Eighteenth Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!

So....this week is transfers again!!  I get to stay here in Moorpark with Hermana Faletau! BUT....we're only doing Spanish work now, so we get to go to the Thousand Oaks 6th Branch instead of the Moorpark 1st Ward.  I'm definitely going to miss the English work, but the branch will be good too!  Because we're now just in the branch, we don't get to keep teaching Ezra :(  We will still be in the zone though, so we can still go!  

This week when we were teaching Ezra, we talked to him about the Word of Wisdom.  When we came back later this week, he told us that he was really proud of himself.  He told us that he told his mom that she had to stop drinking coffee to support him because he couldn't.  He also told his dad that he couldn't drink tea either because he promised us that he wouldn't and he didn't want to because he wanted to be baptized.  I'm going to miss him so much!

When we were teaching one of our Spanish investigators, Lupe, she told us that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God.  I loved being able to see her eyes light up with the truth.  That's probably one of my favorite parts of serving a mission.  Helping people realize how good they can have it with the gospel in their lives.  

We've gotten so many referrals from members this week!!  It's been so great!!  We love being able to see the members get more involved in hastening the work.  It still kind of stinks that we have to leave them all with completely other sister missionaries coming into the ward, but we're really happy for them because at least it's work getting done.  

We did, however, get a Spanish referral from a brother in one of the Thousand Oaks wards who is golden.  The husband works for him and is going through a lot to hard things right now.  The wife is recently in remission for cancer and suffered two strokes.  She's bed ridden, but we've been able to go by a few times and read to her out of the Book of Mormon.  She loves it!!  We can't wait to keep working with her.  

We got to see Pablo like three times within two days because we kept running into him!  I love him so much and I'm so grateful that we still get to visit him. He told us that when we come visit, he feels so much happier and forgets about his depression for a little bit.  He feels closer to heaven.  He hates living in the house he's in right now because of his neglecting family, so I offered him my bedroom with my family while I was on my mission!! He laughed, but I think he seriously considered it for a second.  I don't think he'd want to move to Colorado though no matter how awesome my family is! :)  Living with him would be pretty legit after the mission though!

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be serving a mission!  I know I've said that like a thousand times, but I really do mean it!  Thanks to everyone that has gotten me this far!  I really appreciate all the love and support that I've received.  

Con amor, 

Hermana Halliday :)

 Pablo is the coolest guy ever!

Seventeenth Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!

Sorry this email is going to be pretty short!  We had some complications this morning, but I'll give more details next week!

First, I just want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful birthday wishes!  It was a great one!  On Wednesday, we got to have dinner with the Mann family who made me a birthday cake....I've had so much cake this week!  We had dinner with the Ramirez' who made a really yummy dinner (and more cake)!  We got to got to Stake Conference that night and then the general session the next day.  The day before my birthday, the zone leaders stopped by and hung up a huge Happy Birthday banner across our door before we got home (and left a cake like treat).  I'll send a pic later.  Hermana Faletau also made me a cake!

We got to go to the temple on Tuesday with Sister Mann!  It was amazing, as usual.  There happened to be a ton of missionaries from the Arcadia mission there at the same time, so we blended right in.  :)  I love going to the temple and being able to receive so much inspiration and revelation.  

We got to go to Stake Conference this weekend!  It was great and we even got permission to go to the adult session when President Castro spoke.  We found out that we're getting 32 new missionaries next week during transfers!  It's amazing how fast the work is hastening.  

Linda and Ezra are the only two people we have with baptismal dates, but since Linda didn't come to Stake Conference on Sunday, we have to push her date back.  We were really upset about this, but we realized that it was probably a good thing, since we don't know if we'll be able to help her be completely ready by the 26th.  We're still working with her though!  She prayed for the first time in front of us this week!

We've been seeing a lot more success this week and hope to keep seeing more!  

Thanks for all the love and support!  Sorry for the shortness (I'll give more details next week)!  I'll send a bunch of pictures!

Con amor, 

Hermana Halliday

 

Birthday Package from Home!

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!

 LA Temple - Me at the Christus

 Me at the LA Temple

 Celebrating My Birthday with the Mann's

 Traced Back to Adam!

 Birthday Sign Ezra Made Me!

 Birthday Cakes from the Ramirez Family.

 

Birthday Banner from the Zone Leaders.

 Hermana Faletau Made Me a Birthday Cake!

 

The 7'3" Elder in our Mission.  He is the tallest missionary currently serving in North America!

 

The LA Temple Early in the Morning!  Beautiful!

Sixteenth Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!

I really don't have that much to say about the work here this week, but there's a few highlights I want to point out. 

Last Preparation Day, as a zone we got to hike "an exceedingly high mountain" and have a Moses-like experience at the top. We were able to see our entire zone from the top including all the people that we've been entrusted to teach. The great expanse of what we saw helped me realize that there really is no way that we can do this work on our own. The Lord has to help us in order to accomplish this great task. The zone leaders made the experience really spiritual and Hermana Faletau and I learned so much and received so much inspiration and revelation on how to best help our investigators. I thought a lot about Denisse last weekend (including fasting for her), but when we were at the top of the hill, I was able to gather all my thoughts and think about what would be best for her. Part of my mindset was that I was going to make her change at some point, but after that experience and after President Uchtdorf's talk at Conference, I realized that even though it may disappoint me or make me really upset, I have to accept that because she has that gift of divine agency, she may choose to not take that step towards baptism. I think I'm able to love her more now that the little statistic isn't in the way. Overall, the hike was a good boost to our week.

On Friday, we had another lesson with Denisse and it went relatively well!!  We talked with her about how the Bible and the Book of Mormon are essential together and not separate.  She still had a lot of questions, but we're meeting with her tomorrow again and hopefully we'll be able to answer them. 

We also got to teach Ezra this week.  He still wants to be baptized on the first of November, so hopefully I'll still be here next transfer!

This week was a little bit harder than other weeks as far as teaching lessons, but we're still going to have a positive attitude and conquer this week like no other!

WHO LOVED CONFERENCE!?!?  I sure did!! It was so inspiring and uplifting.  Some of my favs:

Sister Stephens:  "sons of God need daughters of God and daughters of God need sons of God" - Do we accept the blessings of the priesthood?

President Uchtdorf:  "Come, Join with us!" - I mentioned this earlier

Elder Ballard:  "If every member invites one person to meet with the missionaries by Christmas, we'll have millions' of more baptisms!" - AMEN!

Elder Christofferson: "There is NO superior career to being a mother"  - woman have that innate virtue that raises the next generation in righteousness

Elder Nielson: "EXCLAMATION POINT!"

Elder Holland: "Hope in Adversity" - I talked about this in District Meeting on Thursday before he gave this talk...it helped me understand what I talked to everyone about even more

Elder Oaks: "God's law never changes...man and woman only!" - I loved how upfront he was! (Elder Nelson talked about the same thing too!)

President Monson:  "I will not fail thee or forsake thee" - there was a lot about enduring our trials

Elder Cook:  "Nabucco!" - Avoid bondage of any kind (I played the overture to the opera he's referring to my senior year in band!)

I just loved everything about Conference this weekend!  If any of you didn't watch it, DO IT!! It will bless your life no matter who you are!

I love serving here and helping people find the truth!  Thanks for all the love and support of everyone!  It's definitely helping out!

Hasta proxima semana,

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday

 Us on an "exceedingly high mountain."  :-)