Bananas in Pajamas

Hi family!

This week was good and bad, depending on the day. Monday was great - we taught a new investigator, who shows a lot of promise. He's a farmer, so he's very busy with planting right now (we dropped by around 8:15 and he had just walked in the door). He said in another week or so things should slow down, though, so we'll be teaching him soon. We're slowly building our teaching pool - from the 0 when I got here to a good four or five investigators now. I feel like Elder Arroyo and I can be pleased with the work we've done this transfer.

Speaking of transfers, I'll be losing Elder Arroyo this afternoon. I'm trading him for my new companion in Grand Rapids at 5. Elder Arroyo is going to Greenville, just north of Grand Rapids, so I'll still see him at the zone activity. I'm getting Elder Tribett, who's been out just six weeks. I don't think he speaks Spanish, which is annoying. I trust President Jones was inspired in his transfer decisions, so even though I begged for a Spanish elder ... I'll just have to work harder at learning Spanish!

Also, I hope Elder Tribett likes to walk. Because we won't be driving anywhere for the rest of the month. We're almost entirely out of miles. And my bike has a flat tire. We'll work that out, I hope.

The bad part of the week was being sick. We helped out with the pole vault at the track meet on Tuesday (we had to hold the cross-bar in place because it was super-windy) and I had to hope the whole time that my stomach wouldn't explode and that I wouldn't soil my trousers. Thankfully, neither occurred. Still, I wasn't feeling too hot. Well, Wednesday I was feeling better and we worked our little tails off. It was as warm as its been yet this year and I didn't drink a lot of water, so by evening I was starting to feel really sick again. Thursday morning I woke up throwing up. It was awesome. But I got better!

I can't believe how much of my mission is already behind me. It makes me feel a little more urgent about the work; there is so much more I would like to do, so much more I would like to become before this incredible opportunity is over.

Have a happy day!
Elder Cloward

I'm Running out of Subject Line Ideas

Hallo Familie und Freunde!

We had another hard-workin', quick-passin' week in Hart. Not a whole lot of excitement this week, though. A couple of member families are loaning us bicycles, which will really expedite the work here. We have a limited number of miles and walking between farms is basically unfeasible. Hopefully we'll be able to use the bikes to talk to a lot of people we wouldn't see otherwise.

We talked to a couple people this week who invited us back, so we're hoping a few of them will actually want to listen when we come back. So, basically, no new investigators this week but potential for next week! We did teach a nice woman for the second time (we found her last week) who I think will progress and learn really well. Her parents are being taught by missionaries in Chicago and told her she should read the Book of Mormon. If nothing else, I think she will become a really great friend.

We had a mission-wide deep clean day Saturday. So that was fun. We shampooed carpets, scrubbed out the oven and the refrigerator, and just went wild.
I've got some nasty pictures attached - both from the refrigerator.


Also, a picture of me with the "Welcome to Shelby" sign (Shelby is officially a 'village' - who ever thought I would live in a village?).



And also, a picture with a deer carcasse we drove past. I love Michigan.


Love you all,
Elder Cloward

I Found a Wig in the Closet

Hello family!

I love you all! I hope you all enjoyed general conference, because I certainly did! It was amazing! How blessed we are to live in a time when the voice of a prophet can be heard around the world by millions of members of the Church of Jesus Christ! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God; he stands with Moses and Abraham, declaring repentance and salvation!

I usually take a question or two to conference, prayerfully seeking answers and guidance. I made a list of about five this time and was pleased to receive answers to each of them. The Spirit teaches us all truth and God is more than happy to answer those who ask.

Well, other than an incredible weekend of conference, we had sort of a weird week. I felt the subject of this email was fitting, considering. Well, first considering the fact that I actually did find a wig in the closet this morning (I'll probably take pictures sometime ...) and second, because it's descriptive of some of the people we met this week while knocking doors. I won't go into too much detail, but we had several instances of indecent exposure and we met just about the creepiest man ever. (One of our branch members knew exactly who he was when we told her the story and she thankfully told us he's harmless.) He invited us in when we knocked on his door and greeted us in a very high porch, calling us "buddies". Inside his home there were mounds of dolls of every variety like something out of a horror flick (or a really creepy music video we used to watch in German class in high school). A cage sat in the corner in which a featherless chicken strutted about contentedly. We gave our new friend a Book of Mormon and left as quickly as we could. Yep.

We're doing a lot of work here, although we haven't done very much teaching. I'm hoping we'll be able to start teaching a few less-active members and continue finding new investigators.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Conference was excellent, and I did indeed enjoy Elder Perry's talk. Elder Arroyo was in fact waving his arms and cheering through large portions of it! Actually, during his talk, I received the strong spiritual impression that we need to focus our missionary efforts in this area on working with and through the members. I had been praying to know how to proceed in this area because the opportunities for tracting are rather limited (we've already knocked on every single door in one of the cities/villages and we're on our way to hitting every door in the others). Anyway, I was excited to receive that answer and I'm even more excited to see how the work will go.