Mission Week # 13

Sent: Mon, Jan 10, 2011 3:36 pm
Subject: The Mission is the Best

Hello!

It has been an incredible last week.

Friday morning we recieved a new companion. His name is Elder Best and he is waiting on a visa to Mexico. He is directly from the MTC so it has been fun to think how I was in his shoes 3 months ago. That night I went on exchanges with one of the English elders and it was nice to say whatever I wanted but I still prefer Spanish.

Saturday was probably the single coolest day of my entire life. I have thought before how I would like to have at least one incredible story to come home with and the story of Saturday is that and more. So, Saturday night was supposed to be the baptism of Juan and Maria at 6:30 pm. We had a couple appointments in the morning and early afternoon and after that we headed to a chapel with computers to make the baptism programs. We made those and then called our ward mission leader at about 2 pm to make sure he was going to take care of filling the font. He said that he would and that actually he was at the church when we called him and the font had been used that morning for an 8 year old baptism. Thus, it was emptying from earlier but he put the plug on the drain so it was still about halfway full. The plan would then be for him to return at about 4 and put hot water in for about 2 hours to fill it the rest of the way. We went and saw some more people then at about 4:30 recieved a devestating call from the ward mission leader, saying that he was at the church and the font, which takes roughly 4 hours to fill was completely empty. Evidently someone did not read the note saying that there would be another baptism and not to empty the font. We told him to just start filling it and we would see what would happen. The most likely result being that we would have to move the baptism to 7 or 8. We then went to our dinner appointment and got out at about 6 to some missed calls. The WML had left a message saying things were not looking good with the font. We headed to the chapel and things definitely did not look good. The font had about 4 inches of water and by that time it was about 6:15. Jaun and Maria were there unaware of the situation but we told them and they were still positive. Everyone was thinking of what we could do and Maria even got one of her friends to start filling trash cans full of water. The trash cans didn't do much so we had to turn to a different option. A block away from the chapel there is a fire station. On the way to the chapel we had passed it and the thought had come into our minds but we really didn't think we were going to come to that. However, it is Orem Utah and we thought we would give it a shot. I stayed with Elder Best at the chapel and Elder Barrera went with a member and knocked on the door of the fire station. He told them the situation and they said yes. Minutes later to fire trucks and about 12 firemen were at the chapel. Elder Barrera had to go back and get our baptismal clothes so I worked with the firemen on getting the hose to the font. Miraculously where the font was situated there was a small window that is perfect for circumstances such as we had. They started shooting water into the font and within ten minutes had it full. By that time a bunch of ward members as well as friends of Juan and Maria were there and everybody was going crazy with excitement. Including me. The firemen packed up and headed out in a surprisingly business-like manner but we all definitely thanked them a lot. The water they used was pretty cold so we threw a couple trash cans full of hot water in as well to try and make it a little more enjoyable. We ended up getting started at about 7:30 and it was an awesome program. Elder Barrera baptized Juan and I baptized Maria. And of course, we ended the night off with some excellent Mexican food and a cake.

Thats about all the time I have. We are teaching a 9 year old named Laysha and she should be getting baptized the 22nd. Also, Juan and Mario Romero have been bringing their uncle Tomas to church and we started teaching him 2 weeks ago. Friday he accepted a baptismal date for the 29th. Things are going great! Hope you all are doing well.

Much love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #12

Sent: Mon, Jan 3, 2011 5:41 pm
Subject: Hi

Hello again,

It was a great last week here in Utah.

Monday night we took Elder Covington back to the MTC. The front desk people are pretty strict but they let us help him take his luggage to his room with an escort. It was fun being able to go back and look around with a different perspective. It seems like I was just there.

Tuesday it snowed the entire day. Also, it was the long awaited day when Enrique and Juliana were supposed to go with the Huerta's (Ward Mission Leader) to get their marriage liscenses. Sister Huerta called at like 1:45 saying she was outside of their apartment knocking but nobody was coming to the door. I told her to keep trying and she said she would. That was the last we heard of them that day.

Wednesday night we stopped by Enrique and Juliana's to make sure they had gotten the liscenses and finish setting up the baptismal program. It was an incredible relief when they told us everything had gone well. Enrique chose the Elders Quorum president to baptize him and Juliana wanted me to baptize her. We also had a good lesson with Juan and Maria that night.

Thursday was the dual Wedding/Baptism. We got to the church at like 6:30 and set up the room where the baptism was going to be then set up the Relief Society room where the wedding was going to be. There was great support from the ward and they had a table set up with food for after the ceremony. We got started with the wedding at about 7:15 and they got married, took some pictures, ate, and then we all headed to the other side of the chapel for the baptism. More people showed up for that and everything went very smoothly. Going to bed that night was extremely satisfying after all the work we have done with them.

Friday we had our district training meeting in the morning then met back up as a district at around six for our new years activity. We ordered pizza, watched "How to Train your Dragon" which was excellent, and played some phase 10 before heading home at about 9:30. We had permission to stay up until 12 but at 10:30 we popped our sparkling peach cider and went to bed at about 11.

Saturday was a non proselyting day until 5 pm. We got to sleep in until 8:30 and just chill at home all afternoon.

Yesterday was the confirmations of Enrique and Juliana. After we went to the other ward and Juan and Mario Romero recieved the Priesthood. The whole family is continuing to do great. Juan and Mario have been bringing their uncle, Tomas, to church and at church yesterday we talked to him about being taught as he wants to. Thus, last night we saw him and he seems golden. Also, we also saw a 9 year old girl named Laysha who was never baptized so we will be teaching her for the next couple weeks and her mom and her have already said that she wants to be baptized as soon as possible. Pretty sweet.

Thats about it... Hope everyone is doing awsome!

Much love,

Elder Clark

Mission Week #11

Sent: Mon, Dec 20, 2010 5:06 pm
Subject: ----Christmas----

Hello!

It has been snowing all day and everything is white. Awesome.

Last week went very well. Starting with Tuesday... We had lunch with this less active Mexican family we tracted into and the wife made amazing enchiladas. That night we went over to Uriel's to talk to him more about the baptism. While we were there we took pictures with Ismael's (his dad) luchador masks. Nacho Libre became very real that night. It turns out Ismael was a legit Luchador in Mexico during his younger days. He only has some of his masks here but in Mexico he said he has 9 full suits...cape and all. It was quite incredible listening to his stories.

Wednesday we has our last training meeting with the current district. Elder Barrera and I gave the training on how the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. That night we went over to Enrique and Julianna's to teach the the final lesson; the Word of Wisdom. The plan for them was to be as follows... Wednesday = Final lesson. Thursday = Go to Provo and get marriage licences. Friday = Get Married. Saturday = Baptism.
However, when we got the Enrique wasn't there because he had gotten a job that morning! The blessings of baptism came before baptism. He hadn't had a job in the 2 months he has been here and had been trying to find work. He ended up working all weekend so tonight we are going to go see what we are going to do with them. We are thinking we will have the baptism the 30th...we'll see.

Thursday we had a multi-zone Christmas party. It started out great until we were playing a game inside the gym and somehow I managed to hurt my knee worse than the times it has been hurt playing football and soccer. The logistics don't really make sense. Anyway, we had a nice ham lunch, a talent show, and watched Toy Story 3. I couldn't walk so Elder Barrera went out with another missionary that night that was in a threesome companionship while I stayed with our Landlords.

Friday was very fun of course. It was awesome to see everyone and get acquainted with Zoe. She is quite the happy girl.

Saturday morning was Uriel's baptism. His dad performed the ordinance and was so nervous/excited. It was awesome! We had two ward parties that night and it was crazy trying to tell everyone why I was on crutches. All of the Latin sisters were gasping. Julianna came with her little son to one of the parties and we brought along this 10 year old kid, Fransisco, who we have become friends with in the last little while to the other one. We actually met him awhile ago just talking to the funny Mexican kids in the streets then tracted into his family and have had a couple lessons with them and they have some good potential. Late Saturday night we got transfer calls!  It was just as intense as the first time but we are both staying in the area. We are also getting a third companion who is waiting on a visa to Mexico but might be leaving in less than 2 weeks. His name is Elder Covington and we are picking him up tomorrow. Transfer calls and transfers are a day early because of Christmas.

Yesterday was not nearly as busy as expected. Enrique and Julianna weren't baptized so they weren't confirmed, and our talks got moved to next month. We went to Uriel's ward for his confirmation and it was sweet. They go to an English ward, although the parents don't really know English, and the ward put on an incredible Christmas program. Last night we had an awesome lesson with Juan and Maria. Their baptismal date is the 8th and are looking good.

Merry Christmas! Love you and talk to you soon!

-Elder Clark

Mission Week #10

Sent: Mon, Dec 13, 2010 4:47 pm
Subject: another p-day...oh how the time flies

Hola!

It has been another great week....

Enrique and Julianna, the couple from Guatemala are doing awesome. Thursday we taught the Law of Chastity and instead of giving a normal commitment like reading the Book of Mormon, their commitment was to be married. We were pretty sure before hand that they weren't married so it wasn't much of a shock when they said they weren't.

Juan and Maria are also doing well. They were sick all week so we only got to see them once but it was a good lesson. We had talked about a Christmas baptism with them but they are going to have a bunch of things going on so the new date is January 8th.

Thursday night we were having a coordination meeting with the ward mission leaders in Uriel's stake and the ward mission leader of Uriel said that Ismael, Uriel's dad, has not been attending church every week. Clearly we had a problem since he was supposed to be the one baptizing Uriel and the bishop wasn't sure about letting Ismael perform the ordinance... and the baptism is the 18. Friday I talked to the bishop and he said he was still unsure but he thought the best thing would be to move the baptism to January. Saturday night we went to Uriel's house and talked to Ismael about what the bishop said and Ismael said that one of us would just do the baptism because he thinks Uriel would be too disappointed if the date was changed.

Sunday... Our first priority was getting Enrique and Julianna to church. Hermano Retamales, the YM president, who is my favorite member picked them up and they made it. We had to rush out right after the Sacrament because Juan was coming to the Stake Conference at 10 (Maria had to work). Juan, with his two sons, got there a little late but stayed the whole time and enjoyed it. I have a great streak going right now...two weeks in a row of meeting Apostles. Elder Ballard was at the conference which made it awesome. He talked about being in Rome and thinking about how Paul and Peter, who had the same calling as him died there, along with some other awesome stuff. After we got to meet him. His hands were softer than Elder Nelson's...not that that is important. Next, we went to Enrique and Julianna's and taught about tithing and planned what day they would get married. Uriel's bishop called us a little later and said he had talked to his counselors and is going to let Ismael do the baptism. So, last night we went over and gave him the news and planned the baptism for this Saturday.

Thus, this Saturday should be a pretty sweet day. Three baptisms and one ward party. However, baptisms Saturday mean confirmations Sunday. Here is our Sunday morning schedule next week...

 9:00 am : Uriel's conformation at 450 E Center Street.
 9:00 am : Enrique and Julianna's confirmation at 700 N 50 E
 9:00 am : My first sacrament talk in Spanish at 1000 N 100 W

I am laughing now just thinking about how crazy it is going to be running from place to place! Not to mention the talk... Elder Barrera offered our discoursing abilities a couple weeks ago so yes, 15 minute talk next week. :)

I hope everything is going well on the Oak Shore Drive. It has been in the glorious 60's this week. Get the phone ready, I will be calling in 12 days.

Love, Elder Clark
 

Mission Week #9

Sent: Mon, Dec 6, 2010 4:21 pm
Subject: buenas tardes

Hello again,

It has been another exciting week here in Orem!

I'll start with Wednesday... Wednesday night we had dinner at Hermana Manrique's. She is Peruvian and loves to feed the missionaries. She is definitely the prototypical latin lady in that she gives us tons of food and watches us eat. We arrived at her house hoping for a small dinner because an investigator family who we have been teaching was also feeding us later that night. However, after we sat down she put in front of both of us the biggest mounds of some chicken/peppers/noodles thing I had ever seen in my life. It was very painful to finish. After that we had a couple other lessons then went to the Borgo's. They are from Zenora, Mexico and their two sons were baptized in April but they weren't. Maria, the mom, had made us some spicey soup stuff and Jaun, the dad, made us tacos. I was still very full from hermana Manrique's so it was pretty rough trying to put down everything. After we ate we had an awesome lesson on the Restoration.

Thursday we were walking to an appointment and I looked up to see Tyler Anderson driving by. I tried a quick wave but he was already passed. I was pretty sure it was him at first glance but the Longhorn stickers on the back of his truck closed the deal. Anyway, the appointment we were walking to was to see Enrique and Julianna. They are the young couple from Guatemala. We had a really good lesson with them and they accepted a baptismal date of the 18 of this month.

The highlight of the day Friday was our lesson with Juan and Maria. We watched the Restoration DVD with them and talked about prayer. When we asked Maria if she had prayed yet she said she had and felt no doubts about the church and believed it all was true. Good answer right? So, we committed them to be baptized. We are still working on a date for them... It may be a possibility to have it on Christmas which would be pretty sweet. After they accepted Juan told us that they were actually talking about it that morning and had basically decided already. They are awesome.

Saturday we had Mission conference. The whole mission was there along with Elder Worthlin of the area 70, Elder Jensen of the Presidency of the 70, Bishop Buton, the Presiding Bishop, and Elder Nelson of the 12. It was a straight 3 hour meeting and all the talks were amazing. It was definitely a great experience to meet and here from amazing leaders as they all are.

Sunday was not so great. We were planning on having quite a few people at church but only Uriel, the nine year old made it. Juan is a mechanic for a snow clearing company so he has to work any time it snows. Sunday was a warm, clear, day but his whole family was sick. Also, Enrique and Julianna were sick. The Morales family, who I havent really talked about but have 14 kids were supposed to come but after calling them early and going to there house we had no success. And, Silvia, who has been progressing well was finally going to come to church but didnt answer the door when someone went to pick her up. However, we did sit it on a ward council meeting after while the ward spent almost two hours planning the ward Christmas party, 30 minutes of which were deciding on the type of drinks that would be there. That was some comic relief.

Overall it was a good week. We spent some time knocking doors and found some good potentials. Also, it was warmer. It is like 60 today! It sounds like everything is going well at home.. Much love,

Elder Clark

Mission Week #8

Sent: Mon, Nov 29, 2010 5:35 pm
Subject: Hola

Hello Again!

It has been a good Thanksgiving week here in Utah.

Wednesday morning we recieved a call from the Huntsmans, the grandparents of Kassandra, saying that her baptism would not be in Idaho as they were planning but would be here because there is too much snow to enter their cabin up there. So, that was exciting news. After our district meeting Wednesday morning we had exchanges with the zone leaders and I got to experience a full day in a car which I have to admit was pretty nice. In the afternoon we played in a ward turkey bowl, in the SNOW, and I was able to make it about halfway through before the knee sidelined me. We had some appointments later on and it was very interesting teaching in english in quiet homes. I am very glad to be teaching in spanish though. Our last appointment was right around the corner from Julies so we stopped for a quick hello after. That night the car thermometer was reading 5 degrees which I must say is very cold.

Thanksgiving was a fun day. The district met at the church at 10 for some volleyball/basketball and we played some phase ten. After that we got to just go home and hand around at the house. For dinner we ate with four families from Chile. Elder Barrera and I were sitting at the end of the table with all the adults and after dinner we sat there for about an hour while they were all talking and laughing. It's amazing how one can understand pretty much everything in church or a missionary lesson and get lost in conversation filled with cultural humor. The food was good though and it was fun to be at a big Thanksgiving dinner.

We have been teaching a young couple named Enrique and Julianna from Guatemala and Friday we had an awesome lesson with Enrique. We had taught him parts of the Restoration before but they live in a small apartment with another family with little kids so its hard to have the spirit. However, Friday we taught in his room and his little son was asleep so we were finally able to have a good environment. We watched the restoration DVD with him and after we asked him how he felt about Joseph Smith. (Earlier he had said he didnt think the story was possible.) He responded very humbly "I think he was chosen by God..." He opened up after that and told us all about his past and how he wants to change.

Saturday we had Kassandra's baptism in the afternoon. She has 5 uncles and they were all there with their familes to support her. One of her uncles did the baptism and her Grandpa did the confirmation. Two of her other uncles gave talks and were both crying throughout. We were talking to her after and found out that her dad is the oldest of the 6 brothers and isnt active. Kassandra hasn't seen him since she was 7 and I guess he has been working in Taiwan the whole time but has been back to the states and just hasn't taken the time to visit her. Pretty crazy situation but she is going to Taiwan today to stay with him for a month.

Sunday we woke up to some serious snow. Everything was white! We went and picked up Enrique and Julianna for church with a member and they stayed all three hours. Their little son is pretty lively but he made it through. A guy in the ward gave his farewell talk and it was interesting to hear one as a missionary. It made me think of Nolan!

Everything else is going great,

Love, Elder Clark

Christmas Pictures