So this was a crazy week. I think that I mentioned that we got permits to tract in Pinehurst for this week. Well, that's basically all that we did. Tracting is one of the most difficult things, but it is my favorite because:
- It shows Heavenly Father I am willing to do whatever it takes to talk to his children
- It's really a social event you get to hang out and walk around with your companion and talk between doors and what not
- It really builds good missionaries. Many people think that tracting is useless, but if nothing else I am much more confident in talking to people on the street and teaching people with the Spirit after I have spent a couple of hours tracting.
So anyways. I definitely busted my knuckle this week knocking on doors. Maybe I knock too hard. I should have taken a picture of that though. On Monday we took a short preparation day, and spent the rest of the time tracting. Tuesday I went on exchange with one of my really close friends who is in my district, and we spent 12 hours tracting. 9am to 9pm. 900 to 2100. We even packed lunch and dinner and walked everywhere and everything. We sat down 3 times the entire day. Once was for lunch, once when we got a ride to the next place, and once taking a phone call for a minute or two. Yeah we ate dinner while we walked haha. We wasted no time. You can bet we were super tired but it was definitely worth the experience and the amount of people we got to talk to! There were some really awesome people that day. The rest of the week we did more tracting and then watched conference! I loved conference. Probably my favorite talk was from President Uchtdorf on grace. The world really needed that. The church really needed that. So that members and nonmembers alike understand what we really believe. Anyways, conference out here is like a missionary's Christmas. I feel like I will never get to focus on it as much as I do on my mission. And get so much out of it. I loved the Easter video too! I hope you watched it over and over and shared it and everything.
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!
Elder Clarky
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
So this week was a ton of traveling. On Tuesday we biked close to 30 miles, and probably 12 hours in the car over Thursday and Friday. A little over 500 miles in those two days and I drove all of it since I am the senior companion. Tuesday was kind of funny because I went on exchange with a younger missionary, who is still very fresh and naive haha. So his companion is even younger than him. He is right out of training and turned around to train again. Anyways the younger of the two has a real hard time biking, so you can bet that when I got there with the older of the two he wanted to bike and bike and bike. So therefore we did haha. Hence the 30 miles.
Another story! I know I haven't told you hardly anything about my companion except that I knew him before but I will send a picture today to everyone. He broke his arm before Christmas on a bike wreck, and had his final doctor's appointment on Thursday! Which was awesome, but it was in Wake Forest, his old area. Which is an hour and a half away. It also so happened that the missionaries we share our car with had a meeting that day so we drove them out and back. And oh boy did we turn that into an adventure! We drove through UNC campus (it was on the way) and then saw my old apartment out there so we could study with the elders that now live there. THEY REOPENED MY OLD AREA!!!! Well it got absorbed into another area anyways but it's still nice to know it's not dead! Then on the way to wake forest we had some time so we went through downtown Raleigh just to see the town again. The doctor's appointment was quick, so before we left we visited some of Elder Coons' old friends in Wake Forest, and who did we meet? One of the Voges' really good friends! I will send a picture. I guess it didn't really register that Spencer was getting married until they showed me a wedding announcement. Surprise! So we had lunch with them and took off. The way back we went through downtown Durham since I have never been there (kind of frightening actually) and drove through Duke campus again, mostly just to say we did. Back to Chapel Hill and on home! So that was pretty much all of Thursday.
Friday was a huge 6 hour meeting for all of the mission leadership. And of course that was back in Raleigh. But no we can't go straight to Raleigh that's way too easy. In order to carpool we drove first an hour to Fayetteville, then another to Sanford, then got to go to Raleigh haha. I drove all of that. But that was fun because I got to see both Apex and Fayetteville driving through there, which were my first two areas, and also spent the day with Elder James, my old companion from Apex that we got along probably the best of any of my companions thus far since we were pretty alike haha. :)
How is everything going for yall? Sorry I just rant off in all of my emails I just get so into these stories! It's my life don't ya know. Plus I love it! This week will be fun I will let you know more about it next week but it could be my last week in Pinehurst! Either that or I will be staying here til I die! Also we got permits to tract in Pinehurst, which is illegal without them and they are kinda a challenge to get but we got them! So we are going crazy this week with that.
I love you super much!!!! Tons and tons!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Clarkyyyyyyy
Another story! I know I haven't told you hardly anything about my companion except that I knew him before but I will send a picture today to everyone. He broke his arm before Christmas on a bike wreck, and had his final doctor's appointment on Thursday! Which was awesome, but it was in Wake Forest, his old area. Which is an hour and a half away. It also so happened that the missionaries we share our car with had a meeting that day so we drove them out and back. And oh boy did we turn that into an adventure! We drove through UNC campus (it was on the way) and then saw my old apartment out there so we could study with the elders that now live there. THEY REOPENED MY OLD AREA!!!! Well it got absorbed into another area anyways but it's still nice to know it's not dead! Then on the way to wake forest we had some time so we went through downtown Raleigh just to see the town again. The doctor's appointment was quick, so before we left we visited some of Elder Coons' old friends in Wake Forest, and who did we meet? One of the Voges' really good friends! I will send a picture. I guess it didn't really register that Spencer was getting married until they showed me a wedding announcement. Surprise! So we had lunch with them and took off. The way back we went through downtown Durham since I have never been there (kind of frightening actually) and drove through Duke campus again, mostly just to say we did. Back to Chapel Hill and on home! So that was pretty much all of Thursday.
Friday was a huge 6 hour meeting for all of the mission leadership. And of course that was back in Raleigh. But no we can't go straight to Raleigh that's way too easy. In order to carpool we drove first an hour to Fayetteville, then another to Sanford, then got to go to Raleigh haha. I drove all of that. But that was fun because I got to see both Apex and Fayetteville driving through there, which were my first two areas, and also spent the day with Elder James, my old companion from Apex that we got along probably the best of any of my companions thus far since we were pretty alike haha. :)
How is everything going for yall? Sorry I just rant off in all of my emails I just get so into these stories! It's my life don't ya know. Plus I love it! This week will be fun I will let you know more about it next week but it could be my last week in Pinehurst! Either that or I will be staying here til I die! Also we got permits to tract in Pinehurst, which is illegal without them and they are kinda a challenge to get but we got them! So we are going crazy this week with that.
I love you super much!!!! Tons and tons!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Clarkyyyyyyy
So this week we started working out with a machine. (We have time allotted to workout every morning so yes it's okay mom haha) Well he's a man that's part machine. Well he's ex-special forces in the army and has studied a ton and come up with the best getting in shape and strong workouts that there are. So he's pretty strong despite being in his 60's and having had 4 neck surgeries and a few back surgeries including 2 fused lumbar... So anyways we did 2 of his favorites this week. Monday and Wednesday morning we did a 45 minute intense workout with 12 minutes straight of different types of pushups, 15 min of standing squats, etc. He taught us how to actually work abs because sit ups are actually leg workouts rather than abs. Friday morning we did a 2.5 mile hike around a local reservoir stopping every 50yd or so to do pushups. In total I did 720 pushups that morning. That was insane. So morning workouts have been really good lately.
Story time! So we were biking to an appointment, and I was thinking about how I want to become more like Christ. So I started singing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" out loud. About as soon as that happened I got cut off by a lady that definitely saw me coming so I slammed on my hand brakes and barely missed hitting her car. As I started going again my bike chain snapped. Just broke. So a man saw the whole thing and pulled over to help. We thanked him for his help and offered him a card, which resulted in being grilled for about 20 minutes on how we teach false doctrine etc. So we thanked him for his time and went on our way. We coasted on our bikes downhill and walked uphill so we could make it to our appointment, but we were late enough that it didn't work out. So needless to say, I learned a little more what it's like to be like Jesus. There wasn't a second of his life that was without opposition. But there were always little blessings along the way - like a man that wasn't at all interested in talking with us last week that we decided to stop by anyways, and he ended up fixing my chain and gave us water. Sure enough he used to own a bike shop. So that day was well spent.
That was the highlight and also took a lot longer to write including space so that will be all folks. Thanks for listening and we will catch you next time on Jeffy's Travels. Have a great Monday.
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Story time! So we were biking to an appointment, and I was thinking about how I want to become more like Christ. So I started singing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" out loud. About as soon as that happened I got cut off by a lady that definitely saw me coming so I slammed on my hand brakes and barely missed hitting her car. As I started going again my bike chain snapped. Just broke. So a man saw the whole thing and pulled over to help. We thanked him for his help and offered him a card, which resulted in being grilled for about 20 minutes on how we teach false doctrine etc. So we thanked him for his time and went on our way. We coasted on our bikes downhill and walked uphill so we could make it to our appointment, but we were late enough that it didn't work out. So needless to say, I learned a little more what it's like to be like Jesus. There wasn't a second of his life that was without opposition. But there were always little blessings along the way - like a man that wasn't at all interested in talking with us last week that we decided to stop by anyways, and he ended up fixing my chain and gave us water. Sure enough he used to own a bike shop. So that day was well spent.
That was the highlight and also took a lot longer to write including space so that will be all folks. Thanks for listening and we will catch you next time on Jeffy's Travels. Have a great Monday.
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to see you got my package. It's about time they got that thing to you it's been forever since Christmas! The mail carriers are slow these days ain't they. Not really, but sorry about that anyways. So yeah. This week.
You know I am learning a ton about mercy lately. I'll work it into my week. So Monday we got pizza for dinner. Tender Mercy! Especially because they thought they were going to have to cancel.
Tuesday was awesome. We had the car but decided to bike anyways for fun. Mostly because the Elders that we share the car with are complaining that they have to give it up every other week (they had one full time before and they really didn't need it) (but the assistants assigned us to switch off with them and let our Spanish missionaries, who cover 5 times the area we do, have a car full time instead of needing to bike every other week) (not sure if that all makes sense but whatever they were complaining). So we basically were saying "If you're going to whine about it, fine. Nobody gets the car." So we biked most of the week haha.
Wednesday we went to seminary and hung out with the kids there. They aren't liking it that much so we are trying to get them excited for it since they like us. So we will be going regularly now. Probably once a week. Then that day I went on exchange with a brand new green as they come missionary. He is struggling, and I learned a lot about mercy with him by feeling how the Lord feels when he is watching over him. He is going to be just fine though. I took him out tracting which I think was fun for him and he did great! Also that night we got taken to Tripp's for dinner, which is a really nice restaurant. I ate cajun chicken and shrimp which was super good. Tender mercy for sure.
Thursday we were out working all day and didn't get to dinner, but at our night appointment our investigator took us out for pizza. That was really kind and another major tender mercy/miracle. The Lord is watching out for us for sure.
Friday, we went on exchange with the assistants to the president. That was a lot of fun because the one I went with (to his area) was in the MTC with me. He was always the brown-noser type, which in the MTC bothered me, but since I have really come to love him and feel mercy for him. So needless to say we had a really good time together! They live at a member's house, who wasn't home that night, so we borrowed their guitar and piano and had a jam session in our down time before bed. I wish I could send the video but it's way too big of a file.
Saturday everything cancelled. But surprise we had pizza for lunch. And had a quick snack and slept for dinner because we were both super tired. That was pi day! 3-14-15 Stopped by our Bishop's house that night and he said "Hey just in time for pie!" and had to explain it was pi day to us so we had pie for pi day not sure how that works but that's okay pie is good with me.
Sunday was a lot of singing! Sang before church, during church and after church with our ward choir. I have gotten all the Elders in the ward to join with me :)
"But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." -- Matt 9:13
This struck me lately. It means that Christ prefers showing love and mercy to condemning people and making others look bad. Especially it's talking about how the law of Moses is really supposed to point you to having Christlike love, not towards condemning others. We need to be like that too. We need to show mercy! So that's my invitation for the week. Go and learn what it means to show mercy instead of sacrifice.
Love you! Sorry it's so long.
Elder Jeffy
You know I am learning a ton about mercy lately. I'll work it into my week. So Monday we got pizza for dinner. Tender Mercy! Especially because they thought they were going to have to cancel.
Tuesday was awesome. We had the car but decided to bike anyways for fun. Mostly because the Elders that we share the car with are complaining that they have to give it up every other week (they had one full time before and they really didn't need it) (but the assistants assigned us to switch off with them and let our Spanish missionaries, who cover 5 times the area we do, have a car full time instead of needing to bike every other week) (not sure if that all makes sense but whatever they were complaining). So we basically were saying "If you're going to whine about it, fine. Nobody gets the car." So we biked most of the week haha.
Wednesday we went to seminary and hung out with the kids there. They aren't liking it that much so we are trying to get them excited for it since they like us. So we will be going regularly now. Probably once a week. Then that day I went on exchange with a brand new green as they come missionary. He is struggling, and I learned a lot about mercy with him by feeling how the Lord feels when he is watching over him. He is going to be just fine though. I took him out tracting which I think was fun for him and he did great! Also that night we got taken to Tripp's for dinner, which is a really nice restaurant. I ate cajun chicken and shrimp which was super good. Tender mercy for sure.
Thursday we were out working all day and didn't get to dinner, but at our night appointment our investigator took us out for pizza. That was really kind and another major tender mercy/miracle. The Lord is watching out for us for sure.
Friday, we went on exchange with the assistants to the president. That was a lot of fun because the one I went with (to his area) was in the MTC with me. He was always the brown-noser type, which in the MTC bothered me, but since I have really come to love him and feel mercy for him. So needless to say we had a really good time together! They live at a member's house, who wasn't home that night, so we borrowed their guitar and piano and had a jam session in our down time before bed. I wish I could send the video but it's way too big of a file.
Saturday everything cancelled. But surprise we had pizza for lunch. And had a quick snack and slept for dinner because we were both super tired. That was pi day! 3-14-15 Stopped by our Bishop's house that night and he said "Hey just in time for pie!" and had to explain it was pi day to us so we had pie for pi day not sure how that works but that's okay pie is good with me.
Sunday was a lot of singing! Sang before church, during church and after church with our ward choir. I have gotten all the Elders in the ward to join with me :)
"But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." -- Matt 9:13
This struck me lately. It means that Christ prefers showing love and mercy to condemning people and making others look bad. Especially it's talking about how the law of Moses is really supposed to point you to having Christlike love, not towards condemning others. We need to be like that too. We need to show mercy! So that's my invitation for the week. Go and learn what it means to show mercy instead of sacrifice.
Love you! Sorry it's so long.
Elder Jeffy
Sorry that I haven't sent any pictures in a few weeks. I will send the song of the week today since we are making cd's. I left my camera case in the other Elders' car because we went on exchange this week.
This week we were really blessed with opportunities to serve and teach. It was awesome. We taught 12 lessons to investigators! And our service this week was complete demolition of a master bathroom on Friday and helping shovel mulch and build a treehouse on Saturday. It was a ton of fun. We also had a ward picnic at a park in Cary where I taught some youth and adults how to throw and kick a rugby ball. That was fun!
This week was definitely BBQ week haha we got fed BBQ chicken 3 days and burgers 3 days. It seems like the members all have a similar thought on what to feed us that week. Maybe they have secret themes that they set every week and just tell the relief society sisters about them.
I also got to talk in sacrament meeting yesterday! It wasn't too bad. I talked about lego's and rugby. And how small and simple things make great things happen. But my main focus was how prayer (a small thing) is the foundation for living the Gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end). It actually helped me a lot to understand prayer better. Prayer grows your faith, is an essential step of repentance, is part of baptism, brings the Spirit into your life, and helps you reflect and improve yourself so you can endure to the end. There now you have heard my whole talk.
Thanks for listening! See you next time.
Love,
Elder Clark the younger
This week we were really blessed with opportunities to serve and teach. It was awesome. We taught 12 lessons to investigators! And our service this week was complete demolition of a master bathroom on Friday and helping shovel mulch and build a treehouse on Saturday. It was a ton of fun. We also had a ward picnic at a park in Cary where I taught some youth and adults how to throw and kick a rugby ball. That was fun!
This week was definitely BBQ week haha we got fed BBQ chicken 3 days and burgers 3 days. It seems like the members all have a similar thought on what to feed us that week. Maybe they have secret themes that they set every week and just tell the relief society sisters about them.
I also got to talk in sacrament meeting yesterday! It wasn't too bad. I talked about lego's and rugby. And how small and simple things make great things happen. But my main focus was how prayer (a small thing) is the foundation for living the Gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end). It actually helped me a lot to understand prayer better. Prayer grows your faith, is an essential step of repentance, is part of baptism, brings the Spirit into your life, and helps you reflect and improve yourself so you can endure to the end. There now you have heard my whole talk.
Thanks for listening! See you next time.
Love,
Elder Clark the younger
So first of all, I am actually sending the Christmas package this week. No more delaying, no more saying I am not ready. I am actually going to do it. If I can find the post office that is. I am not sure where it is but I will get there somehow. Cross that river. Nothing's stopping me now.
Next of all, there have been kajillions of people asking me about Sadie and I am just not sure what to tell them. How is that pup anyway?
Now I am going to tell you three things (plus two other things) that you need to keep secret.
1. We did a lot of painting this week. So that was fun
2. We did a lot of construction this week. We were building a house for a member in our ward with Habitat for Humanity (a charity organization that works with the community to provide low cost homes for those in need). So that was fun
4. I love this place. We have so much good going on here. And I have the feeling that I probably will have another area actually... So that was fun
5. We got to throw and stack around 400 hay bales on Saturday (throw out of an 18-wheeler and stack in a huge neat pile) and went to Cracker Barrel as a reward. So that was fun
Anyways. Like I say, sorry my emails were getting boring a little bit ago... I have realized that my brain was pretty well crashing on preparation days. Which is a good thing I guess because that is what Mondays are for out here, but I definitely should have still wrote better notes over the last couple of months. Here's the good part:
Overall my attitude and perspective have risen significantly. I am learning Christ's mercy, and it is the most empowering thing I have experienced. I even get a little emotional lately about how strongly I feel His love for those I serve and serve with, and also for you my family, and as you know it is really not like me to get emotional. But I know that my heart is being changed. I have realized why we need Christ in our lives; we all do things that limit our potential. We by our own power can stop doing those things for a while, but that still doesn't change who we are inside. The purpose of Christ's suffering is to change our entire nature. To make us a new creature, one that can reach our original potential. And we can invite that through our faith and good works. I love that and appreciate the Atonement more every day.
I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Jeffy Clarky
Next of all, there have been kajillions of people asking me about Sadie and I am just not sure what to tell them. How is that pup anyway?
Now I am going to tell you three things (plus two other things) that you need to keep secret.
1. We did a lot of painting this week. So that was fun
2. We did a lot of construction this week. We were building a house for a member in our ward with Habitat for Humanity (a charity organization that works with the community to provide low cost homes for those in need). So that was fun
4. I love this place. We have so much good going on here. And I have the feeling that I probably will have another area actually... So that was fun
5. We got to throw and stack around 400 hay bales on Saturday (throw out of an 18-wheeler and stack in a huge neat pile) and went to Cracker Barrel as a reward. So that was fun
Anyways. Like I say, sorry my emails were getting boring a little bit ago... I have realized that my brain was pretty well crashing on preparation days. Which is a good thing I guess because that is what Mondays are for out here, but I definitely should have still wrote better notes over the last couple of months. Here's the good part:
Overall my attitude and perspective have risen significantly. I am learning Christ's mercy, and it is the most empowering thing I have experienced. I even get a little emotional lately about how strongly I feel His love for those I serve and serve with, and also for you my family, and as you know it is really not like me to get emotional. But I know that my heart is being changed. I have realized why we need Christ in our lives; we all do things that limit our potential. We by our own power can stop doing those things for a while, but that still doesn't change who we are inside. The purpose of Christ's suffering is to change our entire nature. To make us a new creature, one that can reach our original potential. And we can invite that through our faith and good works. I love that and appreciate the Atonement more every day.
I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Jeffy Clarky
Thursday, March 5, 2015
I have a new companion this week! His name is Elder Coons from Spanish Fork, UT. I shared a car with him while we were in Chapel Hill so we were already pretty close. I can tell this is going to be a really good companionship because we are already ahead in that we know each other and both want to work hard. So that's good!
And that really reflected in how this week went too. We had probably the busiest week since being in Pinehurst. First, story time though. So it started snowing like crazy Tuesday, and we had to go up to Raleigh for transfer meeting (about 1.5 hours driving at normal speeds). Our member said he wouldn't drive us anymore so I had to drive us up. As a result, I spent all day driving. The roads weren't too bad some ice but I just didn't want to go fast. So I drove all day. No more please. In district meeting I got excited about the topic and went way too deep in the teaching. It went right over everyone's heads. Oops... I guess I had to make that mistake at least once though. It was still really fun for me :) We finally got called to do service in this ward! Woohoo! I have been missing a good old fashioned project. We got to help with 2 moves on Saturday and one today. That was fun. I love moving heavy things. But mostly I love helping people and we NEED opportunities to help out. So let the missionaries help you is my invitation for the day! Let them feel needed in the work of the ward. I love you family! You are my favorite. All of my experiences here really prove to me how incredible of a family I have and how lucky I am to have you. This is a tough world. But you stay strong and your strength gives me strength. Thank you for that.
Love,
Elder Jeffy
I am writing yall first this time so that I can give you a good letter. But then again I still don't know what to say. I forgot how to be sociable over social media. On the bright side though I am way better at it in person! So that's pretty neatttttttttt. This week was well consumed by an ice storm. It started Monday night with some sleet that froze over everything. It reminded me of Kansas. So there was an inch or two thick of ice/snow or whatever you call that stuff because it wasn't really either of them and they weren't separate so who knows. So needless to say Tuesday was deep clean day and we did a DEEP DEEP clean so we could really get in between the cracks and what not. Wednesday I went on exchange and it was still pretty icy but we went 'farm hopping' (aka tracting on farms) and had zero success in fact it was more like unsuccess because everything was frozen and nobody could be bothered to talk to us haha. I don't blame them we probably looked like ghosts we were so cold.
Thursday I got food poisoning at yonder Chinese place during lunch with an investigator. No fun. Especially because it scratched up my throat, and we went to a nice restaurant with a part-member family for dinner, but I could hardly taste the food. And yes I still went to the restaurant even though I was throwing up 5 minutes before... Not sure why I am sure my judgment was lacking as usual. Try eating cheesecake with a burned throat though. That was like pouring syrup into a cut. I wouldn't recommend it. So there's my complaint for the week.
Friday we had a mission conference. Pay attention this is the highlight. Elders D Todd Christofferson of the Twelve, Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Parker of the Seventy spoke to the entire mission. We got to meet them and hear from them and have a question and answer time with them. That was the best. They are so much fun and truly men of God. They understand the Atonement and know how to teach people to receive its full blessings. I have some really really good notes and insights but he spoke mostly on the spirit of revelation and prophecy. He told us we operate by both every day that we make inspired plans and decisions, because we know by faith what the outcome will be. He told us that ANYTHING we have done can be fully restored by the Atonement of Jesus Christ through sincere repentance. He repeated that same exact thing two more times for emphasis. That was powerful. Their wives also spoke to us and they were awesome. I have learned that the capability of your wife determines your capability from many of the church leaders I have met on my mission. So I will need to pick a good one.
Another news: Elder Conteh (my current Brit companion) is leaving us. I am getting a new companion tomorrow. I asked President if this would be my last stop and he is not sure yet. We will see. New companion this week though pictures to come. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Clarky
Thursday I got food poisoning at yonder Chinese place during lunch with an investigator. No fun. Especially because it scratched up my throat, and we went to a nice restaurant with a part-member family for dinner, but I could hardly taste the food. And yes I still went to the restaurant even though I was throwing up 5 minutes before... Not sure why I am sure my judgment was lacking as usual. Try eating cheesecake with a burned throat though. That was like pouring syrup into a cut. I wouldn't recommend it. So there's my complaint for the week.
Friday we had a mission conference. Pay attention this is the highlight. Elders D Todd Christofferson of the Twelve, Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Parker of the Seventy spoke to the entire mission. We got to meet them and hear from them and have a question and answer time with them. That was the best. They are so much fun and truly men of God. They understand the Atonement and know how to teach people to receive its full blessings. I have some really really good notes and insights but he spoke mostly on the spirit of revelation and prophecy. He told us we operate by both every day that we make inspired plans and decisions, because we know by faith what the outcome will be. He told us that ANYTHING we have done can be fully restored by the Atonement of Jesus Christ through sincere repentance. He repeated that same exact thing two more times for emphasis. That was powerful. Their wives also spoke to us and they were awesome. I have learned that the capability of your wife determines your capability from many of the church leaders I have met on my mission. So I will need to pick a good one.
Another news: Elder Conteh (my current Brit companion) is leaving us. I am getting a new companion tomorrow. I asked President if this would be my last stop and he is not sure yet. We will see. New companion this week though pictures to come. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Clarky
We had another great week! I felt a little sick though. My stomach has been acting up some so I have been taking some of the ranitidine pills and eating more and it is working pretty well. So it's weird to be working on college stuff. But everyone I have talked to about ROTC says it is totally worth it, and that if they did it again they would have done Air Force. It's a really good way to go. Now I am sure there is some bias being that we are in a military area (I don't know if I ever told you this but I am on the other side of Fort Bragg from where I was at the beginning of my mission now) (not too far away even) but that's okay because I have been praying about it and it seems there is a reason I will have spent half my mission in military areas. It will be a really good jump start to an aerospace career. So that will be fun. Busy but fun. I need to figure out how to put in an application. It has been difficult so far but I will figure it out. Make some calls and what not.
The work here is going great as well! We have about 4-5 people that have been coming to church and will continue to come. That number looks like it will increase as well. We will see. The harvest is the Lord's. I am just grateful to be a part of the labor.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE THE BEST FAMILY I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for being so diligent in writing me too.
Love,
Elder Jeffy
The work here is going great as well! We have about 4-5 people that have been coming to church and will continue to come. That number looks like it will increase as well. We will see. The harvest is the Lord's. I am just grateful to be a part of the labor.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE THE BEST FAMILY I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for being so diligent in writing me too.
Love,
Elder Jeffy
I need to spend some time today doing research so today's is going to be pretty short. Sorry about that. We had a great week though! One of the days we biked over 20 miles with a ton of leaf raking in between! That was pretty crazy. Fun day though. We also had 4 investigators and a couple more nonmembers at church Sunday! That was awesome. This morning we played baseball with a bunch of missionaries and a couple of members, one that was a pitcher in college. I got to catch for him for a lot of pitches with full gear! It felt so good haha. I missed that. We also had a home run derby. Other than that just teaching and working hard! Thanks so much for your support and love and prayers. I really love it, and I really really REALLY love you!!!!!
Love,
Elder Jefe Clarky
Love,
Elder Jefe Clarky
This week was a lot of driving. I went on exchange with our zone leaders on Fort Bragg a couple of days and another day we had combined mission leadership council, a 6 hour meeting in Raleigh, which is a 3 hour drive from here with no traffic. So that day I drove way too much. It was awful haha especially because we got caught in traffic on the way home so it took an extra hour. That's all that really happened this week plus weekly planning. I don't know haha. I feel like I am starting to learn how to put my testimony into words though which is good. I have wasted most of my email time just sitting here not knowing what to write. I think I am a little tired haha sorry about that. Anyways.
Thank you for everything that you do! I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for everything that you do! I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Howdy ho there. This week was filled with fun activities. Like jam-packed more than a turkey stuffed with a bowling ball. Last Monday we went jousting. I sent a couple of pictures of that already and I am going to try to send a video but we will see how it works out. It's been tough to send videos from my end because of how big the files are. Tuesday we must have walked 5 miles and biked around 15 on top of that. That was kind of crazy but we got a lot of good work done! It's fun because we have been going to this apartment complex ever since the week I got here when we first found it and now we know about everyone in the complex. We are starting to even be told about the gossip and what not haha. There are some great people there.
Wednesday was a fun one. We had lunch with an investigator with a high security clearance military job, and heard some great stories. A man came to meet him that had been in the President's office the day before. That was pretty crazy. Thursday was our Zone Conference! It was a lot of fun. I led the music (or was supposed to) and we sang Armies of Helaman, which is my favorite song. It's our mission song. I don't remember if I ever told any of you but singing that song at EFY was the first time I distinctly remember feeling and recognizing the Spirit. It has taken a long time since to change my heart but we are getting somewhere. I look at that as my take off point. So needless to say we sing that song a lot and I have never gotten through the chorus once without crying when we sing it together. Friday I went on exchange with the Spanish Elders and we ended up biking about 15-20 miles in the low 30's with it raining all day. We taught a couple lessons (I even helped teach some in Spanish! It is getting better) and on the bike back, my companion fell on a train track and ripped his pants. You may have seen a post on Facebook on that (one of the members here read that post in her talk Sunday! It made my week). Saturday was a lot of fun. We learned how to make noodles at our older investigator couple's house and made a bunch for them for a service project. We are trying different things like that to connect with them. They are really good cooks and made us some roasted red pepper pesto sauce for our dinner.
Yesterday was the best though! It was our invitation Sunday. We had over 20 nonmembers show up! That was incredible. It was a lot of work trying to talk to everyone but we got to talk to all of them (I hope!). The Spirit was really powerful there. A perfect meeting for someone investigating to come to.
Today we got to golf some! We went to a driving range and played 3 practice holes. I am a little rusty but it was fun! We played with a member of our ward who is 17 and is incredible. His average score is mid 60's. That's crazy good! It was fun to play with him.
SO YEAH FUN WEEK EH?
Love ya!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday was a fun one. We had lunch with an investigator with a high security clearance military job, and heard some great stories. A man came to meet him that had been in the President's office the day before. That was pretty crazy. Thursday was our Zone Conference! It was a lot of fun. I led the music (or was supposed to) and we sang Armies of Helaman, which is my favorite song. It's our mission song. I don't remember if I ever told any of you but singing that song at EFY was the first time I distinctly remember feeling and recognizing the Spirit. It has taken a long time since to change my heart but we are getting somewhere. I look at that as my take off point. So needless to say we sing that song a lot and I have never gotten through the chorus once without crying when we sing it together. Friday I went on exchange with the Spanish Elders and we ended up biking about 15-20 miles in the low 30's with it raining all day. We taught a couple lessons (I even helped teach some in Spanish! It is getting better) and on the bike back, my companion fell on a train track and ripped his pants. You may have seen a post on Facebook on that (one of the members here read that post in her talk Sunday! It made my week). Saturday was a lot of fun. We learned how to make noodles at our older investigator couple's house and made a bunch for them for a service project. We are trying different things like that to connect with them. They are really good cooks and made us some roasted red pepper pesto sauce for our dinner.
Yesterday was the best though! It was our invitation Sunday. We had over 20 nonmembers show up! That was incredible. It was a lot of work trying to talk to everyone but we got to talk to all of them (I hope!). The Spirit was really powerful there. A perfect meeting for someone investigating to come to.
Today we got to golf some! We went to a driving range and played 3 practice holes. I am a little rusty but it was fun! We played with a member of our ward who is 17 and is incredible. His average score is mid 60's. That's crazy good! It was fun to play with him.
SO YEAH FUN WEEK EH?
Love ya!!!!!!!!!
My nights after planning have become the busiest times of the day because of all the district stuff to do. So I have been slacking on my journal writing. I usually make it to about Thursday and then go a few days without getting the opportunity to write again so I have make up entries and what not. Haha not that a rant about journal writing is what you wanted to hear but it does influence my emails home. SO my excuse is being super busy which missionaries always are. Ignore that.
We have been working out every day or two with a member over the last month-ish, which has been awesome. I love it. It is almost like a pride day, just a little less intense, so I am getting back in shape. But it is not helping my weight still being low I am in the low 180's at best haha. I need to put some muscle back on eventually. So anyways that's a major highlight because I get to work myself to pieces in the morning and then I am really motivated the rest of the day haha.
We have had some milestones in the work this week! I am really excited. Two referrals from members that have become great investigators so far, one of them even was at church yesterday! This weekend we also have an 'invitation sunday' which is a church meeting devoted specifically to visitors so that members can invite all of their friends to 'Come and see!' There has been a great response from the ward so far because of the simplicity of giving someone an invitation to come see what a service is like. I am really excited and will let yall know how it goes next week!
Overall I am just feeling great. There is a greater power from the Spirit that is coming into my life as the mission moves forward. I love the Savior. His power has been changing me a little bit every day. Like I always say, every day gets better. Peace and strength just build up and I am becoming a much better version of me. I am not worried about after the mission. I know someday I will learn how to talk to girls again and be a student and what not but I will get to attack it with a different perspective. For now I get to focus on the Lord and His work and I love that. I love you too! Thanks for being you!
Love,
Elder Clark
We have been working out every day or two with a member over the last month-ish, which has been awesome. I love it. It is almost like a pride day, just a little less intense, so I am getting back in shape. But it is not helping my weight still being low I am in the low 180's at best haha. I need to put some muscle back on eventually. So anyways that's a major highlight because I get to work myself to pieces in the morning and then I am really motivated the rest of the day haha.
We have had some milestones in the work this week! I am really excited. Two referrals from members that have become great investigators so far, one of them even was at church yesterday! This weekend we also have an 'invitation sunday' which is a church meeting devoted specifically to visitors so that members can invite all of their friends to 'Come and see!' There has been a great response from the ward so far because of the simplicity of giving someone an invitation to come see what a service is like. I am really excited and will let yall know how it goes next week!
Overall I am just feeling great. There is a greater power from the Spirit that is coming into my life as the mission moves forward. I love the Savior. His power has been changing me a little bit every day. Like I always say, every day gets better. Peace and strength just build up and I am becoming a much better version of me. I am not worried about after the mission. I know someday I will learn how to talk to girls again and be a student and what not but I will get to attack it with a different perspective. For now I get to focus on the Lord and His work and I love that. I love you too! Thanks for being you!
Love,
Elder Clark
Thursday, January 22, 2015
My nights after planning have become the busiest times of the day because of all the district stuff to do. So I have been slacking on my journal writing. I usually make it to about Thursday and then go a few days without getting the opportunity to write again so I have make up entries and what not. Haha not that a rant about journal writing is what you wanted to hear but it does influence my emails home. SO my excuse is being super busy which missionaries always are. Ignore that.
We have been working out every day or two with a member over the last month-ish, which has been awesome. I love it. It is almost like a pride day, just a little less intense, so I am getting back in shape. But it is not helping my weight still being low I am in the low 180's at best haha. I need to put some muscle back on eventually. So anyways that's a major highlight because I get to work myself to pieces in the morning and then I am really motivated the rest of the day haha.
We have had some milestones in the work this week! I am really excited. Two referrals from members that have become great investigators so far, one of them even was at church yesterday! This weekend we also have an 'invitation sunday' which is a church meeting devoted specifically to visitors so that members can invite all of their friends to 'Come and see!' There has been a great response from the ward so far because of the simplicity of giving someone an invitation to come see what a service is like. I am really excited and will let yall know how it goes next week!
Overall I am just feeling great. There is a greater power from the Spirit that is coming into my life as the mission moves forward. I love the Savior. His power has been changing me a little bit every day. Like I always say, every day gets better. Peace and strength just build up and I am becoming a much better version of me. I am not worried about after the mission. I know someday I will learn how to talk to girls again and be a student and what not but I will get to attack it with a different perspective. For now I get to focus on the Lord and His work and I love that. I love you too! Thanks for being you!
Love,
Elder Clark
We have been working out every day or two with a member over the last month-ish, which has been awesome. I love it. It is almost like a pride day, just a little less intense, so I am getting back in shape. But it is not helping my weight still being low I am in the low 180's at best haha. I need to put some muscle back on eventually. So anyways that's a major highlight because I get to work myself to pieces in the morning and then I am really motivated the rest of the day haha.
We have had some milestones in the work this week! I am really excited. Two referrals from members that have become great investigators so far, one of them even was at church yesterday! This weekend we also have an 'invitation sunday' which is a church meeting devoted specifically to visitors so that members can invite all of their friends to 'Come and see!' There has been a great response from the ward so far because of the simplicity of giving someone an invitation to come see what a service is like. I am really excited and will let yall know how it goes next week!
Overall I am just feeling great. There is a greater power from the Spirit that is coming into my life as the mission moves forward. I love the Savior. His power has been changing me a little bit every day. Like I always say, every day gets better. Peace and strength just build up and I am becoming a much better version of me. I am not worried about after the mission. I know someday I will learn how to talk to girls again and be a student and what not but I will get to attack it with a different perspective. For now I get to focus on the Lord and His work and I love that. I love you too! Thanks for being you!
Love,
Elder Clark
Things that happened this week.... Well we had a deep clean day! That was much needed as usual. Also I got to teach the entire zone on wednesday. That was pretty fun. I used the Fisher Space Pen as an object lesson on how to teach people. It was super awesome. I showed how their pen can't write underwater, and a sharpie can't write underwater, but the Fisher Space Pen can. We read a bunch of facts about it and showed how it was a huge analogy of the scriptures and converting people to Christ.
I went on a Spanish exchange and got to teach a little bit!!!! That was fun. My Spanish is much better and I can understand most of what people say. Thursday morning it was 12 degrees and we did a cross fit work out outdoors. That was crazy cold haha. We were on bikes last week too. So we got cold let me tell you. We share the car with the Spanish Elders and switch off every Monday so car week begin!!!!
I still haven't been able to set up golfing yet, but I have been working on it. Not a lot of opportunities so far but it's going to happen before I go believe you me.
I love you! Sorry it's so short this week we gotta get going and I accidentally lost track of what I was doing. SORRY.
<3
Elder Clarky
I went on a Spanish exchange and got to teach a little bit!!!! That was fun. My Spanish is much better and I can understand most of what people say. Thursday morning it was 12 degrees and we did a cross fit work out outdoors. That was crazy cold haha. We were on bikes last week too. So we got cold let me tell you. We share the car with the Spanish Elders and switch off every Monday so car week begin!!!!
I still haven't been able to set up golfing yet, but I have been working on it. Not a lot of opportunities so far but it's going to happen before I go believe you me.
I love you! Sorry it's so short this week we gotta get going and I accidentally lost track of what I was doing. SORRY.
<3
Elder Clarky
So yeah it's 2015. That's kind of crazy.
Our New Year's Eve was pretty great! We are not supposed to proselyte that night or New Year's day so a family took us to the church for a glow in the dark nerf war inside the gym with all of the lights off! That was really fun. We tried to be really sneaky. New Year's day we starting making some shields and lances out of bamboo so that we can joust on our bikes one of these preparation days. Pictures and videos to come when we suit up!
We tracted a few hours this week. It's not been looking great as far as tracting goes lately! We need members to make invitations. Luckily we are having an Invitation Sunday, a special church meeting dedicated to letting community members and nonmembers learn about the basics of the church. It will be awesome! It is a yearly event out here.
I can't think of much else that happened this week. I am getting behind on my journal writing because of how much I have to do out here! I will catch up though. I have written an entry for every day of my mission and I am not stopping now!
LE AMO MI FAMILIA FAVORITA!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Clark
PS any requests on questions to answer for next week?
Our New Year's Eve was pretty great! We are not supposed to proselyte that night or New Year's day so a family took us to the church for a glow in the dark nerf war inside the gym with all of the lights off! That was really fun. We tried to be really sneaky. New Year's day we starting making some shields and lances out of bamboo so that we can joust on our bikes one of these preparation days. Pictures and videos to come when we suit up!
We tracted a few hours this week. It's not been looking great as far as tracting goes lately! We need members to make invitations. Luckily we are having an Invitation Sunday, a special church meeting dedicated to letting community members and nonmembers learn about the basics of the church. It will be awesome! It is a yearly event out here.
I can't think of much else that happened this week. I am getting behind on my journal writing because of how much I have to do out here! I will catch up though. I have written an entry for every day of my mission and I am not stopping now!
LE AMO MI FAMILIA FAVORITA!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Clark
PS any requests on questions to answer for next week?
I don't remember if I told you but I got food poisoning Tuesday night last week. That was crazy. I think I am pretty well recovered now. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning we helped with the bikes, then good naps at home, then skyping YOU, then hung out with and had an awesome dinner with the Bishop's family, then we drove up to the zone leaders' apartment which is about an hour away so that we could sleep over and go to a meeting Friday morning. That was an all day endeavor. We had the 4 hour meeting and then between lunch and travelling back from the other side of Raleigh we really couldn't do much. Saturday was a great day of work though! It went really well. We found a new investigator and taught a few lessons. That pretty much sums up our week! We didn't have much proselyting because of sickness, Christmas, and the meeting. Still good though :)
This morning though, was awesome. That's why I am writing right now. We got to play rugby for about 2 hours. That was the best. We had a lot of members go out with us and I was basically in charge of teaching everyone how to play. It started out chaotic but we learned as we went. The only people I tackled are my companion and another missionary who is going to thow javelin and shotput for UVU when he goes home. It was for fun. I of course tried really hard and dove many times and kicked and ran and everything so my once white KU shirt is now brown. It lived a long, wonderful life. It may survive I don't know haha. It feels good now to have some turf burn and scrapes and tender spots once again. Oh how I have missed that.
I love you! That's all.
This morning though, was awesome. That's why I am writing right now. We got to play rugby for about 2 hours. That was the best. We had a lot of members go out with us and I was basically in charge of teaching everyone how to play. It started out chaotic but we learned as we went. The only people I tackled are my companion and another missionary who is going to thow javelin and shotput for UVU when he goes home. It was for fun. I of course tried really hard and dove many times and kicked and ran and everything so my once white KU shirt is now brown. It lived a long, wonderful life. It may survive I don't know haha. It feels good now to have some turf burn and scrapes and tender spots once again. Oh how I have missed that.
I love you! That's all.
I love Christmas! It's a lot of fun. Last year it was really relaxing. This year we are eating at Bishop's so that will be fun too! We get to help out this year with a bike donation organization that is donating over 1000 bikes to kids in need on Christmas morning. I don't remember if I said already that we are helping with that but we are haha. We are going to help Christmas eve night and start really early Christmas morning. So I might be just waking up from a nap when we skype.
Brief update on this week! I will try to be detailed. But I will be talking to you in 3 days anyways haha.
We had a Christmas zone conference on Tuesday and I got invited to sing with 3 groups that were just throwing songs together at the last minute so that we could fill all of the time we needed to for our zone. That was hilariously bad haha. We had 7 of us singing O Holy Night and everyone except me just sang the melody. All a cappella too. I had my companion record it so we could laugh at it later. So that was fun. Then we sang We Three Kings like 9 octaves too low and I realized while we were singing that I had no idea how the chorus actually went so I just kind of stood there and tried not to laugh. There was some good talent but luckily for us there were also a lot of people in the same situation as us so none of it sounded too good haha. It was just fun. Everyone laughing with everyone at everyone else and what not. We all sang the 12 days of Christmas led by our mission President at lunchtime, and I did a really interpretive dance to each of the 12 days. Only 2 people got decapitated but luckily we had duck tape.
My favorite food over the last few weeks has been onions to the point that I am starting to smell like onions. We even made deep fried onion rings this week. That was potent. I feel bad for the poor sister that had to sit next to me in the meetings that day but she never complained. Maybe her nose doesn't work. I forgot to ask her.
I think that the thing I have loved most about being on a mission this Christmas season is the 'He is the Gift' video!!!! I hope yall have seen it and shared it quite a bit because we have and it has been super successful. It softens everyone's hearts and reminds them why this season is really important. I am so happy to have the peace of the Atonement in my life. Jesus Christ has done all and more for me and I am happy because of Him. Everything good in my life I attribute to Him. Which is everything because all is really great in my life. It's humbling. I love my Savior.
Excited to see yall in a couple days!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Jefftoe
Brief update on this week! I will try to be detailed. But I will be talking to you in 3 days anyways haha.
We had a Christmas zone conference on Tuesday and I got invited to sing with 3 groups that were just throwing songs together at the last minute so that we could fill all of the time we needed to for our zone. That was hilariously bad haha. We had 7 of us singing O Holy Night and everyone except me just sang the melody. All a cappella too. I had my companion record it so we could laugh at it later. So that was fun. Then we sang We Three Kings like 9 octaves too low and I realized while we were singing that I had no idea how the chorus actually went so I just kind of stood there and tried not to laugh. There was some good talent but luckily for us there were also a lot of people in the same situation as us so none of it sounded too good haha. It was just fun. Everyone laughing with everyone at everyone else and what not. We all sang the 12 days of Christmas led by our mission President at lunchtime, and I did a really interpretive dance to each of the 12 days. Only 2 people got decapitated but luckily we had duck tape.
My favorite food over the last few weeks has been onions to the point that I am starting to smell like onions. We even made deep fried onion rings this week. That was potent. I feel bad for the poor sister that had to sit next to me in the meetings that day but she never complained. Maybe her nose doesn't work. I forgot to ask her.
I think that the thing I have loved most about being on a mission this Christmas season is the 'He is the Gift' video!!!! I hope yall have seen it and shared it quite a bit because we have and it has been super successful. It softens everyone's hearts and reminds them why this season is really important. I am so happy to have the peace of the Atonement in my life. Jesus Christ has done all and more for me and I am happy because of Him. Everything good in my life I attribute to Him. Which is everything because all is really great in my life. It's humbling. I love my Savior.
Excited to see yall in a couple days!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Jefftoe
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