Put Your Shoulder the the Wheel, Push Along!

Hey everyone!!

I remembered singing put your shoulder to the wheel with my friends on our cruise this last summer and I thought it would be a great title for this weeks email!  There is literally sooooo much work here!! We have been recieving and contacting a lot of references from members, finding lots of new investigators and the work is just great!! Almost too great... haha.  Since our area is so big we have to take a TON of combis now.  It is great that we have a ton of investigators, but we are always running around now, taking combis, and don´t have too much time to study throughout the day, which is good though.  I wouldn´t really want it any other way, especially because we have 2 for sure baptisms coming up before the end of this cycle, and many more planned for the future! I am pumped.  On April 7 we will be baptizing a 14 year old boy named Yael.  He lives super far away, but is really awesome, he understands the Gospel really well and his friend Diego brings him to church.  I am also teaching him English (A lot of people are more accepting and willing to listen and keep our commitments when I offer them English classes for some reason...).  Then we are baptizing a 45 year old man named Henry on April 8.  Yes, the same Henry the first week I was here I prayed to find someone we could teach in the area book, and his named popped up.  His wife is already a member, and I am so glad we could find them.  We are still having a lot of progress with all of our other investigators like Ramiro (another 40 year old man, whose wife is already a member.  We are actually going to the visitors center of the temple tomorrow with him and I am excited for that!!), Alejandra, a 19 year old girl who we contacted one of my first weeks here, Guadalupe, and more!!  I have even felt a little stressed and overwhelmed this week on some nights because there is just so much to do and so many people to worry about.  I feel like I have taken more of a lead role too, now that my Spanish is pretty solid and I can communicate with everyone, I have to organize appointments, call them to see how they are doing, lead the planning sessions, and pray for them to know what they need.  It is definitely more responsibility but I feel more satisfaction too.  More responsibility=more blessings!  I can´t imagine how the Prophet must feel!  It is a great and marvelous work though, the Lord and The Spirit are definitely guiding and leading the work here in Atlicpac, and I am putting my shoulder to the wheel and pushing along!

So with sister Ramos and her mountain of dog poop and millions of dogs... The elders and high priests all went over there one day, we were really busy, but they took our the huge pile of dog poop we accumulated last week, and they actually got rid of almost all of the 36 dogs, except for 4 that she insisted on keeping.  I guess all of her dogs they took away were put down too, they were just too poor and suffering and there are millions of dogs to go around here in Mexico.  We went to visit her the next day, and she was pretty sad about her dogs, but it is muuuch better for her.  It is a lot cleaner, less work for her, and she already looks a lot better.  We will keep helping her. 

A few days this week we went with sister Conception (Yeah, it is actually a common name here...)  She is a 74 year old woman who LOVES the missionary work.  Wow, she is such a huge blessing in our lives.   We go over there, and she takes us around to ALL of her friends and people she knows, and we have a lot of success with her!  We even taught a drunk guy who lives next door to her I think, I didn´t know how much he was understanding, but he surprised us both by showing up to church on Sunday!  We met with him again, and I was determined to help him change his life and come unto Christ.  He told us he was willing to change, and said that we are angels sent from Heaven in his life.  How cool it was to meet him, his name is José and I hope we can keep working well with him.  

This week was really fast but really awesome too!  I think Elder Lopez thought I was a little weird when I was super excited for weekly planning session.  I had cleaned and mopped the floors in the morning, organized my desk, and we started weekly planning for our mountain of investigators.  I could feel the Spirit strongly influencing the planning session, and it felt so good to think and oragnize each one of them, I felt so happy.  It just makes me feel really good to organize and feel like everything is under control haha.  We also had a zone conference this week which was great! I got to see some of my old friends like Elder Marker, Metcalf, Fitzgerald, Robinson, and Lara!!  It was great to see those guys, but also great to see President and Mama Stutz!! Pres gave an awesome lesson about monster trucks, specifically Grave Digger, and made me think of the few times I went to some monster truck shows with my Dad and Grandpa back in Houston and how I was concernced for the people in the school bus that they ran over haha.  Good thing we have the Plan of Salvation so the lives sacrificed in the monster truck shows aren´t in vain.  I also got 3 more birthday letters from Tara and Joey, Grandpa and Grandma, and the Kellis family!! I give God thanks every single morning and night for such a wonderful, awesome, supportive, and BEST family IN THE WORLD!! I miss you and my friends a lot, but I am loving the work too and the time is going by super fast.  In fact, I reached 5 months out here on Saturday!! How crazy is that??

Well I am doing pretty great.  Not a ton of interesting stuff happened this week, but I hope my email was still interesting.  I will try to have more adventures and memories this week.  I have been eating a lot of street tacos this week though, I think my count is at 83 or something... I am also very healthy too thankfully.  I made some pretty bomb breakfast smoothies this week with bananas, citrus juice, and one of my favorite fruits down here, mangos!! They are sooo good.  I also started a GIGANTIC book titled La Historia de la Iglesia en la Cumplimiento do los Tiempos.  It is a huge book about the History of the church and Joseph Smith which I have learned to grow a huge fascination for in my mission.  It took Elder Lopez 9 months to finish it, and he as already a Spanish speaker so I will see if I can finish it by the end of my mission.  I am also super excited for General Conference this week!! Although it will be in Spanish, and I it will be sad to not hear the voices of some of my favorite speakers, hearing from Apostles and Prophets of God has taken on a whole new meaning since I got here in the mission.  Be sure to send me links of all your favorite confernce talks this conference so I can download and listen to them as I get ready in the morning! (One of my favorite things I have started doing lately).  Have an awesome week everyone, and HAPPY CONFERENCE!!

-Elder Clark

P.S.  I ate something this week that looked a lot like brain.  I will open and willing to try it, it was actually at a party for a homecoming of an elder, so it must be some kind of celebratory food or something, but man, it was probably the hardest thing I had to eat.  The good thing was we were at a party so I could eat what I wanted or could and we left.  I have done pretty good and enjoyed almost all of the food down here, but this was just horrible, pretty bad, and hard to get down.  It made it even worse that we had to take a combi right after, and my stomach was really struggling, BUT I am happy to announce, I didn´t throw up!!  Have a great week!

It´s Raining Blessings! Haleluiah!!

Hola Everyone!!

It is been an awesome and fast week.  I´m happy to report that the bed bugs have not bitten me once, we even found a dead bed bug wrapped inside the shrink wrap!  Success!!  One of the highlights this week was the baptism for Sergio worked out!!  His wife called us last Monday night and told us that she wants to have the baptism for Sergio this Saturday (Yeah she is really the boss, whatever she says, goes).  So we did everything we could and had the baptism this last Saturday!!  I must admit though, it was a little rough and stressful, and I guess every baptism has it´s problems, Satan is just working really hard on those days.  Even though I wanted to make it ourselves, Elder Lopez insisted that we ask the Ward Missionaries to organize, and make the program.  I should´ve followed my feeling, I felt like it was just another group school project all over again, and I´ve learned enough there that if I wanted something done right and on time, I had to do it all myself.  Well, we put our trust in the Ward Missionaries.  We also let some other Elders borrow our keys to have their baptism earlier that day, and they said they would come back to return them to us before our baptism.  Well, the time for the baptism  came, the Elders didn´t show up with our keys, and we couldn´t get a hold of our Ward Missionaries.  Sergio, Guadalupe, and their family started showing up, and we just couldn´t get into the church.  I was embarrassed, frustrated, and even a little angry, more than anything I just felt bad for Sergio for the lack of support on this special day.  We called the Relief Society President in panic to come help us, and she was our savior.  She was super busy, yet she dropped everything came and opened the church, and provided all of the missing support we needed.  I heard they ONLY call THE BEST women to be Relief Society Presidents these days haha.  I guess in the end, it worked out, we organized a program really fast with a member of the bishopric, and started the baptism late, but the important part was that he was baptized, and the Spirit was definitely there.  He bore is testimony and the end and was just so happy.  Once again, I was so happy to bring another Child of God into His kingdom.  I was a little embarrassed and felt bad for Sergio, but he didn´t seem to mind.  Although I was a little frustrated with several people, Esteban, another angel in my mission, called me and helped me feel a lot better.  He told me it is better to animate our ward missionaries instead of get angry and discourage them.  He told me I am a great missionary.  I know he will be my life long friend.  Even though I am going to take more charge the next baptism, organize it better, and make our own programs, I felt a little more content and relief, and just grateful that we could have his baptism.

The rest of the week heading up to the baptism was awesome too!!  We are starting to pick up a TON of momentum.  Just like my last area, when I got here, we only had 1 baptism date set.  Now we have about 8, and they are all coming to church!! Everyone is super excited to hear from us and wants to learn more, it is awesome, and now there is SOO much work.  Our area is seriously huge so we have to take a ton of combis and we have appointments all day everyday.  It is a great work for sure, and is being directed by God himself.  I am so happy with all the success we have and am pretty confident we will have a lot of baptisms in this area.  

Also this week we did a lot of service.  We had a big zone car wash which was super fun.  Someone brought a football to throw around and I definitely miss the big family Superbowl in the Frank´s backyard over Spring Break.  It was fun to talk with some of the other guys in our zone too, and half of our generation (my district from the CCM) is in our zone!  I also have been talking a lot more with an Elder named Elder Robinson, he is from Virginia.  He is super cool and funny and told me he would love me as his comp one day.  He likes the Spurs too so we had fun talking basketball as we held up signs in the street for people to come to our FREE CAR WASH!!!  It was a lot of fun and laughed a lot.  Also we did service for the peach lady, sister Ramos.  We went up to the top floor where 13 of her 36 dogs live, and I don´t think that thing has been cleaned since Nephi and his family left Jerusalem.  There was a whole stone house where the ENTIRE floor was covered in 4 inches of solid dog poop.  It was disgusting and probably some of the worst smells I ever smelt in my life.  I almost threw up several times... But we used a pick axe and shovels and scraped up the entire layer of dog poop.  I think we are planning another service project to get it all out of there, but if it were up to my, I would just move that lady out of her house, and tear it all down, it is just a mess.  But we are doing our best to find a solution for her and for her to be happy so I guess that is all that matters.  It was kind of weird too, even though it was probably the grosest and hardest service I have ever done in my life, I found joy in doing it and was happy!  Taking pictures was fun too and our zone leaders, Tristan and Vazquez were there, we have a lot of fun together.

Well in all honesty,  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!  This week especially I have really felt more adjusted to the missionary life, speaking Spanish, the food, and everything.  I love every part of it.  I found a nice spot to get a nice, grilled Hawaiin burger this week which was amazing, and my taco count is approaching 70!  It still doesn´t sound like that much though, I got to pick it up.  I have been making some bomb smoothies with my blender this week, and I even made my own pancakes one night!  How independent!  I am ALMOST Chef Esteban level... almost...  We continue to go to the gym almost every day, and I have seen a lot of progress actually haha.  I also decided I need to start running, and Elder Lopez motivated me, so I am starting to run everyday on the treadmill after I lift weights.  It feels super good to exercise hard every morning, and by night I am pooped! (Especially when we have to clean up dog poop all day too).  I have survived the rain storms this week thanks to my rain coat which I have to carry around now, and we celebrated Elder Lopez´s 20th birthday with cake and tacos!  We also went to the temple on Saturday for one of Lopez´s old converts which was really cool, I love the temple and how I feel there.  I also got to see Elder Johnson, doesn´t sound like our old investigators have been able to come to church yet though... bummer. 

This week we also went to visit a super poor family, who just has a baby 17 days ago.  Wow, if I have learned anything on my mission it is that you really don´t need money to be happy.  Sure you can have fancy cars, houses, cell phones, and clothes, but when I saw this super humble and poor family and their new born little baby, they were just filled with happiness and joy.  I also couldn´t help but think that that little baby was with our Heavenly Father just a few days before.  My mission sure has been humbling, exciting, funny, heartbreaking, and some of the most joy I have ever felt, sometimes all in the same day!! But I truly must admit, I am finding so much joy in serving and I know this is where I am supposed to be.  I know Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father love us and I am sharing their love with everyone I can.  I LOVE this mission, the best mission in the world, and the time has been flying by.  Until next week family and friends, miss and love you all!! 

P.S.  I hope my March Madness brackets are doing good, and GO SPURS!

-Elder Clark

Oh, Todo Está Bien!

Hey Mom and Everyone!

This week has been super fast!  I can't believe I am coming up on 5 months now We just had my birthday cake and lunch over at Esteban's!  I am not even exaggerating, he has the BEST food!  He made some steak that was super good, french fries, guacamole, and a bowl of cheese all from scratch!  He also made a homeade pina colada, and it was amazing!  The best pina colada I have ever had. Wow it was sooo good, and then we had my birthday cake!  The bottom layer was brownie from scratch, then it was an italian cheesecake from scratch, and he put some pecans, cherries, and a chocolate drizzle on top (Which you can find on his Instagram).  I felt like I was at the cheesecake factory, or even better!  I guess the 5 years of cooking school really payed off.  Plus it was so nice to talk to him he is just the coolest guy.  I am sooo glad I got to go to his house, it made me feel so happy, and I will have to make a trip over to his house every once in a while.  I feel like Esteban is my uncle or something, he is so funny and is kest friend on my mission.  I told him he would have to come visit me in the United States someday and I would show him around.  I am so grateful for him in my life.

Anyways, this week was pretty good.  I don't think I wrote about her last week but there is this lady names sister Maru Rama, I like to refer to her as the peach lady.  My first day here we went to visit her.  It is kind of sad, she has NO family to take care of her, she lives alone with 36, YES 36 DOGS!!  She used to have 50 but since then they have died off.  She is in her 60s or 70s I think, doesn't have very much money and is struggling a lot right now.  She absolutely LOVES when we come over and usually has a super long story to tell us and we sing her a hymn because she loves hymns.  We offered to bring her some fruit the first visit with her, because she can only eat fruit and vegetables.  We were listing off fruit to see what she likes and when we said peaches, she starting licking her lips and making a funny noise.  It was super funny and so we went to buy her some canned peaches and other fruit that she likes.  So this week it was really sad... She fell down her stairs, broke some bones in her arm and is all scratched up.  Luckily she was able to make it to the hospital but when we went to go visit her Saturday, I just felt soo bad for her.  She told us her story, as normal, and we sang to her "Oh Todo Está Bien" or Come, Come Ye Saints.  While we were singing the hymn tears just started streaming down her cheeks.  The spirit was so strong and my whole heart was sad, but also happy for her.  After the hymn, she said she was just filled with gratitude, that all is well, and she is so greatful she is still living and can still walk.  I really wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad, but I really just wanted to give her a big hug.  What a humble lady, and what a humble experience.  We organized a service project with all of the men in the ward to go and clean up her house this Wednesday!  

So yeah, there were a few dissapointments this week.  The baptism fell with Sergio... His wife just called us one day saying that Sergio is not ready for baptism and she wasn't going to be accepting us anymore.  We were kind of shocked and didn't know what happened, we have been knocking on her door, and even fasting for them, but so far we haven't been able to talk to her more.  I hope something changes with her.  Also with Javier, his parents won't sign his baptism papers until he his 18.  He wants to get baptized, and is already, we could even have his baptism this weekend, but we might have to wait until his birthday on April 29.  It is only next cycle, so I will probably still be here, but it would be nice to baptize him sooner.  I guess the Lord has his time for everything though.  It was pretty cool though, the same Henry that I found and prayed for in the area book last week, came to church again yesterday, and we were able to visit him and put a baptism date with him the beginning of April!! I am super excited for that and I am pretty sure he will get baptized.  I must admit, sometimes I still don't know what I am doing as a new missionary, but I am trying and working my hardest, and Heavenly Father is blessing me so much with success and tender mercies.

Another pretty cool miracle happened this week.  One morning we had an appointment with Alejandra, the super cool investigator who came to church last week and we just found by knocking on her door.  We called her a few times, and knocked on her door, but she just wasn't there.  We were dissapointed because we really wanted to answer some of her questions and doubts because she had come to church, but we didn't have much time to talk to her afterwards.  Well, we went back to the house to study, but we both got a powerful prompting.  Lopez told me we were going to pray specifically for her to answer her phone even though we had been calling her throughout the morning without an answer.  So we prayed, and then we called her, and I was fully expecting an answer this time.  Well, she answered, and said she had a little time right now, so we literally ran the half mile to her house, with our backpacks and missionary attire.  I guess I am pretty out of shape because I thought I was going to die and the elevation is a lot higher here, but it was well worth it.  We talked to her about some of her questions and about baptism too.  She said she will read the book of mormon, ask God, and keep coming to church to see if she should get baptized in our church, and that is all we can really ask her.  I continue to see miracles, prayers answered, and tender mercies every since day of my mission!  God is directing the work through His Spirit. 

Well, besides teaching people and the normal missionary work, I still made a lot of memories and had some fun times this week.  I went on divisions with Elder Tristan from Houston, Texas this week (though he only speaks Spanish).  It was fun to talk with him and an investigator gave us a face cleaning treatment.  Also, one day Elder Lopez and I were way up on the hill when it started pouring rain!  I had always secretely been hoping for a rainstorm out here because I love the rain, but after walking down the hill for 30 minutes in the pouring rain, we were both soaking wet, literally like we had just jumped in a swimming pool, and I think I got enough rain to last me the rest of my mission.  I guess I will have to start carrying around my rain coat if the rainy season is starting...  Also an older lady we teach has 3 cute grandkids that we visit often and read with them the book of mormon.  The grandkids can't read yet, but they listen, and draw pictures, and then explain the pictures to us after we read a chapter.  They are sometimes funny, but also pretty cool.  Some of the pictures got a little graphic when we read the story of Nephi getting the plates and having to kill Laban haha.

Well, I am preeeety good.  I am starting to love Elder Lopez and we are talking more.  He likes to run and it is easy to go to the gym every morning, and I think I might start running some days this week too.  He said he has ran a half marathon before!  He is really funny too, we laugh together a lot in the streets and we are working hard.  I am grateful for him and that we continue to grow our companionship.  I hope all of you guys are well back home, I still miss you lots and pray for you every day!  I love your emails and support and am truly so grateful for such wonderful family and friends back home.  Thanks so much and have an AMAZING week!!

-Elder Clark

Don´t Let The Bed Bugs Bite!!!

Dear Everyone,

Well, if you read the title of my email... yep... bed bugs in my new house.  The first day I got to my new area, we went to home depot, buy plastic, and some bed bug spray.  We took other precautions too like moving the bed away from the wall and putting the legs of our beds in buckets of water so the bed bugs can´t crawl up.  We wrapped our mattresses in plastic, air-tight, after spraying them with the bug spray like there was no tomorrow.  Yes, I used the ENTIRE bottle of bug spray just on my matress, I wasn´t about to let those beg bugs bite me!  Don´t worry, Elder Lopez, my new companion, bought his own bottle too.  I am happy to announce, I am bed bug free and now I have a cool story to tell all my kids!

So, I am here in my new area, called Atlipac in Los Reyes stake, with Elder Lopez.  He is from Puebla Mexico, which is about 2 hours away from here in a car haha.  He doesn´t speak English so it is ALL Spanish from here on out!!  It is kind of cool, helping my spanish a lot, and so many people are surprised how good my spanish is for only being here 3 months, one lady told me today she though I was a Mexican haha.  Anyways, our area is HUUUGEE.  We have a bunch of huge hills in our area, and sooo many people.  We could ride in a combi for an hour and still be in our area, some of our appointments are really far away.  That also means there are a lot of people prepared and to find too.  Our house is clean for the most part and we have our own washing machine, so that is nice.  There are some cool members in this ward too, but I must admit, I definitely miss the Almas and some of my old ward.  I am still feeling a little out of place here but I guess that will just come with time.  Martha called me to see how I was doing and so did the Almas.  I talked to Esteban last night and we are going over there next Monday to finally have my birthday cake!! I am excited for that, and really, Esteban is such an awesome guy and friend to me.  He has helped me so much.

So... since there is so much of our area, there is a ton of work too!  Well, when I got here, we didn´t have too many investigators or appointments, but we are filling up now!  One day we had nothing to do for the last three hours.  We went with a member named Hermano Jacinto and we read D and C 24 because our scriptures just opened to that chapter.  Verse 12 really hit is, and Hermano Jacinto helped to motivate us, and afterwards, Elder Lopez said we are going to preach the Gospel all the night and day just as verse 12 said.  We ended up knocking on doors for the next 2 and a half hours, and had a ton of success!  I wish I could tell you about all the new investigators and people that accpeted us, but it was a miracle for sure.  One young lady we found is named Alejandra.  She accepted us and listened to our message, and I couldn´t really tell what she thought.  We told her we would pass by for her on Sunday to go to church.  We went Sunday morning, and I was fully expecting her not to be there or for her not to be ready... Not necessarily a bad attitude, but all the time I was with Johnson, basically none of our investigators could ever make it to church.  To my excitement and surprise, she answered the door and was already to go!! She said she really enjoyed it, felt super peaceful, but has a ton of questions now and we are going to answer them on Wednesday!! And that is just the beginning of the success we had this week.  This Thursday we did weekly planning, and there wasn´t very much weekly planning in the area book for the last few months.  I told Lopez to fill out the sheet so I could get an idea of some of the investigators we already have, and I prayed to find someone in the area book.  I came across a man named Henry, who was an old investigator.  We gave him a call and he said he was interested, but would have to call us back another day.  Well, he never called us back, and I was wondering if he was even worth our time trying to find in this huge area, but to our surprise, he too came to church!!  I guess just calling him was enough that we cared and Jesus cared for him, so he came to church and we have an appointment with him later this week.  We are also teaching this old couple, G and S who are in their 60s or 70s.  G is already a member but her husband S isn´t.  They just barely got married this last week and so now he is ready for baptism!!  We only visited with them one time, but wow I already have so much love for them and I told them they are just like my grandparents on my mission haha.  I must admit, they are a little crazy and funny, and super obsessive about understanding and learning every concept of the Gospel before baptism, but I told him he would continue to learn and progress after his baptism too!  I told them we would always be with them to help them learn and I will be there when they get sealed in the temple in a year.  They really are such a cute, funny, old couple and I will never forget how S always says, ´´Exactamente``.  Oh did I mention we are having his baptism THIS Saturday?? I am super stoked for that.   Also there is this 16 year old boy named Javier who we are teaching, his sister, Sarah, is already a member.  He is really cool and he just came to church for the 5th time so we are planning his baptism for the next week, March 18th.  In total, we had 6 investigators at church yesterday, and I was sooo happy.  I don´t want to get my hopes super high up, but this area has a ton of potential, and I am glad Elder Lopez is working hard with me so we can have success!  I wish I could say more about our investigators but I don´t want to bore you guys and I still want to have time to write you too.

I went on divisions with an Elder in our district from Veracruz, Elder Vazquez.  We were working in his area all Friday, and wow, it was great!!  Even though my legs were SUPER sore from leg day (Yes, I found a gym in this area and have been dragging Lopez with me too!), we probably walked 10 miles or more in his area that day.  The whole day though I was super happy.  I was talking with Vazquez, and we got along really well.  We had a super successful day too and now are pretty good friends.  It is cool that I can talk and meet people in Spanish and have a conversation about anything now!! I am trying to talk more with Elder Lopez too so we can be better friends and a better companionship, but it is a little hard sometimes.  He is a cool guy though and I am greatful we are working hard.  Hopefully this week we can start to bond more.

So I think I am finally starting to blend in more here and transfer over to the lifestyle here in Mexico!  The night I was over at Vazquez´s house (Yes sorry Mom I spent the night at a friend´s house without permission) they didn´t have hot water, so we put an iron in a bucket of water to heat it up while it was plugged into the wall.  I then showered with a pitcher and the bucket of heated water!!  I don´t know why it made me happy but it is kind of fun to have experiences like that!  I also got a haircut from a lady this week that cuts missionary´s hair for free and it is a little different, I didn´t know what she was going to give me, but I like it!  So now, I have showered with a bucket, got the latino haircut, slept with bed bugs, and speaking basically only Spanish, I feel I am fully transferred over to the Mexican lifestyle.  Haha.  Well, I am trying to love and absorb this wonderful opportunity and experience of my mission, even the hard times.  I also finally got Joey and Tara´s CHRISTMAS letter!  Shoutout to them, I am patiently and anxiously awaiting all of the birthday letters still.  Love and miss you guys as always, Til next week!

-Elder Clark