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

I love this work!

¡Hola!

Thank you for all of your prayers and all that you do to participate in missionary work. I really felt God supporting my companion and me in this large area we have.

 We have three families in Avellaneda now that are really progressing. I believe I already talked about Lilia and Julio, who have been waiting for about a year to get a divorce so they can get married. They are getting super close, and we will probably know tomorrow how much longer it will take. Milagro, who I already mentioned, is part of the Gomez family. She has four younger siblings, all of whom have names that start with "m." She is still excited to get baptized! This week we went to teach them about tithing. We normally can only visit them once a week, so we expected progress to be slow. However, as we began to teach how God only requires us to give Him back only one tenth of what we receive, María, Milagro´s mom said something that surprised me. She said, "I would give all that I receive to God because He has blessed me so much." She told us "ever since you started coming to teach us, the family is closer, work is better, and the children don´t fight as much as they used to." It made me so happy to hear her share her strong testimony with us and it made me realize what a small part I have as a missionary in teaching God´s children. He does nearly all of the teaching, and it is our responsibility as missionaries and members to help them focus on Him and what He has to say. We invited her to be baptized with her children and they said yes.

Lentil flour... interesting. We found a health food store here. There was garbanzo bean flour as well and a bunch of other things we didn´t understand.

A similar experience happened with another family we are teaching in Avellaneda. We found Valeria a little over three months as we were traveling to Las Toscas on the bus. She seemed really interested in what we do and we wrote down her address to go and visit her just before we got of the bus. Now, several months later, they have a regular habit of praying as a family every day. She and Luciano have a young four year old daughter, Lourdes. This week, we were teaching Luciano the ten commandments. We were trying to finish teaching the lesson because we had to catch the bus back and we had already spent several times visiting them teaching them some of the commandments. But then, he started to tell us of some of the great blessing he had received in his life. We listened as he shared his testimony of God and of the church. He has come to church once before, and he told us he knows it is true and wants all of his family to come and see. We weren´t teaching about that, but the Spirit testified to him that the church is true. He knows because he is trying what we are teaching and knows it is good. That makes me so happy!

Eating torta frita (fried tortilla) with Agustin.

I know that this is God´s work. Our part in his work is hard, but rewarding. It is marvelous and miraculous. God loves us. He wants us to be happy. As we seek Him, we find joy. Our trials and difficulties remain, but they are made easier and they don´t matter as much. I love this work!

¡Hasta luego!

Elder Cloward

La Cortada

What an incredible week this has been. I feel like I am growing fast and that God is using me and my abilities to help the people here.

 

Elder Curtis and me in front of the chapel.

 We have been focusing on a small neighborhood here called La Cortada. It is by far the most poor and dirty of the neighborhoods in the city. It always has mud and floods easy, and there is trash everywhere. However, the people there are also very humble in heart. We are finding many people who love Jesus ans are willing to listen to us. God is preparing people and we are finding them. We pray especially this week that we can visit each of them again and help them begin to live more fully Christ`s teachings.

One lady we met, Estela, works with the young children in the Catholic church. She told us how she loves to teach them about Jesus and Mary. I told her that my mom also teaches the children and that it`s a happy job. We shared the Book of Mormon with her in Alma 7:10-13 where it talks about Mary, but focuses on Jesus and His Atonement. She loved it and understood us perfectly when we told her that we believe in Mary and what she did, but that we don`t adore or worship her. We made a wonderful connection with her that we hope to continue.

An Argentine sunrise from our apartment window.

There was another day when we were walking down the street and passed a bunch of children. One of them called out, "what do you sell?" I told them, "we don`t sell anything. We share a message of Jesus Christ. Do you want to learn more about him? Come here, I want to show you something!"  A group of six or seven children crowded around me as I shared pictures of Jesus and shared my testimony of Him and of the Restoration of His church. It really reminded me of how I used to teach my younger siblings and again, or how my parents have always been good at teaching young children and keeping their attention. I know God is preparing me for short moments like these to share my testimony. It makes me happy!

Some members, my companion and me.

Today we celebrated the forth of July with hamburgers and hot dogs! Being away, I am even more grateful for the United States and the blessings my family and I have had there. We have been given much, so much will be required of us.

4th of July Celebration!

Keep inviting your friends to learn more about Jesus. He is the center of God`s plan and the only one who can save us. I love Him. He loves us. I want to do all that I can to serve Him and help others go to Him. When I make mistakes, I can change and try again, because He helps me and wants me to be better. When I do my very best and trust in Jesus, He makes everything turn out okay.

¡Que tenga una semana feliz!

Elder Cloward