January's Letters 2012

The last two weeks, Kevin has been skyping with us because his mission president approved of it because of my cancer.  We need to see each other as much as possible before I pass away which I hope is not for several months!!!  WE have asked him to still write some family notes to keep the blog going, so here is  January 30ths:




Well family this week has gone really well. Here we are making
progress with a few people. Yesterday we had 5 investigators in the
church, which  is the most that the branch has had in over 3 years.
Also we have found a few people that are really progressing.  This
week we have had a few good moments and like always a few bad moments.
But that's how it goes.

This week we have had a few funny things happen to us. We were door
contacitng to find more people to teach when we knocked on a door and
a little boy ran out crying and ready to die almost. We asked him " whats wrong",  and he said that his grandma who has allhimers and doesn't
walk very well fell down. We went  and got his neighbor (because his
mom wasnt home) to help us out and so that we wouldn't just barge right
in. His neighboor called his mom and told us to help her get her off
the floor. We did it and got her sat down in her chair. She was scared
because she didnt know who we were. But she finally calmed  down a
little bit when the mom came walking in. She works in the hospital and
brought home a few pills to calm her down. The dad got home and we
explained what happened. The little boy kept on repeating Thanks to
the lord that he sent you to help us in our moment of darkness. We
laughed a little bit. But we ended up getting an appointment with them
and they said that we could come at anytime. So it was great.

Well this week we were teaching another man when he asked us a
question. Is the Music from the world Good to listen to? Then out of
nowhere this old lady that belongs to a church were they believe that
all worldly music comes from the devil barged in and started preaching
to us for 20 minutes how everything is from the devil. Then she told
us that we needed to teach him that. When she finally left, The man
said. I think she is from the devil. We laughed really hard. It was
great.

Well We are working hard and doing well I will go now untill next
week. Love you all Elder CLouse


January 9, 2012

Hello family and friends. Well this week was really cool. I went to
Lima and had a blast. It was a cool little vacation. I had the
district meeting on Tuesday early in the morning and set goals with
all of the missionaries. Then we took a taxi and went to Tarapoto. Its
a 2 hour drive to go from Moyobamba to Tarapoto and we wind and go
through the green hills and mountains of the jungle. Its one of the
prettiest drives that I have every seen. You should all come here just
to take the drive. Well then we take a plane from the airport in
Tarapoto to Lima. Then from Lima to the offices is about 30 minutes.
In all its all about 6 and a half hours trip from Moyo to the offices
of the mission. We talked to about 5 people in the planes and got
references for the missionaries in Lima and in Tarapoto.  It ended
up that I ate Chile's 2 times; On Tuesday night, then president Blunck
bought it for us the next day. But I went to the mega plaza in Lima
which has all of the American shops like aeropostal and quicksilver. I
felt like I was in the U S for about 2 hours, especially because I was
talking in English with the elders.  The conference was great. we
learned a lot of things and set alot of goals for the mission for 2012.
The goal for 2012 is to baptize 2100 people with 25% being adult men
and 350 families. Its a good goal and we think we can make it. Also
president has put goals for every companionship to have 4 baptisms of 2
families every month. Its a great goal to work for.

 When I came back we started working really hard. We found 5 new
families to teach and have set a couple of baptismal dates. We should
be able to reach the goal of 4 baptisms with 2 of them being families
in February. I want really bad to make it for 2 reasons. Number 1, It
stinks not having baptisms and Number 2 because all of the elders in
my zone don't believe that we can make that goal. They don't believe that
this zone is a baptising zone, which is crap, but nobody has had more
than 2 baptisms in a month in over 2 years. But I know that they are
just full of junk, and need a good slap in the face. OH YE MEN OF
LITTLE FAITH: But lets see what I do to change that.


Well yesterday we had a good church attendance. We had 110 people in
the church. It was the best in over 6 months. So we are progressing in
that way. Now we just to act like John Wayne and BAPTIZE THEM;

Well things are going great here I love you all and hope things are
good. Well I love you all and pray for you all. Talk to you next week.
Love Elder Clouse


January 2, 2012

Hello family how is everything going? Well things are going really
great here. Me and my new companion are doing really well. My new companion
is Elder Castillo. He was my district leader in Iquitos So I have
known him now for about 5 months. He is very cool and we haven't had
any problems. He started the same day as me, the first of September.
Yesterday we completed 16 months. We are now the old people in the
mission.  Being zone leaders doesn't help because everyone talks
about the zone leaders. But its cool.

Tomorrow I will go to Lima for the zone leaders council. We have to
travel 6 hours in car and plan. But I will be going to Chile's tomorrow
night so its worth it. I will be sleeping in a place that I have never
seen before so it should be cool. Its actually the last area of my
companion. So it should be cool. I wont get back to Moyobamba until
Thursday in the morning so its a little vacation for me. Also I will
see all of the  guys from my group so it should be cool.

Well this week we found some new families to teach. 2 of them say that
they want to get baptised. One of them is already married and the
other one wants to so it should be good. This week I felt like the
finding of families and people to teach has gone a lot smoother and
will be great working with my new companion.

Well other than that I want to wish you all a happy new year and hope
everything goes better this year than it went the last year. I am
looking forward to these last months of my mission  because I guess I
know how to do it. But we will see how it goes. Well I love you all
and hope the best Love You all , Elder Clouse