February 24, 2014~"Sacrifice is made sweet to us when we treasure the joy it brings to another heart."

1. Does your Branch President have kids? If so, how many? How old do you think he is?

Yeah he has 2. ..one is like 3 and the other like 3 months. he is like 24 years old. 

2.  Who scratches your back during Sacrament since you don't have Cass to do it? Stin? haha. 
Nobody... its the worst thing ever

3.  So the guitar pics...where did the guitar come from? 
My zone leader Elder Ralphs gave it to us before he left to Belize...
its the wizards in Layco guitar

Yeah Elder Fono is a cool guy.   I remember talking to him a little when
we left the MTC.  I hope one day I can be comps with him because he is a
chill cat. Yeah with Gaby and Alciria its getting better.  They came to
church and felt bad that they have struggled a bit.  I love those guys and
they really are my family here... they always take care of me. Sounds
like a bummer week haha... glad sicknesses aren't really a problem here but
I'm still crossing my fingers. Sounds like not too much happened
though. Yes Austin did tell me he got called... its good for him so he
keeps working hard. Enjoy your stupid nice weather just remember
I'm always sweating haha. onto my semana (week)

Well this week was a good and bad week but mostly good! First we met
with this convert family who got baptized in another area but live in
ours so they can't meet with the Elders there but they like us more
anyways haha... but go to the other church they were baptized in. Every
Pday we go and see them and they always feed us and we have good noche
de hogares. They only can meet on Pdays though... it sucks but we have
adopted them as our converts haha. On Tuesday we met with our
investigators that came to church and put down 2 fechas to be
baptized! The mom and the daughter accepted and the youngest daughter
is only 5 so yeah. But they have been having problems paying for their
house and so the Mom is looking for a job. It sucks though because then
yesterday the mom had a job interview during the time of church and
didn't go so that fecha fell and now me and Stin can't baptize
together....Sad but I learned my lesson of humility... that its not who
does it but that it is done ...because they still wanna be baptized just have
to put new fechas for them. We also found a couple menos activos (less actives)
 and yeah a pretty good week. Also we found this family that the dad is
less active and the rest of the family non members. We have been
teaching them and they are way cool. They all accepted to come to church
and they all did ...it was awesome!  The most investigators I have had come to
church... this family and the other without the mom. This week we are
gonna try and put all these fechas down before I leave and have Stin
reap the benefits haha. I learned that as an instrument of God its not
how I want to be used but how he is gonna use me. Well that kinda was
our week. Its sad because this is probably my last week here in my
hometown...don't worry I'm gonna get pics with all the cool families I
like to visit and some of the area before I boogey but here's to a good
week!

Something else I learned this week is how mens hearts fail them because
they don't remember who they are and where they are going. To me this
is important to always remember and we forget it a lot. Always keep
the Spirit with you! Love you guys and always try to be an instrument
in our Fathers hands! Love you... especially you Mom! Makes me sound like a
momma's boy but oh well haha! Till siete dias! (7 days)

Elder Clev

This pic is golden.... At the multizona we talked to Hermana Hintze and she told us when

Pres b-day was...it was this past Tuesday... and so we made a jean tie for Pres and

last p-day went to his house and chilled with them for a couple hours

haha ...it was so fun and nice to be in luxury for once! haha they all

loved it and all the missionaries are jealous haha ...just doin us!

loved it and all the missionaries are jealous haha just doin us!

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February 17, 2014~ "To Testify is to Know and to Say, to be Converted is to Do and Become"

1. Have you met Elder Fonoimoana? Just wondering because his mom is in my facebook group and his father passed away several weeks ago and he stayed there to serve and I was impressed with his thoughts he sent his mom.  Sounds like a great Elder!
Yeah he came with me.  He is a way cool guy and dang that sucks.  I hope
to be comps with him someday because he is way chill...that is sad but a strong
dude

2. Has having the Elder Latinos living with you helped you with the language? 
Nah... not really.  I haven't really had problems learning at the moment
to be honest but always improving

3. When you mentioned seeing a man on a motorcycle with an Orange Iguana, I expected you to have sent a picture of it.
Nah I was too slow...first time in my life...

4. How is Gaby and her mom doing with church?  Do they still have their callings?  I have spoken to Gaby through facebook when she posts pictures of you and Stin...and you guys are always eating!  haha!
They had been struggling to be honest but we had a good lesson
yesterday with them

5. About how many people attend church in your Branch?
Well it was like 70s 80s right now though 40s 50s

6. What have you learned from serving with Elder Smith (Stin)? or What have you learned from him?
Um I need more time to think about everything but one thing is
exact obedience.... having a friend as a comp you can't slack
and we have both learned that.

Seems like a better week this week.  I guess not too much to
comment on other than I always pray for Ryan and all you guys so
nothing to change really.

Well onto my week....

I will probably jump around a bunch because I don't know where to
start. First off and sadly is we were walking this week and twice we
saw this person feeding this dog that lives on the streets more food
than we get for lunch...Welcome to El Salv. After that I felt like we
should stop by Alcirias so we did and turns out that her sister who
lives right by her needed help opening her door because she was locked
out. So since I was tall enough to get to the window and with a broom
handle clicked the door open ...it was so hard haha and took awhile. Also I
couldn't do it because her dang sister is creepy and was holding me up to
the window by pushing my butt !! haha.
Also this week we found yet another new area that I never knew about
and had a lot more success. There we found a family!  Well
technically not a family because there is no dad but a lady named Reyna
her 2 daughters and her son. They are the nicest family...very receptive
and also came to church woooo!!!! Also the members did a great job
fellowshipping for once haha. During sacrament her daughter Sarai who
is 5 years old kept bugging her and she couldn't listen so I started
drawing pictures with her so she could pay attention.  It reminded me of
Sacraments at home ahha but her daughter is so cute and the sweetest
little girl. Also we found another young family who are receptive and
wanna know if the church is true. The wife Liticia had a way cool
story. She told us she was talking with one of her friends and her
friend told her about someone she knew that got baptized by these
young guys who were called Mormons. So Liticia was kinda thinking
about that and an hour later we randomly contacted their house...so
weird!!! Honestly being led by the Spirit! We also had a Multizona (multi-
zone conference) this week and talked about being instruments in the hands of God so
weird how everything connected this week. Also at the Multizona, since we are tight
with the AP's, we got picked to do a practice of putting a baptism fecha (date).
Hah Stin was way serious and explained everything. Then I came in and pulled out
my baptismal pictures and said like this guapo (handsome guy) you can be happy  
(while showing the picture of Kae's baptism)  and Yes this is that same guapo (handsome guy)
I have experienced 2 up close baptisms... haha everyone especially Pres was laughing haha
You know I had to do me and they said we did great. After that one of the APs commented and
said "you guys have a really good companionship" and it got me thinking about
how good I do have it. I honestly feel like we can do miracles and take on whatever
like Alma and Amulek... its so awesome.

Well onto my last thing... about Gabriella and Alciria, they have been
slipping a bit... actually a lot... so we planned to stop by yesterday. When
we did there was a huge fight between her, her brother (an ex
missionary but he has his problems), her sister (menos activo (less active) that doesn't
want anything to do with the church but loves us), and her daughter
all arguing about how us missionaries haven't been helping them. Her brother
is a grumpy dude and really judgemental so there was a lot of yelling...
we decieded to leave and wait till they were done.  We then had a lesson with
Alciria and Gabriella. We said a lot of things and it was great.   I know
the Spirit was there because Gaby was crying and she never cries haha. I
talked about how I would lose my life to save a soul and as my very
first converts I want the best for them and know that what they are
doing isn't their best. You could really see a change in them and I know
they are doing their best. That is the trial in life though.. is enduring
to the end...a short phrase with a lot of meaning.
What I would like to leave you with is this ...that if you are here to save your
life you will lose it like God has said. I was thinking about this and couldn't sleep.
I kept thinking about my converts and can't live knowing and seeing them fall away
then I tried thinking its alright because I am on good ground so then I could sleep
but it still bugged me. I can honestly say I don't think I can be selfish anymore. I would rather
lose my life saving a soul and that is what I hope you guys feel too because
once you have that feeling you can never try and deny it. I love you guys and hope you
 keep pushing on. Love you Mom.... keep everyone in line!!
Elder Clev

p.s we got new jerseys again better ones and cheaper too, jerseys here
are way cheap.  Also we made a jean tie for Prez for his bday tomorrow and we are stopping
by his house today

Grass! we found Grass!

Clev and Stin

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February 10, 2014...."If You are Always trying to be Normal, You will Never Know How Amazing YOU Can Be"

1.   Tell me about the other 2 Elders that you have to share the apartment with.  Name, Where are they from? How are you getting along with them?
Um.. they are both latinos named Elder Gonzalez and Elder Jolon one from Columbia and one from Guate. They are good.  It just hard because one is brand new and the other came from the office.

2. What was the most AMAZING thing that happened this week?  
Honestly nothing..This week was lame again. We did see this guy with an orange Iguana riding a bike which was weird.  I also got my hair cut by a gay today and it was awesome.   He massaged my head and I didn't even care haha.

3.  How many missionaries are you over in your District? 
4

Yeah DL is not bad and now I am already starting to hear the rumors about ZL in a couple cambios...oh great...I feel like God gives me a heads up by having people drop hints... like that is what happened with trainer and with DL but its all good..I need the extra help. Elections really are like a tailgating party.  The thing is that something happened where no one won enough votes so they are having another votaciones next month ...great another day that we can't work...

I'm glad your enjoying the oven... maybe it will last longer too because we are all growing up and won't ruin AS MUCH stuff haha.  I know stuff probably gets broken. I miss the Olympics but i would rather miss these ones than the summer ones so its all good!   One thing I wanna try and do when I get home is not change as much.  I wanna have a good relationship with everyone and be able to help out where I can. I know it will be hard but thats why we have goals... not to accomplish them easily. But I remember the lectures about money haha... I will never say the words that ¨you were right¨ about me needing to earn more money before the Mish but I will say I probably should have haha...I still have my hard to budge pride! haha! Thats cool that the Superbowl was lame haha..In Wendys last week they were replaying it.  I wasn't interested at all and I didn't even have the temptation to watch. Thats cool about Ryan now he needs to do work... also sweet about Cloe.  I remember talking to her when we played tennis before I left and she said she wanted to go but I know things change so thats cool. That is nuts about Cass... she is not and won't ever be 18 to me haha. Glad Ryan got ordained next up Elder for him! woohoo! haha.
Onto my week...

To be honest this is going to be short. Nothing really happened... just pure hard work and not a lot of news. We have been working really hard and evaluating ourselves because we haven't had that baptism yet. Something though is that I don't wanna be a missionary that just baptizes... but one that does everything I'm supposed to. That is strengthening this Rama (Branch) not just adding to it. We have found a couple new families so we will see how those work out. Also we were teaching Guillermo again and I thought I had him. I went home the last time and studied everything I could.  I pulled out scripture after scripture and the spirit was there this time...I could feel it and knew I was teaching by it but just when I thought that he had got it...he would say he can't change. It came to the point where a voice told me its not our time. So right then I thanked him for everything and told him as Missionaries we help people especially those who wanna change. And our time is precious because its not ours... its the Lords. I told him that there are others out there and that we need the time to find them so we can't waste time with him if he understands everything, knows the consequences very clearly, knows he can't do this and have salvation and still not want to change. So we dropped him which was hard but he understood and I told him before we left.. remember what we taught you because one day you will need this advice.   It really was hard but I'm starting to get more experiences... not all of them are good but that's life for ya, you win some against Layton some crazy way, and you lose some against Syracuse even though you thought you should have and could have won.

Well that was my week.  I hope you guys enjoy the cake and ice cream this week as I might buy some too to celebrate haha... also its Valentines Day so tell Stock to stay away from the ladies...and let them come to him! haha kidding. Well love you Mom.  Hope you have a great week and the rest of the clan back at home! Till next week!
Elder B Clev

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February 3, 2014... "Your life is your message to the world. ..Make it inspiring."

1. So that Elder that you met at the conference from the Santa Ana Mission,
Elder Thornton I think, you said he went to Northridge...did you know him?
Yeah I did a little. He is better friends with Stin

2. Do you still have your lunch made for you? What types of food do you make
for yourself when you make your food? Do you eat at members houses very
often?
Ya, um whatever I can find...lately smoothies with naranjas (oranges) mahonchos
or tiny fat bananas haha and they are freakin good. We eat
occasionally at members, not too much its lame

3. So you guys really did make ties out of Jeans?  Whose came up with that
idea and where did you get the jeans?
Yeah haha... Elder Paulson did it so we did too for cambios.  We bought
the jeans.. it was way cheap like 3 bucks haha

4.  With splitting your area, do you have to share your apartment?
Yeah its stupid

5.  How is Elder Smith?  Is he adjusting good?
He is doing good as ever and I think is adjusted now... everything is
all good as always

Sounds like a good week for you.. with the new oven and microwave.. now all it
needs is me and the house would be good haha just kidding. I'm glad you
finally got to bake cookies especially since I'm not there to make them
anymore but I know how much you always liked them the way you bake them
and that I never could do them that way ever. But as long as they
weren't like Dads its all good. That is cool you got to go do that
activity and had some time for yourself as you usually don't which I
don't know how you do it  haha.  You truly  are my example and hero to be able to
manage the kids you have haha, especially me. Glad to hear Ryan is
getting a start on things.  I love reading the Book of Mormon.  The things I love reading now
are gospel things, knowledge of it ..its so interesting. Yes, I'm interested in family
history too... its pretty interesting to be honest!

Sorry nothing much happened this week so this letter will be kinda
short but as for my week  I have gotten the hang of being a DL a little
bit.  Its different and what I have learned from it is like what Jesus
taught.. that the greatest of you all are to be the servants. I know
that through this leadership that I can change myself by helping
others.  Its being there for others and not worrying about yourself..
something you are always good at. Also a lot of praying for other
peoples needs and not my own as everyone's success is my own... Haha.
This week workwise though we tried helping Guillermo but it has turned
into a mess and I tried in the most convincing way to change his mind about his lifestyle...
for 2  hours.  The thing is though is that you know me that I don't budge
and it started getting a little heated so I stopped it. Our
relationship is still good with him though.  After we were all good but
I realized the Spirit wasn't there and it didn't matter how convincing I
am... that its the Spirit that converts. So this week that is going to be
my focus. Something else is... I learn more knowledge about the Gospel
because we never know it all... some scriptures I found about this are Mosiah
4:11-12  and Mosiah 18:26 and Alma 32:34. My challenge to all of you is to
read this and learn more about something.. as knowledge can bring
blessings as well or help to learn how to bring more blessings.
We found a couple more potentials but that is it for now.
They had elections this week... yesterday actually and they
are different here. They all vote in one day and its like a college
football game.  There are tents outside, people eating and making food..
really weird.   For church we only had sacrament then went home and we
could only meet with members for the day but that didn't matter because no one
was home anyways.  Everyone is out voting then they go out to
eat...sinners haha. So yeah we had to return even earlier too because of
the parties at night. Well I am surprised I didn't hear about your guys super
bowl party... we had ours haha not! Guillermo invited us over to watch...He was
probably the only Salvadoreño watching haha, but I had to take a part of
my heart out and decline haha.. it hurt.
Well that is it guys.  I hope you have a great week.  Love you Mom and thanks for
all you have done as I'm learning from the example you have given all my
life. Love you guys... keep it shaggy!
Elder Clev

Our superbowl party and my pick...sadly...

Our Superbowl party and my pick...sadly

Pretending he is watching the Superbowl and hoping it was his team scoring

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