Hole in One?

 

Family and Friends,

Last email from the US of A!

 

First spiritual experience time. Ok so people talk about the Gift of Tongues all the time and the Spirit of Discernment, I had experienced it by way of learning the language faster than usual but I hadn't suddenly understood everything an investigator was saying then magically had been able to communicate perfectly back to them, which is what I thought the Gift of Tongues was. This week I was able to experience the true gift of tongues as it was intended. We were meeting with an investigator here at the MTC and the Mongolian words were flying left and right. She was speaking really fast and I wasn't understanding. I hadn't talked in a while and I knew she would ask me a question. I prayed for guidance and help. When I concluded my silent prayer the investigator, sure enough, looked right at me. She wanted to join the church but she was being beaten by her husband and she was afraid. I understood that much. She was looking expectantly at me, so I opened my English scripture praying what I needed would be right there, it was. Isaiah 41:10. I had her read the scripture in Mongolian out loud and, though I struggled, I spoke to her in Mongolian about the scripture and told her she has no need to fear as long as she has faith. The moral of this story and what I took away from this experience is that the Gift of Tongues may not manifest itself as a powerful sudden fluency, instead it could come as a few simple sentences you struggle through, and a scripture that manifests itself at the opportune moment.

 

Ok now how about a funny story? Mom you especially are going to love this and feel free to give me grief about it! Ok so I had just gotten done with a string of meeting on Sunday and I was headed to breakfast. They don't let you take things into the cafeteria so I dropped my stuff off outside the cafeteria, next to the wall. I ate breakfast, all was normal, until I went to pick up my stuff. I thought I would be kinda silly and pick them up kinda dorkily. Well as I bent down to pick up my stuff I hear a TREMENDOUS rip. I pause from sheer horror as I realize that came from my backside. Then quicker than a speeding cheetah I shot up, grabbed my companion by the arm and positioned him behind me.

 

"Get behind me and DON'T move" I told him.

"NO! Why?" Elder Standley said.

 

Apparently his, and my other companion Elder Hayter's, first thought when I told Elder Standly to get behind me was that I had horribly pooped myself. I finally got Elder Standley to escort me to the bathroom, and on the way Elder Hayter asked me:

 

"Did you poop yourself?"

 

And I not thinking or really caring, said "No, worse!"

 

And his lovely, heartwarming response to that was a long shake of his head and the following words "I am embarrassed to know you".

 

We finally got to the bathroom and I examined the damage.... Remember when I ripped my pants on that date, yeah I would have rather had that rip than this one. It was HUGE! All the way from top to bottom! Anyways so my companions had to walk me to my Branch Presidency meeting where I had to explain to everyone that I would be late on account that I had ripped my pants and I had to change. All total probably the most embarrassing experience of my life!

 

Ok done with that, here's something random. Mr. Mendinhall who teaches music at MMHS also plays the piano at the MTC, and I've seen him like 5 times here.

 

Alright here is a cool Missionary Statistic: There are currently as of this month: 67,000 missionaries serving, and with the age change and the new wave of missionaries there are 31,000 new applications. So by the end of the summer there will be approximately 98,000 missionaries serving missions!!! That's super exciting!! And my friend Elder Shorts has, with many other missionaries, moved into the new Rain tree appts with the MTC expansion!

 

Sorry I know my mind is on a random spree but here's something else kinda cool! I can say hello and goodbye in 12+ languages!! I know some Kiribis, Mandarin, some crazy little island language I cant remember the name of, Tongan, Samoan, and more!!! Its awesome!!!

 

--

 

Ok so this is my final email in the USA, let me just quickly bear my testimony and feelings right now. I feel really тавэн , or peaceful.The Lord blesses His missionaries in many many ways. While I'm nervous, its not to fly or to be in a different country or any of that, I'm nervous that I wont be able to teach the gospel as effectively as I want to. I feel prepared and I feel like a have a basic enough understanding to be able to survive in Mongolia. I love the Lord and I have already grown so incredibly close to Him. I know God exists because I have grown to know Him. I know this church to be true and I have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. If any of you have doubts pertaining to the Gospel, then lean on my testimony because I KNOW THIS CHURCH TO BE TRUE. I have no doubt in my mind, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

I love you all and am very grateful for the support,

 

- Ахлагч Клемент

Note from Sis. Clark.

Dear Sister Clement,

Oh, yes! We will be there to personally meet and greet the new missionaries on Monday morning. They will arrive Monday just before noon our time. (Sunday night at 10 pm for you), 

We will have a welcome dinner for them and later take them to Zaisan Hill where the dedicatory prayer was offered by Neal A. Maxwell 20 years ago in April. We also have 8 Mongolians missionaries returning from the Manilla MTC that will be part of his group. They will all be trained by President Clark and then have an additional training with the trainers before heading out to their areas in the city. We have a lot of areas and church buildings around UB. It is unlikely that he will go way out into the countryside to serve.

Don't worry about him. He will love it here and will have the opportunity of a life time to teach and baptize a lot!!! 

Love, S. Clark

Another spiritual experience

Family,

 

I got your other email about the house, and its ok. I will miss the ward and friends, but I understand following promptings from the Lord even more from being out here. Don't feel like you do/ or don't need to do something because I'm out here. Following the prompting of the Spirit are more important than worrying about what I might think. Just remember to pray every morning and night, ALL OF YOU. That's something that's been hard for me out here, but has been A HUGE blessing for me. I don't have much time but I wanted to tell you a few things.

 

a. I love all of you sooo much, and thank you all for writing me!!! I have kept all of your letters! In Mongolia it could take up to a month for letters to get there so I'm not sure what mailing will be like. But Mom don't worry about sending me packages, I can buy anything I need in the city.

 

b. I REALLY NEED THAT PHOTO ALBUM THOUGH!!!! Drop it off at the MTC door if you have to!! But try and it get it here by Monday, Tuesday at the LATEST! I don't need it fancy I just need it.

 

c. I got my travel plans. I leave on June 1st, from Salt Lake to LAX, then LAX to Beijing, then Beijing to Mongolia. Total time with layovers and flight time is 38.5 hours!!! That's how long I will be in a plane or in an airport!!!! My first time too!!!!

 

d. Just a Spiritual experience I wanted to share. I was in my classroom and my teachers (in Mongolian) said they are only ever speaking Mongolian for the rest of our MTC stay. Instantly I got super nervous and stressed, because now is a really critical learning time, and how was I supposed to learn anything if I cant understand half of what they are saying. For a while I was just super anxious, and stressed. Then suddenly I received an overwhelming feeling of peace, and comfort. All the stresses and worries melted away, and I felt calm. Then a few minutes later we found out our VISAs were approved and we had our travel plans. Again I felt so comforted and loved. And I realized a connection of when this had happened before.

When I turned in my papers I REALLY did not want to go state-side. I have nothing against stateside missions I just wanted to go foreign. Soon after I got the strong impression I was going stateside, and it was a BIG prompting. I knew it to be true. After a few days of long prayer and thought, I came to the conclusion that where God called me to serve is where I am supposed to serve, and was where I was supposed to be. After being totally and completely willing to serve anywhere (even provo, ut), I felt at peace and ready to serve where ever I was called. Then I got called to Mongolia, obviously.

When I opened my call, I received the same peace I felt when I was in the classroom. I know that feeling to come from God, and it was His way of telling me "Elder Clement, I will do with you what I will, it is not up to you. I know what is best for you, and the things I do are in your best interest because I am your Father in Heaven and I love you."

I testify with my whole being and power that God lives, He loves each of us more powerfully than we can comprehend and He knows best for us. Trust in Him, and follow His promptings and you will be rewarded with what is best for you individually. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all, and thank you for supporting and loving me. I have been praying for all of you.

 

-Elder Clement

Quotes from Russel M Nelson

Family and Friends,

 

Russel M Nelson spoke at the MTC on Tuesday and here are some quotes from that night I thought you would like, enjoy!

 

"Pray to be led by those on the other side of the veil who's posterity are waiting for you in your mission area"

 

"Those on the veil are very much alive"

 

"Study it, abide by it, live by it" -in reference to PMG

 

"Never speak of baptism, even among ourselves, casually"

 

"Remember your converts, in a very real way they become your children of the Gospel.... keep in contact with them"

 

"Your not baptizing them to be members, your baptizing them for their eternal salvation"

 

"In order to put Jesus first, you must first loose yourself"

 

"Having character is better than being one"

 

"Be alert, listen carefully, ask their names, find ways to connect" -in relation to investigators

 

"God, our Eternal Father, is on your side"

 

"God will establish His church by your hand"

District Leader

Dear Family,

I'm doing really good, guess who I got to listen to at our Tuesday Devotional!! Russel M. Nelson!! It was awesome, I left my journal in my room so later today I will send another email with quotes from that, and other speakers I've listened to. Be sure to put all of the quotes up on the site, and read them to the family!

 

Yeah I was made District Leader, sorry I thought I told you. I was made District Leader last week I think, or the week before (no sense of time here). It's going good, I realized that when I was made a missionary I raised my standards to meet that position, and I thought that they could get any higher, then I was made District Leader and I realized again there were things I needed to work on to be a better leader. So I'm working on being the best example possible to my District.

 

I don't remember who I told you to look up but I will tell you everyone in my District. The elders in my district: Elder Landin Hayter, Elder Brent Standley. The sisters: Laura Maglby, Sydney Ackley. My teachers: Ryan Margetts, Ryan Jolley, Isaac Wilson, Bradley Warner. (Margetts left but he was AWESOME).

 

I love my teachers though, they are crazy cool. I am really good friends with all of them, and I see myself getting back and still being really friends with them!! They each have a unique teaching aspect about them that is different from the other teachers and they really specialize in! Its great to get so many different approaches to learning a language and more about the gospel.

 

How are you doing? I know its hard to send your boy off a world away but know that I am doing super good!! The Lord is watching over me, and so is Grandma. That's one thing Russel M Nelson talked about a lot is that fact that people from the other side of the veil are helping and praying for us as missionaries. Whether those people are deceased relatives, future posterity, or the deceased family of those whose family is in Mongolia right now.

 

Ok I don't have much more time right now but I will be sending another email with my notes from the Devotional.

 

Here is a brief testimony in Mongolian (let me know if you cant see anything on your computer):

 

бурхан бол Тэнгэрлэг Эцэг бас Есүс Христ бол аваргч гэдгийг би мэдэнв. Бурхан надад хайртай, шиг би гэр бүлээ хайртай.

 

Love You,

-Ахлагч Clement

More Sleep talking

I had another sleep talking experience, I don't know whats going on!!! I woke up in the middle of the night yelling, "hey, hey, hey, hey". I guess I was trying to get Elder Standley's attention. Anyways he woke up freaked out because he thought something was happening. He asked me what was wrong and I responded "When are we teaching the investigator?". He answered Friday, and I quickly but totally asleep said "No that's not right". Realizing I was asleep and that he could have some fun with me, he then said "Donuts!". I loudly responded "I LOVE THOSE... but God's will", then I bore a short testimony in English to him and went back to sleep.

 

Ok something fun about the MTC is you see a lot of returned missionaries who teach here now, one of them that I was able to meet was the Hawain of the District. He's really cool! He teaches here now I guess.

 

Alright like in almost every email I send to you guys I mention Elder Tebetonga, my hero!!! He is in Fiji now but before he left he shared some words of wisdom with me. My Mom was kind enough to send me a big bag of Cheetos, and PopRocks (His FAVORITES [they don't have them where he's from]), since then he has been referring to my Mom as HIS Mom. One of his last days here he explained why he did that. He said that the name Mom and Dad are titles of respect. He said he that when you refer to someone as Mom or Dad, it means you respect them for what they do. He now calls my Mom, Mom all the time now.

 

He also was describing our skin color (he is brown), he described my companions and I as the following (There is no racial or unkind intention behind this, he was simply describing us as best he could from his cultural point of view):

- Elder Standley: Milk

- Elder Hayter: Bannana Milk

- Me: Eggnog

 

Then he said the following, and again I re-iterate the above warning "There is no racial or unkind intention behind this, he was simply describing us as best he could from his cultural point of view":

 

TEBETONGA: "Am I too much black?"

US: "There is no too much black!"

TEBETONGA: "Yes, Africans!!"

 

Both times we died laughing!! Its was funny and interesting for us to see into that culture looking out.

 

Ok little more spiritual now:

 

Since in the MTC I have realized my lack of reading the Book of Mormon before my mission. I read them both A LOT in the MTC, because I realized that while I knew a lot of doctrine it was a whole other thing to teach it. Read the Book or Mormon to solidify your understanding of principles and doctrines, and then read Preach my Gospel to see simple explanations of what you just read. Even if your not a missionary, buy one and just it to help you understand complex or difficult doctrines. FUTURE MISSIONARIES

One month out, 23 to Go

Dear family and friends,

 

I have had two instances of when I felt the Spirit was truly speaking through my mouth. The first was when we were teaching an investigator with my companion. We had decided to do our first notes free lesson in Mongolian and we both were trusting in Heavenly Father to give us the Gift of Tongues. We both decided that we were going to teach about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. We began teaching and the words found their place in my mind, and when I spoke them I felt confident they were expressing the thoughts in my heart. Finally at the end I pulled out a note card that I had written a long testimony on and I began to read it. Many of the words were new, and long but I spoke them with the Spirit on my side. I don't know if he understood the words I was saying, but I could tell that he had felt the Spirit and that by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost he has received our message. He prayed with us for the first time, and again I felt the Spirit.

 

The second time I felt the Holy Ghost speaking through me is when I gave my companion a blessing of comfort. I laid my hands on his head, and reviewed the missionary handbook (I had never done this blessing before) and I began to bless him. I don't remember many of the words that I said, but I remember how I felt and the message that Heavenly Father had for him.

 

This church is true, through my experiences and the testimonies of the Elders here that I have heard I have solidified that knowledge. The Book of Mormon is true, it truly is God's words written on paper and given to us for directional and personal revelation. The doctrine in Peach my Gospel is also inspired revelation for our day and age, and if you haven't had a chance to read it I urge you to do so now. Friends and Family, I KNOW God lives, I KNOW Christ is our redeemer and savior and I KNOW the Holy Ghost is the mediator for us to the Father and will bear witness of truth fullness.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I am good. This week has been hard. Its been hard saying so many goodbyes with so many people you love. Its like leaving on a mission and saying goodbye to everyone all over again.

 

Yes, I've been eating more healthy. I've lost the 12lbs I gained here. I think I have written everyone, I'm not sure.

 

No, I will not be able to call on Mother's Day, there are too many people in the MTC and there's no way everyone would be able to call. I'm sorry and I really love you, but I will be able to call everyone from each airport!! That'll be really cool!

 

Love You.