Thank you so much for the emails! Mom thank you so much for all the pictures! I loved them! I'm smiling right now as I look at them. I sure love getting to hear from all of you, and the great things your doing, and are involved with! You guys are amazing! Mom, thank you so much for the cute package and sweet letter! I loved it so so so much! You know me so well, I loved the pearl necklace, and that red coat is so darling! I wear it every day! :) It keeps me so warm and cozy. I loved the treats, and Sister Strong and I are so excited to do the facial masks! :) That was so thoughtful and sweet of you! I sure miss you, and love you so much, I think about you guys often.
So fun trivia for you.. Our Investigator Sue's daughter's basketball coach is John Stockton! How amazing is that?! Another fun story you might enjoy, Sister Mulloy came out of her room while I was eating breakfast and I asked her how she was doing? She said, "Oh, alright. Bev and I were talking and we were trying to fix the government and we didn't get much done. Then I looked in the mirror and saw a mad woman" aha. She is so funny, she keeps us laughing. I love her so much! She is hilarious. :)
I was so excited to hear that Dad found that job opening! That's so neat, now that I'm a missionary I've come to realize how crucial referrals are. We had a mission conference last week, and talked about how important it is to work with members. President Mullen put up some statistics on the board. He said that only 2-3% of people whom the missionaries tract into are baptized, yet 68% people who have a member friend are baptized. President Mullen said our job as missionaries is to find the elect, not make the elect. Dad, I'm so proud of you. This is going to bless so many people's lives! I know the Lord needs you, and is so grateful you are willing to help him. You are helping him with what brings him most joy.
39 For behold, this is my awork and my bglory—to bring to pass the cimmortality and deternal
I know that, that is God's joy- to bring to pass the eternal life of man. Mom, I know you are helping so much with that work to. I know that this is part of our divine calling. That as we bring people to God, this is where true joy stems from. That's why service brings so much joy! I am so proud of you all! You are all doing wonderful things with your lives and Heavenly Father is so grateful.
So this week has been amazing! We have had so many miracles! Sue is doing wonderfully. Her friend Paula Therber comes with us for the lessons, and it's been so touching to see how happy she is seeing her friend growing in the gospel. Coming out on a mission has made me realize how much I've taken these precious truths for granted. We taught her the plan of salvation, and she had been wondering for years and years about the life before this. To tell her that God has a body of Flesh and Bone, and that she has a relationship with him, and that he knows her by name. She hadn't had a knowledge of this. It was amazing to share this with her. :) We have already been able to teach her four lessons! After the second lesson we invited her to pray about telling the rest of her family about her decision to join the church. The next day we came back and she had talked to all of her children, and things had mostly gone well! She is so courageous! I'm so impressed she keeps out a note pad to takes notes during the lesson, she's so willing to do what God asks of her. She never ceases to amaze me. It's been so neat to see the ward reach out to her already. Sister Demars, a wonderful woman in our ward has already sent the relief society to take her meals while she's been sick, and she's come to almost every lesson with us and just taken Sue under her wing. It's really touched my heart. It was so neat yesterday Sister Demars got up in fast and testimony meeting and in her testimony she told Sue's story and she said, " I'm so grateful to get to be a part of this process of Sue's conversion.... The Sister Missionaries of our ward really teach with the spirit, I commend them to you." It meant so much to hear her say that, I know that it truly is the spirit that teaches. I feel so privileged to get to be a part in helping Sue prepare for baptism. During our last lesson she was already asking about who she could invite to her baptism, and was asking us questions about the temple. She is incredible! We sure love her.
Another miracle, a young girl in our ward Alex Maughan invited her friend Lili to hear the lessons they are both seniors in high school. Alex's young women's leader Sister Skinfill invited them and us over for dinner. Afterwards Sister Mullen (Our mission president's wife) came to help us teach the lesson. We taught her about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we first established the expectations for the visits, we explained that through Christ she could be enabled to overcome any challenges she may be going through. She explained that she had anxiety, and I felt the spirit so strongly as we explained that through Christ she could find peace and overcome those anxieties. We explained through the lesson, that baptism was the way to gain full access to feeling Christ's love. We explained that Christ is God's expression of love to us. It's just incredible that through ordinances like baptism, (Ordinance: a sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood, that allows us to make promises with God, and receive blessings from him.) we can have God's love and direction with us every day, and be forgiven and cleansed of our mistakes. After we taught this we asked her to pray, she said the most heart felt sincere prayer I've ever heard. It was neat as she felt the spirit she was overwhelmed with emotion. We were all crying because we felt so much joy for her. She wants to be baptized, and we are so excited for her! :)
Other miracles, We have 4 less active members who are working to return to the temple. It's so neat that we teach them the same way that we teach those who are preparing for baptism. We asked one of our less active members- Judi if she had the desire to return to the temple. She said she did, and we told her that the Lord has prepared a way for her to return, and through Christ she could overcome drinking coffee, and other challenges she's having. She said, "Thank you so much for having faith in me!" and we told her we had faith in her, and so does the Lord. It was such a neat experience. :) I'm so excited to see her make it back to the temple.
I know that all of these peoples hearts have been touched because of all the fasting of the ward, and because of all of your prayers. I know that the Lord has listened to all these prayers and has seen all the sacrifice in behalf of his work. It's been so incredible! I'm so grateful to get to be a part of this amazing work. In seeing people find joy in the gospel.
I'm so grateful that the Lord never gives up on us, and that he has a great vision for each one of us. I know that we really can overcome any sin, pain, weakness, we may have as we turn to the Savior, have faith in his sacrifice for us, and then take action and change. I know he will bless us. I've needed this knowledge every single day of my mission. It's been neat to see that the Lord has helped me be enough each day as I've tried my best. I'm so grateful for the knowledge we have! I love my Savior so much, and can't wait to give him a big hug one day for all that he's done for me!
I love and pray for you guys, and I'm sure grateful for all your prayers in my behalf. I know the Lord hears and answers those prayers. I'm so grateful for your love and support.
I love you guys so much, and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love Always,
Sister Sarah Clark
P.S My new favorite Chapter in the Book of Mormon is 3 Nephi 18- It's about the blessings of the sacrament, and about the blessings of prayer. I especially love (v. 12-13, 15-16, and 19-20) It's such a powerful chapter! :)
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