Journal Entries

Well, i just wanted to share what i wrote during the last few days. It was one of the most spiritual events that has happened to me so far in the mission.

25/08/08

Today was sad, our brazilians are leaving tomorrow morning. All day long we have been telling one another how much they will be missed. I cant imagine the CTM without them. After our classes we went and got our cameras to take photos with all of them. It was such a fun time. Everyone was laughing and hugging. After pictuers is when the real party started in our room. Me and my roomates had decided we were going to give some of our things to E. Nascimento and E. Silva. I gave Nascimento a white shirt and tie and Silva was giving a white shirt from E. Swain and a tie from E. Eberspacher, Elder Arnold gave them both a stick of American Deoderant (Best in the world). When Nascimento came in and saw his parting gift he came and hugged me. Not until i felt his tears on my shoulder and neck did i realize how much this meant to him. (our brazilians only had 3 shirts to last them 7 days with 2 ties.). I only gave him a shirt and tie but to him it meant so much more. I told him that we were friends in heaven before this life. He said he thought so too. We have stayed up well past 12:00 talking about our future as missionaries and as friends. Today was one of the funnest-happiest-sad days here in Brazil.

26/08/08

This morning i cried like a baby. Our Brazilians left, all of our friends we had come to love had to leave, i will especially miss E. Nascimento (Anderson) and E. Lucas Silva. As we stood in a circle to offer our last prayer the spirit was so strong. We were all crying within seconds of the start. It was a beautiful prayer. I wonder how it is possible to get so close to someone in such a short amount of time. The spirit really brings people together. Nascimento was wearing the stuff i gave him the night before, every time i passed by him we would hug. He will make a really amazing missionary. So will E. Silva and all our other friends. I am going to miss staying up till 12:00 talking in a broken portugues trying to convey thoughts and emotions to them. My heart is full of the spirit when i think about them. I cannot wait to join my bretheren in the mission field. They will always hold a special place in my heart.

Group Photo!!

us with Nascimento

Room party

May The SPIRITUAL Force Be With Him

 

Another P-Day has come and gone!!!  Chris says that he is doing great.  The language is coming along well and he is soon going to have the opportunity to go out on the streets and hand out a Book of Mormon.  Wow, has he only been gone for two weeks??  When I think of all that he is learning in such a short time it just amazes me.  Thanks to all of you that are sending Chris letters as he is loving them.  If you haven't written him yet, no worries, there is still time!!  Bye for now. 

Bloggin From Brazil!

Bom Dia
Well I have made it one full week. This has been the LONGEST week for us noobs!All we do is Eat and Learn portugeuse. The food here is greate. They have tons of different fruits and juices that are really good. We have rice and beans for every meal (except breakfast). The teachers hera are amazing. The portuguese is coming along Great but slow. My companion is Elder Arnold, we get along great, he is from Cedar Hills Utah. The rest of our district is pretty awesome too. We room Elder Eberspacher and Elder Swain. We have 11 total in our district, 6 of us are going to João Pessoa: Elder Arnold (Cedar Hills) E. Eberspacher (Cottonwood) E. Weere (Roy UT) and E. Jensen (Gilbert). Everyone says that 1st, Joao pessoa has weird food like Donkey Head but good fruit and meant and then J. Pessoans have a unique accent so we have to modify our whole learning process. Brazilians!! They are the greatest people in the world. we have already become great friends with Elder Nascimento and Elder Silva they teach us a lot. We offten stay up past curfew and learn from each other. Brazlians are so nice i cant wait to get out into the field! More to come from my mother, hope everyone is doing great! And i love you all, please write me!!! Talk to my mom if you dont know how, oh and send me pictures because brazilians love pictures, well ... im off me and Elder Arnold are going to go shopping!!! Yay. Bye.

 

  

Can you even believe how great Chris looks. Man, I was so relieved to get his first email today and even happier to have him send a few pictures.  Hope you will all continue to check in on Chris's blog as we will both try to keep you updated on his mission activities!!

Mission Mom to Elder Chris Clark,(that is so cool huh?)

Leslie

Count Down Complete!

Well, as the sign to the left says,"Countdown Complete". 

We took Chris to the Airport on Tuesday Morning and just this morning we received the official word that our missionary had arrived at the MTC and was settling in.  Can you even believe we had to wait so long for that word? Parents could go crazy waiting for that word... Anyway, please notice that we have updated his MTC address to the right.  He can only receive letters while in the MTC and they take about a week to arrive. It takes a .94 cent stamp. Be sure to sign up if you want us to forward on his emails.  We look forward to sharing his experiences with all of you.  Thanks for your love and support.

Here we go!

Well if your reading this than that means I am on my way to Brazil! holy Crap! Its so crazy to think that in just 1 day I can be thousands of miles away from my home, my family and my friends......... (ive been sitting here for 5 minutes and cant think of the right words)....... I just want to say Thank You to everybody I know! I would not be the "Elder" I am today without any of you. I have had so many great examples to look up to and to learn from, every time i sit back and ponder my life I just go "wow, have i ever experienced anything truly hard?" And I cant think of one hard thing that I have had to endure in my life. How blessed is that? The lord has truly blessed me with a great life, starting with my family and trickling down to every person who has ever helped me in my life. I am hoping that this mission will be the hardest thing I have ever done and possibly ever will do, I don't mean that i want my mission to be full of discouragement and let-downs, no. I want to feel like I am giving EVERY fiber of my body and soul each and every day to continuing a work that is so important! Its awesome to think that everyday I can grow closer to my father in heaven and everyday I can do better than the day before.

Well this post is getting longer than I intended it to be so I just want to share my Testimony with all of you that I know without a dout that the church is true! That Joseph Smith did in fact see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that day in the grove. That he was given the power to translate the sacred records we know as the Book of Mormon and that every single word in that book is true! Jesus is the Savior of the world, There is only one thing in this whole world that I'm afraid of and its not snakes, heights or spiders, It is that I will be a witness to the Savior coming again to this world and i will not be ready. Family and friends, I will do everything in my power to be ready. I cannot wait to get back and share all of the experiences that i will have had on my mission with you. I hope that you all feel my love and prayers because I know that I feel yours. I close this, my testimony in the name of my Savior, Brother and Friend. Jesus Christ, Amen.

13 Hours to go.

Well, its official, i am officially ELDER CLARK no if's and's or but's. We had a great time with the stake president, President Frost. It feels a little weird being all missionary like and not being able to turn on the ol' boob tube but since there is only 13 hours left i think i can handle it! Now we are over at Gary and Terri's house having pie and ice cream! yumm! Here are some pictures to document the occasion.

 

 

15 Hours to go.

Well, so far so good, I'm not nervous, worried, my heart rate seems normal, so I guess you could say I'm in a state of shock or off in my own world. In one hour I'll be going to the Stake Presidents office with my family and getting set-apart as a full time Missionary! The day is here, how long i have waiting... approximately 19 years 2 months for this. Now that it is here I just cant believe it. I want to give a shout out to all my friends, they are the greatest, have found so many awesome friends here in Flagstaff, i don't think i have ever been surrounded by so many great people! Thanks Flagstaff Friends! and to my Utah peeps (you know who you are) See you in 2 short years!

Missionary Addresses

Elder Christopher Erin Clark
Brazil Joao Pessoa Mission
Rua Jose Mariz, 515
Tambauzinho
58042-020 Joao Pessoa, PB, Brazil

Elder Jordan Carl Martin Makin
Texas Lubbock Mission
Sentry III Plaza
5214 68th St Ste 202
Lubbock, TX 79424-1523

ELDER MICHAEL SUMMERHAYS
GEORGIA MACON MISSION
5082 FORSYTH RD STE A
MACON, GEORGIA 31210

New Brazil Friendly Hair Cut

SHORT SHORT SHORT!



I've never had my hair this short, but this way i shouldn't have to use any hair gel anymore which is a big plus because I don't want to be sweating and having it run in my EYES!! well, let me know what you think.

My Last Friday.

Well, its Friday August 1st! 3 days left and im out of here! So far This weekend has turned out pretty awesome! Here is what I have done so far. First off it all started like this! Breana is basically like my bestEST friend in Flagstaff.

 Here we are at Dip N' Dots

 Breana and I have gone to lunch once a week for the past several months! Its our tradition basically, usually every wednedsay morning before we both go to work we go out and stuff ourselves at an awesome resturaunt. (We usually switch between Oregano's and The Olive Garden). So this week we have gone to lunch like 3 times!(since its our last week) so today we did it all again, we went to eat at a local Bar/Resturant called Malonies, it was way good food and we had a good time. After that we went to the mall to people watch (there is some weird looking people in Flagstaff). Then we hit the Dip n' Dots! we had a good time and I am really going to miss my friend Breana! She has promised to wait for me during my mission (not leave flagstaff). She is a true friend! Well that concludes my Last Friday!! Stay Tuned for my last Saturday!