Hi everyone!

I have officially been transferred! I’m in the Stilesboro Ward, which is in Kennasaw/Marietta Georgia. It is VERY different than Americus, so it’s definitely been quite an adjustment these last few days. It seems to be a super nice area and I can’t complain. My new companion’s name is Elder Peterson, and he is cool ?.  He’s from the faraway land of Saint George, Utah. 

Last Monday feels like a couple months ago! As it was the last Pday for the transfer and literally half of our district was leaving (including me), we all got together and had food and chilled at the church. Sister Ruud brought skip-bo and Elder Fredrickson brought a game called House of Danger. It was actually really cool because it was a choose your own adventure game, where it was just like the books, but you had to roll dice and find clues and things like that. So that was fun on Monday.

Tuesday was also a blur! I know we had district council, and some lessons? I can’t really look back because I’m not in that area anymore so I don’t have the calendar. I do remember it being a good day though, we finished out the transfer strong!! 

Wednesday was transfer day! We ended up having to go up to Fayettevile bright and early because Sister Allred said she needed the hitch off of our car. We got the hitch off at about 9:30? After, we went to this Mexican Shop with a restaurant in the middle of it and got some good breakfast burritos. Turns out that was a popular place to go before transfers, because there were so many missionaries there, it was crazy. We then went to the Peachtree building for transfers, and had a good transfer meeting. Elder Harmon stayed in Americus, and for the first time since he’s been on a mission, he isn’t training!! As I said before, I got transferred to Stilesboro Area with Elder Peterson. The rest of the day was pretty much a blur, where we went to a member dinner and I got settled into the apartment. 

Thursday, we made a bunch of contacts,  had a lesson with a recently baptized member, and had a member dinner. It was this day that I learned that literally every single day is filled up on the meal calendar,  so that was actually kind of insane!! 

Friday, we had ZLC (because Elder Peterson is District Leader) and that was a good meeting. I guess the finding in this area has been a little slower recently, so after ZLC, we ended up going to some people’s houses and calling a bunch of people trying to find people to teach! We had another member dinner though, and that was super tasty!

Saturday, we did a bunch of in person’s (because not as many people work on Saturdays) and we went to a LOT of houses, and every single one of them we got in contact!! We had an impromptu lesson with one gentleman, and introduced the Book of Mormon to him and invited him to read it. #Tendermercies because a couple days ago, one of his friends from Utah reached out to him saying he is moving or visiting to Georgia. This guy said that he was going to ask his friend more information about The Book of Mormon, so hopefully that goes well and we have someone new to teach!!

Sunday was quite the experience!! I’m not going to lie when I say I was just a little bit culture shocked! Coming from the small branch of Americus, to a very large ward in Stilesboro, I had to keep myself from letting my jaw drop from everyone there ;). It was nice to be able to meet more ward members! I don’t remember most of their names, but that will come…eventually ??. (I hope!!) 

That leads to today, where it’s been a pretty low key day so far. We need to go to Walmart to get some stuff, but other than that, I know we do have a lesson later today, so that’ll be fun. 

For a spiritual thought today, I don’t know if I have any specific Scriptures, but something that I’ve been thinking about is a talk by Elder Bednar called “The Character of Christ.” I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but it is a really good talk. It teaches that when the natural man turns inward, Jesus Christ would turn outwards. That is the character of Christ. With that talk, I’ve been thinking about ways that I can become more like Jesus Christ.

First, I’ve found that you have to know who you want to be. Everyone is different. We look different, we think different, we act different. That is great! The world would be such a boring place if we were all the same! If you want to become a good person, then you have to know who that person you want to become is. You can’t be who you don’t know. There are so many different ways that you can turn outwards and so many different ways that you can be a good person, the first step is to figure out who you want to be. 

Next, you have to try to be that person. I hope that part of your plan and who you want to become is to follow the Character of Christ and be a converted disciple of Jesus Christ. It’s not easy! There will be things to change and improve. I can promise that as you humble yourself, and prayerfully strive to be who you want to become, Heavenly Father will bless you for your efforts! It might seem anticlimactic, but as you strive to be this person you envision, you will find more opposition; more thoughts of doubt, fear, anxiety. All of those feelings are normal, and they come from the Devil. Satan does not want you to succeed; rather, he wants you to stay complacent and not reach the divine potential that you have. Of course as you strive to become who God wants you to become, he will try to steer you away! Don’t let that stop you! Always remember who you want to be and who Heavenly Father wants you to become.

“Bad things” happen to good people because God loves us. Countless times in the Scriptures we see “bad things” happening to good people! You can look at Nephi, who’s brothers literally beat him and tied him up. Joseph (technicolor coat) was thrown in a well, framed for things he didn’t do, and locked in prison for years. Alma and Amulek were smitten and cast out so many times. Joseph Smith was wrongly accused and was rejected from so many of his homes and imprisoned on false charges. The list can go on and on, but I feel it important to also mention Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who led the Perfect life, was rejected, and crucified for each and every one of us. 

What do all of these people have in common? They all stayed faithful. In his greatest time of affliction, Nephi prayed to the Lord and he was delivered out of his Brothers hands. Joseph prayed, and eventually had opportunities to become the Pharoah’s right hand man. Alma and Amulek were faithful, and time and time again they taught with power and were kept safe through their struggles. Joseph Smith died a martyr. Even until the very end, Jesus Christ turned to Heavenly Father and pleaded for him to forgive as they know not what they are doing. All of these examples turned their hardships into faith building experiences that in the end, helped them become who they wanted to be. 

I know that doesn’t make it any easier, and doesn’t solve all of your problems. But I do know that in my life, I have found peace and hope in knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan for me. Everything that happens is because he loves each and every one of us. He is aware of me, he’s aware of you. I invite everyone this week to determine who YOU want to be. Don’t put it off! Things will come up, it will be hard! Strive to be you. You have so much to offer and so many things to do. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Claussen

Hi everyone,

How are y’all doing?! It’s been a crazy week, and turns out that I am getting transfered out of Americus next transfer?! Im so glad that I could be so sure last week that I’m probably staying to now knowing that I am not. Today, we are probably going to be traveling to Columbus and having a district Pday again, so hopefully I have time to write everything! I’ve started at like 6:30 this morning, so we’ll see when it gets done lol.

Last Monday, we went to Plains again to go to the Jimmy Carter Museum and get ice cream. I can’t remember if I said that last week or not. But that was fun, and the ice cream is always so creamy there! 

Tuesday, we had a super awesome lesson with one of our friends, and we got to teach him the Plan of Salvation. He asked some really good questions, and seemed to like it a lot! The spirit was super strong. We Invited him to come to church, and he said that he might be able to make it, but unfortunately we didn’t see him. Hopefully he can come next week!! In the middle of the day, we had another really good lesson, and taught about fasting to prepare for fast Sunday, and they were super excited! The rest of the day was kind of crazy, because the rest of our lessons ended up canceling, but we definitely stayed busy! 

Wednesday was a good day too. We had 4 or 5 lessons scheduled, but all of them canceled again!! We had Dinner at the Pearces, and that was good. We had a Bacon, Chicken, and Ranch meal, and it was tasty! 

Thursday, was kind of where the craziness starts. We had District Council, so we had to go up to Columbus,  and then weekly planning, and then our lesson for the night canceled,  so we had dinner instead. 

We were going to bring Elder Harmon’s violin so he could practice because he is going to play a musical number in sacrament meeting, and so he wanted to practice. We forgot it in Americus, but found out that the Elders in Rivercrest (~15 mins from Columbus area) had one, so we were able to go over to their house, and pick it up for the day. We ended up getting lunch with them too, and going to the Chattahoochee River! It was super fun, and the food we got was from this place called Barberitos, and I got a VERY tasty burrito. 10/10 from me! (*side note* I did spill a bunch of salsa all over my pants, but it has now since then been washed and is clean *end side note*) 

On Friday, we were still in Columbus because we were going to have a Meeting with all of the District Leaders in the Zone. The ZLs were in Fayettevile for MLC, which is a meeting for all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in the mission. We got texted about half way through the day saying that our meeting was canceled and because that was the only reason we were in Columbus, we decided to head back to Americus a day earlier. On the way back, before we even made it out of Columbus, we heard a clunk clunk in the engine, there was a message on the dash that said, “Engine power reduced”, and the check engine light turned on. We got off the highway on the next exit, and ended up in a Waffle House parking lot! We called Sister Allred (the vehicle coordinator), and she told us to go to the nearest dealership, so we called them and it turned out the closest one was only a mile away! #tendermercies We make it there to the dealer, and apparently the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a “fleet car” so we got to go to the “Fleet service” and get it fixed super quick and were good to go. #tendermercies!!

(For those curious what happened, I guess that the air intake pipe came off, so they got a gasket and pretty much re-sealed it? I don’t really know though lol)

Saturday, we ended up going street contacting and had 3 lessons planned. This week must have been a busy week for everyone else too, because all of those lessons canceled too!! It was still a good day, and we got to see a bunch of people at campus and at Walmart. Because we both thought Elder Harmon was going to be transfered out, he started packing his ties and some clothes. Come the night time, it was super funny because we found out that I am the one leaving, so I would have to start packing ??

Sunday, we had one friend come in person and one listen over the phone that were able to be at church, so that was good! 🙂 It was a really sweet fast and testimony meeting, and a really good Sunday School. We went to Dinner Lunch with the Coopers, and had some amazing food! (As always). It was Meat loaf, asparagus, something cheesy biscuits, and candy pie. So, so, so tasty!! The rest of the day was pretty much me packing. 

That leaves us to today, where I am writing this email. We went to Walmart and I was going to get some soft crocs, because ever since we’ve gotten here, they’ve bee staring at me the whole time! But when we got there, they were all gone except for a big foot size, so that was alright. I didn’t really need them anyways ??. We also got a car wash, and I cleaned my bathroom and did the dishes. (I want it to be clean at the apartment for whoever else comes here!!)

And that is pretty much my week! Lots of fun things, and surprising things. So many miracles, and so many cool things that have happened!

For my spiritual thought today, I want to talk about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Last week, I got an email, and was invited to think about all of the gifts that Heavenly Father has blessed me with, and how they have been able to bless my life. I actually very much liked that a lot! It led to some cool things in study, and was a really cool thing to think about this week. As part of my thinking, I was thinking about the Holy Ghost, and how when we are baptized, we recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost; and that is so cool! We can always have the peaceful and comforting feeling that the Holy Ghost can give us at all times! What a wonderful gift that we can all recieve. 

I know that the Light of Christ is in every one of us, and the Holy Ghost can testify of truth through the light of Christ and that is how people can feel the peaceful feeling of the gospel before they are baptized. It is why it might sound familiar. But it is when we recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost that we can have that constant companion :). I know that the Holy Ghost is such an amazing teacher, comforter, and loves us so very much. He is literally a member of the Godhead, who we are promised that as we keep our baptismal covenants, we will be able to have the Holy Ghost with us always. I know that this church is true. Through the Holy Ghost, I have been able to develop so many gifts and talents that I would not otherwise be able to do. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, and he loves you. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope y’all have a fantastic week!

-Elder Claussen

email from February 28, 2022

Hi everyone,

I hope y’all’s week has been great! This week for me was full of travel (like always lol), making contacts, and it was another super busy week that I think went very well! It’s crazy how it’s already been 3 months and this is my last week of being a greenie!! Like how did that happen?! ??

I can’t remember what we did last Monday, but I do remember being more productive than doing nothing at all (*three weeks ago* ?). It was a good day though! Our after 6:00 time we finished editing a video (which will hopefully be posted this week or next week!), and had a fire Lesson with someone, and it was over Zoom! It was a little weird because their video wasn’t on, so we were talking to the stock photo of a silhouette of a guy. But it was still a really good lesson either way! Zoom lessons are a lot nicer than phone calls, because then they can see that there are two people and know why there are two voices. It is sometimes weird over the phone when there’s one of us talking and then all of the sudden there’s another person and they’re like, “Wait, who’s that?”

Tuesday, unfortunately most of our lessons didn’t answer, so that was kind of sad; but it was still worth it when one of the Gloria’s (we are teaching 3 Glorias!!) answered, and we had a fantastic lesson with her. Sneak peek to Sunday, she made it to church! Funny story about the name Gloria. We are teaching three people named Gloria, we named our car Gloria, and this morning we found out that Elder Harmon’s violin’s name is Gloria too! So many Glorias!!

Wednesday was a bit of an all over the place day. It started out normal, and we had a lesson which went pretty well! We taught the word of Wisdom, and it didn’t seem like they had any issues with that which is fantastic, because there are a lot of people who struggle with that down here!! Through the middle of the day, we had an in person contacting block, where we would go around and visit returning members and people who have been interested in the past. We made it to one house in the whole hour and a half we had planned out! The person we were trying to find wasn’t home, but their son was, who apparently went to church when they were younger. We ended up talking for a very, very long time! I’m not going to lie when I say that I had trouble following the whole conversation. It kind of jumped from one place to another so fast and I was completely lost! By the end of the conversation, he had a Book of Mormon, 3 different passalong cards, and a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet! So that was fun. 

Thursday was another day where people didn’t seem to want to answer! We went to a lesson in person, but they weren’t there, so we visited another returning member’s place that lived nearby, and had a similar experience as Wednesday! We ended up talking for about an hour fifteen minutes! This conversation was better because I could follow along better. This lady we talked to is very sweet, it was just a really long conversation ?. 

Friday was good. We went up to Columbus for District Council, so that was good! It’s always nice to be able to see other missionaries!! It was funny because the Zone Leaders were on exchanges, so we had honorary district member Elder Bayles who came into the mission at the same time as me. It was good to see him!  We also had a lesson with someone we are teaching, and Sister Chase joined us to help teach them. Our friend and Sister Chase seemed to get along very well, so that was super cool! Hopefully that friendship can stay and help our friend feel welcomed :). 

Saturday, we drove back to Americus and had two lessons that went well. We tried calling a bunch of people, but most people didn’t end up answering, but the two lessons made the day worth it!

Sunday was fantastic! We had one of the people that we are teaching come (Gloria), and one who listened over the phone. It was Gloria’s first time coming to church with us, but she seemed to really like it! They seemed to be very engaged and were so excited to come back! There’s also a new couple that moved in from the Newnan ward and they seem pretty legit. All in all, I think there were 30 people that were there, which for Americus, is fantastic! It was  a very good day! 

And, that leaves us to today, where as of me writing this, we went to Walmart to get some groceries, which was fun, and now we are waiting in line for Taco Bell, and it’s been almost 20 mins, but we’re chilling lol. But we are going to eat lunch at the Gazebo, so that’ll be fun. 

As for a spiritual thought today, there have been a lot of cool things that I’ve learned. I’m not quite sure what I would like to share today, but I guess I’d like to share a thought about Book of Mormon (again ;)). As I have probably mentioned so many times in the last few weeks, the mission is still doing the ‘Read the Book of Mormon in 90 days’ challenge, and it has been going really good! I ended up taking some extra time in some parts, and so I am a little bit behind from where the guideline reading is. Don’t worry though, I have a plan to still finish in time ;). As I have started reading Mosiah, I really like how in the first chapter, it explains the importance of the scriptures. It explains how if Lehi didn’t tell his sons to get the brass plates, then they would have no recollection of the covenants that God has made with us, and they would have not been able to remember everything, “Except it were for the help of these plates.” (Mosiah 1:4). The scriptures help us to understand the mysteries of God, and help us recognize his hand in every aspect of our lives. 

There was a talk by Elder Bednar called The Character of Christ, and it is amazing! I don’t know where to find it, because Elder Harmon had it downloaded on his phone; but if you do somehow find it, you should definitely listen to it! There are so many different things that are really good about that talk, but that would be a whole other discussion lol. Something that Elder Bednar challenged was that if you have any questions, if you grab a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon, and read it front to back marking all of the things that help answer that question, then you Will find an answer to your question. He went on to say that by the time you were his age, you would probably have a library of 500 Book of Mormons that help you see the progress that you’ve made throughout your life (probably true, but funny!).  I think that this is so cool, because it is a very bold statement to say that one book will help answer any question that you have in life; but it is true! As you read the scriptures, it creates a time for you to feel the spirit and put Heavenly Father first. Even if in the Book of Mormon it doesn’t say word for word an answer to your question, as you are seeking with a purpose, the Holy Ghost will testify to you truths that Will answer your questions. 

Read the scriptures, they’re great :)! I won’t lie, before I came out to Georgia, I didn’t read them nearly enough! I found it hard to read sometimes because of the biblical language and understanding what it meant. As you read, the understanding will come; and before you know it, you’ll grow to love them. I know it sounds like such a ‘missionary’ thing to say, but it’s because it is true! If you live your life in a way that invites the spirit, and study the scriptures every single day; it will be a life changing experience. I am grateful for this opportunity to serve on a mission, because it is helping me learn so many principles that will help me for the rest of my life. I have already learned so much in the 3 months, and am so excited to keep on learning new things each and every day! I know that this is the true church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

-Elder Claussen

Hi Family and friends!

How is everyone doing? I hope this week has been better than last week! ? For me, there was a lot of learning, growing, and it was very, very good! 

Last Monday, I am pretty sure that I already shared about our (not)valentines day party at Longhorn and skip-bo at the church. That was really fun and was some nice district bonding time! 

Tuesday and Wednesday we did a bunch of Street Contacting and trying to find people in Americus that we can teach! A bunch of people we teach are in Cordele or Vienna 30 mins away, but they don’t have cars! We ended up finding two new people this week, so that is really good and exciting! 

Thursday we had interviews with President and Sister Needs, and so we headed up to Columbus bright and early to make it to those, and so that was really a fun time! ? President and Sister Needs are seriously so nice, and they care for and love each and every missionary in the Georgia Atlanta Mission! We also had District Council and Weekly Planning, so it ended up being a day full of planning!

We stayed in Columbus over night because on Friday we had part two of new missionary training! (Hence the title of my email) That was all the way in Peachtree city, which is about an hour fifteen from Columbus (two and a half hours from Americus). It was such a fantastic training, and because the APs were busy that day, we had President Needs teach us the whole time, and well again, it was fantastic! 🙂 We drove back to Americus that same day, and then had a bunch of contacts to catch up on and two lessons that went very well! 

Saturday was super busy of catching up on some contacts and having so many lessons! A bunch of them ended up falling through, but we did still have a couple good ones!! 

And yesterday, Sunday, it was a good day full of study and learning. We totally forgot that this week and not next week is an Original Post (video post) Instead of just a quick post (just a picture). So we ended up filming yesterday and hope that we can get the video edited and looking nice sooner than later!! 

And that brings us to Today, where I got to talk to my family, which is always fantastic!!! We’ll see what the rest of the day brings us. 🙂

For a spiritual thought today, it seems like there has been a lot this week about patience. Everything happens in the Lord’s timing and it takes faith to believe that everything will turn out all good in the end. Patience has a whole section under the Christlike attributes in Preach My Gospel. It explains, “Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing.” With that definition in mind, you can pretty much apply patience to literally everything! As you stay faithful, God has promised that he will bless you, so it is going to happen! Sometimes (a lot of the time) your patience doesn’t happen how/when you expect it to, but as you develop this christlike attribute, you will be able to see that it is so worth it! Heavenly Father will always answer our prayers. He will always give us the blessings he’s promised. He loves us, and all he asks us to do is love him back and show our faith by keeping his commandments! If we have Love (aka Charity), everything else falls into place!

I hope y’all have a fantastic week this week! I will talk to y’all next week, and until then, God Loves YOU!

-Elder Claussen

Hello Friends and Family!

What another crazy week! There was a lot of travel and a lot of meetings (good meetings, but meetings nonetheless)! I have determined that there is always something new to learn, and that the only way that it’s possible to try to start to learn is from the Holy Ghost :). He truly is the teacher in every lesson that we teach! It really is so important to always be in a place that you can feel the Holy Ghost!

To start at last Monday, we kinda did literally nothing! We chilled at the apartment, and then went to the church at 5:00 so Elder Harmon could call home and we could be there for our teaching time. I think that I did a load of laundry, cleaned my bathroom (maybe that was Tuesday though?), and wrote emails! Not much else happened haha! I’ll probably write about today later, because this week has been a weird one!

Tuesday, was fun! We got to do a bunch of in person’s for people that are in Americus.  We went to a bunch of people’s houses, but there were only like 3 people that answered! It is still fun to do in person’s though, because it gets us out of the apartment! We also had 2 really good lessons with two of our Gloria’s. I think there are three people named Gloria that we are teaching right now! It is always funny to ask who we are teaching, then have to say which one? 

Wednesday was pretty much a day of contacts and lessons. We stayed super busy, and I am not going to lie, I don’t remember much that happened on Wednesday other than contacts, Facebook, and lessons. 

Thursday was when things started to get crazy! The morning was good, and we got a lot done, but in the evening, we went to Buena Vista, which is the half way point between Americus and Columbus and started Exchanges. There was a Member in Columbus that got us some Olive Garden. Apparently they are on vacation in Hawaii? So they ordered it, but they got food for 3 people on accident! We had three plates of Chicken Alfredo, Three Salads, and A Huge box of breadsticks! (There were 26 breadsticks in the box!!!) It was very tasty, and I very much enjoyed it haha! After that we went to another member’s house where we filmed one of their kids who had Bible verses for like the whole alphabet. It was very impressive, because they went A-I with a Bible verse memorized with that starting letter!

Friday, was when we had the rest oc exchanges. We had some in person’s we did get to go to a new members house that is moving into a new apartment. Funny story on that is that they used to live in the Americus Area, and so as they were moving,  they called us to see who the Elders in Columbus were (because that is where she was moving). I thought it was so funny that the day that she was moving was the day we had exchanges and went to help, so that was a cool tender mercy :). After exchanges, we had district council, and so that was fun. 

Saturday, we stayed in Columbus still because we had a training meeting, and so that was super fun to go to. We would have gone back to Americus after that, but Sunday was Stake Conference, so we decided to stay so we could go to that. 

Which brings us to Sunday, which was Stake Conference. It was really good, and there were some really cool talks that were given! As my spiritual thought, I’ll probably share some of the message that was given there. But we saw some people from Americus that made it up to Columbus, but I think most of them probably watched it on Zoom. 

Finally, that brings us to Today! As we are still in Columbus, my district wanted to do a District PDay, and so we are going to eat at Longhorn ($$$$) and then go back to the church and have a singles day awareness party! ??? 

And well,  I guess that leaves me in Columbus for 5/7 days this week, and it will be at least two times over there next week, so I definitely don’t need to worry about not traveling enough!

For my spiritual thought today, I would like to share one of the themes of stake conference; healing. Healing is not being instantly better, but the process that it takes to be healed. It takes time, and it will always help you to grow closer to the Savior and become more like him. Sometimes healing might seem like a punishment, but Heavenly Father loves us enough to let us learn and figure things out, because we can and will become like him! Just like a parent watching their toddler learn how to walk. If you as a parent help them always, then your baby won’t grow the muscles that are needed to walk on our own. And likewise, as we heal and learn how to walk, Heavenly Father knows everything that we need to succeed! He knows which muscles that we need to develop. 🙂

I don’t think that I’ve seen a baby that has ever given up! They fall down, but they always get back up and try to walk again; Nothing will stop them! Even if we might not know how to do it, Heavenly Father will provide a way for us to do the things he’s commanded us. We might have to look at it from a different angle, and it will most certainly require lots of study and prayer, but as we take our first steps, we cannot give up. As we are healing from the struggles of life, we must push through and never give up! 🙂

It is my hope that I’ve given this topic justice for what we learned on Sunday. It was a really good conference, and I hope that the spirit can teach you what you need to hear right now :). 

I think that’s everything for this week though! I hope that everyone’s week gets better than it already is, where ever it might be right now. I will write to y’all next week, and hope y’all have a good one! 🙂

-Elder Claussen 

eMailed on February 7, 2022

Hi everyone!

I feel like I say this everything, but what a crazy week! It feels like this week I have learned so much, and it was overall just a really good week :)!

Last Monday was fun because we got a car wash, haircuts, Icecream, and exploring through Americus a bit. We’ve been in Americus for a while transfer, but until last week, we read never explored the town square! There are some pretty fun shops and stuff, and some cool things that were kind of fun to find. Kinda random, but there was this antique store and it had a bunch of old antique things, but then in the back of the store they just had a stand that had a bunch of Dr. Squatch soap! You’d better believe that I did get some of that stuff 😉

That leads us to Tuesday, where we pretty much had a bunch of contacts and a bunch of lessons, pretty good day! At the end of Tuesday night we went up to Columbus for District Council and stayed at the ZL’s Apartment again because it was zone conference on Wednesday! Before district council, we went to panda express, which was yummy, so that was fun.

Wednesday was Zone Conference. While no it was not a whole mission Christmas Party, it was still super good nonetheless! We talked a lot about how we can be better missionaries, and there were some really good things that I learned, that hopefully I can apply to my every day life! We also talked about Facebook and the success that we are seeing from that, and it is crazy! In just the Month of January, the Georgia Atlanta Mission reach over 1,000,000 people!! One Million people is a lot of people ?!!! So that was super cool to see the growth from 500-600 hundred thousand in December to to a whole million in January! 

Thursday, we had Weekly planning, a lesson, and dinner with the Pearces. We Filmed Sister Pearce for a facebook video, and so that was fun and should be posted soon? 😉 But we ate food, and had a nice spiritual thought about faith, and shared a video of the youngest professional soccer player, which was nice.

Friday, we had quite a few lessons, and we also went around Cordele for the day because in our AreaBook, there are a lot of people who say they’re members, so we went by to their houses to see how they are. I’m not sure if we found any of the members because all of them have either moved or passed away, but we did meet a lot of cool people that we’ll hopefully be able to teach! 

Saturday, was super busy! We had a lot of lessons and worked on making posts and editing videos. It was pretty much non-stop contacts and lessons, so we definitely stayed busy and time just flew by!!

Sunday was really nice! We had our friend Malcolm come to church, which was amazing! We set up a lesson for later today, and so hope fully that goes through! We also had a fantastic lesson with Johnnie, and he is also such a cool guy! We taught the Plan of Salvation, and it was a really good lesson! Elder Harmon and I have been working at teaching as a companionship instead of just talking to people individually, and I think that we did a really good job at that! 

Johnnie’s lesson went a little late, but we looked at the schedule and it was such a tender mercy because we got out at exactly the time that we planned to start driving to our next lesson! We tried calling our next lesson to make sure we were still good to come out, because it was a bit farther away than our normal lessons, but he didn’t answer. We both still felt like we should go anyways and make the trek down to his house to see if he was home. When we got there, we saw our friends truck there, so we were excited because that usually meat he was home! As we were praying before the lesson, we had some taps on the window of the car, so that was a little bit strange! We quickly ended the prayer and there was this lady that was just looking at us (it was a little creepy, but what happened next was soooo sweeett!!) We said hi, and then she asked if we were LDS, and so we told her, yeah, we are the Missionaries in the area! She was so happy to see us, and she said she is a recent convert from Kansas (I think it was Kansas?) And she moved here a bit ago, and has recently been trying to find missionaries! 

It was actually a really neat experience because it was a really good reminder that Heavenly Father truly is looking out for each and every one of his Children! It was no coincidence that we were in the literal middle of nowhere, at that time, on a Sunday evening, where we could get this Lady’s phone number because she has been looking for missionaries. If everything didn’t line up just right, then there is no way that it would have happened, except by a miracle from Heavenly Father :).

This week, for my spiritual thought, I think that I’m going to talk about the Gathering of Israel. It might turn into something else, but we shall see! [POST WRITTEN: I did stay on topic mostly lol, but it’s long, so I understand if you skip to the last paragraph;)] President Nelson for the past few years has been teaching a lot about the Gathering of Israel! He says that it is the most important work on the earth today, which is a Very bold statement! Out of everything that is happening right now, the Gathering of the house of Israel is what the Prophet, who has been called by God, is the most important work. But what exactly is the Gathering of Israel? A gathering is where you bring something together, and Israel means to let God Prevail. So in a literal sense, it means we are bringing together people who Let God Prevail. One could also say that it is bringing together the 12 tribes of Israel, which in that literal sense would be having descendants come together from all around the world, which we do see in the Scriptures that this will happen too. 

But why is the Gathering of Israel so important? I have asked myself this question a lot in the last few weeks because as a Missionary, I am helping to gather Israel. My missionary purpose is to help others come unto Christ, which in the first definition, is bringing together Israel, and in the second definition, through our patriarchal blessings, we learn that we are literal descents of those same tribes of Israel, so as a missionary, or in any missionary attempts that anyone makes is helping to gather Israel. But that still doesn’t answer why it is so important. 

From the beginning of the earth, even in the time of the Jaradites (the Book of Ether in the BOM), which happened close to the time after the flood of Noah, God had prepared a land to be choice above all other lands. God made a promise that, “whoso should posses this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them…For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands;” (Ether 2:8,10). Then we see that they prospered in the land,  and did flourish in blessings until they did forget the Lord their God and we know that the Jaradite people had great wars until Coriantumr was the last one to find the descents of Nephi (found in Omni). 

We see this pattern with Nephi thousands of years later, where there was wickedness, and they flee and the Lord directs them to the promised land, in which the Lord tells Nephi the same covenant he made with the Brother of Jared, in that as long as they remember the Lord their God, they shall prosper and shall see His blessings. And if they don’t, then they shall be scattered and lost. Throughout the rest of the Book of Mormon we see this pattern, where as people are righteous and Remember God, and keep their covenants that they’ve made, they prosper and grow. But as they forget their covenants and forget God, they ultimately lead themselves to destruction. Nephi saw all this from reading the Book of Isaiah, and from the Brass Plates (plus other things of course ;)). I would assume this is why he is sorrowful when he says he has seen the fall of his people, because he saw what was going to happen when Columbus did come, and his seed would be wicked, and the Lord would prepare the way for the Restoration. 

In 1 Nephi 13, throughout, it prophesies of Columbus finding the promised land, and the settling of the America that we know today. (Verses 10-13) In verses 16-19, it talks about the revolutionary War, and how we would win because we would remember God and would be “delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.” In 1 Nephi 22:13-16 it explains how the fall of the Great and Abominable Church (which we learn is everyone who is not on the covenant path) will, “tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it” and then it hints towards the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; which in other locations you can find more signs of that! (Fires, plagues *cough* Covid19? *cough*, temples everywhere, etc.)

Needlesstosay, to bring it back to the Gathering of Israel, that is where we are now. We can see that great and abominable church or the world rising up, and all of those prophecies are coming to pass now. Amidst all of this though, it is sooo important for us to remember our God so we can continue to prosper in the land of Promise, and prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! (I want to say that President Oaks had a talk in a recent General Conerence on this??)

So why is the Gathering of Israel so important? It’s because it is bringing others to Jesus Christ, and helping them on their path to get to the Temple and make sacred covenants with God. It is proof that the prophecies in the Book of Mormon And the Bible are coming to pass! It helps to explain the scattering of Israel, and the pattern of the Love that our Heavenly Father has for us in bringing us back! It helps us to see how our Agency is truly a gift from God, and that we can use that Agency to follow Him. It can put into perspective life, and help keep our priorities straight and always putting God First.

I could go on and on with this list, but I would like to close in saying that President Nelson truly is a prophet of God. He knows what we all need to hear at this time today, and he will help us stay on the covenant path and will never lead us astray! The work of the Lord is hastening soo much, and I am so grateful that I can be a part of it! I know that we are truly part of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ, and I know that it is so important to remember Him always.

My invitation to everyone this week is to go and read President Nelson’s talk: Let God Prevail (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/10/46nelson?lang=eng). It just came to mind after I finished writing this, and it fits perfectly :)! I know that as we DO let God Prevail that we WILL see the blessings in our life. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all!

-Elder Claussen

eMail from 1-31-2022

Hello Everyone!

Happy Pday (or whatever day you are reading this)! The work in Americus Georgia is not stopping. We have done a lot of really good things, and are now at a point where we get to see if what we’ve done is actually going to work. We finally had a Branch Coordination and I think that it really was a good meeting that will be really helpful to have (evert week?!)!! 

So, this week was good. Last Monday, we pretty much had a normal Pday, except we planned a lesson with one of our friends Johnnie, and we went to their house, and they said that it was too early (11:00am), and so we’d have to go back later.  Because it was Pday, our scheduled was fairly open throughout the day, so we called them in the middle of the day, and they said they were out of town now, but would be home later. We said we’d call later to see if it would be a good time, and they said they’d love that. Needless to say, we called back a third time, and they said they were going to be home in 5 minutes, so we were like perfect! We can come in 30 minutes. We get there and they were not home! So we never did get to teach them… Fast forward to yesterday, we had rescheduled their then, and turns out this last week they lost a family member, so we didn’t meet with them again. I really hope that we can meet with them because they seem like a really cool dude! Definitely keep him in your prayers if at all possible! 

We also drove up to Columbus at the end of the day to get ready for District Council, so we stayed the night at the ZLs house again. So Tuesday morning we had District Council and district Lunch at Cook-out, so thats always fun. ?

Wednesday, was a busy day! We had quite a few lessons go through, which was fantastic! And then we had dinner at President Tuckers house, where we went to this Mexican Shop and got burritos,  and they were sooo good!! President Tucker is the Branch President, so it is always good to talk with him and his wife! 

Thursday, we had a lot of contacts and another lesson go through! We had a Lunch with Sister Chase at this all you can eat pizza and salad bar place, and it is walking distance from our apartment, and it is suuper yummy! ? then we had Weekly Planning, which are always such a joy to plan and make goals for everyone, and then dinner at the Pearces. We finally got to meet Sister Pearces other son, and so it was really nice to meet him and his wife and baby. (They have two babies at their house now, and a 3 year old who is hilarious! ??) 

Friday, was completely packed with lessons, and two of them went through, so could have been better, but still not too bad. We had a really nice mission Devotional (via zoom) where President Needs gave the whole mission a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days! I am super excited for the challenge, and will talk more about that in just a sec.

Saturday, we ended up going over to Cordele because someone requested a Book of Mormon, and we have the miles, so we went and delivered that. There house was like in a historical neighborhood, so it was actually really cool to see all of the super old buildings! There was one house that was actually not a square, but a circle room!! It was kind of weird, and I would be Interested to see what the inside looked like lol. 

Sunday was really good too. We went to church, and had our first Branch Missionary Coordinarion, which was really nice! Unfortunately,  none of our friends could make it, but we did have more members than normal, so that was good! One thing that we struggle with is getting people to church, because a lot of them don’t have cars, and they live 30+min (drive) away! We learned that the ward area is separated by county, and so that’s why it is so big. Its a little strange because some of the people that are wayyy out there are actually closer to other wards/branches, but are still assigned to ours. But we have goals and plans to try to help people make it to church, so hopefully we will be successful in that!!

And that leads us to today, where I’m writing this email, and now you get to read it :D. Today, my spiritual thought is going to be on the Book of Mormon again. As I mentioned before, President Needs has extended a challenge to all of the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days. That’s about 6 Pages a Day. (Today is read to page 18!). He said to focus on faith, and the miracles that come from faith. Also to be looking for aspects and points in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism,  receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost,  and Enduring to the end). 

The last two days have been so cool to have this focus because there are so many examples of Faith that Lehi and his family literally leave their homes, go back to get the plates, and then go back again to get more people?! That’s gotta be so hard, but they had the faith to do it! There are so many Miracles that they see too! As Nephi turns to the Lord, he is always comforted. Laban was delivered into his hands. They were protected in the wilderness, and all of this came from faith! It has already helped me see miracles and tender mercies and miracles in my life, and it’s only been two days!! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is truly the biggest tool in conversion because if the Book of Mormon is true, it’s all true! As you do more than just read, but study it, you will come closer to Jesus Christ, and that is a promise! 

I love y’all so much, and hope that your week has been good too! Catch ya on the flip side! -Elder Claussen 🙂

eMail from January 24, 2022

Hello family and friends!

I don’t remember if last week I said that it was going to be a busy week or not, but man… It was a busy week! More than half of the week I was actually not in Americus, because of exchanges, interviews, and more exchanges? It has been super crazy!

Monday, we had a district P-Day, which was really fun! WE went to Plains Georgia which is actually about 15 mins away from my apartment. Plains Georgia is where Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States currently lives, and there are a couple of museums that we went to about that. It was really interesting, and all of it was to celebrate Sister Ruud’s birthday (a sister in my district) so we ended the day with Ice cream and cake!

On Monday night, we started exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and so I went to the Flat Rock area with Elder McArthur and spent Monday night over there. Then Tuesday, we had exchanges where I learned a bunch, and we made a lot of contacts. Tuesday night, Elder Harmon and Elder Fredrickson came back to Flat Rock to end exchanges but we all stayed in Columbus, because on Wednesday we had interviews with the Mission President, and it didn’t make sense to drive all the way back to Americus just to drive back in the morning. 

So, we stayed there again Tuesday Night. Wednesday came, and we did our studies, and headed to go to interviews, and that was super fun! I haven’t talked with President Needs very much, but every time that I have, it has always been good! Interviews were no exception! I got to talk with Sister Needs for a bit, and get to know her as well, and I am so lucky to have such amazing people to talk to and have lead the mission!!

Immediately after Interviews, we went to get lunch, but because everyone from the district was already there for interviews, we had district council, which never fails to be a good time! We had training and role plays which are always fun to do. 

As if we weren’t in Columbus for long enough, we stayed yet another night, because on Thursday, Elder Harmon had a meeting up in Fayetteville that he was carpooling with Elder Hobbs to go to, and they lived only 15-20 mins from the Zone leaders house. So once again, we stayed another night in Columbus and the next day, we went to Rivercrest (which is the name of the area that we needed to go to), and had another exchange! Elder Harmon was with Elder Hobbs, and I was with Elder Bayles. Elder Bayles was in the MTC with me, and so it was really fun to be able to have two greenies working together on exchanges. We got a lot done in those exchanges and got a lot of contacts and in person’s done. It was a fun time. 

That leaves us to Thursday evening, where we finally went back to Americus! (For me it was a total of 4 days in Columbus lol). When we got back, we had so much work to catch up on! We were still working from a distance with phone calls and such, but there was still so much to do!! So Thursday night all the way till Saturday was mixed with weekly planning, contacts, and lessons! 

Sunday was a fairly normal day, we went to church, had some contacts, a couple of lessons, and it was nice to be able to take a small breather after the crazy week!! And now today, it is P-Day and transfers are on Wednesday, so I have already made it through a whole transfer! That is just so crazy to me!

For a spiritual thought today, I want to talk about goals! Goals are so important to have. In Preach My Gospel, it says “Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish.” I find it interesting that it says the desires of our hearts, because I never really thought about it that way. I am not going to lie when I say that I have never really been a goal oriented person. I have maybe had a plan in my mind of what I wanted to accomplish or get done, but never really saw a need to write it down or set the goal. It made it very easy for me to not be accountable for what I really needed to get done, because whether I meant to or not, most of the time my goals probably slipped to accommodate what I wanted rather than what I needed. This leads me to Accountability! There is actually a whole other section in Preach my Gospel about Accountability, and that one is really good too.

I am starting to learn the importance of goals and trying to achieve the goals that I set. Sometimes goals are not met, but that is not a reason to be discouraged, but just to re-evaluate and make new goals that you can accomplish! As we set goals that are there to help us improve, even if it is just a little step at a time, we will improve! I would invite everyone this week to make a goal that will help you improve one aspect of your life. Whether that is a spiritual goal or a physical goal, or mental goal, I know that if you do this, you will be able to see progress in your life then you ever thought possible. You’ll be able to make leaps and bounds and find more satisfaction with the work that that you do. 

There are so many different ways to set goals; I know that S.M.A.R.T. goals are really popular, but if there is another way that you like to do your goals, then do them that way! Just make sure that they are realistic and encourage you to do better :).

I really love y’all and hope that y’all have a good week! 

I think that’s everything for now,

Elder Claussen

eMail from January 17, 2022

Hi Friends and Family!

How’s everyone doing this week?! It’s crazy that it’s already been another week, because if this is how fast time goes as a missionary, then they aren’t lying when they say long days, but the weeks go by so fast!! It has been super busy and productive this week,  and a bunch of our friends are learning new principles better than ever!! 🙂 It really is amazing to see all of the miracles that come from being a full time Missionary, and it really is great! 

This week, we had a lot of service. We went over to some branch member’s houses and one of them, we helped them move some furniture and bookshelves and chairs. Before, they had plastic shelving units, and so they got wooden shelves, and they look really nice! Then we also went over to another member’s house, where they are actually going to move in to this house, because it is their dream house, but the people before them didn’t quite maintain it how they would have liked. So Elder Harmon and I got to help paint and do some yard work! 

More on the yard work though, it was really cool because there was definitely a miracle that I saw! Part of the cleaning and yard work that we did was digging a ton of dirt out of the entrance to the crawl space, because it was really full, and caused issues with water, and made it hard to get down there! Well, by the end, we had a really big pile of dirt, with glass and other mysterious things in it, and this member really had no need to keep a bunch of dirt, because if it were to rain, then it would have just washed away right back into the hole! I guess long story short, she had 5 big black garbage bags that are like the yard work kind, and she’s like, “I hope this is enough” but I knew that dirt gets heavy fast, and it would be very close! We actually ended up filling the bags to the very max, all 5 of them, and barely got everything to fit! It might seem simple, and I guess you could say it is; but I know that Heavenly Father was looking after us and this member, because there is no reason that dirt should have fit in the bags, except by a miracle! 🙂 The whole time I was thinking about the “1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Loaves and Two little fishes” and it was a really cool experience!

Service happened last Monday and Thursday, but on Tuesday we ended up going about a hour away from the apartment to the very edge of our area, to a tiny, tiny place called Abbeville.  Someone that turns out they are a member, requested a Book of Mormon last week, and so we made the trek out there, and it was quite the experience! Abbeville is such a tiny little place, which literally one big building, the county court house, and it is just so small! To my family who knows the size of Fernley, it was so much smaller than that! The only two stores that they had there were literally a dollar general and a piggy wiggly. There was one Ma and Pop food place (that was pretty good actually), and that is the entirety of Abbeville! It was very old and historic,  and I could belive that maybe in the 1930s it was the place to be! ? There was so much history there! 

Wednesday was a pretty normal day, we ended up going to some peoples houses in person which is always fun, but before we actually got to their houses, there were some people sitting on their porches, and they stopped us, and we had some good conversations! I’m not going to lie, I don’t know what half of the conversations we had were about, but I do belive I’m starting to be able to pick words out here and there to have at least SOME context clues as to what’s going on ??. They said that they would come to church next Sunday though, so I am excited to see if that ends up happening lol ?.

Thursday was that service project and weekly planning, and it was actually really productive,  so that was good. 

Friday was a day of travel and good information! We had a meeting called New Missionary Training, and it was all the way up in Peachtree city, about 2 and a half hours away! We ended up waking up and going on the road right away so we could make it on time! New Missionary Training was a really nice meeting, and a bunch of questions that I didn’t even know that I had were answered, and so that is always nice! We talked a bit about social styles, and how we can better read people and predict how they will react, and it was actually really interesting! Another part of the meeting was about Facebook and how we can use it as a tool for Missionary work, and that in the last two years the number of people we have reached is insane!! We went from about 1500 to 20000 referrals from social media, which I think is a miracle in of itself! 

On the note of Facebook, something us missionaries do is LCS (Like, Comment, and Share…pronounced ‘Licks’) to try to reach as many people as we can. Turns out, this is very effective for the Facebook Algorithm,  and so we were told to tell everyone to go to your local Missionary page and start doing LCS today! ? ? (my zone page is Finding Christ along the Chattahoochee)

After New Missionary Training, we had District Council, which is always fun, and so we had that and then went to Red Robin, which was actually really good! We ended up staying in Columbus with the ZLs again because we wouldn’t have had time to make it back to Americus by the time all of that was over. 

Saturday, we drove back to Americus, and I think that it was pretty much a normal day with a couple lessons and contacts? I don’t remember much from Saturday, except for looking at Next Week’s schedule and realizing that I am going to be in Columbus for like 4 days next week?! We have exchanges, then interviews, and then there’s another meeting that Elder Harmon has……but thats all for next week ??

Sunday, we had our friend come to church again, and they really seem to like coming to church, so that is amazing!! We really need to just set up lessons with them, because I think they are such a great person! We haven’t been able to because they’ve been busy, but I am really excited for them! There are more people that we’re teaching who actually did get a car, they just need to fix it up, and then they can come to church too! They are super excited!!

Overall, it has been super busy!! So many referrals, and so many things to do :). It is pretty great! 

I’ve thought a lot about the spiritual thought for this week, and I came up with a bunch, but I think that for today It’s going to be on action. As a missionary,  there is a schedule guideline that we should follow each day,  and this week I’ve been thinking about the study time vs other time. You would expect as a missionary,  you would have all the time in the world to study! If you aren’t doing anything,  then you read your Scriptures! And while that would probably be true, I am quickly learning that there is no time other than in the morning that we actually do get to study! This last week, we barely had enough time even in the morning (as we were traveling a lot lol). 

I guess my point being is if as a missionary,  we really do only get 1 hour a day for personal studies, then is it the studies that actually matter or are important? To answer my question, I say yes! They are important! But something that I am learning, is that it is what you do with the knowledge that you’re gaining that really matters! We all have agency, and that is probably one of the greatest gifts that we have! To choose what we do and master the natural man. 

While learning and studying is so important, I am learning that your faith and growth actually happens when you are applying what you’re learning. Most, if not all of the time, this is really hard! As we go throughout our day, it is when we are actually applying the principles that we are learning that we are going to have to choose to do what is right. You can know to do something, but unless you actually do it, there isn’t really any gain. You might have heard something like, “you can have all the knowledge in the world, but unless you use it, what’s the point in having that knowledge?” 

I hope the point that I am getting across is that living the gospel really is a life long persuit! We need to study and learn every single day, because then we can learn how to make good decisions and follow the council from the Holy Ghost. It is as we are living in this way that our faith will grow, and we will be able to become better diciples of Jesus Christ! 

None of this change, none of this improvement would be possible without Jesus Christ. Literally every single thing in our lives turns back to him! We must focus on him, because his rock is sure, and his rock is unshaken. It’s not going to move and throw us for a loop, but rather be firm and strong. We will find joy in this because this is who we are meant to become. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can all repent,  we can all change, and we can and will be forgiven if we truly have the desire to learn and grow, It will be good enough :). It is somewhat a daunting and humbling task that we have ahead of us! But we can do it; With the help of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we will be successful!

I love you all and hope y’all’s are staying safe! I wasn’t expecting to write a whole miracle about dirt in bags, but I know that Heavely Father is watching out for me! Thank you all for the emails you’ve sent me! I have read them all, I just haven’t been able to respond to them. I am working on that as fast as I can! 🙂

Love ya,

-Elder Claussen

email dated: January 10, 2021

Hello, hello, hello!

How’s every one doing?! It is crazy that I am already writing another email, because I feel like it was only two days ago I was writing my last weekly two days ago! It’s gone by soo fast!! This week has been really good though! I feel like I have learned so much, and have really started to see miracle after miracle happen time after time again without fail!

This week, here in Americus Georgia, missionary work has not stopped! There have been so many referrals that we’ve gotten, which is incredible because referrals are people who want to hear from the missionaries! (Most of the time) Sometimes we’ve gotten people who claim they didn’t make a referral, which is always sad, but we do get to share a message about Jesus Christ and help them come closer to him whether they realize it or not! 🙂

To go through my week, on Tuesday, was a fairly normal day, where we had a bunch of contacts, but we also towards the middle of the day got to make a video with one of our friends for Facebook (I don’t think it has gotten posted yet, but when it does, I am 100% going to share it!) And they got to bear their testimonies,  and it was actually the sweetest thing ever! Definitely was a good way to start the week!

Wednesday, was actually when we filmed the video, I am looking at my calendar, and turns out we planned it Tuesday and filmed it Wednesday ?. But we also took a trip to Cordele, which is a city that is about 30 minutes away from the apartment, and it has a lot of old looking buildings and it was super cool! 

Thursday, we had district council, and so we went down to the Zone Leaders apartment again and we had a baoozookie, and it was super good! We stayed the night, and then the next day had a ‘ZLC?’ Training thing that I got to go to because Elder Harmon is the District Leader. That was on Friday, and it was actually a really amazing conference, and whether or not it was geared towards me, I learned a lot! 🙂

On Saturday, we had so many contacts and we drove back to Americus. It was a nice drive, and helped me remember that there really is so much beauty in the world if you just look out the window! 

On Sunday, I was asked to give a talk, and so that was a fun experience, because for the first time ever, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting without having everything written out word for word of what I was saying. It was a neat experience because I could feel the spirit helping me along, and it was super cool! I talked about revelation, and how we can determine what to do.. I think that it ended up being a pretty good talk? 🙂

The Scripture for this week is going to be Ether 12:27:

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

We don’t have weaknesses because God hates us! We have them so that we can be Humble and turn towards him to help us grow! I have seen God’s love for me so much in the last few weeks that I have been out here. I have heard every missionary say how hard work a Mission is, but they say it is all worth it! I can say I never did understand that, but I think that I am starting to :). 

I know that it might be hard, but I challenge everyone to set aside a time of day that works with you to read the Book of Mormon. It sounds so cliche, you hear it all the time. But I can testify that reading the Book of Mormon every day has been such a blessing in my life. At first, it might be hard, and it might not make sense. But as you study, and ponder, and make it a priority in your life, as Nephi says, “The mysteries of God will be unfolded” and the plain and simple truths of the gospel will be made known unto you. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much, and I know that I am only scratching the surface of what is possible to be Learned. We as Latter Day Saints have been promised that every time we read the Book of Mormon, the spirit will testify something new to you every time. It is true!!

I love you all and hope you have a good week!!

-Elder Claussen