The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

December 30, 2013

What a great week, probably the best week of my mission so far. Sledding last Monday was so much fun and just started us out for a GREAT week. Christmas Eve we went to a home of a single sister in the Branch and she taught us how to make pizza! Boy, that was a mess but it was so delicious! Christmas was a lot of fun too. Skyping with ALL my wonderful family was of course the highlight, but all the dinners we had made me feel like I gained 100 pounds. Hey, I am not complaining! Christmas night we held basketball at the Church because that is literally all the teenagers favorite thing to do. We were not expecting too many to show up because of Christmas.  We ended up having around 50 kids running around playing ball and what not. It was CRAZY, crazy fun. The cool thing was that most of the teenagers there were not members. Such a great finding opportunity!

Thursday and Friday were so productive! Because everyone was home, we just went around visiting all the people we were working with and what great visits they were! I love the people of Ft. Apache! Saturday was such a great day too! In the morning my companion and I went to his old area to see an investigator and her daughter be baptized. What a sweet thing that was.  You could just see the love she had for this gospel and the love and support she had around her. It was a great service!

Mesa Temple

Saturday evening was fantastic! We took the youth to see the Mesa Temple lights! Yes, the Mesa Temple, the one that is about 3 1/2 hours away... We were able to get a bus... and a driver to take all 18 of us down to the valley! The bus ride was actually really fun with all the youth. We spent about an hour around the temple grounds, loaded up the bus, and headed home. It was so much fun. We got home pretty late. But, it was all worth it!

Sunday we were able to teach the combined youth 3rd hour class. It was probably one of the strongest times I can remember feeling the spirit. The lesson was about standing in holy places which was great because we were all at the temple the night before. The lesson turned into just recognizing the Holy Ghost and all that the Savior does for us. What a special thing to share with those feelings and our testimonies with the youth. I really hope they remember those feelings for a long time. I know that I will.

Our Saviors Birth

What a great week! I know it was all because the climax of the week was celebrating out dear Saviors birth. I am so grateful for everything he gives me and all the miracles he makes happen every day. I know he lives and loves each and every one of us. He will always make it possible for us to be happy.

http://www.lds.org/topics/christmas

Love you all!

Another Glorious Week in Arizona!

It has been so great, a little frustrating at times though. There is so much to do here and so many people. It is starting to become so busy that there is not enough time in the day to do everything that needs/should have to be done! The work is unbelievably successful here and some days we go from one person’s house, to another, to another, to another... all day. The best part about that is I have not tracked once. We get so many referrals and people who just call us asking for help or to learn. It’s so awesome and keeps us super busy

Since Elder Andersen has to stay in the mission office each day too, sometimes we get “stuck” doing some work for Sister Sweeney (The Mission President’s wife) and are now dubbed "APW's" or Assistants to the President’s Wife. It is fun... most of the time. We just finished making a healthy cookbook for the mission. It is really hard to find recipes for missionaries that are 1. Healthy 2. At least look good and 3. We can pay for with our little missionary monthly allowance. BUT WE DID IT!

Elders From Our Zone

 This morning we moved into a 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom apartment! The Spanish speaking missionaries moved in with us but the apartment is WAY to big for 5 of us. It is going to be so so so much fun. The 5 of us all get along really well and I can already see the fun we are going to have. We put all 5 of our beds in one room. It is going to be epic. Quick example on how goofy the mission gets: On Sunday we got ready for church and headed off. When we got there, we were waiting for the Bishop outside his office and one of the members pointed down to Elder Andersen’s feet and asked "Is that a fashion statement?" We all proceed to look at his feet.. turns out he had 2 totally different shoes on... like on was a slip on loafer type, brown and the other was a black, laced up shoe. How he didn't notice is still a mystery. We had just enough time to go back home so he could switch them out before church started. It was too funny!

Sweet Fashion Statement

 Despite the goofiness, the work is going great. We had a baptism on Saturday, a 12 year old boy. It was way awesome. He is Apache and his grandma bore her testimony in Apache and it was so strong. She hasn't attended church in a looooong time before we started to teach her grandson but now she comes every week as well as his whole family, his single mom (who had him when she was 16) and his three little siblings. They are a great family.

Baptism of Max

Saturday was probably the most frustrating day of my mission so far, It started with Friday night when a big trip to the temple visitors center was cancelled 10 minutes before we were to leave. Then we had 6 lessons set up and only 1 actually happened and it was not a very good one at that. But it ended well with the baptism and the food after. I have fallen in love with fry bread. It is my favorite thing we have eaten here by far. Not very healthy... at all, but it is delicious.

So cool connection I learned this week. We were eating dinner at the Bishops home and I mentioned about what Dad does for a living and long story short, Adam McBride is his brother in law! How cool is that?? The bishop’s name is Bishop Young. I don't know if he has told Brother McBride yet but definitely tell him!

So everything is going great here, the weather has been crazy.. last Monday in got to 125 degrees. That was pretty killer but it is starting to cool off. Today is about 90 and this morning was SO beautiful. It was 70 and felt just like VA in the fall, it made me miss home a little bit. I really do miss the trees and the fall back east though. Fall in the desert is just not the same.... at all.

Big shout out to Mrs. Sheahan for the awesome package of delicious cookies! I need Wills contact info! I have seen ASU's stadium while driving on the highway all the time and think of him! 

A shout out to Maggie Mitchell for her awesome package of goodies, including a pair of sunglasses that saved me a trip to Walmart to by a pair because the sun that Arizona has is definitely a better, brighter sun than back home. 

Thank you everyone for the support and love! I love you all!

Love, Elder Clark

HIGH ON A MOUNTAIN TOP

Elder Clark Preaching to All!

What a great week. There is nothing like the life of a missionary. So many things occur in one week that just shift your whole perspective of everything... and I am still in the US! Like I said in my last email, my area is a super poor area, very few houses but a lot of very run-down apartment buildings. The people here are so humble and have some of the most incredible stories. We have met so many new people waiting for the gospel! The work had exploded here!

The first one is about Christina, we met her through a referral from the sister missionaries. She is the most humble woman. We showed up at her doorstep on Saturday and she was just sitting outside her apartment. We started talking and she was telling us about her past and how she was homeless and addicted to all sorts of things. She has a couple kids and they were all really young when she was homeless. She said she knew she needed to take care of these children but did not know how. She said she decided to turn to Jesus (Smart Move). She said what a blessing that has been for her. She said that after she was able to get the apartment she has, she somehow has been able to keep it for these last couple of years, and that food somehow gets to the table. The best part of it though is her testimony of faith. She said that none of this would've happened if she had just asked and waited for God to deliver her out of it all. She said faith is nothing if you are not willing to work for the blessings you want. Even though her circumstances are not ideal yet, she is so thankful for the blessings The Lord has given her for the ability to overcome ALL her addictions, keep her children, and provide for them. She said she wants to help other people all the time and she isn't even to that point. Her three children are so beautiful too. They are awesome. We have a lesson set up for this week! She is so solid and wanted the Book of Mormon real bad because she loves the Bible! It’s amazing how the Lord prepares people! What a miracle!

Celsa and Lance... They are my favorite. Celsa grew up in the church and Lance is not Member. They just moved here from the sticks in North Carolina about a month ago. She said she was driving in Mesa and passed the temple. Which obviously reminded her of the happiness the gospel brought her, and she had the overwhelming feeling that they needed to be married in the temple! So, here we are, teaching the lessons to Lance, helping him gain a testimony and preparing him to be baptized, which we committed him to baptism on Nov. 3! He has a strong testimony of God and that He has a plan for hi but Lance says he doesn't know what that quite is yet. We know what His plan is for you Lance... We know. We think we are going to have a wedding ceremony before the baptism too for them! How awesome is that!?

The last person I will tell you about is 19 year old Courtney, who we met yesterday at church. She was sitting at the bus stop and asked this member if she knew where the library was, turns out that member was going to the library after church! The sister told her that and Courtney asked "Can I come to church?" OF COURSE YOU CAN COURTNEY! We talked to her after Sunday School and she was just in tears. She told us what was talked about in church is exactly what she struggles with and exactly what she has been looking for. She is a senior in high school but lives on her own. She told us about all these different struggles she has gone through. She is so excited to learn more! God has a plan for each of us, the way He works things out is just amazing! This area is full of people like Cristina, Lance and Courtney and it seems like we meet them every day!

I never thought I could be this happy serving other people and thinking about them all the time. It is amazing how much I have learned about myself through all the people that I meet. I love it here, so much work to do! Some days it can be so frustrating though because of how unreliable some people are but we are constantly teaching people either on the street or in their home. Where ever we can!

We were able to go to the temple on Wednesday! That was a lot of fun! The Mesa temple is amazing! 

This morning my companions and I climbed to the top of this giant rock that's in the middle of the valley. We could see the entire valley when we got to the top! What a view that was! 

Elder Clark and his companions overlooking their area

Next week we are moving apartments to live with the Spanish elders! There is going to be 5 of us in one apartment! It is going to be so much fun! The Spanish elders are so goofy, there are going to be some great times in apartment 2003! 

So our mission president and his wife went to Texas for some training this weekend and there is a rumor

that it was training for the use of IPADS and Facebook for missionaries! Everyone is so pumped! Oh and Iphones too!! The church is so hip! 

So that's really all I got for the first week in the mission field! Life is good, God is great! I love and miss all of you! 

Don’t forget to write me!

Quote of the week: Try Jesus, if you are not satisfied, Satan will always take you back. - Bumper Sticker

Eu amo todos voces!

Elder Clark

Scottsdale Arizona Mission Map