Email received May 24, 2010

ohmyflipalipjuicymoma! That is only an approximation of what went through my head as I looked at the pictures you sent, Mother. Sikhs wearing tartans and playing bagpipes - Hallelujah! There's hope for my wedding yet! (Have fun explaining that Mr. Editor's Notes) (Editor's note: That's Miss Editor's Note to you, and, oy vey. The pictures sent were pictures from the Jakarta Highland Gathering that Mom, Amy, and Dad attended in Indonesia. I've inlcuded a picture just for ya'll. As far as Katie's dream wedding, the basic jist of it is that all the women will be wearing sari's and all the men will be wearing kilts. HA! That wasn't so hard.)

Well, we sisters all went to Red Rock this morning (a lovely desert area with colorful rocks.) We didn't go on all the hikes we had intended because we got lost on a one-way road, well the problem really came when the one-way road turned into a two-way road. And due to these circumstance there's not much time left in our p-day and we still haven't gone shopping, so I don't know how long or detailed I'll have time to get. We're also going to see if we can arrange to go back with our district of elders next Mon, so I don't know when I'll have time to write you all the fun details! Maybe if I quit wasting time just blabbing (and drooling over pics.) Okay, I'm running out of time, but truly, thank you for the pictures and updates with all you're doing. I love you!!!!!!!!!

-Sis Cloward

P.S. May I make a couple requests for that box if it hasn't been sent yet? Can you look in my closet for a black skirt (I don't remember how many I have) I believe the brand is Studio 41? I'm wanting some shorter skirts for summer and there's no reason to buy new ones if it's long enough (did you understand that oxymoron?) And maybe my capris, should be in one of the drawers on the left, I believe, unless of course Amy already stole all these clothes, then I'll survive.

Email received May 17, 2010

Not much of note this week, except it felt like an eternity from one Sunday to the next; Wed felt like it should be Fri and by the time Fri came it seemed like a whole new week, Sat alone was at least three separate days. On the mission front the elders invited us to help them with a family of nine that want to be baptized this Fri (Dad, Mom, girl 11, boy 10, girl 9, girl 8, girl 7, girl 6, boy 2) only problem is Mom and Dad aren't married and even bigger issue is after living so long without the gospel there are consequences and issues that would probably take several years of intensive counseling & gospel study or a couple mighty changes of heart to overcome. But what can you do in just a short few weeks time? Pray awfully hard and be glad it's up to the Lord, the bishop, and the elders. That's another annoying thing about sin, the only options it leaves you with are hard and just-as-hard, how do you choose?

On the more lighthearted side: On Fri someone told us they were taking their kids to Robin Hood; Sis J: "You mean Red Robins?" In my head: "Maybe it's some local activity place?" Bro Moffat: "No, Robin Hood, the new movie with Russell Crowe!" Oh, yeah, that one that none of us have ever heard of because it wasn't even a twinkle in the writer's eye when we came out on our missions, gotcha, thanks. So we went inside and got keifer buds from Sis Moffat, yes keifer buds. Now we can make our own yogurt, exciting, huh? I think so. Apparently there are multiple ways to make yogurt, but I'm wondering if these are any relation to delicious Kefir yogurt drinks. I'll let you know if I figure out the recipe. Seeing as how they're live cultures, we weren't sure if they should count as illegal pets and if we should name them (Sis K. used to have a crush on a boy named Keifer, and the name Keefe came to my mind), but since they seem to grow pretty fast it would be hard to keep track of them so we decided to just consider them interesting. We're still experimenting with how they work and how much yogurt we will actually use any given day, but it's pretty cool.

I sang in one ward yesterday, but my camera wouldn't record for some reason, good thing I'm singing the same song in the other ward on the 30th, hopefully I'll get you a good copy then. I guess there were some other great lessons and visits this week, but I haven't even recorded them in my journal, I can't seem to be able to think of too many topics per email for fear of my brain exploding. Oh well, hopefully my brain lasts long enough to be able to share everything when I get home and show my slides all night like missionaries do.

Thanks for the emails and updates, keep staying out of trouble and try to stay healthy! Love you for eternity!

-Sis Cloward

P.S. The sister hike has been rescheduled to next week, so it may be a short email. Sending plenty of love this week.

Elder Powell tries on the armor in it's preliminary stages

While my companions were talking to their families Sunday night, Andrew Moffat roped me into playing Pirates of the Caribbean Stratego (wasn't to hard to do.) He was pounding me the whole game until the end when I just barely managed to pull ahead and give him what-for

Abby Lords models the finished armor

during the lesson

Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

Elder Jones and I sing Because He Lives at Zone Conference

Email received May 10, 2010

So we didn't end up going on the outing with the other sisters today, but I forgot my magical bag of electronics so I can't even play with pictures or anything and now I have all this time to waste and nothing to do! Well, I guess I'll just write home.

Hmmm, what should I write about now? How about the fact that we're doing a lesson about the Armor of God tonight and we spent the last week making some pretty sweet armor, and ever since Sis Johnson tried it on this morning she's been acting a little crazy...or maybe that's normal.

Or...how about t-shirts? I want a new t-shirt, but I can't remember what I have at home so I guess I'll just buy a new one, maybe a Las Vegas one. What size t-shirt does dad wear? Just for future reference.

This one's for Tasha: I'm assuming her pillowcase got dirty, but last night I noticed my companion is using a t-shirt as a pillowcase and it made me think of you. (Editor's note: Tasha has made t-shirt pillows.)

What else to say...I'm singing a duet in Zone Conference tomorrow; it was a little touch and go for a bit as we only had two weeks to get the music, learn the song (he's sung it before, I'd never heard of it), find someone who could accompany in the ever shortening time frame and get together to practice. But miracles happen and that's why God allows some people to develop their talents so very well; we ended up with a sister from one of our wards who could play the song perfectly the second time through - well, she's says there are still mistakes, but I can't hear where - she also played the piano for the entire stake play I told you about, she's awesome. (I'm trying to set up David with her son who is leaving for a mission to Hungary in a month.) We got together to practice singing with each other and with the accompaniment for the first time this morning and everyone says it sounds pretty amazing; the song is beautiful, I hope I get a good recording for you tomorrow. Since you know everything that happened prior to Saturday evening most of this email is pretty up to the minute - this just in: Sis Johnson got hit on at the library for the third time in 2 months. It's kinda funny...poor girl.

Did you ever get emails with pictures from our last Zone Conference? I'm never sure if I write down the correct email addresses when I'm away from the computer. Can't think of much else to say. Any burning questions since Saturday night? Comments, questions, concerns...anything? I guess I'll go tinker around on lds.org for a while; I'd watch the videos there, but I don't have any headphones with me. Oh, well.

-Sis Cloward

Email received May 3, 2010

Okay, my brain's still a little fuzzy, I don't really know what I did last week, besides walk enough to still be sore - being a missionary's great!! Last night was a bit of an adventure: we practiced teaching a lesson to a member family and when they dropped us off Sis Johnson realized she had forgotten the key again (she tries to say this has never happened before, but it has). We usually just knock on the Andrews' door and ask them if we can go through their house (it connects through the laundry room) but last night they weren't home. We tried calling but Bro Andrews was out of town and the oldest daughter was at a fireside so we had to go around the back and get the secret key. Luckily the people who dropped us off hadn't left yet and had a big flashlight we could use. Sis Johnson sent Sis Knuteson and I because she doesn't do dogs, so we had to climb fences and dig tunnels...just kidding, we just had to get through two fences and quiet two little dogs who could bark the head off a dead man while we found the key.

After much door jiggling and the retrieval of a second key, we finally got inside where the adventure continues. During this process the wife of one of our ward mission leaders came to bring bed #3 for Sis. Knuteson to try which involved rearranging half of the apartment and disturbing a rather large spider (did I tell you about the last one we found during our first week? Rather large, possibly a wolf spider) I fully intended to quietly carry it outside, but when one asks for a cup in a room full of 4 women at least one of them will start screaming and throwing shoes. Hail the conquering hero, we ended up with a rather large squished spider on the rug by my bed (to which I responded "I'm not cleaning that up!") Well, all said and done, Sis Knuteson now carries a door key, the bed is a hit, and our lovely WML's wife came and bug sprayed our apartment this morning.

In other news we are well on our way to becoming smoothie queens; we went to lunch with one of our members because her family is considering a move to Houston and she wanted to pick my brain (not much was found, but I told her I would ask if Mom and Dad still had any of their research, she does have one son left in high school, but is probably looking for a private school for him). We spent longer picking her brain about healthy eating (stevia vs. sucanut - have you ever heard of it Mom? It's pretty good) and the miracle of the magic bullet - it doesn't get much easier than that! She also treated us to grocery shopping this morning and bought us enough frozen fruit to last a while (have I mentioned how much I love our members?) So you don't need to worry about us eating healthy or dying of giant spider bites, the only question left is who should I call on Sunday? I didn't get Dad's cell # so I guess I'll call the house and leave the rest up to you. (Editor's note: This is in regards to the Mother's Day phone call.) Hope all is going at least okay, remember to suffer all afflictions cheerfully and with patience, if we endure it well, we shall be crowned with sheaves on our backs!!!

Poodles and poodles of love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Sis Cloward