Mission Week #81

April 24, 2010 (21 Months)


Hi!

I have been excited all week to log on and check out the pictures of
Harper. She looks good! And I am excited to meet her.

Yesterday was a very eventful day. At around 7 we got a call from
Elder Clarke of the 70. He told us he wanted to attend our spanish
branch and asked us what time it started. About an hour later we
showed up to the chapel at the same time as him and his wife. We met
then they walked in with us. The branch was pretty surprised and I
think it was very good for the branch to have him there. I am still
not a big fan of speaking in sacrament meeting but it was a cool
opportunity to sit on the stand with a 70 and speak about missionary
work with him. After sacrament we ended up having combined 2nd and 3rd
hour meetings with everyone in the branch and Elder Clarke. It was
awesome to listen to him for a couple hours in a small group setting.
Another cool thing is that they had a referral for us. It is the old
babysitter of their grandkids and her family that live here in Heber.
Sister Clarke gave is the information and we are going to be
contacting them in the next couple of days. They said if they are
available they want to come to the lessons or have them in their home.
It was funny when they mentioned having the lessons in their home
because they live in Park City and acknowledged the fact that that is
out of the mission but said that they thought President Pitts might
let us leave because it would be with a General Authority. We will see
how it turns out.

We met a lot of new people last week but so solid teaching
opportunities came from it. Last night we had a fun lesson with Jose
and Josafina, a couple kids we are teaching. We taught the 10
commandments and taught the hand signs to help them remember. After
teaching the 5th commandment and talking about listening to your
parents Jose said..."Thats impossible...no kid in the history of the
universe has ever kept that commandment." It is fun to hear their
perspective on things.

Thursday we went out to Vernal and Roosevelt for district meetings. We
are super rushed to be back in Heber by 5 pm so I havent got to stop
by and visit anyone yet. This Thursday we are going back though and I
will be on exchanges with the Roosevelt Spanish Elders all day and
overnight then we will come back to Heber on Friday. Speaking of this
week, it is going to be extremely busy. Tomorrow we have a leadership
meeting in Provo all day. Wednesday one of the APs is coming with us.
Thursday we will be gone all day, and with any spare time we have we
have to put together a ZPA for May by the end of the week.

The attached pictures are of us with some kids from Myanmar. There are
some refugee families that the English Elders have been teaching and I
did the baptismal interviews for 3 of the kids last week.

Im about out of time but I hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #80

April 16, 2012


Hello!

Zone Conference went well. We were in Lindon but not too close to
Grandpa's house. The theme scripture was DC 21:6. We talked about the
importance of modern day prophets along with a lot of other stuff.
There are lots of new missionaries...and it is wierd being one of the
older ones in the room. The training went well. We talked about the
process of beginnging teaching and helping people prepare themselves
for baptism.

We have been teaching some awesome kids the last couple weeks. One of
them is Alajandra. She is nine and hasnt been baptized yet. Her
parents wanted her to grow up more even though she is prepared. Also
we are teaching Jose and Josafina who are 8 and 12. Their mom isnt too
interested but the kids go to church with their aunt. It is super fun
to see them because they get really excited about whatever we teach
them.

One dinner worth mentioning was Friday's enchiladas. They were awesome
but we had too much. I had 8 and Elder Stephenson ate an impressive
10. I still feel kind of full from that.

Yesterday was a very busy day. We had the 6:30 meeting in Midway then
we went to the 8:30 branch sacrament. Next, we went back to Midway for
an 11:00 sacrament because there was a spanish speaking guy visiting.
We were walking down the hall before the meeting started and we saw a
familar face. Elder Holland. He has a house in Midway and they said
that he comes to his home ward like 3 times a year. So, we got lucky.
We got to meet him and talk to him for a second. At 1:00 we went to an
English ward in Heber and we spoke on missionary work.

It is getting harder to write these emails...I cant think of anything
else to say.

But, I hope you have an awesome week and everything goes well with the
arrival of the newest Hart.

Love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #79

April 9, 2012 (Easter)


Hello!

Easter was a nice day yesterday. We had a 6:30 correlation meeting in the morning... I dont know who made up the time but it is quite early for a meeting. After that we headed over to the chapel where the branch meets. Evidently there are a lot of members but lots are less active so there werent too many people there. It starts at 8:30 which is the earliest I have heard of. Last week the ward mission leader asked if I could speak the 22nd of this month with him. Then when we saw him the next time he asked if in addition to that we could both talk this past Sunday. So, we both spoke yesterday. After that we went over to where the singles ward meets to hand out a list for splits. We were talking to some people in the foyer and that is how I ended up running into Ann's sister and Brother in law. It was fun to make that connection and they seem like awesome people. After lunch we spent all afternoon knocking doors...we found some cool people and started teaching a part member family. Rosa and Carlos from Mexico. Carlos got baptized like 10 years ago then went inactive when we moved back to Mexico. Rosa has been taught a little bit before and is super nice. They got married a month ago and want to start their marriage off right. 

Tuesday we had ZLC. President showed us 3 of the bible videos off of lds.org. "The Atonement," "The Crucifixion," then "The Resurrection." It was pretty powerful to watch them and remember that without those 3 things, there really isnt any hope. President shared a strong testimony and it was a great meeting. 

Thursday we left at around 8 and headed up to Roosevelt for their district meeting. It was cool to be back there again. Right after we went to Vernal for their meeting then we had to hurry straight back to Heber to be back by 5. Lots of driving.

This week I received my "trunky papers" in the mail (that is what everyone calls them). They included a letter from president and a preliminary travel plans paper. I guess they have to start planning things awhile in advance. It is weird to have to think about going home. 

Tomorrow we have zone conference in Lindon - We are giving a 45 minute training. After having given so many trainings it doesnt really bother me anymore.

I hope you all have a great week- 

Love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #78

April 3,2012 (Conference Week)


Hello from Heber,

Going to Salt Lake for conference was pretty sweet. The experience as
a missionary is awesome. We sat on the 3rd row all the way to the
right which is right next to the door where all the general
authorities walk in. Three of the 12 apostles, and 5 or 6 seventies
came down and talked to us before conference started. Elder Scott
talked to us in spanish for a couple minutes. After it ended most of
the general authorites came down and I shook hands with around 20 of
them. That doesnt happen too often so it was a memorable experience.
Priesthood session was my favorite. All of the talks were impacting
and I cant decide which one I liked best.

I am enjoying Heber a lot. I am impressed with how fast I got in
contact with the Harringtons. We were getting our hair cut and she
walked in the store. We didnt have a dinner so she made us some
lasagna which was delicious. Still havent been to Dairy Keen but I
think we are going today.

All three of the companionships in the district are taking over new
stakes/areas and two Elders are white washing completely. We have had
to spend time showing them around so I am excited to have more time
this week to work in my own area. Also, we had to put together the new
ZPA for April this week because tomorrow we present it at ZLC and then
we present it to the zone at district meetings this week. Wednesday is
our district meeting then Thursday we drive out to Roosevelt and
Vernal for their meetings.

I am still getting to know all of the investigators but we are
teaching some awesome people. Next week ill update a little more on
that.

Starting today we get to work without full suits. I had been looking
foward to this for awhile but it is 40 degrees and windy so I am
wearing a jacket anyway. I cant wait for hot weather.

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #77

March 27, 2012


Hola,

First news...... I am getting transferred to Heber! I am pretty excited for various reasons.

1. I already know my companion pretty well and he will be fun to serve with. His name is Elder Stephenson and he's from Washington.
2. I will get to go back to Roosevelt for District Meetings and exchanges. I love that place.
3. The area was two Spanish areas until this transfer. They combined it into one area so we should have lots of work to do.
4. Dairy Keen is free. 
5. We have a brand new truck. 2012 Colorado.  

Of course I am sad to leave here though. In six months you get to know everyone pretty well. We had dinner last night with the Ortegas. She made pupusas which is the best food from El Salvador. They are doing well and should be getting married and baptized in the next couple of weeks.

Martin Gonzales is on date for the 7th. He is completely ready and it had been cool to see him change.

We were at a missionary correlation meeting on Thursday and one of the ward mission leaders mentioned that a new family moved in that supposedly had like 30 kids. He thought it was an error so he had us go check it out. It turns out it was not an error. They actually have 35 kids. And 7 wives. I met polygamists for the first time. The wife I talked to was pretty nice. We talked to her about her beliefs. Pretty interesting.

In other news, I am going to conference on Saturday morning. I wasnt sure if I was going to get to go but we found out this morning. I am pumped!

Saturday afternoon we went to Rancheritos with the distict. It is the same exact thing as betos but for some reason they changed the name here. Some of the stuff still even says betos. In honor of my father, I ordered rolled tacos. Interestingly enough, I like the food there now. 

For P-day today we are just hanging out with the district. One of the companionships lives in a huge mansion. The members have three pools and like 15 cars and they are always nice about letting us come over and play with their pool table, ping pong table, air hockey table and other stuff. Also, pizza hut gives us free pizza once a month so we are getting that today. 

Have a great week! Enjoy conference!

Love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #76

March 19, 2012


Hello!

Another fast week......... We had lots of interesting things happen. Monday night we got a call from one of the Elders in the zone saying he was tired of his companion and wanted an E.T. (Emergency Transfer). Luckily our appointment had cancelled so we had time to go work out the problem. We asked him where he was and he told us. Then, we asked where his companion was and he said he didn't know. It turns out that they were riding bikes and the one that called us didn't feel like going anymore and the other one just kept going. We went and picked up the first one then found the other one riding around. We talked to them separately then had to leave them to go to our appointment. We found a member to drive them around so at least they wouldn't be on bikes. We went back later that night with the APs and had them talk out their problems. They have some serious cultural differences (Japan and the Marshall Islands) but as usual their problems had come from not doing the simple things. They are fine now. 

While we were doing our weekly planning on Friday we got a call from President Pitts. He said he had just got off the phone with Elder Jensen from the Presidency of the 70 and that he had a referral for us. That usually doesn't happen so we listened closely. The referral was for a lady that Elder Jensen had visited at a rehab center. We still aren't exactly sure what the Lady's situation is but from what it sounds like she had her records removed after being a member for awhile. We went and contacted he last night and she was really nice. It was cool to say when we knocked on the door that Elder Jensen had sent us. 

Friday I went and met with a BYU counselor which was weird. Weird to have to think about what classes I am going to take. They said you can go into my account and sign me up for American Heritage on March 26th. It is under "freshman envelope" classes I think. Make sure I get a legit professor. I dont have to sign up for the rest of the classes until June something. 

Saturday night we had an awesome miracle happen. The Ortegas, who have been ready to be baptized for years but have refused to get married, said they are ready to get married. The wife went to go visit her mom in California for 3 weeks and I guess it helped her realize what she needed to do. 

Well, gotta go. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Clark

Mission Week #75

March 12, 2012


Hello again,

Another week gone. Tuesday to Wednesday I went on exchanges to BYU and we had a good time. One of them, Elder Gallo, is from Fort Lauderdale but his family now lives in Orlando. It is funny when people ask us where we are from because Orlando usually gets the "Wow Disneyworld!" response and when we go on exchanges it is doubled. His companion Elder Harpole got baptized just over a year ago and this is his first transfer. It was cool to hear his background story because he comes from a pretty rough background and the gospel has helped him to make huge changes in his life. He has a very powerful testimony. 

Wednesday we had interviews with President Pitts. He said I could go talk to a BYU counselor if I wanted to discuss what classes to take. I guess that is a benefit of being 10 minutes from BYU. Only in the Provo Mission..... Speaking of BYU, about 2 years ago exactly Dad and I came out here for Christina's wedding and we checked out the place that I was going to be living at. We took a tour and everything. I had some serious Deja Vu because this week I did a baptismal interview for the BYU sisters and it was at the same place where I was going to be living and I remember walking around there. Time sure goes by fast. 

Hno. Gonzales is doing okay... He drank so we had to move his date to the 24th and he wasnt at church yesterday for some reason. Katy wasnt at church either. It is very draining trying to teach her because she has some crazy questions and the people we bring to fellowship her are awesome but talk a ton. In our lesson Friday her first question was whether or not Mary had other kids after Jesus. I opened up the bible right to the part where it says Jesus had brothers but for some reason she just kept saying that she was unsure. 

Yesterday we had a pretty awesome experience. Earlier on during the week a guy had called us saying that one of his employees who lives in our area had told him that she wasted to receive a priesthood blessing. We set it all up then met at her house. They arent members but there entire family was there, even her grandparents, and some aunts/uncles and cousins. The girl is about 20 years old and has a brain tumor. She had been taught by missionaries awhile ago and had received a blessing before. It was pretty powerful when we talked to them about faith, the restoration of priesthood authority, and miracles. Elder Williams gave her the blessing and the spirit was really strong.  We are going back this week and will probably start teaching her and her family. 

I hope you all are doing excellent. The weather has been great the last couple of days. Maybe not as perfect as Florida but respectable nonetheless. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Clark