December 1, 2014 Letter...

Hi Family!

I love the family so much! Yeah, this week we didn't knock too many doors.. we were super busy with other appointments and stuff. And yeah! How was thanksgiving?! Glad to hear dad is still working Kula.. Security shifts too.. same ol' papa:)

Yeah, I'm gonna look at those pics! Sounds great Christmas and all. Thanksgiving here we had a multi-zone meeting and a training with the president and the assistants. It was really awesome. I got called on to speak and give my opinion (in front of 60-ish people) to talk about how we can find the people the Lord has prepared for us. I talked about how as missionaries we spend too much time worrying about finding these people, and don't give enough room for the Spirit. The way we find prepared people is through the spirit. Nothing more. If we can't feel the Spirit - if we can't feel the guidance, we aren't going to find anyone to teach. Yeah, we might find people to teach, but they won't be the people the Lord has prepared for us to teach in that moment. The constant companionship of the Spirit is the key to success. I have seen that here in the mission field, the smallest things drive the Spirit away, it is very sensitive. I have learned how important repentance is. People think as missionaries we have to Spirit always, but this is not true. We have to repent even more than other people. It may be more for little things, but through repentance we regain the companionship of the Spirit to help guide us to where we need to go (I shared something like this). Ahem...and all of this was in Spanish and yes, my Spanish is killing it.

Oh, Thanksgiving meal was five hot dogs, two bags of chips, an apple and water.. and more learning. It was good to spend it with President Borg and Hermana Borg though, because they are in the same position as I am, being away from home (Utah) on Thanksgiving in another country that doesn't celebrate it. I love them.. I'm going to be super sad when President Borg and his wife return to Sandy in June :( 

For a package, I have the info here: se llama Vanessa Cotreras y su numero telefónico es 801-548-0561, 1604 S. Prospect St. SLC, 6 dollars per lb. (I typed the first part in Spanish have fun lololol) Contact this lady and figure out wha's up and see if you can send packages with her. I think she works for the church.. but I'm not sure. I know she works though.

Yeah, I sent you another email about the money I need:) the things I want in a package is airheads extremes again, sour gummy candy, I WANT TO BUY PROTEIN FOR MY LIFTING TOO. I don't know, just put things in there that are heartfelt... :)

But yeah, not too much happened this week, we are working hard to complete with our baptisms we have for the 13th. We have two for that date that are going to happen. Sister Adela, and Sister Celen. With Celen, this week we prayed and prayed that she would come to church, because we couldn't go with her because she has school until the hour church starts. So we prayed and prayed, and with 10 minutes left in sacrament meeting, she walked in! She loved church too. She will be able to be baptized on the 13th, but we are still working really hard with her. Prayer is something very powerful, and when we pray with faith, the Lord is going to answer our prayers. With Adela, we are working hard to get her marriage papers done, there are a few complications, but the Lord will help us through them! Marriage on the 13th, then Adela's baptism the same day:) Big day no? Yeah goooood stuff. Oh and my bishop here is a stud.. I love his family.

Anyways, I love you all! Keep having a jolly prep time before Christmas!

Elder Cluff

P.S. Tranfers are tomorrow but I'm 99% sure I'm not going anywhere! I'll be here for a while:) Long live Rico Rimac!!!!

November 24, 2014 Letter...

Hahaha, oh man that was absolutely horrible with those leaves last time mom.. and you guys did 14 bags?!!! Holy cow, congratz... haha that's amazing. Skyler and Ash came, funnnn. They got to go to Circa Survive.. haha good for them that's smooth. I wouldn't mind a concert right now. Ya I'm on a mission though. Lolz. La Costa, wow now that sounds good. I can't wait to come home and talk to those workers at my favorite restaurant and blow them away in their native language... fácilito. Haha. Yeah, Hunger Games are cool movies, I've never read the books but I saw some of the movies.

About your job mom...what an awesome faith builder. Sometimes we have to take a leap of faith, but the savior is always going to catch us, and help us. When we have faith in him, listen to the whiperings and promtings of his spirit, we are always going to be okay. He is always going to lead us where we need to go when we walk with faith. I love you too mom and I knew the Lord would bless you... :)

Thanksgiving... haha what's Thanksgiving? Yeah, we have no plans. The mission doesn't do anything, but for Christmas, yeah we will have a lot of fun! And I think we get a Pday on the 31st.. which is a Pday on my Bday... COOL:) Have a good Thanksgiving though. This is my first away from home.. not cool but ya it's my life right now.

But yeah, this week was good. Okay the couple who I have been talking about Gian y Adela who have a little cute son named Franco, are so amazing. Me and my previous comp started working with them like my second day in the field, Gian being less active and his partner being an investigadora. When we first started working with them, it was difficult a little. They didn't want to change much, and didn't want to get married because they didn't think it was too important. Over the past 3 months of working with them, I have seen such a change in them. This gospel has made such a change in them; it's something very beautiful. The girl Adela, has progressed so far it's insane. She said she'll do anything she needs to do to be baptized, first marriage on the 13th. In this little family of 3, I have seen the foundation of the gospel set for the rest of their lives. I have seen how much closer as spouses it's brought them and that all the problems in their life have worked out as they've completed what we've taught. I just absolutely love seeing the change this gospel has in people, and that we are here to help familias be eternal. Nothing makes me happier than this. 

We are working hard, and committed another hermana to baptism last night named Ilda. Powerful lesson we had. She shared with us her love for us, and called us angels because we visit her parents (recent converts Ramon y Corpusa both 85 years old more or less who are purely amazing) several times a week.. Something I've learned is that people know us by our fruits. When we act in the way of Jesus Christ, people are going to see it, and be more deeply converted to what we teach, because we are showing His love. Loving the people is the key to converting them.

My companion is powerful and the connection we have when we teach really is awesome. My teachings are becoming more powerful, too, as I rely on the spirit more to guide me and help me to discern. 

December is going to be a busy month for us :)

Love you family, keep pushing forward.

Elder Cluff

Parque de los Agauas (park of water displays) PICS!

 The whole Zone at Parque de los Agauas!

 Elder Cluff and companion, Elder Pedrera

Me and the Zone Leaders! 

Just me and a statue. NBD. 

 Randomness.  My Zone is awesome ;)

 Elder Pedrera, Hermana Juanna Maria and me :)

SWAGGERCLUFF. (haters gonna hate...)

Our entire Zone got these custom soccer jersey's!  Of course, mine had to say SwaggerCluff!

November 17, 2014 Letter...

Winter is hereeee, how sweet:)

Yeah it's summer here. It's starting to get really hot and sweaty. I don't really like the heat here. The sun destroys us. But what can I do! 

And, yeah I'm gonna look at those pics on Dropbox of Zack! I'm excited:) watch out also for the fotos that I'm gonna upload! 

Ah yeah, Christmas there would be really, really sweet! I miss Christmas at Grandma's house.. some of my best memories are there. Every morning opening presents, then going to Grandma's to open more. Ah. I want to have another Christmas there with all the family! Haha, and Meet the Mormons.. that movie sounds great. I wonder if we could watch that on the mission, because, isn't it produced by the church? Haha, idk but I want to see it someday! And no, you didn't tell me Dallin Warnick came home for knee surgery. How is he doing? Poor guy.. that would be the worst. I'm praying that I can stay healthy and safe so that I won't have to come early.. it would be absolutely terrible. There is a kid in my mission who had 9 months, cut his finger really bad, and had to go home for 2 months for surgery, then came back and kicked off at 9 months again. Yikes. Gotta be safe.

Yeah, this week not much happened. We worked hard, as always, and kept really busy. We had to help a couple, two of our investigators, move this week, luckily still in our sector :) We had to carry cabinets seriously miles because renting trucks and stuff is expensive.. so we carried it all. This was the couple that we have a baptismal date and a wedding date in December! They are the greatest. Their names are Gian y Adela. Pray that everything will fall into place so that they can be married and that Adela can be baptised. (Gian is less active.)

This week we got another baptismal date for December. Her name is Celen, and she rocks. We got her to come to church yesterday, and she loved it. It was great. December is gonna be a busy month, our goal is 4 baptisms in December. We are working hard to accomplish this. Also we want to have 2 more reactivations in December.

We had a reactivation this week! This Hermana named Juanna Maria has been a member for 30 years but was inactive for 7 or 8. We started working with her, retaught every single lesson, got her an interview with the Bishop, and voila. We are excited. She is awesome. This week we had the opportunity to go to the temple with the ward to do baptisms with them. So we took this Hermana, Juanna Maria along. It was a good experience. We taught her about the temple and baptisms for the dead before, but in the end, she didn't really understand. She is about 75 years old or more, so because of this age she has trouble understanding the deeper points of the doctrine. But yeah, we brought her and it was sweet. The experience for her wasn't as good as it could have been, because of the age barrier, but we did all we could to help her and love her. She is awesome. Oh, and I got to do confirmations at the temple, and was a witness for baptisms! It was super awesome, and the Spirit was amazing. I really love the temple, do all you can to make it there at least once a week:)

What else happened this week? Ahh, not much. OH YEAH, I bought weights to lift in the mornings. So make sure their is money in my account because I'm gonna need to take some money out. I don't know how much, but just make sure I have a good chunk of money. Thanks mama.

Anyways I'm gonna send pics!

I love you family! Keep it up!

Elder Cluff

November 10, 2014 Letter...

I love you mom and miss you tons too! Glad to hear the family is still kickin' and that everyone is good! Brigham, Cam and Zack are studs.. glad to hear they are all doing good too! I love them sooo much. Make sure they know that, and that I think about them soo much. Tell them to keep working hard in school because one day it will pay off and they'll be so glad they did. And yeah mama you too, keep working really hard. I'm proud of you and all you do. It will be cool when you get your real estate license :) you got it!

Can you believe Caleb has 6 months in his mission?! I'm coming up on 4.. so wild... the time here flies so rapido.. It's super weird.

Anyways this week was cool. We went to Parque de Los Aguas (park of water displays) on P-day and I took a ton of pics that I'm gonna send. It was superrrrr fun. We all chilled as a zone and hung out and had a good time. My zone is seriously the greatest. Hilarious kids, let me tell you. My zone leaders are way tight too.. one of them, one of my heroes here in the mission named Elder Itzep is leaving December 2nd. I'm gonna miss him. He is one of the most solid Elders here. Anyways, the missionary work this week was really slow... everyone that we had appointments with, cancelled. Ahhh. It happens a lot here, people say, "Ya come at this time," and then we go and they aren't even there... like, come on people. But we are working really hard with a couple named Gian and Adela. They are about 20 years old, and we are working our butts off to get them married so Adela can be baptized. She wants to be baptized super bad, and this desire is awesome. They also desire to follow the Savior and be married. There are a few details we are trying to work out that are super technical, but we can do it. Our date we are going for is 13 de Deciembre. Pray that we can meet this goal. Pray that the details will work out, so we can get them married and follow more closely the Savior and so Adela can be baptized. Oh, and Gian has his interview with the Bishop soon, and after that he is reactivated! My first reactivation.. Reactivation's are about the same amount of work as a baptism. We also will have another reactivation this week! With an Hermana named Juanna Maria. She is great. She lives in an old folks home in our sector. And we love visiting her. She loves telling people she is a decendent of Inca princesses. Haha. Entonces ya. Good week.

Ah, once again I loved this week doing family history, reading about David Cluff, Sr.'s 12 sons. All of them have the coolest stories about the prophet Joseph Smith, and of the gospel. It's honestly something special having direct ancestors that personally knew the Prophet, and testified of his truthfulness and good works. It's a testimony builder for me. Our family rocks. Oh, there are two elders here that we are related too! One, Elder Schaudie or Schauddy can't remember, comes from David Cluff, Sr., then Moses Cluff, Sr., and then branches off from there. So, we are about 4th cousins with him! HOW COOL?! He is from Arizona and right now is a secretary in the office, and is hilarious. Definitely Cluff blood. Solid dude. Also there is an Elder Chatwin that comes from one of the 12 sons David Cluff, Sr. I don't know which son, but yeah, he is a cousin too:) Pretty great. 

Anyways, I love you family... next week I want a little paragraph from each kid telling me about school, and everything in their lives.. new video games, how Kula and Bear are, how everything is :)

Elder Cluff

Photos from the Field...

 My comp for a day... see his tag??

My comp had a mask, so I had to of course take a pic on Halloween... and the decorations Mom sent :)

We play Jenga in between our weekly planning sessions (that always takes forever)..
so it’s nice to add a little fun into it :)

 Here are two pics of the city - the view from our hill, our sector. The pics only show a little part of it.. but all that you see in the pics on the hill, and even below, is where we are every day. Super poor... you have no idea, but it's awesome. We teach a lot of amazing people.

These pics of the fam and temple are my favorite pics.. I love my family and my goal is to be married in the Salt Lake temple :)

November 3, 2014 Letter...

Hey Family!

This week I had some fun doing family history.. reading a biography that aunt Nelda wrote about Grandpa Bruce.. He was a STUD. Holy moly. He went through a lot.. a lot more than I realized. Family history seriously is the best.

This week we have seven new investigators that we found and that we are working really hard with. We got another baptismal date for December yesterday with an hermana, se llama Adela. Her partner that she lives with name is Jean, and he is a less active. We have a date for their marriage that we placed on them yesterday, and then a day after that she will be baptized. So awesome:) Also, we are going to place another baptismal date tonight. Pray for us that people will receive our message and that the Spirit will touch their hearts to know that it's true. 

I really love this work. My comp and I work EXTREMELY hard.. like i'ts ridiculous.. we go from appt. to appt., talking with every person in between... it's great work tho. I love teaching. Teaching is cake now in Spanish.. understanding is becoming a lot easier too. 

We are going to Parque de Aguas on Wednesday (today isn't P-day this week, we only write our fams then work like normal) and it's this place with water shows similar to Disneyland with the lights and water..I'm sooo stoked. I'll be sure to take a load of pics to send home:) 

Haha, funny thing here, the month of October was the month where the Catholics celebrated Señor de los Milagros (The Lord of Miracles) and they do all these weird celebrations and get drunk (there are millions of drunks every day here, and they also give us crap, so whenever they do I just speak really fast English to them and it stops them cold every single time, they have no idea what to do hahahaha) We have been poking a little fun at this celebration by calling it Señor de los Anillos, which is Lord of the Rings... hahaha. It's hard to explain how funny it is, but yeah... we always chant Señor de los Anillos, Señor de los Anillos, Señor de los Anillos, Señor de los Anillos.. hahaha. I sound like a complete idiot, but it's funny.

I'll be home probably July 12 of 2016. That is when the transfers are. I can't extend because I have school. So mark you calenders 2 years in advance, haha. It will be nice to come home that time because I'll have a good amount of time to adjust. 

I love the Elders here, and my comp is a beast.. we work darn well together and have a connection when we teach. We are turning our sector around.

Love you guys, seguir adelante!