Week 15: Let's Go Fly a Kite!

March 21 2016

Hey everybody! Another week has gone by and a new one is here!

This week was an interesting one. It started off with an unexpected surprise from our mission president to our apartment with the housing coordinator from our mission. I wish we would have known ahead of time... But, it ended up being alright as he was merely there just to help us do a little bit better in our cleaning.

Our zone conference was this week as well, and this makes my last one for my mission. In the end of it I was able to give a departing testimony to our zone and the neighboring zone of ours. It is weird how it came so quickly, but yet how in the moment it seemed kind of long. I knew everyone there except one kid who I had only seen before, so I made the comment that everyone there I knew and had helped me to grow my testimony of the gospel and that I am grateful for getting to know them... And then I said "except you", pointing to him and said "I don't know you, but I am sure you're a great missionary". It got some laughs. I think the one Elder was a bit confused, I just hope he got the joke and didn't take offense!

Lastly, we were able to fly kites today. It was lots of fun, even though my $4 kite was better at hopping on the ground than anything. I ended up just giving it to some random family gathering at the park. They had fun too.

We have had lots of work to do and little time to do it. This next week's challenge is to hide Easter eggs in another companionships apartment on Easter. Wish us luck!

Love y'all! Stay true and faithful!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Where's Waldo... I Mean Elder Cline?

Scroll down for this one... otherwise you can't see the whole picture...

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Note from Elder Cline's mom:

Here's the picture with Elder Holland... Can you find Elder Cline?

Hint below if you need it... I know, he's kind of tiny in the picture.

P.S. You can spy him just above two sister missionaries, and one of them is wearing bright red.

Week 20: 3 Weeks to Go!

May 2nd, 2016

Hey hey hey! It's Eeeeeellder Cline! Giving feedback on another great week! This week was the bomb! We had some interesting moments and got to experience a couple cool things.

This week was an amazing one because we got to meet Elder Jeffrey R Holland and even got to shake his hand. it was a great experience and this is the closest I've ever gotten to an apostle! Elder Holland's training was on analogies in the Bible and how we can help our investigators understand principles of the Gospel better. We joined with the other Las Vegas mission when we did and although I thought the rivalry between our missions would have been intense it turned out for the best, and nobody got hurt.

Aside from that I had a couple of interesting things come in the mail including my "trunky papers", from what our mission calls it. Basically it's papers that we need to fill out to bring back memories of our mission and of good experiences we had.I also am going to be filling out the "my plan" online course to plan out what I am going to do for getting home.

Aside from that we had a baptism on Saturday for Autumn! The way we ran into her is when she bore her testimony on a fast Sunday and enjoyed expressed how she love the church. When we saw that we were not going to give up that opportunity and now she is a member of the church because her boyfriend baptized her.

I have three weeks to go but I am not giving up yet. I love all y'all!

Elder Cline out!

Week 19: Nothing Will Stop Us

April 24 2016

Once again, it's Elder Cline with another exciting week and more news!

We have another baptismal date set this week with a guy named Eric! Yay! He is excited to move forward in the gospel of Jesus Christ and he really is a cool dude. We also have another girl named Autumn that should be getting baptized on Saturday. She has already had her baptismal interview and is just waiting to get dunked! Let's have some baptisms!

I am four weeks away from home and I am constantly getting emails from our mission reminding me of that for different areas. Thanks mission for trying to make me trunky! That is 0K though nothing will stop us from going ham on the area!

Love all y'all and I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 18: Soap Box Preaching in the Park

April 18, 2016

Hello family and friends! It's Elder Cline again back for another weekly report...

This week was crazy and hectic but I must say it was enjoyable as well. One of the fun adventures that we had this week was getting pulled over by a bike cop! It is a very long story as to how it went but I ended up getting a ticket for not having a Nevada drivers license... You know, it's nice when cops actually listen to you instead of just talking but this cop didn't understand that. Aside from that everything else was good this week. we ended up having triple if not quadruple the number of lessons we had from last week this week. I am thinking my new companion Elder Baldwin might be magic... We have just been able to have so much success, I feel like this guy knows what he is doing!

This week another fun activity happened. We were able to go soap box preaching to local kids at the park. It was the jam! The kids played along accordingly and in the end they accepted a Book of Mormon. We made sure to record the moment.

I have 5 weeks left before I fly home to Houston! I'm excited for the next couple weeks to work hard! Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 17: Last Transfer!

April 11, 2016

Hey hey hey again! We're doing great in Las Vegas and loving the rain!

Yes, rain this week. Elder Barnes and I were in the middle of walking to someone's car when all of the sudden we were poured on by gusts of rain. We made it to our car after a short jog but for the rest of that day we decided to bring an umbrella around with us. It was fun.

It's my last transfer here in Vegas now and I am excited for these last 6 weeks to push hard for the Lord! My new and last companion will be Elder Baldwin. I think he has been out for about a year and I hear he is a stud missionary.

For Elder Barnes and I's last week together, we were able to visit a lot of our investigators and help them come closer to Christ in some way. One investigator Autumn accepted a baptismal date for the end of April! We are super excited for her and we know she is ready for it because of her desire to follow Christ. We also have about 30 others that we are planning to visit this week and we are hoping to get them all there someday.

We're hoping for the best this week! Till next week!

Elder Cline Las Vegas West Mission 2014-2016

Week 16:Smoke Alarm!

April 4, 2016

Hello everyone it's Elder Cline again! We had an interesting week but had a lot of success.

First off, right before I wrote this email we had a fire alarm go off in the church! We were going to have a zone barbecue but instead we got to the stake president to come and rebuke us a little bit. It was just a slight rebuking but it was funny. But our week this week was amazing especially because It was General conference weekend! My favorite talks were given by Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf. If anybody says the Apostles for our church are not hip, they're wrong!

Burning the hamburger patties in the church... oops!

One of our investigators Autumn was set with a baptismal date this week for May. She is dating a member of the ward and is looking forward to becoming a member of the church. We are excited to see her progress!

We're excited for the new updates in store for the new transfer that starts next week, it will be my last one!

Love y'all! Stay true and faithful!

Elder Cline, Nevada Las Vegas West, May 2014 - 2016

Week 14: The Standard Works

March 14, 2016

Hola mi amigos!

Another week, another week! Lots of fun and lots of work!

This week was a good one. It all started when last fast Sunday we had a non-member girl get up to the pulpit to bear her testimony on prayer. We went to go talk to her after church but didn't end up catching her. Later on in the week, we asked the family she knows best in the ward what her situation is and apparently she wants to take the lessons from us, so I can see a potential baptism in store hopefully! Last week we also saw a security guy and another man trying to turn off their water heater after it had leaked all on the ground and in their house. Elder Barnes luckily had a pen just the right size to turn the lever somehow. After the guy saw us he thanked us and told us that we could come back any time to his home. He told us his name is Eric. Once we eventually came back to see him again, we found out he believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that the church is true and everything and we don't know why he is not baptized! We ran out of time to talk to him so we set up a return appointment with and we'll see how that goes.

Another investigator of ours that we set with a baptismal date had an appointment with us at 8pm at night. When we went to go stop by his house, his Mom told us that he was asleep. So as we drove back to go to our ward mission leaders house, we turn around and our investigator was right there! He apparently had heard us at the door, chased down our car, jumped a fence, and cornered us until we saw him. What a stud!

We had a Lip Sync for one of our wards here and it was a blast! Everyone in their auxiliaries did really well. We of course did a skit as well whether we wanted to or not, but in the end the skit went well. We did a skit off of the song "Humble Way" from Saturday's Warrior. I honestly really didn't feel like doing a skit in the beginning, but in the end it was great!

What a great week! This last week's challenge was to buy and give a set of scriptures to an investigator, so I ended up giving it to our investigator who chased down our car. This next week's challenge is actually already completed as it was to write to all the missionaries serving in our home ward! Woo!

Love y'all! Stay true and faithful and have a great week!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Photo for the week is one that came in a separate email:

Elder Cline found fresh grass and was super excited about it. Apparently it's pretty rare in Las Vegas in March.

Week 13: COOKIES!

Note from Elder Cline's mom:

As some of you might notice, I'm a bit behind updating Elder Cline's blog. It's just been a bit hectic around here and busy, and we are preparing for him to come home! So I will post enough to catch up so there will be lots to enjoy! Let's get started with Week 13!

K Cline

Last 24 Weeks: 13 of 24

March 7th, 2016

Hello again to all! We are working hard and having a blast in Sin City! This week we had the challenge to give out cookies to our neighbors around where we live. We first had to trust our skills in baking, then we created some delicious triple chocolate cookies. The morning after, we handed them to our neighbors, all of which were very open and I have no doubt they will not be as apprehensive to us in the future.

One of our wards held a Young Women's auction at the church this week and our ward mission leader decided to auction off his hair. Our ward mission leader was a very hairy guy, and now, he is not. But it was great to watch! He had all the young men and young women cut it.

On one day, we decided to see if anyone lived in a gun range that is connected to our area. We did not know how far away the gun range was and so we ended up walking a total of about an hour and a half walking to and back, just to find out that nobody lives there. At least we got a picture or two there.

The challenge for this next week is: Buy and give an investigator a set of the full standard works. Lets go!

From this scripture this week, I learned that humility is key to having the spirit.

Alma 13:28 "But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering; 29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."

Amen!

Love yall, have a great week!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 12 ~ Wash Dishes for a Member

February 29th Hello Everyone!

My first week in the Tule Springs Stake was great! We had a lot of fun and we have a lot of work to do. We had a great start to the week by completing another challenge. The weekly challenge for this week, week 12, was to Wash the Dishes for a Member. We went out with a priest in the ward, Tyler, and asked him if we could wash the dishes at his house. He accepted and we enjoyed it!

Our week continued and on Wednesday our zone went to the Temple once again. It was a great trip and I should only have one trip to the temple left, and that will be my departing temple interview with the group I came out with in April or May. Exciting stuff!

Coincidentally enough, we found out one of the streets in our area is named "Cline Mountain". There's only about 3 streets in Vegas with the name "Cline" in it, and I just so happened to be in that one area! We made sure to take pictures, as I couldn't miss an opportunity like that.

And I am so happy for my sister who just had a baby this week!! I know you'll be a great mother Sis!

The challenge for this next week is to give our neighbors cookies and introduce ourselves to them. Until then!

Stay true and faithful and remember:

"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Mosiah 2:17.

Love y'all!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 11 ~ Sending Home a Bit of Vegas

Feb 22, 2016

Hola again everyone! It's another great week to be alive! People are healthy and fresh in Las Vegas!

This week has been a great one. Lots of new changes and lots of fun!

The weekly challenge for this week was to "Send home souvenirs from the mission to the family at home". We ended up getting some from a member that went down to the strip one day. They got us a snow globe and a Vegas Sign stand, so now my parents get to keep a bit of Vegas for themselves!

So something interesting happened to us this week. One Thursday during our weekly planning session, we decided to take a break and to go visit one of our investigators. On the way there we saw the streets loaded with trash cans blown over from the wind which was pretty hilarious. On the way up to our investigators house, we saw an unfamiliar car by their driveway but didn't think too much of it. As we turned the corner to approach the door of the investigators house, we saw two ladies who we thought may be out selling home insurance in the neighborhood or something, but as we inched a step closer, we then realized what we had just ran into, as both the ladies had in their hands an obvious, recent edition of "The Watchtower". Yes, we had run into Jehovah's Witnesses. After realizing what had just happened, Elder Snyder and I, mid sentence in our conversation, came to a stop and out came an "ohhh.." from my mouth. The "J-Dubs" along with our investigator all quickly turned their heads at us and seemed almost as shocked as we were. All that was running through my mind was "Well, this is going to be interesting...". We kind of all just stood there in shock for a moment, followed shortly after by me saying "well, looks like we came at the right time!". We chuckled. After coming to the reality that we indeed had interrupted the Jehovah Witnesses in one of their discussions, we asked the J-Dubs what their names were, introduced ourselves and then we told our investigator "we'll just stop by another time", and we left. I tried to imagine afterwards of what they were thinking when they saw two Mormon missionaries turn the corner towards them. It definitely was interesting to say the least, but we all got a good kick out of it.

Elder Snyder and I were pretty certain we would get split up considering how we've been companions for 3 transfers, and sure enough, I am leaving the Skye Canyon/Lone Mountain Zone for good ole' Tule Springs! We had gotten our transfer calls Saturday after noon, so the next two days were spent saying goodbye to members and wiping away the tears. It was sad to see everyone leave but it's time to go, considering how I've been here in the area for 7 months. My new companion is Elder Barnes who has been out for 3 months. I'll miss Elder Snyder, but i'm sure It'll be fun here too!

The new challenge for this week is to Wash the Dishes for a Member. We'll make it work!

Love y'all! Stay true and faithful!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 10: Write an Elder a Valentines Day Letter Addressed from a Girl

February 15, 2016

Hope everyone had a great week! We did!

This week passed by in a flash. I think the main event that happened was being able to do service for an investigator of ours, Shanae! We love Shanae, she's awesome! We asked her last lesson if we could pull her weeds for her, and she accepted. We ended up having a trash bag, gloves, a rake, and two leaf blowers to help clean up the yard, and we made it look good! We were sure to take pictures afterwards. We also had a couple of other lessons with investigators and some with recent converts of the church.

I also tried to make a mini stratosphere made of soap recently before bed. It's turning out alright but still needs a little work. I'll show the progress as it goes closer to a finish.

This last Weeks Challenge for Week 10 was to Write an Elder a Valentines Day Letter Addressed from a Girl. We ended up getting it all finished and written and even got a legit looking stamp on it.... But... Unfortunately, we didn't see the reaction after we placed the letter. We're still waiting to see what happened. Oh well.

This new Challenge for Week 11 is "Send home Souvenirs From Your Mission to Your Family at Home".We'll see how that goes!

Thanks for all y'all do in helping others receive the restored gospel. Stay true and faithful!

Week 9: Walking the Streets

February 9, 2016

Hello Everyone again!

This week was a relaxed one but yet stressful, as we had a lot of meetings and exchanges with different missionaries all week, but we got here again.

We had a couple of lessons this week, and during one, one of our 9 year old recent convert scouts invited us to his Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts, so we went. It was entertaining and we saw him earn a merit badge or two. He was excited.

Our challenge for this last week, Week 9, was to Walk the busiest streets in our area so members could see us. It worked out great, and because of a lot of exchanges, Elder Snyder was able to help out with it a lot. They walked the streets and talked to a lot of members. It was great.

This next week's challenge for Week 10 is to Write an Elder a love letter before Valentines Day addressed from a girl. This should be a good one!

The scripture of the week: Mosiah 4:30!

Love yall! Stay true and faithful!

Week 7: Pay for a Meal and Dessert for your Companion

January 25, 2016

Good morning, afternoon, or evening everyone! Another wonderful week in good old Sin City has passed. This week was not bad, considering how our number of lessons with investigators went way up, and we increased in our number of progressing investigators as well!

On Tuesday, we had a training from a High Councilor over the Stake and he gave an amazing training on "the Law of Attraction". From what I got out of it, it seemed like the underlining them was if you tell yourself something realistic long enough, it will happen. We just have to be looking for something in our lives. So, the High Councilor told us to write something down as to what we want to accomplish for our area and perhaps the rest of our missions. We wrote them down and then he had us go around the room and tell others what we wrote down, as if those events had already happened. The key was to be excited about it. It seemed silly at first but it ended up being quite effective for our area. One thing I wrote down was a set number of lessons I wanted to achieve for the area per week. It surprised me that by the end of the week, we ended up having close to that many discussions! Hopefully this week we can pull off the goal. I guess it just takes the right mind tools and the faith!

Wednesday we watched the "Specialized Missionary Broadcast" that was presented specifically and only to all the missionaries serving around the world. It was cool to know all my friends and everyone serving from home was watching the same broadcast I was here in Las Vegas. The broadcast basically informed us what we can be doing to teach better, find better, and how to bring and focus on the Spirit during lessons. From the Twelve Apostles, David A. Bednar, and Dallin H. Oaks spoke to us and gave us amazing training.

On the 21st, Thursday, I hit my 20th Month Mark!!! Members continue to inform me that I "don't have much time left". Ahh! It's gone by fast! 4 months is still a good chunk of time though, especially for the work you do on a mission. If anything, it's a time on your mission to train other missionaries on what you have learned, so they don't have to learn it through a hard way! Being with my trainee Elder Snyder for my 3rd transfer now holds a big responsibility on my part, and I still have a lot I want that I want to share with him to make his mission go more smooth.

Friday was another one of our monthly Mount Charleston! It was really white there! This was the most snowed in Mount Charleston trip I have been to yet. It was so snowy, we couldn't even climb up to one of our potential investigators house. We tried sledding on a piece of a trash bin someone had just thrown into the snow, which sort of worked but we went down with a lot of stops. It ended up being an alright trip for visits, but the main attraction to remember that trip was the snow. This week's challenge for Week 7 was to Pay for a meal for your companion and to buy them dessert as well. We ended up going to Subway for a sandwich then to McDonald s for an Oreo McFlurry so I could pay for Elder Snyder's meal. Elder Snyder seemed to really like this week's challenge.

Lastly, on Saturday we ran into two drunk dudes before our dinner appointment. One was Atheist and basically had a "Psychological" belief system. The other has been raised Catholic his whole life but hasn't been practicing for a long time. We shared most of the Restoration lesson with them. Afterwards they asked if they could take a picture of us. We said sure! Of course they took a picture with us, holding their drinks in front of them. Two could play at that game! We got a picture with them and their drinks as well.

It was an eventful week! Can't wait for the challenge ahead this week. Week 8's Challenge is: Hand out 20 Book of Mormons in one Day.

Thanks for tuning in! Stay true and faithful! Elder Cline

Week 6: Memorize D&C 4 and another scripture

Hey everyone! Another great week ended again!

There was not a whole lot that occurred, other than lots of work we have going on in the area and being able to go to a place called Los Tacos this week. A member drove us there and it was delicious! One of the best tacos I have ever had! We enjoyed it alot.

Our Bishopric changed up this Sunday aside from our Bishop. We're excited to work with the new counselors and get some work done!

As I said last week, we're making a goal to try and know everyone in the ward. The efforts are good so far, the only problem we're seeing is that there's a lot to go through. But we're getting there.

This week's challenge for Week 6 was to Memorize D&C 4 and another scripture. Completed!

This new week, Week 7's Challenge is to Pay for a meal for your companion and buy them dessert as well. We'll see how that goes!

Love y'all!

Stay true and faithful!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 5 : Ride Bikes!

Hello everyone once again!

Vegas has welcomed us with a great sunny week, temperatures rising from where they were during Christmas time. We're enjoying the heat returning slowly, and the return of pedestrians back on the streets!

The mission in the Skye Canyon Stake is improving from last week and we have jumped up in the lessons we have been teaching. One part-member family we are teaching is one of our focuses, especially since I have had the privilege of knowing them for almost a year now. It was last March that I first met the mother of the family, and now that I am back in their ward, we really enjoy the time spent with them.

Speaking of being back in the same wards... Elder Snyder and I recieved our transfer calls on Saturday. We are staying together in the same area! This will be my 3rd transfer with Elder Snyder and my 5th in the same area. That means I will be here in the same area for at least 7 months, and with the same companion for 4 months. As of this next transfer which starts today, this is the area I spent the longest in at one time. Crazy! We've gotten to know pretty much the wards and the stake leaders really good now, so our goal as of this new transfer is to get to know who every single person is in the ward directories, whether they be Active, Less-Active, Part-Member, or Not Interested in the church. We're ready to hit the list! Our challenge for this week, Week 5 was: Go to the most fun part of your area and ride bikes there. Take pictures. It was pretty fun. We went to a park and one of the neighborhoods in our area and got to ride our bikes there. It wasn't bad, although the cold still hasn't died all the way down yet, so we were a little chilled by the end of the ride. Elder Snyder and I made the best of it still though, especially because this was Elder Snyder's first days of riding a bike on his mission. We didn't miss out on the opportunity!

Elders Snyder and Cline

Another interesting opportunity we got to participate in was helping out with quilts. We got a call from some other missionaries telling us that there was a service project going on close by that was in need of more hands. When we arrived at the front desk of the place, the front desk lady seemed shocked but happy to see us. She brought us in the room where we would help out, and we were surprised to see that of the about 30 people there, they were basically ALL ladies 65 years old and over. It was uncomfortable being there at first, probably because we all knew they were expecting SISTER missionaries, but after being thrown into the situation for a little while, they warmed up to us and welcomed us as another member of the huddle. All in all, they ended up being some pretty legit old ladies.

That's the report for this week. This next week for Week 6, the challenge will be Memorize D&C 4 and another Scripture.

Till then!

Stay true and faithful!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West

Week 4 Parts 1 and 2... Christmas 2015 and New Year's 2016

Part 1

Christmas 2015!

Another Christmas has passed in Nevada Las Vegas West. The highlight of it all was being able to Skype my family and having us open presents together! I think the best present of all was a photo book so I can be able to put all the pictures from my mission all in the same place. A family in our ward was also able to purchase me an electric recharger cord online which was much needed since I lost my other one. That present was great as well.

The week went great. One of the highlights was going up to Mount Charleston. There was lots of snow! We had a blast going and knocking on the cabins as well as wishing people Merry Christmas up there. We went up there with another Elder in our zone and he had fun as well. We made sure to take pictures in the snow, especially since the most of us haven't seen that much snow on our missions so far.

On Christmas Eve it was difficult to find people to visit since everyone was either with family or out of town. So, we tried to think of what we could do, and we came up with going down the street with a board saying "Merry Christmas!" to people. I say it was pretty effective, especially because we got a lot of waves, and we ran into a less-active who said he now wanted to get back to church. It was the jam.

Our Christmas really consisted of this:

1. Waking up and opening some presents

2. Eating breakfast while having a "white elephant" gift exchange with the zone

3. Skyping Family

4. Using our gifts

5. Relaxing

6. Eating dinner with an awesome family in the ward

7. Watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas and other short movies

8. Catching up on some sleep!

Lastly, I found out this week that because of the 3 week MTC missionaries, it will push transfer day back a week, meaning I will be going home May 24th instead of May 17th now. This also means that my last 24 weeks kind of got messed up a bit, but I will just count this next week as Week 4 (Part 2) to make up for it.

This week's challenge was: Have a Good Christmas and Call Home! The challenge for this week is: Light off some fireworks for the new year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a happy new year!

Love yall!

Elder Cline

Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Part 2 January 4 2015

Another great week in Sin City!

This week was Week 4 (Part 2). The challenge for this week was Light off some fireworks for the new year.

We did light off "fireworks" per se, but it wasn't fireworks you would expect. Turns out, fireworks are not necessarily the most accepted in Nevada, so we just decided to get some poppers and had those to mess with. It was the best we got!

We finally got approved movies for New Years. The movies we were allowed to watch were Tarzan and the Prince of Egypt, along with a couple other church based films. It was the jam, although having to watch the same two movies (as requested by our apartment) three times over each is not exactly the most entertaining thing ever.

And now... It's 2016! My so called "blackout year" of my mission is officially over, and the year I will be going home is here. It's time to go harder than I have yet! To finish strong! Elder Snyder and I are hoping we get to stay together, as our wards are helping us out in the work. It would be our third transfer together and my sixth transfer in this area (7 months), but we can hope, right?

This week was enjoyable with new years and all, but we're ready to go headstrong with the work and get some investigators progressing! We love it.

That's about it! The challenge for this next week, Week 5 of 24 is: Go to the most fun part of your area and ride bikes there. Take pictures.

Love y'all! Stay cool and true!

Elder Cline