Confidence and Courage

This has been a good and busy week.

On Thursday, my companion and I went to downtown Morro Bay and had lunch. It is a beautiful town with beautiful views. This is a picture I took of Morro Rock which is in the harbor of the bay.

On Wednesday, we went out to lunch with our Bishop's daughter. We went to the Morro Bay Embarcadero. She brought 3 of her friends who are not members of the church. She has been a huge help to the work here. We are teaching one of her friends and her friend's mom. We had our first lesson with them and they really enjoyed it! We are really excited to see them progress. This is what the Embarcadero looks like.

We are helping a family get ready to go to the temple for the first time. They are super excited and so are we! 

We had our walk day this past week. We got to talk to a lot of people! They opened a biking area for Hermanas/Sisters in the mission so who knows, maybe I'll be in a biking area next-Haha.

This week the Preisdent of our mission wrote to the missionaries in his email about how important it is to put off fear. For me it definately is intimidating to talk to everyone wherever we are. In the letter, President wrote, "Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage." That really stuck out to me this week because you just have to act. That goes hand in hand with faith. Faith is action. Although we have made many mistakes we can't let those mistakes stop us. 

I have learned this week to keep going and keep having the faith to do hard things. 

**A note from her parents:
She loves getting emails. This is her address:

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

This is the direct link to her blog. 

Even the Tiniest of Things

This week was a good week. This was the last week of the transfer. I found out that I will be staying in Morro Bay with my same companion for another 6 weeks! This is a beautiful area.

Tuesday we helped a lady move and it was really nice! She has a lot of member friends but she had never seen missionaries before. 

Wednesday we got to go to a family in the ward who is preparing to go to the temple. 

Friday we really wanted to try some new ways to find people who speak Spanish. We decided to go into a taco shop that just opened. 

We had previously met the owner's son when we were out walking and we went to the taco store and met lots of people who speak Spanish. We got some addresses and phone numbers. We even got a return appointment with the owners son and he gave us some free soup which was really nice!  

This week I really realized that God helped us and is over us in everything and cares even about the tiniest of things. Every day I eat toast for breakfast and I was like, "Man, I wish I had some paper towels to put my bread on".

It was such a small thing but then an interesting thing happened. We were at a member's home and we were leaving. She was so kind and gave us 2 big bags full of groceries; granola bars, string cheese, fruit, veggies, canned chicken, hamburger buns and other groceries. 

We thanked her and we were almost out the door and said, "Wait! You don't have any paper towels do you?" and she goes and gives us paper towels. It was such a small thing but I knew the Lord was aware of every need that I have even if it is something as small as paper towels. 

I'm looking forward to another 6 weeks in Morro Bay! 

Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

This is the direct link to her blog. 

Temple, Tunes, and Teaching

Wow this week seemed to fly by! 

This week, my companion and I won the cleanest apartment award! We got a certificate and a gift card to a supermarket named Ralph's.

Tuesday we got to go to the temple. The temple is in Fresno about 2 and a half hours away. It was a nice drive. It was mostly in the country which was very beautiful. The temple is the exact same size and layout as the Detroit temple; it really made me feel like I was back home which was really nice. 

 

Detroit                                               Fresno

After the temple, the Bishop, who had gone with us, took us to a nice place for lunch. It was really good food. Here are pictures of us at the temple:

Wednesday our mission had a walk day which means we walk everywhere and don't use our cars until 4 PM. It was a fun day and we were able to talk to lots of people. 

The very last person we talked to on walk day was someone who was heading to a taco restaurant to work with his dad. It was a little miracle because his dad speaks Spanish and so does he so it was great to be able to run into someone who speaks Spanish. 

Thursday we went over to a member's home and taught her mother who isn't able to come to church on Sundays because she doesn't really get out anymore due to her age and health. We studied the New Testament (Come Follow Me program) with her and then the son-in-law said he'd heard I could play the piano and asked me to play. He had a new Yamaha Baby Grand piano. It is a really beautiful piano and I was so excited. He had these books of fancy hymn arrangements and he asked if I could play one. I said, "Sure! I'll try." I was sight reading it so I had never played it before and it was pretty fancy but I played it so well. After they all clapped and he goes "Wow you were playing that cold turkey, right? Like you have never seen these books". I told him yes, that I was sight reading. I am so grateful for my talents. I got to play some beautiful hymn arrangements. He gave me the piano book which was super nice! 

Friday I had hand therapy which was only okay. They don't do a whole lot and I don't feel like is been very helpful. I talked to the mission nurse and we'll see where to go from here.

Saturday, the Bitters, who we live with, took us out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant. It is connected to a gas station but it is so popular and the food is SO GOOD. After dinner, we went to visit a member of the ward who have never met. We knocked and an old lady came to the door. She wasn't going to let us in but then she did let us come in. We talked for a little bit and she told us she has been an active member her whole life but she is very old and is going blind so she doesn't go to church anymore. It was sad. Her son came with his friend and we all sat down and talked for over an hour. It was so great getting to know them. They asked if we could come over every week so that was a huge miracle.

Sundays are always great! Church was really good. They talked about how we can make our Sundays a day of rest and how we can make them more dedicated to God. 

This is the last week of the transfer so I will find out Sunday if I will stay or leave. This has been one of the quickest transfers! 

**Please Note - she has a new email address - listed below.
Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

This is the direct link to her blog. 

Happy Easter!

Wow! This week has flown by! 

Monday we met up for exchanges. Our Hermana training leader came up and we spent the day together. We had a great time! 

We knocked a door of someone who had been taught previously and she opened the door and said to come back the next day. The next day we had another exchange and I was with our Hermana Training leader's companion. We went back to the lady's house the next day and she let us right in and we were able to teach her a great lesson! 

Thursday was my companion's birthday. 

It was fun! We taught some lessons, went out to dinner, and had some cake. 

Friday we met with all the other missionaries in our district and it was a really great time. I learned a lot. I had hand therapy a little later in the evening and then we went over to some member's homes and taught some lessons. Here we are at hand therapy.

One of the members has chickens and I got to hold some.

Sunday was great. Easter was really a good day. We went to church they talked a lot about the atonement of Christ and how repentance is joyous. I love what Tad Callister said in the past general conference that "with increased understanding (of the atonement) comes an increased desire to forgive ourselves and others."  Here is a link to his talk. I have seen this on my mission with people we meet, people we teach and with myself. I am so grateful that we were able to remember Christ's sacrifice this past Sunday. 

Tomorrow we have the opportunity to go to the temple. We are going to the one in Fresno.

I haven't gone since Mexico so it's been about 5 months. I am really excited!

**Please Note - she has a new email address - listed below.
Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

This is the direct link to her blog. 

Dog's Bite and Time Flies

This week has been a good week! 

Last Monday didn't end too well. My companion and I were at a door talking to a lady and then the lady told us she was going to turn the outside light on because it was dark. She opened the door and a small dog shot out and bit my companion on the leg! 

We called the mission nurse and cleaned it out. We went to the doctor to get Hermana Raban's bite checked out. I'm glad nothing too bad happened to her; she just had to get some antibiotics. 

The next day we had interviews with our mission president and it was really nice to sit and talk with him. On Friday, we had our Zone Conference and we got to hear from a General Authority. He was from the Seventy. It was really cool to hear from him. He really stressed the importance of the atonement and repentance and how it should be a joyful process. It was great to hear from him and I learned a lot. I got to play the piano for that which was really cool. 

Something really exciting this week that happened was our friend who we are teaching told us he has felt the Spirit very strong. We asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes! It was really exciting and we are looking for May for his baptism. 

For our Preparation Day, we got together and played kickball and ultimate frisbee. I also got to play tennis with another sister missionary and I still remember how.

I hit 6 months last Tuesday which is crazy!

I have 1 year left. Sometimes, time goes by slowly but the majority of the time it flies.

We have been able to teach lots of lessons which has been great. I have seen the gift of tongues work so much here. I feel that a lot of the time the words do not come from my thoughts or ideas but the Lord sends them to my mind and I am able to speak them.

Life is good I'm excited for next week. 

**Please Note - she has a new email address - listed below.
Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

This is the direct link to her blog.

ReplyForward

An Answer to Prayer

This week was good! 

We did a lot of finding and have been talking to everyone we see. This is a picture of a wild peacock that we saw in one of the areas that we cover.

Wednesday, I went to a new doctor, the orthopedic hand specialist. It was a 2 hour drive. We got lunch with our Hermana training leader and her companion because they serve where my doctor is. The doctor said he doesn't feel comfortable operating right now because he thinks that it might be able to straighten out on it's own but I will see him in 2 months so we will see. Here are my companion and I at the Doctor's Office.

Friday the Elders in another ward had a baptism and the Sisters and Hermanas in the district were asked to do a musical number.

It was a beautiful baptism and it was such a pick-me-up and lifted my spirits a lot. 

Saturday we were able to watch general conference at a member's home. It was amazing to hear the apostles speak. A huge miracle I had was I went into the conference with the question of "How I can experience more joy while doing missionary service?" and Elder Uthcdorf 

gave a great talk about how we can find joy while sharing the gospel. It was amazing that God answered my prayers!

Sunday we got to watch conference again and it was amazing to hear from the prophet. 

A huge miracle this week was with the man we had run into while he was working last week. We had a lesson with him in a member's home and the Spirit was so strong. He really is interested and he wants a greater relationship with God. 

We have been working hard and we have been blessed this week. It's been a great week and I look forward to the upcoming week!

**Please Note - she has a new email address - listed below.
Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

This is the direct link to her blog.

Settling in at Morro Bay

Wow! So much has changed this week! 

Last Monday was my last day in Simi Valley. After P-day ended, we visited a few of the members and said goodbye to them. It was sad to say goodbye. We had a family home evening with our branch and I got to say goodbye to a lot of the members there.

Afterwards, a family told us to come over. We went over and took pictures and the grandma and mom had little gift bags for us. The daughter ran upstairs and brought down a little gift she got for me. It really touched my heart how much charity the members had for me in Simi Valley. It was such an amazing day and I truly love the members and people we were teaching. 

That night I packed my things and Tuesday morning I went up with some other missionaries to Morro Bay. The drive was along the coast and it was really pretty. I met up with my new companion, Hermana Raban, in Santa Barbara. 

It's been a really fun week getting to work in this area and with my companion. We serve in an English speaking ward but do Spanish work here so it's been really fun getting to know the ward and also finding people to start to teach. 

There have been many instances where we have been placed in someone's path by God. We went to dinner one night and there were a lot of people who spoke Spanish and we were able to set return appointments there. A big blessing was when we were walking back to our car and we saw someone and we went up and talked with them. He said that he really wanted to learn more about God and we were able to talk a little bit about our beliefs and he said he would love for us to come over. 

Church was really awesome and later that night we went to a different area for a family home evening all in Spanish. 

It is fun getting to know this area and the people here. 

**Please Note - she has a new email address - listed below.
Her mailing address is:

Hermana Lily Pita

California Ventura Mission

3301 W Gonzales Road

Oxnard, CA  93036

Email: lily.pita@missionary.org

This is the direct link to her blog.