We Have to Find Someone

Hello!

Hope everyone had a beautiful Easter!

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Viento/aire- wind. As in, "It has been SUPER windy this week. For months everyone has been telling me that Holy Week is always windy. Now I understand.

Polvadera- sandstorm. As in, "Sometime the crazy wind causes sandstorms. They look like little tornados that suddenly erupt from the ground and make their way down the street. Sometimes the sand hits your legs and hurts."

Ninja- ninja. As in, "We´ve become ninjas, quickly making a 180 has soon as we see a sandstorm coming toward us so that the sand doesn´t get in our eyes."

Revelación- revelation. As in, "we can all receive personal revelation from God by praying and listening to the Holy Ghost. We can´t receive revelation for other people. Prophets, however, receive revelation from God for the whole world. A prophet of God is going to speak to us this weekend, and you can see it!"

 

 

​Check out General Conference at LDS.org in the following schedule (Mountain Time)

Saturday Morning Session: 10am-12pm

Saturday Afternoon Session: 2pm-4pm

Priesthood Session (for men): 6pm-8pm

Sunday Morning Session: 10am-12pm

Sunday Afternoon Session: 2pm-4pm

God´s servants are going to tell us what He wants of us and how we can more fully receive the blessings He wants to give us. Watch it!!

This Tuesday we had a cool experience.

We actually had a hard day. We had a lot of appointments, and nobody was home most of the day. We walked around in sandstorms with a great member who accompanied us all day. around 6 we finally found someone to visit and had a short lesson. We dropped the member off in her house and started walking in the direction of our house. It was 7:30and we had no idea what to do. We hadn´t had much success and we were a bit discouraged. But we said, "It´s 7:30and we haven´t found anyone. We have to find someone."

I randomly thought of someone who I street contacted about 6 months ago and we started walking toward his house. We never got to his house because after walking about a block we ran into someone who we had met several weeks ago but couldn´t find because she didn´t have a phone and she was never home. We set an appointment with her and she gave us her new phone number!

Then we kept walking toward the house we were going to, but we passed a house where we´d been knocking looking for a referral and they hadn´t ever been home. The lights were on. So we knocked on their door and they let us in happily. We found out that the Sisters were visiting them last year, but when they got transferred the new Sisters had never found them (that would be Hermana Hernandez and I when we showed up to find an area book without addresses). She told us that she had been hopinmg we´d find her and start visiting her again. She went out of town after that, but we´ll visit her again in this week!

Guess what else, she make cheese. It´s even better than the other cheese we found. She gave us half of the brick of cheese from her fridge. I love her.

This week was a bit tough because pretty much everyone went out of town for the Holy Week break that thay had from school and work. We walked a lot. It was alright though, we just smiled and kept walking. We´re looking forward to this week to keep walking and keep working.

I want to finish with onelast Easter thought before moving on with the rest of Spring.

"And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.

But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." Mosiah 16:7-9

There is a resurrection. We have light in this dark world. We have direction in our lives. Christ lived, died, and lived again for each of us.

Follow Him!

Have a great week :)

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

#Hallelujah

Hello!

First off, 

 

 

 

 

​Happy Birthday to two of my fabulous sisters, Amelia and Lizzie! Love you two :)

Were you all waiting on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what happened with transfers?

 

I'm still in the Pueblo! Yay! I just got a super cool new companion! Her name is Hermana Juarez, she's from Guadalajara, and we laugh a lot. We've been having a great time looking for more people who want to hear our message and change their lives. We got creative this week too.

One day when we finished a lesson, the woman we were teaching offered us some requesón (I don't know what it's called in English. It's a dairy product.) and we asked her where she'd bought it. She told us that she buys it from a lady who lives down the street and that she also makes good cheese.

We've been looking for where we can find good cheese.

So we decided to go meet her to see if she wanted to hear our message and sell us cheese. We found her and her sister, who also makes cheese, and they want us to visit them! They also sold us really good cheese!

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Gallinas- hens. As in, "One of our investigators has hens in her backyard. My companion helped her to collect the eggs from the chicken coop."

Alabar- to praise. As in, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord." Psalm 135:1

Aleluya- Hallelujah. As in, "Hallelujah means 'Praise ye the Lord.' The church released a new video las week called Hallelujah that talks about what the Resurrection, which we celebrate this Easter season, means for us. Watch it!! FollowHim.mormon.org"

This week something cool happened! There's this couple that has gone to church a lot but they haven't been able to get baptized because they live together and aren't married. She's been waiting for her divorce sentence to arrive for two years. Last week they showed up in church and told us it would be getting here this week. And it did! So we've started teaching them again and we're hoping for them to get baptized in April! They were so excited. They said it was an answer to their prayers.

We also visited the cool family that loves the Bible a couple times this week (they're also the family with the chickens). We told them about General Conference that's coming up, and they're way excited to hear from the prophets of God. We also taught them about tithing, and they said, "We know that tithing is a commandment that brings blessings. We've been paying tithing in another church, but when we're baptized we'll start paying it here."

Wow. We should all have faith to keep the commandments.

This week we've been talking a lot about Easter and Holy Week. We've been studying and teaching a lot about the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Mosiah 14:3-5/Isaiah 53:3-5

I am so grateful that My Savior suffered and paid for my sins and pains. I know that He knows me. I know that He knows each one of us personally. He paid the price for our sins so that we could become better people and prepare ourselves to live with Him one day. He paid the price to conquer death so that we could all one day conquer death and see our loved ones again.

Watch the video and think about what the Savior's sacrifice means for you. If you don't know much about it and want to learn more, ask the missionaries. It's the greatest message you'll ever hear! And if you've heard it, share it!

In Jesus Christ I have found a new life. And I am so blessed to be here seeing others find a new life in Him as well.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:22

Hallelujah!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

When Will There Be Another Baptismal Service?

Hola hola!

This week the weather went kind of crazy for a few days, but then it got warm again. So we're feeling good here. :)

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Mayonesa- Mayonnaise. As in, "Last Monday we were going to buy many very healthy foods to make lots of salads. As we were looking for mayonnaise to mix with our tuna, we spotted Chipotle mayonnaise. It's our new favorite creation and we ate half of the jar this week."

 

 

​Paleta- lolipop/ sucker. As in, "I ate a sucker before taking this picture, which is why my tongue is so red."

Reírse- To laugh. As in, "This week when we were on exchanges, Hermana Hale and I started walking to a house far away. It started to hail. Luckily we had umbrellas and the hail was small. Hermana Hale said, 'It's times like these when all you can do is laugh.' It's very true."

Hijo de Dios- Child of God. As in, "We are all children of God. He is our Father and He loves us! He wants to guide us. We just need to seek Him out through prayer, church attendance, and scripture study in order to understand what we should do in this life."

So this week we've been working a lot on how we street contact people. We realized that we're super awkward about it sometimes, so we deccided to fox that. One day we saw a lady walking down the street in the same direction as us so we started talking to her. We chatted with her for several minutes just getting to know her then I showed her a card I have that has some questions on it. They're called the questions of the soul. I asked if she'd ever asked herself one of them and she pointed to one that says, "How can I find peace and happiness?" I explained to her that we have a book called the Book of Mormon that has the answer. I started to say that we'd like to come to her house to answer her question and she cut me off saying, "you can come to my house Wednesday at 6. I'll be there." She was super excited to find an answer, and we're excited to help her find it!

We also had another cool experience with the Book of Mormon. The cool family who loves the Bible has been trying to decide if they should get baptize. On Tuesday Hermana Hale came with me on exchanges to teach them. She asked the mom how she feels about all of what we're teaching her and she expressed a few doubts then said, "but I love reading the Book of Mormon. I always feel really happy when I read it."

If we remember Galatians 5:22-23 which was in my email last week, one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy.

Hermana Hale explained to her that the happiness she feels when she reads is one way that the Spirit speaks to us. We invited her to keep reading and praying.

We saw them again later in the week and taught them about the Word of Wisdom. After teaching that principle they asked a few questions they still had about baptism, then they asked when there was going to be a baptismal service! We invited them to set a date in a few weeks and they accepted! It was the best!

I'll finish with a scripture.

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." 2 Nephi 28:30

If we put forth the effort to learn about the Gospel and live it, The Lord will give us knowledge little by little. As we are constant and faithful, before we know it we'll have a strong testimony and appreciation of the Gospel. We just need to be careful not to slack off saying that we understand enough. There's always more to learn, and the Lord will help us learn it.

Transfers are tomorrow, and my companion and I won't be together anymore, so....you'll have to wait until next week to see what happens! But It was a great week with Hermana Blackham.

 

​Have a great week! :)
​

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

Fruits

Hey there!

Once upon a time, my trainer told me that I was going to inherit a few characteristics from her such as repeating areas and having a lot of special transfers.

Well, I got a new companion on Saturday in a special transfer!

 

 

​This is Hermana Blackham, and she's super cool! We've had a fun two days together! She's from Arizona, she got into the mission field right when I finished my training, and we have a hard time speaking English. It's been great.

Funny story. Yesterday we were trying to remember what it's called when you use an exclamation point in math. After a short conversation about it I was still thinking math when she went back to planning what we should buy for groceries. She said, "Cereal?" And I said, "I don't think it's serial, but I think it ends in -ial." She looked and me and said, "No, food." And we both just about died laughing.

Oh, English.

English Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Cereal- a breakfast food commonly eaten by missionaries. Some Elders I know eat about 3 boxes of cereal a week. That's ridiculous.

Serial- a mathematical term that refers to a number used as a label. Not what it's called when you use an exclamation point in math.

Factorial- when you put an exclamation point after a number and you multiply it by each number in a descending series. Does my English make sense? Example: 5!= 5x4x3x2x1

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark (since I've now done my English practice for the week...):

Fruta- fruit. As in, “Apples are fruit. They are good for us.” Literal fruit.

Fruto- fruit. As in, " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 Figurative fruit.

This week our recent converts who got baptized in January came with us to a lesson with the awesome family who loves the Bible. This family is progressing well in learning the doctrine, but they're having a hard time coming to church and committing to baptism. Our recent converts came with us and it was the coolest lesson. They testified about how they could recognize the Spirit when it answered their prayers about whether Joseph Smith was a prophet and whether the Book of Mormon was true. They also bore testimony of how their family has changed for the better as they've faithfully attended church. The fruits of their choices are apparent in the blessings their family has received, and the family committed to pray and ask if Joseph Smith was a prophet.

We also had a lesson with one investigator who has lived in Utah before. We were teaching about prophets and she said, "isn't there also a prophet nowadays?" We taught a bit about the modern prophet and she was super excited about it. Then she asked us about the temple that's about 20 minutes from here in Colonia Juarez. She asked if it's like the temple in Provo where not everyone can enter. We explained that everyone can enter as soon as they are ready to make sacred covenants with God that they will keep His commandments. We asked if she'd like to prepare herself to enter in the temple in a little more than a year and she said, "Yes, I just need to come to church everySunday and get baptized first, right?"

We explained a little more of the process of preparing for baptism, and she said that she definitely wants to start keeping the commandments and prepare to be baptized and enter the temple one day.

I just want to finish with a scripture that I love and have come to love more and more as I've witnessed it's truth up close over the course of my mission.

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." Mosiah 2:41

Keep the commandments, hold out faithful to the end. It's worth it, it brings eternal happiness.

Thank you for your support and prayers! Have a great week!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

I glory in Truth

Hey there! Happy Leap Year!

This week was pretty cool. It was a bit crazy because we did companion exchanges twice, but it was good and we learned a lot.

 

 

​Hermana Hale and I also made a pretty sweet Tajin platter for dinner, so that was good.

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Plazear- to sit in the plaza. As in, "(accusatory tone) Hermana, we saw what you were doing on Wednesday. Sitting in the plaza!" It-s actually not a word, some of my investigators made it up. All these companion exchanges require a lot of bus travel, so we definitely did some plaza sitting waiting for the bus this week. They were super excited to accuse me.

Dominguear- to Sunday. As in, "Oh, we've just been Sunday-ing all day." That verb is just as incorrect in Spanish as it is in English, and it made me laugh.

Santificar- Sanctify. As in, "The Lord has commanded us to sanctify the Sabbath Day. This means that we dedicate Sundays to the Lord by going to church, partaking of the Sacrament, and dedicating the rest of the day to appropriate family and service activities that glorify God."

So I had a hard time choosing which stories to tell this week, but here are a few.

You may remember several weeks ago when I told you about an investigator who loves coffee and was not willing to give it up. Well we've taught her for a while now, and she's really been growing a testimony of the Gospel. Last week we felt like it was time to teach her the Word of Wisdom. We taught her and her daughter everything about the Word of Wisdom and asked them what they thought. She seriously loved it and had no problem quitting coffee.

Miracles happen when we grow a testimony.

Remember that awesome family that loves the Bible? We saw them twice this week. They hadn't come to church last Sunday and we went to our lesson with them ready to resolve doubts and struggles related to church attendance. We asked them how they were feeling, and they started to tell us about other problems they've been having, completely unrelated to what we had thought. We started to teach them about faith and the lesson moved very naturally and inspiredly to fasting. We talked about Esther, in the Old Testament, who showed great faith by fasting, and we invited them to fast. Next Sunday is Fast Sunday, so we're hoping they'll join us.

The second time we visited them we talked about repentance and baptism. We invited them to get baptized, and after a pause their 14-year-old daughter said, "I will!" Her parents, however, were a bit apprehensive because they've been taught not to be baptized more than once. 

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

Ephesians 4:4-6

We invited them to pray and ask God if this baptism to which we have invited them, baptism by immersion by someone who holds the proper priesthood authority, is the baptism which the scripture talks about. We'll see them again this week.

We're teaching one family who we couldn't find for about a week, but we visited them this week. We invited them to come to our stake conference yesterday and they didn't. We went to visit them in the afternoon and only the wife was there because her husband was working. We taught her about the Sabbath Day. We read Mosiah 13:16-19

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;

But the seventh day, the sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Her reaction was fantastic. She made this face, then looked at us and said "I didn't know that God made the world in 6 days and rested the 7th day. This is important. Sunday is a day of rest! I'm going to highlight this and show it to my husband when he gets home! We have to do this!" She decided then and there to come to church next Sunday and start keeping this commandment.

The principle of obedience is pretty simple. God gives us commandments. When we obey, we receive blessings. When we disobey, we receive other consequences.

I just want to finish with a scripture that I read this morning in my personal study.

"I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." 2 Nephi 33:6

The truth is clear. The truth is Christ. Find Him and follow Him. It's worth it.

Have a great week!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark