Second Week Training

!Hola! ¿Qué tal?

A lot of amazing and also difficult things happened this week. Everything that happened really strengthened my testimony that this is God´s work and that He loves me. He is growing me really fast!

We had divisions with another Elder while his companion went to a meeting. For a whole day, I was with two missionaries that just arrived 2 weeks ago. That was super exciting! Super training day!

About halfway through the week, I started to lose my voice. That was really scary because my companion is still learning how to speak and still doesn´t understand enough to have conversations. For two days, I could barely talk, but I didn´t lose my voice entirely. I whispered to my companion when I could to keep from losing my voice. 

Fortunately, I am better now, especially now that I drank honey and lemon with water. It was kind of nasty, but it helped. I am so grateful for my voice! It is such a blessing to be able to speak with others.

Today, my companion and I bought hats. It´s starting to get hot and sunny again.

On Sunday, I was given a surprise talk on purity about 5 minutes before the meeting started. As I looked in the guide to the scriptures and read the definition, I realized that personal purity is a key part to our purpose here as God´s children. Our ultimate goal is to be pure, or perfect, free from sin, even as Jesus, or our Father in heaven, is perfect. We alone cannot be perfect because every day we make mistakes that keep us from returning to God. But through the Atonement of Christ, we can be me made pure. He suffered for our errors and our pains so that we do not have to suffer. Al we have to do is accept Him by living the gospel, through faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end. As we accept Him and keep His commandments, we become free from sin and have His promise that we will always have His spirit to be with us. I felt the spirit testify through me, just like I do now, that the things I was saying were God´s words, not mine. How could I have stood up to give a talk in another language that I had only prepared for five minutes? I know that God works through us as we have diligent desires to serve and love. He makes us bigger as we seek to serve those around us. I love Him!

Tuco- noodles with salsa = really tasty!

Please pray for Brian (11) and David (8). They are brothers that want to be baptized. Their father, Oscar, is a member, but is struggling to come back to church. Thanks!

Have a happy week! Remember to serve and to love!

Elder Cloward

First Week Training

¡Hola!

My new companion Elder Phillips! He´s from Salt Lake city Utah.

Hello everyone! I am now in Goya in the best area of the mission. The city is exciting, the pension feels like a hotel, it´s so nice, and the people in our area are really receptive. The only hard part is that we have to walk about 30 minutes to get to our area. Also, I´m training! Elder Phillips, my new companion, is from Salt Lake City Utah. He´s really great and I can tell we are going to have a great transfer! Already, we have been a great help to the small branch here.

A foggy Sunday morning. Goya is a big bustling city with big buildings close together.

We gave a priesthood blessing to two of the sister´s investigators and they really felt the spirit strongly. Then, a few days later, one of them was baptized. My companion got to baptize her, which was amazing because he doesn't know how to speak very well yet. We also gave a blessing to a member in the hospital. The work is moving fast here and I hope we can keep up!

My companion got to baptize an investigator of the sisters here. That was a great experience for his fourth day in Argentina!

I will have to tell more next week. I am happy and well here and excited for the challenge.

We have a great view from the roof. This chapel has a tower that rings every hour, and once every half hour, like a coo-coo clock.

Have a great week! Do exciting good things out of your comfort zone and you will find it is easier than you think!

Elder Cloward

¡Me Voy a Goya!

¡Hola todos!

I have good news! This transfer... I am training! President Franco called us and told my companion and I that we are both going to be training new Elders this transfer. I am going to Goya in Corrientes. We are doing a "white wash," meaning that we go in to the area not knowing anything or anyone. I am excited for this new assignment and can´t wait to get to know the members in Goya. I´m sure going to miss everyone I met here.

I am going to miss going to Las Toscas. I serving Alejandra and Milagros and helping them be baptized. They are very strong!

This week, we focused a lot on inactive members, and found a whole bunch of new people to teach. We found a family with nine children who already have children of their own. We got to teach four or five of these children about the Book of Mormon. There was a glow in their eyes as they listened. They were all very young, but they listened attentively as we taught about how Joseph Smith receive an answer to his prayer and that they can too. 

A really great family we are helping to come back to church. They came this past Sunday. We are so happy for them!

We also found another large family that came to church this past Sunday for the first time in years. They just needed some support and someone to invite them back and they came. We also visited a family that missionaries have been trying to help come back to church for four years. They came on Sunday. It was probably one of the happiest sacrament meetings I have ever attended, as several families came back to church. The chapel was more full than it has been in several months and the talks, suggested by the first presidency, seemed specifically for them. It was so incredible!

God loves us. He knows us personally. Christ has experienced everything hard that we go through. They call us as their children to serve and save. I am awed at times that They trust me to call their precious children back. However, we don´t need to be afraid, because as we listen to the Holy Ghost, we will know and do what God wants. We will be happy and those we help too. Serve as best as you can in your own capacity and your own area and do all you can to help everyone to be happy.

Elder Cloward