All Time Low

 We thought it was going to be a boring preparation day, but it turned out to be really fun. When we finished up all of our chores and we were eating breakfast, Elder Houskeeper (one of our ZLs) texted and asked if we wanted to come play basketball. Since we had the miles and it was only 20 minutes away, we happily accepted. We were there from 11-5 balling up the whole time. I'm pretty trashy now, but I will get better. The following day I have never woken up so sore from basketball in my life. Elder Hanson strained his calf when he was playing, it was pretty funny. That night when we were going to leave for the FHE night at Brother Rases, I left the house without the house or car keys. We locked ourselves out. We said a prayer while we were deciding what to do. I was prompted by an idea to get in and it worked #SpiritIsBuilt

Tuesday felt like a disappointing day. It was the first day of my 5th transfer in Bay City.. We were constantly grinding and trying to find people to teach, but no success at all. All of our people we are teaching are beginning to flake on us and drop us. We need to find more people to teach and we are grinding everyday to find more souls to teach. It's frustrating because we aren't. I am acting on spiritual promptings I have received, but nothing. I need to rely more on the Lord and success will come. It wasn't a part of the Lord's timing for us to find someone on Tuesday. 

Wednesday was a member filled day. We found someone on Facebook named Tim and planned a video call with him. At the beginning of the call he was like,"you guys know I'm a member right?" We were like no… but then we turned it into trying to get him reactivated. We met with 3 other members that night. Some inactive, others active. There is a lot of Inactive work that needs to be done. I have 6 weeks to grind it out before I say peace to this place. 

Friday while we were knocking on some doors something wack happened. We were knocking on inactive doors who live in Freeland. Freeland is a city about 20 minutes west of Bay City. We knocked on what we thought to be an inactive ladies door and an elderly lady came out with no pants on and said that Sister Call was dead. It was a very weird interaction and we dipped fast. 

Saturday had its ups and downs. We had to film a "hype" video for our zone as a district on Saturday. Us elders decided to use the best use of this time and play basketball. We woke up at 6 am and drove to Midland to play ball with the two new elders serving in Midland. Their names are Elders Davis and Nelson. I've never gotten along with two elders better. They both ball and they are so fun to talk to. We finished balling up at 8 and then went back to their apartment to shower up. After our morning routines, we got together as a district to film our "hype" video. We used the time wisely to be able to play basketball. Also, we are also confident Elder Hanson strained his ankle. This guy.

That night we had a lesson with our friend Alex. Alex Thomas was preparing for baptism the 13th of February. Well… not anymore. He expresses he wanted to get a tattoo and I told him if he gets a tattoo, he is not getting baptized. This then brought him to go on and on about how our church has too many rules. He thinks he wants to take a break from the church and us missionaries. I told him boldly that he will regret this decision and God wants him in His restored Church. Elder Hanson threw in some loving words after I finished talking to him so it didn't come across as abruptly. Alex then told us how he doesn't like talking to me because I tell him what he doesn't want to hear and he likes talking to Elder Hanson because he is funny and nice. I loved that comment haha. I will never hold back the truth. Overall he didn't take the conversation well. He was really angry and shaky. The Spirit confirmed to me as we closed with a prayer that what I said that night was needed and was exactly what Jesus Christ would tell Alex. 

It was a pretty frustrating and hard week as a companionship in Bay City. All time low. We did do a lot of fun activities, but the missionary work didn't go well. We dropped about 15 friends we were teaching. Our teaching pool is about 3 people, these three people all expressed they don't want to get baptized so our teaching pool is basically 0. It is frustrating because I feel like I'm doing all I can. I think the Lord is humbling me because I have asked him to possess me a great amount with humility. Whether I like it or not, He is humbling me. Let's go! I love this work. I know I'm doing my best. I feel the Spirit, I'm striving to be extremely obedient, and I love The Lord. 

I'm looking forward to talking with you all. I love you! I have been really bad with photos. I will try and be better. Please message me. As always #FindTime4Me. 

Girl Missionary Now

 For preparation day it was our last one as a full district. Sister Mamata got the call that she is getting emergency transferred over to Mount Pleasant to be an STL. We drove to Midland and ate Olive Garden because they don't have one in Bay City. Unlimited Soup, Salad, and breadsticks was the move. After that we all came back to the Midland building which is the stake center so it's huge! We all signed the goodbye journals then balled up until 2. Since we had nothing else to do, we drove home. For the rest of the day we called our friends and chilled at the apartment. 

Update on good Ole Tyler. We basically did a drop lesson with him on Tuesday, but we didn't. We told him the doctrine will never change because he might have thought that our church just interpreted it wrong. We told him that we are right and we just want him to build his faith and feel loved. It will probably take him 20 years to be baptized, but he will. He loves the things in the church, he just hates the same sex attraction viewpoint. I told him if he gets married to a guy and adopts, he will be happy, but he will be missing something. It caught him off guard, but he is open to still reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church. It all starts there!

Wednesday we had a fire district council. Sister Coles gave it because I let her lead one. Background on Sister Coles, she came in a transfer after me, but she did 4 months on the historical sites in Palmyra NY. For the district council she did a virtual tour with us with photos and she basically acted as if we were doing the tour. It was so cool! I want to go so bad. I love Joseph Smith. I've already told myself I'm going to visit those sites in October once I'm home. I'm stoked for it. 

Miracle check. We received a referral from my good Ole friend Elder Elliott. We set up a time to meet with Kendra. Kendra is a young mother with three kids. We got to know her and taught the full restoration. After we got to the end I extended the commitment and said,"Kendra when you receive your answer about The Book of Mormon, will you be baptized?" She happily accepted and she is preparing for February 5th. Being in tune with the Spirit has truly blessed my missionary experience. Happy 6 months to me haha. My girl mission is underway. I'm writing this 3 days after I wrote this paragraph. She dropped us haha! She isn't ready for the message yet. I get to move on to the elect, no slowing down!

To celebrate my six months, we decided to go to Bishops house and blow up a tie. All of us Bay City missionaries showed up, Bishop got his fire breath shotgun and blew it up! I have a video of it. It is so cool! I truly love the Klopf family. 

On Friday we got our transfer calls and this caught me off guard. I was thinking we were going to stay and I will continue to district lead in Bay City. I was partially correct. Elder Hanson and I will stay in Bay City together, bit the district leading area is going to Midland 2 which is a pair of Spanish elders. There is no such thing as the Bay City district anymore, it's the Midland district. I thought I did a great job district leading, but for this upcoming transfer it was not the Lord's will. Also, the third companionship in Bay City got closed down. There is now only a pair of elders and a pair of sisters in the Bay City ward. President is pulling fast ones.

On Sunday I made a promise with one of the Bishop's kids. His name is Samuel Klopf. He actually is 11 years old and gave a 6 minute talk in sacrament meeting. It was so good! Afterward I was talking with him and we even took a photo. I made a promise to him that in 7 years when he is giving his farewell talk to go on a mission, I will be there to reenact the photo we took. He will probably be the only boy in his family to serve a mission. Don't mind his long hair, he grows out his hair every year to cut it and donate it to kids who don't have the chance to have hair. If there was a charitable award, it would be his. I love Sam!

A funny story this week was when we ate with the Browne family and our friend Tyler. The Brownes live in a very modern home and it just reminds me of ours. The scents, the vacuumed carpet, the clean floors. Ah, I miss it. Right after dinner I just laid on their carpet because I missed it so much. Who would've thought I would miss clean, fresh, vacuumed carpet. I miss the magic lady too. 

Quote of the week:

"Elder Clouse, what are your views on Christopher Columbus?"

It's funny how I mentioned Sam earlier in my email because this was said by him. We ate with Bishops family while we blew up my tie with his shotgun. Sam leans over to me while we were eating ice cream and asks me this question. Don't know why, but it got the whole table to laugh because it caught everyone off guard. What a kid. 

Happy birthday to JARED, MAGNUS, AND LANCE. If you are reading this I want you to private message me I like chicken. I doubt any of them three will read this.

 

It was a tough week with our friends. Everyone we have on date for baptism is either ghosting us, not about it, or keeps messing up. The Lord has greatly possessed me with enduring joy though. I know that my efforts are not wasted. I am not down about all these things. I just have more time to find the Lord's elect! I am truly being converted to the Lord. I love all of you! Please message me on preparation day and I will be excited to chat. As always #FindTime4Me

Beware of the Holy Ghost

 A great start to a great week. I decided on Friday that I needed a new phone. My phone is jank. I talked with mother on preparation day and figured everything out. I began going to Walmart, and it turns out they don't sell unlocked phones. We go to AT&T and it turns out they don't either. We then had to drive to Saginaw to a Best Buy which sells unlocked phones. They didn't have any in stock so we just had to pre-order it. I have to suffer another 5 days with this bummy one. At 1 o'clock we met up with the district to run a nerf gun war. I lost every time. I was pretty buns. At 6 we had a FHE night with the ward at Brother Rase's home. We invite our friends to meet ward members and hear a spiritual thought. Tyler and our friend Noah came. It was sweet, until one ward member started talking about polygamy and you should've seen my face. Ah Bay City. 

Tuesday was jam packed. Throughout the week my stomach has been acting up. It was rough, but on Tuesday we had about 8 lessons planned. 6 happened which was a plus. One of the friends we are teaching is Duff. He loves history and he's reading the Saints book. He grilled us with about 20 questions he had. He's frustrated to teach because he can't have faith, we will probably hand him to The Lord for a bit. Had a handful of lessons, but I will just talk about our friend Tyler. He loves love and loves the things we teach him. The minor set back is he is gay, but we are getting this man dunked!!! I love the lessons we have with him. Ended the night calling areabook and members to see if we could eat at their homes with Tyler. 

Wednesday was district council! This day was jammed packed. After the district council we had to make a hype video for our zone. I will send that in later. Since we were in Midland, we had to grab Costco pizza! Yummy. After we got home we had a lot of things planned. Had about 6 lessons to go to. The one lesson that was hard was with Tyler. Tyler we met via Facebook and he was loving the things we are teaching. I sent him our beliefs on the same-sex attraction and he didn't take it so well. He still will meet with us, but it's just an extremely hard concept to understand. I truly don't fully understand. Tyler put it as,"it's basically a life sentence in prison for something I didn't do." I don't know what to tell him, we talked a lot about it, but it comes down to him praying about it. I'm frustrated with myself because I should've known how to help him. 

Thursday was interviews with President Heap. We drove to Saginaw to have those. It was really good, chatted with him for about ½ an hour. No worries everyone, I am staying another transfer in Bay City. He did tell me it will be my last. Rip. The rest of the day was just normal lessons. 

Friday was the day I got my new phone! Recently my phone hasn't been charging above 25%. I drove to Best Buy on Monday and bought a new one. Turns out we had to wait 5 days for it to arrive. We drove to Saginaw where the Best Buy is and when we get there they say they haven't received it. 5 minutes after we left, they got my phone. For some reason they didn't call or text me. We drove all the way back to Bay City and ate lunch. Right after we finished eating lunch I got a text from mother saying my phone is ready to pick up. Rest in peace to our miles that we are allotted. Drove back to Saginaw, picked up my phone and bought a new case. It took me about 2 hours to set up, but we got it all up and rolling. I'm glad I have an effective phone again. 

Friday night we had the privilege to go over to Bishops home. They invited about 4 non members to come eat and they all committed. Right when we got there, the four they had planned were all canceled. Since we were already there, we ate with them. Bishop smoked some meatloaf and it was probably the best meatloaf I have had in my life. It was pristine. Following that we had some ice cream which just touched off the meal. We got on the topic how I have choked on a lot of food so that's why I eat slowly. I then explained how I choked on a lemon drop in the shower and they thought it was hilarious. They said they think they will remember me forever because I choked on a lemon drop in the shower. 

Saturday had its pros and cons. We had to film moscars which was a rip. Moscars is a thing we do every transfer where every district in the mission makes a video and submits it to see who wins. It supposedly just makes content for the mission page. You don't want to hear Elder Clouses opinion on it because I think it's a waste of time. It took about 3 hours on Saturday and we didn't even finish it. I mean it's a fun time to bond as a district, but that's three hours taken away from finding people to teach. Unfortunately we have been asked to do it so it needs to be done. We filmed on the frozen Saginaw River in Bay City. It's crazy to think how it's already frozen over. The river is frozen 6 inches thick. It was sketchy at first, but then you got used to it. Fun time to bond as we filmed moscars, but we didn't finish so now we have to do it on our preparation day. When we were outside filming it was like 12⁰ so I was dying. Face was red. The plus is that I got some fun photos. 

Sunday was packed full of responsibilities. Church was a blast at usual. Sundays as a missionary just hit so different. Sunday afternoon got an invite to do a Bible Study with Bro Rase (our ward missionary leader), his gf Heather, and 10 other "saved" Christians. It's good to see people are going going out reading the word of God, but they are terrestrial beings. There time will come. We did talk to one girl there named Angela who wants to meet with missionaries so that's a big W. The Lord lives effort!

As we were driving home Sunday night we received a phone call from the Bay City 3 sisters informing us that Sister Mamata is being emergency transferred to Mount Pleasant to be an STL. The Lord couldn't hold her back, she will be missed. 

Quote of the week

"Watch out for what? The Holy Ghost."

This quote was again said by our friend Tyler. He keeps getting flack and trashed on for meeting with us. Shoutout to Tyler for having faith to continue to see the truths he is missing out on. As we were walking out of a lesson with him he told us about how his friends keep telling him,"watch out for them Mormons, they will get you." Tyler then replied with,"watch out for what? The Holy Ghost." It was really funny, Elder Hanson and I were laughing about it for a bit. Good Ole Tyler. 

Quick miracle that happened this week was while we were calling our friend Alex who is on date. We were talking about how excited he was for his baptism. I asked him if he would like to get baptized next week and he said that would be ideal! We planned it up and he is getting dunked on January 23rd which was initially February 13th. Less time that Satan can work #FinessedSatan.

Love you all! I love being a missionary. Weeks are flying! I hit 6 months this week. That is absurd. #FindTime4Me

Useless Meat Snacks

 The week of being stuck in the apartment. For preparation day we could not do anything. We sat inside and just chatted with people. When no one was replying we resulted in doing more missionary work on Facebook haha. Grind never stops. At 430 on Monday, Brother Rase let us borrow his Bay Cityoploy game. We played for about an hour, but then we had three lessons planned. I called you all that night and then for the next 30 minutes before bed I called Elder Jorgensen and Lisle. A great end to our quarantine preparation day.

Tuesday was actually pretty busy. We had 8 lessons planned through video call. It turned out that 6 of them happened which was such a plus. The Lord provided and consecrated our Facebook efforts while we were stuck inside. We took hour breaks in between to play monopoly. On Monday, Elder Elliott asked the President if we could play games while stuck in quarantine and he approved! Elder Elliott also has covid up in Traverse City so he is stuck in quarantine too! I ended up playing two full games of monopoly and I won both.

Wednesday we had to do our district council virtual. It turned out amazing. The Lord truly allowed the spirit to be there and it was a great discussion. We spoke on how we can be possessed by great faith in Jesus Christ. Powerful testimonies and tears were shed. Such an inspiring district council. Jesus Christ is still pouring out the blessings on Bay City even though we are isolated. 

Wednesday was more of a dead day. I was blocked from adding people and messaging people. No one else was replying either so I kind of just started at the ceiling. At 2 o'clock we ended up playing monopoly. I beat Elder Hanson in 45 minutes. A full monopoly game in 45 minutes. On top of that we played another AND I beat him again in 45 minutes. We finished two complete monopoly games in an hour and a half. I feel bad because as of right now I have beaten him 4-0 in Bay Cityopoly.

We received a call at 915 from Sisters Mamata and Painter while we were writing in our journal. Turns out they locked themselves out of their apartment while they were doing laundry today. We went over there and scaled their balcony. We thought the balcony door was locked as it usually was, but today it was not! I got up there and opened the door to their apartment and let them in. If you take what I just did out of context, I would be considered so disobedient. I was alone, in a sisters apartment, past 930 hahaha. Good thing The Lord knows the truth. 

This week has actually been phenomenal. The Lord has consecrated our efforts through Facebook. We found 6 new friends and referred three of them to missionaries where they live. A handful of them will be baptized. I want to touch on one of the new friends we met this week. His name is Brad Switala. He is about 50 years old and lives in Bay City with his son. He is so down to earth and has been prepared by Jesus Christ to hear His message. We found him through Facebook. He came to church on Sunday and he said he had never been on this "spiritual high" before in my life. He wants it more. We sat down with him in his home after church. We asked if he would like to be baptized into the true church of Christ. He said,"How about I come to church next Sunday and then the following I'll be baptized." SWEET! Also, side note about Brad. He is so funny, he is disabled and his room is so boujee. He has LED lights all around and he has a humidifier going all the time. We walked into his room and it just felt so peaceful like I could nap. He's a gangster. 

I have to talk about another friend we met this week. His name is Tyler. Tyler is a gay guy we met on Facebook who wanted to learn about what the hype is to religion. We started teaching him the basic beliefs in our church. We handed him a copy of the Book of Mormon and told him to read Alma 32. He read this chapter and it touched his heart. He had been struggling with faith, but Alma 32:21 gave him his answer. He said,"it was my revelation." He declined at first to come to our church since he was busy, but after reading Alma 32 he knew he had to come. He prioritized time and showed up. I have such a strong testimony that this is not my work. Jesus Christ loves Bay City 2. 

My phone this week has been acting up lol. I don't think the 90 dollar phone we purchased can make it two years. I am going to the store today to buy a new phone. The battery on my phone is already fried. I wake up in the morning and the charger only chargers it to 24%. I can't do video calls anymore because it is so slow. Good thing I have the money to get a new one!

Elder Hanson and I continue to build unity as the transfer goes on. He is always right by my side, willing to press forward in this work. We had a great companionship inventory after weekly planning. The unity and love I have for Elder Hanson is amazing. So grateful I have been placed with him.

Quote of the week

"I mean aren't we all useless meat sacks waiting to die."

This was a quote said by our friend Tyler. We later clarified and taught him the Plan Of Salvation so he knows we aren't useless meat sacks waiting to die ahaha. 

Today I am obtaining a new phone so it might be hard for me to reply until it's completely done being set up. Please bear with me. I love you all and shoot me a text if I don't text first. #FindTime4Me 

Satan Works Through Covid

 Preparation day was one to remember. First we got all of our chores done and were back at our apartment around 10:30. From 10:30 to 12:30 I called the boys and meal prepped while I did that. Made some sautéed potatoes and veggies. At 1:30 we went over to our ward mission leaders house Brither Rase. There we played a game up monopoly, but it was the Bay City edition. We played as companionships. We lost. Immediately following this we watched 17 miracles. What a great movie. I remember watching it when I was younger, but it was so sad watching it again. I've never cried for a movie until now. When the hymn, "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul," came on I lost it. Ended our preparation day with two lessons, one with a nonmember and the other with a family. 

Tuesday was my miracle filled. I was probably the most in tune with the spirit than ever before. It began after a lesson with our recent convert Billy. I looked out his window while I was in his lesson and saw his neighbor going into his home. I was prompted immediately to go knock on his door afterwards. 20 minutes go by and we finish the lesson with Billy. By now I completely spaced the fact I got this prompting earlier. As we were walking back to the car the spirit reminded me of that prompting. I turned around and went up the stairs to knock on this door. A woman named Carrie answered the door and the spirit was so strong as we were talking to this woman. I handed her the Book of Mormon and said, "The spirit you feel right now is confirming that we are servants of The Lord and that The Book of Mormon she is holding is true." She happily  accepted a copy and came back later that week. This was the very first door Elder Hanson had ever knocked on and he was shook haha. Throughout the day we saw many other miracles and tender mercies. We picked up three new friends on Tuesday!

We also had our house inspection this week. We cleaned up the apartment and it was mom clean. Yeah that's right, magic lady clean. When they came in they were like holy cow! This place is clean. They did say though we need to get more pictures because all of our walls are pretty boring. We passed our a I apartment inspection with flying colors. 

Had another solid district council on Wednesday. Since we did it in Midland we could go get Costco pizza, churros, and hot dogs. I got a quarter pound hot dog with a drink for $1.50. YO that's nuts. I took some photos to share with mom. Costco foods hits different. 

Wednesday night we had to cast out a demon or evil spirit. We have been meeting with our friend Matt for a while. Elder Johnson felt prompted to give him a priesthood blessing and go to his apartment and dedicate it. I wasn't too comfortable with this because we needed to seek our mission president's guidance. Now it brings us to Wednesday. Matt's friend Robert has been having demons possess him and his apartment. Matt told him we could help out. We called President Heap and all he said to us was,"I trust you good elders." As we were sitting down with Robert, I felt prompted he needed us to use our priesthood. We went into his apartment and as we opened the door you felt the evil spirits in there. It almost felt like it hit me. We blessed the apartment and cast out all evil spirits living there.  A very cool experience because immediately afterward you could feel a sense of peace in his apartment. The spirit could now dwell in there. Such a cool powerful moment in Elder Hanson's training!

Thursday was exchanges. I headed to Saginaw to be with Elder Zacher for the day. I had a small headache, but nothing Tylenol couldn't fix. We had a handful of lessons and picked up a couple people door knocking. Pretty pretty cool! It was weird not being with Elder Hanson for the day, but it was a good change. At 830 we were back in Bay City together!

It started to decline after this. We had to drop a handful of our friends because they are not about it anymore. Sorry, but you just rejected your salvation lol. Also, on Friday we felt that we should go get tested for COVID because Elder Hanson's cough and sinuses had gotten worse. We were looking around all day to try and find a quick testing center. We had to drive 30 minutes to Saginaw, but we finally got tested. The rest of the night we grinded some Facebook work and called areabook. The following afternoon as we were on our phones getting Facebook contacts we received a call from an unknown number. I answer and they ask if Luke is there. I told them yes and then they said,"your results came back and your POSITIVE." This caught me off guard, I literally said,"what???" Pretty crazy how I'm positive and I had no symptoms really. 

Since our whole district was together on Wednesday for the district council all of us began to drop like flies. It began with Sister Mamata and Timm, then Elder Hanson, then Sister Painter, then Sister Roskelly, and now me. Sunday morning I woke up absolutely dead. I made the decision not to fast so I could take medicine and attempt to feel better sooner. Not one missionary in our district is out and about. We all are quarantined. 40% of our mission is sick and quarantined. I am literally going crazy here. I need fresh air and I need to work! It literally kills me that I have to stay inside. Satan works through Covid.

We had to drop something off outside the sisters apartment because they didn't have their car at the time. As I was walking up to give the stuff to them I encountered black ice for the first time. I absolutely ate it. I slipped back and landed on my right elbow. Elder Hanson just heard me groan when I was on the ground. He was literally dying laughing. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty funny, but it hurt. My elbow is still recovering right now haha. 

Also, before I end my email shoutout to Jen Dog for hooking me up with the goodies. Elder Hanson and I are set for the rest of our two transfers together. She also got us a pulled pork meal from a BBQ through door dash. Wasn't as good as fathers, but it definitely was Diesel as Dallan would say.

Since we have to quarantine we can't go anywhere for preparation day. A full day inside. WAHOO!!! Well if you would like to call me, feel free to. Like please call me randomly. I will be inside and bored as ever. As always I love you all and #FindTime4Me.