Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Mission Week #7
Hello again!
It's been a pretty crazy week..
I'll start of with the story of Jago (said jay-go). Last week in the letter I mentioned a youth in one of the wards that has been going to church for over a year but his mom has never given him permission until last week. On Tuesday night we got a hold of him and planned a baptismal interview with him for Wednesday. Wednesday night we met him at the church and he was by far the happiest I had ever seen him. I had played soccer with him a couple times before and he had always looked kind of annoyed at the world. So we had the interview and he was really excited to be baptized this Saturday. Thursday evening we went over with Brother Huerta the ward mission leader to have the mom sign the baptism record. We met Jago outside and he invited us in. He took the record into his mom's room for her to have her sign it and I could hear them start to talk. After a little they both started to raise their voices and It didn't sound too good. He started begging for her to sign and and I could hear him starting to cry. His mom then came back out from the room and said she was not going to sign it and that she did not agree with the church and did not agree that her son wants to go on a mission for two years and not continue his education. One of the best feelings Ive ever had was baptizing someone and so of course the feeling leaving his house was directly the opposite and one of the worst feelings ever. However, there was still the hope of him talking her into signing the record. And, on Saturday morning he called and said he had got her to sign it! We were pretty pumped as you can imagine. We did want to make sure it was legit though so we told him we needed to talk to his mom about it to make sure. After some discussion with Jago he said the baptism probably wouldn't happen that day... We have concluded that he tried to forge the record because he wanted to get baptized so much. So, he did not get baptized but we'll see what we can do as well as the ward to work with his oh so wonderful mother.
Kassandra, the 19 year old from Mexico, who is living with her grandparents yet again had her baptism date changed. The family is now doing it this weekend in Idaho so we will not be able to see it but I hope it finally gets done. The 9 year old, Uriel, is doing well and he has a date for 18th of December.
Not much else... It has snowed the last couple of days and we're not supposed to bike if there is settled snow on the ground so we have been walking and trying to find as many rides as possible. For Thanksgiving we have one dinner planned as of now with the Huerta family. Brother Huerta is the ward mission leader so we go to his house every Thursday for Correlation and we also usually go there Mondays for Family home evening. They are awesome and definitely the favorite family here. They are originally from Chile but lived in Miami for about 10 years. Sister Huerta always talks about Florida and gives me "Florida's Natural" brand orange juice whenever we eat. Their oldest son is on a mission and doesn't get home until August but sister Huerta is already excited for him to come home. After 12 on Thanksgiving day we are pretty much free to just visit people or stay at our house so we'll see what happens. Have a great Thanksgiving and take lots of pictures for me!
Love, Elder Clark
It's been a pretty crazy week..
I'll start of with the story of Jago (said jay-go). Last week in the letter I mentioned a youth in one of the wards that has been going to church for over a year but his mom has never given him permission until last week. On Tuesday night we got a hold of him and planned a baptismal interview with him for Wednesday. Wednesday night we met him at the church and he was by far the happiest I had ever seen him. I had played soccer with him a couple times before and he had always looked kind of annoyed at the world. So we had the interview and he was really excited to be baptized this Saturday. Thursday evening we went over with Brother Huerta the ward mission leader to have the mom sign the baptism record. We met Jago outside and he invited us in. He took the record into his mom's room for her to have her sign it and I could hear them start to talk. After a little they both started to raise their voices and It didn't sound too good. He started begging for her to sign and and I could hear him starting to cry. His mom then came back out from the room and said she was not going to sign it and that she did not agree with the church and did not agree that her son wants to go on a mission for two years and not continue his education. One of the best feelings Ive ever had was baptizing someone and so of course the feeling leaving his house was directly the opposite and one of the worst feelings ever. However, there was still the hope of him talking her into signing the record. And, on Saturday morning he called and said he had got her to sign it! We were pretty pumped as you can imagine. We did want to make sure it was legit though so we told him we needed to talk to his mom about it to make sure. After some discussion with Jago he said the baptism probably wouldn't happen that day... We have concluded that he tried to forge the record because he wanted to get baptized so much. So, he did not get baptized but we'll see what we can do as well as the ward to work with his oh so wonderful mother.
Kassandra, the 19 year old from Mexico, who is living with her grandparents yet again had her baptism date changed. The family is now doing it this weekend in Idaho so we will not be able to see it but I hope it finally gets done. The 9 year old, Uriel, is doing well and he has a date for 18th of December.
Not much else... It has snowed the last couple of days and we're not supposed to bike if there is settled snow on the ground so we have been walking and trying to find as many rides as possible. For Thanksgiving we have one dinner planned as of now with the Huerta family. Brother Huerta is the ward mission leader so we go to his house every Thursday for Correlation and we also usually go there Mondays for Family home evening. They are awesome and definitely the favorite family here. They are originally from Chile but lived in Miami for about 10 years. Sister Huerta always talks about Florida and gives me "Florida's Natural" brand orange juice whenever we eat. Their oldest son is on a mission and doesn't get home until August but sister Huerta is already excited for him to come home. After 12 on Thanksgiving day we are pretty much free to just visit people or stay at our house so we'll see what happens. Have a great Thanksgiving and take lots of pictures for me!
Love, Elder Clark
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Mission Week 6
Hola mi querido Familia!
Week one of transfer two has come to a close. Wednesday morning everyone met for transfers at the chapel across the street from the MTC. A member drove us there and I met the new companion, Elder Barrera. Originally he is from El Salvador but his family actually lives in Layton Utah and he lived there for 3 years before starting his mission. And I thought I was surprised to see Utah on my mission call... He is really cool though. He has been out for 15 months and is a hard worker but a lot different than Elder Santos. He's not much of a fan of biking which is quite the contrast of Santos who would have been thrilled to get up early and bike for exercise. Anyway, after picking up Elder Barrera the member took us to Cafe Rio then we were off.
Kassandra, the 19 year old we have been teaching is doing well. We just about have everything ready for her to be baptized this weekend. The family still is deciding timing and such but things are looking good. We recieved a referral this week of a family who attends an english ward and has been less active but recently they have started to come to church and have a 9 year old son who wants to be baptized. It turns out the dad is the only one who doesnt speak english but they still want the lessons in spanish. Thus, we started teaching Uriel, the 9 year old Friday. It was a little different teaching a kid but was fun. In English work most of the baptisms are kids between 9-12 who are just in less active families and so I got a taste of that. Also, Sunday at church we found out about a young man in the ward who has been going to church for a while but who's parents would never let him get baptized and last week, got permission. So we need to meet him but that was pretty cool news.
Everything else is going great. Last night we had a nice amount of snow which I still look at with Floridian eyes of enjoyment. Hope everything is going well at home,
Love, Elder Clark
Side note: Last transfer the Utah Provo Mission was the highest baptising in the world. Pretty sweet.
Week one of transfer two has come to a close. Wednesday morning everyone met for transfers at the chapel across the street from the MTC. A member drove us there and I met the new companion, Elder Barrera. Originally he is from El Salvador but his family actually lives in Layton Utah and he lived there for 3 years before starting his mission. And I thought I was surprised to see Utah on my mission call... He is really cool though. He has been out for 15 months and is a hard worker but a lot different than Elder Santos. He's not much of a fan of biking which is quite the contrast of Santos who would have been thrilled to get up early and bike for exercise. Anyway, after picking up Elder Barrera the member took us to Cafe Rio then we were off.
Kassandra, the 19 year old we have been teaching is doing well. We just about have everything ready for her to be baptized this weekend. The family still is deciding timing and such but things are looking good. We recieved a referral this week of a family who attends an english ward and has been less active but recently they have started to come to church and have a 9 year old son who wants to be baptized. It turns out the dad is the only one who doesnt speak english but they still want the lessons in spanish. Thus, we started teaching Uriel, the 9 year old Friday. It was a little different teaching a kid but was fun. In English work most of the baptisms are kids between 9-12 who are just in less active families and so I got a taste of that. Also, Sunday at church we found out about a young man in the ward who has been going to church for a while but who's parents would never let him get baptized and last week, got permission. So we need to meet him but that was pretty cool news.
Everything else is going great. Last night we had a nice amount of snow which I still look at with Floridian eyes of enjoyment. Hope everything is going well at home,
Love, Elder Clark
Side note: Last transfer the Utah Provo Mission was the highest baptising in the world. Pretty sweet.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Mission Week 5
Hello again!
It has been another great week here in the Utah Provo Mission. Thursday we were supposed to have the Baptismal service of the Romero family. Earlier in the week they had had their interviews, we had gotten all of their clothes ready, and we had called and invited most of the ward. However, the question was still lingering through the week if Alejandra would make it without having her baby. Wednesday evening we received a call from her husband Jaun saying that she was having contractions and that they were going to the hospital! It was exciting that she was having the baby but a little disappointing that the baptism would have to be cancelled. At about 10 later that night we received another call from Juan saying that they were on the way back from the hospital and that she had stopped having contractions and that the baby had not yet arrived. Baptism back on!
The Baptism was great. The family arrived there plenty early and they was lots of support from the ward members. I baptized Kevin, the 13 year old, and it was definitely a feeling unlike anything else. The whole family was excited and after we had a little fiesta at the church with a bunch of food brought by the members.
Saturday night we had to be inside from 5-9 because Utah was trick-or-treating (although I doubt there were many trick-or-treaters in the cold rain.) We were together as a district and ate pizza, watched Invictus, and played phase ten. Not too bad. Sunday morning was supposed to be the confirmation of the Romero family however, unlike the baptism, things did not go quite so smoothly. We had been calling them several times that morning to make sure they were going but nobody was answering the phone. Finally at about 8:50 we got a hold of Kevin and he said that he and Mario were at home feeling very sick and that Jaun and Alejandra were at the hospital because the baby had been born Saturday. We convinced them that they felt good enough to go just to Sacrament and so we went with the ward mission leader to pick them up. We arrived just as they were opening the doors after the sacrament and Mario and Kevin were able to be confirmed. It's still up in the air what's happening with Jaun and Alejandra. Hopefully they will be confirmed at church next week.
Last night we went on triple splits and I went out with an MTC teacher named Bryce who we have been working with the last couple of weeks. We taught some good lessons and we have a couple of guys from Guatemala who have gone to church the last couple of weeks and are making some good progress.
The weather has actually been pretty nice this week. No snow and the only time it rained we were inside for the district activity. It's hard to believe transfers are already next week, the time really does go by fast.
Until next week...
Love, Elder Clark
Mission Week 4
Hola!
Another exciting week here not in the Sunshine State.
The Romero family, Alejandra, Juan, Mario, Kevin and Kevin are getting baptized this Thursday! We had some fun experiences this last week preparing them with the final lessons. After we taught them about baptism they accepted immediately and the 13 year old Kevin leaned over to me and said "I thought you'd never ask." It was great! By the middle of last week we had taught them the first 3 lessons so what we had left to teach were all the laws like chastity, tithing, and the word of wisdom. Wednesday we were at the weekly soccer night and Mario was there with us and for an intro to the Law of Chastity we were asking him little questions to try and find out if Juan and Alejandra were married. And of course, he said they were not married so that left us with a small problem. Thursday we went to their house to teach about chastity and it was definitely a little wierd teaching that subject to people who have been living together for 15 years. We finally popped the question to see if they were actually married and they just kind of looked at each other for a little like they didn't really know. We said it was alright if they weren't but just that it was a requirement for baptism. We had a young member couple with us who had brought wedding liscence papers so they could get the process started and Alejandra looked at the papers and realized that they had gotten legally married through the court, but they weren't sure if that was legal or not. Thankfully it is, so no marriages this week....
Saturday we went to teach tithing and the word of wisdom. When we got there we looked through the window and the grandparents were on the couch drinking (perfect for the word of wisdom lesson.) When we walked in they left with the beer and we started just talking about commandments in general. We were about to start talking about tithing when Mario said that he used to smoke and that he feels God doesn't want him to smoke so he wont anymore. Thus, the lesson plan changed a little and we hit the word of wisdom and they were extremely acceptive. They also were extremely acceptive of tithing. Even though they dont have much at all, they said it was all from God and would be willing to give ten percent. I can't see any family being more golden in the next 2 years. From the first time we walked into their house they have listened intently and agreed with everything we have said... It's really been a blessing to get to know them.
Snow has begun to fall on the mountains and I assume that means my first winter is here. On Saturday morning we were riding our bikes across the area to an appointment in the rain and the cold and I had a small realization what is coming. Everyone made sure to honk at us so that was nice.
On this Saturday, the 30th Utah is having Halloween so we have to stay inside from 5-9. I think we are going to watching "Invictus" as a district. This week Elder Hudson has had some everlasting flu-like sickness so later today we are going to the hospital and he's getting blood work done. I think that's about it! Have a swell Halloween with the Harts-
Love, Elder Clark
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Mission Week 3
Emailing isn't quite as good as talking face to face but that was fun to see you! Since then, we have been pretty busy. Friday night there was a stake activity called "La noche de Hispanidad." It was in the gym and most of the Hispanic countries were represented with food and some of the members performed dances from their various countries. It was awesome to enjoy parts of all the different cultures and to meet more people. Alejandra's whole family came and I spent a lot of the time talking to their oldest son Kevin who is 11. It seemed like they all had a great time. I think we went to something similar a couple years ago with the Harts and that was where Blake owned the stage with his guitar.
Saturday I attended my first baptismal service as a missionary. It was for Hugo, the 16 year old we have been teaching and Manuel, who is about 25 has been investigating the church for over 7 years. I never taught Manuel but it's pretty sweet how we ended up baptizing him. Last week during our weekly planning session we were setting goals and for our baptismal goal we were only going to put 1 but decided to put 2 in hopes of something out of the blue. From what E. Santos has said I guess it happens somewhat often that people just call the missionaries and say they want to get baptized and that happened to us Wednesday. Manuel called us and said he wanted to get baptized. Since he's had all the lessons he just had to have the interview so he had that then he was baptized Saturday...pretty sweet!
Sunday's seem like the busiest day of the week. We have to wake up early so that we can be at the Sharon Park ward council at 7. The bishop of that ward is awesome and he's one of the people who comes and plays soccer some mornings with us at 6. Elder Santos and I then go to the Timpanogas ward that starts at 9 so we usually have some time to try and arrange last minute rides and give last minute church invitations. This week two members picked up Alejandra's family and they all got there a couple minutes after it started except the grandma who works Sunday mornings. They were worried about not having church clothes or the money to buy them but we told them everyone would be accepting and the ward was really friendly to them all. Alejandra has 4 kids (11, 6, 4, and 2) and the 6 and 4 year old girls love primary. The primary president asked us to go in for like 5 minutes and talk about what missionaries do so that was fun. Later last night we went out teaching with Hugo. He was pretty nervous but I think it was great for him. We taught some good lessons and one in particular was with three teenagers from Guatemala who we found last week.
Not much other news....everything is great here in Orem!
Love, Elder Clark
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Mission Week 2
Hello!
It's been another exciting week here in Utah. On Wednesday we had zone conference and Elder Gaverret of the 70 was there with us. It was great to listen to him and have the chance to meet more of the missionaries. We have been staying pretty busy. Hugo, the 16 year old we have been teaching was going to get baptized on Saturday but his family couldnt come so it got moved to this upcoming Saturday. The family of Alejandra, Mario (her husband), Jaun (Mario's brother), Marta (Alejandra's mom), and Kevin (their oldest son), are all doing well.
Yesterday being my first time attending our ward because of conference gave me a good taste of what Sundays will be like the next 2 years. Our area covers five stakes and two spanish wards. Since there are three of us, Elder Santos and I dropped off Elder Hudson at one of the wards then we went to the other one. Alejandra's family was supposed to be picked up by a member but about 15 minutes before church started the member showed up without the family. He said he didnt have room in his car so he couldnt take them. We tried to call them but they didnt answer their phone. We stepped out to call them again about 15 minutes into the meeting and Mario answered and said he and Jaun were walking the 2 miles with two of his daughters to church. Alejandra looks like she's 8 months pregnant so she couldnt come but those four made it about 45 minutes into the meeting. All the ward members were very nice in greeting them after sacrament. Also, right after sacrament the Primary President somewhat frantically walked up to E. Santos and I and asked if one of us could play the piano because they were preparing for the Primary program and the normal pianist wasnt there. At this point I had to smile because for the last 10 years you have been telling me this would happen, but yes, I played the piano for most of the next 2 hours periodically walking back and forth to see how Mario and Jaun were doing in Gospel Principles.
For dinner yesterday we had two dinner appointments so I was dropped off at one family's house and E. Hudson and E. Santos went to eat at another members house. The appointment I went to was with a young American family that had set up a dinner for some potential investigators but they cancelled so it was just me, the husband and the wife, and their two little kids. It was nice to have some American food. Every night we have a meal with a member and so far everything has been pretty good. On Saturday we went to an Investigators house for lunch and had some sushi stuff. Nothing like eyeball soup but hey, for me eating sushi was quite the accomplishment.
Not too much else to say... 2 or 3 times a week we have been going to the church at 6 to play indoor soccer with the bishop, his son, and 4 or 5 other kids from the high school team of the bishop's son. They are all pretty good and even the bishop has some skills. This morning while we were shopping someone gave us money again. We were just walking down an aisle and he put a 50 in our cart. We told him we had money already to pay for our stuff but he insisted. That is the fun thing about being in Utah. When we go into the grocery store a lot of the the workers stop and shake our hands and say hi.. everyone is really nice in general.
Hope everything is great on the oak shore drive,
Love, Elder Clark
It's been another exciting week here in Utah. On Wednesday we had zone conference and Elder Gaverret of the 70 was there with us. It was great to listen to him and have the chance to meet more of the missionaries. We have been staying pretty busy. Hugo, the 16 year old we have been teaching was going to get baptized on Saturday but his family couldnt come so it got moved to this upcoming Saturday. The family of Alejandra, Mario (her husband), Jaun (Mario's brother), Marta (Alejandra's mom), and Kevin (their oldest son), are all doing well.
Yesterday being my first time attending our ward because of conference gave me a good taste of what Sundays will be like the next 2 years. Our area covers five stakes and two spanish wards. Since there are three of us, Elder Santos and I dropped off Elder Hudson at one of the wards then we went to the other one. Alejandra's family was supposed to be picked up by a member but about 15 minutes before church started the member showed up without the family. He said he didnt have room in his car so he couldnt take them. We tried to call them but they didnt answer their phone. We stepped out to call them again about 15 minutes into the meeting and Mario answered and said he and Jaun were walking the 2 miles with two of his daughters to church. Alejandra looks like she's 8 months pregnant so she couldnt come but those four made it about 45 minutes into the meeting. All the ward members were very nice in greeting them after sacrament. Also, right after sacrament the Primary President somewhat frantically walked up to E. Santos and I and asked if one of us could play the piano because they were preparing for the Primary program and the normal pianist wasnt there. At this point I had to smile because for the last 10 years you have been telling me this would happen, but yes, I played the piano for most of the next 2 hours periodically walking back and forth to see how Mario and Jaun were doing in Gospel Principles.
For dinner yesterday we had two dinner appointments so I was dropped off at one family's house and E. Hudson and E. Santos went to eat at another members house. The appointment I went to was with a young American family that had set up a dinner for some potential investigators but they cancelled so it was just me, the husband and the wife, and their two little kids. It was nice to have some American food. Every night we have a meal with a member and so far everything has been pretty good. On Saturday we went to an Investigators house for lunch and had some sushi stuff. Nothing like eyeball soup but hey, for me eating sushi was quite the accomplishment.
Not too much else to say... 2 or 3 times a week we have been going to the church at 6 to play indoor soccer with the bishop, his son, and 4 or 5 other kids from the high school team of the bishop's son. They are all pretty good and even the bishop has some skills. This morning while we were shopping someone gave us money again. We were just walking down an aisle and he put a 50 in our cart. We told him we had money already to pay for our stuff but he insisted. That is the fun thing about being in Utah. When we go into the grocery store a lot of the the workers stop and shake our hands and say hi.. everyone is really nice in general.
Hope everything is great on the oak shore drive,
Love, Elder Clark
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Mission Week 1
Hola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's been quite an exciting week so I guess I'll just start from the beginning.....
Wednesday morning the AP's picked us up at the MTC and we made the 5 minute journey over to the Mission office. We met some of the senior missionaries then went to meet President and Sister Pitts. We sang Called to Serve on their doorstop then they came out to greet us. Immediately Sister Pitts mentioned how she had met mom before. We had breakfast there and a little orientation from the Pres. and then went to a chapel directly across the street from the MTC to have interviews and meet our trainers. It was quite the intense hour as we had some more orientation and waited for our trainers. We sat in a room and all the new missionaries were on one side and all the trainers sat on one side and one by one Pres. called a trainer up and the trainer would say who they would be training and the area they would be serving in. I definitely think I have the best trainer! His name is Elder Santos and he is from Ecuador. He's the only member in his family was joined the church when he was 16. He was a foreign exchange student last year in Idaho so he's pretty much fluent in English. Also, Elder Hudson, who is waiting for a visa to go to Spain is with us so we are a Trio. I am serving in the Sharon Park area (bikes), which is great! Its in Orem and although Julie's house is out of our area, Its only a short bike ride away.
Wednesday after meeting my companions we went to where we live. Its the basement of a members house and they are very nice people. I got a little time to unpack then we were off to my first dinner appointment. It was at a family's house from Santiago Chile so there was a connection there. We had some rice and chicken and thankfully nothing too spicy or scary. After that we went to the church building for a ward activity they have every Wednesday night from 6-7. Its basically a large family home evening and my first missionary action was giving the spiritual thought at that. Next we went to visit some investigators. It was pretty difficult picking up what they were saying but I recognized words here and there. Every Wednesday from 8-9 the ward plays soccer and with a member we went and picked up Hugo who is 16 and has a baptismal date for the 9th. It was pretty fun but Im still a little cautious with my knee.
Thursday I got to do some shopping during lunch time since I didnt have any food and the rumor was fulfilled about people giving us money. We were at the store for about 2 minutes when an older lady walked up to us and handed us a $20. She said she had served two missions and loves missionaries. Later that night I met the most amazing family ever. Elder Santos had talked to one of the people in the family before but we returned and there was four other people there at the house along with some other kids. They were more focused and listened more intently than Ive ever seen anyone before. We taught them for awhile then made the long ride home. Elder Santos did triathlons in Ecuador and is insane on a bike. My legs have never been so sore but its great! One of the bike tires went flat so we had to go get a new one and we went to Park's. If you can remember, that's where Jake Mayfield worked and where we rented ski's a couple times. Its pretty unique being a missionary in the same place where Ive been so many times but its fun. Someone honks and waves at us about every ten seconds.
We watched conference at the members house above us and they were very nice. It was definitely easier to focus as a missionary. Last night we went back to the family I met on thursday and all five of the adults agreed to be baptized. A member had invited them over for breakfast and conference and they said they had enjoyed it. The members are awesome here. Today while we were shopping a lady walked up and said if we ever need anything hemmed she would do it for free. A couple times people have just stopped us and told us about people who they think would be interested in getting taught.
Thus, its been a great first week! Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Clark
If you write to the mission office address there is a office sister who will just forward it to our house so thats the easiest thing for mail:
UTAH PROVO MISSION
2520 University Ave # 100
Provo, UT 84604
It's been quite an exciting week so I guess I'll just start from the beginning.....
Wednesday morning the AP's picked us up at the MTC and we made the 5 minute journey over to the Mission office. We met some of the senior missionaries then went to meet President and Sister Pitts. We sang Called to Serve on their doorstop then they came out to greet us. Immediately Sister Pitts mentioned how she had met mom before. We had breakfast there and a little orientation from the Pres. and then went to a chapel directly across the street from the MTC to have interviews and meet our trainers. It was quite the intense hour as we had some more orientation and waited for our trainers. We sat in a room and all the new missionaries were on one side and all the trainers sat on one side and one by one Pres. called a trainer up and the trainer would say who they would be training and the area they would be serving in. I definitely think I have the best trainer! His name is Elder Santos and he is from Ecuador. He's the only member in his family was joined the church when he was 16. He was a foreign exchange student last year in Idaho so he's pretty much fluent in English. Also, Elder Hudson, who is waiting for a visa to go to Spain is with us so we are a Trio. I am serving in the Sharon Park area (bikes), which is great! Its in Orem and although Julie's house is out of our area, Its only a short bike ride away.
Wednesday after meeting my companions we went to where we live. Its the basement of a members house and they are very nice people. I got a little time to unpack then we were off to my first dinner appointment. It was at a family's house from Santiago Chile so there was a connection there. We had some rice and chicken and thankfully nothing too spicy or scary. After that we went to the church building for a ward activity they have every Wednesday night from 6-7. Its basically a large family home evening and my first missionary action was giving the spiritual thought at that. Next we went to visit some investigators. It was pretty difficult picking up what they were saying but I recognized words here and there. Every Wednesday from 8-9 the ward plays soccer and with a member we went and picked up Hugo who is 16 and has a baptismal date for the 9th. It was pretty fun but Im still a little cautious with my knee.
Thursday I got to do some shopping during lunch time since I didnt have any food and the rumor was fulfilled about people giving us money. We were at the store for about 2 minutes when an older lady walked up to us and handed us a $20. She said she had served two missions and loves missionaries. Later that night I met the most amazing family ever. Elder Santos had talked to one of the people in the family before but we returned and there was four other people there at the house along with some other kids. They were more focused and listened more intently than Ive ever seen anyone before. We taught them for awhile then made the long ride home. Elder Santos did triathlons in Ecuador and is insane on a bike. My legs have never been so sore but its great! One of the bike tires went flat so we had to go get a new one and we went to Park's. If you can remember, that's where Jake Mayfield worked and where we rented ski's a couple times. Its pretty unique being a missionary in the same place where Ive been so many times but its fun. Someone honks and waves at us about every ten seconds.
We watched conference at the members house above us and they were very nice. It was definitely easier to focus as a missionary. Last night we went back to the family I met on thursday and all five of the adults agreed to be baptized. A member had invited them over for breakfast and conference and they said they had enjoyed it. The members are awesome here. Today while we were shopping a lady walked up and said if we ever need anything hemmed she would do it for free. A couple times people have just stopped us and told us about people who they think would be interested in getting taught.
Thus, its been a great first week! Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Clark
If you write to the mission office address there is a office sister who will just forward it to our house so thats the easiest thing for mail:
UTAH PROVO MISSION
2520 University Ave # 100
Provo, UT 84604
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
MTC Week 7
Hola!
I cant believe this is the last email I'll be sending from the MTC! The time has flown by and I'm excited to enter the field. This last week has probably been my favorite during my time here. Saturday night was our TRC and we had an amazing volunteer investigator. He was about 25 and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It went really well and after as we were leaving he gave us big hugs and talked to us about how he had a sister pass away 8 months ago and how he needed to hear our lesson because it reaffirmed his testimony of the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome to teach someone and have it influence them. Every week we've had to prepare talks in case we get called to give one and this week I got called up! After the sacrament whoever is conducting the meeting stands up and announces what 2 missionaries will be talking that day. Sunday it was an hermana in my district and I and the topic was the Plan of Salvation. It was only 5 or 6 minutes but it felt alright speaking in Spanish. Usually I wouldn't worry about giving it in Spanish but a member of the MTC presidency was visiting our meeting and he knew Spanish...thus, a little more pressure but it went well.
My official travel plans include: walking to the front desk at 6:30 on Wednesday morning and getting picked up in a van. Quite extravagant if I say so myself. 7 Members of my district leave Monday, and my comp. leaves Tuesday so I'll have a day to join in with some other Elders in my zone. I cant wait! One week from today! Thanks for the letters!
Love, Elder Clark
I cant believe this is the last email I'll be sending from the MTC! The time has flown by and I'm excited to enter the field. This last week has probably been my favorite during my time here. Saturday night was our TRC and we had an amazing volunteer investigator. He was about 25 and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It went really well and after as we were leaving he gave us big hugs and talked to us about how he had a sister pass away 8 months ago and how he needed to hear our lesson because it reaffirmed his testimony of the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome to teach someone and have it influence them. Every week we've had to prepare talks in case we get called to give one and this week I got called up! After the sacrament whoever is conducting the meeting stands up and announces what 2 missionaries will be talking that day. Sunday it was an hermana in my district and I and the topic was the Plan of Salvation. It was only 5 or 6 minutes but it felt alright speaking in Spanish. Usually I wouldn't worry about giving it in Spanish but a member of the MTC presidency was visiting our meeting and he knew Spanish...thus, a little more pressure but it went well.
My official travel plans include: walking to the front desk at 6:30 on Wednesday morning and getting picked up in a van. Quite extravagant if I say so myself. 7 Members of my district leave Monday, and my comp. leaves Tuesday so I'll have a day to join in with some other Elders in my zone. I cant wait! One week from today! Thanks for the letters!
Love, Elder Clark
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
MTC Week 6
Hola!
Another week has flown by! Saturday night is our TRC time and we finally got to have a volunteer instead of just teaching a teacher or other missionaries. We taught an older lady from Honduras and it definitely got me excited to be teaching real people in a couple weeks. This Saturday we are teaching the Plan of Salvation and that is a little more difficult especially in Spanish but its great. It is weird being the older people here at the MTC. I had become pretty good friends with some of the other Elders before they left but the new districts are pretty sweet. The other Tanner Clark, or "Elder Clark # 2" as he is called lives in the room next to me. Its crazy that out of over 2000 people he just happened to be put in the room right next to me. This monday the district got to be hosts for the Senior missionaries and we helped them move in. We met some awesome people from a small town in England who were going to Taiwan....quite the culture difference! The district one week older than us in the zone were all supposed to be going to Mexico but none of them received their visas so they will have to get transferred somewhere else in the states until they can get them. It makes me glad I'm in the States! Friday we are supposed to get our travel plans and that says what time we will be leaving and whatnot. Very Exciting!! Not much other news here from the MTC..all is going well!
Love, Elder Clark
Another week has flown by! Saturday night is our TRC time and we finally got to have a volunteer instead of just teaching a teacher or other missionaries. We taught an older lady from Honduras and it definitely got me excited to be teaching real people in a couple weeks. This Saturday we are teaching the Plan of Salvation and that is a little more difficult especially in Spanish but its great. It is weird being the older people here at the MTC. I had become pretty good friends with some of the other Elders before they left but the new districts are pretty sweet. The other Tanner Clark, or "Elder Clark # 2" as he is called lives in the room next to me. Its crazy that out of over 2000 people he just happened to be put in the room right next to me. This monday the district got to be hosts for the Senior missionaries and we helped them move in. We met some awesome people from a small town in England who were going to Taiwan....quite the culture difference! The district one week older than us in the zone were all supposed to be going to Mexico but none of them received their visas so they will have to get transferred somewhere else in the states until they can get them. It makes me glad I'm in the States! Friday we are supposed to get our travel plans and that says what time we will be leaving and whatnot. Very Exciting!! Not much other news here from the MTC..all is going well!
Love, Elder Clark
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tanner has been in the MTC for 7 weeks, my the time has flown by... we have gotten a few letters with pictures, but we just got his first SD card full of pictures. So fun to see!!! 
Good Friend from California Brad Stapley, our family moved to Florida when Tanner was 6 and he and his friend have kept in touch throughout the years and they went into the MTC a week apart. How fun....
Good Friend from California Brad Stapley, our family moved to Florida when Tanner was 6 and he and his friend have kept in touch throughout the years and they went into the MTC a week apart. How fun....
Birthday Packages
Elder Clark and Elder Holmes... One of our Aunts friends sons...
Getting to leave the MTC to go to the BYU Laundry to get some pants tailored... Elder Clark said it was really wierd... 
Friday, September 10, 2010
MTC Week 5
Hola!
This past week has flown by, it always seems like I was just here typing when I go to write these emails, but its been a great week. We made the transition to only teaching in spanish last week and that has definitely been a big change. Its an interesting feeling wanting to say something but not being able to translate your thoughts into the right language. I'm definitely glad I am learning Spanish though because it will be awesome when I can finally say what I want! Glenn arrived here last wednesday and I immediately saw him during his first dinner here and have seen him throughout the week. Also Noa Cassidy got here last week too and Ive seen him almost everyday. I told Brother Cosgrave last night about Glenn being here and he said he'd try to find him. This morning after we finished doing laundry Elder Meyer and I had the pleasure of leaving the MTC campus and voyaging to the BYU laundry place two blocks away because he had to get one of his shirts altered. It was wierd thinking of in 3 weeks how I'll be going out to Provo then just starting right away. Everyone else has the whole day of traveling and going through air ports so it should be pretty sweet. Saturday afternoon/night was very wierd being able to hear the the BYU game from outside our class room. I really hadnt thought of college football until someone noted the fact that we probably wouldnt have any TRC volunteers since our scheduled time was during the time of the first home game. Thus we ended up teaching a missionary instead of a volunteer but it was alright. Everything is going well here, I cant believe I only have 3 weeks left!!!!!
Love, Elder Clark
This past week has flown by, it always seems like I was just here typing when I go to write these emails, but its been a great week. We made the transition to only teaching in spanish last week and that has definitely been a big change. Its an interesting feeling wanting to say something but not being able to translate your thoughts into the right language. I'm definitely glad I am learning Spanish though because it will be awesome when I can finally say what I want! Glenn arrived here last wednesday and I immediately saw him during his first dinner here and have seen him throughout the week. Also Noa Cassidy got here last week too and Ive seen him almost everyday. I told Brother Cosgrave last night about Glenn being here and he said he'd try to find him. This morning after we finished doing laundry Elder Meyer and I had the pleasure of leaving the MTC campus and voyaging to the BYU laundry place two blocks away because he had to get one of his shirts altered. It was wierd thinking of in 3 weeks how I'll be going out to Provo then just starting right away. Everyone else has the whole day of traveling and going through air ports so it should be pretty sweet. Saturday afternoon/night was very wierd being able to hear the the BYU game from outside our class room. I really hadnt thought of college football until someone noted the fact that we probably wouldnt have any TRC volunteers since our scheduled time was during the time of the first home game. Thus we ended up teaching a missionary instead of a volunteer but it was alright. Everything is going well here, I cant believe I only have 3 weeks left!!!!!
Love, Elder Clark
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
MTC Week 4
Five weeks today! Still hard to believe... Not too much happened this week. Another district in our zone left yesterday so we get a new district today. The zone leaders had a list of the names of the Elders who are coming in and one of their names is "Tanner Clark." I dont think ive ever met anyone with my same name so that should be fun. Last night our devotional speaker was Richard G. Hinckley, President Hinckley's son. He gave a great talk then opened it up to questions for the last 15 minutes. After as we were exciting the building and he was walking to his car he stopped for a couple minutes and talked to a group of us. He is definitely a lot like his dad. Spanish is coming along alright. Tonight we are teaching the first lesson for the first time in completely Spanish. We've taught some parts before but never the whole thing for 30 minutes so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for the letters!
Since we're here 9 weeks the Branch Presidency switches the district leaders half way through and on Sunday I became the new district leader. The most exciting thing is now Im the one with access to the district mail box. Not so exciting is that I get to plan two hour long district meeting a week. However, it is definitely a good learning experience and I also enjoy going to the extra leadership meetings with the Branch Presidency. I really do have amazing leaders. Our branch president is a orthapedic surgeon, then there is doctor Cosgrave, and Brother Sanchez is an architect. I really admire how Chirst-like they all are and also they're individual success outside the church.
-Thats awesome Nolan is going to California!!!!!!!!! He is going to be an amazing missionary.
Thanks for everything,
-ELDER CLARK
Since we're here 9 weeks the Branch Presidency switches the district leaders half way through and on Sunday I became the new district leader. The most exciting thing is now Im the one with access to the district mail box. Not so exciting is that I get to plan two hour long district meeting a week. However, it is definitely a good learning experience and I also enjoy going to the extra leadership meetings with the Branch Presidency. I really do have amazing leaders. Our branch president is a orthapedic surgeon, then there is doctor Cosgrave, and Brother Sanchez is an architect. I really admire how Chirst-like they all are and also they're individual success outside the church.
-Thats awesome Nolan is going to California!!!!!!!!! He is going to be an amazing missionary.
Thanks for everything,
-ELDER CLARK
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Speaking at EFY
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| Had to add Loading the Car!!! |
With Brad Wilcox at the UVU Institute Building. 
Brad knew that Tanner was going into the MTC the same day that he was speaking to the Utah Valley Youth at EFY, so he invited Tanner to come and share is Testimony with them. What a wonderful expierence to do right before going into the MTC
Opening the Call and Farewell Pictures
Here are a few pictures leading up to Elder Clark leaving on his Mission!!!
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Tanner invited a tons of non member friends to hear him speak in Church on July 11th. This is the whole group that showed up, what wonderful friends he has had over the years
Friday, August 20, 2010
MTC Week 3
Hola,
First of all, thank you for all of the birthday packages and letters. The last three mail days I recieved 39 letters and 7 packages! Most of the mail came on the Friday before my birthday so that was when I opened up all the packages and celebrated. We took some pictures so I'll be sure to print those out and send them. Overall its been a good week. Time is really starting to fly by. On Thursday night my comp. and I were out studying at some table and 2 other missionaries started talking to us. Eventually we figured out that one of them was Cliff's son. He seemed like a really nice kid. Monday morning two our of district members departed for Guatemala. One was a convert of only 14 months and the other was a really funny Elder who was kind of the energy for the district so we miss them. They should both be at BYU fall 2012 though. The spanish is slowly coming along. Saturday night we had a lady for our TRC scenario who really only spoke spanish. It was pretty funny trying to communicate with her but we struggled through about 10 minutes of rough conversation. After that we just ended up teaching the first lesson to a teacher. All in all it was a good week, its just crazy how fast the time is going!
-Mother, any word on when I can get my new contacts subscription?
-Sounds like a fun week in Florida. Thats awesome all the friends came over for a night.
-Tell robert i did write him so i dont know why he hasnt gotten anything yet...
-No thank you on the glue-ins...I find it very hard to keep pages open because of all the glue ins I already have. Thanks though!
-And a new card for the camera would be great so I can send it back and forth.
Thanks for everything!
- Elder Clark
Thursday, August 12, 2010
MTC Week 2
Hola!
Well Ive made it to the second P-day but it already feels like Ive been here forever! Its really wierd, the days go by fast but when you look back you realize youve only been here for a short time... Anyway, things have been going well. I guess I'll just start my week by describing Sunday which was where most of the exciting news is. Sunday morning I was eating breakfast and I finally saw Brad. We talked for a while then ended up meeting at the temple walk that afternoon for some pictures. It was really fun to see him again. Then, while eating dinner a couple hours later I hear an "Elder Clark!" I look up and Chelesa and Sandy Evans are standing about 20 feet away from me in a food line! Evidently they came to watch their friend Brother Jackman speak at the Sunday night fireside. So I talked to Chelsea and Sandy for awhile then went over to Ethan, Aaron, and Dave who were all very surprised to see me. It was fun to actually see some real people! Also, that night I met an Elder who said he was from South Carolina. I told him about Lindsay and Blake in the Spanish branch and he said he was pretty sure he had played basketball against that Spanish branch because he remembered thinking it was wierd thier President was white. Thus, I made some sweet connections Sunday. Spanish is going well. Mondays we have a district goal of doing english fasts. It usually starts well but sizzles out by the end of the day. My companion and I struggled through like ten minutes of teaching the first lesson in spanish but we finally had to switch over. Sometimes I just have to stop and think that Ive only been here for 14 days. We go to the computer lad almost everyday to work on spanish and I find that very helpful.
-We had the TRC on saturday night but there werent enough volunteers so we just taught missionaries
-No package from Tiff yet
Dad asked me six Questions so here are the answers..
1. P day is today, wednesday
2. The food is pretty good...but I dont really love anything too much
3. My second day of playing soccer I tweeked the knee, so soccer didnt go very well at all. Its still kinda swollen but it will be alright. It is painful though to go out to the field and stand there throwing a frisbee around while watching everybody else play soccer...
4. We go to the temple every wednesday, so today will be round two
5. I did get the fan, and it is great
6. And finally, I do get the most mail in the district. Thanks for all the letters!
-Please thank Tiff for posting the dear elder thing on facebook. A lot of my friends have written through that. And the great cupcakes!
-Also, dad said he wanted me to write bishop forte once a month but I need his address...
Pleasefoward this to the siblings.. I know you sent me their addresses but I left them in the room...
Time is just about out...30 minutes goes by so fast, but all is well here at the MTC!
Love, Elder Clark
Well Ive made it to the second P-day but it already feels like Ive been here forever! Its really wierd, the days go by fast but when you look back you realize youve only been here for a short time... Anyway, things have been going well. I guess I'll just start my week by describing Sunday which was where most of the exciting news is. Sunday morning I was eating breakfast and I finally saw Brad. We talked for a while then ended up meeting at the temple walk that afternoon for some pictures. It was really fun to see him again. Then, while eating dinner a couple hours later I hear an "Elder Clark!" I look up and Chelesa and Sandy Evans are standing about 20 feet away from me in a food line! Evidently they came to watch their friend Brother Jackman speak at the Sunday night fireside. So I talked to Chelsea and Sandy for awhile then went over to Ethan, Aaron, and Dave who were all very surprised to see me. It was fun to actually see some real people! Also, that night I met an Elder who said he was from South Carolina. I told him about Lindsay and Blake in the Spanish branch and he said he was pretty sure he had played basketball against that Spanish branch because he remembered thinking it was wierd thier President was white. Thus, I made some sweet connections Sunday. Spanish is going well. Mondays we have a district goal of doing english fasts. It usually starts well but sizzles out by the end of the day. My companion and I struggled through like ten minutes of teaching the first lesson in spanish but we finally had to switch over. Sometimes I just have to stop and think that Ive only been here for 14 days. We go to the computer lad almost everyday to work on spanish and I find that very helpful.
-We had the TRC on saturday night but there werent enough volunteers so we just taught missionaries
-No package from Tiff yet
Dad asked me six Questions so here are the answers..
1. P day is today, wednesday
2. The food is pretty good...but I dont really love anything too much
3. My second day of playing soccer I tweeked the knee, so soccer didnt go very well at all. Its still kinda swollen but it will be alright. It is painful though to go out to the field and stand there throwing a frisbee around while watching everybody else play soccer...
4. We go to the temple every wednesday, so today will be round two
5. I did get the fan, and it is great
6. And finally, I do get the most mail in the district. Thanks for all the letters!
-Please thank Tiff for posting the dear elder thing on facebook. A lot of my friends have written through that. And the great cupcakes!
-Also, dad said he wanted me to write bishop forte once a month but I need his address...
Pleasefoward this to the siblings.. I know you sent me their addresses but I left them in the room...
Time is just about out...30 minutes goes by so fast, but all is well here at the MTC!
Love, Elder Clark
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
MTC Week 1
Hello Family,
Its hard to believe its me writing this email after all the years of being the one at home waiting to hear from everybody else, but Its good to be here! I dont exactly remember what I told you in the letter I wrote so I guess I'll just go over everything. My companion's name is Elder Meyer. He is from Provo and is going to San Jose California. He's really funny and keeps things entertaining. I am in a great district. There's 8 Elders and 4 Hermanas and everyone is pretty compatable and gets along very well. Two Elders are going to Guatemala, two Elders and a sister are going to New York, two Elders and two Sisters are going to Arizona, my comp is headed to California, and a sister and I are going to Provo. After seeing the companions Taylor had on his mission I am happy to see that most of the people here, or at least in my district, are pretty mature and knowledgeable. Everyone has a desire to learn and it shows during classes. I have two great teachers who both are from Utah but served abroad. We havent worked on too much Spanish but I can pray and bear my testimony with a limited vocabulary.
Mom- Thats crazy you met Sister Pitts! Hopefully she'll remember that in 8 weeks when I meet her. And I think I met the Branch President Romney you mentioned last night. Ive still kept my eyes open for Brad Stapley but he is nowhere to be found!
Dad- Thanks for all the notes, it is great to open so many letters!
Ash- Thanks for the package! Its nice to finally have a spanish him book and some other food.
Taylor- you were right about the other Elders. It does seem like they have been here so much longer than us, but in the long term perspective its really nothing. More Elders get here today so it will be nice to actually be older than someone.
Other than that, I dont really have much to say. The first couple days went pretty slow but its starting to pick up. There's an Elder from Idaho in my room and him and I have been utilizing the hall pull up par on a nightly basis. The gym is getting stadium seating installed so we cant play basketball..so we have have been switching off between lifting a little upstairs and playing soccer outside (I wear a knee brace). Also, one of the zone leaders is from Rupert! He said he knew Garrett but he was a year older than him. If I remember correctly Glenn gets here today so I'll keep an eye out for him. Well, I better go... keep the letters coming!
Elder Tanner Clark
Its hard to believe its me writing this email after all the years of being the one at home waiting to hear from everybody else, but Its good to be here! I dont exactly remember what I told you in the letter I wrote so I guess I'll just go over everything. My companion's name is Elder Meyer. He is from Provo and is going to San Jose California. He's really funny and keeps things entertaining. I am in a great district. There's 8 Elders and 4 Hermanas and everyone is pretty compatable and gets along very well. Two Elders are going to Guatemala, two Elders and a sister are going to New York, two Elders and two Sisters are going to Arizona, my comp is headed to California, and a sister and I are going to Provo. After seeing the companions Taylor had on his mission I am happy to see that most of the people here, or at least in my district, are pretty mature and knowledgeable. Everyone has a desire to learn and it shows during classes. I have two great teachers who both are from Utah but served abroad. We havent worked on too much Spanish but I can pray and bear my testimony with a limited vocabulary.
Mom- Thats crazy you met Sister Pitts! Hopefully she'll remember that in 8 weeks when I meet her. And I think I met the Branch President Romney you mentioned last night. Ive still kept my eyes open for Brad Stapley but he is nowhere to be found!
Dad- Thanks for all the notes, it is great to open so many letters!
Ash- Thanks for the package! Its nice to finally have a spanish him book and some other food.
Taylor- you were right about the other Elders. It does seem like they have been here so much longer than us, but in the long term perspective its really nothing. More Elders get here today so it will be nice to actually be older than someone.
Other than that, I dont really have much to say. The first couple days went pretty slow but its starting to pick up. There's an Elder from Idaho in my room and him and I have been utilizing the hall pull up par on a nightly basis. The gym is getting stadium seating installed so we cant play basketball..so we have have been switching off between lifting a little upstairs and playing soccer outside (I wear a knee brace). Also, one of the zone leaders is from Rupert! He said he knew Garrett but he was a year older than him. If I remember correctly Glenn gets here today so I'll keep an eye out for him. Well, I better go... keep the letters coming!
Elder Tanner Clark
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Mission Blog
I'm starting this blog for Tanner's mission. I will post his weekly emails and any pictures that he sends so everyone can see. Feel free to comment...I will pass them on to Tanner. We are so excited for the next two years of his life. He will be an awesome missionary and I know that its going to be a great experience for him!
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