Well, as you all know, I have made it safely to New Jersey and I am
proud to announce that I am serving in the area of WEST NEW YORK! Can
you guys believe that? I'm serving in West New York!
Sooooo, on Tuesday
morning, after receiving an amazing night's sleep, I woke up and had some
great breakfast made by Sister Jeppson and the Elders that are the
Assistants to the President. After that, we all had some orientation
stuff then a meeting with President Jeppson. President Jeppson is
seriously so awesome. He told us a little bit about the mission then he
sang us a song. ALSO!!! He said we could practice what ever instruments
we know how to play on p-days, so I would really love it if you guys
could figure out some way to send me my guitar. Playing the guitar here
would be so awesome. After the meeting we took some arrival photos with
Pres. and Sis. Jeppson. They have this cute scrap book that they put
together with pictures of all the missionaries they've had. Then we
hopped in the van and headed to the transfer conference.
Transfer meeting was quite the experience. All of us new
missionaries arrived and then the trainers arrived. It was so cool to
see them all arrive and we were all excited to meet each other, but we
didn't find out who were going to be companions after a training and a
lunch. The lunch was so good, we had some lasagna and salad and stuff,
then we all headed back into the meeting room so that President Jeppson
could announce who would be paired up together.
 |
| My companera Hermana Martin and Me |
My trainers name is
Sister Martin. She is sooooooo great and I love her to death. She is all
the things that I was praying for in a trainer. We still didn't know
where we were going to be serving though, because we were going to be
"doubled in", which means that we are both new to the area. So after we
were paired up we headed to the chapel for the actual transfer meeting.
The chapel was FULL of missionaries who were all going to be transferred
and receive new companions. It was so fun to hear them all scream with
excitement when Pres. Jeppson called out who would be companions and
where they would be going. They finally called out mine and sister Martin's names and we freaked out when he said West New York. We didn't
really know where it would be. We thought we would actually be serving in
the State of New York, but the city of West New York is actually in New
Jersey.
A little bit about West New York: WNY is one of the few walking
areas of the mission, so we will definitely be getting our exercise in.
Hopefully enough exercise to keep off the weight from the massive
amounts of food that the members here are feeding us. Almost everybody
living here speaks Spanish. Actually about 90% of the population here is
Latino, so we are definitely the minority. It was kind of weird to get
used to at first, but I love it because we can just walk up to someone
on the sidewalk and speak to them in Spanish. So hopefully my Spanish
grows a ton while I am here. Ok, now for the exciting part. West New
York is right across the Hudson, so we can see New York City! We can
even see parts of it from our little apartment. We live about a block
away from the Hudson, so we like to run down there in the mornings and
just look at the City. It is so Beautiful. I am in love!! I never
thought I would be living within view of New York City.
 |
| Our apartment! |
Our apartment is such an interesting place. We live in the upstairs
floor of this little house thing. It is so funky and it has so much
character. I'll send you all more pictures of the inside next week.
Everybody here lives in apartments that are really small, but I'm sure
they cost a fortune. It is interesting to me because I've never lived in a
city like this before. We have to be buzzed in where ever we go. I hate
standing in the little door ways though. They are claustrophobic and
hot. It is so cool, because even though everyone here lives in these
teeny/crappy little apartments here, they are so willing to share
everything they have with us.
The members here are incredible. They're so funny. Sister Martin is
new to the area too, so a lot of time this week was spent trying to call
members of the ward and visit some less actives so that we could get to
know everybody. Sister Martin is way excited because we have members
calling us and asking if they can team up with us or drive us places, which
she said never happened in her old area. Literally, everyone here LOVES
us. We call them and they just go"OHHH HERMANITA". Its so funny. It
makes me happy when they call us that. They also LOVE to feed us. On Wednesday
night we went to visit a woman named Onny. She is a member of the ward
and the sisters that were here before us had set us an appointment with
her that was later in the evening. We went over there and she gave us
the hugest hugs and she told us that her home was our home. I cant even
tell you how often people tell us that its so cute. She also said that
she was like our mom. I LOVE HER. Shes awesome. She loves to cook and
she made us some really good food. She made some meat with rice and
beans and fried bananas. She is Colombian, so it was Colombian food and
it was so yummy. We had already eaten though because we didn't know that
she was going to feed us. I was really full already, so she let us
take our food and I only took a little bit and she just grabbed my plate
and shoveled all of this food onto it. I seriously wanted to cry
because I thought I was going to have to eat it all. But luckily she
asked if we wanted to take it home. It was way good though.
Funny story, on Wednesday
night we went out to eat with this member named Jeanette and she took
us to this Cuban restaurant, well the next night we were doing team ups
with sister Cordova and we were about to head to the church. She asked
us if we were hungry, which everyone always asks, then she insisted on
buying us some food, and she took us to the same Cuban restaurant that
we had eaten at the night before. It was so funny. Sis. Martin and I
were cracking up, but we didn't say anything. I really like the food
here. We eat a lot of Cuban food and Colombian food. A couple nights ago
another member, sister Torres and her husband took us to a little
sandwich place that is right down the street from our apartment.
It was
the best sandwich ever! I think it was Colombian. She also bought us
Colombian soda, it was way good. It's funny because our relief society
president lives in the apartment that is right on top of that sandwich
shop. People just live in apartments that are above all of the little
tiendas in the city. It is very interesting.
Last night we visited the sweetest family. They're names are the Cedillos. We showed up a little bit late because we have to get used to
giving ourselves enough time to walk and we don't really know the area
very well yet so we get kind of lost. But they live on the street that
is on the Hudson, so we got to have the best view of the city while we
were walking to and from the appointment. We could also see the city
from their front window. They lived in a really cool area and they are
the sweetest family. We came in and she immediately offered us juice then
she made us some sandwiches. I don't know what it is, but these Latinos
make the best sandwiches. It was so yummy. Then after the lesson, she
just pulled out this jug of orange juice for us to take home. It was so
funny.
The members love us and the people on the street actually love us,
which is kinda funny. There is this guy that just sits in front of his
door on Broadway all day, so whenever we pass him he shakes our hand.
Then there is this little fruit stand that we walk by sometimes.
Yesterday the guy at the fruit stand stopped us and just gave us
coconuts with a straw and so we just stayed and talked to him for a
couple of minutes while we drank from the coconuts. We were on our way
to an appointment though, so we didn't have that much time, but he
insisted that we take some oranges with us, too. He was awesome. People
here are so funny, they just kind of tell us what to do.
Also, just a funny little side note... Before we left the CCM, Has.
Christensen, Faw, Schaefer & me gave Fernando (the Jarritos
Janitor) a little thank you card with our emails and FaceBooks on it. HE
EMAILED US!! I was am so excited! He's awesome and I miss him so much! I
really miss the whole CCM to be honest. It was so much fun. But I
absolutely adore New Jersey too :)
I am absolutely terrible at Spanish. Its so hard. UGGHHH. Sister
Martin is awesome though and she is really patient with me. The members
are really patient as well. They just smile at me and act like they know
what I'm saying. And I pretend to know what they're saying too. Its
funny. They keep telling me "little by little". I just wish I could wake
up tomorrow
and know Spanish. But unfortunately it doesn't work like this. SOO, I
gotta keep studying and studying and speaking and speaking. Speaking
scares me though. Hopefully I get over that fear soon. I've actually done
a few street contacts though. I introduce ourselves as missionaries
then I say that we have a message, then if they respond, Ha Martin
listens and responds back because I usually don't know what they said.
hahahaha oh man. Missionary life is so interesting sometimes. It is
definitely not boring, that's for sure.
 |
| There's another Sister Clark in the NJMM! |
Well, I just want you all to know that I am happy and I am working
hard. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know without a doubt that
it is true. Don't worry about me. I've got about 5 new moms, and the members take excellent care of us.
I love you all so much!
-Hermana Clark
No comments:
Post a Comment