Dear Family!
So I don't have much time but here ya go!
That referral we received last week ended up being this AWESOME guy named R from Haiti who we met with 3 times and we have a baptismal date with him on August 18th. He is really progressing well and then also we have a few other people we are trying to work with that are doing well.
Biggest story for this week other than that is that we were out on the street doing a talent sweep showing our talents to the world and talking to people about the gospel basically saying that we are real people and we need to work together as children of God. So during that we had a guy who drunk came up to us and started preaching to us but not in a bashing manner at all and he was saying that the world is waiting on us and that we are God's people and kings and priests. That was really cool but then he said a prayer with us and he started crying. it was a thing where we all held hands in a circle of prayer ahha that happens a lot here. It was great.
We are working hard and really seeing a good amount of blessings of success. I love you guys so much!
Have a BEAUTIFUL week!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, July 29, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Hi!
This week has been a bummer for teaching appointments however we were able to stop by F and K for our appointment to find out that F was asleep but K invited us to eat with them! That was really fun and nice of her. We had given F a blessing and she said that since then his condition had been improving and with restless leg syndrome he had slept well the past few nights so that is awesome.
But then also we knocked a lot of doors this week and after knocking all those doors and such the only person we found literally walked up to us and fearlessed us. He is another very good potential we talked to him for about an hour and a half about the church and he agreed with everything we said. That was cool because hes a bible scholar too!
Then later in the week we were able to meet with a referral from other elders with a guy who said he wants to participate in our musical fireside we are holding. So that will be cool he might end up making a rhythm on guitar with us making lyrics! I have high hopes for a good turnout with that!
A said he was going to be able to come to church and he or F or G or A or R didn't show up! That was a bummer especially because there was a baptism with the ward yesterday... oh well hopefully next week...
But also this week i went on exchanges with another one of my favorite missionaries named Elder Perry and we drove by perry street so I said we should knock it and so we did! Nobody at first on Perry St was nice so that was depressing but then as we were walking away a lady walked out of a house and we decided to talk to her and she became a very very solid potential for the Zone Leaders so that was really cool. Her name was J.
Something that I found really cool about this week is that we had worked really hard doing all that we could to find people to teach. The blessing didn't come in that time doing all we could but it came after we had done all that we could. I think that is definitely a good representation of the Atonement and the meaning of Grace. Grace isn't just making up the difference though grace is Jesus Christ helping us to get as far as we can go and then he carries us the rest of the way.
We also just received a wonderful referral for tonight who might end up being baptised soon it sounds like. we will see! But i will let you know next week!
Love you!
Elder Clark
This week has been a bummer for teaching appointments however we were able to stop by F and K for our appointment to find out that F was asleep but K invited us to eat with them! That was really fun and nice of her. We had given F a blessing and she said that since then his condition had been improving and with restless leg syndrome he had slept well the past few nights so that is awesome.
But then also we knocked a lot of doors this week and after knocking all those doors and such the only person we found literally walked up to us and fearlessed us. He is another very good potential we talked to him for about an hour and a half about the church and he agreed with everything we said. That was cool because hes a bible scholar too!
Then later in the week we were able to meet with a referral from other elders with a guy who said he wants to participate in our musical fireside we are holding. So that will be cool he might end up making a rhythm on guitar with us making lyrics! I have high hopes for a good turnout with that!
A said he was going to be able to come to church and he or F or G or A or R didn't show up! That was a bummer especially because there was a baptism with the ward yesterday... oh well hopefully next week...
But also this week i went on exchanges with another one of my favorite missionaries named Elder Perry and we drove by perry street so I said we should knock it and so we did! Nobody at first on Perry St was nice so that was depressing but then as we were walking away a lady walked out of a house and we decided to talk to her and she became a very very solid potential for the Zone Leaders so that was really cool. Her name was J.
Something that I found really cool about this week is that we had worked really hard doing all that we could to find people to teach. The blessing didn't come in that time doing all we could but it came after we had done all that we could. I think that is definitely a good representation of the Atonement and the meaning of Grace. Grace isn't just making up the difference though grace is Jesus Christ helping us to get as far as we can go and then he carries us the rest of the way.
We also just received a wonderful referral for tonight who might end up being baptised soon it sounds like. we will see! But i will let you know next week!
Love you!
Elder Clark
Monday, July 15, 2013
This week. Well it was a pretty good week!
The most recent news has been that Elder W got transfered out of my district and my new district leader is Elder H! he is one of my favorite missionaries and he is from my MTC district!
We have been doing a lot of finding people to teach recently. But even though we are finding people... we are not finding people in our own area. ha 90% of the people we have found have been referrals to other missionaries :( and :) that the work is progressing! However we did receive one referral this week who we contacted and we were able to teach him and his wife and they hopefully will be able to progress! They are a blessing that is for sure.
Once again we had a reallly reallllly awesome Gospel Principles class! It was really amazing because we had someone come who wasn't a member but came with a member and she basically felt the spirit really really strongly! It was really cool because the lesson was on fasting and it turned into one of the most spiritual sunday school classes i have ever been to. and that's saying a lot because of my great teachers growing up. It was amazing how much they just took the lesson away and gospel conversation took over and filled the room with the spirit. She is soooo prepared to hear the gospel it is amazing. She is going to be taught by the sister missionaries and she said she was so spiritually fulfilled that she will definitely be there next sunday.
I have a testimony of testimonies and the effect of simple testimonies. They are the most powerful. If you listen to the testimonies of the General Authorities who knock our socks off with the spirit and listen to the words they are saying... you will realize that they are simple truths. It is the spirit that brings the power so why can't we bear testimony of simple truths and have the same spiritual power? We can. Every member is a missionary and every testimony can make a difference in a brother or sisters eternity. But don't do it as a duty do it as an act of love.
So to explain the pictures... the mug is for the plaque if you want to use that one... idk... but then the house is a parable we made when we were tracting about how the house could be a beautiful thing but it stood still and didn't get worked on until the paint all came off and satans twine of bushes slowly tied it up and overcame it. but the atonement of Jesus Christ works as the paint and the shears so thats why i am sad! haha then there is a pic of us at a park :)
So I love you all! Have a beautiful week! It was fun to hear about all those experiences within the last two weeks! Keep it up please :)
Have fun and Love ya!
Elder Clark
The most recent news has been that Elder W got transfered out of my district and my new district leader is Elder H! he is one of my favorite missionaries and he is from my MTC district!
We have been doing a lot of finding people to teach recently. But even though we are finding people... we are not finding people in our own area. ha 90% of the people we have found have been referrals to other missionaries :( and :) that the work is progressing! However we did receive one referral this week who we contacted and we were able to teach him and his wife and they hopefully will be able to progress! They are a blessing that is for sure.
Once again we had a reallly reallllly awesome Gospel Principles class! It was really amazing because we had someone come who wasn't a member but came with a member and she basically felt the spirit really really strongly! It was really cool because the lesson was on fasting and it turned into one of the most spiritual sunday school classes i have ever been to. and that's saying a lot because of my great teachers growing up. It was amazing how much they just took the lesson away and gospel conversation took over and filled the room with the spirit. She is soooo prepared to hear the gospel it is amazing. She is going to be taught by the sister missionaries and she said she was so spiritually fulfilled that she will definitely be there next sunday.
I have a testimony of testimonies and the effect of simple testimonies. They are the most powerful. If you listen to the testimonies of the General Authorities who knock our socks off with the spirit and listen to the words they are saying... you will realize that they are simple truths. It is the spirit that brings the power so why can't we bear testimony of simple truths and have the same spiritual power? We can. Every member is a missionary and every testimony can make a difference in a brother or sisters eternity. But don't do it as a duty do it as an act of love.
So to explain the pictures... the mug is for the plaque if you want to use that one... idk... but then the house is a parable we made when we were tracting about how the house could be a beautiful thing but it stood still and didn't get worked on until the paint all came off and satans twine of bushes slowly tied it up and overcame it. but the atonement of Jesus Christ works as the paint and the shears so thats why i am sad! haha then there is a pic of us at a park :)
So I love you all! Have a beautiful week! It was fun to hear about all those experiences within the last two weeks! Keep it up please :)
Have fun and Love ya!
Monday, July 8, 2013
July 8
HELLO OVER THERE!
Hooray for Jeffy I mean ELDER CLARK!!!! That is so cool. Man he is so awesome! He will do so many good things to the good place of Japan(north carolina).
I am grateful for his testimony. It is amazing how much simple obedience helps us to gain an unshaken testimony of the Gospel. Specifically it is the Lords plan for all of us and only through using all the principles and ordinances of the Gospel can we have immortality and eternal life.
This week has been really good! Elder M and I have walked a lot this last week. Basically anytime when we run out of daily car miles we just go down to the pad, park, and walk main street fearlessing people for however long we have left during the day. There was even a day that we did not use our car. thats where the two pictures came from is our walking times... haha i like walking a lot!
Shoot it is really fun to have Elder M as a companion because we are very very obedient. This week we had 3 lessons that we taught to random people! That hasn't happened very often... but it did this week! We are finding a lot of people to teach but they are almost all in other missionaries areas... so we give a lot of referrals. Hopefully we will be able to have the tender mercies of finding people or families who are pure in heart and ready to accept the gospel.
A last week left for the military but yesterday he actually called me! It was so fun to talk to him! He was so excited that there was an LDS church on the base and everything! but ya his phone is now gone for 2 months at least...
We finally were able to meet with B also! His wife just got out of the Hospital from a full knee replacement and we were able to go give her a blessing that I feel like truly brought the spirit into their lives. I wonder if she will actually join our lessons now? That's what I am hoping!
I have to go but I love you all!
Love,
Elder Clark
Hooray for Jeffy I mean ELDER CLARK!!!! That is so cool. Man he is so awesome! He will do so many good things to the good place of Japan(north carolina).
I am grateful for his testimony. It is amazing how much simple obedience helps us to gain an unshaken testimony of the Gospel. Specifically it is the Lords plan for all of us and only through using all the principles and ordinances of the Gospel can we have immortality and eternal life.
This week has been really good! Elder M and I have walked a lot this last week. Basically anytime when we run out of daily car miles we just go down to the pad, park, and walk main street fearlessing people for however long we have left during the day. There was even a day that we did not use our car. thats where the two pictures came from is our walking times... haha i like walking a lot!
Shoot it is really fun to have Elder M as a companion because we are very very obedient. This week we had 3 lessons that we taught to random people! That hasn't happened very often... but it did this week! We are finding a lot of people to teach but they are almost all in other missionaries areas... so we give a lot of referrals. Hopefully we will be able to have the tender mercies of finding people or families who are pure in heart and ready to accept the gospel.
A last week left for the military but yesterday he actually called me! It was so fun to talk to him! He was so excited that there was an LDS church on the base and everything! but ya his phone is now gone for 2 months at least...
We finally were able to meet with B also! His wife just got out of the Hospital from a full knee replacement and we were able to go give her a blessing that I feel like truly brought the spirit into their lives. I wonder if she will actually join our lessons now? That's what I am hoping!
I have to go but I love you all!
Love,
Elder Clark
Hello!!!
So this week has been great! I was able to meet my new companion Elder M before transfer meeting and he said something I didn't understand from the best two years meaning my new companion or something like that... haha It is so great though how much fire he has! That is what I had prayed for! He kinda has opposite personality of me but we get along pretty well and he is a great missionary. It is fun! We are working really hard to be obedient. It is working pretty well! He is from Boise, Idaho and he has 5 younger brothers... hahaha so similar except he is 6'3" and I am 4'3"(according to a funny 11 year old girl in our ward named Paris)
This past week we decided we should go fearless people at a park and we drove by this one like three times trying to find a different park we never found. But there was one person there swinging on the swings that we decided to talk to. And so it came to pass(ya bad joke i know) that we recognized her and it was N the crazy yet fun recent convert in the ward. She then asked us if we wanted to come over to her house to teach her. On the way there she said she had a revelation that if Elder C (my trainer) had not had been the missionary to convert her then Elder M and I would have been the Lords backup plan from that prompting to speak to her! So then she told us that we weren't going to teach her but instead we were going to go hand out all the book of mormons we had. That was 32... we handed all of them out... maybe not the most effective form of missionary work but it was really fun! We had a few people who were genuinely interested and it was helpful for Elder M haha :) So ya I'm really happy right now. We are doing work. hardcore.
We now have 6 missionaries in the Bay Shore Ward and Elder W is still my district leader who is companions with my friend Elder L from Las Vegas! Also! Our mission for the first time has 10 Zones! We just added a new Zone! So my district moved from zone 8 to zone 9! The missionary work is definitely progressing here in New York! I hope to help out with that more in these next few transfers!
Something cool that happened yesterday was that Elder M and I were praying about how to better help the missionary work in our area and the spirit spoke to me and said "Do your best and I will do the rest". Later that day in Gospel principles class, Sister Hamblin's new comp Sister Kapisi from Hawaii said "if we do our best Christ will do the rest" basically the exact same quote. It was really amazing the spirit just poured into that room. That is my quote of the week! I'm sure I told you that I somehow received an etch-a-sketch that I write quotes of the week on each week... well ya so its been etched. We also were able to go help Bishop out on Fire-Island(island off the southern coast of Bay Shore. I love that place but I hate how many mosquito's are there. I got eaten alive...
This week was really sad to say goodbye to Sister S and her kids (moving to Houston) and then today we said bye to A (Reporting for Military) but also before I said goodbye to Sister B I gave her your phone numbers and such so if you want to meet up for dinner or something if you ever have time that'd be cool(moving to Roseville or somewhere close). They are a great family. Her husband is working at the hospital in Citrus Heights or something like that i don't remember... I also told them to call you if they were in need or anything...
I am learning my area fast now though because I am driving and we are doing things the old fashioned way... A map! hahahaha I've gotten lost only like 3 times haha but I will learn it soon enough!
I love you!
Elder Clark
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Hi!
So its been awhile since i have emailed last... so hello again! Welcome to the written version of me. And yes you can all tease me for saying that.
On Saturday we were able to have the BBQ and it went actually relatively well! Members definitely ran on double mormon standard time so that made us a little nervous but then we filled the whole half parking lot with cars by the end! Brother Danner smoked some ribs and cooked a million burgers and hot dogs and EVERYTHING was eaten. It was all so good. A came and there were a couple nonmembers that came as well! L and 4 of his nonmember friends came and so that was awesome. We didn't get any new investigators or anything but we definitely helped create a little more unity and love within the ward and helped those nonmembers to understand that we are all brothers and sisters! It was a lot of fun though.
Then on Saturday night it was really cool because we hadn't hit like any of our goals that we had set. So at that point I said a silent prayer after pondering how to hit our Sacrament meeting attendance goal. I had the prompting to make Elder Weber a promise that I turned into a deal. That I would bet(don't judge) him a Wendys frosty that if we would wake up on-time, have a good personal study, and actually do a good companionship study that we would be able to hit our church attendance goal of 2 investigators with one new investigator at church and if we'd hit it he wouldn't have to buy me one. Well we did this and as soon as our companionship study was over... well! We got a text from leo. He said "hey I'm bringing my friend to church you better make her feel welcome" hahahaha that was a very victorious feeling! Ha that was cool that God helped us fulfil a strange promise! And then of course A came to church for the first time since I have been here! So we hit our goal. We need to go get frosty's to celebrate... Unless Dad you wanna come make us a chocolate shake ;) we wont decline :)
I think those personal commandments and promises that the spirit will tell us are so great. We neeeeeeed to follow those promptings. Eternal Perspective. Make like nike and just do it!
Also A is getting baptised on Sunday so that will be really exciting i will tell you about it next week. He is doing really well though... He is already considering a mission and he isn't even baptized yet. I think he wants to feel the spirit of a missionary because he was hanging out with 6 missionaries and he was so impressed at how we are all like brothers. But he is heading for basic training(i think...) in the military on June 2nd so that would be an interested leave.
So anyways!!!
I loooooove youuuuuu!
Love,
Elder Clark
So its been awhile since i have emailed last... so hello again! Welcome to the written version of me. And yes you can all tease me for saying that.
On Saturday we were able to have the BBQ and it went actually relatively well! Members definitely ran on double mormon standard time so that made us a little nervous but then we filled the whole half parking lot with cars by the end! Brother Danner smoked some ribs and cooked a million burgers and hot dogs and EVERYTHING was eaten. It was all so good. A came and there were a couple nonmembers that came as well! L and 4 of his nonmember friends came and so that was awesome. We didn't get any new investigators or anything but we definitely helped create a little more unity and love within the ward and helped those nonmembers to understand that we are all brothers and sisters! It was a lot of fun though.
Then on Saturday night it was really cool because we hadn't hit like any of our goals that we had set. So at that point I said a silent prayer after pondering how to hit our Sacrament meeting attendance goal. I had the prompting to make Elder Weber a promise that I turned into a deal. That I would bet(don't judge) him a Wendys frosty that if we would wake up on-time, have a good personal study, and actually do a good companionship study that we would be able to hit our church attendance goal of 2 investigators with one new investigator at church and if we'd hit it he wouldn't have to buy me one. Well we did this and as soon as our companionship study was over... well! We got a text from leo. He said "hey I'm bringing my friend to church you better make her feel welcome" hahahaha that was a very victorious feeling! Ha that was cool that God helped us fulfil a strange promise! And then of course A came to church for the first time since I have been here! So we hit our goal. We need to go get frosty's to celebrate... Unless Dad you wanna come make us a chocolate shake ;) we wont decline :)
I think those personal commandments and promises that the spirit will tell us are so great. We neeeeeeed to follow those promptings. Eternal Perspective. Make like nike and just do it!
Also A is getting baptised on Sunday so that will be really exciting i will tell you about it next week. He is doing really well though... He is already considering a mission and he isn't even baptized yet. I think he wants to feel the spirit of a missionary because he was hanging out with 6 missionaries and he was so impressed at how we are all like brothers. But he is heading for basic training(i think...) in the military on June 2nd so that would be an interested leave.
So anyways!!!
I loooooove youuuuuu!
Love,
Elder Clark
Hi!
You guys look so good from here!
So exciting news! A was able to get baptized on sunday!!! It was a really really good experience. Especially because A's Mom and little brother came and felt the spirit there. It went really well because everyone there made them feel like family. And her mother brought baked zini, a fruit tray, and a salad for the afterparty haha it was great! I made brownies and almost burnt the brownies and my fingers at the same time! That's two things at once I told you I could multi-task mother ;) haha but they seemed like they were comfortable here. She said she was getting really emotional. With it being fathers day was really awesome as well because A's dad just passed away about 2-1/2 months ago. So I feel like he had a special part in that. After A got baptized he said "I feel amazing. I truly feel like new. Like I'm a new me and I get to start completely new." Later he randomly texted us saying "I feel soooooo good". Man it was so good to feel the spirit of the day and the spirit of the ordinance done with the priesthood authority of God.
Something I would like to say in advice is to truly listen to the words of the Sacrament as you partake of it. Remember that if you do those things, take his name upon you and always remember him then you will have the spirit to cleanse you and make you feel as A said "NEW"! Thats why the Sacrament is so important and we need to take it more like an ordinance that gives us access to the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ to purify our hearts and minds preparing us to become like our Heavenly Father, and to not take it just as something to eat on fast Sunday. I promise that if you do that this week you will find more purpose in the week to come. That you will truly change and align your will with God's will.
Anyways I gotta go but I love you all!
Have a beautiful day and week.
Love,
Elder Clark
You guys look so good from here!
So exciting news! A was able to get baptized on sunday!!! It was a really really good experience. Especially because A's Mom and little brother came and felt the spirit there. It went really well because everyone there made them feel like family. And her mother brought baked zini, a fruit tray, and a salad for the afterparty haha it was great! I made brownies and almost burnt the brownies and my fingers at the same time! That's two things at once I told you I could multi-task mother ;) haha but they seemed like they were comfortable here. She said she was getting really emotional. With it being fathers day was really awesome as well because A's dad just passed away about 2-1/2 months ago. So I feel like he had a special part in that. After A got baptized he said "I feel amazing. I truly feel like new. Like I'm a new me and I get to start completely new." Later he randomly texted us saying "I feel soooooo good". Man it was so good to feel the spirit of the day and the spirit of the ordinance done with the priesthood authority of God.
Something I would like to say in advice is to truly listen to the words of the Sacrament as you partake of it. Remember that if you do those things, take his name upon you and always remember him then you will have the spirit to cleanse you and make you feel as A said "NEW"! Thats why the Sacrament is so important and we need to take it more like an ordinance that gives us access to the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ to purify our hearts and minds preparing us to become like our Heavenly Father, and to not take it just as something to eat on fast Sunday. I promise that if you do that this week you will find more purpose in the week to come. That you will truly change and align your will with God's will.
Anyways I gotta go but I love you all!
Have a beautiful day and week.
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, June 3, 2013
Dearest Family...
This week has been a nice mix up... On Monday my companion Elder Weber took a 2-1/2 hour nap so i figured I'd improvise and have some fun! So I created a mini golf course out of my pad (pic 1) :) It was fun! I learned how to cook some good garlic bread with melted cheese on top at the S for the last FHE we would have with them before Brother S left for Houston! :( (pic 2). Man I'm going to miss him and then Sista S when they leave... basically mama and papa schoenbeck to me... Then on tuesday Brother Danner our amazing ward mission leader made us some delicious chili... hes famous for it... on Wednesday we met with Anthony and Novinta and he is doing really well! Still looking to get baptised on the 16th and then Thursday we finally had a member present with our lesson with A! We took brother d who we clean the church then eat at old country buffet with every thursday morning and he is such an awesome guy. He is old though so he loved to tell stories... It's a good thing we didn't have another appointment until an hour and a half after that appt because we almost missed our second one anyways haha! I'm so glad though because I think bringing him made him more comfortable to come to church. We will have to bring someone else this week though because A still didn't come... He just is always helping people so thats what he was doing again... haha hes a good guy... Then on Friday I went on a basically all day exchange with Elder Garcia (pic 3) from So-Cal who is a really awesome missionary. He got in the mission in brentwood spanish a week after I left for home and has been here since with his trainer Elder Heagren who came out with me! the whole time! thats 5 transfers! 7-1/2 Months with the same companion and in the same area... That was really fun because I got to excercise my spanish skills again! Haha I talked to a lot of spanish people and we found this AMAZING family while we were tracting... We talked to them about gospel and life for about 45 minutes while they were sitting out on their porch (typical NY) eating mr. Softees (ice cream truck that claps during the song). That was so fun! then also the spanish program gets fed... a lot... I had 2 DA's while I was on the exchange that ended at 4:30. Like full on delicious spanish meals. We also talked to this one guy who was sitting in the shade of a tree (soooooo hot outside.... Humidity is the worst...) and we gave him a card and asked him if he would give us his info so we could call him and he was looking for his phone number in his wallet and he pulled out a different mormon pass-along card that he found on the ground. he had cut out the picture of jesus into a nice framelike image and it turns out that Garcia had written that card! that was really cool and he was pretty excited that we were the original owners of that card! I think that alone really sparked his interest! Moral of the Story... Even if you think your efforts in a righteous cause in anyway go unnoticed or unsuccessful know that Heavenly Father has a bigger purpose in mind and that he will allow his purposes to happen even if it is not in the way our minds picture them. Always trust in the Lord's way! It may not be the easiest way in our perspective but it will always be the best for us. Also... take into consideration that by small and simple things great things come to pass!
On sunday the sisters had a baptism that went really well as well! The husband of the member mother of the son being baptized actually seems like he is becoming interested! He asked Elder Weber and I to come by sometime so hopefully we can help the family come together through the gospel!
One of my new favorite scriptures came to me this week as I was finding strength scriptures to put in my workout room to encourage me to workout.... I came across 2 Cor 12:9-10 "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." I believe this scripture to be the answer to life's challenges. In fact, I know that this is why we are given challenges in life. That when we humble ourselves with our own agency and truly rely on Christ by choosing his side and his ways to endure our trials, then and only then is when THE POWER OF CHRIST RESTS UPON US. Then is when we are the strongest. Because all is possible through Christ. I believe that if we learn to glory in our infirmities we will enjoy the blessings that come with eternal progression and increased perspective.
I love you all and pray that you will be able to do this throughout this week!
You are great! All Y'all!
Love,
Elder Clark
This week has been a nice mix up... On Monday my companion Elder Weber took a 2-1/2 hour nap so i figured I'd improvise and have some fun! So I created a mini golf course out of my pad (pic 1) :) It was fun! I learned how to cook some good garlic bread with melted cheese on top at the S for the last FHE we would have with them before Brother S left for Houston! :( (pic 2). Man I'm going to miss him and then Sista S when they leave... basically mama and papa schoenbeck to me... Then on tuesday Brother Danner our amazing ward mission leader made us some delicious chili... hes famous for it... on Wednesday we met with Anthony and Novinta and he is doing really well! Still looking to get baptised on the 16th and then Thursday we finally had a member present with our lesson with A! We took brother d who we clean the church then eat at old country buffet with every thursday morning and he is such an awesome guy. He is old though so he loved to tell stories... It's a good thing we didn't have another appointment until an hour and a half after that appt because we almost missed our second one anyways haha! I'm so glad though because I think bringing him made him more comfortable to come to church. We will have to bring someone else this week though because A still didn't come... He just is always helping people so thats what he was doing again... haha hes a good guy... Then on Friday I went on a basically all day exchange with Elder Garcia (pic 3) from So-Cal who is a really awesome missionary. He got in the mission in brentwood spanish a week after I left for home and has been here since with his trainer Elder Heagren who came out with me! the whole time! thats 5 transfers! 7-1/2 Months with the same companion and in the same area... That was really fun because I got to excercise my spanish skills again! Haha I talked to a lot of spanish people and we found this AMAZING family while we were tracting... We talked to them about gospel and life for about 45 minutes while they were sitting out on their porch (typical NY) eating mr. Softees (ice cream truck that claps during the song). That was so fun! then also the spanish program gets fed... a lot... I had 2 DA's while I was on the exchange that ended at 4:30. Like full on delicious spanish meals. We also talked to this one guy who was sitting in the shade of a tree (soooooo hot outside.... Humidity is the worst...) and we gave him a card and asked him if he would give us his info so we could call him and he was looking for his phone number in his wallet and he pulled out a different mormon pass-along card that he found on the ground. he had cut out the picture of jesus into a nice framelike image and it turns out that Garcia had written that card! that was really cool and he was pretty excited that we were the original owners of that card! I think that alone really sparked his interest! Moral of the Story... Even if you think your efforts in a righteous cause in anyway go unnoticed or unsuccessful know that Heavenly Father has a bigger purpose in mind and that he will allow his purposes to happen even if it is not in the way our minds picture them. Always trust in the Lord's way! It may not be the easiest way in our perspective but it will always be the best for us. Also... take into consideration that by small and simple things great things come to pass!
On sunday the sisters had a baptism that went really well as well! The husband of the member mother of the son being baptized actually seems like he is becoming interested! He asked Elder Weber and I to come by sometime so hopefully we can help the family come together through the gospel!
One of my new favorite scriptures came to me this week as I was finding strength scriptures to put in my workout room to encourage me to workout.... I came across 2 Cor 12:9-10 "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." I believe this scripture to be the answer to life's challenges. In fact, I know that this is why we are given challenges in life. That when we humble ourselves with our own agency and truly rely on Christ by choosing his side and his ways to endure our trials, then and only then is when THE POWER OF CHRIST RESTS UPON US. Then is when we are the strongest. Because all is possible through Christ. I believe that if we learn to glory in our infirmities we will enjoy the blessings that come with eternal progression and increased perspective.
I love you all and pray that you will be able to do this throughout this week!
You are great! All Y'all!
Love,
Elder Clark
Hello Everybody!
This last week has been a lot of meetings and a lot of service. We had Elder K from the seventy come tour our mission and so we had a mega zone conference with him that was really really awesome. He gave an awesome perspective on missionary work. We just need to act on it and so many blessings will come (hmmmm sounds kinda like life right?). So much is being done to help us work smart and not just hard.
We are doing this new thing in our mission where we are being accountable for our plans and not just our goals. For example we have the goal of 1 new investigator to sacrament meeting which is based on the agency of our investigator but we are turning the focus to being accountable for our plan of how many people we invite to sacrament meeting because that is something we control.
Too often we let things get us down that we do not control whether it be our trials or results of our efforts or things that other people do or say. If we only focus on what we can control we will feel more control over our lives and the happiness we enjoy! Honestly we are just too stressed all the time. Eternal Perspective.
We did a lot of service for the M family this past week and that has been really really awesome. The husband is a less active member and for the first time since I have been here he came to church yesterday!!! I was soooooo happy to see him there! They feed us really well at their house also so that is nice. In the past week doing service I have had burgers, hot dogs, ribs, popeyes spicy chicken, NY Pizza, etc... Man so good. I love food and my pants don't love me because of it.
However! I have been able to jog a little bit and that has been so good. I missed jogging. It's funny how much I took it for granted when I felt like I could do anything under the sun. But man I'm excited to play some sports in a few months!!!
So this last week has been rough in regards to missionary work but this upcoming week should be a lot better! We are really excited for it! I just want to work hard right now. I hope that desire stays.
Anyways I love you all! Have a beautiful week! Keep on truckin through your trials because the growth of faith and strength will be worth it! Not to mention Eternal Life.
Love y'all,
Elder Tyler Clark
This last week has been a lot of meetings and a lot of service. We had Elder K from the seventy come tour our mission and so we had a mega zone conference with him that was really really awesome. He gave an awesome perspective on missionary work. We just need to act on it and so many blessings will come (hmmmm sounds kinda like life right?). So much is being done to help us work smart and not just hard.
We are doing this new thing in our mission where we are being accountable for our plans and not just our goals. For example we have the goal of 1 new investigator to sacrament meeting which is based on the agency of our investigator but we are turning the focus to being accountable for our plan of how many people we invite to sacrament meeting because that is something we control.
Too often we let things get us down that we do not control whether it be our trials or results of our efforts or things that other people do or say. If we only focus on what we can control we will feel more control over our lives and the happiness we enjoy! Honestly we are just too stressed all the time. Eternal Perspective.
We did a lot of service for the M family this past week and that has been really really awesome. The husband is a less active member and for the first time since I have been here he came to church yesterday!!! I was soooooo happy to see him there! They feed us really well at their house also so that is nice. In the past week doing service I have had burgers, hot dogs, ribs, popeyes spicy chicken, NY Pizza, etc... Man so good. I love food and my pants don't love me because of it.
However! I have been able to jog a little bit and that has been so good. I missed jogging. It's funny how much I took it for granted when I felt like I could do anything under the sun. But man I'm excited to play some sports in a few months!!!
So this last week has been rough in regards to missionary work but this upcoming week should be a lot better! We are really excited for it! I just want to work hard right now. I hope that desire stays.
Anyways I love you all! Have a beautiful week! Keep on truckin through your trials because the growth of faith and strength will be worth it! Not to mention Eternal Life.
Love y'all,
Elder Tyler Clark
HELLO EVERYONE!
This week has been kinda nuts... We have been cancelled on a lot at the beginning of the week. Then we had another person walk into our church building while we were cleaning it saying that he just needed some peace. His son had just passed away from cancer. We were able to help him have a lot more comfort when we testified of the Plan of Salvation to him! It was awesome and he definitely was helped. The spirit is so great at what he does and I love it! He lives in Plainview's area though so we gave his info to other missionaries. That was really cool though especially because we had just started a change we had made to be more obedient. Then we get that person to encourage us. Tender Mercies.
Then the week really really started to go crazy... We were able to meet with A twice and he has a new baptismal date for June 16th which is good. Then on thursday we received a phone call about a less active member of our ward who passed away! Very few people knew her in the ward but the sister missionaries knew her. However the family said they wanted it to be a Mormon service because of her background in the church. Crazy as it seems nobody in our ward leadership could make it to the funeral service except one who was able to come last minute. So I was asked to conduct the funeral service. Wow. Elder Weber gave a talk and the Sisters each gave prayers and then some other members of the lady's family sang and read poems and such. That was quite a growing experience for me as you might imagine. But it was also very very touching for Elder Weber and I to be able to listen to the spirit proclaiming lovingly to these brothers and sisters about how she is taken up to that God who gave her life. We are blessed with the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I then was able to dedicate her grave. It was really touching to see the respect that everybody had for us. Even though in the room of 100+ people at the Funeral Home we were the only members of our church. It was another testimony to me that we are all brothers and sisters. The spirit was so strong in that room. Man I just loved everybody.
So that was the craziest thing that happened to me in the last week. Abraham is actually reading what we give him to read! That is so awesome and his wife was really really impressed with us! She is the one that said if you could crack him it would take a miracle. Well miracles happen when Christ is involved in something concerning his will. :)
Something I learned this week is pretty cool. We were discussing why the heck it says we will receive fire AND the Holy Ghost in the scriptures. But we discovered that we will have fire as to our purification and then because we will be clean the Holy Ghost will come dwell with us. We need to keep the temple of our body clean in order for the Holy Ghost to dwell with us. So cool.
Anyways thats all for now! I'm happy to be done with my math class finally haha :) But I love you all and wish you the happiest of happy days!
Love,
Elder Clark
This week has been kinda nuts... We have been cancelled on a lot at the beginning of the week. Then we had another person walk into our church building while we were cleaning it saying that he just needed some peace. His son had just passed away from cancer. We were able to help him have a lot more comfort when we testified of the Plan of Salvation to him! It was awesome and he definitely was helped. The spirit is so great at what he does and I love it! He lives in Plainview's area though so we gave his info to other missionaries. That was really cool though especially because we had just started a change we had made to be more obedient. Then we get that person to encourage us. Tender Mercies.
Then the week really really started to go crazy... We were able to meet with A twice and he has a new baptismal date for June 16th which is good. Then on thursday we received a phone call about a less active member of our ward who passed away! Very few people knew her in the ward but the sister missionaries knew her. However the family said they wanted it to be a Mormon service because of her background in the church. Crazy as it seems nobody in our ward leadership could make it to the funeral service except one who was able to come last minute. So I was asked to conduct the funeral service. Wow. Elder Weber gave a talk and the Sisters each gave prayers and then some other members of the lady's family sang and read poems and such. That was quite a growing experience for me as you might imagine. But it was also very very touching for Elder Weber and I to be able to listen to the spirit proclaiming lovingly to these brothers and sisters about how she is taken up to that God who gave her life. We are blessed with the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I then was able to dedicate her grave. It was really touching to see the respect that everybody had for us. Even though in the room of 100+ people at the Funeral Home we were the only members of our church. It was another testimony to me that we are all brothers and sisters. The spirit was so strong in that room. Man I just loved everybody.
So that was the craziest thing that happened to me in the last week. Abraham is actually reading what we give him to read! That is so awesome and his wife was really really impressed with us! She is the one that said if you could crack him it would take a miracle. Well miracles happen when Christ is involved in something concerning his will. :)
Something I learned this week is pretty cool. We were discussing why the heck it says we will receive fire AND the Holy Ghost in the scriptures. But we discovered that we will have fire as to our purification and then because we will be clean the Holy Ghost will come dwell with us. We need to keep the temple of our body clean in order for the Holy Ghost to dwell with us. So cool.
Anyways thats all for now! I'm happy to be done with my math class finally haha :) But I love you all and wish you the happiest of happy days!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, May 6, 2013
Hi!
So this week has been better than dabomb.com. by far.
We were able to finally meet with N (recent convert who might go to SVU!) boyfriend named A and we taught him one lesson so far and he wants to be baptized! Then we met with B who has been taught for 10 years or so and he also has decided that he needs to commit to baptism as well! So we are trying to help both of them continue in the gospel!
Also we had an amazing break the fast that we had set up after church on sunday! I was kinda worried about how it would work out because we kinda did it on short notice but we had a full ward and we had invited a million people to church whether by phone calls or personally. We had one person show up randomly who I left a message inviting him(C). We had another who we didn't call but CALLED US asking if she could come to church this sunday. Then we had one lady call us back asking if we could help her with service and so we met with her and she came also(E)! So needless to say... we were very very blessed this week!
Even more so was when during Gospel Principles we had an awesome discussion about how the organization of the church is and how it was the same church that Jesus Christ set up and E said "I feel blessed to be here right now knowing about this church. Jesus Christ truly leads this church! It is truly his church! That has never clicked until now and I know its true! I can feel it!" Needless to say Sister Hamblin then invited her to be baptized IN GOSPEL PRINCIPLES and she said yes! ya what the flip... Crazy awesome blessings! Then later during the munch n mingle thing J basically told us she wants to get baptized as well! I am humbled to be in the middle of the Lords work right now. I could not be happier and I know that it is not me, but I glory in the Lord my God. Whom I know to be our Savior and brother. He loves us perfectly and guides us perfectly.
I now just hope that Elder Weber and I can keep up with the Lords blessings! I have a testimony of this work. I know that it is the Lords work and he directs it. It is of the most worth for me and all those who even if by their examples play a part in it. Just be a friend to others! That is probably the best missionary work to do! Be a friend and show that you care! Spread the Love! The Gospel of Jesus Christ in action! If you get an impression to share simple yet lifechanging gospel truths do it! But as my brilliant little brother says "share what you feel!" That's so important. You don't have to recite the first vision word for word, in fact it would be better for you to throw your whole heart into a simple statement like "I know that God is our Heavenly Father, and from my experience and my knowledge I know that he answers our prayers and guides us to where we need to be"
I love you all!
Thanks for everything!
Im excited for our family time coming up in a weeeeeeeeek!!!!
Love,
Elder Tyler Clark
Monday, April 29, 2013
Mother Dearest, Papa Sweet Sauce, Fambam Clark n Fambam friends!
Hey! So this week has been pretty good except we haven't been able to meet with anyone... People cancelling and we had President interviews and a lot of meetings and such so that was alright.
However! We did get to do service for this lady who still had a tree down from the hurricane and we helped her with that and she asked me a lot of questions about our church and I told her how I felt and I gave her a book of mormon! She said she is going to read it! I hope that will go somewhere! But we shall see! Dang agency of others ;) haha but
ya she was actually pretty interested! It was cool to see her be able to trust us because she has had a lot of problems with a bad divorce and she is very untrusting of people throwing blame around and such. It was cool to see how last week I was incharge of giving a workshop(lesson) on listening in District Meeting and applying what I learned from that about the importance of it I think is one thing that got her to trust us. The Lord works in Awesome ways!
But anyways this Sunday we are doing a 5th of May break the fast pot luck Plan of Salvation walk through with members bearing their testimony of the principles in the Doctrine of Christ and the missionaries talking about the three kingdoms of glory so I am pretty excited for that! Hopefully members will bring their friends to church... That would be great! Then next week on Saturday we are putting a barbeque together that should be a lot of fun! As I told you we are planning and making a lot of activities happen with the ward to give them opportunities to invite friends to things...
My leg is feeling pretty good! I haven't jogged yet but I feel like its moving along pretty nicely! I peppered with some members and the sister missionaries on saturday with a volleyball and it is doing well still! I love sports.. Its hard for me to watch others play... It will be especially hard when I can actually play basketball but I can't because I told mission president I wouldn't...
So nugget from personal study this past week...
I have been reading in the beginning chapters in 3 Nephi and I have learned that we in a sense have two battles to face... We have outer enemies as the Gadiantan robbers trying to tempt or destroy us in whom we have to bring all our faith and energy together to destroy and then we have our inner battle of pride that so badly wants to destroy us. The Nephites had just killed off the Gadiantan robbers and when a couple years of peace went by they started to get prideful again and lost almost everything! If we, during times of peace when the trials have slowed, choose to not be progressive and improve ourselves we literally will go backwards. We need to never seize in our efforts to use to tools of the Gospel in our lives in order for us to not get trapped in Satans awful grip! On the upside we will continue to receive blessings as we strive to become like Christ through his Atonement! Choose ye this day whom ye will serve!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, April 22, 2013
Dear Everybody,
Hi! I am again loving it out here! It's amazing how much obedience plays a factor in our lives. That is something that is being stressed over and over again and I'm starting to realize how important it is. Obedience is what brings power. Obedience to God's commandments is all we need to do in our life. That is what is most important.
Anyways,
Today I will be going to Graffiti Park and I will hopefully send you pictures of that next week!
The work here has been going really well we had another person walk into the church this week and start talking to us about how he has always been a catholic but because of the emphasis that Mitt Romney has put on families he wants to be a mormon now. Thats pretty neat :)
I am so excited we are doing a lot of activities coming up and they will be amazing missionary tools. I believe that when people just come in contact with members it does more to spark peoples interest than two random black nametags running around on bikes. Let your light so shine especially now as the time is speeding up before the second coming! People will notice the spirit about faithful members more and more as the time goes on and the worlds trials will only enhance that difference. Your light can and will make more difference than you realize!
So I am having so much fun here! Elder Weber is a crack up. He always teases me about something and I feel at home! haha :) But we are getting along great and he is seriously improving himself a lot and I feel like he will continue to do so and because of that and hopefully if I can keep up with his improvement, we will be blessed for it. The thing is that when we are obedient we should not fear and we definitely can and should call upon the blessings of Heaven. Heavenly Father wants to bless us but it is almost never in the same way that we think. He knows us better don't worry.
So its been fun to meet a lot of people! There is a guy who ate dinner with us named jack and he has an eye patch and sister m calls him one eyed jack. He is awesome though and cooked us some delicious ham. Yesterday Elder Weber and I went with a less active husband to observe the damage and repairs done from hurricane sandy. It was really cool to see how much people have done since the storm! People just move on!
I have gotten to hit some tennis balls (don't worry im being really careful) with one of the sister missionaries these last two P-days which has been tight. Then I helped her and another elder who have played a little bit with their swings and such! So fun being a coach...
We had an amazing lesson on Sunday with two recent converts who both testified of the 180 flip they have experienced since obtaining the knowledge and blessings of the Gospel. Their situation hasn't changed but their level of joy has launched. I think people don't realize truly how much peace, love, joy, and comfort is available to us as we get closer to Christ.
I love you all! Wish and pray for blessings for all of you!
Love,
Elder Clark
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Hi Mom and Dad and Family and Family that are friends and friends!
This week has been pretty good! Our district is planning and setting a lot of ward activities in place for members and for investigators! It will be a blast and I honestly believe that it will help strengthen the members of the ward and it will be a great way for them to bring their friends and introduce them to the gospel! I learned something about missionary work this week that I feel is very important especially with the way that President Calderwood is running this mission. I learned that in order to strengthen our investigators you need to strengthen the missionary, and in order to strengthen the recent convert you need to strengthen the ward. In order for real growth to occur in an area where people are truly coming into the Gospel of Jesus Christ to receive all the blessings therein we need to strengthen ourselves and others. The members of the ward are so crucial to that. Hometeaching, visiting teaching, fellowshipping, inviting people to follow God's plan, and being examples of love are simply what we need to do to prepare our wards for the trials and struggles that will come as the gap between the righteous and unrighteous deepens.
Elder W and I are becoming pretty good friends! He is hilarious... He teases me sometimes so I feel like home haha :) It is so weird though that he now has less than 8 months left and I have just less than 18 left! Hahaha but it is so great I love the mission as you might have been able to tell...
We had somebody call us two weeks ago asking if he could come visit our church. He is Haitian and his name is J. He came yesterday and that was really exciting! I had to basically teach the lesson in Gospel Principles unprepared too so that was a new challenge haha but I guess it went okay because J said he liked church and he is going to come back next week! Hopefully we can meet with him this week. Other than that we taught A this week and did a lot of service again... This ward is awesome though we have 5 Dinner Appts this week! That is so nuts the new sister missionary in our ward is getting spoiled at the beginning... I have a few families out here that are basically like my family... The Mercado family, the Shoenbeck family, and the Daly family. Our Correlator is this awesome convert guy who grew up in the projects in Brooklyn and went to the military and he is hilarious. There is a lot of strength in this small yet normal size for east coast ward. There is a great great member named D who was baptized when he was 12 and both of his parents died I believe and he stood up and bore his testimony about the strength that Jesus Christ has given him to continue and how he knows that he wouldn't have made it to this point if it weren't for Christ. He is an inspirational 18 year old who people could easily judge as a regular ghetto black kid wanting to be in the NBA.
Anyways, a lot of the lessons and meetings and such have been focused on obedience. I have learned that obedience is so important and it is the reason why we are able to receive blessings, progress, and it is basically the purpose for our life. We are here to learn obedience and the sooner we realize that the more joyful our life will be despite all that is bad and dull in the world. So this week just find one more way to be obedient to one of God's commandments and work to repent or change that in your life.
So I must leave but I love you all and hope things are going well! Have a blessed day!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sooooo HELLO AGAIN!!!
I'm so happy to be back on my mission again. I again know that what I am doing is right and it is God's work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children.
The news! I am on Long Island in the Bay Shore English pool with my companion Elder W! You may recognize the name because he is the same Elder who was in my district in Plainview and shaved a yamaca(sp?) into Elder As head... haha we are having a lot of fun together! We get along great and we are both trying to work ourselves into a more meaningful mission. I am in a district with two sisters! They call that a dating district here however I assure you I am not dating haha :) It's crazy how many sister missionaries are coming on missions... So cool... But my mission in two transfers(3 months) is expected to have 50% elders and 50% sisters when we reach around 250 missionaries.
I have told many of you but for those who haven't heard from me, I want you to know that God knew what he was doing when he brought me home. I needed to be home for a lot of amazing reasons and I consider it a tender mercy to be able to be home at that time. However, now I am blessed to be back in New York! I missed this place because I love the people here. (Period)
So as you can imagine I have been very green-like new so fresh... I have now in the first week called myself Tyler 4-5 times now, forgot a belt twice, forgot my backpack, got up to workout on Sunday, almost forgot my nametag, forgot my planner, and many other fun greenie mistakes... ya I guess that's what I get for being home for 4 months. But oh my gosh it was so fun to see President Calderwood at the airport and then some of my mission buddies and then I got to pick up the new missionaries with President and the AP's which was cool and I also picked up my buddy and fellow ACL tearer Elder N! we went on top of the Brooklyner(tallest building in my mission) and ate New York pizza and such! So that took the place of the Jamaica Queens street sweep... kinda a bummer but that was really cool too! Less frightening more peaceful and inviting I feel like... haha and then one of the sister missionaries there with me is now in my district! And we are supposed to go home at the same time I think! Which is weird as heck... (BTW I think that's October 1st, 2014) So ya it has been fun! I study for my math final when Elder W aka lil webbie and webstar is balling it up playing basketball and already I am gaining a pretty good relationship with the members here!
Isn't it amazing how much importance the Apostles put on family and obedience! The two things that Satan has chosen not to have and sooooo badly wants to destroy! It's completely true though that if we focus on eternal families and obedience to God's laws then we will be protected! We WILL receive the blessings of the highest kingdom in Heaven! If we follow those things Satan will have no power over us and the power of God will be with us.
So ya that is the news for now! I love you all and more importantly Heavenly Father loves you all and there is always hope!
Love,
Elder Tyler Clark
Monday, November 26, 2012
Hi Family and home and friends....
WOW. So if you didn't know... I have to come home for some surgery regarding the fact that I tore my meniscus and ACL and Doc says I need surgery and so I must be home for that... But hey! I'm singing along to "I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me" So that is pretty cool but I am going to miss the Mission and New York SOOOO MUCH! I am going to try as hard as I can to get back to the mission ASAP. I also know that for some reason whether for me to learn or something else I am supposed to be home. God has a better plan for my life than I do I know that. It is true and we need to trust in his plans sometimes even though they may go against our own.
So this last week... A lot of service has happened but i was only able to go for one day to work the desk because after that Elder L and I went on cripple exchanges because he has to rest his badly sprained foot and so I have been in his pad in Jamaica Queens with a sweet view of the area... I lost a lot in chess... cooked some good food... taught each other the first lesson and talked a lot about life and the mission. Ya so that is the extent of my existence in the mission right now... Except during proselyting time has been awesome! On Saturday we were able to meet with this family of 9 children whose mother I fearlessed about 5 weeks ago. The family LOVED us and so I am really excited for the other missionaries who get to teach them... and for them to come closer to Christ! They were surprised as heck to hear about our standards as missionaries and such and said we were like more than human. like superpeople haha that was fun to hear. But we are far from perfect... we just live in a world where morality and righteousness is the minority. That is hard... but we can find strength through Jesus Christ and having our faith in him who can do all things. We will feel alone at times but we are never alone. We just can't tell with our mortal eyes. It sounds like a fairytale but it is more true than the temporal view of life our eyes give us. We need to trust in it. God never leaves us alone and he always answers our sincere prayers.
That's probably my last short letter from the mission-field for awhile. I wish you all a God Bless! A Pase Bondye! a Bondye Beni ou! a MWEN RENMEN OU! and a I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love,
Elder Clark!!!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Hello Everyone!
So today... is a good day! This week was GREAT! I again have loved being able to do some service in the Rockaways and in Mastic Beach! I also have repented and changed my view for NYPD... I now like a lot of them a lot because they are doing a lot for the people here. I never would have said that when I was in Staten Island... hahaha! I talked to this NYPD guy who's name is Clarke and he said maybe in a few years you'll be worthy to add the E on your name hahahah I thought that was funny! but they are like giving police escorts to our busses going out to our other areas of service and such! They are working hard on helping traffic in the area, they have been sooooooo kind and respectful to us and worked together well with us to do the greater good. It really is cool how much the community has come together here... People are giving soooo much to help out and there are sooooo many places where people can get free food, blankets, clothes, and then us and a few other smaller groups are the manual labor help in the area. I wish we could do this to everyone that got affected but there is simply too much to be done and too little of us there... even with the thousand+ volunteers...
I am getting an MRI tomorrow (tuesday) and then we will see whats up with that! Because of my knee that decided it didn't want to be healthy, I didn't do too much service in the last week. For the work that I have done though my giant knee brace with its sturdy beams has been enough to hold it in place.... ha so that's been good but I have loved being able to man the Mormon Helping Hands station where people come to ask for help and I have been assigning people to go to different houses and such. It's been fun to in a sense coordinate some of the work and have SOOOOOO many people come up to the desk just to say thank you for all that we have done. It is really remarkable what is going on here. Being at the desk I have been able to see allllllll of the many volunteers come in and I have helped the Asistant to the President in organizing where to send people. It is amazing how many people have come. From Boston, Pennsylvania, New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and just all over! So many bus loads of people have come to serve in the Rockaways and they are all wearing the yellow jerseys! Go Stripling Workers! As President calls us. Seriously over 1000 people have come in to help in almost every day... our mission is only 200... It's amazing! We had 270 work orders yesterday and we were in groups of 10 and we ran out of orders... we had to send groups to specific areas to find people to help... So cool!
Creole. It's been really fun recently because we have started to visit our new investigators in Bayshore area that speak creole and I have been able to practice my speaking actually a lot more than before! I'm really excited to learn a lot of Creole! I want to be able to hold a regular conversation before I leave the Creole program... I prayed to be able to understand people a little bit better two days ago and it has just been going 150% better than before. I can actually get the just of what people are saying now and I am excited to learn a lot more words so that I can start to understand it! I am not too bad at getting what I want to say out I don't think but I probably will be humbled more. Heavenly Father is great at helping me to become who he and I want me to be. I just need to trust in him more! So ya it's fun to speak Creole to Elder J and make him laugh.
I have been blessed with a better perspective right now. It was through that answer of turning what seemingly is a mountain into an anthill! We can do that will all problems in our lives. As long as we focus on what is most important. Prioritize and the Atonement can fix all that is unfair about life. But WE are the ones that need to change! We always think it is the other persons fault but we always have agency! When we choose to humble ourselves we in return are blessed with joy and peace during times of difficulty. Which turns them into anthills!
It's really fun doing all this hands on work. I'm learning a lot about demolition and about how people build their houses and why they do certain things and how to do handywork! We have been using these sleds that you are supposed to put deer on and use it to truck up the debri out of houses. It's brilliant! haha and we are all learning how to be the most efficient in our demolition and such! It's fun to be able to see us getting better at what we are doing. Us missionaries now just blow through jobs that seemingly should take a long time. I hope that stays with me for after the mission. But man I am tired at the end of the day... It's really hard some nights to force myself to proselyte even though my eyes and body say no... But hey it's all good!
Anyways I love you all SO much! Thanks for being so great! Be faithful it's always worth it! Even if it doesn't seem like it now... but that is just satan putting the idea of temporary in your head! Always strive to think Eternal.
Love,
Elder Clark
So today... is a good day! This week was GREAT! I again have loved being able to do some service in the Rockaways and in Mastic Beach! I also have repented and changed my view for NYPD... I now like a lot of them a lot because they are doing a lot for the people here. I never would have said that when I was in Staten Island... hahaha! I talked to this NYPD guy who's name is Clarke and he said maybe in a few years you'll be worthy to add the E on your name hahahah I thought that was funny! but they are like giving police escorts to our busses going out to our other areas of service and such! They are working hard on helping traffic in the area, they have been sooooooo kind and respectful to us and worked together well with us to do the greater good. It really is cool how much the community has come together here... People are giving soooo much to help out and there are sooooo many places where people can get free food, blankets, clothes, and then us and a few other smaller groups are the manual labor help in the area. I wish we could do this to everyone that got affected but there is simply too much to be done and too little of us there... even with the thousand+ volunteers...
I am getting an MRI tomorrow (tuesday) and then we will see whats up with that! Because of my knee that decided it didn't want to be healthy, I didn't do too much service in the last week. For the work that I have done though my giant knee brace with its sturdy beams has been enough to hold it in place.... ha so that's been good but I have loved being able to man the Mormon Helping Hands station where people come to ask for help and I have been assigning people to go to different houses and such. It's been fun to in a sense coordinate some of the work and have SOOOOOO many people come up to the desk just to say thank you for all that we have done. It is really remarkable what is going on here. Being at the desk I have been able to see allllllll of the many volunteers come in and I have helped the Asistant to the President in organizing where to send people. It is amazing how many people have come. From Boston, Pennsylvania, New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and just all over! So many bus loads of people have come to serve in the Rockaways and they are all wearing the yellow jerseys! Go Stripling Workers! As President calls us. Seriously over 1000 people have come in to help in almost every day... our mission is only 200... It's amazing! We had 270 work orders yesterday and we were in groups of 10 and we ran out of orders... we had to send groups to specific areas to find people to help... So cool!
Creole. It's been really fun recently because we have started to visit our new investigators in Bayshore area that speak creole and I have been able to practice my speaking actually a lot more than before! I'm really excited to learn a lot of Creole! I want to be able to hold a regular conversation before I leave the Creole program... I prayed to be able to understand people a little bit better two days ago and it has just been going 150% better than before. I can actually get the just of what people are saying now and I am excited to learn a lot more words so that I can start to understand it! I am not too bad at getting what I want to say out I don't think but I probably will be humbled more. Heavenly Father is great at helping me to become who he and I want me to be. I just need to trust in him more! So ya it's fun to speak Creole to Elder J and make him laugh.
I have been blessed with a better perspective right now. It was through that answer of turning what seemingly is a mountain into an anthill! We can do that will all problems in our lives. As long as we focus on what is most important. Prioritize and the Atonement can fix all that is unfair about life. But WE are the ones that need to change! We always think it is the other persons fault but we always have agency! When we choose to humble ourselves we in return are blessed with joy and peace during times of difficulty. Which turns them into anthills!
It's really fun doing all this hands on work. I'm learning a lot about demolition and about how people build their houses and why they do certain things and how to do handywork! We have been using these sleds that you are supposed to put deer on and use it to truck up the debri out of houses. It's brilliant! haha and we are all learning how to be the most efficient in our demolition and such! It's fun to be able to see us getting better at what we are doing. Us missionaries now just blow through jobs that seemingly should take a long time. I hope that stays with me for after the mission. But man I am tired at the end of the day... It's really hard some nights to force myself to proselyte even though my eyes and body say no... But hey it's all good!
Anyways I love you all SO much! Thanks for being so great! Be faithful it's always worth it! Even if it doesn't seem like it now... but that is just satan putting the idea of temporary in your head! Always strive to think Eternal.
Love,
Elder Clark
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)