Letter #29

Well first off I am SO EXCITED for you all to be in the stake presidency of the 7th stake.  That was my Stake!! President Mendenhall was my stake presidency and I was in the 35th ward.  I just know you are going to love that so much.  That is so crazy for me to think of you two sitting there and getting to know all of the college kids.  Mom you are going to be a great relief society advisor and I am sure dad you will have such a great time getting to know those college students.  I always loved seeing the Heiners in my ward.  You are going to have to tell me what ward you are in and what apartment complexes you cover.  Maybe now that they changed the stakes and everything it will be different but that is just so exciting!!  I can utterly not believe that Christmas is so close!  It is raining today so that's not the funnest.  Today my companion got a package and it had a Christmas present in for her so now we have a present under our little christmas tree.

So this week was pretty crazy and wonderful!  We had our unit Christmas party.  We ate dinner which was so good.  There was Turkey, rice and beans (of course), salad, the most delicious punch ever, and chocolate flan (a traditional mexican dessert) everything was so good, and then we had a piñata.  They made me and my companion sing a little song before we left.  It was wonderful and so fun to get pictures of everyone.  I kind of have a feeling that my time here is getting short so I am trying to take lots of pictures.  It is so funny, the members all know that once the camera comes out, someone is going to be leaving.  I don't know if you all got the feeling that you would be leaving.  IT makes me sad because the work here is definitely progressing.  One of the couples is planning a wedding in a couple of weeks so she will be able to be baptized with her daughter in January.  It has been so fun to see that family progress.  This next week we are going to be having a little Christmas program and a little gift exchange.  I am excited for that, it should be fun to get together with a few of the zones.  

So a cool thing that happened last week...we had been teaching this girl that lived with one of our members.  She has a really sad story, she was being abused by her boyfriend who was actually in jail for abusing her.  She was pregnant with his baby, but she lost the baby.  We visited her in the hospital, and she was really progressing.  Saying prayers and reading in the Book of Mormon.  One day we went over and she had moved.  IT was really sad.  We tried to call her but her phone was disconnected.  So we would ask about her but no one really knew where she was.  Well the other night we were walking around Las Casitas and we heard this man yelling at us through his car window.  We just kept walking because sometimes creepy spanish men say things to us but we just ignore it.  But he just kept doing it and so we turned around and this girl starts running towards us.  Well it was Ashley!! The girl we had been teaching.  She got accepted to a 6 month program to help her get over the abuse and everything.  She seemed to be doing really well.  The person she was with came over to tell us thank you for helping Ashley through some of those trying times. It was such a sweet experience.  Even though she wasn't baptized it was good to know that we helped her through some hard times which helped her get into this program.  We got her address so now you know I will be writing her!

Well I hope that everyone is doing wonderful!!! Stay warm:)

Les AMO!

Hermana Clark

Letter #28

Well this week has been pretty crazy!  We had some interesting experiences and some sad experiences to.  We had to drop one of our investigators.  It was sad but she just wasn't ready to accept the gospel yet.  This last week we had some fun activities.  Here they put on a play type thing of the birth of Jesus Christ. All the youth participate and they do it out side on the lawn of the church.  It brings some nonmembers into the church and so it makes some good opportunities for the missionaries.  On saturday we had the ward party.  The party was for both the Spanish unit and the English ward.  Two men in the ward did a skit of the 12 days of Christmas using raw chickens.  It was pretty hilarious but the whole time I was thinking to myself that all of the Spanish people here are thinking Americans are so ridiculous.  It was fun though and is always fun to be with the ward.  We are having a party just for the spanish unit this Saturday which I am very excited for.  Hopefully we can get some investigators there.  We had one of our investigators at church yesterday and he seemed to have enjoyed it.      We just worked a lot this week trying to find knew people and trying to help the people we are teaching progress.  Oh and we also had Zone conference this week, which of course was AWESOME!  We got new phones and they installed these little things in our car that are supposed to monitor our speed and how fast we stop and stuff.  It was kind of funny because me and my companion had been talking about how president probably has tracking devices and on his iPad he sees a little dot for all the cars and they beep when we brake the speed limit or if we leave our area or something. Then at Zone Conference he told us about this little box that is connected to some type of satellite and is supposedly going to talk to us when we go to fast and stuff.  My comp and I just looked at each other as he was telling us this.  We must have gotten revelation or something:)  We learned a lot about how our purpose as missionaries is to help people to come to christ, but we can help them higher than we are.  Therefore we have to come unto him our selves. President Castro talked about how our goal is to be like Jesus Christ and we have to have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, and grace is what helps us through all of these steps to refine us and help us become like Christ.  One thing he said that really hit me was that he said as missionaries we are the closest thing to Christ as our the people will see in this life.  That blew me away, and really made me think.  I really am a representative of Jesus Christ, and when the people see me, do they see Christ, can they feel his love.  There is that scripture in Alma 5 that asks us if we have received his image in our countenance.  Really to become like Christ is everyones goal, and as we take the proper steps we become like Christ.  We fall and we have weaknesses but the grace of God is what makes it possible for us to really reach this goal.  I have so many things that I have to change about myself to reach that, but it is comforting that God doesn't expect us to be perfect in an instant, it is a process, day by day, minute by minute.  It is especially applicable at this time of the year when we can think about what we can change about ourselves to help us receive Christ in our countenance for the upcoming year.  

Well I hope you all have a good week and take some time to think about Christ and what he did for us.  

So the place where we do most of our tracking is awesome! There are SO many lights!  Some of them even have music playing outside.  It is so interesting how they don't like have any money but yet they have all of these elaborate house decorations.  The other night my comp and I saw this group of people.  one person was carrying a statue of the Virgen Maria in a glass box, there was like 20 people following her with candles and chanting.  Oh the traditions of the world.  I couldn't even believe my eyes.  People always say that they don't worship the Virgen Maria, I am pretty sure walking around with her with candles and chanting is worshipping!  Hispanic people just love her and actually think she is the mother of all of us.  Oh the lies of Satan!  We are doing our best to spread the gospel and let people know that worshipping her is definitely not ok!

Well I hope all the Christmas parties go well.  I love you all!!

Les quiero MUSHISISIMO!

Hermana Clark

Letter #27

Hola mi querida Familia!

This week has been pretty good.  First of all I just wanted to tell you what the weather is like here so you can be slightly jealous, 65 degrees and climbing.  It is So beautiful!  Perfect weather, so currently I'm not missing the snow and cold to much, but we will see what i say christmas and I wake up to my first christmas without snow!!  It sounds like you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and enjoyed your time.  For Thanksgiving this year we ate with the family that we live with.  It was so delicious and was good because it didn't take tons of time out of our day to eat, and we got to do the traditional go around the table and say what we are grateful for!  Another fun thing that we did was we made those hand turkeys.  You know when you paint your fingers different colors and your palm brown and then make a turkey, well we kind of did that only we used markers because we have no paint.  then we wrote little notes on the turkeys and put tape on them, knocked on the peoples doors and then ran away.  Pretty sure the majority of the people either saw us or new that it was us, it was still fun though because it was something different and fun.  I have so much to be grateful.  I was thinking about how I am grateful for Spanish and that I have the opportunity to learn it. because with learning the language I have learned to love the culture and the people so much.  I was think about how a few months ago I didn't know these people that have grown to be apart of my everyday life.  They are the kindest and sweetest people ever!  Yesterday our unit was combined with the english ward and my companion had to translate!  I was just counting my blessings that I didn't have to translate. I just know I would never be able to do that!  All the members complimented her though so I just know she did a good job.  

This next week I am looking forward to Zone Conference!!  I am so excited.  After the last Zone Conference I just remembered being so rejuvinated and ready to work.  So I am excited for that.  We also found out some good news yesterday.  There is a couple in the unit that isn't married because they were waiting for there divorces to be finalized in Mexico.  So they are living together and only one is a member but the other is basically a member just lacks the whole being baptized thing.  So supposedly this month was supposed to be the month when the divorce was finalized.  They said they wanted there marriage to be a surprise and they were only going to tell the bishop, so yesterday the bishop told us that we needed to start teaching her (trust points for us because we were already starting to teacher her:)  I don't know if that made a lot of sense, simply, I hope they are going to get married this month so that we can baptize her and they both can be worthy!!!  THey are the sweetest family and they have two of the cutest little girls!  This week we also had another cool experience.  We have been teaching this lady Magdalena.  One of our appointment fell through and so we went to visit her and she invited us in.  We taught her the restoration.  As we recounted the first vision tears came to her eyes.  It was so sweet and wonderful!  That was the second time where something had touched her enough that she started crying...which is something that I can totally relate with:)  In case you were wondering how the crying thing is going, it definitely magically didn't leave because I am speaking spanish, but it is definitely easier to control, yet another reason why I am grateful for Spanish!!

Well It has been good to remember some of the miracles that have happened this week.  I hope that you are all doing well and having a wonderful Christmas season.

And I have Some VERY IMPORTANT NEWS!!!! The mission office address has changed so you need to send all of my mail to this address!!

California Ventura Mission

3301 West Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA 93036

Please address everything to this address so that I can keep getting that mail, which I love so much!!!

Les Quiero!!

Hermana Clark

Letter #26

Hola familia!  

Well this week was a week!  It definitely didn't go by as fast as the others have gone so I guess that is both a good and not so goo thing.  The week has been good.  We knocked a lot this week and yesterday it rained so we were just walking around with our umbrellas and trying to stay dry!  It was good though because we figured people would be more likely to let us in if we look like we are freezing.  I can't really complain though.  We always have good weather.  

So this week we had a really powerful lesson with Jesus.  He is the "spouse" of one of our members.  I think I have talked about him before. Anyone we were talking to him and were talking about the spirit and everything.  So then we invited him to be baptized.  As my companion was inviting him I felt the spirit so strong.  It was like my heart was on fire.  She asked him and for a split second I thought he was going to say yes.  This is a guy who has known and talked with missionaries off and on since 2005. However, he didn't except the invitation.  I know he felt the spirit though, I honestly don't know how he denied the spirit because it was so strong.  The first words that came out of his mouth were WOW, then he went back to his normal, I was already baptized in the catholic church thing.  We are still working with them and trying to get him to the church.  We have a lot of activities coming up for Christmas though so hopefully he will come to one of those.  

We have been working in Las casitas a lot lately just knocking and trying to talk to everyone everyday.  But something we have noticed is these little "chamacos" (spanish for street urchin:) walking around and me and my companion are pretty sure they are dealing drugs.  Our suspicions were confirmed this week as we were walking around and saw this white red head standing on the sidewalk.  He was definitely an outsider and was from Westlake which is a really wealthy area.  So I wonder what a rich white kids was doing in Las Casitas...hmmmm we tried to talk to him but he wasn't very interested, very nice though. 

So This week for thanksgiving we will be eating with the family we live with.  We actually didn't have anyone to eat with until this morning and Sister Davis invited us to join in with them and there family!  

I am excited and realize that I have so much to be grateful for!  Missionary work is taxing but I am so grateful for the experiences I am having.  I am SO grateful for all of the support from everyone at home.  I love you all and hope that you have a good thanksgiving!!

Les Amo!

Hermana Clark

Letter #25

Buenos Dias Familia!

Well this week literally flew by.  We had a good week but we dropped a lot of our investigators.  Usually what happens is that we contact someone, talk about our message and hopefully say a prayer with them and set up another appointment.  Then they are considered a "new investigator".  Doing that has been different because it isn't how my trainer worked but I like it because we have days filled with appointments.  A lot of the time the people aren't home but we can usually meet someone that lives in there house or something.  So once we have gone by the people a few times and they don't show any more interest we "drop" them.  Meaning we put there name in the area book, but don't go by anymore, until we fill like we need to, or other missionaries come to the area.  So this week was a drop week since the last couple of weeks we have just been contacting and meeting tons of people.  So it was kind of sad because we dropped some people that had baptismal dates.  So basically, not the most successful week according to numbers, but we found some people that seem slightly solid.  The family that we have been teaching still seems interested and I always enjoy going over there and teaching them.  It is definitely going to take patience, but they are reading the Book of Mormon and praying as a family, so I have faith that they will have a change of heart.  

Yesterday we had a lesson with one of our investigators.  His name is Jesus and he is dating/living with a member.  They literally are the nicest couple and I love going over there.  My companion loves soccer so the last couple of times that we went over they told us they are going to get us some jerseys.  So last night they brought down these jerseys and said they are going to put our names and numbers on the back.  They are so wonderful and I am excited to have an authentic mexican jersey to bring home.  

This past week we also had something sad happened.  We went over to one of our investigators houses and found out she had moved.  We had kind of expected it because her living situation wasn't the best, but it was still sad because she hasn't called us and her phone isn't working so we don't know where she is to send the missionaries over.  She really needed the gospel.  I think I will always wonder about her and what happened with her.  

Yesterday was fast sunday and it was wonderful!  We had this cute little old man get up and bare his testimony.  He is swedish and has learned spanish from reading preach my gospel and reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  So he gets up and relates the gospel to a chicken and how a little chick in the egg will die if someone opens the egg for it.  They have to peck through and do it themselves to gain the strength to live.  It's like that with the gospel, we can't make people get baptized or live the commandments, they have to do it themselves to gain the strength to endure to the end.  I though it was such a good analogy with missionary work.  Sometimes I wish I could just make people understand the importance of it, but we can't, we have to teach them and invite them and they have to do the changes themselves.

Next week is transfers.  I am pretty sure I will be staying her in Newberry Park with Hermana Tippetts, at least that is what I hope.  she has taught me so much about missionary work.  

Well I love it here, it is definitely getting colder though, I have had to wear a jacket the last couple of nights, still I just have to think it could be ALOT colder!  I can't believe it's already November!

Les Amo Muchisisismo!!

Hermana Clark

Letter #26

Hola Familia!!!

Well this week flew by just like the rest of the weeks have done.  We have seen a lot of really cool miracles this week and I am excited to tell you all about some of them.  First off I just have to say how excited i am.  Today was transfers and I am so glad to say I will be staying with Hermana Tippetts!!  We have been getting along so well and really felt like we would be staying together but sometimes President does crazy things!  First of all just so you know how much alike we are, the other day in planning we were talking about a less active that has some issues with keeping all of the commandments.  My companion was like, I have been thinking about her and I have decided she is kind of like one of those underground pimples that you get, you have to like work around it and give it some time until you can pop it!  I was laughing so hard because it was the perfect analogy for this less active.  So we are going to work with her and then get to the commandments that she really needs help with and then just be brave and call her to repentance. It kind of made my week:)

So the other week we tracked into this guy on a random street and he seemed very interested, so we went back for our follow up appointment and he was there.  We taught him about the Book of Mormon.  He was telling us about how he has always wondering if life had more of a purpose than working and eating and sleeping, basically what the purpose of life was.  He said that he needed peace and that he wasn't really happy.  I was so happy that I could be there to share the Book of Mormon with him.  I told him with complete confidence that the Book of Mormon could answer his questions about the purpose of life and that it could bring him REAL happiness and REAL peace!  We were just standing there on the doorstep and as I listened I was just so confident in my answer to him that the Book of Mormon could help him in his life.  I think through the last few months my testimony in the Book of Mormon has grown the most out of anything, so I hope and pray that you are all reading every day! Another experience that happened with the Book of Mormon this week.  My old companion and I found this older lady named Magdalena.  We weren't able to catch her at home after our first appointment and hrma Tippetts and I almost just dropped her but we decided to go by one more time and set up an appointment.  She was there and we once again shared the Book of Mormon with her.  We read in the introduction which is what we read with a lot of people about how we can read when Christ came to the America's and ministered to the people here, how we can learn about the plan of salvation, and receive more peace.  We asked her if anything caught her attention and she just started to cry.  She said she had always wondered why Christ had never come here if he had so much love.  I know the spirit was testifying to her in that moment of how true it really was.  It was a sweet experience and in that moment I realized what a gift I have had in my life to always have the knowledge that God really does love all of his children and he is going to minister to us all.  We really are so blessed to have the Book of Mormon in our lives and the only true church.

Well I hope everyone is doing good getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I am getting so excited for it, and you can be expecting a BOMB Christmas card from me and my companion!  I love you!!

Hermana Clark

Letter #24

Hola Familia!!

Como Estan??  Well this week has been pretty good.  The weeks go by So fast!  It feels like just yesterday that I was writing you.  I was thinking this morning about my first week in the mission field.  I am pretty sure it was the LONGEST week of my life.  I think the fact that I couldn't understand anyone, I was in a new place, and it finally hit me that I was a missionary and was going to have to preach the gospel to everyone, really hit me that week.  Every week just goes by faster and faster.  It's kind of like a train how it goes slowly to start and then speeds up faster and faster as it goes on.  That is kind of how I am feeling.  No worries though I still have ALOT of time to learn and grow. 

So this week have I got a story for you all!! This week we decided to go by a former and we knocked on his door, turns out he doesn't live there anymore.  So we talked to the lady that lived there.  She let us make an appointment with her, so we went back.  We talked to her about the Book of Mormon.  She seemed receptive.  So we have ended and were going to say a prayer.  Then one of the men that lives there walked in.  We asked him to sit down and say a prayer with us and if we could sing a song for them.  He accepted the invitation.  So we sang "Asombro me Da"  in English "I Stand All Amazed".  We sang the song and looked up and the guy, Filodalfo, had tears in his eyes.  So we set up a return appointment with him.  That is always scary because you never know if you are actually going to find them again.  So we went for our appointment and he was there!!!  We were talking to him, trying to get to know him.  Then he is like I just have always wondered, what is the purpose of life.  It took me a second to process the significance of what he said, and then I specifically remember thinking, did he really just ask us that question.  i looked over at my companion and her eyes were just so wide and I am pretty sure she was asking herself the same thing.  So we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and told him that he could find the answer to that question in that Book.  The spirit was So strong from the very beginning.  We told him we would mark the chapter where Christ comes to the Americas and give him a Book of Mormon.  He was very excited about it and accepted the invitation to read and pray.  It was funny because we were like, we would like to mark a chapter and give this book to you and he was like Please do that!  We walked away and were just speechless.  There were just no words to explain what had just happened!  One of the signs of someone being elect is if they are asking questions and he had a lot of questions. That was one of the times I wish there was a camera to video our faces when he asked us what the purpose of life was.  So we of course set up another appointment.  It was the coolest thing.

It was interesting to experience this because it came after a letter from Mom asking me if I had had any really spiritual experiences yet.  As I talked to my companion we talked about all of these cool missionary stories that we here from everyone, all of these miracles that happen that missionaries get to see.  As we talked about it though, the thing is that we see the AMAZING miracles everyday.  They might not be to the fact that we see someone and they ask us if they can be baptized, they can be small miracles.  In the case of Filodalfo it was a miracle that we chose that former to go visit, that the person at the door set up an appointment with us, that our lesson lasted long enough so that he could be there for the end and the song.  Just a whole chain of miracles.  So to answer moms question of if I have had any really magnificent experiences I guess you could say all the miracles I get to see are pretty miraculous and wonderful.  Not gonna lie it is seeing those small miracles that helps me through the hard rejections and hours of knocking.  I feel your support and I am so grateful for it!! Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!  My companion and I will probably be knocking doors tonight.  That is going to be fun when people try to give us candy and we try to give them a Book of Mormon:0     

I love you all!!

Hermana Clark