This week has been absolutely amazing!
Garrett is probably the most prepared person I've ever met
in my life. We taught him the Plan of Salvation at the Jenkins home this week
and it went absolutely amazing! We found out the day before the lesson that he
had some other plans that he really wanted to go do, but as he was talking to
his mom, he told her that having a lesson with us and going to mutual that same
night were more important. For being only 14-years-old, he's definitely really
in tune with the spirit. We had dinner with their family this past Saturday as
well and for our message, we followed up on the commitment to create a family
mission plan based on the guidelines we had left them. It turns out that they
had already made a really in depth family mission plan and had already started
executing it. They brought it up to us before we could ask them about it. It
was really sweet to see how excited he got when he was talking about it. That
same night we also found out that he loves drinking tea and that it's really
hard for him to give it up. He knows he shouldn't drink it, but his mom is
helping understand the importance of commitment and sacrifice for something
that he wants more, which is baptism. They're both such a great support for
each other and I love seeing how their testimonies are growing each day.
Tonight we have a lesson/family home evening set up at the Nelson home to talk
more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Otilia, one of our recent converts/less actives, is doing
really great! This past week, we got to teach her the Plan of Salvation. When
we got to the part about the celestial kingdom, she got really excited and
asked us how she could get there. Her friend, George (a member), explained that
we need to go to the temple and receive our endowments so that we can make more
covenants with God. She told us that she wants to start preparing to go, so we
talked to the ward council about starting up a temple preparation class to help
her. I'm so excited for her because this is the most active she's been in
wanting to learn more than she has been in a while.
Elba is one of our investigators that we set with a
baptismal date this week! For a while, she didn't seem that interested and
would keep postponing our appointments and not reading, but when we went by
this past week and taught the principles behind the City of Nephi, she felt the
spirit really strong and she showed a lot more of a desire to learn. She has
two young granddaughters that she watches everyday, so it's hard for he to be
able to focus during the lessons. This past lesson we had with her was mostly
spent with me distracting the girls while Hermana Player and Hermana Wallace
taught the lesson. We're trying to work on getting more members (with kids)
involved the help the little girls either pay attention or let Elba pay more
attention. Our ward mission leader gave us a few suggestions that we're
hopefully going to be able to try this week. All in all, Elba is doing great
and her desire to learn has increased a lot.
On Tuesday, we were able to go out and do a lot of less
active visits with the Relief Society president. One of the people that we had
the chance to visit was Celeste. She accepted the invitation to officially be
on the Focus on 15 for our ward! We went back later this week and taught her
the Restoration. She already knows all of the doctrine and everything, but
during the middle of the lesson, she told us that she had an "aha"
moment that the reason her life hasn't been going as great as it should be is
because she doesn't read her scriptures everyday. She committed herself to read
the scriptures everyday before we could even bring it up or commit her. She
also came to church for the first time in a few months (due to her newborn baby
getting sick) yesterday!
On Saturday, we were able to have a lesson with Christian.
Since I've been here in Santa Paula that was the first time we'd been able to
teach him. We taught him the Restoration, but through reading the introduction
of the Book of Mormon with him. It was different, but I think it answered most
of the concerns that he had. He's still really hung up on the fact that the
Sabbath should be on Saturday and not Sunday, but we explained to him that if
he gains a testimony of Joseph Smith and our prophet today, that it would make
sense, through modern day revelation, that the Sabbath is supposed to be on
Sunday. He's really in tune with the spirit, so we're going to try using a few
different ways to help him recognize it even more in the coming weeks.
Jose is a new investigator that we found last week. When we first
met him, we were kind of hesitant to teach him, but we knew that we had to.
When we went back for our first actual lesson, we found out that he had read
and that he had a lot of really good questions. He told us that he's not very
religious, but that he's willing to give it a try for a little bit. It was such
a miracle because he didn't seem that interested at the door when we initially
talked to him.
We had President Interviews on Wednesday! It was a
little different than normal though. Instead of individual interviews, we
had companionship interviews. It was all about accountability and if we
were doing what we were supposed to do. I absolutely loved the training
that we received on Wednesday. Everything that President Castro said really
helped me. I've been thinking a lot lately about how I only have 3 transfers
left in the mission and I don't want to waste any second. Last night, I
realized more fully that time was running out and that I really don't want to
go home. These past 13 months mean the most to me and I wouldn't trade it for
anything in the world. I feel like I've grown so much and learned things that
will help me for eternity.
As far as Hermana Wallace, Hermana Player, and I are doing,
everything's peachy. We're still working really hard and our unity is getting a
lot better. We've all been able to grow a lot together these past three
weeks. Yesterday, our alarm didn't go off and none of us noticed until 7:30. We
all felt horrible and rushed to get to ward council which started at 8:00. It
was the most hectic morning of my life, but we've all repented and we had a
really good day yesterday.
Thanks for all the love and support! Love and miss all
of you!
Con amor,
Hermana Halliday
We got locked out of our apartment! Good thing the Hermanas below us had a key. :-)
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