Mailing Address

Elder Matthew David Clough
California Ventura Mission
3301 West Gonzales Road
Oxnard, California 93036

Phone: 1-805-485-1034 (only necessary for packages)



Monday, December 23, 2013

Hello everyone!

This week has been pretty crazy again.  We've been getting everything in order for Eric's baptism; and that's going perfectly.  It was kinda funny, we gave him a heads up that oftentimes, the week before baptism is a super tough one; the adversary works really hard to prevent it, and he said. "Huh?  Oh, yeah.  Don't worry, I'm staying strong.  I've been reading my Book of Mormon a lot more lately."  He's awesome!!!  We connected really well this week too; after one of our lessons we got talking about his interests, and it turns out he's a massive Pokemon and Legend of Zelda fan!  So, naturally, he really liked my conversion story.  

I got to go on two exchanges this week; one with Elder Slaugh and one with Elder Payne.  Both of them are really awesome, solid elders, and it was a total blast.  On the exchange with Elder Slaugh, we ran into a guy on the street named Joe, and as we got talking, he asked if the church had any programs to help people who are financially struggling.  I told him that I didn't really know what there was, so I gave him the Bishop's number and said that even if the church didn't have anything to help with, the bishop could at least tell him where to go.  Later, I kinda regretted not giving him the missionaries number as well, but RIGHT before we finished our day, we ran into him again, and he told us "I lost the card you gave me!" Miracle!  So we were able to give it to him again, and with our info as well!  It was really cool.

The Christmas devotional was Super fun, and way spiritual.  There were a number of awesome musical performances, and our Zone sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."  The lunch and games afterwards were the best though; every Elder I've trained was there; Elder Mortimer, Elder Lewis, Elder Law and of course Elder Bautista!  It was great to see them all and see how well they're all doing.  It's really weird being some of the oldest Spanish missionaries left; in three transfers I think we will be the oldest ones, and there's not many ahead of us now.  

I'm still not quite used to all this YSA work.  It's great fun, but it's weird being around a bunch of young people.  It's great though, because they are ON TOP of their missionary work.  There is a bunch of fire and drive; Elder Jenkins and I haven't spent a single minute tracting since we've arrived.

We're very excited for Christmas coming up, especially since Eric's getting baptized!  I'm very excited to call and talk to everyone, I hope this Christmas is a good one all around!  I'll do my best and work hard, and we'll talk in a bit!  Love ya!

Elder Matthew David Clough