HAPPY PIONEER DAY

 

Since I don't really live in Utah or roundabout, I forgot about Pioneer Day as a real thing. Our branch president asked Sister Pierce and I to sing Faith in Every Footstep during sacrament meeting in celebration. That song was also new to me. I've never heard of it before two weeks ago.

 

We also got a new investigator this week! It was so exciting! His name is Aaron. He rides a motorcycle, which is totally awesome, and he's Baptist. Sister Pierce and I were out tracting, and on our way back to our car to go home, he came up to us and told us how much he appreciated what we do. It was quite unexpected. He asked if we could have a bible study the next day, and obviously we said "OF COURSE!"

 

We ended up having to reschedule for Saturday, though, but it all worked out! We went to see him with a member, and he had a whole bunch of questions about the Bible. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said we could come back next Saturday.

 

ALSO, since I'm sending Sister Pierce home next week (*sniffle*), we've been going to see members and investigators and such so that she can get pictures with everybody. One of the things she wanted to do before she left was to see a bison. AND GUESS WHAT. She did :) We had dinner at a member family's home who had bison, and they took us out to see them. It was really neat!

 

Have a beautiful week, everyone :)

 

Lots of love,

 Sister Clark

                                 SISTER CLARK REUNITED WITH SISTER CAVEY AND
                                 ELDER FILLMORE FROM THE MTC

THE BADLANDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA

(THIS POST WAS SENT ON JULY 20, 2015)

I've decided that mint Oreos are one of the greatest creations. Sister Pierce is a mint addict, and I'm afraid she's sucked me in.

Last Monday, we were able to go to family home evening with Sister Hansen and her daughter, Amanda. I always love when Sister Hansen teaches anything. Her testimony of the gospel is so strong! Plus, they fed us cake afterward, so that's always good.

On Tuesday, Sister Pierce and I went back to a home we had contacted last week, and we were able to meet a girl named Sarah, her mom, and her sister-in-law Kate (or Katie. My memory has become progressively worse). We found out that the sister missionaries before us had visited them a lot, that they aren't interested, but that they're super friendly.

Apparently there's a member that lives in Columbus, Nebraska who occasionally comes to Valentine to deliver frozen foods to the stores here. Every time he's in town, he takes the sister missionaries out to lunch and gives them frozen pizza. He called us on Tuesday night to ask if we were free on Wednesday, and so we ate lunch at a place called The Bunkhouse, which has really good pie, by the way. As we were talking to him, I was just amazed at how much of a missionary he his! Everything we talked about related to missionary work and the gospel. He constantly talks to the people he works with about the gospel. And the best part is, he doesn't sound like he has an angle. He just genuinely loves Christ and wants others to have a better relationship with him. I want to be just like him someday.

We had a lesson with the Honeycutt family on Thursday, and it went SO WELL! We discussed obedience and following the prophet, and they completely understood that Heavenly Father gives us commandments because he loves us and knows what's best for us. It was amazing. AND THEN, George talked to us at the end about how he's noticed a change in his wife, Brenda, ever since she joined the church, and he's noticed a change in himself as well. He knows that God has a plan for him, but he doesn't know what it is yet. I WAS SO HAPPY! He's going to do great things, I think.

On Friday, our district (of a companionship of elders and a companionship of sisters) got permission to drive down to Rapid City together to go to our zone conference. We passed through the Badlands, which I've never seen before. It was so beautiful! I should've taken pictures, probably, but I'll see them again. I just wanted to soak it all in.

  

                                       SISTER CLARK MEETS SISTER LEWIS (LEWIS & CLARK)

We finally got to meet our new mission president and his wife: President and Sister Hess. They are absolutely wonderful! The love between them is evident. They're an equal companionship for sure.

I LOVE being a missionary. It's one of the best things. The church is true!

Love,

Sister Clark

HAPPY MONDAY - AFTER INDEPENDENCE DAY

(THIS POST WAS SENT ON JULY, 6, 2015)

First of all, I thought everyone should be aware of a very important milestone that I just hit:  Sister Pierce and I made hamburgers. FROM SCRATCH. I think, at this point, I've pretty much made it in life. Except, we found out we only had hot dog buns, so we tried to shape the patties to fit. It sort of worked. But, they tasted dang good.

Sister Pierce and I went over to walk with Lisa on Wednesday evening, and there was a guy there who was prepping her house to be painted. We talked to him for a bit and found out that he served a 6-year service mission for his church in Mexico. It was so cool! And he met his wife there, which is adorable. AND, he's from Ohio! Which means that he's also a Buckeyes fan, but that's okay :) it was really cool to talk about things that were familiar. Like Amish doughnuts.

Also, we had exchanges again this past week! I led the area. Basically, Sister Pierce was in a different area and a sister came down to Valentine and I was in charge.... it made me a bit nervous because I've only been out for two months, and I've never led an area before. It turned out okay, though! And also, another milestone: I invited someone to be baptized! She didn't exactly say yes. She knows that she wants to be baptized eventually, but she has a few concerns to resolve before that happens. The point is: I was nervous, but I did it.

At the end of exchanges, Sister Pierce and I had a training meeting with our zone leaders and our sister training leader and her companion. Since I'm still in training, they talk to us each week to see how I'm progressing. Usually we would have a phone call, but since we were all meeting up to exchange back anyway, we just had a full-blown meeting. Sister Pierce and I did a role play of teaching about the Book of Mormon and extending an invitation to read it. IT WAS SO GOOD. One day I'll teach like that in real life.

Our mission president approved firework-watching on Saturday night, so long as we woke up on time the next morning. We got to go to a member's home and watch fireworks with them. I felt like I was back home again, watching fireworks with all of my cousins and plugging my ears because it was so loud.

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day. Love you all!

Sister Clark

ANOTHER WEEK IN PARADISE

Our Tuesday appointment with Lori fell through, which was lame! Since we had a member with us at the time, we decided to take her with us to stop by and see a less-active sister, Sister Shandrew, in our branch to see how she was doing. We caught her just as she was leaving. She talked with us for a while, and showed us her beautiful garden! A lot of members here grow such beautiful gardens, vegetable and flower, and it makes me want to grow one, too.. except I don't have a lot of success with plants. When I grow up I want to be able to grow a garden. But anyway, it turned out that it was the 20th anniversary of Sister Shandrew's brother's passing. I'm so glad that we got to talk to her, though! I hope we helped her feel a little better, at least.

On our way to a dinner appointment, we decided to tract in another town in our area outside of Valentine, and we got a couple of referrals from the lady who we were going to for dinner. As we were looking for those people (who we didn't find, by the way. She relied on me knowing my way around town. HA. She has too much faith in me) we ran into a Jehovah Witness named Myrtle and talked to her for a while. It was pretty cool! We left her a pass-along card with the link to the Because He Lives video (which is AMAZING, by the way). When we got home, there was a HUGE moth on our steps! There was a toad, too, but he ran away.

We were able to see Lori on Thursday! IT WAS SO AWESOME. I absolutely love her to death. The member who came with us bore her testimony, and it was pretty amazing. She doesn't think that she knows a whole lot, but her conviction about the gospel is quite inspiring. I want to be like her one day.

We have this one investigator named George who will usually only come to church if there's a missionary leaving, or if there's some sort of special occasion. He came for Father's day because his daughter, Kelsey, gave a talk (which was a great talk), and he tells us every time that he'll only stay for sacrament (which he does). One day, he'll stay :) BUT, he came this past Sunday! And there was no special occasion! He just came! I was so happy to see him. It's the little things.

  

Sister Pierce made me crepes this morning for breakfast. I swear, she's trying to make me fluffy. But I'm definitely not complaining.

Life is to be enjoyed, I think. Men are that they might have joy, after all. Sometimes I forget that, but I have reminders in little things throughout the week. Life is good.

Sister Clark