God Got Me

 It was a great start to the week. The sun came out and the weather shot up. It got up into the mid 50s which was so needed. All the snow melted, the sun was out, and we were in public. It was great. Elder Shaw and I were both so happy. We didn't have to thrive off just our "happy light" that tricks our brain into thinking we have the sun. 

We have been focusing a lot on having members in lessons as a zone. The members in this ward are so amazing. They are so willing to be at lessons with us. Our friends are slowly progressing more and more. We saw a lot of success on Tuesday and Wednesday with preaching by the way. The Lord placed people in our path that we found when we were doing stop bys. God got us. 

Let me give you some background. On Monday, I reached out to President to ask if we could combine with the Kalamazoo district to do a turkey bowl/trot for Thanksgiving. President unfortunately said no. As I was eating dinner on Tuesday, we received a text from the President saying that we can combine with the Kalamazoo district for Thanksgiving. This means that I get to be around ELDER WOOLSEY on Thanksgiving day. I was so excited. 

We got up and got going on Thanksgiving. We met in Kalamazoo at 7:30 am. RISE AND SHINE. I did the turkey trot run with Elder Woolsey, miss that man. We walked 3 laps, but ran the other 10. After everyone finished up, we began our turkey bowl. There was still about three inches of snow on the field, but that didn't stop us. We played constantly for the next hour and a half. It was sweet. We grabbed Denny's with everyone before heading back to Battle Creek.

Thanksgiving dinner was so fun. We ate at the Lowe's home. They are the funniest people to be around. We were at dinner and one of the sister missionaries next to me was like,"Elder Clouse, If you were a mom, you would literally be Sister Lowe." That's all I can say to describe how awesome it was. We had amazing food and we played some Foosball. To end the Thanksgiving day, I got to go to the movie theaters and watch The Chosen! By the last 30 minutes of the 2 hour film I started getting antsy since I haven't sat for that still in like a year and a half. It was a memorable Thanksgiving. 

The following day was BROOKLYN JULIA'S birthday. HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY BROOKI. The day was pretty mediocre for the missionary work side of things. An inactive member said a closer prayer in our meeting and asked me to be more humble and open to hear others opinions rather than run away. You'll have to ask me about that haha. I'm glad I got to end the day talking with Brooklyn, Jen Dog, and Becky. 

I promise the work is going well, but we haven't had any insane miracles recently. We are doing all we can to further the work of Salvation. We don't waste time and it seems like we aren't finding the people ready to keep commitments. God got us though so we will be okay. 

On Saturday morning we got asked to go help an older lady move out of her home. We were there for about two hours loading up the trailer with stuff. Right before we left there was this full class grandfather self ticking clock. They asked if we wanted to take it and of course we said yes. We loaded it up in our car and took it home. It probably is a two to three hundred dollar clock. It was such a win. 

Sunday morning we are at church and one of the members of the bishopric comes up to Sister Richins and I and says,"one of our speakers is sick and you two are going to fill in time." Brother Powell looks at me and says,"Elder Clouse you can speak for 15 minutes since I know you love to talk and Sister Richins can take the remaining 5." I don't know how long I spoke for, but it definitely wasn't 15 minutes. I was glad I could throw a talk together quickly before church began. Like I said before, God got me. 

This week had some highs and lows, but it was good. It is always challenging on the mission when holidays come around. I am pretty free today since I don't talk to too many people. Please feel free to chat. Love you all!!

The Snow Welcomed Me

 It was so sad saying goodbye to Grand Rapids. Bro Merrick invited us over on Monday evening to have his smoked pork loin. It was yummos. I love that family so much, so many people I will miss. 

Tuesday was transfer day which was rough since I wasn't feeling well. This was the first day in Grand Rapids where it snowed and it came down there. The transfer van was almost 2 hours late so I didn't get to Battle Creek until around 7. My companion is Elder Rushton Shaw. He is from St. George, he is an introvert, an intellectual, and he's really athletic. He is almost the complete opposite, but we get along well. He has been out for around 3 months. 

Right when I arrived in the Battle Creek apartment I was disappointed. This place was so gross. I don't know why I get stuck getting transferred to places like this. Elder Shaw and I spent the next three hours deep cleaning and unpacking everything. By the end of the night, it was a completely different place. We threw out upwards to 7 trash bags of crap. No wonder I'm being transferred to every zone in the mission, I'm the mission's magic lady!

This area is very unique. There are just so many good members, but it's strange. It just fits the Michigan culture so well. You will never meet these type of people anywhere else. Also, when you are walking around Battle Creek aka Cereal City (since it's where Keloggs was created) you smell sugar. It has a good smell. I literally love it, but then the smell of weed kicks in which is unfortunate. The sad part of this area is that you can't really be out past dark since there are a lot of sketchy areas here. We are stuck here doing a lot of areabook and Facebook at our place and the church. 

Thursday through Saturday there was a snowstorm and it came down! It was estimated that about 12-16 inches of snow came. It was sweet. I literally forgot what it was like to have snow, it's been too long. The snow literally welcomed me to Battle Creek. The thing I don't like about it is the freezing wind that just smacks you in the face. The big weather jacket and boots came out and they aren't being put away until April. Every night I begin throwing on my pajama pants right when it hits 9pm and it even gets cold enough in our apartment where I can sleep with them on. I was hesitant at first, but I am not invested in it. 

The work here is incredible. Almost every day is planned out for you since there are just so many people to teach it's insane. We have one person on date for baptism who is Maria Armstead. She's so amazing. She is in her 40s and she is giving up everything for the Lord. She struggles with coffee, drinking, cigarettes, Marijuana, and she lives with a dude. She is giving it ALL away for the Lord. Isn't that crazy to think about. This is because of the truthfulness of the message of the restoration. As Maria put it,"I don't want to go anywhere else unless it's the Church of Jesus Christ."

Emergency transfer happened this week within the district. A sister who was in her training had to go home due to medical reasons which was so sad since she wanted to be out here so bad. It makes me reflect on how lucky I am. The sister that got moved in to replace her is Sister Richins! I was so hype since Sister Richins was one of the sisters I worked closely with when we were a part of the Grand Rapids leadership. The Battle Creek district isn't that big at all. It is a total of three companionships including ourselves. It's us, the Battle Creek sisters, and the Marshal elders. Marshal is a town about 15 minutes from here. Close knit district. 

The snow kept coming all weekend and they ended up canceling church :((. I was excited to meet a handful of the members, but that'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE. It is always tougher around the holidays since everyone is home and you get more homesick, but it's the last holiday season until I'm home. 

I love you all! I'm not sure how Preparation days here look, but it'll be a good one. Reach out, love to chat:)). 

Welcome To The Creek!

 We started the week off right with interviews with President Heap. He sat Elder Watts and I down and explained what is going to most likely happen to the zone. We then had our separate one on one interviews. I asked if he thinks I'll be staying another and he looked at me and said,"I feel like the Lord wants you somewhere else." He then followed it up with the,"idk though." When you are reading this, I will already know, but as I'm typing this I do not. I want to stay another transfer through the holidays, but who knows. 

Tuesday evening was so fun as well. We had interviews at 4, went home, grabbed dinner, and then had two lessons. First was with the Jibsons who are just amazing. At 8:15 pm we met with our boy Elijah in his external garage. It was about 40 degrees out. We brought along Brother Todd, a Utah member (goated with the sauce) and we invited Elijah to be baptized on December 16th. He is so excited. He is a younger guy in his early 20s. Such a sweet spirit comes when we are with him because he has such a sincere heart. It feels good to teach someone like this again. 

Funny story of the week. The past couple of weeks, the Grand Rapids elders have been receiving packages for our address since their complex is known for having packages stolen. We received a letter in the mail from a Sister missionary in a different mission that Elder Howard has been talking to. As one does, we put a flashlight under it to see if there were any words we could read. We find the words,"shoutout if you are the noisy ZLs reading this." We died laughing. This Sister was prepared for noisy ZLs to look through an unopened letter. 

This area is just blowing up. We are seeing so much success left and right. We are receiving referrals, meeting with members and setting great plans, and people are keeping commitments for the lost part. On Wednesday we had 5 lessons today and THEY ALL happened. That's such a relief. I can just talk about so many specific people such as the Hekkers, Elijah, Sandra, Dave, Alan, and even Kelly. What an exciting time for this area. We can barely breathe in between lessons, it's so good. Our dryer that was broken also got fixed on Wednesday so it just got better. 

We received our transfer calls on Saturday morning right before we planned our day. I am leaving to go to Battle Creek to district lead and be with Elder Shaw. He just recently got out of training. Battle Creek is one of the most coveted areas in the mission, they baptize like crazy down there and I don't know why. In the past two years, they have baptized 34 people. Elder Woolsey, my last companion, served in Battle Creek for 5 transfers. It was his "Bay City." We get transferred Tuesday and I am getting all packed up.

On Friday it was Elder Reese's birthday. To celebrate, we went out to Texas roadhouse on Saturday night for our dinner. Elder Howard, who is Elder Reese's companion, paid for all of us which was really nice. I got the normal pulled pork dinner. My macros were destroyed that day. Who knew a ceasar salad at Texas Roadhouse was 50 grams of fat. The more you know. 

We had the primary program on Sunday and man I forget how sweet of a spirit that brings. They all sang,"I love to see the temple," and I had a flashback to a specific event in my childhood of me singing it. It was such a sweet moment. I love the purity of little children. It's so tender. Anywho, God loves all his children and especially his little ones. 

I got to meet with a handful of members before I called it quits with the area. I am sad I am leaving Grand Valley especially since it is so close to the holidays. This is not where the Lord wants me to be. I am excited for my next area. God is so good. 

You know the drill, this is where I express my love and how much I miss each one of you. Love you all 

Is It P-Dday Yet?

 The start of the week flew by. On Tuesday was our triple combined zone conference. The Grand Rapids Zone was put with Kalamazoo and Holland. Half the mission was gathered in the Grand Rapids building. The APs asked us to come early to help set up. We arrived at 9:30am and left the church at 6:30pm. It was a long day. It was fun being able to see a big chunk of the people I've served around. It was also Dad's birthday so that is always special:)). Happy 50th dad. 

The following day we didn't do much missionary work since we had a mission leadership council. We got to see the second half of the mission that day since MLC was right after the other zone conference. We left our apartment at 1pm and drove up to Mount Pleasant. We had such a good discussion about a handful of topics specifically talking about "Exaltation 75," which is a goal President Heap created. We are going to baptize 75 people as a mission before the end of the year. This is a hefty goal, but it could happen. We got fed Panda express after and I put it in Myfitnesspal. There are SO many carbs in fast food, it's literally insane. It made me never want to eat out again. It was pretty nuts. I know that isn't going to happen, but that was just to prove how shook I was. We drove back home and arrived there around 8:30 pm. 

On Tuesday during zone conference it was announced that we are allowed to eat with members again. It has now opened back up! Thursday night, we had a meal at the Merricks who are just amazing. One of my favorite families in the ward. We had over the Hekkers who are a part of member family. I attached a picture in the Google photo album. He made some ribs and I believe it was the first time I've had them since Dad's. Man they were good. We then all sat in the living room and talked about eternal families. So grateful that I am a part of my family and will never be separated from them. 

I can't even lie. Fridays were one of those days that I wasn't in a good mood at all. It was gloomy outside, it was leg day, and we had to weekly plan. You all know when Luke is impatient. I don't know what it was, but I'm glad that day was over with. We still had two great member moments with the Malones and Buckwalters.

This week just seems to drag on. I am here to be honest with you. This week was one of those weeks that was, "Is it pday yet?" Saturday was a grind. We had 6 lessons set up and when we planned out our day, Elder Watts and I looked at each other confidently saying that this will be an amazing day. As time went on, every single one of them got canceled. We hit areabook calling, Facebook, and inactive member texting so hard. I am so sick at looking at a screen. 

Sunday was fast Sunday. As a mission we fasted for the goal we set last week. To be able to have every area baptize and we hit 75 convert baptisms before the year is over. We fasted for an additional hour due to daylight savings. There were pros and cons to that. We got 9 hours of sleep, but we had to go another hour without food. 

I've been trying to focus a lot on gratitude the past couple of weeks. I've come to understand that gratitude is an uplifting, exalting attitude. People are generally happier when they have gratitude in their hearts. We cannot be bitter, resentful, or mean-spirited when we are grateful. Just a reminder to be more grateful in your life. I am so grateful for my eternal family, all my close friends, Brooki, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the ability to serve the Lord even if it requires a lot of sacrifice. 

Hope you have an amazing week. I miss you all. I wish to hear from you soon ;)).