week 18- Holy Cow! 4 Months, MVT's, Knee Probs, and Saving Souls

Well guys my weekly email is back. A quick update on what happened in that space of time if you haven't already heard yet. I'm training! 3 days after I finished my training I started training. On October 2nd Sister Packer and I became companions. Sister Packer is an amazing missionary the assistants to the mission president told me she was an MVT (Most Valuable Trainy) 

Sister Packer and I pretty much laugh all the time, we're figuring out everything together, its been quite the adventure. 

There's been a lot of changes in our mission. We do things quite differently here and have had a lot of success. We work very closely with members and our numbers are sky rocketing. On an average Sunday in our mission we get 30-40 referrals from members. Last Sunday our mission received 765 and counting referrals from members. That's never happened before, ever. Its insane!

Another thing we do is we only teach people who are 'golden' or who want to be baptized. A few weeks ago we dropped our investigator Sam because he didn't know if he wanted to be baptized. Well last Sunday he came walking into church it was a miracle. After we taught him for a few days about how we receive answers if the church is true and why we are here we decided he still wasn't prepared to be baptized so we dropped him again. Our teaching pool is constantly growing and shrinking. We spend the time that would've been in appointments finding people who are truly prepared. We find them by asking them with boldness "Have you been baptized before?" It seems a little awkward but it works and the more you do it the less awkward it is. I have a strong testimony of bold questions. The baptisms in our mission are tripling and they are people who are truly converted, they don't become less active in a few weeks.

Also for the past couple months my knee has been giving me problems. I went and got an MRI and a x-ray but nothing came up so yeah. I can't bike, run, or jump. So we're on full car or we walk. This week is the best its felt in months which is awesome.

On Monday we went and got flu shots to be obedient to the recommendation made by the missionary medical department, it didn't hurt to bad. But I woke up Tuesday morning sick and exhausted so we spent all day Tuesday in the house resting. I took medicine and drank plenty of water and slept. I woke up at about 5pm feeling so much better so we went out and taught a few lessons. Poor sister packer just cleaned and read all day long. 

On Thursday President Cusick was in our area because he was going to bishopric training that night. He took Sister Behr, Sister Abbot, Sister Packer, and I out to dinner before then at Panera Bread. It was really fun to talk to him about everything going on in our area. 

Friday Sister Packer and I did some finding over by the beach. It was beautiful! I should have taken some pictures! We're going to the actual beach on Tuesday for a sister's conference so that should be lots of fun! 

Saturday was a pretty fun day, we went to do some service for the St. Petersberg free clinic. Well when we got there the doors were locked and as we knocked no one was coming to the door. I suggested we said a prayer that we would have a miracle. I said the prayer and as soon as I said Amen a Lady came around the back of the building to let us know the door was open on the other side. CAN YOU SAY MIRACLE?!? 

We got to talk to the volunteers there about our church and our missions and why we we're doing service in skirts. It was a really cool experience. WE ALSO GOT TO RIDE IN A COOL ELEVATOR! It was just like tower of terror at Disneyland. Just like it.

Elder Ware and Elder Doty had a baptism this week for Kevin. Kevin saw a movie on Netflix about Mormons and it didn't tell him what we believed so he went on to mormon.org conference weekend and requested missionaries. The elders met with him between sessions and set a baptismal date with him and took him to the next session of conference. It was a miracle.

On Sunday I went tracking for the first time ever. Sister Packer and I knocked on the doors outside the church to invite them to the Trunk or Treat our ward is having on Wednesday. We met a lot of interesting people and a lot of really nice people. It was actually really fun, you never knew who was behind the door. We also got to teach a lesson to a man outside his home which was really cool.

Well I better get going!

I hope y'all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Klein

week 17- "If I were an alligator, I would want to live in an organized jungle"

So this Monday Sister Packer and I went to Sawgrass Lake park! Its a park with Alligators and it kind of looks like a jungle, well not really. It just has a lot of green in it. Well the funniest thing happened. We're walking on this boardwalk and Sister Packer just says flat out "If I were an alligator, I would want to live in an organized jungle." So that's our Joke now. Organized Jungles :) haha!

The Lord knows me so well! on Tuesday we were having a rough day and we decided to get a priesthood blessing. We asked the Elders to give them to us. This blessing was seriously an answer to my prayers. The elders said things that only the Lord knows about me and only the Lord knew I was struggling with. It was seriously one of the most spiritual experience of my life. It reaffirmed my testimony of the priesthood. That this really is the Lord's church restored on the earth. It testified to me that God knows me and he is really truly there. 

If you haven't seen Meet the Mormons yet. You have to see it as soon as it is on Netflix. We saw it at our Zone Conference on Thursday! It was amazing! it made me so happy to watch! I basically balled like a baby when it showed one of the characters leaving on a mission. It was such a happy movie! It changed my prospective on the world :) Find a way to see it... Now!

GUESS WHAT?!?!?! Okay! This is the most exciting news of my life! President got us permission to GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!! We're going to the TEMPLE! He doesn't know when or how and Salt Lake could decide suddenly that we can't leave the mission boundaries to go anymore, But we get to go to the TEMPLE! At least once maybe twice :)

President has been asking for 14 months for us to get permission to go and it finally happened. When he announced that in Zone Conference I cried tears of joy! The temple is my favorite place on this earth! I can teach people the importance of going to the temple more as I experience the temple more!  :)

We had a baptism this week! A sweet 10 year old boy! I'll attach a photo! It was a beautiful baptism! I got to put the year of college I had to use during the baptism. I took a rhythmic training for dancers class where we learned how to count music, read sheet music, and conduct music. So put that knowledge to use and lead the music. and guess what? I didn't fail! I was actually really good at it! haha 

Overall I think its been a pretty good week! I seriously Love missionary work so much! 

Love,

Sister Klein

week 16- Roller coasters are no fun

I'm doing really well. Missionary work is a huge roller coaster. Your teaching pool is up and down. And right now it's down. Like really down. We are teaching no one. So we're going to clean out our area book and start fresh. The Lord will bless us as we do this. We're only teaching people who are prepared so we only teach people who want to be baptized. It's a difficult concept to grasp. Because there are plenty of people who want to be taught. So if we're looking for people who just want to be taught then that's who we're going to teach. But as we look for people who want to be baptized then that's who we're going to find.

The hard part is finding people who want to be baptized is an act of faith. And we learn in Ether that we receive no witness till after the trial of our faith. So we see no fruits of this labor until after it's over. Which is insane if you asks me.

I have strong faith that I'm going to reach my goals this transfer. I also made of my mind in sacrament that I'd rather serve a short mission in which I worked my leg to death because I never stopped moving, then serve all 18 months and give my talents and abilities cheaply because I was afraid of injuring my leg more. So this week I'm going to push my self. I'm going to work so hard I collapse as when I walk in my door. And who knows maybe this is a trial of faith. Maybe if I work my hardest my leg will stop hurting and it will heal.

I don't really know all I know is that the Lord is teaching me lessons here that I couldn't learn in 50 years of being at home.
Well I got to go!
I love and miss you!
Love,
Sister Klein

week 15- The night I stole toilet paper from the gym bathroom...

Well Family Sister Loveidge is training in Lakeland... I may or may not have cried when she left. But that's alright because now I have Sister Packer! She is an amazing missionary! She's basically training me. Sister Packer is from Gilbert, AZ and also comes from a family of nine, was home schooled, and has an abnormal obsession for polka-dots. We're practically twins. Also we're both from the desert so as its getting cold in Florida we're both freezing! 

fun fact: all of my companions have been sorter than me. don't really know how that's possible. I'm pretty short. 

Well you might be wondering about the title... I'll get there.

On Thursday Sister Packer and I did some finding around the church and we found a man who wants to be baptized. We're going to go teach him on Tuesday! We're so excited! He loved the Restoration Lesson and soaked it in like a sponge. He is seriously golden. I have a strong testimony that this is Christ's church restored once again on the earth. 

Sister Packer is a great teacher. This week we taught 18 lessons, it would've been 21 if Blair wasn't sick. But 18 is still really good.

Okay Toilet paper story. So Friday night we get home and I realize we're out of toilet paper. So its too late to run to the store so we go to the gym and steal toilet paper. I seriously felt like Nephi. Breaking a commandment had to be done for a greater cause. haha.

Saturday Morning we had breakfast in one of the member's neighborhood events. It was a really cool experience to have people come up to us and ask us who we were. We're going back next weekend for another event. I love member missionary work! Its pretty much the best thing in the world!

GENERAL CONFERENCE BLEW MY MIND! President encouraged us to have a list of questions to have before it started. I have 17 questions and every single one of them was answered it was insane! I don't know why I didn't do that sooner. Do I have a favorite talk? no, not really. Because every single one of them had multiple answers to my questions. It seriously blew my mind! Also be proud of me! Every single one of you should be proud of me! I didn't fall asleep in conference! What?!? did you hear that? I didn't fall asleep! 

Well I hope y'all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Klein <3

week 14- Well Smack my Face with a Kansas City Pickle... I'm Training

Hey Family,

So transfer emails came in Saturday evening after the General Woman's Meeting (that was really good by the way) and Sister Loveridge is Transferring and Training and I'll be staying in St. Petersberg and TRAINING! I'm going to be training a brand new missionary. Just to tell you how big of a deal this is I just finsished my training yesterday and only 4 sisters are coming into the mission so President and the Lord chose  and trust me. Its awesome! I am so excited for this opportunity. I know I cannot do this without the Lord's help, but I also know that he will be there for me.

Well This week was record breaking, Sister Loveridge and I taught 23 lessons this week. In the past we had been teaching an average of 10-15 lessons per week and this week we taught 23! The standard of excellence for lessons per week is 20 in my mission. So we finally made it.

So this week was really busy and we were always teaching. It was insane. then on Monday night our missions changed, we got the idea to sleep with our name tags on because the time we have to wear them is so short, I only have 15 more months. That is not nearly enough, I never want to take my name tag off because I always want to be a missionary. We got some training from the assistants to the president on Wednesday before we had our interviews with president. They told us that missionary work is changing and we're not walking the streets anymore. We're using the members and we're using facebook. ever since we started doing this our work has gone crazy. My mission is so much more ahead then any other mission. I'm so thankful for a mission president who is always changing how we do things so we're using the most out of the Lord's time. I don't know what other missionaries do all day and how they aren't bored and what they do in the hour they use for lunch.

The Lord knows me so well he knew that I needed this mission and he knew I needed my mission president.

I'm so excited to meet this sweet missionary I'll be training. I don't even know her name, or what she looks like but I already feel so much love for her! I'm going to miss Sister Loveridge so much but she'll always be my trainer.

I'm so excited for the lessons that the Lord has in store for me as I serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.

Love y'all!

Love,

Sister Klein

week 13- We got on a bridge to Tampa!!

So this week has been an adventure for sure. Monday may have been the most stressful day of my mission. we had 2 unplanned meetings that we had to go to. so we had to fit that into our pday schedule and we were late to both meetings because of traffic and car wrecks. it was kind of funny because we literally just screamed the whole drive in the car. It was really stressful. but we got over it. haha

Okay really funny story! so we ordered a large print Book of Mormon for Juanita this week and it got here so we went to drop it off and she just starts screaming with excitement for this Book of Mormon. Like she's a little kid on Christmas! It was so cute! we got it on video too! It was so funny how excited she was about the Book of Mormon.

We set dates with Hope and Sam this week! we're super excited for them to make the steps towards baptism.

Fun mission story on exchanges I got bit by a spider while I was sleeping, so all day Saturday I ran a fever from the spider bite. It was kinda fun to be out proselyting while running a fever. I made it till about 4:00 in the afternoon when I finally decided to call the mission nurse and ask what to do and he told me to go home and rest. haha. It was really hard to rest because the Lord needs me to work my hardest all the time, but after I did I felt a lot better. 

Yesterday we went over to the Bishop's house for dinner and on the way back we somehow got on the bridge to tampa and we couldn't flip a u-turn because we were on a bridge. It was insane. we were freaking out because there was nothing we could do. We got back to the area safely and we got a funny video of us freaking out. So yeah.

I really don't have too much to say this week... 

Life's great. The church is true.

Love,

Sister Klein

Week 12- Eye Single to the Glory of God

Dear Family,

This has seriously been the craziest most amazing week of my life. Every day has been full of miracles and seeing the Lord's hand in my life. We set a baptismal date with the family we're teaching for October 18th! awesome!

Okay funny story!

So we had to run to target to get something that I needed and it couldn't wait till Monday. so we're at target and we ask a worker were the item is located and she tells us the isle and we then talk to her about baptism. She said she hadn't been baptized but that she wanted to. WHAT?! this worker in Target wanted to be baptized! That never happens! We get her contact information and we're going to start teacher her! CRAZY stuff!!!

The Lord is so very aware of me right now in this stage of my life. He loves me and wants me to be happy.

Tomeka and Juanita loved their temple trip to do baptisms. Tomeka kept saying it was better than Disney World. which it is. I cannot wait for them to get to go back and do their family names.

I talked in my last email about Hope. Well she is on full board. We're hoping to set a date with her this week and we're also now teaching her Boyfriend. They're a super cool couple.

 

Whitney is doing amazing! she is progressing wonderfully. We are so excited for her to be baptized! she is making changes in her life for the gospel and the Lord is blessing her so much.

 

We figured out the secret to missionary work. D&C 4:5 is the qualifications to be a missionary. "An eye single to the glory of God qualifieth him for the work"

So the only way you qualify to be a missionary is if your eye is single to the glory of God. If missionary work is your life. Sister Loveridge and I are working hard to make missionary our life right now. We eat sleep and breathe or investigators. They are all we think about and all we talk about. Through doing this the Lord is blessing us. He is literally tripling our work because we are doing our best to qualify to be his servants.

The days are moving so fast. We are trying our best to keep track of them but we can only do so much.

 

Serving a mission was the best decision I ever made because its not about me. For the first time in my life I have been about to not worry about my self and be able to trust that the Lord will take care of me as I take care of his children. I love that I have this short season to take the time to not worry about the future and to not worry about what could happen.

 

Love,

Sister Klein