Letter #3

Dear Family!

I cannot beleive that I have completed my third week here at the MTC and am starting on my fourth week.  This week has been an interesting one and not gonna lie I had a slight brake down but all is well now and I am doing SO great:) My attitude of what a missionary is has changed drastically and I am now focusing less on all the things that I think I should be learning and focus on what the Lord needs me to learn for my investigators.  This last week we gave a few lessons in Spanish and I have started to try to say my prayers in spanish.  It ends up being more of a Spanglish type of language but the Lord knows that I am trying and I know he will bless me. 

Well this week I had a wonderful experience that I would like to share with you all.  Here at the MTC you have a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday night.  It is always a surprise who it is.  This last Tuesday there was a rumor going around that an apostle would be here.  We got in to the room where we all meet as missionaries, which is quite the experience in itself.  It is SO cool to be surrounded by missionaries who have such a desire to share the gospel.  We also sing a few songs before the meetings start and that is so COOL!  Anyways, so we headed in for the devotional and we new it was someone big because they weren't showing the picture on the screen like they usually do.  So we sang a couple of songs and then in walks the speaker....Elder Russel M. Nelson!!  I have a love for this apostle!  He spoke at the dedication of the BYU I Center and I just remember loving his talk so I was so excited to be able to here from him again.  Him and his wife spoke some wonderful words of inspiration!  There were so many things that he spoke on but one of the things that he said really hit me.  He talked about how we will teach people and these people will accept the gospel.  We will always have a special bond with these people that we teach and they will remember us forever.  I guess I had never really thought about how helping one person come unto Christ can impact generations of people.  These people will probably always remember the missionaries that came and taught their ancestors the gospel.  President Nelson's wife also spoke.  She talked about obedience (this is a reocurring topic at the MTC)  One of the quotes I loved from her was that Obedience brings Blessings, exact obedience brings Miracles.  After the Devotional we have a district meeting and each member of our distric stands up and says what they enjoyed from the talk, and then bears there testimony.  We had a member of the branch presidency go after all of us missioanries because we still had some time.  He brought up this quote about being obedient and added to it that some people NEED miracles.  I love that he said that because as missionaries we want to do everything we can to help people come unto christ.   The way we can really do this is to be exactly obedient so that when we teach people and we can experience miracles!! OH man it was so good.  I wish I could just tape record all the great talks we here and send them to you all. 

Now I would like to share some interesting facts with you all about the MTC.  First fact, I have decided that Tongan is the craziest language on the planet.  There are many tongans here and whenever they speak I just have to stop and listen because it's like all the words are just jumbled together, it's just crazy!  Fact number two, Everyone here at the MTC has a service assignment each week.  My zone is on Friday in the morning, So we have had to clean the stairs in our building each saturday.  We were kind of complaing about it because it is slightly boring, however, our attitudes have changed drastically.  There were some sisters cleaning our bathroom today and this girl walked out with a bag with a giant hairball in it!  I am now counting my blessings that I will probably never have to clean a bathroom or clean the showers here at the MTC.  Fact 3. my companions are wonderful.  I am now in a threesome and it is a really cool experience, and we get along really great!  Fact 4, my district could possibly the funniest district here at the MTC.  There is an elder that reminds me of Jed.  He is so funny.  I would say that most of my time here is spent studying, the other small percent is spent laughing!  The Lord has truly blessed me because it just feels like I get to spend everyday ALL day with my really good friends.  Well that is about the end of my facts, sorry if they were boring but I thought you would want to know some more details about my life here at the MTC.  Overall it is a great experience.  thanks for the wonderful letters that you all keep sending me.  I know you all write them on Sunday becuase I get a giant stack of letters on Wednesday, It makes me feel so great, but makes my district slightly jealous:)  Know that I love you all and am learning so much. 

Love ya!

Hermana Clark

Letter #2

Hello Family! 

It is time for email number two!  Man has it been a crazy week.  I have learned so much this week.  First off I want to tell you all about my experience at TRC this week.  the TRC is where the missionaries go once a week to teach a lesson.  People from BYU volunteer to be investigators.  My companion and I prepared lesson number one and were ready to go.  We did three contacts in SPANISH!! Crazy but we did it:)  So your last contact becomes the person that you are going to teach.  You then have ten minutes to adjust your message and then you show up and teach them.  You never know if they are members or real investigators.  We taught migues and Rosa.  They were wonderful.  We taught them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  It was wonderful to finally be able to teach a lesson.  It went so well.  By the end of the lesson the lady was crying.  We know that they were already members but that just goes to show that whether you are a member or not or whether you already have a testimony in Joseph Smith and the scriptures you can never really get tired of having the spirit witness the truth of it to you again and agian.  It was a wonderful experience.  Now for my other teaching experiences.  As part of the new curriculum hear the teachers that we have act as progressing investigators.  They essentially make up a character and then we come in and teach them.  It is a great experience because our teachers make it kind of difficult.  Our first lesson in Spanish was this last week and man was it nerve racking.  I am getting to the point where I can understand alo t of things but I am still struggling with speaking it.  I know that I will continue to progress though.

Each day here goes by so quickly because we are in class for six hours and then the rest of our time is filled with gym time and study time.  I love personal study and I have really started to study about the atonement.  It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful it is to learn about the atonement and really apply it to our lives.

Well funny story for you all.  Today was the second time the fire alarm has gone of in my dorm building.  I think that sisters have a hard time using the microwaves and they start things on fire. 

Jed and Dad had asked about how sundays are here and so here it is.  They are dreadful!!!  Not really but kind of.  Heres is my sunday schedule.  You wake up and have an hour of personal study and then head to breakfast.  We then go to Releif society for an hour.  Releif society consists of all the sisters in the MTC and it is basically a devotional.  After releif society you go and have district meeting which is basically sunday school but a companionship in your district gives the lesson.  Then you go to lunch.  They try to make lunch really nice here because it is sunday.  Then you go to sacrament meeting.  Most of the meeting is in spanish so this is why it is not that enjoyable for me as of now because I usually don't really understand what everyone is saying.  It is also nerve racking because you might get called on to give a talk.  Each sunday one of the branchleaders gives a talk and that is how you figure out the topic for the next week.  You then take that topic and write a five minute talk...no big deal it's just five minutes you say...well it has to be complletely IN SPANISH!!! AHHHH so everyone in the zone prepares a talk and then you don't find out who has to give a talk until the conductor announces who they are.  Nerve wracking, I think YES!! I just pray I will never get called on.  AFter sacrament we go on a temple walk.  That is probably the greates part of the day because you are surrounded my other missionaries and you are at the temple in the fresh air.  After the temple walk you head back to your class room.  This is study time.  Not gonna lie it takes some whell power to just sit down and study for a couple of hours.  We do take some time to get to know everyone in the zone and have a good laugh.  Then you head to dinner.  After dinner it is time for devotional.  Last week we had Presiden't Hinckley's son here to speak.  You never know who the speaker will be.  I am just crossing my fingers that atleast one apostle will come here before I leave!  The devo's are always really great.  Somethin that I th ink is cool is that before the meeting begins the missionaries sing as kind of an introdcution.  It is so cool to here missionaries sining together usually about missionary work!  It is also a great sight to see so many missionaries so ready and willing to serve the lord.  After the devotional is over they show different movies around the MTC campus.  Last night we watched the Joseph Smith movie.  It has been changed since the last time I watched it.  If you havent' seen it lately I would urge you to see it!  It was changed from the origional so it is geared more towards investigators.  Lucy Mack is kind of a narrarotr and takes you through Joseph''s life.  It is wondeful!! We watch leagacy last week.  I never realized how incredibly cheesy it is, but it  is still so good to just sit back and relax on sunday nights.  Sunday's are interesting day for me becasue it is the day I miss you all the most.  I just think of everyone coming to mom and dad's and having dinner and just hanging out.  However, even though i do miss you all I know that this is the PLACE TO BE!! The MTC really is great.  After the movie it is time to go to bed:)  I hope that was enough info for you on my sunday activities!!

Another new thing that has gone on this week is that I am now in a trio of sisters.  One of the sisters in our districts was very advanced so she moved to the intermediate class.  It has been interesting dealing with lessons and having three sisters, I know that we will figure out how each of us thinks though.  Here at the MTC we have two different teachers.  My teachers are AWESOME!!  They are wonderful at teaching the gospel and also encouraging us that we will be able to tlearn the language and that we are doing great.  I am so grateful for them each day for answering all of my many questions.  Our district continues to grow closer.  It is so weird that I have only know these people for not very long but yet we are so close.  I know that the lord has blessed me with great elders in my district and also great companions!! 

I also wanted to inform you that you are doing spledidly on your letter writing!!! Last week on wednesday I got a whole stack of letters.  I am currently beating the district in receiving letters so lets keep it up family!!:)  I still have not yet received a picture of my new neice Klara Tlustek and I await the day that it happens because we all know how great Bethany is at taking picutres and printing them off.  I do understand thoug seeing as now she has three children! 

I am so grateful for the gospel and for all of the MANY blessing that i have seen in my life in the past couple of weeks.  The church is true! :) 

I love you all and thanks for your support and many prayers

LOve

Hermana Clark (I just love the sound of that:

Letter #1

Dear Family,

 

Mom the email from you was so great but I do have to say I wish it were longer! What is everyone up to?? I need to here about everyone's lives and what they are up to!! How is Sam doing and how is everyone else?  I have decided you all need to set aside a time on Sunday to write your favorite missionary in the whole world, me of course! Getting mail here is like the greatest thing.  It is kind of like Christmas morning.  I am sure that you know how it feels to get mail.  It just brightens my day :) 

The MTC is pretty great.  I will not sugar coat it and say it is the greatest thing ever and that I am loving every second because that would just not be the truth.  It is hard and every day I get a little more over whelmed with everything I have to learn, but I have been very comforted by the Lord and I know that because He has given me the commandment to go on this mission in Spanish that he will qualify me to learn the language and learn everything that I need to teach people.  Even with the hard times, I really have enjoyed it here.  I have never felt so close to the Lord and I am depending on Him each day to help me to know what to study and to help me remember all that I have previously studied. 

In my district there are four sisters.  My companion is Hermana Hulme (the L is silent)  and she is also going to my m ission.  The two other sisters are going to spokane Washington.  They are wonderful people and they are helping me so much!  We are becoming great friends.  I am also becoming great friends with my district.  I am learning spanish slowly but surely.  I can say a simple prayer and bear a simple testimony.  Definitley I am learning alot but It is going to take some hard work to learn this language.  I can't beleive that I have been here for 6 days!  It is funny because it feels like it has gone by so fast but Yet is seems like ten years ago I said goodbye to mom and dad!! I have been receiving some wonderful letters and they have just made my week.  Each letter I am sure I have read more than two times and I am sure I will keep reading them over and over.  I wanted to let you all know about dearelder.com.  It is a website that you can log on to and type letters and then they print them off here at the MTC and we get them the same day they are written.  The greatest thing is that it is free!! So if you ever get a spare moment go ahead and sit down to dear elder and jot down a letter.  Even the smallest letter is so great!!

Well I wanted to share with you something that I have learned from the scriptures this week.  The Brother of Jared is quickly becoming my favorite scripture story.  In chapter 6 it talks about how they built there boats and were headed on there way to the promised land.  The waters were pushing the boat under the waves, but as the people kept praying the winds and waves, with the help of the Lord, were continually moving towards there destination of the promised land.  I feel like I am the boat right now.  Even though the MTC is difficult I need it because it makes me rely on the Lord that much more.  I know that through every experience I have here I am getting closer to him and I know that I will be able to teach the people of Ventura like He wants me to!!!  That might be a jumbled mess but that chapter has really helped me this week!!

Well family my time is running out! Know that I am doing so WONDERFUL!!! Each day I am learning more and more about the gospel.  I miss everyone but I am surprisingly not homesick and I know that this is a blessing!!  The Church is TRUE!!!!!

 

Love

Hermana Clark