First Speaker in Sacrament Meeting, Ready to go...and tough saying Good-bye...

This is his last email from the MTC.  He has loved it there, and we are so grateful he was able to go there. We sent many packages, with things he needed.  Not sure what if any boxes we can send while he is in Bolivia, but if there is a way I will find it.  We are so looking forward to hearing that boy's voice tomorrow as he will get to call us from the airport.  He is excited, his testimony has grown so much, and he is ready.

He also gave me what he wanted on his plaque, I think it's perfect.

Enjoy...

Wow I have learned a lot of things from this place, my testimony has grown extremely and the Spirit that this place has I will never forget, I have made so many life long friends here who I will love and keep in contact with forever! But then again I'm so ready to get out! Don't get me wrong this place is rad and I loved every minute of it but oh man I NEED BOLIVIA! With less than 48 hours left until I leave I am so excited to finally get there! I mean I leave Monday at 3:30 am and I wont even get to my mission until around Tuesday night I'm still so excited!

THIS WEEK

Sunday: Another busy Sunday, something that is really hard here is at Sacrament meetings when they are announcing the speakers all they do is call out your name right from the mike.. No heads up or no notice which kinda blows but, you are set apart as a missionary so you are so capable to do it and the Lord will help you. So after the passing is done President Brooks gets up to announce the speakers and the first one is ME! haha!  I was super nervous.  So I walk up to the pulpit and I give my talk on Obedience and Agency and bear my testimony at the end! (In Spanish) but the craziest part of this Sunday was afterwords when I was done President Brooks gets up to speak for about 15 minutes and he shares the story of George Q. Cannon!  How he translated the Book of Mormon into Hawaiian and how half the missionary's there left after little success and he just bore testimony of the Gift of tongues and it was AMAZING! This spirit in the room so strong and it helped me so much cause I really needed to hear that.  It  was amazing, I asked him after why he picked me to talk and he just said, "I just go by the spirit" frekin beast!

Monday: I think I talked about these last week but we have these Skype TRC that we do with people from all over the world and me and my companion did that and its kinda just a Home teaching kinda thing so we just talked to her about Tithing and Fast Offerings and she was really nice and it was a lot of fun.

Tuesday: Another amazing Devotional we were lucky to hear from Elder Cook this week and oh man that man has such a strong testimony! He speaks so well and every thing he says sounds like he is talking right to you! I am so excited for Conference coming up and I feel extremely blessed to have that be my first week in the field when I am there!

Wednesday/Thursday: There is a lot of sickness going around right now with the weather changing and everyone is such close quarters with one another its bound to hit you. I was hit this week and Wednesday and Thursdays were the worst I stayed in bed like all day and did nothing but study. really boring and just a lot of sleep and Spanish study.

Friday: I felt pretty good this day we said good bye to our teachers and we are really sad to see them go, it's so nuts how a person can make such an impact in your life in such a small amount of time.

Yeah that is about it really, almost 40 kids will be leaving this week which will make a huge dent in our zone haha but everyone is really eager to leave but not gonna lie some tears will be shed. I loved this place and I will be sad to leave it come Monday morning. All is well, Love you all and I will speak with you soon!

 Me, Elder Dalton, Elder Bezzant, Elder Williams in front room

A dope pick of Christ 

- Elder Clayton
Bolivia Cochabamba

Here's a couple of emails that he sent to me.  I loved them and feel like they, too should be included in his documentation.

On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 12:03 AM, Tammy <claytonmom@comcast.net> wrote:
Hey Pal!  How are you?  Just thought I'd drop you a short note to let you know I didn't forget to send you a weekly email.  Hopefully,  you enjoyed your last boxes from home.  I loved being able to send you some fun things.  I did find that i left a pair of ear buds here.  I think there is a pair of apple ones in the shuffle we sent you.  If you need these, somehow I'll get them to you.

I'm sure hoping you have all you need and are excited to get on your way.

News from the neighborhood is;  Andee got her call on Wednesday.  West Virginia Charleston leaving in November.

I have loved having you down there, and even more so with the earthquakes that happened in Mexico. All the missionaries are good, but I guess selfishly I was glad you were only in Provo.

Fill us in on your last week.  Sure love you and am proud of you.

Love ya,

MOM

Haha thats so funny about Andee did you sing the John Denver song? ( Almost heaven, WEST VIRGINIA) that is like our district song we sing it at least 100 times a day!
Will you put that Gordon B.Hinkley quote on my plaqueI like that a ot. Yeah I feel like my Spanish skills were less by going to Provo but I don't really care because I had so much fun here and I would not change a thing! And the fact I could packages was huge! thanks

On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 12:57 PM, Tammy Clayton <claytonmom@comcast.net> wrote:
Which one are you wanting. Look at them and pick the number. We can get it to you...maybe at the airport. I think your brothers may sneak to see you. 1-8 go left to right.

Love you pal!

Mom

It's not in that picture haha sorry, I don't know what I did with it... Maybe I have it? no clue sorry.
I like that watch but I didn't want it. all good thanks for everything! those shoes are sweet and I'm so glad I have them! The pics of Christ are SICK! Love you!
haha that would be funny if they came I forgot I did that with Stetson,

B-day Celebrations, Travel Plans and another Great Week

We sure look forward to Saturdays and hearing of the week's events at the MTC.  This week he also sent his travel itinerary.  Elder Clayton will be leaving the MTC on Monday, September 25 @ 7:00 a.m., flying to Florida.  He will  have a nine hour layover in Florida and then fly through the night to arrive in Boliva Santa  Cruz, Tuesday, September 26 @ 10:00 a.m.  He says he has loved the MTC, and grateful he was sent there; otherwise he would have missed out on the awesome missionaries he has grown to love while in Provo.  But, he also says he is ready to get to Bolivia and start sharing the gospel.

The title of his blog has been updated to one of his favorite quotes from President Hinckley:  Forget yourself and go to work!  This came at a time when then Elder Hinckley was discouraged.  He had written a letter to his father, who then replied those words; Forget yourself and go to work.  I think that's a great motto for any of us.

He is doing great...

Nothing really big this week.

Sunday: Sundays are either a lot of fun and you get into some deep doctrine that is amazing to listen to and it grows your testimony a ton! Or you just have six straight meetings/devotionals where you are so tired and just wanna close your eyes for a few seconds... pero most the time they are good, on Sunday our devotional speaker was president of the 70 (cant remember his name) but he has a British accent and he is really fun to listen to. He shared his conversion story when he was 20 and it was amazing, really good guy with a great testimony of the Gospel, I would love if he spoke in General Conference too.

Monday: Someone in our district had this idea to put a rubber band on your wrist and when ever you did something rude you had to snap yourself, it helps to become more Christ like which is everyone's goal in life.

Tuesday: These are probably my favorite days because they are kinda like a Friday where we only have half class and then we get to do some personal study and then another devotional this time it was Chad Lewis! He is such a good speaker, he just shared some personal trials of his life and things in his football career from BYU to NFL he was really fun to listen to, he has had a great life and is just a great guy!

Wednesday: In class we were learning some new tools for more effective studying and how to get more out of what you study, I liked this because I took a lot of notes for more effective studying which everyone could use.

Thursday: Pretty chill day we watched a lot of the district videos this day and we just would pause and have comments on what we liked or didn't like/ what would we change if we were in their shoes as a missionary. It was really nice and everyone had great comment that really brought the meeting alive.

Friday: It was an Elders birthday today and his mom sent him FOUR BOXES OF DONUTS and they were krispy creme! So someone in our zone had these party hats and we had a big birthday party and we sang to him! Everyone brought some food/candy and it was just a big party, It was awesome, its gonna be really hard to say good bye to these guys when I leave, when you bond with someone over the gospel you get really close with them.

It was a good week thou, about 90% of the people in our zone were supposed to go to another MTC so everyone was really nervous on if their Visas would come or if we would need to go some where else for a transfer, everyone was on edge and just wanted to go to their mission so when I got that email for my flight plans I was so happy and thanked my Heavenly Father.

This zone was really made up out of nowhere so everyone was really nervous and its the largest branch in the whole MTC which I think is really funny too. its gonna be hard to see everyone go but I'm really excited. ​​All is Well

- Elder Clayton

I was able to go back and forth with him a couple of times.  Here's what he said to me:

Elder Coleman is in my zone my room is right next to him, out of the 80 kids in my zone 4 went to WX with me ha ha way funny!

Yeah I leave next Monday so this will be my last package, all I really want is that music, my black japan jacket, can you send me some pictures of Christ, like some small ones 2 or 3 maybe by Greg Olsen I don't know where you would get them but that would be awesome ha ha! thank you sorry for asking a lot!
Everyone loved the package for the game, it was sweet! and I love the peanut butter bars I only share them with few lucky people!
love you mom! (this melts my heart)

- Elder Clayton

 Elder Morris from Arizona, loves country music, great guy

 Elder Fillmore; it was his b-day on Friday and his mom sent doughnuts to celebrate

Elder Davies

 Eating  cookies from home

 B-day celebrations at the MTC complete with hates and horn blowers

Elder Fisher sent this pic he took of Elder Clayton!  Love that smile of his!

In the classroom

​

Feeling the Spirit, Elder Oaks, and saying good-bye to his Posse Members

He is doing awesome, and I'm certain it is because he has such great support and prayers said in his behalf.  It's been three weeks, and yet feels like so much longer.  I know that it is only two years, but I think this one is going to feel like the four!!! But in his words, and the words of his Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather William Clayton; all is well...

 Enjoy!

It was a pretty good week this week our devotional on Tuesday we had a guest speaker that was pretty cool you probably don't know him, his name is Elder Oaks from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! (ha-ha) When he walked into the room we all stood to show respect and the spirit hit the room so hard! It was amazing! He spoke about Thomas S. Monson, missionary work and the importance of the the Book of Mormon is the role to conversion. it was so sweet! I was seated only 20 feet away from him, and it felt like he was talking right at me, amazing feeling. 

It's amazing how much you can feel the spirit here.  All my friends who came here the same day as me English speaking have all left, I said good bye to Elder Sterner and Elder Fisher the night before they left, and It was sad to see them go but you could tell they are ready to serve and ready to preach the gospel. 

My companion and I are teaching this one girl in our TRC from Chile and every time we talk with her she just seems really sad and alone, so we were teaching her the Restoration and how the Gospel blesses our family along with the B.O.M and when we mentioned the book, she got really excited we gave her a copy and she was really eager to read it. the next lesson we had we were gonna talk about the plan of Salvation but instead we decided to bare testimony on the Book of Mormon y Joseph Smith the spirit was sooo strong! she started to tear up and we asked her to pray if the book was true and she said yes and we challenged her to pray right now with us here and she started to cry! Then I was crying! and so was my comp! It was a beautiful prayer and even tho this is all fake, these people act as real people with real problems! I'll keep you posted on what happens with her.

Even tho I've only been here for three weeks, its crazy how you can already teach lessons in Spanish, del don de lenguas es real, I had to teach seven lessons in five days this week and I promise you I could not have done that with out this gift. I have really come closer to my Savior here and my love for him has grown huge! I heard this dope quote this week "If you're drowning in doubt, sorrow, or discouragement just remember your lifeguard walks on water." I've watched every video of the Savior on LDS.org this week haha, they are so good and really help you feel the spirit. I really like the one "prince of peace." You have probably seen it but its really dope!

Well I love you all and I'm loving this mission life. half of me really wants to go to Bolivia now and the other half just wants to stay and enjoy the MTC for as long as I can, All is Well

 

- Elder Clayton

 His MTC District

Elders Clements and Clayton

Third Week at the MTC

He's doing so great and it's fun to see his personality and fun sense of humor is serving him well.  Thank you so much for your prayers in his behalf, they are felt and appreciated.

Another wild week all my friends that I came here with on the 16th are leaving this next week and it makes me really bummed to see them leave me, but I'm happy and sad because they're excited to leave and go to the field and I'm sad because I'm still here at the CCM haha. But no it's all good I love it here and I am  having a blast! Do you guys remember Josiah from Adelaide? he was that like really wild kid and we played football together a few times? Anyways I saw him yesterday haha super funny we talked like we knew each other our whole lives. 

My classes can ether be really fun and I love them a lot or super frustrating because I can't understand what my teachers are saying! We had some TRC lessons this week which you just teach a fake investigator and this week we had this gal born and raised in Chile she spoke muy rapido y she kinda slured her words so in that 45 minute lesson I maybe understood like.. 5 words she was saying, and do you know how hard it is to explain the Gran Apostasia, In another language! haha all is good I'm learning a lot and maybe this is just the Lords way of breaking me down. 

I feel like I talk about my District like way to much with these emails but I'm not kidding I love these Elders all of us are just best friends and we do everything together, so class, meals, and going to the gym basically everything.. This Elder named Elder Davies is in my district and he is like the craziest kid I have ever met. I don't know who to describe him like because I have never met anyone like him, we joke with each other a lot and he is super funny. 

We have another kid in our district who;s dad works here for the church and we got to talking with him one day and we convinced him to bring us a Mountain Dew so we went to class and a few days later we walk into our room with a FRIDGE hahaha all of us got super excited and it was full of soda, his dad just snuck it in somehow and now we have a fridge it's sick!

I love this Gospel and I know that what I am doing is right  for me and the thing that I need to be doing right now. I just need to stay focused with the work and the Spanish will come. Love you all, All is Well

- Elder Clayton 

- Elder Davies and I just chillin 

Elder Bezzant and I along with our fridge

Recreating the thumb photo from Holes a.k.a. God's thumb