JOY IN SERVICE

Well, another week's flown by.... I can't believe how strange time feels out here. I don't think I'll ever get used to it. We had a pretty eventful week that was full of fun and learning. We've continued working with the twin girls that are on date for this upcoming Saturday. They've been progressing and learning a lot, so we hope they're ready for Saturday. Hazel is just surprising me more and more every time we see her. She's just so nice and responsive to everything we teach her and talk to her about. She participates in Gospel Principles so much and it seems like she's been a member for years.... It's just been such a miracle and a huge testimony builder for Elder Bischoff and me. We did quite a bit of service this week. It's that time of year, so everyone is out doing yard work. We helped everyone from investigators, less-actives, members, and even non-members. We cut a few lawns, helped with some gardens, and helped people move a lot of boxes to storage and what not. Service has really become one of my favorite things about missionary work. People are so defensive about talking to us, but when they see that we just want to serve them it really changes their attitude. They see how we actually care and love them instead of them thinking that we just want more numbers in our church; especially because it was Easter week. We just got to go around showing and telling people how grateful we are for the Savior. If any of you haven't seen the Church's Easter video, then go do it. It's on the Mormonchannel.com. So on Thursday this last week, Clayton M. Christensen came to give our mission a devotional. He wrote the book, "Power of Everyday Missionaries". I also recommend reading that. It's amazing. Anyways, he led a discussion with us on how we can be better intertwined in our wards and stakes. We learned a lot of cool ideas like, asking if we could fill in for the primary chorister. That way he/she can go to a Sunday school class that they never get to, and we get to meet the primary kids. It was all about building relationships with people in the ward and hastening missionary work. He was such a cool guy. You could just tell how smart and spiritual he was by the way he held himself and spoke. I think we have another devotional this week with another 70 authority, so we're looking forward to that. I love and miss all of you! I keep you all in my prayers. I love and miss my sweet Taylor and my puppy Ralphie sooooooo much!

Love, Elder Clark