October 13, 2013

Hey everyone!

I didn't leave enough time so this will be short. I will probably paste a few things that I wrote to other people in here. Sorry if this is a little crazy and not understandable. Love you all and don't forget that!

So to President Boswell about this last week and the work in my area: "With A (our bible loving investigator), we are planning to have a lesson this week really hitting on prayer and how it isn't just communication with Heavenly Father, but touching how it is also a channel for revelation. We want him to see that he needs to recognize God as the source of where truth comes about knowledge we have. We know that for him, as soon as he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, everything else will fall into place. We talked a lot about choosing a baptismal date last lesson, and he wouldn't pick on. He isn't opposed to baptism, in fact, he said yes, he will be baptized, but he isn't ready to accept a date quite yet. He says he still has things to learn and change before he will be ready for baptism and he can't pick a date until he has more of an idea how long that will take. He is very open to baptism and knows it is important and I also think he is beginning to say that this is the right church for baptism, but we're still going to have to keep working on the date and testimony. He is reading the Book of Mormon though and last we heard had already read 7 chapters." (little side note here: I have been reading the book of Mormon with him where he is at and that is the coolest thing ever!)

"Also, the member missionary work is going in our area. Our most recent convert has been sharing the gospel quite a bit and as she says, she has "master plans". She has shared the family proclamation with a few people and has asked for more and is working on sharing "Finding faith in Christ" with a few others. We have so many awesome resources for missionary work that I don't think the missionaries realize. These tools are an easy and simple ways for the members to start a conversation. Ag. has really seen some success and we think soon we might meet with one of her neighbors who she will be giving a proclamation to.
"Also, another member, M (the wife of the branch president here) has been attending English class and absolutely loves it. Sister B and I are teaching her the basics and it is so fun to challenge our latvian by trying to teach English completely in Latvian. She loved English class so much that she invited a friend! She is attending second level and loves it! She has a private English lesson with the Elders and they gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it. We are hoping to have a lesson with her and M this week to talk more about the gospel. M also is going to give her a family proclamation with her testimony written on the back and talk to her friend about the gospel and ask her if she wants to find out more about how we can have this kind of family. M's friend's son has also started to attend third level English this week as well! It is the best!" 

So yeah, that is that. I just want to encourage everyone to remember scripture reading! Something that I wish I knew before my mission is how much fun reading and studying the scriptures can be. I sit down at night or for a little bit after lunch to read and the time just flies by! I wish I had known how enjoyable it could be before my mission and taken advantage of it. I had so much more time then and I really could have delved into the scriptures. I am currently reading from the beginning of the Book of Mormon where an investigator is at. It is really cool to read the scriptures as if I were reading them through his eyes. So many new insights that I haven't even considered have come out and it is so cool. I also started reading the New Testament a few weeks ago. I half way through Matthew and I love it! What a great book that is and so many insights we can learn by learning from the most direct source we have about Christ's life and how he lived it. He truly was a perfect example and I am learning things I can apply i my life by reading directly from the record about his life. The Bible and Book of Mormon are true and will help us more than any other books. That I know for a fact.

I love you all! Thanks for your support!

Much love,

Sister Cloward

ps: send some questions so my writing can be more focused. :)