What to say?

So this week has been great with teaching the restoration to a ton of members. We have taught 57 lessons in the past 3 weeks... I'm pretty sure I can teach it in my sleep hahhaha  but I absolutely LOVE the message of the restoration!

So there are ALOT of refugees here in Idaho and there are government sponsored apartments for them. So we helped get rid of the bark that was surrounding the apartments so they could put rock in. Me and Sister Archuleta woke up at 5:30 am to be there at 6 am to help, we took bushes out and under the pieces of bark is a net-like thing that we took out as well. We worked for 5 hours before our next service project that was already planned.  Then we went and painted this apartment house that is behind a member's house in the Elders ward, which was fun but there was no air in there so it got hot fast. hahaha! After all our appointments we went back to the apartments and helped more there. They didn't get much done from 11 to 7:30.There was sooo much to do so we called everyone in our zone to come help and some elders showed up. Yes I'm a strong believer that girls can do the same things as guys can but it was REALLY nice to have some muscle there! Hahahaha! We all had a blast though!  I love helping people out and doing service! I love you all so much! have a great week and hopefully I'll have more to write about next week! :D!
   Oh funny story! So we only get a certain amount of miles to drive each month  and Sister Archuleta LOVES to drive ha! So we had asked members to drive us to appointments and left our car at the Stake Center but Sister Archuleta didn't lock the car so Sister Smith and Manis saw that our car was unlocked and took ALL of our stuff out and put it in the trunk so when we got back the glove box was open and empty and our car was clean! I know, kinda sad that that was the reason we realized that something was wrong hahaha! So Sister Archuleta opens the trunk and everything was there! hahaha we still haven't put everything back! Too lazy! Hehehe! So moral of the story,

 LOCK YOUR CAR!!!!! hahahaha
--
<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

 

 

Oh! One of the girls we live with Bethany, she is 13 and she came out with us while we contacted some members and Sister Archuleta was really thirsty so we stopped by a member's home that said we could use their water hoes anytime! hahah so we did! :)

 

 

Second Baptism!!!

Logan got baptized on Satuday!!!!!!! He is such an AMAZING man! His testimony is outstandingly strong and he loves this church even through his mom does not wanting anything to do with the church and having issues with him joining. He stood strong to what he believes!!! Sunday he was confirmed as a member of the church! And our other investigator Karrie was there! She has a new job now and it allows her to come to church! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and knows it's true and wants so bad to be baptized! Her Fiancé Dustin still has ex-wife issues that don't look like are going to be solved for a while now.... still prayen for a miracle tho!

Speaking of miracles, we met this sweet man Reese who has stage 4 brain cancer but the faith to move mountains! We met him while waiting to take a picture of the screen that showed that the retirement home had an LDS church service and he answered a trivia question on it and we got talking to him and Saturday morning we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it! He wasn't so sure if there were prophets on the earth today as in biblical times but he's super excited to read the Book of Mormon and he came to church on Sunday and absolutely loved that! He is going to pray about prophets and the Book of Mormon and during his prayer he asked that his heart and mind would be opened to this information and that Heavenly Father would speak clearly to him of the truths of what we are teaching!

I love how if we listen with a desire to act on the promptings of the spirit we will be guided to the answers we need and to people who are ready to hear and partake of the Gospel!

So we are teaching our ward mission leaders son mission prep because he can't go because of meetings and he came and taught the Restoration with us to members in the ward and I love how strong in the Gospel and prepared he already is to serve a mission next year!

This week has been a FANTASTIC week of growing for me and the members and investigators in the Cloverdale ward! I love being on a mission and love the strength the Gospel brings! I know that as we read the Book of Mormon we will feel of the Love of our Heavenly Father and know the way we should strive to live our lives! I love and pray for you all!!! have a fantastic week! Carry on!

 

 

Logan's Baptism

 

 

25 Lessons!!!!!

Now to explain what I mean by the title of this email hahaha~ So President Winder has challenged all the missionaries in the Boise Mission to teach The Restoration of the Gosplel of Jesus Christ to every member in the ward. We have about 400 or so... :D It has been THE best experience tho! I have seen so many people's testimonies grow by hearing how the fullness of Jesus Christs gospel was restored to the earth. I have received conformation over and over every time I teach this lesson as I testify to people that Joseph Smith did see God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and they did tell him that they would restore, or bring back the fullness of the gospel to the earth through him. and that ONLY through the priesthood the power of God could he have translated the Book of Mormon. I love this gospel and I know that  through the Book of Mormon can people come closer to God than by any other book! I love how the Holly Ghost of the Spirit works. I have been in a lesson teaching about the Restoration and when I'm done I don't remember half the things I said or have ever said certain things about the Restoration and I know that whatever I did say and learned while I was teaching was from the Holy Ghost and was meant to strengthen my testimony and those that I was teaching!

  I challenge you all to invite the missionaries over to your house to teach your family the Restoration! It will help you develop a deeper love and appreciation for the Gospel and Joseph Smith and our Savior! I know with out a doubt that the Gospel is true! Sister Fugal, a ward missionary and an amazing lady, gave a talk on Sunday ~ she said this "All that matters is that God lives all the questions and concerns and doubts do NOT matter!" it is soo true! As long as you have a testimony in God and know that He would love us so much to send his son to die for us and then to restore the fullness of the Gospel back to the earth none of the anti Mormon stories or attacks will matter! Stay strong to what you know and what the Spirit has already witnessed to you! I love you all so much! and love hearing from you!! Carry on!

 

one of my favorite quotes

  "How much life do we miss while waiting for the rainbow after the rain?"

find the joy in the trail!

 We chalked our elders stairs we really do love them!

 

  Fourth of July!!!!!

 

  Sister Archuleta did my hair today ~ cute huh?!

 

 Red solo cup! Don't worry its only Diet Coke!! hahaha

Confession

I love just how much every one trusts me and I hope this doesn't hurt that but I did not meet Tony Stark! hhahaha He's this guy that looks just like him and he got told that his whole life and so he decided to run with it! He built the whole suit, got the same car,  and even tattooed the battery on his chest hahaha. He's pretty cool and he said we could come by and maybe teach him more about the church :)

   So this week was pretty fun we had a great Zone meeting with our new a zone leader Elder Barnhart and the amazing Elder Stapley hahaha

  The 4th of July was great! The stake had a huge breakfast and there was a man in naval uniform there and for a second I thought it was my cousin Matt! The family that we live with had fireworks for us to watch from the porch since we weren't aloud to be near them. They are sooo sweet!!! Here in Idaho they really don't enforce illegal  fireworks and there were huge fireworks all around us. It was great! Didn't beat a 4th down in Benson tho! hahaha

 Logan is one of our investigators that we are teaching and last time we taught him we asked him to pray about a baptisimal date and after we taught the Plan of Salvation, which went swimmingly, he told us that he wants to be baptized on the 19 of July!!!!! 2 1/2 weeks away!!!! We are so stoked! He is such a smart boy and already knows a ton about the Gospel, He is someone we missionaries call Golden that means that Heavenly Father has opened their heart so much that they have decided for themselves that they would do the research and everything on their own first and then get in contact with the missionaries - someone who is just ready!!! 

 So one last thing! One of the members in the ward gave us some apricots and told us they had just picked them off their tree! And if you really know me you would know what happened next! yes, I started singing "I looked out the window and what did I see popcorn poping on the apricot tree! "

 Well I love you all and pray that missionary opportunities come your way and that your faith  helps you share what you believe!  

I'm Staying!!!!!

 So this area will be my 6 months area! Its crazy to think that at the end of this transfer on August 12 I will have been gone for 6 months!!!! It's gone by so fast already! By the end of this transfer these are our goals: our new investigator Logan, who knows a ton about the church already, will be a new member of the Cloverdale ward and Karri and Dustin will be married and on their way to baptism! I'm super stoked about this transfer!

  This week was great we had a lot of progress with our investigators and less active members! There seems to be weeks where there is a ton to share and then weeks where I have no idea what to share! hahahaha

  So on Sunday we were in primary and Sister Archuleta asked if we could go home to cut her hair real quick so we did and I came back with bangs! yes I know I said I would never get them but I kinda like them then later that night she convinced me to cut all my hair shorter! There is a pic, don't worry! I love being a missionary, I really do! I get the privilege to watch people grow in the church and in their faith! I love you all!

  I love ducks! the Elders live with this family!

 

 Sister Archuletta did such a great job with my hair!!!!

 

This lady in our ward has a child who has a big sensory disorder and so she made him a ball pit and we loved it too!!! hahaha

 

 I met tony stark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is sister smith and me we were in the MTC together! We are both going to get a hat like these some day!!! And go to a horse derby!

 

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

Such a busy week!

This week had been great! Full of success and progression and learning!

  So on Monday we went to the BSU campus with a girl we live with to play racketball. It was a blast! I didn't want to wear the goggles they gave me but I am glad I did or else I would have walked out with a black eye! hahah I got hit in the face with the ball, my nose went numb! haha Me and Sister Archuleta want to go to BSU for college only for the rec center! hahaha It was legit!  A couple In our ward lent us their bikes for the next 2 weeks! The seats are sooo nice! hahaha It's an important thing for sure! So we decided that we would ride the green belt here that is basically like the bike trails we have next to the  canals but its a river and its green and pretty! haha So the poor Elders rode their bikes for an hour hahaha they are really good sports!  I really want to get a  bike when I get home and ride everywhere as long as the seat is nice! haha

  So we were in our area which is about 1.5 miles away from where we lived and Sister Arculeta wanted to go get the bikes so we walked there for some reason haha and we got caught in the rain. Stinken June and it rains randomly and goes for a good 20 mins under a tree haha.

  Super awesome experience as we were riding, this guy passed us going to other way and he said. "I did this every day for 2 years, Keep going!!!!" Things and experiences like this help us get through the day and get us excited about missionary work again. When you do the same thing every day it gets kinda tedious. So whenever you see missionaries say hi, honk, wave, whatever you feel like doing. It will help them more than you think it will!!!

  What is super funny about us riding bikes now is that we get along better! hahaha I don't know why but it does so we park the car more now and bike. Not that we don't get along but you know when your with the same person for 24/7 feelings start going  haha

  For relief society this week there was the cutest activity! They passed out brown paper bags to everyone and had them bring some things that are their favorite things. Once they share these things about themselves they picked a name and that person got their bag and kept going. It was a really good way to get to know each other better and the ladies grew so much closer to each other.

  So our investigator Dustin, he was the one that wanted all this proof and had all these questions for us to answer on a piece of paper, which we had thrown away.  He asked about them if we had found the answers and we said no, and he said they  didn't matter anymore!!!! The greatest words I have EVER heard!!! Him and Karrie are sooo ready to be baptized! Karrie asked if she could pay tithing although technically she isn't a member! We are hoping and praying that they will be married in August and baptized too! She wants the bishop to marry them and we have some people in mind who can decorate and take pictures and the whole deal! I love how united this ward is! It's  so great!

  SO we had met this great guy, Cody, a couple of weeks ago and went back this week to see how he was doing. We talked for almost 2 hours! He wants to learn more and come to church next Sunday! I am so excited for him! He is 22 and he has a 3 year old son but lives with his fiancée...some how we always meet this challenge hahaha but the Lord does work miracles! For sure! We also met this super sweet lady, Devon, and her family and were able to share the first part of the Plan of Salvation with her and her cute little daughter and we had such a great time! She said we can come over whenever we wanted She's super strong Catholic which is great! She had great insight and thoughts about what we were teaching her. We asked her what she thought our purpose on this earth was and she wasn't really sure except that we should love everyone! Like Christ did! I love that! and it is sooo true!!!

  There are a lot of potential investigators and investigators in this area now thanks to tracting! hahaha We visited with Ken and Lisa and we always leave people with a word of prayer and so we went to pray so we folded our arms and they are Catholic so Ken asked us if we were praying genie style! hahaha so we ended up holding hands which was totally fine with us! :)

  This week we went on exchanged with the Sister Training Leaders Sister Edstrom came to my area and it was a blast!! We saw a ton of people! We cleaned out this lady in the ward's garage and man do I love organizing other peoples stuff hahaha you can ask ma I don't do it much to my own stuff hehehe but for others I would do it all day every day! One of the ladies we see that doesn't come to church very often finally prayed while we were there it was great and so powerful! It was really nice to see how someone else taught. It gave me ideas of how to change my way of teaching to better help the people I see and visit!

 It's crazy how many people get baptized and are members for years but don't really know anything about the church. Its kinda sad to know how much they are missing. We taught Josh and his parents this week the plan of salvation and they didn't know much about it and we invited them to come to church! Originally it was just Josh coming and on Sunday morning his mom texted us and told us that Josh didn't need a ride because she was going to bring him!!!! They arrived and she told us she drug along her husband too!!!! It was so nice to see them all there! and when they were blessing the Sacrament the dad was saying it right along! I love seeing people progress in life and in the Gospel! Josh has a baptism date for July 12!

 Our ward mission leader's son is serving in Mesa AZ and he told us that our missions aren't going to be huge baptizing missions but they will be for helping the less active and inactive members of the church develop testimonies and help them get closer to Christ and make those promises and Covenants with our Heavenly Father! I know that is so true! and I can't wait to help others strengthen their testimonies while mine in turn grows stronger right along side theirs!

 Boise is such a cute city! They had a wing festival in a park where they have contests for who can cook the best wings and they set up booths and you don't have to pay but a donation is nice to give and they gave free wings out to whomever wanted them! It was a really great community thing! Just thought I would share that its something that I really appreciate about Boise Idaho! Boise Idaho is a VERY well kept secret that's for sure! haha

  I love you all and love hearing from you! I want ya'll to know that I KNOW that this church is true! How could it not be!? We have a prophet President Thomas Monson who leads and guides our church today just like in the time of old in the Bible! I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God! If you haven't read it, read it! I promise it WILL change your life! I hope every one has a great week!

--

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

 

 We got caught in the rain thank goodness for this tree.

 

So this is my "grandma" let me explain She trained Sister Del Nero who trained me so grandma! hahaha Sister Edstrom the one I did splits with she leaves in 6 weeks!

....More Pics from Ashley!!!

...We received another package from Ashley with a boat load a pictures! Here they are!!!

 

 

This is the Capital Building.

 

 The House of Representatives

Watch out World (Idaho)

Sister Clawson is in the Big Chair! Ha!

 

 We had such a grand adventure at the Capital!

 

 One of our investigators, Josh, has a snake. We LOVE it!

 

 

 Sister Archuleta's first time tying a quilt! She did really good. I learned a new knot called the "Mormon" knot, funny the new things you learn! :)

 

Sister Archuleta is my follow-up trainer so in mission talk she is my step-mom but I like her the most so she is my mission "mom" Ha!

 

A lot of fun! Ha!

I do love our Elders &think they are FANTASTIC!

 

 

I had fun playing with chalk!

 

So a brother in our ward had a sweet sister who was in town from Gilbert. We had talked about AZ and the dedication, etc....

She took a package home for me and chatted with my mom for a bit.

 

She asked my mom what my favorite dessert was - so she told her and passed that info on to her Brother. When they had us over for dinner they said dessert would be a surprise for me.

 

 They had me close my eyes and said it was from my mom! The biggest cream puff EVER! Loved it!  Wasn't as good as Ma's of course but I loved it none the less.

 

Felt so much closer to Ma!

LOVE YOU MA!

 

 My whole MTC district reunited at Zone Conference

Cabrera, Facer, Smith, Me, McChesney

 

 This is at Graffiti Alley, Sis Smith is kissing a baby unicorn, I don't understand. Ha!

 

 These are wooden sunglasses, the new "thing" here in Idaho. The store is called Proof And I found ones I like but they're way too much. Ha!! I'm Cheap! :) Thanks Dad <3

 

 I have SO much fun taking pictures!

 

 We heart attacked Kari, our investigator's door!

 

 My 2nd district for the last time

Stark, McChesney, Anderson, Me , Archuleta, Madrid

 

Yes, us missionaries are so mature! Ha! <3

Stark and Archuleta

 

Elder Stark's last good bye. He is the only one leaving the area. He has been here 6 months, his whole mission so far! Crazy! We will miss him.

 

 Hiking Table Rock! We are almost to the top! There were exhausted!

Smith, Archuleta, Manes

Elders told me it was my turn to Rock climb. Elder Gunnel likes stealing the spotlight, good thing I like sharing :)

 

There are caves at the top of Table Rock. Me and the Elders climbed in it. I took pics! Love these men!

Stapley, Madrid, Hughes, Gunnel, Thatcher, Scott. They are such SWEETHEARTS   <3

 

WOOT! We made it to the top!

 

Elder Stapley & me at the top. He's from Mesa!

 

I LOVE this chick! (Sister Smith)

 

Our zone. I'll try to get a better one where Elder Anderson isn't sneezing! Ha!

 

 The Elders gave us their suits to have Bro Matson dry clean them. We had too much fun! I fit Elder Madrid's & Elder Anderson's suit swallowed Sis Archuleta whole! Ha!

 

 The Anderson Family!

 

 This is my little BFF Hunter! I LOVE this kid. He is the SWEETEST! I want my sons to be like him some day!

 

 We had the best week EVER! We went over our goals big time. The Lord helps those who help! We were blessed!

 

 Me & Sister Archie in the car.

 

 Cute little strawberries grow here!

YUM!

 

 He He He

Love you Ma!

 

 After we got caught in the rain pulling Kari's weeds :) So much fun! Can I just say  RAIN ROCKS!

 

 Love my new hat! Since I burn so easily Pres. said I could wear it for doing service! :) Happy Days!

 

 Me & Sis Hughes during exchanges. She was my STL (Sister Training Leader)

 

 Where did my body go?

 

 This machine can spell my name! It's a reading robot!

 

Me & Sister Smith built an ark. At the Discovery Center :)

 

 We walked ALL day! Don't know how them Elders do it!

 

This is Rita, a less active member who is a practicing Buddhist. WE helped weed her yard, We are eating a chive :)

I ate a purple flower! He He!

 

 My attempt at curling my hair with a straightener.

 

These  cuties ar the Martinez kids! LOVE 'EM

 

 What can I say? I was bored :)

You gotta love me!

 

Cute little Bicandy girl! Her voice sounds like a mouse!