Entry Twenty: And I Hit the Ground Running

June 02, 2025

Entry Twenty: And I Hit the Ground Running

6/2/25

Welp, I’m officially out of training now. I am now a fully grown missionary! Woohoo! Now it’s time for me to take the momentum I’ve gotten and hit the ground running (and no, I don’t mean the run I took this morning with my new comp). And that’s exactly what I did this past week. But before we get into that, where are my manners? 😂

Hello everyone! I hope you had an amazing incredible week and that everything turned out alright! Let’s get in to what happened in Forest City this week:

To begin, we got a very special call from President Barlow on Tuesday morning around 15 minutes before district council. Elder Driggs has been asked to be Assistant to the President and serve in the Knoxville YSA Branch! This meant we had to hightail it out to Knoxville as fast as possible, but we had a district council to run. It was so funny to keep it a secret during district council, especially since everyone was saying he’d go AP. I’m honestly surprised no one figured it out though, as we skipped district lunch (which is a consistent part of our Tuesday schedules) for an “appointment.” It was a little inconvenient for us to pack, since we had to drive an hour in the opposite direction from Knoxville to make it back to Forest City, but we made it safely around 7:30pm.

Since Elder Driggs couldn’t drive alone, and since we were so far out, it was arranged for me to join the West Hills Zone Leaders for a 36 hour exchange till transfers. This was an awesome experience, I got to spend all day Wednesday with Elder Newman and Elder Miller (when I first got there though he was on an exchange so we had Elder Fisher with us). Here’s some of the highlights:

We had a crazy interaction on this man’s doorstep, where we knew he felt the spirit so strongly he ran away in confusion.
All of the Elders I was with on this exchange lived in a four-man apartment together, and so it felt like I was back in the MTC with all the nighttime shenanigans that went on. (shoutout to my MTC district btw, hope y’all are doing well!)
We got to join a youth activity for a Q&A with the young men about missionary work. It was a great time to reflect on how much I’ve grown since I was in priest’s quorum.

After this legendary exchange, it was transfers and back to Forest City with my new comp, Elder Bergeson! He’s really cool, and he loves Minecraft a ton. We got right to work when we returned to the area and finished out the week pretty strong (our KIPs were suffering due to the area being closed for about 3 days).

Spiritual Thought Time!

This week I listened to His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox, one of the most iconic BYU devotionals of all time. One of the biggest struggles I have is self belief. If you know me, I tend to beat myself to a pulp (for some reason, honestly I think I’m at least somewhat cool) for not being or doing enough. In short, I feel like I always fall short. However, to those who may feel the same way, I want you to know that that it not true. In the words of Elder Wilcox,

“Jesus doesn’t make up the difference, Jesus makes all the difference. Grace isn’t about filling gaps, it’s about filling us.”

Life is not about whether or not you make the cut because the price has been paid. Christ’s grace makes it so that we don’t have to worry about if we get the chance to progress further, it allows us to literally just hit the ground running and take off. The only thing we have to worry about is how far we want to go. But I do know that no matter where we end up, Christ walks with us every step of the way. He loves you. Just think about that. Of all the billions of people on this earth, he thought of you and felt compassion. I testify that he truly is our Savior, as well as our best friend. And I say this all in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all so much! Hope you all have an incredible week! Eat something you enjoy this week!

My Shepherd will supply my need; Jehovah is His name. In pastures fresh He makes me feed beside the living stream. He brings my wand’ring spirit back when I forsake His ways and leads me for His mercy’s sake in paths of truth and grace.

Signing off for this week,

Elder Clayton

Photos!