Hello to all of Sister Kleisler’s family and friends.
This is Sister Johnson, her companion. I’ve decided to write her group email today. It was a surprise for me that we were going to be comps again. Sister Kleisler does this thing on transfer night where she calls up all the sisters and finds out if they are getting transferred or not. She creates a transfer tree and then by logical deduction she calculates where everyone is getting transferred to and who their companions will be and so forth. She’s usually pretty accurate. So she calls me and Sister Dodge down in Pleasanton and I tell her I’m getting transferred and then I asked her if she knew who my new companion was going to be. She totally knew we were going to be companions again, but of course she wasn’t going to ruin the surprise, “Oh…I think you’re going with Sister Byrne. Yep, she needs a companion so I’m pretty sure that who you’re going with.” So then for the rest of the time before transfers I thought that I was going to be sister Byrne’s companion and I told everyone that because rarely is Sister Kleisler wrong…So the day of transfers comes…AND…Sister Dodge is super sick—I mean super sick. So we ended up missing the transfer meeting because there was no way we were going to get up to transfer meeting which is an hour away by 8am in the morning. Nope, not going to happen. So we sat at home and waited to go up for the 2nd transfer meeting when Sister Dodge’s companion would be coming down from Austin. So there Sister Kleisler is at transfer meeting and she knows she’s getting me, but I’m no where to be found. The AP’s do the call outs, “And in the Encino Park area we have Sister Kleisler AND……………” AP’s always have to add in this dramatic pause so Sister Kleisler broke the suspense and said, “She’s not here.” I can just see Elder Delio’s jaw drop, “How do you know who your companion is? You always know!” “Yep.”
So Sister Kleisler had to wait for me until 3pm when the next transfer meeting would be. The only problem being that all the Sisters left so she was stuck without a companion. So she went to the office and helped the senior couples with stuff and then when the time came she got a ride back over to the church. During this time I couldn’t handle the suspense so I called the AP’s and asked them who my new companion would be. I guess it was their turn to spoil the surprise. “Who do you think your new companion is?” “I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.” “Guess.” Ugh. Elder Hunt always make you guess. “No, just tell me.” “Okay, okay. I’ll give you a hint: it will be a reunion.” “Uhhhhhh…..Sister Kleisler?” “Yep” “No way…whoa” I could go more into my verbal response but it would have just a babbled mess of the words “awesome” and “cool.” My vocabulary has decreased substantially since I’ve been out here.
Anyways, on with this very exciting story…So sister Dodge and I pull into the Church parking lot and Sister jumps out of the car filled with Elders and does her strut over to me and yells, “Are you ready for this?!” I smile, “Yep” Sister Kleisler clarified,“Dude, We’re companions!!!” “I know.” “How do you know? Who told you? Someone’s going down!” So thus it was—united once again. The AP’s came up and shook our hands, “The Dynamic Duo reunited at last.”
For the next few days we were like giggling school girls: We had so much to get caught up on and we stayed up each night talking and talking. It was so cool to teach together again. We taught Elsa who is not a member and who is living with her less active boyfriend. We tried to commit her to baptism in December but there are obviously some lifestyle changes she’ll have to make. She wasn’t against the idea, but it’s a pretty big decision so we’ll see what happens. But the lesson itself was really neat. The spirit was there and Sister Kleisler and I went back and forth pretty seamlessly. Its was cool. We also taught the Oakley family this week. They were sick for two weeks apparently and it has really dampened their flame. We will still work with them, but we’re going to have to do something to rekindle the fire that I guess they used to have. I finally met Emylie which was cool. One of the neatest things about coming here is to see how much the members and the investigators love Sister Kleisler. They just love her. She’s got a real talent of making people feel special and successful and people are attracted to that. A huge chunk of the ward is giving out Book of Mormons because Sister Kleisler and Sister Davenport told them to…getting members to hand out Book of Mormons is not an easy task unless you have mad people skills. It’s neat.
The other night we ran into a guy out in a parking lot. He chatted with him for a bit. I told him a little bit about the history of the church and our basic beliefs. He was kinda if-y and it didn’t really like seem like he was going to be super interested. But then Sister Kleisler jumped in and bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. She taught a little about where it came from and then told him her own personal feelings about it. That was the turning point in the conversation. Suddenly he let us set an appointment with him. We brought Papa Smith to the appointment and it went really well. John, the investigator, told us that he wasn’t really interested in what we were talking about the night before, “But I was intrigued with what you said about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.” As he said that he pointed to Sister Kleisler because he was obviously referring to her testimony the night before. It was cool. Who knows what will happen, but it’s just one more instance where testimony penetrates and touches a soul more than bare facts ever will.
So guess what happened to Sister Davenport? Well according to Sister Kleisler, Sister Davenport was going to be transferred up to Austin to serve in a Spanish area in South Austin. Well, she was right about the Austin part, but instead of getting sent to the Spanish area, she was sent back to her very first area on the mission. She was in that area for 6 months before and that’s actually the same area that her and I served in when she trained me almost a year ago. So by the end of her mission she will have served in the Anderson Mill area for 9 MONTHS! Crazy.
Anyways, there’s not much else to report on. Life is beautiful, not always easy, but beautiful. I love serving with Sister Kleisler because she has touched and strengthened so many people out here with her love, her endurance, her child-like wonder, and her ever-increasing faith. Nothing gets in the way of her love for the Savior—even if it means plowing through heck and back.
She loves you all...a lot,
Sister Johnson
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The Return of Sister Johnson
11/23/09
Hey Y’all!
Well this has to be a quick one because this has been such a busy day and I have had no time for anything! I have a bunch of news to share, the first is in the subject line. I am getting a new companion and her name is Sister Johnson- no not a new Sister Johnson, I get MY Sister Johnson back and I am so excited!! Transfers are tomorrow morning and we will be together until I die, on the mish that is. Sister Johnson is killing me- that’s the other news. I am coming home in January!!! This is my last transfer! Crazy!!! My feelings are mixed, I am so sad to be leaving the mish but I am also so glad to be able to be with my family and friends again. It will be bitter sweet for sure. But I don’t have to think about that for now, right now I am just concentrating on having the best 6 weeks of my mission!!!! It is going to ROCK!
The work here continues on steady and sure. Elsa and Marty came to church on Sunday and that was great! The Oakley’s were still sick, so they didn’t come, but they all promised to come next week. We went over there tonight so Sister Davenport could say goodbye and we talked about their Thanksgiving plans. They have a bunch of Potatoes to peel and so Sis. Johnson and I are gonna go over and help with that the day before Thanksgiving. That will be fun! I have always been a good potato peeler- right mom? Ha ha Our Thanksgiving is going to be a ton of fun this year, it might even top my San Marcos Thanksgiving!! Our ward does a Turkey Trot up “temple hill” and it’s a 4 mile run- Sis. Johnson and I are totally doing it! She doesn’t know that yet, ha ha but she is gonna do it! Then we are bouncing around from house to house and STUFFING ourselves with food!!! I am so excited! I think I am gonna fast the day before! Lol :)
Well Today has been crazy busy, Sister Davenport has been packing, then we had some other sisters come over and they were emailing while I was attempting to clean up our room and make it presentable for Sister Johnson. Then we went and played some dodgeball with our zone, then off to do some errands, and then back to work! We saw a TON of people tonight, like all of our investigators and stuff so Sister Davenport could take pictures and say goodbye. Now tomorrow comes the final goodbye. I will really miss Porter (Sister Davenport) and it will be hard to see her go. Especially cause I think she is going up to Austin. :( But it will be alright, I will have my Jo Jo back!!!!! Well y’all sorry this was so short but honestly it is like time for bed! I love y’all and appreciate your support!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Sister Kleisler
Hey Y’all!
Well this has to be a quick one because this has been such a busy day and I have had no time for anything! I have a bunch of news to share, the first is in the subject line. I am getting a new companion and her name is Sister Johnson- no not a new Sister Johnson, I get MY Sister Johnson back and I am so excited!! Transfers are tomorrow morning and we will be together until I die, on the mish that is. Sister Johnson is killing me- that’s the other news. I am coming home in January!!! This is my last transfer! Crazy!!! My feelings are mixed, I am so sad to be leaving the mish but I am also so glad to be able to be with my family and friends again. It will be bitter sweet for sure. But I don’t have to think about that for now, right now I am just concentrating on having the best 6 weeks of my mission!!!! It is going to ROCK!
The work here continues on steady and sure. Elsa and Marty came to church on Sunday and that was great! The Oakley’s were still sick, so they didn’t come, but they all promised to come next week. We went over there tonight so Sister Davenport could say goodbye and we talked about their Thanksgiving plans. They have a bunch of Potatoes to peel and so Sis. Johnson and I are gonna go over and help with that the day before Thanksgiving. That will be fun! I have always been a good potato peeler- right mom? Ha ha Our Thanksgiving is going to be a ton of fun this year, it might even top my San Marcos Thanksgiving!! Our ward does a Turkey Trot up “temple hill” and it’s a 4 mile run- Sis. Johnson and I are totally doing it! She doesn’t know that yet, ha ha but she is gonna do it! Then we are bouncing around from house to house and STUFFING ourselves with food!!! I am so excited! I think I am gonna fast the day before! Lol :)
Well Today has been crazy busy, Sister Davenport has been packing, then we had some other sisters come over and they were emailing while I was attempting to clean up our room and make it presentable for Sister Johnson. Then we went and played some dodgeball with our zone, then off to do some errands, and then back to work! We saw a TON of people tonight, like all of our investigators and stuff so Sister Davenport could take pictures and say goodbye. Now tomorrow comes the final goodbye. I will really miss Porter (Sister Davenport) and it will be hard to see her go. Especially cause I think she is going up to Austin. :( But it will be alright, I will have my Jo Jo back!!!!! Well y’all sorry this was so short but honestly it is like time for bed! I love y’all and appreciate your support!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Sister Kleisler
Jaw Dropper!
11/16/09
Hey Y'all!!!
So guess what?!? On Sunday as we were walking around the chapel waiting for sacrament meeting to start, praying silently our investigators would show up and making small talk with the members, all the sudden I see this white haired guy in a pink polo shirt, black jeans and nikes walk into the chapel. My jaw dropped!!!!!! It was Bruce Oakley!!! Brucecame to church!!! Dun dun nuh nuh....VICTORY!! We were so darn excited to see him there, and he loved the fact that he surprised us, I thinkthat was his plan all along, ha ha what a stinker! But anyway he came,the rest of his family is all sick with the flu so he came by himselfand only stayed for sacrament meeting so he could go home and check on them, but still it was so cool that he came! He seemed to enjoy it and we're pretty sure he'll be back next week with the whole fam! Alright well now there isn't anything stopping them all from being baptized! We will hopefully set a date with them this week but we gotta get them all healthy again cause right now their house is quarantined. We are hoping that we can baptize them on the 29th. They are ready- they just don't realize it yet. So as for other investigator news, bad news with Emylie. I really should be careful what I wish for cause it looks like now we will be teaching her as an investigator all the way till January! Her uncle that was going to baptize her got the swine flu and had to miss a week of work and now he can't take any more days off to go to Utah to baptize Emylie, so now the Scarisbricks are staying here for Thanksgiving and then sometime in January will to Utah for the baptism. Sister Davenport and I are pretty frustrated by the whole thing because yes it is important to have the family there and what not for the baptism, but to keep putting it off is putting off blessings! Baptism is a saving ordinance and shouldn't be preformed only when it's convenient!!! Ok my rant is over. Ha ha so anyway that's what's going onwith our investigators. Elsa is also doing really well, we will be teaching her Law of Chastity tonight so we will see how that goes. Kipper and Sandra have both fallen off the face of the earth so they are no longer progressing, sad day. But we have Faith in the Lord and know he will lead us to more people who are prepared.
So this week I had a neat experience with consistency and the power of it. Let me explain, a week ago President challenged me to read my scriptures EVERY day without fail and have morning and nightly prayers. I had been slacking a bit and so this was a promise that I made to President. Well I started doing it and it had an amazing effect on me. I realized that once I made it a goal to do it and told myself that I couldn't miss even one day, I was starting to become consistent and it rocked! The real cool part though is how the spirit whispered to me to enlist some help in my challenge. We were at the Oakleys about two weeks ago and they weren't really progressing, they liked us coming over but they weren't taking steps to act. So as I was sharing my testimony with them I was prompted by the spirit to extend to them the same challeneg that I was working on. I told them I needed their help ind oing it, if they were doing it at the same time as me it would encourage me to keep going. So all three of them (Max was at school)excepted the challenge. The best part is, it's been 2 weeks and they are still doing it!!! They are loving the Book of Mormon and have really in depth questions and they are progressing now! So anyway it was just areally neat experience to me and such a testimony builder of just how important the Book of Mormon really is!
Have a great week and keep the letters coming!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Sister Kleisler
Hey Y'all!!!
So guess what?!? On Sunday as we were walking around the chapel waiting for sacrament meeting to start, praying silently our investigators would show up and making small talk with the members, all the sudden I see this white haired guy in a pink polo shirt, black jeans and nikes walk into the chapel. My jaw dropped!!!!!! It was Bruce Oakley!!! Brucecame to church!!! Dun dun nuh nuh....VICTORY!! We were so darn excited to see him there, and he loved the fact that he surprised us, I thinkthat was his plan all along, ha ha what a stinker! But anyway he came,the rest of his family is all sick with the flu so he came by himselfand only stayed for sacrament meeting so he could go home and check on them, but still it was so cool that he came! He seemed to enjoy it and we're pretty sure he'll be back next week with the whole fam! Alright well now there isn't anything stopping them all from being baptized! We will hopefully set a date with them this week but we gotta get them all healthy again cause right now their house is quarantined. We are hoping that we can baptize them on the 29th. They are ready- they just don't realize it yet. So as for other investigator news, bad news with Emylie. I really should be careful what I wish for cause it looks like now we will be teaching her as an investigator all the way till January! Her uncle that was going to baptize her got the swine flu and had to miss a week of work and now he can't take any more days off to go to Utah to baptize Emylie, so now the Scarisbricks are staying here for Thanksgiving and then sometime in January will to Utah for the baptism. Sister Davenport and I are pretty frustrated by the whole thing because yes it is important to have the family there and what not for the baptism, but to keep putting it off is putting off blessings! Baptism is a saving ordinance and shouldn't be preformed only when it's convenient!!! Ok my rant is over. Ha ha so anyway that's what's going onwith our investigators. Elsa is also doing really well, we will be teaching her Law of Chastity tonight so we will see how that goes. Kipper and Sandra have both fallen off the face of the earth so they are no longer progressing, sad day. But we have Faith in the Lord and know he will lead us to more people who are prepared.
So this week I had a neat experience with consistency and the power of it. Let me explain, a week ago President challenged me to read my scriptures EVERY day without fail and have morning and nightly prayers. I had been slacking a bit and so this was a promise that I made to President. Well I started doing it and it had an amazing effect on me. I realized that once I made it a goal to do it and told myself that I couldn't miss even one day, I was starting to become consistent and it rocked! The real cool part though is how the spirit whispered to me to enlist some help in my challenge. We were at the Oakleys about two weeks ago and they weren't really progressing, they liked us coming over but they weren't taking steps to act. So as I was sharing my testimony with them I was prompted by the spirit to extend to them the same challeneg that I was working on. I told them I needed their help ind oing it, if they were doing it at the same time as me it would encourage me to keep going. So all three of them (Max was at school)excepted the challenge. The best part is, it's been 2 weeks and they are still doing it!!! They are loving the Book of Mormon and have really in depth questions and they are progressing now! So anyway it was just areally neat experience to me and such a testimony builder of just how important the Book of Mormon really is!
Have a great week and keep the letters coming!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Sister Kleisler
Monday, November 9, 2009
Cliff Notes
Hey Y’all!
This has been a pretty crazy week and I can barely remember what happened so I am gonna look at my planner and break it down day by day. Well first off Monday we had a way fun football game with our zone. We played our district verses everybody else, which was funny cause that made half of our team sisters, cause there are 2 sets of sisters in our district. The best part was when we were lining up for first down and one of the elders on the other team told his team to each pick a man then another elder on their team said, “ no problem, I’ll get the relief society!” Ha ha well guess what, we ended up creaming their team! It was so fun! Then after P-day was over we had a way sweet lesson with Marty and Elsa. We got a new young married couple, the Johansons to come with us to the lesson and they did such a great job fellowshipping Marty and Elsa. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and gave Elsa a soft commit for baptism and she accepted. So we don’t have a date yet (we got to commit them to live Law of Chastity first) but we are on the right track! On Tuesday we had President Interviews and then after that we went and did service for one of the ladies in the ward. Her mom has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and she needed some help cleaning her house and stuff because her life has pretty much fallen apart as of late. So we were able to help her out which felt so great. We taught the Oakleys as well on Tuesday and they needed a little push in the right direction- we committed them to read in the BoM EVERY DAY and pray morning and night. That night we had dinner with a super sweet member family and we followed up with them on the commitment we left them to give out a Book of Mormon. Well turns out that the Husband not only gave out 1 copy of the Book of Mormon, but he gave out 6! So sweet!!!! We got burned that night by Sandra Villanueva, her son said she was sick, but man usually she will at least call us and cancel! On Wednesday we had Zone Meeting and then we went over to the Oakley’s to do service and teach them a little bit. They are doing GREAT with their commitment and had some great questions about their reading in the BoM. Even Bruce is doing his reading and LIKES it! So awesome! Then that night we taught Emylie Scarisbrick- man it’s gonna be a bummer when she gets baptized- ha ha jk. But it will be sad to not be able to go over there as often- I LOVE that family! Thursday we did our weekly planning and figured out what we were gonna teach all of our investigators for the upcoming week and what we are gonna commit them to do. Then we had a dinner that night with a really fun family that is working on sharing the gospel by having gospel centered conversations with people they work with. Friday was full of appointments and good times. We saw Isabel, a very less active member who is working on coming back, she is so sweet and needs a lot of support. Then we had another lesson with the Oakleys and brought some sweet member fellowshippers. We taught the Word of Wisdom and committed them to live it. That went really well and they are gonna work on that. So sweet! Then Elsa and Marty had us over for dinner along with the Johansons. We taught the rest of the Plan of Salvation and Elsa had a ton of great questions!! She also did her reading and is loving the Book of Mormon! So sweet! Saturday we did some service for the Smith’s- making a compost bin lid. Then we had an appointment with Jewel and Christopher- she is doing SO GOOD! They went to the temple twice this week to do baptisms and she was able to baptize like 40 of her relatives, she LOVED it! It is so neat to see my converts go to the temple! Then we had another appointment with little miss Emylie, so fun! So ya a pretty busy week and that was just the cliff note version! Lol Then came Sunday- so the big question is, who came to church? Did Kipper- nope, haven’t been able to get a hold of him, total bummer. Did Sandra, nope we haven’t heard from her in over a week! Lame. Did Elsa? She tried to get off work, she really wanted to come, but she couldn’t get anyone to take her shift, next week she’ll be there for sure! Did Emylie? Yah, dude she is solid! She even had a part in the primary program and did great! Did the Oakleys? Yup, but not Bruce. Church was great too, it was the Primary Program and they did a fantastic job! It is the only time I have ever seen a Primary Program where the kids actually sing and you can understand all the words to the songs! So cute! So ya life is good here in Encino Park, and it is starting to look like the end of November will be full of baptisms! :)
Well Y’all that’s it for today! I appreciate your letters and ask that you keep ‘em coming!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
This has been a pretty crazy week and I can barely remember what happened so I am gonna look at my planner and break it down day by day. Well first off Monday we had a way fun football game with our zone. We played our district verses everybody else, which was funny cause that made half of our team sisters, cause there are 2 sets of sisters in our district. The best part was when we were lining up for first down and one of the elders on the other team told his team to each pick a man then another elder on their team said, “ no problem, I’ll get the relief society!” Ha ha well guess what, we ended up creaming their team! It was so fun! Then after P-day was over we had a way sweet lesson with Marty and Elsa. We got a new young married couple, the Johansons to come with us to the lesson and they did such a great job fellowshipping Marty and Elsa. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and gave Elsa a soft commit for baptism and she accepted. So we don’t have a date yet (we got to commit them to live Law of Chastity first) but we are on the right track! On Tuesday we had President Interviews and then after that we went and did service for one of the ladies in the ward. Her mom has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and she needed some help cleaning her house and stuff because her life has pretty much fallen apart as of late. So we were able to help her out which felt so great. We taught the Oakleys as well on Tuesday and they needed a little push in the right direction- we committed them to read in the BoM EVERY DAY and pray morning and night. That night we had dinner with a super sweet member family and we followed up with them on the commitment we left them to give out a Book of Mormon. Well turns out that the Husband not only gave out 1 copy of the Book of Mormon, but he gave out 6! So sweet!!!! We got burned that night by Sandra Villanueva, her son said she was sick, but man usually she will at least call us and cancel! On Wednesday we had Zone Meeting and then we went over to the Oakley’s to do service and teach them a little bit. They are doing GREAT with their commitment and had some great questions about their reading in the BoM. Even Bruce is doing his reading and LIKES it! So awesome! Then that night we taught Emylie Scarisbrick- man it’s gonna be a bummer when she gets baptized- ha ha jk. But it will be sad to not be able to go over there as often- I LOVE that family! Thursday we did our weekly planning and figured out what we were gonna teach all of our investigators for the upcoming week and what we are gonna commit them to do. Then we had a dinner that night with a really fun family that is working on sharing the gospel by having gospel centered conversations with people they work with. Friday was full of appointments and good times. We saw Isabel, a very less active member who is working on coming back, she is so sweet and needs a lot of support. Then we had another lesson with the Oakleys and brought some sweet member fellowshippers. We taught the Word of Wisdom and committed them to live it. That went really well and they are gonna work on that. So sweet! Then Elsa and Marty had us over for dinner along with the Johansons. We taught the rest of the Plan of Salvation and Elsa had a ton of great questions!! She also did her reading and is loving the Book of Mormon! So sweet! Saturday we did some service for the Smith’s- making a compost bin lid. Then we had an appointment with Jewel and Christopher- she is doing SO GOOD! They went to the temple twice this week to do baptisms and she was able to baptize like 40 of her relatives, she LOVED it! It is so neat to see my converts go to the temple! Then we had another appointment with little miss Emylie, so fun! So ya a pretty busy week and that was just the cliff note version! Lol Then came Sunday- so the big question is, who came to church? Did Kipper- nope, haven’t been able to get a hold of him, total bummer. Did Sandra, nope we haven’t heard from her in over a week! Lame. Did Elsa? She tried to get off work, she really wanted to come, but she couldn’t get anyone to take her shift, next week she’ll be there for sure! Did Emylie? Yah, dude she is solid! She even had a part in the primary program and did great! Did the Oakleys? Yup, but not Bruce. Church was great too, it was the Primary Program and they did a fantastic job! It is the only time I have ever seen a Primary Program where the kids actually sing and you can understand all the words to the songs! So cute! So ya life is good here in Encino Park, and it is starting to look like the end of November will be full of baptisms! :)
Well Y’all that’s it for today! I appreciate your letters and ask that you keep ‘em coming!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Friday, November 6, 2009
Halloween Pictures!
I attached some pictures b/c it seems like as of late the pictures I have emailed home just haven't seemed to make it on the blog. Ha ha
So Here are some Halloween pics for ya- First some super sweet pumpkins with their awesomely creative carvers!
Lol Second- some cool sister missionaries handing out candy in their trunk!
So Here are some Halloween pics for ya- First some super sweet pumpkins with their awesomely creative carvers!
Lol Second- some cool sister missionaries handing out candy in their trunk!
October is Over!
November 2nd, 2009
Hey Y'all!!!
Halloween has come and gone and so has October!!! This is just crazy! One of the Elders that is going home in the same group as me informed me the other day that we only had 3 months left- I promptly told him to shut his mouth! Ha ha Talk of going home is strictly forbidden around these here parts! But anyway, Halloween was great. We went and did a temple session in the morning and then in the evening sister Cutler had a party for our whole zone at the mission home. So ya that was fun! Our ward had a trunk or treat earlier in the week and it was a lot of fun too. Sister Davenport and I just couldn't help but dress up and so we were Super Sisters! A member in the ward helped us sew superman capes and t-shirts, they said sSk and sSd for super sister kleisler and super sister davenport! The members LOVED our costumes and thought we were pretty cool. We also had some investigators come to the trunk or treat so that was way sweet.
This week has been busy as always, we have lots of investigators who are doing way good. We had 5 people at church yesterday which was way sweet. The Oakley's came, except for Bruce. He is being stubborn, his pride is keeping him from the truth, but we aren't too worried about it, we will break him down. Ha ha also Elsa came to church, she went to their old ward for the last time. And then Emylie came, good ol Emylie. So ya it was a busy Sunday, I will have to say that I will look forward to Sundays AFTER the mission, oh man they will be so much less stressful!! And a lot less meetings too!
Life is good here in Texas- so much fun! We had a great P-day last week, the elders came over and carved pumpkins at our house and then we went and played soccer in the rain. It was so muddy and we had a BLAST! Today we are going to play football with our zone, but it's not raining today. We have had some way nice weather as of late which is awesome!!
Well I don't have much else to say except, thanks to my family for the emails- I always appreciate a full inbox on Monday mornings! Also thanks to y'all for your letters this week, I enjoyed all of the Halloween cards. Thanks C for the super cool Candy Corn Halloween package!
I hope y'all have a fantastic first week in November!!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Hey Y'all!!!
Halloween has come and gone and so has October!!! This is just crazy! One of the Elders that is going home in the same group as me informed me the other day that we only had 3 months left- I promptly told him to shut his mouth! Ha ha Talk of going home is strictly forbidden around these here parts! But anyway, Halloween was great. We went and did a temple session in the morning and then in the evening sister Cutler had a party for our whole zone at the mission home. So ya that was fun! Our ward had a trunk or treat earlier in the week and it was a lot of fun too. Sister Davenport and I just couldn't help but dress up and so we were Super Sisters! A member in the ward helped us sew superman capes and t-shirts, they said sSk and sSd for super sister kleisler and super sister davenport! The members LOVED our costumes and thought we were pretty cool. We also had some investigators come to the trunk or treat so that was way sweet.
This week has been busy as always, we have lots of investigators who are doing way good. We had 5 people at church yesterday which was way sweet. The Oakley's came, except for Bruce. He is being stubborn, his pride is keeping him from the truth, but we aren't too worried about it, we will break him down. Ha ha also Elsa came to church, she went to their old ward for the last time. And then Emylie came, good ol Emylie. So ya it was a busy Sunday, I will have to say that I will look forward to Sundays AFTER the mission, oh man they will be so much less stressful!! And a lot less meetings too!
Life is good here in Texas- so much fun! We had a great P-day last week, the elders came over and carved pumpkins at our house and then we went and played soccer in the rain. It was so muddy and we had a BLAST! Today we are going to play football with our zone, but it's not raining today. We have had some way nice weather as of late which is awesome!!
Well I don't have much else to say except, thanks to my family for the emails- I always appreciate a full inbox on Monday mornings! Also thanks to y'all for your letters this week, I enjoyed all of the Halloween cards. Thanks C for the super cool Candy Corn Halloween package!
I hope y'all have a fantastic first week in November!!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Super Busy!!
October 26th, 2009
Hey Y'all!
Well since I have been in Encino Park I think every email I have written
includes the words "I am VERY BUSY" and guess what, this week is NO
exception!!! I am super busy and don't have time for a long email, more of a quick shout out. Thanks to y'all who have written me lately. I have been pretty badabout writing back these past few weeks, I am telling ya we are BUSY! Haha but I will try to do better.
Thanks mom and Aunt Elaine for the Halloween packages. Thanks Allison, Aunt Elaine, Moran, C, Chris, Adam and Elder Yarrington for the letters these past couple weeks. I love the mail!!
Well the work here is catching on like wildfire!! We got more new investigators this week and they are totally legit. One of them is a guy named Kipper who the Elders found about a year and a half ago. The sisters taught him a few months ago but could never get a hold of him again. We found him at home one day last week and set up an appointment, it went really well! He told us he wished he had had the Book Of Mormon in his life years ago. He is doing well and is gonna come to the Ward Trunk or Treat this week. He is 21 and so we talked to him about going to the singles ward, but he doesn't want to. We were ok with that cause that means we get to keep teaching him. Cool with me! Our other new investigator this week is Elsa. She is super cool- her boyfriend is a less active member who just started coming back to church. Last week he brought Elsa to chruch with him and the Elders pounced, lol. They are moving into our area this week, so the Elders had us go with them to a lesson last week so as to pass them off to us. We are exctied cause Elsa is awesome and totally elect, we just have todeal with a little law of chastity issue seeing as they are living together. But they are both 25 and have been together for like almost 4 years, so it shouldn't be too hard marrying them. So ya lots of good stuff going on in Encino!
Our "Progressing" Investigators are kinda at a stand still right now, well except Emylie, she is doing awesome! But everyone else, the Oakleys and Villanuevas- we can't get them to church! It is the most frustrating thing to have people who are doing so well and even have baptismal dates for goodness sake, but won't come to church! They always have some lame excuse, but man we will get them!!! If it's the last thing we do! Ha ha But ya, we had a great lesson with the Oakley's at their next door neighbor's house (the Gomm's- super sweet member family)the Gomm's invited them over for a BBQ and to watch the movie the Testaments. It went super well and they were very touched by the movie. By the end they were all crying! Yee haw! Ha ha They know it's true we just have to get them to act on what they know! We also had a good lesson with Sandra this week but she is just so busy it's hard to gether to keep all of her appointments!
Well, that's the news in Encino Park, lots of great stuff going down here! I appreciate all of y'alls prayers and letters and support. It sure does help!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Hey Y'all!
Well since I have been in Encino Park I think every email I have written
includes the words "I am VERY BUSY" and guess what, this week is NO
exception!!! I am super busy and don't have time for a long email, more of a quick shout out. Thanks to y'all who have written me lately. I have been pretty badabout writing back these past few weeks, I am telling ya we are BUSY! Haha but I will try to do better.
Thanks mom and Aunt Elaine for the Halloween packages. Thanks Allison, Aunt Elaine, Moran, C, Chris, Adam and Elder Yarrington for the letters these past couple weeks. I love the mail!!
Well the work here is catching on like wildfire!! We got more new investigators this week and they are totally legit. One of them is a guy named Kipper who the Elders found about a year and a half ago. The sisters taught him a few months ago but could never get a hold of him again. We found him at home one day last week and set up an appointment, it went really well! He told us he wished he had had the Book Of Mormon in his life years ago. He is doing well and is gonna come to the Ward Trunk or Treat this week. He is 21 and so we talked to him about going to the singles ward, but he doesn't want to. We were ok with that cause that means we get to keep teaching him. Cool with me! Our other new investigator this week is Elsa. She is super cool- her boyfriend is a less active member who just started coming back to church. Last week he brought Elsa to chruch with him and the Elders pounced, lol. They are moving into our area this week, so the Elders had us go with them to a lesson last week so as to pass them off to us. We are exctied cause Elsa is awesome and totally elect, we just have todeal with a little law of chastity issue seeing as they are living together. But they are both 25 and have been together for like almost 4 years, so it shouldn't be too hard marrying them. So ya lots of good stuff going on in Encino!
Our "Progressing" Investigators are kinda at a stand still right now, well except Emylie, she is doing awesome! But everyone else, the Oakleys and Villanuevas- we can't get them to church! It is the most frustrating thing to have people who are doing so well and even have baptismal dates for goodness sake, but won't come to church! They always have some lame excuse, but man we will get them!!! If it's the last thing we do! Ha ha But ya, we had a great lesson with the Oakley's at their next door neighbor's house (the Gomm's- super sweet member family)the Gomm's invited them over for a BBQ and to watch the movie the Testaments. It went super well and they were very touched by the movie. By the end they were all crying! Yee haw! Ha ha They know it's true we just have to get them to act on what they know! We also had a good lesson with Sandra this week but she is just so busy it's hard to gether to keep all of her appointments!
Well, that's the news in Encino Park, lots of great stuff going down here! I appreciate all of y'alls prayers and letters and support. It sure does help!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Captain Crunch
October 19th, 2009
Hey Y’all!
Wow, has another week gone by already? Geez, they are just flying past. Does anyone know how to make time stand still? If you do please let me know, because I would just LOVE to slow time down a bit. I got a real reality check this week of just how close my mission is to coming to an end. Even though Sister Davenport and I were not being transferred we were right in the thick of all of the transfer madness. Why you might ask? Well Encino Park is the closest Sister area to the mission home, we are only 4 miles away from President’s house. So that means when we have new sisters coming in or sisters departing a lot of the time we, Encino Park sisters, play chauffeur. So on Wednesday night we went to President’s house to pick up Sister Boyd the newest Sister in the TSAM. She was the only sister to come this transfer, so we picked her up and took her back to our house to spend the night. It was a lot of being with her and it was like a crazy flash back as Sister Davenport and I thought back on our first night in the mission field. We spent quite a bit of time talking that night with Sister Boyd as she picked our brains about the mission and asked us for our best mission advice. She was so just so excited to start her mission and she was just so full of that greenie spirit- it was awesome! It was a lot of fun to have Sister Boyd for the night and then we got to take her to transfer meeting in the morning which means we had an excuse to be there for the meeting- always so fun to go to transfer meetings!! We then parted with Sister Boyd as she went off with her trainer and Sister Davenport and I went back to work as usual. Then Thursday night we got another sleep over buddy, my sister! Sister Maroquin, who was also trained by my trainer Sister Moran, was going home. So she spent her last night in the mission with us and then we took her to the airport in the morning. This is where the reality check came in, having Sister Maroquin with us and taking her to the airport- man it was weird! Sister Davenport and I just felt like sooner than we want, that will be us getting on the plane. It is truly a very scary and sad thought to think about. I DO NOT want to leave my mission. Not that I don’t miss my friends and family, because believe me I do, I miss y’all a lot, but man my mission means everything to me!! I want to be a missionary forever!!!! I guess I will have to come to grips with the fact that I cannot be a full time missionary forever, but I do have four months left- so I am gonna make them count!! Then when I go home I will be a stink’n awesome member missionary!
Well the work has continued and we have been richly blessed. This week we had some sweet lessons with our super awesome progressing investigators. Emylie is doing great and we had a lesson with her at our Ward Mission Leader’s house this week. He has a way cool set up where they’ve got this projector in their loft and so we watched the movie Legacy and it was way fun. Emylie really liked it and totally felt the spirit as well as her mother. I was hit really hard as we were watching the movie, I kept thinking about all the trials those early saints went through and how their trials seem way more difficult than the ones that I deal with today. It made me realize that sometimes I am such a wuss and complain about my meager trials when really I’ve got it easy. We also had some great lessons with the Oakley Family this week and they are praying about being baptized on November 7th. (It’ll be my Birthday present to you Kev, I will bring some souls unto Christ to celebrate your 21st birthday!) lol :) We also invited the Oakley’s to come to this play that the North Stake was putting on last weekend, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was really well done, the stake did a REALLY good job! The best part was that the spirit was there and the Oakley’s loved it! We had a lot of fun and when we left Sister Davenport was like, um wow I feel apostate! I just laughed at her, I was like dude, that was totally G rated and um, we are allowed to have fun every once and awhile! Lol I thought it was a great play and a really good experience for our investigators! So we also had a lesson with Sandra Villanueva this week and she is praying about being baptized on November 29th. We helped her to see the urgency in progressing in the gospel. This is important- we are talking about Christ’s true church here, there is nothing casual about this! She is doing really well and we have some appointments set up with her for next week- should be good. So ya we have got quite a lot going on and we should have a lot of baptisms next month!!!
We found some new people this week as well which is always cool. We were knocking doors in an apartment complex and we knocked into this middle aged divorced guy named Nathanial. He let us in and then talked our ears off for about an hour. We got a quick lesson of the Restoration in, but the rest of the time he proceeded to tell us all about his problems and all of the sins he has committed. It was pretty awkward, Sister Davenport and I kept exchanging uncomfortable glances but we both knew that it was no accident we found this guy, he was lost and he needs the gospel. But we did decide that when we go back for our return appointment next week we will be bringing some members with us for sure! We also did a bunch more service this week. It feels so good to help people out and also it is a great way to do missionary work!! We helped a new sister move into the ward and unpack, we helped the Oakley’s with more yard work and we helped plant the winter flowers at the San Antonio Temple. They had a big flower planting day at the Temple on Saturday and had a ton of volunteers from different wards helping out with the project. What a blessing it is to be on the temple grounds and be able to help beautify the Lord’s house! It was also extra cool cause two of the other volunteers happened to be some of my favorite people from P-town! The Partridges! They came up to help with the project and so they were in my group and we planted together- so fun! Also while we were planting on the street corner I saw a car waiting at the stoplight that looked really familiar- it was the Wildes from San Marcos! They were just leaving the temple from doing a session- so I ran over and gave Sis. Wilde a hug through the car window and we got to talk for a sec before the light changed. It was so fun to see them!
So today I will end with a little bit of an inside scoop on living with members! Ha ha. Ok so the family we live with, The Smiths, are totally awesome! They are so sweet and take such good care of us, we are totally spoiled! Mama Smith always helps us with whatever we need and she buys everything for us. They buy all our groceries, whatever we want. We just write it on the list and she picks it up when she’s at the store. Well, Papa Smith loves this because whenever there are new missionaries he gets different food. Lol Well I wrote on the list that I wanted some Captain Crunch cereal and so Mama Smith got it. One morning I went down to eat a bowl of cereal and found to my surprise that the box was almost empty- turns out Papa Smith likes Captain Crunch too! Ha ha he had eaten like the whole box!! So now Mama Smith buys a couple of boxes when she goes to the store, that way I at least get some before Papa Smith devours it! Ha ha Well then the other day I came down stairs and Sister Davenport said, Papa Smith ate all your Fritos this morning. I was like, wait what! Mama Smith had bought me a big ‘ol bag of fritos chips just like 2 days before and I thought there was no way Papa Smith could have eaten them already. Well Papa Smith heard what Sister Davenport said to me and he just shook his head and said, nope it was Mama. Then mama Smith confessed, ha ha but she didn’t eat them, she spilled them!!! As she was getting something down from the shelf that morning she spilled the bag of Fritos and all but like 10 chips fell out onto the floor. As they were falling Papa Smith was laughing and said “Uh oh Mama those sound like sister Fritos!” Ha ha. Yup so living with members is really quite entertaining!! We love the Smiths!!!! We have so much fun with them, they have been out of town this week and we hate it! It is so weird not having them here, luckily they come back today! We are happy!
Well y’all got a pretty long email today, I am trying to keep y’all updated but man we are just so busy, it’s hard to find the time. This should keep you covered for a few weeks right? Lol :)
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Hey Y’all!
Wow, has another week gone by already? Geez, they are just flying past. Does anyone know how to make time stand still? If you do please let me know, because I would just LOVE to slow time down a bit. I got a real reality check this week of just how close my mission is to coming to an end. Even though Sister Davenport and I were not being transferred we were right in the thick of all of the transfer madness. Why you might ask? Well Encino Park is the closest Sister area to the mission home, we are only 4 miles away from President’s house. So that means when we have new sisters coming in or sisters departing a lot of the time we, Encino Park sisters, play chauffeur. So on Wednesday night we went to President’s house to pick up Sister Boyd the newest Sister in the TSAM. She was the only sister to come this transfer, so we picked her up and took her back to our house to spend the night. It was a lot of being with her and it was like a crazy flash back as Sister Davenport and I thought back on our first night in the mission field. We spent quite a bit of time talking that night with Sister Boyd as she picked our brains about the mission and asked us for our best mission advice. She was so just so excited to start her mission and she was just so full of that greenie spirit- it was awesome! It was a lot of fun to have Sister Boyd for the night and then we got to take her to transfer meeting in the morning which means we had an excuse to be there for the meeting- always so fun to go to transfer meetings!! We then parted with Sister Boyd as she went off with her trainer and Sister Davenport and I went back to work as usual. Then Thursday night we got another sleep over buddy, my sister! Sister Maroquin, who was also trained by my trainer Sister Moran, was going home. So she spent her last night in the mission with us and then we took her to the airport in the morning. This is where the reality check came in, having Sister Maroquin with us and taking her to the airport- man it was weird! Sister Davenport and I just felt like sooner than we want, that will be us getting on the plane. It is truly a very scary and sad thought to think about. I DO NOT want to leave my mission. Not that I don’t miss my friends and family, because believe me I do, I miss y’all a lot, but man my mission means everything to me!! I want to be a missionary forever!!!! I guess I will have to come to grips with the fact that I cannot be a full time missionary forever, but I do have four months left- so I am gonna make them count!! Then when I go home I will be a stink’n awesome member missionary!
Well the work has continued and we have been richly blessed. This week we had some sweet lessons with our super awesome progressing investigators. Emylie is doing great and we had a lesson with her at our Ward Mission Leader’s house this week. He has a way cool set up where they’ve got this projector in their loft and so we watched the movie Legacy and it was way fun. Emylie really liked it and totally felt the spirit as well as her mother. I was hit really hard as we were watching the movie, I kept thinking about all the trials those early saints went through and how their trials seem way more difficult than the ones that I deal with today. It made me realize that sometimes I am such a wuss and complain about my meager trials when really I’ve got it easy. We also had some great lessons with the Oakley Family this week and they are praying about being baptized on November 7th. (It’ll be my Birthday present to you Kev, I will bring some souls unto Christ to celebrate your 21st birthday!) lol :) We also invited the Oakley’s to come to this play that the North Stake was putting on last weekend, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was really well done, the stake did a REALLY good job! The best part was that the spirit was there and the Oakley’s loved it! We had a lot of fun and when we left Sister Davenport was like, um wow I feel apostate! I just laughed at her, I was like dude, that was totally G rated and um, we are allowed to have fun every once and awhile! Lol I thought it was a great play and a really good experience for our investigators! So we also had a lesson with Sandra Villanueva this week and she is praying about being baptized on November 29th. We helped her to see the urgency in progressing in the gospel. This is important- we are talking about Christ’s true church here, there is nothing casual about this! She is doing really well and we have some appointments set up with her for next week- should be good. So ya we have got quite a lot going on and we should have a lot of baptisms next month!!!
We found some new people this week as well which is always cool. We were knocking doors in an apartment complex and we knocked into this middle aged divorced guy named Nathanial. He let us in and then talked our ears off for about an hour. We got a quick lesson of the Restoration in, but the rest of the time he proceeded to tell us all about his problems and all of the sins he has committed. It was pretty awkward, Sister Davenport and I kept exchanging uncomfortable glances but we both knew that it was no accident we found this guy, he was lost and he needs the gospel. But we did decide that when we go back for our return appointment next week we will be bringing some members with us for sure! We also did a bunch more service this week. It feels so good to help people out and also it is a great way to do missionary work!! We helped a new sister move into the ward and unpack, we helped the Oakley’s with more yard work and we helped plant the winter flowers at the San Antonio Temple. They had a big flower planting day at the Temple on Saturday and had a ton of volunteers from different wards helping out with the project. What a blessing it is to be on the temple grounds and be able to help beautify the Lord’s house! It was also extra cool cause two of the other volunteers happened to be some of my favorite people from P-town! The Partridges! They came up to help with the project and so they were in my group and we planted together- so fun! Also while we were planting on the street corner I saw a car waiting at the stoplight that looked really familiar- it was the Wildes from San Marcos! They were just leaving the temple from doing a session- so I ran over and gave Sis. Wilde a hug through the car window and we got to talk for a sec before the light changed. It was so fun to see them!
So today I will end with a little bit of an inside scoop on living with members! Ha ha. Ok so the family we live with, The Smiths, are totally awesome! They are so sweet and take such good care of us, we are totally spoiled! Mama Smith always helps us with whatever we need and she buys everything for us. They buy all our groceries, whatever we want. We just write it on the list and she picks it up when she’s at the store. Well, Papa Smith loves this because whenever there are new missionaries he gets different food. Lol Well I wrote on the list that I wanted some Captain Crunch cereal and so Mama Smith got it. One morning I went down to eat a bowl of cereal and found to my surprise that the box was almost empty- turns out Papa Smith likes Captain Crunch too! Ha ha he had eaten like the whole box!! So now Mama Smith buys a couple of boxes when she goes to the store, that way I at least get some before Papa Smith devours it! Ha ha Well then the other day I came down stairs and Sister Davenport said, Papa Smith ate all your Fritos this morning. I was like, wait what! Mama Smith had bought me a big ‘ol bag of fritos chips just like 2 days before and I thought there was no way Papa Smith could have eaten them already. Well Papa Smith heard what Sister Davenport said to me and he just shook his head and said, nope it was Mama. Then mama Smith confessed, ha ha but she didn’t eat them, she spilled them!!! As she was getting something down from the shelf that morning she spilled the bag of Fritos and all but like 10 chips fell out onto the floor. As they were falling Papa Smith was laughing and said “Uh oh Mama those sound like sister Fritos!” Ha ha. Yup so living with members is really quite entertaining!! We love the Smiths!!!! We have so much fun with them, they have been out of town this week and we hate it! It is so weird not having them here, luckily they come back today! We are happy!
Well y’all got a pretty long email today, I am trying to keep y’all updated but man we are just so busy, it’s hard to find the time. This should keep you covered for a few weeks right? Lol :)
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Pouring Down!
October 13th, 2009
Hey Y'all!!
Wow y'all if it is possible I am even more busy this week than last! Woah!!! Ha ha ya seriously though Encino Park is on a roll and we arejust cruzin'! Things are going flipp'n sweet here. The weather has been crazy- cold and rainy, yee haw! Me likey! The investigators are pouringdown as hard as the rain. The Lord has richly blessed us and we have been teaching A LOT! We have also done a ton of service this week! Wehave been washing windows, organizing bedrooms, using pick axes ingardens, washing dogs, using way cool tools like augers and packing up lots and lots of boxes! So ya between teaching, performing service for the ward, the community and our investigators, and finding people out in the pouring rain- man I'd say it's been quite a busy week!!
I have a tiny bit more time today, but not much, so I will quickly tell y'all a little bit more about who we are teaching. We have Emylie an 11 year old girl whose mom went very less active and just barley started coming back to church a few months ago, they are awesome and Emylie has a baptismal date for November 27th. It has been a lot of fun teaching her and also strengthening her mother, they are becoming real solid church goers with testimonies of their own. We are also teaching theOakley Family. We found them through some members. We have some amazingly sweet members here in the Encino Park ward! One of them, the Gomm family had a neighborhood ice cream social a few weeks ago and invited a bunch of their neighbors and us. We got to know some of their neighbors and played "nice nice" and found a few of their neighbors to have some serious potential. Well last week we were in their neighborhood and decided to go see the Gomms next door neighbors- the Oakley Family. We had some serious good vibes from them at the ice cream social so we "just happened to pop by their house". They have only lived in the neighborhood for a month or two and they are super cool. Joyce and Bruce are in their sixties and their daughter Kara lives with them and she is in her late 30's is my guess and she has an11 year old son, Max. We went over and played "nice nice" with the Oakley's and told them we would love to do some service if there was anything we could do to help. Well it turns out they are in need of alot of service but would never ask for it- SCORE! That is what we are there for! So we ended going back and doing service for them and then teaching them many times. They watched the morning session of General Conference last Sunday and they loved it. They are reading in the Book of Mormon and we are going to be setting them with a baptismal date this week. They are awesome! We also have one more family we are teaching-the Villanueva family. We found them in our area book, Sister Davenport was looking through really old records from 3 years ago and found this family that came to church 2 times. So we went a looking for 'em! Turns out they moved, but they used to live next door to the Gomms so we talked to them and they gave us their new address and gave us the lowdown on the family. Turns out that they were very close to getting baptized 3 years ago but the missionaries pushed her too hard and she got offended. Well we went over to see her and the family and we were very casual trying so hard not to be "pushy" and so we visited with herfor about 30 minutes and started to bring up the gospel. She then began to cry, we were like, um what's wrong. The spirit filled the room so strong and she said that we were the answer to her prayer. She told us that 20 minutes before we knocked on her door she had been "crying out to the Lord" for help, asking for guidance and direction and then we came and she just knows it's not by accident. We were pretty excited about that and felt the spirit so strong, we helped her to recognize the spirit. We are teaching that family and are hoping to set them with a baptismal date for next month. In the family there is Sandra and her husband Richard prolly like in their 40's and then their son Anthony whose 16 and then Ashleigh who is 11. Way sweet fam!
So ya we have 9 super sweet investigators and we are finding new ones all the while! Great stuff going on here in Encino Park! Sister Davenport and I will be staying together another transfer and are ready to keep this place lit up!
On a side note, I was informed that I was accepted into ASU this week so that is exciting, so now I must apply for the College of Education- so wish me luck! Hopefully I will be starting towards my bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education this Fall at ASU Polytechnic! Yay! Well I love y'all mucho and will be seeing y'all sooner than you know- I only have 2 more transfers left after this- SCARY! I am so not ready to come home! Lol :)
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Hey Y'all!!
Wow y'all if it is possible I am even more busy this week than last! Woah!!! Ha ha ya seriously though Encino Park is on a roll and we arejust cruzin'! Things are going flipp'n sweet here. The weather has been crazy- cold and rainy, yee haw! Me likey! The investigators are pouringdown as hard as the rain. The Lord has richly blessed us and we have been teaching A LOT! We have also done a ton of service this week! Wehave been washing windows, organizing bedrooms, using pick axes ingardens, washing dogs, using way cool tools like augers and packing up lots and lots of boxes! So ya between teaching, performing service for the ward, the community and our investigators, and finding people out in the pouring rain- man I'd say it's been quite a busy week!!
I have a tiny bit more time today, but not much, so I will quickly tell y'all a little bit more about who we are teaching. We have Emylie an 11 year old girl whose mom went very less active and just barley started coming back to church a few months ago, they are awesome and Emylie has a baptismal date for November 27th. It has been a lot of fun teaching her and also strengthening her mother, they are becoming real solid church goers with testimonies of their own. We are also teaching theOakley Family. We found them through some members. We have some amazingly sweet members here in the Encino Park ward! One of them, the Gomm family had a neighborhood ice cream social a few weeks ago and invited a bunch of their neighbors and us. We got to know some of their neighbors and played "nice nice" and found a few of their neighbors to have some serious potential. Well last week we were in their neighborhood and decided to go see the Gomms next door neighbors- the Oakley Family. We had some serious good vibes from them at the ice cream social so we "just happened to pop by their house". They have only lived in the neighborhood for a month or two and they are super cool. Joyce and Bruce are in their sixties and their daughter Kara lives with them and she is in her late 30's is my guess and she has an11 year old son, Max. We went over and played "nice nice" with the Oakley's and told them we would love to do some service if there was anything we could do to help. Well it turns out they are in need of alot of service but would never ask for it- SCORE! That is what we are there for! So we ended going back and doing service for them and then teaching them many times. They watched the morning session of General Conference last Sunday and they loved it. They are reading in the Book of Mormon and we are going to be setting them with a baptismal date this week. They are awesome! We also have one more family we are teaching-the Villanueva family. We found them in our area book, Sister Davenport was looking through really old records from 3 years ago and found this family that came to church 2 times. So we went a looking for 'em! Turns out they moved, but they used to live next door to the Gomms so we talked to them and they gave us their new address and gave us the lowdown on the family. Turns out that they were very close to getting baptized 3 years ago but the missionaries pushed her too hard and she got offended. Well we went over to see her and the family and we were very casual trying so hard not to be "pushy" and so we visited with herfor about 30 minutes and started to bring up the gospel. She then began to cry, we were like, um what's wrong. The spirit filled the room so strong and she said that we were the answer to her prayer. She told us that 20 minutes before we knocked on her door she had been "crying out to the Lord" for help, asking for guidance and direction and then we came and she just knows it's not by accident. We were pretty excited about that and felt the spirit so strong, we helped her to recognize the spirit. We are teaching that family and are hoping to set them with a baptismal date for next month. In the family there is Sandra and her husband Richard prolly like in their 40's and then their son Anthony whose 16 and then Ashleigh who is 11. Way sweet fam!
So ya we have 9 super sweet investigators and we are finding new ones all the while! Great stuff going on here in Encino Park! Sister Davenport and I will be staying together another transfer and are ready to keep this place lit up!
On a side note, I was informed that I was accepted into ASU this week so that is exciting, so now I must apply for the College of Education- so wish me luck! Hopefully I will be starting towards my bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education this Fall at ASU Polytechnic! Yay! Well I love y'all mucho and will be seeing y'all sooner than you know- I only have 2 more transfers left after this- SCARY! I am so not ready to come home! Lol :)
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Rain, Conference, and Finding!
October 5th, 2009
Hey Y'all!
So it's been another busy busy busy week!! Lots going on for sure! Firstoff, the weather. It had been cooling down nicely, about mid 80's allweek but hten this weekend... THUNDERSTORMS!!! Sunday Morning at about5:30 Sister Davenport and I were rudely awaken by the sound of caralarms, the sight of brilliantly white light flashing into our windowsand the feeling of our house shaking! It was the craziest thunderstorm Ihave ever witnessed. Sister Davenport came and jumped on my bed and wecurled up in our blankets and watched the storm (my bed is the one nextto the window) it was pretty cool and a tiny bit scary. When we leftlater that day we saw the damage the storm had done, flooding! Not toobad but our garage flooded a bit and some people's landscaping got a bitmessed up. But ya it was funny cause that storm woke up everybody allover Encino Park area and so we were talking to people about it but thefunniest was our Bishop. He was laughing and me and Sister Davneport,he said "You mean they don't have storms like that in Idaho andArizona?" We were like NO way! He laughed, he is from Kansas so this wasnothing to him. So ya the weather has been pretty cool lately.
Next of course, General Conference. It was an amazing recharge for us-man all us missionaries felt like it was Christmas! We LOVE conference!My favorite session for sure was Saturday Morning, but my favorite talkby far was Elder Hollands! Woah was that amazing!!! The best part is wehad investigators watching that session so man what a testimony builderfor them! Confrence went by too quick, I can't believe it's alreadyover. Crazy!!!! Lastly, the work!! Well we baptized our teaching pool so we have beenfinding all week and we have had some amazing miracles come about!Sister Davenport and I keep asking ourselves why is the Lord blessing usso much? This is insane! Ha ha ya some cool stuff has happened. We havesome SWEET new investigators!! The work is progressing amazingly here inEncino Park and we are loving it! Next week is transfers so it will be a Tuesday P-day.
So until then,keep safe and rock on!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
Hey Y'all!
So it's been another busy busy busy week!! Lots going on for sure! Firstoff, the weather. It had been cooling down nicely, about mid 80's allweek but hten this weekend... THUNDERSTORMS!!! Sunday Morning at about5:30 Sister Davenport and I were rudely awaken by the sound of caralarms, the sight of brilliantly white light flashing into our windowsand the feeling of our house shaking! It was the craziest thunderstorm Ihave ever witnessed. Sister Davenport came and jumped on my bed and wecurled up in our blankets and watched the storm (my bed is the one nextto the window) it was pretty cool and a tiny bit scary. When we leftlater that day we saw the damage the storm had done, flooding! Not toobad but our garage flooded a bit and some people's landscaping got a bitmessed up. But ya it was funny cause that storm woke up everybody allover Encino Park area and so we were talking to people about it but thefunniest was our Bishop. He was laughing and me and Sister Davneport,he said "You mean they don't have storms like that in Idaho andArizona?" We were like NO way! He laughed, he is from Kansas so this wasnothing to him. So ya the weather has been pretty cool lately.
Next of course, General Conference. It was an amazing recharge for us-man all us missionaries felt like it was Christmas! We LOVE conference!My favorite session for sure was Saturday Morning, but my favorite talkby far was Elder Hollands! Woah was that amazing!!! The best part is wehad investigators watching that session so man what a testimony builderfor them! Confrence went by too quick, I can't believe it's alreadyover. Crazy!!!! Lastly, the work!! Well we baptized our teaching pool so we have beenfinding all week and we have had some amazing miracles come about!Sister Davenport and I keep asking ourselves why is the Lord blessing usso much? This is insane! Ha ha ya some cool stuff has happened. We havesome SWEET new investigators!! The work is progressing amazingly here inEncino Park and we are loving it! Next week is transfers so it will be a Tuesday P-day.
So until then,keep safe and rock on!
SMILING ALL THE WHILE
Hermana Kleisler
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