Amigos, Amigas, my FAVE peeps in America,
LIMA PERU. GUYS. I’M IN LOVE.
The mish has been the best. Oh my goodness.
There’s so much I want to say, and I’m limited to one hour and the
keyboards here are dificil sometimes, so this letter is going to
bounce around a lil bit. SO EXCITED TO WRITE YOU ALL.
So, I have been here for one week today. But, if we were cavemen, and
had no concept of time, I’d probably tell you that we’ve been here for
about a month. I reread my journal entries from every night (because I
have been a faithful journal keeper now, hehe), and almost every day
says, “Today was the longest day of my life, but the BEST day of my
life”. Haha, it has been a long one. But, when I look back at it, I
think woah, that was a whole week ago?! Whoever said the days are like
weeks and the weeks are like months, AMEN TO THAT.
But, just because the days are long doesn’t mean they aren’t the bomb.
The days are the best. It is so hot and humid here. Every single
shower I’ve taken here has been the coldest the water will go, and for
the whole shower time.
I’m in the CCM for the next 6 weeks, so on the first day, we found out
who our companions would be for the next 6 weeks. Your companion stays
with you at all times. No, I’m serious, at ALL times, the only times
you are by yourself is in the shower, and in the bathroom stall. You
get a little built-in BFF, and I’m SO lucky, because Hermana Haws is
my companion. She is the sweetest, most delightful girl to be around.
She finished nursing school before she came, so she’s 21, and we’re
pretty similar in mannerisms and everything. She is so patient though,
and well, that’s something I’m workin on, so she compliments me just
perfect. She’s from Arizona.
I stay in a dorm-ish room with 6 other girls, 3 from Utah, 1 from
Idaho, then Hermana Haws, and then me. We sleep on bunk beds, and we
have lil closets, and all out shoes go under the bed. We wake up at
6:30 and go to bed at 10:30. ALWAYS. Those are the guidelines we
follow, which doesn’t really affect me because I’m such a morning
person, so no big deal. ;)
Every day is the best. The food here, WOW. Sorry to everyone in the
Provo MTC, we are spoiled in Lima. La comida es buenisimo, SO good.
Every day I Iove the meals. And, with every meal you always eat
chicken, rice or potatoes. Always. No excpetions.
One time they made hamburgers because some of the American elders
requested it, and then another time, someone requested pizza. The
pizza was literally a piece of bread with ketchup and sprinkled
cheese. The Peruvian people are so cute, and their effort just made my
heart so warm.
All the missionaries here are on fire, everyone has such a desire to
serve and to be the best that they can, and to share the message of
the gospel with the people of Peru.
Okay, CHOOSE SHOES JUICE. That is my love for the Latinos/Latinas here
in Peru in a sentence. They are probably one of my favorite things
about being here. Every day, we have lunch the same time as the
advanced missionaries, (aka the natives), and I always always always
sit by the Spanish-speakers. They are so funny, because the whole
time, I’m trying to talk to them in Spanish, and they’re trying to
talk to me in English. I am so grateful for when my parents put me in
Spanish classes when I was little, then my two years in high school,
then last semester, because I am always translating for the other
American missionaries to talk to the Latinas. I know that that isn’t
MY abilities though, because I understand far more than what I
thought, and I KNOW that it is all Heavenly Father through the gift of
toungues. So anyways, who knew that English is so hard? The latinos
were asking me the difference of pronunciation for choose, shoes and
juice, and we sat there one day all of lunch talking about it. Also,
they always tell me in Spanish, the men in cusco are very short, so
you won’t be finding your future husband there, hahaha. They are so
hilarious.
Our mission president here is President Moore, along with his wife
Hermana Moore. There´s only about 60 missionaries here, and about 20
of them are English speaking. Anways, becauses there’s so few, we have
the opportunity to know the president personally. Those two are two of
the best people I’ve ever met. I’m serious. I already love them so
much. Their hearts are so full of love for the missionaries.
WE’ve been teaching our first investigator, Luis. Luis has a lot of
family problems, but has some friends who are Mormon, and wants to
know more. We taught him about the Book of >Mormon, and the
restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph
Smith. He was very receptive to our message, and we asked him to pray
to know if out message was true. Anways, the next time we came back,
we asked, “Luis, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be
baptized?”, and he said YES! We were so excited. We asked if he would
pray with us, and he actually offered the prayer. It was so exciting!
Made me so pumped for Cusco. And even though Luis is actually one of
our teachers here, and we just knocked on the door of one of the
little casitas here for practice, it was still cool to teach the
gospel in Spanish.
The mission is just gogogo all the time. We got to hear Lynn G Robbins
speak earlier this week, and that was so awesome. We always wear the
headsets because the meetings are always in Spanish. One thing really
profound that President said at that meeting was, “perhaps the most
important thing that Joseph heard in the Sacred grove was his name.”
(When Heavenly Father says to him, “Joseph, this is my beloved son.
Hear Him!) That hit me so hard. Heavenly Father knows us all
personally and individually. He is aware of each us and our trials,
and struggles, and gosh, he just love us so much.
I was realizing that when I knelt to pray one night. It was one of the
nights that I was really, really missing my family. Especially mom. I
just wanted to call and tell her everything. I love my mom so much. In
my prayers, I was thanking my Heavenly Father for my family and my mom
and how she’s my very best friend. And as I as wanting to call my mom,
I just realized: how wonderful is it that I can still call my Heavenly
Father, and talk to him every night, and every morning, and whenever!
Because that same love I feel from my mom is the kind of love I feel
from my mom is the love I feel from my Heavenly Father, except more
than I can comprehend. He has that love for ALL of his children. I was
just feeling so grateful for prayer this week.
I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my Savior. I know the Book
of Mormon is the word of God, and I’m trying to read the whole thing
again in my 6 weeks here.
I love the mission, and am so grateful for this church. I know that it
is true and real and it changes lives for the better.
Love you all so much. You are always in my prayers. (which are always
said in Spanish)
The church is true.
Thinking of you all!
Love, Hermana Clark
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