Came Out Swinging!

Mis queridos familia, amigos, y mamá!

Hey how is everyone!! I hope people are still reading these blogs!! I just finished 7 months on Thursday and it is just sooo crazy to me!! I have literally been living on my own in México, speaking a different language, and somehow surviving!  I don´t really see myself surviving the next 17 months (woo, long time) either, but somehow it will work out!! I must admit though, this weekend was AMAZING! And it always seems like the most amazing weeks go by the fastest too, I can´t believe it is already P-Day again!!! AHHHH.  Everyone tells me to just enjoy the mission because I know I won´t be a missionary forever so that is what I am trying to do.  The last week I feel like it was a little rough, but my attitude was bad too.  I was almost feeling bad for myself that Mother´s Day was over and I really didn´t have anything to complain about.  This week, I made the decision to come out swinging.  We got on a couple game losing streak last week, but this week I came out ready to play.  I had a better attitude, I was happy and excited, and I came out in the first quarter with a determination and heart which got us a nice lead for the rest of the week.  As my grandma told me to do, I tried my best to be a "disturber in the adversary´s kingdom".  After Satan got me down last week, I came back this week, punched him in the mouth and got to work.  Also it was the start of a new cycle this week, so I got so put some new sweet pictures on my agenda- one of Kawhi Leonard and one of Captain Moroni.  I am pretty excited for this next cycle honestly.

This week I really tried to focus on loving the people, as I learned last week too.  I realized when I really love the people, and desire their salvation, I am filled with the Holy Ghost, but also I am just filled with a joy indescribable.  I really can´t put it into words, a couple of times this week I just felt sooo happy inside, something I have never felt before, and it came when we were with investigators who I loved and who accepted our message really well.  Some days this week too I had been really really tired (I miss naps a ton), and just prayed to my Heavenly Father for help and strength I needed to keep going.  There was one time in a lesson where I was filled with an energy and the spirit.  My body was still really tired, and it really seemed like the energy was coming from another source.  It was almost as if the Savior himself and angels were there with me, helping me go along and do the work I have been called to do.  It was a really cool feeling and these are some experiences I wouldn´t trade for anything.  We were also able to put a baptism date with a new investigator named María, but a couple days after we visited her, her mom had a stroke and is now in the hospital!! We were really sad because just a couple days before she was so excited for baptism, so happy, and we have been praying lots for her mom, her mom´s name is sister Concepción Martinez.  We also visited sister Ramos, and she is doing soo much better.  She loves it when we visit. I feel bad because it has been a little while, but one morning I just felt like she needed a visit.  She always tells us a SUPER long story and we sometimes have to cut it off as it gets closer to an hour or hour and a half with her but she told us she made a covenant with God that every time we come to visit it is Him telling her she needs to go to church.  So I guess we ought to visit her every week!! She is such a sweet little lady and doing a ton better.  Lastly, I felt that same indescribable joy, when we went with Elida, Genesis, and Angel (Yael´s family), yesterday.  Literally every time we go with them, I just love them so much.  They are so fun to be with, we laugh during our lessons, we share spiritual experiences and the spirit is always so strong.  They have so much excitement and desires to get baptized and keep going in the church, they want to go to the temple in one year and they are probably some of my favorite people/family I have been privileged to know in the mission.  We have their baptism planned this Friday and on Saturday we are going to the temple´s visitors center with them.  Elder Achá and I are honestly so excited, this will be our best baptism yet and we have a good musical number planned.  I really just can´t put it into words, when I am with them I am just filled with such a Christlike love and joy.  I don´t want to be anywhere else in the world.  And it just feels like my whole mission is worth it just to bring this one family to Christ.  It is amazing to see them change and want to change for Christ in their lives and I am sure I will always keep in touch with them.  Seeing this whole family coming unto Christ just makes me feel like if there is any other family even close to being this prepared and this awesome out there for me to find in my mission, it makes my whole mission worth it and I will find them.  I am so greatful for all of the success we have had in this area, and especially for the wonderful converts and investigators we have met.  

Well, we did have some pretty fun moments this week too.  On Saturday we had a ward activity and invited some other missionaries to come over.  It turned out amazing, we visited as many less active members as we could in just a couple hours with the help of some of the ward members.  We had a ton of ward support and a lot of success!! Just from visiting the less active members for a couple hours we found 3-4 potential baptisms in the next week/weeks since everyone has kids/spouses who aren´t members yet! They have just been waiting for us to come and I am glad we could find some new investigators for our future here in Atlicpac because I must admit... We have been baptizing so much lately and it seems like all of our investigators are now recent converts.  It really is a legit concern lol, probably a good thing even though our numbers are a bit lower.  Also a couple Sunday´s ago, it was funny- Henrry wanted to bless the Sacrament but he didn´t wear a tie to church because he hates ties, so I let him borrow my tie and he was rocking my favorite Spurs tie as he blessed the Sacrament.  I was happy to share the blessing of repping the best NBA team with him.  Also Yael went to the temple with the young men the other day and did baptisms for the dead!! He said he loved it and I am so happy for him.  He really is growing super fast in the church and I think he has helped his family have that same excitement and motivation too.  I also did some divisions this week which were awesome!! I went on divisions with Elder Nadauld from Bountiful, Utah. It was so fun to talk and relate with him, and no matter how good your companion is, I think it is always nice to have a break from being with one person for 24/7.  We actually had to go to the eye doctor for Elder Nadauld in the afternoon, and seeing all of the equipment and pretests reminded me of working for my dad.  On the way back we were in the World War-Z metro at about 6 or 7 oclock.  It was literally THE WORST I have ever seen it.  I guess that is when it was most bust so you literally stand in this huge crowd like little sardines until the metro train comes.  When the doors open, people run and push so hard to fight for a spot and LITERALLY cram every single person in.  You can´t even control yourself and if you get lucky enough to get pushed in, it is just a big sauna, literally crammed on every side, smells horrible, and somehow you finally get to where you want to go.  It was definitely an interesting experience, but not something I want to do again.  Public transportation down here is a little bit crazy, it is kind of a miracle there aren´t MORE accidents, but somehow it all works out. Crazy, crazy Mexico... At night, Elder Nadauld and I played an intense, 7 game series of ping pong with my sweet ping-pong set (Thanks Mom!)  It was super fun because it has been a while since I have had some pretty competitive games of ping-pong and I miss it a lot.  In the end, I beat him in 6 close games and I am still practicing! (I am coming for you Jon!!!!).  Speaking of ping-pong, I decided to spice things up a little bit in the district meeting this week and we played companionship ping-pong.  It is always fun to start out with a little activity to tie into the lesson and I am going to try and start doing that more but if you guys got any fun ideas hit me up!!!  Today we went to a recreation park and got to play some basketball! Man was that sure fun, I just love competitiveness and I was on fire today!! I miss basketball so much and when I have having fun and playing things like basketball and ping-pong I can relax my mind a little and it helps me a ton.  We ought to play basketball more often on P-Days because it sure was a blast.  We are keeping up with the gym too and I feel great! 

Well everyone, I am doing pretty good doing here in Mexico.  Just keep working and going, somehow I am surviving.  Time is going by really fast looking back, but sometimes in the moment it just seems so long and looking ahead I got a long way to go.  I actually just finished my first journal yesterday and am pretty proud of myself.  I haven´t missed a day since I left home, and 214 days and 367 pages later, I have a journal filled with wonderful experiences I can remember forever.  I am pretty impressed I have been able to keep up with it!!! But yes, even though there are hard days, there are definitely some great times and rewards and happiness and hope.  I love and miss you guys sooo much, I pray for my family and friends, everyone single one of you, by name almost everyday.  You guys mean so much to me and I have so many relationships and memories that I will hold onto for the rest of my life. Well, got to go get to work and be a disturber in the adversary´s kingdom!  Love and miss you lots, always remember your favorite missionary,

Elder Clark

P.S. Have fun in Texas and all of your other summer trips you guys have planned!!! 

P.P.S!!! I also found out today is my one year anniversary to opening my mission call to Mexico City South East!!! What an adventure it has been since then, and I can´t believe a year has already passed since that!!!!

The Walmart Adventures Continue!

Dear Fam and Friends,

Things are definitely starting to heat up down here in México!!! Even though it isn´t BULLHEAD CITY HOT, it still gets to you walking around as a missionary all day and especially since our house doesn´t have A/C, it is usually pretty hot in there too.  Good thing we got some tubs of ice cream to cool off at night!! It has also called for some cold showers this week too!  This week was really good; even though I was pretty bummed out to hear the news about the Spurs, I guess the Warriors just have too much firepower, I will get over it and I am starting to think that maybe I shouldn´t have washed my socks...  Also last Monday, we had some more Walmart adventures.  We stopped to take some pictures outside of Walmart with the sign, and some police came up to us very confused. Even though we tried to explain that we were poor missionaries who didn´t live by a Walmart and so we just wanted to take some pictures of the sign, they couldn´t seem to figure out why anyone would be so fascinated by Walmart.  Even though they were a bit confused, they let us go, and you don´t have to bail me out of jail Mom and Dad!  When we were inside Walmart, I made the diligent search to find Pop-Tarts.  They were hidden really well, and out of the 6 employees I asked, NOBODY know what were Pop-Tarts, or much less, where to find them.  Eventually, after a good search I found the hidden treasure and made sure to stock up. Anyways, it was a really fast week, like every week, and I can´t believe I finish 7 months in 3 days!! I feel like I just finished 6 months and I have no idea where the month of May went!!  We also finished the first cycle of Elder Achá´s training, so just 5 more weeks to go with him!  Also, only 5 more weeks to go with President Stutz, and I am pretty sad about that too.  I think I have also talked to way too many missionaries who are going home soon too, and sometimes I still feel like I will never make it that far haha.  Somehow I just keep on chugging along though and find the strength to do it.  I have been a little sick this week with a cold, but we worked everyday and it didn´t affect me too much!  We have developed a really good habit of going to the gym now and it feels GREAT!! I am super motivated, I am running everyday and trying to hit leg day hard so I can dunk by the end of my mission.  I am also trying to do some dribbling drills now that I have 2 basketballs and I haven´t given up on my dreams yet!  I also take my protein and make myself some eggs after the gym- I feel very independent.  

The rest of the days this week have been filled with service, baptism interviews, meetings, and baptisms!!  We stil achieved the goals of excellence for the week, but we really just had no time! We were always busy with sometimes, and I think that helped the week go by really fast.  On Wednesday morning we had a car wash and I got to talk with some of my other bros!  Elder Boyer and Elder Marker are training this next cycle so I am super excited for them!  I forgot to put on sunscreen though, and I got BURNT really bad.  I had to privilege of doing some more baptism interviews this week for our zone leaders, and some other elders in our district- they are always very spiritual experiences and I love them!!  Finally, for the grand finale, at the end of the week we had the baptism for Ramiro!! I was sooo happy, it was someone we have been waiting a long time for to get baptized, and it probably was one of the most organized/spiritual baptisms I have had.  Ramiro asked me if I could baptize him so that was really special.  He is a pretty tough guy and even he was brought to tears as he experienced the miracle of repentance and baptism.  Elder Achá and I did a musical number on the guitar for him and the spirit was really strong throughout the whole program.  Right before we went down into the baptism font, Ramiro asked me if I could leave him down in the water for like 30 seconds and he would hold his breath to "take away ALL of (his) sins".  Even though he was serious we had a good laugh about it, and I told him I would try.  Afterwards, his wife thanked us so much.  She said it was one of the most organized baptisms she had seen and really enjoyed the programs.  She also said the work we are doing is really important for families, and she was so very grateful for that.  In fact, the next day we went to their house for the lunch appointment, and they ordered some pizza!! It was super good pizza, there was Mexican style, Hawaiian, and Pepperoni, and the crust was filled with creme cheese.  I must admit, for Mexico, it was pretty darn good pizza :)  We also had a great discussion with them afterwards, and they are both really excited and animated- we put a goal with them a year from now to enter into the temple so they could be sealed to each other! I really hope they can achieve this goal and stay active because they are some of my favorite converts!!  

One thing I really learned this week is how important it is to love the people.  In a few of the appointments we had this week, I truly felt a genuine, Christlike, love or charity for the people we were helping/teaching.  When I was with those people- sister Tepoz, Ramiro, Yael and his family, I was filled with a joy that I can´t describe and really just wanted to help them.  I remember going up to visit Yael and his family, Elida (his mom), Genesis (his sister), and Angel (his brother).  As we were teaching them about commandments and planning their baptism, I was really filled with this Christlike charity, a joy indescribable, and for those few moments, I didn´t want to be anywhere else in the world.  I was so happy for them and we will be having their baptisms in two weeks on June 2nd!!  I realized that love and charity is really the key to being happy, enjoying the work, and having good lessons.  For the people I feel this love for, I always look forward to visiting them, we always feel the Spirit in the lessons, and we always have success.  I hope I can find and develop that Christlike love for everyone I come across in the mission.  I must admit, I really love our ward too- we are working hard together, they are trying and giving us references and we are having a ton of success out here in Atlicpac.  I hope we will be able to keep it up!!

Even though there were hard, sad, and stressful times this week, overall it was good.  I am also very happy to announce we got Julio to come to church with us, and had a really good lesson with him with another good member of the ward.  I really hope we can help him learn and progress and that he can change his life around.  We also had a good lesson with Jaziel- the boy who gave me a big hug last week.  We are continuing our Saturday morning programs of basketball- guitar and english, and had another new kid come this week!! They are fun and are attracting some new investigators!!  This week I was teaching Elder Achá a little english and he asked me what a certain word meant.  When I explained it to him, and that it was a really bad work, he felt so bad and went to go wash his mouth out haha.  Even though we have our struggles sometimes, I love Elder Achá and we are working hard.  I hope there is a bright future ahead in my mission and I guess for now I am still alive!! Thanks, as always, for your support, emails, and prayers.  I love and miss you all back home and hope you are enjoying the IFP (International Fun Place)- apparently that is the airport code for Bullhead City!! Jajajaja, have a greeeat week!!!

Elder Clark

I Can Wash My Socks!

Dear Mom, Family, and Friends,

This was probably one of the most eventful weeks in my whole mission!!  Wow, it was pretty crazy.  Looking back in my journal I had one day writing about how it was one of the BEST days in my whole mission and another day I wrote it was one of the WORST days in my whole mission.  Like always though, it all worked out in the end.  Now to explain the tile of my email- It was pretty funny, the night of Game 5 for the Spurs and the Rockets, Elder Achá and I bet a few cookies who would win it.  I wore my Kawhi Leonard good luck socks, along with the tie, and I knew they were going to win!  When I found out they won by 3 in overtime, I was soo excited haha.  Logically, I knew that the socks were good luck and were the REASON the Spurs beat the Rockets so I wore them yesterday without washing them, knowing that if I washed them, it would wash away the good luck too.  When I was talking with my family yesterday though, and found out the Spurs lost to the Warriors by 2 (OUCH!) I finally brought myself to realize that I should probably wash them.  (Although it might have been because I was wearing the wrong pants...)

Anyways, on to the week!  I will start off with the bad news or why I wrote it was one of the worst days in the mission on Friday.  I was in divisions with Elder Jensen (No, Elder Jensen is awesome, he wasn´t the one who made it bad haha) and we had one last appointment at night where we had to go up the hill.  As we were in the combi, a big rainstorm caught us in surprise.  It started POURING rain!  We dind´t have our coats or anything, but I really wasn´t too worried, if fact normally, I love the rain!! Unfortunately, we got a little lost trying to find the appointment, in the pouring rain, and we got DRENCHED.  We were walking around for 30 minutes in some random hill in Mexico and it was getting pretty dark too- but still, I was happy and not too worried.  The part that was bad, was when I thought it would be fun to take out my camera and take some pictures.  Elder Jensen took some pictures of me soaking wet, and then as he was passing it back to me, it slipped out of my hands and fell into a little muddy puddle!! It didn´t completely submerge in the water, so the electronics still work, but muddy, dirty water got in the lens and I won´t be able to clean it out.  Most of you know me, I am a worrier, so it was on my mind a lot... Nonetheless, we eventually found ourselves, taught an awesome lesson to my favorite investigators (Yael´s mom and sister- Elida and Genesis).  They really are great, super interested and sincere, and understand it all.  They ask some of the best questions- questions like what language we will speak in the celestial kingdom- and have a lot of curiosity that I know they are interested and understand.  Their family has been a huge blessing in my life and will always keep in touch with them, Yael is doing great in the church with new friends, new priesthood responsibilities, and new light in his life, I am so happy for him and his family.

So yeah, I was a little worried about my camera for a while, and I was just barely getting along.  I put it in a bag of rice, since that always works, but the dirty water stained the lens a little bit.  I tried not to worry about it though, and just focus on the work.  And the best part is that Heavenly Father gave me many tender mercies, answered my prayers, and helped me along.  I remember getting down on my knees and just asking for the strength to endure this trial with patience, and remember that it will all work out.  After that prayer, I felt happy and motivated and Elder Achá told me I seemed really content and relaxed.  I know Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers.  On Saturday morning, we played basketball for our exercise and we invited a lot of young men, recent converts, and investigators!! We had a pretty good turnout and it was a GREAT way to help people feel more comfortable at church.  Even though no one really knows how to play basketball here, it was a lot of fun and helps me take my mind off of my stress.  Afterwards, we gave guitar classes too and one of the investigators that came told me he wanted to talk to my privately.  We went out in the hall, and he just started crying.  He told me he is having a lot of family problems and asked me if he could leave.  Of course I told him no one was forcing him to stay, but I told him that our purpose as missionaries was to help people come unto Christ because in Him we can find happiness and peace and strength that we need especially in trials.  I really didn´t feel like I said that much, but he just reached out his arms and gave me the biggest hug.  He said thank you so much, and I feel like I almost needed that hug more than he did.  It was another tender mercy that Heavenly Father loves me and ALL of His children and we were able to get another appointment with him when we could talk more.  His name is Jaziel and I really hope we can help him this week.  Keep him in your prayers please.  Finally on Sunday, when I talked to my family, I feel like Heavenly Father really answered all of my prayers and calmed my worries.  Talking to my family always calms me down and I was looking forward to Mother´s Day for along time.  Something that really helped/stuck out to me is that my Mom told me "I do all of the worrying down here for you so that you don´t have to".  Of course I feel bad that I make my amazing Mom worry sometimes, but it made me think of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.  I know how much my mom loves me, how much she worries and cares for me, and how great of a mom she is, but it made me think that Jesus and Heavenly Father love us that much too.  They worry for us.  They care for us.  They answer our prayers, and they don´t want us to be sad, stressed, or worried at all.  In fact, Jesus Christ Himself has already felt all of the pains, heartaches, worries, and stressed we would ever feel in life so that we don´t have to.  Wow.  How wonderful, how beautiful is that! That someone loves us enough that He already went through everything so that we don´t have to.  Even though we teach and preach this, sometimes we don´t really understand it or it doesn´t seem quite real, but it is absolutely real and they absolutely love us with an infinite love.  I am so grateful for my Savior and Heavenly Father who love us so much and very grateful for my earthly family too.  Especially my amazing Mother who teaches me so much, is so filled with Christlike love and attributes, and always cares for me and my sisters.  HAPPY MOTHER´S DAY MOM and Happy Mother´s Day to all of the Mothers out there!!!

Well, I just have one more thing I want to write about, which happened on Wednesday, when it was one of the BEST days of my whole mission.  We had interviews with the President this day and had to go to the offices.  To start it all off, I got a package from my family!!! That already made me super duper happy and I have really been enjoying my easter candy (CADBURY EGGS!), and hair gel that I have needed.  But what happened next with President was a spiritual blessing/experience I will never forget. We started off with a prayer like always and in it, I asked that my President would be able to receive revelations for the things that I needed to hear.  Immediately after the prayer, he said he felt very prompted by the Spirit to share a scripture with me.  He said he felt very strongly that it was something Heavenly Father needed me to hear, something that I needed to hear for Him.  We opened up our scriptures to Doctrine and Covenants 84:88 where it talks about whoever accepts me, Christ is there with me, the Holy Ghost is there in my heart, and that Angels are there watching over and protecting me and helping my along.  It really touched me, it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear.  It answered a lot of my prayers and questions I had been having and really brought a whole new perspective to my mission.  Since then, I have been really looking for and recognizing that Christ, the Holy Ghost, and Angels really are with me.  I am so grateful for the divine inspiration and revelation from my President.  It was almost as for the rest of the interview, I could feel the presence of Jesus, the Holy Ghost, and Angels there with me and my mission President.  We also had a really awesome experience reading a part of my patriarchal blessing- something that helped me to understand better, and give me so much more motivation and inspiration to use my gifts the bless the lives of others throughout my mission.  I truly left that interview feeling a change in me, feeling more of a desire to serve and help other people, and very strong desire to look for and develop my promised blessings and gifts, and had a new motivation.  I am so very grateful for my mission president- President Stutzneggar and who I will miss very much.  The experience I had was a wonderful spiritual gift.  Experiences that don´t happen all of the time, but wonderful experiences I try to remember forever.  I have had a few of those in the mission where I could just really feel the presence of my Savior as I take the Sacrament or when I am in His Holy Temple, and they are usually blessings or experiences "unsolicited" as my Grandpa told me.  Blessings we usually don´t ask for, but Heavenly Father knows exactly when we need them.

Well, I am a little glad this crazy week has come to an end.  I am a little sad and down today that talking to our families has already passed- it is kind of like coming back from a really fun vacation, but I hope to get readjusted and back into the routine of things!  An interesting things happened this week, as I was walking in the teanges in the streets, I spotted a real gem.  I couldn´t believe it, but before my eyes was a San Antonio Spurs BASKETBALL!! I think I gave away too much excitement and determination to buy it as I tried to bargain with the guy.  He could tell I really wanted it but I got him to lower the price a little bit and got it for 4 dollars.  WOO I was so happy it was a tender mercy for sure.  We went to the gym everyday this week and I worked out hard.  I ran a mile everyday, and literally on the weekend every muscle of my body was sore.  I felt GREAT!! I am working hard spiritually and physically to achieve my goals.  I also got some letters from Allison, my Mom, and pictures from Caleb and Daniel, I LOVE GETTING MAIL! :)  I had another opportunity to do a baptism interview as a district leader which was really cool, and we found another really awesome investigator this week- Areli, who we were able to put a baptism date with the very first appointment!! Juilio unfortunately had a busy week, but we are super excited to go with him today and are bringing a really cool member to help us.  Elder Achá is doing great and I can not believe we are already on week 6! Already halfway through with his training and he will be a great missionary someday.  I love and miss you guys soo much, you are a huge support for me back home.  Happy Mothers Day, I will talk to you next week, and GO SPURS GO!!!

Elder Clark

Just Seconds Left On The Clock

Dear family, friends, and loved ones,

Well it sure hasn´t been that long since I last wrote you guys!!  The crazier part is that I will have talked to my family for Mother´s Day before the next time I write!!  Ahhh crazy, I feel like I just talked to you guys on Christmas and I am so excited for this Sunday!  The temple was great last Friday like always, and we went to Burger King for lunch so even better!!  I got to see Elder Boyer there and it was really nice to talk and catch up with him.  I hope with all my heart we are companions one day, we relate super well and I miss him a lot.  I also realized that I actually probably won´t be going to the temple here that many more times in my mission! We only go every other cycle, so if I don´t go very any special reasons to see Allison again or for any converts I only have 6 more sessions there!! Kind of crazy to think of it like that.

This Saturday was pretty sweet.  We finally has someone show up for our guitar class after putting a poster outside of our church.  We have got a lot of calls this week from people wondering about English/Guitar Classes and I am hoping we can start to gather a good group together.  I feel like it is a great way to attract investigators and a lot of people seem interested.  Afterwards we can give them tours of our church and invite them the next day for the Sacrament services!!  A lot of people want to play basketball too, so what we have started is that every Saturday at 8:00 for our exercise  we have "Basketball Classes", at 9 we have guitar classes, and 10, english classes!! I am pretty excited, it will make Saturday mornings fun, attract new investigators, and a fun service project!! It is just down here in calle Morelos in the Magdalena in Los Reyes and all you guys are invited too! I hope you can come haha.  After the activities in the morning I always do a district attack with the area in our district who needs the most help for the week to achieve the goals of finding new investigators and it always turns out great!! I feel like we have a pretty good system going on.  Saturday afternoons we usually have at least one, sometimes two baptisms in the district so that is fun too!!

Speaking of baptisms, yep, we had another one this last Saturday!!  It was for an 11 year old girl named Evelyn.  It has been a lot of fun teaching her, she is just so cute and sweet and was really excited to get baptized.  It was a little frustrating, not very much ward support this one or for Javier´s, I think we have had so many baptisms lately the ward is getting burnt out haha.  We had pretty much all of our speakers fall through which was rough, including her dad who just forgot to prepare something, but good thing we have the Spirit and are always prepared to fill time with something!! We had a technical difficulty too, someone took a video during the baptism and we didn´t know what to do- if we needed to redo it or just delete the video- so we were waiting around a while.  It was a little stressful, but after making some phone calls, it all eventually worked out.  I was feeling a little bad since it just didn´t all go as planned, but like always, the important part was that we had the baptism and Evelyn was really happy.  At least we had hot water.  But it was awesome, I let Elder Achá baptize her, his first time baptizing and he was excited and I was happy for him.  I also had him confirm her on Sunday!  That marks the 5th baptism in the last 5 weeks which is awesome!! The work is REALLY going forth here in Atlicpac and I know it is all thanks to the guidance and direction of our loving Heavenly Father.  I give him all of my heart in gratitude every night in prayer for His tender mercies and personal inspiration that I need.

Well, I must admit, I am really happy with some of our recent converts too.  Yesterday (Sunday) after giving him the Priesthood a Sunday before, Yael passed the Sacrament.  Even cooler was that Henry blessed the Sacrament!! I was so happy the see them already fulfilling priesthood duties and it brought a warm joy to my heart seeing our recent converts really having the conversion process and finding their place in building God´s Kingdom.  I am still worried for Javier, he is a really cool guy, but he just doesn´t have a lot of friends in the ward and is still having a lot of family problems.  Please pray for him and I am hoping with time, he will be able to enjoy the whole conversion process too.  

I must admit, these last two weeks have been a little long, with the temple trip and everything we didn´t get too much of a P-Day.  But we sure worked our butts off, had a ton of success and have been able to complete every single standard of excellence in our area, I am so grateful for all of our success.  I have been pretty exhausted and drained lately though and today was much needed.  This morning we went to go play soccer with some other missionaries and members and it was a lot of fun!! I brought my basketball, but sadly everyone thought "futbol" was way more fun... lame... I did have fun though, and all of those years of playing AYSO soccer have payed off, I can hold my ground with some of these guys.  I was also able to witness a huge milestone in Elder Achá´s mission, his first goal scored in the mish.  I was happy for him and we all celebrated haha.  Afterwards we went shopping and I got some ice cream (YUM!- That helps me get through those hard days) and some candy for the little kids! I have really enjoyed passing out candy to the little kids down here, when we earn their trust it is way easier to earn the trust of the parents and when we are contacting and some little kids run to the door and we give them candy, their parents can´t possibly shut us out so quickly haha!! I love making the little kids happy, and I certainly do miss all of my little cousins back home. I also forgot to mention that I held a goat this week- random fun fact.  There are definitely a lot of interesting, funny things in Mexico, especially the driving, that I can´t help but be so glad to have this experience of living down here for 2 years of my life, seeing a new culture and lifestyle, learning a new language, a ton about the Gospel and myself, and changing lives!!  Even though it is hard sometimes, in the big picture I have nothing to complain about and always try to focus on the positive.  After all, I know that only Satan is trying to get me down, so when I remember that, it gives me enough motivation to cheer up, just to displease him.  

Well, I think mostly, I am pretty good.  There was actually a worldwide change I found out yesterday to the missionary work in all the world, that the investigators only need to go to church 3 sundays before their baptisms.  We were all pretty pumped with this change Dallin H. Oaks recently made and I think it will help is a lot go forward with the work.  I am hoping that maybe we can baptize Julio pretty fast, the awesome investigator that we found contacting last week, so he can change his life and enjoy the blessings of the Gospel.  I think more than anything though, this change made me realize something.  I will not explain the title of my email too, but the seconds are definitely winding down in the game.  We are in the last days.  The Lord his hastening his great and marvelous work and He needs ALL hands on deck.  I have already realized how much of an instrument I have been in helping His children come home and He needs every worthy young man to serve a mission in these times.  As the seconds are winding down, Satan is playing harder too.  He is trying to discourage us more and more, trying to drag away more and more of our brothers and sisters into the "Gulfs of Misery" and we need to step up our game too.  We need to be stronger in the faith, fight harder against him, and seek to do the Lord´s Will.  He is our coach, our captain, and I have definitely learned that when I follow and focus on Him, I am the most happy, have the most hope, find the most success, and am able to counter every single one of Satan´s plays.  After playing a bench role before my mission, I have learned to step up in the Lord´s work too.  I will admit, training has NOT been easy.  The mission has NOT been 100% easy either.  But it is worth it, I have been blessed, and know that I have been a key player for the Lord´s team.  Even though it hasn´t been easy, I am often tired, discouraged, and even homesick every now and then, I have learned so much.  Heavenly Father has taught me so many valuable lessons that I can apply for the rest of my life.  Just in my 4 short weeks as trainer and district leader, I have learned to have soo much more patience, so much more love for my companion and investigator.  I have learned how to step up, be a leader, trust in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in everything I do, and rely on His Atoning Power.  I have definitely been trained and born by the BEST goodly parents and family in my youth.  I have been waiting to do this work my whole life, and now my time has arrived.  I pray Heavenly Father will continue to guide me in the work so that I can make a difference in these critical final seconds of the game.  We are in crunch time and we all need to give it our all.  I know the end is soon, that one day we will all be able to live peacefully, rest from all of our pains, troubles, and heartaches; a time when Christ will reign perfectly upon the Earth, Satan will have no power over us, and we will be able to enjoy the blessings of Exaltation FOREVER, if we can just keep fighting and playing with everything we got until the final buzzer sounds.  What a great time we live it, what a great blessings and knowledge we have, and what a great responsibility and privilege we have to share it with the World.  The Lord´s team WILL win, I know it, and I know this church to be true.  

I love you all immensely, and pray for each name of my entire family every night and prayer.  I miss you tons and hope you are all doing great.  Talk to you next week!!

Elder Clark

On Fire!!!

Hey guys!!! It sure has felt a little long waiting for P-Day today, we just got back from the temple and the weeks without P-Day´s sure seem a little long and tiring!  But I am here and I didn´t get kidnapped by some crazy Mexican.  This last week or two weeks have been pretty darn good though. We have had a ton of blessings of the Lord in the work and are doing pretty good.  I can´t believe next week we will already by starting week 5 of this cycle!! Time has been going by super fast lately, not to mention I now have over 6 months in the mission! 1/4 the way through!

Alrighty, so this last weekend we had the baptism for Javier!! I was really excited and glad it all worked out, because it has been a little difficult with him, but he was excited and happy and it all ended up working out.  It was a little stressful, like every baptism, because literally EVERYONE showed up 30 minutes late including him, the bishop who was going to baptize him, and everyone who was going to talk.  It was literally like everyone planned without telling us that they would all show up at 10:30 instead of 10, and maybe it was just an answer to our many prayers too, but eventually everyone came and it went well and awesome like every other baptism.  Elder Lopez came back for it, and I had the opportunity to confirm him in sacrament meeting.  The only sad part was that there is no family support for Javier... his parents didn´t come to the baptism and really don´t like the church, which is sad.  It will be hard moving forward for him without the family support so we are going to try and talk to his mom about it and maybe open a door to share the gospel with them.  I hope we can help him stay active and give him the support he lacks at home. Also on Sunday there was another surprise... just like 2 sundays ago I had to confirm Yael without preparation and 1 Sunday ago I gave an unprepared talk, this Sunday during Elders Quorum, they had me give the priesthood to Yael!  Maybe next sunday they will surprise me and call me as bishop or something, who knows, but it was actually a way cool experience.  I definitely have a lot of love for Yael as he is growing great in the church.  He is super interested, studying lots, coming to church every Sunday and it was an honor to give him the priesthood.  As I gave him his blessing I could feel Heavenly Father´s love for him and the great work/mission he has ahead in his life.  One of my favorite converts for sure.  I really have been privileged to see many lives strengthened and changed.  I also have been able to see many blessings of being a district leader too.  I had the opportunity of doing the baptism interview for a 9 year old girl and that was great.  An awesome and spiritual experience.  We also had the district meeting this last tuesday with the topic of giving thanks to the Lord for His hand in our labors.  It turned out great, I had everyone share a personal story when they have seen the hand of the Lord, and I definitely felt the Spirit strong.  My district has been a huge blessing to me, I love and pray for them, and they have answered a lot of my prayers.  I have really been trying to focus on giving thanks to the Lord always because this is His work and His children that I have been privileged to be called as an instrument in His hands and I am doing my best to make the most of this opportunity.

Speaking of the hand of the Lord in His work, Elder Achá and I have had some pretty cool experiences this week.  On one occasion we knocked a bunch of doors and weren´t having any success.  A thought came into my mind that we needed to pray for guidance and help so we said a quick and humble prayer in the streets.  We prayed specifically to help us find someone prepared, someone we could baptize and someone who needed our message.  Literally the very next door we knocked on a lady opened up.  After talking a little bit we found out she has talked with missionaries a lot before, already has gone to our church 4 or more times, and was very willing to accept us.  After that we continued to knock a few more doors and had a TON of success! In just an hour more we were able to find 5 new investigators.  On another day, we found someone even cooler!! This time, we decided to contact again to achieve the goal of new investigators for the week.  This time we weren´t going to forget to pray for divine guidance and help.  We were in a certain street when we prayed and immediately after the prayer, I just felt the prompting that it wasn´t this street. A little puzzled, Elder Achá humbly and happily followed me until we found the street that I felt was "right".  We began to contact and the 3rd door we knocked on, a man named Julio opened up.  He seemed almost relieved to see us, even though we never met before.  He kindly let us in, and we began talking.  We learned he has been an alcoholic for some years, has 4 kids are in their teens and really wants to change his life.  He really had so many desires and was willing to accept whatever we had to teach him.  We taught him about faith, repentance, and baptism, and that if we truly repent, have desires to change, and are baptized we can be cleaned and change our lives and overcome any temptation.  He seemed so interested we were even able to put a baptism date with him the very first visit!! It was awesome, I really can´t even describe how prepared or awesome he was and may be one of the coolest people I have ever found knocking doors.  We have another appointment with him Monday night with our Ward Mission Leader who is going to help us out.  I remember after the lesson he thanked us so much and said he just felt really calm and peaceful inside.  I explained to him that that was the Spirit telling him what we taught his was true, and that by following the steps of the Gospel he can have these feeling forever in his life and that is exactly what Jesus Christ offers us, peace, forgiveness, mercy, and hope.  I am actually really excited to teach him and help him progress and I am so grateful Heavenly Father has been guiding us to His children who are prepared.

Well a lot of interesting stuff has happened lately.  One day I found a lady in the streets who knows where BULLHEAD CITY is!! I was freaking out it was sooo cool, she and her whole family new English and they lived in Orange County for a long time and said they always went over to Bullhead City and Laughlin!!! Whaaa I was so happy, I feel like she might be the only person in all of Mexico to know where Bullhead City is, haha not even the missionaries here know where it is, but it was really fun to talk and meet her.  This week we also finally made the return to the gym!! Good thing because I started getting a little fat with all of the good food down here, but I am running my mile everyday and lifting weights to achieve some of my goals.  Speaking of goals, the other day I printed out my life/mission goals and taped them above my bed so I could always remember and see them.  I like it a lot.  I got big by some random dog in the street this week, but my pants are fine, got a haircut, saw someone as at a gas station dressed like Mario, and found a car that was decorated like Pikachu!! It was funny and we got some pictures with it.  Elder Achá was also talking in his sleep one night and I was talking back like we were having a conversation!! It was really funny, and to this moment he denies it all but it was true. Also we found a parrot who eats cheetos so I took some videos, that would pretty rad.  We also went over to help clean some missionarys´ houses this week and found the Book of Mormon in 7 different languages!! That was pretty interesting to see.  I guess in summary, living down here in México is a little hard sometimes, but I am working hard and trying to enjoy it, and finding a lot of random, cool, and interesting stuff.  Everyday is a new experience and new adventure and I am trying to absorb it all.  I am super pumped for Mother´s Day and not so pumped that our Mission Pres will be leaving pretty soon, I will miss him a lot.  I hope you guys are all great, getting ready for summer break, and enjoying life!! Love and miss you tons, 

Elder Clark