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!

October 27, 2014 Letter...

Hey Family!

No way, the little motorcycles are fixed!? How cool! Yeah someone teach Zack how to ride mine haha.. he'll fit on it great.. it's a good bike.. and they can all go ride up by the stake center! How fun... I'm glad to hear that. That was my childhood.. riding dirtbikes.. literally my life as a kid. Sometimes I miss it. I have so many good memories.. and bad.. haha. Cam and Brigham are such studs! Ah, Cam is gonna need a bigger bike soon. Make sure the boys stay safe, but make sure they take a bit of risk and have fun. They won't learn if they don't crash :)

AND YES!! NEW COMPPP!! I have no pics.. sorrrrry we've been so busy and haven't had time. But his name is Elder Pedrera, he is from Equador, he is 20 years old and has one year in the mission! He is a stud. He is obedient, and very willing to help me when I don't understand something. He acts the way a trainer should act. He is a stud and honestly an answer to my prayers. We are working really hard to turn this sector around. We have three baptismal dates, (we got 3 in two days, this dude is powerful, and together we KILL it.) and we are working really hard to get the investigators to attend church so they can keep these dates for their baptisms. Please pray for Hermana Magda, Carmen, and Luiggi, that they will know they need to attend the church, and how important baptism is. Pray they their hearts will continue to recieve our message, and that they will continue progressing. 

Have I ever told you that the bishop in this ward is a complete stud? After Bishop Rasmussen, he is the greatest bishop in the world! Seriously, he is the man. He's pretty young, but is always so willing to work with us. And he is hilarious.. he always jokes with us and shows us a good time. Especially when we eat at his house.. he always says to his wife.. ah sorry... Elder Cluff won't be eating today, he told me he doesn't like your cooking.. I was like, what?! Haha, little things like that. He is the man.

This week we have been working hard - all day, everyday - climbing up the giant hill where our sector is located. We climb up and down it - all day, everyday - finding people to teach and making appointments and teaching. It's really hard work, but it's paying off. We are killing it. We are already turning this sector around. We have one couple of recent converts, named Ramon and Corposo, and they are the best. They are both 85 years old, but so funny and such great people. We love visiting them. Please pray for Corposo that she can have good health. Yesterday, we brought the sacrament to them and taught them a little more about it. They are so receptive and thankful. They remind me of grandma and grandpa Carr.. it's scary.

Okay, have I told you also that we have one hour a week, apart from emailing, to do FAMILY HISTORIA? Yeah, well we have one hora to get on familiasearch.org and do our family history work! I absolutely looveeee it. There is an AWESOME spirit to it. Not indexing.. yikes.. I don't know about indexing.. but doing my work, adding to my tree, reading of past family members, all of it. I had a super spiritual experience while doing it. I was searching for grandma and grandpa Carr to add them to my family tree, and I came across some pictures of them and their grave.. I starred at their grave for a minute.. and the Spirit flooded my body.. something that I haven't ever quite felt before.. I couldn't keep back the tears, and it's hard to keep them back while writing this. But I felt something extremely special. Almost like I could feel their love for me in that moment. How proud of me they are for serving a mission. I could feel it. I could feel it. I know they are happy right now. I know they have accepted this gospel. I know they are diligent servants of the Lord. Even though I miss them; the gingersnaps everyday, the brownies, their love for all of their grandkids, I know they are extremely happy right now.

Anyways, that was this week. It was funny to see the new Elders come at tranfers.. haha, it feels good to not be the most green Elder in the mission.. but Spanish is coming really fast, and I only study in Spanish now. It's good. I'm hoping by December 2nd I'll be fully functional. That's my goal! Working hard to accomplish it!

Can you believe I've been on my mission for 3 months...because I can't.

Love,
Elder Cluff

Enjoy this pic from my 1st P-day in the field.. my old district.. half of them changed.. but they are legends. Super solid dudes.

October 20, 2014 Letter...

Hey Family!  Hope you had a good week!

Don't stress about doc and all that. It's not your problem. Yeah continue helping, but sometimes you need to think about yourself and not so much of others. LOL. Usually it's the other way around, right? But in your case, you are a perfect mom and woman, you only think about others! That's what I love about you. Dad, and all us boys are beyond lucky. Honestly I can't describe how lucky we are to have a mom like you. I don't know how dad pulled you off to be honest.. hehehe. But really, you care so much about others, and pleasing others, and I love that about you. You have been that way ever since I can remember. Whenever us boys wanted to do something, no matter how tired or whatever you were, you did it. You would go out with us, or go to the store with us so we could buy something, or just whatever. These qualities are something that I admire, mom. But remember, sometimes you gotta think about yourself, and what things you need:)

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY DAD!! I LOVE YOU!!! I hope you had a good birthday! Did you get anything cool? A spank on the rumpkin? I'm glad to hear your guns are coming along! And in all honesty with my gun, make it look as cool as possible with the colors, I want black, and maybe tan or FDE. Idk, whatever looks cooler and sweeter. I prefer probably a darker green. But like I said, make it awesome. I love you dad and I think about you a lot. Keep working hard always and the Lord will bless you. Mom and dad, remember personal scripture study:) you´re never too cool to read the word of God!

Fun to hear about those movies.. I like movies.. but don't get to watch any. I watch The District which is missionaries preaching in real life, recorded on cameras. Yeah it's like I'm watching myself in real life; not that entertaining, lol.

This week, not too much happened. Sorry for my bad English, though. My English sucks now and so does my Spanish.. haha. I don´t know what happened. I've been reading my Book of Mormon only in spanish and it's amazing. I love it. I have also been reading the New Testament. Right now I'm in Juan. The New Testament is my comic relief for the day. I honestly don't know if this is sacrilegious, but I think it's kind of comical when Jesus is trying to teach His disciples a parable or something, and they take him literally and don't understand.. and they are just bewildered and like.. what just happened? What did he say?

For example:

 11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

 12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

 13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Jesus is talking about bringing Lazuras back to life... but His disciples thought Jesus was talking about waking Lazarus up from a nap.. and they were like, wait why are you gonna wake him up? Aren't naps good? Then I imagine Jesus face palming... Then clearly saying, you fools, he´s dead. I'm not being literal.

This happens so much in the New Testament and it makes me giggle. They understand, but not until the Savior teaches them.

What else happened this week...? Not much. Taught a lot but very few receive what we teach. It can be difficult. Especially when I can't understand their needs that well. Continually pray for people here that we will find people that are prepared of the Lord. The importance of following the spirit is the most important thing. I´m learning everyday how to follow it more, and how to better listen.

Tomorrow is cambios (transfers)! I won't be transferred but I might get a new comp.. we´ll see what happens!

I love you guys have a killer week!!!

Love,
Elder Cluff