The last Lunes of 2014!

Happy New Year! It was so wonderful talking to you all on Christmas! What an awesome gift that was for me. You all looked great, and I loved seeing the pics afterward!! That's great that almost everyone is still there. I love that you did a Christmas show with the kids! That sounds great. Was little Nash the baby Jesus? :)

I was studying this week about the story of Elisha. I love the faith that he has, and I would love to have faith like him. We cannot fear, and we cannot be discouraged when things seem hard.
 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

We cannot fear when things seem hard or dim because when we are on the Lord's side, we are not alone. We are surrounded by chariots of fire, and the angels will come and lift us up. Heavenly Father blesses us with discouraging days, but discouragement is a tool of Satan. Satan uses that tool to make us feel down, but Heavenly Father blesses us with these days because He knows we don't need to feel down if we turn to Him. And that's what I've learned throughout my mission. Heavenly Father is always blessing us. It amazes me how much he blesses us. We are given a new year to change. We are given the chance to be someone different! We don't need to be the same person we were this year. And we shouldn't be. The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we progress and become more like Him. That's what's so amazing about the Plan of Salvation! We're always changing to become more like our Heavenly Father. I know it still feels like Y2K... But it's almost 2015! So make some goals, and go and be awesome! Love you all so much!

Love you,

Harmonica Clark:)

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!

Well, I cannot believe it's already here, but Merry Christmas ya filthy animal! I do hope you watch that movie this year just for me. But more than anything, I hope this Christmas is filled with Christ. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity again to just preach the gospel on Christmas day. I love this gospel, and I love the Lord. I was thinking the other day about what it would have been like if you hadn't been baptized when you were 18, or dad when he was 12. And I was thinking about how grateful I am that you were. Grateful for the missionaries that taught you both, and grateful for the friends that introduced the gospel to you. What an amazing plan our Heavenly Father has for us. It amazes me more and more every time I think about it. The choices you made changed generations and generations. :)

This week I have been studying 3 Nephi, and I read about when Christ came to the Americas, and welp it resulted in crazy dreams about collecting food storage, and the coming of Christ and living in caves. Haha it was really enjoyable. I love studying the Book of Mormon. Also, we ate with members last week on Sunday, and they gave us cow udders and tubes from somewhere inside the cow... Haha also really enjoyable. It's not too bad.. Just a really weird texture. But I'm good not eating it ever again:)

Well, the mission is just full of miracles. And sometimes it's hard, okay a lot of the time, but it's all worth it. This week I have been singing a song that I made up to the Hymn "Abide with me!" Haha it just talks about how with the Lords help, I can do hard things. It's the cheesiest thing ever, but I sing it anyway because no one can understand me. And it helps me to remember that I can do hard things when I am on the Lord's side! Being here on a mission is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. But I wouldn't change anything about my mission. I wouldn't change the hard days, the beautiful ones. I would leave it all the same because it has forever changed my life. Forever and forever and forever. And I am so grateful for that. I am grateful we have a loving Heavenly Father who sent us to earth to learn, to progress, to become like His Son Jesus Christ. And I am grateful He sent His Son Jesus Christ, and that Christ wanted to atone for us. He wanted to because He loves us. Our eldest Brother loves us more than we can imagine. The God of this world was born in a manger, and lived a perfectly sinless life. He was baptized to complete with all righteousness and to be an example for us. And He bled and suffered and was resurrected as a gift for us. The only holy and perfect gift. And becuase of His gift, we don't need to suffer the way He did. We aren't alone, and we aren't abandoned here on earth. And thanks to him, we can return to live with our Heavenly Father in resurrected and perfect bodies. That is the perfect gift. And this Christmas season, we can share with others our knowledge of this gift and change lives for the eternities. Can't wait to skype in a few days:) I love you all so much!

Love you more and more each day,
Hermana Clark

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....Happy birthday Jenae!!!!!!

It has been an absolutely beautiful, and life changing week. Miracles right and left, I'm trying to remember them all. Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles. I love the scripture in Mormon 9:19 that says, "And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles." And that's the truth. He is a God of miracles and tender mercies. This week we had the opportunity to have interviews with President Willard. What a wonderful experience that was! We started with a prayer as always, and I offered it. I'm so awkward with praying in english now so I said it in spanish. Haha. And he started out talking about my letter I wrote him last Monday. He said, "I have been thinking a lot all week about one line you said to me in your letter." And I thought... oh no what did I say?? Haha and he said "when you told me you were just 'grateful to be Hermana Clark.' I love that! I am grateful you are Hermana Clark as well. I just want to be Hermana Clark!" haha :) And the whole interview was just really wonderful. Exactly what I needed. Last week in his weekly email, President talked about the story in Mark 8 about the blind man. In the story, Christ leads the blind man out of the city, and then spits in his eyes. Christ spits in the blind man's eyes. Why? And then the blind man isn't fully healed. It says that he sees men as if they were trees. And then after all of that he is healed. Can you imagine how humiliating it would be to have someone spit in your eyes? The blind man had to be humbled in order to receive the miracle. And even after he was humbled, he still didn't quite believe, and when he finally did believe, he was fully healed and could see perfectly. And the fact that Christ lead the blind man out of the city to perform the miracle. This blind man who had already been ridiculed and tormented all of his life. Christ spitting in his eyes was not to show a crowd that it was okay for them to do it too. He did it privately. And that's what Heavenly Father does. He corrects us because He loves us. If He didn't do it, it would be because He doesn't love us. But God does love us, therefore He corrects us. He spits in our eyes to make us humble. We receive trials to be humbled and then while we are humble, we can finally see clearly. And we recognize the miracles that God was giving us all along.

This week Nelson got baptized! A couple of weeks ago he broke our heart and told us he didn't want any of it. So we didn't visit him for about a week. Then on Thursday, we called to teach him one more time. After the lesson about the Sacrament, I asked if he had any questions. And then he asked us if he could be baptized this Saturday! Shocked, we said of course! He told us that in this time when he was not meeting with us he felt so sad. He started reading his Book of Mormon, and praying, and that was when he realized he needed to meet with us again. And then we called him! Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. He has a plan for us! He loves us! Also, Nelson wore church shoes to church yesterday! Not just his combat boots, and long hair! But now he's wearing church shoes! Little by little Heavenly Father changes our lives. :)

Thank you for your emails, I love you all! Have a wonderfully, amazing, life changing week!

Love a million billion Bolivian Flags,
Hermana Clark:)

Transfers?

Not yet! I still have the wonderful opportunity to be in the ward for at least 6 more weeks! My comp and I stayed the same, but our zone changed a bit. Lots of sisters finished their missions this past transfer, and a few will be finishing in a couple of weeks to make it back in time for school. It feels so weird to think these sisters are going home! The time is going by so fast. But I am loving every minute of it. I love how much I am changing as a person, and I love just having this chance to serve our Lord. I feel like the way I think is different as well. When times are hard I have found myself thinking, okay, what does Heavenly Father want me to learn from this? I know they always say that we should think like that... but just a little secret, I don't think I ever really did before, until now!:) It's hard to think that way when times are hard. But something I've learned is that when times are hard, it will eventually get better. And that's the secret. It gets better. Even when this life is challenging, it gets better. It may not be in this life, but Heavenly Father will reward us for our efforts. He sees the small acts we do, and he takes our small efforts and makes it into something perfect. President Kim B. Clark (President of BYU-I woot woot!) said, “When we act in faith in [Jesus] to do His work, He goes with us to serve others and blesses us to say just what they need to hear.” He also taught that “what we actually say and actually do may feel a little awkward or not very polished. … But the Savior takes our words and our actions and He carries them through His spirit unto the hearts of the people. He takes our sincere but imperfect effort and turns it into something that is just right, indeed, into something that is perfect.” And that's the truth. I know it is because I have seen it first hand as I testify of these things and maybe my Spanish isn't the best, but the gospel truths touch people. Heavenly Father takes our efforts and actions and testifies of it to the hearts of the people. And that's all He asks us to do really. Just give a little effort. Have faith in Him! He will help us! "It's His work, let Him do some of it!" :)

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas Devotional yesterday! We didn't get to go, but I'm sure it was awesome! I can't believe it was your last fast Sunday with the late time! I feel like you were just telling me that you guys were starting church so late. And to think that was at the beginning of the year. Crazy. That's awesome the Boaz twins are home! I can't believe that either! What is going on here. And Nathan and Davin get home soon too! And then I'll be right after them... My date to come home is for April 9. Happy Birthday to me! Haha. But I'm not sure if we'll be traveling that day, or the next. I haven't heard yet, but don't worry mom I'll keep you posted. And with this time passing so fast, it'll be Christmas soon! We have been sharing with everyone the video that the Church put out about Christ. I love it! He is the Gift! We have cards that we've been handing out that say that on it, and it's been amazing to help people realize the true meaning of Christmas, and the real reason why we celebrate it. :) The Christmas customs here are pretty much the same! The banks have Christmas trees, which are really pretty! And lots of people put little trees in their houses. There are some houses with Christmas lights, but not many. Maybe closer to Christmas there will be more.. I'm not sure. But they don't bake cookies or decorate gingerbread houses. But as a zone we're going to go caroling! We did that last year, and it was really special. I was trying to help my ward realize their potential with a ward Christmas party. Haha I was giving them ideas of what we have done in our wards in the past... I think the primary will end up doing a nativity scene! I hope so!

Also, have you seen the front page of the Ensign for the General Conference issue? It's my favorite thing ever. I loved that they had native speakers speak in their native tongue at General Conference. And you can see the lady's face, she's so surprised because she can understand the speaker without the translator!!! Love it. Also, we changed houses on Saturday! That was fun carrying everything up four flights of stairs! But it was worth it. It's a beautiful house. We live with other sisters now too, so that's been fun. Yorka is doing really great as well. She's awesome. She is in Santa Cruz right now for the Holidays though, but we're going to call her this week. We also taught Relief Society and the class for the single adults yesterday! That went really well. We talked about how we can all be member missionaries, and the things we can do to help serve the Lord. I love you all so much! Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. Keep being awesome! Keep praying for those missionary opportunities and then go out and search for people! :) Heavenly Father will bless you with miracles.

Love you a million billion candy canes!
Hermana Clark

Happy December!

Hi my wonderful family!

I hope it's been a wonderful week! I cannot believe that November is already over. Where has this year gone? I haven't even felt it at all.. That sounds fun you got to be together in Utah, and eat at Chuck-A-Rama..... haha. No cleanup! That's great! So the baptism went really well on Saturday! Just Yorka was baptized. Nelson got cold feet and chose another date. I'm sure he'll do it sometime.. Just needs a little time. But the baptism was perfect. We went to fill up the font and we had to go outside to find the plug and we accidentally opened up a thing in the ground and let me tell ya. I have never seen so many cockroaches in my entire life. It was like cockroach city. Like in Ratatouille (not sure how that's spelled) when all the rats come out of the poor woman's house, yeah that's how I felt but with cockroaches. But we cleaned the church and filled the font, and everything was perfect! Yorka gave a beautiful testimony at the end, and she just cried and cried she was so happy. I am so grateful that I had the chance to be a part of that experience and that I had the chance to teach her. We also had a lot of new investigators this week, and we have transfers this week. I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone. Okay suddenly I am out of time for the internet! Ah! Sorry this letter isn't very long or very exciting. But I love you all so much. Thanks for your love and support! We'll see where I am next time we talk! :)

Love you to the moon and back!
Hermana Clark

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