Monday, Sept 19th 2011

Oí Família!!!

Can I just tell you all that I am amazed at how fast a week can go by on the mission. My duties and responsibilities are a WAY different than what I am used to as a regular mission leader. I finally got to go to the temple this last week as well. It had been almost one year and 3 months since I last went to the temple! I had missed those peaceful feelings of the Spirit each time I used to go. We went with all the American missionaries that were going home and I was able to reflect on a lot of things when we were in the Celestial room of the temple. I was extremely nervous for my new calling in the mission and I was really doubting whether I´d be able to do a good job or not, so I asked Heavenly Father if He had really called me to be in this position. I love the fact that I have a Father in heaven who loves me, because I felt so good inside afterwards and I left the temple feeling more confident than ever. I know that God calls people through revelation and now I just need to find out my specific duty that I need to fulfill while I´m serving in this spot. I am so happy and excited to work side by side with one of the smartest men in the Church, my mission president. He is one out of 6 people in the entire world who is authorized to teach Isaiah in Europe. He is extremely intelligent with the scriptures and I hope that by the end of my time here, I will have even 10% of the knowledge that he has. I know that that is one of the greatest reasons why I am here as well.

Life as an assistant is way different than what I am used to. I don´t have an area to take care of anymore... I have a MISSION to take care of! Any type of little problem that happens with companionships or certain missionaries, we have to go out and ressolve the problem ourselves. Whatever assignment our president gives us we have to stop everything we were doing and do what he´s asked. This week my companion, Elder Fassini (another Brazilian), and I need to prepare a training segment to give to the entire mission! We have an hour a piece to teach about how we can improve our relationships with our bishops and our members. It´s a little stressing at times with all these extra tasks on the side of our other missionary responsibilities such as teaching and baptizing, but I know that all of this is going to help me learn how to be a better person after the mission. I imagine that real life afterwards is about as rushed as life as an assistant. Even more rushed when you live in the third biggest city in the WORLD!!!

Speaking of where I live right now, I am sure Uncle Jeff can explain to you all about my new home. It´s called Heliópolis. It´s the second largest favela in the world. If you don´t know what a favela is, you should all ask Jeff lol. It´s supposedly one of the most dangerous areas in São Paulo, but I have never felt more safe in my entire life. Everyone loves the missionaries and they always ask us if we need any help with anything. It´s really great actually. As a kid I always wanted to know what it would be like to live in a big city like New York or something like that. Now I am living in the center of São Paulo! I see how crazy of a life it is to wake up and grap the metro then grab two more buses to get to a big office building to start working. I see how so many people are just doing everything through the motions and I stop to wonder... "How happy am I to know the Gospel." I know why I need to wake up every morning and I know what my goal is after this life is over. How many more people would be happy if they also knew about Heavenly Father´s great plan for us. I have such a great desire to share these things with all of them because I know that it will benefit EVERYONE! Everyone would be happier if they would just learn to live and keep the Lord´s commandments. Choose liberty! Not Eternal misery! Heavenlly Father must get pretty sad when He sees so many of his children sad. I know that every single person deserves to know what I know, and I have until May to tell as many people as I can! That´s not a whole lot of time lol. I love this new calling that I have and I am so happy that my president felt like he could trust me enough in this spot. I love my family and I know that it´s only because of you that I am here.

I love you all! have a great week!

Elder Clark