Week #29 Feb. 26, 2019

Week #29 Feb. 26, 2019  1st week to video chat Jake with the new communication rules!!!!  It was AWESOME!!


Hey guys, Whassup!? This week was a bit slower but still really awesome. We just worked pretty much all week teaching and trying to find a bunch of new people. Saw and kinda ran away from a bunch of drunk people this week which was a rush. For sunday We made chocolate chip cookies and ate a lot cuy or guineau pig. And then we ate carrot cake for dinner. This week was like american food and stuff. In cusco i found one of my absolute favorite cadies in the plaza vea!!!

This is the oven they use in Sicuani.  It looks like a culvert surrounded by cement or clay and they put a wood fire inside.  So a rustic pizza oven that people in America pay a lot of money for!!

Jake and Elder Chamberlain are turning into amazing bakers!

A celebration meal of Cuiy (guinea pig) and missionary made chocolate chip cookies!

We had a dope zone olympics kind of pday with 3 different zones and it was awesome!!! Our zone destroyed in american football. I did divisions with zone lider elder clancy and we went to tinta casue we had a couple references but we had like no success so that was hard. But the sisters in our district had 2 baptisms and we had to rush all over sicuani to get things ready for it and it rained so hard before so we started alittle later to wait out the rain. Then after we ate food and the whole zone pretty much came to see it. It qwas super cool. We tried to bring one of our progressing investigators but we wasnt there so we couldnt find him at all. Kinda hard to work with that kid but we hope to get him baptized and them after his family to see his example and get baptized also. We hope at least.For p day we woke up and left at 6 in the morning to cusco and got home at 9ish. It was a super long and tiring day haha. But I definitely know the spirit was there this whole week. The baptism we went too was amazing and two little kids were baptized, they shared sweet and short testimonies at the end and it was just an eye opener to see what the gospel really does and how it can change people for the better. I love you all and miss you all tons. chao my friends and family. I love every single one of you.

Elder Clawson

This is a fun video of Jake and Elder Chamberlain on Sunday with their homemade cookies and the cute husband and wife that Jake and his companion live with.  She does all of their cooking and laundry, and the two missionaries live in an extra room on this family's home.

Week #28 Feb. 18, 2019

Week #28 Feb. 18, 2019

Elder Clawson and Elder Chamberlain sharing a Coke and an Inka Cola on the top of Sicuani, Peru!

MOm Hey are you hear, cause if you are maybe we can chat or yo know do lots of things! Haha yea i was in espinar doing divisions with the elders there when i got the news about the new change with communication. I thought it was some sick joke when i recieveed it. But turns out its true, i can do it, but our president just said to be wise in how we use this time. haha i will need to buy some things first in order to do calls and stuff. but my comp is gonna show me more of how to do that stuff haha.

He daddy, How are ya! Haha ill send ya a big email about the week but ill answer some of you questions right now. SO now is summer time right, but its usually never hot, always rainy most the day, every once in a while we receive some sunlight. We found 9 new persons this week or people. My district is super cool and I love it. I really like kinda doing the leader part of the mission. Its super stressful at times but i like crunchin numbers from the week and talking with the other companionships. Today we went for a super early hike in the mornign and came back to eat breakfast. It was super cool. Illl send you guys some pics.

This week was super cool. Although I honestly cant remember a whole lot of what happened. But it was cool!! 

So this week WE had a dope District Meeting with all the elders and hermanas in our district. Tons of fun and my district is the best. We talked about our goals from last week, set some new goals and then had a lesson about the people and not to compare them to numbers however. It was cool, 

on wednesday we went to pitumarca and found 2 new investigators to teach. Happy day. On thursday we contacted even more, we met with a lot of people to try and teach them. Lots of rejection form catholics and stuff like that haha. But what are you gonna do haha. 

Then on friday we went to do divisions with the elders in Espinar. IT was fun, i went with elder pinto from Mexico, close to puerto Vallarta!!!  Then on saturday we went to Pitu again. Found a super old guy and taught him. Then we gave two blessings of health to these two ladies who are both super old and members. One of them cant walk and she actually was my first blessing too. super cool to see her again cause she seriously has such a hard life. Then we went to the two converts who are sisters. WE talked about the temple and after they pretty much just starting fighting about how they are pretty much better than the other. It was super weird cause we were just listening and the whole time in my mind i was just saying ok stop, I fought with my brother too and we hated each other for a while, but now I miss the crap out of him and just want to hang out with him. It was so childish and later i shared my thoughts with them about the whole situation, they have good reason to be mad, but they need to seriously just help each other right now. On sunday we found an old investigator at church and we met with him and he told us he wants to learn more and he will come to church every week!!! we were pumped!!

Today we woke up early and hiked up this trail of crosses up to the top of a small mountain. IT was so fun and super cool, we could see all of sicuani from there!!!! I loved it. then we went to the cancha to play soccer and football and lots of basketball. It was super fun.

 

I love you family and friends and I know that this work is true, and that we will be blessed for our desires and our efforts, i invite all of you to do something you normally wouldnt do to help build the kingdom of god.

 Elder Clawson

Week #27 Feb. 11, 2019

Week #27 Feb. 11, 2019

 MOm thank you so much for that email. It was so awesome. Thank you for all the details you give me, I love hearing about you guys. One thing i remember saying to my comp this week was, when i get home im gonna spend as much time with my family that i can. I miss you guys tons and love you guys. 

This week was pretty fun, not a very big week but still tons of fun really. We had a couple of killer lessons with people, tonight we are gonna have a dope family home evening, I am gonna make the young mens chocolate chip cookies!!!! And we put a baptismal date with a 12 year old kid we have been teaching. He has a tons of problems but both his parents want it and he told us he wants to also. So we have been working alot with him recently. 

P-day at macchupitumarca. Machu means old in Quecha.

We also spent a day in Espinar with The elders there, we had a fun activity to find people, so we just went to the plaza and talked to people. I found this one guy and we talked for like a good half hour. His name was wilfredo and he was divorced and catholic. He was waiting to meet some buds when i found him. We talked about work, what I do as a missionary, and tons of other stuff. then we talked alot about god too. It was super interesting. Later while we were talking so preacher guy saw all of the missionaries in the plaza and decided to preach. then Wilfredo said to me, look its your competition, then we both started to laugh. I got his information and he said that he travels to sicuani at times and that we should meet there and talk more haha. Super dope. then we did divisions and found more people. After we had a super good lunch in espinar. haha 

The rest of the week im sorry but i cant remember a whole lot. But today for p day we went to Pitumarca to see this old ruin called macchupitumarca haha. It was so cool and there was this huge cross on top of this mountain up there. WE need to go to Pitumarca after the mission i want to show you guys all of it and have you meet all the members there!! Ill send you some pics of that place. After we went to buy all the ingredients that i got from your website haha. So we gonnna have a fun family home evening tonight with all the young men. We might have 2 investigators show up too!! Im pumped!!

I love you mom and ill send you some pics!!!

Elder Clawson Tu HIJO 

Con amor

Week #26 Feb. 4, 2019

Week #26 Feb. 4, 2019 6 months down!

Elder Clawson outside his home in Sicuani, Peru.

Geez I dont know what happened this week cause my mind seriously sucks! But I know this week we had tons of crazy things happpen.

Monday: YOu all know what happened, I had flippin Pday. And i got fried playing basketball, volleyball and football americano.

Tuesday: We had a bunch of citas fall through so we just proselyted for most of the day. We found this young 14 year old girl named Evelyn who was kinda interested. But the craziest thing that happened that day was we had tried to visit so many people but seriously no one had time or was gone. So we were gonna head back to the house to do our studying. As we were walking back, i said to elder chamberlain, hey lets get some food, im kinda hungry. So we just found the closest tienda to us and i bought some ice cream. As I was buying, i heard elder chamberlain talking in english and i thought, what the heck is he doing? I looked at him and he was talking to some latino guy! So i joined in and he had perfect english!! His name was Armando and he lived in denver colorado for 2 years and now is a english teacher in Sicuani!! So we talked with him and it was hilarious cause he was calling us homie and stuff like that haha. One time he just straight up said to us, what are you doing here? So that was the perfect opportunity to tell what we were why we are here, he was super interested and said he would like to visit us!! so we got his number and are going to call him tomorrow!! It was so cool!!

Wednesday: On wednesday we went to pitumarca and just straight up tried to find people the whole day and man it was hard. We found 2 new people to visit and also recieved a small assignment from the bishop to help this couple prepare to get married. I have no idea right now what we will teach them and what we need to do but we are gonnna chat with the bishop to find out haha. We talked to this one guy named Nicolas, who had a ton of questions and just wanted to talk, but we shared something short with him and set another time to visit haha.

Thursday: We had a little more success, we talked to a small family of a single mom with 3 kids. and we have been teaching them for a while so we think and hope we can get them baptized cause they have super strong desires and know the gospel is true, just a littlt ebit of trouble with the sabbath day is all they need help with really. We met with a non active member named Ma Yumi, she has some physical disabilities that prevent her from coming to church but she liked our visit so that was super nice. Her family is also working like all the time so they never have time to come to church sadly, but I know we can help them out with that.

Friday: All day friday we were in cusco for Zone conference and it was super dope and super fun. I saw a bunch of elders i hadnt seen in a while so that was awesome. Zone conferences are so fun here in sicuani cause we get to go to cusco when we arent even close really. We learned alot and i had a great interview with president and gave us a goal to have at least one baptism per month. We are working hard to get that goal too haha.

Saturday: Saturday we drove home and just went to pitumarca for like 2 hours and yup not a whole lot happened. Just met with the couple to let them know we are gonna help them out with their matrimony.

Sunday: We went to Pitumarca for church and my comp loved it. But we came back right after and had some citas and started to clean a ton cause we were worried The president was gonna come and look at our rooms! haha. But it was super awesome.

MOnday: Today we cleaned the whole joint. Then we went to the leaders house and played a bunch of board games, it was super fun and we all thought the president was gonna join us but he never did. After we went to a resturant to eat lunch with the elders in our district. 

That was my crazy week, we had a couple of drunk guys try to chase us down to make us try and visit their houses but other than that, it was a super fun week!

I love you all and miss you tons!!

Elder Clawson

Week #25 Jan. 28, 2019

Week #25 Jan. 28, 2019

Elder Clawson and a cute member friend from Pitumarca wh makes these pretty colored clothes.

 Haha MOm thank you. IM jealous you went to hawaii with out me but ill live. I miss the beaches in hawaii! Haha i miss church in hawaii too!! I sent porter a short email, i told him i love him annd such. Haha did you really talk to his mom and try to set a date to have dinner, thats perfect! cause he has a cute 15 year old sister that seth could totally marry!!! We were just talking about it! 

My week this week was super long, Not a ton of success this week, but we still worked super hard. On saturday we went to pitumarca and tried to teach one potential girl who could be baptized but she wasnt home that day. But hopefully on wednesday we can. We got back super late and i got super sick on sunday with the double dragon. It is when you have diarrhea and vomit at the same time haha. I got no sleep and we had to stay home from church. But later throughout the day i got better. Then we had the elders from espinar, who is elder pickett from our group too. SO they stayed with us and we did a short divisions for a bit and then ate dinner and went to bed. Then today we went to the park and played a bunch of games with the zone. But the sisters didnt come. WE got 4 sisters in our zone now!! there was a bad accident with elders and sisters in sicuani before, so they took them out for a year and now we got them back! So everyones pumped to see how it works out but also very cautious. I got fried on my arms and legs today like the sun here is deadly!! 

Pitumarca, Peru

I love you mom and miss you tons.

Thank you for all you did and do to help me out here and to help me prepare for this time. Heck ya its hard, but thanks to your example and love for the gospel and for your children i know im on the right path and i will endure to the end to help the others here to receive the same blessings of love in the family. 

Elder Clawson

Elder Clawson and Elder Chamberlain walking the roads of Pitumarca, Peru.

Daddy thank you so much for your email, especially the part about Hawaii, Im green with jealous rage right now. So my comp was in Puno before. Hes from Sandy and you know how they are... jokeing! he is super fun. I love him tons and he makes the work super fun. But to the district leader, thats just me, and i have 3 other companionships in my district. I havent really been told what i need to do yet but our zone leaders are gonna give me a run down of what to do tomorrow in the meeting. Ill tell you a funny story from this week. So I was In Pitumarca on saturday, and whenever i went to the bathroom it was like straight up liquid. so i was being really careful the whole day. WE got back from PItumarca super late like 830 at night. Then went to bed, but all night my stomach was on fire and i kept running to the bathroom. But around 1ish in the morning i was like man i need to use the bathroom, but i had nothing to crap, but then it came from my mouth this time. So i had the runs, and was throwing up. They have a name for it here, its called the double dragon, pretty scary. Its as bad as it sounds haha. So all morining in sunday i just slept cause i had no sleep. But later i felt better and the zone lieaders brought me some stuff to help haha. Today we played volley ball basketball and football and my arms annd legs got absolutely fried!!! it sucked! but Ill try to find some aloe vera or somehting to help haha. 

Thank you for the email dad and i will try to teach and be more of a christlike example to others in everything that i do. Thank you for your example of a great dad and being strong in the church cause honeslty here, there are not a ton of strong families in the gospel and its hard to see. I just want to flipping grab ahold of there dads and say HEY, follow the commandments and you seriously will receive blessings and be happy with your family! And i know that cause of yours and moms examples. Thank you and i Love you.

Elder Clawson

Jake's room with extra missionaries for the night.

Week #24 Jan. 24, 2019

Thurs. Jan 24, 2019

Transfers this week!
Haha mom you are So good. Its all good. Ill hurry and tell ya about my week. Nothing really happened on monday and tuesday, but on wednesday we went to pitumarca and found 2 old investigators that wanted to still be baptized!! 

The 2 new members in Pitumarca, Peru

So pretty much everyday this week we went to pitumarca to help and teach these guys. Everyday!!! 1 hour there,  1 hour back every day for 5 days straight! But we got permission to have a baptism on sunday and it was in the river again!!1 it was so awesome! Ill send you some picks. Elder Ochoa went to abancay for changes as a zone leader, and im staying as a district leader with elder chamberlain from my mic group. Kinda weird the changes, but lots of others had the same thing. But i have definitley seen the change! i have serioulsy loved the mission so much these past couple days with elder chamberlain. I feel my spanish has significantly gotten better, and teaching and feeling the spirit also. Im in love with the mish in this moment haha. Its hard cause we are still both alittle new, but at the same time we are learning together!! I love you mom and im sorry but not a whole lot happened this week. But one of my friendss emailed me saying she saw a picture of me on instagram baptising someone in a river haha, mariah harris is her name, i think shes a junior this year. I thought that was funny to hear.

The little kid in the pic with me and ochoa is a member that is from pitumarca who lives with us right now to go to school in sicuani. His name is ronald, 16 years old and hilarious. Love him to death, we eat dinner with him everynight.

Love you mother dearest. Ill send some pics real quick

Elder clawson

Jake and his new companion Elder Chamberlain!

Week #23 Jan. 14, 2019

Week #23 Jan. 14, 2019

Hello Friends and family!! Man this week was actually so good. So on sunday and monday i was in Cusco to go to Machu Picchu. All monday long we were traveling by train and car to get there. one hour in car from the church to Urubamba, then 3 hours in train to the small pueblo of Machu Picchu. It was insanely fun. The pueblo of machu picchu is so crazy cool, like tiny, but it has like thousands of people living by the river in middle of these huge mountains. Then we went to The Machu Picchu and it was so beautiful and amazing. My words cant describe how awesome it was, but i took like 200 pictures and i hope that you recieved a couple of them. After it was time to go back to work, but man this week was really good. We didnt have a ton of success, but we still met with a lot of new people and got a reference in Pitumarca of 2 people. Roger and Leonor, we met with them and they were really cool, they aren't married so that might take some time to help with, but they could potentially progress more. 

One funny story from this week. I was sitting in sacrament meeting in sicuani, and there was this little kid, probably around 7 or 8 years old, and we both make eye contact with eachother and being funny we both start to glare at each other. Then he does the finger thing, Like i got my eye on you, so i did it back!!. Then he turns around, but lifts up his hand towards me like a true savage that doesnt give a crap, and show off his middle finger to me. HAHA a 7 year kid flipped me off in sacrament meeting. It was so funny. I was dying. 

It has been raining a butt ton this week, everyday starts out sunny, then aroudn 5 or 6 it just pours for hours. I started to sleep with my beanie now and oh its so nice. Something cool that happened this week was everytime it started to rain, we were in a cita with someone, after the cita, the rain would stop. My comp said this 3 different times, when we get to the house it is going to pour. ANd sure enough it did. But three different times that happened. IT was crazy!! That right there just shows you how the lord really does protect his missionaries so they can keep doing the work. IT was a good week and i will send a couple pics. Love ya Guys tons.

Elder Clawson

Querido Familia, yo quiero que todos de ustedes saben que yo amo cada uno de ustedes muchismo. Yo sé que la obra del Señor es verdadera, y yo sé que el Señor les proteja en cada momento de sus vidas. Si la mision es muy duro y dificil, pero con la ayuda del hijo Jesucristo, Podemos ser felices en cada momento de oposición. Les amo mucho.
Ciao!! 

Mom How are you, i feel like we havent talked in a while. I hope you are getting my emails. And especially all the butt ton pictures i sent last week. I thought you might like to see my beautiful face haha. I dont know whats going on right now, cause none of ya guys emailed me this week. But thats ok, whenever you can is good. Im doing good. this week was surprisingly really good. I thought it was going to be hard but my comp was in a totally different mood the whole week. so that made a huge difference, he is super trunky right now, always talking about going home in 2 changes and stuff like that, and when he does that, it makes me trunky too haha. Im doing good though, and miss you guys tons. The work is stupid hard and exhausting, but i just need to trust and have more faith in the lord. 

I have the scripture for my plaque if you want it, Ether 12, 26 i think it is, it talks about how the lord gives us challenges to make us humble. and I have really come to know that is true. WE need to be humble to return to live with our heavenly father, humble as a child is humble. Especially in the mission, you cant do anything if you arent humble. I love you mom and miss you. I hope everything is going good this week. Love ya.}

Tu Hijo con Cabello rojo (Your favorite Red Headed son!)

Elder Clawson

Week #22 Jan. 8, 2019 Machu Picchu

Week #22 Jan. 8, 2019

Trip to Machu Picchu for P-day! The mission president gives each missionary in the Cusco Mission an opportunity to visit Machu Picchu while on  their mission.  WOW!

Dad thank you so much for everything. This eweek was hard cause we had the new year, and a zone conference, so not a whole lot of time to teach this weeek. 

i left for Macchu Picchu  on sunday night and the whole day on monday, we were traveling and on the mountain and traveling back. its a whole day trip. But it was so amazing and the coolest place i have ever seen. I loved it and cant wait to take you guys there! The day was so long but so worht it in the end, we got back at like 1130 at night and we pretty much hadnt eaten food for like the whole day so me and elder p. an elder from my group went to get burgers and it was delicious. 

During that trip he told me he hated the mission and he thinks he wants to go home. I told him dude, same here, but its gonna be better for us here and you know that. I also talked to another elder in my zone who came with us named elder e. he knows he's a wicked missionary and told me he jsut wanted to go home, drink and be inactive. We talked more. But at the end of the day when we were riding the train back, a bunch of people got on and didn't have seats, so we gave our seats two these two little girls and gave them some of our snacks we had. I asked him after , how did that make you feel, and he said, good. then i smiled and said, thats why you're here and you know that you can bring happiness to others and to yourself. It was a cool experience to see. I will try to send all the pictures i have from Macchu. 

I love you dad.

Week #21 Dec. 31, 2018

Week #21 Dec. 31, 2018

Pitumara, Peru

Haha man i wish i could have some snow instead of rain haha. But i still like the rain more than the freaking heat. Have fun sledding in the snow!! man that sounds awesome!!1. Oh yay for Carter!! He will be great i know it, i never had a big culture shock, i think mostly cause i was in the CCM (or MTC) in peru. That was a big help, i honelstly think that if i was in Utah MTC i would have gone home haha. It might be different for him, but he had some time away from home so hopefully that will help him haha. 

Haha sounds like all the original people from the ward came back!! how exciting. I miss skiing, i always look at the pictures of us skiing and aaahhahahah its hard haha.  And Kayd and Jordan are finally having a baby!! Oh thats dope!!!

So this week was different, mostly cause we couldnt really work for a couple days, the p day, christmas, and then i went to cusco and had exchanges on wednesday. Cusco was alright, i stayed the night at the leaers house, and it was honestly like a huge slumber party, seriously almost all the missionaries in our zone were there, ya not very good. A bunch of wickedness it is. 

woke up at 5 to go to cusco, got there at 7 30ish, 2 hours there, then 3 hours back to sicuani, then i spent the day with the other leader of our zone, Elder LLanos from bolivia, he seriously did not want to do anything. He said to he, im hungry, wanna eat, and then later, you want to go sleep. I had to seriously tell him, DUDE WE HAVE TO WORK RIGHT NOW! so we visited one member and that was it, then we tried to find others but had no success. Man it was difficult. 

Saturday we went to Pitumarca, we found these 2 new people to teach, we had visited this house one time before and a guy said we could come back. So we knocked on the door and this lady was there and let us right on in and let us sit down. She said she could understand spanish, but could only speak quechua. So we talked to her for a bit. and then after that her daughter came in and translated everything for us. BOth of them were awesome and wanted to hear more so hecks ya!!!! It was awesome. 

Yesterday we spent the day in sicuani and man it felt weird to be back in a normal ward or church building! IM kinda sad that church meetings are now going to be shorter, its gonna be way different. today we watched 17 miracles and it was soo good. I love that movie!!. 

Mom im so glad i had the chance to talk to you guys on christmas, right now i feel like i told you nothing, and im sorry for that, i promise next time ill answer more of your questions. We are having a zone conference in cusco this week, and then next pday i go to machu picchu, ill take tons of pics for you guys!! I love you all tons and hope you all ha

have a happy new year. LOve you tons!!!

Elder Clawson

The river in Pitumarca, Peru

Zone Conference

Week #20 Dec. 24, 2018

Week #20 Dec. 24, 2018

Baptism in Pitumarca last week.

Haha Thanks dad, is everyone working at the bakery or something today, cause all the letters have been really short haha. Thats alright, illl be calling around 5 in the afternoon tomorrow. Just for your information. This week was alright, I got super sick on monday and im still feeling the effects of it all, ill tell ya more about it tomorrow haha. you combined the wards!? what! why hahah.

Nothing like a little Hannah Montana!

Week #19 Dec. 17, 2018

Week #19 Dec. 17, 2018

Haha Thanks dad, haha thanks for the great advice! Haha ya its been really difficult. But Im starting to get it with him i feel like. Finally haha. At times we have ridiculious hard times, and even if its not my fault, he will blame me cause its something i didnt know and he thinks i should know it. But Im starting to love him, in a hard way, but its getting there. 

Like this week we had this one guy that we touched his house and he came out, happy, but ripped us apart with really difficult questions, i honeslty didnt understand alot cause he spoke spanish, and then read the bible in quechua. I was totally lost in all the lost language. Then me and elder ochoa were silent walking back, but then ripped me one about not knowing the bible. 

But all in all this week was amazing, cause we had two baptisms and confirmations!!! They are two sisters from pitumarca, and honestly they were true miracles, We gave up on them like a month ago, we had been teaching them so well and they were progressing amazingly, but their dad is super hard heartes and never gave permission to be baptized. But then one of them came up to us on sunday in pitumarca, and said she wanted to be baptized!! So there we prayed reallly hard for the spirit, and taught he amlost all of the required comandments. She understood all!! Then when we got permission from her mom, the other daughter said she wanted to be baptized too. 

So the following week we went on sunday, day of changes, with a zone leader, and taught 2 lessons, to the other sister and later, interviewed them. They both passed and baptized in a river in pitumarca. I baptized one and elder ochoa did the other. It was so amazing and the spirit was strong. 

But yesterday we talked with lila, and man she was struggling, she knew it was true. But she was afraid of her father. Then confessed to us that her dad hits all the kids in their family and seriously didnt want them to be baptized. It was sad, But we reassured her and she felt way better. Then we talked with nelida the other sister. and wow she has this weird boyfriend and it was strong, but we told that she shouldnt see him cause he has different standards than she does. But she seemed to understand it all. I felt so strong about it too cuase we met him the day before and he was shifty, long hair, never made eye contact with us, but later looked at me in some lustful ways!! I knew he was odd haha. 

After is pday and we just watched movies and baught stuff. I am feeling really weird right now, i have chilles and my head and back hurt so thats not right. I love you guys and will try to send pics. Thank you for the advice dad, i love you.

Elder Clawson

Week #18 Dec. 13, 2018

Week #18 Dec. 13, 2018

Christmas Party! Jake is in the back far left with his hands up with the peace signs:)

MOm thank you for your amazing letter!! It was so powerful and i almost cried when you told me about the dream jed had. I dont know if i told you or not, but i also had a dream awhile ago with grandpa garner, i was in the general conference center and someone was talking about giving priesthood blessings, then he told us to give a blessing to the person sitting next to us. Right as i was about to do it, grandpa walked up to me and touched my shoulder, i hugged him and i was literally crying in my sleep, then i asked him if he would accompany me in the blessing, he agreed and we gave a blessing to some random girl, after that he left, but it was such a powerful dream!! Man i wish he talked, cause it was all just gestures as our communication. But it was still amazing, i had this dream awhile ago and i couldnt help but start to cry. 

Man mom you need to stop making me cry in these emails!! I so happy that you had an awesome birthday, i wish i could celebrate with you. But I am doing the lords work right now haha. 

SO funny thing, i dont know what happened with the changes, but i am still with elder ochoa for one more change. I finished my training, but im still with him. I still feel like im being trained and this past week was ridiculously hard and i have never wanted to punch someone so hard. bUT i AM working to be better and watch my thoughts. 

Alot of changes did happen though, our zone leader left, and hopefully you will meet him soon, elder fackrell from pocatello. And the other elder that has the same time as me started to train. I feel like i honestly did something wrong. But ill endure it, one more change haha. 

We have 2 baptisms this satyurday, sisters in pitumarca. We contacted into this guy on tuesday, who was super intelligent with the bible and he ripped us apart honestly. It was hard cause i didnt have the words to come back. But later yesterday in my personal study i read a small article in preach my gospel about how every missionary will have that time in their missions, and they will have to make the choice to make there stand and stand for the church. Man it was powerful. I Have had a pretty hard week, mostly cause i was excited to get a new comp, but that didnt happen and my comp now is not very happy with that too. So its hard when you feel like you are being given extra training and you comp honestly does not want to help you with anything, but I am trying to make the best of it. 

I love you mom and i havent received you packages yet, but im waiting, hopefully i will get them before christmas haha. I only receive stuff when someone goes to cusco or comes to sicuani. So Its a guessing game. and i sorry but i had a scripture that i really liked but i cant remember which one it was aaaaahhhhh!! sorry. Mom tell everyone i love them and miss them and merry christmas. Haha and tell me more about this Ann girl hahah jkjk.she sounds nice though. 

I love ya mom and if you want you can send pieces of this to the group email, i kind of gave up on it cause it was hard to do everyweek. sorry.

Love ya mom

 Elder Clawson aka SU HIJO

Thank you. I am trying, its a slow process but its going. Haha if i get them in time, I will be happy to give them to him haha. He loved the picture of you and dad at the temple. I havent heard a lot, but elder ochoa said that we are going to work on accounts and stuff next week for those. so ill let ya know on monday. And ive been chatting with my old comp and turns out that he had the same thing happen to his whole zone, no one changed, so that made me feel a lot better. Oh and mom, When yo u get on my account you can get pictures from the christmas party to put on you

r blog, they are from the assisstents or APs. So that will help you alot haha. I love you too mom and ill talk to you more on monday.

Te amo muchismo

Week #17 Dec. 3, 2018

Week #17 Dec. 3, 2018

Haha i dont have a ton of time cause we had to swithc internet cafes. but everything is good, i wrote mon a detailed letter but im not sure if it saved. i have a feeling im going to stay, and my comp will leave cause it would be rare if i left. but im ready for anything honelstly. I have learned to seriously seek for the guidance of the spirit, and be patient with myuself. i expect me to be a pro at teaching and the language already but i honesltly suck at it haha. But my comp gave me some really good advice that really helped me..

Mom 8im sorry, i wrote you a big old letter but it didnt save cause our internet was bad and we had to switch cafes. But Just know i love ya nd miss ya, we had a christmas party in puno on saturday and it was awesome to see puno for the first time. its a cool place.
I love you tons mom and ill work on finding a favorite scripture for the plaque.

love Elder Clawson

Week #16 Nov. 26, 2018

Week #16 Nov. 26, 2018

WOwo sounds like a lot has happened!! Hey next week if it is possible send me porters mission email. just so i can be sure ya know. 

This week was really rough. No one was able to listen to our message and we didnt have a ton of success. But in sicuani we found these two new families that wanted to listen so we have citas with them this week. We have two people with baptismal dates, both on the same day so thats gonna be alittle difficult. And in Pitumarca we have 11 new people that want to listen!! 

on saturday we just spent the whole day touching doors and finding people to teach. The past two weeks we have gone to pitumarca for sunday and it is sad there, they have a small barn for the chapel and only like 30 members actually come. We blessed the sacrament and taught a sunday school class cause priesthood is scarce there. But its been a cool experience and very humbling to see and experience. 

I truelly see the importance of the priesthood in our lives and how important it truely is, without it, we couldnt return to live with our heavenly father!! I was eating an orange and i found a worm in it so hopefully i dont get too sick haha. I love ya mom 

Thank you for the email dad, i dont have a ton of time. But we teach at houses or in the street honestly, some times we teach in the church but they dont want us to do that usually. But for christmas we have a christmas party in cusco the 5 and 6 i think, but other than that nothing much. Its super hot some days, and super cold others, it rains and lightnings almost everyday so thats fun. I hope we do something different for christmas some kind of activity or something. Man im so jealous of your time in mexico. The food sounds amazing!! probably simialr to here maybe but better haha. I love ya dad and miss ya tons. 

Elder Clawson

Week #15 Nov. 19, 2018

Week #15 Nov. 19, 2018

Ahhh im so jealous that you guys are in mexico!!! It looks so nice there!!! Tell everyone that i love them all and miss them all tons. 

So one thing that ive really seen this week that has helped me alot is to just find the small things in my day that helped me and that im grateful for. Lots of days are super crappy, but in the middle of those days you will find the small things that made it alittle easier. 

You begin to feel the joy in teaching people and stop thinking about yourself and feel the desire to help others. Ive seen both the good and sad when it comes to the work. Ive seen people except it and have the desire to be baptized. Ive seen the hardness of some hearts here and how satan seriously has a hold on some people. 

Ive felt the power of the priesthood and seen how important it really is. Ive felt the sadness, when someone who once did have the desire to be baptized suddenly rejects that desire and gives in to doubt. Its super sad. But ive felt the happiness when someone gets baptized and you can see the light in their eyes. 

I know that Heavenly Father gives us difficult trials so that we can grow from them and become stronger. One thing that i learned this week is to have trust in the lord, cause hes putting a lot of trust in us to be here and trust us with his work. Trust in the lord, cause he knows that you will do the right thing.

We have district meeting every week and zone conference every change. And yea our president comes to them. We have multi zone conferences so we travel to cusco stay in a hotel and then go to the conference the next day. WE had a genreal authority at our conference, elder montoya it was awesome. 

Dear Dad!

Im happy and healthy, dont worry. Im doing good. my comp told me that i might be a trainer next change so thats scary haha. It has been super hot that past couple days. like really hot. haha i reallky miss the snow honestly. i wish it was winter, but ill just have to wait for that time to see it again. i love ya dad and miss ya!! tell seth to freakin email me please!!!

Haha mom your the best. I love you. 

Some thing interesting that i heard was our pension was talking to us this morning about the fire in california. I told her my cousin was involved and lost all this stuff. She was wondering why there were so many fires in california. MOm whenever i read yours or dads emails it about brings me to tears every time! I love it here, but at the same time is is stupid hard to get up everyday and do the same thing and some days we have good days, but others are super difficult and the people dont want to hear anything.. Its hard but you see the little blessings every day. 

we have two people that want to be baptized so that is a huge blessing. one of them we have been working with for a long time, and the other lives in cusco, but visits his grandma in pitumarca and wants to be baptized. What a huge miracle and blessing for us. both are super smart and we are hopeing that they will continue to follow the teachings of jesus christ and follow his example. 

How is everyone doing, how is jane, and seth. I miss those guys alot!! Tell them i love them. How are you mom, how is everything! I love you and miss you all the time.. Loves yo tons momma. I will send some pics today!!!

Week #14 Nov. 12, 2018

Week #14 Nov. 12, 2018

So this week was way weird. I got fried on p day last week. And then it felt like the next 2 days were straight up heck, cause i felt like my comp hated me. then Like tuesday night i received a call from the zone leader saying that i was going to cusco. i thought i was in trouble cause they didnt tell me why, but it was just to get my citizenship card and finish all that stuff up. 

But before i left me and my comp were proselyting and we had no success till our last house. And we met this kid named elvis who was super smart and wanted to learn more. Answer to prayers right there. Then as we were leaving to go to the bus station. I just said to elder ochoa, hey man, im sorry for being a hard comp and for not being as smart with the lessons and stuff. And then i left for cusco, elder ochoa didnt come with sadly. 

So i was with another gringo in my group and man it was so much fun in cusco. we got to the terminal and went to the house of the office elders, and they live in a super deluxe apartment. It was the best place i had seen since I got here. Me and elder pickett just talked for most the night. the next morning we left for the migrations place and waiting forever pretty much. but after, they let us go and buy lunch, so we went to a mall, and it was beautiful, ive never been in a place so much like america!! 

We ate popeyes fried chicken for lunch and it was awesome. then after we went to this place that riminded me of walmart and bought food for the ride home. 

Then we had exchanges this week and i was with elder sosa when elder ochoa was in pitumarca with elder barrios. Elder sosa is from Piura which is northern peru and super hot. He has the same time as me, so ya know two super young missionaries. I realized that i have a really good comp cause he was alittle immature i think. Then yesterday we had stake conference and it was fun. We had lots of new people yesterday. Feliciano is an old catholic guy who was super fun to talk with. and then jimmy who is 17 and super ready for the gospel i think. 

My spanish is getting alitlle better i think. I am gettign better at understanding and listening to the people. Teaching people not lessons. So that has been a super good blessing. My cursive is getting good, i write in my journal in cursive every night hah. This week we are goping to cusco for zone confgerence !!! Should be super fun!!!

Oh and when i was waiting at the migracion, they made a mistake and somehow i was left in this waithing room alone, just me and this guy. In my mind i was saying talk to that guy. But i chickened out, then he speaks to me in spanish, so we are talking alittle, but then part way through, he says, do you speak english, my spanish is very poor. So we talked in english

, his name was frederick from france and he was super cool. we talked about god and jesus christ and the holy ghost is was dope. 

I got to leave now, but i love you mom!!!