Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Final Week
April
11, 2016
This week was really hard for the investigators.
We couldn’t see like any of them AGAIN! But that’s ok. It is what it is.
I leave Bariloche on Sunday, not sure what time,
and it takes 6 hours to get to the mission home in bus. Then I am there all Monday
and we have classes and stuff and interviews and then on Tuesday morning we
head to the airport and I travel for like 24+ hours and then I get home!
This is Elder Clifford signing off for the last
time.
I’m so excited to see you all!!!! NEXT WEEK! YAY! Have a good week. Love
you!!
CHAU!
Hectic Week
April
4, 2016
Good morning! I really enjoyed conference. Elder
Hollands talk was very good.
We had our investigator F and her boyfriend less
active G in 2 of the sessions which was great! Other than that, it was a pretty hectic
week.
On Tuesday we had our zone conference, on Wednesday
night I had to leave for Neuquén to do my "leaving the country"
paperwork and just clear everything up so I have a smooth and safe transition
out. So I was gone all day Thursday and then we had conference on Saturday and Sunday
and so it was crazy. But it was a good week!
Last Zone Conference
Update
March 28, 2016
GOOD
MORNING! The Obama day was boring. We could only leave for set appointments so we
were stuck inside almost all day. It was horrible. It was just a vacation for the
Obama's.
The investigators did better
this week haha. We got to see them and we were able to get out of them some of
their principle doubts so that is helpful. Hopefully this week we will be able
to see a bit MORE progress and be able to get things done before I head out in
a couple weeks.
We are hopeful that they will come to conference.
We have to still explain to them what conference is and how that will all work
but we NEED them to come. They need to come to help them progress. It is
perfectly timed, haha,
We found 2 new families this week which is
awesome! We taught them the Restoration and they understood pretty well and
like the message. We could only see them one time each and so we are hoping
this week to see them a little more and help them to progress a little more.
All around it was a pretty good week. The only downside is that none of the
investigators showed up to church.
Good Morning!
March 21, 2016
GOOD
MORNING! Well, this week was hard. I don’t know why but nothing went our way.
Our investigators are the same as last week because we couldn’t see any of
them, which sucked. BUT! I have faith that this week will be better. Please
keep us in your prayers.
We got an email regarding
the visit of President Obama and we are still not sure exactly how that is all
going to play out. I’m thinking on Thursday when he is here in Bariloche, we
are going to be stuck inside but we'll see. There are also reports that major
marches and pickets and possible terrorist attacks may be planned but don’t
worry. We'll be fine. :) Haha
March
14, 2016
The investigators are doing alright. This week we didn’t see much
progress. In fact, we've hit some walls with doctrinal issues but we are
working through it. But although they are not in agreement, they all still want
to keep meeting and find the answers so that is fantastic. We really do have
awesome investigators right now.
Elder Bednar came a few weeks back and we had an amazing
conference with him, we learned a lot.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Last Transfer
March 7, 2016
Today is transfers and I am staying in Bariloche. So while everyone is coming and going we
don’t have a lot planned for P-day today. We are going to eat lunch, ice cream
(they have the best ice cream and chocolate in all of Argentina in
Bariloche, its great!) and then go to a Catholic cathedral.
The investigators are good and if all goes well, should all
be baptized before I go home. They each all have 1 assistance to church and you
only need 2 minimum to get baptized. F
came to church with her boyfriend G (who is inactive) and their kids. S went on
a weekend trip to Chile so she couldn’t come but we left her with a LOT of
homework to do haha. E we saw this week and taught her the plan of salvation.
We invited her to church but she didn’t come. They are all really cool and are loving
everything they are learning so it should be a good transfer.
Obama is coming to Bariloche March 24 and 25. It should be
crazy. He is coming with Argentina's president too so the city should be shut
down for a couple of days. They say he is bringing 850 personnel with him haha.
Chaos!!
Elder and Hermana Clark came to visit Bariloche, they are an elderly couple serving in
Trevelin which is 6.5 hours south of Bariloche and its the southern most point
of the mission and is 20 minutes from Chile. They are really great!
Chau!!!
Elder and Hermana Clark visit Bariloche
Presidente and Sister Casariego with Elder and
Hermana Clark
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Gnome Waterfall and Gutierrez Lake Lookout
We went to Gnome Waterfall and then hiked up to
the Gutierrez Lake Lookout
Another Week
2/29/16
Our investigators are doing well:
F - F is reading in the Book of Mormon. This week we taught her
about temples and eternal families. The lesson got out of control because her
inactive boyfriend (who is always present in the lessons) started asking really
deep questions about how everything is going to work out in the Spirit world
and F got REALLY confused. We paused, I simplified and then we ended talking
about how the most important thing she can do is get a testimony of Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon. She hadn’t prayed about them and so we committed
her to do that. She still couldn’t come to church but this next week she should
be able to!
S - We had a good lesson with S this week. We talked about the
Restoration and it went well. She understood fairly well but had lots of
questions that she didn’t want to ask because she wanted to read and she if she
could self-answer them. She came to church AND her husband (who we don’t know
and met for the first time in church) came with her. That was a miracle. They
stayed for 2nd hour Gospel Principles and then left.
E - E was a miracle. She just showed up to church. We don’t know
her and barely know where she lives. She said she felt like she needed to go
and see what the church is all about. She liked it. We are going to try and
visit her today but we have a confirmed appointment for Wednesday.
This week should be interesting because Obama is coming to
Bariloche on Thursday. We'll see how that turns out.
The weather is starting to change, it’s getting
dark earlier and light later. It’s really noticeable here in the mountains. The
leaves haven’t started falling but the day light time is changing, Fall
is coming.
Chau!
Elder Clifford
Great Week With Lots Of Miracles
2/22/16
We had
a great week with lots of miracles. We are teaching really wonderful
people.
S- S was a reference from a member. She was a Jehovah’s Witness
for a long time but decided to leave because she didn’t feel what she wanted to
in that church but still has that knowledge. She initially asked us about
Baptisms for the dead and so we went into that and explained the Plan of
Salvation, talking in detail about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. There was not
a dry eye in the place (except for the daughter who wasn’t really listening
haha). It was a POWERFUL lesson and she felt the Spirit. She didn’t come to church
on Sunday but we put a baptismal goal for her for the 12th of March. She is
really prepared.
F- I think I’ve talked about F before. She is a miracle. We were
standing around one day not knowing what to do and an inactive member drove up
on his motorcycle and introduced himself and told us to pass by his house in
the week. F is his girlfriend who showed up while we were there. She had questions
and we started teaching her. We also had a REALLY POWERFUL lesson with her and
her boyfriend this week. In that lesson, we did the same thing: taught the Plan
of Salvation with emphasis on the Atonement. Again, not a dry eye in the place.
It was cool because they both realized the need for repentance in their lives.
We but a baptismal goal with her but we will have to change it due to her work
schedules on Sundays.
C Family - We haven’t really taught them but they are another Part
member inactive family we found. The husband isn’t a member but has attended
several times and never got baptized. His wife is a member but has been
inactive since her parents separated. Funny story: Her father lives in Roca and
I served in his ward and know him personally haha, this world is a small place
for a Mormon. I’m more convinced of that every day haha.
That’s all I can think of for now. We have other people but those
are the focuses for now I’d say.
Elder Clifford
Monday, February 15, 2016
Cerro Campanario
2/16/16
I am doing well. We had an ok week. Not super great but this
week should be looking better. We are teaching 3 different families and they
are all really interested and it’s been great. I don’t
have time to give more details, they are great though haha.
Also we had a sick Pday last week. We went to Cerro
Campanario which is a hike up to a look-out where you can see all 7 Lakes
in the area. Bariloche is beautiful you guys! This past week it was
really windy! But it is especially windy up there. The area in
Bariloche where I am serving isn’t this pretty, I wish though. But it’s a lot prettier
than all of my other areas haha.
I love you guys and
we'll talk more next week!! CHAU!
New People to Teach
2/8/16
This week was a lot better. We found several new people to teach which
is fantastic. The Familia T didn’t come to church again so we have to figure out what
the deal is with them
Our new investigators
are actually all pretty interesting.
B and S - they are
friends but we found them in B's house. We were just knocking doors and B let
us in. We taught the Restoration and they seemed to like the message. We have
appointments with them tomorrow.
F- We found her in the
house of a less active that we met last week. The less active is super cool and
wants to come back to church. She is his girlfriend and was very interesting in
learning more!
V - She was an
interesting find. There is this drunk inactive lady that we have been running
into a lot lately (we are trying to help her quit drinking). But the inactive
was at her friend V's house and called us over. While talking with the inactive,
V liked what we were saying and was actually testifying with us haha. She
wanted to come to church and learn more because she wants spiritual help in her
life. We went to go pick her up to come to church but she couldn’t come. We are
hoping she’ll come next week.
S - S wanted to shut the
door in our face. She believes in God but not in an after life. We chatted with
her and she alone decided that she wanted to know more. We asked her a couple
questions and she realized she is missing something in her life. We have an
appointment today.
M - M isn’t an
investigator but we are going to see what happens. We don’t know who he is but
is number is in our phone and he called us out of the blue telling us he couldn’t
meet with us because his family doesn’t like us but he wants to learn and met
with us because he has lots of questions. We told him he could call us or send
a message whenever. Hopefully something will change so that we can meet with
him and teach him.
CHAU!
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Bariloche
2/1/16
Things here in Bariloche
are interesting. We have a family that
we are teaching and they are super cool. The anterior elders found them. It’s
the Familia T. He was a pastor for another church and wasn’t happy with it. He
had a lot of questions and wanted to find the true church. He was walking past
our chapel one day and the gates were open because they were filling the font
for a baptism. He just walked right in and started asking all sorts of
questions. The elders taught him about the Restoration and he was hooked. He
just needs to get divorced, they need to get married and then they get baptized.
But other than that family, that’s all we have going for us right now. We
contacted ALL week in the hot sun. The temperature is a lot cooler here in
Bariloche but there is a HUGE hole in the ozone layer here and so the sun is
SUPER strong. You can feel it burning sometimes. It’s crazy. I’ve been getting burnt a lot but now I know haha.
My companions name is
Elder Hoffman. He is from Sparks, Nevada. He has 7 months in the mission.
There are 12
missionaries here in Bariloche. It’s a fairly big city. My area is in the
mountains so there is a lot more up and downs than any my other area so my legs
are getting a workout and I’ve been feeling a lot more tired, haha but it’s
GREAT!
My new pension here in Bariloche isn’t bad, but it’s better
than my last one and it has a WASHING MACHINE! So that’s a plus.
R, from Senillosa, was baptized
by a member who is preparing to go to the mission. We thought it was fitting. I
also found out that they REOPENED LAMARQUE!! Which is really exciting for me.
There are now 2 elders out there and 2 elders in Choele Choel which is how it
was before. I’m stoked.
Elder Clifford
Monday, January 25, 2016
GOOD AFTERNOON
January
25, 2016
GOOD AFTERNOON! Today has been PURE Chaos. I got transferred.
So did the entire missionary force in Senillosa. They did a white wash in the
entire district. It was crazy.
R finally
got baptized on Saturday, which was great! But now we are all leaving.
Pictures from my long trip to Bariloche
January 18,
2016
R didn’t come to church this Sunday but we are trying to get
him baptized this coming Saturday. We also had a failed activity this week. We
planned it and all and no one showed up so we bought ice cream and left haha
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Happy New Year!
January
4, 2016
We had a good New Year’s here. We had dinner with the same
family we ate with on Christmas Eve. We had a really really good asado and
salads and it was all really good. My comp and I made an apple crisp and that
was good too. On New Year’s Day we were in NQN (Neuquen) and had really good
weather. In the morning it rained REALLY
hard and was even hailing a bit but then it was just cloudy all day. When the
sun finally came out, the ice cream shop opened up so it was all good timing
haha. We ate tacos for lunch made by Mexicans, así que they were really good
tacos.
The work went really well this past week. We had lots of really
good lessons and met a couple new people. Here is a quick recap:
1- R: We still want to get
him baptized this weekend but we aren’t sure if we are going to be able to do
it. He didn’t come to church on Sunday because his house got robbed and didn’t
want to leave it alone. We went out to help him and we are going to see how it
goes.
2- E and M: They are a young family with some kids. They both
seemed interested in the message. M was a little more hesitant because she is
Catholic but she told us that she always thought God had more for her and we
told her that this was it. E was also interested so we are excited for them!
3- V: We met her this week and had 2 lessons with her. The first
one we taught the Restoration and she was very hesitant about all of it. We
explained the Book of Mormon and helped her to understand that it isn’t
anything weird or crazy. In the other lesson, we went with a member who really
helped. We taught her the Plan of Salvation but she wasn’t really focused. We
ended up having a LONG discussion about prayer and left her a big commitment to
pray and ask because she was kinda freaking out haha
4- L: We met him this week too. He goes to a church that is like
the Jehovah’s Witness like they don’t celebrate things. We explained the book
of Mormon a little and he was excited to read it so we'll see how that goes.
5- V: This is a different V. She has family that are members but
she never got baptized. She has trouble receive an answer so we talked about
that with her and it was cool because she told us that this is something that
is going to require a lot of effort and church attendance to receive the
answer. Unfortunately she left the next day for a trip to Buenos Aires so we couldn’t
see her again but we have high hopes.
6- C: we also met a lady contacting and she told
us she wanted to come to church with us the next day, unfortunately she is
really pregnant and felt sick in the morning so she couldn’t come but we are
going to visit her in the week.
Elder Clifford
New Years Eve Dinner
We made Senillosa T- Shirts!
Riding in the back of a truck with some kids
Saturday, December 19, 2015
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
Sunday, December 13, 2015
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
Friday, November 13, 2015
Bits and Pieces
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
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