30 September 2013

Hola,

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Another amazing week, and a mission changing week. This work is always growing and progressing. It never is stagnant, especially now. We will quickly get to all of the excitement! 

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Monday was a slower day, well a slower night because we only proselyte at night.  It was good. The good thing about it was that we found a friend of Marychuy's. I do not think I have explained about Marychuy before. Her real name is Maria de Jesus but the way people make it a nickname is Marychuy. She is the only really strong member in Davis! She is amazing and powerful. She has such an interesting life story and I loved getting to know her! She is awesome and just got called as a ward missionary. She comes from meager means.  She is strong! We met her friend just by being in this certain apartment complex. The work of missionaries completely changes when a member is tied to the work! Sadly the women works everyday but Monday, so we don't know what will happen but we have hopes!

 Tuesday is where the life changing stuff occurred. So as I mentioned Elder Aidukaitis came to help out our mission! We had an over 4 hour long meeting with him in order to get his counsel and help. Here is a little overview of what he said. He told us to take every opportunity. When we see potential with a person in the street or an investigator to always take it never to miss it! His very big bit of council dealt with inviting friends and family of investigators to baptisms. We help by writing lst and then we, as the missionaries, go and invite them and then try and start teaching them. I wish I could do it justice, but he really made it seem like the easiest thing and he told us that our potentials will just grow. He said it is hard work and that it will take a while to get good at it, but that we will see great fruits from our labors. He also told us to be busy, but also be productive. I never really thought that there was a difference.  Now that I think of it, there really is! Then he focused a lot of time on the attributes of a good missionary. They are mostly just the Christlike attributes in Chapter 6, but they come from D & C section 4! The first was Faith.  There is the acting in faith, and the power of faith. You can act in faith, but to see real progress and miracles we have to have the power of faith. Also this faith leads us to be exactly obedient and to make goals that are the desires of our hearts. He then mentioned Knowledge. Then Love. One thing that he mentioned that I just loved was that he said there will be no dislike in the celestial kingdom. When we are in the presence of Heavenly Father, you can't look at your neighbor and say, I don't like them I want to move.   Then Patience. This is one I have thought about a bit on my mission already. Patience is the ability to wait and hope and keep working hard. It is active and we are doing things not just twiddling our thumbs. Then Virtue. Sometimes I underestimate virtue. As a missionary it applies by controlling our thoughts of the world, our past and our family back home. Also that we need to trust in the Lord and have faith instead of doubt. He told us to learn to control our thoughts in order to be more dedicated in the work. The last was Diligence. He said we should be so tired at the end of the day that we need to ask the Lord for the strength to do it tomorrow! I find that when we truly do the work this is definitely true! He came back to faith and talked about Ether 12 - that when we pay the price with our faith we will see miracles, because God fulfills all of his promises. It was a wonderful meeting and a call to continue to live the higher law as a missionary. The miracle of the night was that after 8 we found a new family to teach. We just knocked on their door and they let us in and we taught them the first lesson. It was wonderful and we hope to see them again soon.

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Wednesday we had a pretty productive day with two lessons! One was a little odd because one of the women had to leave so we only had 5 minutes to teach the Plan of Salvation. We did an ok job and we hope to see them this week. Then we taught Hilda. Hilda is a friend of Marychuy (our golden member) and she lives out in the middle of the fields on one of the edges of Davis. When we turned on to the dirt road and just kept driving and driving I couldn't believe it.  It was really exciting! We taught her the first lesson, with Marychuy and it was awesome. She was so willing and open to be spiritually uplifted! We hope to see her this next week too!

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Thursday we had an exchange. The different thing about having a Sister Training Leader as a companion is that I don't get the training I just get to be the fun exchange. For me it is fun to learn from others and just be able to figure things out together! I had a nice time just helping in small ways. It was with Hermana Harris. She came out the transfer after me and is still a little green. It was fun to help her in sly ways rather than the obvious ones and it was fun because we are pretty good friends too! We had some good time on facebook. The funny thing about facebook is that the time just flies! It is so easy to get caught up in the friend requests and the notifications and the status updates instead of teaching people! I hope that I will just get better and better at using it! Our wonderful part of the night was teaching Betty and her family. They were truly open to it! She said she would pray and truly ask our Heavenly Father because she didn't know about these things before. Another - we will see!

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On Friday we didn't have any lessons, but I felt like we offered a house blessing to those that truly needed it! There was a Muslim family that was surprisingly interested in the prayer. It was amazing for him to talk about what they believe and their life. I found it quite interesting to talk with them, but it was difficult to really teach them. Then we said a prayer with Cristina who was struggling with work and just needed some peace! Oh this work is truly amazing! I love being able to find those who have been put in our path!

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We had a few lessons fall through on Saturday, but luckily there is always more to do, because the whole world isn't converted yet! As an unplanned lesson we taught Marychuy's niece and nephew, who are kind of former investigators. Their dad was interested in the Church but doesn't want to leave behind his lifestyle.  They all really do have potential! Then there was the Relief Society Broadcast. It was so different to be a missionary.  It was great. I loved their focus on Covenants. I couldn't help but relate to the mothers she was talking to when I considered what we also have to do for investigators. Covenants are something I understand a little more each and every day and it is amazing to introduce them to people so regularly! I loved the words from our Beloved prophet, saying Peace is what we seek. In this work of turmoil this is definitely true! Our Heavenly Father is always there for us, no matter what! What a strength it is that we have a loving Heavenly Father whose whole world is us, so we need to make our whole world him!

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Sunday we had a meeting with our stake leaders talking about their upcoming, missionary focused, Youth Conference! For two hours, as part of the process they are going to go out with the missionaries. It all sounds so exciting and I can't wait to tell you more later in October, when it is going to happen.

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We ended this week with a woping 11 new investigators. That is incredible. I am excited to see their progression in the upcoming weeks. The Lord is really preparing those that are ready and I feel so honored to be able to find them. All my prayers are with you. I love you all so much, and don't forget that you are an essential part of this work too!

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Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall