Hermana Redmond and I at the doctors, the first time.

 Mi y mis amigos mejores! 

 Las Hermanas!!

Alo!

 

Today is a beatiful rainy (freezing cold) day here at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). But it is absolutely gorgeous. We are surrounded by mountains in the Provo Valley and this morning the fog had concealed them completely. Also, with this weather has come another round of illness. : ) But everything is okay. It's just not fun when you are in a room with 4 sisters and you each keep rotating which sickness you get....But I loaded up on drugas (drugs) at the store yesterday, so we will prevail!! haha.

 

How goes life back in Arizona? Thank you for your letters and packages! I really appreciate them and I love being able to share with the other sisters in my District.

 

So my companion and I have been able to leave the MTC to go on field-trips to the doctors. ha. Very fun. Nothing serious, but we were playing volleyball and both successfully hurt ourselves. I jammed my finger and she strained her wrist. So we walk around all bandaged up and people ask, "what happened?" we say in unison, "volleyball". So now we are banned from the sport...but I've convinced her to try soccer. So i'm excited for that. Well, on our doctor visits, we had really neat experiences. Don't get my wrong I really love being in the MTC with so many awesome people, but I cannot describe the excitement I had to talk to other people. It was kind of ridiculous. I was talking to everyone that I could! And I even talked to two ladies from Chile and Argetina IN SPANISH. I felt so much love and apprecitaion to be able to ask about their lives and encourage them with their situation, as it was a doctor's office and they were all hurting in some way. One lady I especially felt for who was older and in a wheelchair. She arrived the same time we did and she was smiling so much as we opened the door for her, but I saw her later as she came out, knowing that she would now have to get surgery her face had changed to saddness. Seeing her demeanour at the first, I would have never have guessed that inside she was hurting and needed comfort. But I feel that everyone, no matter how happy they appear needs to feel loved and be uplifted. I hope that we can all rtake time to reach out to those around us. The more we care about others, the more we will be cared for as well. It's a chain effect.

 

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Clement

 

P.S. So I heard the news about the numbers increase in the amount of missionaries that coming to serve for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints... It jumped from 700 a week beginning their papers to 4,000 a week. When I went to the doctor, he showed me the article and I was amazed. Over half of the missioaries that are in those numbers are sisters. I'm just wondering where they are going to put everyone. I also am hoping that these young missionaries come out because they feel that they have a testimony and want to serve others, and not because they feel pressured. Because many get here and then realize that it is harder than they thought (with so much to do and so much to learn) and I can honestly say that I would not still be here if I did not believe this restored gospel to be true. I have a strong hope that everything will work out. And I am excited to see the good that these missionaries will do.

Hola Familia y Amigos!

How are you all? HOW's the weather in AZ? Because it is pretty awesome here. IT is getting colder and the wind has been picking up, so the leaves fall like rain. It is beautiful. So ya, don't be too jealous. I do miss the sun. : )

First off, I heard about Jere's passing away. I hope that Martha and Zach and their families are doing well. That is hard to even imagine because seeing Jere and Martha outside watering their flowers was a daily event that I definitely looked forward to seeing. I love them very much and I know that Jere is safe in God's hands.

Also, I heard about the new puppies this week. Congratulations. I hope the plays are going well and the casts and crews are staying sane...like that is even possible. Shout out to my nieces and Nephew!! I sent you letters today so be looking for those!

I read through my journal while think about what to write and I came across this Sci-Fi dream that I had the other night. Briefly, it was a combination of Hunger Games, an advanced Alien race, and the mission rule of not being able to hug boys. So in case you were curious, I still have my crazy dreams. And in this one I saw a sister get tazed  when she hugged a boy. Just now, they are mixing with missionary life..so that is fun. This last week my Sisters (Remond, Stockton, Stroud) and I were able to sing a musical number in the large meeting for RElief Society (the meeting for the Sisters). It was really cool because they have actual auditions and we auditioned THursday and sang Sunday. Faster than we had anticipated but the number was beautiful. Also, we got to hear from Sister LInda Burton (Relief SOcitey PResidentfor the church) and she was very down to earth and insightful. Many of her words answered questions that I had in my heart. I think it is amazing how many, if not most times, we receive answers through other people without them even knowing it. Coincidence? The more and more I see it, the more I am unsure that chance would be in my favor that many times. I think that there is a lot more to it. A lot more to do with God. Thank you for your letters and prayers, I hope you all know that I love you and I am willing to do anything for you. PLease let me know! I also heard that Marissa is getting her mission papers in. I'm so happy for her. THis truly is an amazing experience and more than anything I am learning how to turn outside of myself and serving others. Till next time!

HErmana CLement

Buenos Dias!!

 

Goodness. This has been a sad/awesome week! I have felt so blessed. First off, I got to read Elder Mann's email from Nicaragua...I can't even imagine living in those conditions. I'm glad he's loving it though. And he really did study and pray hard in the MTC because his Spanish was awesome when he left, the gift of language is so real. I am amazed at how much Spanish I can comprehend and speak now. It is really an experience to just start going off in Spanish and it actually makes sense. haha. I also had a dream in Spanish the other night about teaching a family the Gospel. That was really cool and I woke up ready to go and super pumped for the day. How is everyone doing back home?? I hope awesome! And I really hope that everyone got the chance to watch General Conference this weekend on the BYU channel. If not, I would encourage you to listen to the talks online at LDS.org because regardless of your beliefs, the messages spoken are there to draw us closer to God through Christ, and also help us if we are going through rough times in our life. I know for me personally, I appreciated the words of President Thomas S. Monson who talked about recognizing answers to prayers. I was able to reflect on my life a lot this weekend and I realized that a lot of things that seemed to be trials at the time ended up being the very thing I needed to bring me closer to God. I think that most everyone would agree that in times of our greatest sorrows and our greatest joys, our instict is to reach out to our creator beyond this earth either to ask "why" or to express thanks. The other talk that struck me was Elder Uchtdorf's discourse about how we sometimes wear our "busy-ness" as a badge of honor. Well I definately think that we all do that at times. I know I do. The message was centered around spending time with the meaningful things rather than being busy for busy's sake. This life is not a race, it is meant to be a journey and though we are all at different places and at different understandings, we can all ultimately slow down and take the time to enjoy the blessings the God  has givien us.

 

In other news, this week has been good. It's a little weird without Elder Mann around, but it is a lot easier to focus on teaching and learning Spanish now. Haha. But ya, so this last Thursday I had a really bad luck day and I kept doing really clumbsy things. I left my name tag in my room and had to go back up the 4 flights of stairs to get it...my companion was very patient this day (thank goodness), I tripped twice on the stairs up to our classroom, I then biffed it on a plastic tub in the hallway...I still don't know why it was sticking out that far..., and the best one was when we were cleaning bathrooms for our service that day and I was on the counter cleaning mirrors and my back hit the paper towel dispenser and it went flying to the floor. I BROKE THE PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER WITH MY BACK. Ya, the workers were really confused when they walked in and I was just laughing my head off. Other than that, things are better with my companion. We were bein a little unrealistic with our goals of following the schedule to the T. We realized that we didn't even give ourselves time to use the bathroom or talk to anyone, it was just go, go, go. Thus was our problem with wearing our busy-ness as a badge. But the sad thing was that we were failing at it. haha. We had a really good talk about how there is no way we can reach our expectations and since then we have readjusted to make reasonable goals and we are enjoying the experience a lot more. So life is going amazing! I absolutely love teaching, and having the opportunity to teach about our Heavenly Father and his desire for our happiness, to those who have never felt it before, just makes it so much better! I am so grateful to be here. It's difficult at times because I fight my lazyness a lot, but it has been worth it.

 

Shout out to everyone at home! Love you all! Thank you for the letters and mom I got you package today with the unicorn shirt...heeheee. Everyone loves my mystical magical clothes. : ) I feel very loved from you all!!

 

Love

Hermana Clement

 

P.S. Did you hear that they changed the missionary eligablity age to 18-Elders and 19-Sisters. : ) I was in the room with all of the missionaries when they announces it and it was a huge reaction that I will never forget. I'm super excited to see floods of sisters coming out here. The missionfield is expanding. Crazy. Oh also, Elder Bednar came to speak to us this Tuesday and his comment on the change was, "The Lord can do his work and hasten it in his time". Marissa, I can't wait! I hope you come to D.C. so we can sing our amazing songs door to door. And thank you Melvin Keller....I wish I could understand your writing...

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!

 

I hope everyone is well and having good times back home! Things are great here in Provo. I heard that Camie, Joel, and the kids announced the arrival of the new baby!! Yay!!!! I´´m so excited to have another niece or nephew in the family. Joel and Camie...it better be a cute one. But really, I´´m super happy to hear that, and I am grateful for the letters this week. If you ever fell ANY inclination to write me, please do. It´´s really nice to hear from everyone and I am doing my best to write back. Just know that I care about all of you and miss you a lot. Not in a homesick way, thank goodness, but in a, ¨I really love and miss my people in Arizona, and Idaho, Colorado, and England (Constable Jones)¨. Also, I heard that Emma had an awesome ice cream party for her Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

 

In news here, everything is a bit different with Elder Mann gone. But the story of the last few days is so much like a chick'flick that I have to share it, so please bear with me. Also bear in mind that this is my side of the story and Elder Mann´´s might be a little different. So Elder Mann and I are in a relationship and decided not to break it off before we left because we are both serving missions and as a result, wont be dating people. Plus we really like each other... So we survived 3 weeks here in the Missionary Traning Center without coming close to breaking any rules (regarding hugging, flirting, being alone). So that was amazing and actually quite fun, because we could shake hands and say stuff in Spanish. Probably don´t want to go through that again, but I enjoyed it. haha. Well back to the story. So when it came down to the last few days that Elder Mann was here, he had a lot of orientaions and extra classes to go to and so our moments together were even shorter. W e shook hands on Saturday at dinner which then turned out to be the last time we saw each other face to face. I´´m not going to lie, that dinner was a bit sad and I probably looked really zoned out the whole time. But the Next day we had a Mission Conference and Elder Mann said the opening prayer. This is it, I thought. He leaves in the morning and I won´´t see him for quite some time.. So I slowly waved to him as I leaft the large auditorium with my companion. On my way out, the hope came into my head that I wished to see him, just one more time before he left. Well, I realized that it would be impossible as his flight was scheduled for the next morning really early. So I said, okay. And I spent the rest of the night listening to my companion talk about her home, which was fun. Tknelt down and prayed really hard to have the will to become focused on the work again and not let myself get depressed in missing Elder Mann. Well, I´´m not going to lie, I didn´´t sleep to well that night and I had dreams of clowns and car repair shops...don´´t ask. In the morning I got up at 6 am and got ready and started my day really sad and lacking the motivation that I had had before. Then as I my companion and I went into the computer lab for language study, I heard my name form the doorway and I looked up to see Elder Mann in the doorway with a huge grin on his face. I immediately stood up and just stared at him in amazement.. I had no idea what to do. I shouted, ¨I have my camera!¨ and I rushed over to get another picture with him. Apparently their flight to Dallas was cancelled and they didn´´t know why. I felt this huge surge of love form God at that moment as I knew that God knew how I felt and how much this sacrifice has been for me. I asked to see him once, and God let me. Ya, it may have been coincidence, but I cannot deny the feeling that filled me when I was pondering the event. Elder Mann is gone now, off to Nicaragua, but I am perfectly fine now. Seeing him again, when the chances where litteraly 1 in a million, really confirmed that everything is going to be okay. I felt that about this in my life and I hope that everyone feels a similar way about their lives. Try to trust in the Lord, try to consistantly better yourself and reach out to those around you. I know that we are here to grow and learn, and sometimes our challenges become our biggest blessings. I love you all!! I hope to hear from you and how your life is going!!

 

Love,

Hermana Clement