The Stress of Success

Hey, this week has been interesting.

It's actually been really stressful.  You know it shouldn't be that bad because we have been baptizing a lot of people, but I am stressed that we won't continue to baptize.  We have very few really promising investigators and its been hard to find new ones.  They aren't progressing very well.  The sad thing is the other 7 companionships in my zone have baptized fewer people than my area combined.  

I am sorry about the photos.  They are not cooperating with me these days.  

Rosa and Antonio were baptized this last week!!!  I ate cake.  And Rosa stopped smoking. It took her more than two months to stop but she finally made it.  

We had 6 recent converts receive the priesthood this Sunday !!!!  The confirmations and ordinations to the priesthood were fast and not personal at all.  I'm hoping to help change this in the future in this ward.  

I'm out of time, but I love you all!!!

Oh, the water situation got fixed!!!

Ben Baptizes 7 Members and Attempts 3rd World Plumbing

September 10, 2012

Hey fam, 

So every thing is going well here. I am having a great time with Elder Gonzalez.  I havent learned much Spanish yet but I have read a bit and it's not very different.  

I sent some pics.  One is of the baptism of Magno, Marilene, and Kezia [see pictures at right].  The next is me and Elder Oliveira at the Mission President's apartment on the 19th story of an apartment sky scraper (the apartment is very nice).  The apartment overlooks Belém. We were there for a training meeting discussing our new callings as mission trainers.  The last is of me, Ulysses 18, Jean Tavares (my mini missionary from a week ago), and André 17, and Andrey 13 (brothers), and Elder Gonzalez at there baptism.  It was pretty funny but Jean was going to baptize them and he didn't bring a white shirt, so me and Elder G. ran back to our house to pick one up for him to use.  It turned out good, but I was super sweaty when I got done.  The two brothers that were baptized are our neighbors and they are really cool.  Their dad even came with them to church Sunday, which was nice.  

This week i have been bitten a lot by mosquitoes.  I think it's because Elder G. has new blood, because before it was not bad at all.  But now, the day he got here it started to get bad.  Interesting how that is.

I have been thinking a lot about reverence lately.  I feel like the Sacrament  Meeting in our ward is super rowdy, and some of our investigators seem like they weren't feeling the Spirit during the sacrament meeting.  I have had a few bad experiences with this ward, and what I think is irreverence.  I think that me and Elder G. will work something out to help the ward really understand what is going on during the Sacrament Meeting, and what importance the sacrament should have in our lives.  It's a bit tough to bring investigators to church to see bad examples of members.   But fortunately we have the best ward mission leader here in Laranjeiras (Irmão Ciçero).  He is always there to help us and he is super involved.  In fact, he just got back from the temple (his first time) about a month ago.  So, things are looking up.   I have a goal to help this area grow so that I can convince President Scisci to send 3 missionaries to replace me when I get transfered in 3 months.

Oh, I got my package --  the one-year-in-the-mish package!  Thanks for the information about harmonicas and the mints.  

Oh, we have a family that we are teaching -- Camila and Nilson -- that will get married this week and baptized on Saturday along with (depending how this week goes, 2 other couples).  And we taught a lesson de poder the other day with a member who made a contact on the bus!  That was sweet, and the couple promised to come to church this next Sunday.

I love you guys and your letters.  Keep sending them!!!

Love, Ben

September 17, 2012

Hey fam, thanks for all emails.

This week has been really interesting.  For a start, I sent a pic from the weddig of Magno and Marilene and another pic of the baptisms this last weekend [we didn't actually get these].  Two families, two men, a total of five.  We baptized Claudio, Helena, Vitoria (their daughter), Camila, and Edenilson.  I will send a letter this next week to fill you all in a bit better about these milagres!!  

So these next few weeks will be interesting because we don't have anyone that is 100% ready for baptism but we are praying.  In fact, I think that I am being tested a lot right now.  There are a lot of problems, a ton of things I'm trying to remember, and thankfully, a lot of blessings.  I think it would be good to start with the trials.  

So, I have not been able to plan my time well enough for over a month, so I have been getting to bed late and I'm really starting to feel it.  I'm super tired, and I think it's affecting my work.  I try to help my district, but I feel like I'm not doing it right.  And, things just have been stressful lately.  Yesterday the PVC pipe that goes to our well broke while we were trying to prime our pump.  So we were left without water.  So I haven't been able to shower since yesterday morning.  I fixed the pipe today (I designed a new better system to prime the pump).  I should get reimbursed, but it looks like I lost the receipt so I'm out $ 25.96.  That's a bummer and unfortunately there is a leak in one of the connections I made.  
When the water tank was filling, it fell. Our water tank is 500 liters and sits on some wood slats at the back wall of our patio out back.  The water tank is a bit old and was poorly placed, it sagged because of age and the weight of the water until it finally fell this afternoon when I was washing clothes (by hand).  Yeah, so all of the PVC water pipes broke and we are now using a jimmied system to use the pump to fill the broken water tank on the ground.  (I still haven't taken a shower.)  So that's my story.  Oh, and when I called the land lord, they hung up on me twice (because I said I was a missionary).  I got my neighbor to call them and that worked.  Unfortunately, they were not very helpful.

I am planning a lot of trainings of the members here about how they can help the ward grow and how they can help us doing missionary work.  They are a bit behind the game here.  We have 8 recent converts that have been waiting for a few weeks to be interviewed to receive the priesthood.  

I'm really tired but I'm really glad I'm here.  

Love,
Elder  Clark

3 Notes Home, 9/3/12

Dear Family,                                                       August 13, 2012

Wow.  It’s already been a whole year since I left home.  I’m doing great here and it looks like we are going to have tons of baptisms in the next few weeks.  It has been really interesting working with temporary missionaries.  But what is nice is that my comp, E.J. Tavares has already served for a transfer so he isn’t really lost, just new.  Elder J.T. likes to talk English and a lot.  I guess its really cool for him that he knows how to speak two languages.  I want to speak Portuguese and learn more but he is almost always speaking English. 

The other day we were walking in an area that was pretty dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing.  We saw a guy in his late 20’s dealing drugs with a young man about 16 years old.  The kid left and the dealer was looking a bit nervous with us walking up to him.  I was always told here that to keep on good terms with people like that you need to talk to them and not just walk by looking scared.  So we pass by, I say hi and smile at him, he seems to lighten up a bit smiles and responded respectfully.  When we turned the corner some guy that was really high stumbled over to talk to us.  I ended up giving the man a pamphlet of the Word of Wisdom. 

Daniel, keep your stick on the ice.  Emma, keep your chin up and always look to the future.  Eliza, Vai e conquistar!!!!  Ellis, keep up the Radicalism.  Dad and Mom, thanks, you both are the best parents ever J

Love, Elder Clark, Ben

Dear Family,                                                                                                       9/3/2012

These past 4 ½ months have been pretty crazy but it looks like things are improving.  We are going to have transfers tomorrow.  Elder J.T. will go back to Vila dos Cabanos and will leave on his mission on the 11^th of October.  He is going to the mission Joño Pessoa (Brazil).  I think at first he was pretty bummed about his call because he is in love with th U.S. and worked as an English teacher here and even sent his mission papers in English.  He told me that in his patriarchal blessing it said that he needed to leave for his mission with “real intent.”  Well, I think he is getting there.  The thing I think is cool is that he will do much more good here in Brazil because he will be able to train and teach Americans easily because of his experience with English.  The Lord will use him well.

So the big news here is that Magno, Marilene, and Kezia were baptized and confirmed this last Saturday and Sunday!  It was really gratifying/fulfilling to see the changes this family has made.  They are completely different people now.  I had the honor of baptizing Kezia and participating in the confirmation of all three.  Saturday I was afraid that the baptism wouldn’t happen because Magno was really sick (he had a super high fever) but we visited them before the baptism and gave Magno and priesthood blessing and Magno started to feel a lot better and the baptism went very well.  Marilene bore her testimony after the baptisms were performed and she cried.  It was a beautiful meeting. 

Now Sunday Marilene’s mom, Dona Rosa (who is not a member yet because of a problem with smoking) bore her testimony and told the story about how I and Elder Vale gave her a priesthood blessing (when she was too weak to talk and she says now “she thought she would die”) and she was cured of the chronic diarrhea.  Don’t worry, she didn’t specify the sickness in the Sacrament Meeting testimony J.  I thought that was cool how she has the courage to bear her testimony in front of everyone. 

So finally I will talk about some interesting news.  I will train a new missionary these next 12 weeks (2 transfers).  His name is Elder Gonzalez, I think that’s how you spell it.  And get this, he is from Argentina!  So, I will pick him up tomorrow (9/4/2012).  These last few weeks have been great, the work is going forth.  In fact, we have met the mission standard of excellence for a month now and have had baptisms every week for the past four weeks (this is something that I want to keep doing!  J).

I really hope that everything is going well for you all and I’m sorry that I didn’t’ send these letters sooner.  I love you all, and please pray for me and my new companion!  Can you all believe it.  I’m finishing up month 13 of my mission.  I really don’t have much time left but don’t worry, I will endure to the end!

Love, Elder Clark

                                                                                  9/3/2012

Oí,

Hey this week has been good.  A lot of things are happening, which is good because it looks like I will stay in Laranjeiras for another 3 months.  I will train an Argentinean!

I also sent an email with a letter or two explaining about these last few weeks.  I haven’t received the package yet but it should get here soon. 

We have been working a lot with people that live close to our house.  There are a lot of youth here and it looks like we will baptize a few of them in the next few weeks.  I have this master plan of reactivating a young man that lives on the next street over and baptizing people here so that they can support one another.  I think it will work out.  I have been thinking a lot about becoming a trainer and I’m going to have to get a lot better as a missionary because I won’t have a native as a comp.  I will also have to be a good example for him.  But I know that it will work out and the Lord will help me fulfill my calling. 

I thought it was funny a few weeks ago Emma asked me if I got more internet time now that I’m a district leader.  Well the answer is no I don’t get more time.  I think it was a fluke that week that I was able to write more. 

But as a district leader, I have been very short on time.  At night I have to check on my district and then report to the zone leaders and since I’m with a short term missionary it seems like I clean the house and work with planning for lessons and activities during the day more than usual.  I have been super tired these past few weeks.  But it seems like everything is running smoothly.  Relations with the members are good and I feel good.  I have lost a lot of weight and am looking more in shape now.  I did 13 pull ups in a row the other day which is more than I have been able to do for months.  I hope to improve even more so that when I get home the rock climbing will come back fast.  I hope Elder Gonzales likes to run and teach Spanish. 

Good luck to everyone with school and work, moving and know that i am praying for you all!!!!

I love you guys and I promise I will send some pictures of the baptisms next Monday.

Your Missionary,
Elder Clark

Father's Day, and The Ups and Downs of Missionary Work

Monday, August 13, 2012 6:40 AM

Hey Dad!

I wanted send special note to you for Father’s Day [Father’s Day in Brazil is the 2^nd Sunday in August, not June].  I thought a lot about Father’s Day and what it means.  I think it’s funny how sometimes I seem to relearn or come to understand some things better.  I always knew being a father is important or that there is a lot of responsibility, heartache and joy involved.  For example, the father of the prodigal son had moments of pain and grief but when his son came back he undoubtedly was the one who felt more joy and love because what was lost to him was found.  

I got to give a lesson to a family (Camila and Nilson who have 2 daughters about 7 and 5).  They have had lots of problems in their relationship, more because of the past because Nilson drank a lot.  He stopped before we met them but there are still some feelings that haven't been resolved yet.  There we taught about the worth of souls and I talked about what things make us/God happy.  When we understand what makes one happy, we will understand better what will make the other happy, and what we should avoid in order to continue to be happy in tough times.  I concluded that what brings more happiness to us in this life are things like our families being unified, seeing our friends, siblings, children, or parents succeed.   Therefore God is made happy when we succeed, and like it says in Moses, God’s work and glory is to help us succeed and become like him.  Well Dad, I love you and hope that your Father’s Day was the best!

Oh, and I thought it was funny that on Father’s Day I confirmed Pablo (an 18 year old that we have been teaching) a member of the church. 

Love you!

Elder Clark

Another letter the same day:

Hey!

Happy Monday after Fathers Day!

I thought it was interesting here for Father’s Day there were a lot of people complementing people and saying, “Happy Father’s Day.”  I thought it was cool.  At home I think that Father’s Day was a bit more reserved.  Quite a few people asked me if I was a father.  I thought that was funny and scary at the same time.  I am frequently asked if I have a family (like if I'm married and have kids).  Families start really young here.  

This picture is of me with a lot of post-it notes -- well all of the post-it notes I have received in care packages.  The post-it next to my face says “Obrigado!!” or “Thank You.”  Funny story.  Obrigado is the English equivalent of thank you or to thank and obligated.  Interesting how languages evolve.

I love you both!! Thanks for being my parents!

Your son,

Elder Clark

Monday, August 20, 2012 9:18 AM

Hi!

Man, this week has been interesting.  I had a bunch of good experiences and a few bad ones.  Remember that family, Ademir and Ana?  Well, they fight a lot but now they have separated.   (I think that he abused her verbally and physically).  The other day Ademir was really angry and didn’t want to talk to be taught that day, so I left him Matthew 7 to read and told him to read it calmly and apply it in their relationship.  Apparently when he read it he freaked out because he didn’t think that he was wrong in any way and that I should have given that scripture to Ana.  He is a really cold and stubborn person.  He said that he didn’t want me to come back to his house any more.  I think we will drop him.  I really felt that the scripture would solve their problems if they applied it, but i guess it’s better now that they are separated because i never saw them smile at one another.  I just feel bad about the two sons of theirs.

On brighter news, we had a baptism (Herrison, age 13).   And we have been seeing progress in our investigators.  We have been running in the morning.  And we did 3 service projects last week.  One included cutting down a mango tree that didn’t give fruit, so I have officially contributed directly to the deforestation of the Amazon.  But, I will strongly encourage them to plant another tree in its place!

Out of time, but I love you guys!  And I am writing paper letters!!!

See ya!

Elder Clark

Monday, August 27, 2012

Hey, gang!  So this last week was pretty interesting.  We had another baptism!!!!  We baptized Luan, a 13 year old young man.  He is a bit timid, but really smart.  I have attached a picture of Luan, Irmão Cicero (the ward mission leader), and me.  The other picture is of an amazing lunch I prepared.

So I have a request.  Mom, can you send a recipe for pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and Aunt Jen’s rolls. (It’s for our neighbor across the street.  She is really nice!)   And recipes for pico de gallo? and homemade corn chips? 

So this week, we finally came to an end with Ademir and Ana.  After I left the scripture with him, Ana, the woman that he was living with, left.  I explained the scripture to him but he didn’t apply it.  For some reason, Ana came back (I really don’t think that was a good idea).  We sat down to talk to them yesterday and they started yelling and fighting before we got to the opening prayer.  I prayed (silently) then we stood up to leave.  Ademir said that he didn’t want us to come back and gave us his Book of Mormon.  We then left and prayed for them, just me and my comp, in the house of some other investigators. 

  

I felt really sad that I couldn’t help them.  Unfortunately the problems there were not resolved and we were imperfect in the way we tried to help them.  I will learn from what happened and I pray for them often.   

So the work goes forth.  Our ward has made a few changes in the bishopric and we have had a lot of promising investigators that have been to church (we had 14 investigators in church last Sunday) and we have the marriage and baptisms of Magno, Marilene, and Kezia this week!!!!  After 4.5 months they are almost there!!!  My district is carrying the zone in baptisms and I feel satisfied with the work I am doing.  We have a lot to improve but the work is getting done!

I love you guys and hope that all the changes are happening smoothly!! 

Eliza, jump in there and don’t look back!

Ellis, I hope the semester of commuting will not be too stressful and that you do well in school!

Emma and Dan, don’t drive mom and dad crazy and continue to do activities in the family!!

Mom, Dad, thanks and I love you both more than you know!!!

Love,

Elder Clark

Ben helps his companion use a non-nerdy accent and assures us of his safety

Sorry, Emma, for not writing very frequently.  I have been very short on time but I hope that your life is doing well.  It's pretty good here for me.  I have a new companion and I'm starting to like him more and more.  Funny story.  When he talks English he has a very nasally nerdy accent which I think is funny.  I told him that we would try to help him with the accent because he would never get a girlfriend in the U.S. with his accent   ; )  I really liked what you wrote about journal writing.  I have a hard time writing in my journal but I found what you said helpful.  Oh, and have you really been writing in your journal and reading the scriptures every day for the past year?!  Way cool parabems! (congrats!).  I love you and hope you have a wonderful week.

 

Love, Ben

Hey everyone,

 

This week has been interesting.  I tried to prepare a lesson for my district this last week and ended up not working out very well.  I planned a family night with a member family and brought investigators but I botched it, and it turned out a not being super organized, and we had a devotional that I was in charge of for the ward (like a ward family night called Noite Integração).  Unfortunately, none of these activities turned out super well.  But I guess that it's just a sign that I need to keep working at it and maybe spend more time preparing and planning.  Oh, do any of you have ideas for fun games that I could use for some of these ward activities or family nights?

 

So, in my area 3-4 people where murdered.  All of them 16-21 year old males.  In fact, one of them was killed last night a block away from our house just a few minutes before we got home 9:30 in the evening.  The guy who was murdered by our house was shot 8 times -- one in the chest and 7 in the face.  But don't worry, all of these guys were involved with drugs and had owed money to the drug dealers.  It's really not   way dangerous for regular people, but for the Ladrãos  (robbers) its really dangerous.  But don't worry I'm doing fine.    

 

I've attached a picture of Antonio and Rosa who are preparing to be baptized this next Saturday. Rosa is trying to quit smoking!  I also dedicated a house yesterday for Dayana who was baptized last week!!!

 

Oh, Antonio and Rosa gave us 7 packets of coffee after we taught them about the Word of Wisdom and burying your sins (see Anti-Nephi Lehi's).

 

I'm doing great and people are progressing.  Sorry that I didn't get to the really good stuff in this letter!

Sorry I'm out of time.  Got to go!!!

 

I love you guys !!!!

 

Ben

Ben is made District Leader, and has more mini-missionaries

Eliza’s Question:  I friended some people for you on Facebook.  One was named Maicovale Pingo.  I saw that he had several photos of you.  I looked at them and it was nice to see you.  We just couldn't guess who this guy was.  Was he your companion?  (if so, he was breaking some rules) or just some other dude who was stalking you two and posting all your pictures.  

Ben’s Response:  So, Eliza, my comp was only a temporary missionary.  The mission expected a missionary from the Brazilian MTC that didn’t actually come, so I have been the missionary to pick up the slack, working with temps from the area.  Elder Vale is Maicovale Pingo and he is at home now.  He also wasn’t an ordained missionary, so he didn’t have an email account and just used Facebook. 

I’m glad the mini-surgery went well and that you are playing more music.  I think that is the thing I miss the most on the mission --  music, especially singing in English and playing the guitar. 

My new comp is Elder Tavares.  He is an 18 year old from Vila Dos Cabanos, a city close to Abaetetuba.  Oh, and he also dated Janaina, the first person I baptized here.  I think it was my first or second week in the field.  So it was fun to work with him for a while.  It was like training because he didn’t know much about teaching.  But today his cousin is going to trade places with him because he needs to register with the army here. 

Funny story.  The bishop told my comp he was going to speak for 20 minutes in Sacrament Meeting a few days ago, I think Wednesday.  I felt pretty safe so when we got to the church the first councilor pulled me to the side and said that I was going to speak as well because the scheduled speaker didn’t show up.  He gave me 20 minutes to speak.  So, I whipped out a talk I gave in my last area about missionary work, modified it in Sacrament Meeting, and ended up giving what I thought was a really good 15-20 minute talk in Sacrament Meeting.  I think just to be safe I will write another talk and carry it around with me so that when I get called to talk on short notice it’s not a big deal. 

Oh, can you accept Jordan Tavares when he sends a friend invite on Facebook?  Thanks, Eliza.  Love you!!!

  

-Ben

Hey, parents! 

This week has been interesting.  My comp, Elder Vale, finished his mini-mission and went to the beach.  I got another temp who is getting replaced by his cousin today and I was made District Leader.   The District Leader thing is a bit funny because my comp from the MTC, Elder Childs, is in my district, we share the same chapel [Ben was also the District Leader when he was in the MTC with Elder Childs].  So, it’s been interesting to have more responsibility.  I think I work much harder when I have more responsibility. 

So the week has been OK.  I had a really cool experience with an investigator yesterday.  Ademir is 49  (born in ‘63) and he is living with his (I think it’s pretty funny here in Brazil because they often refer to wives as “mulhers” being translated as “woman;”  they say, ´”minha mulher” -- “my woman”) mulher Ana (30’ish) and two sons about 3 and 5 years old.   They have been visiting the church with some other investigators we have and they were really interested and skeptical at the same time.  Ademir, in particular, had a hard time understanding that the Book of Mormon isn’t more important [to us] than the Bible.  But after I explained to him about the priesthood, and how they needed to know that the Book of Mormon was true to know that we had the priesthood, after a while he understood.  And it was cool because I explained and the ideas were just flowing.  I had never thought about the Book of Mormon in exactly the way I explained it.  The Spirit was working and at the end Ademir understood and said that he needed to read the Book of Mormon.  Then, yesterday we taught him and Ana about the Word of Wisdom.  But when I started teaching I showed them a picture of the Joseph Smith without really knowing why.  I like to explain about how Joseph Smith received the commandment from God, but I don’t always show the picture of him.  But this time I was prompted to show the picture and Ademir ended up stopping the lesson and explained that when he was 19 he walked in front of one of the first chapels the Church built in Belém and had a dream where Joseph Smith told him that he needed to help the church.  He accepted my invitation to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God, and will try to get married.  I think that missions are great.

I’m out of time but I love you guys!  Oh, and thanks for the paper and insoles!!!!

 Love, Ben

19 Investigators in church, 1 baptism

July 16, 2012

Hey, Dad,

I really enjoyed your thoughts here.  Especially your comments about the youth not being accepting to people that smoke or that sort of thing.  I just laughed a bit.  I think their perceptions about smoking and that sort of thing are a little bit sheltered.  On the other hand, I grew up in that high school and in my experience those people that were smoking and involved with those sorts of things were the last people you wanted to hang out with because it would just lead to trouble for you.  I think that I found a good way to work with that problem  I interacted with everyone at school and was fairly open to talk to and work with others but when it came to some situations I didn’t like to stay there.  Unfortunately in the high school if you smoke chances are you swear a lot and are involved in other things and it’s not pleasant to be around those sorts of people.

So this week was good too. We had 19 investigators in church and they are doing great.  I don’t really have a hard time remembering their names, which I think is amazing.  Before the mish I had a really hard time with names but here I have been blessed with an ability to remember names more easily.  In fact, about 6 months ago I was struggling to remember names (it was especially hard with Portuguese names that were strange and new), and I started to pray and ask for help to remember and at the same time I tried to focus more on learning their names. (I drew pictures and made notes) and from then on it has been a ton easier to remember.  Fortunately our ward is really good with the investigators and most of them have friends that are members.  We only walked with one investigator to church and she was already walking to church when we met her.  Unfortunately most of them need to get married, but if everything works out we will have 2 baptisms this Saturday.

Everything is pretty good here.  Today it was over 100 degrees behind our house in the sun (it was only 10:15 in the morning).  I was a bit surprised because I wasn’t feeling too hot.  I think it will be interesting to come home and feel the cold again.

Oh, and the package hasn’t arrived yet but should soon.  Oh, and in the package you will send you can leave out the photo album I asked for but it would be way cool if you could send more pictures of home.

I think I have been struggling a bit with my comp, getting everything done in the morning and evening, and we have been having trouble teaching together.  Fortunately it’s getting better and we talked about some of this stuff and it’s getting better. 

I love you guys.  Keep up the good work.  Eliza, congrats for getting your Patriarchal blessing. Pay attention to it because they really do help in the tough times.

 Love,

Elder Clark

July 23, 2012

Hey, so this week has been pretty good.  We didn’t break our record of 19 investigators in church but we had some other really good things that happened this week.  We have been teaching a couple, Rosa (the mother of Marilene) and Antonio.  They have been progressing rapidly.  Rosa smokes a lot, but the day after we taught the Word of Wisdom she burned the rest of her cigarettes.  But she has some other health problems like diabetes and chronic daiahria  -- yeah, I don’t know how to spell.  So when she stopped smoking she got really weak and was feeling horrible.  But we passed by and gave her a priesthood blessing.  Elder Vale anointed and I sealed the anointing.  The blessing was simple but the Spirit was strong in the room.  The following day Rosa went to the doctor and they tested for diabetes and the test said that she didn’t have diabetes anymore.  Ever since, she has been a lot more healthy.  I think it’s amazing to see people’s faith work in them.  A lot of times their problems don’t go away completely or right away, but according to their faith they receive renewed strength.

Elder Vale will be transferred and I don’t know who will stay with me here in our area.  President Scisci had another temporary missionary to fill Elder Vale’s spot but it’s still up in the air.  I think this whole situation here is strange because this will be my second transfer with a temporary missionary. 

Oh, I haven’t received the package, and I wanted to ask Liza if she could check my Face Book and accept the people that have sent friend requests.

Yeah, so that’s what has been going on.  Oh, we had a baptism this week (Dayana).  I can’t remember if I already told you all about her.  She likes to make sweets and wants to open a café but fancy.  She is 25 and has a 2 year old son named Rafá who looks like the son of an American -- blond, blue eyes.   The baptism was really cool and we had a lot of people there.   The room was over flowing and we had a bunch of investigators there as well.  Things are going well here and it looks like I will stay here for awhile so that I can baptize these families. 

A ton of missionaries are finishing their missions this week and it’s pretty interesting how time has been flying by.   By the looks of it, I will only have 4 areas during my mission because I have been staying in my areas for quite a while.

I hope everything is going great there.  Thanks so much for your letters and support!   Keep living up the summer!!

Love, Elder Clark