E-mail Week 7 5/31/2010

Yeah, I was just saying I want to be like them because they are the assistants for a reason. I just think it would be awesome to be like them... Ummm, I'll send the bag when I can. The stuff in the packages has been awesome My companion is pretty cool. I've learned quite a bit from him. He was in a boot because of his toe for a while.
He is wearing shoes now. We live by ourselves in an apartment. Every Wednesday one of the counselors in the Branch Presidency takes us out to eat. Then, if other members feel like it they offer to feed us. It is pretty humid out here. Plus, it gets into the 80's or 90's. No, we have not eaten anything weird yet. Yes, i got the package and thank you for it. I'll send the memory card soon. I need to go now. I love ya'll!!!

Letter 5/27 Week 6

Dear Mom & Dad,
Parents! Sorry I haven't written for a while... How are things going? It's hard to believe Michelle, Alexa & everyone else are graduating already. Anyway things are going good here. I'm becoming a little more bold and confident everyday... I want to be like the assistants I have right now. I think that's because I want to be the best missionary I know I can be. I don't want to sound like I am comparing myself to others. It's more like I am comparing myself to who I can become. But that will come in due time...
So I'll be sending you an e-mail too. But, things are going good here. We are working pretty hard/smart I think. We haven't really found anyone yet. An old investigator came to church two Sundays ago. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. We went to his house a few days later. At his home we committed him for baptism & he accepted! Then two days later he called. He said he was permanently dropping out of the church. My trainer(Elder Badal) & I are almost certain it's because of his family. They are pretty anti. It was frustrating though because he said he likes the church & the Book of Mormon and knows they're true. But he said certain things have come up so he is no longer investigating. Sigh. It kinda reminds me of grandma & grandpas situation. Because he has a daughter & grandkids living with him. But they don't have much respect for him. The branch doesn't have much hope either. They have maybe 30 - 40 attending each Sunday... But even though our investigator isn't being baptized we aren't losing hope! We'll find, with the Lords help, someone to baptize & get this branch going! Well I need to get going. I love ya'll! : ) Love Elder Kreyling (Barry)

E-mail 5/24/2010 Week 6

Hello!!! I have a written letter I'm sending to you today. Launa is getting married?!!! What the. Crazy. Anyway it's good to hear things are going well there. Things are pretty good here. I'll answer your questions. We don't really have any families we are teaching. We have tried contacting the Buffalo and Brummett families but haven't had success with that yet. We have gone to both homes a few times but nothing. We will try again soon I believe. We really haven't found anyone new yet. We have return appointments tonight and tomorrow and we hope they work out. But yeah, we don't have an investigator right now. There is a story in the letter I'm sending that kinda talks about that. I also talk about the branch in my letter. Let's just say we are trying to strengthen the branch and build their hope. Yeah it's pretty warm. It has been as high as 92 I think. Plus the humidity. The best is yet to come haha. Yeah we are working hard and smart. I forget to write in my journal every now and again but I'm trying to write every night. I forgot to get Mckay's address while I was at the MTC. Could you send that to me? I need to send an email to President Griffin so I need to go. I love ya'll!!!
Love,
Elder Kreyling (Barry)

E-mail 5/17/2010 Week 5

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hello! :) Well, Tennessee is as awesome as ever. I think the work is going pretty well. Sigh, that's sad but tell the boys (Soccer Team) I said good job. I think I told you before about our investigators in my last email. Well, almost all of them bonked us haha. We had an appointment with the Buffalo's this last Tuesday. Their main door was open and their screen door was closed so we were expecting someone to answer. So, we knock, and knock and... knocked. Nothing. Weird. We were confused so we left them a note and went finding from the area book. About 30 minutes later the Buffalo's called! I answered and since I'm new I said, "Hello this is Elder Kreyling" instead of "Hello this is the missionaries".... Ooops. She got confused and hung up. We tried calling back but there was no answer. So, we are going to go over and set up a new appointment. We have an appointment with the Brummett's this week. They are apparently a golden family so we are very excited. A former investigator came to church yesterday! After sacrament we answered his questions and taught him the Plan of Salvation. It went well! We committed him for baptism. He sat their for a minute then said he would think about it! Oh, and a couple days ago we tracted into Lila. She's a baptist (of course haha), but she seemed fairly interested. We asked her that if God gave her something that would draw her closer to Him if she would take it. She said yes. so we told her about the Book of Mormon and how it's the word of God like the Bible. We left her with a chapter to read and set up a return appointment. So, we have a couple investigators right now that we are excited about. But, our main focus for this transfer is to strengthen the branch. Apparently the missionaries before us didn't do a whole lot. So, I guess after something like that happens, the branch doesn't really trust missionaries. So, we are working on gaining their trust and strengthening the branch. Once we get a baptism and they see us actually working I think they will trust us. Then, we hope we can get some referrals:)
Yeah, we asked if we could study Spanish because we run into Spanish speakers pretty often. President Griffin told us to get back to him on that so we'll see. Tell Michelle that I wrote her a letter last p day... But, Elder Badal and I actually both forgot to send our letters. Haha. So, we sent them today. We are running around quite a bit today. We have shopping and what not. So, I'm not sure if I'll be able to write today. I actually have to take Elder Badal to a doc appointment which is at ten. So, I gotta go! Tell EVERYONE I love them!!! I love ya'll!!!!!! :) :) :)

Elder Kreyling's Companion, Mission President and Presidents Wife

Elder Kreyling with President and Sister Griffin
Top Elder Kreyling and his companion Elder Badal

First E-mail From Tenessee Week 4

Dear Dad,

Well, I think I answered most of your questions yesterday... Yes, our mission does have Spanish speaking missionaries. My trainer and I have actually ran into quite a few people who just speak Spanish. We are going to talk to our Mission President to see if we can have language study for an hour each day. We both know a bit of Spanish but we want to get better so we can talk to those people more. Yes, I got all of the packages and I'll send those things back. We talked a bit about this yesterday but my companion and I are still waiting to get letters... We've been here almost a week haha. We've thought about not looking in the mailbox for a while because it's kinda depressing haha;) Oh, I'll also send my memory card so you can get some pictures up on the blog:) Anyway, things are going great here! It reminds me a lot of New Jersey and Atlanta, so I really love it here:) We've only encountered a couple mean people. Most of the people are quite nice. They smile and say stuff like, "I really appreciate what you're doing and I admire you, but, I'm not interested." It's cool because we kinda get rejected and praised at the same time haha:) But yeah, things are going well and I'm having fun :) Remind people to write! :) I hope the rest of Mother's Day went well for mom :) Tell EVERYONE I love them :) I LOVE you and mom:)

Love,

Barry

A stolen post

I (Janice) stole the following post from the Nyberg family blog. The Nybergs are the best and we hope Barry gets to see more of them on his mission.


"...we got to see Elder Kreyling, the brother of Shelly's sister-in-law Janice (make sense?)"

"Elder Kreyling (right) with his new companion."

"Green looks good on him, no?"

"Brian welcomes Elder Kreyling to the mission. Too bad he didn't come to our area and live in the basement."

"There he goes!"

Letter from Barry's Mission President

Mother's Day Phone (Skype) Call From Barry

We were able to visit with Barry for a while tonight and he is doing well. Thanks to Brother and sister Bowman for giving him the means to communicate with us. As you can see from this photo he is content in what he is doing. That came through loud and clear in our conversation with him. He is getting along well with his new companion Elder Badal. We prayed that he would have a good first companion to train him and it appears those prayers have been answered. We had a chance to talk for a moment with his companion and were impressed. He is very positive. Barry is enjoying visiting with people in that area. They have several people they are teaching and he says they are good people. They are in a small branch in Louden, Tennessee. He is in a car area and he was assigned to be the driver in the companionship. They are required to ride a bike one day a week in their mission but for the next week and a half will be driving because his companion injured his foot. It was great being able to visit with him. We will be able to talk to him again at Christmastime and look forward to that.We will get an e-mail from him tomorrow, his p-day, so there may be a new post tomorrow if we learn something new.

Mothers Day Phone Call

Barry called to let us know when he will be making his official Mothers Day call. He is doing great. He is enjoying the area and his new companion. Ill update after we receive his "official" call. He sounds great though...

First Photos of Barry in the "field"

Courtesy of Brian Nyberg's phone. Brian and his wife Shelly (Jon's (Barry's brother-in-law) sister) live in Barry's Mission area. They do lots with/for the Missionaries. In fact they even house Missionaries in their home! Wouldn't it be so cool if Barry lived with them for a bit while he is out there. We think it's great that Barry got to see a familiar face upon his arrival. Barry and the Nyberg clan have met a few times over the years since Jon and Janice married. Thanks Brian and Shelly for these first photos!

Elder Kreyling is welcomed to the mission
by his trainer, Elder Badal

Update from Tennessee

We have a confirmed report from our elite Tennessee delta force that Barry has safely arrived in Tennessee. Actually Barry's brother in law's brother in law Brian had to take some missionaries to transfers and saw Barry walk into the transfer conference.

Where is Barry now?

Update Barry is assigned his first area: Loudon, TN
Click here for more info about Loudon.

On His Way!!! 5/4/2010

Barry called this morning at 7:11AM but it went to voice mail so I didn't get to talk to him.He then tried to call his mom and that call too went to voice mail.He left a message though which said that he is doing great!!! He is on his way to the airport to catch his flight to Tennessee! His flight is scheduled to leave at 8:00AM so he should be in Tennessee early this afternoon. Even though we didn't get to talk to him it was good to hear his voice. We do miss him but are grateful that he is doing what he should be at this time in his life.

Heading To Tennessee Tuesday May 4th

Barry will be leaving the MTC at about 5:00am and flying to Tennessee early Tuesday morning. He is excited to get out in the mission field. Mail should now be directed to the following address:

Elder Barry Kreyling
11320 Station West Dr. Ste 101
Farragut, TN 37934

REMEMBER MAIL IS GOOD!
And so are care packages. : )