"That They Might Be Humble"

Hey Everyone :)

Happy Halloween!

In honor of the members we live with I'm going to start off with a joke.. 

What does the skeleton say before dinner?

- Bone a'ppetit

So this week we had some fun exchanges with our sisters. I went to Kuna with Sister Seller she is amazing. She is such an inspiring missionary, she has overcome so many things to come on her mission and will totally be a blessing to her companions. We had such a great exchange even though almost no one answered it was great to learn from her. The only thing about Kuna with all the dairy's equals all the flies.. it was kinda gross.

We saw tons of miracles in our area this week. we had set a goal to set baptismal dates with our investigators this week. We were able to set three baptismal dates with our investigators. On Wednesday Night we went to visit Christina, our mission presidents wife had called and asked to come to our lesson with us. So we went to teach Christina the Restoration and extend a baptismal date and Sister Sorensen was able to sit in and contribute to our lesson. Christina accepted the baptismal date and it was such a good lesson! Aaron is one of our other investigators his wife Natasha is a member and we had a powerful lesson with them on the plan of salvation there were lots of tears and testimonies borne. Aaron and Natasha have a goal to be sealed in the temple as a family and you can tell how much they truly desire that. As Aaron has been on his journey he truly has desired to know and seek for answers. Kahbrea has been on a journey for a while to be baptized this is the second baptismal date we extended to her. Hopefully with it being in December she is able to find answers and keep her commitments to come to church and the ward has been fabulous at fellowshiping with our investigators. 

We had some other investigators that we had appointments with this week but they fell through which is okay but we're hoping to set some more baptismal dates this week. And help people keep their commitments. 

We had our wards Trunk or Treats this week. My costume this year wasn't as awesome as last year.. But we dressed up as M&M's with a family in our ward that we loveeee. The Trunk or Treat's were awesome we had a super great turn out in one of our wards, investigators less actives all came it was great. Got some fun pics with my favorite people. And awesome surprise my buddy greggor who we baptized during the summer was here for a visit. It was so good to see him and his sister. I love that boy and he has so much faith! 

I've been thinking about weaknesses this week, Sister Seller and I and an awesome talk on overcoming our weaknesses and truly understanding the promise in Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I love that! " I give men weakness.." It is not a  a sin to be weak. Often times we find ourselves beating ourselves up and weaknesses that we have that we have not overcome. And a majority of the time we are trying to overcome them ourselves. Weaknesses teach us humility as the verse says. invitation to come to know our heavenly father and tap in the grace our savior offers us grace being divine help.. why would we want to do this all on our own?If we have faith that he can help us, faith that he loves us and are humble enough to accept his help  we will be made strong. I love that promise and I know it's true I felt it so much on my mission. I know Heavenly Father loves us, and I love him too (as the primary kids would say..) he is waiting for us to accept his help. Take your weaknesses to him and find strength to be better. I love you all have a great week :)

Check out this awesome article on weaknesses!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

Members and Missionaries Working Together

Hey Everyone :)

I can't believe that the week is over that was fast! This week we've been working so hard to get to know the ward that we just got and things seem to be going well. We are working with four investigators in that ward and we are so excited to be on there journey. We finally got permission to teach some boys in our ward whose mom is less active and we are excited the ward has been FANTASTIC at stepping up and fellow-shipping them. We truly have seen blessings from member missionary work in our areas. We had the primary program in all three of our wards yesterday the kids were cute! Our favorite part was when a little got up to take her turn and her teacher tried to help her and she screamed in the microphone "I got it" she proceeded to say her line and then screamed "DONE!" everyone in the ward cracked up. We had a trunk or treat in one ward and two coming up this week. It's an awesome activity to get less actives out to, and recent convert, and non members. We've been pushing for people to invite their friends. We're hoping for an awesome turn out. 

This week we had awesome lesson with a Part Member Family Natasha and Aaron. Aaron has been searching for an answer to whether Joseph Smith is a prophet or not. He has a desire to become a member and to enter into that covenant. I was reflecting on Conference there were many talks on prayer one stuck out to me Sister McConkie.. "If we expect to receive, we must ask, seek, and knock. In his search for truth,Joseph Smith read from the scriptures, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” In answer to his prayer of faith, the heavens were opened. God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, descended in glory and spoke to Joseph Smith,ushering in the dispensation of the fullness of times. For us, miraculous healing,powerful protection, divine knowledge, liberating forgiveness, and precious peace are among the answers that come when we offer up a “soul’s sincere desire” in faith."  The lord knows the desires of our hearts and if we will ask in faith and share that with him he will direct our paths for good.

We also are working with Angela still.. she is so close to baptism. We found out at our lessons last night that her mom wants her to wait till she's 18 to get baptized. We are hoping that the lord will soften her heart if it's his will. If not we have talked to Angela about trusting the timing of the lord. He knows all things, and when they should happen.

Our ward had a baptism this week. We've been teaching Felicity and it has been a great blessing. She was able to be baptized and confirmed and she had  tons of support from her family and the ward. Her family is not very active but they were supportive of her decision. She doesn't have the easiest road ahead but she has an amazing ward family who pick her and her brother up for church, she has great activity day leaders and they will be a huge help in the roads again.

I've truly gained a huge testimony of the importance of how the lord set up his church. Each calling from Bishop to Nursery Leader is importance in building the saints and helping his children around the world. I know that we each play an importance part in building up the ward and being strengthen by each other. I have loved how some of our wards have responded to the call given in conference to help our brothers and sisters come unto Christ. I have seen many miracles pop up in this area, as we have thrusted in the sickle, and digged and worked with the members to help the ward to grow. I'm so excited for the changes that will come in the next 5 weeks for this area and the people in the area. 

I love this video by Elder Holland about our personal journey's withe Savior! everyone should check it out!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-03-0021-the-savior-understands-me?lang=eng&category=unity-in-diversity

Have a good week :)

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

Nampa Forever

Hey Everyone :)

This week went fast. It was so sad we had to move out of our apartment this week the members we lived with, son is coming home from his mission. So we are now roommates with the McQueens  this transfer and were excited they are awesome and they have housed many missionaries. Oh Yes! I'm still in Nampa.. transfers came and went. And there is still work here for me to do, I'm excited to serve another transfer here. We did pick up another ward so that'll be fun!  Sorry this is short, its been a crazy week. I promise a longer update next week!

Here's a pic of one of our investigators Angela at church with us :)

and me happy fall :)

All My Love, 

Sister Cleveland

The Next Step

Hey everyone :)

Hope you all had a great week. The seasons are changing here mornings are a little bit darker and I'm pretty sure I heard Christmas music the other day! Things are going well in Nampa. This week was super busy for us we had three exchanges with the sisters, a zone conference with Elder Foster from the Seventy and awesome lessons in our area.

Some Fun Things this Week; We got a flat tire on our way to Kuna for exchanges, who got out to change it?  this girl <--- thanks to many times in college teaching me, exchanges with my trainer Sis. Rivers, Maverick cookies for old time sake! Exchanges with Sister Latu its always good to be with her we saw so many miracles!! 

We had an awesome Zone Conference with Elder Foster. We discussed how we can be better messengers of the truth, the blessings of improving the messenger in the area and missions that we serve in.   We discussed the vision we feel the lord has for our mission. There were many things that were taught to me through the spirit. Often times I have just a pure moment when my thoughts wonder, to “How I got here?”, “What have I done to be the best missionary I can be?” and “What am I willing to do to be better?”. The motivation to become better comes often from the sweet spiritual witness that a loving heavenly father has set me apart, entrusted and helped  to carry me through my mission that I might "[cry] repentance unto this people and bring save it be one soul unto [him]" maybe even if it is my own. I have learned that a loving father in heaven infinitely loves all his children. Sometimes we hear it SOO much, but do you feel it? Do you understand the faith the father has in you? Do you feel the prayers that are offered on your behalf? We can… We ALL CAN!  As the lords’ servant set apart and called at this time I have come to understand how much inviting and acting upon the spirit as a missionary  means everything whether it plants a seed or helps someone to enter the waters of baptism for a remission of sins that one day that may stand before the father and be able to live with him again. It all matters and it's all part of his wonderful plan of happiness. 

I have been thinking about the question "What's the next step?" I think we face that question when it comes to education, occupations, where to live, relationships there are so many things that we asked that question for. I've been thinking how often do we ask “What is our next step in our spirituality?” When we choose to follow the path of discipleship we may come to a point where it is necessary to ask this question. “What is my next step?” As we have been working with less active members, recent converts in our area we have focused on what the next our heavenly father would have for them… as we were sitting in a lesson it was so clear the next step heavenly father wanted us to teach this sister and her children. As we sat and taught her about this wonderful blessing of the gospel we invited her to study and pray and ask heavenly father if that was right for her. The blessing of the gospel is there is always a next step whether you are the newest convert or the oldest member. Some next steps may be an ordinance that hasn't been been received yet, a calling which you may be hesitate to accept, a service opportunity that you may think is really hard to find time for, or it may be a stronger emphasis on having family council, or family home evening. It may be a decision to simply turn to your father in heaven in pray even though it has been a long time so you last took some time to direct our thoughts to him, it may be the decision to gather your family and spend time together, or it may be the decision to rejoice in the spirit at a church, it may be that you act upon a desire to know truth. There always will be a next step and when we are determined to follow the Savior he will help to find the next step for us in our lives. I would invite you to pray what is the lord's next step for you. 

Have an awesome week everyone!!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland 

J E S U S T A K E T H E W H E E L

Hey everyone!

It's October! It's crazy and the first week of October always means General Conference which is always exciting. But before I get to that, we had a good week in the area. We set tons of appointments for this week and invited a few people to take the lessons and they accepted. 

We've spent much time tracting this week which gave us the opportunity to testify and invite people. Tracting has become one of my favorite things to do its not as effective as member referrals but its still a finding tool that we use. This week we had a lesson with Felicity, she has been struggling a little bit we've had to have some serious talks with our eight year old friend. On Tuesday she told us she had to tell us her secret which was that she had a boyfriend since 'Kinder". We were trying to keep straight faces during this… her mom's face was quite funny.  You know little kids the smallest things eggs them on so Felicity proceeded to tell us that "Jesus gave me this opportunity" and that "God said go find a boyfriend and I took the opportunity and did" by this point Sister Hickmott and I are dying inside. I turn to her and told her at least she understands what it means to be obedient… (a principle she was struggling with). Felicity had a tough week listening to her parents and doing things she shouldn't so we had a “talk” mixed in with a lesson. We taught her that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is in words and in actions. I think that she has a deeper understanding of that now. It's hard when she is being taught one thing and sees another but we love her and continue to teach her. 

General Conference was awesome and it went by too fast… we were able to watch it with one of our investigators at a members house which was awesome. She is their neighbor and they invited her for breakfast and to watch the first session. They were very eager to teach her about everything which was awesome any questions Marie had except for one or two was answered by this family. Ultimately she decided to take the lessons which was awesome. It caused me to reflect on the Saturday Afternoon Session of Conference which was directed in a sense to missionary efforts. Which naturally, I loved! It was awesome to see these members follow the counsel from conference. 

 One of the talks that really stuck out to me was  K.Brett Nattress he said "The gospel is truly about the ONE" I LOVED THAT! Each one of us are becoming one with the savior and thought how beautiful is that. Even if the atonement had to be performed for just one it would have. Each of us have a personal journey to come to exercise faith in him, follow him, serve him and believe him as Elder Bednar beautifully taught. Often times we focus so much on believing in him we forget its just as important to believe him. Believe all that he is, "Believe Christ specifically and personally". Elder Cornish talk gave an inspiring and uplifting message that we can make it back to our father in heaven. We can keep progressing and growing. We must only compare our present to our past and hold on to the commandments heavenly father has given us. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us which was beautifully taught by our prophet and many other leaders. We are here on this earth to have joy… the plan of salvation was created that all men might return to him and feel changed and sanctified in his presence. Often times I think we neglect to realize just how much we are being rooted for and cheered for on the other side. Many people shake their heads and mutter about the perilous times in front of us but it is also the fullness of times, the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth, his church has been restored, and his priesthood power is on the earth as well, our loving father in heaven needs his children to stand up and live the gospel. I know as Lehi did of old that the gospel has "filled my soul with exceedingly great joy… I [have become] desirous that [all his children] should partake of it also" The Church has been restored and it is on the earth once again. 

If you missed some of conference or are reading this and don't know much about LDS General Conference head over here…

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng&_r=1

Have a great week everyone :)

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland