Driving past the Balsams Resort

The Balsams was first built right after the Civil War.  It was eventually built into a gorgeous hotel and ski resort, covering 11,000 acres.  Right now it is closed and being remodeled, and obviously the Elders are intrigued with it!  You can find out more about it here.

Week Thirty One

Hey everyone its been a fantastic week out here in Colebrook.  We have seen a lot of success with finding this week. We found 8 new people to begin teaching. I guess I'll tell a story about one of them.

It was a pretty dark afternoon and we were in the middle of planning for Easter. In our zone, the zone leaders text in everytime someone gets a new investigator. We'd been getting texts the whole day from every area in our zone. Then we realized it was just our district who hadn't found anyone. So we decided to join the party and get searching for someone. We were looking at some dropped investigators that hadn't been visited in a while. When we came upon a name. I said we should go visit him. So we booked it outside. I don't know why we were running, I don't know, it just felt right. So after a dramatic drive over to this man's house we get to the door. We knocked on the door and he answered with a blank look on his face. We asked how he and his wife were doing. (we found information that said she was also investigating at one point.) He said he was doing good. But then he started crying. His wife had just passed away on February 6th. We asked if we could teach him a lesson about where she is, and he let us right in. After the lesson he had a smile and tears still in his eyes. It was amazing. We set a return appointment for later on in the week and he accepted it!

We also went on exchanges with the assistants this week. They were very quick. They went from 3pm to 7pm. But it was the most productive 4 hours I think I've ever spent on my mission. Because we knew there would be 2 sets of missionaries in the area that day we set up like 7 appointments, and they were all between that time. We found a few new investigators and we were able to set a baptismal date with the man we taught earlier in the week. It was great. Then the assistants hopped in their truck and drove back to Manchester (which is a looooong drive) so we are not even sure why they came. But they got to experience what it's like up here in the north woods.
I'm starting to enjoy being in Colebrook more and more each day.  Even though it's way out there in the middle of nowhere, I'm still finding people to share the gospel with, and it's been a big blessing to me. I hope that when all of you that find yourselves in very interesting situations you can look around and see the blessings that you receive. It may be hard sometimes but all you really need to do is open your eyes. 

See ya everyone! 

Border patrol is everywhere up here.

A dog sitting on my foot.

The river is finally running again.

Pictures of the town.

The Balsams, an abandoned resort.

Elder Cliffy Mission Vlog - Episode 15

Week Thirty

This week was straight up crazy. It was really tiring too. 

So we started the week off in Plymouth for zone p day which was really funny. When that finished we had to drive to Laconia for exchanges.

Exchanges were a pretty good time. We were out for about half the day when the Elder I was exchanging with stomach decided it didn't want to work anymore😉. So we got trapped in the apartment for like the last 3 hours. I taught some fun lessons out there in Laconia. It was good being in something that somewhat resembled a city again😂 Then we drove home for like 3 hours. It was a good time though.

On Wednesday we got to work in the area for a little bit. It was pretty good. But then we had to get packed and ready for another few nights away from home. So after teaching a really cool lesson on the Book of Mormon we drove to Randolph and picked up those Elders and then we drove back to Laconia and stayed the night.

The next morning was Zone Conference at the Joseph Smith Memorial. I'll be having it there as long as I'm in this area. So that's cool. We learned a lot about what we are going to do to become better teachers. So it was pretty good. Elder Stegeman and I got a really cool picture of us teaching people there too. So that was awesome. Then we had our interviews with President after zone conference. So we got to stay there and wait for like 3 extra hours.

After that we went to the KFC/Taco Bell that was built in the same location Joseph Smith got his leg worked on. So of course we got some chicken legs in honor of Joseph Smith. Then we got the opportunity to stay another night with Laconia.

After that we drove back home and finally got to stay in our area. So the past few days we have been trying to catch back up with our area. Then to make the week exciting I got to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. So that was awesome! I don't mind giving those. It's almost a relief as a missionary to give the talk. You don't have to do any extra explaining to investigators after the service😂 You never know what people might say up there.

This week taught me a lot of patience though. Since I'm so far up in Colebrook it takes along time to get everywhere! Now that it's over though I'm very excited to get working again. We found a few new investigators that are awesome, and I'm excited to start teaching them! Anyways I hope y'all had a little bit more of relaxing week then me.

Zone Conference at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial in Sharon, Vermont.

Learn more about the memorial here.

There is now a KFC / Taco Bell where Joseph Smith's leg was operated on, you can read about the operation here.

Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest lake in New Hampshire.

 

Working in Laconia, New Hampshire

Zone pday activity, dew pong.

Homemade Jack in the Box tacos, thanks mom for the recipe!

Recipe found here.

Week Twenty Nine

Hey everyone it's been a fantastic week here in the beautiful little town of Colebrook. Busy week as well. In turn it was very quick. It feels like I just had a p day.

I learned a lot about perseverance this week. On Tuesday we began the day in Canaan Vermont. Its another small town above here in Colebrook. We spent a long time getting rejected, and getting nothing done. It was cold and we were walking to save miles, and we decided to go walk over to a bridge and look out over the Connecticut River. It was all tranquil and beautiful until like 30 snowmobilers came out of nowhere and ruined the moment. So we decided to keep working. We left Canaan and went back to Colebrook. Later while we were walking to an investigators house we saw something strange. There was a little shack glowing red with a bunch of ducks outside. So we stopped to look at it, and all the ducks were all congregated together moving in sync. It was super weird. So we shrugged it off and went to the investigators house. After we came out and were walking back, we decided to knock on there door and ask about what we had just witnessed. A women answered the door and she was very very awesome. She invited us in, gave us a bunch of duck eggs, and then sat us down with her husband and proceeded to tell us all about the history of Colebrook and genealogy, and her husband was talking about the free masons. It was awesome! Long story short they are now investigating the church. They live like 3 houses down. I'm not sure how all the other missionaries hadn't found them! So that was an awesome miracle after a long day.

A lot of snow this week as well. The entire mission got snowed in, but since we are the only area without a smart phone, we weren't contacted and worked that day through a giant storm. So that's cool we were the only set of missionaries to work outside in the storm on Wednesday!

Anyways work hard and don't give up. I love all yall! See ya! 

The album cover.

Pointing to Canada.

Random pictures.

A tie I made.

(yes, I make ties now.)

Peaceful bridge. 

Until....

These guys.

Selfie of the week???

No, my monkey Jorge.

Bonus video

No time for a vlog this week so please do enjoy this never before seen footage of Elder C in the MTC.

Week Twenty Eight

Now that is what I call a week. It's been long, but short at the same time. Let's get into it though. 

So this week was transfer week. We don't transfer until Thursdays though so that means we still have up until Wednesday to work. So that's what we did. Also said my goodbyes to all of my investigators and members. That wasn't very fun. Leading up to Thursday flew by! Then the day actually hit. I waved Rockland goodbye and went down to Manchester.

All of the missionaries that are being transferred usually meet down there so it's like a big party for about an hour or so while everyone is looking for companions and saying hi to their friends. That's when something magical happened. My entire MTC district that flew out to this mission was there! We all got transferred! It was great to see everyone. After waiting and talking for awhile I realized my new companion still wasn't there. That's when I talked to his previous companion and we realized that the assistants sent out two separate travel plans for us. So after a few seconds of brainstorming we were able to find the companion of the area next to my new one. So we rode up together.

So I'm at the very top of New Hampshire and it takes a while to drive there, but get this. New Hampshire actually has mountains. It was pretty cool to see them. I hadn't seen any in awhile. Finally I met my new companion Elder Stegeman. He is awesome! We might be getting along too well out here😂 Its a good thing though, because we are in one of the least populated areas of the mission. It almost feels like we are shotgunning the area. I'm excited to put in some great work up here though. I know I was put out here in Colebrook for a reason, and I'm going to find out why.

Since I haven't taught too many lessons yet, I don't have too many spiritual experiences. So I'll share some cool things about this area. We live in a house out here. Like I'm not even kidding. It's got a basement and everything. So that's pretty cool. I'll give you a tour of it soon😂 We also meet in a Methodist church out here too! We are the ones that basically keep it running though. It's a beautiful church though. I went to a Methodist service on Sunday as well. It's good to see other services and learn about them. 

Anyways it's been a great week. I'm excited about working here. It's gonna be tough, but I'm up for a challenge. Have a great week everyone! 

The district united.

Pictures of my new area.

Tour of the beautiful church we attend.

Climbing to the top of the bell tower.

View from the top.

Me ballin on a lil guy.

I finally got my hospital ID badge the day before I left Rockland, so now I am officially Pastor Evangelical Reverend Clergy Elder Clifford in a city I am no longer in.

Bitterly cold seflie of the week: