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

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