Taught By My Mother

10/26/15

Hello everyone,

I have two emails for you today. One is more of a spiritual thought, and the other is about the week that we had.

This week was, as always, very eventful. To start the week, I was able to go back to Quartzsite on exchanges, and what a blessing that was. There is also getting to be a lot more people down there and so I was able to see some people that I really love! It was a great blessing. Some cool experiences we had down there really showed me that, at times, people are just not ready to hear the gospel. And then, because of a circumstance, or because it is the time the Lord has prepared them, they are ready to listen. It says in Alma 13:24, "Angels are declaring it [Gospel] unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word". It is so wonderful to know that Lord is preparing people for us. We met three Nancy’s and all three I had taught when I was in Quartzsite last year. The first has a sister who is a member of the church and last year she said she wasn’t interested. But, during the summer her husband passed away, and when we went to see her just this last Tuesday she took a Book of Mormon and was receptive to the gospel! What a miracle! Then, the next Nancy was the wife of one of my recent converts. He passed away a few months after his baptism and no one was sure if his wife would even come down to Quartzsite this year, but she did and I was able to see her and we have begun teaching her! And the last Nancy was one that said in the past she wasn’t interested, but that now she said she wants to learn more and try out our church! It was great to see the work of the Lord preparing the hearts of the people.

This week, I was also able to kneel twice in the streets and pray to find someone to teach, and then get on my feet and with my companion find two new people to teach! I just need to work on having more faith; that is the key. We also had been fasting and praying this last week to find a family who can get baptized before the end of the year. This Sunday almost all of our investigators got sick and couldn’t come to church. We were super bummed. But then a member walked up to us randomly and introduced us to his brother in law and said that he and his two children would like to be baptized! His wife is already a member. These are just some of the neat experiences we have had this week!

I love you,

Elder Clark

Coming into conference I made a personal commitment to prepare questions and to be ready to seek revelation, and so along with this, comes real intent. If I want the Lord to give me answers, I must be willing to act on them. An answer that has come apparent to me over the weeks since conference is focusing on the basics.

As Elder Uchtdorf said in this last conference "simplify your discipleship". So, taking that thought of the fundamentals, I have pondered my own life and my own gospel living. My parents will be the first to tell you that when I came home from sixth grade football, I complained about all the blocking and tackling drills we did. I remember standing in a line every day and going through blocking and tackling over, and over, and over, and over again. Up and then down, up and then down, slower then faster. But this set the foundation for the rest of my football career. Five years ago, in a conference, Elder Uchtdorf talked about Vince Lombardi referencing the same topic, the basics. He said that Vince used a ritual at the start of every year to explain to his experienced players' what a football was and how you used it and what the lines on the football field meant. Elder Uchtdorf later said "They could spend their time practicing intricate trick plays, but until they mastered the fundamentals of the game, they would never become a championship team."

If I spend all my time getting lost in the depths of the Kolob or the busy schedule I have as a missionary, I would never become a championship disciple of Jesus Christ.

Will Smith said, "Skill is only developed after hours and hours of beating on your craft". As sons and daughters of Heavenly Father, our craft is to become like Him. Sure we are all different, and all take different paths in life, but the goal is the same-eternal life in our mansion above.

So I would say, "Conversion is only developed after hours and hours of beating on your scriptures because they don't make sense." Haha "Conversion is only developed after hours and hours of pleading to our Father in prayer and study.”

I took the commitment given by Elder Devin Durrant to 'ponderize' a scripture every week. As I write a scripture on my heart weekly, I know the Lord will bless me with conversion. It's so simple, but extremely vital.

My scripture this week was in memory of my parents and some of my favorite Book of Mormon heroes. The 2000 Stripling Warriors. Alma 56: 47 reads "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them."

Before coming out of my mission I had never really preached, or done too much missionary work. I could have been a whole lot better. But I did not doubt to serve my mission. In the year prior, I knew I was going and I can testify to you that was because my parents, especially my mom. She had taught me not to doubt the Lord and what He asked of me. God has delivered me from many harms, he has protected me when I have been in the ghetto at night in Vegas and he has protected me spiritually throughout my mission.

Elder Holland said in the last conference, "No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child."

So as I pondered on what my mother has done for me, my voice echoes those 2000 of old, "we do not doubt our mothers knew it"

And what was it that they knew? The very thing my mother knows; the power of the pure love of Christ and if we have faith in Him, He will deliver us.

To all those who are mothers or future mothers, I would like to say along with Elder Holland, "I can pay no higher tribute to anyone." Mothers are so special and even though I missed my mother’s birthday, and I have missed many holidays with her, I have still given her a gift. And that gift is my devotion to my Savior. That gift is me, and who I have become. Just as on judgement day when I stand before the pleasing bar of God my gift to my Savior will be who I have become; what I have done with His atonement. This is my gift to my mother. And one day I hope to be able to say that I am "exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this [is] not all--[someone] who [is] true at all times in whatsoever thing [I am] entrusted. Yea, [someone] of truth and soberness, for [I] had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him." Someone Taught by my mother. I love you mom! This gospel is true; ‘doubt not, but be believing' (Mormon 9: 27)

I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Clark

Why I Believe

10/19/15

  

This week has been has been very, very busy!

We had a big zone meeting on Tuesday and that was a very spiritual and powerful! We also had the senior couple come down and we had to help them a lot! It’s like two new greenies with no trainer! We are their trainers.

I was also able to go on exchanges on the Indian reservation and that was so, so awesome! I had a great experience and we had a lot of success in just a day! I fell in love with those people immediately. It was really neat! I felt like I was really helping them. Every person really needed the gospel and that’s not true in other areas, but it just felt especially true there! I was also able to get to know the elder a lot better and we had a spiritual exchange.

Then on Saturday we had a baptism and he will be getting sealed to his family on the 31^st ! So that was a really cool day! They asked my comp to sing a song that he had never heard before. He practiced it ten minutes before and then he nailed it during the baptism! That was super funny and awesome. 

On Sunday night, we had the Why I Believe fireside. We had a great turn out and some great speakers! One of the speakers was one of my recent converts, and so that was really neat! We had over 150 people attend and at the end of the fireside we gave everyone a balloon and they wrote their burdens on a piece of paper and then we let it all go! So cool!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Clark

The best birthday present EVER!

Logan and Elder Anderson singing at a zone conference.

#havablast Lake Havasu

10/12/15

So that's the key phrase here! Havablast! Hava can go with everything, ha ha! I am loving my time here in Lake Havasu! We have seen so many miracles from being here. It is a great place to be. The days are so busy, time just flies by - It's really nice, but also really scary how fast the time flies!

We had a meeting for all the mission leadership on Wednesday and that was really, really good! I learned so much and have been able to apply a lot! We talked about empowering other people, and it just dawned on me how much our Father empowers us. He puts us here on this earth, and lets us go at it, but he always provides a way if we listen and are humble. He is the perfect leader! We didn't get back to our area until 7:00 p.m.-it was a long day of lots of driving (5 hours, roughly)!

On Thursday, we had a zone conference in Kingman and that was really good! I was able to meet some of the missionaries in our zone that I hadn't been able to meet yet because of the distance. We had representatives from each stake attend, and they talked to us about the vision they have for their stake. That was really cool!

Then I went on exchanges in Las Vegas until Friday night, and so I was out of my area for half the week-which was weird, but we had a great time. We have met some really awesome families here in Lake Havasu! One is even a young family where the husband used to be a fly fishing guide. We are going to the park next P-day and working on my casting. It should be fun! They are also so missionary minded, along with all the members who we have met! One guy invited us over to his work and said he had a ton of his own investigators who he wanted to talk to us about! And another family asked how they could be more missionary minded! In our ward councils, we challenged everyone to do the 21 day challenge. Hopefully, the work will progress rapidly as the members are beginning to do more missionary work. We are planning a big FHE in November and even a member MTC night in October.

This Saturday we get the chance to go to another baptism in Kingman and then on the 31st we get to go the families sealing and also see our other recent converts perform Baptisms for the Dead. Hopefully, we will be able to go through a session. I have never seen a sealing before, so I am very excited -especially to have it be a convert! That will be a full and wonderful day at the temple.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Clark

Hectic in Havasu

10/5/15

  

Wow it’s been a busy week! We have successfully moved from Kingman and are now in Lake Havasu! That took quite an effort, but we made it and are getting all settled in down here. It has been a very weird transfer as we are still in the same zone and go back to Kingman at least once a week. It doesn’t quite feel like we have left. And what’s cool is, I get to go on exchanges again in Quartzsite in a couple weeks! That will be exciting.

There have been a lot of miracles this week and I don’t even know where to start. I have truly gained a testimony of inspired leadership. Our mission president was very inspired to put us here in Havasu. Already in just a week, we have seen how badly the Lord needed us here. And it really truly is nothing about us, but just that we are elders, I guess....This area has had sisters for a long, long time and people loved them, but every area, after it has had elders or sisters for too long, can use a changeup.

On Wednesday night, we went to the church for a Book of Mormon class and to get to meet some of the members. There was a huge combined mutual activity in the gym with both of the wards youth. We saw the bishop from one of the wards and wanted to introduce ourselves to him. We started talking and he was so excited to have elders. He is a very missionary minded bishop and had lots of people for us to go see. And then all the youth started chanting our names and they called us to the middle of the gym and wanted us to play this game called 'chubby bunny', where you stuff marshmallows in your mouth and say chubby bunny. So that was really fun, and the youth loved it!

And then this one brother in the ward came out with us to some lessons and afterwards he invited us over to meet his family really quick. A funny thing is that he is a judge in Havasu and he said that he knew some of the people we went to go from court! hahaha He said, “This may be a little awkward for them.” So that was a surprise, but anyway, when we got to his house and met his family they were so awesome. He has six kids and they are all so great. The youngest one, about 4 years old or so, had told his mom a few months ago that he couldn’t go on a mission because he wasn’t a sister. His mom told him that boys can go on missions too and that they are elders. But he said he didn’t believe her because he had never seen one. So yesterday was his first time meeting an elder! It was so fun and he was super excited. They also had made us oey goeys, which are basically chocolate with a little bit of cookie. They were great!

There are a lot of youth that we will get the chance to bless. Their eldest son is 15, and a member of the seventy told him one time, while his family was hosting him while on a trip, that he would be responsible for four baptisms in his high school years-What a prophesy! And so the family is super missionary minded and has some awesome families they are working with. And I think the key is, that they know it will happen, and so every friend he makes they see them as a potential member of the church. Imagine if we would do that with our friends! I challenge you to try it out.

So, to end my long discourse today, (haha) I want to talk about conference, and all the many wonderful things I learned from it. I prepared questions that I wanted answers to and I received many answers to each question. It was amazing how some of the talks seemed to be just perfect answers to my questions. It built my testimony again of inspired leaders in the Lord’s church.

1.) Don't forget the gospel when trying to teach the gospel. That little catch phrase came to me during President Uchtdorf’s first talk. Basically, sticking to the fundamentals in all we do. I know I for one, always try to do crazy, out of the park things, when really I just need to do the basics. It’s like in baseball or golf, trying to kill the ball is not as good as having the correct fundamentals and smooth swing.

2.) 2nd Nephi 5:27, a scripture quoted by Elder Maynes, lead me to a discovery. True happiness comes as we apply our past circumstances and growth to our future. Nephi built swords after the sword of Laban in that chapter. He had learned from that experience, the sword symbolizing what he had learned, and he used that to mold more swords for a protection for his people. He also taught them in matters of wood working, metal working, and construction; things he learned from a life on the road and building a boat. The Lord had taught him these things, and he applied them the rest of his life. Our mission vision is to become preach my gospel missionaries for life. I must apply what I learn on my mission to the rest of my life

3.) Resentment diminishes progress.

4.) We cannot only have faith in the best of times, and then doubt when things are tough. We must be a constant in the Lord’s army!

5.) My mother’s love for me is the closest thing to Christ’s love for me. But not only that, the suffering I have caused my mom, and the things she goes through for me is the closest thing to Christ’s suffering on that painful night in Gethsemane.

6.) As a leader, rely on the Lord more. Those in my stewardship were His before they were mine. He wants them to succeed and so He will show me how to accomplish that.

7.) Spiritual Integrity is remembering our faith even when we are tempted to doubt- Elder Stanfill

8.) The Sabbath day is a setting apart, just as a missionary is set apart from the world when he or she begins his mission.

9.) If we have a lack of spiritual habits, we will forget our most precious and wonderful spiritual moments and experiences. It has to be repetition, otherwise our testimonies will fade.

10.) Continued commandment keeping brings about a changed nature

11.) The Lord has called me to His work, and if I want to accomplish the things he has prepared for me I can only do it His way!

12.) True disciples desire to inspire - Elder Schwitzer

13.) A scripture a week can keep the devil away! Don’t forget to ponderize! My scripture this week is Alma 26: 12

14.) Don’t be too critical of the barrier (commandments). It is the only thing keeping you from being devoured.

15.) God is the ultimate leader. He delegates all things to us. He has given us the power of procreation and He knows many of his children will abuse it, but still He allows us to that power because He knows for in it we will grow. We must all become that type of leader! As I was studying this topic, Alma 60 really hit me of what type of leader we must be. We must be a leader of action and we must do it with all humility.

There is so much more I learned from conference and I wish I could share it all, but I will spare you!

Have a great week! Share the gospel!

Elder Clark

Going…Going…Gone

9/28/15

  

Well big news this week! I am getting transferred, and so is my comp! Our area is becoming a sister’s area. We are going to stay in the same zone, but in a different city. We are headed to Lake Havasu City, famous for the London Bridge. It is going to be an adventure!

We had an awesome week! We were so, so, so busy! We had interviews with our president and then we got pied in the face from other missionaries. It was quite exciting!

This whole week we have been preparing to move and for a parade we had in Kingman. We have been so busy getting the float ready and all the other things we had to do, so it’s been super hectic! The parade turned out amazing! The float looked awesome! We had the first temple in Kingman. Don’t worry, I will send pictures. We had a great time. We had 8 missionaries, some youth, a family, and a sister who helped us do a lot, all walk with us. It was awesome! We waited a few hours before it was our turn as we were towards the back of the parade, but then once we got going, let me tell ya, we were going! We talked to over 1000 people in a half hour and gave out tons of fliers for the fireside we are having and pass along cards. It was awesome! We finished the parade at 12:25 p.m., and then we had a baptism at 1:00 p.m. It was super rushed getting there, but luckily we made it in time!

The baptism was awesome! She was bouncing for joy! The stake president was even there, and a high councilman! She was famous so everyone wanted to see her get baptized! Even sister missionaries at Temple Square heard about her and they skyped down for the baptism! After she got baptized, she was jumping up and down in the water and she was so excited. When she got back to change she was just screaming!!!

And then at 4:00 p.m., Torrey got baptized. He is just a great kid! He has changed so much and was so ready for baptism. He received the priesthood yesterday, and is hopefully going to baptize his siblings.

I am really sad to leave this town! It has been one of the favorite areas of my mission-just such wonderful people here. My comp and I have even said that we could live here!! So I am really humbled by this transfer. It is not what I want at all, but it is what the Lord wants and that’s what I will do! We are going to an area that is going to need a lot of work, and doesn’t have anything really set up, so we are going to change that. I know the Lord is preparing people for us down there. It is going to be the best area of my mission; I know it!

I love y’all. Take care,

Elder Clark

Busy! Busy! Busy!

9/21/15

It's been another fast week and transfer. This Saturday they will call and tell us where everyone is going, I am most likely staying-I want to stay really bad! I will be pretty bummed if I have to leave. It's been a great time here and I would enjoy another six weeks here. It's a wonderful place! We have some amazing members and there is lots of work to do!

Some fun news is that we are going to be in a parade this Saturday with all the missionaries and hopefully some more members! It should be really fun. We are going to be advertising a fireside we are going to be having the 18th of October. So hopefully we get a big turnout for that.

I am definitely learning the purpose of writing things down and prioritizing things. We have so much to accomplish; we have to be very organized to get it all down and going smoothly. This Saturday we will have the parade in the morning, two separate baptismal services, and transfer calls, on top of our normal proselyting activities! So that should be fun.

One of our investigators is so happy; she was jumping up and down in church. She was just bubbling with excitement. It really makes you realize how excited we should be about the restored gospel. We shouldn't want to hold back any amount or ounce of energy because of our excitement of this gospel. She really has brightened a lot of our members’ lives! We hope to talk to our mission president and get her called as an online proselyting missionary. She already does it, so we might as well give her the calling!

Recently, I have been talking to some missionaries about preparation, and how important it is. I never really have gone into General Conference with some questions I want answered before, and so I am going to prayerfully select some things I need answers to. I have sort of in the past done this, but I really want to put forth more effort. And so I challenge you all to prepare for conference, as well.  

I hope you all have a great week. There continues to be miracles in the work! We went reacting for twenty minutes and found four new investigators, the Lord is truly watching over us!

Elder Clark

Loving Kingman!

9/14/15

Hey everyone!

It's just another week in paradise! And as Travis Tritt would sing, “It's a great day to be alive" (I think it is Travis Tritt who sings that…who knows? It’ been too long). It's a great day for up!

I am loving Kingman! We have so many wonderful members of the church here. It's just a great little community. We are working with the community to do a lot and to just be seen. We are going to be in the town parade to advertise a fireside we are doing. This week has been good. We have lots of really solid investigators which is so, so awesome! We had a couple that dropped us and didn't come to church which is always so sad, but the Lord needs to humble us so we remember His mercy and that He has given us all things!

I am learning about how I can be a Christ like leader and it's not the easiest thing to do. Something our president told us is that it's not what we can do, but what we can do through others.

I am really hoping I am staying in this area for at least one more transfer! I just love it here!

Hope you all have a great week!

Baptisms - What a happy day!

A storm is brewing.

Elder Anderson

Three Years of Pent-up Excitment

9/7/15

Hey everyone!!

This was an awesome week! There is so much we have going on! There is never a moment for a breath and I love it. It just makes you happy and the time flies. I can't believe I have already been in Kingman for two months. It feels like I just got here yesterday. I really hope to have two more months here, at least. It is one of my favorite areas on my mission.

This week I have so many miracles to share!

We have had this really awesome couple we have been teaching, but she recently has had surgery and they have canceled on all our appointments during the last few weeks. We have been really trying to get back with them, and so one day during our weekly planning session we were praying that we could make contact with them. Right after we finished praying, and I mean immediately after, we got a text from them and they set up an appointment with us! It was so cool to see Heavenly Father answer our prayer that fast!

Also, we had one of our awesome investigators baptism this last Saturday! It was so amazing! We found her a couple months ago by knocking on her door. We had decided real quickly before lunch to knock one more door and it was amazing that it was Cheryl! She is related to Joseph Smith III and lived in Utah for 20 years. She had never stepped into a chapel of ours before and now she’s a member of our church. Our first few meetings she told us that she didn’t want to be baptized and that she would never go to church! What a change! Heavenly Father really did work a miracle. She had to change her life, and give up some things. It was just amazing! She knew so much already about the church that as we were teaching here we just started calling her the "grand-master" haha! It was just our joke the whole time-it was great! She called us, her sons! I had the privilege to baptize her, and as that was occurring, I realized that we are all imperfect. But at our baptism were are doing something perfect and for a little while at least, we are perfect. We are baptized exactly as our Savior was. That is pretty neat!

Another miracle that we had was we have been working with an investigator who is 19. Her parents haven’t let her come to church and her dad is very anti. Well, just this last week they finally let her come! She has one of the strongest testimonies ever! She bore her testimony in front of the whole congregation. She is very intelligent, but just very innocent. Her testimony was awesome! She blew away all of our members. She was so excited to be at church-she was just so bubbly! In her testimony, she said “I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God just as much as I know that the sky is blue and the grass is green.” She also bore powerful witness of the Book of Mormon. She loves the English language, so she uses big words too. It was one of the best Sundays, ever! I realized we all need to be a little more like her, and really appreciate the opportunity he have to go to church every Sunday!

Don’t worry, there are more miracles still! Another lady who we have been teaching is from the Indian reservation and she has moved to Kingman. I was on exchanges with an elder that taught her back when she was on the reservation and in the lesson which we taught her together, she accepted a baptism invitation for October 10^th! It was amazing! Then last night, my comp and I were on splits with some members and he contacted a referral. They had already attended church twice and want to be baptized, and so they are going to get baptized too! And then…it just keeps on going -- We had a lesson with a very intelligent man. He was understanding things logically, but not feeling it by the Holy Ghost quite yet. We then testified to him about Jesus Christ and the love He had for us. The man teared up and said he had goose bumps. Then he said, "That inspired me to sing you guys a song." He went and grabbed his guitar and started singing to us! haha! 

The Lord is just blessing us, and I know it is because of faith and gratitude. As we are grateful, no matter what circumstance we are in, and we look up, then our faith will grow and miracles will happen. We had a meeting as missionaries this past week and I quoted grandma great, "it’s a great day for up" and we had an entire training based on faith and prayer with the theme, to GET OUT OF THE BOAT, referencing when Peter got out of the boat to walk on water and what kind of faith he must have had!

I know this gospel is true, and the Lord just keeps confirming it to me. He will bless you! I know He will! Just believe.

Elder Clark

High on the Mountain Top

8/31/15

We had a great hike this P-day morning. We hiked with a bunch of missionaries and had a devotional about why we are serving our missions and the blessings that come from this service. It was awesome to hear the testimony of ten missionaries in our zone! There are just some amazing people which I have met on my mission.

Some blessings I have received include a greater understanding of gospel principles and how to apply them in my life. Faith has been on my mind a lot lately, and the hardest thing that I have experienced is the phrase "thy will be done". Christ asked for His task to be taken from Him but He knew that He had to do Gods will. And no matter how much pain it may be, or appear to be, Gods way always leads to freedom. So, the hardest part has been understanding what Gods will is for me. I know he gives me trials to grow, but at the same time I don't know why some people refuse our message, it's probably the saddest thing. But you just have to realize agency and that they may not be ready just then.

Now my line of thinking has gone to gratitude and that as we are grateful our faith will grow when we recognize the promised blessings. As we recognize that God is in the details of our lives, then we will grow in our faith. We will know that the Lord does answer our prayers even if it is in his way. The vision we have for our zone is about recognizing details, and that as we do that, it determines redemption.

So with all this in mind, we have had a great week! We had ten investigators at church yesterday and the Lord is just blessing us! We have found a family, and one of the sons is so elect. He is leading his family to the gospel. He is so amazing! He's a stud! We also have a baptism this weekend. It is from an inspired knock that Elder Hales and I had. It's crazy how the Lord guides us to where we need to go.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Clark