KEEP CELEBRATING CHRIST! OK?

I hope y'all had a good Christmas! I certainly did! We had lots of good food and spend the day bouncing between members and recent converts! :)

It was so fun to skype with family as well! Everything seems to be the same, except the animal growing on Rustyn's head..that was new... haha

A BIG THANK YOU for all the packages, emails, pictures, Christmas cards etc, etc! I appreciate it more than I can explain!! MUCHAS GRACIAS!

 

For Christmas Eve we had the Spanish branch party, they all stayed till past midnight dancing the night away, we left around 9 to be in but it went well! We had prepared a spiritual "activity" (inspired by Bridgit) to invite members to read parts of "The Living Christ" while Hermana Mac played a medley of songs in the background. While we practiced, it sounded amazing. We were so excited and we spend a few hours getting it all prepared and planning it out. Once we actually did it the kids were rowdy and it didn't go as planned...such is missionary life. But the power “The Living Christ” has rang through to me, so it helped someone. :) We had 2 gators come to the activity and some less actives so it was a success! P.S. Go read “The Living Christ”! 

 

I taught Zach, CJ, and Chase how to pack-a-punch their guns on Black Ops 2...noobs. haha

We were on bike week this week, and the first 3 days the weather was beautiful! And even after sports night Saturday it was 77 degrees. Crazy nice. But now it’s raining tons and there are a lot of flash flood warnings and such, we did have a few tornado warnings earlier this week but normally they don't come into Russellville. The elders are champs and have been letting us use their car during the rainy days #blessed. 

Other randoms: 

Mac and I "got" to sing a duet in Spanish branch this Sunday..it went...well...I hope..haha

For Christmas we had lunch with the Bragg family and all their extended family. They've really taken us in, all of them.  

We are doing real well working with members! We've had a lot of members willing to teach with us..but when we go out to teach no one answers their door :/ holidays have been hard to get in and teach.

Billie- ya know our best friend from the rest home? She passed away :( I was SO sad! I hope there is a hip parade in heaven because that was her favorite. 

This was in the Ensign this month. me gusta mucho

"I think it’s appropriate this time of year to just think about that baby in the manger. Don’t be too overwhelmed or occupied with what is to come; just think about that little baby. Take a quiet, peaceful moment to ponder the beginning of His life--the culmination of heavenly prophecy but the earthly beginning for Him.

Take time to relax, be at peace, and see this little child in your mind. Do not be too concerned or overwhelmed with what is coming in His life or in yours. Instead, take a peaceful moment to contemplate perhaps the most serene moment in the history of the world--when all of heaven rejoiced with the message “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”

-D. Todd Christopherson

Peaceful moments are always good. I truly am grateful that God sent that little baby. That baby changed the world forever. Keep celebrating Christ ok?! 

Love y'all

les quiero ️

THE WAKOLOS

MAKING A FUN BREAKFAST!

REMEMBER WHY WE CELEBRATE :)

"Oh there's no place like HOME for the Holidays!"  Hi, I'm Hermana Moore and I've been called to serve in the Russellville Arkansas Mission. haha I'm home!!! I'm back in Russellville! Woohoo!!

By the time we went to transfer meeting we pretty much had it figured out that we both were going to Russellville together, but I didn't want to get my hopes up just in case. We were a little surprised because 2 of the Hermanas went to English areas, so they are zebra now. And we were replaced in Danville by English elders (which is kind of hilarious because our apartments was super sistery-ish haha) . Anywho, lots of changes but we guessed right and Mac and I are in Russellville together for the transfer! =)  CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! 

GOODBYES IN DANVILLE

 

NIX FAMILY

NIKKI

LEANNE AND ELI

TORGERSONS

Also fun side note, the Spanish Elders in the district are Elder Moore...and Elder Moore. 3 Moore's in one district. Crazy right? But what makes this even funnier....when I came to the field in April, Carson sent me a letter to the mission office and they forwarded it to the wrong Moore..Elder Moore got it instead..and read it. haha and now it’s coming back to haunt me because he is my district leader now. Good stuff.

TRES MAS

It’s taken a few days to catch up to speed with new investigators and even the ones I knew, just trying to contact everyone, introduce them to Mac and see where everyone is at. But the members are the same and amazing. It's a little bit like I never left now that I'm home haha. Back to sports night, getting fed :), my favorite people. The work is still going super good here. For sacrament we got to sing in the choir for the Christmas program. It was the Spanish branch and English ward combined. This place has grown so much it’s insane. Less active members returning, members still going strong. We had 2 investigators come! The ward is super involved with the work and are helping us out lots. They were excited to have me back, which is awesome because I don't think they will ever know how much I love all of them. We sat up front for the choir program so I got a good view of everyone and I truly have so much love for the people here. It’s overwhelming.

 

CAROLING WITH THIS FUN BUNCH. 

THESE LADIES ARE A HOOT. LOTS OF GIGGLES AND BROMAS!

I think the most exciting part about being back is watching recent converts excel. 

Quick updates on a few:

Daniela is now the Second Counselor in Relief Society! She and Jamie both have been helping us with the work! In fact tonight Daniela is going teaching with us! They've been introducing us to some of their friends and giving us referrals. Jamie also sent missionaries to his sister in Mexico! So so cool. The day I watch this family get sealed will be the best day ever. 

Amber- She is having a baby girl in March! AHH! She, Jake and the fam are actually going to be in Utah for Christmas with Jake's family! There is just a new light to her. She's different in an amazing way. The day I watch this family get sealed will also be the best day ever. 

I'll probably have to book the flight back to Arkansas before I even get home from the mish. haha

Grace- We saw her a lot this last weekend! Since she has been baptized in May she and her mom have taken 400 names to the temple. They both are super involved in Family History and Grace's mom is Zach's Sunday school teacher. They've taken him in so well and Zach loves going to her class. Grace wants to serve a mission someday as well. 

 

DINNER WITH GRACE AND KATIE

LUNCH AT FREDDOS WITH GRACE AND ELAINE

Zach- I mentioned him getting the priesthood last week I think? Well actually it happened this week! I got to be here for it! He was ordained a deacon! And he has been bringing his friend to church with him! He is amazing. This family is incredibly special. Zach has made a lot of friends in the ward and the ward is taking real good care of him. 

 

OH HOW I'VE MISSED THIS NINO! COCO :)

LIZZY WROTE ME THIS NOTE WHEN I LEFT!

Seeing all these changes makes me so incredibly grateful for the Atonement. The power it gives us to change. To get rid of old habits, old lifestyles, old perspectives and become new. That no matter how far away someone’s life may be from God, we can always be "reconciled" with Him through the Atonement of Christ. I think that is one of my most favorite parts about being a missionary. Watching the Atonement change lives as they really come to know Christ through the FULNESS of His gospel. Including mine. Missionaries don't change lives, the gospel they preach does. 

I love in 2 Corinth. 5:

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become enew.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

I'm excited to celebrate the birth, life and Atonement of our Savior. 

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! Remember why we celebrate :) 

 

We will be celebrating by studying Christ’s birth and enjoying a  Christmas breakfast, 2 lunches, and dinner with members so maybe I should just spend next Christmas here too :) 

Love y'all

Les quiero 

Hermana Moore 

"BLESS THEIR HEART!"

We went visiting teaching with Sally and Linda this week. And they taught us a cool new trick. They told us that in the South, you can give whatever insult you want, as long as you end it with "bless their heart" then it’s fine! Cool right?! And it totally works! Haha

It hit 77 degrees this week. Hopefully we can have some dreams of a white Christmas because that’s the closest we are gonna get.  haha It feels like a September in Utah this week. 

Sisters Day Out- 

The mission does an "Elders Luau" in the summer before 4th of July and for Christmas the sisters have a "Sister’s Day Out" activity. IT’S SO FUN TO ALL BE TOGETHER! President and Sister Wakolo got called last minute to an unscheduled meeting in SLC so they weren't there. But they let Jasmin miss school so she could be with us! We started out with a service project. We packed 10,000 bags of food for people in our mission.  President cleared us to listen to normal music #blessed so we got to sing and dance while we packed the food. We did a little "just dance" activity, and even the AP's and "helper elders" were good sports and did it with us!  haha We ate lunch, did crafts and went caroling to the rest homes nearby. Classic sister missionary stuff, and I was more exhausted by the end of it than I am on a normal day but it was so fun to be with everyone. It’s like getting together with family. 

ALL HERMANAS TOGETHER

 

SISTER'S SERVICE PROJECT

SISTER MATHISON

We stayed the night in Little Rock with the Hermanas there from Monday-Wednesday. Tuesday after the sister’s activity we all blitzed Little Rock area. I went teaching with Sister Tester. We had a super cool experience. with a gal that has been a gator for some time now. When she opened the door she started to drop us. But before she could get it all out her car alarm went off. She ran out and took care of it and once she finally got back she lost her train of thought apparently and started asking questions. Long story short by the time we left, 25 minutes later, she committed to attend church that week, said we could bring a member by next week to meet her, and told us that if her car is ever in the drive way that we could stop by. ha ha if God can move mountains he certainly can set off car alarms ;) 

 

HERMANA'S SLEEPOVER

(MESSAGE TRAIN)

Christmas Devotional- 

It’s been a good minute since all of Arkansas side has gotten together so I can't begin to explain how fun it is to have us all together! It’s one big family. We started with the devotional part. President Busbea and the AP's led us in a discussion about the Atonement. We ate a big lunch, we played a game with gifts, and had a talent show! President and Sister Wakolo walked in right towards the end of the talent show. We were so excited to have them home! It’s like mom and dad being gone from the Christmas Party! So turns out this is where he went; He was 1 of the 6 mission presidents called in the world to have a training session with Elder Bednar, Elder Oaks, Elder Anderson and Elder Nelson. The 4 apostles with 6 mission presidents and their wives recorded a training video to train all the other mission presidents in the world. So basically President Wakolo is the top dog. We can't wait for President to be an apostle one day =) And then for the last activity we watched “The Cokeville Miracle”. Such a fun day. I love the mission.

Christmas Branch Party-

In the last month we have been doing some planning with branch council of what we should do for the Christmas party. It was decided that we would do a "Tell Me The Stories of Jesus" program. It’s something we've really been looking forward to because of course the normal Christmas traditions that we all are used to are now gone, and so to be able to attend a "church Christmas party" was familiar to me! We showed up an hour early to set up and we walked into our tinsy cultural hall with empty tables and chairs set up. No lights, no tinsel, not even table cloths. I asked President Hall if he needed us to run to the store and pick up some things, and he said "nope! We are leaving it like this!" 

Okay so I'm embarrassed to admit that this was what was running through my head at this point...well first off it made me homesick, I had a slight moment of being annoyed that I was in this tiny branch that didn't even put bright red table cloths on their tables! I was embarrassed for investigators to walk into an undecorated room for a Christmas party and I was mad that it didn't "feel like Christmas" yes I know. How bratty right? 

So people started to show up, including a little girl we are trying to teach and her family!! This was an absolute miracle. And a member brought 3 of her best friends from the Baptist church with her. Another miracle. (Afterwards one of them told us we should come over sometime!) We all ate tons of sugary desserts and enjoyed an amazing Christmas program. Members of the ward council all told their favorite stories of Jesus. We did a nativity activity in Spanish which was perfect because the same little girl and her siblings participated and her mom got to see! We and the kiddos all sang "Noche de Luz" together. President Hall showed the church's Christmas videos and nativity scenes, we sang, watched music videos of Christmas songs. It was all centered in Christ and it was perfect. The spirit of Christmas took on a whole new meaning. It is a bit embarrassing that it took me 20 years to figure it out. I was warned numerous times that this Christmas would be "different" in an amazing way. It certainly "felt like Christmas" in a different yet incredible way. 

 

RICKY -GREATEST GUY

(HE'S THE ONE WHO MAKES US PIES!)

So we had an amazing experience on Saturday! When we went and taught our investigator, we walked through the baptismal interview questions and he was so ready! We had his baptism all set for Sunday and he was super excited. His interview was scheduled for 9:00 am before church. Aaaaand.....he never showed up. Wouldn't answer the phone either. M.I.A. We were soo bummed! That feeling of pure disappointment we know all too well but it still hurts the same every time. We went and saw him after church and turns out he had a family member in the hospital last minute so he had to go there. We were able to reschedule his date and all is well again. It’s actually real cool because as many of those disappointments we have, which is pretty much daily, I only really remember the good stuff. I remember having disappointments but I don't really remember the details. Atonement wipes away the bad days. Just happy to be a missionary! Even when your baptism doesn't show up..ha..ha..

So transfers..EVERY SINGLE HERMANA IS GETTING SWITCHED UP. MAC AND I ARE OUT! Danville is being whitewashed! So is Russellville and Little Rock! And a new Hermana area is opening in Memphis and Monticello is closing! THIS IS CRAZY!!!! We were the last to get a call so we thought that everyone else was switching and we were staying, but nope. :( We are crushed. I thought for sure I had another one here. I feel like there is so much unfinished business. I'm extremely sad to leave the members and investigators! I feel like we just barely got things going! I just pray and pray and pray that I made the difference here that I needed to. So so sad. As of right now I'm staying  on Arkansas side which means I'll either go to little rock or back to Russellville! It's super sad to all be switching up right before Christmas :( I really do love it here! :( Ahhh! So unexpected!! I don't feel ready to leave. Also I can't really bring myself to start packing. I don't know if I'm in denial or if I'll get a last minute call telling me I'm staying. President goes to the temple today and usually finalizes things after that. So who knows I could get another call later today or tomorrow morning.  And I don't want to leave Mac!! I think I’ve already said this like a million times but Mac is seriously so hilarious. Not in the out loud way, she is super quiet most of the time but then everything she says is just pure gold. Haha I love her. We've had a lot of fun together and I'm sad to leave her :( 

TRANSFERS :(

Looking back I think the thing that has been the most successful this transfer was getting members more involved and finding part member families. We have 7 part member families we've been working with which is awesome! Cute little Danville will be missed! :'( 

 

LAST DISTRICT PICTURE TOGETHER

Don't send any mail to Danville anymore! I'll get my address to y'all when I know. 

Love y'all 

Les quiero ️

LOOK WHO WE GOT TO HAVE DINNER WITH!!! ESPINOZAS!

(ON OUR WAY TO LITTLE ROCK WE ALL STOPPED IN RUSSELLVILLE FOR DINNER WITH DANIELA, JAMIE AND ELIZABETH!)

12 DAYS OF NATIVITY

"I WANT TO BE A MISSIONARY WHEN I GROW UP!"

This will have to be short and sweet today. Lots going on! We have a couple crazy days coming up. We are going to Little Rock tonight with Russellville sisters to meet up with the rest of the hermanas! We will be there until Wednesday for Christmas activities with the mission! It'll be the first time having a sleepover with all the hermanas together! We are super excited! :)

Russellville sisters have been staying with us for the last couple days because they have bed bugs. Gross right? So we've been having lots of sleepovers and it’s the best. 

LEWIS'S BED BUG BITES

We survived walk week, but the Russellville elders crashed their car so we may be taking an extra one this week yay..

 

THIS PUPPY HAS BEEN FOLLOWING US AROUND AND EVEN WAITS WHILE WE GO TO AND FROM DOORS. HAHA, SO CUTE!

WE NAMED HER "HEATHER"!

Okay remember Zach? One of the 3 boys that was baptized in October? Yea well next week he is getting the priesthood!! And his entire family is going to church to watch him be ordained and then he gets to pass the sacrament to them! How exciting is this?!? 

When you are reading the last chapters in Alma doesn't it just make you want to watch Lord of the Rings?! 

 

The Bode family in the ward have this cute little 10 year old neighbor. who they invite over when we come do FHE with them. So she has become our little buddy. She sometimes come to church and activities, her parents are just super catholic so we haven't been given the "go" to fully teach her yet. But this week we were with them singing primary songs with the kiddos. And this cute neighbor out of nowhere says "I want to me a missionary when I grow up!" We are gonna do all we can to start teaching her soon! She is golden! 

Also they had just got their "elf on the shelf" AKA "Buddy Jr." and they were super excited to show him to us. So naturally I went to pick him up to look at them and while doing so I crushed 3 little girls dreams because apparently when a human touches "Buddy Jr." he loses all of his powers...Didn't get that memo..I suddenly turned into the worst missionary ever. haha won't make that mistake again though. They weren't very happy about that. 

DANVILLE DISTRICT

Last week in my email I asked President for some advice on things. He replied with some chapters for me to read. Mosiah 2-4, and Mormon 9. I was a little nervous because I wasn't exactly sure what message he wanted me to pick up. I prayed that I would know what I needed to learn. After reading the two main things the spirit tugged at me was:

1. I am nothing. I am always indebted to him. I am not even the dust of the earth, and even if I was, the dust still belongs to him and is in His power. And it is not my place to question what He asks or what he wants.  I've read this chapter tons and those few verses have never stuck out to me like that before. 

2. If I feel that I am unhappy or am not receiving blessings then I am not living the gospel fully and there is something I need to change. God has promised me that I will be happy if I live the commandments he has given. 

#blessed because church is true. 

CHRISTMAS IS COMING TOO FAST! Go watch the first presidency devotional if you missed it! Elder Bednar #killedit

WATCHING THE CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL

Les quiero 

Love y'all ️

Hermana Moore 

CHRISTMAS PJs

CUTE CHRISTMASY APARTMENT