May 4, 2015 Letter...

Perfect. Love ya mom. Glad everyone is doing well and that all of you guys are happy. Zack... sophomores shouldn´t go to prom.. what the fetch.. smack him with love for me. But glad to hear he´s killing it in lacrosse. But make sure he participates in every single thing LP has to offer. It will make his high school life more memorable, I promise. Anyways, yeah at 6:30 Peru time I'll be calling you guys on an iPad this Sunday.. WEEEE:)

This week was insanely stressful, but we were able to pull off 4 baptisms this weekend :) We are stoked and so blessed out here. Remember Paul? The guy who I told you guys about who we bore such powerful testimony to the first time we met him about the Book of Mormon, and felt to put a baptismal date that would happen in 3 short weeks? In that moment, we felt the spirit so strongly, but everyone, him, and even his family who are members, doubted that he would be able to complete with his baptismal date because it was such little time, and he had a lot of doubts. But we didn´t, because we knew it was the spirit who had told us to invite him to be baptized in three weeks. Well, I can really testify that it was the spirit who told us to put the date when we did, because this weekend he was baptized and I honestly have never seen anyone so happy in my life. He really cannot take the smile off his face, and his family.. wow I LOVE THEM. His aunt Flor, about 80 years old is such a strong member of the church who has taken Paul under her wing, and prepared him so much. I love her. I feel like she is legitly my grandma. She calls us her little angels :) I'll send pics with them. Anyways, with the help of the members and his family, we prepared him in 3 short weeks, helped him gain his own testimony, and defeat all of his doubts. The spirit has done such wonders on him. Such an amazing experience. I'm going to remember this hermano Paul for forever and how important it is to listen to the spirit when it tells us to do something, in this case it was putting the baptismal date so soon, even though the odds told us it wouldn´t happen.. I want you guys to always be aware of the spirit, and always live in a way that you´ll be able to feel it. Sometimes we might not recognize it, but as we begin to live our lives in the way that Jesus Christ taught us, full of charity, meekness, and always giving service to those who need it, and with obedience to the Lord's commandments, we´ll learn and it will become more easy. And the more we listen, the more in tune we´ll become. This is the promise from the Lord, not from me:) I love you guys so much and am so glad you are all happy. The other 3 baptisms were super awesome, too. Yuly Ramirez and her sister Nallely Ramirez, and another little guy named Jose Luis :) Such a great weekend fulll of blessings from the Lord :)

Super pumped to talk to you guys.. my best homie Gavin Clark got home and it´s so weird how fast 2 years went.. I can´t believe it.

Elder Cluff

My favorite Pday place -- Parque de las Aguas

Me with Elder Jake Irving from LP 

 My mission homies! Me, Elder Austin Richards and Elder Jake Irving (LP baby!!)

Paul's baptism -- with his family :) 

Paul's Baptism :) 

Jose Luis' Baptism :)

Yuly & Nallely's Baptism :) 

 Yuly & Nallely's family :)

Elder Cluff, Sister Yuly, Elder Mera

April 27, 2014 Letter...

That´s sweet Michelle was here. Tell Serena to come visit, lol or come teach with us... lolol. Totally against the rule, but hey NORMAL. And Zack got an A- in drivers ed... ah crap. You and dad should go in to get it fixed. That irritates me. But hey who cares. And you need to get him signed up for the ACT. He needs to start studying and take it. It doesn´t matter a 4.0 if you have a good ACT and good essays. It would be a smart idea to hire Mrs. Jaynes again to help him if he wants to get into BYU.

Hahahaha, Josh repaired the fence.. that´s the funniest thing I´ve ever heard. Legendary. And that pic of that album cover is scary, isn´t it ? hahaha I thought it was me the first time I saw it. And my money is there!! Thank you mammamamaa :):)

Anyways, this month was really good. We worked really, really hard. We have a lot of people with baptismal dates for this month and they are all ready. The Lord has blessed us so much and I'm so happy :) It´s not always easy, sometimes I get super frustrated and irritated, but the Lord has really been trying to teach me patience. An attribute of Jesus Christ that´s so important. I really believe faith and patience are the keys to receiving answers to prayers. We have had a lot of prayers answered this week. Our investigator Paul is progressing insanely -- everyone is progressing. We found a family of three this week, and they are so prepared. They actually live with the president of the Relief Society, and every week they have Family Home Evening with them. The only reason I didn´t know the fam is because the mom works on Sundays, but her kids go to church with the Relief Society pres. But recently the lady, named Mercedes has been praying to find a new job to be able to go to church every Sunday, and we think she´s found it. The Lord always prepares the ways for us to complete and keep his commandments. He always answers our prayers :) So they all came to church this week as a family and it was amazing. She is a single mom with 2 sons of 11 years and 8 years. The whole family will be baptized on the 23 of May and maybe more soon :) We are really so excited, and so blessed to have found these people so prepared. Even more, this week, super weird, but I had a dream and I saw the name of a random girl in my dream named Christina (only a name), a name that I have seen once before, but had thought nothing of it. I woke up and went and found her name, that was actually in the area book, and then we got her address, went to visit her and found her brother Ivan. We didn´t find her, but we found her brother who had been an investigator and was going to get baptized and everything. He had all the lessons and had gone to church and everything for a long time, but started college so he couldn´t be baptized, and the elders quit visiting him. The sad thing is the other elders didn´t keep records of him like they should´ve. He didn´t exsist. No one knew of him, but we found him and he´ll be baptized really soon, this month! Cool stuff. It´s cool because he was completely forgotten of because records didn´t exsist of him, but the Lord directed us to him in another way :) So smooth :) Anyways the Lord always has his ways of reminding me to be humble and faithful and diligent, and that this is His work, and not mine. Anyways, get ready for a lot of baptismal pics :) We have 2 for sure the next week, and maybe 2 more additionals.

Love you all, tell the boys to write me. 

Elder Cluff
  

Franklin's baptism :) look how happy every one is. The first Elder who worked with him, Elder Price came back to baptize him. Elder Price has Cluff blood in him. 

Interchanges with Elder Pack, who has 4 months in the misión. He´s a stud.

Cluff Gym 

A garden with my son.

 Old library

April 20, 2015 Letter...

ADHD HAHAHAHA, I LOVE YOU GUYS. That class selection garbage was so hard.. most stressful time of the year. They gotta figure something better out. And haha with the car.. I'm so sorry... but luckily.. you know a guy. Haha, that was funny. And hahahahaha you are killing me... dad asked the 10 and 12 year olds to go dig up the fence? I bet you can guess how that went... hahahaha, I you bet I can. Classic dad. And Josh and Breecia are gonna live in my basement? What the fetch? That´s the weirdest thing I have ever heard in my entire life, hands down. Good thing is, Haden will stay my best friend forever and this will just make that easier. I love Joshy and Breecia is cool too. But wow.. that´s sick. Uuge.. hahahaha, you kill me mom :)

I love you most, I'm glad to hear you´re happy.. you are the greatest mom ever and you have no idea how really grateful I am to have a mom like you in my life. You are literally thee coolest mom I have ever met, just know I love you so much. You are the person most special to me. Loveeee you.

This week was good.. it was a normal week... today wasn´t Pday because tomorrow we´re taking the day off and going to Parque de las Aguas for the 7 millionth time. But hey, there´s nothing else to do here. We had interviews with the president this week and they rocked. I love this mission and I am so grateful that I'm here in Lima in this mission. Pres. Borg rocks and I love him. I'm gonna miss him. We say bye to him like June 19th and it's super sad but it's life. It's time to move on. This week we had a lot of people progressing and on May 2nd we´ll have 2 or 3 baptisms. Remember Paul? Well he received an answer about the Book of Mormon, he prayed and received, like we promised him. And he wants to be baptized May 2nd :) We are so blessed and happy. Love you guys, remember family scripture and prayer :) read the email I sent to dad.

Elder Cluff

April 13, 2015 Letter...

I love you mom. Glad to hear everyone is doing good. And yes, when I get back I want to hike Angels Landing. That would be a blast. I want to do a lot of things with the fam when I get home. I want to go to Fredonia tho, I really love it there. It has such a special place in my heart. But anyways, I love you guys a lot and tell my brothers I love them. Tell dad to write me too when he has time.

This week was a good week. A bit slower, but we taught a lot of people. I just felt like the week was going so slow. I´ve been super stressed too this week because we have a couple, Wilber and Jessica, that want to get married so Wilber (less active) can be reactivated in the church, and so Jessica can be baptized. It´s another Gian and Adela case. Which really dis-animates me, because we have to marry them, and it´s such a difficult process that we weren´t able to accomplish after 6 months in Rimac. The good thing is that this couple is a lot older and mature, and Wilber has lived his whole life as a strong member, only the last 5 years or so he became inactive. They have strong desires to change their lives, but more than anything I'm praying that the Lord will give us a way or help us find a way to get them married. There won't be as many complications this time, which is good, but we just gotta figure it out and get it done. I know we can do it. Also this week we met a cornelio (someone that´s prepared to be baptized when you first meet them) and his name is Jose Anselmo. His brother is a member, and has helped Jose learn about the church. The first day we met him and taught him, he told us he wanted to be baptized and that he knew the Book of Mormon was the true word of God, even more than the Bible, haha. He said that and it made me laugh. I was like, "Yeah, you´re prepared -- let's go to the font." He´ll be baptized this May. We´re super blessed and I really mean it, the Lord has prepared so many people for us, and we are finding them, it just gives me a stronger testimony that this really is the Lord's work, and not ours.

Also this week, we met a man named Paul Moreno. His cousins and aunt and uncle are super strong members, and he has assisted the church a few times but had never talked with the missionaries. So finally, we met him and talked with him and made an appointment to meet with him at his uncle's and aunt's house. This man too, is super prepared. We got to the house, got to know him and taught him the restauracion and the spirit was SO strong. I can´t even describe how strong it was. His two cousins were in the lesson with us and they were both able to bear powerful testimony of Joseph Smith and also of the Book of Mormon. It was sooo amazing. At the end of the lesson.. the spirit was strong.. everyone felt it. Things got quiet for a minute, and then he asked us, "Elders, is this book really true?" He asked it in such an honest way, with such a sincere desire, I looked him straight in the eyes, tearing up a bit and told him, "Yes Paul, I know this Book is true. I know it. I know that
you´ll know it, too." After this moment.. the spirit got even stronger, and it was such an amazing experience. My comp did great in this lesson, too, he is learning a lot. Paul accepted a baptismal date in May, and we´re gonna be doing all we can to help him obtain a testimony.

I just want to say that I know the Book of Mormon is true. I don´t care about whoever says it's not, whatever evidence someone can find, the Book has changed my life, and I have seen it change the lives of others. The Book of Mormon is everything to me, and I hope you guys can treasure it as much as I do. Love you guys. 

Elder Cluff

April 6, 2015 Letter...

Family -- I love you and I'm super happy to hear the family is doing well and that everyone is doing good. That´s crazy about the conference.. I didn´t know that happened... I didn´t catch it, but yeah, they´re idiots haha, whatever. I don´t how how anyone can watch the prophet speak and not become converted in an instant. Those men are SOOO powerful, and I was able to learn sooo much this conference. I had the opportunity to watch three of the sessions in English, and it was such an amazing thing. I understand it in Spanish and all, but it's just a lot more special in English. A huge difference. But it was so amazing. I took 18 pages of notes, and honestly I can say I´ve been more impacted by this conference than any other. I loved it. The sad thing is that I actually missed Elder Holland's talk because I had to help an investigator get situated and everything, so I'll wait for the Liahona to read it :) but some of the notes I took I'm gonna share with you guys.. the thing I want you to remember, more important than everything, is the question that Russel M. Nelson did at the beginning of his talk, "Because of what I´ve heard and felt during this conference, how will I change?" This is so important. Yeah, the talks were insanely spiritual, but if we´re not doing anything to apply them into our lives, we´re wasting our time. So remember that. How can we apply what we learned into our lives? How can we become better people and better disciples of Jesus Christ because of the inspired messages we´ve heard? :) Remember like Kevin W. Pearson said, once we make covenants with the Lord, there´s no going back. We need to always keep and honor our covenants, keep enduring, even though it requires total commitment, we´ll be able to do it. Also Elder Wilford W. Anderson´s talk about the music and dance compared to the gospel and the application of it in our homes was SO SICK. Every talk was just pure gold. We are SO blessed to have prophets that are inspired of God, to speak to us, and help us through this difficult life. I could write out a billion more things I liked but yeah, I'm not going to.

"If you cant hear the music in your home, if something is out of tune, remember two words, keep practicing." I challenge you guys to read that talk by Wilford W. Anderson when you can for Family Home Evening. Or all of them. Because yeah, wow.

Anyways I love you guys. This week was a little slower because of Conference, but in spite of that, we still met a lot of great and prepared people, who have baptismal dates for the month of April. We are killing it out here , and I love you guys so much. Tell my brothers, and dad, and my sister I love them. Because I do. And Kula and Bear, too please. I love you mom. Please really help the boys understand the significance of these talks that were given. Love ya!

Oh yeah, also we moved houses this week. We now live with our pensionista.. it makes life so easy. Because we eat lunch with her and dinner, and we just have to climb down our stairs from our apartment and there we are. I'll send pics. ;)

Elder Cluff

March 30, 2015 Letter...

Yeah, I guess we can start planning a trip to Ruth´s Chris for the night I get back, haha, You´ll have enough time to start saving. That´s awesome about dad, I'm glad he is seeing a lot of success and getting a lot done. He is my hero.

Wow, and glad to hear all the family will be in town for Easter! Please takes lots of pics and let me know how everything goes :) I love you guys! 

I'm happy for Zack, Cam, and Brig. For real. They are the best. Freaking studs. The pic you sent me of them by the temple.. those kids are too smooth. I love my brothers.

And I'll send a huge good package really soon.. maybe Christmas, hahaha, but we´ll see. It's just hard to find time to be honest. Andddd I'm in the part of Lima called San Martin de Porres, in the stake of Condevilla. It's the greatest!

This week was super stressful. I´ll be honest, I was really tested with all that I´ve learned on my mission. Our ward only had four missionaries, but one missionary went home early, so they took his comp out too and transferred him. So their sector fell on our shoulders. We had to learn there "area book" and everything and find all of their investigators and everything. It was a super, super, SUPER stressful experience but we´ve pretty much got it all learned and figured out. Everything is getting a lot better. So yeah, now we´re the only missionaries in our ward and we have a huuuuggggeee area to cover. But lucky enough, it's still smaller than my last sector.. hahah my last one was ginormous. But we are seeing a lot of success here, I can't even begin to explain. Even though we have to use our time super wisely to be able to visit everyone, we have a lot of people who are preparing for baptism and a lot who are progressing beautifully. More than anything I just love to see this gospel take effect in peoples lives. It's great. And yes, this week we had another baptism! That marks 4 this month! We've had a really great month. The Lord has prepared so many and awww, it´s great. The person who got baptized is named Franklin, and he was an investigator from the other missionaries, and he had almost half of the lessons, so we finished him off, and we were able to get him baptized this week. It really was a miracle story. Their family is passing through a lot of difficulties, but we focused so hard in explaining that this is what the Lord wants for him, and his family, and we were able to commit him to baptism and he was baptized this past Saturday. The spirit was so strong in his baptismal service and I know that he was able to feel it. Great experience. Also, the elder who had worked with him a while back was able to come back to our ward to baptize Franklin. Great experience. We worked super hard together to make it happen, and the Lord blessed us, and we are happy. The month of April is gonna be another great month. Love you guys, I'll send pics, and have a great Easter weekend :)

Elder Cluff

March 23, 2015 Letter...

Wow glad to hear everyone is doing super good. That always makes me happy :)

I love all my brothers and I'm glad they are happy. I´ll get home from the mish and dad will be retired.. that will be nice. We´ll be able to spend a lot of time together! I'm excited for that. I'm glad you guys got to go to Temple Square too.. I can´t wait to do that again. Such an amazing experience. How awesome.

This week was great. We were able to have two baptisms, one of Sabastian, and the other of Luz Maria. They were so happy and are still super happy and we´re all happy so everything is good. My comp´s name is Elder Mera from Trujillo, Peru. He is solid and he´s learning a lot. I have 8 months and I'm coming up on 9.. the time goes by soooo fast out here. We have a lot of investigators who we're working with who have dates for this April, so pray that we can complete with their goals. I´ve really seen the Lord´s hand in this work. I´m really so grateful for him and for the blessings he´s shed upon me and my comp. Really it´s amazing to see the hearts of people change, when they accept this gospel. There is nothing better :) I'm also so grateful for the Book of Mormon, the most powerful tool we have to teach with out here. One of the most powerful tools we have in our day-to-day life. Like I sound like a broken record, but my testimony of the Book of Mormon is much more powerful than anything else that I know, and it has helped me personally out here and my investigators, too; more that I would have ever thought before the mission. The book is SO powerful. It was written for our day and age.. and we are taking part in it. I LOVE IT :) I'm reading right now in Alma 44 getting into those war chapters... It just talked about Alma and how nothing was ever heard of concerning his death or burial, so it´s supposed he was translated. I believe that. I'm so grateful for prophets like him in the Book of Mormon, for all they went through to conserve the records, so we can benefit from them. Alma is one of my favorites, that dude had no fear, and he taught the gospel such an effective way, solemnly and by the spirit. I´ve been able to learn so much from him and his example. I have decided that Alma is my favorite book in the Book of Mormon. Purely missionary work, and I love it. Anyways I love you guys, everything is good here. We are getting a lot done, we just gotta remember who´s work this is, and that it´s not ours. The Lord will direct his work and his servants, we just gotta be ready and worthy so we can receive that inspiration. Loveee you guys. Read your Books of Mormon.

Elder Cluff

-- Now, some pics...

Sabastian's baptism :)

Luz Maria's baptism :)

Jean Franco's baptism :)

 Me and my son -- Elder Mera (from Trujillo, Peru)

 Elder Pedrera, and I with our Peruvian grandparents, Ramon & Corpusa.
 They are the sweetest people and Hermana Corpusa cried when I told her I was leaving
because I was transferred. I love them so much and I miss them everyday.

Elder Cluff and Elder Mera at the Zoo :)