Easter

Happy Easter mom, papa, family, and friends!

How are you doing? I hope Easter was good!

Well, my Easter was alright.

This week, poor Sister Hedemark has had a cold. But despite the cold, we worked SO hard. We saw many miracles. We have felt prompted many times to go to a specific street by the church. So on Monday night, one of our investigators canceled his lesson, so we went to that street to tract. On one of the doors that we knocked, a Brazilian lady with 2 young kids answered the door. She knew exactly who we were. 10 years ago, she moved to England from Brazil. But in Brazil she had had the missionaries teach her for YEARS! Her mom was baptized, and they would have the missionaries for dinner once a week. Since she's moved here, she hasn't had any lessons. Well, then she told us that she had only just moved into that house that we knocked (right by the church!!) and that we could come back. The only down side is that her husband wouldn't be interested. We can work on that. But what a miracle! Definitely the right place at the right time.

Then on Tuesday, we went to a dinner appointment, and they weren't ready for dinner, so we went to look for a former investigator. When we knocked on the door, it was the mother of the former. And the girl had moved, but little did we know, this woman’s son was baptized, and that they had had the lessons. She invited us in, and there on the coffee table was a Book of Mormon and a bible. She said she reads them every day! We asked why she had never been baptized. And she said it just hadn't been the right time yet. Oh, we LOVE finding prepared people like her who have the desire to know the truth! And we have it! That’s what I love about this work. People are looking for peace, happiness, and truth, and that is what is in the restored gospel. I’m so grateful that we have that knowledge! How awesome!

We started teaching this 17 year old named Tom. Yep! Another young man named Tom. We met him a few weeks ago, and we have taught him a few times. At the beginning, we would teach him, and he would just ask completely unrelated questions, and put up fake scenarios all the time. They are actually pretty hilarious scenarios. But after a few times teaching, he's changed so much. He asks a lot less ridiculous questions, but his questions relate to what we are talking about. And he looks us in the eye more, and he seems like he has much more of a desire to learn. It’s really cool to watch him change. We just need to keep teaching him, so he can find that desire to change for himself! And I know that the gospel can do that. What a cool experience!

The weather this week has been INCREDIBLE. Like, I got sunburned. Do you know how rare that is here in England?! I don’t' really like getting sunburned, but the fact that it was that warm was tremendous! And it's like that again today! We are so grateful.

So all week, we got everything we needed to get standard of excellence again. We wanted ALL the weeks in the transfer to be excellent. But apparently that wasn't God's plan? I don’t' know. I am pretty sure we worked SO hard, but it came to Sunday, and we only had two less active members at church. We needed one more. We spent all of Relief Society (the first hour of church) calling all those people we had committed to come. And none showed up! We were almost in tears in Sacrament Meeting. We are pretty bummed. Not that numbers mean anything really, but goals do. And we worked so hard. But we are going to rise above it, and get it this week! We need to work even harder!

I am grateful for Easter! I love focusing completely on the Savior, and I am so grateful for Him and for all He did for us. I know that He lived, died, and lived again for us, so that we may again return to live with our Father in Heaven. But for us to be able to return to Father, we have to be perfected through the atonement of Jesus Christ. We have to have faith, repent, be baptized by the proper authority of God, and receive the Holy Ghost. I know that the Savior did die for us, and I am so grateful for our chance to be able to repent and to return to God. I know that as long as we are sincere, and want to do better, Father will forgive us, and we will be able to continue in our progression toward the Father. I love this gospel, and I love being a missionary! I love proclaiming this gospel to those who want to hear. I love seeing people grow in their testimony and enter the waters of baptism! It’s the happiest thing to see people change, and to want to make promises to be better. I love this chance I have to be a missionary!

I love you all! I am grateful for the letters! Thank you so much! Keep sending them!

All my love, heaped up, pressed down and running over,
Sister Annie Clark

Ps. Nicole, I wrote you a letter, then realized that I don't have your new address! Would you email that to me please? Then I’ll send that letter off! Thanks! Love you!