Unsurpassed Insanity is Wonderful

Elder Taylor and me at the temple.

Hi Family! Happy Memorial Day!

Just when I thought life could not get any more hectic ...

We had a great week! We had lots of driving and lots to do but I learned a lot and grew a lot, and hopefully was able to do a little good. I'll have to give you the play-by-play for this week or I'm pretty sure I'd get lost trying to remember everything.

Tuesday: Zone Leader Council (ZLC) was a significant spiritual and emotional experience. President Jones changed the agenda at the last minute, feeling impressed to have us try an exercise Elder Zwick of the Seventy had used while meeting with President Jones and the Midland Stake Presidency last weekend during their Stake Conference. (Incidentally, it sounds like it was an amazing Stake Conference. President Jones said he thought it may have been the best he has ever attended - and he has been a Stake President.) We went around the room and each person shared three things: 1) What problem or challenge keeps you up at night?, 2) What is your solution to this problem?, 3) Your testimony. It was hard not be filled with love for the elders in the room.

After ZLC we taught six lessons. (It helped that we did splits with our ward mission leader and another member in the evening). I wasn't at the lesson, but Elder Taylor and our ward mission leader, Brandon, taught two Chinese students for the first time. We teach them again tomorrow.


Elder Taylor's companions (that were at the temple Thursday). From left: Elder Merrell, Elder Taylor, me, Elder Sutton, Elder Wray.

Side view of the temple.


Wednesday: We took the Midland zone to the temple. It was great! After we brought them back, we picked up Elder Curtis, whom we were transferring to the Kalamazoo zone, and drove to Bay City. Elder Taylor stayed there with Elder Hiatt and I picked up Elder Arroyo so that Elder Taylor and I could take two separate groups to the temple the next day and still have a companion with us at all times. We drove from Bay City to Marshall, where we dropped Elder Curtis off and made our way over to Kalamazoo to spend the night just in time for bed.

Elders and Sisters taking pictures at the temple.

Thursday: Elder Arroyo and I got up early and drove to Grand Rapids where we picked up parts of the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo zones and took them to the temple. I was extremely grateful that Elder Barney was able to drive the van. (He's the only person except me or Elder Taylor who is officially certified to drive it.) I was even able to fall asleep for 20 minutes or so on the way back from Detroit. I enjoyed the temple on Thursday, although it was much harder for me to pay attention and feel like I was getting as much out of the session. It's amazing how much sitting and driving all day can wear you out.

After dropping people off in Grand Rapids, Elder Arroyo and I drove to Lansing to pick up a mattress and box springs and then back to Bay City where I met back up with Elder Taylor. We stopped briefly at the Schindlers' to say 'hi' on our way over to Mt. Pleasant where we spent the night with the zone leaders.

Friday: We had a companion exchange with the Midland zone leaders. I spent the day in Mt. Pleasant with Elder Wray. We taught a bunch of good lessons, one to a Brother Villahermosa and his wife. They are from the Phillippines and he was a mission president there about ten years ago. It was interesting to hear how different a mission that would have been. Elder Taylor drove up to trade back in the evening and I finally got to come back to Lansing!

Saturday: We had a number of awesome lessons. My favorite was with a Chinese student named Alex whom we met and taught for the first time last week. After teaching him about the message of the restoration we taught him to pray and, after asking a lot of questions to be sure he understood how to do it, he gave the closing prayer. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE BEING PRESENT THE FIRST TIME A PERSON PRAYS!!!! Last week Alex did not believe in God. On Saturday he spoke to Him. After his humble prayer, Alex said he felt "uplifted", like he was flying or could fly. "I have closed my eyes while talking to a friend before but I have never had a feeling like this," he said. "I feel like there is someone there listening."

The bell tower on campus. (MSU has a beautiful campus!)


Sunday: Alex came to church! The language barrier was really difficult for him but I really admired his tenacity in trying to understand what everyone was talking about. We have two Mandarin-speaking students in the congregation but both of them were out of town for Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully they'll be able to help answer Alex's questions once they're back.

I love being a missionary! This is truly the Lord's work! There is great power in it! I am so privileged to serve as an instrument in His hands, as one of the weak and simple of the earth chosen to carry light and truth to His children who are searching for it. I hope that I can endure in faith and truly be said to have wasted and worn out my life "in bringing to light all the hidden things ... truly manifest from heaven" (D&C 123:13). I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Cloward

P.S. Next week I'll be able to tell you whether I am being transferred (although if I am I won't yet know where).

ZoneConference Week

Hi Family!

We've had a really crazy week. Mostly really good! Here are a few of the highlights:


Zone conferences (Wednesday in Kalamazoo and Friday in Mt. Pleasant) were great! President Jones spoke a lot on our missionary purpose to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." Powerful stuff. I love zone conferences. They're always a tremendous opportunity to feel the Spirit and to be rejuvenated for the coming six weeks before the next zone conference. Elder Taylor and I gave a little more instruction than usual, which I thought turned out well. Before zone conference we conducted a training meeting on planning with zone leaders and district leaders, which was hopefully helpful. We also taught about a new "simplified curriculum framework" the missionary department of the church has developed to help missionaries (and mission presidents) focus on the most important aspects of Preach My Gospel. Elder Taylor trained on the "Process of Revelation" through prayer, the Book of Mormon, and church attendance. I focused on effective teaching ("Teach People - Not Lessons", "We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up", and "How to Begin Teaching"). It was a lot to cover in a little bit of time but I think we were effective. I learned a lot from preparing for it.

Wednesday after zone conference President and Sister Jones took us to Shipshewana.

It's an Amish town in the one sliver of our mission that crosses into Indiana.
I enjoyed the best peanut butter of my life! I'll attach a few pictures(I'm sorry the picture quality is sort of poor because I took all the Shipshewana pictures from the car).

Thursday between zone conferences we had a companion exchange with the Portland elders - Elders Sodenkamp and Valentine. I got to spend the day at MSU with Elder Valentine. I haven't really been around him much since we served together over a year and a half ago. We had a fun day. We taught a lot of good lessons (one with our investigator Ashlie, whom he had previously known while serving in Holt) and did a lot of finding. It was nice to have some students back on campus for the summer semester so there were actually people to talk to.
After a couple of awesome lessons with Ashlie this week, she has decided she wants to be baptized and we set a date for June 12th. I think she still has a lot of questions, which is great! She knows that she has felt the Spirit. She asked us on Thursday why she always feels so good when we teach and after we leave. It's wonderful for me to have continual affirmations from others who feel the Spirit because of the truth of the word. How could I ever deny the truthfulness of the restored gospel?

I get to serve with Elder Taylor!

I get to serve on MSU!

I'm a missionary!

And those are just a few of the highlights.

Have a great week! I love you!

Elder Cloward

P.S.
The pictures are all from the Shipshewana trip except this one. It's a sign on campus.

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!

Hi Family!

Here's the rundown on my week:

Tuesday: We had a companion exchange with the Grand Valley elders. Elder Patino and I spent the day at MSU. We got back from Grand Rapids forty-five minutes late because of construction and rain (there's been a ton of rain this week) so we rushed from lesson to lesson all afternoon and evening. We got two new investigators, though, so it was a good day.

Wednesday: After attending Elder Barney's district meeting in Grand Rapids, Elder Taylor and I came back to campus and taught non-stop through a lot of the day. We even had time for lunch and dinner. (It might have been the only day this week :)). Wednesday night we drove up to Houghton Lake (partway to where we needed to be early Thursday morning) and spent the night. We had to drive separately because we needed to use both the transfer van and the minivan to get people to the temple, so we just drove within sight of each other and each had a phone. I was surprised at how lonely I felt. I guess I've gotten used to having someone with me 24/7. Plus, I normally enjoy all the driving we have to do because it gives Elder Taylor and me so much time to talk. Oh well. It's worth it because ....

Thursday: We picked up the Traverse City Zone in Gaylord at 7:30 and drove to the temple!! It was amazing! (I've included a few of the pictures I took before we went in for the endowment session we attended - the 12:00 session).
The temple workers were all very helpful; we were greeted by the temple president and temple matron. He reminded us that although he may be the president of the Detroit Temple, it is the Lord's House. I had forgotten how wonderful it feels to be in the House of the Lord! The Spirit was incredible! I was taught by the Spirit and I found answers to the questions I had been pondering in preparation for attending the temple. I'm excited we still get to go five more times this transfer! I'm excited to be able to attend the temple for the rest of my life! After driving back from Detroit, we drove from Gaylord to Traverse City to blitz the area with the zone leaders - Elder Johnson and Elder Riley.




Friday: Our blitz with the Traverse City zone leaders was a lot of fun. Elder Johnson and I did some contacting in downtown Traverse City. We met a very enthusiastic Australian and talked to a bunch of fishermen. (I'm glad Elder Johnson loves to fish and knows a lot about it. I can't say I was particularly helpful in starting conversations with them.) We had to leave at 6:00 (we ended up leaving a little late because the casserole I made for our dinner wasn't quite finished) in order to get back to Lansing.

Saturday: We taught and planned like mad back in Lansing. We had a ton of planning to do both for our area and for the mission, especially with zone conference next week and zone leader council the week after. We also helped Maria, a sister in our ward, and her boyfriend, Marcus, whom we are teaching, move. It was the easiest move ever! She had everything packed away nicely and had it all in one spot. We did the whole move in an hour and a half!

Sunday: Somehow we managed to teach four more lessons, attend all our church meetings (almost - we skipped our correlation meeting with the ward mission leader because we had to get to Grand Rapids), and go to the Grand Rapids Stake PEC with the zone leaders and President Rasmussen of the Mission Presidency.

It was a great week, even if it was a little exhausting. I'm excited for this next week - two zone conferences, a trade-off with the Portland elders, and hopefully lots of teaching and finding!

God Bless!

Elder Cloward

Transfers and Twenty Lessons

Hi Family!

It was great talking to you yesterday! It's hard to believe how fast time flies. It feels like Christmas wasn't very long ago when I was last talking with you.

This has been a crazy-busy week, what with transfers, etc. Transfers were relatively smooth this time around, though. No snow, no last-minute changes. It was fun to see most of the missionaries, even if it was just for a few minutes while we made a stop on the transfer route.

Elder Weaver and I at transfers (it's been almost a year since we served together!)


Elder Rawlings and I at transfers (I've gotten to know him while he served in Williamston - they cover East Lansing to the mission border)

I especially enjoyed, as always, picking up the new missionaries and having orientation with them. Elder Barney was with us when we picked them up at the airport, which was fun because we didn't tell them that he would be training one of them. He was really excited to train and white-wash the Grand Rapids area. They'll do some great things!

Elder Taylor and I with President and Sister Jones, the trainers, and the new missionaries


In spite of transfers, we decided to still teach twenty lessons this week, which we did. All but four were taught Thursday evening through Saturday. For a number of the members and investigators we taught it was our last lesson with them since they were going home or off to some internship for the summer. We're trying to come up with creative ways to continue to find new people to teach since campus is mostly dead right now. At least the summer semester will start in a couple weeks.

I don't know that there is too much more to report. I love the Book of Mormon! I've especially enjoyed studying from it and discussing it with Elder Taylor this week. I don't think I could ever disbelieve the book's truthfulness. We have it by the power of God. There is no other satisfactory explanation. I know that we draw closer to God as we read from it and apply its teachings!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Cloward

Elder Taylor hanging upside down at a member's house. We put off our lesson for a few minutes so we could experiment :)

With Three You Get Chicken Pillows

Hi Family!

We've been up to our eyeballs in transfer planning this week. We had meetings with President Jones Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday discussing missionaries' assignments for the upcoming transfer, which begins today. Once we got things settled Thursday morning, we had to hurriedly plan out when and where missionaries needed to meet us or meet each other in order to get to their new areas and meet their new companions. Friday morning we had transfer calls and since then we've been trying to tie up all the loose ends, including new car locations and completely changing the way we allocate and report mission vehicle miles, so that we'll be ready for the transfer. I've still got my fingers crossed. Thank goodness for the Lord's promise that the Comforter will "bring all things to [our] remembrance" (John 14:26). It may seem a foolish or a small thing, but I believe I have seen this promise fulfilled in a very practical way this week.

It has been really fun to serve with both Elder Barney and Elder Taylor for the week. They're two of the finest men I have ever known and I've really enjoyed both of them. I'm excited to get a second transfer with Elder Taylor -- I felt sort of gypped after just serving five weeks with him our first time around.

The baptism Saturday was great. The Spirit was really strong and Mika had a lot of support. The St. Johns elders (who first taught her) attended the baptism and the Holt elders (who taught her second) attended her confirmation. We managed to have three lessons with her before she was baptized in which we finished teaching the commandments and helping her commit herself to live according to them (lesson 4 of chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel).

It's so great to be a missionary! I am so blessed to be able to devote all my time and attention to serving the Lord by teaching the gospel to His children during these two years! It goes far too fast. Jesus Christ lives! His gospel has been restored to the earth in its fullness and is the source of joy!

I love you all!

Elder Cloward

P.S. The three of us had a delicious chicken pillow dinner with the Law family yesterday; hence, the title. (It would have been cooler had we eaten egg rolls, but I think chicken pillows really hit the spot.)

P.P.S. Pictures are ...
#203 - Elder and Sister O'Dell and me. The O'Dell's just completed their mission as a CES missionary couple here in Lansing. They're great people!



#205 - Bro. Hinckley, who baptized Mika; Mika; Justin, Mika's boyfriend who confirmed her


#207 - Elder Taylor, me, Mika, and Elder Barney



#215 - A deer in our backyard!