I like bliving

Donde fue la semana? No se, pero se que estoy aqui in el proximo semana.

Hola from Georgia!

It seems this week that a lot of awesome things happened on Saturday. So it began actually before Saturday when we left cards with our numbers in the apartment complex offices so people could call us if they needed help moving. Somebody actually called us! So Saturday, we helped a member move, then went straight to helping this person that called us and helped them move. She was English speaking, so we called the English Elders to help us move to. This lady we helped move wants to come to church and excepted to listen to the lessons to. New investigator for the English Elders!

While we were unloading the truck, Elder Johnson was talking to all the Hispanics that walked past. He noticed somebody in particular that seemed to be watching us, so he went and talked to them. This person thought we were the ones moving, and Elder Johnson explained that we were missionaries and we were just offering service and helping them move. Well, this lady Elder Johnson talked to said she wanted to hear more about the Gospel. New investigator for us!

After we finished the move, we went to our Branch's Halloween party. Due to a miss communication about who needed a ride, I went with a member to bring one of our investigators families. We got there, and they said they hadn't asked for a ride, and had actually went to the church the night before, thinking it was last night. As soon as I said it was tonight, they basically said, "ok, we're going right now" and they came. What was also amazing was that I was able to understand all of that in Spanish. =)

The person who needed a ride in the first place made it to the party. We found out she was a Less Active who had moved and hadn't been able to be contacted for a long time. Now we know where she lives and that she has two kids that are baptismal age. Its so awesome how so much can happen in one day!

Our new Ward missionaries are also super excited about missionary work. They're actually recent converts of about 8 months, and have a super strong desire to work and help with the missionary work in the Branch. The wife's brother isn't a member, but he always eats dinner with us in their home in Wednesdays, and he finally opening up to talking about the Gospel!

When I look back at it, it’s really amazing how much we've actually done. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a lot, but the Lord makes sure that his work gets done.

Have a good week everybody!

Elder Clark

Uno es Superman, uno es super loco

Que tal?

Referring to the subject of this post, I am superman, not super loco, and thats all you need to know :)

Hello, and welcome to my post! I hope you'll enjoy it.

So on Wednesday, I got to spend a whole day preaching in English. We went on exchanges with the Zone leaders, and I went up their area for a day. I liked that I could understand everything that was said. But the best part of the day was when I was able to talk to somebody from Cuba. He said that for having only been speaking Spanish for four months, I was really good. His English was pretty good, so he spoke in English and I spoke in Spanish, and I even understood when he spoke in Spanish. Yay for my Spanish improving still! It was a good to talk in English for a day, but I still love Spanish.

Friday: We thought we were going to teach a lesson, but when we showed arrived at our investigators apartment, they were making tamales, so we learned how to make tamales instead. They were absolutely amazing, but probably would have been more amazinging to eat if we hadn't already eaten dinner, and they hadn't already fed us soup while we were waiting for the tamales to cook. Oh well.

Our investigator, Stephanie, is still doing amazing. She is so close to baptism! We have just been encouraging her to keep reading the Book of Mormon to increase her faith. She said she hadn't had a lot of time to read, but she had read 4 chapters in a week, which is a lot better than most. We're going to start the quite smoking program again one last time, and then she'll be ready to be baptized!!

I love being a missionary! I love sharing the Gospel of Christ and inviting others to come unto Christ! Its the best thing ever!

I hope yo'al (that's southern for 'you guys' or 'everybody') have a good week.

Elder Clark

Read the libro!!

Hi Everybody!

How are we doing? I hope all is well. :)

So I forgot to mention in my last email that somebody thought I also spoke Portuguese because some words I said sounded Portuguese. To those of you who are wondering if I speak Portuguese, I don't. Maybe I should learn it since I can apparently speak it.

I decided it’s hard to remember all them names I make up for our investigators (again, its because we've been told not to share the names of our investigators.) But the one I do remember, Stephany, she is doing awesome. We had started a program with her to help her quit smoking, but then she ended up moving in the middle of it so it wasn't really a good time to quit. Luckily, she still lives in our area, and we restarted the program, and so far she's doing awesome. She only has about 4 days left to go, and then she'll stay a non-smoker! She is so close to baptism, it’s only a couple of weeks away, and she is totally going to make it!!

So I've talked before about a family with 8 people living together, and they are such an awesome family. When we explained the Book of Mormon, they wanted to read it, and they want to come to our Branch's Halloween fiesta. They also call me Super Clark. (Clark Kent, Superman.) They had some good questions about the Plan of Salvation, so we're going to talk to them about it this week, and help them get a testimony of the Gospel.

Sorry, but this is going to be one of those short letters.

Thanks for those who write me. For those who don't write me. Thanks for reading my posts! For those who don't read my posts, I'm sorry.

Tengan un bien semana.
Elder Clark

Good morning Starshine, the Earth says.... hello

Hola! Como Estamos? Bien! This has been another interesting and exciting week, from mistaking a garbage bag for a snake to having the Cops called on us. The experience with the cops was actually quite awesome. So Elder Johnson and I get dropped off in an apartment complex. This random guy comes up to us, and says that we can't solicit or knock on doors. First of, as Missionaries, we don't solicit, we do what is called canvasing, which is totally legal. Elder Johnson has also had the cops called on him before, and he knew the cops can't do anything about us. So anyways, we went did what we planned on doing, and we eventually return to the where he first told us we couldn't solicit. There was a group of Hispanics gathered, and we found out that this same guy told the Ice Cream vendors and the lady that sells Tamales that they couldn't sell them anymore. He then apparently called the cops on all of us, we missionaries and the vendors. The cops came, and Elder Johnson explains what this guy did. Elder Johnson even ended up translating when the cop wanted to talk to the tamale lady. So as this whole thing is going on, more people have gathered, so there's about 30. Apparently, this guy had also actually search through the ice cream carts and pulled a knife on one of the vendors. In the end, he ended up going to jail, and we were able to show people that we really here to help them. The cops told us, like we knew they would, that we had all rights to be there, and if anybody bothered us, we could call 911. The manager herself even told us again (meaning apparently she had already told the missionaries) that we could preach there. This whole experience strengthened my testimony of this work. Joseph Smith stated: "The standard of truth has been erected; no un-hallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calumny may defame, but the truth of God shall go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, until it has penetrated every continent, visited every continent, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say 'The work is done.' " This guy said we couldn't preach, but in the end, everything turned out to be in our benefit. The truth rocks! Also, the Lord answers prayers, even if its about being able to eat a lot. On Saturday, we were fed three times, a late lunch and 2 dinners. We were almost fed 4 times, but it didn't end up happening, which is another way the Lord answered my prayer. At the end of the day, when I thought I didn't think I was going to be able to physically eat any more, I realized that the Lord had answered my prayer, and I didn't feel like a stuffed turkey. I actually don't know what stuff turkeys feel like, but I'd imagine its not pleasant. I know that The Lord answers our prayers, even if they seem like small things. The Lord loves us so much, so even if the things that matter to us are not big, those things are important to Him because they're important to us. Another experience we had further strengthened my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. We had a lesson with a convert who never really gained a testimony of the Gospel and has lots of questions. She shared with us a dream that she had, and asked us if we thought she was weird. We told her no, because her dream was extremely similar to a story of the Book of Mormon. Its amazing how the Book of Mormon was written so long ago, the same time the Bible was written, but it was written specifically for our days, to help us. One of the other Elders had also had a similar dream, and was able to share it. This also strengthened my testimony of how our personal experiences can help others. Its amazing that God gives us experiences that He knows will not only help us, but help those around us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know it is. That's why I'm a missionary. My name is Elder Clark, and I will close my epistle. Thanks everybody! Have a wonderfully amazing week. Elder Clark

Good morning starshine, the earth says hello

Hello everybody!! This is your weekly report form the one and only Elder Clark.

About the lack of updates last week. It was my fault. I can say though that the stuff I wrote out for you to read was pretty awesome.

I've began to see a pattern. It seems like every week is AWESOME! This last week was no exception.

I've decided I'm just to start giving out other names, "nicknames" for our investigators. 

This last week we were able to get in with investigators that we haven't been able to see for a while, which lead to some way awesome experiences. One of these experiences was with Jessica. We taught her the Restoration of the Gospel, and invited her to read form the Book of Mormon and pray to know for herself if it was true. She said that, because she grew up Catholic, it will take a while for her to know these things are true. Now, that may sound bad, but it actually means she is willing to find out that the Book of Mormon is true. Yes!! We're going to start reading with her in the Book of Mormon, and help her see she can receive a testimony faster than she thinks. 

Second awesome family story. Now, I don't actually know the name of anybody in this family, which is convenient for my purposes of nicknames. I only know the name of the Son in law, who shall be called David. There are apparently l8 people that live in this apartment, but I haven't seen them all yet. Anyways, so we stop by and have an awesome visit. First I love Hispanic people because they always offer you food. We had just come from dinner, and this family asked us if we wanted to eat, and the dad basically said "yes, of course they are going to eat." So we got to eat a second dinner. (I've also begun to see a pattern of second dinners, its the 3rd time in two weeks.)  So as we were talking with them, they told us the exact number of days since our last visit, and they wondered why we didn't come by more often. After we left, we decided we definitely need to work with them more. Its amazing to me that with just a little time, the Lord can change people's hearts and give people the desire to have the missionaries teach them. This family already told us that they were going to feed us dinner on Thanksgiving. 

Conference was again amazing. I don't have a favorite talk because there were so many good ones, but Elder Johnson's favorite was when President Monson announced the temple in Wyoming. (Yes, that is where he is from.) He had two minute personal celebration during conference when he heard that. I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to listen to living Prophets and apostles, to hear the things that God wants us to hear.  

Of course, my Spanish is still improving. No, I'm not fluent, but the my understanding of Spanish is probably what has improved the most. I realized my biggest problem is that I need to really listen. with my amazingly short attention span, this is really not that easy, but when I do focus and listen I can pretty much understand the general conversation. Excitement!

So there, another exciting update.

Thanks to those that write me. 

Until next time.

Elder Clark

:)