Sorry it has taken me so long to write again, but things have been amazing
over here and we are seeing the Lord's hand in all we do.
I will try and cover the two weeks of material best I can. And I can't
believe how fast this transfer has gone by! With all the things we do day to
day it just flies by. We went on two exchanges this last week and had meeting
with President Snow and had to prepare a training for a meeting we have this
upcoming week, as well as take care of some emergency transfers. So we are
staying very, very busy and all the while trying to set the example in our
area. I have learned a lot about how to take on a lot and not get stressed, but
to just focus on the task at hand. President Snow is very good at thinking
things through and trying to get the whole picture. It has been a great experience
learning more about leadership, and it is very humbling to learn from mistakes.
A cool experience we had a couple weeks ago was with a family ward in
our stake who was wanting their young men to go out with the elders in the area
and so we took out two young men but one happened to not even be a member. One
of his friends had just invited him that night. And it was so cool to see how
this nonmember was brave and talked to more people on the street about the Book
of Mormon then the member we had with us. It must have been a wake-up call for
that member. As we were walking and talking to people, we would teach the nonmember.
He said he really enjoyed the experience, and he didn't really know if God
existed but that this was a positive experience. At one door a lady opened up
and said in a harsh tone "I am an atheist" and then the nonmember
chimed back "Me Too!" Haha He said he would be a good mediator for
the people we talked to! The missionaries took down his info and so hopefully
he will accept the gospel and go be an awesome missionary.
We have recently started teaching this really cool guy! His mom is from
Madagascar! Which is pretty unique. When we first met him it was a referral
from a family ward missionaries for his younger brother, but we ran into him
instead. And when I talked to him the first time he said he was agnostic and
not that interested. But we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and he said
we could come back and from them on it was game over. He is so solid and loves
everything we share. He had a job on Sunday and so we started helping him look for
a new job. We took him to a job fair and he got some good leads, but later that
week he texted us and said he had called his supervisor and just told him that
he wasn't going to be able to work on Sundays. And then he also got a new job,
so the Lord blessed him. We also took him to the temple yesterday morning and
that was very neat. He is getting baptized at the end of the month.
Last night we had two amazing baptisms. One was Michael; he was the one
who was being taught by an area seventy. We actually had a lesson with Elder
Larkin, the area seventy, and his wife with Michael this past week. That was
really neat. Elder Larkin knew the scriptures very well. Michael is awesome. He
has a Christian background and knew the Bible very well. He just grew so much
as he studied the Book of Mormon. His baptism was awesome. He had a lot of
people from the west side of Vegas drive over for his baptism. Elder Larkin was
able to baptize him and it was just a great service!
And then right after that service we had Teddy's baptism. Teddy is just
an awesome guy. He is very logical and he had asked me some very interesting
questions which he wanted to learn about and get answers to in my talk I was to
give about baptism. He has always been intrigued his whole life with the
physical state of Israel and so he wanted to know how his baptism would help
him gather physically and spiritually the house of Israel. It's not many people
who have that in depth understanding at their baptism. But the best part and
most spiritual part of the whole service was at the very end when he bore his testimony
about his conversion process. I will take a few moments to recount what he said
because it was so very powerful and it was the most emotion I have ever seen
him show, and his testimony was solely based on his free will to follow Christ.
The spirit overwhelmed me and the entire room as he spoke.
This is his story:
I was raised a Catholic and went to church every Sunday and went to a Catholic
school, but none of it was my choice and so at the age 17 I began to fall away
from my belief in a God and make choices that were not correct. I eventually
went to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. I didn't know then how close I
was to where the church began. The liberal atmosphere at that school taught me
much and my intelligence grew as I studied. But all the while I continued to
make sub optimal decisions and I did not have true agency and control over my
thoughts and actions and lusts. Eventually, I moved too Dolan Springs Arizona
and started working in the medical marijuana industry. I felt my actions were
justified as I was helping others receive medicine. But as I watched more and
more bad people come through and to not even use it for its correct purposes I
decided to leave and I made my way back up to New York. Eventually, I decided
to travel Israel. I have always been interested in the physical state of Israel
and didn't learn much about the spiritual until now. But as I was there I tried
to cross the border into Israel and I was denied as I had no real time period
or purpose. That was a wake-up call for me. And so eventually I made my way back
to Dolan Springs and the first week I was there the missionaries came to my
door. Just earlier that week I had written a paper on faith for school, so I was
open to listening to them. But I found a job and then moved the Vegas where I
met the missionaries here and continued to grow and get back to my Father in Heaven.
This time though, it was my choice. I used my agency to pray and read and come
to church. One lesson, the elders told me I needed to pray every single day and
to read as well. So I committed to read and start the Book of Mormon over. As I
was walking to the bus stop listening to the first chapter of Nephi and praying
about if the book was true I saw a New Testament laying on the ground. I
thought that was ironic and then a few hours later my sister who was going to
need surgery and my family had no health insurance texted me and said that she
didn't need any surgery. I have made my choice to follow Christ this day. I
know the Book of Mormon to be true, it has filled me. But I still always had
doubts and a questions I was considering was how I could combine my liberal knowledge
I had gained at the university with the things I have learned in this
institution. This past week I was reading about the founder of Cornell University
and in the 1800s he had traveled to Russia and spoke with a very renowned
philosopher, [can’t remember name], and the philosopher asked the founder what
he thought of Mormonism, and the Founder responded saying many negative things
and how they were polygamist. Then the philosopher responded saying " I am
saddened to hear of someone of your stature to feel such a way, because Mormonism
has the purest religion and if the members of its church abide by the
principles beings taught there it will go forth and fill the earth. If it makes
it past three or four generations it will never fall as other nations have
before but it will fill the earth." That was the last thing I needed to
know In order to continue this path I have chosen to take. I know Joseph Smith
is a true prophet of God and that this is the Lord’s church.
That is a rough paraphrasing of what he said, but I wanted to share because
it was one of the most powerful moments in my mission. I will have Teddy write
up his conversion story for me. I know God prepares people.
Elder Clark
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| Only 119 degrees on June 5th! |
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| Teddy's Baptism |
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| Michael's Baptism |
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| Ross's Baptism |
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