Happy Birthday Joseph Smith!

 I would say preparation day was pretty good. We got everything done by 1030 and we hung out with the district until about 4. We did a secret Santa and Sister Evans got my name and bought me this dope $10 sweater. Literally so nice! You guys saw it on me on Monday. Monday night was our FHE night at Brother Rases home. I lead the lesson about the importance of the Book of Mormon. I was asking around the room how people know the Book of Mormon is true. I ask brother Rase to bear his testimony and he says,"I am not sure if I know the book is true..." I was shocked. As much as I love Brother Rase, you can't be saying that in front of some of our investigators. Some of the reasoning he said that was because his girlfriend who isn't a member of the church was there, who doesn't like the Book of Mormon at all. This would've been a great time to be bold and bear a powerful testimony so she would get baptized. Fail. I was shook and devastated. 

Tuesday was chaotic. We did three hours of service and just non stop back to back to back lessons with people. We didn't even have the chance to eat lunch. Our dinner wasn't even until 7 either. I'm basically fasting  because we are so busy. I'm stressing, but it is great work I'm doing. We decided to push up Billy and Rachel's baptismal date to this Sunday during our lesson on Tuesday with them. We got out of the lesson and Elder Hanson was like you saw the cigarettes in his front pocket right? I was like no… I looked like a boof! Good thing we have companions to straighten you up. I'm writing this on Tuesday so I do not know what is going to happen. I guess we will see down below.  I hope my emails aren't too confusing, but I know if I read back on them I'll remember it lol. 

We cleared up the concerns with Billy and he was baptized on Sunday. We also had the chance to see Deborah and her son enter the waters. What a beautiful day Sunday was. I am so blessed to have the chance to see so many souls enter the covenant path. It is absolutely nothing I have done. This is The Lord's work, I am his tool!

My first district council was on Wednesday. I was a little nervous, but it all went smoothly. The Zone Leaders even came as well. We did a jeopardy and then focused on the importance of the first vision. Prayers were answered with that one. Side note: Happy 216th birthday Joseph Smith! We had an hour devotional devoted to just him. My testimony has never been so strong. One of the most talked about people if you are ever around me lol. 

Thursday I decided to go to the dollar tree and go ham! I bought about 30 items to hand out to kids and people we were teaching. We put all the toys in a big plastic tub. It felt like a treasure box you would pick out of after the dentist. Everyone loved it. I'm so glad I was prompted to do that for the people of Bay City. 

On Friday I found out I am receiving two more sisters into my district. The Midland district had to close down due to a recent missionary who came out with Elder Hanson going home. The Midland sisters are now joining our district for one to two transfers. 2 elders and 6 sisters…. here we go haha. 

A war has broken loose against the elders and sisters in the district. It's pretty funny though. We have been pranking each other the whole transfer so far. It probably will continue to get more intense haha. 

It pounded snow on the 23rd of December. When I was driving I was sliding all over the place. I don't know how to drive in snow at all. This is a good learning experience and Elder Hanson was roasting me about it because he knows how, he's from Idaho. All things shall give thee experience lol. It's good practice before I go up to Utah when I get home. 

Christmas Eve, Elder Hanson and I still had about 4 lessons. We grinded those out and just basically met with the people preparing for baptism in the next coming weeks. Sister Evans offered to make us a boujee food dish at the church and we accepted. We had some fried rice, popcorn chicken, and a good homemade Asian spicy sauce. After we ate we did district Facebook Finding with the 8 of us until 9 o'clock. Crazy how it was Christmas Eve, it felt like a normal day. 

Quote of the week:

"We love all of God's Children, but they don't know what they are talking about."

This was a quote from President Heap about a year ago during a Zone conference and a missionary recently brought it up so President Heap thought it would be funny to share on the devotional Thursday. The quote is so true though haha. I love Prez. 

Sunday I woke up dead. Of course an hour after I wake up I get a text from the President saying he will be at our ward for the service and baptisms. All of the baptisms went smooth for the most part. Elder Hanson and I have to do a lot of washing of white clothes today. Rest in peace our missionary transaction funds. It is a good thing to have to worry about though. Ended our Sunday doing singing as usual. We missed last week and so many of the friends we were teaching were sad or mad we didn't do it. Who knew so many people liked our singing. 

Exhausting week even though we technically had two preparation days due to Christmas. I'm always available through messenger. Hit me up! #FindTime4Me 

Will You Be Baptized?

 Last preparation day with Elder Johnson. We got all of our stuff done. At 1030 we got a haircut from Sister Idalski and she faded me up! Afterwards we went to the church to play some board games and have a nerf war. We played this game called Bang! I lost the fist game, but the following game I won. I was on Sister Mamata's team. To end the game we ganged up on her trainee Sister Painter and she forfeited. She was not about it hahaha. 

Tuesday was transfer day. We woke up and Elder Johnson packed all of his belongings up. Got to Mount Pleasant around 11 to eat lunch with the Petoskey Elders. Got some QDOBA. It was alright. I got to see everyone in the Midland and Traverse City Zone there. It was so good to see Elder Elliott! I missed him so much, of course we got some photos. It was weird seeing him because it has been so long. I then found out Elder Sargent will be my companion for the next two days. We headed to B-dubs to grub on some wings. Unfortunately I was still not feeling too well so we chilled and Facebook found the rest of the night. 

Wednesday was such an amazing day. Elder Sargent and I got to do a full day of work in Bay City. We had 6 lessons and they all happened! Elder Sargent and I are very similar. We both have so much fun in the work and we both strive to be exactly obedient! We saw miracles and laughed so much together. It was weird actually talking to my companion in the car and when it was past 9 o'clock. We taught with such unity like we knew each other for a long time. I really hope we get the chance to serve together sometime. 

It was time to find out who I will be with for the next three months. Elder Sargent and I drove to Lansing and arrived around 10:30. We joined the training that was being given to all the new trainees. All the trainers had the chance to give some advice before we were assigned our trainees. I am paired up with Elder Hanson! He's such a stud. He is a lot like Mason Bueler. A little on the quieter side, but once you get to know him he's really funny and outgoing. He loves to work, he's a farm boy, and he loves hunting. Mason, Magnus, or Nathan would love this guy. Since I was in Lansing they catered us chick-fil-a! After we ate lunch and packed up his luggage it was then time to drive back to Bay City. Turns out I went through Flint Michigan which is not allowed in our mission because I left the mission boundaries twice! I left them on the way to and going back from Lansing. Office elders were disappointed with me, I didn't even know, whatever.

Training so far has been so great! It is making me a better missionary and seeing Elder Hanson grow has been so cool. I hope he likes me because I am putting this Elder to work. We are non stop grinding. We laugh a lot together and seem to enjoy each other. I'm glad I got paired up with him. 

Friday was Zone conference. Elder Hanson arrived in the mission field on Thursday and the following day we had Zone conference. It was about an hour away from Bay City in Mount Pleasant Michigan. Rest in peace our miles for our car this month. We have already hit our mile quota for the month and we still have two weeks. For Zone Conference Sister Heap told us if you want to be in the missionary choir anyone can join. We grabbed a bunch of the elders in our zone and went to practice singing prior to the beginning of the Zone conference. Who knew I'm a Tenor/Bass in singing. Not me. I absolutely love all the missionaries in this mission. Our zone conference was combined with Traverse City so I had the chance to be with Elder Elliott again! I miss him so much. 

This past week I have been sick. I wake up with a sore throat and headache everyday. I am losing my voice from singing all the time and being sick. I have a cold I think, but I can't stop doing missionary work. I'm a trainer, grind will not stop. I begin to get a cough here and there, but it will all go away soon. Whenever God wants it to go away I guess. 

The Larson family sent me a package for Christmas! I haven't had candy in awhile and they know I LOVE candy. They packed it full of Smarties and milk duds. They even put some poo-pourri in there. Becky knows me so well. Brooklyn packaged me a stocking and it was so nice. I am way too blessed to be close with the Larson family. They spoil me way too much. Also, the package that mother sent me came the following day. Why am I so spoiled?!?!?!

I am so sorry guys. This email will be very long. We had the biggest miracle of my mission probably on Saturday. Elder Hanson found someone on Facebook and we set up a time to meet. There was four people when we went over there. An excommunicated member, two inactives, and one person who has never heard about the church. The Spirit was overwhelming in this room. We taught the full restoration and then I promptly asked everyone to bear their testimony about the Book of Mormon. The inactive and excommunicated member bore powerful testimonies on how this church and book of mormon is true. We turned back over to Alex (the non member who has never heard about our church) and he was in tears, "I have never felt the spirit of the Lord so strong ever in my life and I know it's because of you two." I looked him in the eyes and said,"Alex, what you feel right now is the Holy Ghost, you can feel that everyday in your life if you are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Will you be baptized by someone holding proper authority?" Alex immediately said yes and we set a date for January 8th. Three weeks. The Lord prepares people for His message. I am so blessed to have the chance to witness such a miracle with my new companion Elder Hanson.

Saturday night we had to give a couple blessings. One was to Sister Evans in my district because she was having extremely bad ear pain. We gave her a priesthood blessing and the next morning everything was gone. I am so blessed to have the chance to use the priesthood I hold. The priesthood is real. Joseph Smith restored it! I love him!

Quote of the Week: 

"Wait...How does that even work???"

This was a quote given from my amazing trainee Elder Hanson. I was talking about exchanges and then I brought up how since we just have sisters in our district we go on exchanges with them. He sat in silence for a hot second then looked at me and asked in a high pitched tone,"Wait...How does that even work???" It was so funny. It was a had to be there moment, but it was a good one. 

This week was miraculous. I am also extremely overwhelmed and stressed with the tasks I have to do. I know I have to rely on The Lord for everything. Please pray that everything falls into place. I love you all so much. Talk to me on Facebook! #FindTime4Me 

5 Transfers In Bay City

 The best idea was executed on Monday. As a district after we finished up eating at b-dubs we went to Walmart to grab nerf guns. We all bought ones that were about 3 dollars each. We then had an intense nerf gun war for the next two hours. Who knew three dollars can bring forth so much fun haha!

On Monday night we did a FHE in the Martinez home. She all made us homemade Chili and we invited the friends we are teaching. Such a great activity, everyone was laughing with one another having a good time. Brother Martinez even let me use his accordion to practice. I guess you could say I'm musically gifted. We ended the night playing Mexican bingo. If the Lord needed me to, I could be a Spanish speaking Elder.

Recently the sisters had a lesson with a member in our ward named Sister Thomas. They found out that her husband died by choking on a piece of chicken. They became all worried that I was going to all of a sudden die eating chicken. I won't say that it isn't possible lol. Now the inside joke is that I need to take smaller bites of literally anything I eat… What a loving district I am in. 

Wednesday we had interviews with President Heap. By far the best interview of my mission. Mine went on for about an hour, but we were just chatting and laughing. I've never laughed with someone and felt the spirit at the same time… he is built different. Right when I sat down he said, "you will district lead and train the next transfer." It caught me off guard because I thought I was just getting another senior comp. Also, Sister Evans is training as well. In our district of three companionships, we are all going to be training or in training! So fun!

Friday was our ward Christmas party! What a blast that was. We had 6 of our friends attend and the members were so good at speaking with them. During dinner we got our transfer calls from President Heap. I was still a little nervous because he likes to switch things up often. He told me that I will be training and district leading. Elder Johnson is traveling down to Charlotte in the Lansing zone to greenie bust Elder Taylor. When I get to go to Lansing on Thursday, I will have the chance to sit through the new missionaries training. I've never had that before because of my travel chaos lol. 

Saturday I began to get pretty sick. I believe I got a cold. The crazy weather changes finally got to me. It went from snowing at 21 degrees to 57 degrees and 50 mph winds in one day. Michigan weather is literally insane. We got about 3 inches of snow and then a day layer it all melted.  If it is going to be cold, it might as well have snow. Since I wasn't feeling the greatest, the sisters brought me over chicken noodle soup and Ramen which was clutch. They also brought over cough drops and essential oils. I never thought those things would work, but it did. 

Sunday was a recovery day. Had our church services and Sunday meetings. Still felt kind of blah. Ended the night with some district singing as well as district service! We went over to Brother Rase's home to help him paint. He also brought out all his guns. They were all unloaded and had no ammunition for it. We probably shouldn't have been holding them, but I did take some fire photos. Don't post them anywhere because I am not allowed to be holding weapons lol. 

Quote of the week:

"He Doth Not Stink To Me"

This quote was said while our district was watching a book of Mormon video during district council tht Elder Johnson was showing. At the beginning of the video he emphasized that we need to put away distractions and not laugh… which made it so much harder not to laugh. Our whole district was dying when King Lamoni's wife said this quote. It probably isn't funny when you guys read It, but it was in the moment. Elder Johnson was too amused. Had to be there. 

This week was amazing. I love Joseph Smith! I love this church! I love being a missionary. I couldn't even imagine coming home early. This week was the best because I changed my attitude. Shoutout to Brooklyn who whipped me back into shape on Monday. I also got news I'm training which was a bonus. Besides the point, I allowed myself to learn from Elder Johnson and immerse myself in the work. I had a poor attitude about it to a degree prior weeks in this transfer. I completely changed this week and it was one of the happiest weeks of my mission. 

I love you all. I truly do. Please message me on messenger. I love chatting with all of you that are reading this. Yes… that means YOU! #FindTime4Me 

Enduring

 Monday was pretty fun. We got to drive about 20 minutes south to Saginaw to be with our Zone Leaders. Elder Houskeeper had to sign Jazzii's baptismal form so we just ended up chilling there all day. We played basketball with us and the sisters that live in Saginaw. We played for about 3 hours. It was pretty fun. Afterward we decided to get food. Chipotle was what people wanted. I honestly never have had a Chipotle bowl ever. I got it and yeah I was right, it's pretty average. Got back to the ZLs apartment and did our laundry. At 530 we left their apartment and went back into our area.

Tuesday I was a part of the most spiritual lesson of my mission thus far. About three weeks ago I messaged a man named Billy Ashby. Billy replied to this text on Sunday and we scheduled a lesson with him on Tuesday. When we got here he brought his girlfriend and one of his other friends to join the lesson. Billy has heard of the Book of Mormon and met with missionaries over two years ago. He loved the book of mormon and church when he went. He said that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only one that interests him. When we were talking about it, his friend Jessica pops in saying she wants to get baptized into our church. Billy and his girlfriend Rachel said they wanted to as well. We set their baptismal date for January 1st to become members of the restored Church. After we closed this spiritual, overwhelming meeting, Billy looked at us and said,"I had a vision last night that I needed to get baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." This strengthened my testimony immensely that The Lord prepares his people for His message. 

On Tuesday night we had another lesson with our friend Debra. After the lesson concluded we put her and her son on date for baptism for December 26th! We had the chance to see 5 people accept a baptismal invitations on Tuesday. What a great day to end November! The Lord prepares people!

I love the Bay City Bishop's family! We met with the Klopf Family on Thursday. I have a close relationship with most of their 8 kids. Their youngest who is 5 is always trying to tackle me at church or whenever I see her. Her name is Evelyn. During the lesson she started putting stuff in my hair while we were talking. Sister Klopf took some photos of it. I will probably miss this family the most when I depart from Bay City. I guess I will have to visit after I return home.

Friday we got to eat with a person we are teaching named Duff Zube. Duff was the very first person I found on Facebook who is actually pretty solid. He fed us some pizza he bought for us, very yummy. We watched some of the restoration movie then as we were leaving he gave us some gifts. He handed me a tub of popcorn and Christmas socks. Such a loving grandpa!

Saturday afternoon we met with the Behling family in our ward. They have 5 kids who are all pretty young, what a chaotic household. It was fun teaching the little kids. We got on the topic of piano because they are all practicing it. Afterword Brother Behling volunteered me to show them what hymns I could play. I showed them about 5-6, but then Brother Behling said he is now going to talk to the bishopric in making me the pianist for the Bay City ward!

I'm on the tail end of the transfer. By the next email you receive, I will know if I am staying or leaving in Bay City. I really hope I stay and receive a new companion, but I guess we will see. That might not be what The Lord wants for Elder Clouse. 

Sunday night we watched the Christmas devotional as a district. I didn't know they do those things lol especially every year haha! I didn't get much from it mainly because I didn't try my best to listen. I thought it was cool and who doesn't love Christmas hymns???

Also, Light The World is here! I have always liked that we started doing this, probably because I love Christmas. I encourage you all this next week to do at least 4/7 days of what the Light the world calendar says. Light the world with love Clouses!!!