk she had asked Sister Partridge to print out the day before and it was about marriage and the Law of Chastity. I asked her why she brought that, she told me that she felt avery strong prompting that she was supposed to bring it. So off we went to Clarissa's with a spiritual cowboy song, my guitar and a ten page talk on Chastity by Jeffery R. Holland. We pulled up to Clarissa's house and her car wasn't there, I got a thought in my head automatically that was a whispering from the spirit -go to Vanessa's- so I listened. I drove to Vanessa's house (Clarissa's member friend who introduced her to the gospel) and sure enough Clarissa's car was there. So we grabbed the talk and the guitar and went to the house. They let us in and all gathered 'round as I explained that we had no idea why we were there but the spirit had told us to come. Vanessa, Raymond and Clarissa were all there with big smiles on their faces and invited us to proceed. We had a prayer and then Sister Johnson sang her song. The spirit was very strong and afterwards we ended up having a mini testimony meeting where everyone including Raymond and Clarissa who were both investigators, bore their testimonies! It was awesome. I then got another prompting that we weren't done yet, we needed to stay longer. So I asked if they wanted to sing a hymn with us. They said yes and we got our hymn booksout of the truck. After singing "I know that my redeemer lives" and having a closing prayer by Clarissa we were still prompted to stay put. Then Vanessa said something- she said, we actually wanted to talk to ya'll. We were like ok cool, what's up. Vanessa then told us about how they had been praying about what they can do to improve their situation and make it so that Raymond can get baptized and things have fallen into their laps in a way that Raymond could move out and they could break up and he could get baptized. They asked us a few questions about the situation and then asked if it would be possible. We said we'd have to ask president because honestly they have little kids together and they want to be together it just wouldn't be right to break them up so that Ray could get baptized but not be living with his family. They need to just work on getting their divorces taken care of and then get married to each other and then Ray can get baptized. But I wasn't quite sure what to say to help them with all of this and so I looked at Sister Johnson and she had this crazy look on her face and then it clicked- the talk!!! So I said "ok Sister Johnson has something to say now!" So she gave them the talk and told them to read it and pray about it. We left and got into our truck and offered a prayer of thanks to our father in heaven for helping us to be lead by the spirit. The whole thing was an amazing experience and I learned that I do know what the spirit feels like when I am being prompted and that if I listen right away without hesitating, amazing things can happen!!!
Alright well ya'll thanks for always being there for me! I am learning so much on my mission and continually growing. I am so grateful to beout here serving in the Mighty TSAM!! I miss ya'll tons but the experiences I am having and the lessons I am learning are life changing and I wouldn't give them up for anything!!!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
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