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

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

Continued Progress

January 20, 2014

This has been yet another great week. It seemed WAY to short but then when I look back on it, the things that happened seemed like a year ago. Time works in mysterious ways on the mission!

This week we had a lot of visits. We taught a lot of lessons and found a lot of success... one thought we had last week with all those members showing up was that it could have been a one-time thing, so we worked really hard to have the success again! And we did! This week we had 174 people (at church)! A lot of the people that came last week weren’t actually there this week. A lot that were in church this week weren’t here last week. Which makes us really excited because once we get ALL of the people coming regularly; we will have more people than can fit in this little branch building!

Branch Temple Day

The most tender part of this week was Saturday. Elder Blankenship and I were able to join the branch in going to the temple. A couple weeks ago, I told you about a man and his wife that came back to church after 30 years ago. They (Brother and Sister Cheney) were able to attend with us and actually do the work for their deceased teenage son. I don’t think I have ever been happier than 1. To see these people I have grown to love be inside the temple for the first time and 2. Watch Brother Cheney do the work for his son and see the love that he has for his son and this gospel. I am so grateful I was able to witness that moment and be a part of it. The Lord has blessed me in SO many ways and I am so grateful that I am where I am. Brazil will come. But, boy do I love Whiteriver.

The Lord has special things in store for each and every one of us and I know that if we patiently wait and work for his blessings, he will, in his time, pour them upon us. I love this Gospel, I love the Lord and I cannot begin to express my thanks to him for the experience that I am having!

I love you all and miss you all lots!

 Elder Clark

A New Year, Same Gospel

Kyra and the Ft. Apache Elders

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I know I am pretty late but the year is still young! What a great week (and a couple days) it has been! I love being a missionary! So many great opportunities and adventures happen every single day! Good news is that all the Ft. Apache Elders are sticking together for another 6 weeks! We added the sisters (sisters are women who are serving missions) yesterday!  This area needs some sisters and we are all excited for the contribution they will be to this branch (a branch is a small congregation)! 

New Year's Eve Party

New Years was a lot of fun.  We went to a few parties and we able to make our "grand appearances" and I was able to be the grill master at one! Sometimes service IS really fun! We had a bonfire with a family and just had such a great time! New Year’s Day we went all the way to Snowflake for a activity for the morning! Lots of basketball playing! The best part was probably being able to watch some movies though! We watched "It’s a wonderful life" a super old (and approved) movie. Now all we elders talk about is the stud "George bailey".  If you haven’t seen that movie, it is a must see. So good! So old but, SO good.  

An interesting tradition the reservation has is that at midnight they all shoot their LOADED guns into the air... we were certain that we would be woken up by war sounds outside, maybe even bullets flying through our walls but none of us actually heard anything. So, I guess that was good...

Kyra and Elder Clark at Kyra's Baptism

Saturday was a really great day! I had the wonderful opportunity to baptized little Kyra. She is 10 years old but crazy smart and crazy funny. The service was great and it was great to see the support of all her family members there. Her and her sisters are incredibly strong girls and are such an example of true faith to me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to be a part of their journeys. They will all grow up to be amazing women.  I know it.

 I love this gospel so much and I know is true with all my heart. A man that we have been working with, since I got here, bore his testimony to me and my companion yesterday. He has become active in the church again. He and his wife are preparing to go to the temple together! After over 30 years of being away! What a marvelous experience it was to hear his testimony and to feel the spirit inside of his home. He is truly a great man and a great leader in this community. I know soon he will make a great leader in this church too! The feeling at that moment was as great of a feeling as I had baptizing little Kyra on Saturday. Bringing someone back into the fold is just as great as bringing in new members. I know that to be true and I know it is the ability of EVERY member to do so. That is what home teaching is for. It’s a necessity.

This gospel is the greatest thing in my life. I am so grateful for it and all it does for me. I am grateful for my family, my happiness, my mission and my Savior. I know he lives and is my older brother who wants nothing more than to see me again and I will do all I can to not only make it back to him, but bring as many people as I possibly can with me. Love you all!

Elder Clark