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
Monday, October 12, 2009
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
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
Sunday, September 27, 2009
18th and Elder Hernandez
Some members of El Rosal dancing the cueca on the 18th
Elder Mawhinney and I the day of changes. He is in Talagante, which is in the campo just outside of Santiago. Elder Hernandez was his companion last change.
Elder Hernandez and I the day of changesSemana 21 18 de Septiembre
Dear Family,
This Friday Chile had their national Independence Day holiday party extravaganza. It was kind of a hard day to find people. The sister missionaries gave us some brownies, so I naturally put them on a paper plate and went out with Elder (not telling you his name yet), my new companion, to go knock some doors with brownies. We said something like this "oh, well I hope your having a great day and enjoying the Chilean Independence fiestas. I wanted to offer you a dessert from my country. They are called brownies. now I also know that you don`t know me, so I will also eat a little bit to show you that it is okay to eat. (I take a piece of brownie and eat it) would you like to try some?" So that almost worked. haha. Some people took the brownies, but everybody was busy with guests and family members partying it up, so nobody let us in. In the morning we went to the ward activity and watched the Chileans dance cueca, the national dance of Chile (I`ll send fotos). We also ate mote con huesillo (a dried out peach in a glass of preserve juice with wheat, weird, but strangely delicious) and lots of empanadas. I tried to fly a kite, but the wind was very inconsistent. So I just gave a bunch of kites to small Chilean children, and they broke them. haha. oh well they were cheap (20 cents each). So about the investigators:
Flia Casas: Victor started drinking and smoking again! and said he won`t come back to church! Irene said she doesn`t really see the point in us going back to teach her, she`s not willing to do anything until Victor steps up. Fabiàn said he "thinks" he`s an atheist. We`ll just have more time to dedicate to other investigators. My new companion says that Fabiàn might have a chance of progressing. We`ll see, its already been 3 months.
Pedro is doing well. We did an fhe in his house with Cristina. We watched finding faith in Christ. it was cool. We invited Cristina to stay with us and Pedro when we teach him. She said she would do it, but that we can`t ask her questions or make her read.
Liliana still wants to get baptized in a river.
The eight new people we found last week, none of them have been able to receive us and teach them again. nice.
So it`s been a long week and kind of difficult, but we are just going to focus on finding new investigators. and when I say we I mean my new companion, Elder Hernandez from El Salvador who has 7 months in the mission and is the 5th of 8 sons in his family and who is kind of short, and I. Yes family, that`s right. my new companion is Jaime Adonài Hernandez Hernandez. He no speaka english. Haha but we`re working on that. He`s pretty cool. I`ll send a pic.
so yesterday I interviewed a 16 year old girl named Darling who the sister missionaries are teaching. I felt that it would be best for her to wait 2 more weeks to be baptized instead of this saturday. She was alright with it, but it was kind of hard for the Sister missionaries at first, but they said that they trust my judgment and know that i am doing my best to listen to the spirit. The problem is that Darling`s mom is a super inactive member of the church. she started coming to church when her Aunt, from Viña del Mar, came to visit her, every week she comes with her Aunt. the problem is though that soon her Aunt will go back to Viña, and I am worried that without her support it will be harder for Darling to keep coming to church. So we are going to give her a couple weeks more to have a firmer foundation.
Elder Cannon went to las naciones, olimpo stake, still in maipù, so he`s not too far from me. It is weird when the kids grow up and move away, isnt it?I honestly felt sad when he left, I`ve never felt that way about any other companion. I was sad when Elder Butterfield and I got changed, but when Elder Cannon left it was different, I was worried if I taught him well enough, how he`ll turn out as a missionary, etc. but I know he`ll turn out right, he`s a good Elder.
well that`s about it for now, I`m gonna bounce and send some fotos!
Love,
Elder Cloward
This Friday Chile had their national Independence Day holiday party extravaganza. It was kind of a hard day to find people. The sister missionaries gave us some brownies, so I naturally put them on a paper plate and went out with Elder (not telling you his name yet), my new companion, to go knock some doors with brownies. We said something like this "oh, well I hope your having a great day and enjoying the Chilean Independence fiestas. I wanted to offer you a dessert from my country. They are called brownies. now I also know that you don`t know me, so I will also eat a little bit to show you that it is okay to eat. (I take a piece of brownie and eat it) would you like to try some?" So that almost worked. haha. Some people took the brownies, but everybody was busy with guests and family members partying it up, so nobody let us in. In the morning we went to the ward activity and watched the Chileans dance cueca, the national dance of Chile (I`ll send fotos). We also ate mote con huesillo (a dried out peach in a glass of preserve juice with wheat, weird, but strangely delicious) and lots of empanadas. I tried to fly a kite, but the wind was very inconsistent. So I just gave a bunch of kites to small Chilean children, and they broke them. haha. oh well they were cheap (20 cents each). So about the investigators:
Flia Casas: Victor started drinking and smoking again! and said he won`t come back to church! Irene said she doesn`t really see the point in us going back to teach her, she`s not willing to do anything until Victor steps up. Fabiàn said he "thinks" he`s an atheist. We`ll just have more time to dedicate to other investigators. My new companion says that Fabiàn might have a chance of progressing. We`ll see, its already been 3 months.
Pedro is doing well. We did an fhe in his house with Cristina. We watched finding faith in Christ. it was cool. We invited Cristina to stay with us and Pedro when we teach him. She said she would do it, but that we can`t ask her questions or make her read.
Liliana still wants to get baptized in a river.
The eight new people we found last week, none of them have been able to receive us and teach them again. nice.
So it`s been a long week and kind of difficult, but we are just going to focus on finding new investigators. and when I say we I mean my new companion, Elder Hernandez from El Salvador who has 7 months in the mission and is the 5th of 8 sons in his family and who is kind of short, and I. Yes family, that`s right. my new companion is Jaime Adonài Hernandez Hernandez. He no speaka english. Haha but we`re working on that. He`s pretty cool. I`ll send a pic.
so yesterday I interviewed a 16 year old girl named Darling who the sister missionaries are teaching. I felt that it would be best for her to wait 2 more weeks to be baptized instead of this saturday. She was alright with it, but it was kind of hard for the Sister missionaries at first, but they said that they trust my judgment and know that i am doing my best to listen to the spirit. The problem is that Darling`s mom is a super inactive member of the church. she started coming to church when her Aunt, from Viña del Mar, came to visit her, every week she comes with her Aunt. the problem is though that soon her Aunt will go back to Viña, and I am worried that without her support it will be harder for Darling to keep coming to church. So we are going to give her a couple weeks more to have a firmer foundation.
Elder Cannon went to las naciones, olimpo stake, still in maipù, so he`s not too far from me. It is weird when the kids grow up and move away, isnt it?I honestly felt sad when he left, I`ve never felt that way about any other companion. I was sad when Elder Butterfield and I got changed, but when Elder Cannon left it was different, I was worried if I taught him well enough, how he`ll turn out as a missionary, etc. but I know he`ll turn out right, he`s a good Elder.
well that`s about it for now, I`m gonna bounce and send some fotos!
Love,
Elder Cloward
Monday, September 14, 2009
Work left to do in El Rosal ll
SURPRISE!!
Elder Cannon has changes and I don`t. So that`s cool. There is still a lot of work for me to do here in this sector, since I am still here. I really thought that I was getting changed, but I trust that this is the Lord`s will for me at this point in my mission. I know that Elder Cannon will do well wherever he is sent. So I will continue as district leader, and have a new companion to train. A gringo or latino I don`t know, we`ll find out tomorrow! I`ve been with gringos since February, my last latin companion was Elder Noguera. That was.... 7 months ago, WOW. It's been a while. So this last week we worked really hard looking for new investigators. I didn`t want to leave Elder Cannon in this sector without investigators. We found 8 new people to teach this week, so we were pretty excited. 4 of them we found doing a brownie activity with an hermana, 2 from visiting inactive members (part of the permaneced program) and 2 from a door that we knocked. I will be sure to inform you more about these people next week. We prepared a lesson plan for familia Casas to teach them tonight based on Moses and the ¿brass? serpent. All they have to do is look in order to be healed. It was Elder Cannon`s idea. I thought it was an excellent idea. Maybe we can help them to start living the gospel as a family again. Last night we had a cita with pedro. We left him with a goal to start reading scriptures to Cristina and Ariel everyday to help them learn more. Liliana is still coming to church for Sacrament meeting, then she leaves to go to work. We will see what happens with that. Well, i`m excited to be here for another change, hoping to see lots of miracles and be guided by the spirit to those who are waiting for the gospel. I love you all so much and you are always in my prayers!
love,
Elder Cloward
Elder Cannon has changes and I don`t. So that`s cool. There is still a lot of work for me to do here in this sector, since I am still here. I really thought that I was getting changed, but I trust that this is the Lord`s will for me at this point in my mission. I know that Elder Cannon will do well wherever he is sent. So I will continue as district leader, and have a new companion to train. A gringo or latino I don`t know, we`ll find out tomorrow! I`ve been with gringos since February, my last latin companion was Elder Noguera. That was.... 7 months ago, WOW. It's been a while. So this last week we worked really hard looking for new investigators. I didn`t want to leave Elder Cannon in this sector without investigators. We found 8 new people to teach this week, so we were pretty excited. 4 of them we found doing a brownie activity with an hermana, 2 from visiting inactive members (part of the permaneced program) and 2 from a door that we knocked. I will be sure to inform you more about these people next week. We prepared a lesson plan for familia Casas to teach them tonight based on Moses and the ¿brass? serpent. All they have to do is look in order to be healed. It was Elder Cannon`s idea. I thought it was an excellent idea. Maybe we can help them to start living the gospel as a family again. Last night we had a cita with pedro. We left him with a goal to start reading scriptures to Cristina and Ariel everyday to help them learn more. Liliana is still coming to church for Sacrament meeting, then she leaves to go to work. We will see what happens with that. Well, i`m excited to be here for another change, hoping to see lots of miracles and be guided by the spirit to those who are waiting for the gospel. I love you all so much and you are always in my prayers!
love,
Elder Cloward
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Semana 19 El Veranito de San Juan
Dear Family:
So I thought spring was coming, because last week there were two days that were super hot. but apparently there is something called the "veranito de San Juan" (the little summer of Saint John) which is just a tiny summer that happens in the middle of winter, but then winter comes again. So it has rained a lot the last couple of days. We are working very hard. Fabian and Irene aren`t progressing anymore. They are so busy with their negicio. We might have to stop going by them, which I believe is pretty much the worst thing that happens to us as missionaries. I told Irene that they have to start keeping the comandments and God will bless them. She said that God won`t just come to their house and give them money. I told her that obviously it won`t happen like that but God will not let her family go hungry if she keeps the commandments. She said "Elder, you are wrong" and I told her "no hermana, I`m not wrong. God is not wrong, and this is a promise from Him, not from me" so we left it at that. I just don`t know what else to do with them. We need to focus our time on the people that are progressing and making an effort. We just haven`t found many other good people to teach. We are going to focus on that this week so that I can leave Elder Cannon with some good work. I am pretty sure that I am leaving this change, but nothing is set in stone. Yesterday we ate lunch with the stake president. he`s 38. Friday night we had a big FHE in the chapel. We watched this movie about missionary work and had all of the members write down the name of someone they know that needs the Gospel. Pedro is doing well, he paid his tithing on Friday! He couldn`t come to church yesterday because of his work schedule, and he can`t come next week either. After that i think he`ll be able to come for a month straight. That`s good that Mitch got my tape. I hope we can get that around to a lot of people before we finish our missions. So that`s about all for this week. I hope all is well at home!
Love, Elder Cloward
So I thought spring was coming, because last week there were two days that were super hot. but apparently there is something called the "veranito de San Juan" (the little summer of Saint John) which is just a tiny summer that happens in the middle of winter, but then winter comes again. So it has rained a lot the last couple of days. We are working very hard. Fabian and Irene aren`t progressing anymore. They are so busy with their negicio. We might have to stop going by them, which I believe is pretty much the worst thing that happens to us as missionaries. I told Irene that they have to start keeping the comandments and God will bless them. She said that God won`t just come to their house and give them money. I told her that obviously it won`t happen like that but God will not let her family go hungry if she keeps the commandments. She said "Elder, you are wrong" and I told her "no hermana, I`m not wrong. God is not wrong, and this is a promise from Him, not from me" so we left it at that. I just don`t know what else to do with them. We need to focus our time on the people that are progressing and making an effort. We just haven`t found many other good people to teach. We are going to focus on that this week so that I can leave Elder Cannon with some good work. I am pretty sure that I am leaving this change, but nothing is set in stone. Yesterday we ate lunch with the stake president. he`s 38. Friday night we had a big FHE in the chapel. We watched this movie about missionary work and had all of the members write down the name of someone they know that needs the Gospel. Pedro is doing well, he paid his tithing on Friday! He couldn`t come to church yesterday because of his work schedule, and he can`t come next week either. After that i think he`ll be able to come for a month straight. That`s good that Mitch got my tape. I hope we can get that around to a lot of people before we finish our missions. So that`s about all for this week. I hope all is well at home!
Love, Elder Cloward
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