email from February 13, 2023
Hey Everyone!
Sorry for not writing last week! It was the end of the transfer, and the whole district except for me got whitewashed, so it was a very busy Monday last week! Needless to say, I am staying in Dublin for at least another 6 weeks, but I got a new companion and his name is Elder Boone. He is from Fresno, California which I have learned is the middle of the middle of California haha. I’m probably only going to write what’s happened this last week, but without further ado let’s get into it!
Last Monday, we had a district P-Day where we hung out at the church and played Settlers of Catan. There were too many of us, so Elder Laver and I were on a team. If we had more time I think that we would have won, but as we couldn’t finish the game, Elder Gerlach ended up having the most points when we had to stop, so the victory went to him.
Tuesday, we were able to do a lot of visits and had a bunch of goodbyes for Elder Law. We had to say up super late because Elder Law had to finish packing lol.
Wednesday was transfer day and so we woke up extra early and made the two hour trek to Peachtree city for the transfer meeting. We had to get there early because we had to switch out our car because ours didn’t have blind spot lights on the mirrors. (Now, instead of a white equinox, we have a charcoal black one and I think it looks nicer!). It was a good meeting and Elder Boone and I had a good trek all the way back to Dublin.
Thursday, we had a good weekly planning and started the task of catching up on phone calls. We were able to do some service by raking up a bunch of leaves for a lady that apparently is a member, so that was cool. We are just raking leaves for her and she drops the bomb that she has already been baptized into the church ?. The Lord works in mysterious ways for sure, bringing people to us that are apparently already members hahaha.
Friday, we were able to continue to catch up on calls, and that was a beautiful thing, because we were just about done with them by the end of the day!! Elder Boone is the district leader, so we had a district leader meeting, and so that was fun to listen to and be in. I think I’ve said it before, but I am excited for the direction that the mission is going :).
Saturday, we caught up 100% on phone calls, so we were actually able to go out and about again! We were able to reconnect with one of our friends that kind of disappeared because their phone shut off. They still seemed super excited to learn more, but they do still need to make some changes in their life if they want to continue to progress towards baptism. We were able to visit this super cool guy in a nursing home who made a prayer request, and he was super nice! I was just glad that the care facility let us in, because last time this happened, they wouldn’t let us in because of “Covid-19,” but they did let us in and we had a good discussion! Later in the day, we made it all the way up to Wrightsville, which I had never been to, so it was cool to be able to visit some new places in the area that I’ve never been to. The entire day Saturday, it was pouring rain too!! If you looked at the radar map on the weather app, there was a massive storm that covered the entire state of Georgia, and let me tell you, it POURED haha.
Sunday, we had a good time at church. Then we were invited to have lunch at Sister Smith’s house, and that was super yummy, and then we went and had good studies. We had dinner at the Hayes house all the way in Montrose (which is about a 20-30 min drive north), so that was also super sweet! Before dinner, we went knocking at an apartment complex and we were able to find a new lady who seems super interested in meeting with us! The door approach was that we help people progress towards baptism, and she said that she was baptized, but didn’t know what it really meant, so we told her we would help her to learn what it really means, and she was super down to talk. That was exciting! We have another lesson with her on Saturday, so we are hoping that goes well!
That leaves us to today, where we were able to clean up the apartment a bit and then go to the Danner’s house to help them put some boxes in their attic and have lunch. For lunch, we had some “F1?” Burgers (Super, super, super, super, super, fancy and tasty burgers…. like the best burger meat I’ve ever had before)…the Danner’s are super awesome though!! I think that we are going to go up to Gray later today so that we can stay the night and see their mansion that they live in and be closer for district council, which is tomorrow.
For a spiritual thought, I have really been focusing on how Jesus Christ is involved in every aspect of our lives. Even when it sucks, and life is beating you down, you can always turn to the Savior, because he knows exactly how to help! One goal that I have this transfer is to really try to help everyone we meet turn to the Savior. Something that was mentioned in the district leader meeting was to avoid bringing up other people as good examples, even if they are good examples because the Savior is the perfect example and we should be turning everyone to Him. This really stood out to me because it is so true! How often do we find ourselves comparing ourselves to other people and not thinking that we are enough. When the focus is on the Savior, we are able to receive His help and guidance in our lives. I say this in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen :).
Overall, t’was a legit week and I am super hyped for this next transfer!! I hope that everyone has also had a good week, it is my goal to respond to people this transfer, I have not had the chance to do that in a FATT minute ?, so sorry about that! We shall see how that goes this transfer though lol.
Love you all!
-Elder Claussen
