Peruvians Come In All Shapes and Sizes, But Mostly Small WEEK #1 Aug. 16, 2018

Saying his final goodbye!

Hey guys so this week has been awesome but also really busy. I got on the plane to go to Atlanta and the kid I was sitting by was from Grace Idaho and he was also going to Cusco! We sat by each other on the next flight to Lima as well. While we were on that plane, there was this 21 year old guy who was flying to Peru for the first time, and it was also his first time out of the country! We talked with him for a little bit which was fun. He was really confused why there were so many of us wearing suits and all going to Peru. We told him that we were all missionaries for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, and that we were going to peru to teach people the gospel. right after, he said  ok, tell me about your church. Me and elder campbell looked at each other and were like ok! we shared a couple things with him and he was super nice about it all. He did have some difficult questions though and i wish we could have had a couple days to teach him more but we did an alright job for our first lesson. It was kinda fun teaching him, but at the same time it was also really hard because he had some difficult questions. We got to the airport in lima and kinda didnt know where to go, so we just kinda walked around looking for a guy holding a jesus christ sign. Funny thing, everyone is really short here. Most peruvians are super short and have really small hands and really small feet. Just a really small person. And its weird because we were on the plane with some peruvians and they were not dark skinned at all, they were like white people!! it was weird! Peruvians come in all different shapes and sizes, but mostly small.

Last family photo for a while.

Brotherly love!

Most of our days have been the same. wake up, study, breakfast, classes, lessons and more studying, lunch, classes, dinner, classes, study and then go to bed. I felt like i have been here for so long and the language is hard. especially when some peruvian man or woman all of a sudden comes at you with like 100 words per minute. But im getting better with phrases and words and kinda of talking to the latinos. 

On monday we had to wake up extra early to go to interpol so we could work on our visas. It was going to be our first time outside of the walls since we arrived and we were all freaking out!! This littel taxi driver guy comes to pick us up in one of those little vans that can hold like 10 people in it. Just a fun fact, everyone that drives here drives like there are no rules and they can do whatever they want, im pretty sure we almost died 5 times on our way to interpol which was only 10 minutes away. We were actual missionaries and it was our first time out in the real world. the CCM (its what they call the MTC in Lima) is exactly what the mission presidents wife said it was. A paradise in the middle of a crazy world. that is totally true! we have these huge walls that surround our building to either keep things out, or to keep us in. the weather is usually really cold and today was the first time we have seen the sun all week. But the CCM is not just a paradise, it is also a spiritual prison, lots of rules and they are very strict on pretty much everything. But honestly it is amazing here. the grounds are beautiful and the physical activity area is huge and awesome!! We have like 3 small soccer courts, one full size and 2 basketball courts that are only for our use and have huge walls surrounding them. it has everything we need here. all of my roommates and mi compañero are so awesome. my companions name is Elder Boyle and he is from Eagle Idaho.  Elder Abrath is 20 years old and from salt lake city, elder chamberlain is 18 and from salt lake as well. and then we have too elders who are already fluent in spanish and are awesome. Elder Salazar y elder Dahl. all the elders in my district are awesome as well. I love them all and they are all so fun, and they are totally as lost as i am at times. I have met An elder spackman who is dennis spackmans nephew, (Dennis is our favorite bus driver at home) and i have two friends from school that came down here with me!! and i also met up with Elder Nichols from ridgeline, I dont know if you know jackson Nichols but hes a good dude and hes here!!

Jake and his favorite friend Tyler shared a mission farewell.  These two girls have been in Jake's primary class since they were BABIES!  Love these kids!

we have had many devotions and i love it when we have choir practice. Yesterday we had an Elder Held from colombia talk to us and that was awesome. today for prep day we went to the temple in lima and it was so awesome! the session was all in spanish but we had those little translater things. And we took tons of pictures of the temple and i bought a peruvian tie form some guy on the street! I dont think i was supposed to do that but me and my companion did it anyways. Then we did a flippin ton of laundry. and I was feeling sick today but i took some advil and now I feel great. I have a testimony of advil! I dont have a lot of time but I love you guys and miss you all.

I know that I came here to be a messanger of Heavenly fathers message and I know that the scriputres are true and that jose (Joseph)😁 smith did translate the book of mormon and restore this gospel.

Love elder clawson.

Packing and going to visit Grandma Roberts before the airport.  As she hugged Jake he just burst into tears.  Grams looked at him and promised she'd be here when he got home!  She'll be 90 in a couple weeks.  We love you Grams!!!

MOm, I love you and miss you tons. I dont have too much time but Thank you for all you do for me and feel free to send me packages of stuff if you would like! but probably dont cause it might take alittle bit and i forgot the address. I love you all and I cant wait to email you all next week. 

I love you mom!.

Living It Up in Beitou!

Oct. 18, 2016 email

Emma was so excited to make BROWNIES!

Holy Cow!!!!

The past week has been GO GO GO!! Sister Kho and I have had the funnest week and seen SO many miracles. I have a disclaimer though, I forgot my little book that I write all the details from the week in at our apartment....NOOOO! So I will do my best to remember everything that happened this week:)

Lots of free fried squid samples.

Testing of the fried squid.

Last Pday we went to a place called Danshui! It's super duper touristy and famous for fried squid. So of course we went and feasted our hearts out on all the samples the had lining the entire street:) Oh man but the best thing we did was went and had our feet eaten by little fish!!!! (sound terrifying?) Nah I promise it was super fun:) They have this little shop with 3 pools that you can put your feet in and little, medium, and BIG fish will come and bite the dead skin off of your feet!. Neat! But really it was so fun. I was dying it tickled so bad. It reminded me of doing Ninja training with Fred Summers. One time when mom and dad were in Hawaii, Fred and Rachel came over to stay with us. And of course we had to do Ultimate Ninja Training. I remember Fred grabbed my foot and said that if I could handle his tickling my foot then i was the ultimate ninja. 

I failed.

But Pday I conquered it with the little fish biting my feet! yes!

I don't think these are Emma's feet.  They look rather hairy and manly:)  But how about those fish!

The rest of the week was absolutely chuck full with all sorts of lessons with our investigators! We have got some super duper fun people. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father made us all so different so that this world could be a happier, more exciting, and fun place to live in:)

Exchanges.  Emma was with Sister Cooper on the far left:)  I LOVE the story that goes along with this picture.  It's the next paragraph.

This thursday was my first time doing exchanges!!! so dang fun! I was with Sister Cooper:) She is still in training and is the best missionary ever! She has the funnest personality and is so good at helping everyone on the street and in lessons feel so loved. We had a super fun experience together. On friday afternoon we had some finding time before a lesson, we had planned to go to Fuxing park and contact! We jumped on our bikes and headed on our way. But we never made it there...... First there was an old grandma that was picking up a million pieces of glass on the street. So we stopped, helped her pick up glass (eek danger danger!) and shared with her!! Then we got on our bikes again and saw this guy who was walking a bunch of dogs that were all tangled up. So we helped them all get untangled and talked to him! Then we got on our bikes and saw these two boys folding blankets at a factory, Turns out they were from Vitetnam! We folded some blankets for them and then invited them to church! Then we were fresh out of time! Its so awesome how we can share the gospel with everyone in any situation!!

Sister Kho is the best!!

Baking brownies for investigators!  Everything is better with a treat:)

Other miracles from this week. Our inbestigator Ke JM and her son both passed their baptismal interviews!!!!!!!! They were both from a member referral and have only been meeting with the missionaries for a little over a month:) and our investigator Chen JM who canceled her baptism last week was able to overcome satans temptation and fear and set a new baptismal date with us!!!

I know that as we are looking, and having faith to see miracles every single day, God will help us find them:)

Dinner at a members home.  That is a HUGE bowl of soup!!  

I'm not sure if it's truly hot chocolate time, but this girl loves her cup of cocoa or peppermint tea:)

other fun facts;)

-mom I bought a costco card! I'm a big kid now! 

-we made brownies for our members and they turned out SICK!! (SICK means they were tasty, delicious, and wonderful in Emma's world!)   I thought I would mess them up but they were great! (Thanks for being the best cooking teacher mom)

-just had a blast this week.

my fam I love you tons and I pumped to talk to you all next week:)

xoxoxo\emma

The Roaches Are Out.....

Wowzers. Another week dead and gone. 

Honestly..the time is so weird when you are on  a mission. Endless. But so fast. So dang weird.

Last monday we went to one of our favorite spots for Pday, we get together with the Elders and go to the Game Place..It's just a shop chuck full of games...It's awesome! so much fun. We play forever and all laugh our heads off together. I'm blessed to have such a killer district!

This week we also had Trainer Trainee follow up meeting! Talk about AWESOME. It was so much dang fun to see my mtc lovvers;) I love them all so much and they are all doing so great! We've all been going through similar challenges, cried together, talked forever, and recharged for the new transfer and the last inning of our training:) We have the best leaders and Mission President who are so inspired and know how to keep us happy and successful. I AM SO GRATEFUL.

MTC Besties back together for an afternoon.  Emma said it was wonderful!!  I can't believe how much I love these girls and I don't actually know them, but in 14 months I hope to hug them!!

We had some sad news this week, thursday night, both of our most progressing investigators that would have been getting baptized this weekend both dropped us. We are completely heartbroken. It's hard to know if we gave it our all. But, what it really comes down to is their agency. Satan is the worst and knows all of our doubts, fears, and weaknesses. I'm so sad for Zhuang and Jia DX, but I know we gave it our all and planted a deep seed in their hearts. One day they will be ready and become truly converted and put their faith in the Lord. Pray for the rest of our investigators to be strong.

Missions are Physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally draining. We are at our strongest and our weakest! I'm positive Satan knows us just as well as Heavenly Father. Don't let him get into your minds people!!!! He's the biggest jerk in the world and wants to rip us apart everyday!

Finding people on the streets of Zhongli.

We've been blessed to have been able to find tons of new investigators this week. The scriptures on the street are killer:) We are just like, :"can I share my favorite scripture with you? " BAM! Lives changed. Sometimes...ahah:) 

We are also the new ADVANCED English teachers! Oh man, its' so fun:) Our class is awesome and they all have killer english. I learned an important lesson though...never bring up wakeboarding to a bunch of asians...they have no idea what it is....then your entire english lesson turns into explaining and acting out what wakeboarding is....:) it was awesome:) They think I'm the coolest. Well, maybe. I think I'm cool so that's all that matters. 

Dinner with some favorite friends.  Notice the gentleman's shirt.  James has the exact same one!  It's the Plan of Salvation:)

Mango Boba Smoothies!  It's a mango smoothy with big black chewy tapioca balls in the bottom that you slurp up through the super fat straws.  It may sound odd, or yucky, but we LOVE THEM!!

Some fun tidbits:)

I also had a mango bing. 

It changed my life:)

I've eaten 8 whole pineapples by myself so far in training.

Probably 1000 kiwis.

My legs and butt are so strong from biking and exercising. yes!

We met a super drunk guy last night. He told me I was beautiful and that If I ever needed anything to CALL HIM. He was great:)

I'm so grateful for the crazy Taiwanese people. They make me so happy. The biggest sweethearts in the world!

 

Love you so much family.

xoxo

emma

Hark All Ye Nations

All the sister's!  (Except for Emma's favorites, Sister M and Sister S who were off being social!)

Hello my familia!!! This weeks email will probably not be to long because I've got all sorts of crap to get done...know why?....cause it's my last pday at the MTC!!!!!!!!

YAYAYAYAY! I never ever thought that this day would come:)

This week has been chuck full of lots of personal coaching time so we can get all the last minute things in that we need before we head out to Taiwan. My focus has mostly been on grammar and tones...so help me they are kicking my trash. 

All the girls by their room the night before Sister Money left for Canada.  

We did a practice teach with the other mandarin zone that is going to taiwan and that was a blast! i taught about the word of wisdom. The girl that taught me talked about the Law of Chastity. She did great;) 

I also went on teaching splits yesterday with a fast track Sister from Hawaii! Her name is Sister Yee. She lives with us in our room and is companions with me and sister apsley when we go to eat and bed and stuff;) She's awesome! It was cool to teach with her. We also ran a 5k this morning on our way to and from the temple because she forgot her recommend...bless her heart. hahahaha good times at the MTC. 

A candid Groupie in the hall between classes!  

Sunday was awesome! Because we got released from being sister training leaders!!!! YES. I was so pumped. It was such a fun calling, but we were more than ready to pass the reigns onto someone else;) That night we had an awesome devotional by Stephen B. Allen. We've heard him once before, but again he did a great job. Talked about being worthy to be on a mission... then he shared a story that made everyone feel really really awkward....it was great:) 

Sundays are the best!

These are the Elder's in Emma's district. She titled this picture #freshcuts.  (They all just got haircuts.) They will not be traveling with the girls to Taiwan.  They are headed all over the United States:)  They will be missed!

Me Sister Apsley and Sister Money had our last skype TRC on Monday night! It was amazing. The perfect one to end on. We taught a sister named Pearl who lives in Oregon and is from Taiwan. She was incredible and thought that we were all just hilarious and white. Cause we are, lets be honest. We shared about how we can receive revelation through The Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong! She shared some killer experiences that were beautiful. :) I'm never going to work at the MTC but I would definitely volunteer to do TRC;)

Emma's two beautiful companions!!  Sister M left a few days ago for Canada, and it was a sad day.

Last night we had our last session of choir:( It was so good! we finished with the song, "Hark All Ye Nations." It was amazing!!!!!! Choir is how you survive the MTC. The devotional was by Brent Nielson of the 70. It was awesome. He shared so many stories that had been shared with him by the prophet and apostles that were so touching. We are so blessed to have a living prophet on the earth today! One of the many super duper awesome things about this gospel.

Just so you all know, I know I talk about the MTC usually in a very negative way. 

Not going to lie, the MTC has been the hardest thing for me and I haven't loved it all the time..BUT. Without the MTC my relationship with God would not be NEARLY as strong as it is now. I've been so blessed with amazing teachers, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and comfort from the Lord. I have learned so much and will only continue to keep learning when I'm in taiwan!! Hopefully I'll be able to speak chinese in a few months..:) the MTC truly is an amazing and sanctified place. I'm so grateful for the experiences I've had and the friendships I've made here. I love you so much!

Till next time! IN TAIWAN!!!!!!

XIE XIE NIMEN

oxoxoxoxo

sista clawson

Lose Yourself In The Work, Right?

This is Sister Clawson's ALL Chinese name tag!  It's getting official folks!

One more week down! Wow. Time is so weird. I feel like I've been here forever, I feel like I just got here, I feel like I'm not learning anything, holy crap I've learned so much, I feel like this week has been a year, oh my gosh it's already sunday?! MAN! I'm pretty sure I'm losing my mind a little bit") But hey, They say you're supposed to lose yourself in the work right? So I guess that's what I'm doing! Hahaha:)

This is Emma and her favorite Abby!!!  Sister Maughan is a favorite friend from just down the road:)  Emma and Abby have grown up their entire lives together.  Abby is headed to Ohio!!  Wahoo!!

This week we got more new missionaries!!! Three sisters and 7 elders! All of them are going to Taipei except for 2 of them so we are stoked! They are a bunch of awesome kids and I love there guts so much. We won't get to be with them for very long, so it's exciting that we will get to see them in Taiwan again! 

Also Abby Maughn joined the ranks this week!!! She is so cute:) I love her guts. She just shines! she's gonna be the greatest missionary, it's so fun to get to see her here;)

This is Emma's companionship and all the new missionaries going to Taipei!!  They just got to the MTC this week, and will traveling to Taipei 6 weeks after Emma's group:)

This week was as exciting as life can get in the MTC. :) We gave a killer lesson yesterday so I'm still super duper pumped about it! My chinese is still pretty rough, and probably will be for at least 8 more months...but no worries! I've got the Lord on my side. 

I don't have any long stories this week, just lots of little fun tidbits that happened throughout the week;) 

First off, I've been having lots of dreams. All sorts of them! They are in english, chinese, and they take place everywhere. At home, the mtc, snowbasin, one of them was hawaii. It's just been crazy. The funny part is that it's been so long since I've had dreams that every time I wake up from one I think I'm at home. Then It takes me a minute to realize that I'm not...then I get a little sad...shake it off..and then fall back asleep:)

The weather has also been KILLER nice this week! I haven't worn tights in days! Man, it's awesome. All the sisters in my district, during some additional study time we had, went outside and we went around and read a chapter from the Book of Mormon in Chinese. It's really helpful for us to get better at tones and translating! It was SO FUN! 

One of my companions, Sister Money, got her travel plans last friday! She's only got like 5 days...Then It will just be me and Sister Apsley for a week! We are sad to see her go. I've been so blessed to have the greatest companions at the MTC and have grown the greatest friendship with them. I love their guts! Sister Money you're gonna kill it in Canada!!!!

This week...I made a grown man cry...

My teacher Li Laoshi is awesome. Except he scares the CRAP out of me and it's been affecting my teaching. He's also my "investigator" So Every lesson we go into I'm more concerned about pleasing Li Laoshi than doing my best and pleasing the Lord. I DON'T want this attitude! So, saturday during personal coaching we had a "come to jesus" moment. I told him basically that I loved him, and he's been helping me so much, but I'm so terrified of failing him and am afraid of him being upset..

Then.

He cried.

And I felt awful.

He said he was very grateful I told him, and gave me some fantastic advice and encouragement. But I still just felt so dang bad cause this 24 year old dude is crying!!! Oh well, my teaching has gotten better.  ps thank you so much for the package you sent this week:)

I have so much Candy, chocolate, and goodies from everyone that I've piled up over the past 2 months..like I'm pretty sure I've got 30 pounds of candies..I'll have to pass that along when I leave, cause I've got no suitcase room as it is!!!! 

This sunday, we had the weirdest devotional of all time.....I can't remember her name....but I know she taught at byu.....basically it was like being in a college class for an hour...she had a slide show, but I'm still not quite sure what it was about.. She was a bit scattered. At the very end her husband spoke for about 3 minutes and that's where I really got some good stuff:) hahaha. He didn't say much but what he did say was powerful. He said on his mission he was a shy guy, but he said, "If you don't have self confidence, always remember you have Christ's confidence." Wow. That. Was. Perfect! It's so easy to not feel adequate on our missions, but we ALWAYS have the confidence of Christ with us!

Sunday night, our favorite cantonese missionaries left for Hong Kong. They will be greatly missed, It's sad cause I probably will NEVER see them again.. Thank Heavens for the after life:)

Emma's group and their FAVORITE choir director!!

Monday Morning I was reading in Jesus the Christ and found this awesome awesome awesome section. I've really just been craving good food and missing home cooked meals and what not, and then I read this. It was on the Word of Wisdom. "We believe in enjoying good food. We believe that these good things are given us of God. WE believe in getting all the enjoyment out of eating that we can; and therefore we should avoid gluttony;and we should avoid extremes in all our habits of eating."

:)

I just thought that was awesome. The end:)

(WARNING!!  THIS MAY BE TMI!!)

This week my farts have also been pretty awful...Like rank. My companions probably won't have the sense of smell and will most likely be blind by the time we leave the MTC.. pray for them. Pray for my bodily functions. 

TRC this week we taught a boy from Taiwan that's going to school at BYUI. Oh man, he was a special one that's for sure. We got on skype and had been talking to him for not even two minutes, trying to learn more about him and then he just stops and says, "OK, whats your message your going to share." Alright bruh. We didn't want to get to know you anyway! So we gave him our message about prayer and how we can receive comfort and answers through it. I asked him some concerns he had in his life right now. He said midterms:) So we helped him out and told him that God will help us in all aspects of life. Even midterms! He was great. ha. I prayed for him and his midterms at the end. Then I prayed for him to get a better attitude as well..but that part was in my head;)

Last night for devotional we had Rosemary Wixom come!! The Primary General President! She did a fantastic job and we got to sing all sorts of primary songs:) I forgot so many of them!! Primary songs are the best. :)

 

Emma's favorite hammock made an appearance:)  It was a hit!

Before we went to bed last night, I decided I would let my roomies get a little bit better of a taste of Sister Clawson, and what I'm all about. So I pulled out my hammock and strung it up between our bunk beds and let them all try it out. It was a hit. I'm officially the coolest person ever. They all wanted a gazillion pics of them in it and it cracked me up;) I also wore my chacos today for pday. I can still be me and be a missionary:) yay. 

I love you guys sooooo much. Thanks for being the greatest.

#Beizhufu (#Blessed)

Emma and Sister Moffet!!!  One of Em's favorite people, AND one of the best baker's we ever had at Great Harvest Logan.  When Ally was our baker, we won the Best Bread Award for ALL of Great Harvest at our annual convention.  She's a keeper, and she is headed to Sacramento CA:)

Wow! Another week at the MTC. Check! So this was our first official whole week as Sister Training Leaders. Holy cats. Girls. That's all I have to say.. Girls. We interviewed and talked with all of them and now I hope to have only sons in my future family.. hahaha jkjk it was actually super duper awesome to get to know all the girls on a deeper level and learn about how we can help them:)  I'm blessed with two awesome companions that help me with everything and we know how to get work DONE! Unless we start singing the Sound of Music..then it usually takes us a few minutes to get focused again..shhh. 

Emma's group.  

This week has been stressful. The language is coming, but extremely slowly. I'm terrified, but I know that the Lord will never leave me hanging. EVER. I'll keep trying my hardest. I've also been struggling on connecting with my investigators. Man! I want people so badly to want this gospel!!! But sometimes people are just content with life!!! All one of my investigators every says to anything we share with him is, "wei shen me?" which means "Why?" and of course I'm just thinking in my head, "because it's FLIPPING awesome thats why!!" But sadly that approach doesn't work. pray for me. Pray for my chinese. 

This is the Sharing of the Valentines treat night.  

This week one of my companions had to go to physical therapy. So me and Sister Apsley were just chilling, studying, and making friends as they walked in. A lady came up to us and gave us 20 dollars.....We told her we couldn't take it but she told us that the missionaries changed her life, and she's eternally grateful for us and our service. Wow. Talk about an angel sent from god. #beizhufu

(that means #Blessed) But really though, that woman touched my heart.

Exceedingly frightening pic!!  Emma removing her mask:)

Sister Menzies mom sent us some fun face masks:) So that was an awesome stress reliever this week! We all got valentines day packages full of chocolate and goodies. So we put our loot in the middle of the room, put on face masks and ate chocolate before we went to bed:) It was great. the face masks felt and looked kind of like dried elmers glue..but now my skin is oh so soft and supple. :) Thanks to everyone who sent such awesome V-day packages!!! It made my week;)

Sunday was great! Our film this week we decided to go and watch the Testaments. In Mandarin....OH boy..It started and my first thoughts were these. "Oh my gosh. I have learned NOTHING." But then they said the word Book of Mormon and I knew it wasn't right...Turns out it was in Cantonese...HA! ya, I changed that real swiftly. Then I could actually understand some of it:)

Wall of LOVE!

Monday was our first Skype TRC! So TRC is basically visiting teaching with members. We shared our message with a sister from Taiwan!!! Her name was Tsai Jiemei and she was wonderful. Her husband is the whitest guy I've ever seen from Utah and they are just living the dream in Taiwan! TRC is the greatest:)

Last night we were blessed to hear from Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the quorum of the 12!!!! Wow. Talk about inspiring. He spoke all about the process of calling missionaries. I had goose bumps the whole time it was so cool. These men are called of God and know PERFECTLY where each of us is supposed to serve:) The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves and works through our Prophet and his Apostles to assign us EXACTLY where we need to go. It was an amazing talk and I know more than ever that Taiwan is exactly where I'm supposed to be:) If only I could just get out of the mtc fast enough!!haha jkjkj lol

Emma's favorite picture of the week.  They titled it, "Called To Swerve!"  To get into the MTC cafeteria, missionaries must be in their Sunday clothes.  Since the girls exercise after breakfast they go through the sack breakfast line and eat in the halls.  Emma actually likes sack brekky best.

Wo zhidao zhege fuyin shi zhenshi!

Tonguo yesu jidu de shuzui women keyi huigai women de zui.

Wo zhidao Yuese Simi fan yi Mo'ermenjing.

Wo zhidao Mo'ermenjing shi Shen de hua.

Tonguo Mo'erminjing he qidao women keyi ganjue Shen de ai.

Wo ai Shen he Yesu Jidu he Shengling!

Feng yesu jidu de ming amen.

(This is Emma's testimony in Chinese!  So proud, and I'm sure it says wonderful things, but I don't speak or read Chinese, and James is nowhere to be found!)

Zai Jian till next week!

MTC Field Trips For The Win!

Emma and Sister S.  I think this may have been on the "Field Trip" Emma had to the eye Dr. this week.  

Ok so I have a serious question to start off with this week. 

is Enya back?!!!! 

My companion told me that a month or so before we left on our missions she apparently released a new album..is this true?! oh man oh man. Enya is so awesome. I love her so much. What I would give to here her sweet sweet voice while I'm in the MTC. 

Lesson study.

This week was another usual week living that MTC dream!! I really am sorry if the email is lacking this week....Everything is SO ridiculously busy, but all the same!! Every week, its the same. Class, teach, class, eat, class. Oh man..I can't wait to get to taiwan:)

After all the classes and lessons the girls get to help some sisters pack to leave the MTC for Taiwan!

One truly awesome thing did happen this week. I will remember it for the rest of my life because it truly rocked my world.

My evening teacher shared her conversion story with us at the end of the night this week. Her name is Guo laoshi and she is originally from Macau. She met the missionaries when she was 12. They taught her for 4 years..she never would commit but they never gave up on her. One day she was at home, alone, lying in bed, sicker than she had ever been before. She tried calling all of her family but nobody would answer. she didn't know what to do and thought that she was going to die there all alone. Right at that moment she remembered something that the missionaries taught her. They taught  her how to pray. That was her first time every praying. She said she completely poured out her heart to her Heavenly Father, asking for help and comfort. After she finished her prayer she was overcome with the most overwhelming feeling she's ever felt in her life. She slept for the whole day and woke up, healed. She called the missionaries that morning and they set up a baptismal date. 

Holy cow.

We were all a hot mess after she shared this story.

I cry SO much at the MTC it's stupid. Good tears mostly;)

Emma with her companions and her favorite friend Elder Johnson!!  Emma and Andrew were tennis, orchestra, and prom buddies.  Elder Johnson is headed to Paris!!  Fun to see friends at the MTC.

This story just really made me realize why I am here. I was so concerned about getting to Taiwan and not seeing immediate results and progression with investigators. The Lord has a plan. For all of us. If I work my hardest and help invite the spirit to touch peoples hearts they will act. Even if I don't get to be the missionary to see it, I can help plant a seed in their heart. Man this gospel is the greatest thing in the world.

Hot chocolate and tea delivery every night!

I also want to give a shout out to my Uncle Dave:) thank you for the best donuts in the entire world! I literally at 3...in a row... and it was the most amazing thing of my entire life. I always try to convince myself that I don't like donuts...but it is a LIE. a filthy LIE. I love them so much. SO MUCH. And I caved hard the other night and ate THEM ALL!! Uncle Dave, here's to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the most delicious Krispy Kreme donuts I've ever beheld. 

I went to the eye doctor this week and got to go on a little bit of a field trip! to the outside world! man it was so great. It's still there! There really is more to life than the MTC walls! It's a miracle:)

Anyways, they have shuttles that take you to and from appointments and whatnot, after we were all done at the doctor, we called for a shuttle to come and pick us up. A big black van showed up and we were about to jump in and I thought in my head, "you know, what if this guy ISN'T from the mtc?" I mean it would be so easy! someone who know's how the mtc works could easily pick up a bunch of cute girls and kidnap them! so I asked him before we jumped in, "hey! Are you from the MTC?" 

he replies, "Yes."

 I say, "really? Are you lying to me?"
he says, "No! I am from the MTC."

My response, "Ok. Well, if you are lying you're going straight to hell."

apparently he's never been told that before.....he was dying laughing for a solid 5 minutes..:)

Glad I could make his day:) We had a good talk on the way back and are great friends now:) His name is Max. He's going to BYU, lives off campus with his wife, and is graduating in nursing, but his dream is to own Realestate. hmmm. bless his heart:) He was a nice guy. MTC FIELD TRIPS FOR THE WIN.

Emma and her companions and a sweet couple in their branch presidency.  

Our devotionals this week were fantastic! Sunday night was Jenny Oaks Baker!!!! say what?! she had a whole little production set up and played music with her family:) Totally reminded me of he Vontrap Family singers! (Emma LOVES Jenny Oaks Baker.  She's a violinist just like Emma!Here's a link to a song she plays with Condoleezza Rice.)

Last night we had choir!!!! yes:) it's the best thing in the world. AND get this, the choir director hinted to us that we should FILL ALL the choir seat next week..cause it's gonna be big...oh boy! I wonder who will come?! I'll let you know next week;)

Look at that festive room!

Edward Dube of the seventy came last night and it was fantastic. That's one nice thing about being here for so long, I get to hear all these KILLER SPEAKERS!! so that's about it for the week. Taking one day at a time, only 3 more pday emails till I'll be in Taiwan!!! 

Thanks to everyone who's sent me awesome packages and letters and prayers. you don't even know how much it brightens my day:) 

family. Mostly Jake and Seth. Why you no write me>?????!!!! 

im the favorite sister after jane! I hope school is going good and I love you guys so much:)

xoxoxoxox

emma

Seester Clawson