COME HOME

Coming home

April 11, 2016

Well, the time has come. 

It was a little earlier than expected, but I am coming home! From a turn of events and needs of the mission it is better if I come home this week! I am really excited and feel that it is what is supposed to happen for whatever reason. 

Words can’t really describe what this moment is like. But I think climbing a mountain would explain it well. I have learned so much in Peru and am so very grateful for the chance to serve. There is no greater joy. 

It has not been easy, but it definitely has been worth it. In 2 Nephi 4:20 it says “My god has been my support and has led me through mine afflictions...” I know that I never did any of it alone. That the Lord truly was there and we walked through all of it together. I only had to suffer the minimal amount of pain to learn what I needed to in order to become a better instrument in His hand, and He seems to have shielded all of the unneeded pain and helped me through it all. If there is one thing that I have learned on the mission, that I have seen, that I know, is that He lives and loves us. I have seen Him change the hearts of these people, I have heard His voice through the scriptures, I have felt His arms as I have prayed and have truly come to love Him and know that He loves me. 

A song from primary seems to sum up exactly how I feel about it. 

" I have not touched Him or sat on His knee, yet Jesus is real to me. I know He lives. I will follow faithfully. My heart I give to Him, I know that my Savior loves me." 

I love being a missionary and am excited to do it the rest of my life. I know that this is all true. There is no other way nor name given, save Jesus Christ that we can be saved, and that His invitation will always be to Come. 

Come unto Him. Learn of Him. Try to be like Him. Until one day when we all hear the words:

Come Home. 

Love you all. 

Hermana Clegg 

buying souvenirs

last zone meeting

It is Wonderful

old members from Reque! 

April 4, 2016

Wow, what a great week! Just a few of the quick highlights. 

Got a food allergy to something that got me a trip to the doctor with a rash everywhere haha, all good now, but kind of fun! Will be staying away from fish for a while. 

Hermana Williams gave us HOMEMADE COOKIES for helping with the pensionistas which we finished this week and they were so good! 

I shared my jungle animal oatmeal with our pensionista family and they thought it was the coolest thing ever, they were so excited and loved it! 

We had a noche misional where we turned the chapel into a theater and watched The Testament and it was amazing! That movie is the best thing I have ever seen! I just cried as we watched it and a lot of people came! It was an amazing night and I definitely felt blessed that heavenly father sent His son for us. 

Overall, it was a wonderful week. Highlight was obviously General Conference, it was AMAZING. Our gringo group is down to five in this zone, but it was fun none the less. I especially loved Elder Holland’s talk and felt the spirit so strong through the whole conference. 

On Sunday morning we had a good amount of investigators come, including Hermana Nora who has a date for the 30th of April and is doing AWESOME. She really has so much desire to learn and change. Anyhow, we get there and everyone is super excited, there is just no signal. Reminded me of last year, when I was in this same stake and there was no signal for the Trujillo temple dedication. So just like last year, I got to play the piano for an hour while everyone waited for something to work. It was a cool experience to feel the spirit of the hymns, the one thing holding everyone from getting annoyed it seemed. They finally got it to work, right after the prophet finished speaking.... it was so sad! So many faithful members had walked miles in the mud just to hear his voice, however the whole conference was very uplifting and they said they felt the spirit. 

I was sitting next to a less active named Blanca who was a jehovas witness and recently is coming back after some struggles she is having in her family. I just love her. As we were watching the conference side by side, the choir was singing and she leaned over to me with tears in her eyes and whispered, in English," it is wonderful." I couldn’t keep the tears from my eyes when I replied, "yes, it is. "

It is wonderful, wonderful to me. I feel this week the miracles, unanswered prayers and hard work all seemed to come into place. I feel so blessed to have the chance to work as a missionary and feel the spirit everyday. 

I liked the talk by Elder Renlund on the distance from the giver, and have seen how many times I have demanded and whined when things haven’t gone my way. I’m thankful for the conference, and every other chance I have, thanks to the Savior, to come closer to my Heavenly Father through Him and to be clean from my mistakes. 

Remember how wonderful the Gospel truly is. Thanks for your prayers and support, love you all! 

Hermana Clegg

gringo conference

womens conference with hermana christensen! 

He came to serve

after the wall was gone

March 28, 2016

Wow, what an awesome week and celebration of Easter. This week was semana santa down in Peru, which means all Thursday, Friday and Saturday was vacation and everyone just sits in their houses and watches bible movies or goes to the beach. But it was really fun to be a missionary this week! We handed out cards for the Easter video and saw a lot of cool results. 

Besides that, this week we SERVED. We had a lot of opportunities to do service which was awesome, and super tiring, but by far the best week yet. 

On Tuesday Hermana Nataly our pensionista asked if we could help take down a wall so they could build their house above her mom’s house.... sure! It was hard work but a lot of fun and always the best feeling to help. I’ll put some fotos on because it was sweet. 

Then we got to wash giant blankets for an investigator, which was also very fun, but by the end of the week I could hardly life my arms haha. 

I also went on an intercambio with Hermana Kelly! She is so awesome and it’s always nice to speak in English every now and then. They are in the CITY which was way fun, and kind of sketch, but it was so awesome to learn from her and be with her. At breakfast we had toast with cream cheese.... I had to stare at the container for like 5 min and asked "what is this?" I had totally forgotten that stuff existed! It’s SOOOO GOOD. Always the little things. 

We have a new investigator, Nora and her teenage son Alex who are awesome! They came to church and want to get baptized in April! So we’ll see! In church yesterday for Easter we sang "I know that my redeemer lives" in Spanish and it was so fun! The spirit was really strong and the spirit of the resurrection really testified to me. What a wonderful Sunday. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about the spirit. I feel so luck for the chance to practice and perfect a little more the opportunity to receive and act on revelation. I’m still learning, but I was thinking about how many amazing experiences the lord has given me to learn and feel to recognize His voice. In the womens conference they said that was one of the most important skills we can develop, so true! 

Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Hermana Clegg

cleaning the rocks and boulders out 

before... kind of

district

washing blankets

intercambios.... got to do correlation with my two old leaders of distrito!! haha

Finally fall....

finding the lost sheep

March 21, 2016

Well, everyone went back to school, and it is FINALLY cooling down a little bit. 

This week has been good, I don’t really have that much to report, pretty normal. 

On Monday we got permission to go to the center and send a package of Hermana Palomino.... free at last. I prayed that morning that somehow I would be able to see Hermana Wood because I missed her so much! Sure enough we went to lunch same place, same time! Prayer works! It was soo good to see her! 

Also had an intercambio in Patapo, the mountain town of Polmaca which was super fun! I learned a lot and it was really hot, but we had some awesome lessons and I felt the spirit so strong with Hermana Alcedo! And we got to hold a goat and got eaten alive by mosquitos haha... 

One thing that is really cool is we had an awesome reference from a member Hermana Juana to a lady named Cynthia who is AWESOME. We taught about the Book of Mormon and she read and had so many questions about baptism and lots of interest. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much, it has POWER and literally within minutes of reading changes everything in the investigators thinking and desire. 

Overall, still loving Peru! I love teaching and the joy that comes from sharing the light and peace that the gospel brings. Few receive it, but those that do you can literally feel and see the joy and spirit that comes with the truth of the gospel. 

Love it. 

Hermana Clegg

pday of hermanas! We love parties and sports! 

lil thirsty... we've turned to drinking just like the peruvians!