Well family it has been an INTERESTING WEEK!!
Everyone that wrote me last week all said something about the little breakdown I had last week. It really wasn't that big of a deal and it is to be expected as it is kind of spiritually and mentally drainging here at times. thankfully I have some great companions and I received some great words of encouragement from everyone! This week really went by so quickly,
I do need to tell you all of funny story. My companions and I were teaching Guillermo and we had a great lesson. we taught about faith baptism and repentance. It went so well and we even committed him to get baptized, we'll see if it really holds up! :) Well we were closing and I asked if we could end with a prayer by me. Well in Spanish there are the words por and para, in my mind they are basically the same and so I was trying to say by me and said por me which means for me, instead of para me. My teacher quickly corrected me and told me what I had acutally said and what it meant, It was pretty funny and I am sure it is only one of MANY embarassing mistakes I will make in mixing up my words. Still on the Spanish subject this sunday was fast sunday. Fast sundays are different here because instead of having priesthood and releif society we have a mission conference wich is basically a stake conference. then we have fast sunday where we have the opportunity to bear our testimonies. I went into it thinking there is no way that I am standing up in front of my zone and bearing my testimony in Spanish. THEN...my Branch president whips out his list of everyone who is in the branch and starts marking off the names of who got up and did it. SO I was freaking out and hurried and formulated some sentences that slightly made sense. So I went to get up and just my luck one of the elders in front of me stood up and didn't see me, so I went and sat back down. Then when he was done everyone knew that I was going to get up so I had to now! I got up and was shaking so bad I'm surprised I even got any words out. I was able to say that I know that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith restored the gospel, and that families are eternal through the atonement of Jesus Christ. It's hard to believe I can say all those things in Spanish isn't it!! I was actually pretty proud of myself. so yes the Spanish is coming along and as a district we are trying to speak more and more spanish as the days progress outside of class. One of our teachers told us the other day that by October 1 (of this year!) we will not have to translate to English in our brains when speaking and listening, we didn't beleive him so we asked our other teacher. He told us that that was totally doable. We all just started busting up laughing because it seems SO crazy. I think we really can't believe it because we just started to learn subjunctive. It is the crazy tense that in english we don't have to conjugate verbs for but in english we do. We also learned about passive voice. This is probably the most confusing thing ever. We had a sub the day we learned it and he tried to explain it by using the sentence, The door is shut, and the door is shut. Isn't it obvious that those EXACTLY THE SAME sentences mean COMPLETLEY different things??? I know not obvious at all and our class is still utterly confused about the whole passive voice things. It's interesting how my grammar in english is getting better through learning Spanish because you have to know what tense you are speaking in and all the order of everything. It's crazy but I can feel my self progressing and so that gives me hope. The funniest thing is that we go into lessons and our teachers are like you have to listen to the investigator. That is the most important thing because we want to be able to tailor our lesson to the investigator's needs and not just do some memorized thing. My thought is, how can I really listen if I don't really understand what they are saying??!! I understand about 70% of everything they say but the other times I am like turning to my companion and saying what did he just say?? Our teachers are way nice about it thought and they are just awesome teachers!!!
Well our devo this week was really great. We learned about the difference between doing and becoming. It was interesting to me to think that there are so many things I have to DO before I can actually BECOME a missionary! I can't just make this giant leap to being the missionary i hope to be. It is going to take small steps.
We also learned about the imporatance of the scriptures in our lives! Are you all reading the Book of Mormon?? You should be! It is such a great book. I have started to read it and as I read I think of how that verse could help someone and the questions that it could ask. It has helped me and I have found some real pearls! We also learned about 3 Nephi and what an important book it is in the scriptures! How long has it been since you have read it?? Well read it again!! It is the book where we learn about Christ's visit to the Americas and the many ways he blessed the people at that time! We can never stop learning from the Book of Mormon, it is that great!
I sang in the choir this week for the devotional. It seems like last Tuesday was years ago! It was a wonderful experience and I plan on doing it every week. I feel like I talk about the singing missionaries every week but I had the coolest experience yesterday. We sang Called to Serve as the opening hymn but we did it differently. The first verse we sang softly and the verse after that a little bit louder until we were standing and just singing our hearts out! Just imagine it, thousand of missionaries standing and singing Called to Serve as loud as we coul! It was so cool:) We also learned yesterday from our Branch President that the amount of Spanish speaking missioaries is going to double by the beginning of July. Right now there are like 450 now and there will be about a thousand in the beginning of July! That is so crazy to me. The Lord really is focusing his work on the Spanish people. What a blessing it is going to be in my life to have served a mission in this time when missionary work is just booming! A speaker this week said that this is the best time to be serving a mission. We watched the Joseph Smith Movie again last night. The first missionaries went to England and baptized thousands. What a change there is now. The Hispanic people are being prepared by the Lord to receive this wonderful message!!!
Well, family, I am doing great and loving the MTC. It is much different than I ever thought it would be but an experience that is changing me for the better! I love this gospel with all of my heart and I am SO excited to be able to share it with the people of California. I feel I already have a place for them in my heart. I know that with the help of the Lord I can learn the gospel principles and be able to teach them simply to people who are ready to receive this wonderful message. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, I know that he transplated the Book of Mormon and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We can learn so much from it's teachings! I know that the Lord is aware of us and that He listens to every single prayer and that he answers them. I love you all so much and the next time you make a smore cook up an extra one for me (I have just been craving a good campfire and a gooey smore lately:)
Love you all and have a wonderful week!!
Hermana Clark
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