09 December 2013

Sister Cornwall's District

  Hola,
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Feliz Navidad! I am totally in Christmas spirit and I just love it! I love to see all the lights coming up and christmas trees on top of cars and it is all so lovely, But, boy has it been cold! I have had to scrape off my windshield almost every morning. I never thought I would have to do anything like that on my mission It was kind of fun to think, well I don't have a windshield scraper and pull out the old credit card to get it off! IT was also an amazing week here in the Fairfield Spanish West area of the world! We saw so many amazing miracles this week so I am excited to tell them all to you!
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So, on Monday we had our regular p-day activities and then when we went to proselyte.  At dinner we went to see a former [investigator] that we had found tracting.  We taught them a lesson and picked them up as investigators! It was an amazing start to the week. They have testimonies and know all the principles but it is just getting them to change and apply these thing that we really have to work on!

Elder Garrity - Best District Leader Ever

.Tuesday we had our last district meeting. Not only was it sad because it was the last one, but our wonderful district leader is going home and so that made it a lot worse. Elder Garity has been so kind and wonderful and I have learned so much, and trusted him so much because of all his experience and his application of it! He is an awesome missionary and hope to do good like he has done. The fun thing is that he is going to UVU so there is the chance that we could see eachother again! In the meeting we talked about sacrifice and what we are willing to sacrifice as missionaries. We also talked a lot about love being our focus in all that we do. At the end we said the things that we had learned thus far on our missions.  Then, we taught a recent convert. Santa O., different from santa the investigator. I have not taught her since I have been here, so it was good to get to know her a little more than just at church. We had some facebook training. Because our numbers were so low (we have to report lesson and numbers of investigators and things for Salt Lake) my companion and I received special training in order to improve. We both weren't really teaching anyone and so what they basically did was online tracted for us, meaning, just talked to as many random people as they could. It was great and actually really helpful.Then in the evening we taught investigator Santa with Hermana Diaz, a recent convert! It was awesome and truly having a member at a lesson completely changes it because now they have someone they can completely relate to and feel comfortable talking to more then just these young girls!  We tried to have our first english class, but no one showed up.
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On Wednesday we finally saw Deisy and Manuel again. We thought they were avoiding us, but their lives have just been super busy.  It is so nice to see them again. Also they Agreed to be MARRIED! They set the date for July, but at least they want to get married.  That makes a big difference! We are so excited to help them get there.
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Thursday we had a lesson with Marisol, she is slowly progressing and now we just need to get her to church. It is funny because with certain investigators there are lesson that give you so much hope and so you just want to keep teaching and teaching but then they don't have time for a few weeks and so you want to drop them but then you teach them again and it is a constant cycle of up and down and it so very interesting to be a part of it! Then we taught Graciela, a kind of less-active member who is great and so loving and good!  Hermana Hernandez taught a facebook lesson. We had english class, with no one showing up. Then we taught Ricardo who is another less-active that I have not met until this week. He really struggles with trusting in God so we just take baby steps with him to progress.
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Friday we taught Santa the investigator again. She is great! We are really hoping she just comes to church so she can progress that much more. She is great! She really opened up in this lesson and it was great to tell her that the gospel has all of the answers! Then it was the crazy day of getting the transfer doctrine, which all just puts us on edge waiting for all the information. As I said I am staying here in Fairfield with Hermana Hernandez and I am so happy! I love her and we work together well so I am excited.
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On Saturday Hermana Hernandez had a meeting in Santa Rosa, so I spent the day in Napa with Hermana Gonzalez from Woodland! It was so fun to be back together again. I must say that Napa might be the only city that I actually knew about before my mission that was in my mission. It is beautiful! With a beautiful downtown and wonderful people. First we had language study with a member which was fun! He was really trying to help everyone get the difference between spanish and english through translating sentences. It was great. We tracted and it was FREEZING, but fun! I always thought more people would let you in when it is cold, but they don't. It was fun to just be in a different area for a day! We came home late. We used a GPS and it took us on a windy mountain road that was a little scary, but we survived!
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We had stake conference on Sunday and we were all saying goodbye to the missionaries that were leaving. We went finding during the afternoon and did a little facebook. We had the last leader meeting of this transfer which was sad because because the 2 zone leaders are leaving.  I am excited to meet the new ones.
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SO change is a-coming but not too much!  Love you all and have a wonderful week. Stay warm and Share the gospel while doing it, oh and read Elder Ballard's talk from conference!
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Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

Advent Calendar from "grandma & grandpa" Carlson