HEY GUYS!

12/14/15

Hey everyone! 

I want to let everyone know that I had full intentions of writing a big email last week but I got a little distracted from some bad news. The Burnham family is in my prayers and Sister Burnham will be deeply missed. That was a welcome home hug that I looked forward to. Now the wait will be a little longer, but it will be so much sweeter in our real home. 

I am still in Senillosa, I didn’t get transferred. My whole district is staying in Senillosa, which means that I will be here for at least 6 months by the time this transfer is over. 

This is the longest I will have been in an area. It’s a bitter sweet kind of thing but it’s going to be a good six weeks. It’s also the longest that I will be with the same companion and no one will beat that because there isn’t enough time left to beat it haha.

Well, these have been some interesting weeks. We have been really focusing on meeting new people. We put the goal two weeks back to contact 100 people. Now, let me just say that that may not seem like a lot to some, but in Senillosa, that is like half the population haha. It was hard to accomplish but we did it. And that did help us out this past week because it gave us the opportunities to be able to visit different people. It also helped in unseen ways. Pushing ourselves that much let us receive other blessings that our Heavenly Father had in store for us. 

The work itself is going fairly well. We have several people we are teaching and they are excited but it’s been a struggle getting them all to church. That is one of the biggest struggles we have in the mission: getting people up at 8am to go to church with us. It makes it hard. R, who I talked about a few weeks back, has been struggling to come to church. He is still very accepting and happy but there is just something missing and we aren’t quite sure what yet but he'll come around.

On a side note, I want to say something. I want to encourage everyone (whether or not you are a member of the Church) to ponder on what obligations you have with your Heavenly Father. It is vital that we can do our best to fulfill every request and commandment that He has given us. Will that be hard? Of course but it will be so worth it. Magnify your callings; do your home teaching/visiting teaching; HELP THE MISSIONARIES; do it all and spend every second you can doing the Lords work. There is nothing more gratifying. This Church is set up to succeed. And if it doesn’t, it is partially, if not fully, because we aren’t doing our jobs. Allow God to make us instruments in His hands. He wants to but we have to ALLOW Him to do that. Just do it!!! It will make you happier and bless that lives of others!!

I love you all and thank you for your support. I hope you have a fantastic week!!!

Elder Clifford

What a week....

11/30/15

Ok. Well I’m still really bad at this whole blog post thing. I’m sorry but here is another rousing entry of Elder Clifford in Argentina....

Ok well this week was pretty normal but we had some good highlights. One of our Investigators, R, had a cool experience. So he just moved here from Córdoba which is like 12+ hours away. His "wife" (they aren’t married but have been together for 10 years) still lives there. When he came here, one of the members who lives near him invited him to church. He came and loves it and without a doubt knows this is the true church and is reading the Book of Mormon daily; the whole nine yards. BUT! He didn’t want to get baptized without talking with his wife and he wanted to talk to her face to face and she is coming to visit in the middle of December. But he decided to message her instead and see what she thought. Then the miracle! Turns out, she is already a member of the church!! How cool is that! Granted she is probably inactive but that’s ok!!! We can work with that!!! So that got R pretty excited and he decided to get baptized ASAP. Unfortunately he didn’t come to church yesterday so we have to wait another week but the 12th of December, he should be getting baptized. God will always provide the way to get done what we want to do as long as it done with righteous desires. 

We also had a REALLY cool ward activity. It had to do with the temple and the plan of salvation. So the missionaries all got pday clothes on (normal people clothes) and we sat in a dark room. A different missionary acted as a guide and guided the members into the dark room to talk to us. We told the stories of how we had "died". We were in Spirit Prison. After we finished the stories, 2 elders dressed in all white entered in to teach us. They taught us about baptism and that we could still be saved but we didn’t have bodies. SO we had to ask the members to be baptized for us. Then the members went to another room where they talked about the temple. In the meantime, the missionaries who were in spirit prison, ran to the bathroom and changed into all white. Then the members are guided into the chapel where we were standing all in white. We sang Families can be Together Forever and bore our testimonies as those that had been saved from spirit prison, thanking those that had been baptized for us. I hope you guys got the idea of how it works. If not, trust me: It’s a beautiful activity and we are doing it in our ward when I get home so prepare yourselves.

You guys, this mission is wonderful. It’s hard sometimes but it’s so worth it. I only have a few 5 months left, which is crazy. It has gone by so fast. This truly is the Lords work and He is present in every step of it if we let Him. But we also have to let Him be there. I love you all and thank you for all you have done for me.

Elder Clifford

Bits and Pieces

 

 Camera Fun!!!

11/2/15

Well we actually had another emergency transfer this week. That makes 4!!!!! in my short 3 months here in Senillosa. The sister from Buenos Aires had to go home for surgery, but she'll be back in a month or 2 to finish. So today we get another new hermana and she is from the states so now we are a district of pure gringos haha.

The work is going. We actually had an investigator show up to church yesterday and he participated and everything. It was cool. He just moved here from Córdoba and a member brought him. We didn't know him but he just showed up with the member and really enjoyed church. If all goes well, the 21st he is getting baptized!

Elder Clifford

Fun Pictures

That part of town is really rich and the dog is trained to do what the humans do. 

So I pretended to yawn and he opened his mouth like that.  HAHA

I fed a cow after a lesson in some farm lands

Fun Times at Dinosaur Museum

This place has lots of dinosaur bones and stuff

Dinosaur footprints..... you judge if they are real or not. But either way its kinda cool

Pictures from a FUN P-Day

 Oct. 13^th 

We had a really cool P-day yesterday, we went to a canyon and a dam that is close to Senillosa.   

Coming home on the bus., at 9pm. Yikes!  But what a fun trip!

Zone Conference - 10/7/15

WELL....

10/5/15

What a week it’s been. Maybe one of the craziest of my mission. The week started off pretty simple but then Tuesday hit. We got a call from President and he told us my companion was leaving in an emergency transfer. So that was exciting. We immediately started packing and making all the arrangements. THEN! We got another call from the sisters. One of the sisters was ALSO being transferred that same day. So half of my district is new and doesn’t know the area or the people and the other 25% that isn’t me got here only 2 weeks ago and due to her sick companion, didn’t even leave the pension and so doesn’t know anything about the area! Fun! So with a white washed district we are chuggin' right along. But even with all that, we are doing great; seeing lots a miracles and we are going to have success this transfer. I know it!

We also had a tragedy this week in our ward. A wonderful sister who literally gives her whole heart and everything she has to everyone, had her house burn down. They lost everything. I can't explain the love that we as missionaries have for those whom we know. I was brought to tears as I watched the firefighters put out the last of the flames as we got to the house. I have known this sister for maybe 7 weeks. And yet I have developed a love for this person. The mission allows us to love. I truly can't imagine the pain of our Heavenly Father and our Savior to see us suffer in this life, even if that suffering is for our own benefit.

I also want to testify of the power of service. In spite of this horrible tragedy, the ward that very night, only a few hours after the flames were put out, got together and with-in a matter of minutes between the members and the mission we were able to get everything we needed to rebuild the house and to furnish it and get them clothes and food and everything. Elder Christofferson said it so well. God established His church for the benefit of His Children. The spirit of service is real. It was tangible in that room as we all came together and helped this wonderful sister. 

OK! CONFERENCE! It was so good. We got to watch 3 of the 4 sessions in English. You would think by this point in my mission (17 months on Wednesday) I would be able to get a lot out of it in Spanish session but I don’t haha SO I was grateful for the English. A few comments: 

1)     I am so incredibly grateful for modern Prophets and Apostles that guide us. There remarks are also so perfect for everything that happens to us on a daily basis. 

2)   I am grateful for my wonderful mother. I testify to the words of Elder Holland and what to make it clear that I love my mother with everything I have and am grateful for her support. 

3)   I am grateful for my family and the love they have for me. 

Ok well I don’t have much time. But I wanted to make a special shout-out. This may seem to be coming from nowhere but I want to make a shout out to Brother Litchfield. For some reason, while listening to conference, I was brought to think about some of the things he has shared with me over the years and how grateful I am for those bits of advice that have served me so well. I’m sure he doesn't realize the impact he has had on me but I hope he knows now haha! Thank you Brother Litchfield for your example and teachings. 

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of your love. I’m sorry for not having much time but next week hopefully I will be able to comment more. 

Elder Clifford

The Long Awaited Blog Post!

9/28/15

Hey Everyone! I sorry for not have actually written on the blog for a while. I am still in Senillosa and things are going well! The truth is that right now we are in a "finding" state and so there isn’t a lot of teaching going on. BUT! that will change soon!

In Senillosa it’s a small ward of 40-50. I really enjoy it. It’s fun to be able to work with a bishopric and actual leaders haha But I do miss the smallness of the group that I was in. 

I’m going to try to get back in the swing of things with this blog but today it’s going to be short. Know that I am happy. Know that this truly is the work of the Lord and it truly comes when and where he wants. Know that as members of this church, we have the truth. We understand Gods plan for us and it is OUR responsibility, not the responsibility of just the missionaries, to SHARE it. Keep in mind that really what we know is ECCENTIAL to the salvation of our friends and family. It is everything. I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for His love and for His plan that I have and understand in my life. 

I love all of you and wish you all a wonderful week!! 

Elder Clifford

Pday in Rio Limay

 Small church building in Senillosa that we meet in

Eating tacos with some youth

Pictures

 Sad day - my Bible broke

 Elder Larson, my companion, and I with the Robledo Family and the Sisters in my District - a little Birthday Celebration!

The Robledo's son had a birthday on Saturday before my birthday.

The Birthday Cake they made for me!  It had pineapple inside. It was delicious!