It's All Down Hill From Here

Well, now that Hermana has just over 3 months left on her mission I suppose we should let you know how she's doing:

Hi! How are you doing? I am doing good. I didn't get quite as much time to proselyte as I would have liked this week, but hopefully this week there will be more time. I really like contacting people. It is pretty fun. I am trying to think about how I can have more gospel conversations when I get home. I want to keep doing missionary work when I get home, but it is a little different when I don't have a tag and I just walk up to random people.

Hermana Webb from Texas joined us this week. She just came from the Mexico MTC. Sounds like it was quite the adventure down there! She says she is glad to be back in the U.S. I would totally go down to Mexico right now and see what it is like. On Saturday we celebrated dia de independencia for mexico. The members of a few branches put together some typical dances from the different states in Mexico. They were fun to watch. We got our investigator Maria to go. Sometimes I just don't know what more to do to help people. I hope that she feels a desire soon to follow Jesus Christ. I am glad that she came. It is always fun being in a trio because people think it is really strange to shack three peoples hands and we put up the bunk beds in our bedroom. I thought it was little before, but I am surprised to find there is tons of room when we just start using the ceiling! I get to sleep on the bottom bunk. 

Right now we are just trying to find some new investigators. Our teaching pool magically disappeared. But, hey. I guess that is just how it is sometimes.

Love you all!

Love,
Hermana Clark

Better Late Than Never

Sorry it's been like.... a year since I've posted a letter from Alyce. I kinda forgot I was in charge of doing that... But here you go!

5/27/14

"Knock-knock (Who's there) Boo (Boo-Hoo) What are you crying for?!

You are right. Life is fleeting, but being here on my mission has really helped me see that not very much is important. Before my mission I thought that different jobs were more important than others (as in careers). But I have really seen that that doesn't matter to much. I guess we see people more how Christ sees them. The job, the house, the car doesn't matter. There are plenty of people that have all of those things, but let me tell you - their relationships with their family are really messy! And they don't have any spiritual understanding. Those are the only things that you take when you leave this world. We are really lucky to have parents that have taught us to value the right things. Something that I learned from Preach My Gospel is that we can ask if the Book of Mormon is true more than once. It says that we should ask frequently so that our faith is strong that God will answer other people. I know that if you start really searching, Heavenly Father will help you have the spiritual experiences to stay strong.One thing I have been thinking about is how a lot of people saw Jesus when he was walking on the earth. But a lot of them didn't believe that He was the Son of God. What made the difference? The willingness of heart to have faith and try to seek out the Holy Ghost. "

6/16/14

"The Sabbath Day, yeah, I have thought about that a lot on my mission. I have been reading the Old Testament (one chapter left, I will finish today!) and about how much it talks about the Sabbath Day. The Lord frequently says that the judgements and the bondage come from the Israelites breaking this commandment. It must be pretty important to the Lord, right? Why? One of the reasons I have thought of is that if we aren't willing to take one day to truly serve the Lord and work on His behalf, then he really isn't a priority in our lives. I think that having the Sabbath helps us keep our priorities straight. Doing family history work on Sunday is one of the best ways to use our time, I believe.

What have I done in the last 9 months? Being on a mission is really funny, because sometimes I feel like a completely different person after one week! Nine months ago, where was I? Nine months ago I was setting up a question-answer session with our investigators and the mission president. It was awesome! Since then, 3 of the people who went were baptized! And I have talked to hundreds, if not thousands of people. I wouldn't say that I am that great at talking to people at the Gospel, but just talking to a few every day really stacks up! I think I have learned about fasting, and that I have learned about the importance to actually care about other people's salvation. Ultimately they have to decide if they want to follow Jesus Christ, but we can do quite a bit to help them! I think that the thing that I want to remember most is the role of visiting teaching and being kind to people. How we treat each other is really how people can tell if we are the people of God. If I am gossiping behind someone's back, no one is going to want to come join us. That is not a characteristic of Christ! And I think that I have learned the importance of having the Spirit. The Holy Ghost is really what is going to help people want to change. I can talk till I am blue in the face, but it is from what they feel on the inside that will convince them to follow Jesus Christ. "

October 21, 2013

Dear Family,

We had some good highlights this week! Roberto came to his wife's baptism, and then we had a lesson with them the next day! Then we had a lesson on Thursday! It was super fun because Hermana Huchendorf and I were on splits that night. I went over and taught Robert about The Restoration. I asked Veronica if she would share her experience about when she received a Priesthood blessing a few weeks ago. The next time we saw her, she said that her and Roberto had a really long conversation about how Jesus Christ has helped in his family. It was so great to hear that because I don't think that they have ever really shared about spiritual experiences before! It is so fun to see this family at church and see how they are working together to learn about the Gospel. We want to help him get the Priesthood and then hopefully we can start getting this branch off the ground! Veronica got her temple recommend this weekend. That was good :)

It is pretty interesting to see how the Spirit works in lessons. We found this man who was baptized in Mexico that moved in with one of the recent converts. We were a little surprised when we went over there! We started talking and we could tell the woman really want us to teach a lesson to him, so we did and then they invited us over for a follow-up appointment. We went over on Saturday and decided we better teach about repentance and the Word of Wisdom. We got in there and it was really awkward. We didn't know what to say, but Hermana Huchendorf asked them what they thought about when they thought of Jesus Christ. Right then we could feel the Holy Ghost come into the room. It was pretty neat because I could really feel the Spirit. The thing we have been learning is that we really have to pay attention or it is easy to miss. The longer I am here the more I realize that it doesn't matter what I teach, or how skilled I am at teaching. The Spirit of God is the real converting power that "carries the message unto the hearts of men". I am grateful that I have been taught and experienced how to feel the Spirit in my life. Thank you Mom and Dad for being such wonderful teachers and focusing so much time and energy on the Gospel. I love you all a lot!

Love,
Hermana Clark

October 15, 2013

There were some great moments this week! Veronica finally got baptized! And her husband came! And he felt the Spirit! And Veronica bore her testimony and it was amazing! The Spirit of the Lord was very strong during the program and baptism. Wow. I am just in awe. Hardly a dry eye. A recent convert came up to me afterwards (I had led the music) and said I looked so happy leading the music. Haha! That is one thing I always liked to do at home - smile ridiculously big while leading the music.

We got Veronica a Personal Progress book so that she can start working on that and strengthen her testimony! Roberto is letting us teach him, so we hope that he decides soon to join his wife in the waters of baptism! We are excited to keep teaching him. The hardest thing is learning how to teach in a short amount of time so that their 2 year old daughter, Maite, doesn't go nuts. Haha family. Gotta love it. We had family home evening yesterday and explained to them that it was completely normal that Maite was screaming and crying. Haha....

Another exciting thing that happened this week was that we put together an activity for the Spanish people in the ward and our investigators. We invited the mission president, President Eaton, to come do a question and answer session. We got in there, sang a song, said a prayer and then turned the time over to the President. We lined up a translator for him (Hermano Rivera, who is awesome. Convert of 12 years with a wife and 2 children, just offered to come to any lesson he can. Said he would even re-arrange his plans to help us out. Awesome. He is going to make a big difference, just moved in.). We all held our breath as President Eaton pulled up a chair for him and his wife and we all waited for a question. Silence. Silence. I racked my brain to think of a question to ask. Nothing. I asked another missionary. Nothing. I start praying that someone will ask a question. Perfect! Saul, an investigator, asked his question! How do we balance religion and normal life? What a great question! We talked about how as a Mormon, we don't balance normal life and religion. Normal life is religion! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a way of life, we don't pick and choose when we decide to live like Christ.

All in all, it went well! President Eaton spoke Spanish well and he said quite a lot without the translator! We had three investigators go - Edwin, Lilia, and Silvio! I hope that they all can come along! Love you all!

Love,
Hermana Clark

October 7, 2013

Veronica is going to get baptized! We feel a little like the boy who cried wolf, but we are pretty sure this one is for reals. We fasted last Sunday that her husband would let her get baptized, and we talked to her on Tuesday and he had said she could! And we met with him on Friday and have a return appointment with him today! It was very exciting to feel the Spirit during that lesson. We were late, so we had run across the lawn, and my shoe fell off and I stepped in mud. We then got in Veronica's house and her husband was "taking a shower". He always does that right when we come.... We asked Veronica if we could come back in 20 minutes and she told us to stay and wait! So we did, and he finally came out and we had a wonderful talk about how he had seen Veronica change since she started learning about the Gospel. We asked him if he wanted that and he said "Who wouldn't?" We were thinking in our minds "Exactly!" Needless to say, the Spirit did the teaching and we just sat there. It was fun to feel like we had been the Lord's tools to help.

Lilia had a blessing on Wednesday and that was really nice. We sat there and listened. She said she felt a lot of peace. That is what we ask for her, because her life sure isn't easy right now.

One lesson I am really grateful that I am learning is the importance of a good home. So many children are suffering and they don't even know because their parents are not living in a way that nurtures their children or helps them learn correct principles. It makes me really want to create a good home for my children.

Love you all!

September 30, 2013

This has been a great week! Started off with interviews with the mission president. Those are really a pleasure and privilege. The sad news of the week is that Veronica didn't get baptized. :( Her husband doesn't want her to, and she is really trying to figure out what to do. Her desire to be baptized is very strong. It was so sad yesterday because she cried for a bit because she wants to be baptized so bad. It was amazing to see the members help her, because so many offered comfort, shared their experiences, and expressed their love and faith in the Lord. This is what the Gospel is about. "Bearing others burdens"and "comforting those that stand in need of comfort". I love the Valle family (Spanish ward mission leader). They are so good to me and so willing to serve. Hermano Valle shared his testimony in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Half in Spanish and half in English. Lucky me, I got to understand both! He expressed his love for the Lord and his desire to do everything right that he possibly can in this life. He said he is watching and watching for the day when the Lord will come again. I was very touched. Something that has been very apparent to me the last week is the power of hearing the Gospel in your own tongue. In D & C11

For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall ahear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own blanguage, through those who are cordained unto this dpower, by the administration of the eComforter, shed forth upon them for the frevelation of Jesus Christ.


Even when I was listening to Hermano Valle bear his testimony, when he spoke in English, my heart was touched more than when it was spoken in Spanish, even though I understood every word. I want to give that to others! It really provides me with motivation to learn Spanish better. I want them to hear the Gospel the way that will help them the most. But the Spirit is still the most important thing. I know this because Hermano Valle doesn't necessarily have the best English ever. It gives me hope that the Spirit will help carry the message into the hearts of those that I teach.

A funny thing that happened this week was that Lilia came to the Womens Broadcast and told us she wanted to take Wednesday off and invite us over for cake. She didn't know if she should make tea, coffee, or chocolate cake for us. Hahaha.... time for the Word of Wisdom lesson...

We picked up Edwin again! We have felt not to go over there lately, but last night, we used up all of our back-up plans, and there were a few that were super lame. I had the thought that we should go see Edwin, so we did, and!!! His life has really stunk the last few weeks. He says he has felt especially bad to God, and then us because he did not keep any of his commitments. A lot of his friends have been inviting him to different churches, but he has felt sick going to any of them because all these friends were bashing Mormons. So he didn't go to any of them. They told him a lot of silly stuff about Mormons, like that we can have as many girlfriends as we want or if someone is already married it is totally fine to cheat. What was the really interesting thing? That morning, I had grabbed a "Law of Chastity" pamphlet for our investigator Silvio, and had the thought to grab two, which I thought was super strange. Well! I handed that pamphlet right over to Edwin! That should answer his questions! It was really exciting to see that the Lord cares about individual people. I love being here on a mission and serving my Savior. I know that the scriptures can provide revelation and answers to questions that otherwise would go unfound. I love you all!
Love,
Hermana Clark

September 16, 2013

This has been a great week! We had exchanges, and I got to be with one of the girls I really really like. :) Heavenly Father must have planned it just for me. We had some great lessons! Veronica has not been baptized yet, but we think this upcoming week! Also, this last week two more people set a baptismal date. All I can say it, the weekend of General Conference is going to be really busy! Wow! Both baptisms are scheduled for that weekend! I have been learning some neat things about The Book of Mormon. I have been noticing that even as I missionary I sometimes shy away from talking about it because people don't always want to accept it. I should be using this to my advantage! If people won't read The Book of Mormon, then they can't get a testimony of The Restoration through Joseph Smith or the divinity of the Book of Mormon! It is embarrassing that it took this long to realize.... We had a fun experience on Saturday. We went to a Marriage/Baptism. We got there and no one was playing the piano, so I hopped on and played some songs. It was so fun! I don't know what arrangements were coming out, but let me tell you - it was just flowing out. Blessings for the family :) The two people who got married have really changed their lives around. One was on drugs, the other was in jail, and now one is baptized and the other soon to follow! The more I am here, the more I realize how important agency is. We can talk to everybody on the planet, but if they don't want to change, then what we tell them isn't going to make a difference. But let me tell you this: when they do want to change, miracles happen! Lilia had the opportunity to switch her job so that she can come to work and she always expresses how much peace she feels in the Gospel.

We are really working to get the branch together. Yesterday, there were 10 women in Relief Society, and about the same in the Gospel Principle class. Little by little we are finding Spanish people to fill the branch. It is truly a miracle to see so many people fall into our laps. Really that is how we feel. The people who are ready - we don't do anything. They just fall into our laps and read The Book of Mormon. The thing we are really working on now is getting them to stay in the church after they are baptized. A lot of them come from homes where they are not supported, so they don't have any friends. Members are so important! Without a support group, a lot of these recent converts stop coming because they feel lonely and they plain don't know enough to be planted so firm as to not let their roots get pulled out. Here it come - the commitment: Will you go introduce yourself to every person you don't know this coming Sunday?
Love you all,
Hermana Clark