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

E-Mail Week 11

Hello Family! Things continue to improve here. The Branch really seems to like us and they have been showing their support for us. We have been fed more! Haha. Elder Badal is doing well. His toe is much better. It only bothers him every now and again. I think I may have told you but we don't really have any investigators as of now. We find potentials every week but they never seem to keep their commitments. It's pretty frustrating. We have called the Tittsworth family twice and left them one message. We asked them how things are going, if there is anything we can do for them, and to give us a call back. We have not heard back from them though. We have quite a few miles so we are just going to drive out there and knock on their door. I'm not sure if I told you but we sorta had a baptism. The sisters, in another area, were teaching a lady from our area and baptized her and her son. She had a friend in the sister's area and went to their branch for six months and we didn't know about it until about two weeks before her baptism. So, the sisters got credit for the baptism but the lady was in our area. We call that poaching. Anyway, she has a daughter who has not been baptized. We asked her if she had talked with her daughter at all about being baptized. She said no because she wants it to be her daughters choice. She doesn't seem to understand her role as the parent. So, we talked to President Griffin (who BTW is the man!) and brought it up in our district meeting. We have decided to just be frank with her, but we are going to be nice about it so she doesn't get offended. We are going to have her read D & C 68 : 25. That scripture is pretty bold and should get the message across. We are also going to get in contact with the Buffelo and Brummitt families and be frank with them. President Griffin has told us that every area can baptize this transfer including ours. So, we are going to find someone! Tell Sam I will write her a letter today when I have a few minutes. Well, I need to get going. I'll send letters today. I love ya'll!!!

E-mail Week 10

Hey!!! Happy Father's day yesterday dad!!! Hey, Elder Badal's Bro. is on a mission in the Dominican Republic! Tommorrow is his last day there! How was it there? It looked really nice in the pics :) Things are going good here. The work is progressing. We contacted a family referral this past week. We parked our car at the beginning of their driveway and walked to their home. It was in the country so their driveway was quite long haha. Anyways, we get to the door and knock... Nothing. We knock again and ring the doorbell... Nothing again. We stood on the porch for an abnormally long time. Then we started walking away. For some reason, as we were walking down the driveway, I looked back and there was a young girl standing outside their home. We got all excited and what not and ran back to talk to her. Her big sis came out. Their parents and other siblings were at the hospital because their grandpa was having surgery for a brain tumor I believe it was. So we left them with our number and asked them to give it to their parents and have them call us. We were walking back to the car and I kid you not, it was three minutes after we left their home we got a call from the parents!!! :) They told us what was going on and said they would call us back when things settle down! Oh they are the Tittsworth family by the way. They live in greenback which is a ways away from Loudon. Haha I thought I told you that the dog bite wasn't bad. And no, I didn't kick the dog haha. It didn't break the skin I could only feel the pressure. But yeah, my days of wanting to be a vet are long gone now haha. Elder Badal's toe is feeling good enough to ride our bikes. So, we put them together and something is wrong with his (he bought a used one). So we have to wait for him to get it fixed or get a new one. Oh, the Branch really seems to like us now! The first few weeks weren't so good because previous missionaries didn't do much apparentely. But, they've seen us working. Our meal appointments have increased. We have at least two or three a week now. Awesome!!! So yeah things are going well and I really like the area now. We are going to baptize in Loudon!!!!!!!

I love yins!!!( another way to say ya'll)

Letter Week 9

Dear Mom & Dad,

Sorry it's been a while. I've been trying to at least e-mail every week. The last few p-days we have been doing a lot of activities. Yesterday Elder Badal went to get his toe checked out. He has been wearing regular shoes for a couple of weeks now. His toe is good for the most part. I still gets tender now and again but not too much. So, we didn't get a baptism this transfer & we kinda felt like we weren't doing much good for the Loudon Branch. . But we went on an exchange with the assistants the other day. Elder Badal stayed in Loudon with Elder Thomas & I went to Wt doing a good est Hills with Elder Rock. I guess Elder Badal told Elder Thomas that since we haven't baptized or even committed anyone (Our teaching pool isn't very big BTW) we felt we weren't doing a good job helping the branch out. Elder Thomas basically told him that we have done more good than we realize. We have built a better relationship with the Branch President for example. So we think we needed to help out the branch this transfer & gain their trust & get them excited about the work... So yeah, things are going good. So, how are things going back home? How is everyone doing? Oh, I'll answer one of your questions. Here is what our schedule generally looks like...

6:30 Wake up, work out.
7:00 Shower, get ready for the day.
8:00 Personal study.
9:00 Companion Study
10 - 12 Tracting
12:00 Lunch
1 - 3 Tracting
3 - 5 Finding
5:00 Dinner
6 - 9 Visit Members & other things.
That's just a general outline... Hmmm, I think that's all for now. I'll send another letter next p-day. Love Barry (Elder Kreyling)

e-mailing sister Janice & fam

On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 11:20 PM, Jon, Janice, Kaylee, & Regan wrote:

After doing her own hair Kaylee decided that Barry's hair needed her spacial touch.

Papa and Yiayia came up for a visit. We were all happy to see them. Kaylee asked Yiayia, "Where Rarry?" So I told her what I always tell her when she asks where Barry is. That he is on a mission in Tennessee helping Jesus.

Mon, May 31, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Barry Ryan Kreyling wrote:

Awww, she still asks about me? Sniffle... Haha. How are ya'll doing? I saw Regan's pic, he is looking pretty good. Things are still going good here. We had a guy (named Guy) committed for baptism but sadly he canceled on us. But, it's ok we will find someone! I'll try writing a letter soon. I love ya'll!!!

|

Janice Heaton

She asks about you at least once a week and prays for you every night. Everyt...

Jun 1 (8 days ago)

Janice HeatonLoading...

Jun 1 (8 days ago)

Janice HeatonTue, Jun 1, 2010 at 12:08 PM to Barry

She asks about you at least once a week and prays for you every night. Everytime I remind her where you are she says," Oh! Help Jesus." While nodding her head as if she should remember that. haha. She is so funny. We are doing great. We just spent ALL weekend in the yard. It has NEVER looked This good. Jon and I took turns mowing the whole .58 acres! It's amazing what not being preggo or having a newborn nursing every hour and a half can do for our yard. And most of the seeds we planted are coming up nicely for the garden. The spinach is doing especially well. OH! And it finally happened. The children are wearing the same size diapers! Well just at night for Kaylee, but Regan only took six months to catch up to his big sis! I'm sending a letter in the mail. All our love!

xoxoxoxo- us

Barry Ryan Kreyling

Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 11:55 AM

Aw that's my cutie patutie, however it's spelled, haha. It's funny that you mention gardens. The area I am covering right now has quite a bit of country in it. Almost every person we run into has a garden! Some of them are huge too! It's cool though, it makes me want one of my own someday. Haha. So what's all growing in the garden? What?! Regan caught up to Kaylee already?! Maybe you need to feed her some southern cookin Ha, I haven't really gained any weight yet so that might not work. Oh, how is the business going? Jon, is there any advice you could give me? Haha, advice that is serious? Well, I hope that things continue to go well. I love ya'll!!!