Goin to the country -Gonna eat a lot of peaches

Dear Family,
That`s what Elder Cannon always said when we were together. He really wanted to go to the campo. I love that kid. Anyway, this week was pretty good. I haven`t continued taking the medications (since they ran out) and I feel a lot better. The members here told me when I arrived that the fresh air of the campo would heal me. I had been in Santiago pollution for 14 months, but now we have wide open spaces. (not in our sector, but just outside of it.) I wanted to go take a pic next to the campo and send it to you for the christmas card but we haven`t been able to yet. If we have time I`ll take it today and try to send it to you later, but if not i`ll have it for you si o si next Monday. Also, just a heads up, the new balance shoes I had were all torn up. Therefore, today my compi and I went to buy some sick fùtbol shoes so that I can dominate when we play soccer. I bought them with the wells fargo debit card and they cost $22,000 pesos, which should be around $38 màs o menos. So that`s that. So here`s that low-down on some investigators: Ana- she is the (ex)girlfriend of a member in our ward. There is a family here by the name of Pineda, the first Pineda family that I have met in my mission! Pretty cool, huh? So Nicolas, the son, is about 24 years old. He got baptized 4 years ago. His parents got baptized about 2 months ago. His girlfriend Ana came to church yesterday, but we think they broke up, but we are not sure. We want to teach her, but away from her boyfriend. Elder Butròn was introduced to the church thanks to his girlfriend (who is now serving as a missionary in Perù, isn`t that sweet?) but when he took the discussions he didn`t want his girlfriend to be there, it was just him and the missionaries, so that he would get baptized because he wanted to do it, not for his girlfriend. Margarita and Daniela- Margarita is the mother of Rafael, a recent convert who is about my age. Daniela is his little sister. They are both really good investigators, but Margarita has the famous “I`m married to my ex still and now I live with another man” problem, that great stumbling block to the progress of all golden investigators in Chile. Hugo- the friend of Bernardita, another recent convert. He`s a cool guy, and he is passing through some hard times economically. He lives with his daughter and with his grandson (a little baby boy) we went to his house on Saturday morning with a group of members to cut his grass and clean up his lawn a little bit. Hector and Josefina- An married couple, about 60 years old each. They are really catholic, and have been investigating for a long time and aren`t really progressing. They just like to listen. Elder Butròn and I are considering the possibility of not teaching them anymore. So that`s who we`re teaching! Good times. We`re doing great here, I`ll let you know as soon as I get the package from Mario. Thanks so much for sending it to me! I love all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Cloward

Talagante!! Ever heard of it?

Dear family,As you can see from the subject line, I am in Talagante. Now I am sure you are all wondering where it is. Let me explain: Talagante is an itsybitsy little city about 35 kilometers to the west of Santiago. I am outside of Santiago for the first time in my mission!!! So that`s cool. We are not in the city of Santiago or on the coast. We are right in the middle, the part of the mission that is called "El Campo", which means countryside. Our sector is mostly city, but when we are near the boarder we can see these huge green beautiful fields of grapes and other assorted produce. It is so beautiful. Also, another funny story: Elder Mawhinney is in my district! So that`ll be fun. My companion is...........................Elder Butròn from Perù!!!! Hurray! Elder Butròn is amazing. He has about 13 months in the mission (the time I had after I finished my first change with Elder Cannon). He has been a member of the church for two (count em, two) years. He got baptized when he was 23 and one year later he left on his mission. He is honestly one of the hardest working companions I`ve ever had. He started his mission in El Rosal. He got there right before I got special changes out of Rivas Vicuña, so I knew him for about a week, and all my mission I`ve heard great things about him. Also, Talagante is not a stake, it`s a district!!! There are no wards here, they are all branches!!!! So the church is still growing here, and the local leaders have missionary work as one of their top priorities. We also heard from the district presidency that by the end of the year President Jones will send in the papers to make this district a stake. So we need to focus a lot on the branches. More than anything we need priesthood holders. In order to be a ward, a branch needs to have 25 active, worthy, tithe paying priesthood holders. So we will definitely be looking for them, both inactive members to bring back to the church and future priesthood holders that still haven`t been baptized. We definitely have our work cut out for us but I am so excited. I love the Lord and I know this is His church and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve Him. Well there are tons of things I still want to tell you but we have to go because every Monday at 12:30 we play soccer in our chapel with the zone. Have a great week. Love you all, and thanks for the package!!!

Love,

Elder Cloward

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes out of Rosal 2

Dear family,
So I have changes this week. We have a ton to do today between packing and saying chaito to the members of Barrio El Rosal. I had a great 6 months here but now it is time to move on. I have seen the lives of many change while in this ward and I will always have a great love from this ward and the people that have touched my life. The Lord knows what is best for me and it is time to move to a new area. With each day of service my love for our Savior, His gospel and my testimony have grown.

Primary children: El Rosal

Sad to hear that BYU got owned. Oh well it`s been known to happen. I`m also sure that Mom is not happy with the Yankees being in the world series... again.... The appointments went well last week. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had to stay in a few hours so that I could rest, and then we went out to the appointments that we had. On Saturday we had a really good lesson with Pedro and his family. We were finishing the lesson with Pedro, talking about the importance of service. As we were finishing the lesson, Cristina and Ariel church for the first two hours. She said that the problem she has is with Relief Society. Firgot home, and sat with us. We were there talking with them for another 45 minutes. Cristina opened up a lot to us and explained the REAL reason why she doesn`t want to go to church. She told us that she actually has no problem with going tost of all she doesn`t like being separated from her husband because she doesn`t know any of the hermanas (Elder Hernandez and his new comp will work on that by bringing the sisters to her house to meet her) and second she said that the hermanas are cry babies and kind of fake. I thought it was really funny. So we told her no problem, she can start by coming to church for just the first two hours. We`ll see. We are also teaching this lady named Mirka, a reference from one of the families in the ward. She is a physics teacher and she is very catholic. She said she is afraid that everything she has believed all her life could be wrong. So she is a little scared of changing religions. Also last Wednesday we went to teach Maicol (in spanish it is pronounced the same as Michael) and his girlfriend Susana. Maicol is a member, but inactive and wants to come back to the church, little by little. He and Susana are in their early 20`s and they have a one year old daughter named Isidora. Darling`s baptism was great. The sister missionaries did a great job teaching her. I had to interview her twice, cuz the first time I felt that she needed more time to prepare. But she was very happy to be baptized. She originally asked me to baptize her, but we are trying to have the members do the baptisms so that the new members can establish friendships with the members, not with the missionaries, because obviously we missionaries won`t stay here forever.

Darling's Baptism

Our plans for halloween are the same plans we have every day. We have the same schedule as always. It`s basically a normal day for us, it`s just that people walk around in costumes asking for candy. Some companionships exchange name tags for the day. That is the most extreme we can go on the costumes! So I have a funny story for you this week. We are teaching this guy named Osvaldo. His wife is a member of the church, but he is not very religious. At all. He believes in God but he hasn`t prayed to know if the church is true, mostly just because he doesn`t care whether or not it is. But he`s a really funny guy. Anyway, we were teaching him yesterday. On Saturday his wife went to get her Patriarcal Blessing. And she told us the in her patriarcal blessing it is says that she will go hand in hand with her husband to to be sealed in the temple. So she told Osvaldo, "Well osvaldo, looks like it`s already been decided! Looks like you`ll just have to be baptized after all" his wife told him that she would laugh so hard the day that he gets baptized. It was pretty funny. Well that`s the lowdown for this week. I will be looking for your package in the district meeting this Wednesday! Although I`m not sure which district I`ll be in! Haha- aren`t changes fun? Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cloward Backyard Mowing Finished !!

Noches de Hogar

Dear family
So i have very little time to write today, sorry I didn`t write to Janessa or Cara either. We had our zone activity in Rivas Vicuña and we played soccer and ate pizza, and we were there way too long. Then I got home and I was/am feeling a little sick and fell asleep for about an hour. After getting showered and dressed we only had a half hour left to do internet, and we have an appointment right now. Well here`s a quick review of the weeks activities: we did two family home evenings with members where they invited their friends, we have another appointment with one of them tomorrow, and the other family said they would talk to their member friends to say when we can come by. Yesterday I interviewed Darling again, and now that she has permission from her parents to be baptized I felt the spirit confirm that she is ready for baptism. She and the sister missionaries were both very excited. Well that is sadly all that I have time for today. Sorry. next week I`ll write more! Thanks for all of your emails and fotos!
Love,
Elder Cloward

actividad de servicio

Dear family,
Well first of all Ithought I should explain why I am writing on Tuesday and not Monday. Yesterday was a holiday for South America called "day of the races" meaning all the races of the world. So the area presidency of Chile decided it was a good opportunity for a service activity. Every stake in Chile picked a different activity to do. We went to an elementary school in our zone. We painted the walls in the staircases and pulled weeds, cut the grass and many other things. It was like doing an Eagle project. Very fun and it was nice to help the community! There were about 130 members and missionaries there. Speaking of yard work, we have to cut the grass in our front and back yard. it is getting to be very very long. When I got here in May there was no grass in the front or back yard. Then it rained a lot and a bunch of stuff started to grow. I am actually pretty sure that it`s just weeds. idk. Here is some good news: Pedro was ordained a priest on Sunday! We weren`t able to visit him all of last week because of his work schedule but we have a visit with him tonight. He is doing great. Maybe he'll be able to soften Cristina`s heart a little bit. Liliana came to church yesterday, but she is just as stubborn as ever. We are starting a new iniciative with the members in our ward. We want to go to as many member families as we can and challenge/invite them to invite a friend or neighbor to an fhe with us. We think it will be a good way to find new investigators since it has been so hard for us lately. Thank you for sending the package I can`t wait to get it! Elder Holland`s talk was so good! He always takes out the trash in general conference. He studied law at yale apparently. I don`t know what that has to do with anything, but it`s interesting. Tell Alta and Thomas congratulations! How has Thomas`s health been? We got to watch the conference in english with all of the gringo missionaries. of the 14 elders and sisters in our zone, only 3 of them are latin and there are 11 gringos. It was a pretty normal weekend. We just watched conference and between the sessions we ate lunch with our ward in the stake center. I hope all of you have a great week. The church is true and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Cloward

Semena 23 - Another Temple in Chile!!

Dear Family:
This past March we had a special conference for the entire Southern half of Chile. We had several area authorities here and there was some discussion about different locations in Chile. So we figured they were planning on building a temple in the South, but we weren't sure of the exact location. And it HAPPENED!!! That is so exciting. The only sad part is that for the Saturday morning session there were only about 55 members of our stake in the stake center to hear the news. Although there were many people watching it on the internet at home. We got to watch conference in English with all the Gringo missionaries. Of the 14 Elders and Hermana's in our zone, only 3 are Latin. We watched conference and in between sessions we ate lunch with our Ward in the Stake Center. Elder Holland`s talk was so good! He always gives the best talks in general conference. He studied law at Yale, apparently. Tell Alta and Thomas congratulations! How has Thomas`s health been?
I am actually pretty sure that I`ve gotten a little chubbier while on the mission, but not much, maybe about 5 pounds. But if I look thin that`s great. Maybe I grew.
At the conference center i saw Eduardo Oneto Correa. He is super active in the church and comes every Sunday. He is twelve now and will soon receive the Aaronic Priesthood. It is hard for him though because he is the only one in the family that comes to church every week. Joselyn and Michelle come to seminary and mutual during the week, but not to church because it is too early Sunday morning and they like to sleep in. That is what the elders in that sector told me.
We are having a hard time finding new investigators. But little by little we are finding more people. Last night we taught Fan Fan (the Haitian) for the first time in 5 months. He is doing well but is working Sundays. We have another appointment with him tonight. We are also teaching another Haitian that lives with him named Joab. Joab was going to come to the conference with us this weekend but he got sick yesterday. We went to the conference with Pedro, who came to the morning sessions on Saturday and Sunday. He really enjoyed the conference.
Next Sunday he should receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained as a Priest. Cristina is being a little stubborn, but that`s okay. she is progressing, but very slowly. She came to the FHE at the Bishop`s house last Monday. The Bishop gave the lesson and talked about testimonies and how to get a testimony. She told us on Saturday that we will not get her to come to church. I told her that is fine; we will just bring the congregation to her house and do the church services there. She laughed but didn`t think it was the best idea.
We are also working with a physics teacher named Mirk. She was a reference from Familia Campos, some members in the ward. She used to live under their apartment building but recently moved away. She told us she would come to conference, but didn`t so we will have to go by and see what`s up.
I`ll let you know next week. Hope everything is well! Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Cloward

Semena 22 Elder Rossi-Herrera's Farewell

Dear family:
So I thought that Elder Butterfield looked kinda different in the photo, then I realized that it is because he didn`t have his namebadge on! haha. Thanks for the foto - I'm so glad you finally met Elder Butterfield and his family. That is neat that there were 3 Hermana's from our mission there as well. I saved the picture on my usb drive so I won`t lose it. I always have to delete the emails with the pics due to the mailbox size.
Cool story-last night we had a genealogy activity for recent converts in the Stake Center. They just so happened to be doing Abraham Rossi`s farewell at the same time. He was so excited to see me. I took a couple of pictures with him. I told him that my family wanted to write him and send him cookies in the MTC and in California. His parents were thrilled with the idea. They will send me his mtc and mission adresses in a letter. His Mom and Dad said that I can`t lose contact with them throughout the years.
That ward still remembers me, which is great. I think they will always be my favorite ward here. The young men wanted me to take a picture next to Ariel Ortega, the Bishop`s Son, bc they say we look like brothers.
So this sector needs a bit of a jump start. We are working hard trying to find new investigators, since pretty much all of the investigators, for one reason or another, aren`t progressing. Although tonight Cristina agreed to come with Pedro and us to a FHE at the Bishops house. Tomorrow Pedro will have his interview with the Bishop so he can receive the Aaronic Priesthood. Lilana still comes to church and wants to get baptized (in a river). We are hoping she changes her mind soon. I sent a letter home today. It should get there between 15 to 20 days from now.
We are going to fly kites right now with Felipe and family.
Sorry I ddin`t write much but there`s really not much to write about.
We are working really hard- trying to find people to teach. Hopefuly next week we will have more new people to tell you about!
I am so thankful for this opportunity I have to serve my Heavenly Father. The church is true and I am looking forward to watching conference this weekend!
I love you all and you are always in my prayers. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Cloward