Sounds like you had a crazy dry week! But fun too. My week weather wise was quite the opposite really. We had snow (about 6 inches) over Tuesday and Wednesday, and by Friday most of it was melted. Yesterday it also rained and it is raining quite a bit more now. Hopefully we can get a ride home from here......

I am sad that the ward split! Speaking of splitting, we are splitting the area with sisters starting next week. It will be kind of crazy, especially because most of the members in this ward live in a very concentrated area: the neighborhood right next to the temple. So one of the missionary companionships is going to get the short end of the stick or the 'memberless' part of the area.

This week was really eventful I think. We got taken to a sushi place on Monday and the member (one of my favorites if that is allowed haha) bought me 2 entire rolls for myself. Elder Wood doesn't like fish, so I had his roll too haha. Then Tuesday it had snowed about 3 inches by the time we left for home at night, and I got to drive home in it. There were no cars on the road, so you can bet I had a little fun. Just ask Elder Wood I think he is still nervous about it. On Wednesday, the entire city of Apex and surrounding areas were shut down. Nobody knew what to do with the snow. It was pretty hilarious if you ask me. School was even cancelled on Tuesday for "possibility of snow"  even though it didn't snow until dinner time. Then, nobody had school for the rest of the week because some places weren't completely clear of ice (i.e. there were some really small patches of ice in shady areas of neighborhoods). So we had a few cancellations this week.

At our district meeting, the sisters in our district were talking about their investigator who wants to get baptized, except she is afraid that her Catholic mother might literally die if she does. They asked for suggestions on how to help her, and I asked, "Do you think that if you taught her about doing baptisms for the dead she would be more willing to be baptized?" The sisters were kind of shocked that I made that joke but everyone else was laughing too hard for them not to join in. It was pretty funny. I liked it anyways. Haha.

Elder Wood was supposed to teach the Young Women in this ward about photography (the young men didn't want to learn haha) on Wednesday, and he was really excited about it. Maybe too excited. When we set the plans for that the day before, I told him we should set backup plans, but he was confident that it was going to happen. So, instead, I wrote this as a backup plan:

"Chant 'CRY!' as Elder Wood curls up into a ball and cries."

Believe it or not, that is pretty much what happened when we found out it was cancelled because of snow. Okay, so he didn't really cry but he allows me to say he did shed one tear. Like I said, he was really excited.

Then on friday, I made frito salad for dinner. OHHHHHH YEAAAAAHHHHH.

Saturday was day 200 of being in the field. How crazy is that? I can hardly believe it. Then Sunday, at fast and testimony meeting, the little kids were up there preaching some interesting points (not on purpose of course haha) but I think that my favorite was "I know that Joseph Smith suffers because of our sins" or something to that nature. Little kids are hilarious.

Anyways, it was pretty fun this week. Nothing like a good laughing fun week to lighten up everyone's mood and to help us appreciate the little things we have. I love you!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Elder Clark the younger

Wow. This area is crazy. Like crazy good.

Address:

Elder Jeffrey Clark
North Carolina Raleigh Mission
3220 Broadstone Way
Apex, NC 27502

My new companion is Elder W, from Spanish Fork, Utah. He wants to study math and become a professor, and he denied scholarships to Harvard and Yale to come out here, and instead deferred a scholarship to Utah State. He has been out about 3 months, and I am his "follow up trainer" (his second companion basically). Poor man, just hardly has been out on his mission and already has to teach me about his area. We get along really well though, and he has even more of a logical mind than me.

Now for the area. I didn't find out until President announced in the chapel with all of the missionaries where I was going. Then when he called my name he said "Sister Clark" so I completely forgot where he said I was going because I was laughing too hard. So because of that I got sent to New Zealand and never came back. Oh and I also saw J (Sister J) at transfer meeting and got to talk to her a little bit. Anyways, I finally found out where I was going and said goodbye to my good friends, and headed out to Apex. It is a really nice area. On the way in town the sign said "Welcome to Apex: the #9 best place to live in the country, and the #1 place to live in North Carolina" according to some magazine of some sort. So yeah it is pretty nice.

When we got to the apartment (when I get my camera back I will have to take you on a video tour of it) I found out that it is the nicest missionary apartment in the entire mission. And no joke, it is. I didn't know that humans even lived in apartments this nice. It has a dishwasher and a giant spa tub and a washer and dryer... it looks brand new. It has that new apartment smell. And no cockroaches or anything. It is quite the change from Spring Lake.

Then, to add even more, as soon as I had my things set down, we had to walk about a mile and a half to the church, so that is really close! When we got near the church building, I realized something that still blows my mind... It was the one right next to the temple. I serve in the only temple ward in the mission! Every single day we get to see the sacred house of the Lord, and the mighty angel Moroni standing on top. It is about 100 yards from me as we speak, because we use the computers in the church.

You think that is all? Haha nope. I drive a 2013 Chevy Cruze (and I actually get to drive now because I am the senior companion) that is the ONLY royal blue car in the mission. Spoil me more and I would be a lump of potatoes.

The ward here is huge (numbers wise), and will probably be split soon (like they have been saying with the Rocklin 1st ward for years). It reminds me a lot of my home ward. They do incredible missionary work. I think we have gotten 4 or 5 referrals from members just this week! They bring friends to church a lot and have people over for family home evenings and send missionaries to all of their friends that would possibly listen. That is the hard part though. It is such a nice area that people are pretty comfortable with everything so they don't understand why they need it. Yet. The Bishopric and Stake Presidency are really involved in the work, and they are working on some things requested by Elder Ballard (I think) in a letter he sent them. It is amazing how the hastening is hitting. They all just got invited to read the Book of Mormon in five months, memorize all of the Book of Mormon scripture mastery's, and share 5 copies of the Book of Mormon (1 a month) in sacrament meeting yesterday. All by May 31. Pretty crazy, but I think you could do it.

Finally, I know long letter, but finally, we have a baptism on Saturday! It is someone who has really prepared herself for this message, and her daughter. They are incredible, and have just eaten up the lessons. They are so ready. She actually referred herself on mormon.org because she was finding out things about the church that she liked. It is an amazing story! More on them next week!

Anyways, yes I am spoiled and really loving it here. But I still can't help but feel for the people in rougher places like Spring Lake. I am still really humbled by my experiences and by my mission. I love it.

Love you all!
Elder Jeffy Clark

P.S. It is cold here like Kansas - 25 tomorrow and wind chill because of humidity. I love it :)

Last week we went out to play guitar on monday with one of our less actives who used to be good friends with Jimi Hendricks (or so he says... it seems possible though he has done a lot of things in his life). He used to have about 50 really really nice guitars but now he is down to just a few because he has sold most of them. So we played some of the ones he has left. It was way too loud. I still can't hear anything. We also got our car muddy because he lives way out in the Boonies, and a few people commented. It looks like we went mudding haha. Luckily our car is already the color of shiny sparkly mud.

We got a third bed this week, meaning I am probably going to stay in this area for a total of 9 months (3 more) so that I can train somebody who is waiting for his visa. That will be a good experience. If that does happen though, it will be kind of crazy because I have already been here a long time. Maybe he will speak some weird language that I can learn too! Then we will also be back in a tripanionship (3 people - it's kind of intimidating to walk to someone's door like that).

Lately I have realized that I have changed so much that it scares me. I know it is good, but I could possibly be changing too fast for myself. Like I am running faster than I have strength. I think that I have done that all of my life, and that is why I got overuse injuries in high school... weird... But I am just trying to be consistent and loving and grow!!!

That is something that is really important - making sure that you aren't killing yourself over every little thing. Mosiah 4:27 talks about that, and how all things should be done in wisdom and order. So do that! Don't do things out of order because that's not following the instructions. Then you put the car together wrong and it turns into a robot and eats your village. So that's why you have to be careful.

Here is my district (minus the blonde she got transferred a couple weeks ago). We have too much fun. We are like cousins or something.

Thank you for the videos and letters and everything! You are the best immediate family that I have ever had!!!!!!!!!! Even better than last time I had 4 brothers.

My companion is pretty goofy. We have a lot of fun. We sing way too loud though (my poor neighbors). This week has put into perspective the work, because thats what it really is! Work! Facebook has been doing very well (no baptisms from it yet but still working!) and we are working with some really great families. We even had 5 people that came to Church yesterday! It was incredible. I have never seen so many nonmembers at church. And because of that they are all progressing really well. That is the ticket - having them go to church so they can "come and see," like the Savior taught, and having them experience the truth of the message for themselves.

We will not gain a testimony of something that we do not act on. It could be a feeling, a desire, a curiosity, anything. But we will never know if we don't do our part. If we knew the outcome and results before we chose, then it would take away from our agency!! That wouldn't be fair.

I am coming to understand more what it really means to keep the commandments. Like you probably hear all the time, it is a change of heart more than anything else. Salvation is not cheap, and it does not come by the word or the law alone. That is something a lot of people struggle with understanding, and that is why people generally don't understand that there is more than just the Bible. If all were close to God and knew Christ, then they wouldn't have to be told that the Kingdom is on the Earth! It would stick out like a sore thumb.

Anyways, just some thoughts I have had lately. How is the 'family mission' going? Is there a family mission plan that yall follow?!?!?!\

I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,
Elder Clark the younger

Dec 2nd Letter

Sounds like everybody's weeks were pretty great. I had an incredible week! Thanksgiving was pretty crazy. In the morning we did some deep cleaning, at noon we had a dinner with the G's, a fun middle aged country couple. Sister G made some strawberry pretzel jello pie with whipped cream on top, and it was the most amazing stuff I have ever had. I think it's my new favorite dessert. Then we had another dinner at 3:30 with the L family, and she is a really good cook as well, so we were pretty stuffed. Her two kids are a lot like Amy and Beth when they were 7 and 9. Its super fun. We have dinner with them a lot. After dinner we just waddled on in the house and laid down cuz we weren't supposed to proselyte. I was full for the first time since my sophomore year of high school (unless you count Joy Wok chinese buffet when I had 12 full plates of food with the Helds... plus I think my stomach is about 3 sizes too small now)

Elder McHan fell asleep during our companionship prayer two nights ago. I was appalled. But not really. It was pretty funny though.

On Wednesday, I got the Thanksgiving package! I am really excited for that so thank you all very much. I love the cd, I really needed those pens (they are really nice too) and the candy is like manna. I haven't gotten to read the notes yet, since we are not supposed to open letters til Monday, but I will get to them today. I appreciate it! And the Greenwoods are gone?!?! That's so sad :( That's okay though they are closer to me now. I really appreciated the shirt they gave me and the support. I love them.

Also on Wednesday, our phone died at about 5:40, and we didn't get back to the apartment until 9. I was on my toes the entire night, because what if there was a hurricane!?!?! Nobody could warn us. Luckily nobody called though. And now we have a car charger. That day we were on exchange, and I was with Elder Hopkins. He is a lot like my friends in high school with his personality and hobbies, but more spiritual. We have way too much fun together. We accidentally stayed up til midnight laying in bed talking, so it was more like a sleepover than an exchange... Oops...

Then on Friday, I was on exchange with a missionary that has been out 3 months, is from Mexico, and is learning English. That was a great opportunity to improve my Spanish, and my leadership, and my teaching, because that's what I had to do all day! Haha. He made me feel good because he said that I sound like a native speaker when I read aloud in Spanish. That was while we did language study; he studied English while I studied Spanish, and we helped each other. It was a lot of fun. I wish I could do that more.

On Saturday, we had like a 'super-service' day. In the morning we got called to rush out and help somebody move, so we hurriedly changed to service clothes, moved them, then changed back to missionary clothes and taught a lesson, then we changed to painting clothes and painted, then we changed back to missionary clothes for dinner. After dinner, one of our investigators/friends' car broke down, and brought it up at the beginning of the lesson, so the member we were with said "Let's go fix it!" so we did. Let's just say we change clothes really fast.

Well, more and more people think I look like Superman now, and it's only fitting that my last name is Clark like Clark Kent. So that's what a lot of the ward calls me now. "Hey Superman come teach our friend the Gospel" or "Elder Kent can you lift my car please" but most of the time they just sit there and stare and wait for me to rip off my suit and take off my glasses and soar away or something.

Anyways, thanks for all the support and love and prayers. Sorry this week's letter has been really long it was a fun week!

Love you all,
Elder Clark the younger (aka Superman or Elder Kent)

From Last Week - Nov 25th

this week has been busy and fun. elder bagley is now my zone leader... how crazy is that? and now my other original trainer that was here for a week is a zone leader too. in the mission apparently your trainer is your dad so now both of my dads are zone leaders. does that mean i have leadership blood? i hope not thats scary. elder bagley being my zone leader now means we will also go on exchanges together, will see each other about every week, and will have calls a few times a week. its like he isnt even gone!!!! he moved down to hope mills where they have a TWO BEDROOM TWO BATHROOM APARTMENT. thats pretty crazy. i call it the 'panzee palace'

my new companion/district leader is elder McHan from gooding, Idaho. i think all of my companions are going to be from idaho. elder mchan was also elder bagleys mtc companion. small world huh? our district has now moved around a lot as well. We gained a set of sisters in a trio and a set of elders that i am friends with, so our district is HUGE now. It's also a lot of fun.

Nothing too crazy happened this week, but one of our investigators did tell me that I teach like I am talking to a little kid. I wasn't too sure whether that was a good thing or not but she was laughing so I just took it as a good thing haha. We did set a baptismal and marriage date for an amazing family we are teaching! They are supposed to be getting married December 20th or 21st and then baptized the next week! That will be the last week of this transfer, so it will probably be my last week in this area.

I am also re-learning Spanish, and how to play the piano. Sometimes we have extra time before meetings, so I will just sit down and practice some hymns or something. I am not any good but I will get better someday haha. I also did not get the courage up to ask President about the Ukelele yet... Elder Bagley is almost sure it would be a no so he says he wouldn't even ask. I say "why would it hurt to ask?!?!" So I will ask him someday don't worry.

Love you! Thank you so much for all the support and love.

Elder Clark the younger

dont think it gets more southern than me. no sirree. there are two trademarks of north carolina i am figuring out:

1. gated community trailer parks. i have now seen two. one wasnt nearly as nice as the other but thats okay it still counts. i am convinced there is nowhere else in the world that these exist.

2. having a couch on your front porch (or lawn if you dont have a porch). people sit out there and just stare off into the distance or talk to their neighbors or whatever else they happen to be doing as well. its pretty funny i think but also not a bad idea. if they dont have one there its either in their garage or in their front room staring at the window. we now put our two rocking chairs in the front room so we can join the fun.

a lot of things happened this week! we had a pretty good week actually. not numbers wise but otherwise. we taught a family that we met two weeks ago called the 'J' family. they are really really great. they are the most excited investigators to learn about the church that i have ever seen. the wife went to church until she was about 7 and she hadnt been back since until yesterday. the husband was a catholic all of his life but now is concerned with some of the doctrine, particularly infant baptism. they have made instant friends with us and some of their neighbors who are members that come with us to teach. the husband was going to come to church but got called in for emergency military duty... oh well. how we found them: we just prayed and prayed for a solid family to teach! out of the blue one day we got a referral from mormon.org to send missionaries to her house, which are always really exciting because you have no control over how many of those you get or when they come!! it was pretty exciting to meet her and find out she was so interested. they are definitely an answer to prayers. she read all the way through 2nd nephi in about 4 days. holy cats thats more than i read! and every time we come to teach them they have a different friend over to meet us and be taught!

elder b is leaving tomorrow. his stuff is all packed up already! but the rest of our ward missionaries (one set of elders and one set of sisters) are staying the same even though they have all been here as long as i have been here! its kinda crazy because we were expecting about half of our district to get rearranged. but nope! just elder b. district meetings will be too fun now because we are all such good friends. elder b is leaving us to become a zone leader. being from idaho, he gets a lot from me about potatoes. especially because his entire school district gets two weeks off of school for SPUD HARVEST. i wrote a song about him called 'i love to eat potatoes' to the tune of i love to see the temple. these are the lyrics:

i love to eat potatoes
ill have a farm someday
so i can grow potatoes
and eat them every day

chorus:
for potatoes are a staple crop
in idaho and ireland
ill harvest them while i am young
this is potato farmin

i think my next companion is from idaho as well so i will have to sing it to him as well.

thank you so much for all of the letters you write and your prayers and your love. i love you too.

have a nice day eh?

love,
elder clark the younger