"You're Killin me Smalls"

Hey there familia.

It was really kind of a slow week. I don't really even know what to write about, haha. I feel like time is just going by so fast now, its kinda trippin me out. It was kind of a rough week, but it was still good. It was just rough because the fact that Sister Haycock is going home is kind of starting to hit us. She had her departing interview with President Taggart on Saturday morning and that is when it really hit her. She basically got released... but not really. Idk, its weird. She came home and she was just exhausted after that. Emotionally, physically, mentally. When she got home from her interview, she just laid on the floor and started laughing. She was laughing so hard and she couldn't stop. It was hilarious. She was like delirious. She is honestly losing her mind because she just doesn't even know what to do with herself. I have a video of her laughing :) hahahaha

Sister Haycock and I started up an English class up here in Passaic. I haven't taught an English class since I was in West New York, I forgot how much fun it is! We have like 3 or 4 regular students right now since it is just starting, but were trying to get the word out. It is so funny because one of the counselors in our branch presidency comes to the class and he doesn't speak ANY English. We had to teach him how to say hello. hehe This week we taught them the alphabet. They have a really hard time pronouncing the letters, so we spell them out phonetically and they get so excited. When the hermano finally got through with the whole alphabet he had the hugest smile on his face and he was telling us how he was sure he could have a conversation in English now. Bless his heart.

On Wednesday Sister Haycock and Sister Webb had their departing missionary temple trip. A week before you leave your mission, all the departing missionaries go to the temple with the Taggarts, so they got to go to that. Sister Webb's companion and I were companions for the day. It was fun because we have the exact same area the only difference is that we are Spanish and they are English. They live a couple of streets down from us. Anyways, we had two appointments for Spanish and two for English. They were all really good appointments it was just a little bit crazy trying to balance both of our areas. We had a lot of fun together though. Sister Greenall is so funny. We went and got sonic after our 4th appointment while we were waiting for the sisters to get back. It had been forever since I had sonic. It was nice to have a cranberry limeade. It reminded me of home after a long day at school.

Thursday was pretty crazy. We started the day off with a noon appointment with this family in the ward named the Calderon family... They took us to a buffet in Lodi. It was crazy. They thought it was the coolest thing that you could eat all you want for the same price. They made us get 3 plates of food then they made me eat two bowls of ice cream. hahaha they're so funny. We were so full though, and it took way longer than we thought it would and we had  the Echeverrias after that, and she always feeds us a ton of food.... So we were kind of dreading that. We were so full from that Buffet. We went to the Echeverrias like 30 min after that appointment. Hna Echeverrias grandkids were there again. We seriously love those little girls so much, they are just so cute. I will have to take a picture when we go see them tomorrow. She made really yummy spaghetti. I don't understand why everything that Hispanics cook is so yummy. I don't normally like spaghetti. hmmmm. We had a really fun lesson with the Lopez family. We talked to them about how to set goals. We had a lot of fun just joking around with them too. We made Abby sing for us. She has such a pretty voice. I'm going to try to convince her to sing with me at church. Then.... They fed us too. We weren't expecting that. They have never feed us before... well except for ice cream sometimes, but that doesn't count. So basically.... we were just dying at the end of the day. We had major Hispanic tummy.

Saturday Sister Haycock and Webb had their departing interview with President Taggart, so Sister Greenall and I got to hang out again for the afternoon. They left the apartment at like 7, so we just did our studies... but Sister Greenall was sick, so she was in bed all morning and I did my studies... For like 4 hours. It was beautiful. Probably the most peaceful 4 hours of my mission :)

Saturday night we went to our correlation meeting and we had to stay at the church for a while while we filled the font up for Marcial. Our baptismal font is kind of cool. You fill it up the night before and it heats up over night. It takes a long time to fill those things up though. Then we went to see Marcial. It was so fun. He was so excited for his baptism the next day. He was so happy. When he said the prayer before we left he thanked God that he was finally going to be a member of his church. He is seriously the best.

So now for the moment you have all been waiting for.

          MARCIAL'S BAPTISM!

Definitely the highlight of my mission and probably my life. He came to church all dressed up in his suit. He looked so good. He was GLOWING. Everyone was talking to him and congratulating him. He fits right into this branch. Its like he has always been a member of the church. After the second hour, Sister Haycock and I headed into the kitchen to make all the sandwiches for after the baptism. The Garcias brought the sandwiches. They were super yummy. I don't know why Hispanics make such good Hispanics... but they were ham with this weird cheese and of course, jalepenos (the Garcia are Mexican). So yummy.... but while we were in the middle of making the sandwiches and the elders come into the kitchen. They had a baptism that day as well, so Marcial's baptism was a double baptism. The elders baptised a cute 15 year old girl named Alexa... so the elders walk in the kitchen and were just like "uh sisters... we need your help. Alexa is having some trouble changing into her jumpsuit" So we go into the changing area by the font and cute little Alexa is in there and she is just standing there looking at the jumpsuit. We ask her "did you bring an extra pair of underwear?" Her: "no, the Elders didn't tell me!" ahahahha classic Elder Baptism fail. haha. We asked her where she lived. She lived like 30 minutes away walking and we weren't allowed to drive her.. this was a problem. We asked her if there was anyone at her house. She said her grandma would be there.... so Sister Haycock and I jumped in our car and sped to her house. We got there and explained to the grandma the situation praying that she would let us in. Just picture us standing in this little hallway explaining to this little Mexican abuela that we needed to come in and look through her granddaughter's underwear. It was quite comical. She just laughed and let us in and helped us find some underwear for her. We made it back just in time. She changed and the program started. Her and Marcial sat up front. I led the music, a hermano in the ward gave a talk, then Alexa was baptized. Then Marcial. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong. The whole branch was there to support them. There wasn't enough seats for them. 

After the baptism we all had the sandwiches and soda. Marcial was so happy. It was the perfect day. 

Monday was super fun! Sisters Haycock and Webb had their Ellis island trip, so it was another day with Sister Greenall. That's why I didn't get my emails done. We had fun though. We went to the Patterson chapel for the zone activity. We also got to do some secret Birthday shopping for SISTER HAYCOCKS BIRTHDAY!!! Her birthday was Tuesday. So we got some decorating stuff and we decorated the church for her so that when she came to district meetings the next day we could surprise her, then we went down into Passaic to try to find this store that sells new jersey merchandise... we couldn't find it anywhere. We were driving/walking around Passaic for like an hour trying to find it.... which if you don't know what Passaic is like, just picture Mexico. :) It was crazy. We finally found it though at 5:30... so we only had 30 minutes to get by her birthday present then get back to the apartment... we barely made it. haha. It was a struggle hiding that stuff from Sister Haycock since they were waiting for us at the apartment. I did it though. She had no idea I planned stuff for her birthday. She forgot it was her birthday. hahahaha. I got up in the middle of the night and I made her a card and got the stuff all ready for her when she woke up in the morning. 

Tuesday, she wakes up and walks right past all of the stuff, still drowsy... then she comes back into the living room with her exercise stuff on and she was just like... WHAAAAAT? Its my birthday? hahaha. i got her an I <3 Jersey shirt and some hipster glasses. She was super excited. It was a fun morning. Then we went to district meeting. Sister Haycock bought everyone Little Cesar's pizza because its her last week and she has so much MSF money. The Shaws (the senior couple) brought cakes then Sister Webb and Greenall brought the cake that Sister Greenall and I got on Monday.... So there was a lot of pizza and cake. Then Sister Haycock and Sister Webb had their hot seats. It was so fun. She was so surprised when she walked in there for her hot seat and it was all decorated for her birthday. hehehehe. Their hot seats were so good. They are super great missionaries and they had some GREAT stories to share with us about their missions. We didn't even get back to our area until like 3:30 because it was just such a huge party. It was way fun though. Then last night, we took Marcial with us to go teach with us. It was his first team up experience!! He was so excited. He brought an AMAZING spirit into the home when he shared his testimony of the Book of Mormon with this family. We took him to see a part member family. The wife and kids are members and the husband isn't. They are going through a really hard time because they think he has stomach cancer and they are doing all these tests and things. He is pretty strong catholic, but he has been reading the Book of Mormon with his wife and we have been visiting them often for the past couple of weeks. We couldn't get him to read on his own though... But Marcial just shared his story and told him about how he had to read the Book of Mormon by himself. The spirit was incredible. Marcial is seriously the coolest! They were really touched by him. Hno Mooney is excited to read the Book of Mormon now. ....

gah. I am obsessed with Marcial. He is way to cool. haha You all have to meet him. You will love him.

Well that's all for now family. I don't have very much time this week. I love you and miss you all so much! Have a good week!

-Sister Clark