Transfers

hi family. thanks for all writing big letters this week. i love them!

so on stake conference or whatever. id you actually hear and see ucdorf? and the relief society pres?

so here is one more question. so i found a phone like 3 days ago when i was jogging with elder shupe. it was just on the side of the road its a little banged up but it still works. its a Samson Galaxy s (touch screen smart phone) did you want it?  because i don't know what to do with it?

anyway this week has been great. so we had zone conference this week it was great. lots of new insights on missionary work. it was all about faith. and obedience. i learned so much and the scriptures that he had were the bomb. plus we have a new method of track ting (door to door) instead of saying, hi were missionary's from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. and were just going around today share the book of Mormon with everyone. and telling people about our church. (door slam!) we instead say hi were Representatives of Jesus Christ. and we asking people if they would like a blessing upon there home? and if we could pray with them.  its a really cool idea. so the approach is were here to help you out and here is something for you. and before people saw us as taking away form them. (there current religion/church, there addictions/sin there life style) but now were offering to help and bless them. so far it really isn't working. but were still new at it and need some more practice.

so it to the end of another transfer (wow time flys by!) and i found out on Sunday im going to a town called Chickasaw (spelled wrong) its a town smack dap in the middle of Oklahoma. i don't really know alot about it. but my new companions names is elder Platt and elder Kyle so i will be in a three some for a while. there opening up a new area so i might be switching half way through. but im not for sure on that. i don't know elder platt but elder kyle i served around my first transfer. he used to be (i hope he changed) really apostate. like listened to what ever music he wanted, going on face book etc. so i might be there just as a baby sitting job. i hope not because im leaving such a great area and could be going to a non productive one. idk thats were the Lord wants me so im sure it will be great (or at least a place to learn humility)

its sad because im going to miss the two baptisms here. i might come back for them but i will have to ask permission. elder shupe isn't super excited to take over the area. you could blind fold him spin him around three times and let him go and he would be lost.  so he is kind of scared about that. but im sure he will do great. he has already been in the area two transfers so im sure he will figure it out.

o i forgot on Sunday we were driving home from church in the rain. and i saw this truck on the side of the road in a ditch. but it didnt have its hazards on or lights or nothing. so im like what ever than the spirit promoted me to turn around so i made a uturn and stoped on the side of the road. turns out this truck when off the road in to the ditch and through a barbwire fence and was stuck. i jumped out and ran down the bank. there was a lady in the car just sitting there. i knocked on the window and asked if she was OK. she got out of the car and just started bawling. and saying that she couldn't afford a tow truck and this isn't her day and her life sucks. she wasn't hurt physically but her mental status was a wreck this just drove her off the edge (both literally and mentally) so we made some calls and got her some people coming. mean while like ten people form our church stopped to help. it was so cool to see how many people drove by and didnt help. and then like 10 lds people stopped to give assistance. it was kind of like the good Samaritan or something. she got a ride form a friend and sister eddelman let her sit in her car while she waited. i gave her my suit coat because it was cold and elder shupe inspected the truck . just a good sight to see.

im going to be sending home some cowboy boots just so you know so be looking for them. dad you can wear them to a date night if you want. but just be sure to not get them muddy.

yea that was to bad i didnt see ken and get to talk with him for a little bit. but it doesn't super matter i will see him in about 14 months so not to long. wink. well i love serving the Lord i love this Gospel keep up the good work back home dont get stressed out about anything. the Lord will take care of you.

so yea thats it for this week. i guess. i love you all so much your so lucky getting to see "the avengers". i saw a news paper cover the other day that said  "if you haven't seen the avengers yet you should just Punch yourself in the face!"  so i did. jk but its ok i will see it one day. plus its only a movie.

i love you  and i miss you

Love your favorite missionary

Elder Clements

pictures!

Hope not…….spirit prison :)

Elder Shupe

thats alot of Ties

Who Knew

Utah sign

Ward Mission presidents fish

Oh My Mister Payton……….

Something Wicked this way comes

A Moth trying to be a belt buckle

week 41

hi family

so yesterday was awsome! +3-10x57+108 just to round up. so yea its kind of funny the way things just come and go like that. you know you look forward to somthing for like 6 months and then it only lasts about an hour. just kind of silly in a way. right now im dealing with living in the present. im allwasy looking forward and never looking at right now. like it starts out with like i cant wait to go on a mission! then i cant wait to get into the mtc. wow i cant wait to get out of the mtc, i cant wait till im in the feild!, i cant wait till im with someone else. i cant wait till pday. i cant wait for christmas, then mothers day then a year out then two. and i cant wait to go home. and i cant wait to get married. and the vicious cycle goes on and on.we as people are never satisfide with what we have. its part of our genetic makeup. we all ways want more. i guess thats why a "natural man is an enemy to god."  like they say on kung fu panda. "yesterday is history, tommorrow is a mystory and today is a gift thats why its is called the present."

this week has been good. we have been biking it out because its cold outside. (ok not cold but nice) what is the temp like out there? you said you froze your butts off last night?

so who do you think the new bishop is going to be? anybody that i know? or someone that just moved in?  speaking of move in's did any attractive daughters of god move into the ward? and would they be interested in writing me? (wink)

so the work is just chuging along. we do less and less tracking now. i dont know if thats due to effiency or we have lots of people to teach or what? but we havent done some serious door knocking in like a week. witch is good because its not very productive. people are in there confort zone when you knock on there door but when you talk to them there allready kind of mad. because you disloged them form there lazy boy.  so its more effective when people tell you who to go see. or they bring a friend to church.

so i forgot to ask you guys last night. how is the book of mormon challenge coming along. are you guys winning? there is only two monthes left. so if you havent started. you would have to read about 8 pages a day to keep up.

so cool cool cool. life is great. i dont really have that much more to say because i said it all last night. but i love you guys so much and i miss you. keep up the faith and just keep it on keep it on.

love your favorite missionary

Elder Clements.

Week 40 and Sunday I get a Call :)

Subject: jesus is the best 57

HI Y'all!

things are going so great in the OKC! i love serving the lord. its like 10 times better than ice cream! (ok maybe only 9 times) but yea. so first off. this elder that was in my district went home early. last week he was all joking around about it. but he was so full of crap his eyes were brown. i love that kid. but then all of a sudden he was gone. he had an interview with P. Taylor for like 2 hours. and now he is home. he will have the opportunity to come back out in about December of this year. so that's crazy he is like the third elder that went home that i know. just goes to show you to take care of it before hand.

and so because of that, elder Garner. (our district leader/ his comp) is super stressed out and pissed. for one. he has only been in this area for about 2 weeks. so he doesn't know the ward or the area or how to get there. two. he got a new companion but this one got an emergency transfer from his last area. so he was being a baby and sent out by the zone leaders in texas. at district meeting he was about to rip someone's head off.

this week has been going good other than that. we played basketball on Monday. we taught the plan of salvation to this guy that his wife just died. we helped this 96 year old lady quite smoking (and she looks great like i could have sworn she was 50) we got a new baptismal date with this kid. and the ward loves us!

so this family we are teaching. their less active. and haven't been to church in about five years because of the last bishop. but we started teaching then and helping them come back to church. there Son wants to be baptized so were dunking him on the 2nd of June. his dad works in the oil Fields so he doesn't really have the father figure in the house. but he is still a good kid. we taught him three times this week so that we could teach him while his dad is home.

then we taught the guy that got his fingers chopped off. and he gets the Gospel so well. everything we teach him he just lights up! he cant put the book of Mormon down. he is already in Alma. and we gave him the book a week ago. really cool. i love how this Gospel helps people out. it truly is the true church of Jesus Christ.

so ive been playing the uke for dinner appointments right. and the young men's leader was like wow that is truly a beautiful instrument. and he wanted me to play in front of the young men's/ young women's. it was kind of scary but i got though it. i played "how can i be" it was so good half the class was crying by the end. (i was one of them) then i played of the high priest group leader at dinner on Friday. and he was like you know what? the stake is trying to put together a string ensemble for a stake conference or something. and he said that he wanted me to play in it!  crazy.

elder shupe an i are doing great. i love that kid. we have spent so much time together its almost like were brothers. he started finishing my sentences the other day. were working hard to make things happen. we have so much stuff to do. were teaching the Gospel so hard! our teaching skill are getting alot better. the spirit is just flowing in every lesson we teach. dang i love the Gospel.

o and this was cool we tracked into this lady and gave her a book of Mormon and she said she would read it. and we went back in three days and we asked her if she read it? and she was like yes im almost done! i stayed up all night and read! but the only problem with that is she doesn't speak very good English. so we had a hard time teaching her. i don't know what we will do? maybe i will just pray for the gift of interpretation of tongues?

on Cinco De mayo we had sister fords b-tizum. we have been teaching here for the past 18 weeks. and she finally is baptized the ward is freakin freaking out. because she used to be anti and wouldn't even talk to the home teachers. but her baptism was so spectacular. she was just glowing! her face just lit up when she showed up. and her smile just kept getting bigger and bigger as the program went on. i had to lead the music for the program and i just kind of made it up as i went along.

but yea that's kind of it for this week. i cant wait to talk to you guys on Sunday. is nana and papa going to be there? i think i will call you about 4 o'clock? ish your time? but i will let you know. theres not really letting us know what the whole deal is.

i got your package and i love the pictures! they were so great. i want to go to Mexico. and did you say the shark necklace was in there? 

well i love you guys so much and i will talk to you on sunday!

Love your favorite missionary

Elder Payton Clements

39th week

hi all you people.

so i got your package. and i didn't get your package. the office people for the apartment complex are going on strike or something. so they wont allow me to get the package out of the office. it pisses me off. but im trying to be like Jesus.

so this week has been great. lots of happiness and stuff. we did lots of service this week. so im a little sun burnt. but that's ok i kind of got rid of my missionary tan line. first i helped some family's in the ward mow there lawn. it was fun to get out the old service clothes. then this less active guy (he reminds me of sparky Taylor) needed help roofing his shed out back. i guess it was framing but whatever. thanks dad for teaching me how to do a little bit of construction. because i would have been helpless without those basic skills. you know i never did like helping you out in the marsh until now. it was cool the way it turned out. and his son was like hey i want to be baptized. so were like heck yes! we can help you with that. so now were teaching his son.

we also teaching this guy named Freddy. he is catholic. he got in a fight with a saw and lost a couple of fingers. but now he want to learn about the church. so we went over and taught him on Thursday. we took a member with us. and it was so help full because he just bore his testimony of the truthfulness of this church all the lesson. we taught him about Joseph smith and about the restoration. and i invited him to be baptized and he said yes! so this work is just chugging along. i love this Gospel and they way it works with people. i love inviting people to change there lives. its the best! (say it like nacho)

on Friday we went to visit some less active guy. and he awserd the door and let us in. but from the moment i walked into the door i could tell something was off. he kept saying weird things. and he kept telling us that he loved us. then he said something about drugs. and then it hit me. he was high as a kite. he was sitting on the ground rocking back and forth. telling us that he need to change his life and he kept praying and asking the lord to help him. but he was praying for his watch and for his fish and his carpet and that fire would spread around the world. it was so funny. but then he said he wanted to get us some food. he was like you know what sounds good right now is some chicken, green beans, french fries, apple pie, and some orange cruch. it was all fun and games until he started to get in the car. were like hey no you have to stay here. i told him that he couldn't go any were.  and tried to sit him down but he kept trying to get up. i told him he was chained to the floor and couldn't get up. and he was like o i hate it when this happens. i was trying not to bust up laughing. so we had to get some food for him. and this was like 9 o'clock at night.  just a fun night.

we have a baptism on cinco de mio so I'm exited! its going to be good.

but other than that nothing much is going down.

well i love you all so much and i will talk to you on mothers day.

Love you favorite missionary

Elder Clements

ps i don't know whats the deal with mothers day yet.

38th week

Subject: gobble gobble said the turky 57

Hi family!

things back home sound fun. thanks for writing me this week. i don't tell you that allot. but I'm truly grate full that you take time to write me a little something.

hey sorry about last week. i didnt have alot of time to email because by the time we were ready to start emailing it was dinner time. and so we had to eat and run. so some really cool things have been going on this week. first were teaching this lady that's less active. she is a hoarder and a smoker and she has cats. (just picture the house its not really pleasant) but she wanted help to quit smoking and so we gave her a blessing of comfort and so she could overcome her addiction. its been about 10 days since she has lit up! so hopefully she keeps it on keeps it on. we stole about 60 buck worth of cigs from her and told her that they would just be a distraction and a temptation. but she said she didnt want to waist money. but we convinced her that it would be a bigger waist of time, money, and life. so she Finally quit after 59 years of smoking!!!

then were teaching this family in the ward. the daughter need help getting back on track. (she is a beautiful daughter of god!) so we have been helping her understand the book of Mormon. its her first time reading it.  and she has alot of deep questions. so ive been really studying to keep up with her questions. the whole family is helping out though. so that's good. there like one of my favorite family's of the mission so far. there always wanting to feed us. and we helped them move some stuff around. were teaching them again tonight.

that guy from iran is dropped for right now. he is all about the good things. so the book of Mormon is good, the coran is good, the bible is good. but he doesn't understand that if the book of Mormon is true than everything else is true. its sad to let him go. but we have lots of people to focus on.

we are teaching this lady and she is like on the waters edge. may 5th is her date. i have been teaching her for about 15 weeks. and she finally wants to do something about it. it was frustrating at first, but now i know that its a big deal to change your life and convert to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  because she is Baptist right now. and all they have to do is say there saved and they don't worry about life or Gospel ever again. and going form that to being in one of the hardest working churches in the world (if not the hardest) its a scary thing. and a big commitment.

on Thursday i had a interview with the president. its scary talking to the big man. at first.  but when i got to actually see him it was great. i love president Taylor so much. he knows exactly whats going down in your life. and how to help you out. like we had trouble focusing on our companionship study. and he was like if you want to be a better missionary you will be better with your comp study. i was like wow how did he know that! but then i realized that he had the spirit of discernment. Duh.

our new district leader is cool. but not as cool as elder neild. just going to throw that out there.  i know this is wrong but i dont like him because he playes the uke better than i do. and he knows it.  our goals this week include being nice to everybody.  so every time we have a negative thought about someone we sing I'm trying to be like Jesus. (we sing it alot)

but other than that everything is going swimmingly.  me and elder shupe are getting along great. i dont mention him alot because i don't have any complaints to say. wink. you know we have our little arguments but who doesn't. this mission thing is really going to help me out with marriage. because you just learn to let the little things that bug you to just roll off.

o i had to teach Sunday school. and i taught about priesthood authority. and what that entails. and we had like 5 investigators there. so i was basically teaching as best i could. and people in the ward were like im so glad our church is the best and we are the only one on the earth with gods authority. (dough!) i think it was good and bad at the same time. hopefully they come back.

one last thing. were teaching this guy and he got in a fight with a power saw and lost. and he got like 4 fingers chopped off. and so he got a priesthood blessing and now all of his fingers are all right. and he know it was due to the blessing.

well i know this church is true i love this Gospel and i love teaching it. just remember to share the Gospel to everyone you meet. don't be scared. the lord will help you. like the scriptures say. take no heed of what you will say for the lord will be with.

well i love you all so much and i will see you guys latter.

love your favorite missionary!

Elder Clements

ps. do you remember this.

M R snakes

M R not

C D E D B D I

O Y L M R snakes

37th week

hey so this letter is going to be short. because im on the ward mission leaders computer. the library is closed because there getting new carpet or some crap like that. well this week has been fun with all the tornados. the mission was freaking out so we weren't aloud to work for for about two days. we went out any ways just for fun. hoping to get a pic of a tornado. we were tracking and people are like telling us we got guts to be out here during the storm. there was a little bit of hail but not golf ball size. it just rained alot.  we stayed inside and just prayed and for safety. there was of people that called us and told us if the weather gets bad that we could chill in there storm shelter.

we went to bed and we heard alot of pounding on the door at about one in the morning. so i went to answer the door. because elder shupe sleeps through everything. and there was some chick at the door in short shorts and she was like hey just so you know the apartments are flooding because of all the rain. by the morning we had a big puddle in our living room and the bathroom was all wet as well. kind of crazy. we took some pictures but you cant really tell. everything else is going just swell. i will right you a letter some time. and send you some pictures.

sorry but i got to go love you so much i will see you in about 14 months

love your favorite missionary.

elder clements