This… is… Carnival?

February 16, 2015

This is Carnival!

So Carnival has begun here in Brazil.... but no need to worry, here in Brasilia, nothing is happening. It seems like everyone travels or just stays indoors.... haha the roads are completely empty and nobody is home! We have seen a couple of reports this weekend about the parties that are happening all over Brazil. But here everything is just closed so it is more of a pain for us missionaries! But, today there will be a day long party at the church so we are excited to pass our p-day partying with the members of the branch!

This week was super hard, we didn't have a lot of success and we worked way hard. We are excited for some of the families that we have found but we are tired to death! Last week was probably one of the most tiring weeks of my mission. Each morning 6:30 came way, way, way too fast. You know you are tired when you are walking on the road, and closing your eyes because they are just so heavy and thinking maybe if you walk with them closed, I can get like 3 seconds more sleep..... This week was hard. BUT we are excited for the work! We should have a baptism this week. Adrielly is progressing a lot and it looks golden for her baptism. We also have many others that will be baptized in the next couple of weeks. We should be having a lot of baptismal services!

 I really do love it here in Planaltina, Time is passing by so fast and there is so much I want to do here still! I hope I get one more transfer here! Transfers are next week and we have no clue what could happen! We are excited for not only Planaltina but our whole zone! Yesterday an area that was just a “group” of members turned into a Branch (small congregation) yesterday! The work is progressing and growing!! I love the work and I love being a missionary!

We have one investigator that is amazing! He has a great knowledge of the Bible and of Christ, he is very accepting to our message! It has been a long time since we started working with him but It is incredible to see the difference in him, this week we were pretty straight forward with him and he is pressing a lot. He told us that Joseph (Smith) was a prophet, or he was absolutely crazy. It has been really hard for him because he has spent his life studying and believing one thing and now these 2 young men are telling him that some of the things he believed with such conviction aren't really the way that he imagined or believed. Working with him has helped me a whole lot to because of his questions. They always leave us stumped, but we always study and return to him with an answer and it is always great to see his face pondering and accepting our answer! That is why I love missionary work and this gospel. Everything has an answer and everything just makes sense. I know the gospel is true because it makes sense.

I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven. Thanks for all your love and prayers! I feel them every day!!

-Elder Samuel Clark

History will Change in 2015

January 5, 2015

Its 2015 and this year will be the year that Planaltina changes forever! Planaltina has a whole lot of time with missionaries, more than half a century... but the thing is it is exactly in the same spot that is was when it began! Our goal for 2015 here is to change this pattern. 2015 will be the year that Planaltina grows and continues to grow; not only our branch, but all the branches in our zone. The key is that the missionaries will work very closely with the leaders of the units and not just do everything for them. I have a lot of hope that this region of Brasilia can grow and be an example for others.

Amazing Storm

This week was great, we celebrating New Year with a bang... literally, everyone here buys fireworks and goes crazy at midnight for about an hour. Needless to say we didn’t sleep. This weekend we also had one of the beautiful storms I have ever seen. It was a lightning storm but the lighting was constant. I looked like a paparazzi in the sky. The clouds were huge and the bolts of lightning were crazy! I captured on in a video and it is amazing!

Our work is going well here too, one our main investigators finally made it to church with his wife! During one of the classes he bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was great and really powerful! He works nights and went to bed at 5 in the morning but still made it to church at 8:30! He and his wife are very special and are close to becoming members of the church!

Elder Clark at the World Cup Stadium

We are also working with a family that I have grown to love really fast. They are returning to church after about 3 years not being active and they only have about 5 years in the church. We have had really good visits with this married couple and we are setting goals for them to go to the temple together because they haven’t gone yet! They are super funny and I love to joke around with them! They also gave us purple mangos the size our heads (my favorite type of fruit here!).

Life is good and only gets better here in Planaltina!

I love you all and wish you the best 2015 ever!!!!

Elder Clark

Gringos

Dec 8, 2014  

Proud to be from Planaltina!

This week was crazy hard. We arrived here and didn’t have any work to do. We didn’t have people to visit, or to teach... or really anything. We didn’t know any of the members or where they live because the city is really big. The congregation here is a branch (a small congregation). There isn’t too many members to start with. BUT I am so excited to be working in a branch again! Bringing back the days of Ft. Apache!! But, we knocked on doors and talked to everyone on the street because we just didn’t have anything going for us. We just had to wait until Sunday to meet everyone! Then hard part about our area too is that literally every single person has already talked to missionaries or at least that is their excuse. But this city is the oldest city in DF and the missionaries have been here since the dawn of time. So it’s been a bit hard but yesterday was church and things already are looking better! We meet all the members, already are working with them to do activities in the branch. I am so excited for this area!

Making Pizza at an Investigators Shop. 

My companion is great! He works and talks to everyone! His Portuguese gets better and better every day! Crazy how the church makes the world so small, he knows Elder States who served with me on the reservation in Arizona... crazy huh.

On the way to Caberceiras

This week we went on a trip! Really, it was the longest day of my life! haha We had to go to a city called Caberceiras to an interview. Our zone here is huge... and it was a trip of almost 6 hours... two buses... and a whole lot of waiting at the bus stations. BUT, the trip was so beautiful! In between the cities, there was just farm land and rolling green hills as far as the eyes can see. Then we arrived in the TINY town of Caberceiras... this town is paradise! You can walk from one end to the other in 30 minutes. It’s so little, but so great too! It’s so peaceful, clean and pretty much in the middle of nowhere so there is a lot of wildlife there, and there are a lot of people that work for the church that live there. Because there is a giant farm that the church owns close by so a LOT of people work there. Which is cool. I didn’t know we had the only farm of the church here in Brazil in our mission. I want to go visit it now... but it is far away. I fell in love with that little town in one day and hope I can return there! Sorry, I don’t have many pictures of it. I forgot my camera so I took pictures that aren’t very good with the phone, and Elder Goodsell took photos but his camera isn’t working with these computers. But the trip was truly an adventure and so much fun. Everyone was looking at us ``gringos`` or foreigners, wondering why these two white, blonde guys were in the middle of nowhere.... haha!

Life is so sweet as a missionary and I am so grateful for this time that I have, and it is passing by way to fast! I can’t believe how much I still have to learn and do and such little time I have left.

I love the gospel, I love my savior, and I love you all!

Elder Clark!