Oí Família!!!
Remember how last week I told you all about the wonderful blessing that fell from the sky? We baptized that woman and her daughter, remember? Well the Lord has not ceased His blessings upon us and he put another person in out pathway this week. Last Sunday there was a 12 year-old girl who went to Church with her friends and guess what happened? She fell in love with the Church! On Tuesday, a member passed by us and told us that they had a family night on Monday and invited this girl to come. The family night´s theme was, can you guess? BAPTISM! The girl got super excited and said that she wanted to be baptized that very week! We came over to her house and started to teach her. I asked her, "Roberta, what are some of the things that we cannot do once we are baptized?" She started off, "You can´t drink coffee, tea, alcohol, can´t smoke, can´t use drugs, and have to wait until you´re 16 to date." My companion and I sat there with our mouths wide open and we asked if she was willing to do all that and she said YES before we could finish the question. She comes from a very sad situation. Her parents are both drug addicts and alcoholics and because of that, all of her brothers and sisters are, too. She knew that all that stuff was horrible and she has been looking for a Church to join to help her stay on the right path. At Church she offers to say the prayers when even the older members are still too shy. At her baptism on Saturday, all of the youth from the stake were there to watch and right after she danced in the presentation that she had been practicing. When I saw her after we confirmed her on Sunday, I saw a little girl who will be eternally blessed by her decision to be baptized. I truly love this work.
We painted a member´s house this week as well and I officially don´t have any more clean normal clothes. All of my regular clothes that I brought from home are all dirty from all the service projects we´ve been doing. From building houses to painting walls I have ruined pretty much them all, but I wouldn´t have it any other way. My companion asked me if I was upset that I got my jeans all covered in paint, and I told him, "No, I brought them for this purpose."
I am in a member´s house today and we are going to make brownies! We are getting the recipe from the internet because brownies don´t exist in Brazil. I know... sad story. We are going to have a blast! I love love love the mission and I am so happy for all the things that I am learning. Just about everyday I am finding something that needs to be improved about my attitude, my personality, my bad habits, my testimony and many other things. I know that the mission is converting me more than it is converting these people. I love you all and hope you all have a great and fabulous week!
Elder Clark
p.s. send me pictures of everyone! it´s been almost 9 months since I have pictures of you all and what you´re all doing. I am starting to forget what you all look like! haha Love you all!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monday, July 18th 2011
Oí Família!
Just let me begin telling you that this week was full of blessings from the sky. Just when I start to think that all hope is lost and that I am a failure in life, Heavenly Father seems to bail me out time and time again. For example, there was a time in college when I was taking a Nutrition class. This class was one of the most time consuming and difficult classes I have ever taken in my life. It required more than two hours of studying every single day. When it came to the final exam at the end of the semester, I studied more than I have ever studied and even still I walked into the classroom thoroughly unprepared. I looked at the test and it was missing half of the questions. The teacher´s assistant had messed up while printing, therefore our professor gave us all 50% free on the test. I walked out with an A even though I knew that if I had taken the full test, I would have failed miserably. It was truly a blessing from the sky. This week was not much different. This Wednesday we had a special training with the our mission president which was really good! We learned a lot about the Holy Ghost and how we need to refocus on our missionary purpose. We headed home and had to go straight back to work. There wasn´t any time given to go home and rest or anything, even though we all had woken up at 4 in the morning. My companion and I went to visit a kid who was getting ready to be baptized that week and we found out that he had just had surgery on his eye and couldn´t be baptized that week. I lost all hope. He was our only investigator ready to be baptized that week and now we have no one. I said a little prayer to Heavenly Father to bless us with a family or someone to teach and baptize. As we were walking down the street, my companion and I were really tempted to just go home and call it quits for the day. We were both extremely tired and neither of us wanted to keep walking around with nothing to do. Then I felt something come to my memory. We had received a referral from another missionary last week about a woman who was attending Church in my first area of the mission, but she lived in this area. I suggested that we went to visit here. We knocked on the door... and there it was... the answer to my prayer. We walked into the apartment and there was a mom and her daughter sitting in the living room waiting for us. We found out that she had been going to Church in another ward and we felt the Spirit tell us to invite them to be baptized that Sunday. They both accepted!!!! I walked out of that house with the biggest smile on my face and I knew that Heavenly Father had blessed the lives of that mom and daughter because we didn´t give in to our selfish needs. We could have went home to sleep, but if we did that woman and her daughter wouldn´t have had the chance to be baptized and start on the true path. I was so extremely blessed and happy and I really cannot express my true feelings about the mission here in this e-mail. I am so glad that I am having this experience. I know that the Lord put me here in this part of the world for a reason. Thanks for all the updates that everyone sends me. I love hearing about what´s new with the family :) Read the scriptures, say your prayers, the Lord is always watching and listening. I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Clark
Just let me begin telling you that this week was full of blessings from the sky. Just when I start to think that all hope is lost and that I am a failure in life, Heavenly Father seems to bail me out time and time again. For example, there was a time in college when I was taking a Nutrition class. This class was one of the most time consuming and difficult classes I have ever taken in my life. It required more than two hours of studying every single day. When it came to the final exam at the end of the semester, I studied more than I have ever studied and even still I walked into the classroom thoroughly unprepared. I looked at the test and it was missing half of the questions. The teacher´s assistant had messed up while printing, therefore our professor gave us all 50% free on the test. I walked out with an A even though I knew that if I had taken the full test, I would have failed miserably. It was truly a blessing from the sky. This week was not much different. This Wednesday we had a special training with the our mission president which was really good! We learned a lot about the Holy Ghost and how we need to refocus on our missionary purpose. We headed home and had to go straight back to work. There wasn´t any time given to go home and rest or anything, even though we all had woken up at 4 in the morning. My companion and I went to visit a kid who was getting ready to be baptized that week and we found out that he had just had surgery on his eye and couldn´t be baptized that week. I lost all hope. He was our only investigator ready to be baptized that week and now we have no one. I said a little prayer to Heavenly Father to bless us with a family or someone to teach and baptize. As we were walking down the street, my companion and I were really tempted to just go home and call it quits for the day. We were both extremely tired and neither of us wanted to keep walking around with nothing to do. Then I felt something come to my memory. We had received a referral from another missionary last week about a woman who was attending Church in my first area of the mission, but she lived in this area. I suggested that we went to visit here. We knocked on the door... and there it was... the answer to my prayer. We walked into the apartment and there was a mom and her daughter sitting in the living room waiting for us. We found out that she had been going to Church in another ward and we felt the Spirit tell us to invite them to be baptized that Sunday. They both accepted!!!! I walked out of that house with the biggest smile on my face and I knew that Heavenly Father had blessed the lives of that mom and daughter because we didn´t give in to our selfish needs. We could have went home to sleep, but if we did that woman and her daughter wouldn´t have had the chance to be baptized and start on the true path. I was so extremely blessed and happy and I really cannot express my true feelings about the mission here in this e-mail. I am so glad that I am having this experience. I know that the Lord put me here in this part of the world for a reason. Thanks for all the updates that everyone sends me. I love hearing about what´s new with the family :) Read the scriptures, say your prayers, the Lord is always watching and listening. I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, July 11th 2011
Oí Família!!!
Just one quick question... can someone go into my closet and look at my mission call letter? I am pretty sure that it said BRAZIL, right? All right then, please explain to me why I am so darn cold down here?!!! It is like a constant 50 degrees here everyday and in the morning it´s like 45! I know that it wasn´t this cold this time last year. I wake up and it gets really hard to get out of bed because I know that our house doesn´t have a heater nor do I have very many warm clothes to wear! You pack for the sunny tropical weather and you end up getting three months of cold fog! Oh well, it´s my last time going through the Brazilian winter haha. I actually should be counting my blessings because I know that come September, the unbearable heat will be back and I will be praying for the cold to come back. Human beings are never satisfied with where they are. When it´s hot they want cold, when it´s cold they want hot. I think Jill is the only one who would be okay with 90 degree weather all day everyday haha.
Actually, my letter will have this very theme; being grateful for where you are at any given time. I met a member down here from another ward. His name is Gregson Querino and he served in New Jersey and just got home a year ago. He asked me where I was from and I told him proudly, "Payson, Utah!" His jaw dropped and he told me that he served with two guys who I knew pretty well from high school, Cody Burton and Shane Halverson. I couldn´t believe it and he even told me that Cody had given him a Payson High basketball jersey that he used to wear to all the Payson basketball games. I couldn´t believe at how small this world is. He started to tell me how amazing his mission was and how grateful he was to have served in the U.S.. Here in Brazil, it is every member´s dream to go to Utah or the U.S.. When he was in the MTC in Provo, he said that he stopped one day on the soccer field to just look at the mountains, at the blue sky, and at all the green grass. He started to cry when he realized that he was living the dream of just about every member here. He said that his time there was a great adventure and he misses it a bunch. Later in the week, I saw that a member was watching the Women´s World Cup and guess who was playing? USA and Brazil. The U.S. ended up winning and I just sat there thinking for a bit... I cannot believe that I am in another country. I saw the Red, White, and Blue and actually began to tear up as well. I am in a different country and I am seeing how much different the world really is from life in the USA. We are so very blessed to live in a country like the United States. It is everyone´s dream to go there. I know that this time on the mission has been the BEST thing for me. I am learning so many things spiritually and socially as well. I am really living in an adventure! I love my time here and I wouldn´t ever rather be in any other place. When I get home, I will miss it a bunch, but I will remember that we are so very lucky to live there. The Lord blesses us in so many ways that you can´t even begin to list the things. I am so grateful for the supportive family that I have, and for the blessing that I had to be born into the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Have a wonderful week everyone! And be careful in New York Dad and Jill! Happy birthday to Everyone! I know that this month is full of birthdays!
Love,
Elder Clark
Just one quick question... can someone go into my closet and look at my mission call letter? I am pretty sure that it said BRAZIL, right? All right then, please explain to me why I am so darn cold down here?!!! It is like a constant 50 degrees here everyday and in the morning it´s like 45! I know that it wasn´t this cold this time last year. I wake up and it gets really hard to get out of bed because I know that our house doesn´t have a heater nor do I have very many warm clothes to wear! You pack for the sunny tropical weather and you end up getting three months of cold fog! Oh well, it´s my last time going through the Brazilian winter haha. I actually should be counting my blessings because I know that come September, the unbearable heat will be back and I will be praying for the cold to come back. Human beings are never satisfied with where they are. When it´s hot they want cold, when it´s cold they want hot. I think Jill is the only one who would be okay with 90 degree weather all day everyday haha.
Actually, my letter will have this very theme; being grateful for where you are at any given time. I met a member down here from another ward. His name is Gregson Querino and he served in New Jersey and just got home a year ago. He asked me where I was from and I told him proudly, "Payson, Utah!" His jaw dropped and he told me that he served with two guys who I knew pretty well from high school, Cody Burton and Shane Halverson. I couldn´t believe it and he even told me that Cody had given him a Payson High basketball jersey that he used to wear to all the Payson basketball games. I couldn´t believe at how small this world is. He started to tell me how amazing his mission was and how grateful he was to have served in the U.S.. Here in Brazil, it is every member´s dream to go to Utah or the U.S.. When he was in the MTC in Provo, he said that he stopped one day on the soccer field to just look at the mountains, at the blue sky, and at all the green grass. He started to cry when he realized that he was living the dream of just about every member here. He said that his time there was a great adventure and he misses it a bunch. Later in the week, I saw that a member was watching the Women´s World Cup and guess who was playing? USA and Brazil. The U.S. ended up winning and I just sat there thinking for a bit... I cannot believe that I am in another country. I saw the Red, White, and Blue and actually began to tear up as well. I am in a different country and I am seeing how much different the world really is from life in the USA. We are so very blessed to live in a country like the United States. It is everyone´s dream to go there. I know that this time on the mission has been the BEST thing for me. I am learning so many things spiritually and socially as well. I am really living in an adventure! I love my time here and I wouldn´t ever rather be in any other place. When I get home, I will miss it a bunch, but I will remember that we are so very lucky to live there. The Lord blesses us in so many ways that you can´t even begin to list the things. I am so grateful for the supportive family that I have, and for the blessing that I had to be born into the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Have a wonderful week everyone! And be careful in New York Dad and Jill! Happy birthday to Everyone! I know that this month is full of birthdays!
Love,
Elder Clark
Monday, July 4, 2011
Monday, July 4th 2011
Oí Família!
What a great week it was! I have quite the funny story to start everything off...
So I live with three crazy Brazilians, right? There is absolutely never a dull moment in our house. We are always super happy and goofing around when we´re at home, but the minute we walk out the door we are always looking for souls to bring to the Gospel. Actually, this week our zone baptized 11 people! We all work really hard and it´s so fun to come back home and talk about what happened with the other missionaries. Well, as P-day was coming to an end last week, I jumped in the shower after playing American football with the kids on the street. Just an FYI, in our house you basically have to sleep with one eye open because you never know what the other Elders are planning. As I was in the shower, I heard a little bit of laughter outside of the bathroom and then all of the sudden, the door swung wide open and I only saw three grown men with firecrackers ready to throw at me! Well, I am sure you all get the idea... I freaked out as the fireworks went off as I was taking a shower. I got out and spoke calmly and reverently as I tackled the three perpetraitors!!! In our house, it´s not abnormal to have a bomb go off at 3 o´clock in the morning. These guys are nuts! I love the mission!
All right, so this Friday was the President´s Counsel meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission. We all went to President Moreira´s house to hear what he needed to tell us. He got up and told us all what was expected of us. Something that I absolutley love about my mission president is that he is very direct and to the point. He tells us how we need to act and doesn´t sugar-coat the insults. He told something like this... "Elders, Let´s all turn to Alma 5. These scriptures tell us that if we are not doing everything to serve Christ, we are not serving Him, but we are serving the devil. I am sick and tired of hearing about slacker missionaries and if you all don´t ship up, you will never enter in this house again because the devil´s servants DO NOT enter into my house!" We all signed a paper telling President Monson that we would dedicate ourselves to the work and we need to live up to this responsibility. As I have mentioned in my last few letters, our mission is number one in baptisms in Brazil and the general authorities are asking President Moreira to send a report saying what he is doing to baptize so many people. He told us that if we don´t knock it off with the disobedience, he will not send the letter to them. I totally agree, I want him to be able to tell the Apostles that we are true servants of the Lord, not slackers. I love my president so much! He is such a great example of hard-work and obedience and I am so glad that I was called to serve with him.
Well, we baptized a really special family. A few weeks before I got here, my companion was walking next to this woodsy area and saw a woman working. He stopped and yelled to her, "I found you!" She stopped and looked at him all funny and said, "I don´t even know you!" Well, the started teaching her and she told them that exactly one year ago she had a vision. In this vision she saw a giant mansion and God had told her that that mansion would be here home and she needed to look for it. She denied the invitation to go to Church the first few weeks and then finally went one Sunday. She told us that as she turned the corner and saw the Stake Center, an absolutely beautiful building, her heart started to laugh and she knew that the Church was her mansion that God had shown her one year ago. It was the same color and shape and everything! She always wondered why God had told her that she would have a mansion one day because she has always been a poor woman and could never afford a house like that, but she recognized that she was at home whenever she entered into the Chapel. She and her son were baptized yesterday and she even got up and bore her testimony during sacrament meeting about how well she knew that this is the Church that Heavenly Father needed her to be in. It was really special to hear her tell her story to everyone. The water was super cold, and my companion and I were almost dying from the frigid baptismal font, but she told us that she only felt the warmth of the Holy Ghost within herself. This woman, Maria, was a child of God waiting for an answer, and received her mansion, just as He had promised.
I know that this Church is true. I know that God is preparing so many people everyday to be brought unto the fold. I love this work and I am so happy that I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith was a true prophet and now we have President Monson to guide us in these last days. I would not be here if I wasn´t sure if all of this were true. I KNOW it´s true. I love you all! Have a great day!
Love,
Elder Steven Clark
What a great week it was! I have quite the funny story to start everything off...
So I live with three crazy Brazilians, right? There is absolutely never a dull moment in our house. We are always super happy and goofing around when we´re at home, but the minute we walk out the door we are always looking for souls to bring to the Gospel. Actually, this week our zone baptized 11 people! We all work really hard and it´s so fun to come back home and talk about what happened with the other missionaries. Well, as P-day was coming to an end last week, I jumped in the shower after playing American football with the kids on the street. Just an FYI, in our house you basically have to sleep with one eye open because you never know what the other Elders are planning. As I was in the shower, I heard a little bit of laughter outside of the bathroom and then all of the sudden, the door swung wide open and I only saw three grown men with firecrackers ready to throw at me! Well, I am sure you all get the idea... I freaked out as the fireworks went off as I was taking a shower. I got out and spoke calmly and reverently as I tackled the three perpetraitors!!! In our house, it´s not abnormal to have a bomb go off at 3 o´clock in the morning. These guys are nuts! I love the mission!
All right, so this Friday was the President´s Counsel meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission. We all went to President Moreira´s house to hear what he needed to tell us. He got up and told us all what was expected of us. Something that I absolutley love about my mission president is that he is very direct and to the point. He tells us how we need to act and doesn´t sugar-coat the insults. He told something like this... "Elders, Let´s all turn to Alma 5. These scriptures tell us that if we are not doing everything to serve Christ, we are not serving Him, but we are serving the devil. I am sick and tired of hearing about slacker missionaries and if you all don´t ship up, you will never enter in this house again because the devil´s servants DO NOT enter into my house!" We all signed a paper telling President Monson that we would dedicate ourselves to the work and we need to live up to this responsibility. As I have mentioned in my last few letters, our mission is number one in baptisms in Brazil and the general authorities are asking President Moreira to send a report saying what he is doing to baptize so many people. He told us that if we don´t knock it off with the disobedience, he will not send the letter to them. I totally agree, I want him to be able to tell the Apostles that we are true servants of the Lord, not slackers. I love my president so much! He is such a great example of hard-work and obedience and I am so glad that I was called to serve with him.
Well, we baptized a really special family. A few weeks before I got here, my companion was walking next to this woodsy area and saw a woman working. He stopped and yelled to her, "I found you!" She stopped and looked at him all funny and said, "I don´t even know you!" Well, the started teaching her and she told them that exactly one year ago she had a vision. In this vision she saw a giant mansion and God had told her that that mansion would be here home and she needed to look for it. She denied the invitation to go to Church the first few weeks and then finally went one Sunday. She told us that as she turned the corner and saw the Stake Center, an absolutely beautiful building, her heart started to laugh and she knew that the Church was her mansion that God had shown her one year ago. It was the same color and shape and everything! She always wondered why God had told her that she would have a mansion one day because she has always been a poor woman and could never afford a house like that, but she recognized that she was at home whenever she entered into the Chapel. She and her son were baptized yesterday and she even got up and bore her testimony during sacrament meeting about how well she knew that this is the Church that Heavenly Father needed her to be in. It was really special to hear her tell her story to everyone. The water was super cold, and my companion and I were almost dying from the frigid baptismal font, but she told us that she only felt the warmth of the Holy Ghost within herself. This woman, Maria, was a child of God waiting for an answer, and received her mansion, just as He had promised.
I know that this Church is true. I know that God is preparing so many people everyday to be brought unto the fold. I love this work and I am so happy that I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith was a true prophet and now we have President Monson to guide us in these last days. I would not be here if I wasn´t sure if all of this were true. I KNOW it´s true. I love you all! Have a great day!
Love,
Elder Steven Clark
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