Hola Familia y Amigos!
My week has been great, and I love serving in the Great California Ventura Mission! I'm in an area called Arroyo Grande :)
The area is doing well. It always surprises me that there is so much work to do, especially among the Less Active members of our ward. I really enjoy working here, and there are lots of good people to teach. I think that we have been getting a lot done (at least from my very limited experience). There are a few new investigators that I have been privileged to meet. I think that we are all doing really well. We invited our investigator Lily to be baptized this week, and she agreed to be baptized once she received an answer to her prayers. That was very exciting as missionaries have been teaching her for almost a year with little real progress. I promised her that if she read and prayed about it every day this week, she would receive an answer. I am very excited to see if she does, and I know that if she is diligent, the Lord will answer her prayers and mine. We have had many opportunities for service this last week and I know that it has touched people's lives (will be expressed in greater detail under S). The ward members here are great and very supportive of our efforts. We have had many good dinner lessons and a dinner with a less active/part member family, which was a great teaching opportunity. I am excited to see how the next week goes and I know that as we continue to be obedient and faithful, we will continue to find people to teach.
Hermana Eastman is fantastic and my trainer. I love having her as my companion. She seems to be doing really well, and I think that we've both opened up a lot more this last week, and gotten to be pretty good friends. We get along amazingly well, and she is an excellent example to me. I am very grateful for her patience and the little acts of service she gives me every day. I am so thankful that I've had the opportunity to learn so much from her, and I look forward to our remaining weeks of service together. She's from Meridian, Idaho and she's been out a year.
I have had a lot of testimony building experiences in the past week, and I know that one of them is that the Lord knows us each individually and perfectly. I know that he numbers his sheep (Alma 26:37) and that the ones in Arroyo Grande are just as important as those in Utah and Argentina. I am so thankful that I have had this opportunity to learn from the people here and have this experience, and I know that the Lord's plan for me is so perfect, and I have so many things to learn about being humble and willing to submit to his will. I was a little prideful about getting called out of state, but I have learned that the Lord knows what his children need and how they need to get those things. I have also gained a huge testimony of feasting on the words of Christ-as I read the scriptures and learn more about what I need to teach, the scriptures and the words I need to teach are given to me in the very hour I need them. As we are obedient and diligent in following the mission rules while not running faster than we have strength, we are given the power of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of tongues. When we were teaching Lily, I kind of got lost in what she was saying and didn't fully understand what was going on, however, I was prompted to bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon, and shortly thereafter I received a very clear prompting that I needed to commit her to baptism, so I did, and it was successful with a little help from Hma Eastman. Afterwards I learned that she also had the prompting at the same time I did, so either way, hopefully one of us would have asked her. It is empowering to be able to follow the promptings of the Spirit, because the Lord knows exactly what his children need to hear and when. I love having this great opportunity to serve the Lord and serve a mission!
Service has been an excellent opportunity to share the gospel this last week. When we served Sister Barta (a less active member), we were able to talk to her about the church and she said that she will come back soon. She's not really sure when, but as we serve her and talk to her, I know that she has great potential to return to church and be reactivated. We had the opportunity to serve a less active member named Juanita and by doing so, we were able to share a good message with her mom who is very Catholic. We could find common ground and have a wonderful discussion with her about God's love for us. One time when we were contacting this week, we met a lady named Ellyn. She is Born-again Christian, and she was very against talking to us about the Book of Mormon at first. We asked her for referrals or for service opportunities, and just talking to her about that was a great opportunity to share the gospel and then discuss what we believed. She did give us several recommendations and appreciated that we spent so much of our time as missionaries serving like Christ.
This week has been a wonderful learning experience, and I am so glad to be here and have the opportunity to serve. Thanks for all of your emails and support, I hope you all have a great week! I'll hopefully have more time to write next week because I've caught up on all my current emails :) I can't send pictures because I forgot my cable, but maybe next week.
Love,My week has been great, and I love serving in the Great California Ventura Mission! I'm in an area called Arroyo Grande :)
The area is doing well. It always surprises me that there is so much work to do, especially among the Less Active members of our ward. I really enjoy working here, and there are lots of good people to teach. I think that we have been getting a lot done (at least from my very limited experience). There are a few new investigators that I have been privileged to meet. I think that we are all doing really well. We invited our investigator Lily to be baptized this week, and she agreed to be baptized once she received an answer to her prayers. That was very exciting as missionaries have been teaching her for almost a year with little real progress. I promised her that if she read and prayed about it every day this week, she would receive an answer. I am very excited to see if she does, and I know that if she is diligent, the Lord will answer her prayers and mine. We have had many opportunities for service this last week and I know that it has touched people's lives (will be expressed in greater detail under S). The ward members here are great and very supportive of our efforts. We have had many good dinner lessons and a dinner with a less active/part member family, which was a great teaching opportunity. I am excited to see how the next week goes and I know that as we continue to be obedient and faithful, we will continue to find people to teach.
Hermana Eastman is fantastic and my trainer. I love having her as my companion. She seems to be doing really well, and I think that we've both opened up a lot more this last week, and gotten to be pretty good friends. We get along amazingly well, and she is an excellent example to me. I am very grateful for her patience and the little acts of service she gives me every day. I am so thankful that I've had the opportunity to learn so much from her, and I look forward to our remaining weeks of service together. She's from Meridian, Idaho and she's been out a year.
I have had a lot of testimony building experiences in the past week, and I know that one of them is that the Lord knows us each individually and perfectly. I know that he numbers his sheep (Alma 26:37) and that the ones in Arroyo Grande are just as important as those in Utah and Argentina. I am so thankful that I have had this opportunity to learn from the people here and have this experience, and I know that the Lord's plan for me is so perfect, and I have so many things to learn about being humble and willing to submit to his will. I was a little prideful about getting called out of state, but I have learned that the Lord knows what his children need and how they need to get those things. I have also gained a huge testimony of feasting on the words of Christ-as I read the scriptures and learn more about what I need to teach, the scriptures and the words I need to teach are given to me in the very hour I need them. As we are obedient and diligent in following the mission rules while not running faster than we have strength, we are given the power of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of tongues. When we were teaching Lily, I kind of got lost in what she was saying and didn't fully understand what was going on, however, I was prompted to bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon, and shortly thereafter I received a very clear prompting that I needed to commit her to baptism, so I did, and it was successful with a little help from Hma Eastman. Afterwards I learned that she also had the prompting at the same time I did, so either way, hopefully one of us would have asked her. It is empowering to be able to follow the promptings of the Spirit, because the Lord knows exactly what his children need to hear and when. I love having this great opportunity to serve the Lord and serve a mission!
Service has been an excellent opportunity to share the gospel this last week. When we served Sister Barta (a less active member), we were able to talk to her about the church and she said that she will come back soon. She's not really sure when, but as we serve her and talk to her, I know that she has great potential to return to church and be reactivated. We had the opportunity to serve a less active member named Juanita and by doing so, we were able to share a good message with her mom who is very Catholic. We could find common ground and have a wonderful discussion with her about God's love for us. One time when we were contacting this week, we met a lady named Ellyn. She is Born-again Christian, and she was very against talking to us about the Book of Mormon at first. We asked her for referrals or for service opportunities, and just talking to her about that was a great opportunity to share the gospel and then discuss what we believed. She did give us several recommendations and appreciated that we spent so much of our time as missionaries serving like Christ.
This week has been a wonderful learning experience, and I am so glad to be here and have the opportunity to serve. Thanks for all of your emails and support, I hope you all have a great week! I'll hopefully have more time to write next week because I've caught up on all my current emails :) I can't send pictures because I forgot my cable, but maybe next week.
Hermana Swan
my address:
Hermana Swan
2448 La Costa
Oceano, CA 93445
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