A Few Photos...

Riding thru my first carwash with Sister R.

What it looked like from inside the car.

Our Lovely Apartment.
  Yes, there is a lamp hanging from a string and Christmas lights strung around the room.

Beautiful Oregon Sunset.

Sister Cluff with the beautiful sunset behind her.

Missionary Minded

This week was a week of miracles.  We just got into a new area and there are two people who have been taught lessons and are now finally prepared to be baptized.  We went in on the first lesson with each of these people and invited them to be baptized.  This just reinforces the fact that the Lord has his own timing.  One is a mom whose son just got back from his mission.  The son was baptized when he was 14 and is the only member in his family.  She was just waiting until he got back.  We happened to be the lucky missionaries who got to teach her before her baptism.  She has seen how much the gospel has helped her son grow and she wants that for herself.  She also wants that for her family.  She understands this not only can bless her life but the life of her family.   Her son was the one who really taught her but we are the ones who get to share the lessons with her.  Examples can help people, but unless you invite someone to do something they won't change. 

            The second person we worked with is named Tim.  He was a devout Catholic the missionaries have been working with for some time (probably about 1-2 years).  He is one of those people who want to know everything.  He has never felt ready before but now there is nothing holding him back and he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that he needs to be baptized.  The thing he loves the most about our church is the focus on the family.  He and his wife are on their second marriage and love each other and their kids a lot. (She and her kids are members.)  They want to be sealed together.  This is also from the efforts of a lot of missionaries.  Both of these baptisms are scheduled for Dec. 22 at 7PM.  The mission president is going to be there because he helped with teaching Tim.  We are super excited!

            Since I have been on a mission I have loved the ward members who are missionary minded.  I just wanted to invite you to do what our mission president invited each family to do in this mission.  He mailed the Bishops a letter that invited them and their family (and all of the families in the ward) to invite someone to their home to hear a special Christmas message from the missionaries in their home.  This is a great time of the year to do missionary work because Christ is more accepted at this time of the year and people are trying to remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas.  I invite you to pray for someone to come into your mind who can hear a message from the missionaries.  Think of all the joy you get from having this in your life.  Since I have been on a mission I have regretted all of the missed opportunities to share the gospel with friends.

            I know the church is true.  Don't forget about the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

P.S.  I am getting my hair cut short.  I have an appointment at 2PM today!

Anyone for Pizza?

Mom was kinda complainy last letter about my letters not being very good.  [A Note from Mom:  I just mentioned I wanted more information, not that the letters were bad.  I pull parts from all the letters she sends and make them into one blog post.]  So, I am writing this first....

First of all, I don't have a new companion.  We found out Monday afternoon that it wasn't going to happen.  We had started rearranging our furniture to accommodate a third bed in the same room.  As missionaries, you have to sleep in the same room as your companion and you can't sleep in the same bed.  The mission rules are very clear about that.  Any way, we are kind of bummed about not getting another companion.  We had been getting super excited and telling all of the wards.  So, now everyone is all confused whether or not a new companion is coming.

 Mario is from Mexico and his wife is a member.   They are in their 50s and have two daughters in their 20s.  He wants to meet my Dad, since he went on a mission to Mexico.  He is a philosopher, entertainer, and people pleaser.  He calls Sister R, Rosita, and me Blanca Nieve (Snow White in Espanol).  It is pretty fun.  We are having a hard time teaching him because, as a Catholic, he believes in Saints.  He will try to pray for anything we ask because we asked him to do it, not because he wants to.  He has been having lessons with missionaries for at least 10 years.  We set a baptismal date but until he feels that desire to know he is not really going to progress. 

 Maggie requested missionaries and she is the most prepared person ever.  Her biggest hang-up about why she doesn't like our church was because she thought we worshipped the Book of Mormon.  (We don't by the way.)  When we taught her about the Word of Wisdom, which includes our health laws, we were a little skeptical.  She had been agreeing with everything up to that point and we knew she at least was a smoker.  She said that she knew these things weren’t good for a person and she didn't understand why other people didn't.  She said there was a verse in the bible that said a person couldn't feel the spirit if they were drunk.  It is awesome that she recognized that!  She is going to be baptized around Dec. 20th. YAY!!

 Rodrigo came to church yesterday and after fast and testimony meeting, he asked where he could sign up to be a member.  We are teaching him the first lesson on Thursday.  We hadn't met him until after Sacrament meeting.  Miracles happen!

 Abby's Legendary Pizza.  We have an hour for lunch every day, which usually gets taken up by missionary work like calling people.  One day last week, we were in between two lessons so we decided to go out for lunch.  We decided on Costco since it was on the way, but when we walked in the exit the lady asked where we were going and we said to use the bathroom (which was true), she said that was okay.  We felt bad about buying food (without having a membership there), so we went to Abby's for pizza.  Abby’s are all over here, and semi-decent.  It is kind of like a thin-crust version of Pizza Hut.  So, on our "restful" lunch at Abby’s, we saw the kids that were recently baptized, the Relief Society President  from the NC- ward, the Young Men’s President  from the NC- ward, a less-active member from R- ward, and three people who have been going to church for over a year and aren't baptized yet. It was the most productive lunch ever!  Most of them were at a birthday party for the 17 year old who hasn't been baptized yet.  We helped out with his Eagle Scout Court of Honor our first week here.  We were invited over to the party, it was fun.

I know this church is true.  We have seen sooo many miracles.  I hope you feel like a part of my life now, since I have written more about my people.  Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.  We haven't been exactly obedient, it is a work in progress, but we have been trying our best and Heavenly Father helps out.  It is unbelievable.  Praying 20 times a day also helps out!  I love all of you sooo much!!!!  Love, Sister Cluff.

MTC Picture

Eugene Oregon Mission

Here's a cute picture of Sister Cluff from her MTC days.  She didn't have her camera cord to download her photos for awhile.  It's always fun to see her smile!  It's even more fun to hear her laugh!

Thanksgiving & Transfers

Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad!! Thanks for all of the letters!  I love finding out what all happened at home. 

I was very loved on Thanksgiving.  We got to watch the movie “17 Miracles” and have Costco cinnamon rolls at a members’ (young married couple, both RMs) house.  Then we wrote a bunch of letters.  I ended up writing 7 on Thanksgiving!  We had "dinner" at 3:00PM at a couple's house, and then we had "dessert" at 5:30PM (which was really leftover dinner) at a family's house with a group that included about half church members and half friends.  So, we had a super busy day. 

Some exciting news is we got transfer calls on Saturday.  Sister R and I are getting a companion!  Her name is Sister R.  She is going home on Dec. 20, so she is only with us for about 3 weeks.  It is going to be exciting.  We also are in M Ward and R Ward [names of congregations] now.  We are no longer in NC, which means nothing to you but it is kind of sad for me.  It is funny because a lot of the people we were working with were in NC and then got moved over to R Ward from the boundary changes.  We were worried about how the change would affect their church activity at this early point in time, but we get to move with them!

 I haven't yet cut my hair, maybe next week.  For those of you who don't know, I am pretty sure I am getting my hair cut short.  There is a ward member who is a hair cutter.  She went to beauty school and cuts curly hair a lot. 

Oh, no.  I just remembered something I have to do.  They gave us homework, so I’ve got to run.  (P.S. I know this church is true.)

Looking for Rainbows

This is Sister R and I celebrating the baptism of 3 children we have been teaching.   They are great kids we found through other Members! The adversary did everything he could to stop this baptism.  We just kept moving forward with faith and they were brought into the fold on November 18.  The Holy Ghost will now be their companion as they go forward from this point.  Moral of the story-- Satan works really, really, really hard to stop baptisms from happening.

            How is the weather back home?  I can't check weather while on my mission.  It’s one of the many weird things that I miss. 

The weather here is crazy!    The moss is growing from the trees.  I want to send some to you.  AND-- IT STILL LOOKS LIKE AUTUMN OUTSIDE!  My towel never dries completely and it is ridiculous.  It doesn't feel that humid but fruit ripens and bread molds very quickly.  It is kind of weird.  And, don't think of hang drying clothes.  It is not a very good idea.  I love the rain, so far.  It is way awesome and we don't have to pump our own gas! 

  We are definitely normal people as missionaries.  It is kind of weird as a regular member I viewed missionaries as perfect.  Now I see how many flaws I have but how I am working constantly to be better.  We love laughing and joking, there are a lot of things we can't do but we do talk a lot.  I am glad that my companion has become my "new twin."

My companion, Sister R, has been having a bad-health week.  Since she was under the weather, we had to take it a little slower. I feel really sorry she is dealing with all this.  She really doesn't want her health to shorten her missionary opportunities.  She still has a year of service to go.  I am praying hard for her.

I did get Kendra's wedding invitation.  It was beautiful.  It made her wedding seem much more real.  I felt super left out when Kendra "replaced" me but I am further away from it now so it is easier to handle.  Sister R is one of my best friends.  I definitely have an advantage over other people by being used to someone 24/7.  It is still different.  As companions, we have to be within sight and sound of each other always.  Sometimes you feel like "escaping" but that is impossible on a mission because it is clear you are never alone.  The other morning I just felt like going in my room and crying not about anything specific-- mostly just tiredness-- but I couldn't leave my companion.  It forces me to have good communication with my companion which is a very good thing. 

Missions are awesome!  I wish everyone could serve a mission.  It helps you so much with life.  It not only teaches you skills, but you see things in a different light and it allows you to focus on things that are most important. 

I love my mission and Oregon is growing on me.   The members always feed us really well.... I love this gospel and all of the blessings I and my family get from it.
A note from Sister H:

“Sister Cluff is doing great in our ward; she's got such a relaxing personality and genuineness about her.”

Mission Happenings

Our week has been super busy, we went to the Sisters’ Conference, which was awesome, and I feel like we have been running around ever since then.  Tomorrow we are going to a Zone Conference (which is 1.5 hours away) by the temple.  It should be exciting.  I am giving a 5-minute talk; I was already asked.  It is about the doctrine of Christ and I am going to try to relate it either to the hen and chick analogy or the Christ knocking at the door analogy.  It is still a bit shaky in my mind… we'll see how it goes.

We have a mission BlogSpot:  http://oregoneugenemission.blogspot.com/

I am in a couple of the pictures.  You should spread it around.  The photo below is from that blog.

[Sister Cluff's little brother asked her what she was doing on Nov. 11 at 11:11AM.]  I think at 11-11-11 at 11:11AM I was doing weekly planning, basically we plan for the whole next week.    At 11:11pm I was sleeping …which was super fun for me, but not very exciting for you to read about.

On Friday at 6PM we have a baptism for 3 kids (2 "investigators" and 1 "child of record").  We are getting super excited for it.  IT WILL BE MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!  So, these are the grandkids of 2 active grandparents.  Their parents are members although they could be classified as semi-active and less-active.  The grandparents have custody of the children and we got to teach them all about the gospel.  They have been in a foster home for the last 2 years, and would have been split up if the grandparents hadn't taken them.  There are four of them D… (11), M… (9), H… (8), and M… (4). They are all super cute and we love teaching them.  I will be sending a picture next week.  I get to conduct the music at their baptism.  I have conducted music more since I have been on my mission then pretty much ever before, not including FHE [Family Home Evening].  I only led the music for Sacrament meeting in the MTC once, but it was kind of a big deal for me.

We are also teaching an Egyptian named Ahmed and he speaks very little English.  He is also Muslim so we have to get permission to teach him.  We get to have a counselor from the mission presidency come to the lesson.  We were joking with the Elders that we need an emergency transfer of the Arabic missionaries to our area.  (There are no Arabic missionaries in our mission.)  Ahmed seems really open to learning, but it is going to be a slow process. 

Well, I am grateful for the chance to be here.  I am grateful for all of the miracles that we see every day.  There are little and big miracles.  I prayed for the DVD the other day because it was pretty skippy the day before, and it worked flawlessly.  I love the Lord, and all he did and does for us.  Jesus Christ still lives.  Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and the Holy Ghost can be our constant companion if we live worthily.  Every day I discover how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life and how true it is.  Everything I learn about the gospel just solidifies its truthfulness. 

My release date as of now is April 16, but I could extend another 6 weeks.  We'll see.  I gotta get going.  I am not allowed to procrastinate here.  As a missionary you feel super bad wasting time.  Love, Sister Cluff.