¡Una hola a todos!

We found so many new people to teach this past week, and most of them were big families! We are excited to keep teaching them.

 

There were several disappointments and some amazing learning experiences. Lilia and Julio are some investigators her that have been investigators for almost two years. They come to church almost every Sunday and are basically members. They are waiting so that Lilia can get a divorce so they can both get married and be baptized, but the papers have already taken nearly a year. This week, they were so close, but then they found out that they need another signature and have to wait at least another week. It´s really hard for all of us to wait so long, but we trust God has a plan for them. Lilia´s mother came to church last Sunday for the first time and she loved it! We went and taught her twice and she loved everything we taught. However, on Saturday, Lilia sent us a message that her Mom doesn't want us to teach her anymore. That was really sad and really hard for Lilia too. We hope to go at least one more time to help her mother overcome her doubts and not fear the changes that will come.

We made pizza! Mmm...

 

This week I have been praying for charity. Moroni in the Book of Mormon, says that charity, the pure love of Christ, is a gift from God. I want to have greater desires to serve and teach others, not just because I should or because I am a missionary, but because I love them and want them to be happy. There were several lessons we taught this week where I noticed a huge difference when I loved the people and wanted to help them and others when I was just telling them what I know about Christ´s church. Both are good, but when I have love for those I teach, the Holy Ghost is the teacher and we all feel more peace and happiness.

 

Another divisions picture from a few weeks ago. We are standing in a field in Avellaneda.

For example, yesterday, we found a new family to teach. We taught Susana and three of her 14 children. Her three children were all 9 years or younger. They all sat in their own chairs and listened as we taught the restoration. My companion began to teach to the mother and I felt the impression to teach to her children and to be very simple. I taught them what everyone does when we pray and then I told them, pointing to a picture, "this is Jesus! When we do what he says, we are happy. I love Him!" I knew then as I know now that He is my savior and I do love Him!

 

The children loved the lesson, especially since I gave them some paper and they all tried to draw Jesus. He is the center of our message and we should never forget Him, especially in our daily lives when other things seem more important, but really aren't.

 

A young boy with his pet bunny. It was funny watching him run all over the place trying to catch it.

This week, I also realized again how important church is, especially for those who are investigating the church. If these people to come to church, they can´t receive the blessings of baptism, of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the Temple, or any of the other blessings God is waiting to give them. It´s the same for members of the church too. The blessings of church attendance are worth infinitely more than anything else we can do on a Sunday. Infinitely more, because when we do, God blesses us abundantly and we come so much closer to our ultimate goal to live with Him with our families after this life. As my dad always said, people have a two-second decision to make every Sunday. They have to decide to get up out of their warm beds and go out into the cold or rain or heat and go to church, or just keep sleeping. Our job as missionaries and members is to make that decision easier for others so that in those two seconds, they chose to get up. This week, we did all we could, but not very many people came to church, especially because it was so cold. It´s a good thing we have next week to try again!

 

Alejandra is doing much better. She is out of the hospital and recovering in her home. We have a Skype call with her in an hour. She may be baptized this week with her daughter, but we still don´t know. Keep praying for her. She says she really appreciates all of your prayers!

¡Que tenga una buena semana!

Elder Cloward

A busy week as fall rolls in

¡Hola todos!

This past week was the last week of the transfer. For this next transfer, Elder Felkins and I are staying in Avellaneda. We are super excited to work hard, especially because this is Elder Felkins´ last transfer.

It´s fall here! Lots of leaves and it´s getting colder.

We did a lot of traveling. We went to Las Toscas again to teach Alejandra. We taught her and her daughter the 10 commandments with hand signals to help them to remember them. They loved it a lot! I wish I could share some of them, they´re really funny and clever.

There´s a house here with two pet ostriches. Crazy!

We also had a muli-zone meeting and got to hear from the mission president and Elder Salas, one of the seventy. I learned that even as missionaries, it´s important that we practice every day during our studies to teach more effectively. I also learned how important it is that the missionaries and members work together. When the early Saints were building the Salt Lake temple, they had to carry the huge blocks to the temple on a difficult 4 day trip. Brigham young then had a train track built that could transport each of the blocks in just hours. However, the people cutting out the bricks had to stop working so they could work on the railroad. Sometimes the things we need to do as missionaries seem to not make sense at first. No one will be working on the temple if we build a railroad! If we teach the already active members, we won´t be teaching investigators. But the truth is, when the missionaries and members work together, the work becomes faster and more efficient.

We made polenta! It´s a kind of corn paste with red sauce. The corn was pretty tasteless, but the red sauce was really good!

We taught Samuel the story of Samuel the Laminite from the Book of Mormon. We had him act it out. He got up on a chair and started waving a big shovel in the air as Elder Felkins and I threw stuff at him. All the while, his older brother narrated the story, oblivious to the chaos. It was super funny!

We met a bunch of new people to teach the last few days, including a small family of 4. I´ll give you an idea of some of the people we teach. The mother went back to Secundaria (high school) to finish and the father works at a meat factory and catches birds as pets for fun. It was super cool to see all of his birds. They have two young daughters. One of their daughters hurt her head really bad yesterday and we have been praying for her. Her name is Ariana. We are excited to teach them about how Christ´s teachings bless the family.

There were so many miracles that happened this week, but I can´t share everything. My favorite part of the week was when I got to Skype my family for mother´s day. They are all so happy and it made me so happy to see them. They had some really great questions and helped me want to keep working hard. I loved speaking in Spanish to them and teaching them a lesson about the importance of daily prayer and scripture study. These things are a protection to us from Satan. Just like mosquito spray, they have to be applied each day to protect us from the sicknesses of the world that can hurt us.

I know that God lives. I know that He loves me! I have felt His love very strongly this week. I know that when we obey Him, we are happy and other people are too. Families can be together forever. I am here to bring this message to all and help them receive these blessings.

Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

Samuel´s baptism and some miracles!

¡Hola!

This week was incredible! God helped us accomplish His work and there were many miracles!

Early in the week, we found some new prepared investigators, a young father and mother that are interested in the church. We found Valeria, the mother, on a bus on the way to Las Toscas. They have a 2 year old daughter. We are excited to keep teaching them.

 

Me and a cow.

On Friday, we went to Las Toscas again to teach Alejandra and her daughter Milagros. Alejandra is incredible. She reads the Book of Mormon whenever she has a spare moment, which is almost always because she doesn´t have a job and stays home most of the time. She has already read all the way through Mosiah and parts of Alma. But last week she got really sick. She told us something was wrong with her heart, and that the doctors don´t know what happened yet. When we went to teach her, we taught her about the priesthood, the power God has given to man to do His work on earth. We shared the story of the Book of Mormon when Christ visits the people in America and heals each of them from their sicknesses. We invited her to receive a priesthood blessing. We explained that what was said in a priesthood blessing was not from us, but from God, and that she could be healed according to her faith. I felt the spirit really strongly with her and we could feel how strong her faith is. I gave her the blessing. It was an incredible experience, and reminded me when I gave a priesthood blessing to my Mom right before she left on a long trip. I didn´t know at first if I was worthy to give a blessing, but the Spirit told me that I was and God filled my mind with what I should say. It was so happy to serve her!

 

A really big soy bean field. We use it as a short cut to one of our investigators.

Me, Samuel, and Branco (7), who wasn´t baptized, but wanted to be in the picture. He is the son of some of our investigators.

Then, on Saturday, we had Samuel´s baptism. We took him and his brother early to the chapel to get everything set up. That was when we started having problems. We wanted to heat up the water for the baptism, but the heater was broken and the gas pipes had a leak, so we couldn't get the stove to work either. We also couldn't make the chocolate cake we had planned. We ended up sending the cake to the other Elders to make and we left the water cold. We were all super excited and a little bit crazy before the baptism, but when the service started and we were all in white, I felt calm. I got to sit by Samuel and Jona, a 17 year old investigator of the Sisters who also asked me to baptize him. I really loved talking to them about the importance of the promise they were making with God and seeing how ready Jona was to be baptized. Agustin, Samuel´s brother, gave a short talk and then we all went to the baptismal font. 

Samuel´s baptism.

 

I got in first and nearly jumped right back out because of how cold it was. I started breathing really fast and felt like I was on fire. But I quickly overcame my fear. I remembered when I was baptized and how incredible it was it stand with my dad, as I stood with Jona and Samuel in the water. I baptized Jona first. When he came out of the water, he was so cold, but so happy. I could see how he had changed.

 

Jonathan (17), an investigator of the Sisters who asked me to baptize him.

Samuel was next and it was so cold, he jumped of the last step into my arms. He was shivering as I said the prayer. I felt the spirit strongly that what I was doing was right. I put him slowly under the water and he came out freezing and excited!

 

Samuel, right after his baptism. It was cold!

Jona and Samuel made a promise, being baptized, to keep God´s commandments, always remember Christ, and take Christ´s name upon them. I am so happy that I could be a part of their decision. It fills me with joy!

 

Samuel received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. He was at first nervous, but I could tell that during the prayer, just like I did when I received the Holy Ghost, he felt it. The Holy Ghost is a guide he now has for the rest of his life if he remains worthy. What a blessing God´s plan is for His children!

Have a happy week and make good decisions!

 

 Elder Cloward

 

Today, all four of us got a kilo of Ice cream! They had it on a good deal of 2 kilos for 100 pesos ($17.5).

¡Una semana feliz!

¡Hola todos!

It´s still raining, can you believe it? Fortunatly, it stopped just long enough for Sunday. People here don´t come to church on rainy Sundays.

 

We had some really great experiences this week trying to reach our weekly goals. We put a weekly goal to have 9 investigators who excepted a day for their baptisms. For nearly the whole week, we invited everyone we could to be baptized, and nearly everyone of them accepted! I know that God made it posible to reach this goal. Now we get to help all of these people prepare themselves to reach their goals.

 

Soup!

We found a few really prepared investigators too. One day, we felt prompted to visit one of the members, even though we only had 30 minutes left until lunch. As we were walking, a man called to us. He invited us to come to his house and teach him the following day. When we came, he was super excited to see us. We taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon, which he understood perfectly. He said "this book is going to be my guide so that I can return to God." Sometimes, phrases like that that our investigators say strike me. That IS what the Book of Mormon is for. It´s another testimony to me that what I am doing is right and true.

 

We had interviews again with the President Franco, the mission president. I learned so much from him and I can´t wait to apply it.

 

We are continuing to work with Samuel,  our 11 year old investigator. He asked me last week if I would baptize him and I said I would. Using some ideas from my Dad, we gave him a calendar to help him see how many days are left until his baptizm, and to remember to pray and read the Book of Mormon. We also played the Name Game (or in Spanish, pronounced Na-meh Ga-meh). He and his siblings had 3 minutes to write down as many names of people they knew as posible. They got a huge list together! Afterward, we invited them to invite these people to Samuel´s baptism. What a great idea!

 

Samuel our 11 year old investigator who asked me to baptize him this week!

 His baptism is this Saturday. Please pray that he can keep preparing himself and that he can make it that day. I´m so excited for him!

¡Que tenga una semana feliz!

Elder Cloward

It´s not our work, it´s yours

¡Hola todos!

Still raining here. We haven´t seen a dry day since last Saturday!

Last Monday, we had a family home evening and taught them how to make pancakes. That was really fun and they loved them enough to buy a new pan so they could make them again. I taught that our lives are like the pancakes: we start as just the mix and just as it takes extreme heat to make pancakes, we become better through trials and dificulties.

Family home evening.

Making pancakes.

 We are still teaching Samuel, the ll year old I mentioned last time. He came to church again yesterday and he is getting ready for his baptism in a few weeks. We pray that he will understand what we teach him and that he will be ready for his baptism day.

Out in the middle of nowhere.

I learned a lot of important things about Christ and His gospel that I wouldn´t have learned if I hadn´t come on my mission. There is a common phrase here that translates to "there´s only one God. I believe all churches are good because they teach about the same God." While this is true, they can´t all be the true church of God because they all teach different things and God is not a god of disorder. We have to find Christ´s church that he established when he was on the earth, because it is the only way by which we can return to live with Him. We find His church by studying Christ´s life, reading the scriptures and praying to God to know what is true. I invite each of you to read the Book of Mormon and then pray to know that it is true. I promise that if you want to know the truth and do what the truth requires, God will answer you.

Our friends in Las Toscas.

Keep praying that God´s work will go forth and that those who are ready will find the truth. Use the missionaries as a tool to help your friends come closer to Christ. It´s not our work, it´s yours and we are here to help you! Remember, your responsibility is to invite. Whatever the outcome, you will be doing your best if you invite others to act.

Have a happy week! I hope all is more dry where you are than it is here!

Ice cream! Goal for this week achieved!

Elder Cloward

A Week of Miracles!

What an incredible week!

It rained every single day this week, starting past Saturday, and it hasn't stopped. It´s made things quite exciting!

 

I had my birthday party Tuesday in a member´s home. We invited a bunch of people and most of them came. I got to share my favorite scripture with all of them (Alma 17:8-11). It made me really happy to teach about the power of prayer. They made me a chocolate cake. They stuck this crazy firework candle in it. I didn't know if I was supposed to blow it out, or what, it was crazy! It was one of my favorite birthday parties ever!

 

The crazy chocolate cake the members made me. I didn´t know what to do with that candle!

Friends at my birthday party.

There was a baptism on Saturday and the Sister missionaries invited me give one of the talks at the last moment. I kept it very simple and felt the Holy Ghost speak through me to the man who was being baptized. It was a very happy day for him and I am glad I could be a part of it. 

 

Vero invited her friend to come to the baptism and he loved it. The next day we past by his house and taught him about the church and God´s plan for him. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! The work is moving very fast here and it is incredible! I am so happy to be God´s servant here. Thank you for all of your prayers. I know that God loves me and loves each of you. He wants you to know that. Wherever you may be, He is there to give you a hug if you just go to Him. Keep doing your best and serve others and He will be there for you.

 

Samuel (11) a young investigator we helped get to church this Sunday. It was raining so hard, but he came and enjoyed it!

Have a fantastic week!

Elder Cloward

First week in Avelladeda

¡Hola todos!

This week was fantastic! Avellaneda is even more beautiful than I imagined and there is a lot of work to do. This first week, investigators and members found us, instead of us finding them. A few times we nearly got lost, but then someone would call out to us, "Elderes!" There are so many prepared people here. I´ll tell you some of their stories.

 

We met Agustine on Tuesday. He is a 13 year old member, the only member in his family, but he comes to church regularly. We met two of his other siblings, Samuel (11) and Camila (9), who are also interested in the church. Camila has wanted to come to church for a long time, but her father won´t let her go because he wants her to be Catholic. Their mom lets her children listen to us, but is not very interested herself. This week, we´re going to try to help their parents see what the church is doing for their children so they will suport them with this exciting change in their lives.

 

Agustin made dinner for us!

Julio and Lilia are a couple with two young children who will likely be baptized this month. They are waiting on some papers so they can get married and be baptized. We are so excited for them! Their son is 7 and his father will be able to baptize him when he is 8. Julio is cutting our incredibly long grass today (see the photos).

 

The grass in our backyard is super tall! One of our investigators is cutting it today for us.

Veronica (Vero) is 13 and loves to help the missionaries in Avellaneda. When she first called us, we thought she was 20, so when we saw her for the first time, we were really confused. It was pretty funny!

 

A miracle happened this week. We received a reference from the asistants to the president of a lady who is interested in the church. Alejandra is a single mom with a young ten year old daughter. One day someone living in Chile asked her to be his friend on FaceBook and she accepted, which she told us she never does. This man from Chile served a mission just like I am serving and invited her to learn more about the church. She began investigating online and even read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. However, the complete Spanish Book of Mormon is not avalable online so she asked us to come and visit her. She lives in Las Toscas, about 1.5-2 hours away from Avelladeda, but we got special permission to visit her. We went on Thursday and she is amazing! She has so many questions and is prepared to learn more. We taught her about the Restoration and she feels that it is true. 

Elder Felkins and me on the way to Las Toscas.

 

Though she didn´t have enough money to make the trip to church, she watched General Conference from her house. We are so excited for her and plan to go back this next Thursday.

 

General conference was great. We got to listen to the living prophet and the apostles and we learned a lot about how to help our investigators. We got to watch it in English fortunatly, which made it easier to understand, we only missed two talks because of a black out. It´s been raining so much here.

 

Two really great members here. Vero and Hermano Villalba, who has an incredible conversion story in which God helped him stop drinking.

There are so many more amazing people here, but I can´t tell all of their stories now. I am so happy God gave me this chance to work with all of these people. I am learning so much from my companion and hope that I can change to be the missionary that God wants me to be. Because of Jesus Christ I can!

You can! Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday! We are celebrating with a member here. It´s going to be great!

 

Two young members Agustin (13) and Vero (also 13) waiting with us at the bus stop to go to church.