It's been an awesome week. We found an amazing family, Juan, Norma, Alex, and Karol. They are PERFECT! And will totally get baptized this next transfer. It's actually a really cool story. We received them as a referral from the Palma family about two weeks ago and have knocked several times in the last few weeks to try to contact them, but haven't been able to. We happened to have an appointment in their area, and had an extra half hour before it started so we decided to try again. ANDDDD. They opened! Let us right in, offered us cookies, cupcakes, and water. The kids started showing us all their talents right away, and started telling us that they know if they open the Bible to any page it will answer their questions and help them. We had an amazing lesson and they invited us back! Seriously. It was perfect.
RIght away, we texted the Palmas to let them know how it went and didn't hear back. So last night we stopped by their house to report to them about the visit. They were amazed! They said as soon as they got the text, they decided to casually invite Norma and Juan and their kids over for dinner the next day. Norma and Juan went and told them that the missionaries (us) had stopped by and they had felt the spirit and loved it. They asked them lots of questions and were super interested. Hermana Palma started crying and said, "Two days before, Norma had been praying for someone to come and help them." It was amazing. I'm so jealous of the Hermanas that are going to teach them next transfer!
Missionary work, and life, really, is full of so many perfect coincidences that can be simply brushed aside unless we take them time to recognize them as the great miracles they truly are. I am SO GRATEFUL for my mission. I can't believe that this is it! As I've reflected and pondered about last 18 months, I truly have been filled with so much gratitude for the blessings I have received and the beautiful experiences I have had. I'm grateful for the people, for my companions, for President and Sister Felix, and for my Savior and Father in Heaven. The mission has been the best thing of my life and FOR my life, as my dear comp, Hermana Brown says.
There's a lot of things that I will miss about the daily life of being a missionary...dinner messages, finding, teaching the gospel, two hours of studies every day, ridiculously cheesy missionary jokes, and getting overly excited about stories in the scriptures (shoutout to Hna Brown #DanielAndHisHomies). AND SO MUCH MORE. But I feel peace about this timing. I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be and I'm going where I'm supposed to go right now.
I will be forever grateful to my loving Heavenly Father for these last 18 months.
con AMOR,
Hermana Clark
p.s. Hermana Johnson--photo shoutout #ThePassageOfTime :)