His Love is Always There

Hello Everyone,

This week, This week was freaking awesome!

Okay this week we had tons of miracles. We started off this week with some service projects we actually did four this week, we did tons of yard work ( i mowed a lawn for the first time seeing that my dad took precious care of his lawn and i clearly didn't want to mess it up) i'd never done it before! One of elders was teaching me but he had a specific way he did it i might have messed it up a little but the lawn got mowed that's what matters :) pulled some more weeds this week, and helped move people and pack up some houses. It was super fun we usually do our service as a zone too which is helpful. We've been walking our area a lot more which is fun and friendly waves are everything.. one of my companions likes to wave at every car that drives by until they wave at her its pretty entertaining. We run into some interesting people while were out walking always great to share the gospel. And every time we walk we have to have some sort of photo adventure.. we found pride rock in our neighborhood it was awesome. So of course we all had to take a picture on pride rock. So one day this week Sis Abello got sick and she is our designated driver so I had to drive and we were on our way to visit a less active and we saw an ice cream truck (you know me and ice cream) so Sis. Chevalier and I chased it down until it pulled over for us! it was worth it. This week we also had a companion fast such an experience we did it towards the end of the week.. we were having a semi- slow week with getting into people's home and we had our fast and so many awesome experiences after. 

First our investigator Dan passed his baptismal interview we are so excited. We went back to his house that night and he did the lesson super cool. His daughter who is three said the most beautiful prayer and we look up and Dan is crying it was a tender moment. Second, our investigator Francisca came to church this week! And the talks were on baptismal covenants and the holy ghost it was perrfect! Thirdly, a less active we have been working with has become active and qualified for her temple recommend. She had an interview with our bishop and didn't expect to me getting her recommend, the bishop interviewed her and walked her down to the stake presidents office and she was able to receive her temple recommend she hasn't been back to the temple in 20 years. We are so excited for her. Fourth, Marissa the investigator I taught in  Caldwell got baptized on Saturday! She asked me to speak at her baptism. It was such an awesome experience. Her foster dad was able to baptize her.. it was such a tender experience he teared up while he was in the font. It made me reflect on Elder Christofferson's talk on Fathers from, general conference.” "Some men are single fathers, foster fathers, or stepfathers. Many of them strive mightily and do their very best in an often difficult role. We honor those who do all that can be done in love, patience, and self-sacrifice to meet individual and family needs. It should be noted that God Himself entrusted His Only Begotten Son to a foster father. Surely some of the credit goes to Joseph for the fact that as Jesus grew, He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. " They have been such an incredible family for her. And the best news the are going to adopt her next month! So excited for them. I know how much heavenly father loves us individually and cares about the things we do. I was reading from a talk this morning during personal study also by Elder Hugh B Brown "The Currant Bush" Check out the short video. The lord is mindful of all of us. I have a huge testimony of his love. I hope everyone has a great week! 

Trio Tag Line:  "With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed." - Elder Jeffrey R Holland

Much love,

Sister Cleveland 

BUCKLE UP: Cause We had an Eventful Week

So this week was amazingly packed!

We started off the week by  having a super dead day no one was opening the door we taught one lesson so far that day but we were determine to keep "our line in the water all day" as we went to another house and no one opened we got in the car and got a text message from a member in one of our wards who said a investigator that we have been looking for was in her backyard! The investigators name is Francesca and she has taken the discussions twice already but because of her age and her family not wanting her to get baptized she couldn't. But she is now 18 graduating high school and we finally got a hold of her, taught the first discussion and set a baptismal date! Such a huge miracle that day! we also did some service this week we went  to a less active sisters house and pulled some weeds with her with the elders.It was super fun ( who ever though i'd saying pulling weeds was fun) but we had a great time fellow shipping with this sister. We also started walking around our area a lot more and entertain ourselves with seeing how many friendly honks we can get in a day! We also had a fabulous comp date at IKG which is Hawaiian food super delicious we were in heaven… later that night we got a surprise from my university basketball coach who just happen to be traveling from Virginia back to Oregon so she called my mission president and asked if she could see me. She took my companions and I out for desert it was a fun time. 

I'm super excited for our an investigator in Caldwell I was teaching, she called me this week and told me she was getting baptized on Saturday! I'm super excited for her! and i get to go back. Such a blessing to be a part of the journeys of so many people who want to draw closer to heavenly father. We just finished the lessons with our investigator Dan is was such tender experience as we asked him and his fiancee to close their eyes and imagine themselves dressed in white at the temple and then imagine themselves in white with their kids standing in front of heavenly father. We talked about he beauty of everything heavenly father wants for us and more. Dan talked about his conversion and how much his life has changed he chose this verse to describe it Alma 5:12-13. This week I've been working on our mission challenge to finish up the Book of Mormon too its going well I'm already at the end of Alma so I am right on track! To finish off the week we went on a nice morning stroll with our mission president and his wife. Got to chat about life and pet a horse in their subdivision :) Super good week jam packed! Hope you all are doing well!

Lots of Love,

Sister Cleveland

Here is the weekly trio tag: In giving His life, Christ saved not only His own life but our lives as well. He made it possible for us to exchange what would otherwise have been an ultimately futile mortal life for eternal life.

"Hello Boys"

Hey Everyone!

      Nampa life has begun and the trio so far is good. I'm serving with Sister Abello and Sister Chevalier  we are all one transfer apart from each other upon entering the field. It really feels like we are shotgunning our area because one of my companions has only been here for 6 weeks and really doesn't know as many people as she would like so we are starting from scratch but that's okay. This week hasn't been as busy as I'm use too but we taught some lessons with some super cool people. We also did some service as a zone were we pulled weeds and did some gardening my skills are going to be on point in the future and had what felt like nothing but meetings all week it was probably like two meetings hah We have two investigators here  one who has a baptismal date set for June (yes that's actually next month weird..) and the other is a super sweet girl who is 11 and wants to learn about heavenly father. Her parents are Catholic but she loves to pray and told us how much she feels god answers her prayers. I loved it, it was such a sweet reminder that our prayers are heard and when we have the faith it reminded me of this scripture in the Book of Mormon in Alma 33:8 the lord is mindful and hears the cries of all his children. Our mission Book of Mormon challenge is still plugging along we 5 weeks left to finish I'm hoping to be finished with Alma this week. Update from Caldwell Marissa who i was teaching is planning on getting baptized this weekend so hopefully that comes together. I also got a call from the elders in Payette that someone we taught is getting baptized on the 21st so were pretty excited about that too. We have found our our favorites sisters in Nampa she is British and hilarious she doesn't like Yankees even though she married one and lives in America. This week our companionship is focusing on a quote be President Henry B Erying " When you go to comfort and serve anyone for the savior he prepares the way before you" I know that to be true, it has been such a blessing to see the lord open pathways for us as we serve the lord. I know that you go to comfort and serve those you may come in contact with he will answers your desires to know who you can help! Hope you all have a great week :)

Love,

Sister Cleveland

"I have been BLESSED!"

Well I cant say that it wasn't coming but I got transferred and i balled like a baby..

     Let's back up to this week. I knew that I was being transferred so teaching this week was super hard because I didn't want to leave anyone. But I started this week with an awesome Sister Conference with the Sisters in the mission. It was so much fun to see all my sistas  ( yes the trio w as back together) I know you were thinking it and the reunion was quite glorious. We had an awesome conference filled with training's, talks by President and Sister Cannon and a great lunch. Starting the week on a high for sure. This week we played baseball with our recent convert Merle he plays for the rec team in Caldwell and we were going to visit him to teach a lesson before his game (yes we're those missionaries) and he decided to teach us how to get ground balls, and throw you name it he taught it. Love him sooo much. (we also played an intense came of rock paper scissors) This week I reflected a lot on the atonement (I know I do pretty much every week) but in the lives of the people we've been working with its always seems to be the answer or comfort to the things that they are going through. I have come to have a depth of love that fills my whole soul on my mission its kind of the only way I can describe it. I was reflecting on how the atonement does not just apply to one person, it applies to all. We all need it to make it back to our heavenly father. I reflected on how the atonement provides healing not just cleansing which we often understand from the garden of Gethsemane. But the power the atonement has to heal broken things.. even hearts. I've watched that power countless times in my life here on the mission.

       Sometimes my mind and heart cannot comprehend the love that Heavenly Father has for his children sometimes it almost makes your heart want to burst. That's why leaving the area is so hard.. I mean I didn't just cry when I send goodbye.. I ugly cried.. Saying goodbye to so many people I have loved was super hard and when I had to tell Merle (our recent convert) I blubbered and cried all over.. he probably thought I was a weirdo. His dad was talking to me and he made me cry. He said "Sister Cleveland you have become part of our family and always will be.. and i don't say that lightly." I really hope that they're family stays active so that they can go to the temple and get sealed. I know Merle will be a tremendous blessing to his family. I'm so grateful for my time here in Caldwell and training. There are so many things I have learned and had a privilege to be a part of so many lives. I was talking Nathan's Mom last night.. update on him: sadly Nathan went back to jail just recently its been pretty hard to watch those you love go through so much and you want to help them carry the load, or wish they didn't have to go through it.. but his Mom has been super strong and going to see her and testify of the love the lord has for her has been one of the many blessings in Caldwell. I have been thinking about how i'm being a baby and its super hard to leave my area in the hands of someone else. But I think about how much Heavenly Father entrusts people into our care. how he loves them and hopes that we come to understand even just a speck of the love he has for his children. I'm so grateful for my time here and all the lord has taught me and now its off to Nampa.. to go love his children over there. grateful for the mission everyday.. I've truly been blessed.

All My Love, 

Sister Cleveland

Pictures: 

1. me and sister bertalino

2. The Hartungs love them

3. Caldwell

4. My Sista- Sorenson

5. Sister Smith and I

6. The Trio Reunion

7. Nate and Nina.. such amazing examples to me I will share there story in a guest post next week

8. Merle Kinder Jr <3

9. Elder Anien and I

10. All the Sisters I entered the field with.. Halfway next month.. (What? I know..)

Time Flies.. and I'm Just Trying to Keep Up

Hi everyone :)

yet another week has flown by. it's already the last week of the transfer super hard to believe. I could be staying in Caldwell or leaving. I hardly want to think about it because i love this people and the awesome investigators that we get to work with. so much work going on with the people in this area. One of our investigators Kelly, has had a baptismal date many times and missed each one usually because he hasn't gone to church or one of his addictions. We've been working with Kelly the last few weeks because he wants to be baptized and overcome his addictions. So just about each week we buy him a bag of lollipops to sublimate the smoking.  He loves it, and says it's working for him.He's been clean from his smoking addictions for a week now! We meet with him a ton though to keep him focused and that he is keeping his commitments. Our other investigator Merissa is doing super well, we had a lesson on real intent and asking in sincerity and the importance of the book of Mormon she has begun reading it on her own. And we are reading with her since our mission president challenged us to finish it in two transfers. I am loving reading the Book of Mormon again and it has opened my eyes to things I missed the other times. It always perfect to see how much the lord loves his children and has a desire to help them!

Tomorrow is sisters conference and I'm super excited to see all my sisters! This week I got a super interesting phone call from the stake president in the are that I am serving in. He asked if we were doing anything on Sunday at six and I though for sure he was asking about dinner. Sadly he wasn't! hah He asked me if I would be willing to speak in the stake priesthood meeting on Sunday. i gladly accepted and then hung up. Afterwards I asked myself what had I gotten myself into.. I agonized the whole week over this talk. One the topic was "How can the priesthood help in hastening the work?" and as a missionary some days you feel like you have no time like at all.. so i was getting nervous when it was Friday and I hadn't written a talk yet. I finally had a window to work on it on Saturday and ended up finishing it. What a unique opportunity to address the priesthood brethren in our stake. I felt of the love and gratitude our heavenly father has for them as they labor in his kingdom. I'm grateful to be an instrument in the hands of the lord at this time of my life. I have seen so many opportunities and blessings in not only my life, but the lives of those I serve with and teach. Last night we of course had to end the week with dessert and stories from our bishop and his wife. Its our Sunday night tradition :) 

Hope everyone has a great week :) 

Much Love,

Sister Cleveland

Unique Journey's

HEEELLOOOO  everyone!

This week had been pretty darn good. So much has happened this week. I'll try to remember all of it. The biggest is Merle got baptized on Saturday! Love that boy. I will talk about him a little later though. This week we hit the pavement teaching as many people as we could and picked up two new investigators this week. Safe to say by yesterday I was wiped out. hah But this week we went to work on the church orchard, we planted apple trees and put in the sprinklers for the trees. That place kept us busy there were so many people who came out to help which was awesome. We also had a couple lessons with our investigator Merissa and got the green light for her to be baptized. She is a foster child right now and we needed to get some approval but when we finish the lessons she gets to be baptized. She has a desire to get baptized we are just trying to help her know in her heart that these things are true and have a confirmation from the spirit. We've also been teaching our investigators Irene, Sherry,and Sebrina. They all have unique journeys to knowing the truth and are enjoying teaching them and helping them the best we can. So much work going on this week. The best way to end the week was Merle's baptism on Saturday. He is just my favorite. He came running into the church building the day of his baptism and was just super excited. This family means so much to me. They were less active for a period of time and the ward has really strive to work with them to get back to church, and get the kids to their activities. Merle has been waiting a year to get baptized by his dad. As we were working with Merle, Bishop was working with his dad so that he would be able to baptize him. As we taught Merle the lessons, his sisters would come sit in and they would answer questions they have all grown together. It has been a tender mercy. Thinking about his baptism brings tears to my eyes. Especially since after he got baptize he came up to me through his arms around my neck and gave me a big hug. That little boy has touched my heart. I know that one day as he stays active he will serve a mission and get married in the temple. Watching him make those promises with Heavenly Father reassured how I always feel, when I am serving. We mean everything to our Heavenly Father and he wants us to come back to him. All of us! I'm so grateful to be a part of so many wonderful people lives here in Idaho. I have loved serving everyday. Running out of time. Hope you all have an awesome week! 

Also I included a pic of my friend Phillpee who is going back home to Mexico on Wednesday. I may never see him again but I'm soo grateful to have met him. As we said goodbye he said "I know you a good person and I will be a good person in Mexico" How grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Much Love,

Sister Cleveland

P.S.   And someone loves the missionaries enough to wash our car for us. love the people of Idaho :))

"Heaven is cheering you on Today Tomorrow and Forever!"

Everybody good news this week made me smile loved the emails :) 

Was Conference on Point or what?!

Those who know me well know that some of my favorite things are the following:

1. Basketball

2. Fruit Snacks

3. Ice Cream

4. Anything Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says..

Not in any specific order..that being said you know that I loved his conference talk.  One thing that we challenged our everyone that we knew this week to do was to write questions, pray and look for the answers. I know that for me I received soo many answers to prayers and questions on my heart. Conference is always a spiritual experience to find hope and peace. It is a strong testament that the lord loves all his children is mindful of all of us! I love that President Utchdorf said "the sheep is worthy of rescue simply because it is loved" If you haven't watched conference I would invite you to go back and watch it. It will invite the spirit into your life and provide peace and love from our heavenly father.

This week we had two phone calls from potential investigators that we're a surprise to us! Each potential asked to take the lessons and learn more about the church. Super happy about that we met with both of them this week. They both watched conference and im sure felt the same spirit that we all did. The weather has been perfect in Caldwell the flowers are blooming and its been in the high 70's. I'm loving it. This week we also visited a woman in our ward who is less active and has many health issues that we didn't know about. We had never actually met her. We went in between our session of conference on Saturday and when we went to visit she told us her story about her conversion. She does not have any family support in fact she said "they would be deeply upset to know I'm talking to you" As she spoke Heavenly Father love for her filled the room. Tears filled my eyes and I knew this is exactly the work the lord would have us to be doing. Missionary work is finding, baptizing, teaching but with one particular quality it can be magnified and that is charity. It brings to mind President Utchdorf's talk "He will Place You On His Shoulders and Carry You Home" Our Heavenly Father and Savior will always invite us we are the ones who choose whether to accept their love and help.  Even when we may choose the wrong path the way back to them is always there. We can choose to believe as Sister Oscarson said in conference. When we  believe these principles and teachings they build our faith and cause us to act which we come to  know them to be true. I love sharing the message of the Savior Jesus Christ. My testimony of who he is is in my personal life has grown tremendously. I know that he lives, I know he is the Christ.I know that he is mindful of the opposition, challenges and trials that come into our lives. Each is an opportunity to become more like him.  He cheers for us when we succeed and when joy enters our lives, Be Happy, Be faithful, Trust God. He will always be there to answer. Have a great week everyone!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland