CALLED TO SERVE - PERU LIMA CENTRAL MISSION - JULY 2014 ~ JULY 2016

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

July 11, 2016 Letter...

That coming home song gets to me every single time, haha not kidding. I love it. I had a good week, to be honest. I was able to get some souvenirs, but not too many. But you guys will like what I got. I bought it all with the money I got from selling my weights, hehehehe :) so yeah.. I haven't touched that money you sent me but I'm gonna have to either today or tomorrow to be able to eat a bit. :) definitely tomorrow and Wednesday in the airport.

And mom, what you just said was golden advice. Thank you so much. I love you! It's going to be hard going home and all that, but I know that what needs to be done and what is required in order to obtain the constant companionship of the spirit of the Lord. It's going to be a brand new chapter in the life of Caden Cluff. :) Really though, I'm excited. I'm not sad to be honest. I've served a dang good mission; I've been obedient, I've worked hard, I have zero regrets.

Yesterday I got to go visit the majority of my converts, and the great majority are doing AWESOME. Very active and very excited. One of the brothers we baptized last may, Paul, is preparing himself to enter into the temple to receive his endowments this month or at the beginning of next, that has got to be some of the greatest news that I've ever heard! It's sad I won't be there for it, but wow, he is going through the temple! :)

Yes... lunch... can we make reservations at Tucanos...? and for dinner I want you to make steak fajitas... but a lotttttttttt of them. I feel like I'll be eating a good 10... with sour cream, and all that good stuff. :) that's what I want for dinner! Congo Bars and vanilla ice cream for dessert.. that sounds perfect. Sounds like it'll be a solid day getting home!

Love you mom :) I'll see you guys in two days! I leave tomorrow.. literally I'm sooooo excited. Tonight we have our last dinner with Pres and his wife, then tomorrow we go to the temple.. and then bye bye.

Elder Cluff (last time I'll be able to write that)

July 4, 2016 Letter...

It's true.. you only get sick going to Fredonia.. haha you gotta be more careful. I'm glad you getta see the family and all that. I hope they're doing well! And freal Kanab and Fredonia also hold a very special place in my heart.. I mean its the place of my childhood..how could I not love it, ya know? But that's awesome you guys are having a good time. Take some pics and get them sent to me :) Yeah... $150 is definitely enough. I'll make do :) it's gonna be cool as beans! Dang I wish I was there in Fredonia to celebrate.. but soon enough I will be :)

Hey Cameron.. what's up, dude..... Keep riding motocross dude it is so fun. That's probably the best and funnest memories from my childhood. I'll get home and help you ride the 125 so you can be a big boy hahah :) You made $100? WUUT? freal? that sounds fun though man... get that 125 rockin and rollin! Keep riding and having fun.

Cam is a bro. He reminds me of me. Not kidding that's so true.

Tuesday was seriously one of the most marvelous days that I’ve had here on the mission. It was awesome, to be honest...such a great day. We had interviews and we had a great time there.. honestly. We just got to catch up with some elders while we were waiting to speak with President Larson. They have absolutely changed my life. Also I got to speak with President Larson and it was such an amazing experience. Every time I speak with him I can just feel his love and the spirit that emanates from him. In this interview I just had to review my temple recommend because it expires in July, but we were also able to talk about some other things. It was just a really special experience. I’m going to miss President and Sister Larson so much.. they are my heroes. The goal I have is to stay in touch with them until the day I die. I would love for you guys to meet them one day! Then anyways.. in the afternoon we were able to teach a few lessons to some really awesome people and at the very end of the night we had a really awesome experience, similar to that of the last week! It was like 8:45… and we had been at interviews all day.. and we were like.. dang.. we need more people.. what do we do? No one was letting us in and we were starting to fret. So then all of a sudden I remembered a reference that we had received a few days back. I told my comp, hey let's go, we gotta go meet this sister, so we went. We get there, and this lady with a huge bright smile on her face opens the door and starts telling us how she was waiting for us and she needed help to understand the Book of Mormon and her kid also wanted to know and this and that and this and that, and we were like okay lady slow down YOU ARE AWESOME but give us like 5 minutes so we can go get a brother to come with us so we can enter into your house and teach you. So we went and got someone to come with us and were able to enter in and teach her about the Book of Mormon. She told us that she had been waiting for the missionaries to arrive her whole life… she had learned about the church, had a copy of the Book of Mormon, but needed that additional orientation so that she could continue learning and progressing and become a member. We were just in awe listening to all of this. So we taught her a bit and now she is super excited to be baptized with her 11 year old son! She tells us every time that we go that she has just been waiting and waiting and waiting for missionaries to get to her house.. ha. Her son Valentino is like the smartest kid I’ve ever met and he already received a strong answer about the Book of Mormon. The second time we went over he was like.. Elders… I received my answer, I want to be baptized. The Lord is working soooo many miracles here in this sector.. it is amazing. I can’t believe what we are seeing here.. the only sad thing is that I’m not going to be here for a lot of the baptisms that are going to be had. But it’s okay. I’m just so happy for these people and to see my Father’s work go forward the way it is!

This last Friday was also a killer day. We were able to teach a ton of people and they were all insanely receptive and ready to be baptized. We are working with this guy right named Vladimir that we met like 3 weeks ago or so. When we first met him, he was like the most depressed and sad dude I had ever seen. We contacted him in the street and he accepted a visit. So we were able to go back and teach him. We found out that he has had a lot of troubles and trials and big problems in his life, which put him into a pretty severe state of depression. He ended up staying in his room for about 3 years because of it. We met him only two weeks after he had begun to leave his house again and integrate himself once more into society. We have felt the spirit so strongly as we have taught him. The first lesson we taught was of Jesus Christ and his Atonement. We shared Alma 7 with him and it was something really special, but you could tell that still he was pretty sad. So in the course of these 3 weeks we have been visiting him several times a week and he has been reading his Book of Mormon, praying, and going to church exactly as we have invited him to do, and wow, we have seen such a change in him. On Friday, we visited him and taught him the second half of the Plan of Salvation, and it was one of the strongest lessons I’ve ever sat in on. The spirit taught us that entire lesson. It was so great to be able to explain to Vladimir that he has a purpose. That he isn’t here to just suffer and then for it all to end and then he’ll be no more, no. But rather that he has a purpose here on this earth. That he is a child of God, who God loves and wants more than anything else to return again to his presence. As Vladimir began to understand that, and as he began to understand that to be able to meet that goal we need to follow the example of Jesus Christ and live His gospel for the rest of our lives, he just lit up like a Christmas tree! All smiles. The Plan of Salvation has been the big game changer in his progress. He is happy now. He smiles when we talk to him, he participates, he loves going to church, and he is ready and willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. He has come a long way, and he’s only going to continue getting better. His baptism is going to change his life and I’m so excited that I’m going to be here for it. Pray for him, pray that he can continue being happy through this gospel, and that he can meet his baptismal goal this 9th of July.

This week we had a baptism! A sister that we have been working with for about three weeks named Teresa :) She honestly is the greatest. She is a sister that has been through about every single church you can think of, constantly searching for the truth. When we found her, she was so willing to learn and know for herself that the message of the Restoration was true. She read, prayed, and went to church every single time we invited her to do so, and because of that, she progressed so beautifully. She was so excited to be baptized into the true church when she received her answer, and yesterday her excitement was at its peak when she entered into the waters of baptism. It was sooo awesome. I’m pumped too because it was my comp’s first baptism. He was really excited and it was just a great day. Teresa is doing really well and she’s now super excited, and to be honest, preoccupied with getting the temple ordinances done for her family that has passed away.

Oh, and Sunday what a complete day of miracles. We had 7 people go to church this Sunday and stay the three hours. All 7 of them have baptismal dates for the month of July! We are rocking and rollin. Really it is so amazing to see what the Lord in all his goodness is doing for us here. A family of 3 that we invited that told us over and over that they wouldn’t be able to show and stay and it was just like Lord, thank you. I’ve got a lot of gratitude in my heart for how this last week turned out. Great way to be finishing things here off in the mission.

Elder Cluff

 Reactivated a member after 2 years of inactivity (brother on left), and Teresa's baptism day :)