Ask Us What We Do

Aug. 18, 2014 Letter

Elder Clawson and Elder Roberts during their "Ask Us What We Do" finding activity!

Once Upon a Week there was a man named Elder Clawson,

This week was a good week. Unfortunately I have been taken by an illness that has kept me up coughing every night this last week so I'm incredibly tired.

One super duper interesting thing that we did this week was we tried a street contact approach that I've been wanting to try for a while. Elder Watson and I actually thought about it when we were together in Durres. We wanted to bring out two chairs and just sit in them and have a sign that says "Ask us what we do?" and then we just sit there and wait for people to come up and talk to us. So we decided to try that as a district and so we did. And we had one of the best contacting experiences of my mission. Tons of people were coming up to us and asking us what we were doing. We all got several different numbers from good solid people and most of us have had lessons with someone from that experience. Good day.

Another cool thing that happened this week was that we found this guy named Taki. He's had interactions with the church but he's never met with the missionaries. We asked if he wanted to meet with us because he just randomly showed up at the baptism that we recently had and we didn't know who the heck he was. The first lesson that we had with him was really good. He has two kids, a daughter and a son and they all really like being around us and the church. They are on a baptismal date and they seem excited to prepare for that day. Taki has a lot of really good questions but one thing that really gets his interest is the Spirit. He has tons of really good questions asking what it is, how we can feel it, why is it there, and he is really enjoying the whole learning process which is pleasing to me.

Elder Price and Elder Watson

The sign says, "As Us What We Do!"  The actually got a great response that day:)

We met with a boy that I actually met with when we were doing the "Ask us what we do?" contact. His name is Bardhi and he is super cool. He says he's Muslim but that he likes Christianity so he was super open and ready for the Gospel. He's a teenager and about as big as me. We taught him the Restoration and just tried to make him think a lot so we asked lots of questions. Then he started asking us how our lives are better just becasue we have religion. We explained that by having a personal relationship with God we can know more about ourselves, our purpose for being here, and what's expected of us so that we can continuing improving. We told him how we have found a happiness that isn't extinguished by a bad day or an insult from a person on the street because the happiness that we are trying to share with people is an eternal happiness that only can be given by God to His children. US! He listened super intently this entire conversation and then he said "Yeah I like the idea of being happy forever." He is solid and we are going to baptize him and then he's gonna be the next prophet.

I also went on an exchange with my son. Elder Watson. We had a good time and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's presence. We had a good lesson with one of their investigators and we just really enjoyed teaching together again. He;s still a great missionary and a good kid.

Military base spoils.  Talk about a happy kid!  Who doesn't love Funyuns?!

On Thursday we got to go to the American Militry Base just outside of Prishtina to teach their Institute Class. We got to shop at the American Food Store there and we got to eat at the cafeteria which was awesome as well. It was all incredibly heavenly. We went with the Tooley's who are the Kosovo Senior Couple and we drove the sisters with us. The sister's gave a lesson on 3 nephi chapters 12-14 and it was all super good. The Beatitudes are definitely things that we need to keep in mind. There were only a few soldiers there with us but they were incredibly happy to have us there and they treated us like a million dollars so we were all very grateful for that.

I bought lots of Funyuns, PopTarts, Gatorade, Soda, Hot Pockets, Arizon Watermelon Juice, and some other stuff and we are living off of that now.

P-day lunch.

Yesterday was Sunday and church was good. We had a lesson in Priesthood on Eternal Marriage and it was awesome. All of the guys in there are young single adults so they have no idea what marriage is  but forutnately the branch president was there to kinda fill us in on the whole thing. After church we actually went and ate at the Branch President's home. His wife made us some super good BBQ'd chicken and all kinds of good stuff. Then we just talked and left.

That's about it for this week. I love you guys and I hope you are all safe in Lake Powell. Have fun with EXEC Emma!

Love, Jed

Dear Mother,

I'm glad you are starting to feel a little more relaxed now that summer is over. It's crazy to think that it's over because it kinda just barely started. I saw the deer in the garden pic. Hopefully the new dog can take care of that. Just make sure he lives for a bit. Have fun in the lake! Go skiing for me. I love you so much and thanks a ton for updating the blog!

Love, JEDEDEDIAH!!!!!