I Finished My Training!

As you can tell from this mountain of poop, we found the mouse's hiding spot. Fun story...We have  mouse traps, but he is a smart little fella. We put peanut butter on the traps and we woke up in the morning to find all the traps licked clean. but NO MOUSE!! are you kidding me? I thought Sister Martin got up and cleaned the traps as a joke, but she swears on her bisrthday presents that she didn't. This is a tricky little guy. We have no idea what to do. Hopefully my new companion has some experience with mice. We also have poison, but that hasn't worked either. We're stumped.

Well, as of yesterday, I am not in training any more! Can you believe that? My training is over! So crazy and it kind of scares me a little bit. I have been here for 2 transfers now, and today is the first day of my 3rd transfer. If y'all couldn't tell, it is transfer week, which is a really exciting time in the mission... It is my first time really experiencing the excitement of transfers. The last transfers wasn't really that exciting because I was still in training which meant that we were pretty certain that Sister Martin and I were going to stay together in West New York to finish my training. This weekend was a whole different story though.

 

Fall in WNY

Everyone was just so anxious all week because we knew a lot of changes were probably coming because I'm finished with my training and a lot of people have been together in their areas for a long time. You don't find out who is going to be transferred until Sunday night though, the last night of the transfer, then the transfer conference is the next Tuesday, so you don't really have that much time to pack up and say goodbye to everyone you work with. So, with that in mind, we were going all week wondering if we were ever going to see these people again and they were asking us about it, too. ITS SO CRAZY!!!

 

 

SO, last night, were doing our planning KNOWING in the back of our heads that the transfer text would be coming some time. Its hard to concentrate when there is something so big coming up and you have no idea when to expect it... So were doing our nightly planning then we hear the phone.. I look down and it was PRESIDENT JEPPSON. We kind of freaked out in our minds a little and gave each other a look like "why in the world is he calling us tonight" We knew he couldn't be calling one of us to be a trainer because the trainers get called on Thursday nights, but our hearts kind of dropped in fear. I answer the phone with a shaky voice "Hello, this is Sister Clark" then, much to my relief he asked for sister Martin... Her eyes get all big and she answers nervously. HE CALLED HER TO BE A SISTER TRAINING LEADER!!!! MY COMPANION IS LEAVING ME SO SHE CAN GO BE A SISTER TRAINING LEADER!!!! She's the best! She is so excited and I am so proud of her. I'm going to miss her like crazy though. We then struggled through the rest of our nightly planning, then we got the transfer text, sure enough we read, "transfers: S. Martin"... I love West New York and I love the people here, but I gotta say I'm kind of bummed to be staying here just because it's so darn cold and I am definitely a desert girl. Man, Heavenly Father is really trying my patience right now. hahaha I'M EXCITED THOUGH!! We are going to see some baptisms this transfer, I'm sure of it. 

 

Us this morning at 8 AM doing laundry at the llavanderia down the street. We have personal study while we wait for our laundry.

 

I took Sister Martin out for birthday lunch today. We went to this little Mexican place that we found last week... My new obsession. Tortas Hawaiiana. OH MY HEAVENS. Also, I now have the new skill of ordering food in Spanish. :) Can't wait to show it off to you all when I get home. We have to go to a super duper Mexican hole in the wall place so I can order in Spanish. I'm proud of myself.

 

Sister Martin with her Taquitos.

Speaking of baptisms and stuff, we found an incredible investigator this week. I think I might have mentioned her last week, when I was talking about how last Sunday we worked with zero success for about 3 hours, then we contacted a really neat woman on the street and set a return appointment with her while we were on our way home. We went for the appointment and we had a little bit of trouble finding her door, it is hard to know which door with all of these difficult apartments around. We didn't really know what to do then we heard "Hermanas!" from around the corner. We turned around and it was her waving at us. She was excited to see us, which NEVER happens. She happily invited us into her little basement apartment and introduced us to her 15 year old son. We then had an AMAZING first lesson. I think it was the best first lesson I've had on my mission... It was like a perfect Preach My Gospel first lesson. We ended with a prayer and committed her to read and to pray about the Book of Mormon. She said that of course she would. We set a return appointment and she walked us outside. She stood outside and talked to us for a while and it just felt so good. I felt like she really trusts us and I felt a really neat friendship and connection. Sister Martin and I hugged her goodbye and walked down the street. When we got to the corner where she couldn't see us anymore, we just looked at each other and hugged and semi cried because after all of our hard work, we FINALLY found someone who is prepared to accept this message. It was probably one of the happiest and most rewarding nights of this transfer. She is so wonderful and SO prepared. I am SO SO EXCITED for this opportunity that I will have to stay here in West New York and continue to teach her and her son. I feel really privileged that God trusts me with her... It is kind of a scary thought, but I just feel so... I don't know, right. It just feels right. Sister Martin is sad to leave her, but I know that I will get a companion who is ready to teach her and who will be able to connect with her too. Its going to be such a good transfer. 

 

Our last PDay together

 

MEXICO!! MMMM I love me some tortas.

Other miracles, this week we made some progress in our lesson with these investigators from El Salvador. This family has been investigating for a LONG time, but we just love them and feel a very unique and special spirit when we are with them... We have prayed hard about dropping them because they weren't committing to baptism, but it just never felt right. So, this week we go over, not really knowing how the night was going to turn out. BUT, we had a very good visit with them and he told us that he wanted to be baptised in January. HUGE MIRACLE. Now we just need to make it happen. She told us that she has a testimony of prophets and of the Book of Mormon. She has had a hard time warming up to us, she has a lot of character and I really just love her. We had a feeling that we should stick around for a little while after the closing prayer and help her pick up her daughter's toys. We helped her and we could tell she was thankful. We talked a little bit then we jokingly told her that she needed to teach us how to make pupusas. She smiled and looked up at us and told us to come over on Saturday and she would teach us how. THIS IS SO HUGE!!! SHE LIKES US!! SHE WANTS TO TEACH US HOW TO MAKE PUPUSAS!! It was cool how a small act of service and taking the time to just talk to her opened her up to us so much and we were able to build that trust with her. I think we will see a lot of progress with her now. I'm so excited to go over next Saturday. She is wonderful!

 

Saturday we had a fun Thanksgiving Dinner activity at the church. In case I haven't said this enough, being a Spanish missionary is the best. All these people are crazy party animals, which causes for church activities full of amazing food and of course, dancing! I loved it. Wish you all could have come! :)

Thanksgiving Dinner

All the cute little girls in our ward! Love them!

 

Jose Cedillo. Best recent convert ever!

Well, that's about all. I'm excited to email you again next week. There is going to be a lot of exciting things happening this week, from Transfer conference, Thanksgiving and Pupusas with Olinda. Its going to be a great week!

 

I love you all and I am thankful for your love and support! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be thinking of you and missing you all.

 

-Becca

Week Eleven!

Sorry these are late! I don't know how I forgot to take my card reader to the computer last week. But it's better late than never, because these are AWESOME!

Here is the gift they got me...Here in New Jersey everyone has these on the dashboards of their cars. I've wanted one really bad every since I got here. We were cracking up because of what the plastic says. "Shaking leafage is a cute wings which moves by light" - what does that even mean?  ha ha ha ha

Then Carmen shoved my face in my cake. ahahahah she's so fun! And a great ward missionary, and her daughter, Evelyn, is the cutest!

Me, Evelyn, and Sister Martin

Me and Elder Benson

Elder Blanco, Me and Evelyn

Me and Elder Cuevas

Sister Martin and me with Hans, another one of our awesome members! (Mc

Kaela, he's from Peru!!)

The goods. I wish the curtain was up because they have an INCREDIBLE view of New York Darn.

Blowing out the candles...this tres leche cake was so darn good! Julie, you would have died. I'm going to have to say it beats Parson's. Sorry about it. ha ha

Me, Hermana Cedillo, Jose and Luis Jr. GREATEST RECENT CONVERT FAMILY EVER!!

Hermana Cedillo and me

Well, Week eleven down, one more week to go until I am finished with my training! Can you believe that! Next week, I'll just be another missionary, not a new missionary. Kind of a scary thought actually, people are going to expect me to know what to do... But I don't feel like I really have that much wisdom yet. ha, I guess it will just keep coming. :)

This week has definitely been a week of growth and learning for me. We have had a couple of hard days, but it is all worth it in the end. I have a testimony that God blesses you when you put your faith in him and do what he says, even if you can't see the road he's leading you down. That's really been what this week has been like.

At the start of last week, we knew that we were going to try to do a lot of finding this week, and it was really a daunting task... Just because it is not fun at all to go around knocking doors. BUT we did it, and we did find some good people and there were times where we knew that we were exactly where we needed to be. 

We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I went to Caldwell with Sister Richardson. It was my first time leaving West New York and she is also an English sister, so I got to teach in English for the first time. It was so fun and I learned so much from her. She gave some great advice on finding, which we put to the test later in the week. Being in an English area really helped me recognize how happy I am to be Spanish though, even though it's hard. It's good for me. One thing I really learned from Sister Richardson is the importance of having something planned for every 30 minutes and having specific back ups for those if they fall through, and if none of that works, work the street you're on. If you've planned right, then God knows exactly where your gonna be and he'll give you someone to teach if you search for them. Learning that helped me a lot. After that, we've had some really good plans and names for the whole day. We've always got something to do.

Last night was really hard. We didn't have ANY appointments. We went to church, came home, had our studies, then hit the sidewalk at 5 o'clock sharp. We worked all the formers and less actives that we had in our area book for 51st street for about 3 hours, we knocked about 7 or 8 doors with a specific name behind them of former investigators or less active members. We contacted a few people on the street, but none of them really looked promising. We had a hard 3 hours with a lot of work, but no success. Then, around 8 we had it planned to knock one more door, a reference from the elders. This guy lived on 59th between Bergenline and Pallisade, which wasn't really where we had been working in the hours previous. We knocked the door, and no one was home. We still had about 45 minutes until we were supposed to be home. We decided to go to another less active who we had met before, but we weren't really sure if he would be home... So we go towards Bergenline and we saw someone who looked familiar. We shook his hand and then we realized it was a less active in our ward that we have been trying to get in contact with! He was happy to see us and we were happy to see him. He agreed to let us share a quick message with him. So we pulled out the scriptures and shared with him. We asked him how he really got to know Christ. He said on his mission. He told us about how he would go knock doors for hours and how it was the hardest thing, but they would find someone who they could really help, and it made it all worth it. You really have to have a lot of faith in Christ to be a missionary and you have to truly know Him. His testimony at that moment helped me, and I know it helped him. He enthusiastically promised he would start reading the Book of Mormon again every night. I know we were supposed to be there to teach him. It was cool. God puts you where you need to be.

We also met another woman on the street after that and taught her and set a return appointment. We had 3 hours of no success, but we were blessed after the trial of our Faith! Such a cool thing.

On Saturday we had a big ward activity that was planned by sister Martin and me . It was called "La noche de gracias" or the night of thanks. We had members of the ward share some of their talents and share messages with the theme of thanks. It was both spiritual and fun. The primary sang a cute song and other members shared fun talents. We had pizza and soda. It was a good time! 

Elder Blanco with the pizzas.  MMMMMM!

Elder Cuevas let the members throw a pie in his face!

Well, I have another really fun story from last week, but my time is up on the computer. I'll try to send it in a letter today.

I love you all and I love being a missionary!!

Thanks for the support!

-Sister Clark

p.s. Shout out to my best friend Mckaela on getting her mission call to PERU! I couldn't be more proud and I am so excited to have someone to speak Spanish with when I come home.

ALSO! Birthday shout out to my niece Ava who turned 9 yesterday and my nephew Luka who will be 6 tomorrow. I love you two!

Birthday Week!

So.... Lets just say that it has been my Birthday WEEK. hahah. All the members are so sweet and they all remembered that it was my birthday on Monday and they ask me about it and they give me presents and it is just the sweetest thing! They're the BEST!! But, there are a couple of events that I have to tell you about.

Monday, Sister Martin and the Elders arranged for a little surprise party for me at the church. We headed for the church to "practice the piano" and they all surprised me. The elders bought like 20 burritos from taco bell. They know that's my favorite. They also bought me a present that I really wanted... Here in New Jersey, everyone has these weird little flower things in the windshield of their car. The leaves shake from the energy from the sun or something... But we were just laughing because they are manufactured by China so the English on the box made no sense at all. It said "Shaking leafage is a happy wings which moves by light." It was super funny. We keep laughing about it. Then the Ward missionary, Carmen Incarroca, came over with her daughter, Evelyn. They surprised me with a cake with my name on it and stuff. It was cute. They sang happy birthday, then they all started chanting something and said it was an  Hispanic tradition to take a bite of the cake... So they were all chanting and so I felt super pressured into biting the cake.. So I went down to bite it then Carmen just shoved my face into the cake! It was so funny! Elder Cuevas got a video of it and he has enjoyed showing it to everyone in the ward, and all of the missionaries in zone conference this week. Definitely a birthday to remember. SO FUNNY!!

Then Monday night after P-Day, we had an appointment with the Cedillos, a new member family. They were so excited because they bought me a tres leche cake and pizza. It was so cute! They sang happy birthday and we blew out candles and ate pizza. It was such a fun night.

Then Tuesday night, we had a normal day and we had an appointment with the Torres family, another recent convert. We went over and had a normal lesson. I mentioned at the beginning that it was my birthday the day before. They were just normal and said cool, how old are you, etc. and we continued on with the lesson. Then we said the closing prayer and Antonio walked into the kitchen to get us water the way he always does.... Then he came out with a Birthday cake for me! It was the cutest thing!! They are just this humble little family from Mexico! I loved it.

Sorry I don't really have much time and I forgot my camera, but I have a lot of birthday pictures for next week.

Thank you everybody for the birthday wishes and gifts. I loved it!! Love you all!!

-Sister Clark

Mi Cumpleanos!

Hola mi familia!!!

Thank you everyone so much for the Birthday wishes!! It has been such a great day!! It is a great day to have a birthday. hahaha. We are going to visit a recent convert family that I absolutely LOVE tonight. I'm so excited. Last week when we scheduled this appointment we told them that it was going to be mi cumpleanos (my birthday) and they got SO EXCITED! ha ha So I know I'll have a really fun night.

So excited to open my package this morning!!

I woke up this morning and we jogged on the Hudson while the sun came up by the buildings, it was gorgeous.

Then we opened my birthday package from my Sisters! That was so much fun! It was fun to have presents to unwrap! I got two cute new outfits and cards from all the kids. I'm also really excited about the stickers. It will be fun to give that to kids! Thank you so much! I have the best family in the world. I also got a coat from my dad, which as been keeping me warm all week. Thanks dad, I love it! I got a guitar from my mom, too! That was so awesome!! I got so spoiled this year. Thanks everyone!! My heart is so so happy!

THANK YOU SISTERS! You take good care of me. I'm wearing this today. My heart is sooooo happy :)

I LOVED these cards from my nieces and nephews.

 SHOOT! I almost forgot to tell you about the best part of the day!!

This morning Sis. Martin and I were having our personal study and we hear the doorbell. We go down there and we see the elders through the door with their backs too us. I open the door and they turn around dramatically, kind of like a boy band. Then they broke out into some Spanish birthday song! It was the best!! They were like my own personal little mariachi band. hahahaha. It was like legit too, because Elder Blanco had a guitar, and he is from Mexico. hahaha. They're the greatest. Best birthday surprise ever. 

BEST ELDERS EVER!! My own personal little band. I'm going to miss them when they get transferred in e weeks...Tuna Slayers forever!!<3

Then Sister Martin and I locked ourselves out of our apartment and they just laughed at us. hahaha. Sorry we're dumb sometimes... But luckily someone was visiting our 92 year-old downstairs neighbor and she came and got the door for us. BLESSINGS!!

I don't want you all to worry - But I get really cold sometimes. hahahahahaha

It was such a fun week with Halloween and everything. All the missionaries had to be in casa at 6 on both Wednesday and Thursday to be safe. It was fun. Sister Martin and I watched all of our DVDs that we have while we were bundled up on the couch eating Oreos and milk. It was a nice break from everything!!

ALSO!! Remember that agua panela stuff that I was talking about? Well, we went to go visit Ana Ruth again this week and we told her that it was my birthday next week and she gave us two huge cubes of it!! So we are in agua panela heaven!! mmmmm. I swear you guys have to try that stuff. I cant wait to make all these fun treats for you when I come home. I swear, I'm like half Hispanic now, but I love it. They are the best people in the world!!

On Halloween before we went to the church, we went to the ward activity and the elders and I were really excited to wear the mustaches that my sisters sent in their October package for us. They were a huge hit. All the members were totally cracking up. hahahaha

West New York rockin' the Halloween mustaches. hahaha Tuna Slayers for lyyyfe. ha

Elder Wasden pulled off this mustache so well. It was awesome.

This has to be the most epic picture of all time! Sister Martin, me, Elder Wasden, and Elder Cuevas.

One more of us on Halloween. Elder Benson, Elder Blanco, Sister Martin, Me, Elder Wasden and Elder Cuevas

ALSO!! THIS WEEK!! AGHHH SO MANY MIRACLES!! A random less active in our ward called us up out of the blue and invited us over. When we went over she told us that she had a reference and that she was going to come that night so we could teach her. SURPRISE! It was so awesome. That doesn't just happen. She took the time to find our number from who knows where and invite us over to teach someone. People are so awesome.

Yesterday we taught the third hour of church. We taught about the hastening the work of salvation and ways that the members and missionaries can work together. It was such a good lesson and all of the members seem to be on board and really excited about it. I'm excited because we are using this idea that I came up with randomly... I don't know if you all remember but Elder Ballard said in conference that everyone should try to share the gospel with one person before Christmas. I was thinking about that and thinking about how we could motivate the members to give us a reference before Christmas, then I came up with something called our little "arbolita"hahah. That means cute little tree.

Our arbolita

But Sister Martin and I made a little arbol de navidad (Christmas tree) and we hung it on a board in the church. When someone gives us a reference, we are going to put an ornament with their name on the tree. It was fun introducing this idea yesterday, I hope it will be a success. It was funny because our ward mission leader, Tony, introduced it. He was  like " Who here has a Christmas tree. Who here loves their Christmas tree. Who decorates their Christmas tree with great care. Well I am proud to announce that we have an "arbolita" in the church, which we are going to decorate with great care." hahah it was cool and funny. He's awesome. We are working with him a lot more.

HMMMM... well. That's about all I've got for now. It was a good week, and this week is going to be awesome too. Keep praying for my investigators. They need a lot of help. We need to find more investigators too. It's stressful and hard to find people. Pray that we will be able to find people!

Love you all! Thanks for everything you do!!

-Sister Clark

One of the recent comvert families that we visit every week (minus the dad). They loved our mustaches. The little girl says the most sincere beautiful prayers I've ever heard.