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
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Book of Mormon
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
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
Monday, January 11, 2010
More Cookies
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.
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.
Monday, January 4, 2010
The White Witch
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
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
Monday, December 28, 2009
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
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
Monday, December 21, 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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