week 26- Update on my very interesting life

If you haven't heard I've been having major knee pain in my right knee since the last week of July. Over the past 5 months we've been visiting doctors and trying different solutions. I saw a doctor a few months ago who said it's patella tracking syndrome which translation both knee caps are tilted and are causing a decay in the cartilage underneath the knee cap. There are steps to fixing the problem and I've been doing them like taking an anti-inflammatory, wearing a knee brace, icing, and home exercises but they haven't been helping, in fact it's getting worse. Our next step is surgery and/or extensive physical therapy.  

On Thursday I will be flying home to take this medical action there. After everything is taken care of I will come back out to Florida to finish my last year of my mission. 

 

I few FAQ's

Q: Will you still be a missionary?

A: I will be released as a full time missionary but, I have a lot of missionary work to do in Las Vegas so I will be quite busy still bringing people closer to Christ. 

Q: How long will you be home?

A: We're looking at 3-4 months if all goes well

Q: Do you plan on coming back to Florida and finishing your mission there?

A: yes that is the plan. I only have a year left of service so it really won"t be that big of a deal to finish

Q: Did you manage to squeeze in one more baptism?

A: haha. no that would have been a cool story though. We had an investigator come to church though who hadn't in a while and accepted the invitation to be baptized. So that's pretty amazing. She should be baptized before the New Year. 

Q: Do you get to keep your ipad?

A: sadly it belongs to the church still... so no

Q: What do the ward members here know?

A: nothing. They'll all know after Thursday when Sister Packer has a new companion 

Q: Can I call you?

A: Sure!

Q: Can I come visit you?

A: I would love that

Q: What do plan on doing while home?

A: moving into the temple and never coming out, reading the Book of Mormon in 3 months, doing missionary work, reading books, developing Christlike attributes, spending time with my family, staying focused and fighting like a tiger to heal so that I can come back and finish my mission. 

Well that's all I got. I have about an hour left of emailing if y'all have any more questions. I'd be happy to answer them :)

Talk to y'all soon!

Love,

Sister Klein

week 25- Thanksgiving

What Sister Packer and I are Thankful for!

week 24- Baptism Joys!

Well this week has been great! I don't have too much time to email
today because Thursday was technically our preparation day and we have
two hours today to email and shop!

Well I'll just get into the good stuff!
Kirk, Brian, Allan, and Andrew were baptized!!!!  Yes they were
baptized! We set a goal to have 4 more baptisms in the month of
November and we exercised faith and they were baptized! We were so
excited for them. It was a beautiful service and our joy was full. The
gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families :) I've seen it. I had a front
row seat to a miracle!!

I'm attaching a photo of the baptism! Isn't it beautiful? A family :)

Being a missionary was the best thing I ever choose to do! I get to
bring people closer to Jesus Christ.

Well I hope you all have a great week!

Week 23- We suddenly have 6 solid baptismal dates. What?

I don't even know where to begin! I guess the best place to begin is that we're moving! Where? We don"t know yet! So send letters to the other sister's apartment! 

So in way of announcement Blair was baptized in Gainsville last week! Yay! super exciting! If you don't know who Blair is, she was our "golden investigator". We had taught her all the lessons and she had to move suddenly into another mission. well she was baptized! She called me and told me the good news! 

On Monday we were on Tornado watch and we weren't aloud outside or on bikes. So that was a fun adventure in mission life! Also shout out to the person who mailed me knee braces off of amazon! They are greatly appreciated! Thanks :) We also got a new ward mission leader in our ward! He's amazing! Ward mission leaders are super vital! Oh also we went on two exchanges this week. I went to Clearwater with Sister Waters. We got to go to a ward thanksgiving part. There was a lot of non members there. It was really cool! Also Sister Johnson from Seminole came with me to St. Pete. It was also a really good exchange. I love being a Sister Training Leader and learning from all the sisters in the zone!

So on Wednesday we had District Meeting and we talked about our goal of 9 baptisms in our zone for the month of November. Well we had only had 5 so we started naming people who could be baptized by the end of this month and how if we have enough faith we will be able to reach our goal. Well the next day I was saying my morning prayers and I was asking who could we set a date with. A few names came to mind and one of them was just a male who had already been to church and had most of the lessons. Later that day as we were discussing our weekly goals I said another prayer. The name Kirk came to mind. We used to teach Kirk and his 3 boys a while ago. So I called him and asked him if he and his boys wanted to be baptized November 29th. HE SAID YES! We've stopped by every single day since then. They are so prepared! Their interviews are Wednesday and their Baptism is this Saturday! We are so excited for them to be baptized!

We also met this lady while we were walking to an appointment. She said she was looking for a home church we stopped by her house on Sunday and we taught her the first lesson and committed her to be baptized December 13th she said yes and that she wanted her son to be baptized as well. We set another 2 dates last night! 

Well life is good!

Love,

Sister Klein

Week 22- Epiphanies in the Gym and Conquering Mountains

Well this week was interesting to say the least, on Tuesday all 3 of our baptismal dates dropped us... so that was fun. It was a slow week in general because we spent Thursday- Saturday in Tampa at the Metro Training Center. Its basically like a mini- mtc experience but its applicable to our mission. We learned a lot about self confidence and finding it from the real source of confidence and that's God. I seriously feel like I can conquer mountains! We also learned a lot about member missionary work. I hope every single one of you are preparing for someone to take the lessons by the full time missionaries. It's a commandment. Missionary work is equal to paying tithing. It's pretty important. 

We also talked a lot about how we can have the spirit more in our apartments and in our homes. Something that I've been learning on my mission is that if you want the spirit to be in your home and have it feel like the temple get rid of clutter. I can't believe the difference it makes when you put things away from the top of the dresser and things as simple as your desk and bathroom counter. If you put clutter away your home will seriously feel like the temple. If you don't believe me try it for a couple weeks. This realization has changed my life. I will never have clutter ever again because it's not having the strong spirit a clean house can have.

So Monday morning we were working out in the gym and I had an Epiphany! When I get back from my mission I'm going to become an interior designer and help design the inside of temples! It all just clicked in my mind and it feels so good every time I think about it. I'm pretty sure it's perfect for me as well! 

We went on exchanges this week with the other set of sisters in St. Petersburg! It was really fun. I went with Sister Behr to her area! I learned a lot from her as she is a very wise missionary who will be going home at the end of this transfer! Which is crazy. It was also really cool because they live in my old apartment and Sister Behr was my first sister training leader. So it brought back a lot of memories. 

Also I've been getting a lot of friend requests from y'all on my mission facebook and just wanted to let everyone know I'm not ignoring you. But we have a rule that I can only be friends with my parents, brothers, and sisters. Just so your all aware. 

Also I have an ipad so I get emails anytime I have wifi. I really appreciate all the emails and support I get through out the week but if you guys could only email me Sunday- Monday I would really appreciate it. I really want to be a focused missionary and when I get emails all through out the week it distracts me from my purpose. 

Well I love all y'all! 

have a great week!

Love,
Sister Klein

Week 21- Warriors, Surprises, and Embarrassing Moments

Wow! This week was amazing, I don't even know where to start.

On Tuesday I went on an exchange that changed my life. 2 really experienced sister missionaries extended for 30 days so that they could visit all the sister missionaries and share some of their wisdom. The highlight of the exchange is that we learn how to weekly plan according to the guidelines in Preach my Gospel. We also lean how to teach lessons on the street. This exchange changed my mission and my life after. Setting goals and making plans is such an important skill to have. I'm so very thankful for the time these Sisters took to do this. 

This week we taught 19 lessons (which is 17 more than last week), found 8 new investigators, set 3 baptismal dates, and soft committed 2 people to baptism. It was amazing, Next week we plan on teaching 30 lessons. Something I learned this week is that these blessings that we have been recieving have always been there, Sister Packer and I have just had an umbrella up and have been blocking them from coming. Well we took the umbrella down! 

So funny/embarrassing story. I really like to step on dead leaves as we walk down the road, some habit I picked up in Utah. On Tuesday I set a goal to not go out of my way to step on any leaves. So we're walking down the road and I see the perfect leaf. I then go and step on it as I keep moving forward I hit my head on a stop sign and fall backwards. It was just like a moving. Sister Packer and I just fall to the ground laughing! It was hilarious! Moral of the story: don't step on dead leaves.

On Wednesday we found out that we were called to be Sister Training Leaders! Surpirse! I'm so glad I've already done it before so this time it should be a cake!

Mystery of the Lost Book of Mormon Continues: MLC was friday and I followed up with the Sisters I gave the Book of Mormon to. They said that they have a return appointment for the next day! I will freak out if she gets baptized! What a cool story to share. I'll keep y'all updated on what happens next.

Saturday we went to chipolte with one of the ward members, Derrick and his friend Annie. We talked to her for a little bit and asked her if she would be interested in baptism, She said yes! It just goes to show how easy missionary work is. All you have to do is introduce the missionaries to your friends and they can take it from there. Its so simple.

Stake Conference was this weekend. I love receiving revelation at stake conference. Our Mission President was there and spoke Saturday and Sunday. Okay get this! So he's talking about missionary work and said "Our missionaries are warriors. Sister Klein is a warrior, she's walking around with a knee brace" It was hilarious and slightly embarrassing. haha

On our way to Stake Conference!

well folks that's all I got for y'all this week! 

Love,

Sister Klein

Week 20- #JalapenoProbs

Well this week was interesting to say the least. It all started on Monday. Mom you would be so proud of me! at the member dinner we went to I ate shrimp without complaining. It wasn't that bad... okay it was pretty nasty.

Anyways a few weeks ago we were cleaning out our car and we found a Book of Mormon that some lady had written out to a friend trying to share the gospel with her. We realized that because we had the Book of Mormon. It never made its way to the friend. This was a mystery that I had to solve. The Mystery of The Lost Book o f Mormon (coming soon to a theater near you, haha)

The lady who wrote her testimony in the Book of Mormon also wrote a link to her mormon.org profile. So we went there and found a link to her facebook. I messaged her and she let us know that she had written in that book over a year ago, she also told me the missionaries in her ward who I would be seeing Tuesday at the sisters conference.

So I solved the mystery with my abnormal stalking skills and the Sister missionaries in Tampa delivered the Book of Mormon this week. All is well.

Well Tuesday was the Sisters Conference and we went to the beach! 

I saw Sister Davis, Kunz, Loveridge, Coleman, and Brown! It was a joyous reunion! President basically talked about how important we are as Sisters and how important it is that we take the skills we're learning here and apply them to our lives after the mission. 

He also gave the best analogy to missionary work. He said that its basically like the movie Groundhogs Day, Every single day is the same. But you continue to make tweaks and changes until you get it right. It was perfect!

Well on Wednesday was district meeting and the Sister Training Leaders had this awesome object lesson prepared where a few of us closed our eyes and ate a piece of a jalapeno pepper and a grape at the same time. It represented the spirit and how we cant fee; the spirit if we have other things going on. Well after I ate my pepper and grape I went to go get a drink of water and rubbed my eyes on accident not realizing that I had pepper juice on my hand. How many sister missionaries does it take to flush Sister Klein's eye? That would be four. One to video tape, two Sister Training Leaders to feel really bad, and one Sister Behr to pour water and pry my eye open with her hands.

Needless to say it was a experience I'll never forget. haha!

Also Wednesday Night was the ward trunk or treat. There was about 50 nonmembers! It was awesome! We had a hard time talking to all of them! 

Thursday I went to the physical therapist, that was cool. Great way to share the Gospel.

Well Friday was pretty much an adventure day. Right now we have a teaching puddle, instead of a teaching pool. So we contacted every previous investigator we've ever had. Literally. One really cool experience happened. We saw that one Lady Melinda requested a Book of Mormon over a year ago so we went to follow up. We got there and I realized another previous investigator lived here too. Conner. We went and knocked on the door, a 18 year old boy answered. We asked if Conner was home, he said no. Then we asked if a Melinda lived there, he again said no. We then started talking to the kid at the door. He said his name was Collin. We asked him if he had been baptized, he said no but that he wanted to. We then shared with him that our purpose is to increase his faith and prepare him for Baptism. We then had the opportunity to teach him the first lesson. He got it, and loved he. We asked him to pray to know if it is true. He said he already knew it was true! He knew it was true because God wouldn't leave his children in the Dark. He said if God called prophets in the Bible that he would call prophets then. We then made an appointment to come back the next morning. When we came back his mom answered the door and said it was really inconvenient for us to stop by. So we left really discouraged. Collin is so prepared and wants to be baptized. Its really sad that his mom is going to get in the way.

Well for Halloween we went trick or treating with the Bridges family in our ward! It was a really cool experience to be outside with members. Working with the members is my most favorite way to do missionary work. 

Saturday was the worst day of my mission. I'm going to be real with y'all at times I wanted to give up and go home. But Sister Packer and I pressed though. Its really discouraging as a missionary to have 0 investigators and to only teach 2 lessons in a week. That's something I've never had to experience till this week. Sister Packer and I decided that the only thing we could control is our obedience. So we were the most obedient we've ever been. To top the day all off it was freezing and windy outside. Sister Packer and I wore our winter coats and tights.

We don't know how long this drought is going to last but we do know that the Lord is testing us to see if we will continue to be diligent and loyal disciples. I have a strong testimony in the principle of compensation. I know that if Sister Packer and I continue to be diligent even in hard times the Lord will give us what we had and 3 times that. He will never leave us comfortless.

On Sunday Sister Packer and I had a miracle. First of all we were happier because of that extra hour of sleep we got. Second WE GOT 36 MEMBER REFERRALS!!!! HOLLA! How is that even possible! Well the Lord answers prayers and through the Lord all things are possible. 

17 of the referrals came from the Young Women's president of the ward, 2 of them was her Brother and Dad who aren't members. It filled my heart with so much love and gratitude that she knew we were struggling and wanted to do everything she could. That she would trust us with two people who are very near and dear to her heart. I love this ward so much! These people are good people and I love them!

The two people I love the most are the Bishop and his wife. They are so amazing! Bishop always tells us that the four keys to missionary work is love, obedience, hard work, and a good attitude. I think that is so true!

Well I hope y'all have a great week and remember y'all are loved!

Love,

Sister Klein