O That I Were an Angel...

From the letter to the Mission President:

This week has been marvelous! I love Alma 29:1-2: "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people. Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the Plan of Redemption that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth." I feel just like Alma! This work brings so much joy! I love it! 

We were able to have some great lessons this week! We have a new investigator named J. We had two lessons with her this week. We taught her the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon. She agreed to read in it. Our second lesson with J was great! We knocked on her door three times with no answer. We were able to turn and leave when J opened the door with the Book of Mormon in her hands. She said that she had read the introduction. We talked about the Book of Mormon, reviewed the Restoration, and were able to read 1 Nephi 1 with her. I felt prompted to ask J to be baptized. She said yes! We then asked her if she would be baptized on September 20th. She went on to say that she had already been baptized. We explained to her that in our church we baptize the same way that Jesus Christ was baptized, by immersion. We also explained about the power and authority from God that our church has to perform sacred ordinances. After our explanation we asked her again to be baptized and she said yes! At the end of the lesson we asked if she would like to say the closing prayer. She told us that she did not know how. We were able to teach her how to pray. She then offered a sweet simple prayer. It was amazing to see her humility and her willingness to try something new. It was such a miracle! She has three cute young daughters. We are so excited to continue working with her and prepare her to be baptized. We are going over this week to teach her more and introduce her to some members. We are excited! 

This week we were also able to have several lessons with G. She does not really have much of a religious background. We have to take our lessons with G really slow and explain everything. We love teaching her! She is very sweet and very shy. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and testified to her why we are here in the earth. We also talked about why our decisions here on earth are so important. She really liked the lesson. We also read with G in Alma 32. She loved learning more about faith and the comparison of faith to a seed. Alma 32 is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. We can also do something more to strengthen and grow our own faith!

We were able to find some other great new investigators this week. We found C. She is a sweet lady with a cute family. We taught her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She was excited to get the Book of Mormon because she likes to read. We have a lesson with her later tonight. We are excited to continue teaching her and hopefully her family as well.

We also found another woman named L. She has 2 young sons and was very receptive to our message. She has talked a little bit with missionaries in the past. We taught her the Restoration as well and gave her a Book of Mormon. We are excited to go back and teach her more this coming week. 

This week we found a man named A. He was really nice and interested in our message. He said that one day he would like to come to our church. We hope to be able to get him to church soon and help him to continue to learn more about our message. We taught him the message of the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon. A agreed to read in the Book of Mormon.  

This past week was wonderful! We are really focused on finding new investigators to teach and I know that the Lord has been blessing us to find His prepared sons and daughters. I am so grateful to be a part of this humbling work! What a joy it is to be representatives of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Alma 29:9 "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." 

This is my joy! I am so grateful to be here in Santa Paula, in the Great California Ventura Mission! I love this work with all my heart! 

Mom! It's so great to hear from you! I am sending a letter home this week. Oh that puppy is so cute! Too bad she won't be a puppy by the time I'll get back. What convinced dad to get a puppy? 

Yes, we go to a ward a branch. I already wrote about that in my letter so you'll find out. :)

(A Selfie)

Yes, thank you so much for the clothes! They fit great! New clothes are always welcomed. When you wear the same things over and over again it's easy to get tired of them. 

(My favorite shoes)

I forgot that you were doing activity days! That's probably nice that you can just focus of one calling now. That's a lot of work! 

The English Elders here are doing great! There is so much good English work here. They are now teaching most of our progressing investigators. We are really focused now on finding some new investigators to teach. I think that they might be having some baptisms this transfer. I am so happy for them. They are great hardworking Elders!

(Sister Young and me)

Yeah, I'm doing so great! Just running all the time! Haha every morning (besides Sunday and Monday) I try to run. Mondays our exercise is cleaning our apartment. I just run laps Tuesday-Saturday. I run about 10 every morning and I think it's close to a mile. When I run, I have more energy throughout the day, I am not as tired, and I feel better. So there are many benefits. I want to be able to be healthy on my mission. The reason why a lot of missionaries gain weight on their mission is because eating food is a stress reliever. So they will go home and eat food even if they are not hungry. I feel like running helps my body to relax and I seek other stress relievers besides food. But sometimes cookies are good. haha

(A project we helped a ward member with)

Well I need to go, but thanks so much for all your love and support. I love hearing from you. Letters are the best! They make my day! Thanks so much for being so supportive and loving. I love you all!

Con amor, 

Hermana Killpack :)