E-mail Week 15 7/26/2010

Elder Kreyling and Elder Badal: Transfers Wednesday make this there last few days together. Elder Badal has been great and we appreciate all he has done to "train" Barry and get him off to a good start on his mission.

Hello Familia!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds like things are going well back home. Hmmm, Elder Badal only has one brother so if I told you he was entering the MTC that was a mistake. Oooops. I've been trying lately to write more in my journal. But, after a full day of working, usually almost non-stop, it's pretty much the last thing I want to do haha. But, I am trying. I did get the package, letters, and memory card. Thank you!!! The chigger bites and dermatits are both almost cleared up. Transfers are on Wednesday this week. We got a call on Saturday and I am... staying in Loudon. We will find out on Wednesday where Elder Badal is being transferred to.
I can't remember if I told you but we tracted into the Hermans. They are a family of like ten. Seriously. Two best friends married two brothers and they have siblings and kids living with them. Anyways, we talked with them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. They seemed pretty interested and invited us back. We went back with two copies of the Book of Mormon. We finished teaching them the Restoration and left the Books of Mormon with chapters to read. We went back this last Thursday and as we pulled around the corner they went inside their home. We knocked on the door and one of the husbands came out and told us we caught them at a bad time. He was giving us excuse after excuse. So, we left and are going back to see what is up.

So, Janet's mother, Melissa, and her brother, Norman, were baptized by Sisters living from a different area even though they all live in our area. We call this poaching. Melissa had been seeing the Sisters for six months. The Sisters should have turned it over to the Elders who were in Loudon at that time but for some reason it didn't happen. Anyways, Melissa and her kids were fellowshipped in Rockwood. She wanted to be baptized but she also wanted to attend the Rockwood Branch. She was told she needed to attend the Loudon Branch. She was very upset at that idea and delayed her and her son's date. She eventually agreed to go half and half with Rockwood and Loudon and she and Norman were baptized by the sisters. It seems like she doesn't really like us or the Loudon Branch at times. At other times she does seem to like us. It's kinda crazy and frustrating. Once we actually knew about this family the sisters referred us to Janet so we could start teaching her. She didn't really seem interested in being baptized. We taught her the word of wisdom and extended an invitation to be baptized this last Saturday. This happened a couple weeks ago BTW. Anyways, Melissa was pretty upset that we threw a date out there. She said it was Janet's decision. We tried explaining to her why we give investigators dates to work toward but she was set in what she said. Anyways, they went up to Rockwood for church yesterday. We called the Sisters because they have an investigator who can't read and we have a member who has The Book of Mormon on cassette tapes. Our member never uses it though so she said we could give it to them. So, we called the sisters and told them we had those tapes for them. They then told us that Janet said she wanted to work towards being baptized on the 21st of August!!! They said she is going to tell us at church so we need to act surprised. So, please continue to pray for Janet. The main obstacle for her is her sweet tea. If we can get her mother to help her she will do it.

I feel impressed to end with my testimony. I KNOW this church is true. It is Christ's true church restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith sealed his testimony of it with his death. I know that this missionary work is what the Lord has asked me to do. I know that these things are true. I leave this simple testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,

Elder Kreyling

E-mail Week 14 7/19/2010

From: Barry Ryan Kreyling
Subject: Re: July 19th 2010
To: "morena kreyling"
Date: Monday, July 19, 2010, 9:35 AM

Hello!!!

Things are still going well. The Branch is still supportive. We are still trying to get the members to come to our teaching appointments. We had quite a few member present lessons one week. Most other weeks have only resulted in one or two though. It is a very interesting situation with Janet. I said before that her mother is a recent convert. So, we thought that since her mother knows of the blessings of becoming a member, she would want her daughter to be baptized. Right? I think I told you that we extended an invitation for Janet to prepare to be baptized on the 24th of this month. Well, her mother interrupted our invitation and told us that we would not give her daughter a date. She said it would be Janet's decision what day she gets baptized. She was pretty upset. We asked if she would help Janet set goals to quit sweet tea. She said she would. We asked Janet on Sunday if she had given it up. She said no. We asked if she had even tried. No. Sigh... We will continue to work with her. We are going to see if the sister missionaries can talk to her about it. If we try telling her what's up she will probably get upset again haha. Anyway, we tracted into a family recently. The two young women, Desiree and Karen I believe, are best friends and they married two guys who are brothers. Karen has two siblings living with them. Both couples have kids. There are like ten people living in this house haha. But, Karen and Desiree seem the most promising. They are "curious" and "interested" in learning about the Book of Mormon and what we believe!!! We are excited and we hope we can get the rest of them interested too! Well, that is the highlight of this week. We are helping the Assistants move some other missionaries. So, I need to get going. I love ya'll!!!

Love,

Elder Kreyling

3 Month Mark

Elder Barry Kreyling has reached the three month mark already! We of course miss him but are pleased he is doing the work of the Lord.

E-mail Week 13 7/12/2010

Hello Family!!! The chigger bites are doing better. I have had them for three weeks or so. I'm not sure if I've ever actually said this but you may have noticed that I can't stand being itchy! I told President Griffin about them and he wrote a prescription for some corticosteroid cream. It's convenient having a Mission President who is also a Doctor Haha while I'm on that topic I think I may have contact dermatitis or something. We bought some new (different) laundry detergent. I did a load the other day and ever since I've been wearing the clothes washed by the new detergent I've been itchy! I don't know if detergent can do that or not but we are going to the Mission Office today so I will talk to President about it.

We met with Janet and her Mother on Thursday. We taught them the word of wisdom. It went ok. We tried to involve Janet as much as possible. We asked her questions but she would just stare at us. She knows the stuff she just doesn't like answering questions apparently. At the end we extended an invatation to be baptized and her mom cut us off and told us we would not give her daughter a date to be baptized on. She said that Janet will decide the date for herself. So, it seems as though we are working against the mother on this one, who is a recent convert herself. Her mom said that she would help Janet set goals to stop drinking sweet tea. Then, she told Janet she is going to tempt her with sweet tea! AHHHHH!!! Sigh, it is an interesting situation indeed.

Anyways, that's sad news about Mike Hopefully they figure out what's up. I'm glad to hear that Ben and Darrin are doing well. It's hard to believe that they only have that much time left. I thought I told you that we were halfway through our second transfer. I guess I forgot, sorry. Well, in just two days, I believe, I will hit my three month mark! Wow, time is flying by!

That's lame that the world cup final was boring. Oh well. It's good to hear that the yard is coming along. It'll be nice having grass when I get back

Well, I need to be going now we have lots to do. I love ya'll!!!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXO

Love,

Barry

Back Roads

Elder Kreyling and Elder Badal on the back roads of Tennessee

Letters From Elder Kreyling Dated 7/5/2010

Elder Barry Kreyling bumps into Elder Austin Hall at a bi-mission conference

Elder Kreyling

Elder Kreyling and his companion Elder Badal on p-day

Dear Mom,
How are you? Things are going well here. The branch has more faith and hope I believe. We are planning on committing a recent converts daughter for baptism. We have not established contact with the family yet. We will try them again this week. I'll let you know how it goes. There are many bugs here in the south. I have some chiggers(I believe) on my legs. They won't go away. They are driving me crazy! I will talk to President Griffin the next time I see him. He might know a trick or two. That reminds me, we asked President and Sister Griffin if they would have dinner with us when we baptize. They said yes! Yay! We told him we would have dinner at our place and that we would cook. But, we don't have any recipes or anything. We were thinking of Steak and shrimp scampi. : ) Do you know of a good recipe for that? Or do you have good recipes for something else? Well I need to be going now. I love you! XOXOXOXO
P.S. I'm sending the memory card.
Love, Elder Kreyling

Dear Dad,
How are things going? Are you conditioning the girls? How are they looking? Give my love to them. We are at the Martinsen's, a senior couple, right now Elder Badal is e-mailing and I'm writing right now. The libraries are closed right now and so is the mission office so we had to find a computer to e-mail on. How was the 4th of July for ya'll? We didn't go watch the fireworks. There will be time for that after the mission. : ) We are going to commit a recent convert's daughter this week. Please pray for her. She really likes drinking sweet tea. That is the biggest concern.... Well overall things are going well. We have only had a few doors slammed in our faces thus far : ) We really want to baptize this transfer and I believe we will : ) But, I need to be going now. I'll send you a letter next week next week to let you know how it went. I love you!
Love, Elder Kreyling : )

Some Photos From Elder Kreyling (Finally)

Walking on a back road in Tennessee

Barry and His Companion Elder Badal

Elder Kreyling with his District in the MTC

Elder Kreyling with his District in the MTC

Elder Kreyling MTC at the Provo Temple

MTC

Striking a pose on p-day

MTC District at the Temple

Elder Wright, Elder Frehner and Elder Kreyling at Provo Temple

Elder Kreyling with District in MTC bedroom. Below Barry and his companion in the MTC

E-mail Week 12 7/5/2010

These people need to know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it doesn't go against what the bible says! That reminds me of something. We were out tracting in the evening a week or so ago and we met this guy outside of his house. Elder Badal thought he had been talking too much so he vowed that he wouldn't speak the rest of the night. Cool. Anyway I was talking with this guy for a couple of minutes and I brought up the Book of Mormon. He said he read it and he disagreed with it. I asked him what he disagreed with so we could resolve his concerns. He said, "I don't like how it talks about the prophet.". I stood there for a moment and asked, "Joseph Smith?". He replied that was it. I said, "Sir, the Book of Mormon doesn't even mention Joseph Smith's name.". Unless he's talking about the introduction to 2 Nephi 3, I'm not sure that he has actually read the Book of Mormon. We run into similar situations daily. The protestant churches have marquees where they put up their thoughts for the week or something. On one marquee it said, "Honk if you love Jesus, text while driving if you want to meet him." and another said, "Band of the free, home of the saved."...??? Anyways, that's just a sample of what we get to read on their marquees. It's interesting stuff. Well, we are going to commit a recent convert's daughter for baptism this week. She has a problem with drinking sweet tea though. We have faith that she will give it up though. We are going to the Tittsworth's house again this week to try contacting them. They seemed so promising so we aren't going to give up. We have found some new potential investigators that we are hopeful about. The work is slowly but surely progressing! Well I need to get going now. I love all ya'll!!!!

Love,

Elder Kreyling