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