August 31, 2015 Letter...

Suppp mother, father, sister, brother.. lolololz. Anyways, Sup. Yes, thank you for the money. I got the protein today and I am one happy camper :) yessss ...I love it, thanks mamma. District Leader is easy and fun. Nothing too crazy. Just more responsibilities, but it's good because it keeps things interesting and new. I like that. And yes... I do feel like I'm in the groove. I have got things figured out. I know how to work and I know how to help others work. I'm killing it. Like is perfect. (knock on wood ;) 

Jacob got a new boat.. what the heck.. that's too great. Good to see he is seeing a lot of success.. what a stud. I miss that family. That is so great. I'm not in the same apartment.. it's a different one :) but it's good. I'll send pics today I hope :)

Tell Brig CONGRATZ.. I'm still not a member of that club haha.. thank goodness.. all the kids.. (including Skyler) are, except me. I am the angel. And ah, Bro and Sis Bennett :( I'm sorry. I'll be praying a lot for them. She is awesome. Love you guys.

This week... was good. We worked hard. Like every day. We are working to baptize 5 this month. That's our goal and I know we'll get it done. It's a good time. Also, this week Elder Bednar talked to us... it was AMAZING. He is my hero. I went in thinking like, oh yeah, he is gonna give us like an hour talk and it's gonna be cool, so yeah, let's go. But that's not what it was. It was like a 4 hour training.. wait.. more like a spiritual discussion... and a question and share session. It was so weird I was not expecting something like that, but it was one of the most special and sacred experiences of my life. I'm not kidding. We got there... and okay, you always see him in conference and he looks like such a serious dude, but he was actually super hilarious. He mentioned that the Apostles are 180 degrees different from what you see in Conference. When they are in Conference, they need to be serious because they are speaking doctrine, but when they are together amongst themselves, they are funny dudes. Elder Bednar said Elder Oaks is one of the funniest guys he has ever met. He tells quirky jokes and laughs at them and his whole body shakes, apparently, and we all laughed hearing that. Haha. Elder Bednar told us as soon as we got there for the training, to not take notes. He doesn't know why, but in the culture of the church people are always taking notes of every thing they hear, and that's wrong. Instead, we should keep our "small plates" (a spiritual history), instead of "large plates" (a secular history). He said, "Taking notes in a meeting like this is stupid." And Sis. Bednar stood up and said "I have been trying to get him to not use that word." And then Elder Bednar was like "Well, I can't repent because I'm not sorry." Hahahaha. It killed me. What a stud. So he told us, only the things that the holy ghost teaches you, write down. And wow, so amazing. He talked so much about faith, about agency and how it's more than just choosing, but it's acting and not being acted upon. He talked about how we need to be our own agents and act for ourselves in all things, and as we teach, we need to let our investigators be agents, instead of us acting over them. He told us about how the 12 (Apostles) talk about topics and discuss them and it was awesome. It was the most amazing experience of my life! Oh, there is so much more that he explained that I haven't written. He really changed my outlook on so many things. He also told us his biggest concern as one of the 12 is steadfastness. Members being steadfast and immovable until the end. We got to ask him so many questions and that was one we asked him, and that's what he said. His biggest thing is staying steadfast on the path. As he finished, he told us, "Put your notebooks away, and listen to this part; it's going to be intense, but I want you to pay attention, and if you do so, the holy ghost will help you remember it when you get home so you can write it down." (which is true, when I got home I remembered literally everything he said in this little intense 30 min part... amazing). He started off saying, "If the Lord was here, what do you think would be the most important thing to him?" (something like that) and then he went on to explain if we want to know the answer, we can read about it in the gospels when he says my hour has arrived, because right before he died, he taught the most important things. Likewise in the Book of Mormon, he taught the Nephites the most important things while he was there. Elder Bednar challenged us to read and make a list. He told us the first two things he taught were in Jerusalem; the Sacrament, and the Americas; the correct way to baptize. He told us the most important things for the Lord are ordinances. That's the way we make it back to him. That a person absolutely needs to do them it they want to make it back to God. There is no maybe... there is no wiggle room... no exceptions. Every one of us needs the ordinances so we can endure faithfully to the end and partake of the fruit of the tree of life, so we can really apply the Atonement in our lives, and be changed by grace. Then he used that to practically say we need to baptize more here because the people need these ordinances. I loved it. He explained a lot more, but when I get home you can read my notes :) I will forever remember that experience.

Anyways, love you all!

Elder Cluff

 Martha's baptism, her son baptized her with Elder Badal and me :) 

Elder Badal and me at Larcomar in Miraflores :)