Off Season Changes

Dear Family, Friends, and Loved Ones

Well, if anybody knows me, you know that I am not a big fan of endings... Or at least endings of the stages of life.  Ending middle school, ending basketball season, ending high school, leaving on a mission, leaving my first area... Even though there is always the common outcome- that EVERYTHING works out okay, and there are always different, but new and exciting adventures in each stage, I somehow still can´t figure out how to remember that every stage is great.  I guess I just think of all of the good memories I have had before and when I think of how great and blessed I have been in my life, it is hard to imagine something could be better!! But I am trying to stay optimistic and happy and excited because even though it will be different, it will be another wonderful opportunity and experience.  So this week we will be getting a new mission president, perhaps the change I am most scared of.  In just these 8 short months on my mission I have grown so much to love, respect, and follow President Stutzneggar, who will always be a part of my life from hear on out, and it is hard imagining our next President, President (Super) Mann will be just as awesome as him, but more than anything I will put in my efforts to support and love him too and trust in the Lord too.  We had our last zone conference with President and Mama Stutzneggar this last Tuesday which was both sad and great, and one thing I really liked is that Mama Stutz told us, we aren´t losing them, but we are just getting double the love with double the mission Presidents! I know the Mann´s will be great.  Another change will be a change in companion.  Although Elder Achá has driven me crazy a few more times than I would have liked, and it always hasn´t been perfect, I love him so much, he has been a wonderful companion and I have nothing to complain about.  Looking back, I have so many great memories with him and it was a great privilege to train him.  I am proud of him and just hope he gets an amazing comp who will help and love him too.  I am grateful for the blessing I had to be his dad :).  The last thing I wanted to talk about though, that I am very excited about, I found out Saturday night.  This whole week I was expecting to have to say goodbye to everyone in this ward that I love, pack up my stuff, and move on.  Even my zone leaders called me up on Saturday night and told me I had changes.  But after they got a good laugh about it, and couldn´t hold it back longer, I found out I am going to be staying here in Atlicpac! I AM STAYING IN THE PROMISE LAND FOR ONE MORE CYCLE!  Honestly, I could not be more excited, more happy, and more relieved.  I feel so blessed and greatful, and it was truly an answer to many prayers and fasts.  There is so much potential in this ward here, I love the members, and am very excited to be here for at least another 7 more weeks.  It is kind of weird to think I got here in February and will be here until August but I will definitely work every last second while I am here.  I think it really works out for the best of the both of us too, because Elder Achá is happy.  He said that he was scared about having to lead the area and teach someone else, and is happy to have changes.  So Heavenly Father really is guiding His work, and giving revelation to our mission President and I know He loves me.  Even though things will change this next cycle, I am excited to be staying here, in the ward, area, and house I love.  I am especially excited to be staying here with the love of my life- our beloved washing machine.  Elder Achá is trying to figure out how he can fit it in his suitcase but I don´t think it will work out, the washing machine will be staying here too!

So this week was a little hard, as a district leader and with the work.  We had some meetings and a few service projects, but as always, we have been blessed with success and spiritual experiences.  One day this week I was reading in 3 Nephi about Christ teaching to the Nephite crowd.  As I read the words of Christ, and the faith of all of the Nephites, I was really just filled with a joy and appreciation for Jesus Christ and all that he has been, but also such a longing in my heart.  As I studied and pondered those words, I longed to be there with the Nephite crowd, to feel the nail prints in His hand, to hear His voice, and the feel His love.  But as I thought about it, I felt overwhelmed by His presence right there with me as I studied.  I could feel His love, his hope and joy, and even though it seems impossible what He did and sometimes incomprehensible, I was just so overwhelmed with the spirit, and I know my Redeemer lives.  I love Him so much and am greatful for this time to serve Him to grow closer to Him.  It is definitely experiences like this that strengthen my testimony so much, motivate me to keep going, and help me to grow as a person and reach my potential.  I am so greatful for Heavenly Father´s guiding hand in my mission.  This week Elder Achá and I planned and studied a lot for a specific lesson with a specific investigator.  He is a new investigator and was a reference from sister Concepcion and really has been prepared to hear our message, he just needs a lot of help.  He just says he feels so guilty and drinks a lot, but since out visits with him, he has been able to stop drinking for a whole week.  We have really focused on the gospel and how it can change lives and wipe away all guilt.  And that it is only possible when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.  I told Achá to put the baptism date with him, since he has always been scared to do it and tells me I am way better, but this time I told him I trusted him and that I knew he could do it.  So the end of a great lesson came, and Elder Achá invited him to be baptized and prepare for baptism for the 22nd of July.  He AND his sister accepted a baptism date, and I was so happy and proud of Elder Achá and our investigator.  It will take some work and lots of the Spirit to help him keep going but we will keep working our hardest with him.  Finally, we had another baptism this week for Maria! We seriously have been sooo blessed with success and baptisms in this area, and Maria really is an amazing convert.  She had a wonderful baptism interview with Elder Matsen, and has such a strong testimony.  She said it took a lot of praying and time before she came to know these things were true, but she said Heavenly Father answered he prayers and that she knew for a surety this is what she needed to do in her life.  We just have so many great converts in this area, and I just hope they can all continue faithfully in the church and one day receive the temple blessing´s too!! Speaking of our converts, Ramiro is helping his daughter, Abigial, read the Book of Mormon and they are almost done with 1 Nephi! Ramiro and Henrry also both have callings in the young men´s presidency with brother Jacinto, all 3 really awesome men. Elida, Genesis, and Yael are doing great, and have been helping their grandma, Alicia, a lot so that she will get baptized soon!  Sometimes when I think about all of them I just want to sing praises to Heavenly Father for how blessed I have been and how strong this ward has become.  It truly is a miracle work!!

So yeah, it isn´t always easy.  There are rough days, and even weeks, there always has to be changes, but it is definitely worth every second.  I hit my 8 month mark this last week, so I am already 1/3 of the way done (I know, crazy stuff) and I still feel like a rookie out here in the mission.  Somehow, day by day, Heavenly Father keeps providing His blessings and tender mercies and I just try my best to work as hard as I can.  This last week we had a district activity and helped Elder Nadauld and Elder Rodas paint their old house.  It was messy, and long, but it was a lot of fun, and I have learned to appreciate service and work too.  We also had a family home evening last night with the Tobón and Cortes family which was really fun like always.  For the game we played Ooga Booga Look! Maybe our next family home evening I will have to teach everyone Fruit Basket Tipped Over, FRANK STYLE! Haha, I sure do miss all of my fam back home... I´ve definitely learned a lot in these last 8 months, and especially in these last 11 weeks with Elder Achá.  I have learned to stay optimistic and happy, even through the hard times, and have a LOT more patience too.  It is a little weird to think that Spanish is just a second language now and that I am basically fluent! Even though there will be a lot of changes this cycle, and I still have a long way to go in the mission, I know it will be great, I know it will be quick, and I tell myself everyday to just work as hard as I can and make the best of it since I know I won´t be a missionary forever.  I love and miss you guys so much, I always pray for my family and friends by name every single day and I am so greatful for all of your love and support.  Have a wonderful week, and I will let you know next week how everything is, who my next companion will be and will always keep you updated.  I want to thank my mission President and his wife, the Stutzneggars and also all of the service the Nebekers have done for us as well.  They have truly been an inspiration, blessing, and impact on my whole life.  Well, here I go for some New Beginnings!  T-Clark, out.

Your Favorite Missionary,

Elder Clark

Going Out With a Bang!

Hello family and friends,

I just got back from Teotihuacan (the mayan pyramids) which was super fun. We went with Elder Nadauld and Rodas and I will sure miss those guys at changes.  I got a sweet Jaguar sound maker at Teotihuacan which I got for 5 bucks and I´m pretty proud of my bargaining skills.  There are always a bunch of tourists at that place so they always try to raise the price way up for the American people, but I made sure he knew that I was from around this part of town haha.  Anyways, this week was really great.  I bought a Rubix Cube and have already figured it out, my record is in 2:06!  We also had our last district meeting together this last tuesday which turned out great.  I taught everyone how to play Psychiatrist and that was really funny.  It also helped us to ask better questions with our investigators and pay more attention to the answers.  I thought it was a great idea and I love playing those kind of games that I used to love so much with my family.  Speaking of games, last night we had a family home evening with the Cortes family and the Tobón family and it turned out great!! Yael and Genesis did the lesson on baptism since their grandma will be getting baptized in a few week and they are seriously the BEST converts ever.  I love them so much.  Afterwards we played the game where everyone writes a sentence and then draws a picture again and it was really funny.  We shared a lot of laughs and I will be missing them lots if I have changes this next week.  It has also been raining a lot down here and flooding gets SUPER bad in the streets.  One day it was like a big maze, we had to take detours through streets, hop over some streams, and figure out how to cross a flooded street just to find one lady.  But it really was a great week and another super fast one.  Lots of changes are coming up and I am not sure I am ready!

So this week was full of miracles.  It really made me realize that the whole work is a miracle guided by our loving Heavenly Father.  On Tuesday we had our last interview with President Stutzneggar which was kind of sad.  He is such an awesome guy that has inspired, helped, and strengthened me along this 8 months so far (Holy cow I´ve been out 8 months?!)  I will miss him lots and I really hope President Mann is a little like him although, no one is like "Keith California".  I also had another opportunity to do a baptism interview and I just love seeing how the Gospel changes lives.  This lady was smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and now she has changed her life around and getting baptized! Plus, I love to see success within my district.  I have also been pretty sick this week, especially today I am not feeling super well.  In fact, one day this week I broke my record for number of poops taken in one day (10) and was pretty proud of myself.  Throughout the whole week collected I think I am going to break 50!  Try doing that back in the good ol´ USA! Only in Mexico baby.  As fun as it sounds though, it really isn´t all that much of a party to get sick in Mexico.  But one day I got really sick and we came back to the house to get some things before going to one more appointment for the night.  I layed down to rest for a little bit and didn´t know if I could make it through the day.  My body wanted to rest and give up, but I just had a feeling that this appointment would be very important and that Heavenly Father would bless me for giving it my all.  So I got down on my knees and prayed for the strength to continue on.  Then I got on my feet and we started working.  The appointment was with Alicia, the grandma of Yael and Genesis, and Elida´s mom.  We taught a little about the Plan of Salvation and asked how her she is feeling about baptism and all of these things.  She has definitely been the hardest to reach out of her whole family, but finally she told us, "Well I have prayed about it and I have made my decision. I am going to get baptized." In that moment a feeling of joy and happiness filled my whole body and I just felt so much love for the family.  All of the kids gave their grandma a big hug and I can´t even describe how much I love that family or how much joy it brings me seeing them all coming to Christ and changing their lives.  I guess it is moments like this that make being a missionary worth the whole 2 years.  We also had a baptism for Abigail this last week!! It was a little stressful preparing and we ran into some problems (like when someone emptied the font 2 hours before the baptism after we took the whole day to fill it), but through the Lord´s help we overcame them all and had an amazing baptism even if the water was a little cold.  It was especially special because we got to watch our covert, Ramiro, baptize his daughter.  I really love that family too.  This week we are excited because we will be finishing the cycle with another baptism!!  María will be getting baptized this Saturday and we are so excited for her.  With the short time that I have been in this ward, I am so greatful to have been blessed with so much success and to see so many people enter into the waters of baptism.  Another miracle that happened this week was when Elder Achá and I fasted to find a new family to teach.  The day after we fasted, our relief society president called us and said that she wanted to introduce us to a less active family who recently just had her mother pass away.  We went with them the next day, sang some hymns, and comforted them.  We found out one of their little girls isn´t a member yet and were able to put a baptism date with her right then, and also the husband isn´t a member.  But the coolest part was that we also invited part of a brand new family over to listen to us too! I immediately recognized them as the answer to the prayer and fast, we found a new family of 6 to teach with 4 little kids!! I was so excited and I know Heavenly Father is guiding this work when we put our faith and trust in him.  With the family who´s mom just passed away we had a special opporunity.  The lady told us that her mom always loved the missionaries and she wanted us to dedicate her grave.  I was pretty nervous, but was humbled by the opportunity.  When we went to her mom´s burial plot she said "Look mom, I brought the missionaries to see you, just like you wanted."  It was a very touching experience.  We sang a hymn, and then she asked me to offer the dedicatory prayer.  It really was a cool experience and the whole family came to change this last Sunday too!

Well I hope you guys are all doing great and had a wonderful father´s day! Happy Father´s Day to all of my grandparents, uncles, and of course, my flippin´genius Dad.  To celebrate Father´s Day, Elder Achá and I returned with Episode 2 of Malt Night in Mexico, and made a chocolate banana malt! Mmmm!  I must admit, I am pretty happy and love this area a lot.  Even though Elder Achá has driven me crazy a few times in the past couple of weeks I love him and he has been a great kid.  A lot of changes are coming up this next week- new mission President, new companion, and maybe a new area too.  But if I end up leaving this area that I love, I will be happy.  As I was sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday I realized something.  I realized how much our ward has changed in just my short 4 months I have been here.  Before, the ward wasn´t super excited for the missionary work and there were nights in my first few weeks here where we had nothing to do but just knock doors for a good 3 hours.  It was a huge area and I was overwhelmed, but in just a few short 4 months, I feel like everything has changed.  Now all of the members are giving us references and we are having so much success. Now the bishop is inviting us to every ward council and wants to know how each presidency can help us out with retaining our new converts.  Now each presidency is coming to us, inviting us to their meetings and asking how they can help us too.  Everytime I see this excitement and faith in this ward it just builds my testimony and makes me feel so greatful for all of the support and love I have been given from them, my family, and especially from my Heavenly Father.  The ward loves us now, and some have even told me they wish we could just stay here for 2 years and finish our missions here.  It is really becoming such a strong ward and I am greatful I have been an instrument in the Lord´s hand here in Atlicpac.  Nonetheless, I will accept whatever comes my way, support and love my new President, and find those families that are looking for me.  "I will go where the Lord wants me to go!"  Well, next week I will update all of you guys on the changes and I hope you guys are enjoying your summers!  Again, I hope you guys all had a very happy Father´s Day and aren´t getting too hot! Especially in the International Fun Place out in Bullhead City! I must admit, I definitely don´t miss that heat.  Have a GREEEEAT week! Love and miss you all!

Your favorite missionary,

Elder T-Clark

"Another Brave Soldier has Fallen"

Dear Family and Friends!

I guess I better go ahead and explain the title of my email first of all.  This week, another brave soldier fell to the 

pants this week jaja.  We were on divisions and coming out of the food appointment.  As we were walking back, he turned to me and said "I need to use the bathroom really bad".  I casually just put it off and said sure, we will be back at the house in about 20 minutes walking... He turned back to me and said "No, this is urgent, and real emergency, we are taking a taxi."  So we hopped in the closest taxi and headed back to the house; still I wasn´t too worried, just thought it was a little bit of that Mexican Diarrhea and that we would get back to the house in time.  I did think I smelled something a little fishy though in the taxi ride, but all of the windows were open so I thought it was just something outside or my imagination... I mean Mexico always smells like something.  Well, I didn´t really grasp the intensity of the situation until this missionary walking out of the bathroom and proudly/shamefully (yes, a little of both) announced exactly the phrase, "Today, another brave soldier has fallen".  I knew exactly what he meant and just started busting out laughing.  Ugh it was sooo funny, and we got it all worked out, a change of pants and luckily our house has a washing machine so that was nice but it really made me realize something... Ever since I have gotten out here, everyone has told me that every missionary poops their pants at least once in their mission.  I was even talking with this elder the other week about this very situation and how we both thought it would never happen to us.  Well it happened to him, and I am definitely not going to jynx it by saying it won´t happen to me, but I guess I can at least hope and pray that it doesn´t happen to me... I´ll be sure to keep you guys updated though and I hope to be able to endure as a brave soldier throughout my whole mission.  I must admit though, we had some pretty fishy carnitas this week that a member gave us- basically every part of the pig- some intestine, liver, and I am sure there was some bladder or stomach in there too.  Here everyone just eats every part of the pig.  More efficient that way I guess and even though the taste wasn´t too bad, it was all just slimy and I couldn´t get the thought out of my mind.  I ate what I could and suffered the consequences of it coming out, but I am still a standing soldier and somehow I didn´t really get sick!! What a miracle!

Anyways, now onto this week.  Honestly it was pretty great, super fast too!  I am not really sure what is going on with the time right now but it seems to just keep picking up more and more momentum.  In a couple weeks I will finish 8 months!  This week started off great at the centro.  We got 5 tacos for 42 pesos (about 2 dollars) a really good deal especially for hungry, poor missionaries, shopped and looked around a little and all got some matching ties (Elder Nadauld, Rodas, Achá and I).  On Monday night we had a family home evening with Henrry and Luz and their whole family.  It turned out really good, we had a good message and then played a fun game.  I taught everyone the game that we used to play as a family where we all write a sentence and draw a picture and keep passing the paper around.  They turned out super funny and it was a lot of fun!  Moments like those I just feel so happy, lose myself in serving and loving others, and just feel like myself too.  Afterwards, sister Luz made us BACON-WRAPPED HOT DOGS!!! They were suuuuper good and I don´t know what inspired her to make those but it was truly a tender mercy.  Also on Tuesday I recieved confirmation of something.  I have the BEST family in the WHOLE WORLD!!! I got my package and it made me sooo happy!  I am loving the sweet new Reppin Y basketball shirt, the awesome Spurs stuff, peanut butter MnM´s (Sooo good!), hair gel and lots more!! I loved all of the letter from the ward so quick shoutout and thanks to the River gardens ward back home!! Love and miss you guys!  And of course my new camera! I can see clearly now and it is awesome!  Not to mention my family made some of the BEST videos on my camera that make me so happy.  Thanks so much fam.  Today our trip to Teotihuacan got cancelled because the lady that was going to take us had something come up, but she said she can for sure take us next week so that is the plan!  Today we ended up going to a shopping mall and had some more Walmart adventures! This time with Elder Nadauld and Elder Rodas.  It was a lot of fun too.  This week Elder Achá and I have decided not to pay for another gym membership and save the money.  Since there is only 3 more weeks left in the cycle we decided to run every morning in the big soccer field outside out house and it does feel great.  Also I am still making myself eggs every morning! Learning to cook and clean for myself!

As a district leader I had the opportunity to do a few baptism interviews this week and those are always special.  I am really excited and happy because our district has been having a lot of success lately.  I have a really fun and hard-working district and the meetings are a lot more fun now too.  After the first meeting playing companionship ping pong, this last meeting we played Book of Mormon charades which turned out really funny.  Everyone had to act out two different chapters in the Book of Mormon without talking and we had to guess it.  If you got someone to guess it within the minute timer you got a point and the person guessing got a point too.  It turned out great and a good transition into the lesson, and of course the winner got a good old Mexican coke.  District meetings are definitely a lot more fun and keep everyone´s interest when I think of activities.  Tomorrow I am trying to figure out how I can tie in some basketball but I am struggling a little bit.  Maybe I will recieve some inspiration overnight, but I am hoping it is another fun one!  We also taught English classes this week and a lot of new investigators came for that so that was good! Everyone likes my english classes even though no one really learns that much by coming to my pretty bad classes for only an hour a week haha.  Still fun though and a good idea to find new people.  I have definitely learned that the people/investigators who progress the most are those who feel comfortable in the church, who have some friends and people they can talk to and depend on.  That is our biggest problem here in Mexico.  We usually find a lot of cool, interested people knocking doors who come one or two times, like Julio, but if no one really takes them in and befriends them, it is very hard to keep them active... Speaking from Julio, it is a little sad, but we are kind of losing him.  I will never forget how we found him and how much he felt the Spirit in that first lesson, but sometimes it is better to just leave someone behind when we have more people to help.  The cool thing is we are planting a lot of seeds for these people who I know will one day accept it all.  We definitely have been blessed with SO much success here in Atlicpac.  A ton of baptisms lately and this week we are having one more!! Our converts are doing great, Henrry and Ramiro just got callings in the Young Men´s Presidency with an awesome young men´s president so I am very happy and excited for them.  Also, Elida was asking me to help her fill out a tithing envelope this past week.  You know, for people who just found out about the gospel not much more than 8 weeks ago have really changed a lot and just have so much faith.  I am so greatful for them and sometimes seeing the faith of some of our converts is a great example and inspiration for me.  We were able to put a baptism date with Elida´s mom Alicia who is now also excited to learn more and come unto Christ.  Ramiro will be baptizing his daughter, Abigail, this Friday and we are so excited to be helping these families be together forever!! I truly feel grateful and humble to have these experiences as a missionary and to be blessed with so much success. Life is just GREAT!! We also have a baptism scheduled the following week for a lady named Maria who is also very humble and prepared and will be an awesome member of the church.  Seeing all of these miracles and blessings certainly humbles me and really makes me sad thinking that I might be leaving soon.  I have learned to love these people so much and I wonder how much harder it will be to leave my mission at the end of two years!  Lots of work to do so I better work hard while I have the chance!

Well, this week was really good, and even though I have gotten some bad news I am happy.  Elder Achá and I have been praying lots of Creighton so I hope you are doing a lot better man!! I also have heard Brigham has to go home for knee surgery so my prayers go out to him too.  Also, Elder Boyer, one of my best mission friends, had to go home this week for back surgery.  I have been a little sad from all of this news, but I hope, pray, and wish the best for all of them, also the McKee family.  Sometimes sicknesses, injuries, and death can be so hard on us, but the wonderful thing is through the great Plan of Salvation, we really don´t have to be scared of anything.  I guess the hard part is just keeping that eternal perspective and keeping our eyes and focus on Christ.  This week we have kind of had some of our own problems and my patience has been tested a lot.  Luckily, like always, everything worked out and Elder Achá told me at the end of the week that I am really good a solving problems... that make me feel good :) In the end I have nothing to complain about.  We have had some fun playing some other games with some little kids too like cat and mouse and duck duck goose.  One time I lost and they all made me eat a piece of a raw onion! gross!! Haha, but it is all got good laughs and memories and I love the people here.  I am so greatful for all of my blessings, my success, my leaders, and my supportive family and friends back home.  I am happy and doing well and I still keep all of you guys in my thoughts and prayers everyday.  I miss you tons.

One more thing to finish.  I hope my flippin´ genuis, jedi knight, Dad had an AWESOME Birthday!! Happy Birthday Dad!! To celebrate, I made a strawberry-banana malt with Elder Achá Friday night (by the way thanks for the malt!).  I must admit, it turned out REALLY GOOD! Elder Achá loved it, it was his first malt in his life, and I can assure you Dad that you would have been proud.  Also Happy Father´s Day to all of the Dad´s out there this Sunday!!  I love and miss you guys all tons and have a GREEEEAT WEEK!!!!!  

Love,

Elder Clark

Picking up the Pace!

Mi querido familia y amigos,

Wow!! These weeks just keep on flying by.  It seems like really since Mother´s Day I just kind of put my head down, focused on the work, and just haven´t looked up!  I can´t believe it is already June, these day just keep going and going by.  I don´t even think I can keep track of time anymore.  This week I started my second journal- The Second Book of T-Clark, and now when I see missionaries I don´t recognize, it is because they are new, not because they have been out way longer than me haha.  Elder Achá told me I had the best mom ever because he saw my blog, and yes I proudly admitted that I think I do have the world´s best mom.  Last week we played basketball which was sooo fun, this week we played some soccer with some young men in a morning activity for our exercise, and today we went to the centro!! It was a lot of fun, it was cool to take Elder Achá for the first time and I think next week we are going to Teotihuacan!! I´ve also done some shopping and I think I´m starting to figure the missionary life out.  I found myself some nice lay´s stacks to snack on, flour tortillas to make breakfast tacos in the morning, ice cream, and even chicken nuggets! (Just need some chick-fil-a sauce... sadly there are no chick-fil-a´s down here).  Of course I still have my stache of pop-tarts too.

This week was really good though, and we had a couple of awesome experiences!  First of all, we had Elida and Genesis´s  baptism which went GREAT!!! I just love their family, from now on I will refer to them as the Cortes family (Yael, Angel, Genesis, and Elida).  They are literally the best converts ever.  They already have such a strong testimony.  They are sooo humble, teachable, and happy. They really don´t have much as far as worldy things or money goes, but they are the happiest, coolest family ever and now they will be together forever!! We has a wonderful, spiritual baptism, we sang a special musical number with some other missionaries and it was great!! We had a TON of ward support and missionary support and my zone leaders were super proud of us, they said it was an amazing baptism and have a lot of trust in me.  I love our zone-leaders so much, and Elder Matsen told me he is going to try and do one more division with me this cycle!  But Elida and Genesis bore their testimony afterwards and it was so powerful.  They just understand everything so well and I know the Spirit was able to convert them to Christ.  I had the privledge of baptizing Elida, and Elder Achá baptized Genesis.  Yael also said he felt so happy to see his family getting baptized and in about a year, Angel said he wants his older brother, Yael to baptize him too!! He is already excited for it!! The coolest part is that Elida brought her mom, Alicia, to the baptism.  We were able to find Elida and Genesis when they came to Yael´s baptism about 2 months ago, and now we will be helping their grandma, Alicia prepare for her own baptism!! It seems like that family just keeps of growing and growing, we went with them yesterday and they made me so happy!! Even though Alicia is a little bit harder, but the Cortes family is a huge support and we were able to put a baptism date with her yesterday!!  Yesterday at church was also awesome because Abigail (Ramiro´s daughter) came and said she is ready for baptism!! We have her date scheduled in two weeks, the 16th of June and are super happy.  I must admit, Heavenly Father truly has answered my prayers by sending me to this area in Atlicpac.  I also love Elder Achá.  We have had sooo much success and the Spirit has definitely been with us guiding us.

Well, this week was a great week and we have a lot to look forward too also!!  One day this week a guy was driving past us on his motorcycle.  He started yelling something at us and I just thought it would be something that wasn´t very nice... the people here either hate us or love us (most of them love us), but what he said to us really just surprised me.  All he said was that "God loves you guys".  It kind of caught me by surprise and was a tender mercy that Heavenly Father really does love and watch over me ever single day of my life.  It is little tender mercies like that I am so greatful for.  Also the other day, we had the experience EVERY missionary wants to have.  Literally a lady came up to us and said "What do I have to do to get baptized in your church?"  I think Elder Achá almost passed out, he just had this look of shock on his face haha. I was trying to act calm and collected too so it didn´t seem suspicious but it was really kind of funny and cool.  She showed us where she lives and we will be going one day this week! It was actually cool because she explained to us her mom is dying in the hospital.  She just got back from visiting her when she told her she wants her and her kids to get baptized in the Mormon church.  So even though we were caught by surprise from her, I couldn´t imagine her reaction when just moments after visiting her grandma in the hospital, she was walking home and saw two mormon missionaries.  It was another assurance that Heavenly Father is guiding His work, and somehow He made it so we met there at the exact same time.  This week we also ordered dominos pizza and had a pizza party- that was pretty fun.  We got caught in the rain one day since the rainy season is starting up and got SOAKED, but I am all good.  I´ve had some pretty weird dreams lately too, maybe it is because I am eating ice cream before I go to sleep.  I got to play with a 1 year old little boy named Santiago this week and I just love little kids and babies.  I really miss ALL of my cousins back home and I pray for each one of you by name every day.  This week we also went to the temple´s visitors center as a ward and we brought some investigators and recent converts.  It was a wonderful experience but had some travel problems when the bus broke down on the way there.  We were stuck in the streets and in the sun for about an hour when finally we got another little bus to fit us.  All 56 of us crammed in there somehow, MEXICAN STYLE:  Yeah, Mexican Style cramming into buses and combies and also metro trains is real.  And serving my mission down here in Mexico has brought to my mind a whole new understanding of really how many people can fit in one small space haha.  Definitely missing the comfortability of the US!!!

Well fam and friends, I hope you guys are great too.  I hope you are all having a wonderful and safe summer!! I sure missed you guys in Texas!  As the pace is picking up here, things are heating up, and we are approaching the playoffs, Elder Achá and I are working hard.  We have a lot to look forward too and have been blessed with SO much success this season playing for team Atlicpac.  I must admit, I have grown to love and learn sooo much from this ward here, and I really, REALLY don´t want to leave.  I would love to stay here another cycle after Achá training and I think I still have a lot more work to do here.  But, I will go where the Lord wants me to go.  I still remember how scared I was leaving Aurora and the Almas after my training and looking back it has been such a blessing the be here in Atlicpac.  Thank you guys so much for your prayers, love, emails, packages, jokes, and everything you guys do for me!!! As Elder Achá said to me this week, I have the BEST family ever!!!  Take care and be safe!! You are always in my prayers.  Cuidense mucho, los quiero tanto!!!

Your one and only,

Elder T-Clark