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
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