One Moore Hermana in Arkansas!

Y’all do yourself, God, and all the missionaries in the world a favor and use your agency wisely and GO TO CHURCH NEXT WEEK. And invite a friend to go with you. :)

No transfer call yet! However the ZLs are punks and could be messing with us so we could get a last minute phone call but from what I know right now We have another one together!!!!:) :) :) but I'm trying to not get my hopes too high just in case they end up calling... Ya tengo 20 anos!

DISTRICT MEETING

Monday night we all were at the Barrera's celebrating Kat's birthday and Hermana Barrera made cow tongue. Lewis has been wanting to try it, and I made it very clear that I was not going to taste it. But by the end of the night after everyone else had ate it I was being convinced that it was my "last crazy teenager thing to do." So I tried it, and after one bite I spit it right back out. I have a fun little video to show y’all. It tasted...exactly like cow tongue. The texture was absolutely horrific. So there's my final crazy thing I did as a teenager haha

I had a great Birthday! Sister Wakolo and Jasmin called and sung to me that morning! I got plenty of texts and calls from members and missionaries, and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you for sending cards and packages. I wish I had the time to individually say thank you, I truly do appreciate it!!

THANK YOU ZOLEI FOR THE BIRTHDAY PICTURE!

CARD FROM ARIA!

Veronica took us to get papusas for lunch, and we finally got to see Katie after her Utah trip! We ate sushi and ice cream for dinner! And on Thursday Veronica made me Choco Flan and she and her family sang to me. It was a great 20th! Thanks again for all the love from home! =) (And shout out to Liv for sending me an autographed picture of herself, hahaha she said she wish she could give me $1000 dollars, but told me that one day that picture would be worth $1000 so it’s basically the same haha)

BIRTHDAY LUNCH WITH VERO!

SUSHI WITH KATIE!

LIV'S SIGNATURE BIRTHDAY PRESENT!

I don't feel worthy of the amazing things that happened this week.

-We got a call out of the blue from a member giving us a referral of someone who wants to be baptized, they just need the lessons!

-Also this week we were at sonic waiting for our powerade slushes (the best) and I had a Book of Mormon on my lap and our waiter guy told us that some people had taught him about that book before! Turns out he was meeting with missionaries in Searcy just a couple months ago! Our slushie run was totally inspired. ;)

-We had been meaning to go visit a less active family for about a month now. They live in a farther town, and usually we don't have miles to go out there but we happened to be in the area and decided we should go stop by. Turns out her granddaughter Breece has been telling her that she wants to be baptized! We went by the next day and set a date for October! This family has been less active for some time but they are on fire right now and have all started coming back!

-We had Monticello exchanges this week-they were amazing! We had a blast with the Hermanas and at the end of the day we had set 3 dates! One of them was for Sunday! I taught with Hermana Hernandez, she is from Mexico but is an English missionary. We clicked instantly I would love to serve with her one day!

Funny Stuff:

-While in Monticello we went to a bible study class and we're talking about Genesis 1 and the creation. All of a sudden an older woman raises her hand and tells us she knows she shouldn't say this out loud but she has to. And then goes on to say that she has had 5 lives… At first she was an ant... And then a toddler... And the story went on and on as she described all the lives she has had and then finished by saying she is now in her 5th life. Lewis literally had to get up and leave the room because she was about to lose it in laughter haha the room was just dead silent as this story is being told. And the teachers face was absolutely priceless. Hahaha it was one of the strangest things that's happened for a good while. Hahaha

-Also in Monticello we went teaching a new Hispanic investigator, she opened the door as she was breastfeeding her baby. No shame. No blanket. No nothing. Apparently this is pretty common with the culture but we've never taught an entire lesson like this and it was extremely odd.

-Cupcakes. So mom (my real mom) sent cupcake stuff for my birthday! So for lunch on Saturday we made them. One thing led to another and we decided that we should spike 4 cupcakes and then deliver them to the elders. One had hummus in the middle, one had hot sauce, one was filled with nasty jelly beans, and the last one had an oreo on top filled with toothpaste in the middle. hahaha So we put on our poker faces and went and delivered the cupcakes like nice little Hermanas. That night we had sports night and asked them all about how the cupcakes were. Farnsworth, with the most straight face ever, tells us that it was their investigators birthday today and so they gave the cupcakes to them. Immediately we went sick. We told them we spiked them, and they acted super mad and stormed off to get their phone to call their investigator about it. We felt so bad, then all of a sudden Farnsworth comes storming back and says "THATS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO EAT AN OREO FILLED WITH TOOTHPASTE!" HAHAHA. He thought it was mint flavored filling so he ate the entire thing. hahahhahah Ahh gosh missions are fun.

THE 4 ON THE SIDE ARE THE SPIKED ONES :)

-Saturday night we went to the fair. We handed out some cards and had like 5 investigators run up to us and gave us a hug and said hi! We also ran into some members too! It was so fun! Russellville is home.

RUSSELLVILLE FAIR

-I think I forgot to mention this before, but a few weeks ago we were visiting a less active. He was showing us around his study room, and on his wall there is a poster of the Lord of The Rings with EVERYONES SIGNATURE. Carson that’s sweet huh??

Top Lessons of the Week:

Denver (11) and Lauren (9). They are the younger boys. We taught them the plan of salvation. Afterwards we asked them to teach it back to us. It makes complete sense why God wants us to be like little children, because they taught it back to us better than we taught them. It was the coolest thing! We left them the little cut outs for them to teach their dad! And afterwards we asked them each to pray. In both their prayers they said "thanks God for sending the church sisters to us" Melts my heart. I love these boys.

We had an incredible lesson with a sister in Monticello. She is too scared to commit because there are too many "false churches" in the world. Ironic eh? Any who this lesson went on for a while and we taught the Restoration. It was just one of those lessons where I didn't really know exactly what I was saying. The words just flowed. We had answers to overcome all of her concerns. The entire lesson was completely spirit driven. And by the end she told us that she loves the power that is within us. What’s cool is that other people get to see God’s power through us. It is also cool how God fights for his lost children through his missionaries. Side note: I had a dream that all of a sudden I was home. And Liv and I were having a big homecoming party together. And I was absolutely beside myself because I had only served 6 months and that I needed to go back and finish! But everyone kept telling me that I was done! It was terrifying. I was incredibly happy to be waking up at 6:30 as a missionary again. haha

So y’all know I like to be in control of everything. And out here if I'm learning anything it’s that I don't have control. I watch people poorly use their agency over and over again and spend their Sundays IN EVERY PLACE POSSIBLE EXCEPT AT CHURCH. And it breaks my heart and is extremely frustrating. Farnsworth is about to start his last transfer and I asked him if they had anyone coming to church today and he said they all called and canceled last minute and then followed by saying.."yea I’m completely numb to it now." haha I haven't hit that point yet. It still is disappointing every time. I can't even begin to comprehend how God has the patience to watch his children poorly use their/my agency every day.

In a conference talk by Randall L Ridd I really liked when he said

"Ultimately, the choice is yours. You have agency. It is the power to not only act on your desires but also to refine, purify, and elevate your desires. Agency is your power to become. Each choice takes you closer to or further from what you are meant to become. Always ask yourself, “Where will this choice lead?” Develop the ability to see beyond the moment. Satan wants to control your agency so he can control what you become. He knows that one of the best ways to do this is by trapping you with addictive behavior. Your choices determine."

So y’all do yourself, God, and all the missionaries in the world a favor and use your agency wisely and GO TO CHURCH NEXT WEEK. And invite a friend to go with you. :)

Love y’all.

Te quiero