12/1/11

Hola!

 

Can you believe how fast time has flown? This week blew by.

My Thanksgiving was amazing. We spent a part of the day doing a service project preparing injury kits for refugees in Sudan. What a great way to spend the day right? The feast was great of course - but no where near as good as home. Oh and guess who came and spoke to us? Russell M. Nelson. Two apostles in one week?! How lucky am I. It was wonderful :) We ended our Thanksgiving evening with a fun little devotional and THEN.... Mom. Guess what. We got to watch 17 Miracles!!!! .....I finally got to see it!!! It was such a amazing movie. I'll admit, I teared up a bit. We have so much to be thankful for. The Lord has given us innumerable amounts of blessings - more than we can even comprehend. We should give thanks for those things each and every day through prayer. And look for all the little blessings He's given you in your life - you'll find a new one around every corner. We are forever indebted to Him. The LEAST we can do is obey him, follow His counsel, and talk to him through prayer daily. He wants us to speak to Him.

Mom, thank you so much for the package! (Loved the butterfly stationary btw) All useful things. It was so nice of you. And don't worry about getting me my patriarchal blessing - Grandpa sent me one :) Thanks Gramps :) Speaking of which..... he told me in his letter that the NBA finally resolved the labor issue?!?! Crazy. I was hoping it'd last at least a year so I wouldn't miss so much. All I can say is watch out for Derrick Favors. He's an animal.

Also, thank you for those perfect little treats you sent me. They were perfect... as always. I'm sad to say though that they didn't make it till district meeting..... my whole room helped me devour them quickly. No worries though - I've started running a mile a day. Haha.

Adam: So good to hear from you. You are STILL the hottest little man around. How is your neck doing? P.S.... I'm glad you won your last bball game!

Scotty: How was the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade? The MTC is awesome. I can't wait till you serve a mission someday. I love you too and hope you're doing good.

Katie: Hope you liked your letter :) I can't believe you're already playing real hymns!!! You girl stud, you. Way to go...... btw spanish is better than german ;)

Dave: Why are so you cool? I will try to send some funny spanish phrases soon. To anwser your question, we have a lot of "Coaching missionary study" classes - that's where we learn how to better teach our investigators. A lot of our classes are spanish though. The teachers here are amazing. You have no idea. Brother Monson is in my branch presidency........ THE PROPHET'S NEPHEW. No big deal, right? He tells us stories about "Uncle Tom" all the time. The fellow missionaries and teachers are incredible. I feel my testimony grow every day. I can't wait for you to come here.

I'm sorry to hear school is still stressful... pray for help. The Lord will help you with anything as long as your desires are good. He's waiting for you to ask Him for help.

Dad: Thank you so much for sending the alarm clock and the many other things I needed. You are the best dad :) I'm glad to hear your foot is healing well too. I didn't know you were a DL in the MTC too! That's so sweet. Following in the footsteps of my awesome dad. You'll be happy to know the Panama flag is hanging in my room now - my fellow Panamanian roomies love it. I also saw the stone in the foyer and thought of you: "Whatever thou art, Act well thy part". It's awesome. Thanks for being such an amazing person. I meant it in my talk - you are my hero.

Just so you all know..... you should probly be aware that I'm becoming a new man quickly.

1) I got a haircut this morning. The hairdresser cut it "as short as legal". I'm practically bald.

2) I love going to bed early!!!! It is so dang great.

3) I'm getting in the Christmas spirit! The lights are on here at the MTC now, and I constantly sing christmas music everywhere I go.

Well I'm headed to the Temple in a bit! I'm sooo excited! This is my first time here - I didn't get to go last week because of Thanksgiving. The Temple is the best place to be. I love you all so much and keep being safe.

-Elder Clarke

P.S..... Mom, I saw Elder Chatterly and Elder Sullivan. Sweet eh? I've seen many others..... i.e. Elder Ross, Elder Flinders, Elder Hemsley, Elder MaCulloch, Elder Miller and many more.

P.P.S...... Where is Brenton Webb going on his mission?!? Did he get his call yet?! I've been dying to know. Let me know, ya?