Mother's Day 2017

Happy Mother’s Day  (May 14, 2017)

Summer Flowering Tree

     We can not believe that our missionary experience is coming to an end.  We have 3.5 weeks until we start our drive home to Idaho Falls.  We have a few places we will stop along the way home.  From San Benito, TX we will first drive to the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area where Tom’s Mother lives.  While there, we will attend the wedding of his nephew, Michael Measom.  Mike is getting married the day after we leave our mission.  After Dallas, next stop is St. George, UT where we see April Davis (our eldest child) and her family and Christina Wilson (our youngest child) and her family.  From St. George, we travel due north to Salt Lake City, UT to see more family.  Finally, we head to our home in Idaho Falls, ID.  It will take us a full week to make the trip with all the stops along the way.  We will start our trip home on June 7, 2017.  It seems hard to believe that we have been here a little over 17 months.  The time, for the most part, has passed quickly.

We love our Sisters

     We love it here in the Rio Grand Valley of Texas, except for the high humidity and heat (Whew!).  We will sorely miss all of the great friends we have made while we have been here.  The Church members are kind and welcoming.  Everyone here puts family first.  Some Church members from Idaho Falls have recently moved into our Harlingen Stake.  Phillip Cook (son of Bishop Cook from Old Butte Ward) and his wife have just moved here and also another family from Ammon recently moved in.  We met Phillip just before Easter and got to know him better at a Bar-B-Que party at the Elkin’s home. 

     Here the traditional Easter egg hunt is significantly different than anything we have ever seen.  Over the previous year before Easter, families save the the entire egg shell after they use its contents by carefully emptying the egg through a small hole cracked in it’s top.  Just before Easter, the empty egg shells are dyed (or colored) on both inside and outside surfaces and filled with confetti.  Once the egg shells are filled with confetti, the top hole is sealed with a colored paper patch.  Next, the adults hide the eggs outside in the yard.  When the signal is given, both kids and adults quickly collect the colored Easter eggs.  Now the real fun begins.  Everyone runs around and smashes the eggs over each other’s head causing the confetti to go everywhere – in one’s hair, clothes, grass, just everywhere.  No-one is safe.  Parents, children, grandchildren, friends, and neighbors, all go after each other and happily smash eggs on each others’ heads.  It is a hoot!.  It is also a good outside activity, for the confetti and egg shell bits get all over the place.

South Texas Easter Egg Smash

     After Easter, we decided to go see what Corpus Christi was like for a Friday and Saturday excursion.  Corpus Christi is only 2 hours away from our apartment and is much closer than Laredo, which is the other boundary side of our mission.  While in Corpus Christi, we visited the USS Lexington (retired aircraft carrier) and the Texas State Aquarium on the Gulf of Mexico.  It was a lot of fun for us, for we had not been away from our area (Weslaco, Harlingen, Brownsville) for our entire mission.  We have made a few trips to McAllen, but that was for missionary meetings.  We had a lot of fun and met up for dinner with some of the Sister Missionaries that used to serve in San Bonito, but now serve in Corpus Christi.

USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier

     Most of the Senior Missionaries will be finishing up their missions and leaving this Summer.  The Hewits (Mission Nurse and Transportation Coordinator) are from Pocatello, ID and served in this mission for 23 months.  They left to start their trip home on May 8^th.  We are the next couple set to go home.  We leave June 7^th.  The remaining Mission Office Senior Missionaries leave within 2 months of us and other Senior Missionaries are ready to take their places.

 

Mission President, Office Staff, & Us

     The Winwards (from Boise, ID) are also Employment Specialists and are assigned to the two McAllen Stake areas.  The Employment Missionaries are not being replaced.  Instead, the Employment Missionary aspect is being encompassed by a new self-reliant program that has started to be incorporated into the Church in the United States.  This program has been a tremendous success outside of the United States, but is now being introduced and ramped up in our mission.  Hence, the program is run by Church Stakes and incorporates what we would normally teach, but will offer much more.  It will be introduced into the Harlingen Stake (where we are) starting in July, 2017.  The last Stake in the mission will start the new program in August, 2017. 

Super TMM Missionaries

     The Texas McAllen Mission (TMM) missionaries are doing a great job of finding and baptising investigators.  Sometimes we are fortunate enough to  be invited to go participate in a lesson and then see these same investigators get baptized.  This is a really special experience for us, to see and experience the love the missionaries have for the people of this area.  President Torres has encouraged the missionaries to stay in contact with their converts and teach them about family history, and in helping them with getting family names submitted to the Temple.  In this way, new converts are fellowshipped and are working toward preparing themselves for temple ordinances and work.  This has significantly helped retain new converts within the Church.  We pray everyday and have been greatly blessed and we can see the Lord’s  hand in keeping us happy, healthy, and safe. 

Marcos's Baptism with Sisters Walker and Luque

     Well, we will see you soon. ……….. the Clarks.