Dear Eryone!

This week has been mad awesome! I got to go to the temple and I got to
talk to a lot of awesome people. Some pretty ghetto people and some
super cool people. A lot of the ghetto peeps are super cool though.
They are really respectful of us. They say stuff like "you guys are so
godly" and then they walk into their liquor store or corner store to
buy junk that's against the word of wisdom or light a cig or
something... Haha but people are awesome!

I feel like so many people are trapped because of the lifestyle they
have chosen to live. It's super hard... It's not easy for them to get
out but especially when they don't do anything about it!

We have to act in order to have our faith be made perfect and also in
order to receive the blessings of the Atonement.

We had a super sweet meeting with President Sanchez and we set some
goals and made some super sweet plans to bring to pass miracles of
bringing people closer to Christ! Were going to have monthly
activities as a branch and monthly missionary activities also. Maybe a
few movie nights or something. We will also do some game nights and
some life size Jenga and fun stuff like that! We are going to start
working a lot closer with the members and I'm pretty pumped to do
that! I love the members and I need to love them more! Member visits
are huge!

In regards to missionary work done... We have done a lot of lookups
but not much success with that. We have also done a lot of talking to
people and not too much with that yet. However I think we will be able
to start teaching this one Hindu guy! So that's pretty cool! I love
being surrounded by and talking to people of many different cultures!
It makes for good conversations and a lot to learn!

So that's my update for this week! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Much love and much to love!

Love,
Elder Tyler Clark

 Today at 6:07 AM
So... I'm now in Richmond Hill Queens! Ya buddy!

Despite my kinda joking attitude when I first got here that I have to
walk so much more, that it's super loud, and simply that it's not Long
Island... I am loving it here!

I have really enjoyed this chance I have to be serving almost an extra
chunk of mission right now! My group has now gone home! All of my
buddies in the mission are leaving and it's sad! But it will be
interesting being the oldest missionary in the mission (total time
wise) for the next 4 months... Until I get home... Haha but because
this time is extra in a way I feel like it's a blessing so I have
decided and am already working harder and being less in my comfort
zone then before! Because there's no growth in the comfort zone and no
comfort in the growth zone! I'm hoping to really focus on my
companionship and myself personally improving! I know that when we
focus on lifting ourselves spiritually, we lift others spiritually
also! It brightens up the place! :)

SOOO... People spawn differently than LI here... I'll be completely
honest with that... There are some super cool people like our branch
president... And there are a lot of people you meet in the street that
must've had crazy lives! But it's super fun to hear/learn from them!

So this week I... Had to deal with the rental car... Last few trips
with my half sized car... I was able to fearless a person in English,
Spanish, and creole in the last few days... Taught somebody from
Guyana... talked to a lot of different Spanish cultures... Carried a
cinderblock 13 blocks... Tried to help a lady get her bed out of her
house... didn't work... Ate some great Jamaican food... Brought random
people from the street to our branch BBQ... Played some volleyball
there... In the parking lot... Played some ukelele hymns in some
lessons :) legs got super tired... Slept really well! Got hot... Had a
few "only in New York" moments... Almost walked into the background of
them filming Special Victims Unit of Law and Order... They filmed it
pretty close to our church building which is kinda close to our pad!
Talked to a lot of drunk people... I ride the subway constantly now!
The J and Z train... Hence where JayZ got his name...how neat is that?
That's Pretty Neat... Ate some pretty prime sandwich from a
cornerstore while talking to a pretty cool yet a little (K a lot)
ghetto lady from Brooklyn... Also we have part of Brooklyn and Queens
in our area so I've officially served in Staten Island, Brooklyn,
Queens, and Long Island :) Super cool! Loverly! Been Preached to in
the subway by a Subway preacher! He was actually super good! He was
talking about what it means to be a real Christian by loving each
other. He'll be a great member of the church one day! Found dollar
slice pizza place! We bargained with him to get a sample of the
breakfast pizza if we spread the word! I am pretty happy with the last
week. It was fun and adventurous... Had a scare... Thought there was
an invisible subway train screeching it's breaks right in front of
me... Ended up being a bus from underneath the station... I felt
rediculous looking around going "what the freak is happening?!" I'm
serving in the same district as one of Amy's friends elder L... I'm also super close with elder C. My companion is
a champ! He is good with memory and organization so that is super
nice! Especially when I'm roaming around queens not knowing which way
is up... But my closet is organized and I feel like I'm a lot more
mentally organized then what I was... Hey the sun is getting to me...
I may get a nice farmers and white shirt tan line... Maybe a watch tan
also... Idk... It'll be fun!

How Missionary Work Blesses Lives...

Well first of all... Any missionary work that anyone does is giving
others the opportunity to grow in their faith, knowledge, and truly to
come closer and build their relationship with their Heavenly Father,
thus preparing to enter in his presence after this life.

On the mission... Our purpose is:
"To invite others to come into Christ, by helping them receive the
restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,
repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
enduring to the end"

We declare repentance. We are inviting people to repent or change the
way they are and were in order to help them improve, get on the path,
and have the spirit with them. The spirit is what blesses us with joy,
it is what blesses us with love, it is what blesses us with peace and
comfort, and it is what blesses us with direction. Only when we have
the spirit with us are we entitled to these eternal feelings.

So missionary work is blessing others in that way. By inviting them,
It gives them the agency to choose joy now and in eternity, instead of
them being damned(stopped in progression) because they don't know
where to go, or even instead of them getting in worse and worse
standings with The Lord. It is giving them the opportunity to change
and follow Heavenly Father, who will help us fulfill the purpose or
measure of our creation to become like the Savior. It gives them the
decision to change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ by obedience
to the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Doctrine of Christ) or laws and
ordinances of the Gospel.

Doing this edifies us as the missionary and them also of course. This
is the way God has set the world up. The whole vision of Heavenly
Father is done by the small and simple things, by simple (sometimes
small... Like in my case... Not Jeff's) and imperfect beings... Our
responsibility is to "lift where we stand" by love and concern for our
fellow men around us. If we all let our light shine and do so in the
area we are, collectively and naturally we will raise the
enlightenment of all around us throughout the world.

Missionary Work seems to be a scary phrase... But missionary work is
simply the spirit of charity or love towards one another. If we love
our neighbor as ourselves we will desire that they are happy. We know
that the most complete joy comes from living the Gospel, so intern we
will somehow and in some way invite them to follow the Gospel. One
simple invitation could mean eternal happiness for one of Gods
children... It's worth it! It's worth the fear! If you do it out of
love and humility with confidence in the testimony you have, you
cannot fail. Whether they accept or reject it will only do them and
you good.

Hey eryone!

This week... Well the best part of this week was when an investigator
that had walked into the church and I was blessed to help out a little
bit to point her in the right direction was able to get baptized!!!
I've been so excited for her! She's super pumped to get confirmed next
week! I keep loving and loving baptism more and more... It's a huge
blessing for us to be able to access the cleansing/redeeming power of
the Atonement! I'm trying to learn more about the enabling power as
well! But I'm grateful for it!

We had a super cool lady named Rosa we have been in contact with from
Dominican Republic that only speaks Spanish come to church Sunday and
she LOVED how she felt but was really sad that she couldn't understand
anything... So we told her we would help her learn English and she was
soooooo excited about that that she grabbed both of our arms and
walked through the hallway going "I'm so happy! My teachers! English!"
That was right after she learned the word 'Saturday'. We had been
wanting to start an English class anyways but she helped give us
another reason for it! We had a miracle Korean girl from our ward come
back from her mission to Argentina! She bore her testimony in Spanish
and Rosa cried. It was awesome!

So this is the last week of this transfer and I'm not excited for
things to change... Hopefully they don't!!! I love our district!
Transfers.......... Why..... Oh well! Hopefully whatever happens i
will love it! Come what May and love it right?!?!

So were still going to he beach out on Fire Island for P-Days...
That's fun... Got some volleyball and beach soccer in yesterday! So
fun!

I got a sweet rental car... Which most of you know about haha :) it's
a cute lil car. :)

So personal progression update...
I have been blessed recently in the last week or so to have help from
Heavenly Father to remember what I need to and check off the things I
needed to on my to-do list. We have been working on studies and I know
that studying consistently and well will bring the spirit fast. It
pulls your day together in a oneness... It provides a solid foundation
for the day. It brings stability that we need to not go insane!! So
that's my positive update!

Thanks for all you guys do! Thanks so much for the birthday package!
The other Elders have been loving it(haha you know how it goes ;) )
And I didn't tell you but I have been loving the ukelele!!! I'm about
to learn some sweet missionary songs from an RM (Served in England,
Chinese speaking!!) but I have been so excited about it! District
Meeting at its finest! I also started a lesson with a song last week
and it was awesome... I'm looking to do that more now! Music brings
the spirit so well! Shall be the best!

Love ya tons!
Love,
Elder Tyler Clark