Guess what? I'm driving. Yeah, your missionary is now a missionary driver. It's scary. But I figured it would be better to do it than not. And I absolutely love Sister S now. She's one of the sisters in the companionship in charge of driving, etc. We call them Fleet. Sister S was the one I passed off with. The "test" includes driving to the airport, Walmart, and then home.
You can’t imagine how down and disappointing Monday was after the high of General Conference Weekend. But I hope I’ve changed because of the experience - that I’ll be wanting to talk to everyone and have a greater desire to share our message with everyone. Funnily enough, Sister C committed us to invite everyone we contact. The day after Conference was so weird. But that's because we got to sleep in till 9, they provided dinner, and we watched a movie that night. Secretariat. Disney, but based on a true story and actually pretty good.
I promised to write you about Austin. We weren’t the first sisters to meet him, actually. One of our current APs took him on a tour and recently he’s been talking to Sister K and B, from Korea and Australia respectively. Austin is from Korea, although he grew up in the States (hence talking to Sister K a lot). Then we met him when we were on exchanges with Sister C. He was trying to get a (free) Book of Mormon for his friend. We talked to him, answering questions and trying to get a referral for him or his friend, addressed his concerns, etc., and finally just gave him a referral card with our names and number. He called us about a week later, maybe less. When we called him back, his story had changed from “I read the Book of Mormon twice and *shrug* I didn’t get an answer” to admitting that when he read it the second time he felt something. He as good as testified that he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said that he didn’t believe Joseph could have written it on his own, that a normal man couldn’t have written is w/out God’s help. Austin has done a lot of “research” about the Church, met the missionaries in North Dakota where he is going to school, and even gone to church once there. But his experience with the ND missionaries and ward wasn’t that great. He loves the Temple Square sisters, though. Because we’re so dedicated and enthusiastic about what we do. He’s served a few missions for his Christian church. He even wants to serve a mission if he can when (sorry if) he joins our church. We spent a huge chunk of that first phone call talking about missions, etc. To make an awesome story short, every time we talk to Austin he is stronger and more ready to be baptized. Not in any extreme way, but enough for us to notice it. Now he has met his bishop, gone to church, watched some of General Conference, met the new missionaries in his area, and is going to decide for sure by Sunday whether or not he will be baptized. I was worried when he put a date on it, but he’s going about the decision in the right way. He is praying and reading the Book of Mormon every day. He said that his decision will be what the Lord wants.
You can see why we’re so excited. He keeps every commitment and he is really progressing. It is amazing. I’m worried about continuing with our investigators when I___ leaves, but I’m sure it’ll be ok.
To my Facebook friends: Conference is amazing. Members are really the reason missionary work moves forward. Thanks for trusting us with your friends. Utah weather is insane! Happy Spring!
Time to go. I have to get compy to pack so she'll be ready for Wednesday. I can't believe it's already week 6. And she's going home next week. This time next week I'll have a new companion, zone, and probably Pday, too.
Love,
Sister Clayton
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
3 April 2011 General Conference
It’s now 10:00pm on Sunday. General Conference is officially over.
I LOVE CONFERENCE! We are all on such a high right now. I can’t even describe it. This is the kind of joy Doctrine and Covenants 18 must be talking about. And this is just for potential referrals - the official name for referrals from members. We haven’t even met, let alone baptized these people and I am FLYING. I have never been so happy. So I should probably explain.
Conference Weekend is all about the members. With our calling program here (calling non-members anywhere in the world and teaching/offering a free gift from the Church to them by the missionaries), it is so important to get referrals from members. And that’s what General Conference is focused on - uplifting the members and helping/getting their help with missionary work. As a mission, we set a goal for how many potential referrals we will get from Friday to Sunday. A year ago, the goal was 3,000 - killed it (mission-speak for success). Last October it was 5,000 - killed it. So this year, after a lot of prayer, etc., the goal was set at 6,000 potential referrals. Honestly, there were times I thought we couldn’t make it. But President and the APs are right - we don’t even know our potential! We got.....are you ready for this?......6,455!! I’m screaming and cheering inside just thinking about it.
We had a fireside kind of thing tonight to close the weekend. President had us invite the people who gave us potentials to come as well. We met in the Tabernacle. It was the most amazing thing. First, when we sang ‘We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet’ and one verse of ‘The Spirit of God’ as prelude - no piano/organ - CHILLS. And the APs just...they’re amazing. There was lots of cheering, applauding, testifying and a spirit that just fills you to the core. Not unlike when the Prophet walked into the Conference Center this afternoon. As soon as he enters the room, the CC goes silent and everyone stands up. Awesome. For now, my voice hurts, my feet are numb and I’m way too happy to sleep. But we get to sleep in until 9 tomorrow! Jesus Christ lives and I am honored to wear His name. I want every day to feel like this.
Sister Clayton
PS - All my love to Brother Morgan and everyone at Institute. Apparently most of Institute just wrote me. I love it. Brother Morgan - you're the greatest, ever! Miss you!
I LOVE CONFERENCE! We are all on such a high right now. I can’t even describe it. This is the kind of joy Doctrine and Covenants 18 must be talking about. And this is just for potential referrals - the official name for referrals from members. We haven’t even met, let alone baptized these people and I am FLYING. I have never been so happy. So I should probably explain.
Conference Weekend is all about the members. With our calling program here (calling non-members anywhere in the world and teaching/offering a free gift from the Church to them by the missionaries), it is so important to get referrals from members. And that’s what General Conference is focused on - uplifting the members and helping/getting their help with missionary work. As a mission, we set a goal for how many potential referrals we will get from Friday to Sunday. A year ago, the goal was 3,000 - killed it (mission-speak for success). Last October it was 5,000 - killed it. So this year, after a lot of prayer, etc., the goal was set at 6,000 potential referrals. Honestly, there were times I thought we couldn’t make it. But President and the APs are right - we don’t even know our potential! We got.....are you ready for this?......6,455!! I’m screaming and cheering inside just thinking about it.
We had a fireside kind of thing tonight to close the weekend. President had us invite the people who gave us potentials to come as well. We met in the Tabernacle. It was the most amazing thing. First, when we sang ‘We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet’ and one verse of ‘The Spirit of God’ as prelude - no piano/organ - CHILLS. And the APs just...they’re amazing. There was lots of cheering, applauding, testifying and a spirit that just fills you to the core. Not unlike when the Prophet walked into the Conference Center this afternoon. As soon as he enters the room, the CC goes silent and everyone stands up. Awesome. For now, my voice hurts, my feet are numb and I’m way too happy to sleep. But we get to sleep in until 9 tomorrow! Jesus Christ lives and I am honored to wear His name. I want every day to feel like this.
Sister Clayton
PS - All my love to Brother Morgan and everyone at Institute. Apparently most of Institute just wrote me. I love it. Brother Morgan - you're the greatest, ever! Miss you!
31 March 2011
Sister Ishijima's dad and oldest of her three younger brothers are here for Conference. I don't know how it happened but they were in President's office and he and Sister Holmes and the APs were there. We had a little chat and basically President told us that we could spend as much time with them as they needed/wanted, etc. We took them through God's Plan (a cool thing for families) and we're giving them the full-blown-all-out-everything-included tour tomorrow. Tomorrow is when the Conference madness really starts. Friday through Monday we're on the Square all day. 20 minutes for meals. I'm anxious. Both kinds. Excited and totally dreading it. I'm just used to the quiet, the time, and all of that. This weekend is going to be loud, packed, and FAST. But I can't wait. I don't know which session we'll be in, I'm hoping it's Saturday, preferably afternoon. That always seems to be my favourite.
I can't believe it's week 5!! I'm so sad about the sisters that are leaving. Almost all the closest of the friends I've made are going home this transfer. The zone leaders, my trainer, Sister Terry. Half the people I know are leaving. But that's the mission, especially here. Always changing.
Love
Sister Clayton
I can't believe it's week 5!! I'm so sad about the sisters that are leaving. Almost all the closest of the friends I've made are going home this transfer. The zone leaders, my trainer, Sister Terry. Half the people I know are leaving. But that's the mission, especially here. Always changing.
Love
Sister Clayton
Earthquake in Japan
Just wanted to let you know we heard about the earthquake in Japan, especially since that's where my companion is from. It'll be better when people stop asking us if her family was affected. We're keeping up on the news, too. Gotta love Deseret News. President had us all informed and let the Japanese sisters call their parents to make sure they were okay. The radiation is scary, though. It's too bad that the missionaries won't be able to be in there getting involved in the clean-up. We were seeing the upside of the possibility that this would help missionary work there. The reactor stuff is kind of messing with that. Keep working on the positive. Do what we do - we look for miracles every day. No matter how small, we find them.
Oh! Temple! Went to my first session at the Salt Lake Temple this morning. Awesome. We have to go through when I'm done. It's amazing. I prayed hard for an open mind because I was scared it would be like being endowed for the first time again. But I wasn't freaked out or upset and I'm really looking forward to going again. (I so miss being in my temple and working as an ordinance worker. And yes, I almost always say "my" now.) I bought a temple bag, but it's rather small and the zipper is pathetic. Still, I get to use my own gear.
Love
Sister Clayton
Oh! Temple! Went to my first session at the Salt Lake Temple this morning. Awesome. We have to go through when I'm done. It's amazing. I prayed hard for an open mind because I was scared it would be like being endowed for the first time again. But I wasn't freaked out or upset and I'm really looking forward to going again. (I so miss being in my temple and working as an ordinance worker. And yes, I almost always say "my" now.) I bought a temple bag, but it's rather small and the zipper is pathetic. Still, I get to use my own gear.
Love
Sister Clayton
A Sad Day in the Life of a Missionary
Et tu, Tanda?
From Mom:
When Sister Clayton left on her mission, there were two goodbyes that were the hardest, one of them was to the family dog, a Bouvier des Flandres named Tanda. Our sweet puppy was 13 and had been struggling with arthritis, deafness and general old age for some time. While we were thankful that Tanda survived through the 2010 holidays, and to the day our daughter reported to her mission, we all knew she would not be with us when our missionary returned. But "that day" came sooner than anyone anticipated.
And so, on 15 March - The Ides of March - Sister Clayton received the email that began:
Grab the kleenex, hug the companion.
Tanda Louise Clayton 2 August 1997 - 15 March 2011
There is no way to break that news gently. Let me give you the bare bones and you can tell me how much you want added in.
<snip>
I don't want to add much more to this particular email. I want to write you
another one in the morning about happier things. But I like a quote from Joe
Garagiola (a baseball catcher who was also an announcer) "I guess you don't
really own a dog, you rent them, and you have to be thankful that you had a long lease."
Put on Jericho, it helps. "He sees every single tear...feels everything you're
feeling...wants to hold you close....no matter what the pain, He cares."
Love you so much
Mom
From Sister Clayton:
17 March 2011
Mum
Hey. Just wrote C___ about it. Sobbed the whole way. But I'll be alright. We both know that. Just wish the hard moments weren't so hard. Could use a bear to hug just about now. :)
Sister W___ just came over to "borrow" some Advil. Yep. That helped. She's so easy to hug. And now I'm at a Saint Paddy's Day party in the Brit's room. And we're listening to the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. I'm happy. And no one has asked about the puffy red eyes. I'm good. (Sister T___'s the English one, btw. She's from O____. Yep. I'm gonna visit her.)
So I promised you a miracle report. Best one: we were on our way to talk with a guy in a wheelchair and a young-ish man came up to us. He asked if he could stop us for a second....and then handed us a referral! I nearly fainted. We usually have to squeeze the life out of members to get a potential. It was so amazing. And he was really nice. So many miracles every day. Wish I could write them all. One of the greatest is the friendships between the sisters. I love these women.
Party is breaking up. Time to plan, journal and get some sleep. Really early mission meeting tomorrow. Love you. Don't worry too much about me. I'm better than my sisters at home will be (about Tanda).
Going onward, ever onward,
Sister Clayton
From Mom:
When Sister Clayton left on her mission, there were two goodbyes that were the hardest, one of them was to the family dog, a Bouvier des Flandres named Tanda. Our sweet puppy was 13 and had been struggling with arthritis, deafness and general old age for some time. While we were thankful that Tanda survived through the 2010 holidays, and to the day our daughter reported to her mission, we all knew she would not be with us when our missionary returned. But "that day" came sooner than anyone anticipated.
And so, on 15 March - The Ides of March - Sister Clayton received the email that began:
Grab the kleenex, hug the companion.
Tanda Louise Clayton 2 August 1997 - 15 March 2011
There is no way to break that news gently. Let me give you the bare bones and you can tell me how much you want added in.
<snip>
I don't want to add much more to this particular email. I want to write you
another one in the morning about happier things. But I like a quote from Joe
Garagiola (a baseball catcher who was also an announcer) "I guess you don't
really own a dog, you rent them, and you have to be thankful that you had a long lease."
Put on Jericho, it helps. "He sees every single tear...feels everything you're
feeling...wants to hold you close....no matter what the pain, He cares."
Love you so much
Mom
From Sister Clayton:
17 March 2011
Mum
Hey. Just wrote C___ about it. Sobbed the whole way. But I'll be alright. We both know that. Just wish the hard moments weren't so hard. Could use a bear to hug just about now. :)
Sister W___ just came over to "borrow" some Advil. Yep. That helped. She's so easy to hug. And now I'm at a Saint Paddy's Day party in the Brit's room. And we're listening to the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. I'm happy. And no one has asked about the puffy red eyes. I'm good. (Sister T___'s the English one, btw. She's from O____. Yep. I'm gonna visit her.)
So I promised you a miracle report. Best one: we were on our way to talk with a guy in a wheelchair and a young-ish man came up to us. He asked if he could stop us for a second....and then handed us a referral! I nearly fainted. We usually have to squeeze the life out of members to get a potential. It was so amazing. And he was really nice. So many miracles every day. Wish I could write them all. One of the greatest is the friendships between the sisters. I love these women.
Party is breaking up. Time to plan, journal and get some sleep. Really early mission meeting tomorrow. Love you. Don't worry too much about me. I'm better than my sisters at home will be (about Tanda).
Going onward, ever onward,
Sister Clayton
10 March 2011 UT SLC TS
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| Me and Sister I - what we love to talk about |
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| Out for P-day |
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| Me and Sister I at Work |
My first couple days here in the field were really hard. Now, though, it's amazing and I've realized that I can miss home (I should miss home) but it doesn't have to keep me from giving my all to the work. I hadn't really listened to Jericho Road yet, but a couple of the sisters working in the office (in the secret underground lair of Temple Square) were listening to it yesterday when we passed by. So I was listening to a bunch last night and a bit this morning. As far as scripture study, I love that this week is parables for Gospel Doctrine in my parent's ward. I've been reading Luke in personal study and I'm almost finished. I have definitely noticed that you don't have to dig too deep to understand/apply parables. It amazes me that He made it so clear who He was and what would happen, but no one saw or understood.
3 March 2011 UT SLC Temple Square
Email to the parents
First email from your official missionary! Woot! Got here early-ish yesterday, had donuts, met Sister Holmes, got our stuff, met the president, and (officially) the APs, met our trainers, had pizza, went to work, went to the great and spacious (weird!! shopping! at Walmart!), unpacked, slept like the dead. That was pretty much my day. And we really were dead by the end of it. You'll be getting a picture of me and the awesome President and Sister Holmes in a letter soon. The "your daughter got here safe" letter. I guess the picture is proof ;)
I love you. Apparently I'm emotional at the moment. Just writing right now makes me want to cry. But I'm here now and I've gotta be strong. It's just going to take time (probably a lot of it) to adjust to being out of the MTC and especially having a new companion and new roommates (didn't help that I started unpacking in the wrong room last night). I love my trainer though. Sister I_____ from Japan. She's really sweet and I'm learning a lot. Music!! I can listen to music again! So happy. I missed music. Oh! I did got a thing from the Sunbeams yesterday. I love that Sister Cowles sent stuff to get here on all my first days. Thanks for passing on my notes. I love Brother Morgan. He really is the best.
Sister I____ and I were just in the Referral Center - where we call potential referrals (what we get from members), follow up on people we've sent church materials to, and do the mormon.org chats. We spent an hour chatting to an English guy about why we don't drink tea. That was fun. I almost don't think he was for real. Hard to tell.
So tired. I can hardly think at all right now. If this email makes sense that will be my miracle for the day. I thought the first few days of the MTC were bad - this is ridiculous! (It's really weird not to have to worry about a bright red count down in the top corner of the screen.) Oh! So on the 18th we're going to be doing a tour in Japanese. Yeah! I'm gonna introduce myself, do lots of smiling and nodding, then (if I even learn how) give a very butchered version of my testimony in something resembling Japanese. Fun. Actually I'm excited. I'll probably understand my companion better when she's speaking her native language. Funny how that works.
Look out for the newbies at the MB for me. Tell them how much I love them, etc. Especially if you see Sister S. Tell her I miss her laugh ... just that I miss her. It's so weird that they're home ... that they're in S__D__, I mean. More just that they're not with us anymore. I'm really glad, though, that there's 12 others I can commiserate and hopefully keep a connection with while I'm here. It was fun to hang out with Sister W__ and Sister S__ (one of our roommates from the MTC) last night while Sister W__ unpacked. (We were supposed to be unpacking, too, but we'd been told not to be alone and our companions were still here so the three of us stuck together - not having been told that on our first night we're allowed to be alone if the doors are open.) We had tons of fun though, I love being with them. President (I think it was him) told us that the most important person here is your companion. Still, being able to talk to the people I started out with, who know me best, is great. Having other sisters who are on the same level (of confusion and exhaustion) is comforting.
I love you. I really miss you all right now. But I'm sucking it up and giving it my all, so don't be worried. I'll try to write letters sometime later. Love you!!!
Sister Clayton
First email from your official missionary! Woot! Got here early-ish yesterday, had donuts, met Sister Holmes, got our stuff, met the president, and (officially) the APs, met our trainers, had pizza, went to work, went to the great and spacious (weird!! shopping! at Walmart!), unpacked, slept like the dead. That was pretty much my day. And we really were dead by the end of it. You'll be getting a picture of me and the awesome President and Sister Holmes in a letter soon. The "your daughter got here safe" letter. I guess the picture is proof ;)
I love you. Apparently I'm emotional at the moment. Just writing right now makes me want to cry. But I'm here now and I've gotta be strong. It's just going to take time (probably a lot of it) to adjust to being out of the MTC and especially having a new companion and new roommates (didn't help that I started unpacking in the wrong room last night). I love my trainer though. Sister I_____ from Japan. She's really sweet and I'm learning a lot. Music!! I can listen to music again! So happy. I missed music. Oh! I did got a thing from the Sunbeams yesterday. I love that Sister Cowles sent stuff to get here on all my first days. Thanks for passing on my notes. I love Brother Morgan. He really is the best.
Sister I____ and I were just in the Referral Center - where we call potential referrals (what we get from members), follow up on people we've sent church materials to, and do the mormon.org chats. We spent an hour chatting to an English guy about why we don't drink tea. That was fun. I almost don't think he was for real. Hard to tell.
So tired. I can hardly think at all right now. If this email makes sense that will be my miracle for the day. I thought the first few days of the MTC were bad - this is ridiculous! (It's really weird not to have to worry about a bright red count down in the top corner of the screen.) Oh! So on the 18th we're going to be doing a tour in Japanese. Yeah! I'm gonna introduce myself, do lots of smiling and nodding, then (if I even learn how) give a very butchered version of my testimony in something resembling Japanese. Fun. Actually I'm excited. I'll probably understand my companion better when she's speaking her native language. Funny how that works.
Look out for the newbies at the MB for me. Tell them how much I love them, etc. Especially if you see Sister S. Tell her I miss her laugh ... just that I miss her. It's so weird that they're home ... that they're in S__D__, I mean. More just that they're not with us anymore. I'm really glad, though, that there's 12 others I can commiserate and hopefully keep a connection with while I'm here. It was fun to hang out with Sister W__ and Sister S__ (one of our roommates from the MTC) last night while Sister W__ unpacked. (We were supposed to be unpacking, too, but we'd been told not to be alone and our companions were still here so the three of us stuck together - not having been told that on our first night we're allowed to be alone if the doors are open.) We had tons of fun though, I love being with them. President (I think it was him) told us that the most important person here is your companion. Still, being able to talk to the people I started out with, who know me best, is great. Having other sisters who are on the same level (of confusion and exhaustion) is comforting.
I love you. I really miss you all right now. But I'm sucking it up and giving it my all, so don't be worried. I'll try to write letters sometime later. Love you!!!
Sister Clayton
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| President and Sister Holmes - Love them! |
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