Welcome to the MTC

My dearest family and friends! 

I don't even know where to start!! This week has been super crazy but amazing!! Something that I do know is that it's not too weird being called Sister Clark anymore! Some days I even forget that my name is Marissa! There were some elders in my district who asked me what my first name was and I had to look at my MTC key card to remember and it just took me like 10 seconds to realize it! CRAZY RIGHT?!? I absolutely love the MTC! It's amazing!! I've never felt so exhausted mentally, physically, and even spiritually in my entire life!! Every night at 10:30 (bedtime) I hit my pillow hard and I'm out! I struggle with the whole waking up part as well, but so does all the sisters in my room so we all encourage each other. Surprisingly I am almost always the first one awake! I am super busy I never even have time to think about anything! Which is okay I guess at times! HAHA! It is so fun though! We get BYU Creamery ice cream every Wednesday and Sunday!! ITS AMAZING!!!! I GET SOME MORE TONIGHT!!! IT'S MY FAVORITE THING EVER!! 

Sundays are so amazing!! I mean every day is, but I love Sundays because it's one of the only days that I have time to think about where I am at and what I need to do to improve!! I love IT!! We go to Sacrament as a branch. There are 4 districts in a branch, and there are about 5 companionships within a district. That probably made no sense, but it's whatever! I love my district!! They are amazing!!  

We are learning SO much!! We've talked a lot about how to receive revelation, learned more about the book of mormon, more about stress management (which funny enough it was the exact day i was most stressed we talked about it!) God works in mysterious ways!! We talked about faith, and the doctrine of Christ, and basically how to be a better missionary! I love it! We have two teachers, their names are Brother Elg, and Sister Swallow! I absolutely love them! They are amazing! They are so helpful with whatever we need! There was one day that I was struggling, with just being too tired and one of our lessons didn't go very well. Oh side note I have already taught 4 INVESTAGATORS!! Our first lesson with Carol (which was actually really sister Swallow) was Thursday which was the SECOND day and FIRST full day of being at the MTC! HOW CRAZY!! I taught with my amazing companion! Now back onto my story! Anyways, we had a really rough lesson, well I felt like i didn't do as well as I could have and so when we went back to our classroom I was just having a hard time. Well Sister Swallow ended up talking to us and shared the stripling warrior story. Then she told us something that made a huge impact on my life! "He will never, ever, ever, ever ,ever, ever, ever, ever, let me down, I was born for this!" It helped me so much! It helped me realize that with all of these changes, and all of these stresses, I have a constant. Which is MY Heavenly Father, and MY Savior Jesus Christ, and this amazing, beautiful Gospel! 

Wow now the moment you are waiting for, my companion or should I say companions! I know WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?  My companion is Sister Soutas and she is absolutely PHENOMENAL!! Anyways so there was a sister from Moroni that is going to my same mission. She is super sweet and I love her! She is in my district and was in the same room as me! She got super sick. A day full of stresses and a lot of tears. Anyways long story short, they felt that she should go home and she felt that as well. Her full time mission was 3 days. I learned SO much from that amazing girl! So now her companion Sister Johnson joined and now we are a trio! She is so sweet! It's been really hard adjusting to a trio especially since Sister Soutas and I already knew each other really well, but we are getting through it one day at a time! I love it though! The more the merrier and the more insights that we get! It's amazing! 

When I first got here everywhere you went everyone would always say "Welcome to the MTC" it was nice because it made me feel really welcome and it was awesome! So today since there are so many new missionaries, my most favorite thing ever is to welcome them... Some of the sisters think I'm crazy or they say I have too much energy, but I don't care, I love it so much! I want them to feel as welcome as I can! Because it really is an amazing experience. 

Some more fun facts about this past week is that our other investegators are Jason (which is Brother Elg), Debi who is so so sweet we are pretty sure she is inactive, and Lucie we are almost positive that she is a nonmember! She is the sweetest girl ever and we love her! She goes to BYU and has the deepest questions, which we love! The spirit here is AMAZING! IT IS ALWAYS HERE! I love it! Oh and guess what?!?! MY COMPANION GETS TO SING IN GENERAL CONFERENCE! So look for Sister Soutas!!!! We had to have like audition based choir experience so I wasn't able to sing but watch for her in the Saturday afternoon session! I am so excited for her!! I LOVE my district! They are really like my second family! The elders are so sweet! There was one elder who wrote me a note of encouraging words and he mentioned how I remind him of Repunzel, so I am now known as Repunzel. It's great! The girls in my room are so funny and i love them! We have so many inside jokes its super funny! There is Sister Roundy, Sister Holman, and then my trio! I love them each dearly!! We also pray A LOT!!! Which is amazing!! God is busy with us at the MTC listening to ALL of our prayers!!!! Also everytime this one elder sees me he yells pineapple!! Yes I am also known as the pineapple sister! It's amazing! #vivalapina

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! I love the feeling I get as I testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel!! It brings me such joy!! I cannot wait to get out into the field!! I love it!! 

Remember who you are and whatever else you do don't forget... THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!! 

Love always, 

Sister Clark

P.S.I love you all! Thank you for your support!!