How to use time wisely...

Is the scariest principle I've ever learned in my mission.  Elder James and I have been preparing to teach this to our zone this last week, and it's ridiculous.  We found out that out of the entire two years, if you take out sleep, eating, and other non-work hours, you only actually have SIX MONTHS of proselyting time.  And do you know what happens if you waste just ONE HOUR a day?  You lose a months worth of proselyting time.  That's a whole sixth of your mission down the drain!  So, we've had a lot of good discussion lately about how to use our time wiser, and we've come to a lot of great conclusions. 

This transfer is going to be too much fun though.  Elder James and I get along just a LITTLE too well!  He's a genius future astrophysicist (sweet!) which is how we calculated all that ridiculous math.  We have such a similar personality and opinion of things that it's almost silly.  First off; his ENTIRE FAMILY are massive Legend of Zelda fans (Whoo-hoo! That means he thought my conversion story was boss); the way they usually had fun together was gathering in the living room and watching their mom play a new one.  They also love board games and books almost as much as we do, so it's a pity they live all the way out in Washington; I think they'd be awesome friends for yall to have a game night with.  (Actually, when he played the farming game at BYU he realized that he lives where the game takes place!  His stake is actually called the Rattlesnake Mountain Stake, instead of rattlesnake ridge!  We even found out that on the phone, our voice is scarily similar, we couldn't tell ourselves apart!  Also, on his mom's side he's related to some Cloughs (Nancy Clough I think) from (Yorkshire?) where my great grandpa is from, so it looks like we're about 6th cousins.  (Mom; could you figure out the tree over there so we could see how we're related?  That'd be awesome.)

Samuel didn't get baptized this Saturday; he got sick at camp. Poor kid!  He also didn't make it to church, but he sure wanted to come!  It was funny; when we went to visit him, his whole family was trying to avoid being the one to say the prayer, but as soon as heard us ask who would do it, he started jumping up and down with his hand in the air.  He's a boy FILLED with real intent and charity.  We're planning on the baptism being this Saturday, so we'll see what happens.

Our other investigators are doing super well.  Alicia is slowly progressing towards her baptism on June 10th.  Her son's graduation has been keeping her busy lately though.  Mariela has started meeting with us again, and she's finally started being open with her concerns: she's really afraid of how her family is going to react to her conversion, but she knows that her small family needs to draw closer to God.  Maria, another lady we teach who forgot she'd been baptized but not confirmed in Mexico, is also coming along super well; she didn't even flinch when Elder James said "So I hear you want to be baptized again!"  He's been taking full advantage of being new in the area, and he's being super bold with people.

Keep up the good work everyone, I love you all and know you're doing so great!  I'm proud of all of you.  Tell the Halladays I wish them well, and I'm very grateful for the example they set for me and my sisters.  There's actually a Hermana Halladay in our Zone right now (Wonder if they're related?)  I'm praying for you all!

Love

Elder Matthew David Clough

40

I should be used to the way transfers always blows my mind, but I'm not.  It's crazy what's going on right now!!! 

I'll be staying here in Ventura, but Elder Lee is going to serve with Elder Kleinman as an assistant to the president!  He's completely shocked and a bit nervous, but he'll do so great.  He is super humble, obedient, diligent, and good at this, so he'll be exactly what is needed.  Elder Jenkins is being given another assignment, but I haven't heard what exactly he'll be doing. 

My new companion is going to be Elder James, our district leader in Fillmore!  He's been with Elder Bautista these past two transfers, and I'm super excited: he's an amazing missionary!  Elder Bautista's also staying in Fillmore, and Elder Passey, one of my good friends here is moving to Carpinteria. Best of luck to everyone all around!

This week has been crazy.  For comparison, when Elder Lee and I came in, the members of the zone all taught an average of 7-8 lessons per week.  But this last week, we set the goal, and every single companionship taught over 40 lessons!  I've never worked this hard in my whole mission!  It was amazing to see how the Lord prepared the way for us and prepared so many people.

In other news, Samuel passed his baptismal interview!  He's well on track to be baptized next week.  While we were waiting for church to start, we got talking about what tv shows he likes and then we talked about Naruto for quite a bit!  It reminded me a lot about Danielle.

We taught an awesome lesson to Felipe and Carmen.  We decided to teach about keeping the sabbath day holy, and while at first he felt really attacked (he said "You got me!  You're hitting me left and right: I'm crucified!!!") he finally recognized that the commandment "Isn't you guys' rules; it's God's rules!"  He plans on changing, but won't commit to it yet.

We also had a crazy cool activity; we went to the "swap meet;"  which is a massive market they do in the Ventura College parking lot.  We set up a table, got 6 missionaries together, and started teaching everyone who would listen to us for more than 5 seconds.  It was awesome! 

Yeah, I know Hermana Cannon, Elder Bate and Elder Egan.  They're super awesome: actually, Elder Egan graduated from Syracuse High School.  Also, the reason why Elder Jenkins won't be coming home with me, is because he's from Alaska, so he'll be going over there.

I'm super excited for this transfer; it's going to be stellar!  Short: it's only going to be five weeks: but we'll make President Castro's last his best ever.

Love, Elder Matthew David Clough

Mother's Day Phone Call

We had a great phone call with Matthew yesterday.  He is very excited and working hard.  He said the most interesting thing he has eaten lately was a dish similar to shrimp cocktail but it was made with octopus.  He said it was very good.  Transfers come again next Monday.  He said that transfer will be a 5 week transfer followed by a 7 week transfer.  We were able to inform Matthew of his return date since we had an email from his Mission office last week.  He will be coming home on Wednesday August 13th.  We will inform you later of the time since we don't have that information yet.  He was very excited about it because at the last transfer they had been told that everyone had lost a week or two, so he was expecting to come home earlier.  He will be coming home exactly the same week that he left two years ago so he didn't loose any time.  He said they are teaching a lot and have a lot of investigators but nobody that is ready to commit to baptism yet.  David said that his Spanish sounds good and his accent is good too.  Matthew said he plans on attending the Spanish branch when he returns because they always need help. 

...BOOM!!!

That's what happened last week. And that's a pretty good sum up of what is going to happen this week.  The whole mission is on fire because of Elder James and Elder Bautista's example in teaching 40+ lessons a couple weeks ago, and now that's the standard; that's the goal!

We had mission leader council this week again, and it was amazing!  For the first half, president Castro focused on teaching us about how to achieve God's unity.  He taught us so much about how to become one and how we're going to have to establish our eternal companionship some day.  It was pretty cool, because the night before, Elder Lee and I had been talking about all the things we learned in our missions that will help our marriages!  He showed us a cool diagram: and I'm going to try to represent it here with my limited resources.  Hopefully this works!

The World's Way of Finding Unity:

___________________________

|                       \                      |
|                        /                     |

|      Party         /      Party         |

|         A          /           B           |

|                    |                         |
|                     \                        |   
|_____________\_____________|  

God's Way of Finding Unity:

                          GOD

                             ^

                           /   \

                         /       \
                       /           \
                     /               \
                   /                   \

                 /                       \
               /                           \ 
             /                               \
           /                                   \

         /                                       \
       /                                           \
     /                                               \

A /_____________________________\B

The world's way doesn't work.  It's all a bunch of compromises, and "if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours"  But how united does it really look?  It looks more like a war between Party A and Party B.  If that's the way relationships usually work; no WONDER divorce is so rampant.

But the Lord's way is perfect.  If both Party A and Party B work TOWARDS God, they can't help but grow closer together, and eventually be completely united. It's awesome.

The work this week was amazing. The second part of MLC was geared towards raising our vision and helping us work harder and more effectively.  Last week, our goal as a mission was to teach over 25 lessons in each companionship, which is over the standard of excellence!  But this week, the entire mission will be pushing for teaching 40 lessons!  It's going to be awesome!

I also did some scary math this week; during an exchange with Elder Trujillo. I calculated that if you waste just one minute every day of your mission: you wind up wasting an entire day.  BUT if you waste just one hour every day of your mission: you waste an entire month!  It was a good wake-up call to the both of us to work more effectively.  I also (out of dread curiosity) calculated that if you waste just one hour every day of a 90 year life, you wind up wasting 3 and a half years.  It really makes you think about how precious time really is, and how important it is to use it wisely.  Also, though, it means a lot of good too.  One hour a day, every day, of reading the Book of Mormon means three and a half years of no sleep, no break, study of it!

I love you all, hope you all keep having a good week!  We'll do our best out here, and let you know where the Lord calls us to work next!

Love,

Elder Matthew David Clough

Sick of shaving troubles; Elder Clough resolves to test out a cream which shaves for you...

Wish me luck; I hope it doesn't eat my face.

Another week has come and gone, and with it, much success and many miracles!  One thing I love about the work is that we get to see the hand of the Lord in so many peoples lives all the time!  I don't know if missionaries actually get more miracles and help than others, I think most of it just comes down to us being more aware of it since we're looking for it.

Tuesday we had interviews with President Castro again.  This time was very different, but very good at the same time.  We didn't go one on one into these interviews; they were companionship interviews.  This time we were accounting for our obedience, just as a family would in a tithing settlement.  It felt great to respond positively for the things we've been doing right!  I need to do a bit better at starting my studies at 8:00 prompt (Shaving's a killer!) but President was very happy with our efforts and the things we've been getting done.  We also did our stake report, and that was a great chance to report on the progress to him and the stake president.  In our zone, the numbers this last transfer have almost doubled since we started!  Everyone is excited for the miracles we've accomplished so far, and the chance to do more in the next two weeks.

Some of the highlights of the week are as follows.  As Elder Lee and I were walking along, we saw a guy we'd seen before and went up to talk with him.  His name is Efrain, from El Salvador, and he's awesome!  He's had a trial come up in his life recently; his brother was hit by a car and is in a coma, but that's awakened in him a desire to get closer to God and he was very excited to learn more.  He wants to come to church, when we find a ride for him.

Then, as Elder Passey and I were on an Exchange, we met a guy walking past us who, when we said hello, said, "hey Elders!"  When we asked him about it, he said his name is Sergio, and he used to meet with the missionaries all the time.  After a few transfers, they lost track of him and he moved to the avenue.  He didn't want to talk much then, but later on, Elder Lee and I saw him sitting outside a restaurant, and he invited us over to teach him!  He didn't remember everything, but teaching him felt more like a role-play practice: everything he said was perfect!  When we asked him if he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet, he said "He could have been..." and when we asked what it would mean to him if he knew that he was, he said "It would change everything!  I'd be going to the Mormon church!"  Then, when we invited him to be baptized he said yes before we even finished the question.  We're seeing him again today so we'll see how it goes!

Finally, one of my favorite people I've ever met tracting was a man named Hong (pronounced Hwong with a super soft g) from Vietnam!  He was super excited to see us and very friendly; he spent about 30 minutes telling us all about what his people believe.  (It's very weird, he basically told us "We're all going to hell; but don't worry!  It's happy there.  Then, if you don't do anything bad there, you get to go to heaven.  But you also got to buy 'hell money' so that you have money when you're in hell, otherwise you can't get anything like clothes or food or stuff."  It was cool!)  He really connected with what we taught him about finding peace, and when we asked if we could pray with him, he was super confused for a bit, but when we explained how it worked really carefully, he invited us into his house and we got to pray for him and his family!  He also wants a Book of Mormon in Vietnamese!

We'll be calling around 4-5 our time, so I'm not sure when that is for you.  I hope you all have a wonderful week, WELL DONE DAD ON THE TRIATHLON!!

Love,

Elder Matthew David Clough

Fulfilling prophecy; here in the Great California Ventura Mission!

This week has been ridiculous.  I've never worked so hard or effectively in my whole mission.  The Zone really took the correction from Elder Bowen well, and it's evidenced by the fact that the numbers this week almost doubled from the last.  In just our own area, we had 35 lessons!  That may not be a lot in some missions, but in ours that's unheard-of!  One companionship in our zone actually achieved the challenge he gave us already!  They taught over 40!  They're a huge inspiration to us, and our goal as a zone this next week is to accomplish it as well.  The way we've been doing it is so exciting to do: we're staying out of our cars (the "curse of the mission") as much as possible, and try to turn literally every person we see into a new investigator.  It's made for some interesting experiences, and some miracles as well!  Only time will tell what true blessings come from these efforts, and who is brought to the gospel by them.

We also went to the temple this week, and that was an adventure in it's own right!  We went with two recent converts from the ward, and they had no idea how to get there.  It turned out all right, and just as we arrived, we met a group of missionaries on their way home from Australia.  They were really friendly, but the cool part came when they found out that we're from the California Ventura Mission: it turns out that the Sister missionary there has a sister serving in our mission!  She was super excited to be able to write her a brief note and send it along with some lesson helps she'd used in her mission.  Fortunately, her sister is even serving in Ventura, so we'll be getting that to her today.  The temple was beautiful, of course, and I learned so much in the session!  I'm resolved to attend at least monthly.  On the way back from the Temple, we got lost while our ride was looking for somewhere to eat.  We wound up accidentally traveling through Bel-air, Hollywood, and even Beverly Hills!  It was exciting but we were happy when we were back on our way to the mission.

We also had two amazing exchanges this week: one was a tri-pan exchange, meaning we just got an extra missionary for the day.  It was a unique experience to be teaching in a tri-pan, and all the better because our extra was Elder Jenkins!  He's grown even more since last we served together: he's a true servant of the Lord!  His faith and dedication went a long way towards helping us reach out to everyone and reach our goal.  One special experience that day, happened when we ran into one of our friends; Basilio, on our way to visit Ruben.  It was good to see him, but we thought we didn't have any time so we were just going to set up an appointment and run.  Elder Jenkins tapped me on the shoulder however, and said "Maybe we're not that busy..." So we repented and taught him a short lesson on the Book of Mormon.  At the end, we invited him to pray, and since he didn't know how to read and was a bit nervous, he really resisted.  Elder Jenkins said a short demonstration prayer, and then I walked him through saying his own, the way you would help a small child, and although he only prayed for one thing, his son (who's struggling and in jail)  he was super touched by the spirit and was weeping at the end.  Then he said "I feel better!  so much better!"  It was a humbling reminder that in all this busyness and places to go, we need to worry more about the ONE and not the massive amounts of numbers.

The other exchange was a fantastic one, and I got to go with Elder Bautista!!! It was such a powerful experience and an answer to prayers!  Elder Bautista had learned so much from the mission conference, and is really seeking to apply it.  He's learned so much and is well on his way to reaching the next level of his awesome potential.  They're re-awakening a struggling ward, and are really starting to gain the Bishop's trust and admiration through their reliability and hard work.

Samuel is also doing awesome as usual.  We've taught him a lot recently, and he's getting there step by step.  I love teaching him because he's super sharp and yet super humble and loving at the same time.  We'll have to push his baptism date back a bit, because we're waiting for his sister to come up from Mexico, but he'll be ready very soon!

I'm super proud of everyone and all the stuff that's going on!  Keep having those scripture studies and family home evenings, it's the little things that make all the rest fall into place!  Tell Danielle that swimming is super fun but RUNNING will always be king!  I love you all and pray for you every night.

Love,

Elder Matthew David Clough

And the Great California Ventura Mission promptly caught on fire.

That's pretty much what happened this week.  We had our Mission Leader Council meeting in preparation for the Mission Conference itself, and then we had the number one most spiritual meeting I've ever been part of.  The Mission Conference with Elder Nelson, Elder Bowen, and Elder Garnes was incredible.  It's changed this mission, I can already feel it, and it's changing me too.

I'll talk about Mission conference first: it's the most important part after all!

We had a very strict set of instructions to follow, and I'm proud to say that all our 300+ missionaries performed every word of command with exactness!  We were ready and reverently seated long before the guests of honor arrived.  When they did, the room was already full of the spirit, but we could still feel their presence.  Elder Nelson is certainly an Apostle of the Lord!

The talks were fantastic.  Elder Bowen really put us in our place and raised our vision of what is possible!  He started out asking if we are obedient missionaries and we immediately answered "Yes!"  While he was surprised by our answer (Most people say "I try to be" or something similar) he was pleased and told us it was the right one.  After all, the purpose of this life isn't to see if we will "try" to be obedient, but "(to) prove (us) herewith if (we) will obey every command which the Lord (our) God shall give them."  (Abraham something verse something)  He told us though, that we have to do more.  We have to do ALL the "small" rules; if we can't sacrifice those things, how can we ask a man to forsake his life, at the potential risk of being disowned by his own family?  He said if he was our investigator and we asked him to quit coffee or smoking, etc, he'd ask us "Do you get up EVERY MORNING at 6:30?"  (I was very relieved THAT is something I've kept up on!)  He then talked about how we have to step up our game and do more.  We get excited over 6-7 lessons a week: we SHOULD be teaching 40.  He used the example of how the medical community believed it was impossible for the human body to run a mile in under 4 minutes, else the heart would rupture.  But then, Roger Bannister DID it, and a year later 6 others did.  It reminded me of getting past my own mental barriers in Track to beat the 5 minute mile.  I'm super excited to be doing that the next few months: but I wish I'd felt this way earlier!!!  I almost feel like I've "wasted" a year and a half to actually get the answers on how to do this!

Elder Nelson's talk was interesting.  It was largely composed of a question and answer period, and I learned a LOT!  Out of the list of questions I'd written down all of the important ones were answered fully, even though I never had a chance to raise my own hand (I was too busy writing!)  His testimony was powerful, and his final message was to obey those who are placed as watchmen over our souls (ie, President Castro and his Wife)  Elder Nelson was pretty hilarious too; a joke he mentioned as he invited a stake president and his wife to come up and bear testimony was "Ladies first of course! They always have to break the ice for the men..." So true! 

This week was amazing for the work too: After the conference our desire and ability was magnified tenfold!  The district we were in almost tripled our usual numbers.  We also had 4 investigators at church: Samuel, Alicia and her daughter Esme, and Allison!  They loved it, and we're excited to keep pressing forward!  I've run out of time I'm afraid, but I love you all and hope you feel the blessing Elder Nelson pronounced on you in our presence.

Love,
Elder Matthew David Clough

ps: The Balboa family (from Arriagas Chiapas) says Hermana Balboa would have been 5-6 when dad was there: does he remember the Nataren/Orozco family? Or Obispo Jaime Castillejo?