SERVICE AND FELLOWSHIP

Well, I think it's finally getting cold here. We're supposed to get our first snow fall this week. It's been such a nice fall here though... I'm sad to see it go. We've done a ton of service this last week. We met a new family that moved here from Germany. They're remodeling an older house, so we helped them with a few things. We cut down some trees, helped somebody move, and went and volunteered at an old folks home this week. I love service so much. I feel like I never really cared about service or understood it, but since I've seen it have an impact on people, I've absolutely loved being able to do it. It's just a great way to show people how much you love them or how much you love Heavenly Father.

Right now we're teaching a guy named Kevin who is a recovering addict. To be honest, most of the people we teach in our area, are in some kind of rehab or recovery system. We try really hard to get them to focus on spiritual things and how it can help their lives. Scriptures, prayer, and church can have a big difference in an addict’s life. The concept of commitment is the hardest thing to get them to understand. Kevin's been really cool to teach though. He hasn't had much of a religious background in his life, but he's dating a girl in the church now and I think she's helping a lot.

We're teaching another lady named, Carmen. Her husband is a less-active member, and they're both recovering addicts. She's really knowledgeable about the Gospel though. She knows more than most members do. She's going to get baptized when she graduates from her rehab program. It should be around the middle of December.

This week we're going over to one of our Ward Mission Leader's houses to bake some goods to give out to people in the area that we teach. We're going to bake some cookies and a few pies. We're trying to think of creative ways to do missionary work here, so if you have any cool ideas, let me know. :)

I hope everyone is getting ready and excited for the holiday season!! I can't wait for some snow!! I love and miss all of you!! And of course, I love and miss Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie the most!! :)

Love, Elder Clark

P-Day Fun.

FRIENDS REVISITED

Wow! I feel like this has been a really long week... In a good way though. We've been pretty busy with service and being involved in the community. It's a lot of fun being in downtown Salt Lake City. There are just a lot of fun and interesting people, and you definitely get both ends of the spectrum.

One of our recent converts, Wang Yu, who got baptized about 3 months ago, just had his visa expire and couldn't get it renewed. So today he left to go back to Shanghai, China. He was able to receive the priesthood before he left though! He wants to go on a mission and help the church grow in China. He's a great guy, and I hope that I'll be able to keep in touch with him.

We got to go to the Salt Lake temple on Friday. It was amazing! We had a HUGE group for the session, about 220 people. Let's just say it took us about 3 hours to complete.... It was really cool though. The Spirit is always so strong when you're at the temple. After the temple, we did a chili dinner and talent show. They gave us all candy for Halloween and a bunch of leftover food to take home. The talent show wasn't all that great... Haha. I would have rather just stayed home and caught up on some sleep. We didn't get home till about 10:30. (Pictures from the Halloween Dinner are on this post).

The weather's been getting colder here, and I think I'm already sick. It doesn't help that we don't have a car and are outside all the time. I'll live though. :) Jose is doing so well. He even got one of the less-active people that we work with a job. (Pictures of Jose’s baptism are shown on this post).

We met a guy this last week named Frank, and apparently he just wants to get baptized. He asked us if he could just go ahead and do it... He said he was pretty sure that he was on board with everything, and just wanted to do it. Pretty cool! We still have to meet with him though, to teach him and get him to church. It looks promising though. :) 

On Saturday I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Plummer, who I served by out in WY. He is now serving in the Ensign stake up in the avenues, which was my first area. But what's even funnier is that he just got transferred from the Highland stake in Holladay, which was my second area... Haha. Anyways, we did exchanges because Linda and Leslie (my Kentucky friends) came up here to take us out to lunch. Linda cried and hugged the crap out of me when I saw her. She did the whole pinch your cheeks and everything. They both are doing well, working as nurses and trying their best to get along. They still bicker back and forth. Linda hasn't joined the church yet, but I'm still praying for her all the time. It was really good to see both of them, and now that I’m closer I'm sure I'll be able to see them a lot more. (Pictures of Linda and Leslie with Elder Plummer and myself are on this post).

I just want you all to know how much I love this work and this Gospel. It's been a great 9 months, even though it's absolutely flown by. I feel like it's all been a dream so far... Like I'm going to wake up and it will feel like it never actually happened. I'm telling you, time is totally different when you're a missionary 24/7... I love and miss every single one of you so much. I hope and pray that everyone is doing well and remembering what the important things are in life. Of course, I love and miss Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie the most. 

Love, Elder Clark

HAPPY TO BE BACK ON THE BLOG

Wow. It feels like I haven't sent one of these emails in forever. Sorry I haven't been able to update everyone the past two weeks. I've had some email complications lately on top of just being straight busy. This transfer is already over!!!!! CRAZY!!! Fastest 6 weeks ever.

Elder Gebler and I are both staying in this area, so we're both happy about that. We just had a baptism last Saturday for Jose. I'll try to attach a picture of us at his baptism on this email. Let me tell you how much I love Jose... So this man has been through soooo much stuff in his life, in and out of prison, been involved with drug smuggling, family separated and moved away, his wife left him and took his three children, and so much more. He has plenty of reasons to be a down and depressed man, right? Noooope, he's probably one of the most positive people I've ever met. He's always looking to make someone laugh or smile. He's extremely aware of other people’s needs and feelings, and tries to go out of his way to make sure everyone is okay. He's doing really well in his schooling, loving his job, and super motivated to be involved in church and the community. He understands how much God has a plan for him. He knows he's been led here for a reason and how important the Gospel now is in his life. I just love him a lot. He totally has the Spirit with him, and that's just really cool to see someone change like that!!!

One of the excommunicated guys that we teach had a really good meeting with our stake president this week! He's getting closer to his baptism!!! It still probably won't be for awhile, but it was exciting news for him, making it excited for us!! We're teaching a lot of people in drug rehabilitation, so it's been a really different experience for us. Some of them are sincere and want to change, and some struggle a lot with commitment.

I've been reading Jesus the Christ lately... It's very in depth writing and a lot of it makes you think pretty deeply. I like it a lot. I have to re-read some parts, but that's alright!

 Our mission has a big temple trip and talent show coming up this Friday because we aren't allowed to go out on Halloween. It should be fun. I'm not doing anything for the show obviously, but it'll be fun to get together as a mission to go to the temple and then have dinner and a show.

Anyways, hope everyone has a great Halloween. Everyone should send me pictures of what they dress up as! I love and miss you all soooo much!!! But of course, I love and miss Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie the most!!! 

Love, Elder Clark

SHARING GENERAL CONFERENCE

What a great week of General Conference!!! We were able to go to two sessions and take THREE INVESTIGATORS to hear the words of the Prophet and Apostles. Abas, Kuku, and Micheal are in the picture I sent. That was us at the Priesthood session of Conference. Micheal and his wife Debbie came with us to the Saturday afternoon session as well. They are both thinking about getting baptized and married here pretty soon. I think Elder Holland's talk had a big impact on both of them. Abas was able to get a headset that had an Arabic interpreter for him. He seemed to really like the messages that were shared. I'm curious to see what he thinks about everything. With his Islamic background, he has such an interesting perspective on things that I'm just not used to. It's SO COOL!!!!! We're still helping him with English and we're also going with him to the DMV tomorrow so that he can hopefully get his license to drive taxi.

We picked up a new investigator this last week and he's getting baptized on October 25th!! His name is Jose. He just moved here from California. He’s been in and out of prison his whole life. He's so cool. He tells the most amazing stories of his old life. He really wants to change now and be closer to God and Christ. He's one of 

The most sincere people I've ever met.

I have to cut this week's email short. We've had so much to do today. I hope Conference was as uplifting and inspiring for all of you as it was to me. I feel like I got some great personal revelation and guidance from the messages that were shared. One of my favorite quotes was, "When our standards lower to the standards of the world, we are in a state of Apostasy". Don't let the world shape who YOU are and what YOU believe. I love and miss all of you soooo much. I hope everyone is doing well. I love and miss Taylor Lindey and Ralphie the most!!! 

Love, Elder Clark

THE ATONEMENT IS FOR EVERYONE

I feel like we had a really good week. Our lessons, studies, and encounters with members have been really productive. We're making a lot of head way in our area. We work with a lot of excommunicated members, here in downtown Salt Lake. To be honest, it's really hard. Their pasts seem to weigh on us sometimes. It's almost as if you can feel a literal weight hanging from you... Most of them are sex offenders that have been in and out of prison. It's really good to see some of them make the right steps and want to get back on the right path. The Atonement is for everyone, and that's something we've been focusing on in our studies. How we can apply that to best help those we are teaching and working with.

We had a really good lesson with Terri this week. She's come a long way in the last month. She thinks that she might want to wait longer to be baptized. She wants to make sure that she's ready. We'll continue to teach her and keep her progressing in the Gospel. We were able to find two new investigators on Sunday!! They sort of just showed up to church. Ha ha. We have an appointment with them on Friday to teach them the first lesson. Their names are Micheal and Debbie. Micheal is from Mississippi and Debbie is from Oklahoma. They seem like nice people that are ready to hear about the Gospel.

We've been teaching a man from Iraq named Abas. He moved here about four years ago, and works as a mechanic. He doesn't know much English, so we're going over there this Wednesday to help him with his homework that he gets from a class that's teaching him English. We have a member from the Sudan named, KuKu, that speaks Arabic, so he translates for us. Abas is a really nice guy though. He came to church on Sunday, and when KuKu went to pass the sacrament, he asked if he could help too. He started meeting with us because he wants to become a Christian. He doesn't like what's happening in his home country in the name of Islam. He thinks it's all a lie and wants to get away from it. We have to be careful though because I know the Church has to be careful when Islamic people want to join the Church. It has something to do with their lives being at risk if they ever go back home. We gave him an Arabic Book of Mormon as well as an English one. Maybe we can go to Conference with him.

I can't wait for Conference this weekend! We're trying to get tickets for all of our investigators; they are our number one priority of course. I would rather give all of the tickets to them instead of us going with them. We'll see what happens though. I've been trying to prepare for conference a lot this last week. Reading past conference talks and identifying questions that I want answered, some for me and some for others. That seems to have really helped though. I hope that all of you have been preparing yourselves for the messages that the Prophet and Apostles have been preparing so hard for us. Think about how much time and preparation they put into their talks... We owe it to them to put a little effort in as well. I have a gut feeling that this is going to be a big and important Conference. So get your spiritual ears tuned in!!!!

I hope that you all know how much I love and miss every single one of you. But as always, I love and miss Lindsey and Ralphie the most!

Love, Elder Clark

BACK TO THE MOTHER SHIP

A week into my new area and so many things have happened and changed. I'm serving in the Salt Lake Central Stake. It's going to take some getting used to being back in downtown Salt Lake, but I'm excited for it. I didn't realize how much I actually missed it here. We cover the 13th Ward, 33rd Ward, Douglas Ward, 13th Branch, and 15th Branch. The two branches are downtown for people that are just getting out of prison or struggling with addiction recovery. We cover from Main St to 13th East, and from South Temple to 3rd South. When you get past 10th East our area goes down to 9th South as well. I'm really excited to be serving with Elder Gebler again!!!! He was my MTC companion, just in case you didn't know. So we're already off to a head start with being familiar with each other. We've both changed and grown immensely from our time in the MTC, but we still have a good relationship from before. :) We're both going to make this transfer a special one. We've been studying a lot on how to teach people, not lessons.

We had a really cool experience with one of our investigators this week, named Terri. We were teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, and Elder Gebler and I had the exact same thought to say something about a principle we were teaching. She must have really needed to hear about that specific principle or something. We talked about it afterwards and recognized how it was the Spirit guiding us and teaching the lesson, not us. We ended up putting her on date to be baptized for October 18th!!!! So cool!! I think she is really solid and determined to make it to that day prepared. I know the Lord will help prepare her as well, especially with how much Satan will be trying to keep her from it. I'm so ecstatic to be back here in the valley. I know my time here is going to be precious and special. On a different note.... Some crazy things have happened in our mission this past week. Here is a statement sent out by our mission about what's been going on:

Elders and Sisters

“This has been a very busy and somewhat difficult week.  Transfers are always hectic and cause much anxiety.  Our mission has been blessed through some recent trials.  In the last week, four of our missionaries have had relatives who have passed away.  Elder Totten fell off his bike and experienced a concussion.  Elder Valdez had an emergency appendectomy.  Both of these Elders are doing well. Our dear Elder Graydon experienced a terrible reaction to a food allergy.  He is still in extremely critical condition and needs every one of us praying for him.  As a mission we need to pray in unity for the power of our Heavenly Father to bless not only Elder Graydon but for all missionaries throughout the world.”

So yeah, pretty crazy stuff. Elder Gebler and I have decided to walk in our area and not ride bikes. We've seen and heard of too many bicycle accidents happening in the downtown area where we are. Better safe than sorry! :) Hope everyone back home is doing alright. I still pray for everyone and thank Heavenly Father for all the support I get. I love and miss you all. Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie, I love and miss with allll my heart! :)

Love, Elder Clark

Footnote: Elder Graydon is awake from his medically-induced coma as of today. He spoke with his father by phone!! This is a miracle and mercy given by our loving Heavenly Father.

ELDER CLARK AND ELDER BASS AT TRANSFER MEETING

GOODBYE ROCK SPRINGS

Another transfer is over, and it's gone by so fast. I can't believe that I am about to start my 6th transfer. I still feel like a “greeny”. Sadly, I am getting transferred.... :( I have loved every bit of Rock Springs, WY. I'm sad to go, but I'm also excited to be in a new area and meet new people. Saying goodbye to the people I've grown to love in this area is the hardest thing to do. I will miss so many different people, and I know that I'll have to come back through here to visit. We've had a really good week. One of our investigators, Mariana, is now on date to be baptized for October 11th. I'm happy to see her make this step. She has such a bright spirit; I know she'll make a really strong member. It sucks that I won't be here for it, but I'm just happy she's made the decision. Elder Bass and I have come a long way together. We've grown and learned a lot from each other. I'm really happy that I was able to train him and have this experience together. I know he'll do a great job running this area. I said goodbye to Elder Page today. He flies home tomorrow morning, but he's driving down to Salt Lake tonight. We had a great time down in Manila. He was saying goodbye to a lot of the people down there that he's gotten close to, so we visited everyone in the town basically. The pictures are of the Gorge and some two-week old puppies that belong to one of the members. So cute! On Saturday, we did a wood cut with the ward in Manila. It was an all day service project that kicked our butts. We went up into the mountains and cut down trees for firewood. They think it's going to be a long winter, so we cut about 25 cords of wood. It was a ton. The whole purpose was to give the wood to the elderly and people that got hurt and couldn't do it themselves. It was a great service project that made us feel like we did something really helpful afterwards. Tonight, we're eating dinner with our investigators, the Youngbloods. They're preparing to get baptized as well. We've had some really good lessons with them. I feel like they have come such a far way since I first got here. A lot of our investigators are still struggling with smoking. It's probably the number one issue in Rock Springs. Everyone smokes or drinks. We would have about ten people get baptized tomorrow if they didn't have a problem with those two things. It's hard to see people so restricted by their addictions. I said goodbye to Vicki and Evan last night. :( They are my favorite people in the whole world. It was so hard to say goodbye. They gave me a going-away present that had one of Vicki's homemade loaves of bread, a cornbread mix (because she knows I love cornbread), and a book to replace a book that I had given her a few months ago. Inside the book was a touching note that said, "Thank you for knocking on our door. You changed our lives." It just about brought me to tears. I told them I would come back and visit them along with my parents, I also said I might have a wife or fiancé at that point too. They seemed really excited about that. We're going to try to meet up at General Conference next month as well. Hopefully that all works out. Anyways, a chapter in my mission is coming to a close, but a new one is opening up and I can't wait. I love and miss you all, as always. I especially love and miss with all my heart, Taylor Lindsey and John Ralphio Sebastian the 3^rd (Ralphie). ;)

Love, Elder Clark

PRIESTHOOD POWER

   I can't believe it's the last week of another transfer again.... The weeks are turning into months a lot faster than I ever thought they would. We had an interesting week. I spent a day in Green River with Elder Vause, and I had some really spiritual lessons with people they've been teaching. I feel like Elder Bass and I had a lot of people cancel on us this week for one reason or another. It's so frustrating when that happens and you can't do anything about it.... We had so many people committed to coming to church, but barely any of them actually showed up. So that was a little disappointing. We had a miracle of picking up and teaching again a former investigator that was taught over a year ago. Her name is Mariana. She's married to a less-active member, and really wants to get baptized. She just has some questions about the temple and families being together forever. In our next appointment we're going to try to answer them the best we can. She's a really nice and sincere person, and you can tell that she has a desire to follow the Gospel. I have a feeling I'm getting transferred, but I really hope I don't... I love it here, and there's still so much I have to do. I forgot to email this last week, but we had a really neat experience of giving a ten hour old baby a blessing in the hospital. The mom called us and asked us to come to the hospital and give her new-born a blessing. The baby had some complications breathing and was having weird twitches, most likely from the problems breathing. It was so sad to see him all hooked up to these machines and what not. It was really heart wrenching. I was asked to give the blessing, and my first thought was, "What blessings do you give someone that has been alive less than half a day"?? I had to truly rely on the Spirit and be guided by Him. It was extremely intimidating and scary, but it seemed to go well. We were told this week that a few hours after we left, the baby started to breathe normally and do a lot better. It's so cool to see the priesthood and the Spirit in full action like that. Anyways, Elder Bass and I have been getting a lot more service opportunities lately. I feel like it's resulting in a bunch of good member relationships and missionary opportunities. Our studies are going really well as well. I'm sure that has something to do with our success. This week I'm going to Manila again with Elder Page. We had so much fun last time, and there's just so much work to be done there. He's going home in a week, so it'll be my last time with him. We'll be gone about 3 days. I'm looking forward to having some quality time with my boy before he leaves. I feel like I learn a lot from him every time we're together. I'll be sure to try and take some pictures of us because it'll be our last hoo-rah. Then my Mom and girlfriend won't be bugging me so much about pictures..... I love and miss you all like.…You know the drill. I hope and pray that everyone is doing well and being good missionaries. I love and miss my loves, Taylor and Ralphie the most! 

Love, Elder Clark  

BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

We've had a really long and eventful week out here in Rock Springs. It started with me spraining my ankle last Monday playing basketball, to ending with an amazing baptism of Vicki and Evan Vestre. I had a severe sprain on my right ankle. The doctor told me I was lucky I didn't tear any tendons. I was out of commission all day Tuesday, but with me being barely able to walk I went back to work on Wednesday. I was supposed to stay off of it for a week, but I can't just sit around all day!! The swelling still hasn't gone down very much, but at least I'm able to walk. I've been keeping it in a brace for support. Vicki and Evan's baptism was amazing. They are the two most solid, friendly, spiritual, dedicated, and converted people you will ever meet. Evan has future Bishop written all over him and Vicki is already a food storage master. They've also started on missionary work themselves. They want to help their neighbor who's had a really hard past couple of years, so we're going to do some service with them and maybe teach their friend. :) Elder Bass and I have been focusing a lot more on our studies and our planning. Diligence, obedience, dedication and focus have been our main drive. The Atonement has been the focus of our studies due to it being this month’s study topic for our mission. If we could only get every single one of our investigators to understand how important the Atonement is and how much it could help their lives, we would have so much success. Learning how to apply the Atonement to my own life is still a work in progress. It's infinite healing and comforting power is definitely something I want to master. Anyways, we've really had a good week. Still can't believe how fast this transfer is going, but we're still soaking it all up. I got an email from one of my MTC buddies, Elder Jolley, this week. He's doing really well down in Jacksonville Florida. Apparently he's in Fernandina Beach right now. He sent me a picture of a friend that I have down there, her name's DD. He ate dinner with her and I guess they found out that both of them knew me. It's so funny how small of a world it is. I hope all is well for everyone back home and that might be reading this blog. I hope you all are doing YOUR part as member missionaries. We have the truth and the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ here on this Earth today. Why be selfish and not share that with those around us, those we love and care about? Let's do it. Let's build the Kingdom of God. I love and miss you all. I love and miss my sweet Taylor Lindsey and Raphie the most.

Love, Elder Clark

GOLDEN INVESTIGATORS

Hey everyone!!!!! Another week and more miracles!! Vicki and Evan are the most converted people I've ever met in my entire life. The day after they accepted to be baptized, they started planning their own baptism. That never happens, ever! They're getting baptized this Saturday, and I can't wait. They asked us to baptize and confirm them. They're already paying their tithing and coming to every hour of church. I can't wait to come back and visit them in 2 years and see how much they've grown. I'm going to try to come back in a year and go through the temple with them. We've been working a lot with helping people quit smoking. It's a huge thing here in Rock Springs, so most of the people we meet and talk to have the addiction. It's been awesome to see people gain a desire to change their lives just from the Gospel. There's no better feeling than seeing the Gospel help others and change them for the better, getting them on the straight and narrow and helping them stay there. Elder Bass and I are having a lot of fun and really enjoying this area. Things are going really well in our wards, and it seems like the member missionary work is progressing as well. We've been studying how to ask more inspired questions and teach more by the Spirit. It feels like whenever we focus on a certain thing in our teaching, we have some instance where the studying we did comes in handy. I'll be sure to take pictures of the baptism next week. Sorry that I'm so bad at taking pictures.... I just never think to take pictures, ever. I love and miss all of you so much. I keep you all in my prayers on a daily basis. I love and miss Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie the absolute most!!! :)

Love, Elder Clark

THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOR

What an amazing week it has been for Elder Bass and I. We had 7 investigators come to church this week, which is the most I've ever had in one week. We invited three of our investigators to be baptized, and they all accepted. I feel like we've had a lot of miracles just fall into our lap recently. I don't know if that's from being obedient and diligent, or just being lucky. Haha. I'm sure they are all blessings from Heavenly Father. We've been studying the Restoration a lot lately. We've made a companionship goal to teach more first lessons, so we figured we should know it like the back of our hand. We decided to come up with some questions about doctrine of the Restoration that people might have for us, so that we would be prepared if we were ever asked. Then later in the week, two people we've been teaching, Vicki and Evan, asked us one of the questions we had gone over previously that week. It was a real testimony builder of being prepared by planning and studying for things in the coming weeks. What's even cooler is that those two investigators accepted the invitation to be baptized and now we just have to set a date. :) I love when things like this happen. It's such a testament of why I'm here doing what I'm doing. It's all about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. I love it. I also went on exchanges with Elder Paige again this week. This time Elder Bass went to Manilla with Elder Paige's companion. So Elder Paige and I were here in Rock Springs and had a blast. He and I get along so well. I'm really sad that he goes home next month. We played softball and basketball with some investigators, which we really never get to do. My best friend Josh (from Nashville), and a couple other guys stopped by in Rock Springs on their road trip to see me. We went out to lunch at Cafe Rio and just talked. Josh was telling me more about the mission that he's going to be going on pretty soon. Sounds like it'll either be to Chile or Argentina. I'm really excited for him, and I know how ready he is to go. Anyways, this week has been very eventful and full of fun and excitement. Next week we're going to Salt Lake for a zone conference with Elder Clark from the 70. I'll be sure to tell everyone how that went next week. :) I love and miss you all soooo much. Thank you all for being so supportive. I love and miss Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie the most!! :)

Love, Elder Clark

A MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERS

This has been a really awesome week for Elder Bass and me. We've had some really, really solid lessons this week with a few of our investigators. The Spirit has been so strong, probably stronger than I've ever been able to recognize before. We've been studying Ether 12:27 a lot this week, and Alma 32. We've used them both a lot with our lessons and those we've been visiting. Applying the principle of humility is a lot harder than it looks. But I feel like when we do and we rely on the Lord, our lessons go SO much better. The Spirit is there so much more, and the people we are teaching respond in such better ways. A really cool miracle that we saw this week was one of our investigators that hadn't been progressing at all, finally decided to come to church. We invited her to be baptized as well, but she said she wasn't ready YET. But she knows that she should, and I think she has the desire as well. She's just scared. We're teaching an older couple named Vicki and Evan. They moved up here from Arkansas, and you all know how I love my southerners. ;) We started visiting them and helping them around their garden. Then they started asking questions about our church, and we've been teaching them ever since. They've been SO prepared for the Gospel though. They just left their church because of a bad experience and because it came out and supported homosexuality. They don't drink coffee, tea, alcohol, or smoke. Vicki's read the Book of Mormon 3 times already. She's a huge intellectual thinker, and loves to ask questions. They came to church on Sunday, and said they really enjoyed it. We had a total of 6 investigators at church this Sunday. It was awesome. Members were coming to say hi and introduce themselves to our investigators. It’s the coolest thing to see. SO!!! If you see someone you don't know, or maybe someone sitting with the missionaries, THEN GO SAY HI AND TALK TO THEM LIKE THEY ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND!!! Trust me, it makes a world of difference to them. Anyways, we're preparing 3 people for baptism right now, and they're amazing people. I love them a lot. :) We have a huge stake-wide church open house coming up on Friday and Saturday this week. The stake has put billboards up in the town, newspaper articles, and radio spots. We're going around and handing out fliers and inviting members to find people to bring. It should be a really cool thing for the stake and lighting a fire under the members for missionary work. I love and miss you all. And of course, I love and miss Taylor and Ralphie the most!! :) 

Love, Elder Clark

STAYING PUT IN WYOMING THIS TRANSFER

Well another transfer has blown by and it seems like it was all a blur. Trying to look back at the last 6 months hardly seems real. It's as if I've been doing this forever and at the same time it feels like I just got here last week. I'm staying in Wyoming for another transfer and I'm so excited. I was so scared that I was going to get moved. This has been my favorite area by far, and I have so much more to do here. Elder Bass is also staying here for another one. It's been loads of fun training a new missionary. He may do dumb things at times and act like he knows it all, but he's a good kid. He's going to make a great missionary. We had a Mission Trek last week. I had an awesome time at Mission Trek ! It was hard to leave the area for a whole day, but I think it was worth it. I tried to get as much out of it as I could. We have to sacrifice much on our missions like the pioneers sacrificed much on their treks. It's a totally different kind of sacrifice, but a sacrifice none the less. Understanding the amount of work that goes into a mission is similar to understanding how much work goes into a trek. It was cool to see those things last Tuesday. We're sad to see this transfer coming to an end, but also extremely excited to see what's in store for us. It feels like the last 5 weeks have been a blur, each one moving faster than the last. We've continued our studies on revelation and knowledge and seen the impact that it's had on our lessons. Increased spiritual prompting have been something that we've seen improve a lot. Heather, one of our investigators, is progressing extremely well and is on date to be baptized on the 23^rd of August. She's really excited about being baptized, and it's been cool to see her change from the time we first met with her to now. She's even giving up smoking. We have another couple on date to be baptized on the 23^rd of August as well. They might have to wait a little longer than that though because they have to get married. We're going to try to make it happen by then though. :) So with those 3 on date for baptism, we feel like we have several others that are really close. This is shaping up to be a great transfer!!!!! I'm so stoked!!! I love and miss you all. Thank you for your love and support that you have shown me. Every bit of it is appreciated, especially that which I get from Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie. I love and miss you the most!!! 

Love, Elder Clark

JOY IN THE WORK

What an amazing and eventful week. I went on exchanges with our district leader, Elder Paige, who's down in Green River. It was probably the best exchanges I've been on yet in my mission. We did so much great and productive missionary work that just uplifted me and motivated me to work more and more. I learned so much from Elder Paige. It's not fair, it seems like missionary work just comes so easily to him. Maybe that's what happens when you've been out 22 months... ha ha. We did lots of service. We also went fishing early, early one morning with an investigator and caught Salmon, Mac Trout, and Rainbow Trout. We got skunked on Bass. We filleted it all and then took it to the only restaurant in town, which is Mormon owned and feeds us for free. They cooked (grilled) up our Salmon and Trout for us, and it was delicious. The investigator that went with us loves us too. Everyone in Manilla loves the missionaries. We had so much fun. We even got to stay with a part-member family. They let us sleep in their cabin. They own over a hundred acres with cattle and over 20 horses. The cabin was up on the mountain a little bit and got a good view of the small town. We endured it.... ;) Anyways, with me going with Paige, Elder Bass and Williams(Elder Paige's companion) maintained our area and did so much good work. They are both in their first transfer, so we put a lot of faith in them that they could do it. I feel like I came back and Elder Bass was a new missionary. They found a new investigator, took care of Justin's baptismal interview, and did a bunch of meaningful service. I was proud as a trainer to see them grow so much. Hopefully we'll be able to do something like that again. We had a wonderful baptism on Saturday and confirmation on Sunday for Justin. I feel that Justin and I have become great friends in this Gospel. The ward has been sublime in their fellowship and support of him. Our other investigators are progressing really well. We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday;

That's the most I've had yet. Elder Bass and I also taught Gospel Principles. We had no idea we were teaching it until we got to the class. It was on the Holy Ghost, and I think it was the best lesson I've taught. The Spirit was definitely there. We had 3 investigators there, a few less-actives, and like 15 members in the class. It was crazy. We had a ward party Sunday night that was a Happy Everything party. It was.... unique.... Ha ha. Somehow I ended up playing the ukulele for a song while one of the young men in the ward sang. It was legit. So this week I've really tried to focus my studies on the trials of Alma and his people, and how much Amulon persecuted them. I LOVE how in Mosiah 24:15 it talks about how the Lord strengthened his people according to their faithfulness. He didn't just take their trials away, but he STRENGTHENED them so that they could handle their trials on their own and actually learn something from them. I love that. I know as a missionary I can be strengthened by the Lord as well, and I'm beginning to realize that it's necessary to receive that strength in order to be successful. We, as always, have a lot of people that we're teaching and visiting that have their own set of difficult trials. I want to be able to help them receive that strength from the Lord just like Alma and his people. Family and friends, I love this work. It's becoming who I am, and I'm beginning to see the Lord work in me in ways I didn't know were possible. Anyways!! We have a mission trek tomorrow in Evanston, WY. The whole mission is getting together and doing a full day trek of pulling handcarts. It'll be a fun experience, and yes Mom there should be tons of pictures from it. We're going to have a testimony meeting that night with just the Wyoming and Park City zones, since the Salt Lake zones have to drive back. We also just found out that we have another mission conference coming up in August. Elder Don Clarke will be visiting us and educating us on his spiritual ways. So that should be an amazing experience as well. I love and miss you as always. I thank Heavenly Father every morning and night in my prayers for how great of a support I have back home from my friends and family. And of course, I receive the most strength and support from Taylor Lindsey. I love and miss you and Ralphie the most. :)

Love, Elder Clark

WHAT A DIFFERENCE SIX MONTHS MAKES

Hello everyone!! It's been another great week out here in good ole Rock Springs, WY. We volunteered at the county fairgrounds 3 different days this week for the upcoming National High School Rodeo Tournament. It's been so much fun. We've gotten to meet people from all over the country; 42 states are represented. Canada and Australia participate as well. Our job has been checking in and then guiding people's trailers back to their camp spot. There are over 1200 trailers coming in for this thing. The tournament started yesterday, and we're going tonight with a group of missionaries and one of our investigators, Justin. We've been meeting with Justin a lot this week, and he's been making huge progress. He's been at church the last 3 Sundays in a row, and he's getting baptized this Saturday!!!! We're really excited for him, and the ward has been really supportive and good at fellow shipping him. After the rodeo tonight, we're going on exchanges with the Elders in Green River. I'm so excited!! Elder Paige and I are going to be going to Manilla, UT for 3 days. He says there's so much work down there, and the people are amazing. I seriously can't wait to go down there. It's a tiny ranching town of about 500. Anyways, Elder Bass and I have been doing work here in Rock Springs, WY. We now have 4 people on date to be baptized, and a couple others that have shown a lot of progress lately. We have a few ward parties coming up and we're hoping to invite as many people as possible to that. We've going out on splits with the priests of our ward a lot lately, and it's really weird to think that was me just 6 months ago... It feels like that was such a long time ago. I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well back home. I miss you all and keep you all in my prayers. I know the Lord promises to take care of my friends and family back home because I can't be there right now, but that means that I have to put everything into what I'm doing here so that promise is kept. I hope everyone is doing all that they can to progress this work. The time is now. The Lord is hastening the work whether we like it or not. We all have to be doing our part to bring to pass the salvation and eternal life of others. My love and prayers are especially with Taylor Lindsey and Ralphie. 

Love,  Elder Clark

COMMUNITY WORK

What a great week we've had in Little Rock Springs, WY. We've found several new investigators this week to start teaching, and we have 3 people on date to be baptized with several others who are really close. We still have Heather on date for next month, and we have an eternigator and his wife on date for August as well. It's going to be really hard for it to actually happen though. He struggles with Joseph Smith and tithing. One of our investigators is getting married today, so hopefully that will help her along her way. We had a miracle this week!! A girl that just moved here a week ago called us and wanted to get baptized. Her boyfriend is about to go on a mission and was teaching her all of the lessons before she moved here. So we went over and taught her the first 2 lessons because she already knew them and it was more of a review then a learning experience. She bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith to us right then and there. We put her on date to be baptized on July 12th, which is her birthday, and her boyfriend is coming up here that weekend to baptize her. (Super legit). She's going to be an awesome member. Hopefully she goes on a mission at some point. We spent our 4th of July at a community firework event that was held at the local golf course. We just walked around and talked to people, trying to get to know as many people as possible. I participated in a pie eating contest, in which I came in 2nd. I figured, publicity is publicity, right? We've studied knowledge and revelation this week for a part of our companion study. The only way we're going to gain knowledge is by putting effort into our studies and work for it. The wisdom is the hard part. Applying the knowledge is a lot easier said than done. But I think if we just make it a goal to remember what we've learned from the scriptures, then we'll be more successful when trying to apply that knowledge. One of our investigators, Justin, leaned over to me during sacrament meeting and told me that he's been thinking about getting baptized. I know that he felt something while at church and the Spirit is working on him. It's so cool to see God's hand in our lives and the lives of those around us. What a great blessing it is to know of the Gospel and how loving Heavenly Father is. Elder Bass and I both bore our testimonies twice on Sunday in two different wards. Our wards weren't exactly at maximum capacity with it being a holiday weekend and all, but it was a great opportunity to be visible in our wards. We had a couple investigators at church, and even a few less-active people that we've been working with. We're going to try to be more involved in the community with service, or activities like the 4th of July event. Tonight, we're running in a community patriotic, 5k race. It's going to be sick. We're going to get decked out in American swag and talk to as many people as possible. The National High School Rodeo tournament is coming to Rock Springs next week, and I think we're going to volunteer for that as well. We've had a really solid week, and want to keep going off of our momentum. I love and miss you all, and I hope everyone is doing well. Taylor and Ralphie I still love and miss the most of all. :)

Love, Elder Clark