Week #4

This week was pretty crazy! We just have miracles everyday. We are able to teach about 2 other lessons a day just from tracting and so that's really good. Lisa is doing really good - she is reading and praying, and Ron is amazing! I seriously love that guy. 

Ok so we're tracting all week and on Wednesday we see Ron drive by on his motorcycle like he's looking for us or something. So we see him sitting in the park and we go over and talk to him, and I kid you not this guy is so happy to see us. He says "Elderly Clark Elderly Ronald!" haha that's what he calls us. So before I go into detail let me tell you a little about Ron. The first time we met him he just looked like the saddest guy on the earth. And then when he called us up that Saturday he still looked just sad... and we gave him The Book of Mormon and some chapters to read. Ron struggles with a gambleing and smoking addiction, And it's bad... so when we went to go talk to him in the park he just looked so happy. He said "You guys I haven't gambled in 5 days!! I have 30 dollars in my pocket can you believe that?!" we were so proud of him! He said "I don't know what it is, I just haven't had the urge to gamble". Well we find out that he's been reading The Book of Mormon and the verses we gave him. We told him that we pray for him everyday to have strength to not gamble. He said when he's reading he just feels all of this pressure lifted off, and he just feels good and i hasn't had any desire to gamble...Ron then says that we have given him a gift and that he wants to give us a gift and so he took us out for subs. I have never seen the power of The Book of Mormon like that. I truly know that The Book of Mormon has such a great power to it, and that it can help anyone with their trials. I just remember that first day and that second day we talked to him and how horrible and depressed he looked. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. It was an amazing experience!

This week we got 7 new investigators! We are working so hard. I have decided that anything I do I need to give it 100% - doesn't matter what it is. We had the zone leaders out for exchanges and that was good I got to learn new things as well as some other things. When we were done for the day with exchanges the zone leaders stayed the night, and one of them was talking to me because he goes home in 2 weeks, and he shared with me this list of all the movies he's gonna see when he gets home. When we were on exchanges he told me he was inactive for 5 years. So when he shared with me this movie list I realized that a lot of them were rated R. It made me really think about my mission and after my mission. I wanted to tell him to grow up, and that he shouldn't be making a list of movies he wants to see, especially if they're rated R. It was just sad to hear. I know that when I'm done I want to continue to serve the Lord. There is just no way that i can waste time doubting or being discourged. I have to give 100%.

I know this gospel is real and true. I love this work and I know I can't say much because I'm only 5 weeks in, but I don't care. I love this work! It is hard but rewarding. I have seen so many miracles.

All is well,
-Elder Clark

Week #3

This week has been soooo crazy! We were in Winnipeg from Tuesday till Wednesday for specialized training and then we were in Brandon all of Thursday for exchanges. so we were out of our area for a long time. When we got back we went out tracting on Friday and we decided to stop by all of our investigators houses. We first went to Lisa's and we haven't heard from her since we met her which was the first Sunday we were here, and we were trying to get a hold of her for awhile too, anyway we go knock on her door and no answer....we knock again, and Lisa opens the door! Oh I was so pumped! We asked her if she read the chapter in the Book of Mormon that we gave her and she said yes, she could really relate to it and has found herself hungering for more. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! We set up a time to meet with her that very day at 8:30.

 

So we continued tracting that day and it was just a good day. A lot of good things happened. So 8:30 rolled around and we met Lisa at the church and gave her a tour and then sat down and just had a lesson. This lesson was on the sabbath day and the atonement and faith in Jesus Christ. I taught her about the sacrament and the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was going really well. Then I testified of Jesus Christ and then asked Lisa if she will follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of god? she then said we'll I'm getting ready for my baby and I wanted to do a double baptism, I then knew what to say. I went to Moroni chapter 8 and told her that baptism was a special thing and that it needed to be at a time where we are accountable for our sins, and I said some other things too. She then said it made sense because she had always been wondering if people should be baptized when they are accountable, and then I did something I thought I wouldn't do, I invited her to be baptized again and she said yes. She's getting baptized on September 8th! and I guess we might be doing it at the lake! Elder Ronald said that was really good that I asked her again because he said most missionaries just ask once and when they say no then they are  like oh OK and just set up another time to meet. I'm so excited! I've never been happier in my life like I think I grew an inch or 2 because of that...haha. Lisa also came to church on Sunday as well and stayed for all 3 hours.

 

So on Saturday Elder Ronald wanted to get 4 lessons because we've been out of Dauphin like all week so he wanted to make up for it. One of our investigators randomly called us and said we need to meet I need to talk to someone. So we met with him and boom lesson 1. We got to his concerns too, he said that his family isn't ok with him being interested in the church, so I'm glad that we know that now, but it gets better haha. We're out tracting and we see all of these bikers roll into town, like they almost looked like they were a biker gang, so we're tracting and guess who we see with the bikers....Ron! haha. So now we know who his family is. It's his biker friends, They look like a tough crowd too. it was just funny. Then, we ended up having another lesson so boom lesson 2. We're tracting for hours, and nothing is happening. Elder Ronald then says I've lost my faith in tracting for the day and he turns to me and says promise me we'll get 2 more lessons. I thought about it for a couple of seconds and said I promise you. We went and had dinner at a members house found out shes less active and her husband isn't a member boom lesson 3. Then were out tracting at like 8:30 and within 5 minutes we knock on a door and this little old lady says come in come in. We go in and teach her by her door and boom lesson 4. We walk out and I said see I told you we would haha. It's just silly to doubt, I don't get the point. We've had so many miracles that I can't doubt and sure there may be days where nothing happens but we have so many days out of 2 years.

 

Our Branch is full of cowboys....like they have a pair of blue jeans for church and they get them pressed haha they wear their cowboy boots and belt buckles and their hats and a lot of them are youth like 16 and then there are a couple dads and older men. but it's just so funny. I'll have to get a picture with them! They all do rodeo too and they all ride the bulls.

 

I love it here it's so great! I can't believe that I've already got a baptismal date! Also I found out why there are so many less actives. I was studying preach my gospel and reading in D&C and I came to some verse that talked about teaching with the spirit and teaching in some other way. As we have talked to all the less actives we've gotten to know their concerns. This scripture hit me so hard because I found out that all of them have been taught in some other way that is not of god. They have all been convinced that it is true. They have not been taught by the spirit. Experience is non-transferable. If they do not have an experience with the spirit then they are taught in some other way.

 

I miss all of you so much and pray for you all the time. I know that this is the lords work with out a doubt in my mind.

 

All is well

-Elder Clark

Week #2

It has been such a crazy week....We had a district meeting in Brandon and then we went on exchanges. We tracted so much this week and not too much happened but we did have some miracles. All of the answers we get out here in Dauphin are "no thanks" or "i'm not instrested i've got my own religion". A lot of the people here are hard in there hearts :( and it is hard sometimes when you get the door shut in your face a lot but I do the work because it's true.

 

Dauphin is a very beautiful place. I think this is one of the only places with tons of trees and so it's nice. I heard that they don't let us go out at -40 because it's very dangerous but if its -39 then your out and about. The way people talk here is so great i love it! I will have so many impressions for you when i get home! Candians definetly do not at all sound or talk the same! ahh it's so great! I bought a MTN DEW today! You wouldn't believe how great it tasted, but finding and teaching people is still way better.

 

There are a lot of Native americans up here, we have run into so many! They are so great and are very close to the spirit. I have had so many great experiences this week! We had another lesson with one of our investiagators and we didnt even get to teach a lesson because it turned into 20 questions and they were very hard roman Catholics, but we answered all of there questions and they wanted us to come back. We tracted into this girl named Jennifer. We taught her the first lesson and she wanted us to come back. She's going through a lot in her life and I feel like we were able to help her, we also gave her a book of mormon and she was reading it after we gave it to her. We also taught Jebi and Allenso, their phillipenos. There are a lot of phillipenos here too because they all work at the hospital I guess. And I heard some of the missionaries in Brandon are learning spanish.....because there are tons of spanish people there and they don't really speak english... so that would be fun if I got to learn spanish!

 

So we were tracting one night and nothing was happening and we had 5 minutes left until we had to end the day and within that 5 minuets we had success! We taught this Native American named Jim, and guess where we taught him...?? We taught him the Plan Of Salvation in his teepee! It was so great! It was so nice and quite and he wanted us to come back, we also found out that his wife was a memeber a long time ago.

 

On Saturday we tracted into this guy named Ron. And that went so well. He's going through so much in his life and we invited him to church, and he showed up. I was so excited to see him at church! Plus Elder Ronald and I were giving talks during sacrament meeting. So we'll see what happens with Ron. Then later that sunday we went out and went tracting and we taught this guy Rick, (also native american) and it went really really good. We then decided to go try and track down Bob, who we had been trying to get ahold of for days. We knocked on the door, and no answer, then we went to 7th Ave and before my companion and I got out of the car he said, let's go back. and so i said ok? sure yeah lets go! So we get there, and right when we get out of the car guess who's walkin across the street to his place??... it was Bob and he was like hey guys! and we were so glad to see him. We set up a time to meet with him, too. I love how the spirit works. You just have to listen. I know that God was looking out for us and let us know that we need to go back.

 

It is hard out here sometimes especially when people close the door on your face or ask "Are you a JW?" and you say no and then they ask "Well are you a mormon?", yes... and then they shut the door haha. But no worries I know that there are people out there who are prepared and that's what matters. Well I hope everything is going good at home! 

 

All Is Well

-Elder Clark

Week #1

I've made it safe and sound to Canada Winnipeg! This place is flat, no mountains. So my first area that im serving in is a place called Dauphin. Dauphin has been closed for like a long time and my

companion and I are reopening it, and we are the only missionaries in Dauphin. It's a small town but they consider it a city now. There are a lot of roman catholics and catholics, and ukranians. My companion is Elder Ronald and he's from Alberta, and he's the district leader! He's such a

good guy I couldn't have asked for a better companion. Dauphin is about 4 and a half hours from Winnipeg and everyone in the mission has cars. So far the missionaries that have to go to moosejaw or regina have like a 7 hour drive...haha and twin falls minnesota is part of the mission so i will

most likely be going there at some point, but not sure when. I'll be in Dauphin for 12 weeks and then who knows where I'll be after that. We arrived in Dauphin on friday. We have no tracking record books and no area books. We are pretty much starting from scratch because we are

re-opening Dauphin. We have to wait until tomorrow to get all these things when we go to the district meeting. Our mission is a 100% Preach My Gospel mission so I don't really get time to read The Book of Mormon I just study the scriptures that are in Preach My Gospel. So we got a map of the city and said a prayer and picked where we felt we should go. We picked 4th Ave and asked for miracles. We ran into so many inactive members on this street it was amazing and most of them have a brother sister or wife who is interested in the church! We were so excited. Then we ran into this lady, Florida Runners haha. There are quite a few natives up here. and she says that she's an ex member and that "she dont believe in no prophet joseph

smith who had 5 wives" haha oh i wanted to talk lummi so bad. But it was sad to see how she has gone astray from the church. At the end of the day we went to Forest Ave and before we got out of the car we said another prayer and asked for miricales, and right when we got out of the car this lady

said she's been waiting for us elders. Her name was Julie Stanley and she's a member but hasnt been to church in 4 years. She has 5 kids who aren't baptized and her daughter especially is very interested in the church. it was so amazing! She wants us to come over and to share messages. 

On saturday we continued tracking and not a lot happened but we taught 4 lessons just with people who were outside or in their house. It was pretty neat! Then we were tracking and tracking and nothing really happened. We came to this house and knocked on the door and a lady opened it up and we

said we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ and she said oh no thanks I have my own church. But then she said, You boys hungry? Have you had any supper eh? We said no and she asked if we

wanted any and we said sure! haha so we had dinner with them and there were 7 family members in the house. They fed us ribs and steak and vegetables from the garden, and we talked with them and laughed with them. Their mom was turning 85 so they had us for cake too. We offered to help clean up but they said no. My companion then said, "well we've got to get going, but its

tradition that we share a message after a meal." So they gathered all 7 people into the kitchen and we taught them the restoration! It was so great. You could see they smilies it brought to their faces and they were all quiet, no interruptions at all.

Sunday we went to church. You should see this church! It's a little tiny branch and only 20 people come. It's about the size of the dollar store but maybe a little smaller. It's great! Oh and the people in the city of Dauphin are so friendly. The people at church are my favorite. I love their last names, very canadian. And they talk super canadian too. I've already got into the habbit of saying eh and my

O's somtimes sound funny especially when i say home or Atonement. So, after church we had a meeting with the branch president and we told him about all that was happening and he was sooo impressed he couldn't believe it. So we definetly have a good trust between the members and the branch president and ward leaders. Also before we got to Dauphin we stayed at the

branch presidents house so we already got to meet him. President and Sister Beaumont are great and we met Brother and Sister Drinkwater while we were there too. Ok so after church we had a bunch of

appointments to go to at 5:00 pm so we called it the "5 O'clock Run." All of our appointments fell through and no one was home. So we decided to go see the guy with the guitar that we met on the street yesterday. So we go there and there's this lady sitting outside smoking and we say hello and she says "Leisa's inside, Lesia's inside." My companion and I both looked at eachother with confusion on our faces and then she said it again "Lesia's inside, Lesia's inside." So we go in there and we say

uhhh Lesia and then the phone rang. You should have seen this house. The mirrors were hanging to the side, and walls were dented and the wood was chipped on the walls and floor. We talked to her and then we taught her the restoration. We asked her if she thought what we were teaching her was true and she said yes.... we told her about The Book of Mormon and hows it's comparable to the Bible but brings us closer to our savior and she said do you have a copy? and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she wants to learn more! Our next visit with her is this Saturday. I know that the lord does preapare the people and that because we fasted and prayed for miracles He gave us Miracles. I never expected to see this in my life... this is amazing. I know that god lives. I have had people yell at me and shut the door in face. I have already had people say you can get the heck off my porch before i sick my dog on you. I have experienced so much in these three days without an area book or tracking book. I love the gospel.
Oh and I got myself a big black parka with furr on the hood like an eskimo, and i got it for free so I'll be in good shape. I guess most of the missionaries don't wear boots in the winter because the snow is so dry. They just wear really warm socks and their church shoes and go out and trackt. I only get mail every 6 weeks :( 

I love and miss you and all of you so much but I know I need to be here. I'll talk to you next monday.

All is well

-Elder Clark

A Quick Note

We recieved this email this morning about Robert. He left for Canada on Wednesday!

 

Good morning. Just a note to let you know that your son has arrived in his new area. I am the Branch President of the Dauphin Branch. We live 1 1/2 hours from Dauphin and we had the missionaries stay overnight from Winnipeg on their way to Dauphin. We have not had missionaries for a year so we had them come for an orientation. Last night we had them present a discussion to our family and it was very well done. Your son did a very good job and one would never know that he had not been out for quite awhile. I was very impressed.
 He and Elder Ronald are up, have been out for a run and now are in the process of showering and having their breakfast. And it is just 7:30 so they are looking like they will follow the mission rules. Elder Ronald will be a good trainer for your son.
They will continue on to Dauphin this morning and get to work.
 We are so happy that they are here and thank you for raising a son that was willing and ready to go on a mission.

Marvin Beaumont

Catching Up - MTC

I'm starting this blog for Robert's mission. I will be posting weekly emails and any pictures he sends us so everyone can follow easily. I will also post addresses for anyone who wants to write him a letter. So here we go:
MTC Week #1

Hi!!!!

I'm loving the MTC so much! thanks for the M&M's and the gum! You have no idea how much that saved my life haha. wow the first day here at the MTC felt like a month it was so crazy! and i had like no idea what was going on.... My companion Elder Ford is a good guy he's got a good heart, he's a very different person personality wise so at times im kind of like his mother and i help him out a lot. I'm senior companion too and have already begun to teach people but only in role plays. But the role plays were real so it was a good experience. This coming monday Elder Ford and I will be teaching our first investigator Sarah Pospicil so im really excited to teach her and try and bring her closer to Jesus Christ. I have learned so much here and im already so happy all the time. oh, and they have a sweet work out place! so i've been in really good shape these last couple of days. i have so much going on though it's crazy i feel like i have no time! but i'll figure it out hah. they have those sangria drinks in the book store the one that marcos gave to me! so i've been drinking those ha. I really like the MTC. My teachers Brother Gardner and Brother Bacon are awesome they teach so well, which i like. my district is really awesome too! there are 8 Elders in my district and three of us are going to winnipeg, 2 of them plus my companion are going to San Jose california and the other 2 are going to Louisina. oh did i tell you my companion has a twin? haha and they're both in our district! they wear the same ties have the exact same backpack and water bottles! and they're both Elder Ford! sometiems it's really hard to tell them apart. oh and one of my zone leaders Elder Strudler is from Dallas and Adam served in his ward for the last of his mission so small world huh?! I learned something so important and beautiful about my purpose as a missionary that has just stuck with me... My purpose isn't to have my investigator become a member, or add another member to the church....My purpose is to have my investigator become closer to Jesus Christ. I'm so excited to go out and serve others and help them come closer to their savior. I'm trying to write letters to Holley and Brett and Taylor and you and Dad i'm just really busy right now but i will get time to right you all so don't worry :) I know this gospel is true and can help so many people come closer to their savior. I know the book of mormon is true and that my savior lives

 

Take care! I love you all so much :)

-Elder Clark

 

We've recieved several letters since then and they're all so wonderful!

 

MTC Week #2

My P Days are only on friday, but i'm not sure because everything is moving so fast. i've learned so much here it's absolutley crazy.... I love it here. it's hard sometimes with Elder Ford, but all i can do is strengthen him. sometimes it gets hard... I feel like I dont get any time to study because i'm always helping Elder Ford, but during zone teaching we were doing roll plays and I was a member that was meeting with an investigator with the missionaries and they had me bare my testimony and I bore it on the Atonement and the way I said it just connected with the investigator and the other elders told me it was their revelation for the day, so even though I feel like I don't get much time to study, I am always reminded that I am doing just fine. It was a really nice experience for me and keeps me going.

I got my travel stuff already! it's weird.... I leave August 1st and I am the travel leader so i'm in charge of 10 other missionaries... so we'll see how that goes. I'm sending letters today for Taylor, Brett, Holley, and you and dad. 

The food is alright.... haha i eat so much though because im always hungry!! But I haven't gained weight because i'm always working out, so that's good!

I love the Gospel sooooo much! I'm so excited to go to Canada and bring others closer to Christ. I love you and the family a lot and miss you a lot but I know this is where I need to be right now. Everything is going great.

Love you so much

-Elder Clark

MTC Week #3

 

So much has happened this week.....

I have had some amazing expereinces. This week i was just not sure if I have been doing a good job. I remember on my Pday i was just praying so much like over and over again, and i decided to just move on and keep going. So that night we had class and elder ford and i were teaching Landon. I've told you about Elder Ford and how he is a little slow so i have to work with him a lot. anyway we taught Landon...and it was amazing the spirit was so strong! Brother Gardener (Landon) pulled me out of class and told me, I appreciate how you set an example for your district with your patience for Elder Ford you are doing so great here and i see how christlike you are and i appereciate you so much! i knew from that that my father in heaven did answer my prayer and that he truly does know me. when he told me that it just hit me so hard. Then Elder Ford and i taught Brother Bacon as Doug and again we did so amazingly well. He told us that it was one of the best lessons he had ever been taught in the MTC and that it gave him a lot to think about as himself and not Doug! It was so amazing.

 

So this Wednesday I will be in Canada! Oh and real quick in TRC we were teaching Sarah and we got her to Pray! and she felt the spririt! man i love the gospel!

 

Wow im running out of time because the email only gives us 30 minutes!!! what theHECK

 

Mom i love you and miss you so much I will email you when i get to Canada i hope i dont lose any elders on the way

 

All is well

-Elder Clark