A Week to Remember

February 19, 2014

Elder Clark at The Gilbert Arizona Temple

New Companion

 What an amazing week. Full of events and miracles! I don’t even know where to begin. Transfer news! I am still here in Ft. Apache! Elder Russell went down to the valley. I am now companions with Elder Blankenship! He has been here for 2 transfers. But, now he is my companion! We got 3 new missionaries too so now we have 8 elders here and 2 sisters. There are a lot of us and it is gonna be crazy having 8 of us in that lil house. But, we will make due!

Last week Elder Russell and I had an AMAZING experience. We are working with a non-member family who have never wanted to talk with "The Mormons" for some reason, says the father, he decided to let us in. They have quickly become great friends of ours. A couple weeks ago, the father got thrown off a horse and shattered both his wrists. As we were meeting with him, we talked a lot about the priesthood power and its abilities. He agreed to let us give him a blessing. In the blessing he was told that he would heal much quicker than the doctors anticipated. About a week after, he went in to get his casts. They had to put some metal in his arms then wait for the swelling to go down before the casts could be put on. When he went in they took another X ray and the bones were completely fine. There wasn’t even a trace of fractures or anything in the bones! What a miracle. He now just has ace bandages around his arms for the surgery wounds.  God is real and his power is real. I am so grateful for the ability to be his servant and work in his name!

Ft Apache Branch at The Gilbert Arizona Temple

This Saturday we were able to take two buses down to Gilbert and see the Open House at the temple! It was a branch trip and we have about 110 souls join us! It was very stressful getting it organized and to happen but it was so worth it! It is such a beautiful temple. The members of the branch (most have never been to the upper floors) LOVED it. It was so much fun!

Other big events of this week were: Elder Blankenship and I were able to dress a father of some members for burial. He passed away the other day. We stuffed a passed out drunk into the car of a man on the side of the road. I got sick and stayed up all night... what a week! I am so grateful to be a servant of the almighty and I can’t wait for what lies ahead of me! 

I love you all!!

Elder Clark

Breaking Barriers

 Feb. 10, 2014

Ft. Apache Elders

This week FLEW by. Now we are on the last week of the transfer. Our goal this transfer for church attendance was 200. People thought that goal was outrageous, unattainable and wishful thinking, but through hard work and all glory to God, this Sunday we had..... drumroll.......... 205 attend! We broke the mark with one more Sunday of the transfer left! It was so exciting! At the same time our Priesthood holders are lacking in numbers. We missionaries sorta double the active Melchizedek Priesthood holders. But that is ok. We got 200! Now on to phase 2.  :)

I love being here, everyone pray that I will stay over this transfer. I am so excited for the things to come here.  The work is truly progressing! My favorite thing here is working with the youth and preparing people to enter the temple. More specifically, the young men! They are great and they are all so excited to see so many people at church. There were enough of them in attendance to pass the Sacrament and were so excited to talk about it in class. They can feel the progression! A recently reactivated member has asked me and Elder V to attend the temple with her as she goes through next month. I am so excited to be able to do that and see her continue to progress in this gospel!

We had interviews with President Sweeney. He is an incredible man, and I love being able to associate with him and his wife. I do miss being in the valley and seeing them every day. But it was good to see them this week!

This work is real. This gospel is true, and Jesus Christ lives.

I love you all! Until next week!

Elder Clark

One Small Step for the Missionaries, One Giant Leap for the Ft. Apache Banch!

February 3, 2014

Wow wow wow... I have learned so much this week about myself, about human nature and about this gospel. I love the ability to learn each and every day even though my primary job is teaching! It’s crazy how that works!

This week was crazy full of amazing experiences and miracles. Mostly little miracles, that were such tender mercies. I could probably write a small book on all that happened but aint nobody got time for that. One small miracle was one day we went out to find a house that someone had referred us too, we ended up going to the wrong house, but this man was a less active member and we were able to help him with some yard work. He told us maybe it was a sign that we found him.... heck ya, it was a sign (and a small miracle from our Heavenly Father)!

Another one was that on Saturday we had lessons planned for each hour of the morning but NONE for the afternoon. This was frustrating to me because we usually are full all day. We were able to go to our lessons, but during one of them my companion became really ill. He started throwing up and all the works.... so we spent the rest of the day at home so he could recover. What a tender mercy the lord gave to us so we didn’t have to cancel on anyone. The Lord really does provide for us all the time. We just need to stop and look for the miracles.

Sunday of course was the best day of the week again. We had 190 people at church! THIS WORK WILL NOT STOP! I was so excited, and we had ALL young men passing and blessing the Sacrament which hasn’t happened since I’ve been here, usually one or 2 or 3 of us missionaries are helping out. Great things are happening. I had also been praying ALL WEEK for certain people we were working with to finally make it out to church. We have been working with a couple families that do everything but just don’t attend church. Well they did this week and how great it was to see them there! The first time coming back is always the hardest. I cannot wait to see all of them progress in the gospel and make it to the holy temple!

Gilbert Arizona Temple

For information about temples go to: http://www.lds.org/church/temples

We have met this man named Andrew. He is such a stud, he isn’t a member but he wants to be! He has a testimony of this gospel and reads the Book of Mormon every day since we met him! It is amazing to see him progress and I am excited for him to be baptized and become a mighty priesthood holder.

This work is real, the Savior is real, the happiness through his gospel is real and I want every single person I meet to know that.

Love you all

Elder Clark