bret and debbie clark and family

it's been a long time.....

2009-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot happening in the Clark family lately:

Bryan and Christy and Ethan are safely in Vermont now. It was a tricky getting them there, but we did it. Bryan and his Alex drove the car to Vermont. They left on Sunday afternoon and arrived Wednesday morning. And Christy and Ethan flew to Boston where they met Bryan. Then Alex hopped on another flight out of Boston and headed to Long Beach California. From there he flew to Las Vegas and then finally to Salt Lake.

Kyle was transferred. He is now in Alice Springs, which is right in the middle of Australia. If you have ever watched "Kangaroo Jack" it was filmed in Alice Springs. Lots of red sand, not alot of vegetation. He will get to work with Aborigiones which will be interesting.

Kristi and Dario are expecting a baby on February 21!!! Yay!!! She went to her first doctor appointment today and was able to see the babies heartbeat.

And Alex has his driver's license and is driving everywhere. It is nice that he can get himself to and from his practices and games now.

They are moving to Vermont....

2009-05-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Bryan has been accepted into medical school at the University of Vermont! He's excited about the school, not so excited about the weather. But it is a great family oriented school and a family community, so Christy and Ethan will have lots of friends and support. We are both excited and sad. Excited because they can move on and start the next phase of their lives, sad because because they will be sooo far away. One good thing is that Jetblue flies there, so we can visit from time to time.

Kyle's letter 4/30

2009-04-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oneof my greatest fears has been not being able to find something to do whenI'm on trade offs. Like what if appointments fall through etc. Duringdistrict meeting a memory from my past came up about Abraham and Isaac.Later I looked through the scriptures to back this memory up. Isaac asks hisdad where the lamb is for the burnt offering. Abraham says to Isaac inGenesis 22:8, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb..." This phrase hitme. As I went out and just as I was afraid of my appointments fell through.But I said to myself dont worry God will provide himself a lamb. I opened upmy mind and I felt like I was supposed to go down a road I've never beendown. On the way I saw a sign that said no through road so I almost turnedaround. But I trusted in the Lord and pressed forward. The first person Isaw was an older women. I went up to her and told her that we wererepresentatives of Jesus Christ and that the spirit had guided us to her.She thought it was a miracle. She told us all about how she felt like shehas been looking for Jesus but hasn't been able to find him. She welcomed usin and we taught her about the restoration. She was open and ready tolisten. After we were done she told us that she knew it was true before evenpraying. Then she asked me about baptism. We taught her a little aboutbaptism and already knew that she needed to be baptized by the properauthority. She asked me if I could baptize her. Wow, I trusted in Fatherthat he would provide himself a lamb for us, and he did. I am no longerafraid of appointments falling through because I know by experience that Godwill provide. Kiora my family Kiora (Maori) What a wonderful week. Its amazing how hard things can be if I tryto look at them on my own. A scripture that has really really helped me inthese times of need is Doctrine and Covenants 6:36. Read this scripture withan open heart, memorize it and think of it often. I know that this scripturewill help just about everyone in the fam. Elder Patuwai is still arevelatory missionary and amazes me every day. Transfers are on monday. I amstill losing weight. I am drowning in my size 17 1/2 shirts and have had tobuy some 16 size shirts. I still have to shave morning and night. StartingJune P-days are going to be moved to monday. I seem to be sharingexperiences that I've had with my family more and more in my lessons. Thanksfor the amazing childhood. -
I have read my Patriarchal blessing over andover and over. Many things apply to me at this stage in my life.On a side note I love Kangaroo meat and I get to drive starting next week.Seen some big as spiders and am learning the accent.

Part of Kyle's letter 4/15

2009-04-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing experience with a media referral. We role-played before we went to the door. I felt really really good about this referral. Her name is Karen. So we knock on the door not once not twice but eight times. I was so sad I just wanted her to be home. So finally as we are walking away she calls out to us. "Hello who is it?" "Hey is this Karen we are bringing you your free DVD." She opens the door and lets us in. She grabbed the DVD but she didn't really want to talk about the DVD. She started telling us that she was going to another church and they were pushing her to find the Gift of Tongues. But she doesn't really think thats right. So she has been praying and saw the commercial and called for the DVD. We showed up ~4 hours after she called!!!! We taught her about prayer and about prophets and how she could know the truth. She is a golden investigator and is going to be baptized before too long. Well James baptism was interesting. I got to create the baptism program from scratch, I got to call everyone and assign talks/prayers, and I got to perform the baptism. We are now working to get him the priesthood which reminds me... I dont think I have my line of authority. I was going to type it up but I dont think I got to it. :) could you send me my line of authority? I just got over a little cold. It was fun being sick because it gave me the oppurtunity to recieve more blessings by working through it!!! Alright let me tell you how important Jeewan is. Jeewan is the closest Nepali to baptism. He is ready but is waiting for his parents to move here from Nepal so they can be baptized with him. Our zone is counting on us to get him baptized because if we get him baptized, then he will lead to heaps and heaps of other Nepali baptisms. So he is very crucial!!! But we had him introduce us to his brother. So we've been over teaching him. His name is Biran. We had a really transformational lesson where revelation was guiding our words. We promised him an answer to his prayer!!! He is turning into another Jeewan who is excited about the Gospel. I've only had 1 tea date (dinner) this transfer. So we decided that instead of people signing up to feed us we are just going to have people sign up to give us service instead!! This is good for me too because they always give us icecream for dessert and I can never resist!!!!!

2009-04-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Kyle is doing great and is going to have his first baptism. He has a new companion from New Zealand, Elder Patuwai.

Another sport for Alex....

2009-04-01T20:25:00.001-07:00

So we have a "pole vaulter" in the family now. Alex has taken up pole vaulting because he loves to fly and fall onto a big soft cushy mat. He is loving this new sport and is doing very well at it.

Not much information....

2009-02-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the letter for this week:
Sorry I don't have any time to write this week. I didn't even get to read your letter. I love you all!!!!!!! Teaching has been good but mostly african people not too many australian people. Found red back spiders in my room. I guess they are very poisonous!!! Bye

He made it

2009-02-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

We received an email from Kyle he says: I did make it to Australia safely and have all my bags. I did get the package that you sent here, its funny how even my family is makin fun of me for being a greeny, ha ha. Well there is a ton of slang that I get to get used to. Wierd driving on the left side of the road. My new companion is Elder Davidson. This is his last transfer and he is the district leader. We also do a bunch with the Zone leaders that live close. I guess Elder Davidson has trained like eight missionaries so looks like I'm in good hands. Go to the gym everyday exercise lots! Studying lots fun stuff!!!!

Kyle is on his way......

2009-02-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Kyle called yesterday from the Salt Lake airport and I spoke to him for a minute, and then he said he would call from LA. By then everyone was home so me, Bret and Alex got to talk to him. Not for very long only 15 minutes, he sounds really good, and excited. It was funny when I hung up with him the first time he said goodbye Sister Clark and I said "Kyle, I am your mom, always will be", and he said "Okay, we can compromise. Goodbye, Sister Mom, and by the way it is Elder Clark". Not sure what they are teaching at the MTC, but I was just glad he called me anything I guess. His flight from LAX is 18 hrs. and goes to Melbourne, Australia. From there he takes a 1 hr. flight to Adelaide. He left Monday and skips Tuesday all together (because of the time change) and arrives Wednesday (Australia time) at 1:00 pm. I figure he will be there around 3:30 pm our time Tuesday.

so i've decided to join the blog world...

2009-02-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

I thought maybe it was time I started a blog for my family so we can keep each other up on what's going on with everyone. Not that there are that many, but they continue to leave the nest. I can keep everyone informed on what is going on with Kyle and share pictures he sends home. So we will see how this goes. Wish me luck.