23 March 2014

So to keep it simple this week, I will just tell you about the amazing miracles!
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This week actually started very rough. Literally all of our appointments were falling through for the first few days. Then on Wednesday we had interviews with President Alba, which I find are either a good thing or a bad thing. This week they were great for me. The first thing was that I did my whole interview with President Alba in Spanish! I was so happy that I finally was able to just communicate everything in Spanish. It was a good 10-15 minute interview with a lot of explaining my opinion about the sisters I am over and about me and my companion. The funny thing was that very little about the interview was about me. I told him that I liked it that way. That i didn't have as many personal problems when I am worrying about others. The problem was that I was worrying too much about the other sisters and not my own companionship so my companion and I had a good talk and were able to decide on a few things we needed to improve on together.
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Thursday we finally started to get some lessons in. We picked up a new investigator named Diana. She seems open and interested.  There is still a little bit more to go, so we will see. We taught Juan Carlos, our teenage investigator. I can't tell if he just wants to look cool or he really isn't very interested. We read Chapter 3 of 1 Nephi and I asked him how he would feel and what he would do if God told him to do something in a dream and he said he wouldn't do it. There is more to it than that because he keeps meeting with us and he came to church on sSunday. The only thing was that he kept saying that he doesn't fit in. That is the problem when your Sunday best is jeans and t-shirt and everyone else is wearing something else. People were very nice to him and that was great! So my encouragement for all of you is make those investigators and returning members first few minutes impactful because it will affect the rest of their spiritual life and it makes a missionaries job so much easier. Then we finally taught Yasmine! She is doing great! We had a really powerful and spiritual lesson on temples and the gospel of Jesus Christ! It was a good feeling to see the Spirit speak to her and help her feel a confirmation that these things are true. They even announced her baptismal date of April 13th in Relief Society, so it really is seeming definite! It is true, especially after this weekend, that there is peace in knowing that there are temples here on the earth. That Heavenly Father wants his special houses here not only for us to feel closer to his presence, but also to perform saving ordinances that will last through eternity and make family bounds not only tied on earth but also in the eternities.
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I know it is short but I truly do appreciate the plan that Heavenly Father has for us. I don't know if I would have understood it and accepted it all so well if I hadn't been a missionary for the past 10 months. The wait is over for some but the rest of us are still here enduring to the end.  I have the hope that we endure it well. Enduring has been something I have been thinking a lot about lately. As a missionary we are asked to carry a heavy load. To take all the troubles on our shoulders and be able to still function with all of this additional weight. Now as I have my own set of struggles as a missionary I continually think that I am enduring it, but the thing is enduring isn't just taking it. I think there is a difference between waiting until something is over and enduring it. So now I am deciding to endure, not just to wait. To make the best out of the situation, to progress and become better even in seemingly difficult circumstances. If we are not progressing then we are not fulfilling the plan God has for us. We aren't enduring to the end.

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Yesterday we were in Gospel Principles and we were talking about the atonement. We read John 3:16 and talked about how we understand this scripture different from other churches. I had a huge realization. So in John 3:16 it says whosoever believeth on Him(Christ). So I thought what does it mean to have Belief and I thought it means to have faith and with that faith we act, which means we repent.  If we haven't done so we are baptized by someone holding the authority and we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost making a promise/covenant with God, when we get to this part we are continually going over the first 4 steps always having faith, repenting every day, remembering our baptismal covenant, and being worthy to always have the spirit which are part of the last step of enduring until the end. So that is why our church is different then any other church, because we don't just have a belief we have more. We truly do have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ here upon this earth. It is the beginning of the end. We are making this last effort in the battle to have our lives count. To show that will be on the winning team! I hope and pray daily that I am working toward being on the winning team, and luckily I have the perfect coach to get me there. Just so you all know, it doesn't get better than this. This is it, this is the time, so don't waste a second of it with things you are going to regret, just do those things that will make it all worth it. That is what I learned this week as I continue on with the progression of myself! I am grateful for this opportunity I have now for that progression in my life.

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Thank for all of your love and support and no my prayers are with all of you to receive that comfort and peace you need to keep going on in your personal progression.

con amor,

Hermana Cornwall

17 March 2014

 Hola,

I can't believe I have made it all of the way until Monday. It has just been one of those weeks. There have been so many great things happening, but also some big problems to be solved.  Oh how I love to be a missionary.

So on Monday comes the first big piece of news. I don't remember if mentioned her last week, but we picked up a new investigator this week. Her name is Yasmine. She is newly married to a member of the Ward. She has met with the missionaries twice before but now is the time. She is very ready and excited to be baptized. She would technically be taught by the English Elders, but she preferred Sisters so we are teaching her. The funny thing is that she is Hispanic so she is kind of ours too. She just speaks perfect English! The nice thing is we teach when her husband is there, so, how I like to call it is that it is like having a member present 24/7. The weird thing is that they are both 19 and married, so it is an interesting experience. We had another member present with a 17 year old name Karissa from the Ward. We are teaching someone from her high school and his parents. She is taking Spanish in high school and we asked her to share her testimony about the Book of Mormon and thought the Spanish was very simple.  She totally brought the spirit and really helped us to end our lesson on a great note! The best part was also that Karissa loved it. She said that she totally wanted to come out again! It was a wonderful night. I felt so good after that night and I hadn't felt that good teaching in a long time.

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On Tuesday I went on exchanges with the 2 sisters I am over. I met with the Sister I was not going on exchanges with just to see how she was doing. She has been struggling with many parts of missionary life, so I just wanted to know more about her instead of waiting a whole other week for our exchange. It wasn't very easy to open her up, but I think it was a good start to our relationship.  I taught in district meeting about the principle of the love that the Savior has and how we need to have that love for everyone we come in contact with as missionaries. It is crazy to think of how much love we have to have in order to truly touch people's hearts.  I went on exchanges with Hermana Fernandez. Though she was struggling with her companionship, our exchange was amazing. I just felt like we were on fire teaching and talking to everyone we saw! We were a great companionship. She is from Spain so her Spanish sounds a little different.  It was great. Her last companion was Hermana LeMmon, so I think that is why we get along so well. We tried to talk about how to help her companion and it was just hard to think of how to train a missionary who has techinically already been trained.

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Wednesday We switched back.  We had a good evening teaching a less-active. He was a little creepy, but we taught him at the church with the Bishop there just to be safe. He works on Sunday so he can't come to church, but little by little he will get there. Then we taught Yasmine again. We asked her to pray for a baptismal date on Monday. So on Wednesday she told us that she is in between the 30th of March and the 13th of April. In my head I was thinking how soon that was and how exciting it was. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the plan of salvation. She remembered the most important part about the kingdoms and the goal being the celestial kingdom so that was perfect and so we just reviewed all of things before. She really seemed to just accept it all.  It was great! (My companion got frustrated and was crying in the bathroom from like 10:30 to 11:00, so I tried to help but I didn't know what I could do.My second night staying up past 11:00)

On Thursday we did some contacting in a duplex complex. It was nice to be able to go out talking to people. I really have tried to love people more, but also to try and be more sensitive to their needs. It was a great time for contacting! I also picked up some new investigators on facebook which is great. We are supposed to teach 1 lesson for every hour we are online, to make sure we are actually accomplishing something while being online. It is a good motivator for me so it is always nice to have more people to talk to. Later in the evening we taught a less-active from the ward. She is a single mom so it is easier for us as Sisters to go into her home. She is a talker though,t so it is hard to teach a lesson.  But we got it done.

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On Friday we had planning and correlation which actually took up most of the day. We were home for dinner and my companion was stressed out so she decided to go for a run. She ran up the hill on the property we live on and when on the top we thought we heard someone yelling help. So we ran back down to tell the Bishop. He and his mom came out and drove us back up on one of the carts they use to get around. It was fun to be on the cart, but we were hoping everything would be ok. It turns out that there is a goat farm nearby, so it could have been that. They checked at the neighbors house that was near by and they said all was well.  I am glad my companion and I heard a call and hearkened to it together! In the evening we needed to ask the Bishop's family for something so it was nice to have a good little chat with them since we live so close to each other.

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Saturday we walked to see some potentials and investigators in a neighborhood and 2 hours of walking later we had contacted a referral, made an appointment with our investigator, and contacted 20 people! It felt great! Then we taught our investigators - Lupe and Estela. Their house was a little crazy but we set baptismal dates with them both. In the evening we had our Saturday night lesion of stake conference. The funny thing is that I was there for the last stake conference of the Woodland stake 6 months ago, so it was good to be back. Elder Sabin was the visiting authority. He was full of stories to tell and relate to. We spent the night at the Sister apartment in Woodland in order to save miles.

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Sunday we went to special meeting for investigators and recent converts and Yasmine actually came and told us that she wants to get baptized on the 13th of April! It was great news. Then the 10:00 session was great too. The thing that stuck out to me that Elder Sabin said was, "There are many things that are interesting, but there are more things that are important". There was a lot on balance in the Sunday meeting. The fun thing was we stayed in Woodland for the day, so I got to eat dinner with the Perez's again. It felt so normal to be in their home. It was a little weird to have different experiences and to have been separated for 5 months, but it was fun. (I was really excited to eat dinner at their house. The relationship wasn't exactly the same like when I left, but it was good. I was a little disappointed, but grateful for the relationship we had) I ate a cerrano chile. It was so hot, but worth it in order to say that I had done it.

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Overall this week was crazy, but great. I am so grateful for all of the experiences I have had in order to help me more now and in the future. Keep learning and growing!

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Con amor,

Hermana Cornwall

The "Bishop's" property on which Sister Cornwall lives.

10 March 2014

Sister Cornwall's new digs, behind the Bishop's house

Hola,.

 

Oh my goodness it has been a crazy week! You have no idea,but I guess I can now tell you how it went! A little before -- I love my new area [Winters] and zone. Everything has been really great so far and I am very excited for the new transfer!

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So back to Fairfield [the area I just left] a little bit:   On Monday we went to the doctor for Hermana Underwood, poor thing. Then we went to go say goodbye to a recent convert, the Horta family and taught a lesson and took pictures. Hermana Underwood has those pictures so I will get them one day.

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We woke up on Tuesday and Hermana Underwood's face was even more swollen.We called the doctor and she told us to come in right away. They decided to cut open the abscess on her face, so she just had a little minor surgery on her face, no big deal. The weird part was to help it continue to drain they left gauze hanging out of her face for a few days.  I couldn't believe it. So, needless to say we took it easy the rest of the day. This was bad for me because I didn't get pictures with anyone  - so sorry, I don't have any faces to show you this week.

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On Wednesday we went to the doctor again just to make sure everything was looking alright. The funny thing was that because of a weird driving schedule I didn't go to Woodland until 3 [pm]. The best part was I went to dinner with the Lopez family.  I don't know if you all remember, but there was a family from the Winters area that we ate dinner with every other week so it was just like going home! They live in the boundaries of our ward, but go to the Spanish branch in Woodland.  That was fun. She remembered me and everything! I felt so special! In the evening I met a few of the investigators in Esparto, but none of them had time for a lesson. Then we taught one of our young investigators Juan Carlos. He has the desires to meet with us but he is still a teenage boy so, it is hard to get him motivated  He is great! Then I met some of the members who were at the church for boy scouts.  I met the bishop too. We drove home and we actually live on the property of the Bishop. All of his family live on this large area with an organic farm and things like that We live in the pool house. It is perfect for us. It is a cute little place and it is fun to be there.

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Oh, so my new companion is Hermana Santiago.She is from Mexico, but grew up here in the California. She is great.  She loves people, especially the members. She is a great companion!   Our area is based in Winters, that is where the building is. Then we cover other towns like Esparto, and Madison and all the little towns in between!

Thursday,  ironically, we went to the doctors again, but it was for Hermana Santiago. She needed a refill of her asthma medicine. It was funny to be in Fairfield again so soon and everyone at the doctors office knew me.  It was fun! We stopped at the stores in Vacaville and spent some time there waiting for her prescription.  It was an adventure! We had a meeting with the zone leaders and STLs to talk about zone meeting which was fun  It was all new, and great! We ate at the Kennedys. It was funny because they used to be in one of the Woodland Wards so I recognized them. It was fun to get to know them better.The funny thing was they made me eat this chile powder which was hot, but fun. I didnt take much, but it really burned my mouth! Then we went to a Stake Relief Society activity in Woodland and so I got to see some of the sisters from the branch. They were all excited to see me and I was so glad they all remembered me! It was fun.

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We had zone meeting on Friday morning. I taught about facebook and having the Spirit. Zone meeting is the opportunity for those who went to MLC to bring it back to the zones. It was long, but I think we ended well! In the evening we had correlation meeting. I love our ward mission leader already.  I am excited to see what we will do.He took us out to dinner which was fun too!

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On Saturday we had conference call as STLs. Boy am I grateful for technology.  It is so nice that we have that opportunity to re group and start the transfer together.  We had dinner with a nice new family, well new to me! They live in Esparto and since that is far away from us they said to come over for anything,ever. They even told us their garage is always open so we could just come in if we need it. It was so nice. Then we taught this awesome family. They are investigators. We just taught the kids but they were giving the perfect answersThey were really good at understanding. I am so excited to see them progress.

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On Sunday we had church with sacrament meeting first, which was a little weird to me. I also realized that we basically live at the church. Because our house is a little far away we dont have miles to always go back and forth, so we just eat at the church! We didn't really  have time to do much else and then I had my leader meeting.  It is a good group of leaders that we have and I will be excited of how to work together. All I can say is I am glad I have a district leader to counsel with on how to help sisters in their struggles. It is a really good system!

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Anyway things are great again from this Woodland area! We are excited to see what the future will bring! I am excited to tell you all of my comings and goings from here for the next little while!  [Here is a link to Winters]

Les quiero,

Hermana Cornwall

03 March 2014

Hola,

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I can not believe that it is March already. Time is flying. A few months ago I would have never believed it. So I am sure you are all dying to know...I am getting transferred. My 3 transfers [6 weeks for each transfer] in Fairfield has ended. If I haven't made it very clear, it is normal to only be in an area for 3 transfers. It is different in every mission, but that is how it is in ours. Oh, so I guess I haven't told you where I am going yet... I am going to WOODLAND again! Well, I am going to the same zone. Specifically I am going to Winters. I am so excited to be going back. I will be serving in anEenglish ward. What that means is that there is a Spanish group that is part of the ward. The other nice thing is we feed into the Woodland Branch and so I might see some of my favorite people again. It is so exciting. It is like going back but having a new adventure! My companion will be Hermana Santiago and I am still an STL! We will see how it goes!

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This was a good week, and kind of a special week, with lots of interesting activities. On Monday we had dinner with the Horta family. She is a recent convert and they are really struggling coming to all 3 hours of church because of one of her sons. We committed them to come to the temple prep class so hopefully that will help them to come more. I just feel so bad for their real life struggles and for the difficulty it is to put it all aside for all 3 hours of church.

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On Tuesday we had a conference call district meeting with the Albas. They were really concerned that we were getting weighed down by Satan. That through our devices we were not keeping up with those most important things. I agree that it was true. To put it simply Sister Alba explained it this way "The battle is on, the war has begun". It really is true. I have felt it and I was grateful for their council. Then we picked up a new investigator! Actually it was someone Hermana Underwood had found on facebook and then we started to teach him in person. It was a great lesson!

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On Wednesday we taught a recent convert and a less-active. I have truly seen how life just tends to get in the way. Especially between members and going to church. The nice thing is we as missionaries are there to help them on their way back and invite them to do it. I hope these two just can be at church 100%.

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Thursday I MADE TAMALES. One of our recent converts sells them to people.  We went on her weekly time to make them. It was so interesting to be part of most of the process. The hardest part was taking cooking directions in spanish! It was all totally worth it though! I really enjoyed it. In the evening we had dinner with our investigators. It was a little weird but ended great. They just really opened up and we were able to know a lot more about their fears and now we can help them. It is funny how people are so scared of messing up one day. They don't get married, they don't join the church, all because of that fear.

Friday I had MLC. It is  Missionary Leadership Conference that they have on a monthly basis. It is where the leaders get training to take it back to the zones or just to be better leaders. This one was a little special tho'.  W watched a 2 hour movie in order to study the leadership. It was 12 o'clock high. It was actually really good and educational just weird to watch a movie and it was long (for us missionaries). I am sure that was a once a mission experience! Sister Alba talked about making Battle Plans for our zones! We then talked a little about contacting and discerning investigators needs from the APs. Then they revealed transfer doctrine. It was so weird to have it shown to us because usually we just get a voicemail announcement from the zone leaders. Sisster Alba had actually already told me where I was going and who my new companion would be.  It was fun to see the rest of the mission. We didn't really have time to do much of anything else throughout the night.

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Saturday we took the time to plan, but Hermana Underwood had some medical problems so it has been an interesting weekend. All I have to say is don't try to pop a pimple too early when you just had a staff infection. Crazy I know, but true. In the evening the Elders wanted to cheer us up, so they took us to ice cream.

Sunday her [Sister Underwood's] face was even worse so we got her to the doctor today and hopefully she will make a full recovery soon! Who knows? 

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Well I hope all of your worlds are going great, full of the excitement of everyday life! I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hasta el proximo lunes!

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 Hermana Cornwall