11-14-11

Dear Everyone,

My week was pretty great. The teachings are going pretty good. Sadly we found out this past week that King James just got put on probation for a year and so we have to push his baptism back until he is off of that. Part of that "restitution" process. He took a plea deal to help get his girlfriend out of jail and that said part is that he is innocent. Well that's what he says and I have every reason to believe him. On a happier note though, a guy named Ryan Jones, whom we have never before seen or heard of, came to church yesterday and is not a member. He investigated the church earlier but got deployed for the war. He is already in the book of Helaman and has a lot of questions that we will be answering. He seems like a pretty awesome guy and I'm excited to help him get to know God better.
 I have no idea what I want for Christmas. I will think about it in the coming week long and hard and then I'll let ya know :) It's weird that Christmas is just around that corner.
 Yeah, transfers are one the 23rd of this month. And as for how long companionship's stay together I have no idea. I think they are suppose to stay together for a couple of transfers and shouldn't be moved that often but they are getting a lot of new missionaries in the field and they need a lot of trainers so I'm thinking that I'll be in a new companionship next transfer but I honestly have no idea. I'm pretty sure there will be no snow in Valdosta. It is way to hot here. The other day I was sweating bullets, definitely not November weather. For Sunday school we go to the gospel principles class for the new members of the church and for investigators, it's pretty great. Which reminds me of a cool spiritual experience that I was able to be a part of.
  Story Time:
 Yesterday after church we were in this huge apartment complex for a lesson that Elder Nielson had planned for with a guy named Jackson. We thought for sure that he would be there cause he seems pretty solid but sadly he wasn't. In this complex is a member of the church named Sister Monroe. So we decided to go and knock on her door to see how she's been doing and to hopefully talk to her parents cause they aren't members. Anyway her parents weren't there but we talked to her for a bit and after a while of talking we got on the subject of prayer. She then went on a told us how right before we knocked on her door she just got done praying and asking if this was indeed the church that she was suppose to be apart of. Because she goes to church and takes her kids with her they don't get to spend any time with their grandpa cause he takes off to work right before the kids come home from school and Sundays are the only days that he could spend with the grand kids but they go to church so they don't get to have the relationship that she would like with him. But anyway so she was asking if this was where she should be and right when she closed we knocked on her door. Pretty awesome. I wish I could say that we felt a huge prompting to go over to her place but we didn't. Just our planned lesson fell through. Still pretty neat story and now I can say that I was apart of one of those cool stories :D
  We are only assigned to one ward, so yeah I've made some great friends and I absolutely love the people in the ward. They are all so caring and wanting to do all they can to help the work move forward. There is a kid named Terrel Harris that is 19 and he is super cool. I just talked to him on Sunday about Oblivion: Sky rim and he told me of how amazingly epic it is. Part of me wishes this was my last area and not my first so that way i wouldn't have to wait so long after leaving the area to continue the friendship I have with the ward especially with Terrel ha ha. But I'll just have to get his email address and keep it for two years and hope he doesn't forget me :P
  The Book of Mormon reading is going amazing! I absolutely love this sacred book. I'm in two places right now in my reading. I'm reading it in my personal study and am in Alma chapter 55 or somewhere around there and I love it. And then I'm reading it for a half hour or so right before bed because President Jensen has issued a challenge to all the missionaries to finish the Book of Mormon from start to finish by the end of the year and for that I'm in Alma 23 or so and just read about Ammon converting King Lamoni and Aaron is just about to teach the king of all the Laminates. Pretty exciting stuff.
  This mission is a great experience for me and I'm loving being out here. I have had strong experiences that keeps letting my know that God lives, this is His church, and that he really does answer the prayers we ask for. I love you and I'll see you in a couple years.
Love Elder Klingler