Hola Everyone!
Life is so great! We've been able to see so many miracles and find new people to teach. Maria's been pulling back a little even though we're fighting so hard for her. She tells us that she's going to come to church or read or pray, but then something always comes up. She has legitimate reasons, but I don't think she fully realizes that the adversary is trying really hard to keep her from keeping committments. We were able to have a really powerful lesson with her on the importance of a prophet and the Restoration, which I feel helped a lot. I love her so much and I know that she'll get baptized one day.
We were able to start teaching a really great woman, Rosa, who was a referral from the English Elders. We had been trying for about a week to get a hold of her and then finally we were able to talk to her on the phone and set up an appointment. When we went by for our appointment, we had a member come with us and it was a near perfect Restoration lesson. She had so many great questions and was captivated the whole time. When we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, she got so excited, look us in the eyes, and said that she couldn't wait to read it. It was a such a sincere and humble reply that I was almost taken off gaurd. When then invited her to be baptized. She thought about it for a few moments and then said yes! We were going to set her with a date, but the member that we brought distracted her a little and went off on a tangent. We were a little disappointed about that, but overall the lesson was so good! We set up another appointment for Tuesday evening. The same member's going to come and we're going to bring another one to give her more fellowship.
We were also able to make a giant Plan of Salvation using sidewalk chalk with our district in Oxnard. It was really fun, but also really rewarding to see how many people asked us questions and showed interest. The Elders were even able to walk someone through the entire Plan when we finished it. I've loved being able to be more creative with finding new people to teach.
Hermana White is an angel sent from God to help me with this transition. She's always just so willing to help with anything and is so charitable.
We were able to go to the temple this week and I felt like my testimony of the work just increased even more. Lately in my studies, I've been able to focus on enduring and the eternal perspective and how to know that the offering I've made to the Lord is enough. In the temple, I felt like I was able to lay everything out before my Father in Heaven and feel his acceptance. It was one of the most tender moments I've had in my life and the closest I've ever felt to the veil.
This week for service we were albe to help out a member in one of the English wards in Oxnard with some preparation for her "First Five" group. We got to do it with the other Hermanas in the ward and as we all worked together the member told us about her mission and how she wished she could serve another one, but that she was grateful that we were able to help her out.
For our ward's Trunk-or-Treat we had this week, our ward
combined with the other Spanish ward and one of the English wards in
Oxnard. Because I didn't get to be apart of one last year, I was so
pumped! We were able to hand out candy with mormon.org
cards attached to them and we got a lot of comments from the members on how
much they loved it! That was all fun, but the best part was probably that
our Bishop and his wife dressed up as Bella and Edward with red contacts and
everything! This seriously made my day! Ever since Elder Cavasos
and Elder Carter kept giving them a hard time that they were vampires when I
was first in Oxnard, no one will let them down, so this was perfect. They
told us that they did it just for the missionaries too!
We were able to have our zone activity last Monday and it
was so much fun. Pretty much we dressed up as Lamanites and reenacted the
2000 Stripling Warriors story by receiving training and having fun. Let's
just say that the best part was that our Bishop and President Felix were both
there dressed up as Bishop Antipus and President Ammoron. I'll send pics!
Thanks for all the love and support that I've received
throughout my mission. I love all of you and am excited to be able to
work with all of you soon in your own missionary efforts!
Con amor,
Hermana Halliday
Zone activity that we had.
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