A Roller Coaster Week!

So this week was by far one of the craziest weeks of my whole mission. I just feel like we were on this huge roller coaster.... oh wait... we literally were on a roller coaster.

WE WENT TO SIX FLAGS!!

If you don't believe me I have picture evidence :) but more about that later. Its a long story.

Let me just outline this week for y'all.

Monday: Statue of liberty trip: I hung out with Sister Duke in Bayonne all day

Tuesday: District meetings, Jorgensen's Hot seat, then Departing interview in Morristown ALL DAY

Wednesday: Departing Temple trip: In Bayonne with Duke ALL DAY

Thursday: Dr. Appointment in Manhattan and transfer planning. ALL DAY, then surprise phone call from President Taggart, "the Lord has called you to train a new missionary"

Friday: Trainer Meeting in at the mission home in Morristown

Saturday: Six Flags ALL DAY!

Sunday: Church, aka the most exhausting 3 hours of the week.

Basically, we were only in our area for like 2 days. We got a grand total of 10 lessons. That sure makes ya feel like basura. Oh well. I feel like we did what we needed to do and we did the best with what we had... and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Monday was super fun just because like I already said earlier, Sister Duke is really cool and she is just a chill missionary. Like she actually gets it, ya know. I don't want to judge, but sometimes other sisters just drive me crazy because they are so dramatic. Augh I feel like I need to take that back. I'm going to laugh so hard when The Lord sends me a really dramatic daughter on Tuesday. Anyways, we just went over to the senior couples house and did crafts. Sister Dunn (the senior) has a Cricut. I am so obsessed. I want one so bad. We cut out a ton of letters and shapes so we could make planner covers and other things. I am so desperate for new decorations in my apartment. Our apartment is a disaster. It doesn't matter how much or how deeply you clean it, its so so sucio. Sister Jorgensen has never touched the couches and she has lived there for 6 months, that is how disgusting they are. I'll have to take pictures for you. The bedrooms and the kitchen aren't that bad though.

 

I was in Bayonne basically all day though. We didn't get home until 7 and we had an appointment right then with an active member who is really cool. He wanted to say goodbye to Jorgie, so he took us out to eat at Noches de Colombia. Literally the best food ever. I seriously have to bring home a huge bag of pan de bono for y'all... It might be kind of stale.. but its probably still good even when its stale.

Tuesday we actually had a regular morning. We did all of our studies and everything, but then the day just got crazy from there. We went to district meeting. It was Jorgie's last district meeting, so of course that was emotional. I gave a training to my district about receiving revelation through prayer. It turned out well. I learned a lot. I read Alma 36:36-47 with them and in this chapter Alma is giving consejos to his son and he is telling him about Nephi and the Liahona, so we talked about how in order to receive revelation we need to be diligent and pray with faith, kind of how it was talking about with Nephi. It turned out really good. We had to keep leaving the meeting a couple of times to go to the bathroom because Jorgensen was crying. It is so hard to leave the mission, and it is so exhausting to send companions home, too. I feel emotionally drained. Oh well. I would do anything for Sister Jorgensen, she literally changed my life. After district meeting we had Sister Jorgensen's hot seat. That was fun. Everyone just asked her the usual hot seat questions like, "what was the grossest thing you ate, weirdest thing you found on the ground, the time you laughed the hardest, your longest day, the time you cried the hardest, most embarrassing moment." She had really good stories. I really just love sister Jorgensen so much and look up to her a lot. For most awkward contact she told the story about how someone tried to give us 100 dollars each then how the guy farted. We got some pretty good laughs from that one. After the hot seat we headed to Morristown for Jorgensen's departing interview with President Taggart. Being in a walking area is so annoying though. It is seriously such a joke trying to get a car. The zone leaders have a van. Then there are only 2 other cars in our whole zone. Everyone else walks. The zone leaders get kind of whiney though whenever we try to use the van, which I don't get. They're in a walking area too, they don't need it. Whatever though. We got the van from them but we had to drop everyone off in their areas. Then we headed out to Morristown. I hate driving in New Jersey though. There are so many bridges everywhere and I am really scared of bridges. The Lake Powell bridge scared me. That bridge is so shaky. So now whenever we drive over bridges I have serious white knuckles. On the way to Morristown there is this bridge that is literally at least like 2 miles long. It's the worst. There are just so many rivers where we live. Before we went to the mission home, though, we had to go to the mission office and pick up a new phone. Last week while we were out working, sister Jorgensen dropped our phone in a puddle. I don't even understand. It was literally the only puddle in the whole street and our phone happened to land in it. The new phone we got is so annoying. It's nice though. It's nicer than the older phone that we had. We always used to call it "the piedra" (the rock). It took us longer than we expected to set up the phone at the mission office, so we were almost late for interviews. haha. Classic. Luckily the interview before Jorgie went over so we were right on time. I seriously love the Taggarts though. We went upstairs to go say hi to Sophie and she is up there with these little pet things that she has, and she made like a 15 minute video with the pets. It was so funny. That girl is seriously hilarious. While Jorgensen was in the interview I just hung out with Sister Taggart, Sophie and Emily. Emily was studying for the ACT and I made quesedillas with Sister Taggart. They have a really cute family feel to them and I love it. After the interview, it started pouring rain. Literally POURING. We ran outside to the van across their lawn and it was like a lake. We drove home like 25 on the freeway the whole way home. It took FOREVER! Then to top that off I randomly got really sick, so I was like puking out the window. It was great. We were just chillin' blasting Carrie Underwood trying not to throw up because when we rolled the windows down, water would get in the car. We didn't get home til like 8:45 and we just went straight to bed. We were so tired.

Wednesday was Jorgie's departing temple trip. I was in Bayone with Duke all day. It was fun, we taught like 6 lessons and invited 3 people to be baptized. I really missed my area, though. Sister Jorgensen and I literally did zero work in our area for 3 days in a row. On Wednesday we didn't get home to Union City until 9:15. Not having a car is the most irritating thing ever because we have to bum off of everyone for rides. The Jersey city elders had to pick us up in Bayonne and drive us home. They are so cool though. They kept on listening to the same song on repeat, though, and we were so bugged. They kept on being like, "sisters it's like the Spanish backstreet boys, hahaha" and we were just like, seriously change it before we kill you. Elders. Always such a love hate relationship.

Thursday we finally had another normal morning. We did our normal studies, which was super nice and we were just so thankful to be in our own apartment in our own area. We had a really relaxed morning - then we decided to just go get some sushi for lunch. There is this really good sushi place on Bergenline that we love going to. They have a lunch special where you can get 3 rolls for 10 dollars, so we usually just split that and get smoothies, too. The smoothies there are to die for. Jorgensen and I literally go there every week. I'm going to miss going there. Then after sushi, the Shaws picked us up so they could take us to New York. As always, that was an experience. New York traffic is so insane. On the way home we got in a little car accident. The guy was cool though and he is paying for everything. Sister Jorgensen and I can officially say we got in a car accident in New York. That's like a bucket list event. After that we did our transfer planning and made the new planners and everything, then we went and saw some people. We were literally scrambling trying to see everyone we could with the little time that we had. Then we get home that night and we finish planning and everything and we were just sitting at our desks, Sister Jorgensen was on the phone with Byron then she just goes, "I'm going to have to call you back, our mission president is calling." Then she answers the phone. I literally thought she was joking. We were pretty sure that we were safe because we had already heard that some of the other sisters were training so we thought training calls were done... but we were so wrong. She hands the phone to me and President Taggart is like, "so how are you, blah blah blah. We have praying hard about a calling for you, and the Lord has confirmed to us that He would like you to train a new missionary, so on behalf of the Lord we would like to extend the calling of a trainer." I literally almost died. Wasn't expecting that one. Then we start calling everyone and there is literally 10 Spanish sisters training. SO CRAZY! There are 4 sisters in our zone training, so we had to plan rides to the trainer meeting at 10 am the next day. Luckily one of those sister areas is the only driving area in the zone, so we just took their car.

Friday morning, so crazy. I had to wake up and get ready for the sisters to pick me up at 8:30 at the Union City chapel, which is a 20 minute walk from our house. Sister Jorgensen stayed in U.C. with the other trainer's companions. We get to the trainer meeting and it was literally full of sisters who are training. I am the oldest sister who is training. Everyone else in the mission is so young. It is crazy. After I came out, there was just a few transfers where no sisters came out, then a couple came out here and there, but the last 3 transfers the mission has exploded with all of these new sisters, so I feel like I barely even know who any of them are. It made me feel so old. It is seriously a completely different mission than when I came out. I have never felt like such a dinosaur. It was fun though. The best part was lunch though. American food is such a huge treat. We had spaghetti and bread sticks and ice cream with brownies for desert. When I got back home we finished weekly planning and Jorgensen packed a little bit. It is so sad watching her pack.... it's just over all of a sudden. It is kind of starting to hit me that I am going home in 12 weeks. UGh ew.

Saturday was seriously one of the funnest days of my mission. So when Jorgensen and Duke were companions in Eatontown, they reactivated this really amazing family named the Parcino family and they just got really close to this family. One of the sons in the family is named Sam and the gospel literally just changed his life and they are best friends with him. They are literally obsessed with him and they are talking to him on the phone all the time and they are just always talking about him and he would literally do anything for them. It's like a big brother thing because he is 30. So a couple of weeks ago he calls Jorgensen and is like, "hey I have to see you before you go, someone told me that you can go to six flags once on your mission so I really want to take you!" So we talked to the mission president and he said it was totally cool. Everyone can go at least once on their mission, you just have to be back in your area by 7 o'clock proselyting and you can't take a mission car, a member has to take you. So Jorgensen, Sammy and Duke planned it all out and they invited me to come. I was so excited to meet Sammy because he is like all they ever talk about and we talk to him on the phone all the time and he is so hilarious. So he came and picked us up at 8:30 on Saturday morning and took us down to Belmar where he lives which is like an hour and a half from U.C. at the very south of the mission. The whole family took us out for lunch and showed us the new house that they just bought. It is seriously such a pretty house and it is right on the beach. I seriously want to live there. Then Sammy took us to Six Flags. It was like a 15 minute drive from where he lives. It was so much fun. Sammy is so scared of the roller coasters though, so it was so funny teasing him about it. We only went on one big one. Duke, Jorgie and I waited for an hour and a half for the green lantern. It was fun. It was one where you stand up on it. It was so gross though because there were this two kids in front of us just making out for the whole line. It was seriously so gross. Then after that ride we went and met Sammy out front and we went and did the kid rides with him. It was so funny. We went on one of the rides where it's like you're in a boat and it just rocks back and forth and he got so scared. It was so funny. We were just laughing so hard at him during the whole ride and he was like screaming. Then we went on one of the really fast rides where it spins you. He was screaming during that whole thing too. Jorgensen was in a car with him and I was with Duke and we were laughing so hard because we could just hear him. Then we went on a roller coaster that was kind of like space mountain. It was in a dark room with a bunch of lights. Sammy actually liked that one. It was such a fun day. Seriously. I really wish I could have served down there on the beach with that family, they are some of the coolest people I have met on my mission and I was only with them for one day. I am so happy that they invited me to come with them, I had a lot of fun.

Sunday we had church and some more last minute appointments. We set an appointment with the other sisters to go see the bishop. He lives on 13th street and we live on 45 and the other sisters live on 39th so that was such a long walk, but they made us some super yummy food. I forgot what it's called, but its from Honduras and its eggs with beans and cream in a really yummy thick flour tortilla. I am going to ask them to teach me how to make it.

I am so nervous for this up coming week. Transfers are tomorrow and I have to be at the mission home at 10 to meet my trainee and we are going to have lunch together and stuff, then well go to transfer conference. I am super sad to say goodbye to Jorgensen and I am really sad that we only had one transfer together. I'm sad that I won't even get to sit by her either at transfer conference. Oh well. I am super excited to train though. I'm excited to teach this new sister everything I know and just love her.

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Thanks for all you do!

-Sister Clark

Marical got The Priesthood!

Buenas Dias!! Wow it is such a crazy day today! Sister Jorgensen is on her departing trip to the statue of liberty, so I am down here in Bayonne with Sister Duke. I'm really glad that we live so close to Bayonne because I am going to have to spend some time with Sister Duke this week and I am just thankful that I know her and she is not weird. Last night we had another sleepover in Bayonne with Sisters Weinstock and Duke so that Jorgensen and Weiny wouldn't be late for the departing trip. We had to drop them off in Newark at 7:45 this morning. We got stuck in the WORST traffic. That is one thing that I am not going to miss about Jersey. We convinced Weiny to drive past everyone on the side of the road.... it was kind of really illegal, but we were sooooo late! Jorgensen was in the back with me practically having a cow. haha. So I am going to be here in Bayonne chillin with Duke for the day. I'm excited - it will be fun. I like Sister Duke.

We had a pretty chill week, which was good. On Tuesday after emails a member in our ward named Marisol took the U.C. hermanas out grocery shopping. That was fun. I got a package from my mom and we opened it in the car with them. It was so loaded, we seriously hit the jackpot. Thanks mom.

Then we went and taught Marisol's family. Her mom, Hna Soriano is literally an angel. She made us really yummy mole (enchiladas covered in chocolate salsa). It took me a really long time to actually enjoy mole, but now I kind of like it. Never thought I would say that. It's an acquired taste. Then we went and taught Byron at the Cayetanos house. The Cayetanos are this cute little family that just got baptized a few months ago. They are from Mexico and they always have Byron over so we can teach him, they love him, which is really cool. 

Bryon

 We always have fun with them, but sometimes it is kind of hard to teach because they can go off topic really easily. We were reteaching the restoration using cups and we were talking about the great apostasy and out of nowhere Hna Cayetano was like, "Oh, so that is kind of like George Bush and the war" then she just went on and on about George Bush. Sister Jorgensen and I were like, "wait what? no that has nothing to do with the apostasy, you just wanted to talk about bush!" We were so bugged. Haha. Never bring Bush up when you are with Hispanics. They hate him and it will turn into a very long debate. We literally went to the Cayetanos house every single day this week.... it was kind of crazy. It was way fun though. They make us really really yummy Mexican food. They made us this really yummy verde soup and she made us mole, then last night she made really yummy lasagna. And I don't really know what it is, but Hispanics make the best salad.

Me and the nena. Her name is Isabel Cayetano and she is the cutest thing ever. I'm obsessed with her.

Mi compa and the nena

On Miercoles we went and saw our recent convert Veronica. Usually when we go see her it is at her house and it is super hard to teach her because her little son Gabriel (4 years old) is running around and her husband doesn't take care of him, he just sits on his computer and tries to talk to us about stuff that doesn't really matter and it is really distracting. Then Veronica isn't talking to us because she is chasing Gabriel around and her husband is talking to us. I don't know. It's a mess, but this week we went to her house and she came downstairs and was like, "Hermanas, I am taking you to dinner, where do you want to eat?" so she took us to subway. It was seriously so nice of her. It was so nice to have some one on one time with her. It was so tranquila being there with her without her son and husband. We got to talk really seriously with her and we are helping her prepare to go to the temple to do her investiduras in November. I am so excited. I really hope that I can go with her. That would be so much fun. Also, she let us in on some really special news.... She is pregnant. I am seriously so excited about this. She is the cutest mom. I'll try to send a picture of her and Gabrielcito next week. They are definitely one of my favorite families here in Union City.

The view of the beautiful Union City from one of our member's apartments

Thursday was such an interesting day. We went to go visit this less active member and she was psycho. She babysits her 6 year old grandson every day and so we got there and he was running around loco then she didn't even come and talk to us. We just sat on her couch and played with her grandson Erik while she cleaned and cooked for her husband. We were so bugged, then we were finally like, uh hermana, come here please, we need to talk to you, then she came in and she ended up trying to sell us these weird vitamins the whole time. it was so annoying. Then after that we went and saw the Cayetanos and it was a really unfocused lesson so we were just so bugged and frustrated when we got home that night. We had to repent hard core. It is really funny to look back at now though. We were SO MAD. ha

Friday was so weird. We had 5 set appointments and they all worked out, luckily. There are very few days like that, when all of our appointments that we set actually work out. We had a really good lesson with our investigator Sedney. She is 16 and we taught her the law of chastity. It actually went really well. Then we visited some less active members. We went on a walk with one of them to boulevard east and just spent some time looking at Manhattan on a bench. It was so nice and super tranquilo. Then we went to go visit one of these less active members that we love. We get to her house and she was like, "Oh hermanas, I was going to go to my son's football game, but you are here." so we were like what? no way  you should definitely go, your son is way more important. Then she was like, "Well, I just don't have anyone to go with, so I don't know." so we ended up going to her son's high school football game with her. That was super weird. The game was in Weehawkin, which is right on the shore of the Hudson. Union city is at the top of these cliffs above the Hudson... so we had to walk down there then we were just thrown into high school all over again. It was fun though. The band played and she bought us a pretzel and we watched the game with her. It was so weird. We felt so out of place in our faldas.

Saturday was SO MUCH FUN!! We went and did a project with the other union city sisters. They are trying really hard to clean up their ward list and find out who the members are that are on the list and if they have moved or if they still live there and what not. We all met up at the church and the U.C. Elders got a section of the list and the other U.C. Elders got another section of the list and they headed out, then we decided to just go out together, us 4 sisters going out and finding the lost members of U.C. We went to a ton of different houses, most of them weren't home or had moved. We talked to one lady and we took her laundry to the laundry mat for her, then we went to this place and we met this lady named Dalia.... wow she was so interesting. She is a very inactive member but she let us in. She had 6 dogs that were barking and going crazy every where, but she shut them in a different room. IT was us 4 sisters squeezed onto this little couch and she was just in her recliner chair talking our ears off. She talked so so much. She was literally crazy though. She was talking about how mad she was that people are so cruel to animals, then she was talking about how everyone thinks that Mormons are polygamists... she asked us if we were polygamist.. we were like... uh, hello, you are a Mormon, you should know we don't practice polygamy.

Then she was showing us weird clips from the show "casa cerrada" where there was people talking about Mormons. Then we snuck a lesson in there somewhere about the plan of salvation. Then she was telling us some really... well... inappropriate things. We were seriously laughing so hard. Like we were laying on top of each other on this little couch just cracking up because we didn't know how to react to what she was telling us and she was laughing too. Then she starts talking about Dogs and she just starts swearing like 100 times and we were like, uhhhh... And Hna Galvan was with us and she is a native, she is from Argentina, so she was literally dying laughing so hard. She is training a new missionary named Sister Harris, so of course she doesn't have the vocabulary to understand anything that she is talking about, so Sister Jorgensen, Galvan and me are just dying laughing and sister Harris has no idea what is going on so she was laughing to. This lady was crazy. We were there for such a long time because she just wouldn't stop talking. We walked out of there and our abdomens and faces hurt from laughing.

Then on Saturday night, this member calls us to invite us to her 5 year-old's birthday party that night. So we get to the church and there was a balloon arch and disco lights and a DJ and the most amazing snacks I have ever seen. It was by far the best birthday party for a 5 year old that I have been to. One of the active members that lives in our area was the DJ, so Jorgensen and I convinced him to put on Beyonce. We were literally dying. We are obsessed with Beyonce. Then they had some Hispanic music on, which we love. Hna Galvan was having a cow because shes from Argentina and we all just wanted to dance so bad, so the 4 of us hermanas went into the kitchen and we were dancing. We had to get it out. Hna Galvan was teaching us how to dance. So much fun. Hispanics have the best dances. Then the lady that was in charge of the snacks walked in and made us help. It was so fancy. There was fondue, and all these cute candy jars and everything. We ate a lot of the fondue. haha.

Then after that we had an appointment with Byron at Hermana Campusano's house. Hermana Campusano has to be my favorite active member in our area. She is from the D.R. and she is literally an angel. She is a bit older, but she is sassy and she is a very hard worker and has the most solid testimony. She lives by her self and does everything by her self. Byron adores her because she is so sassy but so real. We got there and we all of a sudden got so tired and sick because we hadn't eaten actual food since 11:30 that morning. All we had between 11:30 and 8 was fondue. So of course Hna Campusano was like, "girls you are crazy, what do you want? you want mangu? ok I'm gonna cook you up some mangu, you just stay right here and teach Byron and I'm making you girls some mangu!" Then she went to the kitchen and started cooking. We taught Byron a really good lesson. We usually teach him at the Cayetanos, which is so crazy every time, but it was just us one on one with him and it was so good. We taught him the plan of salvation focusing on what is the purpose of life. He told us the whole story about how he got here from Guatemala. It was so sad. Hearing these people's stories make me so thankful for my life. He crossed through Mexico, of course, and he was telling us about how dangerous it is. He had to leave behind his brother, which was really hard for him. This week it is going to be a year since he got here to New Jersey. When we finished teaching him we went into the kitchen and Hna Campusano had the table all set up for us and we ate so much mangu. It was so fun because it was Byron's first time eating mangu. Mangu is a Dominican dish and basically what it is is mashed up platanos with onions and fried eggs and sausage and cheese. It is seriously so yummy. Byron really liked it. He had never had it before because he is from Guatemala, and they don't eat that there. Hermana Campusano said that the next time we go over there she is going to teach me how to make it. I am so excited because I really like Mangu.

Also, really exciting, this morning I got this text from Marcial:

"mi querida Rebeca, solo para saludarte espero que Estes bien. Te contarte que el dia de ayer me ordenaron en el sacerdocio en el oficio de presbitero. Fue muy especial en el momento de la imposicion por los manos. Bye saluda a tu companera - Marcial"

(My dearest Rebecca, I just wanted to say hello and that I hope you are doing well. Yesterday I was ordained as a priest in the priesthood. It was a very special moment when they put their hands on my head. Bye, say hello to your companion-Marcial.)

That message seriously made my whole day. I am so so so happy for him and so thankful for the opportunity that I had to share the gospel with him.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Sister Clark

...was that a fart?

I am really loving Union City. It is hard for the first couple of weeks in a new area, but I feel like I am getting the hang of things and I've really started to love the people here. On missions, it is really hard to not compare yourself to other missionaries, especially as a sister, because, let's be honest, everyone LOVES the sisters. But everyone goes to their areas and does their own work there and has completely different experiences, so if you know a sister that has served in one area, then you get transferred there, you are going to do the work differently or have different relationships with the members and investigators there. Does that make sense? I feel like that is something that I struggle with sometimes, especially since I have been moved around so much on my mission. The longest I have ever stayed in one place is 3 transfers or about 4 months. That is pretty regular, but it has been more regular for me to be in an area for less than 3 transfers, which is unusual, so that means that it is harder for me to develop really strong relationships with people. I don't know, it's kind of hard sometimes, but I'm just glad that I have been where I have been and met all of the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to meet. I'm excited to finish my mission in Union City.... I'm going to be so mad if I get transferred again. 6 areas is just too much! ha ha. No, I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do.

We had a really normal week, which is good, because our first 3 weeks were un poco loco. On Tuesday we went back to the Alonso's house to get some more acupuncture. Like always, that was an experience. They are so interesting... They are very beautiful people, but they are a little bit prideful, which is really funny for Jorgensen and I. They just say the strangest things sometimes. We actually saw them twice this week and the second time he hooked Jorgensen and I up to the acupuncture machine at the same time, so we were both twitching out and it was so funny. Then he turns YouTube onto his big screen TV and is showing us his YouTube page of him singing Christmas songs. It was so weird. Jorgensen and I didn't know how to react because it was kind of annoying and we couldn't escape because we were hooked up to that dumb machine. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. ha ha. I loved it though. We got out of there and laughed so hard.

On Thursday we got to go down to Morristown to watch Meet the Mormons with the northern half of the mission. It was super fun! We don't have a car, so we caught a ride with the Korean Elders. That was interesting. They are super funny and really cool to be around. Meet the Mormons was so good. I really loved it, if you get a chance you should definitely go see it. It is a feel good movie and I thought it was a perfect introduction to the world of who we really are as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After watching Meet the Mormons, we had an exchange with the Bayonne sisters. I stayed in Union City with Sister Duke and Jorgensen went to Bayonne with Sister Weinstock. I had a lot of fun. It was a good exchange because Duke is super real and is easy to talk too. Sometimes exchanges are kind of awkward because you have never really met the sister that you are exchanging with. It wasn't like that with Duke because we have these weird connections and we do stuff with them all of the time. Sis Duke was trained by Sis Haycock, so I heard a lot about her and she was also companions with Sister Jorgensen down in Eatontown. We went and saw this recent convert in our area named Veronica. She has a little son named Gabriel who is about 4 and he is such a stinker. He is the cutest kid I have ever seen though. He is learning how to play the guitar too, so I was dying when he was showing me how he plays. Overall it was a great exchange, I had fun.

On Wednesdays we always have our correlation meeting with the ward mission leader at 1. Sister Jorgensen and I were the only missionaries that were able to go because all of the other missionaries in our unit were at a specialized training in Morristown for new missionaries. Our ward mission leader took us out to lunch at this really yummy Mexican food place called Tio Tacos. We ordered enchiladas and tortas and Sister Jorgensen and I shared. We each ate half of a torta and 2 enchiladas. It was so much food. Then right after that we went to visit this family who gave us a ton of food, too. I had to go throw up after that appointment because it was just way too much food for me. I can't wait for the day when I can serve myself and pick my own portions.

On Friday night after we exchanged back, we had an appointment set with this 19 year old Dominican kid.... Sister Jorgensen and I are actually really kind of bugged by this kid. He is super annoying and really rude. He comes to church a lot but he is always disrespectful and says dumb things in class and is really rude to our other investigator, Byron. Anyways, we had this appointment set up and we couldn't find a woman team up, we asked him to meet us at the church because there was going to be a lot of people there playing soccer. It was the most awkward lesson of my life. This kid is literally obsessed with my companion. (well, who could blame him, have y'all seen my compa? She's cute. But he was being so rude and disrespectful and I felt like a jealous boyfriend.. I mean Jorgensen and I are basically dating, were together 24/7. I was mad. Then, he walked home with us and we couldn't escape, because we live on 47 and he lives on 49, so we walked all the way from the church on 25th to 47th with him. I was literally so bugged by the time we finally got home. I had to repent... but listen to this. So we were walking down Bergenline and he walks past his friend and his friend calls out to him "Hey chiko what are you up too?" Then he was like, "andando con mis mujeres!" (out with my women). Jorgensen almost died. She stopped him and was like, "BRIAN, WE ARE NOT YOUR MUJERES, WE ARE MISSIONERAS SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY THAT YOU CAN WALK HOME ALONE!" ahahahah it was so annoying. I love my compa. she is fuerte. Then he was like, ok chill out jorgie. I said "con mis hermanas." and we were like, uh yeah no you didn't. We understand Spanish ya dummy. Anyways, so we keep walking then he was like, "Hey Jorgie, do you cook?" and she was like, "uh, why?" then he was like, "The next time we hang out, you can cook me some rice or something" I was so annoyed. So so annoyed.

We are not teaching that kid anymore.

On Saturday I had a really hard day for some reason. I was feeling super bummed and I was just struggling. I was really depressed. Maybe because it rained for the 2 days earlier. I don't know, but we had to take a little bit of a break. I was way stressed out. My companion is seriously the best though. I really don't even know how to describe to you. She saves my life everyday. To be honest, being a missionary is super hard sometimes. I have had some of the hardest times of my life on my mission. Everyday is hard, but it has been so worth it. The end is coming and I am feeling it. It's really dumb because I still have 3 months, that is a lot of time! I just feel weird though. I'm excited to go home, but life won't be the same as when I left. It is kind of hard killing people, too. I just killed Sister Haycock and now I'm killing Sister Jorgensen, so it's kind of hard to have your companions go home and you have to stay out here. I have been losing motivation to work as hard as I have before. Hopefully I get a companion who is young and full of fire to help move me along to my deathbed. Ugh, mission life is so dramatic.

Sunday night we had a sleepover with the Bayonne sisters. So funny. Jorgensen and Duke are so crazy when they are together. They're super entertaining, because they think they're funny. Anyways, it was just really entertaining. We had this sleep over because we had to be in Morristown to prepare the Sister activity that was going to start at 11 on Monday morning. Sister Jorgense and Sister Duke planned this thing with Sister Taggart. We got there and we set up the tables and chairs and plates and we made all the food. It was a really fun activity. Sister Oaks, one of the members in the Morristown ward who is a yoga expert came and did a yoga class with us. It was so relaxing. Probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me that day. It was super nice. Then we had lunch and after lunch we went to three 15 minute classes. There was 5 to chose from. Jorgensen and Duke were doing a training on how to dress cute and modestly. They're so funny. Then I went and did some crafts. Then we all met in the chapel and had some trainings by the mission nurse and the missions social services worker. It was really great. We all got to try out President Taggart's face things too. President Taggart is an Entrepreneur and he has these face exfoliating things that he invented. It takes off the first layer of your skin. My face feels nice and soft now. His daughter Emily did mine for me. We didn't get home until 6, then we had to go out onto the streets right then.

Ok, funny story. Last night we were walking to our first appointment and there was this guy walking in front of us. All of a sudden we hear a fart sound and we both just stop. Jorgensen looks at me with the most confused look on her face, then I was just like, "...was that a fart?" T hen she looks at me and we stepped off the side walk behind this car and we both just started dying laughing. We laughed for a long time though. The guy that was walking in front of us definitely just let a big juicy fart out. It was so funny. Were going to be laughing about that one for a while.

Union City, its the place to be. Gotta love it!

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

-Sister Clark

Crazy Week!

This week was.... well, it was crazy to say the least. In good ways - in bad ways. I don't really know. It all started on Saturday when we had our Bayonne exchange. My companion noticed this weird Red circle on her knee. It kind of looked like a little bruise or something, nothing too serious. Then over a couple of days it just kept getting bigger and bigger. On Tuesday morning we woke up and there was a HUGE red circle on her knee. It was really weird looking. It wasn't a bite because there wasn't an entry point or anything. It was hurting her really bad and it was hot, which was super weird.    Tuesdays we have district meetings and we always meet in West New York, so we walked 20 blocks to the church and it was hurting her pretty bad. We were the first sisters there and there was a group of elders with us, so you know they start making a big deal out of it and my companion being the drama queen starts freaking out. They were all like, "that looks bad! You've got some fluid in there! You're gonna have to get that drained. Whoa, why is it hot? Go to the doctor!" Etc. Thanks a lot elders. So then she starts freaking out and after district meeting we called the mission nurse and told her what was up. She got a little worried and told us to call the doctor. We called and he told us to come in, so we had to call the zone leaders and get everything worked out to use their van because were in a walking area. It was such a struggle. I definitely miss having a car.    Anyways, we had to go down to North Arlington, which is actually in the Passaic area, so as you can imagine, Sister Jorgensen and I were flippin out so excited to head back to Passaic. We get to the doctor's office and the Passaic Elders who took my place are there. So random. The new Elder got bit by a tic. But we had to wait forever because we didn't actually have an appointment. Dr. Thomas was just kind of fitting us in because were missionaries. Anyways. We had to wait there for like an hour and Pirates of the Caribbean was on the T.V. That was probably the most unconsecrated hour of my life... Anyways. Get this. We get inside the doctors office finally and the Dr. comes in and examines her knee and he looked pretty worried. He explained to her that she had an infection in her ligament and so she was gonna have to take some antibiotics. He said if she didn't get a little better in 2 days he wanted her to go to the Hospital and have a 24 hour I.V. so of course Jorgensen is freaking out a little bit. Then, here it comes, the best part. He was like, "yeah, I want you to get a shot of antibiotics before you leave." Sister Jorgensen HATES shots. Even better. In the Butt. I was seriously dying laughing. It was so funny. The nurse comes in with this HUUUUGE needle full of juice. It was so funny. I was dying. I had to stay in there because I'm her companion, I was just dying laughing. She was totally milkin it too for the rest of the day. Pobrecita. After the appointment we stopped by CVS to get her prescription filled. It was like a 30 minute wait, so we just went out and we visited this cute little old lady named Rose who lives in North Arlington that was in our area in Passaic. It was so fun. She gave us girl scout cookies, so that was fun.  Then for the next 2 days we were stuck in the house. Jorgensen wasn't allowed to be walking on her knee. It was super lame and kinda boring, but whatever. It was fine. I don't even remember what we did. haha. Mostly just playing the guitar, looking at pictures, hangin out. Making phone calls and what not.  We have this cute girl in our area named Marisol and she is preparing to go on her mission in December. We went over to her house and we studied preach my gospel with her. That was fun. All of our mail goes to her house because our apartment isn't in the safest area, so I got a package from my mom of Halloween cookies, so we ate those while we studied.  I also got a fun package from my sister with Halloween treats in it. That was fun! We got that last night after conference.  Conference was awesome! We live 20 blocks away from the church, so we just hung out at the church between the sessions. On Saturday between sessions we went out with the other Union City sisters and the Elders and went to a Mexican place and had tortas and tacos. They were super yummy and it was fun. Sunday conference was great. There was a feast in between the sessions. Hispanics always have food. One of the benefits of being in the Spanish program.  On Saturday night after the night session we went shopping with a family in our area. They needed help carrying their groceries home. It was fun just going and serving them. Service is the best. I am in regular contact with Marcial. He LOVED general conference. He calls me Rebecca now because he loves my name. It's so funny.  That is pretty much all that really happened this week. Next week should be more interesting for sure. We're gonna hit the streets. Love you all! have a good week!   PART 2: I left out one of the best parts of the week! I was feeling a little distracted while I was writing my other email. On Friday we were back out on the streets and we went to go visit this active family in our area. The Hermano is actually a doctor, so of course he was just having a cow over sister Jorgensen's knee. He is an acupuncture doctor so he made her do acupuncture. He hooked her up to this weird machine and she was twitchin all over the place for like 30 minutes. It was so funny... Then he made me do it! It was so weird. He hooked up my neck and my hands and it made me twitch out so bad. We were laughing so hard. I have some pictures that I will send next week.  On Friday we were going to fast for conference, but of course everyone that we saw fed us. We saw 5 people, they all gave us food. Hugest fasting fail of my life. The Alonsos made us the BEST enchiladas verde I have ever had in my life though. And they made really really yummy pancakes for us to take home. It's the running joke now because everyone knows that pancakes are my favorite food. Then we went and saw this really weird family named in our ward. They are an older couple and they are seriously just so weird. WE LOVE IT! We just have to embrace the weirdness. She is always singing these weird songs and so we just go with it and we sing too, and dance weird. It's hilarious.. I'll get a video of it for y'all. She made us sit down in the kitchen and watch her make fish so that she could teach us. Then her husband was like trying to hook us up with their son. It was so weird. We loved it though. You just have to embrace it, ya know? They are basically hippies.  Acupuncture and weird Hippy Colombians. That is what we are about down here in Union City.   -Sister Clark