Me kävelimme kotiin, hymyillen kaikille (we walked home, smiling all the way)

Hey everyone! Thank you for your prayers and support! I've definitely felt wonderfully blessed! Hey tell Sweet Sophie Happy Birthday!! Woo hoo!! I love showing off the pics of my nieces and nephews to everyone! (I always win at that game!) So send me a pic of her blowing out a candle or something :). Keep me updated on how everyone is doing too!

This week was yet another great uplifting week at the MTC. Can you believe it?! Only 10 more days!! We get our flight plans tomorrow and we are all pretty ecstatic about it. And only one more p-day after today!! Crazy! One funny thing that happened this week a little visit from another critter! While doing our weekly service (putting chairs in strictly supervised straight lines (there and ropes and wood blocks....that's how exact it gets here) to help set up for the devotionals on Saturday night and Tues.) a friendly bat come to join and was flying around in the gym. That was a funny thing to keep things lively. A huge blessing this week was our skype went really really well! We talked with a man named Jarmo and he was so nice! We could definitely feel the spirit (even through the computer) and felt really accomplished because we could actually understand parts of what he was saying! Woo hoo! I finally felt like, wow I actually will be somewhat helpful in Finland. At least I can bear a very simple testimony (that probably isn't exactly right but understandable) and bring the spirit! I'd love to do that! I was pretty worried about my future companion/trainer earlier this week and was praying that everything would work out. And my prayer was answered. I just had an overwhelming peaceful feeling and thought, "Of course everything will work out. Don't you remember that Heavenly Father has his hand in everything. He knows you and will not just forget about you." Whoever my trainer is, I am exciting to see what the Lord has in store for me. Isn't that a beautiful blessing of this gospel! As long as we are obedient and doing our best, we don't need to worry that "the wrong thing" will happen. I'm so grateful! So all the new mission presidents are here now, along with supposedly the first presidency and quorum of the 12. Pretty crazy! They closed off the big main building and have security everywhere. It's a blessing and a curse though. We now have giant random crowds of missionaries everywhere and no longer have gym access because that is where we are all eating. But it is nice to keep things interesting here for sure. Later today the mission presidents are all coming to different classes and teaching, so I'm excited for that! And Grandmom, I'll keep my eye out for the Perkinsons. I know some of there missionaries here and will try my best to say hi! Thank you for letting me know about them! And thank you for that wonderful email you sent me! (you are never wasting my time...trust me) I'm so grateful for the spirit that I feel here and I am so so antsy to just go and teach people this wonderful good news! So many people need this! I hope you are all doing well! I pray for you and look forward to hearing all your fun stories!

- Sisar Clark

Me Skypettimme! (we skyped!)

This week was full of powerful uplifting experience and fun adventures! To start off, I dreamt in Finnish for the first time!! Woo hoo! That was cool! And each time we read Mormonin Kirjia (the BOM) we pick up on more and more things; it doesn't get better than that. (it helps that we were reading in 1 Nephi when he is having his vision and the angel keeps repeating Katso! (behold) and everything repeats a couple times haha, but still very exciting). Sisar Wade (a friend of Sister Vedrin (spelling?) Johnson) is a older sister missionary going to Finland! She made us pulla (a delicious finnish bread) and always stops to say hi! She is so sweet! There is another sister in our hall that looks and acts just like Kari! Her name is Sister Duffey, and now I have two of three sister-in-laws to party with ha! (I'll try and send a pic before we leave) Don't worry Sarah, I'll keep my eyes open for someone like you! There is a sister from Finland here in the MTC, Sister Nikka, who is learning French and going to serve in the France, Lyon mission! She is very reserved, but very nice! We all got pretty excited to talk to her in Finnish until we realized we actually can't really say that much haha. But a good friend nonetheless. This week we started Skyping instead of normal TRC! This is where we skype and teach a Finnish member! It was a really cool experience, but also kind of hard because you are just reminded of how much you really don't know the language. I'm looking forward to more skype lesson's though, it is a pretty incredible experience to have. Oh also, we moved today! ha They are doing a ton of construction here at the MTC and so all the sisters get to move into the newly renovated residence which is seriously AWESOME! All these new missionaries have no idea what a beauty it is to live there. The showers are HUGE! #blessingsofobedience haha. But in all honesty it is really good timing. It helps mix things up a little and keep it interesting here at the MTC.

A scripture that really helped me a ton this week was 2 Timothy 1:7. It talks about how our Heavenly Father has blessed us with power, love, and a sound mind rather than fear. I have felt so blessed here in the MTC! I'm obviously very anxious and excited to actually get to Finland and start sharing this joyous message, but I'm also a little sad to leave the MTC. It is such a spiritual power house and I've learned so much here; in Finland we have to be that spiritual power house, which is kind of intimidating and motivating at the same time. Our teachers are awesome! Sisar Johnson shares her testimony a lot, and is just a great example to me. She has helped me a ton (not just with the language) here in the MTC. Also, Enos's example of faith and prayer was a powerful one for me this week. His book may be small, but it is powerful. I'm so grateful to be a missionary! I'm happy! I pray for you and hope you are doing well! I love you!

- Sisar Clark

Joiden hohdetta ja kirkkautta on mahdoton kuvata

(their brightness and glory beyond description)

I was working on memorizing part of the first vision this week so there is a little bit :) 

(ps sorry about the horrible writing and grammar etc....just trying to write really fast).

But now let me tell you all the awesome things that happened this week (and some from last week because I couldn't tell you too much about last week). So last week (the week after Elder Holland came and spoke) Elder Christofferson came and spoke also!! How awesome! And in choir they are working on putting together a musical number for Jul. 1 (my last week here!) when all the First Pres. and 12 will be here :0 for the mission presidents seminar! Ya I'm praying my guts out that I get to be in that musical number. They had us all fill out "applications" of sorts to try and narrow it down. I'll keep you updated though. Last week and this week we got to host the new missionaries coming in, which is really fun! This week there were 644 missionaries that came in and in two weeks there are 700 coming in in one day! Crazy! We are starting to feel really old here; once you get past four weeks you suddenly feel like the grandparents of the MTC. But it is also very very exciting to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. These weeks are going by faster and faster. 

A fun friend moved into our room for a little this week ha! (see picture) There was a mouse that we all kept trying to catch (well some trying to catch and some screaming on top of desks haha). That was hilarious! I loved it haha. Also, there was a huge rain storm this week right when we were coming back from gym. That was a blast, "missionary dancing" in the rain.

Linda K. Burton came and spoke this Tuesday and spoke on 3 Nephi 5:13 and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. It was so great! She was an answer to my prayer, especially when she talked about how it is an ongoing process, and we aren't going to be perfect at it right now. I was feeling really stressed about that this week. We also watched the Testaments during the movie time on Sunday. And ya it was super cheesy at times, but it was really cool. Watching all the destruction at the end right before Christ comes made me think about the second coming and how even though it will be really scary at times, we don't truly have to fear because we know what is coming and what is happening. This gospel is such a blessing and I can't wait to share it with the Finnish people. Also it made me realize how important it is to follow the prophet with exact obedience. They are here to help us prepare, we need to listen! Another exciting thing was this week I officially taught without a notebook or anything besides scriptures etc. (obviously). The spirit was strong and I was able to bear my testimony (at least to the point of being understood, but definitely not perfectly correct or anything). I'm very grateful for those experiences. And I'm very grateful for prayer. Prayer is such a blessing. How awesome that I can just talk about everything and anything with a loving heavenly father who cares about all of it!

Sisar Clark

p.s. thanks Grandmom and Gramps for the awesome package and sweet note! I feel so loved.

Kaikki Hyvin (All is well)

Moi! I hope everyone is doing well! I had a great week this week and once again learned so much and was blessed so much! Tell Katelyn Happy Birthday!! and send me a pic of her with her cake or something! She is such a smart, adorable, loving girl! I saw Aunt Terri driving this week! I don't know if she saw me, but saw her just as she was turning up the street ha. That was fun! 

So the old Huns are gone now, but we got new Huns yesterday which is really fun! One of the sisters went to Alta with me! I don't think I explained my zone very well before so just so you know, it is pretty much all the random languages that don't match up with anyone elses thrown together. It's awesome except for when it comes to playing hymns because there are only a few hymns that are in all the different languages (but luckily playing the piano went a little better this week). 

I don't have too much time this week, but I just want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ lives! And I truly hope you know for yourself as well! I have felt my Savior's love SO much here in the MTC and I hope you can look back and recognize the many many times you have felt his love. Don't be afraid to share them or write them down.

I love you and I'm praying for you!

- Sisar Clark

pic 1- taken before the old Huns left

pic 2- Sisar Thayne loves singing the National Anthem ALL the time ha

Viiko Kolme (week three)

Hey everyone! Can you believe it? I'm already a third of the way done at the MTC!

So sad news first: One of our Finnish Sisaret, Sisar McPherson, left us. She decided she needed more time to prepare but that she wanted to still come back later. It made us all pretty sad, but we wish her the best. Also, the huns (Sisar Adams and Sisar Levanen etc.) are leaving for Hungary on Mon.!! Nooo! We are going to miss them so much! 

But now for the good news. So everyday P-day we teach TRCs. It is supposed to be like visiting a member family and it is probably one of my favorite parts of the week! We actually get to teach real people (aka no acting...finally) and they are all so nice, even if you don't understand what they are saying most of the time (or vise versa). Sundays are the best day of the week by far! All are meetings are so powerful, we have time to study really deeply, we get temple walks (which we have been majorly blessed weather wise every time), and we get to hear a devotional speaker. This last devotional the Finns got a shout out ha! They had the six of us stand up in front of the whole MTC and kept talking about how our language was the hardest one in the MTC etc. I think they were trying to be nice, but it actually just made all of us a little more freaked out than before I think ha. So that was a little epamukava (awkward). Also, Elder Holland came and spoke to us on Tuesday which was amazing! I got to sing in the MTC choir for Elder Holland woot woot! (p.s. the MTC choir is probably to most powerful and spiritually edifying thing here) He pointed out the importance of speaking out. He shared a powerful esimerrki (example) about how Satan can't take our lives, so with Joseph Smith he went for the next best thing: his ability to speak. Really cool thought. Another exciting thing that happened this week is my companion and I are actually starting to understand things that we read in the Finnish BOM. Finnish is seriously the coolest language ever! It is kind of vaikea (hard) and overwhelming, but I love learning about it! It's official there are 52% sister missionaries here in the MTC! Pretty crazy! Glad I could be part of that. 

This week I had a real issue with counting days of the month. We were trying to figure out the date we wanted our investigator to be baptized on and for some reason and struggled so much ha. I kept counting on the weekly calendar to 37 days in May ....I did it twice....ya sometimes minun mieli (my mind) just goes crazy. Probably the highlight of my piiri (district) this week was taking our "perhe (family) picture". So enjoy that gem...cause I can promise you that we do! Anyways, I love this gospel and the clarity, rauhaa(peace), ja tarkoitus (and purpose) that it brings into my life. I'm praying for you at home and I love you!

- Sisar Clark

p.s. The other pic is of Sisar Adams hiding in Sisar Thayne's closet....we scared her pretty good. ha That was a great moment.

Mina rakastan MTC!

Hi so the subject may be a bit cheesy, but I'm still pretty limited on what I can correctly put together in Finnish ha! and plus its so true!

So here in the MTC there is a crazy time warp! Being in the same class room for hours on end, eating the same food in the same place, and only sleeping in between makes your brain feel like time doesn't exist anymore. And contrary to what I just described, the MTC is awesome ha! Not dungeon like at all! Kind crazy what the spirit can make wonderful right? So rumor has it that as of yesterday, for the ensimeinen(first) time ever there are more sisters than elders in the MTC!! Woo hoo! part of history! pretty cool! It has been hauskaa (fun) to see everyone come and go. So far I've seen Seth Anderson (going to Texas Spanish speaking....came and had a nice conversation with me before he left...such a sweet kid!), Beth Zajac (just got here yesterday hehe...newbees are fun), and tons of others. 

Teaching our fake investigators has opettaa (taught) me so much already! They can be very difficult at times, but always worth it! I've mainly learned that the most tarkea (important) part of lahetissarnija (missionary) work is showing rakaus (love), sharing our valo (light), and bringing the Pyha Henkie (Holy Ghost) to your investigators. It was really siistia (cool) this week because there was one lesson where I finally felt like I was talking from my own mind, not just reading words off a paper. I actually came up with what I wanted to say in Finnish all by myself in my mind (sounds pretty dumb, but let me tell you It was a game changer for me).

So I've learning that the best way for me to learn Finnish is to just put myself out there and ask kysymys (questions) even jos (if) they might be dumb. It's totally helped me and the teachers are really nice even if you ask weird question ha. Speaking of putting yourself out there...I agreed to play the piano for my zone's district meeting because not many others can play etc. Five minutes before the meeting starts, the MTC president Burgess and his wife sister Burgess come and join our meeting! Ahh! (Not only do they know me so I have to pittan (keep) up the clark standard...but I am horrible at playing the piano....ahh) Lets just say it was a pretty stressful sacrament meeting. They were there to release our branch president which was kind of surrelinen (sad). I learned so much from him in just kaksi (two) weeks. He made me want to be exactly obedient in everything because "kuuliaisuus (obedience) brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles". This is so tarkea (important) to me as a missionary! So grateful for his example. 

Probably my favorite part of the MTC has been watching the MTC devotional given by Elder Bednar title Character of Christ. If you can find it (idk how available those things are) I highly suggest it! It seriously changed my whole outlook on my mission goals etc. The important of turning outward suddenly makes sense.

I love you all SO much and I love being a missionary! Hope you have a great week!

- Sisar Clark