WHEN I JUST FORGET MYSELF AND GET TO WORK (HINCKLEY QUOTE) I'M SO MUCH HAPPIER!

(Thank you Dawn for the new dress!)

So I have just accepted the fact that I will never be able to fully explain all that is happening here and you all will never know the amazing experiences that happen every day. I wish you could =( But there's just toooooooo much. (Yes I know I've said this a million times but it's still true.)

So this week was crazy and hard. We were on bike week, and it also rained...all week. We opened the door getting ready to leave on our first bike day together and it was POURING RAIN. So we strapped on our rain coats and helmets and set out in the rain. I felt like Missionary WORK had really begun. Ha ha  It's hard  because half of our day is transporting back and forth so we don't get to accomplish nearly as much as we normally do. We just felt a lack of energy this week and we didn't reach our goals. Just little things I could go on forever. But the good news is this next week can only go up from the week we had this past week. =/ It almost was like the movies when you feel like you've hit rock bottom. We were completely soaked, we had been riding our bikes all over and when we would get to our appointments no one was there. We were just really frustrated. And then a huge bus comes cruising by and splashes a HUGE puddle all over us. We just burst into laughter because we couldn't believe that that actually happened. Don't worry the church is still true. =)

So Grace. I think I mentioned her before. She's 11 and adorable. Her mom is a member and her dad isn't. She lives with her Dad and is only with her mom every other 2 weekends so we don't get to see her a lot. We set a date with her for May 9!!! Ahhhhhh I'm so excited. She's such a strong little girl.

 

 Grace!

 You can imagine how excited I was when Grace bought this puppy...

But just in case you can't, here's a picture of my reaction. Ah that little thing is so darn cute. I was so happy to hold a puppy!

Spanish ward had a Talent Show on Saturday! The missionaries had to do a little skit and lots of people sang and danced! I'm understanding Spanish better but still have a loooong ways to go. It's hard being in English and Spanish because I'm definitely not learning as fast as I would like to be.  It's cool though that we can go into an English appointment then turn around and head into a Spanish one and be able to teach in both! 

 Jamie, Daniella and Elizabeth after the talent show

 Katie drove us up to a super nice area here in the hills and man some of these Southern homes are absolutely stunning. We knocked some doors but no luck. I'm determined to teach one person up there though! 

We met Miss Themla yesterday (I LOVE how they call women "miss" out here) and she is 95 years old and spunky as ever! She's a member but isn't always 100% active so we are going to try to stop by weekly and visit with her. She's easily one of my favorite people I've met here so far. We love her so much. 

So here are some fun things I learned this week:

It's easy to focus on my weaknesses out here. But if I focus on my weaknesses they will grow, and if I focus on my strengths then they will grow! I've also realized I'm not out here to focus on myself. My self growth is a bonus of me being out here. It's taking some time but I just need to completely focus on my investigators, members and all the people around me rather than dwelling on my own issues. Which is a blessing really. Especially after a hard week of not a lot of progress it’s easy to dwell on weaknesses but when I just forget myself and get to work (Hinckley quote) I'm so much happier! 

In Ephesians 4 it talks about how there is ONE Faith, ONE Christ, ONE Baptism. Christ only established ONE church on the earth. Some think that whatever religion you are is just fine and as long as we believe in God then we all are fine. But in reality since there is ONE faith, Lord and baptism, there is ONE way to Salvation. And that ONE way is through the Church of Jesus Christ. We have the fullness. We have that ONE way to Salvation. Each person doesn't get a different set of instructions on how to be saved. He established ONE true church on the earth today and I absolutely know without a shadow of a doubt that it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Under "Joseph" in the Bible Dictionary it says that his protection was his faith. I loved that because it's so true. If I have faith that Christ lives and that he saved me, I'm protected from fear and doubt of anything! I have faith that whatever comes in my life it'll be okay because of Him. I can overcome anything! I'm protected from feeling hopeless or lost because I know that one day I can return to him and be with my family forever. What more could I want right?? 

I’m slowly picking up the word y'all soooo...I love y'all! 

Hermana Moore

P.S. If weather permits Katie is taking us fishing today. WOOHOO!

 Katie!

We had exchanged on Tuesday! This is Sister Tuifua from Tonga! We were together for 24 hours and it was scary because I had to be in charge and it was my first day on bike week so yea it was a little crazy but she's been out for 17 months so I learned a lot from her! 

 Sport's Night!

Ahh, lovely helmets! ha ha ha

 Random vending machine out front of Katie's...so weird!

And I love dogs but Katie's dog freaks me out. He kept sitting like this. Sister Lewis and I were cracking up!

I LOVE THE KIDS BECAUSE THEIR SPANISH IS ON MY LEVEL!

 Cezar

I learned a new phrase this week!  "Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!" ha ha. I laughed so hard. I've learned so much, the south is like a whole new world.

Jamie, Daniella, & Elizabeth. I missed their baptism by 2 days! Elizabeth is 2 and absolutely adorable. Jamie is from Mexico and he had a dream of getting baptized in a river but he didn't know what church did baptisms like that. After moving to Arkansas, the missionaries knocked on his door and when he found out how we baptize he knew this was it and he needed to be a part of our church! He had his girlfriend Daniella come into lessons with the missionaries and after 6 months they decided to be baptized! They got married on a Friday and baptized that Saturday in the river! Ahh so cool. They are so great we love them so much! And in a year Sister Lewis and I get to go through the temple with them! 

We had Noche De Deportes (sports night) again Saturday night. I just felt so at home. Everyone is family here already. They are so good to us and cook us amazing food and help us BIG TIME with the language. Yea I just love them. 

The Spanish elders had a baptism this Sunday! This cute little Spanish ward is growing and it’s so great!

Okay so something so crazy! Yesterday we were in a lesson with Jesus, he's our age, great guy, doesn't speak a lick of English though. It's like penguins on Madagascar...smile and wave..except we just smile and giggle because we don't know a word he is saying..we just keep on teaching ha ha. But anyway during this lesson his phone goes off with a storm warning. We didn't really know what it meant so we just kept teaching. 10 minutes later we leave his house and check our phone and we had SO MANY missed calls from missionaries and members telling us to get inside right now. And the sirens they sound in town were going off too warning us of weather. So we are freaking out and hurry over to Katie’s where we watched the hail, ate cereal and talked about the temple. We are in a pretty safe area as far as tornadoes go but the rain is super crazy! And Katie makes sure we know when there are storms coming and takes good care of us.

We had specialized training on Tuesday. We were with the Zones in Arkansas and it’s fun to see everyone. Specialized is a meeting where President and other missionaries teach us, pretty long but I love seeing President. He was a convert. It took him 6 years to finally join the church. What had happened was there was a brand new missionary, first day on the job and they went over to the Wakolo’s house to teach. All this new missionary said was "Brother Wakolo, if you were to open up a store what would you name it?" And he said "Well probably the Wakolo Store." Then the new missionary said "So if Jesus Christ established a church on the earth what do you think he would call it?" And then Wakolo asked if he could be baptized in our church. CRAZY! After 6 years of teaching THAT is what made him decide he finally wanted to be baptized. Cool story. President is amazing.

Okay so another cool story. Last week we were spiritual harvesting and we came across a Jehovah's Witness. She was older and had just lost her husband 3 months ago. She didn't want to learn more about us but I asked her if we could come back and talk about the Bible. She agreed of course. I just wanted us to get to know her especially since she just lost her husband and didn't have any other family here in Arkansas. All week, every time I thought about going back to her house I just felt sick. I thought I was just nervous and being dumb because Jehovah's Witnesses are intense. So we planned a lesson for her and were determined to make it good. But something still just felt sooo wrong. So we approach her house and realize like 7 cars out front...yep she had totally invited tons of her Jehovah's Witness friends to our "bible study" -_-. We pulled over and tried to decide what to do. We decided 2 brand new missionaries didn't need to go in there with all those people who absolutely do not like us. The second we decided to leave a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. We were in the area for other appointments and drove by her house again and sure enough her church friends were all getting in their cars. It was a good lesson for me because I now can better recognize the spirit, which I need to be way better at out here. 

We do this hilarious thing that whenever someone drops their Book of Mormon or Bible (which is all the time because we are always carrying them around) everyone yells "10 POUNDS" meaning your future spouse gains 10 pounds ha ha ha it’s too funny. 

I have a hard time with spiritual harvesting now because I know there’s a good chance that they are going to be mean. I started thinking "I hate getting rejected, people telling me that I'm crazy, or treating me badly, hating me for no reason."And then I had a second thought, Christ didn't like feeling those things either when he was atoning for me. I can do this because He did. I have lots of weaknesses out here but because of him I can overcome all of them! Definitely easier said than done, but I'm working it.

The whole "What Would Jesus Do" takes on a whole new meaning out here. I'm definitely learning things here that I really couldn't anywhere else and it is sooo cool! It's not easy. I feel like there’s so much to improve on; it’s really overwhelming but the work is moving forward here in Russellville. 

Love you!

 At Katie's during the crazy weather and tornado warnings!

 Family Home Evening with Katie.  I insisted we get milkshakes!

 Fiso and Nico brought us milkshakes!

 So much food!  Fat Daddy's is too good!

 My best friend Olivia's, cousin's girlfriend!

 We go to the rest home and this cute little old lady got 2 bucks out of us for these bracelets. Ha Ha! We love the rest home. We go every Sunday night!

COMING AT YOU LIVE FROM ARKANSAS!

 Arkansas shirt! Woot! Woot!

I'm here!  Coming at you live from ARKANSAS! AHHHHHH!

Okay so first I had a cool experience at the airport. I started talking to this lady next to me waiting to board the Little Rock flight from Atlanta and we just talked for a bit and I mustered up all the courage I could and bore her my testimony and gave her a mormon.org card with a scripture in it. I felt so good after and she was so nice and told me she would read the scripture and visit the website. So cool huh? It was my first real life missionary experience!

Pres. Wakolo picked us up from the airport and took us to a church for orientation and then to the mission home where we were fed DELICIOUS southern meals for dinner and breakfast. Wakolo is the best!! Man he is so great and his accent is the coolest!

So we went to transfers on Wednesday. The minute I walked in I saw Hermana Lewis and knew she was going to be my companion. And SHE IS! 

 On our way to Katie's

We love this tree!  It is outside our church. 

There was so much energy at transfers it was crazy. Everyone gives you hugs and is so nice. Ha ha Okay but my companion lives in Draper! She knows Kenz and Emma! Her name is Ashely Lewis, and guess what else?! She played basketball at Alta and we totally played against each other! Ha ha We are the best of friends already. But what is crazy is she has only been out for 6 weeks and she is my trainer! Ha ha so we are both new but it's so cool because we have to figure everything out together and we get so much help from the Man upstairs because we have to teach in a language we both barely know! We are in Russellville Arkansas and we are in a Spanish and English area so it’s about 50/50. I LOVE IT HERE.  A lot of people come here for the fishing. It’s so green, Arkansas is way prettier than I thought! Ha ha.  Our district has 2 sets of elders, one Spanish and one English. They are so great and super funny. 

Okay so first off I have to tell you about Katie. She is the one that has been sending pictures to my mom. She is in her early 20's and is the best. She was baptized in August. Brouche was the last name of one of the sisters that taught her and she and Katie are still best friends today. She enjoys talking to missionaries or their moms!  She was the first person I met once I came to Russellville and she always helps us when we get lost, or she feeds us, or warns us about the weather. We love her so much. She is great and takes good care of us. 

 Katie!

 We have set 2 baptism dates this week! Yay! 

So Lewis and her old companion met a man at the Park. He loves his bible but wanted to know more about Mormons so we went to visit him Saturday. The conversation started good! He had issues about the prophets and priesthood but we answered all of his questions so perfectly! Every time we answered or addressed his concerns he just kind of sat there, and you could totally tell he knew that what we were saying made sense. But he would immediately find something else that was wrong with our church. He wasn't really bashing just asking tons of questions. I really liked him though. The whole time I was just praying that he would feel the spirit and that something would click. He really loves to talk so this went on for a while, and eventually he started to like contradict himself. Ha ha It was kinda funny but finally we asked him since he believes in God and believes that God gives us answers that he should ask God if our church is true, but he wouldn't. I figure he didn't want God to tell him that our church was true I guess, I don’t know. But like I said we were talking with him forever and finally there wasn't much more we could do. I left feeling so sad because at one point I thought we were getting through to him. I was heartbroken. We walked away and I just broke down. It is so hard to feel the spirit so strong and to want something for someone so bad and then to watch them completely reject what I know to be TRUE! After, I saw a little girl walking down the street, probably around 8 years old, her name was Megan. I gave her a picture of Christ. She didn't know who he was so I told her His name and that he loves her very much. It made me feel better. 

On Sunday we go to both English and Spanish wards so church is long. After Spanish church we had FHE with them and maaan they cook some good food. The Spanish branch is so small but everyone is so close, it’s like a family I love it so much. They are so good to us and so patient with our Spanish. One is Hermano Sorto and he is the funny guy of the ward. When I told him my name he said ooooh like "mi amor" (my love in English) so now he calls me "Mi amor" ha ha. They all are so welcoming, I love it.

We visited the Rest Home yesterday and hung up pictures of Christ in their rooms. Most of them are pretty out of it but we have some sweet conversations and say prayers with them. It puts us in a good mood. 

Yesterday after church was hard. We kept getting denied and doors shut in our faces or no one was home. We felt super defeated so we came up with this....

Makings of a Miracle

10 drops of tears

2 Tbls of defeat

1 tsp of despair

1 tummy full of Mexican food

10 cups of sweat

6 door slams of rejection

heaping spoonful of bad Spanish

1 heartfelt prayer

1 pinch of hope

dash of faith
3 songs of Mormon pop

1 cup of disappointment 

It all equals…

 ONE MIGHTY MIRACLE! = NEW INVESTIGATOR! We just started to walk. We didn't know where; we didn't know which house we just walked and said a prayer that we could be lead to whoever needed us. We found a pink house and guess who opened up the door? Our miracle. She is 22. And we just talked like friends! She isn't religious at all but she invited us to come back and teach her more so we are going back next Saturday! We have a REALLY great feeling about her. God knows our efforts. 

We knock doors or "spiritual harvest" a lot! That’s how we do a lot of our finding. 

My testimony is 10X what it was 6 weeks ago. It's hard work but there's nothing like cruising around Russellville Arkansas blasting Mormon pop next to your new best friend. Missions are so great.

For every 10 doors we knock:

5 are mean

2 are nice but turn us away

1 stands on the other side of the door "quietly" and wait for us to leave

1 wants us back

1 wants to teach us (Johovah's Witnesses)

It's hard, my feelings get hurt easily, and we are so busy, but I am where I need to be. La iglesia es verdad. 

Love you all...I mean y'all. 

We had to stop and take a picture of these pretty trees!

Sister Francis. (Bishop ans Sister Johnson's niece)

Salvation Army Service Day!

A Hermana from Olivia's Zone

Hermana Lewis's mom sent us pizza!

 I have to do this every time we back up. Ha ha! So embarrassing!

Our apartment and car

Our house is way better than I thought! And our ancient yellow chair, so awesome!

 Our bedroom

Our study room

 Grace had baby chickens!

 This little guy was INSIDE THE CHURCH yesterday! Gross!

Visiting teaching with sisters from the Spanish ward

(not sure why picture is sideways?)

MYSTERIOUS TEXT!

I received a text from an unknown number last night. When I opened it, I saw this!

Best text ever!!! I have no idea who sent it. Was it a nice member? Or another missionary? Or was it Taylor and her new darling companion sending selfies to their moms!  (In which I now have her phone number!) I don't care who it was! I'm just glad to see that she is still smiling! So thank you mysterious texter for making my night! :)