Uchtdorf and Scott Sterling moments

Hello! This was a really great week, so I'm just going to go right into it. 

The week started a little funny. Right at the end of our P-day activity Elder Wasden kicked a volleyball into my face and my glasses went down to the floor in two different pieces. For a second I thought I was going to just have to be blind until you got the other ones fixed, but fortunately all that happened was one of the lenses popped out, so we went to Wal-Mart and they were able to fix them. It was exactly like the Scott Sterling Studio C video though. They spiked it and Elder Wasden stuck his foot out and it went straight into my face. Sadly we did not end up scoring off of it, but it was really close. 😉

Tuesday we met a really cool woman who turned out to be from Delaware. She let us talk to her for a while and was really interested. We started to talk to her about how to contact missionaries in Delaware, and she told us she's going to be here in California and she'd love to meet with us again and learn more before she goes back! She's super cool, we're excited to teach her a little! Hopefully she'll want to keep learning more after she goes back home. 

We were able to teach one of our two investigators again this week. We're still trying to help him understand the importance of seeking a spiritual witness of the things that we're teaching, not just learning about them temporally. He is still very interested though, we have no trouble setting up more appointments with him and last we heard he read all the way to Alma. We're actually wishing he would stop reading quite so fast because he's not giving himself enough time to apply what he reads. It's a nice problem to be having though, we can't complain. 😉

Saturday was my favorite day though. We went down to a church building in Anaheim and had a mission wide conference with Elder Uchtdorf! It was so cool, we took a big group photo with him and he just talked to us for about two and a half hours. It was phenomenal, I learned so much. I don't think I've taken so many notes in such a short amount of time in my life. There's so much he shared, I don't even know what to talk about. One thing he talked about a lot throughout the whole thing was always making the most of right now. He told us that as long as we kneel down each night and ask for forgiveness for the things that we may have not done as well as we should throughout the day and we commit to try and do better, then when the sun rises in the morning there is nothing negative about the day. We have a fresh clean slate each and every morning and we get to choose what we make of it. (He also related this to our 6:30 wake-up time. We're supposed to be excited to be waking up that early. Ugh. 😉) 

But anyways, that was the week! Or at least most of it. There was also ward conference which was super good, but I've already typed a lot and I'm kind of done. So yeah, have a great week!

-Elder Clark

Valentine's

Aparently the post office is closed for Presidents day, so I'll send my glasses and the suit and stuff next week instead. I don't have a ton of time to email because I was deep cleaning our kitchen. I don't know what it is but I actually like cleaning now. Not so much that I'll like, go out of my way to clean something, it's just really satisfying to clean something really well for some reason. 

But anyways, this week was a good'un. We met a really cool guy who's been trying to decide if he believes in Christ or not, and we were able to teach him twice this week! He's actually reading the chapters we leave him and praying and everything. He's not recognizing the spirit yet, but he really wants to know the truth. It's super neat. 

We had a really great exchange on Wednesday. Elder Mills came over to our area and we were back together for the day. The day went really well, we set up three return appointments for us and found two or three referals for other people.

We also met a bunch of other cool people throughout the week, but we haven't been able to teach them quite yet. We have two solid investigators now though, which is really great, it's nice to be able to teach consistent lessons. :) 

Other news for this week, we met a really cool Jewish guy who wasn't interested at all, but was super friendly and talked to us and showed us his grandpa's copy of the Torah. It was on a scroll and in Hebrew, which was super awesome. He let me take a picture of it, so I'll attach that. I also changed the hinges on our fridge to the other side because the fridge is back in the corner and it was super obnoxious, but now it feels like we have a lot more room, it's great. That was also when I realized our fridge was kind of dirty, which is what led to me deep cleaning the kitchen.

That's about all, keep being awesome!

-Elder Clark

Parking ticket and a hike

So, the story on the ticket is that we went on an early morning hike with two other companionships today. When we were pulling up, I saw a sign on the right side of the road that said no parking 7-9 AM. The other two companionships were parked on the other side and I didn't see a sign, so I flipped around and parked behind them. The hike wasn't as pretty as the hikes in Cache Valley, but it was fun and there was a good view of the city from on top of a largerish hill. (Locals call it a mountain, but it's definitely just a hill 😉) We took a few pictures and hiked back down, and just as we got down there we saw a motorcycle cop pulling away. We walked over to our cars, and all three of them had parking tickets on the windshield. We split it between the two of us, so it wasn't too bad. It was mostly just a hassle because you can't mail cash and we don't have checks. We ended up having to go to Walmart to get a money order, which I think is basically just a check. It was quite the adventure, it was the first time I've gotten any sort of a ticket. I figured I might accidently get a parking ticket out here at some point though, finding parking in California is pretty rough. 

This week was a really good one though! On Monday we were out knocking on people's doors next to a park and we saw some high school aged kids playing pick-up soccer. We wanted to play, but we weren't totally sure whether it would be a good use of our time or not. So we said a prayer, and we still felt okay with it, so we went down and asked if we could play. They were pretty surprised we wanted to play in our white shirts and ties, but they let us jump in, and we had a ton of fun. It was really cool, because at first none of them really wanted to play with us, but once Elder Wasden and I played with them for a while they were talking and joking with us, and we were able to have some really good gospel conversations with some of them. Because everyone knows that if someone is good at a sport you like, that automatically makes them a trustworthy individual. 😉 They invited us to come play again today, and some of them showed a fair amount of interest in learning about the church, so we're planning on playing and seeing if we can set up a teaching appointment with some of them. Also that reminds me, while we were playing soccer with them I tried to head a ball and hit it with my face instead, and I sort of broke the nose peice off of my glasses. I have that spare pair, but the ones I broke are from Shopko and I'm pretty confident they're still under warrenty, there's just no Shopkos in the mission. Do you think it's worth it for me to send them back and see if you can get them fixed? I could probably send it with that suit that's too small and some of the Christmas stuff that I've been meaning to send home. (My excuse was that I didn't have money on my card, but the truth is I was just procrastinating.)

Then on Wednesday, we finally got a real investigator!! She's actually someone that missionaries had taught in the past, but somehow despite all the time we spent last transfer checking out the former investigators in Area Book we didn't come across her until this week. That was definitely guided by the spirit though, because the member that just happened to go out with us that night connected with her really well and we were able to have a really awesome conversation with her. She's had a lot of experience with Mormon's in the past and she really loves the church. The main reason she stopped investigating the church last time was because she wasn't sure about the idea of another book of scripture, but then as we talked to her about it we found out she didn't even know what the Book of Mormon is, she just thought that it was the history of the Mormon church, not writings of ancient prophets. So we explained that to her and invited her to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and she said she would and told us we could come back and teach her this week, so we're super excited to do that.

This Thursday they replaced the sliding phones in all of the areas with smart phones. The idea is that they have data on them, so we'll be able to communicate with investigators over the internet on the go. We don't have anyone we're working with right now who likes working through social media though, so we haven't done too much with it. We used Facebook all the time in the YSA ward, but we don't use it nearly as much in the family ward. 

Saturday we set up four return appointments, and most of them were with people who seem really solid! I know it probably seems like I say that with all of the people we meet, but with these ones I actually mean it! They all set up very specific return appointments, and one of them even said he was looking for a church to join! Hopefully we're able to help them see how much the gospel can bless their lives, because they seem like really awesome people.

For Sunday school we had a lesson on the scriptures, and it was really neat to hear people talk about how much the scriptures have blessed their lives. I'm so grateful that we have them, we're so blessed to live in a time when so many words of the past are so readily available! Through the words of Nephi we're promised that as we read the words of Christ, we'll "more fully believe on the Lord our redeemer" and "tell you all things what ye should do."  Read the scriptures every day! I promise that it will change your life.

I love you all!

-Elder Clark

I also included a picture of my dinner from the other night, because I was proud of myself for cooking something with more than two ingredients without even using a recipe. There's a whole bunch of canned salmon in our apartment, so I took a can adn mixed it in with an egg, some crushed up crackers, lemon or lime juice, (I don't know which, the fruit in question fell of a tree onto the sidewalk in front of me, so I picked it up and took it home with me) and some seasonings, then I grilled it up on our stovetop and it tasted really good! I also made toast and sliced up an orange because I wanted the meal to look more fancy but didn't actually want to put any more effort into it.

 send the glasses i will fix them, ill put more  money in Wednesday. Love  ya.  The 50$ i put in was from the hansens from Christmas. They forgot to give it to us. 

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Supper Bowl

This week was pretty interesting. There's been some mold in the bathroom at our apartment since I got here and we had tried a good number of cleaning supplies on it and couldn't get rid of it. Then on last Monday the mission housing coordinators told us they had some Tilex for us at the mission office, so we picked it up and after we were done proselyting for the night I took it into the bathroom and tried it out. It was working great, so I excitedly started spraying it on all of the mold and trying to get the whole bathroom clean. After about an hour of spraying, scrubbing and rinsing, I got pretty well all of it, so I went to bed. Then I woke up the next morning and I could barely speak because my throat was so sore. Turns out they mean it when they say to only use it in well ventilated areas. (Let the records show I had the vent in the bathroom on and a second fan blowing out of the room, so I did do what I could. That bathroom is tucked back in there like a cave though.) Anyways, I just stayed in the apartment and rested most of the morning, then we went out in the evening anyways because we had a dinner appointment with a less active member. I was mostly just there because Elder Wasden needed a companion with him, I kind of just stood around and let him talk to people. It was hard to not be able to talk, but at least I wasn't just stuck inside all day. 

The next day we had zone conference, so I just sat quietly through that. The mission nurse was there at the conference, so I talked/whispered at her afterwards and told her what happened. She told if I drink lots of water and don't talk more than I have to I should be fine, and she was right, I've been a little better every day and feel fine now. :)

As far as the work goes for this week though, we had two return appointments actually happen this week! Unfortunately both of them told us at the end that they were perfectly satisfied in their own religions and didn't set up another appointment, but we did at least get to teach them, which was really great. We also had one person who had to reschedule his appointment for next week, but he actually texted us and told us he had to reschedule instead of just not showing up, and he told us he's really excited to meet with us again, he's just been really busy with work. I'm thinking he's going to be a pretty solid investigator as long as we're actually able to teach him, he seems like a real truth seeker. 

The other exciting thing that happened was we met a guy who was living out of his car who started talking to us about religion, but got sidetracked and started talking about Russia nuking us. He was kind of fun to talk to, but it was pretty impossible to get anywhere with the conversation. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon by the end of it, but any time we tried to explain what it was or why it was meaningful he would say something else and get it off topic. That's okay though, I'm grateful he was willing to talk to us, because that happened yesterday and everyone else we tried talking either ignored us or got mad at us because they were busy watching the Super Bowl. I don't know who's idea it was to have the super bowl on a fast Sunday, because we we're over here trying to not eat until dinner and everywhere we went there were people barbecuing something that smelled delicious. It was rough, but we pulled through. 

That's about all, it was a fun week. Work here is still slow, but I think things are still moving forward. And even if it's not and I'm being overly optimistic, I feel like I'm definitely becoming better from it, so it's all good either way. But, before I go... Happy Birthday Dannika!!! I hope you have a fantastic day!!

Love you all!!