Music, visas, and purpose

Hola Todos!

Life in the mission is starting to move a little bit. We are beginning to understand the area a little better, and build up our teaching pool so we can spend more time teaching those who are interested, and less time finding, among those who aren't always interested.

However, we are only allowed a certain number of travel miles each month, and the last missionaries in this area used too many, so for this last week in March we won't be able to drive our car. We will have to spend a lot more time finding people closer to our apartment then visiting people further away. I feel like God needs us to find some people that are closer to teach.

I've gotten a lot of emails recently pertaining to my visa to Ecuador. 

It has been validated. 

Yay!

Now I need to wait to receive some paperwork to sign in the mail. After that, my visa and passport will come and travel plans will be made. I am expecting to stay here in Pennsylvania another 4 weeks and then be off to Ecuador. Exciting!

Our investigators here are progressing well. Cindy and Angie are really fun people, and I believe they understand why it is important to have prophets. This weekend all of the prophets and apostles of our church will speak to us. I hope Cindy and Angie can join us in listening to what they have to say and know how they can change their lives to be better.

Holly is also doing very well. Her faith is growing a lot. I think she has more faith than she knows. She will be baptized in three weeks!

Another investigator named Gail is trying to overcome her addictions. Please pray that she can have the strength to do so so that she can be baptized in four weeks. 

Nicolas, a Spanish investigator was super excited to talk with us, and now that he can hear the words of God in the Spanish, his testimony and faith will grow a lot. 

We also found a lot more Spanish speakers in the area who are interested in hearing from us. I am excited to teach them! The only problem will be inviting them to participate in English church services. I hope we can figure a way that they can hear church in Spanish.

I've also been studying a lot here about how I can personally fulfill my purpose as a missionary better. I need to get a lot better at talking to people (I think that part of that includes knowing how to make good jokes in conversations). I also need to learn how to trust God more. Trust that every single person won't be interested in hearing about the gospel, and God will help us find the one. Those are a few ways that I feel I can improve in order to be a better instrument for God.

What do most 19 year old young men do? Some are moving along with life, getting jobs or going to school. Most are doing things that they enjoy like going to parties, playing video games or sports. I am not. I am here serving God. I am giving up two years of my life, the prime part of my life to serve God and my fellow men. Why? Because I know without a shadow of a doubt, that God is real. That he loves every single one of us, and because of this love he has revealed the gospel of Jesus Christ (the way to have joy in this life and the life to come) to modern prophets. I want everyone to have that joy, and that is why I am here.

Thank you all for all of the support.

Elder Cloward

First week in the field

Hola Todos!

The field is great! The ward I am working in is very small with less than 75 active members, but they are very close to each other and have a strong sense of missionary work and bringing back less active members.

My companion Elder Madsen and I get along OK, but we don't talk to each other very much. I hope we can become better friends so we can develop a better companionship.

In the mission home, I received a Samsung tablet. I was not expecting to get any technology on my mission so I really didn't know what to do with it when I got it. I still prefer writing things down because I remember them  better that way, but the tablet is nice.

When we first got to our area, (Lewisburg, an area where my companion had never served before) we couldn't get our area book on the tablet that tells us all of the information about the people in the area who have been taught. So we picked a street and starting trying to share our message. We really didn't have much success, but we found a nice young man named Geno who I feel would have enjoyed our discussions, but the tablet died and we lost his number. Please pray that he can read the Book of Mormon we gave him and that we can find him again.

On the second day, we managed to get the area book up and running. In the morning we went to a food bank and helped make hundreds of bags of food for less fortunate people. We met the bishop of the ward there which was really cool. That evening we had a dinner appointment with some members and a new investigator named Holly. I'm so used to serving dinner to missionaries at our house that it was really weird to be the missionary at the members home. With Holly, we helped her feel more confident in her little bit of faith that she had about the church. Then we set a date for her to prepare to be baptized and she accepted! My first lesson in the field, and we are already setting baptismal dates! Incredible! After our lesson with Holly, we met a few more members of the ward, the Trump family. They have a sister who is not a member yet, but she has a lot of interest in the church, and I'm sure we will make a lot progress.

Saturday morning, we worked at a recycling plant to help bale recycled cardboard and aluminum cans so they could be made into something new. It was pretty cool, but Elder Madsen and I feel like we have better things that we can do on a Saturday morning like talking with people. Later in the afternoon we met some members of the ward who had only been members for about three years. They were really cool. Next we helped a different family whose house was hit by a drunk driver. We scrapped glue and paint off of wall pieces  so they could be put back in their places. The father of that family has one of the driest senses of humor of anyone I have met, so if we return to provide more help, I'm going to have to get used to his humor. Then we visited another family, the Labarge family. The mother was baptized 2 years ago, but the father has been struggling with his smoking addiction and hadn't yet been baptized. Please pray for him to overcome his cigarette addiction. On the way to our next contact, we met a woman named Cindy who had had a troubling past, but knew of our church so we set up a time to meet with her and her daughter. Finally at the end of the day, we met with a man named Mark and his son Sincere. Mark has been looking for a church that can help teach his son. We taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon in gaining a testimony of the truth of the restoration.

Sunday was great also. We met all of the great members of the ward and taught a few more people. We brought the sacrament to an older woman in the ward. It was amazing to see how much peace she felt afterwards. While we were going to our next appointment  we met a man named Jim who had experienced things that had led him to believe that God had a purpose for him. At the end of the day on Sunday, we met with Cindy who we had found the day before. She and her daughter Angie were very excited to talk all about the Bible stories and the things they believed in. They want to choose the right, but they just don't quite know what that is yet. I hope they have a desire to pray to find out and read the scriptures.

We only have one Spanish investigator, so I am not getting very many opportunities to speak Spanish. I hope that I can make more time to do so.

Continue praying for the Visas for the missionaries going to Ecuador!

Overall there are a lot of great people here. There are also a lot of people here who aren't interested in our message. It is very hard to be sharing a message that you know has brought you joy and happiness in your life and have others turn you away and close the door. At the same time it is incredible to find people ready to hear the word of God. I hope they are as ready as I think they are. 

When Christ was on the Earth, he suffered rejection also. Some people didn't want to hear the message he shared. As a representative of Christ, I will be rejected also, but I will do it because I love him.

I've got lots of growing up and learning to do here in Lewisburg. But I know that by serving God with all of my might mind and strength, we will have his help. 

Matthew 10:39 - He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Continue praying for the Visas for the missionaries going to Ecuador!

Hasta luego!

Elder Cloward

Arrived in Pittsburgh!

We received the following short message from Josh's mission office in Pittsburgh along with a couple of photos:

We welcomed Elder Cloward to the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission on Wednesday.  We are thrilled to have him here with us!  I have attached a few pictures, one with his trainer, Elder Madsen.  They will be serving in the Lewisberg, PA Area. 

 Thank you for allowing us to serve with your son here in Pennsylvania, we are excited to have him serve with us until he receives his Visa!


And here is a short note that we received from Josh when he arrived:

I just got to the mission home. I had a good safe trip and managed to give out a book of Mormon to someone I was sitting with on the plane. I'm excited to move into the field and speak Spanish, because everyone I came here with doesn't understand me when I try to speak Spanish. They just gave me a tablet to use while I am here, and I don't know what to do with myself.

Mucho amor!

Elder Cloward

Leaving the MTC!

A fun place to study!

Hola todos!

A lot happened this week. We finished our role-playing as a district.  We got the Hermana's to get over their desires to party and drink a lot in order to feel the spirit and the presence of God more powerfully in their lives. They also managed to help Elder Miller and I who were role-playing, to overcome some our our characters obstacles and come closer to Christ. It was very powerful to teach that way. Now that Elder Miller and I have gotten a groove in our teaching lessons in Spanish, we are not teaching together anymore. Que triste!

This week on Thursday our district had the opportunity to take some Spanish tests to determine how well we were doing and how the training center could improve the teaching of Spanish to the new missionaries. It was really hard, but I know more than I thought I new. We took one that is issued by the government to determine fluency for government jobs. We will be able to get a report on that and how fluent we are soon. Probably not very fluent. :P

I played the piano solo I talked about in my last weeks email. It was a great way for me to bear testimony of Christ in the language of music, my favorite language.

And now information that you've probably all been wondering about. Is Elder Cloward going to Ecuador? Is his visa here?


Nope. The visa is still being processed. I have been reassigned until my visa can come through. I am now serving in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh mission! Everyone who was supposed to go to Ecuador was reassigned this week. Others are going to Texas, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. At first it was very disappointing. I submitted all of my

My new mission assignment.

paperwork for the Visa about four months ago. But through a devotional from President Ballard, the president of the quorum of the twelve apostles I was reminded that missionary work is not for me. It is for God. I need to put my trust in him that he will send me where he needs me. At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to learn very much Spanish in Pittsburgh, but during that devotional, God told me through the Holy Ghost, that if I work my hardest while in Pennsylvania, I will be ready to go to Ecuador when my Visa comes.

Instead of my earlier departure date, I am now departing Wednesday the 14th at 3:30 in the morning. I get more time with people here, but less sleep the day before I leave. My companion got his visa and will still be leaving on Monday, so for two days I will have different companions. I will miss Elder Miller a lot.

Remember, that God has all of us in mind. We may not see it, but He knows what is best for us. Trust him, and he will direct thy paths.

Elder Cloward

Laundry soap, music, English fasts

Hola Todos!

Weeks are really flying by now! My district all got their travel plans yesterday. I'm scheduled to leave the MTC on Tuesday 3/12 at 4:50 in the morning. We will have to see if my visa arrives in time for me to go to Ecuador, or if they reassign me for a couple months. 

This week on Wednesday two new Elders joined the zone. We did a lot of goofy things to help them feel welcome. I'm really getting a love for all of the Elders in my zone. They all have strong testimonies and are fun people as well. Although one of the Elders, his name is Elder Gardner, is really struggling and wanting to go home. Please pray that he will find comfort and feel God's love.

It was sad to teach Mauricio his final lesson on Friday. He was such a great person to teach, and he helped both Elder Miller and I learn a lot. We got him to commit to baptism this week, and had to testify of the power of reading the scriptures to him on Tuesday because he didn't read the night before. I told him that when we follow God's commandments that our peace can be like unto a river. If you are seeking more peace in your life, try to come closer to God by following his commandments.

Now, Elder Miller and I only have the three Hermana's in our district to teach. They are role-playing as Maya, who is very excited to learn the gospel, Marcela, who likes to party and isn't really sure if God is real, and Rosa who had a troublesome past and needs a lot of comfort from God. Please pray that Elder Miller and I will be able to teach them with power and the spirit, because it is very challenging to teach three people at the same time when they all come from different backgrounds.

Spanish is going very well. Our district fasted English on Thursday, meaning that we tried to only speak Spanish throughout the whole. It was really hard, but really good to keep us thinking about Spanish. I hope to do that more this upcoming week.

Also I received a couple of packages this week from my family. They sent me a brown belt, to match a pair of very comfortable brown shoes and a speaker that can play music from an SD card. It is really nice to have music in our dorm rooms. I really enjoy it.

They also got me some laundry soap. I am allergic to many standard types of laundry soap so I got some better stuff to keep my clothes from giving me rashes. Because of the rashes, the doctors here prescribed me some strong cream and lotion. They said to apply them 2-3 times a day, but 1 time has been plenty to help my skin. 

I also got a haircut this week because my long hair was bothering me. It is a little early, most missionaries get haircuts just a few days before they leave, but I felt like getting mine today. 

Tomorrow I will be playing a piano solo I arranged in our meeting on Sunday. I hope I can bear a strong musical testimony of Jesus Christ and how he has changed my life.

Last Sunday, the BYU men's chorus came and sang hymns for our Sunday devotional. There was such a strong spirit, but it was really hard to see my older brother singing in the chorus and not go and say hi to him and give him a hug. I don't usually miss my family, because I'm too busy working hard, but this time I did. I want to thank all of them for how much they have done for me. They are incredible and I love the very much.

Hasta Luego!

Elder Cloward