Keys

The month of July was a blur. It was full of mission preparations, precious minutes spent with Hayden and still trying to run a household. In the process, I lost two sets of keys. Important keys...church keys (Sorry Bishop!) and the key to my cedar chest. I have yet to find either set. I attribute the mistake to my brain's inability to process all that was happening. Now that those two sets of keys are lost, I cannot get into the church, nor do I have access to my cedar chest. Hayden learned the importance of keys this week...except his story involves one set of literal keys and his set of Priesthood keys.

"Hellooooooo guys.

This week has honestly been the craziest week of my life. I don't even know where to begin.

So. We are opening a new sector. That's hard in it's own way.. for the first week of my mission I was sleeping on the ground of some other Elders' apartment, but we finally got to move into our sector and into our house this week.. Good thing, right? Haha nope. We get to our new house in the night and my trainer says.. I am scared. Great. So here I am with a scared trainer, and my first night in our new house. Right when we get there I find this little Jesus key on the door. It was creepy. Throughout the night we heard sounds like people trying to pick our lock.. things were turning on.. people walking around.. but when I would get up to go look, nobody would be there. Whatever. Said a prayer, dedicated the home.. All good right?

Night two. We get back to our house to find all the lights on.. Maybe we left them on? I don't know.. Haha but no. The light bulb in our room is unscrewed and left on my pillow.. and the toilet had just been flushed. We call people to see who was in our house, but can't find an answer. So we proceed to find footprints in the bathroom that don't match our shoes.. Nothing robbed.. Just somebody in our house while we are gone. I had to put my scared trainer to sleep another time? Since when do I not freak out in situations like this? I guess the mission changes you.

The next day.. Make sure everything is off, everything is locked, and set various little things so we can tell if somebody is coming in. Well, we get back to the apartment that night and all the lights are on. We go through the house to make sure nobody is still in there and call the district leader. Haha more creepy stuff had happened in our house, but while he was on the phone I discovered that the key was no longer on the Jesus keychain. SOMEONE HAD A KEY TO OUR HOUSE. Haha so we barricade the doors and are in bed.. The phone rings. My boy Elder Bangerter.. SV Grad.. saved the day! Haha they came and picked us up and we got moved from that house until they can change the lock.

I am back to sleeping on the floor.. but this time in Bangerter's apartment. It's so nice to talk to somebody from the valley!

I have had a pretty difficult start to the mission, but I am going to keep working hard. I doubt crazy things like this are going to keep happening. I hope for my Mom's sake they don't.. Haha I shouldn't tell these stories, but I just can't help it. I promise I am safe and have the Lord to protect me. The mission is tough, but if I can make it through this stuff at the start.. while opening a sector.. the mission is going to be a breeze.

Love you all,
Sleep well in your safe houses that don't have huge fences,
Elder Clegg.

The 3 P's people. Prayers, Packages, and Positive thinking. I just made that up! Haha wow."

First Week Out

Mondays are now our NEW favorite day! That is when Hayden's P-Day falls. He seems to be adjusting to life in Santiago. He has had a week of "firsts"...First new area, first senior companion, first teaching opportunities, first Chilean holiday and first interaction that was less than comforting for a Mother. Here we go...!


"Hello Everyone!

So I just finished my first week in the field. Boy what an experience it has been. I am able to open up a sector with my trainer. It's been very difficult because we start with nobody to teach. We didn't know a single person when we started. It has been hard, but very rewarding. We have to work flipping hard for every lesson we teach.

My area is in Maipú Chile.. If any of you want to look. Haha my sector is Nueva San Martin. It's always comforting when not a wall in your area is clean. ALL the walls have graffiti. Haha as of right now.. We don't even have a house because the sector is new, so we are staying with some other missionaries. I should be moving into our house today.

I survived my first Chilean holiday.. (September 18 is celebrated in Chile as their Independence Day. It is remembered with the fiestas patrias or "national parties." The celebrations kick off in early September and can last for weeks. All over Chile, people celebrate with food, parades, reenactments, dancing and music.) Some people take it to the extreme and do their version of a National Riot Day. I feel accomplished. My sector is kinda like the Compton of South America. Joke.. Kinda.

Well I guess I was mugged my first day in the Mission.. Robbed? Not sure what you want to call it. Haha we were just getting out of a taxi and walking down a street when some dude grabbed my companions hand and started asking for money.. I stood there for a second and then offered him like the equivalent of a quarter.. He took it and proceeded to give each of us a little punch to the estomago.. Haha then he turned around saying shhhhhhh and ran away. I don't know why but I thought it was really funny.. Like getting robbed? Seriously? The first day? Welcome to Maipú.

Anyways, thanks for everything! I love getting your emails and such every week. I wish I had more time to write about all of my experiences. I have so many great ones that just don't make the email cut because of time! Haha If you have something you want to send me, just talk to my mom. I'll probably accept it."

Hasta la proxima semana,
Elder Clegg

Letters

Letters on a page, we've been taught, make up words. Words are combined to make sentences and sentences become paragraphs. This is how Hayden and many of us have been communicating. Technology makes this simple even. I am grateful for that. For many who know me, you know I am still somewhat old fashioned in my approach to writing. I prefer the real deal. Handwriting. Don't get me wrong, as I mentioned before I am so grateful for technology and the communication with our son that it provides. If given the choice, however, I will choose handwriting. It is such a representation of the individual. An intimate part of who they are. That is why, when I opened the attachment from Hayden's Mission President and immediately saw his handwritten letter, I cried. I cried because he took the time to write it. I cried because I felt Hayden for just a moment as I looked at that handwriting. I cried because I miss everything about our son and I felt like his handwriting was a gift. Then I read it and I cried even more because I got to read his hand written testimony.

In the FIELD!

Much has happened in the last couple weeks! Hayden was placed in the field on Monday, September 8th. We thought we may have to wait another week to hear anything, but we were happily wrong. We received an email from his Mission President, President Barreiros, the next day. Here are a few highlights from it.

"Dear Brother and Sister Clegg,

Sister Barreiros and I were pleased to welcome your son, Elder Clegg, to one of the finest missions in the world, the Chile Santiago West Mission. He is well and happy, and we are impressed with his enthusiasm for the work. After greeting him at the MTC and a brief tour of the beautiful city of Santiago, we arrived at our Mission Office. I interviewed your son. My assistants and office missionaries then gave him a brief orientation to the mission. We had a delicious lunch together, he met his new companion, and that afternoon he left the mission home and departed for his first area of labor.

Elder Clegg has been assigned to work with Elder Fisher, who will serve as his training companion. Trainers are chosen for their competence, patience and dedication, and are selected after prayerful consideration. With this letter we are including a photograph taken of your son and his new companion with Sister Barreiros and myself.

Please accept our deep appreciation for raising such a fine son. We feel a genuine fellowship with you in supporting and providing him this opportunity to grow spiritually as he labors to bring souls unto Christ. It is my prayer that the Lord will inspire us all to sustain him in this challenging assignment. Please write him frequently, weekly if possible. Express your love, support, and confidence in him. You will witness miraculous changes in his life as he engages fully in the service of others."

Yes. I cried. I am humbled to think that our son is 6,000 miles away, speaking a foreign language and meeting new people, all in the name of bringing them to know their Savior, Jesus Christ. Included in the email from President Barreiros was an attachment of a hand written letter from Hayden. I will share that in the next post. Grab your tissues...or maybe that is just for me...I should probably buy stock in Kleenex.

Elder Fisher forgot to wear green! I'm positive it was coincidence, but it is still pretty ironic!!

Miracles Happen Every Day

Tuesdays were always just Tuesdays before Hayden went on his mission. It was the day after Monday, the day before Wednesday and just too many days away from the weekend to get excited. Now, we have an absolutely different opinion of Tuesdays. They can't come fast enough! We love them! We talk about the next one coming with joy! That is because we get to hear from our favorite Elder...and he did not disappoint yesterday.

"Hello Everyone!

This is Semana 6. Haha I am really bad at subject lines and such.

I have officially been a missionary for a month now. I feel like I have been gone a week. Nope. I'll be leaving the CCM next week, so I won't be able to write. That's ok though. I am so ready to be out of the CCM and on to the real stuff.

Let me share with you something that I've learned this month:

I now know that Language is a barrier. Once we are able to get through that barrier, we can communicate with people that are so amazing. It has been awesome to make friends from all over the world through Spanish. I can't wait to see what doors will be opened by it. I have also learned that above all, the hand of God is in Missionary work. There are miracles that happen every day! If you can't tell I am in love with Chile.. Haha it was a miracle I got sent here and I am so grateful for it.

Here's the most spiritual experience I have had at the CCM.. This week one of my teachers named Hermano Alvarez started talking to us at lunch about miracles that happen on missions. During his mission he got pinched in between two cars and showed us a picture of the cars.. They were broken.. dented in.. not functioning.. but he walked it off? Yeah, that doesn't just happen. All of us headed to our next class pumped. While reading the BOM in Helamen about the Lord protecting people, the topic of miracles came up again, but this time with Hermano Torres. He reluctantly went on to tell us about his Mission miracle.. Mom. Don't freak out. Haha one night he was sleeping in his apartment and heard somebody come in and start moving things. He got up with a flashlight and walked into 5 men armed and ready to rob. The men stabbed him multiple times, hit him with a machete.. and pretty much tried to kill him. He recalled feeling the pain and thinking he was going to die. His companion came out of the room and they left, when they took off his shirt to see what had happened, he was totally fine. Not a scratch. Either those guys had really dull machetes, or he was protected. He then bore testimony to us that he KNOWS for a fact that God lives and has a plan for his missionaries. The spirit was insanely strong.

On a lighter note, lemme tell ya a story about Elder "Big Rich". He likes Kendrick Lamar and sleeps on the bunk above me. One night at the dinner table, 10 or so of us were sitting there talking about dreams.. The whole time he sat there with a big smile on his face.. like a grin.. same as in the pictures. He then proceeded to say, "I always dream about girls from home." Hahaha I just couldn't handle it.. I died. Like peed. But that's not all.. Later that night, at like 11.. I hear from the top bunk.. "Want to hear about my dreams." I say, "yeah sure Rich" Then he proceeds to say.."Ok I will tell you some.. but some I can't on the mission." I busted out laughing.. the entire story was about him kissing some girl that likes to smoke hookah.. I laughed so hard I threw up a little bit.. Haha I thought it was done, but then I was about to sleep and he says, "If I fall out of bed onto you, you'll know why." Good laws!"

Enough about me! Hope you have a great two weeks,
Love Elder Clegg


I pray Heavenly Father blesses our son with peace and strength as he makes the transition out into the mission field. I pray he gets an awesome trainer/senior companion and that they can do great things to further the work. I pray Hayden's Spanish skills will improve so he can speak comfortably and interact with people. I pray he is obedient and that allows him to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost so he can be prompted, prepared and peaceful. That will be the prayer in my heart for several Tuesdays to come.

View of Chile
A visual of Elder "Big Rich"
One of Hayden's Cache Valley friends serving in Chile...Elder Riley Pence