Elder Tanner Clement, 11-18-2013

Thanks for the birthday presents! I had a great birthday down here!

Things are going well with Elder Alvarez. He is a good guy and we have taught pretty well together so far. Every six weeks they have the changes but quite often missionaries stay with the same companion for more than one change. On P days we have been bowling mostly and just cleaning. This morning we went with a few members and played basketball which was pretty fun. 

It sounds like everyone is doing well. Thanks for the package, even if it didn't have the Elder Wand inside :) I attached a photo of what was included. I think I got everything because the package was full and all of the presents were wrapped. Thanks for the hair cutter especially! :) We'll see if I can walk around with some crazy hair before I get good... 

Well, we had a pretty good week and we found a lot of new people to teach. 

On Thursday we had a special experience, the first time dedicating a house. A sister in the ward called the bishop and asked him if we could go over and dedicate her house for her. She explained to us that she has been living in that house for many, many years and that she has always felt safe there but for some reason about two weeks ago she felt uncomfortable and a bit fearful as she was trying to go to bed. We had a good talk with her and we explained that dedicating the house is good but the family also needed to make it a holy place. She lives with two of her grandchildren in the house and she has told us that her grandsons play a lot of video games and watch a lot of movies that maybe aren't so good. We told her that it would be good to make sure that they are doing their best to keep the spirit present by keeping those bad things away. We said the prayer and it went very well. The sister's adult daughter was also their with her non-member boyfriend which was cool. We also talked with the sister about her son who has really fallen away from the church. She is so concerned for him. We can't give much counsel as missionaries on these things but we can tell her what we know. And we do know that like Alma and his rebelling son, the Lord hears the prayers of a crying parent. The Lord blesses those who strive and struggle for the benefit of others. Although it is up to the person to choose in the end, I know that by diligent prayer and fasting miracles can be wrought in the lives of those we love. She felt that we didn't just come to give the dedicatory prayer but also to cheer her up and to help her move forward concerning her son. 

On Friday we were in a section of the city that is far from our house and we just could not find anyone. There are like ten people that we could have visited but not-a-one-of-um could talk. We felt like we should search out a reference that we had received earlier that week. Unfortunately, the reference wasn't very close to where we were either (we were going to eat lunch with a sister in that area so we were trying to find people close as we were going to eat in about an hour and a half) but we took a bus out to the further-away-area to find them. We found the house without any trouble and although it appeared as if no one was home, we knocked. A little boy came to the window and then he went and got his mom. She is a less active member that wants to return to the gospel and her husband (who was at work) is a nonmember. We had a great discussion on our Father in Heaven and that we are Children of God. She really enjoyed it and expressed her joy in feeling the spirit again. She said she would love to attend church this week but for some reason she wasn't there. We are going to meet with them again this week. 

Oh, and after lunch that day we got to see a bit of the good'ol American Football again (oh how I will miss the Turkey Bowl this year. Maybe I'll organize our own down here in Los Mochis). We watched the game of a young man in the ward for about 30 minutes then we headed to our next appointment with the Quesney family (the mom is the only member and her daughters and husband aren't members quite yet). 

We had a great lesson with the Quesney family (we met with them three times last week. One, so Elder Alvarez could get to know them. Two, so the Bishop could get to know them. And three, this day). We showed them the 20 minute Restoration video from the church. It was very powerful and the spirit was really strong. We bore our testimonies that it is true and that the brother could know it too if he would do the same thing as us, read, ponder,and pray. He has seen many, many missionaries in the past and he has turned a lot of them down because he felt like they skipped to the subject of baptism too quickly. We must still try to listen to the spirit to extend the invitation. He definitely felt something during this video and he knows what he needs to do. He is the only thing that can stop him. We are going to follow up with him this next week. 

We also had a great Sunday and we were able to teach an active/less-active family. We ate with them, the Valenzuela Albestrain family and they bought me a cake for my birthday which was really good! :P We were going to share the first discussion with them to review the basic and important beliefs that we have and it transformed into the lesson they needed, to keep the Sabbath Day holy by going to church. We gave a plethora of examples and analogies of why we even go to church, how it helps us, and how it strengthens our families. They were very content afterwards and said that they have a new desire to attend. 

Thanks for the birthday wishes and for all of the support. I feel very blessed our here in Mexico to have the family and friends that I have. And I know that because I have been given much, I too, must give. I want to give the work all of my heart, might, mind, and strength out here amongst the Lamanites and I know that I will go where he wants me to go as I do such. 

I know that I am very blessed to have all that I have and I can't wait to join you all in two years, but I am loving the "crowning point of my life" here in Mexico while I have it. I love you all. 

Elder Tanner Clement

November 11, 2013
Happy Birthday April and Kellie!

(My companion Elder Buttcane says happy birthday too!) It´s great to hear from you all. Thank you for all the pictures.

I´ll just start off with what´s been going on this week.

Last preparation day we went to Xátiva (pronounced CHAT-eeva), a small pueblo built around a castle on a mountain. It's about an hour train ride from Valencia. The castle there is still very intact, and it was very fun to explore.

We´ve been meeting with Alejandro, our recent convert. He is such a spiritual giant. He finished the Book of Mormon this week (he was baptized only a few weeks ago). This week he was called to be a Ward Missionary. He is so excited because he wants to serve a full-time mission next year.

Alejandro´s mother has never wanted anything to do with the church, but after she attended her son´s baptism and has seen the change in his life (he´s always telling her about the things he´s learning), she is now interested as well. She is reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with us.

We´ve been passing by a menos activo that has cancer (that´s why he can´t come to church). We gifted him a big Book of Mormon (with bigger words) so that he can read it more easily. He loves it when we stop by, because most of the time he sits in his house with nothing to do.

This week the other elders in our piso had two baptisms. One of them was an investigator that I was teaching before we changed the area. It´s been so great to see the changes she´s made in her life to get to this point. It´s also encouraging to see how far the effects of our missionary work go, even if we think we´re not accomplishing anything (she was taught by missionaries 7 years ago, rejected the message, but contacted the missionaries again after seeing them in the street a few months ago.)

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a ward activity to go visit the less actives. We all met after church, split into groups, and went out to visit people that didn´t come to church. Elder Buttcane and I drove with some members to La Coma, a ghetto area that you don´t want to be in when the sun goes down. We visited a recent convert that´s been living with a member (both less active). Serendipitously, the recent convert had two friends over. We taught them all (with the 3 ward members that were with us), and we will be visiting with them all again next week. We´re going to start doing this rescuing activity frequently, probably every other week.

One thing that I´ve been focusing on this week is prayer. I´ve found that as I consistently say little prayers throughout the day and keep in contact with the Spirit, that I am much happier and that I´m able to recognize more of the many miracles that we encounter every day.

This week I´ve been reading in the end of Helaman. One scripture that I´ve thought about a lot is Helaman16:13-23. The signs of Christ´s birth start happening all over the land. You´d think that the people would be easily converted with all the signs and miracles, but according to the scriptures only the most faithful were strengthened by them. The rest, instead of coming closer to Christ, hardened their hearts. The same people that always said, "Show us a sign and we will believe", still rejected them. What I´ve learned is that a testimony of the Gospel comes not from signs and miracles, but through personal study and prayer.

I´m out of time now. Thank you for your prayers and support. I know that this is the Lord´s work. I´m am so very grateful for the opportunity I have to dedicate myself to that work.

I´ll be praying for you,

-Élder Sorensen

Elder Clement, 11-11-2013

Thank you all so much for your emails and your birthday wishes! It is great to hear that you guys are doing well! 

The blue rag from my pictures helps with the sweat down here. It is cooling off however. One Elder said it gets cold here in the winter, but he is from below the border so I'm not quite sure if he means 'cold' as in 'cold' or 'cold' as in 'you are not scrambling, frying, or sunny-side-uping in the sun but it is still pretty warm'. Probably the latter. 

Anyways, Elder Lamm and I had a great week! We had many spiritual lessons. 

We had the opportunity to go to a football game this last week of one of the young men in the ward. And I don't mean 'football' as in the world's meaning of football, I mean 'football' as in the good ol', hustle-tustle, American brewed Football. They actually have a little league of Tackle Football here. It was so cool! Although it isn't quite as crisp as Uncle Sam's, it was still really cool to watch some American Football. 

We also were able to baptize Humberto this last week! Humberto is 9 years old and his mom is a recent convert and his dad has been inactive for at least five years (according to his sister who is a great member in the ward). He has been wanting to get baptized for a long time "so [he] can return and live with God again" as he always said. It was so cool. The spirit was really strong in the meeting and I had the opportunity to baptize him. I felt such a powerful peace when we were in the font. The spirit was very sweet. Humberto was really happy after and I am so glad we were able to help him.

Their primary put on a very good program this last Sunday. The spirit was ringing throughout the room and the best part was that Gloria and her daughter Minerva came and felt it. They both really enjoyed it and Gloria was in tears. She had to leave to take care of her other kids at home but Minerva stayed for all of the classes and she had a really good time. Also, the dad of Humberto came to all three classes as well. He came to sacrament meeting two times before and then this last Sunday he came to all three hours and I think he enjoyed it. It was the first time in a while that the attendance has been above 100. 

I found out this last weekend that I will indeed be staying in Los Mochis for another exchange! I am really glad that I get to stay here. I love the people and we have many investigators that are getting close! I also found out that I my companion is Elder Alvarez. He arrived here in the mission field the same day as me (but you might be able to tell that he just might speak Spanish a little better than me because of his name). He is 24 years old and is excited to be here in the mission. My first companion that isn't going to leave! Woohoo!!! :) (although I gotta say I'm gonna miss all of the desserts from the members) I also found out that I would have the opportunity to be the District Leader. I am very excited to be in the same district. There are some great, hard-working missionaries here and I am excited to see what we can do. (Fun Fact: I have yet to be in a companionship where someone isn't the district leader. In the MTC, Elder Atkinson, then me, then Elder Richards in the field, then Elder Lamm, then this change it will happen again. Kinda funny :) 

I had a very simple, tender mercy from the Lord this past week as well. As I was a bit stressed and we were settling down getting ready for bed we were listening to music. A song from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir came on: He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. I like this song and as I looked down at my journal that has little scriptures at the bottom of every page I read something like "...Ye are in the Lord's hands..." and I just sat there in gratitude for this knowledge. We are in His hands. It is ok. I know that I am a child of God and that he will bare me up as I do His will and keep His commandments. Are you in good hands? It never was easy to follow Christ and it never will be, but the happiness is always worth it. 

I love you all very much and thank you so much for all the support you give me. I truly feel very well supported from home, and that is something that a lot of missionaries can't say. Thank you so much. I pray for you guys every day and I hope you are well at home. 

Elder Tanner Clement

Elder Jansen Hall - November 11, 2013

Hey Yall!

So this week has been a busy one! We have had Stake Conference, a Zone Training, Exchanges with the T-Town Elders, and much more. The weather here is still weird. Some days its freezin cold and others it gets back hott again. Haha other than that nothin really new around here. Its just a fun lovin college town! haha

We will start off with the beginning of the week. We were able to have a zone training, and I was able to train on using scriptures while we teach. I use an example, with a quarter. Now hopefully yall havent seen the Alabama quarter, but on it is Helen Keller sittin down in a chair readin a book.... There are flowers next to her as well. Do any of yall believe me? If you say no then I would suggest lookin it up on the internet or findin one.... Or just read the next sentence. If you say yes i do believe you then your correct! haha yes that is what is on the back of an Alabama quater. And I realated that to how sometimes people dont believe what we say, but if we can back it up with evidence, aka the scriptures, then our words are more powerful! I know that if we use scriptures, it will bring the spirit and the spirit can convert!

Next is a story of us tractin. We have tracted so much! Haha and its because thats kinda the last option we have right now. But as we were tractin, I saw a boy outside and he was just throwin the football to himself. Well I thought about back home when I had no one to throw the football with me so I walked up to him and said, Hey! and then motioned for him to throw me the ball. Well we ended up stayin there with him for an hour or hour and a half. We passed the ball, talked about mormons in the NFL and gave him a BOM. We went over the next day and his parents said they werent interested, but thats not the point. He now has a good memory of mormons that when he gets older and sees missionaries he will be able to remember the time we had.

Here are some pics of a less active mans house. Oh and this actually was a really good story as well that I didnt get to share. But we went out with the Elders Quorm president to help him find a less active man named Russell. He was on his home teachin list. Well we found him, but if it was just missionaries goin we would have never gotten in. Since we had a normal human being with us we could get in talk with and get to know him. Yall can do so much for this missionaries:)

Like I said before we have done a ton of tractin. Which isnt to bad. We are workin really hard with the members right now as well. We are gonna start a scripture study class like we did in my last area. We are gonna do a fun live mormon.org activity with the members, where we go around and take pics of the family and some of there hobbies, then record them for 30 sec- a mintue and put it all together and have a party at the chruch and show it to them. We are also doin the member missionary work course that the stake started. We will probably start that next week or the week after. So things here are definatly growin. Right now we still dont have any investigators, but thatll change. All that matters is what your doin. If your puttin in the effort and showin the Lord that you want to do missionary work. That is when He can then come in and bless you in so many ways!

Some more things he has hunted.  But this man is a hunting guide for all over the world! He goes to 9 different countries. pretty cool:) Especially the girraffe:)

The last thing I wanna mention is our stake conference. It was so good! We were able to go to the adult session and the sunday session. It was all on missionary work. Just a couple quotes from it. Predient Hanks said that "Now is the time!" A quote from president Hinkley is " The most Potent Missionary tool is a member of the church." We need to have the spirit with us then show love and friendship towards others. We need to get out of our comfort zone, out of the 99 sheep, and go look for the one lost sheep, the one person that needs our help. As we diligently do this we will find people, we will have missionary moments, we will be happy!

I know each and every one of us can contribute to the missionary work in some way. Just keep prayin and lookin and yall will find! Yall have been such good examples to me in my life. Just remember "By small and simple things, great things are brought to past." Just a smile, a wave, a hello, just throwin the football with someone, makin cookies, writin a note, anything like that is missionary work! I hope yall have a great week and stay busy in the most imortant work on earth! Last quote by Elder Bednar, "This is the greatest time in the history of the church!" Heavenly Father believes in all of us! We are here for a great cause! Remember to be happy:)

Love Elder Hall!

Me and Elder Jordan, from T-Town, were on exchanges and biked past the stadium and they were settin up college game day! We stopped for a sec to take some pics:)

Latest from Elder Clement, 11-04-2013

We had a really great week here in Los Mochis! Wow, there is a lot of work here! 

Unfortunately we didn't have Halloween down here, but we did have the Day of the Dead, which isn't quite as fun. 

We have had a ton of lessons with our investigators this week (most of them were with members which was great!)! Last Monday we went and made Elder Lamm's special stuffed French Toast for Gloria and her family. They enjoyed it and after we were able to teach them a bit about the restoration. We showed them the twenty minute video of the restoration. It was really great and the spirit was strong. We talked a bit after about how they felt and what they thought. Gloria told us that she feels really good about just about everything but she still has one big doubt and that is the day of the Sabboth (they believe it should be on Saturday). They are Adventists and they have several beliefs quite similar to ours but they lack the three most important things (The Book of Mormon, a Prophet, and the Priesthood). We explained to her why we believe that the Sabboth day is Sunday but she was still unsure, so I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon to her. Every church has their own interpretations of the scriptures (that is why there are so many churches) which is why we need The Book of Mormon and a prophet. I told her that honestly I don't know all of the doctrine concerning the Sabboth Day, but that I do know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that we have a living prophet today. We promised her that if she would read, ponder, and pray she could have the same answer. 

We found an inactive family this last week and we found out that one of their sons, Lider, had not been baptized. We had a good lesson about the Book of Mormon with him and his girlfriend, Perla. They seem interested and we hope to continue with them. 

We had a great Fast Sunday this last week. Elder Lamm shared his testimony first because it was his last chance to speak before going home. It was really good. I shared my testimony after him about the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that as we read it we will grow closer to our Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can imagine. Gloria and her daughter came as well and although the meeting went a little long, it was fantastic for them. There were some very powerful testimonies borne about the truthfulness of this gospel. It was like they were being hit by wave after wave of the spirit. At the end of the meeting I had the honor of confirming Victor as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in receiving the Holy Ghost. The spirit was very strong and I am so grateful to have been a part of it. It was a very powerful meeting. 

Speaking of waves (a few sentences ago), today we got permission to go to Topolobampo (a city by the beach) so we had some fun in the sun in our shirts and ties! Woo! :)

Thanks for your emails! I love you guys so much and I pray for you all every day and hope you are having a good time at home. I am so grateful for all of the love and support you give to me. 

Thank you, 

Elder Tanner Clement

Elder Jansen Hall - November 4, 2013

Hey Yall!

This week has been a super fast week! Its been full of many different experiences. The weather is chilly now in the mornin and night, and not to hot durin the day. But im lovin this weather! haha everyone says they are freezin and I just tell them, Yall dont even know haha. But this week Alabama had a bye so everyone was home and not doin to much haha. Football down here really is a religion. For stake conference next week, they planned the whole thing around the game. It gets pretty crazy!

We all got our faces painted at the Trunk or Treat!

But the beggining of this week started out with exchanges. Its weird cuz ive never had to do exchanges with anyone in my district cuz all its been is sisters. Now we have a couple elders so we have to do that. But I was here in North Port with Elder McKinnon and Elder Bean went down just south of us. Well Ive been tryin to think of how I could improve the area and make things effective. We have a map, but it wasnt that good. So we updated the map with pins where people lived, what there names were, there address and if they were active or less active. That took forever but itll help a ton with seein where people are!

On Wednesday we had district meetin and I have come up with 10 steps on how to improve yourself, out of my favorite chapter in preach my gospel, Chap 7.. Learn the language. haha there are so many good things in that chapt. I will have to tell yall the 10 steps next week cuz i forgot to bring preach my gospel with me today haha. But with our district we came up with another culture. And with everyones ideas, i came up with another acronym.

Happy

One baptism

Work

Fearless Faithful Family

Unified

No one left behind

We want to be happy and work hard. We want to be unified and be a fearless faithful family. We dont want to leave anyone behind, wether that be investiagtors, LA, Members, or other missionaries, and we want to find the "ONE" and baptize. Our district is so amazin! I have done so many baptismal interviews. This transfers we have had 6 or 7 baptisms. Everyone is just so happy and focused on the work. We know How to have Fun, or thats How we have Fun haha:)

We had a branch Trunk or Treat. That went really well. nd on Halloween we had nothin to do. Well the sisters were gonna go to a party and said we could come to. Well I really didnt want that many misssionaries there so I said no thanks we will find somethin to do. Well my comp got a little mad. It was rainin we were on our bikes with nothin to do. He obviously wasnt gonna help me now. So I just thought about anything. Well the thought popped into my mind about callin this certian member and askin if we could come over. We called and he said yes. We went over and went trick or treatin with them. They drove around on with a trailor. We just acted like normal people, there were even some non members there. So if anything it was good to show them that missionaries arent wierd but normal people haha turned out to be a great night and a lot better then just sittin at home:) I love when Heavenly Father helps us out!

This is my face with my 1990's hair cut. Haha i went to a black barber and he messed up. Thats ok cuz people say i look like Joey from friends haaha:)

We have also tracted a ton. Now let me make one thing clear. I dont like tractin. I feel like there is always somethin better to do. But I have realized, when you have nothin to do, tractin is what you gotta do. So we have been doin it. Well the first week and a half we were doin the same old borin and mono tone approch of We are missionaries with a message for you. Or somethin close to that. Well I was thinkin of how we could make it fun and challenging. So I took out a Family Proclamation and the next door said, "Hi we are just goin around sharin a message about families and how to strengthen them. Would you like this paper that talks about it?" That way we at least give them something, then they can slam the door in our face haha:) But it works. We have now done it with those, alot of the pamphlets about the lessons in preach my gospel, and mormon.org cards. We have our number on them so they can call. Its the best rejection we will ever get!:) haha but that way it makes it fun for me and challenging tryin to pass out all the stuff! We are gonna go throw back with it and set goals on how many Books of Mormon, Book of Mormons we can pass out in a week! Thatll be fun!

But Last thing is we are gonna start a new member missionary work course. The stake president, Prez Johnson thought of it and we are pilotin it. We are gonna sit down with members and teach them the lessons and do things to get them excited about the work! So ill keep yall updated on that! And last is the CES fireside last night! It was incredible! We need to aline our will with Heavenly Fathers and make sure we have Righteous Actions with Pure Motives! I loved it.

Now one thing I want to invite yall to do. Go to lds.org and look up Hastening the Work. Go to the website and watch the 3 main videos! They are amazin! Its so pure revelation that we know have!! Its a great resource of member missionary work!

Well I hope that yall had a great Halloween! Ill tell yall ive already started listenin to Christmas music. Elder Mckinnon got me on it the day before Halloween so now im hooked haha but Hope yall have a great week! Remember to look for ways to serve love and be an example to the ONE! Thats all we need to look for is the one. Remember to be Happy this week! Love Yall!

Love Elder Hall:)

Elder Jansen Hall - October 29, 2013

Hey Yall!

So this letter might be shorter than usual. I wasnt able to email yesterday because we had a zone activity and it got done later than i expected. But anyways this week has been really good. We still dont have any good investigators but we are tryin our best to find them. We have been tracting, hunting down less actives, workin with members a little, and tryin new ideas. Its kinda been hard because we literally are starting from ground zero. But its been really fun, I have enjoyed every day of it! As the title says changes, we have done a ton. 

This is me eatin a pigs tail.:)

Not only are we tryin to change with gettin new investigators, but also changin to be more obedient, changin the cleanliness of our apt, which I have made a goal to do at each apt for the rest of my mission, and changin ourselves. On Sunday Pesident Hanks talked with both me and Elder Bean individually. He told me how proud he was of what I had done with Elder Bean. Im still not sure of what they talked about, but really all I have done is tried to improve in bein more obedient and workin harder than I ever have. As a result of doin that I guess I have helped Elder Bean become better as well. I think thats a good lesson that we can all learn. As we want to do missionary work and improve others, sometimes we need to start by improvin ourselves then that can make in influence on others.

On Saturday we went to the Alabama game. Now dont worry we didnt go in and watch any of it. Well actually to be honest with yall, I saw more of the games in my last area then I have here. Even bein right outside of the stadium! Haha kinda crazy! But we walked around the stadium and whats called the "Quad" the entire game. We had written our number and a name that someone could look up on Mormon.org cards, and were gonna pass them out. Well as we went and walked around, I wanted to see if I could find some good people to talk to and give a card to. Well that plan didnt really work cuz most people there were as drunk as a sunk. If sunks are ever drunk i guess haha. But we actually did get to talk to 2 different people for about an hour each and teach them some things. They were sellin stuff at the game, and we also got to see other members of the church that lived in different cities in Alabama. Well by the end of the game I had passed out maybe 5 cards of like 50 that I had. So what I ended up doin was when people would walk by I would say "Roll Tide!", and hold out my hand with the card. The Usual response was they would start off with a big Roll Tide, then kinda fade out with confusion of why my hand was out. I would put the card in there hand and walk away. Haha i passed out about 55 cards like that and Elder Bean was kinda shy so he passed out about 3. But none the less it was good use of our time:)

Now last thing I wanna say real quick is that Presdent Hanks came and did a fireside. He did an awesome job and there were also some other tesimonies given. Well one was a girl named Shelby Brown she said about the gospel and missionary work, "If its (the gospel) something that means so much to you, then share it!" Its so true. If its something that we love and means a lot to us, why wouldnt we want to share it? Pres Hanks talked about how to effectily share the gospel. He said that people arent as interested in the doctrine of the gospel as they are the resuts of the doctrine. How we can change, or look like mormons. Where we go after this life. things like that. So remember to be a friend and show people how to live the gospel!

I hope that yall have a great week! Keep bein happy and lovin others! Being an example is so important!

Love Elder Hall