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

“I Hope to See you Guys There”

Hey Everyone!

   Hope you all had a good week. I'll fill you in on some highlights from the week. We had some super good experiences and we had some rough experiences. This week one of our investigators who is Nazarene dropped us.. she is our "banana bread lady" we love her! But, she told us she's comfortable where she is. And we have come to find so many people who are just comfortable.. nothing pushing them to move forward. The people we have come across don't want to change because they don't believe that they Can or should. Heavenly Father invites us to accept his invitations and to act. And people we have come across are so scared they push it away. 

       This week we have taught the principle of agency over and over again. and we are "free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all Men" We are all free to choose everyday. That is so hard as a missionary to know and understand the power of agency and know that sometimes all you can do is leave your witness. That is something that I have striving to be better at is leaving my witness with this people. I never want to be told you didn't tell me.. I know that as we bear witness and testify of these principles of the gospel and importantly the Savior Jesus Christ through which all these things are possible that those seeds will be planted and someone will come along again to teach her and many others that we come across.

     We had a lesson with Felicity this week that had me in tears. We taught about the Kingdoms of Glory. As we taught about the Celestial Kingdom we told her that you get a gift in that Kingdom- to live with our Heavenly Father forever. As we told her these things the excitement was clearly evident on her face. As we taught her about the Celestial Kingdom it reminded us about what many apostles have said; that the gospel is so simple a child can understand. After we taught Felicity she said I hope I see you guys there (speaking of the Celestial Kingdom) and I thought shouldn't that be our hope for everyone that we meet. I think of the promise in Mosiah 2:41 we can dwell with our father in heaven and enjoy never ending happiness. I know that our heavenly father loves us that he wants us all to return to him. Felicity closed the lesson with a pray because she loves to pray. She paused during the pray to tell us she was going to ask god a question. In the humility of a child she asked if he could forgive for the things she had done in the past weeks that she knew were wrong. She finished her prayer and closed. I got on my knees looked her in the eyes and promised her that Heavenly Father heard her prayer and loves her. Sunday we had testimony meeting, and that morning the family that was suppose to pick up Felicity and her brother didn't so we needed to find another ride in between our ward council meetings. We found one super last minute. As the children were bearing their testimonies during sacrament meeting, Felicity said "I have a testimony but I'm scared." After some sweet talk from my companion she got up there and bore her testimony to the ward. It was super cute and in the words of an eight year old; it was truly pure in heart testimony.  

  I am a witness of that our Father in Heaven loves us, he hears our prays and knows of our desires and struggles. He knows each of us individually and by name. His love in infinite, that he would send his perfect son to show us the way and to be the way to return him. He truly is the Christ as Peter said... "No man can receive that witness but through the spirit." I hope we all yearn as Felicity to live with our Father in Heaven again no matter what sacrifices or changes need to be made, for never-ending happiness is the reward.

Hope everyone had a good week!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

1. Exchanges with Hermana Rosales she is from Lima Peru :)

2. Exchanges with Hermana Marin she is from SLC! She's been out for 3 weeks!

3. My new Harry Potter Wand pencil someone in our ward made its awesome :)

One Year Older...

Hey everyone :)

   This week was awesome we saw so many miracles and we had some awesome teaching moments. It wasn't the easiest with a lot of potential investigators we invited so many of  them to learn more and take the lessons and they said NO. Then they always tell us that what we do is good and they will pray for us to soften the blow. One man even started crying.. it was interesting. We have been working with a guy named Raul some elders tracted into him a few weeks back and gave him a book of mormon. He told us he had a mormon co worker and he was talking about The Book of Mormon with him. Raul is technically YSA age and so we told him about the ward and that he could meet with the elders who cover it and he said "If you guys  don't want to teach me you don't have to.." We assured him that we did and are excited for his first lesson next week.

    We also began teaching a girl named Angela she's 16 super sweet and learned about the church about 3 years ago from a friend. She even has been to Seminary! She is ready to be baptized all she needs is the lessons so we started teaching her last week. We have a lesson with her tonight also. It's so nice when we get a call from members saying they have someone for us to teach and they are able to sit in and contribute to the lessons and be the friend to the investigator. It's awesome. We've had a potential investigator family that my last companion met when she got here in this area. we just couldn't get them progressing. One night Sister Hickmott said we should go visit them so we did and she let us in. We talked for a while about having a relationship with god and praying. And she told us about how she wants too, sometimes she feels like she's talking to herself when she prays something many people tell us. She struggles because she wants to go to church but doesn't want to go without her "husband" (not sure if there married..) we taught her about the triangle of having heavenly father at the head and each person in a corner and as we strengthen our relationship with god we can strengthen any other relationship even if your other half isn't strengthen theirs. Well after sharing some stories from personal lives and the scriptures. Maria committed to coming to church. Sunday morning she showed up with her son and stayed for all three hours. She contributed in our gospel principles lesson and her son who is 10 months old didn't cry the whole time. And the talks and lessons were perfect it was such a great Sunday. We went to her house after church for some southern barbecue her "husband" is from Louisiana. And she said "she'll come next week."

   We taught quite a few people how to pray this week on their doorstep but they willingly did so. WE taught of the importance of talking to our heavenly father. One of my favorite experiences was with two 10 year olds one girl and another boy her mom is last active and she the little girl comes to activity girls but wants to start coming back to church and get baptized. As we were talking with them we taught them both why we are baptized and about the holy ghost. The little boy who is her cousin said I want the holy ghost "when im home during the summer im alone and i get scared" we told him that he could also pray for safety . He offered a pure simple prayer asking that heavenly father would bless him with extra protection. 

   I'm grateful this week for timing and the importance of following the spirit. I know this week its always devastating when people tell us they don't want to change or hear more, that they'd make bad mormons. But I know that one day they will be ready to hear the message again. I hope they accept it when they hear it again if that is in this life, Sister Hickmott and I were talking about how we hope that we meet this people again in the spirit world that we have the opportunity to teach them again or maybe we'll find them teaching others. I'm grateful that our heavenly father has a plan for all things, and that one day they will know with a surety that the things they have been taught are true an their hearts will be soften and they will be willing to act.

I hope everyone has an awesome week. Love you all :)

Sister Cleveland 

Say it Ain't So..

     This week flew by.. Sorry I don't have a long update for you all. But I just want to express my testimony of this gospel. I have been out here for a year now and I have seen the miracles and heartaches of the lords children in this part of Idaho. I have seen how beautiful and central our heavenly fathers plan of happiness is. I have seen people fight to change and turn their hearts to the Savior and our Heavenly Father. I have witnessed the painful consequences of sin in the lives of his children but the healing ointment of the atonement as they have turned to them. I know that the lord qualifies the called.. I know that this is the Lord's work and that he is mindful of his children that he will provide a way for them all to hear the gospel and make the changes necessary in their life to come back to him. I know that the lord loves his children. I testify the Lord is real that we have a savior who knows and understand the trials of this life. I testify that he is there to bear us up and that we can be yoked with him. I know that there is happiness to be had in this life and in the life to come and we can find the path to follow by living the gospel of Jesus Christ :) 

Have a great week everyone!

All My Love,

Sister Cleveland

Pics:

1. The Crew a Year In

2. 1 year ago the MTC

3. Me and Sister Hickmott

Transfer Week

Hey Everyone :)

It transfer week and I will be in my area for another 6 weeks. I'm excited for the changes and miracles that will happen this transfer. I did get a new companion Sister Hickmott and I'm excited to serve with her. We both became trainers together we were the only sisters training at the time so we talked often swapping ideas so it will be cool to be companions. It's already September and that's super hard to believe where is the year going? With the transfer brings familiar faces and the trio is going to be in Nampa together for the next six weeks. I'm so excited to have my MTC sisters back with me especially as we hit our year mark :) It's going to be a great transfer.

This week we've focused on teaching when we find, and find when we teach. We have so many potential investigators and the struggle in most of my areas is getting them from the potential bracket to the investigator bracket. So  many of our potentials that we've found tracting, they know what we do is important and think its great just not for them. But they feel enticed by the spirit and they want to know what it is but the change I think is what scares people we work with the most. The commitment, the change they know they are going to have to change everything. One person we tracted named Eric we asked him "If you found  out the Book of Mormon is true what would that mean?" He said "It would change everything" and it does and that the parts that scares people. But, I'm hoping this transfer to really push these potential and investigators (with the spirit of course!) to see why the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is for them and help build their confidence that they can do it.

We had some fun exchanges this week and I was in Marsing with Sister Bertalino we were in the labor camps contacting and these 3 little girls followed us around the whole time and wanted to sit in on the lessons we taught people. They gave hugs, chased down the ice cream man for us, took silly pictures and videos on our cameras. It was one of those tender moments. As we were out there we realized that at some point in there lives they will have the gospel introduced to them again and there will remain the message we shared and the spirit they felt. They will recognize those black name tags and they will be ready. Another fun thing we did in Marsing was playing one on one in my skirt with no shoes against this two boys they took turns against me and boy has is been a while.. I still won.. But it was fun the people from the labor camps looked out the window and we were able to share a message with them about prayer.

When we switched back from exchanges Sister Olson wanted to show me a "video" someone showed her on Mormon Channel. So the members we live with pulled it up and  I looked and low and behold our picture is on Mormon Channel Facebook it was crazy people in our wards were texting us.. they kept telling us we were famous.. it was pretty cool to see that especially for Sister Hansen who took the picture she was in shock. We love her and are happy she got to see her work on Mormon Channel.

Anway its been a good week looking forward to a new transfer, new companion new adventures, and lots of miracles. Have a great week everyone :)

Sister Cleveland