egg, avacado and turkey sandwich (Easter lunch)
Eggs + Inca Kola = yum? to Elder Cloward, yes
The ill-fated egg fight (next year those Utes are going down!!!!)Monday, April 20, 2009
Fotos de Pasqua
egg, avacado and turkey sandwich (Easter lunch) Eggs + Inca Kola = yum? to Elder Cloward, yes The ill-fated egg fight (next year those Utes are going down!!!!)
Semana 16 en Parque Subercaseaux
"The egg fight went well, but left me devestated. I made an egg that had bYu on it, and elder fuller made one from U of U, and wrote 13-0 underneath. And his egg destroyed mine. I am still trying to recover from the defeat.
"I got the easter card last week. thanks! The box was good and I liked everything. We have already used the egg lesson 3 times and everyone loves it. Thank you for taking the time to put that together for me I truly appreciate it. Tell Melia and Jose felicitaciones on the baby.
"The lesson went well with Eduardo and Paula, we have to call them today to set another cita. Liliana came to church yesterday! She has two daughters: Natalia (13) and Paulina (4). Paulina came to church, but Natalia didn´t. They are also redoing the bathrooms and baptismal font and putting in a parking lot (out of cement instead of dirt, seems like a good improvement) in our chapel. It is one of the oldest chapels in Chile. So they will be constructing until June 5 and in the meantime we have to go to church in the stake center, San Miguel. We haven´t seen Maria or Seba in a while but we are going to visit this week.
"So pretty much the worst day of my mission happened on Saturday. Nothing drastic, it was just a super lame day. We had appointments at 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 o´clock, and all five of them fell through, which was a rather large trial of our patience. We then spent some time searching for an apartment building to find a reference that Elder Fuller and Elder Arango (the elders we live with) gave us, her name is Cherti and her sister is a member of their ward. The only problem was that her sister wasn´t sure of the exact address, so she just gave us the intersection of two streets and said that she lived in number 22B. There are literally 8 apartment buildings in that area, and I was getting pretty frustrated, but we didn´t give up and finally found the building, but Cherti wasn´t home. End of Saturday. On Sunday at 8 we went by again, and the receptionist let us go knock her door because the intercom was broken. We introduced ourselves to her and asked her if she was Cherti. She looked kind of surprised that we knew her name, and we explained that her sister was a member of the church and told us we could pass by her house. She thought about if for a second and then said "pasen" (come in), so we did. She talked to us for about 30 minutes about her family, she has three sons, 16, 13, and 12 years old (I can´t remember their names right now). Apparently the doctors told her that she was infertile and would never be able to have kids, but she and her husband spent all of the money they had doing the petri dish insemination thing, and she finally got pregnant, and had the oldest son. Then three years later she just randomly felt sick one day, and went to the doctor. He told her that she needed to take a pill to get her period started again, but she felt that she shouldn´t take it, and went back two weeks later to find out that she was pregnant, this time naturally. If she would have taken the pill she would have killed the baby. After she told the story, we explained a little about the eternal families, we said something to the effect of "it seems like a miracle how God has blessed with such a great family, but an even greater miracle is that your family can be eternal, if you do some certain things" and right about at this point her husband got home. The look on his face was classic. I honestly thought of our family history story of Robert Harris when he found Wilford Woodruff in his home talking with his wife. He sat down in front of us and was kind of just staring at us then asked Cherti who we were. She said "oh these are the missionaries, he is from California and he is from Arizona" but he didn´t seem too happy. Then she asked him what was wrong. He said "nothing, I´m just surprised to see two missionaries sitting in my house" then he asked us what we were doing there, what our goal was as missionaries, what we wanted with his family, etc. I knew at that point that what we said in the next few moments was crucial, and I felt the spirit so strongly as we taught. We explained to them the message of the restoration and how it is a blessing for their family. At one point of the lesson Cherti stopped and turned to Jorge her husband and said "they are very focused on the families. I like that." Honestly the spirit was so strong there I felt like I knew every word that I had to say. I have never felt so confident as I have testified about the restoration and the Church. I didn´t feel like I was defending or arguing a point. I was just saying the truth how it was and the spirit bore testimony of it. It has honestly been a long time since I have felt so happy, it is so hard to find people to teach in this sector. I am very excited to teach this family. We still don´t have another appointment with them, since Cherti said that the two of them were going to converse as a couple to see when we could come by again, and she will call us. I asked her for her telephone number to call her just in case she forgets and she said that would be fine. We will hopefully be with them again this coming weekend.
"It is so strange how strong the ups and downs are on the mission. The sadness we feel when someone rejects us or doesn´t progress, and the pure joy of finding new people to teach and then helping them to receive the gospel in their lives. I just have to not get discouraged when times are bad, because I know that the blessings are right around the corner. I know without a doubt that this is the Lord´s church, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on the face of the Earth. It is the only one that has the Authority of God to seal families for time and all Eternity, and the only one that can perform ordenances that will have effect here in the earth as well as in the heavens. I am so grateful for this time to serve and grow and for all of the blessings that our family has. I love all of you so much and thank you for always supporting me. "
"I got the easter card last week. thanks! The box was good and I liked everything. We have already used the egg lesson 3 times and everyone loves it. Thank you for taking the time to put that together for me I truly appreciate it. Tell Melia and Jose felicitaciones on the baby.
"The lesson went well with Eduardo and Paula, we have to call them today to set another cita. Liliana came to church yesterday! She has two daughters: Natalia (13) and Paulina (4). Paulina came to church, but Natalia didn´t. They are also redoing the bathrooms and baptismal font and putting in a parking lot (out of cement instead of dirt, seems like a good improvement) in our chapel. It is one of the oldest chapels in Chile. So they will be constructing until June 5 and in the meantime we have to go to church in the stake center, San Miguel. We haven´t seen Maria or Seba in a while but we are going to visit this week.
"So pretty much the worst day of my mission happened on Saturday. Nothing drastic, it was just a super lame day. We had appointments at 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 o´clock, and all five of them fell through, which was a rather large trial of our patience. We then spent some time searching for an apartment building to find a reference that Elder Fuller and Elder Arango (the elders we live with) gave us, her name is Cherti and her sister is a member of their ward. The only problem was that her sister wasn´t sure of the exact address, so she just gave us the intersection of two streets and said that she lived in number 22B. There are literally 8 apartment buildings in that area, and I was getting pretty frustrated, but we didn´t give up and finally found the building, but Cherti wasn´t home. End of Saturday. On Sunday at 8 we went by again, and the receptionist let us go knock her door because the intercom was broken. We introduced ourselves to her and asked her if she was Cherti. She looked kind of surprised that we knew her name, and we explained that her sister was a member of the church and told us we could pass by her house. She thought about if for a second and then said "pasen" (come in), so we did. She talked to us for about 30 minutes about her family, she has three sons, 16, 13, and 12 years old (I can´t remember their names right now). Apparently the doctors told her that she was infertile and would never be able to have kids, but she and her husband spent all of the money they had doing the petri dish insemination thing, and she finally got pregnant, and had the oldest son. Then three years later she just randomly felt sick one day, and went to the doctor. He told her that she needed to take a pill to get her period started again, but she felt that she shouldn´t take it, and went back two weeks later to find out that she was pregnant, this time naturally. If she would have taken the pill she would have killed the baby. After she told the story, we explained a little about the eternal families, we said something to the effect of "it seems like a miracle how God has blessed with such a great family, but an even greater miracle is that your family can be eternal, if you do some certain things" and right about at this point her husband got home. The look on his face was classic. I honestly thought of our family history story of Robert Harris when he found Wilford Woodruff in his home talking with his wife. He sat down in front of us and was kind of just staring at us then asked Cherti who we were. She said "oh these are the missionaries, he is from California and he is from Arizona" but he didn´t seem too happy. Then she asked him what was wrong. He said "nothing, I´m just surprised to see two missionaries sitting in my house" then he asked us what we were doing there, what our goal was as missionaries, what we wanted with his family, etc. I knew at that point that what we said in the next few moments was crucial, and I felt the spirit so strongly as we taught. We explained to them the message of the restoration and how it is a blessing for their family. At one point of the lesson Cherti stopped and turned to Jorge her husband and said "they are very focused on the families. I like that." Honestly the spirit was so strong there I felt like I knew every word that I had to say. I have never felt so confident as I have testified about the restoration and the Church. I didn´t feel like I was defending or arguing a point. I was just saying the truth how it was and the spirit bore testimony of it. It has honestly been a long time since I have felt so happy, it is so hard to find people to teach in this sector. I am very excited to teach this family. We still don´t have another appointment with them, since Cherti said that the two of them were going to converse as a couple to see when we could come by again, and she will call us. I asked her for her telephone number to call her just in case she forgets and she said that would be fine. We will hopefully be with them again this coming weekend.
"It is so strange how strong the ups and downs are on the mission. The sadness we feel when someone rejects us or doesn´t progress, and the pure joy of finding new people to teach and then helping them to receive the gospel in their lives. I just have to not get discouraged when times are bad, because I know that the blessings are right around the corner. I know without a doubt that this is the Lord´s church, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on the face of the Earth. It is the only one that has the Authority of God to seal families for time and all Eternity, and the only one that can perform ordenances that will have effect here in the earth as well as in the heavens. I am so grateful for this time to serve and grow and for all of the blessings that our family has. I love all of you so much and thank you for always supporting me. "
Monday, April 13, 2009
Pascua (Easter) en Parque Subercaseaux
"We haven´t done the egg fight yet, but I bought eggs this morning and we shall boil them and dye them and fight. I will send pics next week.
"That is so cool about Aaron and Ryan, tell them I said congratulations and they are coming to a great country. I don´t know much about Concepción, just that it´s a little bit to the south of Santiago and is basically just a smaller version of Santiago. The east mission is supercuico (really rich or upperclass) especially the sector Las Condes. I have heard that there are a ton of members there and all of there chapels are huge and actually have more than 50 to 60 people there every week. I will also have the chance of seeing Aaron if we just so happen to be in the office at the same time. I will at least be able to see his foto there, since they show all of missionaries from the east and west mission in the office. I think the north mission uses a different building. (P.S. tell Aaron and Ryan that I can still tell them apart! I opened the pic that Cara sent me before reading the email and knew immediately that Aaron was the one reading the call, then I zoomed in and could read his name on the envelope. I know they will both make great missionaries, and they will love Chile.)
"We have a noche de hogar with the Araya family tonight and we are going to use the Easter egg game with them. (ask Rebecca if you want to see this game) They are all members, the mom and two daughters are active but the dad is not. They were at the point of being sealed as a family but the dad fought with someone in the church and they then went inactive. Now the wife and daughters are attending church but he still isn´t. I am hoping that we can help him reacitivate and get sealed to his family.
"Eduardo and Paula canceled the lesson again because they had more meetings, we have another appt with them tomorrow but I don´t know if that will go through either. We are having more progress with Liliana (the woman from the elevator) and her daughter Natalia. This Wednesday I went on divisions with Elder Walker in Departamental and Elder Mawhinney came here with Elder Carpenter. They taught Liliana the first lesson, and one of the young married couples in our ward went with them to the lesson, since they live in the same apartment building.
"Well I think that is all for now, we have to get back to the pension so we can have our egg fights! Thanks for the package, I already gave the one bag of m&m´s to Flia. Guerrero and they were so excited. April 10th was the birthday of Isabel, gaby´s mom, and Carol, gaby´s aunt. Apparently they were born the same day, 3 years apart. They were very excited to get the candy and said thank you and they can´t wait to meet you when you come here."
"That is so cool about Aaron and Ryan, tell them I said congratulations and they are coming to a great country. I don´t know much about Concepción, just that it´s a little bit to the south of Santiago and is basically just a smaller version of Santiago. The east mission is supercuico (really rich or upperclass) especially the sector Las Condes. I have heard that there are a ton of members there and all of there chapels are huge and actually have more than 50 to 60 people there every week. I will also have the chance of seeing Aaron if we just so happen to be in the office at the same time. I will at least be able to see his foto there, since they show all of missionaries from the east and west mission in the office. I think the north mission uses a different building. (P.S. tell Aaron and Ryan that I can still tell them apart! I opened the pic that Cara sent me before reading the email and knew immediately that Aaron was the one reading the call, then I zoomed in and could read his name on the envelope. I know they will both make great missionaries, and they will love Chile.)
"We have a noche de hogar with the Araya family tonight and we are going to use the Easter egg game with them. (ask Rebecca if you want to see this game) They are all members, the mom and two daughters are active but the dad is not. They were at the point of being sealed as a family but the dad fought with someone in the church and they then went inactive. Now the wife and daughters are attending church but he still isn´t. I am hoping that we can help him reacitivate and get sealed to his family.
"Eduardo and Paula canceled the lesson again because they had more meetings, we have another appt with them tomorrow but I don´t know if that will go through either. We are having more progress with Liliana (the woman from the elevator) and her daughter Natalia. This Wednesday I went on divisions with Elder Walker in Departamental and Elder Mawhinney came here with Elder Carpenter. They taught Liliana the first lesson, and one of the young married couples in our ward went with them to the lesson, since they live in the same apartment building.
"Well I think that is all for now, we have to get back to the pension so we can have our egg fights! Thanks for the package, I already gave the one bag of m&m´s to Flia. Guerrero and they were so excited. April 10th was the birthday of Isabel, gaby´s mom, and Carol, gaby´s aunt. Apparently they were born the same day, 3 years apart. They were very excited to get the candy and said thank you and they can´t wait to meet you when you come here."
Thursday, April 9, 2009
¡Felicitaciones!
A big felicitaciones (congratulations) to Aaron and Ryan Mayberry, good friends of Elder Cloward's who were called to serve in the Chile Santiago East mission and Chile Concepción mission, respectively!
PS. 1 year ago yesterday Elder Cloward opened his call. Cool that Aaron & Ryan got theirs exactly a year later, and they are going to the same country.
PS. 1 year ago yesterday Elder Cloward opened his call. Cool that Aaron & Ryan got theirs exactly a year later, and they are going to the same country.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Semana 14 en Parque Subercaseaux
"This week went pretty well. We are starting to find new people again, which is always fun. We weren`t able to teach Eduardo and Paula again last Tuesday because they had a parent teacher meeting with their son but we have another appointment with them tomorrow. I am starting to realize that a lot of times the Lord will bless us in missionary opportunities when we least likely expect it. For example, about two weeks ago we contacted a man in the street with the family, and he was rushed but gave us his address (in another apartment building, our sector has tons) and told us to come by. So we went by a few days later, and the receptionist told us that the number was wrong, but was friendly with us and said she would look for the man`s name in the list of renters. While she was looking, a woman came out of the elevator and started asking us questions about the church, then later told us that her grandpa used to be a bishop, but she is not a member. She told we could come teach her family and gave us her address. We went by her house Thursday and taught her and her daughter. So it turns out that the address of the contact was incorrect, but through it the Lord led us to another person that was waiting for us. Pretty interesting how He works.
"Please tell Grandma happy 25th birthday for me! I love you grandma and thanks for all of the letters and packages, they truly make me feel loved.
"There were sadly no investigators that came to the conference but we have high hopes that some will come to church next Sunday. We gringos got to watch it in English in the high priest room. I got to sit by Elder Butterfield and Elder Mawhinney while we watched it, which was good times (and spiritual times, too) all around.
"There are a ton of tiny parks in our sector, on one side of the Gran Avenida (the grand avenue, of course) and on the other side of that street there is only one. It is like a division between the rich and not so rich part of our sector. It is kinda weird how drastic the change is just from crossing the street. We do divisions about 2 to 3 times a change and they are always for 24 hours, sometimes I go to the other sector and sometimes I stay where I am.
"Today for our district activity we met in the stake center (Barrio San Miguel, Saint Michael haha) and made guacamole and ate chips and guacamole for lunch. It was pretty fun.
"General Conference was amazing, but I must say that my favorite session was the priesthood session. President Eyring and President Uchtdorf`s talks about priesthood service were incredible. They inspired me to serve with all my strength in my mission and also throughout my life. I thought about how in the pre existence I probably begged to be foreordained to serve a mission, probably in this exact place so that I could serve my brothers and sisters and I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have to serve every day in this work. I also know that I will be able to continue to serve in various callings in the church throughout my life, but nothing compares to these two years. I think that the mission is not so much about "getting" baptisms or the numbers that we achieve. It is more about becoming a missionary (as Elder Bednar said in a talk a few years ago). I think the point of the mission is to teach us self discipline and how to listen to the spirit so that we can be better fathers, husbands, and leaders in the future. I was reading a little story that Elder Carpenter had, about a man that lived in the mountains and one day while he was praying received a revelation from God telling him to get up and go push a giant boulder outside of his house. The man was obedient and spent months from sun up to sun down pushing against the rock, but it wouldn`t budge. One day Satan arrived to tempt him, telling him that he was wasting his time and efforts with a task that was impossible, and that he should just give up. The man became discouraged, but decided to consult the Lord in prayer before quitting. In his prayer, the Lord explained him that he had never commanded him to move the rock, just to push against it, and then told the man to look at himself and see how much he had grown in strenth by pushing against the rock as hard as he could every day. The man realized that it was not moving the rock that was important, but rather the experience that he had gained by being obedient to the Lord`s will for him. Interesting.
"Well that is all for today, thank you for your emails, dear elders, etc. I love you all very much."
"Please tell Grandma happy 25th birthday for me! I love you grandma and thanks for all of the letters and packages, they truly make me feel loved.
"There were sadly no investigators that came to the conference but we have high hopes that some will come to church next Sunday. We gringos got to watch it in English in the high priest room. I got to sit by Elder Butterfield and Elder Mawhinney while we watched it, which was good times (and spiritual times, too) all around.
"There are a ton of tiny parks in our sector, on one side of the Gran Avenida (the grand avenue, of course) and on the other side of that street there is only one. It is like a division between the rich and not so rich part of our sector. It is kinda weird how drastic the change is just from crossing the street. We do divisions about 2 to 3 times a change and they are always for 24 hours, sometimes I go to the other sector and sometimes I stay where I am.
"Today for our district activity we met in the stake center (Barrio San Miguel, Saint Michael haha) and made guacamole and ate chips and guacamole for lunch. It was pretty fun.
"General Conference was amazing, but I must say that my favorite session was the priesthood session. President Eyring and President Uchtdorf`s talks about priesthood service were incredible. They inspired me to serve with all my strength in my mission and also throughout my life. I thought about how in the pre existence I probably begged to be foreordained to serve a mission, probably in this exact place so that I could serve my brothers and sisters and I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have to serve every day in this work. I also know that I will be able to continue to serve in various callings in the church throughout my life, but nothing compares to these two years. I think that the mission is not so much about "getting" baptisms or the numbers that we achieve. It is more about becoming a missionary (as Elder Bednar said in a talk a few years ago). I think the point of the mission is to teach us self discipline and how to listen to the spirit so that we can be better fathers, husbands, and leaders in the future. I was reading a little story that Elder Carpenter had, about a man that lived in the mountains and one day while he was praying received a revelation from God telling him to get up and go push a giant boulder outside of his house. The man was obedient and spent months from sun up to sun down pushing against the rock, but it wouldn`t budge. One day Satan arrived to tempt him, telling him that he was wasting his time and efforts with a task that was impossible, and that he should just give up. The man became discouraged, but decided to consult the Lord in prayer before quitting. In his prayer, the Lord explained him that he had never commanded him to move the rock, just to push against it, and then told the man to look at himself and see how much he had grown in strenth by pushing against the rock as hard as he could every day. The man realized that it was not moving the rock that was important, but rather the experience that he had gained by being obedient to the Lord`s will for him. Interesting.
"Well that is all for today, thank you for your emails, dear elders, etc. I love you all very much."
Semana 13 en Parque Subercaseaux
"Yesterday our district leader called and said that Elder Carpenter and I won`t be transfered, so we will have 6 more weeks to stay together and work here. Yesterday was the fifth Sunday and Elder Carpenter and I had the last hour with everyone in the ward combined to do a lesson. It was pretty intense. We talked about unity in the ward since the ward mission plan should be ready in two weeks, then we will be needing the cooperation of everyone to make it work. The attendance at church is a little better. We have about an average of 50, and our goal to have by the end of the year is 70 and I think we can get there with everyone`s help.
"It is still pretty hot, but the days are getting shorter. We will be watching conference this weekend, all 5 sessions. It should be good times had by all. It will also be a good opportunity to bring people to church, since there are at least 4 opportuinities on different days. We shall see.
"So I have two funny stories for you this week:
1. Last Sunday we contacted a family sitting on a park bench and they told us we could come by Tuesday at seven and that they live in the apartment building next to the church. So on Tuesday at 7 we went by and pressed the intercom and asked for Paula and Eduardo from apt. no. 308 and the receptionist told me that I had the wrong address because that was not the right name. I repeated it again and he said I was wrong. So we thought maybe we went to the wrong apt building and started walking towards another, when we crossed paths with Eduardo, the husband. He asked us where we were going, since it was already seven and we had the appointment with him. I told him what the receptionist had told me, but Eduardo said that the address that I had was correct. So we went with him into the building and Eduardo got mad at the receptionist for telling us we had a bad address. The receptionist told him that he couldn`t understand the names I said, but Eduardo told him to double check next time before saying it is wrong. Then we went up to his apartment and taught him and his wife about the restoration. It was a good experience. We have another appointment with them tomorrow.
2. Elder Mawhinney and I had divisions again on Wednesday and this time I went to his sector. The next day we had to meet our companions in a certain metro station at 11:00 a.m. to change back. We got in a taxi and started driving but the driver went the wrong way. Elder Mawhinney no longer knew where we were, then we realized that we had arrived in La Florida, which is part of the east mission. haha so then we went to the closest metro station and took the subway for an hour trying to get back. good times."
"It is still pretty hot, but the days are getting shorter. We will be watching conference this weekend, all 5 sessions. It should be good times had by all. It will also be a good opportunity to bring people to church, since there are at least 4 opportuinities on different days. We shall see.
"So I have two funny stories for you this week:
1. Last Sunday we contacted a family sitting on a park bench and they told us we could come by Tuesday at seven and that they live in the apartment building next to the church. So on Tuesday at 7 we went by and pressed the intercom and asked for Paula and Eduardo from apt. no. 308 and the receptionist told me that I had the wrong address because that was not the right name. I repeated it again and he said I was wrong. So we thought maybe we went to the wrong apt building and started walking towards another, when we crossed paths with Eduardo, the husband. He asked us where we were going, since it was already seven and we had the appointment with him. I told him what the receptionist had told me, but Eduardo said that the address that I had was correct. So we went with him into the building and Eduardo got mad at the receptionist for telling us we had a bad address. The receptionist told him that he couldn`t understand the names I said, but Eduardo told him to double check next time before saying it is wrong. Then we went up to his apartment and taught him and his wife about the restoration. It was a good experience. We have another appointment with them tomorrow.
2. Elder Mawhinney and I had divisions again on Wednesday and this time I went to his sector. The next day we had to meet our companions in a certain metro station at 11:00 a.m. to change back. We got in a taxi and started driving but the driver went the wrong way. Elder Mawhinney no longer knew where we were, then we realized that we had arrived in La Florida, which is part of the east mission. haha so then we went to the closest metro station and took the subway for an hour trying to get back. good times."
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