Our Jam-packed Week!

Dearest Fam,

It has been such a great week with many things happening! There were too many miracles, and I have too little time to write them all!

Top: Pres. Felix helps Sister Felix prepare breakfast for us all.
Bottom: The Sister Training Leaders. It looks like a model shot of all of us!
(Back row) Hermana Brown, Me, Hermana Schmidt,
Hermana Cannon, Hermana Higgs, Hermana Faletau
(Front row) Sister Randall, Sister Hiatt, Sister Hegstrom,
Sister Snow, Sister Cox, Hermana Sidoway

This week we had Mission Leadership Council at the mission office in Oxnard. President and Sister Felix have only been in the mission field for about 4 days. They decided to have us all over before MLC for breakfast at the mission home, and Sister Felix made us all waffles! That was such a treat and a great opportunity to spend more time with President and Sister Felix.

(Thanks for keeping up my blog. The first thing that Sister Felix said to me was "Hey I remember you! You have a blog!" She said that they even watched the video of me opening my mission call. President Felix also said that he had been watching the blog and was excited to meet me in person.)

Misson Leadership Council
(Sister Training Leaders, Assistants to the President & Zone Leaders)

We had such a great and emotional MLC. We talked a little about President's vision for our mission, and we were all able to explain to him the very dignified and obedient culture of this great mission. It was emotional because you could see how excited President and Sister Felix were to be here, and they sometimes couldn't keep back the tears. It was great to see their dedication and enthusiasm for this mission. The spirit was incredibly strong (especially when we all sang our mission hymn, #41 "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise") and it remained that strong throughout the meeting. It was a really long day, but it was such an incredible experience! 

I love President and Sister Felix! They are very different than President and Sister Castro, but they are going to be able to do such a great job. You can tell how much they just love each other, and how much they already love these missionaries, and that is beautiful to see. President talked a lot about having two feet in in this missionary work and also turning "endure to the end" into "endure to the ENDowment." The temple is really what we need to be focusing on for ourselves and these great people we teach!

Sister Hiatt, Me, Sister Randall, and Sister Snow on our exchange.
I LOVE these sisters!

 We went on exchange with the Ventura Sister Training Leaders (Sister Randall & Sister Hiatt) and I had the opportunity to go with Sister Hiatt. I really love her because she is such a personal missionary and so sincere. She is able to teach like it's just an everyday conversation, so it feels very natural and very loving. She is incredible and a hard worker, so I was blessed to be able to spend the day with her. We were able to find a couple of great new investigators.

One huge miracle was that Sister Hiatt and I were able to find this man that we had been trying to contact for a really long time! He is a former investigator and has moved to the other side of Simi. We have gone by his old house (where his parents now live) many times to see if we would find him there, but never had any luck. This time he was there, and were able to talk to him! He even told us that even though he hasn't met with missionaries in four months or so, he has still diligently been reading the Book of Mormon! Now that was just perfect timing on the Lord's side, and it is just great to see that He leads and guides this work.

This is just how excited I was to be able to drive back
to my mission hometown, Agoura Hills!

Sister Snow and I went on our first exchange in Agoura Hills! It was such a blessing because this was my very first area, and it was great to be able to feel like I was back home. It was wonderful to see how the work has really picked up since I left.

Sister Guthrie and me on our exchange

I spent the day with Sister Guthrie. We saw many miracles and many hearts opened to the gospel. It was truly incredible to see! We talked to this great teenage boy (about 14 years old) and he told us that he loves to read the Bible just for fun. He had so many deep questions for a person his age. He was asking us about how we feel the Spirit in our lives and how we have the faith to believe in God. He truly came out of nowhere and it was a special experience to be able to teach him this wonderful gospel. 

My dreams came true! I was able to go back to my favorite
frozen yogurt place, Sweet XO, while I was in Agoura.

We also kept running across people who were unexpectedly open to the gospel! It was such a blessing to see! Sister Guthrie is a great missionary and she has such a strong testimony! She has had a little bit of a rough life, but it has made her testimony that much stronger! She is so powerful and sincere and she is really trying her best. 

Sister Mahterian! She is one of my favorite people in the entire world!
We were able to arrange to have dinner at her house when we were in
Agoura for our exchange. I was so happy I could hardly handle it!
She is so sweet and even bought me my favorite coconut chocolate
covered almonds from Sprouts and gave them to me at dinner
because she remembered the things I love! She is the sweetest!

In our own area there are wonderful things happening right and left! Our bishop told us last night that his 88-year-old father-in-law wants to take the lessons ASAP. We already have two lessons set up with him for this week, and I am really excited to see how that goes! 

Also, our investigators M and L are doing incredible! We had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, and it was great. They told us that they have a few struggles with the Word of Wisdom, but that they are willing to give it up right away. What incredible faith! They have a baptismal date for July 28th and they are going so strong! They are such a precious little family and are making great changes in their lives. 

We met a woman this week that has such a cute little family. She came up and talked to us. We also have met many people who have met with missionaries before, or have many friends who are members, that have let us in. I don't know what is going on these days, but I see how much we are blessed for all the time we have to be away from our area to go on exchanges or to go to different meetings! All of our investigators seem to be well taken care of, and great things keep happening here!

Happy 4th of July!

This week we'll start the rest of our 7 exchanges, so it is going to be an incredible whirlwind! I am just impressed and blessed to see how the Lord has given me strength beyond my own to fulfill this assignment. I am so lucky and I see His hand guiding me what to say and what to do. Let the adventures begin! 

Much Much Love,

Sister Mason