In our branch, everyone just calls us "misionera." "Misionera! Play the
piano! Misionera! Lead the music! Thanks to the Hermana Misionera for
conducting the music." Doesn't matter how many times we tell them our names
are Hermana Clark and Hermana Richey, they just call us "misioneras." I
guess I can just pretend like it's a term of endearment...it's funny:)
Well, honestly, the week was so crazy and flew by so fast and culminated
with such a crazy Sunday that I am not even sure what to say in this
letter...
A few days before church I got a call from one of the hermanos in the
branch asking me to talk in church on Sacrament meeting. You get used to
being called last second to fill in as a missionary--but at least for that
assignment I has a few days notice. On Saturday the young womens leaders
told us that they would all be out of town and needed us to teach their
class. We figured, okay. Got it. We prepared like crazy and come Sunday
morning 2 hours before church, we got a text from the youth Sunday School
teacher saying "I am really sick today, I need you to teach my class." Of
course, we couldn't say no.
So I spoke in church, then Hermana Richey, an Hermana and her mom who has
Alzheimers, and I all sang a musical number, then we taught the youth
Sunday School class, and the Young Womens class.
On top of that, we got news in branch council that our branch 2nd counselor
might be moving (the 1st counselor moved last month), so President Waite
(our branch president) will be without counselors until we can find people
to fill the vacancies. (The poor guy already does so much as its--he is
awesome) We also found out that our branch mission leader will be moving in
2 weeks. I have been through 4 branch mission leaders since I have been in
this branch...there must just be something about that calling... So now we
are in charge of the 5th Sunday next week and making a branch mission plan
and presenting it and teaching it next week...I love it. My heart is here
in the branch. We just have to use our time very, very,very wisely to make
all this happen. Hoping for the best!
Our branch has always struggled leadership-wise, but even more so now.
Looks like the Lord is really testing our faith. We are ready!! We know the
Lord is preparing people to fill these positions.
After our crazy church experience, we didn't have much time left in the
day, but we went back to a trailer park to try to find our investigator who
has been hard to catch. We couldn't find her, so we decided to contact the
other people outside. Long-story short, the first group of people we talked
about were definitely not interested.
We then turned around and walked down toward a dead end and I saw a guy
outside with his chihuahua and started to talk to him. He also introduced
his neighbor who is from El Salvador. I said wow, cool! So he says, "oh!
you are from El Salvador???" I laughed and said, "No way! I wish I could be
Latina!" He then told me, "what? You're not? I totally thought you were!"
That was a first. Made for a good laugh.
After a good laugh, he explained that he is from Oxaca, Mexico and that he
has 4 grown kids who live in Washington, but that his wife recently got
deported back to Mexico (the worst thing about working with the hispanic
community is immigration...:( ). He told us that he is originally from an
indigenous tribe in Oxaca--which we thought was awesome! I didn't waste any
time in introducing him to the Book of Mormon--his family history. I showed
him the picture in the front of the Book of Mormon where the resurrected
Jesus ministers to the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. He was
fascinated.
He commented that it looked liked the Mayas and was very interested in
reading more about it. We left him with his own copy and our information
and set up a time to go see him next week. We are hoping this one turns
out! We are already great friends. The Book of Mormon sure has power!
Challenge: Share the Book of Mormon with someone this week. It is the best
contacting tool ever!:)
The Book of Mormon has power even if it is just laying around someone's
house! Of course, if read, the power increases--but the mere fact of having
a Book of Mormon in the house will change the Spirit of the whole house and
ONE day, they will be prepared to pick it up, dust it off, and read it.
Can't hurt to give one to everyone!
Have a great week all!
Hermana Clark