The Best Week of His Mission, at least, so far...

This is a good one. As you will see finally efforts are rewarded. And he let his trainee, Elder Gomez baptize him. What a stud. Love this boy. Was able to chat back and forth and I could feel and hear the joy in his words. He is loving it so much and was able to shake Elder Oaks hand too, bonus. I also received an email from his companion thanking us for sending him on a mission. They truly were meant to serve together. Read on. You're going to love this one...

Subject: Best Week Ever

Hello Clayton family!! So this week was super sweeet. On Monday, after we had written we had a noche de hogar with a family and our investigator. It went super well and he bore his testimony of the restauracion. On Tuesday, we had a zone meeting and I got my package!!! I opened it up at the house and loved everything inside it. The best parts were the letters from Bridger and Caleb, the letter from Caleb made me laugh alot. The cookies and the peanut butter were the best part though. So thank you for everything!! On Friday, we had a Noche De barrio, and we had an activity at the church with a lot of success!! We had 5 investigators show up and three less active families show up. We had a lot of work!!! but it felt good. I am loving my comp, Elder Gomez, he is like a brother to me. We work hard and have a good time. I have learned alot from him and everyday is fun with him. On Saturday, Elder Oaks came and visited our mission!! It was super cool and he spoke about loving our companions and always inviting people to come to Christ. Just like our convert, this week. We contacted him drinking, in one month, he is a new man. On Sunday we had stake conference and our baptism!! It was awesome, oh except that on Saturday, no one had freaking keys to the pila, so we cleaned it Sunday really fast and filled it up during the meeting. We had a 70, Elder Hoyos, who talked about the history of Monterrey and the church. Then we had the baptism. Right after, Jose Maria told us (ahora yo siento como una oveja en el redil) it was really spiritual and everything went fine. I am grateful for all of the prayers and support for him. I know there are people that are ready to hear this gospel and are just waiting for someone to say something to them. So this week has been pretty much the best week of my mission yet!

Love you all!! Thank you for everything! 

--

Elder Clayton

  Here's some more conversation I had with him, and more pics.  This was an awesome week.  He sent so many,  He got his package and you can hear in his written words, life is going great.  Love him so much.

I received a bonus email from his companion Elder Gomez.  It was quite ironic how right before that Stetson had just said how much he loves him and how much they are like brothers.  Then this popped in:

 Hello Sister Clayton this is Elder Gomez, i just wanna say thanks for your son, i couldnt ask for a better father, its a blessing being with him, i can imagine now the kind of fathers he has, were taking care of each other and i promess nothing will happend to him, your family is always in my prayers and when we end our mission i would like to visit you, if you need something just ask, i may not know you but I love you all and all of you are part of my family now bye<3

I hurried and replied to let him know, that he is already part of ours, too.  

 Baptism of Jose Maria

 Doing his laundry, look how white that shirt is.  Amazing!

Already a member missionary.  In the home of less actives inviting them back to church.

Happy 20th Birthday, and Hopefully a Baptism

This just might be one of the best emails. It was his bday yesterday and the picture attached shows how the members took great care of him. He said he had an awesome day. We sent him a package weeks ago which he hasn't gotten yet and I guess I have to pray that it will. But prayers were answered and he seems to have survived without the Hostess cupcakes anyway ha ha. Enjoy. Honestly, this one is awesome... 

 

Hello family! This week was sweet! We are going to baptize if all goes according to plan sunday! We are pumped, it is a special conference, so there should a lot of support from everyone on sunday. We also found a famliy, with three boys. There are a lot of familes with three boys here. Everytime I meet someone with three boys I feel like it is my family. So we are going to start to teach them, and another Hermana with two little kids who prayed for an answer and we talked to her the day she had prayed. Pretty cool to see miracles everyday. Jose Maria, our investigator is doing well and is excited for everything. He has changed 180 degrees. He was an alcholoc and is now totally clean. What a miracle!! It feels good to help people change for the best, and be a part of that change. He is a friend to me, and is a really awesome person. Oh and this saturday Elder Oaks is going to come! We are super excited and it will be sweeeet!! Love you all!

--Elder Clayton

They take pretty good care of him, as you can see. 

Super Bowl Sunday in Monterrey & Teaching a Sister to Pray

He is having great success with a sister that he is reacquainted with and their investigator is a great member missionary already and not even baptized.  He sounds so great and he loves his companion.  He is living with two other elders which means there is four total in the their apartment and they all get along very well.  As you will see in the pictures he looks so happy.  This week actually tomorrow is his 20th b-day.  I am so hoping his package gets there.  I have tracked it and it says it's there, but you never know.  I have been praying that it does, but tomorrow is pday and hopefully my prayers will be answered and they will know that it is b-day and the package will get there and someone will help him celebrate.  Enjoy, you can here how happy he is in the email.  Love him so much.  It's a good one...

Hey Family!! So our Zone leaders changed our pday back to Monday with short notice so yeah, I don't have too many photos, but from Wednesday to today has been really good. On Thursday Elder Gomez had to go to immigration! So I just stayed in the offices and talked with a sister who is now in my first area and she told me that they all still talk about me and miss me! Made my day haha. I don’t know why, but the first area in your mission always has that special place in your heart. On Friday we went back to the offices for a capatacion. We practiced teaching lessons to investigators (other missionaries with roles) it was pretty good and always a good refresher to remember the little things when ensenando! Oh and we found a family of 3 boys! Whenever we find a family with 3 boys I instantly think of my family. Oh and my comp right now, has 2 brothers too. So its sick. He says whats up and loves you all! On Saturday, the two teams here in Monterrey, los tigers y los rayados, played! So there were a ton of parties and lots of craziness going on, but we had a super tight lesson with Lupita! She has been an investigator that I contacted a while ago, but its super cool because we have taught her how to pray, and well she is catholic, so when you enter her house she has a million San Judas Tadeo statues, if you don’t know him, google him. He is more famous than Jesus here in Mexico haha. But she prays to her imagens first, then prays how we have taught her and she told us she feels mas tranquil when she prays how we taught her. It feels good to teach someone something they have never done before, something like a prayer. It’s the small things. Oh and our Investigator Jose Maria, doing awesome. He hasn’t drank in 3 weeks and took us to church this week and is helping us testify to other investigators!!! He isn’t even a member yet, and he is a missionary! Freaking cool haha. Other than that, that was my well half week! Love you all!!! 

--

Elder Clayton

 Good friends from his past areas

 Huge burritos, they look so yummy

At the mall, looks just like home.

Here's some back and forth from he and I:

On Sun, Feb 2, 2014 at 10:19 PM, <claytonmom@comcast.net> wrote:

Well Hello Pal!  How you doing this week.  This week was a crazy busy one for me.  I had several camp meetings.  Even with it being not until the end of June we had the big kick off meeting where all the wards came with their camp directors and assignments were given.  It was good to have over but it was a big assignment to get it all ready.  Each ward was to come and decide what animal they wanted to be and we did it as a draft pick.  The ward that was there first got the first pick of animal and so Joanie was there very first.  It was so funny, we said that she was going to sleep over to get our first choice.  So, our ward will be Tigers.  I can't believe how much work is involved in this task.  I did this before, but for some reason it seems so much bigger.  I have been praying so hard it all comes together.  I have this book called Stand a Little Taller by President Hinckley that has a thought everyday by the calendar.  I started reading it on January 1st and everyday I turn the page and read what the thought of the day is.  It was so great on your 8th month mark the thought was Conversion, it was all about missionary work.  Then the next day it was about having courage and being valiant.  That was the day of my big meeting.  The theme for our camp is Be B.R.A.V.E. and brave stands for boldly righteous and valiant everyday so I thought how ironic it was that the thoughts of the day went so well with your 8th month mark and then the theme.  I know how many times Heavenly Father sends so many tender mercies in our behalf.  I was so nervous about the meeting and then it all turned out so well.  It's going to be so much work, but in the long run if we can help a few of these young women stay focused and keep true to who they are, it will all be worth it. Many times they say if you save one girl you save generations and that is such a true statement. 

How is your investigator doing?  Remember when I told you how sometimes even if the one soul you may convert just may be your own.  That still is so true.  I love that he is trying so hard to change his life.  Can you even imagine living that many years and not having the direction that you have had in yours.  Kind of sad, right?  So glad you are there to help these people find their way back to what is right.

On a totally different track today, it was the Super Bowl.  It was a total bust.  The Seahawks dominated.  I'm not sure Denver even had a chance.  Denver finally scored in the last quarter so it was a blowout, but honestly, it wasn't much of a game.  We didn't even have a get together.  No one really wanted to.  Which was fine.  I think it wasn't really anyone's favorite teams and so we all did our own thing.

Well, I'm going to go finish the dishes and get ready for the week ahead.  I hope you have a great week.  You said you were going hiking, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.  I love you pal, I sent your b-day package just a few days prior to the last email, so I bet you won't get it until a few days before your birthday.  I'm most certain it will make it there in time.  I pray that it does.  You look like things are going great, and you're doing good things there. 

You're a good missionary and are doing good things for those people there, making them see that they are children of a loving Father in Heaven who has sent a Savior to show them way to return to home.  Have a wonderful week and can't wait to hear from you on Wednesday.

Love you,  MOM

hey mom! Just read your letter. Yeah I saw part of the Superbowl! just a few minutes haha but its a game like that. Yeah we defintley live in zion with callings and how everything is organized like that. here, you cant even call someone to organize a little ward party. but its all good, I am loving it. my kid and I are working hard and really helping this little ward out! Is Caleb and Bridger still alive?? Freak man. I know Bridger has school and work but so did I ! hahah its all good though. thanks for the packages! My bday is next week! 

On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 4:50 PM, <claytonmom@comcast.net> wrote:

Be surprised, but both of them wrote you a letter in your b-day box.  I will tell them you wondered if they are upright and breathing.  Know that they pray for you everyday...especially Caleb.  He loves you so much and I know he misses you.  Even the throw downs and the stop resisting...ha-ha.

haha I know they are alive I just want to hear from them. I don't care, just the smallest little things in their lives or how their week went. But thanks mom. Love you so much. How is the Orchard 5th ward? When is camp? 

 

Orchard 5th is great.  Dad is doing a super job with the cleaning of the building.  It's not the best job, be "we" are making the most of it.  Camp is the last week of June.  June 30- July 3.  Which is really hard because I will be there when Caleb turns 16.  I'm having a really hard time with this one.  I have never missed any of your b-days and this one is a big one.  I will totally make it up to him, but this one is HUGE!!!

Then Dad turns 50 on the 5th and I wanted to do a BIG thing for him, too.  Holy cow, I'm swamped.  I hope I can fit it all in.  Otherwise, things are good.  Oh, by the way, Zeus died yesterday.  That was sad, he is the cul-de-sac mascot.

And it is Zach's farewell on Sunday, he will do awesome.  I told everyone we should have red rubies and put them on our foreheads after the sacrament.  Funny, right?  Can't decide if it would be disrespectful.

 MOM

Gotta go mom, love you...

 

Finally, a Golden Contact

He is loving his area and companion.  He was able to be on with me and I had gotten peach roses for Abby for her b-day and had a great visit with her.  (Abby is his friend since 8th grade) he had asked me to send an oil container in his b-day package.  I had already sent his package at the writing of this email, and low and behold I had sent two.  Tender mercies are amazing and they always seem to work out just when you need them to.  He is doing so great.  Thank you for following his journey, he and we appreciate it so much.  He will be having a b-day soon, and I sent a package to him.  I am hopeful he will get it soon, before his bday on the 10th.  It all takes faith...

Hola Familia! This week was super sick! So first of all, I want to tell you about our super solid investigator, Jose. he is super smart and is progressing really well. He has had a pretty crazy life and he has come to the point where he wants to change. It was a blessing to meet him. He showed up early to church on Sunday and was answering questions in priesthood just like a member! jaja so sick! Our ward is kind of hard, I don't know if I have been blessed or punished to have hard areas but I love it. Our bishop didn't show up until 10, and none of the bishopric until 915 then we started and of course asked us missionaries to speak. Its all good though, I love my area and the people in it. Oh freak and Saturday something kind of bad happened, there is a family that was recently reactivated and are going but still need to have a more solid testimony. The dad, is super funny and is a cool guy, has a little problem with drinking, but we are working with him.  Other than that, this week was sweet. I love our house, its a ton of fun with 3 elders haha. we cook together and there are no problems between us. It is fun and my comp is super tight. Favorite comp so far. Love you all!! 

--

Elder Clayton

All the missionaries who live in the same apartment together, they have a great time.

 In the morning there is ice on the grass, says it's cold there.

 La progreso - where he is living at the present time

This is his solid investigator with the suit and tie.  He says he is so strong.  We are praying all goes well and he will be baptized soon

 This guy is a wrestler and is great fun, he says and "yes" I have a hole in my pants.

This is another of their investigators who told them his name was Jose Smith at first.