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
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