Listen, Listen to the Still Small Voice

¡Hola!

Thank you for all of your prayers and emails. You all are great!

The branch mission leader Sebastian. He just turined 26!

We had a really exciting week and are starting to see great progress in the area. We found some new promising investigators. One family, the Biaz family accepted us very well and the mother is full of questions for us. They felt the spirit as we taught about the Book of Mormon and want to know more. A few days later, we passed by to invite her to church. She would have come if it hadn´t rained. She said, though, that she is reading the Book of Mormon and really likes it so far, but that she had some questions. When we taught her the last time, we told her it is "a rule" we have that someone without a tie says the first prayer and someone with a tie says the last prayer. She didn´t get that it was a joke so when we passed by, she asked us why that was a rule. That was pretty silly!

It rained hard Saturday night and on through Sunday. There were only eight people at church, five of us being missionaries. That was an interesting experience. We´ve got some work to do to strengthen the members here, and we´ve already started working more closely with the Elders Quorum president, Presidente Escobar. He and his wife have only been members for about a year, but they are very active in the church. Presidente Escobar told me that if he´s not doing something every day to strengthen the church, he feels empty. He is an incredible example to me!

Walking to church on a rainy day. There were only 8 people that attended because the rain was so strong.

We had two really great opportunities to teach large groups of young children. It is one of my favorite things to do on the mission. At one time, I got to teach five to six young boys (ages 8-11) the ten commandments using hand signals to remember them. They enjoyed it so much and asked us when we would be coming back. Another time, we got to do an experiment with about six to seven young girls (ages 10-12) using yerba (kind of like tea leaves), soap and a bowl of water. We taught that as we got to church, we keep ourselves clean of the dirtiness of the world. They loved getting their fingers dirty in the yerba and watching the soap repel the leaves away from their fingers. I love children because they listen so closely and the lessons have to be powerful and brief to keep their attentions.

My companions bottle cap collection. Currently, he and I have collected about 242 bottle caps. It´s a fun thing to do while walking from place to place.

Many times this week, we missed really important opportunities and didn´t get to help people because we were late, or spent too much time with other people. I am glad this is God´s work, and that as I do my best, He makes up the difference. I love Him and I know He loves us! He guides us every day to find people who are prepared to listen. One day, we were walking past a family and I noticed that a young boy and girl were trying to get a ball out of the ditch with a stick. I went over an pulled it out for them and waved at their mom. We kept going on, but after a few blocks, I felt more and more that we needed to go back and share a message with the family. We did return and found that the ball was in the ditch again. I felt like time had rewound as I pulled the ball out of the water again and then asked the mom if we could share a message. She accepted and we had a very spiritual lesson. As we seek to recognize, understand, and obey the promptings of the Holy Ghost, God works through us to bless His children. I am so very grateful for the experiences He has given me that have made it possible to understand the Spirit and how it communicates with me.

Do all that you can this week to listen and obey promtings you may receive. Sometimes it may be difficult, but it will always be right and good. You will feel a powerful peace that God is happy with you.

Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

A Representative of Jesus, A Representative of Happiness

¡Hola!

We had a multi-zone conference this week in Resistencia. Our mission has been focusing on using the Book of Mormon more to invite people to action. President Franco, our mission president, has challenged each of us to invite our investigators to be baptized, inviting them three times using three different scriptures. At first I was a bit skeptical, but in the meeting, we got to see some missionaries do a practice with President Franco and his wife. In the practice, "Hermana Franco" said yes after being invited once, but for "President Franco," he still wasn´t certain after the three invitations. Eventually, he did accept and we all cheered. It was kind of a silly practice, but at the same time, there was a strong spirit there that was so happy! Since then, I have been trying to apply the same principle in our lessons, and we are seeing miracles because of it. I know that our leaders are inspired by God.

After the meeting, we started back in our little bus-van that we rented, but it quickly broke down. We had to wait at a gas station for three hours while a new bus came. We didn´t make it back until 2:30 AM! We were pretty tired the next few days but God helped us to recover quickly. What an adventure!

I´m happy here! I haven´t had my camera around with me as much because our area gets pretty dark at night.

We started praying for miracles in our area. It is only through miracles that missionary work is possible. We have been working hard, but teach many fewer people here than my past areas.

On Friday, we were guided to a man who talked to the missionaries a long time ago, but never joined the church. He has since separated from his family and feels very lonely. We taught a very spiritual lesson (using the method) and he has great desires to change and be baptized. He is going to have a hard time giving up smoking and drinking, but he wants to stop. It was a miracle!

My companion and me in the plaza.

We also met another lady whose children got baptized, but she didn´t get to. She also wants to be baptized. Both of these people have a lot of obstacles, but we are excited to help them. Yay!

Today, I spent most of the day cleaning mold off our beds. We should be mold free!

This is a difficult time to be a missionary here, but also an exciting one! We have to give our all and try new methods to help more effectively the people. Sometimes it leaves us pretty tired. However I know that this work is God´s. I am happy to serve Him and His children.

As missionaries, our purpose is to invite others come unto Christ by helping them to accept His gospel and apply it in their lives. The change is hard, but always brings greater happiness. I am happy to be a representative of Jesus, a representative of happiness. As members of the church, you too are representatives of Jesus. Find at least one thing you can do differently this week to better represent Him.

Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

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

God´s Merciful Plan of Happiness - Transfers!

¡Hola!

This is the last week of the transfer again. Next week I will be writing on Tuesday. I have no idea whether I will stay or go, whether I will train, or be a leader; it´s a really exciting time for a missionary. However, more missionaries are coming, so it is very likely that there will be more missionaries in Avellaneda. I am happy about that.

I had divisions with Elder Bess again. We visited Lilia and Julio, a couple that he and his companion started teaching at the very beginning of his mission.

There are some really beautiful places here in Argentina.

Some really great things are happening here, and the work feels slow and fast at the same time. We taught an older lady about prayer this week. She doesn´t always seem to understand us very well, and her family isn´t very interested in listening to us, but we have felt that we should keep teaching her. We taught her this week how to pray. She can´t read, so it was difficult and I didn´t know if she was going to understand, but at the end, she gave a beautiful prayer and understood perfectly. That made me really happy!

A goofy picture. We are happy that it is p-day!

We went back to Las Toscas again, for the first time this transfer. Alejandra and Milagros were happy to see us. Depending on what happens for transfers, it may have been the last time I will ever see them. They are really amazing people!

Las Toscas

We met a really great man on the bus back who happily accepted a Book of Mormon. He was really curious about what we do and was surprised and grateful when we offered him the book. That was a happy encounter.

We also got to have interviews with President Franco, the mission president, this week. I always learn so much from him. Sometimes I learn things even just being in the same room as him. He taught us about using the Book of Mormon to invite people to come closer to Christ and keep His commandments. I have begun to study the Book of Mormon by topics so that I can better teach in this way. It is really fun!

The route going through Reconquista

I am grateful for God´s merciful plan of happiness. We all make mistakes and by ourselves, we come short. But through Christ, we can reach our potential and be who God wants us to be. Through the Atonement of Christ, all things will be made right. As we do all that we can, we accept Christ and His sacrifice. I love Him! Do all that you can to show your love for Him this week!

Elder Cloward

I got two really good Argentine bird books today. They are probably the best books that exist for Argentine birds, just stuffed with information of each species... and in Spanish! 

Unforgetable Memories

¡Hola todos!

We had some very unique experiences this week, not all of which I will be able to relate. It was a week full of spiritual experiences, testimony builders, and unforgettable memories.

A picture of a part of the center of the city.

On Saturday, I focused on strengthening my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I prayed that God would help me know if he was a prophet. Then I read out loud his experience when he prayed and saw God and Jesus Christ. I felt good and happy and I realized that my prayer had been answered, just as God had answered Joseph. I am glad God hears and answers our prayers. Later that evening, we spent all of our time trying to find new people to teach. We didn´t have a single lesson, which doesn´t happen very often. As the night was coming to a close, I prayed that I would be able to share with someone my testimony of the Book of Mormon and give them a copy. I did get to share my testimony: "The Book of Mormon is one of the most important books in the whole world. I know that as you read it, you will have greater peace and happiness in your live and in your family. I know this is true because I have seen many blessings in my live and in my family."

Us with a great member family here. They made empanadas for us!

Not very many people accepted us, but a realized for myself how important the Book of Mormon is to me.

I gained a greater testimony of following spiritual promptings. Sometimes what we feel prompted to do doesn´t make sense, but I learned that as I follow these promptings, I am more at peace and I don´t have to regret missing an opportunity to do good.

This week, we got an order for all of the missionaries in our zone who wanted alfajores and on Friday, we went to the alfajor factory to buy some boxes. We didn´t get to see any alfajores being made, but it was a fun experience because afterward, we were running all over the city with 6 boxes of alfajores (144 alfajores to be exact)! That was fun.

Six boxes of alfajores, 24 in each box. An alfajor is a treat composed of soft cookies "glued" together with dulce de leche. They are a lot cheaper when we buy them at the factory and are really delicious

Too much sugar.

Yesterday, I got a little sick. We left in the afternoon to go work, and I prayed to God that, if it was His will, I could stay out all night, or at least long enough to teach one person. We did get to teach someone, a really great man in his 80´s. He shared with us some really amazing experiences he has had in his life and some really hard things too. We began to teach him about the plan of salvation, God´s plan for us in this life. I was doing fine, right until the end of the lesson. I started to feel really dizzy and cold. I started to ask the man if I could use his bathroom, but it was already too late. I felt really bad, because I was sick, but also because we hardly knew the man. He was very understanding and kind. It was a funny experience that I don´t think I will forget. I hope he lets us go teach him again. I got some good rest and I´m doing a lot better today.

We are having good success here in spite of our weaknesses. It is a hard but happy work and I am learning to enjoy it even more. Thank you for your prayers. Where ever you may be, listen to the Holy Ghost and share the gospel with everyone. I promise that you will be more grateful and happy for your efforts.

¡Que tenga una buena semana!

Elder Cloward