vans

So. This week my feet started hurting, where the big toe and foot meet. I ignored it forever until I found out a part of my foot is numb! So, I called the doctor guy for the mission and I have been rockin Vans for about 4 days now WOO. The only down part is it is constantly raining, and the shoes are canvas. One day they were completely soaked and I was afraid that they would still be wet in the morning, and I needed to use them the next day! It is so humid here that sometimes our laundry hangs for two days before it is dry, so you  can imagine how I was feeling. I prayed and prayed and prayed and was like,"Seriously, Heavenly Father, I need these shoes to be dry tomorrow so I can wear them. The only way they are gunna be dry is if you dry them." And guess what. THEY WERE DRY yeah! Miracle, right? Yes. Prayer is AWESOME. My left shoe has a hole in the top, and they are black, so I wear a black sock on that foot and a tan sock on the other foot haha because I only have 3 tan socks and 3 black socks. I guess I lost a whole bunch of my tiny socks while moving around. But thats okay!

This is a really yummy dressing we ate yesterday at a members house.

Smashed garlic

salt

Olive oil

A little vinegar

Pepper (probably the kind you grind yourself in a grinder i imagine would be better)

So simple but goodness it was delicious. We ate it on our salad.

Also a member made this chicken wrapped in cheese then wrapped in ham then a TEENY bit of tomatoe sauce. It was really good too.

Also, breaded chicken with a little ketchup and cheese on top baked. It was good.

Sounds super weird, but I was in heaven. Fo realz.

I am really loving it here. So, remember how I said it rains? We were teaching an investigator who has tile floor (no one has carpet) and kids run in and out of everyones houses and no one cares. So we are teaching her and her sister (ages about 23 and..15, 16?) and this little kid about 2 years old runs in the house. He runs to the spot where the floor is soaked from the rain and starts dancing around. He then slips and smacks his head on the floor and starts crying immediately. Geisa and Geisileine (the investigators) start cracking up and laughing at this little kid and he runs out of the house to his own house. Bahahaha I was laughing soo hard. I even laughed more when I wrote it in my journal and right now when I started sharing with you all this hilarious story. hahahaha and the kid came back.

Well, I am out of time. I love all of you! Dont forget it! 

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

Another week in Pernambuco

So Pernambuco is the state that I am in, and Recife is the city. And it's pretty cool. The people here are really humble and live with so little. I feel bad because our house back at home is probably 2 and a half of these houses here. I feel like I have too many things and I want to give everything away, but I don't. Some people here have mud floors and sheets as walls. But they are all so nice and loving. 

If I could get rid of one thing it would be mosquitos. I get bit every day multiple times a day, but I guess only my legs taste good because the bites are only on my legs. I envy the Elders becase they get to wear pants and shoes that cover their whole foot. Sand and dirt and mud get on my feet and dirty feet is my least favorite thing. Some roads are paved, some cobble stone, and some are just sand or mud. But, I will have to deal right ha ha.

So the sun sets at 4:30 over here. It's really weird because it will be 5 o'clock but seem like it's like 9pm. But it is a lot cooler, temperature wise, when the sun is down. It's hot, but I'm not dying over here.

A lot of people will gather around whatever tv they can find to watch soccer. So on weekends there are a lot of drunk people wandering around yelling goal and cheering when Brazil wins. It's pretty cool, I wish I could watch the soccer games! But alas I cannot. But this week we were walking to some investigators' houses and we encountered a drunk guy. He was stumbling around and speaking Portuguese, of course, and I couldn't understand. I was trying really hard to understand, but I came to the conclusion that Heavenly Father didn't want me to understand haha and I was okay with that. We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and told him to read it then we pretty much ran away. Sometimes being paper white is a perk because people listen to us, but then sometimes it is not because it attracts drunks  and crazies. I feel kinda bad because I just ignore them and walk away, but then I remember I am a daughter of God who deserves better, right? 

Anywho, it is really hard to get people to church here. And We walk to the investigators' houses and "pick them up" aka walk with them to church. And people always say,"yeah! i'll go to church!" and they never do. So we had a couple people planned for church and I was expecting none of them to come, but I was still praying. WE HAD SEVEN PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH whaaaaaa. Yeah, all were surprises! It was awesome. I also bore my testimony yesterday at church. I seriously DID NOT want to. But I had this feeling in my heart like,"Go...go....go....go...go bear your testimony..GET UP THERE I WILL HELP YOU SAY WHAT I WANT YOU TO SAY." And I really was helped. I don't know why I needed to bare my testimony, but I felt a lot better after I did. It was good. 

We do a lot of contacting and talk to everyone. I actually really like it because I hated talking to people when I was at home (people I didn't know). My next line I am going to try to use is,"Para, eu sou um anjo do Senhor. Eu estou aqui para salvar você e sua família." (Stop. I am an angel of the Lord. I am here to save you and your family.) haha my Zone Leader told me that a missionary did that once and I thought it ws brilliant.

The food here is really good but I don't know how to ask if they can write down the recipe. I will study that today and ask the members from now on because there are a lot of things I want to make at home. They eat rice and beans and pasta with everything. Rice beans pasta meat. Bam. Also, I used to hate catchup but I am eating it out here. And Mortadella blegh I used to hate slicing it in the deli at Fry's but here I eat it. It's weird. There is a fruit called maracja and IT IS THE BEST FRUIT EVER. It is yellow and tastes so good. I wish we had it in america. 

I love all of you! You are all awesome. Thank you for your love and support. Til next Monday!

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

more Brazil!

Welp...estou aqui no Brasil.

It. Is. AWESOME! I love it! But it is very hard because i only understand very little. BUT the Lord will help me. I am here for some reason. 

Sorry if some of the words turn into diferente words, i am using An. iPad that is programed for portuguese. Só it keeps changing words!

It is really funny here because when there is a socar game, NO ONE is outside. Some shops are éven closed. And we always know web there wars a gola MADE because there will be An. Eruption of,"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!" and people will shoot off fireworks and beep their Car horns for a straight 5 minutes hahaha i always largo in my head because my companion doesn't find humor in it like i do.

Sister Pereira is brasileiro and she is very Nice. She speaks like five English words, só i speak portuguese all the time. It is hard. But good. It is Hot here, and it stays Hot. Showers are cold, BUT it is awesome because that is the only time you have tô cool down. There are no balancetes. People use sheets BUT aah it's só Hot i cant éven use a sheet. 

People stare át. Me because i have light hair white paper and glue colored skin and blue eyes. EVErywhere! I just say,"Olá! Bom dia!" 

Well this iPad is annoying me. I want a computer! Todas is a holiday só we are át. A member's house. I love all of you! Eu amo vocês!

Love Sister indago clarke

Picture

baptized children

BRAZIL

These group emails are a lot easier because I won´t have to type the same thing over and over. So if you don´t like it, you gotta deal XD

Well, my first day here was the longest day ever because it was like two days long. And I was like,"What the heck have I done!" I was so confused. I arrived with 5 other missionaries. And we realized we knew close to no Portuguese and couldn't understand anything. We couldn't read the signs...it was weird. We exchanged our money and the currency is a little more than $.50 to each reai (hay-eye, Brazillian currency) I ate a bread ball with cheese and it was good.

When I say everything is different I mean everything is different. Even the catchup. People here drive like crazy so we walk. It's nice to walk everywhere because I don't feel like Im getting fat haha. Lunch is a giant meal, but it is always good. We are fed by a member almost every day. Rice and beans ALL DAY ERDAY. But I looove rice and beans so it works out for me. There is this soda that is so good called Guaraná. IT is delicious.
 Also, the Coca-cola and Fanta are wayy better out here than back at home. It's great, because people don't judge me when I have coke for breakfast! It's acceptable out here! THESE ARE TRULY MY PEOPLE! But seriously....I don't drink very much water, it tastes weird. But I do drink it sometimes.

There are no carpet, only tile. And the houses are small. I feel spoiled out here.

Sometimes we hop on this tiny bus thing and they drive crazy. The roads are bumpy and some are dirt. It rains almost every day, so there are always puddles of water and mud. I have learned that umbrellas are only good for keeping your hair dry. They really don't help with your clothes, so I hate using it. It's heavy.

I am having a good time out here, I love it. The people are so nice and so patient with me and the language. I Wish I could understand and talk more, but line upon line, precept upon precept, right? Yes. That is right. My district and zone are really helping me a lot with learning. They always give us tips to study and things to do to help me learn.

Our zone is the best zone in the whole mission. Our mission hit 215 baptisms for the month on June, crazy! But success is not determined by the number of baptisms. I will say that again...SUCCESS IS NOT DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER OF BAPTISMS. It is determined by your dedication and willingness to work hard and be diligent and find those who are willing to listen. I like walking because I can talk more with people and contact more. I feel the spirit when I bare my testimony, even though it is broken portuguses, and I am helped because words just come to my head. And when I get frustrated I can't speak as well as I can when I am happy.

I love all of you! Thank you for your support and love. I hope all is well, I'm sorry I can't email as much as I would like.

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

June 7, 2013

SO, first things first. I GOT MY VISAAAAA! I'll be heading out on June 17th, 2013 around 2:15 my time. Yay! I am super excited, but SUPER scared too because I will be just dropped into Portuguese everything all the time. Weird. I will probably come back red, like a lobster. Or a giant freckle. And I can guarantee I'll forget how to drive.

And, today, we are going to a Cubs game, yay! With the whole mission. Just imagine 218+ missionaries at a baseball game! We are all so stoked. We rode the train into the city again. It's nice. I love the city.

So I have been learning a lot, and I can tell that I am becoming more and more aware of people around me, like I can feel a genuine love for them! Even the huge jerks.  It is so nice, not being upset, and being able to be happy, and love everyone. And not that fake "I love you, but I am going to keep to myself" no. It's like a genuine, "I want to do all I can to help you." But, it's up to them to let me help them. And most often, they don't want my help.

Right now there are like 20 missionaries in the apple store using the email on the computers hahaha It is pretty comical.

My companions Sister Kershaw and Sister Najarro were really sad that I am leaving in a couple weeks. Also, a lot of other missionaries told me to just call the Recife Mission President and just stay here instead. Haha. It makes me feel loved. The missionaries here are awesome. But it goes to show that, no matter where you go, no matter where you serve, your mission will always be the best mission. Unless you are just a sad sack and don't pay attention to the good things. 

We have to do a lot of finding this next week. Knocking on doors, and contacting. It's really hard, but when I follow the promptings I get and just "go and do", it becomes easy and I am not so shy to talk to people randomly. We even chased someone, which sounds crazy, but we felt like we needed to talk to him! He was very nice, and didn't mind. But one good thing is he will remember the mormon missionaries forever. (We aren't as crazy as that sounds! I AM NORMAL! Except I am a missionary, so I don't know how normal you can actually be haha)

Well, I will be able to email on Monday as well. I love all of you and I hope all is well. This week Pday was on Friday because we are going to the baseball game as stated previously. I love you all and miss you dearly!

Love,

Sister Clarke

May 28, 2013

 Being on my mission has helped me to grow and to love the scriptures. I absolutely love them. I get so happy when I read them, and I can feel so much peace. All of the crazy things don't seem so crazy anymore, and I can better focus on my day. It is amazing. Also, many times out here, I have found answers in my scriptures! Like straight up the EXACT thing I was wondering or needed to hear. Also, Preach My Gospel may seem kinda lame but it's SO AWESOME I learn so much from it! I wish I had read it more before my mission, but I don't think I would have understood it as well as I do now. Because I am looking at it from a missionary perspective. 

May 20, 2013

My new companion is awesome she loves Zombies and we are so much alike it's crazy. I was like,"Uh yeah we'll be BFFS forevaaa." That's how I felt with Hermana Savage, too. 

Yay I love P-Day because I can hear from you all! And tell you about SUPER AWESOME things that happen during my week! (but I love the others days too, don't get me wrong! I just love er'thang)

So, I have been drinking Coke Zero like it's air. Actually not really, I drink more water now a days but I think it tastes so good for some reason. Also, I LOVE crunchy peanut butter like what I hated that stuff when I was back home. Missions do crazy things to you!

But, I do thank you Dad for teaching me how to cook. I see some of the things my companions eat and..I am just so thankful I was taught to cook.

We got a new companion on Tuesday named Sister Kershaw and she is just great! We get along very well and she is very outgoing. It is good.

Anywho, to the important stuff. SAMBALA GETS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! I am so excited! It is my first baptism and I actually was a help in her conversion! :D :D You can see the change in her and I love it! At church she is so happy and she is sad that I am leaving but I told her I'd write her letters and she could keep in touch with me on FB. The cool thing about the LDS religion is we aren't trying to force anything on anybody. We invite everyone to come to know for themselves if the Book of Mormon is the word of god, and then to act on what they learn and come to know. If you don't want to, that is perfectly okay! We just want everyone to have the opportunity to do so. Just to give everyone a chance to read, ponder, and pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And I can say that I know his book to be true! I have put God to the test and He has answered my prayers to know if this is true. And I invite you all to do the same.

BUT something else AWESOME happened this week. We went to the Valle's house (a really big family I have told you about previously) and our last lesson before this was very discouraging. They were trying to mesh our beliefs with their catholic ones. And I was scared because that emans we had to go back and explain that we are not Catholic, and we are here with a purpose. So...with knots in our tummies, the three of us go to our appointment ready to pretty much tear their worlds apart. We were scared. We knew that this lesson would make it or break it with the family. And we love them all so much! So we are sitting in there and Lisa (the mom) asks us what we are learning today. And I had the feeling to open my mouth and start speaking. I had no idea what I was going to say, I just know I needed to open my mouth. So, I did. And words just flowed so smoothly to this family's hearts. Their hearts were definitely softened and they  listened to me. I felt the Spirit so strong and I was just talking. I don't even know what I said! I said a few things, and Lisa said that she knew that she had to choose, and she wants to read the Book of Mormon because she wants what we have; the warmth and happiness we bring to her home. She wants that. And if she can get it from that book, she would take that opportunity and act on it. She said she is having a hard time, there are a million things going on in her life right now, and I took that opportunity to bear my testimony to her. I felt the Spirit like a fire in my heart and I just sobbed to them, telling them I have also had a hard time, and I explained to them a little about my hard time, and said the only way I could have ever made it through that time in my life was by reading that book. It is because of that book that I am here. It is because of that book that I am happy, and that I can bear my afflictions with joy and happiness. Even though really crappy things happen to us all, we can be happy with the help of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon! And while I was telling her those things, the words "This is why you're here" kind of flowed into my head. I don't think that's the only reason I'm here in Chicago, but I know it is definitely one of the reasons. And I am so happy that I was able to share that with this family. It was great. I will never forget that experience.

The ward here is great. Well, I think so. (I will always love Copperwood the best.)

PLEASE REMEMBER during your hard times that you are a child of God, who loves you SO MUCH! And He is aware of you and your trials. You are not and will never be alone.

I love you all so much, and I know our reunion will be a sweet one. 

But right now I am doing the Lord's work, and in due time that time will be up, and soon I will go back to my normal life, hopefully changed, having seen and felt the love of Christ for me and others around me; for all of you.

The church is true.

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

May 14, 2013

So I am still in Chicago. And I will be. I don't know how long it will take for my visa to come in, but I suppose my work here is not done. So that is okay. Anyway, I love it here. So I'm not complaining. Two Elders that are also going to Recife haven't gotten their visas either, but the two who are going to Menaus got theirs. I guess it depends on where you are going. BUT I am pretty sure we are getting our visas sometime VERY soon, our thing on our missionary websites changed from "Illinois Chicago Mission" to "Brazil Recife Mission" and all of us were put into trios because we could literally leave at any moment...so now I am anxious to know when I will take off and finally head down to Brasil! (The Recife transfers take place at a different time than ours do here in Chicago.)

And Mother's Day when I Skyped and said I was going to a Sox game in June...it's actually a CUBS game bahaha aren't you proud of my sportical knowledge? Yes, so am I. I really am a huge smartie XD

IT's pretty great out here. I just love being a missionary. I think it really hit me the other day. I finally felt like,"this is your life now." and it was easier for me to focus and think about the work. I see why we can't talk to our family and friends every day. We would never get any work done. But I am so thankful for all of you and the love and support you show me. I really believe I can be a great missionary! You guys are all awesome and don't forget it!

We are still teaching Sambala and holy cow do I love her and her family! Her daughter came to church with her and we planned on teaching Sambala about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, and her daughter stayed with us for the lesson as well. It was awesome because at first she seemed not too interested, but after we started teaching, you could see that she felt the Spirit and she wanted to learn more. It was an awesome experience, for all of us!

The Hermana's moved out :( They are sorely missed! Also, transfers happened, so we have some new people in our district. they are awesome, though and we get to meet them tomorrow in our District Meeting yay! Our new companion is named Sister Kershaw and she is cool. She is very nice so I am glad. We haven't gotten her bed yet, so I am giving her my bed to sleep on until it comes, I will sleep on the couch. I might set it on fire, though, because my body heats up to about 400 degrees when I sleep, I always need the window open so I don't die of heat stroke in my sleep!

We actually got a referral last week, her name is Mariah and she is ready to meet and ready to learn! It is kinda poopy because usually our referrals are jokes played on people or they don't really want to learn..but, all is well! We are still planting seeds and their hearts are being prepared. We just need to have faith that we will find those who are ready to learn and ready to be taught.

I am happy here and I am so glad I chose to serve a mission. I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my entire life!

You guys are all great and I miss you. Please remember everyone is a child of God and He loves them all! Even those meanies. Remember to have love for everyone, even though it is hard. I know it will bless you in your life! Thank you so much for all the emails and letters I am sent. I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. THE CHURCH IS TRUE! Which means the Book of Mormon is, also.

Love,

Sister Clarke

more from May 6, 2013

I want to play the ukelele when I get back how baller would that be? Speaking of ballers, Nephi is such a G! I was reading in the Book of Mormon and he was tied up for 4 days on a ship, and the ship was going crazy because of the storms on the ocean, AND his wrists and ankles were "swollen exceedingly" from being tied up. And you know what he did? He praised Heavenly Father the whole time, and was thankful for things and did not murmur! That made me want to be a better person, and I have been working on not murmuring. It has been going good, and actually makes everything better.

https://www.lds.org/youth/article/what-a-patriarchal-blessing-can-do-for-you?lang=eng

she bought this to dry her hair and really likes it i guess. xD

May 6, 2013

Aah this week has been great. My companion goes home in a couple weeks, so she is freaking out. We are complete opposites on our time out on our missions, she has 2 months left, and I have 16 haha!

But she is great. I try to help her as much as possible. She has helped me a lot out here, I can only hope that I have done the same for her.

So we actually had a member of the Quorum of the Twelve come to our mission and speak with us! It was AWESOME. Russell M. Nelson was there. I got to shake his hand. You could just feel the love he has for us the minute he walked into the room. His talk was AMAZING and I learned so much from it. I left that room wanting to be such a better person, a better missionary. We learned to "do the hard thing, even when you don't know how."

My companion and I have been teaching a lady by the name of Sambala. She is coming along so great! When we bear our testimonies, you can just see the light in her eyes that she knows what we are saying is true. After one of our lessons, she even said,"I can feel a warmness come into the room." THE HOLY GHOST! We taught her and her daughter about the Restoration yesterday and her daughter really wanted to learn more. When we left the church building, I shouted with joy! I was so excited! I even used my Tangled analogy. :D Sister Najarro and I even said to each other,"I have no idea what I was doing, I don't even know what I said." but it must have been from the Lord, because they understood and want to know more.

We also got in contact with that family I told you guys about before. We taught them the Restoration as well. They were so excited when we came over, they were all saying,"Yaayy! You guys are here!" And I felt so much love from them! They have a 5 year old named Matthew, 7 year old named Sophia, 15 year old named Meghan, 17 year old named Daphne, and a 22ish year old named Steven. Sophia was so excited that she was able to see us again, she gave us big hugs and she loves opening the Book of Mormon, even though she cannot read very well. But, she is such a great little girl. We watched the Restoration DVD and she asked her mom,"Mom! Mom! Can we read the book?!" What a sweet spirit! We invited her older sisters to mutual and they were very excited about going this week.

Speaking of mutual, the hermana's in our apartment were invited to participate in mutual and invited us to come too. What we did was talk about our missions and explain what we do as missionaries. It was great. I hope some of the kids there listened and were inspired to go and serve missions.

I love it out here. I will be torn in half once my visa comes! I don't know anything about it, but I should find out this week. I will know what is happening by Sunday.

Jade, one of the hermana's that is rooming with us has a brother that is your age ;) we said that the reason I came to Chicago was so you guys could find each other bahahaha (I thought it would be funny for everyone to read.) I can tell I will be friends with her for a long time. Her name is Hermana Savage, and she loves glitter, like I do. We go running every morning and we all get along so well. It is great! The other hermana is Hermana Jones. I love them so much! When they find an apartment, I will be sad. But we all 4 help each other out a lot.

My Portuguese is worse than it was when I left the MTC, but it is still pretty good. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for it.

I love you all and miss all of you. Your emails brighten my day! Till we meet again (:

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

pictures

april 29, 2013

         I'm attaching a song that is off the LDS website and I LOVE IT I try to listen to it like every day bahaha and I dance to it in the car. I don't know how good it will sound, but if it sounds weird, look it up on Youtube. Actually, just go look it up. 'It's a Good Start' by James Warren. Here's the page where the music is. It's all actually pretty good. https://www.lds.org/youth/music?lang=engsome other songs to listen to that are really good are Glorious by Russ Dixon and I am His Daughter by Nicole Sheahan.
         Well, I am learning a whole lot on my mission, and it is AWESOME! When I am bearing my testimony to somebody about Joseph Smith or how they can rid their life of sad feelings through Jesus Christ, you can see it in their eyes that they feel the Spirit. It is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I personally think that everybody should go on a mission, it is such a wonderful growing experience and you learn so so much about YOURSELF and how much Heavenly Father LOVES YOU. I want to let everybody know that He loves them. They are cared for!

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

April 15, 2013

 Being on a mission is seriously so awesome. And I feel like it is going by reaaally fast. It scares me, but I just have to rememeber to do my best always and never give up. Yesterday, Sister Najarro and I were tracting and we got a lot of rude people and no's. I was getting discouraged. I read the letters you sent me and one Ian sent me and I thought of some scriptures. I felt a lot better after that. I just have to remember that everyone has their agency. And as long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, then I am okay. Even though my bag full of Book of Mormons is so heavy it feels like my arm will fall off, even though it randomly rains and wind blows and pierces through my skirt and freezes my legs, even though I'm so tired in the mornings and all day, even though sometimes I get a headache trying to figure out what an investigator needs, I love it. I wouldn't give this opportunity up for anything. It is great. I got a sunburn on my head, though, one day when we were outside for like 4 hours. Ugh I'm such a white thing. Oh well. In Brazil maybe the brown will rub off on my and I will be golden crispy when I get back haha! You room looks pretty cool as well. I really like it. My companion and I are working harder and it is really awesome. We found a new investigator amidst all the no's and I am excited. She is really open to what we have to say, I just hope she can feel the Spirit testify of it's truth.

April 22, 2013

This week we had A LOT of rain! It flooded some apartments. I actually took a couple videos. And the Hermana's apartment flooded, so last Friday was service day, where we wore pants (finally! it was soo nice) and got to walk around and serve others in our community. Hermana Savage and Hermana Jones live in our apartment now, in our living room. There is no room, but they are cool and I don't mind it. We do have a tiny bathroom but we make it work. It is definitely different!

I think our investigators are progressing very well. I love teaching them and getting to know them. Our ward is great as well. There are a bajillion little kids, but it is great. We are fed almost every night. And the food is good, too!

Today is our preparation day, so there are lots of things we need to do. And this morning we got a phone call from someone in a neighboring stake going to help her friend move everything out of her basement, the friend is in our ward. She asked if we could help. Sister Najarro and I were kind of reluctant about going, we really wanted to get everything done today! But you know what, once we got there, I was so happy to be helping this lady. You could see that it really meant a lot that two complete strangers sacrificed time out of their day to help her. I prayed a lot before we got there, because I knew it was wrong of me to feel that way. I am glad those feelings went away and that we were able to leave with smiling faces. WE are planning on getting our District over there on Thursday to help some more. She has a lot of things that need to be taken out and thrown away, but we have big meetings tomorrow and Wednesday.

No word on my visa, but I have a feeling I will be leaving Chicago in about three weeks, at the end of this transfer. Transfers are 6 weeks long. I just have a feeling. I have been having weird dreams about me receiving my visa, so maybe it's a sign? Haha, but all is well. I love it here.

I go by Sister Clarke, so it seems like I don't even have my first name anymore! It is very strange. But when people DO find out my first name, they are very surprised by it and think it's,"Soo cool!"

I love all of you so very much! I hope all is well. I look forward to my P-days so I can find out how you're doing. Thank you so much for your great emails and support. I LOVE YOOOOU! (I will send your little individual emails too..I like personalized things XD)

Love,

Sister Indago Clarke

march 29, 2013

Hey everyone! I am just emailing everyone at the same time so I can get what I want to tell you in before my time is up. And I will send a little email for just you afterwards.

So this whole time I have been having a good attitude about my rreassignment. The rest of my district is full of people who are going to Africa or the US so they have their visas. Sister Wharton and I didn't have ours, and they would kinda make fun of us, in a joking way, of course, like,"Oh have fun in Montanna." things like that. Then, SISTER WHARTON GOT HER VISA! Woo! I was so happy for her, I didn't even care about myself! I was still hopeful and knew that if I get reassigned it is because I am supposed to be there for a reason. So I waited...and waited...AND WAITED. And 6pm comes around yesterday, still no visa/reassignment. I'm thinkin',"What the heck..I need to pack and such! did they forget about me? everyone else knows where they are going except me!" Then I was sad. And discouraged. I pouted to class, and my teacher shared an experience he had when he was in Brazil. He had made a goal to baptize at least one person a transfer(every 6 weeks is a transfer) and it hit the 5th week and he felt like they would not make their goal. He was discouraged. His companion, however, was very uplifting and he said,"Elder...if we do what we're supposed to, Heavenly Father will bless us. Just have faith." So they fasted and prayed and guess what? They found somebody ready to be baptized that Sunday! How awesome! Right at the last minute, they were blessed. It taught me to just have patience. And all of my sad feelings in that moment were replaced with warm, happy ones. I know this church is true! and I know it blesses families. I got my reassignment today, but I want to call my Dad first so he knows before everyone else does, sorry XD I love you all! I can't believe I will be teaching real investigators, changing people's lives next week! this mission has already blessed me so much, and I haven't even started yet! Well, I have, but yeah...I love you all! I think about you every day! My Portuguese is awesome! I hope I don't forget it, though. I am still learning, but I love speaking it.

spiritual stuff

Some scriptures I want you to look up when you can, preferably now, are Luke 22:32, D&C 15:6, Mosiah 2:41. They are AWESOME scriptures I found this week in my scripture study. This week we really learned how awesome Jesus Christ is, we kind of take Him for granted as human beings. He has done so much for us. Imagine all of your sins, sicknesses, sadness, angers, unhappiness of any kind, times all the people who are living now, all the people who have lived on Earth, and all the people who will live on Earth. Holy. Cow. We will all be eternally indebted to Him. What a loving brother we are all blessed to have. And a loving Heavenly Father! Don't forget them, ever! I love you. Being here has really changed me and opened my mind, I can already tell. And I'm not even in the field yet!

April 9, 2013

Hey everyone! Yeah, so Chicago is AWESOME! I will be very sad when I have to leave. We are teaching about 6 investigators. It is so cool. All of the houses here are colonial looking and really neat! I always just think about the civil war and the Red Coats or whatever marching through the city haha and Paul Revere. I can't drive out here, so my companion will be driving sometimes and I will be like,"PULL OVER! We need to talk to that mail person!" and we do. She probably thinks I'm crazy, but oh well. Her name is Sister Najarro. We are English speaking, so all the lessons are in English. It's really cool. I have put off my focus on the language so I can focus on what the investigators need and I just study that. I figure Heavenly Father understands and He will help me with the Portuguese when I get to Brazil. I still pray in my head in Portuguese and also I am singing hymns in Portuguese every day so that I can try a little bit. A less active actually hasked me to say a prayer in Portuguese yesterday and it was actually very good!

So on the way to Chicago, there was me and 4 other Elders. No Sisters. They were really nice, and also visa waiters, so we just spoke Portuguese the whole time, very fun. And then On the last flight, of course, all the Elders sit next to each other and I am far up towards the front of the plane! -_- So I see the person I am sitting next to and the thought pops into my head,"Sister Clarke. This guy needs a Book of Mormon." I was like,"Oh geeze..." because I knew I would have to give him one, and I was very scared! So, I tried to make small talk. He kind of brushed me off and went to sleep. The entire airplane ride, for one hour, I prayed and read my scriptures so I would be able to know when to give him a Book of Mormon. I wrote a small testimony down on a mormon.org card for him and kept reading. I felt a warm feeling in my heart the ENTIRE HOUR NO JOKE. It was the Holy Ghost! I knew could do it and I just had to press forward and remember why I am on a mission anyway. So, I pull out the Book of Mormon and I saw him look at it and at my name tag. Then I asked him if he had ever heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He said yeah, and he knew where I was going with his bahaha. So I explained I was just arriving on my mission and that I wanted him to have a Book of Mormon. He said,"Well I'm not gunna read it, but I'll take it if it makes you feel better." and I thought,"Oh...you'll read it." I had such a great feeling when I got off that airplane, it was like I was floating. Then I stepped outside and almost froze to death because I had on clothes for warm weather. A member in the ward gave me a coat and I got some boots and tights. I didn't really want to buy them, because it costs money, but I knew I needed them. So I did.

So we went to teach this lady named Sister Backus. She has been investigating for 3 years! She goes to church with her husband and 2 kids, but none of them are baptized. They even watch General Conference! and I really wanted to be able to teach her something that really touched her heart. SO I was praying and praying and trying to study and know what to say. During her lesson I had the prompting to ask a question, so I did. And after that, words just flew out of my mouth. I was talking, but it was like somebody else was actually talking for me. It was so hard to explain, but I know that she felt the Spirit that day. I could see it in her eyes. She is just awesome. We went over to watch the Saturday morning General Conference. It was very nice. I really love it here. I wish we tracted more, because I like being outside and I love the weather, and I just wanna get on the rooftops and scream about how awesome the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ are! But my companion never seems to want to. I am trying to be a good example, and I don't get mad at her or anything. She has been out for 15 months and I think it's just that 'senior-itis' setting in, but I want to get out there! She is awesome, though. I love my companion! But I keep accidentally calling her Sister Wharton, my MTC companion bahaha.

I love all of you! You are all in my thoughts and prayers! My p-day is Monday (it was Tuesday this week just because our zone went to the temple) and my address is:

Sister Indago Clarke 

Chicago Illinois Mission

1319 Butterfield Rd. Suite 522

Downers Grove, Illinois 60515

I would like to have pictures, so please just email me a couple so I don't forget what y'alls faces look like! You guys are great!

Love,

Sister Clarke