Transfers

Yep, as per usual I have been in this area for 2 transfers now so I am being transferred just like every other area I have been in.  I can't even spell the name of the place I am going but it is something like Laterbiakoshie.  Kind of bummed but I am going back to Kaneshie Zone!!!  That was pretty exciting news to my ears but I really love Kasoa and Iron City.  Elder K. is now my shortest companion at 4 weeks.  Previously it was Elder L. at 5 weeks.  Guess he had to beat that one.  I love Elder K.  I am going to another Ugandan Elder K.(a different missionary) who was in my district back when I was in Buduburam.  Good guy too.  I'm sad to leave this area though.  I really like it here, we met some really cool people and made some great friends.  

D. is one on my favorites.  He is SO cool.  This week we saw him and he was telling us how he and one of his friends, who is also a member, are going to start preparing to serve missions and how he can do that.  I got him a triple Combination and Preach My Gospel for him to start studying.  He was confirmed and ordained a priest on Sunday too.  He was on fire in Gospel Principles class answering questions left and right and making contributions like crazy!  I am going to miss that guy and am going to have to work hard to start in touch.   

So this week was pretty crazy.  I went on exchanges on Thursday to a place called Ashtown, reminds me of Pokemon, with an Elder from Logan, UT.  He's super chill. 

Lights off is still rampant.  My new apartment has a TON of windows though.

Friday night it rained super hard while we were in a lesson and we were stuck and had a lake to cross.  I was perfectly okay with walking across it until I learned about these things called hook worms and I didn't want some of those so I bought some cheap slippers, what we call flip flops.  So we threw on those and rolled up our pants and started walking back to the apartment.  That was pretty exciting.

Another night Elder D. and I were having some shenanigans.  It all started when I was laying down trying to sleep with a killer headache and he had to come and undo my mosquito net.  Then it just went downhill from there.  He took my fan so I just went and got in his bed then that didn't work so I had to go and get me fan and it was just a fun night.  I'm gonna miss that guy.  

Well, I spent too much time pondering about life and now I am out of time.  Hope everything is going really well back home.  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Clark

Hey y'all!                                                                                                 

So H. gave me a really heart attack this week.  We met him Saturday night but couldn't teach him because we were late and we had to go back and do our weekly planning but he promised us he was going to come to Church for sure and asked us to call him in the morning.  So we did and arranged for a member to go and check on him and bring him with him.  For some reason he wasn't there.  We haven't been able to figure it out yet because we weren't able to teach him yesterday.  When we went to his home he was on a walk with him wife (that's a strange thing in Ghana) and we couldn't come back later because we had to go and do numbers.  We'll meet him tonight though.

Big news in Ghana though, something happened with Nigeria and now Nigeria stopped selling gas to Ghana and now Ghana doesn't have any gas to power their power plants so now we spend just about as much time in the darkness as we do in the light.  It was out all day and night yesterday and usually goes out 3 to 5 times during the day for varying amounts of time.  Good thing I love camping!    

We had a baptism this week with several mistakes.  But we fixed it and got it all taken care of.  

We had a lot of rain this week.  

Guess I'm out of time.  Love you all, hope it’s a fantastic week

Love,
Elder Clark  

PS

I am doing Cross Fit with one of my apartment mates and have made our own “gym”  It is lots of fun!

                                            Elder Clark is in his favorite orange shirt

Beach Activity

This week was pretty fantastic.  Full of lots of failed appointments and baptismal interviews and our zone conference.  I really enjoyed the zone conference.  I love getting together with other missionaries and hanging out for a little while. President Hill is probably, no, he is the smartest man I know.  I love him.  We were talking about the difference between character and personality and what we want and what it takes to be a good person.  Really interesting.

We went to Buduburam on Thursday and Friday for interviews and got to see some of my recent converts again. We saw E, the walking man, and all he was talking about is how he is planning to go on a mission when he finishes school in a year or 2. That is awesome!  I can't wait for him to go.  Also got to see B. and his wife that got baptized as well. They are still doing really well and were happy to see me.  Makes me feel good when people remember me like that, not that I need to be remembered but
just to see how they have been truly blessed by the gospel. That's where the real joy comes from.

So we taught H. again on Sunday. I  love that man so much. We followed up on his commitment to pray and find out if what we are teaching is true and this is pretty much how it went:

"So did you pray?" -me
"Well, I prayed, but not about the church," –H.
"Oh man, what did you pray for?" -me
"The same thing I have been praying for the last 10 years, 5 billion dollars." –H.
-muffled laugher-
"Well, did you get it?" -me

H. is a pretty funny guy.  I love H.  Shortly after he told us that he did know that what we are teaching is true and that he thinks he is ready to be baptized.  We set a date for the 25 of October because we have only taught him through lesson one and still have a ways to go.  The gospel is really going to bless his life.  I invited him to the Church and WHO sponsored a "Kick out Polio" thing this Saturday.  Hopefully he comes because he can really use it.

Our man D. is ready to go and is going to be baptized on Saturday.  I'm pretty excited for him to be baptized.  He has really been preparing himself for it and he really studies and wants to learn.  He's really cool and will be a great missionary in the future.

I hope everyone is doing fine back home.  School and work and all is good. That’s about all for this week.  Love you all!

Love,
Elder Clark

Welp, can't believe that yet another month has absolutely flown by.  Each one gets a little bit fast I guess.  

Report: Last Monday was awesome!  We had fantastic activity.  It was a little crazy because we had to arrange all the transportation and everything which was a huge pain.  But we all got there and had a great time.  I mostly just sat on the beach with some of my buddies and enjoyed the ocean sounds and breezes.  Really relaxing.  Wish we could go there more often.  

Got my new companion on Wednesday.  Pretty cool guy but the looks of it.  He is from Uganda.  He's my first Uganda companion.  Now I have had Australian, Ugandan, Ethiopian, Nigerian, Ghanaian, American, and Kenyan.  Pretty cool group of guys.  My current companion is really tall and his stride is the same pace as mine and I have to speed walk to try and keep up with him.  He walks so fast with those long legs!  It's awesome.

We had MLC again this week.  Highlight of that was when president said "we have missionaries from 26 different countries... and Idaho."  Gosh, I love Idaho so much!  President always does like to give me a hard time.  We have a great relationship.  President Hill is a pretty sweet man. 

Last Tuesday we were in the market and I stumbled upon an absolute gem, Fruit Loops.  Got those bad boys for really really cheap.  They were a bit stale but super good.  Eat them with watered down condensed milk.  It was a good time. 

So I have taken up another hobby.  When ever I get into a tro tro I make it my aim to get as many people laughing as possible.  It is so fun!  I just start talking some Twi with some people, catch them off guard a little bit then dive in and they just start cracking up so bad.  It makes tro tros so much more fun.  People are always laughing and having a good time.  Jump on a tro tro and before sitting down and quick "Majo, Akwaaba"  Gets 'em everytime.  Even got a few people we are following up on and hoping to teach!

Not too much other than that this week.  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Clark

                                                                                                                           Sept 1, 2014……BEACH DAY

Hey everybody,

I came early today because we've got a big day in store and I don't know if I'll be able to get to the cafe later today so I have to make it quick.

Like the heading says, we have been seeking for and finally got permission to take the zone to the beach today for our P day zone activity.  I'm super stoked.  We've going to be playing all sorts of games, rugby, football, American football, volleyball and stuff.  It should be pretty good it all goes well.  It's one last big bang to the biggest zone in West Africa because as of transfers on Wednesday the zone is finally being split into Odorkor and Kasoa zones.  We'll lose 3 districts-16 missionaries and get 4 more and have a district split.  I am so excited for that.  It will make Sunday nights so much better when reporting and talking with DLs.  I'm mostly excited about being able to spend more time with the guys we have and helping them be all that they can be.  Unfortunately my companion is being transferred.  He's been my favorite companion so far and our time was too short but I'm excited for my next companion.  He is from Uganda.  He's a pretty cool guy too.

The baptism went great on Saturday.  We went to Accra on Thursday for an interview at the Temple site which was awesome.  I LOVE the Temple so much.  We took her into the first set of doors of the temple and it’s amazing how once those doors shut all the noise and everything from the city just disappears and the spirit takes over.  I never want to leave the Temple.  Sis. L. said she never wanted to leave.   We have a ward temple trip on the 13th so we'll go then.  The baptism was nice.  

 Our other guy is doing pretty well.  We met him on Saturday and had a nice lesson with him.  

Another cool story was exchanges on Friday with one Elder C. a  cool guy from Phoenix.  We contacted this guy and he didn't seem interested at all or anything  and we were gonna leave but I felt like I should at least invited him to Church on Sunday and then he came!  It's really nice having the Spirit which knows the whole story and how everything is going to work out and all.  It's really nice.

Running out of time so I gotta cut it short.  Love you all!   Love,

Elder Clark  

Well, well well.  This week was pretty awesome but...                                                      Aug 25, 2014

DON'T GET RID OF BUDDY!! Just find somebody to hold him until I get back.  I love that little guy.                                                 

But this week was awesome.  We went to visit my old area in Buduburam.  We were supposed to go there for some interviews but those fell through so we were able to do an open venue instead.  I got to see some really cool recent converts.  I saw P. and her son that were baptized when I was still there then her other son which was 18ish.  He was paralyzed from the waist down while I was there and teaching him and I remember when we gave him a blessing but I guess after I left they were able to scratch together a little bit of money to be able to get a taxi to take him to Church and then he got baptized later and guess what.  We were walking up to the house and HE WALKED OUT TO ME!!!!!  The guy can WALK now!  I was completely blown away.  I still can't really believe that he was walking.  He couldn't move his feet when I was there.  We had to carry him several times.  Nobody can tell me the priesthood isn't real or the Church isn't true.  To see how the gospel has blessed the lives of that family is truly incredible.  If I didn't do anything else for the whole 2 years while I am here other than that I would still be satisfied.  AND I saw my guy P. there too.  That guy is so solid.  I love him.  His life has completely turned around also.  His whole family is coming to Church and has been baptized and they are so blessed for it now.  Also saw Sister S. who has baptized too.  I love that place so much.  

That was kind of the highlight of the week.  We did a lot of service this week.  We did some weeding which was really cool.  I love giving service because it just feels so good! 

Also we found a sweet, sweet man.  We were walking and I saw a man standing by himself and I always have to say some sort of smart remark so I say "look at this guy, he's waiting for us to teach him the gospel."  Turns out, he was.  We started talking and he was asking all the perfect questions, "I feel like life has no point, I get up and go to work then sleep and do the same thing. If I'm not careful I will wake up and be 60 and almost dead."  A lot of other great questions.  The guy is super cool.  I'm so excited for him.  I can't wait for him to start progressing. 

So our good sister L. is supposed to get baptized this coming week.  I'm super excited for her.  We had to get permission to baptize her because she got kicked out of her house and who knows where she is going to end up but Pres Hill said go for it so we're gonna go for it.  She's really cool.  

We found a really cool mother and her 2 daughters.   We had two really good lessons with them this week about the restoration and then the Book of Mormon. 

That's about it for the week!

Love you all!

Elder Clark