Stake Dinners and Christmas Music

 Welcome to the busiest week of the mission thus far. Here we go:

We had our district preparation day on Monday which meant we gathered as a District to hang out. We decided on going to the beach and playing some beach games. We ran a couple games of spikeball and played a 6v6 football game in the sand. I woke up the next morning sunburned and sore. 

This is something I have to mention so I have it as a memory. The longer I have been with Elder Woolsey, the more things I find out in common. For some reason the term "zirburts" cane up and he literally knew what I was talking about. He said that his parents used to always do that to him when he was a kid. I was like no way me too. It was a solid bonding moment. 

Tuesday was our exchange with the APs (assistant to the President). I was with Elder Josh Sargent. If you remember close to a year ago I actually stayed with Elder Sargent for three days before we picked up our trainees. He has changed so much, it's so cool. I had such a great time with him and I set so many meaningful goals to make me a better person. I felt I was at a standstill on the mission and I am so grateful this helped me get back on my feet and run. 

We traveled up to Grayling on Wednesday. Grayling is a small town up north in Michigan. It is about 2 and a half hours north of Grand Rapids. We traveled up here for our outdoor zone conference. A year ago this week I actually went to the same place when I was training for a zone conference. That outdoor zone conference was my very first one as a missionary. It went for about 6 hours and halfway through we did an hour and a half hike. Since it went over a little we didn't arrive back home until around 930pm. A fun day trip for the memories. 

This week just keeps getting better! I had an exchange with Elder Brenton Chytraus. He is from Sandy, UT and has been out for close to 20 months. He was actually my trainer's MTC companion. We had such a great time together and we both had a great heart to heart moment during our companion exchange inventory. It is cool to see as I put trust in God, I can be a vessel in his hand. 

We then traveled down to Lansing on Friday for MLC (Mission Leadership Council). We were there for around 4 hours. By the end of it I was pretty wiped out. It only takes us a little under an hour and a half to travel to Lansing. It is always fun to see a handful of other missionaries and close friends. As a mission we are focusing on mainly exchanges and being better at technology use. We will see how this gets executed. 

Update about our friend Madria who was preparing for baptism October 8th. She is still struggling giving up smoking, coffee, and getting married. She is going through a lot and has to postpone her baptism. We know that she will come around eventually, but as of right now it is not the Lord's time for her. She has been going through emotional Rollercoasters in the past 8 months. 

This past week the high was around 60 degrees, it was gloomy, and windy. Some of the days it felt like it was a winter day in Arizona. I decided to begin playing Christmas music and I do not regret it. Christmas music is superior above all. It is cold enough now that during our morning runs we wear long sleeves and sweatpants. Uh oh, it is supposed to be one of the worst winters they have gotten in Michigan in awhile. 

To cap off the week we were invited to a stake youth activity at a members home in our ward boundaries. We pull up and all the youth are playing football, Elder Woolsey and I join. It reminded me of when we would play at the Varvel Christmas party, but this time we didn't play tackle. As we were leaving this event, we took home so much food. We even got more Mango salsa mom!

One of the days this week we did service for our friend Mike again. We picked up his walnuts in his front yard for about an hour. He then promised us that he would make us a steak dinner while we were there! He lived up to that promise. We ate steak dinner while he turned on the MSU game. Side note: MSU did not look good at all on the field. We were there for only 30 minutes after we concluded service. We got some memorable pictures. 

During the youth event I thought I lost my missionary tag so we gathered up the youth to say a prayer. At this point it was dark outside so we had all of our flashlights out. I promised everyone that whoever finds the missionary tag will get a signed tie haha. Elder Woolsey about 10 minutes into looking for it, he says,"Elder Clouse have you checked in the car?" Lo and behold it was in the car. Elder Woolsey and I decided that we cannot trash this faith filled experience they could have. We come back from the car and secretly place it in the grass. Elder Woolsey helped one of the youth named Bridger to find it. Bridger is around 8 and he was so stoked to get a free tie so now I owe him one. 

This week concluded with fast Sunday. In Michigan they usually do it the week before the conference, not the week after. I specifically fasted to possess the Christlike attribute of humility in my life. I studied a conference talk by President Ezra Taft Benson called Beware of Pride. Here is a quote I like. 

"The proud do not receive counsel or correction easily. Defensiveness is used by them to justify and rationalize their frailties and failures." 

During my comp exchange inventory with Elder Sargent I learned that my overbearing initiative allows for my pride to continue. This week I learned a lot about myself and my main takeaway was that I need to be confident in the spirit, not myself. I know Christ understands everyone's inadequacies and shortcomings. As I've relied on his strength, I have felt more confident to do whatever the Lord requires of me. 

This was a long one and this week flew by. I love you and so does God! Reach out to me ;)). I got a brand new Facebook account so I would expect a friend request from me ://. 

Lactose Strikes Again!

 It was the start to another normal week. Tuesdays in this area are always difficult. Not many lessons are planned and it is a big Ole day of finding. Finding constantly is so draining, especially since some of the most effective ways of finding is us sitting on our phones. The one funny even happened was our dinner appointment with someone named Mike Breen. 

I messaged Mike on Facebook and he wanted us to come over and have dinner with his wife and him. He prepared vegetable lasagna. Let me say, it actually was not bad, but the kicker was that it had a lot of dairy. Mike loves to talk which is completely fine; however, my stomach was not having it due to my lactose problems. I was tossing and turning the whole hour and a half appointment. There was a time during the meeting where I went to the restroom. I walk out and there is a huge mountain of vanilla/chocolate ice cream. At this point, I am almost tapping out since I was in so much pain. We abruptly left claiming that we had a lesson at 8, but in reality we had to leave to travel to the church bathroom. You might be wondering, Elder Clouse, why do you share this? Because you read that and chuckled. That's why. 

Wednesday we had a handful of lessons canceled, but three of them did happen. One of which was a member lesson with an amazing young family named the Pecks. They have a son out on a mission and then three other ones. The youngest child they have is Bridger, which is one of the greatest names ever since it'll be the name of one of my first kids. I manifest it now, Bridger Ryan Clouse is about to be the best. This family that we shared a spiritual thought with reminded me a lot about the Klopf family back in Bay City. I am grateful for these experiences to meet these families. The Peck family claimed they "accidentally didn't eat dinner before we got there," so we just joined them for that. We were all laughing and having a good time. I asked them if they ever have similar topics come up at the dinner table every night. They said they didn't, then they asked me if our family does. I laughed and looked up and told them the truth. The dinner table at the Clouse house always goes back to making fun of mom with the gym and poop. All of us Clouses know exactly what I'm talking about.

Thursday was the day I went in the morning to go to the eye doctor. The reason I am going is because my scleral lenses (glass contacts) are not up to date and a little blurry. They ran the normal scans on my eyes to see how they are doing. My eyes are still healthy and my cornea is still clear. They couldn't do much until they get information from the eye doctor in Arizona about my contacts or else they are pretty much going in blind. I am now waiting for a call or text back from them :)). 

This week surprisingly is going by fast as I am writing this. We had interviews on Friday. It is good per usual. Just address some concerns and ways to help out our Zone. He did mention that Elder Woolsey and I are most likely going to split. My personal interview ran a little long and we had a meeting to hop on at 10:05 am. My interview ended at 10:03 am. President Heap decided to pull in Elder Woolsey for his personal interview. Elder Woolsey got a two minute interview. We both laughed about it, but I felt bad. Elder Woolsey is a king. To cheer him up I took him to Olive Garden. The unlimited soups, salads, and breadsticks did not sit good with me. The 6 cheese pasta did not sit good with Elder Woolsey either. We couldn't catch a break this week. 

Sunday we had stake conference and the lineup of speakers we had for it was straight heat. It did feel long and I was hungry, but it was splendid. 

Nothing too much happened. This next week will be very intense so be anticipating a weekly email that is lengthy if I make time to write it. Love you all so much! This Monday we are going to the beach to play games so here we go!

God Got Us

 This week began with a lot of our similar routines. Some weeks feel like that and others don't. Tuesday was a big day of finding and no lessons at all. Wednesday however was a day packed with lessons where the majority of them happened. This was shocking to us. For some reason people in this area struggle so much to keep commitments. It was a refreshing day to see lessons go through, people keeping our reading commitments, and others accepting our gospel message. 

For the past week now my left eye has been extremely sensitive to light. I have been wearing some knock off shades I should in the car every time we are outside. They work pretty well. I think this is God allowing me to realize how slick I look in shades. I am now deciding on what Ray Bans I won't when I come home. 

Thursday we spent the whole day with Luc Majeski again. He is the one who is preparing for his mission and waiting for his mission call. We went from lesson to lesson with him and he even bought us domino's pizza. That did not sit well with me, but that BBQ chicken pizza was solid. That night we had a lesson with our friend Madria. Background on her is that she has been teaching for about 10 months. The missionaries in the past extended a baptismal invitation and told her if wanted to get baptized, she needed to get married. This did not resonate well with the husband. Fast forward to now arrow. Madria is now getting married so she can enter the waters of baptism. She set the date for October 8th. She is so converted to Jesus Christ and just wants to please God. She has been a really fun person to teach. I don't think Luc understood how awesome of a lesson that really was. 

Saturday was another exchange. Elder Woolsey stayed in the Grand Rapids area with a missionary and I traveled about an hour west on Lake Michigan. I was in an area called Hart. I was in that area for the day with Elder Porter Tegan. He is a brand new missionary, three weeks out. He is from Idaho and a big farmer. He reminded me a lot about Elder Hanson who I trained a while back. We saw some success with lessons and the day went by good. The exchange was a little rough, but it was a good learning experience. Grateful for the chance to grow #W. 

The reminder of the week just came and gone. A big bonus on Sunday was that we made Enchiladas. We haven't had them for two weeks and we were deprived of them. It was a spontaneous decision to make them and it was the correct choice. 

Nothing too much happened this week and we just went through the motions. The next two weeks will be exciting. Our area is building a lot of momentum. God got us. 

I have been focusing on charity this week and I thought you would all like this:

"Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1992, 24; or Ensign, May 1992, 18–19). Monson."

I love you all so much, keep me up to date. Talk to you all soon :))). 

Time To See Again

 This week's preparation day was a little different. The church is closed for the week so we could not play any church ball. We decided to run some pickleball with the Grand Rapids Elders. I can say I got a little better at not being as competitive, but as the games went on, my toxic competitive side came out again. I don't think I'll ever lose that one honestly. We also went to JCPenny for an hour and a half while Elder Woolsey was trying to try on and find the same proselyting pants that I own. We walked away with the package secured. 

The first two days this week went by so slow. Some weeks go by fast and others drag on. I just felt tired the whole entire day nonstop. Towards the end of the day on Tuesday we were out doing stop bys for the past 2 hours driving around. We knocked on Tashauniques door and she let us in. She just recently got out of jail and has two kids. She is looking for a church and wants to grow her relationship with God. It was the perfect time to go knock on her door and it was so relieving to feel the refreshing spirit that comes from teaching the restoration after a long dry day. A lesson sent from God. 

Wednesday we had a lesson with a elderly couple in the ward. They are the Murray's. Bro Murray recently had an eye procedure done and we got on talking about eye surgeries/eye problems for 30 minutes. Sister Murray chimed in and mentioned that she is legally blind in her left eye, but since she went to the doctor in time she saved her sight in her right eye. They are like you can't take your eyesight for advantage. I walked away from the meeting knowing I gotta wear my glass contacts. No worries Elder Woolsey is keeping me accountable. No more blind Lukie. The following day I wore my contacts from waking up all the way to going to bed. The first time in my life ever doing that. NO regrets!

Thursday was so good! I went on exchange with Elder Carter Long. He is from Showlow Arizona so you know it was already a good exchange. He has been out around the same time as me. I traveled up north about an hour to an area called Fremont. I went there last transfer as well. It was a hot day for people in Michigan. It was 85 degrees and sunny all day. We decided to get an ice cream trade-off treat. Two AZ boys were thriving. Elder Long and I got along very well and we both built each other up. Doesn't get much better than that. 

We decided to treat ourselves on Friday. We initially wanted Olive Garden, but that was way too busy so we walked next door and got Buffalo Wild Wings. Just seeing football being played made me miss it so much. I'll be excited when I get to watch the red zone again and play fantasy. Elder Woolsey and I regretted this decision since we felt not so good afterward. This was the first time we have eaten out in a long time. I think we are going to keep it that way. 

Saturday we had another exchange with a set of Spanish missionaries. I went back into the Spanish area and attempted to speak Spanish again. There is progression, but slowly. I was with Elder Ethan Rasmussen, he has been out the same time as me. He is from Lehi, UT and we had a good day just being around each other and laughing. We even got a trade-off treat which was at an ice cream place. It did not disappoint at all. While I was at their apartment during our dinner hour, the apartment wasn't in the best condition compared to the Clouse standard. While Elder Rasmussen was playing chess with the other elders who lived in that apartment, I just straight cleaned the kitchen. It was spotless, it was pretty close to magic lady approved after that. Selflessly serving. 

Fast Sunday was actually not that bad due to the fact that we had a linger longer at 230 right after church. One thing that did happen today was the area President, Elder DeVries, showed up at church. He attended our ward missionary coordination and it was stressful. We had to perform and I feel as though we delivered. Missionary coordination is a meeting where we discuss the needs of the ward and who we are teaching. W. 

Happy Labor Day! I know most of you aren't working so maybe you can message or call me ;))). We are playing basketball with a handful of members and missionaries, so that'll be good. We are almost out of all our food so we have to hit a fat reset in our pantry. Rip the bills. I love you all! If you are reading this, send me an emoji. I will know who real one's are.