One Moore Hermana in Arkansas!

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.