Email from January 2, 2023

Hi everyone!!

What a week! It has been so busy, I couldn’t even update my Facebook status till 3 days after it happened ?. 

Last Monday, we delivered the rest of the cookies, and I was able to say goodbye to everyone because turns out I was getting transferred!!! We were able to go to Macon during the day though to play basketball, which was fun. 

Tuesday, I can’t even remember what we did lol. I know that we actually had a bunch of lessons, so that was cool! I finished up packing and it was a super busy day.

Wednesday, we wake up super early, go to someone shouse that we are teaching and I got to put a handprint on their wall. I guess that all of the Missionaries who have gone to their house for the last like 10 years have done it, so that was fun. Then we went to Macon to Pick up Elder Law because long story short, he needed to make it to transfer meeting. It just so turned out that we became companions haha ?. So now I am in Dublin Georgia, which is about an hour drive away from Warner Robins. 

Thursday, I got to know the area a little bit more and we had a good lesson with someone and we weekly planned. There are quite a few people in our areabook, so I am excited for the change of pace. The city itself seems to be a lot more mellow, so people are actually willing to talk, whether or not they are interested, so we shall see how this goes!

Friday, we had a few more lessons and I got to know the area a bit better. We made a crap ton of contacts, which is always such a good thing! The ward had a New Years Eve Eve party (Day before New Year’s Eve) and that was super fun! It was the first time that I was able to meet a lot of the ward members. 

Saturday, we had a few lessons and I continued to get to know the area ( I think you get the idea ?. 

Sunday, the ward asked me to give a talk, so I have a talk about new Beginnings with Christ at the center. I think that it turned out pretty good :). The ward is a lot smaller than most (I dare say), but it is indeed a ward and not a branch. We had a member meal at the Tippetts which was super yummy. It is cool because instead of this being a military area where everyone is from Utah, everyone from here is from here (they’ve never left) which means the food is very traditional, super yummy! (man, I am writing this way later in the evening and it shows haha. I think I’ve said the word yummy too many times in this paragraph lol)

But today, I found a Stylophone in our apartment, so that’s been fun to play with haha. I am grateful for the opportunity to not be whitewashing as well. It is weird having a companion that actually knows the area ?. 

But for a spiritual thought today, I wanted to share something I learned about new Beginnings. It is a new year, and that gives us a chance to start new years resolutions and become the best that we can be! As I was preparing, I realized that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is full of New Beginnings. Each time we repent and are able to take the Sacrament, we are essentially starting new and committing to the Lord that we are going to do better. I would like to invite everyone to set new year resolutions this year that will allow you to come closer to the Savior :). Be prayerful and the Lord will help you, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Love you all! Sorry this is so skatrerbrained!!

Elder Claussen

email from December 26, 2022

Hey Everyone!

I hope that everyone was able to have a Very Merry Christmas!! It has really been an amazing Christmas Season, and I am sad to see it go, but it is always good to spread the light of Jesus Christ all year round! 🙂

Last Monday, I can’t remember if I said what we did, but we were able to make Ginger Bread Houses and make a massive stuffed Santa Farias. That was pretty fun, and it turned out super funny! For the head, we got a bloon and taped a picture of our Mission president, so he was the Santa Clause ??.

Tuesday, we had District Council, and then we had so many lessons! It was a super busy day, so it pretty much flew by. 

Wednesday, we woke up a little bit earlier and got ready super early because we trekked all the way to Fayetteville for the missionary Christmas Devotional! That was super fun to be able to see all of the other missionaries and play games and eat good food. At the end of the devotional, we went to the chapel and some of the missionaries sang or played some really pretty music. As the closing Hymn, we sang Silent night and because my mission President is from Brazil, we sang the last verse in Portuguese. That was a super cool experience. 

Thursday, we had weekly planning. That was pretty much it lol. We did have a lesson with someone we were teaching, but they decided that they no longer wanted to meet with us. That is always sad, but it is okay because he will get another chance to accept the gospel at another time in his life. We had a good weekly planning session and got it all done!

Friday, we had exchanges. We had a good lesson in the morning, and then went to Macon and I stayed in Warner Robins and Elder Scoresby came with me. Elder Lettich and McCaulley stayed in the Macon area. We had an incredible exchange and had some super awesome lessons! Our friend who we put on date last week was having some hard core opposition, but we had a good lesson with him, and we are hoping that we were able to resolve some of his concerns. 

Saturday was Christmas Eve! We unexchanged at lunch and had Subway. Then we went to a birthday party for Jesus at someone that the previous Elders have taught house. We then were able to go to the Kimball’s and have deer chili, and it was super yummy. We were able to have a good time at their house and I always like going over to their house :). When we got home, we started making cookies, and we doubled this recipe that makes 96 cookies, so we had SOOOO many cookies!! By the end, we had like 5 or 6 gallon size zip lock bags that were just full of cookies!! 

Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and that was super awesome! We had a combined meeting with the first ward, so there were two wards that were meeting in one hour. The songs that were sung and the choir were very beautiful :). Then, because it was Christmas, I was able to call my family (two days in a row!), so that was super awesome!! In the evening, we got to go to the Harpers house, and they completely spoiled us too! We were able to play some games, and the food that was made was my favorite foods all in one dish :). We didn’t get to deliver our cookies yet, but we plan on doing that later today. And then Sunday night, I found out that I am leaving Warner Robins!! On Wednesday, I will find out where I am going to go. 

For a spiritual thought today, I wanted to share from Helaman chapter 14 which is Samuel the Lamanite prophesying of Jesus Christ’s Birth. In verse 3 it reads, “And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness” which I love because Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. Verse 8 then sums it up perfectly, “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.” I hope that everyone was able to focus on the Savior this Christmas season, because He is the reason for the Season :). I know that God Loves you; He sent His only begotten Son so that we could return to him someday! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Love you all! I’ll let you know where I end up next week 🙂

-Elder Claussen

email from December 19, 2022

Hey everyone!

Crazy busy week, so once again it just flew by!! It has been super cool though!! So much colder than I remember last year, thats for sure!!

Last Monday we had a super chill PDay. We have housing inspections, so we ended up doing a pretty deep clean of our apartment. We had a lesson with Danielle and Lauren before they left for a Christmas trip and that pretty much sums up Monday.

Tuesday, we had district council and interviews with our mission president! Those are always super good, so it was definitely a good boost to the week! We had a couple lessons in the evening and the rest of it was finding (we had quite a bit of finding time this week!!)

Wednesday, we got to go back to help at the food pantry again! Sadly we won’t be able to go back until 2023 because the next two weeks we have meetings on Wednesday, but it was nice to be able to go back and help them out. Instead of taking food out to cars, they had a huge donation, so we helped sort all of their cans. I was somewhat grateful because that means we were inside and it was cold outside, so that was a good thing! The rest of Wednesday was full of lessons and then English class to top off the night :).

Thursday, we had a really good weekly planning session! I’ve created a step by step document on how to effectively plan the week, and I have coined the term “pickle papers” so that is always fun to pull those out ?. Our lesson Thursday evening unfortunately canceled, but we had a good dinner at the Noel’s house :).

Friday was super busy with finding!! We had a breakfast with one of our friends who previously got taught at Waffle House, so that was good! Then we were able to find a bunch of cool people while knocking in this neighborhood we’ve never been to. We had a good dinner at the Beard’s house, and it was a successful day!

Saturday was very similar to Friday! We were able to see so many miracles that came from us being out and about! There were some really cool people that we were able to meet and have lessons with! We even put one of our friends on Date for baptism!! ? By the end of the day, we both smelled of cigarette smoke, but it was a solid day’s work!!

Sunday, we had a super good church services :). None of our friends (even the ones who said for sure that they would be there) were able to make it. That is always tough, but unfortunately, not a super uncommon occurrence. We were able to do some more door knocking and there was this guy who came out to talk to us and he is super cool! He shared his life story of how he found Jesus Christ, and then we explained what we do as missionaries and he said he wants to learn more!! We are super excited to meet with him again and see how he progresses :).

That leaves us to today, where we got together as a district this week! We have a Christmas devotional on Wednesday, and for that we have to create a centerpiece for our table. What our district decided to do is take a Santa suit and stuff it with pillows and towels, and then we put a balloon as the head ?. It is pretty hilarious, so even if it doesn’t win, it is definitely worth it!!

For a spiritual thought, I’m really not sure what to say today. This week, we have studied the life of both Joseph, Mary, and the Shepherds (and Baby Jesus of course), and it has been really cool to see all of their perspectives! If you were to put yourself in Mary’s shoes, you can imagine all of the sudden having a child and being told it is the Son of God. And then Joseph, to have the faith to trust Mary and still take care of her. They are super good examples of faith and diligence as they accepted their responsibilities and trusted in the Lord. Then after Jesus was Born, the Shepherds, who left their flocks and the deep Symbolism that is in Baby Jesus being in the Manger in Swaddling clothes. We learned this week that they did that with lambs who were without blemish and they were the ones who were going to get sacrificed. And for the Savior to make the ultimate sacrifice, I thought that was a cool thing to learn. I know this is getting a little long (I suppose I’ve had longer ?) but I hope that everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!! Next time I write, it will be after Christmas! I know that as you focus on the Savior this Christmas Season, you will be able to feel the true spirit of Christmas and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I love you all and again, hope that you have a Very Merry Christmas!!! -Elder Claussen 🙂

Hey Everyone!

It has been a super awesome week here in Georgia! The weather is getting a little bit colder this next week, so that is not my favorite thing in the world but I’m sure it’s going to be good!

Last Monday and today, we are pretty much chilled and are just chilling. We might do something as a district but idk yet.

Tuesday, we had District council and then we set up for the baptism for later in the day. Our friends Danielle and Lauren got baptized, and it was a super sweet experience! Anne, our friend who got baptized a couple weeks ago got asked to speak about the Holy Ghost and she did a really good job as well! It is cool to see how much our friends are growing as they learn and apply the gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives. 🙂

Wednesday, the food pantry was closed because it was the first week of the month. This next week we will be able to go again :). We pretty much spent the whole day finding, and we had some impromptu lessons and met some really cool people!

Thursday, we had weekly planning. Because it always takes so long, we have been trying to finish it faster, but it still takes forever ??. We did have a nice dinner at the Gublers afterwards, and we had some really good homade pizza!

Friday, was so busy with lessons! We were able to teach Caleb, a recent convert from before I got here. We were able to teach about the Temple and he seemed excited to be able to prepare to go do baptisms!! We also were able to do a service project where we broke some pallets with some thick wood and long nails. We got some crow bars and a hammer and it was loud, but fun haha. 

Saturday was the Ward Christmas party. Elder Lettich and I woke up at 6:00 so we (he) could make cinnamon rolls for the competition. Turns out they were the best ones because he won haha! We had quite a few friends make it to the party, so that was super cool to see them there! The rest of the day was you guessed it, finding time!! ?

Sunday, church was really good! Danielle and Lauren got confirmed and we had dinner at the Kimballs. That was super great! Sad part of the week though is that Sister Peña, one of the Sisters in my district got ET’d (emergency transferred), and she had to fill in their spot. So now our district of 6 people is now going to be 5 people for the rest of the transfer.

This week has pretty much flown by! I have had some really good studies about the roots of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to summarize even part of it. One thing I can say that it always amazes me how you can study and get such a deep spiritual and temporal understanding of the gospel; but it can all be boiled down into one word: Love. Love of our Father in heaven to give us his only Begotten son to provide a way to return to him again. We can show our love by keeping the commandments.

Another focus that I’ve tried to have this week was to follow the prophet in “taking charge of my own testimony” which got me thinking. As a missionary you have the opportunity to share your testimony a lot! Sometimes the things that I say are the same, but sometimes it’s different too. It has been really cool focusing on this, because I have been able to learn what I believe and know to be true. As our prophet has taught, “truth is truth,” as we build our testimonial foundation on Jesus Christ and ask God through prayer to help you learn truth, the spirit will be able to touch our hearts and bring us joy. One quote that I loved this past week from President Oaks is, “We gain or strengthen a testimony by bearing it. Someone even suggested that some testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them than on the knees praying for them.” As we bear our testimonies, the Holy Spirit testifies to us and the person we are talking with that what you are saying is true, which creates a spiritual experience that helps not only you but other people.

That was a little long winded and I apologize, but my invitation this week is to find opportunities to bear your testimony this week! This will help to #LightTheWorld and help you to strengthen your testimony. Best thing about testimonies is it doesn’t have to be something formal (it can be), but rather simple statements of belief like, “I know that I am a child of God.” :). It can definitely be scary, even for missionaries too! But I know that it has helped me strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ and has helped me to be more confident in what I know to be true. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen :).

Love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Claussen 🙂

P.S. Shout-out to Kenton for the awesome title! ?

Email from December 5, 2022

Hey all!

I hope that this week has been fantastic! We are getting to the Holiday season and I am excited! #LightTheWorld has officially started and I think this year instead of the calendar, they have a list of 50 things you can do each day to help lighten someone’s day! 🙂 It was low key a chill week, so it might be a shorter email today, but we’ll see!

Monday, we had a good PDay, and then had dinner at the Oldham. Our lesson canceled, so the Oldhams invited us to join them in their family home evening. That was fun because we were able to play a game with them.

Tuesday, we had ZLC and District Council so the day was pretty full of just meetings! We did get to squeeze two lessons in there, so I’d say the day was a success!

Wednesday, we had Zone Conference, so that took most of the day as well, but after those two days, it was definitely a spiritual high! ? It is always good to see our mission president! Wednesday evening we had English class and that went super good! 

Thursday, we had weekly planning and a lesson with our two friends who are getting baptized tomorrow! 

Friday, was our two friends baptismal interviews which went well, and then the rest of the day was pretty much just finding!

Saturday was cool because we went to a referral’s house and when we got there this lady called into the house and there were like 8 grandkids that came out and all lined up on the couch, so we got to teach all of them the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson! It was great!

Sunday we had a good Church services! :). We had a few friends come and they were all able to feel the spirit :). It was super awesome! We were also able to watch the first Presidency devotional and I always love being able to hear the tabernacle choir at Temple Square! The talks were good too of course :). I really liked how most of them used the same scriptures but were still able to get different things out of it. It definitely shows just how personal the scriptures can be!

And today, I cleaned a little, but it has been a super chill day. I found out we don’t have many baking utensils, so now I have banana bread in the oven and I hope that it turns out okay! I ended up using our not so great blender to mix everything up, but the batter looked somewhat normal, so I’m sure it will be fine!

And for a spiritual thought, I would like to invite everyone to take a look at the Light The World 2022 trailer and #LightTheWorld this year because they have changed it up this year! I know as we do light the world, even beyond this Christmas season, that we will be able to have even more joy No matter what the circumstances are! I am excited for this season and say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love y’all! Have a great week!

-Elder Claussen

Hey all!

Happy Thanksgiving! (again). It was a good holiday season and I hope that everyone was able to eat some good food and have a good time with family. 😉

Last Monday, I don’t really remember what we did. I think we played Throw Throw burrito and PooPocalypse with the District? We had dinner with a family who are not members, but their immediate family is converts and they are super nice to missionaries. 

Tuesday, we had a bunch of finding time and also exchanges! I can’t believe that was just this last week, because honestly, it feels like it was so long ago!! I stayed in my area and Elder Lettich went to the Macon area. Because I stayed, I got to drive! Elder McCauley came to Warner Robins with me, and we had some really good finding time! We had dinner at the Larsen’s home and it was kind of funny, because it was just Brother Larsen, so that means that there were three Nate’s in the house haha. We went from dinner to the Gubler’s house so we could have our final lesson with Anne before she got baptized ((Yes, I finally asked for permission to use her name!!). Twas a good lesson, and at this point, she was so ready ?.

Wednesday, we had Anne’s baptismal interview in the morning, and then we helped at the food pantry. We unexchanged and taught English Class. It was actually a really fun English class because we played Pictionary and it was super fun. Other than that, Wednesday was pretty normal. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving!! It was so sad because Elder Lettich woke up sick with what were symptoms of the flu. He took a nice nap in the morning and said that helped, so we called the families that we were going to go to and the Kimballs said that they didn’t care, so we were still able to go! The other family had lots of people and little kiddos, so we figured it would be better to not spread the love of the germs haha. But we were still able to have a good Thanksgiving with the Kimball’s and that was super fun! We helped them get all of their Christmas decorations out and set up their Christmas tree. They also had this massive burn pile of wood (from when we chopped down 6 trees), and lit that all on fire. That was definitely the biggest fire that I have ever seen!! It probably went up 30-40ft?? 

Friday, we had dinner at the Bronson’s. As it was Thanksgiving the night before, we had round two of thanksgiving! It was really yummy. Then, we went out finding and had some good impromptu lessons with some people. There was this one guy who let us in (which still doesn’t happen very often), and we thought he was probably around 70 years old. He told us his age and when we found out he is turning 90 next month, we were blown away!! We had a good lesson with our two friends who are on date and that went super well!

Saturday, we had some good finding time and then the highlight of the entire week! Anne got baptized!! I gave a talk on baptism and Elder Lettich gave a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Brother Gubler was able to baptize and Sister Gubler and I were witnesses. It was super awesome service, and I am so happy for Anne!! (We also had dinner at Harper’s house and that was round 3 of Thanksgiving).

Sunday, we had church and we had 5 of our friends come to church! One of them lives literally less than a block away from the church, so we walked with him to church and that was good :). There was also another guy who apparently found our card on his counter and called us this morning asking where our church is. That was a crazy miracle, because no one usually looks twice at the cards we hand out ?. But we had dinner at the Gubler’s house, and that was a good time and counted for the fourth Thanksgiving. Anne was able to come as well, so less than 24 hours after being confirmed, she was already at a member dinner haha. 

That leaves us to today, where the sisters ended up getting a flat tire by popping the side of it on a curb? Idk, but that was super sad, but it was very fortunate that it happened right next to the Krispy Creme. While their car got a donut tire, we filled our bellies with donuts ?.

And that leaves us with a spiritual thought. I have recently started a study of the Book of Mormon where I am highlighting all of the references to any of the members of the Godhead. It has actually been super cool to recognize just how much the scriptures really do talk about the Godhead and especially Jesus Christ! Even when there is seemingly ‘nothing to learn’ from a verse, you realize that all along it was talking about Jesus Christ!! It is quite the task to highlight them all, but it is really cool to see just how much the scriptures teach about Jesus Christ. No wonder why it is one of the biggest things that we can do to strengthen our testimonies!! I’d love to invite everyone to continue or start reading the scriptures. I know I’ve invited this before, but there is real truth to be found in the Scriptures, and especially the Book of Mormon! I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all and hope that you have a fantastic week!! Stay blessed, and stay healthy!

-Elder Claussen

email from November 21, 2022

Hi everyone!

It’s been a busy week! Still don’t know how time works because if I’m not mistaken, 1 year ago today I got set apart and tomorrow will be 1 year since I started the MTC. That feels like so long ago, also only like a month or two. Either way, I am excited for this next week!

Monday, it was the last P-Day of the transfer and so we decided to go to Bucees again because that was the first P-Day, and so what better way to end the transfer than with another trip to the bathroom kingdom! Then we also had a nice lesson with one of our friends. 

Tuesday, we had district council and car inspections. I am happy to say that we all passed them haha! We pretty much knocked on some doors and met some really cool people. There were people that were home, so it was good to be able to talk and find more people :). 

Wednesday, we helped out at the food pantry and helped 157 families! That is a record since the time that I have been helping out!! There were so many cars!! We had dinner at the Tatton’s house, and it was super tasty, we had noodles with Bacon and other various things, and it did not disappoint! We had an awesome lesson with our friend who is getting baptized on Saturday, and she is so ready!!

Thursday, we kind of had weekly planning, but we ended up having a bunch of lessons that went super good! We got most of weekly planning done, so I’d say it was a successful day!

Friday was a pretty normal day in the mission life. We had a District Leader training because Elder Lettich is the district leader and dinner at the Porters House. We had some super yummy Panamanian (Panama) food and it was super tasty! I can now say that I have eaten Yucca (and fried Yucca). 

Saturday, we had some more lessons with some peeps and they all went super good. Dinner at the Hatt’s house was great, we had Lasagna (my favorite!) :). I’d say that it was a successful day overall!

Sunday was probably the highlight of the week! We had all of our friends who are on date make it to church and also another one of our friends who we have been working with make it too! Elder Lettich and I gave talks on gratitude in Sacrament meeting, and they went really well. After Church, we ate lunch, and then went to Macon to be a part of the Missionary Choir devotional thingy. It was actually a super cool experience! Even though we only had about an hour to practice, we ended up doing a really good job! There was a recent convert that was able to get up and bear his testimony and life story and that was super neat! The spirit was super strong, and it was super cool. 

I feel like this week we got a lot of good stuff done, but might not be the most exciting things to write about lol. We did have a lot of lessons though so that was super awesome :).

For a spiritual thought, I would like to talk about Gratitude! This is what my talk in Sacrament meeting was, and it helped to remind me of the power of having gratitude. Being able to shift your focus on things you are grateful for can be difficult sometimes, especially when life seems to be beating you down; but as you show gratitude, it is so much easier to be happy! I invite everyone, especially this week with Thanksgiving to find ways to show your gratitude to others. Also say prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving to make sure that you let Heavenly Father know what you are grateful for. As you do this, you will find that you are a happier human being :). I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I hope that y’all have a great week! Stay blessed!

-Elder Claussen

email from November 14, 2022

Hey everyone! 

I hope that this week has been absolutely fantastic for y’all! It’s kind of been a crazy week, but I think that I’ve been able to keep my head on straight, so I hope that it doesn’t disappoint! 

Monday, we went bowling as a district. It is the first time that I have been bowling on the mission, so it was fun to bowl again. The bowling alley we went to had pretty nice bowling balls, so twas legit. We had a member dinner at the Noel’s house and had some visits and reports. Overall, I’d say it was a successful day!

Tuesday, we had district council in the morning, and then we got in contact with two people we haven’t been able to in a while! Unfortunately, one of them was not ready to make changes in their lives to let God Prevail in their lives, so in missionary lingo; we had to “drop them” and “give them back to the Lord. (meaning we limit contact and don’t contact them as much). We were able to give someone a blessing because they have been feeling sick recently, and that was a cool experience. It is always cool to be able to  give blessings :).

Wednesday, we did service at the food pantry again, and there were so many cars this week! There were a lot of people that we were able to help, so I am very grateful for that opportunity to serve :). We had an awesome lesson with one of our friends who is on-date for baptism, and she is super awesome! We taught the entire plan of Salvation, and made it through all of it! Our friend soaked all of the information like a sponge. After that lesson, we went to English class and this week, we were in charge of teaching, so we were able to teach them about words they use at work. 

Thursday, we had weekly planning and got through most of it, but we weren’t quite able to finish because we started exchanges. I went to Macon again, but this time I was with Elder Scorsby. On Thursday night, we had a bunch of visits and lessons. Elder Scorsby is a cool missionary, so it was a super hype exchange!

Friday, we were super busy! We had a bunch of more lessons and contacts. It was raining, so it wasn’t super effective to do in person contacts, so we did a bunch of phone calls and set up lessons for later in the week. I hope that they go through, but Friday evening, we unexchanged just in time for me to not miss dinner at the Kimball’s house. That was super good! After dinner, one of our friends flaked after confirming via text message that they were home, so we had Bishop’s son (a priest) join us to just get turned away ?. Not the greatest moment, but I suppose that is missionary work sometimes. 

Saturday was super busy! Another one of our friends flaked and didn’t show up to a church tour, but the primary was practicing for their primary program, so that was sweet. It was also then that one of the members asked if we were excited for the missionary fireside. We had not heard about this, so we frantically called the Zone Leaders and found out that next Sunday, we are going to go to the Stake Center and have a full on Singing Missionary Fireside that we are going to do. We will have about an hour to practice, so wish us luck, and pray that the spirit can be felt despite the lack of practice!! Yikes!! That is going to be…interesting…to say the least lol. After that, we had a lesson with two of our friends who are also on Date. We taught the plan of Salvation to them and it was a good lesson. Shoutout to the Harpers for being able to make it to that!! We then helped set up a bonfire activity that the ward had, but ended up leaving so we could go to the baptism of Dom! The newest member of the Warner Robins 1st Ward! (I am in the 2nd ward). Dom is someone that the Sisters have been teaching, and he is a super awesome guy! I am so happy to have been able to go to his baptism :).

Sunday, we had three of our friends make it to church!! It was the primary program, so that was super sweet! One of our friends who is 10 or 11 even went on the stand to be with the primary kids. I was thinking, “Dang she’s brave! She doesn’t even know the songs!” But it was a super good Church Service, so that was super awesome. We had another lesson with our other friend who is on-date (wow, I really should ask them if I can use their name in my emails haha. It would make it so much easier! I’ll have to do that this week). But we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was another fantastic lesson!! Sunday night, we got transfer news, and Elder Lettich and I are both staying and one comp from each of the sisters is leaving. 

That leaves us to today where we went to bucees again and then got Chick-fil-A and went disc golfing. The place we went had a bunch of trees and wooded areas, and there was even a wild deer!! So that was cool. 

A theme of this week has been the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power that comes from it. Without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we would all be screwed. We’d have to pay the price of our sins and would never be able to return to Heavenly Father again. We would be lost without any hope. Out of His love for us, His children, God gave us his only Begotten Son, who payed that price, and through Him, we can repent and change. We can and will be forgiven if our sins and we turn to the Savior, and for that I am grateful for. There truly is Hope to be found in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, because it is the way back to our Heavenly Father. My invitation today is to study some of your favorite scriptures or find new ones about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and continue to learn how to apply its power into your life. As you do this, you will find that life is better, and everything will seem to work out :). I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I love you all!! Have a fantastic week!

-Elder Claussen

Hey everyone!

Another week come and gone, and it is time for me to write another email! I’m starting this earlier today, so I’m hoping I can finish before it gets too late haha. I’m not sure what we are doing today, but rumor has it, we might be going bowling ? , but I am happy to say that is probably the least exciting thing I get to write about this week!

Last Tuesday, we had District Council in the morning and then Interviews in the afternoon. Right after district council, we got a notification in the dashboard of the car that one of the tires had low tire pressure. We called our driving coordinator and got the okay to put on the spare tire and take our tire to the shop. I am glad and grateful for my young men’s leaders for teaching me how to change a tire! We got that done in about 10 mins and then had to drive all the way to Macon at 45mph or lower, so that was quite the adventure! We made it safe and it turns out we somehow attracted a nail into our tire, so we had the Zone Leaders pick us up and take us to interviews while the car was being fixed up. Interviews were good and we ended up having a good rest of the night.

Wednesday, we had ZLC and that was a good meeting. We discussed what we can do to  help the Zone to continue to do even better! As a Mission, in the month of October we had 37 people who had the opportunity to be baptized and confirmed members of the church!! That is a record for the mission since the last 4 years (yes, that predates Corona virus ?). It is so cool to see the Lord hastening His work and to see so many people deciding they want to make Sacred Covenants with the Lord. This next month, I think we have a goal of 39 people? So it is going to be awesome to see! The rest of the evening, we had a dinner with someone we met this week who invited us for dinner, and then English Class at the church.

Thursday, we had weekly planning. That is pretty much it lol. Weekly planning always makes you brain dead afterwards, because you get to make plans for all of the peeps you’re teaching, and while it’s not physically straining to write things down, it is very taxing on the brain ? . But it was successful nonetheless and it was a good day.

Friday, we had a service project at the Kimball’s house. They had a bunch of 50 or so food trees that needed to come down because their roots were causing issues with some of their things, so we helped Bro. Kimball chop down 6 massively tall trees. Essentially, he would get a ladder and climb up half way to 3/4 of the way up the tree and tie a rope around it. Then Elder Lettich and I would hook up a come-a-long for the bigger trees or just pull on the rope for the smaller trees. Bro. Kimball would do some chainsaw art at the stump of the tree and the tree would fall in the direction we were pulling. Quite the process, but it was accurate 5/6 of the times of where we wanted the trees to fall. So overall, that was a good service project. The rest of that day, we made some good contacts but didn’t end up having any lessons. We did have dinner at the Carlson’s house, and that was super good! 

Saturday, we made some really good contacts and had a lesson with a gentleman who we met a few weeks ago! He was home and we were able to use some teaching skills that we have been working hard on improving, so that was really cool to be able to use them in action ?. There was quite a bit of finding time and it was a nice and productive day on Saturday.

Sunday was quite busy! In the morning, we got an extra hour of sleep because of daylight savings time ?. And then we went to one of our friend’s church. This friend we met this week, but has been meeting with missionaries for quite a while now. We found his information in our areabook, so we reached out and he is actually a super cool guy! But we went to his church services and he came to ours.  It was a different experience, and I’ll probably mention something about it in the spiritual thought in just a sec, but that is what we did in the morning. Because our church services start at 12:00, we were also able to have a lesson with one of the people olthe previous Elders were teaching. We had a lesson with her last Sunday as well, but this Sunday, we taught the restoration and put her in date for baptism! She is so ready and her journey has been really incredible to hear about! I am super excited to meet with her two times this next week!! Right after the lesson, we had Fast and Tesrimony meeting and big shout out to the youth in Warner Robins because they had some really powerful testimonies! I have heard that some missionaries dread fast and testimony meetings because often times our friends get super confused; but both of our friends who made it really seemed to like it a lot!! The rest of Sunday, we had some good visits and dinner at the Tatton’s house. We had a super awesome dinner, so that was good. 🙂

And I think that leads into a spiritual thought for today! I think I know what I want it to be about, but I guess we’ll see where it ends up going haha. In the process, I want to make sure that I am being respectful to the other church that we went to, it was indeed a good service, and I in no way want to “bash” or be rude to them ?.

With that said, I do want to share some thoughts about the Restoration, the Holy Ghost, and Truth. First things first, one thing that I have been learning while being on a mission is that “truth is truth.” There are so many things in this world that are true, and I love that! Second, the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. When you hear something true, whether you have the Gift of the Holy Ghost or not, the Holy Ghost is going to testify of Jesus Christ and make sure that you know what you heard is true :).

Now, the unique message that us missionaries teach is that through the prophet Joseph Smith, the church that Jesus Christ established was restored to the earth. It wasn’t reformed or made as a branch off another church, but it was restored to its perfect and proper order. The priesthood, and the authority for worthy males to use the priesthood has been restored. As such, when you get baptized with this authority and Recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost with this authority, you make Covenants that bring real power (the literal power of God) into your life. And that is kind of what I wanted to talk about today; the gift of the Holy Ghost :).

One thing that I noticed at this other church that we went to was there were most of the things that they taught that I 100% agree with, they are true. And what I am going to point out is not something that they taught wrong, or even incorrectly; in fact they didn’t really teach about it at all, it is just something that I noticed. (hope that last sentence made sense lol, it was a struggle to get out). One thing that the pastor taught in the services was the light of Christ and how we can all have the light of Christ as we do good deeds and we can feel the spirit. This is true! The spirit can work through the light of Christ, and can help guide us to truth. 

That leads to the Gift of the Holy Ghost. When we Recieve this very special gift, we have the opportunity to have the Holy Ghost with us ALWAYS, not just when we are “doing something good.” As we keep the Covenants that we made when we are baptized, we have this promise :). One thing I noticed leaving our friends church is physically and mentally, I felt great! The messages shared and songs were really good! But Spiritually, it wasn’t the same. To then be able to go to our church right after and take the Sacrament and renew those promises that I made, and have a clean slate; that is I think what makes the difference. I felt spiritually filled :). And to bring it full circle, none of that would be possible without the priesthood authority that was restored during the restoration.

I know that was a very long winded spiritual thought today, and I hope that someone reading can make some sense of it ;), but I truly am grateful for the knowledge that the Restoration did happen. The Book of Mormon is true. Repentance is real and joyful; it is the plan. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is powerful, more powerful than I probably even realize, but I am still grateful for it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love y’all! Have a great week! -Elder Claussen

Hey Everyone!

What a crazy week it has been! So much has happened and I will do my best to write about it. 

Last Monday, we went to the Plane Museum at the airforce base. That was super cool and there were a lot of different airplanes than hill airforce base (some were the same though). Then Monday evening, we did some service for this part member family and moved some rocks in their backyard. 

Tuesday, we had District Council and that was super good! We had a lot of finding time this day and we found this super awesome guy in these town homes, so I am excited to see how we can help Him!! That night, we found a younger person and taught about prayer. We think that he really liked it and felt God’s love for him :). I always love teaching that principle because it is crazy how many people don’t believe in a God that loves them. But I know that God does love all His Children :). 

Wednesday, we had service at the food pantry, and this week I got a cool shirt with their church’s logo on it, and I found that super funny (a missionary with a Trinity Food Pantry shirt). That was super awesome, and I was glad that we were able to help all of those people! Wednesday evening, we had a nice lesson with another friend that we met last week. We aren’t sure how interested she really is, but we taught the beginning of the Restoration, which included that God is our loving Heavenly Father again :). This night, the Sisters assigned us to teach English class, so that was quite an adventure haha! It went good though. 

Thursday morning, we went to Chick Fi LA and met up with someone who we got in contact with a couple days before. We had a super good lunch lesson and they said they want to work towards baptism, so that was super cool! His schedule makes it a little hard to meet consistently, but we will keep trying to stay in touch with him! We also had weekly planning, but that kept getting inturruoted with phone calls and other things. We got it done though, and so that is super awesome. 

Friday is kind of where it gets a little crazy! The morning was pretty normal. We decided to go tracting the old fashioned way, and we got to talk to a bunch of people. Makes me sad when they say, “I’ve got Jesus” and close the door. I don’t think they truly understand what they are saying no to; but I guess that is just one 1/8 seeds planted that it statistically takes before anyone will listen to the missionaries. (If I remember correctly, it takes 8 contacts with someone before they will actually listen to what a missionary has to say). But Friday evening was the Ward Fall Festival party and that was super awesome! We had 3 of our friends and family come and each of them had a great experience! The Missionaries and bishopric were the Chili cook off judges, so that was fun to be a part of. A lot of the costumes were super cool too. #tendermercy, at the end of the night, there were two passifyers (spelled wrong, I know haha) that were found. Bishop recognized them as one of our friends and they had already left. We went to drop it off at their house after the fact and had an awesome conversation in explaining what we do as missionaries. This friend had a great time, and while their schedule is super busy, they said they want to come to church with us if they ever had work off! 

Saturday got even crazier! We had so many lessons and one of them was for one of the families that came to the fall fest. The lesson was super spirit led and we got to play restoration Jenga which worked perfectly to help them understand. Essentially the Jenga tower is the church and some of the blocks have words of important parts of the church. When the tower falls, everyone tries to get as many blocks as they can. Then with the blocks you get, you make your own little church. We tie that into apostacy and why there are so many churches and it is always a fun way to teach why the restoration is necessary so that Christ’s church can be on the earth again. Long story short, we put these two friends on date for baptism, so that was a big highlight of the week for sure! After that, we went to another family’s house that came to the fall fest and had a pretty good lesson with them too. There were two pit bulls that were actually nice, but very distracting for the lesson, so hopefully next time we meet we can figure out the best way to handle that situation. We ended up changing clothes (our current ones got all dogified lol), and went to a dinner with the Kimball family. We had deer tacos, and it was actually super sweet! 

Then to keep it going, Sunday came around and before church, we had a fantastic lesson with one of the friends that the previous Elders were teaching it was the first lesson we have had with her, but the spirit was so strong and the members that were there bore such powerful testimonies. Super awesome lesson, and I am excited for our next one with her! Then our two friends who are on date made it to church, and they seemed to really like it too! After church, we went over to the family we returned the pacifyers to and had a super awesome lesson and got to know them a little bit better. They said they’d like to work towards baptism as well so that was hype!

One of the things that President Farias has really been pushing is that our missionary purpose is to help people to participate in the Atonement and the only way that we can do that is by helping them to be baptized. As such, mentioning and teaching to Baptism has been a really big focus as a mission as a whole. It has been a really cool focus and I am grateful for it as fulfilling our missionary purpose brings so much joy. Doesn’t make it any easier or harder, but it does definitely make it better haha. 

For a spiritual thought, I wanted to share a couple thoughts on that first point I mentioned earlier about God being our loving Heavenly Father. Last week, there was someone we were talking to who was claiming that God’s love was conditional and that all of the scriptures that talk about it are only reffering to a specific group of people. Clearly my poor brother has been confused, but it really got me thinking. How much easier is the job of the adversary if we as God’s Children lose sight of that. If we think that God is against us, and that he wants to give us rules that don’t even matter, how much easier and appatizing is it to fall into temptation? As we teach people that God is our Loving Heavenly Father and that the commandments are the way to live life in such a way that will bring happiness; the only way to love life to find happiness, then that whole mental shift is HUGE! No wonder why that is the first thing that we teach people ?. I know that we truly are all Children of God. He loves you personally, and he is always there for you, even through the hardest times. As we put our trust in Him, who does everything out of Love, we can learn that Love is the greatest motivator and as we keep His commandments, we will find the happiness that He promises :). Don’t get it stuck in your head that it will be easy, but that it will be worth it. The joy that comes as we choose the right will always be worth it. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hope that y’all have a fantastic week! Love ya!

-Elder Claussen