One Moore Hermana in Arkansas!

GOTTA GET THROUGH THE BAD WEEKS TO GET TO THE GOOD ONES, RIGHT?

So remember how last week wasn't super great? Well it doesn't even matter because this week was FANTASTIC! There weren't enough hours in the day for us because we were having so much fun and found so much success this week! Gotta get through the bad weeks to get to the good ones, right? We were definitely tested a lot last week but it was all worth it to have a week like this one.

This week we went and got Sushi at this place called Sumo's. (When it’s the end of the month we go blow up our MSF cards before they renew) And during our meal Taylor Swift and John Mayor songs kept coming on. #BLESSED

Octavious & Galacious: They are brothers, mid 20's. Galacious has a wife and 3 kids. They constantly remind us that they are "straight from the hood" haha I may have mentioned them before but we saw them outside playing basketball and went over and started playing with them a few weeks ago and anyway we ended up back at their house and taught them The Restoration and they wanted us back again and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. They have lots of questions, and also have lots of energy so we tend to get off subject but they really like everything they are hearing and are praying and reading the Book of Mormon! Both Lewis and I feel like they are part of the reason we are here in Russellville. But the coolest part about all of this: At the end of our Plan of Salvation lesson we had them watch the “Because He Lives” video (if y’all haven't seen it yet go watch it) It's only two minutes but so dang powerful! By the end of the video the spirit was so strong in that home. Their faces changed, they were quiet (which they never are), and honestly were a little uncomfortable because they hadn't felt the spirit like that before. They loved the video but it was cool watching them react to the spirit. I truly felt like that was the first time we left someone in AWE (remember this goal I set for myself?). We plan to go back and teach more this week. And we text them scriptures to go look up and stuff. And they coach 12 year old basketball and want us to go to one of their practices soon and play with them! Fun side note: They also fed us Kool-Aid during our lessons (don't worry it isn't spiked, we asked haha).

The elders gave us some referrals this week so we went to check them out and both times weren't able to find their houses! We aren't sure if they are just messing with us or just gave us the wrong address but we were so tired of driving all over the place to find these referrals and we wanted to get back at them, so we found a street sign above a tombstone in the cemetery and gave them that address and the name on the tombstone. hahaha They were all excited to have a referral and we can't wait for them to go look for it =)

Last night after a looooong Sunday, (seriously Sundays are so exhausting, we had ward council at 8:30 and don't leave the church till 2:30, and between running around and trying to understand lessons in Spanish and fasting we leave church with headaches and droopy eyes. Don't get me wrong we still LOVE coming to church and the members are so great here, it’s just stressful. And once church ends our day is just beginning and we go straight to our other appointments and proselyting. Sunday naps are no more =(. ) So by the end of Sunday night we were exhausted. We had one hour left until we had to be in and we weren't sure what to do, since we don't have time to study in the mornings on Sundays we thought about just staying in and studying. We had ran into a family last week and gave them a card, they live like 2 blocks away so we agreed that we'd just walk over there and see if they were home and we could chat with them. They were all outside (couple and their little girl and friends) and hollered at us to come chat. She was super welcoming to us and told us she still had the card we left her. She went on to say that her husband’s dad had died the night before and that he had been inside all day really upset. We gave them a picture of Christ and talked about receiving strength through His Atonement. They all really appreciated our words and the picture. We all held hands and said a prayer and by the end the lady was just bawling. She told us that we were her angels tonight and that she was so grateful that we came to her house. We left feeling so grateful because we had no idea that family was going through a hard time, the spirit puts little thoughts in our heads and leads us to people who need us. Church is true ya know? Our Heavenly Father is looking out for all of us.

Helaman 4:13 "because of their boasting in their own strength they were left in their own strength." I love this. Pretty straight forward. If you aren't going to let the Lord strengthen you than you get to depend on your own strength. And I dunno about y'all but I'm not as strong as God is.

We hear this a lot- "Girls I really like what you’re saying but I've gone too far to ever repent and turn back to God" But that’s the thing that is absolutely beautiful about our gospel, we have never gone so far that we can't come back. Jacob 6:5...”His arm is always extended towards us.” This gospel is all about second chances and clean slates.

And I'm going to leave y'all with a "Will you" commitment because that’s what we missionaries do best. Will you...Go watch or read "The First GreatCommandment" by Jeffrey R Holland. It was given a few years ago but it's worth a rewatchin’ ;)

Love y’all