Decembers Letters

12/13/10

I am still alive everyone!
hello Family from thge jungles of Lima....No, I was not transferred..but transfers are tomorrow and I am receiving a new comp.  His name is Elder Molina and he has been out for four months, only three weeks longer than me.  So two new greenees in la Galeras.  I hear from everyone that he is awesome.  Next week I will let you know.  The reason there wasn't a letter last week is because my other comp, Elder Rojas recieved his visa to Mexico and my p day last week was going to the government for his passport and to pay for those things that he needs taxes and other stuff.  So we got that done and he left on Friday  It was a crazy week and I had no time because of that... sorry.  I have two people that have baptismal dates for this weekend and Christmas day.  Here is the thing ; I have 11 others that I will committ this week.  The Lord has really blessed us with a lot of work and the success is great.  Most of these people are references of the ward members.  I had lunch with the stake president and he asked us what we think about our goals?  We said fine...our goal is to have five people a month to baptize and he said double it!  The goal for 2011 is to baptize 10 people a month in every ward so basically he wants to grow the stake 600 people strong members of the church.  So I said because I am the one staying in my area, lets do it starting this month.  Its going to take a lot of prayer, fasting, to get this number, but the Lord has alreadt blessed us with so much.  The biggest problem in Peru is that nobody is married, and so my mission president is setting up Matrimonio massivos, and at the moment I cannot think in English...large masses of marriage?    Oh no se las palabras en ingles...lo siento soy un peruviano ahora..pero...this will help a lot of people get married.  It is in January and this should open up the flood waters of baptisms for all of the lima missionaries.  It makes it so that it costs only 60 soles for them to get married...this is a great blessing for all of the missionaries including me.  This should help my area.
     I am helping out with the singing in Christmas and guess what we are singing for it?   Jingle Bells!!   I am serious, jingle bells.  In spanish the song is different, it talks about God and the birth of Jesus, but the problem is for the chorus they want to sing it in Emglish  ha ha !  So we are singing it in English in church.!?!  Also we are singing O Holy Night.  The director showed me the "El Divo" version of the song and she wants it to sound like that... its aahh pretty funny ha ha.  But I support my ward members in all that they do.  One more story...
    I was door contacting and we were not having much luck and I was like "This Stinks, I want to teach!".  Finally we went up to this door and I said I was going to make something else up, so we knocked on the door and a guy opened up and it was me talking, the gringo... and I said, "Hello, we are looking for Juan", and the guy said,  "I am Juan", and I said "Juan we were looking for you", and he said, "for me?"  I said, "yes, we have a message for you from the church!"  He said, "Oh man, God wants me to listen to you, come in, come in, and we taught him, so now I just ask for random people ha ha!  It was Hilarious! 
   Well, everything is going great, love you all.  I am excited to talk to you at Christmas, but until then, love you all and hope things are going good.  Talk to you next week!
Love, Elder Clouse

12/20/10

Hello Dear Family!
   How is everyone doing?  I am glad to hear a little bit about home and how things are going.  Well, last week I got a new companion, his name is Elder Molina.  He is 20 years old and has 7 months in the mission.  he is from Nicaragua.  He has more kool than koolaid !  He is awesome and I have been so happy this week to have him.  He is a really good missionary and is chill.  We are able to teach faster , contact faster , and I am so blessed to have him.   It is so cool, other than this grand blessing, my week has been pretty good.  My baptism I had for last Saturday fell through and I wasn't able to commit anybody to baptism that I thought was ready.  Elder Molina is new to the area so I am the one for the first three weeks that knows the area and our investigators.  So I have to train him in the area and people.  It is a little tough because the address and streets and somethimes the people are rediculous  haha, but I have been able to show him around and we are starting to take off.   My computer just froze and I have been working for twenty minutes trying fix it... I am sorry, this is going to have to be a short one.  Well, I have a baptism for this Christmas day.  It should be cool.  Luisa is 10 years old and her parents are not married so they can't get baptised yet.  Other than that the family is great and they all attend church.  They are really progressing well.  I am excited to talk to you all this week.  Sorry its short, my computer was not being very nice to me.  I hope you all take time to remember Christ and the reason we have Christmas.  It is truly the best blessing we have!
Love you all and talk to you on Christmas.
Love, Elder Clouse

12/27/10

Hello Family!
    It's been only two days since we talked, but I have the opportunity to write again , so why not?  My baptism did not go through.  Working on Christmas was really hard, there were a lot of drunks and my baptism, Luisa was gone all the day with her dad.  When her dad said they would be  there all day,,, so I don't know what is up, but I will visit her tonight to see if we can get another date.   Nobody wanted to listen, and this weeks numbers are the worse I've ever had.  It is pretty sad, but with so many poeple in celebration modeI am not able to do much.  But today is my Christmas present from my leaders.  We are playing soccer on grass instead of dirt.  We are going to the center of Lima to play in a stadium.  It is going to be really cool.
   Well, last night was the choir festival with the stake where every ward had a choir..  The elders sang too and I sang White Christmas on the spot !  When the Stake president was speaking, he said that White Christmas was his favorite song ,  and then he said... Elder Clouse, are able to sing it?  I said Yes, and I sang it.  It was actually pretty good.  I am singing in my ward this week.  If I am here for stake conference in February, I will sing then too.  I have been able to sing a lot and the people love it.  Well, not much else is going on.  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday.  Well I love you all.  Tomorrow its  back to the grid iron baptism by fire, Uncle Kev. style.   Love you all, have a wonderful new year, talk to you in 2011
Love, Elder Clouse

12/27/2010

Hi Mom!
   How are things going?  I am so glad you are having a wonderful holiday season and enjoying life again.  It is truly a blessing to have health.  Remember though, true life is eternal life.  Teach Marcus the significance of eternal life and what happens here will stay with us forever.  Come closer to the Lord and no matter what happens in pain or trial, we will enjoy life because we are walking in the light of our Savior and Redeemer.  I love you with all my heart and will cherish for eternity the eternal truths you have taught me through your love and perfect example.  Hope you have a happy new year.  Love you so much, thanks for everything mom, truly, thank you.
  Your eternally grateful son who loves his mother with all his heart, Elder Clouse