Planaltina - Part 2

January 12, 2015

Elders

So today were transfers and I had to say goodbye to my good friend Elder Goodsell. He was transferred to a land far away. I loved this transfer and it was probably one of the fastest of my mission. The work was hard but it was so much fun too! Elder Goodsell is a GREAT missionary and will change lives here in Brazil! I am so grateful for the time I had with him but I am also grateful for a new adventure with Elder Semmler, my new companion. He is from Rio Grande do Sul. The same state of Brazil as Elder Xavier! He is a good missionary. This is his 4th transfer and we were in the same zone in Taguatinga when He arrived on the mission. I am excited to work with him and help Planaltina grow! Elder Laurintino stayed here with me but Elder Josephson left and Elder Shipley from New Mexico is his new companion.

Baptism!

This week was HOT! That made it hard to stay outside. So we tried hard to enter into houses but it was hard to get in. So, every night we were dead when we got home because the sun here just sucks out your energy. But, we had a great miracle happen this week. Andre was baptized! He is a great guy. He has been investigating the church for over a year but didn’t want to commit to baptism because he didn’t want to be baptized just for his girlfriend (who is member). We have been good friends with him but never pressured baptism on him because he doesn’t like when the missionaries do that. Last week we had a family night with him and his girlfriend’s family and we left a spiritual message with them. He told us after that he just felt good and that the church was the truth, and a few nights after he decided to say a prayer. He told us this time he REALLY wanted to know and that after his prayer he got his answer immediately! He is a great guy and he just understands the gospel and its principles and everything. During his baptism I just got the best feeling that this man will become great and that his life will never be the same. I think I have learned more from Andre than he learned from me!

This week was a little strange on the missionary sports side. We found out that there is a park where every Saturday a lot of people get together and play basketball, and they play so well! Many of them play for professional teams here in Brazil. The three Americans played a couple of games. We only won once! It was kind of embarrassing losing to Brazil in a sport that America dominates! But, here is the funny thing... We lost in basketball, 3 on 3. But, a couple of days later we played soccer, 3 on 3, and we won... yes, we won 10 to 9! How? I don’t know, but maybe we are turning more Brazilian than American now... lose in basketball but win in soccer..... Go figure!

The branch is going well, we didn’t reach are goal of 100 this transfer but we did get 82!  That’s not too bad! It will only continue to grow!

I love this work and I love the Lord. There is no place I would rather be!

Love you all!

Elder Clark

Whatta Week!

March 10, 2014

Basketball!

 Wow! Lots has happened this week! And there is still so much more to come!! This week started with a basketball game. A less active member challenged us missionaries to a basketball game vs his rec team. We of course accepted on the condition that he will attend church with his family (His family has just been recently reactivated and his wife was just called as the new young women's president!) so Tuesday night we met him and his team at the boarding schools gym... man... his team was good! We had four high school basketball players on our team and they beat us 102 to 96... with 2 20 minute quarters. It was such a fun game even though we lost! We set up another challenge for next Tuesday with the same condition! We just need to play better defense. We are all so lazy and outta shape though. They ran the floor on us cause we are all just fat missionaries!

Ft Apache Elders at the Snowflake Arizona Temple

Thursday we had the always awesome opportunity to go to the temple as a zone. It was a beautiful day and as always a wonderful experience!

Elder B and Elder Clark at the Snowflake Arizona Temple

The work is really doing well here. Elder Blankenship and I get along really well and are able to just work. We found a lot of people this week and have a huge teaching pool now! With ten missionaries we can get A LOT done! We all are starting to get specific assignments of what to help with the branch and mine is the young men. I love being able to work with them! We consistently have almost all young men pass the Sacrament each Sunday which is a miracle! They are great!

Saturday we had a wonderful baptism for 3 little sisters. They are 12, 10 and 8, and all so bright and just so much fun. We started teaching them when I was with Elder Vete but strange things happened and they left for a little bit but we finally were able to get them in the water. I had the opportunity to baptize the 12 year old, Tiana. I am so grateful to have been able to do so. I think my favorite part of teaching those girls was seeing their mom become happier and happier as she embraced the gospel! They have VERY little, but those three girls and their mom are such happy, shining people now.

Sunday was really good, we were missing some of our regulars and others due to a professional bull riding event, but we still had 212 people. It was fast and testimony meeting and although the kids got antsy because it was about an hour and a half long. It was great because there was a constant stream of people bearing there testimonies.

Beautiful Ft. Apache

We were also able to go off-roading with some member yesterday in search for a trail that we could hike because the zone is coming down today to hike.. haha that was a lot of fun, and muddy!

I love seeing the gospel work in people’s lives. I love my Savior and I love my mission!

Elder Clark