07 April 2014

Hola,

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Well I can't believe it is already week 6. With all of the craziness it has made this transfer really fly. I look back and I can not believe all that has happened! I am so grateful for all that I have learned and all that I see that I still need to learn. It was wonderful to hear the words of the prophets! Words spoken just for me! I hope all of you felt how the Lord touched your heart today!

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So, last week we started off Monday after dinner with an amazing lesson. We were teaching our teenager Juan Carlos and had a youth from the ward come. He was amazing. He is 15 years old but he has spiritual wisdom. He was like a 3rd teacher rather than just a member present. He was able to explain certain things in such a relatable way it was just amazing.

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Tuesday was a little crazy! President Alba came because some sisters were getting an emergency transfer (the sisters I am over) and so he stayed for our Zone meeting. The meeting was on those things we had learned at MLC and sharing them with our zone. The funny thing was that I was teaching from President Alba's section from the leadership conference.  I was a little apprehensive, but it definitely turned out ok. It was nice to have President Alba there because he put his own little touch on everything we were talking about.  It waso it was just great! He ended with really focusing on the worth of souls before our Heavenly Father and how we really have to go out to work and to find in order to find those that have been prepared to listen and accept our message. It really got me even more charged and ready go. My companion and I had a little meeting with President Alba with some issues we were having and it was weird to get so much one on one help. Then Sister Alba met with me too. It is funny to have these parent figures as your leaders when they aren't your parents. I am so grateful for the care they take for each of us in order to make sure we are ok! We were fasting in order to unify our mission so it was just a day of days! In the evening we went to our one and only local mexican restaurant. One of the members has a tab for the missionaries.We thought it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of it. It was fun for us to end our fast and just relax! Then we had a lesson with a less-active, Kimberley. I have really seen a change from her since I have been here the past 5 weeks. At first she would just talk our ear off with her life. But now even when she has a tangent she brings it back and we actually are able to have a little lesson. She has a long way to go but now she is listening and so we hope that little by the little she will let the gospel change her.

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Wednesday we got 28 contacts and 3 lessons. It felt so great to just work hard and have it pull off! I just love seeing people receive things from us. Sometimes it is understanding, sometimes it is love and sometimes it is just answers. I think that is one of the joys of being a missionary, is that we can fill a void in their lives. We can say and do the right things in order to help them. The struggle is making sure they don't depend un us but they depend on Jesus Christ and the gospel. That is what makes commitments so important. We need to pray to know what commitment they need and they need to do it in order to change. But like Elder Ballard said we need to follow up too!

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Thursday we taught a lesson from a miracle we had had earlier in the week. We found this less-active that wants to get more involved with the church. She stopped going to church after she moved from Mexico as a child. We are so excited to start teaching her family more. We talked about temples and family history and so it was just wonderful to testify to them of eternal families. They are such a beautiful thing and they touch everyone's hearts. On Thursday we had 32 contacts and 3 lessons! It was just wonderful! We had a great week!

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Friday we taught one lesson after all of our planning and everything to some former investigators. The funny thing was he prayed to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith, so we found out what his concern was by the end. We are interested to see where it all goes!

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Saturday of course was a wonderful conference day. We watched the first session at the stake center in Woodland with all of the missionaries it was a lovely session. I loved Elder Holland's of course. I am really grateful I don't have mashed potatoes thrown at me. Then my favorite talk from the session was Elder Anderson. Oh he just spoke to me. When he talked about the process of trees that are in the whirlwind I understood my position perfectly. That everything that I am going through now is not because I am supposed to fight off, stop or fix the wind it is just to make me stronger. His scripture mastery in Helaman 5:12 just made it all come together perfectly. It was a beautiful little way for me to not be so sad in my personal Whirlwinds. Then the second session we watched it at a recent convert's of the Elders. It was fun to see them experience conference from a new set of eyes. I loved the talk from Elder Zwick about communication. My companion and I needed that. Recently, I have felt this tiredness of responding always kindly and patiently to my companion. I thought that I was just unable to do it, but then as my companion and I do have communication problems I realize how important that all is for my companion, but also for me to be happy, energetic and not tired. So I am trying, even in the struggles to be a bit better and to not give up.

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Sunday we went to the Osburns. They are a family in the Winters Ward, well an amazing family in the ward. They love the missionaries.So we spent both sessions there. They fed us waffles and quiche in the morning and smoothies for lunch. It was a lot of fun to be in a homey situation. My favorite talks from Sunday were President Uchtdorf's. This conference I was being a little stubborn with the Lord and didn't write down the questions I needed answers to. They were fresh on my mind and this talk was one of the ones I needed as an answer. In whatever grief I have, hopefully had, that I think is a necessary part of life, I am able to overcome it through always being grateful. That was so powerful and seemed like such an easy answer to that question. President Bednar also helped me to understand more of how helpful my heavy load is and how it helps accomplish other things that we didn't think it could help with! Oh doesn't the gospel make sense? I love it!

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Anyway, it was a great weekend to say goodbye to grandpa. I really felt the difference on Friday knowing his body was at his final resting place, It is a joy to know that is not the end, there is more to life than this and there is more life than this. My heart kind of skipped a little when Elder Ballard mentioned his mission in England. I just thought, Grandpa was there with him! It is so great to be part of a legacy so deep and full and now I have to remember that I am creating my own. Though it is hard I know it is worth it be here, to come out stronger and more prepared for the challenges that I know are ahead! So my advice, that I am trying to take myself, is to never back down, never give up because what good would that do? We are fighting a battle we know we will win so it is worth the sacrifice and the pain because we are fighting for our eternal life, but we aren't doing it alone. We have the Savior as our captain to build us and strengthen us even more. SO don't be afraid of the challenge face it head on so that you can serve others in their 4 minutes and do it with an attitude of gratitude!

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les quiero,

Hermana Cornwall

31 April 2014

My Heart is a little full today. This week has been really hard, like really hard, yet it has been manageable. I had this realization this morning though that puts it all into perspective. 

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I was reading in Luke 10 about Mary and Martha. I have always liked that story because it seemed so normal and modern to have Martha say, "Hello don't you see what I am doing?". I love that Christ sees that she is troubled about many things, that she was struggling, but she didn't take that opportunity to learn  - to take the knowledge from Christ that she could carry with her now and into the eternities. I look at my life a little that way. Some moments I think "Hello, this is really hard, I can't do this alone, I am struggling someone help me." But something I have realized this week is that it isn't about the moment we are struggling, it isn't about our feelings, it is all about the lesson we learn. What we get out of our trial is what truly matters. That experience and knowledge that we gain now, when we take the opportunity, will benefit us for the rest of our lives, now and forever. When we stay in the struggle, and ask "Why me?", when we don't just let our selves learn and be changed by the experience it shows are unwillingness to follow the Father's path. He has this plan for us that we don't always understand. I am surrounded by many people that give-in to their struggle rather than overcoming it and becoming better. By no means am I perfect at it, it helps to have others to focus on, but it really helped me cope in my week of change. 

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I kept having these moments all week of why isn't anyone there that is willing to mourn with me, who was mourning, to give me comfort that I was in dire need of. Every time I would seek it, the focus would never stay on me very long and it would turn to the other. Luckily, I did receive the comfort I needed from Sister Kaiser at MLC on Friday so that made the long wait worth it. The funny part about the struggles I have personally, with my companion and with the other sisters is that I know it will all work out. Whenever I have the thought to give up I just think of how silly that would be, because I know I can do it. I had a lot of the those moments this week where I just wanted to give up, but I knew it wouldn't be worth it and today as I read in Luke I finally understood why. It is amazing how one line of scripture can really clear things up. I understand now so much better the plan Heavenly Father has for me. I couldn't really tell you exactly what happened this week, because there aren't words to describe it, but I can tell you now, as the week has ended how I have ended up because of it. It all still hurts in little ways but it is my burden to bear right now and I am very grateful for the lessons I am learning on my path. I never thought I would learn these sorts of things as a missionary. I understand so much better who I truly am, what my purpose is and how much pain and suffering I truly can take. It makes me even more grateful for that sacrifice that Christ made for me. He did it alone with no one to help him. He even told the apostles to wait up for him and they didn't. Most people just can't understand the great significance of everything.  I am grateful with my limited understanding that I can overcome my trials and continue to serve others. Like I said my heart is full of feelings but I know they are making me the person the Lord wants me to be.

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On a happier note: This week was pretty good according to the work. On Monday we ate dinner with Yasmine and her husband Justin. It was fun! Then we taught a lesson. We kind of hit some of the harder ones --. Law of Chastity, 10 commandments and Keep the Sabbath day holy. The best part was she was following all of them already so it was great and easy! We also helped her choose her invitation for her baptism! She is really excited! It is all really exciting as of right now. She also came to a baptism for one the investigators of the English Elders in our ward. It was great to have her there! Anyway she is just progressing very well!  We also taught Juan Carlos! He is really struggling. He just lets the world sit on his shoulders as a 16 year old and that really shows. We talked with him about the atonement and the potential he truly has through Christ and I think it really touched him!

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One of our new investigators as of this week really helped me to realize something. Often times as a missionary, my gut reaction is usually that people wont keep there commitments. We went to our second lesson with Maria and earlier in the day we had texted her to remind her to read. By the time we got there she had read! My realization was that none of us are usually very good at something or very committed at first without a little bit of help. That little bit of help is the difference between someone progressing and not.

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The other interesting thing this week was Mission Leadership conference (MLC) on Friday. It was Great! President Alba focused on our purpose, Sister Alba talked about the atonement. The APs helped with teaching, contacting and helped us to focus in on the importance of Christlike attributes. That is something I have thought a lot about recently. I truly know that when we are more Christlike and serve others our problems disappear and life has a purpose! It was a great meeting to get recharged and ready to go! I am so grateful to have that support out here on a mission! It is great to have others help us to learn and grow!

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Saturday of course was the women's broadcast! What a historic moment! I was so grateful to be a part of it! I loved the theme of being on the path and what that means for our lives! That path isn't always easy but it is always worth it!

 

Sunday we had meetings all day. We went from here to there and everywhere. We had a meeting with the stake president in Davis. Then our dinner was a Court of Honor for a boy in our ward getting his Eagle! It was quite the event. A little too much work in my opinion but it was fun to help out! Then we went back to Davis for my nightly Sunday meeting!

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Anyway all is good here! A lot of you have been on my thoughts recently and I am so grateful for the support I have from all of you. I hope you didn't have too much fun without me! I continue to need all of your strength and support so keep it coming!

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This week I have learned more about life than I ever think I would have learned if I hadn't been here right now. I know the Lord has put me in the place he needs me to be! Though the days are hard I know I am doing the work of our Heavenly Father!

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Les Quiero!

-Hermana Cornwall

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

24 February 2014

Hola,

Buenos Dias! I hope all of your week went well. From what I have heard it seems like you have all been very busy! This last week we went to the temple! It was lovely! I am so grateful we are able to perform the saving ordinances for ourselves and for others! I hope all of us remain grateful for the joy of the temple!

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Anyway to start this week was great. Hermana Underwood and I have made a focus on the less-actives of our branch. Because of the contact we have made we got a special project to get updates on some of the sisters. This week we continued on the quest for those in our own area and those on the list! So Monday we went to see a less-active family we didn't know and the woman that opened the door said she had lived there for a 1 year and half. I was a little shocked that no one knew for that long. It wasn't information we loved, but it was good to be updated!

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Tuesday we had district meeting. I taught on how to get investigators to read the Book of Mormon. I just took it back to the basics of how are we using the Book of Mormon to make sure we are getting them interested and giving them tools to read it themselves. My time was cut short, but it was still good! In the afternoon we taught Graciela. She is a part-member family and so we go over regularly to just give love and support! She really wants her family to be part of it, but I think she is scared to do it also. We are trying to work more with her daughter.  We hope to little by little teach her whole family! I also had to drop one of my investigators on facebook. He was basically atheist and just didn't think that it matters in this life if we are on the right path or not. That he had his way of thinking and it didn't matter what others said. I was grateful to at least plant a seed!

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A random skill that this week I feel I have truly acquired is the ability to to de-meat a piece of chicken gracefully with a utensil. It may seem odd but it is true. In Hispanic culture it is very common to put whole pieces of chicken, bone and all in their soup (sopa) or any other meal they make. As a missionary you have to learn how to eat it with usually only a spoon, maybe a tortilla too! So now I am able to take the meat off a bone with just a utensil and not my fingers. The moment I truly realized it was when we were at a members home from the English ward and as she was serving us she said "oh I forgot to shred the chicken" and Sister Underwood and I just thought it is ok.  As I watched the Elders try and eat I realized that I now had a skill! Not that I am very proud of it but it is a interesting skill to have! So now you know!

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In the evening on Tuesday we had a Relief Society activity doing family history. It was fun to help all of the sisters create an account and see their tree start to come to life. The Spirit of Elijah is so real when we think about our ancestors. They are the angels around us and when we get to know them I believe that are closer to us!

On Wednesday we went to the temple. I remember the first time I went to the temple as a missionary and they said that we didn't have to wear our tags. I couldn't believe it. That badge meant a lot to me and now I just didn't wear it. This last trip I think I truly understood why. As a missionary we have a big role upon us. We are held to a higher law of obedience and work ethic and just many pressures that can tend to weigh us down. As a leader of other missionaries the weight sometimes doubles! When I entered the temple this last time I was able to just be myself and I truly felt freed from the world, even the world of missionaries. The temple helps us to focus on what is eternally important. The world outside doesn't matter. I felt so refreshed from all of the work as a missionary. I was still tired and all but I had that eternal perspective renewed! It was just wonderful! There aren't many words that can describe the feelings of the temple!.

Thursday we taught Santa. She is a single mom with all of her adult children living at home. She feels the power of Satan upon her and it is really up to her, as a new member, of how it will affect her. The nice thing is as missionaries we bring that power, that strength and that hope to keep enduring to the end! Then in the evening we went to see Manuel and Deisy. They are our only investigators right now. They were expecting someone so we just visited for a short time on those moments that matter most (the Mormon Message) and left them with the renewed commitment to pray. They invited us to come to dinner this week.  That will be nice to have some more time with them! Then we went to English class to do the thought. We were a little early so we waited and while we waited a fight broke out from the boys playing basketball. They tried to calm it down but it started up again. Because it was on church property Hermana Underwood and I decided to call 911. Luckily it didn't last too much longer than that, but it just made me so sad that someone would do that at our church building. They weren't members but it was still upsetting. We tried to see some more less-actives with no luck, but it was a good a day!

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Friday we had our lovely planning of course! With a long dinner and a meeting that kind of messed up our night but it went well.

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On Saturday, because of conflicting schedules, we couldn't do an exchange like I had wanted, so we did a Companionship study with the Sisters from Vacaville. It was exactly what we all needed and just a good thing for all of the Sisters to decompress and make new goals. The next thing we did was super cool.  Here is the background story! A woman in the English ward that we eat dinner with fund raises for certain needs in Nepal. One of the women that she works with is Maggie Doyne. She has an amazing story of being a regular 17 year old girl from New Jersey and now 10 years later owns an orphanage, school, and women's center and is the mother of 44 children. Because of what she has done in her life she received an award this weekend from the Dali lama. Here is where we come in. Because she knows the Sister in the ward, the Sister threw a fundraiser type thing for her and had her speak a little. It was a nice little luncheon where they sold scarfs and bracelets and things for these children in Nepal. It was lovely to hear her speak. Hermana Underwood was just waiting for her to say "and I'm a Mormon" just like the videos on mormon.org but sadly she didn't. She knows a bit about the Church and has a Book of Mormon, so we are hoping to have contact on facebook. I was so grateful to see what she has done with her life and it made me think a lot about my own! Anyway I was so grateful for the emphasis I have had in my life, through the church, on humanitarian work! The rest of our day was pretty average after an exciting start. We were able to have some kind of contact with all of the Sisters on the list they had given to us. It felt so good to get it done!

Sunday morning we reported and they were impressed and happy to hear the reports! Our miracle yesterday was that we finally were able to teach one of our less-actives during power hour. Right now they are far from the church but with the little steps of meeting with us we know they can progress. They obviously don't hate us because they let us in sometimes, but there is a lot of work to do. We just talked about how God loves us and how the gospel blesses families. We committed her to pray as a family to help them all grow together so it was great!

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All in all it was a pretty good week. It could have been a lot better but I am sure this week we will improve! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission. I never thought I would be here. I still don't believe it some days.   I know that it is worth every moment even if they are hard. I hope all of you are being little missionaries also. I promise you that it is all worth it even when it is hard or uncomfortable or out of our comfort zone because it is the work of salvation at stake!!!! Don't forget how important it is to share! Les quiero muchisimo! Ojala que puedan ser parte de la obra de salvacion! buenas suerte!

con amor,

Hermana Cornwall

Cornwall & Underwood - Companions

The Sisters of the Fairfield Zone