Year 1 - Letter 26 - Novato, CA

Short note - Baptisms

Hola! I have already seen so many miracles and know that I will continue to see many more. This week for instance I witnessed one of the most amazing experiences of my mission so far. We were teaching one of our investigators, Lino, and we were talking to him about baptism and he thought that he had to know everything in the Book of Mormon before he was baptized and at that moment I was told very strongly that he is ready and he needs to know it and I made it known to him and we were able to take the rest of the lesson to talk about baptisim and he commited to a baptisimal date at the end of the lesson. The spirit was so strong and I just felt like I was the person that needed to help this sweet man come to the waters of baptisim and I know that their are many more that I need to help.

We set a baptisimal date with Lino and it was SO SWEET! The best lesson I have ever taught and I found out that my investigator Andres in Fairfield was baptized. So despite the challenges this is still the best work ever I am just having to have a trial of my faith and I will WIN!

Please don't worry about me just pray!

Love you so much!

Hillary

Year 1 - Letter 25 - Novato, CA

Ready to Run!

Hola!!!

Guess what? Novato better watch out because they not only have me for at least one more transfer but they have both me and Hermana McKay for one more transfer! We are so excited!!!! This is the first time that Hermana McKay has had a companion for more than one transfer and it will be the only time because she only has one more transfer left. So I am the only one! I feel so special! We have come up with transfer goals and visions and themes. Our transfer theme is Ready to Run! We will run: out the door, to find His children, to Him for revelation. We are trying to be better at using time wisely, finding more people to teach and following the Spirit. We have had a lot of neat things happen this week. On Monday we had a church tour with one of our investigators, Faine. The spirit was so strong as we showed her the baptismal font and the sacrament table. We hoped that this would help her have a greater desire to come to church but she has a lot going in her life right now and so we are continuing to teach her and will keep inviting her to come to church and have faith and see what happens. Church tours are awesome though because they help people know what they can expect when they come to church.

We also had our last District Meeting of the transfer. My Districts become my family. It was fun we all got to teach a little part of the meeting and we just enjoyed learning from one another. After that meeting we helped the Spanish elders move. It was really fun to help our "brothers". We organized their kitchen for them so they can actually find things. Also when we were helping them move the Senior couple over housing were there and they were telling us that the office is getting mobbed with the amounts of new missionaries that are coming in during the summer months. Sister Kenney told us that in May we are getting more Spanish sisters then we have in the mission right now. So basically that means everyone will train and some will train two! Crazy!

We have had awesome lessons this week! One that I particularly enjoyed was that we did a family home evening with one of our investigators and her children and then we also did a family home evening with one of our less actives and her family as well. It is just fun to play with the kids and to teach a doctrinal principle simply but clearly. 

I went on an exchange to Petaluma this week and had a great time with Sister Williamson she from Idaho and is really sweet and just needed someone to listen to her and I can do that! I was their on Valentine's day and so we delivered Valentine's to members and investigators. That night we had dinner with the Wasden's and that is when they offered to take a picture of us and send it our parents. I thought that was so nice of them. They have a son who enters the MTC next week and so they hope that their nice deeds pay off. I know it will!

Also we had a really neat experience this week. One of the young woman in the branch, Grisel, is preparing to go on a mission and she was able to spend the night at our apartment on Friday and then she spent the whole day with us on Saturday. It was so neat to show her what missionary life is like and to be a good example for her. She taught a little bit during our lessons and she was just so excited to learn. It was such a neat experience to help her see what it is like to be a missionary.

Also Saturday one of the Elders investigators got married. It was so neat even though it was not for time and all eternity yet it was neat to know that now that they are married she can get baptized and make her first covenant with Heavenly Father and then she will be on the road for them to get married in the temple someday.

This work is honestly so incredible I am amazed every single day.

I love you all so much! 

Love you,

Hermana Hillary

Dear Williamson and Andrews Families,

We had the pleasure of hosting your daughters at our home just a few days ago, and felt compelled to offer you this report. We were impressed by the generosity of their spirits, by the intensity of their testimonies and by the good will, kindness and love which emanated from every fiber of their being. They are splendid missionaries, doing excellent work and bringing sweet blessings to our stake.

Sister Williamson is actually assigned to our ward, so we are pleased that we get to interact with her frequently. Sister Andrews serves in a Spanish branch south of our home but still within our stake's boundaries; it was immediately evident that she is just as brilliant and capable as her companion for the day.

Thanks so much for raising daughters of exemplary quality and profound spiritual capacity. Their service is appreciated, as are your sacrifices which permit them to serve among us!

Best,

s.w.

Hillary with Sister Williamson after dinner at the Wasden home.

Year 1 - Letter 24 - Novato, CA

So Thankful that Heavenly Father LOVES Broken Things

Hola Mi Familia y Amigos! 

Que pasa? I hope all is well in good ole' AZ or wherever you find yourself on this wonderful Monday! Well this week has been very eventful! First of all last week, Hermana McKay and I had a slight argument in the grocery store about what type of onions are used in this Mexican dish. I thought that it was green onions and she thought that it was white onions. We decided not to buy onions and we were both a little frustrated for the rest of our time at the grocery store. I realized the second that the argument was over that I was wrong but I did not want to say anything. For some reason I waited to admit my fault at dinner with the Elders and then went on to explain the different types of onions. They were all amazed at how much I know about onions and my excuse was that we always grew onions in our garden. So Dad you should be proud I actually learned something from helping in the garden. So now, everyone tells me onion jokes on a daily basis it is funny but moral of the story is just admit when your wrong and don't argue over stupid things!

This week we had an awesome Zone Meeting! We talked about being a Preach My Gospel Missionary and we did a lot of role plays. I have a love hate relationship with role plays because they are such a great opportunity to practice but they are so awkward and it is so hard to take them seriously. A new thing that Sister Alba has encouraged us to do is 30 second role plays. They are actually so fun and really helpful. This is how it goes you choose a principle from one of the lessons (For Example: The Book of Mormon from Lesson 1) and then you have to teach that principle as simply as possible in 30 seconds. It really helps me just keep things simple and is a great way of practicing how to summarize the principles so that we can make sure to teach something in our brief contacts. 

Another thing that we have been doing is power hour. This is something that we do as part of our dinner thoughts. We share a scripture about how miracles are still happening or about faith and then we talk about how we see miracles every day but that we need their help. We then tell them that in the next hour we are going to be visiting investigators or knocking doors and we need their faith to help miracles happen. So then we ask if a member of their family would offer a prayer in our behalf and to ask that we will be blessed with miracles in the next hour. We have done this twice this week and it has been amazing! The prayers that have been offered have been so powerful and we have been blessed with amazing miracles. We have had some of the most powerful lessons during these hours and we know that it is due to the extra faith and prayers from the members. Members are incredible never doubt the power that you have as a member missionary.

One other neat thing that we did this week is service tracting. We wear our service clothes: yellow helping hands shirts and jeans and then we go tracting but instead of just sharing the gospel we ask if their is any service that we can do and then we share a pass a long card. People always look at us so funny when we say "oh we are just in the neighborhood looking for opportunities to serve". No one has ever given us anything to do but people are always so touched my our desire to serve and are more willing to listen to our message or just take a card. It is a different approach to tracting and it is fun to wear jeans!

This weekend I have been feeling a little sick. I just feel really achy so I have been resting a little bit each day and I received a blessing yesterday but it amazes me that even when I feel terrible I still have the power and authority to do this work. Last night I felt like death but we had this awesome lesson with our investigator, Lino. The spirit was so strong and as I was promising him that if he quit his job so he can attend church the Lord would bless him I felt so powerful every pain in my body was gone for the moment and I just felt the Lord testifying through me. It was awesome! 

Now to explain my title. This week I have been very thankful that Heavenly Father loves broken things because I have felt a little bit on the broken side. This week I had my first run in with my visual motor control delay affecting my mission. I was on exchanges in Rohnert Park and I had to drive because my contemporary companion could not drive because she is not a citizen. I was nervous because I did not know the area and driving just scares me. So we got to the apartment safely but then we were trying to park in their tight parking space and I was so stressed and confused that I was not paying attention and I scraped their car on the pole that is neighboring their parking space. I felt so bad and the damage was not bad but it has made me scared to drive in the future. I have been beating myself up over it but I have felt that Heavenly Father loves me even though I have a hard time driving and that he wants to help through this and that the atonement is there to help me when I feel broken. This is a trial that for some reason I have to face over and over again but I know that I will continue to be able to conquer it. I have expressed my concern to president and I know that everything will work out! 

The atonement is incredible! It is the only way to get through challenges and it just makes life great.

Thank you for everything! 

Love you all!

Hermana Hillary

Year 1 - Letter 23 - Novato, CA

Drops of Awesome

Hola! Como estan? 

Well, first of all even though I am not supposed to care about worldly things let's talk Super Bowl! My opinion: I was hoping that the 49ers would win because it is cool to be so close to San Francisco and people were going crazy with 49er pride around here and so it rubbed off on me. Also that is crazy that the power went out! Well on to life in the mission field! 

I honestly love Novato so much! The branch here is incredible! We had a noche de hogar (family home evening) at one of the branch presidency members houses last Monday. It was a big party. There were so many members there and it was just so fun! I felt at home because there were people everywhere and just so much love. The branch president is only like 27. It is kind of funny because at times it is hard to take him seriously but he has such high energy that rubs off on all of the members that makes everyone really united.

This week I had an experience that reminded me of my dear friend President Bawden. I was in a district meeting and we were talking about the How to Begin Teaching section in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel. We had been talking about the importance of truly getting to know investigators and following the spirit. I had this strong impression to share an experience that I had with this when I was on exchanges last week. I did not want to share it because I could not describe it very well but I remembered what President Bawden said about how important it is to be vulnerable and express our feelings. I shared my experience about how I applied these principles in one of the lessons we taught and how I allowed the Spirit to help me use them instead of just rattling them off. After I shared my experience my district leader shared that he was so thankful that I had shared that experience because it was exactly what he had wanted to touch on. I just felt so good that I had followed through with this prompting and I would invite all of you to be vulnerable and just follow the spirit and share experiences from your life. You never know how your words may affect others but you wouldn't want to hold back an answer to someone's prayer.

Also this week we had interviews with President. My interview was exactly what I needed! He was so impressed with my Spanish and the faith and confidence that I have gained! We just had a really good conversation about a little bit of everything and I just felt so loved. My companion is going through a hard time right now and so we talked about that and he told me that he knew that I would be good for her and that he was happy with how I am helping her. That was honestly the best thing I have heard in a while. It just feels good to know that I am making him proud. Oh and interviews with Sister Alba are just the funnest things ever and this time I did not cry! She was also so pleased with all I am learning and how happy I am! That was a highlight of the week for sure! 

Also, we are supposed to do two hours of service every week so we made a lot of phone calls finding service opportunities. So this week we served at the food bank! We bagged rice for two hours! Wooohooo! It was actually really fun and I got to wear my yellow shirt which is fun!

This week I went on an exchange to Petaluma with Sister Henry who has only been out for one transfer! It was really fun to speak English! We saw wonderful miracles! The best thing about the exchange was that we shared a spiritual thought with them before the exchange using a story called Drops of Awesome. Go google this right now. It was on a blog and it starts out with saying that she has had this post on her mind for over year. Please read it!  It is such a good post about seeing the positives in life. We have to look for the drops of awesome things that we do every single day because sometimes we get caught up in the stupid or dumb things that we do. Through out the exchange we all looked for the positive things that we did and life was just great! So read the story and then apply it to your life and your life will be changed. So in missionary terms Will you read this story and apply it to your life? Si! Ok great! Please if you read this story write me or even e-mail me it is not against the rules I just can't e-mail you back if you are not family) and tell me what you thought about it!

Also we had Stake Conference this week. In the adult session it was all about the Christlike Attribute section in Preach My Gospel. This section is so awesome and is such a good tool for all of our lives. This stake does something really cool. After the Priesthood Session the Relief Society throws a nice dinner for the Priesthood holders. I thought that was a good idea. Then for the Sunday session we had a regional conference and Elder Perry spoke. It was awesome! He basically told members that they need to step it up and then he taught the first three lessons from the pulpit! It was great to know that an apostle of the Lord is helping us out with this work and it is evident that the work is really hastening! 

Well this week has been great. So many neat experiences. I love you all so much! 

Love you more than the Little Caesar's Pizza we had today!

Hermana Andrews