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