Little Taste of Heaven and Hell

September 1, 2014

These last few weeks just get hotter and hotter! Every day I say to myself, it can’t get hotter than this, and the next day Mother Nature accepts my challenge and makes it even hotter..... You know it is hot when the locals start complaining. Pretty much until sunset the streets are like a ghost town because everyone stays indoors, where it’s still hot, just not as hot. haha Did I mention that it is hot? And dry, when we wash our clothes and hang them up to dry, not even 15 minutes pass and they are already dry, which is actually pretty convenient! If Hell always feels like 3 in the afternoon here, that’s enough reason for me to work to get to heaven.

Well besides trying to survive the heat, we are preaching the gospel! We are working with a 20 year old right now who is awesome. He gained a Book of Mormon from a friend of his cause he likes to read about religion... while he was reading the Book of Mormon he heard two people talking to each other on the bus about the same book! haha He called the sister over to his seat and they talked with him, got his info and now we are teaching him! He accepted a baptismal date for the 21 of September. He has some obstacles to overcome but he is 100% down to work on them. He is great. His family is too, they aren’t interested yet ... but his mom did cut our hair!

Brazilian BBQ - Churrascos

Oh man... everyone talks about churrascos (BBQ) of Brazil... and to be honest, I have had a lot but never was too impressed... until this week. Holy Cow I think I had the best meat of my life and probably gained 5 pounds in one night. A family had a party here and their friend from southern Brazil cook the meat… and it was like tasting heaven... seriously the best meat I have ever had. Everyone says that southern Brazil is the land of churrascos and he proved it.

OH! and the piano playing went well. It was real funny, because everyone was SO surprised that I played piano. You could hear a lot of whispers when I went to sit behind the piano.

Sunday was a crazy day for us and during church the teacher of our 2nd hour class didn’t show, so I had to give the lesson completely unprepared. But I think it went well. It helped me more than anyone else. It was a direct answer a struggle I have been having. Wasn’t coincident that I gave the lesson! It is amazing how the lord answers prayers in every form possible

I am sweating, teaching, thinking about churrascos and loving life right now. Love you all and thank you so much for your prayers.

Elder Clark

White Boy Walking with a Shoe in His Hand and a Bloody Finger

Aug 18, 2014

What a week... I guess I will explain the title of this week’s email… So Elder Kodama and I were walking and I stepped on some glass... one piece got stuck in my shoe and so we stopped so we could get it out so it wouldn’t cut my foot... but boy was it stuck... I ended up cutting my finger. The cut wasn’t to big, but by the amount of blood, you would have thought I cut my finger off.  We were about 10 minutes from our house so we started to walk towards home, trying to take a route were people wouldn’t see me with one shoe, carrying the other and a super bloody finger. But of course, the ONE day everyone is outside on this particular street is when I look absolutely nuts. So I am pretty sure a lot of people got a pretty good laugh at the strange white boy. Man, moments of the mission haha

 This week we really tried to talk with everyone on the streets. We were able to get a lot of addresses and what not from people but none of them were really ready to hear our message, which was pretty discouraging as it seemed the more we worked, the less people were accepting us. I had been praying all week that the lord would lead us to someone who is prepared and ready for this gospel. It’s amazing how he works. Sunday night, We went to visit a family who is returning to church that we have been working with for a while now, and the last 2 weeks they brought a friend with them to church but he always said he doesn’t want us to visit him But we arrived at this family’s house and he was there and they were just finishing a movie about Joseph Smith. He loved it and told us he had a lot of doubts about the Book of Mormon and Joseph but now he understands it all, and then after talking a bit more, answering more questions, he accepted a date for baptism and told us he believes it all! WHAT? Where did that come from? haha but how amazing is this gospel. I am so grateful for the reactivation of this wonderful family, and now they are helping us a ton with our work. What a blessing.

We are also working with this super sweet family that has a lot of challenges. They don’t have very much money and the momma works a ton. When we met her, she was almost smoking 2 packs of cigarettes PER DAY.... that’s more or less than 40 a day. Now she is constantly smoking only 7 per day. That is a miracle for sure, in less than 2 weeks! Our biggest trouble with them is church. They are very, very shy and we just can’t seem to get them to come and meet the ward. They read the Book of Mormon every day and love the gospel. I pray they can be baptized soon!

Days are flying by and I am doing well. I know the Lord knows me and every one of his children. He answers my prayers specifically many times and I know he will continue to do so. I love you all!

Elder Clark

Brazil is Different

April 21, 2014

Elder Quiros and Elder Clark - Companions

The message and purpose is the same, but everything else... is different. I am in the city suburb of Brasilia called Recanto das Emas. My companion, Elder Quiros is great. Even though he doesn’t speak English, we are able to communicate with each other.  I am still working on clear communication with others. I want to be able to talk with these people so badly. My language is coming, very slowly.

It is very hot here, and all we do is walk... all day. The big meal is lunch here and so we eat a big lunch at about 12ish-1ish. After that we are out working and walking until 9-930 at night. I am always SO exhausted, but it is a good exhaustion from hard work!

We have one woman, named Paloma that we committed to baptism this week. She is very sweet. She is dating a returned missionary and he is so tight. His name is Steve (pronounced sh-tee-vee). They are awesome and help me a lot with my Portuguese.

My mission president is a great man too, but next transfer we will be getting a new president. I will have had 3 presidents in my mission. Crazy.

I miss Scottsdale a lot but this is my mission too. It has been very humbling having to start over. I am doing my best but, it is discouraging having the words to say but not being able to say them! I cannot wait till I can understand the people here. It is going to take a lot of work. But, I will do it!

The book is blue and the church is true.

Love you all

Elder Clark

Remember him?  Elder Porter was Elder Clark's Provo MTC Companion. He has been in Brazil for months!

Is September Over Already?

September 30, 2013

 

Fun Shadow Shot.

Holy Cow. I cannot believe September is over already. Where does the time go! The weather here is even cooling down! Some mornings I need to wear long sleeves because it is kinda chilly, but then the sun comes out and it ends up being in the 90's which is actually nice... which is terrible to say.

I live in a Desert!

 No word on my VISA, still just waiting in the happy valley of Phoenix. I am not gonna lie, language study is a killer, it’s really hard to focus and learn new things on my own, but I do try! Eu acho esta fazendo bien. (I think I am doing well)

So this week was pretty good. We meet ALOT of interesting people. The person that stuck out the most was a man named Harmony, he was so strange. He said he was a Pagan witch medicine man of the modern day. Don't ask me what that means because after wasting half of an hour talking to him, I still don't understand his ways. But, it was a funny experience. We met with a ton of people this week and have lots of new investigators. It is amazing the differences in people we teach. We cover every type of person you can think of. We have a very successful, gospel scholarly woman interested and on the other side we have a woman who cannot read. It is so fun experiencing all of this. I love being able to talk with EVERYONE. It’s amazing how much I am learning about this Gospel and myself through focusing on others. It is amazing the love I have for these people, and the desire a lot of them have to change. We have talked to or are talking with a lot of people that have criminal records and what not. Most I cannot even imagine them in prison because they are so kind and receptive. It is amazing what people have to go through for the Lord to prepare them. I am so excited to see where all the new investigators end up! There is a lot of potential we found this week.

Elder Anderson and Me

 So Wednesday I received an amazing package, from some mystery person, filled with Omaha Steak products baby!!! Whoever sent it, thank you!! I looked everywhere for a name but there was not one. (This was sent from his sister Abby and her husband Gregg)We are planning on cooking em all today in celebration of the retirement of Elder Black's pants. You wonder what there is to celebrate about pants?? Well, Today marks the end of 6 months of Elder Black wearing those pants everyday... for 6 months… that is 182 days straight. They are disgusting but it is an incredible feat worth celebrating with bacon wrapped sirloins!!

So Sunday I was called up by the Bishop, in the combined 3rd hour of church in front of everyone but the primary children to bear my testimony on the Book of Mormon. I guess I could only hide from doing

stuff like that for so long,  but it was a good experience and I am just grateful it didn't have to be Portuguese.

I hope everything is well at home. Miss you all and love hearing about all of your adventures! This Gospel is so amazing, I am so grateful for the opportunity to devote 24 hours a day to it and sharing it with all those I meet. I have seen people’s life change because of it already, not materially but, emotionally and spiritually. The happiness this gospel brings is undeniable.  I want everyone I see to have and know what I have and know.

Amo voces! Ate tempo proxima! (Love you guys! Until next time!)

Elder Clark