This week has been a madhouse as usual!!! It's been rediculous. We had
exchanges twice this week and when that happens, miracles come pouring through
the windows! It's been awesome!
So the first exchange was with the zone leaders, and I got to go with Elder
Nalder!!! It was AWESOME!!! We had so much fun re-living those Simi Valley
days, and he has grown a rediculous amount. He was laughing and teaching and
declaring and pretty much just loving the work to pieces. It was a huge
blessing to be able to serve with him.
Then, I went to Elder Lewis' new area with him! So both exchanges were with
previous companions. It was too much fun! They've been having a tough time in
their area; people aren't incredibly friendly there, but he observed that as we
went out and were just super friendly towards them, they opened up a ton towards
us. We dropped by a less active, whose been quite rebelious and even told them
"I don't want to change" and avoids gospel topics like mad. As soon as I met
him though, we connected super well; and after I talked with him about how he
got involved in the church and what he wants in life, he finally started saying
"I really need to change, I really want to!" It was absolutely amazing! It was
a huge testament to me that expectations drive experiances; if we go in looking
for a particular result, that's what we'll get.
Our own area back here has been doing marvelously well. Coralia got into a
huge discussion with a minister from another religion, and when he started
ranting about how the Book of Mormon is made up and this and that, she defended
it like a boss, and wound up leaving him stumped with "Well, if you say that the
Bible is final; where in the Bible does it tell you to name your church
'_______'?" He had no answer! We had an awesome lesson with her, and she's
recognizing that the only real piece she's missing in her conversion process is
a testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Saul came to church Sunday and LOVED it!!!!! It was amazing! We were
super scared when he didn't show up at first, and when he walked in, he was all
smiles! The testimonies were really good, which is super important when you
have an investigator there, and so were the class and priesthood meeting. The
ward instantly fellowshipped him on a boss level; even telling him stuff like
"When you're baptized 'this and this and this.'" and "make sure you keep coming
back!" At first he was kinda shy and surprised, but towards the end he was
smiling like crazy with his eyes all lit up and talking and laughing with
everybody. He loved the pictures we had up, especially the Brother of Jared.
We also had a awesome lesson with him on the Word of Wisdom. He instantly
agreed and gave examples back to us of why even coffee is bad, and is super
committed to live it. He's the best!!!
A cool miracle happened Saturday; I got a punctured tire around 2:00 in the
afternoon, and we had a BUNCHES of appointments, so we resolved to just ride
till it went flat. I wound up forgetting about it, until we got done with our
lesson with Saul at 7:00 and it had suddenly deflated! But ALL DAY LONG it had
stayed 100%! When I went to fix it that night, I had about 4 big holes in the
tire.
I love you all, and yes; I'll be going to the temple on the 12th. Hooray!!
Make sure ya'll go often as well! I have no Idea whether
Elder Law has any relations to ex-Elder Law, but we thought that was pretty
cool! Sorry I used the subway card so much; we'd run into some dire straights
but we're good now!
(By the way, ninos de la Tierra are VERY weird looking bugs. VERY weird,
and the mexicans say they bite and they'll kill you and they cry like babys.
VERY VERY weird.)
Keep being awesome, I love everybody!
Love,
Elder Matthew David Clough
