Memorable Last Mission Christmas in the Movie Theatres

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! 

Hey Everyone!!! How are you guys!!! I can´t believe it! It is Christmas!!! It took a while to find a place that was actually open so that we could email on Christmas but we did find it so that you guys could all know how my Christmas was! So this week we went to the Movie Theaters (Please don´t tell my Mission President) and I was feeling so much in the Christmas Spirit that I invited my whole zone and paid for them to come along too! Okay, actually I guess you can tell my Mission President because we did have permission to go.  ]Yep, directly from the Area Seventy, we got permission to go to the movie theater and watch Coco! It was one of my most favorite disney movies of all time, and my first movie I´ve ever watched in Spanish which was kind of cool too, it was weird being able to understand everything.  But Coco just has a lot to do with some Mexican Traditions and also with Temple and Family History Work (Surprise) so now it is our job to use this to further the missionary work here in Mexico! I guess God works in mysterious ways, and some of those ways involve a nice Christmas gift to missionaries by letting them go to the movies and watch Coco! So yes, it was a great start to Christmas.

Christmas this year was also pretty memorable in some other ways too though.  We did a lot of Christmas carolling including a fun zone activity where we broke off into groups and sang and my group found a "golden family" for sure, who I think will get baptized.  We had a ton of success!! Even though a lot of people weren´t really diggin it and kind of rejected us, seeing some lonelier, single people´s faces light up, or watching entire families racing to the door to figure out why the heck 4 white Americans were singing to them made it all worth it and definitely filled me with the true Christmas Spirit.  One family all pulled out their cell phones one time and started recording us too, so I wouldn´t be surprised if we turn up on Youtube or your Facebook.  Every once in a while maybe you can go look on youtube for "Crazy white guys singing Christmas songs really bad" Or something like that.  It was also pretty funny one time we started singing to a family and a 2 or 3 year old girl got sooo scared, she started pointing at us and just crying super hard... I felt bad for her haha. But yes definitely a ton of fun, and we had a ton of success, finding over 150 new investigators in our zone this week and 12 in our area.  We also spent a lot of this Christmas doing service.  With the help of our Stake President we went to some poorer parts of the stake and handed out food and candy to little kids and family, gave out little toys and blankets, smashed some piñatas (Which all of the kids LOVED- you should see all of them get down and dirty diving for all the candy, and I thought it was bad when we did it with missionaries at our Christmas party!), and also shared the Gospel and the message of Jesus Christ with many.  A few of them live in our area so I hope they progress, we really tried hard to "light the world" this Christmas.  

This year was really special to me as I spent my last Christmas in the mission, because earlier in the week I just felt like I´ve been so blessed, and don´t deserve anything for Christmas, and how could I possibly repay to my family, to my Heavenly Father, what they have given to me year after year, but as I lost myself in the service of others, trying to make their Christmas´s happy and bright, and spent my time serving my Lord and Savior, I felt a very special kind of Christmas joy.  Something you don´t really get normally, not even being an overly excited kid on Christmas morning, or even with your family, but a joy, satisfaction, and love that comes from somewhere beyond this World.  Even though I wasn´t laughing and playing games with my family on Christmas Eve, acting out the Nativity scene all dressed up with cousins or watching movies, I could truly feel the Christmas Spirit and knew that I helped others have a brighter and more joyful Christmas too. So Christmas´s in the mission are never as "fun" or "exciting" and sometimes, yes, they are hard and different, and maybe even a little lonely, but there is nothing that I regret about spending these last 2 Christmas´s here in Mexico, serving and loving and I know these 2 Christmas´s will be among my most memorable Christmas´s of all time.  I love my Savior.  I know that He lives, and that he lived and died for us.  I know this church is true and that by losing ourselves in His work and will, we can bring miracles and joy to the lives of others.  I have so much love and appreciation, beyond description, for my Master and Redeemer Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father, especially this time of year.  I thank my Father in Heaven for giving unto us, His only Begotten Son and for blessing us always through his love, grace, and mercy.

So yes, like every good thing, it is always sad when it was over.  It was great talking to my family as always and seeing and hearing all of your faces and voices.  We had some pretty good food for Christmas too, and got to smash a couple of piñatas with some members who were also really great in making it a wonderful and memorable Christmas for us too.  And, this year for Christmas I didn´t throw up either!! At least not on Christmas Eve haha... Earlier this week I did get a pretty bad stomach infection and was up all night, but I worked it off and did get better pretty quickly, plus, nothing could´ve ruined this year´s Christmas!  We had a sister make us some lemon bars and mint brownies too, our landlords brought us tamales on Christmas morning and it was all just great! This morning too we invited a few other missionaries over and did a huge Christmas breakfast with french toast, bacon, eggs, yogurt, juice, you name it! It is so much fun being close with the zone and I love our zone so much.  Elder Warnick and I have been doing AWESOME this week too, we are a great companionship and are just on fire all the time.  We found some pretty promising new investigators this week so hopefully that brings more good news in the future.  I love my new companion so much and I am grateful for him. Also I´d like to thank my Mom and family sooo much for putting together all of my Christmas gifts including sweet socks, flower ties, Spurs shirts, and lots and lots of candy and treats! Also the 12 days of Christmas gifts my Mom did were so fun too and I am so grateful for my family :) I know that I have the best family in the entire world.

So I guess overall, it was a Christmas Miracle.  It didn´t snow and I didn´t get to spend it with my family, but I got to go to the movie theater, put a smile on little kids faces, help the poor and needy, bring about the work of the Lord through Christmas Carolling, and in the end, finish by talking with the best family ever :) Plus Santa even made it down here to Mexico! I think we are even going to get some tacos for dinner tonight too from my favorite taco shop because I am really hungry.  It was a perfect way to end this Holiday Season and now it will just be a bunch of time flying by until I am home again! I hope you guys all too, have a very Merry, Wonderful, and Memorable Christmas and also have a Happy New Year!! Shoot some fireworks off this year for me and get ready for 2018 because 2018 is the year that I go home!!!! Love and miss you guys so much as always and have a Fantabulistic (I know that isn´t a word) week!

Your favorite missionary in Mexico,

Elder Tyler Christopher Clark

P.S. I was informed that I also spell "members" wrong... I appoligize for my bad English and everything I spell wrong... It is a mix of that I am losing my English a little and also trying to type these things as fast as I can... Not a good combination lol...

Our Mission President is SUPERMAN!!!

Family and Friends and EVERYONE!!

GUYS!!! Christmas is in JUST ONE WEEK!!!! I don´t know if I am ready for it... I don´t want it to be over!!! I love Christmas time so much and it seems like this year it kind of just snuck up on me! It sure has come so fast and I hate the feeling after Christmas when it is all over but I guess that just means that my next Christmas, I will be home with all of you guys!!! So to explain the title of my weekly email, this week we had our mission Christmas party. All of the zones had to come up with their own little skit or song to preform in front of everyones and ours was pretty funny, but then we just got was put to shame by President and Sister Mann!! They did an act where President Mann was Clark Kent and then had to go save his missionaries from danger.  So he threw his coat to the side, and ripped his shirt apart to reveal his TRUE identity... SUPERMAN! He saved some Elders from getting robbed and then beat another Elder in an armwrestling match!! It was sooo funny, I love our mission Presidents so much.  I know that they love us a ton and they know how to keep us safe, working hard, and having fun!! I love this mission so much and am convinced there is not a better mission in the whole world!! Afterwards we enjoyed eating hamburgers and hot dogs, playing basketball, and watching Cars 3.  And of course hitting some piñatas!!! It sure was a great party and it is sad to think that that was my last one... Like I said though, next year I will be home for Christmas!!

The work is going great still and I am especially excited for the next cycle.  I actually just got a new companion today and I am sooo excited! His name is Elder Warnick and he is from Atlanta Georgia! I know he will be an amazing comp for me and we are going to work so hard! I will definitely miss Elder Revolorio though, who has been an amazing companion and friend for me, and these last two cycles have been nothing but great.  But like all good things, it must come to an end, and I am very excited for what is ahead! Elder Warnick is about 6´5´´ too, so not only are we going to be one of the best working,teaching, and baptizing companionship, but we have just became the best basketball companionship in the mission by far too.  I am going to be throwing alley-oop dunks to him all day haha.  I know we will work really hard and have a lot of fun though and like and I´ll say it again, this is the best mission in the whole world!!  

So this week after the Christmas party, we came back and had a couple of appointments. One of them was with Tina, the wife of Francisco who had cancer.  We had a really good family home evening with her even though Francisco wasn´t able to be there but at the end she told us that this last week she got some bad news... The cancer in her brain came back.  It was really sad and hard to hear that, and I could tell her family was having a really hard time.  She asked us to give her a blessing at the end and it was one of the most powerful blessings I had ever given.  I felt prompted to give her a promise in the blessing, that if she kept following the commandments, going to church every sunday, saying her prayers, and reading the scriptures, that she would have the opportunity in this life to get sealed with her husband and her family for all eternity.  Her whole family was in tears after the blessing and she seemed really calm and content.  This week we got another appointment with Francisco, so hopefully he will be a little bit more open and willing to come unto Christ now.  So I am excited to go back with him and of course all of our other investigators that our progressing! I will keep you guys updated and hopefully we will have a lot of baptisms coming up in the next few weeks!

So this week was a great week.  It was kind of weird, I almost wish that time was going a little slower now just to enjoy the Christmas season before it is over but my mission has been flying by.  I can´t believe that Christmas will be my 14 month mark and then just 10 months later I will be flying home.  I can´t belive it.  This week it was also pretty funny, we were walking in the streets when school was getting out one day and we walking passed a bunch of teenage girls who were looking at us. I heard one of them whisper to another, "Oh my gosh, he has blue eyes!" Then a few short seconds later, they all shouted out together, "Eres muy guapo!!" I´ll let you guys translate that one haha, but it was kind of funny.  Also I broke one of my guitar strings a while back and this week we walked by a guitar shop on the streets.  I asked the guy how much it would be for a high E string and he gave it to me for free since he has a lot of "missionary friends".  It was a good tender mercy for me and I know that God watches over his missionaries.  I have also had a lot more luck this year because last year I was robbed 3 times right before Christmas! (*knock on wood*)  I hope you guys are all ready and excited for Christmas and getting some snow! It is weird to think that the next time I will be emailing, it will already be Christmas but I guess it has to come eventually!! Remember what Christmas is really about and don´t forget to leave out cookies and carrots for Santa and his Reindeers!!!! 

Your favorite missionary,

Elder Clark

Living in a Refrigerator

Hey familia and friends!!!

Welll this week got preeeettyyy chilly.  Of course not like Utah winter freezing or anything like that, but the problem is heaters or air conditioning don´t really exist here and the houses are basically ALL pure concrete so that makes our house a ginourmous refrigerator.  It is especially hard to get up at 6 every morning to go to the gym... leaving that nice, warm, cozy bed with my blanket that is made of angel wings (basically the softest thing in the world) and then leaving out into the blizzard cold, wind and snow freezing my face as I hike 2 miles in a foot of snow to the gym... Okay maybe it isn´t that bad, but it is getting pretty darn cold haha. It was a pretty good week though and pretty fast too, I can´t believe in just TWO WEEKS from today it will be Christmas and I will talking to me family! How crazy is that??

So the work is going pretty great now too, and we hope to baptize Fernando and Patricio (the Lopez Family) in just a couple of weeks!! I am super excited for them.  It was really interesting, on Sunday we were waiting for them and church, and called a few minutes before to make sure they were coming.  They told us yes, that they were on their way, and it was weird to us when they never showed up.  Later we found out Patricio (the 10 year old son) fell down the stair and broke his ankle! Ouch! Poor kid.  Joaquin continues to progress great and is now is reading the the middle of 2 Nephi, he loves the Book of Mormon.  Our struggle is getting him to church, but we are bringing a member with us this week to help teach him.  We also had a pretty cool story when we found a really awesome family in another area.  I was on divisions that day with Elder Boynton and we were stuck deciding if we should visit someone we contacted that said they probably wouldn´t be there, or stay in a little meeting we had.  Elder Boynton said that he felt strongly about going to find this contact, even though it was very unlikely that he would be there. Well, he didn´t end up being there, but as we were knocking the door, another family walked by and started talking to us.  They were really interested and we started teaching them a little bit and at the end they asked us the golden question every missionary wants to hear, "So what do we have to do to be members of your church?" It was pretty awesome, we got another appointment with them, so I hope Elder Boynton and his companion can start having some more success in their area.  Also Dimas was on schedule to finally get baptized this week when the elders from that area called me last night and told me that he needed more time... Bummer... I´ve been looking forward to this baptism for sooo long, but it isn´t really my area or my investigator, and I know it is best to go on the Lord´s time without rushing it.  But yes, the work continues to keep improving, Damian and his family and doing great, and his wife, Ana, has been going to church with them every week now and is getting baptized soon as well!! I love hearing of all the success and harvesting being done in my old areas and among my converts!!! Best work in the world.

So yes, this week was another good one.  We had interviews with President Mann this week and I always love interviews because I leave feeling more inspired and determined to press forward with this week.  President Mann helped me realize in reality how fast time is going by and that I don´t want to end my mission saying, "If only I were a little more diligent." I realized I better go harder than ever now and keep pushing myself until the finish line because there won´t be another opportunity quite like it again in my life... Even though I have a long ways to go still, it isn´t really that much time and for some odd reason I keep having dreams or thoughts about what it is going to be like back home again haha.  I feel really blessed though and grateful for a hopeful and successful future ahead.  We also went to BWWs today, so of course I am happy as ever.  I hope everyone back home is having fun, being safe, and enjoying the holiday season! Love and miss you all, and... GO SPURS GO!!!!!

-Elder Clark

Marijuana in English Classes

Hello everyone!

Alright, so this week was kind of like a Spurs game, coached by Gregg Popavich.  And good ol´ Pop decided to rest his whole starting lineup.  So even though we won and it was a good week (because the Spurs always win) it was kind of boring with not many highlights.  I mean who likes to watch all of the bench players play? So yeah this week had a few highlights and was still good overall, but I did get a little sick.  I have been congested all week and have had a constant headache but I have survived and am starting to feel better today. But I am defintiely excited that it is finally December and Christmas is right around the corner!! I can´t believe it!!!! Time is flying by and I can´t believe that this time next year I will already be home!!

So I am pretty excited for a few things that happened this week.  One is that Joaquin is progressing great!! When we went back for the return appointment this week he had already read up to 1 Nephi 10 in the Book of Mormon and in just one day after that he read up to chapter 15! I am super excited for him, he is super smart and understands everything we teach him and will continue to work hard with him.  The Lopez family is also doing good, they continue to progress, strengthen their testimony, and love our visits.  The members of our ward are really starting to help us a lot too by bringing friends to church and we have done a good job of earning their trust.  So the work moves on!!!

We also had some really successful divisions this week with Elder Neil, some intense chess games, helping members set up their Christmas tress (Yay!), and we just got back from going bowling. I got 113 and I am pretty proud of myself.  I would also like to share a funny story that will also help to explain the title of my email.  This week we had English classes with a guy named Gonzalo.  We go there every week and help him since he has about 15 students and he does a really great job to teaching them.  They always love it when we come because we help them practice and make it funny.  So this week Gonzalo had some scenarios that we had to practice and act out in English.  We each had our own group and had to practice our scenario before presenting it in front of the whole class.  For our group we were assigned a pretty funny act.  I was the principal at a school and found Marijuana in a kids backpack.  I had to call the parents in and figure out what had happened and it was pretty funny. So yeah that was about the highlight of my week.

This week I am also pretty grateful that I didn´t get the stomach flu.  One night Elder Boynton and I went out for tacos, I ate 10 and he ate 5.  All night long he was puking his guts out but nothing happened to me.  So I either have a very high immune system right now, or I am just blessed.  Still going harder than ever in the gym though and it feels great! I also am getting pretty good at chess and playing plenty of basketball as well.  So I am happy! Happy Holidays, hope you guys are starting to get some snow now and getting ready for Christmas!! Love and miss you all tons!

Checkmate!

Hello Dear Family and Friends!

Happy Holidays and I hope everyone had a very fun-filled, safe, and wild thanksgiving with lots of pie and turkey! I also hope the best mom in the world had the best birthday ever! Happy Birthday mom! So this week at nights with my companion, Elder Boynton, and the people I have been doing divisons with I have been getting really good at chess. I never really knew how good until now and I literally just beat everyone.  I´ve never really practiced in my life, but currently I am on a 4 game chess win streak and don´t plan on losing soon. Maybe ever since I finally lost in Ping-Pong I have had to find something else to boost my confidence and to be proud of. But of course I am still playing basketball lots, and with all the strength I have been getting in the gym, I feel unstoppable.  Today we played basketball and it was a ton of fun. So I am just feeling at my peak spiritually and physically on my mission right now and I am super happy.  Especially after this week we have been having a ton of success here and I just LOVE being a missionary.  Sometimes I feel like I´ve never had more happier times in my life apart from not being with some of my favorite people, but I am definitely going to be sad the day my mission comes to an end.  There is no more satisfying work than this and it is sad thinking I will only be a missionary once in my life... But my mom did send me a lot of videos this week so I was also reminded of how fun and awesome my family and friends are back home.  I sure miss you guys too. Time is flying by right now and lots to look forward to ahead, can life get any better right now?!?! Plus I just got a call and found out that I have 2 PACKAGES!!! WOOO!!! (disclaimer- I promise I am not on drugs right now)

So this week I was really happy to meet a "golden" investigator named Joaquin. One day, my companion and I were walking in the street and someone yelled at us, "Hola Elderes!" We kind of waved back because we had some other appointments but as we were walking we both stopped.  We stopped and thought about that maybe we should go back and say hi, I mean we had never seen him before, and why not?! So after a few seconds we decided we needed to go back, and boy am I glad we decided to go talk to Joaquin.  He was very friendly at first and told us he would love to talk to us.  We set a return appointment for the next day (Friday), and went back to teach him the next day.  We taught the Restoration and man was it one of the most powerful, spiritual lessons I had ever taught.  He was so interested, asked a lot of questions and understood everything perfectly. And after the lesson he told us a really cool story.  He said a few years ago, he was in the hospital with a serious illness. I think he said that his pancreas or something were expanding and the doctors couldn´t do anything about it, in fact, they told him that he had only 1 week left to live.  He said that during this week he was a little uneasy, he wasn´t really satisfied with his past life and had a lot of regrets. He said that during this week he kept having dreams where people dressed in black would come by his bed and tell him that he was dying soon and was going to be miserable forever. He also said that people dressed in white, that looked like us with our white shirts, or sometimes angels would come by to help him, comfort him, and make him feel better telling him everything would be alright.  The doctors came back a week later and were completely shocked.  They asked him what he had done because he was 100% cured.  No sign of disease or illness, or any problem with his organs and that he was free to go.  He started crying at this point, a big tough guy with lots of tattoos and lots of piercings (It is always so powerful when those big tough guys cry), and told us that he knew that miracle was from God because he had a purpose to complete in this life.  He said before then, he never ever believed in God, thought that is was made up, but now he can´t deny the miracle that God did in his life. And in his final prayer he thanked God for putting us in his life to complete his purpose and find the happiness he was looking for.  We left him with a Book of Mormon and a few chapters to read as well, and a couple days later we went back to check on him and how he was doing.  When we got there he had all of his family over and was teaching them about the Book of Mormon!!! I was SOOO HAPPY!!! I knew that the Spirit touched his life that day and I am beyond grateful that the Spirit guided us to go back and talk to Joaquin when we first say him.  Like I said, there is no more satisfying work than to be a missionary!  Honestly, with Joaquin, I know that he is going to get baptized, and to me, he is already another Ramrio, or Dimas, or Damian, who I know that I was preordained in the Spirit World to come serve them, love them, and bring them the Gospel.  I am so excited.  Dimas should also be getting baptized in the coming weeks.

We also had our ward activity this week and with a ton of planning with our ward mission leader, and support from him, it turned out GREAT!! We had our best converts from our ward come share their conversion stories and even had President Mann and his wife there to give a talk!! Everyone told us about how powerful our mission President is, and I was so glad he was able to come.  A member even brought tamales for everyone afterwards!  Ever since then the members have LOVED us! We got about 7 references the next Sunday, people bringing their family members to church and now this ward is really rolling.  We have been able to put 3 more baptismal dates this week and I hope they don´t change me for a while here because the work is awesome and the members are working well to support us.  We were able to have some investigators at both the ward activity and at church and especially the Lopez family is progressing great, especially the dad, Fernando.  We went with them yesterday in the evening and taught the Word of Wisdom which they accepted without any problems.  Fernando told us that he read all the chapters in the Book of Mormon that we left him with and understood everything perfectly! He gave a great summary of the chapter and now they are falling in love with the Gospel as well.

So as you can see, it was another great and successful week. I am so happy and cannot believe Christmas is just 4 weeks away!! Definitely time to get into the Christmas Spirit! As for food this week I had some really good tacos again (of course, life every week), and one time at lunch this week, a member gave us some of the spiciest food I have ever eaten! I still was able to put down 2 plates, but it sure was hot.  Afterwards, the sister said, "sorry Elders, I think I might´ve accidentally put in double the chile that it called for haha", I was like, yeah, I could tell. But it was still super good.  Other than that I will keep on working hard and praying for you guys back home! I didn´t get any turkey for Thanksgiving, but that is alright, next Thanksgiving I will be home with all of you guys! What a time that will be.  I hope you guys have a really fun and safe week and that you start getting snow soon! (Especially down in Bullhead City!) Have a greeat weeek!

Elder Clark

Bowling Strikes!!!

Dear familia and amigos,

I know, I KNOW.  My last weekly email was short and this one might be shorter too, but I had an awesome P-Day today going Bowling!!! Yep, today we went to shopping mall (I also had to buy new shoes because I blew out the side of my athletic shoes playing basketball just like Manu Ginobili) so I bought some shoes, a super nice Kawhi Leonard Jersey, and we went bowling afterwards with my friends!  After not playing in over a year, I am happy to anounce, I bowled a STRIKE on my first box! I won´t talk about the rest of my game because it was pretty embarrasing, but I was at least proud of my first frame.   

The work was actually really great for us this week as well.  As a zone we baptized 6, and have 5 planned for this week, and as for our area, we were able to put some new baptism dates that we plan on having them get baptized in December!! I am really excited for a family we found, the Lopez Family, who all came to church this week, the dad for the very first time! We were also blessed with another guy, Fredrico, who, by curiosity decided to walk into our meetings on Sunday for the very first time! He was soo excited and interested, had so many questions and could hardly contain himself! We have an appointment with him this week (This time he IS in our area!) and also he is going to come to our REALLY AWESOME activity we have planned on Saturday! So now let me tell you about this REALLY AWESOME activity.  Lately we have been working a lot with out Ward Mission Leader, who is really great.  He has been helping us with our investigators, we have a meeting every week with him, he helps us out with our english classes, and helped us planned a family home evening with the ward.  On Saturday night we invited the whole ward to come and are going to have a really inspirational meeting.  We have invited some of the coolest converts of our ward to come and tell their conversion story, and how the church changed their lives.  We have also invited President Mann to come talk and let everyone feel his energizing Spirit! We´ve planned things also like a video with pictures of the ward from a really long time ago, a choir of missionaries, tamales and hot chocolate, and of course some games!! It will be a huge success I know and I can´t wait!!  So I couldn´t be more excited for our ward right now as we are gaining their trust and that they are more willing to help us with the missionary work.  I also have a talk on Sunday about missionary work and told everyone they need to repent and do better by helping us in the missionary work if they truly love their Savior Jesus Christ.  It was great, I love giving talks in church haha.

So this week I am really excited for what is coming up. After having a slower area for a while, the pace is picking up, and we could have about 5 or 6 baptisms planned for the new future.  Of course Christmas time is coming up which is a great time to serve and love everyone.  We will probably plan a zone Christmas Caroling activity which I am excited about.  This week we also got to go to the temple which was a very powerful and spiritual experience like always, but then afterwards I was scared out of my mind because they gave us all Flu Shots.... :( Ugh I hate shots but now I can basically eat and do whatever I want and not get sick right? I don´t think I even have to cook my food anymore!  This week Elder Boynton and I also started meal prepping since we are in the same house.  Every morning after the gym we eat 3 eggs with some bread and on Sunday and Wednesday nights we cook some chicken breast and a ton of spaghetti and pack them into tupperware containers for the next 3 days.  Every night we have a super filling and good dinner which gives us ton of energy for the gym the next day and honestly I feel like I have so much energy throughout the day too. And maybe you didn´t want this extra detail but I am going to say it anyways, I don´t think I´ve ever had more solid poops in over a year of all my time in Mexico. JAJAJA. Of course I still have to eat my tacos, donuts, tamales, and whatever other good food Mexico brings me, but I feel great physically right now, AND spiritually.  I am continuing to study hard and have truly fallen in love with the Scirptures, especially the Book of Mormon.  How grateful I am for them in my life.  

So yes, like every week, is was wonderful and very fast.  We actually have had to walk a ton this week with a lot of fallen appointments, and it is really REALLY hot still... Ugh I just want some snow! It doesn´t even feel like Christmas time as far as the weather goes.  But I am very excited for the Holidays. Especially Thanksgiving! Even though we don´t really celebrate it here, I have so much to be grateful for and will have a heart full of gratitutde that day for sure.  I will try to eat some sort of turkey too haha. I sure do miss spending all of this time with you guys though.  Have fun smashing the gord without me! And finally this week I have been playing a lot of chess with Elder Boynton as well.  I am getting pretty good and realized I am a lot better than I though! Who woulda known?

Well, I guess this email wasn´t as short as I thought it would be anyways so I guess thats good! Have a great week, love and miss you lots, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! 

Your number 1,

Elder Tyler Clark!

GO SPURS GO!

Don´t Eat the Purple Rocks in the Salsa

Hello Everyone!

I would like to warn you, do not be decieved.  The email title made this email sound a lot more interesting than it really is.  I will give you a warning in advance, this may be one of my shortest emails in the field, honestly this week was just really plain and normal which I guess you can consider to be a good thing that I didn´t get run over my a moto-taxi, robbed, or got stitches.  One cool thing this week though is that I did get my stitches out on Tuesday!! There is a little scar there, but honestly it arguably makes me more attractive.  Now that I am hitting the gym hard too I say that bumps me up to a 9.5 on the attractive scale.  We will see when I get home though. It is REALLY nice though that I can finally blow my nose normal.  Don´t take that for granted everyone, blowing your nose normally should be very treasured.  And so about the purple rock story like my title mentioned, one day we were eating lunch with a member from our ward.  As I was reaching for something I accidentally knocked over her fake plant which had purple rocks as the soil.  As I was trying to reput all of the purple rocks into the jar again before the sister came back into the room, a couple of them accidentally fell in the salsa.  So the whole time we had to avoid the purple rocks when we were eating the salsa, I hope the member didn´t think she accidentally put something weird in the salsa haha.  It was a good laugh though.  

Honestly, the work is going much better in this ward right now too and I cannot be more excited.  We have worked really hard with our ward mission leader to organize activities and he has been going out with us to help us find good investigators.  We have found about 3 investigators this week that I truly do believe will progress and eventually get baptized.  The fight continues with Francisco, Ramiro is doing great, and I heard that Dimas´s baptism might´ve got postponed.  BUT, I was SOOO excited to find out that Dimas did in fact get a job!!! His fast and prayer was answered and I was glad to be an instrument in the Lord´s hand to provide that miracle in his life.  I sure have been blessed with a lot of success and joy in my mission.  

So all in all, I think that about raps it up.  Maybe you guys will be glad this week since you don´t have to spend an hour reading my emails, but even though it wasn´t as eventful, it was still very good, enjoyable, and fast.  Time just keeps moving faster and faster.  I´m still hitting the gym super hard, we were able to attend a wedding this week for some members, I´ve been teaching lots of English, and of course, playing lots of basketball. I hope all of you guys are enjoying the Holiday season and are ready for Thanksgiving! I also hope you guys are starting to blast some Christmas music because I sure am ready to start!! Love and miss you guys a ton and thanks for everything! Have a greeeeat week!

Your fav,

Elder T-Clark

Pumpkin for Halloweek!

Hello Everyone!!!

Honestly, this week was just AMAZING. I feel so happy and blessed right now. And this week I dressed up as a pumpkin for Halloween. Since we have a super fun and cool zone, Elder Robinson started the tradition of buying everyone gifts. Especially with the Holiday spirits flowing and Christmas coming up, it has been a really happy and joyful time. So far Elder Robinson has got me a Nacho Libre mask (to protect my nose) and a Spurs jersey is on the way. This week as I was walking in the streets I saw something that I could not resist. A pumpkin costume. Elder Kay, Robinson and I all have an inside joke with pumpkin costumes too so I had to buy it. One day this week I gave it to Elder Kay as a gift and it was hilarious, everyone was dying and the pumpkin costume looks great I must admit. Haha I love the Holiday season! Also I'm sure everyone that saw me in the street on Halloween and the Day of the Dead thought I was dressed up because of my nose anyways. But don't worry, my nose is doing great and I should be getting the stitches out tomorrow!

So this week to work was really great and I got to see a lot of fruits from my labors. This week I had the really cool opportunity to go and visit Dimas twice!! And wow, he is just such a changed man, it just makes me so happy.  The first time he was having some doubts a little about baptism but now we were able to clear all of those up, and the second time we tought about tithing.  It wasn´t a huge problem because he deosn´t have a job right now even though he really wants one.  We also taught about tithing and fast offerings and at the end of the lesson I felt a strong prompting to give him a promise.  I promised Dimas that if fasted with us this week, committed to the Lord to pay a full tithe, and put in his efforts to look for a job, that he would find a job this week.  I know the Lord always helps us according to our faith and I know that Dimas has soo much faith.  He has completely shaved his beard, cleaned up, and changed his life around.  He told us that before he met us he felt so far from God in his life but he is grateful what we have brought for him.  I love Dimas so much and hope to be present at his baptism in 2 weeks on the 18 of November!! Also another tender mercy this week was when I was able to return to the Stake Center in Los Reyes and participate in giving Ramiro the melchezidek priesthood!! It brought me so much joy to see him progressing and strengthening his testimony and made me happy that their family wanted me to be there for that sacred ordinance.  It was funny because I kind of felt like a celebrity with all of my old ward members from Atlicpac seeing me and greeting me, I sure do love and miss that ward.  And I was also surprised when another one of my converts from there, Sergio, was also receiving the Melchizedek priesthood!! So I got double the blessings that day.  I remember afterwards Ramiro´s wife, Hacsiry, was talking about me and telling me how much they missed us.  She said that I don´t know how grateful she is and how much of an impact having a worthy priesthood holder in her family will be.  She said I have done more for her family than she can ever repay, and even though it isn´t really me, I felt so happy and so much love for that family.  I should be awaiting their temple sealing in a few months and I couldn´t be more excited!! Finally, I have truly been praying and fasting and trying to exercise more faith than ever, especially to help Francisco.  I know this may not be the easiest area I have ever been in, but we had a really good meeting with our bishop and ward mission leader who are so willing to help us, and I am excited to keep working hard and see what miracles I can discover in this work.

So afterall, it was just another great week, it was actually week 6 of this cycle, so changes are today, but Elder Revolorio and I are staying together for another one! I must admit though, I am pretty sad that finally, one of my best friends I have made in the mission, Elder Kay, is leaving the zone... It was kind of a surprise for us, and I will miss him lots, but I won´t forget all of the great memories we have had and all of the things he has taught me.  I really hope we are companions one day because we would be so powerful and work so well together.  But as always, I will go where the Lord wants me to go.  I also do have a few suspicions why this week was so good too, apart from the work.  I hit a record this week and have eaten tacos 7 times this week, and of course, tacos always increase your happiness level by at least 5 points depending on how good they are. So that was great and I also got a package from my family which was super funny and awesome and I love them so much for that.  One day in the teangis I found a super sick Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt as well and I bargained it down to only 4 bucks so I was super happy about that purchase (And I know my dad will be proud).  And then apart from the tacos I also ate super good this week, one day a sister in our ward gave us HAMBURGERS AND ICE CREAM, one day we got money for lunch so I had subway for the first time ever in my mission (Yes, it tastes just as good, especially the cookies), I´ve gotten some pretty good churros this week and now for the Food of the Week.  Chicken Heart.  Yep, one member gave us some chicken heart this week which wasn´t actually too bad, the flavor was fine because it was cooked with other chicken, but it was just super chewy and rubbery and there is always the mental effect, but honestly, not the worst thing I have had in my life.  So yes, I am still hitting the gym super hard, playing basketball every here and there, teaching English with this guy from the US, Gonzalo (which is actually super fun, all of the kids love us), eating well, and of course, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!! I love this work and I love and miss all of you guys too, I cannot believe Christmas is right around the corner!! Have a great week, be safe, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I hope you guys are getting some snow there because it is nothing but hot still here!

Your # 1,

Elder Clark

I Got Lastimated

Hello receivers of my weekly emails 

Happy Halloween everyone! I must say, this week was pretty darn LOCO! And I will probably end up looking like I dressed up as a zombie. I will start by saying that I basically had plastic surgery this week... Yep I got lastimated pretty good in my nose (lastimar is Spanish for getting hurt). We will start from the beginning of the story though. So Friday morning, I went to the gym for chest and tricep day. It was going great and I had got about halfway done. I was doing the tricep pull down machine with the rope and I finished the set. I guess I let it go a little fast and my head was a little too close to the machine because the rope shot up, and the metal clip cut my nose. It obviously hurt, but Elder Kay was working out with me and all he told me was, "Oh, you're nose is bleeding". So I ran to the bathroom dripping blood everywhere and let it all out in the sink. Then I finally looked up in the mirror and couldn't believe it. My right nostril literally split apart and ripped upwards like if you were to rip a piece of paper. It was pretty gross. I actually started feeling super light headed and super nauseous. If I didn't sit down and take some deep breaths, I probably would've passed out. But definitely my favorite part of the story was that after I felt a little better, I stuck a tissue up my nose and FINISHED THE WORKOUT. Yep, some people might call it stupid, I call it dedicated. So I made sure I got the full, good, workout in, and then went back to the house to take the next steps which basically went like this. I took the tissue out and all of the Elders were just looking at it, disgusted. I made sure I took plenty of pictures and we were almost 100% I was going to need surgery. So I gave a call to Pres and Sister Mann who sent me immediately to Hospital Cami (remember that place?) in an Uber to save my life. If you guys would like to retell the story to others, I would appreciate it if you could add a little twist like I was just lifting too much weight and broke the cable, or that I was attacked by a bear while we were tracting but I beat the bear and came away with only a little cut on my nose. Some believable version of the story like that would be nice. So anyways, I went to Hospital Cami and after an hour of waiting and paperwork, they examined me and told me I was going to need plastic surgery. I am really grateful for my great Mission President and his wife who made sure I got the BEST plastic surgeon for the job. I love them so much and I know that they love their missionaries. So we finally got a great plastic surgeon to come and sew me up. Elder Kay was there with me the whole time and watched everything. It wasn't too painful except the beginning when we put in the Anesthesia. He basically said "This is gonna hurt a bit" and Elder Kay said he was not gentle when he violently stabbed 3 different needles in my nose to numb it up. As soon as he gave me those shots, blood was going everywhere including my shirt and all over the floor. After that painful experience where I was shaking and groaning, my whole nose went numb. Elder Kay told me that he really enjoyed watching the plastic surgeon, not very gently, yank and pull the needle around my nose to sew it back up; he put in 4 stitches. After he finished the operation he uncovered me and I was just sweating buckets. He had a good laugh and I was glad it was all over. Although I'm still a little upset that they didn't get me a lollipop, I'm glad my nose will begin recovering and I really hope I don't end up with a big, fat, ugly, scar there. I had about a 75% survival rate and I'm glad I beat the odds, but I was a little concerned that I shoot free throws better than my chances of surviving. Anyways, now I don't even have to dress up for Halloween since I look like a zombie anyways, so I guess that's a plus right? Elder Kay really enjoyed watching the whole thing and said he is convinced that he could do stitches now. I still wouldn't trust him though. I guess the important part though is that I'm still alive and hopefully it will all recover fine. Plus we had interviews with President Mann that day, but I suppose getting plastic surgery is a good way to get out of interviews. I just hope he doesn't catch on to my strategies though, don't tell him but it was well worth it to get out of interview with him. Haha only kidding I sure love him lots and truly am grateful for the support of him and sister Mann. They were basically my parents through it all and I couldn't ask for better Mission Presidents in our mission right now.

Alrighty... So apart from that crazy experience, I suppose everything else sounds pretty boring right? It actually wasn't really my week at all... The night after getting stitches, I was walking in the street and totally banged my head on a pole. Pretty much all of our appointments fell as well, and worst of all, the baptism of Francisco which I was so excited for this week also fell... We had to postpone it for 2 more weeks so I hope, pray, and fast, he comes through then. So pretty much after Friday I was done with the week... I suppose I was due for a bad week though since I've been loving the mission so much lately, and I guess Satan was just really trying to get my down, but I don't go down that easy. You know what they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I also suppose though that I should focus on the good things that happened this week too though. Even though I didn't get to baptize Francisco this week, I was still blessed with the amazing opportunity to return and baptize part of Damian's family, which was a wonderful experience. I just love that humble family so much and they were so excited to see me come back for their baptism. Even though the water was freezing cold, the Spirit was definitely present and it was such a great joy to see their smiling faces enter into the waters of baptism. Also Sunday was a tender mercy because even though the work is a little harder here, a brand new family of 5 came to our ward for the meetings! We later found out they are not in our area (huge bummer) but it did lift my spirits a little to see some investigators at church with us! Love the Lord's work as always.

So finally, yes, I did celebrate my one year mark this week too. On Wednesday I did divisions with Elder Kay and we got tacos and cookie and cream magnum bars which probably won FOTW this week. Nothing much more was really exciting about my one year mark, just another year of work and I'm excited for it! I know this year will be faster than ever and I can't believe I am actually going to be going back home eventually, right now the mission just seems like my life. But as always, I love, miss, and appreciate you guys so much for everything, thanks for still reading my emails too those of you that actually get to the bottom every week. Have another great and safe week and remember to read the Book of Mormon!

Your favorite missionary,

Elder Clark

Warning:  Graphic Pictures (Not for those who get queasy like me).  When I first got these pictures I had my youngest daughters look at them and tell me how bad it was.  I can glance but not look for long.