New P-Day

Family and Friends,

My Preparation Day got moved in anticipation of all the people coming to the MTC soon. I now have it on Friday. I'm not sure the time I will be doing emails but I will let you know on Friday.

Here is a super quick sum up of how I've been:

Last night we had a really cool speaker, Stephan Allen, he spoke about a lot of things but one thing he said really stuck out to me. Sometimes we wrongly judge people who come home from missions early, thoughts go through our heads or we hear why they came home and we instantly judge them. That is a SIN, and it is WRONG!! He said, at the devotional, the following: "Some people need to come on missions to find the courage to confess their sin". People who need to confess and repent of their sins are not bad, or horrible people, they are in tune with the Spirit enough to trust in the Lord that he will comfort them in the midst of embarrassment and scorn, and that He will help them through their difficult times with the power of the Atonement.

Also I quickly wanted to speak directly to my brother Trenton, the Deacons in my ward, any other Deacons reading this.

- During conference a few weeks ago, someone spoke about the power of the Priesthood. He said the following: "The priesthood power in a boy is just as strong as the priesthood power in a man". You have the same Priesthood power that the Prophet of God has.

- When you pass the sacrament you are giving people the most important 15 minutes they will have that whole week until they partake of Sacrament again next week. You are truly handing them their eternal salvation.

Alright Family,

I've noticed I haven't been talking about Spiritual moments too much in my emails, so I'm going to change that. I kinda funny, in the real world spiritual moments are rare and treasured, in the MTC the Spirit walks these halls and there are so many spiritual moments you kinda end up taking them for granite. So I'm sorry and on Friday prepare for a Spiritual Feast!! And PLEASE PLEASE WRITE ME MORE LETTERS!! Dad you should of gotten yours! Jennie I will respond to yours tonight.

Love You Dad, Love You Mom, Love You Tori, Love You Jennie, Love You Trenton.

-Elder Clement

Letter to fam

Hey Momma,

 

Yes Tuesday is my P-Day, I will usually be sending emails around this time too. Yes I got the razor and letter, thank you. I thought you guys forgot about me for a minute!!! Tell Tori and Jennie to get on it!!!!! Also tell Dad I am sending out his letters today.

 

Things are going great, I didn't mean to sound anxious. It's hard no doubt about it but I know Mongolian is something I can learn, "I will go and do the things the Lord commands". I can now pray, bear my testimony, read the Book of Mormon (I don't know what many of the words mean but I can read them!!), and have a basic conversation all in Mongolian, so yeah I'm slowly getting it. I already love the language though, and cant wait to be fluent!!

 

On P-Days we go to the temple (Don't ever go to the Temple on Tuesdays, they are having a problem with missionaries meeting up with friends/family while there. In the nicest most loving way I can say if I see any family there on Tuesday I am just gonna walk on by without saying hello. Its not that I don't love you, but its inappropriate). We email, do laundry, study, and then we have INCREDIBLE firesides!!!! I'll tell you more about that at the end, be sure to post that section on the site. Its pretty relax which is really important because we all get so caught up we really need that break!!

 

I am falling asleep in class. I only get MAX: 7 1/2 hours of sleep!! Don't they know I need my beauty sleep!! Haha its not that bad I kinda doze for a little while then I'm fine.

 

Yes I am actually starting to eat healthier. I have been REALLY sick lately (Headache, hot and cold flashes, sore throat, fatigue) and had to see the doc, he thought it might be the new diet here at the mtc so healthy food here I come!!!

 

Thanks and I love you too!!!

And yeah the Poprocks would be awesome!!!

 

Ok here is what happened at our Tuesday Devotional:

My zone sets up chairs for the devotions and firesides so as we were setting up I noticed they were using a lot nicer equipment than usual, which was kinda weird. Then I saw them setting up teleprompters, and I realized that someone big was coming tonight. So I told my district we have to get there early. So we got there a little over an hour early and just waited by the doors. After like hour a guy came out asking for volunteers to usher. He forewarned that you don't get any good seats or any other perks. I volunteered myself and our Elders to usher anyways, but as we were walking in he whispered to me, "you actually get really good seats". I guess he didn't want gold diggers to help out. So anyways we go in the back and the guy realized that they already had enough ushers so he takes us in front of the podium and says "You guys are off the hook, pick any spot you want". So we were able to sit right in front of the podium. So we are sitting there wondering who's coming when people by the door start standing up, I look over and immediately stand up in respect. Richard G. Scott was our speaker!!!! He walked in and immediately everyone stood up for him, and I felt the Spirit stronger than I ever have in my whole life. Can you imagine having the Spirit so strongly it can be felt in an entire room just by walking in!?!! It was incredible, I will attach some of the quotes later from the talk but he spoke to us about prayer and it was amazing!!! When he was done speaking he sat down, we sang, and then a girl got up to pray, but all of a sudden who jumps up but Richard G. Scott, he walks to the pulpit, and apologized to the girl for stopping her, and he says that we was inspired to give all of us a Apostolic Blessing. The words he blessed us with was what I had been feeling I needed for the past few days and it was THE MOST SPIRITUAL MOMENT I HAVE EVER HAD!!! I received an Apostolic Blessing from Richard G Scott, I still cant believe it. I will give you the quotes I wrote down from his talk in my next email probably!!

 

Ok that's all I think, anyways have to go so see ya,

 

-Elder Clement

Sleep Talking, Walking and bathroom humor?

My adventures of sleep. So far I have done the following:

 

- Fell out of bed, but instead of waking up I heard the bang as I hit the ground and thought someone was in our room so I ran to the door and screamed "Who's There!". All while asleep.

- My nose has been congested so each morning my companions make up new nicknames for what my snoring sounded like.

- I sleep next to our District Leader, and every night when I snore he hits me in the face with a pillow to make me be quiet. I'm too heavy a sleeper to wake up but apparently I stop snoring if he does it enough.

- I slept talked with my District Leader who was also sleep talking.

- I slept talked in Mongolian, and apparently I'm more fluent in my sleep than when I'm awake.

 

Funny story about my companion:

He was at the urinal doing his business when he dropped his ID Card. When he was finished he reached down to pick it up, he hadn't flushed yet, and when he looked up his tie was halfway in the urinal, soaked in pee. He did ran to the sink and threw his tie in to wash it off. It now looks and smells just like normal!!

MTC Schedule

Mom and Family,

Here is an answer to all the your questions.

My companion is Elder Austin Huckvale (sorry Tori, he's engaged), he's from Eagle, Idaho. I have three roommates; My companion and I, and then Elder Standley and Elder Hayter. Elder Hayter is our District Leader (Our district is one of the smallest in the MTC, there are only six of us! Four Elders and two Sisters; Sister Ackely and Sister Magleby are the sisters). PS I'm senior companion, haha my companion should be though, he is much more a teacher to me than I to him.). Yes I got your packages and letters, although I'll have you know I am still as air-brained as when I left, because I've already lost my immunization records... oops. Thank you for all of the treats, and rolls, and jam, and cookies!! I'm one of the most popular Elders in our zone!! haha. My birthday was incredible. Conference was amazing, I learned how to crush a soda can with my shoulder blades, everything went great in all my classes, and we had a great mini devotional in our room that night. The language is the hardest here, plain and simple. We get comments all the time from people who tell us that the Mongolian missionaries always work the hardest, and for good reason!! Oh man, the sentence structure is different, the grammar is different, and the letters are different!! haha I AM learning though. Right now I can introduce myself, say a simple prayer, read most words (I can read the Book of Mormon, I don't know what most of the words mean but I can read them!) and more.  My companion is a natural though, he's incredible at Mongolian!!! I cant wait until I'm fluent, that's the biggest stress/frustration here, is not being able to teach our investigators what we want to because we don't know how to say it!! Funny story about the language real quick; when you want to say good, you say Canh (pronounced SAN), and you can do a thumbs up to emphasis it. As a joke many Americans will say Super Cahn, and put on fist under the other fist and make a thumbs up sign with the top hand. Well a similar movement will make the sign for going to the bathroom, and of course I mixed the too up and said "Super (bathroom sign)" with a huge smile on my face! After like 10 minutes of laughing my teacher politely told me I had just said 'super going to the bathroom!', haha it was pretty funny! A typical day here is really busy. I bag of candy will last me a week or more because I'm too busy to eat it!! Also time is really strange here, the days go on forever (not a bad thing, I love it!), but the weeks fly by!!! Its really bizarre! Here is my typical day:

6:30- Wake up, get ready

7:00- In the classroom, companion study

7:30- Breakfast

8:00- Language Study/ Class Time

11:30- Personal Study

12:15- Lunch

1:00- Companion Study

2:00- Gym/ Exercise

3:00- Language Study/ Class Time

5:30- Dinner

6:15- Language Study/ Class Time

9:00- Planning

9:00- In the room/ Personal Time

10:15- Quiet Time

10:30- Sleep

That's my schedule.

The variety of food here is great, usually three to five different choices, only problem... it gives you SERIOUS bowel problems!! I have never IN MY LIFE made such horrific smells come out of my body!! And its like that for everyone, so you can image how the rooms smell!! Yeah I snore, and no those didn't help. But on the plus side, I've been talking Mongolian in my sleep!! Probably more fluently than when im awake!! haha My companions love it, when I wake up they all re-enact what I did last night. On night I fell out of bed, and in my sleep I heard the bang of me hitting the ground, but I didn't realize it came from me so I slept walked to the door and opened it and YELLED "Who's there!!". Needless to say I've been the butt of many a joke! :D

Tell everyone thanks for sending me letters, I've gotten lots!! :D When I get to Mongolia it may take several months to get a letter so email is preferrable, but keep the letters coming in the MTC!!

 

Here's just some fun experiences I've had here in the MTC.

 

My zone if AMAZING!! I have all the guys going to the islands. Fiji, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, etc. Many of them are from Tonga, Samoa, Australia, and Karibus. ITS SO COOL!!! They all have the coolest accents!! They are also the most inviting and happy people I have ever met!! When mom sent me the Poprocks I realized many of the guys probably never had tasted them before! So out I went on my quest giving them Poprocks!! Watching their faces as they tried it for the first time was priceless!! They ran around to each other with therir mouths open saying "listen listen!", it was so funny!!! There is an Elder here named Elder Tebatonga, he is the most incredibly humble person I have ever met!! He lives on an Island called Kiribus, probably didn't spell that right, and all he eats day and night is fish and rice. He lives in a hut, that's lifted off the ground by bamboo. When he was 11 his parents left for three months to work, and he had to take care of all his siblings!!! Even before he left he spent his whole day fishing for food for his LARGE family!! He is also quite the ladies man!! HE HAS 19 GIRLFRIENDS. At first I thought he was exaggerating, that is until I saw the letters from them!!! They are all super romantic and they are all SUPER in love with him!! It's amazing though just how humble he is!!!

 

I've also gained 10 pounds since being here... I guess I'm gonna have to be exercising now! :(

 

We have Sunday Night Firesides, and this last Sunday was INSPIRATIONAL!!! I have been sick for the past few days and felt really bad, and on Sunday was the worst (I had to go to the Doc). When we had the Fireside I was prepared to sleep through the whole thing, but as he started talking I realized God was talking through him straight to me!!! It was amazing!! He was the Church's Missionary Department President. He was in charge of promoting the Church and our beliefs!!! He talked about all my passions: Missionary Work, the Church, SEO, Marketing, Web Design, and Graphic Design!!! They even played my favorite song with my favorite instrument; Hie to Kolob, with the violin!! He talked about how they have launched campaigns in New York, London, and Ireland. Look up, "Mormon Campaign, UK". Its incredible!!!!!! They rented all the posters in the whole rain station in the main rail station in England!!! Anyways I don't have much more time so I just want you to know I love you all and miss you, but I want you to know that I love what I'm doing and know that it is true!!

 

-Elder Clement

One More Thing

Family and Friends,

 

I forgot to mention in the last letter, all the islanders from Fiji, Kiribus, etc saw their first snow a couple of days ago!!! They loved it, and we had the best snow ball fight missionaries can have!!

 

-Elder Clement

Tyler's first email

Family,

 

I love you all! I have missed and thought about each one of you everyday. I want you to know that while serving a mission is blessing my life, and the life of the investigators I teach, its also blessing you. God will bless you with comfort and love and I want you to know that what I am doing is right and it's important. I am writing each of you letters and have already sent one to the whole fam. I wont write much more to you each here because each of you will be getting letters soon. Please read this email though and know that I am thinking of you and love you.

 

 

My MTC experience here has been AMAZING!!! The spirit is a constant companion here, and can be felt so strongly ALL the time!! I met my companion Elder Huckvale on Wednesday, and he is so great!! We instantly clicked are best friends here. I have only known him for a short time but I can already feel the I have for him as a companion and as a friend. My other companions in my District are Elders Standley and Hayter, and Sister Ackley and Magleby. (Not sure if I spelled the sisters' names right but oh well! :D They are all so incredible.

 

Last night Elder Huckvale, Elder Standley, Elder Hayter, and I stayed up really late (12:00, that's super late for us!! haha) talking about our testimonies and how/why we decided to serve missions. I have never in my life felt the spirit so strongly. I want to share part of that with you:

 

I started off by reading a note my deceased Grandma Savage wrote to me years ago that somehow found its way into my luggage. I truly have no idea how it got there, and I believe she left the note there for me to re-read. As I began to read a portion of that letter to my companions I felt her presence and the Holy Ghost so strongly I couldn't talk or see. Tears flooded my eyes and I couldn't do anything to stop them. I finally gained my composure enough to read this small sentence to my companions: "...someone up above is always watching over you...", and I cant begin to express the spirit we felt as the Holy Ghost came over all of us as I testified of my Grandma's love for me and the truthfulness of the Gospel. My Grandma wrote that while she was still alive and reading that again I felt her with me and I knew that she was "watching over me". Each one of my companions then bore their own testimonies and personal stories, that lasted for over two hours!! I have never spent two hours better in my life! Each one of my companions had a unique experience and testimony that strengthened each one of us individually!!

 

 

Specifically Priest Quorum and other future missionaries,

 

The MTC is hard, It's really really hard. The blessings are amazing, but sometimes you have to look for them. Just remember to not compare yourself to other missionaries even if it seems like they are WAY ahead of you. For a while I felt really discouraged because I was behind the rest of the class in learning Mongolian. I learned that, while I'm not learning the language as fast as the others, I excel in other aspects in the MTC. We all have our strengths, so don't compare yourself, just know that God has chosen you, by name, to teach in your assigned area. No one else can do the job you have been called to do. If you remember in General Conference there was a talk that said something along the lines of the following:

 

There was a man called to serve in Presidency and when asked if he would serve he told the presiding leader that he didn't want to serve in that calling because for some reason of another he didn't feel he should. The presiding leader told the man that that position would remain empty if he turned it down. When asked why the presiding leader returned the question with another one: How I can call someone else to do the job God has chosen you to do.

 

You are individually called of God to serve a mission and that is something that is completely humbling and exciting. He knows your strengths and weaknesses and knows what you can and cant handle. He will give you a mission that will not only convert and inspire others, but will also help you to grow as a person and as a Child of God.

 

A little about the MTC. The schedule is stressful and you go to bed each night completely worn out. The food does stuff to your digestive system and makes your fart ALL THE TIME!!!! The people are crazy nice. you'll have people just randomly ask you about your life and where your going and where your from, basically your whole life story. If your learning a language, don't worry it will come. Maybe not at first but it will come. You will miss your family, its a given. If you dwell on them, it will make you miss them more, so focus on your studies; Don't worry you'll have PLENTY to study!!!

 

Finally I would like to bear my testimony to all of you that I know this church is true and its through God's grace and mercy that we have it on the Earth to know how to better ourselves and return to him. I testify to all of you that I know Joseph Smith restored the church and the Book of Mormon is God's words written through His prophets. I know that through constant prayer and scripture reading, our lives can be blessed. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

-Elder Clement