Week #69

Okay here's my week, it was full but went by so fast. Seriously, I'll say this again, I can't believe it's already p-day. 

This is the last week of the transfer. So Saturday or Sunday we'll know who's staying and going. Sister Oliveira has to leave on the lancha Sunday afternoon because her flight to Belem on Monday is at 5 am because her mission is over. So we're thinking that whoever is getting transferred will have to travel with her. We'll see. They don't really think a lot about transportation when they're doing transfers. If you remember what I told you about last transfer. It was a mess. So hopefully it's a little more organized. 

Some recent converts FINALLY had their baby! He's so cute and has so much hair. Unfortunately, they still haven't recieved any visits from the members and they're super poor and in need of food. There's a lot of poverty here in the state of Pará. 

We were so determined to find new people to teach this week since we had 2 weeks in a row that nobody came to church. We were contacting people like crazy on the streets and found 13 new investigators. One already says she has an answer that this is the right path to follow. She just has to get married. EVERYBODY needs to get married here. It's crazy how many people are together for years and years and years and have like 20 kids and never got married. 

We made a contact with this guy named Donni who is super smart. He basically taught us the restoration it was awesome and he was super excited to pray about everything we talked about. Only problem is that he travels every weekend so he wasn't able to go to church. But he is super prepared we just have to really focus on him. We also ran into a former investigator of mine that moved to the other side of the city so we couldn't teach her anymore. She was living with her boyfriend when we were teaching her and they had just had a baby. Now the baby is 6 months old and she broke up with her boyfriend and lives with her parents. Also turns out that her sister is a member. She is awesome and remembers everything the missionaries taught her. Which is awesome. 

Wednesday we met a ton of very interesting people. We taught a member's neighbor and turns out she killed someone..... so that was awkward. She wasn't interested in us coming back anyway.

Saturday we were fasting. Which was just a terrible idea because we ended up walking to basically outside of the city. I can't upload pictures today but I'll send some next week. We were contacting a referral and she lives super far. I think it was more than 30 minutes walking and we walked out of the city. We finally found her house and the member was there, which was awesome and they took us to go see a gadapé (not sure if that's spelled right). It's a little natural pool where a ton of people go swimming. It was super cool and we put our feet in the water. After we taught the member's mom and a girl living with her and the girl was super attentive. She already went to conference and was super gung-ho about going to church the next day and baptism. The only thing is traveling to teach her. But she was at church and the members will pick her up every Sunday. So at the end of the lesson these big thick storm clouds start to role in.... fast. I have a lot of pictures of it. We literally said a short prayer and left running. Trying to outrun the rain. We made it into the city and then the rain hit. We must have looked so ridiculous running like crazy people.  

Last but not least Saturday morning Sister Oliveira said she had a surprise for us. We went to a member's house and she put in her flash drive to show us a slide show. I thought "Oh great here we go another slide show about missionary work". So she pulls up the slide show and it says "what do your families expect of you?". Started with Sister de Jesus and a video of her whole family talking. I can't even describe the feeling when I saw that she had asked our families to send a video. Of course I was last and of course Sister Mendoza's family talked for 5 minutes so I was sitting there very impatiently and then I saw your video! It was super weird to hear your voice haha and at the end everybody wanted to know what you said and everyone was crying and it was just awesome. Except afterwards I was just thinking "I miss my mom!" But I think I'll survive another 7 weeks haha. 

I bought medicine for my toe because remember when I told you that a member dug out my ingrown toenail? Welllll then it got kind of infected and started growing some kind of fungus I think. That's what the pharmacist said anyway and it's been improving. It was super ugly before but I don't have any pictures. But don't worry I don't think I'm going to lose my toe or die or anything. I also bought new sandals. They were only $R35 which is like under 20 bucks. 

Love you!

Sister Clark 

Week #68

Hi mom!

Well to start off I weighed myself the other day and I lost more weight. That makes over 20 pounds.... not sure if I'll drop more before I come home. I can't believe it's already October, that this transfer is almost over, and that I only have 2 months left here. 

Conference was awesome! Except that it was in Portuguese so I couldn't really understand the interpreters very well. I understood Elder Godoy's perfectly, though. So I'm now sitting reading emails and listening to conference in English. 

Okay this week was something else to say the least. Monday we ate homemade pizza. It was pretty delicious. 

It was another week of challenges and I am very very tired. But ya just gotta keep on going. Tuesday Sister de Jesus and I made a goal for 5 baptisms this month. We had 3 people basically already set in stone and a married couple that we were working with. The couple and 2 other baptisms fell through. 2 were two children that the mom said there's no way she would ever give permission for her kids to get baptized. Even though they go to church every Sunday with a member. So after this happened we made plans to be as obedient as possible to make sure nothing else falls through. Well, we got back to the house Tuesday only to be informed that we had a mini transfer because more Americans arrived and I was being transferred. Sister de Jesus started to cry and I was just like what? So the zone leader called and said it was true and I started to pack my bags. 5 minutes later the sisters come in and tell me to stop because it was all a joke! I'm still in Oriximiná for another 2 weeks until the transfer. The jokes in the house are wearing me down a little bit haha. One time they woke us up at 6:30 pouring ice cold water on our heads....... 

We've met some really great people this week. We met a really humble couple but I think the husband is a little more interested than the wife. He's way awesome. We also received a referral from a member.

Thursday we went to Santarém and Friday we went on exchanges. I went to the other side of Oriximiná with Sister Mendoza. It was weird to be back in that area and we met some really awesome people. They had a referral to contact and this young man paid a lot of attention. The spirit was super strong and he is very smart. I'm excited for the sisters to teach him. Also, it rained a lot and afterwards we were standing on the street looking at our planners when a bus drove by and hit a pot hole filled with water..... that splashed all over us. It was like a movie. We were so dirty. We also met a hippie in the park whose wife was from Spain and they had just arrived in Oriximiná. Turns out he's a member of the church! 

Conference was awesome. Although it was hard for me to understand it, I still felt the spirit. Just goes to show you that just looking at the prophet and the apostles today, you can really feel that they have been called of God. We have a prophet today and 12 apostles. I didn't have to understand what they were saying to feel the truth of their calling. And I sat there thinking about the members of the church in other countries. It takes a lot of faith to believe in a prophet that doesn't even speak their language and lives in the states. And yet, they have a testimony. 

Unfortunately, we had nobody come to conference. People give the same excuses over and over and over again. I think in a year and a half I've probably heard every excuse under the sun. I don't remember who said it but in conference I remember a speaker talking about taking time to read our scriptures and how many times we give the excuse that we don't have time but of course we have time to watch our favorite show on TV. As missionaries we hear so many excuses from people and I thought about how Heavenly Father must feel when we, as "faithful" members of the church, give excuses to not do our part to help build ourselves spiritually, or help build the kingdom of god. We give the reason that our lives our hectic and we never have time to stop but how much time do we spend on facebook, watching TV, movies, listening to music, driving. 30 minutes of our day we can't give to help build our faith and testimony? I do not want to go back to the life I lived before my mission. Pure laziness. I want to let my mission change my life and attitude. 

Another thing I noticed this week. The sisters made a contact with a couple on the street and came to church the last two weeks. Turns out they're super good friends with the bishop and his wife. But every time we ask members if they know anybody they all say they only know members of the church. So I was thinking..... how many doors are the missionaries knocking on and talking with people that we know?  People that are our friends? And how many times do we tell the missionaries that we don't know anybody outside of the church? And how many people would come to church, if we as members JUST ASKED. Are we going to leave it to the missionaries to find and talk to our loved ones? or are we going to speed up the process and help them out a bit? Missionary work is not just up to the missionaries to knock on doors or make contacts on the street. When we are baptized, we receive a missionary tag on our hearts. We make a promise with God that we will help build his kingdom. 

So that's pretty much all I have to say for this week. We basically have to start from scratch this week again but we're going to keep working because there are people here prepared! We just have to find them. 

Love you!

Sister Clark 

Week #67

Hi mom! I have the computer again that doesn't do the question mark so this > is a question mark.

The companionship is great! Sister de Jesus only has 6 months on the mission and she still has a lot to learn but she's a great teacher and we have a lot of fun! I'm really happy right now. Everyone in the house is awesome, and we do all the grocery shopping together and it's just so great. 

I am SO excited for conference! It's the best two days on the mission. After conference I always feel like I can keep going. This week is going to fly because we have to go to Santarém for zone meeting and then we have conference. I was thinking the other day that it would be totally okay to end my mission here in Oriximiná. I can't imagine knowing another ward or people here in Brasil. I just really love everybody here. And all the members want me to end here. More because most of the young women want my skirts haha

This week was a week of challenges. Seriously. Probably the hardest week I've had on my mission. To start off with on Monday I had an ingrown toenail that hurt really bad and a member dug it out for me. I cried a lot haha. The activity we had in the park with the members resulted in a lot of contacts and referrals, but when we went to contact the addresses.... all but one were wrong. Wednesday nobody wanted to accept a baptismal date and we had to drop our four awesome investigators that are just not progressing. They all have a testimony and come to church but just don't want to get baptized and aren't married and aren't ready to do anything about it. Our other baptism unfortunately fell through because his dad didn't allow it. 

So there's the challenges. Now for the blessings. Gabriel, my investigator from the other side of Oriximiná, FINALLY decided to get baptized! It was awesome! Also, in the midst of all the crappiness that happened this week, we were sitting on a bench resting our legs when one of the members walked by. he's this cute little old man and he told us that he wanted to invite us to his birthday party. it was so sweet. so we went and we had our own little table and yesterday we ate cake :) We also have an awesome investigator that is progressing really well. She's on track to get baptized next Saturday. Also we had a miracle! One of the members is always bringing her neighbors to church. They're 10 and 12. She talked with their mom and she said it would be okay if they got baptized! We're hoping this Saturday. 

Funny stories from this week.

 We brought a baptismal record to fill out with one of our investigators. we taught her the plan of salvation and told her that the baptismal record is her passport to the celestial kingdom. She then goes..... "I have to take a plane to get there> Because I'm afraid of airplanes." I was dying. She's hilarious. 

we were eating lunch at a member's house and she told my companion that her husband made the beans. Sister de Jesus hated the beans. She said that it wasn't very good. So she goes on talking about how the member's husband can't cook. Suddenly he shows up and Elivana (the member) says "Bruce, she did not like the beans". Sister de Jesus goes on to explain that it basically was water and had no beans in it. Then Bruce says "Well, it wasn't me who made the beans". Sister de Jesus...... "uhhhh who made the beans". Bruce: "Elivana". We were DYING. I've never laughed so hard in my life. Good thing Elivana wasn't offended. It was hilarious. She explained that they didn't have enough to make the beans perfectly so that's why they were the way they were and she's pregnant so it's really hard for her to cook with all the smells. Oh it was so funny. 

Also we have açai in the fridge. I'm always happy when we have açai. 

Well that's about it for this week. 

Love you! 

Week #66

Hi mom!

My flight is booked for December 2nd. I'm hoping I get transferred my last transfer. It would be nice to know a different area in the mission. I've stayed in Oriximiná since I got here. I'm thinking I'll go. It's hard to tell. We still have 4 weeks left of the transfer.

Okay so this week was fast. I was thinking last night about what I would write and as I was thinking about the week I realized that every week during the week seems so slow but by the time p-day arrives I can hardly believe that the week is already over. We just do so much in one week. it's hard to remember everything. 

Monday I found a dead mouse under my bed. That was lovely. I'm thinking we might have to end our English course. Nobody showed up Wednesday until about 6:50 and even then it was only 3 people. And it's just not very productive for finding people. It's only the members that come. Also, since we got a piano here I have to play the hymns every Sunday. And they don't let me choose. Turns out I can play almost anything without practicing. Who knew! And now all the members want me to teach them piano...... I wish we had the time. 

I'm thinking we're going to have to wipe our slate clean and find new people. Our awesome investigators aren't progressing anymore. Which is a little frustrating. We have one family we're working on and the daughter who's 16 is always reading The Book of Mormon. Like, nobody else can read it because she's always reading haha but she feels like she's not ready to get baptized and it's been 2 weeks since she came to church. I think a lot of our investigators don't really know our purpose. But we have one baptism coming up this Saturday and another next Saturday. I'm hoping all works out! 

We had an awesome lesson with Bishop Wednesday night with our investigators. We read a part of Lehi's dream and talked about the important things in life. Especially enduring to the end. The spirit was super strong. Oh our family with the 16 year old, the mom said that she and her husband are going to get married soon,  and then she wants to get baptized soon after! I'm hoping it's during this transfer. 

Saturday night we had an activity at the park where we made contacts talking about family history. It was supposed to be with a ton of members. Well, only 4 members showed up at the church to help out. It was pretty depressing. But towards the end TONS of members showed up and started making contacts. We had a big screen, too, showing slides about family history. It was pretty legit. We managed to make over 80 contacts and receive referrals from the members. Now we just have to go visit everybody at home. I'm thinking this week is going to be busy. 

I'm not sure if my chacos are going to survive 10 more weeks. I'm hoping at least until the end of the transfer. If they die then I have a cheap pair of sandals I bought here for church that I can wear for the next 6 weeks. 

Also an American elder gave me some stuff that he got in a box from his mom so I've been making a little bit of food for the sisters here. we've eaten toll house cookies, guacamole, and Alfredo. They loved the Alfredo! It's going to be really strange to come home and eat at night. Here we eat lunch at 1 or 2 and it's like dinner and then for "dinner" at night, well, we really don't eat at night. usually popcorn or fruit. or a milkshake haha. I learned how to make ice cream from scratch! pretty cool. 

 

Love Sister Clark

Week #65

Hi mom!

This week was, well, interesting to say the least. It's weird being on the other side of Oriximiná but I really like it. We have some investigators really progressing. They come to church on their own! We had 6 people at church yesterday, it was awesome. But that's not the most interesting part. First of all, I would like to say thank you and dad for teaching me a lot about life. Like managing money. So we all knew the transfer was coming up. I figured I would be transferred so I put money away for the trip. It's required here in the mission to have a reserve fund of $R100 in case of emergencies. Well the transfer came and Sister Shepherd got transferred.  I had to accompany her on the trip to Santarem and bring back the other sister, because I saved my money, haha.  So I went to Santarem AGAIN this week.  I stayed in Santarem for the day with the sisters. That night the new missionaries arrived and only 2 other Americans were transferred. So that makes only 3 and I'm the only American sister. Thursday we went to zone meeting and after Sister Mendoza and I and another elder got on the lancha to go to Obidos and Orximiná. It was really funny to see their reaction to being on a boat in the middle of the amazon. For me now it's normal. I think this was my 4th time on the lancha and 9th time on the barco. I'm a pro. So that's my story for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

The new sister is awesome. We do all of our grocery shopping together. It's awesome! I think this transfer is going to go by fast. Unfortunately. Always when everyone is cool the time passes faster. Also I'm senior companion now haha. So that's pretty cool. But really for me there doesn't exist senior or junior. The work is the same and we're equal. Sister de Jesus is awesome. She has a lot of energy and is just real with people. I like teaching with her.

So that's pretty much all I have for this week. It was a really hectic and crazy week. I'm counting down the days until General Conference! Only 3 weeks away.

Also my chacos are breaking. I'm hoping they last me just 11 more weeks!

Love you!

Sister Clark  

Week #64

Hello mom!

Well let's start off with transfers. I got transferred.... where to... Oriximiná II.... Yeah so I got transferred to the other bedroom in our house and the other side of Oriximiná haha. I'm super excited because we have a family and I wanted to be here for their wedding and baptism! I won't be teaching them now but at least I'll get to see them get married! So yeah, this transfer was a little strange. Sister Shepherd is leaving and I'll be the only American in the house and the only Sister American in the zone. I'm super grateful to be staying here. I love this zone! And I'll get to travel on the boat and lancha a few more time too :) Sister Shepherd was balling her eyes out this morning... poor thing. It was a little awkward. what can you do "sorry I'm taking your place..." yeah it was a little awkward. Ok this week....

Was just awesome! We had a baptism! The daughter of our family that we're trying to marry and baptize got baptized! We had Rege propose to Fatima on Tuesday. It was so cute! Fatima LOVES church. Yesterday she came all by herself, she didn't even wait for us! Right now we're experiencing a power outage. But I'm on a laptop hehehehe. Okay back to my week. Well, really I can't believe this transfer is over already. It went by so fast. We have been so blessed the past couple of weeks. We've been getting so many referrals. It's really the only way to do this work!

 So really this week we were busy getting Erica ready for baptism and now we're teaching their neighbors. We also had to go to Santarém Thursday for zone meeting. Also, we finally got a piano in the chapel! And now all the members want me to teach them..... 

Thursday night we did a member missionary workshop. It was during the hour of FHE at the church and we didn't tell anyone that it was going to be different because, well, they wouldn't show up if they know. Ah, it was awesome! We made little name tags and had games and role plays and at the end we showed a video and everyone stood up to sing called to serve with the name tags. It was really cool and the spirit was super strong. Everyone was just beaming at the end! 

Good thing I'm staying in Oriximiná because Saturday night we were at a member's house and Lolo (the little girl that I sent pictures of) climbed up on my lap and gave me a big hug and said "não vai embora, não vai Sister Clarky" Translation: Don't go! It was the sweetest thing ever. 

So that was pretty much our week! I think these last 2 transfers are going to fly by. I get anxiety a little bit thinking about coming home. So I try not to think about it. 

Love you!

Sister Clark 

Week #63

Highlights from this week

We had FHE with a Irmão Benedito e Irmã Valmira and their family. I just really love them! They made a surprise cake for Sister Oliveira's birthday with a poster. Notice my stool that I'm standing on..... haha. It was super fun and during the lesson Irmão Benedito started to cry. It was just so cute. I love that family! Wednesday we had a lesson with Rege and Fatima and we asked if she recognized any blessings from going to church. She said yes and started to talk about how much happier she is. I love seeing the change in people when they really have the desire to act. She's so awesome. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she's all for quitting drinking coffee. Coffee here is interesting. People don't drink huge mugs like we do in the states. It's usually a little tiny tea cup and everyone says that when you go to the doctor the first thing he asks is if you drink coffee. If you say yes, he makes a note of it. If you say no, all is well. Interesting..... So Fatima is totally on board for baptism. She just has to get married first. But she absolutely loves church. We met an awesome investigator Friday. She has breast cancer (probably) but has a ton of faith. She basically taught us the plan of salvation. I always learn something new from her every time we visit. We had a really good week this week. We finally have a teaching pool and we found 8 investigators in one day! We also had our investigator Geraldo show up to church. We kind of forgot about him because he lives super far but he said we never came to his house so he decided to come to us. He's reading the Book of Mormon everyday and absolutely LOVED church. He says he feels like this is what's right. Only problem? He's not married! And he doesn't want to marry his "wife" because he doesn't like her haha. She actually was living in Manaus and came to Oriximina for 15 days, which then turned in to 6 months. I think they're just living together because she needs a place to stay. She's going back at the end of the year. So looks like he won't be getting baptized until December. But he is golden! 

Also Sister Oliveira told me that she knows a member in Santarém that builds guitars. She said he might even build ukuleles. He made a guitar for her for only $R200. A ukulele would be a lot cheaper! I want one!!! But I also think it would be hard to bring back into the country. So I'm not going to buy one. 

Remember how I said marriage is just popping up everywhere? Well we were with a recent convert and he wanted to do a role play with us in which we taught him (acting as an investigator) about marriage. At the end he said he only wanted to do the role play to help US understand the importance of marriage and gain a testimony of it. As if we don't talk about it enough throughout the day. 

Well that was pretty much our week. I can't believe it's September already! This is the last week of the transfer. Next Monday you'll know if I'm staying or leaving. 

Love you!

Sister Clark