Dear Mother Dear y mi familia!

Thanks for sending your love through the air and through prayer! I feel it! :) So things are going really well! We are blessed! A and B just got married on saturday and baptised on sunday! It is crazy go nuts! They are some of the coolest people ever! They will totally be strong members! They will raise their family in righteousness and have the happily ever after everyone looks for! That is what is in store for all of us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Families are FOREVER! I love saying that and thinking about it because I love our family so much! We have been blessed to have such a happy family!

So this week has been extremely busy with planning and setting up everything for the wedding and baptism! It was a stressful but blessed experience! But luckily and by tender mercies it actually went pretty well! Elder A and I were bridesmaids... I mean Groomsmen or whatever ;) And other than that we only had to sit and enjoy the amazing spirit of it! I guess I was DJ also... But we were in charge of everything... I mean EVERYTHING! It was a good experience I am definitely a wedding planner now... Leave it to me and A!

It is crazy how fast this time has gone... I have less than two more weeks before the end of this transfer! YAY for 2/17ths of my mission! ;)  That is the good news and the bad news... Times flying by and I can't stop it! I can't believe it! So good news! Remember C? She moved her baptismal date up to the 9th of September so that she could make sure that Elder A and I could be there! Because weirdly enough one of us could get transfered but hopefully not! We also have D planned for the 9th! YAY! We have been blessed again! Hopefully they all stay strong! They should though! I don't think either of them are sketchy... C is extremely strong and has been for a long time and then D is strong a lot because of E; with this new job will be able to come to church! So he hopefully will be able to baptize her! That will be super awesome and special if he can! I love these people! I love Staten Island... It'll be hard to ever leave here... Leaving the mission is going to be a hard hard experience let me tell you that in advance. :)

So remember how I thought I was going spanish speaking? Well I have this big desire to learn spanish so I am learning a lot from my buddy Elder F! I have learned Nuestro Objectivo y Tratare Aprender mas! :) I have a pretty good fearless ready in spanish! I'm practicing! :) I really am learning a lot and it is fun! I kinda want to go to a zebra area (where they teach all investigators whether spanish or english) just to try it out!

Before I forget can you give me Erin and Bryan Lindleys address because I accidentally through away their address... I need it... They sent me an AMAZING watch and I NEED to thank them! :)

So I have this goal to not be afraid to talk to anyone ever! It's a work in progress but I believe I am improving! Someday! through the atonement I will humble myself and be good at it! :) I love the spirit! I have never been a happier person than the times on my mission where I have the spirit with me and where I am doing God's work like I should and being obedient! If I truly learn that it will make for a jolly ol' mission! ;)

Mom, How is preschool going?

I miss you all! But just so you know LOVE MULTIPLIES! Youre ability to love never ends there are no limits!! Eternal Truth rat ther! :) I love you!

Look to your patriarchal blessings for advice! I love you! when you meet someone who can't smile give them one of yours!(Quote from our AP Elder M(he was my Zone Leader)) :) Just be happy! There are a lot of blessings that come from it! :)

Also, there is some exciting news on the spreading of the Gospel Worldwide! 4 Elders came to our mission who are waiting for their visa to head to Turkey! They will be the first four missionaries in a Muslim country! :) Super cool! They must be stud missionaries to because 2 of them are being trained by the AP's themselves! I fearlessed four kids speaking Uru(sp unknown) who have been here less than 4 years from Pakistan! That was cool!

Love,

Elder Clark

Hi Mother Dear!
Update on the Work...

D and T are getting married on Saturday and baptised on Sunday! YAYYYYY!! They are soooo awesome and they will be friends for ETERNITY! I love them so much oh my goodness I can't wait for them to get sealed... But anyways I never thought that i would be a wedding planner... ahhaha we are doing a lot to prepare for that... and bishop is marrying them.

A is honestly one of the funniest people on this earth. She is this big black lady who is getting baptised finally on Sept 9th. It was really funny hearing her rant on about how she loves to cook for us because she says "I'm fat (grabbing her stomach) and we fat people like to eat, we always eatin, mmm so gooo(d implied)" and also when she talks about how she is the best at domino's and how she can't lose. Oh gosh she is awesome. She always calls me "Brotha Clark"

B is still doing really well and she is on set to be baptised in november because that's when P (her hubby; Less Active Member)'s job gets a lighter load but she might be able to move it up because he just got two offers at these sweet job's... (he's extremely smart and he used to make smart houses)

So ya those are the baptismal dates were working with but I still hope that D will have a spiritual witness that he needs to get baptised real soon... hes a dry mormon basically... But I'm sure I told you he is one of my favorite people ever! He is a funny as heck Dominican guy... We connect really well though so he is gonna be an eternity long friend as well. Especially when he finally gets baptised.

We have been playing Monopoly Deal after were done planning at nights and that's a really fun game :)

Oh also I got pulled over the other day... did I ever tell you how much I hate(using bible terms for love less ;)) NYPD cops? They are reeediculous... They always turn on their lights just to get through traffic or a red light and then turn them off... they just don't appeal to me because they think they are above the law... (also I'm sure not all are this way just some) But anyways I got pulled over when I was going the speed limit on a 25 mph street and three cops surrounded my car... They basically just played off a serious faced "license and registration" then I said "what did I do?" He said "excuse me?!" and I said "okay" and gave him them but he was asking is this your car and then I told him we were missionaries and he asked for proof that we were missionaries and I had left my ministerial card at the pad and he look at me then looked at the papers and said these are expired and looked at the next ones and then he basically threw them back in the car and said "get outta here and get your brake light fixed" I was unhappy with the way that went... haha but whatever...

Things here are still going really well though and I STILL AM IN LOVE WITH MY MISSION AND NEW YORK!!! i can't wait to bring family or friends! It will be a blast! I have this really really great desire to go home and be soooooo much better! To be a better person! I'm excited to plan for everyday and be more prioritized after my mission and have higher standards! I'm telling you this because I need everyone to hold me to this! :)

I'm trying to think if I have any other things to tell you... It's easy when you ask me questions! I have a lot of stories I just also have a terr-ee-blay memory... haha So let me know if you have any questions! I love you Mom, Dad, Jeffy, Riley, Kyle, and Austin!! Youre the best! Family is soooo important so remember that! I am super excited to learn and grow with you guys for eternity! (sounds like a heck of an eternity!) Remember that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. Basic but powerful.

I love you!
Elder Clark

Oh my gosh Mom and Family that sounds like it has been soooooo much fun! I want to meet these Japanese girls! :) I'm glad that went well and that Riley didn't sleep through the whole time haha :) That is so cool! Thanks for the updates on the friends :) Good to hear! OOOOOhhhhhhh! I'm so so so so glad Kyle is doing training with Chris! I'm sure they are having a blast! Tell Chris he needs to come to church with you guys since he never came with me... haha and tell him to write me or give me his address ok? :)

 

Haha funny funny those olympic athletes are the real deal! No lil wanna be good Elder Clark C-word(parc spelled backwards) But thanks again for the olympic update/final scores and stuff! Thats cool I will definitely have to watch more of it in 4 years! haha :) I'm blessed to not have a huge interest though... It's kind of interesting how even with playing street ball with people before my mission sounded like the most fun I'd have on my mission and now that I'm on my mission I truly wouldn't even care if I did that at all or not! It's way weird but I know it is good! Because I still love the work soooo much!

 

Good (ummm excuse me) GREAT news! There is one of my favorite members A who is in our ward who has this couple staying with him and they are getting married on the 25th of this month and baptized on the 26th! sooooooooooooooooooo exciting! They have been ultra ultra ultra prepared and they will forever be best friends with me! They are definitely going to be strong in the church and everything! I am soooooo pumped! I can't wait for them to be sealed in the temple! I love teaching people about the plan of salvation and the restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I just love love love teaching! It brings me greater joy than basically anything... I just get so excited to teach prepared people the messages because it is the most exciting news ever! And so many don't know it and don't want to know it! THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND! Gally!

 

But anyways I don't have much time very very sadly but I got to go to the temple on Saturday! That was super sweet! I got to baptise Elder C and Confirm A for his grandfather! That was the coolest thing ever! :) AHHH the Gospel is so good!

 

One thing struck me really really hard this week and I LOVE IT! It's about our purpose for life... I have never looked at it this way at all but I was blessed by the spirit to gain some knowledge and perspective! First of all I have told you about how God's purpose, our purpose, and our purpose as missionaries are all the Doctrine of Christ(Gospel) and I understood it pretty well I thought until I learned this... I listened to a talk on Grace by Brad Wilcox(i think...) and it is amazing I recommend it! But I gained the knowledge that what God's purpose is, is to make us the best that we can become! He wants us to be as perfect and christlike as we possibly can! that is the whole reason for the Plan of Salvation; so we can progress and become the best us we can be! It is through the Doctrine/Gospel of Jesus Christ that we do so! It is not so much as a checklist of "oh did you get baptised? Confirmed? Sealed? Did you stay worthy? Oh I am sorry to tell you that you missed it by 2 points(thats from Wilcox rephrased)" This life is a time for refining, It is a lifelong process of using the Atonement to perfect us! Christ is begging us to use him and his sacrifice to make us better! There is no room to let Satan control your guilty thoughts to make you feel unworthy! It is so important that we understand as soon as we have sinned or made any mistake, Christ is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to let us use his Atonement to completely change and turn us into the best we can be! That's what this is all about and that is why the church is organized in the way it is, the reason that everything happens in life and in the church, and everything is based on the truth of necessity and excitement to progress! So never ever get down on yourselves! Just progress! that is honestly where the most love and fun and joy happens! Don't get caught up in the things of the world because even if you or I died this instant or supposedly lost everything beforehand, that is of no matter. We need to be focused on building the Kingdom of God and not Building our earthly tower! Soon enough that tower along with our mortality will break! But progress and becoming Christlike will never sieze! :) I love you all sooooooo much! I want you to know I am not a perfect missionary by any means as you could all imagine and I will never ever claim to be, however I am sooooooo happpy to have gained more knowledge and love for the work to keep me working and busy on becoming like Christ! If I can help a few others on my mission other than myself, how great would be my joy but a mission honestly is designed so that progress can be made at a higher and more eternally powerful pace so that is what I look forward to for the rest of my mission (however selfish that may be) But I know that in this process we are meant to help others in the process as well! It is a glorious and amazing plan! So keep on it! Remember the little things such as prayer, prayer in repentence, Sacrament, reading scriptures, and all the primary answers because they as well are meant to make us more Christlike! So many great tools to chisel us into a beautiful statue! :) Keep up the good work I love you all! Thanks for sending me on this mission! I hope you feel the blessings for it! And Thank you for teaching me how to serve and work hard. You did well!  I love you all! Cheers!

 

Love,

 

Elder Clark

 

Hi Mother Dearly Beloved! And Family and Everyone!

So I just feel good right now. Thank you Holy Ghost! The holy ghost gives you glimpses of your eternal happiness. I don't know where I got that from but its true! :) And Silly Mom missionary work is not just for us 20 year old kids! It's mostly for members! Sure we may be the backbone of missionary work but members are like the heart and soul!! Member referrals and member fellowshippers truly are what makes people comfortable and makes them stay comfortable. If they just had the missionaries the work would be trouble! When a ward reaches out to them as a ward family it is a night and day difference in the hearts of the investigators and the opinion towards the church! N (investigator w/ baptismal date) told us that nobody talks in the catholic church and that she went to church for 15 years consistantly and no-one knew her name. So sad. It's nothing against the catholic church or any church but it just makes me grateful that we have ward families and we truly are blessed to understand that we are all children of God! 

I got the opportunity this week to go street ball contacting twice with some of the Children! So fun! But oh my gosh we were so not smart and we did it half an hour before our dinner appointment the other day and so we were EXTREMELY sweaty.... It's humid... were in white shirts, black slacks and ties... and black nametags (its gotta make some difference right?) ;) But it was funny because we had to use these napkins that we bought for a barbeque that we did with two couples to wipe our faces, pits and all with in a quick dryoff session. But then after we had cooled off, we walked outside and into their house and we were almost as sweaty when we got in the door... I felt way bad being that way for dinner but its whatever... Their house was a little toasty as well so that didn't quite help it.. haha but he is a convert and he was called to be a bishop five years later and he was like really? and he prayed about it and asked for a sign and he opened his scriptures and he turned to "seek ye first the kingdom of God" and then he closed it and reopened it and it went there again. So cool! I love hearing these peoples stories! They fed us ponset (not ponse sorry haha) the phillipino pasta stuff... Its really good though! I love new york pizza as well... Greasiest most wonderful pizza ever. It's all about Pronto's pizza!  Oh and its weird how much rain we get here.... I don't understand... It has thunderstormed like 2-3 days in the last week. Then there was a tornado north of us! So weird! And then its really hot the rest of the time... This was my last week in the transfer... 1 of 17 done! Crazy! I'm so excited to HR tomorrow (she comes in from MTC) and talk about what she is feeling right now because it feels like forever ago when I was scared to death of being and serving and talking to people in New York on my first day here... It's so weird that she is just now getting here... I feel adjusted already... But then again I'm adjusted to Staten Island missionary work... Not quite for Bushwick or any crazy place like that... haha :)

Also our District Leader D (knows Michael, he went to Timpview) is getting transfered out and I think they are putting another set of English Missionaries on Staten because we have some areas that we just don't even work much because we don't have time really... We are pretty busy so it will be nice to be able to focus on a specific area and investigators because our list of people to worry about is growing... haha but we LOVE them all!!!! :) And I know that C and I are staying here but the Elder R and his new companion are going to live in the other Staten Pad(apartment) I know because they have already moved! It's so sad I am going to miss them... But anyways its going to be weird having another set of missionaries in the ward! They are probably going to be the Zone Leaders because the Zone Leaders are getting Blinded Out(mission term when both are leaving... blinding in is when two new missionaries get put in an area neither knows)! But Golly Jeepers things are crazy around here! Haha :) President Calderwood did all the transfers all by himself! Usually the AP's help out a lot if not do most of it! So weird! It will be a fun transfer meeting seeing what goes on tomorrow.

Also I thought it was funny that we went up to knock this door the other day and this was about to walk out basically wearing a bikini and a veil type dress thing and she was scared and said "oh my gosh! I was about to go to the beach and all of a sudden two se... handsome men show up at my door step looking all nice!" haha then Crabtree accidentally said "well we would love to come over sometime (insert my palm to my own forhead here) I mean we are missionaries we would love to talk to you about Christ" hahahah I almost died... But she is a Greek Orthodox (i didn't even know it existed anymore haha) so she didn't even take a card... lame right?

I finally had a straight up like I imagined New York accent for a dinner appointment! They had a Baubecue and she had her mother, and her 42 year old son and she called her mother "ma" like she wase a little girl but shese older! It was hilarious oh my gosh I loved their accents... They called the hot Dooahgs Franks and everything! Born and raised New Yourkens! So great! we got caught at there house during what was supposed to be a bad storm with 60 mph winds and everything!

Also I kinda spent too much on food... I only had like $1.88 left on my mission card... I hope that taught me my lesson of budgeting... I feel like it did because I will do SOOOOO much better this next month... but I was blessed so much with this... It was a really cool experience for me because I was thinking that I was going to have to just eat Eggo waffles and oatmeal for the next 2 weeks because I still had some of that... But I was super blessed to have a dinner appt that night at the B (by the way it was probably the most delicious pasta I've ever had) and they have a tradition of giving missionaries 2 bags and letting us bombard their pantry... Talk about blessings! I got saved this time by pure tender mercy but I will work to not need that next time... haha :)

Oh and can you please please please please update me on my friends and their mission calls? I still don't know where Tanner and Taylor are going or Shawn Gandola... I just got a letter from Keri that talked about how they are all leaving soon and it was just a tease to not know where! haha but I guess patience is something I need to work on haha :)

A has been having a lot of trouble with her husbandand then also a recent convert B has no respect from her parents so she is trying to move out so if you could pray for them that would be great! Thanks!

Mom... thanks for teaching me how to paint... We painted a less active members bathroom on saturday and it was sad to see how bad other missionaries did on that before us... haha :)

I gave a talk on sunday and I felt like I did really well because they actually laughed at the joke that I said towards the end of the talk so I guess they didn't fall asleep haha :) We have been told to focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I have really seen blessings because of it. I love that it outlines basically the purpose for life. What we need to do in this life is given directly from Jesus Christ and through living his example we can become like him! As we become like him and repent often our will changes and comes closer to the will of Christ whose will is one with the will of the Father! We someday shall be one with Christ as we continue to use the Gospel in our lives! Thats our goal! It is sooooo amazing! I hope you realize that I know that this is true with alllllllll of my heart! I love you all! I must exit the computer because i have 4 minutes on my timer! I love you!!!!! :)

Love,

Elder Clark

Dear Dizzie Deano Banino Papa Bearino and family,

 

I LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THE CHILDREN READING THE BOM! but the children love the books! (Elf Quote) That is soooo good and I'm sure it is awesome because truly when a family is living the Gospel they are happier and they are blessed in so many ways including family unity! So I know that it will bless us all! And me as well! Thanks for the updates DADDY! I love to hear from you that austin killed in his soccer tournament! And yes that was my most prized goal ever... lub it!

I eat at members houses A LOT here in Staten Island... We have dinner at a members house almost every night so that is really cool! Truly I have been blessed and not blessed (take it how you will) to have everything go by really fast... I have had like possibly one or two days that have seemed really long but every week goes by faster and faster and I want time to slow down. It is crazy! All the people praying for me is probably why it is going so fast... haha I am truly blessed with this opportunity to serve a mission. I love learning the scriptures, messages, to teach by the spirit, confidence, and love. This is pretty much the best thing that has ever happened to me! Sure you are right I will definitely have times where the time goes slow... but not this first transfer and I suspect that I will be staying with Elder A in Staten for this next transfer as well since he is training me so I also expect that this transfer will go by really really fast as well! Especially because I have been blessed to have a few people that have been placed in my path prepared for baptism. I was able to be involved with a baptism commit for Samaria(black lady who came to church for the first time yesterday and loved it she has been telling people that she is getting prepared for baptism and to be an every sunday church goer), D  (black lady who can't read very well but is very very humble and has been prepared for us by God. She soaks everything up and believes every word we say), and E (wife of one of the smartest people I have ever met less active who wants to get baptised to raise her kids in the Gospel and she has been deciding this for like 4 or so years now but I feel blessed to be the first missionaries to teach her) in the last little bit of time and then we also have F (awesome hilarious black kinda ghetto lady with this gout on her leg :( but she is awesome and very commited to the Gospel) and G (11 year old stud athlete with less active mother who will most likely be reactivated) who will be baptised very soon! So with them and a few other hopeful commits we have a lot of people to teach so that is realllll fun! I think members are getting excited about missionary work (the life-blood of the church) so that is really awesome and fun to be a part of as well! So everything is going well for me but not because of me. I glory in the Lord my God as Alma and his brethren did! He is the reason this work is Glorious! I know that and I am blessed to be a part of it! I don't expect that the rest of my mission will be this laid out for me but I can only hope! ;) haha

 

But I have made some of the best friends while I have been here! One of my favorite people in the whole wide world is H a Forever investigator that is probably the funniest person I have ever met and I am sooooooooo excited to visit him after my mission with you guys(hopefully we can!!!) But I have high hopes that he will be able to be baptised! Someday he will regardless of the millions of times he has said I am NOT getting baptised! haha he is closer to baptism than he thinks... but anyways he is so funny.... He is from Dominican Republic.

 

And honestly Dad... Grandpa is the best. But I believe that your humility will get you there with him. As long as you continue using the atonement you will get there. It's a promise! :) I love you sooooooooooo much! :) Thanks for being such a great example to me DAD! :)

 

So a few fun updates...

 

Anoushka made us a sweet african style dinner with cooked bananas and DELICIOUS chicken with onions she put inside of it... so good...

 

We have a family mission plan that we are giving to a select few families to do some good missionary work! Members are crucial to missionary work! so keep it up.

 

Some lady came up to us and said "what are you selling?"  and I said "eternal life in happiness do you want some?" haha I thought I was pretty clever. We got her info and her name is I and she was really nice but shes moving to Brooklyn so she committed to go to church there! Hopefully that works out!

 

There was another intense Thunderstorm so that was kinda cool!

 

Also I should be sending you a few printed out pictures hopefully today but just to get you anticipating it I'll tell you now :)

 

I am learning some spanish but I have yet to give out a spanish pass along card "puedo darle una tarjeta por favor?! Somos las missioneros de la iglesia de JesuCristo de los Santos de los ultimos dias!" Stuff like that... Hopefully one of these spanish people will take a card! :)

 

We have been really utilizing the car... we have a lot of miles because Staten Island is a big area for here...

 

We have been able to play some basketball with J but we will probably go ghetto ball it up this week in the streets with all the hoops where the net is stolen... Ya know...

 

I made a lot of fruit smoothies to keep my diet healthy this last week... at least one a day... and I have made an awesome workout program that I am following pretty well because being in a car will make me fat otherwise... especially eating at members houses...

 

I am also starting to understand people a lot better. still a language barrier though...

 

I am so happy to be a missionary and I am excited for all my wonderful brothers to have this amazing opportunity as well! However I have realized missions in different places are all sooooo different!

 

I love my mission! I love you all and wish you all the best! Send mom this letter because I don't have time to write more sorrrrrryyyy....

 

Love,

Elder Clark

 

P.S. way to go through the garage and the office! good work! Hope the house can stay that clean! That would be realllllly impressive ;) But family projects are so fun... No matter how bad my attitude ever was it is always super fun!

Dear family,

 

Thank you so much for the emails! Mom... You have a busy busy busy busy life but i guess whats new? Hopefully Kyle and Austin should keep doing tennis! Thats another life goal! Convert people to tennis! Infact I got to hit with these two kids 13 and 11 years old who I saw playing and I went to talk to them and stuff so I got to hit a few balls and that was fun! Then the kid asked me what the purpose of life was and I wish I woulda said a more direct answer becuase I started to talk about how we dwelled with God before we came here to get a physical body and how we needed to learn and grow and the 11 year old said, "well mine is to Glorify God and Praise him forever!" I was like Sweet! me too! haha but the other one really was nice to me and he was like "keep going with this mission thing because I am Christian too and your doing Gods work" that was nice and cool to hear!  

 

Good luck with the preschool license mother! I just said a prayer right after I read it but I will continue to pray for you! I love you and your willingness to do so much for our family and sooooo many others. Youre service will be rewarded I promise you! Maybe you should take a night swim real quick after a good days work! :) But I'm right there with you I can't read a book or swim either except when I baptise and when I study BOM or something ;) haha however your work is definitely not as fun as mine so that is unfortunate...

Some of my mundanes... We eat a lot of random food... like a lot of curry chicken, some ponse(sp?), I am trying not to get huge so I set myself a workout program and I have been following it pretty well! but we get fed almost every night and I actually eat a good breakfast now so as I sit in a car its hard to keep off the gordoness... There are 4 in my pretty big apartment (biggest in the mission) and one of them is Michaels friend Elder A
so that has been super fun! The new MP is a stud! He is soooo on top of things and so organized and he is probably one of the most powerfull speakers and strong hearted people I have ever seen! It's really cool because he mixes love with a lot of expectations. But him and his wife love us already so much! mundanes mundanes mundanes... well I am getting a lot better at talking to people and not being scared at all! Thats been good and I'm confident so that's also good! I could definitely improve the simplicity of what I say... On P-days we play basketball, do laundry at a members house, write letters, get the car washed, and that usually fills our day... However much I like P-days really it's not something to look forward to... because normal days are so much more fun! The work will never get boring here... Elder B and I have been working hard and we have been blessed. We had 9 lessons last week, and a couple new people to teach. I was able to give my first baptismal commit and we had two in the last 3 days! These were both random and super unexpected but I guess this happens in the Lord's way and not our planned way! I am really excited to continue to try our best in the next transfer and hopefully the Lord will bless us with a lot of success because I know he can and most likely will! But let me tell you it is nothing that I am doing that is making things go well I do not glory in myself but I glory in the Lord! These people just needed to hear the gospel! He has blessed me with the opportunity to teach them

 

Thats so exciting that you are hosting a foreign exchange student! Does he know much english? How old is he?

 

I don't know if I told you but one of my favorite things about the mission so far has been the street sweeps where we hand out english classes cards to the chinese and spaniards! It is sooooooooo fun! Me-in Fay Ing-wan Baan! (free english classes in chinese) and I'd look under the umbrellas to these smiling older chinese folk and say Nee-how! and hand them the card. But gosh it is soooooo fun just talking to people and seeing how they respond!

 

By the way there is this sweet man right next to me right now that has a giant mustache going to his earlobes! He's a spaniard and his hair is gray it is amazing...

 

We are gaining the trust of members pretty well so that should help the missionary work a lot! We have been getting creative in the way that we hand out cards... its fun! I have ran by people on the boardwalk and giving them a jogging quick message, put cards in the basket of bikers, did car to biker hand off's, pulled over at bus stops and handed people cards, taught kids how to throw cards (crabtree's real good at it and im learning) and gave them the cards to give to their parents, walked along the boardwalk talking to people (so fun and scary but not after I lose myself) We have yet to join a ghetto basketball game but soon we will! I just wanna be careful to make sure the spirit tell's us to do that so I don't confuse it with what I want to do. But something I have learned is to let silence happen. Silence is great for the spirit! I am working on that! But anyways if you ever feel like you want to buy a whole bunch of EFY music and send it to me I wont get angry at all ;) Because I love it :) Everyday I get excited to have you all meet some of my new friends here! We always get this 20 year old reactivated soon to go on mission stud little man to come on splits with us and I love him like a son. even though he is older than me. Haha but he is so awesome and he will be a great missionary! It is going to be sooooooo weird coming back to normal life... I'm so glad that is over 22 months away I am scared to death of it! I hope I can still give a decent hug when I get back... I don't know at the moment... haha and it will be weird not being around ghetto people... they are truly somethin else! Oh and there are a lot of Jewish areas... Jewish towns... 

drivers here are mean. They don't like people I'm convinced... I've learned a lot about other religions so thats cool :) It's really interesting what they believe and why they believe it (they don't even know!! They need to ask God because he will tell us the truth!)

 

It's so fun to get to know the other missionaries here! They are awesome! I hope I can have a good effect here on them as well! I'm a baby... But it will go by soooooo fast as it already has! Life is really short and we aren't prepared for it! Thanks to God and Jesus Christ who love to help us out! Thats where we need to trust! I hope you know that the purpose of life is described in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our purpose in life is to focus on the atonement in the way that we live and emphasizing faith, repentence, baptism, recieving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end! It is an amazing, everlasting, real, and exciting plan for us! Endure it well! I love you all! Keep asking questions!

 

Love,

Elder Clark

Dear Mother and Family,

I love you all soooo much! Thanks for letting me be in such a wonderful family where I can have parents with wonderful faith, love, kindness, and charity. One thing that I have learned is that Charity is the greatest of all loves. When you serve one another as Mom did to serve Dad by taking Jeffy to Kansas you enable that greatest love to exist. That is the greatest thing you can do. Serving a mission is just that... Serving. This is the greatest gift of all because love is what makes it fun. Love is what makes it all worth it. Love is what drives me. And love is the strongest thing that could drive me. I know that the love that we have for each other is eternal and that it is a greater kind of love than any other. That because we love, we are happy. I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are the happiest people ever because of the immense love that they have and show for us. Seriously take a second to look around at your life, the things you've gone through, the experiences you have had, the joys of your life. Our Heavenly Father has blessed us soooooo much. What is the common theme with all those experiences you cherish? It is love. It is a gift and you don't need to pay for it with money. Just service and compassion. So that is what I have been focusing on out here!

It's been really cool because some of the best missionary opportunities come from serving people or simply by loving them. I learned this really well because about a week or so ago Elder A and I were driving on the packed freeway to get home ontime one night and there was someone stopped on the side of the road. We pulled over and did everything we could to help this person. And even though just helping him find the closest gas station was all that we could do I guess it had a great affect on him. We gave him a pamphlet because I am a greenie and forgot to grab pass-along cards and not too much later I had forgotten about that experience. yesterday we got a phone call. I answered and said "Hello this is Elder Clark" and this guy named B started talking to me about how he want's to hear the message we have to share because of how nice we were to him on the freeway. However I am telling that to you as a second hand source because I could not understand what he was saying so I handed the phone to Elder A to talk because he has the hang of the language barrier a lot better than me. (that seems to happen a lot even though I am in charge of the phone) Certain people like C from Africa I truly can't understand so I just let Elder A answer it. But anyways this was really an awesome experience and we will teach him by the mcdonalds tomorrow. :)

So that is my life. I love talking to people now. I think I started a Staten Island tradition because I wanted to do a street sweep somewhere (where we talk to everyone) and we drove by the boardwalk and we went there. So now I believe we will do a district beach sweep once a week and go talk to everyone. It is so scary but so fun and soooooooo worth it after you get over the fear of talking. I gotta go because of time so I love you alll!

Love,

Elder Clark :)

We got to go to the statue of liberty and ellis island yesterday and that was pretty cool! I have a lot of cool pictures to send you! hopefully i get a chance soon! My companion Elder A is great! he is a stud! we do good work together. We have things pretty good here though in staten island. I like it here a lot even though im outnumbered by a lot of different nationalities and such but thats really fun actually! New York work is so much different than my mini mission... the people i teach, the way i teach them, what we do during the day and everything is so different. oh and when you get another efy cd can you mail me a copy or something because I'd love to have them :) Traffic here is rediculous and so are the drivers... they are the worst best drivers in the world. they are good at what they do; honking, cutting people off, you know the drill :) I truly am gaining a love for the new york mission work because it took some getting used to... In the words of our past mission presidents wife "It is the most foreign mission in the world." its totally true. I can't understand half of these people because half of them either don't speak english or don't speak much! But its so fun and its really cool that I am able to look at every single one of these people as children of God! It is soooooo awesome because they are and I have a love for them and a strong desire to bring all that have been prepared to the knowledge of the Gospel and how the Atonement can fix everything that is wrong with their lives and how they have a bright future ahead if they just listen to us. With so many people... for example my companion and I are the only english missionaries on staten Island... we are basically incharge of idk exactly how many but over half a million people. With that comes a lot of work and responsibility and need to sift people like wheat to find out who really has been prepared to hear the message of the gospel. Honestly it is so fun being out here just focusing on one thing... that is inviting others to come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. All I need to do is continually striving to be the best missionary I can be and my mouth will be filled. I have seen that and I know it's true. But it is definitely a process... I am not perfect but I can see where I can be in the future and it is a good sight. I am excited to continue to learn how to be simple and powerful and fearlessly declare the word of God so that the spirit can testify of truths. This is an exciting, true, fun, hard, and at times scary work but I know one thing. IT IS GODS WORK and it is directly from him. there is a reason that all 15 of the Brethren including 55 other general authorities were at the MTC the week after I left when all 130 new mission presidents were there. The Lord and his leaders are closely related to this work and they know how important it is. This is why it is so important for everyone who can go on a mission to go on a mission. The joy and the growth that occur here are more direct and substantial than any other thing that anyone in their life can possibly do. It is amazing for yourself and for those that you help bring to the knowledge of the truth. Yes it is harder than anything I have ever done but it is sooooooo much fun and the love I feel for people and God far outweighs the difficulties. If I could do things over with the knowledge I have now I would have learned how to study better for school, gotten good scripture study habits, and truly prepared myself more to not be afraid to share the great news of the gospel. It's eternal progression though and it is a blessed and amazing thing. Anyways I love you all! thanks for everything! give the family and all my friends and cousins and everyone hugs and blown kisses! Keep striving to be worthy of the spirit because that is the most important thing! Love,

Elder Clark

I've learned that doing this work is going to take all my efforts to lose myself in the work and that is what will make me successful. Because in order to get people to teach I need to talk to people and in order to get people to talk to I have to open my mouth and talk! And in order to do that I have to completely lose myself and not be nervous to talk to people about something I hold so near and dear. But holy smokes I thougth the MTC had humbled me... I didn't know what humbling was... Already I feel like i am in the middle of a new country with a work to do which is almost impossible to do alone. Thank goodness for prayer and being able to rely on the spirit to help me because I have been able to be in the right place at the right time for a number of times where I have been able to have a few come up to me and say, "hey I was baptised in yo church like 5 years ago and I've been getting back in my old ways and I don't like the bad luck that has happened can yall come teach me?" in the broken ghetto english. Which by the way no joke has been a struggle for me because half of the people we talk to I can't even understand most of what they say... it's pretty rediculous... I have had elder A translate their english for me on a number of instances. But maybe by the time half my mission goes by I will be able to understand them. This is sooooooo much different than I had ever imagined! I totally thought I had missionary work down in the mtc but truly people here and the background here is nuts! I got here and felt like calhoun "this isn't the language I learned in the MTC" and "these people sure don't look like those on the west coast" and "why does my small apartment in the middle of staten Island cost around 2000 dollars a month... Crazy right? I wish I could send you some pictures but however I am at the library and the computer wont allow me... so hopefully I can find a way to get you some... By the way this part of new york is not anything like the manhattan I had thought it was going to be... It is ghetto and black and very colorful and barred and intense... but don't worry we are protected as missionaries and I have felt it and I know for sure that I will be okay! Mom don't worry please just get lost in the work of raising your wonderful children and it will go by fast. Oh and it was thunderstorming earlier today... but now its sunny... weird right? and it was definitely a flashback to kansas thunderstorms these last few days because they are nuts and it has great lightning shows with getting soaked by being in the rain for literally 2 seconds. What is cool is that people respect us here. Most don't want to hear the message but they would never really try to steal anything or mug us or anything. That hasn't happened in a couple years and the area that it happened in is closed down and surrounding areas have to be in by 8. That would stink. So the only hard part about obediance is we tend to go to bed a little bit later than 1030 because we are so busy teaching and traffic takes so much longer that we have gotten back past 930 half of the nights and it takes us forever to plan because we are so busy. but it is always for a good reason! And I love love love being this busy because I know that this is the Lord's time and not mine. Life as a missionary is hard but good! The spirit is so great and anytime we teach it is there. It's awesome. Hopefully we will be able to get a few more investigators to commit to baptism in the next coming weeks. we have another baptism on july 29th but I didn't have much to do with that either... A's a boss missionary and he is helpful because both of us have a common goal of working on obediance. And thank goodness for planners otherwise we would forget everything. we already have had to cancel a few people because of delays and such but again it is only because we are so busy so that's good! And members like us... they feed us almost every night if we don't have to cancel on them... So ya things are great! Difficult, but great! I'm having the time of my life! It can be hard but then I realize how happy I possibly can be because I have the spirit with me and I end up being extremely happy and loving the fact that I am on a mission. Thanks for everything again I love you!

Love,

Elder Clark

Dear Mother, Father, and Family!

Thank you sooooooo much for your love and prayers and emails and everything!!! I love you soooo much! It has been definitely a new experience being here in New York! I have met sooooo many different people already! I was able to take part in a baptism yesterday that my companion(father) Elder A from Las Vegas and his old companion had taught and she is from Gebon in Africa! She was a Golden Investigator. She wanted sooooo bad to be a mormon and she would chant in her french (yes I guess she lived in france as well) accented voice "I'm gueen tu bee a moor-mun" It was pretty great! Her name is Anoushka Sefu and she has a little bit of a language barrier but it was all good! She wanted so bad to follow all the laws of the gospel that she is looking for a job so she can pay tithing! After the first day of talking about wearing modest clothing she basically wore a huge dress covering everything with a hat and large boots. Then we helped explain she doesn't have to be over the top! haha :) But anyways we are really busy here in Staten Island and there are a lot of people that we teach so its been really fun! I feel blessed though looking at the circumstances here... I have a lot... a lot a lot a lot. These people truly have a completely different lifestyle... But I love you all and the work is going well! Obediance is key! I've taught so many different nationalities it's crazy! I love you! Love,

Elder Clark

letter 6-12-12

Dear Wonderful Family! I love you soooo much!
Oh my Gosh. This time in the mission field already is going too fast.... Im bouncing out of this MTC Joint on Monday at 3:00 AM! So early! and not just that but I was chosen to be the Travel Leader for our Group of 15 going to NY! Wow! Its very interesting... Doesn't Heavenly Father know that I forget everything? Well he does but he also knows that it will bring me closer to him to have these responsibilities... One thing I have learned is to just not stress. This mission will go by so fast and I will blink and wonder what happened. As I have been here I have had an amazing time learning to truly trust in the spirit with my teaching. It is a little bit scary but the words do fill my mouth! I know that! And I am definitely gaining more trust! Teaching has been amazing! Already I have been used as a tool by having me turn to scriptures I don't remember about and having it be exactly what they needed to hear, saying things that did not come from me. And it has truly been the biggest growing experience in my life! Being here has made me truly realize who I am. It made me realize that without Christ I am nothing but with Christ, I can have the power and authority and influence as Christ would himself! Infact that is who I represent! I know that as long as I do not stress and I just make sure that I am being the Best Elder Tyler Joseph Clark that I can be I will never have to worry about anything because the spirit is with me and teaching will go fine! But I have gained a MAJOR love and addiction to missionary work. Sure it is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life already! But it is also the most rewarding thing that I have ever done in my life. Don't get me wrong it is not easy, but with Christ I can do all things. I know that to be true! My testimony of Christ and the Atonement truly mean the world to me. Because I know that HE LIVES! This knowledge that I have brings alll the meaning to my work! I teach people who come to volunteer, like less actives, progressing investigators, and referrals. Some are members some are not. It is definitely a blessing to be obediant and not an irritant! It means the difference in missionaries! I have been blessed with a wonderful District however and we are definitely like family so that is so fun! I miss you all and love you soooooooooo much! Thanks for all your love! And Mother Dear, Papa Bear, Jeffy, Ri, Kyle, and Austin. I love you with all my heart and it will go faster than you can imagine. Just focus on all your million things but also focus on being the happiest family you can be because we are blessed to have a close family. Continue saying family prayers, having family night, and reading the scriptures together because these are the most important things! I love you and I want you to know that I am out here to serve the Lord! I will do my best work! Thanks for raising me as you did! I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Elder Tyler Clark

saying see you later

Tue, June 5, 2012 2:26:03 PM

I Love you! and Church is TRUE! :)

---

Dearest Mother Dear, Papa Bear, Jeffrey, Riley, Kyle, Austin, Family, Friends, whoever...

 

This is Elder Clark reporting on my first Preparation day at the MTC! I love you soooo much! Thank you so much Mom and Dad for your wonderful example! You are the BEST PARENTS EVER! I want to quickly share with you my testimony because it has grown more in this short period of time than it ever has during the span of my life. I KNOW that Heavenly Father is there and he is closer to me than he has ever been. He is not even far at all but he is right here with me. The spirit of the MTC is amazing because it truly is a marvelous work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man! This is the Lords work and because I am representing him I can feel the love that he has for every single one of his children and it's amazing how much love i feel for everyone, missionaries, investigators, especially my district, and of course EVERYONE! I LOVE IT HERE and this is an inspired work!

 

I first will share the experiences I have had on Sunday... Because this was probably the biggest growing moment of my life! First of all my companion is Elder A. going to Tucson, Arizona and we get along really well even though he is the complete opposite personality of me...  So basically the calls were arranged and I was made as District Leader  I believe so that was truly amazing and I learned on a first hand basis how the Lord can work in Mysterious ways! I also knew this because I had an overwhelming love for my District. But anyways, Im about to go to the temple really soon so I can't write too much more, but I also have been able to teach these investigators about the church but one in particular I truly believe that my companion and I were the exact people who he needed to meet with because we had the most AMAZING conversation about God and Christ and the spirit was sooooooooo strong and he was like, PLEASE COME BACK! WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT CHRIST MORE! So that was really cool... Hes a mountain man named B:) The teaching is hard however but I'm gaining trust in the spirit so its working out a lot better! But most truly I completely love it here and I Know that everything is possible through Christ without a doubt in my mind and I'm excited to share the amazing news of the Gospel with everyone! I love you all so much and I know that this service will bless you and me as well so I'm really happy to be helping you maybe! I pray for you every day and I have the strongest testimony of prayer and Guidance by the spirit its soooooo awesome! Also it was really cool to be an answer to another elders prayer in my room because I had an overwhelming feeling of love for him one night and I knew he was awake because I sneezed and he blessed me :) but anyways apparently he had been praying for comfort and I felt this love for him and said "Elder C You will be an amazing missionary and I love you" So that was really cool when I heard it was an answer to his prayers the next day!

 

Anyways I must go however I love you! and Im drinking a juice, chocolate milk, and a banana with everysingle meal so i thought that was kinda a fun tradition :) I love you! Kick Bum in life Ill get back to you next week! Hopefully with more info!

 

Love,

 

Elder Clark

farewell: