Hello hello my family

Hi everyone!

How has your week been? I hope great as it has been here in Oregon!

We had some really awesome experiences this week.  I will start with the Perez family. The mom and daughter Alexa are members, and husband and other two children are not. We have been teaching them for awhile.  I haven't talked about them much because they haven't progressed too much. Teaching them has been quite a struggle. They are very quiet and look like they want to die when we teach them.  When we had a set lesson I got pretty stressed out.  I was determined to have a great lesson with them.  I was on exchanges with one of the sister trainer leaders and we came up with the idea of doing like a hands on plan of salvation. Holy smokes was that lesson great or what?? They were so focused and really enjoyed it! Their favorite part was talking about the celestial kingdom and how they want to be there united. They came to church on Sunday! They haven't come in 8 weeks so it was great to see them there!

Chayo and Carlos are progressing at a little slower pace.  We were wanting to get them married at the end of November but because of Thanksgiving it looks like it will be beginning of December.  Carlos is trying to cut back on smoking. He is at 3 cigarettes a day so he is making progress!  We are really focusing on helping them understand how the Book of Mormon can help them.

We had our third lesson with Ana Ramirez this week. We taught the plan of salvation. She really enjoyed learning where we come from and why we are here.  She read in the Book of Mormon and had a few great questions.  She committed to be baptized when she knows these things are true.

We were able to have interviews with President Samuelian this week.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have him as my mission president.  I really can't imagine having another mission president.  He's kind of like a second dad while I don't have my pop here with me for 18 months.  As I was leaving the interview he says, "You know Hermana Gifford...You're a lot like a boy how everything is a competition."   Hahah! That’s a Gifford for you!

Well we get to go to the temple tomorrow! We have to get flu shots next Monday so they are making our P-day this Friday and we won't have one on Monday. So if you can write me by Friday please.   :)

I love you all. The Lord is hastening His work every single day!

Hermana Gifford

Exchanges with the sister trainer leaders

Fall is Here

Hello hello!

I hope everyone is doing just dandy.  Fall is comin’ in quick in Oregon.  I love it.

We had a great week.  Happy Birthday to Kenzie tomorrow! I don't have her email so someone tell her for me please!

Oh before I forget, we get to go to the temple and do a session next week on Tuesday!  It’s possible that Tuesday will be our P-day so if I don't write on Nonday that is why :)

I will start off with Rose this week. Tuesday we got a call from Rose's aunt and she was panicking.  She said Carlos (Chayo's/Rose’s) boyfriend and Jasmin got in a car crash.  Come to the ER and bring the Elders so they can give her a blessing.  We were so scared!  We had no idea how bad it was.  They were going through an intersection and a car flew by and hit them.  It hit on Jasmin's side. Their car is definitely totaled.  They left with nothing much more than some scratches and bruises. When we saw Jasmin she said, "I didn't die because I just got baptized!"  Someone could have really gotten hurt so we are grateful that she is okay.  Long story short Carlos went to jail but is already out.  We were hoping to get him and Chayo married within two weeks but looks like it will be the end of November now.

Yesterday we had a great temple trip!  We had this planned a few weeks ago so we were determined to get some investigators to go visit the temple.  Monse and Juan came.  Monse has been a member her whole life but fell away when she was about 16.  Her "husband" is not a member.  They came to the temple with their little son.  We watched a great video on eternal families and after the video Juan expressed how much he loved it and how he wants to change and spend more quality time with his family.  They haven't been to open to the missionaries coming over so we really hope this will change and we can go see them more often.

Lydia and her daughter Adelene also came to the temple!  This is the second time that Lydia has gone to the temple.  She told us how last time she went to the temple she had a dream of what all the inside looked like in the temple and she got to walk through.  As she walked through she saw angles singing inside the temple. She has had some pretty amazing dreams.  She has a desire to be baptized but her husband is really holding her back.

We had zone training meeting this last week and it was focused on finding. Finding new investigators in McMinville is super different from Salem.  In Salem there are millions of Hispanics walking on the streets so we spent a lot of time walking.  Here there are not as many people out on the streets so we do a lot of area book finding.  But in our zone training meeting we talked about how some investigators will come to us, and one of the ways is through walking.  Hermana Wilde and I have decided that we will take 30 minutes a day to walk and with faith the Lord will put those prepared in our path.  Finding is something we really need to improve on.  Our goal is to talk to 6 unplanned people every day, give out 2 Books of Mormon to people on the street every day, and of course asking referrals from everybody :)  I know there are sooo many people here in our area that are waiting to find the gospel, we need to do our part and search for them!

That basically wraps up the big details from this week!  What a wonderful blessing it is to be a missionary and representative of the Lord!  The scripture I am going to memorize this week is Moroni 7:46-47.  We are nothing without charity.  One of the best things as a missionary is looking for small little ways to serve others.  This week reach out and serve someone you wouldn't normally.  I love you all very much.  Have a splendid week!

Love always,

Hermana Gifford

This is Sister McCarther from St. George. She knows a lot of people
that I would play with and she is best friends with Gentrie Hansen
that I went to school with! Small world.

A Week of Miracles

Hello everyone!

Oh my goodness it was such a great week. It was like a missionary's dream week!  Haha!

First things first Chayo/Rose didn't end up getting baptized. There were a couple last minute things that popped up.  But we will be preparing her to be baptized within the next couple of weeks. Jasmin (14), Jr. (13), and Andrew (11) were baptized!  It was such a great baptism.  They are awesome kids.  

President Aguiar who is in the mission presidency and also the Branch President was able to baptize them, so that was great.  Wednesday night they had their baptismal interviews.  We were feeling pretty nervous because Jr. has autism and a lot of times won't talk at all.  He has responded well to the lessons and really wanted to get baptized but he has really hard times talking to people he doesn't know.  We were praying a lot for this great kid.  After the interview, the missionary that gave the interview, and Jr. walked in with big smiles on their faces.  Jr. talked a lot in the interview and he offered a prayer! That was a great miracle from the Lord.

Listen to this!  Do you all remember Nazario and Socorro from Salem?  Well, we got a call the other day and it was Nazario!  My first thought was Nazario...you can't call us! Haha!  But he called us to tell us that his daughter Ana is at school at Linfield (which is in McMinville) and she wants us to come over and see her!  So we went over on Tuesday and had a great lesson with her! She is wanting to learn at a slow pace but she is really wanting to know all about what her dad has been telling her. The thing that we are worried about with her is that she runs cross-country for the school and they go running every Sunday morning during church.  So, we will see what happens but this was a great miracle to be able to teach her!

Church wise was super awesome as well.  All the less active families that we visited throughout the week came to church.  That almost never happens!  A less active family that hadn't come in years came to church.  We were also able to get 5 investigators to church.  It feels so nice when the Lord showers miracles on the work.  It was one of those weeks that the Lord helped us see the success for the hard work we have put in.

Well I hope that you all had a wonderful week.  My "ponderize" scripture is Ether 12:27 this week. Take a peek at it :)   I love you all, thanks for all your love and support!

Love,

Hermana Gifford

Hermana Wilde, Jr., Andrew, Jasmin Hermana Gifford
Baptism Day!

Fall in Oregon - my favorite time of year!

Birthday Bash

Hello hello!

I hope all your weeks were wonderful. It was great here! I spent the first part of the week in Newberg with English sisters. It is so different. It was fun but I did miss the Spanish work :) We also rode bikes...Now that was terrifying! Haha.

I received my new companion on Thursday. Her name is Hermana Wilde and she is from Brigham City Utah.  She and I graduated high school the same year. She is very big into theater and musical stuff.

Funny story: We are preparing for Chayo's baptism (This coming Saturday) and we were asking how she wants her name on the program and she said, "Honestly I hate when people call me Chayo."  We had no idea!  So she wants us to call her Rose now.  I am really trying to change that haha.  She and 3 of her children are preparing for baptism this Saturday. We still have a lot of stuff that we need to teach them prior to their baptism.  Please keep them in your prayers. They are such a great family. I will never ever forget the memories I have had with them.

Yoselin came to a session of conference!  Because we weren't in McMinville the whole week we didn't get too spend too much time with her.  But she said she really enjoyed conference.

Wasn't conference amazing?? I loved it so much. One of the things that stood out to me is the importance of women.  I am so grateful for our wonderful Mom.  I thought Elder Holland’s talk was very special.  Before my mission I relied on mom A LOT.  When I got to the mission President Samuelian told me that I needed to learn to rely on the Savior.  I still rely on mom because...she is awesome duh hahah!  But I have loved to learn to rely on the Savior as well. The two best people in my life :)

I also loved hearing about the importance of reading the scriptures. I have committed that I will never miss a day of reading the Book of Mormon.  I also loved the idea of "ponderizing".  I am going to try to memorize a scripture in English and Spanish every week.  This week is 1 Timothy 4:12 :)

I know without a doubt our three new apostles have been called of God. I felt the Spirit so strong as their names were called.  How lucky are we to be led by servants of God.

My birthday was great!  A family that lives in the branch made it really special for me. I got a yummy cheesecake :)  Thanks for all the birthday wishes, packages, cards and such!!

We got two new investigators this week that I am looking forward to working with. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I am grateful for all of your support and love!!

Love,

Hermana Gifford

Hermana Tuisaula and Hermana Gifford part

It's my birthday!

Hermana Wilde, Gifford, Sister and Brother West

My birthday!  Hermana Gifford and Hermana Wilde

Hermana Wilde, Gifford, Sister West