Week #8

The weather here is getting cold. It will start snowing by October... But I'm really excited for that. It will be an adventure. We tracted into this guy named Jason and he was like "sure come over" and I guess he even set up a supper appointment. We fasted on Wednesday, and my testimony of fasting grew. We saw tons of miracles that day. So the week went by and really we just tracted nonstop the whole time, and not too much happened but that's OK. 

On Sunday Crystal showed up to church! When she got there she knew someone from the branch... we were so excited actually because now she'll have some member support. She said she really enjoyed it and wants to keep coming. She is solid. She has been reading and praying every night! Also Gus came to church too. He made us some borscht which is beat juice. It's Ukrainian and we haven't tried it yet but we will. Also Sunday was really good because we have been teaching less actives and trying to get them to church and boom they just all showed up! It was a miracle Sunday that's for sure. So after supper on Sunday we went out tracting and we came to this house and this lady opened up the door and we told her about The Book of Mormon and how it is another testimony of Jesus Christ and she said "well no it isn't" and she just kept interrupting Elder Wilson and arguing with us but we weren't even arguing. She was just saying her point I guess. So I just bore my testimony hoping she wouldn't interrupt and I said "I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that The Book of Mormon is true because I have prayed and asked God and I received an answer from the power of the Holy Ghost", and she just had nothing to say...it was great. I felt the spirit so strong while I was baring my testimony and then after I did that I just said that we appreciated her time and is there any service we can do for her and then we left. It was powerful! Missions are great.

Oh and this week we have just got a lot of potentials so that is really really good.

Elder Wilson is great. It is great when you just click with someone. 

Oh! So Crystal came to church and the lady that she knew was sitting with her for sacrament meeting and Sunday school. Then Crystal was going to go to relief society alone because Sister O'Sullivan teaches primary and so we were worried that Crystal would just be in relief society alone and then I thought to myself... You know how  to do primary. So I said "Hey I'll teach primary if you wanna go be with Crystal" and she said really?!! She was excited. So I taught primary this Sunday and did singing time and we did all sorts of fun games. It was a blast. They had the same manual too so it was perfect.

This week we've got some really good appointments! I'm super pumped!!! I'm learning a lot out here...it is crazy, but I love it. This is some of the hardest work I have ever done. Especially when people swear at you at the door step haha but that doesn't even affect me anymore.

All is well

-Elder Clark

Week #7

On Tuesday we went to Brandon for zone training then I stayed there until Thursday because I was getting a new companion. So Elder Ronald, my companion, went on an exchange with Elder Barfuss and I went on an exchange with Elder Hatch and we were in the MTC together. And an incredible experience happened... Elder Hatch and Elder Barfuss are teaching this less active Hispanic guy. And so Elder Hatch and I went to go see him to get him back to church. He only speaks mostly Spanish but can understand English when you speak it to him. So he told us why he wasn't going to church, but he was telling us in Spanish....I sat there, and said a quick prayer in my heart to be able to understand what he was saying. He spoke again and I listened and paid attention to his body language. After he was done speaking, Elder hatch looked over at me and asked, if I got all that? I said to the guy, "So what your saying is......" and He said yes (si)...he spoke again and I was able to interpret what he was saying. I'm not saying that when he spoke Spanish I was able to be fluent or that Spanish was able to sound like English to me. I payed attention to how he was feeling I guess, and the spirit was able to let me interpret what he was saying. I then taught him like a little kid, saying we need to pray and asked him if he would ask Heavenly Father if he wants him at church. I asked him to kneel and pray and he prayed in Spanish so I couldn't understand it, but it was a beautiful prayer. The spirit was so strong. I could feel it burning. We invited him to church and he said yes. So when I saw Elder Hatch again he said this guy was at church and wants to keep coming back. I know that I wasn't able to do that without the help of my Heavenly Father. It was because of Him and I'm only his servant. It was an amazing experience. My testimony grew that day of the gospel and prayer.

So I got a new companion Elder Wilson! He is literally the greatest. We are like the same person pretty much. And he makes me want to get out and work! We have already become best friends pretty much and we're just having a blast. He is working me hard but that's what i wanted. Elder Ronald was a great companion but I'm looking forward to serving with Elder Wilson.

The weather is starting to get cold at night it gets down to like 3. 

Teaching is my favorite thing I think. I also like just talking to people. So far with this transfer I have opened up more. I think last transfer I was trying too hard to be a different person, but now I'm just being myself and being a missionary. People love talking to Elder Wilson and I because we are both people persons.

No baptisms...yet! Our investigator Crystal is very close. She has been reading The Book of Mormon and she has been praying! She has 3 kids - 2 of which are 9 and 12. We have been teaching them too and they want us to come back. We will be meeting with her on Thursday. We are still teaching Gus and he has been coming to church every week. We are also teaching this guy Ben and he is great. We have some new appointments this week as well. But missionary work isn't about baptisms. A successful missionary is committed. So I'm really trying to be as committed as I can. But I know we will get a baptism soon! :)

All is well

-Elder Clark

Week #6

This week was busy, we tracted a lot, but on Wednesday we got a call from the assitants, my companion has been called to be the zone leader for Winnipeg and my new companion will be the district leader from Winnipeg and his name is Elder Wilson. President Thomas said he would work me hard and I said good because I like to do the work.

On Monday we taught this young man named Ben, and it went really well because the way we have been teaching has been really effective. He said he would call us again to set up a time to meet, which means he won't because apparently when investigators say that it means they don't call. But on Wednesday night he called and said he would love to meet again on Thursday. I was so suprised it was great! Also on Wednesday we taught this lady Crystal and she has three kids, and the lesson went really good. Her son is 9 and I can just see him as being a missionary one day. After our lesson she said to give her 2 weeks and then we could meet again...:( but on saturday we told her to look at Mormon.org. On sunday she texted us and just said that website is so great! She sent us like 9 texts about how much she loves the website and then asked if we could meet sooner, and so we are meeting her tonight at 7...Isn't that so great?! She wanted to meet Sept 19 but the spirit is just working right through and now she wants to meet tonight! Missions are great!

We ran into kevin again ( the gangster) I feel a little sick to my stomach every time we talk to him just cause he's a serious guy about some things. But I learned that he is a child of god and that it doesnt matter. I need to love him as much as I can. Oh we were in Brandon on Thursday and I went tracting with 2 other elders while my companion was in a zone leader meeting. These two other elders are great guys! But they were in some cranky moods..:( before we went out tracting I said a quick prayer in my heart and asked Heavenly Father to provide us with a mircale and to remind these guys that this is His work. Boom first door we knock on guy lets us in and we teach him, he feels the spirit, says the prayer, and tells them to come over first thing tomorrow at 10. I do know that this is the Lord's work and he has reminded me time and time again. I can always rely on him through prayer, and because of that it reminds me that I need to always be humble.

Gus came to church again on Sunday so that was really good. He cracks me up all the time.

Oh also we bible bashed with this guy on Saturday... oh that was a waste of my life. Well, I didn't bash we just kind of argued. But his whole purpose was that he wanted us to leave the mormon faith and that we weren't saved. So I asked him what his definition of saved was. What do we have to do? He named them off and I said ok then by your definition and your reasons mormons are saved. And then he just said no your not because you're mormon and you're a cult. I stopped him right there and told him I would not be out here on a mission if it wasn't for the night that I knelt next to my bed and cried for about an hour just telling my Father in Heaven how sorry I was for the things I have done. Then I testified that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and his endless love for me, I have changed my life because I have felt his atonement. I know the Book of Mormon is true because I have felt the Holy Ghost bare witness to me that it is true. And I told him I didn't want to be rude because I respect him for who he is but I don't care what he says I will never leave this faith. This faith has brought me so much closer to Christ. Then I said we appreciate your time and we've enjoyed our conversation but we need to get going because we have a curfew. It was just powerful for me. All I could do was bare my testimony. But then he kept talking. It was a waste of time.

Also on saturday this lady called us and said she wanted to meet with us, and we have never met her. So we met her and it was just different...I guess missioanry work just got really real for me. She's just stuck in her life and drugs are taking over her life and we just talked to her and testified of the savior and his atonement, and just tears came streaming down her face. She wants to change and she knew that what we were teaching was true. I guess just watching someone cry after baring my testimony on the Savior's atonement was just a different experience for me...I have never seen it have that effect on someone.

We had to drop Ron just because he's not progressing, but he always still finds us on his bike. I love it! It seems like he sometimes sees us when he needs a little uplifting talk. 

Oh and my new favorite dessert is Apple Crisp and vanilla ice cream....oh I love it!

Gosh I don't even know what my mission will be like because I'm just taking it one day at a time, but I know it will sooner or later mean a lot to me. I love doing this work, there is no better way to find people to teach besides going out and tracting and sharing the gospel and baring your testimnoy. I do know this is the Lord's work, and we have just had miracles again and again.

All is Well,

Elder Clark

Week #5

This week was so good! We have just tracted like crazy. We walked all day on Wednesday and it was 40 C out (104 degrees) and we tracted all day....oh wow that was the hottest day of my life. Lisa is no longer getting baptized. But that's OK because I trust the Lord. I think one of her sisters talked her out of it. But I knew that we would be able to find more people and so our goal this week was to find more investigators. It happened too! We have been teaching Gus and he's 60 and does a lot of work with tools so I was able to talk to him about welding and different tools because Hector taught me all about it. And Gus came to church! So that's really good. Then we met this girl Brittney and when she opened the door, she said she's been waiting for us. I was like what? She wants to get baptized, which was so good to hear. 

Elder Ronald and I decided for personal study to try and find scriptures that would help our investigators, especially Brittney. When I was praying I asked that I would be able to be guided to know what to study and when I was done this thought came into my mind to go to the questions of the soul in Preach My Gospel. One of the questions really jumped out at me and gave me a scripture reference in Alma 36. So I'm reading it and I think to myself where is this going this doesn't seem right. Then, when Elder Ronald and I asked each other what we both studied, we ended up studying the exact same thing but only different scriptures....It was a great experience for me. It grew my testimony about The Book of Mormon that day I just remember looking at it and just feeling my heart pound and warmness overcome my body. I know that The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.

On Thursday we met this guy Bryden on the street and asked him if we could come visit and share a message and he said yeah for sure. So we went over there on Sunday and just talked to him and our lesson was just super powerful. This Sunday was fast Sunday and I told Elder Ronald we should fast for one of our investigators or potential investigators to get a baptismal date. On Sunday when we taught Bryden we invited him to be baptized and he said yes. He said that he wants to even talk to his girlfriend and have her get baptized with him. It didn't hit me until after we got to the car that the Lord answered our fast. I was so happy. I am growing in the scriptures and just getting to know them so well but more importantly I'm growing in Preach My Gospel. I love doing this work. I'm seriously giving it my all and relying on the Lord.

Also, we met this hardcore thug. Like, I mean hardcore. We sat down and talked with him about the Gospel and later he said he'd been praying that someone would just talk to him because he needed someone to talk to. We ended up giving him a hug. So I can proudly say I've given a hardcore thug a hug. I mean, you should have seen this guy and just listened to the things he was saying. It was actually kind of scary. We also ran into the Manitoba Warriors last Monday. They're a native gang. They're actually pretty hardcore. These are some wicked guys. But we just talked to them and they were nice. You gotta love missions sometimes!

One more experience we had: we tracted into a Born Again Christian who wanted to Bible bash with us. It was my first time so I was a little quiet at first. He tried to prove that the church was false and a cult and that The Book of Mormon was false. He went around everything and went around The Book of Mormon, but never talked about what was in it. We bore our testimony again and again about the savior and that The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and that on every page you will read that it talks about Christ again and again. It was so neat because he couldn't say anything back to us. He just said, "well my mind is drawing a blank here because I haven't been studying as much", but I know that it was the spirit that was blocking his mind. After that day I decided that I would never be that quiet again, and that I would defend the kingdom of God and testify of Christ. It was a neat experience. It was scary but it was really good.

All is well

-Elder Clark

P.S. The guy Ron who we've been teaching... he is seriously like Batman. He'll come and find us on the street on his motorcycle. And then we'll talk to him and teach him a little bit and then we ask him if we can set up a time to visit (like a specific day) and he says "Oh, I'll be around" and then rides off on his bike exactly like Batman. It just leaves me laughing.