4 July 2011
Dear mom, papa, family, and friends!
Hip hip on all the work you've done in the house! There won't be any projects left for when I get there! I guess harp and all I have planned will be enough. And I bet you can think of good projects while I am home.
I loved the shirt! And I love that both of you found it and liked it! Wonderful! I wore it the next day. Thank you thank you!!!
I am thrilled about being able to take with Linda. I can't wait! She’s amazing. I can't wait to work on my Liebestraume with her. She’ll do wonders. I do love her. I haven't seen her in years. Crazy!
Harborne is doing great. We are becoming more and more of an equal companionship. She is learning the ropes well, and we are learning to work well together. It’s very fun. And we get along great. So it's great really REALLY want to stay here for the rest of my mission. But we'll see what the Lord has in store I guess. (But if he has any brains he'll let me stay, ha-ha!) Just kidding. But I do love it here. It’s great. And we are working great together.
Frank being so far away is over a half hour drive. I’m not really sure how far. But it's a lot of miles, and it's too much to go very regularly. It’s bad. But it's great. It’s called Great Barr, you can look it up.
We got a new car today, and it's FANTASTIC! It drives so well. It’s pretty fun to drive it. We have so many luxuries. Sister Pope and Sister Whitaker are riding bikes in Sulihull. They are EXHAUSTED. I’m kinda jealous. But it's all good. We need a car in this area. Otherwise we'd die! It’s so crazy driving here; I don't know how the elders survive on bikes!
Happy Fourth of July! We had a big zone party today. It was great! So much fun. The tufts went out to Costco and got hot dogs, and we played sports (the elders mostly...) and we on the side lines just talked and had a great time. I’m tired! But it was SO much fun. I completely beat an elder at air hockey! Yeah!
So this week has been good. It’s been a little weird actually. A bit hard. But really good. Just a lot of things have gone wrong. But we GOT STANDARD! This week! Yayyyy!! We have had a lot of really cool experiences.
One day we were visiting a girl, Anna, in the ward that's less active. She Polish, and loves us, and has been really coming back. It’s awesome to see. Well, we were at her house on time, but she wasn't. So I told Sister Baker "lets run around the block and talk to as many people as we can before Anna gets back!" so we did! And we gave like 5 books out. And we met a guy named Tyrone. And he's AWESOME. He is this black guy, 28 years old. And he set an appointment with us. And then guess what!??!?! HE ACTUALLY WAS AT HIS APPOINTMENT!! Yep. It’s true. I’m not pulling your leg. It was awesome. And we taught the restoration. And he told us about how he's changed his life, his group of friends, and what he does, because he wants to prepare for the judgment. And he told us that he prays and sincerely searches for Gods will for him. And he basically is completely awesome. We set up another appointment, and committed him to read 3 Nephi 11. Then he asked us what else he can read this week. Yep he did. And so we said to start from the beginning! He’s so great. As we were leaving, his uncle was in the kitchen cooking for them. And I went in and basically, when we go back on Saturday, they are feeding us as well as having a lesson! And that was on Sunday! Miracles happen after long hard weeks. And we are SO blessed here.
What else...
This week, we had to say goodbye to Edwin. He went back to Malawi, and oh, it was so sad for us! He’s so great. And we have really grown close to him. And when we left, we left him a talk to read "safety for the soul" by Elder Holland. And he texted us later saying that he loved that talk and that he was really grateful for us. And he was going to miss us. Everyone in Malawi is informed at his coming, and we really hope his family will learn about the gospel and will accept. He’s amazing. I cried as we drove away from his house. I’ll really miss him. He was one of the first people I taught in Harborne. And I really have grown to love him. But I’m so glad he's back home with his wife and six kids. He’s been so homesick for them. But we sure will miss him!
Hmm what else happened this week?
OHHHH! Ok. So we had cleaning checks this week. So we were cleaning out this disgusting closet full of spider webs, and we found the most ridiculously massive spider. I am not exaggerating. We completely freaked out. And screamed. And got the vacuum, but wasn't even sure if it would fit in the hose of the vacuum. Yeah, it's THAT big! So we got out raid, and sprayed so much, we may have poisoned ourselves. But he died. Oh dear. He was massive. It gave me night mares. Oh dear. That was an exciting moment in our week. And we tried to make the tufts their favorite dessert (to bribe them while they were checking our flat) which is lemon meringue (I know that's not spelled right) pie, and it went terribly wrong. A member taught us how this week, and everything went well, but the crust. Very wrong. But it was hilarious. And my wrist hurt for two days because of whipping all those egg whites! I had to wear my wrist brace for two days. I looked completely ridiculous. I was wearing it while we were finding. I was curious to know if I would get sympathy and more people would talk to me. But I think it had the opposite effect. Oh well. Blah.
So Charlotte!! She is MARVELOUS! She told us that she moved her wedding date up from December to September!!! So she can get baptized!! Wooohoooo!! We are thrilled. I just hugged her for like a minute. She probably thought I was crazy. But I’m so excited. I love her, and that means I’ll be here (hopefully be here in Harborne) for her wedding and baptism! Blessings!!!
Oh we had a really cool experience this week. So you know Marcela? Well her dad speaks zero English, but is always there when we are there. He lives with her. And he is adorable. He always brings us bread. He’s hilarious. We love love him. Anyways, he went into the hospital this week. And so while Marcela was there (so we thought) we went to the hospital to visit him. And she had just left, but we went in, and spent a little while with him. And it was hilarious. Sister Baker can understand a little bit of what he says because it's close to Russian, and he can understand some of what she says. But it was hilarious. He was singing and dancing. And was showing us the views from all the windows, even trying to take us into people's private hospital rooms. It was so funny. And my communication with him is thumbs up. That’s about it. I wrote a few Slovakian things in my planner I could say to him. Like thank you. And such. But it was so fun. And we prayed with him. He first prayed in Slovakian, and then Sister Baker prayed in Russian. It was a very tender moment. And I think we really touched Marcela, even though she wasn't there. It was great.
A man named magic asked me to go to a restaurant with him when I invited him to church. Clearly I said no. then we gave him our card, and he gave us his. Hilarious. Hope he comes to church!
Mahdi is doing great. Can’t beat it! He just the best, and so wants to get baptized!
The ward loves us. We are getting more dinner appointments now than the elders, much to their dismay. We are gaining popularity points apparently. And we try really hard to write a million thank you notes all the time, and give them with chocolate that everyone gives us. I don't know what it is, but at church, different old ladies come up and have bought sweets for us. They are adorable. But we just keep them to give to other people. There are some of the most adorable old ladies in this ward though! I love it.
Mostly things are going great. We are so so tired all the time. We are waking up early to run more, and it's good. But oh so tired.
I saw Sister Pope today. I love her. And I miss her. And it was so much fun. We wrestled. Good old times.
We are going to Gadfield elm this Thursday. It will be really wonderful. I was supposed to do a music number with Sister Baker (her on the violin) but alas, no piano! Only a very very poor organ apparently. Oh well. Hopefully it will all go well.
We were given an APW (assistants to the president’s wife) task this week to bake for the AP's (as requested by Sister Ogden...because the AP's asked her to request it) some cookies or cake. And because Mahdi gave us a cake this Sunday, we passed it on to someone who will eat it all! Ha-ha. Yay for being an APW. Life is good.
Things are great here. It’s warm out. It’s weird! But that'll soon change. And we just found a place that sells good apples, and persimmons! Hallelujah. I miss Larry’s produce. So much. Can’t wait for that. And for the strawberry stand. Mmmm.
Love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. Thank you for all you do. I am so grateful to be here on a mission, and it's all because of you, my dear parents. Thank you SO much. You are wonderful.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Ann (ie) Clark
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