Letter received Oct 28, 2009

Hello Again! Here are birthday presents:
The tie is for father (perhaps I'll find a shirt for Christmas). I wish I had sent it last week so he could take it on his business trip (do they make him wear a tie down there?) at this rate he'll get it the same time as his Christmas present, oh well. (Editor's note: He went to Indonesia and Malaysia for several weeks.) Funny story - I was looking through the ties and among the poker chip & playing card varieties I saw one that appeared to have an angel Moroni pattern! But that's not all. Further inspection revealed temples, scriptures, & CTR's - the LDS styles outnumbered the gambling ones! What ever is this town coming to? And this was just at the local Wal-mart. I also saw an adorable shirt with Snoopy & Woodstock but my companion insisted that a grown woman had no business wearing a shirt with Snoopy on it; I concurred only on the grounds that I wasn't sure it would fit Amy, plus being a family of Walmart shoppers I was sure she'd already seen it & perhaps even bought it for herself. So that means Amy & Tasha can divvy up the soaps & lotions - they all smell good, I'd hate to choose the wrong product for the wrong person so I'll let you decide! I'll also let you wrap them up so you can unwrap them and get the full effect - how thoughtful of me, I know! Much love & drippy kisses!

-Sister Cloward

Be sure to check out the conclusion of "The First Epistle of
the Elders to the Dead Letter Writers" below!!!

Email received Oct 26, 2009

(Several family/administrative questions removed.)

I had hoped to fill this email with happy uplifting stories from earlier in the week, let's see if I remember any of them...My companion rewrote "Popcorn Popping" with some missionary-innapropriate lyrics about a (good-looking) single young man in one of our wards; we created a scavenger-hunt in the library for some elders we needed to get paperwork to; we had a memorable tracting experience with an interesting, talk-a-mile-a-minute, somewhat contradictory young man (the scary part is we got the impression that he also preaches at his own church); there were other good moments, I'm trying not to be distracted by the bad. Gotta go, much love to all!!!

Email received Oct 19, 2009

In good news we have a baptism coming up on Friday: a wonderful twelve year old girl (who does not look twelve!) whose parents have been inactive for a number of years, but the mother is coming back to church now; it's been absolutely amazing to see her embrace the principles of the gospel and learn to recognize the spirit in her life; she's going to be a pretty amazing force for good to everyone she meets. I love to see how people have been prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel and how it changes their lives, but I'm also amazed at the children we've taught and their grasp on what's important and true; it's almost easier to teach them because they just get it, I hope none of them lose that as they grow up.

As to the recent package, may I turn your attention to Philippians 4:14-19 which expresses my feelings rather nicely. And the cinnamon rolls were not moldy, too heavy, or un-cinnamony; they were a little dry around the edges but with a good nuking even that could not inhibit their yumminess. (Editor's note: They were homemade cinnamon rolls, which we later realized we forgot to put cinnamon in. So they were actually just sweet rolls I guess.) Which means one of three things: they were actually quite good, I haven't had anything decent to eat in a long time, or I'm just that desperate for things that remind me of home. Regardless they were good enough that I meant to share one with my companion but ended up eating them all myself, how shameful!

Here's a sleuthing opportunity for whoever feels so inclined: In the last transfer when Sis Chapman came, there also arrived a certain elder by the name of Elder Rolfson. (Editor's note: Our mother's maiden name is Rolfson, and her mother is from Alberta.) After brief questioning I have discovered he is from Calgary, has 3 sisters, his father's name is Kent, and his grandfather's nickname is something like Kug/?Cub. I shared similar information and got us nowhere, so it's up to y'all in the realm of Easier-Access-To-Info to figure out how we are related and report back asap. This note will not self-destruct as we are not allowed to play with anything remotely dangerous as missionaries. Goodbye.
-Agent Cloward

Email received Oct 12, 2009

It's good to hear what's going on in the world, in Conference they alluded to something in Asia/the islands and we had no idea what they were talking about. This Sunday we had two baby blessings - one had 14 people in the circle, the other 15, I wasn't sure they could all reach the baby! Combined with a BYU-NV football game on Sat, the chapel was so packed, they actually had to open the extra overflow! This was Sis Chapman's first time at this ward and we just happened to sit down across from her cousin and aunt who were in town for the game and staying with said aunts brother in the ward - crazy, huh? Say hi to Marilyn and Wally when they come, and thanks to Stacia for the letter and treat - all the mail I've gotten from extended family makes me feel guilty for never writing anybody, I barely even wrote my own brother! Thank you all for writing me and keeping me in the loop. I was hoping to get Calli's (Editor's note: A girl in our ward who just left for her mission in Manchester, England.) address before she left, is there any way to get her my new email address so we can swap stories cheaper than letters to GB? Thank you also for feeding the missionaries and especially trying to give them referrals, member effort can truly make all the difference. We have another baptism coming up at the end of this month, then it may be a little dry for a while, but we do have a lot of less-active members to work with. I'm also starting to build my collection of tracting stories, but the best one yet is definitely directed by the Lord and still progressing, so we'll see what He has in store! I guess that's it for now, keep in touch - wherever you may be!
-Sister Cloward

Email received Oct 5, 2009

Alls well on the western front. Thanks loads for the good bread (Editor's note: We overnighted a loaf of homemade bread to her.), I did the math and it saved me in the neighborhood of $5-10 which is a good chunk of my weekly budget. And goober that I am, I haven't really been homesick, but when I held that loaf of bread (it was still warm, but that may have had to do more with the Vegas sun) I started to tear up a little - I guess homemade things really do come with a hefty dose of love. It's beginning to turn cold here - not just cool, actually cold - last night we jogged between doors just to stay warm...it had nothing to do with the fact that the members who live on that street offered us root beer floats when we were done, really (though I almost asked for hot chocolate instead.) Today we got to the library a little early and had to wait for our computers; normally this would be no problem for me, especially in a library, but when you're surrounded by shelves and shelves of books you're not allowed to read, it's pure torture - we even sat at a table in the YA section, I must be a glutton for punishment. (Editor's note: The Young Adult section is Katie's favorite.) And yes, I memorized my library card number the first week (Editor's note: She always has her library card number memorized.), it was pretty easy, the challenge is that I only use it once a week so that keeps me on my toes.

Tootles,
Sister Cloward

P.S. Did you enjoy Conference? What was your favorite talk?