Satan is So Sus

 The weather in Michigan decided to take a turn for the worst. It snowed/hailed all day Monday which was unfortunate. We did not end up doing much and the day felt extremely long. I decided to do two workouts, meal prep, practice the piano, and call some of you. 

This week we had exchanges with the Allegan elders. I was with Elder Louk Stevens (yes that is how he spells Luke). Elder Stevens is our district leader and I have served around him a decent amount in Lansing, Battle Creek, and in the MLC. He is so good. This exchange was so needed. It was just a day that reminded me what it was like to be with Elder Woolsey. Just a day full of work, but just talked the whole day about a various number of things while having fun. I took a lot out of the exchange I had, Elder Stevens is a great example of being a diligent missionary. 

During one afternoon I reached out to someone named Lori Crandall on Facebook. I asked her if she would be open to doing a video call with us. She then immediately shot me a call to video chat. We had a spontaneous lesson and we learned a great amount about her. Turns out she has been taught all the lessons from the previous sisters in the area. She now has the desire to enter into the covenant path through the waters of baptism. Say whaaa!!! It was a miracle. We have been meeting with her daily and she seems to be progressing well. The Lord is at the helm of this work. 

I am writing this paragraph two days after completing the previous one above. We have taught Lori everyday and completed the first three lessons. We have had members at every single one of those lessons and man it is so good. During our Friday evening lesson, we came to the conclusion to "yeet" her cigar and vape into the woods. She has now fully committed to follow the word of wisdom and remain faithful to it for the remainder of her life. There is a video for some proof. It is hilarious. It has been amazing to teach her. It almost seems like too good to be true. 

South Haven is on fire! Oh my goodness. I cannot believe that 4 weeks ago we were doing hours upon hours of finding and then now we have 8-10 lessons a day. Consistent effort coupled with faith in the Savior allows miracles to happen. I would compare myself to Alma when he says:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

We all know that the Elder Clouse isn't that humble. Still that prideful, stubborn, stuck in his way kid you know and love. Besides the point, the Lord is pouring out His love abundantly on the work here in South Haven. We are going to experience a baptism!!

Highlight of the week: On exchanges I met this little kid who is a recent convert in the area I was in for the day. I learned that he loved fortnite. Being the good missionary I am, I challenged him to a fortnite dance off. He technically won, but I feel he lowkey cheated. Some of the Battle will be uploaded to Google photos. These past two weeks I have been so bad at taking photos, I do apologize. 

I conclude writing this email on Sunday night. We had eight people confirm they are coming to church on Saturday and zero of them came. Why does Satan have to be so sus. 

Today is district pday so that'll be fun. This will be the first time I'll see missionaries on a pday in a while. 7 weeks left… who's counting. 

Bret Was Not Sober

 What a great day to start off the week. I still don't know if preparation day is considered the end or beginning of my week. I was outside from 11am-4pm either tanning, working out, or playing basketball. I woke up the next day so sore and only a little sunburned (wish it was more). The weather was 65 degrees and sunny all day. The UV got up to 6 which is considered "high" in Michigan. Nothing can compare to Arizona's 11. We went knocking into the evening and saw some success. It was a good burst of positive spiritual momentum into the week.

 

Tuesday was memorable. We had our three lessons of the day cancel which was rather unfortunate. We did have to get an oil change in the morning followed by our service at Habitat for Humanity. Our day was pretty full. As we went into the latter half of our day we got to meet with a part member family named the Bastow's. It's a younger couple who are really in their early 30s, but they look to be in their early 20s. It is actually pretty nuts. They fed us BBQ chicken and we got to teach the restoration to everyone. The wife is not a member and there is some great potential. We drove home and immediately did a live on Facebook about the restoration and GET THIS. We ended our live and hopped on a video call with our new friend Mikey and taught him the full restoration. Mikey is a 16 year old kid who is earnestly seeking more truth. Towards the end of our meeting he said,"I am actually really intrigued to learn more about this message." The Holy Ghost is the perfect teacher. 

The Lord does visit people in their afflictions. Elder Howard and I thought it would be best to door knock this trailer park at 6pm at night on a Wednesday. I would not say we felt inspired, but it made sense. We began knocking and faced some immediate opposition with people yelling at us since we were soliciting. We kept going. As we were walking to the next set of trailers we saw a man behind us walking away with his headphones on. In the world's eyes, it wouldn't make sense to turn around, wave at, yell at, and try to get this man's attention, but we did. He lifted his head up with his depressed countenance as we walked up to him. As we spoke with this man we learned that his name was Seth. Seth broke down crying after explaining that he was going into the woods to hurt himself before we came up to him. He knew then and there that the Lord does visit his people in their afflictions. The Lord knew this man individually, perfectly, and was aware of his feelings. I can not describe to you how the Lord prompted us to go there since we did not feel "inspired," but it just made sense. The Lord meets the needs of His children usually through us. 

As we were knocking we found a man named Bret. Bret was not sober. He was rather funny to interact with. Bret proceeded to shake my hand for a minute straight. Bret then learned my name was Elder Clouse. Uh oh. Bret then went on a 20 minute rant on how we could be related since his brother in law has the same last name as me. We love Bret. 

There has been a common theme when we are trying to find people to teach going door to door. At least one person talks to us and says,"you are that guy that messaged me on Facebook!" I would think this would happen maybe once, potentially twice, but it has happened upwards to 5 times this week. What a blessing. If they will not reply to me on messenger after being left on read three times, we will find then in person. 

It hit 80 degrees three days this week and it felt amazing. I have not sweat while being out and about going door to door for a long time. It feels good. Our lessons kept canceling so on Saturday we were knocking for a good chunk of the day. We also found out that it is going to be snowing today :)). Michigan. What a blessing. 

This week was really fun. Some days were long, others went by fast. We did have interviews with President Heap on Thursday. It was a chill interview. There could be a chance there is more change for me before I go home. I also called Taylor on Wednesday night and got all my classes situated. Elder Clouse is now registered. Time is running out, ahhhhh, it does not even feel real yet. Anyway, message me today, love to hear from you :)). 

Love,

Elder Clouse 

Ye Shall Live Also

 Monday honestly was really good. I tried to stay really busy all day. After completing all our normal chores for the day I thought it was time to clean out the garage and vacuum out the car. I promptly messaged one of the members to snag their leaf blower for a couple hours. After doing that, Elder Howard and I went on a good lunch date to Clementines. It was like a boujee Olive Garden (Italian). Elder Howard was gracious enough to pay for both of us. This was the best part of the preparation day. I was finishing my laundry and I just had a desire to do something hard. So 10 minutes after having that thought, I went and did murph. Completed it in 42 minutes. Not bad. I paid the price later in the week. 

Tuesday was the Zone Conference in Grand Rapids. On preparation day I reached out to a member in Grand Rapids who cut my hair every month and before the zone conference, she cut our hair for free! To reward ourselves with getting haircuts we went through the drive through of the only Krispy Kreme in the mission. They announced the final Book of Mormon read as a mission. We will be marking all aspects of faith, hope, and charity. This is the kick, we will all have to finish this in 2 months because the Heaps want the mission to conclude this read before they depart on June 30th. I am so stoked. I love reading with a purpose. 

Wednesday morning was so amazing. I saw on my phone that it was 65 degrees outside at 7am. I told Elder Howard to grab his shoes because we were going for a run. We ran 2.5 miles and it felt so good. I am still out of shape. Right when we entered the house at 7:30am. Lighting and rain downpoured the area and our power went out for a second haha. It was a blessing. Love working out. 

We had the opportunity this week to go on AP exchanges. They live about 2 hours away from us so it was a commute to get to each other. We met up at 11:30am and then back at 8:00pm. A total of four hours of driving. I was with Elder Clark Bailey in South Haven. I have served around Elder Bailey for a couple transfers in Grand Rapids. He's a phenomenal missionary. I learned that I need more hope and optimism in this area if I want to find more precious souls to be taught. Bonus was we went to chick fil a in Grand Rapids and I got the crunchwrap. That is so good. Would recommend. 

The remainder of the week was filled with finding. We visited a lot of inactive members and we are not seeing much success. The Savior was consistent so next week we will be in a better place. 

Happy Easter everyone! The Savior's words mean everything,"Because I live, ye shall live also." John 14:19. I testify that Christ overcame death and gave us the opportunity to receive eternal life. He lives. To celebrate Easter, we got invited over to two families' homes and they fed us. It was scrumptious. Elder Howard and I also studied 3 Nephi 11 which was a blessing on Easter. Christ lives! Last holiday away from home. Talk to you all soon! 

Love,

Elder Clouse

We Need Not Fear

 It was a good start to the week. We did not really do anything exciting on preparation day. We got our chores done, I meal prepped, did two workouts, dropped off a package, and called people. Extremely laid back. We made the decision that night that we will try a new food location in South Haven every preparation day to spice things up. Monday night finding was so effective. We were out at 6pm and before 7pm hit we found 5 new people to teach. Everyone was extremely receptive and we had no bad interactions with people. It just started us off on top of the world for the week. 

Every Tuesday and Thursday we serve at a location called Habitat for Humanity. It is a furniture restore place. I served there in Battle Creek every Wednesday. The one I served at in Battle Creek looks like a dump compared to this new one I'm at. They even gave us Habitat Restore volunteer crew necks since we just started. Our first day we spent two hours painting a wall. Who knew that Elder Howard and I were so nice at painting. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Joshua Taylor. He came out into the mission field one week prior. He is fresh. It was honestly kind of refreshing to be with him for the day. He just had that new missionary fire. He recognized all the tender mercies and miracles and literally rejoiced. I have become so desensitized by it since it has been happening for the past 20 months. We did about close to 2 hours of pounding some doors. It was the most effective thing we could be doing in that area at that time. The final door we knocked during our last hour of the day, we found our boy Jared Stanbery. That man has some divine potential. It was an exhausting day due to going to bed late on Tuesday for Weston's mission call opening and had to wake up early to rise and shine before the district council (rise and shine refers to me working out). 

I have not mentioned the Lakes yet. They are amazing. They are currently a senior couple that covers two units within our district. They are from a town in Utah and they are goated with the sauce. We had to have a meeting with them on Friday discussing and putting together our notes on the branch list. Afterward they took us out to a Mexican restaurant. It reminded me of back home when we used to always go out as a family or when one of us kids would go out with just mom and dad. It was so fun and memorable. Who knew that grilled cactus was a thing? Not me. 

General Conference has been a feast. It is crazy to think that this has been my fourth one of the mission. We did not watch with any members so we just watched it in the Family History Center at the church on Saturday and some on Sunday. On Sunday morning, we hosted a breakfast at our church building prior to the Sunday morning session. 

So much good came from General Conference. I love it. Favorite talk was probably about Christlike poise in the Saturday evening session. I was a little sad to hear that Elder Holland was not speaking, but we did get to hear from our living prophet. What inspiring counsel. I truly believe that President Nelson is called of God. If we heed a prophet's voice, we need not fear! Never forget that. 

Love,

Elder Clouse