New Companion, New Adventures!!

Hi Everyone :)

This week we had transfers and  I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Messer and she is from Alabama! I am super excited for this transfer we set some awesome goals and excited to see the new adventures that the transfer brings! This week we're preparing for baptisms and we have been working with tons of the members in our 2nd ward who we haven't seen in a while. We went on splits this week with Audrey who is 18 and in our YSA ward she's preparing to go on a mission so its fun to take her out with us!  Hope everyone has a good week :)

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland 

Surprise

Hey Everyone :)

I honestly don't know where to begin with this week, it was super busy and went by somewhat fast its hard to keep up at times. We actually had a rough couple days with our investigators they were all going through some tough times. We had a baptism lined up for the week and we ended up having to push it back for two weeks :( I was so sad, and struggled to know what to say. I prayed 10x the amount I usually do this week, but it was super evident how much the lord loves his children and how he desire for them to be truly happy. As we make changes in our lives we experience some road bumps but we will always have a path to follow. We have been teaching a lot about repentance and trusting in heavenly father. We also have set some baptism dates for this month and are excited for all of our investigators.

Our Purpose as missionaries has been on my mind all week, we eat sleep and breathe our purpose. Which "is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end" It is such a blessing to be a part of the many lives of the people we are teaching that we have been blessed to grow with them as they make those changes in their lives to reach the fullness of happiness our heavenly father wants for us! I have had so many moments this week where I thought about all the prayers that are offer on our behalf. We are so grateful for the love and support we receive as we strive to fulfill our purpose in the lords work. This week I finished the book of Alma (which I was sad about) and started Helaman! The war chapters in Alma are awesome and one of my favorite places to read! I was reading in Helaman chapter 3 verse 35. What a tremendous example of what we can all me! Because of the desire in their hearts to know, trust and be obedient to God they were sanctified and purified! Faith in Christ is about action and power. As we act by praying, fasting, being obedient to heavenly fathers commandments, we tap into that power that gives us strength to face challenges that may come our way!

A big surprise came this week when our mission President Called us on Friday and asked to speak to me. He extended the call to be a TRAINER this next transfer so I will be training a new missionary for 13 weeks. Which means I will be staying in Caldwell until May! Hard to believe and I was quite surprise but I'm grateful for this opportunity to grow and to learn :) And im definitely excited to stay in my area!

Also funny story.. this week I had a dream that someone asked me to pray and I was so tired and just wanted to lay down while i prayed  but i knew I need to sit up so I sat up and prayed out loud. I said the pray looked at the clock It was 4:49 in the morning and went back to bed. That's when you know your a missionary. The next morning  my comp asked  if I had prayed in the middle of the night I didn't think anyone heard me haha That's when you know your a missionary :)

Hope everyone is doing well :) Much Love :)

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

Pictures:

1. Nina Rose and I at her house one night

2. Kalua'u and I with Nina

3. Our District

4. Our investigator Tom who I love teaching :)

5. The Elders and I left standing in Caldwell!

6. Last District Picture :)

7. My trio companionship!

The Work and Privilege

Hey everyone hope your all staying warm and enjoying the snow if your back East :) 

This week has been incredibly busy but it also flew by so fast!

We picked up a new investigator named Randy and he is HILARIOUS! He was a referral from some elders who had taught him. Well, we have been trying to contact him and he never answers the door. One day while we were contacting it was freezing outside and I just screamed "Randy we know your in there, OPEN UP." My companion ended up running to the car while I was on the porch yelling. He didn't end up opening the door… but we went to contact him again one day and we left a note explaining that we had lost his number and had been trying to get in contact with him. Well … Randy called us! My companions were doing something so I was talking to him on the phone and he basically told us that he already knew what he needed to do to get baptized and he was good. I started asking about what was keeping him from meeting with us.. and mid sentence he asks where I'm from.. Come to find out Randy is from Salem, VA and knew where I went to school. We talked  for a while and he asked if he could meet us this week. We met with him this week and he told us he is basically ready to get baptized he is just working on something. We had an awesome lesson with him this week. He kept asking us "Why are we here?" “What are you gonna tell your kids that you were in Caldwell, ID?" It was an awesome opportunity to testify of the importance and privilege of missionary work and the miracles of serving the lord and being a representative of the Savior. 

We also had a HUGE WORLDWIDE missionary broadcast and it was awesome. We were fed spiritually so well and learned so much! One of my favorites things that Elder Neil L. Anderson said was "Speak of the Savior, Speak of the gospel and he will speak of you to the Father"  What an awesome promise. We received training on SOOO many things. The theme was "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" which was awesome because as we had the broadcast it clicked that the lord wants his children that we are privileged  to teach to be converted before they enter the waters of baptism and we want repentance and baptism to be evidence of their conversion. We have been working with tons of investigators and our investigator Stacy is getting baptized on Saturday we are so excited for her :) She has been having a hard time lately actually quite a few of our investigators have been. I feel like the theme of the week was trusting in Heavenly Father and Elder Jeffrey R Holland's talk "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence". It talks about when we have enlighten experiences or when a big change is about to come in our lives and we start to face challenges, but Elder Holland's counsel it  that "The Lord will fight for you" "If it was right when you prayed for it and trusted in it, it is right right now" Don't give up when the pressure mounts, Face your doubts, Master your fears Cast not away your confidence Stay the course, see the beauty of life unfold for you!" I love this advice of course its gonna be hard but the lord will always prepare a way for you if you place your trust in him.

Lastly we went to a middle school basketball game to watch a little boy who we are kinda teaching how to play it was super fun and he did awesome! Also we were super spoiled and went to Olive Garden this week with a member I can't resist those bread sticks and salad… maybe I should be, anyway it was delicious :) We also lost power on Tuesday and were not prepared when we got home but, I had a candle (Thanks Mom!) anyway we survived and the power eventually came back on! 

This has been an awesome week, to sit back and see the hand of the lord. I am always grateful for those moments when I think about the privilege it is to be a missionary. To be able to speak of the Savior and testify of the love he has for his children and the plan for all of us to return to our father in heaven. Each of us have a divine destiny we are children of a heavenly being who of all the names to be called chose "Father" I testify that the blessings he has in store for all his children can be found through the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been restored again upon the earth! 

Have a great week everyone :)

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland 

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Hey Everyone!

Well first I must give tribute to Alan Rickman who passed away :( I'm sure ABC FAMILY had Harry Potter Weekend! He was an awesome Severus Snape! 

This has been a super awesome week. We got loaded with referrals from the Spanish elders who have been tracting a ton looking for investigators and because they are Spanish they refer most of them to us. We have been busy contacting and working in the two areas which has been filling our schedules which is awesome. We are currently working with someone who has been investigating the church for a while. We set a baptism date with her for the 30th! We are super excited and feel she is super ready. We also had exchanges this week, interviews with president, meetings coming out of our ears!  It's been crazy but we are grateful for the work that continues to move forward. 

This week we met with a less active who was just spitting questions at us about the gospel and he wanted to talk about Judas and pre-ordination. He said he wanted Judas to be the "Professor Snape of the New Testament" we laughed. He had a ton of quick responses. My companion said "Sometimes it stinks when we don't have the end of the map" and he replied "Not if you know whats under the X" He's pretty quick and it was a fun visit. Probably one of the craziest things we've heard. We've spent tons of time contacting and we always come to find a crazy story. This transfer we set a goal to have ten people progress to baptisms. We are on number 9! We continue to pray and found miracles around every corner its been amazing.

This week I spoke about whether we are "Spiritually out of shape" in our lives. Are we prepared for the challenges that come our way from life? Or are we slacking in our workouts such as prayer, scripture study, church worship are we  listening to our "trainers"?. I know that it is always something we can work on, in our lives. 

Hope everyone has a great week :))

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

Transformation

Hey Everyone!

Hope everyone had a great week :) This has been a week of awesome blessings and tons of missionary work which is great. We are actually now in a trio one of the missionary whose companions left the missions so we are covering 4 wards and it has been non-stop go go go . But we are loving it. We picked up three new investigators this week and we feel so blessed to receive member referrals and their willingness to fellowship. Our investigators and recent converts are simply amazing and it is such a blessing to teach them and be apart of their transformation. 

We have had such a busy week the elder quorum in our ward had an event celebrating the family and we had smoked turkey which was delicious! And it was a super cute event the women and kids couldn't get up to get anything and the men took our orders and served us dinner super sweet! We love our ward. One of our recent converts names Conley we had a lesson with and he was talking about the power of transformation and the man he use to be and the man he is now. He talked about how he has changed and how he was asked to bless the sacrament and prepare it. He talked about what an honor is was for him to be asked to do so. I love how much the love of god can transform us, Elder Holland has said "However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.” I know that to be so true seeing it in the life of so many I have been blessed to come in contact with and in my own life. We had an awesome week visiting with so many families, we went to a gender reveal party of a recent convert it was super cute and we are super happy for her. The work continues to move forward and I am so grateful to be a part of it. Hope you all have a great week!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

A Miracle A Day

Hey Everyone!

      This has been such a fast week, its hard to remember what happen! 

We taught our investigator yesterday and we had such a powerful lesson on the plan of salvation and the principles of repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ. He kept explaining to us the mistakes he's made and the choices he said he has hurt so many people and he can't possibly make up for all of it. We taught him about the blessings using the atonement and trusting the Savior and allowing him to help us. He read from D&C 58: 42-43 and ended in tears. The power of the spirit is amazing he kept saying that he felt it through the lessons. I know that he felt the love of the Savior and that comes to anyone who is willing to let the Savior into their lives and allowing the atonement to heal them. 

    I've been thinking about some experiences we have had this week. Sometimes we have just about 5 mins to tell someone about the church or bear testimony. Whether we are at a door knocking or in a home. I love being able to testify of the Savior if their is anything I can do is to share how much the Savior loves us and heavenly Father has a plan for us in our lives! 

       This week my companion had a mission leadership meeting in Nampa. So I was proselytizing in Nampa while she was gone with Sister Bertalino. We had an awesome opportunity to teach a woman who is really struggling and just feels like the Lord has turned his back on her. I was reading in Alma this week in chapter five he teaches the people about the Shepard in verse 37 it says "a Shepard hath called after you, and is still calling after you" I love being able to share that message because even when we feel like god has left us, or we feel abandon. It is promised that the good Shepard (the Savior) will always be there for us, his hand is stretch out to us always! Hope everyone has a good week!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

P.S. Also I have started an "A Miracle A Day" Journal its such a great way to look for blessings or miracles that the lord gives us in our lives everyday. Maybe you might include that as one of your goals for the year! Hope you set some awesome goals! :) 

Missionary Christmas

Hey Everyone!

 Hope Everyone had a fabulous Christmas and that you enjoyed time with family and friends. Christmas in the mission field was special. We started the week by making sugar cookies for our investigators and decorating them as a zone (and with Elders around of course a majority of them were eaten). Who can forget our P-day sports madness, which ended in an intense game of signs. We went through the week contacting and had an awesome lesson over the phone with an investigator named Muise. He is in Mexico right now and will be back sometime next month. He told us he read Moroni's challenge in (Moroni 10 :3-5) and that he wants to keep reading the Book of Mormon to know if its true. My comp was jumping on the couch (like Tom Cruise) out of excitement :)

We had Christmas Conference with the missionaries this week and that was loads of fun! We had a white elephant gift exchange, and each district sang a musical number we chose "What Child is this?" In between the musical numbers President and Sister Cannon spoke and we had a carol sing-along which with tons of missionaries was definitely a good time. The conference was in Ontario which meant I was back to my homeland (Payette is about a 5 min drive from there). It was good to see all the missionaries who I served with in my zone last transfer and it felt like a big reunion. The trio was together again which was super fun:) I loved Presidents message he talked about how the lord answers our prayers. It was an awesome and simple message. 

The next day we went over Alisha and her parents house where we made more sugar cookies. We got to go caroling with them the next day. We got to teach about the people in the Americas who were waiting for the sign of Christ. (3 Nephi Chapter 1) She has three kids who are all in their teens and they were a bit reluctant to make cookies at first but we told them they wouldn't be able to eat any if they didn't make some! That got them moving :) We made fudge and Dollie bars too, to go on the plates. The next night we went caroling with Alisha and her family in probably 14 degrees and it had just snowed the night before, but we went out singing "Jingle Bells" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas" it was a great time. We ended the night going to dinner and reading Luke 2 with a sweet family in the ward who are empty nesters. 

Then came Christmas which was jammed packed with stuff. Breakfast with a family in our ward and they gave us the cutest stockings for Christmas that say "Sister" on them! We then went to watch a movie and have lunch with another family in the ward. They have a movie theater and which would make watching any movie fun, we ended up watching "The Emma Smith Story" and I zonked out from a food coma. But it's okay because I had already seen the movie. We went to dinner and ate again and we had some much fun at the members house they have two of their grand kids living with them and they were super excited about everything they got for Christmas. They made us pillowcases for Christmas :) Of course who can forget Christmas Skype; super great to see the family again and of course laugh uncontrollably . Saturday we had an awesome lesson with a member who just got out of jail about two months ago. he is 21 and has had a hard past but he has been coming back to church and we taught him about making the sacrament a more influential part of our Sabbath and the sacrament meeting itself. We came into church on Sunday and he was dressed different then his jeans and shirt. He sat in the pew with a white shirt, black pants and tie. He told us the night before he felt like he needed to get some church clothes and we were so proud of him!

But in all the fun things this week one of the best miracles happen Sunday night. When we had about 20 mins left before we needed to get home. You always hear about those stories of missionaries going to the right place in the last minutes they have in the day and that happen to us. We were driving and I had the impression that we needed to see a family. I told my companion and she said the same name popped into her head a few minutes before but hadn't said anything because she wasn't sure. We decided that we would stop by in the last 20 minutes we had. We went in and the parents were still up talking they didn't really know us that well as missionaries so we preceded to talk to them about being a missionary and serving in Caldwell. The husband was just recently baptized and they have been struggling a little bit. We asked if we could share a message with them. We taught from Doctrine and Covenants Section 50:40-42 as I read the verses I heard crying and I looked up to see the mom in tears. When i finished reading I said to them "We don't know exactly why we were suppose to come here, but Heavenly Father is truly aware of you both and as representatives of Jesus Christ we can testify of that" As the words left my mouth tears filled my eyes and my chest felt like it exploded I felt nothing but love for these two parents. I knew in that moment that the was how the Savior and Heavenly Father felt for them. I'm grateful for moments like these, that truly are miracles. It is such a privilege to minster to the lords children and follow the direction in which he gives us through inspiration.  We both left the house and sat in the car for a minute soaking it all in. We ended the night in gratitude for Heavenly Father trusting us to meet the needs of his children that night. That's contributes to what its all about. Everyday in the field listening to where the Lord will lead us to go and testifying of the love that he has for his children. Have a great week! and Happy New Year Everyone :)

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

This photo is a picture of one of our investigators who loves to play basketball he wants to play in the NBA. So we played with him the other day and we played HORSE and did all these trick shots it was tons of fun. We'll he saw these american flags in the closet and so we pretended it was the last 10 secs in the Olympic final game in Taiwan in 2030 and he had the ball. I was the announcer and waving the flag and he had a red,white and blue ball. My companion and I kept saying "Do it for America!" He shot it and made it it was a big deal :)