Monday, April 9th 2012

Oi Família!

Well, it´s transfers once again. This phrase is starting to be like a broken record. This is my last transfer! Unlike the other transfers, this one is only five weeks long, different from the usual six weeks. So the time is going to start to fly really quickly now! My best friend from the mission will be going home tomorrow. His name is Elder Erich Mielke. When I got on the mission two years ago, we lived in the same house. When we were transferred from that house we never saw each other again. When I was called as an assistant to got to start helping our president with arranging the new companionships and whatnot, and I saw an open spot in the house that I was living in, so I suggested to President Moreira to put him in my house again. So we started and ended the mission together and we baptized some pretty awesome families together. He never was technically my companion, but we did so many splits together that he might as well have been my companion. He probably got ticked off at how many times I told him to ditch BYU and go to Utah State, but I think it worked because I think I convinced him enough! haha

This week was Easter! Easter here is actually a pretty funny sight down here in Brazil. It is an extremely Catholic country, so on Good Friday you see a lot of reenactments of the crucifixion of Christ... on the streets! It´s not too rare to see a huge crowd in the middle of the road with horseman and a man in loin cloth carrying a cross on his back. Then in the background you see a bunch of kids dragging a stuffed Judas doll on the ground screaming "We want candy!" We have Halloween and they have Good Friday here lol. And on Good Friday no one eats meat, only fish (I love lunch on Good Friday!) and the passover is completely ignored here because no one likes nor respects the jews. And on Easter Sunday everyone just drinks and eats candy. There is an Easter Bunny but he doesn´t come and put eggs everywhere. He is more of just a figure of Easter. Everyone thought I was strange because our family always has an Easter Egg Hunt. It´s pretty awesome around this time of year because they all make this type of crushed peanut mixture that you can eat with bananas and other types of fruit and it is like a peanut butter but with out the butter... I don´t know if that makes sense but oh well! lol
I am really excited for the future! I am really excited to finish the mission with a bang! Our mission is still in first place in all of Brazil in the work and I plan on keeping it this way! It´s not that I like being better than other people, but I love giving my best and my all and helping others reach their potential. When you are doing what the Lord asks, you become an example to others. When you are an example to others, you have the obligation as a child of God to help others around you to do what the Lord asks as well. We have a very good work system here in the mission. The leaders are the example to everyone in the mission. They are the most obedient and are the ones who work the hardest. This way, the younger missionaries work harder to become the leaders of the future. I love this mission! Really, I am so happy the way things are going and I just pray that Heavenly Father will continue to bless us with these great families and people we are baptizing! We are going to be blessed once again this month... Elder Holland will hold a conference with our mission! This will be the third Apostle that I met here on the mission! This will be the second time that Elder Holland visits this mission with President Moreira. He came about two months before I got on the mission. I am really excited!

Love you all! Thanks for the support and help that you all give me!

Elder Clark