Trade-offs and a Grass Skirt

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?

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!

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)

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

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!

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

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