August 27, 2011 letter written on August 23, 2011

Hello Family,
I figured I had better write you since there was an earthquake today. It was a 5.9 and I was helping a crippled lady fix up some stuff around her house. Luckily, non of the stuff I just fixed fell apart. It was so weird, it felt like a ride at Lagoon. It was kinda cool but freaking me out at the same time. Lots of parents called the mission home today, IDK if you were one of them.
So, I was going to tell you about my first day in Richmond. Well, the first house we went into was interesting. The guy doesn't work and the lady is recovering from drugs, they are so poor. I felt so bad because the little girl started to cry when we left. I felt so bad, it is crazy that people even live like that. The next house was even worse. We pulled up to the house and Elder Hunsaker said, "take everything out of your pockets cuz you won't have it when we go to leave." So we took everything out except our name tag and the first thing the kids went for were our pockets. We talked to them for a while then when we tried to leave he one boy started yanking on my tie. Then he punched me in the butt, then in the you know where. It took all I had not to string him up on the tree. He was such a punk. The little girl would not let us get into our van. It was not good! We were finally able to get in and leave. Their living conditions were even worse. I felt bad, but what can you do when people won't even help themselves. Most of the people around here are like that, they have super dirty houses and they, themselves are dirty. It's a total change from my nice clean house. P.S. can you send me some pics of my nice clean house and my projects. :) It has made me see how blessed I am and how lucky we are to have what we have. That's all for now.
Love,
Cameron

August 27, 2011 update from Sister Perry on Hurricane Irene

It is Saturday evening and all is well.  The hurricane has drifted a little bit east and was downgraded to category 1 -- both are blessings!  There has been quite a bit of damage on the coastline - some building damage - but mostly flooding, high winds, power outages and downed trees and limbs and in the inland areas like Richmond there are lots of people without power and high winds and rain - limbs and trees down but I think everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that our worst fears were not realized.  We are feeling like the worst is over for our mission, although the stormy weather will probably continue through the night.  We are still praying for our friends north of us in the DC, Boston and New York areas.  

We will send one last E-mail tomorrow.  I'm sorry we cannot respond to every individual inquiry but just know that all the missionaries have been staying in today and having an extended preparation and study day. Several of the Stakes have cancelled church tomorrow in favor of service and clean-up.  I'm sure that many of your missionaries will be involved with clean-up and other service efforts.  I think they are all excited for that opportunity!  They are so great!

We will be in touch tomorrow.

In gratitude for our blessings, 

Sister Perry

August 26, 2011 Email from Sister Perry concerning Hurrican Irene

All of our missionaries who are south of Richmond have been evacuated inland with the exception of Jamestown, Williamsberg, and New Kent which are all far enough inland that they will be safe.  The ones who have been moved are bunking mostly with other missionaries, some at the mission home a few at members homes.  They will probably remain there for the weekend.  The storm is supposed to reach us sometime tomorrow (Saturday) night.  We expect lots of wind, rain and some downed trees and maybe some flooding here in Richmond and the surrounding and more inland areas.  It looks like the coast is going to get pounded and mandatory evacuations are happening in many of those areas right now.  We moved the missionaries early so they would not be caught in the long lines of traffic headed north.  The missionary department in Salt Lake has been in close communication with us here and everything that can be done has been done to ensure the safety of the missionaries.  

Everyone has been instructed to have extra water and food on hand and to stay inside during the storm.  I am expecting all of your missionaries to come through safe and sound.  

We invite everyone's prayers on behalf of the people all up and down the east coast and in the Bahamas where so much damage has already been done.

Kind regards,

Sister Perry

August 23, 2011 email from Sister Perry

Dear parents,  sorry for the delay with this message, your e-mail addresses had not been updated on our emergency list so it took me a little time to collect all your addresses.  Below is a message I sent out to everyone after the earthquake today.  I have added you to the list but you may also want to check out the facebook page that I keep with pictures of our missionaries.  It is a page just for pictures.  We don't do much communicating on it as we don't have time.  And we ask that you please don't post personal information including last names especially of our investigators or recent converts for privacy reasons.  Also, we ask that you not use the information on the page to put together E-mail lists of missionary parents etc., as our church leaders have asked us to refrain from doing so.  Information on the internet can so quickly get into the wrong hands or be used in ways that are inappropriate so we ask you to please respect our efforts at privacy.  If problems arise from it's use we will have to take it down.

We also use this page to update parents when things happen such as the earthquake today or the hurricane that could be headed our way (you have probably been following the news -- it's never boring here!).  We find that it works almost better than our E-mail list.  The page can be found by searching for Virginia Sara Perry.  It is named that so that there is no confusion that it is not a church affiliated page - just a personal one I keep updated with pictures from transfers, mission conferences, and incoming and outgoing missionaries.  Send us a friend request and we'll get you on board.

 Thanks for all you do to support your missionary -- we love them all!

Kind regards,

Sister Perry

 Hi Everyone,  just a little update on the earthquaking in Virginia.  President and I were in the middle of a Zone Conference in Newport News this afternoon when the earth started to move!  Now I have to admit that President is a great speaker and teacher but really!!  

Thankfully it was a big rumble and not much more.  We have little damage in Virginia at least as far as we can tell and all of our missionaries are safe.  The phone lines, cell and otherwise, have been completely jammed so communication has been slower than normal.  I hear there was a little damage up in the DC area to some historical buildings and a pipe broken in the Pentagon.  The epicenter was near Louisa, halfway between Richmond and Charlottesville - but I personally talked to Elder Stoddard and his companion in Louisa and they were calm and happy, although a little shaken (just a little joke there).  He said they haven't been back to their apartment yet but will let us know if anything is amiss.   I have heard on the news that some tremors were felt as far north as Canada - wow!  Evidently it was one that spread out quite a ways even though it wasn't too severe.  We are very grateful that everyone seems fine.

So, all is well, all is well.

Kind regards,

Sister Perry 

August 22, 2011

The baptisms both fell through the one just got moved to next sat. So its ok but the other guy doesn't want to see us anymore. Hey, can you send me the pics from when we went through the temple? They would be great for a lesson. If I would have heard that talk by pee wee I would have been cryin. We had the cops called on us the other day for knocking on doors in an apartment complex lol.  They just walked us off the property. it was so funny. And you know how I hate singles wards! Well, I'm over a singles ward now, lol.  O and you know how I hate vans! Ya we drive a mini van! Just my luck! Everyone else gets brand new Chevy Malibu's. Hey can you send a few things of dads good ear plugs. Elder Harrisons comp snors like a train!!! Not even kidding its not good! O and I have Chiggars, aka little bugs that get in to your skin and don't come out for like 6 weeks. I have a story about my first day in Richmond I will send one in a letter! You will be happy to know I have been humbled. Well, I'm glad fair was good and sounds like no major melt downs. Well that's all.

Love you forever, like you  for always
Love Cameron

August 15, 2011

Well, mom things down here in the south east are quite different than back in Declo. The bugs are big, lots and lots of trees, you almost need a translator to understand em. Oh and its stinkin' hot and humid, lol. But it's all good. The flights were fine. My mission president is so cool. He says we can go fishing! So that's what we are doing today. So have dad rig me up a bunch of stuff out of my tackle box and send it to me please. I bought a pole I just need my bass jigs box and my hook and sinker box that has lots of good stuff in it and some spinners. ;) I haven't tried to call you so idk who it was. I bought sheets and I'm living in a apartment with 4 other missionaries. I'm in another 3 some and both my comps are from Idaho. Preston and Idaho falls. so cool. we get along great. Elder Harrison is in our same area so I see him like 3 times a week. We are in Charlottesville. I love it here.I got to see Elder Pickup the other day it was so exciting! He is now where close to me though. I have two baptisms this Sat. one of them I didn't find but the other I did. I'm so excited! so this kid was sitting on a bench and we went to talk to him, set up an appointment to come teach him. While we were teaching him we were going over the first lesson and I just got done reading a scripture and bearing my testimony and after I did that we invited him to church. He said "ya I will go and so can I get baptized on Sunday when I go?" I was like holy crap! We said no not this Sunday but you can the next Sat. And this kid is 16. You know how dad said there was someone waiting in Virginia for the gospel! Well, this is the first of hopefully many. He is just so ready, he asks us questions and we answer. He says "now its all starting to make sense."  You have no idea how exciting this is. Well not much else new. Here is my new address and you should post it on FB.

Elder Cameron James Clark
1311 Villa Way Apt. A
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Have a great fair week :) And share this email cuz i don't have enough time to write to many people.
Love you for ever like you for always,
Love Elder Clark

August 10, 2011

Hola Family!
I'm alive and well here at the mission home. They fed us great, no fake crap. We didn't end up knocking doors tonight, not too sad about that. We are just doing interviews and getting to know one another. I will get my new comp and address tomorrow, so I will write to you n P-day. The humidity here sucks but I will get used to it. I think I will like the next 2 years here, but I will definitely be willing to come home. Well, that's all for now. It was so nice to talk to you today. I didn't have time to call again, but o'well. Well, that's all talk to you soon.
Love,
Cameron

August 10, 2011

This morning the phone rang at 6:18 a.m., I normally avoid the phone this early. However, I knew Cameron was going to be the other end. He was able to call me before he left the airport. He had already talked to his dad while he was at work. It was so good to hear his voice. He is doing well and excited to explore Virginia. I didn't get to talk to him very long as his plane was getting ready to board and he wanted to call Grandpa Rod and Grandma Marilyn before he left. When he arrived in Georgia he was able to make one more phone call to Grandpa Fred and Grandma Joyce. We were all happy to hear from him and to know in the sound of his voice he was happy.

At 5:03 p.m. I received one more phone call from an Elder Cook who was calling to let me know that my son had arrived safely and was in good hands. He said Cameron looked very sharp but was little tired from traveling. He told me to look forward to emails on Mondays, as that is their mission P-day. I thanked him for easing my mind in knowing he had gotten to his destination.

Final note from the MTC

Hey yall
I am sending you some more pics of the MTC. I actually had a great time here. I made a lot of new friends and we became really close. I'm sending this the day before I go t Virginia so I will have talked to you on the phone by the time you get this. So nothing new has happened. Thanks for the pics, they look great. O' mom you should put a big one of the whole family up in between the deck door and the couch window! It would look zesty! Wel, thats all for now. I will write to you when I get my new address.
Love,  Cameron

 
 

August 4, 2011

Dear Family,

I sent stuff home I hope I will not need. Today was a good day. We went to the temple and met with a lady I think might be a relation on the Clark side. I also had lunch with the grandmother of the kid who was attacked by the lion. It was cool. She told us not to do anything dumb. It was funny how serious she was. I leave the MTC on Wednesday morning at 4:00 a.m.
Love,
Elder Clark