I kinda live in the ghetto

Hello all!

Things are going great here in Hospitalet! I'm not sure if I already said so, but before I got assigned to this area, I felt that I was going to be assigned to Barcelona, but only the office missionaries get assigned to Barcelona. But, Hospitalet is the area right next to it, so in a way I guessed right :)

I had my very first baptism in the mission! It was such an amazing experience! We will call her Yasseña just for privacy reasons for my blog :) But anyways, Yasseña is 17 years old. She was about halfway through all the lessons when I arrived, so I got to help teach her quite a bit. We saw her everyday last week. But her baptism on Saturday was so beautiful! She is the first person in her family to join the church. They are from Ecuador, by the way. But her whole family was crying, and after her baptism her mom came up to us and told us that she wants to be baptized too! We were so shocked! So we're working on that now! :) Missionary work is so wonderful!

So Hospitalet is the second most "ghetto" area in the mission. There are some areas that we aren't allowed to go to at night for our safety. Some really interesting things happen though in this area... haha Like the other day we went to a lesson, and when our investigator open the door he was completely and utterly naked. We were just like, "Uhhhhh... Is there another woman here?" And he said that he was just at home with his son. So we quickly made an appointment for another day and left. Later he texted us and told us that his wife doesn't want to investigate the church, but maybe in the future. We were just laughing about the whole thing all day haha. Europeans are different from Americans when summer comes haha.

Fun fact: I live in an area of Spain called Catalunya, and so there is another language here. It's called Catalan. All metro stops and most signs (street signs, resturant signs, store signs, etc) are in Catalan, not Spanish. There are some ways that it's kind of similar to Spanish, but not really... And you hear people speak Catalan a lot. So that's fun! I know a couple basic phrases in Catalan, but that's it. But it does make some things confusing, cause I have a really hard time pronouncing the metro stops haha.

The other day we were running to catch the metro after preparation day (we had played volleyball and stuff with our district) and I tripped and fell down so bad haha. My knees are really purple and my scab still bleeds sometimes, but it's okay! We laughed a lot when I fell haha

We were able to watch most of General Conference this weekend. General Conference is when we have the opportunity to listen to our prophets and apostles speak. Because of the time difference, we watched the Saturday Morning Session on Saturday night, and then the Sat Afternoon Session on Sunday morning, and the Sunday Morning Session on Sunday night. We have to read the Sunday Afternoon Session on our own time another day. We were also able to set up a TV upstairs in the church so all of us American missionaries could watch in English. So that was super nice! I just loved being able to watch conference though! It's true when people say it is so much better in the mission! 

Also, I would like to take a moment and thank my brother Cade for helping me so much with my Spanish before I left. Thank you for helping me translate my testimony into Spanish, because that's what I have to hold onto when I have no idea what is going on and my brain is having a hard time thinking of what to say. But really, just thank you for all of your mini Spanish lessons, it's all starting to make sense now what you said. There are so many times that I have been thankful for that. So thank you, Cade :)

Well, I just love it here! Missionary work is amazing and wonderful! It's hard and you get rejected a lot, but it's alright! I love how I have been able to meet so mang different people from so many different places and countries. I have learned so much here. There are good people everywhere. Well, I think that's it for today! I love you all! And Heavenly Father loves you too! Nos vemos!

-Hermana Clark

Ps-I counted the other day when we were visiting a lady in her piso (apartment) and we had to climb up 12 flights of stairs. Yes. 12. My legs are super buff now haha

My first area is.....

Hey everyone!

Well, I'm officially in my mission now! We woke up at 4:45am on Tuesday morning to take a bullet train to the Mission Office in Barcelona. It took us just about 3 hours to get to Barcelona. I just love Spain! It is so beautiful! After the train, President and Sister Dayton came and picked up us 8 missionaries at the station. Then they took us to a castle! I believe it's called Castle Montjüic (not sure how to spell that). It was amazing! So beautiful! Then we went to the Mission Home to have trainings, interviews, and dinner. Fun fact: there are 5 missionaries in the Barcelona Mission (including me) that I went to high school with at Fremont. Silverwolves, way to represent! ;) haha Anyway, after dinner, I was picked up by Hermana Pratt to stay the night with her in Badalona. She didn't waste anytime putting me to work! We went contacting and taught a lesson.

After I stayed the night with Hermana Pratt, she took me back to the Mission Office so I could be assigned to my first area and get my trainer! All the new missionaries and trainers had lunch together, another training together, and then we were assigned! My companion is Hermana Anderson from Layton, Utah! She is so wonderful! I just love her! And my first area is Hospitalet!! I just love it here!!! This work is amazing!! We do a lot of street contacting and knocking doors, and we teach a lot of lessons too.

Right now it feels pretty cold in Hospitalet, mostly just because of the humidity. Oh, and it rained BUCKETS on Friday. Hermana Anderson and I just died laughing because we were so soaked! We must have looked so funny running through the streets in skirts in the pouring rain trying to get home at night haha! But I really love it here! I have never been busier, but I have never been happier! I just love teaching people about the gospel, even though we get rejected a lot. But it's okay! I really just love the people of Spain! Until next time, nos vemos!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- A guy tried pickpocketing me on my first night on the metro...

Pss- The picture is of me on our little balcony with the pouring rain behind me

I'm a gypsy now!

Hello everyone! Well, this is the last time that I will write from the MTC! I will be taking a train to my mission in Barcelona on Tuesday. The train is one of those fancy bullet train things. We've been told that it goes like 160 mph and instead of taking 6 hours by car, it will only take us about 2.5 hours by train to go from Madrid to Barcelona. I'm suuuuper excited!! I can't wait! I love the MTC, but I am so excited to actually get to my mission and start to really feel like a missionary! So, just to explain how missions work a bit, I am in the Spain MTC in Madrid for six weeks learning Spanish and other stuff. But I will actually be serving in the Barcelona Mission. That includes Northern Spain. So in my mission are areas like San Sebastian, Valencia, Barcelona, Pamplona, and other cities. Anyway, after I leave the MTC, I go to the mission office in Barcelona for a couple days. There I will meet my Mission President and his wife, and I will receive my trainer (who I will be with for 12 weeks), and I will receive my first area that I will live in for at least 12 weeks. That area will be a city in Northern Spain. I can't wait to know where I am going!

Anyway, this week was pretty fun! Last week for p-day we went to a ton of places in Madrid. We went to El Palacio de Madrid (The Royal Palace of Madrid), a really cool cathedral, the Royal Gardens, we had really yummy gelato in the shape of a rose, a really famous statue of Don Quioxte, a mercado (market) where I bought a really pretty scarf, and some other places too. It was a super fun day!

One of my teachers, Hermana Notario, told me the other day that I look like the gypsy character Esmerelda from the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She told me that because I have dark hair, clear green eyes, tan skin, dark eyebrows, etc that I look Spanish. I was so happy that a Spaniard thinks that I look Spanish! So it's official! I can now officially say that I look Spanish because a Spaniard told me so! haha

So here we do something called SYL (speak your language). Normally we have to speak only Spanish everyday from like 8am-4pm or something. But all this week we have to speak only Spanish from 8am-9pm. My brain has never been so confused haha. It's really hard, but it has been super helpful.

This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon! President challenged us all to read the Book of Mormom in our native language before we left the MTC. I have never understood so much of the Book of Mormom before! It's awesome! Next my goal is to read it in Spanish! I also brought a Book of Mormon in Catalan with me, so maybe I will try to learn Catalan someday haha.

Oh, we also got five more Russian learning missionaries this week. Four sisters and one elder. They've only been here for a day, but they are awesome! I'm excited to get to know them a little bit before I leave next week! So I won't be writing again until Monday the 27th. That's when my next p-day is. So y'all won't be hearing from me again until then. From now on my p-days will be every Monday instead of every Thursday. So yep! Thanks again everyone for all your emails, love and support! I love you all! Nos vemos!

-Hermana Clark :)

I placed my first Book of Mormon!

This week has just flown by! I can't believe that I only have 11 days left in the MTC, then I leave for Barcelona! Woooo! I've been here for a month now! 17 more to go! So last week, I didn't enjoy the Reina Sofia Museum. I am not a huge fan of modern art, but seeing a lot of Picasso stuff was cool. But other than that, eh. It was nice to get to leave the MTC again though. We really do get to leave a lot though, it's really nice.

We had a really good day at the park on Saturday. I placed my first Book of Mormon! Wooo! It was such a good feeling. I'm slightly less nervous about contacting now. So that's good. But it's mostly just that I get nervous for conversations with people in Spanish. Our mistakes in Spanish are hilarious though. The other day my companion and I were teaching a lesson, and between the two of us, we accidently taught that we pray to Jesus Christ and that God died for our sins, and that after we die we go to queens of glory. We had a good laugh about it all haha.

Today we are going to El Centro de Madrid. Not sure what we are doing exactly, but I'm still really excited! I really love shopping for clothes in Spain, European clothes are just the best haha. I haven't actually let myself buy anything yet, I'm trying to wait until I get to Barcelona to buy stuff, but I am really wanting a floral dress. And there are soooo many Zara stores everywhere, and I just really love Zara now. Shopping in Spain is just the best!

Not much to talk about this week, same old same old. Sorry! But soon I will have tons of fun stories once I get to Barcelona in 11 days! I still love it here, and my testimony has seriously grown soooo much. I just love this gospel and all that it can do for us. El evangelio es verdadero! I love you all! Thank you all for your emails and love and support! Nos vemos!

-Hermana Clark :)