Twenty-ninth Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!!

This week was interesting. I still was really sick this week with really bad headaches. We only went out to see Pablo (our only two appointments) and to go to various meetings. Every time that I stand up, I get really dizzy and it's hard to focus on anything. Tomorrow, we're going to the chiropractor to see if he can help me figure out what's going on. Hermana Shepherd has been so great about all of this though. She's really very patient and helps me try to forget about the pain. She's such an angel and I know that Heavenly Father needed her to be with me to help me with this. I love her so much. It also really helps that Sister Anderson (one of the sisters we live with) is sick too.  She's having the same sort of symptoms, so we pretty much just lay on the ground together. 

Since we've been staying in most of the week, I've gotten to know Hermana Shepherd really well. I love be able to listen to her tell me stories and tell me about herself. I probably know her better than I know any of my other companions. She's such a sweet person and would do anything to help anyone.

Since we weren't able to go out a lot this week, we were only able to see and visit Pablo. This coming week is the one year anniversary of his wife's death, so this past week he's been really depressed. On Wednesday, when we visited him, he started crying and told us that he wanted to kill himself to end the pain, but he also didn't want to because he still wants to go to the temple to be sealed to her. When we visited him on Saturday, he seemed a lot happier and I helped him tie his three ties he has so he could wear them to church. Yesterday, during fast and testimony meeting, he got up and bore his testimony about the importance of the temple and his knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. He's come such a long way since I first met him. He has so much faith in what Heavenly Father has in store for him. 

All of the missionaries in our zone had a meeting with the Stake Presidency and President Castro on Sunday.  It went really well!  They talked to us about how we can better involve the leaders and other members of the ward we serve in.  I love the Stake Presidency and I've really enjoyed being able to hear from them during various occasions during these past 6 months. I can tell that they really are trying to get the wards more excited about hastening the work of salvation. I have such a testimony of working hard with the leaders in the ward or branch where I've served. Missionaries can only do so much and the leaders and other members of the ward are so crucial in the progression of bringing others unto Christ.  President Castro is so inspired as well,  I just love listening to him talk. 

This coming week on Sunday, Hermana Shepherd and I are going to be singing a duet ("Mas Cerca Dios de Ti" aka "Nearer, My God to Thee") in Sacrament Meeting. The branch loves music and we love helping them feel the Spirit, so I'm sure it'll go really well. I've been trying to help Hermana Shepherd get out of her comfort zone when it comes to singing, so this is a big step. It's even better because she's the one that suggested that we sing! I'm so proud of her. 

So, the most hilarious thing happened this week....not to us, but the sisters that we live with.  Even though they hardly went out, this still happened when they did...

On Tuesday, they went to visit one of their less actives (one that I didn't know when I was in the ward) and her nonmember son.  This family is struggling a lot with financial issues and they aren't really all there, but they're really sweet.  I met them at the Christmas concert earlier this transfer.  When they sat down at their appointment, the mom (Carol) was acting a little weird.  William (the son) was in his room the entire time.  She started out by crying and complaining about their financial situation (which is apparently somewhat normal for her).  She then switches to telling them that William has grown "quite fond" of both of them and that "he knows that it's wrong to love two women."  They thought that she was just crazy, but then she asked them if they would consider marrying him!  I'm dead serious. Carol seriously proposed to them for William.  In the words of our zone leader, Elder Bostrom, it was a "proxy proposal."  I was dying when they were telling me this, but it gets better.....They explained that they were missionaries and couldn't date or just get married while on the mission.  She then said, "No, no, no, he researched it.  You can be honorably released."  No one could believe that she actually said this.  I almost died.  The sisters then decided to say that they would pray about it.  That night they would both scared to pray because they didn't want to get a yes.  The whole time they were telling us this, I was dying inside.  The next day when they went back to give their answers (No's), Carol thought that it was a yes from both of them because they returned.  They had to break it to them softly, but Carol took it pretty hard.  Even though this story's pretty funny, I feel really bad for Carol and William because of their living situation. 

On Thursday, we had a Spanish Training Meeting.  It helped me think of new ways to make my language study more effective. Sometimes I think that I don't utilize it as well as I should, but hopefully now I'll be able to be more consistent every day. Of course, President and Sister Castro are both so inspiring.  It was pretty funny because I could almost understand them better in Spanish than English because they have an accent when they speak in English.  I love them both!

On Wednesday, we had an amazing district meeting.  It was all about teaching who you are and not what you know.  It was interesting to think about my teaching strategies in that way and what I can do to help people know who I am.  The spirit was really strong the entire time.  Hermana Shepherd and I were in charge of the EDPEP (role play activity) and we focused on the importance of bearing testimony when extending commitments.  It was different than what we would normally do for an EDPEP, but it was really edifying.  Hermana Shepherd gave the talk and talked a lot about how to be a successful missionary too which made the meeting even better. 

After district meeting, I asked one of my zone leaders (Elder Bostrom) and my district leader (Elder Atkin) for a blessing to help me get over my headaches.  It was a really amazing experience that helped me realize why I'm here and gave me a lot of comfort.  I absolutely love the priesthood.  It's helped me through so much on my mission. 

After we got back from the Spanish Training Meeting, Elder Bostrom and Elder Driggs (on exchanges) stopped by our apartment and gave us all ice cream and told us that if we ate it, we had to get better.  The elders in this zone are really thoughtful and are trying to help us recover as quickly as possible.  Almost all the sisters in Moorpark are sick and unable to proselyte. 

On Friday, Sister Barker from Moorpark 1st ward, brought us dinner at our apartment because she heard that two of us were sick.  She's so sweet.

I found out that Sister Jones (one of the sisters serving in Moorparkr 2nd ward) is from Castle Rock.  She's in the Castle Pines ward.  CRAZY small world!

Thanks for all the love and support from everyone!  Your prayers are helping me get better!

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday

 Hermana Shepherd and I at Denny's on New Years Day

Hermana Anderson and I dying on the floor together.

Twenty-eighth Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!

Christmas this week was so good!! I really enjoyed calling home and speaking with my family. At first, I really didn't want to call home because I liked the point that I was at and didn't want to get distracted, but as I talked with them, it was really edifying and I felt like I was able to help them be able to feel the Christmas spirit more back home. After the fact, I was glad that I had called and I know my family really appreciated it too.

We were able to go caroling with Elder Bostrum, Elder Bate, Sister Anderson, and Sister Heslop on Christmas Eve as well. It went really well and I was able to tell that the people we had visited really appreciated our efforts to reach out to them. A few of our investigators started crying and I knew that we chose to visit them for a reason. We had a chance to visit three investigators (Lupe, Sandra, and Ruben) and then visit Pablo as well.

Not too many people answered their doors unfortunately on Christmas, but we were able to go to district meeting (which was really good) and be edified. I love being able to get together with missionaries and feel the spirit that's there as we uplift each other. It's one of my favorite things about the mission.

We also got to talk to Pablo on Christmas Eve and Christmas. He seemed like he was really lonely, but when we visited him, he told us that we (missionaries in general) give him hope and help him feel happier. When we saw him on Christmas, it was a little later in the day and almost dark, so his brother's non-member family invited us in. We were able to have a lesson with them even though in the past they hadn't shown much interest. I'm really excited to be able to hopefully continue teaching them and help them realize the support that they need to give Pablo in preparing to enter into the temple.

On Thursday, we had a chance to visit Guadalupe. She has such a sweet spirit. Her kids were all there because they obviously didn't have school, so it was a little hard to keep the spirit there. We were really only able to share a quick synopsis of the Alma the Younger story and talk about how the Atonement can help her in her life as well. She has a few problems with her husband and she feels stressed all the time, but she wants to become closer to Christ. She says that she doesn't want to come to church because she has her own church, but we suspect that part of that is her husband. She had told us earlier that her husband doesn't like it when we come over and talk to her, but he deals with it because she likes it. She's been reading (not too consistently) the Book of Mormon and has really good questions about it.

Also, on Thursday, we were able to do a little bit of tracting and we found this Hispanic man (Eduardo) who told us that he lives in Los Angeles, but is always in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark visiting his friends. He also told us that he was interested in coming to our church services and knew exactly where the building was. He wouldn't give us his address in LA, but he gave us his number and told us to remind him about church. Unfortunately, he didn't come to church, but we're definitely not going to give up on him. He has a lot of potential.

On Friday morning, I woke up with a really bad headache and a sore throat.  It's really hard sitting or standing for an extending period of time or I get really dizzy. I've been sick for the past few days and still don't feel really well, but hopefully I'll be able to get better soon and get back to work. Hermana Shepherd has been really helpful and patient, but I can tell that she's starting to get kind of restless and wants to go out and work more. She's so sweet and always offers to do things for me. We've also been able to get to know each other a little better over these past few days and we've realized that we have so much in common. I love being her companion and really enjoy working with her. She told me that she's never had a companion for more than one transfer and, even though I know that the Lord may have other plans, I really hope we get to stay together for at least one more.

I absolutely still love it here in Moorpark. The area is growing so much and even though we haven't been able to see a lot of progress with our investigators, I know that they'll all be baptized at some point. They are all so near and dear to my heart and so is the branch. This is my favorite unit that I've been able to serve in and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be here and getting to know these people. 

You're all amazing and I hope that you all had and great Christmas and will have a great New Year's.  Thanks for all the love and support that you've all shown me this year and I hope that you all had a great one too!

Con amor,

Hermana Halliday

Decked out house in Little Mexico

 Vikings fans in California?

  Vikings fans in California?

 Me here in bed sick!

Twenty-seventh Week in the Field

Hola Everyone!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!! 

This week was one of the most spiritually rewarding weeks that I've had in a while.  We had the opportunity to have the Mission Christmas Devotional and I got to go on exchanges this week too.

The Christmas Devotional was absolutely amazing!  The flute duet went really well and the spirit was definitely there with us.  All of the other performances went really well too.  There is some serious talent in this mission and even in just my zone as well.  One of our zone leaders and my district leader sang "Mary Did You Know" to the guitar and it was absolutely amazing.  They are sooo good.  (It figures since my district leader studied dance and music performance at Julliard before coming on the mission!)  President Castro knows exactly what to say to bring the spirit and helps all of us have a bigger vision of what's really important especially during this Christmas season. He talked a lot about what it means to have Christ be more present in our life and ways that we can show the Lord that we love Him.  I'm so excited to be able to serve more and have people be more willing to listen to our message.  I love the Christmas season and the happiness that everyone has regardless of what religion or race they are or beliefs they have or just type of person they are.  It definitely helps lift my spirits and my determination to work even harder.  After the more spiritual part of the devotional, we ate lunch (pizza) and got to play some fun (but still spiritual) games, with the other two zones that were there (Simi Valley and Newbury Park) focused around Christmas.  One included "bidding" a number of notes that you could get to guess what song they were trying to play on the piano.  No big deal, but my group guessed "Silent Night" correctly with one note!  :)  Overall, it was so much fun, but still spiritually rewarding.

I'm so eternally grateful for the loving sacrifice that Christ made for us so that we could get back to where we came from and live in happiness forever with our families.  I've been able to see the Atonement at work so much throughout my mission so far and especially during this Christmas season.  I hope all of you can look for ways that the Atonement has blessed your lives as well.  

I love being able to see our investigators progress and become closer to Christ.  I'm so grateful for all of them and love seeing them learn and have that stronger desire as well.  

Sandra is still doing great, even though we haven't really had the chance to teach her this week.  We've stopped by and shared a few scriptures with her, but her husband was never home, so we didn't want to teach the Plan of Salvation until both of them were there together so we could share how they could be together as a family forever.  She's so sweet and loves it when we come over in contrast to some of our other investigators.  She has such a genuine desire to keep learning.  

We don't have a lot of investigators right now that want to keep learning, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to still be here in Moorpark and continue finding people to teach.  I was looking at our area book the other day (well I look at it everyday, but I realized this a few days ago).  I realized that every single teaching record for our investigators that we have in that book has my name on it.  It crazy that I've been here so long and built it up so much, but I still don't ever want to leave Moorpark.  Hermana Shepherd thinks I'm crazy because it's so small here.  She's even starting to get antsy even though she's only been here for three weeks.  

Pablo is still doing absolutely amazing. He is still focused on going to the temple in May. He told us that he gets lonely sometimes, but he loves it when we come over and share a gospel message with him. We finally got home teachers for him and we know they'll actually do it because they're both so great. I'm so blessed to be able to work with him and see his faith. He truly inspires me every time we visit him.  This time, I found out that he doesn't like brown people (irony), he loves Shania Twain, and he calls a brother in our branch "flacito" because he's really tall and super skinny.  I LOVE PABLO SO MUCH!!

Exchanges were so wonderful! I got to work with Hermana Bartschi this time. After five transfers, I finally got to work with her. She's one of the most Christ-like people I know and she's such a hard worker. We saw so many miracles and were able to just find a ton of people. We were covering an area that wasn't as built because there aren't as many Hispanics there, but we found them and were able to be guided by the spirit. For this exchange, I was working on inviting people to be baptized within the first meeting. We didn't actually get to physically ask anyone to be baptized, but we talked a lot about our purpose with them. The spirit of the goal was accomplished, but not the actually physical goal. I felt really satisfied overall though. 

On Saturday, we got to go to the branch's Christmas party.  It was dinner and a dance (obviously we didn't dance).  After we left, I felt like I wanted to be a full-fledged Mexican.  They dance so well and have such good rhythm.  AND, of course, the food was delicious.  I am totally coming back and visiting.  We even got Pablo to come AND he danced!!!  It was so adorable.  President Parra told us that we better come back and visit and that we all owe him a dance.  Leo, Nancy's boyfriend, came too!  It was pretty funny because we went and saw him earlier that day and then saw him at the party.  :)

I freaking love being here in Moorpark and I'm even more grateful that I get to be here for Christmas.  The people here are absolutely wonderful and will do anything to help us.  I couldn't ask to be in a better place.  

I can't believe that it's already practically the end of the year.  So much has happened and I feel like I've grown so much.  If anyone is trying to decide whether they should serve a mission, DO IT!! It is the most rewarding decision that I've ever made in my life.  

Thanks so much for everything you all do!! Merry Christmas!! Feliz Navidad!!

Con amor, 

Hermana Halliday

 Me with Hermana Smith

 Me with Hermana Shepherd

 Me with Elder James

 All the Sisters at the Christmas Devotional (3 Zones)

 Me with Hermana Bartschi

The Setup for the Branch Christmas Party