Sunny Oregon

Hello my faithful fans.

How goes it?

It has been a great week here in Oregon. And...The sun is out!  It is so nice to see the sun.  I missed that guy.

I feel like the last few weeks I have had big news of some sort but his week was a good, but pretty normal week.  We had a great lesson with Yoselin this week. We have invited her to pray specifically and she is now feeling that is receiving more specific answers.  We had to change her date to the middle of February but she is focusing this week to ask for Sundays off at work so that she can come to church more often.  

Chayo and her family have officially moved. Their records have all been moved so the missionaries can visit them there :)

We had 3 investigators at church. It was funny though because it was 3 people we haven't been focusing a lot on.  Guess that was an answer to prayers that we need to start focusing on them more!  We also had a quite a bit of less active members come so that was great.  Hermana Cinta that hasn't come to church in a few years came!  Lots of miracles.

Wednesday we had our Worldwide training.  It was so cool to think all the missionaries in the world were doing the same thing at that time.  The focus was to teach repentance and baptize converts.  A lot of times as missionaries we are so focused on baptisms but it is so important that we really help the person become truly converted to the gospel.

Elder Bednar gave a training on the role of the Holy Ghost.  I am so grateful for how much we have to be in tune with the Holy Ghost as normal members but especially as missionaries.  I am so grateful for the promptings that I receive every day.  Whether it is to talk to someone, testify of something, or change certain plans, the Holy Ghost helps this work keep moving!

We went on two exchanges this week. Both of them I was with sisters that will return home in a week.  One sister is not so focused on the work and is ready to go home and the other is more diligent than ever and was totally focusing on the work.  It really helped me understand how important it is that we endure to the end.  Doesn't matter if it’s the real world or the mission we can't just sit back and relax.  Something I heard at the beginning of my mission is if you can't endure to the end on a mission how are you going to endure to the real end?  That has really stuck with me to work harder every day.

We have transfer calls coming up this Saturday. I have been in McMinnville for 5 months.  I really have no idea what’s going to happen.  I would love to stay here but who knows.

Well my family, how well do you feel like you follow the promptings of the Spirit? When you get a prompting to testify of the Church do you do it?  Do you follow that prompting that tells you to help someone out?  I invite you to do it!  Listen to whatever prompting you may receive.  And if you don't know if it’s a prompting or yourself, do it anyway!  If it is something to help someone come closer to Christ, the Lord will bless you for following that prompting.

I love you all so so much.  Have a great week!

Hermana Gifford

Mad Cow times 2?

Hello everyone!

How goes it? Happy Birthday to Emmitt yesterday! I hope that you had a great day little dude!

Well lets see for this week...I started feeling better Monday and Tuesday and then all of a sudden I started coughing like crazy and my asthma got pretty bad. So I went to the doctor and low and behold I have bronchitis yay! But they put me on some good meds so I am starting to do better!

This week we weren't able to make too much progress with Yoselin because she had a crazy work schedule. Her baptismal date was set for January 23rd but we are going to have to move it back because she wasn't able to make it to church.  But we will be having an FHE at a members house with her tonight so we are hoping to get her right back on date!

The time is ticking down with Chayo, Carlos and their family.  They will be moving on Saturday.  We have their address in California so missionaries can be there to meet them there very first day there.

We got 3 member referrals this week so we are super excited for these people to see.  It’s so great to get referrals from members because then they already know someone in the branch and feel more comfortable from the beginning.  I will let you know how the progress goes with them next week.

This Wednesday we have a world wide missionary conference with Elder Oaks and some other general authorities.  All the missionaries around the world will tune in to watch this conference.  We are pretty excited about it.  Afterwards, Sister Estudillo and I get to give an hour training.  We have three one hour trainings this week on different topics..yay... haha!  Lots of planning for us!

This week I went on exchanges with an awesome sister from Mesa AZ.  We had a whole day with nothing set so we got to do a lot of finding.  We have been working a lot on finding new investigators.  We got to spend some time out walking.  It was fun to talk to people on the street.  I felt like we hadn't had a full day of finding in awhile so it was good to feel, like a real missionary again hehe :)

Well that pretty much sums up our week! This week I really enjoyed sacrament meeting and thought how great of a blessing it is to renew our covenants every week.  Every week we have the opportunity to think of our Savior and all He did for us.  I invite you this next Sunday to really take advantage of the time we have to partake of the sacrament. Really think how you can better use the Atonement.

I love you all. Have a fabulous week!

Xoxo

Hermana Gifford

This is the First Grove Zone- we gave a training for the zone training meeting.

MCMINNVILLE ZONE-best zone ever. We played pickle ball for zone pday today.

Mad Cow

Hello my fellow fam!

How is everyone doing? Looks and sounds like its pretty cold there in Utah. Thankfully it warmed up a lit bit this last week. But I think the cold from the last week got me. :(  I got super sick with some nasty congestion and sinus stuff.  I was out for awhile but I am feeling much better.  Let me tell you its pretty different being sick when you don't have momma bringing you apple juice hehe :)

We had a great week with Yoselin. We had a wonderful FHE with the West family and we are going to have another one tonight!  We also had Natalia who is a laurel come to a lesson and she was so amazing in it!  Natalia is also a convert so she shared a great testimony. This week our focus is on having Yoselin talk to her parents about baptism because she has to have their permission prior to baptism.

Chayo and Carlos have set their date to move the 23rd of January.  It is going to be so strange to not have them here.  We typically teach them 3-4 times a week.  But to look at it positively we get to find new people that are searching for the gospel.  They will always be apart of me though.

We had Missionary Leadership Council this week.  We talked a lot about the importance that repentance precedes baptism.  Our mission for the last couple of months has been one of the top for baptisms but we really want to make sure these people are converted.  Our focus was teach Repentance, Baptize Converts.  These meetings are wonderful and filled with the Spirit.

This week I got to go on exchanges with Sister Kennelly.  Now this sister is awesome!  I learned a lot about responsibility.  She wants to makes sure she is always exactly on time.  She has even calculated how long she can take in the shower every morning.  I love spending time with sisters and learning from their great examples.

The New Testament is AWESOME! I haven't gotten too far in it because I am really trying to understand it but I absolutely love it.  It is amazing to read how the Savior teaches.  I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and His perfect example.  "He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see and raising the dead."  How can you become closer to your Savior?  For me the New Testament is awesome at this time of my mission.

You are all great!  I love you all!

Sis Giff

The OSM Missionary Leadership

We got to go bowling with these Sisters from another zone

White January?

Hello from chilly Oregon!

How are all you folks doing? Happy Birthday to my big ole brother Danny. You're old!

Well guess what?  It snowed!  It snowed only about half an inch but everyone reacted like it was an earth quake.  They almost canceled church but decided not to.  We had about 15 people show up to church because people were terrified to drive in it.  hehe.  But, I am super impressed because Rose was one of those few people that came!  I'll be honest, I haven't missed the snow too much.  Because Oregon doesn't typically get snow our cars were grounded.  So, we got to walk the day in the snow.  It was pretty dang cold but it made me really feel like a missionary.  I never realized how blessed we are to have vehicles!

Great news!  Yoselin is on date to be baptized January 23rd!  She feels that she still doesn't know if this is what she needs to do.  But she is planning to get baptized the 23rd and is having the faith that her answer will come by that date.  We are hoping to have an FHE at a members house with her tonight.

We are kind of in a pickle with Carlos.  They still haven't decided when they are moving but we were thinking of trying to help him continue progressing and then he could have the missionaries see him in California.  We taught them tithing on Tuesday and he seemed to not really enjoy it.  We are going to go over it again and help him understand all the blessings of keeping the commandments.

Sad news.  Ana decided to not come back to McMinville for this semester so we won't be able to teach her anymore :(   But we are going to have the Hermanas in Salem teach her and help her progress toward baptism.

We had a great exchange this week.  We did exchanges with Hermana Wilde and her new companion.  I was with her new companion, Sister Coca.  I learned the importance of always testifying of the Restoration.  Our message is unique and everyone needs to hear about it!

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Thank you for all your support and love!  I want to hear about some of your New Years resolutions!  I am not eating candy or sweets until May.  And reading the New Testament along with the BOM :)

The Church is still true (always will be) and the book is blue :)

Xoxo

Hermana Gifford

Hermana Gifford and Estudillo

Snow in Oregon!