Second 9 - Letter 82 - Rio Vista, CA

Para Siempre Dios Este Con Voz (God Be With You Till We Meet Again)

Hola,

So I think (like 99% sure) this will be the last time I write you all as Hermana Andrews. Oh my goodness! My heart is so full!

First of all, why don't we start out with a run down of this week.

On Monday night we had an amazing Family Home Evening at out branch mission leaders home with him and his mother. We talked about the importance of service. Then we played a really fun game. I am not sure what it is called but you have a bowl of skittles in the middle of the table and then everyone has a straw and a cup. You roll dice and whenever you roll a 7 or a 11 you get to use your straw to suck skittles up and move them over to your cup. You do that until someone else rolls a 7 or a 11. We had so much fun!

Tuesday we taught an awesome lesson to one of the members that we are working with. Her name is Esther and she is 22 and has an 8 month old son named Milo. She is not married to Milo's father and she is going through a rough time with all of that. It is so fun to teach her because it is just like hanging out with one of my friends. We talked about how she is starting to date and again. She has prayed about it and feels that it is time. She also talked about how she really wants to go to the temple to do baptisms again. So this week we are going to help her prepare to go to the temple! She came to all 3 hours of church on Sunday and she came to the Branch Activity on Saturday with a date! It is so fun to see her progress.

Wednesday was my last trip to the Oakland temple (as a missionary). It was wonderful! We went with three women in our branch, the four of us and the 2 fairfield hermanas. I received so much amazing revelation and I was overwhelmed with the Spirit and with love from my Father in Heaven.

Thursday we taught Spanish class. We taught our students how to pray which was a lot of fun. Learning to pray in a second language is kind of like praying as a little kid. It is tender. 

Saturday was our Branch Family Fun Night (FFN). We played Family Feud. It was such a fun idea!

Church was wonderful! The one Spanish family in the branch, the Sanchez, have five boys and their oldest son spoke in sacrament meeting on honoring thy father and thy mother. We helped him write his talk and he did so good. He was so sweet! We had an amazing dinner with President and Sister Chandler. They made us steak and it was so good. I love them like family.

This week was really great! Everyone teases me about going home but I am not trunky (or ready to go home). I am just so grateful for these last 18 months.My mission means everything to me! I have truly enjoyed every single second of it! I have grown leaps and bounds and I will truly never be the same person ever again. My life has been changed for the rest of my life. This week I hit my 18 month mark which is amazing to me. I do not feel that it is possible, time flies by so quickly. As I have thought about all that I have learned and all of the moments of missionary work that I have enjoyed I came up with 18 joys of missionary work.

1.Being able to love so quickly and so deeply

2. Having the spirit with me always.

3. Developing friendships with those that I serve with.

4. Helping people develop their personal relationship with their Father in Heaven.

5. Coming closer to Christ and truly applying the atonement to my life.

6. Inviting others to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority.

7. Serving always.

8. Seeing people walk into church and partake of the sacrament for the first time.

9. Helping families center their lives on the gospel.

10. Learning a second language and being able to teach others about the gospel in their first language.

11. Being a part of the hastening of the work.

12. Working with local leaders to help members be involved in missionary work.

13. Eating dinner with faithful members of the church.

14. Testifying and promising blessings in the name of Jesus Christ.

15. Teaching the truths of the restored gospel.

16. Reciting the first vision.

17. Communicating with people all over the world using modern technology.

18. introducing myself as a servant of Jesus Christ. 

These are the things that define missionary work. They are the things that have brought me so much joy over these last 18 months but as I wrote this list I realized that most of these things will be easy to carry over to my new role as a member missionary. I am determined to let my time in the California Santa Rosa Mission, the greatest mission in the world, always be a part of my life. Mesa Arizona missionaries better get ready because they got the greatest member present coming their way. 

I am so thankful for the time that I have had to serve as a servant of Jesus Christ. I know that this church is true. I know that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and that He died for us. I know that we have a living prophet who leads and guide us. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that anyone who reads it can know that it is true by asking our Heavenly Father through prayer. I am so thankful for the power of the priesthood. I am so thankful for all of those that I have met on my mission and for all that I have learned from them. I am thankful for President and Sister Alba and I know that they have been called of God.I am thankful for each of my companions and each of my areas. I am thankful for the sacrifices of my family members and for everyone who has supported me, loved me, and prayed for me.

Para Siempre Dios Este Con Voz!

Love,

Hermana Hillary Andrews 

Second 9 - Letter 81 - Rio Vista, CA

"It's a great day to be alive because the sun's still shining when I close my eyes………..."

Hola a todos! (Hello everyone!)

So this week has been so good! Every day has truly been a GREAT day to be alive! Also Happy Presidents day everyone!

We had an awesome family home evening with an amazing lady from our Branch, Sister Martin! Her husband is a truck driver and he is out driving right now so we had a great time with her. We shared experiences about how we have all come closer to Christ. I shared an experience that I had when I got in a car accident and I felt so alone and I was so ashamed that I had gotten in the car accident. I shared how I prayed specifically for the ability to apply the atonement in my life. In those moments I truly felt the Saviors love encircled around me. I had not thought of that experience for a long time but I felt so impressed to share it and it felt really good. I really am so thankful for the time the hard times that I have had and that they have made me stronger.

This week I went on exchanges with Sister Andreasen. Wow! It was an incredible exchange! We are so a like and so I was able to help her because she is going through some things that I went through earlier in my mission. She has been out about 9 months and is hitting a rut so I tried to pull her out of it. It was such an amazing experience to listen to her and to feel the Spirit guiding me in how to help her.

Also this transfer I have really been praying for charity and  for us to have unity in our companionship and my prayers are truly being answered. We have had some amazing conversations this week and we are getting a long very well! I have learned the importance of communication on my mission. I would prefer to just keep things to myself so that I don't get upset but it is so much easier to just express my concerns and then try to solve them together.

This week we have had so many opportunities to do our lessons with some of our members. It has been so fun to get to know them better and to help them find opportunities to share the gospel.

I truly feel so at home here in Rio Vista! For Valentine's day the four of us made sugar cookies and cards for some of our favorite members and the less active members that we are teaching and then spent the night delivering them and singing Love One Another to them. It was such a great opportunity to express our love to these wonderful people!

We are just trying to keep on talking to everyone! This week we went to the little town of Isleton and we truly talked to everyone that we saw. We found a good amount of people who speak Spanish and so we plan on going back there this week! I have noticed that as we talk to everyone no matter what they look like or what language they speak we see a small miracle from our efforts.

One last thing, this weekend we have had dinner or spent time with a lot of families with little kids and it has truly touched me how much little kids look up to the missionaries. The song "I hope they call me on a mission" is so true. Little kids truly aspire to be a missionary. Well I don't know if I really hoped that I would be called on a mission when I was little but now I am so thankful that I was called on a mission! It is the best calling ever! So if you have little kids and they have questions about missions or missionaries please send their questions my way!

I love you all so so much! Have a great day and a great week!

Love you!

Hermana Hillary:)

Second 9 - Letter 80 - Rio Vista, CA

I Just Wanna Hold His Hand

Good Morning! I hope you are all doing well! This week has been AMAZING! It is not really the kind of week that I thought it was going to be but it we still saw so many miracles! Every experience that I had this week had to do with my Savior, Jesus Christ and it is His hand who I just wanna hold (Don't worry my heart is LOCKED for a few more weeks). The week started out with a family home evening with President and Sister Chandler. All four of us missionaries shared experiences that we have had applying the atonement in our lives or coming closer to Him. It was so powerful and then the Chandlers shared experiences as well. It is amazing to me that every single person on this earth can have their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Then on Tuesday we had Zone Meeting about the things that we learned at Zone Conference. The Zone Leaders had the idea to do breakout sessions in the four corners of the Stake Center. I was asked to speak about Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. It was a wonderful experience. I showed one of my favorite pictures of a big picture of Christ with hands reached out hanging up on a wall and then there is a little girl reaching out to touch Christ's hand. I love it because it shows the innocence of a little child and how we should be submissive like little children and be willing to come and touch Christ. I then talked about how we must all have our own experiences "touching" Christ. I told about how this last couple of weeks I have been studying Jesus the Christ every morning and I have loved this time to learn more about Christ. I have truly felt as if I have "touched" Christ as I learn more and more about Him. Then I talked about how important it is once we have "touched" Christ that we help others come unto him. We do this by fulfilling our missionary purpose but most importantly making sure that we teach and testify about Him. I thought of one of the elementary school classes that I worked in and every student had a seat partner and if their seat partner did something good the teacher would say give your seat partner a pat on the back. I testified about how I know that Christ is our seat partner in every lesson and that we must give him His deserved pat on the back by making sure that we testify of Him in every lesson. It was a powerful lesson. I do not know if anyone learned anything but I learned so much and felt the Spirit very strongly.

Then yesterday we taught the lesson in both Sunday School and Relief Society and they were both on the life of Christ. We were able to have great discussions about how we can pattern our life after Christ in both of the classes.

Also something that have been doing this week is that  we have been taking the time every night at 8 pm to have lessons with active members. We decided to make it fun and so we do some of the practices that we do in our companionship studies every morning. They are what we call 30 second practices. We have the members choose one of the 42 lesson principles from Preach My Gospel and then we have to teach that principle in 30 seconds. It is really fun and it helps us learn the basic parts of the principle and it helps the members get more familiar with Preach My Gospel and they just get pumped up to share the gospel. It is GREAT!

Then this week we have taken a large step of faith and we decided to stop teaching our 2 investigators because we were not really teaching them at all. So now we are down to ground zero but we know that we will see miracles. We are doing our best to find despite all of the rain that we are having. It is sometimes discouraging but we are doing the very best we can.

We are really doing a lot with less actives so it is nice that we are at least still teaching lessons! We have also started teaching Spanish classes for the members which is fun. The English sisters that we live with have also been going through a hard time so it is great that we have each other. 

I really am happy and I know that even though this is not really how I would choose to end my mission it is the Lord's will and I have accepted that and I am happy with it! It is GREAT! 

Thank you for all that each and every one of you do for me! Touch Christ this week! 

Love to you all!

Hermana Hillary

Second 9 - Letter 79 - Rio Vista, CA

There was RAIN in ZION! 

Good day!! I hope you all had an incredible week! I sure did! Let me start out with the biggest miracle! Yesterday we fasted for rain! At the Zone Conference we had this week Sister Alba told us to be prepared to see the miracles and to bring our umbrellas to church. So that is what the four of us Sisters here in Rio Vista did. We were prepared and sure enough after sacrament meeting it was raining. The funny thing is that here in the little town of Rio Vista when it rains the power goes out super easily so the power went out. In the middle of Sunday School our branch president came in and said that if the power did not come on after that class was over we would all go home. Sure enough like three minutes after he said that the power went back on. Heavenly Father wanted all of us to go to church. It was so awesome to feel the power of many people fasting together. It is not raining today but I know that our prayers will continue to be answered.

I am officially in love with Rio Vista. It is the cutest and most beautiful place ever but the people are also incredible! Monday night we did not have any set appointments and we did not really want to tract all night so we decided to ask members if we could practice teaching them. We went over and did a practice lesson with Brother and Sister Gomez (who are not Hispanic even with a last name like Gomez) and it was wonderful! Also one of the Sisters in the branch was just called as our dinner calendar coordinator and so we have been getting to know her this week. She is an incredible woman and she has already completely filled our February calendar which is unheard of. The branch President, President Chandler, is magnificent. He really loves us like his own children. On Tuesday it was Sister Chandler's birthday so they invited us over to have cake and ice cream. It was really great to be with them and to work with them in the work of Salvation.

On Wednesday we had a terrific Zone Conference. I love mission meetings. They are always a gigantic spiritual feast. We had a leadership meeting before and we talked about how to conduct successful meetings and we came to the conclusion that any meeting is successful if it is directed by the Spirit. Then Zone Conference was all about the Four Cornerstones of the church: 1)Jesus Christ 2)The Restoration 3)The Book of Mormon 4)The Priesthood. We talked about how we can teach these topics clearly and powerful. We did a liot of practices on The Restoration and we talked about how it is so important to give this the time that it needs because it is one of the greatest events that has happened in the history of the world. WE talked about how powerful it is to recite the first vision as you are looking in the eyes of an investigator or member. It really is so powerful. I cannot hear the first vision without having chills and being overcome by the Spirit. We also talked about how important it is to emphasize how important the restoration of the priesthood was as well. I know that these four things are truly what holds our church together. I am so thankful for my testimony of all of these things. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he died for me. I know that Joseph Smith was the first prophet of these latter-days. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that the Priesthood is truly the power of God. Isn't the restored gospel great?

We also talked about Family History and that is something that I am so excited to use in sharing the gospel but I am also excited to do it when I am home. After Zone Conference the four of us Rio Vista sisters went out to eat at Olive Garden and then we exchanged. I went on exchanges with Sister Buckner. We had so much fun and we had a lot great experiences as we taught one of their investigators. The exchange really brought our apartment closer together. We love each other so much and we enjoy doing things together. We keep saying that we live in Zion and it is true our apartment has become Zion like. 

Hermana Ellsworth and I are doing good! We have worked so hard at getting 20 contacts this week and we got more than 10 about every day which is so good! WE are not teaching much but we are doing all that we can! 

Oh one more thing! I had one of the sweetest experiences on Saturday. We went to a Stake Relief Society Activity in Fairfield and I was able to see many of the hermanas in the branch. I was not sure that they would remember be but they all remembered me and were so happy to see me. They were so cute to tell me that they were so happy that I could speak Spanish and that I was not scared anymore. It felt so good to see how far I have come! It was a tender mercy because all of the doubts of if I have done enough went away in that moment and I know that I have made a difference.

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for believing in me!

Love,

Hermana Hillary

https://www.lds.org/friend/2002/07/holding-hands-around-the-world?lang=eng&query=Helping+hands+around+the+world

My new favorite song! Enjoy!

Second 9 - Letter 74 - Rio Vista, CA

Dear Rio Vista, We are going to TEAR you up!

Hello beautiful people that I love,

I hope you have all had a great week! I have had a great week! I made it safely here to Rio Vista. It is so beautiful here. We cover three small towns (Rio Vista, Isleton and Walnut Grove) and they are really charming. The towns are bordered by the Sacramento River so they are spectacular river side views all over. 

Even though it is beautiful here and I was excited for a change but it was hard for me to leave Santa Rosa. Things were really starting to bloom when I left but I know that I was no longer needed there. I also have full confidence in Hermana Bryant and her Greenie and know that they are going to do amazing things with that area! Before I left we had a great lesson with my favorite family, La Familia Maldonado. It was hard to say goodbye to them but they asked me if I could come back when they get sealed in the temple and of course I said yes. So that will be fun someday!

Well.... now my heart is in Rio Vista. I got here on Wednesday and I was able to meet the Branch Mission Leader and the Branch President that night! This branch is awesome. It is pretty strong and they are all very supportive! It is an English branch so we are trying to help them figure out how to better accommodate our lovely Spanish speaking friends but everything is great! 

Hermana Ellsworth is awesome! She is from Salt Lake City and she has been here in the area for one transfer. Her companion before me just finished her mission then I finish my mission and then Hermana Ellsworth finishes her mission so it is all a little bit crazy. Hermana Ellsworth and her last companion white washed into the area last transfer which means that they were both brand new to the area. However, the area is not brand new it has been an area for a little less than a year.. Right now things are a little slow. We do not really have investigators but we are so determined to find some! This week we have really enjoyed getting to know each other and helping me get to know the area. On Saturday we were able to contact 20 people, teach 3 lessons and invite one child of God to be baptized! It was incredible. I guess we do have one person to teach because we found a new investigator on Saturday! She is a young mother who is very religious and who is interested in learning more! 

Things are really going well. It is going to be a great transfer! We have a lot of work to do! I already love the branch and the people here. We have one very active family in the branch who speaks Spanish so we translate for them at church and we eat with them like three times a week. It is weird to be so close to one of my old areas. I have flashbacks a lot but I am trying to focus on Rio Vista. I know this is where I am supposed to be and it is going to be a great transfer! 

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Also just fyi we are having a fast here this Sunday for rain in California because it is getting really dry! So please keep that in your fasts and prayers!

Love you all,

Hermana Hillary :)

Second 9 - Letter 73 - Rio Vista, CA

Leave it all out on the court!

Hello everyone! So sorry that President Henderson spilt the beans a little bit but yes I am getting transferred! I did not want to believe it but I knew it was happening! I will be serving in Rio Vista. It is a small town. It is in the Fairfield zone (where I started my mission) and I went there on my first exchange. It will be fun to go back to close to where I started my mission. I will be serving with Hermana Ellsworth. She has been out one transfer less than me (so she goes home soon too). I have exchanged with her a few times and she is so sweet! I am so excited to serve with her. Rio Vista has an English ward and then kind of a Spanish group. I love newer areas so it will be great.

I am sad to be leaving Santa Rosa. It has been a magical ride here! This last week has been INCREDIBLE! I feel like I have given it my all and that I can truly say that I am leaving this area better than I found it!

So the events of this week.......

-Monday we taught Sergio and he just soaked everything up!

-Tuesday we had an amazing zone meeting all about the things that we learned at camp! We tried to make it special because camp was so special to us. So we put the tables in a big circle, drew a big mural of Redwoods on the chalkboard, brought a sleeping bag and propped it up the corner of the room, had a picture of the sacred grove on the door, went on a walk to our own sacred grove in a park and we watched the movie The Butterfly Circus (that President Alba showed us at camp). It was awesome and everyone loved it!

-We taught a young couple Nejamin and Gabriella that the English Elders gave to us! They are awesome and we had a great first lesson!

-We were able to help some of the Spanish elders teach one of their less active families that have been struggling and it was so much fun.

-We did some exploring in Sebastopol and ended up at Bodega Bay (which is in our area) and it was beautiful. We had a photo shoot there for a second.

-We tried to teach an awesome lesson to Marta but instead her grandson threw a hot wheels car at my forehead. It hurt super bad and for the sake of the child's life we left shortly after that!

-We taught an amazing lady named Griselda who we found last transfer but have never had the chance to teach. She is a stay at home mom and so sweet. She wanted us to teach her children how to pray. It was such an amazing experience the spirit was so so strong!

- Luis Maldonado (one of my favorite members of all time) is not moving for his work and he came to church yesterday!

These are the highlights but as always every day has its little miracles!

Also for those who were worried last week I am happy and I know that I have done all that I could and I can't let Satan tell me I am discouraged. I am determined to work harder than ever and leave all that I have out on the court.

I am excited for these next six weeks! They are going to be the best EVER! Rio Vista is not going to know what hit them.

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for your support!

Love you all!

Hermana Hillary

http://mormon.org.nz/erick

Here is another great video! ENJOY!

Second 9 - Letter 72 - Santa Rosa, CA

Arise and Be Great and Bank on God

Hello hello! Oh my goodness this week was incredible! I hope you all had an incredible week as well.

So the week started off with a miracle. So our area is huge but we really only usually just cover Santa Rosa. However, this week we decided to go to Sebastopol one of the near by cities that we also cover. We had a few referrals there so we tried them but no one was home and one of the addresses did not existed. We had only been in Sebastopol for about 20 minutes and we decided that we needed to do something else. We felt dumb throwing in the towel so soon so we chose to knock a random door. We knocked like three times and started walking away when someone came to the door. The man who answered the door is one of the biggest miracles I have ever met. His name is Sergio and he is a walking miracle. He has a tear in his spinal cord and basically should be dead. He has so much faith and is very religious. We had such a good conversation with him. He told us that the night before he had a dream about us (two women) coming to talk to him about God. Crazy but so cool! We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and we gave him his own copy. We set up to meet with him again tonight. When we were on our way home he called us and told us that he had already started reading the book of Mormon and he really liked it. We are so excited to teach him tonight. He is golden.

Then after that miracle we were off to Camp Liahona. It was AMAZING! I could tell you all about out but it would take me forever. It was such a privilege to be able to attend this conference. I have never felt so much love and received so much inspiration in my life. We talked about how we must arise and be great. It is up to us to chose to live up to the high expectations. We also talked about how the high expectations that have been set for our mission come from Heavenly Father and so He will bless us. He is waiting to pour down the blessings upon us. President Alba told us that we can always bank on God and we can always bank on His blessings.

We talked a lot about how we can achieve the 20 contacts a day and that we must look at it as more of a minimum then a huge target. One of the Elders said that we should look at as the blessings don't completely come until we do the 20. Hermana Bryant and I have been focusing more on getting our 20 contacts and we have seen so many miracles.

WE received so much wonderful council on how to be better leaders and how we must be real. I feel like being real is something that I was taught through the example of my parents and grandparents. I love that I am real and that I don't feel like I am better.

We also talked a lot about sacrifice and I am so thankful for the sacrifices that all of you make. one of the elders said that we cannot find ourselves until we have lost ourselves. I love this and I feel like on my mission I have truly lost myself in this work and found myself. I am such a different person and I love it.

Camp truly helped me realize that I can be a little better a little greater and as I do so I am going to receive so many blessings.

At camp I also saw an amazing miracle. While at camp my shoulder was really bothering me and so I had the impression that I needed to ask for a blessing. I asked Elder Eaton and Elder Carrillo (the assistants) to give me a blessing. As they put their hands on my head I already began to feel relief. In the blessing I was promised that the pain would leave me while at Camp Liahona so that I would be able to receive inspiration. It was also said that it all depended on my faith. I then exercised my faith and the promises came. My shoulder felt so much better and I was truly able to focus. This was such a testimony building experience to me that we truly must work towards the promises and they will come to pass.

So ya camp was great! It changed me! However, on Saturday night I had a huge break down just feeling like I have wanted my whole mission because I have not been doing all of these things and I do not have a lot of time to change. It was so frustrating to be feeling this way but I needed to reach tis low point to pick myself together and to know that I have been doing all that I can and I am just going to try even harder.

There is always room for improvement. Arise and Be Great!

I love you all so much! Also this Friday I will know where I will end my mission! Yikes!

Have a wonderful week!

Love you all,

Hermana Hillary

Also here is my favorite video! Enjoy!

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/origin?lang=eng