Churros and Chocolate!

y everyone! I've made it to my second p-day! Wooo! I'm still alive! haha I am still loving it here. A little info about the missionaries in my MTC, there are only 42 of us in the whole MTC. Most of us are Spanish learning, but we have a few misionaries that are French speaking and Portuguese speaking. But they are leaving for their missions on Monday. On Tuesday we will be getting Italian and Russian missionaries. I can't wait! It's super cool when we all sing together, because you can hear Spanish, French, and Portuguese all at the same time. You are just hearing so many different languages in Spain all the time though. So many people from so many different countries. I love it! 

Last week on p-day we went to Plaza Sol in Madrid, and we ate churros con chocolate! It's amazing!! So don't worry Brother Roundy, I have churros crossed off my bucket list now! The churros are super good, and the hot chocolate that you dip them in is amazing. The consistency is a little thinner than nutella, but thicker than American hot chocolate.

Last Saturday when we went to El Parque Retiro (the park) my companion was the Hermana Clark! She's also going to Barcelona, and we are both descendents of Erza T. Clark! So that was way cool to be companions with her for a day! We call ourselves Las Clarks haha. She's super sweet though, and says hi to everyone. We came up with a plan when we were contacting, that she would say hi to everyone, and then I would start a conversation. It was funny haha. There was this one group of guys that she said hi to, and they got all excited and asked me for my number. I was just like, "uhhhhh no." hahaha And then they asked to take a picture with me and Hermana Clark, and it was super awkward haha. We took an awkward selfie stick picture, cause we didn't know what to do, and both of our Spanish wasn't good enough to really explain stuff haha. So that was an interesting day haha.

Later today we are going to the Prado Museum, and I am sooooo excited!!! I love that we get to go places in Madrid every p-day!! It's the best!! I will actually get to know Madrid a little bit before I leave to Barcelona. It's awesome!

Well, I need to wrap this up. I am loving my time here in the MTC! It's the best! My testimony has grown soooo much! I love this gospel and how happy it makes me! I have never been busier, but I have never been happier. I just love life :) Until next week!

-Hermana Clark :)

I'm in Spain!!

Oh my goodness!! I can't believe that I am actually in Madrid! I've been here for a little over a week now. It's actually been pretty cold here. It snowed last week. We get to leave the MTC pretty often. Mostly to run errands or go play futbol or something. So that's really nice! Also, playing soccer with Brazilians is terrifying haha!

I love the food here so far. I had salmon for the first time the other day, and it was good! I've had fish fairly often since being here, and it's pretty good. Later today we are going out for churros and chocolate. I'm sooooo excited for that!! It will be awesome!!

Learning Spanish has been going pretty well so far. My brain is so confused though haha. I can understand pretty much everything everyone at the MTC says, but we will see how much I can understand once I talk to people in the "real world" haha. I can hold conversations pretty okay. My Spanish is really broken, but that's alright.

We get to go to the Madrid Temple every Thursday, so that's really nice. We will be going today after we finish emailing. And the session is in English, but President Packer has challenged us to use Spanish headphones, so that's what I'm going to do :)

I really am loving it here! It's been hard, but soooo good. We teach investigator lessons almost every night, and on Saturdays we go to El Parque Retiro to do contacting. It's a really pretty and big park where we just stop people and talk to them about the Church. It's really hard, but fun. After that we sing in the park.

I really like riding the metro, it's so fast and easy! I wish we had public transporation like that back home. You can get anywhere. Oh, and random fun fact, I've lost weight since being here. So that's cool I guess haha.

Oh, I had to speak in Sacrament meeting on Sunday in Spanish. That was fun! There's another Hermana Clark here, and she translated for me as I was speaking. We actually found out that we're related. She's a descendent of Erza T. Clark as well. Oh, my companion Hermana Johhson and I have been called as the music coordinators. I enjoy that a lot.

Well, I don't have much time left. I will email again next Thursday! I love being here, I love my companion Hermana Johnson, and I love my district!! They are seriously awesome!! Buenas tardes! Nos vemos!

-Hermana Clark

I'm off for Spain!

In about an hour or so, I will be officially set apart as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And then tomorrow I will fly out for the Madrid MTC in Spain.

I've mostly been excited, but when I woke up this morning, that's when it really kind of started to hit me that I am actually leaving. I was able to talk with one of my friends on the phone for a couple hours today, and that really helped to comfort me and be less scared. He was so wonderful to just let me cry and listen to my fears and concerns. Cause I definitely am scared to go, but I know why I am going.

The amount of support I have had from everyone has been incredible. You all are just so wonderful. I wouldn't be where I am without each and everyone one of you. Thank you sooo much! I love you all! Well, I guess this is it! My next post on here will come from Spain! :)

My Thoughts Lately...

First off, Feliz Navidad! I absolutely love Christmas! I love being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I wish I could have been there and felt that sweet spirit. What a feeling and experience that must have been!

So I have been sitting at my computer for about 50 minutes, writing, and re-writing this post. There are so many thoughts running through my head right now. If there is one thing I have learned this year, it is that God is the one who is ultimately in charge of our lives. Literally everything I had planned for 2016 didn't happen. Not. One. Thing. But that's okay, because everything He had planned was much better than anything I could have planned myself. Including serving a mission. I honestly never planned on serving, and never really wanted to or had the desire to. But boy has that changed! Now I am just dying to go!

After I came home from Peru, everything I had planned fell apart. It was really hard. I have never felt so lost and confused before. Going through the temple and receiving my endowments really helped me to feel grounded. Shortly after going through the temple was when I decided to serve a mission. That whole process went really quickly up until receiving my mission call to Spain. Since then, it has been extremely slow. From the time that I got my call, to when I leave, is a period of over four months. Guys, that's a third of a year! I really wanted to be gone asap! I was hoping to leave before Christmas. That plan also backfired! haha I have really been struggling with why I have to wait so long to leave. Still don't have an answer for that, but that's okay.

I guess I'm just trying to say that I am learning to be okay with the unknown. To other people, my struggles are probably pathetic. They might be thinking, "If the only thing she has to worry about, is not leaving for Spain when she wants to, she really doesn't have anything to worry about at all." And that's okay. Because it's definitely not the only thing I'm worrying about right now, it's just the only one I feel comfortable enough to put online for anyone and everyone to see. When I started this blog, it was just to keep my family and friends updated while I was in Peru. But now, it has become a little therapeutic and a nice way to organize my thoughts.

Anyways, I'm just gonna keep plugging along in life, and see where it takes me! I am so grateful for this gospel, and its many wonderful truths! Lately I have been so very grateful that I can feel Christ's love for me. He will never leave us alone. I want to leave you guys with this wonderful quote by President Thomas S. Monson:

"Your Heavenly Father loves you--each of you. That love never

changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your

possessions, or by the amount of money you

have in your bank account. It is not changed by your

talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you

when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful.

God's love is there for you whether or not

you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there."

Keep pushing through life, guys. You can do it! Remember, God is mindful of you. If you are ever feeling lonely, I invite you to pray to God and ask Him if He is there. His love is always there for you.