Entry Thirty Three: Locked in on the Road

 Hello! Welcome back to another installment of my life! I hope things have been fulfilling for you this past week! We kind of got the same old same old here in Jamestown, but it’s been good. I’m just out here trying to serve with everything I’ve got and live with no regrets!

Jamestown is a big area. Like for those from Utah, it’s roughly all of Utah and Salt Lake counties combined, but with significantly less people, and even more significantly less members. There are so many people that just randomly live 40 minutes away from the nearest big grocery store (all power to them), and so it means that in order to try to share the gospel with them we ourselves make that 40 minute drive 😅

We’re having a great time though. Hank Smith has gotta be one of my favorite speakers by this point.

Honestly, we’re not teaching all that much here, just still trying to find new people to teach. Something we’ve been focusing a lot more on recently is being in member’s homes for at least 30 minutes every day. It’s been a lot of fun to know the ward, and it’s blessing the work immensely, as the members feel more inclined to talk to their friends about meeting with us. No success yet, but we’ll get there soon enough.

Funnily enough, one of these members invited us over to a dinner party that their friend was hosting. The members and the friends are both Filipino, which meant it was GAS food and a banger party. I also got to sing karaoke with them all and that was a lot of fun!

The last thing I really got to share is that we put Gary on date for the 21st (night) of September (love was changing our minds forever)! Prayers up for him 🙏

Oh, also this is a good chance to mention we did not hit our baptismal goal of 100 for this past month, we mayyyyyybe were a bit too ambitious. But, the work is still hastening, and we’ve been shattering the boundaries of what we thought were possible. Big things are cooking up here in Tennessee!

For a spiritual thought today, I wanted to share a proverb (gasp he uses the Old Testament).

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. (Proverbs 27:17)

Our mission president’s wife shared a very cool analogy this week about walnut trees and marigolds. Walnut trees are toxic and will kill anything that attempts to grow near it. Marigolds on the other hand, encourage growth of anything around it. Just like marigolds, we should uplift one another and sharpen each other’s countenances. So go and cheer someone up! I know that Jesus is the ultimate marigold, and as we model ourselves after him, our lives become so much brighter! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Savior, may I learn to love the, walk the path that thou has shown? Pause to help and lift another, finding strength beyond my own. Savior, may I learn to love thee- Lord, I would follow thee.

Shoutout to my sister for turning 23 today! Love you Ana! I love the rest of you as well!

-Elder Clayton

Nonexistent pictures

Puzzle we did cuz we were bored

Downtown Chatt? 😱

I’ve been asked for an address so here’s my mission office: 9145 Cross Park Dr Ste. 104

Knoxville TN 37923

United States

Email List if anyone wants to join! (You have permission to edit) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_YNCAT_KrJyAaHBghczy4CQemItSvbeQrKAfOYxAkws/edit?usp=sharing 

Email Archive (if pictures don’t work, they’re always on here):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nv9hQehdVq0D_EP2lqnE7QFaN21mE70QBloWU_heK7E/edit?usp=sharing