Good Times in East Sac

Buenas Dias!! Life is great. We had a wicked awesome district meeting last thursday all on failures. It was really great. Our DL is from Canada, I think we might try and do something exciting on July 1, I've been told it's Canada Day or something? haha. But anyway failures. So cool. There are three kinds, bad failures which are a result of our disobedience, decided lack of effort, our own agency, lameness etc. Then inevitable failure, which just means you can't control it. Other people's agency, natural disasters and stuff haha. Things that are going to happen no matter what you do or don't do. And then Good Failures which are innovative, and mean you are trying new things and progressing, like new teaching or finding methods, or teaching with new scriptures, or planning lessons differently, you might not really succeed, but you're not staying the same, and you're progressing and making changes to try and move the work along. It was so cool. He's a cool kid. Going home soon to his beloved Canada in a couple months haha. Then exchanges. Wow, so I got to drive which was really fun. Chevy Cruzes kind of have no guts until they get into like....3rd gear I would guess? Haha it's just funny, I was all excited in the morning, and then by the end of the day I was like please give me back the Toyota Corolla hahaha. But exchanges were great. We taught a ton of lessons that really helped me learn a lot. Hermana Clark- our Sister Training Leader is the missionary I want to be. She's amazing. And we got one of our investigators on date when she was with us and it was just awesome. AND she loves the Killers. So yeah. We're basically best friends now. She just gets the Gospel so much and is good at explaining it so simply, but powerfully. Church was jolly. We went to primary with the daughters of our investigator Isidro. And I love those girls, but wowza. Primary man. I will take a pass on that calling. I mean wow. I was just sitting in the back row, and I was tired and worn out after the first hour. Then we had to go to class, and again. WOW. Kids are crazy and it must have been the 6/7 class or something? I don't know how old they are. Maybe the oldest is 8? I don't remember. But wow, they were so done like 20 minutes in. And we had ran around outside for the first 8 minutes or so hahaha, so that was rough. I mean it's tough on them too because they hardly speak English, so I was translating, but still, if you can't understand what the teacher is even saying it will get old fast. That's me in sacrament meeting sometimes still haha, I just look around and think about the members and less actives and oh time for closing prayer hahaha. It's not usually that bad. don't worry. Anyway. life is great. I love the Hermanas we share the ward with, and I love our Investigators. I wish people would understand that marriage is important though. It really throws a wrench in baptism stuff if no one is/wants to get married. Silly gente. I'll show them. hahaha, just force feed them this last april conference and we should be good. You can always bet on the Prophet. LOVE YOU ALL!! ooohhhh also, I was given a commitment like 3 weeks ago hehe to give you all my testimony and why I'm on a mission. So I'll make this short and sweet!  Pues, Primero, I know this church is true. There have been too many evidences in my life to deny it. I have seen the blessings that have come to me personally, and to my family and those I love by being obedient to these laws nad principles that I am teaching now. I have felt the Holy Ghost testify to me of the reality of Jesus Christ and his atonement for each of us. I know that our Heavenly Parents love us dearly and want us to come back and love with them and our families for Eternity and that is why we are here now. I know that we can always be forgiven and that through the Grace Of God we can change. we can change our hearts and our desires and even our whole nature of being. I know without the Gospel I would feel utterly lost and life would be a blank. I know that this is why I am a missionary right now. I know that since I have enjoyed these blessings and seen the mercy of God, I have to share it with others. I know that I would seem ungrateful if I didn't share with my brothers and sisters the Restored Gospel. I know it's true, so I have to share it. It's as simple as that. I testify that Christ and God love each of you, and so do I! Con Mucho Amor Hermana Katie McCloud

Trio Time

I'm so happy to be out here, for real. Sometimes I think about all the stuff I'm learning and it kinda feels like I just want to take it all home and apply it right now, but I kind of have to calm down, and refocus, and then it's great. I love it. 

My new companions are Hermana Kaaa, and Hermana Vergaray. Hna Kaaa is from Hawaii and has been out 9 months and Hna V came out with me but I'm a month older. We live in a house which is awesome, and the area is pretty small but it has lots of Hispanics. The move was crazy. I'm a little scared we left Rancho a mess for the sisters coming in, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Life is good :)  I'm loving the trio.

This crazy Bulgarian lady we contacted took us to her house and fed us this gross milk and powder stuff, but then gave us apples and bread from Trader Joe's haha so it was good. She takes care of old people, and it was just kind of sad to see people as old as they are, and know how much the Lord loves them, but they don't want the gospel. The one lady was really straight forward and told us Joseph Smith must have made it all up.  The other lady wasn't super coherant, but had lived in Utah and been baptized once, so who knows. Another lady who was older than they was really sweet, but I don't know how much she actually cared. We're going to get her a Book of Mormon though. I just hope she can read it. 

This week was crazy. We met a guy who had gotten out of jail recently and he had been in for 18 years and 2 months and it was so spiritual. It was just a contact, and we had a member with us and our appt fell through and she was like let's just go tracting haha, so we went and contacted this guy, and he had read the Bible in prison for years and was very well versed, and everything he believed was basically what we believe, but he wasn't sure about accepting the Book of Mormon, But it was so amazing to see how peaceful he was about having been in prison for so long, and he was really into obedience and change and the Lords will and it was super spiritual and we all cried a little bit. It's crazy as a missionary how much people will tell you. But we gave him a Book of Mormon and he was kind of like ehhh I don't kno,. maybe, ehhh, non-commital etc etc, but I looked him straight in the eye, and I told him That this book is true. I know it's true. Please read it. You have to read it. And when we were leaving he said he's going to read it, so I hope he does. I really hope he does. 


A group email I sent didn't work.  Idk why, so sorry about that.  LOVE YOU

The Zone in Rancho (first area)

This Week Has Been CRAY - TRANSFERS!

	So let's just start with we did service at Habitat for Humanity and that always drains me like nothing else. It's wicked hot, and I'm working with two grown up versions of Garret Hendershott hahaha. Like the one version was in the navy or something and has tattoos and a barely visible kind of mustache thing, and the other is the one that's like a perpetual boyscout who looks like he's about to go build a cabin in the woods and hike around. I love them both, but it's just really weird to see that hahaha. For those of you who knew Garrett Hendershott that will sort of make sense. Anyway, so like 3 hours at Habitat doing random things in like 90 degree weather. And a ton of missionary work stuff. Making calls, taking a gazillion pictures with people for Hermana Sanchez (and I was like eh, maybe I should take some too in case I get transferred, eh probs won't but just in case), teaching English classes and whatnot.  It all came up to Sunday where we got two of our less actives to church!! And so I'm copying down my talk from my ipad onto paper and our kinda crazy less active just kind of blurts out her question of if Joseph Smith had a ton of wives back in the day, do modern day prophets still do that? And we're all like...uhhh porque ahorrita? Poor teacher. She handled it really well, but the whole room went off and it took a while. Haha. Anyway, then I gave my talk!! YAY me! It went pretty well I think. I think there were a couple parts where my verb tense was a little off, but I just kind of said those really fast hahaha, otherwise I think it went quite well. Our recent convert came up to me after the meeting ended and gave me a little note that said it was really nice and that my Spanish was pretty and she loves me and she drew my name <3 Hna and then a giant cloud SO CUTE.  And then Monday was a normal day since transfers and it was rough. We went to mail our parking ticket we got a couple weeks back when we went to Old Sac (lame) and I put my bag on the floor of the car, and went to get out to mail the envelope, and ha! instead of walking like a normal person I kind of flew out of the car onto the pavement because my bag strap had caught my foot. It felt like I leaped out of the car with the purpose of landing in the gutter. I promptly stood up-didn't swear- and mailed that darn envelope and got back in the car. Hna Sanchez thought it was pretty great. I even hit my knee getting back in the car too. And then later we visited a family and they rescued a pigeon and it pooped on my skirt. It came out fine, but when I was in the bathroom to wash it off, the daughter has dyed her hair and I thought I got some hair dye on my skirt, but I think it's okay. And then FINALLy we got transfer calls and we were with the maldonados, just Rosa, Ana, and Carolina, and we go the call and I'm leaving Rancho!!! WHAT leaving. me. rancho! so they all kind of teared up but they promised to come to english class tonight so we can take one last picture. I'm going to miss them so much. We have so much going on here in Rancho! We have 5 people on date, and Jose might bring his kids to church this sunday, and we just added a family as investigators!! Transfer miracles, happens every time I hear. Ah well. Yep, so I'll be going to East Sac. I've heard great things about it. I think we live with a member? and I'll have 2 copmpanions!! Trio Time for Hna McCloud. We'll see how this goes kids. Craziness. I've met both of them before but I don't really know them. Craziness. Can't believe it.  Anyway, love you all!!! <3 HNA MCCLOUD

This Week Was Pretty Great!

So hey! We got ipads!! Surprise! Even before the mission split! I'm not emailing from it right now, they asked us not to yet, I'm not sure why, but I might have to send some pictures from it because I took some cool ones on there. I can do panoramic and time lapse and stuff. It's pretty sweet. Anyway, so it was Hermana Sanchez's second to last sunday. So she got up there and bore her testimony and that was nice, poor kid hahaha. We added a couple investigators in Folsom so that's exciting. They're both named Maria hahaha. Oh hispanics. We took Jose (our wicked solid investigator who can't come to church very often becase of work) to another lesson with an investigator. And one he asked if he could come so that was flipping awesome, and two it was freaking hilarious. This other investigator Ramon is kind of wishy washy, he just wants to get baptized because it's in the bible, but he goes to like 3 other churches because the music is tan bonita and we're like uh huh, so it's all about the music, eternal salvation isn't good enough for ya eh? But Jose went with us and during the lesson after Ramon said he had read in the Book of Mormon, Jose turned to my companion and coughed and said "Miente" which means "he's lying" Hahahahaha our investigator totally called out another investigator. Jose rocks. That was basically the best part of our week...hahaha Jose is just the best. He totally gets the gospel, we read Alma 32 and he was like gosh, what am I thinking not going to church, little jose isn't going to grow much in the gospel. Except it was all in Spanish quien soy, josito no va a crecer mucho. He's the bomb. I love visiting with Jose. His prayers are getting so good too!! It's so amazing. Oh we went to Old Sac last pday and we got a parking ticket because we paid the wrong meter so that was really sad. But I got a really good malt shake so that was good. Kinda made up for it. Old Sac is cool, it just feels kind of weird doing touristy things as a missionary haha, but we got a zone picture and stuff so that was good. I would recommend it, it's pretty jolly, but it's expensive. But you're right next to the river so that's sweet. And there were horse drawn carriages. Not that I went in one, but hey horses and pretty sweet. So yeah. Life is good. iPads are awesome tools. I can't wait to use them more for teaching and for the area book stuff. In a few weeks we'll be able to use them for the area book and the planning app, and then in a few more weeks we'll be doing online proselyting. Which I just really don't know what to expect about that haha. These are some random pics of clouds (my fav) and my sister training leaders and a family picture, Hermana Shawcroft is my sister so cute and some cute baby turkeys.

Called to Serve!!

I'm so happy that a dear sister made this recording of the missionaries in the Sacramento area--so fabulous to see, and hear, Katie!!! Listen for her voice, it's very clear in the second verse!!

This week I made church history!!

So Hey!!!

This week I made church history!! Go Hermana McCloud!!!!!  (I also happened to leave my own very permanent mark on the apartment/ mostly just my desk. I bought super glue to fix a bracelet, and I basically got it every where who knows how and then when that fiasco was finally over I set the super glue in my drawer. Then a few days later I thought how funny would it be if the super glue bottle itself stuck, and it did. So it's in that drawer for forever forever hahaha.) Anyway, back to how everyone in Salt Lake knows my name. I got a call from Elder Edwards who is the financial guy for our mission and he asked me about my church card, like what was the number, have I made any purchases at a Krispy Kremes recently- nope. So then I could hear he was on two phones, one with me and the other with Salt Lake. And he was asking me questions they were telling him to ask me. Like if I've ever run out of money, or if it hasn't worked recently. Did I pay for a hotel in San Francisco recently? What area am I serving in again? Hahaha so nope, that wasn't me, I'm here in Rancho Cordova. So then he said he would call back. Finished personal studies. Prayed to close. Got another phone call from him, and he congratulated me, I was a completely new experience for him and for Salt Lake because someone hacked my missionary account, like completely. Like basically My Missionary Identity got stolen hahahaha. He said they got past all the security and my account was compromised and whatnot. Totally Legit. So he said they have to make me a completely new account and a new card with a new number and I just think it's awesome. Out of all the people, some hacker chose me. I'm honored. And I've made church history. So legit. But so I'm waiting for a new card and I'm going to have cash to take out from my comp's account for these next two weeks until I get my card. Ha. So cool. Then I told our Spanish elders at district meeting and he said that this was super impressive because the church has the security that the FBI wishes it had. So cool. I'm famous. Someone stole my missionary ID and used it to buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a hotel in San Fran. So hilarious.

Alright other than that.... 3 of our investigators were 30 minutes early for church!!! that never happens!! #mormonstandardtime #browntime usually means everything starts 1/1.5 hours later than usual. Crazy. So that was cool. 

We also did service on the Delta River King boat in Old Sacramento if you feel like googling that, that's where I was this Friday :) Pretty cool. Some members are making a theater down there, good wholesome family entertainment haha Mormons. So cute.

Ummm yeah, life is good. OH MY GOSh that frosting. That was so good. mom you're an angel. For real. So tasty. And the shoes are perfect. You're a saint. You're better than the Virgin Guadalupe *looks over shoulder for angry catholicmexicans* hahaha nah, but you are a saint. Although I still haven't gotten your letter so I'm kinda sad about that though...... Hopefully soon. The mail here goes wonky sometimes, as you know. I can't wait to make bread. 

We should have someone getting baptized on the 13th of this month! Ramon, fresh back from Mexico, he had to go south for the winter hahaha, but he was on date before he left, so hopefully everything goes smoothly this time.The Maldonados are on date for July 18, Rebecca is on date for July 11, and Markos and Ivet are still not married and who knows what's happening with them. We'll find out tonight hopefully. hahaha

Love you all!! The church is true, obviously, or else why would someone hack a missionary account.

Hermana McCloud