Memorable Last Mission Christmas in the Movie Theatres

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! 

Hey Everyone!!! How are you guys!!! I can´t believe it! It is Christmas!!! It took a while to find a place that was actually open so that we could email on Christmas but we did find it so that you guys could all know how my Christmas was! So this week we went to the Movie Theaters (Please don´t tell my Mission President) and I was feeling so much in the Christmas Spirit that I invited my whole zone and paid for them to come along too! Okay, actually I guess you can tell my Mission President because we did have permission to go.  ]Yep, directly from the Area Seventy, we got permission to go to the movie theater and watch Coco! It was one of my most favorite disney movies of all time, and my first movie I´ve ever watched in Spanish which was kind of cool too, it was weird being able to understand everything.  But Coco just has a lot to do with some Mexican Traditions and also with Temple and Family History Work (Surprise) so now it is our job to use this to further the missionary work here in Mexico! I guess God works in mysterious ways, and some of those ways involve a nice Christmas gift to missionaries by letting them go to the movies and watch Coco! So yes, it was a great start to Christmas.

Christmas this year was also pretty memorable in some other ways too though.  We did a lot of Christmas carolling including a fun zone activity where we broke off into groups and sang and my group found a "golden family" for sure, who I think will get baptized.  We had a ton of success!! Even though a lot of people weren´t really diggin it and kind of rejected us, seeing some lonelier, single people´s faces light up, or watching entire families racing to the door to figure out why the heck 4 white Americans were singing to them made it all worth it and definitely filled me with the true Christmas Spirit.  One family all pulled out their cell phones one time and started recording us too, so I wouldn´t be surprised if we turn up on Youtube or your Facebook.  Every once in a while maybe you can go look on youtube for "Crazy white guys singing Christmas songs really bad" Or something like that.  It was also pretty funny one time we started singing to a family and a 2 or 3 year old girl got sooo scared, she started pointing at us and just crying super hard... I felt bad for her haha. But yes definitely a ton of fun, and we had a ton of success, finding over 150 new investigators in our zone this week and 12 in our area.  We also spent a lot of this Christmas doing service.  With the help of our Stake President we went to some poorer parts of the stake and handed out food and candy to little kids and family, gave out little toys and blankets, smashed some piñatas (Which all of the kids LOVED- you should see all of them get down and dirty diving for all the candy, and I thought it was bad when we did it with missionaries at our Christmas party!), and also shared the Gospel and the message of Jesus Christ with many.  A few of them live in our area so I hope they progress, we really tried hard to "light the world" this Christmas.  

This year was really special to me as I spent my last Christmas in the mission, because earlier in the week I just felt like I´ve been so blessed, and don´t deserve anything for Christmas, and how could I possibly repay to my family, to my Heavenly Father, what they have given to me year after year, but as I lost myself in the service of others, trying to make their Christmas´s happy and bright, and spent my time serving my Lord and Savior, I felt a very special kind of Christmas joy.  Something you don´t really get normally, not even being an overly excited kid on Christmas morning, or even with your family, but a joy, satisfaction, and love that comes from somewhere beyond this World.  Even though I wasn´t laughing and playing games with my family on Christmas Eve, acting out the Nativity scene all dressed up with cousins or watching movies, I could truly feel the Christmas Spirit and knew that I helped others have a brighter and more joyful Christmas too. So Christmas´s in the mission are never as "fun" or "exciting" and sometimes, yes, they are hard and different, and maybe even a little lonely, but there is nothing that I regret about spending these last 2 Christmas´s here in Mexico, serving and loving and I know these 2 Christmas´s will be among my most memorable Christmas´s of all time.  I love my Savior.  I know that He lives, and that he lived and died for us.  I know this church is true and that by losing ourselves in His work and will, we can bring miracles and joy to the lives of others.  I have so much love and appreciation, beyond description, for my Master and Redeemer Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father, especially this time of year.  I thank my Father in Heaven for giving unto us, His only Begotten Son and for blessing us always through his love, grace, and mercy.

So yes, like every good thing, it is always sad when it was over.  It was great talking to my family as always and seeing and hearing all of your faces and voices.  We had some pretty good food for Christmas too, and got to smash a couple of piñatas with some members who were also really great in making it a wonderful and memorable Christmas for us too.  And, this year for Christmas I didn´t throw up either!! At least not on Christmas Eve haha... Earlier this week I did get a pretty bad stomach infection and was up all night, but I worked it off and did get better pretty quickly, plus, nothing could´ve ruined this year´s Christmas!  We had a sister make us some lemon bars and mint brownies too, our landlords brought us tamales on Christmas morning and it was all just great! This morning too we invited a few other missionaries over and did a huge Christmas breakfast with french toast, bacon, eggs, yogurt, juice, you name it! It is so much fun being close with the zone and I love our zone so much.  Elder Warnick and I have been doing AWESOME this week too, we are a great companionship and are just on fire all the time.  We found some pretty promising new investigators this week so hopefully that brings more good news in the future.  I love my new companion so much and I am grateful for him. Also I´d like to thank my Mom and family sooo much for putting together all of my Christmas gifts including sweet socks, flower ties, Spurs shirts, and lots and lots of candy and treats! Also the 12 days of Christmas gifts my Mom did were so fun too and I am so grateful for my family :) I know that I have the best family in the entire world.

So I guess overall, it was a Christmas Miracle.  It didn´t snow and I didn´t get to spend it with my family, but I got to go to the movie theater, put a smile on little kids faces, help the poor and needy, bring about the work of the Lord through Christmas Carolling, and in the end, finish by talking with the best family ever :) Plus Santa even made it down here to Mexico! I think we are even going to get some tacos for dinner tonight too from my favorite taco shop because I am really hungry.  It was a perfect way to end this Holiday Season and now it will just be a bunch of time flying by until I am home again! I hope you guys all too, have a very Merry, Wonderful, and Memorable Christmas and also have a Happy New Year!! Shoot some fireworks off this year for me and get ready for 2018 because 2018 is the year that I go home!!!! Love and miss you guys so much as always and have a Fantabulistic (I know that isn´t a word) week!

Your favorite missionary in Mexico,

Elder Tyler Christopher Clark

P.S. I was informed that I also spell "members" wrong... I appoligize for my bad English and everything I spell wrong... It is a mix of that I am losing my English a little and also trying to type these things as fast as I can... Not a good combination lol...

Our Mission President is SUPERMAN!!!

Family and Friends and EVERYONE!!

GUYS!!! Christmas is in JUST ONE WEEK!!!! I don´t know if I am ready for it... I don´t want it to be over!!! I love Christmas time so much and it seems like this year it kind of just snuck up on me! It sure has come so fast and I hate the feeling after Christmas when it is all over but I guess that just means that my next Christmas, I will be home with all of you guys!!! So to explain the title of my weekly email, this week we had our mission Christmas party. All of the zones had to come up with their own little skit or song to preform in front of everyones and ours was pretty funny, but then we just got was put to shame by President and Sister Mann!! They did an act where President Mann was Clark Kent and then had to go save his missionaries from danger.  So he threw his coat to the side, and ripped his shirt apart to reveal his TRUE identity... SUPERMAN! He saved some Elders from getting robbed and then beat another Elder in an armwrestling match!! It was sooo funny, I love our mission Presidents so much.  I know that they love us a ton and they know how to keep us safe, working hard, and having fun!! I love this mission so much and am convinced there is not a better mission in the whole world!! Afterwards we enjoyed eating hamburgers and hot dogs, playing basketball, and watching Cars 3.  And of course hitting some piñatas!!! It sure was a great party and it is sad to think that that was my last one... Like I said though, next year I will be home for Christmas!!

The work is going great still and I am especially excited for the next cycle.  I actually just got a new companion today and I am sooo excited! His name is Elder Warnick and he is from Atlanta Georgia! I know he will be an amazing comp for me and we are going to work so hard! I will definitely miss Elder Revolorio though, who has been an amazing companion and friend for me, and these last two cycles have been nothing but great.  But like all good things, it must come to an end, and I am very excited for what is ahead! Elder Warnick is about 6´5´´ too, so not only are we going to be one of the best working,teaching, and baptizing companionship, but we have just became the best basketball companionship in the mission by far too.  I am going to be throwing alley-oop dunks to him all day haha.  I know we will work really hard and have a lot of fun though and like and I´ll say it again, this is the best mission in the whole world!!  

So this week after the Christmas party, we came back and had a couple of appointments. One of them was with Tina, the wife of Francisco who had cancer.  We had a really good family home evening with her even though Francisco wasn´t able to be there but at the end she told us that this last week she got some bad news... The cancer in her brain came back.  It was really sad and hard to hear that, and I could tell her family was having a really hard time.  She asked us to give her a blessing at the end and it was one of the most powerful blessings I had ever given.  I felt prompted to give her a promise in the blessing, that if she kept following the commandments, going to church every sunday, saying her prayers, and reading the scriptures, that she would have the opportunity in this life to get sealed with her husband and her family for all eternity.  Her whole family was in tears after the blessing and she seemed really calm and content.  This week we got another appointment with Francisco, so hopefully he will be a little bit more open and willing to come unto Christ now.  So I am excited to go back with him and of course all of our other investigators that our progressing! I will keep you guys updated and hopefully we will have a lot of baptisms coming up in the next few weeks!

So this week was a great week.  It was kind of weird, I almost wish that time was going a little slower now just to enjoy the Christmas season before it is over but my mission has been flying by.  I can´t believe that Christmas will be my 14 month mark and then just 10 months later I will be flying home.  I can´t belive it.  This week it was also pretty funny, we were walking in the streets when school was getting out one day and we walking passed a bunch of teenage girls who were looking at us. I heard one of them whisper to another, "Oh my gosh, he has blue eyes!" Then a few short seconds later, they all shouted out together, "Eres muy guapo!!" I´ll let you guys translate that one haha, but it was kind of funny.  Also I broke one of my guitar strings a while back and this week we walked by a guitar shop on the streets.  I asked the guy how much it would be for a high E string and he gave it to me for free since he has a lot of "missionary friends".  It was a good tender mercy for me and I know that God watches over his missionaries.  I have also had a lot more luck this year because last year I was robbed 3 times right before Christmas! (*knock on wood*)  I hope you guys are all ready and excited for Christmas and getting some snow! It is weird to think that the next time I will be emailing, it will already be Christmas but I guess it has to come eventually!! Remember what Christmas is really about and don´t forget to leave out cookies and carrots for Santa and his Reindeers!!!! 

Your favorite missionary,

Elder Clark

Living in a Refrigerator

Hey familia and friends!!!

Welll this week got preeeettyyy chilly.  Of course not like Utah winter freezing or anything like that, but the problem is heaters or air conditioning don´t really exist here and the houses are basically ALL pure concrete so that makes our house a ginourmous refrigerator.  It is especially hard to get up at 6 every morning to go to the gym... leaving that nice, warm, cozy bed with my blanket that is made of angel wings (basically the softest thing in the world) and then leaving out into the blizzard cold, wind and snow freezing my face as I hike 2 miles in a foot of snow to the gym... Okay maybe it isn´t that bad, but it is getting pretty darn cold haha. It was a pretty good week though and pretty fast too, I can´t believe in just TWO WEEKS from today it will be Christmas and I will talking to me family! How crazy is that??

So the work is going pretty great now too, and we hope to baptize Fernando and Patricio (the Lopez Family) in just a couple of weeks!! I am super excited for them.  It was really interesting, on Sunday we were waiting for them and church, and called a few minutes before to make sure they were coming.  They told us yes, that they were on their way, and it was weird to us when they never showed up.  Later we found out Patricio (the 10 year old son) fell down the stair and broke his ankle! Ouch! Poor kid.  Joaquin continues to progress great and is now is reading the the middle of 2 Nephi, he loves the Book of Mormon.  Our struggle is getting him to church, but we are bringing a member with us this week to help teach him.  We also had a pretty cool story when we found a really awesome family in another area.  I was on divisions that day with Elder Boynton and we were stuck deciding if we should visit someone we contacted that said they probably wouldn´t be there, or stay in a little meeting we had.  Elder Boynton said that he felt strongly about going to find this contact, even though it was very unlikely that he would be there. Well, he didn´t end up being there, but as we were knocking the door, another family walked by and started talking to us.  They were really interested and we started teaching them a little bit and at the end they asked us the golden question every missionary wants to hear, "So what do we have to do to be members of your church?" It was pretty awesome, we got another appointment with them, so I hope Elder Boynton and his companion can start having some more success in their area.  Also Dimas was on schedule to finally get baptized this week when the elders from that area called me last night and told me that he needed more time... Bummer... I´ve been looking forward to this baptism for sooo long, but it isn´t really my area or my investigator, and I know it is best to go on the Lord´s time without rushing it.  But yes, the work continues to keep improving, Damian and his family and doing great, and his wife, Ana, has been going to church with them every week now and is getting baptized soon as well!! I love hearing of all the success and harvesting being done in my old areas and among my converts!!! Best work in the world.

So yes, this week was another good one.  We had interviews with President Mann this week and I always love interviews because I leave feeling more inspired and determined to press forward with this week.  President Mann helped me realize in reality how fast time is going by and that I don´t want to end my mission saying, "If only I were a little more diligent." I realized I better go harder than ever now and keep pushing myself until the finish line because there won´t be another opportunity quite like it again in my life... Even though I have a long ways to go still, it isn´t really that much time and for some odd reason I keep having dreams or thoughts about what it is going to be like back home again haha.  I feel really blessed though and grateful for a hopeful and successful future ahead.  We also went to BWWs today, so of course I am happy as ever.  I hope everyone back home is having fun, being safe, and enjoying the holiday season! Love and miss you all, and... GO SPURS GO!!!!!

-Elder Clark

Marijuana in English Classes

Hello everyone!

Alright, so this week was kind of like a Spurs game, coached by Gregg Popavich.  And good ol´ Pop decided to rest his whole starting lineup.  So even though we won and it was a good week (because the Spurs always win) it was kind of boring with not many highlights.  I mean who likes to watch all of the bench players play? So yeah this week had a few highlights and was still good overall, but I did get a little sick.  I have been congested all week and have had a constant headache but I have survived and am starting to feel better today. But I am defintiely excited that it is finally December and Christmas is right around the corner!! I can´t believe it!!!! Time is flying by and I can´t believe that this time next year I will already be home!!

So I am pretty excited for a few things that happened this week.  One is that Joaquin is progressing great!! When we went back for the return appointment this week he had already read up to 1 Nephi 10 in the Book of Mormon and in just one day after that he read up to chapter 15! I am super excited for him, he is super smart and understands everything we teach him and will continue to work hard with him.  The Lopez family is also doing good, they continue to progress, strengthen their testimony, and love our visits.  The members of our ward are really starting to help us a lot too by bringing friends to church and we have done a good job of earning their trust.  So the work moves on!!!

We also had some really successful divisions this week with Elder Neil, some intense chess games, helping members set up their Christmas tress (Yay!), and we just got back from going bowling. I got 113 and I am pretty proud of myself.  I would also like to share a funny story that will also help to explain the title of my email.  This week we had English classes with a guy named Gonzalo.  We go there every week and help him since he has about 15 students and he does a really great job to teaching them.  They always love it when we come because we help them practice and make it funny.  So this week Gonzalo had some scenarios that we had to practice and act out in English.  We each had our own group and had to practice our scenario before presenting it in front of the whole class.  For our group we were assigned a pretty funny act.  I was the principal at a school and found Marijuana in a kids backpack.  I had to call the parents in and figure out what had happened and it was pretty funny. So yeah that was about the highlight of my week.

This week I am also pretty grateful that I didn´t get the stomach flu.  One night Elder Boynton and I went out for tacos, I ate 10 and he ate 5.  All night long he was puking his guts out but nothing happened to me.  So I either have a very high immune system right now, or I am just blessed.  Still going harder than ever in the gym though and it feels great! I also am getting pretty good at chess and playing plenty of basketball as well.  So I am happy! Happy Holidays, hope you guys are starting to get some snow now and getting ready for Christmas!! Love and miss you all tons!