Family, friends, strangers.
SO MUCH TO UPDATE.
Well, Ken, our second investigator we found read the BOOK OF MORMON IN TWO DAYS. and conveniently on our next lesson, i couldnt stop vomiting. So the sweet elders went and followed up with him. MAN that guy is a gem. He is so ripe and ready i am so stoked. Our other investigator Dwight is wicked cool. We are helping him restore a super rare sail boat. Experiences you have on missions are bizarre to say the least and im learning to not be surpised at anything haha. We have a new investigator who i wont name but she was a referral we contacted the next day. For four hours she just let her big heart out about how abusive her marriage is, and man. She is one tough cookie. When we first walked in she was pretty strong about the book of mormon being blasphemy but at the end she committed to read. A couple hours later she called us back, told us she read, stalked us on facebook, told me i had pretty pictures and wicked scars, and needless to say i am so stoked to see her again. That woman is just so amazing. And mom! She cooks so well too. EVERYTHING is homemade, even her butter. That day was spent traveling to doctors and meeting with them, then contacting her, then dinner at a members who briskly took us to her friends where we now have a couple more potentials. One of my favorite things is being able to be me with people right away. I love making friends, and regardless if they care about my purpose or not, i state it in a way where i am real, i am me. I love wearing a smile on always and having it be genuine. I have found the more i smile, the more people are interested in my purpose. Basically, the couple is so interested in meeting again, and they are taking us to a famous ice cream place. Which reminds me of a miracle. The sister who took us to their home, ahh. She is unreal. Her name is sister daigle and she is a convert. Anyway, studying is always super hard for me since we have to do the 12 weeks in 6 weeks which means 4 hours of studying a morning. My back kills in the first hour, and i was praying for relief. That day, she asked me if i wanted her yoga ball to sit on for studying, and it brought me to tears. The Lord is SO aware of my needs. He was just waiting for me to ask. So anyway, after meeting her friends we rushed to a members home who is our neighbor. Ready for another miracle?? The day before this i was on an exchange. I was super nauseated, vomiting, and had a migraine. We called the elders for a blessing and told them we would meet at the chapel since we had coucil in an hour. I was laying in the chapel, when a woman walked in. She woke me up and said she only does what the Lord tells her and the Lord told her to come meet me and tell me she is a reflexologist, and that she needs to work on me. So! Alas! i have been receiving reflexology (foot massages) for an hour a day since. After the first session, my back, liver, psiatic?? stomach, neck, hips and pelvic were all 3's and 4's on a four scale. Holy moly was she spot on with everything. Im a believer. After todays session they are all two. And saturday, she did the whole ora getting rid of bad energy and what not on me through breathing. Craziest experience ever. I'm telling ya, nothin like dem Mainers. Then she put back all the 12 colors in me we are born with. Crazy crazy. So its almost 9 and we have to leave to get back on time. She leads us out the back way, and as i open the main door a man yells out "its a miracle!!!" i just start busting up laughing and say finally someone recognizes!!! HE IS SO CRAZY. he offers us ben and jerrys, we chat, he tells us he is a buddha jew, he believes in ancient aliens, and all this crazy nonsense and was begging us to come back to teach him. THEN another guy walks out, i stop him and start talking to him, and he begs us to come meet with him too!!!! MIRACLES ALL OVER. Just goes to show when you forget yourself and go to work, blessings come.
Everyone keeps asking about the weather. Here is goes. im miserable! Past 3 weeks was 40's-50's and always pouring, then the next day it was 93 and super humid. NOT COOL. ahhh so hott. i only have long sleeves to minus one shirt. mom? send me some love? i knowi just asked for my rain jacket... but... haha love you!!
Also, i am majorly becoming one with nature. SO MANY ANIMALS. im getting over my animal germ hair phobia. Not too happy about it but whatev.
So i wanna tell you about someone so dear to my heart. Her name is Courtney Harrington. Her family was one of the first members we had met, and immediately i was drawn to her. She is my best friend. I have watched that girl grow from a small interest in the church, to getting her patriarchal blessing (that talks a lot about disabled people and the field she'll be going on... and she wants to go to BYU so we would be starting the program the same year!!!!) to bearing her testimony for the firs time yesterday. When i first met her, i challenged her to do so and told her i would go up if she did. Sure enough all through sacrament she was looking at me, and so once she got up i followed. She is as beautiful inside as she is out. Even if i dont bring one soul into the waters of baptism, my mission will be complete because of the impact i know the lord has allowed me to have on her just as much as she has had on me. When i bore my testimony, i told her how much of a bond i feel for her through our savior and how i know i was sent to her. THEN, i bore my testimony on revelation. 2 years ago was the fast sunday before heading up to BYU for the first time, when an elder got up bore his testimony, and brought me an answer that i was to serve a mission and to start preparing because it was coming sooner than i thought. who would have thought that 2 years to that sunday, i would be on a mission, baring my testimony for the first time in the field. The lords plan is so perfect.
A lot of my studies have been on patience this week. Man, i am so dang grateful i have major patience. Thinking about my trials i know the Lord really needed me to develop CHRISTLIKE patience and trust, and i'm ever so grateful he pushed me in those areas because missions are places needed to exercise extreme amounts of patience. Everyone, pick up your BOMS and bible and read some verses for me k? Alma 34:41, D&C 67:13, Mosiah 3:19, then Deut 31:6. SO many promises up the wazoo. Mom, thank you for being so patient with me. I know i havent been easy to be patient with, and at times i was rather quite selfish. You never gave up on me, on finding answers to my prayers, and being so dang patient. I love you and mom, guess what. I am set apart as someone who represents CHRIST on the earth. He speaks through me, and i know i can promise you this. You will receive so many miracles and blessings as you continue to exercise your patience with many trials you are enduring. Turn to Him, allow Him to uplift you, and as promised in Deut, HE will NOT forsake you.
My love for life, people, trials, experiences, and everything is becoming so much more pure in Christ. Charity, Faith, and Hope were promised blessings and gifts to me, and i know the Lord is strenghtening those gifts as i use them for him. I love you all. I am grateful for every trial and tribulation that i am enduring. I honestly could sit here and complain about the tremendous pain i have felt these past 6 weeks, but guess what. That pain, through my willingness to use it for good, has brought me more miracles in a day than i have ever experienced. I am more sensitive to His will, and i am more aware of my purpose, to brings others unto Christ. I truly am becoming fearless and how blessed am i and the people i am able to reach because of my Savior.
Keep fighting for the blessings.
Sister Cloward
I FORGOT TO MENTION!! the picture of the man and the book is a former investigator we randomly got in contact with. He isnt a member.... BUT he wrote the books who's at the door and signed me a copy so ill be sending it home and mama, you better read it and tell me all about it! And can you tell how incredibly humid it is by my lovely hair?
OH. mom. i also forgot to tell you about the blessing i got. So ya, i was incredibly sick, and i didnt think i could wait another minute for the elders to show up. Right then, they showed up drenched in sweat (they ran a few miles just for me!) and then elder adkins gave me the most tender blessing. It went in the books. He helped me realize that when i put in my papers, i didnt even expect to get a call. I thought i would be denied, and so did most everyone else and obviously that says a lot. The Lord needed me though, and so here i am. BUT it doesnt mean that my health is any better. I have felt so guilty taking all the breaks that i do, and refusing to take them when i really need them. When he gave me the blessing, he really emphasized that the lord knows my heart, but he also knows my condition, and he needs me to rest. He needs me to take the breaks and the rest that my body needs, because i need to also be aware of my own needs. He needs me to do that, so that i can give it my all in the times i am not needing to rest. It honestly was exactly what i needed to hear, because i had been so discouraged as to why i was out on a mission if i was just waisting time. THEN. mom!!! He said my dead sister, do not worry about your family, they are being taken care of. The lord is blessing them tremendously because of your efforts. Sister, you will hug your brother again someday" Yep. i was BAWLING. But, immediately i thought of how that may not mean on earth. It doesnt matter anymore to me if he passes while i am gone, because the lord has given me more time than i ever imagined with him. I remember when i was 15 i would pray that he would make it to 24, and that i would be so happy and grateful. HE IS ALMOST 27, and he is serving the purpose our father has for him. He will be here as long as he is needed, and i WILL get a hug from him, even if it isnt on earth. How great will be that day when sweet Dallan can wrap his arms back around me, pick ME up and tell ME how much he loves me. I truly am blessed.
Pictures to come later...can't figure out why they won't upload!
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