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

Night of Music Miracle!

June 5, 2013

 Family! So, I am over halfway through the mission. Crazy right? I thought that I would be going home in March of next year but this mission is on a different transfer cycle than others so I go home early in February. So WOW! It's bittersweet. But I still got a lot of time so I'm not worried about it. :)

 

I hope all is going well! This last Sunday was Night of Music and Inspiration (which I was producing/in charge of). So one rule is that Sisters and Elders cant sing together in the performances and also we cant practice all together until the day of. SOO thank you to the many years of theatre tech rehearsals, it was all under control and the practice ran smoothly. There were 6 songs total, 2 mormon messages and a photo slide show. Everything was going fine, then the storm outside started to pick up and the rain was loud with thunder. Suddenly the power went out then back on. We lost connection to the sound system and control of the lights 20 min before the performance was about to start. The senior couple missionaries were running around frantic as I sat in the audience having the slightest idea of what we should do. They called me over and asked me what I thought. One of the sisters suggested we could have the performance in the smaller theatre or in the upstairs lobby.....I got a really strong feeling and said lobby! So we rounded up the missionaries and explained the situation then we had them all grab as many chairs as we could find to put in the lobby facing the Temple. (Luckily it was pouring outside so the people were all still in traffic so we could get all of the seats out before they came). We moved the piano out and a podium and did it all with 5 min to spare. Then came the people. We had one of the biggest turn outs for night of music in a long time. About 200 people and they all fit! So as the program started we didn't have the videos so it was a good thing there were so many songs. One of which I played the Uke to the Lord is My Shepherd (Regina Spektor style) super cute. haha. The night was beautiful and intimate and the spirit was strong. The rain and temple were in the background while the missionaries were singing songs about life and how God loves us. Then as we were about to come to a close, we still had about 10 min and we had the idea to play the narration or Jesus Christ that we play near the statue of Christ. The words filled the room and after it was over complete silence. I looked around and so many of the peopel were crying. Then 3 sisters sang a song called Take it Home (with a cello = for you mom) and it was soooo good!!!

 

I am so grateful that even when everything fell apart, it came together again, even better than I ever thought it could be. It reminded me a lot of our experiences at AYT and how so many times seemingly bad things would happen but most times they turned out making the performance even better. Sunday was a miracle! And I had many comments that it was the best they had been to. I believe less and less in coincidences every day. I know that night touched many hearts, especially mine.

 

Love you all so much!!

 

Hermana Corrinne Clement

Hello!

May 22, 2013, 11:58:25 AM MST

Family!

 

The baby was born! I'm so excited! Greyson Woolf looks really cute in the photos from mom. :) Hope you are all holding him and hugging him for me.

 

So this week was filled with a lot of weird stuff. Our GPS died (completely fried), which is bad because our area is huge and we got lost for about an hour or two because we had problems reading the many maps. BUT we made it home!!! YAY! That was sister Carcamo's first day in the mission. It turned out to be very fun, just kinda sad, but we talked to everyone we could for directions and then gave them a card to check our mormon.org. good stuff. Then the next day we were confident in not getting lost, then we got lost again at the opposite end of our area. :) Yup. I'm still directionally challenged but it's gotten better. Then We all got food poisoning from Wendy's and were throwing up for 2 days...stay away from the chicken sandwich. On top of that we just had a lot of sad things happen in the lives of the people we are teaching and all we could do was comfort them, a lot of deaths. Basically this week was very humbling and the good news is the Sister Carcamo still wants to stay on the mission. ahah. Not that she was about to leave. It was just a lot to handle in a first week. But all is picking back up and we are eating again. We have been really blessed! Maria Jose wont be getting baptized this week because her father now does not want her to, but I know that she will someday. She has such a strong desire.

 

I feel like every week I learn something new but then I look back and I realize that I tend to learn the same things over and over again, just in a new way. The hope that I continue to have is that the Lord does not give us more than we can handle. Life is full of changes and transitions and through these times if we continue to seek for the positive and continue to help others we can find a peace inside ourselves. I truly do love teaching these people the Gospel. Those that are willing to listen, feel the spirit, and they cannot deny it testifying of our message. There are so many questions, we just need to go to the right source. I love you all and I hope that everything is good!

 

Hasta luego

Hermana Corrinne Clement

Mother's Day!

May 8, 2013, 8:26:49 AM PDT

Happy Mother's Day!!

 

I don't know what you are all doing for mother's day, but here they're having a craft fair :) :) and the Men in our ward are doing a night of appreciation for the Women. Latino love songs!! Woo hoo! Also this Saturday we are doing this "missionary experience" with a big group of youth and we are taking them knocking doors...We don't really knock doors in our mission as much as other missions so this should be a fun experience. You never know who will answer the door nor what their response will be. It is pretty fun. ha. ALSO, we get to call home this Sunday night for 40 min....so we gotta make it good! I think we are 2-3 hours ahead of Arizona so I'll be planning to call that night anywhere from 6-8 (my time) so hopefully you guys can be around to wait. Sorry it's not very specific because we have the Visitor Center that night and we'll all be taking turns. But I'm excited to talk to you all!

 

So also, really cool news! We have events at the Visitor Center every month and one of them is called Night of Music and Inspiration which a sister is chosen to be in charge of. I was asked to do the next one!! How cool? So all of the theatre, workshops, and teaching kids is definitely being utilized in this mission. I'm still thinking of a catchy title that will cater to everyone (regardless of religion). But I'm putting together a version of There is Sunshine in My Soul Today (w/ the uke and 3 part harmony) Really excited! These events are so powerful and I love them because people from all different walks of life come and get to feel the spirit and feel uplifted when they leave. So if you have any ideas...write me!!

 

This last week has been really good with Hermana Shaw (from Utah). I was with her when she first came out and she has grown a lot. One of her biggest struggles has been Spanish, which I can relate to for sure, but this week I've been trying to step back and let her feel confident in doing this work. It sometimes gets overwhelming to balance both an area and the Visitor Center. It takes a lot of organization and multitasking (theatre has helped with that too). The cool thing is though, that even if everything falls through, you can still feel peaceful and unstressed knowing that you are doing your best and the rest is out of your control....I think that is something we need to always remember.

 

I love you all sooooo much!! And I am excited for Sunday! Take care!

 

Hermana Corrinne Clement

 

p.s. MARRISSAA is in the MTC!!! Yay!! Will you guys write her?? It makes the MTC experience a lot easier! Also, thank you for the recipe Kris and Ryan! I'm excited! Mom, thank you for your letters I love you!!

Short Message!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 8:39 AM

Hello Everyone!

Short message this week because we are heading to the city today (Preparation Day) to watch the Nationals Game!! (Baseball) haha. It should be pretty cool and the whole mission is going together and it is a full day in the city.

How is everyone doing? I've seen some people here from Arizona and they say it is already up to the 90's. I actually miss the heat. ha. But it's been pretty nice here lately. We had some good experiences this last week and some that were sad. One that was kinda sad was the fact that we had Stake Conference (multiple wards in church for a bigger meeting) this last week and not even half of our Spanish ward showed up, including a few people that we have been teaching. So we called them to see what happened and they said that they drove the whole 30 min (our area is HUGE) to get to church but there were no more parking spots so they went back home.....so apparently this is what happened to a lot of the members and instead of parking on another street and walking they all went home. :) Kinda sad but more funny than anything. Good thing we have normal church next week. haha.

I think one of the coolest things that I have been seeing here on the mission is that even if you make plans and you feel super good about them, it doesn't always work out and that it's OKAY. I have seen some of the most amazing miracles and met some really open people because of plans falling through. I feel like us planning and then trying our best shows faith and then the Lord guides us, if we let him, to a better sometime weirder path...but it all works out at the end of the day. I feel so blessed and I feel tired all of the time but I know that it's because I have honestly never worked this hard in all of my life...Super weird, but I feel strengthened everyday. I love you all so much!!! Transfers are coming up this next week so we'll see what happens! I get to call you all on Mother's Day!! Yaya!

Love you!

Hermana Corrinne Clement

Maria Jose

This is Maria Jose!