Semana Diecisiete (In Which I Hunt Boar, Skin Boar, Clean Boar, and Become Marshallese to the Core........ ) (Also it turns out Dog is pretty tasty!)

ESPERA TONTO!! (Wait fool........) 

Before you can read this email you are REQUIRED to go down to the bottom of the email and download/play the music link attached! (Bubu Naij Yuk) You'll need it fully get into the "groove" we're trying to set........... Disfruta tonto..... (Enjoy fool.......)

HELLO MY PEOPLES!

Yes, it's me. Good old Elder Fox. First off hopefully you have my latest jam Bubu Naij Yuk playing in the background (Translating roughly to "I miss you grandma"), and secondly hopefully you remember who I am because I think I'm starting to forget........ I'm not sure if I'm Marshallese, Hispanic, White, or Utahn....... I mean for all I know now, I may have been born here........ Someone help me.

This week was awesome! I could write a literal novel on everything that happened, but let's start off by listing some of the smaller things! XD

Whelp.......

• Yesterday Elder Frampton were walking around this super ghetto street behind Walmart called Ash St. (It's hilarious because everyone in Idabel knows to stay away from Ash St, and everyone just out of the blue tells us to stay away! XD) Well we were walking around and this crazy kid ran at us and started attacking us with his pocket knife!!! WHAT!! Luckily our arms were longer and stronger than his, and even more luckily his mom was a little ways away and she told him to "knock it off........" Once again, evidence that mothers are sent from heaven!
• You may think Idabel is governed by people, but think again! It's actually governed by the hundreds of stray cats that roam the streets! Well it turns out that one of them adopted us.......... (As in it's always waiting at our apartment door, rolls on it's belly whenever it sees us, and follows us EVERYWHERE!) This posses a problem because as missionaries we are not allowed to have pets......... The hard part is that this is the nicest, cutest, friendliest, best trained cat I have EVER seen. Satan came in the form of a serpent, right? We're not sure, but this may been Satan in the form of a cat to tempt us.........
• Johnny and Debra Wilson were supposed to have their baptismal interviews yesterday, but sadly those fell through. Debra's just not willing to give up her coffee, and Johnny's not ready yet. Some day.
• I ATE DOG!! I'm totally serious! And the funny part is that I didn't find out until almost a week later! XD This was actually at the Marshallese BBQ the other week, and they were cooking up this meat that I assumed to be something normal like pork, but it was good, so no need to ask questions! It wasn't until a week later that I found out that meat I had been eating was dog! YES! XD I love Marshallese people and their customs! They are seriously the best! I'm not sure how to describe the taste of dog....... Think of extremely tough pork without the tangy, sweet taste of pork........ All I can say from this experience is that I will never look at a dog the same again. (*Stomach rumbles........ Come here boy!) 
• I GRADUATED!! HURRAY!! I'm a real boy!! On Tuesday we drove down to Dallas where we did "Trainee Graduation". So to get technical for the last twelve weeks I've been training with Elder Frampton, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Look out Texas Dallas Mission! I'm coming your way! In Dallas we met up with all the other missionaries who graduated (Which means I got to see my dear friends from the MTC, including my former companion Elder Peterson! It's crazy, I feel like time brought us even closer together!) After that reunion we had to teach four fifteen minute lessons in Spanish, and then one with our trainer! (Let's just say I survived......... XD) It was a blast to see all those missionaries again, and I'm happy to have officially survived training! During the four and a half hour car ride back, we almost got in a huge fatal accident on the free way, but let's just say we're lucky the Lord is looking out for his servants......... Ye-ha!
• I ATE A FISH HEAD! (Yes I know I eat lots of weird stuff....... Part of the job!) We were invited to yet another Marshallese party to come get some food! To our surprise there we bumped into the Kedibar family!!! (The Marshallese family we had baptized back in February!) Soon they brought us a couple plates heaping with rice and chicken. (Marshallese people LIVE off of rice and chicken......) In addition to this, there was almost an ENTIRE fish looking up at me! YES!!!!! I had been hoping for this!!!!! XD After downing the fish, eyeball included, Elder Frampton and I officially declared ourselves Marshallese!
• My Marshallese is actually coming along really well! I can now count to ten, and know enough simple phrases to kind of talk to someone! I never would've guessed I would be learning Marshallese in the state of Oklahoma! XD (I just feel bad for my Spanish.........)
• My music selection has had a major upgrade this last week! This last week I gave up music in English! Marshallese or bust! There were a couple Marshallese families in the ward to hooked us up! It's now a common site in Idabel to look up to see a couple white Elders in a Rav-4, cruising down the street, windows down rocking out to Christian Marshallese music! You wish you were that cool! XD  

Now for the good stuff! You've probably already seen the pictures below, but the other day after getting attacked by the kid with the knife Brother Bundy (A member of the Branch Presidency.......) and his son Tucker pulled onto Ash St. in their truck and upon seeing us pulled over! They told us that they had just trapped THIRTEEN wild hogs in a trap and were going to give them away to the Marshallese people on Ash St, but first they needed to kill them......... Wanting to blow our minds Brother Bundy invited us along for the adventure, suits and everything! This one was one of the COOLEST things I have EVER done......... My mind was officially blown. Now when you hear wild hogs, these are not your standard friendly pigs. I have heard stories about these hogs for months, that they "tear you up", "hurt cows", "ruin pastures", and are a "real danger", but I never believed those rumors until I saw one........... These boars are the meanest thing I've ever seen........ The metal, Jurassic Park trap they were contained in was hardly enough to restrain them. If one had broken out we would have been running for all we were worth. They are so tough. Soon we got down too it. Brother Bundy started shooting them in the cage, but it took at least three shoots apiece to drop these beasts. (The most was five........) Eventually we ventured in and started loading the bodies into the truck. I probably should've thought it out more but in the moment, white shirt and suit pants seemed to go well with bloody dead hog! (Whoops........) Afterwards, we went back, changed and came back to Ash St. to help butcher them hogs! IT WAS AWESOME!! I got handed a knife and a boar and told to have fun! After a little initial instruction I skinned and cut up an ENTIRE boar by myself!! (Well, Elder Frampton helped to hold it in place........... He was to squeamish to butcher his own hog.) It was so sick! We helped butcher for several hours and now we have a huge bag full of wild hog in our freezer!!! Can life get any better? I don't think so! XD Best service EVER!!! XD 

We had a bunch of other epic adventures this week, but this email is already long enough..........  Here's a scripture to close. This one jumped out at me the other day.

3 Nephi 5: 

13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life. 

I don't care who you are, you are a child of God and he loves you. Remember it. Remember your divine potential. You are worth it. 

I love you all and continue to pray for you everyday! Have a great week!

Elder Clark Fox

P.S- Please forgive me if you don't like seeing dead hog.......... Probably should've thought that out more. (Just take comfort in knowing that I didn't send the really gory photos......)

Semana Dieciséis (Sixteen) (Dang....... Missions are the best!)

Howdy Ya'll! 

Just encase you didn't catch it in the title...... MISSIONS ARE THE BEST! Now that we've that out of the way we can continue...........

This week was honestly just a freaky blur of awesomeness! The transfer ends on May 1st, so Elder Frampton and I are scrambling to make the most of our time together! (Since I'm training, the odds of us staying together a third transfer are very slim....... Muy triste. We've honestly had so much fun up here! We've also had a ton of success for how little "action" goes on "Out East!" As of Aprill 29th, we'll have had five baptisms in the two transfers we've served in Idabel!)

Some crazy things ended up happening this week! This next part is copied and pasted straight out of my weekly email to my mission president because I'm feeling too lazy to write it all out again. (Yes, feel loved.......)

" Tuesday we "blitzed" the De Queen area with Idabel Elders, Hugo Elders, and De Queen Elders. It was the definition of awesome! I'm not sure how it happened, but I was paired to go around with Elder Grimes. (A non-Spanish speaking Elder..... IN DE QUEEN!) We were by far the under dog companionship I'm still technically training, can hardly speak Spanish, and I have only been in the area for one transfer. (Compared to some of the other experienced companionships.........) So essentially Elder Grimes and I sort of just got slumped together and told, "Good luck!" In De Queen it's almost all Spanish, and besides my role plays with Elder Frampton, I have not yet taught a real lesson in Spanish......... With Elder Grimes not being able to speak any Spanish, all the pressure was on me to deliver. (Besides the spirit of course......... The actual teacher!) Luckily the gift of tongues seriously kicked in, I taught several lessons entirely in Spanish, and by the end of the day Elder Grimes and I had found FOUR new investigators!!! (More than any of the other companionships!) What looked like a daunting task, turned into a huge miracle! Through out the day my Spanish just clicked! Elder Grimes had never been in the area and didn't really offer any direction. It was a pretty big change from simply being the greenie trainer........ That experience really helped me a lot, and I'm grateful the other faith and trust the other Elders had in me to go do my thing with out much help from Elder Grimes. 

That experience made for a GREAT start to the week! Ever since Tuesday my Spanish has had a major boost and it's just on the up and up! The next day however we had an unexpected turn of events................ Elder Frampton got sick and was in no condition to go out or even be up, so he decided the most logical thing to do would be to sleep it off...... And he did. Nearly 12 additional hours of it........ It was nuts. Seeing that I had some time to kill at the apartment I went to town on reading the Book of Mormon and read over 130 pages that day, finishing it just before 10:30 PM! It was incredible to pound the Book of Mormon like that! I can't wait to get through it another time! I'm serious, it's like I'm an addict.......... Is that a bad thing? 

Friday night we had a HUGE storm roll through, and we received some emergency phone calls to retreat to the apartment or risk getting sucked away in tornado and starting the first mission in munchkin land...... To which I would not be opposed. I mean munchkins need the gospel as well! XD

Saturday was a party! It started off with a visit from the mission vehicle coordinator....... Elder Wilson. Apparently our TIWI unit (That annoying little box in mission cars that screams at you when you're speeding or driving like a moron.......) was not working properly and needed to be replaced. This fact was shortly lamented by Elder Frampton and I who were now required to drive the speed limit and not ten over. (Joking!! Kind of........ XD)

That night we had a huge BBQ with several of the Marshallese families which we had literally been trying to plan for months!! It was AWESOME!!! Marshallese people do not know how to half party....... There was SO MUCH FOOD! We were stuffed afterwards........ Unfortunately the Marshallese people have one weakness. That weakness is the cold. They kind of just wither up and die in it. Entonces it started to get cold at the BBQ, so it didn't last super long, but it was a blast and much needed for fellowshipping! :D

There was so much extra soda that Elder Frampton and I went home with more soda than we could ever possibly hope to drink! We used some of that soda to build a shrine that night on our kitchen counter.......... Why would we build a soda shrine? We'll probably never know....... 

Sunday was AWESOME!! (Yes I know I like that word too much.........) We had SEVEN investigators come to church (A record for us!), and after a very productive trip up to Broken Bow we had another party/BBQ with our investigators the Wilsons! They are awesome and pretty much my third set of grandparents! (Don't ask me how that works.......)

Okay, enough of parties and BBQ's....... Let's get spiritual. Here's another story straight out of my president email...........

Finally President, this week we set a baptismal date with an investigator on the FIRST LESSON! It was awesome, we were teaching him a somewhat boring lesson on the Plan of Salvation and all of a sudden I started getting these crazy promptings to talk about the holy ghost and baptism! It clicked, and we went for it! He said yes to the baptismal invitation right off the bate, and is now on date for May 20th! He keeps telling us how excited he is! His name is Keyeo Leaj.

Folks, promptings really do happen! Pay attention to them! If your testimony's struggling I have a solution for you......... First fast and pray, and POWER READ the Book of Mormon!!! Then get on your knees and pray, let it all out. Pray like you've never prayed before. Then wait. Listen. Wait some more, listen some more. Maybe continue praying. Wait some more. Continue in this until you have your answer. If need be repeat the whole process. (Yes that includes reading.......) If done with a sincere heart you WILL receive an answer. No question. This church is true.

Do good, be good, and have yourself a dang blessed week!

Elder Clark Fox

Semana Quince (In Which I Hit 100 Days, Rob a Taco Bell, and Witness a "Wedding"!)

(Note: I'm leaving early today for a district P-Day up at Broken Bow Lake, so if I don't respond to all your emails today, don't panic! Just take deep breaths and carry on!)

HELLO MY PEOPLES! :D

Yes, it's me! You're friendly neighborhood Elder Fox...... Who is not actually in your neighborhood........

This week was defintely a fun one! From hitting my 100 days out mark on Friday, to trying out new kinds of lizard jewlery, you're in for a treat! Now, the question I know you all have on your minds is how on earth did I rob a Taco Bell?!? Why did I rob a Taco Bell? "I mean I've always thought that Clark guy was a bit off his rocker, but robbing a Taco Bell..... ON HIS MISSION!?!?!?!? COME ON MAN!!!" Perhaps an explanation is needed....... Let's start with a story.  

When I first got out to my area (Idabel, Oklahoma) back on February 6th, we had a good sized bottle of hot sauce. I could go into detail, but let's just say we lived off this stuff. (We put it on almost EVERYTHING! I'm serious! Everything from eggs to tuna melts!) But then somethinng truly horrible happened......... It caught us completely off guard....... But sadly it turns out that when you put the same sauce on ALL of your food, that that sauce quickly runs out. It's a horrible fact of life.

So for the last three weeks we've been struggling to survive without hot sauce mostly because we are too broke/cheap to buy more. But that suffering came to an end this week when I had a brilliantly devilish idea! We. Will. Rob. Taco Bell. (The restaurant that foolishly decides to leave all their precious hot sauce out in the open........)

So one day, two inncocent looking missionaries strolled into Taco Bell, each ordered a cheap bean burrito (The cheapest  burrito available!), carefully scanned the walls looking for a sign indicating how much hot sauce one is allowed to take, and upon seeing no such signs began stuffing their bags and pockets FULL of the precious hot sauce!! (Specifically when not many people were looking.......) So technically we didn't "rob" Taco Bell....... But we certainly got our moneys worth in hot sauce! And to end on a happy note, we now have more hot sauce than we know what to do with! :D

I'm really getting settled in out here in the field, and loving it! As noted earlier, Friday was my 100 day mark, and I'm still kicking, so I taking that as a good sign! Some other interesting things that happened this week! As I like to do I managed to find a few lizards this week, and upon seeing that one in particular was a biter, I decided to let him have it! (As you can see below he made an excellent ear ring....... I think we should make that  new missionary style. Food for thought.)

Another fun thing this week! My land lord, Brother Hammond (A less active in the branch......) got married and he asked me to be the witness at his wedding! Woot woot! He re-married his crazy ex-wife who is thirty years younger than him, so we have mixed feelings about the wedding, but he seems happy so we'll be happy for him! This wedding was as close to a crazy Vegas wedding as I've ever seen, but either way, we got to eat out afterwards, so I'll take it as win win!

On Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm one of my dear friends, Jona Steffler. It was an incredible experience for me. The spirit I could feel was undeniable! I am truly so excited for him!

MINISTERING! :D I didn't get around to this in my last email, but I am SO SO SO excited for ministering!! Everyone, go for it! Go crazy! Minister to everyone you see! That homeless person at the gas station! Your neighbor, the random person on the street! Everyone, take this blessing and opportunity from the Lord and run with it! The Lord has prepared us with the "Mosaic" Home-Teaching and is now giving us the higher law of Ministering! Let's not waste this opportunity! IT'S GO TIME FOLKS! :D

Anyways, missions are awesome, you're awesome, everything is awesome! :D

Have a great week and a blessed day!

Elder Clark Fox

Semana Catorce (Yokwe! Or the MOST EPIC Week Ever................ I'm serious, this one's worth reading!)

Yokwe! (Essentially "hello" in Marshallese.....)

Man.......... I have never been so anxious to get an email out to ya'll! This week was mind boggling AWESOME! (And yes, I did just use the term mind boggling in my email.......) From unloading over 70,000 baby chicks, exploring bamboo forests, robbing people of their tea and coffee, speaking in Marshallese, exploring the uncharted north of our area, a baptism, General Conference, and even becoming the guest of honor at a Marshallese wedding, this has been a week I'll never forget! So let's get to it! :D

This week started like a normal one, but the first things of note occurred Tuesday when we drove all the way out to Valliant on the west border of our area! We were visited some less active members in our ward when they showed us this AWESOME bamboo forest on their property and it simply called for pictures! It was funny because you'll note in the first picture below that my hair is relatively dry, but in the second it is soaking wet............ Let's just say the heavens opened up and poured. EVERYTHING got soaked! It was nuts! It was pretty fun though! 

The following day, we had dinner with some members and investigator, namely Johnny and Debra Wilson (They have baptismal dates set for April 29th.....). After an awesome dinner and conversation we went into the living room where it was suggested that we play a game. What game should we play? Oh how about a game where we make someone stand up, put a blind fold one, put head phones and rock out to music. I was too down! (Perhaps this was the reason why they made me go first......) The picture below is one of Johnny, right in the middle of his performance. Good times! XD

Now this couple that I'm talking about, the Wilsons, are AWESOME!! We're such good friends with them! This last week Johnny made us these incredible scripture signs/boards (See below.....)...... What a guy. I plan to stay in touch with this incredible couple for the rest of my life. They have come SO far in the gospel and have one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. There's nothing like standing on their porch with them in the evening and having Johnny honestly state, "I believe the Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ." They are seriously some of my closest friends and I'm so grateful for them......

Friday started off on a CRAZY note........ We got up early and drove all the way to the Arkansas border to go do some service for the Elders Quorum president in the branch, Brother Rasmusson. He's a chicken farmer. Now don't get confused, when I say chicken farmer it's not a simple coup with 20-30 chickens........ No, we're looking at more like over 150,000 chickens every 60 days!! It is INSANE!! This guy is serious! (He raises chickens for Tyson.......) Anyways we went over to help unload baby chicks! This was officially the craziest, and smelliest service I have ever done in my life....... Just look at the pictures. We unloaded over 70,000 baby chicks between the three of us that morning. And this isn't a nice, get the chick out, set it down. No, you grab a pallet of chicks (Usually 200+) and literally sling them out as fast as you can! You feel horrible for the first few minutes literally throwing these baby chicks at break neck speed, but hey........ It needs to be done, and supposedly they have padding?  This was NUTS! Hundreds of thousands of baby chicks.......... It was really good timing for Easter. Afterwards we smelled SOOO bad that we had to go back to the apartment and shower again or face getting turned down at every single door. We could hardly stand to be in the same car as ourselves it was so bad. Regardless, the service was extremely fun and I would do it again in a heart beat! 

Another interesting thing we did that day, we have a member who's really wanted to go get the church started "Up North" (North of Broken Bow Lake in the Indian towns of Pickens, Battiest, Bethel, and Smithville), so he drove us up (After our showers of course!) and we went about establishing the Lords kingdom in a place that had not seen missionaries in YEARS! We had to drive nearly an hour an a half to get there! It was AWESOME! The people there are so prepared to  receive the gospel and we can't wait to go back next week! The region is gorgeous with these massive forested plateaus, pine trees, and open sky! Lots of Native American people in that region. We found a bunch of new investigators! AWESOME.

Now let's talk Marshallese...... We had something absolutely hilarious and EPIC happen! One day we were searching for some of the Marshallese members in the branch and we learned that they were attending this HUGE Marshallese wedding/birthday party and after calling them, they said we should come over. IT WAS INSANE! This was the place to be! There were hundreds of Marshallese people there from all over Arkansas and Oklahoma! They had this Marshallese band there which was rocking out, and it was PACKED! All of a sudden this lady who was over the celebration/wedding started ushering us towards the front and before we knew what was happening we were sitting in the very front with the families of the couple as the "Guests of Honor" at the wedding. WHAT THE HECK! We had only wandered in to find some people and now we're the guests of honor!! It was INSANE!! XD We were only planning on staying for a little bit with this we were obliged to stay the rest of the evening. They kept bringing us food (Namely rice and chicken, their favorite dish......), and the Marshallese kids were swarming. I'm not sure what it is but the Marshallese people here love the Mormon missionaries. Out of the hundreds of people at the party it was pretty funny being the only white people! It was a beautiful wedding though I could hardly understand any of it because it was in Marshallese. Speaking of the language, I'm slowly starting to speak bits and pieces of the language. Enough to introduce myself, learn their name, and talk about Jesus. It's so fun! 

Man........ I haven't even mentioned GENERAL CONFERENCE yet!! General Conference was INCREDIBLE! I could go on and on about it, but you're probably wondering, "When is this email going to end?", so I'll get on with it! As a missionary, General Conference is like Christmas! (Or in my case St. Patricks day......) You practically get giddy with excitement. Let me just say, President Nelson is AWESOME, the last hour of the Sunday morning session was JAW DROPPING (I'm serious, if you haven't seen that session go watch it!!), and this church is true, growing, and FANTASTIC! If you didn't get a chance to watch Conference..... DO IT! (No excuses!!) This one will keep you on the edge of your seat it's so action-packed! I mean you never when President Nelson's going to jump and drop some EPIC new revelation! I couldn't take notes fast enough, and I gained so much from this inspiring conference! It was made even better because besides many of our other investigators coming to conference, we had this family of new investigators named the Baker Family (An awesome Choctaw family!) come to the Sunday morning session! Miracles are real folks! 

To top it all of one of my cherished friends out here, Jona Steffler, was baptized between sessions on Sunday. I'm so proud of Jona and his decision to accept the gospel in his life. He's an incredible guy, and I know he'll perform miracles. I feel seriously blessed because he asked me to confirm him next Sunday. Every one, I love my job out here. I get to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone I see, everyday of the week, 24/7. Is there a cooler job than that, I don't think so. This church is true. I see literal miracles EVER DAY. I testify that President Russell M. Nelson has been prepared and called of the Lord to serve as our prophet in these latter days. Listen to him, because through his revelation and direction is our best chance to be happy and have peace both in this life and the life to come. Elder Gong is flipping awesome. In the name of our savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Clark Fox

Semana Trece (Quick, look outside! It's..... Pollen(ing)?)

Howdy folks! 

Into the second week of the transfer and I'm still kicking, so let's roll! This week we had an interesting start! Tuesday morning Elder Frampton and I woke up at 6:30 AM, sat up, looked at each other, and in that moment knew that this was going to be one heck of a rough day to start the transfer! Don't you love those days when you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed! I love it! XD (I can laugh about it now because we're almost a whole week out!) But despite how much we wanted to just play dead, we went went too work! And I can tell you, the day was not that pretty, especially when some one almost crashed into us on the road (Key word almost.......), but it's amazing what a double scoop, orange sherbet ice cream cone can do to pick up your day!

I was pretty confused one day this week when I walked out of the apartment to see everything dusted in a yellow snow like substance........ Strange..... I know about yellow snow (Namely that we shouldn't eat it.....), but this stuff was everywhere! Then it dawned on me, it snows pollen in the South! It's like Christmas....... But in March! Nameless to say I was fascinated and took far too many pictures of the phenomenon! Why didn't anyone tell me that it snows pollen down here!

Another interesting note on this area...... I have have mentioned it before, but in my area their are almost more Marshallese people than white people! It's nuts! There are four languages: English, Marshallese, Spanish, and Choctaw! (The native american language......) The Marshallese people are awesome and everywhere! (Sometimes it feels so much like I'm out in the Pacific somewhere that I forget where I am!) They love loud boom boxes, running around without shoes, they are always outside! And it's crazy because the Marshallese people all have the same job......... They all work the night shift at Tysons! (The largest chicken plant/factory in the world.......) It smells like all get out and on a warm day you can smell it across my entire area. It's horrible, I don't know how people can stand to work there. (But yet, EVERYONE does. Tyson dominates most peoples lives out here.......) Another interesting note....... The other day there was a pretty big gang fight over on the west side/ghetto side of Idabel, and I guess several people were killed!

The works progressing here in Idabel! (Especially, and sadly, because we no longer cover De Queen.....) But this week we had one incredible miracle happen that I'm going to share with ya'll whether you want to hear it or not!

This is the story of Debra and Johnny Wilson. Two of my favorite, (if you can have favorite.......) investigators/friends! This older couple has met with the missionaries for YEARS but they never progressed farther than bashing and picking apart the doctrine. And that's the way they were when Elder Frampton and I started teaching them, but slowly and  surely we've witnessed a miracle these past few weeks. We have seen their hearts soften, from asking questions trying to disprove the church, they have had a complete change of heart and desire. (I'm serious, this is like Alma the Younger here, but with old people!) There was one point when we thought we were years from seeing them get baptized, but last Saturday we had the opportunity to extend a baptismal invitation which they accepted. This was a miracle. I wish I could find all those missionaries who ever taught them to tell them that their efforts weren't put to waste. That after years of bashing and fighting it the Wilson's have finally accepted that invitation. I just feel so blessed that it was Elder Frampton and I who could be the ones here to watch them accept it.

Miracles are real, this church is real, and pollen snows in the south. (Yes it's true!)

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Clark fox

P.S- Happy Easter everyone! Enjoy General Conference this weekend because I know I sure will!

1. A frog I caught down in Texas last P Day!

2. You may not notice it right off, but that tractor in the picture is MASSIVE! It's almost as wide as the entire road, and three times the size of our car!

3-4. Haha, okay! Just past that border sign is out if our mission, so Elder Frampton and needed to see how close to breaking the rules we could get! (Note: don't live by that motto.....)

5-6. I'm sad it doesn't show up very well in pictures, but you can see evidence of the pollen! It's awesome!

7. I love some of these long roads out here!

8. Yes! Only in the South!

Semana Doce (In which I get two girlfriends, commit the masses to baptism, get my area split, and celebrate like a true Irishmen/over-enthusiastic American...... Gotta love it!)

Man, this last week was truly one to remember..... 

Some incredible highs, and one depressing low. (That low being getting my area split.... Even if it is for the best.) But before we get into all that crap, let'

s start with something to lighten the mood!

"Q: What do you call an Irishmen bouncing off the walls?"

"A: Rick O'Shey"  (Hahahah, I love it!! )

OH MY GOODNESS ST. PATRICK'S DAY (my all time favorite holiday.....) was this week!! Ahhhhhh!! I LOVE St. Patrick's Day!! Why you may ask? Exactly the reasons you may think; it's green, it's stupid, it's pointless, and it's freaking AWESOME!! Beyond that I don't have a good answer, it's just the truth. And no I'm not Irish..... I've just always loved the holiday and continue to do so!

Being the fan of St Patrick's Day that I am, I take it upon myself to inform EVERYONE about my love of the holiday...... And guess what!?!? They responded!! Two of my investigators, (Debra and Johnny Wilson.... The older couple in the pictures below. We're hoping to set a baptismal date with them this week!) upon hearing how much I love St Patrick's Day went to the store and bought Elder Frampton and I these freaking awesome St. Patrick's Day shirts! Oh I love them so much! And well to put it simply, I now have a new favorite shirt! 

In addition, we spent Friday night up in De Queen, Arkansas with a senior missionary couple (We got special permission in order to do more work out there.....) and they made us this awesome, ENTIRLEY GREEN St. Patrick's Day Breakfast!!! It really made my day!! Ahhhhh, I LOVE St. Patrick's Day!!! My awesome parents, who I love very much, even sent me a St. Patrick's Day package! By the end of the day I had amassed quite the stash of awesome St. Patrick's Day stuff!! (Look below for proof.....) Thanks to everyone who made it so awesome and memorable!! (Even if I didn't really do anything different than any other day......) #stpatricksday2019

Okay, let's get real now.... From the title of this email you probably have some questions. And as much as I would like to leave you in suspense, I enjoy telling you about the craziness down here in Oklahoma far more, so let's get to it!

Let's start with the ugly...... My area, the legendary area of Idabel and De Queen, the LARGEST and possibly wildest area in the entire Mighty Texas Dallas Mission, will be getting split this Tuesday (transfers) and the city of De Queen will sadly be getting it's own set of Spanish speaking Elders. That means that I will no longer have Arkansas in my area. I know it's for the best (Because of the distance we had only been getting out there once a week........), but some of my/our closest friends and investigators live there and it's painful to giving them over to anyone else. Even if they are good missionaries......... Oh well I'll survive. Blagh! 

Okay, enough of that stuff that nobody cares about but me! Let's get to the interesting stuff like TWO girlfriends in one week! What on earth could I be talking about? Hadn't I sworn off females for the next two years? Apparently my missionary charm was just to much.....

Haha, on Thursday were over at this less active mans house named Brother Earley! (Awesome guy, we've visited him several times before.......) Well he has two grandaughters that are usually over at his house and as usually they freaked out when they saw us driving up! Brother Earley was finishing painting the outside of his house when we arrived and refused (As usually....) to let us help, despite our best efforts....... That meant we got to play with his grandaughters! We skipped around the yard holding hands, swung on the swing, played all sorts of games! They had even gotten me an awesome St. Patricks Day necklace knowing that I would be coming! (Note: Just for me, not Elder Frampton!) I first noticed something was up when they started asking me if I had a wife, girlfriend, etc...... There were several other signs as well, but the kicker was when one of them stopped me and told me that they both had huge crushes on me and that they wanted to come back to Idabel with me!!

There was but one problem with this budding romance........ (Well probably a whole lot more if you think about it........) Both of the girls were only 9-10 years old!! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to work on being less charming out here!! 

BAPTISMS!!! No, I did not baptize anyone this weel, but we did set a TON of baptismal dates!! Oh love seeing people make commitments...... There are few moments cooler (Except for the actual baptism itself.......) then when you're teaching a lesson, the spirit's there, and then you just do it! You extend that baptismal invitation and they they agree to it without even a moments hesitation! Depending, we could be getting as many as five baptisms in April! I'm seriously so excited! The promised land of Idabel, Oklahoma is bearing fruit!

We had something interesting happen last night! We were talking to this guy and he was telling us how he's had three visions where God transports him around the world to save hundreds of people from disasters.

Everyone, this week was quite possibly my favorite yet! (Which is saying a lot, seeing how much I love it out here.......) There were so many incredible, noteworthy things that happened this week that it's nearly impossible to cover them all in a near reasonable length email...... 

But what should be your take away from this email? St. Patricks is flipping awesome, I didn't get tranferered this week (Though my area's getting split), half coyote half wolf dogs are a thing (Look at the picture of the dog with two different colored eyes......), taco stands and Spanish food are spicy, and missions are seriously a two year party! (Party being work........ It all depends on the way you look at it........ That's really what I've been noticing out here. You can choose to miserable or you can choose to be having the time of your life! I simply prefer the later, but to everyone his own..........)

This probably isn't the right term (Or appropriate.......), but I freaking love this church! It just all adds up! You might not notice it at home, but here on the mission you actually see the effects of the gospel taking affect! You watch these smoking, lonely, and often depresspressed people do a complete 180 in a matter of weeks. Their countenance  brighter, they're smiling, they're happy. I wouldn't trade that opportunity for the world. The Lord really knew what he was doing when he gave us the sciptures. They truly are the intructions for how to be happyy here in this life, and especially in the life to come. He didn't just give us a short 10 page instruction booklet entitled "Life", but he gave us not one, not two, but FOUR standard works! (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price........) Essentially four HUGE books containing the exact instructions on how happy! (Not even counting General Conference EVER six months!) He even included thousands of examples of people applying those instruction and, duh, BEING HAPPY! Could it be more simple, I don't think so....... So what am I trying to say? GO READ THE SCRIPTURES! (And apply those things you read...... That part is kind of important........) 

I love ya'll, miss ya'll, but I don't want to see ya'll!

Have a great week and a blessed day!
Elder Clark Fox

P.S- The two girls I'm talking about in the email are the two girls standing by me in the photo of my companion feeding the calf.......