Fw: Hes BACK..

[Leslie Clark]

 

Leslie Clark 

www.elderclark.com

Elder Chris Clark Joao Pessoa - 8/10

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS (and the rest that are reading this email)

 

Elder Clark is back... not that he went very far... but if you have not yet noticed i have been FIVE (5) weeks without baptising anybody!! now i know what you are thinking... oh so 5 weeks, whats the big deal???

 

but it is a big deal!! here in my mission if you go 5 weeks without baptisng you are SLACKING OFF!!.... so here is my public apology.. yes maybe i was slacking off a little. but NO MORE.

 

this week we had a GREAT training by Elder Araujo of the seventy. he was here with us and he talked a lot about many things in the gospel... but during his training i was thinking to my self... ( 5 weeks without baptising.... what is wrong with me)

and then i realized, i was not that same elder that i had been during the first half of my mission... i realized that i had changed, that i was NO LONGER giving 100% of my self the the work of the lord... and just when i had realized where i went wrong, a missionary asked this question...

 

"Elder Araujo how can a missionary who has lost his (fire) get it back"

 

oooopa!! my ears perked up a bit, and i listened intensly to his answer.

 

his answer was very deep, he said.... Why are we here on a mission?? is it to baptise... sure it is.. but thats not all... we are here to SERVE, he said... how can you give 100% of yourself if you dont LOVE your companion, how can you give 100% of yourself if you dont LOVE your ward members and leaders... how can you give 100% of yourself if you do not LOVE what you teach.. the gospel of jesus christ....

 

 

it hit me like a sack of bricks!... i was letting my thoughts of having a weird companion and a bishop that doesnt want lots of baptisms put out my (fire)...

 

i left that reunion thinking a lot about the words that i had heard ... thinking a lot more about the spirit that i had just felt than looking at where i was going (we got lost for a little bit going home)... but that night... i looked at my companion and i said.... Lets order a pizza "i'll buy"... he asked Why... i said "because starting tonight we are going to dedicate ourselves to giving 100% to the lord... 100% obedient... soo yeah... needless to say  IM BACK

 

this week we baptised Isabella... everybody in the whole ward had been commenting about her to us saying... dont go there elders, you will be wasting your time.. she has already had every single elder at her house and NOBODY is able to get her to be baptised.... so what do you think Elder Clark Did.... for those of you who know me..... i said to myself... well the EVERY OTHER elder was doing it wrong. this time i will do it right.... when we got there, i didnt waste time making friends or starting a long boring lesson.. i asked her if she knew why we were there... i told her that we were there because it was already PAST the time for her to be baptised... all i did was open my mouth the lord was able to fill in the gaps with powerful scriptures and stories that have happend while on my mission... at the end of our discussion she asked a simple question... "Ok i will be baptised if i can just wait until next week" (it was saturday night when we met her)

 

.... i thought for a moment.... ahhh THIS is where all the others would have said "Sure we can wait, whats the rush" (this is why she was never baptised.)

 

i said ..... ""NO im going to call the district leader to come here and interview you right NOW and if he says you are ready to be baptised you will be baptised tomorrow morning after the meeting""

she was shocked... but after a long pause she said... ok... let me change... and ran into the house... we had done it.. with the lords help and the spirit, we had done what no other missionary had done in the past 2 years. sunday... she was baptised... and every single brother and sister in the ward was shocked!!! this was one of the greatest and best moments on my mission... and im sure that isabella will NEVER fall away from the church, she has a testimony very huge!

 

..... ahh.... a mission is great.

 

elder clark

 

ps. sorry to the people who sent me an email this week and i didnt respond... dont hate the game... hate the player.

 

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