Goodbye Aurora!!

Hey everyone!!

I just finished 4 months and it is crazy!! Sometimes it feels like the longest 4 months of my life, sometimes it feels like the fastest.  It is a weird feeling for sure, just so much has happened and I have learned so much in these few short 4 months.  I just finished my training so I am not a new missionary anymore!  Time just keeps going by faster and faster too.  Well it is official, I have changes tomorrow!  We had interviews with the President this last Tuesday and so I found out I was going to be leaving this area I have loved.  It was nice having a week to prepare. I must admit, I was pretty shaken and shocked at first, I wasn't expecting it at all.  I was scared, nervous, and sad, and it was a little hard to focus for a while... But the more time I have had to think about it, I have realized what an actual blessing it is and how much I have learned and grown.  I have found the Elder Holland quote to be very true, "Ïf you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Haha, I will get into everything I learned about this at the end after I go through my awesome week.

So last Monday we went to the centro (center).  It was my first time and it was really cool.  It was one of the richest of the rich places, and it is huge!! We only really had time to explore a little bit.  We went to the catholic cathedral which is supposed to be the biggest one in the world.  Pretty crazy stuff.  Also there were old ruins of pyramids, but the really cool pyramids are in Teotihuacan and I hope to be going there soon, my new comp and I might plan a trip with Elder Johnson and his next comp.  It was fun walking around the centro and feeling like a normal person for a little bit, and there is just so much cool stuff to explore here in Mexico!!

So since this week was my last week in the area, it would've been really easy to stop working.  That is the exact opposite of what I did.  We worked super hard this week and good thing because we probably found THE COOLEST investigator I have ever found, and that is saying a lot because I thought we have found some pretty cool people.  Elder Johnson said it might even be his coolest too.  I am so glad we could find him right before I left this area.  His name is Alex and he actually approached us one night and asked us if we could find him an English Bible.  We went back and brought him an English Book of Mormon.  Soon we started talking to him about our church and our beliefs.  He lived in the United States for 30 years so EVERYTHING was in English.  It was super rad, and a little weird teaching in English to be honest, but it was fun.  Turns out, he knows sooo much.  He has read the Bible many times, and really knows enough to be an institute teacher or something, I am serious, he knew more than me.  He was really open to listen to us and was really interested in the Book of Mormon.  He had a lot of questions that we were able to answer with scriptures in the Book of Mormon.  He was shocked we had all of the answers in that book and is sooo excited to read it.  He is also really interested in our modern day Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and said he was going to look up some general conference talks on the internet.  He understands the gravity of baptism, and said that if he really comes to know these things are true, and that this is the path God wants for him, he will absolutely get baptized and we know he will ABSOLUTELY recieve his answer!! I got his contact information and a picture with him because I want to keep in touch and come back for his baptism!  It is pretty cool the kind of opportunities we get just as two americans walking around, a lot of people are intersted in what we are doing here, English classes, and some people are from the US!  Elder Cherrington and I on divisions the other day ended up meeting a lady from San Antonio who contacted us in the streets and she has an American hamburger business.

Elder Johnson and I also learned a very important lesson this week.  Yesterday, we were sitting in our house after church and a little bored.  We had ordered Alonzo's mexican style pizza the night before and had some leftovers... We both admitted to each other that we've always wanted to put a piece of pizza in the blender... so.... WILL IT SMOOTHIE??  We took a pretty awesome video, we added some milk and blended that Mexican Style pizza right up.  It was a GREAT idea!!  Anticipating the experience, we both took a huge gulp of the pizza smoothie.  Elder Johnson bit into a pepper seed and started throwing up.  I felt the texture in my mouth, and it was pretty spicy, and had to run to the bathroom.  I threw up too, but it was such a great lesson.  WILL IT SMOOTHIE?  NO!!!!  I am glad we could try it so you guys don't have to.  Maybe my mom can include the video below.

So it was a little sad saying bye to everyone.  Sunday was fun being with everyone in the ward, we got some funny pictures and I gave my facebook to everyone.  My last meal the ward fed me were hamburgers which were awesome, and I will miss the Garcia family, the ones who fed us.  When Martha found out I was leaving, she cried, and was sad.  Same with the Almas.  Esteban tried to change his P-Day to today so we could come and visit him and he could make me a birthday cake but it didn't work out.  He basically told me that if I ever needed anything to call him and he is always there for me.  Wow, I have been so blessed with such loving and supporting friends just in my first 3 months in the field!  I feel like some of these people are family to me already and will miss them dearly.  It has been especially cool giving out little HLJ (CTR) rings to the little kinds along with little toys and candy my mom sent me.  That was the best idea ever.  The little kids loved me just like all my awesome cousins back home, and I love them so much.  I will always miss and love the little kids of the area.  Tonight we are going with Martha and so I will give some stuff to her granddaughters, and then one last visit with the Almas.  

So... this whole experience has been really humbling.  I've learned that I can't really expect anything on my mission, what my area will be like, what my companion will be like, or how long I will stay there.  All of that I put my trust in the Lord and my mission president.  I also just expected all of the baptism dates to go through when I first got here.  I have learned that though we have found some pretty cool people, they will get baptized in their and the Lord's own time.  It may not be while I am here in this area, or even in my mission.  But I know they will get baptized one day, and I was part of the conversion process, in fact, I found them!  I am also pretty confident we will have a lot of baptisms coming in this area from the hard work of Elder Johnson and I that I hope I can come back for.  All of these things have really helped me to be more humble and just love and serve the people.  Also, my mission has helped me to accept changes.  I have always been soo scared of changes in life.  Scared to go into High School, scared for basketball season and my senior year to end, scared for my friends to move on and go into college, and scared to go on my mission.  I was scared to leave the CCM and was scared when I found out I was leaving this area.  I guess I have always been worried about losing old memories, friends, and relationships as I move on to the different stages of life.  I grow comfortable and I grow to love the people I am surrounded by, and when I have to separate from them, it is a little sad.  However there has been a common theme in it all.  There have ALWAYS been new, but fun, awesome, and loving experiences and people everywhere I go in life.  There have ALWAYS been things I can find happiness in, and what is stopping me from finding the same exact things in my next area?  I have also noticed that my strongest relationships and memories are always still there and will always be there for the rest of my life.

So yeah, I miss my family and friends back home.  I miss basketball season every year, my awesome teammates and coaches, and playing alongside my best, life-long friends.  Yeah, I miss driving to Oatman with my friends at 3 in the morning, late night surprise pool parties to wake my parents up. and doing awesome things like running over our feet with our cars, and cliff diving everywhere we could.  I miss making funny videos with them and just laughing and hanging out everyday for the whole summer.  Yeah I miss all of the family reunions and vacations, staying up all night laughing and telling stories, playing games and ping pong tournaments.  I miss and love ALL of my aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents, and everyone who has ever been there for me and all of the memories we have made together.  I miss snuggling with my sweet, cute, sisters in bed when I had a hard day or just needed to relax, and often singing them a silly song to get them hyper before bed.  I even miss driving Lindsey to seminary and school every morning where I was often tired and grumpy and just blasted my 21 pilots.  I really have some AWESOME sisters.  I miss snowboarding and fishing trips with my best buddy, my Dad, going hometeaching with him, and watching and cheering on the best team in the NBA- The San Anotnion Spurs, even though I was really mad when they lost.  I miss late night shopping trips with my mom, and coming home from a bad day and telling her all my worries and troubles, and I miss the love she ALWAYS had for me and how she was willing to do ANYTHING for me just to make me happy.  I love you Mom.  I miss and love all of you who have impacted my life and help me become who I am.  I have even realized I miss the CCM and my district there, seeing Esteban everyday, and I know I will miss walking in the streets of Mexico with Johnson, my mission Dad, even though I had no idea what was going on sometimes and no one would accept us some days.  But despite all of this, I still have those memories and relationships.  I am glad my mission isn't over, because I have SO much ahead that I don't even know.  I have companions, areas, memebers, and investigators who need me and need Jesus Christ.  I have memories to make, people to love, and a Heavenly Father to serve.  So I am excited.  I am excited for changes, excited for the future, because I know it is full of opportunities and blessings that I can't even understand yet.  I know my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me, and love all of Their children.  I am so greatful for all of the things I have learned and for the man Heavenly Father is helping me to become on my mission.  I will humbly and dilligently serve him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength for the rest of my mission to do the work that he KNOWS I can do.  I know this church is true, that Jesus Christ lives, and we ALL have a very important work/ responsibility.  I love, miss, and appreciate you all so much, like always, and will keep you in my prayers.  Til next week!

-Elder Clark

1 More Week in Training!!

Hey Mom and Everyone!!

I will keep it short this week since I have a lot of emails to catch up on and not too much happened.  I will try to get to everyone again today, but if not, I know I will have more time next week since we can't go anywhere for P-Day.  I hope you all know that even though I can't always respond super long or for a lot of time, I absolutely love and appreciate all of the emails and I love printing them out and reading them throughout the week, it really strengthens me to know that I have such supportive family and friends and I would love to take some time to thank all of you but the truth is I have a more important work I have to be focused on.

Well, this last Tuesday we had our last meeting together as a whole zone, they are some cool guys, and we got some funny pictures.  As you heard I got to see Allison at the temple which was sooo awesome!  I had the best birthday ever!!!  I can't believe I am 19 now, thanks so much for the birthday packages and letters, and I guess my birthday will last as long as it takes for the last few letters to get here!  I got my mom's package from home this week with an awesome Spurs tie which I have been wearing.  Hopefully it brings good luck to the best team in the NBA!  We've been going to the gym everyday still which feels great, and I got some protein so hopefully I can get bigger now!  This week we went on a shopping trip for some groceries and it was weird shopping for myself... I miss my mom lol.  We also had the makeup birthday party for Johnson... it was weird having a birthday party for him on my birthday but I guess that is how he felt too haha.  The Almas also surprised me with a birthday cake which was super cool and they made me smash my face into it.  After we helped serve them and cleaned up their upstairs which is where their millions of dogs live.  We cleaned up the place and are building a dog house on Tuesday!  It was actually pretty fun!  They are some cool people, I will miss them.

This week we found a family of about 15 who are super cool!! We helped them make tamales one day, and they are really interested in what we have to say.  We are actually going back with them tonight and hopefully can help them come to church and be baptized!!  We are working hard, but it is still really hard for our investigators to come to church at 8:00 and they can't get baptized without coming.  We will see what happens, for now we are just praying and working hard to help all the people we can.  I am trying to find joy in the work.

Yesterday we had the opportunity of going to the temple and listening the President Russell M. Nelson speak.  What an experience that was!! Since I have been on my mission, listening to apostles and prophets have a whole nother meaning and power, and it really is cool.  I felt inspired by him to be a better person and missionary, and feeling his spirit there was just so strong.  Also seeing his love for the little children gave me a glimpse of the kind of love Heavenly Father has for all of us and his children.  He really does love us and wants to bless us!! All we have to do is ask through faith and show him we are willing to work for him.  When we make mistakes, and we will, we always know that Heavenly Father's forgiveness is unchanging and through Jesus Christ we can be forgiven and be perfected. 

Well, for the most part I am well.  My birthday really was amazing and I can't thank you guys enough for all of the love and support.  I must admit though, as my training is ending I am pretty nervous.  I really am scared for changes, and I don't want to leave my area.  I think I will be able to handle a new companion, and am excited for a spanish speaker, but I don't feel like I am ready to leave my area yet, I love the people here and feel a responsibility to help them more. I also know that God has a plan for me and I am willing to go where he wants me to go, I know that if he knows I can do it, I can do it, even through the hard times.  Love and miss you guys as always,

Elder Clark

(If you have a hard time viewing the videos from a mobile device, you may have to use a computer.  For some reason, some people cant view the videos on mobile devices.  Not really sure why.)

Baptism, Temple, Birthday, Oh My!

Dear Mom and Everyone,

(I posted a touching video of Tyler and his cousin Allison meeting at the tempe at the bottom of this page)

Wow, this last week and a half has been amazing!! I am not even sure what the highlights were really, but I will try to describe some of the experiences as best as I can with just words.    On Saturday, Esteban called me and told me Allison was going to the temple this Wednesday again!!  I was sooo pumped I couldn’t believe it.  I called my President and he gave us permission to change our P-Day and go and that is why I am emailing today, and I got to see Allison today!  It was a little stressful because we couldn't really communicate and I was just going on the one phone call and the hope she would be there.  We also barely got there on time, and there were 130 missionaries in the temple!  I saw her for a second in the chapel of the temple, and then they said they had to split our session and the CCM session up, so ours was 30 minutes later.  Nonetheless, it all worked out, after my session I walked outside and surprised Allison, she was crying because she had thought I already left or something, but it was really fun and cool the see eachother.  I also passed down the FMP (Family Missionary Pistachio).  It is a very special pistachio that only missionaries or returned missionaries of our family can have.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to see her, it was kind of like Christmas Eve night last night, I had a hard time sleeping because I was so anxious and excited to see her, and also it was my birthday today!  I am especially greatful for my companion, Esteban, and my mission President who helped make it possible, and especially God who continues to work miracles in my life each and every day.  He really does love and bless his missionaries so much.   Also Esteban told me that he wants to make me a birthday cake so we will have to find a P-Day to go over there soon!  My birthday has been so special and awesome already!

So last Monday, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings!!! That made me so happy, I remember walking around the corner and seeing the BWW sign… I almost broke out in tears of joy, I was finally home.  Okay it wasn’t that emotional, but it was pretty darn awesome, we got some pictures with the buffalo wild wings sign, and got seated with our menus.  The Buffalo Wild Wing’s mascot was even there too so we all got pictures with him!  The food was delicious, just how I remembered it, but they didn’t take my American gift card smh.  Oh well, it made me so happy being there, and I hope I can go back a few more times on my mission!  I decided I will have to do the Blazin Challenge at the end of my mission to see how tough my mouth got.  I also found out there is a six flags here in Mexico City… But we don’t have permission to go lol.

Anyways, this whole week we were really just focused on preparing for the baptism.  We did end up contacting and visiting a bunch of people, but it was hard to juggle everything this week.   I did end up getting the Frank Family’s birthday package!!  That was super exciting, I really had no idea what was in it, and it was sure a surprise opening it!  The splat ball and the Minion’s coloring book are sweet, and a bunch of other little funny gifts which made me really happy.  I even got Massaman Curry!!! YESSSS.  On Wednesday, we had a big zone meeting with a few zones around us and the Mission President.  It was an awesome meeting, and also I got to meet up with Elder Boyer, Metcalf, and Jorgenson from the CCM!  I actually miss the CCM lol, I was looking at pictures the other night, and it was so much fun there.  Somewhere I won’t ever be again as a missionary.  Elder Boyer and I found out our areas border, and next cycle we will have to do some more things together on P-Day!  Also, I got my family’s package at the meeting.  It was huge, everyone said it was the biggest package they had ever seen and it really made me happy.  I protected it like it was my baby on the way home, and safely arrived.  I am sooo excited to have a blender now, I have been making smoothies every morning (peanut butter-banana, guyaba-banana) And I hope to go shopping soon to try out some other smoothies!  Also the Electric Razor is sweet, it really “shaves” a lot of time in the morning.   I have downloaded a ton of conference talks, especially Elder Holland talks on my flashdrive, so for companionship study, Elder Johnson and I have been listening to sweet conference talks, and snacking on my pistachios/popcorn in my fam’s package! The Conference Talk- Safety for the Soul by Elder Holland gets us so pumped up everytime we listen and we want to share it with our investigators too.  I really think it might be the greatest conference talk of all time.  

My first baptism was amazing.  Wendy was super excited and prepared.  The morning of her baptism, we went over to the church to clean and fill the font.  To our surprise, we found that the whole church was without water… ANYWHERE!  Well, quoting Elder Johnson, “I guess it wouldn´t be a baptism if there wasn´t something that went wrong!” We felt like we should get on our knees and pray for help that this will work out and the baptism will go smoothly.  Johnson also had this same problem earlier on his mission, him and his companion prayed, expecting it to immediately get fixed, but they both got the same idea- buckets.  So for the next 3 hours they filled the baptismal font with buckets.  This time, we were a little more fortunate though, we didn´t get the prompting of buckets, but rather just to call our bishop and stake leaders to help us figure it out lol.  So we made a few phone calls and got some help at the church.  They ordered a huge truck, basically a fire truck, to come fill the empty tank with a hose just a few hours before the baptism!  It was close, but we ended up filling the font in time.  (Plus it was pretty fun climbing down into the water tank and taking pictures haha).  So we spent the whole day making sure everything went smoothly, getting baptismal clothes, printing out programs, and making all of the phone calls, I guess that is just how baptism days are, and it was well worth it.  Everyone showed up, to font was hot (enough… not really hot), and we were good to go!  It was really awesome from the speakers, the musical numbers us missionaries did, and then I got to do the baptism!  I was actually really nervous, but being all dressed in white made me feel sooo happy and so clean.  We took some pictures before, and then we went down into the font and I baptized her!  I ended up getting her all the way under the first time, saying the write words, and pronouncing her name right, but I guess it wouldn´t really be my first baptism if I didn´t do something wrong… When I was baptizing her, I hit her head on the faucet… ouch.  I felt really bad and kind of embarrassed but she is fine, and everyone had a good laugh about it.   The important part is that the Spirit was there, and that it was.  I remember just feeling so content and peaceful and I remembered D &C  18:15 “[If ye shall] bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy”.  It really was true, I was just so happy, it felt as though every single day of hard work I had been doing, since the CCM, has paid off.  “How great will be your joy if ye shall bring many souls unto me!” (D&C 18:16).  Here is to one baptism, and many more to come!  Also, Wendy says she wants to serve a mission, so she could be on a mission the same time as me and all of her converts could basically be my converts!  That would be amazing, we will keep working with her to strengthen her testimony.

Well, we found out M has more problems than we thought, so that was kind of disappointing and she was really excited for baptism, but it will still be a while.   Also, being realistic, we have probably 5 investigators who can for sure get baptized next cycle if we focus on them and get them to come to church.  Having a lot of baptism dates was good, and we will still try to get more each week, but we decided to really just focus on helping the ones who are ready and excited for baptism- E, F, her daughter V, A, and her husband, M.   We will keep trying to work with our others like F and his family,  some of the people in Las Vias, but they aren’t quite as willing and prepared as some of the other people.  Nonetheless, my training has been awesome and I can’t believe it is almost over!  Time sure has been flying lately, it is crazy, I almost am at 4 months! Pretty soon I will be at 6, skyping my family again, and an experienced missionary!  My Spanish is coming along awesome! I am ready for a latino companion, or whoever I am supposed to get, and am excited to see what the future holds, although I would still love to stay with Elder Johnson and this area for as long as the Lord will allow me.  My taco count is up to 45 now!  

Funny or interesting things that happened this week.  While we have been contacting houses, Elder Johnson and I have been playing the "Word Game" where we just give eachother words, and we have to use that word while the contact the people.  It has made it really fun and exciting to contact, and really funny too.  Some of the funniest ones have been pizza, where I told someone that pizza makes me really happy, and so does the gospel and I want to share this happiness with you.  Also I gave Elder Johnson oatmeal, he started by saying, we have a question, do you like oatmeal?  She suspiciously said no.... and then Elder Johnson said, well how do you know?  She said because I have tasted it!  He explained to her that she has to taste or try out or message and we promise her that she will like it lol.  Some of the other funny ones were tire, flower, and wall.  Also, Elder Russel M. Nelson is coming to Mexico so one Sunday we are going to the temple again to see him!  This last Sunday was kind of interesting, the bishops daughter, an 8 year old girl was our sacrament meeting pianist.  Yes! 8 years old! I never realized how much needed a calling like the ward pianist would be down here, no one plays piano!

Well I hope you guys are all well, it sure feels great being 19!  Thank you guys so much for all the packages, letters, love, and support, it means so much to me.  Whenever I feel sad or like no one really cares about me down here, I just think of all my awesome family and friends back home cheering me on, and it motivates me a lot.  Love and miss you guys!!!  

-Elder Clark

Hola

 Mucho Trabajo!

Hola Everyone!!

One of the highlights of my last week?  Going to Walmart.  I'm serious too, last P-Day we went to a shopping mall and there was a Walmart right outside of it.  We got Krispy Kreme donuts which were amazing, walked about the mall, and ate KFC in the foodcourt!  Then we went to Walmart and wow I felt like I was just right back home again!  It was actually kind of a tender mercy and made me really happy to see all of the things I used to get back home.  I have realized that Mexico has the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor and it is all clumped together.  Over by that mall and walmart it is super nice and then where most of the people live is super poor and I guess Nezahualcoytl (the city I am in) is the biggest ghetto in the World!  Anyways, at Walmart it was really nice to buy a few of the things I have been craving and missing.  I got poptarts, ranch dressing, and peanut butter!!!  That was the best decision I ever made.  Bananas are really cheap here, I can buy 7 bananas for 50 cents!  So my snack I have eaten every single day this week was bananas with peanut butter and it is sooo good. I eat about 4 bananas a day haha, and I have been trying to eat healthier since we haven't missed a day in the gym for 3 weeks. It is a great snack!  Also at the gym we go to, the guy who owns it really likes us because we are consistent at coming, and has basically been our trainer.  He is super short and funny and super buff too so he has been showing us all the workouts to do everyday and it feels super good to work out.  I will have to get a picture with our trainer soon haha. 

So this week was a little hard, and I am not really sure why.  I think I have been a little stressed too with everyone we are teaching, and I was pretty bummed out because I don't think I will be able to work out a temple trip with Allison.  It is hard when you can only communicate once a week!  But, I just kept going and we just kept working hard through it all.  Really we have had a ton of success this week.  We actually got up to 15 baptism dates and we aren't even teaching a family!  They are all individual households!  Even after Sunday where no one really came again we still have 13 which is insane, Johnson has never had that many his whole mission.  He told me we might even be leading the whole mission which is pretty cool.  And everyone is super cool and really want to get baptized!  They all know it is true, love when we visit, and read the book of mormon!  Since we have really been stressing baptism as a blessing, everyone is so excited to get baptized.  Literally the only problem with our investigators is they can't come to church.  We have prayed and fasted for them and I guess they just have their own agency.  It is also hard for them to get up and get ready to come at 8 o'clock which is when our services start, even the members are late every week!  That is something we discussed in ward council and we might move it to 9 which would be nice because people here don't have that much discipline anyways.  So Elder Johnson and I were both talking and venting after church, and we really have been blessed with a ton of success.  Especially because we have a baptism this week with W.  She has been like perfect, our first appointment with her, we put a baptism date.  She has read the book of mormon and come to church ever since then and she is going to get baptized the exact date we set with her!! That is crazy because that never happens here.   I thought all of our baptism dates would be like that, but truth is, we have to move everyone's even further back every week.  We had to move M's back too because she is still working on smoking but I am convinced she can stop by the 18th and that is when she will finally get baptized after working with the missionaries for the last 2 years!  That will be so awesome and she will get baptized with her granddaughter.  We do have a lot to look forward to, and all of our investigators who we have dates with will eventually get baptized, because they are ready, but it might not be with Elder Johnson and I.  One day they will all be converts of Elder Johnson and I, and since we introduced them to the Gospel which is still awesome.  I read a scripture this week that the sowers and the reapers will rejoice together for their success so I guess our job was to be the sowers and plant seeds in everyone's lives and family.  I still have some time in this area though so I will keep working hard to prepare these people!!  

So there were a lot of tender merices this week, every single day even when it was hard.  Peanut Butter and Bananas has always been something I look forward to everyday.  Elder Cherrington is going home soon and doesn't really play much anyways so he sold me his guitar this week too for just 300 pesos! (15 dollars)  That was really awesome so now I have a guitar and I am going to start trying to learn more songs and read music!  I also reached my 100th day this week!!!  100 down, only 600 more to go!!! Wooooooo!  Also one night we had been walking forever and just super tired and hungry.  We were looking for a reference that we recieved and the streets in that part of the area are just super confusing, literally not even the people living there knew where to point us and just told us that the streets were super confusing.  We even asked a member who had been living there for 40 years and he had no idea!!  It was frustrating and we looked for 2 hours for a guy named K...  When we got to what we thought was his house, he wasn't even home, and it was a little frustrating.  On the way back home though, we found a hamburger stand... And not just any hamburger stand... I think this one was sent from Heaven.  It is right next to our house too so I don't know how we missed it before but he made the best Hawaiian burgers with pineapple, bacon, ham, and he even put hot dogs on it just like my Dad!  It was actually really cool, and was sooo good.  After I bit into that burger, all my energy came back and I was happy again.  Another tender mercy came after we just got finished talking to a guy who just wanted to bible bash us and kept trying to tell us we were wrong.  It was also after kind of a long day, and I just felt kind of down and homesick and just frustrated.  I got back to the house, got on my knees and prayed for about 20 or 30 minutes.  Then I read my patriarchal blessing, and all of my doubts, fears, heartaches, everything, just went away! It was really a cool and comforting feeling and the power of a patriarchal blessing is real.  I felt satisfied with my work and I know Heavenly Father was too.  After that I just felt peaceful and calm and happy.  So there really have been a lot of tender mercies this week, and I know there are in all of our lives.  Whenever we are having a hard day, or week just try to look for the "silver lining'' and stay positive.  We have so much to be grateful for and I am especially grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission.

So in the end, all is well.  I am just chugalugliggin along and taking it day by day.  I asked Elder Johnson if he has reached the point where he doesn't miss home and doesn't want to go home yet.  He gave me a really good answer and said that every day is different.  Some days you want to be anywhere else in the world, but then some days you really love it here and being a missionary, and never want to go home.  It really is true, everyday is so different and full of surprises, and I really have learned I can't expect anything or predict how people will react to our message until we just have to faith to share it and invite them to baptism.  It really is a ton easier when you have faith and are willing to work hard.  So I will keep working hard, and take it a day at a time, because tomorrow or this week could be and probably will be the best and happiest time of my life.  Also Elder Johnson ans I have been studying the teachings of Joseph Smith from the teachings of the prophets and that is such an awesome book, there is so much we can learn from the prophets and so much to learn in this life!  On my mission my greatest desire has been to prepare my life, my family, and help others prepare for the Second Coming of Christ because there, we can live forever in happiness with our family and loved ones if we just stay faithful in this life and do everything we can.  Joseph Smith went through so many trials and said that we have to go through those trials and struggles to achieve the celestial glory one day.  So I am grateful for my trials and heartaches in my life so I can learn from them and progress and one day be happy forever with my eternal family.  Just that knowledge is keeping me on a mission because I want to share that with everyone.

Well we are going to take the zombie apocolypse metro to Buffalo Wild Wings right now and I am so pumped! I will tell you guys how BWWs was next week!  Remember to look for the tender mercies!  I love and miss you all, have a great week!!!

-Ya boi, Elder Clark