It's All Interesting!

Did I leave you hanging waiting to hear about transfers?

 

 

​I'm in the coolest trio ever with Hermana Hernandez and Hermana Ramírez! Yay! We're in Del Sol, the new ward that was formed when Del Valle split back in October while I was there. It's the Mission President's ward. There are a lot of mansions.

Hermana Hernandez has actually been sick this week and couldn't go out to work, so President authorized her to stay in a member's house with her during the day while Hermana Ramírez and I worked. It was interesting!

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

 

 

Arcoiris- rainbow. As in, "sometimes I draw rainbows in the sky in the middle of an empty lot...good thing my companion had her camera."

​Pintar- paint. As in, "We painted a room this week. It was pretty cool!"

Bienaventuranzas- beatitudes. As in, "The beatitudes can be found in Matthew 5 and 3 Nephi 12. They teach us that as we are humble, forgiving, and bear our burdens with patience, we are promised great rewards in Heaven. The peace we can feel from living a Christlike life is also a great reward."

Two stories.

One day we were looking for some former investigators and stopped in a park to ask a lady where a certain street was. She said (in English), "you HAVE to speak English!" I told her that I did and she said "what are you doing HERE?" I explained to her a bit about what we do as missionaries. She thought it was pretty cool. She told us that she'd grown up in the states and 4 years ago she got deported so she's waiting for permission to go back. She invited us to come by another day. When we went she was painting her bedroom, so we helped her and set an appointment to teach her something this week.

Another day we went to look for a part-member family and found the husband who is less-active. His non-member wife practically went running from the room. He explained to us that she really isn't interested right now, but that he felt like our visit was a sign that he needed to start going to church, reading the scriptures, and praying. He bore his testimony to us and committed to come back to church and set a good example for his family. It was a beautiful experience.

We're working hard to find people to teach because we don't have many investigators. But we're praying so that we and the members can work together to find the people who the Lord has prepared to hear the gospel now.

Have a great week, everyone! :)

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

Overcome Temptation

Hey!

This week was kind of crazy, but it was a good one.

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:
Migración- immigration. As in, "Since I hit my year mark here in Mexico, I went to the border this week to get fingerprinted and renew my temporary residence. Yay!"

Pantalones- pants. As in, "Due to the mosquitos that come during summertime, we Sisters are going to be using pants for a couple months on days that seem very full of mosquitos. We went to buy them this week and it was very odd."

Vencer tentación- overcome temptation. As in, "In this life we all experience temptations, but if we overcome them, we will receive eternal life."

The Elders here in the ward had a baptism on Saturday, but it almost didn't happen. There were a lot of obstacles (broken plumbing in the baptismal font, members who didn't show up for their assignments, relocation to another church building), and the investigator almost decided that it wasn't the right day. But in the end, a great convert here in the ward told him about all the things that happened to her the day that she got baptized and how she overcame them, and he decided to take the plunge. It was a beautiful experience.

I'll tell you a couple stories about cool lessons we had.

We went to look for a former investigator to see if she was interested in listening to us again.

She told us that she liked listening to the Sisters before and she liked what they taught, but she hadn't gone to church and she thought that was why they stopped visiting her. We explained to her how following through with the invitations we give her will help her come to know that our message is true and find greater peace and happiness in her life. We explained that we'd love to start visiting her again, but the only way she'd be able to learn the message well is if she reads the scriptures, prays to know if what we teach is true and goes to church. She committed to really investigate again.

We're teaching a part-member family that I met back in October when I was in Del Valle. The member is a convert who my old companion, Hermana Ferrell taught. His girlfriend and her sons are investigating. It's been tought because they live together and they aren't married, so she can't get baptized unless they get married or separated, and she's waiting for a divorce to final (this happens quite a bit here). We've been teaching them for a while and we thought that they weren't going to be able to get married until next year.

Yesterday we were talking about Christ's earthly ministry and we explained how He gave us the perfect example by being baptized. That's when they told us that they talked with their lawyer this week and the divorce will be official in August or September. So she and her sons will be able to get baptized much sooner than we thought! They're excited to get ready and get baptized!

Transfer calls were last night, and it was all kind of confusing...so I'll let you know next week what happened...I'm pretty sure the area we're in is getting closed though, so the other sisters in the ward will be taking over the people we were teaching and we're going to another ward.

I'm not sure why I got sent here to Frontera for a month (just like I'm still not sure why I was in Del Valle for a month last year), but I know that this is the Lord's work and he sends us where He needs us. If we follow His guidance, we can do His work in the perfect way.

I found out today that 3 of my great investigators in Casas Grandes set a baptismal date for August, and I have a promise from the Sisters there that they'll send me a photo. It made me so happy to hear that they made the desicion to be baptized, even though I won't be there to see it.

Here's a selfie because I know I don't send enough photos.

 

 

"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 10:39

Keep on keeping on, and have a great week, everyone!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

My Eyes are Blue

Hello, there!

This week was a bit crazy, but it was good.

Monday after writing we ate at Wendy's to celebrate the 4th of July.

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Cuetes- fireworks. As in, "the good thing about living in a second-story apartment near the border is that we got to see fireworks on the fourth of july!"

Ojos de color- colored eyes (eyes that aren't brown). As in, "After our district meeting, we determined that people with colored eyes see colors different than people with brown eyes, because all of the brown-eyed people thought that my eyes were gray and that another colored-eyed sister's red skirt was orange. It was a pretty heated debate."

Obra- work. As in, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Moses 1:39. Our work is the work of salvation!

Two stories.

Monday after our meeting we went to the appointment that we had, and the person we were looking for wasn't home. Her daughter came outside to tell us and we ended up talking with her for a while. We taught her a bit about the restoration of the gospel and how it blesses families, and she invited us to come back later in the week.

When we went back, a member went with us. She testified about how the gospel has blessed her family and how it helped her raise 5 kids as a single mom. This investigator happens to be a single mom of 4 young children, so it really meant something to her. She loved what we taught and said that she wants those blessings in her family. We're going to see her again this week.

Tuesday I did a companion exchange with my old companion, Hermana Nakandakare here in my area. Around 7:30 our last appointment cancelled on us, so we went looking for somebody else to teach before the day ended. We saw a lady pulling weeds on her sidewalk and offered her our help. People almost never let us help them, but she did! We helped her for a while and told her a bit about what we do as representatives of Jesus Christ, serving people and teaching His message. We set another appointment to come back and help her more and teach her a bit about our message.

I went to my first mission leadership council this week and I'm going to be helping the zone leaders in another zone present their zone meeting today, so it will be interesting.

I hope everyone has a lovely week!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

A Marvelous Work

What a week.

First,

 

 

​Happy Birthday to my awesome nephew, Liam! Love you, buddy!

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Aventuras- adventures. As in, "This week was full of adventures. I'll teach you what a few of them are called in Spanish."

Reunión de Liderazgo- Leadership meeting. As in, "I had my first leadership meeting as a Sister Training Leader on Tuesday. It was weird but it was ok. We're working hard to improve our work here in the mission."

Intercambios de compañeras- companion exchanges. As in, "I got right into the swing of my new assignment this week doing 2 companion exchanges with the Sisters in Pradera, the area where I started the mission about a year ago. I went there with one of them on Friday, and the members we saw remembered me because I sang. I'm glad I had some sort of impact on them even though I wasn't there very long."

Bienvenida al nuevo Presidente- Welcome to the new President. As in, "Friday morning bright and early we had a meeting to welcome our new mission president, President Owen. He and his wife are great people, and we're excited to work with them."

Funny story. 

Remember how when I got to the mission from the MTC, my flights were delayed and I got here pretty late? That day we didn't have a chance to go to the mission home and take pictures with President and Sister Derbez. So President Derbez called me on Wednesday with some assignments and I mentioned to him that we'd never taken a picture together this whole year. He said, "Oh, that's true!" He said we'd had to take one and photoshop a year off of me. So Thursday morning, his last day here, he picked up my companion and I at 8 am and we went with him to wash the car then went to his house. I got a picture with him and Sister Derbez, then he said, "Now you have to walk home because we have to go pick up the new president in El Paso." So we said goodbye and walked home.

We took the picture on his phone, so I don't have it, he does. The good thing is that we eventually took a picture together.

A story about proselyting.

Monday night we had a family home evening in a member's house with some investigators we're teaching. One of the members shared an awesome message about the importance of having Family Home Evening every week, and it was great. The members and the investigators have become great friends, and they enjoyed it a lot. We had to bow out early to get home on time, but it was a great experience for everyone.

I don't have time to tell more stories, but I want to share a scripture.

"Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."

Doctrine and Covenants 4:1-2

We're working hard here in the area and we're working hard to help the sisters who I'm working with in their areas. Hard work is what it's all about, and we keep going.

Have a great week everyone!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark