Letter #32

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well family this week has been a WHIRLWIND!! So let me just paint the picture of taft for you...imagine a town out in the middle of nowhere, so flat that you can see for miles and miles.  The only thing that is obstructing your view are those oil things that go up and down, and also some brown haze from all of the pollution.  Once you get into the town only the main intersections have stop signs, most of the houses have been abandoned, and much to my delight there are stray cats and dogs roaming the streets night and day...but with all of this the people are really nice and I actually quite like it here.  It has a small town feel and the members are SO EXCITED to have gotten rid of pile Elders and to have sister missionaries now.  We live in a pretty great apartment.  It is small but it feels like home more and more every day.  So we white washed in, and usually Elders would have kept track of people using the area book but the last update was in about august so we are trying to contact the very few people there are in there.  And also find the elect!  I really feel like there are lots of people who have just been prepared here to accept the gospel.  There are so many spanish people here I love it!! Also another interesting thing here is that we are doing zebra work.  That means we are working with Spanish people AND English people.  Mom asked me how big the unit is here.  The answer is that it doesn't even exist.  There is only one ward here and there is no unit.  I'm guessing President sent us here to try to start one up.  The white people here work on the oil rigs and the spanish people work around picking oranges.  there are so many orange fields around, well once you get out of Taft a few miles there are orange fields:)  So basically we are trying to get our focus here and I think we will focus on finding Spanish people, but teach the English people the elder's were already semi teaching.  There is one lady that has a baptisimal date for this month but we have to work with her to quit smoming.  She is really nice though. Church yesterday was really interesting.  Alot of people were gone since it was new years and my companion and I thought that that was everyone, but we found out that about half of the ward was not there.  So we will be able to see more people next Sunday.  The Ward Mission Leader and his wife are so  nice!  She is from Burley and reminds me of aunt Bonnie, just so willing to help us out and always busy helping people out.  We went there for dinner and they fed us lunch and I learned how to make pupusas!  They are so good and I will definitely have to teach you all how to make them as well!  My companion is really great to!  This is her second to last transfer and she is from Washington.  She is really laid back, but hard working.  I have really grown to love her this past week. 

So my homework for everyone this week is to google earth Taft so that you can really get a glimpse of its wonderfulness.  Tonight we are having dinner with the 1st counselor in the Bishopric and he said he is going to make us "lengua"  which is cow tongue.  Not sure how this is going to turn out, but I will have to let you know this week. 

I love you all, I will be praying for Sam this week.  Please keep me updated on how he is doing. I love you all.  The church is true and the Book of Mormon is powerful, I hope you are reading it!

LES QUIERO!!

Hermana Clark