Monday, August 24, 2015

15 - Fields of white

Email address (preferred):
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net

 Mission address:
 Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
 California Long Beach Mission
 6500 E Atherton St.
 Long Beach, CA 90815


I do have exciting news this week: we worked on a big service project that the Elders Quorum and High Priests put on, I was happily surprised when it actually when through, and even more so on the even bigger turnout of people and things they were doing for Sister Bosie's home. She will be getting a new floor with tile so it will be easy to clean and maintain, new cabinets in the kitchen and counter top, and her walls scrubbed clean and roaches evicted from those rooms as far as we can help it. Sister Paw and I came in after they hauled off most of the kitchen and flooring and helped with the vacuuming up left over dust and flooring around the walls, scrubbing clean the walls in the rooms, and any furniture that had cobwebs on them. It was looking so much better after we left, I can't wait to see it once we are all finished and done two weeks from now with the new floor in! We couldn't stay till 8pm like everyone else, but we did what we could. By the end of the day she had a temporary counter top in and running working water in her faucet and sink (which they got a new working one for her too!) I am so glad everyone pitched in so she could get this. She has been without water working from her tap for years,  and no plumbing to speak of either, it was so corroded. Finally the 5 or so layers of uneven and breaking flooring was removed so she can scoot herself in her wheelchair around her own home. SO EXCITING! She has been living in faith and hope this whole time, she deserved this after all that she has been through. Best yet was that everyone had such a humble and uplifted outlook from the service and noted how serving her was more fulfilling than anything they had previously planned for the day. The children even helped too with what they could help with, mostly dustpan duty and keeping Sister Bosie entertained while we were hard at work. It must have been overwhelming for her to see her home that is so beloved be torn apart and changed, but it honestly needed to happen, for her safety and the home's livability.

We met with James again, and he told us of how his foster parents would ban him from meeting with the missionaries, so he would sneak out and take lessons and go to church until they died recently. He had such a happy look in his eye and felt the spirit so strongly when he had the restoration lesson, he even proudly showed his new Book of Mormon that other elders gave him since his other copy was completely worn out from use. I wonder if he was already baptized or not. Either way he definitely has a testimony of Christ, Joseph smith, and of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints for sure.

Amelia went through the baptism questions with us so she wouldn't be surprised about anything when she does get her interview. She is truly ready to be baptized and is excited for the 20th. She gets her citizenship interview on the 16th, so that is exciting too!

Luis sadly hasn't been keeping appointments, so our next visit may be our last, but I won't give up on him until then.

Dp moved, so we wish the best of luck with him.

The Castro family went to the family History center with us for the first time. They were overwhelmed a bit by the resident family historian GURU, but he did teach them ALL they needed to know about family search and how to do everything there was. next time we will try and go over things again much slower and practice with Sister Castro when she gets more names, dates, and possibly pictures/stories to post on there too! Sister Castro was so excited to possibly do work for some relatives that she has had on her mind for a while, so she definitely loved the experience, overwhelming, but spiritual. I hope to do much more with her soon and Sister Paw as well. Its been hard for her since there isn't much she can do weather she likes it or not, but she can always learn so she can help others when we get more people in.

We visited with many less actives this week, read scriptures with them and got to know them. This week we got loads of less active referrals so this week we have lots of work to do, possibly a part member family to teach the gospel to their husband who previously was overwhelmed by the visits by missionaries in the past who we hope will be willing to give it another go with more space to grow and learn, but still help him stay on course and in communication with him during the week.

Sister Paw is doing better after seeing more of how this ward are done by the times she asked about what we can do and talking with our ward mission leader. It has been so hard and discouraging for her coming from a thriving, flourishing, bible bashing area, to a desert of a teaching pool, half white washing in for the both of us, areas we have teaching restrictions on, and many more frustrating circumstances beyond our control. I like to think of it as how the pioneers first felt after going across the plains and their first impressions when they arrived in the valley in Utah, WHY here, its barren and dead. Thankfully now we see their efforts in the barren wilderness as a thriving, beautiful valley, with more protection and resources than they ever imagined.


The field is white, already to harvest here. It truly is white, we just have to think outside the box here to be able to harvest it, that will take time for us to get used to, but it is doable, and the potential of this area is nothing short of a miracle! Sister George and I saw it, and so can Sister Paw, she is just a bit slow to see that right now. I just have to be patient in the mean time and continue with faith.

Monday, August 17, 2015

14 - No man caves, please

Email address (preferred):
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net

 Mission address:
 Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
 California Long Beach Mission
 6500 E Atherton St.
 Long Beach, CA 90815

I moved, I was told after sports last P-Day that Sister paw and I had to move into the elders apartment since they were being pulled from the area due to new zone leaders being trained. I wasn't the most happy at first because it was last minute and just dealt with it, THEN they told us at 10 pm that we not only had to move, but to be gone the next morning (and get up at 4:30 in the morning to take Sister George to the airport and help other sisters move until Sister Paw comes) Needless to say I had to pack up everything I set up that day earlier for Sister paw and I and stayed up till 1 in the morning. It was a long day! The elders apartment was a wrek sadly and was left with things strung around everywhere, dirty dishes in the sink, who knows how old food in the fridge and cuppboards, musty bathroom, and 100 degree F apartment WITH fans running and AC on. After much help the Lakewood sisters came for an hour the next day to help clean and straighten up the apartment. I tore down the man cave they set up because it too dark and even if it did bring the temperature down 1 to 2 degree's it still was HOT AS AN OVEN! I would rather like light and fresh air in the apartment than a dark walled up man cave! We are getting by, the mornings are real nice and cool which is nice during personal study, but nights are too hot, its cooler outside than in due to poor construction. Little India is right next door which is cool if it weren't for the insane amount of construction going on all around us, it takes forever to get out and preach the gospel! Oh well, it could be worse, so that I am thankful for, that and the cheapest laundry services around downstairs! The one and only perk of the place! Other than that, half white washing into an area especially with nothing about the area is no fun!

We organized the area book for a short while to get the two on the same page, having four area books for 1 MASSIVE area is confusing! I imagine we will be getting other missionaries within the next two transfers ( I hope!) so it would be better to keep them separate, just need to make copies for people who both area's visit because of gender related issues and so we don't have the problem of last time with half our area misplaced in the others book. The elders never left their teaching scheduled or anything behind so I had to play hide and go seek around the apartment for their progress records (which some are still missing)and rely on memory from the past week's ward correlations meeting. We visited Dp (teepee we found out latter it is just spelled Dp) and Santa his wife. They are going through job troubles and trying to get social security so they can get a green card, and their kids are in Nepal still which helps. Santa has been working two weeks without pay, good grief! I hope that they get a job soon or they will be forced to move elsewhere. Dp in Nepal had a thriving business in accounting, but his building was destroyed by the earthquake which forced them to come to the US for better prospects.

We also visited the Schaffers, a partially blind couple who are principles for a school for the blind in LA, they drive and everything and even the husband mark has a guide dog who is so sweet! Sister Schaffer is the daughter of a church priest (i think that is what he was called) that latter became a mega church (stadium row seated, mega screen filled church that the speakers and musicians get payed to do things there and costs to come into). She was dissolutioned from the bigger buildings, and she refused to get paid to play at church the piano and left that church completely. Her belief is that no one should get paid to teach about Christ and his doctrine and share their musical talents for church. She even went to a high up bible school and is well educated with the scriptures. Somehow she heard about the Mormons and decided to take lessons. It took a while, but she got baptized and her husband also did! They are currently inactive. Sister Schaffer is on and off coming and looks forward to taking the temple class finally after a long while. They were offended due to someone telling Mark he couldn't bring his guide dog into church (which by the book is allowed), and by them being invited to the temple and marriage classes, but when they overlapped by 1 week were told they couldn't come to the temple class. They also were treated poorly by the members who would give them something to read, then would take it back or skip them when it came time to read and made rude comments about them not being able to see (which they can!) All they wanted was to be treated like everyone else and go to the temple. Hopefully with my efforts to the ward council they can get the temple class going on (because they NOW have enough reason to open the class with four people... In my opinion  1 person is enough to do the class, a person shouldn't have to wait till they have enough people to want to receive the blessing of the temple. This ward has lost many people to in activeness due to this reason!) Anyways, off my soap box, they are such wonderful people and I know that despite the difficulty of working the whole ward we were to meet them, hopefully many others too!

We saw Sister Boise, an elderly woman home bound due to severe arthritis. We visited with her and sang songs to uplift her. Next week we will help with deconstructing her kitchen with elders of the ward and help put in a new cabinet and sink so she can use it. Right now she has no water, way of even getting it, and if an earthquake happened, I bet the while sink and cabinets would come crashing down. It is just hanging on who knows what. Her house is also in great need of bug spraying and cleaning. Oh and tile on the floors for her too! The ward council wasn't the most willing to help her out other than food since she is almost starving, but some people paid out of their own pockets since they were so upset from the lack of care for her to have cabinets and a proper home that is clean, safe, and accessible! It is really sad, but hopefully this will help her. She has been in and out of the hospital the last 5 years and is partially blind, but EXTREMELY SPIRITUAL. Even with the passing of her husband years ago, she still greatly desires to go to church! Sadly she is "too far away to receive the sacrament from hom." Not by my book, just because she is in Hawaiian gardens doesn't men she is excluded from the rights of the sacrament, and I hope to make a stink about it next week in ward council. If us sisters can go in, so can anyone else in the ward! They just need to go in more than pairs if need be!

We also saw Amelia. She had miscommunications and thought we would never see eachother again, so she was in tear of joy to see me, and Sister Paw too. We taught the Word of Wisdom, and we found out she drinks coffee in the morning and 20% alcohol wine on the rare occasion. 20% is still alcohol so she was bummed about it, but she said she would follow The Word of Wisdom! She also went to one of Sister Paw's investigators, a little girl named Bella's baptism on Sunday. She was saying she kept seeing herself in that girl's place and was crying by the end. I hope that that was the spirit touching her and bringing her closer to baptism.

Other than that, its been a long, tiring, HOT week. So many disappointments too, and blessings to see those we did see without appointments, but we are managing. Next week should be much better, we just need to find where to park on Thursdays to avoid getting ticketed again for street sweeping (we found out that unlike everywhere else, ALL the streets in this block are no parking Thursday, including Little India. I for one will not walk for a mile to park before and after personal studies, too much of a waste of our day). Hopefully we got a spot at the complex in back. The elders never told us, so I have to track elder T. down and ask somehow.

Monday, August 10, 2015

13 - One missionary's departure, and touching people

Email address (preferred):
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net

 Mission address:
 Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
 California Long Beach Mission
 6500 E Atherton St.
 Long Beach, CA 90815


Things are changing with Sister George going home. My new companion is Sister Paw. She is from Tailand and been here for almost a year. I am so excited to be with her. I also found out that we will now be the only missionaries in our ward because they took out the elders, and we will white wash into their area AND our area as well. I know I will be able to do it, but it still is so much to handle. On the upside we no longer have to worry about constantly calling the elders to go to Terri or the Beckers all the time.

We will be taking over lessons for Tipei (pronounced "teepee" like an Native American dwelling). He is from Nepal and is so great! He has such an incredible memory and absorbs everything we say like a sponge, and even better is his retention is better than any member I have ever seen. He reads religiously from The Book of Mormon, goes to church almost every week when he can, and memorizes and recites with exactness parts of Joseph Smith's vision and story from beginning of his life to the organization of the church! His wife can only meet early in the morning or late at night so it will be tricky working with them both. I haven't met her, but as far as I know she is very interested also. We will also meet with the Sheifers, a almost blind couple who are amazing and the husband is a principle for a school for the blind. Sister Sheifer is amazing and wants so badly to go to the temple. Her husband as well but he's inactive due to some ward members telling him not to come with his guide dog (which IS ALLOWED in church buildings like everywhere else in the world) and was very hurt by that and hasn't come back to church. Many people in the ward are wanting to go to the temple, and I am really pushing for the temple prep class to start up so four people at the least can prepare to enter the temple. Sister Sheifer in fact was 1 lesson away from going, but was denied because "by the book you weren't here for the first lesson, therefore you cannot come take the class." She at the time was finishing a family history class with her husband at the time as well.... I love this ward, but I honestly wish they would be less pharisees about the book and would for pitty's sake let people in the classes! I have never heard of such a thing. I myself was late 1 class due to the exact same situation, but I got personal classes outside of church to get me prepared in time to go which wasn't necessary, but I did it because I felt like I should before I enter the temple. Anyways, I will work on that with Sister Paw and the ward council to help people enter the temple.

Other than that, Luis dropped off the face of the planet, haven't heard from him in a few days. He got a friend/girlfriend and has been going after her rather than baptism as of late.... and still after baptism at the same time (even though he has the strong desire and testimony to be married to her for time and eternity in the temple one day after baptism and wanted to badly for us to meet her and do lesson with them both.... some days I don't understand people). Sadly, we will most likely drop him this week unless he goes to church and continues to progress. Sad day.

Amelia finally has a date, her last wall to get over was she was worried her date to go in for an interview for citizenship would land on the same day as her baptism. Our solution was do it after church on a Sunday, September 20, and no need to worry. Put God first and he will always pour out blessings and make everything work out in the end.

We went to a funeral because Sister George needed to play piano, but then she forgot she was double booked for a baptism to play piano for also that would overlap. After some quick calls we got it covered, but then when we came, the person being baptized was an hour and a half late to their own baptism, and we had to leave for Sister George's interview with President Tew. Such a stressful Saturday.

Most of  the rest of the week we met with the Beckers and read scriptures, watched Mountain of the Lord with them and finished it, made conference pancakes (Utah style apple German pancakes) for dinner with the Beckers on Sunday, did street contacting and fixing up the area book for when I take over the area. We did go out with Sister Tew and had three wonderful lessons with her.

Jerry was truly amazing and prepared! He read the entire pamphlet we gave him, and told us God answered his prayer. After we came, the darkness that was in his home disappeared. He kept the pamphlet under his pillow every night and even without us asking, summarized the entire pamphlet to us and bore his testimony of the difference of reading it has already made in his life! His wife wasn't able to attend the lesson, but it was amazing! Such a great lesson, and Sister Tew said it was the first time she had ever listened to the investigator like we did and just let him talk till he was done in the beginning instead of cutting him off and getting down to the lesson. If she had, we would have missed out on his testimony and even his desire for family members out of our area to receive our message and was then without asking giving us referrals!!! So amazing!

Heavenly father truly does prepare people for us to teach, ready and willing to receive our message, we just need to go out and find them! Almost everyone we have taught has been from the potentials sheets, only Amelia is a member referral. Even though they weren't from our own efforts per say, we still went out and found on our own!

Other than those miracles. it has been a busy week of packing for Sister George and running around getting things done all across our mission. I am doing fine here, learning many things and trying my best to try something new in our area to find those who have slipped through the cracks, or would not have been able to be found without me. I KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT ONLY MYSELF AND MY COMPANION CAN TOUCH, I HAVE SEEN THAT COME TRUE SO FAR AND KNOW IT WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT MY MISSION!

PS: Pony petting zoo photos! We took care of lots of pot holes from rabbits digging around the picnic tables. We don't want little kids at birthday parties getting hurt. We also raked up bark that fell from the trees and a few leaves to clean it up for the fall season. Other groups trimmed bushes and leveled dirt in a new horse arena for the petting zoo for walking ponies for the birthdays. No horses this week that needed to be groomed sadly, but it was still way fun. We even got to stay and feed some of the goats. One ram had two sets of horns!
 











Monday, August 3, 2015

12 - Trials, blessings, miracles

Email address (preferred):
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net

 Mission address:
 Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
 California Long Beach Mission
 6500 E Atherton St.
 Long Beach, CA 90815


So many trials and blessings, not to mention miracles that it makes it almost impossible for me to ever doubt that this is the true church of Jesus Christ in these latter days. I know many will always hate us or say other wise, but just like some prophet said, those who are learned will not be able to understand the mighty works and wonders that God brings to pass. Though the blessings may be small in our eyes, they are huge and powerful in gods eyes. Never doubt, and he will never fail you!

We got a solid investigator!!! Finally, we met James while we were looking through the potentials. Again, the person we were looking for no longer lived there, but James was. His kids met us at the door, and when he popped out, he was drenched in sweat and had kick boxing gloves on. He was in the middle of his workout, but he let us briefly talk about the plan of salvation. He said that we were an answer from God to him. He had been feeling like there was a dark presence or mood in his home that was making him and his wife a bit upset and uneasy, and they wanted that to go away. They felt like they needed to come to God finally, and they prayed for help. That's when we came sometime after that. He asked right away where our church was located, and although he was unable to come to church this last Sunday, he wanted us to come over today and even talk to his whole family, even making sure that his wife would be able to hear! His children, if I remember correctly, weren't ever baptized, and he just wants the best for them and his wife. Such a wonderful father! I look forward to teaching them.

Amelia is going along slowly but surely, she will come in her own time. its just a bit frustrating for us since we want those blessing for her right now and not to delay them coming to her, but with all things in life, she has to make the decision. 

Luis is having troubles with going to church and keeping commitments, so we will have a drop talk tomorrow. He brought it up sort of by text, but we kind of saw this coming lately. I hope he stays since he is so good, but oh well.

We met with Gabby, and unlike everyone's warnings, she gladly and excitedly accepted The Book of Mormon, and we briefly talked about the temple (we accidentally had a temple pass along card in their). She is excited to keep meeting with us. It is an honor that she is letting us in her home; we are the second people she has ever let into her home. Such a wonderful role model for a mother for her kids, I hope that she will continue with the lessons. Last we heard, she is keeping up on family home evening.

I am doing alright. Some days are better than others. Sister George is somewhat coming to terms with her mission, and the seemingly daily companion inventories have gone away. It has been so stressful during all that, since it was a lot of pent up feelings from her entire mission since she has only a week left, and it was really hard on her, and I was trying to compromise on things. It makes me so glad that unlike mission companionships, you can choose who you live with and date, and more importantly, marry one day. We were discussing how dating and being a missionary with a companion has a bunch of similarities, and when you get back you almost know exactly how to work with another person. It also makes you excited when you can choose who you can potentially be with and hopefully marry/be sealed for all eternity in the temple.

Sister George went to the temple and took a batch of names for work to be done. I am so excited, now my very first batch of names that along time ago I worked so hard to find, fix up, attach to one another in a family tree, and had Joseph (my boyfriend) and I did baptisms for almost 6 months ago. Now I will have my parents back home seal them together, as many as are ready and complete. Sister George also participated in sealing for children, she said that having gone all the way through and finally seen that big picture of what God intends for us and the joys we receive makes it so much more complete and makes so much more sense why we make such a big deal out of temples and life in general! It makes me excited when I will get married and have that opportunity for my self to go through that. 

I got food poisoning on Friday through Sunday. Sadly, I am doing just fine, but Saturday I wasn't feeling up to anything but sleeping. Even that wasn't fun. I just couldn't understand why I couldn't just stay home for a while and rest up for even an hour when feeling s crappy, not to mention feeling nauseous the whole time, there was no way I could drive. Finally Sister George relented and let me stay for an hour. I maxed out for medicine to help, but after a while it sort of settled down.
We went to see Terri finally and talked about temples and that got her excited to get her Patriarchal blessing, or as she called it, her personal road map of life! (I agree, it has been like a road map. As long as I am doing my best to follow it, I can't get too terribly off track from the blessings stated. Life would be so confusing without it, I wish everyone could understand they need that). Afterwards, we came back home and I got real sick again. Heavenly father gave me enough of a break to get through the couple hours and see Terri, then back to sick again. Finally I drove to see the mission nurse one area away, and she told me then that I wasn't just sorta sick. I was sick with food poisoning, that made Sister George feel awful, though, since she thought this whole time I was just sorta sick. I was wondering why no one would believe me when I said I was really sick. Thankfully I was able to empty most of my stomach before driving there. As a last resort, I drank a tiny bit of plain milk (I DO NOT like the taste of milk, but I was so desperate for a less upset stomach I drank it. I was right and my body hates it too plain. With cereal it is OK though.... I just was hoping that rumor about milk setting a stomach was true. It did just that, but in an unexpected way immediately). The mission nurse gave me a recipe for water and I believe it is baking soda, but it could be powder. You drink it and it settles it down for sure, though how it does that depends on how your body reacts to it. (She said it was foul. I know milk is worse any day, it honestly wasn't that bad in my opinion) 

Oh, crumbs, I forgot to mention that in this mission, several companionship went home while ago due to unnecessary time in the home and got depression from it. That's why they are over the top strict on the no time at home rule unless majorly sick. Sister George gets antsy and feels like an unsuccessful missionary staying so much at home. That's why she was urging we go out, and by going out. Heavenly Father, most of the time, helps us when we work, but my case was not one of those by a long ways. Depression in this mission is not uncommon, since this is one of the mission where missionaries that are predisposed to depression almost always go.

When we went out, I felt good enough to make the trip back. We also saw a bat that decided to roost in her rafters outside her home. Scred me real bad since I first thought it was a mega sized moth flying around the light (bugs here are a lot bigger than back home I have learned, scares me when I hear them flying past me).


Thankfully the zone leaders and Spanish missionaries are both in our complex so they came right over and gave me a blessing. Just as they said, I felt almost completely well the next day for the most part, and fully able to serve the lord.