Semana Cuarenta y Nueve (In Which We Lose the Bathroom Door......)

Ya, so......... If you read the title of the email. It's gone. Simple as that. 

We've known it was coming for a while, but then one day it just fell off. Now it's gone. Gotta love those ghetto missionary apartments! Seeing how we are now down a door, and a very important door at that, we've resorted to the old "sheet" over the door-way tactic. We'll see how it works. Pray for us.

Besides that bit of excitment, this week was great! We did something really cool, so as the leaders in the mission we have a conference every month to discuss the needs and progress of the mission and this month we had a very unique confenerence INSIDE the TEMPLE! How cool is that! First we did an endowment session, which let me tell you, was INCREDIBLE! (It was my first time going back to the temple in ten months........ It felt so refreshing!) Then after the session, we went down stairs to this big secret conference room inside the temple and had our conference! That was a meeting to remember........ Man I love the House of the Lord!

Lot's of service this week from setting up the big Allen Stake/Community Nativity that went on this weekend, to painting second story shutters on wobbly ladders (pictures included.....) this week was certainly a fun one as we enter the Christmas season here in Texas! This work is fairly slow here in North Dallas, but it certainly doesn't mean we're not busy. Lot's of knocking, lots of biking, lots of anti-material!  #gottaloveit

Also the other knight we got to watch one of my favorite Christmas movies! Mr. Kruegar's Christmas! If you don't know what that one is or haven't seen it in years, my invitation for ya'll this week is to change that! Sit the family down, and watch yourself some Mr. Kruegar's Christmas. Trust me, your Christmas season will be that much better! 

#lighttheworldyall

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

Semana Cuarenta y Ocho (Stolen Cars, Fireside Mayhem, and Thanksgiving Feasts..... Or simply another week in Texas!)

Hello my peoples!

First off just some updates, we recieved our transfer emails last night AND........ I'm staying as a Zone Leader in Allen!! In fact I'm staying with my companion, Elder Richards, and everything, so that's good. Not too much of a surprise, but hey, you never know with transfers!

Thanksgiving was good this week! Besides feeling under the weather, we had a couple dinner appointments, so saying we were full would be an understatment........ Plus it was my first time having steak for Thanksgiving! I guess there's a first time for everything haha It

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we're in full Christmas swing here in Texas! (And that's one thing I'll give Texans credit for, they do enjoy their Christmas season!) (Even if there's no snow.......)

It's crazy to think that I hit 11 months on Wednesday....... I had a weird moment the other night. I was sitting at a missionary/investigator fireside and I was looking around at all these new missionaries, and it dawned on me that almost half of the missionaries I've known in the mission are now home....... If that's not whack I don't know what is.

Speaking of the fireside here's a funny story for ya'll! We're teaching this girl named Kat in the YSA that we hope to see baptized in December, and we invited her to attend this fireside with us. Unfortunately we forgot that not everyone outside of the church knows what a fireside is......... She may or may not have showed up 

expecting an actual BONEFIRE! Whoops........ We were dying!  

Also in other news......... Our car got stolen! Well perhaps a little explanation........ Since our car got sent to another area, we've been on bike waiting for another car from the mission office. Well it turns out that the mission had the car and was about to install the church's tracking system for us, but before that could happen the car was STOLEN! I'm serious........ stolen straight out of the parking lot in down town Dallas. What does this mean for us? Our biking situation is probably a little more permanent.    

So ya....... Just wanted to close with my testimony. Christ was born, lived, and died, and I know that he now lives. Without that knowledge we would have no hope. Christ is hope. In the grand scheme of things he asks so little from us. Have faith in him, repent, be baptized, recieve the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. THAT'S IT! How selfish of us to withhold our knowledge of the gospel from those around us. I would hope and each of us is praying daily for opportunities to share the gospel. This church is true. You got a problem with that. Read. Pray. Repeat. You will recieve an answer. I promise.

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

Semana Cuarenta y Siete (Photo Shoots in the Fall + Elder Lynn G. Robins)

Merry Thanksgiving ya'll! Oh sorry, I meant Happy Christmas........ You know what I'll just stop....... Happy Holidays!

Alright, so I could share the long version (Which no one including my parents will read all the way through.....) or the short version (Which more people would read.....), but essentially here are the highlights ya'll are interested in!

- Elder Lynn G. Robins of the Seventy came to our mission on Monday and we had 3 four hour sessions with him over the next three days! Super awesome! It was interesting because he said we were an obedient mission, and so he talked to us about marriage and family. Really interesting twist.

- We had Stake Conference on Sunday so that was pretty sweet! (Got to listen to our mission president and Elder Lynn G. Robins again!)

- You guessed it, I'm back on bike! Supposedly there were some sisters who didn't appreciate the cold, so President felt they could use our car more than we could........ So biking it is. It's just unfortunate timing with the cold here in Texas. (Because if you didn't know, Texas does in fact get COLD!) Luckily, I ended up upgrading from my dying piece of trash I was riding (You know, one of those terrible bikes that just floats around between missionary apartments........) to a semi-decent bike I have named "Fox-Trot". 

- I went on an exchange with one of my favorite elders in the mission, Elder Gordon, on Saturday and between biking to Mckinney and back we made sure to properly document the day........ Enjoy.

- After one of the sessions with Elder Lynn G. Robins we went to my all time favorite sushi place in Texas and broke our current record of 14 by downing 16 rolls!  

And of course it wouldn't be a week in the field without the classic missionary phone call.........

Ring Ring

"Hello this the missionaries, what can we do for you?"

"Uhhh........"

They quickly hang up the phone 

Everyone, I love this work. I love this gospel. Sometimes we may wonder why people are not just lined up at the font to be baptized, but we need to remember that this not our work. This is not our timing. It is the Lord's. The Lord cannot lose. If we trust him, and obey, we will witness miracles. I testify of that. 

Go out there and witness some miracles!

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

Semana Cuarenta y Seis (In Which I Only Have Time to Send Pictures and My Love.........)

Howdy ya'll! 

We had Elder Lynn G. Robbins come to our mission today and he's conducting a three day mission conerence (Starting with a leadership meeting all day today.......... Meaning, I don't really have anytime to write, so here's a quick recap and some pictures.) 

Chilly one, but a good one this week in Texas! Lot's of tracting, wonderful lady from Pakistan gave us some food at the door, maybe some bible bashing in the park (Hey I was cornered!), GIANT burritos, and what happens when you have seven elders temporarily in an apartment........ Also a bar with a great name! (Subtitles added.....) The work is going well here in Allen, hopefully two baptisms in the YSA on December 1st. Love ya'll!

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

Semana Cuarenta y Cinco (In Which We Become Lord of the Flies, Get Down and Dirty With the President, and Have Ice Cream With a Seventy! )

What a WACKY-WILD-WEEK! 

This week started off pretty normal, but then Halloween hit....... Okay, well Halloween was still pretty normal, the only difference was that we pushed off our studies until that evening because we needed to be inside our apartment by 6 o'clock sharp! Halloween was well..... Interesting. It started off with trying a McRib for the first time in my life. My thoughts....... DISGUSTING! Besides that it rained a TON, and that evening we may or may not have blended up an apple pie mixed with starburst and dared each other to drink it........ also DISGUSTING!

Tuesday night we got to go out on exchanges with our mission president which was AWESOME! Our mission president, President Dalton is a wealthy business man from California, and he's incredible. It was cool to spend some one on one time with him. Learned a ton! And to make things even better we ended up setting a second baptismal date that night for December 1st.  

However, this was not the end of our church leader one-on-one time this week! Friday night we were biking home at the end of a long day, and we spotted a familiar figure getting out of his car outside a popular ice cream place. It was our area seventy, Elder Jones, and his wife! What on earth!! Being the missionaries we are we quickly jumped off our bikes and went over to say hello! After shaking hands and some brief introductions they invited us to come have ice cream with them! It's not every day you get to sit down and have ice cream with an area seventy. Super cool experience!

All in all this has been a good week here in Texas. There's been some sickness in the zone, but for the most part we're doing well. Fall is in full swing here in Texas. It gets a bit chilly some days, but not too bad. We had a pretty funny comp bonding moment this week where we dubbed ourselves the "Lord of the Flies!" For whatever reason we've had a ton of flies getting into our apartment this week, but Saturday night that came to an end. Armed only with some DVD cases and a towel we went on a massacure and in less than an hour had murdered nearly thirty flies and counting........ Hilarious comp bonding moment! Also this morning we got to go to Topgolf, because a member owns the one here in Allen, so he hooked us up on P-Day! #perksofnorthdallas

All in all life is good. Before I close this email, I just wanted to leave each of you with an invitation. You may or may not be have noticed, but we're quickly coming up on the holidays. Along with the holidays, most wards will probably be hosting parties and activities of one sort or another. My invitation to you. Invite at least one non-member friend to every ward activity. It's natural and it's how missionary work happens. No one is going to think you're a weirdo for inviting them to come eat free food. Just do it! No buts! 

This church is true folks. If you have a question about something, or something doesn't seem to add up doctrinally, just keep reading. Keep praying. Keep searching. Ask people for advice. I can promise you that, though it may not be immediate, you CAN and you WILL find an answer. Trust me on this.

Love ya'll! Have a blessed week!

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

Semana Cuarenta y Cuatro (Halloween Critters of Texas!)

Happy (pre) Halloween! 

Just a short one this week, but since we're in the thick of the Halloween season I thought I'd send some pictures of the Halloween critters I've happened upon this week. (Which I find very fascinating that it was this week of all weeks that I stumbled upon these guys....... particularly the owl. I mean we pulled up at somebodies house, and BAM! It was right there!)

A couple other updates from the week. We had both Mission Leadership Counference and interviews with our mission president this week so lot's of meetings. In addition I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with one of the assistants. I was able to learn a ton, and we even managed to set a baptismal date with one of our progressing investigators in the YSA named Natalie. She's awesome, and we hope to see her baptized on December 1st.

All in all life if good in the mission field. Elder Richards and I are working hard and finding lots of new people to teach, but sadly not many are sticking around for the second lesson which is our problem. Additionally our district is having a bit of a rough go at the moment. So that means lot's of motivational pep talks, blessings, and counciling. (It's interesting as a leader in the mission field. People put a lot of trust in you, and expect for you to be able to help them.) It really forces you to step into your role. But life is good.

And to close, Sister Doutre (A friend from home who is currently serving in my district) would like to inform you all that both the Book of Mormon and Chic-fil-a are true.

Have a great week, ya'll!

Semana Cuarenta y Tres(In Which I Meet One Apostle of the Lord and One Who....... Well, to put it simply, was not called of the Lord.)(Allen, TX)

Howdy-do!

We had some great stuff go down in Texas this week, so let's get on with it! This was the first week of the transfer, which means my first official week on bike, and first official week with Elder Richards. The man's a beast, love the guy. He's a big time athlete from Heber City, so even though we're biking all day everyday, we're still getting in a good three mile run everymorning. What does this mean? Running+Biking+Everyday= RIPPED LEGS. But I love the guy, probably my most loving companion yet. But besides getting drenched with rain and the coldest weather North-East Texas has seen this time of year since 1912, this week was awesome!!

ELDER HOLLAND! Yes, we may or may not have been able to hear from Elder Holland this past week, and it was straight Luckily no one was sent home, but I've never felt so motivated by being so (lovingly) chastised and roasted from the pulpit. He would get really quite and then explode! I'm talking yelling and out right POUNDING the pulpit! It was breath taking and I'm glad we had fire extinguishers on hand...... Awesome experience. We got to shake his hand before hand and take a mission picture with him.

On a less exciting, but still interesting note, Elder Richards and I also meet another "self proclaimed" apostle of the Lord named "Benny" this week........ Interesting fellow. We stopped to talk to him, and he started preaching and prophecying right there on the side walk. He kept grabbing us by the arm, and putting his hand on our hearts in an attempt to give us the holy spirit. Texas has no lack of interesting folks like this. And I've made up my mind, Benny was definietly NOT and apostle of the Lord. (Though we did get a picture with him........)

The Pinewood Derby race! So normally, pinewood derby races are not a standard missionary activity, but apparently they are when your YSA Branch President demands that you participate. So I want to present you with our Halloween themed car: "The Dear John" (What's scarier to a misisonary than a Dear John Letter?) Unfortunatly we did not win, but we got close. That same evening I may or may not have annihilated the competition at a doughnut eating contest. (Download the animation/gif attached below for proof.)  

Let's close out this email with a miracle. On Saturday Elder Richards and I were biking across our area, when out of the blue I felt a clear impression/hunch that we needed to stop right then and knock a house or two. Random? Very much so, but hey! I am in the business of following spiritual impressions. Moments after we had parked our bikes and taken off our helmets  two brothers, Dante and Dadriane, came out of their nearby home, and we went up to talk to them. We ended up teaching a powerful restoration lesson, and they even agreed to come to church the next day. Miracles happen folks. If I had ignored that prompting and just kept riding, which was the easier thing to do we would have completley missed them. So what am I trying to say? ACT ON YOUR PROMPTINGS DANG IT! (sorry that's my Elder Holland coming out........) But seriously, just do it. Don't be stupid.

 Love ya'll! Have a great week!