Hello Again!

 

Well, another week come and gone and talk about a busy one! As you all know I found out last Monday that I was being transferred from my area. Well, we had our transfer meeting on Tuesday and I was moved a little farther north (the next zone exactly north of us) to a little Rama called Monte Vista. From what I've seen from the last few days there is a TON of potential here but there are not nearly as many hispanics as they are a little farther south. No matter, we'll find them. :)

 

I was called to serve with my old trainer, Elder Bingham. It was an exciting time and I look forward to learning from him again. He has been in the ward for a transfer and has been working very hard to find and teach the people. As of now we have 3 baptismal dates set for a family and the potential of 7-10 more by the end of next week. So, things are pretty exciting up here :)

 

We had an interesting experience my first day in the area. We had just spent some time contacting in an apartment complex in the morning and were going to check a potential investigator in another set of apartments. As we got in the car to pull out, this little chihuahua came flying out of nowhere and wrapped it's leash around Elder Bingham's leg. A few moments later the owner (Hispanic :)) came up to us and thanked us for catching his dog. We talked for about 10 minutes and both he and his wife invited us to their home the following day at 11 am. We went by the next day and had and INCREDIBLE lesson with them. They come from Puebla, Mexico and are the nicest people in the world. They were really excited to have us in their home. They both work a lot but are willing to listen and the husband even said, "I need to ask for a day off....Sundays I need to go to church." So...we're pretty excited for them.

 

I can't begin to explain how incredible this work is. I love being a missionary. Sure it hasn't been the easiest thing on the face of the earth but you grow in so many incredible ways. I've come to appreciate my Savior more than ever before. We've met some pretty interesting people while contacting (especially this past week) that have really caused me to reflect on my beliefs. I am so grateful, as Nephi of old, for "Goodly Parents" who taught me while I was young. I know that this church is true and that it was restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and will help any man come closer to him.

 

Well, my time is up for the week. I apologize if it seemed a little random but I hope you all enjoyed it none the less :). Have a great and safe week and until next post, "iQue Dios les bendiga!"

 

Sincerely,

Elder Klemme

Hello again!

 

Another transfer in the books! I've completed my first transfer here in Encanto (Sur) but, I do have news. I found out this morning that I will be leaving this area after only 6 weeks of service. I've really come to love this place and the people that live here. Truly this area is sacred ground. I know that Heavenly Father is bringing people here to hear the gospel and it was such a special opportunity to experience it. I pray that with whatever my next assignment is I will be able to see our Heavenly Father's hand in the work.

 

This week was a very busy but productive week. We were blessed with the opportunity to set 2 more baptismal dates this week: one for this man named Gaspar (he's a character :)) and the other for a lady named Antonia (we found her tracting...Windows of Heaven find really). Gaspar may be moving this week but Antonia is looking to be really solid. It will be an exciting experience for her.

 

But, the biggest piece of news was the baptism we had this week. But, Saturday we had our baptism for Jose and Maria Vargas (the couple that we got married last week). President and Sister Beck attended and, holy cow, it was a beautiful service. There were a ton of people there, the talks were spot on, and the baptism was incredible. We had Obispo Chamizo do their baptisms. We also gave a little presentation on The Restoration and we had the opportunity to hear Jose and Maria bear their testimonies....I had to fight so hard to not start crying...their testimony has grown so much from the first time we visited with them and they've just overcome so many challenges to keep their date...they were supported by messengers on the other side to protect them from Satan....It was an incredible experience to teach them and to see them start their life as a disciple of Christ.

 

I've come to realize more and more the sacred opportunity it is to be a missionary...I love what I do and I wish everyone could have this opportunity. I remember listening to my dad's stories growing up of experiences he had while he was on his mission. It was because of those things he shared with me that made me excited to be a missionary myself. I have no regrets for the decision I have made....I have come to know of the deep love our Father in Heaven and our savior Jesus Christ have for each and every one of us. We are God's children and he sent us here to be happy, to obtain a body and to do those things necessary to return back and live with him to be eternally happy forever.

 

My friends, I know that this work is true. I would encourage you all to open your mouth and talk to your friends about the blessings that you have. I know that you too can experience the joy that I experience now as a missionary. And to those who aren't members of our faith, if you have interest go ahead and talk to the missionaries. Trust me, we don't bite :) I know that this message that we carry will bless you in more ways than you can imagine.

 

Well, my friends, I hope that you have a great and safe week. I love you all and are in my prayers. Until next week, "iQue Dios les bendiga!"

 

Sincerely,

Elder Klemme

 

 

 

"Come Unto Christ": Jose and Maria Vargas the day of their baptism. I can't begin to explain the amount of love I have for this couple. They truly were 2 of Heavenly Fathers elect and I will be eternally grateful for the lessons that they taught me during my time as their missionary.

Hello again!

 

Talk about an interesting week. There were some definite eye openers but, as a whole, the week turned out fantastic. Here is the scoop!

 

First and foremost, I just want to bear my testimony of the power of member missionary work. We hit a wall a couple of weeks ago when we tracted for 8 hours and found 2 new investigators. Not only that, both of them dropped us the following week. Elder Miles and I had a very long and deep discussion of what our next step needed to be in order to change that trend and start finding more of Heavenly Fathers elect. We both felt impressed that the time of finding through tracting in our area was past and that it was time to start letting the members find for us. So, we made plans this week to visit certain members that we felt impressed would give us member referrals. We'll let the numbers show the results. We received 7 member referrals in the course of 5 days. With those member referrals now come 10 solid new potential or now new investigators for this week. We have high expectations for each one of them and we feel like a major baptismal harvest will be coming very soon in the Encanto 1ro Ward. My friends, I read a talk this past week by Elder E. Ray Bateman from the October 1998 General Conference titled "Pearls from the Sand." I would challenge each one of you to read it and see what you can do in your area to help those precious elect come unto Christ. I know that as you do this you will receive some of the sweetest blessings Heavenly Father has for us.

 

Also this week we had the opportunity to witness the marriage of 2 of our investigators. Jose and Maria Vargas have been investigators for about 5 weeks now and, wow, I have never met someone so prepared in my life. They read every assignment we give them, have kept every commitment we have given, and when we taught the Law of Chastity simply said, "Well, now we have a reason to get married...lets do it on Friday!" (This was on Wednesday.) So they did! They had family there, we took pictures, and right after we gave a church tour to them and their kids. It was a very spiritual experience for everyone. Their baptism will be this Saturday at 7:00. Both Elder Miles and I have a ton of love for this family and are looking forward to seeing them receive the blessings of baptism.

 

To close of the post for the week, on Tuesday Elder Miles and I had the opportunity to lead a Specialized Training Meeting with our zone. For those of you not aware, the MTC will start teaching a new simplified curriculum next may with a focus on 8 areas. These areas include things like "The Doctrine of Christ-the Missionary Purpose", "Receiving Revelation through the Book of Mormon", and "The Role of the Spirit in Conversion" just to name a few. In our mission we began an 8 month deployment process of this new curriculum to assure that we will be ready for the new missionaries when they come into the mission field. I tell you what, it's tough to put together a 3.5 hour training...To put it simply, we learned a ton on how to prepare...I bet we studied the doctrine of Christ for at least 30 hours over the last 2 weeks. But, when the training came we were sustained. The spirit was strong, the discussion was good, and everything turned out alright.

 

Well my friends, I'm out of time for this week. I hope that you all have a great week this week and that those who are going back to school have a great start to the year. Remember that you are always in my thoughts and prayers. I love you all and until next week, iQue Dios les bendiga!

 

Sincerely,

 

Elder Klemme

 

 

"Yes, that is a peacock": For some reason a ton of people have peacocks out here....I'm not really sure why...

 

 

"On the road to eternal progression": Jose and Maria the day of their marriage! Next step: BAPTISM!

 

 

"Not to mention...": Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the baptism of one of my former investigators in Montana del Sur. Edgar is going to be one strong member of the church. We found him street contacting one day and...wow, from the moment we met him we knew he was one of the elect. I look forward to seeing him again!

 

 

"Good Morning, Encanto!": I woke up this morning and looked out the window...this is what I saw. I thought you all would enjoy it too!

 

 

"Setup": This was our setup for the Specialized Training we gave on Tuesday. I never realized how long it took to get things set up like this...We were pretty impressed with it once we got it all setup. The filled baptismal font gave a nice spiritual touch to the meeting :)

Hello again!

 

To explain it simply, this week was a little bit of a harder missionary week. Don't get me wrong I'm not discouraged nor close to being so but there are just some week when you feel like you didn't really accomplish anything. BUT, when you do your numbers at the end of the week and think back of the things you accomplished you realize that you did have success, even though the numbers may not show it. The worth of a soul is great in the sight of our Heavenly Father.

 

We have come to discover that we have reached a cross road in regards to finding in our area. Elder Beames and Elder Crandall (the zone leaders that brought about the greatest culture change in our zone) basically tracted this place five or six times over (at least :)). Ever time we go to an area and ask people if they have talked to missionaries before they tell us "Yeah, they came by a few months ago! One was really tall and the other was really short." We respond with "Did one of those missionaries have the name of Elder Beames?" They respond with "BEANS! That's the one I remember. No I'm not really interested but thanks for stopping by again!" then they shut the door. We've come to realize that now is the time for the members to shine. We need to find through the members.

 

With all of our finding worries from the past few days, Elder Miles and I dedicated our whole Saturday to finding. Here's the excerpt from my journal:

 

"We had an interesting experience on Saturday. More or less a major testimony builder that Heavenly Father answers our prayers but sometimes we really need to work for them. We found a grand total of 1 new investigator but...well, just wait for the story. Elder Miles and I basically set up an all day finding day on Saturday. We set up a lot of potential appointments but put "tract the area" for our backups. We knew that if we were prompted to go to that area there must be a reason. Well, we didn't have a ton of luck in the morning. A semi-committed potential but nothing too promising. Well, after lunch we went to this area that I could tell hadn't been visited a ton. Apparently there is a lot of gang violence there (never thought those existed in Phoenix did ya :D) Well, when we got to the area I had this impression that there was someone on the street waiting to talk to us. I just felt it deep in my soul. So we said a prayer, went to go check on the guy we intended to visit but ended up tracting the street when he didn't answer his door. We knocked 2 houses when we came to this mexi-house with it's door open. When we started going up to the door the lady inside was a little surprised that we were coming to talk to her. Well, we talked to her for a while but before we left she said that she was watching this non-religious when she told us that for some reason the random thought came into her head of "when am I going to go back to church." At that moment she turned to see us walking up to her door. Pretty cool if you ask me."

 

I've come to realize the power of the statement that my trainer told me about 10 months ago. He said, "Heavenly Father has a list of people in heaven that he is prepared. He knows his sheep and he knows what ones are ready to hear the gospel. Our job is to do everything in our power to find them and bring them into the fold." Talk about a pretty powerful statement. It just so happens that my trainer is now an Assistant to the President. I've come to realize just how much those 2 transfers with him have changed my mission.

 

My friends, the mission is a powerful experience...tears come to my eyes as I reflect on the incredible experiences (and sometimes almost impossibly difficult obstacles) I've had. I have no intention of leaving behind what I've learned. This is the work of the Lord and it is my sacred privilege to share this message with everyone.

 

I hope that you all have a fantastic week. Know that you are loved by our Heavenly Father and that you are in my prayers. Remember "Keep trying to do your best, even when it's hard." Have a safe week and until next post, iQue Dios les bendiga!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Klemme

Hello again!

 

So, I decided to do a bit of a different post setup this week. I know I don't send home pictures very often so, I figure I would repent of my ways and just send home pictures this week. I hope you all enjoy them :)

 

Also, as a note. I received some letters this past week that have mentioned sent birthday cards. Here is the truth: The only birthday card I received was from my parents a week before my birthday. Other than that, I didn't receive any birthday cards. So, if there are some of you waiting to receive a response letter back from the card you sent, send me a little note and I'll be sure to write you back. Sorry for any inconvenience!!

 

Okay, picture time :)

 

 

"Welcome to Encanto": This is a picture from our apartment window. Isn't it beautiful? I love tracting trailer parks. The people there seem much more interested in listening to you. And the cool part is, Encanto 1st (Sur) is full of them :)

 

 

"Rainin' Season": Arizona gets these crazy monsoons right in the middle of summer. We had our season this past week. It was a little difficult to tract but, we found some really cool people in what seemed to be the eye of the storm. So much for Satan trying to detour us. Apart from the blessing of finding new people the temperature was also a lot cooler as well. On Friday it was 77 degrees....It was freezing....

 

 

"Silver Lining": Another spectacular Arizona Sunset :)

 

 

"Kingdom of God": We were blessed to have another baptism this last Saturday. This lady's name is Rosa Gatica. Her son, Cris, was baptized about 4 weeks ago. She's gone through a lot in her lifetime but, I tell you what, she is downright incredible. She is a pretty timid lady but has a powerful testimony of the gospel. Her baptism was one of 9 baptisms we had in the zone on Saturday. All in all it was a very merry and white baptismal weekend :)

 

 

"All Creatures of our God and King": Heavenly Father loves all of his creations...Even the ugly ones :) This dog belongs to one of our recent converts and...I tell you what I laughed so hard when I saw this thing for the first time! It's a really lovable dog and all but, whew....it's ugly. Kinda reminds me of some of the other dogs we find in the streets...

 

Well, I hope you all enjoy the pictures. I know I did when I took them :). I hope that you all have a great week and until next Monday, iHasta Luego!