Monday, October 24th 2011

Oi Família,

Well, I truly took advantage of having pancakes and maple and peanut butter this week!!! I have a new calling in my house now; I am the official pancake cooker! We have an official dish washer, floor sweeper, and now I am the official pancake maker. I love the Elders I live with. Elder Paul is from Idaho and I am trying to convince him to go to Utah State right now. I don´t think there is a single missionary here that I haven´t tried to convince to go to USU lol. I guess my recruiting attitude hasn´t gone away yet. The other elder here is Elder Uchôa from the Pará, where Spensor is serving his mission. He is a really cool guy who likes to goof around. It is a really nice thing to know that I can come home and there is someone who still wants to joke around to keep the light spirit around instead of the "I just had a horrible day and my comp is bugging me" feeling.

I learned quite a big lesson this week during my personal study. I was reading in Revelation 3:15-16 where it says that God wants us to be either cold or hot, but those who are luke-warm will be spewed out of His mouth. What did I understand from this scripture? God wants us to be dedicated in something. We need to be "hot" and really decide to follow God and really keep the commandments. But if we aren´t "hot" we can´t be luke-warm because this is the lazy attitude. Heavenly Father would rather that we be super "cold" than be luke-warm because a luke-warm person doesn´t have any desire to do ANYTHING! Heavenly Father cannot put desire into us, but someone "cold" can be turned to someone "hot" really easily because at least they are dedicated to SOMETHING! Look at the Apostle Paul. He was a great example of a "cold" person. Because he was so against the Church, God was able to use his abilities to convert him and he turned into a "hot" person. A luke-warm person doesn´t really care what happens and will not change for anything and God cannot work with these and they will be "spewed out" of his mouth. I want to be "hot!" I want Heavenly Father to be able to call me one of His best instruments and that I am really involved in everything that I do for Him.

I attached a few photos here to show you all what I have been doing. There are a few pictures from the BANESPA building here in São Paulo which is the tallest in the city. Look at all the buildings! It was really fun being up that high.

I love you all and hope you all have a great week! I am so proud of all of my brothers and sisters and my parents as well. I know that I was placed in this family for a very good reason. Thanks a bunch for the letters and birthday package! Love ya!

Elder Clark