Californian A-Venturas: Twenty-fifth Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!

This has probably been one of the most productive weeks that I've had on my mission. Everyday, we were so busy with talking to people and teaching lessons that when we came back home, I was completely exhausted. There were some nights, where I could barely stay awake during planning. Miracles happened throughout the entire week and I loved every single one. Moorpark is still on fire and I absolutely love being able to stay here and build up the work.

Transfer Meeting was exactly what I needed! I loved what Sister Castro said especially. She talked about how we need to find our own inner peace before we can help others find their inner peace. I realized that sometimes I'll stress myself out and then I'm not able to be as productive in sharing the gospel. I've decided that I'm going to take some time during lunch each day to relax and meditate to help me get more focused on what really matters. Even though I love transfer meetings, it was still hard to say bye to all the missionaries leaving! I knew most of them too! :( BUT...they were all some of the greatest missionaries I've met :)

So, Linda doesn't have her baptismal date anymore. She still hasn't come to church even though this past time she let us find her a ride. She's never there for her appointments, so the only time we can meet with her is if we just stop by randomly and hope she'll let us in. She's not really showing any desire to be baptized anymore, but she still wants to be with her son again (he was killed in a car accident earlier this year). I care about her so much, but at the same time, I just get so frustrated with her sometimes. I know that this can bless her life, but it's almost like she doesn't care about this life and the decisions we have to make to get back to live with Heavenly Father.

We were able to meet with Sandra and her husband Reuben yesterday. She's still so loving and has such a strong desire to learn more. She didn't come to church, but we did find out that she never works on Sunday, so we'll make sure we get her coming more often. We also invited her to the Stake Christmas Program this coming Sunday and she said that she'd hopefully be able to make it. She loves music so much, so every time we go, we always sing a hymn to invite the Spirit. When she found out that the Program would include music from around the world to celebrate Christmas, she got really excited. We told her that we were singing with the branch choir too, so hopefully that'll get her to come too. We weren't able to have a full on lesson with her, but we did an introductory lesson for the Plan of Salvation. Since her mom is a Jehovah's Witness (pretty hard core), she was excited to understand what life after death would be like in our viewpoint. Since she works a lot, our next lesson with her isn't until Saturday.

Pablo is doing great! He still is really lonely, but his testimony of the gospel is still really strong. He knows that he'll be able to live with his wife again and is still aiming to go to the temple in May. Not only will that be his year mark, but he wants to wait until Hermana Romero comes back to visit and she can go with him. He's so amazing.

We got to talk to Osvaldo (a less active) this week about the priesthood and how he needs to uphold his baptismal covenants and his priesthood responsibilities. It was pretty bold, but he handled it well and he told us he's trying to change his life around so that he can come to church more. He also said he'd try to get his mom (non-member/former investigator) to come with him too!

On Thursday, Hermana Shepherd and I went tracting a lot. At first neither of us really wanted to, but every door we knocked on actually opened up and we were able to talk to them. Most of them were really friendly, but there were a few that weren't and didn't want to hear what we had to say. It felt good though to talk to so many people. I'm not trying to be racist, but all the doors that were "slammed" in our faces were white people and everyone that listened was Hispanic. I love Hispanic people so much!! I'm pretty convinced that when I go home I'm not going to want to talk with anyone who doesn't speak Spanish. :)

On Monday, Hermana Faletau, Sister Heslop, and I were able to go visit the Escriba family and teach them the Restoration as a Family Home Evening with them. We started teaching them and then, a few minutes into the lesson, Nancy, the oldest daughter, walked in with her boyfriend, Leo, who they had referred to us, but we had never been able to get a hold of. The lesson went great and he even asked a few questions. It was really neat to see Nancy helping teach her boyfriend too. She's such a great member missionary and is going to be such a great full-time missionary someday.

So, my companion, Hermana Shepherd, is one of the coolest people I've ever met and practically the most loving too! I love her so much!! I know that I don't know her that well yet, but I'm excited to get to know her even better over the next six weeks! A little bit about her: she's from North Ogden/Pleasant View area, she sings amazing, she went to Utah State for a year before she came out into the field, she wants to study cardiac rehab, this is her third transfer, and she hates dogs (como yo). Fun fact: she was Hermana Higgs companion last transfer and now she's mine....Hermana Faletau is now with Hermana Higgs! We just switched companions.

Life is so great here in Moorpark and I'm so glad I'm going on four transfers here. Best place ever on earth!!

Thanks so much for all the love and support! I really appreciate it!!

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday