Week 102 - End of the Road?

Happy Mother's Day! Eastwood is doing great! We've had a lot of good experiences with members of the ward and with the work in general. It'll be sad to leave it all, but in the end, this is the Lord's work, not mine, and it will continue with or without me. It's a sobering thought, but so it is.

One of the great experiences I had this week was on trade-off with the zone leaders. We were attending their MCM when we got a phone call from a recent convert that had vanished for a couple of months. He wanted to meet that day, so we met him and had a talk with him. He's fallen on some pretty hard times, and he wanted to talk with us about what he could do. Our discussion was basically about the hard times we'd dealt with in the past and how we overcame them. He's had difficulty believing in God, but accepted the invitation to say the closing prayer. The spirit came very strongly, and even though we were in a noisy library, we were all able to feel the presence of the Holy Ghost as we talked this child of God through a rough time.

Meanwhile in Eastwood, Elder Rencher and his trade-off companion met a man who had faith in Christ, but was interested in learning a bit more about our beliefs. So, we met him in a park and went on a walk with him. It was a great opportunity to teach the restoration. I think he was surprised that we didn't have any "weird" responses to his questions. That aside, it felt like we were teaching him as Jesus would have taught him: Teaching so he could understand and giving him undiluted, clear truth with love and adapting to meet his situation. It was a truly great teaching moment.

It was sad to hear that a missionary in the mission had broken his leg this week. In basically every case, a broken leg means returning home. He's been a great missionary and I'm sure he will be missed. Talking with him, I feel that although this is a sad story, it doesn't have to be the end. He's talked about his family and how his going home might be a way to help them regain activity in the church. As I thought about it, it made me think of my own going home. The lesson that I learned from him is exactly what I needed. Just because my full-time mission is ending doesn't mean that my lifetime mission or service in the church is. Like I said at the beginning of my letter, the work will go with or without me. The question that remains for each of us is whether we will go on with it. I know for my self that I will go on with this work, even if it is in a different way and fulfilling different responsibilities than that of a full-time missionary. I will serve in this church in whatever way I am called. And I will do it for the rest of my life.

Love

Elder Clark