Dear momma and papa and friends,
This week has been great. Hard but great. On Wednesday we had a district meeting, and we were rebuked. Not us personally, but a district as a whole for not having enough faith. Our transfer (six week) goal for this transfer was to double our church attendance with our investigators and also the less actives in the ward. The numbers haven't gone up very much, and we were told that we lack faith. Because miracles happen when we have faith. We read from Ether 12:12-18, which talks about many miracles in the Book of Mormon, and how they all come down to the faith. It’s a good set of verses, and we have been thus working on our faith. We also are still working on our obedience, because we know that being obedient is one of the ways to show faith.
Every week, we have a district plan that the District Leader, Elder B, comes up with through prayer and study, to help our district that week. Our district plan for this week is hilarious. First he started off asking how much money we had. Then he asked how obedient we were. Then he gave us our GSP (goal solution plan) of the week. Here is how it goes.
G double church attendance
S. obedience challenge-2 Nephi 9:34
P.
· 1. Exercise in the morning
· 2. Leave the flat on time
· 3. Appointments can't last longer than an hour
· 4. Dinner appointments on time, and can't last longer than an hour.
· 5. Be in flat at nine, max 9:05.
· 6. Write in journal
· 7. Begin study on time
· 8. Be in bed at 10:30. We have to pay £1 every time we fail at one of these. And this is per companionship. So we have to be united in all we do to not have to pay. Well, I am not going to pay, so we are trying really hard to get everything down exactly. It’s pretty fun. He hasn't told us yet where the money will be going to. But yesterday was our first day, and we have 0 pounds to pay up so far! Going strong.
It was good to get H’s email! I can't believe she's in China. That’s so awesome! I can't wait to hear more about what she is doing and will do. She’s so awesome. Such a great friend, I do love her!
I’m glad to hear that the garden is going so well! Keep up the rhubarb so when I get home, it will be there! That’s awesome!
You sound like you had such a good time with Lucy! I have to say, I am a bit jealous, but I am glad I am here! I would love a picture of her bed, what color was the bed skirt? Anything fun? I bet she loved having you there mom, she told me she was so excited to have you come. And I am glad that papa could go to Trinity Alps while you were there. Who went with papa?
The A's are doing GREAT! We have been praying so constantly for them. It’s hard work to be in the church. It’s a lifelong commitment and it's important. I think that they are worried about that. They brought it up at our last lesson with them. They said that they don't really know what the problem is. They don't really feel like they are getting answers to prayers. So we went through how exactly they were praying, and gave them some ideas. Hopefully they are doing those things, like praying more specifically. And also, I am wondering what they are expecting their answer to be like. So there are some things like that. But they are still reading, and coming to church, and wanting to learn, and I think that that's good. Obviously they see that this is important. We hung out with K and Sister McF today. We tie-died shirts, and had lunch and it was so much fun! They are a crack up. It’s sad, Sister McF is moving next Thursday to Texas, and she and K are best friends. It will be so sad to see her go. I’m dreading it! But it was fun to hang out with them and their kids today.
This is me with a man who was playing a street organ - one with a little monkey on it.
About interviews with the mission president. They have always been once a transfer, as well as zone conference is every transfer. But we got an email today from President Ogden who announced that we are changing them both to be quarterly. It will be sad, because I really like interviews and zone conferences, but that will mean there will be lots more district meetings, which are good too. When we have interviews, usually it's about a three or four hour deal. The whole zone is there, and we get taught and trained by the AP's and during that, one at a time we are taken into an interview with the president. It’s really great, and it's wonderful to see Sister Ogden too, she's amazing. Since I have been here, we have had two, and Sister Ogden has provided some food, but it's not a full lunch. It’s just to tide us over.
So to get my license here in the UK, I have to take a written test. Which I hear is impossible unless you have the disk which has all the questions on it, and you just run it like a hundred times on the computer. So I will have to see if I can get permission to do that a few times, so that I can learn those answers. And also, I will probably have one lesson with a driving instructor, which I hope will be Brother By. Then I would be having a driving test. I hear they are really hard, but I am not really worried. The only thing I have to practice a little bit is parallel parking. But that's the only thing. Otherwise, I just have to stay within the speed limit, and drive with confidence. No problem!
The coolest thing happened this week. We were talking to people in the park on Saturday morning, and the whole time the carillon bells from the St. Mary’s church right by Banbury Cross were ringing 
the whole time. So we decided to go see what for, and there was a huge fun event at the church. Music, selling veggies and stuff people made and it was really fun. We went inside to learn more about what was going on, and I asked who played the carillon bells. A man was fetched, and he told me that the bells were hand wound, so you couldn't play them like I did in the Jerusalem YMCA bell tower. But he offered to bring us up and show us.
So we went up and watched while he wound the clock and we saw how it all worked. It was so cool! He answered all our questions, and showed us lots of cool stuff in the church. I loved it! I
t was sad I couldn't play the bells, but it was still so cool. What a neat experience.
How funny that you left the joke about the twins in! Ha-ha, oops! Lucy is going to start getting congratulations notes! Ha-ha. Good thing for Diane! I am glad people were reading my blog; it was just a test to see if anyone actually reads it! Diane passed!
Well, I love you all! I am working hard here, and doing my best. Things are great here in Banbury, and I love it here so much! The church is true!
Love,
Sister Clark
PS. remember that p day switches to Monday’s starting august 2nd. Love love love you!
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