Taking Over Antwerpen

Hallo iedereen!!!!

Mom, sounds like jullie will have a great Thanksgiving! Tell everyone hi for me! Sounds like your San Antonio trip was about on par with the previous ones, but I'm glad everyone got the experience. Haha, glad to hear that my Taco Bell legacy has left a mark. Cute photo booth! Where'd you get the saddle? I'm assuming that by the time you read this, your big mama bike ride will be over, so I'll just congratulate you for not dying!!! Yay for you!!! That sounds kind of miserable, but I hope you had fun. I just read those Alma chapters this morning! I felt so connected to them. It's funny to see that missionary work has not really changed in a few thousand years. The struggles are definitely the same, but the joy is the same, too. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon. It has gotten me through these past few months. Sorry about your Sunday School class. That's never a good feeling, but I think Tyson's wrong. I've learned a lot from Sunday School, and I think that if anyone can reach that group of kids, you can! (That sounded less cheesy in my head than when I typed it, but, yeah...). Also, thank you so much for the Christmas tree! I love it, but I sincerely hope that you did it for all the missionaries and didn't make your Sunday School class write notes to just me. That would be super awkward.

Father Cluffy, haha, glad to know that the inmates haven't lost control. Thanks for checking out the clubs for me. That will be useful information when I get back. I will be very sad if Justin has outgrown his utter embarrassment on behalf of our family by the time I get back, so glad to hear that he's still holding strong. I'll throw out a courtesy WOOO in Antwerpen today. That Angry Birds movie looked dumb, but I'm glad they got a good laugh our of it. Did you let Ryan win, or did you not play Risk? I'm a little unclear as to how the game went down. Also, I heard that you have once again pawned off the responsibility of giving the boys the puberty talk on mom. What's that about? I feel like you and Ryan could have had some real bonding moments! 

First off, a super big thank you to everyone who wrote me such sweet notes for Christmas! It made my day, and it makes me happy every time I walk past the tree with all of your ornaments on it. I feel so blessed to have such amazing people in my life!

So, this week the Antwerpen crew officially died. It's super rare to have 7 missionaries stay together for 2 transfers, so no one was really expecting a third, but it was still sad to say goodbye to people. I had to say goodbye to Zuster Burnham as she spread her little Nederland wings (she had been in Belgium 9 months, which is SUPER rare). I expected to miss Zuster Burnham, but it was a lot harder than I thought. You just go through so much together, and it was so weird not to have her there anymore, Plus, Antwerpen is a pretty big city to take over, but so far I haven't gotten Zuster Berrett and I too lost. Zuster Berrett is pretty great, too. She is from Las Vegas, has been out 9 months, was serving in Lokeren before here (also in our district). She is a little quiet, but she likes to laugh, and I think we're going to have a good transfer together. 

This week was a little strange because Antwerpen was hosting an inter-faith event that the missionaries were invited to help with for four days, so we couldn't teach as many lessons as usual, but it was kind of fun to have a change of pace. Truthfully, a lot of this week was nothing to write home about, so in honor of Thanksgiving, here's my gratitude list for this week.

Ik ben heel dankbaar voor:

1) Heat, hot water, filtered drinking water, non-leaky pipes: all things that I took for granted, but our now missing in the Antwerpen appartment. Alles goed though, it has been a fun adventure, and hopefully it will be fixed this week.

2) A lovely woman named Joy who we teach. She if from Africa, and I brought Zuster Berrett there for the first time this week. Zr. Berrett made the mistake of telling Joy that she (Zr. Berrett) can't cook. Joy then went off on a long rant about how all women can cook, European and American mothers just don't give their children opportunities to be in the kitchen. She said "With faith, you can move mountains" and then went off about how if you believe you can fry a plantain, you can do it. She is going to teach us to fry plantains next time we go over. She said, "You teach me about the word of God, and I'll teach you to cook." It's a pretty good arrangement. Zuster Berrett and I laughed a lot about that exchange.

3) People who come to church! We had three of our investigators come to church this week! I have learned so much about the importance of partaking of the sacrament and thinking about Christ's atonement each week. 

4) Mijn familie. Jullie zijn echt de beste. 

5) The gospel. It is just so important. It is not just an important thing in our lives, it is the whole reason that we were given lives. We were given life on this earth to progress and become more like our Heavenly Father through His gospel. How silly is it that we sometimes think that we don't have time for it. It is what time was given to us for. 

6) A merciful and loving Father in Heaven who knows our weaknesses and foolishness and loves us still. Not only that, but He has given everything to help us find joy in our weakness and imperfection and become like Him.

I love you all! Have a great Thanksgiving!!! 

Liefs,

Zuster Cluff

I'm Staying In Antwerpen

Hallo hallo!!!

Mom!!! Your letter made me laugh really hard. I am not in the least bit concerned about the package. Even if I didn't ever get it, my life would be just fine, so please don't worry about it. I'm actually going to be blijven in Antwerpen for another 6 weeks, so it will probably be just fine. They only tell you to send it to the office so that we don't have to pay all the customs fees when we pick it up, but the post office is like a 20 minute bus ride from our house, so it really will not be a problem. You are welcome to send something to the office, but I will not feel bad if I don't get a present at their party thing, so don't stress. Yay for the book fair! I miss those things. And books. Also, as a missionary it is super awkward when no one talks at dinner, and really exciting when people just talk to you and laugh with you like family, so I'm sure it was much appreciated. Also, as a missionary I have realized that our ward is pretty supportive of the missionary effort. We're still working on that one with our ward here. I didn't realize how much of a difference the members made until I wasn't a normal member anymore. The whole biking trail thing sounds super fun except for the Abigail part. But your Thanksgiving one should be good. 

Mr. CLUFFY. I am choosing to not comment on the diaper musings and let you draw your own conclusions. Haha, I miss Sunday nights with pantless protests, dumb challenges, kids crying, then you getting mad at them for crying, then the crying increasing. I can see it all so clearly in my head. Glad to know that some things never change. Then Belgians are very concerned about the whole Trump thing. Nathalie texted us saying that she was praying for us, and that we were just going to all have to stick it out together for the next 4 years. I swear, from the way the Belgians talk, you would think that they were the ones living in American with Trump as their president. They keep saying how they're just going to have to live with the results, etc. etc. I almost want to tell them that they don't have to live with the results, because it's not their country! But I'm a missionary, so I don't. I do remember the Bacher's! That's really cool that they're active again! 

Alright folks, transfer calls are in and I am blijven here in Antwerpen! I am going to have to say goodbye to Zuster Burnham, though, who is headed up to the netjes land of Gouda. Zuster Berret is my new companion though, and she is actually in my district now, so I know her and am excited to get to work with her. 

The zone leaders decided to play a really mean prank on us and gave us fake transfer calls. They told us that we were being whitewashed out, and I was going to Apeldorn and Zuster Burnham was going to Amsterdam. I may possibly have shed a few tears at the thought of leaving Antwerpen so soon, so I was very glad (and mad) when we got our real calls and I found out I was staying!

Never fear though, Elder Turner (one of the zone leaders) left his bag at one of our appointments, so we took it home and tinfoiled everything in there (including keys, coins, etc.) to get him back. It wasn't really a mean prank, but it was kind of funny. 

This week was temple conference!!!! We were all challenged to bring our own name, so I did a little family history and saw that our lineage is traced back past Abraham on one line. Also, there is a lot of work to be done on our line. (hint hint) Anyways, it was a really powerful experience, and it made me feel really good about my Dutch, because I understood almost everything! (More from memory than actually understanding the Dutch, but still...) The Spirit was so strong. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much, and has such an incredible plan for us!!!!

Zuster Burnham and I had a lot of appointments fall through this week, which is a little frustrating, but we did have a few really good ones. We meet with an inactive lady named Susan. She has terminal cancer and is really struggling to have faith in God and His plan for her right now. When we were there, I felt very strongly prompted to tell her as a representative of Jesus Christ that her Heavenly Father loves her and the atonement is for her. I was a little hesitant, because this lady does not usually appreciate things like that, but I did, and the Spirit was so strong. I could almost feel my Savior there with us. It was a very humbling testimony to me that I have truly been called as a representative of Jesus Christ. I have been called to be His hands and mouth on this earth at this time. It amazes me that He uses weak and imperfect people like me to do His work, but I am doing my best to live worthy of His trust. 

His gospel is real, His love is so very real, and I love being His servant. 

I love you all so much!!!!! I feel like that sounds like a repetitive line, but I really do!!!!

zo veel liefde,

Zuster Cluff

Happy Halloween!

First off, a sincere apology to the many Hardy's sending me very sweet emails. I truly love reading them, I just don't always have time to respond, so I am very sorry that it appears that I am ignoring you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for them, though!!!!

Mom, it sounds like you all had a good time at a true "gospel church." I can just picture you awkwardly standing and trying to not be awkward about how animated every else is. Sounds like a fun experience. If there is one thing I have truly learned here, it's how individual the gospel is. Conversion is so personal. Teachers, bishops, missionaries, we're not really part of it. It is between the person and the Lord. That's a pretty powerful thought- He does not delegate that responsibility. He speaks to each of us personal and reaches out to us individually to help us become the people we need to become. I did get a coat and some other winter stuff, but then the weather turned warm(ish), so I haven't gotten to use it much yet. I have no problem with my card, but I'll have to check on the present thing. I'm not really sure if I can do that as a missionary- we have some pretty strict rules about what we can and can't do in that regard, but I'll let you know next week. Grandma yardley sent me a couple of emails in the MTC, but not since. Sounds like the piano recital was fun. I love you lots!!!! p.s. I got your letter on Wednesday, but I haven't gotten Ellen's or any others.

Dad, I want it on record that although I'm in Europe, I have eaten a lot of sketchy African food, and I think it caught up to me. I am glad to know that it brought jullie joy though. I debated on whether to send that or not, but I figured if there was any group of people who would truly appreciate it, it would be all of you. I got out of the bathroom and Zuster Burnham was just like, "Are you okay? I'm glad you got to the bathroom on time. I figured it had to be something with your stomach. That could have been really bad if we didn't get here." Sooo... I just let her think that. I put my bag away from where we were having the meeting, so I don't think that anyone suspected anything, but if they did, they didn't say anything. I'm glad you enjoyed the substitute claps. I'm sure Deana really appreciated your enthusiasm. Sounds like a full week, but I'm glad you got to golf and keep the yard up to snuff. Yes, we did go to DC junior year, and naturlijk, ik vind het een beetje unfair that you are taking Tyson to Europe, when I have been suggesting Europe trips for years that have been shot down time and again, buuuuuuuut, I do think that my mission has softened me, because where before that would ignite a burning fire of anger at the injustice of the matter, now it is more of a slight irritation, so, I will leave that decision in your hands. 

Well, Happy Halloween iedereen!!!!!!! The Belgians don't really celebrate Halloween. They have a few pumpkins in the stores and a few brave souls venture to put up a ghost or two in their window, but it is definitely nothing like America. On the bright side, our investigator, Nathalie, is getting married in an hour, and the wedding is Halloween themed, so I think that we are going to have a grand old time. 

Speaking of which, Nathalie!!!!!! She has made such incredible progress, and I just love her so much!!!! We came over Wednesday, and she told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and said that after she prayed, when she read the Book of Mormon, it all made sense, and she couldn't stop reading, and it felt like God speaking to her. She said that she knew that she needed to get baptized!!!!! I want so badly for her and her sweet family to have the happiness of the gospel! They need it! She also came to church on Sunday, and during one of the talks, I looked over and tears were streaming down her face. Zuster Burnham asked her if something was wrong, and she just kept saying, "I"m home, I feel like I'm home." She also has talked to us a lot about how it doesn't feel like she's learning new things, it feels like she's remembering. This gospel is so true, and some part of our souls knows it. This gospel is our home, and I have gained such a testimony of that this week. 

I have to leave for the wedding now, but I'll try and email more later if I have time. I love you all so much! This is Christ's gospel, and I am so blessed to have all of you in my life!!!!

zo veel liefde,

Ooopsy Poopsy

P-day at the EU in Brussels 

Mom, I agree on the reading and praying note, I have realized that it is seriously vital. If they aren't willing to have experiences with Christ in the ways that He has given us, then they can't really come closer to Him. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, not just learn about Him. We can teach, but if they don't act on it, then the purpose is kind of missed. I'll try and send pics of our apartment next week. A blanket sounds wonderful, and the only American food that I can think of is box mix brownies. They don't really have brownies here. 

Dad, ik vind 100% meegaandheid niet zo leuk. Also, I'm pretty sure you're going to have to turn to Tyson for a little J. Heber, because he's not coming out of my body. Sounds like a long week of travelling, so I'm glad your Saturday was at home! Also, golfing sounds like a lot of fun! I just realized that I have seen no golf courses here. The BYU game sounds brutal, but the picture of Zuster Baker running around saying NEIGH made me laugh.

A random field of ostriches by the EU building- gotta love modern art!

Well, on to the week:

We had interviews with President on Tuesday, which was really good and uplifting, but I had a not so great experience that I am sharing with you in strict confidence. THIS IS NOT TO GO IN THE WEEKLY EMAIL- you can tell the Hardy's if you really want, but not others. So, we had interviews at the church, and we reaaaaallly didn't want to be late, so we decided to leave over an hour early to be safe, because Belgium transportation is really unreliable. Naturlijk, because we really needed to be on time, the trams weren't running (normally  this is because the lovely people of Belgium have decided to go on strike again, but this time it was an electricity failure), sooooo, we had to take a bus, which is a lot slower. It FINALLY came, and we were late, but not tooo late. We are sitting on this bus, and I start feeling something akin to a great hand of fury reaching in and clenching my bowels. I made it through a few waves of this pain with no lasting consequences, but I told Zuster Burnham that no matter how late we were, I HAD to go to the bathroom once we made it to Centraal. We finally made it there, so we start the rather long trek to the bathrooms when another wave hits. There is no stopping this one, and some little Hershey squirts start to squeeze out. I waddle quickly towards the bathroom at which point I remember that I have no change, and the durned Europeans do not believe in free bathrooms. I head towards the change machine and stick my bill in, but it keeps spitting it back out at me. The bathroom bodyguard lady walks towards me to help, and I do not have the Dutch to explain to her that I will gladly give her the whole 20 euro bill if it means that I can go in the bathroom and stop standing here soiling my pants. She finally gets it to work, I grab my 20 euros worth of change and run/waddle into the bathroom where I exploded. I cleaned up as best as I could, but there was no way I could continue to where my underwear. Since they're garments, though, I couldn't throw them away either, so I cleaned them as best as I could and stuck them in my bag. And that, friends, is how I had my first interview with President commando. 

Otherwise, our week was pretty normal. We had an awesome lesson with Nathalie, and she was really excited to come to church, but she got really sick Saturday night and couldn't come, soooo next week! Drucella is amazing, and wants to be baptized in December! She is so ready and has such a good heart and a desire to follow Christ! We also got a mini missionary this week, which is kind of funny, because everything is so new to her, and it's made me realize just how used to it I am.

Us with our "mini" missionary

 Her name is Jasmin, and she's actually 25, but she's very new to the church, so she's considering a mission. It's been fun having her around. Not much else has happened this week, but something that we've really been focusing on in studies and lessons this week is coming to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ personally. They are not just ideas- they are real beings who love us, listen to us, and talk to us. We can do more than know about them, we can KNOW them. What a blessing that is! I feel like coming to know God is one of the greatest things we can do in our lives. I love you all a lot and pray for you daily! I know that Heavenly Father is watching over you, and I'm very grateful for that!

Liefs,

Zuster Cluff

A piece of the Berlin Wall

Winter ....Hoj komt!!!!

Hallo iedereen!!!

Mom, glad to hear that the shower is fixed and that Ryan's room is happily gray now. If you'll recall, you and I got paint on my ceiling, too, and no one ever seemed to notice, so it's probably fine. Haha, I can just see your face though when you walked in, and also when Abigail said that you made her pumpkin. It makes me happy. Naturally, Dad failed in his duties to send me a copy of his talk, but I would really appreciate one since it got such a high stamp of approval from both Ryan and Abigail in their emails. You make me laugh sometimes when you say what you need to improve on, because you are always so good at helping people and being a real friend to the people you visit teach, and always being willing to serve, and especially in doing the things that you're supposed to every day. I've appreciated the example that you and Dad have always been to me more than ever since being here. It is so much easier for me to do the things that I'm supposed to and have a good attitude about it since I've watched you and Dad do the same thing my whole life. As for your questions: My companion is kind of hard to describe. She's not bubbly, but she's not exactly shy either. She claims Virginia, but was military and moved a lot. Her family is actually in Germany right now, and she gets letters almost every week as well as several packages for her birthday, so you're welcome to send stuff, but you probably don't need to worry about her feeling forgotten. She has a desire to follow the rules, but she and I sometimes have different ideas about what that means exactly. I am doing good with everything. Sometimes it hard, and sometimes I don't feel like I am half of the missionary that I should be, but I have already grown a lot in 6 weeks, and I know that the Lord is helping me become the missionary that He needs me to be. Most of the time I'm pretty patient with myself. The language is definitely coming. It's hard because we mostly teach in English here in Antwerpen (that is not the norm in this mission), so when we do teach in Dutch it's like starting all over again, but I realized this week that I understand almost everything people say to me on the door now and a fair amount of small talk. I still don't understand the talks in church or anything, but I realized that I've actually improved a lot in the last transfer. I definitely do not want an ice tray, because the heat is long gone, and the bigger concern is figuring out how to turn the heat in our apartment on. Our apartment is apparently the most ghetto sister apartment in the mission, but it's not bad at all, just a little small. It's above a pizza shop. I hope that answers some of your many questions. I'll try and answer more next week.

Dad, I don't mind when you call me Zuster Cluff, because I can hear the slight sarcasm in you voice when you say it. I would love a conference ensign. English is great, but if you happen to see one in Dutch, I certainly won't say no. I hope that you had the opportunity to share that miracle in stake conference. I'm sure that would greatly strengthen the testimonies of all those within hearing. I have even considered using it as a door approach this week, because who wouldn't want to join a church that brings that kind of blessings??? I hope that my great enthusiasm is evident enough to warrant a picture of the fruits of your discipleship. That's really cool that you got to talk to a church lawyer. I can't believe you didn't send me a copy of your talk, but I'm sure that mistake will be rectified next week. I love you lots!

There is not much to tell from this week. The weather changed, and it changed fast, which led to pretty much everyone (Zuster Burnham and I included) getting sick, so we couldn't see some of our investigators this week. Unfortunately, missionaries don't have the same luxury of just avoiding the world when you're sick, so we got to brave the cold and go to work. It was good week, and we talked to some cool people. 

We did get a new investigator named Zoey. She is really cool and has had some incredible experiences that have led her to have a real relationship with Christ. She is afraid of the Book of Mormon for some reason, but really likes the rest of our message. We will keep working with her on that. I know that it can bless her life so much if she will just read it. 

Our transfer focus is the Book of Mormon, and our mission has been challenged to read the whole thing before the end of the year, marking every time Christ's name is used and keeping  a list of every title given to Christ and a tally of how many times it is used. If you all would like to join us, I think that would be awesome! It is about 6 1/2 pages a day, and I have already learned so much about how central Christ is to God's plan. I am in chapter 14 and I am already running out of room for my list and tallies. The Book of Mormon is truly a testament of Jesus Christ.

I will take this kind of boring week as an opportunity to tell you all some interesting things about Belgium: 1) They love American politics. Like, more than Americans. They love giving their opinions on the election and who will be the better president, and I'm pretty sure they're better informed than most actual voters, which is kind of funny. 2) They're really scared of missionaries, but also really love to help people, which leads to this inner conflict in them when we ask for directions. When we walk around with a map, people yell at us from across the street to see if they can help us get somewhere. Then they see our tags and get this look of struggle on their faces as they try to reconcile their instinct to give us directions and their instinct to avoid eye contact with all things religious. It is kind of funny to watch. 3) Belgium pride doesn't exist. If you ask them if they like Belgium, or what the best thing to do here is, or what their favorite Belgium food is, etc. they get this really confused look and then say something along the lines of, "There isn't really anything (to like, to do, to eat, etc.)" That is a strange concept for my American brain.

That is all I have for today. I love you all!!!!!

Veel liefde,

Zuster Cluff

Lovely town of Brugge

Our Akward District

I'm Not Dead, Just The Internet Is

Hallo mijn familie!!! (Hello, my family *exlamation points- usually intended to show enthousiasm or heightened emotion*)

First things first: I am alive, but the church internet across Belgium died last week, and they still haven't gotten it to work, so they finally arranged a way for us to use a library in Sint Niklaas after district meeting, but I'm not technically a Belgium resident yet, so Elder Le Duc is very kindly letting me use his time, so I can't take too long. Sorry for the heartattacks Mom, but it was out of my hands and I thought about you a lot and sent good vibes your way. 

Mom, everything you write is exciting, because it's from home, and I don't get homesick, so I really love hearing everything- you don't need to edit to keep me focused on the work or anything. Also, you're welcome to use my first name. I still remember it. That's so cool that the refugee lady talked to you. I did not really understand it until coming here- now it is so real to me, and there is so much need. I'm so glad the church is taking a part in helping. I don't take the rejection personal. I know that the Lord works with every person in His own time, so I don't feel bad when they tell me know, I just hope that their time will come in the future. We usually try to teach our investigators once a week, but sometimes we do more, it just depends. I like the mummed phrase, and I think you should make it a thing. Thanks for the Brigham Young quote, I loved it. I didn't get to watch women's conference, but I'm glad it was good. I'll have to read it sometime when the internet is back. Ummm... as a missionary, I really like hearing any news from home, but it's also really cool when people tell me things they've learned from their scripture studies or experiences, but I've mostly realized that when all of those missionaries annoyingly said they like hearing anything- it's true. 

Dad, echt het spijt me voor de Nederlands, maar ik vind het niet zo moelijk om Goodgle translate te gebruiken. I'm glad that you have educated Tyson and Justin in your manyly tire-changing ways, and Dave's Need for Speed sounds super fun! I really idd feel bad about the lack of emails, but I really didn't have any other choice! As far as Mom goes, I'mjust glad she didn't call the President.  If the worst that happened was irrealistic scenarios shared, then I think she took it pretty well. Thank you for the stories and advice- I really do love reading it. Be safe with all of your travels this week!!!! (Also, how's the Book of Mormon challenge going???)

So, the last two weeks in very short review: We have been working really hard to find more people to teach, and the Lord has really blessed us. We have started teaching five new people, one of which is Nathalie, who is a really sweet lady with two precious kids who I just really love teaching. She is one of the few people who we teach in Dutch, which is good, because it is practice for most of the areas in this mission, but also reminds me that I don't really speak the language yet. We have had some really spiritual experiences with her though, so it has been really good. 

Crazy story of the week for you: So we invited Reuben to family home evening (we have an FHE with single members of the ward, recent converts, and people we are teaching). We picked him up at his house and went to get on the tram towards the church, but he said, "Oh, the bus is faster." We decided to trust him, so we got on the bus, but when we got off, we were in Merksem (where the church is) but had no clue how to get to the church from the bus stop. So, we started wandering, hoping to find something that looked familiar, when this woman stopped us and said, "Hold on, are you two real?" Not quite sure how to respond to that, Zuster Burnham and I gave a very confused, "Yeeeesss?" She said, "Ï've pinned you on pinterest. Your outfits. Oh look, you even have the tags and everything." Still confused, we started talking to her, and it turns out that she followed a bunch of sister missionary boards on pinterest, because she wanted to dress more modestly without looking like a grandma, but she had no idea that Mormons were in Belgium. Reuben invited her to come with us to FHE. She said, "Oh, I'm not Mormon," to which he responded, "Neither am I!" So, she decided to come along. She had a very weird perception of who Mormons are and had a LOT of questions, but we wandered through Merksem, eventually found the church, and went to FHE. Everyone she was at the church she would ask us, "Are they a real Mormon, too? NO WAY!" It was so funny, but also a cool experience.

Funny moments the last couple weeks:

-We taught and did some service for an inactive member named Irma, who is very old, and speaks a horrible dialect called Antwerps. She yells at us a lot, but she winks at the other one the whole time, so we're pretty sure she actually likes us. Sometimes (most of the time) we don't understand what she's saying, so when she asks us a question, we have to say "Wijblieft?" (Come again), at which point she yells, "U verstand nix! Terug naar Amerika!" (You don't understand anything, go back to America!), but then she says something really sweet, so yeah, I think she likes us, but anyways, she's old and walks at a 90 degree angle because of back problems, and the whole time we were there, her skirt was tucked into her underwear as she's walking at a 90 degree angle, but she's not really the kind of person you can tell, so I just tried not to laugh the whole time.

- We knocked on a door, and a sweet 12 year old answered. He went to get his mom for us, but stayed at the door when she came back. We gave our speel about being missionaries, and her son said, "Ummm... wij zijn een klein beetje Muslim." (We're a little bit Muslim). His mom gave him that dangerous mom look that transcends cultures and said, "Klien beetje?!?! Jij bent Muslim, of jij bent niet Muslim, dar is geen ''klein beetje!'" (You are Muslim or you are not Muslim.There is no 'little bit') It was almost Southern accent, and it was just really funny (I realized typing this that it is not as funny in Enlgish), but we actually had a cool conversation with them and set up an appointment for this week, so hopefully that goes well.

Anyways, I have really learned the past couple of weeks that when we come to the Lord in humility, He will show us how we can improve, and He will help us to do it. It is only when we approach Him in humlity, willing to change and accept correction that He can truly make us into the person that He wants us to be and the tool in His hands that He needs us to be.

I really love you all, and I am truly sorry about the email situation, but I have been thinking and praying about you all especially these few weeks since I haven't been able to talk to you.

Zo veel liefde voor jullie allemaal,

Zuster Cluff

Long Days and Miracles

Hallo mijn familie!!!!

Ik hou van jullie zo veel!!!!!!! 

Mom, I am definitely starting to get used to it, and the language is coming, but it is a little bit hard, because most of our lessons are in English and most of our contacting is in Dutch. I know lesson, prayer, testimony Dutch fairly well, but don't get to use it a lot, and I know very little everyday Dutch, which we use a lot more, so I still have a LOT of learning to do, but it is coming. And although I can't believe you've become one of the facebook moms, they're right, we don't really have a lot of time to email here, so I do my best. It sounds like your callings are going good! I'm really glad that the SS party was fun. I'm super glad you got to go to the temple! I miss it so much! It is hard not being able to go, but we don't really have time for it anyways. Also, I don't think that I would be too much help with Tyson's physics. Does he have Mr. Pratt??? I will try to send my pictures different, but I don't know if I can.

Dad, I am truly sorry about your MFFEMTMIMU, but I thoroughly enjoyed your second one. I will send of pic of the Shield, but I'm pretty sure some elders rescued it from the garbage. The creative approaches were more along the lines of: selfie contact, tattoo contact, Ik weet wat je denk, en het is niet zo, wij zijn hier om u te bekeren, what is the best Belgian food, etc. Yours sounded cool though, and I'll suggest it for the next list. Sounds like Saturday was a bad dad day all around. Tsk tsk tsk. I'm sure Justin was happy to get some new cleats out of if though, and I'm glad their games have been going so well. I've been thinking the same thing about the refugees. It's amazing how the Lord works, and I'm glad I get to see it up close, because hearing about it back home, you can't really understand it. I definitely have a different view of the world after just three weeks here. 

Well, this week was crazy and long, but also really great. So last Monday we had a zone P-day, where this member in Ieper took us around to all of the WWI sights and talked to us about it (a lot, and in Flams, so I didn't get much out of that part). There's this whole sight of trenches that have never been filled in, so we got to walk through those and hear some stories about the trench warfare, which was pretty cool. Also, because of that, I had like 25 minutes to email, so I apologize to the people I didn't email back last week. 

Our day to day work kind of varies. We work with a lot of less actives and recent converts, who I just absolutely love, and we also do a lot of finding (mostly knocking doors and street contacting), which is kind of hard here, because a lot of people see your nametag and refuse to talk to you. (For example, we had to go to Nederland for some legal stuff and decided to buy peanut butter while we were there because for some strange reason it is like three times more expensive in Belgium. Anyways, we stopped a lady and asked if she knew where we could find a store that sold peanut butter. Her response, "Sorry, I have no interest." A lot of people literally see our nametags and a) tune us out, b) say no before you can say anything c) keep walking and pretend they don't hear you). Oh well, I love them anyways, and there really are people here prepared for the gospel. 

So anyways, we had some really long days of no appointments (we had a LOT of appointments fall through) and getting turned down this week, which is kind of discouraging and exhausting. BUT, we saw some really cool miracles. We found four new investigators this week, which is a very large number for this mission. We started teaching two sweet ladies from the Phillipines, who talked and talked and talked without taking a breath and put piece after piece of cake in front of us, but who we had a good discussion with about God's love for us and His plan for our lives. 

Also, we started teaching Reuben. We were early to an appointment one day, and so decided to knock some doors, and we found Reuben, who told us that he was busy, but we could come back later (usually that's a blow off), so we came back this week when we were in the area for an appointment, and he let us in. We talked to him for a bit, but had to leave for our appointment, and he told us that he really wanted to meet with us again, so we set up an appointment. We brought a less-active (Katia) with us to joint-teach him, and when we showed up, we found that he had brought his girlfriend (Ann) who wanted to be taught, too. We had a really powerful lesson with them, and he had all of these amazing questions, and he invited himself to church next week and kept asking what changes he would need to make to become a member of this church, and the Spirit was super strong, and afterwards, Katia told us that it was incredible and she wants to serve a mission! It was amazing, and I just feel like he has been so prepared for the gospel. He has a long ways to go, of course, but he has such a desire to learn, and I'm so excited to get to teach him and help to find the peace that he is looking for in his life. 

Last story, yesterday we taught Janko about the plan of salvation, and he had some really great, deep questions, and told us that he wants to come to church every Sundayfrom now on, and he wants to help translate for us if we teach people who speak Arabic or Farsi. He has had such a hard life, and I so badly want for him to have the peace and joy of the gospel in his life. After Janko we taught Grace, an inactive member. We talked about temples, and she got so excited. She didn't know you could go to the temple before you were married or that she could do work for her family, especially her brother who passed away this year. She said she really wants to prepare to be worthy of that.

Sorry for the long email, but the Lord has really blessed us this week, and seeing miracles like those make the long days of doors literally slammed in your face so much easier. I know that this is the Lord's work. Oh how He loves each one of His children! He knows us so intimately and has such a great plan for our individual lives!

I love you all. I think about you and pray for you all the time. I hope you have a great week!

Met zo veel liefde,

Zuster Cluff

Hallo Iedereen!!!

Hallo iedereen!!!!

Ik hoop dat alle met jullie goed is! Ik hou van jullie zo veel!

Well, I made it through my first whole week here in Belgium! It was good, but a little hectic! We went on exchanges twice this week, since my companion is the Sister Training Leader and Mission Leader Conference was this week, and yeah, so I got to work with some different people, and I also got to work in Locharan, a gorgeous little town not too far from Antwerpen. The big theme of this week was contacting. Our zone had a contacting contest, where we had a list of 60 different contacting approaches and you got a point for every new one that you successfully used and extended a commitment with. Some of them were kind of weird, but it really got us talking to a lot more people and using more creative approaches. We had some pretty cool conversations with people and even got a couple of appointments for next week. You will be proud to know that our district crushed it and won the Shield of Antwerpen!

My personal highlight of the week was finding a new investigator! We were proselyting, and a man named Janko let us in. His life story is crazy, and I really feel like he needs the gospel in his life right now. We've had a couple of appointments with him and are meeting him again this week. One of my favorite things about being here is hearing people's stories. There are so many refugees here, and I have gained a completely different view of the world. Just in the last couple of weeks, we've talked to a woman who's entire family was killed by the Taliban, a man who had to leave Afghanistan because his girlfriend's family was trying to kill him for getting her pregnant, a woman who was kidnapped from Nigeria when she was nine and was brought to Belgium where she didn't find her family again for 30 years, and countless, countless people who had to leave their homes and families because of war and bad governments in their countries. It has made me realize how blessed I am, and also how much this world needs the gospel. People are legitimately suffering; they are lost and confused and hurting, and they need the peace and joy that the gospel brings. They need the knowledge that a loving Heavenly Father has a plan for them. Not all of those people are willing to listen to us yet, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to share it with those who are ready. 

Funny moments of this week:

- The elders in our city are teaching a woman named Joy, who is a legitimate hoarder. Ever since meeting with the elders, she has had a desire to clean her house, so we went and did some service hours helping her clean. Afterwards, she fed us an authentic African meal, which is a stew with ALL parts of a cow, including the stomach, brain, tail, skin, etc. I didn't know this before I dished my plate, so I couldn't be on the proper look out, so I ended up with the skin and something that I am pretty convinced was the brain. In case you're wondering, cow skin is like chewing on a huge chunk of fat, and brain is best when you cut it into small pieces that you don't have to chew. 

- When I was on exchanges in Locharan, all trains between Antwerpen and Locharan were stopped because a hot air balloon crashed on the tracks (we eventually made it home, but it took some maneuvering)

-We took Broeder Neins (our ward mission leader, who is very old and only speaks a horrible Flams dialect) on joint-teach with us, but our appointment feel through, so we went and taught Janko (who lives really close) instead. The problem being that Janko speaks mostly English and very little Nederlands, so Sister Burnham was trying to translate for Broeder Neins while I mostly talked to Janko. Broeder Neins would hear something that Sister Burnham translated and then jump in with a really random comment (in Flams) about it, but the conversation had already moved on, so it made for a really interesting lesson and was kind of funny, but also kind of horrible. 

Anyways, I love you all and miss you!!!!!

Met liefde,

Zuster Cluff

Antwerpen Adventures!

Hallo mijn familie!!!!

I don't have much time, so this will have to be short, and I forgot my camera, so pictures will have to wait till next week. Sorry!

Mom, yaaaayyyyyy on finishing your class! Let me know how it went! Sorry the email was late, but I'm glad you have found a mom support group, I guess... We don't actually have ipads, but you don't need to worry about shipping stuff to me.

Spidermonkey, I'm sorry about autocorrect, Sir Halfsquat can be Zuster Burnham for now, your Antwerpen story is the same one I've heard, though your telling was far more animated, I am very proud of your soccer heroics, although I hope you are conscious of your advanced age when contemplating such antics. Remember that I'd appreciate you being alive when I get back. Woohoo with the Book of Mormon! We're tied now (these Belgians are rather stubborn, but I'm pretty sure I can be more stubborn, so hopefully I'll pull ahead next week). Tell Nato we can never be friends.

This week! First of all, turns out that sleeping on those planes is hopeless, so I just went 35ish hours with 3 hours of sleep, so that is why I looked gross and tired in those pictures you got, but all is good! So, Monday our little caravan of missionaries carrying way too much luggage paraded on and off trains and through the airport onto our plane where we said goodbye to the US for the next 18/24 months. We landed in Amsterdam where the APs and President and Sister Bunnell met us. From there, our little procession managed to make it around Amsterdam and onto some trains to Leiden! Leiden is a literal storybook!!!! It is so pretty- there are canals running all through it, and people just ride boats up and down them all day, and the buildings are all really old and quaint, and in a lot of parts there are no car streets, so everyone just bikes and walks. We got some legal stuff taken care of, interviewed with the president, and then ate panakoeken, which are basically huge, delicious pancakes that can be savory, sweet, whatever. 

The next day I met my trainer, Zuster Burnham (who is super sweet and kind and we get along well), took care of some more legal stuff, and spent the literal rest of the day trying to get all of our (the 5 missionaries heading to the Antwerpen area) luggage and bikes and stuff to Antwerpen. By the end of the day, I was pretty exhausted. 

The rest of my week has been working here in Antwepen! First off, Belgians don't speak Nederlands, they speak Flams, which is a crazy dialect of Nederlands, so it literally isn't the language I learned at the MTC, but everyone keeps telling me, "Het komt" (it comes). Our area is crazy big, so it is kind of hard knowing exactly where to focus, but we're doing our best. We've worked a lot with inactives or recently baptized members this week. I love them all, and it has been really good getting to teach them. One of our inactive members (Grace) committed to coming to church next week, so that is good! We've also knocked a fair amount. A lot of people open the door, see our nametags, say "Nee" and shut it before we can get a word in, but I know there is someone in this city who is ready for our message! We have had a couple people say we could come back next week, so we're going to look them up in the next couple of days. Saturday a lady threatened to call the police on us (the mission record for having the police called is 7, so I think I'm off to a good start), but we talked to her and she softened up, so I guess maybe I'm not so close to breaking the record.

In church, I got to bear my testimony in Dutch, which was good. I love our ward! Antwerpen is kind of split between traditional Belgians and lots of immigrants, so our ward is half stubborn Dutchmen and half African sisters wearing colorful dresses, which is kind of funny, but I love then all. and they have all been super kind to me! Gospel Principles was funny, because the teacher is an old Belgian who only speaks Dutch, but the investigators were Asian, Israeli, Turkish, and African who speak English as a second language and next to no Dutch, so the teacher taught in Dutch, Elder Turner translated into English, and they all read out of Book of Mormons from like 5 different languages. It was cool to see, and it was kind of funny because sometimes Elder Turner would translate and then add his own stuff to clarify/ simplify for the investigators, and there were two older ladies in there who spoke English and Dutch, and they would give him the funniest looks every time.

So, things that Americans take for granted (or at least this American did): 

1) ice and air conditioning- they don't exist here, and apparently this has been Beligium's one week of summer. It is so hot and humid, and you never cool down because there is no air conditioning!

2) free bathrooms and drinking fountains- drinking fountains don't exist anywhere, so if you forget your water, you're out of luck. You pay to use the restrooms here, so if you don't have coins with you, you just have to hold it

3) dryers and dish washers- yeah, the Belgians believe in doing things by hand.

 I'm so grateful to be a part of this work! It is the work of God, and I know that it is for everyone (even if the people here don't know it yet). I'm excited to be a part of hastening the work here in Belgium. I love you all!!!!!

Veel liefde,

Zuster Cluff

News from Netherlands

After two days of anxiously awaiting to find out about Emily's arrival in the Netherlands we received this e-mail from the mission office.  We were so excited to hear all is well and she will be serving in Antwerpen, Belgium.

Dear Parents of Zuster Cluff,

We are very delighted to receive your daughter in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission. She arrived safely on Tuesday, the 23rd of August, with a smile,excitement and an eagerness to serve!
Thanks for preparing her to serve the Lord as she will perform a great work as a missionary.  We will do all we can to love and care for her as our own so she can fulfill the call to be that valiant servant.
Her companion is Zuster Burnham and they will be serving in the city of Antwerpen, Belgium.
I am sending a few shots of the first two days------Enjoy!!

Zuster Burnham and Zuster Cluff

President and Sister Bunnell

Gratefully with love,

President and Sister Bunnell
Belgium/Netherlands Mission

Schuttersveld 2
2316 ZA Leiden
Netherlands

Netherland Bound

Obligatory picture in front of the statue

Our last day with Zuster Larsen

Hallo mijn geliefde familie!!!

Oh how I love all of your emails!!! I report to the travel office in not all too long, so I'm sorry if I don't get the chance to reply to all of your emails, but know that I love and appreciate them!

Mom, I hope you've survived all of the before school madness. If you can make it through today, you're probably home free. Abigail's party sounds fun, and as usual, Sister Lamb outdid herself. I don't think I've read The Guardian, but Gerald Lund is always good. If you haven't read that Divine Signatures book by him, you should. I have an even greater appreciation for family history and temple work since being here. I miss being a temple worker so much. I didn't really think it would be a big deal for me to be released, but I every time we go here, I feel both extreme gratitude for the things that I learned, and a little bit of sadness that I don't get to keep doing it. But, I'm called to do the same work now, just on a different side of the veil. I've been reading stories about our ancestors, and I've gained a new appreciation for them and their faith. I feel like some of them are with me, helping me on this mission, and even more I feel like there are people who will help me to find their descendants and bring them the gospel. 

Dad, verwant actually means relative, but dochter is good. I am flying with 14 other Dutch missionaries, so I will definitely not be alone. It is going to be a long flight, but hopefully I can sleep the whole way, because we get there at 10:00 am the next day, so if I don't sleep on the plane, I'm not sleeping. Soccer Saturday sounds like oodles of fun, as usual. Nothing quite like early mornings, long fruitless drives, and less than ecstatic children to make you excited about life. I love your Book of Mormon goal! We had a workshop on the importance of members in missionary work as part of our in-field orientation, and I was shocked at the statistics. When the ward members are a part of the missionary work, the success in the area soars! It made me feel bad for my lack of support before, but I guess I have a lot of time to make up for it. I expect monthly reports from you, mister. This week we did an activity where we watched a random One In a Million NYT story, which are just mini bios on random people, and then we had to find a scripture from the Book of Mormon and share a message that they needed in their life. It was crazy, because no matter what the life situation was, there was always something in the Book of Mormon that could help them or answer their questions. It truly has the fullness of the gospel. 

This week was good and kind of difficult for our district. Only one person in our district got his visa, so the rest of them got reassigned. Two are going to the Idaho Falls mission (my companion included) and the rest are going to the Chesapeake, Virginia mission. It was cool for me, because I saw the Lord preparing them to accept their new assignments, and I was very impressed with the faith of most of them (one elder is still a little bit bitter and insists that he is only speaking Dutch there and wearing his Dutch name tag, etc. (which is actually ironic, because he is also the one who never actually speaks much Dutch on our Speak Your Language days)). Anyways, they were so humble in acknowledging that it was the Lord's will and that they would willingly serve wherever He needed them. Sister Bonnie Oscarson spoke to us Tuesday, and her devotional was amazing and all about how the Lord gives us missions tailored to our needs and how we need to grow, and she really focused on having the faith to accept His will and follow it with all of our hearts. It was inspired and very powerful for our district. 

This week was filled with lots of goodbyes. It is hard to come to love people so much only to say goodbye to them in 6 weeks, but I'm very grateful for the people the Lord has placed in my life here. Saturday night, our district all got blessings, and it was such an incredibly powerful experience. It was crazy, because I have spent almost all of my waking hours these last 6 weeks with the 18/19 year old boys in my district, so I know them pretty well, but when they were giving blessings, they were no longer the same 18/19 year old boys. They were mouthpieces of the Lord. I gained such a stronger testimony of the priesthood. It was so amazing to see the Lord speak through the elders and to hear such specific guidance and blessings for everyone. Having always had the priesthood in my life, I realized that I have taken it for granted. It is such a marvelous blessing, and I'm so grateful I got to share that experience with my district!

Oh, I almost forgot! Dad, you remember that missionary musical number we heard in Hawaii where they sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer to the tune of If You Could Hie to Kolob that you liked so much? Well, I used that idea and amped it up a bit. I found this gorgeous piano/ violin duet of If You Could Hie to Kolob, and I tweaked it a little bit to add a choir, so the last Sunday, all of the Dutch sang Joseph Smith's first prayer (some in English, some in Dutch) to this beautiful music, and it was so powerful! The Spirit was so strong, and it was beautiful, and it sounded about 10x better than it ever did in practice, which was our little Sunday miracle. I was so proud of all of our Dutchies!

Well, in a few hours, I'll be on a plane saying goodbye to the US for the next 17 months! I'm a little bit nervous, mostly about being surrounded by a language that I don't really speak yet, but I feel like I've kind of learned all that I can from the MTC and now just need to go out and do. This is the Lord's work. He is at the head, and I am only an instrument in His hands. I'm so excited to start truly fulfilling my calling!

I love you all!!! Hopefully I'll get to talk to you in a few hours, we'll see!

Veel liefde,

Zuster Cluff