Week #100

Mother,
Well this is the last email you will get from me as a missionary. I am so excited to see all of you again!! I miss you all a lot.

Hope this is a good one.  I sure think it is.

Well I have worked hard until the end. This last week was fantastic. Elder Simister and I have been teaching so much. We still walk a lot and we do not let anyone pass us. We teach a lot of people on the street and also those that we are working with. We taught Uli and Stephen the German couple and we will teach them again. We also found a family this week and they are very ready. The wife had problems with the bible because she felt that there was a lot of stuff missing from it. We were so excited as we shared the restoration with them. We will see them this Thursday.

We taught Chris and got him all ready for baptism. Chris was baptized on Saturday July 5th. I was able to baptize him, it was wonderful. After his baptism we finally got to go meet with Joshua Giesbrecht, the media referral we received. So we went and taught him and well, he taught us the restoration...haha. he told us his story: he said that as he was starting to search for the truth that he was confused about why there was so many churches.  He said he came to a realization that there was an apostasy and that the priesthood was lost. He said he came to realize that God had a physical body and that he was a resurrected being. And that God and the Son were separate. So he got introduced to the church through YouTube and he said that when he started learning about the doctrine of the church that everything just made sense. He said that he felt like he knew all of this already and that he had been taught it before (pre existence).

So we left that appointment amazed. Elder Simister and I said he needs to be baptized. So we called our mission president and he said baptize him. So we talked to Josh on the phone about being baptized and he said yes. So he came to church yesterday and loved it. After church we turned on the water to fill the font and as it was filling we taught him all the lessons, president interviewed him and then we baptized him.  What an incredible experience, I am still in shock. We met with him on Saturday at 7 and then baptized him on Sunday at 4, not even a 24 hour period! What a great way to finish my mission.

I testify that the work is hastening it is real and the restoration happened.
Love you all and cant wait to see you!!!!! :) :)
-Elder Clark

Week #99

Mother,

well it is true I will be coming home in 12 days. I love my mission mom. I just got an email from dad about my topic for my talk when I return. I am happy with the topic and will have some great experiences to share and talk about.

Sounds like things are good there. The weather here is bad we have been having lots of storms lately.  Its typical though usually June you get a lot of storms and then July is really hot and so I am glad I won't be here for that hot weather. 
We had a good week. Chris passed his baptism interview and he will be getting baptized this Saturday. Our week is really booked and I am afraid that this week will go by in the blink of an eye. And then I will be home.
We have been walking everywhere, which is good because we are able to talk to a lot of people and testify of the restoration. We were able to find some families this week too. The only problem that we have is that a lot of people we run into speak German and not really good English.  We run into a lot of Filipinos and we are able to speak to them in Tagalog.

Everything is going well. We are very busy, and still teaching Manny.

well I love you and cant wait to see you
the church is true
-Elder Clark :)

Week #98

well we had a really crazy and good week. We were out of our area for most of the week because we had to go down to International Falls Minnesota to help with the flooding down here. Its was really bad there was a lot of people loosing their homes, but we got most of the houses all sandbagged so the houses should be fine.  When we got back to our area we were able to still see miracles we taught all day Friday and found 2 investigators they are Filipino. Saturday we went to summer in the city to go to the Valdez booth to get food we got it for free since we are the elders ha. But after that we went to Winnipeg for destiny's baptism.  We got the font ready but we had a problem the water was freezing we couldn't figure how to get it running. We tried everything even went to the hot water tank and it wasn't working. So I told everyone we should pray so we all knelt down and prayed and after the prayer we got up and as we were walking back to the font I saw this breaker panel.  I opened it up and there was a switch that said hot water.....but it was on it wasn't off and so for some reason I just switched it off and then back on and hot water started pouring out! Haha. I love it when little small miracles happen. that is about it for our week. This week we are getting Chris ready for baptism. We have another baptism coming up in 2 weeks so we are just getting him ready for his interview for baptism.
It was really nice to visit an old area of mine and see some great people before I finish my mission.    

I know that the church is true.
> love ya mom and love ya everyone
> -Elder Clark

Week #97

Mother

Our week was super super good.

 Monday we met with Denise and she just broke down and started crying as we were teaching The Plan of Salvation.  As we listened to the spirit and let her talk we watched Mountains to Climb with her, a Mormon message and then we testified to her that God loves her. After that meeting with her she has been on fire! She is changing so much and her life is going so much better. Her son Chris is still excited for baptism.  This Saturday is destiny's baptism and I will be baptizing her :)

Other than that we were just super busy. We found a family to teach through a less active member and we wile be seeing them this Tuesday.  On Wednesday we had a bunch of appointments fall through and so we went out in faith. We contacted a bunch of people and taught lessons on the street. One of the persons we contacted was Filipino so I got to speak to her in Tagalog :) she was impressed and would like to meet with us. It was a really good day.

The next day was zone conference and I gave my farewell testimony...... its was weird and sad for me. Mom this has been the most exciting and most rewarding 2 years of my life. I love my mission.

We played basketball with Chris and Julian again and we were able to teach Chris the rest of  The Plan of Salvation.  He remembered all of it, hes a smart kid. And then on Saturday we taught a Filipino man named Manny and we taught him the first couple of principles in Tagalog and then switched to English because he could speak English.  Still fun and we will be meeting with him Friday,

life is good and the gospel and this church is indeed true :)
love ya mom :)
-Elder Clark

Week #96

Hello mother,

Well where to start with my week. Elder Simister and I are having so much fun.
This week we played basketball at the steinbach Mennonite church. And once we left we had every ones respect from that church. Elder Simister is insanely good at basketball. So it was neat to see the change after we left. We walked a lot this week to our activities or service and along the way we talked to people on the streets. We found 3 people that we are meeting with on Tuesday. Now that the snow is gone and its summer  people are starting to walk, its perfect for us to be outside.
We taught Denise and Chris and we taught the plan of salvation. We set a baptismal date for Chris on July 5th. And destiny is also getting baptized (the other elders investigator) on the 21st of June. She asked that I baptize her. I first started teaching her in Steinbach.

We played a lot of basketball outside this week. It was perfect.  The courts are just full of our Filipino friends and so we went and played them in basketball ( Elder Simister is pro at basketball) and so they like us and want us to come more and play. So that will be a great opportunity to find people.  We also met with a guy out in Lorette, which is 30 min out of town. We taught him.

Last Monday we got a media referral for a guy who wants to get baptized, We contacted him and he really wants to get baptized. He is driving truck right now, so we are going to either call and teach him over the phone or Skype and then just baptize him when he gets home. So yeah things are going good.

well the church is true!
-Elder Clark

Week #95

Hello mother,


My new companions name is Elder Simister. He is solid. We have already known each other for a while so we are pretty good friends. Elder Erickson and his parents came to take us out to eat lunch in Steinbach. It was really fun to see and meet his parents, and then later that night we went to the Peter's home with the Ericksons and had a big supper.

So far things are going good with Elder Simister. We are really trying hard to establish this church here even more by finding more people to teach. We are literally seeing miracles.

Other than that we cooked for our German friends from Germany a steak dinner last night and they loved it. We were able to share a message with them and we will be going back to see them next week.

This week is busy and full of great activities. Don't worry about me not being focused. I signed up for these 2 years because I came to love god, and now on my mission I have grown to understand and love god with all my heart so I will finish these 2 years strong for him. I am doing it for him, and that's how it has been my whole mission and it will stay that way until the badge comes off.

Love you and all of you with all my heart
-Elder Clark

Week #94

Mother,

Well the week has been good and weird at the same time. Its been good we have kept busy. Its just weird because Elder Erickson is saying good bye to a lot of people. I am staying super focused though. So my new companion is Elder Simister!!!!! He is a great missionary.  I know him really well and we are pretty good friends. I am so excited.  We are going to work work work. Elder Simister had a scholarship for basketball he played basketball for Dixie state University.  There is a huge group of Filipinos that play basketball outside around 7:00 they will be amazed! Ha.
We met with Denise Freisen who is a returning less active that we have been working with. We taught her on Friday and we had Brother Larson with us. We watched the restoration with her and then we got in the topic of God, and heaven and hell. And the lessons was kinda of going all over. But then Brother Larson mentioned about temple work and why we do it, so everyone can be taught the gospel and receive the ordinances as well. And her eyes got all big and she started balling and balling. She said she was struggling about the temple. She didn't know why it was important she said she felt the spirit so strong!! It was an amazing experience for all of us. Her and her son came to church and the spirit is really working on her.

Speaking of church......One of our companionship goal before Elder Erickson left was to have 30 people at out meeting. Well yesterday WE HAD 30 PEOPLE ATTEND OUR MEETING. We had 6 investigators and a less active family. The stake president heard the news and is making an appointment with Brother Valdez to start talking about Steinbach and where to go from here and what the next steps need to be.

the work is real
Love all of you so much:)
-Elder Clark

Week #92 & 93

Mother,
Well this is the last week for Elder Erickson and then he goes home to Alberta. It is pretty insane how fast it has gone this transfer. I will be driving him to transfer meeting on Thursday the 28th. I don't know who my companion will be but I am really trying to pull some strings so we can get a strong missionary down here to keep things going when I leave.

Things are still going great for us. We had our meeting on Sunday we didn't have the best attendance but that's because it was May long weekend so it was to be expected.

On Friday we met with this German couple they are not Mennonite they are from Germany and speak high German. It was fun but confusing at times because there was a bit of a language barrier, but it all worked out. We are seeing them this Thursday so it will be good.

Anyway not much new has happened. We are going to a Filipino BBQ today so it will be really fun I am excited.

This week has been just a blur sorry if my letter is short. I will have more to say next week.

love ya lots :)
-Elder Clark

Weeks 90 & 91

Week #91

Mother,

The week was super good. All we do everyday is teach. We are so so busy it is incredible. We found a new investigator this week her name is Carrie. We have known her from The Pat Porter Centre where we do service some time. She's a really good lady. Her concern was why are there so many churches in this world and why do they all teach from the bible but interpret it differently and put their own wisdom in it. So we shared the restoration with her and her exact words were; "I was put to ease as you shared this with me." The spirit was really strong in the lesson. I just made a lot of sense to her. We will be teaching her again this week.

We were also able to teach Kevin and our lesson was really good he is really starting to understand a lot and bring up more questions. We see the Peters through out the week and we are able to share messages with them too.

We saw Denise Freisen this week and her family.  Denise is less active and her son is not a member.  We had a good lesson with them and so we are going over this Friday to visit, and we are going to skateboard and play basketball with her son and we are getting the son involved for this Friday. It will be a way to soften Denise's heart and get her to feel welcomed and loved by the members.

Things are really happening here. I am so grateful that I was able to to be in this area it has been a huge roller coaster, but it has been worth it.

We had church in our apartment this Sunday. We had a total attendance of 27 PEOPLE!! we had four investigators there as well and Denise Freisen and her family came as well. We had Renate Peters give a talk too! And it was super good we assigned her a topic to speak on how a relationship with Christ had helped her. It is growing! We are really establishing the church. President Thomas told us we were his heros. He said that there is not many missionaries who get to establish the church like this anymore.  After our good news that we told him he said he would immediately talk to the stake president about renting a building and getting the sacrament out here. No hand can stop this work.

We went out to the Peters on Saturday and we had a wonderful Mennonite meal. We cooked ribs and pork chops over the fire and had some German soup that I forget the name of.

My heart if full.
Love you mother :)
-Elder Clark






Week #90

Mother,
The week couldn't have gone better. Elder Erickson and I have really changed this area into something. We started at scratch and were asked to establish the church in the city of Steinbach. And we have really done it. This was like the most frustrating time and hard time of my life... we tried all we could, couldn't tract, or even street contact. Walking and talking with people in our path was pointless because it was -50 or -40 all the time and everyone was inside. We just kept going at it and sticking with it, and now we are having like 16-24 people coming out to our little cottage meeting in our apartment.
Sunday we had 4 investigators, and we are going to have a non member be one of the speakers for our cottage meeting this Sunday. When the stake president heard about our first meeting in Steinbach "His eye-brows raised in shock."This whole week all we have been doing is teaching. We are still trying to work with the Peters. They  love us so much and have taken us in as family and have defended us in the community. They are reading The Book of Mormon and coming to church.
But anyway we are teaching a lot. we are teaching our next door neighbor Matt, he is a really good guy and we always talk in the parking lot when he pulls in. We taught him in his apartment the other day. He is receptive. We were also able to meet with Denise Freisen a less active member of the church. she is super nice, but is struggling with finding her way back so we are going to  try and help her. she has a son who is 12 years of age and is not a member he wants to learn as well so we will be teaching him too. Other than that we are doing really good here. We are seeing miracles. We have a standard in our mission for new investigators and investigators attending sacrament, and Elder Erickson and I have been hitting standard 3 times in a row now. God is really blessing us.

I cannot explain what I have learned so far in Steinbach. I logically and spiritually know that the church is true. God will have his church established. The community is 70% Mennonite and and the rest of the population is really strong christian, and only 2 member families in the city of steinbach.....and we are still teaching and having people attend our meetings.....Gods church will be established. We visited a less active Filipino this week. His name is Hennu and his wife is not a member.  When ever we stop by their home the kids always run to the door and say, "the elders are here! the elders are here!" the kids love us and they want to come to church. So there is a great opportunity there.

I got some brown Italian shoes for 2 dollars at the thrift store the other day. They are as nice as dads shoes. They are made in Italy. I will send some pictures of a Mennonite drink that we have you will get a kick out of this. Things are going wonderful.  I really do know that the church is true.

Love you so much mom :)
-Elder Clark

Week #89

Mother,

We had a huge mission conference is Regina. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the quorum of the twelve apostles was with us. He met with us as missionaries it was sooo neat! What an experience I will never forget.  It was really amazing.

Monday was pday and we taught over Skype it was actually pretty normal. Tuesday was busy and good we met with Renate. And well I am not sure if she is reading The Book of Mormon to know if its true, I think she is just reading it to read, so we are going to invite her to pray about it and to read it to come to know if its true.

Wednesday I was sick! :( it was horrible some missionaries in our ward gave the flu to everyone,  and I got it. I had already had the flu this year I wad told you couldn't get it again????....well sure enough I was throwing up and everything.  I was sick as we traveled to and from Regina. The only time I wasn't sick was in the meeting with Elder Christofferson.

We didn't have a meeting in our apartment this Sunday because of Easter, a lot of members were busy and investigators were busy with Easter dinner and stuff with family. So....we will be having a meeting this Sunday in our apartment. We should be able to get 30 people we are hoping.

Mom I am so tired. We are still going to the gym in the morning at 5:30. I watched my companion bench 315lbs....... guy is insane lol.

 I love this work so much I feel like I am running out of time. This is Elder Erickson's last transfer in Steinbach.  So we are going to make it a good last transfer.

love you and all of you :)
-Elder Clark

Week #88

Mother,


 I can teach people from back home through skype or even fadebook I can teach people back home. Tonight we are skyping Elder Erickson friends back home. We are teaching a part member family. The son is preparing for a mission, the wife is not a member.  We were teaching people from Alberta and we are in Steinbach......what????? Lol crazy hey but its all approved.

Well we had a really good week. We taught a lot this week. At every opportunity we had, we taught. We taught in the store, at service, you name it we just tried to teach a lot. Things are going well in my district. I'm still a district leader. The district has been applying everything I am teaching them and as a district combined we are working with 40 people. The other elders have 20 people and we have 20 people.

We taught Kevin this week and he is doing good. We are going to go over lesson 1 with him again. We taught the Peters a lot this week, but we are going to try and lay off just teaching lessons and teach something that will build their faith.

It was a super good week,  and this week we should be able to meet with some new people and add them to our teaching pool.

When my companion Elder Erickson and I first got together our vision was to try and get a pool of 20 people to work with.  We tried our best with the circumstances that we faced and well felt like we weren't accomplishing anything. But at the end of the transfer we had 20 people that we could work with! Light always overcomes darkness.

The next transfer our vision was to do all we could to start a branch. We were very well informed when I first got here that we wouldn't have a branch anytime soon.  The stake president was very hesitant to have one based on passed experiences. Ha well that didn't stop us, because it was our vision and we knew it was a good vision because "if it is good then, it is of God." We really bugged our mission president in order to get a meeting out here. Well after a lot of consistent annoying on our part the stake president said we could only have a cottage meeting, (basically sacrament meeting,  without the sacrament). We knew that the work could never progress without some sort of meeting out here. We held the meeting in our apartment and Yesterday we had our first meeting.  WE HAD A TOTAL ATTENDANCE OF 24 PEOPLE IN OUR APARTMENT AND 3 INVESTIGATORS CAME. Pretty neat hey?! We are seriously establishing the church! Now our vision is to help the investigators into the waters of baptism. I am so grateful for this experience in my life. It really took some patience. I boast in my father in heaven for all that has been accomplished.

Next week we should be able to have 7 investigators come and 2 less actives bringing a total attendance of 30 I hope we can fit  lol I will send some pictures.

Well, sure love ya mother :)
Elder Clark

Week #87

Hello mother,



Well we had a good week this week we taught our investigator Kevin and he is doing really good. He is reading and praying about The Book of Mormon. The lesson was really strong and next time we will invite him to be baptized. A lot of good things are happening.  At our service opportunities the workers want us to come out to their homes and help them with projects that they have.

we tired to meet with our less active friend the other day but she had to cancel,  but hopefully we will be able to see her this week.

Friday we were at the soup kitchen and we were eating with a man named Dan and we had a really good conversation with him and we will be meeting with him on Wednesday so we are pretty excited for it. Then once everyone was gone at the soup kitchen I found a herbal tea bag and so I said to the whole staff "would you like to see this tea bag fly?" And then me and my companion Elder Erickson just started teaching  the gospel of Jesus Christ using this tea bad to the whole staff it was neat.
Other than that life is going really good I love it out here, and have really grown to love Steinbach. A lot of members and church leadership in Winnipeg aren't too supportive with Steinbach. But we will prove them wrong through the goodness of god. We are having our first meeting this Sunday in our apartment!!! :) we are very confident that the first meeting will have about 5-8 investigators and 5 less actives. The members are supportive so we plan on filling our apartment. We should at least have 20 people there the first meeting and that's between members and non members and less actives.

It is finally getting nice out!!! And the snow is melting.  This winter was probably the coldest experience of my life.....it was really hard mom. Their was a lot of times during the winter  we were not aloud outside because of how dangerously cold it was. So it just seemed really slow this winter. But its warming up and people are finally starting to walk, and we are going to walk and contact like crazy on our way to appointments.
Next week the mission will have a big conference with the mission. Elder D Todd Christofferson is coming!!

Well I sure know that the church is true. And the restoration did happen. I know that God is incredibly loving and mindful.

sure love you and all of you :)
-Elder Clark

Week #86

Hello mother,

well our week was really good. We were just extremely busy this week which is wonderful. Every day was busy.
On Monday we visited Jeannine which was good, both her and her mom are reading The Book of Mormon. On Tuesdays the zone leaders came down for exchanges and we had hot chocolate with Renate.  They have become like family to us and so we don't teach them every time. Its kind of a love serve teach process.  But its working.   Tuesday evening we went to open mic night and I killed it on the drums! I still got it. And some of our investigators came to watch. It was a good way to get out in the community because they see this Mormon missionary get on the drums and kill it, not trying to be vain glorious or anything, but it gave all of the people a different perspective showing them that we are normal.

On Wednesday we had a really neat miracle happen. We were walking to an appointment and this blue car pulled over and said hey I'm an inactive member of the church and I want to start meeting with you guys. She has some sons that are non members so there is a huge opportunity there for us. God still continues to amaze me.

Thursday we found a new investigator.  His name is Kevin and we met him at the soup kitchen. He is reading and praying about The Book of Mormon. And Friday was a busy day! We went out to Jason's farm. And we shoveled goat poop and then gave the goats vaccination s and trimmed their hooves. But it went good he likes us. Then we went and split wood for a lady that we met at envision (place where we do service) and she fed us dinner and everything.  Things are happening.

Starting this Sunday or next we will be having meetings!!! :) we did it we accomplished our vision, now we have a new vision and new goals. We are going to baptize!

I had an interview with president talking about the end of my mission and yeah....it was weird. But he asked me if I wanted to stay in Steinbach. And I said I would like to. So I will probably end my mission here in Steinbach. Transfer calls are next week and then the week after that the whole mission is going to Regina for a mission conference.  An apostle is coming.  Don't know which one it is, but it will be neat. 

I will take more pictures and send them to ya next week. I know that this gospel is true. I have never had so much peace and joy in my life. When I get back all I want in my life is the joy from living the principles of the gospel, and being successful in my career life.

Love you and love all of you.
-Elder Clark

Week #85

Hello mother,

well this week was really good and very busy we had a lot of appointments this week. We started off the week by meeting with a members cousin. There is a member here in town named Nicole, she recently moved here from Alberta and she has a lot of family in and around Steinbach. Her cousins name is Mark he is a really good guy he had us over for supper and we had a really good time he likes us a lot and we shared a short message, good things to come and he agreed with everything we shared with him. He needs help finishing his basement so hopefully we will get to help him out. He is really busy he is a doctor for farm animals or I think sells medicine to farmers.

On Tuesday we had lunch with Jeannine and following that a little bit later we had dinner with the Fisk family. They are a great family. Wednesday we saw Gord, who is a less active, and we taught him about the atonement he said he is wiling to come to church he said he has a nurse come and check on him on Sunday and he never knows when, so that's why he cant make it right now, he's like 82 he is old but looks young. Following that night we made the Valdez family dinner and we had a feast. Sadly though they told us that Johnny the father of the De Vera family doesn't want us to come and do teachings any more he is not wiling but Marlyn and the daughter are really receptive and really want to learn more. Opposition in all things hey?

We had a really good lesson with Jeannine. We shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then we got into a really deep conversation about why we were here and what we knew to be true. We bore our testimonies about the plan of salvation and the restoration the spirit was so strong.  Jeannine said that that night she couldn't sleep and that she was writing in her journal everything that happened that night and what she felt.

Thursday we met with this guy Malcolm he is a native fella and he was telling Jeannine that he didn't like Mormon missionaries because he goes to Jeannine's roommates bible study. Any way he walked out of the bible study and we were talking with him and he was saying how he liked hip hop so I threw him a beat and said I used to produce a lot of music back home and so he wanted us to come over so we went over and I made him a really good beat and now he likes us and wants us to come over more so we will turn this opportunity into teaching very soon.

Saturday we went to the Peters for dinner and it was really really good we had a lot of spiritual conversations.  We gave Renate a Book of Mormon and we wrote our testimonies in it and we got a text from her later that night saying that as she was reading our words of what we wrote she was just crying.  They are progressing.  Still slow progress but it is real growth with them.

Well that's it for my week it was a really good week and this one will be great as well  :)

Hope all is going well I love you mom and I love and miss all of you :)

On Sunday, March 23, 2014, Kay Clark <teamclark7@q.com> wrote:
> Hi Robert,

Weeks #83 & 84

 Hello mother,

Well we are still in the process of having a branch and looks like it is going to happen! So we are very excited about that. I have really realized that I have had success in every area I have served and I thank my God for that. There is no way we could have done any of it with out him. We have become great friends with so many people. Right now we are working with 23 non members...!! That's who we have in our pool.  All of them we found through referrals and through lacing. We all have a really good relationship with all of them its really good. And 8 of them are investigating.

We are going to see the De Veers on Thursday!!! It has been forever since we have seen them. But Marlyn finally got a couple days off and she would like for us to come over,  so this is great news. They are a solid family. And now with us starting to have a branch here they will be able to come to church and eventually get to baptism.

We are going out to Jason's farm this Friday, he is a Mennonite and his whole family wants to feed us, that will be great. Mennonites make really good food.
One miracle that we had this week is that Renate, the mother of the family we are teaching would like to start reading The Book of  Mormon which is good because she was the hardest lol. She has become our German mother it is so fun! She hooks us up with eggs for 50 cents a dozen.  So we have 84 eggs in our fridge that only cost 7 dollars. The family is still slow progress but its the right kind of progress.

I think one of the reasons Elder Erickson and I have been really successful here is because we know how to adapt to different areas.  And a lot of missionaries have trouble with that. We don't street contact or tract here because it would be like if two Baptists showed up in Provo Utah and started preaching......they would get shunned lol and so it would be the same for us. And so we think of the most effective way to find. And we are doing it.

Everything is going really good I love being out here but I know my time is coming to an end and I am excited to see all of you I wont lie haha :) but if I could I would serve for another 2 years lol. The gospel is true and the power of the atonement is real and can heal us. The Book of Mormon is true and leads us to have more faith in the Savior. I am not discouraged about school momecause I have come to know, that with any set back or trail in life you just have to look up,  because "if you can look up, you can get."

Love you and all of you so much :)
-Elder Clark








Hello mother,

I am still in Steinbach.

 We have been working hard doing service and gaining relationships out here and it is working. The Peters are doing good. We taught them using the apostasy cups and at the end as we prayed we prayed sincerely for God to bless them and the mom Renate teared up and the family felt the spirit.  Its working, just slow. We also are going out to a farm on Friday to help this Mennonite fella and he loves us and his whole family wants to feed us. They were a referral from a member. We are trying to lace through members and investigators and it is working. The city will still continue to hate us but there is a lot of people so far that love us.

As we have struggled and struggled to establish the church here, we just had to trust in Gods timing.  Every thing we have done here was 100% what God has wanted us to do. The reason why I am saying all of this, is because we are doing it mom! Its working! We are now in the process of holding meetings out in Steinbach!!!! We are in the process of starting a branch here. We will be holding a sacrament meeting.....in our apartment! We will start holding meetings. We are just waiting to hear from the mission president so hopefully we can start this Sunday or next Sunday.

We are establishing the church!

It has been a good week. Full of fun and a whole bunch of mixed feelings.  I sure know that this church is true. And that its all in Gods time. It was just different for me because my whole mission I have seen great success,  but here I just thought nothing was happening but we continued to work at it and now things are happening.  When we get the church started here the Peters said they would come! So we are excited. 

I love you mom and all of you so much.

-Elder Clark

Week #82

Hello mother,

Well the week was good.

We taught Jeannie this week. We shared the restoration with her and she accepted everything we taught her which was neat. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was excited to read it. We just got done watching Prophet of the Restoration with her, it went good. Jeannine is the daughter of the German Mennonite family that we are teaching.  We also taught the family the restoration.  It went OK. It will be a slow progress.  But it is going good.

Other than that nothing really new has happened.  We are just trying everything that we can to do the lords work. I think sometimes when we are trying all that we can to have success, we have to be willing to work for nothing.  Meaning its his will and work. We are willing to do all we can even if its not the result that we want. 

We did teach Gordy this week and found out that his wife is a member too and we taught them both. So that is good news. So we will see where it goes. 

Elder Erickson and I are going to try and sit in on some council meetings in some towns outside of Steinbach and be a presence. We are going to do all we can to get more involved with the community, and change the hearts here.  We will establish the church here. We are......determined. 

I don't know what else to write I'm sorry my letters are getting so much more shorter. I love all of you and I love the work and the lord. Its true. 

I hope all is going well.  I will keep praying for the business. 

Love you

-Elder Clark

Week #81

Hi mother,

Well the week has been a lot better. We have had some struggles  just trying to build the church here. We had a lot of success this week. Elder Erickson and I are both determined to have success here. We want to "succeed as bad as we want to breathe." We were really busy this week with service activities and appointments. We taught the peters (the German Mennonite family) on Saturday night and they are our new investigators! We have appointments with them all through out the week. We taught them about faith and answered questions that they had about our faith. What a neat experience it has been being able to help establish the church where there is no church.  It feels like the old days where the mission president sends you out and says "alright well establish the church and make it happen." 

I don't think we will have a branch here for a while though, but we will still continue to build the church. And so far it is going really good. The community knows we are here. Everyone at service loves us. So it is going really good.

We got in contact with the De Vears the Filipino family so hopefully we will be teaching them this week.

I am glad that this work helps you stretch and grow. All I want to do in life is succeed in everything I do and my mission has really taught me that. I have been able to put in all my effort in everything I have done here, some things didn't work at all, and so we reevaluated and went back to work. I am grateful for this time of my life.

Last night we had a miracle. We got a call from a member and we ended up going to see an unknown less active member that wants to come back to church.  We will be seeing him sometime this week.

Well I know that prayer is real and that the answer isn't always given right away. But it does come. I have found power through the scriptures, they are true. The only way to know if anything is true is to ask god if it is. Either it is or it isn't. But it is and I testify that it is true.

Love you and all of you so much. :)

-elder Clark

Week #80

Hi mother,

Well my week was horrible...... I was sick all week until Friday I had the flu.... :( this is the first time I have ever been sick on my mission. I was on my death bed we couldn't keep anything down. We slept and just rested all week, until Friday when we felt decent enough to go paint for service. But it was bad we were so dumb....we figured since we weren't keeping anything down we should just eat some fast food since we have been working out and on a health diet, so we got fast food and it was just dumb, we were just throwing it up.

Steinbach is going good though. We got in contact with our Filipino investigators through the Valdez family so hopefully we will be meeting with them soon. Other than that things are going OK, its just really hard here, I'm not discouraged just confused of what to do next. We aren't really seeing success here at all. This area does not compare to any other area that I have served in. I feel small and out numbered here. We are struggling but Elder Erickson and I keep thinking about ways to improve so we keep trying and trying there is no giving up. I guess trials and challenges like this is what makes men out of mere boys.

I feel your prayers for me so thank you so much. I am still giving it all I have and we are doing our best here. I know that things will get better we just have to have faith and hope things will get better.

I bear you my testimony that we are the only true church on the face of the earth and that no one can stop this work. I love how a group of pastors have to have a meeting and council together on how they are going to stop four 20 year old boys. The restoration is real and Christ lives. 

Love you and all of you so much

-elder Clark

week #78 & 79

Hello mother,

 6  of the main churches have a board where all the pastors meet together and discuss things. We have heard that they are working really hard to not let us volunteer at certain places. We feel this is  one of the main reasons why we are not having success here. The only way for us to succeed here is to go about doing good everywhere we go and to be non threatening. 

So we confirmed it through prayer and through the scriptures and  I called an immediate district meeting and we discussed. And  we came up with......"The Ammon Project" ( I came up with the name)  so basically we are trying to become the communities friends and go about and do good everyday and it is working. So far we have had so many opportunities to serve and do good and more people are starting to like us.  

We shoveled and chipped this ladies driveway and it turns out that she knows Elder Erickson's relatives. She wants to meet with us again. Also the places where we volunteer are going good and we are asking the people there how we can serve them outside of volunteering. We will go to city council and I will literally tell the Mayor that I am his slave and I will do anything for him and ask him how we can serve him. 

This place is the hardest area that we have in the mission. I am serious nothing compares to it.

We have seen a lot of success this week and we are meeting with our Filipino people this week. And we will teach them.

Facebook is going supper good. We have set up so many appointments through it and have gotten other elders referrals through it. It is a great tool if you use it wisely.

I know that Christ lives that this is the lords work. I know by the power of the holy ghost that the Book of Mormon is true I really do. Prayer is real it works. I know that god never forsakes us. 

I love you mom and I love you family

-Elder Clark

 

 Hello mother,

We have a lot of service going on as well as appointments.  We aren't close to any baptisms. It will be hard to have baptisms out here because we don't have a church out here. But we will still expect to have baptisms. So it will be an adventure. I think I will finish , my mission here with Elder Erickson. I wonder if president will keep me here because I am learning Tagalog. But lately we haven't had any success with the Filipinos they are so busy with work.

The Ammon project is going good we are always trying to improve it. We have made a good friend in the community. Her name is Renate, she is a German Mennonite and she stood up for us at the board meeting when they talked about us. We will teach her and her family soon. This area is literally all about building relationships its really different.

We found a new investigator this week her name is Treena. She teaches us how to paint and we just share a little message after. This week we have an appointment with her and I will ask her to paint the restoration for me, so then hopefully she might feel the spirit when she paints. Clever hey?

This whole week I have been reflecting on all the experiences that I have had on my mission and they have been amazing. I am so glad I came on a mission, and that everything I have done out here has been hard. Every area that I have had has been such a challenge and I have been able to rise above and see success. I am just very grateful for this time I have had.  I know the church to be true that the power of prayer is real. 

I love you and all of you so much.

-elder Clark

Week #77

Well our week was busy, which is a good thing.

We had a lot of appointments, they weren't all teaching appointments, but they were appointments where we were able to build relationships, which is exactly what this place needs. So on Wednesday night we went to see our friend Alvin Garcia, a Filipino. He fed us straight pig fat! it was really good, but really bad for us. After he fed us we were able to share the restoration with him. We asked him if we could share more and he wants to have us share more when we teach the De Vera family, so hopefully we will get an appointment soon with them and then we can teach all of them together. Thursday I dropped off elder Wilson at the transfer meeting and picked up my new companion Elder Erickson. We are excited to work together. Right when he got here we were busy with meeting all of the people. We are doing language study every morning,  he is also learning Tagalog and he is doing really good.

Our next door neighbor is Filipino and so we made them pan seit one time and then went to go say hi the other day and she couldn't really understand English so we had to speak in Tagalog as best as we could and she understood. We asked her if we could practice teaching about Jesus Christ in Tagalog and if she could help us and she said yeah! so we will kill two birds with one stone.

Things are starting to pick up here which is good. We have a service opportunity twice a week which will keep us busy on top of all the people that we have become friends with, I don't think we will see a branch out here anytime soon, because all of the ward leadership at the church we go to in Winnipeg lives in Steinbach so the stake president does not want to jump the gun on anything yet, so it will be a slow process but it will all be good.

We are learning the first lesson in Tagalog it is really hard, we asked the Valdez's if we could practice on them before our visit with our neighbors so we don't look dumb and they said yes, which will be good.

 Yes I am now on facebook.  I will be using it to contact a lot of Filipinos. There are two things that Filipinos love, karaoke and facebook. We will be on it for an hour everyday when we can. It would be good if you could have family members add me. I will be adding a lot of people from Fort Frances so I can continue to do missionary work.

I had a good nap today

Well I know that this work is true Thank you for your support and helping me get to this point in my life.

love you and all of you so much! :))

-Elder Clark

Week #76

Hello mother!

Sorry I am writing so late. The Valdezs' took Elder Wilson and me into Winnipeg to go to an Asian buffet. I love that family so much! ha.

The week was actually really busy! We found a weekly service opportunity that will keep us busy during the week.

 Renate, she is German, is wonderful she loves us we go out to lunch all of the time with her and her daughters, and when we are out with them they don't drink coffee around us ha funny hey. we  stopped by Lady and Hanny a Filipino family and the kids want us to bring Finding Faith in Christ DVD, so that will be a good opportunity. Guess what? we met this lady named Trina and she knows how to paint like she is really good, so using my smart brain I said you should teach us how to paint, and she said yes of course. We went over and she taught us how to paint, we are going to love, serve, and teach her. She is great.

This week was just really good it snowed which is the best thing ever! When that happened we went and shoveled the Garcia's, who are a Filipino family. And they love us they want us to come over and have dinner with them. Speaking some of their language is really good! we are winning some hearts here. So this week we should be able to see them. We weren't able to see Marylnn and her family but we will this week for sure.

I really love being out here it is the best thing I have ever done I am always learning. This is one of the hardest areas I have ever served in and it is the hardest area in the mission, but we are making great progress here. Hopefully we will be able to get a bigger teaching pool. We have been able to lay down a foundation of friendship here, so hopefully that will turn into more teaching.

My new companion is Elder Erickson! he is from Cardston Alberta. He is an assistant right now and will soon be coming to Steinbach. He is a really good missionary and I have been on a lot of exchanges with him when I was a zone leader and he was a district leader. We get a long really well. We are actually pretty good friends in the mission, so we are both excited to be together.

We are working with the members a lot here as much as we can so we are just enduring well.

Other than that life is great I love my life, I am also really sad that Elder Wilson is going home we are brothers. But he needs to start his life he is 26 what an old man, he needs to find a wife.

I testify that the church and everything that it has to offer is true.

love you and all of you

-Elder Clark

Week #75

Hello mother,

Yeah the weather has warmed up a bit, it is about -16 today it is nice and warm. Brother Famini died he was an old Filipino member in our ward. Elder Wilson and I mad Pan seit for the funeral and all the Filipinos were impressed.

Well this week was a lot better than the week before, because we didn't have -40 crazy weather. We taught the De Vera family and they accepted the invitation to be baptized, we just need to set a solid date with them. But they are excited. I bore my testimony to them in Tagalog during the lesson! We have been also teaching this guy named Jaryn. He is about our age. He seems pretty interested, so we shall see how it goes. Other than that we have just been trying to stay busy here. I feel like we are still scratching at the bottom of the barrel here, so it is a little bit of a challenge. I contacted 3 people on the street this week in Tagalog and they understood me perfectly, which is pretty good. I have just been trying really hard to learn the language.  The reason  I'm learning the language is because, 1 there are tons of Filipinos here, 2 the pastor at the Evangelical Mennonite Church speaks Tagalog and he is winning the hearts of the people.  I will do the same. 

So we had a movie night on Saturday. Guess what we watched?? haha. We watched Mobsters and Mormons! we thought it would be a good one for the city to watch. We had 2 potentials show up, but if we keep doing it we should be able to get a lot more people. We had 2 member families come too and that was really good. We will have to keep doing the movie nights.

Everything is going good. We are just trying to keep busy here. Hopefully we will see some miracles soon.

I know that this work is real. It is like a roller coaster. And can be so challenging and so rewarding at the same time.

Here are the dates for when the transfers are. We have transfers on January 23rd, March 6th, April 17th, May 29th, & July 10th.

I will send a lot more pictures next Monday, We were in a rush today and I forgot my camera at the Apartment sorry :(

Well I love you a lot mom, and I love all of you.

-Elder Clark

Week #74

Mother,

I have......I have been in and experienced -60 degree weather. I am not talking about -60C I am talking about -60F. I do not want to ever experience this kind of weather again haha. They are saying that this is one the coldest winters we have had in a long time. And it is really making me frustrated because when it is -40 we are not allowed to be outside unless we have appointments and can go to them in the car. So this week was just something else lol.

So this week was just really slow. Monday was p-day, Tuesday we were at a funeral in Winnipeg, and plus Tuesday was New Years eve. We had a lot of fun though on new years eve because the Valdez Family had us over. They are members of the church here, and they are a Filipino family. We had a feast. Sister Valdez made us eat balut so I ate another half way developed baby duck again. It wasn't bad this time I have pictures that I will have to send you. The Filipinos love karaoke....so on new years eve we did magic sing haha it is huge in the Philippines. Oh my goodness it was a blast. And everyone in the family are great singers.

Wednesday no body was out at all because it was new years and plus it was - 40. Thursday was -40 until the afternoon so we had to be inside until then, and then it was just -39 the rest of the day. We had lunch with one of our potential investigators on Thursday she is German and she is the best. Hopefully soon we will be able to share the gospel with her. 

On Saturday we had a neat experience. We went out early to go shovel snow because it had snowed a lot the night before. So we went and shovelled the Valdez drive because brother Valdez hurt his foot. After we were done with that we went to go back home to study and as we were driving home we saw these Filipinos shovelling their driveway and so we flipped a U turn and got out and started helping them. We said magandang umaga ( good morning) and they were like oooooo you know Tagalog. We finished their driveway and they invited us in for breakfast. They are so nice they have 2 kids and their brother in law lives with them. So, the Garcia Family fed us and we talked about the Philippines and about magic sing and told them that we could make pan siet. They were so surprised. We asked them if we could share a message with them and well come to find out.....the mother Is best friends with Marlyn and her family, the Filipino family that we have been teaching. They said that next time we teach Marlyn and her family that they would like to join in. We left with a prayer. I said the prayer and I prayed in Tagalog. 

On Sunday it was -60F walking to the car was very painful. It was so cold that it hurt so bad ha. Today is -46 good thing it is p-day. I can't wait for winter to be over.

Well I love being out here it is the best thing I have ever done. Alam ko na totoo Aklat ni Mormon (I know The Book of Mormon is true.) I have a Tagalog language learning book so I am learning a lot. I am using some of it on the street and in the stores! 

 

Love you and all of you so much :)

-Elder Clark

Week # 's 72 &73

This is from Kay:

 

On Christmas we got to Skype with Robert. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to talk to him and see his cute personality. He is working so hard at being a missionary and because of his hard work he has experienced great reward. He was so funny telling us about all of the different languages he is learning. The Mission President is sending him some language study for Tagalog. He rattled off some words and we were laughing so hard. He is so funny, but knowing Robert he will learn it and will be able to communicate with the Filipino people there in Steinbach. When he got transferred to this new area there hadn't been missionaries for over 20 years. President Thomas said to him, now I will really see what you are made of. His last area 3 people showed up for church and when he got transferred there were 25 and the new missionaries are keeping it going. I am so proud of his efforts and him. Can't wait to see him in July, but I know he would just stay there if he could. Roberts letter for the week is below. A short letter as we just talked at Christmas. Love that boy.

 

 

 

 

 SO we taught the De Vera's family on Monday and we shared the restoration with them. As we were reciting the first vision she started crying. She felt the spirit so much and the it was neat. The family is so ready and so prepared. We also had a giant feast of Filipino food before we had the lesson. By the way I have perfected my spring rolls, they are amazing. And on Saturday we found a new investigator, his name is Jaryn, and he is really interested in what we believe. He comes from a big Mennonite family. He doesn't understand why other churches are teaching about our religion in their churches and want to know from us. And he says that he doesn't really know if he believes in god any more, but he is wiling to learn and read and pray. We are excited. Our next appointment with him is on Wednesday. 

But even with Christmas we still had a good week and found more people to teach. I Know that the work really is true. I can not deny how true the restored gospel of Jesus Christ really is.

Love you and all of you so much.

-Elder Clark :)