Californian A-Venturas: Forty-sixth Week in the Field

Hola everybody!

On Tuesday, Hermana Reyes was having problems with her leg and pain shooting up and down it. We called Sister Castro and she told us to go inside and rest. Even though we didn't want to, we obeyed and went back home. We rested for most of the day except to go to an appointment we had with Gladys and Kassy. Hermana Reyes has gotten a lot better since then and now we're able to go out and work a lot. It's been great!

Our lesson with Gladys and Kassy was one of the best ones that we've had together. The spirit was so strong and they were so receptive. When we got there, two of their cousins were there as well and they enjoyed the lesson too. We taught the Plan of Salvation and they had so many good questions and didn't have any doubts about what we taught them. They are so prepared to have the gospel in their lives at this time. One part I especially loved about the lesson was when we were talking about how we are all children of God and we told them that they were princesses of a King. Their faces lit up and they got so excited. My heart swelled up so much and I was so happy to see their excitement. We invited them to church and they said they'd come and then they actually did! That was the first time that they came and the young women were so helpful in showing them around and fellowshipping them. I'm so grateful for the help and friendship that the ward showed them. It definitely made an impact. I'm excited to be able to go back on Tuesday so that we can talk more about how it went and continue talking about the gospel.

Wednesday, we had to rest again because of Hermana Reyes leg. It was hard on Hermana Reyes to stay in even longer, but everything turned out good and we're back out working.

On Thursday, we were able to see so many miracles! We were able to contact a former (Ricardo) who seems really interested and a referral (Richard) that another one of our formers gave us. They're both 14 and they were both able to see how the gospel could bless them in their lives. I'm so excited to be able to continue working with them, so hopefully our return appointments this week will hold.

On Friday, we unfortunately had to drop Vivian officially as an investigator. She's just not ready at this time for the gospel. We decided to take the advice of Elder Nelson and work back to a common ground that we have with her and started with singing "I am a Child of God" and asking her if she knew that she truly was a child of God. She said that no one can know that and that she didn't really care. It broke my heart. She's a young woman who needs to know this and she has no desire to want to know it. When I look in her eyes, she seems sad, but it's hard to help her see that the gospel can bring her more happiness and more self-confidence. Hopefully in the future, she'll be ready and willing to understand this.

We were also able to check up on Fransisco (less active) on whether or not he prayed specifically about the Book of Mormon. He told us that he hadn't because he'd been really busy and he forgot to. We talked with him more about why we ask him to do things and then recommitted him to. He said he would do it that night, so we're going to follow up with him soon. His little girls came out about half-way through the discussion and we were able to sing to hymns for them ("Soy un Hijo de Dios" and "Haz tu lo justo"). They loved it and wanted us to come back!

On Saturday, we had to take our car in to get checked out because it's been making weird noises. Luckily, the car dealership is in our area and really close to one of the areas we predominantly work in, so we were able to walk. Later that day, we found out that they were going to need to keep our car for the weekend and into Monday, so we've been doing a lot of walking and the other Hermanas in our ward have helped us out a little when they're in Oxnard for meetings. It's been so good though! We've been able to talk to so many people and get a few potentials.

Later that day, we had a lesson with Jesus and his family. Our ward mission leader, Danny, was able to come with us and he was a great help in answering some of the questions that they had. We don't know how interested Jesus actually is, but his brother has shown some interest. We retaught the Restoration and they had a lot of questions on the priesthood and the authority necessary to run the church.

On Sunday, like I said earlier, Gladys, Kassy, and their cousin were able to come to church. I thought that all of the testimonies that people bore were perfect. I loved how they all were focused on missionary work, the restoration, and the Book of Mormon.

President Castro decided to surprise us and come to church! It was such a nice surprise and he brought the rest of his family as well! It was even better because they were able to meet Gladys, Kassy, and their cousin! I always love seeing them and it'll be sad to see them go home in July.

That evening, we were able to have another lesson with Isabel and her older sister who was baptized a few years ago. They're both so sweet and pick up on things really fast. We taught the Plan of Salvation using the visuals and by the end they (especially Isabel) were able reteach it to us with quite a few details.

Since we've been walking so much, we decided to make up a game as we were walking home. We started waving at all the cars passing by and see how many people we could get to wave back. Within our hour walk home, we got 77 people to wave at us. We didn't get to talk to a lot of people because no one was walking, but at least people will know us as the friendly sisters!

This week, our sink in the bathroom decided to start smelling really bad and not working right...I'll send a picture!

Thanks for all the love and support!

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday