Door Decorating Contest

 

We had a door decorating contest at the school for our Christmas party.  This is what my Spartan Academy came up with.  I didn't do one thing except provide the tape and paper.  Well and the door.

If that is not the cutest.  Take a sELFie

Then they ahd this poster across the hallway so they could sign it

Streamers and a countdown chain

They did such a great job. It kindof reminded me of the ELF movie when buddy decorates the store for christmas over night!  

They didn't win, but I thought it was the best.

week 18!!! "The earth is flat and i can prove that with the bible"

 

What's up everyone! This week was a lot better than last week. We finally were able to get some people to church and I also came across my first nice bible basher. We also had exchanges this week which were lit and of course our good friend Carlos took us for some tacos. 

 Monday we did our usual p day thing. basketball. pizza. more basketball. volleyball and a little bit of pokemon. It's kind of funny how p day is the day where we like take a break from missionary work but we all go the hardest we can for the little break we can. After p day ended almost all of our lessons canceled which was an L but we persevered and got dairy queen after so it was ok. ''

 we met with our boy sean twice this week and taught him the rest of the lessons. Sean is a super hype kid who loves to learn about the book of mormon. He is already 9 and has a stronger testimony than me lol. He made it to church on sunday and now all he has to do to get baptized is pass his interview and he can be baptized. 

 exchanges was lit. I was able to go with our district leader elder brewer and that man is a spiritual giant. We taught nick and hailey and both were drunk so idk how much they got but the spirit was definitely in the room even with the alcohol. 

 Later in the week we met with this lady named ladonna and she told us that everything she does has to be biblical. She told us everything she believed in including the part where she told us the earth is flat and that she doesn't watch disney because she believes satan made it but she basically pulled out a text from "her spiritual mentor". This lady had basically sent her a whole paragraph of anti against our church and we spent 2 hours just going through it and talking about it. Not gonna lie i didn't know i knew that much about the bible and i don't even remember what i said but the point is that i think its really cool how someone can have all these questions about our church and if we are able to trust the lord we can not only defend the truths of our church but also bring them closer to christ in the process. 

 We ended the week off with some service and I used a drill for the first time in my life so I guess the mission is helping me in more ways than one haha. Sunday we had this super cool event called "why i believe" basically its where a bunch of recent converts bare their testimony. This one was especially cool because someone from our ward spoke and one of my fav's brother rodriguez from the spanish branch spoke. Every testimony was superrrr powerful and just reassured me that this church is true and that Jesus is the christ. 

 That was basically my week. I hope everyone is staying warm. it is supposed to get to -4 here on thursday so please pray for me. I would love to hear from some of you!! Feel freee to reach out. Remember the church is true. The book is blue and god loves you!!

 

-Elder clemons 

 

Pics

Wrapped in Red

 

I got this from my friend Natalie who's son goes to Bountiful High.  Jack was to be the star at the Basketball gamel

Brooke and I decided to go and check it out.  It did cost us 16.00.  Seriously?  Ok for Jack we paid it.  

I had to play for the primary children to sing at the Ward Christmas Party, so I got them to be first, and we were off to the Girls Basketball Game. 

He got wrapped up on wrapping paper

Tore out of it, and had to shoot baskets.  

He actually made a few baskets.  That Church Basketball on Thursday nights has really paid off for him.  

It was fun to see him .  Although he wouldn't even talk to us or wave.  

Merry Christmas from my Wonton

 

Wonton got his picture with Santa Clause.  

This Picture was last year 2021 when he was a puppy

This year is when he was a tank.  2022 He is behaving so well.  

Here's the rest of the family.  Love the festive sweaters.  Ty's sweatshirt is Jack's that he got at Plato's Closet.  Never knew Jack was such a good shopper :)

week 17!!! "All i've heard about mormons is that yall get 25 wifes"

 

Whats good everyone. Its your fav elder coming back at ya with another email. This week had its ups and downs but we still made it too p day! The elders I live with have been freaking hilarious this week. We have this inside joke about ranch so we just yell ranch at random moments. we look stupid but its pretty funny in the moment. I also popped a tire on our car this week so thanks for paying your tithing so that they could replace it!!

 Monday: we did our usual p day things. Basketball then pizza then volleyball. This week i dove into a wall trying to save the game for our team.  I missed the ball so all i got was a bloody nose and a big L. Later that night we had a few lessons and then had a member lesson which lasted a lil past curfew so guess i wont be getting my obedience blessings this week haha. 

 Tuesday: We had a really good district council about what we want our district goals to be this transfer. our new district leader has a lot of energy and there is already too much energy with me in the room so it was one of the more rowdy district councils we have had. later in the day we had a lesson with our friend Caleb and he started the lesson with a great quote " All i've heard about Mormons is that yall get 25 wifes". My comp and i bursted our laughing after he said this and then had to explain all about polagamy and the f-lds church. somehow it turned into a really spiritual lesson. Kind of weird how the spirit works like that. 

Wednesday: from the moment we woke up it was go go go. We had lessons all day and I happened to also pop a tire. Good thing the cotton wood boys were close by and they were given permission by our zl's to drive us to all our lessons. We also had book of mormon study and I just love reading the book of mormon. I can read once verse in it and feel the spirit. There is some stress though because after every chapter i have to tell everyone what it said sooo hopefullly the spirit prompts me what to say haha. 

 Thursday: Brother mahan was very Christlike and took us out to lunch. It was boneless thursdays at bdubs so we went there and he bought us 30 wings each. They were so fire and fed me for lunch the next day too. This was also the day the ranch joke started because we brought home a couple things of ranch from bdubs too. later that night we met with the shiroma family and we were able to move kaymylies date up a couple of weeks!! kamylie is starting to love the gospel and more importantly she is understanding all of the commitments she is making. 

 Friday: Nothing really happened but we did meet with brother woods. Brother woods just overcame cancer and he is really starting to see god in his life. We didnt really talk about anything spiritual with him.  we just talked about football for like an hour and then shared a scripture with him. He loved it and told us that he loves us coming over and looks forward to church every week. 

 Saturday: we met with our friend aubrey and invited her to pray about baptism. she finally is understanding the priestood and why it is so important. she also gave me some candy sooo BIG W. 

sunday: sunday was an L day. Nobody showed up to church which put me in a reallly bad mood the rest of the day. Good thing it was a really good sacrament meeting and the spirit was able to calm me down a lil bit. After church carlos fed us and got on my nerves so I almost punched him. Then we basically knocked doors for the rest of the night which was super boring. Later we watched the christmas devotional which calmed me down so the spirit is starting to become my best friend haha. 

 Hope yall are doing good and staying safe. I missing home a lil extra this week with Christmas around the corner. The world has kind of taken Christ out of the Christmas season so i would just like to invite all of you guys to remember why we do celebrate Christmas.  Anyways hope all of yall have a good week and feel free to reach out if you want!!! 

 

-elder clemons 

Happy Birthday to Melanie

 

This is my sister Melanie.  She turned 59 today in Heaven.

She died May 30, 2007.  Her funeral was on my dad's birthday, June 2.  (fun fact - well maybe just a fact)  

This is her in 2006.  

I have been thinking about her today. 

This was the last day she ever saw her boys.  She was in a custody battle with their dad and he had been gone for over a year.  He would come to town for the divorce court and not even see the boys.  

That is Melanie and Denver

Thats Christopher and Melanie

He was coming to pick up the boys.  (not sure the details of this -  I was living my own hell at the time)   He came and they were crying and crying and didn't want to go with him. They hadn't seen him for over a year.  Melanie died the following May.  It wasn't a great time.  

Her boys are now 22 and 20.

We don't see them.  I haven't seen them for about 10 years which makes me sad.  It is sad.  They live so far away and far from an airport.  You would have to drive a ways to get there so my parents were only able to visit once.  They came here once too.

Christopher - he works at Lowes as a forklift operator I think

This is the Ex.  He posts this nice shirtless pic on Facebook

This is Denver - he is working at McDonalds.  

This is also Denver.  I think its hilarious that he walked home in his robe.  Kindof smart actually

The whole situation was sad.  Melanie had a difficult life.  She suffered from some mental illness that was diagnosed later in life and suffered from alcoholism and some drug abuse.  I think the alcohol was to cover up the mental illness and the pain and lonliness and anguish she felt all the time.  Not sure just my thought after all these years.  It was a sad situation.  Melanie was the most fun person at times and the most vial at others.  Never could tell which it was going to be.

She was very giving.  Brooke and McKenna liked to sleep over and play with Christopher and Denver.  Melane was so giving and generous.  McKenna forgot her swimsuit once and so Melanie went and bought her one so they could go swimming.  She and I were in line in Disneyland and she was ahead of me and offered to pay for me.  I told her I was getting THREE rice krispies AND a drink.  She said well, put them up here and I'll pay.   Seriously generous and not very many people saw that good side of her.  She was very funny.  Most people didn't see the funny side of her which was sad. 

I hope that she's watching over her boys and having to do missionary work on the other side.  Maybe she's hanging with our dad and our other sister, Kathleen.  And my grandma Stella.  I hope that she finally realizes that we didn't hate her and how much Michelle did for her.  

Rest of the weekend

 Rest of Thanksgiving Weekend went something like this Picture. Brooke took Andrew to the Gym this time since I was sick and he needs someone to get him in the Planet.  

We made it to Church to Wave and play for Primary

Jack waiting for the Sacrament

Look at this lady's hair.  It matches her glasses.  

We played some more golf.  Beautiful day this time too.  We went to the Rose Park and it was fun.  Love the Rose Park too.

The night before Andrew left, we went to the Olive Garden for the grub.  Brooke, Andrew, Me, and Jack.  Food good and the company was good also.  Andrew paid which was super nice.  

I didn't get any pictures but it was snowing outside so I was proud of myself because I was brave and drove in the snow.  Then my car didn't start the next morning.  Glad we made it home from the Olive Garden in the snow before my car decided to NOT start.