Hola everyone!!
Well....transfers were this week and I have another
companion! Her name's Hermana Faletau and she's from Provo, UT.
She's originally from Tonga though. She's 21 and is so excited to be here
in California finally. She went to the Mexico MTC and then came here!
At first I was realy jealous, but then she was telling us about what it was
like and decided I'm grateful that I went to the one in Provo. She's
super fun and loves teaching the gospel.
Transfer meeting was really neat and spiritual. I
thought I was going to see Hermana Romero there, but she's follow-up training
for the first time ever, so I didn't get to :( We still keep in contact
though!
We were finally able to get a hold of Pauline (one of our
investigators with a baptismal date). We haven't been able to make
contact with her since Hermana Smith and I got here last transfer. We
taught her the resoration again and she told us that she still really wants to
get baptized on October 19th! Her, along with Shan-Shan, were both going to get
baptized on October 5th, but we realized that that was General Conference
weekend. So, we bumped it to the 12th (MY BIRTHDAY!), but we found out that
that's Stake Conference weekend. Therefore, we have to wait until the
19th. That would have been the coolest birthday present ever! Oh
well, they're still getting baptized a week later!
Denisse is still doing well, but still a little stubborn in
regards to only reading the Book of Mormon. She compares everything she
reads to the Bible and studys sermons given by Joseph Smith in more
depth. We keep trying to tell her that she's not going to be able to
understad the them if she doesn't first gain a testimony that the Book of
Mormon is true. "Line upon line, precept upon precept."
In personal study this week I was reading in 2 Nephi 16:10. It was
perfect for her! It says, "Make the heart of this people fat, and
make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes - lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and be
healed." It's so important that we focus on how we feel and what we
hear rather than expect some miraculous manifestation or logical thing to
happen.
We started teaching a eight year old boy, Ezra, this
week. His family is less active, but they want to start coming back to
church. He's so adorable!! I told him that I have a nine-year-old
brother at home that I miss a lot. He told me he could be my little
brother in California while I'm on my mission! How cute is that!
He's really excited to be baptized and wants to be before he turns nine next
month.
One of the recent converts in the Spanish branch lives in
our area, so we get to teach him. His name is Pablo (I might have mentioned
him before). This week, he was telling us all about how he used to box
and was trying to show us some moves. He's in his 70's so it was
hard for him, but he loved doing it! He get's kind of lonely sometimes,
so he loves it when we come and talk with him. He helps us with our
spanish and we help him with his english. It's amazing because Hermana
Romero was the one that taught him and what there when he was baptized.
He talks about her all the time and how much he loves her. I miss her a
ton (along with Hermana Higgs), but they're both doing great in Paso Robles
still.
Thank you so much for all the love and support that you give
me! You're all in my prayers!
Con amor,
Hermana Halliday
