Enough.

A girl from Romania did my makeup last week. She told me that it was going to be really simple and "sencillo". Yeah, I looked like I was about to go club hopping or something haha. So much lipstick. So much eyeshadow. Lots of eyeliner. My eyebrows were definitely on fleek. They had never been "fleekier". (Is that a word? Probably not haha) Anyways, she's a super nice girl and I love meeting with her. She's 20 years old and is living in an apartment that doesn't have electricity, lighting, running water, etc. She fed us some amazingly delicious Romanian soup awhile ago. Super, super nice girl.

Today I got my hair cut at a Dominican salon. Best haircut of my life! Also just super fun! Dominicans know how to cut hair. My companion (who's Dominican) was explaining to me the importance of salons in her country. Only the men cut other men's hair. And only women cut other women's hair. And men are the best at doing eyebrows. Definitely another cultural experience for the books! I really loved it! They also just all thought that I was the cutest little gringa (white girl) ever haha.

There is sooo much going on in the world today. It's been making me think a lot. Also having seen so many different kinds of poverty over the last year and a half have been making me think, too. And I've decided that I've had enough. Enough. Enough of being idle. Enough of being lazy. Enough of being critical. Enough of being selfish. I'm tired. Tired of sitting on my butt and watching. Now I can see the importance of every person adding their contribution to the world. I see more clearly my purpose here as a missionary in Spain. I see the importance of becoming a dignified lady and woman of God. The world is what we make it. If I'm not doing my part, then I have no room to complain. So I will do my best to be nice, be humble, work hard, and represent Christ in all things.

I love you all! Please, please, please stay safe! Be good! Thank you for all your support and love. It means the world to me :)

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps-The little kids here in the ward are learning how to dance the Haka. My companion and I are trying to see if we can join in on the fun hahaha

Flamanco on the Farm

So the metros here play opera music. It's super fancy and waaay different than what I am used to in Hospitalet. I saw a drunk man vomit on the metro in Hospitalet once. No one ever talks in the metro in Valencia. I'm not even sure if people are breathing sometimes haha. The metros in Hospitalet are a party. Literally. I was used to people rapping for money, but now I listen to classical opera. It's definitely a change.

There is a little grandpa here that is just the best! We will call him Manolo. He is a Spanish man from Andulasia, and so his accent is so hard for me to understand. Everytime there is an "s" sound, he makes a "th" sound. Technically in the Spanish from Spain, you are only supposed to make a "th" sound for a certain number of "s" sounds, not every single one. But Manolo is just the best. He got baptized in April, I think. We visit him in his "campito", his little mini farm thing. It is probably the most Spanish experience I have had haha. This week when we went to visit him, he had made us bocadillos (sandwiches) with tortilla de patata (a typical Spanish dish) inside. The thing about bocadillos is that they are big. The bread here isn't like the bread in America. They are in bars, not loaves. Bars about two feet long. You can go to a panadería (bakery) and buy this bread freshly baked. It's amazing. Anyway, we ate bocadillos while Manolo put on Flamanco music and he also sang and danced Flamanco. All while in his Spanish campito. It was sooooo fun!

Anyway, this week was a good week! Lots of fun memories. It's actually my companion's birthday todag, and so we went to this amazing park! They have a giant Gulliver Man playset. Remember the story about the giant man who gets stranded on an island and these little people try to tie him down or something? Yeah, I don't remember it much either, but anyway, it's a giant man where they have made slides, rope courses, and stuff out of him. Super fun! Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures... Well, I think this wraps it up for this week. Love you all! Stay safe! Remember that God loves you! And no matter what is happening in your life, He will never leave you. :)

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- It got cold here for a couple days, and it was hilarious to watch everyone so confused. Some people were still wearing tank tops, some had puffy coats, etc. I saw one girl with short shorts and a puffy coat haha.

I ran into a wall

I love Valencia!! Soooo pretty! Also hotter than my last area haha. We do have an area here that is probably more ghetto than my other area. Not sure why I am getting all of the "ghetto" areas haha. But anyway, it's a different type of ghetto. I know I say this a lot, but I love how much diversity I keep seeing on the mission. Here we have a lot of Romanians. I love getting to know all different kinds of people and cultures. It makes me think that maybe I want to study some sort of international studies or something after the mission. Which, fun fact, I come home in less than a year now. So that's weird.

This morning we went to this place called Oceanogràfic, and it was soooo fun! We went to the dolphin show! I also think I might have gotten sunburned a bit haha. Oh, on Thursday I counted how many mosquito bites I have on just my legs, and I had 34. Yes. 34. I've gotten more since then, but I gave up counting haha.My companion told me that I should ask my brother how many bites he had when he was serving in Puerto Rico haha.

Speaking of my companion, I love living and working with her! So much fun! She's teaching me to speak like a Dominican haha. But I keep telling her that I want to speak like a Spaniard. It's so weird not speaking English much anymore. Frustrating too. There are times when I haven't been able to express myself emotionally and it can be really frustrating. It's really hard not to get down on myself and be really critical.

Anyway, I love you all so much! Be happy! Remember that there is a girl here in Valencia, Spain that is cheering and praying for you! You can do it!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- I ran into a wall the other day. Walked straight into it. Companion died laughing haha

I'm a real missionary now!

When I wrote y'all last week, I was in McDonald's eating some fries so I could use their free wifi. And it dawned on me that I didn't recognize the music that was being played. I said something about that out loud to the other missionaries that were there, and they all congratulated me. Because apparently it means that "I have arrived" in the missionary world, and that I am a "real missionary" now. As missionaries, we can only listen to Church music or uplifting music. It helps us to stay focused on our work here as missionaries. And I totally agree. It is so hard now to just start latin dancing in public. Shakira was right when she said that my hips don't lie.

Anyway, we were able to have our zone conference last week, and as usual it was amazing! They are always so refreshing and rejuvenating. It always just makes us want to go out and work our hardest. I also just love learning from our mission president and his wife. They are amazing! They always help us to realize our true potential, not only as misionaries, but as people.

We had the opportunity to go to La Rambla today where the attack had happened. I'm sure you have all seen pictures of all of the flowers, candles, etc. But there is something different about seeing it in person. Especially with all of the armed police that were everywhere. Life is fragile. But we also can't live in fear. It's an interesting balance that we need to learn. While we were there, I saw a girl that was wearing a shirt that says, "Hate Love, Love Hate". I just thought that that was kinda of ironic considering where we were at.

Well, my time is wrapping up here in Hospitalet. Next week I will be writing from a new area! I can't believe that I have been here for six months. It'll be weird to leave my first area, since I have been here for so long, and I don't know anything else. I have so many friends here, and I know all the streets here better than the streets back home. Well, I love you all! Also, shout out to Gabe and Emm on getting hitched this week! Wooo! Until next week!

-Hermana Clark :)

Ps- We were sitting outside of our apartment the other day, and this drunk man comes walking by listening to his music and rapping to himself. When he saw us, he obviously knew that we were missionaries, cause he starting rapping about the bible and stuff. It was hilarious! He didn't stop or anything, just kept walking down the street, but was singing about the bible haha. He mostly just kept saying "mantener la biblia" hahaha