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