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