Letter #19

hey everybody.

 

thanks for the emails mom dad and mike ;)

 

so love the thought of always being junior comp to the lord. i actually hear that from a zone leader i had the last change. and its so true i have to depend on him more than ever now.

 

i love repentance! its a gift we should use everysingle day!!!! i have to repent a lot. even for the littlist most tiny things we can repent.

 

atlacomulco! its so big. we have atlacomulco and and everything to the north. we have everything till you reach the other states of michoacan, hidalgo, quereto or sometihng. all we have are taxis here so is either really expensive or really long walking. it is so beautiful here. mountains trees i dont know everything! i use the bottle all the time i love it!  since we are both new it is so hard because we dont know anyone or anything. and we cant contact so this week was rough.

 

so mike about coke cola... so my mission president asked a seventy who asked an apostle if we should drink coke... and the apostle said, idk but i dont do it bc the prophet doesnt. poderoso... i love that we should always think in our lives, wow would the lord do that if he was in my position...

 

its true all my comps have taught me something different. and its really good. and im still learning from my comps.

 

so im going to start doing interviews because we live so far from the zone leaders. so ill do them for our district leader and he does them for us. so it you could send me talks in spanish about promises of keeping the commandments and blessing promised in the scriptures and stuff like that, that could help me teach the commandments better.

 

also my comp just wants chocolate.  so a ton!!! of!!! reeses!!!! and!!!!! snickers!!!!! i dont know if i told you i need a new long sleeve shirt or i can buy one here just tell me by next week what you did. 

 

this is a photo of me and my comp right now hahah

 

dad you can send more than one talk in one email its perfect the more talks i recieve the more talks i read... please in spanish or both hahah

 

we are going to go eat carnicas

 

love you all a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

im being the missionary i promised to be :)

 

Elder Clark

Pictures

Letter #18

HEY EVERYONE!!!!

 

so im in atlacomulco. is a little pueblo outside of toluca like and hour and a half. that is my zone tho toluca.

 

so i have a new comp. he has one change less than me and is from sonora!  he is really energetic and we are going to have a lot of fun.

 

my dad elder juergens is AP! as of today! he only has like 15 months in the mission! it was so cool to hear that this morning.

 

we showed up here and there is a family that gives the missionaries carnitas and tacos every single monday. and we also are going to eat there tomorrow! its free :)  today i ate like 7 giant tacos and cake and soda! we are both new here to the area so we are going to learn it together. so far its nice. ill send pictures next monday.

 

i dont know what to say today. my last change was dificult and i dont know how to explain it. but its over and i have a new comp new zone and a new area.

 

so dad here is my scripture that i choose and i memorized it... dyc 107:99-100  i hope you like it.

 

so thanksgiving... i totally forgot. we did what we normally do... work. but thats alright. this change i get to call you or skype! i dont know what the rules are yet.

 

the nights are getting cool... for my christmas package... i need a long sleeve dress shirt. zebra pens blue and black. reeses again.

 

oh which reminds me. i have a new diet.  two loafs of bread and nutella every week. thats it. well i think so. im going to try to send home something for you all to try. but i need your address bc i dont remember it.

 

those pictures... one is of our district last change and other of our zone. and the one is of me and my zone leader.  i look up to him a lot. we spent some time together this past week and it was so nice to talk one on one about the gospel. he knows so much but he teaches so simple and powerful. he is a great example to me. its cool to because he speaks english too.

 

its crazy that 6 months has flown by soo fast! and its only the begining of my fourth change.  this change im really going to have to rely on the lord and im looking forward to it. i always said i want to be junior comp bc you can learn so much. but someone told me there is a way!  jesus christ will always be senior comp if we let him and he will teach us and guide us.

 

i love you all so much.

 

and please send me more talks ! they dont have ensigns in this area.

 

mom the talk you sent me in your letter is perfect! thanks and till next week.

 

Elder Clark

Letter #17

hey everyone thanks for all the letters.

so mike summarized exactly what i feel like right now. hahah

so ashley peanut butter... i dont know why but its sooo amazing. but i have this huge crave for nutella. i buy it once a week and two loafs of bread. this is what i eat through out the week.  i love the food in the street. its sooooo tasty. some of my favorites are ... tomales in pan, tacos durados, tacos de pastor, all the bread here especially bolillo, and tortas!!!

the weather is still hot during the days but towards the night its chilly. but i just wear my super nice jacket and hope i dont get beat up and it gets stolen.

so we have changes again this monday. it is my last week of this change. who knows where ill go or who i will be with.

sorry we havent been in the same internet place for the past two weeks and i cant send pictures... again. 

also my computer shut down while writing president so i had to start over and we have an appointment two hours early on pday so i have to go, 

i love you all thanks so much for everything!!!!

Letter #16

hey everyone! 

so the weather here is fine. in the day its warm if not hot and at night it is freezing especially in the morning. its hard to get out of bed. and its really cold during my bucket shower when i put a cup at a time and pour it over my head.  its fun and i have done it for the past four weeks. it doesnt bother me. im just glad i have a coil to heat up my water.

my spanish is improving little by little. when ever i get upset or frustrated i think of the other missionaries that have more time than me and are still struggling. it humbles me.  my teaching is better. i dont teach a lot because my comp can teach so well! it is amazing the way he forms sentences and his thoughts. i love listening and picking out things that i want to say. it is difficult to have a latino comp but im learning patience!  my emotions are stuck in a box and i cant express my self! its so hard in spanish. but this is when i learn patience.  i just keep it in and ask for forgiveness always even if it wasnt my fault. and now he asks me for forgiveness. its getting better. 

my feet are fine and my shoes are holding up. its amazing what crazy glue can do. im good for right now. i take good care of them. i shine them every day. i even put lotion on them the other day bc they seemed a little dry.  

my weight is fine i havent been sick since i arrived in df.  i actually might be gaining a little weight.

so mom thanks for that quote from that person about mitt romney. its so true. but also just shows how much closer the second coming is. just look at the advances in missionary work in the passed couple years. begining with preach my gospel, to dropping the age of missionaries and the explosion of them. it just shows the lord is doing everything he can to progress the work. these are the final stages before the second coming. what else more could we do right now to progress the work. it is so much closer than anyone thinks...

so i read a new talk this week called "the love of god" by dieter f uchtdorf.  it is absolutely rediculous and changed the way i think about love in all forms. especially how the lord loves every one of us!!! everyone has to read it. please send it to every one in our family.

also read "to aquire spiritual guidance" elder scott

"repent that i may heal you" elder anderson.

"tongue of angles" holland

they are so amazing and everyone needs to read them. also for all priesthood holdersn "to act in all diligence" president eyring.

im begining today to memorize a scripture or a quote every single day for the rest of my mission. in order to form a photographic memory and to focus on the gospel in every moment of the day.  today i memorized dyc 107:99-100  it says. "wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.  He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. even so. amen."

this week elder alonso is coming to our mission to talk to us about the new missionary program. so we will learn so much more with what we have to do. and i think we are going to implement it after he talks. the missionary work is changing around the world for the second coming. it is really crazy.

yesterday we found this ugly fruit and ate it our house last night it was gigante, and so delicious. but i cant send photos this week the computer is messed up.

i love the food here. tacos, tortas, tomales (especially in bread. and fried are amazing too.) tacos durados. well every thing! i love the food off the street. when i return thats what im going to do! sell food on the street.

im doing great! loving every day here. 

miss you all a ton.

love,

              Elder Clark

Letter # 15

hey everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

man i love emailing my family.

so we had a great week... we had four baptisms!  this guy couldn't get baptised for 3 months and the letter from the prophet came back and he was able to get baptized on sunday. his family waited for him and they all got baptised together.  because our mission president did the special interview, he also came and did the baptism. it was neat.

so i got some blisters!!! they hurt pretty bad, but if the Lord wants me to walk fast i'm going to walk fast. its been tough but its amazing what the Lord will to help. the other day, my feet didn't hurt because they were on fire and numb so i couldn't feel it. it was a blessing. i have one on each foot and one already exploded. i think i'm going to buy insoles today. 

so i read the talk by Elder Gay and it is absolutely amazing.  probably one of the greatest talks i have ever heard. the Lord has promised us blessings. and WE WILL RECEIVE THEM if we do what the lord asks. if we do anything contrary to the commandments or the will of the Lord we lose those promises. sometimes we have to walk into the dark before we can see the light.  i never want to do anything that will take away those promises. i was absolutely blown away from that talk. 

i also read the talk from Elder Holland thanks to ashley. it was amazing as well. i wish i had the talks with me with all my notes. i would just be throwing out my favorite parts from Elder Gay, President Eyring and Elder Holland.   can you send me more talks that you all liked??????????? please!!!

so this week was a little rough... we didn't know our area and the missionaries before us were so unorganized so we searched for people that were in the books. but they didn't keep their books. so it was rough but we had those baptisms. also all our area is buildings and apartments. its really rough finding people. and the area is huge! and the transportation is horrible. 

Elder Aranda... from peru. has 18 months in the mission. he is an amazing teacher and so powerful. people that are angry or don't care listen. he teaches differently than any other missionary i have been with. i don't like to talk because i love to listen too much. i just want to listen and learn from him. i already feel like i am such a better teacher than before but i'm still learning. he doesn't know english so i am teaching him and we had a good study this morning.  i am already improving my language bc of him but i still have a lot to improve.

how come no one told me the baby was coming so soon????  that's so crazy. congrats tiff.

so the calle in which we live is sor juana ines de la luz  #21 colonia santa maria la ribera

grandpa, you would be happy to now that the military police academy here has a super nice soccer field. i didnt see any other equipment but they are always playing when we pass. wouldn't that be the life.

i can see the mission changing my life everyday. and i just love being here. 

this opportunity for girls to go on their missions at 19 is an incredible opportunity. and i advise any girl that is thinking about going to go! it will change their lives for forever. they will have such a better view of life and everything. i hope i have the opportunity to marry a return sister missionary. 

the mission has changed my life forever and it can change boys to men if they face it head on.

i know that this church is true. i know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of god.  i know that this church is directed by Jesus Christ through living prophets. i know it is the only way we can receive true happiness in this life. and i am so grateful for my savior and redeemer. who showed us the way through his example. 

i love you all and till next week,

Elder Clark

Letter #14

HEY FAM i forgot to tell you all that changes were... today! i am out of michoacan... sad i know but now im in DF distrito federal... sounds so cool. im in camarones and i have a comp from peru! hes not american! he has 18 meses and im so excited to work with him. he is also the district leader here it is his first change here in camarones as well. every single one of my comps has been district leader! im just going to soak up as much as i can from him. mom the food is not the same as the states... sometimes its better sometimes its worse. scott when i get home lets just eat elotes together, all day. so mike in our mission we have a lot of wards but my last area was a rama everysingle person was a recent convert of less than a year, except the branch president he is a returned missionary and is pretty old and experienced and another family but thats it. now im in a new area so i have no idea what the church is like. so has anyone heard of the familia michoacan? i had a run in with them last night. we were contacting for central and our last contact of the night this guy called us over and we presented ourselfs and imideately started asking us questions and it seemed harmless at first but then he started asking us where we lived and was acking wierd, we obviously told him the opposite direction. then we started asking him why he wanted to know, he paused and told us he was a member. we just acked all happy and then we left and said we would talk with him later. on the way home i stopped by the taco guy at the brigde to tell him i was leaving to go to df, bc we have been teaching him and they are a nice family. but while talking this guys showed up again. he followed us home... i told the taco guy (chucho) that he was following us and who he was and we stayed at the stand for a little and the guy left so we stayed a little longer and went the super long way to our house. not the same way he went. it was really scary. i left this morning and my comp has to stay. thanks for all the talks!!! i wasnt getting pouch very often bc i was so far away but now i should get it more often. i got dear elders from leslie ashley matthew mike and emily hoffman and i got a letter from brooke woolf. this week i went to zitacuaro for two days. i worked with the zone leader for a couple days and it was a blast and i learned alot from him. i look up to him a lot. he is really powerful when he speaks and it made me want to be a better teacher. zitacuaro is really pretty. there are alot of hills there and the people were great. they had some really prepared investigators. then on thursday i rode home on the bus for two hours by myself. towards the end of the week we ran out of gas so we took cold showers it was freezing. but in zitacuaro the same thing happened but we heated up water in a bucket it our iron! we just dropped her completely in the water it was cool. im so looking forward to my new area we are close to the wal mart in a super small appartment complex that is orange. if you wanted to look it up on google earth. also i hope you looked up zitacuaro in google earth and especially maravatio bc it is really pretty country. but i have to go. love you all and i am looking forward to my package this week! i forgot my camera so ill send the pictures the next week! sorry :( Elder Clark

Letter #13

hola every one! sorry i dont have much time this week to email. they gave us survey to do i didnt get to read any of your emails but i printed them all off!!! dustin! that picture its soooooo good! so my week! so monday... we bought cowboy hats!!! they were like 15 bucks! i got a tortilla press to make tortillas! we also got panchos! they are so nice to study in the morning bc it is a little chilly and i use it in the night too as a blanket but i was lacking one. we made torillas de arina! they were really good and really easy but we dont have the time to make them. we started teaching this really nice guy but he is lost we invited him to be baptised and he was like i need to ask my sacerdote. he didnt up progressin in the end but we might drop by now and then. tuesday! we had an awesome junta as a zone! it was really powerful. they talked alot about the faith. and it was really spiritually uplifting. wednesday! we had tinga! i love it, its so tasty. especially on tostadas. we met a guy and we were going to baptise him and his family, but in his baptismal interview at the very end asked "are you guys catholic?" he didnt want to change religions. i thought he understood that we werent catholics when we told him the first vision. also when we told him the church has been restored through a profet. he doesnt want to change. thursday! so we got to this house for an appointment and there was a lady in the shade behind a tree. elder slade begins to talk to her and the lady is resisting us. and he says "what happened, did you not like our message or did we not get along?" and she kept resisting. right after that i realized it wasnt the same lady and i started to burst into laughter. we had never talked to that lady before! that morning jehovas witnesses nocked our door. they had nothing that was like doctrine. they just shared some scriptures with us and they left. i also had elotes for the very first time!!!! they mayonese corn with pepper... it is absolutely amazing!!! i love it. friday! we had our last baptism bear her testimony to her little brother and it was so powerful. he knows its true and his mother as well but they cant do anything because the oldest son is so against the church and yells at his family. their dad died. then the zone leaders came to help us get baptisms in our area and it was fun but it didnt work bc we ended up with 0 anyways saturday! so in the morning the zone leaders had a little junta and it was very good and i learned a lot. i also made beef and chorizo tacos for everyone in the morning. i woke up at 5 and everyone slept in till 6:30 and after i had slaved over everything, not a single person thanked me! we are a whole bunch of nineteen and twenty year old boys hahah. sunday! we left the mission! we went to another town to watch sunday morning conference. its called acambaro, its in guadelajara east mission. i didnt understand anything. the sound was low and it was hard to understand. all of our baptisms fell and we were super sad. in the morning we past for one family and they older brother yelled at us and told us we were ruining his family and that we can never come back. and he was going to call the cops on us. i feel so bad because the sins are going to be on his head. very eventfull week i hope you all like the pics and i hope i have more time next week

Letter #12

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hey everyone! i miss you all. thanks mom and dad for your letters this week. mom im fine! our lights were cut because we didnt pay the bill. hahahah. but its back on now and its so convenient to have electricity. so we found out that the fast this last week was a bad idea. we made it to thursday but it was destroying our stomachs. we were hurting so bad! but its all good. so we had one baptism this week. her name is keila. we were supposed to have three but the mom and brother dropped out. but keila will be a great example for them. when we went to pick them up for there baptisms they all rejected it but we talked keila into getting baptised. and while we tried getting the mom and brother to come, keila began to bawl. it was so amazing! she was like "i just feel something so bonito". she says she wants to serve a mission(she is only 15). she is going to be a great example to her mom and brother. they will follow in the footsteps of her example. so this morning we went to make tortillas and the hermana was done! i was a little sad but she gave us hot ones as they came off the stove. they are amazing. we are going back tonight and she is going to teach us how to make masa. and we are going to go buy tortilla presses. and hopefully find a flour tortilla recipe. and we are going to make our own! it rained a lot this week and we got so soaked and on tuesday we were riding we saw testigos de jehova talking to keila(before she got baptised), so we rain over there and inturrupted them and started talking to her. i just think to myself "why do they even try, their church isnt true!" its so sad how so many people are so dedicated to satan. wednesday, we had a lot of food back to back to back. people kept feeding us and i got so sick and almost threw up at this ladys house. elder slade tried to do a front flip. i was riding my bike with one hand because i was eating bread and i hit a dip and my haddle bars turned sideways and i skid and turned into elder slade. but elder slade slammed on his breaks and only his front ones work so he flew over his handle bars and i rode off still eating bread while elder slad was on the ground. friday was a normal day. did normal stuff. saturday, keila was bawling before her baptism bc she knew it was true. and we tried for two hours to have the other two come but they wouldnt. sunday! we had 6 new people to church for the first time! we are going to try to baptise them all this next sunday. a lot of them loved it! that is the picture of what we went through to get to church. tons of mud. this next weekend is conference it conference!!!! i am so excited. but i will be working and wont be able to watch it and we dont have anything to watch it on so we will just be listening to it if we ever have a chance. but yeah just send me copies over email. 2 or 3 talks you liked and ill read those throw out the week. i can print them off if you send it throw email. i love this quote from howard w hunter "if you have troubles at home with children who stray, if you suffer financial reverses and emotional strain that threaten your home and your happiness, if you mus face the loss of life or health, may peace be unto your soul. we will not be tempted beyond our ability to withstand. our detours and disappointments are the straight and narrow path to him." i love that!!!! we are being shaped and molded by the refiners fire. when ever we have a disappointment or a trial, we should think, "what is the lord trying to teach me, what can i do a little better, or what is the one little sin i have in my life that i could give up." it is the only way we will learn and in the immortal words of gordon b hinckley: "things will work out." thanks everyone for everything! sunscreen would be awesome. im being the missionary i promised to be... Elder Clark --

Letter #11

hey everyone!!! we had another trying week. not really this one was easy but yesterday everywhere we rode on our bikes, the wind was blowing against us. it was hilarious but hard to ride. we just had interviews with president! he is so powerfull. he made everything so clear why i have been with my comps that i have been with. so not as many letters this week! but i just got a dear elder from matthew. i love the pictures ashley! that hike sounds so fun and i hope you are all there when i get back so that i can come visit and we can go hiking together. so this week we saw a dog get ran over! it was buy a huge tour bus. we havent had power in like 4 days! its so sad. all i can use is my flash light and it got dim pretty fast. but our frig is so warm so nothing kept and we had to move to another room so the light could go through the window so we can see. its dificult. so this month we have not had anyone come to church for the first time... until yesterday! they are an awesome family. well woman. her husband died not to long ago and she is so sweet. the next p-day we are going to learn how to make tortillas. i cant wait. then ill come home and make delicious tortillas. but she is awesome and i know that she will get baptised this coming week. im not going to doubt one bit. president helped me see how my experiences and shaping me and how i am bettering myself. its like i never want to baptise so that i can always find something to improve. everyday im going to give up something to improve. or im going to ride faster or im going to contact with love. something along those lines. we just got challenged by the APs to not speak in english only in spanish so we are going to do it. so we can improve. we need some revelation this week to help us with the work. we are doing a special fast this week. we are only going to eat during the scheduled comidas during the day. and not at night or in the morning. we are going to continue to drink water so we have some energy but its still going to be hard. we need revelation on how we can improve. we are also doing it so we can find people to bring to church and baptise. so if anyone wanted to keep us in your prayers that would be much appreciated. we are going to see miracles this week!!! i love my personal studies in the morning but i want to learn more and faster. its frustrating studying in spanish because i dont understand all the words while im reading so it takes me a while. but i love this quote about prayer! i feel like we can all improve our prayers, so here is this quote "la comunicación con nuestro padre celestial no es un asunto trivial. es un privilegio segrado." piensen en eso. and translate it hahah. so i got in an accident on thursday. i was flying around a corner and another person was coming around the adjacent side, and BOOM. elder slade was amazed. he had no idea how i dropped so fast. i slammed on the breaks and layed my bike over and somehow the only thing was i hit his front tire and got a tiny scratch on my arm. the other guy was still on his bike and nothing happened to him. so it was a miracle... but he was on my side of the street. i love the bread here. there is this bread in the shape of a football that is just soooo delicious. also this morning we found donuts!!! they actually taste good. that is a miracle. and that pig is ginormous!!! its the size of that truck bed. it was three times the size of the biggest hog i had ever seen. its snout was bigger than my palm. and that is how we are studying without light. so i need the recipe for the waffles cd player. the mp3 cd player walkman is fine. no ipods or any mp3 players cds. only motab and artists that are playing church songs. and lots of them rain coat! i dont have one yet and i have gotten wet many of times. reeses they are like gold here and so are snickers. journal simple blue one make sure it is easy to right next to the spine. memory cards!!! i cant think of anything else. im sure ill think of something as soon as i leave and i wont be able to get it for a while. HA

Letter #10

hola everyone!!! i got bombarded with emails this week!!!! thanks so much :) and all the pictures are amazing thanks for everything. i am super blessed for my family and friends! grandpa thanks for the email but i cant watch youtube videos hahah. maybe in twenty months we will have to sit down and just talk you and me! thanks tim eisenhower for the letter and the update on your fam! i will keep your family in my prayers. matthew!!!! what happen crazy dude! you look like me now ;) you told me you wanted to do alot of the same stuff as me but i didnt think this was part of your plan. i want to hear all about colorado and i want to see alot more pictures of colorado. when i get home im buying a nice mountain bike and im going to ride that, not a car. man emily! life is pretty crazy! and its crazy for me too! so mike we had a funny story yesterday. we had some golden investigators planned to come to church... we went there and they werent there. we went to the church to look for them and they werent there. we did that five times and we ended up riding over 15 miles that morning before church all on a fasting stomach. im going to be the worlds best faster when i get home. we fast twice a week and for twenty-four hours each time. and thats riding bike and working like crazy! i love my comp! he is so humble. it was a different adjustment for him to get a comp that wanted to work. im his first one since his trainer i think... he is a great example. there are always things we could improve but i need to improve more! so on tuesday night it was raining so hard and it was so dark we were walking down a muddy hill and i fell and got super muddy! later i realized that i had a huge cut on my left palm and i just washed it in a puddle on the side of the rode and worked till 9 oclock. the next morning i went to the president of the ramas shop and they did some sketchy treatment. they grabbed a needle and scrapped out all the rocks and infection. it hurt so bad especially the scrubbing and recutting it open and pouring soap in it. but its clean and looking better. so why the title doubt? well i figured out that the single most powerful thing that satan uses it DOUBT. doubt and faith cannot coexist. for that i want everyone to try super hard to not doubt anything! and pray with all your heart. the miracles will come! so dont doubt or they wont. peter had amazing faith and for that he walked on water until he doubted. so what ever it is... family members, loved ones, a house for sale, or anything dont doubt satan is winning. that is one thing i was studying this week and thought about it. it changed my out look on my life. yesterday we drank bad water again. so this morning in studies i started to feel it... i ended up throwing up and elder slade and i, after our studies, we slept till 3. waking up to use the bathroom often we are both so dead we are going to do our groceries and then we are going out to work. not doubting in anything. we are going to have the strength to find miracles. and we are bringing toilet paper for emergencies. the tacos were good but they made me sick. hahah i love you all so much and i am so greatful for everything. especially pictures, letters and prayers. have a good week Elder Clark

Pictures

Letter #9

hey everyone

so yes its going to get cold here especially if i go to toluca. right now its still pretty warm and my face is burning. sunscreen here is 200 pesos

i dont know if im losing weight... idk probably. but i love eating and cant stop but i have no time.

sorry about not answering your questions... i dont have a lot of time but i promise i will be better at answering them.

but i need a new journal. a hard back that is durable. elder juergens had some good ones that were blue that just said journal on the front and if you can find one or two like that it would be perfect.

the language... im feeling it explode. i gave a talk on sunday for 10 minutes and i couldnt think of anything to talk about so i just got up there and spoke. it was the easiest 10 minutes of my life. i talked a tiny bit about persevering to the end. but mostly of the words of living profets and the liahona and how it can bless their homes. we had awesome investigators with baptismal dates but they all fell and no one would come out of their houses. and we waited there for and hour and got to church a little late.

so i love marbles!!! its so fun. i would play with the kids while my comp was doing baptismal interviews. also the trompo... its the coolest thing in the world. its a top and you can do tricks with it. i can throw it in the air and catch it and it spins in my hand. or i just throw it on the ground and scoop it into my hand.

we got our areas changed around a little bit so we got more area... because we were working harder and one lady said we could go by and get tacos any day of the week. she just told us yesterday so we havent gone yet but also she is feeding us on monday.

this is the greatest mission in the world. we get the most baptisms per month. this month we are going for 500. crazy!!! i love the president he is rediculously strict on obedience and its amazing the blessings. im working my but off everyday. we got over 200 contacts last week. we just need more people to come to church and to get baptised.

so elder slade is my new comp. from arizona. sounds exactly like cameron clark and reminds me of glenn. he is super different from elder juergens but its not bad. he is still obedient and works hard but its just not the same. he interrupts me a lot when im doing contacts and when we are teaching lessons but i yelled at him and he is getting better. he was so used to talking all the time because his last comp was dead and left just this last change. so he was so used to it. but i love teaching and teaching with enthusiasm. but no one wants to change there religion its super sad. we are like " do you want to follow jesus christ and be baptised like him?" and they say yes but my church doesnt allow me to... THEY DONT GET IT!!! so elder slade is from a farm and he talks about his truck and cattle. and cow wrestlin

this whole week he didnt have any food so he ate mine and peanut butter is so expensive!!!

mom you would be so proud of me! im getting more organized and im picking up after myself.

i am changing a whole bunch. i want to come home but never leave my mission. it is a great experience that NO YOUNG MAN SHOULD MISS.

im glad to be here. i have learned more then i could have ever hoped for. and i still have 20 1/2 months. next week is mexican independence day so we get the whole day off and we get to watch 2 movies(so ive heard) but we will see.

tell glenn i love him!!! thats so awesome! im so proud of him and im excited to see what he will become. but tell him he is speaking drunk spanish :p

tell everyone hi for me and i love them. i dont get mail very often bc even when it gets to the mission home every week it still takes 3 or more to get out here.

i love you everyone. the gospel of jesus christ has been restored..

Letter #8

hola familia!

i am super disappointed in all the letters im not getting from my family but its ok

tell hayden to send me an email with some quotes on it.

also i cant have an mp3 only a cd player. and only hymns and motab. anything under those two things. it is super strict here and i dont want to be disobedient. so send me a whole bunch of songs on cd!! its ok if its a mp3cd player like that walkman but noooo mp3 players.

ok ill try writing a letter for enrique!!! i love that kid tell him he needs to start planning to go on a mission. its hard for recent members to stay on missions. almost everyone i have seen or heard going home were recent converts and kids with out strong parents. so tell him to prepare now.

i want to hear about glenn as well!

we had changes this morning. my comp elder juergens went somewhere else to be a zone leader! he only has 13 months. but im staying here in maravatio. i love it here. im getting a district leader for this change. it is his second change as district leader so he is young as well. he has maybe 9 months... idk

last month we had a solid goal of 31 baptisms but we had... 1. we worked so hard last change and probably some of the hardest in the mission. i know we were the most obedient in the mission. we followed everything with exactness. i learned so much about obedience and diligence. and hard work. we worked our butts off but i felt good saying we had one baptism. we had so many possibles and so many people asist church but no one got baptised. but i worked for that one.

so this month our goal is...31. and we hard going to continue to work as hard as possible. bc i know if i do my part the lord will do his.

so this was my last week with elder juergens and im going to miss him a lot. but im going to take what i learned from him. and im going to carry it for the rest of my mission.

so funny lessons we taught this week... we taught one guy in his combi while he was on break. we hopped inside and taught him. we taught this one lady that was dying from diabetes and was blind because of it. her house was super smelly. also we saw two people out side there house to we presented ourselves and they let us come in. little did we know it was a huge family eating. and they sat us down and shoved food infront of us. we arent supposed to have more than one dinner appoinment and it was awkward but it was fun we didnt stay long. we ate super fast taught a lesson and left. it happened to be a family we had met earlier and we had given their son a bessing because he was injured in a car accident.

i saw a awesome demonstration of faith this week. we are teaching these two solid families together. we were teaching the commandments and one lady said "im quiting my job so i can come to church with you guys!" i thought that was amazing! also we said she was going to quit drinking coffee and stop doing other stuff. i thought that was amazing. if only everyone was that humble and had that great faith.

i love fried peanut butter and jellies!!!! they are delicious.

so my pictures this week. one is of our zone this week right before changes. also some pictures of elder jurgens and i.

Elder Clark

Letter # 7

hey!

i love you guys so much!!!

so first of all we had a fun week.

so OBEDIENCE there are no exceptions! it feels so good to be a hundred percent obedient always. im always in my room praying by 1030 i never get up past 630 never late to studies and always walk out the door at 1000 we are never in a comida past 45 minutes.

we had one baptism this month... the lowest elder juergens has ever had. but we have been so obedient and working so hard always. i dont worry about that number it will grow, but i learned more this month about obedience and hard work and sacrifice that i can carry through my mission and life. the lord blesses the obedient.

we have a cool story to tell this week. we were in the mexican bodega (walmart) and we were in line and i forgot something and so i told juergens i would just run and get it really quick and we thought for a second and he decided to come with me. the lines were so long but we were obedient he came with me and we we got back to the line it was even longer but we kept our spirits high and not even two minutes later a new line opened and we were second and third in line. just a super simple thing like that the lord loves and blessed us. the smallest things are so important and its not worth chancing. i would have been gone 10 seconds and just down the next isle but the lord showed his approval of obedience

so on tuesday night we left to got to zitacuaro and we stayed with the zone leaders so we could catch a bus to toluca in the morning so we could get to the zone conference on time. well tuesday night we slept on a freezing cold tile floor and didnt sleep but i was a on the ground before 1030. but we "woke up" at 4 but we never really slept then i tried to take a shower in FREEZING COLD WATER. it was terrible but the conference was amazing.

friday i got so sick again. we think it was the water we ate with the same hermana both the pst two thursdays. the water sucks... bc i get sick. i threw up again and my stomach still hasnt been the same. my comp and i are on powerful meds for the bacteria. and i still have diaria ;)

i can feel the gift of tounges every time i speak. especially in lessons. there is no way that i could be teaching without it. thats why we are allways obedient so we can have the spirit with us!

changes are next week so i dont know if im going or staying.

can i get a voting ballot. and calle ball and cd player and a whole bunch of hymns and motab on cd. i would love that!! and speakers hahah all packages with tons of virgin stuff!!!

i have avenger plates i love them.

how its glennnnnnn? i want to know everything adn stefan and dave and michael christensen

hows all the fam? i havent heard from anyone since the mtc. thanks for filling me in tho mom and dad!

cows in the street all the time and people riding horses. and the stories of dogs chasing missionaries is true!!! but they train their dogs to fight

we just had chinese food before here again!!! so good.

i have been studying in matthew and i love it. i love the savior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love you all keep me posted send me pictures please!

Letter # 6

HOLA,

so the highlight of this week was i got super sick. i woke up at 1:30 and had diaria 7 times before six thirty. each time i just sat on the toilet for twenty minutes or more. and i cant remember how many times i shoved a toothbrush down my throat. but everytime my body would cringe but nothing would come out. i couldnt sleep that morning. but i woke up on time. my comp gave me a blessing and i finally threw up at 7 then i got ready and made it to both of my studies on time. then we left the house to work. but after two hours i returned to the house and super dead and dissy. i fell asleep till four thirty and then talked with my comp then i crashed again at woke up alittle before eight and went back to work. and i stayed out till nine. i was so dead and we planned and i fell asleep at nine thirty. woke up the next day fine.

i still have a little diaria and my stomach aches but the work goes on.

i forgot to tell you. on obedience, we have to have our shoes polished and shirts planched but the iron broke and we got one today. also we only have 45 minutes for food nothing more.

these past two weeks we havent had any baptisms. its so sad but we have two weeks left in this change.

my comp has been out for almost exactly a year. i feel like we will get split up in two weeks. its rare to have a trainer two changes. and when i was in the mtc there were so many guys going to mexico city west. so this change they are all coming.

this week in my studies i have been reading the new testiment in matthew. the savior is awesome. i love reading about him. i going to try to read the entire new testiment and i invite all to do the same.

so dad and everyone else. yesterday i started testifying of the savior and atonement during my street contacts. i love it. together with my comp we have had over or just under 200 contacts each of the past two weeks. we teach so many lessons every week over 40. i can teach every part of faith repentance baptism holy ghost and enduring to the end. bc we teach that lesson so much. jesus taught one way of baptism, dont you think it is important to follow his example? i can also teach the four fundamentals of the church. prophet 12 apostles revelation and the power. also the fall of the church, apostasy, and restoration. this week we are working on inpired questions to help invovle the people.

i can speak in lessons and contacts and others but im not the best in conversational spanish. but thats not the important part yet.

last monday we played a little bit of soccer. but this monday we went to ciudad hildalgo and played soccer as a zone! it was so fun it was a little turf field and it had a fence so we didnt have to chase the ball. it was so funnnnnnn. i loved it.

SEND ALL LETTERS TO THE MTC WITH MY DEPARTURE DATE!!!! AND THE CHURCH SENDS AN ENVELOPE TO THE MISSION HOME. its so much better that way. ill get it faster and safer. plus ill get dear elders in the same envelope.

i made french toast so many times this week and made my own syrup. elder juergens loves the syrup, its funny he said it some of the best he has ever had. and we have an amazing chinese restaurant that we eat at every monday. its like 3 dollars for a huge plate.

i hope you like the picts. no closet, we have strings hanging from the wall. my desk is the messy one... i didnt have time to clean it and everything has been crazy from the sickness. and we have a little hot coil that has one setting... super hot. but its one of the nicest apartments/houses in the mission.


i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Clark

Pictures

Letter # 5

I love you all!

First week was a blast! I didnt get to Maravatio(my first area) until Tuesday after noon. Little Maravatio is split into to areas. We have some town then we visit the surrounding villages all the time. We have bikes!!!!!!!! So fun.

My first comp... Elder Juergens from Houston TX. Him and his twin brother played football at BYU... he was wide receiver and his brother is a running back. He is super obedient and a hard worker and loves to have fun. The other day we were contacting like crazy(because its the only thing you can do here) and we played this game: We would switch off every time... when we would approach someone we would start the conversation and before we started teaching the person who wasnt doing the contact would say a word in spanish and you would have to use it during the contact. one time he said platanas(bananas) and I used it... we used other words like mountain, rock, mud, tree, car. it made it a lot more enjoyable. He is good at singing and is reading about the miracles in the bible. I think i'm going to do that soon or later.

So the bike gave me mad blisters on the inside of my thumbs. but they broke and scabbed and now they just crack now and then.

We baptized 2 on Sunday and I did one of them. We have a mission rule that every companionship has to baptize at least once a week. My comp has sixty or something. we are the highest baptising mission in the world. We get over three hundred a month.

This place is so poor! Our house has two beds, two plastic tables and two chairs(thats our desk). we also have a refridgerator, shower, toilet, sink in the bathroom and "kitchen". there is some string in a seperate room where we hang our close and live out of our bags.

Maravatio... its in Machuican. It's so far west in our mission. There are things called combi's idk look them up online. They are like volts wagon vans but they are taxis. Lots of dirt roads and yeah super poor houses. Some are one room. Lots of cement.

My president is super strict on obedience thats why I can only be on for one hour and only email one person. he is all about baptizing and giving the people the holy ghost then teaching them... kind of wierd but what ev. It's Mexico... it's not like any mission in the United States at all!!!

I got a blue book of mormon and wrote a question in the front... how can i be a better missionary? Then I have underline everything in green and wrote comentary. I'm only in chapter 12 but it is so more interesting


This is actually the second week letter because I guess you didnt get the one above.

But Yesterday I saw two drunks (I contacted the one before) one punched the other guy and he was knocked out on the ground and started kicking him in the side of the head so hard like 3 times. But we ended helping the guy out of the middle of the street. They were soooooo drunk and so stupid. Qe were fine and not in any trouble we weren't in any danger.

But we had our second baptism with Nancy. she was a miracle. We found her late last Saturday night and we invited her to church and she came and told us she wanted to get baptized the following week. So I baptized her yesterday and it was a cool experience. there was a hole in the pila so the water was way low. she sat down and I got on my knees and then she layed down to get all the way under.

We hopefully have 4 baptisms next week we should have three this week but two teenagers didnt show. The food is pretty good here we eat at a members house every day but monday.

We went to the pyramids today. It was so fun. we went as a zone and it took up all our day. I love it here and i'm learning a little more every day. Conaculta Inah I think thats the place. it was pretty cool and had a great view.

If you are doing a mission prep class add the book of mormon to your list. and even some scriptures from the bible. the bible is the only thing we use here and so many peoples beliefs contradict the bible so its funny.

in the next email i want the whole story of the virgin guadelupe. the entire thing. then i want the whole story of how it was made up, all the evidence every thing, how it was made up, why it was made up how it was started. everyone here idols her and prays to her. we told this one guy that no one in america idolises her and no one knows who she is in any other country. i heard someone made up the story to control the indians when the first spanards came in. the catholic religion is different in everypart of the world. there is no ORGANIZATION.

well thats all i got for this week i hope these pics go through

love you all,

Elder Clark

Letter # 4

Hola here from Mexico!

I'm am doing swell. The Spanish is coming pretty good but I have a hilarious story...

In one day three separate times with three different people I was told I can't understand what your saying. It was either I cant understand you americans or It's hard to understand you or what did you say? It was so funny and kind of disheartening but all good.

Elder Juergens and I are so obedient, get up before six thirty, study at eight, study at nine, leave at ten and return before nine thirty, and get to bed before ten thirty and we shine our shoes. It's so fun. We had two baptisms drop this week but hopefully we will have four more this Sunday, and even more after that.

We are always so busy either tracting or teaching lessions or doing what ever. We have had a lot of cool people but a lot of people drop because of the virgin. we finally had to drop the girl that was going to get baptized. They believe inthe virgin more than anything, more than God. They pray to her, worship her and all. We told them, listen... Mexico is the only place in the world were they worship the virgin, Catholics In united states don't worship her, no one in europe worships her. she is mentioned three times in the bible and Jesus is on almost every page. It's difficult.

We ride our bikes everywhere it so much riding everyday. They have amazing tacos here! Tacos de pastor are the best hands down. We also had home made tortas... they were amazing, one of the best things i have ever tasted. We killed 4 mice this week and we did more cleaning. Especially the kitchen.

I started to read Jesus the Christ! It's super hard to understand, and really deep. but it has a lot of interesting things to say.

If anyone ever wants to write me send it to the MTC and write the departure date not mail box number. the church sends a package to the mission home. Dear Elders still work that way to. You can still write them but it just takes a little longer to get here. Everyone can write me but I can only send one email home every week. Packages you have to send it to my mission home and it and wrap it in the virgin!

I love you all so much!!!!!

Elder Clark

Letter # 3

Hey, my beloved family :)

This week was pretty good. I never know what to say once I get on these emails. I just love reading the dear elders. That's my favorite.

When am I going to get the family pictures? I can't wait to have something to remind me of home. It gets fairly lonely here, anyone who served a mission could tell you that. When are you going to start sending me talks? We dont get any mail Saturday night or Sunday. And usually I dont get dear elders 'till monday night.

Ashley. The mtc is pretty fun. We get gym 5 times a week! I usually play volley ball but if i'm not doing that then I go play soccer outside. On Sundays we have or temple walk where we get to go to the temple and just relax outside and take pictures. Every Sunday night we have a devotional and it's so spiritually uplifting, but the best day is Tuesday! On tuesday we get to talk to members in spanish and invite them to recommit and come unto Christ. After that we have a little more study time and maybe some lesson our teacher teaches us, but after lunch there is no more class for the rest of the day. After lunch we have a little study time, then GYM. After gym we go to choir and dinner then the tuesday night devotional. The Tuesday night devotionals are the absolute best! Last week we had Marvin K Jensen come, and this week we had Per G Malm of the seventy. Wednesdays are my p day. It's where i get to email everyone and do laundry. We also get to go to the temple and do what ever we want. The rest of the week we have tons of classes and we teach about 5 lessons in spanish a week.

Matthew. They have root beer here every single day and for every single meal!!! And for breakfast they have donuts! My favorite is for lunch and dinner the MTC has the best pineapple. I try to get it with every meal. I get about 45 minutes of gym everyday besides Sunday and Wednesday. It's awesome. Keep sending me letters I love them!!!

How is everything mom? I miss you a ton. You wouldn't believe it but my room is always clean, my bed is made and my clothes are hung up. i write in my journal every night! Its funny to look back and read past entries especially of the trip here with Hayden and Lara.

I love your letters sooo much :)

Elder Clark

Letter # 2

Yesterday was the best day ever!!! We did this thing call TRC where we go teach members in spanish and try to strengthen their testimonies. I know the gift of tongues is real! There is no way I could have said the things I said with out it. It cant give you new info you havent learned yet but it can bring up words and frases from your memory. Keep sending dear elders every day! I love them. My box number is 203. Yesterday Marvin K Jensen gave one of his lasts addresses as a seventy and he gave it to the missionaries it was so awesome!!!

My room is always clean and I hang my clothes up everyday. Oh yeah, I dont have anyones address. Anyone's!!! So i cant send any emails. If people started dear eldering me and sending there address that would be awesome. The spirit is so strong here and I absolutely love it here. Especially when you have confidence building days like yesterday.

For Ashley, sorry I can't send any pictures. The MTC is so fun. Attitudes are everything! If you have a good attitude everything runs so much smoother and if you have a bad attitude then you cannot have the spirit and you cannot be productive. I love playing volley ball here and soccer is fun as well. I miss you all and can't wait to hear from you.

Elder Clark

Letter #1

So it was my first whole week in the mtc!!! It feels like forever and like I just got here. It's weird to think that new elders are coming in today just as I did one week ago. The mtc is pretty fun but there is a majority of the day where we sit and study language and stuff so it becomes hard to focus the entire day. I love gym we get it 5 days a week and it's so much fun. So far I have played soccer, volleyball, basketball and four square. The food is pretty good. They have three different meals for each meal so you have a variety. Usually at least one thing is pretty good. i love the fact that you get rootbeer with every meal!!! my district there are 10 of us. 3 are going to lima peru central, 1 is going to north. Then there are 5 of us going to Mexico City West and 1 going east.

Elder Clark