April letters

Hello family and friends. I am in Iquitios Peru. The number 1 jungle tour city in all of south America. The city of Iquitos is actually about 700,000 people so its not Jungle Jungle in the City. But I am on the out side of the city. My area is called Los Delfines. Its not a city but I have about 10 different pueblos or grouping of people that I am in charge of. I have a branch of about 40 people but about 120 less active members. About 5000 people live in my area. Its not actually jungle jungle where there will be a lot of dangerous animals. But so far I have seen monkeys and one snake, and I never thought that they are real but those lizards that change colors to their environment, I forgot what they are called, but one of those too. I live in a house that has a tin roof and a brick wall and a cement floor, but just about every other house is made of wood and has a thatched roof. It is hotter that heck  (h e double hockey sticks) and have used about a gallon and a half of repellent to keep the mosquito's of me. I have to walk in mud and sand and sometimes sit on the floor to teach the lessons. The people here are really awesome and we teach alot of lessons. The funniest thing is the way they talk here. It is like they are singing. It is very hard to understand but so far there is only one person that i am just totally lost when he speaks. It is called Charapul. The people here don't have alot of schooling and so they don't understand alot of the gospel principles. We have to teach in a way so that children would understand it. But they always say in the mission that when we learn to be teachers of the gospel is when we are in the jungle so I am happy to be here. The people here always give us stuff to eat. They always give us fresh fruit from the trees and it is really good. In my house I have coconut trees. bananas. radishes, rose bushes, andm  wild flowers all in my back yard. It is all very pretty. Well, my companion is elder Puma. He is from Arequipa Peru. He is so is cool but takes an hour and a half to get ready. Literally FOREVER. But I am very happy to be with him. He has 20 months in his mission and really knows what he is doing. So I am happy. Wow I just found an elder that I can use his  camera to send pictures now! woooo hoooooo!  You will see that now I have a matching net with Sheryl's. I am drinking a coconut and a little part of my area. YEEEEESSSSS! Alright! Now I can rob his stuff and not have to buy anything. Well my life is going great, I love you all and am praying for you all everyday. I will fill in a lot more details next week with my area. and the people I am teaching. LOVE YOU all Elder Clouse

Well I am going to be kev kev kev of the jungle. I am being transferred to the jungle. I still don't know exactly where, but I will be living with my family of apes eating bananas and leaves. Ha ha. Everyone says that the jungle is going to be the best part of my mission, but I don't know so far i have really loved Lima. Well I have never seen so many people cry that I am leaving. Everyone said that there has never been an elder so happy, talented with my singing, and beatboxing and working hard in the work. One lady says whenever I visit her it is the best part of the week. Yesterday I gave my final testimony in my ward. And after everybody knew that I was leaving, I felt like it was a thank you Elder Clouse meeting. Well I have worked really hard in this area. My first week when I arrived they had about 50 people attending and yesterday we had 120 in the meeting. So I feel pretty good with all the work that me, my companions and the Lord have done. I still wish I can do more but with almost 6 months in this area, President Blunck thought it was time.  I had an interview with him this last week and we talked for about 45 minutes. He says usually he doesn't take that much time to talk to his elders but this time we talked for a long time. Well he told because of my obedience to all the rules he was sending me to the jungle. The missionaries in the jungle are far away from the president so they start bending the rules. But he said that I am one of the most trusted elders in the mission and he would have a lot of confidence in me, in the jungle. This was last Wednesday and so I knew my change a week earlier than everybody else. He told me to work like I wasn't going to be changed and get the highest numbers that I could. And so I did. I did the most lessons and everything else this week than in my entire mission. So I am pretty happy. Well this week I went to a school to teach English. It was the coolest thing ever to work with all of the kids. All of them were so happy to see me and were amazed that I could speak 2 languages. Well 1 1/2 languages. Ha ha They asked me all sorts of weird questions in English, Like What I like in a women and how many children I have, and if, when and where was my first kiss. After all of that i asked what are you all thinking in your minds children. They were only 12 years old. And then I asked them to talk normally, like where am I from and what 12 year old should be talking about. It was really fun. Well tonight my pensionista is having a family home evening with everyone in the ward. I am not suppose to know but I do. They will do it tonight in the church and will have almost everyone in the ward. I overheard it when I was walking by the relief society. So that will be really nice. I am really sad to leave my first area but I am so happy to be able to know more of Peru. Like it says on the coins of the U S. In god we trust. And that is really true. In everything we do in the church is because we put our confidence in Our Heavenly father. Well that's about it. I love you all and hope things are still going great. Well talk to you in the jungle. Love you all Elder Clouse.

04/04/11

Hello Everyone!  How is the United States?
    Peru is doing good!  Things are going to be a little crazy this week.  There are elections for the president.  It is law here that everyone has to vote.  It is this Sunday, and so nobody can do anything this Sunday including church.  So we won't have church this Sunday.  But I have to go out and try to teach somebody.  But no one will be home.  The polls last from 8 in the morning until 9 at night.  Stay tuned for next week to see what will  happen.  This week we had a conference with President Blunck on Thursday.  We learned a bunch of new things from him including goals and ways to teach.  We always feel inspired to work harder after we have meetings with him.  Yesterday and Saturday was conference.  Wow how amazing!  The people that I am testifying about spoke.  I don't think I have ever listened so focused in my life.  It was amazing.  The sessions here were live They were at 11 and 3 with priesthood at 7, so I was able to see it live , also I went to the second floor of the stake center and watched it in ENGLISH!  Wow how I love English.  It was so amazing to hear the Mo-Tab sing.  We really heard some good advice and I am really excited to get the talks in Spanish to study them.  BUT, I had members bringing my investigators to the conference and what happened?  My investigators didn't come and neither did the members that were suppose to bring them.  I was a little bit angry yesterday because I have people that needed to attend church for their baptisms.  But now that is se fue.  That didn't happen, now I have to get new dates for baptisms and set new goals with them.  But it will all work out. 
   The two pictures that are here are of Maracuya, a fruit that grows in the jungle that makes the best drink on the face of the earth.  The other is a family that is in my ward.  It is the family Biarrubia.  They always give us references and food and drinks.  They are really one of the best families I have met.  They have been in the church for 45 years and they have been sealed in the temple and have been really faithful.  I always think of their examples and how those elders who baptised them and had them be so faithful.  I would love to know that in 45 years that all my baptisms have been faithful.
Well, that's about all for this week.  I love you all and thanks for you all for your support and prayers.
Love you all, Elder Clouse

04/12/2011

Hello everyone. How is it going? Well This week was a good week in Peru. I have found a lot of people to teach and the work is progressing. Well next week are the transfers and i have no idea what will happen. I may leave or i may stay. President Blunck wants missionaries to stay in their areas for longer periods of time so we will have to just wait and see what happens. Well today i went to the temple again. WOW it was really great to be back. There is always a special spirit there that i never want to loose. I miss being able to go every week. I did sealings today and so I only lack one thing to have done everything in Spanish. Next time I have the goal to finish everything in Spanish. Well one this that is interesting is that after the temple we were walking out and there was a bride and groom taking pictures outside and I had to shout" there's a bride!" in remembrance of mom. And then I got closer and looked at the bride and it was my teacher from the M T C here in Lima. Well she always liked us calling her from her first name whitch believe it or not is lady. So i was like Sister lady. WOoooooooo usted va a casarse. Your going to get married. it was awesome my companion elder Morales and another elder, elder Bandis were all taught by her and so we took some pictures with her and her husband. ha ha. It was awesome. Well after that we went to the national museum here in Peru. Next week I will send pictures of that I think. It was all about Peru and Incas and how Peru was won from Spain. It was interesting. Well last week we went bowling and to the beach. So there is 2 pictures of that. I won in bowling and I am pretty proud.  It was in Mira Flores in Lima. It is almost like the  USA. It had a bunch of fancy shops that were selling things that are too expensive to buy. We ate at pizza hut so it was almost like I was in the US. Well there are a bunch of gringos in Mira flores and I decided I wanted to contact a person in English for the first time ever. And so I went up to this older couple and contacted them. It was hilarious because they were already members. ha ha. I told them I only wanted to do a contact in English. And they laughed and said you can practice your English with us if you want. I don't know what that meant if my English was bad or if I needed to practice how to contact in English. But who knows. Well for the actual work part. It is going really good. I have found alot of people lately that have said they have been wondering about which way to go in life, what church to join and if they should do anything to become closer to God. Well of course we are helping them. Every time we invite them to pray after, they always pray for us and thanks our heavenly father for sending us to them. Its really special to be in the work of the Lord. I have felt many things here on the mission that I will never forget. Well I am grateful for everything, all of you do for me. I love you and pray for all of you everyday. Well that's about it for this week.
 Thanks for everything love you all ,
Elder Clousito