Hey family!! So a lot has gone on in the last few weeks and at the
same time not much different! It's been hard for me for the last
little bit for some reason to be obedient! I have not enjoyed the
struggle but I have been working on it and slowly it's improving! It's
hard because right when I got super excited to work for my last 6
months Satan had gotten pumped as well! So I'm working to overcome and
improve!

However at the same as that has been happening... I have felt so much
assurance and comfort in becoming who I need to be to stay strong when
I get home, to eventually provide spiritually and physically for a
family, and then even more eventually to return home to Heavenly
Father. I have a lot of confidence in my future regardless of my
current weaknesses. And hey who knows whether those weaknesses will
still show themselves in my future or not but either way it will all
work out. Heavenly Father takes care of each of us physically as we
strive to take care of ourselves spiritually. :) Seriously though the
comfort has been really really nice.

Interesting News... During Presidents interviews... My companionship
became the go-to companionship for teaching YSA males that the sisters
would need help with... So I just became a YSA Branch missionary
again! Yay! And it was cool because last week a lady came to church
saying that she had been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon
for 2 months and she felt like it was right and she was super pumped
on life :) and then this past Sunday... There were 2 guys that came in
interested to learn more! One because he's dating a member, and
another because a girl in the ward brought him. They are both super
cool and I'm excited to have lessons with them!

It's pretty fun to teach... Especially when it runs super smoothly and
When it's a learning experience all around. A lot of times I
understand things better after I teach it. So I enjoy digging deeper
and deeper into the Doctrine of Christ as I teach!

I went to the beach yesterday and got sunburnt... It stings a lil
bit... We also played rugby... That was fun again! We decided that
whether you scored or got scored on... It was a nice tri/try. So no
matter what... All the missionaries will say "nice try!" on both teams
ha :) it's kinda fun knowing enough about rugby to teach them all!

I've been learning to love the members here a lot more. It will be
hard to leave Plainview! But it's weird to think that this is the
longest I have stayed in one area! This is finishing 5 transfers here
(so 7-1/2 months about) and who knows! Maybe I'll end up dying
(leaving for home) here! I hope so! That would put me at 1 year in
Plainview! If not... I hope to make my next area the BEST area ever!
Can you believe that after this one I have 3 transfers left... Yikes

Thanks for all your support and prayers. It really means a lot to me!
Love you all!
Elder Clark

It has been a crazy week. I lost the phone on Tuesday (I didn't even notice because Elder Wood never let me carry the phone haha). So Elder James and I had fun being stuck without a phone for a couple of days. We found it on Thursday though!!!!!! I had dropped it in our Ward Mission Leader's car. He searched the car over and over before then and couldn't find it, but when Elder James and I prayed we both felt like it was in his car. We went there to look, and I remembered there was a box of wire sitting next to me where I may have dropped the phone. Sure enough, there was a really small opening in the box and somehow the phone fell right into it. That was pretty crazy. But I'm telling you, the Lord cares about the little things too, even the dumb mindless things I do haha.

We also have seen a lot of success teaching! Almost all of our investigators right now are pretty solid, and we are teaching almost 10 people again! What a blessing. The ward is really taking off too. I am excited for things happening here.

Elder James is from Mill Creek, UT, right by Sandy!!!! He went to Skyline high, and was a wrestler and football player. Just to give you an idea of how awesome he is, he was 180 pounds and played CENTER in football. Like the man who throws the ball between his legs for those of you who went to public school. He is such a man that they wanted him to hit fat guys and protect the quarterback. So let's just say we have gotten some pretty good workouts in this week.

One of our new investigators is a retired high school football coach, so I don't think we will have a problem relating to him haha.

I don't have much to say, only that if you vote for me all of your wildest dreams will come true. Thank you.

<3 Elder Clark the younger

So times flying and it's really weird... If I had not gone home for
surgery I would have been going home this next transfer(meaning in 5
weeks)! I don't even know what to think! But I'm blown away!! All my
peeps are leaving and that's sad. Hopefully I can connect more with
the younger generation also :) That way I'm not just lost in time :)

Happy Late Easter! That's better than no happy Easter I guess ;) ha
but my Easter was fabulous :) I went to John and Amy's for dinner and
stayed there for awhile and we had a great time :) Amy cooked an
amazing meal that had like 500 courses... That's what it felt like
anyways! Haha I ate way WAYYYY too much but hey I was just preparing
for the crazy P-day I had yesterday. We went down to Montauk again! We
left at 3:20 am and drove the two hours there and took some nice beach
photos and skipped some rocks, the we had some good ol' Mcdonalds 2
for 3 breakfast sandwiches and drove the two hours back real quick :)
then of course the logical thing to do after something like that was
to not sleep and play rugby for a couple hours... Haha it was fun but
now I'm tired. Probably will be for the rest of my mission... Yay
life!

But I'm given the energy that I need when I'm obedient. I've seen that
over and over again. My life is directed according to my worthiness.
When I am working towards mine and others salvation... I am happy...
When I'm not working (aka reading, praying, improving, changing) I'm
not as happy. Trials don't have to determine our happiness, we do. And
how? "they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the
great Mediator of all men" (2 Nephi 2:27) then "ye should consider on
the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of
God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and
spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received
into heaven" (Mosiah 2:41) ... Hmmm... Sounds nice. It's a blessing
given "by obedience to the laws and ordinances in the Gospel"
(Articles of Faith 3). :) so DO IT! And help others to do it! That's
an invitation to you by Jesus Christ himself and by many many
representatives of Him. :)

Thank you so much for the package!!! I have been LOVING IT! And
hating it because operation fit in pants is partially on hold as I eat
my candies ;) Apparantly Riles is the only one that cares about my
health... You shoulda let him send a banana ;) haha jk :)  thank you! Love you mucho!
Love,
Elder Clark

Hello, :)

So I just went to the temple for my year and 6 month mark trip...
(DIS-GUS-TING) That means I have one more to go... That's the one that
happens the week before I'm home. It's the beginning of all my "lasts"
in the mission. But it's a new fresh start to hit my "first"s! I'm
pretty pumped! I had a little bit of a rough patch this week but I
found strength again through relying on Christ.

Wow I'm super tired... Ha but aren't we all??! Haha :)

I'm super excited for conference though! It's amazing how much focus
there has been on the Hastening of the Work in our ward, stake, and
world really haha :) we had an awesome ward council yesterday with
bishop focusing almost completely on the work of salvation. We were
able to present this new thing were starting that has all the people
that we are working with, all the members, and their needs and info on
them on a google doc. This is shared with all the members of the ward
council and we are able to have a little bit better coordination with
the ward and Bishop told the ward counsel that he is trying to figure
out how to get the missionaries and members more involved with each
other. So that is super super awesome! I'm excited about it!

So we spend some time last week working on that. However we have been
able to meet a lot of new people and the people we are teaching and
coming closer to Christ so that brings me to this state of PURE JOY!
:D:D

A buddy of mine now who was an investigator for the YSA sister
missionaries in my district got baptized yesterday. That was really
really powerful. He said "Because of this baptism, I have felt an
inner peace that I have never felt before". I truly have become a fan
of the ordinance of Baptism done in the Power of God for the remission
of sins. It's a really special opportunity to access the Atonement of
Jesus Christ and become clean, new, refreshed, and start our new life
of commitment to Christ! It is such a simple and sacred act that does
us all so much good. I want to urge you to continue following the
gospel of Jesus Christ by having faith, repenting, making and keeping
covenants forever. This is what brings promised blessings and allows
you to stand in the presence of Heavenly Father and love it.

A member of the YSA ward here bore his testimony yesterday also and he
mentioned that God's side of the covenants is always helping us to
keep our side of the covenant. That's amazing if we think about it. We
are doing nothing to "repay" God but we are doing everything to bring
about his purpose to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of
US, His children.

Love you all! Thanks for all that you do! Go out and do whatever your
promptings say!

Love,
Elder Tyler Clark