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!!