Email from August 1, 2022

Hi everyone!

Another week has already passed! I can’t believe it. Twas a good week overall!

Last Monday, we went over to Brother Farrar’s house and helped him clean out his Garage a bit. He took us out to lunch after and we helped and we went to the Classic Southern BBQ place, and oh my was it delicious! For my family, it reminded me of the Lost Texan BBQ place (no offence, but better ;)). In the afternoon, we had a good lesson with one of our friends, so that was super awesome.

Tuesday, we did not have district council, because that was moved to Wednesday. Because we had zone conference on Thursday, we started weekly planning, which not going to lie was a little anticlimactic because we finished planning just a couple days before, so it felt like we were just planning, with some more planning; but it was okay! We did have an in person lesson with one of our friends that evening though, so that was a huge step hopefully in the right direction! We had only had phone call lessons with this person before, because they are a girl, and we have to have another male with us for us to have a lesson in person, unless we meet somewhere in public. Needless to say, she didn’t seem too excited about us bringing someone from the ward, but we did get to meet at a public park, so that was awesome!

Wednesday, we had district council, and that was a good meeting. After district council, we made a bunch of contacts, and then went to some new members in the ward’s house to help them move in. (There seem to be a lot of people moving into the ward haha). They seem like a super nice family. They moved from Utah to here because of work, and we are excited to meet them more. Later that night, we did do some in-persons and found someone who we have been trying to find for a few months now! Turns out, her ‘front door’ was behind the house because she lives in the basement; so we Finally got in contact with the upstairs owners, so right as they were closing the door again, we were like, “Do you know our friend?” and they stopped and were like, they are around back. So that was a nice #tendermercies :). 

Thursday, we had Zone Conference and that was a great meeting! We had some really good trainings by our Zone Leaders, STLs (Sister Training Leaders), APs (Assistant to Pres), SMS (social media specialists), and Mission President! It truly was an inspired meeting. Every time we have a zone conference, I always think that it is the best one I’ve been to, but they just keep getting better and better :). That night, we had dinner with the Barnes, and they were super funny! In order for me to get a cookie, I had to do a magic trick haha! We tried to have a lesson with ‘John’ (from last week), but it didn’t end up happening.

Friday, we did get to have a lesson with that lady we found in the basement, and I will have to say that it was a super awesome lesson! Right after that, we went to this guy’s house who talked to us through his doorbell saying he was still on vacation. I always laugh when people do that, especially when you can hear their dogs barking inside and through the ring camara ?. But we did get to have a lesson with ‘John,’ and we taught the Plan of Salvation. At first, he thought we meant we believed in reincarnation, but after we explained that we don’t, but believe in resurrection, he seemed to really like the Plan of Salvation a lot! 

Saturday morning, we did service! From 8:00-10:30, we helped some members spread mulch from this Giant pile of mulch from some trees they had to chop down. I was on shovel duty to shovel all of the mulch into the wheelbarrows so they could take down the hill. I definitely got a nice arm and shoulder work-out there haha! Then, we went to another member’s house and mowed their lawn and trimmed their shrubs. I was on shrub trimming duty, and as I was reaching in the bush to grab a dead branch, I must have hit an ant nest because all of the sudden I had ants all over my arm! I blew them all off and was okay, but I thought I’d share that in my email :). After service, we went back to the apartment to shower and then had a good lesson with one of our friends who we’ve been teaching for a while. It was a shorter lesson than normal, but we got to apply some of the things that we learned in zone conference by being bold in extending invitations, so hopefully they keep the invitation we gave them! After that lesson, we went to ‘John’s house again, and talked a lot about baptism. They said they want to get baptized, but first, they need to go on this really long hike to get away from all of the bad stuff in his life. I don’t give that explanation justice, because it definitely might sound like he is running away, but the spirit was super strong, so I know that when he comes back, he is going to get baptized. 

‘John’ did leave on his trip Sunday morning, so sadly, we probably won’t be able to talk much. He said he wants to stay in touch, so we will try to call him for sure! Sacrament meeting was super good. There were some really good talks, and I felt the spirit :). The rest of the day, as Sunday’s go, we had reports and so that was good. We went to the Owen family’s house for dinner, and it was a super awesome dinner :). 

That leads us to today, where I’ve done some laundry, swept the floor, cleaned the bathroom, and did the dishes. I’m not really sure what else is going to happen today, but I guess we shall see. lol.

For a spiritual thought today, I wanted to talk about King Benjamin’s address and specifically at the end of it in Mosiah 4. When I was reading these verses, it really stood out to me:

“11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.”

I really loved this because it is so jam packed with things that I could talk about; but the thing that I want to focus on is the aspect of humility. In today’s world, it can be so hard to be humble. Everyone wants to be right, and everyone wants to come out on top. I love these verses, because it reminds us that as we stay humble, then as verse 12 teaches, we will “be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins.” That’s what really matters in the end haha. There is so much drama and craziness all around us in the world, but as we turn to Jesus Christ, follow His prophet, keep His commandments, we’ll have that love and Joy in our lives. I love how simple, yet deep you can explain the gospel :). 

I love you all, and I hope all is going well!!

-Elder Claussen

P.S. The title of the email is because the sisters said they have a game called Secret Hitler, and I am hopefully going to win? But we also preached the gospel this week. *shoutout to Schuyler for coming up with it haha*