Converting Vegas One Casino at a Time: Wedding Bells

March 9, 2015

Wedding bells are ringing!! I don’t even know if there will be bells, but oh well! So after a stressful week of planning a wedding and teaching lessons our investigators are getting married this Saturday! I will be so relieved when it’s all over – it has been quite a ride, but I am so happy for them and what all this means in their lives. They hope to go to the temple in a year to be sealed. Sort of a funny story about that - When our investigator first heard about being sealed in the temple he thought it meant like we were “sealed” in the temple with our wives forever. So he was picturing in his mind that we were sealed in the temple just as mummies were buried in tombs. Haha - we had a good laugh about that one! They are some really amazing people and have a very hard and interesting life so it has been quite the adventure teaching them and working with them. Luckily they got the relief society involved for the reception and wedding because, oh man, two 18 year old Elders planning a wedding is a disaster!

We have another investigator who is doing well and progressing towards baptism, but she hasn’t come to church recently and so that has been very, very frustrating. We have been able to get her the Book of Mormon on CDs and that will hopefully help her progress to where she needs to be for her baptism. It is amazing how the Book of Mormon can change our lives by reading that simple book and praying to know of its truthfulness. In the lives of our investigators we can truly see when they are changed based on how much they read. It’s a big difference compared to those that don’t read. That is why Joseph Smith said that the book of Mormon is the "keystone of our religion".

Things are still staying pretty busy here, although every week people are slowing heading back up north. It is very weird to have a branch where the members leave you and not the other way around as it is normally anywhere else you go. It is sad to see a lot of them go. It’s a very interesting ward because there is no stability - it is just always in motion. It makes it hard to get to know everyone but I am getting to know a good chunk of the people and what a blessing that is. I am thoroughly convinced you can find good people where ever you go -some of the best people, I believe! It’s also sad that some may not live too much longer...but I don’t tell them that!

This area is a puzzle for us. Luckily this week at a zone meeting we were able to get some new ideas on how we can find more people to teach and I know as we are diligent the Lord will bless us. We know that we will be leaving this area the next transfer and so I want to get as much work done as we can and leave it good and ready for the next season! If we have faith in the Lord no matter what the circumstance is, if it’s his will, we will be blessed!

We have started biking a lot more and my companion borrowed a bike from a member. A real nice bike with a nice old man seat to go with it! We have enjoyed cruising around on our bikes and talking to more people on the street. In Preach My Gospel there is an analogy of a fisherman (so naturally I would like it) and it talks about how one fisherman can leave his house and only have his fishing line in the water for a couple hours out of the total 12 hours he is gone. Then another fisherman has his line in the water for 10 of those 12 hours and how much more successful he was and how many more fish he caught. It is the same in missionary work. We can be gone from the apartment all day, but if our line is not in the water for as long as we can have it be, then we won’t find as much success. I really like that analogy and I even take it a step further and say well, the more lines I have in the water the better, and so the more ways we have to find people and touch their lives more effectively the better.

I hope you all have a great week and that I survive this week leading up to the wedding! It is going to be a fun day-that’s for sure!! Keep working hard!

Elder Clark

Our Christmas present from Logan - a great caricature.

From the email to Logan: My wife said, Hello, hello, hello.

Was nice meeting you, wish you the best. Keep safe and " looking

to Jesus the Author and Finisher of your faith." Jerry and Carol Greene.

Pretty attractive face - hijole!

New missionary bike we found!! I wasn't wearing a helmet-oops!

The Carter Family! Kyle has downs and is just awesome. I gave him a pass along card of Jesus Christ and he was so happy. He was giving me high fives and knuckles in priesthood and whenever I saw him he would just get super happy and laugh and I would give him a huge hug! Man, I loved that guy. They left this week and I was sad! He always made me smile! He loved cowboys so he always wore boots.