One month a missionary?!!

Dec. 4, 2014

Oh man, it has been one month since I became a missionary, crazy beans!! It has flown by and at the same time it gets hard to remember life before the box of the CCM in Peru haha...

Thanks for all of your updates and emails, I LOVE hearing about your lives and all the fun stuff going on. You all are seriously such amazing support to me, thanks for being awesome!

This week was pretty great, learned more spanish, learned more gospel things and how to teach more, kind of getting old and I’m STOKED I’m finally an Advensario and get to leave in one short week and a half!!

Thanksgiving in Peru was so much fun. We had turkey, potatoes and pie so what more can you ask for? Also we all went around the cafeteria table of Hermanas and said what we were thankful for, some traditions are just the best. Also, we had a MASSIVE TURKEYBOWL football game with all the North American missionaries and it was such a party. I thought I was going to die of heatstroke, but it was so fun. Merica!

Also this week we had the BEST DAY EVER! Let me explain. Our whole district was kind of having a rough morning with language and stuff, and I said, "Hey, today is the best day ever! Wanna know why?" from there we all complained about things in the CCM and then stated all the awesome things about being here, and the whole day was amazing cause we were all saying "BEST DAY EVER!!" That quote can literally change lives haha... so from then on we say it every day, as well as quote Mr. Peabody and Sherman and say "pretty fantastic!" I promise you, any problem can be fixed with a change of attitude and faith in the Lord.

Another highlight was on Saturday, it was our morning teacher’s last day and she has taught at the CCM for 4 years!! So obviously, if you know me, we HAD to throw a party!! It was also our afternoon teacher’s birthday, so we threw a massive party... well, as crazy as you can get here in the CCM. We made a banner, a card, and gave a gift to each of them. Then after class with both of them we toasted to Inca Cola (kind of like cream soda but better) in the cafeteria. SO FUN and honestly am so grateful for them, they are amazing, i just wish they would speak in English sometimes haha..

Also I SAW THE MOON for the first time since I’ve been here! It is pretty polluted and foggy, so I was super stoked! It is at a different angle down here which took about a half hour for some elders to explain that to me, but I love it so much because it reminds me of all the people I love haha...

We’ve been playing volleyball pretty religiously and figured out some pretty intense teams, such a blast. One day I went up and blocked Elder Romrell (who is this elder that always slams it down) and it went right back into his face.... felt kind of bad about that. Then the next day I got a massive fat lip when I collided my face with the back of an Elders head. Maybe a sign we need to tone it down haha... So that was embarrassing and made it harder to speak Spanish for a day, but it’s all good now. That day also some Hermanas got back from a service project and said "Hermana Clegg, Elder Batty says hi!" WHAT? Turns out he was like 20 feet away from me, but maybe it was better. Just a little bummed because he is such a good friend, crossing my fingers though haha....

Hahahaha.... so also I was coming out of our district classroom and started to walk away and my head got yanked back because my hair was stuck in the crease of the door!! A Latino elder yelled "HERMANA!" Cause I couldn’t figure out what was going on and he opened the door haha... sometimes I think one of my talents is embarrassing myself and making other people laugh...

Another great part was on Thanksgiving we had a live devotional broadcast from Provo with Elder Bednar. Whoo... powerful stuff. One of my favorite things that he said was that being out on a mission is better than anything you could do by being at home. Meaning, for young adults, senior couples, etc, it is better for your family and friends to feel your absence and see your example than it is for you to be at family parties, etc. So if it is right for you, GO ON A MISSION. Honestly the best decision I’ve ever made and love every part of it.

The Lord knows you and your needs. If there is one thing I’ve learned this month, cause I still haven’t figured out conjugations haha, it is that PRAYER WORKS. In every possible need you have, prayer works and your Heavenly Father hears you.

Also I’ve felt your prayers and have been so blessed because of all of you.

Have the BEST WEEK EVER and know that I love you!

   Hermana Clegg

Mom-Thanks for your letters. Love you and excited for your new calling! Also I sing my turn on earth and no one knows it haha... dang. Also can I get Jessica’s email from you? I got it but didn’t add it and wanted to write her!

Dad- Hope things are going well with work, another Elder here said his dad is an engineer and he literally can’t talk about what he does. Haha i said you made chicken coops! But then said that you really were a genius of course haha.

Megan and Alex- I LOVE YOUR BABY! He is so precious and looks just like troy did. Congrats, it sounds like everything went well! Good luck with this next month!

Wyatt- Glad you got to have fun with your friends for thanksgiving, good luck with finals coming up and doing something fun in provo for me!

Dawsen- What are you up to now that band is over? Tell me about your life too haha... the details! (haha girls!)

Tanna- Congrats on volleyball! Hows that going? Good job on all yalls grades too, keep it up! Let me know how your last name boys are. I can’t remember them because they were so weird, their names, not them haha! And your hair is totes adorbs! super cute!

Andie- I have twinner pants as you and every time I wear them I think of ya! Are you excited for the Tavaci Program?

Brooklyn- How’s it going? Still sleeping with my suitcase because of you.

Love you all!

Chistes and Zombies....

November 26, 2014

Man! What a great week this has been! I love the MTC and everything about it. Btdubs my Pday is today because of thanksgiving and such, and maybe will be Wednesday the rest of the time... so there is that! But seriously, I love everything about the CCM and being a missionary. All of it.

One of the funniest parts of this week was when I ran into one of the new Latino sisters. I was coming out of the hall bathroom and she was coming in, and we both kind of saw each other and took a step back, and she look so scared! Because... she literally came up to my belly button! I felt like a giant monster and felt so bad for scaring her, she literally tilted her head all the way up to look at me haha.... got to get used to that feeling. She is super nice though.

Also, during class our favorite teacher who always jokes told us to prepare to teach the Latinos in five minutes, then about 2 minutes later he was like, "NO worries, is un chiste (joke)" And from earthquakes, to Latinos, to verbs due, etc, I was sick of his chistes, so through laughing frustration I said, "YO ENFERMO SUS CHISTES" (I‘m sick of your jokes haha) and his response back was "USTED ES UN CHISTE!!" (YOU ARE A JOKE!" haha we all were like crying laughing... the people here are literally so funny and almost never serious.

Now for the Zombie part. I can feel the brain washing happening. I don’t want to get ready in the morning, I only want to read my scriptures out loud in Spanish and stuff like that. I can’t remember names of artists, movies, people, etc. from home. My favorite thing of the day is watching a clip of a general authority, and it’s the best day ever if we have fish for dinner. Things that are NOT NORMAL but truly are amazing. I know these changes are good because I am truly learning how to become a better missionary and give myself to the Lord completely for these next months. Although, it has been a struggle. Not singing songs "of the world" has been incredibly difficult. And although I do let Disney and some other good ones stay, a lot of other ones do distract from what we are doing here, and it has been a struggle. Also not being able to just go running and play the piano have been some rough withdrawals. HOWEVER in reading a talk about becoming a consecrated missionary (thank you Amanda!!) I have realized that the blessings of choosing the things of the world and giving up those "little things" that are holding you back is so worth it. I felt the spirit SO strong, in lessons, in just everything. A quote I loved from a talk this week was "We were created and destined for glory long before the world was, therefore, which is more important?" I know that I am forced to choose only the things that help me spiritually and are not of the world, but know that in choosing to do and spend time with spiritual things you will always be more blessed. Also, yesterday me and my comp walked around the little box for like 2 hours memorizing the first vision and such and I did feel like a zombie then haha....

Also the other night we had the opportunity to do lessons with the NEWBIES and let me tell you, the lord has blessed me! I realized that I actually had learned something here and knew Spanish! One time though we were with these elders that were not even trying. NOT EVEN! And it kind of made me mad because I could see they didn’t realize at all the sacredness of their calling. Then when it was our turn to give feedback, I felt the Spirit burn in me so strong and words just flowed. I told them they needed to realize they had been set apart to teach and had the Lord on their side, and that even if they couldn’t do anything, they could try. I felt so much power and knew that they needed to hear that. After I said that I said, sorry to be so harsh, I just felt SO strongly that I needed to tell you that, and they were chill with it. Afterwards I almost threw up though cause I felt bad... maybe that’s just a reaction to feeling the spirit strong haha... But after that I realized... holy smokes! I’m like a missionary! I can feel the Spirit working through me and saying the things Heavenly Father needs to tell his children. Haha you would have thought I’d figured that out long ago, but it was a fun realization for me...

Anyhow, nothing else too exciting. My hermanas and district are so great! There is this one elder from a Navajo reservation in Arizona and he tells us some pretty awesome stories! Dad I told him about the blood suckers and the cave, but he said he hadn’t heard it haha... so that’s fun. Also we have played volleyball EVERY DAY this week and one day we did Hermanas vs. Elders and WE TOTALLY KILLED! Well.. if we kept score we would have haha... Oh man, and the one day I did play soccer, the teacher reffing told us to be careful because the new group of Latinos we have is very aggressive... and we said okay. But then halfway through the game he told us we couldn’t play because he didn’t want us to get hurt.. I was kind of mad we got kicked out, but then some elder almost broke his ankle and had to go to the hospital, so I felt better after that. If there is one thing that is serious here, it’s soccer. They kind of just don’t apply the competitive rule to it haha.

Have a happy thanksgiving and know I am thankful for all of you!!

Love,

Hermana Clegg

Earthquake and Libros de Mormon!!!

November 20, 2014

Holy smokes I love being a missionary! This week was seriously so great, TONS better than the first and I’m glad a good amount of the adjusting to missionary life is over. First off on Friday I think, we had an EARTHQUAKE! Well actually a sismal which I think is like an earth tremor. Anyways... just chyillin and learning some spanish when I started to feel the earth vibrate under my feet and then my chair started vibrating and shaking against the wall behind me. The teacher told us to follow him so we evacuated the building. Holy smokes was it scary! First time I’ve ever been in one and apparently they get them a lot, so that was fun!

Then on Saturday we got to teach some young men from our maestros ward, btw our teacher is the bomb! He just got home in March and is so funny and spiritual it’s amazing. Anyways, we taught his young men just to practice strengthening members and such and one kid we were talking about why it was hard for him to get to church and he said because he didn’t have enough money... its like half a sol which is like maybe eight cents! Then we were talking about maybe getting help by calling one of his leaders and he just looked at us like we were nuts! He said he didn’t have a cell phone! Duh! I felt like such a dumb rich American and it was such a humbling and real moment for me. You can hear about all that stuff, but when you have a fourteen year old in front of you saying it, it is crazy. My companion was confused and thought it was a mock discussion and invited him to come to church with us and he said yes... but I was like, that wont happen cause were in the CCM... so I called my teacher over and he solved the whole thing. I felt bad because the kid looked kind of frustrated and embarrassed... but he said that he got it all work out for him to come with his leader.... still figuring out what 3rd world means!

ALSO mostly for the fam, but an Elder here looks JUST LIKE PEETA MELARK! And everyone tells him so, it’s a little creepy. Anyhow, I bust up laughing almost every time in basketball and soccer or see him  because of the Studio C haha...then today at volleyball he passed out a few extra churros and I said Elder Melark, the boy with the bread!! and we all just about died... so funny and reminds me of those last fun days with the fam, haha. Girl I got your back mmnn!

We had Elder Evens of the 70 who is over all the missionaries come speak twice on Sunday and it was awesome!! I also sang in the choirs, which was really fun to sing and feel the spirit in spanish. AND we had a chocolate fountain at lunch. Best. Day. Ever. That night we also watched Ephraims Rescue and for some reason every spiritual thing as a missionary is like Christmas. IT WAS AMAZING! I loved watching it and seeing how the lord prepares people in their lives for the work he needs them to do. Especially cool thinking in the terms of a missionary.

And as of this week I am officially and INTERMEDIO! I actually feel really comfortable with spanish, I cant conjugate much right now but I can definitely hold conversations and understand lots. The gift of tongues is more real than I had ever imagined!! I also did the session at the temple today in spanish and understood almost all of it, crazy how much the Lord helps me through the Spirit!

Okay, by far the highlight of the week was yesterday. We went to migraciones earlier this week for visas and stuff and the whole time we were there I was like, I just want to talk to these people, but I don’t know how! You see people so differently as a missionary. I just wanted to tell them all how much the gospel means to me and can change their lives. Oh that I were an angel haha.... Anyhow, I decided I was going to write my testimony in my extra LDM (book of mormon) and bring it with me to interpol yesterday, and prayed that if I was prompted I would have the courage to open my mouth. And guess what..... with the help of the Lord and another sister I PLACED 3 LDMS!!! It was sicker than skydiving or anything! Like and adrenaline rush of the spirit and excitement! First off it was a super nasty place where they check your teeth and take fingerprints with stray cats running around. I love it here haha.. And we were just talking (hermanas) to two nice men in their 40s about life and stuff, why we were there, etc, and I asked if he was interested in learning more, and to my surprise he said YES! So i pulled out the book, showed him Moroni’s promise, my simple testimony i had written in the front, some other classic explanation scriptures and gave it to him. Then his friend wanted one and luckily some elders that had been out for forever were there and had more books of Mormon! Talk about loaves and fishes.... anyhow, we were also talking to a super nice man who just moved here and got married and he was so interested. We gave him all of the elders info and another book and it was just so good! I have no idea how they understood me, but they seemed to and were so interested! They were super excited which I was not expecting. Then I was sitting again next to these two girls going to school that were friends and we started talking and I started teaching them as well! A fluent missionary came over and we taught the first lesson and got their information. Sadly we were out of books of Mormon, but they were so excited for the elders to come to their house. Truly an amazing experience. I almost threw up after because I realized they were all REAL! I just did what we’ve been practicing on teachers, but I knew that the Spirit had helped me and was so grateful I got the experience.

Everyone in my district after was like, wow you are so cool! But honestly, I just wanted to share it. I’ve been waiting a while to be on a mission, and now that that is my job full time I was like, what is holding me back! (besides my caveman spanish) but it truly was an answer to my prayers this week and a lot through my life. Can’t wait to learn more and do that every single day! The people really do want religion down here and are so prepared and loving. It’s incredible.

We went to garages today, super sketch mall of just garages and got some jerseys and candy. Besides that just a fun week at the CCM. I LOVE it here and will be sad to go. There are so many amazing missionaries and I’ve learned tons.

Thanks for all the emails, prayers and love. I truly can feel it and am grateful for all of the support. I know that as we try to give more to the lord, and humble ourselves, he opens the windows for blessings beyond our comprehension. Have a great week!!

-Hermana Clegg

PS

Mom- did we pack the scooby doo fruit snacks? I can’t find them and think either I forgot them or the cleaning lady stole them... let me know so I don’t lose my mind. Thanks for your recordings... I bawled. Love you!

Dad-Thanks for your email, it was great to hear from you and how things are going at home, some people asked what you do and I said an inventor. The sad thing is when I say Caratucus Potts, they say, who? Your welcome haha

Dawsen-Chicks like super heroes, but it sounds like you are getting a little crazy haha... let me know how school and all that stuff is going!

Tanna- Congrats on making the top mtn west Team!! That’ll be tons of fun, tell dad you are sorry he has to drive all over the valley again haha.... your awesome!

Andie- congrats on your concert and YW night, and thanks for your email! Hows your new friend
Brookie- Glad you replaced me with a fireplace haha.... I slept with my suitcase on my bed last night to pretend I was with you and you were hogging the whole thing. Love you!

Week One Accomplished

Nov. 13, 2014

Me and my companion Hermana McCally at the Lime Peru temple

Holy smokes just knowing that I am FINALLY A MISSIONARY and writing a letter is making me so happy right now! I have so much to say, but first let me say this is the greatest thing ever. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

The flight here was great, we all had tons of luggage and felt like harry potter running through the parking lot trying no to get hit by cars with our massive carts.... haha so great!! My companion is Sister McCally from Washington and is super fun. The other hermanas going to Chiclayo are Hemana Wood and Thruston from Canada and Arizona. Super nice girls, Wood is like the definition of adventure and all the craziness I aspire to be. She backpacked Thailand and rock climbs daily. Awesome.

Spanish is so hard! The adjustment has been a little rough too because we all just want to be AMAZING missionaries RIGHT NOW! But especially here where NO ONE. NOT A SOUL. speaks English. It is so hard to know what in the heck we are supposed to do.... I’ve been doing a ton of “figuring it out” and such because seriously, were in the dark, but it’s gotten a lot better and I feel like we just need to be patient and then its awesome! So many funny sayings in trying to learn a new language (you eat babies? you are studied?) I have laughed so hard I’ve had tears and the maestro is like “what the heck is wrong with you?”

Also the first night the older hermanas told me they had a letter from a latino for me and were like “what did you do?” Turns out it was a letter from Elder Lewis who I went to school with! In his city in Chiclayo he met a kid who was coming to the CCM and he wrote me a letter with tips and such! So nice, but for days it was like the talk of the CCM “did you get your letter?”

All the teachers call me Hermana Click because they can’t say the egg part... and they ask “like the mouse?”

I play basketball every day with the elders and hermana wood and it’s so fun! They are so good and remind me tons of BYU spring, I also tried to play futbol with the latinos the other day and it was such a blast! They are insanely good, and in the game I went to kick the ball and accidentally kicked his foot and knocked him straight on the back! They all started yelling “rojo carita” or something like that for red card and were laughing so hard because he was tripped by a hermana..... I said lo siento a billion times. Also that game I scored a goal!! It was super lucky but then all of the lations were saying hi to me and stuff... got on the in level with them hahah... such a blast.

I say all my prayers in spanish, we teach in spanish, all classes in spanish, it is weird to write this in english! I love the language so much and it hasn’t been too bad. There have been classes or exercises where I get super frustrated and want  to cry, but for the most part, especially speaking I feel the spirit so strong and all the words I learn just stick so easy and I can remember them so well! Definitely the gift of tongues.

Also me and mi companerio have become super good friends with the group of latino sisters here and they are SO HILARIOUS! We laugh all through dinner every day and I kind of love the language barrier because we can kind of communicate, but most of it is through laughter and feeling of their sweet spirits! Also a love the food here more than anything... probs too much! It is so delicious every day, and the CCM is super nice because there are like maybe 90 people here so you get to know everyone super well!

I realized later this week why being a missionary is so awesome, cause before it was kind of like We just have no idea what we are doing and stink at spanish! But when we taught the latinos and fake investigators i feel the spirit SO STINKIN STRONG! It is amazing. It’s like i know exactly what to say and have such a strong desire to share it and bear testimony. Also only knowing simple words makes it that much better.

However last night we taught a much harder fake investigator and our lesson was not good. I think i was just nervous or distracted, but i couldn’t speak at all and it was so hard! Then we had to teach two more latinos and they speak so fast and can’t understand us at all.... it was just a long, frustrating night. Then to top it off the elders we taught last were giving us feedback and said “You are very good teachers, but your spanish is so bad it makes me want to kill myself!!” haha if you know me my eyes started to tear up and it was hard to shake off. Then when we got to our room i kind of broke down because i was so frustrated!! Hermana Wood was having a SUPER rough time too so she asked for a blessing and I went on splits and tagged along, it was amazing and the spirit was so strong, and they’re like do you want one? UM YEAH! It was amazing and so powerful and all I wanted to hear. I love the priesthood and the amazing power of it. Today we went to the temple and then shopped and I just know I love this country and the people. Even though they are crazy drivers and I can only greet them and say “i know god loves you” haha....

Anyways, sorry it’s so rushed and jumbled, I just had so much to say for the first week, and so little time! This seriously is so fun and I know it’s where I’m supposed to be. I LOVE IT!

Hermana Clegg

Made it to Peru!

Nov. 5, 2014

Hey I made it to the CCM safely and am loving it! Got in late last night around 2 and are just getting started today! I love Peru already and have had so much fun! Everyone is super nice and we had fun on the flights and are stoked to get started!! Love you!! :)

Hermana Clegg