Temos um Apostolo aqui!

May 26, 2014

First off, today I ate the heart of a chicken! It actually was really good! A bit chewy, but tasted real good!

On Our Way to See Elder Anderson

Brazil is great, the highlight of this week was the visit of Elder Andersen! We had a meeting with him on Saturday as missionaries, and then on Sunday we got to hear from him again with our stake! That was a neat opportunity because only our zone, about 20 missionaries, got to hear him twice! He was great! He speaks Portuguese but whenever he got really serious or excited about something he would talk in English and have the translator translate. It was great, I came into the meeting with a ton of questions and ALL of them were answered! I also really prayed that he would share with the members during conference things they needed to know and he did! It feels like he was specifically here to answer my prayers. What an amazing experience, I tried to get a picture with him but he was way busy....BUT I have shaken his hand three times now!

For more information about Elder Neil L. Anderson follow this link:  

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/what-are-prophets/bio/neil-l-andersen?lang=eng

Elder Anderson

One thing he talked about is something that I have seen my whole mission here and in America that is SO important. So many missionaries baptize people before they are ready to make that covenant. Not that the missionary did it on purpose but it is something we have to be so careful about as missionaries. This work is real; the people we are working with are real.  I am writing this to try and help other missionaries or future missionaries. Sometimes the covenant of baptism is sometimes taken ´´lightly´´ as missionaries. We are here to baptize so that’s what we will do, ready or not. But we really have to help people prepare for baptism. I have seen too much on my mission, people who are not keeping their covenants because they were not ready, or they are keeping some but don’t understand the WHOLE picture. As missionaries it’s our full time job to prepare them. As a missionary don’t be afraid to continue to work with them either. Members aren’t counted in your weekly numbers but they are so important, and you will have such great experiences with them because they have already had that light with them before and they will desire to have it again. President Monson said if you have any doubt that they are ready, wait. There is no rush, this gospel; especially the atonement needs to be understood to be able to live it! That’s something that I have grown to be really passionate about. Baptism will come, just don’t force them, please!

We Made Pastels!

The work in Recanto Das Emas moving, we are just trying to find new people to teach, this week was really busy with a lot of different things happening. But, it was good. We walked a lot this week trying to find houses of people. Elder Queiroz  and I have many funny moments together which always makes the work fun! Thank you for all your prayers and love! Love you all! Elder Morochi says hello to every one too!

Much Love!

Elder Clark