Week #54

 

 

 

 We had miracles......I don't even know where to start.

 

This week we  talked to 60 or more people that where either put in our paths or where on the streets. That is pretty good for a small town like this. Everywhere I went I just shared the gospel and tried to get people that we could teach, and eventually my companion started talking to people which is good I think it helped him out a lot. The key and secret to missionary work...is work. We found a new investigator this week who was actually a referral from our branch president. We taught her and we will be teaching her next week.

 

 So on Thursday we had F.H.E ( family home evening) with a less active part member family at the church and it was super good. We played basketball and ping pong and I taught her son how to skateboard. We shard a lesson and the kids loved it. The next day her husband who is a non-member calls us up and says can he meet us somewhere. We told him to  come meet us at the church. He comes and brings us a bunch of food and vegetables from their garden. So casually I shared the gospel with him and invited him to church he said he worked this Sunday but that he would come next Sunday! and the best thing is that his wife Christine who is less active said that her husband told her brother that if they were in Winnipeg, that he would join the church, but we are going to get him to join the church here!

 

This Sunday Christine and her family came to church. Christine used to hate the missionaries and the church, but she felt the spirit Sunday morning and decided to come. I taught primary..haha. and the Oster family came to church! every single one of them came and they were in their Sunday best. When I started out here there were only 5 people coming. There were days when only 3 came. This Sunday we had 17 people there. If we can keep it up we can get 25 and that is a normal size for a branch.

 

I know that faith means to trust, but we also have to trust in his timing. There is a quote that I live by and I think it is a country song too. It is..."pray like it is all up to god, and work like it is all up to you." This work is true I see it time and time again. We had a fantastic week.

 

Here is something humbling and neat. We are in a district and it is just us and two other elders, and one of the elders is  our district leader and we are his zone leaders, it is confusing I know haha. but anyway President Thomas was down here for the week, and our district leader said that when President was talking to him he said that the Fort Frances elders are just the greatest. He said that with those two elders in your district, you probably have the best district in the whole mission. It was humbling to hear that because this is the hardest area in the mission. There is no other area like it.

 

 All is well:)

-Elder Clark

Week #53

 

 

 

The Osters, the family that we have been working with for 5 months are coming back!! they will be coming back this Sunday for good. She was telling me that when everything had happened, and when she was  offended, that she was just done with all churches in general and that she didn't even care about eternity, but then we showed up and brought them again unto Christ. She is such a wonderful lady and I have come to like her and her family very much.

 

We helped a former less active branch president cut down trees and boy I was using the chainsaw and everything. I am so glad dad and you taught me how to work because it doesn't do any good to show up to a former less active branch president not knowing what you are doing,  but after the whole service he told us at the end that he is still not coming back to church. Oh well.

 

Yesterday we were out on the river walk and we met a couple from Germany. I really  hope they will call us. They had a lot of questions and were interested in what we were saying. I want to teach them.

 

We went to mow a members lawn and her gas tank was leaking...I am glad we found that before we started mowing. Oh and here is something you will like...

 

Last Monday we went to go teach President Tovey and his wife, but his whole family was there. His son and daughter and her boyfriend Moishe, and he is Jewish. We taught all of them the restoration! Moishe was asking us so many questions, and before we sat down for dinner he was talking to me and said..."do you believe that Adam an Eve partook of the fruit?" and I said yeah we believe that they were the first children to come to earth and that because of that they were kicked out of the garden.... and he says "oh absolutely they were the first children on earth, but actually the fruit is a metaphor that they were  kicked out for, the reason why they were kicked out was because Adam found the orgasm, yeah they found the orgasm so that's why they were kicked out." haha oh man...I was just like..uhhh false. I was laughing on the inside so hard. Sometimes you just have to let it all roll off your back. They were very fun people to converse with. That is my funny story for the week.

 

 All is well :)

-Elder Clark

Week #52

Well mom I didn't get transferred. President told me he would only keep me for one more transfer, so I think this is my last transfer here in Fort Frances.

 

I have lost myself out here and found myself. Everyday is a battle, but at the end it is rewarding. I want to make it clear....that I know that Christ lives. I know it with all of my heart.

I can't believe it is August!  soon it will be Christmas , and then just 6 months left, I can feel it. Everyone says your last year goes by super fast and I am afraid for it. 

I personally know that God gives us trials, not because he wants us to suffer but I believe he wants us to see how we will react to them. It becomes more and more clear to me each day how patient and loving God is. I have realized that when we react negatively to a big or small trial, that we loose faith and trust in our Savior and in our Father in Heaven.  I know things will turn around here in Fort Frances and even if they don't before I leave, it will be OK because this area just needs a lot of love.

This week however, we only had a total of 5 people at church. But we are still close, there are good things coming. The Osters will be coming back on august 25th for sure. We sat down with them both person to person and Sister Oster said that she doesn't care what happens, if she gets offended, or doesn't feel loved. She said that none of that matters because she just wants to go back to church and the whole family will be coming starting august 25. We had a great week though. We got 2 new investigators and they were a referral from a member and the member went with us to teach them. They are very prepared I am excited. Also we got a referral from Sister Oster, she wanted us to teach someone at her work,  and it was perfect because we do service at her work and he was there when we were doing service. Now we are teaching him and we are seeing him again this Tuesday.

This Thursday and Friday we were in Kenora and wow the drive there is one of the best drives ever it is just beautiful. But we went there to go on exchanges and then I got to interview someone for baptism which is always exciting.

I am grateful for the spirit in weekly planning. Elder Weeks and I have  the best plans for this week. We are taking a new approach at this less active work. What we are going to do is go and teach our members and we will teach them about missionary work or about the gospel and then we will have them watch this video

https://www.lds.org/service/leadership/participate-in-councils?lang=eng#working-together-in-the-ward-council

and after the video the commitment will be...." sister or brother...., this week will you reach out to (so and so) and see how she is doing?" "we will make sure to follow up with you.... or "sister or brother...., this week will you reach out to the Osters and see how they are doing?" great we will follow up with you. We are so excited about this because the members don't even know what in the world to do with the progress record and home teaching and visiting teaching never happens, so in order for the less actives to really have their hearts soften, they need to see that the members care about them.  Hopefully this may even change the attitude of the members. :))

I think that slowly President Tovey's wife will come around :) we are teaching her twice this week.

We are just going to go go go this transfer none stop.

 All is well :)

-Elder Clark

Week #51

I can't believe that the fair is only 2 weeks away. Summer is almost over it is really crazy. Transfer calls are this week and we have to go to Kenora to interview someone for baptism and then get on skype for MLC with president and the other leaders in the mission. I hope they give us the transfer calls then. I really don't know if I will be getting transferred or not.....But if not then I will just keep going at it down here. This Sunday we had a total of 9 people at church. We are so close I can just feel it. We have a potential of getting 20 people to church and I really think we can do it. We taught President Tovey's wife and she said that we could continue to share the lesson with her, so this week we will be teaching her the restoration. Then after we taught her we taught or investigators Paige and Chris. Well the first lesson that we taught them was....The Law of Chasity! it was so good too she loved it. It was a really good Law of Chasity lesson. She wants to work toward marriage and she also wants to work towards baptism!! what a blessing. She used to be atheist and practice witchcraft, but she now believes in God and wants to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. So we will see how it goes :)

This Thursday we had zone conference and Elder Weeks and I gave training to 3 zones on asking inspired questions, it went really good. Then when we came home we were able to visit Doug Olson, we will keep loving and serving him.

This Saturday we had a movie night at the church and the members are now going to use this for their missionary work, so they are all going to invite one friend out to movie night. It was an OK turn out we had a less active family come out and the Branch President, but it was better than nothing. So we are going to keep doing it and see where it takes us.

This week has been good we are still just trying to get people to church believe it or not. I honestly think that this is the hardest area I have ever had.....4 months of the same thing getting people back to church. We have made huge progress. I have been discouraged and have felt like I just want to give up, teaching less actives is harder than teaching investigators.....I have felt defeated in so many ways, like nothing is working. But I know that this gospel is true and pure and I know that God is always there. Because when we feel like nothing is working, is when things start to work.

In Mormon chapter 9:20-21 it says

 20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust 

21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

I still give it my all everyday and I still will give 100% even if things do or don't turn around, whatever Heavenly Father's will is.

I have seen miracles that I cannot deny. I have seen people change their lives, and I have seen my life change. I know that this is the only true church on the earth no matter how bold that sounds, it is true. and people need what we have.

I know that Jesus Christ lives. Joseph Smith did restore the gospel on the earth.

All is Well :)

-Elder Clark

Week #50

 

This week was.....really really odd. Like nothing happened. We had to travel and go on exchanges with some of the district leaders in our zone, and when we got back we only had like Friday, Saturday and Sunday to work in our area.  And only 3 people came to church on Sunday, well actually 5 if you count President Tovey and President Jensen. We only had 1 member and 2 less actives as our audience. I was pretty mad and frustrated actually because I have just been trying and trying with these less actives and man Satan is just pulling out the big guns and people are using their agency. But I told myself that there is no point in being frustrated or complaining. So it just means that this week I will have to just work work work!  But we already have a bunch of things going this week!

 

 Tuesday we have  church tours set up so hopefully people come to that and then this Saturday is the big movie night and we will be watching One Man's Treasure, we just need to get people out to these activities.

 

While on exchanges I went to go stay with some other elders because one of the elders was struggling with a lot of different things going on. As I sat down with him I just asked him some questions and he told me that he doesn't know if any of this is true and said that he wants to believe it but  he has never felt the spirit ever in his life. I listened to him and asked some more questions and then taught him. But yet he was still struggling with all of his questions and he just wanted to give up and go home. So I testified of The Book of Mormon and said "I know this gospel is true so lets pray about it elder." So we all prayed and I said a prayer. I was shaking in my boots like crazy I was praying so hard to myself just hoping that he would receive an answer. I was scared to be honest. Then he prayed and  asked god if he was just there for him and to feel his hand in his life, and I told him to just wait and listen to your feelings. We waited for 10 minuets just silent. He was crying, the spirit was so strong in there and then he looked up and said " I don't know what to think" I thought to myself oh no.....but then he goes on to say that all of his life he has always had these different things going on in his mind and he has just never been able to get rid of them and that it has always given him trouble and has scared him, and then he said when I was done praying everything just left and he felt so much peace enter into his mind and has never had that before, but didn't  know if that was the spirit. I testified that it was and then we all rejoiced with one another just like in D&C 50:22

  "  22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together."

 

That is neat that Taylor is serving in Ohio for a bit! that will be good for her :) I have no idea how long they will keep me here for....so we will see.

 

I know that god answers prayers, and I know that when we get frustrated... it's because we are trying to do it all on our own. Sometimes we just have to realize that it is in someone elses hands. I do know that The Book of Mormon is true and that Joesph Smith was a prophet of god.

 

Love you so much mom and love all of you

All is Well

-Elder Clark :)

Week #49

 

Well I don't really know how to explain how crazy our week was, but I will try.

 

On Tuesday we had our zone training meeting, Elder Weeks and myself had the idea to do like a TRC (teaching resource center) situation like in the MTC. So we did our portion on Listening in chapter 10 of PMG, (Preach my gospel) and what we did was  have less actives and members come and pretend to play investigators, and so the missionaries had the opportunity to teach these people. One of our less active member Grad Wagner brought 2 of his non member friends, their names were Paige and Chris. Paige told me that she was only here for the food and didn't care about religion. She even told me that she was an atheist, and that she was going to let the elders have it with all the questions she has. I said perfect, just be yourself haha. So the elders are teaching her and she just starts crying and they invited her to come to church and she said yes! hah. Later that day however...Brad Wagner's wife's brother Joe, shot himself in Brad's house....Paige and Chris were very good friends with Joe. It was weird for me too because I was just talking to Joe 3 weeks ago and he was wanting to change his life and now all this happened. So later that day we went to go visit Brad and we gave him a Priesthood blessing and then gave Paige a blessing as well...she was crying at the end of the blessing and we were able to teach her and her boyfriend, and now they are new investigators. What a miracle, her view of God has totally changed.

We went to Kenora on exchanges this week and we got up at 4:30 in the morning and went fishing!  I caught like 2 fish and another elder caught a big Bass and so we cut them open and then had a fish fry for lunch ha.

 

Some other crazy stuff has been happening....we taught a less active who hasn't been to church in 15 years and he came to church this Sunday. We had a good turn out this Sunday we were close to getting 20 people there, but Satan pulled out the big guns! I just got out of a Branch Presidency meeting and it was good, I brought up the idea of doing a movie night every Saturday. The members are so on board and so I hope they invite their friends!. President Tovey is so on board for member missionary work. Their is a harvest about to happen! We kind of have a youth group going. On Wednesday we have 6 non member young men coming out to play basketball, so hopefully we can start teaching their family.

 

So we taught a former Branch President and his wife, and we invited them to church and they said yes...I was so shocked. When Sunday came around, they didn't show up....I was Ticked! my goodness. Luckily we have to Osters coming back and brother Oster wants to be in charge of the movie night, so that is good he wants to get involved with missionary work.

 

Other than that this week has just been crazy with Joe and everything. I'm just ready to go out and keep giving it all that I can. We have a goal of getting 23 people to church this week, so I'm ready to hit the streets!

 

 

Well honestly it feels unreal that I have been out here a year....it is going way to fast mom. It is so hot and humid here......it's like you freeze all winter and sweat all summer there is no in between.

 

I know that the power of the Priesthood is real, that God is really there, that Jesus Christ extends his arm to all. This gospel is true, this church is the only true church....and I know all of this to be true.

 

All is Well:)))

-Elder Clark

About Robert

Just wanted to say that Robert will have been out for one year on July 11th. I have seen this boy grow so much because of his choice to serve a mission. I am very proud of him and the man he has become. Canada is lucky to have him for one more year.

Love from his Mother, Kay