Hey Family, Friends, and Fellow Americans!
I hope you guys all had a great week! Meanwhile, I am pretty sure this week was the FASTEST week of my whole mission! I don´t know where time has been going these days, but certainly working hard makes the time go by fast. I also had a pretty awesome week too, and one day I was trying to figure out why this week was so awesome… then it hit me! I have been wearing my Spurs sweatpants to bed! Of course I was going to have good luck this week. Well the title of my email has multiple applications to this week. First of all, this week we helped BUILD A HOUSE! It was just as dope as it sounds. We went with some less active members who had asked us if we could do some service for them. We helped them lay down some concrete in some new rooms to their house. It was dirty and it was fun! I have truly learned to love serving and working hard and I found a lot of satisfaction in this job. Plus it was pretty fun too, and I mean, who doesn´t want to say that they built a house down in Mexico? That has been on my bucket list ever since I was born. I did get a pretty bad blister from shoveling so much but it was fine. So if you guys need me to help you build your houses when I get back just hit me up. This week I have also been really improving my cooking skills! I have been making pancakes, breakfast tacos, and I found a really delicious way to make some quesadillas with ham and cheese and a really good chipotle salsa. Also I am happy because I have gotten some chicken nuggets and ice cream, now I just need some chick fil a sauce. This week we are planning on making a pizza with some members and I am super excited. I got the récipe from only the best- Chef Esteban, my Mexican Uncle. In fact we went over to his house just this morning and it was awesome!! We made vanilla pancakes from scratch and had some bacon and a really good hot chocolate! Esteban is the MAN! I really need to go over there more, and he really loves the missionaries. He really is my Mexican Uncle.
The next firm foundation I built this week besides the house, was I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time in my mission, but this time it took my 5 months! I started way back in my training (yeah, forever ago), and literally read and marked verse by verse, in both my Spanish and English scriptures. Now I have a very marked up, rainbow set of Spanish and English scriptures, but more than that I have a firm, strong testimony that will never fail me. I have seriously fallen in love with the Book of Mormon on my mission, I know it to be 100% true and I know we are in the true church of Christ. I know that if we build our testimonies on the firm foundation of the Book of Mormon, we will be strong, faithful, and diligent in serving the Lord. Every time I read the scriptures I always feel more motivated to serve and feel more charity and love for the people that I am serving. Since I have finished the Book of Mormon though, I have started to read the Pearl of Great Price, with the guide, all in Spanish! It is amazing how the gift of tongues Works and how much my Spanish has improved! And more than anything, I love learning new things!! I don´t know if there are many more better feelings than to discover a new piece of treasure, inspiration, or knowledge as I search the scriptures diligently. I feel like every time I study, with prayer, my mind is opened to a new knowledge and light and I can understand more things. It feels great and I truly feel enlightened and inspired by my Heavenly Father, especially since I have been on my mission. It is crazy to think that in just 9 short months, I am become fluent in Spanish, strengthened my testimony 100 times stronger, become closer to my Savior Jesus Christ, survive down in Mexico living on my own, and learn how to cook and build houses!! It sure does feel good to progress and learn new things, but the coolest thing is that I am still myself, crazy old Tyler who loves playing basketball and joking around. Some things will never change about me.
This week my testimony has also been strengthened in setting goals, especially goals for missionary work. Ever since President Mann has got here, he has stressed a lot about setting goals to achieve the ultimate goal of having 100 baptisms every month in the mission. This week, Elder Cruz and I set goals specifically for our areas. One of the goals we set was to achieve the standard of excellence for finding new investigators every week and find 6 news every week this cycle. Well, we put in our efforts, contacted a lot, and Saturday night came and we had 5. We really did work hard to achieve the goal and I felt a little discouraged because I do not like underachieving my specific goals I set. But, through our prayers and faith, and to our excitement, a brand new investigator came to church on Sunday, stayed for all 3 hours, and we were able to get another appointment with her and count her as a new investigator!! I was soo happy and knew that Heavenly Father really did hear and answer our prayers and helped us achieve our goals. So far for the rest of the goals we set, we are on track and it seems like we are going to break a few of them!! Just more evidence that Heavenly Father loves us and really does help us achieve our goals and plans in life if we put our trust in Him and put in our own efforts too, even when sometimes we feel like we can´t give that much.
We have also had a lot of success this week with our investigators. We found a new investigator- Javier Armas, when we were just walking in the street and both said, “I feel like we need to contact this door”. Well, we knocked on the door and a polite man greeted us and said “Oh! Hey Elders, what do you have new for me today?” Apparently Javier had been talking with missionaries before and was very open to let us in because he loves to hear the opinions of all religions. We set up another appointment with him and when we went back, we had a great lesson! We taught the Restoration and really focused that he needed to pray and ask God to receive his own answer if what we taught him was true. He said he was really interested and that he wanted to go to church with us on Sunday! So Sunday morning, we passed by for him, and he was all ready to go! I later found out that is he a paramedic, and got back from his work at 6 A.M.! Well, he didn´t even sleep a wink that night, and stayed up until we passed by for him to go to church! I was shocked to see the faith that this man already had, someone we just met a few days before, that he was filling to sacrifice basically all of his rest time to go to church with us. It is amazing how the Spirit can really work in the hearts of the investigators so fast if they are willing and open to it. We also met another really cool lady knocking doors one day, Elena Garcia. At first, she was very reluctant to let us in, and seemed a little annoyed. I assume she had probably talked with some other religious people before and didn´t like it. I felt prompted to explain to her that what we are doing isn´t for us, that we are only here to help her and that this time we wanted to share something was for her, that we didn´t receive a single peso for doing this. I felt prompted to talk about the Plan of Salvation and how it brings happiness and hope to families especially who are going through hard times. Eventually she let us in and we briefly talked about the Plan of Salvation since she said she was really busy. But as we talked, I noticed a change in her, in her face and in her heart. It was almost as if the Spirit went in and flipped a switch, she just became super interested and open and I could definitely tell she was feeling the Spirit. After we finished, she offered a prayer after we taught her how, and she gladly accepted us back for a return appointment. I am not sure if she will progress and get baptized yet, but even if not, I feel like we planted a good seed that day and I really could tell that we touched something inside of her. I am so greatful for the Spirit in this work, because without it, we wouldn´t be able to do anything. We are also very excited because Alicia, the grandma, is ready and excited for baptism next week! We will have to work with Jesus (the grandpa of the Cortes family) for a little bit more time and have his baptism a few weeks later, but if all goes well, we should be having 4 baptisms next week!! I am super excited and I know I have been slacking the past few weeks without one, but I will make up for it next week by having 4. I truly feel so blessed with so much success here in Atlicpac, and the ward is so strong, and excited for missionary work too. I know that the Savior Himself is with us right now.
Well, it really has been a great week. We had interviews with President Mann and I also got to talk with Sister Mann a little bit too! I had fun showing her some of my family pictures, and we talked about how family reunions are so fun (Since all my family is having a blast right now together). Turns out they haven´t missed in 35 years before coming on the mission! One thing she said really hit me though, she said that it is always hard leaving them, or missing them, because when you are having fun and laughing and playing with your family, that is what heaven feels like. I sure hope Heaven will be like that, and I am so greatful for my Eternal Family. It has also been raining basically everyday now, but good thing I got an umbrella to keep my dry. One day, almost an entire road flooded and we were stuck in a combi for about an hour! It was kind of crazy, flooding gets REALLY bad down here in Mexico, and people get REALLY impatient, REALLY quick haha. Crazy drivers… We have also enjoyed some games of Ooga Booga look, some domino´s pizza, a fun zone meeting, and the Mexican version of Root Beer that I discovered this week (Toni Col). Also a lady promised us pizza and CHOCOLATE MALTS next time we eat with her. The coolest part was that I never even told her I loved chocolate malts! I guess she just received that valuable piece of revelation from Heaven. Shout out to the Larson family who I got a letter and pictures from this week and I seriously love and miss all my cousins, aunts, and uncles so much. As I was finishing the Book of Mormon, I came across kind of a funny scripture that I can really relate to when Moroni said in Moroni 8:17 “I love little children with a perfect love”. I truly do feel so much love for the little kids who make me so happy, and that is why I love my family and little cousins so much. Well I am doing great out here, I also found someone with a HOVERBOARD (The first one I have seen in Mexico) and I was showing them all the funny tricks I knew on it, they were cracking up haha! It was pretty fun, I hope our hoverboard back home hasn´t blown up yet. But I love and miss you guys soo much, I hope you are having a lot of fun especially my fam at the family reunion and that you guys are having a great, safe, summer. Love and miss you guys tons, I am going to the temple next week and will be changing my P-Day so you won´t hear from me Monday, but sometime later next week. Have a GREAT week!!!!!!
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Clark
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