Celebrity Ward

Hello Family and Friends! 

So I just got to say... This new ward is SICK! Literally, I got super sick this week and had to take a trip to a hospital called Hospital Cami. I didn't know Cami had her own hospital or much less down here in Mexico but thanks to her now I feel much better. Thanks Camster for taking care of your brother! The only thing though is that the medicine they gave me is really gross... Mental note-Mexican food is good, Mexican medicine is not.  I must admit, it is times of being sick where I definitely miss my mom taking care of me haha. I guess I just caught a mild case if strept throat with a really bad cold. But anyways, the new ward, Villada, that I got changed too is pretty sick too. Just not as sick as me. There is one family here, the Jimenez family, that is really cool. In fact, their dad, Alberto (boxing name-el ratón Jimenez)  was a professional boxer and has fought in some pretty sweet places including South Africa, Thailand, Anaheim California, and... Cesar's Palace in Las Vegas!  Apparently he was pretty good so I'm definitely going to try and learn something from him before I leave so I can defend myself from all the robbers in the street. There is also another young woman in your ward, abish, who sang on the voice, so maybe I can learn a thing or two from her too since my voice definitely needs some help. Finally, there is a recent convert named Jorge but I am almost 100% positive that is just his cover name. He has long, shaggy, hair and a long beard and looks exactly like Hagrid from Harry Potter. In fact I actually do think he is a wizard and it is only a matter of time before I uncover his true identity. So yeah, I am pretty pumped, they basically put me in a ward full of celebrities. I'm sure this week when we are knocking doors I'll find out where Kawhi Leonard lives on vacation and he's probably chilling down here with good ol Timmy Duncan and Tony Parker. Who knows, maybe Thomas S. Monson is in our ward too! 

So despite me being pretty sick and having limited work hours this week, we were still showered with blessings and success. One thing I always do right before changes are coming up is fast. I fast for the ward I will be working in that they will support us in the missionary work and also trust and love us, I fast for the investigators and that I will be able to find the prepared children of God in the area I will be working in, and I fast for my new companion, that we will be able to get along, work hard, and be good friends. Maybe it was a little ironic but also had a great purpose that literally just 3 hours before I was going to finish my fast was when I got the phone call from President about having special changes. After all when I was leaving my first area I was scared out of my mind and Atlicpac turned out to be such a blessing, and I am sure this will be a wonderful blessing and opportunity as well. As a zone leader I have new and different responsibilities too, and now I have to work harder and prayerfully seek to help my whole zone out as well. I must admit, I do not like to be negative, but there is a lot of work and improvement to be done in the zone right now especially if we want to reach the mission goal of 100 baptisms each month, but instead of it discouraging me, I have used it as motivation. I am completely determined and have fill confidence and faith that through me, Christ can turn this zone around, we can arrive at where He wants us to be, and we can reach our goals and eventually the 100 baptisms for the mission. Even though it will be a lot of work, I have all the faith I need to be able to get there because I have seen how many miracles and how much success the Lord has given me when I have faith, work hard, and be obedient. On the first day I got here  realized that our numbers weren't very high so I got on my knees and prayed and then got on my feet to work. In just the first day we were able to find the number of new investigators that reached the standard of excellence for the week! (6). We are also really struggling with baptism dates after being in Atlicpac and consistently having about 6-8 from week to week alone in just our area and when I got here we only had 6 as a whole zone. On Thursday I was feeling pretty cruddy and came back to the house after lunch in the lot of pain and drained of energy, so I layed down to rest for about 30 minutes. However, I started feeling like I really needed to get out and work and that we had some important appointments in the afternoon that would answer my prayers of helping us put some more baptism dates. So I asked Elder Torres for a priesthood blessing and found the strength I needed to get out and work. We were definitely to blessed. First, we went with a mom (Karla) of 3 kids, 2 of whom are already members (Saira and Gael). She has talked with lots of missionaries before and needs to still get divorced and married before she get baptized (a VERY common and frustrating problem here) but we were able to help her see that the Gospel is really something that she needs and wants in her life and can strengthen her marriage and family and were able to put a baptism date with her for the end of September. Right after that, we went with another, new, investigator who we had planned to teach the word of wisdom.  Her name is Viridiana and she is a super cool investigator. She has been having problems smoking but we had a super spiritual and powerful lesson with her too and at the end she just burst out in tears. We felt the spirit very strong and afterword we gave her a priesthood blessing. She told us that she knew we were sent from God to bless her and her family. We were able to put a baptism date with her as well and I was so happy. I already love her and her family so much. I especially love helping people change their lives for the better through the Gospel and Christ and these small miracles make me love being a missionary. It is a work more satisfying than any other and brings more joy to the soul than anything else. I really liked a quote I found in the morning studying Doctrine and Covenants and the institute manual by George Albert Smith who said “My understanding is that the most important mission that I have in this life is: first, to keep the commandments of God, as they have been taught to me; and next, to teach them to my Father’s children who do not understand them." I felt like that was a good theme for the day after helping people put goals and dates in their lives to change, come unto Christ, and keep God's commandments.

One also very exciting surprise that I just found out a couple days ago was that mama Martha, from my very first area finally got baptized yesterday!!! I was so excited because when I was with Johnson we worked so hard with her and loved her so much and now finally we were both able to go back yesterday and see the fruits of our labors. It honestly made me so so happy and it is definitely moments like these too where I love being a missionary :) I don't really think that I had ever been more excited to see a baptism before but after 4 years of working with the missionaries it was a miracle she finally made it! Plus it was good to see some of the other families from my first area who are now surprised to know that I speak Spanish. As I sat there thinking I remembered how much I loved that ward and all of the good memories with Johnson... I miss it. And yes adjusting to a new area and ward is hard for me but I know eventually I will have just as good of memories and love for the members here too. I definitely have grown to the people here in Mexico a lot.   

So even though I got pretty sick, the first week here was pretty good. We also had an activity yesterday in the stake called "trip to Hawaii". No, it wasn't quite as awesome as our family trip to Hawaii but it was a really organized and well planned activity and we had a ton of investigators there! First we had everyone seated as if they were on an airplane on a trip to Hawaii, and there was a plane crash and they all died. But then we took them on a tour through the Spirit World and the 3 Kingdoms of Glory. I was in charge of the Celestial Kingdom and the Spirit was definitely with us there and I know the investigators felt something special. Also since it was a stake activity, I got to see Alma for the first time I left Aurora. We definitely have a good stake here. So yeah after all I guess I am pretty happy here, or know that I can find my happiness here. Elder Torres, my new companion is really cool too and he is a great guy. He is almost 9 years older than me (he's 27) so it is a little different than other companions that I have had but I love him and we are going to work hard together and have lots of success. I have a lot of respect for him too, he is a convert to the church of just 4 years. A couple years after his baptism (2 years ago) his parents passed away pretty young. Sometimes I don't know what I would do without the support of my mom and dad every week who I love so much, but he has a strong testimony in the Plan of Salvation and I admire him a lot for that. Well the good news is that no one has given me moronga here! I suppose every week without moronga is a great week. I love and miss you guys lots, thanks for your prayers and emails, and have a GREAT week! 

Your favorite missionary, 

Elder T-Clark