Exciting Events Coming Soon

Our sister missionary trio has been going great.  We all have fun together, and I feel like we work well together too.  It has been a good week but nothing is really standing out to me to write about so I will share the things that are on my mind.

There are a couple of exciting events coming up this week.  An apostle is coming!  It is Elder Anderson and he is coming on Saturday.  We are excited.  There is also a member of the Quorum of the 70 [group of church leaders] coming, Elder Snow.   There are going to be two different meetings and it is going to be great!

Oh, and next week's P-day [preparation day] is going to be different.  P-day is going to be on Tuesday instead of Monday.  We are going to the temple next Tuesday and so our P-day gets switched to that day too.  I am soooo excited!  I haven't been to the temple since my MTC [Missionary Training Center] days.  This experience has taught me how special the temple is and how much I want it to always be a part of my life.  It will have been 11 months since I last attended the temple.  And, I never want to let 11 months pass before going to the temple ever again in my life.  It is a special way to remember the covenants that we have made with God.

Well, I am about out of time to write.  I love you all.  Thank you for all the good you do in the world, and keep going!  Love, Sister Cluff.

Service in Skirts

On Saturday we were driving back to our apartment for lunch and in our apartment complex we saw a moving van being unloaded.  Sister W and I decided we needed to offer our help, even though we had just been tracting for an hour and a half in the hot weather.  It was about 105 degrees that day.  We were expecting to hear "No thanks.  We got it covered.  Thanks for the offer."  This is the answer we normally get when we are wearing our skirts and looking all missionary-y.  But luckily that is not the answer we got.  They said that they would love our help.  It was a young dad, his father-in-law, and I believe a sister-in-law (young teen) who were doing all of the moving.  He told us that it was a crazy coincidence that we showed up because he had been praying a lot more in the past week.  God answers prayers.  I don't know what he prayed, but I am grateful we were there to help with the last half of the moving truck.  And I felt like I could sympathize with moving, since our family has moved many times.  The last part of the move is always the hardest and a great time to have fresh help.  I was so grateful that Heavenly Father gave us the prompting to ask even though it didn't seem likely that we would get to help.  It is always good to help someone in need.

And in case you wanted to know I am still in the same area with Sister W but we have an exciting new addition.... We are going to be in a trio!  Sister R is coming down from Roseburg.  It will be fun to hear how my old area is doing.  Transfer day is always crazy and Sister R is going to be coming in soon so my email is going to be a little short.

I love you all so much!  Thank you for all you do!  I’ll write again to you next week.  Love, Sister Cluff.

Teaching, Sisterhood, and Make-up

This week had an amazing miracle.  On Monday we were going to teach these 3 little kids (well 2 little kids, one is way too little to listen).  Their mom is a member, not currently active, but their dad is not a member and he didn't really have any interest in learning for himself.  When we talked to the parents, they said the kids wanted to learn about Jesus.  On Monday when we went over to teach the kids, the dad had a bunch of questions.  He said he had been doing research and wanted to know what he needed to do to join the church.  He loved how family centered the church is.

This taught me once again that God knows what he is doing.  He teaches and prepares people to hear the gospel.  Some of those people are around us.  It is up to us to keep our eyes open so we can recognize and help those people who have been prepared.  I wish I had shared the gospel more before my mission.  I didn't realize how important it is to share.  I would rationalize to myself that it is just another church.  But it's not.  It is the way to return to Heavenly Father.  The gospel explains where we were before, what our purpose is here on earth, and where we are going.

This past weekend there was a Relief Society [church organization for women ages 18 and up] sister's retreat.  Sister W, my companion, and I got to be there because there were 4 sisters we were working with who were either less-active or recent converts.  On Friday night there was dinner, a fireside, and swimming --but we didn't do the swimming part.  Then on Saturday, there were a few classes and one of them was a class about make-up. 

We went to the make-up class.  So, I am kinda stubborn.  I am pretty sure Sister W didn't believe me when I told that to her before.  I knew what I wanted and what I didn't want for make-up that day.  There were these cards that had how to do a certain make-up look.   The card that I picked out (or people picked out for me because it was purple and would look good with my eyes) was an “evening out/elegant look.” I didn't like it when I tried it so I took it off. Sister W decided she was going to do it for me.  I wasn't having any of that that day.  I had decided it wasn't happening and that was that!  It was partially because of the dramatic make-up look and since I was just going to be going tracting, I didn't think it was appropriate in that situation.  She tried a few times to help me and I blocked her-- one of the talents I learned from having an older brother.  Did I mention that I won?  Haha.  It was funny.  Some things just don't change.  And yes, I do wear make-up every once in a while. 

 By the way, our recent convert did great!  It was great to see the sisterhood being developed.  It was also good being there to encourage the other people that we meet with.

I’ve shared a little of my week’s experiences with you.  You got to read about some seriousness, a funny story, and a spiritual experience.  I hope life is going well for all of you.  I love you!  Keep up the great work!  Love, Sister Cluff.