I Honestly Love Being a Trainer!

Mom and Dad,

It was another great week here in Agoura Hills! First of all, I love my new companion Sister Mapa. She is 19 years old and from San Jose, California. She got her mission call to Brazil but she has been temporarily reassigned to our mission until her visa comes. She is Tongan and she is so loud and hilarious! She is such a fun person to be around but most of all she is willing to do hard or uncomfortable things. I can just tell that she wants to share her testimony with everyone who will listen. She has already taught me so much in the past week. I have been trying to push her out of her comfort zone this week and I have been really impressed with her!
 

Me and the wonderful Sister Mapa!

One night when visiting a less-active woman, it was time to share a message with her so I simply opened up her scriptures, gave them to her and silently nodded "go for it" to see what she would do. She did a great job and she ended up saying just what this woman needed to hear. It was a wonderful experience. She is basically trained already. All I do is ask her to try things. Sister Mapa is the greatest and we are very similar. I really felt strongly from the minute we were in the car on the way home from the transfer meeting that we needed to be companions. I haven't exactly found out why, but for right now I can say that we work so well together already and I am so excited for the great things and miracles we will see this transfer!

These are the missionaries that arrived this week with Sister Mapa.
There are 35 new missionaries and only 3 went home.

I honestly love being a trainer! I know it is a huge responsibility but it has been wonderful already. I feel like I have been able to feel the spirit so much stronger in my life when I am training and I have been able to learn so much already. I have survived my first week as a trainer and it really wasn't as hard as I was fearing!
 

The 4 Agoura sisters! Sister Proctor, Sister Casper, me, and Sister Mapa

It has been interesting already sharing the car with the other Agoura sisters. We have been walking tons but we have also been able to meet wonderful people already! I am so glad that our area has split because it makes the area much more manageable to cover. We have basically decided to split the car each day so we would have the car in the morning and then we would usually get dropped off close to our dinner appointment and tract for a few hours. I have never walked and tracted so much in my life! Normally it would be a little depressing to walk and tract nonstop but Sister Mapa and I have had great attitudes and we have been working as hard as we can. Sister Mapa and I decided that this transfer we are going to try to knock every door in our area! We will see!
 

Cherry, one of the best people I have met in Agoura!
Sadly, she is not in my area anymore so I won't be able to teach her.

This week we met with one of our investigators. She was someone who was referred to us from Elder Watts and Elder Atkin in the Westlake area. We had a wonderful meeting where we taught her about The Book of Mormon and prayer. When we had met with her before, her kids were home and it was very loud and distracting. This week when we met with her, her kids were at school already so it was much more peaceful and the spirit was so strong. We invited her to start reading The Book of Mormon so we will she what happens with her. She is a great woman and we could already see a huge change in her from the last time we met with her!

The Palmers! An amazing family in my ward.

Sad news about one of our investigators, the amazing one that was planning on getting baptized this Saturday. We met with her this week and it was so sad because she told us that she had lots of doubts about getting baptized. She also told us that her ex-boyfriend (a member) has been telling her to check out different churches. Plus, on top of that her grandma is very sick and everything seems to be crashing down on her. She was crying when we were talking to her and I was so close to crying too. We tried to tell her that it is natural for Satan to try anything he can to attack her before her baptism. So for now she is not on track to get baptized but we will hopefully be able to still meet with her and see how things are going. I was so sad to hear about that but I know that she has her own choice :(

A lake in our area, Lake Lindero. It is so beautiful!

I still am in love with Agoura Hills! It honestly feels like home to me now. I love the people and the members are incredible. I feel so lucky every day to be here. I hope I stay here for a while but who knows how long I will be needed here.

Just know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TWO!!

-Sister Mason