There was a sadness in the air this week as we lost one of our comrades to a visa waiter. just kidding. my district leader did get a companion though so its just me and elder b chuggin along. we have a great time together.

wow. santa cruz, a win, and kyle doing great back home? sounds like a great weekend to me. ill say. no you wont. ok.

as far as stories go, i have found that when you teach the restoration, there is always a distraction. and sometimes that distraction is 3 little kids, a lawnmower, a dog, a cat, two bunnies urinating on the teachees lap, and a tv in the background. wow. so we didnt have a car this last week, and it was crazy at times because it isnt safe to get into Spring Lake on bikes (we live in anderson creek but all our investigators are in spring lake so kinda confusing but yeah). so we needed many rides into town. in fact, we got 15 different rides from ward members this week. you never realize how helpful they are until you are dependent on them to talk to anyone.

it was elder b birthday on tuesday! so he is exactly 13 months older than me. we got fed very well that day by some of his favorite members. we have befriended an older couple that is on a mission out here, and they take us everywhere and take good care of us. they bailed us out the other day when it started pouring, like almost kansas bad. i was pretty impressed and wet.

i also made rice and beans this week! it turned out really well i think, and my companion liked it a lot too. speaking of food, we had a real taste of southern hospitality this week with some of the meals we had. like last night we had southern ribs and baked potatoes (i had ranch on it) and some other stuff, but we left with about twice as much food as we ate. they were real nice.

as far as teaching, we are working with a great family that just needs to quit smoking before they can get baptized. they have a powerful spirit though, and are so strong and kind and lovely. we keep running into this man who is 6'6ish and looks like a pro basketball player. he is my favorite investigator, but he is so hard to get a hold of because he doesnt have a phone or a car and he is always out helping somebody or talking to somebody. just a great man who will become an amazing member if we can ever sit down for a lesson with him. i will update yall about him next week. Saturday was an incredible day. we were in the right place at the right time all day. only 1 of 4 lessons that were planned actually worked out, but between lessons we caught a member that had just moved in and was lost and helped him out, and at the same time a lady walked up and said "hey how do i become mormon?!" and all of this because a drunk man who said he was a cia agent whistled for his dog, otherwise we would have missed it all. stuff like that happened all day and it was so incredible and humbling.

i love missionary work. there is nothing i would rather be doing with my time. i am growing so much and so ready to get out there and teach again! i love you so so much and i hope everythings going great like it seems to be!

love,
elder clark