Week Forty Eight

This week was pretty awesome! The week started off nice and normal. We exchanged with the Randolph Elders on Monday night. I was with Elder McCormick for his last two days in Randolph. So we went to a few members and investigators homes and it was sad seeing him say goodbye. Some of the people were saying goodbye to me too. I only served there for 3 weeks, and I'm not leaving Colebrook though. Anyways we had a good time.
OK Tuesday we were also informed that there was an emergency mission conference down in Manchester on Thursday. To prepare for Thursday the mission participated in something called War Cry Wednesday. It was basically a day of extreme finding. We went out finding as many people as possible. It was awesome. Even the Blairs and some of the mission Presidency participated. It was great, but we had to cut our night short and drive to Lebanon to stay the night. It was an intense day though. Especially because people were updating their progress in a group chat in our zone. We found out later in the mission conference that we had found 174 new investigators as a mission that day. (which is a lot for northern New England) 

On Thursday we got to the mission conference, and we walked into the chapel in Manchester. I sat next to Elder Stegeman, with Elder Spice in front of me. It was good seeing a lot of good friends. We studied for a few minutes and the Blairs walked in with Elder Bennet and his wife. Elder Bennet is another member of the Seventy, but he is also in charge of the North America Northeast area. So it was awesome to be there with him. He came with no notes and was led by the Spirit in teaching us. He taught us how to teach with love, and lots of other random things. He taught us about optimism, and pessimism. He said that the Lord is perfectly optimistic because he sees everything how it could be. He also told us all pessimistic thoughts are from the devil. His reasoning was the devil hates all of us, and he will send discouraging thoughts our way. Which makes sense. When he discourages you from sharing the gospel, not only does he make you feel like garbage, but it prohibits more children from hearing the gospel. He gets a double whammy. Then we had a q and a with him for about 3 hours with things pertaining missionary work. Then he went off on us and asked us "why do you think the Lord has sent you two general authorities in a week's time and an Apostle a few months back?" some sister was like "we aren't learning something we should be?" and he was like "No! That's pessimistic!" he told us that the Lord is leading them here because there are miracles that are about to happen here in New England, and that they want us to be as prepared as possible to make them come forth. So the conference was pretty awesome. The biggest thing I took from it though was how important the constant influence of the spirit really is. The Spirit can direct you in almost all moments. One of my favorite things he told us, is that when you're praying for guidance on something and you receive no answer; that is one of the best answers you can receive. He told us that means the Lord trusts you, and knows that you'll make the right decision without Him having to use the spirit to tell you. 

The last part of the week was pretty relaxing. At least compared to the craziness from earlier in the week. My butt is still sore from all of the driving though.😩I thought I'd get a break when I stopped double covering areas. Just like most of my assumptions, I was wrong. 

Our investigators are doing awesome. Randy is growing some green beans and he's like a master Gardner or something, because on Sunday they were still beneath the ground, and as of yesterday they were like ginormous😂 I gave another talk in church yesterday and it was on member missionary work, talks are a lot easier to give for some reason when you're on a mission. I'd never thought I'd be one of those people that go over the time when speaking, but I was one of those people. It was all good though. 

Anyways I hope y'all had a good week, and are learning new things every chance you get. I hit 11 months tomorrow which is insane to me. The mission goes by way too fast. I also find it hard to believe that I've been here in Colebrook almost as long as Rockland. Sorry for the long email, but it was an exciting week. See ya next week!

 (This is the house Elder Clifford and his companion live in.)

Week Forty Seven

This week was A1 steak sauce. It took a lot of work, but we were actually able to make Colebrook a busy place! I guess that's what happens you get under the plow. I remember when I first got to this area in the dead of the winter. The morning before coming I looked at the area book (area planner) and remember seeing that there was literally nothing planned, and there hadn't been anything planned in over 2 months. Then when I actually got to the area it turns out that they literally didn't plan. So it low key felt like I was opening up a new area. So one of the first things Elder Steggy and I did was start planning. We planned to hit the streets and talked to everyone. I think I can confidently say that I have personally invited at last 3/4 of the town of Colebrook to learn about the gospel. Anyways we got a decent teaching pool now. We are actually teaching our neighbor too. He's lived by the Elders for 4 years and he somehow he had never been invited to learn. He's got some awesome puppies. He also mentioned that he wanted to have a pool party at the rec center so we set another date for a pool party.👌 (Momma C's edit:  That is Elder Clifford speak for he is getting baptized!)

A few of the lessons I've been able to learn from Colebrook is the importance of detailed planning. If you always have something to do, it's hard to waste time. I've learned how to find people really good too. In Colebrook people are scarce, so you need to make the most of every opportunity. That also means you have to take every opportunity. Before my mission I never thought I would be knocking on someone's car window to tell them about Jesus, or talking to someone three stories up. Let's just say it only took one shot to throw the Book of Mormon up. It's exhilarating though.
Anyways on Thursday we had Elder Stanfield of the Seventy come! He's a real funny laid back guy. He taught us a lot about personal revelation and how to recognize when you've received it. On Sunday the Concord Stake Presidency was reorganized. He spoke briefly, and it was mostly on the Savior. It reminded me of the Primary song "If the Savior stood beside me", and I like to think about it in literal terms. How many of the decisions I make on a daily basis would be different if the Savior was just walking around with me.

It was definitely a week full of fun, learning, and hard work. I also heard another awesome quote this week at the mission tour. This follows the theme of Obedience I've talked about in the last few letters.

"Obedience brings blessings, but perfect obedience brings miracles."

I think I'm done talking about obedience now though. I'll talk a little about bike week though. There are a tooooon of people riding motorcycles. The roads out here are perfect for them so I can see why people come here for it. I've seen a lot of interesting things from it as well.

Anyways, have a good week people.

Week Forty Six

The second trio.

So this past Thursday was the last day of our double area covering trio. I'll miss the days of this second trio.  I won't miss driving 300 plus miles in a month though. Regardless, its made for a real fun 3 weeks. It's definitely been one of the more busy times on my mission too. It took a little bit of a toll on both of our areas though, so we have spent the past few days fixing it up. We set up a lot of appointments for the coming week, and we are going to try and find more people to teach in our downtime.
 
This past week we were able to go to transfer Meeting on Thursday! It was really great to see alot of the homies I've made on the mission so far. I got to take a picture with Elder Wendel and Harper. So we reunited my first trio, and talked for a little while about life. It's crazy to see how much I've changed since I was first in that trio. The whole downeast district was there too, except for my old comp Elder Petersen (who I also got to see at a service project on Saturday). Our district leader at that time Elder Christmas was there! He was all packed up and ready to ship out on Friday! Time goes by too fast. We picked up the new Elders and brought them back to their new area of Randolph.
 
I think one of the most important lessons I've learned over the past transfer is to strive to be as obedient as you can be. Throughout my mission I'd say I've been on the more obedient side,but there are a lot of small rules that are easy to look over. I've found over this past transfer that obeying even the smallest rules is worth it. It was a little annoying at first trying to obey the small ones, but I see it as an act of faith, and I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts. After seeing an Elder get sent home in our district, we got to see first hand all of the problems you can cause by being disobedient. It was like a domino effect. Anyways it was a learning experience for all involved! 

The animals weren't as crazy this week either. This drunk man walked up to us and gave us a tour of Colebrook Saturday night. He told us he would show us stuff that we'd never seen. So we just walked around and he was pointing at buildings and saying what they were. Then out of nowhere he pointed at the road and told us he died there. Then he went on a tangent about how we got to get under the plow and work to understand people. Anyways have a great week and learn something new. I'll leave you the words of our drunk friend. Y'all need to just get under the plow and work! 

The District

Week Forty Five

Elder Clifford took one of his dad's and his brother's mission badges to the NHMM, 

this one is his brother's.

I felt like Steve Irwin again this week, minus the crocodiles. Anyways, we started it off last week hiking up to some abandoned lead Mines. And no they are not as cool as they sound. They are actually blocked off because its like a sanctuary for bat's now. On the way back a frog jumped in front of me. So I grabbed him of course and made him my pet. His name is Abraham. I set him free and went on our way. Then Elder McCormick found some ticks on his knees!

Earlier that day we found a caterpillar and put him in some radishes that an Elder had left growing last transfer. When we got back to the apartment later that night the caterpillar was nowhere to be found. So we started cooking up some burgers, they were fantastic. We had the door open as well to air out the place and because it felt good outside. So the smell of the burgers slipped outside. A few of our neighbors were out chilling on their porch and one of them yelled and asked if we were cooking ribs. We said no, but we are cooking up some burgers, and asked if he wanted one. So as I was walking out to give him a burger I noticed the little caterpillar fighting for his life in a spider web. The neighbor started asking questions about the gospel too. So while I was talking about the Book of Mormon with this man chomping down on our burger, I was also saving the caterpillars life. He was spazzing around in the web so it was hard to get him, but he is safe now. Another one of our neighbors was listening in on the conversation we were having and is interested, and is now taking the lessons.

The next day I was out reading the Book of Mormon on the porch when I noticed two chipmunks were running around. Elder McCormick saw them too. So we grabbed some nuts, and long story short we have two pet chipmunks now. One's name is Sam, and the others name is Jedidiah, Jedi for short. Jedi is a little shy, and Sam is really outgoing. Sam sits in my hand now. (yes we wash our hands after holding them mom). They come out every time they see us now. They're awesome!

It's been pretty fun and busy with the trio though. It's gonna be sad to see it broken up.  We got transfer Calls this week, and I get the privilege to stay in the retirement city for one more transfer.   Elder McCormick will be area training two missionaries for two weeks and then leaving me for Lawrence Massachusetts. So I'll be the last of the original district. Anyways, that means I'll have two six month areas! I also realized that it means I will have gone a year as the youngest person in the district, finally I'll have made it one whole year without serving around a sister. Awesome right!😂😁

I know that the Lord will bless us if we just keep trying to do the right thing. So if any of y'all are having a rough go in life at the moment, just keep on keeping on and follow the Lord. Pray to God and ask for help. He loves you and he hasn't forgotten about you. I know that He doesn't forget about His children, even the ones out in the middle of the north woods of New Hampshire. 

Abraham

Sam

My kids are getting big!

Not one of my kids.