9/26 Email from Elder Clark

This is all we got this week.  We're not sure what happened to the first part of his email.

 ***So i thought I sent the first part of this email, buts its not in my inbox at all, so I'm confused. I'm going to just start where I left off, but if you didn't get the first part, then I guess this part won't make any sense.***

 

One of the things they asked us is to give them scriptures in the bible that support the Book of Mormon. Well, if you read the bible, there is no verse that definitly says "yea, behold, I will bring forth the Book of Mormon." The Lord doen't work like that. He requires that we have faith to belive, to do, to act. Once we excersise that faith, then we can come to the knowledge that things are true. That is one of the many reasons why prayer is so important. We have to excersise faith to pray. We even have to have the faith that our prayers will be answered. In the introduction and the very last chapter of the Book of Mormon, the reader is told that is they want to know is the Book of Mormon is true, they need to reed, ponder, and pray. Sure, we can try to prove the Book of Mormon to be ture from the bible, but the Knowledge of God is so much greater, and He will only give the truth as answers. I have a testimony of prayer, that God, our Heavenly Father, really does want us to talk with him. I know he will answer our prayers, He will talk back to us. Its amazing.

 

Everybody, I hope you have a good week. Until next time

 

Elder Clark 

Gracias por su bendcion en mi vida

HOLA! Como estamos? Bien!

I set some records this last week. Record #1: I ate 15 chicken wings for dinner. There was a miss comunication, and we thought we were going to teach this less active member a lesson, but they thought they were going to feed the four of us dinner. Well, only two of us went, and we were supposed to eat it all, so we did.

Record #2: We walked past the same place 5 times in one day. Due to many weird and unexplainable cirumstances, we ended up walking back and forth a lot.

I know, so exciting.

What is more exciting is that one investiagator I keep refering to, she who shall not be named, is still being an awesome investigator! Last week, we translated the quit smoking program for her, and she started it the next day! She has so much faith, and it keeps growing! She knew smoking was bad, and she really wants to quite because she really wants to be baptized! Boyah!

We've been working a little bit with this other investigator, who seems to be progressing. In his spare time, he makes Rosaries and braclets. (I have pictures!) To bad we can't wear them And we were given some of them. After a game of onesided phone tag, meaning we called him more a few times, and he never called back, he didn't end up coming to church, but thats ok! He seems genarlly interested from what I can tell. The problem with working with Hispanic people is they all say we can come back. They all like learning more about God, which is awesome, so we just have to figure out who's interested and who isn't. We're working on it. People love to play onesided phone tag with us! Its ok, people have their agency whether they want to accept the Gospel. It also helps us know who is really interested and who isn't.

So the Church has been doing this push and advertising in some areas, and we're one of those areas. The church has received a lot of attention because of it, and has also found that it increases the number of baptisms, so its worth it. Its different for us spanish speakers, but the English members are going to have a oppurtunity to talk to more of their friends about the Gospel becuase so many people will see the commercials and advertisments. The more missionary work the better!

Sorry its a short one again, I have some pictures this time!

Thanks to those who write me!

Your blog author

Elder Clark

Picture of me in the field, and I'm with geese. Yes.

The Rosary and the braclet thing, to bad I can't wear them.

I have pictures of Elder Neri chasing the geese, and also of him gigging in the dirt with a spoon, but I figures you all didn't need to see them. =) We have fun while we work hard.

My Parents asked me if I knew everything yet. No.

So yeah, here is another one of my weekly emails that I'm sure fill your days with excitment and wonder.  

 

Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was we found out what was holding one of our investigators back. This is the same investigator I've mentioned I few times already. We felt we should teach her the Word of Wisdom, and we found out that she smokes, but that she knows its bad and wants to change because she really does want to get baptized. Now that we know that, we can continue! The Church has an swesome program that helps people quit smoking in seven days, and Elder Johnson said he has seen it work many times before. Excitement!

 

On Wednesday, Elder Johnson and I went on splits with the Zone Leaders. I got to stay in our area, so I was in charge of what we did, which was only a little bit intimidating at first, but it was good. The Zone leader I went with is a Native Speaker, so that was helpful. We didn't have any appointments, so we just knocked doors and talked to everybody we saw outside. It was an awesome day, and we gained quite a few potential investigators. 

 

My understanding of Spanish is improving, and by improving, I mean that I understand about everyword out of 20. No, its really better than that, but sometimes I just sit there with a confused look on my face. Then people try to talk to me in English, and I still don't understand becuase I'm already confused. Sometimes, I don't even understand what english people are saying. One day when we were walking up to a potenial's apartment, this guy like 20 feet away asked us who we were. I said we were Missionaries for Jesus Christ. He then asked if we were non-profit, but I thought he asked if we were Prophets. I said that we weren't Prophets, but that we believe in them. Elder Johnson then quickly stepped in and saved me. I'm glad I can provide you all with stories of my awesome adventures, and give you something to laugh at.

 

Sorry, this week wasn't as exciting as others, but I beleive I did a good job at writing a lot of words to explain things that were in fact very simple.

 

For those people who love missionary pictures, sorry. I've been failing at taking a lot of them. Don't worry, eventually, there will be more pictures, and one of them might even have me in it.

 

That is my entire week written in four 3 paragraphs. Hope you've enjoyed your reading experience. Thanks to those that write me, because I also enjoy hearing about what people are doing. It also feels better because I actually get to know about the lives of the people who get to hear so much about mine.

 

Elder Clark

 

Remeber, Smile! =) 

There is an alien on my door

So this has been an exciting week. First off, in the food catagory, I was able to try oysters for the first time, and I've also added to the list of fruits in water mixture: watermelon and someother hispanic fruit that I don't remeber the name, but it tasted way good. Appearantly they're like the shape of peanuts, like a big bean, and brown.

 

This week has also been an interesting week as far as people go. On Wednesday, we went on exchanges withing our apartment, so I spent a day being a companion to Elder Uffens (its pronounced like muffins without the m.) The first interesting character we met was born in Jerusalem, and he spoke 5 languages. He was the he was agnostic, and talked to us for 15 minutes about why he didn't believe in God. I said he talked to us and not with us becuase he really didn't let us talk. Whenever we tried to bear testimony, he would just bring up some other point and not let us speak. He wasn't bashing us though, and said he respected us for being missionaries. Later that day, at the gas station, we invited a lady to the International Night that we were going to have on Friday. It was really cool because she said she had been thinking about coming to an LDS church. She's had the missionary discussions before, and has a copy of the book of Mormon. She even has a name of one of the Characters in the Book of Mormon! We tried to get her address and phone and stuff, but it didn't quite work out. She was way awesome though, and seems totally prepared to hear the gospel again. We didn't see her at the International Night though. =(

 

So last week, I talked about one of our ivestigators who opened up more to us and we were able to find out more of her concerns. Well, she keeps amazing us, and she asked us to teach two of her friends! Booyah! She knows the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and she allready wants her friends to know about it! We've talked to one of them, and during our first meeting with her, she basically agreed to be baptized! The second friend who we haven't talked yet appearantly has taken the missionary disscussions in California, and moved before she was able to be baptized. I really hope that's the story. There actually might also be a third friend of our investigator, but there is a whole other story thats started unfolding last night about that, and I'll have to wait until next week to share it. =)

 

So the International night was awesome, and we had a ton of people there. Unfortunantly, I was only able to try one kind of food from the many different countires that had food there. I also missed a lot of performances of the natives dances because we were busy with missionary type stuff. Everybody that came got a name tag that had the flag of the counrty they were from. Now, there was a big plan in place for how we could use this night as a big missionary oppurtunity as well. The whole thing went pretty well.

 

 

Now, I write in Spanish. =)

 

Yo se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es verdadera. Yo se que Jose Smith vio padre celestial y jesucristo. El fue llamado por Dios, y el plentetud del Evangelio de Jesucrust fue restoruado a la tierra. Jose Smith recibio el autoridad de Dios, la sacerdocio. Yo se que la impartance de este aurtoridad. Solemente por medio de la Iglesia de Jesucristo, de las ordanansaz del templo, podemos recebir nuestro salvacion, y la vida eterna, con nuestras families en la presencia de dios para siempre. Este es por que estoy aqui en Georgia, compartir, ensenar, y predicar este mensaje a la gente que escuchara. La obra de misional es super importante, y necisitamos abrir nuetras bocas con todo.

 

Being a missionary is awesome. =)

 

 I'm afraid this comming to an end.

 

Thanks to all those that have written me!

 

That one Elder in Georgia

 

Elder Clark

Yes, I am green!

Hi!

So this second week has gone by much faster than my first, and I feel more at ease now, but still ready to work super hard!

So Monday, when we went to dinner with a member family, they pulled like the biggest ever welcome joke on a greeny possible. It was ridicuouls, but I'll save it for the end of this post. However, I got to try Cucumber mixed with sugar in water. It was interesting. So far, I've had cocunut, pineapple, and cuucumber water. Hopefully, eventually have the chance to consume all the kinds of fruits and vegtebles in water.

Two Native speakers complimented my on my Spanish this week! Booyah! Not that I speak well, or understand them, becuase I still don't really know what they're saying, but they said I know a lot for how long I had been speaking and that I spoke very clearly. I don't know even if speaking clearly counts for anything, because Native speakers don't. Maybe I should mumble all the time, and that would help me understand understand them.

So, the Cumorah branch is awesome. When we start the meeting, I don't think even half the branch is there, but they make it at some point during the meeting. Hispanic people are way nice, and still make jokes about me being green. We've been asked to not share the names of people in our branch of our investigators through email for various reasons, so I will either resort to using ridiculous false names, just leave a blank space, or refer to people as "that one family and/or person we are teaching/is in our branch." I can tell you the name of our Branch mission leader, Elder Osmand. He is super awesome, one of those guys who is super funny and just talks about whatever whenever. He is really a great resource for us, and makes sure we have everythnig we need and that we are doing our best as missionaries.

Next random thought: Before I came here, our mission president, President Wolfert, told Elder Johnson that Elder Johnson should try to get at least 14 baptisms during his last two transfers. Since I'm with him these last two transfers, I get to be part of it. We made these calanders for all of our progressing investagators, planned when we wanted to teach them each week so they can be ready for their baptismal date that we will give them this week. The calanders were even color coated! Yeah, they're pretty awesome. It will be so cool to have 14 baptisms in my first 2 transfers!

 Ok, so, here is how dinner went at the one families house we mentioned earlier. We show up, knock on the door, and as we walk in, the wife wants us to touch a windchime hangining on the front door. We go in to the front room, where the curtains our closed, the lights are dimmed, and there is a picture of Christ with candles in front of it. I asked if was a shrine, and the other three elders were laughing and said they couldn't believe it. They were taking picutes of it, which made me believe them. They also told about how weird the mom was, how she's bi-polar. They also said weird things always happen when they come over, and that I had to be super nice and not mess anything up. When I said the prayer at dinner, they all started saying their own prayers, with random "amens" heard during the time of my prayer.  Throughout the whole evening, the mom would want here kids to do something, and none of them wanted to cooperate with her. I thought family needed counseling. The kids were yelling back at their mom in english, saying mean things, and she pretended not to understand english, and would ask us what they were saying, which was an awkward situation for us to be in. One of the daughters talked about how she hated he physcologist, and she never wanted to back, and then asked her dad if was still taking his pills becuase he was "seeing things." He said he didn't need them. So it was like this for about an hour, with the kids yelling and being rude to their mom, even the husband said she was to lazy to actually cook for us. I seriously thought this family needed counseling, and the other elders told me the Branch president had wanted us to "work with" this family becuase of these weird things they did. To end their joke, thay all put on green shirts, gathered around the table, and told me bien venidos, (welcome) and I still thought they were a weird family. Then they explained to me it was all a joke, and that Elder Johnson set this up with them the week before I came. Yeah, it was pulled off really well, and did make me feel more welcome.     

So there is some of my week gone bye.

Thanks to those that write me!

If you write me, there is a 30 day guarantee that i'll write you back in 30 days, or your money back. If I don't, I'll eventually get back to you anyway.

el campo de misional es super bien

until next week (I almsot half way done with my first transfer!)

Elder Clark

His MTC teacher Hermano Cunnigham.

Elder Uffins, one of the other Elders

 Elder Neri, he is a native spanish speaker

A Couple Pictures

A couple quick pictures that Elder Clark Sent us this week before his letter tomorrow.

Elder Clark with the Mission President and his wife

All the Arriving Missionaries

Myth Confirmed

Myth: it is impossible to understand Native speakers when you first get to the field.

Myth confirmed. Every missionary says it, and its true. I catch a few words at a time, but that's it. Don't worry, I'm not discouraged! Everybody says they all went through that. My trainer, Elder Johnson, actually got switched from English to Spanish speaking in the field, so he learned all his Spanish in the field, and he's good.

Elder Johnson has been out for 22 months, and is going to end his mission training me. I know, he got stuck with me, what a bummer. He's from Wyoming, likes to outdoor things, like hunting. He is an awesome missionary. He understands everything people say, and really cares for others.

So my first area is in Roswell City. I serve in the Cumorah Spanish Branch. Elder Johnson and I live with two other Spanish Elders who cover the same area we do. (our apartment is our entire district.) We have nice apartments, so don't worry. There are a lot of apartment complexes around here, so we have spent a good amount of time in them. The other companionship in the apartment uses the car, so we walk. The farthest I've walked is about 40 minutes, so its not too bad. When we got here, the weather was actually nice to me for a few days.

Our first day here (Tuesday), right after we got off the plane, we left the airport using public transit to give us an opportunity to practicing contacting in the real world. (when I say "we", I mean the three Spanish Speakers and the 11 english speakers that flew out) It was interesting, and I got rejected by an old lady. =) After we got off the train, one of the AP's, who came with us, took me over to a guy, said that he didn't speak much spanish, but I did, and then I got to explain about the Book of Mormon in Spanish. Well, I didn't scare him off, and he seemed interested, even asking where the closest church was. Yeah, that was a cool first experience. We drove the rest of the way to the Mission home, where President and Sister Wolfert met us. They fed us, and talked to us about the mission, and gave us encouraging words. We spent the night in the Mission home.

Wednesday at transfer meeting, I found out my companion was Elder Johnson. We didn't do a whole lot of work that day, but I found out Walmart is about a 20 minutes walk. Like I said, it wasn't too hot. That night, we had Peruvien food, which was delicious. The ward members pretty much feed us every night, and make sure we are fed. So far, I've really only Peruvien and Mexican food, but it has all been not too crazy and good. My fellow Elders assure me that I will get to eat weird things in the future. Yay!

So on the 2nd of September, our branch is having their annual event called the Day of Nations. Our Branch has people from at least 10 different countries, and there will be food from all of those countries! There's also going to be dances and other culture performances. We pretty much invite every one we see to it, because we wan't it to be an awesome missionary opportunity.

I haven't been able to meet any of the investigators Elder Johnson is working with because everybody is never home when you go to their house or is just busy.

Oh, something else exciting! Thursday, my first experience tracting! We were knocking doors for a couple of hours, and we had three people tell us they were interested, and another guy actually let us in and teach him right then and there. So maybe we haven't been able to contact them again due to fake phone numbers and their general lack of being present in their apartment after we've walked 35 minutes to meet with them, but Elder Johnson says people are rarely interested at all. We got 4 that said they were interested in a time span of 2 hours! Yeah!

The other Elders in our apartment had a baptismal service on Sunday. So people do get baptized here, there is hope!

Yeah, Georgia is beautiful and a little hot, but I missed the hottest part!

Don't worry about me out here. The Lord's got me in good hands.

Love

Elder Clark

Jordan, BYU Roommate Elder Blake, Cousin Alec Judd

A view of the neighborhood. . .apparently there are lots of trees around everywhere

Elder Johnson, who apparently has normal moments too