Working Hard

Hey Everybody!

Well it sure has been pretty fast until P-Day again!  I will catch up on a few things I missed the last couple of weeks and talk about what is new!

Recently we just had a bunch of missionary changes World Wide.  Elder Johnson and I really like it.  We have more freedom to do things when we want such as study, exercise and go to the gym, and proselyte.  We use the extra freedom to our advantage and health, some of our investigators like it better when we come in the morning, and we usually return to study around lunch time when it is hottest and everyone is busy.  We also found out this week that the numbers we report are changed too! From now on we don't keep track of lessons we teach, contacts, or references received.  From now on the only numbers we keep track of and report are new investigators, investigators with a baptismal date, and how many attended church.  It has changed our focus a little to really just focus on serving the people, looking and finding new people to teach, and helping them come to church and prepare for baptism.  I like it a lot.

So this weekend was actually a little disappointing... We worked so hard this week trying to help and prepare a way for people to come to church and motivating them.  Sunday morning, we went all over the place passing by for people, and calling them to verify.  We even had some people tell us they were on their way but never showed up.  We were really trying everything and expecting our investigators to come because we have a lot with baptism dates, but only two showed up...  I am very grateful M showed up though with her two granddaughters, and when I saw them it made me super happy.  We decided to move her baptism date back one more week to give her more time to stop smoking and drinking coffee, but she can do it, and we are going to have 3 baptisms for sure in 2 weeks on February 11th!  Even with not very many investigators showing up, we still have 7 investigators with a baptism date (they need to attend church at least 5 times before getting baptized, so sometimes baptism dates fall and we have to reset them), and it really won't be very hard to reestablish the dates that fell.  We did end up getting back up to 10 or 11 dates before Sunday, and hope to get even more than that this week.  I was feeling a little down though after church, and kind of felt like a bad missionary.  I had to remember though that we had worked hard, and did everything we could, and that people still have their own agency.  I read in Jacob 5:41 where it said the Lord of the vineyard wept and asked "What more could I have done?"  I guess even the Savior feels the same way for some of his children, and he was perfect, so I learned that sometimes I just have to accept people's agency, after all it is a gift from our Heavenly Father.  I have also learned as missionaries, we really just have the privilege to be as clean and obedient as we possibly can, just so we can hold the Spirit so strongly always, and so we can invite the spirit to touch the hearts of those we teach.  It really doesn't matter what we say, and that is why we are so excluded from the World and need to be so obedient so we can be clean vessels and hold the Spirit with us.  That is what I have really been trying to focus on lately. 

So we did end up going back with J and his family that speaks English (The G Family). We didn't put a baptism date yet, and just taught them some English and shared a scripture to gain their trust.  I am excited to see how they will progress.  We also found a new lady this week who was a little reluctant to let us in, and thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses at first, but when she found out we were here to help her, she let us in and we put a baptism date with her!  Her name is Angelica.  We also reestablished baptism dates with Felipe and his wife, Norma, and they have been reading the Book of Mormon too!  We were excited to hear that.  One morning this last week, one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Lara was feeling pretty sick and had a migraine.  Elder Johnson went on splits with his companion, Elder Cherrington, and I stayed back for the morning with Lara.  I ended up cleaning the house which really felt super good haha, and organized.  I even took down my Nativity set... Finally... It was super sad, but it will be back up in 10 months!  Then Elder Lara was feeling better so we went out and visited some people!  It was super cool and a good experience for me, because we just talked Spanish the whole time like it was my best friend!  I realized that by the end of this cycle, I will definitely be ready for a Latino companion! (I hope).  Also, without Elder Johnson to rely on, the people we visited tried testing me on my Spanish on some of the streets around here.  They said they were shocked that I knew Spanish already after two months, because one of the guys had lived in the U.S. for 40 years and didn't know even a little English...(Really not sure how that worked out haha).  But it was cool, and we have a ton of really awesome investigators right now, just have to get them to come to church.

So the Temple Trip was pretty sweet.  One the way there, we took the metro, which is basically like a scene from World War Z haha.  In the morning especially it is just super packed.  You wait like a bunch of sardines for the Metro or Subway to come by, when it does, people fight to get off and everyone fights to get on.  If you are lucky enough to make your way one, you are literally packed tight and can't move haha, and the doors just close randomly too so sometimes people almost get stuck in the doors.  It is kind of funny and a cool experience until everyone starts sweating and it gets really hot.  When the metro stops again, literally everyone just runs to the next one or the exit... Not sure why it is always a rush but it is.  There are even sirens playing in the background, yes, like real emergency sirens.  I am not really sure why they are necessary or if they are really just trying to add to the whole World War Z/ Walking Dead experience.  Nonetheless, we followed along, as we were running up the stairs, I looked back, and there was just a wave of zombies chasing after us, and if I didn't keep hustling, I probably would've been trampled.  It was a neat experience for sure haha.  Anyways, the Temple was amazing, and I always learn so much and feel so peaceful there.  The spirit is always so strong, plus, the cherry scented temple soap is probably the best soap on Earth....  As I was in there, it really hit me that one day, I too would be taking my eternal companion into the temple to start an eternal family! I almost got overly excited about that and had to remind myself to focus on my mission for now haha.  But there is just so much to look forward for in the future!! I truly have been so blessed.  So we took the World War Z metro back, although it isn't as crowded in the afternoon, and got back to work.  We stopped by Little Caesars to eat, and it was amazing.  Also there was music playing, and a lot of 21 pilots songs which made me both really happy, but miss my friends too.  Also we heard a new song, Castle on the Hill, we all loved it but it is probably super old and annoying in the US by now. We have been trying to sing it in the streets but have only heard it one time haha.

Anyways, I am doing great, and just keep chug a lugging along.  Sometimes I wonder how I am still here or alive, and wonder how I will last 2 years, but everyday I survive and find tender mercies.  One lady gave us Hamburgers and French Fries this week for lunch and they were amazing!!! I miss American food...  Also I was talking to another little kid who was playing pokemon haha, I wonder if anyone still plays Pokemon Go back there. I got a sweet pick of Kawhi Leonard on my agenda to remind me of the best team in the NBA, and also a picture of Jesus of course.  I hope everything is well back home, I miss and love you all so much.  We are probably going to  Buffalo Wild Wings next week so that is aweeeesome! I am finally starting to run out of my big heaping piles of Christmas candy though which is kind of sad haha.  Cuidense mucho todos!!!!

Tu Amigo, Sobrino, Nieto, Hermano, y Hijo,

Elder T-Clark (out)

I love to see the Temple!!

Hey Mom, family, and friends!

I will admit, it sure has been a long wait for this P-Day, and we barely got back from the temple so I really don't have much time.  I probably won't get around to emailing most of you today, but I will catch back up on Monday!  There has been a ton that happened so I will try to hit some of the highlights...

Well, I have already had two birthday parties and it isn't even February! I can't imagine what my actual birthday will be like!  One of the birthday parties was just a combined party for Elder Johnson and I and they got cake and gave us ties.  The other party was with an investigator, Martha (She is really cool, more about her later).  She called Elder Johnson one morning and told her to keep it quiet but she got a SuperMan birthday cake for me (because everyone knows me as Clark Kent and they think it is hilarious).   So we went over with our zone leaders and it was probably the biggest SURPRISE party I have ever had since I really wasn't expecting one in January haha.  But it was really sweet, and they said it was a little thing from the heart, so we didn't have the guts right there to tell them that they mixed our birthdays up.  It was yesterday when she asked how my birthday went when we told her that she mixed ours up... She just thought it was funny though and said we will celebrate Elder Johnson's birthday on mine haha.

So a couple things about some of our investigators... A is about 60 years old, and is on crutches.  He can't really get around and usually spends his time outside reading the newspaper, that is where we found him the very first time.  He was super humble, and wanted to get baptized so bad... A couple weeks ago we went back with him to see how he was doing and he was really sad.  He said that his family told him if he got baptized in the Mormon church then they would just kick him out on the streets!  I was super sad since he can barely get around anyways, and all he wanted was to get baptized.  He said when he moves one day, he promised us he would get baptized in our church.  We tried to go in with his family and talk to them but he said it was just a bad idea... so that was kind of sad for us.  But, we also have a ton of other sweet investigators and are still on track to have a ton of baptisms in February/March!  Only problem is their will be changes in March so we are just trying to prepare everyone we have now for baptism as quickly as we can.  So M, who is scheduled to be baptized on January 4th is ready.  In fact, she told her boyfriend that she has been living with for 8 YEARS that she was going to get baptized, and they were going to get married or she was kicking him out... Apparently he decided to leave.  She is so strong willed, and excited for baptism.  Missionaries have been trying to work with her for the past 2 years and now she is finally getting baptized!!  Even more cool, another investigator, F (Who was in my last letter) is M's friend!  So without even telling us, F is going to come by for M on Sunday and come to church together with their families.  We have investigators passing by for investigators!  It really is a miracle work and we have been so blessed.  We also went with an investigator who we contacted a while back and have been helping him gain more faith in Christ and God and learn for himself how he can know God really exists.  To our surprise, he told us that ever since we had been visiting him, he felt like he should stop smoking and found the strength to do it!  That was really cool to hear especially because we haven't talked about the Word of Wisdom yet.  We haven't even put a baptism date either but I guess the spirit can really work miracles in people.  The other day, someone approached us in the street talking English.  He said he had lived in California for 25 years, and has seen us around.  He said he wants to get closer to God and begged us to come over.  It didn't take much for us to get an appointment with him.  When we came over, he invited his whole family.  He has some nephews who are 10 and 12 who were born in Oregon and lived their for 8 years.  They said they are way more comfortable speaking English and pretty much their whole family speaks English, but most of them prefer Spanish.  The two little kids said they love football and the Oregon Ducks are their favorite team, and I told them I have family in Oregon who love the Ducks too haha.  It was really fun and awesome to talk and meet their family.  Basically the language was Spanglish and we just kept switching back and forth between English and Spanish.  We shared a little scripture with them and they loved it.  We are going back with them on Saturday to hopefully set some baptism dates, and we will pass by for them to come to church.  It really has been crazy we have soooo many other cool investigators I can't even begin to explain.  We probably will have a guaranteed 6 baptisms in February and if all goes perfect possible 19 or more in February and the beginning of January!  We are sooo stoked and Elder Johnson said he can't believe this, he hasn't seen this much success his whole mission.  

The other day Elder Johnson and I were talking about it.  Really the last week and a half has been kind of long, a lot of appointments have fallen, and we have been contacting and walking our butts off.  We continued to work hard, and then bam, all of the sudden we were finding so many investigators, everything was going perfect, and everyone was progressing/ wanted to come to church.  We were saying it was kind of like Heavenly Father was just stirring up his big pot of blessings.  He kept encouraging us to work and keep trying even though we were tired.  It was a trial of our faith.  And then just like that he poured out his countless blessings upon us yesterday and today.  Last night we were just smiling and laughing all night because everything was working out.  We have about 31 investigators right now and hope to have a bunch in church this sunday.  It really is almost more blessings than we can recieve because we can barely find time to visit everyone and think about every single person throughout the week, but it is a good problem to have.  So my message to you guys this week, is even if it has been long, tiring, and rough.  Even if you haven't felt like you have recieved much blessings in the last week, month, or even year, keep going.  Keep being faithful.  And I promise that if you endure to the end, and are faithful through your trials and troubles in life, Heavenly Father is just waiting, stirring up that pot of blessings, to pour upon you and your families and he knows when you need them.  

So a little bit about food this week.  We went to Las Vias to eat one day with a lady in our ward.  She gave us some chicken on the bone with some super spicy chili sauce.  I literally felt like I was doing the Buffalo Wild Wings challenge haha, it was even hot for Elder Johnson!  I ate it all though, and when she asked if we wanted more, I said I really like it, but mi boca es en fuego.  I thought she was going to just laugh because Elder Johnson did, but I felt bad, because I think she felt a little bad for making to too spicy haha.  She was cool though, and it really was good, I made sure she felt really appreciated and she has been helping us out a lot with lessons so we are good.  One day our food was cancelled for the day so we went for tacos.  We have gone for tacos before, but just for a snack.  We have never GONE for tacos... So we went to our favorite taco shop and ate a bunch.  I ate about 6 and they are some of the best tacos around.  I also started a taco count and am going to keep it going for the rest of my mission, I have estimated to have eaten about 40 tacos so far.  This week I ate pig snout tacos too, it was interesting to see them pull out the snout, chop it up, and throw it on the grill haha. I am not really scared of any food right now.  Also one day, we had sooo much food.  We had tacos in the morning, and then went to a member's house for lunch.  She had some of the best food I have had out here and I ate so much.  All of the sudden... My stomach just said no more right when she put a big bowl of ice cream on the table.  I hadn't had ice cream in sooo long and I wanted it so bad, but I was feeling really sick.  In fact, I just had to go to the bathroom to throw up, and then I came back out, felt great, and ate my delicious bowl of ice cream.  It was a great strategy to eat all the food, but not get the calories!  Haha, that wasn't really my intention, but that is just how it worked out though.  Also the Almas invited us over for Johnson's birthday.  To our surprise she invited Esteban over too!  We had a super good cake, and talked.  They are just some awesome people.  I showed Alma and Esteban the video of me doing zumba from last week and they were both dying lauging haha.  Also Esteban showed me a video when he met Allison and it was super funny.  It was a good birhtday party. 

Well that about hits the highlights of my week.  Elder Johnson and I have been working out hard at the gym every week and I feel so good.  It is starting to become a habit too and I am pretty much sore all the time.  The day after leg day always is super hard to walk haha.  My abs usually always hurt when I sneeze or laugh too but I am excited to keep working out the rest of my mission.  We are hoping to be able to go to Buffalo Wild Wings next week too! Well, I hope you guys all had a great week, I will get around to emailing the rest of you guys on Monday, and talk about our temple trip today! It was awesome.  Love and miss you all!

-Elder Clark

Mission of Miracles

Hey Mom and Everyone!

This week has seriously been full of miracles, and really this whole area I have been in, my comp, and all of the members and investigators and treated me so well to help me adjust, and I am starting to see that my mission probably will be the best two years of my life.  I am starting to love it here in Mexico, loving the language, and really loving the people too.  Every person I meet whether it is an investigator, inactive, or even a member, I really just feel such a strong love for them and I realize I am here to help strengthen them and lift them up with whatever problems they may be having.  That is where my motivation has came from.  The other day we were walking and I started thinking, wow, I only have two years to bring all these people unto repentance and baptism and change their life.  I won't have any other opportunity like this so I made it my goal to just work as hard as I can.  Not to mention this week has gone by sooo fast!  I will try to hit the highlights of this week in my email, but every single day, I have had so many crazy and beautiful experiences.  Also... this week we had to slow down on the street tacos because my digestive system started having a say in things, but they are still the love of my life.

So, last Monday we went over to Esteban's house for breakfast since he is in our zone.  I've always loved waffles, homeade waffles from scratch are amazing, but Esteban's homeade waffles are heaven!!! I ate so much, and it was super fun to talk and hang out with Esteban. He is super cool, and I think it is awesome that Allison saw him this week too!!  He said we could come back around my birthday and he would make me an awesome cake!  I am stoked for that.  

On Tuesday, I started to question and even ask Elder Johnson, I still can't tell if I am really happy here, or if I just keep telling myself I am happy.  But Heavenly Father definitely answered that question real quick.  The first appointment we had right after that was with a 60 year old man.  He was super accpeting of us, and we put a baptism date with him on February 4th!  Then, later that night, we taught the sister of a member.  At the end of the lesson, she was just crying, and said she knew it was true already.  I almost started crying just because I was so happy.  We prayed with her and set her baptism date the 18th of February.  After that, Elder Johnson and I walked outside and were so happy! We started laughing, giving eachother high fives, and gave eachother a hug. We ran back to the house just super pumped and motivated, and that was only the start of an awesome week.  The next day I got bit by the very same dog that bit me the first week.  This time it tore straight through my pants, and I thought it was going to hurt really bad.  When I looked, I had a big hole in my pants, but my leg didn't even have a scratch.  It was actually a pretty neat experience and it will be a good sewing lesson to fix my pants!  We also had a big meeting with everyone being trained so I got to see my old buddies from the MTC again!! That was pretty cool, and fun to share stories with them.  Then, that night, we met with a 17 year old girl who is currently living with a member family.  She is really cool and interested in our message, so we put another baptsim date with her for the 11th of February.  The next day, we had a meeting with the Ward Mission Leader.  Before, he hasn't really been open to help us, but through our hard work we are gaining the trust of the members again.  He was soo surprised that we had 10 baptism dates and ALL of them have just been contacts of people we have found in the street except two!  All of the sudden, he offered to come out with us whatever day we needed, and we worked on pairing each investigator with a hermanamiento (Kind of like a friend in the church and the investigator can relate to so they can stay active even when we leave!)  Every morning we have been working our butts off calling members to come help us teach, and since then, it has been a miracle.  The member's testimonies are so strong, and it is powerful to have someone else telling our investigators that we have been called of God to help them.  All of the sudden, all of the members want to come out with us and give us references to their friends!  Our schedules are soo booked, we barely have time to contact or even just go back to the house to study now, are we are still finding new investigators through members.  Also this last Sunday 19 inactive members came back to church!  Elder Johnson said that was the most he has had his whole mission, and God is truly working miracles through us in this area to reactivate and bring more people to the church.  So we went back to Las Vias (The super poor area) and met with the Grandma of the super humble family. She can't read but we taught her the restoration and she was so accepting too! We put her baptism date the 25 of February, and she is going to have her son read the Book of Mormon to her so hopefully we can put some more baptism dates with her whole family!  One last miracle of success came one night when we went to go visit a member.  We taught her daughters English classes and then she said she was bringing her friend over.  She brought her friend over and her friends daughter who is turning 8... February 3! So we talked with her and then shared our message with her too.  It was amazing, because after talking about Joseph Smith, we asked her if she had any questions.  She said no, and she insisted we keep talking because she felt so happy and peaceful and had never felt this way before.  We shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and our church, encouraged her to read it, pray, and attend church.  She was soo happy and excited and asked where she could buy one of these 'Libros de Mormon'.  She was shocked when we said that this copy was hers.  We put a baptism date with her and her daughter for the 25th of February also.  So we ended the week with 12 baptism dates, 6 more from last week, and we still have sooo many other cool investigators too we haven't put dates with!  This isn't even including a girl who is on vacation right now but when she gets back, she is already prepared for baptism.  So every weekend in February is going to be full of baptisms!!! We worked our butts off last month contactng and finding people, this month we are putting goals and helping people change their lives, and next month we are hopefully going to baptize everyone.  I hope Johnson will stay with me a little longer to watch all of these people change and enter into the waters of baptism.

So this week was just crazy and filled with success.  We have more dates already than Elder Johnson said he has had his whole mission, and he is just shocked at what is happening.  We were even wondering what we were doing to deserve all of these blessings and success.  Then I started to realize that it wasn't even for our benefit.  We are just doing what the Lord wants and what makes him happy.  And the baptisms are for the people and for the lives we are changing, not for us, but we just feel so humble and happy that we are working good together and I have already been privildged to see a lot of lives changed.  Elder Johnson and I also teach super well together and in the mornings we practice our lessons sometimes, but mostly, we just follow the Spirit.  We have been doing really well at establishing expectations, and talking about how baptism is a blessing, how they can actually know for themselves that this message is true through faith, reading, and praying, and that they can one day enter into the waters of baptism.  We teach all of the points clearly, and have several different object lesson ideas depending on what the investigator needs.  It was also pretty cool this week, when we met a new investigator, they asked where we were from and how long we have been there.  They were confused when I said I have only been here six weeks, and they they thought I didn't speak english back in Arizona in the United States.  I guess they thought Spanish was my native language! That was pretty funny. I have been working super hard to increase my vocab this week because I think that is where I am lacking the most. Grammar has been pretty easy for me so far.  

Well, cool or funny things this week?  We playing basketball with some little kids in the street. They saw us walking so they threw the ball at us.  It was good to shoot again, and then I was throwing alley oops to Elder Johnson and they loved watching us. I love the little kids here!  Also this morning was a dream come true.  We went to some indoor baksetball courts in our area (even though they don't have nets- no hoops have nets here which is kind of annoying).  It only cost one peso to get in (about 5 cents) and I just had the time of my life.  I miss basketball so much, and I am not giving up on my dream of playing college basketball yet either.  I have been working out hard every morning and I was super excited to see that I can grab the rim now! My goal is to be able to dunk it by my one year mark, that would be dope.  Also at the indoor court we went to, they were having a zumba session.  It was just a bunch of old ladies but I got in there and showed them some of my moves.  I think they all thought I was weird though.... Elder Johnson and Elder Cherrington were laughing the whole time lol.

Afterwards we bought some fresh orange juice and steak street tacos!! It was probably my favorite P-Day here so far especially since I have been missing basketball this week...One morning I also put stain stick on my armpit because I was half asleep and it looks just like deodorant lol.  Elder Johnson has also bought Risk and Monopoly with his Christmas money so we have had some fun game nights with my Christmas games too!  Life is just great.  Other than that, I am doing amazing and I hope everyone of you are too! I keep you all in my prayers, miss and love you guys!

-Elder Clark

Another Awesome Week

Hey Mom and everyone!!!

So this week.... I got addicted to street tacos. We had them on Tuesday, and every day since then (Except Sunday), we have gone to get them for breakfast.  On tuesday, I got one with tongue, and one without.  I didn't really know which was which and at the end I told Elder Johnson which one I liked more, and turns out I actually like the flavor of tongue and intestines!  Honestly, I am going to miss street tacos when I come home in two years haha.  They are super good and cheap and we have been trying all of the different shops to see which is best.  I also ate Mole (It is a soup kind of thing with like 100 ingredients, 10 kinds of chili, and chocolate...)  It was kind of weird and heavy but it wasn't terrible lol.

So we got a change in our missionary schedule!  Now we get up, study for an hour and do daily planning in the morning!  Then we leave at 10, and we come back to study whenever we have time.  It is a big change, and it is all over the world, but so far Elder Johnson and I have loved it! We have been able to get to bed a little earlier since we don't daily plan at night, and find ourselves more energized because we can break up the day with studies.  Elder Johnson says I am lucky I will have this my whole mission.  

Anyways, this week was awesome!!  One Monday night, we already had 8 new investigators which we found over the course of Sunday and a P-Day, and 8 investigators is our goal for the whole week!  It was even more cool, because the family we found on a Monday night, we met with again on Friday, and put 3 new baptism dates!! They are super interested and ready for the gospel, and they still have two more sons that weren't there that we could set 2 more easy baptism dates too.  I am hoping in February we start having all of our baptisms because when I got here, there was no dates.  Now we have 8 baptism dates and have half of them in the entire zone with 5 other companionships!  We have been really blessed with success lately.  It was a little dissapointing with one lady though, we got a appointment with her, and taught her the first lesson.  It was one of the best lessons Elder Johnson and I have ever taught, some of the best Spanish I have ever spoken, and a time when I felt the Spirit so powerful.  I thought for sure she would get baptized, and I knew the Spirit had already touched her, but she rejected us and said she just can't leave her catholic church.  We aren't going to give up though, and she said we could come back in 3 weeks but she refused to take a Book of Mormon.  We were a little sad, but we didn't let that get us down, and we kept working.  We met another lady this week who recently had a son that died and her mom has cancer.  She was super accepting and soo nice.  We plan to teach her about the Plan of Salvation this wednesday and just comfort her.  She has two little granddaughters too that are super cute and remind me of Cami and Brea a lot.  When I meet people like that, I am just so happy and we have met a ton of cool people out here I can't even write about them all!  I am starting to just love the work and love being in Mexico.  Afterall, I have to be here for 2 years so I might as well love every second!

So this week a few interesting/ funny things happened.  In the street shops (teanges) we found old pure silver dollar coins from the US way back from as far as 1795!  It was even more crazy when the guy said he was selling them for 20 pesos, just 1 dollar each!  We seized the opportunity and bought them all.  We think one of them might even be worth as much as $1,000 but even if not, they are super cool and interesting to think that that was the money that George Washington would be using just after the Revolution!  The people just don't know what they are selling in the teanges haha.  Also this week, we encountered another drunk... (uh oh) but this one was cool!  He acted like he was our best friend haha.  He was super interested in my eyes and thought they were fake haha, everyone thinks my eyes are so blue here.  It got a little creepy when he said he had a dream about me too lol... so we left.  He gave us a hug though and kissed our hand lol.  Most of the drunks here are super friendly, and for everyone wondering, no we weren't robbed this week! (Two week streak woooooo!).  One day we were cleaning the church with the Almas, and it turned out super funny.  Elder Johnson and I were outside spraying the walls, basically power washing the windows and walls with a hose.  They church is two stories so Alma and her sister, Chilito, were on the second floor.  They had buckets of water, and tried dumping them on us down below.  I would talk to Johnson in the super secret English language and tell him where they were while he acted like he couldn't see them.  It was super funny and fun, but in the end, it just turned out to be a full out water fight and all of us ended up completely soaked.  I had the map of the area in my pocket and it is ruined now haha.  

Also this week has gotten a little crazy in Mexico.  I guess gas prices went up like 3 pesos so everyone is starting to freak out.  There have been a few riots I guess (not in my area) but we are safe.  We are just staying alert, and some nights we have to go back to the house early.  Nothing too bad, but I think it will be interesting to see how people react here when Trump goes into office.  I also heard that Trump asked the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to sing at his Inaguration.  I am not sure if that is true or not, but if it is that is funny. 

Well I hope you guys all had an awesome first week of 2017!! Everyone returned to work and school I guess, back to their normal lives.  It is a little sad when all the parties and holidays are over.  I will keep you in my prayers!  Have a great weeeek!

-Elder Clark

NEW YEAR NEW ME

Dear Mom and everyone,

Besides it being a hard adjustment after Christmas, this week was amazing!  I think the best part was I didn't get robbed, and I didn't throw up lol.  I am finally starting to blend in as a native down here.  Anyways, this week was also awesome because I am starting to adjust and we had a ton of success.  On Monday, we went to Esteban's house and made donuts!  Esteban is an awesome chef and he is cool, they were honestly the best donuts I have ever had and we got to help him make them! We took pictures and videos, and I also helped him find a instagram caption that would give him the "most likes" haha.  Go follow him and like his picture!  After we got done making donuts, I gave him a Preisthood Blessing because he was feeling a little sick.  When we left, he gave me the biggest hug ever haha! I am a little dissapointed though because in the missionary world, they are changing our schedule and so we won't have district meetings in front of his house on Monday Nights anymore.  I hope we can still find some time to go visit him!  

Anyways, this week has been kind of an adventure.  One day we went to a part of our area called "Las Vias" It is literally built on the side of a railroad.  It is pretty sketchy, everyone is so poor they literally build houses out of whatever they have- cardboard boxes, wooden pallets, sometimes even blankets.  We also found a house with a wall built out of baby dolls.  We don't go here very often since it does feel a little dangerous, but that is where we can find some of the most humble people and people who need the Gospel and are willing to accept it.  We did some contacting, and found a family of four.  They are just so humble and happy.  Right when they opened the door, I already felt an overwhelming love for them, and I know Heavenly Father loves them even more.  We shared a little message, prayed with them, and are going back next Sunday.  We will probably only go there one day a week for appointments we have, and only during the day.  This week, we also went on splits with our district and taught in some other areas.  I realized how aweome our area and my companion is and how much I have to be greatful for in my area.  It is probably because it is just where home is for me now too.  Also this morning, we went to the mission home for pouch (That is how we get packages).  It was really awesome taking the metro and riding through all the other areas and stuff.  We walked through the teanges, and before I go home I am definitely going to buy a fake rolex watch because they are fake and super cool!  This morning made me really excited for the rest of my mission and made me realize how much of an adventure this will be.  I see and experience so much each week I can't even write it all down in my emails! I am really starting to be so glad I got called to another Country, and this mission is just awesome.  My Spanish is really great too!  

So now onto some Spiritual Lessons and experiences I had this week, and then I will talk a little bit about the food.  This week, I really focused on making goals and having faith to achieve them.  On Thursday, our goal was 2 new investigators and 1 lesson with a member present.  We contacted a bunch that day (55 contacts) and that is a lot because our weekly Standard of Excellence is 100.  It wasn't until contact 54 that we actually found a super cool new investigator! We are so excited to go back with her this Wednesday.  Also, the day was winding down and we had only found 1 new investigator.  I wasn't dissapointed, but I started to doubt that we could reach our goal even though we had worked our butts off.  We had one last appointment with a member.  When we arrived, she had her daughter there, who wasn't a member.  Somehow, God had provided a way for us, and we got our two new investigators for the day and a lesson with a member present!  After that, I thought that is was just the greatest day ever, but I wasn't even prepared for Friday.  In the morning, we went to a part of our area that no one usually likes to go to because it is so far, but we went, contacted, and found another awesome new investigator right in the morning.  We were so excited because we set the same goals for the day too!  Later that day, we were walking, and didn't know where to go because all of our appointments had fallen through.  For some reason, we had a feeling to go to Guerrillera street.  It was pretty far away, so we had to walk a ways, but we decided to follow that prompting.  We walked there and started knocking on doors again.  After our 3rd door, a lady from across the street yelled at us and told us to come into her house.  Turns out she is a member, but has been inactive for a few years.  Her husband is not a member though.  He really wants to get baptized though and so we put a date with him!- February 4th.  I think the coolest part was that they have two kids.  One served a mission and they are both living in Orem right now!! The Husband we are teaching and his wife are going to visit Orem in July!  So if all works out, my family will have to go up there in July and see one of my converts! That would be cool!  So the lesson I learned was that if we set goals, and ask Heavenly Father to help us achieve them and we have faith.  Anything is possible.  In fact, I read in 1 Nephi 16:28 that Lehi and his family were guided by the Liahona according to their faith and diligence.  I believe this week we had faith and diligence and we were definitely guided by the Holy Ghost in several other occasions this week too!  This week, we worked so hard, and had 10 new investigators.  (The Standard of Excellence for the mission is 8 each week).  We also have a ton of appointments this week with potential new investigators and honestly, I am super excited.  This week will be awesome, we are going to have a ton of baptisms in February.  Elder Johnson said we might just have a white night on February 4th where the whole ward comes and we just baptize like 10 people. That would be so great!

So on New Years Eve, we went back to the house early.  We played games (It came to Pass, Sushi Go, and Elder Johnson bought Monopoly Mexico Edition!)  It was fun, and we played with our zone leaders too.  Midnight hit, we were excited, and went up on the roof to watch various fireworks around the city.  It was a little weird and overwhelming to think that this whole year I am going to be in Mexico, but it is pretty cool too.  This week I bit into a super spicy chili at the Almas. I started crying lol, but it was good! Our Landlords also brought us Tamales on New Years Eve.  He gave them to us, and then said he was going to call the Fireman.  We were confused at first, but we soon found out what he meant.  I ate about half of my Tamale before my throat started burning and my eyes started watering.  It was super hot haha but it was really good too and I was hungry so I just kept eating it.  Also, we just went to a Chinese Buffet for lunch, and I had some octopus!  It was actually pretty good, but was super chewy and fishy.  It was definitely worth trying it though. 

Next week for P-Day we will probably go to the Centro!  I am excited for that, but yep, those were some of the highlights of my week!  I hope you guys all had an awesome New Years! I am glad Dad's surgery went well, Elder Johnson and I have been praying for him!  I also started a old coin and bill collection because in the Teanges they sell some super cool old money.  It is exciting to collect them and see what country they are from and how old they are.  Also, I am continuing my pushups everyday and I am almost to 90!  Last thing, my ankles are starting to feel pretty good so I think I might have to start practicing my backflips again haha!  Have a greeeeat week everyone!  Hasta Luego!

-Elder Clark