Hurricane Juan

Hey guys!! 

Yeah, this week we kinda got hit by a hurricane, on Tuesday we were walking to an appointment that was pretty far away, and all the sudden the rain came POURING DOWN.  It was pretty bad honestly and then came the hail and by that time we got to the appointment and we were SOAKED.  I think it was probably the closest thing to swimming I´ve done in the mission so I hope it isn´t breaking mission rules lol.  But I am still convinced it was a hurricane, we had to meet up with the other elders of our ward that night for a ward mission leader meeting and they had to walk basically through a river up to their knees... So we got a little sick, but it is okay.  I just hope not too many more hurricanes hit us before I go home.

The work was great this week.  We were able to put a baptismal date with Eric (Jenifer´s husband) as well this week which was super exciting and we also got to go to the visitor´s center in the temple this week with the Franco Family which was amazing as well.  And it is kind of weird to think that this will probably be my last week with my child, Elder Moody... I can´t believe how fast time is going and that it has already been 12 weeks!!! Now I only have 3 cycles left!! YIKES!!! But we are ending his training with a bang and are baptizing Karla this week and will probably combine it into a super baptism with some other Elders in our church so this weekend to finish the cycle off will be a baptism of 6 people!! We are sure stoked and we finally got things rolling here, lots of people with baptismal dates so I hope that I can stay here in this area next cycle to help see all of them through to baptism.  I could see about 5 of our investigators getting baptized next cycle which would be really cool...

Well, we also got our house kind of broken into this week... Well, they tried.  One morning we got home from the gym and a ton of police were outside our house and I was hoping they didn´t find my drugs I´ve been hiding (just kidding).  Then we found out that one of the boys upstairs left the house to go to the store for a quick 5 minutes and left the door open and I guess after seeing us leave for the gym too they thought that no one was home, so they stole the house key and started walking inside when the grandma caught them trying to get him.  They asked her if she "had any rooms to rent" and when she angrily told them no, they left running.  So that was kind of exciting, we changed the lock on our door and have cameras outside that our home owners are literally always watching so I think we will be pretty safe now.  They won´t find my drugs anymore.  And for the rest of the exciting stuff this week, we had another YSA and Youth activity where we had a board game night and I taught them coup which they loved and it was really fun and we have also been playing this new game called werewolf a lot.  The idea is that the youth and YSA invite just 1 friend every week to the activities and so far it was worked pretty well.  Next week we are planning on making some no bake cookies with them.  And finally I have been reading Jesus the Christ a lot this week which is an awesome book and I´m trying to study hard to reach some of my reading goals before I go home. Well love and miss you tons, I know this church is true and have a great week!

Elder Tyler Clark

And in case you were wondering, we played basketball ALL DAY for P-Day today... It was awesome.  Still playing lots of ball out here and now that they are taking the gym away (so sad), my new goal is to be able to dunk when I get home... We will see if I can get there.  Peach out.

Beach Volleyball without the Beach

Hello Family and Friends,

So sorry in advance if this is a shorter, more boring email, the truth is, not much happened this week... We did play some volleyball today which was super fun and I got super sunburnt.  Definitely would´ve way fun to play some beach volleyball but there isn´t really any beaches around here... It has really been hot this week too, and the sun just blazing down on us as we are walking in the streets, but this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) we finally got some rain and a little hail, and it felt super nice.  Even though rainy season can be a hassle sometimes, I am ready for rainy season this year, plus for some reason the rain just makes me feel happy. 

Well nothing too new or exciting happened with our investigators this week.  We found out Jeniffer´s mom is in the hospital with a brain tumor and the doctors only gave her a few more weeks left to live which has been really hard on her and her family but we´ve focused a lot on the plan of salvation with them AND she should be getting divorced today which means her baptism/wedding is coming up soon!! So we are excited for that.  Thank you as well to anyone back home who has been praying for or thinking about our investigators out here as well.  I know it is sometimes even just because of your prayers that I can see miracles happening in my mission.

So that is about all I got for this week.  I also started my 5th journal a few days ago which is pretty crazy to think, I never even thought I would get through the first one when I was in the CCM.  We had some pretty good food this week as well, my fair share of tacos and made some jello one night which was fun... Other than that, have a fantastic week, love and miss you all tons and I look forward to hearing from you guys next week!

Elder Clark

Banana Bread Baking Competition

This week was pretty awesome.  As my title mentions we had a banana bread competition.  My mom´s recipe against another lady here who thought her banana bread was wayy better.  It was fun and intense but we definitely came out winners.  I just know that nobody can beat my mom´s dessert.  And speaking of my mom, yesterday was really cool talking to my family again! It was kind of weird that it was my last time talking to them and I will be home in less than 5 months, but that just gives me more motivation to work harder.  I just never thought these last days of my mission would ever game.  Actually on Sunday night I had a dream that it was the last day, of my last hour in my mission, and I told my companion, "just one more door..." So before we went home that night, we knocked on one more door, where a family let us in, mom, dad, kids, (and dog since everyone has dogs here) and we started talking.  They told me that they had been waiting for me for a very long time and were overjoyed to see me.  I begin to teach them and do as I have done my whole mission, but I have just been thinking a lot lately about how hard I have to work until literally the very last second of the last day.  There is no time to waste and now being in crunch time in the 4th quarter I have to give it my all, leave it all out on the court, so that there are no regrets and letting up.  I love being a missionary and I have lots of mixed feelings about coming home, but I am also excited to come see you guys again.  And especially to all them mother´s out there, hope you had a VERY WONDERFUL MOTHER´S DAY!!!

So the work was awesome this week too.  We had the great blessing of going to the temple on Tuesday, which was a very spiritual experience like always and I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple in my life.  It is a holy place and a place where I can ponder and recieve revelation, as I did, for each one of my investigators.  Afterwards that day, we were very busy.  We had appointments up until the night but we worked out tails off and had tons of success.  We were able to put a lot of more baptismal dates this week, find some new investigators, and finished of strong with a lot of our investigators in church.  The members have been helping us out a ton this week too, inviting the investigators over to their houses for lessons and this was everything we have been fasting and praying for lately.  I am so grateful for the blessings on the Lord in the work right now, and I would especially love to stay in this area just a little bit longer after this cycle because I think we could have 6 or 7 baptisms in June! How cool would that be?! And I had another humbling experience this week when a guy approached me in the street, saying he was lost and hadn´t eated for 2 whole days, and was wondering if I could just buy him a little water and some cookies.  I usually don´t just give money to anyone in the street who asks for it, but he was asking for food and I could see the pain and desperation in his eyes.  We went to the closest store and even though I didn´t have much, I bought him some food and milk.  It was a really humbling experience for me, he was so happy and I know he could feel the love of Christ in his life and I felt that love for him.  This is just one of the many reasons why I love being a missionary and helping the people here, who I love with all my heart.

Well it has been a pretty rainy week again, since rainy season is starting, but that is okay, because the weather here is definitely way better than Bullhead weather.  Just wanted to thank you guys for all of your prayers love and support, as always, and have a very great week as everyone is getting ready for graduation and summer!! Don´t have too much fun this summer so you can still save some for when I get home!!

Happy Mother´s Day again!!

Elder Clark

210 Miracle

Estimados Familia y Amigos

There was pretty much only one major important event that happened this week, it was my final step into turning from a boy into a man on my mission... today I BOWLED 210!!! I couldn´t even tell you how I did it, but I started off with 4 strikes and just only bowled strikes or spares the rest of the game... Everyone told me that they haven´t even been on the same lane as anyone who´s bowled over 200 so I´m feeling pretty good right now and will attach a picture below as evidence in case you don´t believe me.  I also had this CRAZY 3 way splitter that I somehow got all 3 pins down and have never seen anything like it, not even on wii bowling... I´ve never taken any bowling classes before either so it definitely wasn´t me, I´m pretty sure it was just another one of those miracles as I´ll mention some more this week below.  And btw in Mexico you CANNOT change your scores or names manually so I didn´t cheat either.  

Anyways, now onto the less important stuff... just kidding haha. This week was another great week in the Lord´s work as well.  We were able to find a new family and put some baptismal dates with them (Ana, Dylan, and Vanessa- The Franco Family), and on Sunday we were OVERLOADED with blessings.  We did a mission wide fast this last fast Sunday to have more success, and reach some of our goals that we have put, and we invited the members to fast with us as well... We say MIRACLES.  Going into Sunday we didn´t quite meet our goals for new investigators that we would´ve liked and we had only 2 hours left to go Sunday night.  But after fasting and working hard all week, we had the faith that we were going to meet our goals and start seeing some miracles in our own areas with our own investigators.  Sunday morning, 2 DIFFERENT people just showed up at church and literally told us that they WANT to get baptized!! I mean it doesn´t get any easier or better than that, it wasn´t anything that we had done, just the Lord working miracles through our faith and diligence.  And I love this work.  At night we didn´t have any appointments but we left with 2 more hours to go in the day to work hard. While we were walking we noticed that some boxes had fallen out of a truck while driving and was clogging one lane of the intersection on a main highway.  Of course everybody else who walked by was "too busy" or just didn´t feel like picking up the boxes real quick and the cars obviously weren´t going to stop on a main highway to move them out of the way, so safefully (don´t worry) when any cars weren´t there we went out and moved the boxes, a very simple, easy act of service that doesn´t really mean that much- but when we did that a man that was riding his bike the OTHER DIRECTION stopped, turned around, and came and asked us who we were.  I guess he was probably just wondering as well why in the world two white guys would be here in Mexico trying to clean up the streets, but as we started talking, we was really excited to go to our church one day with us to hear more about our message, so we will be going with him Wednesday.  Later that night as we were knocking doors and looking for some old investigators, we knocked the door of the Hernandez Family, where Eric, Jennifer, and their two little daughters live.  They told us the story about how they were talked to the missionaries a year ago, and were about to get baptized, but they couldn´t because they weren´t married yet, and they couldn´t get married because the ex-husband of Jennifer would not cooperate to get divorced... just a frustrating situation.  Anyways, they told us about a week ago they felt the prompting again to go back to church, but didn´t know what time it started and didn´t know the missionaries anymore, and were praying so they could go back to church.  THEN Jennifer´s ex-husband called her JUST 2 DAYS BEFORE and told her that he needed to get divorced because he was going to get remarried in July so now Jennifer and her husband, Eric can get married, baptized, and start preparing to get sealed in the temple!!!! And the BEST PART IS that the missionaries before did a pretty good job of teaching Jennifer becuase she still has her Book of Mormon, from a year back, has marked it all up, and is almost done reading all of it.  She already has a very strong testimony of the church and they are basically already members, just waiting for the right time to get baptized... And here they are... And it even gets BETTER! After we had a good lesson with them, by the way they accepted us on the first contact and we had a great lesson with them, they took us with their grandma, just down the street, who is a member, but is taking care of her little grandkids right now, who aren´t members and they WANT to get baptized too.  Again this is APART from the 2 people who came to us at church, the guy on the bike who contacted us in the street, and Jennifer and Erics family... The blessings are just uncountable... and we came back to the house last night so happy, so humble, and so ready to work our BUTTS OFF this week with all these new people we found.  And after counting up all of the new people we found today, it turns out we reached EXACTLY where we had set our goals the week before, no more, no less.  It was crazy and just writing it out right now reminds me ever more about how true and powerful missionary work is.  It is the Lord´s work and I LOVE it.  I LOVE being a missionary and I LOVE the people here.  I LOVE MEXICO!!!

Well among all of the MANY exciting things that happened this week I also got a pretty bad canker sore that got infected, had to clean it out, and having them scrub it was probably one of the top 3 pains of my life... It was bad, they just brushed, squeezed, and cleaned it with alcohol and some other deadly toxic poison´s I´m sure because it did not feel good.  We also made mint brownies though and some REALLY GOOD chocolate chip pancakes this morning to make up for it though.  So that was nice.  And that is about it for this week.  It is really weird to think that I will be making my last video call this Sunday too, and then next time I see you all it will be in person! I´m only one call awayyyyy!!! Have a great week love and miss you all!! 

The Bowling Champion,

Elder Tyler Clark