Oí Família!
Well, like in the song... "It´s closing time..." I don´t know the rest of the words, but it is the end of the transfer once again and I am pretty darn sure that I will be leaving this area. We had a Stake Conference yesterday that was really really good! I will tell you guys a little part that I liked the most. So this guy was at a college of theology, explaining Gospel Doctrine to this group of theologists. He and this Institute teacher finished their presentation and they had some time left over, so they decided to introduce the first vision of Joseph Smith and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Then the interrogating questions started flying in from this classroom filled with theoligists. "Where are the golden plates, now?" trying to catch these two guys in the middle of their words so that they contradict one another. The institute teacher wanted to answer the question... "I have them with me right now as a matter of fact." Everyone in the room gasped. Then the teacher placed a big box of copies of the Book of Mormon on the desk. "I have the translation of the plates right here and enough for everyone!" And then someone asked again, "but where are the actual plates?" So the teacher responded again, "Oh these ones are much better... they´re in Portuguese! You wouldn´t be able to understand the other ones anyways!" I was laughing really hard because so many people ask this question. It really doesn´t matter, because the plates where translated by the power of God and now we have means of understanding them in our own tongue. It´s a matter of faith for us to believe in the words that it contains. If we still had the plates, we wouldn´t need faith to believe in the truth of the Book of Mormon, thus, taking away our agency to make this decision, which is not the plan of God. He will not force ANYONE to believe that these things are true because He wants us to humble ourselves before Him and ask with sincerity if these things are true... or not. It´s simple, and it works.
I am sorry I didn´t have time to put anymore funny stories or interesting stories this week. I will tell you all about everything next week... or Christmas during the phone call... whichever comes first for me lol.
Love you all!
Elder Clark
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22nd 2010
Oí Família!!!
This week was a pretty good one. We met a few families that have a lot of potential of getting to know the true Gospel of Christ this week and I am really excited to teach them! The first family is one with a really young mom and three boys. These boys are so cool because they are not anything like the other boys here in Brazil. They actually really get along and don´t fight with each other. They were all looking for a Church to really start to follow and we were lucky enough to find them in this time of their lives (but I don´t think it was luck that we found them). The other family is a single mom with her 5 year old boy. Her name is Ilma and she has been going through a lot of problems with the father of her son and she just wants to know what Christ wants her to do. Elder Roblyer and I taught one of the best lessons about the Book of Mormon that I have ever been apart of since I´ve been here on the mission. We were feeling the Spirit so strongly and even Elder Roblyer and Ilma were crying because of the power that was in the room. It was so amazing and I really have a lot of hope that these families will take hold of this Gospel and run with it!
So a little bit on the funny side for this week. Every day we walk on the street and the little kids think that we are German, so they always yell at us, "hey! German! Speak English!" yeah, it doesn´t make a whole lot of sense, but they are kids, so what can you do? So we stop and talk with them and tell them that we´re not German, but we are from the USA and they get all wide-eyed and interested in the things that we have there. Then they all try talking in English, or at least the basics that they all learn here in school, like "what is my name?" and we always answer, "good question, I don´t know your name." We also try to teach a Gospel principle to them while we are with them. For example, yesterday I taught them all about the Law of Chasity and how we should all treat women as if they were our own mothers. So they stopped their dirty jokes about the women on the street... for about a half an hour at least. It´s hard to help them understand when they´ve been doing it for so long, but who knows, maybe one of those young boys thought that it was pretty important and he will apply this to his life. If so, I know that I have done my job.
I love this work and I love everyone who is helping me be out here! Thank you so much everyone! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Eat a lot of Turkey for me because I won´t be eating any this year lol!
Love,
Elder Clark
This week was a pretty good one. We met a few families that have a lot of potential of getting to know the true Gospel of Christ this week and I am really excited to teach them! The first family is one with a really young mom and three boys. These boys are so cool because they are not anything like the other boys here in Brazil. They actually really get along and don´t fight with each other. They were all looking for a Church to really start to follow and we were lucky enough to find them in this time of their lives (but I don´t think it was luck that we found them). The other family is a single mom with her 5 year old boy. Her name is Ilma and she has been going through a lot of problems with the father of her son and she just wants to know what Christ wants her to do. Elder Roblyer and I taught one of the best lessons about the Book of Mormon that I have ever been apart of since I´ve been here on the mission. We were feeling the Spirit so strongly and even Elder Roblyer and Ilma were crying because of the power that was in the room. It was so amazing and I really have a lot of hope that these families will take hold of this Gospel and run with it!
So a little bit on the funny side for this week. Every day we walk on the street and the little kids think that we are German, so they always yell at us, "hey! German! Speak English!" yeah, it doesn´t make a whole lot of sense, but they are kids, so what can you do? So we stop and talk with them and tell them that we´re not German, but we are from the USA and they get all wide-eyed and interested in the things that we have there. Then they all try talking in English, or at least the basics that they all learn here in school, like "what is my name?" and we always answer, "good question, I don´t know your name." We also try to teach a Gospel principle to them while we are with them. For example, yesterday I taught them all about the Law of Chasity and how we should all treat women as if they were our own mothers. So they stopped their dirty jokes about the women on the street... for about a half an hour at least. It´s hard to help them understand when they´ve been doing it for so long, but who knows, maybe one of those young boys thought that it was pretty important and he will apply this to his life. If so, I know that I have done my job.
I love this work and I love everyone who is helping me be out here! Thank you so much everyone! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Eat a lot of Turkey for me because I won´t be eating any this year lol!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, Nov 15th 2010
Oi Família!
You guys remember how I was saying that it is getting all hot and stuff here in Brazil? Yeah, we had one really hot day this week and the rest was pretty chilly. I don´t think São Paulo can make up its mind. But this week was amazing! We baptized another awesome person this Sunday, too! Her name is Madalena (my first woman baptism) and she is 56 year old woman who walked herself into the Church one day and fell in love with the Gospel. She started reading the Book of Mormon everyday the first day we left it with her. She was smoking and had already tried to quit but couldn´t, but we left her with a challenge last week that she would be able to quit this week, and she did! We almost ran into a snag with her this week however. It was Monday night and we were following up with her about her smoking problem and she had said that she was going well but she didn´t want to be baptized just yet. She was really nervous and I could tell she didn´t want to fall away and start smoking again. I looked at her and told her that she was probably one of the most faithful investigators I have ever had. She realized the blessings that come from baptism and she re-accepted her baptismal date. This Sunday she asked me something that really touched my heart. She asked, "You two can still come visit me even after I´m baptized, right?" I started to smile and laugh and told her that I will never quit visiting her, "you´re still my friend and my sister now." I don´t know if have ever been so emotional with any of my baptisms. I could just feel the joy that Madalena had when she was baptized and now she is just longing for all of her kids to be baptized too. I absolutely love the Gospel and what it does for people. This Church is true.
Elder Roblyer and I exlpored our area this week as well. We received a few references that we wanted to contact and they all lived in areas that I have never been to, so it was quite an adventure haha I will tell you that I can navigate myself successfully around a Brazilian map! I dare everyone to try to do this when half of the roads don´t even exist on the map. So now I have absolutely no excuse for getting lost in the US again.
Sorry today is so short, but I will try to utilize my time better next week! Have a great week everyone! I love you all with all my heart and I can´t wait to call you all and finally share a majority of my experiences with you!
Love,
Elder Clark
You guys remember how I was saying that it is getting all hot and stuff here in Brazil? Yeah, we had one really hot day this week and the rest was pretty chilly. I don´t think São Paulo can make up its mind. But this week was amazing! We baptized another awesome person this Sunday, too! Her name is Madalena (my first woman baptism) and she is 56 year old woman who walked herself into the Church one day and fell in love with the Gospel. She started reading the Book of Mormon everyday the first day we left it with her. She was smoking and had already tried to quit but couldn´t, but we left her with a challenge last week that she would be able to quit this week, and she did! We almost ran into a snag with her this week however. It was Monday night and we were following up with her about her smoking problem and she had said that she was going well but she didn´t want to be baptized just yet. She was really nervous and I could tell she didn´t want to fall away and start smoking again. I looked at her and told her that she was probably one of the most faithful investigators I have ever had. She realized the blessings that come from baptism and she re-accepted her baptismal date. This Sunday she asked me something that really touched my heart. She asked, "You two can still come visit me even after I´m baptized, right?" I started to smile and laugh and told her that I will never quit visiting her, "you´re still my friend and my sister now." I don´t know if have ever been so emotional with any of my baptisms. I could just feel the joy that Madalena had when she was baptized and now she is just longing for all of her kids to be baptized too. I absolutely love the Gospel and what it does for people. This Church is true.
Elder Roblyer and I exlpored our area this week as well. We received a few references that we wanted to contact and they all lived in areas that I have never been to, so it was quite an adventure haha I will tell you that I can navigate myself successfully around a Brazilian map! I dare everyone to try to do this when half of the roads don´t even exist on the map. So now I have absolutely no excuse for getting lost in the US again.
Sorry today is so short, but I will try to utilize my time better next week! Have a great week everyone! I love you all with all my heart and I can´t wait to call you all and finally share a majority of my experiences with you!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, November 8, 2010
Monday, November 8th
Oí Família!
Hello everyone! Yet another hot week in Brazil! We´re coming into the end of spring and the start of summer here, so that means that you all will freeze and I will be melting. I have a few photos of the snow from when I visited Bear Lake last winter and I like showing the people here because they get flabbergasted and say, "whoa! Snow must be terrible!" Brazilians do not like the cold in any way shape or form. At least I´m still in a part of the city of São Paulo, so it doesn´t get AS hot as it does in the areas closer to the coast, but I have a chance to be transferred out there at the end of this month, so maybe I just jynxed myself. I hear that it´s prettier out there, so maybe it´s just a small price to pay.
Well, this week was pretty neat for me. I learned a little lesson about faith with one of our investigators. We have a few investigators who have been investigating the Church for a really long time and I had been giving up hope on them starting to fulfill our committments we were leaving for them. I just wanted to start looking for more people to start teaching, but my companion felt like we should go out there one more time to teach them. Almost everyone of them had a change of heart. This 15 year-old daughter of a less-active member prayed to know if the Church was true finally, and got an answer that it is and that she will come back to Church and see if it really is, and maybe she´ll be baptized here pretty soon. Then there is this 14 year-old son of another less-active member and he had been investigating the Church for a long time and he never seems to have any interest other than soccer and the computer, but this last week, he had a really long discussion with his mom about where we go after this life and how he wanted to know how to live with his mom forever. His mom called us and we are going to go over there and help him clear up his questions and maybe open another opportunity for him to be baptized.
And last, but certainly not least, my grandma of my mission, Sister Penha, has been investigating for almost 3 and a half years but can´t be baptized until she stops smoking. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting at Church and Penha´s son, Luiz, who had returned from a mission and everything, was saying that he had a dream about the temple and that it was something extremely special. After Church, Luiz pulled me aside and told me that I, too, was in his dream, as a missionary still, and that I had a good role in his dream, but he couldn´t remember what I did. I thought it was very kind but didn´t think too much of it. We then visited Penha that night and she told us something very interesting. She is going in for a consultation with the doctors to find out when she needs to have a surgery. When she has this surgery, she will be bed-ridden for at least three months and baptism will be out of the question for her physically. We didn´t know any of this before we invited her to be baptized at the end of this month. She said that if the doctor decides to do the surgery soon, that she knows that she needs to be baptized soon. I don´t know what I felt after I left, but I felt like there was something special in the making. I have had the feeling ever since I arrived here that Penha would be baptized before I left this area. I keep praying that it is in the will of the Lord to help her finally overcome her smoking problem because when I see her relationship with her son, Luiz, I can´t help but think of my own relationship with my mom, and I couldn´t think of anything better than to unite her with her son. I know that this work is true... I am a true witness of the fact that this Gospel changes lives.
Thanks for all of the letters and messages I received in my birthday package! I love you all so much and I can´t wait to share ALL of my amazing experiences I´m having here in Brazil! I hope everyone has a great week and stay strong!
Love,
Elder Clark
Hello everyone! Yet another hot week in Brazil! We´re coming into the end of spring and the start of summer here, so that means that you all will freeze and I will be melting. I have a few photos of the snow from when I visited Bear Lake last winter and I like showing the people here because they get flabbergasted and say, "whoa! Snow must be terrible!" Brazilians do not like the cold in any way shape or form. At least I´m still in a part of the city of São Paulo, so it doesn´t get AS hot as it does in the areas closer to the coast, but I have a chance to be transferred out there at the end of this month, so maybe I just jynxed myself. I hear that it´s prettier out there, so maybe it´s just a small price to pay.
Well, this week was pretty neat for me. I learned a little lesson about faith with one of our investigators. We have a few investigators who have been investigating the Church for a really long time and I had been giving up hope on them starting to fulfill our committments we were leaving for them. I just wanted to start looking for more people to start teaching, but my companion felt like we should go out there one more time to teach them. Almost everyone of them had a change of heart. This 15 year-old daughter of a less-active member prayed to know if the Church was true finally, and got an answer that it is and that she will come back to Church and see if it really is, and maybe she´ll be baptized here pretty soon. Then there is this 14 year-old son of another less-active member and he had been investigating the Church for a long time and he never seems to have any interest other than soccer and the computer, but this last week, he had a really long discussion with his mom about where we go after this life and how he wanted to know how to live with his mom forever. His mom called us and we are going to go over there and help him clear up his questions and maybe open another opportunity for him to be baptized.
And last, but certainly not least, my grandma of my mission, Sister Penha, has been investigating for almost 3 and a half years but can´t be baptized until she stops smoking. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting at Church and Penha´s son, Luiz, who had returned from a mission and everything, was saying that he had a dream about the temple and that it was something extremely special. After Church, Luiz pulled me aside and told me that I, too, was in his dream, as a missionary still, and that I had a good role in his dream, but he couldn´t remember what I did. I thought it was very kind but didn´t think too much of it. We then visited Penha that night and she told us something very interesting. She is going in for a consultation with the doctors to find out when she needs to have a surgery. When she has this surgery, she will be bed-ridden for at least three months and baptism will be out of the question for her physically. We didn´t know any of this before we invited her to be baptized at the end of this month. She said that if the doctor decides to do the surgery soon, that she knows that she needs to be baptized soon. I don´t know what I felt after I left, but I felt like there was something special in the making. I have had the feeling ever since I arrived here that Penha would be baptized before I left this area. I keep praying that it is in the will of the Lord to help her finally overcome her smoking problem because when I see her relationship with her son, Luiz, I can´t help but think of my own relationship with my mom, and I couldn´t think of anything better than to unite her with her son. I know that this work is true... I am a true witness of the fact that this Gospel changes lives.
Thanks for all of the letters and messages I received in my birthday package! I love you all so much and I can´t wait to share ALL of my amazing experiences I´m having here in Brazil! I hope everyone has a great week and stay strong!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, Nov 1st
Oi Família!
This was really great! We had a meeting with a member the Seventy. Elder C. Scott Grow came and spoke to us all and gave us some really good training. It was a great experience because I got to travel more towards the center of São Paulo and I got to see more parts of this HUGE city! It is really amazing just how large this place is!
Well everyone, I have a really funny story for you guys! Just yesterday, my companion and I were talking about how we wanted our suits to last a long time because we only use them on Sundays for Church and then we just leave them in our house afterwards, so they should last quite a long time, right? Well, as I was saying that, we were coming up on big pile of trash on the side of the road... I thought, there´s no problem here. I´ll just walk around the pile of trash and everything will be all rig...WHOA! Yeah, I tripped over the garbage in the street, right in front this court where these kids were playing soccer. I ripped a tiny hole in the knee of my blue suit haha I got up, brushed myself off, gave my companion a little jab in the side to get him to stop laughing so hard, and laughed it off as well. I guess there is such a thing as karma haha.
We are teaching yet another person who has a problem with smoking, but I had a very different reaction with her. Her name is Madalena and we have been teaching her for about two or three weeks now. She is a reference from God! One day, out of the blue, she showed up at Church and said that she knew that it was different than all of the other Churches here. We began teaching her and she prayed and already knew that everything was true and she wanted to be baptized. We then taught the Word of Wisdom to her and she said that she has a problem with smoking. We made some plans for her to quit and then ended with a prayer. I invited her to offer the prayer to ask for more help to quit smoking and she responded like this, "I don´t feel worthy or prepared enough to pray to God because of my problem with cigarettes. Let´s wait a little bit and see if I feel better about praying." I could feel that she really was hurting inside and she felt remorse because of her smoking problem, so I said the first things that came to my mind. "Sister Madalena, it doesn´t matter what you´ve done, where you´ve been, or how long you´ve done it, your Heavenly Father absolutely loves you and He wants to help you. All of us are worthy to speak to our Father in Heaven, and He is just waiting for us to open our hearts up to Him." She looked at us, smiled, and offered one of the most beautiful prayers I´ve ever heard. The next time we passed by her house, she expressed how much she has appreciated prayer and how it is helping her overcome here addiction everyday. She said at the end of this visit, "I will quit smoking, I will be baptized, and I will be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ!"
I know that this Church is true. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I know that we all are a part of the great family of God. I am so glad that I have great family and friends to share these experiences with. I hope that each and every one of us develops a more close and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Clark
This was really great! We had a meeting with a member the Seventy. Elder C. Scott Grow came and spoke to us all and gave us some really good training. It was a great experience because I got to travel more towards the center of São Paulo and I got to see more parts of this HUGE city! It is really amazing just how large this place is!
Well everyone, I have a really funny story for you guys! Just yesterday, my companion and I were talking about how we wanted our suits to last a long time because we only use them on Sundays for Church and then we just leave them in our house afterwards, so they should last quite a long time, right? Well, as I was saying that, we were coming up on big pile of trash on the side of the road... I thought, there´s no problem here. I´ll just walk around the pile of trash and everything will be all rig...WHOA! Yeah, I tripped over the garbage in the street, right in front this court where these kids were playing soccer. I ripped a tiny hole in the knee of my blue suit haha I got up, brushed myself off, gave my companion a little jab in the side to get him to stop laughing so hard, and laughed it off as well. I guess there is such a thing as karma haha.
We are teaching yet another person who has a problem with smoking, but I had a very different reaction with her. Her name is Madalena and we have been teaching her for about two or three weeks now. She is a reference from God! One day, out of the blue, she showed up at Church and said that she knew that it was different than all of the other Churches here. We began teaching her and she prayed and already knew that everything was true and she wanted to be baptized. We then taught the Word of Wisdom to her and she said that she has a problem with smoking. We made some plans for her to quit and then ended with a prayer. I invited her to offer the prayer to ask for more help to quit smoking and she responded like this, "I don´t feel worthy or prepared enough to pray to God because of my problem with cigarettes. Let´s wait a little bit and see if I feel better about praying." I could feel that she really was hurting inside and she felt remorse because of her smoking problem, so I said the first things that came to my mind. "Sister Madalena, it doesn´t matter what you´ve done, where you´ve been, or how long you´ve done it, your Heavenly Father absolutely loves you and He wants to help you. All of us are worthy to speak to our Father in Heaven, and He is just waiting for us to open our hearts up to Him." She looked at us, smiled, and offered one of the most beautiful prayers I´ve ever heard. The next time we passed by her house, she expressed how much she has appreciated prayer and how it is helping her overcome here addiction everyday. She said at the end of this visit, "I will quit smoking, I will be baptized, and I will be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ!"
I know that this Church is true. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I know that we all are a part of the great family of God. I am so glad that I have great family and friends to share these experiences with. I hope that each and every one of us develops a more close and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Clark
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