Semana Setenta y Cuatro (Of Memorial Day, Pupusas, and Zone Conference...... #slab) (Longview, TX)

Happy Memorial Day my peoples!

Hopfully you've got some fun plans for the day, some grilling, visiting the cemetary, and whatever else ya'll are doing, so I won't keep you for long. In big news we put Rodrigo on date for June 15th! So that was definitely a high light of the week. On the downside we discovered has a problem with smoking....... but on the upside again, he already has a desire to quit, which makes a world of difference. I swear, missionary work has so many little ups and downs like that. It's pretty great. 

We also had Zone Conference this week in Longview. The topic was our divine identity. (Did you know that for every missionary in the world there are nearly 100,000 people........ that's a lot of doors to knock.) Beyond that it is was great seeing other missionaries including a few past companions. On a fun note, Elder Moorissey and I are now masters in the art of pupusa making! (One of our investigators taught us...... Pupusas are like little bread/dough cakes with queso, frijoles, and carne inside. If you haven't tried them before..... well..... try them!)

Long live Texas ya'll! 🤘🐃

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX)

1. You're not Texan until you literally put scripture on your house....

2. Blurry Zone Conference picture

3. Some toad we caught

4-6. A couple pictures I forgot to send last week.....

Semana Setenta y Tres (Be Blessed Y'all!) (Longview, TX)

Goodmorning ya'll!

Hope you're doing well, staying alive. (I've found those two tend to go together......) Last night my companion, phrased this week perfectly, "a great week for the work, but not for the weekly......." Because of that we'll keep things sweet and snappy this week. Let's go! 

So we had our first district council of the transfer on Wednesday. During which I gave one of my all time favorite trainings of my mission. It was all about being humble so the potter, God, can mold us into the servants he needs us to be. And yes...... It may or may not have involved a blind-folded play dough/pottery making competition. Because why not!

After the meeting we went down to Henderson on exchanges and killed it! We set a lady on date, and even found a squashed Copper Head! (A poisonous snake native to the south...... I'm still looking for a live one...... which I may or may not attempt to catch..... we'll see.)

We had another major tornado warning Saturday night, but luckily we survived..... this time at least! And we had the coolest thing happen on Sunday........... Two investigators came to church! Rodrigo, for the first time, and Antonia, and they loved it!  We hope to put them on date soon. Beyond that, we did a lot of tracting with some success. The chic-fil-a picture is attached below in honor of, well, Chic-fil-a! We do a lot of our studies there, and I swear, I've eaten more chic-fil-a here in Longview than the rest of my life combined..... it's not good. #sendhelp 

Also, I just had to take a picture of this Elders quorum activity....... I mean come on! "Crawfish and Kickball" How much more southern can you get!  

I've heard this phrase going around, so I might as well give a whirl...... Be blessed ya'll! 

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX) 

Semana Setenta y Dos (Of Tornados and Carnage.... And Menudo!! 🌪️) (Longview, TX)

Whelp.... It turns out that tornados really suck.

Hey my people! Hope you've had a good week, things have certainly taken a turn for the unexpected here in Texas. Longview, the city where I'm serving, got wrecked by a tornado on Wednesday! It's okay, we were hiding in McDonald's during the worst of the storm, but the city's a complete mess. (and no, I didn't actually see the twister....) There are giant trees lying everywhere, on the roads, on top of houses, the works. It's like the apocalypse came early.  Ironically, a tree fell on one of the Baptist churches in town and the steeple got ripped off of another. Interesting that our church was spared.... God certainly does speak in mysterious ways....  (Shout out to my favorite baptist, Tim! It's okay, the LBT was spared....) In addition, fallen trees made a mess out of the power lines, so a lot of the city is still without power five days later. I'm serious, just look at the pictures. Luckily we're okay, and it provided a great way to serve the community! Gotta love service! We even got to bust out the "Mormon Helping Hands" yellow vests... So ya, totally official! Hands down, easily one of my favorite weeks of my mission. It's not everyday a tornado destroys your town.

On top of all this chaos we witnessed some freaky awesome miracles this week as well! One of our investigators, Rodrigo, finally started reading the Book of Mormon, and he loves it! He told us that he read the first three chapters, and then read them again just to make sure he understood everything. He then proceeded to explain them to us in detail. You go Rodrigo! 

And it would be a shame not to mention the Menudo we ate..... Menudo is, how shall we say, something special. It's a popular Hispanic dish that involves chopped up cow intestines in a very spicy soup..... I've never felt like my forehead was going to explode from spiciness before. I was crying and sweating like a pig. Talk about spicy with a weird taste.  

But all in all, we're doing well. We got our transfer emails last night, and it looks like I'm staying District Leader and Elder Morrissey and myself will be staying together another transfer, so I'm pretty happy about that! but anyways...... that's my week! Thanks for the read!  

Keep an eye out for those twisters ya'll, and Happy Mothers Day!

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX) 

Semana Setenta y Uno (In which I go to Lousiana, become amish, and watch my companion get mauled by a German Shepard..... #texasyall)

Goodmorning my peoples!

What a week.... From watching my companion get mauled by German Shepard to being called amish, and even going to Louisiana, this week has certainly been one for the books. But where to start.......

1) German Shepard Attack 

There we were, two missionaries on the street following up on a referal from the zone leaders. And there it was on the other size of the heavily fortified fence, covered in "do not trepass" and "beware of dog" signs..... the BIGGEST, MEANSEST, TOOTHIEST German Shepard you've ever seen! (I swear this thing only had one ear, and was covered in scars......) We stared the beast down for a good five minutes, until finally, it gave up a walked to the other side of the yard. This was it, this was our chance! After a quick prayer, and a lot of faith (I mean hey, the Lord has saved his servants from the jaws of death before!) we entered the yard. The dog continued to watch us as we approached and knocked on the door. That's when it started meandering towards us. Uh oh. We were now frantically banging on the door for dear life. Finally this short little hispanic lady opens, and after a hurried conversation the dog was now literally standing between Elder Morrissey and myself...... crap. You could see the fear in the lady's eyes. She knew what was about to happen and she was helpless to stop it. The beast first nipped at Morrissey's hand (which he manged to move in time), but then with out notice it lunged at his shin! Luckily the first bite wasn't bad, but the dog was just getting warmed up. Immediatley it leapt at him, fangs exposed and tore into Morrissey's left thigh......

I know miracles haven't ceased because I have seen one.

The dog ripped into his leg, tearing the pants with a firm bite. Where there should have been blood and injurey, there was only torn pants and intact garments. From the angle I had, I know that my companion should have been hurt. A scratch, anything. But upon inspection there was nothing. only torn pants. The Lord protects his servants. #miracles #knockallthedoors #ihatedogs

2) Louisiana 

That last section was pretty long, so we'll make the rest of this email snappy. I went to Louisiana! Hurray! I was over in Marshall on an exchange, and I just had to cross the border. Apostate, maybe. But hey, at least it was just another zone, and not another mission's boundaries I crossed for that split second!  (in Louisiana they don't have counties...... they have Parishes. Who'da thunk!)

3) Amish

Knocked on someone's door, they open with this line, "So you're Amish, right?" 😶

4) Gotta have some fun!

So my companion has a sister serving her mission over in Arizona, and their mom recently posted a nice post on Facebook thanking the companions of her children for being good companions, and thanking our parents for raising us and all that jazz....... we'll as part of that post she posted pictures of both companionships. Upon seeing the picture of Hermana Morrissey and her companion we couldn't resist. Look at the pictures below, you'll know what I'm referring to.

That about wraps it up ya'll! The work is progressing here in Longview, maybe not as fast as we would like, but it's progressing. Thanks for all the love and support. I'll catch ya on the flippity-flip! (or less than eight months..... man time's flying.)

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX) 

Semana Setenta (Fox-Dun-Dee..... goes to Texas!)(Longview, TX)

Hello my people!

Quick one this week, because I just found out that I'm leaving for Frisco within the hour (the far end of the mission) for a Mission Leadership Conference tomorrow...... I love surprises.

This week was a good one. Found some cool people, but also had to drop a good number of others who just wouldn't progress. Because we were low on miles for our car we literally biked all week. I've found a new appreciation for cars. It's starting to heat up here in Texas. (Though one day it rained like I've never seen before, and we biked in it all day........ I've never been so completly drenched my entire life.........) I'm really liking Longview. Cool people, good companion, and a bunch of wildlife. (See below for proof......) We ran our mission 5k this morning in Longview, and that was good. Elder Morrissey and I get up at 5:30 everyday, and we go running on Tuesdays, Thursdays,  and Saturdays, so we were well prepared.

Sorry about how brief and choppy this email was...... I will repent next week. The church is true. If you have doubts, open your eyes and actually study the doctrine. It all fits. Enjoy the pictures!

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX) 

1. The picture of all the pamphlets in front of the glass door describes my mission perfectly....... I'm really in the thick of the bible belt here in Longview. In the picture you have the Jehovahs Witnessess, Baptists, Catholics, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints all represented. It's crazy and I love it. 

Semana Sesenta y Nueve (Milagros out the wazoo.... and Easter!)(Longview, TX)

Faster then the wind they flew, knocking doors and scaring cats and people alike. With copies of El Libro de Mormon in their hands and shirt pockets full of pass along cards the two spanish elders of Longview would let nothing stand between them and their goal..... unless that thing happened to be a large angry pit bull, in which case they ran away very quickly. But besides the dog, nothing could stand between them and those ready to hear their message.

Hey ya'll! We just finished up a great week here in Longview. Lately we've really been working on whittling away at our lengthy list of non-progressing investigators to find the elect. And as tough as that can be sometimes (it takes some faith to drop those people, because if you drop everyone you're teaching who are you going to teach?) the Lord was quick to come to our aid. This area has a reputation of being hard to find new investigators, and though this number is small in comparison to some missions, for our area this was huge. We found nine new people this week! Woot woot! 

We've been witnessing miracles this week, here's just one of them. It was the end of the day, and we were knocking this street because, duh, that's what missionaries do. Well we knocked this one door and this man named Miguel opened the door and invited us in to share a "quick easter video" (what a lie...... this man got way more than he bargained for!) after the video we stealithy transitioned right into the Restoration. He was hooked. This was probably one of my favorite Restoration lessons of my mission. He kept making all these great comments and you could have cut the spirit with a butter knife. At the end of the lesson we all kneeled down and Miguel offered the most absolute perfect prayer an investigator could offer. It was in Spanish, but he pretty much said, "Lord, there are so many lost people looking for truth, but they don't know where to find it. I want to follow you Lord, so I need to know if this book is true, and if this message is the path you want me to follow. Help me to know Father." It was legit.

Besides that we had interviews with President Dalton this week, and I went an an exchange with Elder Packham who's serving in Henderson. (He's from southern california and was pretty much a youtube celebrity before his mission) Oh! Also one of my good friends from my last area, Tim the Baptist, came all the way out to Longview to visit me and another missionary he's good friends with. It was great to see my favorite Baptist again. Love you Tim!

We're still working on firing up this little backwoods Spanish branch, but we've gotten some good things going especially in the part member family department. Last night we were sprinting house to house knocking doors and RIGHT before the end of the night we found this awesome guy named Hugo. Wouldn't have found him if we hadn't been sprinting. The Lord is certainly looking out for his servants. I love being a missionary.

A bunch more crazy stuff happened, like this one guy told us that Jesus actually had a twin brother that removed his body from the tomb and then he himself (the twin) proceeded to march around town as if he had been resurrected so people would think Jesus had been resurrected. What a whacko....... I love Texas.

But now I'm just rambling, so we'll wrap this up. The church is true, the book is blue. So you better be reading it. Have a blessed one!

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX) 

1. Also one day we were doing studies at Taco Bell (because why not...) and we looked out the window and saw this guy with a shirt that said "Jesus" walking a cross down the sidewalk..... what will these people think of next..... sheesh.

2. This picture was taken this morning mid-battle. We constructed a barricade and waged war with the Marshall elders when they entered the apartment. They never saw it coming. Candy was thrown. It was epic.

Semana Sesenta y Ocho (The McNasty..... a missionary classic)(Longview, TX)

Good morning!

We'll keep this email snappy, but first a spanish joke for those of you that speak spanish.

Q. ¿Donde pratican los ninjas?

A. ¡Allá!

Jajaja anyways we've had another great week here in Longview! Recently we've run into some road blocks with some of our progressing investigators, so we're trying to figure that out. Also yesterday was my first normal sacrament meeting, and let's just say it was an experience. By the end of sacrament meeting we had a total of eighteen people at church...... including the missionaries. This is the smallest little branch! It's crazy........ I've never felt worried for my branch's very survival before. One fun thing about serving in such a small branch is that we (as in the missionaries) get to speak in sacrament meeting....... a lot. Anyways, so yesterday Elder Morrissey and I got to speak on the restoration and the book of mormon. So that was good. #sacramenttalksinspanish

Besides that just lot's of running around Longview trying to catch our spanish investigators at home. We had zone conference this week in Gilmer, so that was good. We also had a couple exchanges. For one of them I went over to this city named Marshall over on the Lousiana border. It was great! The city has the highest percentage of African American people in Texas! 

All in all a good week. Sometimes the pace of the work feels a little bit slower out in East Texas, but Elder Morrissey and I just aren't going to take that as an answer. But in the meantime go and have a great day and a blessed week! 

Elder Clark Fox
(La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días)
(Saddle Brook - Taylor  1400 H G Mosley #2206  Longview, TX)