Clawson's Called To Serve: January 2019

Wednesday, January 16, 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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!

Week #13 Nov. 5, 2018

Week #13

Well So Man these past few days have been really crazy. On friday, it was day of the dead, and everyone was making sweet bread and with their families. Our pensions family came over and we got to know them alittle bit. they were fun to talk to. She only has one son who lives at home. So its just her, her husband, her son Nico, and there dog who is super funny. But our day was super uneventful cause we had a district meeting, then we went back and did all our studying. We had a freaking amazing lunch cause day of the dead ya know, it was cuyi al horno, which is guinea pig to the oven literally. And holy cow, it was so good and we had chicken and stuffed peppers! It was amazing and after, i was so full.

Unfortunately, it started to rain and thunder hard. And so we stayed in for the rest of the night. cause people dont normally want to talk in the rain, and my comp doesnt want any of us to get sick. But we got lots of sweet bread from members and alot of different people! so theres a plus !!

on saturday, this day started out a little freaky, We were driving to Pitumarca, which is like an hour away. As we are driving we pass like a crime scene, lots of cops and lots of people gathered around to see. As we drove by i saw a dead guy face down in the dirt. I was like whoa, thats not normal. And yea after i saw a van, like the ones we drive to pitumarca, that had gone off the road and crashed into a river bank. So that also freaked me out.

Pitumarca wasnt very good that day. We had lots of citas planned but all fell through. But we met with one lady and she only spoke quechua so only the girl we work with could talk to her. So we just watched her as they talked and she was making a pancho. It was interesting to watch.

We started our fast, and by the time we ended it i was expecting some grand miracle to happen but nothing did. I felt so defeated inside, but then after!! I fasted personally for the language and to find someone that we could teach that day. And as we were finding, i realized that i just wanted to do all the door contacting and try to get more citas with more people! So boom that was an answer to my prayers from fasting. and then we had another cita to end the night, and it was with this girl that we always try to meet with but never can. So we went and we taught a first lesson with her and her husband!!! They were so accepting and wanted to hear alittle more!!

It was the perfect way to end the day. I was so happy and so was elder Ochoa!! Today we were supposed to have this awesome pday with the zone. So we went to the church, and played soccer for a long time. then we were supposed to make this awesome lunch!! So we all gave our money to some elders and they left to buy stuff. then they came back with steaks to cook!! But also with charcoal. And we tried to get something to cook, but i still havent eaten lunch yet. Im super hungry right now haha.

Our daily schedule is get up, get ready, breakfast, study for a couple hours, go proselyting till 8 and then eat dinner at 8_30, and get ready for bed after. Pretty simple and repetitive

I usually eat lots of bread, eggs, rice, beans, chicken, vegetables, and fruit. everyonce in a while i eat some weird fruit but its usually pretty good. the food isnt bad at all, Lots of quinoa, and weird beverages, like a sweet rice milk, or quinoa drink. usually its all warm too. But its all pretty good..

Our pension cooks for us every day, and cleans our clothes like every 2 weeks so its not bad. Its a blessing for sure haha.

yep we live in a small room at the back of her house. Like our room is a room with all the stuff in it, beds and desks and all. And also a bathroom right next to our room.

Sicuani Is not a pretty looking town. everyday in the afternoon, it rains and thunders like crazy, its starts out sunny and then dumps later. its a city surrounded by mountains, big ones,but filled with dirt mud, dogs, poop, and dead things, literally. But the people here are always super friendly.

when i first got here i was shocked to see what a dump it was, but now i am loving the area and its fun to find new places to find people and to see people we know in the streets. I love it in Sicuani, Its different, I dont have a warm shower here, and its not warm here usually hah, but its a great place.

I love you mom and miss you tons!!! If you still have the package, could you put a spanish hymn book in it if you can find one. If you can thank you!!

Love you mom, i am doing great, and I am getting better and better at the language, I think haha. But Im working on it. Pray for me!! Cause I pray for you guys every day. Love you lots!!!!

Su Hijo, Elder Clawson

Week #12 Nov. 1, 2018

Week #12

Haha so man this week was long and alittle difficult but also a huge blessing. Some funny things, this morning when we were cleaning our room, our pension her husband and her son (who reminds me a lot of uncle eric) were getting things ready to make some cuyi al horno which is guineau pig roasted on a stick in an oven. We heard them start to freak out alittle so we went out to see what was up. I thought one of her guin eau pigs got out an d went into the water pipes but turns out it was a big rat. SO we helped find it and it jumps out of these pipes and they trap it and literally beat it to death with a broom then another one jumps out and their dog kimbo kills it. It was so funny to watch and these rats were huge and nasty.

And we played soccer today so that was fun.

And then i saw a super drunk guy who had passed out on the street, but our bus just drove around him like nothin was there.

When we were in pitumarca this week, we met with a 18 year old kid who we hadnt taught in awhile and he just straight up said, I felt the difference when i went to your church and i think i want to be baptized, I didnt fully understand at first but then it hit and man it was crazy! Totally like in the Best two years. Then we talked to two more girls that want to be baptized and asked them to talk to their father for permission cause i think he doesnt like the missionaries.

We gave a blessing of health to a brother of a member and that was super good and interesting to witness.

Day of the dead is actually the 2 of november and it was pretty crazy in the bigger part of the city. But in our area nots o much. Lots of bread and sweet bread. and cuyi also. The people here think that Halloween is a Satanic holiday where people dress up as monsters- Ive had to tell them its just a fun time for kids to dress up and get candy from others- I only saw a couple of kids doing it sadly. I think my comp was a littel sad to hear that he was staying in Vallecito, so this week was pretty rough. But it had its ups and its downs.

“The mission is a strange experience. It's a trial test.

Missions throw at you the worst, yet teach you the best.

They told me this would be the best period of my life, but I guess they didn't explain it all too clear.

I came out looking for a bed of roses, I just didn't expect all the thorns I've found out here.

I've never been so happy.

I've never been so depressed.

I've never felt so forsaken.

I've never felt so blessed.

I've never been so discouraged.

I've never been so full of hope.

I feel like I can go on forever.

I think I've come to the end of my rope.

I've never had it so easy.

I've never had it so tough.

Things have never gone so smoothly. Things have never been so rough.

I've never traveled through more valleys.

I've never ascended so many peaks. I've never met so many great people. I've never met so many freaks.

I've never had so many ups.

I've never had so many downs.

I've never worn so many smiles.

I've never worn so many frowns.

I've never been so lonely.

I've never had so many friends.

Man, I hope this is all over soon. Gosh, I hope this never ends.”

This was a poem James shared with Jake. One of James' friends sent it to him 30 years ago in Taiwan.

woow that peom is so true. I loved that- THanks for that pops. This week was a little tough. I wasnt in the changes at all and i think my comp was alittle sad about that so he kind of just took it all out on me in the work and in his attitude a bit. He wasnt too happy almost all the days. and i woke up everyday this week just ready to come home-- but always by the end of the day, i felt better, even it it had been a super crappy day. we had a lot of those- the language is difficult and i cant really communicate with my comp but its ok. I just expect myself to be a pro at the language and the teaching right now but im surrounded by missionaries who are getting ready to go home and i see that i know absolutaly nothing. I need to have more patience with myself- and i feel alone alot but whenever i pray i feel better and know that god is with me always- Its ridiculously hard, but its worth it. I love you dad and miss you tons- i cant wait to here from you again-

Elder Clawson.

Week #11 Oct. 22, 2018

Week #11

I'm sorry about my grammar, the computers here are different and i serioulsy try my best, but i have to write super fast all the time.

Foods good, rice with beans and a little meat. Fruit all the time, same with bread. Buts its all good.

We had a baptism like my 2nd week here and that was awesome. But non of our other investigators, or persons, are really progressing.

this week has been a slow week cause we were gone in Cusco for 2 days for zone conference. I dont think ill go to Machu Picchu for a while. my comp has been here for 18 months and still hasnt gone yet. Life is cool. Just trying to understand and learn the language and teach people everday, but everyonce in a while ill have a day where I just say something totally bombin in the lesson and after i just feel so good about it. AAAHHAH I pray for those moments all the time.

This week a lot of my prayers were answered. About people, language, my comp, on sunday i got alittle sick and i prayed about that also. And seriously all of them were answered.

Something funny about this place, all the people here, including the latino missionaries, love anime and Naruto or Yugiyo. And its super weird cause i havent seen that stuff since watching the YUGIYO stuff with you and emma as kids. its hilarious. and everyone is into computer games also. Its sad to see all these like teens just wasting their lifes away with these games when they could be out hangin with friends or girls. But thats their choice.

Dude I love ya lots and miss ya. If you see the rest of the fam, tell seth and jane to email me!!!!

Love ya man, Elder clawson

Hey dad thank you for the letter!!! mY COMP went to 3 years of school before he left so when he returns he is going to return and do another 2 years of industrial engineering. He wants to work in canada.

the teaching is fine here. its super cold some days and then really sunny and hot other days. But this whole week it has been lightniong and rain, like imagine the tetons when we are at jackson. now imagine you were right on top of the tetons and in the lightning and rain. Thats what its like cause we are serioulsy surrounded by mountains. and also really high up.

Not alot of crazy people, but everyonce in a while you will see a drunk guy that notices your white and just thinks that im rich and askes me for money. Usually when that happens i just talk to them in english cause they cant understand it.

My spanish is coming along slowly, im getting a little better at understanding and i can talk a litte better. I can talk gospel really well, but like street talk or conversations are a little more difficult. Even with little kids. tell tanner I said Hi and miss him lots. Tell seth to freaking send me an email cause I miss that guy!!!! and jane also!!

At zone conference in Cusco. Reuniting with his MTC companion and friends.

We had a multizone conference this week and we all went to cusco. I saw my old comp elder boyle and we hugged and talked alot. Hes an awesome missionary. I love ya dad and miss ya lots. If you got any tips about mission life, give it to me. Our P days are pretty boring the past few days, we buy some nesecities and then watch movies like all day. Movies are great but i want to see some different stuff, or play soccer. But whatever goes goes, im good with it all.

Love ya Dad.

This is Jake's pensionista. Or the mother of the family Jake and his companion live with. She is holding dinner for Jake!!

Week #10 Oct. 15, 2018

Week #10

Wow so this week was a little weird but really good. So i Cant remember a whole lot, but it was super good.

On wednesday I had m first exchange, and that was super different. I went with the zone leader elder duron from Tucson Arizona. Hes a super hilarious guy. It was nice to have a whole day with him and speak alot of english. I miss speaking english but i can slowly see my spanish Improving. We did a lot of stuff, lots of contracting in the streets.

Its funn cause elder duron would pick a streeet and say reall loud, who needs to hear the message of jesus today!! And we found lots of people!!! then after that we had our companionship inventory. recently me and elder ochoa had been struggling alitte bit. So in our inventoury he asked, what can we improve on, and ya know having gained up the courage to speak, i said, I feel like you dont like me, whats the deal with that? but it verry simplifiedd spanish. thats how it went in my head. But man, he said that he did like me, but he just knew that i was young and wanted to act like a teenager. He said that he has very little patience for that but he is working on it. My comp is 22 and finishing his misison in like 6 months. So we had a serious talk, mostly just me listening to him and man in the end we were both bawling our eyes out. It made me want to become more like him cause man i seriouls got put with the best companion ever, its flipping hard, but he is the greatest example for me.

Then we had conference and that was awesome. The saturday sssion was all in Spanish for me, so that was a little difficult but i loved it alot. Sunday was way better, all in english, me and the 2 other gringos were in the secretaries office all three of us in a tiny room surrounding a computer watching conference. it was weird and it made me miss home, but it was really good too.

today we just bought stuff and watched movies. YES i know what you are thinking, why is he watching movies on his mission. haha i thought that too at first, but our presidente has movies that are appropiate for us to watch. We watched WRECK IT RALPH today. it was awesomme. tomorrow we are goinhg to Cusco to a meeting so it should be cool.

Love ou all and hope everone is doing awesome!!!

Elder Clawson

Week #9 Oct. 8, 2018

Week #9, Oct. 8, 2018

Dad!! thank you so much for your letter!! So just a heads up, we couldmt watch conference this saturday and sunday cause we had elections here for some kind of regional leadership, no one could leave their houses on sunday, unless you needed to vote. But what!!! Are you serious about the 2 hour church cause i know you have made tons of jokes about that!! You better not be messing with me cause im gonna be talking to everyone about that!!!

My Companion is Elder Ochoa, 22 years old From Huanuco Perú. He went to school for 3 years before his mission, he is the only child, and has been a member his whole life. He has 17 or 18 months in the mission. thank you so much for the advice cause that is seriously what i needed.

I cant speak very well, especially to my companion even. And alot of the time we are just quiet but I try to think of things to ask him about help or language or about his life too.

Dad I didnt to put this in the group email cause man i dont know how i feel about it, but our mission president is super cool and i love him lots, he lets us watch approved disney movies on P days. I dont know how that sounds to you but to me it is kinda weird. Like today we watched SING,and also Wreck it Ralph. Both are good movies, but its just wierd. What do you think about this? Dad I love you tons and feel exactly how you felt in the mission. But I hope I can learn quick, lots of prayers for help and the spirit. Tell me all the advice you have please!!

Love ya DAD!

Elder Clawson

The streets of Sicuani, Peru