Email from August 8, 2022

Hey all,

How are y’all doing? I hope that it’s been a good week, and you’ve gotten to learn all about Job in the come follow me this week! It is a good book in the Old Testament and with the Come Follow Me teaching about “Bible Poetry” it makes so much more sense! So that was cool :).

Monday, we went to a member dinner with the Beardsley family, so that was good! Crazy to think they were the first members in the ward I met haha. We had a lesson with one of our friends, and it went pretty good! We aren’t quite sure how well he is progressing because he is reading and praying, but not coming to church yet. We’ve taught him all of the lessons and right now he is reading from start to finish the Book of Mormon. We have another lesson tonight, so hopefully he has been reading!!

Tuesday, we had District Council. That went super good and I was grateful for the spirit that we could feel. It is always nice to meet with the district and learn from each other. It’s weird because I have been out for long enough to have experiences to share that can potentially help others! I remember when I first got out, I would try to soak as much information as I could and share when I could, but it is weird seeing new missionaries come in and old ones leave ?. For the rest of the day, we went door knocking, made some phone calls, and mowed a members lawn.

Wednesday, we had a super awesome lesson with this new lady we met. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and she seemed to eat it up! She really liked how we could help answer so many questions that she had, it was a super good lesson :). After that lesson in the morning, we went to a recent Converts house and watched a video about the Temple and ate food with them afterwards. We ended up staying at their house for probably way too long, but she is so nice, we think she needed the visit :). We had dinner at the Knickerbocker’s house and then went on some more door knocking around their neighborhood. (We really tried hard with the door knocking this week haha!)

Thursday, we had a good weekly planning. We planned for all of our peeps and scheduled out contacts for everyone. In the afternoon, we had a lesson with one of our friends which I’m not going to lie was a bit disappointing, because they are very much struggling at having an open heart. That night we had dinner at the Meehling’s house and that was super awesome! Definitely a good dinner I’d say. 

Friday, we had a full day of finding. We went through all of the contacting types and made a bunch of phone calls and knocked a bunch of doors. We had dinner at the Carrell’s house and they invited the Sheen’s, a new family in the ward to dinner as well, and it was a crazy but funny and good dinner ?. It was pulled pork sandwiches, and they were super tasty. 

Saturday, we did some Facebook work and almost got to meet a friend in person, but ended up canceling because it was supposed to rain (but it didn’t lol). We went to the store instead and tried to do some store contacting. We had dinner with the Williamson again, and they are still an awesome family to have dinner with!! We knocked doors before and after dinner, so we definitely stayed busy with that! 

Sunday, we had a good fast and testimony meeting. There wasn’t any awkward silence moments, so that was good ?. There was one person who came to chruch who is not a member, so that was cool to see them! They are the wife of a member we’ve been working with, so it was super cool to see both of them at church :). For Second Hour, we were asked to teach for the Come Follow Me lesson, so that was fun! Saturday night, we got a text asking, so of course we said we would love to! I would say the lesson went really good! It was a good, open discussion all about the story of Job.

That leads into my spiritual thought for today. It is going to be all about Job. Job was a very good, righteous man! He loved God and put his faith in Jesus Christ, even when bad things happened to him. In the beginning of the story of Job, at the beginning, Job loses essentially everything. He lost his wealth, his house, his family (except his wife), his health (he had boils all over), and he was really down in what we might call the dumps. A few of his friends come to comfort him, and they did for a time, but they started to judge and ask if Job was a sinning man. 

Despite all of these things that are happening, Job does have questions, but he still remains faithful to the Lord! In the end of the Story, Job gets healed, and the Lord blesses him with double of everything that he had before all of the bad stuff happened! 

The story of Job can answer a lot of different questions. Why do bad things happen to good people is the one I want to focus on today. This week, a lot of my studies have been focused on restored truths that we have as a result of the Restoration of the Chruch. One of these truths is the Plan of Salvation, which is mentioned towards the end of the chapters in Job. This Life is only one small part of the plan, and it is a time where we are tested to see if we will continue to choose Heavenly Father no matter what! It is comforting to know that we knew before that life was going to be hard, but we still knew it would be worth it! Plus, Heavenly Father won’t give us any trials we can’t handle. 

Im not quite sure what I am trying to say, but I am grateful for the opportunity to study the Book of Job more than I have in the past. I know that it is not the easiest story to tell/teach, but it seems to be very relatable sometimes! I am grateful for the restored gospel and the knowledge that we get to learn as we trust in the Lord through our afflictions and feel the peace that comes through Jesus Christ. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all, hope you have a great week!!

– Elder Claussen

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*

Hi Everyone!

What a week, Wowzers! I’m pretty sure this week went from 0 to 100 last Monday, and since then, we have been busy, busy, busy! I hope that y’all have had a good week too!

So, last Monday, we went to get haircuts and as we were just about to leave, we got a referral. I think that I added that to my email last week. I’m going to call him John (not his real name lol). Right as he sent in the referral, we responded, and then immediately after that he responded positively back! We were able to set up an appointment with him later Monday night, so that was super awesome! He shared a little bit about his life, and it is so inspiring! He said he is at a point in his life where he has decided that he wants more structure in helping him come closer to Jesus Christ and he feels that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is where he needs to be. He reached out to multiple churches, but none of them responded to him except for us, so he took that as a sign that we are who he needs. Wow.

Tuesday, we had district council. That was really good, and we learned the importance of using the scriptures when we are teaching. It helps to invite the spirit and it can give us credibility, so that’s good :). You can’t teach anything without the spirit! That is definitely something that I have been learning time and time again!! For the rest of the day, we pretty much did finding activities and not going to lie, did not find very much success. Some people were nice, and others not so nice, but overall, they didn’t seem very interested or open to learning more. We had dinner at the Allen’s house and that was fantastic ?!

Wednesday, we had studies and then Lunch. From 1:15-3:30, we gave a church tour with ‘John’ and he loved it! Huge shoutout to the Borcik’s for taking that kind of time out of their day and helping us with the tour!! It would not have been the same without them. After the church tour, we made some contacts and we reached out to one of our friends who we haven’t heard from in a while. They said that they would come to church, so we were super excited! After we made some contacts we headed over to the Pearson’s/Kroghs, who are always such a delight to see and have dinner with! We had some really cool discussions and conversations with Bro Pearson where he shared some really cool stories from his childhood and mission experience. He found out recently that he has a picture of him in Africa (where he served) in the MTC as one of those blown up ones, so that was super cool!

Thursday, we tried to weekly plan, but literally everything but that seemed to happen haha. We had housing inspections in the morning, so we spent a little bit of time trying to clean up the apartment a little. It wasn’t too bad because we do try to keep it clean throughout the week, but we do like to tidy up a little before inspections. We originally had a lesson with a friend planned at lunch time, but they said that they needed more time and they would tell us when they could meet. That was spooky because usually when people do that, they don’t respond again. This friend did respond back though, so that was good. We ended up eating lunch from 4:00-5:00 at Subway with this friend and we finally got to see them in person! We aren’t sure if they are progressing or being nice at this point, so that was a little sad, but we haven’t lost hope with them yet! Funny thing about this day was right after we both had a foot-long at Subway for ‘lunch’ we went to the Curby’s house for dinner at 5:15. All I can say is it was a miracle because I will stand by the claim that the spirit quickened my digestive system, because I ate so much food at the Curby’s house still ?.

Friday morning we finished up weekly planning, so that was good. We made so many contacts and called so many people and then we decided to visit some less Active members that we didn’t know and follow up with someone we met earlier in the week. Turns out we don’t know these members because they must have moved! One of the people we tried to visit’s house didn’t even exist anymore! In the evening, we did get to go to ‘John’s house and have a super awesome lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and found out he has been reading the Book of Mormon!!

Saturday, we spent so much time making a video for Facebook. We forgot that we needed to create a video post and not just a picture post, so we scrambled to find some good footage from the mission shared Google drive of stock videos so we could put them together. I think that the result of the video turned out really good, so I can’t complain :). It should be posted in the next few weeks, so you’ll be able to see it on the mission facebook page! The rest of the day, we made contacts with peeps and then went to the Ross’s for dinner. 

Sunday was absolutely crazy!! Before we even got to the church, ‘John’ AND his son were there and already sitting in a pew, so that was absolutely amazing to see both of them! We had never met his son before, but had heard that he was coming, so that was super awesome that he was able to make it. At the beginning, it seemed like he was super skeptical and only there because his dad told him to be there; however, by the end, he seemed to really have liked church. They are even going to go to a service project that was announced! Our other friend that we called on Wednesday texted us in the morning and we were a little scared because they said that they couldn’t find their car keys. We asked if they needed a ride, and they didn’t respond, so we ended up giving them a call and they said that they were driving to church as we speak because they found their spare key #tendermercies! So they made it to church too!! Sacrament meeting was amazing and second hour was super good as well! We stayed after church to save miles because the Stevensons live right next to the church and we didn’t want to drive home and back, so we stayed at the church and made so many more contacts with people. We had reports, and honestly, the rest of Sunday was pretty much a blur! 

My spiritual thought today is the spiritual thought that the Starks shared during housing inspections. I have thought about it a lot, and I really like it :). It is from 2 Nephi 19:12,17,21 and the repeating phrase at the end of each of those verses. “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”  I love this phrase so much! We have all been given agency, and with that we have to make so many decisions each and every day. As per the law of Justice, every choice we make has a consequence, whether good or bad. No matter how far we feel we have gone, or how hopeless we feel, “His hand is stretched out still!” There is always hope through Jesus Christ and his Atonement, because it is infinite and will never cease to be so. He knows how we are feeling, and he can help as we turn to him. I know that this is true, as I have seen this time and time again in my life. He will never fail us. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope that y’all have such a fantastic week this week! Stay cool in the heat, and don’t forget to read your scriptures 😉 Love you! -Elder Claussen

Hi everyone!

Hope that I catch everyone at a good time and that this week has treated y’all well. Honestly, this week has been pretty “normal” in the sense of missionary life, but there were still some cool things that have happened!

Last Monday was the last pday before transfers, so we all went to play sand volleyball at a park in Villa Rica, so that was fun. In the evening, we had a lesson planned, but it fell through because our friend was super busy as they just got back from vacation. We rescheduled and did end up getting to have their lesson later in the week, so that is super exciting!

Tuesday, we had district council and signed flight journals. That’s always a sad district Council when you have some people leaving, but it is super exciting to realize that we’ll see each other again in the future lol. We had our last official new member lesson with Sister Carillo, who has been able to go to the temple to do baptisms now!! We’ll probably still go over to read and help, but all of the new member lessons are done! There was a blood drive, so we peeked our heads in and said hi to the members who were helping with that, but then we ran away so the red cross couldn’t take our blood haha. The rest of the day we did visits and tried to find people to teach. 

Wednesday, was transfer day, but since both Elder Fausett and I stayed in Stilesboro, that pretty much had no effect on us. So the entire day we spent finding trying to find people to teach. On Wednesday, right when we planned on going for in-persons, there was the biggest storm I’ve ever been in; there was sooooo much rain!! In a blink of an eye, there was so much rain falling from the sky! That was fun to drive in. I went about 10-15 miles under the speed limit most of the time? 

Thursday morning, we had a service project with Elder and Sister Stark, who are a senior couple in our district. Their house decided to flood and so we went to help them move a bunch of boxes out of the flooded area, so that was fun. The rest of the day was weekly planning, and let me tell you, by the end of it my brain was completely fried, I could not think straight. There was a cool miracle that we had though! In daily planning we had a lesson that we both knew wouldn’t happen at the church (as our friend said that it probably wouldn’t happen), but we still felt prompted to be at the church anyways. Long story short, there was a member from another ward who reached out to us and asked us to give her mom who wasn’t a member of the church, a blessing. We got her address, and you’ll never believe that her mom literally lived 3 minutes from the church!! We got to go over to her mom’s house and give her a blessing, and that was a super neat experience. Her mom was very unresponsive, but the spirit was super strong and I am so grateful for that opportunity!! 

Friday, we had to finish our weekly planning, and that definitely took longer than we wanted. A lesson finally went through with our friend, and it was a really good lesson. They have been super busy and really stressed out, and they seemed to really appreciate us being able to talk about Jesus Christ :). The lesson didn’t go according to our plan, but it definitely went according to the Spirits plan :). It was also Elder Fausett’s Birthday on Friday, definitely don’t want to leave that out!!

Saturday, we helped a new family in the ward move in to their new apartment. Funny story is that they live in the same apartment complex as us! So we helped them move in and so that was good. The rest of the day we spent trying to find people to teach. 

Sunday was super good. In Sacrament meeting, Elder Fausett gave a talk, so that was cool. The rest of Sunday, we had reports and dinner at the Williamson’s house. The Williamson’s are funny ??, so it is always good to go there for dinner!! 

And that leaves us to today! This morning, I did some laundry and swept/vacuumed the floor. We got haircuts, and then we went back to the apartment and I took a nice solid nap. Don’t know how long it was, but it was very much needed!! Exciting part about today so far is we actually got a referral!!! They already responded and we set up a time to talk with them at 6:30 today. They seemed super excited, so I hope that our lesson goes well tonight!! 

For a spiritual thought, I’d like to share another thing from The Book of Mormon in the Book of Mormon. Today it is going to be Chapter 6 verse 7, where all of the Nephite by this time have turned away from God. The Lamanites are attacking them and this verse explains kind of how they are feeling. It says, “and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to recieve them.” Ultimately they were pretty terrified. 

This got me thinking about other examples of the Nephite preparing for battle. There are so many different accounts where they do turn to God and they are prepared and not afraid. One of my favorite accounts is Alma 56:47-48, “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” Such courage these Young men demonstrate because they have learned about God and the plan that He has for us. 

I know as we turn to the Lord, there is no need to fear! All good things come from God and as we turn to Him, he will give us the strength that we need to fight the battles that we have in our lives. Whether it is something big or small, it doesn’t matter; the Savior will always be by your side. I sa these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Hope y’all have a fantastic week!

-Elder Claussen

Hey Everyone,

How are y’all doing?! I hope that it has been a good week, and that you are thriving in the summertime weather! ? Georgia weather is kind of crazy because I’m pretty sure it has rained every single da this week! There are lots of thunder storms, which the lightning is actually really pretty. I find it funny because I think in the last week, we’ve gotten more rain than Utah has in the last 10 years ??

Last Monday was the 4th of July. I can’t remember if I already said what happened that day, but in the morning, we went to the 1st amendment 5k run and got to meet some of the missionaries in the North mission. That’s always weird lol, but it was still fun. After the 5K, we met up at the stake center and had a bunch of glow in the dark games with glow sticks. Twas legit. 

Tuesday, we had district council and then went to the family History Library to use the computers so we could print off some church invite cards. We tried to edit our video on the computer, but that didn’t end up working, so we resorted to our phones lol. We did some finding for the rest of the night after we did that.

Wednesday, some highlights was ZLC, Store contacting, and dinner with the Bleazards. Twas a good day overall :).

Thursday we had a meet n greet with the new mission president!! President Farias and his wife are so nice! I am excited to be able to work with them!! After the neet n greet, the whole zone had lunch together and then had a testimony meeting. It was like a fast Sunday meeting, but on a Thursday and just with missionaries. It was actually a super uplifting and a cool experience.

Friday, we had exchanges! Elder Suhaka came to Stilesboro and Elder Fausett went to Hiram. Twas a fantastic exchange!! We did a bunch of store contacting and door knocking, and had some super awesome conversations with some very nice (unfortunately not interested) people. We planted a lot of seeds though and did give quite a few BOMs to peeps. 

Saturday, we did a bunch of church invites and finished weekly planning. We had dinner at the Ross’s house and we had Stew. It was tasty. 

Sunday, one of our friends came to chruch!!! We have been working with them kind of? Since I’ve been to the area. They are in a part member family, so it was actually sooo cool to see them at church!!! 🙂

The title this week was actually from a story from the Zone Leaders where they ere teaching this guy and they shared a scripture and this guy paused for a long time and then just says, “Kinda Powerful” ?. So that was funny.

We got transfer news and I am staying in Stilesboro for another 6 weeks! I’m excited to see what this next transfer brings! 🙂

Spiritual thought for today is Mormon 3:21. I read this verse this week and it really stuck out to me because it is at this point of the Book of Mormon, Mormon is pretty much by himself and he is writing his purpose of writing the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon’s purpose is to provide a second witness that Jesus is the Christ. He Lives, and he loves you. I wish I had more time, but I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Love you guys! -Elder Claussen

Hi everyone!

I would like to first wish everyone a happy 4th of July! I am so grateful to be living here in this free nation in the promised land :). What a blessing it is to be here!! This has been a super good week. We have stayed busy and gotten to do some super good work. We officially have a new mission President, so that is kind of weird and crazy; but we had a mission zoom call with him on Friday, and he and his wife seem like super awesome people! 🙂

Last Monday, we spent the whole p-day at the car shop. That was an interesting experience to say the least. It was pretty uneventful, but we did get to have a lesson with one of our friends! They said that they are taking a vacation for the next two weeks though, so we will probably not be able to teach them for a couple weeks till they get back. We are going to use the time to find more people to teach though! 

Tuesday, we had district council. Special shoutout to the Starks for picking us up and giving us a ride because we did not have a car! We had a priest from the priest quorum come to shadow us that day, so he joined us at district council, so it was fun to have a special guest there. 

Wednesday, we went back to a house we have knocked on in the past, and we ended up having an impromptu lesson with this person and got a follow up appointment! (The follow up didn’t end up going through, but we still found them nonetheless!!). We had a good lesson with Sister Carillo about Patriarchal Blessings, and I’d say that it was a super awesome video. We had dinner with the Meehlings and that was super awesome!

Thursday, we had weekly planning. We set good goals and planned out the week. That was pretty much all we did on Thursday, so I guess that is that Haha! We went to the Knickerbocker’s house and had some good noodles and rolls that were super tasty!

Friday was a busy day! In the morning, we had a farewell devotional with President Needs where the whole mission presidency gave some super awesome uplifting testimonies. The spirit was super strong, and it was definitely a sad meeting, but super uplifting. We had lunch with Brother Farrar and Ralph, who were kind enough to pick us up because we still did not have a car. On the way home, we actually got a text saying the car is ready, so they took us to the car shop, and we got to pick up the car!! We had dinner at the Ross’s house, and they are still a super awesome family! As I mentioned before, we had a mission devotional where we got to meet the new mission president, President Farias. He seems like such a nice guy! He is from Brazil, and one of the first things he said is, “I can’t wait until I can give everyone a big brazilian hug.” We see him in person this Thursday, and that is going to be awesome. Him and his wife are learning English while they are here, so that is such a cool thing to me because they are willing to learn a new language because the Lord called them to serve here!

Saturday, we did a bunch of contacts and tried to get a lot of facebook work done. We were supposed to have a lesson, but they ended up cancelling, but we still were able to do some super good finding activities. We had a good lesson with the Makin’s, and had some super yummy philly cheesesteak sliders; super yummy!

Sunday was a super good day too! It was a fast and testimony meeting and it was actually a super spiritual experience. All of the youth this last month had the opportunity to go to FSY, which I guess is the new EFY? But they all had a super spiritual experience and it was really cool to see how much the testimonies of the youth in the ward have been strengthened. One of the people we are teaching actually got to go to FSY too! We haven’t been able to contact them since then, but we are hoping that they had a fantastic experience!!

This morning, we had a 1st amendment 5k run which was run by a local baptist church and our church. It started at this baptist church and then went to ours. It was a super good turnout, and it was fun. Elder Fausett and I went probably about half way? We were trying to film a video for Facebook, but I’m not sure how that will turn out; hopefully it will turn out okay! Now, we are at the Stake Center and are being with the district at the church and we are having somewhat of a party for the 4th of July!! 🙂

For a spiritual thought today, I feel like Ether 2:8-12 is perfect for this time of year!! These verses are the first promises that we have recorded of the Lord blessing the Promised land. I love how in verse 10 it explains how this is a choice above all other lands, wherefore we shall serve God or be swept off. The whole story of the Revolutionary war is inspiring, how our early leaders of America were all God fearing people, and they remembered Him, and they were delivered out of the hands of the British. These Christian routes is what has made it possible for the Restoration of the church and to form one Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. 

It is so scary to see so many people turn away from the Lord and try to go their own path. I’m not sure if it is because I am in a spiritual bubble as a missionary, but I can see so plainly the path that the world is trying to go. It is scary how many temptations and distractions that there are all around us, but it is also amazing to see the Light of Christ become brighter and brighter, just as the prophets have foretold. It is so important to continue to do the little things that keep us safe from the Big things that take us away from Christ. Praying, reading the Scriptures, going to church, going to the temple, and continuing to endure to the end is so important!!!! 

So with that said, my invitation today is to continue to be grateful for the nation we live in. Be grateful for the gospel that has been restored to the Earth. Be grateful for the #tendermercies and the hand in the Lord in your life every day. Be grateful for the big and the small things. As you do all of these things and endure to the end with patience and long suffering your relationship with Jesus Christ will grow and you will be able to see Him more in your life every day! The Church is True, I am grateful to be here in Georgia to teach these wonderful people about the great news of the Gospel! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Hope y’all have a great 4th, and I will talk to you guys next week! 

-Elder Claussen

Hi everyone!

It has been a good week this week! Don’t quite remember everything we did, so hopefully I can remember the important stuff and not forget anything!

Last Monday, we had a super mellow P-day which was actually super nice. We got all of our cleaning, shopping, relaxing, and laundry done, so twas a good feeling. In the evening, we had a lesson with our friend and had an awesome lesson! We don’t feel like he is ready to be put on date yet because they still haven’t come to church and have other commitments, but we did invite them to pray about baptism and if they would like to work towards that. The spirit was super strong and it was a good lesson in the right direction :).

Tuesday, we had District Council and then exchanges! I stayed in Stilesboro and Elder Fausett went to Hirum. Elder Dodge came to Stilesboro and Elder Suhaka stayed in Hirum. We made a bunch of contacts and had dinner at the Kroghs/Pearsons. It was an awesome dinner, and they are still just so nice people :). After dinner we found information for this lady that I have never seen before, so we decided to stop by. Turns out this person was reassigned to our area not long ago, so we met them and set up a time to have a lesson with her on Saturday (which I’ll talk about later). But we taught a principle with her and prayed with her. By missionary standards, that means we got a new person! 

Wednesday, we finished exchanges and then went to help a member with some yard work. We had dinner with the Makins and has some super yummy tacos ?, so that was good. It was a good day overall, so thst was good.

Thursday, we had Weekly planning! That’s pretty much all we did haha, but we did set some good goals and plans for this next week. We had dinner at the Gullinos and has pizza which was from a place I’ve never heard of, but it was actually really good pizza!!

Friday, we had to figure out how to get a car bike rack because our car is in the shop today (right now as I’m writing), so that was quite a dealio. We switched lunch with Brother Farrar to Friday’s now, so we got to go to his house and see him and Ralph! We chopped the bamboo in his backyard, and that is low key super fun to do, so I was fine with it haha. We had another lesson with our friend that we talked to on Monday night, and had another really good lesson! The spirit was super strong still, but they have not recieved an answer about baptism yet, so we talked a lot about Faith and how he feels the spirit. 

Saturday, I think the most exciting thing that happened was our lesson with that lady we met on Tuesday. As she is a single lady, we had to meet at a park, so she brought her doggy (which was such a cute pupper). The doggy was super silly because everything any of us talked he would bark ??. It made it fun to teach, but we are hoping that next week we can try again. 

Sunday, what a day! Church was really good! I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting, so that was fun. I got to talk about being spiritually prepared with Patriarchal Blessings. I think it went well, so that’s cool ?. Second hour was also really good too! After church, we had a meeting with all of the ward leadership, and it was a global leadership broadcast, so that was super cool. Hopefully we can work with the ward even better now! We had Dinner at the Williamsons, and they we had some super yummy fajitas. We had a tres leches cake, and it was super good. And despite me saying it was okay, they all sang to me for my Birthday ?, so that was super sweet of them to do that for me! 

And now today, so far, we have been at the car shop since 9:20 (it is 12:00) and have no extra information. Hopefully we get information soon, but we shall see what happens!!

For a spiritual thought, I wanted to talk a little bit about Patriarchal Blessings. A Patriarchal Blessing is direct revelation from Heavenly Father to you specifically. In my talk, I made a copl connection to Lehi’s dream and the Rod of Iron being the word of God. As priesthood blessings and especially patriarchal blessings are revelation, they are like an Iron rod in our lives. My invitation to y’all is to read your patriarchal blessing once a week!! ? the direction and council the Lord has given you is important, and reading it often will help to strengthen your testimony!! 

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week!! I will talk to y’all next week!

-Elder Claussen

Emailed on June 20, 2022

Hey Everyone!

How has y’all week been?! So crazy how time literally flies! How is it already at the end of June!? I remember writing my first email in the month of June and now there’s only one left after this one?! So crazy lol.

Last Monday, we did have a District Pday again, so this week we do not have one as we have been asked to not have them every week. Honestly, I feel like it’s fine because days we do have a district P-day, our cleaning kinda slacks a little bit, so it’s nice to not have them so we can catch up. 

Tuesday, we had District Council which was super sweet! I was asked to give a training on a Preach My Gospel section, and I chose to give it on Prayer. I learned that Prayer is so powerful, and I am so grateful that we can have that opportunity to talk with our Heavenly Father (more about prayer in the spiritual thought :)). We had a lesson after with a part member family, and I’d say it went super good! 

Wednesday, was a day just full of contacts! For pretty much the whole day, we just called, texted, and went to people’s houses to try to find more people to teach. It was cool because there was a less active member that actually answered our text we sent, so that was super awesome!! We are hoping that we can help her and welcome her back to church 🙂

Thursday, was kind of a crazy day! In the morning, we had our studies and set some goals for the week. Then we went to the Dallas Building so we could have interviews with President and Sister Needs. As always, I still have nothing bad to say about them because they are such great people and examples to all of us missionaries :). It is sad because it is the last interviews that we are going to have with them because they are leaving on July 1st, and then We are getting a new Mission President!! So crazy how all that works, and well, I am sad, but optimistic for what the future brings!! The rest of the day, we had Weekly planning and dinner with the Craig’s. We had Chicken Pot Pie, and it was very tasty ?. 

Friday, pretty much flew by. We finished up our weekly planning because we didn’t quite finish on Thursday. Then we made some contacts, did some service and had dinner at the Beardsley’s home. Then, when we got home, we actually got back in contact with one of our friends who said they needed some time to themselves, and we had an awesome lesson with them! Hopefully that will turn into more lessons and we can start teaching them again!! That would be awesome! 

Saturday morning, we went to the Macland area to help some of their members build a shed in their backyard. I thought it was super cool/funny because it is actually the same kind of shed that my family got right before I left. I think that was cool because I already knew what was up when it came to building it ? #tendermercies!! We made it back to the apartment in time for us to see the moving Elders who had a special delivery for us. They got us Bikes! Long story short, our car is having some issues, so next week we need to take it into the shop. Depending on what it is, it could be a couple hour fix, but just in case if not, we got bikes so we won’t be stranded at the car dealership. As much as I actually do like driving, I am actually kind of excited because I have heard a lot of success stories from the mission who ride bikes because they can stop to talk to everyone as it is a lot easier to stop a bike and talk then to stop the car and talk. (Stopping the car and talking low key gives me creepy vibes! Yikes!). We shall see how the bike riding goes though, and I will be sure to keep y’all updated on that!

Sunday was a good day as well. We didn’t have any of our friends come to church again, but one of these days, we will have success in that! All in the Lord’s timing. Out of all of the invitations we give, I feel like we give come to church the most (besides read and pray), but it is the one that is least likely to be kept. People coming to church really is a big commitment, and I know that it will happen eventually ?. At 4:00 there was a pre-recorded live Facebook event and it was super awesome! It was all about Fathers for Father’s day! Which speaking of Father’s Day, Happy Father’s Day!! ?

That brings us to Today, where I have officially done ALL of my laundry, which is nice as well as clean the bathroom (not as nice) and sweep/vacuum the floor. It’s been a good day so far. I think the only thing we have left is to clean the car and go shopping. Everything else is going to be bonus. 

And for my spiritual thought today, I hinted it earlier, but I wanted to talk about prayer! I gave a training on Prayer in District Council, and I am so grateful for that opportunity because prayer is just awesome! In a literal sense, praying is how we talk with Heavenly Father. We can tell him what we’ve done in the day, what we are grateful for, our goals, what we are struggling with, how we need help, and well anything that we need. The list goes on, but I feel like sometimes we can get in a routine where we say our prayers and we are always grateful for the same things and are always asking for the same things. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as if we truly are grateful or truly do need those things, then you should pray for it! If we truly mean it and have a sincere desire and real intent, then that is how our prayers should be :).

You can pray for literally anything and everything. I love the scripture in 2 Nephi 32:9 which reads, “But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.” As a missionary, we pray before everything we do because we want to invite the spirit and also because we know that God will consecrate our performance so we can do exactly what it is He needs us to do. I just love this! 🙂

For those of you who are not missionaries, I would still invite y’all to always have a prayer in your heart. I know that God does hear and answer every single one of our prayers. As we pray for strength and guidance, we will be provided with opportunities where we can become strong and recieve the guidance that we need. So often I feel like prayer is overlooked, but it is such an important part of our day :). I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you, he loves to hear from you, and as you pray, you will be able to come closer to Him every time you do it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 🙂

Hope y’all have a fantastic week!!

-Elder Claussen

eMail dated 6/13/2022

Hi everyone!

Twas a super awesome week! As the title suggests, I’ve officially seen a firefly!! Low key kind of weird because their butts glow when it gets dark and then you can see them for a split second, and then they disappear. They’re actually pretty cool, and it adds new meaning to the song Fireflies lol. 

Tuesday, we has Zone Conference, and it was awesome! We learned a lot and we actually got to invite a member couple to come so shoutout to the Borciks for being able to make it!! There was a lot of discussion on Facebook and how we can involve members even more.

Wednesday, we had more meetings. First it was ZLC, and that was super good. The Zone Leaders and the STL’s both brought Ice-cream and lemonade, so we were living it large haha! After ZLC, we had District Council, and that was also a super awesome meeting! 

Thursday, we had Weekly planning, which is always good to do. Maybe not the most fun thing in the world, but it is so necessary to plan for our friends and how we will find more people to teach. Thursday evening, we actually had a super cool lesson with someone who sent in a referral earlier this week, and got to know them a little bit. They are super awesome, and I am excited to see how we can help them come closer to the Savior :).

Friday, we pretty much spent the whole day finding and making contacts. We found out a less active member lives in the same apartment community as us, so we walked over and introduced ourselves, so that was fun. 

Saturday, we did some Service to help someone move, and did a lot more finding. In the afternoon, we actually had another lesson with a part member family and had a good lesson on the Restoration. It was pretty neat. 🙂

Sunday, we had super good talks in sacrament meeting and good lessons second hour. Unfortunately none of our friends made it to church, but it was still good nonetheless. 

That leads to today. Where we got to go to lunch with some of Elder Fausett’s friends who are visiting Georgia, so that was super cool. We ate at a burger place called Burger 21, and they actually had some really good Burgers! 

For a spiritual thought today, I just wanted to bear my testimony about Miracles! Miracles happen ALL the time! As we pray to see miracles, and as we look for them in everything we do, we will find them. 

As we read the Book of Mormon every day, it will become easier and easier to see these miracles because as Mormon wrote, 

“I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.” (Mormon 9:11)

The Book of Mormon proves that God is a God of Miracles, wherefore, as we read, it makes it so much easier to see God’s hand in our lives ? I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Have a great week everyone!!!  -Elder Claussen

Hey Everyone!

How are y’all doing?! So much has happened this week, it has definitely been a week to remember. I guess first things first, we had transfers and Elder Peterson went to a place called Sharpsburg which is just south of Peachtree City, so that’s cool. Elder Harmon, my trainer, finally made it out of Americus and got sent to Griffin Georgia ?. He has been out for a year, and he was in the same zone the entire time, so I think he was happy to leave ??. And my new companion is Elder Fausett! He is from Sacramento California and has been out for about 9 months now. 

Last Monday, we had a farewell Pday because 3 people from the district were leaving! We pretty much played our usual ultimate Frisbee and Basketball, so that was fun. After 6:00 time, we made a bunch of contacts with some friends and less active members in the ward. We didn’t have a lesson because our friend who we usually talk to on Mondays said that they have family things they’re going through right now, so they need to focus on family right now. We definitely want to respect them, so we are giving them space right now, but hopefully in the next week or two we can start having lessons again! 

Tuesday, we had our last District Council before transfers, so we got to sign each other’s flight journals and take a bunch of pictures, which I will try to remember to share. Tuesday eveningwe had dinner with Brother Ohman and that was super awesome. He is in the middle of moving, so we helped him move a couple of couches and bookshelves which was fun. After dinner, we went to a couple members houses so Elder Peterson could say bye and then packed while I watched the Facebook page and responded to all of the messages and comments. 

Wednesday was pretty much a blur! It was transfer day and so we traveled all the way down to Peachtree city for transfers and had lunch at a sub sandwich place, and it was actually really good! ? then, we went to transfer meeting and switched companionships and I was made designated driver, meaning unless we are in exchanges or there’s an emergency, I am the only one allowed to drive the car and am responsible to make sure that it’s all good to go! So, I got to drive on the freeway for the second time ever to get back to the apartment, so that was fun :)! All I can say is Google maps is nice, and there are a LOT of cars in Atlanta ??. But, we survived nonetheless and it was good practice. 

Thursday, we had Weekly planning, like normal, and so I got to share all of the peeps we are working with to Elder Fausett and we made goals and plans for each of those people. We had lunch with Brother Farrar and his brother so that was awesome, as always!! 🙂 

Friday, we had some more service where we helped someone move their washer downstairs. I thought it was so strange how the washer and water heater were upstairs, but I guess that was just the Floorplan of the house!! We finished up weekly planning for the week, to plan for all of the things we are going to do, so that was good ?. 

Saturday, we went to some less active members houses and met some people that I’ve never met before! They were home, and it was super awesome because they seemed like really nice people, which was nice :). 

Sunday was a really good day! I had a really good personal study where I studied a section in Preach My Gospel about bearing my testimony more. The power of a testimony is what can really invite the spirit and help those that we are teaching to progress! I somehow made it to a section in Doctrine and Covenants about the plan of Salvstion too, but overall it was a nice study, so that was super good. We made it to church, and unfortunately both of our friends who said they would be there didn’t make it, but their excuses were both reasonable, so I have high hopes for next week!! 

For a spiritual thought today is going to be in Enos 1:14. I read this verse this week and it really stood out to me.

The verse reads,

“For at the present our strugglings were vain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers.” 

At this time, they were trying to convert all of the lamanites to the true faith in Jesus Christ. They were not having it, and their hearts were completely closed off with no room for the spirit. It was so bad that they swore to destroy all of their records that they had diligently kept so they could forget about the Lord and forget about the things that they knew they needed to be doing. 

First, I love how important they thought their records were, even the lamanites knew how important those writings were (otherwise they wouldn’t have wanted to destroy them). 

Second, how much more of a miracle is it that we still have these records today, even through the wrath of the Lamanites who said they would destroy them. Verses 15-17 then teach us that Enos prayed for the records to be protected and knew that through his faith, God would make it so.

We see today that God did follow through and keep the covenant that he made with Enos. It might have been almost 3000 years later, but the records were preserved and now we have them so we can learn and come closer to Jesus Christ. What a blessing that is for us! 

I do want to bear my testimony again about both prayer and the Book of Mormon. I know that God does hear and answer every one of our prayers. I know that it is not always the way you expect, sometimes the answer is no; but in His time, he will fulfil the promises that he has made in both ancient times, and for us today! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and he loves His Children. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, the power contained in its pages I am only scratching the surface. It is a miracle that we even have these records, but I am so grateful for them. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope everyone has a great week!! I’ve love hearing from y’all 🙂 

-Elder Claussen