After I sent that email to you on Thursday we found out that we would get a half Pday today to do laundry and write home. So instead of having to wait until Friday you get two letters this week. We will still have Pday on Friday so I will still be emailing on Friday. I am honestly not sure why they changed schedules. I am assuming it is to accomodate all of the new missionaries and campuses that will not actually be on the MTC campus. The schedule changes affected the entire MTC not just us. It kind of sucks but Friday may actually be kind of nice. And it will only be for a few more weeks because I'm pretty sure once we get out in the field our Pday will be back to Monday.

 

I am feeling much better. After sleeping all day Tuesday and taking it easy Wednesday I gradually got back into things and by the weekend I was feeling better. Although the circumstances kind of sucked it was kind of nice to have a few days to rest. And I am feeling back to myself 100%. I haven't had a headache since Thursday so that is a good sign!

 

So...here is my week. Monday was Pday and it was a good day. Except for the hitting my head part. Monday we had a lesson with our investigator David. As we were walking to the lesson we decided to change our lesson plan. So we had no time to prepare which meant we had no notes to go off of. And it was our best lesson we gave. We were really able to talk with him and ask him questions and answer his questions. Sister Rankin and I were able to go back and forth and actually understand what each other were saying so that we could back up each others points. Sister Palmer was pretty much quiet throughout the lesson. She is having a hard time picking up the language and being able to talk without notes. And I don't know what to do to help her. During our study time I try to review things with her and she seems to understand it but when we go into lessons she is silent. And afterwards she asks us what we said to him because she didn't understand what we were talking about. It's hard because we have 3 different people and we are all learning at 3 different rates which can make things difficult when we are trying to teach. But we are all working hard to help each other and we are doing our best which is all we can do. Monday was also our teacher Brother Rubisch's last day. He graduated from BYU and is moving to Florida to go to Dental School. It was kind of sad to say goodbye. He always brings skittles to class and eats them during the lessons so we all bought him a pack of skittles as a good bye present. I don't think I've ever seen him smile as big as when we gave it to him. We are getting another teacher to replace him. We haven't met him yet but should sometime this week so we will still have 4 teachers.

 

Tuesday was the day I spent in the clinic so you already know about that. Tuesday night I was able to go to the devotional though. It was good but it was super loud waiting in line which hurt my head a bit. PS my line skills have paid off well when there is a huge crowd of people waiting to get into devotionals. Me and Sister Peel are really good at maneuvering our way up so we make it in to the devotional room every time. It is a little bit more difficult because we have to make sure that we sneak past the Elders without touching them. However we are good at it! Anyways...the devotional was someone from the Missionary Department named Elder Evans. He talked about repentance. It was a good talk but he went over by half an hour and by that point my head was pounding and I was done and ready to go to bed. He had a good message it could have been just a touch shorter.

 

Wednesday was also a relaxing day. We skipped service so that I didn't have to wake up earlier than I needed to with my head. (The one bonus to our new schedule is we have no more early mornings!) We didn't teach any lessons and just took it easy. We did our studying outside and during study times I took naps to help me feel better. Wednesday Elder Kodra who was the Slovene Elder went home. He has high stress that makes him sick so he has been sick most of the time he was here. It was sad to see him go. But the hopes are that he can get things taken care of in the next month and then be able to come back and go out to the field with us.

 

Thursday was a good day. I was feeling most of the way better by Thursday so we decided we would be ok giving a lesson. Our teacher was hesitant about it but he decided if I felt like I could do it he would let us. And the lesson went good. We went into the lesson with a plan. And right when we got in there we asked a question and the answer of the investigator, Ivica changed our plan. I was able to understand what he said to us and was able to talk to him about it. My companions didn't understand what was going on so after a few minutes I was able to tie what we were talking about into our lesson plan so my companions could jump in with what they had prepared so that I wasn't the only one talking. I can guarantee that in lessons my grammar was horrible but I am able to talk with the investigators and for the most part I understand what they are saying and they can figure out what I am saying. We also had TRC on Thursday. We didn't have enough volunteers come so we had to combine with another companionship which ended up being a good thing. So we were with Sister Erbe and Sister Peel. It was good because usually I have to take the lead with my companionship but I was able to sit back and let them take the lead so that I didn't have to do as much thinking with me head. It ended up going really well.

 

Friday was a pretty relaxed day during the day. We had a lesson with Ivica Friday night. We ended up teaching him outside because there weren't any available rooms. It made it difficult because it was loud and distracting outside but we did the best with what we were given. I like our lessons because with each lesson I can see us improving. Our teachers even comment on it after each lesson what we did better that time than last time and what we can do better on. The one thing we need to improve the most on is sharing the talking between all three of us which is hard but we are getting better and better every lesson.

 

Saturday we moved back to our classroom! Happy day! Sister Rankin also developed a rash and because the health clinic was closed we got to leave the MTC to go to the doctor. It was super weird to ride in a car and be out in the real world. She ended up having an allergic reaction to something so they put her on some medicine and she seems to be improving.

 

Sunday for Relief Society the new General YW President came and spoke to us. She talked about how we won't be laboring alone and that through the Lord we have all the help we need. Sunday night devotional was Elder Allen who is the managing director of the Missionary Department. He talked about how most of us probably gave up a lot to be here but what we get out of it will be much greater. There will be suffering, there will be hard days, and it will take some getting used to but if we can accept it and give everything we have to the Lord we will ok. This was a great talk for me after the week I have had. I have been through suffering and I have been through hard days this week but the whole time I knew that the Lord was with me and that he would help me get through the hard days. And he did. And I am still here and I am surviving and I will continue to press on.

 

The Sunday night film was a recorded talk given by Sheri Dew. Part of our zone, the Bulgarians and Polish are leaving this week. It was sad to say bye to them last night. In sacrament meeting they sang in their languages which was really cool. It's crazy to think that in less than a month it will be us leaving! Sunday we also decided to try choir. Well...a few sisters were going and Sister Erbe talked me into going with. Choir was fine even though I don't really sing well. The problem was after. We had less than half an hour to eat dinner and get back to the devotional. And the lines in the cafeteria last night were really long. So dinner consisted of chips, cereal, and cookies because we didn't have to wait in line for those. We will do choir on Tuesday because we sing the song we practiced yesterday on Tuesday but after that we probably won't do it again. At least we can say we tried it! Our temple walk is kind of whenever we feel like going so we don't really have an assigned time as long as we don't have anything else scheduled.

 

We have done personal study outside a lot this week which has been nice but I am starting to look like a tomato. I have dug out my sunscreen for next time so I don't get fried.

 

When I told my companions and some of the other sisters that I wanted to buy a sippy cup they looked at me like I was crazy. I explained what it meant and now everytime I say sippy cup they correct me and say waterbottle. Don't worry...It will always be a sippy cup. They won't convince me otherwise.

 

There is a sister in our zone named Sister Rosenval going to Czech Republic. And we just realized a few days ago that she lives in David and Trisha's ward. Kinda crazy!

 

Our district has decided we can't do SYL days anymore. Everytime we try to do it someone gets injured. Tuesday was me, Thursday one of the elders sprained his ankle and was on crutches, Saturday Sister Rankin got her rash, and every other SYL day we have had something has happened to someone. It's a bit ridiculous.

 

I lost my black rue 21 shirt. I can't find it and think it might have got left in the laundry room or something because the laundry room is crazy. Anyways I'm kinda disappointed about it but oh well. Other than that my clothes are still doing great!

 

I'm not sure if I will be able to get a hand written letter done but I will try! We don't have much time left! Hopefully I answered all of your questions from your emails! And I will have to answer the ones from hand written letters in a hand written letter because I don't have them with me. I'm trying to think if there is anything else to tell you because I have more time. I love you all! Thanks for all of the love, support, and letters especially this past week. The MTC really is amazing! I love it here! I love the spirit that is here! I love the people that are here! I am learning and growing every day. There really is no place I would rather be. I hope you all have a great week!

 

 

Shoutouts!

 

Letters this week from Dad, Justin, Heidi, Tyler, Mom, Ryan, Allie, Carrie, Jordan, Nicole Banks, Grandpa

 

And thanks for the package! It was perfect! The homemade treats were a huge hit! I took them to class and my teacher loved them!

 

Also thanks for the pictures! I love pictures! Tell Justin to tell me about his program! His float looked good and his costume picture was cute. Especially since he was holding a basketball in it!

 

Here's a Croatian phrase for you: neču moči doči jaču iči kuči. That's our favorite phrase of the week. It means I won't be able to go I'm going home. It's basically a pointless phrase but it is really fun to say and sounds really cool.

 

Anyways! I love you all and hope you all have a great week! You only have to wait until Friday for a letter this week! Volim te! волим те! I love you!

 

Love, Sestra Clark