I'm Training

So this week had to be one of the most stressful weeks of my mission. It is hard to move on and adapt to change out here on the mission. With the end of last transfer I have suddenly become super super old on the mission. I didn't feel that old last transfer because my companion was still older than me. Now all of my companions that I have had are home from the mission, which is super weird and to be honest it kind of makes me feel a little bit trunky. I'm trying to push through though. I am actually getting really excited to come home. I am so in love with Union City though. It is a really hard area. Probably one of the hardest areas that I have had on my whole mission. It has been hard for me to adjust to union city because I had so much success this summer. I was in Morristown and Passaic and we had 2 baptisms and we were finding people right and left almost all summer, but now I'm here in Union City and we have 2 investigators who cant get baptized and it is so hard to find people. That has been a little bit of a hard adjustment, but I really love the members down here and the 2 investigators that we have are so amazing and I love them so much.   Monday we went to Marisol's house and hung out and jumped on her trampoline. It was so much fun. I haven't jumped on a trampoline in forever! It turned out to be a fun pday. Then we went and visited Hermana Campusano and the Cayetanos. It was Sister Jorgensens last night on the mission. That was emotional. Then on Tuesday morning we packed up Jorgensen's bags and got everything all ready to go for her. I had to be in Morristown at like 1030 to pick up my trainee. Tuesday was the longest day of my life. Seriously such a long day. I don't think I have ever cried that much on my mission either. It was actually really hard for me to say goodbye to this group. It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Jorgensen. She helped me a lot. So that basically sums up Tuesday for me. ALOT OF TEARS.   I have been reflecting on my mission a lot this week and reflecting on all of the people that I have had the opportunity to teach and it is so amazing and rewarding to think about. My mission has been such a humbling experience for me. I love these people so much I would literally do anything in the world for them. I talked to Marcial for almost an hour last night. He is doing really well and he blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday. He loved it. He was telling me about how he is doing with his scripture studies. He is so into deep doctrine, it is absolutely hilarious. Rod is going to love him. He told me that we are welcome to stay in his house anytime we want to come up and visit New Jersey and that he would take us to go see all of the sites out here. I told him that I really want him to come down to see a live session of general conference with me sometime and that we could go see some of the temples in Utah. He was really excited about that. He said he really wants to come to Arizona some time too and I told him that our home is his home and that we will take him to go see the grand canyon. He is seriously the best. He said he is going to come down here to Union City before I go home so that he can say goodbye. He said he wants to come to the airport when I leave also. ha ha. He is the best. So I am training, my companions name is Hermana Vernon and she is from Arizona as well and she loves pancakes just like me. To tell you the truth, I really did not want to train and it is really hard. I'm not really a huge fan. I really prefer being a regular missionary. I have been so blessed my entire mission to have just been a regular missionary without callings and stuff. It is proof to me that God knows me really well. It was kind of a slow week due to Halloween. We had to be in our apartments by 6 on both Thursday and Friday night because it gets kind of crazy on Halloween. On Thursday night my companion went to bed right at 6 because she is so tired. Poor thing. I stayed up and talked to almost all of my old companions on the phone. It was fun talking to them. I also wrote some letters. It was nice to just relax for a few hours. On Friday we went and taught Sedney at Marisol's house. She is so cute. We read Alma 26 with her and she really loved it. Then Sister Monsen and Sister Duke came over to hang out with us. I am seriously so excited that Sister Monsen and Sister Duke are companions. I was praying that Sister Monsen would be my sister training leader because she is one of the few sisters on the mission that I actually know. I love her so much and it is fun that she is with sister duke because I love sister duke a lot too. We just hung out and sister Vernon made pancakes. It was really nice of them to come over and hang out with us for a little while.      On Saturday we had a relief society activity that ended up taking almost all day. It was pretty fun. They had some really yummy breakfast, so that was good. After the activity we stayed to help clean up and then Sister Weinstock just showed up out of nowhere. I seriously had a cow. Her mom came to pick her up so she and her mom are staying here in New Jersey for a week or so before she goes home. I talked to her for a long time and her mom went on a team up with the other Union City sisters, so she ended up hanging out with us for like 3 hours. It was so fun to see her. She was a fun companion. We reminisced a lot about our time together in Perth Amboy. That was such a good area. Then later that night we went and taught the Byron over at the Cayetano's house. Seriously love them so much. We opened my birthday package that my sisters sent me. I let Isabel and Edwin open all of the presents and they had fun doing that. I got 3 cute cardigans, a leopard belt, leggings, a beanie and some candy and of course letters. It was such a fun birthday! The Cayetanos also invited me over tomorrow night to spend my actual birthday with them. I am really excited for that. They are such a special family. So so so special. There is no one else I would rather spend my 21st birthday with. I feel so blessed :) Yesterday was a crazy Sunday. The other U.C. sisters had a baptism. Sister Harris is training and she has only been on the mission for 3 months, so she didn't really know how to run the baptism, so I had to help out a lot. During the last two hours of church we were running around trying to get everything set up. We had to fill the font, put up chairs and make programs. The programs were a disaster. Sister Harris and I were running around for an hour trying to find a computer with a printer that actually worked, then finding paper. Seriously, I feel like baptisms never run smoothly. ha ha. Next time I am at home and there is a baptism, I am going to appreciate the missionaries and all that they do to put together a baptism in a different way. Other than that, it all went smooth and it was a very good baptismal service. That is really all there is to report on this week. I'm just trying to put my trust in God and finish my mission strong. Hopefully next week is better. I love you all and hope you have a good week! -Sister Clark