Things are Going Great

1/26/15

Sorry for no email last week. One hour is not enough and I get distracted way to easily....

Well, things here in Cipolletti are going great. I honestly love this ward. The members work hard to make things happen and it really makes our jobs easier. They are great. It’s hot. Summer down here is killer. It’s in the upper 90's all the time and it drains you fast, especially when you're walking around all day. 

So we should have a baptism this Saturday which is exciting! S. is the one getting baptized. She is the mother of the family I told you guys about a while back. We are hoping for a miracle though because she still has to stop smoking and it’s been really hard for her. But we are helping her as best we can and I am almost certain she will make it! The son, unfortunately, has stop listening, but I think he still has interest. He is just 15 years old and that’s a hard time in life to make such a big change, but we are hoping that seeing his mom get baptized and attending the baptism, he will feel the Spirit and want to listen again, the daughter is 11 years old. We asked her the other day if she wanted to get baptized too and said she wasn't sure. Again, I think that seeing the mom get baptized and having her get to know some of the primary kids her age will help. I've got lots of hope for them!

Little miracle of the week: We had about 10 minutes to kill before a lesson so we wandered around at 5pm in the heat. FYI, In Argentina, if it’s a hot day, a majority of the country is sleeping at 5pm. So it’s hard to knock doors at this time. But we did it anyway! We knocked a house, didn't say much more than "We would like to share a message about Jesus Christ." and she let us come in. Now let me put this is perspective. It is hard enough trying to find someone awake at that time of day in the summer, but even then, actually getting into a house on the first visit... Wow. It’s a very uncommon thing. We didn't have much time to chat with her but we shared a little bit of the Restoration and gave her the pamphlet and a Book of Mormon to read. She told us we could come back tomorrow so hopefully she will be there! I’ll keep ya posted...

Well, I can’t think of anything else that happened. Sorry. I’m so bad at this emailing thing. My apologies. Know that I’m having a good time and lots of things are going on! Know that your Savior loves you. I think that is what I've learned most these last few weeks. He truly has the power to heal: physically, spiritually, mentally, lo que sea (translation: whatever). He can do it all and He WANTS to do it all. He will do anything for us, but we have to be willing to accept the change. He needs us to turn over our desires and make our desires His desires and then, and only then, will we be able to see miracles and changes in our own lives. This gospels true. This Church is true. I've never been more sure. Logically speaking, it just all makes sense. Spiritually speaking, I've felt that is true. Don’t ever lose hope. Our dreams, our desires, our goals, our plans, may seem unreachable. What we want may seem impossible to achieve. But as we put our trust in God and let our desires go and put on His desires, we truly can have whatever we want. It may not be what we originally wanted, but it will be something even better that we didn't even realize we wanted. 

I love you all and I pray for you guys every day. I’m grateful for your support and for everything that you guys do to keep me going every day. I feel your love. Thanks.

Elder Clifford