It`s the Final Countdown!!! Today starts my last cycle which means only 6 more weeks til I see all of you guys again! I`m super excited and I am more than determined to make my last cycle my BEST CYCLE! Being the best missionary I can be, working hard, baptizing, and having fun!! It almost doesn`t seem real to me that I am actually going to be home again because when I got here I think I just got stuck in the mindset that Mexico would be my home forever! But I just want to make sure that I finish the mission the best I can, obedient, dilligent, and serving my Lord and Savior with all my heart, might, mind, and strength using all the experiences and lessons I have had throughout the past 2 years. Also, we has a pretty awesome last week of the cycle, and definitely ended the cycle with a BANG! Unfortunately, Elder Nevarez will be having changes, which I am a little sad about, but I am grateful for the time I had to be his companion who taught me so much. I am really happy and excited to be staying in my area though and recieved my final companion, Elder Crandall, from of the mission today! And I am determined to make it my best one. I am so grateful for every single one of my mission companions and everything I have learned from them.
So like I said, we definitely ended the cycle strong. On Saturday night, we had the actvitiy that Elder Nevarez and I have been planning with some stake leaders, for the past few months, a Talent Show Night. And the guy we were planning it with asked that us, as a zone, present the final scene in the talent show as missionaries. So each ward of the stake presented a few skits, dances, songs, and it was awesome! About 300 people showed up, we had about 10 of our investigators there (Almost all of the Sorìa family!) and the decorations were perfect! We had super cool lighting, a smoke machine, loud speakers, and everyone was having a blast. I was espeically happy for our investgators. We also had all of the missionaries in the zone bring pamphlets, books of mormon, and other materials and set up a table at the front door with missionaries handing out all of the material. And right before the activity started, we were all outside inviting people to come in and enjoy the show and were super excited because Elder Nevarez and I got someone to come in with us, stay the whole time, and now the sister missionaries in that area have an appointment with him!! It just shows to me that there are people all around who are ready and prepared to come unto Christ and I don`t want to waste a single second without inviting people to come unto Him and change their lives. As all of the wards presented there, acts, we got really excited (we had a pretty good crown) and then it was our turn. We then presented the skit "la muerte de un amigo" (the death of a friend) and everyone was laughing their heads off. I have a pretty sweet video that I will send home as well, but it was definitely the biggest success I have ever had in an activity in the mission and our investigators LOVED it! Later on one of them came up to us and said, "I just felt so happy seeing everyone having clean fun, and being together as a family enjoying activities like this" We are really hoping that this will help some of our investigators realize that we also have a lot of fun in our church and enjoy our time in this life with our families. After all, we are here in this life to enjoy it, and we should take advantage of every moment and opportunity we can get! After the activity we were all so happy and excited and I am also hoping this helps our zone get a little more enthusiasm to go out and give in their all working hard!!
Also it was a great week for the work. We are doing really well with Gerardo, to help him stop smoking, and after starting out with 2 PACKAGES a day, he is now down to about 2 cigarretes every day!! We are super excited to see his progress and his baptismal date is coming up in about a month!! We are also SUPER excited for Paty, Jorge, and Dario (The Soria Family) who I just love with all my heart. Unfortunately, Paty´s family are giving her a really hard time for "listening to the Mormons" and try telling her that we are ruining her lives.... It was really sad to see that none of her family showed up to help her run her business that they always run together, they have a little restaurant, but she does have one sister that is really supporting it through it all. Of course, it pains me because the Gospel is completely meant to bring people together, not to tear them apart, but we had a really special moment with Paty this morning as Elder Nevarez was saying his goodbyes. Paty told us that with everyone she has ever talked with about religion, she said that no one else has the same love and compassion that we have, that she truly feels the love of God when she is with us, and she said that even though her family is giving her a hard time, she says, "I don´t care, because I am following Christ" and told Elder Nevarez that we will "see the fruits of our labors with her family." So we shared a special moment with her family, a few tears, and now I just hope we can help them come to the waters of baptism before I go home. Her kids, Jorge and Dario, are seriously future missionaries and the light of the Gospel reflects in their eyes and faith. I love them and honestly, I can´t belive how much I have grown to love all of the people I have served here in my mission. Also, I have been making an extra effort to contact and talk to everyone at every opportunity and we have found some pretty cool street contacts this week that I hope to have a lot of success with (amongst all of the Trump jokes and swear words we get haha). So things are really looking up for my last cycle and I am just so happy to be a missionary.
Well, there is only about 6 more minutes left in the 4th quarter in this game, and I may be tired, worn out, and anxious to win, but I promised the Lord and I promised myself, that I would do everything I could, to truly make these last 6 minutes, the best 6 minutes of the game, and I WILL NOT give up. I am going to finish strong, running right through the finish line, and I just hope I can bring a few more people to Christ on the way. I love and miss you all tons and Thanks for all of your emails and support (like always!) Have a great week and can´t wait to talk to you next week!
Elder Clark
No comments:
Post a Comment