This Is It

Well, I guess this is it. It's so hard to believe that I have been in Spain for 18 months now. Gosh, how time flies! It's not even fair. But it is time to do new and different things now, I guess. To be honest, I am so excited to see my family! But I am so sad to leave Spain. I'm on a bus home to Vitoria after having spent my very last preparation day in San Sebastian. It was a good one to go out on!

Gosh, I am really going to miss being a missionary. There is something so special about being so involved in the process of a person changing their life and making covenants with God. I also just know that I have never grown so much as a person in such a short amount of time. Serving a mission was something that I had never planned for in my life, but I really cannot thank God enough for the chance that I have had to serve His Son. The mission has changed me so much, and I know that I am a different person because of it.

I have learned that forgiveness and not judging others is so extremely important in this life. I literally cannot progress in this life with these two principles. I have learned that most everyone is just trying to do thr right thing and be happy in their life. And I have learned that the only way to be truly happy when we understand who we are and our divine potential as sons and daughters of God, and to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To actually live it, and not just study it or think about it. And to live ALL of the Gospel, not just picking and choosong the parts that we like. If we only do half of the work, we will only get half of the blessings.

I hope you all have an incredible week! I know that I will! It is going to be full of paella! Be happy and dream big! I love you all!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- I really do love you all! Thank you so much for your love, support, letters amd emails!

Cherries!

So I may have procrastinated emailing today because we are in PAMPLONA! It's so pretty here! I've been here once before, but it is just so much funnto wander around all of the windy little streets and look at everything. Spain is so fun! Such a fun energy!

Last week Hermana Colque and I were the first hermanas to step foot in a city called Burgos in 7 years. We felt pretty special! The next two days we were in Bilbao. She has to have some medical stuff done, so we have been traveling quite a bit lately.

While we were in Burgos, we went to this pueblo with the matrimony missionary couple. There are literally only three steeets. And there are more cherries than people. While were we waiting to meet with some friends, Hermana Colque and I asked if we could help the workers harvest cherries. And the farmer said yes! And he also said that we could eat as many as we wanted! Hehehe Anyways, we were just harvesting some cherries, talking to the workers (who are from ALL over the world) and I started making friends with this one girl from Africa about my age. In the end, she asked us for our number! So that was pretty exciting!

Sorry, I don't have more time. I love you all! Remember that we are literally so important to God, that He worries about the little details in our life. What is important to us, is important to Him. He loves us so much!

-Hermana Clark

Ps- Next week will be the last time I send out an email. Spooky.

African dancing

So many things to tell this week! First. Yesterday we were out walking the beautiful streets of Spain, and it started to rain a little bit. You honestly never know when it is going to rain in Vitoria. But when it rains, it pours. So we were like, "Oh no." So we starting frantically walking around looking for cover, because we were far away from any bus stops and stuff. So we find this building that has the main door open, but we just decide to stand under the entrance that is only like 1 foot deep. I was on google maps looking fornsome sort of refuge, and all of the sudden the rain really starts coming down and there is a ton of lightning. I was about to suggest to my companion that we should just hang out in the lobby of the building and wait, but then this woman comes up behind us and shuts the door AND locks it with a key. That was sad. But then it started to hail. Fun fact: we didn't have umbrellas and I was in my sandals because it was literally so hot. So then the hail started gettting bigger. Until it was a downpour of hail the size of nickles and quarters. My companion was trying to protect herself with her tablet, and I got pelted a few times on my head and hands, etc. I put my glasses in my bag cause I was worried that they would break. Of course, everyone was looking out their windows to see the storm and two girls squealing/trying to hide under a 1 foot porch thing. And then everyone closed their shutters to protect their windows haha. We were half laughing, but kinda sad, because no one helped us, and the hail really hurt. After probably 20 minutes or so, the relief president called us and invited us over to dinner so we could dry off. I will admit, I teared up a bit. It felt so nice to be loved. Tender mercies :) So we waited for it to stop, and then we made our way over to her house. But there was so much rain that many of the streets werr closed because of flooding and the storm drains were so backed up that they were spitting water everywhere. It was a crazy day!

On Saturday our ward had a cultural party and a talent show. My companion and I borrowed some African dresses and did an African dance! The ward literally flipped out watching am American and a Chilean doing an African dance haha. It was soooo muvh fun! So we decided to wear the dresses to church. Such a bit hit! Haha

I realize more and more everyday how important faith is. There have been times when I have felt that I have nothing left to give, but then Christ steps in and gives me more strength and energy. It's hard to explain unless you have experienced it. But it is such an incredible and empowering feeling. I love it :)

I was also in Barcelona again last week for a meeting. Since I go home soonish, I gave a little thing in the meeting called "Lo que el Señor me ha enseñado" (what the Lord has taught me). I basically just cried.

I hope you all have a beautiful week! Please be good!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- I am still convinced that people are mostly good. I see way more examples of good than bad. People are good :) 

Blood Sausages

Our new mission president and his wife are the best!!! President and Hermana Galli! Wow they are so inspiring! They are also super quirky and funny! I wish so badly that I could stay longer just to be taught by them. Also, Hermana Galli is considerably taller than President Galli, and it just describes their personalities perfectly hahaha. But wow, they are exactly what our mission needs right now. President Galli served his mission in Southern Spain, so that's super exciting! And Hermana Galli also speaks Spanish. The welcome conference that we had with them was amazing!!!!

The biggest thing that I learned this week was to do things intentionally. Be purposeful in every action. Don't do things half-way or half-hearted. If you are going to do something, don't waste your time and kind of do it. Do it well and completely. That is how Christ was. Everything He did, He did intentionally and with a purpose. He was so steady in everything that He did. He had perfect control of situations, because He had perfect control of Himself. My spirit needs to be in control of my body and my mind, not the other way around. I love the quote that goes something like, "We are not humans having a spiritual experience, we are spirits having a human experience." The time on the earth is not forever. We are here to learn and to progress. We need to feed our spirits uplifting things continously.

I tried to make Papa a la Huacaina (Peruvian dish) last week, and let's just say that I kind of failed hahaha. But! It was just an adventure running around everywhere trying to find a certain kind of yellow pepper called ahí. We ended up in this African store, and we are obviously not African haha. Everyone was just staring at us haha. But hey, we are missionaries, so people literally just stare at us all of the time haha.

I want all of you to have the most wonderful week ever! If school is starting soon, good luck and study lots! I'll talk to you all next week! I love you!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- A member gave me a package of blood sausages at church yesterday. I think it's called morcillo. I love Spain! 

Chili vs Chile

I realized when I got home last week on Preparation Day that I said that my companion is from Chili. That's the food, not the country haha. She's from Chile hahaha. She is so much fun! We are literally just working so hard and it is so much fun!

My mission president and his wife finished their mission this last week. Now we have President Galli and his wife! We will be meeting them this Friday at a conference! I am so stinkin excited!! Also, we officially now have some areas of the Malaga Mission in our mission. Woooo!

I realized something the other day that changed my life. I have always had a bit of a hard time grasping the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love studying medical stuff, and so it has been always been more difficult for me to understand how Jesus Christ paid for all of our sins and felt every saddness, trial and hardship that we have. I have always struggled with that a bit. I have always had a testimony, because I can feel the Spirit confirm to me that it is true, and that it actually happened, but the physical idea part of it was harder for me to understand. Then I was reading a talk, and it talked about empathy. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person's situation and feel what they feel. I had always been telling people that Christ has felt everything that we have, and so I realized that that is empathy. Everything just made so much more sense after that.

The mission is just so wonderful. Holy cow. I don't want it to end. God is blessing us so much right now. I have never been able to teach so many families and people all at once. Wow. I love working with them and going through their struggles with them. I don't think that I have ever cried so much before. I love them all so much! And when they hurt, I hurt. God is so good. Wow. I love Him so much. I have learned to work hard and wait. God doesn't always bless us immediately, because otherwise we don't learn.

I love you all so much! Enjoy the summer! Eat watermelon! Also, Happy Fourth of July to you Americans out there!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- All of the clothes stores are starting their summer sales called rebajas. It's so fun!! :D