Week #71

Hi mom!

That would be awesome to fly into Provo and drive back with Robert! And it would be nice to have a car. I could drive back with him too. I really need to talk to a counselor about what I need to do to change my major and if I have to retake any classes. Also I need to find an apartment. So I'm all for that I'll fly to Provo and drive with Robert and then drive back to Utah and fly home? It would be nice to do some shopping THERE too where tax is cheap and they have more stores haha. 

Well I LOVE this area. I'm in Abaetetuba (Uh-by-tuh-too-buh). It's huge. I thought Oriximiná was big but our area is seriously so big. We eat açai everyday for lunch which is awesome. I love açai. I'm trying to find someone who could make the pulp for me so that I can bring it back home. We'll see. It's on the river but we don't ever see it. And we don't have to get on a boat which is awesome. It's a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from Belém. So I'm still pretty far out there. We're opening the area so we basically have no idea where we're going or what we're doing which is frustrating and fun at the same time. We get lost a lot but at least we get to see all the parts of our area. My companion is Sister Fontineles and she is great. She's not shy about anything and loves to talk to people so that's awesome. It's a branch here, not a ward. But the active members are super helpful. I'm still playing piano every Sunday. I was sad to leave Oriximiná but also super excited because I had been there for so long and I wanted to know another area before my mission ended. 

So let me tell you about this week and the trip. 

Monday was p-day so we basically did nothing and knew about the transfer at 5. So we had to run to the lancha and buy a ticket and get some other things situated so we only had time for one lesson Monday. Tuesday morning at 8 I got on the lancha to Santarém. After about an hour the boat hit something in the middle of the river and broke. Yes, broke. We were going so slowly and I thought we were going to sink! After 4 hours we pulled over and switched boats. The other one was smaller, older, and not as comfortable and every wave we hit we were bouncing! It was like the trip from you know where. I spent the rest of Tuesday in Santarém with the sisters there and Wednesday morning we got on the plane to Belém. I met the sisters there and we got on a bus at 3 and arrived at 5:30. After, we had to go to the church for "family night" that's meant for members to get to know our investigators. So I had basically 3 days not doing missionary work. Thursday we were so lost we just made contacts and taught one lesson. Friday we had the mission tour in Belém so we had to go back there and we didn't get home until 6:30. So this week we had 3 days of actual missionary work. This week basically just didn't even exist. But the mission tour was awesome. I was able to see almost everybody from my district and the MTC and I FINALLY saw Sister Sender! My comp from the MTC. During the interval we basically pushed everybody out of the way and hugged. And she started crying haha. I loved being her comp in the MTC and I could not wait to be able to talk to her again! Except she's going home early to prepare for school so we won't even be going home the same time. Elder Fernandes of the Seventy was there for our mission tour and it seriously was just AWESOME. I learned so much and it got me pumped to finish my last weeks strong. Because right now I just feel so tired but I want to work as hard as I have throughout my whole mission so Friday was exactly what I needed. 

Saturday and Sunday we basically just walked around clueless looking for addresses of former investigators and contacting people on the streets. Sister Fontineles has problems with her knees so she can't walk too much. Yesterday we had to go home early because the pain was so bad. We've met some really great people here so far and Sister Fontineles is all about teaching by the spirit which basically nobody does here in this mission. It's more like let's teach the lessons and get it over with and baptize. But she actually likes to teach people. So we're super excited about this transfer and we get along really well. She reminds me a lot of Tessa Schrader. 

So that was basically our week. I'm really excited about this area and our sink has a FILTER so we don't have to buy mineral water. Also today I'm sick haha. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I get home and I have to re accustom to the food and the water and the cold and lots of things. 

I'm hoping this week will be a lot better and we can actually do some missionary work! 

Love you

Sister Clark