NEWS

Okay guess  what. Dad you aren't gonna believe it, but guess what?!

Today is transfers, and I have my first transfer in the mission! And I am headed to...

 

CUSCOTOPIA!! 

 

Is that sweet or what? Oh my goodness, I am so excited. And I am going to be Hermana leader there in a ward called Vista Alegre. It's so crazy because I am going to be companions with my hermana leader right now, Hermana Alburqueque. And soooo....I will be the Hermana leader over Quillabamba, which means that I will be Hermana Asang's hermana leader which just gives me so much relief. So, I will get to come to Quillabamba still, like once a transfer, and do divisiones here in Quilla. Is that crazy or what? I am so happy. 

 

You know, I have always been really scared about this day, because I'm serious when I say that Quillabamba is my whole heart, and I was just like, "Dang, it's just gonna be so painful", and I will be honest, it totally has been, and I've been really sentimental. Like, today it has just been raining hard, and I know that the clouds are just empathizing with me, with all my tears. But I also feel so much peace in this, and I am really excited for a change. 

 

Leaving Quilla is going to be like leaving my family in the airport all over again. I mean, I've been here for my entire mission, passed the halfway point. 

But here's a cool story. (just for my mom, dad, sibs)

Well, I've told you a lot about my branch president. First it was that he talks so fast, then that he wasn't my favorite, and a lil arraogant, and just a lot of things. Well, I knew that he always was a fan of mine, even though he acted as if he could care less all the time. Our relationship really grew these last 3 transfers, and I asked if we could take a picture before I left. He was all dificult about it, like, "yeah, I guess". We take the picture, and then are saying goodbye, and presidente shakes my hand, and presidente says, "Hermana Clark, gracias por todo" and he starts to cry. I was so moved, because he is super duro. I mean, look at this pic I have with them. He is so like that. Right after, he left so fast, because I think he was embarrased to cry. It was really sweet.

 

My christmas was the best. Seriously. We had a noche navideña with B and his family. Was so special and we read Luke 2, and then sang christmas carols. We all had matching hats, and here's a lil knome named R reading the scriptures. He's B's little brother, and is just my fave ever, so cute. 

 

Hermana Chana made us a Christmas dinner to eat in our room, because it is tradition to eat Christmas dinner at midnight on christmas  eve. (But, since we are missionaries and can't be outside after 9:30, we woke up at 12 and ate dinner me and my comp. It was soooo good. Hermana Chana is so wonderful, she's one of my mamitas here, hehe.) 

 

W made us christmas dinner too. Gosh, I love her, she is so funny and so cute. We had "segundo de tallarin con papa y pollo" haha, the best!

 

 

My video llamada was the absolute best. Seriously, so special. Cole sang to me, and I cried my eyes out the whole time. Then, everyone shared a little bit of their year with me, elles took a pic with her polaroid, and we all said family prayer together at the end. It was so special. I will never EVER forget that skype. 

 

Okay, gotta go fam, we need to go and say goodbye to every home in Quilla. Waaaaa, but it will be good. I am so happy and at peace. Love ya lots! I know this is what I am supposed to be doing. 

Love my life! And LOVE YOU! 

HAPPU NEW YEAR! Eat a piece of birthday cake in my honor this Saturday! hehe

Love, Hermana Clark

 

 

Picture of me with my branch President.

 



A pic of me and my best pal. It was so  special when Cole sang for me, I cried the whole darned time. I will NEVER forget that.

 

My Christmas dinners:)

Hermana asang and I bought gitfts for eachother secret, and we both bought each other watches. How cute, right? haha

Nori, My sunshine

 

THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE, I LOVE YOU ALL.

 

 

FELIZ NAVIDAD

Wow, I cannot believe that it is finally here, my fave day, CHRISTMAS. I'm serious, can't even explain how fast the time leading up until christmas has flown.

Okay, I promise that I'm not being lazy (well, maybe I am), but I don't want to write much this week, because WE GET TO SKYPE THIS SUNDAY. Okay, this is basically the most exciting thing for me, other than when people ask me, "When can I be baptized, Hermana Clark?", which ALSO happened this week. We have a new little investigator, her name is E, and she said to us this week, "I just really wanna get baptized!". Wahoo, that's wonderful, but she's also 13 and her mom gave us her permission to teach her, but the mom also isn't all that interested, which is kind of a bummer. We taught her about the first vision and the restoration of the church this week. 

We also found D, and F this week. D asked us after our first lesson if he could take a picture with us, which was cute. He's a really great kid, with some serious potencial to get baptized, like no seriously, I think he will. 

We left them with the Book of Mormon, and they are strating with 1 Nefi 1 this week. Something that was really funny, was that as I was talking to them during the lesson, I was explaining to them about how we need to go to the source of truth to find the truth, and Fwas just soaking. it. up. It was like a lighbulb went off in her head, because she is SOOOOO catholic, (but that's okay, bc everyone here is), but she was just all smiles. As I said, "that is why we go to the SOURCE of truth...who is God", she immediately started applauding! (with a big smile on her face) I was a lil startled and she said, "I'm sorry, it's just when you said that, I just got this really good feeling, and it made me excited". haha. 

That is the spirit. I know it, I know it. People feel the spirit, and sometimes it makes people clap their hands for joy. So cute, I loved that.  . 

We went to a baptism this week of one of the converts of the elders, and afterwards, the convert always shares their testimony, and she got up and said, "Hello everyone. I feel very, VERY happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." What a sweet sweet testimony, because you know what? The gospel of Jesus Christ really does make us happy. 

I love you all! Can't wait to talk to you in a week, what what. 

oh está, todo bien, 

Hermana Clark

 

 

 

Hermana Asang and me with the mototaxi driver

 



 

Hermanas and Elders

 

December 12th

 

My whole group together for the first time since the CCM. Such a happy moment. 

 

Hermana Asang and me

 



Sure do love her:)

 

 

 

 pic with president, and pic with our zone. Seriously, some of my favorite people in the world right now, those sisters and elders. We are super united, and they all are just my BFFs in quillabamba. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

 



 

Christmas (music) time

Can you believe that? That it is the Christmas season? It's so darned weird for me, because it's still so hot, and I wake up to palm trees, and never ending mangoes. (which ps, I cannot eat another mango, or I'm gonna turn into one)

Brian is getting baptized this week on Saturday, that's a miracle story that I just don't have time to tell. :( In the skype call, don't let me forget!

Okay, I have no more time, boooo ;( only pics this week!

I love you all! 

Mom, I would like a pic of me with gma z, with gma matheney, pic of gpa z, pic of me with gpa stu, preferebly at my 8th grade promo, and family pic with cole as a baby. It's for my family history booklet that I am working on. Also, a pic of my me with grammy, papa, grandma and grandpa. That'll be a lil project, so when ever you can send them to me, that would be great. If it's a few weeks, no worries!

PS cole, for you! Will you prepare a song to play for our skype call? I want to hear you sing and play. Okay, love you pal. 

We went to echarati with Hermano Gerald, and Hermana Maria, and they are the definition of power couple. It was so so fun, and we visited lots of less actives in Echarati. There are a ton of members there, but no missionaries, and no church, because there aren't priesthood holders, so now we head there every week to try to get them back to church. I love going to echarati, because it's a lot of new streets and new faces every day, so that's nice! 

more pics of our pasaje to echarati

I don't work for the church. I work for the Lord

That's something that our branch President said in branch counsel last night, and AMEN to that. I have had so many awesome expériences this week, but wow short time hoy dia, no se porqué?Me and my town heheheAll the recent converts are doing sweet. T and Hermano G are home teaching comps (haha, those two are the bomb) and are helping us out with B, who I have worked with for so long, and WANTS to be baptized, but still has doubts about whether the Book of Mormon is true or not. Totally normal and healthy concern, so I'm not too worried about him. He'll come around. :)We have a new investigator with a date, Benito. He lives outside of Quilla, in Rosario Mayo, so we can only visit him once a week, because like my latina comp says, "not everyone has cash-money" hahaha. She is so cute.  But he has a date for the 24th of December and is progressing so fast.We found 3 new investigators this week, Marcel, Roel (13) , and Lindi (7, almost 8 in January, wahoo). They are an adorable little family, and this week we helped the girls get ready for church, and we all went to church together in 2 moto taxis. It was awesome,  I am so excited about them. Nadi shared her POWERFUL testimony with us this week, she's the only member of the church in her family and has received a whole lotta grief about it.  Gosh, she is poderosa, and I feel so grateful to know her. I was reading my journal, and I mentioned sweet Nadi in my very first email home to you guys. It was crazy to look back on her huge progress. She is such a sunshine in my life, and will forever be a special part of my heart. Everything was super awesome this week.I have 0 complaints.Love my life here, and this is the realest work I have ever done.The work isn't cheap, we work hard, and maybe it hasn't been the best 9 months of my life on record, but you know what? It has been the best 9 months FOR my life.This time is so special, and I feel so grateful to be hermana clark.I love you all a million!Keep trying, keep praying, everything will work out. Oh está, todo bien, Hermana Clarkbelow are some pics of our p-day trip to Las Cataratas 

Alright I'm purchasin' a piece o' land aqui

Alright folks, comin atcha from Quilla. Today is transfers. 

Lots of people have told me, "hermana clark, compre se una chacra ya!" or "hey, just buy a farm here in Quillabamba already" because I've been here for so stinkin long, and I'd be better off starting something like a business.

Haha funny, but anyways, I am staying in Quillabamba, wooooo. Honestly, a change would be nice, I really would love to see more of Peru, but I cannot complain because Quillabamba es HERMOSA. 

I'm serious, walking the streets of quillabamba with ice cream in your hand and a sweet compañera is BLISS.

We spent a lot of time walking on the side of highway. We have a new investigator that lives outside of Quillabamba in Echarati, and so we have to travel in a mini van to get there. (they're called combis and THAT is the main mode of travel. That, or mototaxis) But, when we have to return to Quillabamba, we have to flag down a car, basically hitch hike. It's totally normal, but then I always think about be doing that in the states, and it makes me laugh.

So many funky things that are just so normal to me. Like for example, a role of toilet paper on the table in place of napkins. Totally normal. Or a billion dogs in the street, and dog poop on the sidewalk siempre. Totally normal. Or a bowl full of mangoes in every house, (because there are honestly too many mangoes here to eat) and pulling an orange off a tree. Totally normal. 

The lesson with Beniato, our new investigator out in Echarati was so cool. He's a carpenter, and so to teach him, we literally just sat down on his stacks of 4x4's, and taught him the restoration.Thought I was gonna have transfers, so we took a bunch of pics just in case. (But hey! I'm still here!)

Love this little one,Ave. and Veronica and Jose . I've taught them my whole mish, Veronica isn't a member, and Jose is less active. I don't know why, but they just have something special with me. Like, I am so drawn to them, even though we haven't seen much progress with them, and my comps have never been so excited about them like I am. But, I sure do love them.


I really do love the youth here. I think I've said it before, but they have my heart. This week, I taught their sunday school class about "How can I learn to make my own decisions?" and we talked about lots of important decisions in life, like what university to attend, what career to pursue, the person we are going to marry, and deciding to serve a mission.We talked about our daily decisions too, about the pressure to sometimes do things that would save you embarrassment, or because everyone else, but that we really shouldn't. There are a few youth that are very set on serving missions, and when they talk about serving missions someday, it usually makes me cry. I just want every single person to experience the joy that I have felt as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It is so dang cool. 


Also, how pretty is Echarati? It is seriously a dream that i live here, amIright or amIright?

T and J are so good. T is the 2nd counselor in the YM, so that is really cool. This week, we did family history with them, and J lost her dad when she was young, so we prepared the name so that they can go to the temple in January, and bring that name. It was SO COOL. 

Please do family history. It isn't impossible, and there are a lot of people that are good at it that can help you! 

Okay, I love you all un MONTON! Chao, cuiden se mucho y que tenga una linda semana!

Oh está, todo bien, 

hermana Clark

PS Will someone please tell me about this whole Donald Trump thing? Everyone down here is MAD that he is President, and I really have 0 idea what is happening in the states. But I pray for the sweet red, white and blue every night.