Chapter 16 - I Saw a Pillar of Light.../Mum, have you seen my jumper?

Hey everyone!

The quotes from this week are from Jim Gaffigan (I Think), Emperor's New Groove, and The Grinch! I Love that movie and have been quoting it all week. "5:30 Dinner with me, I can't cancel that again!"

That's awesome about the shelves and Zoey's tooth! It sounds like y'all had a great weekend! The work dinner sounds fun too. Last year was hilarious! 

It's weird to think that last Thursday was Thanksgiving. It was just another day for us Canadians! But they did have Black Friday which is a little weird.

This week has been not too eventful. We have been knocking doors a LOT, and have been finding like nobody. But we did have a couple cool experiences.

First, we have been applying Elder Holland's challenge to kick it up to 212 degrees (Farenheit). This is because when water reaches that temperature, it CHANGES from liquid to gas. We need to heat up our missionary efforts by changing what we do and how we do it. This week we decided to crank up the heat in our finding efforts. We were trying different things like sharing scriptures with people, and being more positive and excited. We had the idea to recite the First Vision with someone. Elder Lisney is new, so he doesn't quite have it down yet. So I take the lead and share with her the First Vision. She wasn't interested. BUT she totally felt the Spirit when we recited that. Someday she will be baptized for sure.

Another experience we had was with a guy last night. We went out finding and we ran into a guy who disagreed with us, but in a very polite way. We of course kept sharing truths, and he even testified to us so powerfully that HE started crying. It was pretty cool. He was pretty old, so Spirit World Baptism for sure.

Other than that, we haven't done much. We had a really good exchange one day, and the week has turned out pretty well! 

Sorry I don't have much to say this week. Next week is Zone Conferences so I might have some more wisdom to share with you then.

Take care y'all!

Love, Elder Clark.

PS. It has been snowing this week. I didn't think 0 degrees Celsius would be that cold, but when you are outside all day it sure is!

---

Chapter 15 - Blimey!/Honda

Hey everyone! It sounds like everything is going super well back home!

I have no clue about Skype, except the fact that it's this transfer. We will get more info in a few more weeks.

 Did I tell you that we all shook Elder Holland's hand? Super cool. President Burt has been quoting him all week.

That's too bad about those kids. We have met several people like that, and the conclusion we came to was that everyone makes mistakes. That's unavoidable. There's 2 options for when that happens: 1. We can change our actions to fit our beliefs or 2. Change our beliefs to fit our actions. Obviously number 1 is the option we should always choose. While both bring happiness (since our actions and beliefs aren't at odds) the first choice will always bring us greater joy. The problem is that it's much harder to change actions than beliefs.

We probably won't do anything for Thanksgiving. We already had Canadian Thanksgiving, and my companion is British and they don't celebrate Thanksgiving anyway. 

Which brings me to news for the week! My companion is Elder Lisney (Like Disney but with an L) and he's straight from Western UK! He has a Harry Potter accent, which is pretty funny sometimes. Looks like I just keep getting foreigners as companions! But he is doing well! The first couple days were a struggle. I'm not good at correcting or being loving, so it's always awkward when he messes up or when I have to teach him something. I've definitely never felt more overwhelmed or inadequate in my life. But things are getting much better. He jumped right into tracting! He's really good. Sometimes I miss Elder Leber though. Things are so much harder as a senior companion!

Anyway, we didn't have any lessons the first couple days, and it has been snowing. We didn't have much winter clothing, so Elder Lisney was freezing. Luckily, we knocked on this guy's door and he wasn't interested but offered to lend my companion a coat! He goes into his closet and gives him a jacket with a Honda logo on it (similar to the ones Dad and I get from work) and said "you know what, keep it!" It was a huge blessing. We were also planning on P-Day being tomorrow, but we found out that it was today! Such a blessing. We hung out with the Zone Leaders all day, which was fun. Elder Lisney spent 120 on groceries today! Hopefully that lasts the 2 weeks until he gets more money...

That's the week! Not much to tell, other than that I'm hanging in there! 

Hopefully all goes well! Is the wedding this week or was it last week? Hopefully that's a blast.

Take care, Love you all!

Love, Elder Clark

Me, Elder Leber, Elder Bullock, & Elder Lisney

---

Chapter 14 - Elder....? of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles/Transfer News pt. 2

Howdy everyone!!

This week is so exciting and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

We'll start with Tuesday night. We were out tracting and anxiously waiting to find out about the election. We called Less-Actives, and Investigators, but the results weren't in until Wednesday morning. We called immediately after studies and found out about 45th President Donald J. Trump! I'm relieved but not quite happy. I think he will do a fine job though.

Then, Friday. We had a killer Zone meeting in preparation for Mission Conference. It was awesome, and all about using the Lord as our first source of help, and President Burt as our last. Then, we flew down to Richmond where we were picked up by the Assistants, Elder Asi and Elder Flood. They took us to Delta (a suburb of Vancouver) where we stayed with the Zone Leaders of the Surrey Zone, Elder Reeves and Alonzo. Their apartment is SO nice. Granite counters, hardwood floors, a washer/dryer, and a DISHWASHER! It was fun. Elder Alonzo is from Meridian! He went to Rocky Mountain! Elder Reeves is from Australia, and was called to be the new AP, since Elder Asi is going home. 

Then, we got up early to go to the Mission Conference in Richmond. It was great to see all 200 missionaries in one chapel (it has never happened before and will likely not happen for a long time). President Burt talked, we took a picture, and Elder Murray of the Seventy spoke too. The meeting was presided over by none other than Jeffrey R. Holland!!! We were able to all shake his hand and tell him our name/where we are from. So I've officially met an Apostle of the Lord. It was an amazing conference. He was incredibly bold. You'll never hear him yell as loud in Conference. He not only singed our eyebrows, he melted our faces off. But I learned a lot and received a lot of personal revelation on questions I had prepared. We knew he was coming for a few weeks so that we could prepare spiritually. So that was a big day for us.

Then, we flew back home to work in PG for a couple hours. That night was transfer calls. Last transfer we did not get a call, which meant we were together another 6 weeks. THIS time however, we received a call from the Assistants. Elder Leber is going to Kelowna to whitewash/train/DL there!! It's crazy. He will be training 2 1/2 missionaries in a row. But, no worries I'll be able to fly down with him this week because I have also been called to train a new missionary!! After just 12 weeks, it's pretty rare and a rather overwhelming opportunity. I am staying in PG probably until February. Christmas is next transfer, which is crazy. I don't know how I qualified to be a dad, but I am humbled and extremely excited to find out who my next companion is! President Burt told me a while ago that I would be asked to train, but I never knew it would be this soon. But I love PG and it will be great to spend another 6-12 weeks here.

That's about it for the week, pretty big stuff hey? We have been taking pictures with Investigators/Members/Missionaries because Elder Leber is going to the Okanagan. I can't believe it. Our Zone is getting some major changes, and one of my good friends Elder Watts is leaving to Victoria to be companions with my MTC companion! (He's the one in the cowboy hat, super funny guy) He was my district Leader my first transfer out here. 

Take care y'all!  Poor Zoey! Hopefully she gets better soon. By the way, I got her letter. Super cute! Maybe it will cheer her up to know that I loved it and probably miss her the most! Anyway, I'll talk to you next week to tell you who my son is! I love you all!

Love, Elder Clark

That's us outside of our apartment!

Chapter 13 - Mormon Message/Baptism

"Live from PG it's Monday afternoon!"

Hey everyone! This week was great. We had a baptism!! More on that later, but we didn't baptize L. We were on exchange, and saw him walking down the street. We pulled over and I just knew what was happening: He had a cigarette in his hand... We talked to him and explained that he couldn't get baptized if he was still struggling with this stuff. He has a horrible memory and he kinda blamed it on "force of habit" but he was trying to hide it from me. So Elder Bickel, the Zone Leader, asked him to give him the cigarette. It was a super stressful experience, but totally a sign from God that he was not ready. Remember, this was 1 day before his scheduled baptism. I'm glad that we caught it before, but I wish he could have quit smoking by now.

Anyway, on the bright side, we did have a baptism. His name was A, and 11 year old kid. The crazy part is that his mom and grandma are less active members! His GREAT-Grandpa is a member though, and that's who did the baptism! And the program was a huge success, we were stressing about it all day, but it turned out okay. As for the title of the email, we didn't plan what we would do after the baptism while they are getting dressed. So we quickly grabbed the TV from the library and put on a Mormon message about the Plan of Salvation. It was super good! BUT he didn't have a towel, so we had to put on another video. It. was. horrible. It was all about death and how people found hope after losing loved ones. NOT applicable at all to getting baptized. We were cracking up so hard in the back of the Relief Society room. Luckily we had some great Sister missionaries who helped out by playing hymns and what not.

Another upside: the Sisters in our ward brought an investigator to the baptism named J. He is the only East Indian guy in PG who is a Christian. He loved the baptism. He said something changed after that. He also came to church the next day and LOVED it! Our Elders Quorum lesson was all about home teaching, using Elder Holland's talk from this conference. SO good. This guy loves home teaching now! But the sisters told us they would pass him to us AFTER the baptism... Kinda rude but it's whatever.

This week should be great. We have another Zone Meeting on Friday, immediately after which we are flying down to Richmond. Then, we have Mission Conference, then transfers next week! Also the Election is Tuesday, so hopefully that goes well and isn't the end of the world. The funny thing about threatening to move to Canada is: when America gets a cold, Canada coughs. It's true. Everyone here is just as worried about what is happening down there as Americans are. Plus PG is the LAST place you would ever want to move to. 

This week has been super warm! Close to 15 degrees or so. It has been nice. Also daylight savings was so great. An extra hour of sleep was just what the doctor ordered. We also had a great exchange with the Zone Leaders. It was a good time. We taught a couple lessons and did some finding so nothing new. But I got way more out of my studies and now I actually enjoy studies! Before I just used it as an extra hour of sleep, but now I read Jesus the Christ, the Bible Dictionary, as well as the lessons to help out investigators. President Burt wants us to study PMG every day.

That's all for the week! Next Monday you'll get to find out who came to Vancouver! So cast your votes in now, you have 15 options(;

Take care everyone!

Love, Elder Clark

Chapter 12 - 2 Baptisms/Halloween

Hello everyone!

This week was great! A couple scary experiences, but otherwise good!

We have 2 baptisms coming up this Saturday! L started working though, and we haven't gotten a hold of him. Hopefully he doesn't flake out! But A, the 11 year old is good to go. We have been teaching him quite regularly. He was all scared about the afterlife/judgment and almost started crying when he asked if families would get separated by the 3 kingdoms if they didn't all make it to the Celestial. Super sad, but we cleared it up pretty well. 

We have been struggling to find members to participate in the baptism, though. The member work here is bleak to say the least. There are a couple families that like us, but they live out in the bush so it's harder to get referrals from them. And member-present lessons? Forget about it.

Today is Halloween! We have a special P-Day schedule. We had P-Day activities such as shopping and car washing from 10-2:30. Then we proselyte from 2:30-5:30. Then we have to be in our house by 6:30 until 9, but still P-Day stuff so we are planning on sleeping or watching some church movies! :D It's a pretty crazy day, but Halloween can be dangerous as well as ineffective for missionary work.

Not much happened this week. We got so many potentials in the Hood last week, but meeting with them again was another story! They are some flaky people (all native, sorry to say) and the ones we met with are less than solid and hardly interested. Oh well! We are working in other areas now to find better new investigators.

Another bit of news, I have been working on the Fraser rap the last couple days while tracting. 2 of the other areas in our zone have raps made about their area, so I'm writing one now too! Haha it's pretty funny I'd say. We were inspired to start it after we came up with the first line: "got so many investigators we could start a stake"

No worries though, I'm super consecrated and working hard!(;

Anyway, have fun on Halloween! Don't get cavities from all that candy! And don't wet the bed from all those horror movies! 

I started buying green leaf lettuce, red onions and avocados and putting chicken in a salad! It's really good. Today I found some ground beef on sale (just 4.50 for 450 grams! Such a good deal) That's sarcasm. Meat is super expensive here, but cheese is the worst. I have some eggs in the fridge that I never ate because eggs are gross, but I can try hard boiling them, I never thought of that! We cook for ourselves a lot, almost every meal. We refuse to eat fast food like most missionaries, and members feed us once a week if we are lucky. But I also started drinking Cashew milk instead of regular milk! It also tastes better than almond milk for the same price! And I buy 2 L of Dark Chocolate Almond Milk. MMMMMM. Other than that I have Kraft Dinner, walmart brand Pringles, and walmart brand Nutri Grain bars. I also buy bananas and whatever bread they have on the about-to-expire rack. Not too bad.

This week has also been pretty warm! It hovers around 4 or 5 degrees (about 40-45) so not too cold for the end of October.

Take care and I love you all!

Elder Clark

Here are some quick pictures from Zone meeting last week!

Chapter 11 - Tracting/Zone Meeting!

Hey everyone!

Good to hear from all of you this week (those of you I actually heard from). This week has been both difficult and amazing!

I'll start with tracting. We did so much tracting this week! Almost all day, every day. It is pretty exhausting, and my legs are so tired always. But we have been finding lots of good potentials, so hopefully we can teach all day every day this week!

Also, the focal point of my email this week is centered on Zone Meeting. It was truly a great experience. Sad news though, the DL came to interview L, and decided we should push his baptism back a week. Unfortunately, we won't baptize him this month, but still this transfer. It is all good. We decided that he needs a better knowledge of President Monson and the Book of Mormon. It is confusing for him since he sees so many similarities with that and the Bible. But Zone meeting was so good! It was all about Faith, and how we can create a Faith-Filled Mission! President Burt is worried about all of the negativity that Satan is bringing to our mission. He sees it and knows he needs to address it. So he is fighting that with Faith! We had some good trainings about it. One of my favorites was a video with Elder Bednar. He told the story of the children of Israel, who were promised by the Lord that they would make it to their destination on dry land. When they got to the River Jordan, they stopped. They weren't sure what to do, since the Lord promised them they could travel on dry land! However, they exercised their faith, and stepped into the river. It wasn't until their feet were WET that the Lord would part the waters, allowing them to cross. That is truly a great lesson on faith. Sometimes we think we can sit back and say "Jesus take the wheel" and that is enough faith. That is not enough faith! We have to go out and get our feet wet. We have to show the Lord we are willing to take action before he will show forth his power. Faith is THE principle of action. If we don't act, we don't have faith. I really loved that. We also studied a SUPER good talk by President Uchtdorf about that same principle called "Fourth Floor, Last Door". It was from Women's session, so Mom and Hannah probably know how good this talk is. Everyone else: I invite you to read it. 

We also got a great piece of news about the 12th of November. President Burt has lost both of his parents while serving here on his mission. After each of those deaths, an 801 (Utah) number has called him to offer condolences. Recently, President Burt got a call from this same number, who is actually a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, telling him that he will be visiting our mission on the 12th!! Now, I know who this Apostle is, but I will keep it a secret until he comes. We are all so excited, and we will be having a Mission Conference in Richmond at that time, so we all get to fly down there in a couple weeks!

As for your email, Nice car dad! I'm also happy that Mom loved it so much! Those cars are so sick. I'm stoked you guys are watching so many good movies! I love the Goonies, the Visit was okay, and the Crack Show is one I've wanted to watch for so long! I wish I could eat your chili! I miss good old home cooked meals. I mostly eat rotisserie chicken, salad, and $1 Great Value frozen Kraft Dinners! It's pretty sad, but I eat healthier than most missionaries... 

Man, Zoey is a real comedienne. Shout out to her! Our Primary program is coming up soon, and we have some funny kids in our ward so it should be good. Also, this big family in the ward has a bunch of daughters who are really good singers and they mashed up If You Could Hie to Kolob and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It was pretty cool.

Don't worry about me, I'm doing fine! I only shared a couple needles with the lady, it isn't THAT serious! Haha only joking. We haven't even seen her since then. 

Well, I'll send some pics but until next week I love you all!

Elder Clark

They say you break at least 1 chair on your mission, and this morning that prophecy came true for one young Idaho boy who just wanted to study the Plan of Salvation....

By the way, do you like my haircut? Guess who is the youngest new hairdresser in PG! "You truly are your mother's son Harry"

Chapter 10 - $200/Getting Cold

Hey everyone!

This week was super awesome! Quite a few crazy experiences.

First, our most solid investigator L was all out of money since he hasn't been working due to a recent surgery on his eye. We got a hold of the bishop to see if he could clean the church or something in exchange for some money to go buy food. Bishop gave him a few things from his office, and said he would work something out later. We show up on Tuesday to find that a counselor in the bishopric came by not 10 minutes prior and dropped off $200 worth of food for him! It was crazy! He got Sausages, eggs, steaks, bread, etc. More food than I have! He was also really thankful and even wanted to get up on Sunday and thank the whole ward publicly. (He didn't, thankfully). He's a super nice guy and we should be baptizing him soon.

So L didn't get up on Sunday, but guess who did.... Me! Haha I had to give a talk, and I chose chapter 5 of PMG, all about the Book of Mormon. It was fun, especially since new missionaries study a chapter of Preach My Gospel every week, and that week was chapter 5! I was pretty prepared. I love using 2 Corinthians 13:1 to show people how both the Bible and Book of Mormon are needed to testify of Christ! 

We also went to go see a potential down in a trailer park the other night. It is super sketchy, and one of our investigators lives down there so we decided to go check it out. Unfortunately, he was gone because he was arrested for wearing a clown mask around the neighborhood. (He doesn't own a TV so he never heard of the recent epidemic). His girlfriend was home though and we were talking to her because we felt really bad. Their power got shut off and she didn't have money to pay the bill so she was sitting in her bedroom with candles all around huddled in blankets trying to keep warm. It was a sorry sight to behold. As we talked, we learned about even more problems this poor family is beset with. This lady used to be a prostitute, and now has HIV (her boyfriend didn't care when he started dating her, so now he has it as well). They also have a couple guys living in a mobile home right beside their house who keep fighting with each other. The one guy got hauled off to jail as well. Such a crazy experience! We couldn't do anything for her though, so we left with a prayer and went on our way.

Other than that, this week has been slow. Our biggest focus now is teaching and extending more commitments. We have been finding like crazy. (10 new investigators this week, 7 of which we found in one day) Our biggest concern is progression. Most of those investigators are kind of crap just for numbers, so we are going to try and be more honest with ourselves and work on extending those commitments!

This week sounds like a real party for y'all! I'm definitely jealous of the pizza and movie night! Baron sent me his video, it was hilarious. Tell him to try to hit the bullseye next time!(; Also, shout out to Greyden and Hannah for being a power couple! That's awesome. We got a ton of snow a few days ago, but it warmed up enough for rain, so it's all gone now. It's getting super cold though. Luckily I have warm clothes to keep me going. 

Oh! We also had dinner at this family's house in our ward from Switzerland! They were speaking German the whole time, which was awesome. The guy was kind of rude though, but the food was good!

We also had interviews with President Burt this week! I think he exaggerates, because he kept telling me how awesome I am and how much I've changed since I've been here. But if I'm not training next transfer I'll be surprised. He keeps dropping mad hints about it, which I'm fine with. 

Take care for this week! I love you all! 

Love, Elder Clark

Just some classy pics of me in my $30 Vans coat and my Tuke that cost more than that.

Chapter 9 - "Winter is Coming"/Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey hey hey!

This week was awesome! It's been getting super cold, it even snowed yesterday! Good thing I have a lot of warm gear and experience in the cold! Winter truly is almost upon us.

We have 3 baptismal dates for the 31st of October:

S: a guy we've been teaching since I got here. He understands everything we teach, but he needs a testimony. He also struggles with coffee, so we pushed his date back 2 weeks. He is working on quitting though so it's great!

L: this poor old guy recently had surgery on his eye. He couldn't read the Book of Mormon due to that but he knows its true. We also had a cool experience with him on Saturday night. We taught him 2 Nephi 31 and told him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in relation to his smoking addiction. He always says "if you need help to quit you don't REALLY want to quit" He has 1 cigarette left and no money to buy more, so once he is out, he stops. I'm not sure if I believe him, but he really is all out of money so hopefully that helps? He hasn't been able to work because of the surgery, so he hasn't been paid in a month.

J: Crazy guy. We called him because he was a referral from the sisters. He was upset because he didn't see why he couldn't be taught by them again. He said "that's not very Godlike" We thought he liked them or thought they were cute or something (which is exactly why sisters pass off males and vice versa). But 2 hours later we called him back and said "You're making a huge mistake, we want to help you but you need to show us respect etc." We were pretty bold, and he said ok! We are meeting with him tonight so hopefully all goes well.

Today is also Thanksgiving! It's pretty early, I don't know what Canadians do between Halloween and Christmas, but it must be boring. Nobody invited us to dinner, which was pretty sad. But we got a call today from the Bishop's wife inviting us over at 4! So we lucked out. That's also why I'm writing early. President Burt moved P day from tomorrow to today because he is coming up north to do interviews. So that's pretty exciting. Apparently if you get called to the north it's because President Burt trusts you more because he can't see you all the time or check up to see how you're doing.  

It sounds like you are all having fun! Kudos to Dad and Barno for building that! You guys haven't moved my phone in 2 months?!?! I posed with a toaster for fun because we got one from a member and we didn't need it hahaha! Melanie's baby is so cute! And that's crazy about Hailey's wedding. Too bad they'll never get to go anywhere for their anniversary! 

Oh yeah, I've heard about the clowns. They are terrorizing Canada too. This one guy we taught had to go get his kid from school because they closed it due to threats. Super scary. Missionaries aren't allowed out on Halloween because of stuff like that. I also heard that they banned people from wearing those costumes? Maybe not. Ahh Patty! I miss the old girl. Did you say the air conditioning broke?

Hahaha Baron is living life! He never wrote me this week, but I'm looking forward to seeing the video! 

Take care everyone! I hope you have a good week, and I'll talk to you next Monday!

Love, Elder Clark

Sorry for the poor quality, but it is a $90 camera. Look what I found! The first American made food I've had in 6 weeks, and it was made right in Idaho Falls! Let me tell you, it tasted like home. 

PS, Mom you will appreciate the Bowflex Selectecs in the back. They are Elder Leber's, and it weighs 40 lbs so we can do some damage with that bad boy. Also, your quote of course was from the Princess Bride! I watched that twice this summer so it is still fresh in my mind!

Chapter 8 - Transfers/Conference!

Hey y'all!

Such a good week in PG. The Pegeans are doing well, hearing about
Salvation and what not.

Man, every story about Zoey cracks me up. She's hilarious. My quote prodigy!

I guess I will address Conference first, because it was amazing!
President Uchtdorf's talk was one of my favorites too! And Elder
Nattress got me teary-eyed for sure. "I. Will. Not. Lose. You."
However, my personal favorites came from Sister Reeves, Elder Ashton,
and Elder Christofferson (my favorite Apostle) but if I get into
naming great talks I'll end up naming them all. (Except Sister
McConkie's, sorry. Super boring.) I noticed a huge theme among the
various talks: The Gospel of Jesus Christ aka My Purpose as a
Missionary: "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive
the Restored Gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,
Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring
to the End" There were several talks about Repentance, some about the
joy of coming back to and experiencing the Restored Gospel, and some
about the whole thing! Such a good missionary lesson, and one of my
favorites to teach. There were even some about how members are to help
gather Israel and share the Gospel. Elder Holland had a great talk
about assisting and watching over the members in your ward, and so on.
"Put it in compound, Dorothy!". It was sad about President Monson. He
is so old and weak. However, he will soon be praised in glory with his 
Father in Heaven, and be reunited with his dear wife. Such a great man.

Good luck to Meepo! So excited, although probably one of the last
cousins. Good luck also to Baron. And no, I have not seen the Northern 
lights, but rumor has it they can be seen quite often in PG. The conditions 
have to be JUST RIGHT though. Happy Birthday to Grammy!!

This Saturday was Transfer calls! Super scary, especially since
President Burt said I would be asked to train soon. I will soon be
serving in the area of............

Prince George!!

We didn't get a call. Haha but it should be fun to stay in PG with
Elder Leber. We lost our district leader and one of the Zone Leaders.
It will be crazy next week. Super fun stuff.

Other than that, it's been a pretty slow week. Except for the fact
that we got 9 New Investigators! I count 11 but the other 2 are in the
other area, so Nechako counts them. Kind of stupid, since they don't
speak Spanish and the investigator doesn't speak English. Oh well.

I hope everything is going well there, it's getting pretty chilly here
in Prince George, but mostly layering weather. It gets warm in the
middle of the day, but morning and night are bitter. They say the snow
is coming soon!

Take care everyone!
Love, Elder Clark

Here is a picture of me with Buddha, and some candid photos with an everyday kitchen appliance.

Chapter 7 - "The Jim Situation"

Hello everyone!

It's been a pretty crazy week, but also so fast! I am currently
compiling my thoughts to address the best things that happened this
week.

I guess I'll start with a good bit of luck. The other day we were
tracting and I saw a nickel! Yes, that's right, a true 100%
red-blooded American nickel. I knew it right as I saw it. Such a happy
coincidence.

This week was hilarious because of a huge mixup we had. However,
you'll realize when you hear this story that it was such a huge
blessing and gift from God. A couple weeks ago, we were teaching that
M guy at McDonald's. He was the crazy one who had all the Lost
Books of the Bible. I was a little upset because we didn't get to
teach him anything. In fact, he wouldn't even let us pray! But the
Sisters in our ward called us right after and said they found someone
who is "super cool, super awesome, and wants to be baptized" they had
to pass him off to us because there wasn't a woman around to teach
too. I was shocked but so happy! We had to get gas for the car that
night so I celebrated and bought a Ginger Ale (yes, Canada Dry is huge
up here). However, it was very strange to meet this man. His name is
Jim. He is in his 70's, an alcoholic and a chain smoker. His fingers
are even all brown because he rolls his own. You can imagine our
surprise when we saw this, especially since, upon being asked, said he
would in fact NOT want to be baptized. We were thinking: "who the heck
is this guy, and how did the Sisters think he was so cool?!?"

After calling the Sisters, we soon realized that this was NOT the same
Jim they taught, and wondered how we found this one! I can't honestly
say, since their numbers are completely different. All I can say, is
that God must have really wanted us to meet this Old Jim. We got the
number to the REAL Jim, and met him at Church yesterday. He is a bit
of a weird guy, but he matches the description the Sisters gave us.
This Jim (Jim Jr.) actually wants to be baptized, so that's good. We
kept teaching Old Jim though, because our first lesson with him
actually went pretty well! And now he's got a tentative Bap date for
December 20. So it was a huge blessing in disguise, and I can say that
I feel a strange sense of love for Old Jim. He's a bitter, stubborn
old man, but he seems really lonely. I know the Gospel will help him,
all he has to do is let it.

By the way, I loved my title for this week. I feel like my life is a
Tarantino movie, hahaha! (Sadly none of you will get that)

It sure sounds like y'all had a great week! 
Congrats to Baron for winning! And to mom for working so hard!

Oh well, I hope everything is poppin down in IF. Tell me whatever
happens to Hastings! I think it would be a good idea for Netflix to
open up physical stores everywhere. Then they could sell all their
original shows! Someone should send that idea into Headquarters.

Well take care everyone. 
Talk to you soon, Au Revior!

Love, Elder Clark