Author: Treska Claussen (Page 7 of 7)

Why hello everyone!!!

I made it to Georgia!! The beginning of last week on Monday, it was kinda just a non pday kind of a day because we literally had nothing planned except for packing. Elder Messerly, Sister Stucki, Sister Woodall, and I all went on an art tour through building T4 because all of the art work was actually beautiful. There were so many original huge wall sized murals that would show different stories, and it was just so cool! 

Tuesday, we woke up bright and early at 4:50am so we could check out of the MTC and ride the bus to the train station and then ride up to Salt Lake to get to the airport. We made it to the airport and Elder Messerly and I both got Café Rio because we both like it and there are none of them in Georgia!! Not even Costa vidas here. So we ate food, and then got to see all of the other (17?) missionaries that were going with us on the flight. We ended up being able to have a nice talk with this very nice lady who lives just outside of Atlanta, and it made me so excited because one, I was having a nice talk with a stranger, and two, They were from Georgia!! 

We made it on the airplane, and I got a window seat! (Prayers are answered!!) we were getting ready to leave and getting all settled in, but we weren’t moving! We got an announcement from the pilot saying that one of the latches to one of the doors had been broken, and they would have to fix it by taking the door off and putting a new one on. That was comforting haha! We waited for a solid hour just sitting on the airplane waiting for them to get it fixed. 

We finally get the latch fixed and we were off! It was a pretty smooth flight, a little bit of shakiness on the take off, but other than that it was good. I will have to give a nice shoutout to the pilot though because the landing was probably the smoothest landing I’ve ever had! Usually there’s like a bump when you land, but it was actually so smooth, so ???!! 

As soon as we got off the airplane, there was this really nice gentleman that helped us get to the baggage claim area because THE ATLANTA AIRPORT IS HUUGE!! I was very grateful to have him help us! At the baggage claim area, there were our mission APs there waiting for us and also Sister Needs (Mission Presidents Wife) was there too! We got our bags, then loaded into a Mission van and we went on our way to Peachtree Georgia, and landed in a church building that is supposedly close to the mission homes. There we had a missionary orientation and lots of information was given, that I listened to very intently, but as of right now, I could maybe tell you only half of what I remember ??. But it was really cool and the food was really good! (Especially compared to MTC food, because that Stuff DESTROYED my stomach!! Sorry Elder Messerly!!!)

Anywhere, we ate food and then went to a hotel and spent the night there.

The next day, we went back to the church building in peach tree, and as if we didn’t get too much information the night before, we got about triple the amount of information for day two! ?

But then, it was finally time for the transfer meeting!! So we went to that and then I got to meet my new Trainer Companion! His name is Elder Harmon, and he is super nice! Throughout the rest of this week, I’ve been able to learn so much and it has just been fantastic to work with him!! 

We were assigned to be in the Americus area, which is kind of middle of Georgia? It is a huge area, but there are a lot of farms and lots of trees (especially compared to Utah, there are sooo many trees lol). The span of the area is about 2-3 hours? But there is only one Church building, and it’s not even a normal church building! It’s like a branch building? It has one big room, and two classrooms, a small kitchen, and a small library. That’s about it haha. 

We got to go to church yesterday, and the branch seems to be really sweet. Im not going to lie when I say that it is probably the least amount of people that I’ve ever seen for sacrament meeting in my life! (15-20 people?) With that said though, I could feel the spirit super strong, and every single person that was there has a solid testimony centered on Jesus Christ. 🙂

I forgot to mention that on Thursday night we got to go to dinner at the Pearce’s (sorry if I spelled that wrong) house, and had some amazing homemade Mac and cheese, chicken, and something that I didn’t know, but it had chicken and noodles, and it was very delicious. So thank you to them! 

And then on Sunday for lunch, we got to go to the Coopers house and had a very nice meal of “beef and potatoes” which was all suuper yummy ?!! For dessert we had gingerbread cheesecake, and oooo the whole meal was so good. 

No offense to the Elders that were here before us, but they kinda left the place in, I’m just going to say in gross condition, specifically in the kitchen. In the Fridge there was this moldy, ‘juicy’, smelly, gross fruit that smelled like awfulness, and it was left in the fridge. I don’t know how long it was there because all of the food in the fridge ended up soaking it in and tasting like the awful smell. So long story short, we cleaned it up and had to throw pretty much everything out because it was just bad. Buttttt now we have gone to the store, so we have food again! ? I have never been so excited to clean though! ?

But back to Americus, all of the people that I’ve met so far have been really nice! There is definitely a lot of work to do here, but it will be good! 🙂 I hope that Elder Harmon and I will be able to do good work and help people come closer to Jesus Christ :).

My scripture that I’d like to share this week is the whole chapter of Luke 2. As many of you know, it’s Christmas Season, and what better scripture to share than the first Christmas story! I know that Jesus Christ is the reason we have Christmas, and I know that it is the most important to remember him in these times of holidays! We should remember the spirit of giving, and so I’d like to challenge everyone to think of something that you can gift to someone and then do it! The first person that comes to mind ;). (And the second, and the third, and so on…;)

I love you all, and hope you guys are well and staying safe! I’ll write next week ?

-Elder Claussen

P.S. I don’t think any marching band people from Arizona are ever going to read this, but if you do, the title of this email is for you 😉

Hi family! 

There are officially only 3 more days until I leave for Georgia!!! I am both excited and scared. I have actually loved this week here at the MTC and have learned so much! I feel like I have definitely learned a Lot about the Charity of Christ and have actually grown to love my district and the couple of people we have taught so much! It’s definitely going to be hard to leave them, but it’ll be worth it!

This week, there was a helping others appointment (teaching appointment) where we were able to teach someone named rob, and well fun story about one of the people that we got to teach. To start, there was this investigator that Sister Stucki and Sister Woodall taught, where there was someone that they really wanted us to teach, because he was fun/good/hard to teach? All of my district thought that it would be a good idea to go ahead and teach him because we could help him come closer to christ. We made a goal as a district to help him, and long story short, we all scheduled appointments with him on Friday, where we booked his entire day. We officially met Rob at dinner one night, and then Elder Messerly and I saw him on our way to a different one of our appointments. We stopped to talk for a minute, and well, it turns out Rob made a bet with some of the other investigators to try to get missionaries do silly or wierd things for them. Namely, he wanted to get missionaries to sing to him. We talked to our district, and they all hopped on board and had a nice Devotional with him and sang and filled his schedule. Whether or not he was a member, I hope that he could feel District 14-D’s love for him :).

My scripture for this week is going to be Alma 32:21

“And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

I know that if you have faith, even when it is hard, then you will be able to accomplish literally anything. I know if that I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it hadn’t been for faith. My faith has grown so much in the last few weeks, and I absolutely love it!!

I love you all, and hope you are having a good week! Elder Claussen

Attached is the December 2021 Elder Claussen Newsletter update!

Hi Family and Friends!

The update is that I am at the MTC in person!! I got here on Wednesday, and have been loving every second of it! I think that I have learned so much, and learned a lot of really good teaching skills that will definitely help me out in the field. I think that it is crazy the amazing spirit that can be felt here at the MTC! I am also so happy that I have finally been able to see my wonderful district that I had only been able to see via zoom. We already truly are a big family. That is actually one of our goals as a district, is to help each other out and be as a family.

To explain the title of this email, Last night, there was a really good devotional where Bishop Caussé came and bore his testimony on various things, and then played his testimony on the piano. There was one of his friends, and he actually arranged a two piano duet, and it was a wonderful christmas devotional! I could really feel the spirit, and it is just amazing the spirit that can be felt through music!

Today we got to go to the temple, and that was fantastic, it was just the second time that I have been able to go, and I feel like for the second time, I understood a few more things than I did the first time ;). It was really cool, because I had never gone to the provo temple before, and it is the last birthday cake temple (not for long though! It’s getting remodeled!). I do know the blessings that do come from going to the temple though!  

After our trip to the temple, we had to do laundry! We quickly realized that we definitely did not have any laundry detergent. This was troubling because the book/supply store is actually not open on Saturdays!! We found some elders that also appeared to be going to the laundry place who had detergent. We asked where they got it, and they showed us a ‘secret’ store place where we could get some for ourselves. Might seem like a small thing, which it kind of was, but it actually really made my night, because then we could clean our clothes with more than just water! We could have detergent! haha!

My scripture for this week is going to be 1 Nephi 4:14, because I know that as we all keep the commandments, we will all be able to prosper in the land ;). I feel like the MTC this week has really been a ‘land of promise,’ which might sound cheesy, but it is true! I have been able to feel the spirit, and have learned a LOT about the character of Christ. We should all strive to turn outward when everyone else turns inward. If we are able to do this, we will be blessed, and prosper. We will feel the spirit, and we will definitely come closer to Christ :)))) I would like to invite everyone to try and think of others, especially as we come closer to this time of Christmas!!

I love you all,

Elder Claussen