Letter #8: Broken bikes and open windows

 Hola everyone! I am almost halfway through my first transfer! Isn't that crazy? loco haha. The days and the weeks go by so fast here.I feel like I just sent my last email yesterday! This week has been an adventure for sure. So my bike actually got ran over last Saturday...haha. Luckily I wasn't on it. I was just foolish and left it too close to the middle of a driveway. It's not ride-able now but there are a couple of extra bikes floating around the mission that they're going to try and send my way this week! Anyways, we've been on foot, and it's been an incredible blessing! We've had the opportunity to talk and meet with so many more people. If I had my bike this week, I wouldn't have been able to help teach Rudy how to pray, or teach Gloria how God knows exactly who she is, or meet with the man we see waiting for the bus every week. I know that there is a blessing in every trial, in fact I think it's where there is the most. Think of our greatest blessing-the gift of Christ's atonement for us-that blessing was born on the darkest day in human history! Remember that.

    I love getting to spend all my time to be a missionary. Yesterday as we were walking to an appointment we had with one of our investigators, we heard people calling after us. We turned around and there was a car just about to drive our of a parking lot and onto the road and the had their window down and were telling us to run over there. I was confused because they had recognized us from behind but was super excited to talk to them. It was a family and they had rolled down their windows and started talking to us in spanish. "Are you guys Christian?!" "We've seen you around!!" "We want to know more about your church!!" "Where's your church?!" I was so baffled and confused. They were talking so fast because there was cars behind them but the daughter was saying how they could tell from our appearance that we were Christian and had a good message and the mom started talking about how much she loves to read the scriptures but doesn't have a church. The car behind them started to honk. They were like, do you guys have a card or anything?! I quickly pulled out a picture of Christ and wrote the address of our church on the back but didn't have time to write our number. Then, as they drove away, I literally practically through a Book of Mormon through the window with no explanation hahaha. They drove off but I saw the girl look down at the book and her face lit up and she yelled "thank you!!" as they drove away. It was such a cool experience and I really pray that we can see them again!!! Experiences like that are the highlights of my day.

     I learned something really beautiful in my study this past week. In Jacob 4:5 I learned about sacrifice and how Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. I learned how this is symbolic of how our Heavenly Father was willing to sacrifice His Only Begotten Son, Christ. We are all going to have to be Abraham in this life. We are all going to have to be willing to sacrifice everything we care about for God. Now the cool thing I learned, was about what we have to sacrifice. God was willing to sacrifice and send His son, Christ. In John one, it talks about how Christ is the "Word" of God. He is everything God wants to communicate to us. Words symbolize thoughts. Christ is the symbol of God's thoughts towards us-love, mercy, charity, hope, etc. So what are the words in our lives? Surely it's not only the things we say that communicate our desires, but our thoughts, and more importantly our actions. Our entire life is a symbol of what we want to communicate with the world.To "sacrifice" something is to "render holy". How can you render holy your words? How can you render holy your thoughts? How can you render holy your actions? This is how we give our lives to God. Consecrate everything. Be willing to consecrate everything for Him. Is what you're living for worth Him dyeing for? Think about it. Anyways, that was a beautiful part of my study this week.

     I'm so grateful for your guys' love. I am printing out all the emails I recieved because they uplifted me so much. I couldn't be more grateful to have such dependable friends and family. If there is anything I learn daily on my mission is that God is my only real happiness. There is a song that I've been listening to that sums it up really well- "let my pain reveal that your glory is my only real rest." The things that made me "happy" at home can't make me happy anymore. There is no time to myself-and that is something I am learning to be grateful for. Everything is taken away, even just they joy of the sunrise or the extra time to pray a little longer, everything is taken away until the only real satisfaction to find is through His glory-and what is His glory- "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". This is my only rest now. This is where the lasting joy lies, where the happiness that doesn't fade is. Everything else is just too fleeting. 

     Anyways, I am happy, and I pray that all of you are too. I am happy because of all the people I get to talk with everyday. I've met so many great people. Almost daily we meet with an old man named Victor who got baptized about 2 months ago and we meet under his guava tree and he gives us fruit daily and shares his testimony of the Book of Mormon, which he's reading the second time through. So many blessings! I love you all!!

Hermana Clawson