Alo!

‎August‎ ‎7‎, ‎2013

So this week we had really cool miracles. As we pull up to an appt one hour early, because there was no traffic (weird), we receive the idea to pass by Yiana from Panama (super awesome). She said it is good thing we did because it was the only day this week that it would work, and SHE READ!!! haha. She had good questions and she is starting to love the Book of Mormon. We then are rushing to her neighbor ( our appt.) and as we go we receive two new referrals for by text and I got the feeling that Margarita wouldn't be home and that we needed to contact them. And it was right! Even though she had confirmed, she wasn't there and so we went to visit the referrals that happened to live on the same street...so we got to Marcos and we decide to talk to this guy sitting on his porch and we ask him what his name was and he said Marcos, and we asked if he lived at the address that we had and he said no. Apparently the English elders had written down all of his info wrong. He was excited to met us and we have a return apt. Then the other referral across the street was just about to leave as we walked up and her eyes lit up. :) Then as we were about to leave this amazing street, we decided to stop by this apt with 2 little kids playing outside. We knock the door and it was the same family that I had met at the visitor center in Christmas, during the festival of lights!!! Miracles! We taught them and they are searching. Such a great 3 hrs on Evans Trail Rd.! :) Sister Aldridge and I just kept looking at each other with big smiles, like "Oh My Goodness". So there you have it, it is very possible to be at the right time, with the right people, at the right place if you follow the promptings of the Spirit. Love you all!!!

 

Hermana Corrinne Clement

Hello!

August 2, 2013

So we got a special  tour of the Capitol with Senator Lee from Utah so I was not able to email on Wednesday. And as we speak I am at the Visitor Center and am using the little time that I have to write so sorry if it  is short. :) 

First off, I failed to mention my roommate Sister Connelly, she is close friends with Brooke Hiatt so it super fun to have her crazy personality in the apartment. haha. Crazy in a good way. She is really cute and street contacting in Spanish, even though she was called English speaking. It's fun to hear her stories about the Hiatts too...Love you guys! 

Also, the capital tour was great. We got to take the secret trolley underneath the city to get to buildings, legit yes. It was really cool and I never realized how much the designs in the capital reflect Roman/Greek Gods....it was really interesting and Sister Tembo (from Zambia, my companion for the day because my companion doesn't like going to the city) and I talked about it a lot and how the pictures of George Washington are of him exalted in the heavens. It amazes me how much the early Americans adored and almost worshiped him. He was an amazing man for sure. 

Funny story. So pretty much anytime a tour comes into the vc with children or older people I get it...I kid you not. haha. This last week I got a tour of a retirement home (none of which were members) and the theme was supposed to be light and centered on families....weellllll this little group was full of fired up little grandmas and grandpas talking about Gay Rights and asking really crazy questions about lots of things. They obviously have spent a lot of time on the internet. I was expecting this cute little group of nice old people and it was definitely a surprise. I took each question and answered it the best I could and then showed them some movies. They started the tour talking and talking and ended it completely silent and content. You all probably would have laughed at me in this tour but I did all that I could to keep them on board and at the end, when the Spirit was really strong.....they all started clapping. Oh my goodness. hahaha. I will never forget this little group and many asked if I had a boyfriend. :) Yes, I'm currently taken, I replied. Good stuff. Okay I have another tour to give right now but I love you all so much! Gyver congrats on your 1 year mark. You made it!! ha. 

Also exciting about all of the zonie nominations, thanks for the letters and love. Things are really good right now. 

Love,

Hermana Corrinne Clement

I'm still here!!!

July 24, 2013, 1:05:26 PM EDT

Oh my goodness!

 

Transfers were crazy! So every six weeks we change companionship or stay together. Well today was completely unexpected, we received 19 new missionaries and because our mission is so small geographically we now have so many trios. No, I'm not in a trio this transfer, I am staying here in Glenmont! I was so sure that I was leaving and I almost started packing, but I learned YET AGAIN to not have expectations but to just be ready and willing to work wherever I am needed. So, my new companion is Hermana Aldridge and she is actually from Delaware. haha. Not very far from here. She is a really hard worker and even just from our first few hours together I can feel that this transfer is going to be very good and we are going to be working crazy hard. We both talked about how these last two transfers because of various reasons we had slowed down a bit but now we are both full of energy and excited to find more people and love this ward and run till we drop. Like you said Cara, there is a time to rest and a time to work hard and push.

 

This week in the Visitor Center a cute little man from India came in and I got to take him around. He was hilarious and he reminded me a lot of Marissa's impersonation of an old person. :) He was trying to convince Elder Eyring (our VC Director) to let him enter the Temple without a recommend. He said that he didn't need a recommend and that he had enough faith to find someone who would let him in. He sat outside with the lady the brought him  (a member) and he took off his sandals and put a napkin on his head. Oh my goodness....he made my day! he was soo cute. ha.

 

We had a cool miracle on Sunday. We were walking around these apartments and we happened to be close to an old referral door so we knocked it and this super awesome Lady and her famous dancer son answered! She was talking and talking and we barely were able to say anything and so we were a little unsure of how it was going to turn out. After bragging about her son and after his dance demonstration to us, we finally asked her about the Gospel and she said that she had studied before and was really interested but her husband was Protestant and would not allow her to learn more...we sadly but also happily, they are getting a divorce and so she said she was open. I cannot tell you how cool it was when she felt the spirit. As we testified she completely stopped and just looked at us and then she wanted to learn more. So cool! There are truly people being prepared out there. I love you all! Thank you mom for the package. :) Sister Carcamo loved it and says she loves you and is coming to stay with us after her mission. Take care and keep doing the things that matter most!!

 

Love Hermana Corrinne Clement

Viviviveveve Chile!

July 17, 2013, 11:28:58 AM EDT

Buenos Tardes!

 

So we had another Night of Music and Inspiration at the visitor center this week and Sister Carcamo was really nervous because she didn't like our song. We sang have I Done Any Good in the World Today, but it was this weird version that Sister Engman found online...the kind that has the dramatic key change in the middle and the audience worries if you are going to make it. :)  haha. But it actually was pretty good. And Sister Carcamo didn't look up the whole song. But we have had a lot of good times and we have found some amazing people. And I'm teaching someone right now that reminds me a lot of Trevor Bowler. It's lessons full of random jokes and awkward pauses...It is really fun. :) We also have this house that we have been teaching, literally the house, because every time we pass by there are people visiting Carmen and they come in, so we definitely get a lot of referrals from her. ha.

 

Transfers are coming this next week and I'm probably leaving, but a big part of me wants to stay in this area. We have been having a lot of slow time at the visitor center, because the Temple is being cleaned, soooo Sister Carcamo walks around and then randomly strikes a dramatic dance pose (in her Chilean cute way). I just stare at her. Then she gets mad at me and 5 min later does it again. We definitely never have a dull moment between our weird personalities. "Some" mornings routine: Alarm goes off at 6:20 am. Sister Carcamo doesn't move. I practically fall out of the bunk bed to turn it off. I tell her to wake up. I tells me she doesn't like me and rolls over. I put on my shoes to go exercise and then fall asleep on the floor....we wake up at 7 to Christian music blasting from our roommates. She jumps out of bed and runs to the shower. :) I tell you this to show you that when you have 2 non-morning people together, some days it is just so hard to wake up! But we do good the rest of the mornings. :)

 

Love you all! We are doing good and sharing at every moment we get. Hope you all are having an awesome HOT summer! :)

 

Love

Hermana Corrinne Clement

 

P.S. Heidi Loar came to the Visitor Center yesterday as a missionary and I gave her investigator a lesson! Super cool! I was her visiting teacher in my single's ward back home. I didn't know that she was going to go! :)

July 10, 2013,

zoomed in photo de sopa del mar

us just before... SOFTBALL!!

Another Email! :)

July 10, 2013, 12:05:20 PM MST

Hey! Thank you so much for the love package Mom! We appreciated it and the little cactus plant is sitting on my desk :):).

 

So! We just got done playing softball with our zone. Softball and Humidity...not so fun combination. But it was actually really fun/funny because half of our zone is international and most of them had no concept of how to play softball. So every other hit a missionary would run the wrong way, or not move, or do something really random. haha. So as we played I tried to explain it to my comp in Spanish, and then translate to Sister Tembo from Africa, and Elder Nng from China. For this act of kindness I got the trophy for Sportsmanship!!! Woo hoo! It was a good time and even though they said they weren't keeping score, our team won!

 

We have some really awesome new people that we are going to start teaching this next 2 weeks (2 part member families)....transfers is almost here again. :( I really am hoping I get to stay here because there are so many things and people that we have been working with that I have grown to love. There are 2 recently baptized families that I know we'll be friends for always. The coolest thing about being here these last 3 transfers is to look back and to see the change that has taken place as they have continued to learn and progress after baptism. The saddest thing has been to see certain people who were strong and had a lot of faith, lose it all and push away from us and the ward.

 

I would say the my greatest joy comes from being in a moment with someone who is struggling and suddenly remembers or realizes that they are a child of God, and that there truly is a plan. Their individual life matters so much more than they even know. That makes this mission, and every sacrifice of you guys (my family and friends), worth being here. I miss a lot about being with the family and doing theatre and dancing with MacGyver, but I know that I will never forget the people who have touched life as I am here. I'm working on a workshop that I'm giving tomorrow in our meeting and it is all about our purpose as missionaries. It is not about numbers, or how many lessons you have, it is about lives changing for the better. I am so happy to be making a difference.

 

Love you all!

 

Hermana Corrinne Clement

July 6th 2013 PICS

Mustaches

The metro!

 

Beauty after Gardening

I'm still ALIVE!

July 6, 2013, 9:23:10 AM MST

 Hey! So happy 4TH of July!!! I hear it is smoking hot over there! 123 degrees??Crazy!

 

We had a lot of good un this week with the holiday. We got to go to the city and see the historical re-enactment of the reading of the Declaration of Independence.... :) I had flashbacks of Eagle's Aerie and Heritage...good times. We also got to see the parade and Natural History Museum. I found out pretty fast that Sister Carcamo doesn't like museums. But she still followed me around.

 

Just like MacGyver, we lost and gained a mission President. We now have the Cookes and I cannot not tell you how excited I am. I absolutely love and respect President and Sister Matsumori, I just got really excited when the Cookes talked to the mission about missionary work. They have so much compassion and are loving people and they have their 3 kids with them. He was a Major General in the army and she was a Lawyer, but you would not guess by the way they interact with people.

 

Things have been good and we have been finding some amazing people that are not quite ready to make changes in their life but they definitely have that desire. I've been learning a lot about their lives and there is a lot of soap opera/sad stories that they all have, but I find comfort in knowing that we all have different paths that we are walking and that the Lord is there every step of the way. And even when we don't want him there, he is that loving parent that always looks out for us. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that I'm no in control of anything but myself. I hope that you all take each day at a time and breath when it gets tough. I love you all!

 

I heard the workshops went well! Great job Kendra and Trevor! Also, Aida. :) I look forward to seeing the recording someday! Love you all!!!

 

Hermana Corrinne Nicole Clement

Crazy dream teaching

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 10:39 AM

Family!

 

So I don't know if I mentioned this much in previous letters but...I sleep teach in Spanish....and apparently very loudly. And at first it was cute and all of my companions and roommates thought I was funny, but now they have problems sleeping because I am testifying to random things in the room. I wake up super tired. SO  I'm going to start drinking "happy juice" (as my family calls it) or camymille tea at night to help my mind stop while I'm sleeping. Pretty sad problem to have. haha. It reminds me of the time when Kendra was working at that school and would sing lullabys to me in her sleep. So tender. :) But ya, I hope you are doing alright on those workshops Kendra! I always just was weird and the kids responded well. So that's my advice!

 

This week was a good one. We had some lows because Sister Carcamo and I are going to have to stop teaching some of our favortie families for a while becuase they just aren't progressing and aren't ready to make changes at this point, BUT we have been working really hard to find more and we have quite a few people that are interested. YAY! Hermana Carcamo is really random and spastic. I know! Perfect companion for me. :) She really likes to make up songs and she will make up a song that lasts a whole carride home from the visitor center....such talent. ha. But we have a blast everyday, and even when we get bad news or our plans fall through she is always right there with me looking for the positive. One thing I did want to ask of all of you is to send her either a letter a postcard or something special. She is from Chile and hasn't received one letter since she got her a month ago. You can address it to the same address but with her name: Fernanda Carcamo. I would really appreciate your support on this this. She never says anything about not receiving mail, she just shrugs it off, but I know how nice it is to get a letter so I hope you could send something little! :)

 

Oh something cool! So this Sunday is a worldwide broadcast fireside about missionary work and part of it will be recorded in my mission! So if you watch it, you will see a lot of our missionaries. I won't be there, but my past companion and my roommate will be a part of it. So just a little fun side note!

 

I am really grateful to be here. Everyday I learn things that help me see more of God's plan for us. I am floored that although I have gone through many ups and downs, he has always been there, because I have felt it. I know he loves us and just as a true father does, he will never give up on us no matter how far we have gone. Love you all!!! I hope that you are well and know that I miss you!

 

love

Hermana Corrinne Clement