Serving in Zion where 101 is No Big Deal.
Hola! Como esta?
It has been such an incredible week. I have learned so much and I am more in love with this beautiful place, these wonderful people, and this great work. I feel like I am living in a dream because it is so green and reminds me so much of Italy. Seriously I am so blessed to serve in such a beautiful place with such beautiful weather.
So the conference was amazing and just to clerify it was the whole entire mission (all 165 of us). It was so amazing. I am honestly a different person because it. More on all of that in a second because I want to tell you about these wondersful people that I am serving here in Fairfield.
I am serving in the Tolenas Branch where the numbers are few their strength and determination is incredible. The branch president is President Ortega and he reminds me a lot of Uncle Chad because he is really laid back but has such a strong testimony and desire to serve the people of the branch. His wife is from the Dominican Republic and she is crazy in a good way. They both speak English but I love to hear Hermana Ortega speak Spanish because she is so animated and it is just so funny because she gets so into it. The Ortegas have five children age 9 and under. They are all so cute and love us missionaries.
One of the counselors in the branch presidency is Hermano (Tom) Toolson (i haven't had the chance to ask him if he is related to Uncle Gregg but he loves to bike, he is a dentist, and he is tall so I am thinking that the chances might be good). The Toolsons are gringos but they love the people of the branch and they do so much to serve them. Hermana (Diane) Toolson is incredible she does not speak any spanish but she is in the reief society presidency and so does her best to speak spanish or has someone translate for her. She is in charge of a Relief Society activity on Thursday where we are making grattitude journals and other holiday crafts. It is going to be great! I just love her because she reminds so much of all of the wonderful sisters at home.
There are so many wonderful families in the branch who love to have us missionaries in their homes once a week, The Hernandez family feed us luch every Wednesday. They are the family who fed us on my very first day in Fairfield and they are impressed that I am learning more and more Spanish so my goal is to go back there every week being able to say something new. Hermana Hernadez is a true homemaker. Her food is incredible! She cooks lunch for her family every day at 1 and it is not just pb&j. Last week we had fresh salmon that was deep fired, with a wonderful salad, garlic bread, watermelon and ice cream. She also always gives us a bowl of some type of homemade soup for an appitizer. It is the best and there is such a strong spirit in their home. So don't worry there are many wonderful people that are taking care of me.
We are also blessed with wonderful people to teach the gospel to. We have about 9 investigators but only 3 of them are actually progressing because those are the only ones that we are ever able to see and those are about the only ones that I have had the chance to meet so far.
Rosana was the first person that I had the opportunity to teach. She is a single mother of a 14 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. She is very quite but has such a strong desire to learn. The first lesson that we taught her was the law of chastity, which we were not planning on teaching but she was very willing to obey it. Since she is shy she was very hesitant to pray with us because she was embrassed and did not want to mess up. On her second lesson with her we told her that we were there to help her and that one of us would even pray first and then she could pray after us. She liked that idea so Hna. Clayton prayed and then Rosana just went ahead and started praying. It was such a sincere and heart felt prayer and you could just tell that she felt the spirit so strongly. She has been taught all of the lessons and has been invited to be baptized but does not feel ready so this week we are hoping to talk to her about baptisim again and what we can do to help her be ready.
Salvador is another one of out investigators and he is hilarious. We teach outside of his house and he is always joking with us and laughing at me because I don't understand his Spanish jokes. WE usually just read the Book of Mormon with him and he loves the stories and he loves heraring me read in Spanish (probably because it is so bad). He has had a baptisimal date before but they pushed it back and so we are going to be talking to him about baptisim this week as well. He is so eager to learn so I think he will be ready soon.
Our other progressing investigator is Isabel whose boyfriend and father of her two children is a less active but she is not a member. It is hard because her boyfriend Ricardo does not want to change and he doees not want to prtay because he knows that what he is doing is worng and that he needs to change. It is complicated but Isabel loves the gospel and reads the Book of Mormon daily. It is hard to teach her with her young children so we usually read the book of mormon to her as she takes care of her children. I love her because she soaks up everything like a sponge.
So those are the people that I have met and have taught and they are all amazing and I am blessed to have the opportunity to serve them.
Ok this is os long but I have a lot of time today but at the same time don't want to take up too much of your time having to read this novel.
So Halloween in the mission field was fun we actually weren't allowed to track so we went to the Toolsons for an amazing dinner and then we went to a member of the Stake Presidencies house who has this large display of jack o lanterns that were carved in all different designs (disney characters, pres. obama, romney, everything) and then they were all lit so it was beautiful.
Then the day after Halloween we went up to Camp Liahona for the mission conference. It was incredible. The scenery was gorgous because we were in the middle of the red wood forrest and the things that I learned were also beautiful. The whole theme of the camp was to unify us as an entire mission and to help us have faith and believe in miracles. They called it Zion's Camp and it was truly Zion. The love was crazy and I got to know so many wonderful people.The main reason for the camp was that right before I got here a member of the 70 came and looked at the mission seal and asked president what the 101 represented. President explained that the 101 is a major highway that runs through the mission. The next day at the mission conference the member of the 70 encouraged the mission to baptize 101 people in a month which is almost tripling what we are doing now but but he promised that it could be done. Then the announcemnt of the age change was made and Pres. and Sister Alba realized that it really could be possible.
So the entire camp was all about believing. We were encouraged in every prayer to pray that the windows of heaven will be open over our mission and that we will have faith in finding. We were also told to pray for miracles and do all that I can to be prepared to do the Lord's work so nothing will prevent miracles from happening. President also announced that right now we have an average of 165 missionaries at all times but in January that number will be raised to 250! That means at the beginning of the new year we could get 85 new missionaries. That also means that practically everyone will be needed to train. The Lord is truly hastening his work and I am a part of it. I don't like the thought of training in 3 months but I know that if it is the Lord's will I can do it! I learned so much at camp and wish I could share it all with you but it is easy to sum up everything I learned in one word:Believe. I learned so many wonderful things that can help to believe, believe that with Heavenly Father on my side and by working hard I can do anything.
We watched this wonderful video called the butterfly circus about this circus owner that helps people see that they are magnificent. One of the lines that I loved is "The greater the struggle the more glorious the triumph". This work is hard and especially sicne the Lord is hastening his work and I must prepare to lead these new missionaries in the near future but I know that the hard times are worth it because blessings will come eventually. I am trying to find out where President got the dvd because it is great but just look it up on youtube it is porbably there.
I was prepared to do this work when I got here but after this camp I am on fire and I am ready to go! 101 is a big number but it is possible because I believe! I know that with God I can do anything if I do all that I can do.
Thank you for all of your support.
I love you so much.
Sorry for the novel but you know me I love detail.
Love,
Hermana Hillary
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