Checkmate!

Hello Dear Family and Friends!

Happy Holidays and I hope everyone had a very fun-filled, safe, and wild thanksgiving with lots of pie and turkey! I also hope the best mom in the world had the best birthday ever! Happy Birthday mom! So this week at nights with my companion, Elder Boynton, and the people I have been doing divisons with I have been getting really good at chess. I never really knew how good until now and I literally just beat everyone.  I´ve never really practiced in my life, but currently I am on a 4 game chess win streak and don´t plan on losing soon. Maybe ever since I finally lost in Ping-Pong I have had to find something else to boost my confidence and to be proud of. But of course I am still playing basketball lots, and with all the strength I have been getting in the gym, I feel unstoppable.  Today we played basketball and it was a ton of fun. So I am just feeling at my peak spiritually and physically on my mission right now and I am super happy.  Especially after this week we have been having a ton of success here and I just LOVE being a missionary.  Sometimes I feel like I´ve never had more happier times in my life apart from not being with some of my favorite people, but I am definitely going to be sad the day my mission comes to an end.  There is no more satisfying work than this and it is sad thinking I will only be a missionary once in my life... But my mom did send me a lot of videos this week so I was also reminded of how fun and awesome my family and friends are back home.  I sure miss you guys too. Time is flying by right now and lots to look forward to ahead, can life get any better right now?!?! Plus I just got a call and found out that I have 2 PACKAGES!!! WOOO!!! (disclaimer- I promise I am not on drugs right now)

So this week I was really happy to meet a "golden" investigator named Joaquin. One day, my companion and I were walking in the street and someone yelled at us, "Hola Elderes!" We kind of waved back because we had some other appointments but as we were walking we both stopped.  We stopped and thought about that maybe we should go back and say hi, I mean we had never seen him before, and why not?! So after a few seconds we decided we needed to go back, and boy am I glad we decided to go talk to Joaquin.  He was very friendly at first and told us he would love to talk to us.  We set a return appointment for the next day (Friday), and went back to teach him the next day.  We taught the Restoration and man was it one of the most powerful, spiritual lessons I had ever taught.  He was so interested, asked a lot of questions and understood everything perfectly. And after the lesson he told us a really cool story.  He said a few years ago, he was in the hospital with a serious illness. I think he said that his pancreas or something were expanding and the doctors couldn´t do anything about it, in fact, they told him that he had only 1 week left to live.  He said that during this week he was a little uneasy, he wasn´t really satisfied with his past life and had a lot of regrets. He said that during this week he kept having dreams where people dressed in black would come by his bed and tell him that he was dying soon and was going to be miserable forever. He also said that people dressed in white, that looked like us with our white shirts, or sometimes angels would come by to help him, comfort him, and make him feel better telling him everything would be alright.  The doctors came back a week later and were completely shocked.  They asked him what he had done because he was 100% cured.  No sign of disease or illness, or any problem with his organs and that he was free to go.  He started crying at this point, a big tough guy with lots of tattoos and lots of piercings (It is always so powerful when those big tough guys cry), and told us that he knew that miracle was from God because he had a purpose to complete in this life.  He said before then, he never ever believed in God, thought that is was made up, but now he can´t deny the miracle that God did in his life. And in his final prayer he thanked God for putting us in his life to complete his purpose and find the happiness he was looking for.  We left him with a Book of Mormon and a few chapters to read as well, and a couple days later we went back to check on him and how he was doing.  When we got there he had all of his family over and was teaching them about the Book of Mormon!!! I was SOOO HAPPY!!! I knew that the Spirit touched his life that day and I am beyond grateful that the Spirit guided us to go back and talk to Joaquin when we first say him.  Like I said, there is no more satisfying work than to be a missionary!  Honestly, with Joaquin, I know that he is going to get baptized, and to me, he is already another Ramrio, or Dimas, or Damian, who I know that I was preordained in the Spirit World to come serve them, love them, and bring them the Gospel.  I am so excited.  Dimas should also be getting baptized in the coming weeks.

We also had our ward activity this week and with a ton of planning with our ward mission leader, and support from him, it turned out GREAT!! We had our best converts from our ward come share their conversion stories and even had President Mann and his wife there to give a talk!! Everyone told us about how powerful our mission President is, and I was so glad he was able to come.  A member even brought tamales for everyone afterwards!  Ever since then the members have LOVED us! We got about 7 references the next Sunday, people bringing their family members to church and now this ward is really rolling.  We have been able to put 3 more baptismal dates this week and I hope they don´t change me for a while here because the work is awesome and the members are working well to support us.  We were able to have some investigators at both the ward activity and at church and especially the Lopez family is progressing great, especially the dad, Fernando.  We went with them yesterday in the evening and taught the Word of Wisdom which they accepted without any problems.  Fernando told us that he read all the chapters in the Book of Mormon that we left him with and understood everything perfectly! He gave a great summary of the chapter and now they are falling in love with the Gospel as well.

So as you can see, it was another great and successful week. I am so happy and cannot believe Christmas is just 4 weeks away!! Definitely time to get into the Christmas Spirit! As for food this week I had some really good tacos again (of course, life every week), and one time at lunch this week, a member gave us some of the spiciest food I have ever eaten! I still was able to put down 2 plates, but it sure was hot.  Afterwards, the sister said, "sorry Elders, I think I might´ve accidentally put in double the chile that it called for haha", I was like, yeah, I could tell. But it was still super good.  Other than that I will keep on working hard and praying for you guys back home! I didn´t get any turkey for Thanksgiving, but that is alright, next Thanksgiving I will be home with all of you guys! What a time that will be.  I hope you guys have a really fun and safe week and that you start getting snow soon! (Especially down in Bullhead City!) Have a greeat weeek!

Elder Clark

Bowling Strikes!!!

Dear familia and amigos,

I know, I KNOW.  My last weekly email was short and this one might be shorter too, but I had an awesome P-Day today going Bowling!!! Yep, today we went to shopping mall (I also had to buy new shoes because I blew out the side of my athletic shoes playing basketball just like Manu Ginobili) so I bought some shoes, a super nice Kawhi Leonard Jersey, and we went bowling afterwards with my friends!  After not playing in over a year, I am happy to anounce, I bowled a STRIKE on my first box! I won´t talk about the rest of my game because it was pretty embarrasing, but I was at least proud of my first frame.   

The work was actually really great for us this week as well.  As a zone we baptized 6, and have 5 planned for this week, and as for our area, we were able to put some new baptism dates that we plan on having them get baptized in December!! I am really excited for a family we found, the Lopez Family, who all came to church this week, the dad for the very first time! We were also blessed with another guy, Fredrico, who, by curiosity decided to walk into our meetings on Sunday for the very first time! He was soo excited and interested, had so many questions and could hardly contain himself! We have an appointment with him this week (This time he IS in our area!) and also he is going to come to our REALLY AWESOME activity we have planned on Saturday! So now let me tell you about this REALLY AWESOME activity.  Lately we have been working a lot with out Ward Mission Leader, who is really great.  He has been helping us with our investigators, we have a meeting every week with him, he helps us out with our english classes, and helped us planned a family home evening with the ward.  On Saturday night we invited the whole ward to come and are going to have a really inspirational meeting.  We have invited some of the coolest converts of our ward to come and tell their conversion story, and how the church changed their lives.  We have also invited President Mann to come talk and let everyone feel his energizing Spirit! We´ve planned things also like a video with pictures of the ward from a really long time ago, a choir of missionaries, tamales and hot chocolate, and of course some games!! It will be a huge success I know and I can´t wait!!  So I couldn´t be more excited for our ward right now as we are gaining their trust and that they are more willing to help us with the missionary work.  I also have a talk on Sunday about missionary work and told everyone they need to repent and do better by helping us in the missionary work if they truly love their Savior Jesus Christ.  It was great, I love giving talks in church haha.

So this week I am really excited for what is coming up. After having a slower area for a while, the pace is picking up, and we could have about 5 or 6 baptisms planned for the new future.  Of course Christmas time is coming up which is a great time to serve and love everyone.  We will probably plan a zone Christmas Caroling activity which I am excited about.  This week we also got to go to the temple which was a very powerful and spiritual experience like always, but then afterwards I was scared out of my mind because they gave us all Flu Shots.... :( Ugh I hate shots but now I can basically eat and do whatever I want and not get sick right? I don´t think I even have to cook my food anymore!  This week Elder Boynton and I also started meal prepping since we are in the same house.  Every morning after the gym we eat 3 eggs with some bread and on Sunday and Wednesday nights we cook some chicken breast and a ton of spaghetti and pack them into tupperware containers for the next 3 days.  Every night we have a super filling and good dinner which gives us ton of energy for the gym the next day and honestly I feel like I have so much energy throughout the day too. And maybe you didn´t want this extra detail but I am going to say it anyways, I don´t think I´ve ever had more solid poops in over a year of all my time in Mexico. JAJAJA. Of course I still have to eat my tacos, donuts, tamales, and whatever other good food Mexico brings me, but I feel great physically right now, AND spiritually.  I am continuing to study hard and have truly fallen in love with the Scirptures, especially the Book of Mormon.  How grateful I am for them in my life.  

So yes, like every week, is was wonderful and very fast.  We actually have had to walk a ton this week with a lot of fallen appointments, and it is really REALLY hot still... Ugh I just want some snow! It doesn´t even feel like Christmas time as far as the weather goes.  But I am very excited for the Holidays. Especially Thanksgiving! Even though we don´t really celebrate it here, I have so much to be grateful for and will have a heart full of gratitutde that day for sure.  I will try to eat some sort of turkey too haha. I sure do miss spending all of this time with you guys though.  Have fun smashing the gord without me! And finally this week I have been playing a lot of chess with Elder Boynton as well.  I am getting pretty good and realized I am a lot better than I though! Who woulda known?

Well, I guess this email wasn´t as short as I thought it would be anyways so I guess thats good! Have a great week, love and miss you lots, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! 

Your number 1,

Elder Tyler Clark!

GO SPURS GO!

Don´t Eat the Purple Rocks in the Salsa

Hello Everyone!

I would like to warn you, do not be decieved.  The email title made this email sound a lot more interesting than it really is.  I will give you a warning in advance, this may be one of my shortest emails in the field, honestly this week was just really plain and normal which I guess you can consider to be a good thing that I didn´t get run over my a moto-taxi, robbed, or got stitches.  One cool thing this week though is that I did get my stitches out on Tuesday!! There is a little scar there, but honestly it arguably makes me more attractive.  Now that I am hitting the gym hard too I say that bumps me up to a 9.5 on the attractive scale.  We will see when I get home though. It is REALLY nice though that I can finally blow my nose normal.  Don´t take that for granted everyone, blowing your nose normally should be very treasured.  And so about the purple rock story like my title mentioned, one day we were eating lunch with a member from our ward.  As I was reaching for something I accidentally knocked over her fake plant which had purple rocks as the soil.  As I was trying to reput all of the purple rocks into the jar again before the sister came back into the room, a couple of them accidentally fell in the salsa.  So the whole time we had to avoid the purple rocks when we were eating the salsa, I hope the member didn´t think she accidentally put something weird in the salsa haha.  It was a good laugh though.  

Honestly, the work is going much better in this ward right now too and I cannot be more excited.  We have worked really hard with our ward mission leader to organize activities and he has been going out with us to help us find good investigators.  We have found about 3 investigators this week that I truly do believe will progress and eventually get baptized.  The fight continues with Francisco, Ramiro is doing great, and I heard that Dimas´s baptism might´ve got postponed.  BUT, I was SOOO excited to find out that Dimas did in fact get a job!!! His fast and prayer was answered and I was glad to be an instrument in the Lord´s hand to provide that miracle in his life.  I sure have been blessed with a lot of success and joy in my mission.  

So all in all, I think that about raps it up.  Maybe you guys will be glad this week since you don´t have to spend an hour reading my emails, but even though it wasn´t as eventful, it was still very good, enjoyable, and fast.  Time just keeps moving faster and faster.  I´m still hitting the gym super hard, we were able to attend a wedding this week for some members, I´ve been teaching lots of English, and of course, playing lots of basketball. I hope all of you guys are enjoying the Holiday season and are ready for Thanksgiving! I also hope you guys are starting to blast some Christmas music because I sure am ready to start!! Love and miss you guys a ton and thanks for everything! Have a greeeeat week!

Your fav,

Elder T-Clark

Pumpkin for Halloweek!

Hello Everyone!!!

Honestly, this week was just AMAZING. I feel so happy and blessed right now. And this week I dressed up as a pumpkin for Halloween. Since we have a super fun and cool zone, Elder Robinson started the tradition of buying everyone gifts. Especially with the Holiday spirits flowing and Christmas coming up, it has been a really happy and joyful time. So far Elder Robinson has got me a Nacho Libre mask (to protect my nose) and a Spurs jersey is on the way. This week as I was walking in the streets I saw something that I could not resist. A pumpkin costume. Elder Kay, Robinson and I all have an inside joke with pumpkin costumes too so I had to buy it. One day this week I gave it to Elder Kay as a gift and it was hilarious, everyone was dying and the pumpkin costume looks great I must admit. Haha I love the Holiday season! Also I'm sure everyone that saw me in the street on Halloween and the Day of the Dead thought I was dressed up because of my nose anyways. But don't worry, my nose is doing great and I should be getting the stitches out tomorrow!

So this week to work was really great and I got to see a lot of fruits from my labors. This week I had the really cool opportunity to go and visit Dimas twice!! And wow, he is just such a changed man, it just makes me so happy.  The first time he was having some doubts a little about baptism but now we were able to clear all of those up, and the second time we tought about tithing.  It wasn´t a huge problem because he deosn´t have a job right now even though he really wants one.  We also taught about tithing and fast offerings and at the end of the lesson I felt a strong prompting to give him a promise.  I promised Dimas that if fasted with us this week, committed to the Lord to pay a full tithe, and put in his efforts to look for a job, that he would find a job this week.  I know the Lord always helps us according to our faith and I know that Dimas has soo much faith.  He has completely shaved his beard, cleaned up, and changed his life around.  He told us that before he met us he felt so far from God in his life but he is grateful what we have brought for him.  I love Dimas so much and hope to be present at his baptism in 2 weeks on the 18 of November!! Also another tender mercy this week was when I was able to return to the Stake Center in Los Reyes and participate in giving Ramiro the melchezidek priesthood!! It brought me so much joy to see him progressing and strengthening his testimony and made me happy that their family wanted me to be there for that sacred ordinance.  It was funny because I kind of felt like a celebrity with all of my old ward members from Atlicpac seeing me and greeting me, I sure do love and miss that ward.  And I was also surprised when another one of my converts from there, Sergio, was also receiving the Melchizedek priesthood!! So I got double the blessings that day.  I remember afterwards Ramiro´s wife, Hacsiry, was talking about me and telling me how much they missed us.  She said that I don´t know how grateful she is and how much of an impact having a worthy priesthood holder in her family will be.  She said I have done more for her family than she can ever repay, and even though it isn´t really me, I felt so happy and so much love for that family.  I should be awaiting their temple sealing in a few months and I couldn´t be more excited!! Finally, I have truly been praying and fasting and trying to exercise more faith than ever, especially to help Francisco.  I know this may not be the easiest area I have ever been in, but we had a really good meeting with our bishop and ward mission leader who are so willing to help us, and I am excited to keep working hard and see what miracles I can discover in this work.

So afterall, it was just another great week, it was actually week 6 of this cycle, so changes are today, but Elder Revolorio and I are staying together for another one! I must admit though, I am pretty sad that finally, one of my best friends I have made in the mission, Elder Kay, is leaving the zone... It was kind of a surprise for us, and I will miss him lots, but I won´t forget all of the great memories we have had and all of the things he has taught me.  I really hope we are companions one day because we would be so powerful and work so well together.  But as always, I will go where the Lord wants me to go.  I also do have a few suspicions why this week was so good too, apart from the work.  I hit a record this week and have eaten tacos 7 times this week, and of course, tacos always increase your happiness level by at least 5 points depending on how good they are. So that was great and I also got a package from my family which was super funny and awesome and I love them so much for that.  One day in the teangis I found a super sick Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt as well and I bargained it down to only 4 bucks so I was super happy about that purchase (And I know my dad will be proud).  And then apart from the tacos I also ate super good this week, one day a sister in our ward gave us HAMBURGERS AND ICE CREAM, one day we got money for lunch so I had subway for the first time ever in my mission (Yes, it tastes just as good, especially the cookies), I´ve gotten some pretty good churros this week and now for the Food of the Week.  Chicken Heart.  Yep, one member gave us some chicken heart this week which wasn´t actually too bad, the flavor was fine because it was cooked with other chicken, but it was just super chewy and rubbery and there is always the mental effect, but honestly, not the worst thing I have had in my life.  So yes, I am still hitting the gym super hard, playing basketball every here and there, teaching English with this guy from the US, Gonzalo (which is actually super fun, all of the kids love us), eating well, and of course, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!! I love this work and I love and miss all of you guys too, I cannot believe Christmas is right around the corner!! Have a great week, be safe, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I hope you guys are getting some snow there because it is nothing but hot still here!

Your # 1,

Elder Clark