Oh that's smooth... how does that buddy pass membership work? I can take a buddy every single time for free or how is it? That sounds awesome. And yeah AF rec is cool.. but you know me.. I'm definitely a Gold's guy.. and that's going to be a lot easier when I'm at BYU also.. so thank you for doing that:)
Good to hear Sky and Ash are doing well. I really look up to them. Not kidding. It's amazing to see how much Skyler has matured during these years... like he is a man and a dad now.. it's weird. but that's so sick. And get Cameron going on that 125! If he starts now he'll be rockin' it. And I'll help him with it when I get home.
And good to hear about the housing... honestly Bryce Curtis is just the man I wanted. Not kidding. So good work. Get that guy to sign stuff so it's official. And for Eric's position.. hmmm.. we gotta see. We'll keep looking and searching. It will be easier when I get home.
Anyways…this week has been super solid. Not too many crazy things have happened. I’m loving life because we are managing to get some of the best and hardest work done that I’ve done in all my mission. Really it’s amazing. It’s kind of sad though because we are finding so many people to teach, including three families of four, but when their baptisms roll around, I’m not going to be here. It’s aight though. I’m thankful to the Lord for the opportunity that he gave me to serve here in this sector. Honestly, it was a sector that hadn’t been taken care of at all; there just weren’t investigators to teach. There had been baptisms through a few references awhile back, but other than that we were working with nothing. I guess the missionaries before got intimated by the fact that it’s pure city and people with a lot of money and that it requires a different form of work. My comp and I have been able to get the wheel rolling and in these four weeks we’ve found and taught about 50 new investigators and this week and next week and then the rest of the weeks this month we’ll be having baptisms. It’s so amazing to see the Lord’s hand in this work. It’s not our work, it’s his. The more I remember that, the more trust I’m able to show, which in turn brings true results.
Last night we had a really cool experience. Yesterday after church, we didn’t have any appointments, so we had to go searching for people to teach. Usually on Sunday, people are at home, but yesterday definitely wasn’t that way. We had passed by people’s houses for literally 5 hours with absolutely zero success. We had contacted like 30 people in the street, trying to get an appointment to teach them, we had passed by almost all of our investigator’s houses to see if we could teach them, but nothing. Nobody was home though…. So at the end of the night… we were like.. fetch. Then all the sudden we were like… well let’s go pass by this last house… and then we’ll go home. So we went, and we found there a family of four people! We taught them, and come to find out, the wife has a whole bunch of family that are members and she had been receiving the missionaries from their house, but could never progress because she didn’t live there. So they are super excited to progress and it just goes to show, that when we are diligent in acting and working up until the very end, the Lord comes through and blesses us. Such a neat experience.
Elder Cluff
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
June 20, 2016 Letter...
Wow sounds like a super awesome week. Not kidding.. dad retiring, a sweet family reunion where the family got to bond and get together, and that's great dad and Serena got to spend some quality time together and won the Rook championship.. hahaha that's sweet. good work mom :) and hey how is Brooke doing? I'm glad she is doing well and got to say hi to the family! And Brigham and Cameron helped take the topper for the car off?! What? Like two years ago that would have been something imaginable.. I'm super excited to see them and how much they've grown. I'll continue praying for the family. I know all is going to go well and I'm excited for the new doors that are being opened.
So my companion Elder Llanos returned home to Trujillo this Thursday. There were a few unresolved things to take care of there. Even though he returned, I’m so proud of him. He came here to the mission ready to work, excited and all, and recognized how obedient we are in the mission and also recognized how important it is that he should emulate such obedience. We talked a lot and he finally worked up the courage to talk to President. I really admire him and I am proud of him for the steps he’s taking to become better. I’m going to miss the guy. I’ve felt pretty down about the whole thing, but President Larson, he is the man, reassured me and let me know that what happened was exactly what needed to happen and that’s why he had felt inspired to give me the special assignment to be with the Elder. I’m happy that my buddy is going to be able to get things all figured out now :)
Anyways… what else… this week we’ve been working our tushies off to find people and baptize them.
My new comp is great. He has honestly been a blast. Not kidding. He makes me laugh and wow he is working here like a BEAST. Elder Pender from Canada. Literally I don’t know how we’re doing it, but we are finding soooo many people to teach and having success through the roof!! Actually I do know how, it’s because the Lord is blessing us for our diligence and obedience. It’s amazing. This is some of the hardest work I’ve done in all my mission. It feels really good!
The rich sector is soooo fun. We have been teaching a lot of high class people lately and they are so awesome. It’s a blast working here in Lince and San Isidro. And I didn’t know this, but actually Peru’s first MTC is actually in my sector! The church still owns it, but now a member family that works for the church is living in it to take of it and all that. Sadly the church is looking to sell it. It’s a sweet piece of history though and yesterday we ate lunch with the family who’s living in it and got to go on a tour. It’s like a giant colonial house and you can tell that it was gorgeous place back in it’s time. I’ll send pictures.
So my companion Elder Llanos returned home to Trujillo this Thursday. There were a few unresolved things to take care of there. Even though he returned, I’m so proud of him. He came here to the mission ready to work, excited and all, and recognized how obedient we are in the mission and also recognized how important it is that he should emulate such obedience. We talked a lot and he finally worked up the courage to talk to President. I really admire him and I am proud of him for the steps he’s taking to become better. I’m going to miss the guy. I’ve felt pretty down about the whole thing, but President Larson, he is the man, reassured me and let me know that what happened was exactly what needed to happen and that’s why he had felt inspired to give me the special assignment to be with the Elder. I’m happy that my buddy is going to be able to get things all figured out now :)
Anyways… what else… this week we’ve been working our tushies off to find people and baptize them.
My new comp is great. He has honestly been a blast. Not kidding. He makes me laugh and wow he is working here like a BEAST. Elder Pender from Canada. Literally I don’t know how we’re doing it, but we are finding soooo many people to teach and having success through the roof!! Actually I do know how, it’s because the Lord is blessing us for our diligence and obedience. It’s amazing. This is some of the hardest work I’ve done in all my mission. It feels really good!
The rich sector is soooo fun. We have been teaching a lot of high class people lately and they are so awesome. It’s a blast working here in Lince and San Isidro. And I didn’t know this, but actually Peru’s first MTC is actually in my sector! The church still owns it, but now a member family that works for the church is living in it to take of it and all that. Sadly the church is looking to sell it. It’s a sweet piece of history though and yesterday we ate lunch with the family who’s living in it and got to go on a tour. It’s like a giant colonial house and you can tell that it was gorgeous place back in it’s time. I’ll send pictures.
Love you guys!
Elder Cluff
Elder Cluff and Elder Pender
The first MTC in Peru
Another shot of the first Peruvian MTC. :)
June 13, 2016 Letter...
We had this guy tell us the other day, a Latino man, that he wants to help Donald Trump kick Latino’s butts out of the United States (he told us in English and didn’t use the word butt either)… I was like
"Wait, what you are Peruvian? What are you saying?!" He apparently works in the United States and is the only Peruvian man who actually supports Donald Trump.. it made me laugh.
We are teaching right now a family from Idaho.. that came here like 19 years ago.. but all the daughters were born there and came here when they were like 10.. so it’s funny. Rich sectors are fun.
I ask you guys to also pray for my companion Elder Llanos from Trujillo. He has a few difficulties and we´re not too sure about what´s going to happen. He is so excited and has such a great and loving heart that´s willing to serve the Lord.. I love the kid and care for him. I´ve felt such a strong spirit being here with him and being able to train him, it´s been such a blast and I pray that all will be well. Training a new missionary is such a unique experience. Sharing all I´ve learned with my new companion has been a really great experience. I have formed such a strong Christ-like love for my comp hoping and praying that he can be the best missionary during these two years. That´s my hope and prayer.
So we are teaching a ton load of people to be honest. In the past 10 days we have found about 15 new investigators, some of which are progressing beautifully. We are teaching two sisters that are doing awesome. The first is Teresa. She is an older woman who has a friend who is a member who introduced her to the church. So we´ve been teaching Teresa in the house of this certain member that talked to her about the church, and she is super excited to be baptized! She was preparing before to be a preacher in some church, but now she is super open and willing to be corrected for her false beliefs and really understand theses. Pray that she can continue overcoming the opposition that always exists and meet her goal to be baptized and confirmed! We are also teaching Irma, she is a 19 year old girl we met on Saturday and came to church all three hours yesterday and even decided to stay and plan activities with the YSA. Super awesome. When we taught Irma on Saturday she had told us that she didn’t believe in God and that religion for her was a joke. We taught her a very spiritual lesson that day and then on Sunday in sacrament meeting I had to give a talk so I testified of the divine role of Jesus Christ and the rest of the messages and classes were super powerful. Afterwards Irma was smiling and it was a great opportunity. Pray that she can really receive and answer from the Lord that these things are true.
So we met all the members in the ward this Sunday.. Wow. This is the strongest ward I have seen in my entire mission. Not kidding. The members are amazing and want to help us get work done. It is so awesome to see! The only bad thing is that I’m leaving in 4 weeks so I don't really get to take complete advantage. There are a lot of YSA that have been coming out to teach with us and it’s been a blast. This sector, which suffered in the past, is being turned around!
I really love President Larson. I’m really so grateful for having served under him. Really he is one of the greatest men I know. He really loves and cares for us and it’s something genuine, something really that makes the difference. It’s been awesome being here with them. He has helped me become the missionary that I am today.
So I can’t remember if I told you guys this was going to happened, but anyways this week Elder Rasband and his wife visited our mission! It was SO sweet. He gave such powerful and real testimony of the divinity of Christ and also of the truthfulness of this church. It was great. And we even got to go pass by and shake his hand! He reminded us, that a few days earlier he had shaken the hand of President Monson, so we were just one hand shake away from him :) But wow. Elder Rasband’s got a heart of gold. He is a very, very sweet and loving man. It was amazing to feel the true Christ like love that was transmitted from him to us. There was a very sweet spirit in that meeting and it’s something I’ll never forget. He spoke of a few things of which the spirit bore strong witness to me that I would like to share… One, that we ALWAYS need to pay attention to our first promptings. He taught us that those are the thoughts that come from the spirit. What comes after comes from us, or even from the enemy. He said if that first thought comes, and it makes you feel good, and it persuades you to do well, OBEY IT AND FOLLOW IT. It is one of the most important tasks we undertake here in this mortal like.. learning to listen and act on spiritual promptings. Two, he taught us that we end up being our most important converts when all is said and done. Looking back at the whole of my mission, I can honestly say these two years have helped me immensely in my personal process of conversion. I feel converted to the Lord now, something that I couldn’t say before the mission. Even though the mission isn’t about us, but rather the people, it’s still amazing what the mission does for one’s own conversion to the gospel. I love the gospel and I love the way I feel living it, procuring obedience with exactness.
And yeah, so I bought my suit.. Haha… it’s going to be a surprise.. you are going to love it because I promise you it’s not what you are expecting. :) I bet you can’t wait to see… let me just say SWAAGGER DAAGGER.
"Wait, what you are Peruvian? What are you saying?!" He apparently works in the United States and is the only Peruvian man who actually supports Donald Trump.. it made me laugh.
We are teaching right now a family from Idaho.. that came here like 19 years ago.. but all the daughters were born there and came here when they were like 10.. so it’s funny. Rich sectors are fun.
I ask you guys to also pray for my companion Elder Llanos from Trujillo. He has a few difficulties and we´re not too sure about what´s going to happen. He is so excited and has such a great and loving heart that´s willing to serve the Lord.. I love the kid and care for him. I´ve felt such a strong spirit being here with him and being able to train him, it´s been such a blast and I pray that all will be well. Training a new missionary is such a unique experience. Sharing all I´ve learned with my new companion has been a really great experience. I have formed such a strong Christ-like love for my comp hoping and praying that he can be the best missionary during these two years. That´s my hope and prayer.
So we are teaching a ton load of people to be honest. In the past 10 days we have found about 15 new investigators, some of which are progressing beautifully. We are teaching two sisters that are doing awesome. The first is Teresa. She is an older woman who has a friend who is a member who introduced her to the church. So we´ve been teaching Teresa in the house of this certain member that talked to her about the church, and she is super excited to be baptized! She was preparing before to be a preacher in some church, but now she is super open and willing to be corrected for her false beliefs and really understand theses. Pray that she can continue overcoming the opposition that always exists and meet her goal to be baptized and confirmed! We are also teaching Irma, she is a 19 year old girl we met on Saturday and came to church all three hours yesterday and even decided to stay and plan activities with the YSA. Super awesome. When we taught Irma on Saturday she had told us that she didn’t believe in God and that religion for her was a joke. We taught her a very spiritual lesson that day and then on Sunday in sacrament meeting I had to give a talk so I testified of the divine role of Jesus Christ and the rest of the messages and classes were super powerful. Afterwards Irma was smiling and it was a great opportunity. Pray that she can really receive and answer from the Lord that these things are true.
So we met all the members in the ward this Sunday.. Wow. This is the strongest ward I have seen in my entire mission. Not kidding. The members are amazing and want to help us get work done. It is so awesome to see! The only bad thing is that I’m leaving in 4 weeks so I don't really get to take complete advantage. There are a lot of YSA that have been coming out to teach with us and it’s been a blast. This sector, which suffered in the past, is being turned around!
I really love President Larson. I’m really so grateful for having served under him. Really he is one of the greatest men I know. He really loves and cares for us and it’s something genuine, something really that makes the difference. It’s been awesome being here with them. He has helped me become the missionary that I am today.
So I can’t remember if I told you guys this was going to happened, but anyways this week Elder Rasband and his wife visited our mission! It was SO sweet. He gave such powerful and real testimony of the divinity of Christ and also of the truthfulness of this church. It was great. And we even got to go pass by and shake his hand! He reminded us, that a few days earlier he had shaken the hand of President Monson, so we were just one hand shake away from him :) But wow. Elder Rasband’s got a heart of gold. He is a very, very sweet and loving man. It was amazing to feel the true Christ like love that was transmitted from him to us. There was a very sweet spirit in that meeting and it’s something I’ll never forget. He spoke of a few things of which the spirit bore strong witness to me that I would like to share… One, that we ALWAYS need to pay attention to our first promptings. He taught us that those are the thoughts that come from the spirit. What comes after comes from us, or even from the enemy. He said if that first thought comes, and it makes you feel good, and it persuades you to do well, OBEY IT AND FOLLOW IT. It is one of the most important tasks we undertake here in this mortal like.. learning to listen and act on spiritual promptings. Two, he taught us that we end up being our most important converts when all is said and done. Looking back at the whole of my mission, I can honestly say these two years have helped me immensely in my personal process of conversion. I feel converted to the Lord now, something that I couldn’t say before the mission. Even though the mission isn’t about us, but rather the people, it’s still amazing what the mission does for one’s own conversion to the gospel. I love the gospel and I love the way I feel living it, procuring obedience with exactness.
And yeah, so I bought my suit.. Haha… it’s going to be a surprise.. you are going to love it because I promise you it’s not what you are expecting. :) I bet you can’t wait to see… let me just say SWAAGGER DAAGGER.
Elder Cluff
June 6, 2016 Letter...
As for Austin Richards.. no I didn't see him. It would've been awesome to be honest. But I didn't get to see him! I'll see him soon anyways :) yea and about the debit card, I'll let you know when I get it!
And Yeah... Eric is engaged. Awesome!!! What a stud. But at the same time, SUCK. We will need a new man. Maybe Haden. Idk. I hope someone cool though. We will think of a person. Until when do we have. If it all goes south I can just move in with my other buddies in that department with Grant Lyman...is that a thing?
And that's hilarious that Zack got into a fight hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. That's the highlight of my week. Did he win? hahahahah. Sweeet. Go family. Bring honor to our name!
Well, I got transferred this week! But I have haven’t gone too far from where I was. I’m actually still in the same zone Limatambo, but in the ward Lince. My new sector is one of the richer sectors in the zone, so that’s fun. I’m actually training a brand new missionary named Elder Llanos from Trujillo Peru. He is a solid dude. He is a little bit nervous, but we’re working through that. It’s honestly weird being in the same zone that I was a zone leader in for so long, but now as just a normal missionary haha. For example, one of the district leaders that I always used to have to call and get after for many things, is my district leader. It’s funny how it works, but I’m loving it.
We both got thrown into this sector where sisters were before. The sisters were good sisters, but left us with very little. So this week we just walked our butts off, going from person to person trying to find people to teach. We’ve been praying a lot that the Lord would bless us and guide us to the prepared people and I can say that he has answered our prayers and we’ve been able to find a lot of really good people to teach who are going to be able to be baptized. We are going to give it our all so we can see some miracles this month. The goal is to really change this sector from one of the worst to one of the best here in the zone. I want my comp and the Elder that replaces me when I leave to be able to have a lot to work with and a lot to do.
We live in the rich part of Lima, San Isidro, so that’s fun… what else… really nothing. :)
Love you guys and talk to you next week!
Elder Cluff
And Yeah... Eric is engaged. Awesome!!! What a stud. But at the same time, SUCK. We will need a new man. Maybe Haden. Idk. I hope someone cool though. We will think of a person. Until when do we have. If it all goes south I can just move in with my other buddies in that department with Grant Lyman...is that a thing?
And that's hilarious that Zack got into a fight hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. That's the highlight of my week. Did he win? hahahahah. Sweeet. Go family. Bring honor to our name!
Well, I got transferred this week! But I have haven’t gone too far from where I was. I’m actually still in the same zone Limatambo, but in the ward Lince. My new sector is one of the richer sectors in the zone, so that’s fun. I’m actually training a brand new missionary named Elder Llanos from Trujillo Peru. He is a solid dude. He is a little bit nervous, but we’re working through that. It’s honestly weird being in the same zone that I was a zone leader in for so long, but now as just a normal missionary haha. For example, one of the district leaders that I always used to have to call and get after for many things, is my district leader. It’s funny how it works, but I’m loving it.
We both got thrown into this sector where sisters were before. The sisters were good sisters, but left us with very little. So this week we just walked our butts off, going from person to person trying to find people to teach. We’ve been praying a lot that the Lord would bless us and guide us to the prepared people and I can say that he has answered our prayers and we’ve been able to find a lot of really good people to teach who are going to be able to be baptized. We are going to give it our all so we can see some miracles this month. The goal is to really change this sector from one of the worst to one of the best here in the zone. I want my comp and the Elder that replaces me when I leave to be able to have a lot to work with and a lot to do.
We live in the rich part of Lima, San Isidro, so that’s fun… what else… really nothing. :)
Love you guys and talk to you next week!
Elder Cluff
My new comp Elder Llanos
We did some service and dug a hole.
Elder Cluff and Elder McPhie
LA IGLESIA DE
JESUCRISTO
DE LOS SANTOS
DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS
Misión Perú Lima Central
Av. Juan de Aliaga 510
Magdalena del Mar Lima
Lima 17, Peru
Tel: 011-51-1 222-2173
2010429@ldschurch.org
01 de junio de 2016
Dear Family of Elder Cluff,
I am delighted to inform you that your son, Elder Caden Matthew Cluff, has been assigned to serve as a trainer in the Peru Lima Central Mission. He will be the first companion of a new missionary in our mission. We all feel there is no more important assignment a missionary receives in the mission field. It is the most respected assignment one can receive in our mission. He will be responsible to teach his companion how to become the most successful missionary he can become. This significant responsibility has come to your son because he has exemplified the qualities of outstanding missionary service. Please know that this assignment comes to Elder Cluff by revelation and through pondering and prayer.
I am sure that you are pleased with the accomplishments and leadership ability that have made him worthy of this great responsibility. We pray that you, with him, will “lift up your heart and rejoice,” (see D&C 31:3). Thank you for all you have done to make Elder Cluff the fine young man that he is and for your continuing support of his missionary endeavors.
Warmest regards,
Stephen J. Larson
Presidente
Misión Perú Lima Central
May 30, 2016 Letter...
So yeah. This week has been fairly solid.. not many new things have happened. Hermana Maria is still doing extremely well, she is learning so much. Every time we go over to visit her she teaches us. She leaves us dumbfounded every single time due to the amount of spiritual knowledge and light she is able to obtain. She is going to be a great leader in the church. Also our other recent convert, Daniel is doing amazing. He had his interview with the bishop the other day and he’s going to receive the priesthood also serve in his new assignment which is greeting all the members in the doors as they enter into the church on Sunday. He is so exciting. Just a cute little old man willing and ready to serve the Lord.
Anyways you mentioned that maybe I could get a new suit why I was here.. that would be cool. I think I’m going to do it. The thing is that it’s 200 soles which translates to about 60 dollars. But the suits are SO DANG WAAAATT so pretty. I already have like 20 dollars in my account. So if you could throw on 45 more dollars, that would be awesome. Honestly I think that’s the last thing I’m going to buy here. I want to get you guys some SMALL fun souvenirs and all that, but I don’t expect to spend more than 100 dollars before I get home.
Anyways you mentioned that maybe I could get a new suit why I was here.. that would be cool. I think I’m going to do it. The thing is that it’s 200 soles which translates to about 60 dollars. But the suits are SO DANG WAAAATT so pretty. I already have like 20 dollars in my account. So if you could throw on 45 more dollars, that would be awesome. Honestly I think that’s the last thing I’m going to buy here. I want to get you guys some SMALL fun souvenirs and all that, but I don’t expect to spend more than 100 dollars before I get home.
So this week as a zone we finished really, really well off. To be honest, this zone for over three years hasn’t accomplished more than 13 baptisms; which honestly isn’t a lot. This zone has it’s difficulties that always seems to complicate things a little bit. But this week, with all of the hard work and diligence of the Elders and Sisters and all the help of the Lord, we were able to break the record in the zone and get 14 baptisms! It was an amazing month. On top of that, this transfer cycle, we have officially won THE ZONE OF EXCELLENCE!!! I don’t really know if this zone has ever won that award. We are sooooo stoked though! Oh my heavens. I love this zone and these elders and sisters. They are the greatest and it has been the biggest pleasure working along side them to get to this point. Calling them last night and telling them that after all our hard work we had won the Zone of Excellence was also just a neat experience. They were so happy and excited and it was just a perfect way to end my time here as a Zone Leader in Limatambo. We saw soooooo many miracles this month and I have no idea how we even got half of them, but we did and I thank the Lord for it. To celebrate we had the opportunity to go to the mission home as a zone this morning and eat a 5 star breakfast that Sister Larson prepared for us! It was thee greatest. There was like French toast, pancakes, and all that good stuff. We played board games and just hung out. President and Sister Larson thanked us and congratulated us… it was special. We did it.
Also remember the investigators who I’ve been telling you about? Cristian and Jennyfer? Well… this week both of them were baptized and confirmed! It was an awesome experience. Honestly it was so great to see them enter into the waters of baptism after having worked with them for these past four weeks. The Lord really guided us to them and made it possible that they could get to this point. So officially all three investigators that we literally found and taught for the first time on April 29th (Daniel, Cristian, and Jennyfer) have all been baptized and confirmed. The Lord is great.
So President pulled me aside the other day and thanked me for the work that we’ve been able to get done here in the zone and told me that for my last transfer cycle I’ll be without an assignment and will be going to help either a sector or a missionary that needs help. It really makes me feel good knowing that President and his wife have confidence in me and I hope we can keep that confidence and relationship even after the mission.
I’m excited and ready to give this last transfer all I got. It’s going to fly by, but I’m ready and excited!
I'll let you know where I go next week!
Elder Cluff
Also remember the investigators who I’ve been telling you about? Cristian and Jennyfer? Well… this week both of them were baptized and confirmed! It was an awesome experience. Honestly it was so great to see them enter into the waters of baptism after having worked with them for these past four weeks. The Lord really guided us to them and made it possible that they could get to this point. So officially all three investigators that we literally found and taught for the first time on April 29th (Daniel, Cristian, and Jennyfer) have all been baptized and confirmed. The Lord is great.
So President pulled me aside the other day and thanked me for the work that we’ve been able to get done here in the zone and told me that for my last transfer cycle I’ll be without an assignment and will be going to help either a sector or a missionary that needs help. It really makes me feel good knowing that President and his wife have confidence in me and I hope we can keep that confidence and relationship even after the mission.
I’m excited and ready to give this last transfer all I got. It’s going to fly by, but I’m ready and excited!
I'll let you know where I go next week!
Elder Cluff
The ZONE of EXCELLENCE!!!
The baptism of Jennyfer and Christian.. the white Colombian man.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)