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.