Semana Cincuenta y Cinco (The Great Pizza Miracle of Río Trinidad!🍕🍕)(Mesquite, Tx)

Welcome to heaven ladies and gents! 

No, but that's how this week has felt anyways. Rio Trinidad, or Mesquite Texas (because that's technically the city we're in......) has been a riot so far. I've only been here a week, but I'd go so far as to say this is my favorite area on my mission. I have a fun miracle/tender mercy I want to share, but first here are a few points to give you an idea what Rio Trinidad is like!

- This area is VERY much in the ghetto and I love it! Not many large buildings, but everything's old, cheap, and run down...... In other words, a missionary's paradise! (You just have to be careful once it gets dark....)

- Elder Wardell is great! He's the tallest missionary in the mission, so it's a funny feeling for once being the short one in the companionship. He's not always the most positive guy, but he's an incredible teacher. We get along great, work hard, and I'm actually really excited to serve with him!

- Spanish....... Well. Let's just say it's a work in progress. No, I can usually get by, but it's not always pretty. This is the best Spanish area in the mission, so hopefully it will whip me into shape quickly!

- THE FOOD!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Have was I even living before this area!?!?!?!? The food here is incredible!!! And there's SO MUCH of it...... It's going to take a miracle not to gain weight. And there's so much of it! Let's just say the members take very good care of us...... 🌮🌮🌮

- We actually share one ward with the Rio Trinidad South Elders. We're on bikes in the more condensed city part, and they cover larger country area in a car. It's hilarious, because even though we're technically in different areas, we do everything together. Planning, dinners, service, church, etc! (We're pretty much a four elder companionship of taco awesomeness.......) 

- And yes, you guessed it...... we're biking! Everywhere...... It's all good though, I love biking. It's just a little cold this time of year.

-In way of people we're teaching. One word, mucho! Totally different from Allen where we were scrapping for anyone to teach. We can't seem to keep track of everyone here. More updates to come.

Now for the miracle ya'll have been waiting for......

¡The Great Pizza Miracle of Rio Trinidad! 

It was Sunday afternoon, and we were out knocking/working/suffering in the freezing cold. Our hands were frozen and it was actually pretty miserable. But that's when it happened! This random guy walked by balancing 12 little Caesars pizzas in his arms! Before we knew what had happened he had called us over and given us an entire peperroni pizza for free!!! It was still freezing cold, but completely turned our day around! God works in all sorts of mysterious ways, why not little caesar's pizza??

Love y'all!

Que tenga un buen dia!

Elder Clark Fox

(La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias) 

(2737 Franklin Dr Mesquite TX 75150 #1611)

Semana Cincuenta y Cuatro (In Which Transfer Dreams Come True!!!)(Río Trinidad, Tx) or (The Land of Spanish and Baptisms!)

IT HAPPENED! IT FINALLY HAPPENED!

Last night and this morning have seriously been such an emotional roller coaster...... I hardly know where to begin. As you can probably tell from the title of my email, we received our transfer emails last night, and I am out! Not only that, but I'm going to one of my dream areas! ¡Río Trinidad (Sp)! (One of the most Spanish heavy/highest baptizing areas of the mission!) I've hoped for a transfer like this my whole mission! I'm going from Allen, probably the toughest area in the mission, to a high baptizing area WITH Spanish! I'm finally going to get Spanish down! And to make things even better, I'm going to go be the District Leader of a huge district full of missionaries I love! I haven't even seen the area yet, and I already feel such a strong love for my new District, the area, and the people there!

Not to mention my new companion! Elder Wardell! (Or if we're using missonary lingo, "my brother!") (My trainer/dad, Elder Frampton, trained both Elder Wardell and myself, and now we're companions!) (It's alright though, because I am the older brother!) I've heard he can be a little difficult to get along with, but it's all good because I know he wants to work, and he wants to be obedient. This transfer is seriously going to be so great! 

(So remember, don't send anything mailwise to Allen...... because I won't be here!) (Stay tuned for my Río Trinidad address!)

In other news for the week, surprisingly Elder Richards is also getting transfered up to Sherman, Texas...... So yes, that unfortunately does mean we've been "doubled-out". Ouch. Oh well. At least we're both moving out to super hot "bumping" areas in the mission. I love the guy and will miss serving with him.

Additionally, we were supposed to have Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and visit the mission this week, but unfortunately he recieved a last minute change of assignment from Elder Ballard, and he ended up not being able to come...... Oh well, at least we still had the mission conference...... Just without an apostle.....

 

We have yet to see for certain, but I feel like I'm moving into what's going to be my favorite time on my mission. I can't wait to see what the coming weeks and months bring! I just want to work, and work hard. Río Trinidad had better watch out, Elder Fox is coming at you! (with his broken Spanish.....) (But that's okay.....)

Elder Clark Fox
(The Restored Church of Jesus Christ)
(Río Trinidad, Texas.......)

1. Geographically I'm not going that far away, but it's pretty much another world from Allen!

2. The email itself!

3. One of my final exchanges here in Allen with Elder Price from Pensecola, Florida!

4. The legendary "False Prophecy Board"! (I was given a 70% chance of leavings, and well..... it happened!)

5. The picture doesn't do it justice, but a giant vulture we almost hit on the road!

Semana Cincuenta y Tres (In Which I Split My Pants, Return to the Promise Land [Oklahoma], and Burn Down a Church...... almost.)(Allen, TX)

Good afternoon my peoples!

Hope y'all have had great Christmas, eaten too much sugar, and are getting ready to party like it's New Years Eve tonight! Wait a minute.....

Anyways, this week was all over the place, with all sorts of wild stories, so rather than try to write it all out in a boring narrative that no one will read, I've decided to condense the highlights of the week into bit sized pieces to keep everyone happy. So let's get to it!

1. Well everyone, the inevitable finally happened, I'm a year into this mission thang. If that's not whack I don't know what is. Being the true missionary that I am, I of course had to burn a shirt in proper missionary fashion. Let's just say it was glorious, very smokey, and there is now a pile of ashes behind the church dumpster.

2. I did it! Finally, nearly a year later I returned to the promised land of Oklahoma. Saturday we went with the Spanish Elders on the ultimate road trip to the northern parts of our area to go teach some lessons and visit some referals. (Got to see Sherman, Denison, Bonam, and even a good chunk of Oklahoma.)  This also was glorious. #oklahomaforlife #iamhome

3. Here's your embarassing story from the week....... I have some suit pants which have already been struggling with a number of tears along the seams, but the other day we were late to a member dinner, so I jumped into the car and heard a terrible ripping noise. The pants were done for...... However being short on time, there was no time to change. Worst. Dinner. Ever. (It's okay, it wasn't actually that bad.....)

4. While on our excursion to Oklahoma with the Spanish Elders, the elder who was driving (Not me for the record....) decided to make a pretty wide turn and well........ the pictures tell the rest of the story.

5. I got to talk with my family on Christmas! It was great getting to see everyone, including my beloved, fluffy, evil cat. Easily the highlight of my week!

6. Elder Stevenson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is coming to our mission and the Allen stake this next week, so it would be an understatement to say we're excited!

7. We had a great MLC this week over in Frisco where we discussed the progress of the mission in 2018, and plans and insight for the coming year. The Texas Dallas Mission is on a roll people! Yee-ha!

I love ya'll so much! Just keep putting your shoulder to wheel, and if your shoulder's not yet on the wheel...... WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING! Put your dang shoulder on the freaking wheel already! Love ya'll! See you in a year!

Elder Clark Fox
(The Restored Church of Jesus Christ)
(301 N. Greenville Avenue Allen TX 75002 #45)

Semana Cincuenta y Dos (It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Texas! )(Allen, TX)

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE Y'ALL!

In the words of the BEST Christmas Carol movie (That obviously being "A Muppets Christmas Carol".....), "There's only one more sleep til Christmas!"

The season has flown by here in the mission field. It's just funny because you go outside and it's still quite green and nearly 60 degrees outside. Gotta love that Texas weather!

We have been seeing the hand of the Lord like CRAZY this week! For example, we had one of those pure gold investigators just fall into our hands. Here's the story from my email to my mission president this morning.....

"We were on exchanges over in Frisco with the Assistants, but that evening we ended up needing to come back to our area for both a baptismal interview and an SPR report. After the interview we looked and saw that we had an awkward fifteen minutes left before we needed to leave for the SPR report. The question was asked, what would be the most effective use of these fifteen minutes? I quickly felt prompted that we just needed to get down and dirty and knock some doors, it didn't matter if it was late. Elder Richards agreed and additionally felt prompted to go to a specific apartment complex which had already been knocked over thoroughly. We drove there in the assistants van, because that's what we were driving, and sprinted up to the first door #1111. A lady answered the door and after some brief introductions she quickly invited us in. Unfortunately there wasn't a man home, so we could go in, but after talking some more she kept telling us about how she had been looking for God to send her a message with the path she should be on spiritually in her life. And how ironic that we happened to knock right then as she was about to post a post on Facebook about her search for truth. We quickly informed her that we were servants of the Lord and that we had been prompted and sent that night to her door specifically for her, to deliver the "message God would have you hear." She was nearly in tears, and the spirit was powerful. We set a return appointment for the next day, which I was able to go to on splits with a member. Easily one of the most powerful restoration lessons I have ever taught. The spirit was present and her prayer at the end was perfect. She is truly seeking for truth, and at the rate she's already reading the Book of Mormon, she's going to find it. The Lord truly does place those who are ready to hear the gospel in our paths. We had knocked that apartment complex for months and nothing! But then that night, the first door! And to think, all of this because we had an awkward fifteen minutes before SPR and felt prompted that we needed to "knock some doors".

On top of that we had five people at church on Sunday, and for what ever reason the people of Allen have seemed to have had softer hearts this week.... #feelingblessed

Just a couple other highlights of the week! We had the mission Christmas party which was seriously a blast! (Well actually it was two "half" mission Christmas parties because the mission is so big......) We even rallied the ward and did a secret Santa for one of our investigators who's struggling. Beyond that though, lot's of tracting, reports, and exchanges. The less glamorous, but still important part of missionary work.

You may ask, what are my plans for Christmas? We'll tonight we're going to be spending dinner with some members in the ward, and then possibly one of our investigators. And then on the big day itself, a member in Mckinney has invited our whole zone over for a big Christmas breakfast, and then a number of members have invited us over, and if we get the chance we might even try to squeeze in some tracting! (Because who doesn't love missionaries knocking on your door on Christmas....... It should be fun.)

Also before I wrap this up, a special thank you to all those who sent me cards! Like seriously!

Now go have yerselves (And yes, "yerselves" is proper Texan!) a great day, and an even better tomorrow!

Elder Clark Fox
(The Restored Church of Jesus Christ)
(301 N. Greenville Avenue Allen TX 75002 #45)

1. Finishing up an exchange with the Fairview Elders! (I went with our DL, Elder Pearce into our area for a day....)
2. Crazy roads on the way to the Christmas party in Richardson!

3. Last P-day our entire zone got together and baked 120 loaves of bread as a gift to every companionship in the mission.... 

4. Last night we came home to this pleasant surprise! It was from "The Christmas Elves" (The members here are great!) 

5. More fancy roads.... 

6. Because why not....

7. A quick selfie from tracting last night! (I don't remember for sure, but I think the door we're about to knock slammed the door on us....) 

8. Me and one of our assistants after finishing our exchange over in Frisco! 

9. Our Christmas stash for the big day! 

10. A fancy building..... 

Semana Cincuenta y Uno (Chasing Ducks + Wrapping Presents + Exchanges + Preaching the Gurd Wurd!)(Allen, TX)

Man...... It feels like Monday's are always sneaking up on me these days........ Weird.

This week was a good one, lot's of exchanges with elders in the zone (Which I had to drive the car for......) (My theory for how to never get in a car accident on my mission is simple; only drive when I have to! So far it's worked quite well!), ward Christmas parties, raking the leaves of a Baptist preacher, eating at our favorite sushi place in Frisco after interviews (We may or may not have broken our own record..... again!), chasing ducks at the local park, eating BBQ (Which is great here in Texas!), getting close to finishing the New Testament, football is HUGE here in Allen so some members bought us these awesome Allen Football T-shirts, and even getting to wrap Christmas presents for a non member lady who had recently broken BOTH of her arms...... (Don't ask me how she managed that......) 

All in all a very busy, Christmas filled week! Keep lighting the world ya'll! 

Elder Clark Fox
(The Restored Church of Jesus Christ)
(301 N. Greenville Avenue Allen TX 75002 #45)

1. How it feels sometimes.... 

2. We had a really weird fall here in Texas, so it's December and now all the leaves are starting to fall..... 

3. One of the shirts! 

4. Us earlier today, after getting a flu shot at Walmart..... 

5. After an one of our exchanges with the Spanish Elders in Mckinney! (Elder Thompson from Provo and Elder Ebenal from Oregon...... Finally got to speak some Spanish!) 

Semana Cincuenta (In Which I Recieve Two Christmas Presents Early + Encounter the Wildlife of Allen!)(Allen, TX)

Buenas dias mi gente! (And yes, just in case you've forgotten I am serving Spanish speaking, though I've almost been out a year now and have yet to serve in a Spanish area....... It's all good though. I can read and speak Spanish quite well, I just sometimes struggle to understand what people are saying since I'm never around those who speak the language. But I have faith it willl come.)

But all together, this week was a good one. We had Zone Conference this week in Dallas where Elder Richards and I got to give a 20 minute training on the the area book app, so that was fun. But just doing the zone leader/missionary thing. Lot's of knocking doors in the rain this week. Gotta love it! 

In good news, however, we did recieve a couple early Christmas presesnts this week, which have rocked our world! The first being a NEW CAR! We've been waiting for this car now for months, and the timing could not have been better! (I just feel bad for the sisters who had it before us and are now on bikes, in the rain....... sheesh.) But on a top of that a member in one of our wards we cover was gave us a free elliptical machine they were throwing out! Now we can run in the morning without being those lunatic missionaries running around at six in the morning freezing our faces off! #blessingsfromabove

Also for whatever reason we kept running into all the wildlife of Allen this week, from coyotes in the middle of the city to this crazy white/albino squirrel that kept following us around, to this bird which did not appreciate us photographing his meal, it's certainly been an entertaining week!

But to wrap this up, I thought I might give you a sneak peek behind the scenes of what my daily schedule looks like.....

5:35 AM (Alarm goes off, roll out of bed and pray.)

5:40 AM (Second alarm goes off just incase I fell asleep during said prayer.....)

5:45 AM Study the scriptures for 45 minutes before excercise (Usually personal study is from 9-10, but to the joy of my companions I get up early with them for extra studies. Trust me, they love it.) 

6:35 AM It depends on the day, but we usually go run for three or so miles

8:15 AM Another alarm goes off telling us it's time to get on the District Conference call! (Where we discuss announcements, share miracles, and ask the question of the day.)

8:25 AM Mission prayer! (Everyone in the entire mission stops what they're doing, gets on their knees and prays together to start the day.)

8:30 AM Daily planning! (Pretty self explanatory.....)

9:00 AM Personal studies (Usually from El Libro de Mormon)

10:00 AM Outside and visible 10-9! (That's practically the mission moto..... Though we are allowed a brief half hour lunch.)

9:00 PM (or 9:30 PM if we have a lesson) Roll back into the apartment, say a companionship prayer, read a chapter together in the Book of Mormon (It's interesting because I read in Spanish he reads in English, so it's back and forth.....), maybe some evening excerise depending on the day, more studies, write in my journal. (And if it's Sundays we have numbers and reports to fill out which take forever.......)

10:25 PM Personal prayer and roll into bed!

5:35 AM Repeat seven hundred something times for two years!

There you have it, the mission schedule in the Texas Dallas Mission! (And for all ya'll thinking about serving missions, don't worry the normal wake up time is 6:30, unless you have a punk companion like me.)

Love ya'll! Remember, to go Light the World!

Elder Clark Fox
(The Restored Church of Jesus Christ)
(301 N. Greenville Avenue Allen TX 75002 #45)

P.S- My companion and I are finising up our Christmas card today, so if any of yall are intrested, shoot me your home address!

P.P.S- Don't be afraid to shoot some Christmas cards my way as well! (I'll be here in Allen at least until January!)