31 Degrees and Chaos

 Monday was pretty lame. It honestly fell on us since we did not do much besides go thrifting for a bit. I was still recovering from my sickness, but I am feeling so much better now. I did get the chance to workout for two hours on Monday which is always a bonus. Working up a sweat on the exercise bike is unbeatable. We went into the night and all three of our lessons canceled so we went around stopping at people's homes. We knocked on someone we weren't in contact with named Tina. She opened the door and gave us hugs. It was nice. She is extremely open in learning about the restored gospel. How cash money is that!

There is a younger family in the ward named the Sides. They have two young kids both under the age of 3. They are actually vegan and they invite us over for dinner every other week. I've been over there about 4 times now and they always introduce us to something we have never had before. One of the nights they gave us "nice cream." It was ice cream, but the base of it was just frozen Bananas. They gave us one of their old food processors and I decided to master the nice cream. We made a couple of batches and the one that was so good was the peanut butter chocolate reese's nice cream. Yeah. You heard that right. It is so yummy. I am learning so many new good habits on the mission. I love it. 

We received a text from our mission President into our mission chat during the morning on Wednesday. He instructed us that we should not leave our apartment unless it is an emergency. You might be wondering what is going on in Michigan. We got a warning about freezing rain coming. It was predicted that there would be .5 inches of frozen rain on the roads. All schools, activities, and the whole city shut down. They were nervous about the power going out as well. We had to cancel 5 lessons and had to replan out our day Wednesday. Who knew a 31 degree storm could cause such chaos. Towards the end of the night we received a phone call from the Spanish elders that their power went out and they were crashing at our place. Wednesday I got to experience what it was like to be a quarantine missionary. We saw a lot of success. It was a needed day contacting nearly 100 plus people. 

This honestly worked out well. Since the Spanish elders were over at our home over the night, we began exchanges at 6:30am. I was with Elder Allen for the day. He got to begin the day off strong with me. I ran him through a workout. He will wake up sore tomorrow haha. I went on an exchange with him last transfer as well since he is also a new missionary in the mission field. We set some really meaningful goals. One thing that is quite unfortunate about this district is that the trainers are holding the trainees back. All the trainees are so ready to go, but the lack of knowledge from the trainers is restraining. Elder Allen and I experienced the most overwhelming thing that evening. In a lesson we had I felt a little bit more of what the Savior has to bear. The Atonement of Jesus Christ literally applies to everyone without exception. 

Friday and Saturday I had no energy. It was two days back to back where lessons kept falling through, but it was a good experience to grow. It is really cool to see how much Elder Madsen has matured as a missionary. He does so good at keeping me accountable now instead of vice versa. We are teaching people like crazy, but we do not have anyone super close to baptism. 

Sunday I got the chance to speak in church about the restoration. Every fourth Sunday of every month a missionary is assigned to speak. They usually only do two speakers that Sunday, but this Sunday there were three speakers so I got to speak for only 10 minutes. Score! 

Another week in and another week to go. The Lord's work is going on and we are trying all we can to further the work. It will not stop! Time is running out for me. Time to get to it. Love you all. 

Its For My Cat

 Monday was so amazing. It was the perfect day to be outside and we were. The sun was out, there was no wind, and it was 50 degrees out. The Snowbergers, who are one of the members here, invited us to their home. They literally live on a lake. It is so beautiful. We even got to pull out the cornhole board and play some of that. I haven't lost my groove in case you were all wondering. They had a BBQ for us and it was just one for the books. I love it. 

We had a very interesting lesson that had to make the email. We went over to our friend Joseph's home for a lesson. As we were concluding the lesson, he begins to hold his knee and asked us for a blessing. We began to explain the importance of blessings to him and as we were about to do it he said,"no it's for him," as he pointed to his sick cat on the couch. We had to awkwardly tell him we don't give priesthood blessings to animals. It was actually really funny when Elder Madsen and I left the lesson. You literally could only experience that when you are serving a mission. What a time. 

Monday night we were notified that there was a shooting at MSU. None of the missionaries serving there were injured. 3 students were killed and 5 were in critical condition. Please keep the families of those who lost a child in your prayers. It really put a damper on the mission. 

Wednesday I led an exchange with Elder Damian Laudie. I went into his area which was Marshall. It is a small town about 20 minutes east of Battle Creek. I went on an exchange with Elder Laudie last transfer. He is a brand new missionary as well. We had an extremely successful day in the area and set up a handful of return appointments. The Lord loves diligent and consistent effort. 

The Kalamazoo zone conference was on Thursday. It was from 12:30pm-4:30pm. It was heavily focused on an address Elder Cook gave to the missionaries on how we can be more effective and successful missionaries. It was mainly on the first great commandment. The mission always leads you to have charity for other people. As I have served other people selflessly, my love for them increased. Even the people I do not get along with. Service is most of the time the cure. 

Saturday was the most fatiguing day of the mission. I woke up with a cold and my body just seemed slow. It was mainly a headache, sore throat, and my nose just hurt. I probably could have stayed inside and did nothing, but who would do that. We had 4 lessons and did a lot of finding. We went into the night and we had basketball from 7:30pm-9pm. We went so hard at basketball and when I arrived home I wanted to collapse. My head was pounding, my nose was aching, and my throat was hurting. What a day. This was memorable. We stay all in for the Lord. 

This wraps up my week. Sunday was very similar to Saturday except minus the basketball. I am glad that the week is over. I am ready for a rest day. We did finish off the week strong however. Sunday nights are always the hardest, but we had lessons stacked on top of each other so we were busy until past 9pm. 

"The Lord loves effort. The Lord loves consistency. The Lord loves steadfastness. While we surely will come up short from time to time, our persistent efforts to hear Him and follow the inspiration He gives us will help us to 'wax strong in the Spirit'" President Nelson. Consistency is a Christlike attribute, don't forget that. 

Love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Clouse 

Good, Better, Best

 Preparation day started as a flop, but did not end as bad as we thought. We finished all our chores immediately and then began calling people. It turns out that in the middle of the day, the maintenance guy knocks on our door and began installing a new electronic lock on our door. We do not know the code since it got sent to the mission office. We tried calling the office and we got no answer. We had to wait at home until we heard back from the mission office. While we waited, I hit another workout. We ended the pday with some sledding with the other elders. No injuries so it was a good one. 

The week began with ZL exchanges. I was with Elder David Meyers in Battle Creek for the day. They decided to send Elder Madsen to a college campus to get him out of his comfort zone. We had a fun day overall in Battle Creek. Elder Meyers is from Orem, Utah and he was actually MTC companions with Brecken Fonnesbeck. Miss that guy. I set some lofty goals for the next couple of months that I hope to accomplish.

These emails for some reason are harder to write the longer I have been out here. Thursday was a day. We had 9 lessons scheduled and only 3 of them went through. It was truly unfortunate. It seems the area has slowed down, but then I look at our schedule and it does not feel that way. I usually think of the mission as a marathon, but right now we are on a sprint. 

Well, another week has come and gone. That is crazy. I just completed my first transfer training Elder Madsen. He's stuck with me for another. It has been such a good transfer honestly. I really enjoy being around Elder Madsen and training. Training a new missionary has given me the push I needed to keep giving the Lord my all. It begins to get harder the longer you have been out here. The days go longer, the weeks seem slower, and the work seems repetitive. Training has gotten me out of that slump I would say I was in prior to this transfer. 

I just recently began another Book of Mormon read this week and I am focusing on the Christlike attribute of humility. I am in the first book of Nephi and that man exemplified humility. When I focus on a specific attribute when I am studying the Book of Mormon, I seem to take more out of my studies. For example:

In 1 Nephi 5:10, it speaks about how when the sons of Lehi returned from Jerusalem with the brass plates, the first thing Lehi did was give sacrifice unto the Lord. If I was Lehi, I would be like,"yo let me see those brass plates you just got!" It is interesting how Lehi put first the sacrifice rather than searching the brass plates with his genealogy. I bet he was pretty thrilled to have those things. There is a good, better, best principle in this verse. Searching the brass plates first would still be good, but honoring the Lord and giving sacrifice was the best thing to do first. Christ loves all things that are good, but do not forget to think of the good, better, best principle. 

I miss you all. Excited to see you all sooner than later. Reach out  

Love,

Elder Clouse

	5:06 AM (9 hours ago)