So the work has been really great lately too. We had a zone conference last week and that was fun! I definitely love seeing old friends and catching up a little, but I do admit, I miss Elder Boyer. If you didn´t know, a couple months ago Elder Boyer had some back problems and had to go home for surgery, I just hope he can come back to this mission. I am definitely greatful I have been blessed with health and strength in my life. It has been raining a ton here too, just about everyday, but with my rain coat and new umbrella, it has been mostly tolerable. When we are inside at night, I love the rain. But we have had to do a lot of walking in the rain too. One day we hiked up a hill for about 40 minutes in the pouring rain. We finally got there exhausted and soaked, but it was definitely worth it. We committed an entire family ,who have been inactive for years, to come back to church, take the temple prep classes and get sealed in the temple as a family! It was amazing because they all came to church sunday with a good attitude and are really motivated and excited right now. I love doing the Lord´s work. We finished the lesson with this family (The Gomez Family) by singing I am a Child of God with all of their cute little kids and grandkids. As I was singing, the spirit really just hit me and I felt like God was telling me how much he loved me, how much I was truly His child, and how much he appreciated me working hard and loving and serving His other children for Him. I love little tender mercies and experiences like that that help me keep on going on with faith and hope, even during the downs of this roller coaster ride. We also had a day where we just contacted so much, a lot of our appointments had fallen and we just kept getting rejected... hard. It got a little frustrating, but we kept going. Finally the day was winding down and I just said a little prayer and told Heavenly Father I knew he loved me and I had faith, but we had set some goals that we need to complete, and asked to just find someone who was ready and willing to hear our message. The very next door we knocked on we found someone really interested who did have a lot of questions about who we were and was really sincere. It was such a relief and joy to just find that one person, and then walking back to the house, I remembered we had set some goals to find even more investigators that day and knew that we were going to achieve them. So as we were walking back I got the prompting and told Elder Cruz that we were going to knock just this one last day. Well, to our surprise it was another lady who was open and willing to accept us and it made me so happy. I know Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us perfectly, and also knows exactly what we need, even trials and struggles sometimes, the become like Him. Even though they are hard, we should always be greatful for the trials in life because that is what shapes us, tests our strength, and if we look hard enough, we can always find the reason or the blessings that come from them. I am certain of that and have seen it time and time again on my mission.
I also had one of the best days of my mission yesterday and a really cool experience with an investigator. It was yesterday. It was probably the best day since... well, since the last time I did divisions with Elder Matsen. I am not sure why but between me and him there is just a click. The first time a few months ago I did divisions with him we had an amazing day, I felt so inspired and learned so much from him. Perhaps this last time (yesterday) was even better. We not only had fun and were super happy (and got up early to go to the gym and cook a nice healthy breakfast) but we so lots of miracles and success in just one day of work together. In the afternoon we went with an investigator named A59+. We had originally planned on going in teaching the Plan of Salvation, but it was obvious and the Spirit told us that we needed to change our game plan completely because he needed something else. So we were able to scout out the defense on this play, we called an audible, changed the play, and decided we needed to teach, the Word of Wisdom. He had mentioned a little bit that he has been struggling for a lot of his life with alcohol, but he has been loving the Book of Mormon lately and he told us whenever he reads it, he just feels the strength and the motivation he needs to stop. He can feel it is something he needs to change in his life. So without even explaining anything about the Word of Wisdom or that is was a commandment from God, it first made me realize that the Light of Christ is real and it is in each one of us. Even for those who don´t know the commandments of God before, still know deep down inside that some of those worldly things are wrong and bad. The Light of Christ is what tells us we need to change and makes us feel the godly sorry and motivation to do so. So we started teaching the Word of Wisdom and explained the blessings and asked him what he thought about it. The room went silent and he just started balling. Yeah, a 30 year old, big old muscular guy, all tatted up, who has been drinking for a lot of his life just broke down and started crying. Very few times have I felt the Spirit so strongly before in some lessons, but A told us that he truly knows that we were angels sent from God to change his life and he said he knows he can change. The put some goals and dates with him to change, giving him lots of love and support and I have never seen a man so confident or motivated to change, and then get cleaned through baptism. It is such a miracle work. And to finish it all off, we offered to give him a blessing of strength to help him make these changes in his life. I will say this, as soon as we put our hands on his head, and started giving him the blessing, a whole power and spirit just filled us that I can´t even describe. It was really just as God himself was talking to A. We got the chills and I just felt like the whole room was filled with light, and hope, and Christ himself. It really strengthened my testimony so much giving this blessing to his humble, willing man. It made me really realize that it is true- we truly do have the Priesthood, God´s power on the Earth, and that is is POWERFUL! It can change lives and can only be used to bless the lives of others. It is more powerful and fulfilling than any thrill or high you get from hitting a big 3 pointer in a basketball game, or racing down the mountain snowboarding with everything else a blur. I often think about how much I miss those kind of things but wow, some of the miracles and experiences I have had on my mission don´t even compare to those. It is something out of this world and it is something REAL. I know that the Gospel changes lives and that really God doesn´t care where we were, or who we were before, but He cares who we are right now, and where we are willing to go with His help. That is something my Mom taught me that I love to share and teach with others. But it is true and it is so true that with Christ´s help we CAN change, because clean and forgiven, and one day inherit the Celestial Kingdom with our family and friends forever. What a great promise and hope that is.
Well after all, this last week and a half was great. Some of the experiences that I have had in my mission I wouldn´t trade for anything. And I guess that is what makes life worth it, appreciating and cherishing all of the many good times and not worrying when your bread goes green. Or when you step in dog poop (Yep, this week I stepped in a nice, fresh, smelly, Mexican pile of dog poop), but you just got to keep going. There were a lot of fun things that happened this week too. We ate some really good tamales and with the pizza recipe I got from the master chef Esteban, we made homeade pizza with some members one night (Let´s just say though, I still need to practice more, I am far from Chef Esteban level) and at least it was a lot of fun. Don´t worry Frank famly, I am saving your Massaman and I KNOW the time is near, I will make that good stuff sometime soon. We have also gotten a few meals of seafood this week, and Cruz and I were a little worried because the fish isn´t the cleanest here, but the sisters cooked it up pretty good for us! But like always, you gotta have your weird food for the week as a missionary and mine was pig´s feet. Not a big fan, but it is nowhere near the level of Moronga (check blog from 2 weeks ago). Pig´s feet is almost like a strawberry-banana malt compared to Moronga. I have also been really missing basketball lately but it has motivated me. Since I am sad because Elder Cruz doesn´t want to go to the gym, I have been using my exercise time in the morning to do some dribbling drills and I am about to start a vertical exercise so I can dunk when I get home. I haven´t given up on some of my dreams and ambitions yet. Finally, we had a pretty stressful Sunday because we had to both give talks in Sacrament meeting, teach the Gospel Principles class, AND then someone from the Stake just put us on the spot and made us give an entire class for Priesthood, COMPLETELY UNPREPARED... Ugh I guess that is what you get for being a missionary lol. You are just the backup plan for everything. But it is good though, sometimes it is hard, sometimes it is great, and sometimes your bread just goes green. I hope you are all having a wonderful end to your summers and are super excited to start school soon!! I shouldn´t be complaining, at least I don´t have to start school next week like my sisters haha. Love and miss you all, you are always in my thoughts and prayers.
Your favorite missionary,
Elder T-Clark
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