Excerpts of our Christmas Skype Session

December 30th

Hello po pamilia!!!! It is just your Fillipeno son here in the Philippines doing his normal routine on the good ol P-Day! Today has been a great day because Elder T and I played a good game of basketball and I am about to just give you the whole background story right now haha. SO last Monday we played ball for the first time together being companions and we played first one to shoot twenty 3 pointers wins and last week he beat me so he was talking lots of big boy smack to me all that day and so we decided last Monday that we would play again this Monday and whoever won would have to pay dinner at BIG MACS and big macs is like a little burger sit down place that really doesn't taste that great but we eat it anyways haha look it up on google haha you will probably laugh. Anyways all this week we had this bet that if I win then he pays a big meal for me at big macs and if he wins then I have to pay haha so all this week we have just been throwing out jokes left and right about who is going to win and today we played and I beat him 20 three pointers to 11 three pointers so tonight I am about to get fed a bunch of big macs for free haha. Elder T is a great companion and I cant even express how much fun we have together and we have not even once disagreed argued or even felt the littlest amount of anger. For my whole mission so far I have been blessed with the greatest companions truly. But i do have to say Elder T is the one that is most similar to me and just like a brother to me.

So that story had nothing to do with your email so now i will reply to some things you said. First, thank you so much for your email and i truly really appreciate it and I always look forward to the emails that i recieve on mondays so thank you! 

 I am glad that you recorded the skype session so you could watch again haha i am grateful for the oppurtunity for real that i had to skype all of you. IT was so great to see all your faces and just see the changes. The best thing about that whole skype session truly was just seeing and knowing that my family was happy. I can tell that my family is walking in the path that Heavenly Father wants them too. The happiness that i saw in all of your smiles and countenance was true happiness that only comes from God through the atonement of Jesus Christ. There is a big big difference between happiness and true happiness and for people that have truly felt Gods love and have applied the atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives then they know what i am talking about. The happiness of knowing that God has a plan for me and the happiness of knowing what i need to do here on earth and the happiness of knowing that I will be with my family forever here on earth and after this life is true happiness. Gods plan is the plan of happiness and if we are not doing the things on his plan then we will not feel true happiness and that is why i am happy that i saw my family truly happy because that means they are doing the things they need to be doing with their life. Sister B said to us missionaries a couple weeks ago "that our life is Gods gift to us and the way we live our lives is our gift to him." He wants us to be happy and return with him and live with him and experience the life that he lives and the way to do that is to follow is plan so it is really simple, if we want to be happy and truly happy, if we want to see our family after we die, if we want to be married for eternity and not until just "death do you part" and if we want to be guided in every aspect of ours lives, then we need to follow Gods plan and his one and true Gospel here on earth because if we do that, these are his promises to us. I know that Jesus Christ is real and true and he did die for us for everything we go through and we need him everyday and we need his Gospel and we need his one and only true Gospel. I love being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that this his the Church of Jesus Christ and I love sharing to people the reasons and feelings and testimony of why and how I know that this is his Gospel.

 I am really blessed in my life and I cant count the blessings that i have received here in the Philippines. I live with no running water, the electricity works half the time, there is no toilet paper, I walk miles and miles everyday I go into houses that people would call a wood fort in a America and these people have money enough to put a little bit of rice on the table and they still invite me to come over to their house and eat. With all these things everyday and I cant express the numerous amount of blessings that i have received. I have learned that I don't need electricity or a nice house or running water or money or cars or a phone to find happiness. These people have nothing and they are happy and they are truly happy. What truly matters is family and our purpose here on earth, the atonement of Jesus Christ and the fact of knowing for a surety that he is the way to true happiness. Ask yourselves if you could be truly happy in your heart everyday if you had no car no phone no running water no electricity no money barely a house and barely any clothes and everyday you are struggling and working hard to put food on the table to honestly survive. Pretty hard to think about that right? If you don't feel that you could find happiness in your life if that happened to you then make Jesus Christ the center part of your life everyday because i know if that happened to me i could and would find happiness and that is because true happiness does not come from money cars houses or anything of the world. I know that true happiness comes from Jesus Christ and only from him and his sacrifice on our behalf. If we are not using the Atonement everyday then we are turning down the gift that Jesus Christ is trying to give us every day. After this life we have family that is it so the biggest thing that i feel that i have learned on my mission is just the importance of putting Jesus Christ first and our Heavenly Fathers plan for us first in our lives and as one family as well. I have been blessed with a testimony and understanding of my purpose here on earth and I know that I am nothing with out my savior Jesus Christ. I love this Gospel and I love meeting people and sharing this message with them. I know that if you will center him in your lives everyday you will feel true Joy and you will not fall and you will see a huge difference in your everyday life. 

I really was not planning on saying all that but I kinda of just kept typing but I will jump back to the email. This week has been really great and Elder T and I made a huge goal of this week to just invite people to baptism and find a lot of new investigators. I think this week has been the best week that I have had so far as work goes because we were blessed with 14 new baptismal dates and we found one big family that is really is excited for another lesson. i remember a couple weeks ago i said that this area in Cagayan, the people are just different and they are really out in the poor poor parts of the Laoag mission but truly these people are so kind and always willing to listen to us and they love listening and just are so receptive to this message and it has been amazing serving in this new area and i love it truly. I am gonna be honest haha i think i like this area a lot better then Bangui but i know that Bangui taught me so much as well.

Life is good and i am happy and i am grateful for the life i have and i love being a missionary and i love you all:)

I do love my family and i miss you all :)

Happy Days, All is Well

Elder Clark:)

December 22, 2013

But hey mama  I have not received the Christmas package yet but that is all good, I know it will come and life is so great in my new area. WE HAVE A CHAPEL HERE! I am excited that I am not working in an area that is just a meeting house, I really like having a chapel it is real nice. I have so much that I want to share about my life right now and just my new area haha there are so many changes and its great. So first, my new companion is the man and we couldn't be more similar and we just click really well and I can tell we are going to be great friends. He is the first companion that I have had who is just very similar to me. You all know that is hard to find another kid even close to similar as me haha but naww Elder T is the man and a great Elder and we are having a blast.

When I first got here the apartment was way nasty and just needed a deep clean haha so that is what we did one of the first days I was here but the apartment is pretty nice, the only thing is that there is no running water so we just go to our neighbors house and use her water well that she has so that is nice. When I first got here as well I could tell that the Elders were really disobedient in a lot of things and that was hard for me at first because that is not me all but it is getting a lot better and the El0ders are starting to try harder for obedience. Elder T hasn't been out long.  When I got here I told him and bore my testimony about missionary work and obedience and he said that he would be exact obedient with me and I can't even express how fun this week has been with Elder T. We have bonded a lot and he truly has a strong strong desire to be obedient and help the Lord in his work. We got here on Tuesday and he was talking about how hard the area was and I told him that it wont be hard and that we will baptize and I promised him that and literally the last couple of days that we have worked we have found a family of 8 who are all eligible for baptism and also we have 6 set baptismal dates right now and we found 12 new investigators and we both had a lot of fun. Elder T did not really learn Tagalog that well his first 12 weeks but this week he learned how to teach the Restoration all in Tagalog and I am trying my very best to help him speak and it is so fun being his companion and just learning with him. Elder T is for sure supposed to be my companion right now in the mission and I am really happy. 

Also one more real quick story, one of the other Elders in the apartment said to me that the ward doesn't give referrals to the missionaries and that it is super hard to receive referrals but on Sunday I had the opportunity to introduce myself and bear my testimony and at the end of sacrament meeting I talked with two members and one gave us a referral for 2 families and the other member gave us a referral for the family next to his house. For missionaries preparing for a mission, obedience is key and I know that in your mission it is the way to feel true happiness and also the way to receive all the help from the Lord that you can. Of course members will not give referrals if they think the missionaries are not obedient but if you show them you are and hardworking then you will gain their trust to help their friends and family come unto Christ through his Gospel. I am not saying these things to boast about obedience I am saying these things to show that obedience is the reason that Heavenly Father is helping me and guiding me everyday in this work because he knows that I will work hard to fulfill what he wants me to fulfill. I love this Gospel and I love seeing the change in peoples lives. 

I cant wait to talk with you all on Christmas eve but Christmas day for me:) I love you all and I cant wait to see your faces!!!!

Ingat Kayo! 

Happy Days, All is Well

Elder Clark:)

December 15, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Another week here in Bangui and it was officially my last week here in Bangui. I am being transferred to the area of Santa Terisita and it is one of the farthest parts of the mission. I am going up more north then I already am. There are three sections of the Laoag mission they are Ilocos Sore Ilocos Norte and Cagayan and I am in Cagayan. I am away from Laoag city and really any type of nice buildings haha I am literally going to the poor and just far away jungle up north. There are probably 100 missionaries in Cagayan and there are probably only 10 that are white and the rest different cultures but mainly Fillipeno or pretty darkskinned cultures. I am super super excited and I really wanted to head out to Cagayan but a lot of Americans don't ever go out there but I am super grateful that the Lord put me out there. I guess the reason whites don't go out there really is because the people out there don't see white people ever and they say the mission is            just a lot harder out there. If you are close to Laoag then you are pretty spoiled but if you are really far away they just don't have much out there. I am way excited and my new companion is Elder T and he is the biggest Samoan in the mission right now and I met him before and he is way great and super nice. He just finished being trained and now we are companions so I have been out just a little longer then him but I am pretty sure we are just two regular missionaries and I am really excited to just work hard with him in a new area and with new people and just everything new. Although I love Bangui and I am sad to leave all these people and this area I am also excited for a change and a new start and just to work hard somewhere else with a new companion. The Lord knows me perfectly and I already know that my new companion and I are going to get along super well and I really wanted to go to Cagayan and just be out there with all the Fillipenos. 

The Christmas party was really great and I had a lot of fun, played ball and played ultimate frisbee and it felt super good just to play and be an athlete again haha and then we did our native dance and that was super funny and we did our skit and that was hilarious as well. Just know that your son was being himself during the skit and dance and if you understand what I mean by being myself then yes I broke out some awkward dance moves and improvised pretty much the whole skit haha it was way fun and a good laugh for sure. 

I have not received my package yet but I know I will so no worries. Life is super good and I am a happy missionary and I am excited for everything the future has in store for me in the mission field. The mission is the best thing that I have ever done and truly you become a man on the mission and that is for real, you go in a boy and think that you are a man and then you actually become a man and you know you are a man. Gosh I cant describe the mission and how much it just prepares you for everything in life. 

I don't have to much else to say but I probably will have a lot this coming up week. Send all the fam my love and have fun at the reunion and just enjoy your time with every single family member. I love you all and miss you all like crazy. 

Salamat para sa lahat, ingat kayo palagi 

happy days all is well

Elder Clark

December 8

Kumusta po pamiliya:) nagpapasalamat po ako para sa itong email talaga, maraming salamat Nanay:) sobrang mabait kayo:) Thanks mama for this email I am way grateful for it and I am grateful really for the time you take to write it and the love that you send with it:) Its a beautiful thing that I can feel my mamas love from all the way across the world. Sometimes it is weird to think that I am in the Philippines and so far away from all of you. haha Sometimes I will just have like a weird realization that I am in the Philippines and on my mission and just the life that I live is completely different then the life that I lived before my mission. Gosh my life is so great right now and I can't even explain how I feel really. Mama, you said one thing in the email that surprised me. You said that it must be hard to keep my smile everyday and to be honest I love smiling and I smile everyday because I am truly happy. Don't get me wrong, missionary work is super hard and its super hot and I wash my own clothes with my hands and we don't get anytime to rest and I am starting to get a little skinny but hey life is so flippen great and I am super happy. I love waking up and I love washing my clothes with my hands and I love always sweating and I love always being tired but at the same time always having energy to work hard and be happy. I give it all to the Lord because I would be home in Ferndale if I was not a missionary of God and sharing his true Gospel. This life is difficult but because I am a missionary of God I don't think about or feel the difficult,  I think about how I can fix the difficult and how I can make the difficult better and what I need to do to be the missionary that the Lord wants me to be. As a missionary I have never felt more guidance in my life ever! And I truly feel him in my life guiding me every step of the way. I am a happy missionary because this work is true and of God, and I love serving the Lord everyday and there are days where I just don't want to sleep and I just want to keep sharing to people and God gives me the strength everyday to have my heart and mind for him and life is good as a missionary and I am so blessed.

Alright haha now for the reply of the email you sent me. I have not received the Christmas package yet but hopefully I will tomorrow! The whole mission is going down to Laoag to hold an all day Christmas party type thing haha we are going to play sports in the afternoon and then we are going to have a big feast and each zone has prepared their own native dance and then just a skit about mission work and our zones dance and skit is super super funny hahaha I am way excited for sure. This is all tomorrow by the way. If you send Elder D a package maybe just get him a tie and make sure it is a blue tie cause that is his favorite color haha and then get him some nutella and some nike socks and then some goodies, he will really like that and appreciate it a bunch. 

I am not to sure about the calling and skyping deal, I know that we are able to skype if you all want but if you want to call that would be great too because then I can talk with  y'all separately:) I think I would rather call but if you all want to skype then that is way great too:) its all up to you guys and what you want to do, i am just super happy I get to talk with all of you. Who will be there? 

Paul came back to ferndale for a visit!? I bet that made Cooper super happy! Seeing Paul is just like seeing an older brother. Paul is a big example to me in my life and maybe if I didn't truly notice it back then I do notice it now. Paul fulfilled his calling as a young mens president. Heavenly Father knew that was the calling for him because he has helped me prepare for a mission so much and he has helped cooper so much as well. He is a great example and a true friend and I know when I get a calling after my mission I am going to fulfill it and do my best because it makes a big difference. I am way happy you all saw Paul I hope he is doing great, I sure love that guy.

As for me, yesterday we had a black out so there was no power for the whole day and we had church yesterday and a baptism of my two favorite boys in the world haha one is 13 and the other is 11. Anyways, we had no power to fill up the font so we had to go out to the ocean and the ocean was a little bit rough but not really but we still tried and I walked out there with A the 11 year old and we were out in the water and the waves were just a little strong and I raised my hand and started saying the baptismal prayer and right at the end of the prayer the waters went calm as can be and I immersed him in the water and then he came out and just was smiling and then C the 13 year old came out to the ocean and again it was a little rough but at the end of the baptismal prayer the waters just went calm and I immersed him in the water and brought him up and he too had a big smile on his face......... Baptism is real and true and a necesessity here on earth and it is an ordinance of God and because it is an ordinance of God of course we need the power and authority of God in order to do it and I know that the baptism of C and A yesterday was real and true and through true authority of God. 

Also yesterday in sacrament meeting we broke a new record for a attendance and that was 65 so we are super happy but we are working for 80. In sacrament meeting president told me that the Elders are going to give the talks for the day so he said that I would give one and Elder D would as well. So we had no preparation or even time to prepare but before the sacrament I just said a prayer to know what to teach or what to share and then during sacrament I just got the prompting to teach about the sacrament and the importance of taking the bread and water and about reverence and just about realizing and knowing that this is the true church of God so we need to act and speak like He is here, because, He is here. So that was my prompting to share about and I stood up and I started sharing and this experience for me was super powerful, the words that I spoke was all guidance of the Spirit and everybody was focused and really listening. The love that I felt for these people as I stood in the front and shared with them and just as I was looking at all of them was so strong and it was one of the biggest moments that I had just truly felt the Love of Jesus Christ for His Children, I just felt a portion of the love that He has for every single one of his children and it was powerful. Being a missionary, my love for people is not love from a person to a person but truly I feel the Love of Jesus Christ through me loving these people here in Bangui. I think about them constantly I try to know their needs I want the best for them and then I ask why?  they are just people, but I know they are children of God and he wants every single child to return to him and enjoy His eternal happiness and love and the message that I carry and share as a missionary is the path for those children to return and live with him and enjoy that eternal love. I am super blessed and I can't describe my feelings as a missionary but just know that I am happy because of Jesus Christ and I am who I am because of him and He is my strength, my joy, my love and my happiness and my salvation and I am blessed to be an instrument of the Lord to help his children. I would give my life for this Gospel but it is true and the feelings are real and the blessings are real and it is true. 

Thanks mama for this email again and I now I get to email the good ol Colbster:) 

Ingat kayo 

Happy Days all is well

Elder Clark

November 24

My family:) kumusta po kayo? masaya ako and nagpapasalamat po ako para sa itong pakakataon na magemail sa inyo:) I am happy and  am grateful for this oppurtunity to email you:) That is what i just said haha, crazy words huh? This language really is a beautiful language and when you hear people speak it, it just sounds great. Mama, thanks for taking the time to email your son here in the Philippines:) Today has been a pretty great day for sure. I am way happy Elder Bednar came down to the stake center, that must have been a way special experience. Those missionaries are so lucky, they were able to bring their investigators to that, that was probably really powerful. I am glad that you all went and were spiritually prepared for it:)

There really isn't Thanksgiving here and if there is it was super small haha but Christmas is huge here and people had lights up and music playing in the beginning of October haha.

What is little brother getting surgery on? No turkey bowl for them? Sayang Naman! here in the Philippines they just call everyone little brother or big brother and i have been in a habit of it as well. I get called big brother or lil brother a lot throughout my day. That kinda just shows you how people are all just family here, I really love it here and I really love these people. The mission is way fun truly.

Coop! You are working your mission papers! Ano ba iyan? sobrang  ako para sa inyo talaga! I can't wait to hear where you will be serving your mission! Sana pupunta ka dito sa philippines! Hopefull you will come here! I wanna be able to speak Tagalog with somebody when I get home, I really dont wanna lose the language. Coop I am proud of you and your preparation. Keep moving forward buddy, we dont have time to move backwards. Move forward and hold to that rod. 

So transfers are coming up and I am probably leaving Bangui and I have been here in this area since the very beggining and mama you asked me if I want to leave or am ready to leave. I am ready but I dont want to leave. I have built a lot of great relationships with these people here and have had so many great experiences here in Bangui, I know I will really miss this area. But most likely like 95 percent chance that I am leaving Bangui. We actually have interviews with president this friday and I wouldnt be surised if he just tells me then what will happen to me haha he has the tendency to do that a lot. President is the nicest and just loving President that I could ask for. He is great. I am a little nervous to find out what will happen to me though. We will see! 

Mama, yes I do know how to cook and I really enjoy cooking. I am not super good and the other elders are way better then me but I have learned a lot from them. The only problem is that literally everything I eat is with rice so when I get home and cook, you best be ready to eat some rice:) I really love chicken curry and adobo and pinakbet and mongo and sinagang haha really just whatever but they are really good. We eat a lot of fish and the fish here is super good and I love it for sure.

So as for Bangui we broke our record again for attendance at church! 64! And when I first got here to Bangui the attendance was 30 so it has been really joyful to see the area progress and I love it. Elder D and I had a baptism this week. Elder D baptised him and that was his first time baptising somebody and he did such a great job. Elder D is the man and I am way bummed that we are about to have differnet companions pretty soon. We are just trying to make the best of the next three weeks. Elder D is just the goofiest guy but way spiritual and just is the flat out man. 

Thank you mama for all that you do as my mama and I just want to let you all know that I am super happy right now here in the Philippines and it is crazy to think that I am so far away but because I am doing the Lords work and because the message that I have been so blessed to share is true, being away from home is 100 percent worth it. I know that if this was not the Lords work I would not be here, I would be at home with all of you but because that this is the truth and the Lords work he is literally walking with me every step of the day, if i am worthy for Him to be there. I have never felt more love in my life and not just from other people and their love for me or the love of God for me but I feel love for my brothers and sisters here in the Philippines. I have never felt this way about other people in my life. I am lucky and blessed to be a missionary, I cant explain the blessings that come from serving a mission but I owe it all to my Lord and truly do give all of it to Him because if it wasn't for Him I would not enjoy this mission or be so happy. I am happy and I love this mission and that is all from the Lord. God has a Gospel and he has teachings and when people abide by those teacings they are blessed beyond more then they can comprehend. 

I miss you all and truly I love you all:) 

Happy Days, All is Well

Elder Clark

November 17

I love you pops and thank you for this email i do appreciate it. One of the best things about receiving emails from my family is that i can truly feel your love for me through the email. Thank you for taking the time truly every week to write me, i am way blessed to have my family.

There really has not been any effects here in my area from the typhoon except emotional damage. A lot of people are hurt and a lot of people are working through it. That is one thing about the Philippines people, they have each other and even if they don't have much they just give what they have and they truly are amazing people. Elder E received an email from his family today and his whole family is safe and okay :) he was very comforted to read that for sure and he is not totally sure how they are all okay but he knows they are and all alive and totally okay. The Lord is great and he loves his children and blesses those who keep his commandments.

Life is truly happy and why i say that it is truly happy is because the happiness from Jesus Christ is 100 percent different then the happiness of the world. I am truly happy and I know that me here in the Philippines is the exact place where i need to be in my life. So first, Tagalog for some reason just went to a different level this week and I am being supported and helped so much by heavenly father. He wants me to be fluent and he might want me to be fluent even more then i want to be fluent. Anyways, i am really getting to the point where i can just talk to anyone and say anything and just understand and have a conversation and it feels great. Elder De is teaching me so much and helping me so much and Elder E doesn't know much English and so we just speak Tagalog all the time. I don't know how i can speak Tagalog and sometimes i freak myself out when i speak because i just am speaking without really thinking of the word from English to Tagalog in my head, it is just coming out.. Gods promise to his missionaries of the gift of tongues is real and true and I love it. I love being a missionary and i love seeing the true change in peoples hearts when this gospel is shared and applied in their life. 

Story: So me and Elder D who is magaling na magaling went finding the other day and we were walking and we saw this lady just cooking up meat outside her house to sell to people and she called us over and we were talking and she said " missionaries like you came to my house a long time ago and i always let any church into my house to share with me their message but i will never forget the feelings that i felt when missionaries like you were at my house. i never felt those feelings with the other people but i will never forget how i felt when you were here in my house." This is another reason why i know that the message i get to share everyday is the message of God and of his Gospel. She was visited 8 years ago and she still remembers the feelings that she felt and i asked her what those feelings were if she could describe them and she just said happiness and we just kept talking and getting to know each other and she invited us to come back tomorrow to teach her and her husband and her kids and she is so willing to just listen and truly take this message to heart. This lady probably forgot all of the words those missionaries said but she didn't forget the feelings and i know those feelings was the holy ghost bearing witness to her that the message she heard was true. When people feel the spirit they don't forget that feeling, they may forget the words but the spirit goes a lot deeper then that and this truly was a huge testimony building experience for me. These type of experiences  keep me going and just working hard. I am way  tired all the time but I am happy and enjoying life and i always have strength to get things done and just enjoy it. 

I am happy i have a family here on earth and I love you all and keep doing great things and i am glad that our family here on earth is not limited for this time only but we will be together eternally. 

Thanks pops ulit and nanay mahal ko kayo did. kaya mo iyan. 

Elder Clark:)

November 10

November 10 Typhoon Week

I love you Mama, thank you for taking the time to send me this email.  I am truly grateful for you and all of my family.  I am glad that you all are not in Cebu and you are all safe!  I am also very grateful that the typhoon didn't hit us that hard.  Trees and power lines fell down and we didn't have power but that is about it.  Nothing compared to Cebu, they truly got hit hard.  My heart goes out to them everyday and I also do hope and pray for all those people.  There will be and are many people hurt from what has happened here in the Philippines and being a missionary I have the beautiful opportunity to share the plan of our loving heavenly father with them.  I remember Tanner saying on his mission that his testimony for the Plan of Salvation grew so much and I know what he means by that and I feel it too, so much.  I know we are all children of God and even though things happen like this I know He is there and I know He has a plan for all of His children, and I can't express how much God loves us.  I know that through Jesus Christ, we can feel as if our burdens on our backs are just not there and we can feel peace and love and happiness in our hearts.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I know it is the answer for everything and through everything.
I am truly blessed that I have an email here from my family at home.  I love and miss you all and I am glad my family is being blessed.  We received a new elder here in Bangui and he lives in our apartment, but is not my companion.  He has been in the mission as long as I have and he is actually from Cebu and the typhoon hit his home very very hard and he didn't receive and email from his family.  He is a convert to the church for just 2 years and he has the strongest testimony and he is very humble and Christlike.  He has 9 siblings and he and his parents are the only ones that are members and his parents just got sealed in the temple and he has a beautiful family and he didn't receive an email from them today because the typhoon that hit his home.  He doesn't know if his family is safe and he has not heard any news.
One thing that I have really learned on the mission is that my life is good and I am so blessed.  Nothing like this has happened to me of my family and the people here in the Philippines are so humble and so kind and they have nothing save it be their families, so I truly know that when it comes down to family here in this part of the world, there is a lot of love and a lot of support here with families.  Elder E is handling this really well and he has such a big desire to serve the Lord and he is a huge example to me truly.
I am glad you had a good week there at home.  I am way proud of Cooper, he truly has been a leader this year and I am proud of him.  I am joyful that my little brother is excited to serve a mission, I know that means a lot to Heavenly Father.  Coop, Tanner told me this when I was preparing to go a my mission, "You have greater happiness and greater blessings waiting for you in the mission field"  those words really stuck with me and he is 100% right, and now I say that to you , that you have greater happiness and greater blessings waiting for you here in the mission field.  I am super happy and I love being a missionary!
Mama thank you for the package, I am really grateful for that truly.  I am really excited to see what is inside.  MAMA, you have been working with the sister missionaries and that means you have been helping build up the kingdom of God!  Mama, you are awesome, and I love you!  It is not easy to make plans with the missionaries and go work but I know that it is worth it.  I know you felt Christ like love for those investigators and I know you wanted to help them become closer to their Savior.  MAMA, those feelings that you felt in those lessons I get to feel and experience that everyday and I love it!  You are doing your part as a member of Gods church and I know He is happy with you.
I really miss my pops, Dad I sure do love you and I know Tanner can say this same thing...I am grateful to have had a dad like you growing up.  I know how to work hard and I know the importance of just being a good person and I know that I have been taught some great attributes just for life in general.  Dad, thank you for your example to me and I am the missionary that I am because of these examples in my life.
So for my week, it was really great, I don't have much time but I just want to say the week was pretty great.  We really focused on our baptismal dates and they all went to church so hopefully we have 7 baptisms coming here in Bangui.  The work here in Bangui is really progressing and the elders that I am with are truly just great and they work really hard.  The spirit is really strong in our apartment and it has been a great week.  Elder D in our companionship inventory this last week started crying because he is sad that this is our last transfer together and he said he wants to be my companion for the whole mission.  Elder D is the man and a great companion!  I said to him, "we still have 6 weeks together, how about we get some baptisms together and just enjoy these next 6 weeks like crazy.  We are really close and great friends and it has been great being his companion!
Other than that, life is great and I wish I had time to tell you a story but it is all good.  I love you all and I am grateful for you all and I hope you have a great week!
Happiness comes from God!
Happy Days, All is Well
Elder Clark:)

November 3, 2013

Mama, I am way sorry to hear about Reggie!  That is super sad!  I hope that he comes home soon.  Gosh I love that puppy but if he doesn't then know he is in dog heaven...he is probably just super happy and having fun with other dogs.  Anyways, I feel like I have a lot to say today.  So about the sickness, Mama you are right that is for sure what I had and when I emailed you last Monday I wasn't completely honest, I still had a big fever but I just acted like I didn't and then on Tuesday I still had a fever and I tried to work but I went home early and Wednesday I worked all day but it was rough because of my sore body and especially my knees and then Thursday was worse because I worked all day Wednesday.  I could barely walk on Thursday because of the symptoms of the virus.  We didn't have to work on Thursday and Friday anyways because of the HUGE typhoon that came and hit!  MAMA, this typhoon was big and I was actually a little scared.  There were many telephone polls that crashed down and many trees and just stuff everywhere and it was a pretty strong typhoon.  Heavy heavy rain with fast winds.  We had a blackout for two days which is real hard to cook and no running water.  Luckily we had a well outside nearby so we could still shower and go to the bathroom and stuff.  It was just all outside in a little shack type thing haha.  There is a well and then a little toilet but no seat haha more of just a hole in the ground.  It is way fun when we have blackouts!  I love it!

One thing I have really learned here is just how to be happy without anything.  These people have nothing and they just live and survive day by day and it is truly amazing.  I was so blessed in my childhood and growing up.  For example, we have cars, we have nice bathrooms, we have toilets!  We have showers and warm water.  We have all types of food, we HAVE food!  We have houses and not shacks with a tin roof and we have clothes and a lot of them.  We are truly blessed.  I can't even explain how I truly feel about this topic of discussion.  I just know that the people here are amazing and I love them and I am so blessed for the opportunity to share the gospel with them and help them gain a relationship with their Heavenly Father.  I know that when I am home I will appreciate so many things, so many little things because of what these people have here and what we have been living like as well.  Life here is humble and life here is happy even though very difficult for these people.  Somedays even to just survive is hard.  But what they all have is family and they are humble and I love them to death and I love getting to know them and I love the message we carry because it brings pure joy into their lives and hearts.

I have to go but I love you all and I am sorry this email is not really that great but I will try to send a better one next week.

Pray always and don't just think you have to pray once or twice a day.  The power of a sincere prayer can and will comfort you and give you strength at anytime of the day.  I love being a missionary and I am so happy and excited for the beautiful Colbie Racobs and her mission in North Carolina!  She will be an amazing missionary and I just finished emailing her and gosh she is just so amazing and ready to serve and I know that she knows that this gospel is real and true and I know it too and I am glad that I have a family here on earth that knows that too.  I know that families can be together forever and live in the presence of God and feel all of his feelings for eternity.

Happy Days, All is Well!
Elder Clark

Oh by the way I am still in Bangui for another 6 weeks and I will be training Elder D still here for 6 weeks and then I will probably leave this area:( I am a little bummed to leave Elder D because we are super close and seriously best of friends.  We make a great team.  sige haha ingat kayo mahal ko kayo at madasal tayopalagi upang na maging mas malapit sa ama natin sa langit at upang na maging masaya din:)

October 27, 2014

Kumusta po pamilyia:)

miss na miss ko kayo sobrang!  Mam you are the best and it really sounds like you all had a really good week!  I am so grateful for the opportunity that the whole family could get together this last week to watch Coop play some ball and just be together.  Especially for Colbs, I know that meant a lot to her and I am sure she had a lot of fun.  Even though I am having a bunch of fun here in the mission and I am super happy and I know that I am doing the Lords work doesn't mean I don't miss my family.  I miss you all so much!  I miss my family and Colbs haha but I am not homesick, it is a good type of missing.  That is a pretty awesome story about Winco coming in and you guys still being able to get great numbers.  That truly is a blessing from the Lord.  The package should be totally fine sending through LBC and yes mama I received my medicine!  Thank you!  I really appreciate that, I am glad it worked and came through!  Coop I am way proud of you for keeping your head up buddy after the loss to Lynden.  When it really comes down to it, its all good that you lost because life is still good and you got a family that loves you and is always supporting you!

So I have good news and bad news.  So this week has been a pretty good week with work because we got three new baptismal dates which means we have 8 right now and the Lord is really blessing us with work.  The hardest part still is just getting them to church but they are coming but not all 8 but I know they will.  Earlier this week I also was able to see Elder T my companion from the MTC!!!!!!!  I saw him in Laoag bacause we all had to go to Laoag to get a foreigners check up thing, but yeah I saw Elder T and he is just like my bestfriend!  I alwasys love seeing him!  He is the man.

So for the kind of bad news, so on Saturday I woke up and my body was very very weak and I had a 100 degree fever but I felt alright I guess but not really.  I went and worked all day Saturday and I really shouldn't have because the whole day I was having heat and cold flashes and by the end of the day I could barely walk.  I went straight to bed when I got home and I woke up in the middle of the night and I went to the living room and fell to the ground and kind of blacked out but Elder G I guess heard me and he came out and helped me up and then I just started sweating like a rediculous amount like really really sweating like someone was pouring water over my head.  I just went back to sleep and then I woke up the next day and took my temperature and it was 104 degrees and I went to the hospital because President wanted me to and they said that I just had a bad fever but if my nose stars to bleed or if my stomach hurts then I have Dengue Fever.  Luckily I don't have Dengue but I still have a fever and I still don't feel well at all but i am starting to feel better then I did yesterday for sure.  Nothing to worry about buy I just wanted to let ya know the fever here in the Philippines is way way worse then the fever there haha.  This is for sure the worse fever I have ever had in my life.  It was pretty dang painful to be honest but life is good now and life was still good when I was sick

Elder D and me are still the best of friends and I love the kid to death.  He truly is a great missionary.  Our lessons are truly so powerful and I can really feel the spirit every time we teach.  I truly feel that we have some other person 10 steps ahead of us all day everyday helping and guiding us in this work.  Bangui is a great place and I really love it here.  For some reason I have a feeling I am going to leave this next transfer on November 4 but I really hope not because that would mean Elder D and me wouldn't be companions anymore so hopefully I am staying here for another transfer!  I really want to because we have a lot of work to be done still here and a lot of work that I still want to be apart of here in Bangui.  Whatever happens I know it is the Lords will for sure.  Mama and family and whoever is reading this email, I just want all of you to know that probably one of the biggest thigs that I have learned on my mission is that we all everyday have trials and obstacles but I know that we also have Jesus Christ everyday to help us with our trials and obstacles.  He literally died for all of our feelings, sins, mistakes, trials, everything.  He knows eactly how we feel everyday all day to exactness.  It is a lot harder to get through trials and hardships by the power of man, and is 100 times easier to get through them by the power of God.  That goes with life too, life is way happier and way better when we involve our Heavenly Father in all that we do.  He is real and we are his children and I know for sure that he loves us.  I know i say this a lot but I really feel His love for me everyday and it really feels good that's for sure.

Oh yeah I almost forgot, I am way excited for Colbs mission call as well.  I really hope it will be here by next week!!!

I love you all family!
Sorry if this email is bad haha I still have a fever:(

Elder Clark
Happy days all is well:)

October 21 A baptism in the ocean

This email made me smile for sure and I am way happy right now. Pops thank you so much for your great email I always love getting your emails as well as mamas because i can just tell it is from my pops and I can just tell when it is from my beautiful mama. Life is super great and I am way happy and even though life in Bangui as of missionary work is going pretty hard right now, i am still way happy. So to answer the questions, I am really good with whatever you wanna send me in that Christmas package, don't underestimate chocolate getting across and not melting because it will be fine. Elder G got a package the other day just full of candy and chocolate so your good. I miss chocolate kinda haha they don't have it really here and if they do it isn't really that good haha. but i love the Philippines so dang much and I am always being blessed by being able to be here. Have i told you how flipp'en beautiful it is here?! i am in an amazing part of the world haha. I haven't received my package of the medicine but it should be here soon i hope!! I didn't feel the big earthquake it didn't hit us but to be honest we have mini earthquakes all of the time and they last for about 1 minute and then go away. They aren't that strong though but still they feel super weird!!!

So first of all I don't have a bunch of time so I cant respond to everything you said but just now that I read it and really enjoyed all of that and keeping me updated on the fam. Chels and Bret are awesome and they are two really good examples for me of just hard workers.  I am sure they are doing great. Big brother and Kayley seem like they are so happy I loved the pic you sent me of them ahaha I miss their faces! Mac and J are the best and I bet they are so dang excited for their child. I am super dooper excited to see a picture of that baby girl. COOP my lil brother I am proud and happy for you. it is about time someone lived that Clark name up to its potential in sports hahahaha stupid knees!!! jk hah but really i am way happy for you buddy and it is a blessing from God that you don't have the hard decision of deciding between football and a mission. First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness then all the other things will be added upon you. I know as you do that little brother, your heavenly father will keep blessing you. work hard baby!

So pops you flew solo? I cant imagine doing that, you are way talented like really talented. Sometimes i just think about how talented my family is and it just blows me away every time. I love my fam so much for sure. So mama i know it wasn't your turn to email me this week but I love you and I just want you to know you are the best mama in the world and your son here in the Philippines is doing the Lords work and is happy as can be.

So for the work!!!!!!!! this last Saturday was C's baptism and it was the coolest thing in the world. he wanted to be baptized in the ocean so guess what we did, we baptized him in the ocean! this was honestly such a powerful expierience for me and especially for him. this brother has been through so much and if you could just here one of his stories you would be blown away. Right before he was baptized he just said I know that i am about to be clean of everything that i have done, i cant wait for this. After the baptism he put his two hands in the air and just gave me a hug and just was so thankful for his heavenly father. He the next day received the gift of the holy ghost and you can just see the change in him now, he is just glowing and such a great example for his family. His wife now has a baptismal date and hopefully the rest of his family will want to listen.

The other part of work is just that our investigators are having sturggles coming to church and upang na magpabinyag haha whoops in order to be baptised they have to go to church 4 time so that is sometimes difficult but they will come we know. Elder D is such a goof. Seriously this kid is the goofiest and funniest filipeno I have met. I really feel like he is my son and I am his dad hahaha that is our relationship but it is so great.  He is way awesome though and we have so much fun and laugh so much haha maybe a lil to much sometimes. I love the guy though he truly is a friend and so talented and has such a big desire to serve his Lord.

So other then that I don't have much to say but just I know that the reason I am happy and truly feel true happiness in my heart is because of my savior Jesus Christ and his atonement for me and his Gospel. It is hard to describe the feelings that God can give us because they are not feelings of man they are pieces of Gods happiness and Gods love for us and I know the way to feel that love and true happiness is only through him and his way. We have a Father in Heaven and he does love us and he does want the very best for his Children. I am a Child of God and I know he loves me and I know the work that I am truly doing here in the Philippines is not a vacation, i am an instrument of God to help his children know of the right path to follow and know of how to become truly happy in their lives. I am helping and inviting others to come unto their savior Jesus Christ. This is the greatest work here on earth and I am so blessed to be apart of it. I love being a missionary because I know that the message we hold is true and it is the message of our father in heaven.

I love you all so much and I especially love my family and i miss you for sure:)

Happy Days all is well!!

Elder Clark

October 13, 2013

I just gotta start out by saying I have two amazing examples in the mission field right now. Michael and Renden are both so powerful in their letters and I just love them both so much. Thanks Mama for forwarding their letters to me. I can see the changes that they have made just by reading their letters. IT is amazing what the love of the savior can do for us when we have that love in our hearts. I know my cousins have that love in their hearts and I am blessed to have them here in the field with me. They are some hardworking Elders that is for sure.

So Conference was really great to and it made me happy:) the thing that stood out to me most was just the main topic of discussion of just the commandments and how important they truly are. The commandments of God should not be looked over and just not really thought about. The commandments of God is the only way to Endure To The End. As children of God he has given us commandments in order to feel his love and feel true joy in our hearts. His commandments are not rules or burdens, his commandments are happiness and joy to our lives that lead us to what truly matters. Every commandment he gives has so much importance and I truly do know that by Jesus Christ and his example and by following all of his teachings, our hearts will feel his love and joy and our lives will be guided by him.

I really feel I have gained a strong testimony of Gods commandments since i have been on the mission and just that they are not a set of rules or guidelines, they are each a way to feel joy in this life as a child of God.

Nanay!!! you are awesome! you went and worked with the missionaries! That is the real deal right there haha i am sure the spirit was so strong when you bore your testimony. Mama, you have a strong testimony of this Gospel and such an amazing desire to become more like  your Savior. You have not only been a great mama but you are an amazing example to me and I am grateful for your testimony of this Gospel because without your testimony I may have never found my own and that really is truth. Keep working with them and I promise you that you will even find more joy and blessings in your everyday life. God loves it when we help build up his kingdom.


Oh ya and you are right, me and dad would be a great companionship:) Dad is going to be a great missionary, he is a talented man alone and even such a greater talented man with God.

Coop dawg, you are the man for keeping that head high and being the example you should be. It doesnt matter that you lost the football game because in your own words,,,,, whats the real game that we play in this life? who's our coach? who are my teammates? everyday is a game coop and if you can win that game everyday then that's all that really matters. Coop you are a stud man and I am glad you had fun at homecoming those are always fun to go to. Keep moving forward like you are and coop you look really happy lil brother. GUAPO KA!

SO para sa akin, At general conference i had a great experience! So in the Sunday morning session right before the prophet spoke and the mormon tabernacle choir was singing, C my investigator leaned over and said to me,,, " I can feel it Elder Clark, I truly do know that this is the Church of God, his spirit is here." When he said that, man i cant even describe how powerful and happy i was to hear that. I love being able to help people come to the knowledge and feelings that this is the true church of God. I love seeing people have no testimony and no belief and then we teach them and they just grow to love the lessons and then they just grow to love their Savior and this wonderful Gospel. People can't deny the spirit. It testifies of truth and when they feel that they know for themselves that what they have heard, studied  or prayed about is true and that is the beauty of testifying about the True Church of God, I know that they will feel the spirit and I know that every time i feel the spirit it is just a reassurance to me that these things are true. I am a blessed missionary, God has given me so much and I am so grateful for his plan for me and for his Gospel that he has provided for his children. I promise you that you will feel true happiness as you come to know your Savior Jesus Christ.

Mama thank you for your emails and I love you nanay!

Brothers and Sisters:::::: I know all y'all miss me like crazy because c'mon, when us Clark siblings aren't together we just miss each other. I love all of you so much and you are my best friends and I love you and I want to tell you that I know what I am doing as a missionary for Gods church is real and it is true and I am only away from my family to help other families feel what we feel as siblings. We all feel love for each other but it is because of Jesus Christ that we are so close. Ingat lahat tayo at mahal ko kayo.


---- P.s So excited for Colbies mission call, she is so darn amazing and i am about to email her right now and I am real excited. ahaha


Happy Days, All is Well

Elder Cory Austin Clark

October 6, 2013

Nanay at pamiliya ko:) Kumusta po kayo lahat? mahal ko kayo talaga at nagmissmiss ako so inyo ngayon perro ang buhay ko ay sobrang mabuti at maramdaman ko ang pagmamahal ng diyos para sa akin araw araw:) haha I will let ya'll figure that out! Nanay, i am doing super well and thank you so much for the email, it always brings me joy:) so first, COOP, well done again lil brother and i am way proud of ya bro. keep up the good work and represent that last name baby!:) Thanks for all the pics, they made me really happy, it is pretty cool to see coopdawg in the paper like that i truly am a proud brother. I know that pops loves his plane, i am way glad he has that hobby in his life. I know truly that Heavenly Father is happy and proud of my dad, he is a great man. he looks so happy. I received the flash drive nanay so no worries! the medicine will get here and if it doesn't i know i will be fine, heavenly father gives his missionaries strength beyond our own and that is truth. Bret and Chels are awesome and Chels is such a great wife to go fishing with Bret, i am sure they had a blast. Uy! nakalimutan ko, Renden is going to be a great missionary you are right. That man right there has a heart like no one else and you can tell that he has a great relationship with his Savior Jesus Christ. He is a great example for me truly.

 

So for the mission talk....... Elder D is the flippen man and i love the Elder like a brother and a great friend. We have so much fun together and let me tell ya, when it comes to game time and we are in a lesson, the spirit is so strong every time and we just work together so well and heavenly father is blessing our companionship because truly we are powerful. We made some pretty big goals last week because when Elder M left me here in Bangui we had 5 baptismal dates and only 2 other investigators so Elder D and i were in some real need of some new investigators. So we made the goal to find 8 new and we found 16 new investigators last week. I haven't felt the way I do right now yet in the mission field. I am way way happy and I am having so much fun in the work right now. The work here is beautiful. Elder D is so magaling (talented) he really has taught me a lot of tagalog and we talk a lot in tagalog and his testimony and the way he teaches is so good and we just teach so differently but it meshes so well together and i love it, i wish you could come work with me for a day. Especially pops, i wish Dad could come to work with me one day and just be there with me and experience this. I love the mission and this work is real and true and it is not my work, or my mission presidents work or my companions work, it is the Lords work and is the most true and loving work on this earth and I know that everyone of Gods children need the message that he has that he is sharing through his missionaries and members of his Church because it is true and real.

 

 

One of our investigators is a filipeno from California and he speaks all english and hilicano which is a another language here which i have picked up a lil bit too. Anyways, he has been coming to church and he straight up bore his testimony in church and he is just an investigator and he just poured out his heart. He grew up in like ghetto cali and now he is here and has a family here and he just loves the happiness he has felt through this gospel so he just poured out his heart and bore his testimony and it was so powerful. Anyways, his name is C and he is getting baptized the 19th of October and he asked me to baptize him and he wants to get baptized in the Dagat ( the ocean). It will be a great experience and he is truly a 100 percent converted investigator and it has been the biggest blessing in my life to teach him and build a relationship with this man. His whole family now wants to listen so hopefully they will feel the same way soon too:)

 

I ate Balut, a half developed chicked still inside the egg. Alot of people think it is pretty good and others hate it. I am part of the others group, it was disgusting haha and mine was really developed haha so it had hair and i was chewing its bones as well hahaha it was a cool experience but the famous Balut is not masarap!

 

ALright i love you all and thank you for your prayers and love for me. I am blessed to be apart of a family like this. I love my family:)

 

Happy Days, All is Well

Elder Clark

September 29, 2013

This is such a great email!!! Thank you mama for keeping me up to date with my beautiful family!!! First of all no need to say thank you for my desire to serve, mama I should be thanking you and my family for all that you have done for me to be able to know how important life is to be close to our Savior Jesus Christ. I know I have had some amazing examples in my life and I still do. So I am way excited for Colbs:) that girl is so great and I know she loves this Gospel with all of her heart. She is a big example to me.....Man, COOP DAWG, I am for sure that paper would make me cry to if it made Tanner cry. I love my brothers and they truly are my bestfriends. Little BRother, I am so proud of you and I recieved the pre football season paper with your picture inside and now its taped to our wall in our apartment. haha I was way pumped when i saw that and read that. That game was probably so good, i wish i could watch the video but I am not allowed, i am sorry mama. Hhaha super tempting though but yeah its not allowed:( I sure do love my fam though. BIG brother, I miss you too like crazy and I know there are days you just want to hang out with your little brothers haha but man how great will be the day when we actually all do get to be with eac hother again, after coop gets home! MAC and J, I am so excited for you and i think they emailed me so i will email them back a little personal email but I love you both and yall are amazing.  Happy birthday big sister!  I love you.

So mama, I have recieved 3 packages and so I know the 4rth will get here:) try and send the christmas one a little before christmas or people might open it up. I dunno, just a thought. SO the news for the mission, I have a new companion and he is a Filipino and the Lord has truly blessed me with a great companion. His name is Elder D and he is sort of quiet but so so very humble and so excited to work and he is very powerful in our lessons. I am enjoying traning and I am enjoying speaking in tagalog pretty much all day! He is pure tagalog which means he was born in the place tagalog originated. He has already helped me so much in my language and it has inly been 5 days. haha He is pretty good in english but it is hard for him to speak but he understands all of it. He is way talented and such a funny elder. In our lessons I can already tell that we are going to be very powerful. What i like most is that we are friends and i didnt really have that in my last companionship, like just to become good friends. Elder D and me are going to have a great next 12 weeks and I am really hoping that the work keeps progressing here in Bangui. Elder G got a new companion, Elder T and he is a huge samoan which is the best thing ever haha so much joy in our home always and a lot of laughs. He eats like 5 times as much as all of us though haha

So in my package:) hhaha i really love starbursts the tropical flavor and rittles skittles and actually some chocolate like some candy bars. MIlky way, snickers, anything but it might melt but thats okay I will just stick in the freezer, thats what Elder G did. There really isnt choclate here so i kinda miss it haha. Church music is aloud!!!:) just needs to be on a flashdrive

Life is super good and I have to go but I love you all so much and I want you all to know that life with God is a lot better then life without him and I know we are all his children and he loves us all so much. Yesterday we taught two less actives and they are a big potential to come back to church and we were teaching them and at the end of our lesson i got the biggest prompting to tell them that being missionaries we dont want to just tell people to go to church or they need to read the scriptures, our purpose is to help people become more close to Jesus Christ and feel the true happiness God has instore for them and that we know that by going to church and scripture study and prayer and through the little things they can feel the true happiness and the eternal love God has to offer them.

I am not sure why I shared that but yep i did and I love you all and mama, you are the best mama in the whole world and I love you.

HAppy days all is well

Elder Clark

Laoag Zone Sept.18,2013

                     Cory is in the back row, third elder from the Left. He is wearing a lavender tie.

                                       A Huge Spider

                                       Beautiful blue water

                                       My companions on our p-day.

                                       My backyard.

                                       a palm tree

                                      Gatorade in a glass bottle.

                                       Our ward.

    

                                       Some of my favorite kids.

                                        A cool bridge.

Safe through the typhoon

Wow pops thanks for the great email I just do'nt know where to start. I guess first with the questions you asked me. So, the food here in the Philippines is delicious and let me tell ya dad, you will love these philippino dishes! I will have to make ya a lil somethin when i get back! I will start training on Friday so I haven't received my new companion yet and we dropped off Elder M, my companion at Laoag today because he is the new office elder. So right now me, Elder G and Elder G are a 3 companionship and me and Elder G leave tomorrow morning to Laoag for trainers training. I am super excited for sure but I am a little nervous I guess. Elder G is getting a follow up trainer and I guess he is just a big Samoan guy so I get to come back to Bangui to see Elder G and his new huge Samoan companion haha. Life is so great dad. I have received 2 packages now total so no worries I know all the packages will get here. Thank you mama for your diligence with that and sending off my medicine! Back to the food, the weirdest thing i have eaten is probably boiled cow skin or maybe dugo dugo which is meat cooked in pigs blood and only pigs blood. Dugo in tagalog is blood.

This week has been really crazy, we went to Laoag on Wednesday for a big zone conference with 5 zones and I was able to see Elder T my MTC companion! That really made my day! I love that guy so flippen much. Anyways, the zone conference was an all day thing really and it was a big training with president and we had to do a bunch of practice teaching, I actually was called up to do a practice teaching in front of the Elders and Sisters and I was really nervous and then right as I sat down the thought came to my head to just listen to the spirit and so that is what I did, and not one time in the lesson do I remember thinking about the elders and sisters who were watching and I just was zoned in with my companion and the investigators and the spirit and it was so strong and I don't know it, was just a really cool experience for me.

After the zone conference we were fed a bunch of great food and went home and then we worked all day Thursday and we worked only a half day Friday because of the huge typhoon and then we didn't get to work all day Saturday because of the big typhoon. Lets just say when it rains it rains and the winds were going crazy. It was a little scary but as long as we were inside it was fine. The weather stopped good enough for church on Sunday and then we had a baptism on Sunday and that was super great. It was supposed to happen Saturday but the weather postponed it haha.

Dad thank you for being a missionary and sending RB back with your testimony and a Book of Mormon. I love that kid so much and I know he has such a good heart truly. He is a good man and has a ridiculous amount of potential and with all that potential and with that big heart, there is just one thing missing, he has forgotten that he has a loving father in heaven who wants the very very best for him. What a blessing it is to know that literally God created this earth and created us and sent us to the earth and he has a plan for us here on earth to be able to return to live with him in his presence. One of the biggest things I have learned on my mission is that sometimes we just need to take a step back and get our head out of the worldly things and think about what truly matters. I do love this Gospel with all my heart and I know that these days are very hard but they are a lot easier when you have God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost as your back up. That is the strongest back up we could ever have. Through Gods plan for us we feel happiness, joy, peace, comfort, guidance, and much more and that is what truly everyone is looking for and wants in their life. I am blessed to be able to share this message with  these people here in the Philippines.

My family sounds like they are doing great, I have like no time to write again but I love you all and thank you dad for the great email. Coop I am way proud of you and I love you all my siblings, I hope you all know that! Sige po mahal ko kayo at kita kits dating lingo. love ya!

Elder Clark

Happy Days all is well

Sept. 15

 SO coop had a big run huh? 76 yards is a workout and a half for sure that is a great run. Coop your 2 and 0!! thats a great start little brother! I will send Jackson a little email for sure I bet he is pretty shaken up but good thing Jackson is the biggest stud on the Earth, i know he will be alright.

Happy Days all is well here in Bangui still. I am little nervous because Elder M is leaving and I gotta train but he has trained me well so i know I will be fine for sure. This is our last week together as companions and we have 1 baptism coming up this Saturday and we just said we are going to try and make it a really great successful fun week before he leaves Bangui. The work I feel like has kind of taken a turn here in Bangui, we re-split the area so the other Elders have more ground now to take and we are booted out to more of the Jungle types of areas so we decided to start working in the Jungle type of areas when I get my new companion because right now we are super busy just in Central Bangui and in the bigger little city type areas. It is really hard to explain how things work here in the Philippines with like cities and towns and transportation and stuff haha. I am way excited for this next transfer to train and just work more. It will be fun to go to some areas where missionaries have never been before. There are about 6 little barrangays (mini towns) haha that missionaries have never gone to. There is probably 350 people in each one. I dunno for sure but people just kinda live where ever here, i just have to go find them!!! As a companion with Elder M we have been lucky and most of the people we have taught have been through referrals so really referrals are just way easier because finding can be really difficult but it looks like i am about to do a lot of finding but thats okay because i can finally speak the language alright so i will be able to talk with people... 

Anyways for some reason today i am just way hyper so I am sorry if the email was really random but for real I know i say this all the time but I love the mission and everything that comes with it, even if it is washing my own clothes by hand haha. I was going to share a really cool story that happened this week but I have no time, I will share it next week, it was just with one of our investigators:) Anyways I know that Jesus Christ lives and that because of him we are able to feel not just any happiness but the happiness of God and for me that is one of the greatest blessings in my life. I love being able to feel true happiness. 

Mahal ko kayo lahat at sana magkakaroon kayo ay na Mabuting Linggo! INgat Kayo 

Happy days, all is well

Elder Clark