Semana Noventa y Seis (Bienvenidos a Dallas!)(Dallas, TX)

Where to even begin this week......

Early Tuesday morning, after some very fond and heart felt goodbyes to the people of Louisiana, Elder Patchett and I set off for a final ride into the sunset. I've only been gone a week, and I can already tell that I'm really going to miss the people of Louisiana. There's something special about that place, and I know that they will always hold a very place in my heart. But enough of that mooshey-gooshey stuff. After only getting lost once on the way to Frisco we arrived and I met up with my new and final companion, Elder Estrada from Hollady Utah. We drove down to Oak Cliff in South Dallas (the super ghetto) and within an hour we were already on exchanges. 

The next day we had MLC (mission leadership conference) which was powerful. This whole year our mission has been building up to this transfer which we call our "White Christmas" transfer. The idea is that every companionship is to baptize a family on or before December 7th. Normally our mission baptizes between thirty and fifty people a month, but at MLC our mission president informed us that the number of souls the Lord wants us to commmit to him for White Christmas is 100 souls baptized...... As soon as he said the number, a stunning and awe inspiring spirit washed over the room. Not once has this mission baptized even close to that number in this short a period of time. I know that if every missionary in this mission gives it their all over that month and a half, that we're going to be witness a of miracle. (Yes, I'm talking to all you TDM missionaries that read my weekly...... I know who you are.)

That evening we exchanged again, and we found this incredible, golden hispanic family who invited us back for tacos this evening. I love tacos..... 

On Friday, we ended up having another mission conference. Elder Ochoa of the Seventy came to our mission and gave us a training on "Connecting with Hispanics". It was a little bit of a weird conference, but I still learned some good things. Since then we've been working hard, and hitting the pavement. (of which there is a lot here in Dallas........)

On Halloween, we ended up having a lot of car troubles which really slowed us down, but it ended up being okay because we had a really powerful zone conference call that evening where we rolled out the zone plans for this transfer. 

As you can probably tell, I'm staying busy and just getting enveloped by the work here in Kessler Park. (That's technically the name of my area......) Life is good, but loco al maximo...... I miss Louisiana, but the city calls. I mean you have to admit, it's cool living right under the Dallas skyline. Be blessed ya'll! See you in five weeks!

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Bell Bishop Arts Apartments 1836 W Davis St. #1164 Dallas, TX)

Semana Noventa y Cinco (Dying in Dallas! #transfered)(Minden, LA)

Whelp....... the results are in and..... I guess they couldn't just let me die here in peace in Louisiana. We got our transfer emails last night, and it looks like I'm headed to ghetto of South Dallas to die as a Zone Leader over the Dallas Zone. I'll admit, I didn't see that one coming!  😂

It's been a hot minute since the last time I was a zone leader, so I'm excited to give it another go. My companion's name is Elder Dallen Estrada, and from what I know he's a fireball of a missionary. I know we're going to see some miracles this transfer in the heart of Dallas!  Unfortunately, it also means I'm going to have to pack and move all my stuff, but hey, there are worse fates. Elder Patchett is staying here in Minden, and his new companion is another missionary he came out with. So it's literally going to be two greenies, greenie-busting each other out in the middle of nowhere! 😂

This week was great, I have truly cherished my every second here in Minden. Yesterday we had THREE investigators at church, and it just feels like everything is on the up-and-up regarding the work. I truly am so grateful to the Lord for allowing us as much success as we have seen here in Minden these past two transfers. Rarely have I left an area feeling so satisfied with everything we have done. We worked hard and the Lord abundantly poured out his blessings on us. I'm really grateful for that. Minden, Louisiana will always hold a very special place in my heart. I've changed and grown here more than I can express, and I'm going to miss it.  

But again, this week was great. We had surprise-exchanges with our zone leaders, and I went with Elder Carroll over to his area in Bossier City. He's a great missionary, and I learned a lot from him. We had someone serve us some weird, "non-alcholholic" Carribean malt drink from the Dominican Republic, so that was exciting!  And surprisingly we actually ended up speaking a lot of spanish of the exchange. 

Upon walking into Walmart last Monday I witnessed an animatronic-black Santa Claus welcoming us into the store, so of course I had to take a picture. Proof that everything's black here in Louisiana! 

During the week, some one gave us a jar of delicious Jalapeño jelly, so of course I had to make a "peanut butter and jalapeño jelly sandwich!" It was actually surprisingly good........ It was like a PB&J, but with a kick! Would recommend.

Tuesday we had our last district council of the transfer, which went well. This has been a really fun and hard working crew, so I'm going to miss them a lot. It's always sad to see a district come to an end. 

But that was my week in a nut-shell. It's weird. This email spells the beggining of the end of it all...... I'm dying in Dallas, who'da thunk! 

¡Les quiero y nos vemos pronto!

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Bell Bishhop Arts Apartments 1836 W Davis St. #1164 Dallas, TX) 

P.S - We found this legit former in our area book! 😂

Semana Noventa y Cuatro (Arrested + Trainee Graduation!)(Minden, LA)

Alright! The quote of the week comes from a lady after we asked her if her husband was home. She said, "Whut you try'n a do..... Convert'm!" haha, classic 🤣 I love people. One thing before I dive into the rest of this email... there are several tornado sirens going off outside as I write this, so hopefully I'll still be here by the end of the email.... if not, well.... look for me in Kansas. 

To clarify, we were not actually arrested...... though the police certainly tried their best to make it happen. We were out knocking last night when two police showed up and tried to arrest us for "suspicious activity". Luckily we got off the hook after talking to their head honcho and after explaining the difference between proselyting and soliciting. Upon realizing they couldn't arrest us, we finished knocking the rest of the street with a police car following us from house to house, back to our car, and then all the way back to our apartment. What a special person. I hope following us brought him happiness....🚔😂

In other big news, MY SON GRADUATED. I'm one proud papa. We spent Tuesday night with a companionship in Tyler, and then the next morning we drove to Frisco where all the new trainees "taught us" the lessons and we gave them feed back. After that I got together with Elder Patchett and we taught the law of chastity to another companionship. It was great seeing some old friends such as Elder Packham and Elder Clift from my Longview days. I love those elders. #bacheloursinthewilderness 

In other exciting news Elder Bailey (my first mission son) finished training his trainee, so that means I'm a grandparent! My mission posterity is growing... I feel like an old man. 

In other good news, the work is exploding here in Minden like never before. The Lord is dumping bucket loads of blessings on us. One of those blessings is a man we found this week named Eddie. I swear, that man is elect as they come. We found him Thursday night, taught him the restoration, went back on Saturday, and then he came to church on Sunday and LOVED it. Talk about a miracle. We're teaching a bunch of other awesome people as well, including Dorothy who's still progressing well, but had a little bit of a melt down this week because of the fact that Joseph Smith was a white man and not black like Jesus and the apostles "supposedly" were.... so she's still a work in progress. But things are going well. 

It's weird to think that next week starts the last transfer of my mission.... Yikes. That also means we'll have transfer news in a week.... also yikes. I'm really hoping to "die" here in my little back woods, town of Minden, Louisiana. I've really learned to love this place. But that's about all she wrote this week. Keep reading, keep praying, keep loving. Everyday, everyday, everyday! 

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(102 Emerald Drive Apt. 7 Minden, Louisiana 71055) 

Semana Noventa y Tres ("I love me some white men")(Minden, LA)

Good morning from Louisiana!

We had a pretty solid week here in the Bayou State. Lot's of rain, finally a cold day or two, knocking, and a lot of people flaking on appoints. But that's okay, we're still here and the work of the Lord goes on. A couple of highlights from this week. This lady we've been teaching for a couple weeks now named Dorothy (yes, the same Dorothy that tried to bash us our first lesson) is doing very well. She prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true this week, and she recieved her answer. Since then she's been posting non-stop about it on Facebook and has requested a copy for every member of her family. You go girl! Now to get her baptized. Also we saw a horse this week! We'll actually we see lots of horse every week, but this guy was just riding his horse around the ghetto of Minden. Haha, I love people. And to top it off we were in a lesson with this lady named Michelle (which I'm not sure if she was wearing pants), but part way through the lesson she went off on a racist rant (which is pretty common here) and then paused part way through and said, staring at us, "But I do love me some white men". Allllright...... time to go. This place is so weird, I love it.

My invitation for ya'll this week, go back and start going through the talks from this past General Conference. They are just as incredible the second time around. You'll be glad you did. Lot's of love!

See you in less than two months!

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(102 Emerald Drive Apt. 7 Minden, Louisiana 71055) 

Semana Noventa y Dos (Arkansas + Grave Digging in Louisiana! ⚰️)(Minden, LA)

Gooood morning!

It's been another great week here in Minden! I mean, HELLO....... GENERAL CONFERENCE! I mean, really, is there anything better? I don't think so........ Conference was great, we got to watch it with some members of our branch in their homes. Which was funny, because that was my first time sitting on a couch for that long in almost two years 😂

I don't know if it's because I forget or what, but I know that all of those men and woman who spoke to us truly were guided by the spirit as to what to say. Man....... talk about powerful and revelant to our day. And on top of that, what's better than Elder Uchtdorf teaching about the plan salvation using the Hobbit! #secondbreakfast #tolkienforlife

In other news, we're super excited about this lady we're teaching named Dorothy! This week she made the mistake of googling "Joseph Smith" on the internet and got hit really hard by anti-material, and then the next day one of her neighbors starting bashing on her for meeting with us. But she told us the coolest thing during our lesson on Saturday, she said, "I don't care about all that, I mean people slandered Jesus. I need to find out about this book (the Book of Mormon) for myself!" YES! Yes, Dorothy! You go girl! 10/10  Beautiful! Perfect! Don't change a thing!

On top of that, on Friday we helped this lady dig up graves in this really old cemetary. That was fun. Well, technically no, but yes. We were actually digging up tomb stones that had sunk down into the ground, so we could record their names online for family history. So that was cool.... and dirty. 

Also, we finally made it to Arkansas this week! The Minden Branch (where we spend all our time) only takes up about a third of our actual area........ we also cover this HUGE branch up in Arkansas, but we hardly go there because of how far away it is from us. But this week, we were working some cities up on the northern border of the branch, and we used it as an excuse to cross into Arkansas. It was fun crossing into the state again, because by first area was also technically in Arkansas. So yeah, that was good.

But all in all, life is good. Everyday, everyday, everyday!

Love ya'll!

Oh! One final thing...... I know Halloween is approaching, so just a heads up to those who may try to send me a package (you know who you are)....... NO CANDY! Send whatever you want, just no candy....... please.  

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(102 Emerald Drive Apt. 7 Minden, Louisiana 71055) 

Semana Noventa Uno (In Which We Convert Buc-ee the Beaver!)(Minden, LA)

Good morning my peoples! 

I find that as I get closer to the end, my will to write emails is waining, but I'm still determined to get this email out. For those of you who may be wondering, this morning was CRAZY...... Unfortunately, no alligators were wrestled, but we did trail blaze/wade through a very thick/over-grown thorn and bramble filled swamp for over three hours and got very dirty and cut up. Definitely under estimated how hard it is to push through a swamp! 😂

This week was great! We had two investigators at church, which was fantastic. One of them was the lady from a couple weeks ago who believed that Jesus Christ was a sinner, so you could say that she's come a long ways. On top of that we had our mission's presidents, mission president come to our mission for zone conferences this week. It was awesome. It was Elder Zwick of the Seventy. Super powerful zone conference. Since the meeting was over in Heath, TX, we were able to stop by the legendary gas station known as Buc-ee's as well as Stanely's BBQ in Tyler, TX. So yeah, that was lit! 

I was able to go on a quick exchange with a new Elder named Elder Broadbent here in Minden, so that was good. We're really excited for the future. We've got some good people we're working with, and Louisiana is just the best. On top of that, we're hyped out of our minds for General Conference this weekend. It's going to be awesome. But anyways...... Just know that I love you, you're awesome, and that we're on the winning side. (As in the Lords side....... I mean how can you lose when you've got God himself on your team!)

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(102 Emerald Drive Apt. 7 Minden, Louisiana 71055) 

Semana Noventa (Be Blessed Baby Dolls!)(Minden, LA)

Whelp....... It's Monday...... Again. Crazy how that works.

We had a great week here in Minden! We're finally starting to narrow down the elect in our teaching pool, and we had an investigator come to church this week and he loved it! So that's always a highlight.

On Saturday we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this spunky grandma we've been teaching recently named Pam. We had a member with us, and the lesson turned out great...... though it may have been the funniest gospel of Jesus Christ lesson I've ever taught. While we teaching the about the gift of the holy ghost, Sister Baxter (the member) jumped in and said something along the following..... "Oh yes Pam, when I the gift of the holy ghost gift it was like fire. When I got home from church, my skin began to heat up!  Soon I was down right burning up! And there was nothing I could do to cool off. I knew it was the Holy Ghost. I was being baptized by fire!" After assuring Pam, that she wouldn't necessarily "burn up" by recieving the gift of the holy ghost, the rest of the lesson went great. She even committed to come to the branch family home evening group with Sister Baxter Monday night. Woot woot!

Other than that, things seem to be picking up here in Minden, so we're excited for the future. A lot of awesome part member families we're working with for sure. I gave this email it's title because we were talking to this lady outside her house, and afterwards as we were going our separate ways she said, "alright now, be blessed now baby dolls". Oh my goodness, I love the south.

I just want to leave ya'll with a quick scripture and experience, there's a man we've been working with lately who's been completly inactive for the past thirty to forty years. We were sitting around his kitchen table, and he was really stressing about what he would need to do to repent, and if he could even be forgiven. This scripture immediatly came to mind, and we shared it with him......

Mosiah 26:30 

"Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me"

The Lord is there with open arms, he's simply waiting for us. It makes me think of the account in the Bible where Peter asks Christ how many times are we required to forgive our neighbors. Peter, felt he was being generous and proposed that we should forgive others up to seven times. Christ, immediatly responded with seventy times seventy. In other words...... "Peter, there is no limit." We're not here on this earth to count others trepasses against us. That's only going to make us bitter. We're here to become forgiving by nature, just as the Savior was and is. If we do that, we will live fuller, happier lives. Is it easy, no, but worth it.

I love ya'll! Take care, and stayed tooned for next week..... we're going gator wrastling next P-Day!  🐊

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(102 Emerald Drive Apt. 7 Minden, Louisiana 71055) 

P.S- Some one gave us this hilarious "dog mask" this week, so of course pictures were taken......