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