Chapulinas y Papas Locas

Hey everyone!

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Chapulín-cricket/grasshopper. As in,

 

​"I ate a cricket last Monday in a fair that came from Oaxaca! Then we convinced several missionaries in our zone to try it. It was funny."

Papas Locas- crazy potatoes. As in,

 

​"Hermana Blackham reached her halfway mark last Monday and the 4 of us Sisters from the Pueblo celebrated. I ate papas locas. They put valentina sauce, lime, soy sauce, chamoy, and possibly some other stuff on potato chips. Mm Mm Good."

Felicidad- happiness. As in, "Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness." Alma 41:10

This week we worked with the members, and it was great.

One day we took a member to a lesson and when we got there we found out that she and the investigator already knew each other. They worked together for years and they're good friends. They were chatting the whole time we were trying to teach a lesson and the member ended up inviting the investigator to the Relief Society activity the next day. She went! We saw her there in the church. It was awesome!

One day a lesson cancelled on us so we looked for a few backup plans. Then we had the idea to look for some members who we haven't been able to visit in a while. They're almost never home at that time of day, but we went and they were home. When we walked in, they said, "you heard about what happened, right?"

We had not heard anything.

They told us about the crazy things that had happened to them that week and how their experiences made them realize that they need to change the way they're living the gospel and improve.

Only the Spirit could have guided us to find them right then, because I never would have thought to go look or them.

A couple weeks ago a member told us about a friend of his who had moved to our area. He's a member, but his new wife isn't. We finally found them and got to know them yesterday, and it was great. He wants to start coming to church and participating in the ward here, and she wants to learn more about the gospel and come to church with him. It was great to find them.

We had a good week, and we're looking forward to another great one.

I hope you all have a great one too!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

He Answers Our Prayers

¡Hola, hola!

I hope everyone's week was lovely.

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Bloqueador- sunscreen. As in, "Elder, go buy some sunscreen or you're going to die." Maybe my zone leader is a bit dramatic, but it was funny.

Paraguas- umbrella. As in, "If I bring my umbrella, it won't rain. If I leave my umbrella it will rain." I think that's called Murphy's Law.

Sabiduría- wisdom. As in, "And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness."

So two weeks ago, a few members from Colonia Juarez came with us to a few lessons, then one of them wanted ice cream so she took us to the ice cream shop to buy us water. While we were there she started telling the owner all about what missionaries do, and she set an appointment for us to visit him. So she came with us this past week to teach him a bit about the Book of Mormon. At first he wasn't super interested, but when we explained that the Book of Mormon helps us know why we're here on Earth and what we need to do here, he got a little more interested. We're going to go back to see him this week.

We also had a cool lesson with an investigator who we've been teaching for a while and she's never gone to church. We taught her about baptism and she understood that it is esencial. So my companion invited her to be baptized (first baptismal invitation. Woohoo!). She said that not right now, but someday. When we asked what keeps her from getting baptized if she knows that it's important, she told us that her family wouldn't support her in the decision, which is why she hasn't told them that she's listening to us. We invited her to pray about her decision to be baptized and ask her Heavenly Father for help to explain to her family and ask for their support. She was quiet for a minute (she's never quiet), then she started crying and told us a lot more about her struggles. It was so cool to see my companion listen then testify of the power of the atonement and eternal families. 

The best thing was that she finally came to church yesterday!

One last story.

We went to look for an investigator one day and found her daughter there house-sitting because her mom was out of town. She told us that her mom went to visit her grandpa because he had a problem in a surgery. She was busy with visitors, but asked us to come back later to say a prayer with her.

When we went back, we told her that instead of just saying a prayer, we wanted to teach her how. So we explained that prayer is a direct communication between us and our Heavenly Father. We taught her how and invited her to say the closing prayer. She said a sweet and sincere prayer and said, "So are you going to come again tomorrow?" Then she realized that she might be going out of town too, so we put an appointment to see her and her mom this week.

Our Heavenly Father loves us and hears our prayers.

Have faith and stay strong.

Have an awesome week!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

The Gospel Blesses Families

Hey there! :)

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Día de la madre- Mother's Day. As in, "Happy Mother's Day to my fabulous Mom and all the other awesome Moms I know! I had a great time talking to my Mom (and the rest of my family) yesterday. I hope the other missionary moms enjoyed it too :)"

Colonia- colony. As in, "Here in Chihuahua, there a several Mormon Colonies. Many years ago, the Prophet sent members from Utah to colonize certain sites here in Chihuahua, but since then most of them are pretty empty. The two Mormon colonies that are still thriving are Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan. On Saturday, we went to Colonia Juarez to help the ward update their membership records. It's a cool place!"

Templo- Temple. As in, "The temple is the House of the Lord. In the temple, we learn about God's Plan of Happiness and we make covenants with God to keep His commandments. He promises us eternal life if we follow through. We didn't get to go inside on Saturday, but we did get some pictures in front of the smallest temple in the world."

 

 

​The Sisters of the Colonia Juarez Zone

​Hermana Ramirez and Me.

​

Aside from that super cool Saturday in Colonia Juarez, we had some good lessons. I'll tell you about one.

A missionary from the ward came home a couple weeks ago and had a big homecoming party. A few members called us afterward to tell us about a woman they had met there who had a lot of questions about the Gospel. So we went to meet her with the returned missionary, and she's super cool. She told us that she wants to improve her relationship with her daughters, and she wants to know what is the right way to get baptized. So we told that our message will help her improve her family relationships and come to know for herself what is the right way to be baptized.

Have a great week everyone!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

Bienveindias!

Hola, hola!

I hope everyone's week was awesome.

First,

 

 

Happy Birthday to my sweet neice Ruby! :)

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Felicidades- Congrats! As in, "Congrats to my sister, Michelle, and my Brother-in-law, Logan, who had their first baby this week!

Bienvenido/bienvenida- Welcome! As in, 

 

​A warm welcome to the world to my new niece, Audrey Jo! I'm excited to meet you in a little while! :) 

(You may have noticed that she has the best middle name ever.)

Also, welcome to my new companion, Hermana Ramirez!

 

 

​She's from Mexico (the state) and she got to the mission on Tuesday. We've had a good time this week getting to know each other as she gets to know the area.

Pueblo- small town or "people." As in, "Wherefore, I give unto you a commandment that ye go among this people, and say unto them, like unto mine apostle of old, whose name was Peter:

Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus, who was on the earth, and is to come, the beginning and the end;

Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, according to the holy commandment, for the remission of sins;

And whoso doeth this shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of the hands of the elders of the church." Doctrine and Covenants 49:11-14

We love this scripture because it's about our area. In Spanish, where it says "people," it says "Pueblo." Since our area is the Pueblo, it works really well for us. :)

Just one story today.

One day an appointment cancelled on us, so we started looking for someone else to visit. We passed by a lady who was in her yard painting a ginormous tire. So we asked what she was doing and she invited us to come see. She was painting a tractor tire to use as a flower bed. It looked pretty sweet. We ended up talking to her for a while and got to know each other. She invited us to come by another day and share our message with her.

It all started with a tractor tire.

Gotta go...It was a fast email this week.

Have a great week, everyone!!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark