He is the Reason!

12/29/14

Package From Home!

Christmas was very good. Lots of food and great packages from home! The best part, of course, was my skype call with the family! I miss and love my family so much, and it was great to see and talk with many of them! After I closed the laptop, it hit me that I still have so much work to do here! So, the work began again.  

I can’t believe 2014 is over. What a year it was! It passed by so fast and I am so excited for the adventures of 2015! Bring it on.

This week we were just on the hunt for members that had fallen from the church. This is our main focus now. How can we bring people into a home (the church) if its foundation is weak? I love working with less actives and really hope that the work will get better every single week. The number of people in church was about 70 again. But, it will get better this coming week for sure! 

Familiar Picture

We had to go do two interviews in a city about an hour away from here. While we were at the bus station, a man just started talking English with us. He actually spoke very well and we got on the bus and sat with him. We explained who we are, why we are here and everything... in English! haha While we were on the bus, everyone was very confused why us 3 were speaking English, because the bus was super full and lots of people were around us. One group of teenagers started talking about us and saying that we must be from England and what not, thinking that we didn’t understand them. We told them we are Americans (in Portuguese) and then one young women said “I think they understand us” hahaha then the phone rang and I had to talk to another missionary in Portuguese and everyone on the bus got real quite with surprised looks on their faces it was great! Then I just started talking to some of them about who we are and everything. It was a very funny bus ride and we got the interest of many people. 

We finally had a meeting with our Branch president and made up a plan for our Branch here! We are going to work very closely with the leadership and everything is looking great for the branch here.

Life is sweet and the work is good! Love you all! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great new year!

Elder Clark

MERRY CHRISTMAS! "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours."

December 22, 2014

Mission Christmas Party

This week flew by so fast. The main event was the Mission Christmas party. It started 9 in the morning with trainings, had lunch. WATCHED FROZEN!!!!, Had a talent show, had dinner, and had some more testimonies, and then we watch Ephraim’s Rescue... The party didn’t end until 9 at night and we didn’t leave the event until about 10, then we had to take the metro and then a bus to get back to our house so we didn’t get home until 1ish. Had to call the rest of our zone to make sure they were home and finally got to sleep at like 1:30... Only to wake up at 6:30.. Needless to say the next day was hard. But, the party was great! The entire mission got together! We had 200 missionaries all together! It was great to see all my companions and friends! The food was great and we got to watch frozen. We watched it in Portuguese but it was still great! haha

President Lundgren and Elder Clark

This week we just visited members. We have tried everything here and nothing is really working. But we are helping the members here get more excited about the gospel! This week every day is marked to make visits with the members, except for Christmas, we are really excited to help this branch. Our goal here is to strengthen the members and have a frequência of 100 people in church by the end of the transfer. We had 68 this Sunday. We have got a mountain to climb but we are up for the challenge!  This week was just rain. I think we arrived home dry only 2 nights this week.  Every night we have to hang our clothes up to dry and put our shoes under the fan. The rain is cold and wet! But, it is way better than the sun beating down on you.

Adventure

There is a line from Frozen that I loved... I know that I am 1 year late but it’s when the little snowman says ``Love is putting someone else's needs before yours´´. And of course as a missionary I wasn’t thinking about love between a couple, but I was thinking about the love of our Savior. He truly loves us. The act that he performed was the greatest act of putting EVERYONE ELSES NEEDS before himself. And as a representative of him, I have to follow his example and do just that as a missionary. It’s humbling for sure. But, I am so much happier when I am trying to fulfill those wise words of Olaf... I am so grateful for this time of the year we can celebrate the greatest birth that has ever happened and that will ever happen. I love my Lord Jesus Christ, and I’m grateful for His love. I am trying every day to love all those around me and follow His example. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Remember our Savior!

Elder Clark

Let it snow!

Dec 23, 2013

This was such a wonderful week! We found a lot of success and made a lot of progress. It has snowed a couple times too! Has not really stuck yet but hopefully it will soon!

Ft. Apache Elders wish you a Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Program in Church went pretty well. I think I did alright at the piano. People seemed to really enjoy it though. What a great way to celebrate our Savior through music! I am excited, we are gonna go caroling tomorrow and Christmas! I like Christmas Carols! We had a nice potluck after church too! Lots and lots of food and lots and lots of people! It is so great to see this branch up and running again, and for all the activities to happen too! The work is progressing and the members here can feel it!

I was asked this week to baptize this ten year old girl named Kyra on Jan. 4. I am really excited for that. Her and her 2 older sisters are amazing to me. They all three are faithful in the church and strive to do what is right all the time while they have no parental support.  They live with their grandpa and are such example to me of enduring through everything. I am so grateful to be a part of their spiritual journey and to be able to take part in little Kyra’s baptism!

Cold Elders

 We went sledding too! Which was a lot of fun. It was very cold because, of course, missionaries don’t have snow gear, but it was great!

Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a very merry, merry Christmas, and never forget why we celebrate it!

All my love,

Elder Clark!