17 February 2014

On the down hill slope!

So I am officially past half-way crazy right? I cannot believe it! I am so grateful for my mission so far and all it has taught me and all it will continue to teach me. The funny thing is that it never really gets easier, The Lord just keeps throwing new challenges our way. We just keep overcoming them. They aren't even trials you can really explain or write down. They are those life lessons that help us to prepare for the world!

.

So on Monday, we went to go contact a referral in the evening. He was referred to us by a member. I assumed that he knew something about our church but he really knew nothing. We kind of shocked him by knowing his name and address. He said his wife is very religious so he doesn't feel that he needs it right now.  He said we could stop by again if we really wanted to. Then we had a break-through lesson with Martha. She is finally realizing the eternal mindset she can have with a knowledge of the plan that God has for her and the knowledge of the atonement. It was awesome.

On Tuesday we a great district meeting. Then we went to do exchanges in Vacaville. This time I went with Sister Day, a new missionary. She was awesome! She did a great job leading out her area and being prepared. We taught a less-active lesson with a girl that understands the importance of it all but just struggles with a few things.  We were there to kind of just give her a support lesson. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant and is was pretty authentic food so that was fun for me at least!

.

On Wednesday we switched back.  Later in the afternoon I had a bunch of success on facebook. I got a referral from one of my facebook friends that she was trying to talk to more about the gospel, but she speaks Spanish and a little English and he only speaks a little English so she told me in Spanish if I could try and teach him in English. It was cool, so he is from India and I finally started talking to him. We didn't say much but I asked if he wanted to talk more and he said he wanted to learn more. I also had another lesson with Cody. Sometimes I think these teenage boys are just messing around but I hope that he will at least have a seed planted. We are still talking but there are quite a few points in our talks that are out of the blue so I am trying to teach him. Then in the evening we planned for a blitz with some of the English Elders in Cordelia. I have never planned a blitz before so it was fun to try and organize it all. We just had to split our areas and assign the companionship for the 2 hour period in which they would be blitzing the area! 

.

On Thursday I taught Cody once again and also picked up an investigator of a girl I added a while ago.  She was online and so I started talking to her. She is in some sort of bible school right now so I am slowing teaching her about the restoration so we will see how it goes. Then we taught English class in the evening which is always fun. The women that come are very funny and enjoyable to teach.  We prepped some valentines treat bags for the missionaries in our zone to deliver for valentines day!

.

Valentines was just a regular planning day for us. With a fun dinner at a member. She was a Spanish missionary in this mission (she is white) and she married someone from the area. So it is half Hispanic and half white and it adds up to a lot of fun. They are a young couple with a cute little baby! 

.

On Saturday we had our blitz! It went really well. For the Elders and for us. We have few appointments to follow up on so we will see! Then we had a little leaders meeting to discuss the zone. The other Sister Training Leader and I had some concerns about the zone so we just decided to have a little chat in order to have some action taken. Then we had our lesson with the Partida family! They live in between some vineyards so it was an adventure! They were baptized a few years ago and have not been very active.  We are basically going thru everything again so we will see how it goes! Then we had a drop lesson with Juan. He was someone we taught on and off, but because of that we wanted to have an official lesson where he knew we were dropping him and he could call us if he wanted to learn more! It was sad, but the best thing for him. It was a really spiritual lesson and we hope he calls us! Then we ended the night with a great comp inventory. So I just love my companion Hermana Underwood! We get along really well! Almost too well. Our work suffers a little for it.  W are trying! I love her so much. Just sayin!

.

Sunday I taught Aravind on facebook again! it was so funny to teach him so basically. Just because of his limited knowledge about Christianity, I just have to teach the principles really, really basic! It was a good lesson though and so he is officially my new investigator! Then I also started talking to a teenager here in Fairfield. He seems to be open to talk but pretty basic in Christian fundamentals. I taught 6 lessons on facebook this week! It was great! I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach everyone in the world, if the opportunity presents itself.

.

Well I hope that all of you have a wonderful week! I am so grateful for this wonderful work of salvation. I hope you all understand what that really means! If you don't then I encourage you to find out!

Les quiero!

Hermana Cornwall

.

10 February 2014

So this week was an amazing week, for a lot of the missionaries in the Santa Rosa mission. There was nothing huge, but we felt it. As some may know we fasted for rain this last Fast Sunday and boy, did it come this week. It has been raining almost non-stop since Wednesday. Luckily it isn't that bad of rain but it has been exciting. We have all felt the power of prayer! Then also Hermana Underwood and I had our prayers answered again with our work with Less-actives this week! So let me tell you about it!

.

Monday we taught a lesson to Hermano Flores, a member in our ward. For some unknown reason he has decided to attend an English ward. We, not knowing that, and having not seen him at church for a few weeks stopped by to say hello. He was so happy to receive a visit from us and he informed us that he was going to church and so we just left them with a spiritual thought and it was just nice to give people some of that TLC that we all need.

.

On Tuesday we had our meetings and things. It was my first time teaching. I wasn't really nervous but I think I was a little apprehensive that I was really helping other missionaries understand how to become better missionaries. I talked about the Book of Mormon being a cornerstone of what we teach others. I loved just interacting with them and combining it all together to make sense. It was a little weird to feel so apprehensive after so many years of theatre but I am sure I will get used to all a soon. In the evening we actually had a successful English class. People are actually showing up! It was great! 2 of them even came to our ward party this week! They are like members already! The purpose of our class is to find investigators so we have been trying and we found a few.

.

Wednesday we tried to visit a less active and she didn't answer, so we left her a talk, an idea of Hermana Underwood's. Then we had a crazy almost 2 hour dinner. We are so grateful for the people that feed us, but sometimes it can get a little crazy.  So here is a my little speal for all of you. Missionaries technically only have an hour for dinner. If dinner takes longer then an hour it takes up time so our plans and lessons get all messed up.  My plea from a humble missionary is that no matter what it is please be conscientious of time! I know all of you don't have any problems with that, but that is my little speech that I can never make to the members I eat with! Also this was our first rainy day! Which is fun! Both Hermana Underwood and I love the rain so it was good.

.

Thursday was our miracle day! The night before, after we planned for our day, Hermana Underwood prayed that all of the lessons we had planned would happen. As missionaries we plan to visit people a lot of the time, but a lot of them don't happen.   We prayed for it and hoped for it. We had 6 lessons planned. The first was with Santa O. She is a recent convert and going strong. She has been to the temple once to do baptisms for the dead and so we wanted to help her start to find her own names and take them to the temple. We talked to her about temples and family history. Then we had a lesson with Graciela a kind of inactive. She is the only member of the church in her family. We have never met her husband.  It has all just been really hard on her. SO to our surprise who should answer the door, but her Husband! We talked for a minute as we waited for her to come out and he said it was raining so he didn't have work. She didn't have much time, and neither did we, but we shared a video about the Book of Mormon, by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and her husband pretended to watch the soccer game, without sound.  He really watched our video and he was honestly curious about it all. We definitely planted a seed that I hope will help him on his path! We went to our appointment with Jose Cospin. He works most Sundays, but we had a powerful lesson on what really matters most in life. He tries, but I hope we also started the path of him being more dedicated to come to church every Sunday! Then we taught a less-active from the English ward that we had found accidentally. They were offended, but we hope that their heart can also be softened and they can receive the comfort and peace they need from the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Then after dinner we went a visited our investigators Deisy and Manuel with their new baby boy! We watched the Patterns of Light videos by Elder Bednar that talks about the Spirit and how we feel it. I think they were touched by how simple it is and how powerful prayer is also. Then we had our last and 6th lesson of the day with Ricardo and his girlfriend who is a non-member. We finally were able to have a more spiritual lesson with him, really talking about how Heavenly Father loves him so much! We committed him to start praying again.  We hope that he does it so that eventually he can feel the importance and power of prayer! Anyway, it was a great day! We couldn't believe that our humble prayer was answered! It was a powerful confirmation of the fact that when we have faith, it will happen! Sometimes it isn't always how we imagine it or when we imagine it, but it will happen!
.
Then on Friday we had a ward party for Valentines day! It was fun. They had a little dance after and that was fun also. It was a great time for the branch to really just bond together! Also one of our former investigators texted us and said that she wanted to start meeting with us again after she talked to her dentist, who just happens to be the stake president! We are excited to see her again!

.

On Saturday we also had a wonderful day with some great miracles. First in the pouring rain we visited some less-actives I had never met before. They live in a small home clumped with many other small homes off of a vineyard. They were home and we were able to share a short message and set up an appointment for next week! We are very excited to be able to help them come back, paso por paso! Then later in the evening we Heart Attacked some people, those that had helped with the party, the stake president and some Elders that need some cheering up! Then we went to see another Less-active I had never met before. Her name is Janeth. At first she was a little apprehensive and her husband said that she had been crying because a few days earlier she had found out that her sister in Nicaragua has cancer. She was really down. We shared a video about hope and what it meant to her and she seemed very interested in talking to us more by the end. Her husband doesn't speak much Spanish so i think she also liked the opportunity to speak in her native tongue. Then we also taught Martha, recent convert, about not being judgmental which was just perfect timing to help her become better! It was a wonderful day, and we were so happy to have helped so many! 

.

Sunday after dinner we taught a lesson on family history to another Less-active family. It was good to just help them. They have a long road to go but it was wonderful to bring the spirit into their home. All in all we had 10 lessons with less-actives or recent converts! It was such a great week! We felt the love of all of those we can help in this work of salvation and just so you all know, miracles have not ceased. There are still in effect today.  All we need is faith to act on whatever the Lord tells us and a humble prayer and those things that help us to take one step closer to our Heavenly Father will happen and will one day help us to reach exaltation!

Well I have high hopes for this week as well! I hope all of you strive to do the work of salvation, whether it be family history work, inviting a non-member friend to learn more of even working with less-actives, lets do it and see the miracles!

.

Tengan una buena semana!

Les quiero!

-Hermana Cornwall

.

Turkeys in Sister Cornwall's front yard.

Sister Underwood - current companion

03 February 2014

Hola!

.

Como estan? estoy muy bien! Hay mucho trabajo para hacer pero, yo se que puedo hacer todo con el poder de Dios!

.

So this week was a good one. We had some good lessons and zone conference and my first STL [Sister Training Leader] exchange, a blitz and my first time translating!

.

On Monday we taught Hermana Horta a recent convert! They are doing well. They have a few struggles with coming to church regularly but I know it will work out if they have trust in the Lord. Their son won't go to nursery and won't sit with them in class so they think the answer is switching off turns going to church every other week.  I sure hope that isn't the answer. She is almost at her year mark of being a member of the church so we wanted to talk about preparing to enter the temple. She is so excited to have an eternal family but there is still much to do before then!

.

On Tuesday we had quite a few lessons. First we taught Santa the recent convert. We just simply read from the Book of Mormon with her to support her in her studies. Then we had an appointment with Dulce, a potential investigator. We taught her about the restoration and invited her to be baptized but when we tried to set up a new appointment she said she didn't have time to meet with us. I was a little sad, but we hope that we planted a good seed.  I taught Cody, my new investigator on facebook. We have been talking a lot about God and what he means in our life. He understands the importance of god, but not really God himself. Then in the evening we went to Cordelia. It is a part of our area. We went to go see Manuel and Deisy before she had her baby, but  they werent there. I assumed they were at the hospital. We texted them later in the week and she was at the hospital. SO we decided to explore our area a little more. The town is set up very uniquely - with mostly just houses and very little people. There is one area that has the stores and fast food restaurants but the rest is just businesses and housing. The houses are really nice though! It was kind of interesting to explore and figure things out!

.

On Wednesday we had zone conference! It was great as always. I would describe it as a call to repentance that makes you feel good afterward. It was 2 zones -  Fairfield and Vacaville! The weird thing was we had a little pre-meeting for the Leaders. It was weird to have this new role. The nice thing is Hermana Andres is an STL in my zone also and this is her last transfer.  It is so nice to ask her for help on things. The focus was on having better district meetings and then we had a meeting with the 3 STLs and Sister Alba, which is weird, but still good. One of President Alba's conselors, President Bell spoke to us about using members. As missionaries we sometimes get too comfortable in members homes. He was just trying to help us remember that role. The theme of the rest of the meeting was the 4 cornerstones of the foundation of missionary work. Sister Alba talked about the chief cornerstone being Jesus Christ. President Alba talked about the first vision. Elder Carrillo (AP) talked about the Book of Mormon and the last cornerstone was done by Elder Eaton (AP) it being the priesthood. They were all very good and very basic too! I like it that way. Then President Alba talked a little bit more about the heart and that the way we can get to the hearts of the people is through family history.

.

On a side note - mom asked about some ways that she can introduce family history to others. I know for me, before the mission the idea with bringing the gospel up to complete strangers in the grocery line or on an airplane or even to my friends seemed impossible and really, really scary. The point of family history is to be one of th options of things we bring up with people in order to share the gospel. At times family history doesn't share the church all at once but with time they see it. You can ask others "Oh that is an interesting name where does it come from?" or "Do you know where your ancestors are from?" or "Have you ever done family history before?" There are any number of ways to do it,  With time they will feel the spirit of Elijah that is promised that through knowing our ancestors we can feel the spirit and we can promise them that they will have it more in their lives if they learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is very simple and to me a lit easier way to talk to people!

.

After zone conference I went on exchanges. The sisters I am over/that I exchange with serve in Vacaville so I stayed in Vacaville for my exchange with Sister Vanderniet. It was weird to lead the exchange and things but it was fun. Sister Vanderniet is an awesome missionary with a hard past.  Because of her decision to serve a mission she has a brilliant future. She serves in the singles ward. The cool thing was that by the end of the night almost all of the people that we contacted were potentials for them, and they all seemed truly interested. It was so cool to see the miracles of working hard and being out there getting it done.

.

On Thursday, as an STL I have to do apartment inspections, Ipad checks, area book checks, and an hour of training. It is kind of exhausting, but also really fun too! We did some good work and then we exchanged back. In the evening we had a lesson with Isabel, the girlfriend of one of our less-actives. She gets it all so we just had a simple lesson about God being our Heavenly Father and we watched Earthly Father, Heavenly Father a Mormon message!

.

On Friday we had our second correlation meeting. We are all still getting used to having one but it is nice to finally have a little more order to things.

.

On Saturday we had a Blitz for the Cordelia Elders, which is always fun. We switch companions and then go out and visit people for them. We try to get as much work done as possible. It was great. Then some members gave us money for dinner. So Hermana Underwood and I bought some mexican food and had a good little chat while we ate! We had a Relief Society activity. It was on service and the temple president and his wife came to speak. They were the Benions if that seems familiar to anyone. 

.

Sunday I translated for the first time. Sister Toolson is the wife of our first counselor who speaks Spanish. The thing is that Sister Toolson does not speak Spanish.  She tries her best and does it with a smile. I admire her very much for being a part of a branch that she doesn't even understand the sacrament prayers but she is awesome. She is also in the Relief Society presidency. SO it was her turn to teach the lesson and she asked us missionaries to help. It was so interesting to translate. Since English and Spanish are not interchangeable and I don't know all the words you kind of take and remake it! It was fun! Also It rained! I don't know if all of you knew, those who don't live in California, but we all fasted for rain this Sunday and in the morning of our fast it rained! It was nice. There wasn't too much but we are hoping and praying for more!

.

This week was wonderful! There was much done and much more to do! It is a great feeling to be serving others and a great responsibility! I hope each of you have a wonderful week! Don't forget to save a few souls too!

Les quiero!

-Hermana Cornwall

27 January 2014

Hola,

.

It has been a good week out here in the Santa Rosa California Mission. One thing that has really interested me this week is family history. So family history is amazing! I love being able to find out about ancestors and who they are, but not only that, to give them the opportunity to have those necessary ordinances to live in glory with Heavenly Father. Our mission is testing the church family history program. The funny thing is that not much has changed for us missionaries. It has really changed for is the members. We have these family history pamphlets that we give to others. The members give them out too so that people can start their family history work. The church is making a huge push because it is so important. It helps everyone feel the spirit of Elijah, that connection we have with those in our past and even for those that aren't members they can feel it too! It is meant to be an easier way to introduce the gospel to others. So who needs help introducing the church to others? I hope all of your hands are raised. To start - ALL of you need to go on family search.org and connect to our family, or your own, and be a part of your family history.   I must say, a lot of you aren't on there. As missionaries we offer to teach those that don't know about the importance of family and we teach them. We are not becoming family history experts but we are just connecting all for them to see. My challenge this week, for real, seriously, you all better do it - is for you all to go on and add your family history. It doesn't take too long and it will make you feel so good, I promise you that, also feel free to add pictures and stories so that everyone knows about you and your life for years to come!

.

So there is my speal on family history!  

.

This week we had a good week! On Tuesday we had a lesson with our recent convert Santa O. She is doing great but we felt impressed to talk about the Book of Mormon and she hadn't been reading it so we told her to read it! We pumped her up and gave her those steps to read it and receive all of the answers it contains. Then we taught the 10 commandments to Santa the investigator. I love that we still live the old law. The things that God has made, those things he asks of us are still in place! Then it is always funny how there are still a few that we struggle with so we still are trying to follow his law no matter how old it is!   I got a new investigator on facebook from Bolivia.  That is great too! It is so interesting to talk to people on facebook. It really is a good place to talk to some people! We took the end of the night saying goodbye to some people for Hermana Hernandezs' last night.

.

Wednesday we had transfers. Every transfer there is a meeting in Santa Rrosa for those that have to switch up and things.  The President and Sister Alba give a little devotional and then we all head out. I have not been to this meeting since I was a greenie.  I didn't know what was going on anyway so it was very fun to go. Everyone meets in the parking lot and switches bags to where they are to go. We meet the new missionaries and have the devotional and head out. It was fun! I loved it! The fun thing was Hermana Underwood was there and so we got to meet up and drive back to Fairfield together. I know Hermana Underwood because she use to serve in Vacaville.  I went on exchanges with her before so we knew each other and we both were very excited to be companions together. We hit it right off the bat with a great start and I have loved our companionship already. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting to know eachother better.

.

On Thursday we taught two less actives. Graciela is awesome. She comes to church all by herself.  Her family isn't members and she tries to come but she also can't drive so we miss her a bit.  She is trying. She really wants her family to start being interested but it has been hard so far. Then we taught Ricardo who struggles a lot with his relationship with God.  He and Hermana Underwood hit it off great.  I am so excited to see his future progress. What got me on such a big family history kick was the fact that we had a Relief Society activity on it.  We got internet in our house and so I am able to go on pretty frequently and it is great!

.

On Friday we had our district meeting. It was so weird to be in the meeting and actually be the one others turn to for answers. It was great to talk about the vision for the zone and what we want out of the transfer. We did some planning which is always weird when you are the only one who knows the area.  I had a conference call with Sister Alba and all of the Sister Training Leaders talking about exchanges and this pilot program we are doing of reporting numbers and things which was weird. The scary part was during the discussions she would call on people to answer questions and things. I was so nervous. She asked me about the power we have behind our faith and what that means for us as missionaries. It was good!

.

Saturday we taught Anallely our less-active who is coming to church and she was doing great too! Then we had a bunch of facebook lessons, which was good - 3 between the 2 of us. We finally had correlation meeting after a whole transfer of not having it with our new Branch mission leader. I am so excited for what his leadership will now bring!

.

O I love all of you so much! I hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you! Keep up your good work!

.

con carino,

Hermana Cornwall

20 January 2014

Hola,

.

How was your week this week! Mine was great! I found out about transfers. I am going to be staying in Fairfield and I am going to be a Sister Training Leader. I am going to be Senior companion and driving and leading out the area.  It has been a big adjustment mentally, even though it hasn't happened physically. My new companion will be Hermana Underwood. I know her a little bit and she has been out just a little over a transfer more than me. She is really funny from what I have seen. I am very excited to be her companion. I am so very excited for all of this change even though it is hard and difficult

.

So this week was a good one. Last Monday we taught Anallely a Less-active. She is awesome. She has a little baby with her boyfriend and has just really struggled coming back to church with an unsupportive boyfriend and a small baby.  She has been trying to come back on a more regular basis.  This week she came, with her husband! It was awesome! After 3 months I finally saw her there! They are so wonderful and I am excited to see her progress even more!

.

Then on Tuesday we had our zone meeting and a special meeting with all of the sisters. I thought I found a new investigator named Andrea, but it turned out that they were lying to me about most of the things they told me, because they started messaging my companion and said totally different things. I was little bummed but I wasn't that surprised. Then we went to contact our referral in this huge apartment complex and it took us forever to find the apartment.  We found it and they weren't too interested.  It was still an adventure! Then we ate with a less-active family from the ward. They were very strong members and then fell away and for some reason it is always nice for them to have the missionaries over to kind of bridge the gap between them and the members. They have slowly been coming back and so we are excited for them. They aren't in my area so I don't know that much more.

.

Then on Wednesday we went to visit someone we contacted the week before, Maria. She had all the right questions but wasn't getting the answers she wanted from us. It was a good lesson.  She said that she would study the pamphlets and call us if she got the answer she wanted!  I had some more real success in facebook with a boy named Cody. He is basically atheist but is open to talking more!

.

Thursday we taught Graciela a less-active who wants her family to be more involved in the church. She has had little success but we are trying to take little steps to help her involve them all. We also taught Santa the investigator. She told us that no big steps will happen very soon, like going to church and baptism and so we were a little bummed.  We hope that the Spirit will continue to speak to her and that she will listen. We also taught Marisol and her family with the Elders.  We are hoping to give them to the Elders who will connect with the husband better.

Friday we did service for grandma and grandpa Carlson.  In the evening I got a call from Sister Alba. When you get called to a leadership position or to train they usually call you to let you know. It is a little scary to just talk to them on the phone.  It was great.

.

Saturday was also a great day. We taught a few less-actives that are doing great. It is always weird to  know about the changes that will happen.  But after a day or two you get used to it and then you can just finish up with one transfer and start on the next.

.

On Sunday I almost had a skype lesson, but he slept through it and so it didn't happen.  I have hopes for next week. Then I decided I don't like changes it just takes a while to adjust to all and then it takes awhile to get comfortable and then it changes again. Oh boy it is all exciting and I am interested to see what this new transfer brings, hope you had a great week!

.

Les quiero,

Hermana Cornwall

13 January 2014

Hola,

.

On Monday we had an exchange that started at the end of p-day. I was with Sister Ellsworth. She is my mission "Grandma" which just means that she trained my trainer! I truly love her and look up to her so it was fun to get to know her a little more. In the evening we went to an appointment we had, but they didn't answer the door.  Our back up plan was to knock the doors around their apartment and we found Maria. She is very interested in hearing more because her son just died about 2 months ago and so she was very welcoming.  I am so excited to see her this week! We introduced to her the plan of salvation! The idea of having a life after this was very interesting to her. Then we asked if there was anything we can do for her and she said pray for me.  We said actually we can come in and do a house blessing.  We did and that is when she just opened up about her son and it was just wonderful. I was glad we were there at the right time to be able to share about the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone that has been prepared. It was the day of the 3 wise men. Where they have this circle of sweet bread and inside are little baby Jesus' and so it is kind of a game that you play with whoever gets the piece with the Jesus you have to give a gift, or make tamales at a party they have on the second of February. A member invited us to do it and it was really fun! The bread is call Rosca de Reyes.

.

On Tuesday we had our district meeting which is always good! Oh how I do love revelation others receive just for me! Then we had a lesson with Santa the investigator. It was so nice to see her after a short absence. We also had the branch president's wife with us! She is from the Dominican Republic and so nice and funny She knows the gospel really well! We taught her the word of wisdom. She totally accepted as something good that she wanted to do, to be healthy! Then we switched back. We had some dinner at home and tried to contact some people that we hadn't seen for awhile, with little success. Then in the later evening my companion and I both had to pack because she went to a 3 day camp at Camp Liahona in the red Woods for the leaders.  I got to spend those days with the Sisters in Rio Vista!

It was so much fun to be  with those sisters! I was officially companions with Hermana Ellsworth and Hermana Rawson! I served around both of them in Woodland so I was excited to be their 3rd companion.  We started Wednesday a little late getting Hermana Hernandez off, but it was a great morning. Then we went to this pizza place in downtown Rio Vista for lunch which was fun. We went to Walnut Grove to see some of their potentials and things. The town is so small that you can walk everywhere, so we did! The funny thing is that there are a lot of Hispanics there, so it was great. In the evening we had dinner with a the Tingys at the Chinses restaurant downtown. That was fun. He works with cows so he had some stories. Then we went to go see a less-active down a dark windy road  He had moved and ended our night with language study. The fun part was that I slept in the English sister's room so I got to bond with them too!

.

Thursday we had another similar day as Wednesday. We went to Isleton this time though and that town is the same. We walked all around the town and met some very interesting people. We met Rebecca who just talked and talked to us. I decided she was lonely and that we were a captive audience. I find that happens a lot as a missionary that people talk because we listen! Then we had dinner with the branch president who was just the nicest man, so kind to his little sister missionaries! In the evening we taught this investigator who won't make a commitment until he finishes the Book of Mormon. So that was interesting. I love being the bold one in lessons.  Because he isn't your investigator you just do what  the Spirit directs and it is awesome. We tried to help him but teaching in a trio is much harder then it looks. We did a practice lesson with a member at 8. That is a newer thing we are doing with our slower time later at night. To have appointments with members to practice teaching and then inviting them to come out with us sometime.

.

On Friday one of the English sisters got sick so I went with the other to go fill out the baptismal record with their investigator who is getting baptized next week! It was fun to be part of a process I had never seen before. I wasn't much help but it was still fun. Then I just waited while the other sisters worked on planning. We drove back to Fairfield and waited a while for my companion to come back, which took a while, but it was great! We didn't get much done that night, but it was still a great week.

.

On Saturday we did a blitz in Rio Vista, so I just came right back. I really loved learning a new area, meeting new members and just being around more sisters. The rest of Saturday I weekly-planned with my companion. We got a good chunk of it done and then we went to a lesson with a less-active. After going every week this is the first time I have met them. Their family got offended by the church and now they haven't gone in almost 10 years. They are ok with us going by but they don't want much more. It will be a difficult project trying to help, but line upon line I know they can come back if they have that true trust and faith in the lord!

.

Well I let you know if there are any changes in my situation next week. It will be fun to see what this next transfer brings. Thank you for all of your prayers and love. I truly appreciate your influences in my life and I hope you have a wonderful week and don't forget to share the gospel!

.

con carino,

Hermana Cornwall

06 January 2014

Wow this week has been crazy. I can't believe it was the start of a new year this week. It came and went so fast. I also can't believe that I will be home in 2014! It will be at the end, but still when I went into the MTC in May I never thought I would get here and here I am! Wow missions are amazing. You go through so much, there are so many different problems and concerns about so many things but it all works out some how because we just learn how to trust in the lord!

.

Tuesday it was New Years eve!  Not your typical New Years Eve but New Years Eve none-the-less! We had a district meeting, but the flu has been going around so it was kind of crazy meeting All I can say is that I have an awesome companion that does an awesome job of stepping up to the plate. The funny thing was that no one was home and so it was kind of a fruitless day, but it worked out. The other funny thing was that we ate dinner at home that night. Grandma and Grandpa had signed up to feed the missionaries. I was little bummed because I was excited to see the glimpse of someone else's party for a little while. like Christmas Eve, but it was just pretty normal. Then, we went to go see Martha! Oh it was fun. She always makes us laugh. We were talking a lot about life. She busted out the biggest box of chocolates I have ever seen.  We we ate some! It was just great! We had a language study with the Elders, some of them being sick, as a little party which was good too!

.

On Wednesday we had exchanges. I was with Sister Buckner in Fairfield. It was fun. We had a little sister's lunch in Fairfield because the other sisters were down for a meeting. We did some finding and stopped by Marisol's house. She fed us some tamales which was fun.  It was nice to talk. We had some facebook training. Man are things moving and grooving. I heard there are a few more missions doing the ipads and facebook and so our tech elders have been working so hard to set the rules and guidelines for facebook. It is weird to be the beginning of it all.  It is great to be learning from the best! Then we just kept on finding after that too!

.

Thursday, I switched companions, but we went on another exchange, so I brought Hermana Rawson back to Fairfield.  We did our exchange. I served around Hermana Rawson in Woodland. She is a great missionary and she goes home after this transfer.  It was fun to work with her. We had a great day finding and talking about things. We taught the recent convert, Santa. We talked about Eternal Marriage and baptisms for the dead. She was happy to learn more or just to talk more about the importance of it all. Then we had a lesson with Marisol and her husband for the first time. They needed to run an errand so we had to make it quick.  It was great. The Elders came with us too.  So, we just taught the restoration. It was great and we could really feel the Spirit. It is amazing how the words of the expierence of Joseph Smith really touch the lives of others and how that event is so significant in the lives of every member of this Church. We hope to see him again soon.  We hope that now she and her husband can just grow together. We taught our less-active Ricardo. He is really far from the Church right now.  I just ask about what he expects from it all. He was very honest.  It was good to just have us all be realistic and talk. He has a long progression ahead of him with a past that is holding him back, but I know he can get there

.

Friday we exchanged back and I got a worn out companion.  Now she has recoverd and is doing a lot better. We spent the day planning so it was good!

.

Saturday we went out finding again, and finished our planning with a much needed companionship inventory. Oh it is great to talk about things. I love having a companion that I know in the end will be there for me and is there to help me. I am loving my mission so far, even though it is hard and it could be different, I love it! I am so excited for this new year of missionary work and the joy it will all bring!

.

Con carino,

Hermana Cornwall