I'M HOME!!! (in _______)

I'm going to quote Sister Holtermann's email for a minute, because we're almost the same person anyways.

Sister Holtermann:

"This week was wonderful! Many spiritual experiences, many funny moments. I hope your week was wonderful as well! 

This week, we were up in Idaho Falls at the temple again. It was such a good week! Sister Clark and I visited a Japanese Garden and sat by the Falls almost every day. Woo! 

We found a taco truck in IF, so we went and enjoyed some delicious Mexican food. I had an elote for the first time in a looooong time. And it was GLORIOUS. 

We had a lot of wonderful spiritual experiences this week at the temple! 

First, we were able to sit in the celestial room of the temple before our shift in the mornings. It set the tone for the day and helped us to focus on becoming more Christ-like. I also received a lot of super awesome revelation that strengthened my faith in Heavenly Father. The temple is so wonderful!"

Ditto to everything for me! It was a really good week :D We go back for the last two days of the tours on the 19th and 20th- we're almost done!!!

We're not supposed to proselyte during the tours, but on the last tour on the last night, the tour guide stood up after the video we show and he started to talk about his conversion story to the Church. He looked at us and said, "Now I know this is out of the ordinary, but..." and he continued to testify of what he knew to be true, and he invited everyone to have a prayer in their hearts and promised that they would have a spiritual experience if they did. It was really powerful!! 

Here's an awesome quote our mission sent out to everyone that I love:

Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, cautioned: “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”

From President Hancock: "He who has a desire finds a way; he who does not finds an excuse."

Making the days count, not counting the days here in the wonderful IPM!!

Love ya'll!!

Idaho Falls Temple Tours Week 2, Stay Tuned....

Pray for us, we're still exhausted from the last week's tours and we're going back in for more today... BUT at the same time I'm really excited for them :)

Last Monday we went to the Potato Museum. I saw with my own eyes the largest potato chip in the whole world... I feel quite educated on potatoes now. I never knew there was so much to know about potatoes in my life before. Thank you, Idaho, for your strange obsession with potatoes!! I love this place so much.

All this week, it was SO HARD to want to get out and work knowing that we are just going to leave again soon... but we did it anyways :) Nothing huge or out of the ordinary, but we saw plenty of ordinary mini miracles a lot in finding people at home or having some awesome lessons with Lindsey and Diane, someone who wants to come back to church with all of her soul. We love our peoples here!

I'll have a lot more to send home again next week, I'm sure :) Happy Early Mother's Day, everyone! I CAN'T WAIT FOR MOTHER'S DAY!!! Hug your mom, all of those who can!

Love,

Sister Clark

Back in B________ (sorry, still trying to keep Sis. Clark's areas private ;) )

The tours at the Idaho Falls Temple have been crazy!! But a crazy awesome!! :D 

We've talked to a lot of amazing people with some deep questions of the soul looking for answers. One day we had a big group of Hispanics come through, all asking a lot of good questions... in Spanish, of course. The rest of us stood by watching as the Hermanas handled the situation, and they even played the Christus recording for the group in the Visitor's Center. The look on their faces as they listened to it made me tear up. I had no idea what was being said, but the feeling that swept over everyone in the room was undeniable. The Gospel and the Holy Spirit testifying of the truthfulness of it is so powerful even if you don't speak the language.

Other than that incredible experience, we had a lot of small miracles adding up to a wonderful week of tours :D And the weather is getting to be better and better!!! Idaho Falls is beautiful! We played in the Park for a bit on one of our breaks one day and took a picture by the Marines portion of a tribute to Veterans, and the Falls.... oh man. I'm in love with this place.

I also got to see the Mansfields!! It's the cherry on top of my week! They're so amazing, I miss them so much- it was hard not to cry :') I've got friends and family all around me all the time- I love being a missionary!

In the entrance of the temple is inscribed a scripture I really love and have been pondering over. It's Habakkuk 2:20, saying, "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

I love the solemn and beautiful, respectful reverence we're encouraged to keep in the Lord's holy halls. I miss being in the temple often- I'm looking forward to going back.

Funny story- so during church Sister Holtermann crossed her leg and suddenly looked at me with wide eyes and whispered, "Oh. My. Gosh." They just called someone up for a calling and I immediately looked around for whatever the scandal was. Was someone wearing socks and sandals in the chapel? Did someone dress up in a neon orange suit? The man standing for his calling was totally normal and happy... 

Then Sister Holtermann explained. "There is gum ALL OVER my leg," she whispered in horror. "I CAN SMELL IT."

As a good trainer would, I busted up laughing in Sacrament. I died. This poor girl really did have gum EVERYWHERE, freshly stuck under the seat by someone before and now smeared everywhere down her leg in minty fresh streaks. You'll know the picture when you see it. 

Hehehehe another funny story- President drove us down from Idaho Falls to Pocatello for MLC (I got to see 3 of my old comps again!!!! And I saw Bueno and Archer for the last time....), and on the way back President bought us pizza. He wanted to bring it into the stake center so the others could have the extras, but we'd have to smuggle it in. The solution was to casually wrap the pizza in a pink elephant blanket................. LOL we all died laughing at him X'D I love the Hancocks with all my heart!

Sis. Jarvis

 Sis. Wilson

Sis. Archer

Sis. Holtermann

Take care! Love you all!! Don't drink creek water!

Love,

Sis. Clark

Idaho Falls Temple Tours- they're the best!!

We've finished exchanges and now we're on to the real crazy part of the transfer- TEMPLE TOURS!!!! They're going so well already! I've ran into 3 different people I knew from before my mission and it's only been one day, so that's a little weird :O

We have someone new to teach!!! We're really excited, and he seems to want this in his life. J___ grew up Catholic but never really practiced, and he's excited about baptism washing away his sins and having the Holy Spirit with him always to bless his family.

For those of you who are members, go back to the temple often. For those of you who are not members yet, become a member so you can go!! I've been thinking a lot about the solemnities of eternity lately, and what truly matters. It boils down to our Heavenly Father and families.

Well, we're off for another adventure!! :D  Take care!

Love,

Sister Clark

(Sister John and I at the temple! She's so cute!)

WOW what a good Easter Sunday!!! :D And the rest of the week, too!!!!!

I had the pleasure of going on THE most amazing, productive exchanges I have ever been on during my mission this past Tuesday and Wednesday.

So during MLC this last time, I got a random idea to write down some thoughts for my sisters specifically as MLC went on, kind of like a mini prayer journal for each of them. I started off the meeting with a little prayer asking to know what I could share with each of them on exchanges, specifically, what God may need them to hear.

When I went on exchanges with Sister Costa first, she opened up to me so much and talked, talked, talked... it was really good. She felt comfortable talking about how things are really going and how she really feels, and what she might be struggling with. I felt strongly at one point that I should get out the card that I wrote some notes down for Sister Costa of what I planned on sharing during the exchange, but instead of just bringing up the points without telling her where they came from like I'd planned, I felt like I should just tell her openly about what I did at MLC and give her the card. I had written down, "You ARE a disciple of Jesus Christ. You are a powerful teacher." Sister Costa began to cry, and she told me that was exactly what she'd been worrying about the most, feeling like she wasn't a good teacher or being too bold or not doing things right. She wants so badly to be the best companion and best missionary she can be- I respect her so much. We proceeded to teach 6 amazing, profound, and extremely powerful lessons that day and found a new person interested in learning more about Christ.

THEN with Sister John, the same thing happened. She opened up, talked about her insecurities and her desires to do better, and she told me something she'd never told anyone else that she ignored a really strong spiritual prompting to do something, and she feels so guilty and like she'll have to account for that at the last day. I testified with all my heart of the Atoning Blood of Jesus Christ that can cover even that, and then I felt prompted to get HER card from MLC out too. It only read, "You are better than you think you are. You are perfect the way you are." She also cried and we cried together. We also had a day of 5 amazing, powerful lessons taught, and also found a new person interested in learning more about Christ.
Sister Holtermann and I continued the trend of teaching tons of amazing, powerful lessons after exchanges!!! It's awesome!!! So many miracles!!!!!!! And L______ CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! For her first time!! She stayed the whole time too! In that same day, Bishop B_____ told us in our Ward Council meeting that he would set up lessons for us with a potential investigator, and after church a returned missionary from Rexburg asked us to teach his friend and he'd set up those lessons too. WOW!!!!!!!! L_____ also researched her family's history with Brother C______, and she loved it. She's so excited to be a member and she keeps telling us this :D She'll be baptized May 6th, it's so perfect!!!!!!! Right in between the weeks we'll be at the Idaho Falls Temple to help with the tours!!!!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!

We went to Idaho Falls on Sunday night for some training on how to run the tours (most of us had been through the Star Valley open house already so this was all old news haha. They played the exact same video from before to introduce the temple, and we all were whispering the words lol). After the training, we were taken through the temple for our own private tour. It is AMAZING. Wow. At one point, we were taken to a lobby area where we gathered around a HUGE painting of Christ teaching a group of people, and He was painted to look down directly at us as if He were teaching us personally. While we were staring up at the big picture of Christ, I just suddenly had a gentle urge to kneel and say a quick prayer. I didn't want anyone to see me, so when no one was looking I knelt really fast, and stood up with tears in my eyes. It was a 2 second, silent moment that has changed my heart. I love my Savior. I love Him so much. I KNOW that He lives and loves us. I'm very grateful to Him, and I owe Him more than I could ever offer.

Now for a few short stories:

My winter boots are dead and gone now! Worn out in the Lord's service.

One day Sister Holtermann ran towards the horses in the backyard and they ran away of course, because they were scared. LOL she laid down and fake cried. She's so weird, I love her.

Another day we did some rock art. One of them is my rendition of Jubba the Hut, and the other is a pun. Do you get it???

Last Monday we went bowling with a few missionaries- the other elders are scrubs so they didn't make it in the picture. BUT my District Leader is going to help me out and shine my shoes for me for the temple open house, so they've been redeemed!

The other pictures I sent were mostly about the temple and I was reunited with BUENO!!! And Sister ARCHER!!!!!!!! This is my last time seeing them as missionaries before they go home :'( But we'll get together again soon. My time is getting really short, and it's not ok....

Love,

Sister Clark

Week of Trainings and Study

This week has been slow but action packed at the same time! How, you ask? Well, let me tell ya.

So on Tuesday, as I said before, we had a big missionary meeting for Zone Conference and my poor baby Sister Holtermann helped me with giving my training for everyone- she did AWESOME!! Proud mama moment, no one can tell that she's only been out a few months. She's my hero <3

Then after that, we went to dinner with a sweet, sweet member family and they accidentally poisoned my girl with uncooked chicken... she was down and out for 3 days. 

BUT! In those three days not only did I study the whole time, but I LEARNED. I feel like there's a difference- I didn't just read the scriptures, but I learned about Christ through them. It was so cool!! I also had the opportunity to buy all the Bible Videos on disk and so I spent all my time watching the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus Christ. WOW they did such a great job!! :D I spent all my mornings crying because the Spirit was so strong, testifying to my heart that Jesus truly is the Christ, and His Gospel is the only way back home to heaven.

Then on Thursday we had Zone Training, which Sister Holtermann was a champ and made it through without throwing up, and we had so much to talk about Charity and showing the zone how to have a good companionship and how you can talk things out... we went over time quite a bit, but it was really good!! For being so stressed out about it, all my study time helped me to be at peace and figure out what to share, and then we carried out the training with confidence :D Life is good!!!

I have learned so much this week. Poor L____ wanted to go to church so badly this past Sunday, but she woke up with strep throat and so she didn't make it :( PLEASE pray with us that she'll be able to make it to church soon!!! She's picked her own baptism date and we REALLY want to help her to reach it!!

Some words from our Prophet that really inspired me: "How do we find the Lord? I believe we have to seek Him in simple things.  I believe we have to seek Him in personal prayer.  I believe we must seek Him in personal service.  I believe we seek and find Jesus when we follow His example." ~President Thomas S. Monson

I know the Gospel has been restored!! The power of God through the Priesthood is back after it was lost for so long, but IT IS BACK! It's a HUGE deal!!!! Ask the nearest missionary about it!!!!!

Till next week :)

Love,

Sister Clark

1. We were caught in a sleet storm out of nowhere! Bleh!

2. P-Day with the Hermanas!

3. The Mansfields gave us Easter baskets!!

4. A member took us shopping!

General Conference!!!

Can we just take a moment to consider how EPIC it was to watch General Conference and to hear the words of the prophets? WHOA. I had so many questions and concerns answered! 

AND POCATELLO IS GETTING A TEMPLE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This week was FULL of good things!! :D L_____ came with us to conference!!!! She LOVED it!! And when we were over at her house one day with Sister North, L_____ started asking about baptism, like "Is the water warm?" and "How many people have to be there? Can it be a small event?" We stopped her and said, "WAIT. L_____?! Are you planning out your baptism?!" She answered, "Well I think I'm ready, so I guess I am!"

WOW!!

Then at conference, when they listed out all the statistics from last year, they talked about how many thousand converts or so joined the church and she said, "Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to be one of those numbers the next time!!"  WOW!!!!!!!!!

It's been a really good week :D This week will be madness though, I already know it.

So there's Zone Conference on Tuesday with 3 zones and I have a part in that, to figure out something to talk about with the elders on planning and following promptings. And then, on Friday, we have Zone Training and I have to again work with the elders and figure that out and help with a lot of practices and role plays to help teach skills, not just preach. And THEN, President decided I could handle even more responsibility and he gave me another set of sisters to do exchanges with. So Between this crazy week and then doing 4 exchanges and continuing to train........................... AH! 

And THEN, the Idaho Falls Temple tours start on the 22nd!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!! I need to get exchanges done before then!!!! :O And THENNN, suddenly it'll be Mother's Day in the middle of the tours. And THEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN I'm on my last transfer and then I DIE. No rest for the weary. But this is all a good crazy! I'm also totally fine to handle it. I received a really powerful blessing the other night and I feel empowered and prepared to handle anything :)

It's amazing to me how much the peace of the Gospel fills my life. No matter what is going on, I know that I have my Redeemer behind me and I feel safe, secure, and confident.

That's been the gist of my week! I feel peace, I feel confidence, and I feel my Savior's love :) I'm a little rushed, there's so many little stories I wish I could tell but I just gotta go! Sorry! Have an amazing week!!

Love, 

Sister Clark

President Monson announced that Pocatello is getting a temple!!!!

L_______'s cat plopped down on her Book of Mormon, LOL.