Elder Jergin's last week

Dear Family,
It`s me, Elder Cloward!
Sorry we weren´t able to do internet on Monday. Elder Jergins and I went to Santiago so he could see his converts one more time before he heads out. We got lost on the micro and didn`t have time to do internet, but they gave us time to do it today. So here I am!
This last week was pretty eventful for us. We went to the temple on Thursday with the zone of the Coast and 5 de Abril. I asked the elders in El Rosal about Pedro Muñoz and they said that he is still super active and coming to church every Sunday that he can. I asked the Elders in Rivas Vicuña about the Correa family and they said that they aren´t coming to church and don`t want to receive the visits of the Elders in their house. I gave the elders fotos to give to Pedro and the Correa family with a note on the back telling them that I`ll be back near the end of June to visit them again with my parents. I hope the Correa family will receive us. I`m not sure what happened to them but hopefully we`ll be able to share some scriptures with them and they`ll feel the spirit again and feel the desire to come back to church.
Antonio is still doing well, he has his baptismal date now for the 12th of June, we`re hoping that that will be the day for him. He and his wife, Leticia, come to church every Sunday. He is worried about buying some sort of special cane to be able to get down the stairs in the baptismal font. I don`t know if I told you but he had an explosion accident when he was younger.
Manuel Guajardo we haven`t seen this whole week. His mom Victoria apparently got really sick and they had to go to the hospital in Santiago the whole week. We saw a light on in their house last night, but there wasn`t time to visit them, so we will pass by today in the afternoon. I don`t think Elder Butterfield knows him, since he is the older brother of Trinidad, a recent convert that Elder Krainik and Elder Jergins found about 4 months ago. Benjamin´s last name is Oviedo. Tell "Wesley" that he is Joselo`s little brother maybe he`ll know who he is.
We visited him last night and talked about the importance of baptism. He still hasn`t read the Book of Mormon we gave him last week or come to church, so we taught him that he needs to do all of these things so that he can be baptized, and he needs to be baptized to enter into the kingdom of God. So he committed again to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and also come to church. He`s only 10 years old so he`s trying to understand the importance of a few things still. We`re still doing the best we can to follow the spirit and find new people to teach. Elder Jergins and I set a goal to do 100 contacts during his last week, and we`re at 20 right now. About half of them have given us their addresses to go and visit them this week.
We also have the goal to find a "cool" family of 4 or 5 people that can be baptized in the church. Actually it really doesn`t matter if they are cool. But if they want to get baptized I think that`s cool enough!
We don`t have too many special plans for my birthday but it`s all good. Several of the hermana's want to make dinner for me but we have several appointments that day. So we will try to make it to all the homes because Elder Jergin's needs to say good bye, too. Maybe we´ll find our family on that day! That would be a pretty great birthday day gift. There`s a branch activity in the chapel to celebrate the holiday, but I`m not sure if we have permission to go. We are thinking of planning a noche de hogar with Viviana, one of the recent converts. Their family is way cool and we are teaching the youngest son, Andrès. So we can teach him, and I`ll be able to enjoy my birthday without wasting time. It`s a good deal.
After the district meeting today I got a letter from Grandma Sharon and a birthday card from her, Grandpa, and Priscilla and Cliff Nielsen. Please thank them for me. I`m sure your cards will get here in pouch next Wednesday. Thanks for sending them!
Well I hope you all have a great day and week, talk to you all again on Monday!
Love,
Elder Cloward
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Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!!

Elder Cloward and Elder Bybee
playing beach volleyball (without a net)
at a zone conference.
Elder Cloward with his companion Elder Jergins
at a zone conference on the coast

Elder Cloward and Elder Jergins

at Leticia's baptism with her

husband and grandson.

Dear Familia,

It was wonderful talking to all of you on Saturday. I can`t wait to see all of you again. But for now there`s still work to be done here in Melipilla, and as I always say, somebody`s gotta do it. Elder Butròn always said when he was my companion, "Si nosotros no lo hacemos, ¿quién lo va a hacer?" in other words, "if we don`t do it, who will?" Good question Elder Butrón, good question. This last week as I was reflecting upon life and other details, I remembered a quote from President Jones. He said, "the windows of heaven open and we start to see miracles when we stop counting time and start making time count." That is the quote I have written in front of my desk: "Stop counting time and start making time count." So we`re doing our very best in that department.

I forgot to tell you about a cool experience I had when I went to Bollenar on divisions this past week. I went there with Elder Terán, a Peruvian Elder who has about 6 months in the mission and has an insane amount of ánimo (energy). Bollenar is a campo sector, and is one of the biggest sectors in the mission. The missionaries use bikes there. When I got there Wednesday afternoon we had to go pick up the bikes from one of the hermano`s houses. He patched up one of the bike tires that had a leak in the tire. Very nice of him. So then we took the bikes out on the freeway (freeways here only have two lanes.) we were on our way to a cita with Alejandra, a 15 year old girl that I interviewed on Sunday (she should be getting baptized on May 23rd, which is awesome since there has only been one convert baptism in Bollenar in the last 2 years. There are only about 40 active members in the branch but we have faith that someday it will be its own stake!). So anyway we were on our way to her house. our appointment was at 5:00 and it was about 5 `til five. When suddenly... I heard a pooffff sound coming out of my back tire and realized that it had popped. So that was a bummer. Elder Teran informed me that we were still very far from Alejandra`s house, that we`d have to go back walking without bikes and leave them in a member`s house and then take a bus to Alejandra`s house. So that was a bummer. But then I thought, hey, if our bike tire popped in this exact place, it must be for a reason. We are always praying for the Lord to put is in the right place in the right time, aren`t we? I had a very strong impression that we were there for a reason. So we decided to knock a couple doors in the area and see what would happen. We knocked the first door and didn`t get in. Then we walked to the next door, and there was a Señora who had just walked into her front gate. She turned around and said , "Hola elderes" then she told us that she was a member, but inactive. She had been in Bollenar for about 2 months but didn`t know where the chapel was. So Elder Teran gave her the Chapel address and directions. Then we asked her if we could come in and offer a blessing in her home. She agreed!!! It turns out that she and her husband are sealed in the temple. Her husband has served as branch president and she has been relief society president. Now in Bollenar that is a big deal! More active members that can have callings and serve in the church is exactly what that branch (and all of melipilla) need! We are convinced that the Lord sent us to that house.

She also gave us two references for Silva Chavez, another sector in our zone. One was her sister, who she called on the phone while we were there and asked her if she wanted the elders to come visit her, and she said yes! The other referal was her dad, who was at her house while we were visiting. That was awesome.

Here`s our investigator update:1. Antonio: doing awesome, has his date for June 5th (but he still thinks it`s the 29th of May, we`re gonna tell him that tomorrow). He`s excited for his baptism, and also excited to receive the priesthood and bless his family. He´ll be a great member of the church.

2. Manuel: He`s 20, the older brother of Trinidad, a recent convert. He is also progressing well, we taught him the word of wisdom and the law of chastity on Saturday with hermano Pizarro, one of the counselors in the branch presidency. Manuel says he`s still thinking about his decision to be baptized, he doesn`t want to rush. He said he would tell us his answer on May 22nd.

3. Andres: He`s 12, the younger brother of Francisca, the son of Viviana, two other recent converts. He`s a video game addict and hasn`t come to church yet, but yesterday we taught him the plan of salvation with his whole family there to help teach. He understood it very well since he told us that to get to the celestial kindgom he has to "come to church on Sunday instead of staying home to play video games" (his exact words). He understands it well, but he`s still deciding if he wants to get baptized and keep the commandments. I think it would be a good idea!!

4. Daniela and Melina: They commited to come to church yesterday but then didn`t. They went to the campo to visit Melina`s mom for Mother`s day, which is understandable. They want to get baptized but need to show a little more commitnment.

5. Benjamin and Manuel: two of Elder Butterfield's old investigators. Manuel thinks that the Book of Mormon is satanic and refuses to read it. But then we taught him using scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon that it is necessary to have two witnesses that Jesus is the Christ. So he is considering the idea of reading it.

Other than that we are looking for investigators and remembering that you are praying for us to

find people and following the promptings of the Spirit. We have faith that the Lord will bless us. This is His work and His church.

I love you all!! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cloward

A Renewed Sense of Urgency

Dear Family,
That is Elder Jergin`s and my theme for the next four weeks. Because at the end of this change he goes home. (I don`t remember if I`m going home soon or not ;-)Too much work left for me here to be thinking of that and we want to do as much as we can before he finishes his mission. Some elders get trunky because they think that they`ll be home soon so there`s no need to work hard. but I see it exactly the other way around. I`m not trying to say I`m perfect, cuz that`s far from true, but I just think we should finish the things we start and finish them 100%.
The sector is doing pretty well, the only problem at this moment is that all of the investigators that attended church haven`t accepted a baptismal date yet, and all of the investigators that have accepted the baptismal date didn`t come to church, and therefore their baptismal date will have to be postponed. So our focus for this week will to get the investigators that are attending church (Antonio and Manuel) to accept a baptismal date and to get the investators who have already accepted a baptismal date (Daniela and Melina) to attend church next week. But I have faith that everything will come together and work out the way Heavenly Father has planned. This is the Lord`s work. He`ll do His part if i do mine.
I have written a note for Jonah's baptism.
I hope that Jonah will feel the spirit on the day of his baptism. I remember when I was baptized by dad in the font in the Whittier stake center. I felt to so clean and pure after. It was a very special day. This will be the beginning of many more special and important dates in Jonah's life. Well I`ve g2g now and meet with our investigators. I hope ya`ll have a great week! I love you all and I know the church is TRUE!!! I am so thankful that the Lord has given me this oppurtunity to serve the people of Chile. They are near and dear to my heart. Love you!
Talk to you soon for mothers day!
Love,
Elder Cloward
P.S. Sorry there are no pictures again this week. This interenet cafe is not compatable with my camera. We will try another one next week. Janessa hope your having a great time! Cara have fun on your buisness trip! Love you both.

From Campo to Campo-ier

Dear Family,
I´m not sure if that subject line makes any sense at all. What I´m trying to say is that I went from a campo zone (Talagante) to an even more campo-like zone, named Melipilla. It´s northeast of Talagante. It´s a pretty cool place. It is so beautiful in the country.
I really like it a lot. Also, interesting fact-Talagante means "town of witches" in Mapuche, Melipilla means "4 diablos". Isn´t that interesting? So just when I thought I could stop worrying about witches, now I've got devils on my tail!!! Oh well, what can ya do.
I was goning to try to send you some fotos today, but this bootleg computer isn´t compatible with my camera. That´s a sad story.
Well, my new compi is Elder Jergins from Saint George UT. He was a district leader in La Islita, one of the sectors in Talgante. so we´ve worked together before and gone on divisions and had meetings together. He finishes his mission this change (in 5 weeks) so he will be the second companion that I´ll kill. And when he dies I`m assuming I´ll stay here for my 4 weeks until mom and dad get here. So that means that this is most likely going to be my last sector. So I want to work harder than ever and make it my best sector. When Elder Jergins left Talagante two changes ago he got here, and Elder Krainik was his companion. They passed two changes together, then I got here and took Elder Krainik´s place. This is the first time I´ve been in one of his sectors, so that´s cool.
Melipilla, like Talagante, is a district. but, unlike Talagante, it only has 4 branches (Talagante has 6). The 4 branches are: Melipilla, Silva Chavez, Merced, and Bollenar. Melipilla and Silva Chavez are both divided into two sectors each. Our sector is Melipilla 2. We live with Elder Bybee from Utah and Elder Prado from Ecuador. There is a big field of grass and trees that you can see from our backyard. There are lots of cows there, too. The 2ndd set of missionaries are in Melipilla 1. So there are a total of 6 companionships in the zone, and there are no Sister Missionaries. Elder Butterfield was in this sector when he died. so that´s also cool. Hermano. Cabello, the guy that makes the leather scripture cases, is in our branch. He used to be the branch president but he was recently released. Now our branch president is Presidente Toro. he`s a really great leader (he`s already served as a Stake President). It will be good working with him, and we should learn a lot.
In other news, there was a baptism in our sector on Saturday. Her name is Leticia, she`s about 58-ish years old. Elder Jergins and Elder Krainik were teaching her and her husband Antonio for a couple months and she was finally able to be baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. We`re working with Antonio now. He`s pretty much ready to get baptized too. He`s waiting on a couple of things concerning forgiving others and letting go of some hard feelings that he has towards his daughter`s ex who left her and her son.
Other people we are teaching are:Daniela and Melina: Melina is Daniela`s mom, Daniela is a 19 year college student. They both came to church yesterday for the first time and they seem to be pretty interested. Actually that`s about it for now... we need to work on building up a better base of investigators. The other investigators that we`re teaching are all relatives of recent converts I´ll give you more info about them once we know more.
Here`s a cool story form the concilio meeting we had on Friday. Elder Hrabar and Elder Anfuso (the Elder that took my place in Talagante) were taking their turn to give their report of the work in the Talagante Zone this past change. President commented that the Talgante district has a higher attendence in church than most of the stakes in the mission. Somebody asked when Talgante is going to be a stake. President Jones told us a few cool things about that. He said that there hasn`t been a new stake in all Chile in 8 or 9 years. As far as I know, Talagante is actually already meeting the requirements to become a stake, but the First Presidency wants to wait a little while and make sure that it is truly ready to be a stake. President Jones said that over the past 6-7 months Talagante has really grown and there has been many that have been reactivated and serve who have recently been baptized. Then President Jones told us that Elder Amado (the Chile area president) was giving a report to Elder Scott (from the quorum of the 12) about the progress that Talagante has been having over the past few months, and when Elder Scott heard he jumped out of his chair and threw his arms up in the air because he was so excited. So that was cool to know, that one of the Lord`s Apostles is that concerned about that district and its progress. President Jones said that Talagante is progressing thanks to the faith of all of the missionaries in the mission and our prayers, as well as the prayers of our families. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers on my behalf as well as the saints of Talagante. My companions and I felt the Lord's strength many times as we taught in Talagante.
Well that`s about all I have for this week.
Take care and I´ll talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Cloward
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.