Joseph's Mission Blog

Boldy, Nobly and Independent

2010-08-09T10:47:00.004-06:00

Hi family!

We've been greatly blessed this week by an abundance of the Spirit and by many miracles in our area and throughout the mission. One thing I love about my current assignment is the opportunity to hear of successes in so many places throughout the mission. It leaves me without any doubt that the Lord is driving this work.

Zone Leader Council on Tuesday was great. The Spirit was strong and I learned a lot. President Jones gave some great instruction based on the new simplified curriculum framework which contributed to a discussion we had on boldness. We walked out of that meeting determined to more boldly invite others to come unto Christ, especially focusing on early invitations to be baptized and having kneeling prayers in which investigators themselves offer the prayer. The simplified curriculum more solidly focuses on spiritual conversion and the learning by faith (through exercise of moral agency) required in order to experience a spiritual conversion to become a disciple of Christ.

President Jones also issued the challenge to all mission leaders to have at least two new investigators each week through the rest of August (and then every week after that). Finding new people to teach has continued to be the biggest challenge our mission faces. I am confident, however, that our mission is in a better position to enact positive change than we have ever been. In our own area, we were a little nervous about this challenge by the time Friday rolled around and we found ourselves with no new investigators. So, we made plans, set goals, and prayed in faith, asking the Lord to lead us to those whom He has prepared. Friday I had an exchange with Elder Barney here at MSU. While going door-to-door in Cedar Village (a campus apartment complex) we were invited in by an MSU student named Steve. He's a linguistics major from China who has heard a little about the church because he heard about our temples when he visited Hong Kong and his adviser recommended he attend Brigham Young for graduate school. Anyway, he was great and very open and curious. We're teaching him again tonight. Saturday, back with Elder Taylor, we had a similar experience with a Roman Catholic student from Poland named Martin. He was funny - he was nervous he would offend us asking questions about the South Park episode on Mormonism. We ended up having a really great discussion and he was interested in learning more; we're meeting with him again this next Saturday.

Cameren, a 19-year-old we started teaching through his friend James, who is a less-active member of the church, and their friend Denise, both excitedly set baptismal dates for the 9th of October this week. Cameren is way excited about the church; he came this Sunday and spent the weekend with ward members on a ward campout out by Silver Lake. He had a great time and even shared his testimony at a campfire meeting they had.

I love you all! I love missionary work! (I got to give a talk all about why people should go on missions in church yesterday and had so much fun!) I love the gospel of Jesus Christ! It truly is "the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth" (Romans 1:16)!

Have a great week!

Elder Cloward

A picture of downtown Lansing as we drove down that way last Thursday (above) and a couple pictures from the Ward's wheelchair basketball activity. Lots of fun!

2010-08-02T15:06:00.004-06:00

Hi family!

Transfers have come and gone again this week. In spite of having 8 elders going home and 10 elders and 1 sister arriving, it was a relatively light transfer. It didn't reduce our driving any but it at least meant we had fewer missionaries to try to herd around. Tuesday night we had a testimony meeting with the departing missionaries. The Spirit was strong. It was especially meaningful to have two previous companions, Elder Morales and Elder Valentine, departing. It's wonderful to see missionaries honorably complete their missions having faithfully fulfilled their commission to represent the Savior in His work.

Wednesday we dropped missionaries off and picked the new ones up. We have a really great bunch of new missionaries; they're excited and full of faith. Most of them seem to have a solid gospel background and will be able to teach powerfully and effectively very quickly. I'm excited for the good they will be able to do for our mission. (I've included pictures of both the new

and departing missionaries).

We had some really good lessons this week. Alex and Daniel are still progressing well. I don't have time to write any more or I would.

Thanks for all your support!

Love,
Elder Cloward

More Pictures!

- The Living Center Elders

- Elder Seely and I sporting our almost-matching ties

- Elder Morales, myself, and Elder Valentine

- Incoming Missionaries with their Trainers

2010-07-26T10:58:00.006-06:00

Hello Family!

Since we begin a new transfer period today, I don't have my old planner with me to run down the week's events. We'll see if my brain can recall the week's events without my external harddrive.

Transfer planning dominated a lot of the week but was actually a lot easier than it has been most times. We met with President Jones Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. He had transfers mostly figured out and we all felt good about it fairly quickly. We made a few observations and suggestions and President Jones made a few minor changes. I think it was probably the easiest transfer that we've had while I've been here (at least on our end - I'm sure President Jones put a lot of time and work into it). We still had to figure out a lot of logistics, especially with a number of white-washes (both missionaries replaced in an area at the same time), eleven new trainers, and three new zone leaders. Halfway through the transfer, things will get a little hairy, though; when my transfer leaves, we'll be short eleven missionaries for three weeks until we get our next shipment - fifteen new missionaries! (Every time I think about the craziness the mission has coming up, I'm sure to give Elder Taylor a sympathetic smile).

President and Sister Jones also spoiled us this week with quick trips to a few of their favorite spots that Elder Taylor hadn't yet visited. Tuesday after transfer meeting, they took us up to Frankenmuth for a "taste of Bavaria".
We had Wienerschnitzel and Sauerkraut at the Bavarian Inn, followed by some not-so-bad Apfelstrudel. (at right--The Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth)

Friday after transfer calls (to which Sister Davis, one of the office sisters, brought Cherry Berry pie and Cherry Vanilla ice cream, which we ate for breakfast), President and Sister Jones took us to Sweetie-licious, where we enjoyed some good sandwiches, and their award-winning blueberry raspberry pie. (The owner, who loves missionaries - she greets us with shouts of "My Mormons!" and hugs - has twelve first-place winning pie recipes from the Crisco National Pie Competition.) Needless to say, the blueberry raspberry pie was to die for. Our dessert excess this week also included treats from my birthday package (thanks again by the way!), the leftovers from Sister Jones' peanut butter pie, and a couple of chocolate cupcakes someone left on our doorstep (no idea who left them).

In spite of all the busyness, we had a great week of missionary work in our own area. We started teaching three new investigators. One, Courtney, is a really cool girl Elder Taylor and Elder Fugleberg met on trade-offs last week at Lansing Community College. She is a believing Christian who feels like she wants to get back on the right path; she's tired of living a double life. Another, Aaron, is a friend of a friend of Ashlie, who was baptized here in June. He is, likewise, a Christian who feels he has drifted away from God and who soaked up the message of the restoration. He's being baptized September 18th if he comes to know our message is true. The third, Denise, is the friend of a less-active member, James, and his friend, Cameron, who is already investigating the church. The three of them are way funny. When we came over Friday night, they were hanging out, trying James' MREs (he's in the army). I had a bite of ... something. It wasn't bad. James tried to give us some gum, but Cameron and Denise spared us the pain of discovering it will dissolve in your mouth because it's a powerful laxative. Apparently Cameron found out the hard way. Anyway, they're all very open and hunger to feel the love of God in their lives. Cameron has really caught on to the Book of Mormon and has been reading it frequently for support and comfort when he's been struggling lately.

We had several really good lessons with Daniel and Alex this week. We talked with Daniel about his concerns with the Word of Wisdom. He says he has no question that the principles are true; he simply doesn't know if he can withstand the pressure he knows he will receive from others to go against his principles and drink. We talked about the opposition Alma and the Sons of Mosiah faced after the time of their conversion and the great blessings that came to them because of their faithful obedience (see Alma 27:32-37). He seemed to appreciate their example and the promise that the Lord would give him the strength he would need and bless him beyond his current understanding. We're still waiting a little bit for their baptism because they haven't been regularly attending church and because Alex wants to wait until Andy, his closest friend in the ward, is back in town (several weeks from now).

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve as a missionary! I love helping people to taste the fruit of the tree of life, or to feel the Love of God in their lives. Truly, "it is the most desirable above all things ... and the most joyous to the soul" (1 Nephi 11:22-23). I love you all!

Love,
Elder Cloward

P.S. A few pictures

- Family Home Evening sidewalk chalk activity

- We've had a few really nice sunsets lately.

- The three companionships that live in the LDS Student Living Center went out for IHOP this morning before transfers.

It Ends with Peanut Butter Pie

2010-07-19T13:44:00.000-06:00

Hi Family!

We had a pretty good week with a couple of companion exchanges and a bunch of good lessons.

We've taught Daniel and Alex a bunch this week in preparation for their baptism. They have accepted all of the commandments and are striving to live them. It's incredible to see the great faith they have developed as they have experimented on the word and come to trust that obedience to God leads to happiness, peace, and a bright hope. We were planning on having their baptism this next Saturday (the 24th) but will be rescheduling it with them tonight because they didn't make it to church yesterday. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that we will be able to spend another week or so helping them fully understand the covenant they will soon be making.

Wednesday and Friday we had exchanges. Wednesday I spent at WMU with Elder Merritt, which was a lot of fun. We had several lessons with members I have taught before while on exchanges. I always enjoy spending time with Elder Merritt; he's a great leader and a great missionary. Friday I got to spend at MSU with Elder Wray. We had some really good lessons (one with a couple of Chinese students we had never taught before - Xiaofeng and Chengru). Elder Wray served at MSU for six months last fall, so it was really fun for him to be able to see some of his old friends. You can really tell the impact a person has had when you see the love that others have for them because of their service. Elder Wray was definitely loved by many of the ward members here.

My birthday was fun. We went to the Lansing Church of God in Christ in the morning - we're teaching an MSU student, Russell, who is a minister there (he gave the invocation this week). The church was very different from any I had ever attended so it was really good to understand better where Russell is coming from. The service was very focused on music, praise, and worship and the people were about as welcoming as any I've ever met. (They had us stand so they could all sing to us while everybody came up and shook our hands.) Afterward, we attended our ward, which was great. Half of the ward went on a quick trip to Palmyra this weekend and got back late Saturday night. Several who went shared testimony - one of whom was a recent convert, Elissa. What a neat experience for her to have been able to have! Kate Johnson also gave a fantastic talk about miracles in our day and in her life. She is a PhD student at MSU and was a professed (and somewhat defiant) atheist until last year when she was baptized. She has an incredible testimony and incredible faith.

After our church meetings,
President and Sister Jones had us over for dinner. President Jones grilled salmon, which was amazing (!), and Sister Jones made a peanut butter pie from Sister Longcore's recipe (the Relief Society President in Hart). It was amazing! A picture, compliments of Elder Taylor, is included.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Elder Cloward

Corned Beef and Sauerkraut = The Nature of Happiness

2010-07-12T09:35:00.001-06:00

Hi Family!

We've had a pretty good week here at MSU. It's been pretty warm this week (highs in the 90s with high humidity) and a little bit rainy. Daniel and Alex are still progressing and doing well. We were able to have several lessons with them and got together with several members from the ward (our ward mission leader set things up for us) to watch the Restoration DVD. I think it helped them better understand our message through a visual representation. Alex had a hard time understanding; I think because the language used in the video matches Joseph Smith-History and not a modern English vernacular. Daniel seemed to understand just fine; I think it helps that he has been reading the Book of Mormon in English, while Alex prefers to read in Chinese.

Zone leader council on Tuesday was fun. We presented the adjustments Salt Lake is making to missions worldwide in order to implement the Simplified Curriculum. I'm really excited for what will take place in the coming year in sharpening missionaries' teaching skills. All the training is focused on clearing away the clutter and making our teaching a better environment for the Spirit to testify of truth. I'm a little sad I won't be able to receive/help with all this training myself, but I'm excited to work as a member with missionaries who are better trained and prepared than I have been. The Spirit made it clear to me that these adjustments and changes are led by the spirit of revelation, which is the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ. He is at the head of this church and this great redemptive work.

We blitzed Traverse City last Friday, which was a lot of fun. I don't know if I told you about the Silver Swan restaurant we ate at the last time we were there, but they serve the best Reuben Sandwich I've eaten. (To be fair, it probably ties with the Reuben I had when mom and I were in Connecticut visiting Yale.) President Jones recommended the place (and specifically the Reuben) and we ate there the last two times we've been up to Traverse City. In addition to a delicious sandwich, I got to spend the day with Elder Riley, which was really fun. They've a lot of great member missionary work happening in the Traverse City branch and it means they're teaching a ton of investigators. We taught a man who was the husband of a recent convert, a 16-year old adopted son of less-active parents, a member family's neighbor, and a less-active brother with a desire to return to the temple and be sealed to his wife, who is not a member. And Elder Taylor and Elder Johnson were busy teaching the whole day too. It was great!

I love you! Thanks for all your support!

Elder Cloward

Zone Conference and Fireworks

2010-07-05T22:12:00.006-06:00

Hi Family!

Sorry, it's been a crazy day, so we just squeezed some time in for email. President Jones called us this morning as we were driving to email and had us come to the office for a meeting instead. The church is introducing a "simplified curriculum" for missionary training based on what they have identified as the most important principles of effective teaching taught in Preach My Gospel. There will be some changes throughout the coming year to facilitate the sort of training they want. In any case, we had to figure out what they're wanting us to do during a morning meeting because we have zone leader council tomorrow and it will be good to present it to the zone leaders right away since most changes will take place immediately.

Our week was great. We had zone conferences Wednesday and Friday in Mt. Pleasant and Grand Rapids, respectively. Elder Taylor and I gave more instruction than I have been used to, which was fun, if a little draining. I especially enjoyed speaking in our district leader / zone leader training meeting. President Jones told us to discuss whatever subjects we felt impressed to and I chose to teach about "joy". This subject has pressed itself upon my mind and my feelings lately and I loved studying in preparation for zone conference. I walked away from the experience with heightened conviction that lasting joy comes only through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

In preparation for zone conference, President Jones had asked the mission to read and ponder four talks by Elder Maxwell centered on a theme of consecration. As missionaries came prepared it was wonderful to see the things that the Spirit taught us. It is so exciting to see our mission grow in faith and commitment to the Lord.

The Lord blessed us this week by bringing us many successes in our finding! We set up ten return appointments for this coming week, which is the "standard of excellence" set by President Jones. (It has been reached only occasionally and never by one of my companionships).

Daniel and Alex are both doing well. We rescheduled Alex' baptism for July 24th because he was out of town this weekend and needs a little more time to prepare. I think he and Daniel are excited to be baptized on the same day.

I love you all!

Thanks for all your support,
Elder Cloward

P.S. President Jones gave us permission to stay up a little late to watch fireworks and I've attached a couple of photos.

There is an Earwig Somewhere in the Library...

2010-06-28T09:31:00.000-06:00

Hello Family!

We had some fun companion exchanges and good work this week!

Wednesday we had an exchange with the Portland elders. Elder Taylor and Elder Valentine worked in the Portland area (and actually had a lesson with Lindsey, who lives in their area but was recently baptized in our singles ward). Elder Andersen came to MSU with me. We had some really great finding on campus and talked with a girl named Felicia from Muskegon, who allowed us to sit down with her and share the message of the Restoration. The lesson was great and the Spirit was strong. Unfortunately, this is finals week for the first summer semester (MSU has two sessions) so she wasn't sure when she could meet again, but she did say that even if we were never able to talk again she would remember our meeting for the rest of her life. We had a similar lesson with a Chinese student named Ray, who really enjoyed our visit but returns to China tomorrow. He said he'd meet back up with missionaries in the fall. (It's a little sad to know I won't be one of those missionaries.) It was also fun to spend a day with Elder Andersen, who was in my MTC district and in the Hart district with me almost a year ago.

Friday we had an exchange with Grandville Spanish. I got to spend the day in Grand Rapids with Elder Morales while Elder Patino came to MSU with Elder Taylor. My Spanish was extremely rusty but Elder Morales was very generously complimentary. We had one lesson in Spanglish, which was nice, but Elder Morales had me teach how Dios revela su evangelio en cada dispensacion (or something like that) in a couple other lessons and he had me quote from Joseph Smith - History as well. Thankfully, in a lesson with Andres, a new investigator they found knocking doors a few days before, it didn't matter that I messed up the quotation a little bit. Andres realized he already knew the Joseph Smith story; he ordered the Restoration DVD from the church a few years ago but never requested missionaries. We had a great lesson; he said he felt that we were sent by God in answer to his prayers. The whole day made me wish I had been called as a Spanish-speaking missionary. But ...

I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction (Alma 29:3-4).

It was also fun to spend the day with Elder Morales, whom I hadn't seen too much since we served together in Bay City. "And what added more to [my] joy, [he was] still [my brother] in the Lord" (Alma 17:2). (I'm not sure it's good that I've developed a habit of quoting the Book of Mormon in every other breath. Elder Barney once pointed out that weird missionary jokes would probably not be impressive on post-mission dates and Book of Mormon quotes might fit in that category.)

Overall, the week was great. We taught seven new people this week. Three became new investigators (meaning, we'll meet with them again), one moved to Tennessee the day after our lesson, two move back to China this week, and one has finals (hopefully we'll meet again with her afterward). Daniel, who we've taught for several weeks, decided in our lesson this week that he would like to be baptized and we set a date with him for July 24th. Alex, who is scheduled to be baptized July 10th is still progressing and doing really well.

I love you and I'm so grateful for all your love, prayers, and support. I am blessed by your faith and by the goodness of your lives!

Love,
Elder Cloward

Driving is Only My Part-time Job

2010-06-21T09:43:00.004-06:00

Hi Family,

I think Elder Taylor and I spent just under 30 hours driving this week. So it only qualifies as part-time work. Serving as a missionary makes me laugh that we call a 40-hour work week "full-time". Somehow, our 24/7 job with no pay seems to qualify more readily as a "full-time" assignment. And I suppose it's not a nonpaying job either. The earnest of the Spirit is far more desirable than a weekly paycheck (although not always as useful for paying the rent - thanks for working so I can serve, Dad!) Let me give you the run-down on our week.

Monday: Day 1 of transfers, so we toured the Southern portion of the mission. Compared to other transfers, this one was relatively small since we only had one departing missionary and six incoming missionaries. Monday, especially, the transfer van never had more than eight people on board. After a hot dog barbecue with the elders spending the night in Lansing we even had time to go to Family Home Evening. Alex, whom we've been teaching, brought Daniel, whom we have also been teaching, which was cool since we didn't know that they knew each other. They do live in the same apartment building, though.

Tuesday: Day 2 of transfers. We ran up to Mt. Pleasant and back and then ran the Southern loop again. Elder Stayner, who went home on Wednesday, rode the transfer van all the way around with us so he could say goodbye to everyone. I think it was a longer ride than he expected. Departing activities at the mission home were nice. President Jones grilled us some delicious steaks because it was a smaller group than normal.

Wednesday: We got to sleep in until 6 am! (Normally, the Wednesday of transfers we have to get up at 3 or 4 am but Elder Stayner's flight didn't leave until 10:30). Elder Stayner told me he'd say hi to Emerson Ave for me (he lives up the street a mile or so). We taught a couple quick lessons in between trips to the airport and then picked up the missionaries and started some orientation with them. As the missionaries came down the hall in the airport and we saw them for the first time, I received an undeniable spiritual impression that they had been called of God and sent to us by Him. I love orientation with the new missionaries; they epitomize the scriptural admonition to give the Lord "the heart and a willing mind" (D&C 64:34). President Jones let us slip out a little early so that we could fit in another lesson.

Thursday: After orientation with the new missionaries and their trainers, we drove three companionships up to Mt. Pleasant so they could then drive to their areas. We then had a crazy evening of teaching eight lessons in five hours.

Friday: Our morning was taken up by a meeting with President Jones to plan for our trip to Ann Arbor the next day and talk about zone conference and other mission issues. We had to leave by 7 that evening to begin our trip North so we could take the Traverse City zone down to Ann Arbor. We had 1:30 to 7 to try to squeeze in some more lessons but due to some cancellations and two lessons combining to become one lesson (we had set appointments with two separate students on campus for 4 and 4:30 - it turned out they were friends and we just met together in one lesson) we only ended up with three lessons. The two guys we started teaching Friday are really active in an apostolic church and know the Bible really well. It was really fun to talk with them and for them to have a strong Christian background. MSU definitely has a wide array of religious ideologies.

Saturday: We spent Friday night in Houghton Lake and then woke up at 2:30 am to get ready and drive the rest of the way to Gaylord, where we met the Traverse City zone and left for Ann Arbor at 4:30 am. We arrived a little after 8:00. We had a three-hour meeting (from 9 to noon) with Elder and Sister Bednar; Elder Hallstrom, of the Presidency of the Seventy; Elder Uceda, a new member of the First Quorum of the Seventy; and Elder Seldon, who I believe is an Area Seventy. It was incredible. Elder Bednar taught in a very interactive, familiar style. He gave no prepared talk; rather, he asked us what we had learned from the two talks he had us read in preparation for the meeting, expounded on certain principles we discussed, and then allowed us to ask whatever questions we wanted of him or the other brethren. One of the ground rules he outlined was that we were not to write down anything someone at the pulpit said; we could only make notes if they were dictated by the Holy Ghost.

What struck me most was the in some ways unexceptional nature of the meeting. True, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ was present and I did receive a strong spiritual confirmation that Elder Bednar is an Apostle; yet, I was taught by the Spirit just as I am in Sacrament Meetings or Zone Conferences or lessons. It was comforting to recognize that our lives can be a constant classroom with the Teacher of all Truth. Although we must have the priesthood keys held by the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency, the presence of this or that man or even instruction from this or that man is far less significant than the presence of the Holy Ghost, if we are choosing to learn by faith through the influence of the Spirit. (If you're interested, he had us read two great talks he has given, Seek Learning by Faith and Ask in Faith.)

Sorry for the ultra-long email. Attached is a picture of the incoming missionaries with their trainers.

I love you!

Elder Cloward

Super Delux Double Plus

2010-06-14T09:49:00.005-06:00

Dear Family,

We've had a good week. We had a lot of transfer planning to do, so we met with President Jones on Tuesday and Thursday (we would have met Wednesday but we had our last temple trip) and even made some last minute changes Friday morning before transfer calls. Sister Jones told us afterward that she had never seen President Jones spend as much time deliberating over a transfer. More than in any previous transfer experience, I felt the assurance of the Holy Ghost that the decisions made were according to the will of God. It's always fun to be a part of transfers.

Me, Ashlie, and Elder Taylor after Ashlie's baptismal service.

Ashlie Beebe was baptized on Saturday (by Elder Taylor) and confirmed yesterday (by me). She bore her testimony at the baptism, which was awesome! She talked about her experience in the lesson in which she asked us why she always felt so happy when we were over for a lesson. I had recognized it as a big step for her as we explained that these feelings came from the Holy Ghost but I think I still underestimated the significance of that experience in her conversion. She said that when Elder Valentine and I (we were on a companion exchange) testified that her good feelings came from the Holy Ghost she was totally taken back. Although we had taught and talked about the Holy Ghost previously, the thought had never crossed her mind that she was feeling the Spirit of God communicate to her. I think that may have been the moment in which she came to a full recognition of the reality of God. (She is a very scientifically-minded person and had always felt previously that she could never know for sure if there was such a being as God.) It was really cool to hear her share her testimony.

We had a couple of good lessons with other investigators this week. Alex, whom we have taught for about three weeks, has decided he would like to be baptized as well and he's now preparing to be baptized on July 10. I hope and pray that we can continue to be led by the Lord to those whom He has prepared to receive the message of the restored gospel.

I feel like the Lord has taught me a lot this week about the righteous use of agency to determine our personal perspective and attitude. Inasmuch as repentance is a change from a state contrary to the nature of God to a state in line with His will, intellectual/mental repentance (i.e., changing our patterns of thought, shifting our paradigm) is as much a necessity as behavioral repentance. I think that's part of what the Lord means when He commands us to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. The Spirit has specifically directed me this week to changes I need to make in my mind and my heart in order to see things as He sees them - as they really are.

I love you! Thanks for your prayers, your emails and letters, and all your support! Thanks for being a family focused on Christ!

Have a great week!

Elder Cloward

P.S. The pictures are ...
Elder Sodenkamp, me, and Elder Valentine at the temple last Wednesday.

- You wish you could go through the Employee Entrance.

The Good News

2010-06-07T10:24:00.017-06:00

"The good news is that Jesus Christ has made a perfect atonement for mankind that will redeem all mankind from the grave and reward each individual according to his/her works" ( Bible Dictionary, Gospels).

The other good news is I'll be staying at MSU with Elder Taylor for the rest of my mission. While I'm not sure I like the finality of that statement (mostly the idea that my mission will eventually come to an end), I'm excited to be able to continue to learn and grow as Elder Taylor teaches me how to be amazing, as we work closely with President and Sister Jones, through serving the mission, and by staying in the same ward for the rest of the summer. President Jones and I talked several times about what I might like for my remaining transfer-and-a-half and after some thought and prayer he made his decision on Friday. I'm grateful to know that my assignments have come and will continue to come through inspiration.

We had a fantastic week. Two temple trips definitely didn't hurt! I could get used to going every week. Over the last transfer I feel I've learned a lot about how to approach the temple ceremony by patiently listening for the whispering of the Spirit and allowing the Lord to teach me according to His will. Our last temple trip will be this Wednesday. (Not that this trip will bring an end to especially spiritual experiences for the mission - did I mention we're going to Ann Arbor for a meeting with Elder Bednar on the 19th?)!
(Insert:Elder Weaver and I at the temple last Wednesday.)

Ashlie is doing really well and is excited for her baptism on Saturday (as are we). She informally bore her testimony in our Gospel Principles class yesterday. Elissa Konkol, who was baptized in December, bore her testimony during Sacrament Meeting. There are few things that bring me greater joy than hearing the sincere testimonies of recent converts.

It's exciting to see the mission improve over time. Although we're currently struggling significantly with finding new investigators, we've taken a step in the right direction as more and more companionships consistently teach twenty lessons each week. Several of the zones are teaching twenty lessons in virtually every area. Now that we have the desired quantity we're working on improving quality so that they will produce referrals and new people to teach. It's always reassuring to recognize progress.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Cloward

P.S. I thought I'd send a few pictures from our trip last Monday to the MSU Gardens.

- the rose garden

- the pond

Unsurpassed Insanity is Wonderful

2010-05-31T18:47:00.008-06:00

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

2010-05-24T09:42:00.007-06:00

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!!!

2010-05-17T09:43:00.005-06:00

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

2010-05-10T09:18:00.007-06:00

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

2010-05-03T09:25:00.004-06:00

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!

Mattress Delivery and Burmese Immigrants

2010-04-26T10:43:00.004-06:00

Hallo Familie!

Yet another busy week. I can probably stop beginning my emails that way. From henceforth, please assume I had a busy week. I will no longer include this detail in my weekly emails. :)

We had companion exchanges Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday I was down at Western Michigan University with Elder Maxwell Merritt. He's from somewhere in Davis County. We had a really fun day on campus there; I got a sticker and a pen! We also were able to set up four return appointments with students and taught four lessons. They're doing some really good work down there; I was impressed. Elder Merritt helped me catch a little bit of his fire for the work, which I definitely appreciated. Friday I spent with Elder Brad Sodenkamp in Portland. It was fun to spend the day with him since we served together over a year ago now. We had a few good lessons. They're doing well applying the Lansing Stake's direction to follow Elder Perry's instructions for ward missions. Their whole zone is doing fantastic, largely due to the support of the Stake (as well as some really faithful missionaries and leaders who encourage and support them). 8 out of 10 areas taught 18 lessons or more this week (the Stake and mission have a standard of 20) and one area - the St. Johns branch - taught 44 lessons!

We also got to spend 5 or 6 hours driving from area to area in the Kalamazoo zone delivering mattresses on Thursday. It was a good time. I actually really enjoyed being able to see some of the Spring colors, especially down near Lake Michigan in South Haven and St. Joseph. It's a beautiful part of the country!

The work continues to go well here at MSU. We started teaching a girl this week who is getting baptized on Saturday. She has been taught by the St. Johns elders (where her boyfriend lives) and by the Holt elders (where she lives) but she decided she wants to be baptized in the Young Single Adult ward (where we live). Her name is Mika Rotman; she's a really nice girl and will be a great addition to our ward.

We had an awesome experience yesterday. We received a referral from the Lansing elders, who had met three siblings on a bus. They said they would love to have the missionaries come by some time - their father was a pastor in their home country, Burma. Due to a misunderstanding, the Lansing elders thought their dad was still back in Myanmar, so they sent us, since we teach any interested young adults. We stopped by yesterday, and Peter Khen, the father, greeted us at the door. He speaks very little English, but saw the name "Jesus Christ" on our name badges and invited us in. An immigrant family of ten, they were the most hospitable people I have ever met. They gave us seats on their couch, some of the only furniture in the room, and asked us to share with them about Jesus Christ. We explained, through one of his sons, who interpreted, the basics of the message of the restoration. They were very interested to have a copy of the Book of Mormon in their own language, zomi-chin. (I'm not sure if this is equivalent with Burmese, which may or may not be the name of a language. We'll find out, though, and we're hopeful that the Book of Mormon, or portions of it, has been translated into their language.) After we talked, they brought out a table and served us coffee and delectable French toast (made a little differently than I've had it before). They were initially confused that we refused the coffee, but served us Pepsi instead once we explained that it was for religious reasons. (I detest colas, I think that might have been the second Pepsi of my life, but I figured it was better to just politely accept). As we were about to leave, Peter Khen asked us to pray for him and his family, who all came in and sat around on the floor. The Lansing elders will be visiting them again next Sunday.

I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers and support! I truly do feel the blessings of heaven that come my way because of your faith. Thank you!

Love,
Elder Cloward

P.S. The pictures are ...
#186 - Our ride. A 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan. Elder Barney's the soccer mom; I'm just his little MVP.

#188 - Our other ride. We drive her for transfers and - this week - mattress deliveries.

#195 - I got bored while we were driving mattress around ...

A Round-the-State Trip down Memeroy Lane

2010-04-19T12:26:00.009-06:00

Who wouldn't want a picture with this sign?

Hi Family!

Another great and very busy week!

Tuesday morning, after our weekly meeting with President Jones, we headed up to Mt. Pleasant for our first trade-off of the week. I stayed with Elder Tyler Merrell at CMU (Central Michigan University). We had a terrific day on campus; tons of people were willing to talk to us and many of them set up appointments with the elders. We also got to teach a girl I knew (I watched her team play soccer once or twice) through a member family in Shelby. The elders ran into her on campus and she said she had some Mormon friends and would be willing to learn more. She's been taught several times and we had a really solid lesson with her. She seemed very intent on finding out for herself if the Book of Mormon and the message of the restored gospel are true.

Wednesday Elder Barney drove back up with Elder Taylor (with whom he'd been on a trade-off) and picked me up so we could drive to Petoskey for another trade-off. I spent the day in Petoskey with Elder Brad Knutson. We saw a few of their potential investigators, taught a few lessons, and did a good spot of finding. It was fun to be back in that area one more time.

Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey

Thursday we wrapped up our trade-off and then drove down to Grand Rapids in the afternoon. Construction all over the place made the trip exceedingly pleasant. We picked up an elder who was being transferred from Grand Rapids, drove a car over to Muskegon, and then took the transferring elder up to Hart, which will be his new area. Through some planning, finagling, and a stroke of luck, we were also able to have dinner there in Shelby with the Myers' and Walborns, which was delicious and very fun. I also briefly stopped by at the Garcias. It would have been nice to have a lot of time and to have been able to visit everybody I knew in that area, but I was happy just getting to be there again for a few hours. It was hard to believe I was there a whole year ago.

Friday morning we had a study with the Grand Rapids zone leaders and then (finally) made it back to Lansing. We had a few good lessons.

Saturday was Lindsey's baptism! It went really well; I've included some pictures:
Elder Barney, Lindsey, and me
Lindsey with her parents

Elder Barney, Lindsey, and me

The members who participated, giving talks and testimony, did a great job; I think Lindsey was able to feel very loved and wanted as a part of our ward. She'll be a great asset. It's been really fun to watch and help her take hold of the gospel. She's happier than she's ever been and her parents have really recognized it too. (They're great people, by the way. We've had dinner with them and visited with them several times.)

Sunday Lindsey was confirmed a member of the Church and received the Holy Ghost. Also exciting!

So ... that was our week. Here's hoping for an even better one.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Another Week in Paradise

2010-04-12T13:22:00.002-06:00

Hello Family!

We had a very busy and very good week. The most exciting part was probably this weekend's baptism and confirmation. We had a great baptismal service for Levi on Saturday. We had a pretty good turnout from the ward and a lot of his family members were there. The Spirit was really strong and some really good talks were given. I've included a picture. Sunday during priesthood meeting, Levi was asked to bear his testimony; it was amazing! He said he didn't know for sure how he would feel after being baptized and he was a little surprised by the comprehensive sense of serenity and peace he felt. He is going far!

We also had zone conferences in Mt. Pleasant and Grand Rapids this Wednesday and Friday. I learned some really good things; the Spirit was strong in both of them. Sister Jones gave an awesome talk about things as they really are (see Jacob 4:13). She shared the story of her son Chris' high school basketball experience. He faced a lot of opposition but he always kept in mind his goal of being a successful basketball player and he did what he had to do, even when it was hard, in order to reach that goal. It was an apt allegory for the struggles we have as a mission. I've also been thinking a lot about a talk that was given Wednesday by Brother Lyndon Robison, a former mission president who lives in the Lansing Stake. He talked about the Atonement and about love as the motive for and result of the Atonement. I learned a ton about the doctrine of the Atonement of Christ in just a half hour. And I'm continuing to learn as I reflect on it!

We had a few other really great lessons this week. Our Chinese investigator, Ivy, is way fun to teach. She gave the opening prayer the other day! (She didn't believe in God - at all - a week ago.) She had prayed the night before too. When we asked her how she felt as she prayed, she said it was like having fresh air go through her soul. It's so exciting to help someone make their first steps in recognizing the presence of the Holy Ghost! Other lessons with Ashley and Lindsey also went well. Lindsey is excited and prepared for her baptism this Saturday and Ashley came to the baptism this last weekend. She is starting to take our teaching really seriously and I think she's excited, if nervous, about continuing to learn more and come closer to Christ through the restored gospel.

I love you all! Jesus is the Christ! This is His work!

Elder Joseph Cloward

ZLC, GC and Companion Exchanges

2010-04-05T09:51:00.000-06:00

Hi Family!

It's been another busy week! Here's the wrap-up!

Tuesday: Zone leader council. Elder Barney and I held a 45-minute zone leader orientation beforehand, since 7 out of 10 zone leaders were new enough that they had never been to a ZLC before. (President Jones canceled the ZLC that had been scheduled for the beginning of the month - we generally have them monthly). We started teaching a nice Chinese girl named Ivy, who we taught a second time yesterday between sessions of general conference. She calls herself an atheist but she describes herself in terms of agnosticism. She is super curious, though, about Christianity and asks a ton of questions, which makes our lessons a lot of fun for us.

Wednesday: I brought Elder Perazzo, one of the Grand Rapids zone leaders, for an exchange at MSU. We had a great day, with five fantastic lessons - two of which were taught to investigators with a baptismal date, and a lot of good finding. We saw a fun T-shirt a girl was wearing that inspired my new motto. On the back, her shirt read: "Man up. Do work." That evening, we had dinner with Lindsey, who is being baptized on the 17th, and her parents. It was great to meet her dad and to be able to answer her parents' questions. They're great people; although they don't necessarily agree with Lindsey's decision to be baptized, they have encouraged her to do what she feels is right and never stop asking questions. Great advice from any parent!

Thursday: Among other things, we had a great lesson with Charles on the word of wisdom. We were nervous he wouldn't receive it well, but he seemed to really enjoy the lesson and committed to live accordingly. He's still planning on baptism in a few weeks on April 24th.

Friday: I went down to WMU (Western Michigan University) for a trade-off with Elder Riley. He is so cool. It was fun to get the perspective of working on a different campus. We had a really awesome lesson with a student from Burkina Faso. He converted to Christianity in his youth, causing his animist parents to completely disown him. Intense.

Saturday and Sunday: General conference was great! It's hard to pick a favorite talk, but I probably most enjoyed President Uchtdorf's comments on patience in the priesthood session. Overall, I felt very much that the Spirit was telling me that I need to develop greater charity. I still have so much more love that I could give to others. This was just one answer to a question I asked going into conference - "what lack I yet?" Lindsey and Levi were both able to attend multiple sessions of conference (Levi seemed particularly impressed by the priesthood session, and rightfully so). We rounded out our weekend with a delicious Easter dinner with President and Sister Jones and their son Nick, who was visiting with his family from Illinois.

Love,
Elder Cloward

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

2010-03-29T10:40:00.002-06:00

Hi Family!

Well, the Transfer Van was rollin', rollin', rollin' this week. We spent most of our time driving all over the state. Transfers only left four companionships (including ours) unaffected, so we transferred everybody and their dog. It meant we had to drive the minivan and the transfer van and a car or two along most of the route in order to accommodate everyone. Not to mention the mess of figuring out where to keep the trainers for a couple days until they picked up their new missionaries. We survived, though, and got everyone where they needed to be (although some of them left their stuff here and there).

Taking the departing missionaries to the airport was strange yet again. I'm running out of companions in the mission field. I lost Elder Aaron Smith this time. I get a little hiatus until July when Elder Morales goes home, though. The strangest part is having Sister Jones constantly remind us that we're not very far from doing the same thing - she seems to think it's funny to have us tell her what a long time 5 months is and how she doesn't even need to start thinking about it yet.

Our investigators are all doing well. Lindsey, Levi, and Charles are still on track for baptism next month and they're excited for General Conference this weekend! We weren't able to meet with Gulam (the man with an Islamic upbringing) this week because he was sick, but we did see him briefly and give him a Swahili copy of the Book of Mormon. He is definitely taking learning about the church very seriously.

Not much else to report.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Joseph Cloward

What a Week!

2010-03-22T15:55:00.002-06:00

Hi family!

What a week! We have been ridiculously busy but the Lord has blessed us immensely and we have seen His tender mercies and many mighty miracles in our lives and in our work this week!

Miracle #1 - My March Madness bracket is doing better than Elder Barney's or President Jones'. It must be pure luck, since I haven't been able to watch a basketball game all season!

Miracle #2 - We got transfers all figured out! After transfer meetings every morning Tuesday - Thursday, we finally had everybody in place. It's fascinating to work with President Jones on the transfer. Sometimes the revelation he receives is very clear and other times the Lord leaves it to him to work out a little bit. As I asked the Lord in faith, however, he blessed me with the assurance of the Spirit that President Jones' transfer decisions were made according to His will.

Anyway, after figuring out who would go where, it was up to Elder Barney and me to figure out how and when. Only four companionships in the mission (including ours) are unaffected by this transfer because we have ten missionaries going home and eleven coming out. It's going to be wild. We have, for instance, 15 extra missionaries that have to spend the night in Lansing tonight. It will be another miracle if the transfer goes smoothly. I'll let you know next week, I guess.

Miracle #3 - Gulam Kobora! He's Muslim, and a Fulbright Scholar from Tanzania teaching Swahili at MSU. Several months ago, Elder Barney talked with him on campus and set up a time to meet and discuss the message of the restored gospel. He didn't show up for the appointment and they couldn't contact him, so Elder Barney figured he wasn't interested. Out of the blue, he called us on Thursday and asked us if we could meet up with him, so we set up an appointment for Saturday. The lesson was amazing!

Of all the people I have ever taught, Gulam may be the most "elect". He is honestly searching for the truth; he told us that he feels the truth of God is in the world somewhere and he wants to find it so he can live according to it, no matter what church it may mean he must join. He was raised as a Muslim but while living for the past year in the U.S. he has become very confused by the many different doctrines and ideas he has now heard from many different religions. He asked us amazing questions, like, "Who is God? Is He a tangible being with a physical body or is He somehow everywhere and in everything?". He understood better than anyone I have ever taught what we mean by "authority of God" and was fascinated by the recurring pattern of apostasy and restoration. After Elder Barney recounted Joseph Smith's First Vision, Gulam stopped us and told us he needed us to slow down because he felt we had reached a turning point in the lesson and he really wanted to understand what we would say from that point on because it was likely the most important part of our message. The Spirit was exceptionally strong as we testified of the Book of Mormon and promised him that he would come to know for himself that our message was true as he prayed and asked God if it was.

And, "conveniently", we have access to two Swahili-speaking members, one in our ward who is working on a Ph.D. in African Studies and one who is a return missionary (from Kenya, which includes Tanzania) and the brother of a member of our ward. :D

Miracle #4 - Stake Conference was amazing! The Spirit taught me so much that I needed to know for my personal development and growth and for my continued service to others. Some things that really stuck out to me were:
A) President Winder's discussion of covenants as a partnership with God (President Winder is one of the counselors in the Stake Presidency) -- it totally synergized so many of the thoughts and ideas that have been floating around in my mind for months and years.
B) President Ritchie's declaration that, through our covenants, as we personally bring our best efforts we can save our families. (President Ritchie is an incredible Stake President; he's a dynamic leader and a powerful speaker and teacher. It probably helps that he's a professor at MSU).

I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers!

Elder Joseph Cloward

Hey Howdy Hey

2010-03-15T15:39:00.001-06:00

Hi mom and dad,

I spent most of my email time looking at course descriptions, so I don't have time to send a newsy email.

Love you bunches,
elder Cloward

Trade-offs and New Investigators

2010-03-08T10:02:00.001-07:00

Hi Family!

We had a very busy and very good week. I wasn't really at MSU much Wednesday through Saturday because of companion exchanges but more on that later. As a frame for our work this week, we had a Tuesday morning teleconference from President Jones' office with all of the zone leaders in the mission. For months and months we have recognized that our Achilles' heel as a mission is our inability to effectively find people to teach. We know they're out there but there is something we're not doing that we need to do in order to connect with them. President Jones laid out his expectation that every companionship in the mission find at least one new investigator this week (we've hovered around having just more than half find a new investigator each week). The zone leaders went to work in their zones, even blitzing areas to help make sure it happened everywhere, and the result was 76 new investigators for 57 companionships. We were very excited. The challenge will come this week as the bar is raised to two new investigators per companionship. I'm confident we can do it.

I was in Greenville with Elder Perazzo on Wednesday for an exchange and got to meet some very cool people there. We taught a man named Matt for the first time, who had requested a copy of the Book of Mormon because he had an uncle who was Mormon with whom he was always impressed. He knew next to nothing about us or our beliefs, but he said he admired his uncle's serenity and wondered how he obtained it. We told him. :) It was a good lesson. We also had a lesson with a recent convert, named Millie, who is amazing! She shared an experience she had in one of her first Gospel Principles Sunday School classes. As the class talked about why we do missionary work, one of the active members expressed her feeling that she so frequently falls short in fulfilling her responsibility to share the gospel. Millie stood up and told her with tears running down her cheeks: "Don't worry about it. Don't get upset or frustrated. What you people do got me here and you'd better keep doing it because there are more Millie's out there and you've got to go find us!"

After a couple hours stop in Lansing after driving back from Greenville on Thursday, we headed up to Petoskey for a Friday blitz. I spent the day with Elder Richardson. It was very weird to be back in my first area. It brought back all kinds of memories. I was very grateful for the opportunity. We had some really good lessons there as well.

In our area, we started teaching a way cool girl named Andrea. She told us she feels like God is trying to tell her something but she can't figure out what it is. We encouraged her to ponder and pray and we're seeing her again on Thursday. We also set a baptismal date with Levi, who loves the Book of Mormon. I was on exchange during the lesson, but he was apparently geeking out over King Benjamin's sermon. I'm pretty excited for him.

I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and support!

-Elder Joseph Cloward

Another Week in Paradise

2010-03-01T11:43:00.006-07:00

Hi family!

Sorry I don't have a ton of time to write this week. I spent most of my email time trying to figure out what in the world I've got to do in order to be able to advance register for fall classes in a couple of weeks. It's a little bit challenging when everything is online and I only get an hour of internet use each week. Registration doesn't end until April, though, so I'm not stressing about it just yet. At least not too much. :)

This was a great week. I think I'll just share a few of my favorite experiences.

Saturday morning, I went with Elder Rawlings to teach our Chinese friend, Xifu. He had been reading the Book of Mormon and had lots of questions, which always makes a lesson more fun. We talked about how the only way to know if the book is true is to pray and ask God. Xifu had not prayed before, so we taught him some of the basic steps of prayer and then he offered the best prayer I've ever heard in my life. The Spirit powerfully filled the room as he sincerely asked the Lord if the Book of Mormon was true and as he asked God to help him understand the things he is studying in English because the culture and language in the United States are so foreign to him. It was one of the best lessons I've ever been a part of as a missionary.

Lindsey, a girl we've taught the past few weeks, is doing really well. She is planning to be baptized on April 17th but is having some real challenges because her parents aren't exactly thrilled about it. Her mom is okay with it after we met with her and Lindsey both last week, but her dad hates the idea. In spite of some arguments they've had, she continues to tell us that she's feeling happier than she has ever felt in her life, she loves coming to church, and she knows that the things we are teaching are true. She was in church yesterday and got a priesthood blessing because she was feeling sick.

We began teaching a member's boyfriend named Levi this week. He's way cool! He has already read a lot of the Book of Mormon and believes that it is true. He said that our message makes a lot of sense. I'm excited to see him again this Wednesday. Should be a good lesson.

Love you all! Thanks for all your support!

Love,
Elder Cloward

P.S. Plus: pictures with the new missionaries (above) and the Kalamazoo elders' car buried in the snow!

Mandarin and Korean but mostly just English

2010-02-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hi family!

We had a great week. Here are some highlights for you:

I got to have a trade-off with Elder Taylor back in Bay City, which was really fun. It felt strange to be so at-home on a trade-off. I was glad to see a few of the people I knew while serving there, especially since we got to teach Jake and Christian, who were baptized in December and January. I wish I could have gone on a trade-off with both Elder Taylor and Elder Smith, since I've served with both of them before, but I guess that's all right. They're doing so well together and tearing it up in Bay City!
It's snowing right now. I guess that's all right, since it's still February and we've had a really warm week (up to the low 40s) otherwise.

I had a blast in a lesson last night with a Chinese couple. They had been taught previously by the other MSU elders who were transferred out. Xhifu is a student from Beijing studying abroad at State. His wife Jan-Wei is here with him. They speak English fairly well and understood us as long as we spoke slowly and clearly. Christianity is very new to them but they are fascinated by it and have lots and lots of questions. They've been reading the Bible together. We answered some of their questions about Jesus Christ's relationship to God the Father and helped them understand that Jesus Christ is Jehovah, or the God of the Old Testament. We also shared with them Joseph Smith's First Vision experience and a copy of the Book of Mormon, which Xhifu seemed very excited to read. I'm only disappointed because we'll have to let the Williamston elders teach them, since they serve in a family ward.
Saturday night we had a great lesson with a student from Korea named Jin. He grew up in the church but is currently agnostic; he finds it hard to believe anything he cannot see or that cannot be proven to him scientifically. His friend Edward, also from South Korea, joined us. Edward told us he has been searching for peace in his life because he has a terrible relationship with his father. He started with Buddhism because that is his family's traditional way of belief, but he didn't feel like it was helping him, so he converted to Catholicism about a month ago. We talked with them about the nature of God and His relationship with us, His children. We had a great discussion, and I feel like we all benefited from it. Afterward, Jin took us out to dinner because he's loaded. He actually took us out on Tuesday too (to a delicious Indian restaurant!).
I can't think of much more to share. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ! And I love you!

Elder Cloward

The Craziest Week of My Mission

2010-02-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Wow. I'm so glad I survived this week. It was crazy. Let me tell you all about it.

Monday: A sunny and beautiful - if cold - day. We drove the transfer van from Lansing to Battlecreek to Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Lansing. After dinner, we filled up with gas and got everything ready for the next transfer day.

Tuesday: The worst day of the winter. Lots of snow. Elder Barney drove the transfer van, but I followed him in various minivans/cars that we were transporting around the mission. We drove from Lansing to Mt. Pleasant back to Lansing, and then from Lansing to Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo to Battlecreek and back to Lansing. We had a wonderful evening at the mission home with the departing missionaries. We shared our testimonies, ate good food, and then had an emergency transfer meeting with President Jones. It turned out that we needed to make some adjustments to the transfer; we decided to make those on Friday.

Wednesday: We got up at 3 to take the departing missionaries to the airport in Flint. It was a crazy drive. We rode back with President and Sister Jones, did a little missionary work, and then got ready to head back to Flint to pick up the new missionaries. Only, they missed their connecting flight out of Atlanta. So we found some more people to teach for a couple hours while we waited for news. They finally got in at 7:30. We brought them back to the Mission Home and did some preliminary orientation. We had to put off more of it until the next day since it was already 10:30 by the time we left.

Thursday: We held some more orientation with the new missionaries. Afterward, we headed over to the Stake Center to do some orientation with their trainers while the new missionaries met the office staff. I really enjoyed the trainers' orientation; there was a very good spirit in the meeting. President Jones read a quote from President Monson that made me cry. It was kind of embarrassing, but it was very good. President Monson talked about how much he loves seeing missionaries say goodbye to their parents in the MTC - seeing dad in a wrinkled, old suit and shoes that might have a hole in the sole, looking proudly at his son in a handsome new suit and polished new shoes. President Jones emphasized to us and the trainers that the missionaries have a family back home praying for them every day, and in many cases, praying for their companion, and especially for their trainer. Thank you all for your prayers. I feel the blessings that come from them. I know that God hears our prayers.

Anyway, after the meeting, we took Elder Merrell (one of the trainers) and Elder Ames (his new trainee) to Kalamazoo. And then drove back to Lansing.

Friday: We made some adjustments to transfers, driving from Lansing to Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Lansing. On the way from Grand Rapids to Lansing, President Jones called with some more changes that needed to be made with the transfer. Thankfully, he did the driving for the three companionships affected. Sister Fredline, who has worked in the mission office for basically forever, said this has been the craziest transfer she's ever seen. I figure if I can handle this week, I can handle anything they throw at me, right?

Saturday: We just did missionary work. It was awesome! We had a lesson with Alex, a young man in the ward, and invited him to invite one of his friends to be taught by us. He said he would. To our surprise, he called us that night and had us come teach his girlfriend, Lindsey. Long story short, after coming to church yesterday and meeting with us again, she wants to be baptized. So, she's preparing for baptism on March 6th. Pretty cool.

Love you all,
Elder Joseph Cloward

So Much Driving

2010-02-08T12:28:00.004-07:00

Elder Cloward with Elder Taylor

Hi family!

This has been a crazy week. Lots of driving. And the coming week will involve even more.

Tuesday morning, Elder Taylor and I loaded up my stuff and headed down to Lansing. We had to stop in Midland to pick up an extra car that we needed to bring down to the mission office. I drove the other car and followed Elder Taylor down. It was weird to be driving by myself for the first time in almost a year and a half. We had Zone Leader Council in Lansing, at which I gave a little training, my first assignment as a new assistant, and after lunch at Chipotle (yum!) I headed off with my new companions, Elder Jake Packer and Elder Danny Barney.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had transfer meetings with President Jones. It was very interesting to be on that side; President Jones presented his plan for the upcoming transfer and then asked us what we thought about different potential companionships or how the work was going in different areas. We had some added complications to figure out because we rearranged the districts (again) and reworked car distributions. (All district leaders have full-time cars and almost everybody else has a car on a rotating basis). I'm excited for how much I'll learn about church administration and government by working so closely with President Jones.

Wednesday I got to meet Eric, who the elders here started teaching last week. They had set up a lesson with a member, who then invited Eric to join. He loved what was taught. In fact, on Wednesday, we set a baptismal date with him for February 27th. We had another lesson with him Sunday morning and he attended church in the afternoon (the student ward meets from 1-4) and loved it. He's really excited about the restored gospel and loves reading and discussing passages from the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Very cool.

A note on our living situation. We have an apartment at the LDS Living Center, which is officially "on-campus" living at MSU. It's fun to be living in the same building with half of our ward; it makes it very convenient when we need to go with someone to a lesson. There are three other missionary companionships that live in the building, although that will soon be cut down by one. Previously, there have been two companionships working the MSU campus - the assistants plus another set - but since we're currently short on missionaries, it will be just us for the next six weeks.

So, driving. On Friday, I got to watch a fun and exciting (not) safety video on driving the transfer van and its trailer and then took a practice run out to Dewitt and back. I was nervous to be driving something so big, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I only curbed the trailer once (and that was in the parking lot on the way out). Friday night we drove up to Cheboygan for a baptism. Elder Packer baptized a man he had taught when serving up in Sault Ste. Marie over a year ago. From Cheboygan, we drove up to Sault Ste. Marie (which is half in Canada) and spent the night with the elders before heading back to Lansing Saturday morning. I was fried by the time we got home. But we taught a bunch of good lessons anyway and that was that.

A couple pictures from crossing the Mackinac Bridge from the UP back to the lower peninsula

At 1:00 today, we'll pull out of Lansing driving the transfer van. I get to drive today from Lansing to Battlecreek to Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids and back to Lansing. Tomorrow we'll drive the same loop again but throw in an additional run up to Mt. Pleasant and back. Wednesday, we've got to drive out to the Flint airport and back twice - the first time to see off the departing elders and sisters and the second time to pick up the arriving missionaries. Thursday, we've got to drive all of the trainers and their new companions back to their areas after doing orientation Wednesday night and Thursday morning. It's going to be a crazy week.

Anyway, I won't bore you with any more particulars. I love you all. The gospel is true. Jesus Christ lives and leads His church.

Love,
Elder Cloward

You just got Lansing'd!

2010-02-01T16:10:00.001-07:00

Hello Family!

I've had a really great week here in Bay City with Elder Taylor, we've been very busy. We had trade-offs and business all over the zone this week. Tuesday, we drove to Alma, where I left Elder Taylor and then spent the day with Elder Lyons (who went to Bennion, Bryant, and East) in Bay City. Wednesday, we drove to Mt. Pleasant for a district meeting and then I went with Elder Jordan Hansen to Harrison for the day. (Harrison is beautiful! And very cold!) Thursday we were done with trade-offs but had to drive to Caro to do a baptismal interview, which went very well. Baptismal interviews are one of my absolute favorite things to do as a missionary; it's so exciting to have someone share with you their newly found testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

In other news, Sacrament Meeting was incredible yesterday! We had a small attendance, which was disappointing, but the Spirit there was very strong. Sister Andrea Klopf gave a talk on "worthiness". I felt strongly that as I maintain a focus on the temple I will have the power to resist all temptation because worthiness to enter the temple will be my most carefully-guarded possession. Elder Taylor and I performed "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" with two of the young men and Brother and Sister Schindler accompanying (he on the cello and she on the piano). I didn't really feel nervous, but I started to shake a bit, so I'm not sure how great my solo first verse sounded. We performed the same number later at a missionary fireside we held last night. I was glad to have a re-do because I felt I sang much better the second time. The Schindlers videotaped it, so it may or may not be on YouTube sometime soon ...

President Jones called Friday morning. I answered the phone. "Hello, President."

"Hi, Elder Cloward."

"How are you, President?"

"Great, thanks. I'm transferring you to MSU. You just got Lansing'd!"

All right. Maybe that's not quite how it went down. In any case, I'm going down to MSU tomorrow, where I'll be serving with Elder Barney (and Elder Packer; regular transfers don't happen for another week, so Elder Packer's got a week before he goes home). I'll be serving as an Assistant to the President. I've got kind of mixed feelings about it. I'm definitely going to miss Bay City a ton. I knew it wasn't likely, but I was really hoping to stay with Elder Taylor for another transfer. I'm really nervous about serving at MSU; it will be very different to teach no one but college-aged young men and women, although it should be fun. In any case, I'm grateful the Lord allowed me six months in Bay City. I have learned and grown so much here. I am so grateful for the miracle of a mission!

I love you all and pray that God will continue to bless you!

Have a great week,
Elder J. Cloward

I Lost My Favorite Pens

2010-01-25T16:22:00.001-07:00

Hello family!

We had a pretty good week here in Bay City. Here are a few of the highlights and lowlights:

Highlight: We taught 20 lessons this week. I'm hoping we're getting into a good rhythm where we'll be able to sustain this as our average in the area and work our way up from there. It has been very rewarding to do more teaching; I wish I had understood the importance of teaching regularly at the outset of my mission. Elder Holland says a teaching missionary is a happy missionary and I believe him.

Lowlight: I lost two pens. They were Zebra F-301 planner pens, which are probably used more widely in the Celestial Kingdom than anywhere else. The unfortunate part was that I just bought them the week before.

Highlight: Ward Conference was excellent. President Jones, the Stake President, gave a fantastic talk in which he discussed the various ways in which Jesus Christ succors us or runs to our aid. How privileged we are when we allow ourselves, through our obedience and our closeness to His Spirit, to be His means of succoring another.

Lowlight: I can't think of another lowlight.

Highlight: We started teaching a cage fighter. His name is Patrick. He's got a couple of broken ribs.

Lowlight: I ran out of bananas so I couldn't have one on my cereal this morning.

Highlight: Today is preparation day and I will buy more bananas!

Another highlight: Elder Taylor is amazing. He has specifically challenged me to be more confident. I've really enjoyed our discussions and studies about where our confidence comes from. Preach My Gospel states (and I'm quoting from memory so I might get it wrong): "remember that your confidence should be in Christ, not in yourself." As I read the words and account of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, I'm consistently impressed by his confidence, which comes entirely from His knowledge that the Lord has all power and all knowledge. (I apologize if I mentioned this last week. I'm still reading Nephi's account this week.)

And I can't think of anything else newsworthy.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

The Book of Mormon

2010-01-18T11:42:00.001-07:00

Hello family!

We've had another Book of Mormon-centric week here in Michigan. We had a great zone conference on Wednesday. President Jones gave each of us a softcover copy of the Book of Mormon with an assignment to read it twice by August 1. Between now and April general conference, we are to read it, marking in red each reference to Jesus Christ, His attributes, or His words. Elder Taylor and I have additionally been reading a chapter together each evening. President Jones' program (a suggestion in Preach My Gospel) was first used by President Marion D. Hanks, who had his missionaries use it in England when Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland were serving as missionary companions. (Elder Cook was head of the missionary department when Preach My Gospel was produced - I'm sure some of President Hanks' other wisdom is included in the manual as well).

Our week wasn't quite as exciting as we wanted it to be. Elder Taylor has been helping me improve by encouraging us to confirm appointments the night before so we spend less time going to people's homes when they have forgotten they were going to meet with us. In spite of that, we had almost every investigator call us an hour or two before their scheduled appointment to cancel this week. It seems like everybody and their dog is sick in Bay City.

Still, we had a pretty good attendance in Sacrament Meeting, with a lot of people that haven't been in a while, including a number of people that we have been teaching. It is so rewarding to see people improve themselves as they immerse themselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have never seen anything in all my life that has such incredible power to ennable positive change. The gospel has all the answers the people of the world are seeking.

Additionally, I've reflected a lot on the significance of the family. We meet and work with so many people whose problems arose because they had a negative family environment (and sometimes no family environment at all). The world needs strong families more than anything else right now and I am confident that "happiness in family life is more likely to be acheived when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Proclamation to the World on the Family).

I love you and I'm so grateful for the strong family that you are!

Have a great week!
Elder Joseph Cloward

More Cookies

2010-01-11T21:18:00.003-07:00

Hello family!

We had a good week here in Bay City. How about a few crazy and/or exciting highlights?

Highlight #1: Jacob was baptized yesterday. The service was really nice; it was all done by the young men since they're Jacob's main fellowshippers (he's 17). He was baptized by Weston, and the talks were given by Daniel and Donald. Not that you know any of them. But they're cool kids, I promise :).

Highlight #2: We taught 21 lessons. Elder Taylor and I set a transfer goal for to reach the mission standard of 20 lessons at least 3 of the 6 weeks. We worked hard to reach the standard last week and I'm excited to work just as hard this week. Teaching becomes its own incentive the more that we do.

Highlight #3: We unveiled our new zone goal. It was in response to a new mission policy that any area that does not either find four new investigators or have one baptism in any one month will not have a car for the entire following month. Hence, Elder Taylor and I developed "No Car Left Behind" - the title of the Midland zone's goal to keep all of our cars in February.

Highlight #4: We looked at lobsters while we were at the store today. They looked so lonely in their tank. It made me want to take one home and boil it.

Highlight #5: Lots of snow!

Highlight #6: I love the Book of Mormon! This transfer our mission is focused on chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel (which is focused on the Book of Mormon) and I am having a blast studying and testifying of the Book of Mormon more regularly than ever before. The book is true! It is a powerful witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that faith in Him and obedience to the laws and ordinances of His gospel will give anyone willing the power to overcome personal challenges and receive salvation by His grace! All of our questions can be answered as we prayerfully study from the scriptures and strive to do the will of our Heavenly Father!

Highlight #7: Just a few more days now and I'll be companion to a translated being. I haven't figure out exactly what is holding Elder Taylor back from perfection just yet. Maybe he just needs to finish reading through the New Testament. I'll have to steal his Bible so he can stay here with me a little bit longer.

I love you all! Thanks for your love and your prayers!

Elder Cloward

Hi Again!

I realized I forgot to attach a picture! And also I did not explain the subject of my email! We have lots of cookies! And then we got more! Hence, "more cookies"!

Love,
Elder Cloward

Elder Taylor.

The White Witch

2010-01-04T15:21:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

I'm pretty sure the White Witch visited Bay City this week - we had a couple of days with highs under 10 degrees. (Naturally, the days on which we had the most lessons cancel and the most door-to-door proselyting planned.) It's warmed up to a toasty 32 degrees today, though, so I'm hoping that cold spell is over. The Bay area gets less snow than the rest of Michigan, but we do get lots of wind and bitter, wet cold. Enough complaining.

Tuesday morning I went with Elder Morales and Elder Alder to Mt. Pleasant, where they boarded the transfer van for their new assignments in Lansing and Grand Rapids. Elder Patrick Taylor, my new companion, is from Kaysville, Utah; he graduated from Davis High in 2007. He has been out on a mission for a year this Wednesday. We started out the week with our district leader council, which went pretty well.

I'm really excited for our plans for the rest of the transfer. Elder Taylor is one of the most driven, dedicated missionaries I have ever met and I'm excited for him to whip me into shape! He is extremely focused on being his best self and I'm hoping that will rub off on me a little bit. We did a lot of planning this week, both for the zone and for our area and it should result in a lot more lessons taught and more baptisms too.

I can't think of any other stand-out news from the week. Jacob is still preparing for his baptism next Sunday and doing well. We did start teaching a really cool Lutheran woman who knows a lot of church members from work - both among her coworkers and her clients, who all live in Utah, Idaho, and California. Within the first ten minutes she asked, "but how do you know if Joseph Smith's story is true?" Music to my ears! Hopefully she'll enjoy what we left her to read in the Book of Mormon.

Love you all! Happy new year! I can't believe it's 2010!

Elder Joseph Cloward

2009-12-28T11:17:00.001-07:00

Hello and happy new year!

I've got to be really brief because we don't have much time. We scheduled a lesson in the middle of our preparation day so that Elder Morales and Elder Alder could join us before they're transferred.

This week was fun, if a little bit slow. We had a number of appointments fall through because of Christmas plans. I've also decided that the week after Christmas is the sleepiest time of the year; probably 75% of the congregation came in late to Sacrament Meeting Sunday morning.

We had transfer calls on Christmas Eve. Elder Morales and Elder Alder will both be transferred; Elder Morales is going to Greenville, North of Grand Rapids, and Elder Alder will be with the Lansing zone leaders in Portland. Elder Morales was pretty upset about it; we had definitely expected that I would be the one transferred. He's excited about it now; there are a lot more Spanish-speakers in the Grand Rapids zone that he may be able to help with.

I'll pick up my new companion, Elder Taylor tomorrow. We're starting off immediately with a district leader council, which we planned over the phone Saturday night. I think it will go well; we are conducting training on using the Book of Mormon as a powerful resource in conversion since the transfer theme is the Book of Mormon. We'll be specifically focusing on using the Book of Mormon to help the other missionaries we serve strengthen and deepen their own conversions.

Love you all lots,
Elder Joseph Cloward

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2009-12-21T10:59:00.001-07:00

Hi!

I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas from Bay City, Michigan! The Christmas season is the best time for missionary work! Let's remember the Spirit of Christ this Christmas by sharing our testimonies of Him and His gospel with those we love!

Love,
Elder Joseph Cloward

P.S. Attached is a picture with my companions - Elder Alder and Elder Morales.

2009-12-21T09:45:00.004-07:00

Hi Family! Merry Christmas!

We've had a great week. For the first time on my mission we reached (actually exceeded) Elder Perry's goal that each companionship teach 20 lessons a week. We'd been really close before but we finally taught 22 lessons this week. Here's to many more weeks of the same.

The baptisms went really well. There were lots of people there - family, friends, and church members - and I think it was a really good experience for the three who were baptized - Roxanne and Christian and Kendra (the last two are brother and sister). Christian and Kendra's brother Jacob has set a baptismal date for January 10th.

I got to have my first trade-off at MSU, which was fun (the last two times, I've been here in Bay City with one of the Assistants to the President). People on college campuses will talk to you! I also enjoyed being able to spend the day with Elder Barney, who started his mission the same time I did.

We had a really neat experience yesterday. We decided to get a little creative and spent 20 minutes yesterday singing Christmas carols (specifically, Christmas hymns celebrating the birth and mission of the Savior Jesus Christ) outside the entrance to Walmart, which was extremely busy, as you might imagine. It was awesome! We didn't really talk to many people, so we have to figure out how to improve upon that, but it was incredible to see how moved many people were just to hear, for a brief moment, a simple reminder of the reason for the Christmas season. It's nice to have strangers smile at you for once. We liked it so much we're doing it again today and every day up through Christmas - it's probably the only time of year we'd get such an opportunity.

I also included a part of my Christmas gift - Elder Morales has a voice recorder and let me record a little Christmas message for you. And some pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Elder Cloward

PS -
Picture 1 -
elder Alder looks cold, doesn't he?

Picture 5 - The three of us and the Assistants with the Bad Axe - Caro district.

2009-12-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

We had a good week, if a crazy one. Winter's here in full force, starting with a bad storm this last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, just in time for everyone to drive to zone conference. It didn't help that we didn't have a car because it was in the body shop, getting some superficial repairs due to an incident with a rogue mailbox.

Zone conference was good though. It was our Christmas zone conference, which was fun. President Jones spoke about the progress our mission has made this past year and challenged us to step up our efforts in 2010.

We had a couple of trade-offs this week, which added to the craziness. Elder Morales went to both Houghton Lake and Bad Axe while Elder Alder and I stayed home with another missionary. Driving back from Houghton Lake Thursday afternoon, we hit a total white-out on the freeway, which was a lot of fun. Elder Morales said he was just glad I was driving.

Our Ward Christmas Party was a lot of fun. Chris, a young man who was recently reactivated, played the part of Santa Claus and Elder Morales and I got to be elves. The kids were way fun and we had our investigators and recent converts there, which added to our excitement.

We're excited for the week ahead - we've got a zone leader council and Christmas Party at the mission home tomorrow, a trade-off with the assistants, and - hopefully - four baptisms on Sunday (we'll have at least one).

Hope you all have a great week! Merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Cloward

2009-12-07T15:51:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

Another good week here in Bay City. It's officially Christmastime now that we've had our first snow - just a light dusting on Friday. I understand we're supposed to get a bunch more soon, though.

Elder Morales and I each took a turn being sick this week, although it must have been some 24-hour bug. Neither of us could talk the other into taking much of a break, so we taught 9 lessons between the two sick days. I hope we didn't infect anybody ...

We were pretty excited about the number of lessons we were able to teach this week. We've been working for the 20 lessons/wk Elder Perry has challenged us to reach and got so close this week with 19. This week it will be hard to get because we've got zone conference on Wednesday and no car for a couple of days (it's in the body shop) but we'll do what we can.

Sunday was awesome. Mike Arquette was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Roxanne, who we've been teaching for just over a month, came to church for the first time and loved it! She got so excited about her upcoming baptism that she asked us if we could move it up a week. (It helped that we had a really good fast and testimony meeting and that she stayed for the baptism and confirmation of a girl who just turned 8.)

Elder Morales, Elder Alder, and I all bore our testimonies during Sacrament meeting, which was exciting, because immediately after Elder Morales (who was last) finished his, the Bishop stood and bore his testimony. He told the congregation that if they had not yet had us in their home, they needed to have us come teach them because of the special spirit we have. I love this ward and I'm excited that they're excited to have us - I think it would be so easy for the work to take off here, even to the point of having 50 to 100 people reactivated or baptized within the next year - there's just so much potential!

I hope you all have a great week!

Remember: His strength is made perfect in weakness! (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

On the Third Day of Thanksgiving the Williams Gave to Me...

2009-11-30T17:34:00.006-07:00

Hello Family!

We had a good week in Bay City. Here's the run-down ...

I had trade-offs in Oscoda again. Visiting old areas on trade-offs will never get old. In addition to a couple of good lessons, we had two awesome meals with member families I hadn't been able to see too much of since February - the Karns and the Rouses. Elder Ryan Swapp was my exchange companion - he's the son of Craig Swapp (you've seen him on TV asking you to call him when you've had an accident) and was in the same ward as Ryan Hermansen, who went to West with me. Fun stuff.

Thanksgiving morning we traded back in Standish and then hurried on to the Samyn's. They fed us a delicious traditional Thanksgiving dinner and played lots of fun games with us. (I'm hoping they'll give us the video they took of musical chairs. Five Samyns and three missionaries makes for a pretty wild game.) Sister Samyn is an incredible example to me. She's been diagnosed with cancer in her lymphatic (is that the right word?) system and has four months of extremely intense chemo. But is she upset, discouraged, or afraid? Absolutely not! She reminds me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who knew that the Lord would deliver them, and if not, they would trust in His wisdom. She's awesome!

We had a second Thanksgiving dinner on Friday with the Schindlers, which was very fun and once again very filling. We also visited them on Saturday for an open house they held for their son, Joseph. He's going to BYU and was home for the holiday but will not be home again because he reports to the Missionary Training Center on December 16th - he'll be serving in the Czech Republic Prague Mission. The open house was a great opportunity for us to meet many of his friends and neighbors who had lots of questions about what a mission is like. One of his former teachers will be having us over for dinner and wants us to talk her two sons into serving as missionaries ...

Saturday night we had some more turkey, our Third Day of Thanksgiving, at the Williams' home. They're an awesome family; we had a good meal and a good lesson. The three kids will hopefully be baptized soon - I'm crossing my fingers that it will be able to happen before I get transferred from Bay City.

Sunday we had Mike Arquette's baptism, which went really well. It was really special for Elder Morales, because it was his first opportunity to be in the water to baptize someone. Mike will be confirmed next week. I would send home pictures from the baptism, but I told Elder Morales if he took pictures I'd just get them from his camera later. Only I haven't done that yet. Maybe next week.

We have a few more baptisms coming up as of yesterday. We've been teaching another part-member family for a while and 2 out of 3 kids (so far) want to be baptized on December 20th. They're a way cool family - the mom was baptized about 6 years ago in Las Vegas. Pray for them! (They're kind of hard to pray for by name because they've got multiple last names, so pray for Kim (the mom), Jacob, Christian, and Kendra.)

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

P.S. Pictures

#4 - Look at that Turkey!

#5 - We helped clean up after dinner!

#7 - My companion is a peace-loving terrorist!

Three's Company

2009-11-23T18:59:00.007-07:00

Hi Family!

How's it going? I hope you have fun Turkey-day plans. I'm excited for our three Thanksgiving dinners this week (all different days, mind you). We've also been having some fun lessons incorporating the principle of gratitude. If any of you haven't seen the Thanksgiving MormonMessages video on lds.org yet, it's really good. Go check it out. Right now!

And, since our week was so action-packed, I think I'll give you a day-by-day play-by-play:

Tuesday: We picked up Elder Alder in Mt. Pleasant. It's been interesting having a third companion. (To answer your question mom, he's not a zone leader with Elder Morales and me.) Teaching, finding, everything is a lot different with three of us. We're adjusting well, I think, and we're excited to start exploring the possibilities for splits to double our impact.

Right after transfers we held our first district leader council, something we decided to start doing after Elder Pieper talked with us. I think it went really well; I'm excited to be working with all our awesome district leaders this transfer. We're all really excited for our mission goal for a baptism in every companionship this Christmas.

Wednesday: I don't actually remember ...

Thursday: We did some "advanced-level planning" (those were Elder Alder's words) and taught a few really great lessons with some less-active members of the Church. I'm really excited to be in Bay City at this time.

Friday: Sara's baptism! Everything went really well and we had lots of members there. Another investigator, Mike, came to the baptism and loved it. He's way pumped for his baptism next Sunday.

Saturday: Lots and lots of finding. We were really working to reach our goal for three new people to teach but didn't see the success we hoped for. It's a great opportunity to learn to have patience in waiting for the Lord to fulfill His promises. :) At least that's what I decided to tell myself after a great lesson on faith on ...

Sunday: Sara was confirmed in a really great Sacrament meeting. We stopped by to visit her later in the day. She had earlier asked if she would feel different after being baptized and confirmed. I told her I wasn't really sure, since I don't remember how I felt after I was baptized when I was 8. Anyway, I asked her last night if she felt any different and she said she did. She said it wasn't anything really dramatic but she could just tell that something had changed inside her. I'm excited for her continued growth in the gospel.

I love you all and hope you have a very merry Thanksgiving! Thanks for being the best family in the world!

Elder Cloward

P.S. 2 Pictures

I made delicious salads for me, Elder Morales, and Elder Alder with breaded chicken breasts in a sweet ginger teriyaki sauce, fried mushrooms, and spicy nutmeg carrots.

#2 - Me, Sara, and Elder Morales at the baptism.

Stake Conference and a Mattress on the Floor

2009-11-16T09:54:00.004-07:00

Hi family!

How are things?

We got our transfer call this Friday with some somewhat surprising news. I'm pleased to report that I will be Elder Morales' first two-transfer companion. We get to stay together in Bay City, meaning I will be here for our baptism on Friday. Yes! We will also be getting a third companion, Elder Alder. He's got just two transfers left in his mission and has actually served in Bay City before. We're excited to have him, although a little unsure of where we're going to put him. The extra mattress we've got is now taking up all the floor space in the bedroom and we're looking for a third desk.

I feel like I spent my week in a suit. (Normally we only wear our suits to meetings, which we had Wednesdsay, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.) Wednesday was district meeting in Bad Axe, followed by trade-offs (more on that in a moment), Thursday was our monthly meeting with the Stake Presidency, which went really well. We reported on how the units in the Stake are progressing with Elder Perry's new mission plan and we're hoping to see more initiative among ward and branch leaders. Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference. There were lots of excellent talks. A lot seemed to revolve around the principle of sanctification (at least in what the Spirit taught me), which I appreciated because I've been studying it a lot lately and will be leading a discussion on it in our district leader council tomorrow morning. Sara Webster, who is being baptized on Friday, was able to attend the Sunday meetings, including an early meeting for new members and soon-to-be new members. The Spirit was so powerful as the Stake President, Mission President, and others bore their testimonies in an intimate setting.

So, back to tradeoffs last Wednesday. I was in Bay City with Elder Hoffman; we had a good time. The funny part of this story comes while we were driving back to Bad Axe. We were almost there when a daring, little squirrel darted out into the road. I considered my options. My first inclination was to swerve to hit him, but deciding that would be impolite and un-Christlike, I moved just slightly so he would pass directly between the tires, seeing as there was not time to avoid passing over him completely.

Unfortunately, my plan did not succeed. Elder Hoffman and I heard a loud THUNK and looked back to see what was left of our poor rodent friend. We were very puzzled when we couldn't spot even a flattened patch of fur on the highway behind us. We pulled over to inspect the undercarriage of the car, seeing if he was somehow flattened against something. Much to our surprise, we found the poor squirrel half inside our grill and half out of it, his little leg caught in between the plastic grill and the bumper. To top it all off, he was still alive and wiggling around to loose himself.

Once we got back to the Bad Axe apartment (just a couple minutes away) we pried the squirrel's leg loose. We couldn't get him to come out of the bumper, though (the only way out was back through the grill), so we went down to the police station. They were unfortunately unhelpful, so we headed back to Bay City. Somewhere along the way our furry friend decided to jump ship. It was a fun adventure.

I hope all is well. We're looking forward to our baptism on Friday. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Cloward

Here's a couple from the last two district meetings I attended and from our fun friend the squirrel.

Get Thee Up

2009-11-09T09:30:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

We've had a very sorry end to our 90 by the 9th goal this week. I'm not sure why it worked out this way, but we had a record low of 4 new investigators in the zone this week. Here in Bay City, Elder Morales and I worked our hardest this past week and didn't teach a single new person. We haven't given up just yet, though. Today is the 9th, so we have urged all members of the zone to work hard today to get the 19 more investigators we need. We've scheduled a couple of appointments during our preparation day, hoping a little sacrifice will bring the blessings of the Lord.

I was really grateful for the study we had this morning. Elder Morales shared with me a few verses from Joshua 7, to which he had cross-referenced from Alma 53. In this story, Joshua and the children of Israel lose a battle against some Canaanites because they have taken "accursed" things belonging to the Canaanites into their midst. Joshua complains to the Lord because of their failure and the Lord gives a compelling response:

"Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? ...Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you" (Joshua 7:10,13).

We hope to acheive our goal today, but if not, we'll keep on with the work. Thanks for your prayers on our behalf. If you'd like another goal to pray for we have a mission-wide goal that each companionship baptize in December. This is going to be a very challenging goal to reach, certainly one that will require the sanctification of the missionaries throughout the MLM.

Otherwise, this was a very good week. We have a new ward mission leader - Manny Martinez - we are very excited about. We had another Zone Leader Council last Tuesday to talk about the things we learned from Elder Pieper. It was great; I'm excited for the progress our mission is making.

We have transfer calls this next Friday. I'm definitely hoping I get to be Elder Morales' first two-transfer companion; I don't want to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas anywhere but the Bay City Ward.

One cool experience I'd like to share. We'll be teaching a woman later this afternoon whom we met while door-knocking. We didn't knock on her door because she was standing outside raking her leaves. She actually let us help her! We raked leaves with her for about an hour, talking about our beliefs, her beliefs, and her questions about life. It was a very fun experience; I hope to have many more like it.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Love You!

2009-11-02T17:11:00.006-07:00

I finally got a picture with Paul Bunyan while on trade-offs in Oscoda.

Hi family!

We had a fantastic week, what with zone conference and everything. I learned so much this week and I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to apply everything I'm learning. It's a good feeling though.

Some highlights from Elder Pieper ...

We need to obtain an "eye of faith"! The Lord grants according to our desires (Alma 29:4). Are our desires His desires? We obtain His desire through sincere prayer and searching questions.

We have failed in our teaching if those we teach come to rely on us for the answers to their questions. Our purpose is to invite them to come unto Christ! They must learn to find their own answers through a study of the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and by developing a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father through pondering, questioning, and praying.

We are participating in one of the most highly anticipated times in history. Nephi, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others spoke constantly about the gathering of Israel. The Lord has given us the assignment and privilege of gathering the House of Israel and searching out His elect. Will we cheerfully submit to His will or shirk the responsibilities we accepted premortally?

It was a great conference.

Halloween was also fun. We went trick-or-treating with a part member family because Elder Morales had never been before. Apparently, El Salvador just isn't as cool as the U.S. Dia de los muertos doesn't even involve candy. :) Elder Morales had fun and I got fat.

The zone is still right on track to reach our goal for 90 by the 9th. We just need to find 23 more new investigators this week. We have a goal for five here in our area. Keep us in your prayers this week; I know the Lord will help us to exceed this goal as we place our trust and faith in Him.

I love you all and hope you're enjoying the fall! It hasn't yet snowed in Bay City, for which I'm grateful. Lots of rain this last month though.

Love you,
Elder Cloward

P.S. Some pictures:

#3 - Elder Morales uses his stealthy ninja skills to stalk delicious ice-cream-cone cupcakes.

#5 - I'm in mortal danger at the Ward Halloween Party Bean Bag Toss.

#6 - Elder Morales and I did in fact dress up for Halloween. I went as Elder Morales and he went as me.

Love you!

I Got Hugged by a Memeber of the Seventy

2009-10-27T09:46:00.000-06:00

Dear Family,

Hi! I apologize for not writing yesterday and forgetting to tell you last week that I would be writing a day late. This week we're having a mission tour by Elder Pieper of the Seventy. We'll have our half-mission zone conference tomorrow but we had a zone leader council with Elder Pieper all day yesterday. It was fantastic! After our instruction, he asked President Jones if he could interview a few of us, so I got to talk with Elder Pieper one-on-one for a few minutes. It was interesting. He asked me a few questions about my family, my plans for the future, where I had been able to serve as a missionary, and what the most important changes I'd seen in my life since becoming a missionary. And at the end I got a hug from him; hence, the subject of the email.

This week went fairly well. Elder Morales was sick for most of the week. I have never had a harder time trying to get a companion to rest when he needed it than I have had this week. I had to trick him into taking a nap, calling Sister Jones, and taking his medicine. We have, though, another investigator, Sarah Webster, who has a baptismal date - November 20th, plus 2 more we've challenged to pray about that date (they didn't seem super sure of themselves when we first invited them). New investigator-wise, the whole mission slipped quite a bit this week. Although we only had 11 new investigators in the zone (less than half of what we had last week), we're still on track to reach our goal for 90 by the 9th if we step up our game just a little bit these last two weeks. Elder Pieper taught us a lot about the "eye of faith" yesterday that we learn about in Ether 12. We're going to reach our goal!

I love you all and I'm glad you're doing well. I hope none of you catch the flu. It's been pretty crazy here with lots of schools closed for the flu. The Kalamazoo Stake actually canceled all of their meetings for the week. But everyone knows they're wussies. They cancel church in winter way more than the UPers ever do.

Have a great week! I'm sure I'll tell you all about our amazing zone conference when I email next week.

Love,
Elder Cloward

Good Stuff

2009-10-19T13:22:00.001-06:00

Hello family!

We had a fantastic week here in Bay City and in the Midland zone! Seeing the work that took place among the incredible elders and sisters of our zone this week reminds me of a phrase that came to mind as I listened to President Monson's first welcoming talk in this last General Conference. As he spoke of the tremendous growth the church is enjoying worldwide, I jotted down "Hasten the work!" in my study binder. I'm not really sure where that phrase comes from but it feels appropriate this week.

Our zone doubled the number of new investigators we found this week, getting more than this zone has had in one week in a long, long time. The only sad part is that this great feat was accomplished by about 2/3 of the missionaries in the zone, while the others did not contribute. If we can get everyone working and exercising their faith, I do not think there will be a limit to the success the Lord will grant us in the wards and branches of the Midland Stake.

As for Elder Morales and I, we had a great week. Some highlights:

- We had splits with the Priests on Wednesday. I went out with Donald and checked on a former investigator named Bryan. He invited us in and we talked with him for about 20 minutes about the things he remembers from what the missionaries taught and how he felt about it. He told us it was so crazy that we had come by because he'd been thinking about us lately. He actually stopped being taught because he moved to Saginaw for a job, which he had since lost. He only recently returned to Bay City and has had a lot of time on his hands to spend time thinking and praying at home. He's had a pretty crazy and sometimes criminal past but he knows he's not happy and wants to change for himself and for his kids. He said he has been praying every day for God to show him what he wants him to do in his life. Anyway, he had just found an old pass-along card in a drawer that had the missionaries' number on it and had showed it to his girlfriend, who told him he'd better get back to church. And then we show up, seemingly randomly. "By small and simple things, great things are brought to pass".

We got to spend a little time on the campus of Central Michigan University Thursday with a six-foot-tall Book of Mormon. We drove the prop over to the sisters who work campus and they let us stay for a bit. It was a lot of fun to talk to students my age, who were generally as open and receptive as anyone I've ever talked to. I did almost freeze to death though because it was in the 30s and I wasn't wearing a coat.

Saturday, we taught three more new investigators. One of these was in an incredible lesson with the Rodriguez'. Sis. Rodriguez was once married to a less-active church member, so she had a lot of questions for us starting out. The Spirit that was there as we talked about Joseph Smith's First Vision and the Book of Mormon was incredible. They were so prepared to receive our message!

To top it all off we had six investigators at church on Sunday. And we're hoping for more next week. Elder Morales' previous record is 10 (WAY more than I've ever had there) so I'm hoping we can beat that. So many people in Bay City are openly seeking greater truth and light in their lives and they're welcoming us into their lives and their homes. The gospel is true!

I love you all,
Elder Cloward

So You Think You Can Find...

2009-10-12T11:43:00.003-06:00

Hello family!

The subject of this letter will be finding because the subject of my life at this moment is finding. Finding, finding, finding. (We'll try not to forget about teaching and baptizing, the other two members of the tripartite pact, but for now we're finding). Did I mention finding?

I'm sure I've mentioned before, but in effectivity analyses of our mission, Salt lake has continually told us that our greatest weakness is in finding new investigators (people to teach). According to our statistics we're very effective teachers, we just need more people to teach. So, President Jones has been continually asking us to focus our efforts on consistently finding new investigators, specifically the standard of three new investigators per companionship per week.

Elder Morales and I have hit the ground running, really wanting to help the missionaries in our zone begin working toward that goal. After some prayer and a lot of thought and discussion, we came up with a goal for our zone of "90 by the 9th". 90 new investigators, total, for the zone within the first 5 weeks of the transfer, or by the 9th of November. It's only halfway to the standard, requiring just 1.5 new investigators per companionship per week, but it requires more per week than the zone has previously done. We feel really good about it, President Jones felt really good about it, and we're excited to help the missionaries acheive it. Prayers for us would be great.

President Jones has talked lately about the importance of miracles in this work. In Moroni 7:37, Mormon teaches us "it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." We've been striving to have the faith required for miracles to happen. Well, Elder Morales and I have been working hard each day to find a new investigator, doing everything we know how to do. Saturday night we were exhausted and disappointed to be ending the week without finding a single new person to teach. And the Lord blessed us with a miracle! A less-active family came to church and brought a friend who really wanted to learn more about the church! And we taught her! And she was really receptive! Later, another less-active member invited a friend to join our lesson! And we taught her! And she was really receptive! We trust that by our faith the Lord will continue to provide these and greater miracles.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is miraculous and has power to change our hearts and our lives! Jesus Christ lives! He has restored His church and kingdom to the earth in preparation for His Second Coming!

I love you all!
Elder Cloward

P.S. A couple of pictures of me and Elder Morales.

Conference and Transfers

2009-10-05T15:33:00.001-06:00

Hello all!

Wasn't General Conference great? I love the reassurance I receive through the Holy Ghost every six months that God has called prophets and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that if we follow their counsel we will be blessed with a closer relationship to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I can't believe I only have one more General Conference left on my mission.

I was excited to have Angela (the one who lived in Sierra Vista) at conference Sunday morning. (Well, for us it was Sunday afternoon, but it was the Sunday morning session). She really enjoyed it; she obviously felt the Spirit very strongly and told some church members they'd be seeing a lot more of her because it feels like she has "come home". I haven't been able to hear statements like that too many times on my mission and they are priceless.

We got our transfer call this last Friday. I'll be staying here in Bay City with Elder Morales. I don't know him very much at all. He's from El Salvador by way of California and has been on a mission six weeks longer than I have. This will be his first transfer as a zone leader, so I get to train him in the things I still don't know how to do. I'll be picking him up in mt. Pleasant on Tuesday morning. Elder Smith is going down to Allegan, near Kalamazoo. I'll really miss him; he's been great to serve with.

I got to spend a day back in Oscoda on exchanges this last Wednesday. It was a lot of fun, but not everything I'd hoped. We had to cancel a few plans (including plans to see Staci Saurer, who was baptized when I was there) because Elder Meldrum, with whom I spent the day, managed to step on a few rusty nails while we were helping Bro. Dykes tear an old polebarn on his property (which was very fun). So, we spent a few hours at the medical clinic while Elder Meldrum had his feet workedon and got tetanus shots. It was kind of funny remembering a very similar experience I had last year. I wasn't smart enough to go to the doctor, though. Good thing I'd had my tetanus booster, I guess.

I can't really think of anything else to report. I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Love you,
Elder Cloward

Servers Down

2009-09-28T16:50:00.004-06:00

Hi family,

I'm just sending a quick note to tell you I'm alive and well. I think the church's server must have gone down or something because as soon as I got done reading your emails this morning, the computers in the library couldn't connect to any church websites anymore (although they connected to others just fine). I guess I'll tell you all about my week next week.

Love you!
Elder Cloward

Won't You Tell Me How to Get, How to Get to...

2009-09-21T15:37:00.001-06:00

Hello Family,

This weekly email is brought to you by the letter 'T'. T is a great letter because you use it to say things like "truck", "tentacle", and "take that tortoise to the top of Timpanogos". For me this week, T means ...

Trade-offs. I guess I'd better be getting used to a lot of these. I spent Wednesday over in Caro (my first time venturing into the thumb of the mitt). I spent the day with Elder Thomson of Layton, Utah, who is getting ready to go home in a couple of weeks. The highlight of that trade-off was definitely teaching a new investigator named Victor; he's a well-studied Christian, so it was a lot of fun to teach from the scriptures and have him showing us cross-references. The next day I brought Elder Hoffman back to Bay City (he's currently being trained in Bad Axe, also in the thumb) and showed him a grand old time. I really like being around the brand-new missionaries; they're almost always excited and positive, which are pretty much basically the best attributes ever. :)

Thermometer. That is, the thermometer to the water heater on the baptismal font. We filled it Saturday morning for Adam Samyn's baptism. Everything went really well and he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I love their family.

Towels. It's raining today. So a towel is an allusion to the wetness ...

Toast. What my use of alliteration seems to be making this email. I can't think of other things that start with T.

Testimony. I've got one. I know Jesus is the Christ and this is His work.

Ta-ta. What I'm saying to you all until next week. I love you all and hope things continue to go well.

Elder Cloward

Zone Conference et ectera

2009-09-14T13:02:00.002-06:00

Hi family!

This week was pretty good. Elder Smith spent the first few days of it pretty sick, which was boring (such a selfish perspective, I know), but he's feeling dapper now and the work goes on.

The highlight of our week was probably Friday's zone conference - certainly the most stressful I've had so far, largely because I was responsible for a little more of it. Our zone meeting (before the conference, which actually includes both the Traverse City and Midland zones) went pretty well. We focused on having the faith to reach the "standard of excellence" President Jones has set for the mission and discussed how each of Elder Pearson's "Destructive D's" given in last April's General Conference influence us as missionaries.

This was also a musical week for me. I threw together a musical number for zone conference - I accompanied three elders who sang "If You Could Hie to Kolob" quite nicely. Also, it just so happens that Sister Julie Schindler of the Bay City Ward is from Salt Lake City and knows Miss Tate's sister very well. Anyway, they did some chatting and Sister Schindler's husband, the ward choir director, decided it would be a good idea for me to sing a solo for Sacrament meeting. So I sang a verse of "Home Can Be a Heav'n on Earth" when the choir performed it yesterday. It went pretty well, but I'm hoping not so well that they ask for any repeats.

We're looking forward to a baptism this Saturday, which should go really well. Hopefully we'll be able to get a few of the people we're teaching there. We've still been focusing on finding new people to teach and teaching 20 lessons a week. We talked with Bro. Savage, the high councilor assigned to the Bay City Ward, about his involvement in reaching those goals and I'm excited for the work he'll help us and the ward mission leader to do. We've been teaching lessons to a lot more active and less-active member families in order to follow Elder Perry's counsel. I feel, as President Jones has expressed, that Elder Perry's program will revolutionize the work done in the Michigan Lansing Mission.
All in all, things are going well.

I can't believe Jeff is home. I can't believe I've been out this long. I can't belive how little time I have left and how much I'd like to accomplish in that time. I thank God it's not on my shoulders alone. Philippians 4:13 all the way :). (I purposefully didn't type it out so you'll have to look it up if you don't know it. It'll be good for you.)

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Bay City Adventures

2009-09-09T20:59:00.008-06:00

From an e-mail dated Sept. 8, 2009

The Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth

Hi family,

I'm writing today because the libraries were closed yesterday for the holiday. Hopefully I'll be able to write you a proper email this week. Our email time was very brief last week because we spent most of our preparation day down in Frankenmuth, a German-by-heritage tourist trap south of Saginaw. It was pretty fun; I'll attach a picture or two.

Let's see; I don't think I've really told you much at all about the new area. Bay City is a small city (I think there's something like 30,000 people here) on the Saginaw River, about 5-10 miles removed from Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. The congregation here is a small ward, just a little bigger than the Hart Branch. I've met some fantastic church members here who are all very willing to help out the missionaries. We're teaching quite a few people. One boy, Adam, who is the eleven-year-old son of a less-active member family, will be baptized on the 19th. Another family, the Williams, made up of a now-active mom, an excommunicated-but-working-toward-reinstatement dad, and three unbaptized children, is working toward baptism. They're really fun and progressing really well.

The zone leader-business is all right. We have to go pick up some keys tomorrow from some elders who've been feeling rebellious and going over their allotted miles. That aspect of leadership is not so fun. Last Tuesday, though, we had Zone Leader Council with President and Sister Jones and the Assistants and it was fun to be able to sit in on that meeting. ZLC in two months will be attended by Elder Pieper of the Seventy, who will be doing a mission tour. That will definitely be fun to get to sit in on. What has been most different about serving here in Bay City is having a companion who has been out longer, which I haven't had since November of last year. In a lot of ways it's really nice because Elder Smith is a great teacher and has been helping me a lot to improve my skills as a missionary. He's been great helping me adjust to the challenges that have come with my new assignment. I hope everything is well with all of you. Love you lots!

Love you!

Elder Cloward

Attached Pictures:#7 - My last district.
Front row: Me and Elder Schuler, who didn't get that we were doing a serious picture. Back row: Elder Law, Elder Weaver, Elder Andersen, Elder Egan.
#8 - Way cool bumper sticker.

#12 - Me and Elder Weaver with Denny, one of our investigators.

#15 - My posterity shirt (now in Elder Weaver's possession) passed down through trainers since 2005

#18 - Elder Smith is great! He makes me tortillas!

A Quick Note

2009-08-31T17:16:00.001-06:00

Hey all,

Sorry - I've only got time for a quick note again. Bay City is pretty good so far. There are a lot of people here who are progressing toward baptism. Being a zone leader is a little different - lots more planning, paperwork, and phone calls. I'll have to update you more on it next week.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Transferred!

2009-08-24T12:41:00.000-06:00

Hi all!

Well, transfer calls were sad even if unsurprising. I'll have to make this a quick email because I've still got to pack (!!) and we're driving to Grand Rapids in 4 hours. We'll see how that goes. I'm managing to collect a lot more stuff in each area. Somehow, I don't think it's all going to fit in my suitcases. (I can't decide for sure if I'm going to take my rolling pin or not. How else will I make delicious pies and pastries?)

Anyway, I'm heading off to Bay City over on Saginaw Bay. I'm glad to be keeping with my pattern of bouncing back and forth between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. I've spent a year without living farther than 10 miles from one of the great lakes. Kind of nifty.

And, since I know President Jones is going to send you a letter anyway, I might as well not forget to mention that I'll be a zone leader for the Midland zone. I'm not sure I really want to be a zone leader (I guess I'll do it whether I like it or not) but I am excited to go on trade-offs in Oscoda, where Elder McKinnon is currently serving as a district leader. It'll be great to see everybody there again - or at least a few of them :).

This week was pretty good. Our Spanish friends didn't come to church but we visited them later in the afternoon and learned they had all been picking peaches while church was happening. Speaking of Spanish, the area will finally be getting a Spanish elder - Elder Patino, who came out the same transfer I did. It'll be awesome for the area.

The best news of the week came yesterday when another of our investigators made it to church. He's progressing really well and praying about a baptismal date. So now we have two investigators who will -hopefully- be regulars in Sacrament meeting. What a great branch to begin attending. I'll miss the Hart Branch dearly. They gave me some things to remember them by, at least for a day or two - the Longcores gave me freshly picked pears to take and Sis. Myers made me pumpkin whoopie pies for the road! Yum!

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Beware the Jabberwock, My Son!

2009-08-17T10:47:00.001-06:00

Hi there family!

Elder Weaver and I have had a pretty good week. Let's see ... what to report on.

First things first. We weren't able to email last week because we were tied up (for five hours) at a baptism. A family from Ithaca was having a family reunion in the area and wanted to baptize their 8-year-old daughter while all the family was together. Since our building houses the nearest baptismal font, we got to help out. And, since they were doing it in the middle of the day, we were asked by the Branch Presidency, all of whom would be working, to be the branch's representatives, fill the font, clean up and lock up, etc. We arrived at 2 to fill the font and discovered that the water has to be turned off every 10-15 minutes so the water heater can fill back up. So we were filling until just before 4, when the family was supposed to arrive. They didn't make it there until 5, the baptismal service took until 6, and they weren't done eating and cleaning up until 7.

We had interviews with President Jones this week. They're never as exciting as I hope but that's probably a good thing since he usually just tells me to keep up the good work or something like that. All signs are pointing to my leaving the Hart area. I'm going to be pretty torn up when I go but I've had a good 6 months here; I definitely feel like I'll be leaving the area better than I found it and that's a certain measure of success. I'm really hoping to help a few of our investigators commit to baptismal dates this last week here.

We had kind of a fun experience with a house full of Spanish guys yesterday. It started out as we went to visit Carmelo, a media referral whom we had taught once. It turned out he was done picking peaches and had moved to some other farm-hand housing where he was now picking zucchini. We managed to find his new place (a miracle since I was given directions in Spanish) and we taught him and six of his roommates the message of the restoration. They were all excited about it and about reading El Libro de Mormon; they all agreed to share three copies of the book - we had two on us and had already given one to Carmelo. They said they're coming to church this Sunday, so we're crossing our fingers that someone can be there to translate.

Speaking of Spanish, President Jones has told us he'll be putting a Spanish-speaking elder here if he transfers one of us. I'm a little jealous that it will probably be Elder Weaver who'll get a Spanish-speaking companion (I'm sure it'd be a lot easier for me to learn Spanish if I were living with a native speaker). Still, this area really needs a Spanish speaker; our branch president said he's considering requesting a Spanish-speaking senior couple for our branch. I have little doubt that there would be a Spanish branch or ward in this area within a short number of years.

(Writing emails home is always an exercise in prioritizing. What things are most important for me to include?)

I'll share one last insight before I close. Sis. Myers, who was baptized here last August, attended the temple for the first time last Friday. Elder Fortuna and Elder Contreras, who were here when she was baptized, were able to go with her. (They'll be going home next Wednesday, so it's a great way for them to finish up their missions). Anyway, Sis. Myers was given the opportunity to bear her testimony yesterday in Church. She told us about how marvelous it was to visit the temple, the House of the Lord, to feel of the Spirit there, and to feel the added armor of protection her covenants give her. Then she said something I hope to remember for the rest of my life. In speaking of the youth of the church who have grown up knowing the precious truths of the restored gospel, she said: "I often think: O, what I could have done with my life had I had then what they have now." I had to write it down verbatim so I would remember it.

I have the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know who my Father is and I know who I am. I know what my purpose and mission is in this life. I know how to call down the powers of heaven to fulfill that purpose and bring others to Christ. I know how to obtain blessings, protection, guidance, revelation, inspiration, and counsel. I know how to exercise faith and repent of my sins, and I have the assurance, through the covenants I made at baptism and in the Holy Temple, that I will always have His Spirit with me, that my sins are forgiven me, and that I will inherit eternal life with my eternal family in the Kingdom of God. O, what I can do with my life because of what I know! I'm so grateful I still have a year left of my mission - there is so much more I need to do and accomplish. Lisa Sandstrom forwards me Jeff's emails every week and the way that crazy kid is working and seeing success is blowing me away. (I think that's on my mind because I just read his last email.) Anyway, he inspires me, and if I can kick my work up to the Ammon-like level that he has, and work that way for the year I have left, I know I can accomplish a good work here for my Father in Heaven. The gospel is true!

I love you all and pray for you daily!
Elder Cloward

If I had a Beard, I'd Twirl it

2009-08-03T10:43:00.001-06:00

Hello Family!

This week went well. I learned a lot and hope to be better off for having lived this week :). (I guess that's my hope each week of life; perhaps especially this week?)

Continuing to focus on finding new people to teach as President Jones has encouraged us, we taught two new people last Saturday - two of the teenage children of Moses, whom we had already started teaching. I had actually already met his daughter because she ran track at the high school. We thought that made for a good week (just one shy of the "standard of excellence", set at three new investigators per companionship per week). Little did we know what the Lord had in store for us Sunday where we began teaching three more people. Two speak only Spanish (Carmelo y Pedro) and are hard to teach not only because I'm the only one who speaks any Spanish but also because they work a lot. As in, more than I thought people were allowed to work in this country. I guess agriculture has special exceptions. In any case, it makes finding time to meet with them difficult.

But, speaking of lessons learned and beards twirled (isn't beard-twirling a natural result of lesson-learning?), I actually had a pretty rough week previous to Friday zone conference and our successful weekend. We had a few lessons that fell through or didn't go as well as we hoped and I was allowing myself to feel like an inadequate missionary, whose failings and lack of perfect diligence, knowledge, and planning skills were basically going to sink the ship. Anyway, some good chastisement at zone conference and afterward got me out of that slump. The summary for me came in our Sunday School lesson yesterday on the persecutions and trials of Missouri and Zion's Camp. D&C 101:16 - "Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion [concerning your missionary work, Elder Cloward]; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God." No unhallowed hand can stop this work from progessing, not even mine. Especially not when I'm trying to do the opposite and relying on the help of the Lord.

Love you all, have a great week!
Elder Cloward

Trade-offs and a Grass Skirt

2009-07-27T15:52:00.003-06:00

Me and Elder Weaver in our hawaiian gear

Hello Family!

We had a great week. Here are some highlights:

1. 3 days of trade-offs. I spent Tuesday in Grand Rapids with Elder Lopez. We had a good day there and made a couple new contacts for them. President Jones, as I think I might have mentioned, has challenged us to have three new investigators per companionship per week and has said that the first zone to reach a zone total of three per companionship for two weeks in a row will get some kind of special activity. The word on the street says that special activity will be a temple trip, assuming President Jones can get permission from Salt Lake. Anyway, Elders Lopez and Guedez, our zone leaders are really pushing it for our zone, so spending the day with Elder Lopez got me excited about it.

My second trade-off was with Elder Andersen, one of the Elders in North Muskegon, with whom I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday (normally we would have traded back Thursday morning but they got a ride from a member for that since it's the end of the month and we all have no miles to spare). If you'll recall, I was with Elder Andersen in the MTC and haven't spoken with him much since. We had a good trade-off, had some good teaching appointments, and got SOAKED while biking in a sudden thunderstorm.

2. We had Cindi in church again this week. She's progressing really well - we're planning to set a baptismal date with her tomorrow night. Sunday we had some AWESOME meetings (it was Branch Conference) and a delicious potluck afterwards, where Cindi enjoyed a lot of fellowship from branch and stake members. Also in church, Elder Weaver and I sang acapella with an octet that performed "Be Still, My Soul". It went really well.

3. We found five new investigators! And they're all pretty awesome! The most awesome came out of a challenge we issued to the Brown family to have someone for us to teach in their home within three weeks. They started two weeks ago with a fast and have been working on it ever since. When they realized Bro. Brown would be gone at Scout Camp the whole third week, they decided they had to get 'er done! They invited one family to meet with us, whom they'd been thinking a lot about, but they weren't available for Friday or Saturday. So, Sis. Brown asked her five-year-old daughter whom they should invite. She listened to her daughter and invited the wife of a church member, who, much to everyone's surprise, graciously accepted the offer. And we taught her and it was great and we're teaching her again on Thursday.

4. I'm a little bit dumb. I locked our keys in the car. The wrecker came to jimmy them open this morning and it cost me $50. Not that cool.

5. We helped out at the nursing home's annual picnic, which had a Hawaiian theme this year. So ... they dressed us in Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts and had us help the residents with pineapple bowling. Some real live Hawaiian dancers also taught us how to hula. Well, taught me how to hula. Elder Weaver was a wuss and just sat there eating while I hula'd in front of everyone :).

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

P.S. I've attached several pictures. The first is

Elder Andersen with an old lady we met while knocking doors. One is from the pioneer picnic last week (watermelon-eating).

and I threw in a gorgeous view from the bike trail for good measure.

One Year Older and Wider Too?

2009-07-20T09:50:00.002-06:00

Hi family!

Thanks for your emails and for the package - I had a great birthday! The cookies were delicious (don't worry, they're not ALL eaten yet), the ties are much appreciated, and the CD is great.

My birthday, since we're on the subject, was great. The branch held a pioneer picnic, which was a lot of fun - we went on a trek through the woods, had a watermelon eating contest (I was second place), had a balloon-toss (Elder Weaver and I were second place), and ate lots of food (I was second place; I'm pretty sure Elder Weaver ate more). I ate way too many slices of Sis. Myers' delicious peanut butter Texas sheet cake, which I adopted as my birthday cake :). It was also our branch president's birthday, so the branch sang to both of us.

Also on my birthday, at the risk of being irreverent, I asked Heavenly Father for a present - I only asked for one new investigator but he gave me two! (That upped our week total to four). We taught Jerry and Leann Saturday (after talking to them while tracting over a month ago). Interestingly, Leann has an aunt who loves the missionaries (I don't know if she's a member or not) and has been telling Leann to talk to missionaries and get a book from us for years. We're excited to teach them more. (Sadly, I'll be in Grand Rapids on trade-offs tomorrow while Elder Weaver and Elder Guedez teach them).

Another of our new investigators, Cindi, came to church with us on Sunday! She requested a copy of the Book of Mormon when she saw an ad for it on TV; she was feeling really depressed (she's been recently laid off) and thought it might help her out. She loved everything we taught and was excited to go to church again after years of not attending any church. We hope things continue to go well there.

I have to wrap it up here because I'm out of computer time. I know Jesus Christ leads this work. I'm so grateful for his patience with me and the grace by which He strengthens me each day. The Lord knows what kind of instrument he wants and needs and he'll make us into that! I love you all!

Elder Cloward

Another 5 Weeks in Zion!

2009-07-13T17:31:00.002-06:00

Dear Family,

Hi! Best transfer news ever! I get to spend (at least) the next 5 weeks (it's a shortened transfer for missionaries who have to get home for school) in Hart! The best area in the mission (possibly the world)! I'll be keeping Elder Weaver for that time.

This last week went pretty well. We made some great progress with Robert, a 70-year old man we have been teaching. He prayed aloud (outside of mass) for the first time in his life last Thursday. We were encouraged that our Tuesday lesson on prayer had sunk in; he kept his commitment to pray about the Book of Mormon and he told us he's pretty sure it's true. Now we just have to help him understand what that answer means for him.

We also had some fun adventures with the toilet this weekend ... we're not sure why, but both Elder Weaver and I enjoyed a sleepless night filled with worship of the porcelain god. Thankfully (kind of), we didn't share a night - Elder Weaver hogged the toilet all Friday night and I had dibs for Saturday night. I don't think I have ever hated being sick more than I hate being sick on a mission. Canceling appointments, which are so hard to get in the first place, always ticks me off. But ... I suppose that's just the way it goes.

Not much else to report this week. I hope everything goes well with all of you.

Love you,
Elder Cloward

Sis. Meyers is Great! She Feeds Us Chocolate Cake (Almost)

2009-07-06T10:10:00.001-06:00

Hi Family!

This was a pretty good week for us. I had an opportunity this week to have my first two trade-offs with my district with Elder Egan on Tuesday and then with Elder Hansen on Wednesday. I can't say I did a great job 'leading' the trade-off but I always enjoy working with other missionaries. Hopefully I'll get better at using trade-offs for improving our work as missionaries.

We did attend Gary's funeral this week. It was actually held at our church, which was wonderful, thanks to the efforts and offers of a wonderful branch member, Bro. Walborn, who has been a good friend (and across-the-street neighbor) of Gary's family for most of Gary's life. The church was as full as I have ever seen it (every single chair the branch owns was occupied and there were people standing in the back and in the hall). I had the privilege of playing the piano and organ during the service and Bro. Walborn did a great job conducting and later blessing the grave. Bro. Brown gave a wonderful lesson on the Plan of Salvation (to roughly 300 people, only 5 or 6 of whom are members of our church). It was a very nice funeral, very personal and a wonderful memorial for Gary. After the internment, the Methodist church in Shelby served a nice luncheon. We plan to visit with Gary's girlfriend and parents this week to see if there is anything more we can do for them and to invite them to learn more about the church into which Gary was planning to be baptized.

The best news I have to report is that Juan and Amalinalli, the Spanish couple we began teaching last week, attended church this week and very much enjoyed it. In addition to the two active members who speak Spanish, a Spanish-speaking couple was visiting from out of town, so they were all able to help Juan and Amalinalli feel very comfortable. Speaking of Spanish investigators, I also received an update on the Peruvian man I met in Grand Rapids last week. He has been taught several times and wants to join the church, but he'll have to do it in California, because he just moved there to stay with friends until his medical treatment is finished. He apparently told the missionaries that, since he is a periodista (he produces radio and television news broadcasts), he wants to help the church spread its message through his broadcast resources in Peru. I hope the tender mercies of the Lord allow me to see him again some day. But if not, I'm glad I got to spend a few hours with him on a Tuesday morning in downtown Grand Rapids.

And, in explanation of the subject line, Sis. Myers, affectionately called "Mama Myers" by the missionaries who love her, gave us some chocolate scones to bake for our breakfast this morning. They were delicious, and somewhat reminiscent of the Cosby children's infamous breakfast.

I love you all and am grateful for your prayers and support. Jesus Christ is the Savior; He will strenghthen and support us in every hardship and through every trial until we have become everything He knows we can! He has restored His church and the fulness of His gospel to the earth in this time! This is His work!

Love,
Elder Cloward

This Week In History

2009-06-29T19:58:00.004-06:00

Me and a lame (or, rather, flightless) butterfly

Hello Family!

I'll start out with the sad news. Gary passed away yesterday, so we'll be attending his funeral some time in the next week. He was a very good man and I'm glad I was able to know him, even if it was only for a couple months. I look forward to visiting with him more on the other side.

Otherwise, things are going pretty well. Elder Weaver is great! It's a lot of fun working with a missionary who hasn't yet discovered that some missionaries are lazy and disobedient and who definitely doesn't want to be one of those missionaries anyway. We've been able to do a lot of good work.We found six new investigators this week; that's a record for my mission so far, so we were pretty excited about it. Unfortunately, only 3 1/2 of them speak English. We talked with a great Spanish couple on the street last week and have taught them twice last week. After reading the Book of Mormon after our first lesson, they had lots of questions and were very excited about learning more. I just wish we spoke the same language. I don't think I've taught them anything totally off-base yet, but it's kind of hard to tell when I'm guessing at all the words ... (Thanks for sending "Predicad mi Evangelio" mom, it helped a bunch.) They want to be baptized, though, so definitely more evidence that the Holy Ghost does the teaching if we do it right.

Elder Weaver y yo

I also had an awesome-miraculous experience while on a trade-off in Grand Rapids last Tuesday. Elder Lacock, one of the zone leaders, and I decided to spend the morning contacting in downtown Grand Rapids during the morning since we didn't have a lot going on. The first man we stopped told us he didn't speak English. So, I told him hablo un poquito Espanol and we started to speak with him. Once he realized who we were, he excitedly told us all about how he was just in Salt Lake as part of his vacation (he actually lives in Peru, not Michigan) and he LOVED it! As in, he wouldn't stop talking about it! He told us about how much he loved the temple and the special feeling he had there. He just sat at temple square all day and reflected and thought because he felt so good there. He asked us if there were any temples he could visit in Grand Rapids because he needed to do some more pondering! (I might also add that the Gift of Tongues was doing a lot of work here - Elder Lacock doesn't speak Spanish and neither do I, yet we understood everything he was saying!) He was especially excited to meet us and talk with us because he's stranded in Grand Rapids - it was his last stop on his US vacation but he tripped over a construction barrier and fractured his skull, so he has to stay in Michigan indefinitely getting medical treatment. He kept telling us that he was sure God sent us to him because he knows no one in Michigan and suddenly he had two friends! Anyway, he invited us to lunch and we accepted. On the way to McDonald's we met a man who was baptized the Saturday before into the Spanish branch in Grand Rapids! Ahora tenian tres amigos! We called the Spanish elders, who met us at McDonalds. Cinco amigos! As Elder Lacock recently updated me, he has now been taught twice and gone to church. Talk about someone prepared to accept the gospel ...

I love you all and hope all continues to be well with you.

Elder Cloward

P.S. Attached are pictures of Michigan country roads in summer,

Hart Lake, and

President and Sister Jones with the assistants and all the trainers and trainees.

I Have the Swine Flu!

2009-06-22T10:41:00.002-06:00

Hi!
The subject line is a lie. That was just to get you excited about the contents of this email. Elder Weaver, my new, fresh-out-of-the-MTC companion, says he doesn't think he had swine flu, although his MTC companion, Elder Merrell, did. He does have a deep cough, though, which is apparently a symptom of the swine flu. If I sprout a curly tail, I'll know something strange is going on.

So, Elder Patrick Weaver is my new companion! He is from Gardnerville, Nevada, the last of eight children (his parents are almost as old as my grandparents), and awesome! He's sincerely excited about being a missionary and serving the Lord and the people of Michigan. It's a little intimidating to be a 'trainer', realizing that I am, so far, his only impression of "real" missionary work. I hope I do an all right job.

We had some very sad news this week - our top investigator, Gary, suffered a major heart attack Thursday night. When we visited him in the hospital Saturday night he was still non-responsive (he'd been semi-comatose since the heart attack) but we gave him a blessing and trust that things will be all right. Prayers on behalf of him and his family would be much appreciated.

We taught a new investigator this week who happened to know a lot about our church and our missionary program because he follows college football very closely. He told us all about missionaries who leave Utah football teams for two years and then come back and keep playing. He was also kind enough to pull out his college football magazine and rattle off BYU's season for me. Sounds like it should be a good one :).

When we started teaching him about the Book of Mormon, he briefly excused himself and returned the room a moment later with a stack of five Book of Mormons. He's never been taught by missionaries, but seems to have had significant contact with us or other church members over the years. It reminded me of a similar story I read in a church magazine once and of the moral of the magazine's story - we need to get the book(s) off of his shelf and into his heart.

It's a good time to be in the Michigan Lansing Mission. It's beautiful and warm (although very humid), and great things are happening this mission. We are working on stepping up to the challenge of truly becoming a "Preach My Gospel" Mission and reaping the harvest the Lord has promised us here.I know this is the Lord's work; He directs it and it must be done in His way.

Thanks for all your love and support.

Love,
Elder Cloward

Drive Time

2009-06-16T10:09:00.004-06:00

Hello all!
I'll have to make it quick because we need to get on the road this morning.
Yesterday, zone conference, was excellent! I'm hoping the one I attend on Wednesday will also be excellent. You see, today we have to drive down to Battlecreek, where I will drop off Elder Tribett and pick up Elder Darley (who needs to meet up with his new companion, Elder Hermonat, in Harrison) and then drive up to Lansing. We'll spend the night in Lansing (as will the new missionaries who are flying in today) and then head up to zone conference in Harrison early Wednesday morning where we'll have trainer-orientation and learn which missionary will be our companion and then we'll attend the Harrison Zone Conference. After which we'll ride back down to Lansing and then I'll drive home with my mystery companion to Shelby.
So ... we've got to go wash the car and finish packing really quick.
Love you all!
elder Cloward

2009-06-08T20:00:00.003-06:00

Hola!

I don't have much time to write, but we had a good week and I love you all! The definite high point of our week came yesterday when Gary came to church! He was the first investigator we've had there in two months. It was sort of an interesting testimony meeting but I think Gary enjoyed it; in any case he told us he was looking forward to seeing us again on Wednesday and he promised he'd stay for Sunday School next week.

We found four new investigators this week and at least three of them seem fairly promising. I'm excited to teach one of them - Andy - tomorrow because a member will be going with us who happens to know him very well. That's one thing that's convenient about being a missionary in such a small town area - everyone knows everyone so those you teach instantly have a friend to welcome them and help teach them.

We've been car-less for most of the week. If you'll recall, Elder Arroyo damaged the bumper pretty nicely a couple months ago. The body shop called Tuesday and asked us to bring our car in that day since they finally had our part in. We're getting it back today.

Elder Cloward

Pictures

2009-06-01T18:33:00.004-06:00

A picture for y'all:

Elder Tribett and I rode the beautiful Hart-Montague bike trail to the Sanderson's where we had a branch activity planting a community garden.

Love you,
Elder Cloward

2009-06-01T15:45:00.000-06:00

Hello all!

I may not have time for any individual replies, so I decided I'd better start with my newsy letter. Because there's a lot of crazy news!

So ... a couple of weeks ago President Jones told both Elder Tribett and me during interviews to get comfortable in Hart because we'll be staying for quite some time. And we were excited! Then President Jones came to our branch for a fireside and told all the members he intended to keep us both here for a while. And we were even more excited! Then President Jones called us for transfers on Friday morning.

When two missionaries will be staying together, President Jones doesn't bother calling them - the zone leaders do. So we were initially surprised to get a phone call from the mission office. "Oh no," I thought, "he's transferring me out of Hart."

I answer the phone. "Hi, President."

"Good morning, Elder Cloward. Am I on speaker phone?"

"You sure are."

"Good. Well, elders, I'm sorry to do this to you. Elder Cloward, you'll be staying in Hart. I'd have liked to have kept you there too, Elder Tribett, but I want Elder Cloward to train this transfer."

"Oh ... okay," I said. Elder Tribett turns to me and mouths, "What the heck?!"

"Elder Tribett, I bet you'd like to know where you're going." President Jones continues. "You'll be heading down to Paw Paw with Elder Thompson and Elder Baros."

So - that's our transfer news. Elder Tribett said all his goodbyes over the past few days and has been a little upset to be transferred after just six weeks. It seems he's not going to get to spend more than six weeks in any area.

This morning we went golfing with Brother Fuller and Brother Girardot, which is why we're emailing a little late (sorry mom). Anyway, there we were at the sixth hole when Elder Tribett, who has the phone, gets a call. He waves me over in the middle of a putt - "Elder Cloward! Get over here, quick!"

As I hurried over , I was surprised to hear President Jones' voice, yet again on speaker phone. "Elder Cloward, there's been a slight change of plans. The elders who were supposed to get here from the MTC this next Wednesday will be delayed at least two weeks because of a breakout of swine flu in the MTC. Elder Tribett will be staying with you for at least the next two weeks. We'll let you know more as soon as we know."

"Oh ... okay," I said. Elder Tribett pumps his fist and mouths, "Yes!"

So - that's our newer transfer news. I'll have to let you know what's going on when I know what's going on. Until then, Elder Tribett and I have to find things to do for the next several days, which, until this afternoon, I was planning to spend in Lansing.

Things continue to go fairly well here. Our best investigator, Gary, told us last night that he believes Joseph Smith was a prophet and he thinks he'd better get baptized. He doesn't want to do anything too quickly, but we're very optimistic. And we're working with a number of other people as well. Nobody in church this week, though. That's been tough for us. We'll keep working on it.

Have a fantastic week. Happy June!

Love,
Elder Cloward

Dropped Gators, Soccer, Food and Spanish

2009-05-26T16:12:00.002-06:00

Hi All!

We've had sort of a rough week in Hart, but we're still plugging along. Two of my all-time favorite investigators, the old couple we were teaching, dropped us this week. It happens. They're still two of the nicest people in the world. We had two investigators committed to coming to church this week but they both changed their minds/plans. It would have been the first week Elder Tribett and I had an investigator in Sacrament meeting. We'll keep trying though.

We did have some fun this week. President Jones has encouraged us to attend local sports events since a large part of the community will be present. We went to the Shelby v. Hart girl's soccer game, which was intense! Hart is Shelby's biggest rival and we know a number of the girls on Shelby's team. After terrible calls by the ref and a dropped ball by Shelby's goalie Shelby came back to win it on a PK by one of the girls in our branch. It was a lot of fun.

In more spiritual news, we had an excellent time talking with Spanish investigators Sunday, accompanied by one of the Spanish-speakers in our branch. We talked with several people; no new investigators, but a couple of return appointments, which was fun.

I don't really know what else to write this week. We had a fun Memorial Day - a big family breakfast at the Hawleys and a picnic dinner at the Myers saw me eating more food than I've ever eaten in my life. Honestly. As a natural result, Elder Tribett and I are starting a diet today. I even used a measuring cup to pour my cereal. A 1 cup serving of Apple Jacks is hardly enough to get one's metabolism going. Ah well, I'll let you know how it goes. (We were inspired by Elder Tribett's purchase of a body fat-measuring scale.)

I love you all and am so glad to be doing what I'm doing. I know this work is led by Jesus Christ; He has overcome the world! That means we can at least overcome the little bumps along our individual roads, right?

Love,
Elder Cloward

I Lost at Football but I Feel Like a Million Bucks

2009-05-18T09:43:00.005-06:00

Hola! (And also, HOLLA!)

How's it going? We didn't accomplish as much this week as we would have liked to but it was still a great week. It's time for the day-by-day play-by-play:

Monday: We golfed with two awesome members of our branch. I don't think anything could be funnier than watching our branch mission leader scream and beat the ground with his club. Except maybe every attempt I made at putting ... Bro. Fuller told me I should spend some time on the practice green ... At the end of preparation day, we taught a lesson entirely in Spanish for the first time! We mostly read from the pamphlet, but I bore my testimony in Spanish and talked a little bit. I even understood a joke the sister told. We read: "Cual es mi proposito en esta vida?" And she responded, "Comer!" [What is my purpose in life? - To eat!] It was a good lesson. Hopefully, though, we'll have an actual Spanish speaker with us next time.

Tuesday: I saw Cambria and Eric! I was totally taken by surprise as someone who was not an old lady hugged me for the first time in months! Jeff wrote me an email and informed me my call has been revoked because of my blatant disobedience! Yikes! Oh well, seeing them was worth it. The performance was really fun and we actually had a part-member family there with us, for whom it was a really great experience. (Attached is a terrible picture of Cambria, Eric, and me).

Wednesday: Half-mission activity day! This is where I lost at kickball. I let the whole Grand Rapids zone down by missing a fly ball. We lost 11-4. It was my fault. Also, I tripped during the 3-legged race. Elder Tribett has officially decided that I am the clumsiest person he has ever met. (Attached is a picture of the Grand Rapids zone. And yes, I do heart G.R. If you have a hard time spotting me, I'm in the upper right hand corner.)

Thursday: We taught a couple great lessons. One was with my favorite 80-year-olds in the world. They told us they are very attached to their church (they've been attending since childhood) but they love talking with us and they are praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true. They are about the nicest people I have ever met! Also on Thursday, we talked with a man who was in Michigan for just a week of work - he normally lives in Chiappas, Mexico. In our broken Spanish, we talked with him about the Book of Mormon, which he recognized. He was very excited when we gave him a copy. (In my terrific Spanish: "El libro de Mormon. Para usted. Gratis.")

Friday: We went to a wedding reception and buried a dog. Completely unconnected events.

Saturday: We tracted ALL DAY LONG but it was fantastico! We found lots of new contacts, taught a new investigator, and didn't even get sick of it :). Elder Tribett is the best!

Sunday: No investigators in church (we were really hoping for a couple this week) but we had a fantastic missionary fireside with President Jones in the evening. We only had about 20 people there but they all enjoyed President Jones inspiring words and my cookies and accepted our challenge to share a Book of Mormon with a friend by the end of May. (Feel free to accept this same challenge).

I'm loving Hart and hoping I get to stay. The third picture is the obligatory tank in Shelby (I'm pretty sure most Michigan cities have one). I don't know if I've sent you a picture of it before.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

2009-05-11T15:25:00.009-06:00

Hola!

It was great talking to you! I thought I'd send a short email with some pictures!

#1 - My last district + zone leaders, sorry it's a bad picture

#4- We peel, core, and slice apples

#5- The apple pie goes in the oven

#6- The apple pie looks delicious!

Love you!
Elder Cloward

2009-05-04T15:33:00.002-06:00

Hello Family!

Thanks for the emails, it's good to hear from you all. I'm excited that Jacob has decided to go to BYU. This way, I don't actually have to transfer to BYU myself if I decide I want to get married really quick. I just have to make Jacob talk about me to all his friends come home for a week of dating and propose just before flying back to Philly. Sound like a plan? (All the other missionaries just ask me how I'm ever going to get married if I keep going to Penn. So .. now I have an answer, I guess?)

Anyway, in real news, there's not a whole lot to report. Elder Tribett and I have been working hard and we're seeing a little success. We found four new investigators this week, two of which are really, really promising. One of them even came to church after only having a fifteen-minute lesson in her driveway. Unfortunately, she came to the wrong church - there are two churches on 72nd Ave in Hart and she picked the Baptist one. I'm sure they had a very nice service, but it probably wasn't what she was expecting ... in any case, we'll meet with her again and I think she'll come to our branch next week.

My Spanish conversations have been getting a little better. Well, I've still been having them at least. I've got my little pitch memorized and then they start talking and I try to understand what they're saying. And then I throw in a "Puedemos visitar otra vez?" (which I'm not even sure is appropriate Spanish but they seem to know what we mean) and they usually say "Si", so hopefully we'll be having a few more Spanish lessons. Unfortunately, only one brother in our branch can go with us and speaks Spanish and he's available about once a month. Literally.

Yesterday we had a broadcast Stake Conference and heard from President Monson, Elder Perry, Elder Jensen, and Brother Beck. They were great. Brother Beck's talk was probably my favorite - he spoke to the youth, telling them/us to learn to follow the counsel of the prophets, relating a story about a young man whose decision to heed President Benson's counsel to read the Book of Mormon changed/saved/blessed his life. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know it is true. It has blessed my life every day I have taken the time to read from it. The Book of Mormon has helped me to learn that God loves me and that Jesus is the Christ. It's awesome!

We attended the CES fireside last night at which Elder Bednar spoke. It was really interesting - he talked a lot about the dangers of virtual realities created on the internet. One thing he said, quoting Elder Maxwell, really stuck out to me: "the youth of this generation have a greater capacity for obedience than any previous generation". He then went on to say that "obedience is the primary weapon which the rising generation must use in the war against evil". Yep.

I love you and I'm excited for Mother's Day!

Elder Cloward

Bananas in Pajamas

2009-04-20T16:21:00.001-06:00

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

2009-04-14T10:53:00.007-06:00

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

2009-04-06T13:18:00.002-06:00

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

2009-04-06T11:47:00.001-06:00

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.

And Here Are the Pictures

2009-03-23T15:56:00.006-06:00

Picture 1: The famous weathervane of Montague, Michigan. Largest in the world!

Picture 8: 2 handsome young elders and one big, cold lake! (To our right is the White Lake channel, emptying into Lake Michigan)

Picture 10: Country Dairy. Yum!

30 degrees with a slight breeze

2009-03-23T10:12:00.002-06:00

Hello Family!

Things are going well in Hart. We had a good week of work and four new investigators (one investigator was in church yesterday). Tracting here has yielded more return appointments than I'm used to, but as of yet, none of those have actually gone through. That's just part of missionary life.

So, I may be getting to drive again. I talked to Elder Davis, our vehicle coordinator, and he said I would be getting driving privileges back on May 1st. Only, last Thursday, Elder Arroyo did some nice damage to our bumper and lower grill by scraping it along another car. So ... I may, yet again, be postponing my suspension from driving privileges. :)

I'm really excited for spring to get into full swing. This is a very agricultural area with lots of orchards - I'm excited for all the cherry trees to blossom! And I'm even more excited for fresh cherries (although I'll have to wait a while for those ...).

I'm sending along a few pictures. Hopefully they'll actually go through this week.

Okay. Just kidding. Turns out the computers at this library won't let you save anything on the computer. So you'll have to wait. But there are some cool pictures of Elder Arroyo and me at Lake Michigan (our Branch President took the scenic route on our way to an appointment yesterday), the largest weathervane in the whole wide world (!), and me with two girls and a snake.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

I Heart Hart

2009-03-16T11:24:00.001-06:00

Dear Family,

Hi! So, I've decided that President Jones must love me a lot. Because he's sent me to the best areas in the mission, by far. Petoskey, a.k.a. Paradise, Oscoda, and now Hart. The Hart branch is just bigger than the Oscoda branch, although our area is just smaller. They're really missionary-minded with lots of recent converts and everyone is so awesome! For instance, we have dinner EVERY night this week and, well, they're just all really great. I'm very excited to work here.

One unfortunate thing about the area is that we have no currently progressing investigators. We have one man, whom I haven't yet met, who is an 'eternal investigator' but other than that we don't have anyone at all to teach. They had a baptism two weeks ago, though. It just means we've got a lot of finding work to do. Thank goodness it's been warmer!

Elder Arroyo, my companion, is pretty neat. He's from Colorado Springs, he's trained in Capoeira (a really neat Brazilian martial art), and he's Puerto Rican, hence the hispanic last name, although he doesn't speak Spanish. Which is unfortunate, since there are a lot of hispanics in this area. As a result, I've taken up reading El Libro de Mormon in my spare time. I'm slowly working my way through all the crazy past and future tenses and all the little words it repeats over and over again that I haven't managed to completely understand (for instance 'he' and 'lo' and 'ya'). But it's kind of fun and I actually understand it pretty easily. Reading it, that is. I don't think I'll ever be able to speak Spanish learning this way. C'est la vie.

Oh, and guess what! I'm going to a chiropractor today and I'm really excited because my back has been killing me. One of the brothers in our branch is a chiropractor and is willing to give us free back adjustments every preparation day, so we're going to drive up to Hart later. We actually live in Shelby, a small town about 5 miles south of Hart.

The elders here have been doing a lot of service at Shelby High. Two former wrestlers served here together two transfers ago and helped coach the Shelby High wrestling team. Anyway, we're continuing with the track team because they need the help. Unfortunately, I'm the one with running "experience". I'm sure they'll realize how limited my cross-country experience was as soon as I do any running. Oh well. I'm the coach - I don't have to be good at running :P.

Sorry the pictures didn't come through last week. I would send them this week but I didn't bring my camera to the library.

Love you all honey bunches of oats! (with strawberries)
Elder Cloward

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

2009-03-09T13:21:00.000-06:00

Hello, Hello!

After a beautiful week with highs in the 40s and 50s, we had a nice snow & ice storm last night that left a good 3 or 4 inches on the ground and half an inch of ice on our car. We had some good fun scraping it off this morning before heading over to the library to email. I sure do love March. (That's only a little sarcastic. I actually do like it. At least it's not February.)

I'm being transferred! That's not the exciting news, since I already knew it was going to happen, but now I know where to - Hart.
View Larger Map I don't know much about it, but when President Jones called on Friday he said it's a lot like the Oscoda area - a small town in a rural farming community. It's on the other side of the state, so I'll get to see Lake Michigan again, which will be nice. And I'm a little farther downstate, so maybe I'll earn a couple extra degrees. I can definitely feel the difference between 32 and 28 (which I believe is the current difference in temperature - we call into a toll-free weather number).

My new companion will be Elder Arroyo. I don't know much about him - he came out with Elder Sodenkamp, so he's been a missionary for 4 1/2 months, and he knows capoiera, which I'm sure I spelled incorrectly, but it's a Brazilian martial art. I was hoping President Jones would put me with a more experienced missionary than myself, since I've been with a young companion for 3 out of 4 transfers (Elder Valentine was more experienced than me but not by much). Oh well. I guess I'll just have to keep learning by trial and error. What am I saying? Who says I can't learn from someone with less experience? I'm rambling at this point. So, anyway ...

I'm really going to miss Oscoda. A lot more than I thought I would. (That's no slight on Oscoda; I merely mean that I did not expect to become so attached to any place or people). I keep thinking, somewhat over-sentimentally, of a scripture in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18:30 - "yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer". Substitue 'Oscoda' for 'Mormon' and that's about how I feel about it. :) I've learned and grown so much here and there are so many good people I have come to love. I'll miss them terribly.

Well, that's about the long of it. I hope things are well with you and I love you all bunches!

Elder Cloward

Turns out it was just "January Thaw"

2009-03-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hi family!

It's been colder than cold again here. It's currently about 5 degrees but the weather-number we call promised it'll get up to 12 today! Apparently, the couple days of 30s and 40s we had were just a part of the "January Thaw", which was running late, I guess. People promise us it'll start warming up soon - probably mid-April. :)

Church was great yesterday, although our two recent converts were out of town and still unable to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I talked to them on the phone last night, though, and they promised they'd be there next week, especially since it will be my last Sunday in Oscoda. We had our Branch Conference yesterday, so we had a lot of good instruction from the Midland Stake leaders. The Stake President talked about the story of Christ walking on the water and His gentle chastisement of Peter really stuck out to me: "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" I guess he could have been saying it to me.

Not a whole lot of excitement this week. We had trade-offs with the West Branch-Houghton lake Elders again, which was fun. I got to know Elders Buck and Darley a bit better. We walked past the beach so they could see it nice and frozen. I've included a couple pictures.
The Elder on the ice-bubble is Elder Buck.

We received a report from President Jones (via email) today on the results of our "30 in February" quest. We had 26 baptisms last month, just shy of our goal, but a significant improvement over previous years. He's asked us to push for a new goal of 35 in April, which should be good.

I'm excited for transfer calls this Friday so I'll know where I'll be going. I'm glad things are going well for you.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Crepes are Delicious

2009-02-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hi! It turns out my reports of melting snow came a little too soon. We got about 5-6 inches on Saturday and it's been too cold to melt yet. I think it's supposed to get a bit warmer by the middle of the week. We'll see. In any case, they canceled church because of the snow. Elder Sodenkamp and I received permission from the Branch President to take the Sacrament in our apartment, which was nice. Still, we would have rather had church, since we have two newly-baptized members of the church who still have not received the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

President and Sister Jones spent a little time with us on Friday to inspect our apartment and have interviews. We passed our inspection! All except for the old rusty bike without wheels sitting on our balcony. We have to get rid of it. I thought it was rather picturesque ...

But, anyhoodles, interviews were great - President Jones has a way of making me feel like a good missionary, a feeling which normally lasts at least 20 minutes before I once again realize that I still have no idea what I'm doing :). President reaffirmed my assumption that I will be transferred the second week of March. I'll be really sad to leave Oscoda because I've really grown to love this branch, but I'm excited for new opportunities and new people. Thankfully, President also said he needs to have me getting some more experience so I'll be ready to train and lead later. Which, I assume means I won't be training or leading next transfer! I don't think I'd mind being a trainer, but I don't really look forward to opportunities in leadership, so it's nice to know I've got a little time before I have to deal with that.

Elder Sodenkamp made crepes for me this week, which I thought I should mention because they were delicious! He taught me to spread jelly on them and roll them (I've only ever had them folded over with fruit in the middle). And I taught him that Nutella is amazing.

And that's the whole barrel of monkeys. Well, actually, I suppose it's not. But, really, all of the monkeys are pretty much the same, so I figure I don't need to tell you about all of them :). The work continues to go forward and I'm doing my best to follow President's and the Lord's counsel to act for myself and not be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2) by changing what I have power to change (mostly just myself) and letting the Lord worry about the rest.

I love you all,
Elder Cloward

Whoosh!

2009-02-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Super quick email this week!

Sunday was a little disappointing because we didn't have any investigators in church, nor were our newly baptized members able to come for their confirmations so we'll have those next week. Things come up, I guess.

Our car's currently in the body shop, so we're doing LOTS of walking again. At least temperatures are sticking in the 20s. It could definitely be worse.

I did a lot of cleaning yesterday because we're having an apartment inspection this Friday! We also have interviews with President Jones, which I always look forward to.

And pictures:

1 - Mr. Peanut, a cute little dog a member owns.

2 - Yep, I'm in Oscoda! Love the mitt.

3 and 4(the picture up top) - Iargo Springs. Just about the prettiest spot in Michigan.

Love y'all,
Elder Cloward

Snow Is Melting!

2009-02-10T09:54:00.001-07:00

Hello family!

I'm excited to announce that the end of winter is finally in sight. Although it's definitely not over, we did get a bit of thawing and melting this weekend with temperatures in the 30s and 40s and it even rained this morning! Hallelujah!

I'm emailing today because we had zone conference yesterday, so they bumped our preparation day over. Zone conference was fantastic; it always does so much to uplift me and get me re-energized for the work. The focus this transfer is on effective teaching and teaching by the Spirit. I definitely have a lot of work to do, but I was really grateful for all the pointers we received. I was asked to do a musical number for zone conference, so I played an arrangement of "An Angel From On High". The Assistants to the President called and asked if I would play something last Friday night. They're always great about giving me lots of notice. In any case, I got permission to look online for music and to spend some time practicing. So it went all right.

The highlight of the week was definitely the baptism on Sunday. Everything went really well. Staci and Courtney, the girls we baptized, had a lot of support from family and branch members. Elder Valentine and his companion, Elder Turner, even made it up from Midland in time for the closing prayer. Staci and Courtney were really excited to have him there, so it was neat. It's been very rewarding to see them progress and learn so quickly. Elder Valentine and I knocked on their door and asked them if they would like to learn what their oldest sister had been taught and accepted on the very first day I served in the Oscoda branch.

I think that's about the long and the short of it. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Valentine's day filled with commercialistic romance and the stench of capitalistic sentimentality. (Speaking of which, thanks for the package!)

Love,
Elder Cloward

Hospitals & Venison

2009-02-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

Fig. 2: Our dashing district (last transfer). Row 1 (l to r): Elder Stayner (who lives on Emerson Ave and who is our new district leader!), Elder Moi, Elder Sodenkamp. Row 2: Elder Farley, Elder Fortuna (our old district leader), Elder Darley.

Talofa!

We had a little bit of unusual excitement this week, which I think I will present through a wonderful array of meals/foods. What an exciting lens through which we can view our lives!

Taco Soup: We had a delicious dinner at the Calkins, a now-active family. We'll actually be there again for Jeff's birthday tonight! He received the priesthood last Sunday and had the opportunity to bless the Sacrament for the first time yesterday. We are hoping to invite his nonmember dad to take the lessons. They're one of my favorite families!

Honey: While knocking doors on a country road up in Mikado, we noticed a country honey store. Since Elder Sodenkamp is a little bit obsessed with honey, we stopped in and talked for a while with the kindly proprietor of said store. She gave us a sample of raw honey, which was amazing! (Did you know store-bought honey is pasteurized, which kills the good-for-you enzymes in honey and takes away a lot of the flavor? Pasteurization does nothing for the sanitariness of honey, it merely prevents crystallization). Anyway, she talked us into buying a lot of honey. As in, I'll have to transfer with it for the rest of my mission. At least it's tasty!

Lasagna: We taught two of the three sisters this last Thursday, prefaced by a lasagna dinner provided by our branch mission leader's family. Two will for sure be baptized this Sunday! Elder Sodenkamp and I will each baptize one of them and then we will switch for their confirmations next week. Their older sister told us she does want to be baptized but she's still scared and thinks Sunday is a little too soon. We're crossing our fingers for three baptisms this Sunday, but we're happy to wait until she's ready.

Water: Caused Elder Sodenkamp to vomit explosively! Saturday morning, around 2 he woke up and started vomiting and having awkward bowel movements. These continued all day. So, we went to the ER (50 miles away in Alpena) where he got an IV because he was pretty dehydrated.
Fig. 4: Elder Sodenkamp, gowned and IV'd.

Venison Steak: What I ate for dinner Saturday night! The Averys had given us a couple of frozen venison steaks, so since I had plenty of time while Elder Sodenkamp was laid up, I decided to try it out. I'm personally not much of a steak fan anyway, but I liked the venison at least as much as I've ever liked any beef steak. I didn't notice the "gamey" flavor everyone talks about, but I had marinated it in honey barbecue sauce (made from real raw honey!) for a couple of days.

Baked Spaghetti: Well, Sunday, we went to church (Yay!) but only for Sacrament meeting, since Elder Sodenkamp, although feeling better, didn't want to get everybody sick or over do it. The three sisters were there, and we spoke with them briefly before heading back home to rest. As I still had a lot of time on my hands I read 1 Nephi and made myself a delicious dinner of Baked Spaghetti (WAY better than I thought it would be!), Spicy Nutmeg Carrots (thank you back of the McCormick Nutmeg bottle!), Garlic Toast (thanks Sis. Schwinck!), peaches, and a glass of orange juice. I felt rather healthy and accomplished. :)

Things are well. I love you all, oh, and some photos are attached.

Elder Cloward

Explanation of attached photos:
Fig. 1: Look what Elder Sodenkamp did to our car!

Fig. 3: Lake Huron, Tawas Bay

Tecumseh

2009-01-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

For starters, this email may be brief and I'm typing it as quickly as I can because the library has changed their computer system so we're only allowed a half hour now. Murmuring is bad so I'm going to try not to murmur. Maybe.

The highlight of my week was most definitely SUNDAY. Because Sunday was awesome! Why was Sunday awesome? Because we had church! I might normally insert an "of course" after that statement, but seeing as the weather and the forces of evil have been conspiring against all our church-having recently, this is big news! And, of course, to make it all even better, we had two investigators there - the first time this transfer (well, last transfer actually - today's the first day of my fourth "transfer") we had any investigators at church. Two of those with baptismal dates were there (one of the sisters and the soon-to-be-married man) and both seemed to like it.

Elder Sodenkamp and I both had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting and we did pretty well, if I do say so myself. I spoke on my all-time favorite doctrine - that we are the literal spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father - and discussed what this meant for us before this life, what it means for us now, and what it will mean in the eternities. Good stuff.

I don't know if I've mentioned "quality gospel conversations" (QGC's) before - it's an indicator that our Mission President uses to keep track of our work. Elder Sodenkamp and I had a rather poor week with only 21 QGC's. But to make up for it we had 21 QGC's yesterday alone, so we're off to a good start for the week.

We attended a funeral for a branch member on Saturday, which was really nice. I hadn't met her because she's been entirely incapacitated the last few years, but I know many of her children and grandchildren that live in our branch. It was a beautiful service; my favorite part was when all her grandchildren sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". The Spirit was so strong. In the lid of her casket they had a picture of the Washington, D.C. Temple with the caption: "Sealed together for eternity, May 1, 1975". (I don't actually remember the date). It made me sad that I wasn't able to be there for Grandad's funeral, but at least I know I'll see him again.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention transfer calls! Friday was transfer-call day and both of us are staying! I'm glad to keep working with Elder Sodenkamp and in Oscoda. I guess President figured if it wasn't broke he wasn't gonna fix it. Or something like that. Boy, have we got him fooled :P. (Just kidding, mom. I'm a good little missionary :).)

I love you all and I'm happy to report that we're probably pretty close to halfway through winter. Everyone tells us the snow will probably melt at the end of April. Oh goody.

Love,
Elder Cloward

It Just Keeps Snowing!

2009-01-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hello!

It's been snowy and cold this week, which has sort of limited us in what we've been able to do. Where normally we might have walked from door to door when tracting, we've done a lot more driving around, only getting out to knock when it looks like someone is home or when the Spirit tells us we'd better. In any case, I've set a new mission goal: Come home without getting frostbite once! (So far I've only talked to one missionary who's been frostbitten, mom, so don't flip out or anything.)

We do, however, have some great news this week! Three investigators have set baptismal dates in February! Two of the sisters we've been teaching have decided to be baptized (on February 8) and their older sister is still considering it as well. I may have mentioned that we met a couple last week that we began teaching; we have now taught them twice more and the husband would like to be baptized (on February 14). Transfer calls are coming on Friday and I've got a feeling I won't be staying, so I may not be here for the baptisms, but I would definitely like to be!

The biggest challenge to our missionary work is still the weather. Due to snow and Michigan road commissions being broke (it takes FOREVER for them to get all the roads plowed) church was canceled again this week. We took comfort in the fact that we would definitely have had five investigators there if we'd had church. It's sort of hard to invite people to learn more about a church that doesn't ever have meetings.

Well, I think that's all the news from Michigan. A couple more snow pictures, though! They're both from Greenbush, Michigan, a small town north of Oscoda.

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

Zone Conference Etc.

2009-01-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

From and e-mail dated Jan. 12
Hi!

Highlights of this week:

- Zone conference! So far our zone conferences have varied quite a bit in length, but this one took most of the day. President Jones talked at length about our mission-wide goal for 30 baptisms in February and especially the goal that every companionship should have to commit someone to baptism in February. The title of his remarks was "The Price for 30 in February" - referring to the price that we must pay in order to achieve our goals, specifically referring to four key teachings from the Epistle of James. We must 1) Ask in faith (James 1:5-6), 2) Be Doers of the Word (James 1:22), 3) Apply Faith and Works (James 2:17-18), and 4) Better Understand the Power of Christ's Atonement and God's Plan of Salvation (James 5:19-20). Good stuff!

And also, I took a picture with Elder Valentine at Zone Conference, which I've attached.

- 3 new investigators, all of which we found while tracting (which we have been doing an awful lot of lately). It may not be the most creative or exciting way to find those who will receive the restored gospel, but I suppose it can still get the job done. We're having a hard time meeting back up with any of the 5 investigators we've found in the past 2 weeks, so we are hoping at least a few of them have a real interest in learning more about the Restoration.

- It hasn't yet dipped below zero this year! On New Year's Eve it got down to 8 below, but the coldest I've seen in 2009 is 3 degrees! Here's to waiting until next winter to see the negative end again!

I love you all and hope you are doing well,
Elder Cloward

2009-01-05T16:49:00.001-07:00

Hallo Familie!

Not a whole lot to report on this week. New Year's Eve was a lot of fun - we spent the evening with the Karns (the same member family with whom we spent Christmas Eve). They're the best! New Year's was fun as well, because lots of people were home and willing to talk with us, which is always nice.

We had trade-offs twice this week, so we got a lot of work done. Elder Fortuna, our district leader, and his companion, Elder Darley, whom he is training, came over Monday night and spent Tuesday with us. Then on Thursday we had tradeoffs with the "Traveling Trainers" - two excellent elders President Jones has temporarily given the assignment of traveling anywhere in the mission they want to go, getting to know the elders, especially us young ones, and helping us with our work. That was great.

We got two new investigators this week - both high school students that we found while tracting. The girl, whom I may have mentioned, that became a new investigator last week is now officially a progressing investigator - we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she is reading the Book of Mormon.

Unfortunately, freezing rain made church a no-go yet again this week. About half of the members came to church but we only had a ten-minute Sacrament meeting and then we all headed home. It was nice to at least take the Sacrament but I wish our investigators could have been there and had a real service. Maybe next week.

Not much else to report on. Zone conference this Wednesday, which I am very excited for. I've attached a bunch of pictures this week too. Lots of snow!

Captions por la fotografia:

#4 - It's tres cold.

#5 - Snowbanks are almost like mountains. If you squint a lot.

#6 - I call this one "The Frozen Photographer". That's Elder Sodenkamp.

#7 - We decided not to go down this street ...

#8 - This is Lake Huron. Not just the water part. Yep. The waves freeze over. Pretty crazy.

#9 - This is also Lake Huron. You can't really tell, but that formation is taller than me. Pretty crazy.

Love always,
Elder Cloward

Happy New Year!

2008-12-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

an e-mail sent on Monday, December 29, 2008

Hello and Happy New Year!
This was a fairly uneventful week, considering we didn't do much work on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. Still, it was nice to celebrate the holiday (and especially nice to call home).
Christmas Eve we had district meeting over in West Branch, so it was nice to spend part of it with the other Elders in my district, and then we drove over to Hale where the Karn family fed us and played with us. Afterward we went with them to the local Lutheran candlelight Christmas Eve service. (Although the Karns are LDS, Brother Karn's parents are Lutheran and Brother Karn's daughters were singing in the choir). It was nice. On Christmas we had dinner with Pat Morris and her family. It was so nice of them to share their Christmas with us! When we got back to the apartment, Elder Sodenkamp called his family (you'll recall that I called y'all in the morning) and I worked on a puzzle with a bunch of missing pieces (not the little puzzles you sent me for Christmas; they still have all their pieces). We're totally out of miles for the month, so we've been doing lots of walking. Friday we walked about 6 miles and Saturday we walked almost 15. It wouldn't have been too bad but it warmed up almost to 50 on Saturday, so we were mostly wading through puddles and slush and the snow boots I bought aren't really waterproof. Needless to say, my feet were soaked, so they're still a little raw.
Thank goodness it's a new month on Thursday! Miles again!
We finally had church this Sunday, which was very nice. They ended up doing the Christmas program they had planned for last week. Sis. Drury, the Branch Pianist, had me play the organ while she played the piano (which we do most weeks). For the opening hymn, we both started at different parts of the introduction and it sounded absolutely horrible! Eventually, I figured out what I had done and we got back together. The best part of the meeting was that they ran out of time to have me sing! Unfortunately, Sis. Drury told me later she would just have me sing next week. Apparently, Silent Night is still allowed in January ...
Sadly, we didn't have any investigators in church Sunday. The three sisters we're teaching were out of town for the holiday and nobody else had a good excuse (so far). There was one family we were really hoping (and expecting) would come - we have an appointment with them on Tuesday, so hopefully we'll be able to keep helping them along. Well, I can't think of anything else to report. I'm excited for the New Year - I can't believe I've already been a missionary for 4 months! Love and Happy New Year,Elder Cloward

The Halls are Decked

2008-12-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hello and Merry Christmas from very snowy Oscoda, MI!

It's snowed a bunch this past week. Church was canceled again this week because of it - understandably - we decided to go out in it anyway but our car got stuck several times and we almost caught frostbite eleventeen times once we started walking instead, so we spent the evening indoors. Just the same, we were very disappointed that church was canceled because we were planning to have at least four investigators there! I don't know if I mentioned last week that Elder Valentine and Elder Seely, one of the zone leaders, met a man while door-knocking last week who was very interested and has now tried to come to church twice. We plan to see him tomorrow, though, so all is not lost.

The three sisters who are investigating the church are doing so well! We finally met up with them again for a lesson and it was awesome! We challenged them to pray and specifically ask Heavenly Father if it was right for them to be baptized on January 17th and all three of them said they were willing to ask. The Lord has promised that if we ask, we will receive and I trust that they will receive.

I am very excited to call home on Christmas. I will call between noon and 1 our time (so between 10 and 11 your time). I had hoped to be able to wait until grandma and grandpa are with you but our Christmas dinner is at 2, so I'll be busy. I'm excited to hear all your voices again!

In other exciting news, I have a bunch of new pictures attached!

#1 - I'm standing ON Lake Huron! Yep!
#2 - That's me, with our lovely friend the ...
#3 - Possum!
He just sat there while we took pictures of him and after a while he got bored of it and jumped off the landing - about 15 feet off the ground - and scurried off into the bushes. Crazy Michigan varmints!

#4 - That's the lighthouse at Tawas Point, or whatever it's called. We tracted nearby so that we could go and see it.

#6 - I made an ornament for our Christmas tree! It needed a topper, so, who better?

#7 - Thanks for the package! This lovely tree you sent me is set on our kitchen table.

#8 - C'est moi with Elder Sodenkamp, my new companion! You may also notice that I cut my own hair! Fantastic, no?

Things are happy in Michigan. Are they happy where you are? If not, make them happy! "Men (and women) are that they might have joy!"

Lots of love,
Elder Cloward

Some Say the World Will End in Fire

2008-12-15T12:16:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas!

Things are going well in Oscoda, MI! First things first, we got our transfer calls on Friday - Elder Valentine will be going down to Midland and I will be staying in Oscoda. My new companion will be Elder Sodenkamp, who has spent the last six (and only) weeks of his mission down at MSU in Lansing. I'm a little nervous to be the "experienced" one, but President told me we're officially co-senior, so - thank goodness! - I don't have to take all the responsibility. It should be a lot of fun; I'm excited to meet him tomorrow.

Church was canceled yesterday because of road conditions, so we were told we had to stay in. We got a lot of study done but decided to fly the coop in the evening because conditions weren't as bad as they were supposed to be. We didn't even crash!

Nothing real exciting in the "work" this week; it just keeps going along. Thursday and Friday we had trade-offs with the zone leaders and Elder Valentine found a couple of solid contacts while knocking doors with Elder Seely in East Tawas. It seems that there are many people in our area who are open to learning a little more about our religion, which is fantastic!

I think I forgot to mention my WEST HIGH PRIDE(!!) last week. At zone conference, I discovered that three of the senior missionaries also graduated from West High (in 1959 and 1960) - Elder Horne and Elder and Sister Seeley. If I did mention it, you'll have to forgive my Panther zeal. Also, I found out that Elder Stayner, who is currently serving in the next area over - West Branch - lives on Emerson Avenue! Crazy, no? He went to East! Small world.

Our Branch Christmas Party was Saturday night. It was lots of fun and a great time for Elder Valentine to say goodbye to everyone. The Karn family were very angry with them because we lied to them the day before. They asked us to call them as soon as we found out where we were going. Well, I called them, but due to the encouragement of Elder Price, one of the zone leaders, who served in Oscoda a year ago, I told them Elder Valentine was staying and killing off an elder who only has six weeks left and that I was going to be training while re-opening the Alpena area and serving as a district leader. To my credit as a skilled dealer of deception, they ate it right up. Later, of course, when we confessed our sin, they were rather upset. Elder Valentine says I've lost member trust in this branch. :)

The Karns must not be TOO angry, because they gave us a Christmas tree!
A picture of which is attached!

The other picture is from our last district meeting.

From top to bottom and left to right we have: Elder Fortuna (District Leader), Elder Valentine, Elder Yours-Truly, Elder Price (Zone Leader), Elder Wilkinson, Elder Lish, Elder Seely (Zone Leader), and Elder Stayner. Notice how I'm the center of the pyramid. It's because I'm the most important. :)

Lots of love! Have a wonderful holiday season! Sing a Christmas Carol or two just for me! I know it is the Lord's work we are about here in Michigan and He is guiding it!

-Elder Cloward

P.S. It's definitely ending in ice! (The world, that is. We've got lots of it in Michigan right now.)

P.P.S. That's a Robert Frost reference for all you poetry-haters. At least I think it's Robert Frost. I'm not really that well-acquainted with the world of poetry.

I Brought My Camera!

2008-12-08T10:30:00.001-07:00

Hello!

We're expering a much-appreciated Michigan heat wave this week. We got up to a record high of 18 degrees yesterday! Can you believe it? I've had a bit of a cold this last week but the warm weather is really helping me kick it.

I don't have much time to write this week because I've taken a while figuring out how to upload and attach pictures. Since I can't include them directly in the email (with captions), I'll just have to explain them by number.

No. 1: My district back in Petoskey from left to right (Elder Horne, Sis. Horne, Elder Stoddard, Elder Robinson, Elder Williams, Elders Rau & Hatch (the zone leaders), and me!

No. 10: Elder Valentine. We were tracting. Seriously. LOTS of distance between houses sometimes.

No. 11: Me while we're tracting.

No. 12: Hunting and getting haircuts are both popular pursuits for Michiganders.

No. 18: So, I love Michigan. And even Michigan winter. Why? Because it's BEAUTIFUL!! Of course, right after taking this picture we returned to the car, which we subsequently dug and pushed out of a foot of snow. Somehow we thought our little Malibu could do it, no problem. Thankfully, our prayers were answered and a semi-driver pulled over and helped us out. He made us promise we'd keep the car on the road from now on, though. This picture, by the way, was taken at Iargo Springs along River Rd. (in between Oscoda and Hale).

The week was fairly uneventful, really. Zone conference down in Harrison was great, even if I did end up playing the piano most of the time. Although President told us we are dead last in the baptisms-per-missionary category (they will be cutting our mission back by almost 30 missionaries beginning immediately) he says our numbers have been improving, so that November was the best month for our mission since he got here in July.

Saturday I witnessed my first baptism as a missionary! Riley, An eight-year-old branch member was baptized and he asked Elder Valentine and I to give the talks at his service. I spoke on baptism and Elder Valentine spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very nice service. Matthew, a really cute three-year-old boy who came to the baptism, shouted out "All done!" when Riley came up out of the water. His mom told me that right afterward he turned to her and said "More baptisms!" She told him he'd have to do a little missionary work first.

And we did have some good happen yesterday: The less-active brother we've been working with came to church and had a really great experience! It made up for having no investigators there this week (the snow makes it hard when a lot of them live 30 or more miles away). Not a bad week, but we hope the next will be better.

Love always,
Elder Cloward

More Pictures!

3. A dragon in Kalkaska! (We spent the night there during District Conference in Traverse City)

4. Me with Sherman and Tori (Petoskey - Tori is the investigator there!)

5. Me with the Ellsworths (Petoskey)

6. Why I cleaned the refrigerator in Oscoda. Nasty.

7. The beautiful Au Sable River (Oscoda)

14. I tied a perfect dimple in my tie!!!! You should be excited too!!!

20. The lake (on which the Schroeders live) froze over! (By the way, Sis. Schroeder might come visit you at home. She'll be in Salt Lake in just over a week.)

2008-12-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

These Pictures along with an e-mail were sent by Josie Meyer of Au Gres, MI

Hi Cloward Family,
I am sure you are very proud of Elder Cloward.
He came for a visit on Friday with Elder Valentine whom I met this summer at the Paul Bunyan Days Festival.
I hadn't heard from him since that day in August, since I live in Au Gres a city South of Oscoda.
Elder Valentine called on Thursday evening and said he and Elder Cloward would be in the area on Friday afternoon, and asked if it would be ok for the two of them to stop by.
I responded by telling him I would be making chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon and the only way they could come is if they would have some freshly baked cookies and milk while they visited. Needless to say they said they could oblige.
They were both here for two hours and I thoroughly enjoyed their visit, they had wonderful things to say about their family and days gone by.
It brought back memories of my son sitting at the kitchen table while I was baking, my son is 32 now and will be getting married in the Spring.
Thank you so very much for sharing your wonderful young man. He looks happy and healthy.
Sincerely,
Josie Meyer

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2008-12-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

An e-mail sent on December 1, 2008

Hello all!

Lots of love from wint'ry Oscoda, MI. We got a couple inches of snow overnight, which is lots of fun to walk through! We (thankfully) have new miles now that it's the start of the month, but in order to avoid running out like we did last month, we're going to start out walking anywhere in Oscoda. Makes me wish it were a little denser of a city. We're probably going to kill our miles right off the bat since we have work planned this week that will take us to Houghton Lake (100 miles away), Hale (30 miles away), Tawas (15 miles away), Whittemore (50 miles away), and Au Gres/Omer (70 miles away?). Yeah. So, we won't be able to use our car much this month. Too bad.

Thanks for the package! Elder Valentine was jealous of the candy bars (I was too selfish too share them) but I didn't feel that bad because he got a package last week with one of those big bags of Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups and he had them all finished inside of one day. The cookies are delicious! The thermals will come in handy! And I'm way excited to have CDs! I love the Rejoice and Be Merry CD! Elder Valentine doesn't understand why I'm so enamored with the King's Singers but that's all right. I'll only make him listen to them through the end of the month.

Sticking to a theme of musical news, I'm going to have a very musical Wednesday at zone conference. I'm playing the hymns, performing one musical number (I'm a little grumpy at the zone leaders for letting me know with only enough time to practice one day - today), accompanying another (some of the sisters are singing), and then playing for the caroling activity (I'm not exactly sure) that we're apparently having after zone conference. For my musical number, I borrowed a Christmas songbook from one of the ward members. It's not meant for a piano solo, so I'm doing what I can to jazz it up. I wish I had paid more attention back in music theory - I'm so bad at composing/arranging. Oh, and also, I'm hoping I get transferred out of Oscoda before Christmas because the branch music-lady (whatever her official title is) asked me if I would like to sing for the Christmas program (how she got that idea I'll never know. Actually, I do know. I mentioned that I sang to Sister Karn - bad move on my part).

In non-musical news, we had really great trade-offs with Elder Fortuna, the district leader, and his companion, Elder Wilkinson this last Wednesday. We all blitzed Oscoda to conserve miles (since Houghton Lake, their area, is 100 miles away). I started the morning with Elder Wilkinson, we taught a lesson while tracting and taught one of our investigators and then I switched to spend the evening with Elder Fortuna. We did some more tracting; I felt really strongly that we needed to go back to the street Elder Wilkinson and I had knocked earlier and we found a couple of potential investigators. Mostly it was just a lot of fun to talk to Elder Fortuna. I don't know, I guess it's just nice to spend a little time with someone who's not your companion every once in a while.

Sunday was a little disappointing for us; only one investigator came to church (we were hoping for at least two), and our less-active member that I mentioned last week ended up being sick. Still, it was a good time, I guess - Elder Valentine and I both spoke (about which I was not informed until Friday night, despite the fact that Elder Valentine heard about it on Wednesday).

Oh, and also, Thanksgiving was great! We spent the day with two member families down in Tawas - the food was great, we played Apples to Apples and generally had a good time.

I love you all,
Elder Cloward

And I Think to Myself

2008-11-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all gorge yourselves on Turkey and pie! I'm going to try to make a pumpkin pie this Wednesday for our district meeting. I think I'll be all right since I'm using a pre-made crust. (It was conveniently in the freezer when I got here. Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling, too! But that was in the cupboard, not the freezer.)

Since I'm a big fan of lists AND I've been trying to find ways to liven up these weekly emails, I thought I'd give you a TOP 5 OCCURRENCES OF THE PAST WEEK IN OSCODA AS PRESENTED BY ELDER JOSEPH CLOWARD!

5. We're getting better at talking to people. Elder Valentine and I are two new missionaries who have not been doing a great job of talking to everyone like we should. BUT we've been getting better! We're still not having as many "Quality Gospel Conversations" as Elder Maynes challenged us to have while he was touring the mission but we're working on it. Improvement is always encouraging.

4. It's been a little warmer the past couple of days!

3. We committed a long-time investigator to once again work toward baptism. He wanted to be baptized last year but every time he set a date it fell through for one reason or another. We'll see if he will really make this a goal he will work toward but if he does I am excited to see him make the necessary changes in his life. He has a two-year old daughter who would be greatly blessed by his becoming a more responsible father.

2. We have been working with a man who was baptized several years ago but who had stopped being active in the church. After joining the church his health and the health of several of his family members rapidly declined and he told us that he was angry at God for punishing him when he was doing the right things. Two weeks ago, both of his kidneys failed and the experience has definitely humbled him. Now, I had been praying throughout the day yesterday that I might be able to be the answer to someone's prayer. When we stopped by his home last night he told us he had been praying all day that we would stop by. He seemed entirely different from when I had talked with him before. He told us he needed to make a change in his life and that we would see him at church this next Sunday. Fantastic!

1. Our three new investigators (the three younger sisters of a recent convert) are golden! We taught them the Plan of Salvation this last week, which they really enjoyed. They've read out of the Book of Mormon and came to church yesterday with their oldest sister.

Being a missionary is so much fun! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

Love,
Elder Cloward

More Thermals Please!

2008-11-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I've decided my emails need a bit of spicing up. I fear they're getting a little same-y and that would be unfortunately boring. Because boring the life of a missionary isn't! So today I'll give you a bit of the Good, the Bad, and the Strange of Oscoda, MI.

The Good: Three new investigators! This past Thursday, Elder Valentine and I taught the three sisters of a recent convert the message of the restoration. It was my first time really doing that, so I was really excited. We met them at a member family's home for dinner at 5:30. The food was delicious and the conversation, though not exceptionally lively, was fun. Our lesson, however, went oh so well! I felt very comfortable as we were teaching, the girls asked questions and participated, the member family was extremely helpful, and the Spirit was incredibly strong. I felt like leaping for joy I felt so good! The three sisters all seemed very excited to read from the Book of Mormon for themselves and agreed to pray about it. We'll be seeing them again this next Thursday; I'm extremely optimistic.

The Bad: It's cold in the winter and we've been doing a lot of walking. Really. A! Lot! Of! Walking! We're only allowed to use 1250 miles/month on our car and we've already used over 900, notwithstanding we have at least one more 120-mile round trip to make for district meeting this Wednesday. We can't be blamed for using up our miles, though; we lost over 300 of them the first day we had the car because it had to be driven from Grand Rapids to Mt. Pleasant and then to Oscoda. Plus, we have to go to West Branch (60 miles away) for district meeting once a week and we have significant amounts of work to do in Tawas (15 miles away) and Hale (30 miles away), where we teach our three new investigators. So, we've been spending every day in Oscoda we can. Walking. We walked 30 minutes to church yesterday, an hour to do our home teaching, 45 minutes to visit a less-active sister and this all in dress shoes! I suppose I should quit my whining. It hasn't snowed and stuck yet. And at least I have legs; it would be harder without them!

The Strange: We stopped by the home of a contact we have. He wasn't home but some teenage boy was. We asked him to tell our contact that the missionaries had stopped by. As we were walking away, he popped back out of the house: "Wait. Like, the missionaries that kill people?"
I was totally confused. Luckily, Elder Valentine recognized his mistake. "Oh, uh, no, I think those are mercenaries."
"Oh. Right. Well, seeya!"
Those crazy Michiganders ...

Anyway, all is well in Oscoda. I think I'm slowly but surely improving as I strive to work harder, be more obedient, and do more to leave my comfort zone. Being a missionary is pretty much basically a good thing. For sure!

Love you all,
Elder Cloward

It Snows Less Here!!

2008-11-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Oscoda, MI!

This has been an eventful week, getting to know a new area with new people and a new companion. Tuesday morning we drove down to Mt. Pleasant, where Elder Williams picked up Elder Johansson and I met up with Elder Valentine. Since Elder Valentine doesn't have driving privileges yet, I drove and he navigated our way back to Oscoda. (Because he hasn't been driving, Elder Valentine doesn't know his way around as well as I would maybe like, so we've been making a lot of U-turns.)

Oscoda is nice. It's not Petoskey-nice, but it's still nice. Lake Huron isn't as pretty as Lake Michigan, but it's still pretty. Our apartment is nicer than the one in Petoskey but not as clean. I'm working on that. I think Oscoda is about the same size as Petoskey, but our area is much wider. If you're looking at a map
View Larger Mapour area covers Tawas City and goes all the way down to almost Standish (b). It goes West past Hale(c) and North past Harrisville(d). Anyway, we've got a lot more driving to do and less allotted driving miles than we did in Petoskey. It sounds like I may have a walking winter. Thankfully, Oscoda gets very little snow in comparison to the rest of Michigan, and especially Petoskey, which is up in the "snow belt". Unless they get a Noreaster, the lake effect is felt on the opposite shore. Wahoo!

Elder Valentine is from Benicia, California, in the Greater Bay Area. He's been in Oscoda since August, although he spent the last six weeks working in a threesome in both Oscoda and West branch because an elder was sent home early and some elders were moved around. He left on a mission straight out of high school, where he played football and basketball. He's fourth out of five boys in his family; one of his older brothers has served a mission. I'm excited to work with him because he is extremely intent on being an obedient and diligent missionary. Our combined lack of experience is, at times, embarrassingly evident, but I suppose this is as good a time as any to learn to allow the grace of God to make up for our inadequacies. I don't think I enjoy the experience of learning a new area. It's nice to meet so many new people, but it's difficult to dive in and start teaching them when I don't fully understand what they have previously been taught or what their prior experiences with the missionaries or with the church have been. We have four or five investigators, but all of them are pretty stagnant. They've been taught all the missionary lessons and, for the most part, read the Book of Mormon regularly but none of them are actively attending church or preparing for baptism. As I meet them, I suppose we'll have to figure out what it is they really want.

This last weekend was Stake Conference down in Midland. As nice as these large conferences are, I'm really ready for a Sacrament meeting, which I haven't attended in 2 weeks. It was fun to meet all the elders in our zone. I think we may very well have the youngest zone in the mission. Among the six of us that spent the night in one of the Midland apartments, we didn't even have two years of experience. Many of the other elders in our zone have only been out a year or so and another companionship is in the same boat as Elder Valentine and me. Sunday morning we had interviews with President Jones. I was very appreciative that he spent a little more time with us than last month. He told us that he had felt strongly impressed to put so many young elders together in our areas and that if we will learn to work by faith, trusting completely in the Lord, He will bless us to find, teach, and baptize. I'll do my best.

When is the BYU-Utah game? I want to try to watch it with some members. I've been getting regular updates on BYU's games from members - that TCU loss made me so sad, especially since Elder Williams is a Utah fan and rubbed it in lots.

Anyways, I like Oscoda, or at least I'm happy to be here. I'm excited to work more and harder than I have thus far. I love you all and I hope things are going well.

Love,Elder Cloward

Petoscoda

2008-11-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

e-mail sent Nov. 3, 2008

Hello everyone!

I love you all and miss you but I am still loving Michigan! The mission fieldis definitely the place to be. The week started out just like any other. Actually, it was probably more boringthan the average week, we didn't really accomplish very much. Thursday night wedid get started with the piano lessons. We had four members there for thelesson and one non-member - he's an exchange student who came with one of themembers. I thought it went pretty well; everyone seemed excited to keeplearning and had plans to tell more friends about the program.

Friday was Halloween, of course, but much more importantly to missionaries inthe MLM, it was transfer-call day. Elder Williams and I both planned on stayingfor another transfer together in Petoskey, since that's frequently how thingsare done. When the zone leaders call in the morning (sometime before 10), youknow that there won't be any changes to your area. Well, we waited around inthe apartment (since we weren't allowed to go anywhere before we got our call)but the zone leaders never called. That wasn't so bad, I thought, it will befun to get a new companion and show him around Petoskey, being almost in-chargesince I know what's going on. Around 1 we did get our call from President Jones and - SHOCKER - I'm the onebeing transferred! Elder Williams is staying in Petoskey (for his thirdtransfer here) and his new companion will be Elder Johansson, who was mycompanion in the MTC. Elder Johansson just spent the last month and half downin Grand Rapids but the lucky dog gets to come spend some time in the celestialkingdom (as President Jones calls it). I'm still hopeful I'll get a little moretime here. If not, I suppose I can always rent a summer home here during themillennium.

I am headed off to Oscoda, a small town on the shores of Lake Huron. I hear theapartment is nice and big AND it has its own washer and dryer (YES!). The areais bigger than Petoskey's and the people are more spread out, but they say it'sa beautiful area, even if not quite as nice as Petoskey (it really doesn't getany better than this). The most surprising news in all of this, however, isthat my companion will be Elder Valentine, who has only been out for twotransfers. Between the two of us we'll only have four and a half months ofexperience. I'm a little bit nervous about it but I'm far more excited thananything. It will be nice to work with someone who hasn't yet absorbed theculture and attitude of the mission and with whom I can learn and experimentfairly freely. I'm glad that President Jones trusts us enough to place ustogether (and I really hope that trust isn't misplaced). Anyway, I'm off to Mt.Pleasant early tomorrow morning, from whence I will head back North to Oscodawith Elder Valentine.

This last Saturday and Sunday we spent down in Kalkaska because of districtconference. We drove down to Kalkaska Friday night, spent Saturday with six ofthe other elders in the zone (playing frisbee golf, which is actually prettyfun) and then went to the adult session of the conference Saturday night. Afterthe general session Sunday morning we headed back to Kalkaska and then back toPetoskey. The conference was really good. My favorite speaker was probably theTemple Matron from the Detroit Temple, Sister Schilling (sp?), who testified ofeternal families. I'm so glad to know I can be with my family forever and thatI can help other families be sealed together as I share with them the gospel ofJesus Christ. The plan our Heavenly Father has for us is perfect!I'm grateful to be a missionary! I have more opportunities to learn and growthan I have ever had in my life! I'm doing my best to use every minute of thistime I've been given.

Life is short; make the most of it!

Love always,Elder Cloward

More Faith in My Savior, More Sense of His Care, More Joy in His Service

2008-10-27T10:40:00.000-06:00

Aloha from rainy Michigan!

Nothing much going on here. I don't think this week was any more exciting than the last. It has been getting cooler as most of the leaves are now on the ground instead of on the trees. This has been a rainy week (it actually hailed yesterday) but no snow yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't come until at least November.

Wednesday we had trade-offs with our district leader and his companion. I spent the day in Charlevoix with Elder Robinson. It was a pretty busy day for them down there, which was nice. I got to meet a lot of neat people but I was kind of sad that I probably won't see any of them again. I suppose we'll have tradeoffs again sometime next transfer, maybe I'll go down to Charlevoix again.

Thursday we had our interviews with President Jones. I had been sort of looking forward to it and was a little disappointed that we only got to talk to him for about 5 minutes each. Since Traverse City is a district and not a stake, President Jones is actually the presiding ecclesiastical leader for the district so he was also going from place to place doing temple recommend interviews, etc. Anyway, he was late in getting to Petoskey and then had to hurry off to Cheboygan and Gaylord.

Also on Thursday we received a visit from two women that Elder Williams knew from when he served in Badaxe in the thumb. They came up with the Midland zone leaders, Elder Mineer and Elder Seely. Elder Mineer knew them because he trained Elder Williams in Badaxe. They were fun; we went out to lunch at Applebee's.

We spent almost the whole day Saturday at training with the Red Cross. Eventually we will be on the DAT (I think it stands for Disaster Aid Team). If there were a single-family fire anywhere in Emmet County, they would call us out to contact the family and see what their needs are and give them whatever the Red Cross is able to provide. It sounds like a neat thing to do. I'm just hoping that once we finish all our training it will end up being worth it. Thankfully, once we have the training, we can go into any chapter (at least in Michigan) and be put on the team.

Tori (our one investigator) bore her testimony in church yesterday (again!). She is amazingly solid. I'm so excited to be teaching her.

Piano lessons are officially starting this Thursday. A lot of the members have said they're intending to come but I don't know if any of them will be bringing other friends from the community, which was sort of the idea. That can come in time, I suppose. I'm a little nervous, especially since it seems like it will be such a mixed class, ranging in age from 6 to 60. We'll see how it goes, I guess.That's about all the news that's anywhere near fit to print (or at least type).

My piano skills are being used frequently (shall I say exploited?). I'm now the Primary Pianist for the branch and I ended up playing the organ yesterday, too. (I way butchered the closing hymn, though, so maybe they won't ask me back.) It's nice to be able to play since I don't ever get to practice during the week. Well, I hope all is well with all of you.

I love you lots!
Elder Cloward

The Wint'ry Day, Decending to it's Close

2008-10-21T14:34:00.000-06:00

An e-mail sent Monday, October 20th

Hello all!

I don't know if you've noticed my pattern of hymn lyrics and titles for subjects but I simply wanted to point out that it is not yet wint'ry here, just a little chilly and currently rather rainy. I just think that hymn has a funny title.

In other news, sorry I didn't email on Thursday. Elder Williams suggested we simply have a Preparation Day (starting about 2) on Thursday and then we'd have the other half today (ending about 2). Going up to the Mackinac bridge was really fun. It's MASSIVE - the longest bridge (5 miles) in the US. We paid the toll to drive across and I took lots of pictures. Half of the road is just a grate - Elder Williams and I stuck our heads out of the window and looked down. It was so sick; you're so high above the water! The trip was fun. We went up with Sherman and Tori (they drove). Tori's our investigator and Sherman's her boyfriend and the Branch President's son.

Nothing particularly eventful happened all week. In our weekly planning session we decided to drop almost all of our "potential investigators" that missionaries have been focusing on for months and even years. None of them are really interested, so we've designated this week as a finding week. Hopefully we'll be starting piano lessons the first week in November and we're also planning a community-outreach stop-smoking clinic. Apparently, that sort of thing has been really successful in the past.

Dad had a bunch of questions that I thought might interest other people. We're supposed to write to the mission president every week but I've only remembered to do it once so far. I'll have to find time to write one today. We haven't had interviews with President Jones yet but he's coming up to Petoskey to do an apartment inspection and to interview us on the 24th. My district leader is Elder Stoddard. He serves with Elder Robinson in Charlevoix. Also in our district are Elder and Sister Horne who serve in Charlevoix as well. We were supposed to have trade-offs with Elders Stoddard and Robinson last Wednesday, but Elder Stoddard was sick so we're probably doing that this Wednesday instead.

I'm not sure how many missionaries serve in my zone. I'd guess 24? I think we're the smallest zone. Our zone leaders serve in Traverse City, although they do almost no proselyting there. Apparently, President Jones has changed the role of zone leaders in our mission a little bit (at least from the way President Edwards did it) so that they only get 14 or 15 days every 6 weeks to spend in their home area. Because of that, a pair of sister missionaries serve in the same area in T.C.

Saturday was a really busy day. Pres. Everest, the Elders Quorum President, picked us up at 8 to help him and Bro. Kintz cut down some trees. Those things were MASSIVE! We cut down one that was over 100 feet tall and probably 7 or 8 feet around. Elder Williams and I had to pull on the lead rope (if that's what you call it) while President Everest and Bro. Kintz went at it with the chainsaw and wedges. It was a split tree, but it had rotted out and was actually split lower than it looked, so when Bro. Everest started cutting it down at the bottom (once it had fallen) the top "tree" fell and gave Elder Williams a pretty good whack on the head. Bro. Everest was cutting big round slices of the tree and having me move them out of the way. They were WAY heavy and I dropped one on my foot. Ouch.

After that, we went to the Christensens (the branch president's family) and helped them take out their hardwood and tile flooring. It was a lot of work, but it was fun. Unfortunately, I injured my foot a little more by stepping on one of those long flooring staples. I'm not sure which injury did the most damage, but my foot's pretty swollen, or at least it was yesterday. It's mostly good today. I had to play the organ in Sacrament Meeting yesterday because Sis. Lindstrom wasn't there. I could barely get my swollen foot in my organ shoes (which are already two sizes too small) but it actually felt really good to have something tight on there, so that was a blessing in disguise. I had thought it would hurt to play the pedals, since it hurts to walk, but it was just fine.

I also spoke in church yesterday. I gave a talk on prayer and I quoted a lot from Elder Bednar (April 2008 and Oct. 2008 Conferences) and from Elder Scott (April 2007 Conference). I told a story from the MTC, when I felt like our prelude singing was an answer to my prayers and I decided to actually sing "I Feel My Savior's Love" instead of just reading the lyrics. I don't know what came over me, maybe it was a bad idea. I'm feeling sort of embarassed about it now but no one has mocked me too badly, so I guess it's all good.

Have I mentioned that the members in our branch are amazing? We had a dinner every night this last week and this week might be the same way. Funny story: We went to the Ellsworths last night for dinner (Bro. Ellsworth is the Branch Mission Leader) and had a delicious homemade chicken pot pie and some ice cream cake (it was also Bro. Ellsworth's birthday). Anyway, after we shared our little message - a fun one in which Elder Williams uses a real alligator - we had a prayer before we left. Bro. Ellsworth asked Sis. Ellsworth to say the prayer. Halfway through her prayer, their little four-year-old, Lillian, stood up and walked over to her mom and started whispering in her ear, just like her mother had done for her when she blessed the food earlier. It was so cute - Sis. Ellsworth said exactly what Lillian told her too. I've never seen a little kid do that before - it was so funny!

Anyway, that's probably a long enough letter, especially considering how non-eventful the week was. Hopefully this next week will be a little more exciting.
Love you all lots and I'm praying for you!

Love,Elder Cloward

Carry on, Carry on, Carry On

2008-10-13T17:27:00.000-06:00

Hello all!

This wasn't a particularly eventful week. Monday was disappointing because we didn't get to go up to the Mackinac Bridge, BUT we should be going on Thursday. We called President Jones last night and got permission to switch our preparation day so we'll have two this week (send any emails by Thursday) and none next week. It's the longest bridge in the US - 5 miles long!

Tuesday we did some more work on Kelly's wall and floor. It's going to need a lot more work. I'm sure glad Elder Williams has worked construction for years (he's even been a foreman!) because I have no idea what we're doing. I just hold things.

Tuesday night we drove down to Kalkaska where we got a ride with Elders Jensen and Harper to the half-mission conference in Mt. Pleasant. We spent the night with the zone leaders there. (Did I mention that Elder Mineer is my grandpa? He trained Elder Williams.) Wednesday morning we met with President and Sister Jones and Elder and Sister Maynes (Elder Maynes is a Seventy and I believe he actually spoke in the last Stake Conference I attended in the Valley Forge Stake). It was fun to see a few of the elders with whom I left the MTC and was a really good conference. Elder Maynes mostly encouraged us to refocus our efforts on baptizing by doing the real work of finding and teaching more. Our mission definitely has room to improve and rumor has it we'll be receiving a somewhat biting letter from President Jones in the next few days. It sounds like Elder Maynes gave him a lot of instruction. (Speaking of President Jones, when we called him last night he was in Palmyra! Elder Williams said President rubbed it in that he had been taught by Elder Bednar in church that morning, held in the Peter Whitmer home, and that they are going to the Palmyra temple tomorrow. President Jones said there's still not much chance that we'll get to go to Detroit or Chicago anytime soon.)Also at the mission tour, we picked up a couple of keyboards that Sis. Brunner and Sis. Kidd brought up from the mission office and the thumb, respectively. Why, you ask? Well, I will, hopefully, soon be teaching piano lessons. Elder Williams asked me to teach him and then thought it might be a great finding activity. We'll be offering free piano lessons one night a week at the church (or something like that) and the only cost is for individuals to buy the Keyboard Course booklet sold by the church.

Friday I taught my second lesson (on baptism, the Sacrament, and the gift of the Holy Ghost) and we had trade-offs with the zone leaders, Elder Rau and Elder Hatch. I spent most of the day knocking doors with Elder Hatch. He's a really great missionary. I wouldn't be upset at all at serving with him in the future, but I think he'd have to stop being a zone leader. I don't think I want to do that, ever.

Saturday, Sister Jones didn't allow us to leave the apartment. It was our semi-annual deep-clean day, which she instituted after doing apartment inspections for the first time. Our apartment was already pretty clean - Elder Williams is at least as obsessed with cleanliness as I am - but now it practically sparkles. We shampooed the carpet, I scrubbed all the walls, we cleaned out the stove, the refrigerator, the microwave, and scrubbed every square inch of the bathroom. It was good. I'm really scared to get a companion that won't clean because I know I'll have one. I guess I did fine with roommates, though.

I think I'm going to be really sad when I have to leave Petoskey. I already feel like a real member of the branch here, partially because it's so small and I really do know everyone already. Still, the members are SO great. We had dinner with the Belfords last night and Brother and Sister Belford entertained us on the guitar and the piano. And (Brother Belford taught me to play the banjo! It's way easy. I think I'm buying one when I get home.) They really reminded me of home.

Anyway, things are going well; I can't believe I'm already halfway done with my first transfer! Petoskey is more beautiful than ever; I think the fall colors are reaching their peak. We went for a walk along the bay yesterday, and it was amazing! And the drive to the Belfords was even more amazing - over rolling, country hills with intermingled farmland and forest! I was pretty much basically in heaven.

Love you lots!
Elder Cloward

There is Hope Smiling Brightly Before Us

2008-10-10T21:12:00.000-06:00

This is from an e-mail Joseph sent on Oct 6 I just took awhile to post it

Well, I've just completed my first full week in Petoskey. Since you all seem curious to know a little bit more about the area, I guess I can start with that. From what I understand, our area goes West to Bay Harbor, South to the Charlevoix county line, East to the Cheboygan county line and north to Cross Village. Petoskey isn't quite as small as the census would suggest because the town limits are actually pretty small. Right next door (literally) is the town of Bay View, I think it's called, and Harbor Springs, Walloon, and Boyne City are just a couple of miles away. All the areas in between seem as densely populated as rural farmland is apt to be, so, rural as the area is, it doesn't feel anything like Holden or Fillmore. Maybe it's just all the trees though.To be honest, mom, I can't answer any of your questions about the city of Petoskey. I don't know if I've really been to the downtown area or not. Actually, I'm positive I've driven through it (I think it's about one square block) but I didn't notice any tunnels.

I'm glad to hear your trip went well. It sounds like you had a lot of fun. I'm surprised to hear that the leaves were all still green. They're changing pretty nicely here, although it's not as impressive as I had hoped because there are so many evergreens this far north. (Incidentally, driving up to Petoskey we passed the 45th parallel - I'm closer to the North Pole than to the equator!)

This past week has been pretty good. On Tuesday, I met one of our investigators. We helped her move (out of our area) but didn't end up having any time to teach her. We may still be visiting her, even though she's in the Cheboygan area now, because she's only spending the winter there and is keeping her house in Alanson. She, like a lot of people I've met, can't afford to heat their homes this winter. She's just lucky to have a friend she can spend the winter with in Indian River.

We've also been working with a recent convert (and former Strangite). We went to her home yesterday to tear out some mold-infested dry wall, hoping to replace it so her home would be fit to live in, but discovered that the mold is also in the flooring, making the situation a whole lot messier.

We helped a branch member, move. He, like lots of others, is living with another family to save them all money. Perhaps that sort of thing is more common than I had ever realized or maybe it's just a Michigan thing.

I got to teach my first lesson this week! Thursday night we visited Tori and taught her about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life and the importance of prophets in preparation for General Conference weekend. Elder Williams tells me not to expect many of my teaching appointments to be as easy as those with Tori. For the most part, teaching her was just like the simulations we did in the MTC.

General Conference was awesome! We had two elders from Kalkasska, where there is no church building, come spend the weekend with us. It was fun to have more than just the two of us. In conference, I especially enjoyed President Uchtdorf's priesthood session talk. I think his suggestion to "lift where you stand" was exactly what I needed. I also loved Elder Bednar's talk on prayer and Sister Dalton's talk on virtue. And Elder Holland's talk. And ALL of them! I think I finally get why dad always says "I can't believe it's already over" on Sunday night. I'd always thought he was just feeling a little goofy after the ten hours of church or something

Well, my time's almost up, but I love you all and trust that you are doing well. May God bless you always!

Love,Elder Cloward

Greetings From Paradise!

2008-10-03T10:52:00.000-06:00

From an e-mail sent Sep. 29th

Well, after the last day and a half in the MTC, we were all shipped off to Michigan on Wednesday. Funny story from Cincinnati - we had a really quick layover and none of us really felt up to giving out a pass-along card. The one elder who did, Elder Barney, was about ready to give one to the man sitting next to him, when the man actually turned to him and asked Elder Barney where we were all headed and then explained that he had served his mission in South America somewhere. Those darn mormons are everywhere!

Anyway, we got into Grand Rapids about 4 Wednesday afternoon and were greeted at the airport by President and Sister Jones and the three assistants: Elder Kunz, Elder Sweat, and Elder Belliston. After a few pictures (which you should get in the mail sometime soon), we loaded into a couple vans and drove about an hour to Lansing. That evening we did a little bit of orientation with the assistants, had a pizza dinner, and went to bed a little early. The next morning, we headed over to the Stake Center a couple of blocks away for more orientation. There we met the office staff - Elder and Sister Brunner, Sister Fredline, and Sister Rogers, who told us all about how we should spend money wisely, take care of our mission vehicles, etc. and then we went over into the gym where the President announced where we'd be going and who our trainers would be.

The night before, he had actually told us what the possibilites were and who would be training, but we met all the trainers Thursday at the church. He had them step out one by one and tell a little bit about their areas and then he would assign one of the new Elders to the area. My training companion is Elder Weston Williams of Elko, Nevada and we are serving in Petoskey (pronounced puh-TOSS-key), Michigan! After lunch, we went and picked up our stuff at the mission home, dropped by the mission office to have my driver license copied, and then headed up to Mt. Pleasant where we would spend the night. We were met there by Elder Mineer and Elder Seely, the zone leaders for the Midland zone (which I believe covers the area of the Midland Stake). We went with them to a dinner appointment with a really nice family there in Mt. Pleasant. After dinner we went to Wal-Mart to get a pillow and blanket for me and then we went for a run on the track at CMU (Central Michigan University).

Anyway, Friday morning we were picked up by a Petoskey branch member, Bro. Rutterbush, who is actually the first counselor in the branch presidency. It was about a two-and-a-half hour drive up to Petoskey but it was really nice. The leaves are just starting to change and this is truly a beautiful part of the country. Literally EVERYONE has told me I'm really lucky to be starting out in Petoskey, which everyone calls the paradise of the mission. It's a beautiful coastal town and a major Michigan tourist attraction, although the tourist season is mostly over with winter coming on. I'm especially lucky to be in the only part of Michigan with hills. Elder Williams has told me not to get used to it - everywhere else he has served (Badaxe, Battlecreek, and Cass City) is completely flat so that you can never see over the trees. Fun fact: The home at which the final scene of Gone With the Wind is filmed is in Petoskey! I have, in fact, driven by it about a hundred times already!

The branch here in Petoskey is pretty strong. In the summer they have a large crowd but it has apparently dwindled. I'd say there were probably thirty people there yesterday. The members are fantastic though. I've had a chance to meet a lot of them already. So far, I've only had to feed myself for breakfast, so they definitely take care of our temporal needs. We've had a chance to do some service, helping out Bro. Law and the Ellsworths - Bro. Ellsworth is the branch mission leader. Yesterday I also met our investigator, Tori. She's dating Sherman, the branch president's son, and has said she wants to be baptized. She even bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon in Sacrament meeting yesterday! I also got a chance to meet the two converts that were baptized over the last two transfers - Brandt and Kelly. We taught Kelly one of the new member lessons yesterday with Bro. Ellsworth.

I haven't had a chance to knock doors or do any kind of street contacting yet, which I can't say I'm too disappointed about. Apparently, President Jones has actually asked that we do very little door-knocking, simply because it's completely ineffective here in Michigan. I guess we're supposed to come up with more creative methods of finding.We did, however, leave the apartment last night with the intent to do some door-knocking. We were going to walk around and look for a street that we felt good about working on and on our walk we stopped at the pier since I hadn't really seen Lake Michigan yet. Gorgeous! Anyway, we were looking for some Petoskey stones (fossilized coral found only here and in the Middle East somewhere) when a man walking toward us called out "Hey, Elders!" It turns out that his daughter is a member, married to a return-missionary, and seeing as his family had just finished a turkey dinner, he invited us in to have some. They were on vacation from Midland. We ended up just eating and chatting for fifteen minutes because we had to hurry to get to our actual dinner appointment with the Belfords, after which we were STUFFED! I don't know if I can handle two dinners every night without getting super fat.

Anticipating your possible questions, this is almost entirely a car mission. There are 60 cars for 70 missionary companionships and we are one of the many companionships with a full-time vehicle. It's an '07 Malibu (only the Sisters get to drive '08s). It's 100% necessary because ours is a pretty large area and definitely rather rural. For instance, we had (our real) dinner at the Belford's farm last night out in Boyne city - a good 20-minute drive, but in beautiful country. Driving out over those rolling, verdant hills was breathtaking. I can't wait for fall to hit in full force. It will be terrific!

Sorry for the length of my epistle. I am doing well and enjoying Petoskey so far. I do sort of feel like we should be working harder, though. I'm not exactly sure how we would do that though. Everyone tells us to "work hard, but work smart". I guess I'll figure that out in time.
Love you all,
Elder Joseph Cloward