His Next Package Arrives, And a Hard Week, but You Wouldn't Know It

Here's this weeks email. Not long. Never are but he got our package full of crystal light packages and tootsie rolls he loved it. This package I sent a different way.  I have usually sent them priority which is quite expensive but I know they will almost always get there.  The lady at the counter said that I could save so much money if I packed my own box, so this time I took her advice.  This one was filled with just treats.  It cost almost $50 less and with faith and praying for it daily I sent it on it's way.  I was so relieved when I got the awesome picture he sent.  Looks like it arrived safe and sound. I hope the video works, It is so fun to hear his voice.  This week will mark his 6 month mark.  Hard to believe and yet seems like I haven't heard his voice in forever.  He is doing awesome and that smile says it all.  He is happy and doing exactly what he is meant to do.  These people love him.   He also said it was a hard week but didn't go into much detail. Never one to complain. Which is awesome. Enjoy.

Tammy

Hello Everyone! So the weather has been a little loco here in Monterrey. We had some really cold days and now it is hot! Reminds me of Utah! So we are working a lot with a husband of a member who isn't a member. We are fasting a lot and he is progressing which is super good to see. This week we focused a lot on less actives and getting them back to church. We had interviews this week, and that's when I got the package! So sweet! It was a harder week for sure, this is the last week of the change, so next Monday night I will find out if I stay or go, and I will get a new comp. I have really liked it here in Sabinas. It is one of the hardest areas in the mission many people have told me, and members say the same. but I love it. Hard work is good! So not much happened other than that and there was a parade today for Dia de Revolucion! They love celebrating here! Love all of you! 

--
Elder Clayton

He Finally Writes...

Well, we finally  heard from this boy.  Not a long one, which isn't surprising they never are, but the pictures he sends are always worth more than the words typed.  This week I have been putting together the last of his Christmas package and doing a year calendar.  I have missed him more as I look through pictures.  But, I wouldn't want him any other place.  These people are enjoy him and his smile as much or more than we could at this time.  Thank you so much for all the prayers and concern in his behalf.  As always he sends his thanks and love.  Enjoy, read slow...it will last longer.

Hello fam! So this week was short because I wrote Wednesday. but it was a good week! On Thursday we visited a less active family and we didnt know where they lived, so we knocked on a random door because we knew it was close, and they told us where the family lived. Perfect, gracias. So we were placticando with this family and the hermana who opened the door we knocked on asked for us for a blessing! ALLELUJUAH. What a blessing. So we ended the visit with the less active family and went to give a blessing to a daughter of this lady. We explained it takes faith to ask for a blessing and how cool it was. So it was really spiritual and inspired, then the next day we came back and talked about the church with here and now she is an investigator! On Friday, we had divisions with Our NEW mission leader. ALLELUJAH. We visited a family who's dad isn't a member, but the spouse is and the kids are. We had a bomb lesson and he showed up to church!!! SO sick. If he gets baptized I cant watch them get sealed in a year. I really love that family too. On Sunday, so he showed up and another hermano who isnt a member but his family is. Love to fams at church. So then we got word that there was a meeting in Monterrey for all of us. So we went and that was fun, 11 people in a suburban listening to Mexican music.   love you all!!! 

--

Elder Clayton

Went to Pizza Hut 

Seriously, who wouldn't want to get on this bus? 

 Another day at the Monterrey Temple

 Krispie Kreme Doughnuts, not too bad

Honduras Money, who knew?

A Quick Hello & Happy Halloween

We did not hear from Elder Clayton this week which is always a little heartbreaking.  However, on Thursday, Halloween, a little note popped in with a couple of pictures which was a welcome surprise.  As you will see has a little Stetson humor along with it and a little note that brought a tear to my eye.  I have always made chili and bread sticks and so when he told me to eat some for him it made me a little sad as I knew he would be thinking of home today.  You will read that the work is moving forward.  At first they only had very few people at the meetings like 15 and last week 55.  I am certain they are doing great work and loving him.  He is worried his time is growing short there, but he will do well wherever he serves, I am certain of it. 

Here you go, but you can't help smiling when you see the delivery of the sacrament, you will see...

we went to deliver the santa cena to people that cant make it to church and the secrarty of the branch bought us cokes! apostasia!!! haha 

--

Elder Clayton

hello mom! We dont have much time but sounds like your week was awesome! india is crazy! what a wait!! February 12! right before his birthday! thats wild. the rama has really changed around, I really think we can baptize in the river. the whole branch is on board for my goal haha. we have a goal of 80 in assistance by end of November too. my first Sunday here we had 15 and last week 55. so we are on track! I am loving it though. 

 I was hoping this is not why we didn't hear from him.  He looks a little thinner than I remember him.

Best Day in the Mission so Far, and Praying for a Baptism in the River

He sounds so good and as always never complains. I told him I would pray for him to get his goal of a baptism in the river as well. I know the people love them there. I get Instagram pictures often from cute girls who snap pictures of him which I think are funny. But you can see the happiness in the faces of the pictures he sends. He worries about his time growing short as he had been in the area quite awhile. But, as we are well aware he will be just fine were ever he goes.  You will also notice his "Spanglish" is quite evident.  Love that too!  This weeks marks his 5th month.  He is doing well, and I am finalizing his Christmas package.  Anyone wanting to throw in a little note to this fine young man, please get it to me by Friday, he would love it. 

Thanks as always for your love and support as you follow his journey. We all appreciate it. Enjoy...

Sunday was one of the best days of my mission so far! So I am still here In Sabinas Hidalgo, with Elder Randall and we are working so hard. The first part of the week was hard, not much to look forward to, but it got so much better. On Saturday, we went with a member to Villadalma and Bustamante for these famous tacos which were super good! They are two little towns in our area and we went to a cave!! It was super high up and we were in the clouds! The cave was so sweet, then we went back to our area and worked. So Sunday we were giving talks and both of us were just kind of frustrated with well everything. but Sunday was amazing. So we have the help of a hermano in the rama that is helping us reactivate less actives. So we had 53 people show up and the stake president came yesterday to talk about missionary work. So, I gave my talk first, I talked on Christlike Attributes. Humilty Charity and fe en Jesus Christ. It went well, then Elder Randall spoke and burst into tears, and told the rama it needs to change. Its true though. There is a lot of pride here, and rumors and the members just need to keep going forward. Ramas are super hard to work with because they are so small. I have been here for 3 months about and it gets frustrating to see where the fruit of your labors are. but yesterday I realized that my fruit is strengthening this rama and getting it on track to a ward. the stake president spoke on missionary work and it was amazing. He challenged everyone to give a book of Mormon to one person this week. So we went home really fast and brought back 50 Libros!!! So sweet. The rama loves us though. I told the hermano that we are working with that I want to baptize in the river before I go. So one of the rama goals is to help Clayton baptize in the river!!! haha so sick! Oh and after the meeting because it was so good. The Stake Pres called our mission President!!! No manches. it was awesome. So we spoke with President Swapp for a little bit. Then after, we went on divisions with the jovenes and they love going with us. oh and a member who lives in Dallas asked us to come bless his dad who was sick so we went in his truck to this super nice house. And its crazy here because there are so many white people! This house was just like America haha. It was a good blessing and that was yesterday. but I love it here and love the members. They are taking care of us.Oh and its starting to get way cold! We need to buy gas for hot water. First hot shower in 3 months!  Love you all!

--

Elder Clayton

 So close and yet so far...

notice the date of expiration...ha-ha

 Says sorry it's blurry, but this is Sabinas at night

 

Top of the cave they went to says it in the clouds.   A lot like Minnetonka like at Bear Lake

True Joy in his Words & a Cleaning Fairy, just like MOM

I love this week's email.  You can here the joy and happiness in his words.  He sent many pictures.  I will forward a couple, but like always the remaining ones will be posted on his blog at www.elderclaytoninmexico.blogspot.com  Thank you so much for support.  Your thoughts and prayers in his behalf are so appreciated.  He is doing so well and we are so grateful and are so blessed for his faithful service.  I was concerned with the death of a missionary in Mexico and so I will include my opening paragraph of my email to him and his reply.  Made me chuckle, I can see he is doing just fine...and it still makes me miss him.  I really think time is crawling on this boy's journey, at least for me.

Hello Pal:

How are you?  First thing fresh on my mind is this.  I was on the treadmill the other morning and the news feed read that a missionary was electrocuted in Mexico.  I was caught off guard and to tell you the truth my heart stopped.  Then it went into more detail. He was from Idaho, and it was the Tampico mission.  He had only been in the mission field a little less than a month.  Can you even imagine.  He touched a wire up on a roof of a building.  That night I was a the ward party and Connie told me to make sure I told you to NOT touch ANY wires at all.  I told her funny that she would mention that.  Because it was going to be the first thing I mentioned in my email to you.  So, be obedient to all the rules, and be smart and you will as promised be safe every day.   So that being said, I will continue with what's going on here at home.

hey mom! We have a roof but I know not to touch any wires! I am being safe. We work out on the roof sometimes when we have energy. Elder Erwin one time was fixing the light in the bathroom and a there was a huge spark haha. but we are fine. That is cool about the primary program! I always love it too. I love the kids here. The one picture with the little girl and the mom and young kid about 13 is my favorite family. the little girl is so funny to talk to. when I leave she always asks her mom *when is elder clayton coming?*

And here's this week's email...

HEllo family! This week was so sweet! So on Thursday not much happened but I saw a Utah license plate! Its funny to see, so I am not that far away from all of you. just about 23 hours. On Friday we worked hard and walked a lot, and went to a members tienda or store and visited them and that night had campechanas with him. Soo good. On Saturday, the Parents of Elder Hernandez from Vegas drove up from Monterrey to meet me! I had photos for them and told them about their son. They loved it and cried a little! missionary moms are the best haha. At the church there was a fundraiser for a sister and she was selling tacos and we each ate 10 tacos! Soo good. Tacos de harina (flour) so you have to be careful haha. Then we went to visit our investigator who is a free mason! he is so cool. he speaks English cause he worked at general motors for 30 years in Flint Michigan. On Saturday night we were walking back home and we walked by the church and all the lights were on...and we were like freak man. so some one had cleaned it but had started and just left. so we cleaned the church for about 30 minutes and set up chairs to get it ready for Sunday. and it turns out yesterday an older sister bore her testimony, and she had been cleaning and was tired, and was going to pick up another member to come help clean and get the church ready and in the time span that she had left, we had gone in, cleaned and set everything up. She cried about it. It felt so good to help the ward and sister out. and the best thing is, no one knew it was us! So it kind of reminded me of home how the cleaning fairy just comes by and cleans hahah. kidding. love you mom. Sunday, like I said was good. A less active family came and it made my day. Then we went to sing to the oldest member who is like 95. We sing hymns and she loves it. Then went with the young men on divisions and its always a good time. So it was a great week. Changes are tomorrow! I am scared to what might happen. Everyone is telling me I am going to train! We will see! love you all! 

--

Elder Clayton

 

Biker Dude!  Hope he got permission, for the bike and the helmet...

 This is an hilarious picture because this is the same shirt his dad has.  We all laughed hard when we saw this.  It is Wayne's favorite but not ours.  I'm sure Stetson laughed out loud when he saw it too.

 These are the elder's parents from the Las Vegas Mission that drove up to see Stetson

General Conference in the Mission Field

This week's email was awesome to hear of what goes on in Monterrey on conference weekend.  He had a bit of a difficult week that ended on a good note, but as you will see, it is the little things that you he has learned to appreciate out there.  As a mom, these are things you wait to hear and what a tender message these were these last two paragraphs were to my heart.  I always miss my boys at conference as they seem so close and yet so far away as they are watching at the same time as we are.  He sent several pictures and by the smile on his face things seem to have worked out just fine.  As for Wayne, he started his meds this week and we will work through this "bump in the road" and life will continue. Having Stetson far away and having to communicate through letters has been such a test of faith on all of us.  But, we are learning that He is ever mindful of all of our lives and we will get through this.  Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers, they are very much felt and appreciated and felt.

Hey family! This week was a little rough, but it is all good now. Conference was sweet! We watched it live at the church and went to the city for priesthood. On Friday night we were in kind of a scary part of our area and in less than 10 minutes I saw three Jazz Jerseys!! haha. I haven't seen one until the other night and saw three. It was funny to see. Another cool thing is we went to visit a hermana who lives super far away. like an hour walk, and we went to see her and she told us that she had prayed that day for more light in her life because she is going through some hard things. That really means something when blessings work out like that. Why? because you are thinking to yourself, Why are we walking an house to go visit this one person? then after the fact it is so clear. I dont know it that makes sense. but yeah. It was cool to see Pres. McConkie speak! My old stake Prez. and Elder Ochoa, who actually came to Sabinas Hidalgo en June because his wife is from here! Everyone in the church cheered when they announced his name. Sunday was a good day, we traveled back to our area and watched conference in Spanish. so I caught some of it, but not all of it. Then we went on divisions with the jovenes in the ward, and that was a lot of fun. They love to go with us and preach. A joven and I almost got attacked by dogs haha. We laughed hard as we ran for our lives from dogs!! It was a good week though. Love you All!

--

Elder Clayton

Love you too mom! Thanks for the little note. reminds me of the little notes you would give me in my lunches for school. always peanut butter and jam or honey. thanks for being the great mom you are. I didn't appreciate you until I left. that's how it is with most things. but I love you so much. Tell Caleb I love him. Tell him to watch NFL for me!

last thing before I go. I forgot that you had written a note on the picture of us in my photo book and I took it out and looked at it. It made my day. Thanks again. love you mom!

So, those days when I would wonder why in the world I would make him those sandwiches day after day, and maybe with not the best attitude.  I'm so glad I continued to do it, and many days wrote a little note on his napkin.  Or sometimes, just a little smiley face.  Because, today when I received this email, it really paid off, big time.

Where am I...Mexico or Bountiful, & Praying for Specifics

 This week he writes and tells of many experiences.  Although they are short, they do give a hint of things he is learning and perhaps remind him of home.  As it is conference week I always miss my missionary sons more at this time as they seem so close and yet so far away.  As I read this one I can tell that he was sent exactly where he was intended to go that was specific for him.  Enjoy, it's a great one this week.  Oh, and there is a couple of pictures of Monterrey, which are great.  But, I told him, at least put your sweet smile in one of them...ha-ha.

 

Hello Clayton fam! Writing here from Sabinas Hidalgo. It has been a pretty crazy week here. I didnt have time to write last week, so I will tell you all what happened. So last Friday, we had divisions with our zone leader, who was here for 6 months. So he came up here with me and we had an awesome time. Everyone worships him! I want to tell of a cool experience about prayer too. We prayed that morning, and it had been raining. and Elder Delgado asked for rides from members. He prayed for something specific. I didn't think about it, but as the day went on, we kept getting rides from members!! and we never get freaking rides haha. always walking. It was awesome to see that asking for something specific really works. We also have a sister here with cancer and it is sad to see. The same Elder said a prayer in her home and it was so strong. On Saturday we had a bomb lesson with our investigator about prayer. I loved it, but she didn't go to church...ah man. hardest thing getting people to church. On Sunday it was the primary program and it reminded me of home. It is the small things. you i know? On Wednesday we went to the temple, super sick. On Friday we had divisions another time but with our district leader who is the craziest and funniest elder haha. So I went to his area with his comp and we were on the bus and I asked his comp if he had the cell phone, and he said no. then I asked if he had the keys for the house and he didn't!! haha. So long story short. I spent Friday calling my comp to tell him we didn't have keys for the house, and we were at sorianasa for like 4 hours. Mexicos wal mart. I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah. basically divisions was a failure. On Sunday, 15 people showed up to church....haha we weren't happy at all. And today, we went to the offices for Immigration stuff. Then went to a super nice mall in San Pedro. Reminded me of City Creek! There was a krispie kreme, chilis, basically everything. oh and Costco is next door. Am I in bountiful or Mexico? I cant remember. I love all of you and hope all of you are doing well!! De mexico, tu hijo!! 

--

Elder Clayton

He said he went to the Mexican Consulate, He is now legal...SUPER!