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