Howdy family, how y'all doin' this mornin'?
Oh
wait, I'm not serving in the west. I am definitely serving in the NORTH! In a foreign land called PASSAIC, where there are a lot of HISPANICS...
so let me try that one over again.
Buenas dias querida familia, como estan?
Wow,
what a week. Honestly, it was such a long week. One of the longer weeks
of my mission, BUT in the best way possible. It was a great week. I
mean, Monday and Tuesday
morning was pretty hard. We went to go see Ivonne and the Garcia family
and that was so hard to say goodbye. I hugged Ivonne so tight and we
promised we would stay in contact and I gave her a little gift. The
Garcias were especially hard. They really became like family to me. We
were over there visiting someone every day and we always went over on
Monday nights for Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening). They helped me develop such a strong
testimony of Noche de Hogar. All of the kids are in their 20s, but they
still take the time to gather together on Monday nights and share a
gospel message and play with each other and the spirit is just so
happy... Even though in my eyes, they would have no reason to be happy
at all. They don't speak English, they are dirt poor and they all live in
2 rooms. They really changed my life and it was hard to say goodbye. I
felt like I was leaving with unfinished work, but it was so out of my
hands. I am praying that I will go back to Morristown to end my mission.
It was really touching the relationship they had with Sister Smedley
though. Julio cried when she told him and they all started crying.
Sister Smedley was very special for them and she had a really special
relationship with them. She cried... And she NEVER cries. I think it was
good for me to see that because I kind of learned from it. That is all I
want. To love the people I serve so much that it is that hard to say
goodbye. So, with that in mind, I am so determined to just love everyone
in Passaic to pieces and give them everything I have.
Tuesday
was hard, too. It took us all morning to pack, of course, but it was
nice to just have that last few hours to just talk with my companions
who became my two best friends in the short six weeks we were together.
We got all packed up, loaded the car up and took our short little 10
minute drive to transfer conference. We had to stop on the way to get
some ice cream of course. ;) ha ha. We got to the chapel and Neena, one
of the members in Morristown, was there waiting for us to say goodbye to
sister Smedley and me. She brought us a picture that she printed out of
one of the family home evenings with her and a bag of really delicious
cookies. It was so sweet! Then, the really tough part came. Transfer
conference. It was a mission wide transfer conference, so all of the
missionaries were there, even the ones not getting transferred just to
say goodbye to President and Sister Jeppson. So so sad. We were also
saying goodbye to a lot of spectacular missionaries who have really made
a difference in my mission. One being Elder Lattuga, my last district
leader. He was great and super fun. Gonna miss him like crazy! And my
zone leaders in Perth Amboy, Elder Larson and Elder Jester. They taught
me so much! man. It's hard losing people you love! Then in 6 weeks, I
lose 3 of my companions, my best friends. I am trying not to think about
it! waaahhhh. But the whole transfer conference was great. All the
Seniors in the office are leaving as well, which is sad. They had this
mission down. But, we also got to meet the new senior couple, I know
they will be great and will get the hang of it. Departing testimonies
always remind me of how close and united we are as a mission, because
anyone who is not a missionary would probably have no idea what people
are talking about we are all just laughing together and saying
ridiculous things that you only learn in New Jersey. I loved every
minute. I also loved just sitting in between my two companions for the
last time. When transfers came, we squeezed each others hands super tight
waiting for our big moment. To my surprise, my name got called very
first. I was shocked, but I shot up out of my seat then Sister Haycock's
name got called and we got doubled in to Passaic. We got some pretty
good cheers for that one. Passaic has been closed down for sisters for
about 3 weeks because one of the sisters had to go home for health
issues :( so everyone was just waiting to see who would get doubled in
there. I guess people were excited it was us. ha ha. Sister Smedley was
flipping out. She was so excited because she was trained in Passaic and
she loved it so I had actually heard quite a bit about it from her. So I
was actually pretty excited, too. I think that is when the nervousness
faded. I knew where I was going and with whom. Sister Heule got Sister
Summers and Sister Heule as companions in Motown and Sister Smedley got
transfered to Plainfield with Sister Brown. I'm excited about this
companerismo. They're gonna kill it. Then President and Sister Jeppson
shared their departing testimonies. They were brief but powerful, and we
all departed. President Jeppson was standing in the foyer hugging
everyone and getting pictures with us. It was such a loving thing for
him to do since he was being swarmed by 250 smelly misioneros. But all
the sisters were so excited because we got to hug him for the first
time! All the sisters were giving him a huge squeeze. It was nice. I
went up and hugged him so tight and he hugged me back so tight then he
looked at me and said "Sister Clark, I love you much and I am just so
proud of you." Then he shook my hand and had to move on to one of the
other 250, but wow, my heart melted! I love that man!
It took us a while to get our car figured out because
another area was using our car, then someone else drove off with our
house keys, which we needed so we had to wait FOREVER to even leave Morristown. It was practically empty by the time we left. BUT, the
Garcia family showed up to play soccer so I got to get one last hug from
everyone and say bye. I was really thankful I got to see them again. It
was kind of funny because sister Heule drove up and she said " I have a
surprise for you, guess who is coming to play soccer?" Then their van
drove up and I took off running down the parking lot and they jumped out
of the van. I basically attacked Ana. It was fun.
We made it to Passaic around 8:30 and went to get subway
with the zone leaders Elder Leon and Elder Hanson. They are super nice
and they prepared the area so nice for us. Then they led us to our
apartment. Our apartment is sweet! Members live both above us and below
us and they just adore us. It is kind of fun being a missionary because
everyone just adores you, not gonna lie. ha ha But it is a super cool old
house and we live on the second floor. Gotta send you some pictures.
There are stained glass windows and it has been a missionary apartment for a
long time, so missionaries have left things around... Like there is a
bagel hanging from the window seal. I don't even want to know how long it
has been there. And there are scrabble magnets on the fridge and we have
scrabble with all the missionary names that have lived there. It's pretty
sweet.
Anyways. My district leader is Elder Perez. I don't know
if you remember, but I served in Perth Amboy with him for 3 transfers,
so I absolutely love him. I am so thankful he is my district leader. He
set some really good expectations and standards for us that really
helped me and Sister Haycock to push ourselves this week. The mission
standard is 20 lessons a week. Our district standard is 21. Our mission
standard for contacting is 10 a day. Our district standard is 15, so
obviously he expects nothing but the best. I really like it. Also, I am
very happy to announce that in the 5 days that we were in our area, both
completely new, we achieved this goal. Yep, we got 21 lessons in 5
days. It was sweet. We worked our tails off. We did some hard core
contacting and some fun street lessons. We have almost no investigators,
so I think this is going to be our life for the next couple of weeks
until we get some solid investigators to teach. I am excited though. We
got to meet a lot of the members. I already love everyone we have met.
There is this family that the branch pres asked us to visit, so we went
over and they were super cool. They're a bit less active, but the oldest
daughter is 20 and she isn't a member and her mom said that she never
comes out to listen to the missionaries. We asked if she would go get
her just so we could say hi, so the daughter came out and we introduced
ourselves and got a conversation going with her. She is super cool and
we actually had a lot in common, so we asked her if she would stay while
we just shared a short Mormon message and she said sure, and she stayed
and talked to us about her beliefs and her theories and stuff and she
said that she would be there when we go back on Wednesday! I am so excited to be friends with this girl and teach her. It's gonna be sweet!
Passaic is definitely not Morristown. It's a little more
like West New York, but sketchier. BUT that means that there is a lot
of Hispanics. AND it means that I can buy the Hispanic food that I have
been craving ever since I left WNY. I'm super excited. Also, this is
random, but there is a TON of Polish people. Everyone we meet is either
Hispanic or Polish. We walk up thinking that they're white, but they're
actually polish. We gotta get in the habit of carrying a Polish BOM.
Also, random story, the other day we saw a man walking
around with a huge snake rapped around his neck... so weird. Kinda
creepy. Also, I can't wait to send you pics, there is a TON of really
awesome old churches. One looks like it could be in India... Kind of
like the palace in Aladdin. It looks exactly like that. I loooove it.
Also, Passaic is the home of the dirtiest river EVER. Its woooonderful
for my missionary purpose, but I don't think I would ever like to live
here. ha ha ha.
So, I just realized that I have hardly said anything
about my companion. She is AWESOME. Her name is Sister Haycock and she
is from Colorado. She is a super hard worker. She is going to work my tail
off, I'm super excited. She studied Spanish for like 6 years before the
mission so she is soooo good. She's going to help me out a lot. She was
actually our sister training leader in Elizabeth when I was in Motown
and she trained sister Heule. She and sister Heule opened Kearney for the
sisters. The first sister area in Neawark, so she's got a pretty
impressive resume. We're going to have a great transfer together!
Ok, one thing that is definitely amusing about being in Passaic is the excitement of the world cup. In Morristown we didn't
really see it because there wasn't a lot of high populated Spanish areas.
Like we would see flags and people wearing shirts and we would
definitely talk to people about it all the time... But here in Passaic, it is a full out party. You know exactly who the winner is the second
the game is over. There is a full on party in the streets. People
outside singing and dancing and running with flags. Cars honking. Music
blaring. Bars completely crowded with celebration. It is kind of
hilarious. I looooooove it. The only problem.. Not a whole people want
to talk about Jesus Christ after the games... Oh funny story. So on Wednesday
we had an appointment already set for us with this family, so we go
over and they let us in, but then the hermana is like... Oh hermanas,
it's a bad time, the game is starting right now. Ecuador was playing and
she was from Ecuador. We were like "uhhh, ok that's fine but can we just
share something like really quick. 5 little minutes?" Then she was
like... oh okay. So she turned the TV down and we asked her if she would
pray, but then she looked at the TV and let out a shriek and said,
wait, hermanas, we have to listen to the Ecuador anthem first. and she
turned the TV up so loud and we had to wait until it was over. Then
after the closing prayer she booted us out so fast! It was kind of
hilarious!
Well, I hope you all have a spectacular week! Love yous!
-Sister Clark
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