Helloooooo people that I love!!!! Seriously, Mondays are the best because I get to talk to all of you!
So, Mom. First of, thank you so much for the package! I loved it, and we have one of the pictures of Christ in the class room to keep us in line. If you happen to be sending another package, I would love the conference Ensign, because they only carry them here right after conference, not in August apparently. Also, if you find more family pictures, it would be much appreciated. I actually have the cord to my camera, so that must have been something else. For whatever reason, cords don't work here, you need the card reader things. I miss Kenna! I'm glad she's not dating Tyler, I think she can do better. Also, hearing about the Olympics and things doesn't make me homesick or anything, so you can still tell me. I heard that I can use a burn phone, but really you probably know more than me, so you can do whatever you want. Truthfully, all we're supposed to say is, "Hi, mom, I'm still alive, love you, bye!" So if you don't want to hear that, you don't even have to worry about it if you don't want to. I'm glad you're getting used to people turning you down, I think that's a lesson I'll be learning soon. Also, you're totally welcome to use my laptop any time, so no worries.
Dad, the lack of teacher situation is weird because in the first place, we were only supposed to have two Dutch districts, but right before we came they switched it to three, so they only had teachers for two districts, then one of the teachers moved, then another is getting married and leaving on a honeymoon, and then another is going on vacation, so apparently we just drive teachers away.
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| We kinda accidentally matched |
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| District C |
Well, the highlight of this week was Wednesday, because the Dutch got to host! It was so much fun! The hosts are the ones who drag the missionaries away from their crying families and take them through the whirlwind orientation process and then say, "Good luck!" It was actually a little bit hard seeing all of the tearful goodbyes, because I knew exactly how all of those poor missionaries were feeling, all of a sudden not so sure what they had gotten themselves into, but it was a blessing to be able to pay forward all of the love and happiness my host showed me. It was crazy to think that three weeks ago I had been in their shoes, because I feel like a different person now. But anyways, the first person I hosted had actually flown in the night before because she was international. She spoke an African dialect that I had never heard of before and only a little English. My little Dutch wasn't very useful either, so I smiled a lot and used hand gestures. I felt really bad dropping her off in her Marshalese classroom, because the teachers only speak Marshalese, and the students only speak English, and she mostly only speaks that African dialect, so I was really worried about her getting along okay, but I ran into her yesterday, and she gave me a hug and seemed to be happy, so hopefully it all turned out okay. The other ones I hosted were Canadian and American, so I could talk to them a little bit more, and I was glad that I could be the one to tell them how amazing the MTC was, and how much they were going to love it, and basically keep them talking so that they didn't have time to think about the families they just left behind. I was grateful for my host who did that for me, so I loved getting to pay that forward.
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| The Surranites + me (the black sheep of district C) |
Quick word of advice for the future Cluff missionaries: Respect shared air space. We have one elder who has been passing some pretty nasty gas in our little classroom with very little circulation pretty much nonstop for the past three weeks. The only problem is, we were all pretty sure it was Elder Ricks, who is the sweetest elder and is kind of in his own world most of the time, so no one had the heart to say anything about it. After three weeks of suffering in silence, Zuster Baker decided that we needed to learn some gas related vocabulary in Dutch, so that we could talk about it without embarrassing anybody. So, the next time it happened, she mutters some of those words under her breath, and I lost it. I wanted to laugh so badly, but the classroom was quiet and everybody would have known exactly what I was laughing it, so I spent the next few minutes trying to contain myself. Then, later that day, Elder Rasmusson said as he was walking out the door, "Elder Ricks (read this with a really strong Oklahoman accent), I need to have a word with you." I think after he said it, he realized he should have just kept quiet, becuase Elder Ricks says, "Huh, what?" and then Elder Rasmusson just said, "Oh, nothing, I was just kidding," and he starts walking out the door. Then Elder Ricks says, "Oh....is this about the air?" Elder Rasmusson took that as his cue to leave, and Elder Ricks mutters to himself, "If they would just stop serving us that food..." Again, I had to really fight to hold in my laughter. So now Elder Ricks has taken to getting up and spraying febreeze every time he lets one loose, which actually makes the smell even worse. (I'm realizing once again that this might have been a had to be there moment, but trust me, it was really funny. You should probably cut this one out of the big email though.)
One funny story. So last night, we watched Ephraim's Rescue, which was a unique experience with hundreds of missionaries. Any time something even semi-romantic happens, everyone makes a big deal out of it since nothing of the sort happens here. There is one part where the guy kind of snubs a girl, and this Elder behind us goes, "Now there' s a good elder," The later there is a part where two of the pioneers kiss, and the whole auditorium erupted in a mix of cheers, clapping, 'oooooohhhhhs', and then all over, you see missionaries holding up their white missionary handbooks yelling, "PAGE 33!!!!" It was pretty funny.
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| All the Dutch Missionaries |
Last thought, this week I've been studying weakness. It is crazy to me that I have never realized before how prominent this theme is in the scriptures. Now I can hardly read a chapter without seeing it somewhere. All of these prophets and heroes that I have grown up hearing about are just people. Not only that, but they are young, uneducated, imperfect people. There is not a single prophet I have read about yet that doesn't talk about their weakness, or their youth, or their lack of skill at something, or who doesn't make a mistake and get reprimanded by the Lord, etc. They all have weaknesses, but the Lord uses them to accomplish amazing things! The Lord intentionally calls the weak things of the earth, because those who are weak are ready to rely on the Lord. In Lehi's dream, the pride of the world is the greatest culprit in the downfall of men because the prideful do not rely on the Lord. We cannot do anything without the Lord, so he gives us weaknesses to remind us to rely on Him, so that we can find strength in Him. I have been made aware of a lot of weaknesses here, but I am so grateful for them, because they give me more opportunity to rely on the Lord, and I know that He can do great things through me if I am humble enough to turn my will over to Him. I'm grateful that He uses weak things like me to preach His gospel!
I love you all, and I miss you!
Veel liefde,
Zuster Cluff
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