Hi people.

This week had its ups and downs as usual but it was really good.

I forgot my planner so I'll prolly be leaving some things out but the main things I think I'll have remembered...

The last week of the transfer is always a bit nerve racking and exciting. I got a text from president two weeks ago saying I needed to get my driver's license so we were 90 percent sure my companion was leaving. This was strange because president told us at interviews a few weeks before that we would be staying together. Anyways we got the transfer call and he said you are staying together of course! Hahaha he likes to keep us on edge. Anyway my companion and I will have a third transfer together and we are really excited for this transfer. We had a busy, successful week this week that is going to lead us into this next transfer of miracles! Our zone was about half taken away but we are really excited about the changes and new missionaries. It is an exciting time with so many new missionaries coming in! Two from our zone are going to Marzahn to train and open new areas so that was super cool to tell them all about that ward and investgators I love. 

So cool experience would be Sunday night. We were so excited because we had three legit second appointments with super promising people. They all canceled. Hahaha. But we were in the area of a former investigator and had the feeling to stop by.  He was sooo glad to have us stop by and told us he is trying to quit smoking again. We gave him a priesthood blessing to help him get over this addiction and are going to go through the stop smoking workshop with him. Tender mercy. 

Another success of the week is we are having a lot of help from the ward. We had 6 joint teaches this last week which is huge for this area/branch and it was exciting to get priesthood holders out with us to teaching appointments. One brother has a very humble way about him and is a great joint teach.  He himself is a convert at age 20 and he just is someone that our investigators can relate to.  He shares the gospel too.  We gave his friend a priesthood blessing last week and this week he introduced us to another friend of his. The member work here is really picking up. 

A couple of our investigators are doing well.  Reading and praying, but haven't come to church yet. That will be our main focus this week with them, is getting them to church. 

Our senior couple here is great. Elder and Sister P are on fire. He was a seventy and they both give super powerful testimony and share the gospel. They are always giving out cards and Books of Mormon and are really awesome. They will also be accompanying us to appointments sometimes so we are really excited about that.  I wanna be like them when I grow up!

Sunday was district conference.  President Kosak was here and changed the district presidency and that was a coool meeting.  They rented out a hall and the focus was changing this district into a stake in the next five years.  Really good speakers and it was very cool to hear the testimonies of those who were released and those called.  President and Sister Kosak spoke as well. They are amazing.  Their love for the scriptures and the gospel are evident and that is why they can do what they do.  A main theme was the strength and power that come from prayer and the scriptures.

This week I read a lot in the Book of Mormon, catching up on our Book of Mormon study schedule we are doing as a mission.  I was sooo impressed by Abinadi.  What a man.  As I read in Mosiah 18, after he died I was super appreciative of his testimony.  Alma speaks in this chapter at the waters of Mormon.  The classic scripture about the baptismal covenant was very special as I read that we promise to we witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and all places that we may be in even until death.  I thought about Abinadi's witness that he gave, knowing he would die.  All because of one testimony that one man believed in this chapter hundreds were baptized and the church of Christ as we know it in the Book of Mormon is set up. Because of one testimony acted upon brought later thousands, hundreds of thousands to Christ.  Abinadi kept his baptisimal covenant.  He makes me want to honor my covenants better!

Well I'm outa time and I can't remember much else that I wanted to share. Have a great week!

Elder Clayton

Feb 4, 2013

Hi people!

This last week was great. 

Tuesday we had some interesting things. Lots of doors and found a bunch of new people, some more interested than others. 

Wednesday we exchanged. I was with our district leader. He is a great missionary and example to me. It was wet. Rained the whole time and we were on bikes. The whole time I was just laughing cause I haven't ridden a bike since Görlitz. We found a good young guy we both felt we should talk to him so we did and he was so impressed with our conviction and wants to know more. Awesome!  We later taught english class and took part in their sunday school class, which their branch does on Wednesdays. We talked about the restoration and watched the video with Wilford Woodruff's conversion. I was so grateful for the clarity restored, with prophets, apostles, and revelations.

Thursday we switched back and spent most of the day doing service. We were to be receiving a senior couple missionary pair here, in charge of the YSA program and we helped build their furniture most of the day. That was tiring but a lot of fun. We are pros at putting together Ikea furniture now. We did that with some members whose calling it is to help with missionary apartments. They reminded me also of Görlitz members and that was fun.

Later we did some more service.  A brother from the branch accompanied us and that was fun. He is a member who just knows a lot about the gospel and uses every opportunity to share it. Gotta love it. His conviction to live and serve is impressive. We then helped a little more with the new couple's apartment and got to meet them for the first time. Elder and Sister P, he being a former mission president and seventy. They are soooo cool and wise and I'm excited to get to learn from them in the next few months. 

Saturday we had a cool appointment with a single mom who has two little children. The kids were loud and crazy when we got there and she had to take some breaks from the lesson. She hadn't read her reading assignment so we read it together. Slowly, gradually, the mother became less flustered and the kids became calm and fell asleep. There was a still in the room and the spirit testified to us all that this book was from God. It was amazing. We asked her some questions and she strengthened her resolve to read and to come to church. The Book of Mormon really is the most powerful tool, along with the spirit, for conversion. 

Church was really great. Had a couple investigators there, and the testimonies were great. 3 or 4 of them shared missionary experiences they had had. Elder P gave a super powerful testimony of basically all principles of the restored gospel. Sunday school was great too. Lesson on revelation. Priesthood was about overcoming fear. All great stuff.

After church a brother who we had been working with with sharing the gospel with his friends, invited a friend of his to church to receive a blessing for the sick. His friend has cancer and the brother, the branch president, my companion and I gave him a blessing. This was a very spiritual experience. A sacred experience, so I won't share much more but we all left the room, I being the blessing giver probably more than anyone else, feeling edified, and knowing that God was with us and that he loved this man. 

We taught a couple later that night.  We met them like 3 months ago on the street and have been going by once a week since then but had never caught them at home til last week when we were able to make out an appointment with the wife. We taught them about the restoration Sunday night and that went great! They are very faithful christians but they are open to learn because the spirit was there. As we talked about the apostasy she even said there will be many false prophets so we need to be careful. We asked how she can tell if they are true or false, and she didn't say like most people, that she would compare the teachings with the bible, she said, the holy spirit will tell you if they speak the truth or not. And quoted the scripture where Christ said He would send the comforter in His name. Soooo worthy! They were very grateful for the visit, she said an amazing closing prayer -  and will read Alma 34 and pray about it in preparation for our dicussion next week about the plan of salvation, to which she had some questions about. Soo great. The spirit was there and that was fantastic. 

Well that is the week. It is great to be on the Lord's errand. It is all going by just too fast.

Elder Clayton