The Final Week

This has been a very unique week. Last Sunday, Feb. 26^th, our investigator, Lucille, came to church. Her husband is an inactive member who is starting to come back to church. She is an Indonesian lady who was raised Catholic. The missionaries have been teaching her for 4 months, I’ve just been a part of the teaching for the last month. Each time we teach her, she says things like, “This makes so much more sense than my church; than what we Catholics believe.” She was interested in learning, but not in changing religions. Well, on Sunday, a man in our ward who is about 70 years old, is blind, deaf, and mute, was assigned to speak in sacrament meeting. He stood at the podium and signed his whole talk, and his wife who can see, hear, and knows sign language, translated the talk for the congregation. His talk was 30 minutes long, and made a huge impression on Lucille!

 

After church, we got a text saying that Lucille wanted to be baptized right away. When we talked to her, she said, “When he was giving his talk, I got a feeling like fire in my chest, and I knew I needed to be baptized. I don’t know how to explain it – it’s just like fire. I want him to baptize me.” So, yesterday, Sunday, March 5th, Lucille was baptized by this brother. He stood in the water and signed the prayer, someone else stood in the font and translated, and then he put his arm to the square and baptized her. It was great!

 

I had my departing interview with my mission president today. I am having mixed feeling . . .  excited to come home and sad to leave. Wednesday, when the mission has transfers, I will go with all the other departing missionaries to do some activities. We will go to the Temple together, go to Ashton Gardens, and then we will have dinner and a testimony meeting and stay at the mission president’s house, leaving for the airport Thursday morning.

 

Thank you for your support and encouragement!

Love, Elder Cluff 

I'm Alive & Well!

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been a while since I've written an email, which is my bad. So, to those who haven't gotten the news, I was transferred last month from Orem to Eagle Mountain, with a new companion, Elder Ma'ake! He's great, he is from Arizona, and has been out a few months. His dad and half of his family are Tongan. He's a good missionary, and a hard worker. However, he might need some prayers because he doesn't like chocolate and baked desserts (cookies, pies, brownies, cake), and here in Utah you can't go five feet without being offered a bottle of water and a cookie.

 

We cover a stake in west Eagle Mountain. The area here is great, with tons of potential. However, the amount of food I have access to has massively decreased sadly :(. There’s just not much out here. We have been teaching about fifteen families, almost all unbaptized children from inactive or part member families, but also a few adults. One of the youth just got baptized since I got here. His name is Kayl and he's pretty cool.

 

Some good news. We also just started teaching a few new people and setup appointments to teach even more! One of the people we are teaching are so close to baptism, she's just afraid her family back in Indonesia might shun her for joining.

 

We have been seeing miracles lately of being in the right place at the right time. We were able to provide support to a granddaughter who just had to put her daughter in a mental clinic. We were also able to share messages which people expressed was exactly what they needed. Half the time I don't even think it was the message, I think it was the presence of the spirit which our message brought.

 

Sad news, another person in our district went home to serve a service mission for a number of reasons, mental and physical. He will probably be much happier in that capacity, but we will miss him here in Utah. He is a great guy with a great testimony.

 

I also went on an exchange this week with one of our Zone Leaders which went amazing. We taught two families. The first one was a couple who was very kind and fed us a meal. But they are looking very much for physical evidence of the Book of Mormon’s truthfulness, and unfortunately don't trust the spirit. The second family, on the other hand, were amazing!! They are from Romania and have wanted to learn more about our church, since being here in Utah. We taught them the plan of salvation and afterward the dad expressed how it makes so much sense and how he feels like his entire life he's been searching for truth and other religions have part of it, but what we are saying seems to have all of it. Near the end I asked them if they believed what we are saying is true and they said yes!! They are going to be fire.

 

Yesterday I gave a talk in church about time management. I tried to focus the talk on habits, priorities, spending time with Christ, and serving within our callings. Ironically, I was overprepared, so my talk had 30 minutes of content and I only had ten minutes to speak. So I had to use time management within a talk about using time wisely. I guess that’s how the Lord teaches us.

 

Since I finished up my two-month study on the words of Isaiah, I have been focusing on finishing the Book of Mormon one last time before the end of my mission. There are so many amazing scriptures that I seem to find every time I read. I have also been studying the topic of Light since it seems to resonate with me so much. The more that I study light, the more I realize how deep of a topic it is. 

 

I have also been studying about Godly hope - which hope is an abiding trust in the Lord. This type of hope means having a relationship with God & Christ. It means trusting them enough to take action, even when it's hard. It means moving through the dark tunnels in our life to the light, even when it's far away. It was great to study because I ended up giving a training on it in District Council.

 

We also just had a mission devotional recently based on the verses in Moses 6 and discussed the following words: water, blood, spirit, baptism, sacrament, sanctification, justification, and priesthood. Every time I go back to the appendages of the atonement there is so much more to learn.

 

I hope everyone had an amazing week.

Elder Cluff

Note from Heidi/Mom: Jacob returns home on Thursday, March 9^th. His homecoming talk will be Sunday, March 12^th, at 10:30am in Sherwood. You are invited to come! He will be heading to BYU-Idaho April 13^th. 

My LAST Transfer

This has been a crazy week. We had transfers on Jan. 25^th, and I finally got transferred. I am now with Elder Ma’ake, from Arizona, in Eagle Mnt. We are in an apartment, just the two of us. Kind of strange and quiet after 18 months of living with my companion and another set of missionaries. Elder Ma’ake’s dad is Tongan and his mom is a palangi, and he is a nice Elder. We cover one stake; the Eagle Mnt West Stake, but it is a huge area (about 1/3 of the mission) since it’s so spread out. The stake covers a lot of little towns like White Hills, Cedar Fort, and Fairfield.

 

We had a baptism om Saturday, of a 15 year old young man that has wanted to be baptized for 3 years and finally got permission. His name is Kayl. We have been doing a LOT of door knocking, looking for people. We are teaching a few children, whose families are members, and they are wanting to learn about the Gospel. We are also teaching a Catholic lady named Lucille, who is Filipino. So far it has been fun to hear her learn and agree with our church doctrine. Like when we taught about baptism being when someone is old enough to make the choice to follow Jesus, she said, “Yes, I wish I had been able to make that choice. It doesn’t make sense to baptize babies. I feel like they are forcing baptism.”  Hmmm, we agree!

 

Love,  Elder Cluff

Snow Fun

It’s been a great week! Got a little snow storm - so we had a snowball fight and then had fun making a snowman…even if his smile is a bit creepy.


We got to do a baptismal interview for a great guy. His name is Alfa, he is about 30 years old, and he is from the Congo. His mom is the pastor of another church. He was raised in a very spiritual home and grew up paying 10% tithing to his church and they even fasted as a family once a month.


He came to UT and stayed with a member friend for a couple weeks. As they talked about religion, he was very intrigued with the Church of Jesus Christ, and was willing to meet with missionaries. He started being taught on a Friday, was baptized on a Wednesday and flew home on Thursday. The missionaries who taught him said,” We didn’t really teach him. He already believed almost everything we believe. Most of the time, he would ask questions, and we would talk about the gospel, and he would agree with everything that we said, and said it all made sense and felt right.” One time he asked, “Isn’t there anyway that everyone can be saved?” When the missionaries said yes and talked about baptisms for the dead and temple work, he was so happy.


Have a great week!
Elder Cluff

December In Orem

Earlier this month, we started working with a guy named Gabriel, who went inactive in High School and is now having a Saul to Paul experience. It’s neat to see how excited he is about the Gospel now.

 

We had a Mission Leader training meeting, and I was asked to teach the Zone Leaders about unity in companionships. It was a little stressful, especially trying to fit in so much information in such a short amount of time, but it went well.

 

On December 8^th, we went to the Samoan Christmas party! And, we started teaching David. On the 10^th, we went to the Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. It is a light display and show in the Ashton Gardens. It was really great! I loved the light show that went to music.

 

I got transfer calls and I am staying with Elder Martin. I have been in Geneva Heights Stake for 15 months, and 6 months of that time, I have been over YSA wards.

December 19^th, 2022

We met a Korean lady who we might start teaching. We have spent most of our time tracting and helping a lot of inactive Young Single Adults come back to church.

 

Picture 1: lamps & statues of Christ

#2: Elder Wright & Elder Martin (#7209)

#3: Elders Adams, Hilton, Martin & me

#4: me, Elders Barney, Adams, Dean, Hilton, Reams (red scarf), & Martin

#5 trees and reindeer

#6 Elders Adams & Hilton, with the statue of Christ

#7 at Mnt Timpanogos temple

#8 at the temple: Left side of nativity; Elder Martin in back with Elder Thompson on left and Elder Cooper on the right. On the right side of the nativity, me in back, Elder Reams on the left and Elder Taylor (right)

#9 sunset over Utah Lake

Thanksgiving Week

This week was busy and great. We were able to have Thanksgiving dinner with Mario and a couple of his friends, which was nice.


We were asked to serve at the Light the World Giving Machines at the Orem Mall on Black Friday. It was definitely a busy day to be at the mall. One family came to the mall just for the Giving machines; some grandparents brought their grandchildren to purchase a milk goat for a Syrian refugee family. It was great to see people give to those in need.
Plus, I got to see a few people I knew - including the Cichoski family, from Sherwood.


Have a good week!

Elder Cluff 

Surprise! A Long Email!

Hey Everyone,

These last few weeks have been great but crazy. We started teaching another Polynesian family who has been inactive for years and is starting to come back. It was fun to teach them CPR (Church, Prayer & Reading the scriptures object lesson) with cups and knives and teach them the basics of the gospel. We also got to attend a Polynesian stake conference, where members of an inactive family, that we have been working with, sang.

 

We also met another polynesian family which is a part member family. The dad said his goal is baptism and sealing which is exciting, but as we talked it became clear he has no real desire to change or take action. He is just saying that to appease his wife who is a member. We hope that one day he will recognize the love of his Heavenly Father and the spirit so he can be converted.

 

Unfortunately, many of our lessons got canceled this week, which was hard, but we kept on working and it has led to lots of cool experiences. Here are two;

 

Angel

While we were at the stake institute my companion felt prompted to attend a Book of Mormon class. Near the end, one of the people attending began asking some interesting questions and it became clear he was not a member. The institute teacher tried to teach him about baptism but it was going right over this guy’s head. The institute teacher is a brilliant man and has great scriptural knowledge but unfortunately, he wasn't keeping it simple. So, after class, we took over and basically taught the gospel of Jesus Christ with principles of the plan of salvation about life after death to him and a couple other young adults who stayed. As we taught, I could really feel the spirit as I testified of Christ's atonement and simple truths. By the end, he was in tears and my hands were shaking from the force of the spirit on my body. It was a powerful experience!

He said he would be gone for two weeks for sales, but he wanted to learn more when he came back.

 

Basher

On an exchange with Elder Barney (one of my previous companions) we ran into a Christian pastor. His wife welcomed us into their home and then went in the other room, while we spoke to her husband. He has similar views to most of the Christian world but a few incorrect views on our church. We tried to correct his knowledge of the church, resolve his concerns and bear testimony. Unfortunately, the conversation turned into a bash where he tried to prove our church wrong with the New Testament. As he spoke, I could feel the spirit leave the room. I wanted nothing more than to show him the truth and defend our beliefs, so I kind of went off on him. Scriptures and principles would come to my mind and I would speak the words which were given to me. He would bring up a point and I would show him how he was wrong, so he would switch to his next one. By the end I think I had officially confounded the man and angered his wife (who was shouting random ideas from another room, to which I occasionally responded to). Elder Barney finished it up by bearing his testimony and handing the man a copy of the book of Mormon. Probably not much will come out of it, they have pretty hard hearts, but it was the best we could do. Usually in a bash no one wins, and no one is convinced, because contention causes the spirit to leave. But after we left, me and my companion both agreed we could feel the spirit prompting us as we were talking and testifying.

 

We also had the pleasure of attending a multi stake event where the Reeves spoke. They talked a lot about the importance of the temple and overcoming trials through Christ. It was great to hear from their experiences since they have served as mission and temple presidents/matron.

 

On a hard note, our senior couple has been struggling with heart problems and he just got surgery, which is good, but due to the severity of the surgery, is being released. Our new senior couple who was supposed to take their place, got covid right before they came into the field. So they are quarantined for the next two weeks.

 

Speaking of bad luck, our roommates have the worst luck with popped bike tires. One of them has averaged three popped tires a week! So we worked overtime last week to secure tubes and 'slime' them to decrease this issue.

 

We attended an institute class on the miracle of forgiveness, and it was interesting to study the importance of forgiving everyone. In the Doctrine and Covenants, God declared he would forgive who he chose to forgive, but we are required to forgive everyone. That led me to ask, “Why is it so important that we forgive everyone when God gets to choose?”

 

Here are some of my notes: One of the conditions of repentance is a broken heart. When one is unwilling to forgive they are unwilling to give up unchristlike emotions within their heart. When one is unwilling to forgive, they become unwilling to repent. Forgiveness is a gift from God. Being able to forgive is also a gift from God. May we never deny this Gift and Grace from God. May we ever allow others to climb back from the depths of the darkness they lie in. Christ suffered unconditionally for all, even if they wouldn't accept his sacrifice. He will never ask us to take on that burden, but He will ask us to forgive everyone even if they don't accept our forgiveness so we can learn from it. The Lord is bound by the laws of Justice and mercy. He will forgive all that He can forgive, He will forgive as much as people allow Him to forgive. In fact, He will forgive us more than we can forgive ourselves. However, we are not bound by those laws. We will feel the effects of the laws, but we can choose who we extend justice and mercy to in this life. However, we do not have the knowledge that God has, we do not have the justice and compassion He has. We are asked to forgive everyone for we know not what they go through. In the end all things will be made fair. If you want to be fully forgiven, we must strive to be fully forgiving. We must learn that the one hundred pence forgiveness we are asked to give will be nothing in comparison to the 10,000 talent forgiveness God will give. If God didn't ask us to forgive everyone, then we wouldn't learn forgiveness like He wants us to. He would be asking/allowing us to retain non-christ like attributes within our heart. God always asks the highest standard. He can't/won't ask for less than perfection because no unclean thing can enter into his presence. Not reaching the standard is why we have repentance. If trials are a main part of mortality then repentance and forgiveness are of equal importance to learning. But God will never ask something of us he wouldn't do himself.

 

This week during zone conference, our mission president went off on the doctrine of eternal life, exaltation, and damnation. It was cool because I had just studied that topic the last couple of weeks and had given a training on it in zone council, so he was repeateding a lot of things I had learned in my studies. We talked a lot about the importance of the law (commandments and justice) which does bring punishment, but also they are the way that God rewards his children and helps them feel joy. Unfortunately, in today's society many people think the commandments are just suggestions. Or many believe that they can just remove the law to avoid punishment. We are so blessed to have a comprehensive view of the law of salvation and reasons behind God's ways.

 

Also, in my studies I have been compiling and studying the names of Christ. So far, I have a list of over 350 and it’s still growing. It’s been amazing to see the scope of how much even just His names and titles encompass everything. From His name in Hebrew "YHWH" (Jehovah), to his most common names like "Jesus the Christ" to less well-known names like "Mediator of the New Covenant".

 

It has been incredible serving in Utah and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Hope everyone is doing well.

 

Elder Cluff

 

Picture of the Mt Timpanogos temple