Isn’t it interesting that the rod of iron, our personal escort in our voyage back to our Heavenly Father’s presence is “extended along the bank of the river?” (1 Nephi 8:19) And not any old river, the rod of iron is extended along a river representing the filthiness, depravity, and malignity of the entire world! Why would the Lord put all those things so close to His strait and narrow path leading to what is termed the fruit of life? Could He not put it as far away from the filthiness of the world as possible? Okay, now is the time to throw out all preconceptions and assumptions, even when seemingly infallible. Where do we usually picture ourselves in this dream. I usually picture myself up on the path striving to hold on to the rod feeling sorrowful for the people who have fallen down in the filthy water. But has it ever occurred to you that even those who are constantly striving to hold fast to the rod aren’t perfect and sometimes find themselves in the depths of filthiness? Meaning you and I will eventually find ourselves in this dirty water. Wouldn’t it be hard if we had to pull ourselves out of this great ditch and then journey miles through a mist of darkness to find the right path? It is not like this! The second we find ourselves in despair, amidst heartache and in anguish of soul, the path is right there! We don’t have to go looking for it! Jesus Christ is waiting, and watching for those who have fallen in the river of filthiness to get out, and not to cling but to hold fast to Him! He has placed the path right in our way, not miles from us!  We can’t miss it! So go forth boldly in faith. As Jeffrey R. Holland said “His divine love and unfailing help will be with us even when we struggle—no, will be with us especially when we struggle.” He is there to cheer us on!

Now in light of the literary complexity of the many allegories to be found in the Book of Mormon, we sometimes miss some of the rich meaning and scriptural parallels to be found. As earlier mentioned, in the vision of the Tree of Life, there is a strait and narrow path. Not to be confused with a “straight” and narrow path, strait in this context means strict, or rigorous not straight as in a straight line. This is the path we must follow. It is not always easy or even comfortable for us, it will push us. Another significant point in the rod of iron, meaning the word of God. Or in other words all the truth that God has for us. And lastly, the fruit of the tree of life. This represents the love of God and His most precious gift for us. But is there more meaning to these symbolic representations than we acknowledge? Luckily for us, John 14:16 sheds light on this subject, and helps us draw parallels to deepen Nephi’s description of the vision. In this verse Jesus testifies, “I am the way the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” (Emphasis added) Let me repeat, Jesus, is the way, the truth and the life. So what is the strait and narrow way? It is Jesus Christ. What is the truth, known as the iron rod? It is Jesus Christ. And finally what is the tree of life? It is Jesus Christ. He is the path we need to follow, the rod to which we need to hold fast, and His presence is the final destination. In 1 Nephi 8:30, Lehi saw “other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.” Did you notice something interesting? They fell down, and partook of the fruit? Shouldn’t it be that they reached up and grabbed the fruit? How can you pick fruit off the ground? Either the Book of Mormon got this wrong, or maybe the tree of life really isn’t a tree at all. Maybe Jesus standing with His hands outstretched and glory shining about him appeared a long way of as a great pillar, or tree with light all around Him.  And perhaps, soon upon arrival, the multitudes fell down, worshipped Him, and “partook” of His atonement symbolically represented by the most sweet and satisfying of all the gifts God has to offer us. By no way is this interpretation doctrine, but it is my belief that Jesus Christ is the way, and by following and holding fast to Him, we can partake of His eternal atonement.

2015-06-21 Father's Day

Hello! Thank you for your prayers! I definitely feel them! This week has been enormously better, the devotional the district has been arranging went great, and we have been figuring out different ways to work with the YSA. So brother Chris was confirmed yesterday. and on July 11 we have two more baptisms! So i can't remember how much I have told you about this family, but it is the Santos family. So we found them in street contacting, they have been to church every week, they keep every commitment, and are so excited to learn. They will be baptized on July 11. They are the fastest progressing investigators I have ever found. They are so happy all the time, and the father has been talking about how he wants to invite his whole family to be baptized, and they are reading and highlighting the book of mormon all the time. When we contacted them about 3 or 4 weeks ago, we extended a baptismal date of July 11, and he said why is it so far away? Haha they are both doing so good, I feel it is the fruit of just working hard every day, and being obedient.

I love you, sorry my email is late, but I miss you and love you!!!!! 

Love elder Clark

Thank you for your letter this week, it reminded me of my earthly father and Heavenly Father. My own father is such a great man, and that letter touched me, I don't know why. I guess its because whenever I am tempted to be lazy or disobedient, I think of my earthly father, and I realize that is not what he taught me. He grew up working on a farm and he is the hardest working, and most diligent man I have ever met. Unfortunately I grew up in the city, but I try to always base my work ethic off of him. This week there was a big change around, I don't even really know what happened but this are just going a lot better. I have been praying so hard for things to become better, and I feel that they are. I have been pondering the training supplement for district meeting, and it is so great. We really are commanded to pray for what we need. I saw the power of this as I prayed for specific investigators/RCLA to come to church, and as I prayed to find new investigators. We found this great new investigator named Dante, and more people came to church this week. I realized in Alma 31 when Alma was praying for his bretheren, that that is really what caused so many great miracles among the Lamanites, prayers of the faithful. I have committed myself to pray much harder and pray for all my investigators, and less actives and for the whole district by name each night. Also about the language, I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Tagalog a lot. When I went on exchanges with Elder Bell he inspired me to read it, and I have seen a great difference in my Tagalog, it is improving a lot, hopefully I will be close to finishing it by the end of this transfer.
So with the wards and stuff, it is going better. The lady that had a little beef towards me is perfectly fine now, I don't think she was really even mad at me in the first place, she just kind of has up days and down days. The fireside went great! President and Sister Hiatt were great, and the spirit was strong. And now we have been thinking of new ways to hasten the work, President Hiatt suggested that we get the students more involved with the media by making like a video and stuff, so this might be one of the next things we try to do, we will try to get the members inspired to do it, so we don't spend much time on it if any. We are also doing showings of meet the mormons, for the members to invite friends, (Don't worry the missionaries aren't watching it) and we are doing training starting this week in the student leaders committee meeting, I will tell you how that goes next week. Love you president!

Love,
Elder Clark

2015-06-07 - Pray for me

Hello Mom and Dad! I love you so much! how are you doing? So about Brother Chris, he had his interview on saturday, then texted us this morning and told us he wasn't ready to be baptized. He said he didn't feel worthy. I think the Lord just wants me to learn from that. Please pray for me. I need extra prayers. It has been pretty rough lately in just about all aspects of missionary life, but I am really striving to turn to the Lord in all that I do. I know that the Lord wants me to learn humility and I am thankful for the lessons he is teaching me. I know that If we rely on the Lord in every aspect of life he will guide and direct our paths. I want to thank you for all you have ever done for me. And you really don't realize how much you love your family until you cant see them for two years. Please send me more pictures! I know that the Lord is exercising faith in us as he gives us opportunities to lead others. We went to the temple last week, and I realized how real God truly is, and how much he truly loves us, and how much he wants us to find the path and learn in all our experiences. I have learned that the Lord gives us weaknesses and trials to humble us. I also have been pondering on the wonderful power of prayer. The Lord has so many blessings that he wants to give us, and sometimes the only thing we lack is just asking for them. I have also learned how important humility is and how prideful i truly am. so thank you for all you do for me, I dont need anything, I am fine here, I will tell you when I need something! Love you, Please pray for me.

2015-05-31 - Ideas on doing missionary work

My back is doing good now, after a day or two it popped back into place. So Mom and Dad, if I have one suggestion for you in sharing the gospel and inviting people to hear the missionary lessons, it would be to involve family as much as possible, get to know about their family, and then tel them about your family. I know that the spirit of Elijah is real, and when you testify of families it brings that spirit right in! All you have to do is say, "hey we are having a family home evening at our house in a couple nights, A family home evening is when we gather the whole family together to strengthen our family bonds, would you like to come?" Then give them promised blessings like free food. or you can testify about families and say, Do you want to be with your family for eternity? Almost everyone will say yes, but then you really hit them with the follow up question, say, "Do you want to know how?" I have used those two questions many times, and it can of takes them back for a second. because most people are Catholic, and catholics dont believe that families are together forever. But most catholics arent aware that they believe that. But anyways, those are my suggestions! Also pray for them each by name every night. That is more powerful than almost anything you can do.

I really liked that story with Brother Brock, that is super cool to know that he became a high priest. So I want to tell you about brother Chris and his eight year old son, 

sorry I got to go, ran out of time love you

2015-05-24 - Why didn't you write

So hopefully you guys are all okay, I didn't get any letter from you, next week I guess. I am doing good here. I played basketball earlier and hurt my back, it hurts pretty bad, but I think it will be okay. I guess I dont have much to write so I will just tell you I am so thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ, and I am thankful for eternal families. It gives me comfort to know that no matter what happens our family is eternally bound together. This gives me so much motivation. I am thankful for you Mom, and for all the sacrifices you have made for our family, I am so glad I got to see you on mothers day! I am also so thankful to Dad who has shown me how to work hard and magnify your calling! And I love you Dallin for being a great Brother! And to all my sisters, Natalie, Brittney, Hailie, and Melissa I love you and am thankful for your examples to me in temple marriage and in everything else, love you! I miss you so much, but I am not homesick. Love you!!!! Be safe, and stay healthy! Please write me next week!

2015-05-17 - The Work of the Lord

So this week as I walked confidently down the sidewalk, I was excited to see to shiny coins, on the sidewalk. I walked by them and decided to pick them up, as I grabbed for one, It didn't come off the ground, I realized that they were both super glued to the sidewalk. My companion laughed at me pretty hard. It was embarrassing. 

Anyways, yes I got the two photo books from from you guys, one of them got lost, but I got it eventually! My companion is from Ifugao, which is just another Province in the Philippines. They speak Ilokano there. SO about the people we are teaching, we had 6 investigators at church, and 3 less actives. The investigators at church were, sister Kelly, Brother Chris, and his sons, And Ryan, Mark, and Jay. The friends of Alfred, who is a member. they are in the YSA ward. Sister Kelly is all ready to be baptized, she just wants permission from her parents, even though she is old enough to make the decision on her own, she wants her mom to approve, because her mom is strongly against it. That is cool that Natalie got accepted into Weber! And send me more pictures! I want pictures of the house too! So I bought myself some basketball shoes earlier, as a late christmas present to myself. they are Class A Knock-offs, so they were only 36 dollars in US money. they are kobe basketball shoes.

Anyways, this week has been great! I Really like they way my new companion teaches, he teaches with the spirit. I know that there is no other way, but by the spirit. I was soo glad to see your faces on mothers day! I know it seemed like a short time, but I have to be obedient. So in my area, there are some great things going on. The district and I are organizing a stake fireside about enrolling in seminary and institute, and missionary work. Since we are assigned in the YSA ward, and at the central focus of institute for the whole Manila, we have a great opportunity to work very closely with seminary, and institute. So one of my main focuses right now in my mission is just being exactly obedient. I have realized that I can't control people's agency, like the investigators, and such, But I know that success is measured inward, so I have been being very obedient lately, because I have direct control over that. I am very happy to be serving, and I feel the Lord helping me change into a better person than I used to be, that is the biggest miracle in my mission, and I am so thankful for it. I love you so much, I want you all to also strive to be exactly obedient to all the Lord commands us! We may not understand why, but we do understand it comes from God, or from the mouth of his servants, so we must obey, I love you so much, until next week!

Love Elder Clark