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| Tha packages Sister Cornwall mentions in the first paragraph of her letter. |
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| The last photo of MTC companions |
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| The last photo of the great MTC district |
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| Heading off to the airport to fly to Santa Rosa |
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| The hotel for the post flight afternoon nap. |
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| The fabulous MTC foursome have a last goodbye before heading to their areas. |
New Address:
4735 Cowell Blvd. #10
Davis, CA 95618
.
Hola,
.
Hola,
This letter is coming from the other side of California. A place that I have
never been before! It is so wonderful to be here, but it has been one crazy ride
since my last letter. So... thank you all for your love and support. I have loved
everything. I have received packages and mail and everything THANK YOU!
.
My time at
the MTC was amazing but it seems a lifetime away now that I am in the field. A
little about my last few days --- Sunday, the fireside was amazing. It was
powerful to be in the presence, and sing for most of the Brethren. I started to
cry at the beginning of the first song it was just so powerful. I have
pictures of my last few days but forgot to bring my camera to the library, so you
will just all have to wait until next week. So, lets skip to the good
stuff.
.
On Tuesday we left at 4:30 [a.m.] to go to the airport. It was so crazy to think
about actually going to the field and out into the real world. When we got
to Oakland [CA] it was raining and I loved it. We met President Alba and the APs and
it was crazy to actually meet them in person. We headed out to the Mission Home
where we ate lunch and then had a little meeting all together. The Albas said
some amazing things and it was just awesome. One thing that they introduced to
us was the figurative soapbox where we give 30 second teachings on one of the 42
principles of Preach My Gospel. All of the APs went and then President Alba
looked around for a willing target --- I was chosen. The funny thing was that I
volunteered to do it in Spanish. I had to explain "repentance" in 30 secs in
Spanish. It was pretty hard but I was glad to show that I was ready and willing
to do the work I needed and was asked to do.
.
In accordance to tradition, we were then
taken to a hotel, owned by a member, and were told to take a nap. I couldn't
believe it, but I loved it. That night we did some testimony bearing through
some practicing and training and it was awesome we were just practicing doing
the work and feeling the Spirit and it was just awesome. For some reason I have
become completely willing to do the work I need to do. I even volunteered for a
lot of the things we did that night. I was an awesome feeling to be so willing.
Needless to say we had a very comfy sleep in our hotel (picture to come). There is the rule that you can't sleep on the same bed so we had double beds all
to ourselves it was awesome.
.
Wednesday we woke up and had our Continental
breakfast and went to the mission office. We had an orientation of using cars
and stuff and then we met all the missionaries transferring and all of us new-bees and heard a few words from the Albas and it was great. They told us that
for the month of July we want to get 101 baptisms -- just like the freeway -- so
please keep us in your prayers. [The 101 highway is the main north-south artery of the mission] Then we were assigned our new trainers. My ned
companion is (drum roll...) Hermana Kaiser. She has been awesome. She has only been
out one transfer and went to the Mexico MTC. We whitewashed an area together
and it has been an amazing few days. My new and first area is Davis CA, Spanish speaking. There is one branch that covers 4 or 5 different areas, but it
is awesome. We don't have a Branch in Davis but we have one in Woodland and it
is just great. The first thing that we did was to go to dinner at the Lopez
family home. (Side note- The crazy thing about having multiple areas in one
Branch is that it means the branch has to feed all of the missionaries. So, the
average number of missionaries at a meal out here is 8. So keep feeding you
missionaries and be grateful that it is not 8 missionaries.) Then we had our Ward
Coordination Meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and it was just awesome to
be thrown into the work.
.
Thursday was kind-of a semi P-day we spent a lot of time unpacking, packing and learning about the people in Davis. Then we went to the Mario
Robles home. The are a young part-member family. The husband is not a member and
he is actually one of our investigators. After that we went to visit Ada one of
our investigators. It was pretty crazy to just jump in with the Spanish but it
was awesome. The best part was that we committed her to Baptism on July 20th. It
was awesome. She still has a lot to learn, but we can do it.
.
Friday we had a District Meeting. They will normally be on Tuesdays
but because of all the changes it was on Friday. Then we had our weekly planning
which just takes hours and hours but is essential and it is crazy to decide
what to do to help people change their lives. We had dinner with the
Hoglans. The Hoglans are a white family but the husband speaks Spanish so they
pulled him from the English ward and put him in the Branch Presidency. They fed
us hot dogs and ice cream at Costco which was super fun. Then we tried to go and
meet some more of our investigators without success.
.
On Saturday we had
a branch party. It was to celebrate and thank the old Branch Presdiency who had
recently changed. It was a great opportunity to meet many of the members of the
Branch. They are awesome and I only hope to be able to help and understand them
in the future. My Spanish is a little shaky now that I am here in the real world,
but it is good. Then we went out contacting to those that seemed like they could
be potential investigators. We talked to a lot of interesting people but my
favorite was Sofia. She is a Muslim woman who has talked with the missionaries
before but she just wants to talk about Jesus and not be lonely, so she
isn't really progressive investigator material. She was really nice and so
awesome to talk to.
.
On Sunday we had Ward Council. It was all in Spanish,
but I got most of what was going on. We didn't have any investigators come to
Church but we have high hopes for next week when we get to know them a little
better. There weren't too many people at Church so it felt a little different,
but it was awesome. We had dinner with the Branch President. He is Presidente
Perez and he is awesome. He is a really powerful leader. He is fresh in the
position but is ready to do the work. His family is so wonderful. After dinner
in Woodland we came back to Davis and didn't really have any success seeing
anyone but it was still good.
.
The things I have learned so far are that Latinos love fruit flavored
water. They take any fruit, blend it with water and drink it. I have had Peach,
Strawberry, and Blueberry flavored water. It is pretty good and it has been fun
to expereince a little of the culture through the food. I have also learned that
the work can often be very unsuccessful, but that isn't the point because it is
the work of salvation and everyone needs it. Another thing is that all people are
pretty nice. There are very few who tell you to go away or will not hear you out for
a minute or two. Also,it gets very hot in Davis over the summer. We have
been near the hundreds for the past week. Also, there is a lot of planning that
goes into the work.
.
I know this letter isn't long [:)] but we are running short on time. I love you
all so much. Support your Ward in the Work of Salvation because there is nothing
better that we can be doing! Give the names of your friends to missionaries and
everyone because there should no procrastination of the faith and knowledge of
the gospel. Support the Missionaries, love the missionaries and continue on
faithful in the church.
Love ya,
Hermana Cornwall
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