Well well, I have been meaning to write about this a bit sooner, but since I have gotten back I have been running ragged. I still haven't even unpacked! ^_^;;

Well anyway I guess I would like to start off explaining a little bit. As most of you know I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If you are still confused you can go to https://www.mormon.org and that might help you out with any questions that you might have. As a member of the church we have the option to serve a 2 year mission. While serving, we go out and share messages about how the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored through a prophet named Joseph Smith, and how we can find out if he trully was a prophet by reading a book called the Book of Mormon. Once again if you want to know more about the messages you can check out the website.

During my service I had many many wonderful experiences. Some good, some bad, and some very halerious. All of them contribute into the person that I am now. All in all if I were to summerize the lessons I have learned due to my experiences I would say the following: I now know what is trully important in this life, the Eternal Things. Many things come in go in our lives, but our friends, our families, and especially our Heavenly Father will always be there. Because of our Savior Jesus Christ, not even death can seperate us. Holding on to the eternal things can give us an achor of peace and happiness that is everlasting. I also know to be true to myself, create my own path, and take people with me. A lot of the time in the past I was very much just a people pleaser. I did whatever made others happy. Most of all I have learned to trust in the promises that my Heavenly Father has made for me. Doing this has given me a wonderful joy and peace that I will never forget

As I have said I have many experiences. some of which are quite funny. For example on my very first day I was preparing to go to bed. The rest of the missionaries in my appartment where suspeciously playing uno when it was time to go to bed. I decided not to worry about it. I had the top bunk so I hoisted myself up and placed one knee on the matress. To my great shock the matress gave away and I began a 6 foot blummet towards the bottom bunk. I bounced and landed safely on the matress like a skilled pole vaulter. For a second I didn't know what the heck happened, but the I had realized that I had been punked. "Ahhhh dang it!" The other missionaries in triumphant cries ran in and said "YEEAAAH LETS WATCH THE REPLAY!" I have to say that is the funniest freakin video ever! Also later in my escapades I tried my hand at the cinnamon challange. This challenge include having to swallow a tea spoon of cinnamon as fast as you can. My plan was to swallow it as you would bad tasting medecine, as quick as possible. Once again to my suprise the cinnamen did not go down as planned and proceeded to burn the crap out of my face. I ran to the sink and had a coughing fit. As I was dying at the sink the other missionaries who had filmed me doing this were reviewing their replay footage while I was at the sink suffering. It something I can say that I did, however it is not something I don't plan on doing again ^_^;;. One last humorous story that I looooove telling is about this middle aged latina woman. THis was when I was in spanish work. This lady preferred speaking english in her thick latina accent. She invited us to dinner and we sat around talking about music. The latina woman rambled about how she used to be in a mariachi band. She serinaded us with several of her songs. She then shifted the conversation and asked me what I liked to listen to. Like a good missionary I said calm and good artists that I liked such as Journey or the Cars. She leaned in close and said "Do you like Matellica?" I was quite taken aback from this . . . "Uhhh, yeah! They're actually one of my favorites." I replied honostly. The next statement will be forever burned in my memory. In the thickest middle aged woman latina accent she proceeded to say "Ohhh jees, Metallica is da best. Black album is my favorite." with hands raised proudly over her head she drops the following lines. "Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire!" You guys have NOOOO idea how hard it was not to die of laughter right there.

As well as the funny moments I have had wonderful experiences that I will never forget. There are many, but at this time just to make things a bit shorter I want to share just one experience that I had, an experience that single handidly proved to me that the Gospeel of Jesus Christ trully can heal us, and that miracles trully happen.

We had just went to the temple fasting and praying for a miracle. The work had been going slow. We came back and broke our fast with some burgers. As we were in the middle of our meal a woman called us and asked if we could come to visit her. The next couple of days later we went over to her appartment. She seemed a little comfused at first. I thought she knew what we did, but we later find out that she was just very lonely. She didn't own the whole apartment. She could only afford a small room within the apartment. The complex was in a very sketchy part of town, and it was ridden with cockroaches. All this lady had to her name was a pile of cloths, a TV, an old foam matress and a dresser. She was living off of dicability because of her numerous mental and health conditions. Her kids had moved on. One of them she has no idea where she is, and the other is a good son, but can be kind of hurtful at times. When we first met her, it was problem after problem. She was in a deep chasm of depression and darkness. Her life seemed to be a eternal spiral downward. We did everything we could to help her. We tried finding a new mattress, helping her look for things to do instead of wallowing in her room in misery, and mostly trying to help her rely on our Heavenly Father who can help us when we are in our darkest hours. For a long time it seemed that she wasn't really going anywhere. We committed her to look for just one miracle during the week, and to tell us about it the next time we come. At first she struggled and just said little things like "laundry went well that day" or something. However, as the weeks went by, the miracles became more and more numerous. One day we came over and she had a wide smile on her face. She told us that today she was only going to say good things that happened, and not say anything bad. This was a wonderful moment. I will never forget the smile on her face, or the excitement in her eyes. SHe held up the Book of Mormon and stated that she had read it that day and it finally made sense to her. She had gained a testamony and was now relying on our Heavenly Father. There was a time where she was afraid to go to church, but we promised her that if she went to church that that would be the day that her life would change. Because she went to church she finally felt like she belonged. She has people in her life now that care about her and will help her whenever she needs it, because we believe in following the example of Jesus Christ by rendering service and kindess to others, our fellow brothers and sisters. She was soon baptized and that was probably one of the most tender moments of my life. It has trully given me a testamony of the truthfullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how it trully can heal us and lift us up when we need it.

I tell of these experiences not to boast, or say how great this church is. If anything, I don't want anyone to think that I'm sitting here preaching and promoting my church as a salesman would promote his or her product. I tell of these experiences to merely share my knowledge of how I know these things to be true. I cannot promote, coax, or persuade anyone to believe anything. What I have done during my mission, and what I plan to do until the day I die is to invite people to find out for themselves if these things are true or not. This is done by reading the Book of Mormon, a record of God's dealings with the ancient americans which was found and translated by the power of God by the prophet Joseph Smith. I know all who read this book, and ask God of its truthfullness can find out if these things are true. The answer is either Yes, or no, and God will not lead us astray.

I appreciate those who took the time to read of my experiences in my mission. Once again it was something that is very dear to me, and something that I feel so previladged to have participated in. I love the people who I have met and all the good times that I have had, but most of all I love the closeness that I now feel with my Heavenly Father.

I wish all of you the best. Keep in touch and lead your life the way that I have decided from this day forward. Be forever true to yourself, your family, and your God. I love you all. Take Care!

-Pyro (AKA Daniel Clark)