Hashbrowns and Valentina - November 24, 2014

Hi Family!

I don't have a ton of time today, so it will be a quick one.

We had an amazing lesson with a man named Richie. His neighbors are members and invited him and us over to their home for dinner and a lesson. During companionship study that morning, we were stuck on what we needed to do. We knelt down and prayed and Heavenly Father let us know that we needed to invite him to be baptized on December 19th. It was a neat experience. Anyway, Richie is a super nice guy. We did a lot of how to begin teaching and then taught the Restoration. It was so powerful! As I testified of these truths, my testimony was again strengthened. I know that Christ's church is restored. It was so great to teach in a members home, as well. The Spirit was already there. These members were "Amuleks" and they added so much with their testimonies. A few days later, we had a church tour with Richie. It went well. He doesn't believe in God, so there is a lot of work to do. But, I know that Heavenly Father has prepared him, like Alma 16:16-17 talks about and I know that he can be ready by December 19th.

Sister Shauster had shoulder surgery. That was really sad to see her in so much pain. But she's keeps the best attitude. She is always happy. I just love her and her family.

We also had a great lesson with Hermana Zamora. She is absolutely amazing and basically Mormon. She knows pretty much everything. She really wants to be baptized, but her husband is not supportive. I know that one day she will be. I have been so blessed to know her. Hermana Carolina, her fellowshipper, came with us as well. We taught about gratitude and shared Mosiah 2:20-21. I shared the story about "Snowflake" and what amazing examples my parents have been to me. I am so grateful for them! They have taught me the importance of charity and selfless service. I have the best parents in the world.

This week we find out if we're getting transferred or not! Hopefully Sister Willes and I stay together one more!

I better get going, but thank you so much for everything! Thank you for the love, support, and prayers. You all are the greatest! Love you lots and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And happy birthday to Jeremiah this week!

Hermana Clay


Picture: My favorite Boo.

Care Package From Mom

"She is not afraid of the snow." - Proverbs 31:21 - November 17, 2014

Hey family!

Wowzers, what a week. First off, it has been NEGATIVE TWENTY here. It hardly ever gets above zero. We had a big snow storm and now everything is white. Basically, I am forever going to be cold. We helped push out a car and shoveled snow for hours. I got to wear a super hot overall snow suit. It was great.

Other than freezing, this week was awesome. We had a mission tour and Elder Martino from the 70 came to speak to us. He was amazing! I learned a ton about how I can be a better missionary and what I need to do in my area to help it progress. One thing that he focused on a lot was members and how important they are in this work. He used the story of Alma and Amulek. Amulek was a less active member. Alma spent many days with Amulek and his family and strengthened them. Then, Amulek went out and taught with Alma. Amulek was a pretty well-known guy in the city. As he preached, "the people began to be astonished." It wasn't Alma, the missionary, that astonished them. It was Amulek, the member. Elder Martino emphasized that we need to have Amuleks with us so the people can be astonished. So here's my invitation...go be an Amulek! You will make a bigger impact on the people than the missionaries will.

On Wednesday, we had an Amulek experience. Our stake mission leader invited us and some nonmembers to his home for dinner. They were from Florida, so listening to their southern accents was awesome. During the lesson, we focused a lot on families. It was Brother Nelson's comment that made them really think and ponder. Hopefully we will have another appointment with them soon.

On Thursday, we picked up some food for a less active at the Bishops Storehouse. Wow. It was such a cool experience to see how giving the church is. The church is true.

We had the opportunity to eat with the Ortiz family on Saturday and Sunday. They are amazing! Their son was the first one to be baptized and is currently serving a mission. His parents were baptized while he was out this past February. Their testimonies are SO strong! I could sit there for hours listening to them. This Wednesday, they are going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. Super excited for them.

I was able to play in the Victor 3rd ward yesterday. I am so grateful that I have my violin here! Most of the time, music touches people's hearts more than words. In a few weeks, I will play in our Spanish branch. Hooray!

Everyone pray that we don't freeze out here! Love you all tons! Happy birthday to Hayley and Morgan!

Hermana Clay


Minus 14 Degrees

Halfway! - November 10, 2014

Hola familia!

This week has been great. Nothing too exciting happened, but here's a few things:

- We had dinner and FHE with a family from the ward and the Shausters. I choked, but didn't die. Hooray!
- We helped organize a kitchen and I put the purging skills I learned from Julianne to good use.
- I hit my halfway mark! I seriously cannot believe that I've been out 9 months. Time is flying! We had interviews that day with President and Sister Brinkerhoff, which was great. I also tried to make a cookie in the shape of a camel for my "hump day", but it was an absolute failure. I'll attach a picture of it.
- We helped translate at parent/teacher conferences for the middle school. We were sitting there for almost an hour and no one showed up that wanted help. We were thinking that it was a big waste of time, but then finally a woman showed up that wanted us to help her! We got talking and she said she had talked with the missionaries before. That was about it for religion conversation. She then asked us what we ate/cooked. Uhh...chicken and salad. Really impressive. I told her that I really wanted to learn how to make Tinga. She brightened up and told us it's really easy to make and invited us to come to her house to learn. Boom! Potential investigator and delicious food. It was definitely tender mercy.
- We had exchanges with Hermana Beteta. She is awesome. We went to a less active's home and visited with her. She has a GINORMOUS dog. I'll attach a picture of that too. You can't really tell in the picture, but he's at least 6 feet tall when he's on his hind legs. And he's only 8 months old!
- We found a new investigator who is super sweet. We talked about families and it was just great. That's one thing that I love about the Hispanic culture. Family is SO important.

That's about it. Here's my favorite scripture that I read this week: "...arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity...Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust." 2 Nephi 1:21,23

Love you all! Have a super great week!

Hermana Clay


Picture 1: Failure.

Picture 2: Tidus. The biggest dog in the world.

Picture 3.  Square ice cream from Swan Valley. Superrr delicious.

This week was great! - November 3, 2014

Hi Family!

This week was great. We had a lot of little miracles happen and had some great lessons. It was also Halloween and that was fun.

We had a lesson with Mari. She is awesome and so prepared! We talked about baptism again and she said she totally would, but she has to ask her mom and grandma. Oh boy. Praying that their hearts and minds are opened!

Tuesday was crazy. The Kearsley's put on a scare trail every year for all the youth in the stake. We helped out setting it all up. It was scary! I wouldn't have wanted to go through. They also asked us to help out later that night. We were "mourners", but weren't all that scary. It was still a lot of fun though.

We taught Michael and his dad, Blaine, again. Michael is a cute kid and excited to learn. I love teaching a kid because they have the most pure answers!

We were on lock down for Halloween from 6-9. Before that, we went to the Parks for dinner and had to dress up. Sister Willes and I were BYU fans. In other words, missionaries in service clothes. Later, our whole zone got together and watched the Lego movie. I thought it was cute and it was nice to watch a normal movie.

We had such a great lesson with the Markegard family yesterday! I LOVE that family! It has been a huge blessing to be able to get to know them. We taught about how to recognize the Spirit. We read Moroni 7:1-34 with them. It helped tie everything together that we have been talking about the past few weeks. That chapter is one of my absolute favorites. Go read it!

I can't really remember what else happened this week. Just that it was great. Hope that all of y'alls was too! Love you all tons!

Hermana Clay

Picture 1: Super scary mourners

Picture 2: BYU fans (Hayley, check out my socks)

Back to my favorite place! - October 27, 2014

Hi Family!

This week was full of ups and downs, so here's the ups:

-We had FHE with the Shausters again and it was a blast.
-We worked a little bit in our other English wards and found a new investigator!
-We walked a less active's dog, but in reality, the dog walked us. The good news was that we didn't lose him.
-We went out with Hermana Ortiz to visit some less actives. Miracles happened and Hermana Ortiz has the strongest testimony in the world.
-We saw the Burt family again and Jalin is still doing awesome.
-We got to do a church tour.
-We carved pumpkins with the Shausters and nobody cut themselves.
-We had Stake Conference and it was absolutely wonderful. It was mostly on missionary work, which is always good. President Kunz also asked a member from the Spanish branch speak. It was so awesome to hear Spanish! I loved that President Kunz included everyone from the stake.
-We went to the Visitors Center with the Shausters! It was so good being back there. We were able to show them around and I got to play a few songs with Sister Gee for them. The best part about it was that Nana came! She really enjoyed it. She wants to come back in December when the nativity is up. Hopefully this helped her open her heart a little more to the gospel!
-We taught the Markegard family. I LOVE that family! It was such a great lesson and the Spirit was definitely present.

There were a lot of little miracles that happened this week. I love it here! Minus the fact that we woke up to snow this morning. Pretty sure I might die this week.

I have been going through the New Testament and this week I finished the book of John. The very last verse was super powerful to me. It's (of course) talking about Jesus and says, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." I have loved going through the New Testament and learning more about the Savior's life. It's crazy to think that what is written is not even half of what He has done!

Thanks for all the prayers and support! Love you all tons! Happy birthday to Ray this week!

Hermana Clay


My pumpkin. Can you tell what it is?

Picture 2: My favorite family!

Little piece of home - October 20, 2014

Hola familia,

Not a whole lot happened this week. I got sick again. That was a bummer. I'm pretty much better now though. Hopefully this coming week will be more exciting.

Once again, I love the Shauster family. We went over the 10 commandments with them and, according to Boo, the 10th commandment is don't rape. She is my favorite kid. She also put on a singing and dancing show for us. I'll attach a picture of one of her model shots.

We found a new investigator that is awesome. Her name is Mari. She told us at the end of our first lesson that she was going to read and that when we came back she would have questions ready for us. And she did! Love when that actually happens.

Travis is doing well. He has been reading on his own and asked us for suggestions on where to read to have a better understanding of things. His wife had no clue that he was reading. Love that family. The little girls put stickers on the back of our name tags and every time we come over, they have to check and see if they're still there.

We did a few service projects. Cleaning up a yard and painting/cleaning. It was fun and super nice to wear sweats.

We were at church for 7 hours yesterday. Hooray for covering 3 wards and a branch! I really like the Tetonia wards and the ward mission leaders are awesome. Hopefully we'll get to work out in that area more this week.

Bonuses for the week:
1. The Kearsley's got 2 new puppies and I'm in love.
2. We went to dinner at a member's home and the husband served in North Carolina. I asked him what his favorite area was and he said Salisbury. I asked him if he had ever tried Cheerwine since that's where it started. He then went out to the garage and came back with 2 cans of it. I love Cheerwine. Best thing ever.

This week, I studied Elder Holland's talk and Mosiah 4. We really are all beggars and we need to freely give to others. You should all go study it because it's awesome.

Have an great week! Love you all lots!

Hermana Clay

CHEERWINE!

One of the puppies. So cute!

Boo's model shot. Is she not the greatest?