November 14, 2011

 

Oh how my love this hour that I have to write and hear form the people that I love so much!   It means so much to me.

Emails:

Dad

Mom

Mikesell

Brennen

Alex

Grandma Clegg

Thank you all so very much!!  I have skimmed them a little and look forward to reading them in their entirety tonight!

Well this week was another good week. It started out a little bumpy just because we were having a hard time reaching our goals every day but towards the end we were able to re-focus and have more success. We got an email from our Mission President today and apparently Elder Christofferson was here this week sometime and there has been a change in the way we do our transfers. Apparently we will now be in the same area for 6 to 9 months with the same companion for an average of three transfers. So I may be getting to know Miramar quite well. That does me good because I want to be successful here and baptize this place like crazy. This week was a good week though. I prayed for each of you a lot... I will talk about that later. On Friday we had a emergency transfer in our zone and our zone leader was sent to Bahia Blanca to be the missionary in charge of all the houses. We have a new zone leader who actually is one of my best ¨Missionary Friends¨.  It was hard to say good by to our old Zone Leader because he has really taught me so much.

We had a good week with one investigator named Trinidad. She is 14 and wants to be baptized but has lots of doubts because of her family has been baptized and has fallen away from the church and she doesn’t want to follow in their steps. I am glad that she understands what a covenant is and what it means to her. She comes from a pretty broken home. We are trying to get her Mom divorced and then remarried again. She has some issues but the Dad is a good guy. It could be quite a process for the family.

As for my man Jose... I am a little worried... We are trying to get him to receive an answer and have those spiritual experiences. He believes in the feelings he is having and  that things are true. He believes that all good things are of God. All of which is true....We just need to get him to understand why he needs to be baptized again. (Catholic).

We also found some other investigators with potential.  I want to baptize so bad and see that conversion in a person... but I know that this is a work that relies on agency. I just need to let these people be touched by the spirit and trust that the rest will work out.

Good week over all... This week we have Zone Conference and it will be my first. I am really excited to learn how to be more effective and bust it more everyday. The way to be happy out here is to work your tail off. I have made a goal to open my mouth fives times a day when my first thought is to stay quiet.

Well... Life is great here. My scripture thought of the week is in Alma 41:15.  Mom this is the “Law of Attraction” scripture of the century. I have thought a lot about vision and what it means to have goals and work to achieve them. I am trying to get a vision of who I want to be when I step off that plane and run to you all in the summer of 2013. I really am so grateful for every day and I know that Heavenly Father has His eye on each of you.

Dad-First off thank you so much for your email. I look forward to reading it in much more detail. What blessing you are to so many. Sounds like your talk went well and your lesson too! Isn’t Preach my Gospel the best? Someone told me here that our Mission President said that if the missionaries would live every principle in the book we could baptize like Alma and the Sons of Mosiah... interesting huh? I am glad all things with Redfish are going well. Sounds like winter is hitting hard... It has been hot here. It is very humid and you get soaking wet with sweat. It is going to be an awesome summer hahaha. It does not feel like Christmas or Thanksgiving at all really. Totally different feeling in the air. Well Dad I love you so much. Thank you so much for your prayers. I pray with energy for you. I hope that you have a wonderful week. Hey one non missionary question. How is he election looking? I can not tell you how much my love for the United States has grown. The average citizen in the US has no idea how much the world looks to us.  Our country has to be the example in keeping the commandments... We are strong because of our families. Love you Pops!  CHOU!

Mom- I love you so much. Thank you for your letter. That is funny what you said about sensing how I am doing.  I feel like I can feel the same with you all. To answer some of your questions: They drink a lot of Kool Aid type stuff here but soda is really popular. Tang is the most popular drink besides Mate. There is so much pastry, bread type stuff that seems to be the mainstay here.  I am getting better at cooking. It is really expensive to buy healthy. I have though about what Dad said he used to eat all the time with rice. Tomato sauce and eggs and cheese. Yep.. Thats how is goes!  I eat a lot of oranges and try to just eat as healthy as I can. It is lot of carbs, but all is well. That idea with the sheets actually would be great. (sew two sheets together as an insert for his sleeping bag so he could have clean sheets to sleep in!) I think you are freakishly able to discern people’s needs. It really is not human. (Haha).  My shoes and everything else are holding up well. I am planning on washing my sleeping bag here by hand next week or something. I want it to be hot so it will dry fast. But it is not a big deal. It is going to be really hot soon and I am pretty sure I will not be wanting anything. It is very humid. I am not expecting the package until next week the Elders say it takes a good month at the very least. I can send stuff quicker to you but once it gets here they have to bus it to our zone... the zone leaders pick it up once a week and so it is just kind of a slow process. Don’t worry though I am living the dream and doing great. I hope those pictures I sent are okay. We were walking this Sunday to pick up some investigators and I saw that sign about the men working and thought that I had to take a picture with that. It was pretty funny. I sure love you Mom. Thank you so much for all you do. Thank you for your prayers... support …and overall everything. Thank you for your journal and letter.  I love reading it and it is great to know what is going on. I love you Mom... With all my heart.

Mikesell... Well to be perfectly honest I don’t know how to put into words my feelings for you. I am so grateful for the bond and friendship that I have with you. As I prayed and thought about you this week I could just feel that it would be a hard week. I prayed that you would look to your Heavenly Father and realize that in time you will look back on this week with thoughts of love and gratitude.  I want to say you are a stud. I want you to know to not give up on BYU. That ACT test is not everything.  Because of your dominating other accomplishments in school like activities, sports, and all those things it is possible. Do not give up. Talk with them and work to see what you can do. I know that if Heavenly Father wants you to go there, you will go Mikesell. I wish I could talk to you on the phone also. Only like a month until we can... but know that I love you and pray for you very hard. Work hard... keep having a passion to do good in your everyday life and realize that you are bigger that sheet of paper with a number on it sitting in your room some where. Realize that in the eyes of Heavenly Father you are perfect.  Because you try to serve others and do your best. Read your Patriarchal Blessing. I have read mine over and over during this time and it has been as Dad said in the letter that he read in my call “An Anchor to my Soul” for sure. I love you Mikesell. You are amazing and have faith and hope. Go to work and don’t look back. You can do anything. Stay close to the family and enjoy your time with them I hope to get your letter tomorrow. Love you sis. I miss you too. Keep at it and we will be ¨playing frisbee in the park¨ together in no time. Good luck with the end of the trimester tests!

Brennen the Handsome one:

Dude.. Congrats on the baskeball team!! I am so pumped for you. Enjoy the great times buddy. Keep at it! Who is your coach? If you said in your email I will read it tonight. I prayed for you a lot and am so happy for you! Enjoy the time with the team and work your hardest. Don‘t be afraid to step out there first on the court when coach calls for volunteers. You are the man Stud!!  I love you. Go get em. Keep in the Book of Mormon!! Good luck with your trimester tests.

Alex - Hey man how is life? Sounds like you killed it in the tournament last weekend. That is a lot of points!  You got to tell me about your buddies… Your skills... everything!! I love you man. I hope you know that. Keep on keeping on. I hope that you have a great week. I am excited to hear of your success this year in AAU and then onto school ball! I love you. Keep up the good work. How is that white hat?

Harrison the Energetic. How are you buddy? It sounds like you are starting to learn how to read with perfection. What a stud! I sure love you and  I am excited to see some pictures of you. Keep being happy and smiling. How is your class? Do you have lots of friends? How is scouts?

McCall - You are such an angel. I love you so much. I hope that you had a great week. Sounds like you are starting to read really well also. BIG KISS for you. I hope that you are doing great. Are you excited to eat lots of turkey and do all those fun things?

Well my family.  All is well here. I love you all and will continue to bust it each day. May Heavenly Fathers richest blessings be yours. I sent a letter to Papa last week. but please send my love for his birthday. I love each of you so much. Keep being happy and know that hard times make us better.

I love you!

Elder Clegg