Guitarist in the woods

Yesterday while we were tracting, there was a man walking around in the street and the forest nearby playing the guitar and singing songs about Christ. (only in the south) He was really nice, gave us water, and let us come into his home and pray with him. 

The Griselda and Delia have been progressing poco a poco. One of the times we taught her this week, Griselda was not feeling too well due to allergies, so we gave her a priesthood blessing. We swung the next day just to see how they were doing, and she was feeling completely better. Now she has a testimony of the priesthood. 

Our English investigator, Chris, has also been going strong. He really wants to understand the Book of Mormon, and receive an answer through prayer that it's true. We'll be taking him on a church tour this week and he should come to church this week for the first time.

This week we also took the 140 mile round trip to visit our member that lives in the middle of nowhere, and we helped him paint. :)

Well, thats all folks. Until next time, 

Elder Clark

:)

The Big Chicken

Well hello there.

We had a fantastic week. Our investigators, Griselda and Delia, are still going strong. We've had some awesome lesson with them this week, they're reading and praying daily, keeping their commitments, came to a baptism on Friday and came to church on Sunday. Griselda had a close call and almost drank coffee, but her son grabbed it out of her hand and poured it down the sink before she drank it. 

Another one of our investigators came to the baptism, and a different investigator came to church, so we've seen a lot of awesome things this week. Our English investigator, Chris, is also reading. We invited to be baptized, but he basically told he's not ready for that, or to come to church, but he's reading.

This week we also had Zone conference, where Elder Ellis of the 1st Quorum of the 70 came and spoke to us. For those of you who watched general conference, he was the one that cried a lot during his talk. Its always awesome to receive instruction from a general authority. 

I feel like the more time goes on, the worse I get at writing emails, I'm sorry. 

Thanks everybody!

Elder Clark

We're in the hood

Hello wonderful people that read these letters.

 

Happy late Mothers day to all the mothers out there.

 

The subject line of this email is derived from the fact that our english investigator, Chris, called us brothers, they bye initiating us into the hood. We had a really good lesson with him this week, and Elder Vance was teaching with power and authority the whole lesson. We were teaching the plan of Salvation, and Chris had some doubts about his own faith and whatnot. The whole time, Elder Vance was being bold, and even shared a scripture that when Chris heard it, he said "ah, so you ganna put me in my place." He wasn't offended, but the Spirit definitely hit him and helped him get over his doubts and made him more committed to read the Book of Mormon.

 

We've also taught a lot this week Griselda and Delia, a mom and daughter, who agreed to be baptized. Its been great to see all the progression they've made as they're learning about the gospel. They're soaking it all up, and are keeping their commitments. Griselda always asks good questions showing that she really wants to understand. Everything has just been falling right into place with them. She got a new job where she doesn't have to work on Sundays and has time in the evening that we can come over and teach. The Lord works miracles. :)

 

Another exciting thing that happened is I became an uncle! That also means my parents are now grandparents.....

 

Anyways, thanks everybody

 

Enjoy your week!

 

Elder Clark

I want to know more about this Nephi Cat

This Another awesome week down, and I know my parents are counting down the days.

So our top investigator doesn't actually speak Spanish. He's a 30 year old man that we found knocking. He's really interested in learning, but refuses to let us pass him to the English Elders. When we were talking to him about Nephi, he got excited to read the Book of Mormon. He "I want to learn more about this cat Nephi." 

We've also been teaching a whole lot this week, which has been awesome. We've even been able to get back in with people more than once! Unfortunately, nobody was able to come to church, so we're waiting for that, but we've seen a lot of progress this last week. :) 

I'm also extremely grateful that summer has not arrived and that the weather has stayed cool. Georgia is treating me my last transfer. :)

Thanks everybody!

que tengan un buen semana 

There is somebody in your life right now

Good day to all.

Another fantastic week here in Georgia, Wednesday.  We went to the trainer/trainee meeting, which took up a good part of our day, but it was really motivational and gave me a little boost for the end of my mission.

Sunday was the day the real action happened though. On Sunday we had Brother Zeidner with us all day, he even drove us around day... in a Dodge Charger because the rental place didn't have anyother cars. Brother Zeidner is a Director at the Provo MTC.  He has done a little bit of traveling around, working with missionaries to research the impact of the shortened time the missionaries stay in the MTC on readiness to be in the field. It's not so bad for missionaries learning another language, because they're still in the MTC for 6 weeks, but English speaking only go in for 2 weeks now instead of 3, about only 12 days. So before he was with us, he was in Argentina a couple weeks ago, then in Kentucky, then came to our mission to go with a couple of sets of missionaries. Brother Zeidner was such a help, had so much good to say. The whole experience motivated me even more to work my tail off until the end of my mission. We had an interesting experience together when we went to visit an investigator, and another man waved us over. He was drunk, and said "other missionaries from our church  had called the cops on his friend and now his friend is in jail and might get deported. We assured  him about 100 times that it wasn't missionaries from our church, and he kept going on about how bad it was. He told us that "he had told everybody around to not open their doors to us" and that if we wanted  people to open their doors, we had to come over Monday (today) to his trailer and tell everybody it wasn't us. Well right after that, we went over to our investigators house and invited her to come to the meeting, but she didn't want to. Apparently his large group of friends doesn't include our investigator. :)

We also taught an awesome lesson together, we went to a person we had left the Savior's peace and blessings with the day before, but she wasn't there. We ended up being able to teach her daughter though, who at the age of 17 has such amazing faith in Christ. She firmly believed in needing to following Him to be able to live with Him, and everybody she knows can tell. In the end of the lesson, she was really unsure about praying to know if what we had taught was true, but brother Zeidner reminded us that we had done our best to invite her, so we had fulfilled our purpose. He told us that as long as we teach by the Spirit and with love, we've done our part. I'm going to be focusing on doing that for these last few weeks.

Thanks everybody!!

Elder Clark

to quote Elder Clark "This is what happens when lots of missionaries get together!"

They call me tater salad

Hello to all. 

We switched it up this week and went contacting on KSU (Kennesaw State University) with the Elders that work in the young single adult branch. It was an interesting experience. Definitely a lot more diverse than BYU. There are a lot of religious students because we're in the south, but so many different ideas all concentrated on one campus. There are also many who are still soul searching and willing to listen to anybody to learn. Although it didn't specifically benefit our area, it was still a good experience. 

The MTC is doing this program and where they follow up on the progress of missionaries and how they are applying what they've learned in the MTC. Elder  Vance and I have been selected to be evaluated, so we're going to be shadowed all day Sunday by a representative from the MTC. By Shadowed, I mean this guy is going to drive us around all day and go to church and teaching appointments with us. 

Elder Vance wins this week for best inspired moment. We were talking with a man on his porch, and I felt like the conversation wasn't really leading anywhere and that he wasn't really interested. So I ended the conversation and  started to turn and walk down the steps when Elder Vance was like "I have one more question." When he said that I knew the question he had was inspired. Elder Vance asked the man if he had ever been baptized, and the man responded that he hadn't, but he knew it was necessary and wanted to make sure what he was doing was right before he committed himself. Then, Elder Vance asked if him if he would be baptized by somebody with the authority of God, and the man said yes! Elder Vance saving the contact, Nice! We quickly set an appointment with him. 

Miracles happen, this is the Lord's work, God loves us.

Elder Clark

Disobedient Cacahuates (English translation. . .peanuts)

Well hello my friends and family, and anybody else who may be randomly reading this. :)

The Clark/Vance family team has continued to leave members and nonmembers alike stunned with mouths open as we've moved swiftly and powerfully. We've been trying ask the all the members we've eaten with for referrals, which is one way to show the members we're serious. We've also already gotten on the good side of President Perez, our Branch President, and he's told everybody we're great missionaries. I'm bragging about us, because there are definitely way better missionaries out there than I, like Elder Vance. But the branch likes us, and that's important.

So, to tell y'al about our district  So there are 7 of us, 4 Elders and 3 Sisters, and 4 of the 7 are brand new, all came out this last transfer. There is 2 new Elders and 2 new Sisters. I am by far the oldest in our district, making me district dad. Of the other trainers in the district, The Elder Astle has been at for a year and Sister Paepaetaata has only been out for 7 months. Wow, its weird. 

This week has been another great week. We saw a little miracle as we were trying to visit somebody we talked to earlier in the week. We were talking to the wife for a few minutes, and a car pulled up near by to drop somebody off next door, and then just waited there. When the lady we were talking to walked inside to get a phone number, the lady waiting in the car called out to us and asked to talk to us. When we finished talking on the porch, we went down and talked to her in the car. She asked, (in Spanish) how should she could get a "Mormon bible." Well, since we always carry copies of the Book of Mormon with us, I held one out and said, "here you go." She was confused at first because she thought we just used a different version of the bible, but we explained that we use the bible just like everybody else, but that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. She told us that her cousin was going to marry a Mormon, and wanted to learn more. We're going to teach her tonight. 

Elder Vance doesn't have the deer in the headlights look anymore, and is doing better at speaking during contacts and lessons we have. He's probably going to train 5 missionaries and be Zone Leader and Assistant to the President.

This Easter Sunday was good, and I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes as we learned about the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In Preach my Gospel (The missionary manual  it says "God’s whole purpose—His work and His glory—is to enable each of us to enjoy all His blessings."  I love that quote because it helps me remember how much God loves me, and that he has so many blessings to bestow on us." The atonement of Christ is so crucial and central in that plan. With out it, we wouldn't be able to receive the greatest gift and blessing, Eternal Life, because of our short comings. I'm grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, His love for me, and to represent Him for 2 years.

Thanks everybody!

Elder Clark