Chapter 88 - 4 General Authorities/Gotta love the rain

Hey! Congrats to Erin! Who's the lucky guy? And Happy Birthday to my man G-Train!

I can't believe all that damage happened from 1 random hailstorm. Lucky that all of it is covered by our insurance! It is kinda like our faith, when Satan brings his "hail" and his mighty winds and wrecks all of the things we hold most dear (aka losing a job, loved one, or getting diagnosed with something horrible) our faith is what can come in and repair the damage! The hailstorm wasn't as bad for you guys and the house and truck because of an investment that you have been paying month by month. Had you not put in the consistent effort, that storm would have been debilitating! But you guys will actually prosper and be better off than you were before! Crazy.

So this week we received a visit from not only an Apostle, but a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, a General Authority Seventy, and an Area Seventy! Add in President Wong (who is a General Authority Seventy) and we had 4 General Authorities all visit us! the Apostle was Elder Bednar, accompanied by President Kearon, Elder Dube, and Elder Murray. It was a real treat. Elder Bednar taught us more with his teaching style than what he actually said. But he did correct some interesting things. 1st: all the revelations announced in General Conference were not actually given to President Nelson. They have been discussing and counseling about combining quorums for DECADES! We tend to think that as soon as President Nelson was ordained and set apart, he received a flood of revelations. It's not true! Most often, revelation comes line upon line. It comes slowly. The only revelation President Nelson received was "Now is the time to do it." 

I can't remember the other stuff he corrected, but it was pretty cool. He and the rest of the visitors taught us super well and the Spirit was really strong. Especially when Elder Bednar gave his Special Witness and an Apostolic Blessing. He actually commended us for our spiritual preparation and readiness for the meeting.

This week it has been raining a lot. Classic Abbotsford. I have been totally awful with directions and streets here in Abbotsford and we walked around for like 4 hours the other day trying to find a lady's house. It was tough. Hopefully by the end of the month the sun will be here to stay!

Have a good week you guys!

Love, Elder Clark

---

Chapter 87 - Emma Watson/Roommates

Hey!

This week was good! We got transferred here on Wednesday and got straight to work! Our apartment is shared with 2 other Elders (one of them is my MTC companion!) He's training, but he served in 2nd ward for 7.5 months and is now back in that area! He asked President if he could go back there. He might finish his mission here, which would be over a year in 1 area! We whitewashed in as well, but got straight to work. It has been really fun and the work is going well.

We have been working all over our area, and have been finding really cool people to talk to. Lots of people here are either really religious or not at all. Yesterday we were talking to a Jehovah's Witness lady and she was super cool. Probably the best interaction with a Jehovah's Witness ever. We talked about Harry Potter and Emma Watson for a while! Haha it was classic.

I don't have a whole ton to talk about, but this week we have another Apostle visit! We have been prepping for it for the last 2 months probably. Really exciting. He is doing a bit of a mission tour, so those 4 Elders up in terrace get a personal visit from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve! Lucky Elders.

Everything is going well. Time is running really short. Here in Abbotsford we have about 5 missionaries who all came out together! We all have 3 transfers left. (Elders have about 17 transfers total). It's getting nutso.

Well hopefully you guys have a good week!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 86 - "Going going, back back to Abby Abby" /Pan-goo

Hey!

So I did get transferred, but not where I expected! Haha I asked President Wong if I could go to either Vancouver YSA or Kelowna YSA! Those 2 areas are somewhere I've always wanted to serve. But The Lord has other things in mind for me. I'm going to Abbotsford 1st ward! I already served really close to there when I was in Mission, so I'm very familiar with Abbotsford. Also, my companion and I are whitewashing, but he started his mission there! So he already knows the members and the people there. It will be fun. If anyone gets my reference (Marcus might) it's a play off a Biggie song called "Going back to Cali".

General Conference was really good! I loved a lot of the talks, and the changes were totally awesome. It will help so much to hasten the work. Some of my favorite talks were President Nelson's (duh) and Elder Durrant's. I also really liked Elder Cook's talk (he threw down hard!). I wish Sister Bingham had another talk as well, her voice reminds me of some lady from the 50's for some reason! Haha I love her talks. Elder Bednar's was one of my favorites too. What talks did you guys like the most?

Last night we had a dinner with our Branch Mission Leader, and his wife made an experiment that the kids called "Pan-goo". It was potato pancakes! They basically turned to mush, but honestly were pretty good. I think she used some flour to bind everything together, but it was falling apart nonetheless. Haha very interesting meal! Last night we also met the P's, who are a semi-active family. It's crazy because the grandpa is from Salt Lake, but married a lady from Merritt so he moved up here. He specialized in manufacturing potato seed cutters! Get this, his plant is still running today! Guess where? Orem Utah! I'm going to ask Greyden where his new place is, but if it is where I think it is, he might be soon living on the land that this man used to own! Small world eh!

Well, have a good week! I love you guys!

Elder Clark

PS- Kortney better not leave on her mission before I get home! That would be so dumb(;

Proof that the Word of Wisdom is an inspired principle. (Good thing President Nelson smashed his dad's liquor bottles)

A neighbourhood here in Merritt next to the golf course! Isn't it the same name as Grammy's neighborhood?

A nice view as we were walking to the P's last night.

Chapter 84 - Exchanges²/Musical Numbers²

Hey!

This week was good. Yes we are getting smartphones, but I just never really thought it would happen because they have been telling us we would get iPads for so long and they never came. I think BC has some weird privacy laws or something. I'm not sure if we will get social media, but I would assume so, because what's the point of getting smartphones if you are doing the same things a flip phone can do? (Honestly I feel like half the reason we are getting them is because all of our flip phones are super old and have problems all the time)

Hey just think - this time next year we will all be kickin' it in Mexico!

Yeah this Conference should be really good. I'm calling it: you will hear the name Ron P. Burt announced over the pulpit. (That's President Burt. He's super good and knows a bunch of Apostles and church leaders, so I'm guessing he'll become a General Authority of some kind.) I'm really excited for it though. General Conference as a missionary is like the Super Bowl.

So on Tuesday we had a blitz with the Zone Leaders in Kelowna. I was with Elder Skidmore, who is pretty cool. We had a bunch of administrative Zone Leader stuff, which was annoying but kinda fun. I like problem-solving and we had to get in a bunch of stuff to the AP's as soon as possible. We had a bit of finding time, as well as a Less-Active visit and a dinner appointment all the way in Westbank. It was a good day, and Elder Harrison and Whitney found like 5 new investigators so it all worked out.

Then on Friday we had exchanges with the Kamloops Elders! It was a blitz too so we have had maybe 2 full days to work in our area this whole week. But it was fun. I was with Elder Bullock, who is a redneck from Olds Alberta! He was a semi truck mechanic back home and also worked on a farm. We did some good work but those Elders are big fans of tracting, which hardly ever produces good work. Oh well, my job as a leader is to serve through example and give them correction where correction is necessary. I like to let my stewardship exercise their agency, then afterwards evaluate what we could have done better. I've noticed that when I just tell them what to do they don't really want to do it as much as if they came up with it themselves. Does all that make sense or am I rambling? Haha it was a good week though.

Yesterday was a first for me: Elder Harrison and I sung a duet of "Nearer My God to Thee" in Sacrament meeting! Everyone liked it and we did pretty well honestly. It's crazy how much less fear I have in that regard because of my mission. Then on Wednesday we are participating in a musical number for Zone Conference. (By the way, if Greyden, Easton or whoever want to do a song for my homecoming let me know! I'll gladly take part) It has been fun to see how when we use our talents, God strengthens them. I have become a better singer because I've been willing to sing in front of people.

Have a good week! I love you guys!

Elder Clark

Chapter 83 - Gettin' Stuck/Holy Smokes!

Hey!

This week was awesome! We had lots of cool things happening and we both just chose to work hard and be happy. We had a great week and were able to get some good work put in. I love missionary work. It's pretty hard, and after almost 2 years I'm tired in every sense of the word. But I'm really happy. Honestly testifying of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon all day is the best way to find joy by far.

So today on P-day we had a pretty good activity! We had a Zone P-Day in Kelowna, so we left Merritt last night. The crazy thing is that they combined apartments so there are 4 missionaries living in the apartment that we stayed at! Plus one more companionship! It was crazy. But we had a fun day. We planned on going up on a hike but the trails were super snowy! So a bunch of Elders and Sisters hiked up farther and we went back to get cars. Yeah, we slipped into a snow bank and got stuck... It took forever and all of us pushing the car to get it out. But we did it! It was the Sister's car anyway, so no big deal haha. But it was a fun day, even though we hardly hiked at all. 

After that we went to a really good poutinerie downtown called Smoke's. The poutine was pretty expensive but you got a lot and there were all types of toppings for it. Mine had sausage, bacon, onion and mushroom. Then I dumped a ton of Tabasco sauce on it. It was really good! 

So good to hear about Baron's successful birthday. Nice cake! Nice presents! You guys are growing up so fast (single tear). That new dryer sounds nice. It reminds me of our Christmas Eve run to Lowe's to pick up a new oven because the old one caught fire while Dad and I were at work! Classic times.

Haha I'll likely have 1 more area, but I love Merritt. I don't know if I could handle being here for 7 1/2 months, but I would like to stay a bit longer. The branch is so fun. They are all characters and it's just funny to see what they'll do next. I think it would be cool to train here. This place needs faith, and I've been amazed at how much my faith has grown on my mission. I've been blessed with really strong faith and that's helped me through a lot. It's even helping me to help all of my companions have a better attitude and a stronger desire for the work. Faith motivates us to change, so we know how strong our faith is by how willing we are to repent! (wow I totally just learned that as I was typing it. Total inspiration). 

Well have a good week! I love you guys! Especially you Zoey(;

Elder Clark

Chapter 82 - Inspiration/Part the Red Sea

Hey Mom!

This week was fun. It went by pretty fast. And I learned a lot!

Some of the things I learned are how much more the Spirit guides us when we increase our obedience and listen better! For example, I have been pushing myself to overcome certain weaknesses that I feel like I've had for years. It seemed to me that at the very moment Satan tempted me the most, I received a boost of strength to overcome it! Not only that, but the Spirit has been way clearer ever since then and I've totally been able to put it way behind me. It's pretty cool how even in the little things, God helps us a ton and when we choose Him, we get stronger.

Also, I chose a topic for District meeting about the Holy Ghost because we didn't know what Zone Conference will be about. So no matter what the topic, I figured, we need to understand how the Spirit will teach us through our Mission President! It was a really good district meeting and then we found out right after that Zone Conference is on Chapter 4 of Preach my Gospel! (Recognizing the Spirit) Man I'm so inspired(;

Last night we had a ZedLC (Zone Leadership Council) about what the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders learned at the MLC (Mission Leadership Council). It was all about "Parting the Red Sea". There are like 7 steps or factors that go into producing miracles. These aren't exactly scriptural or anything, but they are things that the Zone Leaders of the mission felt were important. A few of them were Desire, Book of Mormon Studies, Obedience, Baptism, and so forth. It was a really cool meeting and was a much-needed wake-up call. I can definitely be doing better!

That area conference seems pretty cool! That's kinda what we had, but with different speakers. 

Tell Barno to be careful with Patty(; And Happy Birthday to Alex! Was his area affected by the fires this winter? I might know a couple missionaries in that mission. Elder Still got transferred from there, he loved Cali so much. 

Well have a good week!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 81 - 1 Companion, 2 Transfers, 3 Apartments/Crokinole

Hey!

This week was good. It felt kinda long, probably because our P-Day last week was a bit lazy. But things have been good. The biggest thing I have to start worrying about is how to not be trunky these last few months. I think I will set apart specific times each week for thinking about the things I need to do to prepare for home. That way, I can spend the rest of my time focused on missionary work and not have to worry about getting everything done. It is getting really scary though and I'm still not sure if I'm ready to be done.

Okay now that my moment of panic is over, the title (I thought it was pretty clever) is about how our landlord offered us to move into the basement suite of the OTHER house they own in Merritt. The reason being, the stake missionary couple assigned to Merritt had to cut their mission short and we helped them move out on Monday night. They were living in a basement suite a couple blocks away that is huge! And now that nobody is living there, the landlord asked us if we wanted to move over there! They will have family coming to stay with them and they didn't want to kick us out when they do, just in case they find a renter for the other place. So we might get a 3 bedroom apartment soon!

Also this week, was a member's 82nd birthday! And his birthday tradition is Cream Puffs and Crokinole (I don't know how to spell it. Steve would know). It's a really fun game! It's like curling meets pool but it is played on your table. I challenge you guys to find a board and buy it so we can play! If not, you can get one here when we come up to visit someday.

We haven't gone by to see her. I looked for her address when I was in Kamloops but we couldn't decipher her handwriting unfortunately! Are her daughters members? One of them lives in Chase which is covered by Kamloops but pretty far away.

Crazy that Jacksonian Thunder is leaving! And 2 weeks before I get home? Lame! Cambodia will be awesome. There's a member in Mission who served there and he was one of the first to bring the Gospel to some of the villages there. 

The Book of Mormon is awesome! Keep reading!

That picture is also really cool. I thought it looked like angels as well, but this other Elder said it was dead bodies they are taking to the temple for baptisms for the dead(; hahaha totally joking but pretty funny. The odd thing is that I've never touched a bike on my mission.

Well have a good one! I only have 2 pictures for you guys this week!

Chapter 80 - Snow Shovels/So Much Walking

Hey!

This week was awesome! We have been working hard and figuring out exactly how to work with this area the best way. It has been a work in progress, but not too bad and this coming week should be really good. We have some good ideas that are in the works. 

Last week we had Family Day. No idea what that's all about, probably a reason to get families together on a day off in the time of year when there are like no holidays. So what's the point of those wedding rings? I know people usually get them if they are mechanics or do a ton of outdoor stuff, but why did you guys get them exactly?

I heard that Canada is in 2nd place in the Olympics! They must usually do well in the winter. 

So on Saturday we got dumped on like crazy. It started sometime in the night and didn't stop until like 4:30 in the afternoon! I was on exchange with the Kamloops Elders and Elder Campbell is from Birmingham, Alabama. He's never seen this much snow in his life! So we borrowed the church's shovels and went around asking if we could shovel their driveways. We got a really positive response and a couple people said we could come back. We gave this old lady a pamphlet so we will have to go back to follow up with it. We wanted to teach this one guy about family history but his phone rang with before we started teaching. Bummer.

Here in Merritt we walk a lot. The town is too small to justify driving so we park it most of the day. We sometimes have people planned in all the way on the other side of town and we can walk there in like 20 minutes. We usually do like 9 kilometers each day.

Have a great week! Try going to Elder Morrison's homecoming next week if you can! (I don't know if it will be next week but it probably will be)

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 79 - Hong Kong Fireworks/Family Day pt. 2

Hey!

This week was really good. Some good stuff is happening here, and we have gotten so close to finding a bunch of people but they just are never home when we go by. I think I was because we had a long weekend so people went out of town. Merritt is pretty central to everything, an hour from Kamloops, an hour and a half from Kelowna, and almost 2 hours from Abbotsford (which makes about 3 hours to Vancouver). But it was a pretty good Family Day. BC has theirs a week before the rest of Canada, so it's a bit odd.

This week we also had Zone Conference! It was another really good meeting. We did a musical number for it, and afterwards a member made Butter Chicken for everyone! So good. If you guys get a chance for Indian food, take it. But I thought it was interesting how President Wong almost always talks about the same things every time, which are 1) Faith 2)Member work 3)Finding 4)Having fun 5)The Book of Mormon. It was really good and I learned a lot. I felt like our zone was really prepared and we got a lot out of it! It felt like he was able to teach us more this time because we were actually ready. He showed us a video of the New Years Eve firework show in Hong Kong. During the dinner, I told him about Idaho Falls' firework show and he was pretty impressed(;

Pretty awesome about the Olympics! Go USA! Go Canada! Zoey looks awesome. You should have gotten her a Pink Ladies jacket or something(; Also, Baron's project is super cool! Better to almost burn the house down than to sit in his room all day playing video games and not accomplish anything (which is what I did at that age). 

Nice experience! I'm just proud that you are listening to your scriptures! But so awesome how you were able to help her out. I had a similar experience with an investigator who was super prepared, but her common-law husband didn't really want to get married, so she couldn't get baptized as a result. But she was grieving the loss of her uncle or dad or something and the preacher was talking about how if he wasn't baptized he couldn't return to God. She was really upset because her relative always had great faith and was a really good guy, just never too religious. We shared with her Alma 40 and she was really comforted. The Book of Mormon answers the questions of our soul!

Well have a good week!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 78 - The Character of Christ/Kelowna!

Hey!

Sounds like you guys had a good week! Our weather has been crazy too. One day it is super warm and all the snow melts, the next it snows again, and repeat. Soon enough the winter will be over and I'll be done with doing missionary work in the snow! Sad but honestly so nice.

This week we had a couple cool experiences. On Saturday we were feeling a bit negative because nobody was out. We had a bit of an argument because I felt it would be more effective to knock on some doors rather than walk around and talk to nobody but Elder Harrison didn't like that idea. So we kinda walked around and talked through it. I remembered a talk from Elder Bednar in the MTC called "The Character of Christ" which talks about how Christ turned outward rather than inward when faced with a tough trial. He actually ministered help with the SAME thing he needed in that moment. So I asked Elder Harrison what WE needed in that moment. He said we needed more faith. So we turned around and looked for someone who we could teach about faith. The FIRST lady we saw, we were able to teach about faith. And she was the daughter of a potential investigator too! Super cool.

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Clark

PS - I'm back in Kelowna because we have interviews tonight and Zone Conference tomorrow. Super fun.

Chapter 77 - Moving In/Area Conference

Hey!

This week was good! I don't have much to say, and not much time either so it will be brief.

We moved into our apartment this week! So we are official residents of Merritt! It was stressful, but pretty smooth. We are now finally all settled in. The place is a bit smaller, but it is pretty nice. There are fake hardwood laminate floors everywhere, which are nice. The only sad thing is we don't live nearby Elders anymore. We are all alone.

But everything has been going well.  Elder Harrison and I are getting along pretty well, and I've been helping him through a lot of challenges that he faces. But he's awesome. He has been out a little longer than me, he's from Vernal Utah and loves reading! So we talk books a lot, as well as country music. He loves Marvel and DC stuff so he has been teaching me about the Avengers and stuff. It's pretty interesting, actually. I'm looking forward to seeing Guardians of the Galaxy and Wonder Woman and stuff.

We have been working hard teaching, but the work can be a bit slow here. We drop by a lot of Former Investigators and have had some success with them. We actually taught Samantha this week, who is the older sister of a couple recent converts here. So the member work is not too bad actually! There are some members who are really happy to have missionaries back and who are really excited about missionary work themselves.

This Sunday we had the Area broadcast (as you guys probably saw) and it was awesome! I have always loved Elder Christofferson, and Elder Nattress is awesome too (he's from Pocatello and came to our mission where I had a personal interview with him). But I loved President Kearon's talk was awesome. What did you guys like from the Conference?

Well have a good week! Sorry I emailed so early!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 76 - No Gas/New Place

So this week was very interesting! But good.

After getting settled in, we are really able to move the work out here. We have been finding new investigators to teach, and working on re-teaching old investigators. Besides getting bashed by a couple Romanian guys, street contacting is going pretty well. We are getting so close to the next baptism, but still haven't found them yet. Elder Harrison and I are getting along pretty well. He's a nice guy, despite his struggles. I have been helping him have more faith, which is actually pretty fun because it forces me to have lots of faith and diligence.

Sundays are challenging because we live so far away, and we rarely have enough gas. We don't want to buy gas on Sunday, so last night we hoped and prayed and cranked up the heat. We barely made it back! It was crazy. Next week we will remember to top it off on Saturday.

But that doesn't really matter because we found a new place in Merritt! So this week was a bit stressful because we are trying to move all the stuff out of our old place in Merritt, as well as moving our stuff from Kamloops. It is a nice basement suite, and the landlord is really nice. The house is super close to downtown Merritt. It will be really good.

It sounds like you guys had a good week! 

Anyway, I'll try to drop by that lady if I'm ever on an exchange into that area. Thanks for reminding me!

Have a great week everyone!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 75 - The Country Music Captial/Commuting

Hey y'all!

This week has been so crazy. We got transferred to Merritt on Tuesday, but only after a bunch of crazy stuff. First, neither of us had a license, so the Zone Leaders took us to the driver's license place so I could get a "New Driver" tag. After that, we drove 45 minutes to Vernon, then we got picked up by the Kamloops Elders and drove all the way (2 1/2 hours) to Kamloops. We got in at like 7:30 and started going through our new area book. Neither of us have been in that area before, and it was closed for a transfer, so we are trying to get to know the area and what-have-you.

So our area is actually an hour away from our apartment. They closed down the Merritt apartment when they pulled the Elders out so we live in Kamloops. It is pretty fun to commute all the way every day, but it wastes up a lot of our time and gas. Last night we barely made it to a gas station before we had to buy a little bit of fuel to get home. (I know, we broke the Sabbath Day). Also, the highway can get pretty foggy sometimes, so we have to drive slower than normal. Luckily I'm an experienced Idaho driver!

Merritt is a pretty cool place, though. It is a small town, but it's self-titled the "Country Music Capital of Canada", which is pretty neat. All over town there are murals of famous country stars like Randy Travis, Brooks & Dunn, Dolly Parton, Reba, Carrie Underwood and Alan Jackson. I'll have to take some pictures this week of those. But Merritt is a good place. There are a lot of natives here, and everyone seems to know us. Most of the people we talk to are less-actives or former investigators. It is an interesting vibe to live in a small community like this.

The Branch is another story. There are about 30-40 active members, half of which are children. So understandably there is a different approach to member work here! The Stake President specifically asked for Elders back in Merritt because he sees the potential here. His vision is for Merritt to become a ward by the end of the year! It's totally possible, but we will need about 60-70 more active members in the branch before that happens. Most of the members have 3 or 4 callings, and I blessed the Sacrament my first Sunday there! The members are super nice though, and one of them fed us dinner yesterday after we brought her sick husband the Sacrament!

So this week was full of new experiences. Lots of challenges, but otherwise pretty good. I'm staying positive and not letting myself get frustrated.

That's cool about the workout stuff, and too bad about Bobbie. Hopefully you get the house cleaned up! I definitely agree, an organized and clean house is a house conducive to the Spirit. We have been working at doing that here in our apartment as well.

Personally, I think one of them will stay and they'll bring up a new guy like Elder Renlund. We will see!

Take care everyone! I love you guys!

-Elder Clark

Chapter 74 - "Grand Opening, Grand Closing!" - Chris Rock/Footnotes

Hey!

So BIG surprise! This week was transfers! (That wasn't much of a surprise for us, but the specifics totally were. There are some big changes.) So Elder Layer is leaving Kelowna after 7.5 months, going to Sidney to whitewash/follow-up train/DL, which is understandable. However, I'm not staying! I am going an hour and a half west to a small town called Merritt! They closed Merritt down last transfer, and now I'm getting sent in to open it back up! It will be fun. I think we will have a lot of success there, even though it is a small branch. Then it gets crazier: NOBODY is coming in to replace Elder Layer and I in Kelowna 2nd. They will be combining the areas so 1 set of Elders will cover both wards. It's weird. 

So the next topic of my email is centred on my recent Book of Mormon study. I have been doing President Nelson's suggestion of the 6 lists: What the Book of Mormon is, what it reveals, what it affirms, what it clarifies, what it refutes, and what it fulfills. It has been an inspiring exercise! I recommend it to each of you. As part of it, I am reading every footnote and marking them. It helps me to make connections, and the biggest thing I've noticed is how well the Book of Mormon stands up against the Bible. There are parallels everywhere! I have been reading for 30 minutes a day for 2 weeks and have just finished 1 Nephi chapter 1 today. I spent all of my study this morning on Verse 20. I highly encourage all of you to study that verse and the Topical Guide heading 'Deliver'. Super cool! Try to connect it to 2 Nephi 2:11 and tell me what you think!

Well I'm glad you guys had a good week! Good job Barno on skiing! That resort looks fun, I'll have to try it next winter.

Have a good one y'all!

PS- if you want to send me those questions you can! It seems pretty cool.

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 73 - Deep Clean/Snow Banks

Hey y'all!

This week was fun. We have gotten a bunch more snow! 

Because of all the snow, everyone is getting stuck! We have bailed out like 6 people from the snow banks as we are out and about. Then WE even got stuck and some people came to OUR rescue! Oh well, it was good because it gave some people an opportunity to give service and experience the joy!

This week we dropped by some kindof investigators, who are former Jehovah's Witnesses. They are really nice to us and we had a conversation about differences in Church policy and doctrine. IT is interesting to learn about their church, but we try to spend most of the time teaching them. This time we showed them 3 Nephi 18, which is when Jesus organized the church among the Nephites. So it was good for them to see our point of view on Church Discipline, which is the conversation it got to. Anyway, after all was said and done I felt like it wasn't the most productive use of our time. However, at the end we offered to help them shovel their drive and they accepted and told us we can have dinner with them afterwards! So we came by the next day and their family was over for dinner as well! So we got to teach all of them a little bit about the Book of Mormon (which was good, because most churches teach from a very young age to stay away from is as it is "of the devil and will bring you down the path to destruction", which is obviously not true, but a lot of other Christians live their whole lives under the assumption that it's evil! So I take every opportunity I can to correct that belief). Needless to say, it turned out to be a very productive visit!

So on New Year's, we had to be in a 6 to deep clean our apartments. We aren't allowed outside on New Year's Eve for obvious reasons, so they made it more productive for us by making us deep clean the apartment. It was really good and a lot of fun! We got some Filipino food from a member and watched a bunch of church movies! I took the kitchen and Elder Layer took the washroom and we went Ham Sandwich for 3 hours! Most people have sparkling cider on New Year's, but the only thing that sparkles for us missionaries is the floor(;

One more thing, this new family moved into the ward from Alberta, and we finally got to meet them yesterday! We went over to help them unpack and move some stuff around, and then they fed us some dinner! They have 9 kids! It was a hoot, they are such a fun family. 

Well have a good week!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 72 - More Junk Food?/Ghost Town

Hey again!

This week was pretty good (as you may have heard). But there were a couple things I don't remember telling you about. 

So it is Christmas time and everybody is making junk food and giving it to us. Elders are blessed because we get all the food and stuff that people have extra, and they always think of us during Christmas and give us stuff. In total we have received a box of candy canes, a ton of those Lindt truffles, hot chocolate, Peanut Butter balls, candy bars, candy canes, cookies, fudge, McDonald's gift cards, and probably more that I can't remember. What makes it worse is sugar is bad for a sore throat, so I just have to stare at it all day until I'm well enough to eat any of it.

Also, trying to find people on the 23rd through the 25th is nearly impossible, since there are no people out on the streets! Not to mention it's -10 outside so it makes it worse. Last night we took Brian to visit an old lady in the ward and we walked down the street with him and didn't see a soul. Driving around Kelowna on the 24th I counted 6 total. But it's not too bad because now the holidays are pretty much over and people have no reason to lock themselves inside!

Well I actually think I told you guys about that stuff, but there you go. Have fun in Boise! Play lots of guitar hero and games for me! 

Have a good week y'all!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 71 - "You can't handle the truth!"/H2O Miracles

Hey hey!

This week was good! Although I'm bummed you didn't really write anything! Haha just kidding.

So I'll just jump right in with the title! This week we had Zone Conference! It was so good. I prepared so hard for it. It was really good! He taught us all about giving correction, teaching about baptism, and just being diligent. It was really similar to his last zone conference, but I felt like it really solidified what I need to do. President Wong always uses really cool analogies and object lessons to teach us, and this time we watched a video of Kevin Durant being trained by Steve Nash! It was really insightful training about being humble and taking correction, but also the importance of the fundamentals! He also used the talk "As many as I love, I also rebuke and chasten" by Elder Christofferson. (If you haven't heard it, look it up. Do it now, don't wait). And he talked about "sugarcoating" and "beating around the bush" He asked us "can you handle the truth?" and immediately I thought of Jack Nicholson yelling at Tom Cruise. The name of the movie escaped me. But it was an inspiring zone conference, and definitely what I needed to hear. This week I will start applying it by focusing more on baptism. 

In my interview yesterday he committed me to make a plan to baptize 10 people before I go home! As I was thinking about it last night, I remembered that President Wong adds a 30% buffer to every goal he sets. So my goal from now to August 7th is 13 baptisms! 

Starting to work towards that lofty goal, we went working last night. We went to the Rec centre called H20 and talked to a lady at the bus stop. She actually grew up Mormon and has very find memories of Elders! They would do cool things like magic tricks and she remembers being so excited for them to come by. So we got her number and she said she would be open to a visit! So we are planning on seeing her tonight. It should be good! She has kids too so that would be some baptisms if we planned well!

So yeah this week was good. The AP's came up for zone conference and they stayed downstairs with the zone leaders. They are so chill now! So different from the Assistants when I came to the mission. But they still know how to find and teach. Their area is doing so good now! President kicked them out of the office so they can have a model area for the rest of the mission. 

Well I will see you next Monday! I will be facetiming most likely. And I will call anywhere from 1-4. Probably around 1:30 or 2:00 Pacific time.

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 70 - Gingerbread House/D's back

Hey!

This week was fun! We went super hard and set a goal as a zone to find 40 new investigators this week. Guess how many we found? 52!! We crushed the goal. Our district had like 17 or 18 of those. It was fun to ask the sisters every day how many they found and it just kept getting higher! Now we just have to bring those people to church and set baptismal dates with them.

So we got a member family to Skype home from, but we don't know exactly the time. I'll let you guys know for sure next P-Day. Also, we aren't sure but P-day might be on Tuesday the 26th so keep that in mind.

So this week's title comes from OUR ward Christmas activity, where we made gingerbread houses! They actually made the houses before we got there, but everyone brought their own candy and decorated it ourselves. Elder Layer and I spent $2 on candy and mooched off the members(; Ours turned out pretty good! We also were able to talk to some friends that the members brought and some less actives who came out. It was a slam dunk activity. It just reminded me of Grandpa's super precisely cut graham cracker houses and ours that always fell apart!

We also happened to bump into a less active member at the mall on Monday who was going through a really tough time. Our bishop told us not to contact him, but somehow we just happened to run into him. He told us he wanted to make a change in his life and get back to church and stuff. He wanted to get things resolved with the bishop (they had an argument because he needed help and bishop canceled the appointment right before). So we were a bit worried about how bishop would react, but he showed up at church yesterday and everything was fine. It was all just a big misunderstanding. D's not the most solid guy ever though. I would honestly prefer to stay out of his business, but Elder Layer has a bit of a soft spot for the underdog sometimes so he is good friends with D. Either way, God has obviously seen a desire in him to make a change, because everything in his life is turning around! 

So this week was good. It looks like you guys had a good week also! It's doubtful that we will have much snow, if any, by Christmas. So sad. You might think that since I'm in Canada, everyone lives in igloos and rides polar bears through the 10 feet of snow year-round, but it's unfortunately not the case! Canada is pretty temperate, especially BC (one of the biggest temperate rainforests in the world apparently). So I don't think I'll have a white Christmas this year...

I have seen the vending machine, but I thought it was in NYC? The first day of light the world had it set up on the street next to a normal vending machine. It was a pretty touching video! Light the World is legit. We are telling all our members to share it with their friends, but so many of them have already committed to do it!

Have a good week! I love you!

Elder Clark

Chapter 69 - Brother S/Sugar Free

Hey!

This week was so good. It flew by so fast!

I will start with the titles of my email. About a month ago, I told you guys about some self-mastery goals I set for myself. I told you there was one I would tell you about later. Well.... (drumroll) It's later! So for the whole month of November, I went without sugar! This includes all added sugars, simple and refined sugars. It was fun. I learned many things, for one was that there is sugar added in just about everything. I could only eat fruits, vegetables, meat and very select grains and breads. I also had to go without almost all condiments and sauces. The only things I could have were mustard, pure tomato sauce, and hot sauce. It was actually pretty hard, but I proved to myself I could do it! And guess what I did on December 1st? I got a Mtn Dew, a Wunderbar, Egg Nog, and a large Blizzard! So worth it.

Also, we had a baptism! B was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was great. The baptismal service was well organized and we hardly had to do anything! B said he was really happy and grateful to have that opportunity finally given to him. He quit smoking too so it was truly a miracle! Thanks for the prayers and faith.

Yesterday, I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting for the first time ever! I said "somebody better tell my mom, she would be so proud."

We still don't have snow, but it is getting colder. We didn't get to watch the Devotional last night, but we did get to help someone move! It was funny. Afterwards, he gave us a bunch of puzzles and I did one last night. Good stuff. Also, Home Alone is a great one. One of the sisters in our district loves it so I will probably use it to teach about planning(; 

I would send pictures but the computer isn't reading my card today. Maybe next week. 

Have a good one!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 68 - "The Board"/Perfect Week

Hey! 

This week was really good! We had some cool experiences. B had his second interview on Saturday and he passed! So he will get baptized this Saturday at 6pm. It will be awesome. We also had transfers this week, but most of the Zone is staying, as well as us so we will both be here for his baptism!

As for the title of my email, this Friday we went to UBCO and did some contacting. I was on Splits with a YSA Elder and they go to UBCO all the time. We brought this White Board up there with the title of "Your Final Day In Life" with 3 questions on it such as, "What do you want to say you have done?" "What do you want to say you have become?" and "What difference do you want others to notice in you from now to then?" and we talked to all the students we could and had them write on it what they thought! We even used it on the bus! We found a ton of people using it as well. Some would answer with "Doctor, nurse, mother, etc." But others would say super profound things like "Immortalized in literature, changed someone's life, or made someone smile" We got like 30-40 people to write on it, mostly girls, but it was really successful. YSA work is challenging but also super easy with the right idea.

And for the other half of my title, no I'm not talking about the same Perfect Week Barney Stinson achieved. We passed around our dinner calendar in Sunday School AND Primary this week and we got tons of people to sign up! Next week we almost got a perfect week. We just need one on Friday and it will be complete. That will be the first time I've had a perfect week on my mission haha!

Anyway have a good day! Be thinking of questions you have for me on Christmas, because that is coming up sooner than we think.

Bye!

Love, Elder Clark