Seventy-second Week in the Field (THE LAST)

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.

Seventy-first Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!

CRAZY WEEK!

First, we were able to go on exchanges in Oxnard 6th ward this week and like always, we saw so many miracles! Even though I love exchanges, I'm so excited that we'll get more time this week to be in our area and work really hard.

So for some sad news...Maria didn't end up getting baptized this week.  Her family's been giving her a lot of pressure and she called us Monday night telling us it was off.  On a brighter note though, she came with us to an activity with the Relief Society this week and was starting to tell people that she's going to get baptized this week instead. We were a little confused (and excited!), but we're going to talk to her more about that tonight. I seriously don't feel like I've fought for someone as hard as I have with her. We're going to try to see if she'll be able to come to the temple with us (we're going tomorrow!) and look around the visitor's center while we're doing a session.

Daniel is still progressing and reading the Book of Mormon, but still isn't able to come to church because of his job. We're kind of getting stuck on how we can help him, but for right now we're just trying to keep his testimony strong until something changes.

Hermana White is such a supportive companion. She is everything that I've needed right now to finish up my mission and then some. She knows exactly what to say to make me smile and remind me of what I need to do to finish strong. I love her so much.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! I absolutely love the last chapter in Moroni more than I realized that I did. It was really neat to see how it's broken up into the basic teachings of the whole Book of Mormon (the promise; gifts of the spirit; faith, hope, and charity; the scattering and gathering of Israel; and how to come unto Christ). It's been exactly what I need to renew my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration.

For service this week, we were able to help a sister in the ward prepare for the activity we had this week. It was really neat to see how we were able to gain her trust so much more and now she's even more willing to help us with the work. 

I ended up getting a blessing from the Elders this week to help me stay calm and take everything one day at a time.  I have such a strong appreciation for the power of the priesthood and the effects it can have. 

Thanks for all the love and support!

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday

Also, sorry for the lack of pictures I forgot last week and I don't have my camera with me right now :(

Seventieth Week in the Field

Words can't express the emotional roller coaster that I've been on this week. It's been so good, but just crazy!

Camarillo is doing just great!

Maria is doing so great and is so ready to be baptized! She has such a strong desire to follow Christ and is ready for this change in her life. We were a little scared for her interview when it had to be directed to President Felix, but I'm glad everything worked out. SHE PASSED! We were able to go over after church to talk with her about more details and who she wants involved. The ward members here have been so helpful and are great fellowship for her. In fact, she already knew who she wanted to do what when we talked to her about it. We're working really hard on making sure that there's a big turnout on Saturday to support her.

Daniel is still also doing really well. We were able to meet with him again and read with him out of the Book of Mormon. He's pretty much still in the same situation and can't get work of on Sundays, but we found out about a few opportunities that have opened up in the community.

One thing that I love about Hermana White is that she's such a great listener. She always has such a strong desire to listen to how I'm feeling and help me feel better. I also love how she doesn't let stressful situations get to her that easily, so she's able to remain calm and think rationally.

My studies have been really interesting this week. I've been able to study a lot in the Book of Mormon, especially in Ether. Of course, I really love Ether 12 which talks about faith and hope, but I love how much it talks about charity. Lately people have been asking me what my plans are for after the mission and what I'm going to do with my life. I always thought that I was going to be an Elementary School Teacher, but now I feel like I need to adjust it a little to more of a small group or one on one atmosphere. I feel like I've been able to develop charity for others in a different way than I thought was possible and I feel like doing something more like that is more of what Heavenly Father wants for me. I'm still not completely sure, but I think my studies this week have helped me get on a better path.

This week for service, we were able to help out our Bishops wife with some household and cooking things while she was taking care of her children. Not only did we feel good that we were able to help out the Bishops family, but I feel like we gained the trust of their family even more.

We were able to go on exchanges this week with the Hermanas in Ojai and they're doing just great!

Life is so good! Thanks for all the love and support!

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday