2 Weeks Going On 2 Years!

Hello family and friends!

I’m going to start every email I send back home like this but I love and miss every single one of you! This experience is just getting better and better! Thank you so much to the people who have emailed me! I only have an hour to email on P day so I’m sorry if I can’t get to you every week but I will try my best to respond to everyone! You guys have no idea how much it means to me to get your emails showing me love and support! Thank you for that. I don’t know if any of you have written me letters because I’ve heard they take a long time to get here. But really you guys, my family and my friends, are the best.

I don’t really know where to start I promise this email is going to be all over the place. And it won’t be as long as the first one, well maybe not. Sixteen hour days, five days a week, eighty hours a week studying the gospel and Spanish haha. And I still go to bed excited to wake up in the morning! I love personal study time in the morning, 7 am to 8 am are the best hours of the day! But Sundays and P days are the best days of the week! Sundays are amazing haha. You learn so much, hear other people’s testimonies and feel the spirit the entire day! This Sunday we watched the building of the Salt Lake City temple movie with Wilford Woodruff. It was eye opening.  I have a new found love and respect for the people who made that temple possible. It also made me regret not going through or at least going to the Bountiful temple every single day before I left! I really wish I would have! To my friends who haven’t left on their mission yet, GO TO THE TEMPLE, it is the greatest blessing and testimony builder. Know that I’m jealous of you guys!

Is it a good time to talk about the food now? Good transition I know. Breakfast I survive on Fruit Loops and Nutella sandwiches. Lunch is usually some meat, bread combination. Dinner could really be anything, but I eat about 5 Nutella sandwiches a days. There is a store called la Tienda where you can buy Arizona drinks and AMAZING chocolate candy. BUENO BARS look them up, so good.

                                                   Elder Merrill from Bountiful
I’ll tell you more about my companion. I think I already told you he is good at Spanish, short, and strong in faith. Some more stuff I learned - he has a comment for everything! He is a very confident kid and it shows haha. In the pictures you should be able to see his scar that goes across his eye! It’s sweet!  My roommates... They stink! like smell. Elder Garrett’s shoes are the worst smelling thing ever haha. I’m making him burn them. Plus two of them are really sick and my companion has a bad cough. I’m surrounded by sickness but I’m still going strong! My zone is awesome. We meet every night. We have FHE on Mondays and play this game called Sings, it’s really fun.  I whistle hymns 24/7 when walking around or in my room to keep my spirit up! I bet it gets kind of annoying haha.

We’re to the point in the MTC where everyone talks about what we miss. Everyone has been talking about music lately! It kills ME! I miss music so much. The Land Cruiser and country music up in the mountains.. ugh.. Top 5 things I miss that aren’t living- Music, lacrosse, cell phone, video games, movies with the bros. Pathetic list I know but I loved all those things so much. But really not having a phone is such a blessing haha, so much worry just gone, pointless worry. I will pay someone 200 dollars when I get back if they will make a list of all the good music, all genres, that come out while I’m gone. Cam or Cory make sure to get a list of all the good video games. I know I’m missing destiny ugh. What else... I think I pray so much on my knees that I’m going to get holes in my pants on the knees haha.

Spanish is improving but is still incredibly frustrating and difficult. The only time I feel I can speak at least somewhat good, is when I’m teaching investigators! And that truly is helped tremendously because of the gift of tongues blessing. Teaching investigators is my second favorite time of the day! One thing I’ve been amazed by is the ability to love. Mine has grown so much since I’ve been here. I know I will truly love the people of Chile. Another thing I learned was I built my foundation upon Christ AND worldly things. I have had to tear that foundation down and build a true foundation solely on Christ. I will still say that it is going to be the most difficult 2 years of my life but it will be the best 2 years of my life also. The most amazing experience I had happened this Sunday night, I had the opportunity to give my first blessing to one of my roommates who was extremely sick. The power that we hold is incredible I am so grateful that I have it.

READ MORONI and pray to know if it is true! It is amazing! There are so many scriptures that are amazing that I’ve found when studying. I wish I could share them all with you guys but there are too many. Some good ones are First Nephi 3:7, Third Nephi 13:33, D&C 34 has saved me! There’s something about the number 34 that is incredible right? Second Nephi 4, D&C 11, and a lot others. I hope you guys read those and pray to know if they are true. I think it’s come time to end this email haha. Guys I promise I am the same kid I was when I left except for I have been transformed by this gospel so much. I know that doesn’t really make sense but just know I’m the same Connor (Elder Clay) as I was before I left, if that’s a good thing haha, if it’s not, I promise I have changed so much haha. I have been humbled and the experience of being in Mexico City and then in Chile for two years is going to be amazing. This gospel is true. I believe in it with all my heart. Turn to the Lord WHENEVER you are in need of help. I know I do. I love and miss all of you so much. Until next week.

Elder Clay