Bom Dia Meus amados Pessoas

Hey yall !!

Okay so this week was a pretty steller week!!! I started this thing where I write down everynight How i saw god working in my day. and man It is just amazing how much he does when you start looking! try it! you will be surprised!!

well I am also with out my planner today, so it will be a highlight week of what i remember off the top of my head. so this letter could be incredibly random. Hope thats okay!

Okay so Highlight Pedro got babtised!!! it was kind of it up down week getting to there though. last sunday we taught him about a lot of the commandments. which then he was like sweet i can do that. then we met with him again wednesday and when he walked in I could tell something was wrong. so i asked him straigt out pedro I know somthing is bugging you inside please tell us. He admitted he was feeling unsure about being babtised because he had alot of friends and school mates telling him that he could not live the law of chasitiy and word of wisdom and he didnt want to make a covenant with God if he was not going to be able to keep it. anyways this was at our sports night at the church and thankfully Carla was there (she was babtised last week) and i dont remember all that she told him but the next day when we met with him He was Super firm to be babtised He told us `I am going to change and I know that God can Help me`. and then on Firday we took him to a birthday party of one of the member of the ward and he told us he wanted to serve a mission and wanted to know how to get to that point. AWWW YEAH!!!!! I cant tell you how happy that makes me to know that Heavenly Father is working through Me to make stuff like this happen. Through me. I feel like ammon I just want to Boast in how freaking Awesome God is! and how good he has been to me in bringing people to Christ and in just life in general!

Second Highlight Carla Got Confirmed and got a calling in the young womens in the same day. Bishop was telling us that when he called her he said "look i know you dont know what your doing" then she stopped him and said "no bishop if this is what god wants me to do then ill do it and it will be fine" once again AWWW YEAH!!! and bishop also told us that he wanted us to confirm her and gave us a super nice complement telling us that me and Elder Fryer are the best missionarys they have had for 2 years and that we diserved to confirm her. I dont know about that. I told him that its God who has been doing all the work. Like really I feel like I have so much more i need to be doing. but it feels way good to finally have the ward trusting us. I feel like Heavenly Father is Working so much in the ward!

Third Highlight Division on thrusday. so thursday I went on a division with the Zone leaders. I went to their area with Elder Anderson. He is from seattle and man That division was SO GOOD!!! it was just a blast and I felt again like God was working with us so much! we went to a less active lady who has cancer and is going through Radation right now. I dont know why but I felt like we needed to teach her about tithing and how the lord promises Blessing. it was such a spirit packed lesson. She was crying at the end and we set up a plan for her to start coming back to church. You could just see a light go on in her. when she got there she looked so worn out and just wasted. when we left she was smileing and just looked like she had more life in her. THen we went to another less active a kid. He is 19 and I dont know we just talked about our mission and how it changed our lives. by the end He was planning on getting a hold of his bishop to start preparing. it was just awesome! then we went and taught a Family and man The spirit was so strong! they finally understood why the Book of Mormon is so Important and how though it they could know For THEM SELVES if this Church really is the Church of Jesus Christ and that Joseph Smith really was a True prophet of God and not a hoax idk it was just an awesome day. I Love Elder Anderson! both the one here and the one in JAPAN ...I miss Taft

anyways OKay so yeah that was my week mas ou Menos. For those who want to know I am Feeling So SO SO SO Much Better. I feel like that after I left the temple a couple of weeks ago that god healed me and i knew that i would get better. Missionary work is so much Better when you aren´t losing your insides everyother day! Thank you for all of you prayers!! like Really! Thank you!!!

I am so Grateful!!! I really do have so much to be thankful for in this life and I am so glad i have the oprotuinity to share these blessiing that I have with others! I love you All and hope that you are well.

I Love you peoples!!!

Elder Josiah Clements!

I am 6 and Things are going very well!!

Oi todo mundo!

okay so this week has just been really awesome!! and by this week i mean that we worked most of the week and nothing happened and then Saturday and Sunday were just awesome!

but okay so ill give you the highlights of the week, then the weekend. so like Wednesday we had our second lesson with Pedro this week and it was pretty darn good. (any lesson is a high light really! Sao Paulo is not like the north where people just let you in no questions asked.) We met at the chapel because his mom doesn´t know that he meeting with us. his Family is catholic and he is scared to talk to them about it. Catholicism here is more of a family tradition. most people don't even go to church. anyways we had Bruna (she is an ex-missionary who just got home like 2 weeks ago) there and I am so grateful for that. I entered the lesson and just felt like my tongue was being tied and that she needed to talk so we kind of let her talk alot and man the spirit was there working hard. after the lesson i reminded him of the goal to be baptised this week and he said wants to be baptised. It was testimony of how important it is the listen to the spirit.

really that is the only highlight of the week. the rest of the week was pretty much knocking doors and just trying to be diligent. Our ward mission leader is such a stud! he got a job working security at night 6pm until 6 am. and he is supposed to work 12 hours every 36. anyways he has been working every day. and so he wanted to meet with us. Thursday our alarm goes off and not even a second later our doorbell goes off and it was Eloi. and then later in the after noon he has been leaving with us. He is such an example to me and I know i need to step it up. and work even harder. oh and i turned 6 months this week and Elder made me a cake and then we burned a tie. It was pretty cool! :) its crazy to me its been 6 months on one hand it seems like i have been here for ever and on the other it seems like i just got started.

Okay so Saturday, we met with a couple. Rafael and Priscilla. they were the first reference we got In the whole transfer We got it the end of week 5. so anyways we had met with them one time before and it was really good. they had some doubts about why in the world did we need the book of Mormon and why Joseph Smith. why was he important. anyways The spirit was doing work, helping us speak, think of scriptures. it was pretty legit and I could tell that they felt it to. anyways they are going to be married this week and are just going to the courthouse and are not going to do anything to celebrate because they don't have money. I just felt sick when they told me that! like my Heart hurt. I told them that we could organise a party in the church for them. that it would not be much but it would be something. she looked like like i had just given her a million bucks, and i could tell that she wanted to do something to celebrate! so us and the relief society are going to plan a party. :) it was one of the time where i could just feel the love of god going through me for someone else.

Sunday, Oh Man what Awesome day!!!!

Okay so it started with church. church started and had been going for like 20 Min's and Carla had not shown up yet. I was just about to crab elder fryer and go track her down when she walked in the room. I could tell that something was wrong. but i felt like i should just leave it be. anyways by the end of church she was smiling and happy. come to find out later that day she almost didn't go to church today. luckily her mom who really has not been super supportive of her and church told her that she had to go today because today was her baptism. which i am so grateful. Satan had been working hard on her all this week and she had not slept the night before. But it all worked out! she got baptised and it was a such a great meeting. she gave a testimony after her baptism and Man oh man the spirit was so strong. Pedro was there and he told me Man i can not wait until next week! I was super stoked! and then a17 year old girl who i thought was a member but is not came up to us after the baptism and told us that she also would like to be baptised and asked to meet with us to get her ready. I was Like Yeah!! we can do that!! then we met with Pedro and taught him I had been kind of worried about him being ready for this coming week. I knew he wanted to be baptised but didn't really know if he had a testimony yet. and I had been praying so much this week for help to have him prepared and that he could gain a testimony that this really is the Church of Jesus Christ. like it not just a name for a church but that its His church. God answers prayers did you know that!? you could just see the light had come on. He asked us if he could bring friends to church and give people The book of Mormon. I am so grateful that Heavenly father and the Spirit are helping me because really I could not do squat with out him. then we went to Meet with Fabio and one of the first things he asked me was `how was the baptism today? ´it was good´ `so when can i be baptised` so we talked about how he needed to be married with Laurasia before and explained a bit more about baptism and he said `we i guess were going to mark a date to be married tomorrow´ ....Heck Yeah!!!!

I just Love being a missionary! I love being a instrument that the spirit can work through. I love seeing the joy and light that comes into people lives as we teach them with the spirit and that desire that builds in people to know and follow Christ. I love seeing people read and pray about the book of Mormon with a sincere heart to know if its true. And then watching heavenly father answer people in so many powerful and simple ways. and the feeling of peace that comes into peoples life's once they know that The Church Of Jesus Christ has been restored and that the really do know that Christ suffered for us and payed the price for our sins. It so incredible to me how simple it is to gain a certainty that these thing are true. Read ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon and everything else will come after that. I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we can return to our heavenly Father and live with our Families forever. I only hope that i can keep improving and being a better. and that i can learn how to serve the lord not only here on the mission but for the rest of my life!

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and love. I feel them in here everyday! Have a super awesome amazing week!!!

Tchau!!

Love Elder Clements

God is Good! understatement of eternity!

Bom Dia meues queridos!

First off I just want everyone to know that I love you! That God is good, and Prayer works! this week has been excellent. I feel like god has showered me in blessing this week. He blesses me in so many ways every week but this week I felt like he just kind of let it pour. going to the temple on Tuesday was probably the biggest blessing of all! The temple is the greatest place on earth. The peace you feel and the spirit you feel is like leaving this world. I feel like heavenly father recharged me there. I had woken up very sick spending a good amount of time in the bathroom that morning and almost didn't go. I said a prayer and just asked Heavenly father to help me have the force and health to make it to the temple( like 2 hours walking of riding sardine packed buses and metros..not the funnest thing when your insides are wanting to escape) But Heavenly father heard my prayer and I made it there. and I am so Grateful for that! God is Good!
so then Wednesday was just a super productive day! I woke up feeling good, I got to do all of my personal study and comp study and was prepare spiritually and physically for the day(it felt like so long since i got to do both) , then we had an appointment with Pedro he is 21 and it was the first lesson with him and it went so good! the spirit was there, i was able to talk and think clearly...(the best part of missionary work having the spirit there! its like being high but so much better :) !) He accepted a date to be baptised the end of this month as goal. He came to church Sunday...I just feel so grateful for Heavenly father putting someone in our path ready to be taught. and then later after lunch we had a split with some members and it was so good. I left with Ricardo who turned 18 and is not sure if he wants to serve a mission. it was so good to just work with him and help strengthen him. answering some of his doubts and idk I was just so grateful for that chance to help him out.
Thursday I went on spits with my District leader. it was pretty fun to be back with a Brazilian companion of a day. I love talking with Brazilians. it not the same as talking Portuguese with Americans anyways it was a pretty good day we stopped and ate crepe which in in English is same sound as Crap... so I have now eaten crap and it was pretty good! the vendor was super cool and we talked to him for a while. a old lady who was in line heard that i was American and basically everyone that walked by as we were eating our crap she stoped them and told them I was American ...it was pretty entertaining, but we got to talk to alot of people because of it.
Friday was awesome!! So I had been praying and telling Elder Fryer that I wanted a Baptism. so we had a lesson with Carla Friday and we had already given her a baptismal invite 2 or three times before and every time she said she didn't feel ready or have a testimony yet. but I just knew from the moment we entered the lesson that she was ready and that she would accept. so we had a lesson about repentance, tithing, and the law of Chasity. It was awesome! when we were going over tithing I felt bad because I told her that only member could pay tithing and she kind like oh and seemed a bit bumbed. so then I just told her How do you feel about being baptised next week. and it she said vamos! like lets do it! we also talked about the temple a bit at the beginning and she said I am not in any rush to get to the temple because i know one day ill get to go in. I don't know it was such a good lesson and the spirit was so strong. I Know that god heard my prayer when i asked him to prepare someone to be baptised this month. and now we have two. God is good!
Saturday. was a day where i just kinda of saw god working his magic to bless us and letting us bless others. So we had planned to go to jordanopolis to work a for the day which is like going to west rich land from my house. anyways we went to lunch and decided that we were not going to take our umbrellas because the Sky's were clear and it didn't look like it was going to rain. The lady at the restaurant told us randomly that it was going to rain later in the afternoon. so we went home to get our umbrellas. this was the first time a saw god hand working in our day. next we were walking to head to jordanopolis and a member and his wife that we hadnt seen for a couple of week stoped us and bought a ice cream. usually i would have declined because we were already a little late but i felt like we should accept and talk to the couple. Hand Two. it was a great visit and I felt like that some of the stuff he told elder fryer helped him alot. (he has been worrying alot about his girlfriend lately who is not a member who is really close to being baptised but her parents have been giving her alot of crap that they found on the Internet about the church. not of which is true) anyways the visit seemed to brighten every ones day. then we started walking again and then we ran into Lewis a counselor in the bishopric he was walking to pick up his car that was quite a bit away right as we met it started to down poor and he didn't have an umbrella so I was able to share my umbrella with him and we walked him to his car. he told us that he had been asking heavenly father why his other car had broken down and how come he now had to walk to get his other car and was going to get soaked and be late for some party his family was going to. and then we showed up. and he was able to get his car and be dry and he was able to drive us to Jordan. It was just awesome! God is Good! then he dropped us off in Jordan and the down poor stopped for a bit. we were able to walk to our appointment and then the moment we entered it started again. it down pored like crazy the whole time we were at that lesson and then right as were leaving it stopped. we walked to the next house and then it started again when we entered. and stoped when we left. we walked back to Rudge Ramos and once we got back to the church for our next appointment it started again. heavenly father is so good to me. I Have just felt his love and presence around me all week and I am so grateful. oh I almost for got I was asking Lewis where i could get my suit cleaned because it needs it bad. and turns out he has a dry cleaners and he is washing it for free! I just feel so incredibly blessed! I am so grateful for the the chance I have to be here on the mission for the difficulties that i have had and will have. For the chance to Have heavenly Father teach me and mold me into someone better. I know more then ever now that Prayer works! That we really do have a Heavenly Father that looks after each and everyone of us!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you can remember that prayer works and the lord will bless you for doing what is right. I love you all and pray that you can feel Gods love in your lives!

Love
Elder Josiah Clements

Okay so I have been asked by a couple of people to make a list of things that i would like or want that people can send me.
so here is a short list of ideas.
A salt and pepper shaker(the fresh pepper crusher if possible but ill be happy with either), Candy ( any kind Its all good, the Brazilians love it and it fun to share American things with them) Socks, ( black ones gold toe are pretty good), Peanut butter! (its so good) Thumb drive with music on it( efy, Mo-tab, any music that wont be a distraction to my calling) Pens. a new study journal. maple syrup. Pancake mix. Cookies or cookie mix, fruit snakes, granola bars, Cereal, Pictures! and picture album( of people, Houses, place from home. taco and ranch seasoning. maple and root beer extract. Cologne, ... that's really all i can think of. Surprise me with other stuff. I feel like i have forgotten a lot of stuff. please don't feel obligated to send me stuff these are just ideas that people had asked for.

Bom dia!

Olá

First off I would just like to say thank you all for the prayers and for fasting for me on sunday! it is wonderful to know that I have so many people supporting me and loving me!

This past week was a good one, It was incredibly hard but it was good.

Monday, so after emailing I went home and tried to start writing a few letters, but the new meds I got for the rash kicked in and I was gone...I was out until the next day.

tuesday: tuesday we woke up and went and taught a english lesson in our chapel with a guy called neilton. I dont know if i have told you about him yet...anyways he is like 45 and he called our Disrict leaders a couple of weeks ago wanting to know if we gave English lessons. he already know english just needs to practice. so basically we just talk in english for an hour. He is/ was a Methodist preacher and is now a psycho-analyst. he has some very interesting ideas about god and humans. for example he was telling us that god is diffrent for each person based off what that person wants god to be. he has done a really good job of mixing sigmond Freud's philosophies in with religion. anyways it was an interesting conversation... after that we ate lunch and then i had to take another really big douse of my meds and it kinda sucked. The meds dont make drowsy like the benadryl does but man does it suck the engery out of you. the rest of the day was just me trying to put one foot in front of the next. all of our appoinments fell and so it was a day of just knocking doors.

Wednesday we had ZOne Conference which was AWESOME! I love being with all other elders and getting to see how there doing. I got to talk with Elder Cambell for awhile which was awesome.... He is such a stud and is doing so awesome! It was also crazy to say good by to Elder soucy who goes home this transfer. It crazy it seems like he just trained me and now I almost have 6 months. but the best part of zone conference is getting to be trained by president and sister Tanner!! they talked alot about true conversion and real growth in the church. I also got my meds to kill off my friends, but have not been able to take the yet( I take them tomorrow WAHOO!) because I had to finish off the allergie meds. .....I Hate meds , just saying... but will be so happy when I can be Healthy!

Thursday through saturday were just hard! I still was not feeling the best. by friday the rash had pretty much gone away completely and i was able to start a taper off which was so wonderful because missionary works is tiering enough without Meds that make your muscles feel like jelly. but I have been learning alot about depending on the lord. I have done so much praying this past week. praying just to have the force to make it through the day, praying for the force to be able to get out the door. I dont remember saturday, laying in my bed, feeling crappy, feeling discouraged, feeling like i was done and feeling like I just didnt have anything left in me to give. I was just laying there and told heavenly Father that I didnt have anything left in me and that if i was going to be able to get up and work he was going to have to help me...I layed there for a minute and then i felt like someone just like lifted me up to my feet. lt was like someone grabbed me and pulled me out of bed. I know that Heavenly Father Helped me in that moment and I am so Grateful for a Father in Heaven who answers prayers. I dont know how many times I prayed for strength, spiritually physically emotionally. I so grateful for the Help that he has given me so I could go help others. Sunday we were able to go visit and give the sacrament to a sister in the ward who had eye surgery a couple of weeks ago and her sister who is taking care of her. we went there with our ward mission leader and the elders quorum president. we had a mini testimony meeting before giving them the sacrament. I felt like the visit did more good for me then it did for them. I can only hope that one day I can have the kind of faith those two sisters have.

So, one of the things that I prayed for alot this week is peace. Heavenly Father blessed me with it many times this week but today we got to go to the temple which was so good. It is amazing the peace that just rushes into your body the moment you walk through the doors. I have never felt so grateful temples as i was today. I could not help but just let out a huge breath of relief. I love the temple and if you can go...GO! it is such a blessing!

again thank you so much for all of your prayers! thank you for your emails!

I love you and Hope you are doing well!

Love Elder Clements

ps. Kim Nelson: I got your letters you sent me in febuary through missionties this week thank you! I even got the pictures. and congrats on the Morgage!!! and good luck with all of the wedding plans! I am sorry that i have not got back to you sooner about idea for stuff to send me. I sent a list 2 times with letters to alyse a month or two ago but as far as i know those letters have not got there so sorry and I will try again. I will send a list of things to everyone so if you want ideas you will have them.

Ashley Nelson: Congrats kid!! it is a little weird to me that your getting married but I am happy for you!!! good luck with everything!

Kamora: I miss you too! there is a little girl here in the ward who reminds me of you and everytime I see her I miss you like crazy!! Keep being good and way to go on the basketball game!! and make sure you´re real nice to your mom and help her lots with nate and addie!! ;)

Asa: thanks for the email and the prayers in portuguse :) Eu te Amo! e Boa sorte com suas Aulas!

Ben: Are you alive? I have not heard anything about you from anyone since x-mas. I would write you a letter but i dont have you address. I love you!

Lauren: I am way stocked for you and congrats on going to BYUI...try to stay focused and make it through the last semster strong. enjoy high school while it lasts you only go there once...unless you fail ;) I love you sis!

Arina: I just want you to know that I love you and I Miss you! I miss you laugh and beautiful smile. be happy and keep being your wonderful self!

Well Mom....I got Friends and Allergies

Dear Family and Friends.

well lets just say that this week has been pretty much been Retarded and unproductive.

Okays so last monday was pretty good, it was a good p-day I was able to get a nap in and do a little bit of cleaning. We were able to get some lessons in and we found some new people to teach. Tuesday was the start of `not the best week of my mission by far`. we went to lunch in Jordanopolis which is like walking from my house to west richland. we had lunch there everyday this week so we got a lot of walking in. anyways so we went to lunch and right when we were about to leave it started to rain cat and dogs and we had forgotten to crab our umbrellas. anyways the sister refused to let us leave( like she yelled at me when i grabbed my back pack to leave ) and we ended up being there for like 5 hours...but luckly we were able to get some really solid lessons in after that and i guess it all worked out.

wednesday was alright we went to lunch and then later that day I got reallly sick again and spent most of the day in the bathroom and on my bed. I called sister tanner and she called the Area doctor and they have decided because this has been on going thing since December that i have probably picked up some friends and i will be taking the pills to kill my friends this week. I sincerely Hope it works and that i can get Healthy. because I am getting So sick of being sick!

so Thurday just started off bad, because i felt like crud I ended up sleeping in and missing study time and basically when you start off the day like that it just kinda of through everything off. and it was just an off day. then friday came.

Friday was alright but when coming back from jordanopolis after lunch I noticed a rash around my waste band and I just thought it was from walking a bunch and Idk it itched but i wasn't too worried about it by that night it was itching like crazy and i also had rashes on my upper arms and under my armpits. By saturday it had spread to basically everywhere on my body and all i could do is lay on my bed and try not to move because it itched so bad. after talking with the doctor I started popping benadryl like candy( It is really hard to teach a lesson in a foreign language when you drugged up...I know i tryed doing it twice Sunday... I think actually it was pretty Entertaining.) and to say I was worthless would be an understatement. the rash kind of went away sunday but it came back in full force today. I am now on some stronger meds and they seem to be working. I am praying that this will go away soon. The Doctor thinks its allergies. the only thing is we can not figure out what exactly I am Allergic to. I havent eatten anything new, or changed anything.

So this week was kinda like that. Luckily we were able to get some good lessons in this week and we have 3 investigators that are so close! I hope that March will be better month for me. I really am just fed up with not being able to work and not being healthy. This ward has alot of potential but needs alot of work and so far i Have not been able to work as hard as i would like. it kind of like this I love Brazil but i didnt come here to lay in my bed.... it been a trying week but I know things will get better. Sister Tanner has been a saint through all of this and I have become pretty good buddies with The area doctor Docter Jones. they are taking care of me and making sure I have everything i need. I really feel bad for my comp....poor guy! I mean it sucks to be sick and not be able to work, but i think it would be way worse to be the comp who just has to sit there and feel fine. I know this is where i am suppose to be right now and that God will take care of me. I guess i need to learn some lesson here. and I am trying.

I love you all and hope that you are happy and doing well.

love Elder Clements

Happy carnival!!! ....Its really quite here!

Boa Dia!
Well its week two here in Rudge! and its been a really slow week! like really slow! But it had some pretty sweet highlights!
first Highlight Fabio!!!

Okay so last sunday(first sunday here), after sacrament meeting This lady came up to us.. her name is sister Rocha. she introduced herself and told us that she had two sons serving missions right now, one in florinapolis and the other was serving in Fortaleza but came home and had knee surgery and then spent a transfer in our mission before going back to fortaleza.. I was so excited because I know Elder Rocha he was in my Zone last transfer and we became pretty good friends anyways I Was super excited to be talking to his mom and be in his word because he is a stud! anyways she then told us that she had a person she wanted us to teach that night, his name is Fabio. Fabio is the fiance of sister rocha´s daughter. anyways we went there that night and taught him and it was a super good lesson! and we marked to eat lunch together last Pday. anyways we had lunch with him 3 times with him this week and we have just clicked! he is 23 and I swear we have known each other forever. He has been talking to us asking us questions and its been awesome. we have only been able to teach him once because of his work schedule and then he left for the weekend but he has already been talking about him being babtised with out us saying anything. He was asking us when the next transfers were and we told him in like 5 weeks and he said `oh then we got plenty of time to get me babtised´ I was so stoked and he has been talking about when he gets sealed in the temple and how he wants us there! I cant begin to tell you how much I have come to love this guy in the past week! Oh and another thing so the other son of sister Rocha was with me in the CTM and we were pretty good buds aswell .... I can´t tell you how excited I am about this family Sister Rocha has been inactive and so has her daughter for like 4 years. she is divorced and went inactive after that but she is coming back and talked with the bishop sunday and is working on things THis is one of those times when I know that I was sent her for a reason. I feel like i am connected to this family. and I love them so much!!
second Highlight Meeting with Elder Mazagardi
on wednesday we had a meeting with President tanner and Elder Mazagardi. It was focused on familys and helping them become eternal!. It made me a little Trunky and miss home a bit :) ( I just want to say that I am so Grateful for my family! and for all the things they have taught me and all of my crap they have put up with! ) anyways it was super good!. and i learned alot and realised I Have so far to go in becoming the missionary and Man God wants me to be! its a long road but I got to start with the first step. so I am trying to work on my love for others and trust in Heavenly father.

speaking of love for other that leads me to the next thing. so like wednesday night we went to the store to get something to eat becasue we had been knocking doors all day and not gotten in anywhere.( this is basically why this week was so long we knocked doors allday everyday with like 3 lesson total this week.) anyways we met this old lady at the store who is a member. she asked us if we could come over and give her a blessing becasue she was going to have surgery the next day. we said yeah and went there. she had already gotten a blessing with oil so it was just a blessing of comfort we had to explain this to her. anways so she has called us everyother day since then to give her a blessing because she has a lot of pain and complications with this eye surgery.problems breathing, her eye was bleeding.... she has a long history of illnesses and has allergys with jsut about everything. anyways and becasue its carnival and everyone leaves for the beach including her doctor( this Place is Dead! like its SOOO quite) she has called us to go give her a blessing of comfort which I am more then happy to do but i feel bad becasue there is nothing more that we can do. for the sounds of it the medical system here in Brazil is way Crappy!

OKay so that really is all i got right now, This week has been trying one. with everyone leaving, not having anyone the teach, and knocking doors all day its been.... Hard and i am trying really hard to stay positive and put my faith in Heavenly father to guide us. I really do know that this is where i am suppose to be and despite all the adversity I am Happy here and excited to be able to serve these wonderful people here in São paulo!

I love you all and want to know i am praying for you!

Love Elder Clements

Hello from Rudge ramos! (who-ge ha-mos)

To my Dear Family,wonderful Friends and beloved Americans... Good Morning!

well I am now in São Bernardo do Campo.... and I love it!!!! Elder Fryer is my comp. He is from Grants pass oregon which is the southwest corner of the state. Elder fryer he has been out in the feild for 7 months and is just a little bit older then me but is 20 as well. The mission is really young right now and seems to get younger every transfer 20 new missionarys showed up this transfer my group was huge and so was the 2 before me. so about now over half the the missionarys in the feild have less then 8 months. But its all good i am super stoked about this transfer and area!

First ill give you a recap of my week and give you some more details about my comp and area.

Monday. It was a hard day not going to lie. I didnt think saying goodbye would be that hard but it was. jefferson when i told him looked like someone punched him in the stomach. and that kind of what i felt like two. He such an amazing kid and was the first person That I found and taught from the start. I freaking love that kid!! and will hopefully be able to go to the temple with him in a year when hes getting ready to go for a mission. anyways we had an interview for a couple that night aswell Robson and Luana. I love that family and they will or got babtised this sunday. I know that President was going to have to interview them again this week. (they had such a diffrent life,Robson was basically in charge of the drug trade here and luana was also very involved with it. but that was like 8 years ago and they are just completely diffrent they stopped doing drugs smoking drinking swearing, Robson knows the Bible better then anyone i have met and Luana is Just a saint. I have incredibley spiritual lessons there) so we will see.

Tuesday: I woke up and was feeling kinda crappy. then we went to transfers I Met Elder Fryer and then we drove to our area with a member ( It was so nice to be in a car and just relax for a bit) we got to our area and wow!! completely diffrent. Campanário is just favella and here the worst house here is was nicer the then the best house in Campanário. It feels alot like parts of seattle but less ghetto. big apartment buildings. really nice houses. the only down side is our area is about the size of all of richland. it takes about an hour and a half to walk from oneside to the other. the other downside is our apartment is SO Small. but that really the only thing i can complain about and really its not that bad and I will live. anyways so we got to our building and I unpacked (sort of...there isnt very much space for clothes I have one droor so most of my clothes are still in my suit case.) and then we went to lunch. after lunch we came back and put my bed together. Elder fryer splet on the floor last transfer because the his companion said it was missing parts ( it wasnt) anyways that took a long time because all we had is one little screwdriver to put everything together but we did it and i have the blisters on my hands to prove it. anyways bythis point i was feeling really crappy.

Wednesday we had a training first thing in the morning with one of the counselors to presidnent tanner. It was super good and i Got some super good ideas on how to improve this area. so from the sounds of it this area has pretty much stopped mainly i believe becasue of the Elders here. the 3 sets of missionarys before us from what the ward has said really didnt do much. Elder Fryer is a super good guy but all of his companions have been really bad and he has not seen a good example of how to do missionary work so and when he is discouarged forsure. so I have deciced that this transfer i am going to make it my goal to help him get excited about missionary work and try and be a good example of how to do missionary work. I still have so much to learn but I am just going to be super positive and move forward. So this is how i felt on the inside wednesday but on the outside I offically got the flu with all the works so i was basically out of it and pretty miserable until friday. (MOM can you send me more nyquil and DAyQuil!)
Thursday I got out of bed thursday to go teach Giovana and Neia (they are the only two people that we had in our teaching group when i got here...but that has changed :)...more on that later.) anyways they are awesome and we invited giovana to be babtised and she accepted and was babtised sunday... were working with the mom. They were a referrence from their aunt who is couple missionary in sao paulo Interlagos

Friday: was good day we just knocked doors and we found alot of new people all in all a pretty good day and I could see Elder Fryers spirits picking up! i just told him we were going to work hard gain the trust of the members and put our faith in Heavenly father to pick up the rest. so friday and saturday thats what we did and Sunday Heavenly father poored out the Blessing. Giovana was babtised. and I know the spirit had a big effect on her Mom. I got to speak in church (didnt know about it until right before) and after i got 2 references and we taught one of them and hes so good his name is Fabio (there will be more on him in the coming letters) and then Carla whos is 25 just showed up at church and wants us to teach her and is super super awesome! Man I Love Heavenly Father!!!!!

okay I need to go But I want you all to know that I am super Happy, Excited and working my butt off. I know with out a doubt that this is the work of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that they lead it! I know that when we work with faith Heavenly father does the rest! I Love you all and Hope you are happy and doing well!

sincerly Elder Clements!

Transfers!!

Hello, everybody...Lets begin!

Okay so first up in the news with Elder clements is I am being transfered... some where in Sao Bernado. I will be companions with Elder Fryer. He is american and that about all i know about him right now so you will have to wait for more on him. I am really kinda of bumbed about it. This transfer has been....incredible hard, but incredible rewarding. Elder Freitas is awesome. I know my mom wanted to know a little more about him. Elder frietas is form Rio grande de Norte which is really close to where kyle is at in forteleza. He is the 5 of 6 kids which is a huge family in Brazil. He is the only member in his family. He was babtised when he was 20 and now 3 years later he is almost done with his mission. he has a kinda of dramatic personality which can be really funny and annoying at the same time He doesnt speak very much english but yet know tons of words in english so its been great because i have been forced to learn portuguese and when i dont know a word he usually can help me out. I really am going to miss him. Its funny how you can love a person even when they have things about them that drive you nuts. But i really am so grateful for this last transfer and the thing i have learned. I am so much better at portuguese then when he showed up 6 weeks ago. It is such a miracle to me that i have been able to learn so quickly ... Heavenly fahter has been so good to me.

another reason I am super bumbed is that I will be leaving behind a lot of really good investigators. Our teaching pool had been kind of dying off and we needed to find more people. so the past week and a half we had been working super hard to find the people that were ready. and We found a lot this week. well from thursday on. because I was very sick again wednesday and spent the day in bed and in the bathroom...we Had a interview for one of our investagators that night and so we did a division and after saying a prayer that i would be able to go and return with out being sick we left. not the best time of my life but i made it there and back without being sick once again god is so good to me.

Thusday: it was a great day but started off terrible. I was able to work and not be sick which was such a blessing again. so the day started off with appointments falling... even lunch fell. anyways so after like 3 appointments falling we went to this house which was referal from the elder we live with. this lady lives in part of our area that one i didnt even know was a part of our area until like 3 weeks ago and 2 is forever away from everything else. anyways we went there and guess what.... It fell. QUE BOM É ? ( how sweet..yeah?) so trying not to be discouarged and keep going I saw a street in that area and decided that we should just go see what was there. it just looked like a bunch of factories. so we started to walk there and I said a prayer and said 'Heavenly father... I am working and trying to find the people you want me to teach so please lead the way.` at the end of that street we found a completely brand new neighborhood. the first door we knocked we found a family that was so good. and basically every door we knocked there was nice and we marked time to go back and teach. I cant tell you how happy I was! the rest of the day was good.

the rest of the week was finding people and just watching the miracles unfold around us. We have so many new people that basically everyday this week is already planned. ( And i wont be here.. a little upset about it) sunday we Had only one investgator come to church and after church and some really awesome lessons he said this church really is true isnt it.? He and his wife are going to try and be babtized next week. we also had a random old guy show up to church who told us he left his house to day to put his faith in god and quit smoking. that he was leaving his house a smoker and would not return the same way. He asked us for a blessing at the end of church and it was so awesome. then later that night we were going to an appointment and this man ran after us and asked us to come to his house this week. he said that he was babtized somewhere else and when he moved here stoped but he is ready so come back and wanted our help. Heck yeah. I am so excited for the elders here and so bumbed its not me. but everything happens for a reason.

I know with out a doubt that this church is true and that God answers prayers, I know that God is still doing miracles and I have seen so many this week and I am so Grateful and humbled that God has let me see them and trusted me to be apart of them.I know that Jesus really is our savior and that he lives and can bless our lives so much if we let him.
Thank you for your prayers and support I love you all!!

Elder Clements

MoM, OKay so you asked how i really was doing.... well I am doing okay. Spiritually I am on such a high and never want to come down ;) mentally I am Hanging in there and it a fight everyday. Phyiscally I am fighting everyday. I think that things will improve this next transfer. both elder Frietas and elder soucy said that this area was by far the worst as far as lunch and food went so i think that things should improve. About you and dad moving back together....I couldnt be happier! and I cant really say i am surpirsed I felt like i knew that if I went on amission that you and dad would be blessed and that things could work out. so i guess I have just been working and not really worring about it. I left it up to god ( he the best person to leave it to) I love you and dad very much and want you to work things out. so for me and the rest of the family especailly Arina and lauren give it your all and leave the rest up to god to heal.! please share this with Dad because its for both of you!



Asa, So that lang uage is super good and getting better everyday! I cant tell you how stoked i am to come home and talk with you! A cool story about the temple here in Sao paulo I got two. One the day of the dedication there were tons and tons of protesters and they were there all day. and Elder Godói the area pres here now bought them all food and jucice because they had been there all day and not left and he didnt want them to be hungry...so sick!
the second is the temple here is filled with ( ma hog ony) wood ( ihave no idea how to spell it anymore) anyways this woodsmen had a warehouse filled with this wood and he had tried to sell it for like 8 or ten years before the temple was built and could not sell it. so when the church was starting to bulid they wanted this wood and they found this ware house and baught all of it. idk kinda of a cool story. I love you Asa!!

Hello all!

Dear family and friends

I really hope that things are going well for you and that your are happy!
This week was a pretty cool one. Tuesday we had Elder Neil L. Anderson come to the mission and we had a mission conference with him. It was really short notice we found out monday and met the next day.
Monday we got to go to this park sao paulo that is kind of like sao paulos version of central park. it was so nice to breathe fresh air! I didnt realise just how dirty the air here is. the moment you walk into the park you can just feel the difference. We rode bicycles around for an hour then just when we returned the bicylcles it started to downpoor rain. we wait under the tent for like an hour for it to lighten up and finally we decided we would just run to the bus stop. as soon as we got to the bus stop it stoped raining. Typical :)

Tuesday was the conference with Elder Anderson. It was pretty good. he spoke in Portuguese...well tried to. it was really a mix of 4 languages. he speaks Spanish English french and Portuguese. it was cool though, i understood everything. He talked alot about how the work we do now we really wont see all the fruit until later. he made the analogy of: You can count the number seeds in an apple but you cant count the number of apple in a seed. it was a really good talk and i came away being really stoked to get to work. he also talked about Jesus Christ and the role he should and can play in our lives if we let him. I am so grateful for him and thankful for the opportunity i have to serve him.

for the most part the rest of the week was pretty boring. it rained and was cold. we found quite a few new investigators this week that seem good... time will tell. we also kicked quite a few investigators that have been dodging us for the past week or two. its so funny to me how people cant just say look I am not interested in learning more, instead they do really silly things like hiding behind cars. really it quite entertaining to see an adult hiding from us. Saturday was interesting I did a division with the Zone leaders and then we did a division with the Assistants.it was just kinda crazys how inone day i was in like 5 areas.

For the most part I am doing pretty good. I havebeen fighting being not feeling good , not having engery, and losing weight. Its been a problem 12 kilos which is like 26 pounds. I Have been trying to eat better food and eat more. the eating schedule here does not fit very well with missionary work. Lunch is the biggest meal but if you eat a lot and then go out and work in the sun you feel like crap. and then dinner here is usually at like 7 or 8 which is the busiest time of day for us. But I will figure something out. I got a blessing and I feel I know what i need to do and like things will get better. Thanks for your prayers and love!

sincerely Elder Clements

Ps. Sister Nelson, merilee, Mckenzi I got your letters Thank You so much! I will respond soon.

Mom: Can you get me my a copy of my priesthood line of authority?

Its raining!!

good morning all!!
I hope this email find you happy and warm!( I hear its quite cold at home) Here the weather has been pretty predictable. its hot until like 3 or 4 and then it rains cats and dogs until 9.( I cant tell you how grateful i am for the shoes you sent me! my feet have been basically dry everyday!)
Okay so my week. Monday was pday and we basically just stayed home and slept which was nice because i didnt feel so hot the night before and got very little sleep. and then that night we taught This kid Nicholas who was baptised yesterday. it was a baptism from heaven. he showed up to church and said he wanted to be baptised. he had been taught by two elders months ago and decided he wanted to be baptised so we taught him this week and re caped the stuff the other elders taught and he was baptised.
tuesday: I really dont remember everything that happened but the highlight is the wife of teotonio (the first man I Baptised on the mission) is finally coming around and opening up and progressing!
Wednesday : it rained So Much seriously its was like someone turned a fire hose for 4 hours. on a couple of streets flooded. it was pretty awesome except we could not do anything because when it rains here the place shuts down and people don't open doors for anything. so we went to a sister deolindas house and stayed there until it stopped not exactly how I wanted to spend my day but it was good because after the Storm we had 4 super good lesson right in a row!
Thursday: the biggest highlight was not really anything good. we showed up to Jefferson house at like 630 to go with him to a ward family night. he had not gotten home from work yet so we waited a bit for him. when he showed up he said he wasn't going to go. and that he was done praying and he didn't believe got existed and was done. so we spent the next 4 hours at his house helping him. what happened was this one: he got a bible and read from genus all the way to job in two days and didn't know why god would kill his children and let bad things happen and just had so many doubts that he was focusing on. which bring us to number two: His life is pretty sucky! his mom is a single mom who really is not really mom and so Jefferson has to take care of his brothers and be responsible because she isn't. and yeah he just has had hard life and he was super focused on all the bad in his life. anyways so we spent the next couple hours answers doubts and trying to help him see gods hand in his life. it was an incredible spiritual experience and by the end of it he said the closing prayer which was super hard for him to do but he did it!
Friday: we Had interviews with president and it was awesome! I love President tanner. He is so good at letting you see where you need to improve but he does it in the most loving manner. Its amazing and I want so much to Be better and be like he is.
saturday sunday and today i will have to tell yo more about next week because i only have 2 minutes left. but I Love you all and am praying for you!

Love Elder Clements !

Here some Pictures for yall

hope you enjoy these! the first two are pics of me my comp and Jeferson.
the rest are just some random one with some people you should know.

love you all!

Dear All of you who read this,

Boa Dia!
okay well I Hope this finds you all doing well and that you are all happy and recovering from the holidays =)
I am doing good, Life is not easiy here but I am happy and would not have it any other way.

okay so my weekly recap:

Moday: we emailed cleaned got food and slept until 6 and then went and worked for the night. it was pretty awesome we found a new family and I am very excited about them! they went on vacation this weekend but we have another meeting with them tonight and I am excited!

Tueday: was well kinda of sucky day... as far as finding teaching knocking doors you know missionary stuff. The First family I taught here dropped us for the time being because the husband is not very evangelical and the wife wanted to learn more and it had just been causing fights with them. anyways i was bumbed but still have hope for them. another one of are investigators has turned moley and that was frustrating. we also taught Robbson and Luana They are legit. Robson knows the insanely well. anyways love this couple and there two little girls ana and sarah ( makes me miss my neices) they love the church but havent been able to exept the BOM yet ( robbson hasnt even read it yet) but they promised to read and set a date to be babtised on the 29th! BUT here the thing It really on most counts was a bummer day but I was Happy despite all this because i know i am doing all i Can.

Wednesday : wednesday was good. the only thing that was really cool was we are teaching monique she is 20 and anways we went there for the second time and asked her if she had read and prayed and she said yes. and that when she prayed she asked havenly father to give her an answer that would be obvious to her to know if the book of mormon was true and she that night she had a dream and she said that she saw a Cross and the Word SIM which means YES. It was pretty sweet!

thusday: was to alright nothing exciting.

Friday was good!
We taught quite a few people and found some new investigators. that night we did an interview for the sisters in our district and we were waiting for them infront of their building for like an hour.... found out i am way good at Suduku =)

Satuday was the Bomb: almost everything we planned fell through. which was awesome because we found and taught alot of people. It was a day of inspiration! it was legit!

Sunday was good. we went to church, went to lunch went back to church for a meeting and then taught Jefferson and his friend which is also a Stud!

today: well I woke up last night and was very sick. and am still feeling sick. I think as of today with being sick I am about 30 pounds lighter then i was when i left for the mission. I think i could make weight at 171 today if i went running for awhile. Prayers for helping me stay healthy would be awesome. I feel so blessed though because despite all of the bad stuff i am very Happy! and excited to be here. thanks for the prayers I feel them everyday!

Love Elder Clements!

What a week...

Dearest friends and family,

Boa dia! I hope this email finds you well and that you are happy! and if not I am sorry! please know that I love you and pray for you everyday.

Okay so this week was well....I dont have a word for it. It was a week of growing. I will give you a day by day look because..that is what i am going to do :) sorry if you wanted it another way.

okay so tuesday: It was pretty darn terrible! we had a ton of a appointments planned but for one reason or another everything fell....everything! It was incredible hot and i think we probably walked for the whole day trying to find someone to teach. I felt so bad because one of the sisters in are ward wanted to leave with us to some of the appointments and anyways i am pretty sure the amount of walking we did just about killed the lady. ( she is about 60 and is not in the best of shape) we rested alot and asked her if she wanted to go home, but she insisted on being with us all day. I wish all of you could meet this lady (deolinda) she is the BOMB. anyways I was feeling pretty down by the end of the day physically mentally and spiritually. all in all a pretty crappy day.

wednesday: wednesday we did a division because elder Freitas had to go to a leadership meeting. so I was out of our area most of the morning. I was companions with Elder Rocha who lives in sao paulo and was serving in fortaleza but came home for knee surgery and is hoping to go back in a month or so. (kyle/ Elder Cornwell i hope you meet him he is a stud) anyways after the division we stayed at home I was sick. starting tuesday i started feeling very weak and by the time wednesday came along and walking to the other area and back i was wasted. ( oh side note weighed my self and i have lost about 18 pounds since leaving) anyways I was pretty miserable.

thursday: i was still pretty sick and about everything fell though. Pretty miserable able and started to get very down on thing.
Friday: was a little bit better. we taught quite a few lesson but nothing that was very great. alot of moley people. we did contacts most of the day. just like thursday and tuesday.

saturday: was good. We decided to have a fast (we were going to do it wednesday or thursday, but I didnt have the strenghth to do it) and just I dont know things just worked we taught a lot of people and found people we had been looking for all week. and we passed sister Deolinda house durring the day and she gave me a little spiritual pep talk that i need alot and helped us get people to take people to church. i left the house feeling a lot better. I love that lady!

Sunday: It was really good. we didnt teach a lot of people but the people we taught are rock solid and Jefferson was confirmed! we had asked a member to go get jefferson for church and when the meeting started he still hadnt shown up. I just started praying and it wasnt until after the sacrament that he showed up with the member. when i saw him a huge sigh of relief came! he went out with us later that night and was a stud! I am so stoked for him!

and that lead us to today. nothing to exciting today so far, but ill let you know if something happens. I love you all! thanks for your support and love!

sincerly
Elder Clements

ps. random question who is in the presidential race?. its not important for me to know but just curious because I have heard alot of stange thing here.

Happy New year!

Dear Family and beloved friends!

so its a new year and one of my goals is to write better letters so i have afew ideas that i think will help, but if you i will gladly take suggestions.

okay so i am going to go day by day for this letter.

Sunday (christmas) chistmas was awesome, it started off great with a babtism a young man named Igor... Hes pretty cool not going to lie. then we went to lunch at our bishops house and had a the regular brazialian chistmas meal... not my faviorte. its this rice with some werid vegs in it and then turkey and this mayo salad witch was realy hard to eat. but anyways then THE BEST part of the day i got to use google plus and see my family that was so awesome! and I got to see Alyse which was such a great surprise! seeing all of you By far the best Christmas present EVER!
Then we like 30 mins after that President called and told us that Elder soucy was going to be transfered and i would be getting a Brazilian companion...kinda of a buzz kill.

Monday: didnt do much elder soucy packed and i cleaned the house. then that night we went and said goodbye to some people..]

Tuesday: we woke up and went to transfers which are in a big bus staition. I got to see Elder Blake Cambell which was so awesome! he is doing super good and is looking awesome he lost so much weight! it was so nice to see someone from home. anyways then i met my new companion Elder Freitas he is from rio grande de norte. which is near fortaleza anyways then we went to Sao Judas and had a meeting with president which was fine nothing to special and then ate lunch. after that we went back to our area and my comp unpacked and I started planning for the day. EVERYTHING FELL this was by far a terrible day! My comp doesnt know the area and its hard to communicate really clearly with him. baisaclly everyone was traveling this week and it has been hard

Wednesday: I planned again and everything Fell! also a extremely hard day. and I am the only american in the house...and the only one who can speak english... this transfer is going to be super hard but i know that I will grow a lot

Thusday: almost everything fell again...but we had some really amazing lessons! one of the greatest things about a mission feeling the spirit so strong. one of the lesson we had with jefferson was especailly awesome. he had a lot of questions and doubts about so many things. but espeically joseph smith being a prophet. all of his questions and doubts about all the other stuff we were able to answer with the book of mormon. it was such a testimony strenghther to me that The Book of Mormon is True. and he felt that to and we were able ot explain that if the book of mormon is true that joseph Smith really was a Prophet and Restored the Church of Jesus Christ.
Friday we taught alot and again the Spirit was so strong with us and durring the those lesson my protuguese was helped so much I dont think i have ever spoken so well....It was freaking awesome not going to lie!, I am so Grateful for the chance i have had to be a tool of the Lord and feel his spirit working through me and Make all of my weakness strenghths. there is not Doubt in my Mind that God Jesus Chirst are leading this work!

Saturday: it rained alot! of my goodness what a blessing!! usually The rain is super annoying and but because it was the 31 hardly anyone was able to light off fireworks oh my gosh i was so happy Chirstmas eve my ears were ringing all day. you can by m80s just about anywhere here. and Chistmas eve was so bad all day. I was realy happy for the Rain. anways we taught a few lessons and did an interview for the other elders and then I made brownies and we bought Pizza and Icecream and went to Jeffersons and watched Joseph smith prophet of the restoration. It was a pretty good night and the sound of the rain made it hard to hear the fireworks at 12 so i was able to sleep.

Yesterday Sunday: It was a awesome day! we went to Church Igor was confirmed a member and I was able to babtize Jefferson. I forgot my camera but i will send pictures next week. it was a good day. we had some really great lesson and again i felt the Spirit so Strong.

okay so that was my week uptil now. over all this week has been Super hard! I have spent alot of time on my knees praying and begging heavenly father for help. there was a lot of sweat and some tears this week. But like I said he really has been Helping me and making my weakness (and there are so many) and making them strenghs. I am so grateful for this Chance serve and be a instrument in Gods hand. I know that really there is not way I could do this with out his help. This week has been such a rollercoaster. I have never been so happy and then so discouraged. I only wish i could explain the joy I feel when we are teaching and I feel the holy Ghost working through me. its truly such a blessing!

I love you all!! hopefully this is a better email... I am trying!

Love Elder Clements