3-5-121

Dearest Mother,

 

My week was pretty good. Friday I didn't go out cause Elder Wardle was sick so I stayed in with him and listened to past sessions of conference all day and that was glorious. 3 sessions of Priesthood and 2 sessions of normal conference. I loved it. And then on Saturday we got a text message from President saying that there are severe weather warnings all through out the mission so be safe and keep him updated and if necessary go to the church. So we looked out the window and the clouds were all dark and ominous and it was fantastic! But we had service to perform for a less active lady so we went out into the weather anyway, because we are just that awesome. Well actually, it didn't start raining or anything until we got done ripping her stumps out and filling in the holes they made. But once we got into the car to go home the clouds decided to dump out all the rain. We had to stay in all day Saturday too cause it rained pretty hard all day long. A tornado even touched down a couple towns over and we had no idea. During church a guy went up to bear his testimony and he talked all about that so we were informed that there was a tornado.

 

Church was pretty great. I got up and bore my testimony after Brother Allen told us that it was our turn to go up. He is a pretty funny guy. He came and helped us rip out those stumps. They were massive!

 

Of coarse Amy is wanting to change rooms. There is no way that she can stay in one place for very long. I don't know how she is going to handle College. Those beds don't move and it will be very difficult to re arrange anything ha ha.

 

That's super cool for Zadok. Congrats on winning bud, and good luck in the play! So what exactly is this book battle? Do they read lines out of books and they have to guess what book it is or something...

  

Hmm, lets see... What are my plans for the week. Well Tonight the Morris's are taking us out for some Asian food so that's gonna be delicious. Oh! that reminds me, there is a Chinese buffet right next to our place called Royal Buffet and we go there on occasion and one time I decided to try octopus so I got a little octopus and put it on my plate. It looked exactly like a baby octopus. I put it in my mouth and I felt so gross after eating it. Not because it did anything to me it just didn't feel right. So I won't be doing that again ha ha.  

 

Life as a missionary is pretty great. You learn to care about so many people. I shouldn't say learn cause that makes it sound like it's a job but your heart truly opens up and you truly do care how people's life's are and you want to help them out as much as you can. Well at least I do.

 

Love Elder Matt Klingler

2-25-12

Dear Mom,

 

Yes mother, I received two packages and I appreciated them both. I absolutely loved the book. I have looked through it a handful of times already.

 

I can't believe Russell is getting so old and that he will be driving! Maybe I'll let him drive me home from the airport... never mind, I just got a little scared thinking about that ha ha.

 

My week was pretty alright. I did a ton of walking this week because well my bike has been in the shop for a little while. I got it back Friday or Saturday. But on Thursday I was out working with Elder Wardle and we walked about 20 miles and for 7 hours straight! Man my legs were ready to give out on my and I had the hardest time standing when we got back to the apartment so I ended up just crawling around and I went to bed at 9 because I was so exhausted ha ha. Plus during that whole walking adventure I must've walked through something that I'm allergic to cause my legs got really red, blotchy and they stung every time I touched them. So that added to the pleasant evening... ha ha. But it's all good now, they just itch a tiny bit when I tend to scratch them. Also on Friday Us and 2nd ward elders were able to do some service and a local soup kitchen and that was pretty neat. They started dinner early so we weren't there to help dish out the food but we were able to clean up for them and they loved the help.

 

Not any new families we are working with but we did set a BCD with Sister Morris for the 16th of June so that's pretty exciting. Church was pretty great. I sat up towards the front and I was actually able to pay attention a lot better cause there was no one in front of me to get distracted by with what they were doing ha ha. Plus Brother Evans gave a really good talk. He mentioned how Alma the younger was all about rescuing the less actives and he gave the example of Alma and some of the others going to the apostate Zoramites and helping a lot of them reactivate. So that was pretty neat. Especially cause this ward has to do a lot of reactivating and rescuing.

 

Yesterday Elder Warburton and I went and saw a lady named Donna Shilling who hasn't been to church in about 14 years because she felt like the church was forcing her to marry her care taker. It was really cool cause I was able to talk to her just fine, I wasn't trying to figure out what to talk about or ask her or anything. It all just came out naturally. Big step for me ha ha.

 

I will definitely pray for Zadok and I'm pretty sad I won't be able to see his stellar performance in the play! Good luck little man!

 

Well I've gotta go, I still have to email President. Love ya tons! Bye bye!

Love,

Elder Matt Klingler

2-21-12

Dear Mom,

 

My week was pretty great. Nothing too crazy or exciting happened. Although I was down in Tallahassee yesterday for a half-mission conference and that was pretty cool. Elder Clark of the seventy came and talked to us. He really focused on real conversion and on finding it. I took a ton of notes and now all I have to do is remember to apply it and I'll be good to go.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty happy to stay in Valdosta. I really like the ward and I think that with the new ward mission leader and with what Elder Clark talked to us about we will be able to get more member involvement and it will really help  the  progress. Yup, I'm still with Elder Warburton and Elder Wardle is still with Elder Cammack and we are all still in the same apartment. It's gonna be another great transfer. I'm really excited. Whoa! Who is Kyle engaged to? That's pretty crazy!

 

Being able to use the priesthood is pretty awesome! I love it. We have no idea why he had a golf ball bump but the Stake President is a dentist so Elder Cammack went and asked him about it and luckily a guy in the 2nd ward is a mouth specialist or something so he was able to go to the dentist free of charge and they weren't able to find anything wrong but they prescribed him with some pain killers and some other  pills and it went away.

 

Cynthia and her son and daughter didn't come to church sadly. I really thought she didn't like it at all and we tried to get a hold of her all week so we could talk about it with her and we finally caught up with her on Saturday evening. To my surprise she said that she really loved it. It was different for her and she didn't like that is was so quiet but she liked it none-the-less. She is actively searching it out for herself though so she'll come around.

 

Well I love ya all and you are all  amazing! Oh, i just thought of this. Do i have a cool missionary plaque? 

 

The Church is true and nobody should doubt it.

 

Love Elder Matt Klingler

2-13-12

Hello Family,

No, I can't believe that I've already been out for 6 months. I don't know where the time went. It's kind of scary actually. I'll be done with my mission before I know it and I don't really want it to end. That's really cool that you got to see Kyle and tell him hello for me.

 

Alright so I think it's story time now. Last Sunday Elder Cammack, Wardle, Warburton and I went for a walk around a neighborhood called Hunter's Point cause we ate a ton and we wanted to walk it off a bit before bed. We were in our sweats and t-shirts and stuff and as we were walking back home this random lady came up to us and asked us what we were doing so late at night in her neighborhood. I told her we were just walking around and she didn't believe us. She asked for my name and I said I'm Elder Klingler. She looked at me and said OK.. what's your REAL name smart-a. It caught be off guard but I told here the same thing and that I was a missionary. She really didn't want to believe us and said she was going to call the cops and tried to take Elder Wardle's planner. It was a very interesting experience. Then last week we were in Walmart cause Elder Wardle and Cammack needed something and guess who we saw there...yup, Hunter's Point lady. She came up to us and asked if we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ or Latter-day Saints and when I said that we were she then asked if we ever walked around in t-shirts. For a split second I wanted to say no. But then I realized how stupid that would've been so I said "Yes, that was us the other night." She was so apologetic and mortified that she acted that way to us. It was a pretty cool experience and I could tell that she felt so much better after she apologized.

 

Also, Sunday morning Elder Cammack woke us up at 1:30 in the morning with a golf ball size bump on his jaw and he was in a lot of pain. Elder Wardle and I took him into the kitchen and sat him down and gave him some medicine and he was shaking so bad. It was kind of a scary thing. We gave him a blessing too and then in the morning his face wasn't swollen nearly as bad and also the pain wasn't nearly as bad either. It was pretty cool. We also got a new ward mission leader on Sunday so that is pretty exciting cause we just wen this whole transfer without one.

 

Last story. This one is pretty dumb on my part. The other night we had a pickle jar that just had the pickle juice left in it. Elder Wardle told me that if I drank the entire thing he would buy me two large shakes at Checkers and some chili cheese fries. Checkers is a burger joint that has the best shakes I've ever tasted for only 2.66 for a large. We go there all the time to get shakes. Anyway, me in my greed for ice cream decided to take the bet. Needless to say, i couldn't do it. I drank about half of it and I was about ready to die. I HATE pickles! I don't even know why I agreed to it. It was very stupid on my part. 

 

Oh yeah! Also on Sunday Ryan Jones received the priesthood which is awesome and a lady that we've been working with came to church. It was a perfect sacrament for her. The night before she was asking us about service and our stand on it and that was what the entire sacrament was about. The spirit was super strong! But I don't think she liked it very much. Her son on the other hand LOVED it and he wants to come again next week, so hopefully he'll be able to persuade his mom.

 

Also during sacrament we always sing a rest song in which we usually stand and sing. Well the Stake President was down for Ward Conference and in the middle of the rest song he went up to the podium told the music to stop and said that he couldn't tell if we really had sunshine in our soul because that was the song we were singing. It was really funny and I couldn't stop chuckling to myself.

 

Anyway, I should probably close this up cause I still have to write to President. I love ya all and just like you I know that this gospel is true and that by living it's principles anyone can have a better and happier life.

Love,

Elder Matt Klingler

2-6-12

My week was pretty good. Once again though not much happened, which is pretty sad. We are just in a dry spell.
Isn't it so crazy! 


Time is going by way to quick, especially this transfer. Before I know it I'll hit my 1 year mark and after that I've heard that time just goes by even faster which I don't know how it can. I know that the mission has changed my perspective on life and the gospel and how to share it.


On Friday we went to a baptism for a lady that was getting re-baptized. What a great experience.You could tell her testimony of the atonement was solid.  She bore her testimony and it was incredible.

We have a lesson schedule for Bruce and Ashlee on Tuesday. It is getting easier to talk to people.  Still have a lot of work to do in the small talk.  It's crazy that I've been out for 6 months..  Time is flying by.

On Saturday we did some service for a sister Meadow in the ward.  We raked her yard and moved some dead trees and branches to the curb. I got to use an ax and cut up some root stumps and that was a lot of fun.  It reminded me of the times Eric, Nate and I would chop things up in the sand box.


Prayer really is just a tremendous blessing. We have the opportunity to talk to God, the supreme being of the universe, and creator of everything. It's so cool that He is so important and powerful and He has the time to listen to every single one of His children and is waiting and ready to bless them tremendously. All we have to do is ask for the help. Oh goodness,it's just so fantastic! I love it!


I hope the young men in our ward will  make the right decision and go on missions.  Because I know it's the best thing for them and where God wants and needs them to be.  Hopefully the letters I send and my testimony will help them want to serve a missions. I'm grateful that I'm on my mission.


Love Elder Matt Klingler

1-30-12

Dear Mom,

 

First off...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLI!!! Congratulations on making it this far in the game of life! Please continue forward and enjoy the ride!

 

My week was pretty good, although the numbers would say otherwise. The weather isn't too bad either. 

 

Zone Conference was amazing like usual. We talked about our favorite missionaries and I talked about Dad. President Jensen also asked us what we would like to be remembered as and what we are doing to make that happen. I had another interview with him after and he really appreciates the work I'm doing with Elder Warburton.. Oh boy, I just love President Jensen, if I could be like him more that would be fantastic.

 

Grocery Shopping is going fine, we have been eating at members houses a lot so it's not so bad anymore. Last night we ate at Bishops house and he has 3 kids and when we got there 2 were playing checkers and it was a 2 king to 5 king game and Owen (the 2 king owner) ended up winning. With help from all us missionaries and his dad, Duncan is a pretty good checkers player. When it was time for us to go the kids didn't want us to leave it was pretty great.

 

Bruce and Ashlee (his wife) are doing great. They have now come to church 3 times and he really wants to be active again and Ashlee really wants to start going. We had dinner over there on Thursday and they are such cool people. She'll be getting baptized soon, mark my words ha ha.

Yesterday we had a lesson with a lady named Heather, her husband and their two friends and they just asked us questions for a little over an hour. Luckily we were able to answer their questions and have the spirit be there too and i got really excited cause I thought for sure we would have 4 great investigators but by the end of the lesson they decided they will still stay at their church. After that we met this guy named Remer, I think, and he told us some pretty cool stories on how he should been dead like 10 times but something always protected him. He didn't want us to "preach" to him he just wanted to let us know that there is only one god and he is universal. Which we already knew that. ha ha.

 

That is so crazy that Kyle is home now and that Russell is going to Camp Helaman in the summer. Hopefully he enjoys it as much as I did.

 

I love you all. Tell everyone hello for me and that I love them all very much. And that probably goes for anyone else that reads this letter too. Hello all! Love ya

 

Love Elder Klingler

1-23-12

Dear Family,

 

Anyway, So another week has just flown by in Valdosta. I don't know about anywhere else but it seems like someone pushed the fast forward button and time is just flying by. But luckily it's not going by so fast that I can't enjoy every minute of it. Elder Warburton is just so funny and we are always laughing because of him and the silly random things he says. 

 

Elder Warburton and I have been biking a ton lately because we want to save the miles because we are almost out for the month and we have to drive up to Tifton on Wednesday for Zone Conference. But I've been having a blast biking around Valdosta with that guy. As an apartment we still haven't figured out how much we actually need to buy on Mondays for groceries so by the end of the week we are down to hardly anything that would make a meal. It's pretty funny. Hopefully we'll get better at knowing what we need and how much of it.

I also gave a talk yesterday. I spoke about how members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are called to serve others, and Elder Wardle talked about the blessings of service. We talked longer than we were suppose to because the last speaker only had a couple of minutes to talk which was fine with him. When he got up he said that he was happy that he only had enough time to share a scripture and a thought because that was all that he had left of his talk between what Elder Wardle and I said in ours.

 

Last P-day we played "Poison" in the church with 2nd ward and we had a complete blast and I'm pretty sure we are doing that again today. 

 

I love you all and I'm grateful for all the support and encouragement you give me.

 

Love Elder Klingler