So, this week has been absolutely nuts. White-washing is very interesting;
especially when you come into an area where the records could have been
better... but at the same time I've never seen so many crazy miracles. I
couldn't even begin to list all of them; but we've done things like finding a
family whose record has no address, running into people the others could never
find, and helping a super interested family move into the apartment across from
ours. One thing that was super cool was while we were moving them, we were
trying to install a wall-mounted TV but couldn't find the wooden beams inside
the wall to fix it to. We just kept getting air. So, I prayed mentally for a
second, ran and got a hanger, and invented a way to locate the supports.
Transfer meeting was rediculous. Pretty much EVERYBODY'S training; Elder
Carter, Elder Nalder (who is also going to be a district leader now!), Elder
Jenkins AGAIN (YEAH BUDDY!), and Elder Mortimer!!!! (Even though we don't "say"
this anymore; I'm a grandfather!!!(because my trainee is training))
My companion is Elder Lewis, 18, from Draper Utah. He's a super clever, a
bit serious, but very efficient Elder. It's kind of interesting; he looks a lot
like and acts a lot like Brother Snyder. He's a real hard worker and a pretty
good sport for doing the work, so that's great. He occasionally says and does
stuff that remind me a LOT of Harrison, or his father.
So this week has been one of the most different weeks of my mission. We
are in a four man apartment, but there's only the two of us, because the other
two that were there got replaced with sisters. So, it's a lot roomier than
before! We also had another "small" miracle; I was praying that the previous
elders would have SOMETHING in the fridge, because I had only one dollar left on
my support funds! So we showed up and I instantly ran to the fridge, and there
was about ten frozen pizzas! There was also a bunch of different things we had
that we could through together to make a "dinner" which was good, because there
was no dinner calendar in the apt. So long story short, we're really sick of
pizza, but we were provided for. We also came in to one of the most confusing
areas ever. Our area wasn't one connected mass; it looked something like a
chess board with us covering some random areas and the sisters covering others.
It was a mess! So, figuring that since, the Lord being a God of order, He
certainly had a better plan, and we got together and re-divided the areas. Now
they cover the north part and we the south, which makes a lot more sense all
around. In doing that, we lost a bunch of investigators, but we picked up an
awesome one that's going to be baptized in two-ish weeks! Yay! Her name is
Rojelia, and she's got an interesting situation. She claims to have been
baptized, but there is literally no record of it. The missionaries, the ward,
the mission office, even the church headquarters have lost it. So, being as it
appears that she's been "loosed" on earth, we're gonna get her "bound" again!
Either way, she is a super sweet old Mexican lady.
Riding a bike is fun, but painful. On a positive note, I've only wrecked
once so far! (destroyed my nice army-blue slacks. 
) I've got a
SICK bike though. It was in the apartment when we got here, so I didn't have to
buy one. It's actually a Jeep bike, and it handles EVERYTHING. Apparently
there's something wrong with it, which is why the other Elder left it behind,
but it's been doing good for me. It's got really weird brakes though (it's got
something similar to a brake disc on a car
) which squeal
like mad, but that's actually been pretty helpful in getting people's attention.
All in all, things are good here. I love you all, and hope you're having a
blast! Keep up the good work and keep doing what we have to. I hope Brittney
had a good time at camp!
Love,
Elder Matthew David Clough
