Tuesday, October 27, 2015
24 - Judging chili and a costume contest!
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 going along. I got real sick this week. I'm doing better, mostly a seasonal cold and migraine combo Tuesday through Sunday. I spent most of my day either sleeping or when I did feel good, doing a visit or two teaching or doing service at Suzan's garden (the project was named this week, they hope to clear out the dead willow trees and in its place put in milk weed so monarch butterflies use the area as a wintering ground again (they used to come, but they don't any more and end up dying due to some bad weather years freezing them, illness/parasites, loss of milkweed they winter on, and unknown reasons....). It's amazing how much progress we have made. It looked like a windy patch of vines, weeds, dead trees and branches, odd articles of personal items and clothing thrown in, and decay. So many trees that four years ago when they first put in the majority of grasses and pretty garden arrangements have died off or are struggling to find any light beyond the suffocating canopy of passion vine and caster bean trees. Already they have perked up a bit after the work. It's so nice looking now, just to get rid of the rest of the pesky plants, then we can fill in things after. Half done already with things out! I did miss some hours of work we were assigned to due to illness too, but that's OK, there are lots of missionaries here who have been excited to get a chance to do it. We get priority since it's our area and everyone else has more service opportunities in their own areas VS ours.
We saw Sister Cathey, Austin, and her grandmother. She is getting along with her grandmother for the most part. We are hoping to do a half hour service at least once a week to sing to her grandmother so she can focus on work at home and have a breather from watching her like a hawk. I hope it works out! We watched a Mormon message on service called LIFT, it really helper her since she has the same feeling as many of the people who stepped up to the plate to help someone who isn't able to take care of themselves with mobility and other things. We always try to leave them all with a smile no matter what!
We have another investigator! We finally saw Wendi, the daughter of that very kind gentleman who gave us a neat wooden pen. We found out he is almost completely blind and deaf. Despite that she still works in his wood shop making things. It scares Wendi, and I would too if my family member was in that shape working with tools let alone power tools at that. She told us she isn't looking to convert, but her brother (I think) is Mormon, and she has a very basic knowledge of things. She is going through a rough time with her divorced husband and trying to stay secret from him and especially her boys from him. She definitely needed our message of the atonement and comfort of Christ. She accepted the book of Mormon we read from with her and said to come back again, but not to be sad if she doesn't convert. Quite a miracle find since I stopped for awhile in front of her home to take a brief break and rest my eyes that were hurting from some bright lights, and when we were about to go to the person we planned to see, we got to meet her. Heavenly father will ALWAYS put people in our paths if we continue in faith and just be obedient. Sometimes we come back empty handed (which here seems almost always), but to Heavenly Father, it's his way to see if he can trust us another time with someone precious to teach.
We had the yearly trunk or treat and chili cook-off! Us missionaries were made judges (and almost everyone had to wear an awful orange hat with judge written on it. I lucked out since they ran out of hats). I was last to make sure I wouldn't spread what had this week. Lots of hot and sadly bland ones. The best we all agreed were the sweet ones (hot chili lovers liked the extra hot version more). In the end, it was all good. I was able to wear my sari (I think its spelled) from little India, minus the pants which I substituted with a red skirt. It was so close to what we wear as missionaries, only longer shirt with lots of patterns of flowers and super long scarf that I got away with it. (other Elders dragged out their super scary ugly ties... boy there are some winners there). It was fun!
Us missionaries decorated our trunk with a spider web that a member out of pity gave us and toilet paper to mummify our car with (since we don't have any funds to splurge on decorations) and gave out pass along cards after we quickly ran out of candy... after a short time kids stopped coming to our trunk for seconds on candy after they saw we only gave our cards. (I knew there were kids coming back for more candy, maybe I should do that when I go home for anyone who double dips homes). We also judged the trunks and costumes. Its been a while since I saw more store-bought costumes than homemade in a long while. Utah is definitely the land of homemade costumes, especially at conventions. The day kids made Hansel and Gretel and won best home made outfits, Peter Pan family made the best family outfit (which there were so many Star Wars groups it made it super hard to see who belonged to who so they sadly were sort of disqualified in most missionaries minds, their were some super good ones though). And scary went to a werewolf prom girl, and mine and everyone else's favorite was a pretty accurate minion from Despicable Me that some little kid was struggling to get around in since it was so dark near the end. He was so happy! He got best of show! So well made, creative, and life size.
One off my bucket list, be a judge for a costume contest. Who would have thought it would take for me to be on a mission? Oops forgot my camera, so next week stay tuned for photos of the fun I did have this week despite sickness.
Monday, October 19, 2015
23 - Conference horses
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
It's been a busy week! Not much in the way of investigators, less actives, or finding, but in service!
We got a new service project which I'm not sure what they are calling, but its in the central park just north of the secret garden right by the park bench café that is infested with passion vine. THEY EVEN GROW INSIDE TREES! They are a menace, carpeting everything in sight and killing everything too. I was told they are dormant in their native environment and are quite peaceful plants, but something about here makes them grow and grow and never stop! We also pulled out linseed oil trees/plants. We were very careful with those plants because of the seeds and oil. Weeds as high as a building, and you name it was growing there. Sister Almulonga, my exchange companion for half the day, felled an entire small tree by herself. A couple of the other missionaries pulled out trees and branches making me and the volunteers in charge a bit worried with everything they tore out and down. I went to work with loppers and cut down the dead growth so only the living was left behind so everyone would not accidentally pull it out they were in such a dead state. I got asked a couple times if I was an arborist since I was so good at it and even said I should get my own pair and be put in charge of that. In all we cleaned up approximately 50sq feet of absolute jungle. We even got our pictures taken for the central park website and/or Facebook page!
A day earlier we did a district blitz and everyone in our district took names we provided of streets to go by and find people to teach or service to give. We came back with a fair good amount which is cool. It was sorely needed, and I made homemade chicken noodle soup with vegetables and cream of chicken soup with potatoes and chives for the lunch for everyone. it was real good!
We had to take our car in several times to the dealership. Every time they would call us to pick up because they figured out the problem, we then came to find out they needed us to drive with them to actually find the problem.... which we aren't allowed to do, so we went home empty handed. I feel blessed to have a car, except Chevy cars in general here cause so many issues that I sometimes wish I didn't have to be the missionary to deal with it.
We went to a less active lady named Debbie and Linda her non member roommate who has been investigating for quite awhile. They was excited for Sisters to teach them instead of always Elders. We talked about parenting, how we joined the church, and its influence on our lives. It was so neat also to meet their pets, most of which are cats who were rescues and a dog who was inherited from Debbie's aunt who passed away. They both met each other at work as a nurse and both their sons are in the military so they keep each other company, but Linda dog sits now since she is retired. We asked them to read a chapter in the book of Mormon, and I look forward to seeing them both again!
We also got to meet Sister Cathey's grandmother who has dementia, and she is really nice. We watched Patterns of Light video with David A. Bednar talking about the differences of the Light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I related it to a talk this conference about the really dark long tunnel where the Light of Christ is like a small light, but in that dark tunnel of life, it's very hard to get through on your own. The Holy Ghost is like that friend who had that strong light that made it possible to get through the very dark tunnel, you had to stay very close to them to get along. The Gift of the Holy Ghost was like having that strong light for yourself. With it you can navigate the paths much more easily and can even help others get through it! The light of Christ is within every single person, its the force that compels us to do good and be good! I like the example in the video about this man who sees a mother with a stroller trying to get on a bus, and he feels that he needs to help her. Many say that they were just doing good, but I know that it's more than that. Her son also showed us some tricks with his mega yo-yo sort of toy since last time we ran out of time, and he is really talented with that.
Sister Culala and I had some rough patches, and both at some point hit a low spot with discouragement, but we are doing much better now and worked things out a lot more than before.
We got to be at stake conference with Elder Christofferson, one of the Twelve Apostles and one of the Seventy too! It was such a great experience. All of us missionaries waited till all the children came up and he even stopped me and talked very briefly with me after shaking my hand, that was so neat! It was packed! He talked about this child at a conference who just couldn't sit still and was most amusing to watch, not so for her parents, but he gave much encouragement to the adults of children like that, or soon to be parents to not give up. The effort they put into going to church despite the struggles, fights, running around, and mess is all worth it in the end! You could definitely tell on the stage way back in the cultural hall that some children were running about so that must have been much needed for those parents. President and Sister Tew came as well and got to have a short time to talk as well. Sister Tew talked about the basic principals of the gospel and living up to that as members. President Tew talked about his mission in Guatemala and the love for those people and now for here, it was very powerful! During this I decided to sketch in my small art book which helped me stay focused, so here are some pictures of ones I did at general conference and this Sunday (one was of a horse I took a picture of at the pony petting zoo that I liked). As much as I would like to draw things other than horses and nature, its just easier and looks better to do these from only memory.
One photo of the outside of secret garden, Westminster Sisters new apartment setting it up, and our apartment that is almost all cleaned up from the depths of dirtiness and making into a Sister's apartment with things I found here and there that work well together.
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net
Mission address:
Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
California Long Beach Mission
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
It's been a busy week! Not much in the way of investigators, less actives, or finding, but in service!
We got a new service project which I'm not sure what they are calling, but its in the central park just north of the secret garden right by the park bench café that is infested with passion vine. THEY EVEN GROW INSIDE TREES! They are a menace, carpeting everything in sight and killing everything too. I was told they are dormant in their native environment and are quite peaceful plants, but something about here makes them grow and grow and never stop! We also pulled out linseed oil trees/plants. We were very careful with those plants because of the seeds and oil. Weeds as high as a building, and you name it was growing there. Sister Almulonga, my exchange companion for half the day, felled an entire small tree by herself. A couple of the other missionaries pulled out trees and branches making me and the volunteers in charge a bit worried with everything they tore out and down. I went to work with loppers and cut down the dead growth so only the living was left behind so everyone would not accidentally pull it out they were in such a dead state. I got asked a couple times if I was an arborist since I was so good at it and even said I should get my own pair and be put in charge of that. In all we cleaned up approximately 50sq feet of absolute jungle. We even got our pictures taken for the central park website and/or Facebook page!
A day earlier we did a district blitz and everyone in our district took names we provided of streets to go by and find people to teach or service to give. We came back with a fair good amount which is cool. It was sorely needed, and I made homemade chicken noodle soup with vegetables and cream of chicken soup with potatoes and chives for the lunch for everyone. it was real good!
We had to take our car in several times to the dealership. Every time they would call us to pick up because they figured out the problem, we then came to find out they needed us to drive with them to actually find the problem.... which we aren't allowed to do, so we went home empty handed. I feel blessed to have a car, except Chevy cars in general here cause so many issues that I sometimes wish I didn't have to be the missionary to deal with it.
We went to a less active lady named Debbie and Linda her non member roommate who has been investigating for quite awhile. They was excited for Sisters to teach them instead of always Elders. We talked about parenting, how we joined the church, and its influence on our lives. It was so neat also to meet their pets, most of which are cats who were rescues and a dog who was inherited from Debbie's aunt who passed away. They both met each other at work as a nurse and both their sons are in the military so they keep each other company, but Linda dog sits now since she is retired. We asked them to read a chapter in the book of Mormon, and I look forward to seeing them both again!
We also got to meet Sister Cathey's grandmother who has dementia, and she is really nice. We watched Patterns of Light video with David A. Bednar talking about the differences of the Light of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I related it to a talk this conference about the really dark long tunnel where the Light of Christ is like a small light, but in that dark tunnel of life, it's very hard to get through on your own. The Holy Ghost is like that friend who had that strong light that made it possible to get through the very dark tunnel, you had to stay very close to them to get along. The Gift of the Holy Ghost was like having that strong light for yourself. With it you can navigate the paths much more easily and can even help others get through it! The light of Christ is within every single person, its the force that compels us to do good and be good! I like the example in the video about this man who sees a mother with a stroller trying to get on a bus, and he feels that he needs to help her. Many say that they were just doing good, but I know that it's more than that. Her son also showed us some tricks with his mega yo-yo sort of toy since last time we ran out of time, and he is really talented with that.
Sister Culala and I had some rough patches, and both at some point hit a low spot with discouragement, but we are doing much better now and worked things out a lot more than before.
We got to be at stake conference with Elder Christofferson, one of the Twelve Apostles and one of the Seventy too! It was such a great experience. All of us missionaries waited till all the children came up and he even stopped me and talked very briefly with me after shaking my hand, that was so neat! It was packed! He talked about this child at a conference who just couldn't sit still and was most amusing to watch, not so for her parents, but he gave much encouragement to the adults of children like that, or soon to be parents to not give up. The effort they put into going to church despite the struggles, fights, running around, and mess is all worth it in the end! You could definitely tell on the stage way back in the cultural hall that some children were running about so that must have been much needed for those parents. President and Sister Tew came as well and got to have a short time to talk as well. Sister Tew talked about the basic principals of the gospel and living up to that as members. President Tew talked about his mission in Guatemala and the love for those people and now for here, it was very powerful! During this I decided to sketch in my small art book which helped me stay focused, so here are some pictures of ones I did at general conference and this Sunday (one was of a horse I took a picture of at the pony petting zoo that I liked). As much as I would like to draw things other than horses and nature, its just easier and looks better to do these from only memory.
One photo of the outside of secret garden, Westminster Sisters new apartment setting it up, and our apartment that is almost all cleaned up from the depths of dirtiness and making into a Sister's apartment with things I found here and there that work well together.
Monday, October 12, 2015
22 - Headless horseman waiting at the gates
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
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net
Mission address:
Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
California Long Beach Mission
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
Got to go to Buena park on exchanges this week, SO COOL!!!! We got to go air mattress shopping since we have tons of new missionaries this transfer we are short beds for exchanges. I got to see Knotts berry farm theme park too! They had a headless horseman waiting at the gates to go in for knots scary farm for October! I was impressed, the horse wasn't even flinching with everything going on around him, a sign of a well trained horse for sure, and good anatomy of the bones painted on him,it was cool. The Sisters live right across the street from the park so we got to see the park quite often. I hope I get to go there again, it reminds me of Cerritos, only more East. I went with Sister Skelton and we met this lady named Bessie, a very nice gypsy lineage lady. At first she wasn't interested, but then after Sister Skelton offered to share a scripture she said yes and had us come inside (it was 117 degrees F both days there... and humid...). We shared one about the attributes of Christ from The Book of Mormon (I forgot the exact chapter and verse), and she said it described Christ. I shared the poem on Footprints in the Sand and Christ never leaving us, especially during our hard times, Bessie then started crying and her daughter too because she had been going through a rough year, hadn't gone in church for awhile and even thought about taking her life from pills. Her husband then walked by and asked what was wrong and her daughter said she was feeling the Spirit, it was so amazing! I almost started crying too, the feeling was so strong that I just wanted to hug her and let her know how much I cared for her even though we just met each other! She then asked about our church location and time and hopefully she will continue to learn and find the peace and happiness that learning the lessons and being baptized will give her. It won't fix everything, but it definitely helps! We went by several other less actives in their ward and I loved them so much too, that ward feels like home, it was sad to leave! We did get to have lunch at Portillos. It was neat because it was themed like a Chicago café from the 30's and 40's and is similar to Iceburg as far as shakes are concerned (many say they have good shakes but they taste like cold milk with flavoring, not good). Just pumpkin for me, regular flavors aren't that great around here I learned. It was so cool!
We got to teach Johnny again. Still not interested, but definitely OK about us coming over to teach him! It was so neat to feel the spirit as we recounted the first vision and he even sorta agreed with our teachings. I can definitely see him joining in time. Such a great experience! Especially since he is our only investigator.
Almost all the less actives bailed on us this week. Brother Zeragoza had an excuse since he got called in last minute to a court case and was on duty till late into our exchange so that's OK, I figured that was what happened.
Its been an interesting week, we had a lot of people who we visited late because we have to work till 9pm. Needless to say, they weren't too happy to see us and a dog almost charged at us after bursting through the screen door. Gave us quite the scare and we agreed to only put cards at doors after 8pm for now on. People here hate us coming by later than 7pm because kids are going to bed, they themselves are sleeping, or they are busy.
Not much else this week, we did get to go to the beach, not the sand, but still it was cool. Dog beach was pretty! So fun to watch the surfers and dogs play in the water!
Finally got a photo of Amelia's baptism. I will try and get a better quality one soon, this one is a copy of a copy. Neat photos from this morning and some of the night time at our apartment one day. Nighttime ones finally and first of shiplies.
Till next week!
Till next week!
Monday, October 5, 2015
21 - Unpacking and wigging out
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 starting to settle down now, I finally was able to unpack all my stuff this week. Sort of. Sister Culala and I decided to spend free time on updating the area book to get to know the people more and try to find some people to teach. Most people here are the great fake out, smiles and all. They give them selves away first thing, which is irritating but also good because we know not to waste our time on them, but challenge them to do good and get a possible referral. Almost everyone around here who isn't Mormon is quite frankly rude and insulting, most laying traps and bait for a possible bible bash, but with the spirit guiding our thoughts and actions we avoid them easily, Its irritating though, I wish they would just leave us be. Most of the time they go out of their way to make a fuss, and one man while eating at a restraint openly was being loud and obnoxious and scared customers away from the place. We kindly asked if he would leave us in peace and respect us, but he kept bantering on about how we don't respect other people's belief's and won't just leave them alone... Ironic isn't it? Thankfully one man after that guy left said to us, "Did that guy wig out or what?" Then left and wished us a good day. The odd people you meet in long beach....
We haven't had any investigators this whole week. They either rescheduled for next week because of scheduling conflicts, or the new investigators we did find where not in our area so we had to pass them on to other missionaries. Without work to do, things get very discouraging, but we are staying positive that our area book work, as thin as it is, will lead us to more people.
We did lots of service at the Secret Gardens behind the library nearest to us (Central Park Library) and at Shipley's Nature Center! Mostly pruning to the ground bushes at Shipley's, but at Secret Garden we put stones in the garden beds for walking and the Elders put up broken concrete slabs that used to be the old path and placed them on top of another to make a wall around the flower beds and a pathway. It's so neat that Secret Garden a year ago was a wild and forgotten jungle of a garden, the city didn't do anything with it and it was fenced off so most people avoided it thinking it was fenced off for safety because it was literally so wild with passion vine (I think it's called that) that one couldn't even recognize the path. It was choked to death by the plant. Volunteers who loved gardening took it under their wing, and with missionaries' help they cleared out the vines and did their best to eradicate the pest (its an exotic flowering vine that's beautiful but deathly to other plants as it literally chokes them out, sort of like the vines in Jumangi). After that, they took the recycled concrete path out because people with strollers or wheel chairs couldn't go across it at all. It was so bad from years of tree growth and neglect that they then made it into path liners and foot tall paths (such a wonderful idea and SO pretty when finished). The next thing they did in spring was put in water wise native plants with color to invite pollinators in and welcome in guests to the forgotten garden. We were apart of the leftover branch cleanup, path placement, trimming, and beginning of butterfly garden creation. I'm so excited to be apart of building that! (At least I hope it will happen while I am there.) The people LOVE the missionaries and always let us know it's our garden more than anyone else's because of all the work we did. Without us, the garden wouldn't be where it is or even exist. Its interesting to think that without our help it would still be a forgotten patch of forest to this day. I didn't get photos this week, but next I will! It reminds me of the gardens I wondered around at grandma Bonnie's at the moment in some parts mixed in with the front flower bed of my home. So pretty, and full of butterflies everywhere!
The garden reminds me of what happens if a person doesn't have God, "the gardener," in their life, its wild and choked out by the worldly things, while pretty and enticing they are, its bad for the good parts of them. Once they are cut back, rebuilt, and lovingly fixed up, they become something more grad and inviting than ever before. I am sure the plants hated, protested, and cried out in pain after being pulled out, uprooted, trimmed to almost a stump, and the only flowers it had taken away, but now one can see its better now than ever before. Trust "the gardener" and you will become better than you ever could have imagined!
General Conference was so good. I was extra surprised by the talks about women and our role in the church, and also about fulfilling our roles in these last days before Christ's second coming. It's coming now more than ever. As I study the scriptures and ponder the teaching, I can more clearly see that its completely true about our day, and it's an important time we live in. Ominous dark clouds of trouble are looming, threatening of danger and lightning drawing nearer and nearer, but those who know and follow the guidance from our prophet and apostles, along with praying and scripture reading, we have nothing to fear. If one has a sure foundation of things like a well built house, one needs not to fear the storms around us. It's heartbreaking to see others struggling in the storm, but they have their free agency to stay out and one cannot force them to the safety within. Its just hard to watch them. I try not to lose hope that one day they will see their surroundings for as they are and come in.
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net
Mission address:
Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
California Long Beach Mission
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
Things are starting to settle down now, I finally was able to unpack all my stuff this week. Sort of. Sister Culala and I decided to spend free time on updating the area book to get to know the people more and try to find some people to teach. Most people here are the great fake out, smiles and all. They give them selves away first thing, which is irritating but also good because we know not to waste our time on them, but challenge them to do good and get a possible referral. Almost everyone around here who isn't Mormon is quite frankly rude and insulting, most laying traps and bait for a possible bible bash, but with the spirit guiding our thoughts and actions we avoid them easily, Its irritating though, I wish they would just leave us be. Most of the time they go out of their way to make a fuss, and one man while eating at a restraint openly was being loud and obnoxious and scared customers away from the place. We kindly asked if he would leave us in peace and respect us, but he kept bantering on about how we don't respect other people's belief's and won't just leave them alone... Ironic isn't it? Thankfully one man after that guy left said to us, "Did that guy wig out or what?" Then left and wished us a good day. The odd people you meet in long beach....
We haven't had any investigators this whole week. They either rescheduled for next week because of scheduling conflicts, or the new investigators we did find where not in our area so we had to pass them on to other missionaries. Without work to do, things get very discouraging, but we are staying positive that our area book work, as thin as it is, will lead us to more people.
We did lots of service at the Secret Gardens behind the library nearest to us (Central Park Library) and at Shipley's Nature Center! Mostly pruning to the ground bushes at Shipley's, but at Secret Garden we put stones in the garden beds for walking and the Elders put up broken concrete slabs that used to be the old path and placed them on top of another to make a wall around the flower beds and a pathway. It's so neat that Secret Garden a year ago was a wild and forgotten jungle of a garden, the city didn't do anything with it and it was fenced off so most people avoided it thinking it was fenced off for safety because it was literally so wild with passion vine (I think it's called that) that one couldn't even recognize the path. It was choked to death by the plant. Volunteers who loved gardening took it under their wing, and with missionaries' help they cleared out the vines and did their best to eradicate the pest (its an exotic flowering vine that's beautiful but deathly to other plants as it literally chokes them out, sort of like the vines in Jumangi). After that, they took the recycled concrete path out because people with strollers or wheel chairs couldn't go across it at all. It was so bad from years of tree growth and neglect that they then made it into path liners and foot tall paths (such a wonderful idea and SO pretty when finished). The next thing they did in spring was put in water wise native plants with color to invite pollinators in and welcome in guests to the forgotten garden. We were apart of the leftover branch cleanup, path placement, trimming, and beginning of butterfly garden creation. I'm so excited to be apart of building that! (At least I hope it will happen while I am there.) The people LOVE the missionaries and always let us know it's our garden more than anyone else's because of all the work we did. Without us, the garden wouldn't be where it is or even exist. Its interesting to think that without our help it would still be a forgotten patch of forest to this day. I didn't get photos this week, but next I will! It reminds me of the gardens I wondered around at grandma Bonnie's at the moment in some parts mixed in with the front flower bed of my home. So pretty, and full of butterflies everywhere!
The garden reminds me of what happens if a person doesn't have God, "the gardener," in their life, its wild and choked out by the worldly things, while pretty and enticing they are, its bad for the good parts of them. Once they are cut back, rebuilt, and lovingly fixed up, they become something more grad and inviting than ever before. I am sure the plants hated, protested, and cried out in pain after being pulled out, uprooted, trimmed to almost a stump, and the only flowers it had taken away, but now one can see its better now than ever before. Trust "the gardener" and you will become better than you ever could have imagined!
General Conference was so good. I was extra surprised by the talks about women and our role in the church, and also about fulfilling our roles in these last days before Christ's second coming. It's coming now more than ever. As I study the scriptures and ponder the teaching, I can more clearly see that its completely true about our day, and it's an important time we live in. Ominous dark clouds of trouble are looming, threatening of danger and lightning drawing nearer and nearer, but those who know and follow the guidance from our prophet and apostles, along with praying and scripture reading, we have nothing to fear. If one has a sure foundation of things like a well built house, one needs not to fear the storms around us. It's heartbreaking to see others struggling in the storm, but they have their free agency to stay out and one cannot force them to the safety within. Its just hard to watch them. I try not to lose hope that one day they will see their surroundings for as they are and come in.
Monday, September 28, 2015
20 - Underneath a red supermoon
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
Our new apartment was a 3-4 month vacant ELDERS apartment outside our area (1/12 the size of my last ward, one day I imagine they will have missionaries over stakes like they do in Utah down here). We spent a couple days slowly in our free time cleaning, de-staining the carpet, de-molding the bathroom (bad humidity 90% and above this year), and deep cleaning the fridge and kitchen. They left food for the next elders around the place and it clearly didn't get word to them that they would be the last residents till we came to use it..... I hope this is my last Elders apartment, three in a row isn't fun to clean. Al least this one had a check list of cleaning that I can post in all the area books. I am at to let others know what to do in the future. We also found that there was no information about the area, no shopping locations posted, no places to avoid or anything, so we were really whitewashing this area. Last one at least I knew most things before hand. At least we have an apartment of our own now, before we were WAY out of our area with two other Sisters and things were cramped and noisy. Driving was hard too and packing twice to move was a nightmare. We also got the Elder's car so that helped too.
We walked around and MANY people were out, mostly having moon viewing parties, or busy, but we met an atheist man who kept trying to prove us wrong, but we got him to accept a Book of Mormon and gave him a Moroni's promise bookmark and asked him to not take our word for it but to try it out for himself by praying, reading, then asking in prayer if it is false. He said he would. I doubt we will hear from him again, but he was nice and let us use his binoculars to view the moon earlier. He kept going on about science and logic and stuff like that but since I love science too and know that with this example: if the Wright Brothers had it in their head that their attempts at flight would NEVER work, then of course they would fail. If you pray and read the book of Mormon that way too, you will find similar results. The Wright Brothers didn't yield to others mocking or logics of the time. They went forth with faith that their plane would work, and eventually it did! So too is like finding out the truth of scriptures and belief in God!
It may not be the first time or even the second you will know it is true, but after awhile or even the first time you will know. Its the Light of Christ in us that tells us it is good and it is from God! Nothing dark or evil comes from him, so only peace, comfort, and love can come. The enemy might try and stop you, but its your decision to keep on going and don't give up!
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net
Mission address:
Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
California Long Beach Mission
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
Things are doing alright here. The ward is a lot like my ward at home, if not identical. That is nice, although they seem more busy in their personal lives to visit with us than my last ward, and I still don't quite feel like I belong, but hopefully that will change as time goes on and I meet more people. Its so strange to not have to worry about the ward list since it's updated weekly and we get a new one weekly as well (too much wasted paper in my opinion). We also don't have to worry about the calendar, although I liked having our own and being in charge of it if anything suddenly pops up, we can see who is down for the day and make other arrangements on the spot instead of playing phone tag. They also don't feed us as much either, although they haven't had Sisters in the ward for almost a year now so its probably unusual for them to worry about another set of missionaries to feed. I thankfully have lots of food to cook now that our apartment has a WORKING stove and oven.
Our new apartment was a 3-4 month vacant ELDERS apartment outside our area (1/12 the size of my last ward, one day I imagine they will have missionaries over stakes like they do in Utah down here). We spent a couple days slowly in our free time cleaning, de-staining the carpet, de-molding the bathroom (bad humidity 90% and above this year), and deep cleaning the fridge and kitchen. They left food for the next elders around the place and it clearly didn't get word to them that they would be the last residents till we came to use it..... I hope this is my last Elders apartment, three in a row isn't fun to clean. Al least this one had a check list of cleaning that I can post in all the area books. I am at to let others know what to do in the future. We also found that there was no information about the area, no shopping locations posted, no places to avoid or anything, so we were really whitewashing this area. Last one at least I knew most things before hand. At least we have an apartment of our own now, before we were WAY out of our area with two other Sisters and things were cramped and noisy. Driving was hard too and packing twice to move was a nightmare. We also got the Elder's car so that helped too.
We met 1 less active Marie, she is real nice. She stopped us on our first day and invited us over. Our other successes were finding multiple Do Not Contacts to report back (they were nice unlike my other area where they made you want to cry they were so awfully rude and insulting or slammed the door in your face). We did meet a few good potentials. One man gave me a wooden pen, it was so neat. he was over 90 years old and loves woodworking. Even though he wasn't interested, and deaf from hearing loss, he still gave us a pen he made and said if we ever lost ours we knew where to get another.
Another one was Sophia. We felt prompted to talk to some people then on our way back from walking and talking with them we met her and talked about prayer. She liked us so much she gladly gave us her information and hopefully we can have lessons with her! If I didn't suggest seeing someone on the street, then we wouldn't have been around to meet Sophia! Its amazing how that works out if we follow the Spirit's promptings.
We also got to see the lunar eclipse, missed it turning red sadly, but we did get view of it all black. So cool and eerie, Sister Culala loved it! She had never seen that before, and in Utah it's usually to late in the morning so I miss it or wake up too late.
We walked around and MANY people were out, mostly having moon viewing parties, or busy, but we met an atheist man who kept trying to prove us wrong, but we got him to accept a Book of Mormon and gave him a Moroni's promise bookmark and asked him to not take our word for it but to try it out for himself by praying, reading, then asking in prayer if it is false. He said he would. I doubt we will hear from him again, but he was nice and let us use his binoculars to view the moon earlier. He kept going on about science and logic and stuff like that but since I love science too and know that with this example: if the Wright Brothers had it in their head that their attempts at flight would NEVER work, then of course they would fail. If you pray and read the book of Mormon that way too, you will find similar results. The Wright Brothers didn't yield to others mocking or logics of the time. They went forth with faith that their plane would work, and eventually it did! So too is like finding out the truth of scriptures and belief in God!
It may not be the first time or even the second you will know it is true, but after awhile or even the first time you will know. Its the Light of Christ in us that tells us it is good and it is from God! Nothing dark or evil comes from him, so only peace, comfort, and love can come. The enemy might try and stop you, but its your decision to keep on going and don't give up!
Sort of reminds me of this video, SO GOOD! its about a man deep in despair in his life and his true story, very good locations, imagery, and one of the best videos I have seen so far that's a documentary.
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?category=topics/prayer&lang=eng
Monday, September 21, 2015
19 - Amelia's baptism, a marriage and area #2!
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
Got word that I will be transferred to Huntington beach north stake, Ocean View Ward. Should be interesting!
Spent the last couple days deep cleaning and prepping the area books for them to take over. Sadly, our appeal to president about how to split the ward for safety didn't work out after all. I imagine if we had more investigators we would split the ward since this ward disparately needs Sisters here, but that's how life goes.
AMELIA WAS BAPTIZED! Such a nice evening. We had the youth sing, and Brother Matthews played the piano so beautifully that it was like being at the symphony, he was so good! Amelia felt the spirit so strongly, and so did everyone else. Half the ward came and even Sister Tew (who had to leave part way because of the departure fireside), the Wassmers, and the Elders from the zone, too! Even more impressive was that the zone leaders came. They could have gone to the farewell departure fireside, but they came to support us and Amelia instead and brought their investigators too! I did a talk on the spirit, and Sister Paw did the one on baptism, so it was amazing!
Other than that, not much to be honest, lots of cancelled appointments all week long and many MANY interviews for Amelia and a few mishaps with our scheduling with that. That's how life goes though. It all worked out in the end so its all good!
Angel Becker and Jeff Enomoto got married on Saturday, and we got summoned over for the after part to help consume some leftover sandwiches for our dinner (they found a way to get us over; I knew she would come up with some way to get us in and still be 100% within the mission rules).
Sorry for the short letter, honestly not much has happened this week. Just lots of no people home and cancelled appointments, and TONS OF TRAININGS. I have sat down enough this week, I want to get out and walk. And lots of hitting the books to clean up the area book. Our zone leaders were impressed about how well we turned around the books, maps, and apartment. The Elders after us are very particular about cleanliness so they will be so happy. I just hope my new area is the same. They did a training about it on Saturday, big time. Its been an ongoing issue, so hopefully things will get better now on. Time will tell.
Things are much better between Sister Paw and I, and we are enjoying the fruits of our hard work, apartment and book wise.
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net
Mission address:
Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
California Long Beach Mission
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
Got word that I will be transferred to Huntington beach north stake, Ocean View Ward. Should be interesting!
Spent the last couple days deep cleaning and prepping the area books for them to take over. Sadly, our appeal to president about how to split the ward for safety didn't work out after all. I imagine if we had more investigators we would split the ward since this ward disparately needs Sisters here, but that's how life goes.
AMELIA WAS BAPTIZED! Such a nice evening. We had the youth sing, and Brother Matthews played the piano so beautifully that it was like being at the symphony, he was so good! Amelia felt the spirit so strongly, and so did everyone else. Half the ward came and even Sister Tew (who had to leave part way because of the departure fireside), the Wassmers, and the Elders from the zone, too! Even more impressive was that the zone leaders came. They could have gone to the farewell departure fireside, but they came to support us and Amelia instead and brought their investigators too! I did a talk on the spirit, and Sister Paw did the one on baptism, so it was amazing!
Other than that, not much to be honest, lots of cancelled appointments all week long and many MANY interviews for Amelia and a few mishaps with our scheduling with that. That's how life goes though. It all worked out in the end so its all good!
Angel Becker and Jeff Enomoto got married on Saturday, and we got summoned over for the after part to help consume some leftover sandwiches for our dinner (they found a way to get us over; I knew she would come up with some way to get us in and still be 100% within the mission rules).
Sorry for the short letter, honestly not much has happened this week. Just lots of no people home and cancelled appointments, and TONS OF TRAININGS. I have sat down enough this week, I want to get out and walk. And lots of hitting the books to clean up the area book. Our zone leaders were impressed about how well we turned around the books, maps, and apartment. The Elders after us are very particular about cleanliness so they will be so happy. I just hope my new area is the same. They did a training about it on Saturday, big time. Its been an ongoing issue, so hopefully things will get better now on. Time will tell.
Things are much better between Sister Paw and I, and we are enjoying the fruits of our hard work, apartment and book wise.
Monday, September 14, 2015
18 - Locked doors and happy 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
We got locked out of our apartment yet again, this time after we went shopping first thing in the morning. Sister Paw and I have been checking for keys, but this time she thought she had them with her. Next time I will have the keys and we will have to present them in order to ever go out of the apartment. Thank Goodness we had our phone and car keys this time around. We went to the mission home and did studies with Sister Tew this morning, we were going to do it at our apartment already, but this time we had no choice. It was so much fun that we will do it again with her latter this week! Hopefully at our place. We have had to go back and forth so many times it is ridiculous, but we are still good on miles considering. I just say that we are following God's plan for us which is to learn and grow, we have excelled at that part of his plan this transfer!
Looks like we will definitely have elders in the area next transfer, I just hope I will still be there. I love the ward despite its unique stubborn qualities, and at times odd love of feeding us but forgetting our appointments on occasion. The other day we went to the Carlton's for dinner and we got on the subject of dying plants, I suggested chicks and hens plants among other drought tolerant plants, and Sister Carlton loved the pictures of the more exotic vibrant green and magenta ones. She will get some and plant them right away. it is such a drought it makes it hard to grow much anymore, and they limit watering to 20 minutes a day twice a week, or you get big big fines (like $500 fines) per each offence of doing any more watering than that.
I love the ward members and have found so many ways that life and knowledge that I obtained before my mission has been helping with almost everyone. I also received a blessing that said that THIS IS MY AREA, I was purposely sent here for people in here. It will be interesting to see how things play out two Tuesdays from now on with transfers. It's so odd to think I have been out already 4 months and after this next transfer I will be out almost 6 months! That's a third of my mission gone by. I am starting to see what they mean that this mission flies by and it's so brief in your life, it is almost too short in some ways.
Not much in the way of lessons. Everyone cancelled on us other than the ever faithful Amelia and Beckers, they always love us over, which is such a relief at the end of the day and you don't know where else to turn, and you are almost to the point of discouragement from doing nothing but driving to place to place in hopes that someone is home or will be kind enough to listen, even if they disagree. It really makes a difference in our day to have someone listen and let us in. It gives us a big boost, and sometimes is an answer to our prayer or concern we have. It's amazing when that happens. The other day Amelia told us that NOTHING will stop her from being baptized! She was so proud to say that, it's so heartwarming. When I first met her she was unsure about the concept of being baptized again in another church and many other things, now she won't let anything get in her way. I really do think having her at that girl's baptism really touched and changed her heart forever. I am so grateful for people like her and her constant love of making sure we never leave without food or a smoothie.
The Beckers are doing pretty good considering on the 19th Angel gets married to Jeff, we read more scriptures to them and even if they bring up not the most positive discussions, they know not to dwell so much on those things and to even bring up something positive! I am so proud of them. I also love it when Angel folds her arms and sits there waiting till we say the prayer, she will even look right at you till you start with a prayer. That is her way of saying I want to get down to reading scriptures so why the wait.
Other than that, Sister paw and I had a rough patch the middle of this week, but after meeting with President Tew a couple times due to time, we found the root of the problem is the area and frustration with it and the ward was getting to Sister Paw and a miscommunication one day set her off. we both got things straightened out and are working more on communication and talking more with one another to help from letting things get bottled up. Its been very hard for her because this area is honest to goodness hard, but I haven't had troubles with it and have been happy with it for the most part because its all I have ever known. When those two things met, it was causing lots of turmoil between us and hard feelings. I am just happy that its all worked out.
rachael.clark@myldsmail.net
Mission address:
Sister Rachael Geniel Clark
California Long Beach Mission
6500 E Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
We got locked out of our apartment yet again, this time after we went shopping first thing in the morning. Sister Paw and I have been checking for keys, but this time she thought she had them with her. Next time I will have the keys and we will have to present them in order to ever go out of the apartment. Thank Goodness we had our phone and car keys this time around. We went to the mission home and did studies with Sister Tew this morning, we were going to do it at our apartment already, but this time we had no choice. It was so much fun that we will do it again with her latter this week! Hopefully at our place. We have had to go back and forth so many times it is ridiculous, but we are still good on miles considering. I just say that we are following God's plan for us which is to learn and grow, we have excelled at that part of his plan this transfer!
Looks like we will definitely have elders in the area next transfer, I just hope I will still be there. I love the ward despite its unique stubborn qualities, and at times odd love of feeding us but forgetting our appointments on occasion. The other day we went to the Carlton's for dinner and we got on the subject of dying plants, I suggested chicks and hens plants among other drought tolerant plants, and Sister Carlton loved the pictures of the more exotic vibrant green and magenta ones. She will get some and plant them right away. it is such a drought it makes it hard to grow much anymore, and they limit watering to 20 minutes a day twice a week, or you get big big fines (like $500 fines) per each offence of doing any more watering than that.
I love the ward members and have found so many ways that life and knowledge that I obtained before my mission has been helping with almost everyone. I also received a blessing that said that THIS IS MY AREA, I was purposely sent here for people in here. It will be interesting to see how things play out two Tuesdays from now on with transfers. It's so odd to think I have been out already 4 months and after this next transfer I will be out almost 6 months! That's a third of my mission gone by. I am starting to see what they mean that this mission flies by and it's so brief in your life, it is almost too short in some ways.
Not much in the way of lessons. Everyone cancelled on us other than the ever faithful Amelia and Beckers, they always love us over, which is such a relief at the end of the day and you don't know where else to turn, and you are almost to the point of discouragement from doing nothing but driving to place to place in hopes that someone is home or will be kind enough to listen, even if they disagree. It really makes a difference in our day to have someone listen and let us in. It gives us a big boost, and sometimes is an answer to our prayer or concern we have. It's amazing when that happens. The other day Amelia told us that NOTHING will stop her from being baptized! She was so proud to say that, it's so heartwarming. When I first met her she was unsure about the concept of being baptized again in another church and many other things, now she won't let anything get in her way. I really do think having her at that girl's baptism really touched and changed her heart forever. I am so grateful for people like her and her constant love of making sure we never leave without food or a smoothie.
The Beckers are doing pretty good considering on the 19th Angel gets married to Jeff, we read more scriptures to them and even if they bring up not the most positive discussions, they know not to dwell so much on those things and to even bring up something positive! I am so proud of them. I also love it when Angel folds her arms and sits there waiting till we say the prayer, she will even look right at you till you start with a prayer. That is her way of saying I want to get down to reading scriptures so why the wait.
Other than that, Sister paw and I had a rough patch the middle of this week, but after meeting with President Tew a couple times due to time, we found the root of the problem is the area and frustration with it and the ward was getting to Sister Paw and a miscommunication one day set her off. we both got things straightened out and are working more on communication and talking more with one another to help from letting things get bottled up. Its been very hard for her because this area is honest to goodness hard, but I haven't had troubles with it and have been happy with it for the most part because its all I have ever known. When those two things met, it was causing lots of turmoil between us and hard feelings. I am just happy that its all worked out.
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