11 August 2014

Hola,

This week was kind of somber week. We didn't have too much success and we only taught one lesson.  We have high hopes for a new week! The best part is, the Lord is always with there to help, so I am trying not to worry too much!

Last Monday the most exciting part of the day was when we played glow in the dark volleyball with the Elders for our p-day activity. We had glowsticks on our wrist and a glowing ball.  It was fun! Actually I forgot  ---  the story has a sad ending, but here it is anyway. SO we went to go see this family, that were given to us as potential. We stopped by and the kids were so excited to learn! WE were so excited to really teach them and help them to keep the commitments. They had a lot of good questions and we had a lot of things to clear up! The reason why it is a sad story is because we went back on Wednesday and the husband didn't approve of us coming, so we were sent away and not invited to come back.  We know we planted a seed for the future!

Then on Tuesday we had our big zone meeting! It ended up being 3 hours long.   I think we covered some good stuff. By the end we were having really good discussions and hopefully helpful situations to encourage the missionaries. We went out to lunch at this diner, which was fun, to just be out with the missionaries. That night we went to the Mcbrides for dinner. They are awesome.  Her husband has suffered 2 strokes and from what she told us, they have been working so hard to get him so functional! It was just great to be able to brighten their day! Well they really brightened our too!

SO Wednesday started off a little sad because the family dropped us.  We got to do last minute service for one of the members.  That was fun to help them accomplish something they needed to do. They also fed us dinner that night which was so kind of them!

Thursday we did the farmer's market, which was a good success. One question we got was why do the Elder's have to wear uniforms of white shirts and dark pants and we don't. We didn't really know the answer 100% so we talked to President Alba about it. He said that it represents purity and a commitment to Christ so we are hoping to be able to answer his question one day. Then later in the week I found a video of Elder Holland encouraging the Aaronic priesthood to wear white shirts and that it  isn't a uniform but it is a representation of sacredness for ordinances! So that was a fun random question. We finally were able to teach our investigator, Juliana with a member present! It was an awesome lesson on the Book of Mormon. We used the children's picture books to recap the restoration.  Going over it again made it click for Juliana, that he was a prophet, that only translated the book. Our member related an experience and talked about the Holy Ghost and Juliana told us that she had felt it before, when we first came over. SO now she knows what the Spirit is too.  We are very excited for her. She works on Sundays so she is still trying to take care of that.  She is awesome!

Friday we had a wonderful planning session and coordination meeting! It was awesome! We have the best new ward mission leader ever! Also we have a wonderful assistant ward mission leader too. I think the work of salvation is just going to take off here now!!!

Saturday we did service at the Kinetic Carnival in town! It was steam punk theme.  We were in the children's games area, so it was a little lower key and super fun.  The best part was at the end of our shift the local, non-profit, youth circus training group performed with silks, rope and hoop aerial performances. It was cool to see these young kids have so much talent. It took me back to musical theater days which makes me very happy! I had 2 lessons on facebook with new investigators and one who already knows the Book of Mormon is true.  I am excited!

Sunday was great as always, I just realized how much I already love the ward! I am more than happy to serve them and talk to them and try to just make their day a little bit better! It is a great feeling to be a tool in the hands of the Lord. I like being useful!

This morning in my personal study I was reading in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18. There were a few verses that really stuck out to me. The first was vs. 3 where it says "And as many as would hear his words he did teach". Now in Willits we don't have that many, but we have enough, because they are willing to be taught, and they are ready too! Then in vs. 7 where it says they have a goodly number, and then it has the little * and it has been almost a year since Alma fled from King Noah.  In missionary time that is a long time. But here with all the patience and constant effort there are many and they are baptized. These are the same people that rejected Abinadi just a year earlier and now they are ready and willing to accept the truth. I always thought my mission would be more of a planting seeds mission and at times it has been.  Other times I have been harvesting, little by little. So I don't know why I am here in Willits, to plant or harvest, but I am willing to leave it up to the Lord and continue working hard sharing the gospel with everyone I meet. I hope you all take the chance to share the gospel this week too.  I love you all and I hope you have a lovely week, I will be praying for you!

Con amor,

Hermana Cornwall

04 August 2014

 Hola,

This week was a pretty average week. Nothing crazy and nothing really bad! It was a really great week of growth for me and it is always nice to know you are progressing a little bit farther every day! 

SO, last Monday we taught the restoration to our awesome new investigator Juliana. She just took it all in so well. When we invited her to read the Book of Mormon she said "Me parece bien" Which means, literally, that it seems good to her! She just takes it all so well! We taught it pretty simply because her kids were there also and so we are hoping that everyone has the ability to understand. WE have another lesson tonight, so we are excited!

Tuesday we had our lovely district meeting. I don't know if I have ever said this before, but as the STL I teach in district meeting every week - usually just in my own district. I enjoy it. This last week I talked about how love relates to our invitation to be baptized, our purpose, but I kind of took it from a round about way by talking about the basic and first principle that God is our loving Heavenly Father. Then taking how that love applies to all of the principles in the first lesson and how it applies to just about everything that he does for us and everything that we have. Then because of all that love he has shown for us he obviously wants us to return to live with him again.  The only way we can do that is through baptism.  We as missionaries are the only ones who can help them fulfill that ordinance! I learned so much by teaching them, it was awesome! Then later in the day we starting teaching a new family, Sandra and Delfino! It is so interesting to see the different ways that people interpret the Restoration. One way, and the way of this family, is, that I have never been taught this before! That is something brand new and something they accept because they are not very educated on religious things. It was a very good lesson and we are excited to teach them again tomorrow!

Wednesday, after studies, we went down to Ukiah to practice a musical number for a baptism on Saturday. It was fun and short and we zipped back up to Willits. We kind of had an average night of just finding! But one thing cool we did that I forgot to mention is that we were invited by President Alba to do a special fast this Sunday - to fast for Rain to end the drought and also that we as missionaries would have success finding elect families.  He wanted us to invite ever member on the roster to participate, active or not! It was quite a fun experience. We just split the list with the sisters and there were some interesting calls. WE did it progressively throughout the week with no rain yet.  We are hoping to see the miracles soon!

Thursday we did weekly planning. We zoomed right through it and accomplished everything we needed to! Then we went to the Farmer's market again. There were a lot more people honestly interested this week. Then after dinner is when my little adventure began. So at the beginning/end of the month there is a meeting in Santa Rosa for all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders. It is always on Fridays. I asked for a ride from the Eureka zone leaders/STL. The STL just happened to be Hermana Whitely, so that was some bonus to the whole thing. SO because it takes so long to get from Eureka to Santa Rosa, they left on Thursday night.  They picked me up on Thursday night. We drove into Santa Rosa and went to the sister's apartment, where we would be staying. They weren't home or available to let us in, and the the elders wanted to be on time to their apartment so they dropped us off and we were waiting outside. After a 30 minutes the senior couple that lives near by let us come into their home for a little bit and they were kind and nice. Then we got all settled in with the sisters and had a good nights sleep. 

On the following day we went to the mission office for our meeting. The best part was that all of my favorite people are STLs.  That was fun to see them all. They were Hermana Kaiser, Hermana Gonzalez, Hermana Whitely, Hermana LemMon, Hermana Vance and a few others! It was great, The whole meeting was focused mostly on members and missionary work! Sister Alba started with baptismal services, and how they should be! Then she had to run because she had grand babies in town! Then President Alba spoke on what holds us back socially from a successful harvest pertaining to leadership. His 4 points were unwillingness to accept human qualities, unwillingness to accept change, unwillingness to follow instructions, unwillingness to be totally committed. It wasn't really that the leaders have these problems, but that those under the leaders have these problems. Then he shared a quote a really liked, it was by Theodore Rubin:

     "If we let it, life produces endless experiences that demand change. If you are motivated and willing to struggle, you can change and grow for as long as you live. This is the challenge, the pain and the joy of being Human."

 

That really touched me and it is a true gospel principle. Then the APs talked about earning the trust of the members, with dinner messages, members present, ward council meetings, and the roles of our leaders. It was very good and helpful! It was a really good day, and now we will teach it all to the zone in Zone Meeting tomorrow. Then we had a fun drive back - our little road trip! When I got back to Willits the sisters were in a lesson, so we had coordination meeting at 8 anyway so I went to the Southwicks (future temple president) to wait for the sisters. He was such a gracious host of course. The elders and sister Whitely walked me up to the door and he gave them lemonade and let them use the bathroom and things, SO nice! Then I had a nice chat with Sister Southwick about their upcoming assignment! Oh it is wonderful to serve in the church! Always opportunities to help! Our new ward mission leader is just amazing. he has so much fire and enthusiasm. He wants everyone to get comfortable doing missionary work. He has some great ideas and he is really supportive of any ideas we have too!

Saturday night there was a baptism for the spanish elders in Ukiah.  Hermana Hooton and I sang an arrangement of "I know that my Redeemer Lives". The one weird part was having learned a lot of how to improve from Sister Alba the day before, but having all of the missionaries not know about it.  I tried to help in little ways to help them improve! It was a great a simple day!

Sunday was the fast! It was a good and powerful testimony meeting! The Spirit was so strong even I was crying! We didn't have anyone show up for sacrament meeting, but one of the less-actives we have been working with was in Relief Society so that was good! We had our lovely hour of prayer! It was just that moment where everything had come to a head and so I was balling the whole time.  I think a good cry was necessary! I was thinking a lot of how I want to finish strong, focused and hard working, and what I need to do better to do that. Plus a little personal counsel is always nice! We had a fun dinner at one of the past bishop's houses. I was just laughing and laughing the whole time they were so funny. They are a very sweet couple. He is passing away from cancer, but they are still so happy and enjoying it all while they can! 

Anyway as I said in my testimony on Sunday - I know that God has a purpose and plan for us. He is more intelligent than us.  We can trust in Him that He will show us the way.  We can follow with Faith and Hope. When we think that we can handle it all on our own, we usually mess up a lot more! He is always there with love to guide us and direct us! All in all, life is good, even trials are good, because it isn't really about right now. This is just the test and then one day we will receive the score and hopefully we will receive the life of glory he has promised us and wants for us! I love you all so much and I hope you are striving for these things daily!

Les Quiero,

Hermana Cornwall

Apartment Photos

28 August 2014

Hola,

So this weekend was a crazy one, but it has helped me to see why the Lord wants me here. It was especially crazy because I may or may not have chopped off a significant amount of my hair to donate it to Locks of Love, but you will have to wait to hear the stories!

Last Monday was awesome! We started teaching a couple, the Nunez Family! The have friends in the Church already.  They have a lot of curiosity and they aren't very satisfied with the church they are attending now. We had a pretty good lesson and they seem committed to at least satisfy there curiosity.  They don't know is that the spirit will definitely work on them and then they will know that it is all true. We have another lesson with them tonight and we are taking Brother Southwick (assistant ward mission leader/future temple president) so we will see how it all turns out!

Then as always we had our lovely district meeting, but this time it was a little different because some of the missionaries invited a member to come and so it created a different feeling in our meeting and it turned out really well. She was so nice and supportive and totally into missionary work.  It was cool to have her there to share and so that we could all learn together! Then at dinner there was a fire near where we were eating.  It was more out in the country so there were planes and helicopters flying around waiting to drop retardant and stuff! In the evening we started our exchange. I was with Sister Becker! This is her last transfer.  She is still going strong!

We were together all of Wednesday in my area. The nice part was that we went to go see this less-active that I didn't know very well, but Sister Becker knew her and so it was nice to have someone that knew what was going on. She told us that she wasn't having a good day and that we were exactly what she needed. I got to know her a little bit better and we taught a short lesson.  She was committed to come to church and to really do better and take in all the happiness that the Church brings!

Thursday we tried a new finding idea of talking about family history at the local farmers market! It went pretty well.  We often had to draw people's interest into it, since it isn't something your would normally see there.  It was really fun and people usually like to talk about their families so it is a good attention grabber.Oh and I forgot earlier in the day, we drove down to Cloverdale were our district leader serves, to return Elder Hardmann's glasses and to have a companionship study. It was a little bit of a long drive! Then in the evening we had a house blessing with Juliana and I invited her to baptism and she said yes! SO then we started to teach her a little bit about the Restoration and so now she is our newest investigator. She felt the Spirit so strongly during the prayer. She loved the feeling it gave her. It was so cool to just see her light up with that happiness!

On Friday we got a last minute call to do service for a member. We helped her clean out her shelves for ants! Then she decided to do a bug bomb so we proceeded to take everything out of the house, well not everything, so that they could set off the spray! It was fun to help out.Then we did weekly planning! A little later than planned, but we got it done!

Saturday was the beginning of the crazy awesomeness. SO we live next to a park and when we went out on Friday there was a fence around the whole park and people were setting some stuff up. So we were all very curious what was going on. The Sisters found out that it was all for the Relay for Life event. SO being they good missionaries that they were they offered to help. On Saturday morning we all show up. At first we helped decorating a little bit and then we were at the registering tent! They started with a cancer survivor ceremony, which was very special and then the survivors that were in attendance did the first lap all together! It was a sweet experience. We remained at the registering table and helped people sign in and saw everyone participating, walking or running around this track! It was all very sweet. I was kind of in a tender mood myself, knowing how recently cancer has affected our family. I was wishing I could do more, but we only had a small window of time when we were volunteering so that wasn't much we could do. Then they announced that someone was there to cut hair and donate it to Locks of Love. I didn't think much of it until the other sister missionaries decided to do it.  I decided to do it too! It was kind of a crazy decision and I had just enough hair do it.  The best part was that it is for a really good cause! Now some little girl will have a lovely wig thanks to a little sacrifice on my part! 

All the people at Relay for Life were amazed by our service and were very very grateful. It was a great opportunity to have positive exposure for the Church and it was really fun! Then we planted sunflowers for a random contact which was fun! We had our Ward Pioneer Day party which was a great success! It was just all around a wonderful, but yet crazy day, with a lot of touching my missing hair! Also, I got my pink slip, which is where I write the information of my plans to travel home. (The first step to the end of your mission!)

Then Sunday was the day I realized why I was here. SO we went to a regular church sunday and the first thing that happened was that they called a new ward mission leader, which we are very excited about and then, during the sacrament I hear someone call "Sister, Sister".  I turn my head and the bishop's wife nudges her head at someone on the back row who looked hispanic. Both Sister Hooton and I assumed it was the Guatemalan member that we had heard so much about and had talked to on the phone.  We went back after the sacrament had ended and invited him to come sit with us. It was Jose, this member, so we translated the rest of the meeting for him, even though one talk was really hard! We asked if he wanted us to translate for him in Sunday School, or for us to have our own class, he said he wanted his own class. We decided to get to know him a little more. We started with some good question and answer. He is a convert to the church, we was sealed in the temple a year after being baptized with his wife, they are now divorced.  He moved to the United States in 2007, and he has 3 kids who live in Utah. His brother is also a member who lives in the ward boundaries. We started to talk about our vision of Willits and spanish members and we told him how important he was in that and that with hard word it would grow. He shared a story of when he was working with the young men in Guatemala and how they had 6 of them and after working hard to find more they ended having almost 50 young men and then he got emotional thinking of these boys and the hard work and everything. With the spirit so strong Sister Hooton and I started getting a little choked up and I think we could all see that there is a future here in Willits.  The 3 of us are the start of it! I think that all of us will be great friends and we will all work hard together! It all just made us so excited and ready to put it all in the Lord's hands, because it usually works out better that way! We also had to go into Elder's quorum to translate, which was an interesting experience, especially because the new ward mission leader, was the Elder's president and so they had to call a new Elder's quorum president, so it was an exciting day to be there! 

Anyway, I have just been so amazed and happy with my expereince this weekend! I did some crazy things and also had some amazing blessings! It was amazing! I am so happy to be in the service of the lord! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!  

Les quiero,

Hermana Cornwall

21 July 2014

Hola,

This week was an average week, lots of fun, but also lots of struggle with our actual area! I never realized how long term hard opening an area will be.  I am trying to stay positive and upbeat because I know I am supposed to be here in Willits.

.

I know I said last week we had an appointment with that awesome family, but ... they weren't home. We spent a lot of time finding, finding, finding!

.

On Tuesday we decided to check out Laytonville (click), an additional city to our area! We had high hopes of maybe finding some pockets of Hispanics, but we couldn't find them. We did talk to 2 of them and one of them said that there aren't many Hispanics there so we will see how much we go in the future! The best part was that the drive was beautiful! It was just up the 101 and I really enjoyed the woods we saw along the way. Right before dinner we started our exchange. I went out with Sister Andreasen! She is from Tehachapi California. She is so much fun! We served around each other in Fairfield so now we are just the best of friends. We laugh and joke all day long! The funny thing was that we went back to Laytonville for their appointment, because I was in the English sister's area! It is a less-active family and they invitde the young men neighbors to come over too! It was a really open lesson. We first watched Finding Faith in Christ for the younger kids and then talked with the young boy/investigators. The sad thing was they have had really hard lives and they don't think that they have a loving Heavenly Father or a Savior! They have lost that trust in Him, but I think we had some beginnings of future development!

.

On Wednesday we taught a whole bunch of lessons, when I was in the English sister's area. They are working so hard and they have really wonderful investigators! It was nice to just be able to teach with Sister Andreasen and back her up. My favorite thing about exchanges is asking the really bold questions! For some reason they just come easier when this is the first and maybe last time you will be teaching someone!  I switched back to be with Hermana Hooton and we had our awesome point of the week, because we started teaching Jose.  He is our new, and one and only investigator! We were so excited when he said he had time to talk, and it was a good experience. We are excited to see what happens with him! Oh, the funny story of it all was we went up to his door and a young boy answered the door. I asked if Jose was there and he said he didn't live there.  I told him his last name and he was still a little confused. He turns to whoever was in the room with him and said " Wait, isn't that my Dad's name!" We found out it was the right house and we then  met with Jose after that!

.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference -- always a wonderful experience. We had been reading the entire Book of  Mormon for preparation over the last 3 months and so we had lovely presentations from the Albas on relating the Book of Mormon to those things we do in missionary work! It was a great day of instruction. We also talked about how serving the members would help them help us, with things like coming out to lessons and fellow-shipping investigators.

.

Friday our planning went pretty fast.  We got a lot of things set in our week so that the ideas were flowing. We had dinner at the Bishop's house. They are a young powerhouse couple. They have so much spiritual knowledge it is amazing. One thing we talked about is how amazing things come out of the mouth of babes, like how they explain things about the pre-mortal existence because they are just so close to that time. She read us some of her experiences!  We were kind of having a slow night.  We saw this kite really high up in the air so we decided to follow it. SO we talked to the boy flying the kite and he and his dad were not interested in talking to us.   I asked for a referral and he gave us one. The directions were the red house by the grange. We tried to look for it but it got too late so we went home.

.

On Saturday we are doing Facebook and we were looking up pages of things in Willits.  In my search I found a page called the grange and so we found out where it was and so we went right away to the red house. The first red house we see we go out and knock on it. It is a young mom and we ask if Joey was there and she said no one by that name lived there.  We offered her a house blessing and she said yes! (Side note: they were watching the show Wild Kratts so now I finally know a little bit more about what it is!) It was a great prayer and she accepted the idea of the English sisters visiting her in the future. We asked if she knew of a Joey in a red house.  She said no, but that there was a red house next door. SO we knock on that house and Joey is there! His Mom was very sick, which is why the boy told us to go there.  We went into meet her. It wasn't the best living situation.  We offered a house blessing and she said,  "no". We asked her for any referrals for other people that might need help and they gave us 2. Latter that night we went to see Cici, one of the referrals.  She let us right in and said she had been expecting us and that so and so told her we would be coming. After talking for a while we realized that the person who told her we would be coming and the women we met were not the same person.  Apparently one of her friends, that is a Jehovah's Witness, was going to send her friends to come and talk to her, but we got their first! We had a house blessing with her and she is ready to receive the gospel! Another awesome win for the Sisters! We finally met our assistant ward mission leader, who is one of the only members that speaks spanish.  He will also be the new Oakland Temple President in November! He was the kindness and most gracious man. He served us desert afterward and Sister Andreasen commented that we were being treated like princesses and that is how it really felt!

.

Sunday, no one came to church, but it was a lovely Sunday. We got to go in to help with the piano in Primary, so it was fun! 

.

Oh, the Church is true everywhere you go and there are always amazing member to be found. I love the continued discovery of the virtues of all of God's children! Oh, missionary work is awesome. You sacrifice, work hard, have a lot of fun and are part of the change in people's lives for the better. Even though I wouldn't relive many of my experiences, I will never forget those I have had and also those I will continue to have on my mission and when regular life hits me again. The joy of it all is that we have the love of a Heavenly Father and the empathy of kind brother and that we never have to do it alone, no matter how hard, sad or strenuous it all might be.

.

Oh, I hope you all have a wonderful week! I will constantly pray that the Lord will be with you and I know he always will. Les Quiero!

Hermana Cornwall!

14 July 2014

Hermanas Hooton and Cornwall

Hola,

So this week has been crazy! Saying goodbye and saying hello are all very hard things to do! I am so sad to leave Winters, but I am also so happy to be here in Willits. Hermana Hooton and I have been saying all week how we have felt that we know we are meant to be here.  It will still be a hard long process! So Here is my week!  [Click here for info on Willits]

Monday was a pretty crazy day! I said goodbye to quite a few people and then in the evening we went to a lesson with our investigator Sonia. We taught our normal lesson, she was so nice as always, and then at the end she told me that before I left she had to tell me something. She was not very happy that I was leaving already, but I knew it was time. She told us about her experience at church. She told us that she was very worried about eating the sacrament bread because she has been having this horrible pain from her cheek to her head and she hasn't been able to really chew, or at least without a lot of pain.  She took it and it wasn't hard to eat. Then of course I told you all about going up to bear my testimony... so, while I was up there Sonia was praying for the answer of whether to keep going to church or not.  She felt a spiritual confirmation, from the words I said (or really that were translated to her), that she needs to keep going to church! Then she said the next morning that she could eat breakfast with out pain! Not only was she healed, but she received a confirmation that what she was doing right! We were so amazed and so happy for her. Then she made sure that we took a picture together before we left! Anyway, Hermana Vance and I decided that I had to be leaving so that I would bear my testimony and so that she would have to tell us the story! It was so wonderful to hear all of that from her and I am overjoyed to hear about her future progress! 
.
Tuesday I said goodbye some more and I taught my last lesson to the Lopez family. They were my one regular connection to the branch and after 9 months total I was said to say goodbye, but I do love them so much!
.
Then the big transfer day on Wednesday! It was so wonderful to see everyone again, but sad to say goodbye to Winters, Hermana Vance, the Woodland Stake the whole east side of the mission! Then of course when we were there we had to find our car, get a phone, get supplies, move our stuff and everything else.  It went well! After getting everything organized we head off on our way and as we were stopping for lunch we decide to call the Willits Sisters, Sister Becker and Sister Andreasen, currently serving in our area to ask about things like Walmart and dinner and everything.  We realized that our phone isn't working right. We call another number and it doesn;t work.  We thought maybe our phone wasn't connected yet.  We go to lunch at Mcdonalds and try to get the Sprint number from our Ipads.  It didn't come up with anything.  We go back to the mission office.  There was something legitimately wrong with the phone so we were glad we went back. We hung out at the mission office for a while and that was fun. We finally got on our way, with just enough time to make it to dinner! We get in town a little early so we stopped at the church, which is like the first thing you see. (P.S. no Walmart in Willits, by the way) and one of the doors happened to be a little bit open so we snuck in! We went to dinner, unpacked, went to a member lesson with the Sisters and had a meeting with the bishop and came home! It was a crazy, amazing day!

Thursday was fun too. We grocery shopped at the Safeway (which I think is the equivalent of Pavilions). We skyped with our new district leader/old district leader Elder Olmos! And then we had a full day of finding, which is quite a big change from the past. Usually when you come into an area you have the area book with investigators, potentials and former investigators, but for us we had literally nothing, it was empty. There have never really been spanish missionaries here and the whole first day we only met 2 hispanics out of almost 30 people that we talked to! That was exciting! In the evening we met the second counselor of the bishop and his family. He has 13 children, with only 5 at home  We came to find out on Sunday, his 4 boys are the whole Aaronic priesthood! Anyway, it was fun to just get to know each other!

.

Friday we had district meeting in Ukiah! It was fun.  Our zone in super spread out so I am trying to come up with ideas for Zone unity! When we got back to Willits we had Weekly planning! It was about the shortest and simplest weekly planning I have ever done.  We finished it all quickly and went to work that night! We had a house blessing with someone we had talked to the day before.  This was a little weird because of drug use and her home situation, but we were glad to at least try to help her have the spirit in her home.  We hope she will have the correct environment to accept the gospel in the future! We went tracting in the one area we had heard there were Hispanics and we actually found some. Never have I been so happy to see a Hispanic in my LIFE! We did a house blessing with la familia Hernandez, with an appointment for tonight. They loved are willingness to help and bless them.  They were so kind in return. Also the funny thing about talking to Hispanics here is that they have never really talked with missionaries before.  We are making their first impressions of who missionaries are! (And they are usually a little bit more open!) We gained a little bit more hope for our little area of Willits Spanish.  [For info on Willits demographics click here.]

.
Saturday we just decided to go out, find and work hard! At the end of the day we had talked to 56 people with a high majority being Hispanic! We happened to find a few Hispanic gatherings going on.  We were just filled with hope that there are people here to find! We found in the same area we had been in the night before, so we were starting to get worried that this was the only place that there were Hispanics. We met someone that lived in another neighborhood so we had hoped to find more.
.
Sunday was wonderful! Hermana Hooton and I spoke. I spoke on remembering the Savior always.  It was a good lesson for me to find out how do we always remember Him! In the evening we decided to go in the area where that new man lived.  I had picked a street  the night before. To the left it was very country, spread out and things, but one house had their name out on the street and it was Hispanic.  We parked went up to it.  They were Hispanic and we made an appointment with them for tomorrow. Then down on the other side the houses were closer together and we found 3 Hispanic houses in a row! It was great!
.
SO needless to say there is hope for our area. We have decided that anything we do will be amazing.  We want to do our best.  Hermana Hooton and I have thought that we would never serve in Willits, because it didn't exist until we got here.  We are very happy to be here! (by the way Hermana Hooton still has 2 transfers, oops!). The one thing I am most happy about is that through it all I have remained happy. I don't see this area as unfruitful and I am accepting of how hard it is going to be. I am excited to just take all of the skills I have been given and really put them into use!  I am happy missionary [work comes] with a few struggles and I am so excited for this next week and all the things that could possibly happen!
.
I love you all so much! Keep up your amazing work because you never know what is going to happen!

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Cornwall

Some families from Winters

The Osburns

Natalie Osburn