Dear mom and papa and family and friends!
I HAVE THE CAMERA! IN MY HAND. Thanks so much! I love it, and it's working great! Is there any way to charge it? Or attach it to the computer by any chance?
So transfers! I am moving to Wales. In heads of the valley. My address.
Sister Annie Clark
8 Woodland Walk
Georgetown, Merthyr Tydfil
CF481AQ
Wales
For the clean flat award, we will win the prize next time! This time it was a tie, and they chose the elders, because it was more impressive for them to have such a clean flat. Ha-ha. But that's alright. We had such a fun Valentines with the Henry's! I love them! We made them pasta and sauce. It was great!
This week we had a good week. We had some girls from Worcester come out with us on a mini mission for 2 days, and that was fun! Yesterday was pretty hard. I was really sad. I really didn't/don't want to leave Evesham! But yesterday we went and said goodbye to everyone. It was so sad. We had dinner and a lesson with G and his family. I was fine. I held it together all night. Until M, their little four year old started being so sweet. Usually she shows us her love by fighting and wrestling with us. But this time, she just came and sat next to me and just snuggled with me while we were teaching. I just started crying. Those kids kill me! I love them sooo much. I will miss them so much! But it will be alright. I am allowed to come back when G gets baptized. He better get a move on!
So T got baptized!!! And it went so well. He had such an incredible experience, and he has so much faith! It’s so great! He was so happy getting baptized. And he will do great! It was sad to say goodbye though! So sad. But it'll all be ok.
But I don’t have much time. Things are good. I’m alright, and things are good. I’m just in a weird place right now. Missions are SO weird! I just get picked up and moved with no notice, and then have to fall in love with a whole new ward. It’ll be good! Please pray for me!
Love you!
Annie
England Birmingham Mission
This is where I am serving!!!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Assistants to the President's Wife
14 February 2011
My dearest momma and papa, and family,
Happy birthday papa!
About assigning to new areas. I think he is cutting down on moving people around a lot. Unless they need to, or there is someone else who needs us in a different area, he keeps us together. It takes so much time to get used to new companions and new areas that not much work gets really done the first weeks of a transfer. At least it's not as effective. So I think he's leaving everyone a bit. But who knows. We find out transfer "dodge" or news in a week. So next Wednesday I will be emailing, because of transfers. I don't really think that he cares how many areas we see though. That’s not the objective I think. But who knows? But there really isn't a place that everyone wants to go. There are places not as many people want to go to (mostly Wales, because there aren't many people and it's just farm land and sheep I think ha-ha), but I don’t' know where everyone wants to go. I bet there is an elder’s area that they want to go to, but our areas are pretty limited. But I would like to go to Harbourne in Birmingham. That’s where I have been on exchanges, and there are SO many people, it seems fun. You’d have so many people to visit, and it's a huge ward. So that would be fun. But I really love being here. I love, and I think this is my scene. Little branch, and everyone is friends, and it's just really nice, and close knit. I like it. But I don't really mind where I go next. Wherever it is, I know it's where I need to be. But I wouldn't mind staying here in Evesham for one more transfer. That would make it six months. That’s a good amount of time. I had that in Banbury. So I’d like to have that here too.
T is doing great! We see him almost every day, and it's going well. He’s getting baptized on Saturday! He had his interview on Saturday, and then that night we went to a baptism in Worcester with him. This is a cool story actually! So Sister Ogden (President’s wife) called us on Friday, wondering if there was a time she could drop off some cookie dough so that we could make it for zone conference on Tuesday. Of course we were delighted. When we tried to figure out a time, we realized that it would be hard with all that we had to do to go to Worcester for the baptism. So President and Sister Ogden came to Evesham. Dropped off the cookies and parcels for us! I got my camera! And Sister P got about 7 packages for her birthday! Lots of fun opening them that night! And then we picked up T, and all together drove to Worcester. T got to sit in the front with President Ogden and talk, and Sister P, Sister Ogden and I talked in the back. We have been suggesting for some time now that Sister Ogden has SO MUCH on her plate that she needs "APW"'s (assistants to the President’s wife), and that we would be the PERFECT candidates. And so we are very pleased that the cookie assignment is our first APW assignment! And if we do it well, President will announce our promotion! Ha-ha. We really love Sister Ogden, and so we would love to be able to be around her. And we are happy that right now we can be APW's while working in Evesham! Ha-ha. Fabulous! The baptism went great, and T is really excited for his baptism! What a good experience for him to be able to meet President Ogden and have a lot of time to talk to him! Lucky him! And lucky us. We are really teaching the elect of God!
Now, onto G. We have been trying to figure out what to do. We don't really feel that we are helping G right now. He needs to be willing to help himself and put his time into getting answers, and right now he's not. He’s just "too busy" with other things. So we talked to Jonathan Wharrad (our branch mission leader, and G's home teacher and good friend) and we told him that we don’t' know what to do. And together, we decided that we need to lay off G until he wants to do something. So sometime this week we are going to go to his home and tell him that we don't feel that we are helping him anymore. And that we have other people that we need to teach that would be able to progress. and that unless he is going to start doing something of himself and start working at finding an answer we will stop coming around to teach him. And then hopefully he'll change his mind, and commit himself to start working. But we did call G and asked him to give the opening prayer at T's baptism, and he said yes. And we also told him to bring his white clothes and towel, just in case he feels that the time is right for him to be baptized as well. How cool would that be!? G and T getting baptized!
Things here in Evesham are on fire! We are finally getting new investigators, and teaching people who want to learn! Wow, it can take a LONG time of work and prayers before they are answered. But we feel like every day, our prayers are being answered, and we are finding the elect of God. Maybe it's because we have finally proven ourselves worthy of teaching His elect, but regardless, we are HAPPY! And we are just trying to stay optimistic amid all the fire that we are getting from he who must not be named. He isn't so happy when the work is going well. And we have to fight to stay positive and encouraged about the work. But so far, we are doing ok. It helps when we keep our flat and car really clean. I’m a happy girl when my surroundings are clean and organized. It feels so good! Flat cleaning checks are my favorite day EVER! The flat looks SO good!
Anyway. Today is Valentine’s Day! We are delivering valentines to much of the branch, and are making cupcakes for them as well. And Elder and Sister Henry are checking our flats and we are making them lunch. It’s going to be fabulous! And there are awards we can win if our flat is the cleanest, and we want to WIN! Not that it really matters....but it's sure fun to win. Some elders never win. Sisters win most of the time. Ha-ha. It reminds me of our bed making contests when I was little! I loved getting the Smarties as the treats! So much fun. What a great way to get us to clean! Smart momma and papa!
Well, things here are fabulous. I am only wearing one pair of tights today, and the sun is actually shining! Knock on wood. It will probably rain tonight. But at least we have a little sun. Well, I love you! And I am sorry for the jumbled email. Hopefully you can make sense of the week. And thank you for all your prayers, and your love!
LOVE, Sister Annie Clark!
PS. mom. Can you believe my recital was a year ago yesterday?! Unbelievable!
Pss. happy birthday Scott Bingham, if you are home from your mission and reading this....
Anyway, love you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, and miss you that much too. Be good!
My dearest momma and papa, and family,
Happy birthday papa!
About assigning to new areas. I think he is cutting down on moving people around a lot. Unless they need to, or there is someone else who needs us in a different area, he keeps us together. It takes so much time to get used to new companions and new areas that not much work gets really done the first weeks of a transfer. At least it's not as effective. So I think he's leaving everyone a bit. But who knows. We find out transfer "dodge" or news in a week. So next Wednesday I will be emailing, because of transfers. I don't really think that he cares how many areas we see though. That’s not the objective I think. But who knows? But there really isn't a place that everyone wants to go. There are places not as many people want to go to (mostly Wales, because there aren't many people and it's just farm land and sheep I think ha-ha), but I don’t' know where everyone wants to go. I bet there is an elder’s area that they want to go to, but our areas are pretty limited. But I would like to go to Harbourne in Birmingham. That’s where I have been on exchanges, and there are SO many people, it seems fun. You’d have so many people to visit, and it's a huge ward. So that would be fun. But I really love being here. I love, and I think this is my scene. Little branch, and everyone is friends, and it's just really nice, and close knit. I like it. But I don't really mind where I go next. Wherever it is, I know it's where I need to be. But I wouldn't mind staying here in Evesham for one more transfer. That would make it six months. That’s a good amount of time. I had that in Banbury. So I’d like to have that here too.
T is doing great! We see him almost every day, and it's going well. He’s getting baptized on Saturday! He had his interview on Saturday, and then that night we went to a baptism in Worcester with him. This is a cool story actually! So Sister Ogden (President’s wife) called us on Friday, wondering if there was a time she could drop off some cookie dough so that we could make it for zone conference on Tuesday. Of course we were delighted. When we tried to figure out a time, we realized that it would be hard with all that we had to do to go to Worcester for the baptism. So President and Sister Ogden came to Evesham. Dropped off the cookies and parcels for us! I got my camera! And Sister P got about 7 packages for her birthday! Lots of fun opening them that night! And then we picked up T, and all together drove to Worcester. T got to sit in the front with President Ogden and talk, and Sister P, Sister Ogden and I talked in the back. We have been suggesting for some time now that Sister Ogden has SO MUCH on her plate that she needs "APW"'s (assistants to the President’s wife), and that we would be the PERFECT candidates. And so we are very pleased that the cookie assignment is our first APW assignment! And if we do it well, President will announce our promotion! Ha-ha. We really love Sister Ogden, and so we would love to be able to be around her. And we are happy that right now we can be APW's while working in Evesham! Ha-ha. Fabulous! The baptism went great, and T is really excited for his baptism! What a good experience for him to be able to meet President Ogden and have a lot of time to talk to him! Lucky him! And lucky us. We are really teaching the elect of God!
Now, onto G. We have been trying to figure out what to do. We don't really feel that we are helping G right now. He needs to be willing to help himself and put his time into getting answers, and right now he's not. He’s just "too busy" with other things. So we talked to Jonathan Wharrad (our branch mission leader, and G's home teacher and good friend) and we told him that we don’t' know what to do. And together, we decided that we need to lay off G until he wants to do something. So sometime this week we are going to go to his home and tell him that we don't feel that we are helping him anymore. And that we have other people that we need to teach that would be able to progress. and that unless he is going to start doing something of himself and start working at finding an answer we will stop coming around to teach him. And then hopefully he'll change his mind, and commit himself to start working. But we did call G and asked him to give the opening prayer at T's baptism, and he said yes. And we also told him to bring his white clothes and towel, just in case he feels that the time is right for him to be baptized as well. How cool would that be!? G and T getting baptized!
Things here in Evesham are on fire! We are finally getting new investigators, and teaching people who want to learn! Wow, it can take a LONG time of work and prayers before they are answered. But we feel like every day, our prayers are being answered, and we are finding the elect of God. Maybe it's because we have finally proven ourselves worthy of teaching His elect, but regardless, we are HAPPY! And we are just trying to stay optimistic amid all the fire that we are getting from he who must not be named. He isn't so happy when the work is going well. And we have to fight to stay positive and encouraged about the work. But so far, we are doing ok. It helps when we keep our flat and car really clean. I’m a happy girl when my surroundings are clean and organized. It feels so good! Flat cleaning checks are my favorite day EVER! The flat looks SO good!
Anyway. Today is Valentine’s Day! We are delivering valentines to much of the branch, and are making cupcakes for them as well. And Elder and Sister Henry are checking our flats and we are making them lunch. It’s going to be fabulous! And there are awards we can win if our flat is the cleanest, and we want to WIN! Not that it really matters....but it's sure fun to win. Some elders never win. Sisters win most of the time. Ha-ha. It reminds me of our bed making contests when I was little! I loved getting the Smarties as the treats! So much fun. What a great way to get us to clean! Smart momma and papa!
Well, things here are fabulous. I am only wearing one pair of tights today, and the sun is actually shining! Knock on wood. It will probably rain tonight. But at least we have a little sun. Well, I love you! And I am sorry for the jumbled email. Hopefully you can make sense of the week. And thank you for all your prayers, and your love!
LOVE, Sister Annie Clark!
PS. mom. Can you believe my recital was a year ago yesterday?! Unbelievable!
Pss. happy birthday Scott Bingham, if you are home from your mission and reading this....
Anyway, love you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much, and miss you that much too. Be good!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Putting on the Whole Armor of God
You sound like you had a great week! Those cupcakes sound delightful! And I want to see the flower pins that you made, any pictures?
So things here are going great! I am just so happy to be here in evesham with Sister P. It’s basically a dream come true. When I first met her, I knew we wouldn't ever be companions, because you never get put with someone you know you would just have so much fun with and then be best friends with. And then it happened. And I thought it would only be for that one transfer in banbury, and then we got really lucky! And now we have been companions for almost 6 months and still going strong! Amazing! I don't know if I’d be able to handle most people for 24/7 LITERALLY, but we are great! And we just laugh all the time, and are so happy. People comment on how happy and what good friends we are all the time. I think it is a good example of the gospel. It’s hard to show how happy the gospel makes you, when you are really struggling with a companion, and sometimes have to fake happiness. That’s not real. So we are just REALLY lucky! And I feel so blessed. That’s a third of my mission with one person. Crazy! Ha-ha.
So T is doing BRILLIANTLY! We are so chuffed (which means pleased in British English). He is just doing really well. At first, we were a bit concerned that he might like one of us, which was why he was so willing to meet with us. But he has been praying every day, and we have been being very careful to have him realize that we are here only as missionaries. And he is doing really great! He has an iPad, and has downloaded the Book of Mormon and the hymns and everything onto it. He found out how to do that from G. And he is really excited to be baptized! We are really excited as well! What a good kid! So he came to church this week. On Saturday, we called a less active named S, who is about T’s age, and asked him if he would be able to come to church to be able to fellowship T. His parents thought there was no way he'd say yes, but the next day he was there! Sitting with T! And they actually knew each other! How random. They had been in each other’s classes in college. So that was great! And it’s a good way to get S back! We are pretty thrilled about that! Also at church, the most wonderful thing happened. So we were sitting there in gospel principles. Me, Sister P, S, T, and Brother Wharrad (the teacher), and who walks in???? ST! We have been working with ST every week since we got here, and this is his FIRST time he's come to church in that! And to make it more, he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting! AhhhhH!!!! We are so thrilled about that. We just couldn't stop smiling! What a good guy! It was a really good Sunday. We are so pleased!
So cool thing about G this week. So apparently he has written a letter to his parents, telling them that he is getting baptized. He hasn't sent it, and once he sent it, he knows there is no going back. So he just has to send it. That’s all we have to deal with! Gosh. I just want him baptized! SOO bad! So hopefully we'll be able to help him through that, to get that letter in the post! Good step in the right direction G!
This week we had a Sister’s exchange. I went to Harborne and served with Sister Nadsady (from Scotland, but goes to BYU. actually, we have a LOT of friends in common. like she knows Justin (bens old roommate), and one of my old FHE moms. and I am sure we have more people in common. she even worked at the HFAC. I must have seen her! But anyway, I have been on a couple exchanges with her before, so it was very fun, and Sister Hedemark (from Sweden, and easily the prettiest Sister here), came to evesham. I was a little sad to leave Evesham and Sister P (it was our first day apart ha-ha) but we did it, and it was very fun. And I learned a lot. We talked a lot about what different things we could teach G to help him. and that was really helpful! The whole mission knows about G, by the way.
We decided this week that our teaching is becoming a little to rote, and not very creative. So we decided to teach every lesson like we would a Young Women lesson. With pictures, and stories, and examples, and visuals. We did this with T and Ty. T has a really hard time focusing in our lessons and he always distracts the conversations. And we knew that we needed to focus them. We needed to really bring up why we come to their home, what our goals are for them, and what they need to do to be able to get there, and to eventually be an eternal family. So Sister P drew out a mountain on a board. And she drew 4 different slopes to ski on (because T loves skiing). The kiddie slope, the easy, middle, and then the hard. The kiddie slope is them meeting with us and us teaching them. The easy slope is them coming to church. The middle slope is them getting baptized, and then the hardest slope is them going to the temple. And we explained that each slope is good, but you can't stay on it forever. You want to be able to get better, and to grow and to be better. And so Ty really got it. Ty is now looking in that direction. I think it really helped her. But T is not at all interested in giving up his coffee. Ha-ha. We’ll have to work with that. But it was good. We really kept their focus so much better! We are going to have to start being a lot more creative!
Sister Clark and Sister Pope wearing the whole armor of God.
Oh what else? I don't really know. We are just trying to work really hard. We are still working really hard at keeping 3 and 1 as a focus! And I think it's really helped us! And I am so excited about T! This week we are meeting with him at least four times. Last night the Branch President, President Retallick, picked T up from his home, and we had a lesson at the Retallick's home. And it went so well. T talked about how he had felt the spirit. He is a really good kid. Very with it. Not at all like a lot of the "chavs" (rougher kids, like gangsters?) that are around this area. He is really good. And very respectful. And we haven't found a concern yet! It’s almost too good to be true. He just is really prepared. How cool! How cool would it be if he went on a mission!? SO COOLLLL!
Anyway! This gospel is true! I am so grateful to be here. The time is flying by. I can’t believe we have passed the nine month mark, and now it's counting down. So strange! We continue to work hard, and try to be better missionaries all the time. I love this work, and I love you SO much! I miss you dearly, and really can't wait to talk to you again on mother’s day! How fun! I love you love you love you!
Love,
Annie
So things here are going great! I am just so happy to be here in evesham with Sister P. It’s basically a dream come true. When I first met her, I knew we wouldn't ever be companions, because you never get put with someone you know you would just have so much fun with and then be best friends with. And then it happened. And I thought it would only be for that one transfer in banbury, and then we got really lucky! And now we have been companions for almost 6 months and still going strong! Amazing! I don't know if I’d be able to handle most people for 24/7 LITERALLY, but we are great! And we just laugh all the time, and are so happy. People comment on how happy and what good friends we are all the time. I think it is a good example of the gospel. It’s hard to show how happy the gospel makes you, when you are really struggling with a companion, and sometimes have to fake happiness. That’s not real. So we are just REALLY lucky! And I feel so blessed. That’s a third of my mission with one person. Crazy! Ha-ha.
So T is doing BRILLIANTLY! We are so chuffed (which means pleased in British English). He is just doing really well. At first, we were a bit concerned that he might like one of us, which was why he was so willing to meet with us. But he has been praying every day, and we have been being very careful to have him realize that we are here only as missionaries. And he is doing really great! He has an iPad, and has downloaded the Book of Mormon and the hymns and everything onto it. He found out how to do that from G. And he is really excited to be baptized! We are really excited as well! What a good kid! So he came to church this week. On Saturday, we called a less active named S, who is about T’s age, and asked him if he would be able to come to church to be able to fellowship T. His parents thought there was no way he'd say yes, but the next day he was there! Sitting with T! And they actually knew each other! How random. They had been in each other’s classes in college. So that was great! And it’s a good way to get S back! We are pretty thrilled about that! Also at church, the most wonderful thing happened. So we were sitting there in gospel principles. Me, Sister P, S, T, and Brother Wharrad (the teacher), and who walks in???? ST! We have been working with ST every week since we got here, and this is his FIRST time he's come to church in that! And to make it more, he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting! AhhhhH!!!! We are so thrilled about that. We just couldn't stop smiling! What a good guy! It was a really good Sunday. We are so pleased!
So cool thing about G this week. So apparently he has written a letter to his parents, telling them that he is getting baptized. He hasn't sent it, and once he sent it, he knows there is no going back. So he just has to send it. That’s all we have to deal with! Gosh. I just want him baptized! SOO bad! So hopefully we'll be able to help him through that, to get that letter in the post! Good step in the right direction G!
This week we had a Sister’s exchange. I went to Harborne and served with Sister Nadsady (from Scotland, but goes to BYU. actually, we have a LOT of friends in common. like she knows Justin (bens old roommate), and one of my old FHE moms. and I am sure we have more people in common. she even worked at the HFAC. I must have seen her! But anyway, I have been on a couple exchanges with her before, so it was very fun, and Sister Hedemark (from Sweden, and easily the prettiest Sister here), came to evesham. I was a little sad to leave Evesham and Sister P (it was our first day apart ha-ha) but we did it, and it was very fun. And I learned a lot. We talked a lot about what different things we could teach G to help him. and that was really helpful! The whole mission knows about G, by the way.
We decided this week that our teaching is becoming a little to rote, and not very creative. So we decided to teach every lesson like we would a Young Women lesson. With pictures, and stories, and examples, and visuals. We did this with T and Ty. T has a really hard time focusing in our lessons and he always distracts the conversations. And we knew that we needed to focus them. We needed to really bring up why we come to their home, what our goals are for them, and what they need to do to be able to get there, and to eventually be an eternal family. So Sister P drew out a mountain on a board. And she drew 4 different slopes to ski on (because T loves skiing). The kiddie slope, the easy, middle, and then the hard. The kiddie slope is them meeting with us and us teaching them. The easy slope is them coming to church. The middle slope is them getting baptized, and then the hardest slope is them going to the temple. And we explained that each slope is good, but you can't stay on it forever. You want to be able to get better, and to grow and to be better. And so Ty really got it. Ty is now looking in that direction. I think it really helped her. But T is not at all interested in giving up his coffee. Ha-ha. We’ll have to work with that. But it was good. We really kept their focus so much better! We are going to have to start being a lot more creative!
Sister Clark and Sister Pope wearing the whole armor of God.
Oh what else? I don't really know. We are just trying to work really hard. We are still working really hard at keeping 3 and 1 as a focus! And I think it's really helped us! And I am so excited about T! This week we are meeting with him at least four times. Last night the Branch President, President Retallick, picked T up from his home, and we had a lesson at the Retallick's home. And it went so well. T talked about how he had felt the spirit. He is a really good kid. Very with it. Not at all like a lot of the "chavs" (rougher kids, like gangsters?) that are around this area. He is really good. And very respectful. And we haven't found a concern yet! It’s almost too good to be true. He just is really prepared. How cool! How cool would it be if he went on a mission!? SO COOLLLL!
Anyway! This gospel is true! I am so grateful to be here. The time is flying by. I can’t believe we have passed the nine month mark, and now it's counting down. So strange! We continue to work hard, and try to be better missionaries all the time. I love this work, and I love you SO much! I miss you dearly, and really can't wait to talk to you again on mother’s day! How fun! I love you love you love you!
Love,
Annie
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