Roller Coaster Week

This week started out good, then it got super rough, then it got super good again! It was what I would call a roller coaster week. A lot of really good things came out of it though.

 

Monday was fun. We did an exchange with the English sisters that work in our same area. It was so weird to do an exchange but stay in my area.... It was English, which I don't really like, but it was fun! We taught someone that Sister Haycock and I actually contacted once. That was kind of cool.

 

On Monday after emails we had a really fun zone activity. I had gotten a box earlier that morning from my sister to celebrate my year mark and there was little Twinkies dressed up like "minionaries" All the missionaries in my zone loved that and I gave them all one. I have a picture that Ill try to send sometime. I don't have a card reader, so I haven't been sending very many pictures. After that we went to Patterson falls. If you have never heard of it, go look it up on Google - its really cool. Patterson is this really old city in NJ and there is a random waterfall right in the middle of the city. It is actually basically where the united states began. Alexander Hamilton discussed with George Washington how they were going to start the country up right there and they began silk factories there that were powered by that waterfall. At one point it was one of the main sources of power. I LOOVE all of the neat history there is here in NJ.

Tuesday was super fun we had our district meetings. We had a district challenge of in addition to keeping track of how many contacts we get every day, but to keep track of how many times you complement your contacts... In order for it to count as a compliment contact, you had to complement them twice so it was actually really hard! Sis Haycock and I blew everyone out of the water. We got 26 compliment contacts. Everyone else got way lower than that, so our district leader reissued the challenge. Sister haycock and I have been going all out this week trying to make sure that all of our contacts have 2 compliments... It is actually really hard, because with all of these people they're  crazy so it is hard to find something to compliment them on that is actually sincere.... Anyways. WE have been riling everyone up. We get to decorate the losers planner covers.... SO we asked the elders what their favorite princess is. hahahaha. We are so ready to win this. WE have 57 right now and we have all day today to finish. We want to try to get at least 70. Were stoked. Building some district unity through competition :)

 

Wednesday was my sort of year mark. WE decided to celebrate that day because Thursday was our walking day and there is nothing to do when you have to walk... But we went down to west Milford to go see Sis Haycocks cousin. That was so fun. We got to teach her part of the first lesson, which was so cool. It is such a privilege to teach family members because all of a sudden it is so much more important. It was really fun to make that drive up there too. It is 2 hours through straight up forest and there are SO MANY lakes. It is so beautiful! I'll take pictures this week. We are going back tomorrow. After seeing Sarah, we came back to our area and we went to a place called Carvel to get ice cream. They have these nutella sundays that I am absolutely obsessed with. The ice cream is nutella flavored and it is so smooth and rich then it has hot nutella on the top and these crunchy chocolates inside of it. SO DELICIOUS!!! Now my mouth is watering... I just might have to go get another one to celebrate pday. :)

 

Thursday is our walking day and probably one of my favorite days of the week. It is one of those days that we always have set because we see the same people, which I like. WE always go see China our recent convert at 10 in the morning, which is always a nice change from the normal studies. We always get really good contacts on that walk to her house too. We taught 2 street lessons on our way to and from China's house, so we got 3 lessons before noon. Our weekly planning was a little bit rough. Sis Haycock and I started fighting for some reason and it lasted all day and kind of into the next day. It was not fun. We had two really good lessons that night though, which was a miracle since there was tension between us. But we went to go see one of my favorite families which is the Lopez family. We started the plan of salvation and talked about our purpose in life and how God has a plan for us. WE watched the Mormon message called "Gods greatest creation" It is such a good one. GO watch it. I really love those Mormon messages, I hope y'all are familiar with them! We have been committing a lot of our members to share one on their Facebooks. It's a great way to share the gospel! I invite you all to do that! One of my favorites is called "Earthly Father Heavenly Father" then there is a really funny one about marshmallows that we use sometimes.... there is a lot of good ones. SHARE ONE!!!!! Use them for family home evening! They are great to teach a principle.

 

Friday we had a very much needed exchange. Sis Haycock and I were just so tired of fighting but we couldn't stop. It was so weird. Our exchange was at 2, but we needed something to do before that but we didn't feel like we had the spirit, so we went to the library to do mormon.org time and watch Mormon messages. That made us both feel so much better. We got out of the library and didn't hate each other, which was good. I had an exchange with Sister Dahl, who came here to Passaic with me. She is so darn cute and she looks exactly like Shannon Jones - I kid you not. So weird. I'll send you a pic then you can compare and tell me what you think. She is a total cow girl which was fun. We had some good horse talk. She does rodeos and she has some awesome pictures of her roping cows. It was her first Spanish exchange and she is an English sister, so she was so excited. We started off with an appointment with the Lazaro family, which is known for feeding the missionaries a TON of food. Hno kept on teasing her that she was eating raccoon. It was so funny. Everyone was laughing so hard because I had to translate it for her, so I would laugh before I even said it and we would all be laughing and she was just so confused. We were all laughing so hard though. Then we went to visit this less active woman named Socorro. She is so darn funny. She has the Puerto Rican sass. She doesn't let anyone tell her how it is  unless you prove it in the scriptures. It is so hilarious. She is always preachin to me. I love it though. She is way strong and I look up to her a lot. She was speaking English to sister Dahl. I love it when English sisters come into the area because everyone tries to speak English and it is just so cute! It is the cutest thing ever! They will not try to speak English around us because they know we know Spanish, so it is always such a surprise of how much English they know... Anyways, Socorro bought us a TON of Dominican food. It was really yummy but it was SO MUCH FOOD!! Sister Dahl didn't even know what to do. I am used to it because I'm in the Spanish program...so I taught her how to do stomach stretches and make room. There is a lot of different things you can do. But she was just dying. I was teaching Socorro while we were eating, so I was really focused on our conversation because it got pretty deep, but every once in a while I would look over at sister Dahl and she would had the most worried look on her face, and she would just be pushing her mountain of food around on her plate and she would give me a "save me" face every once in a while and it was so hard not to laugh. Good thing I know the trick is just to ask if you can take it home. They like that because it means that you liked it. Sis Dahl was so grateful when I told her that. hahahahaha. We were laughing so hard after. We also found a snake... random side note. But I felt so honored to get to be with Sister Dahl when she experienced "Hispanic tummy" for the first time.... It's like a thing. A real thing. You get fed so much Hispanic food that it just hardens in your stomach and never digests. I told her that it was called Hispanic tummy and she just laughed and didn't think I was serious until we went to play soccer the next morning and she was telling sister Monson about her tummy and how hard it was and sister Monson, without even thinking, was just like... "oh yeah, its called Hispanic tummy." It was so perfect. We were laughing so hard. Being a Spanish missionary is the best.

 

Friday Sis Haycock and I got back together and we were so glad to be back together and we apologized and we set goals on how we can help each other use our talents because we do work so differently. We have had a great time since then and we have been working so hard together and been having such a fun time. On Friday night our ward mission leader invited us over to eat. We were with the Passaic elders too, so it was all 6 of us missionaries over there in his little apartment. His family is from Mexico so they made us tacos. They were so yummy! They made really good salsa. I am going to have to learn how to make this salsa. Katie, you would love it. Anyways, I guess they do this tradition where you eat as many as you can. Its kind of like a contest. The last sister that was here, Sister Jossie, has won so far. Everyone always talks about it. She ate 22 tacos. The elders can only get up to like 4. I don't understand it because Sister Jossie is SO SMALL! Like teeny tiny. I am still trying to figure out where she put those 22 tacos. hahaha. I only ate 4. I was so full. I am such a wuss. Sis haycock ate 8. Elder Leon ate the most-  he ate 15. It was way fun. Then of course like all Mexicans do, they always tell us, "if you really want to learn Spanish you have to eat a chili tostada" We usually say no just because we know how hot they are, but this time the elders talked us into it.... So they got out this fresh chili tostada. It was nice and ripe. Sis haycock took the first bite then I took the second one and we just passed it around. It was hilarious because sis Haycock was chewing it and she was like "it's not even bad you guys, whats the big deal?" Then all of a sudden her face got super red and she just started crying so hard then we all just started crying and screaming for water. They got out this huge pitcher of water for us and they only had a teeny bit of milk - so Elder Leon, Sister Haycock and I were passing around this teeny cup of milk and some plums and tortillas to try to get the oil from the pepper out of our mouth. It hurt so bad, but everyone was cracking up. It was so funny. We have it all on video. I will have to try to figure out a  way to get it to you because it is so darn funny. Were literally just screaming and fanning our selves and passing around milk and plums. When we went home all we could say was "GROSSS I can't believe we shared a glass of milk and a plum with elder Leon!" Then we would just laugh harder.

 

Yesterday was just another fun day at church. Everyone kept asking us about the chili and laughing so hard. Everyone heard about it. Most importantly was that Marcial came to church! He loved it. He is seriously so converted through the Book of Mormon it is incredible. He says when ever he isn't home he is just thinking about going back home and reading the book of Mormon. He is half way through for the second time reading it. HE has only been investigating the church for 1 month. He keeps telling us about how he has seen such significant changes in his life and how it has improved so much. The biggest blessing being that he was without work for 9 months but how we promised him if he acted on our message that god would bless him with a job. He started his first week of work last week and he loves it. It is a really good job and he has Sundays off for church. We committed him for baptism but we can't set a date yet  because he wants his "friend" from Peru to be here for it, and she will be here sometime in September for sure- we just don't know what day yet. He is so funny because he is trying to tell us she isn't his girlfriend, but we know she is, we have talked to her on the phone. She is super cool. She is an active member of the church and they talk about the gospel a lot. I swear it is going to be the best day of my life when they get sealed in the temple. I will even go to Peru if I have to to be there. He is so cute because he tells us how he considers us his very good friends. He said he is already sad because he realizes that we are going to have to leave sooner or later and he asked for our phone number and address at home because he drives to the western states a lot for his work and he wants to come visit. HE IS SO AWESOME!! I can't even explain it to you. He is definitely going to have to meet you all when he comes to visit. He speaks almost fluent English too, so you would all absolutely adore him.... I am also calling that he will either be a patriarch or a sealer. I am calling it!!

 

Alright, well that is it for this week. Love you and miss you all a ton! Keep strong, family, and share the gospel in any way that you can!!

-Sister Clark

What a Week!

Wow, what a week. It seriously went by so fast. The weeks are just starting to go by faster and faster and it is kind of disgusting actually.... I guess that's what happens when you get old. Time speeds up. Speaking of getting old...

I HAVE BEEN ON MY MISSION FOR ONE YEAR!! WHAAAAT? I don't know how that happened. To think that a year ago I left for Mexico, knowing zero Spanish having no clue what I was in for. So weird to think about because now all I ever think about is my mission.. and most of the time I am thinking about in Spanish. God is so real.

There are definitely lots of stories to tell about this week though - it was so much fun! Proselyting time on Monday was just awesome. It POURED rain the whole 3 hours we were out. We had 2 set appointments but they both canceled, so we had to do our back-ups which were at the bottom of our area. So we go down to the bottom of our area into this place that we had never really been before. It was actually a really cute little town with a main street that was adorable. There was a cool music shop that was distracting me. I am going to have to make it down there some P-day and buy a capo for my guitar. Anyways, we were out walking around in the pouring rain under one umbrella... Because I don't have an umbrella... cough cough.... hint hint... anyways. I don't have an umbrella. :) I really need an umbrella, because we got SOAKING WET. It was so fun though. It built our comp unity. It's pretty tight space under there. There is nothing like Jersey Rain. It soaks you to the bone. It's kind of crazy actually... and it floods so fast. So after walking around there and talking to the people who were seeking refuge under the bus stops (btw, bus stop contacts are actually really good in NJ because public transportation is actually a huge thing, not just for crazy people). We decided to head  back into Garfield, a little bit closer to home. We had a back up to go visit this girl who was a former investigator because her aunt is a member. We knock on her door and her grandmother answered.... Her name is Luz and she talks so weird... It's not even her accent because I have talked to a lot of Colombians before and their Spanish is as clear as a bell... I literally could not understand a single thing she said all night. But she invited us in because it was raining, but she was kind of crazy. And it was dark in her house and we were talking to her in her living room while her grandson was watching Pirates of the Caribbean. If it's not already hard enough to try to stay focused while you are talking to someone that you really don't understand, it is 100x harder to focus whilePirates of the Caribbean is playing on a scary dark rainy night. hahahaha oh boy. She was super crazy. After the lesson we walked outside and Sister Haycock was just laughing at me because the whole time the lady was talking and it was my turn to say something, I would just look at her with this confused look, then she would start talking because she knew I had no idea what she was saying. hahahahhaha. I am so thankful to have a companion who is basically fluent in Spanish.

   

Last week Sister Haycock got the invite from the assistants to give a training at the meeting for the new sister training leaders this Wednesday... I was SO EXCITED because that meant that I could go back to Morristown for the day. It was so hard to be patient waiting for Wednesday to come, but it FINALLY came. We had to be at the mission home by 4, so we were trying to fill up our afternoon in Passaic by just finding new people and trying to find places where we could do service. We ended up not really getting anything done and getting super lost in our area. We had a lot of fun though. We were playing 20 questions where you have to answer the question that you ask. We just ended up arguing about what kind of women we would be attracted to if we were men for about an hour. It was so weird but sort of hilarious because we were arguing so bad that we just had to end the conversation. Ahahahahahha. That basically explains our companionship. We don't argue like fight argue, but we just are completely opposite and it is kind of hilarious sometimes. We always find a balance though, and it turns out awesome. Anyways, we left for Morristown and I dropped off Sis Haycock at the mission home. Then Sister Heule came to pick me up for the day. I spent the day with her driving my car and her 2 companions went and worked in Madison. It was so fun! I missed her. It is always so fun to see old companions, but it was really fun to actually be her companion for 2 hours in our old area. WE WENT TO SEE THE GARCIA FAMILY!!!! There are so many amazing miracles happening with that family. Alonso actually has a baptismal date and his little brother, Mauricio, is getting baptized on the same day! I guess he has been going to church and mutual every week and has friends at church now and everything! So cool! Mauricio had just barely come to church for the first time on my last Sunday in Morristown. I saw Jenny and Ana. It was so good to see them! I LOVED IT! Their dog is getting so big. After going to see them we went back to the mission home so I could get back together with Sis Haycock. Turns out that the meeting ran late, so we got to sit in for the last part of the meeting, then eat dinner with them. It was super fun. I got to see Sister Schaefer too, because she is a Sister Training Leader. We have the best sisters in our mission... And sister Taggart made some really good chicken. The Taggarts are GREAT!

On Thursday we taught the Lopez family. They are a family that I have been really determined to help since we got to Passaic. Last week we taught them about the Book of Mormon and how it answers the questions of the soul. We asked the teenage daughter if she had a testimony of the BOM and she honestly answered that she didn't and she let out some concerns. We asked her if she had any questions about life and god and stuff. She said she had always wondered why God lets us suffer and why there are people who do bad things. We gave her 2 Ne 2 to read and we promised her that she would receive an answer and a testimony of the BOM if she read it. When we went back this week to follow up, she was excited to tell us that she read it! She showed us verse 11 and said that it was her answer. She was really excited and she felt the spirit! SO COOL! She said she would read every day this week so we are texting her to remind her. I sat by her yesterday at church and she said that she is reading but she just forgot to on Saturday. I love it when people keep their commitments and they see the blessings! So cool. The spirit is real, promised blessings are real!

Friday we got to go to Ellis Island again! It was super fun this time. Catherine, the lady that is in charge of our volunteer service, is so funny. She gave us this really long training on how to do it and it is so awesome how much she knows about history. She can find ANYONE who came to Ellis Island just based on history and she knows how a lot of the spelling errors are made and everything. She just loves it. I saw her help some people trying to find their family. She was able to help them find someone and the woman was so happy that she cried. It was a spiritual moment. Families are soooooo important to everyone. Catherine isn't even a member of the church, but she told us "family history is a Godly thing".... Anyways, we aren't allowed to proselyte there, but we don't really need to. Everyone feels the spirit and feels closer to God. A lot of people feel the presence of their family members there and it is fun to see the excitement. I met a really cool man and lady and I was able to help them find a lot of their family and read their ship manifests and everything. They were so excited and they  just kept thanking me. I ended up helping them for like 30 min because they didn't want me to leave... The guy was asking me who I was and everything then when I told him I was a missionary he grinned and said, "oh yeah I'm familiar with the Mormon church, I used to live in  Logan!" I was so excited and told him that my dad lives in Logan. I guess he went to USU for a while and he knew a lot of Mormons. He said he was interested, but no one ever really asked him about it and he never really asked anyone else about it. I gave him Mormon.org. hahaha. He was a super cool guy.

Saturday was a really great day. We had two REALLY REALLY GOOD spiritual connections with two contacts. Ones name was Jesus and he has a cute son and the other ones name was Brandon who is a 17 year old boy. They were both really open with us and desired to get closer to Christ and to learn more about our message. They both understood the restoration really clearly... Jesus was really blown away by the fact that there is a living prophet and was asking a lot about it. He said that he believed it could happen. Brandon was blown away by the first vision. My companion said it then right after we were quiet for a second and he just said, "wow that is really, really cool" We have appointments with them this week. We find a lot of really cool people every week, but the problem is finding the ones who will progress. I am really really praying that these two will progress. They have so much potential to be great priesthood holders, which is really what New Jersey needs right now.

We committed Marcial to baptism this week. I can't even begin to tell you all how amazing this guy is. He finished the Book of Mormon this week. He told us that he knows it is true. He still has a lot to learn but he is very sure that he needs to continue learning and accepting the message. He is so humble and it is great. He does everything that we tell him to do, trusting that it will help him understand. We taught him on Wednesday at the church and we gave him a little tour. We showed him the baptismal font and took that time to teach him about the ordinance of baptism. The only baptism that he was really familiar with was the catholic. He had a lot of questions about why it is any different and behind the symbolism and everything. We read in 3 Nephi 11 with him and he was very interested in the whole thing. He is very intellectual so he has to know the why behind everything. We asked him to pray about it. To pray and ask God if baptism by immersion and by the proper authority was what God wanted him to do. We followed up with him the next day and he said that he prayed about it and he agrees with baptism by immersion.

Yesterday was a SUPER special day. I feel so blessed to have been a part of it. Sister Haycock's mom was baptized when she was 21 and she was pretty much rejected by her family because of it. She later went on to serve a mission in Austria and has a great family now and everything, but her family has never really been open to the church or missionaries or anything. She has a sister that lives here in NJ and Sister Haycock has been dying to get in contact with her. She hadn't seen them in years and didn't really know them. She got permission from the mission president to call them and set up a time when we could visit. She called them and her aunt and uncle and cousin were really excited and set up an appointment for Sunday afternoon. Sis Haycock was so so so nervous. We went down there and we had such a great afternoon with them. We stayed for a few hours and they live by this gorgeous lake and they showed us around and took us to the beach and everything. It was so neat because there was such a strong family connection between them even though it was kind of like they had just met for the first time. Sis Haycock bore her testimony and invited them to take the lessons from her. Her cousin Sarah accepted and was pretty excited. Her aunt Karen and uncle Tim weren't really interested in listening but they wanted her to come back and they thought it would be a great idea for her to teach Sarah so that she can learn it for herself and make her own decisions. It was super awesome and I am so proud of Sister Haycock because I know that was a really scary thing for her to do. I have an awesome companion.

Well, that is pretty much all of the highlights. We had a lot of fun this week. I am one happy missionary :)

Love you all and hope you have  a great week!

-Sister Clark

Boooo Germany!

Seriously so upset about the world cup. I think Sister Haycock and I are poor sports... Because we happened to catch the last glimpse of the game and we kind of wanted to cry. We were just like, "SHUT THAT TV OFF and give us some ice cream so we can eat our feelings."

hahah but really though. SO upset. 

It's kind of a funny story actually. We have been so into the world cup down here because it is the only way you can actually get people to talk to you... but of course, we are going to be cheering for Latin America... Everyone was so pumped about Argentina. So, on Sunday we realize that the game would be going on and that it would be really hard to see anyone the whole afternoon... so we thought we would play it smart and set an appointment with the oldest people in our branch, Hermano y Hermana Valencia. They have to be at least 100 years old. So we set an appointment with them and they are so excited because they always get so excited when we come to visit them.

 Ha, world cup. We out smarted you.

Ha. I learned a very valuable lesson that day. 

You cannot outsmart the world cup. 

No matter how hard you try, the world cup is more important than the missionaries :( wahhhhh. We just want people to love us. 

We get to the Valencia's house and of course, cute little 100 year old hermano Valencia is GLUED to the TV watching the world cup. And since he is 100 years old, the volume is ALL THE WAY UP. I couldn't even hear myself think. If I wanted to ignore the world cup, I was in the wrong place.

We had to just make the best of the situation, so we just started trash talking Germany with Hermano Valencia. He got a kick out of it. He was so into it. hahahah. That only lasted like 5 minutes though because we had to try to stay focused... so we started talking to hermana Valencia, who really couldn't care less about the world cup. She is a talker. Ones she starts going she never stops. hehe. Since the volume was up all the way, it was hard to understand her, so we really just ended up singing primary songs in our heads trying to block the game out and looking into her eyes and nodding like we heard what she was saying. Bless her heart. She gave us cute little soccer ball chocolates. She puts her chocolate in the freezer. hehehe. Right before we left, we happened to catch the very end of the game. We were so bummed. 

Basically the world cup was the highlight of the week and it's all we heard about from anyone. I'm kind of sad that it is over now, I guess its just back to talking about the weather. 

I met the Taggarts this week. They are so great. On Wednesday we had "Meet the Taggarts" for zones 1&2. They are so darn cute. They brought their two daughters with them. Emily is 17 and Sophie is I think 10 or 11. I forgot which one, but they are adorable. Emily introduced the whole family to us. They have 4 older kids who are married with families. She told us a little bit about who they are and where they come from and things like that. They sure are a cute family.. Then Sophie gets up and she speaks Chinese! She was in Chinese immersion class. It was super cool. Sister Taggart is great too. She is so real and she loves the mission already. She has a strong testimony and is very cute. President Taggart is great. He isn't a baptist preacher like President Jeppson, but he has a really strong spirit when he speaks. He has high expectations for the mission and he wants to keep everything that the Jeppsons built up and build upon it. It is really great that they want to do that, because we have a very obedient hard working mission and I don't want that to change. 

This morning we had our personal interviews with them both. I love them even more now. I was talking one on one with Sister Taggart for a while and she is so real! I really love her a lot. President Taggart is just so willing to do what ever he can to help us personally and to help the mission. They are humble and open to suggestions and help since we have a little bit more experience than them right now. I love it. It is good change. 

 

On Tuesday we had our zone meeting and our monthly focus was introduced to us. I am obsessed with this months focus. It is so good. Our focus this month is called "spiritual connections" It is about making a spiritual connection with the people we contact and the people we teach by asking them inspired questions. President Taggart taught us that we have been endowed with power from on high and that we are literally the Lord's hands and feet. We are his servants and as such he is willing to give us what ever is necessary to finish his work in a way that is pleasing to him. It all depends on our faith and our trust in him. We talked a lot about the scripture D&C 82:10. Our zone goals this month are to literally "Bind the Lord" To do that, we are promising the lord that we will contact at least 10 people that day or who ever we see. As we do that we ask him specifically in every prayer that as we do that, that he will put 2 people in our path that day who are prepared to hear the gospel. There are 9 million people in new jersey. There ARE prepared people here. We don't know where they are, but the Lord does that is why we are asking him to put them in our path if we promise to contact everyone we see. We are seeing huge miracles from this.


 We went home to our area that day feeling so uplifted and ready to bind the lord. We left our car with a prayer, Binding the lord to give us 2 people if we contacted everyone we saw. We were on an empty street called Keasler st and we had an appointment to visit Lillian, one of our less active members from Peru. We got to her door and she juked us. She forgot about the appointment. As we were walking back to the car, we saw this kid on a skateboard, so we ran after him. He wasn't interested. Then I saw a guy poke his head out of his door as we walked past. We turned around and knocked on his door. He didn't answer, so we took that as a not interested. Then right as we get back to the car, we saw a guy all the way down the street where we had just come from. Sister Haycock and I looked at each other each thinking the same thing "we promised" so we turn around and head back down the street. We were kind of trying to run without making a lot of noise.. he didn't notice that we were awkwardly stalking him thank goodness. He gets to the door of his house and so we call out to him. He stops and talks to us for a second but then tells us that he wasn't interested. We turn around and start walking back to the car. Out of the corner of our eyes, we see a little Hispanic man laying some concrete at the side of someone's house. It was kind of an awkward place to contact someone because we had to go a little bit out of our path to talk to him and into someone's yard and we knew that he didn't live there and that he was probably working... but we promised the lord. So we did it anyways. We went up to talk to him but something weird came out of sister haycocks mouth... "she said, hey, would you like to learn how you can make your prayers more meaningful?" and he looked up at us and said, "yeah!" And we set an appointment with him. BEST ZONE GOAL EVER! It worked! It actually worked. We went and taught him on Friday night and it was such a good solid first lesson. We taught the whole restoration and we asked him soul searching questions and he was so deep in thought and he was asking us questions and he said yes to baptism and he said that he was ready to act on the message to know if it was true and he said the closing prayer! This guy is so cool! His name is Alberto and he is from Mexico. He is actually from Mexico City so I got to talk to him about that. EVERYONE knows where Benemeritos is. haha. 

We found someone else later that night too. Everyday we have been finding 2 people who do not flat out reject us. They either let us teach them a little bit right there but aren't ready quite yet, or they let us give their info to other missionaries because they live in a different area or they speak English. Even if they aren't for sister Haycock and me specifically to teach, we are finding 2 people a day with open hearts that we can make a spiritual connection with. It is so cool!

I know that the Lord is bound when we do what he says!

Oh yeah, I forgot. I got super sick this week! I woke up on Thursday with really bad congestion. I went and got some Musinex and I was out cold for 2 1/2 days. It was the worst! I slept so much. And I had a fever too, which is not fun when there is only one tiny little window air conditioner and one fan in your whole apartment. It is so hot down here... I do not like humidity! I feel like I am just wet and sticky all day. I hope you all appreciate the dry heat.

Thursday we had a really rough morning. It's our walking day and we had an appointment set at 10 with some investigators. While we were on our way to their house, we were trying to do our contacting. We saw this older black woman sweeping her porch. We contacted her and she said, oh yeah, hey sisters, come inside. So we went inside and we started teaching her. We started with a prayer then kind of started in with the first lesson. It turns out that she had been taught by the English sisters previously and said that she believes the book of Mormon is true. She has read the whole thing and the doctrine and covenants and the bible. BUT she suddenly got really rude with us and started yelling at us and telling us about how she doesn't agree with us because she has been to all of the churches and she just goes where ever she wants on Sundays because she believes that they are all true... It was so weird. The spirit was gone. Like super gone and Sister Haycock and I started to feel a little bit scared, so we were trying to get out. I started to bear my testimony I said. "Well, I know that Christ lives and that Joseph smith saw God and Jesus Christ" She agreed and said yes, then I said, "I know that they told him that none of the churches were true" then she interrupted me and said, "I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT!" and she was like yelling in my face.... Then sister Haycock said  "alright we have to go, my companion's going to say a prayer now." So I said the prayer then we booked it out of her house as fast as we could... That lady was so scary. There was zero spirit in her house. I did not like it.


So we were both a little bit shaken up by that, then we got to the investigators house and they juked us. They weren't home, so we start heading back home and we are still contacting. We saw this cute little old man sitting outside so we went to talk to him. As we are talking to him this other man comes down the street and starts talking to our contact. He was talking to him about a shower head, so we assumed that he lived in his house. We just waited until they were done talking so that we could try to share our message or give them a card or something... Then something weird happened. The guy turns and looks at us and he says, "I have something for you girls." He reaches in his fanny pack and he pulls out these cards and hands them to us. Right as soon as we saw him reach in his fanny pack, we recognized him. We had met him before. He is an anti. The first time we met him, we talked to him a little bit, but he just kept on bashing us so we left. This time however, he gave us the cards, then turns to the cute little old man and says, "do you know what these two girls believe? They believe that Jesus Christ and Satan are brothers, can you believe that?" Then he looks at us and he says "how can you live with yourselves? How can you possibly believe something like that?" and he just starts yelling at us and bashing us like crazy, before we even had time to say anything to him at all. We just looked at him and said, "we hope you two have a nice day," and turned around and walked away. Right then he started getting louder and mocking us saying "oh you see how they're walking away? They don't want to come face me. They think they're better than us" and he just went on and on and on. He just kept on getting louder and louder the further away we got. I swear we could hear him for forever. Just saying the most offensive things. I looked back and I saw the little old man he was talking to and he looked sad. He looked like he felt bad for us. It was awful. I really wanted to just take my badge off and give him a little piece of my mind.... I didn't though, because I had the words of a talk that I had read in my study ringing through my mind. A talk by Elder Holland given in the last general conference. and I remembered one of my favorite scriptures found in 2 Nephi 9:14 "But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever." And then I remembered the talk given in the priesthood session by President Monson about having the courage to defend your faith and defend Christ. I knew right then that we had done the right thing by enduring it and just walking away with a smile. It is not always easy, but they rejected Jesus Christ at first. He knows what it is like to be offended and rejected. He suffered below that all. Am I any better than him? Absolutely not. It isn't easy, but it is always worth it. God ALWAYS fulfills his promises as long as we are faithful to him. I believe in that with my whole soul. 

Later that day, we were talking to the other sisters in our zone. The Spanish sisters in Patterson. Their names are sister Stansel and sister Monson. Sister Monson is this adorable little girl who is the same height as me and is just cute and sassy, and she was telling us about how they had the WORST week last week. They were rejected by EVERYONE and no one let them teach them. They only taught 7 lessons. And on top of that, one day while they were walking down the street in Patterson, she all of a sudden felt herself get drenched in something wet and sticky.... It didn't take her long to realize that it was some sort of green slime. It turns out, that someone who was living in a second story apartment saw them coming and dumped out a huge bucket of some nasty stuff that was in their house right on top of sister Monson. PEOPLE ARE SO RUDE!!! These sisters are the best. Shout out to sister Monson for dealing with the slime. 

Well, gotta go! I love you all and hope you have a great week. be nice to the missionaries!

-Sister Clark

 

 

So Much Food!

Looove Looove Loooooove! ahha. I just am in Loooooooove. I love loving missionary work and I love Passaic. and I love my companion and I love the gospel!!

I feel like that is really all I can say about my life right now. Its all just love. Trying to have Love being the motivation for my mission. It is definitely a good thing. I gave a training on Love at district meeting last Tuesday and I learned a lot as I prepared to teach my district. I think the biggest demonstration of how much God loves us enough to send his son, to suffer for us. To leave him while he suffered. That would be the worst. I cant imagine it. I am thankful for it though, because if he hadn't been willing to do that, I would never ever return to him. Without Jesus Christ, birth would be a terrible thing. Every day would be one step closer to death.... then what? Absolutely nothing. Life would be so hopeless and terrible without Christ. And there are people who don't even realize that... People who just live day by day with no beliefs. No hope in anything. YOLO is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. I regret that ever coming out of my mouth.

This week was great! We are pushing our selves to do the best we can. I have a companion who is really good at that. Sister Haycock is so funny. She is always going 100 miles an hour. She is a fixer and she has to get everything done and meet all of her goals and our goals. I love it. Its motivating. Last week we met our district goal to teach 84 lessons as a district. We actually over reached our goal, we taught 85. It was great. This week we our goals were to one up all of our personal numbers and get a district total of 86. Sister Haycock and I worked really hard to get 22 lessons and put in our part to get that 86. We also worked hard to get in 8 as a KI score. On Sunday our KI score was 6 so we needed 2 more member presents or a new investigator or something. We had it in our plans, but our plans cancelled and so we prayed that we would be able to meet our goals. We were blessed with a new investigator and a surprise member present lesson, we also got to teach a lost inactive member. He was super cool. God is awesome.

When I got called to be here in Passaic, I had so many missionaries come up to me at transfer conference and tell me how fat I was going to get because people feed the missionaries so much there. Sister Haycock and I thought it was all a huge lie, because we didn't get fed for the whole first week and a half.... Oh boy, it was not a lie. The food started coming this week and it will not stop. On Wednesday we made an appointment with a family in the ward from Peru. We went over there and she told us that she had made a rice that all of the missionaries made. So we sat down and she brought out these huge overflowing plates of rice. There had to at least be a pound of rice on each plate. It was super yummy, but I have never wanted to throw up so bad on my mission. My stomach is so small. hahahaha. Sister Haycock and I just had to keep looking at each other and give a little encouragement to each other when she turned around then smile and eat another bite. hahahah oh man, the joys of being a missionary "just one more bite"

Then on Friday, we got fed by the Lazaro family. I had actually heard about how much this family feeds the missionaries. I went in knowing that I would have to eat a lot of food, but for some reason, it was still a surprise when Hna Lazaro brought out this huge plate of food.... Probably 3/4ths the amount of rice from the day before and 3 chicken legs smothered in Alfredo sauce with salsa... IT was so delicious! Oh it was so good. Mexicans make the BEST food. I loved it... But I couldn't finish it. I ate 2 and a half chicken legs and more than half of the rice, but after that I just could not eat anymore. They just laughed and politely took my plate away. They are so nice. They said they like to feed the missionaries once a week. They are a super cute family. There are two younger girls who are 11 and 13. They're super cute... but the 11 year old sure is sassy. She is always texting us and calling us. She makes the appointments. We originally had the appointment set for Wednesday, but she texted us and told us that we couldn't come over Wednesday afternoon because she had a Dr. appointment at 2, so we asked her if we could come over on Wednesday night, and she was just like "hermanas, what did I tell you about Wednesday?" as soon as we read it we were just like... wow. Sassy! We were cracking up.

We laughed so much this week! It is so good to finally feel like we are getting the hang of things, but it is fun to still get to know people at the same time. We were asked by our branch president to go visit this less active woman this week named Soccoro who lives in the elders area. We called her and set up an appointment she said the only day she could see us was Thursday evening, which is our walking day (we cant use our car on Thursdays). We thought it would be pretty close since it is in the Elders area and we live pretty close to their area... Wow we were so wrong. We figured we could leave the apartment at 530. 30 minutes before the appointment which was at 6. We went out to the car and got the map and made our route. The GPS said it was only like 2 miles so we figured we could get there in 30-40 minutes.... WE WERE SO WRONG!! It was the longest walk! We were a good 45 minutes late. hahahaha. We got led by the GPS all through Passaic and down this sketchy road and we crossed the Passaic river at least 3 times. hahahaha.

WE made it though. This woman was SOOO COOL! I am so glad we get to teach her! We shared a message with her and to try to get her relate a little more, I tried using reverse psychology on her by telling her some things about my life. She came and sat down right next to me and talked to me forever about how she had all of these problems in her life that she has gotten through because of Christ and how I can do anything and how I need to just look in the mirror and love myself. It was kind of hilarious... But I hope she learned and that she applies what she taught me. That is kind of what I was going for. Sometimes you have to trick people into learning what you want them to learn. Some people don't really want to listen to what we want to say, so you just have to make them say it themselves. It made me laugh. She is awesome. During the lesson it started POURING rain and Sister Haycock and I were praying that she had a car. So right after the lesson, we were just like, "well, we better go, its a long walk home!" and we said it kind of exaggerating then she just said, "hermanitas, you are not walking all that way in the rain, I will drive you home, but first let me feed you!" We had actually planned to go see another family that night, but we had to cancel with them because there was no way we were going to walk all that way in the pouring rain and we were not turning down a ride. She fed us chicken, salad and toast, grapes, cherries and watermelon. She just made us plates and sat down and watched us eat. That is one thing about the Hispanic culture that took me a while to get used too. When Hispanics cook for you they fill up your plate full of food, then they just sit at the table and watch you eat. I have never had someone eat with me when they fed me. It is kind of hilarious... but It kind of makes me feel pressured, because I know if I don't eat every bite and enjoy it, they're probably going to be offended. It also makes it hard to pull any sneaky food pass offs to your comp or put something disgusting into a napkin or a bag in your purse if they are watching you eat.... Ok, that is another subject though.

Back to Socorro... So she made us all this food and while she was watching us eat it, she was telling us all about her life and how she has had some food problems in the past and her doctor has her on this special diet. She starts to tell us about how she loves grapes, but she is only allowed to eat 1 maybe 2 grapes a day because it takes the whole day for your stomach to digest a grape. As soon as she said that, Sister Haycock and I looked at each other and we had to try so hard not to just die laughing: 1st reason, we were both had a mouth full of grapes, 2nd reason, Sister haycock ate like 40 frozen grapes earlier that afternoon during weekly planning. Then she told us about how she only eats 1 cup of rice a week because rice makes you fat. Again, Sister Haycock and I looked at each other and had to laugh because of how much rice we eat.

On Monday night, all of our appointments canceled on us, so we just ended up contacting on this street in Garfield where there are a ton of Hispanics. We saw this Hispanic guy who was standing outside with a bird, so we figured that the bird would be a good conversation starter for us. So we go up to him and ask him about his bird. Turns out he is from Peru and apparently EVERYONE in Peru has birds. We started talking to him a little more about his life and religion and everything. When we introduced ourselves he said that he knew who we were because his wife's parents are actually members of the church in Peru! He introduced us to his wife and we talked to them some more. It turns out that the wife's father is like a bishop or something. They said that they had met missionaries various times and they told them they could come over, but they never came. We set an appointment with them and we will be there this time. Were going over tonight. We stopped by last night to confirm with them but we actually met their son, who is in college. He was pretty cool. We taught him a door lesson and he said he would remind his parents and come tonight. It was a pretty cool find! BUT, the funny part of this story, the whole time we were talking to him, his bird who was just chillin outside with him on the side walk was literally trying to eat me. And he wouldn't do anything except just laugh at me. They were all just laughing at me. No one even tried to save me! Not even my companion. I just kept yelling "your bird is attacking me!" "your bird is eating me!" then they would just laugh harder... Then he kicks the bird and says too me "you wont believe what he eats, guess what he eats" so we guessed seeds, but he says "nope, he actually eats chicken!" My response:"Oh like my feet!" They all just cracked up laughing. It was super funny. They are a good family.... even though they just let their bird eat me.

We also met this really cool part member family this week. WE went over to their house and we thought they were all members so we share the message just sharing a message about missionary work, and at the end of the lesson, we bring up the temple and asked them if they were sealed in the temple, then the wife just blurts out "I'm not Mormon, I'm catholic". We were so shocked. We almost fell off the couch. It turns out the oldest daughter Loren, who is 16 isn't a member either! Only the dad and the two younger kids. I was so excited! I really want to teach the daughter! She just came from the DR doesn't speak English and she hasn't been taught by missionaries before, but they come to church with the family. The mom doesn't want to be baptized because she is stubborn about being catholic, but we could teach the daughter and she might wan too get baptized. I'm super excited. She is the CUTEST girl ever. She has sass just like her mom. They are a funny family. I fell in love with them. They had this hilarious family argument in front of us and they were all calling each other out about one thing or another. Everyone was laughing and there was a lot of love in the home. We stopped by on Saturday night to remind them to come to church. Only the mom was home, but she stood outside and talked our ears off for a good hour and a half about their family and how they work together and stuff. They are a super cool family. I'm excited to love them more than I already do over time.

Early in the week we got a referral from the Patterson sisters of a less active member in their records who didn't speak English. So we went over there expecting it to be a less active who wasn't really interested in going back to church... that's how most of the less active members are, sadly, but we got there and she was so excited to see us! She said, oh "hermanitas lindas!" and she invited us right in and told us all about how she was baptized with her mother in union city and how her mother was just the most wonderful woman in the world and she read the book of Mormon so many times and she went to church every Sunday and preached to people.. but how shortly after she had gotten baptized she stopped going to church while her mother kept going and growing. She told us about how she wants to be just like her mother and is so excited and she wants us to come over every Tuesday and Friday to teach her and to help her. She said she is absolutely willing and excited to do her part in reading the book of Mormon and everything. She was just so cute and energetic and she had the most adorable voice! In her prayer she said, "I'm so thankful for the hermanitas and that they can teach me. Help me to grow so I can be just like my mamita." It was so adorable! I am absolutely obsessed with her and the way she calls us hermanitas lindas.

We have this really awesome investigator named Marcial. He was a referral from his member friend in Peru. He has lived here in the US for a really long time and he speaks fluent English and everything. He is very intelligent and he loves reading the book of Mormon, but more for the history part. WE thought he wouldn't really feel the spirit because he always talks to us about trying to prove the book of Mormon historically and everything and he thinks that is all so fascinating. WE asked him to read Moroni 10 and pray. He said he would. We went back over a few days later and he had read and he has been praying. He told us that he has felt so much peace in his life as he has been reading the book of Mormon and he enjoys it so much. He made a whole tree of all the descendants of Nephi and where they lived and stuff. We asked him some questions and he told us that he really truly believes that it is true, factually and everything, but he has never been a spiritual person, so he doesn't really know what it means for him spiritually and that he does recognize that he feels peace and he isn't worried about the future. He also said that he has never changed religions before, so this would be something new for him. I'm so excited for him! he is waaaayyy cool. Keep him in your prayers!

You all have asked about the 4th of July. It was great! I really enjoyed being here in NJ for the fourth. It all started here.  The day was pretty average, we visited people and taught lessons. In the evening we met as a zone at 730 at the Passaic chapel. We all followed each other in this huge train of missionary cars to a street that the elders had picked out that we could park at. IT was funny because it was by their apartment, but the street was closed, so they moved the closed sign and let us all in. It was super smart on their part, because all the other streets were full of cars who had already parked earlier for the firework show. Those Elders, they're funny guys. We walked to this park and we watched the fireworks together. It was super fun. It was a huge crowd of people, so we would hold our books of Mormon up in the air so we could find each other in the crowd. That was kinda cool. There was just all these books of Mormon in the air in this sea of people. It made me feel more patriotic too.

Zone on the 4th

Book of Mormon at the fireworks!

The book of Mormon really is the story of America. More people should read it. We owe everything to the Nephites and the Lamanties. They're great. The fireworks were great as always and I had a great time just laughing and being happy with my zone and mingling with other people.

This week it rained so much! On Wednesday it rained all day and we only have one umbrella so we were just squished together under an umbrella. We got completely drenched. My favorite rain moment: we were getting in the car to go to an appointment and there was literally a river in the street. Sister Haycock was trying to put her stuff int he back seat, but she dropped her pros BOM in the river so she shrieked and picked it up, but when she bent over all of her pass along cards fell out and started flowing down the river. I was already sitting down in the car so I just got to watch her shriek as she ran down the river chasing after the pass along cards. It was hilarious.

We had a lot of really funny things that we said this week. While we were talking to the Hernandez family, Hno was telling us about how he did an eating contest, but he was asking us what you would call someone who just eats a ton. We didn't really know what he was talking about and we couldn't think of a word, then my companion just blurts out "probably a Glutten or a Binger" I just looked at her so confused and they all started cracking up at my reaction.

Line of the week:

We were visiting this Mexican family in our branch and we were just kind of getting to know them. They asked us what our favorite food was. We thought about it for a second then sister haycock answered that she really liked enchiladas. They all looked at me and I thought for a second then without hesitation I said "pancakes!" and they all thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. They were laughing so hard. They said next time we come they'll make us enchiladas and pancakes. hahaha

Wow that was a long email, but I'm just so happy! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

-Sister Clark