Banbury is SO beautiful!!

Dear family and friends,

So things that are different here. Well obviously the driving on the wrong side of the road in the wrong side of the car. Strange! But I am definitely getting used to it. Also roundabouts instead of four way stops. And I have never seen a stop sign here. There are lots of other weird signs though, like with pictures of old people crossing the road. It’s like in Vallejo on our way to piano lessons, there is a peacocks crossing sign. So funny.

Things they say. Yes, they do say cheerio. I haven't figured out what for though. Not everyone here at least says it. Instead of saying "how are you?" like we do, they say "are you alright?" it's weird. Like, do they think there is something wrong with me? Ha-ha, but I have started figuring out, that's just what they say. I don't say it yet. The accents don't even faze me anymore. Some people are hard to understand, but that's alright. Its fun guessing. Ha-ha! They don't say dessert, they say pudding. That definitely through me off. At dinner appointments they would say that we are going to have some pudding, and then they bring out cake and custard. Weird! Also, cookies are biscuits here. And tea is an early dinner. So if they are at tea, they may not be drinking tea, they just are eating. Funny.

So we have two women who are really exciting us this week! We have J, who lives with her husband and daughter Fi, who is ten years old. They both came to church this week! (J and Fi) and we were SO excited! After church, we went to their home to teach them and we committed J to baptism. She is from China, and has been taking the discussions for a while now, and this is the beginning of her learning about God and Jesus Christ. She wants to get baptized, and her baptismal date that we are working for is at the end of June. We are really excited! The other woman who we are teaching is J from Kenya. We haven't seen her for a whole week because she has been in London with her family. We can't get hold of her at the moment, but we have faith and hope that she will contact us back as soon as she can. She is wonderful, and knows the church is true, and wants to get baptized. We are really excited for her!

The weather here this week has been actually warm. It will surprise everyone who knows anything about England, that since I got here, I haven't even used my umbrella. It’s been warm. When it gets warm here, because it's apparently such a rarity, all men basically walk around without their shirts on. It’s strange, and I am ready for cooler weather. I find that I get more sleepy and tired when the weather is hot. Thank goodness for not getting called to Mesa now, I would be falling asleep everywhere!

So, every morning as a missionary, you get 30 minutes that you can exercise. It’s a wonderful time, right after you wake up. We live on Warwick Road, just less than a block away from the most beautiful park (Peoples Park) on the planet. There is a bird like house in the middle that is a huge cage that there are lots of pretty birds and bird feeders in. I can't think of the word right now, but if you can, replace it with this mess. Ha-ha. There are tons of different kinds of trees, and they are all beautiful. We run around the outside path, and it couldn't be lovelier. I love it! We also do a lot of finding in that park because there are always people walking with their dogs, or kids, or strollers. And there are always kids playing football (soccer) in the grass. It’s such a pretty place! And right now, there are tulips everywhere in there, and I love it. So we get to run in that park, and it's wonderful.



To more explain where I live, I like in an apartment complex, and our flat is on the top floor. It’s wonderful.

We live across the street from the Banbury Court House and the Banbury police station. That maybe will help. And kitty-corner from our apartment complex there is a bar (three pigeons bar I think) that apparently is older than America. How funny!

People don't usually love talking to us, and sometimes they are polite and listen, and we are never sure. But we always find out when the phone number is a fake, or when you call and they never answer the phone. The exciting one that happened this week is that I was calling a girl that I met in the park, reminding her for church. (Yes, we have cell phones). And she picked up and was talking to me. we were talking about her reading the Book of Mormon, then all the sudden, her dad gets on the phone yelling at me, telling me that she's only 17 and to never call again. I was nice, and said thank you and hung up. Wow. It was exciting! Needless to say, she didn't show up for church, ha-ha!

We still go out all the time with sister McK. She is wonderful! She fed us on Sunday, and told us how much she appreciates us and how we make her feel loved and like she has a purpose in this ward, which is so sweet. But that's how we feel about her! She is amazing, and an amazing person to bring out to investigators houses. She follows the spirit, and tells her conversion story so that people feel the spirit, and knows it's true. She is a blessing to have with us! I will try to get a picture with her by next week, so you can see her. We love her.

Thank you all for your letters and love. if you write the mission home, beware that I don't go there very often, once or twice a transfer (which is every 6 weeks) so if you wonder why I am not writing you back, it's hopefully just because I didn't get your letter yet. So feel free to send it to my address at 27 peoples place. The address should be on my blog.

I love you all! I love this church. Every day, I learn more about my savior, and what an amazing chance this is to teach people about him and bring them closer to him. He loves us and wants us to be happy. The gospel is the way to be the happiest, and I can promise that! Read the Book of Mormon! It’s true, and it blesses lives. If you ever doubt that the Book of Mormon isn't the word of God, I dare you to open it up, read it, pray about it, and find out anything but that it is truly the word of God and that it is revelation! Because of this book, we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that we still have a prophet!! I know it's true, and that's why I am here! I love this Gospel! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Clark

Basically, I am loving it here. It’s so beautiful, and I can't imagine a lovelier place.

Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross

I will try to make this as long and detailed as possible. Hopefully answering all your questions. First I will try to do that actually. I live on the top floor on the corner of Warwick. And the other streets I will have to figure out. I will let you know more next week, and I will take pictures of our flat and everything. Its way nice there. And somewhere famous that's close is where "Larkrise to Candleford" was filmed. The bishop’s wife recommended it; apparently it’s much like Jane Austin. See if you can find it at the library maybe? Yeah, I am close to oxford, but unfortunately it's outside my mission, so no visiting there. I wish though! I will ask around if there is anything super famous here though, I don't really think so. But I am not really in the know.

today was my preparation day, and we were with our entire zone, but zone conference tomorrow is different. we get lots of lessons and presentations and learn how to be a new missionary. I am not sure exactly what it will consist of, but I will let you know more next week. it should be great. my zone is really fun.

the zone leaders are Elder Huthingson (I think that's how it’s spelled) from Idaho, and Elder Davis from England. He is a really tall black guy who is like 25 and has already gone to Oxford and stuff. They are both really good. then my District leader is Elder Love. I can't remember where he is from, but he is very kind and motivational, and loving. fits his name well.

I am so glad I was so into Jane Austin all my life. I appreciate it here more than some people I think! but its' true, the roundabouts are CRAZY! but I am finally getting used to them, and I don't mind them anymore. I also don't feel like I am going to die driving on the wrong side of the road anymore. I am a very attentive "backseat" driver though. don't worry. I always have been, ask Marissa. ha-ha!

the mom and daughter we taught, we taught again. we invited her to church, but they didn't come. we will see why. we were sad!

About my companion Sister B.
her first language was French because she grew up in Cameroon, then she moved to Germany at nine, so that's her second language. this is her third language and she is really good! this picture was last night at a member's home. they gave us dessert which is called pudding here, and they poured green custard on it because i am a greenie. i laughed really hard.

Let’s see. about the bishop. they have kids, but they are all grown up. one of his daughters and her husband are in our ward, and they are great. the bishop’s wife is adorable, you would love her mom. she is so nice!

the rules with driving are that we have a limit to miles. I have no idea what that limit is though, but we do have one. and we are the only missionaries in Banbury. yes. it’s very fun.

I got to England without having to pay for extra luggage. I did find out that they would reimburse me if I did have to have more than one set of luggage, but it was good to consolidate I guess. how funny. the clothes are working out great I love them! we don’t' walk as much as I would like. we use the car a lot. the area is rather large.

thank you for the note from sister Keller. I loved her, and we got along so well. I miss her. I will try to write her. someday. no time!!

ok. for my week.

so basically since I talked to you, we had 8 people who said they were coming to church, but of course when Sunday came, all their phones were off and only one showed up. her name is Janet and she is from Kenya. she was great, and we are actually teaching her in about a half an hour. she wants to come back and bring her husband. I am excited to teach her more. we have a lady in the ward sister McK who comes with us to so many of our appointments!

she is wonderful. she is probably 65 and not married, and has no job, so she lets us keep her around. it's awesome!

we are also teaching a woman named jade from china. she now believes in God, and we just committed her to living the word of wisdom. we are excited for her to really pray and know that there is a God. that's a hard thing for her, since she was never Christian, but it's coming along well I think.

we are also teaching a man, P K. he is old, and lives on his own with his dog. he smokes, like most people here do, and we come out of our appointments smelling awful, but he also seems promising. people are not very kind to us here, but we grasp on to the times they are, and we keep working. it's an interesting feeling being here. it's finally set in that I am here for 18 months. that's a LONG time! goodness. but I am excited.

I love it here! I love the weather, the food is just great, and I am working hard!

I know this church is true. this is why I am here. I know the book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that if you just read it, you will know for yourself. I know that prayer works. it works for us all the time and it works for everyone else too. I am grateful for a prophet on the earth, and love this church! thanks for everything!

mom and papa, ESPECIALLY thank you for the postcards! I just got the one of bridal veil falls! wow! those falls are huge; I can't believe you got to see them at that point! I love getting the postcards, and I love showing my companions my piece of home! thank you thank you!!! ! I love you so much, you are the best parents. thank you for raising me to want to go on a mission. best decision ever! I love you very much!

love,
Sister Clark

First Day in Banbury England

Pictures will be added as soon as they are sent.

Dear Everyone,

so, i have only been here one day basically. we live in a beautiful town called Banbury. I will be here for at least 6 weeks, so you can send mail to me at this address:

Sister Ann Clark
27 Peoples Place
Warwick Road, Banbury
England,OX16 OFG
United Kingdom

Banbury is pretty close to Oxford I think. But Oxford is outside of our mission, so we can't go there.

Our flat is on the third floor of an apartment building, and it is beautiful. all old brick. I can tell I am going to LOVE it here. Everything here is so green, and all the buildings look like they came out of a Jane Austin movie. The only thing that I am not loving at the moment is the driving. My companion drives the vehicle, but she just started and it's going a little rough. haha. I have to pray every time i get in the car to make it to wherever we are going safely. But even if we take a wrong turn, I don't mind because there is grass, trees, and mustard everywhere! I haven't taken any pictures here yet, but there are fields of mustard for as far as you can see. And there are SO many round-abouts! It's crazy. but each one is beautiful, and lovely.

people here are pretty hard to understand, I am having to get used to the new language. I didn't realize i came to speak another language.

so far, not much has happened. i moved into my flat last night. it has a kitchen and a bathroom and a bedroom and everything! Much improved from where i was in last time. But either way if fine with me. I love my companion. she is adorable and funny. she understands the people better than i do. yesterday we taught a mom and her daughter and we have a return appointment. Last night we went to mutual for the beginning to meet the kids and so i could meet the bishop. his name is Bishop Au, and he is hilarious, and the kids love him. apparently we have dinner appointments with him every Wednesday, so that's tonight. oh, and usually Tuesday will be my preparation day, but since i got here yesterday, today is. so two emails in two days! Trying to make up for lost time i guess. we also went to meet the ward mission leader and his family last night. I have found that the higher class British people and the more learned they are, the easier their accent is to understand.

I was worried how i would sleep last night. i was SO tired. I fell asleep every time we just got in the car to go somewhere. and that's even with her crazy driving! yeah, i was exhausted. But i was worried that i wouldn't sleep because of the jet lag and the time change, but i slept right through till 6:30, and i would have been OK with sleeping longer. but exact obedience is the key. maybe i can go to bed tonight a little earlier than 10;30.

today we had personal study and companion study. I miss studying with sister Keller because i feel like we got on the same wave length so fast, but it's just going to be like this every time i get a new companion. after companion study we had to drive to Coventry for our district meeting. that was an hour away, so that took a chunk of time. we also went to lunch with our district after. There are 6 elders in our district, and we are the only sisters. we have the zone leaders in our district, and they are awesome. one is from Idaho, and one is from Oxford. he didn't have to travel far to get to his mission. lucky. he didn't even have to weigh his suitcases. i could have done without that. it was fun to go to lunch with them because now i feel like i know them now. apparently they are trying to set up a zone preparation next week to go to a castle. not sure which one, but i am excited! and i think i will be able to wear jeans!

mom, my clothes are working out awesomely! i don't have to ride bikes here, so all my skirts are great. and i will definitely need the boots for when it gets colder in the winter. it's even cold sometimes right now. it always is a little overcast, but in a beautiful way. everywhere you look, it looks like you are looking at a painting or a postcard. i will start taking pictures soon.

i don't really have much more to tell you. i love you! I know this gospel is true, and i am excited to teach it to the people in Banbury!
love,
Sister Clark

Arrival in Birmingham and recap of Colorado Springs

Hey!
So I just arrived in Birmingham. It's SO beautiful here, and the weather is amazing. I will try to start back from where my last letter left off, but that's been a couple weeks, and a lot has happened.

main points of the last days of the MTC were that me and my companion Sister Kiernan got to perform "my kindness shall not depart from thee" for mission conference. Mission conference happens every fast Sunday, and it just adds to all the other regular meetings. I was so excited to be able to perform on my own harp, oh how I already miss it, and it went great! The spirit was definitely felt. Its amazing how music can bring the spirit so strongly.

Monday I left before the rest of my district and flew to Colorado Springs. I went in the MTC bus (which made me think of David and Matthias) with a group of missionaries going to Chile, so we parted ways quickly after arriving at the airport. After having a companion constantly for two and a half weeks, it feels weird to not have one. When I got to Colorado Springs, the AP's picked me up and I immediately took a picture with President and Sister Pfile and went out tracting with some sisters.


Here Annie is with her Mission President, President Pfile, and his wife. They were wonderful.

My companion that I went tracting with was Sister Hilbert. She is from Australia, and she is so funny. We would switch off talking every other door, so right away I started talking to people. Soon, I wasn't even nervous. Amazing. I didn't think it would happen. On that first day we taught a couple of first discussions and placed a book of Mormon. And I got to take out someones trash. So fun! That night, I and all the other greenies from the MTC stayed at the Mission home, and President Pfile filled us in on everything in the mission. Apparently Elder C. Scott Grow had recently come to the mission and changed some things up, and so we learned all the new things. They emphasize the restoration, because that's what's different about our church, and they focus most on the restoration. They have this four part way to teach the restoration. The first companion sets up the restoration talking about the events in Joseph Smith's life leading up to the first vision. Then the second companion gives the first vision in "15 mph" so that the investigator can feel the spirit and picture what happened. (it felt super awkward the first few times, but I have noticed its great effectiveness already). Then the same companion testifies of the truth of it, and the first companion also testifies and commits them to following Christ's example by being baptized by the correct authority. My initial response was that it was gutsy, but then i realized that if people said no, they didn't waste any more time with them if they didn't have that goal in mind. Their names would still stay in the area book for later on.

Tuesday was much like Monday. We had some training, did some tracting, and had some more training.

Wednesday was transfers! before we started transfers though, we went out tracting again for a couple hours. This time I was with Sister Baker from Orem Utah. It was great, and we committed two people to baptism! At transfers I saw Brett Johnson (a kid I knew from my first semester at BYU, wow what a flashback that was) so that was fun. I didn't think I knew anybody in the mission. I got my companion, Sister Keller from Pleasant View Utah, and we went out to work.



She is awesome. Super fun and hard working. A good combination. I can't really remember anything else that day except for we live in the basement of a member's home, and we have no kitchen. We have a little fridge, microwave in our bedroom, a hot plate, and a toaster. We wash all our dishes in the bathroom sink and shower. It is funny, and we have to be creative with meals and cleaning. It definitely adds to the excitement. I am in the Pikes Peak singles ward, so all the people we work with are young. I wasn't expecting that, but its fun. We only tract apartments where young single adults would be.

Thursday, lots of teaching! I wish I had more specifics. We met with some less active members and new converts. It's so fun to talk to new converts who are just so excited about the church that they are constantly being a missionary. What a cool thing to see!

Ok, I am going to skip to Saturday. We taught an 18 year old kid named Aaron. His best friend is about to go on a mission, so he was a referral. We taught him with his friend, Scott, there, and it was amazing. It's a goal in that mission to give the first discussion in 15 minutes. Quite the challenge. But it works, and its really great because it's straight to the point and simple. When we got to the end of the lesson and the first vision, we committed him to be baptized. He said yes! Worth every rejection to hear a yes. So his baptismal date right now is for May 30. Sister Keller promised me that she would keep me informed.

Sunday was so cool! Happy Mothers day momma! We got to go to a new convert's patriarchal blessing! It was amazing, and this girl is amazing. She is like a golden member. I am so excited to hear more about her life too. Aaron came to church!!! We were really praying for that. He fits right in, and we are really excited to see how he grows during the rest of the lessons. I wish I could still teach him. That night I packed, because we had to get up at 3:00 AM to get me to the airport.


I have two missions - one in Colorado Springs and one in England Birmingham.

Monday. I tried to keep positive, and I know that sounds silly since I am going to England, but I fell in love with Colorado Springs. So it's kind of sad. I had a flight to Atlanta, and yes, I slept the whole time. I sure needed it. Then I had hours of waiting time in that airport. I got to use a nice girls phone to call mom, and she told me that Lucy had a Waldorf salad I had to try. I was in E terminal, and had to get to B, but I had enough time to do that. Oh, Lucy, so there is no more bath and body works. Now its a shoe store i think? so yeah, but i found it! And it was delicious. Thank you for that suggestion! I then flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam. LONG flight! I tried to sleep the whole way, but oh gosh, sitting the middle of two people and right behind a 2 year old who loved to look over her seat to say hi to me, it was a struggle. thank heavens for ear plugs! Amsterdam to Birmingham was a super short flight. That felt nice. President and Sister Ogden picked me up at the Birmingham airport. There was supposed to be the rest of a district landing at the same time i was, but their flights were all delayed. How sad!

So actually, all that just happened was actually on a Tuesday at a certain point. I can't really figure out what day is what. Jet lag is setting in. I am now in the Mission office, waiting for my companion. I just had lunch with President and Sister Ogden, fish and chips. YUM! Sister Bioleome was in Cameroon until she was 11, then her mom married a German and she moved to Germany. I haven't met her yet, but I hear that she is really funny and is a crazy driver. We will see! I am excited to work here. The weather is completely awesome. I can already tell I will love it here. Yay!

I know this church is true! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Christ's true church has been restored. I love the Book of Mormon. I am trying to read it all in one transfer. I am excited! I love you all, and thank you for all the prayers, letters, love, and support!
love,
Sister Clark

Visa Arrived - off to Birmingham

Ann got a call on Friday that her visa had arrived. Hip Hip. She has had such a great week, though in Colorado Springs, that she is almost sad to leave. She had several days of training at the mission home, tracting experiences with good trainers, got to know a wonderful mission president and his wife and felt quite at home and like she was doing good work in Colorado Springs. She even has a baptism lined up that she was partially responsible for!!

She left for Birmingham this morning. Leaving their abode at 3:00 a.m., stopping to pick up another sister set (so her companion would not have to return alone), and then taking Annie to the mission office to hitch a ride with the missionary couple there.

Her flight left at 6:00 a.m. She flies to Atlanta and then has a five hour wait till boarding a flight for Amsterdam. Then straight to Birmingham. A pretty exciting day. That means that mail now goes to Birmingham.

Annie is thrilled with all mail - thanks for your support!!