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
Monday, December 28, 2009
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.
Monday, December 14, 2009
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
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
Monday, December 7, 2009
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
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
Monday, November 30, 2009
On the Third Day of Thanksgiving the Williams Gave to Me...
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!
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!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Three's Company
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.
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.
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