I Do Know What The Word Bautismal Means! Week #8

Cusco Missionaries

guys man!! it has been a pretty loco week!! Lots of crazy experiences!! so after last tuesday we went to a little town that we did not know was in our area. We got a call from some lady to meet her at teh bus station, so we did and she had bought us tickets to this place. We drove for an hour to a town called Cambapata, Its kinda by Pitumarca, which is another town we go to every saturday. We get to Cambapata and then get off the bus and ride in another bus to another town called Yanaoca or Yanoaca one of those. But yea, this town was not left or right, it was us this mountain, and we went up and once we got to the top there were a bunch of other small pueblos. But we come up over the mountain and there was this huge lake on the top of a mountain!!! and the town yanoaca was kinda close to it, it stormed that day alot, lots of rain and lightning but it was super fun. I loved it, it was super small but lots of people, in the end, the people we were there to teach were busy so that whole trip was pretty much for nothing. 

next crazy thing was we had a baptism this week, That was a surprise!! I may not understand alot but i do know the word bautismal. So that was super dope and the spirit was really strong. it was such a special experience. And then one day we were having a comp study and man, i wanted to share what i learned with my comp so i shared a scripture i read. ALMA 5, 45-46. As i was sharing with him, i just started balling cause I felt the spirit so strong. I Was trying yto read it but couldnt cause of my tears and sniffling. But man The spirt was super strong. 

But yea, lots of new experiences for me. Lots of poverty here. the people here live on dirt floors in a one room house, with a bed or 2 and a tv and a stove to cook, but thats pretty much it. I ate guinea pig for the first time with week. It was awesome!! Super soft, and tasted like really good chicken. Tons of stuff . We gave lots of priesthood blessings to people, my comp gave one to our pensionsistas son and i gave one to a lady who had some health problems. Man that is a different experience, but its very special. 

I love you all and miss you all lot!!!

Elder Clawson

Mom tthank you so mucyh for the Letter. I loved it all!! I started to sob when you started to talk about grandpa!! I miss him too and man i know he is here with me!! This week has been crazy and man i miss you all lots. Today got really hard cause i cant talk to my comp very well and i just really needed to talk to someone in english today. Everything was better when we played football cause we have like 4 elders who are americans. so it was better but man, i am super stressed with the language and trying to help my comp out but it never seems to work cause we cant talk very well. But im so excited to hear about your new job thingy. Tell those mexicans you know Que tal!! Como Estan! Les gusta Pollo!! mom did you get the email, i didnt have a ton of time so i just put it in with dads email.

Tell Everyoone i love them and miss them tons!!

I love you mom!!

Elder Clawson.

First Week In The Mission Field! Sicuani Week #7 Sept. 24, 2018

This is the night Jake arrived in Cusco!  A sweet lady from Dallas sent me this text.  They were in the square that night, as all the new missionaries and their companions were contacting people.  Made this mom's heart really happy!!

Father Gracias por the advice!!! Man Im sorry its been awhile since I have Emailed. I have been traveling alot and leaving the CCM wasnt bad, The people i miss the most are the latinos that were in my room serving in La Paz Bolivia. But we said our goodbyes and exchanged emails so we could keep in touch. 

Haha I bet I can One up you with the general authority visiting. Who was it by the way? On saturday before we left for cusco, Elder Renlund was in the Country and Decided to pay a fvisit to the CCM! We got to meet Elder Renlund, all the missionaries were in aw and it was SO FLIPING COOL!! 

I got to cusco and yep, its beautiful here, very different from the US but lots of cool stuff. I got my comp the next day, his name is elder Ochoa from Huanuco Peru or something close to that. We went tracting in the main plaza in Cusco and it was beautiful. We ran into a Lds group of people and they said they would send mom a picture of that. But man, the first couple days here were rough. I felt like i knew no spanish. But now Since ive been in a sector all by myself with my companion i feel like im starting to kindo pick it alll up. But man its still hard. Alll i do really is try to listen to the people and what they are saying. but its crazy!! 

Elder Clawson with his new companion Elder Ochoa!!  

Meeting new companions!  I love that hug!

The peple here are all so kind and so humble. I cant believe how some of these people live, a metal door, and once you go inside, its just dirt or broken concrete as floor and a kitchen and some beds. But everyone here has to have a TV. Thats a necessity here. 

The zone that Im serving in is Called Vallecito, in a town or city called Sicuani. My sector is the biggest one here and its just my comp and me here. We have a pueblo we go to on saturdays. A pueblo is a small village in the mountains. This pueblo is called pitumarca. Its a pretty big tourist spot cause its the closest town to the mountain of seven colors. 

Pitumarca is about 1 hour bus ride from Sicuani. But man it is so worth it! It was so pretty, but just like everywhere else here, really dirty. We passed by the church here and man, it was the smallest building. Turns out it is like a barn that the president of the church owns. We met the president and his wife. They were probably 80 years old or more. But it wass awesome. We stayed and chatted with them for about an hour, they need more priesthood holders in their ward so we went out to talk to some non active members and members with the president. 

The first couple houses were duds, no one was home and they always put like a heavy duty lock if they leave their house. Then presidente Pio took us to a members house. But this one was different and man, very humbling. President just walked in and we followed. Inside their was this lady named Domingo Leon Roja. She was sitting on the ground and everything was a mess. She was probably 90 something years old. The thing that shocked me the most was her legs. they were so skinny! 

President was talking to her and me and elder ochoa tried to listen. But man we couldnt understand anything she was saying, and we also couldnt understand presidente pio!! Turns out this lady could ionly speak Quechua, which is the language theh incans spoke. He turned to us and said, ella no camina, which translates to, she cant walk. She then saw us and asked us if we could give her a blessiong. Im still new to givingh blessings. but man the spirit was strong. I sealed the anointment, and my companion gave the blessing. I did it in english cause i cant quite do it in spanish yet, but wow, it was by far the best thing that happened that day. Then we visited lots of personas or investigators. It was a good day in a goood place. Then we did alot of visiting member. 

church was crazy, i couldnt understyandd a thing and i gave my testimony in very broken spanish. Man it was hard at church. Then we did lots of visiting and stuff, we taught 2 people, brayon 19 years old and his sister fiorla15 years old. Then we went looking for another person to teach namd saida who is 14 years old. But this super drunk guy answered the door, his eyes were totally bloodshot, and all the veins in his hands were bulging. He could barely speak so we ust said we would come back onother time. Today we played futbol or soccer with the 12 elders in our district. It was lots of fun. 

Dad i love you tons amnd miss you guys!! I love it here so far. And i cant wait to tell youy more about Sicuani

Tell everyone i love them lots!!!

Contacting on the Square in Cusco

All the new missionaries with their new companions.

Elder Clawson and Elder Boyle arriving in Cusco!!!  Wahoo!

MOM i live you and it sounds like you are gonna do awesopm, at you r new job. Lo siento my english is kinda fading, abnd thgekeyboardds here are screwed up. But man I love you and i am always thiking about the things you have told me and the family. Especiall the one, be smart in peru, street smart. Ive rally needed that here. Even with a new companion that knows this place really well, I still need to keep an eye out cause i am a red head american in the middle of a sad poor town in peru. Lots of little kids see me and want to touch my hair, and they also say im beautful as im walking by. its hilarious.

I loe}v you mom and miss you all tyons!!!

Tell seth and jane tha I love them tons!!

Elder Clawson

Arrival In Cusco! Week #6 Sept.18, 2018

Sept. 18, 2018

¡Elder Clawson llegó bien a la Misión Perú Cusco! Aquí esta una foto con Presidente Herrera y Hermana Herrera.

Elder Clawson has arrived at the Mission Perú Cusco safely! Attached is a photo of your missionary with President and Sister Herrera.

ELDER CLOBES

Secretario de Suministros
Misión Perú Cusco
#945253827

I Have A Testimony Of Prayer Week #5 Sept. 12, 2018

So this week i have a lot of stuff to talk about. WE had a practice proselyting activity in a different district in lima per. So just some geography. The ccm is in La molina district, and we went to Santa ANita. LA Molina is the pretty part of lima. And the area where we went was totally not pretty. it was sad, but really an awesome experience. I loved talking to the people and inviting them to come to church. It was awesome. Super hard cause my spanish is reallly bad. Funny story time. So a couple weeks ago we met this 16 year old kid at the temple, we was praciting spanish and getting pretty good, we all talkied to him and got to know him. then 4 weeks later, we and 2 other elders are walking down this random empty street in santa Anita which was like 30 minutes away from la molina. We are walking and that same kid, just walks right out of a door into the street!! it was crazy!! We instantly knew each other and started talking!! it was totally not a coincidence!! he came with us for the rest of the tracting activity and it was sad when we had to say goodbye. but soo much fun, that kid is gonna be an awesome missionary. 

I taught Elder Palomina some english one night and he is so funny when he says whats up or i love you in english!!. Elder A. was having some pooping problems, he hadnt pooped in like 7 days and one night we said a group prayer for him, and them an hour later he pooped!! sorry super TMI but it was a small testimony builder. 

I finished the book of mormon yesterday and it  was awesome!!

 Yo se que el libro de mormon es verdadera y contiene el plenitud del Evangelio. yo se que el libro de mormon se cambia su vida silo lea.

Love you all and have a good week

MOM thank yo so much s¿for the update. I love reading your letters and i love hearing about what all you guys are doind. All the missionaries around me laughed when they saw the first sentence in this email. I miss your mouth mom. It is so spiritual here that i might get in trouble for saying dude!! haha but thats ok. I will have to get used to it. man i miss lotoja. I wish i could have done it with you guys. tell seth and jane that i love them so much and i would love to here from them in an email. Sorry i dont have a lot of time, but yes i head out to cusco next week an dill tell you where i get assigned!! 

I LOVe you so much, im sorry for such little time.

Elder Clawson

Hagalo! (That Means DO IT!) Week #4 Sept. 5, 2018

Hi Guys!! this week has been awesome!! lots of changes and stuff but its all good, ill try to make it fast cause i dont have alot of time. but Just know that I lov eyouo all and stuff right off the bat, and if your thinking of serving a mission i have you answer. ¡¡HAGALO!! That means do it. jsut go and it will be the best experiience of your life. 

This week the new eders came. Pretty dope. The elders in my room are awesome. WE got two new latino elders. one from honduras, elder pererya who is 18 years old. and elder palomino who is from peu and 23 years old. I love them to death and elder pererya is really good at english so that is super good. ill send you some pics of them next week but for now i will tellyou more. spanish is hard, thats it, but i cant imagina learning russion like jesse or veitnamese like cade. My soccer skills have dramatically increased. im a baller!! not really. i still suck but i love playing. Elder pereya has a weird deadpool bobble head that he hides around the room and waits for us to find it. Im almost done with the book of mormon and man i have never felt the spirit so strong reading it before. Elder pererya told us his conversoin story one night and man he went through some hard thinks and i felt so much love for him. but ill tell you more about it next week guys, but for now i got to go. the church is true, joseph smith was the true prophet and el don de lenguas es verdadera.

Loves

Elder Clawson

I think this is a Book Of Mormon in Quechua.  It's a language spoken in some remote villages in Peru.  It is related to the language spoken by the Aztecs.

MOMMMY!!! Thank you for the awesome letter!! im sory i missed you guys too! but it sounds like you guys have had an awesome time!! Im freaked out when i heard that seth took 3rd in mountain biking!! thats crazy!! Tell him that he is still a wuss though, and that he isnt a man till he is stuck in the spiritual prison in the middle of a country that speaks a foreign language haha. Man i miss you guys. I have these 2 new elders in my room who are latinos, one is from peru and the other is from honduras. but elder pererya from honduras is amazing at english. so we had a little exchange one night on sotries about home and i showed him some pictures. we had a really long talk and i got to know him really well. he is so full of the spirit and i felt the spirit when he told me about his life and how hard it was. I felt horrible and i know that i would never have been able to do the things that he did to get back to the church. But it was such a testimony builder and i love him to death. Everything is pretty good though, nothing else to crazy but ill just give ya a yhuge email email with all the details of everything. I lov e you mom and i cant wait to get into the mission field, i love it here at the ccm but i jsut reallly want to get out there arleady even though i all i reallly know how to do is pray and bear my testimony in spanish. but i love you and cant wait to hear from you next week.

love you tons!!!

Elder Clawson

Lots of (Happy) Tears This Week Week #3 Aug. 28, 2018

Elder Clawson with his companion Elder Boyle from Idaho!  Elder Boyle's uncle was companions with Elder Clawson's Uncle Josh in Ecuador 20+ years ago!  Such a small world:)

Im so sorry i forgot to tell you about this but just this week im going to have my pday today on tuesday!! LO SIENTO!!

This week has been crazy though!! tons of things have happened! I so sorry for not being able to send you pictures. its hard for me to do it here but i tried to send you one from my camera. I dont know if it sent though. so today we woke up and went to the temple which was really coool. but Last night we were up till around 12ish helping our roommates pack all of there stuff up cause they were leaving today. So we all helped them pack and yep it was really late. this morning they left at 2 in the morning. They wrote us a small note saying thanks and it was really sweet. Ill miss them a bunch. 

After the temple, we walked outside and we saw a bunch of the old avencados out there cause they had missed there flights to their mission in Trujillo Sur. So we all said hello and then our final goodbyes. 

So there is this thing that all the preuvians can do here. Its this kind of snapping thing you do with your fingers but its not snapping, its your fingers slapping eachother and its so hard to do, but all the peruvians can do it and they are amazing at it!! So all the missionsaries call it el don de lenguas, or gift of tongues cause when you are able to do that you will be able to speak spanish! and its flippin true! Me and elder boyle had this lesson with one of our investigators and man we were struggling with her. She would just tear us down in our lessons. so one time me and elder boyle just decided to go out on a limb and test our spanish and just try to get to know her better. We said a prayer and went for it. During our lesson, we just talked to her about her life and got to know her. We were just using spanish and not even looking at our notebooks with all our spanish phrases and stuff on it. To our surprise we understood almost everything she said and we were able to communicate back to her and share a short message with her!! It was crazy how strong the spirit was when we weren't even really teaching a lesson. We were just trying something different and it worked out way better than we thought it would. 

Everytime we go outside of the walls here, for service or even to go to the temple, we are barely surviving, cause the traffic here is totally crazy and everyone is cutting in front of each other and just honking there horns like crazy. 

Sorry but i have a really hard time remembering things that happened cause it all ends up blurring together. But on sunday we were all dead and just ready to take a nap and a break. WE had some killer boring classes on sunday that would have been awesome but everyone was dead and our teachers werent very excited to teach us. But after all of that we got to watch the Restoration video and it was beautiful!!! IM pretty sure im safe to say that im not the only missionay there that cried in that movie. And the part when joseph smith meets emma all the guy missionaries were crying cause they just wish they could have that chance right now. I definitely felt that way. Then we had choir and in choir we sang god be with you till we meet again. Everyone cried in that one cause all the old missionaries were leaving and thats the song we chose for that. 

That night in the hallways of the dorms, all the elders gathered together and we all sang god be with you till we meet again. lots of tears were shed and hugs were given. Yesterday night we all said goodbye to the elders who were all leaving. and it was really sad... i ALMOST cried but i stuck it out like a man. 

Love ya all and cant wait to here from you, sorry again for the wrong day.

Elder Clawson

This cute missionary is from Bolivia.  Jake shared one of his ties with him.  He looks as handsome as can be! 

MOM!! This week has been crazy! im sorry we cant talk back and forth but i miss all you guys. and love you even more. my spanish is becoming more and more advanced every day. just like my pushups. we have a rule that if you say and elder by just his last name, you have to do 20 pushups, last night all mine added up to 120 pushups. I love you and cant wait to here from you!!!

The CCM Is Crazy! Week #2 Aug. 22, 2018

Hola Everyone!! Whats UP with the world! how is everyone doing!?? Guys the CCM is flippin crazy!! Missions are crazy and so hard! But they are soooooo much fun at athe same time! If you are thinking about going on a mission, I would highly suggest it. 

This week was awesome!! I got to meet my Presidente one on one an dhes a super cool guy. From idaho, missing a finger too. Pretty cool. PDays are crazy!! You go to the temple and then you have an hour to email family. I dont know how it works in other places but thats how it does here. Everyday I am exhausted and just dying to go to bed, but you cant, you keep working and when bedtime comes, you just want to keep studying and working on stuff. My district is hilarious, maybe a little too funny. My companion is Elder Boyle from Eagle Idaho. hes awesome. Tate Jenson is in my district, Luke nethercott is in my group that arrived here on the same day. Jackson Nichols is here, and he leaves for Arequipa pretty soon. But its nice to see some familiar faces everyonce in a while. Sundays are fun, but really busy and not what I am used to. They are not relaxing. You have things to go to every minute of the day. That has been one of the hardest things for me is the time schedule. There is no time to take a break, they literally work us to death and its awesome!!

Here we play a lot of soccer. I have gotten tons better but I still suck at it alot. All the latinos here are amazing at soccer and always play it. so this week we and a bunch of other elders get together everyday and play the latinos in soccer for an hour. ITs so much fun but last monday we almost got in a huge all out brawl. Luckily i was not part of it, but it was getting heated and my team was part of the problem. They have a "no competion" rule so we dont get in fights and now i understand why it is there. We do classes and we do role playing as missionaries. it was me and my companions turn to be the missionaries and our maestro was the investigator. Our maestro is like 5 foot tall and from Peru. All Peruvians are like stupid short, its hilarious. But i told elder boyle that we were gonna play like in the best two years and just stick our hands out and freak him out. To my surprise, im pretty sure he actually was scared, a tall redhead holding his hand out and approachning him in a threatening manner? ya i would have been scared too. After though we laughed about it and he always gives me crap about it now.

everynight the traffic is crazy here. horns and sirens are always going crazy. I pretty sure Ive heard gunshots a couple of times and thats a bit frightening. 

I love you all and miss America, but I love it here and cant wait to teach the gospel in Cusco.

Elder Clawson.

Dear Mom, 

Thank you for that awesome letter you wrote. How are Jane and Seth?? I love all the wonderful details that you wrote to me. What else has been going on around home. what else have you guys been doing, how are jed and grace doing?? MOm i love you guys all so much and miss you all a ton! The CCM is the Centro De Capaticion Misional. Thats the MTC in spanish but its easier and more fun to say the CCM. Our compound is not very big at all. It has these 3 small but somewhat tall buildings in it. A, B, and  C. A is where all the offices are. B is where we have classes and dorm rooms. C is the cafeteria and auditorium. 

There is not a lot to take pictures of around here. But ill try to send you some from the computer this week. This week has been really good. I had an interview with Presidente Elllesworth and that was really nice, he is super cool, he's from idaho, and is missing a finger, and is very kind and super interested about everyone. My district is hilarious and I love them all. On sunday they pic random missionaries to give 5 minute talks in spanish and my Companion Elder Boyle, got called on to give a talk! WE had a devotional on Sunday night and that was really fun. Elder bednar had a talk that we just watched about the holy ghost. One day i was walking down the hallway and I couldnt find Elder Boyle. I yelled for him and he grabbed my shoulder and said, "I always here Elder." I dont know what it was but i died laughing and i havent forgotten it since.

Everyday we have an hour on physical activity, and this whole week pretty much we played futsol, which is just soccer on the concrete. It was pretty dang cool I must say. We played against all the Latino Elders. they are amazing and it is so much fun. But on MOnday We got to play on the big turf field and the latinos were going so hard and we were going so hard that it almost ended in a fist fight between the latinos and the gringos here. Its funny cause all the latinos call us Gringos. So thats what we call ourselves now and it sticks. I seriously miss the American food. All they feed us here is rice, meat and juice. If i dont seriously watch what i eat I will gain tons of weight. If you want to send  me anything mom you really can! It just takes a long time to get here. I love you mom and i will try my best to email everyone but its hard because we dont get alot of time.  I love you all and miss you all!

Elder Clawson.