8.11.14 Jesus Take the Wheel

Pizza with grandma 

The title of my letter is a song by Carrie Underwood that really had helped me this week. This past week has been a little crazy with lots of changes. But who knew that inspiration from on high can come from all different places. Just when I thought I was at the breaking point this week I finally decided to just 'let go and let God'. The Atonement is real. I can testify from the moment I decided to just give it to him and just to Trust him, my week has been so much happier, It's the greatest feeling in the world to know you are not alone:)

Monday

Sister Allen and I decided to go out with a bang so we went to the zoo then went to a very old fashion dinner here in our area then went out and shared the gospel with our investigator named Charlie. He is an older man who lost his wife a couple of years ago, we were able to talk to him about eternal families and the atonement the spirit was supper powerful and strong. 

Much needed transfer ice cream!

Tuesday
Transfer Conference: President Taggart is hilarious, this was his first transfer conference and he was just having the time of his life up there announcing the transfers.. naturally my zone was the last one he announced. But sister Allen is now serving in Englewood (which is north of me) she is serving with sister Houser's old companion (sister Houser is now home) my new companion is sister Harvey, she is from Folsom California, she is a surfer, wants to go into marine biology and is also an artist, and a model, she is a social butterfly it's been fun to teach with her. The Members here already love her.

Sister Harvey and I eating food 

 It’s been quite the change but we are getting along well. She is really awesome. Oh and she loves all the same music that I do, which is a huge plus! We refer to ourselves as 'Mike and Sully' from Monsters Inc. We also had dinner with the bishop’s family. They are awesome I love this ward because a lot of the members are so tall and I just feel like I fit in with the whole height thing. 

Wednesday was district meeting, which was a lot of fun, sad moments when you realize that you are one of the oldest missionaries in your zone. Yet still trying to figure out how to do everything. Ha-ha something that I've learned on my mission, expect the unexpected, most of the time nothing goes according to plan, The mission defiantly will prepare you to handle unexpected situations. 

Friday was a really hard day, but that's OK cause that's what the atonement is for. Our investigator Mary had her baptismal interview and didn't pass. It was rough, trying to explain to everyone what was going on, and explaining to the ward council etc. I felt like I had let everyone down but I'm very grateful for the chance we have to repent and start fresh, because I am so imperfect.

Saturday

Got in contact with a less active family for the first time. I love working with less active members, just being able to help them rekindle that testimony that was there. I feel like we all need that rekindling time and time again. Also another miracle was that we were able to see Dave!!! (Our investigator I sent the picture of who was reading the book of Mormon) we had not been in contact with him in forever because he was on a business trip but it was a miracle we were able to find him again! He’s doing well and loving the book of Mormon. So excited to see him progress more and more in the gospel.

Main lessons I've learned this week. Let the Lord help, the Atonement is real. Life is about growing and stretching but doing it with happiness. If you are waiting for everything to be going perfectly right to be happy.. You’ll never be happy. Just finding happiness in the journey is huge:) love you all thanks for your prayers

Love,
Sister Clark

Our "Y" sign of her being transferred 

I love Sister Reed 

Sister Reed is now serving right next to me

PIZZA!

8.4.14 When We're Helping We're Happy!

Dear Family! From reading all the e-mails I can just picture a fun Sunday evening in the Clark household with all the family and kids together. I love our family. :)

So this week we went by so fast. I literally can't even remember what happened ha-ha but it was good as always. This week I also felt like I was living in a third world country... unfortunately our bathroom was not working for most of the week so we had to get-by by going to McDonald a lot this week, using members restrooms etc.

Monday we had dinner at a member’s house that is preparing to go to the temple. Her name is Abby and she's so cool we love her! We had pizza with her and her son and we played our plan of salvation board game that we made. We had a lot of fun. Even though the board game has it's flaws.. still trying to work on the kinks the principles that we try to teach while playing are true. 

Allot of this week was service for member. We did lots of painting this week, which was a lot of fun. We listened to some conference talks and just were able to bond with these members on a different level. I'm grateful for the time we had with them. We had lots of adventures like;  Inventing scaffolding to get up to high spots. (Two ladders on stairs with a wooden board in between.) And naturally because I’m the 'tall missionary' I got to experience all the experiments. It was adventurous for sure.

 We also had lots of dinners with new members in our ward. There is one family named the Koch (pronounced co) they have 2 little boys and a little girl. The little boy was so cute when he saw us on Monday after he folded his arms to be reverent and looked up at said ‘it’s nice to see you again’ yes and us he's 6 so cute.

Friday we went to serve on Ellis Island. I love serving there! The spirit is so strong. We met some incredible people. It’s so hard not to be able to tell them about the gospel but they do for sure feel the spirit. I love helping others to find there ancestors it gives me a deeper desire to be more involved in family history when I get home.

On our way home we accidently took a wrong turn and ended up at the airport..... I hyperventilated a little. But we quickly rerouted and drove to the Pilipino bread house instead. I love Pilipino people. They are great!

Saturday was neat

So our day started of by dropping by for an appointment with a potential we had.as we knocked on her door it looked dark and no cars.. Sadly didn't look too promising after waiting for a while we started to head back to our car to see her come to the door and stop us. So we went inside and started to talk to her. Her name is Yvonne she is from Cameroon (west Africa) she is the 9th of 11 kids and the only member of her family here in America. She talked about how she had a desire to get back on the path. I was able to give Yvonne the book of Mormon you sent me with our family’s testimony.. More to come next week!

By Sunday we were very tired but we ended up breaking our fast with an Italian/ Koran meal. We had dinner with two families who both brought dinner. It was delicious.

Well.. sorry this week wasn't too eventful but the work is hastening! And we are excited to be apart of it! Unfortunately Sister Allen is being transferred tomorrow. Sadness. I will miss her a lot. I've learned so much from her and she has become one of my dearest friends on the mission. But I'm always up for a new adventure! Keep being awesome love you all! 

Love,

Sister Clark

Expires the month I come home!!!!

7.28.14 The Saving Cucumber and the Importance of Listening

Family!

How is everyone doing! I hope you all had a wonderful 24th of July! I was able to watch the movie 17 miracles yesterday. I am so grateful for our ancestor’s sacrifices, testimonies and examples. 

This week was a great week! We were able to really get the members involved and to see lots of miracles!

Funny stories/ Highlights

So yesterday after church we went to go see 'grandma' Sister Corigan. She is a recent convert and she LOVES the missionaries, she is also very determined to feed us till we are stuffed. I have experiences some very interesting meals with her and have tried lots of new things for example; Broccoli Robb or as my companion calls it the vegetable from Hell,  Onion Salad and so forth. But really she is great and such a sweet heart we love her a lot. So we were sitting with her after the prayer about to leave and then she says "oh! I just read something on Facebook that is suppose to help your memory.....but I can't remember what it was..." we all burst out laughing. Oh the people in Jersey are classic.

We had a lesson this week With Mary our investigator at a member’s house. When we pulled up our investigator got out of her car and expressed to us that she was having a bad day and she did not really want to be here (Jersey girls we tell you what’s up). Sister Allen and I looked at each other nervously because we also were about to teach her about the law of tithing tonight.

 As we walked inside our member sister Pollaro was so sweet and just talked with Mary. Although Mary wasn't really in the mood to talk she was kind and spoke to her anyways. Eventually the conversations turned awkward and then sister Pollaro realized that she had lost her cucumber she was holding in her hand for our salad. We went on a massive cucumber hunt; it turned out to break the ice. THUS THE SAVING CUCUMBER as we prepared to go share the lesson with her in the living room we found the cucumber on the living room table. We laughed for a couple of minutes and it set the perfect tone for our lesson. Mary is doing so good and is so excited to be baptized! She has seen a lot of trials but she is strong! 

We also were able to go and help with another stake primary activity this week. The kids are so cute. They all dressed up and acted out their favorite Book or Mormon missionary stories. 

We were able to also get on top of the Newark chapel after and just look at the jersey skyline. 

I love serving here in Jersey:) great memories are being made, and life long friends as well.

As I have been studying recently in the Book of Mormon my focus has been on how God speaks to us. It has widened my horizons to see that he speaks to us in so many different ways; through the spirit, through others, through prophets, scriptures, weather, constraint, commandments, parents, visions, dreams, angels.

As I was reading this morning I came to the realization that yes the Lord speaks to us in many different ways, but are we listening for it? Sometimes I think I run through life doing 'God's will' with horse blinders on, closing my eyes and plugging my ears and moving forward. And I wonder why he's not answering sometimes ha-ha.

 I've noticed that our Heavenly Father also tends to speak to us in ways that we will recognize it. Like for example. For me when it rains, I feel like it's God speaking to me and reminding me that he is there and that he loves me. I wonder how many blessings I have not counted or miracles I have not noticed because I was not looking for them, or my 'ears where not opened'. You defiantly find what you are looking for, if you are diligently seeking Him, with open heart and mind and 'real intent…. You will find him. 

Thanks for all you do family, thank you for the prayers. They are felt:) love you!

Love,
sister Clark