#WORKHARDPRAYHARD

MISSION LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

MAY

This week I learned the difference between detergent and softener (is that what it's called??) I went for the cheap stuff and ended up buying the wrong stuff. #ThingsILearnedOnMyMission

I also bought my first bottle of Tabasco sauce. I miss spicy food. 

We have been doing so much planning, scheduling, giving sisters rides, sisters sleeping over.. So much fun and so much to do!  The extra hours spent planning this week was crazy.

We had one new sister, Sister Stringham, come into the mission this week. We got to Blitz with her and her trainer, Sister Mathison. I was assigned to go with Sister Stringham and we got a lot of door knocking practice with her! It took me back to my first couple weeks when I had no idea how to do anything. Haha She is awesome though and we all had a good time! That night we were invited to have dinner and testimony meeting at the Mission home with them, the Wakolos, and APs. Super intimate testimony meeting. And it's always fun to be in the mission home!

 

WARDELL, MATHISON AND EVANS

I definitely believe that the field is white in every area, but something about this area is just WHITER. Holy smokes we did so much finding this week and found 20 plus potentials. It's insane! This area is just straight GOLD. It feels so prepared and I've LOVED knocking the crap out of it this week. #blessed because God sent me to Pinnacle Mountain. 

Wednesday night we tried contacting a few potentials in this area and some little kids came up to us and started asking us questions and making conversation, we had them lead us back to their home and wanted to talk to their mom. She was busy so we set a return appointment. We went back Saturday to contact them again and met their mom..and SHE IS GOLDEN. She is looking for change in her life, accepted the Bible and BOM, is new to the area is looking for a church for her family. We didn't even get into the doctrine very much, all we did was explain how church works with primary and youth activities and she was so excited! Before leaving, we stood in a circle and held hands with her and her 5 kids and said a prayer, and she was in tears and the spirit was so strong! MIRACLES. It's amazing how the work can turn around in the blink of an eye. Golden new family. Looking back it's just amazing how God can lead us to that area to find other potentials that lead us to meeting this family, and how he truly has people prepared. The church is true folks. 

So flash back to last week during weekly planning we set high goals. This area hadn't hit some of these goals that we set for months. So it was a big leap of faith. One of which was 5 to church. Saturday morning we weren't real sure how we were going to make that goal because all of our other investigators had things come up, and then this new family. They came and they loved every second. The kids loved the class and found friends. They stayed for all 3 hours and will be back next week! She even asked if she could pay tithing! Ha We are having dinner with them at a members house tonight and we are just thrilled with this huge tender mercy God has given us. 

 

BLITZING WITH ASL SISTERS

I'm almost obnoxiously happy! I just love life. I'm just trying to live up every minute I have. I think I drive Sister Evans a little bit crazy sometimes because I just can't help but be so happy! We've definitely had our downs this week and plenty of super stressful moments but ultimately I've just felt so so enthusiastic about the work and I thank Heavenly Father and my Savior every day for allowing me be a missionary. 

#workhardPRAYhard

Love y'all

Les quiero 

MEMPHIS ZONE 

NEW HOME 

SISTERS FROM LAYTON

"WHATEVER YOU SEE IN JESUS CHRIST, JUST GO AHEAD AND DO IT!" 

Hello from Sister Moore in Little Rock!

Quick recap-

I said goodbye to the Memphis fam earlier this week.

HERMANA MADSEN

CAMPOS

 

BERNITEZ FAMILY

TIRADO FAMILY

SALDANAS

HERMANA APARICIO AND CEZAR

MEMPHIS ELDERS

Sleepover with Hermana Lewis #blessed

Diving back into MLC meeting and instructing in conference calls and all that jazz. Good stuff.

 

SISTERS FARR, NELSON, EVANS, VAN BUREN

This week I was with Sister Evans and Sister Van Buren. I'm replacing Sister Van Buren but she stayed in the area until transfers. My first time being in a trio! We all get along super well, and there are some bomb recent converts that come teaching with us for hours at a time so we were able to divide and conquer the area a lot this weekend. Sister Evans is from Bountiful! She also goes home in August! We've served around each other a lot so I already knew her and she is an absolute gem! I'm excited for the transfer with her!

 

THE TRIO

We live with members, the Jacksons. I'm in a ward with a bunch of doctors which is a tad bit different from my previous area. haha I'm just working on relearning the area and getting to know everyone! The ward is great and super missionary oriented..which is SO AWESOME. For example- Brother Brown brought his friend to the AP's baptism, then to church, had her over for dinner with his family, and gave her a Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ, which she is currently reading. What a champ. Hoping to start teaching her real soon.

It's actually amazing how organized this ward is. It's so odd to not have to focus on less active work like we used to because the ward is already taking care of it! We had 2 missionary meetings before church and 1 afterwards. Seriously amazing! 

 

JOHNSTON FAMILY

MY BUDDY PIPER!

Also want to hear the biggest tender mercy ever??

On Saturday we went to help with a Woman’s Conference for the North Little Rock Stake..ya know? The same stake that RUSSELLVILLE is in?? We are the Little Rock Stake so it was a miracle that we were able to go help! I have fun pictures to send of it. When I saw Hermana Barrera I couldn't help but just cry. AND GRACE!  Holy smokes I love them. It was such a treat. Tender mercies. 

 

RUSSELLVILLE FAMILY

GRACE

DANVILLE FAMILY

SISTER CAHOON -SHE'S A HOOT!

I miss Spanish. I pray weird in English. I miss the food the people everything. But it’s ok I still love my new area :)

 

SERVICE

In MLC President told us "Whatever you see in Jesus Christ, just go ahead and do it." 

3 Nephi 27:21

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel, and ye know the things that ye must DO in my church, for the work which ye have seen me DO that shall ye also DO; for that which ye have seen me DO even that shall ye Do."

I love my Savior, I love His teachings, His example. 

I feel His love. I know His church is on the earth today and that it is perfect and it heals me from my imperfections everyday everyday everyday. 

Love y’all

les quiero 

DISTRICT

"SI DIOS QUIERE"

("IF GOD WANTS")

WE DID SPANISH STUDY OVER THE PHONE WITH ALL THE HERMANAS

 

Soo... I’m leaving Memphis branch. I got a call from President and had a quick interview over the phone and was extended the call to be a sister training leader again.. In English!  It definitely came as a surprise!  I am sad to leave the people here who I love already and I shed a few tears because I really don't want to leave the Spanish culture. I love it and I felt my language skills have come a long way this last transfer. 

FHE WITH THE TREJOS

But I'm also excited for a new adventure and know it's where God needs me! I will be serving in the Little Rock zone with Sister Evans. I'm super excited to be with her!! The ward I will be serving in is Presidents Ward, so I'm also excited to serve closer to "home base." If I were to choose any STL area to be in it definitely would have been Little Rock! So I'm excited! I leave Wednesday morning bright and early to head to a meeting in Little Rock and then right after go to my new home! Back to Arkansas side! I'll now be Sister Moore. Hermana Lewis will be replacing me here in Memphis! 

WE SAID GOODBYE TO ELIZABETH-SHE MOVED TO TEXAS

BEFORE SHE LEFT, SHE MADE US A CAKE! WE LOVE HER! 

A funny expression that the Hispanic culture uses all too often is "si Dios Quiere" which means "if God wants..." So we would extend a commitment to come to church and their response is..."si Dios quiere..." -_- our automatic response is something along the lines of "Si Hermanos DIOS QUIERE"  "I testify as sure as I'm sitting here in front of you that God wants you to come to church this Sunday!!!"  Oh man it just absolutely kills us. Ironically after getting the news of transfers the first thing that came to mind was "Dios Quiere" It's comforting that I know what President says is from God and I know it's what God wants. 

TEMPLE ACTIVITY WITH THE SPANISH BRANCH

Looking back on the transfer I feel like it was incredibly successful. We worked our hearts out here. I saw a lot of growth in the language and in myself and especially in the branch. If I didn't love the Hispanic culture before, I definitely do now. I’m so so grateful God gave me 6 amazing weeks here with Hermana Madsen in the Memphis branch. 

 

BROTHER BENITEZ (BRANCH MISSION LEADER)

Random updates -

We got Tiwis this week- the little device they put in cars to monitor our driving.. 3 strikes and we lose our driving privileges. Yeeee haha 

We had dinner with the Lopez's who live in the cutest neighborhood right along the Mississippi River. The part where we live in Memphis is pretty ghetto. So it was fun to drive around the big city and different parts of Memphis! 

KATIE AND AUTUMN CAME TO MEMPHIS! Elder Butler (who is in my district) baptized Katie. And he leaves this week so Katie came to say goodbye and I got to see her!!!!!:) :) Oh man I was a happy camper. 

KATIE

Lesson with Cristian. I LOVE teaching people who don't know anything about Christ. As we simply testified of who Christ is his smile just got bigger and bigger and he told us he feels so good but he can't even explain the feelings! Oh man those experiences are the sweetest. 

Tender mercies-

We had exchanges and I stayed in the area. The night before a lot of our appointments canceled and I was worried how the day would go. I prayed and prayed that things would work out and we would be able to effectively fill the day. Even more difficult was that my companion didn't speak Spanish, so I had to teach alone. Prayers were definitely answered. We taught ALL DAY. All were incredible lessons. I felt like I had extra angels with me helping me teach. They were the most powerful lessons I had all week. Amazing day. Little prayers make big results. 

ENGLISH SISTER TRAINING LEADERS

SISTER BRYCE AND SANDERS

Before transfers I always pray that I will be able to accept whatever happens. And I've definitely felt the answer to that prayer. I feel at peace and ready to take on another transfer in a new area. 

Also an answer to a prayer came through a talk given at church. He shared a story given in a devotional by Randall L Ridd. It's a story of a man who planted a seed in a place where it got a lot of sunlight and another where it only got occasional sunlight. After a year there wasn't s big difference. He then was called to be a mission president and when he returned 3 years later he found that the seed planted in the sun had flourished and the difference was obvious. He said:

"The same thing happens in our lives as we expose ourselves each day to the source of all light. We may not notice an immediate change, but be assured that a change is happening inside you, and the results will be apparent in time.

This simple idea of the compounding effect of daily disciplines, with purpose and real intent, can make a big difference in all areas of your life. It can mean the difference between struggling through an ordinary life or being immensely successful and filling the measure of your creation."

The source of all light is Christ. He has the power to transform us and help us grow past what we ever thought possible. We may not notice it now, but as we follow Him, His light and power will refine us and prepare us for our heavenly home. :) 

I love having his name on my heart, English or Spanish ;) 

Love y'all 

Les quiero  

PS - For those who won't stop pestering me about my release date (Dad, Mom and Carson) it's August 16. Don't ask anymore :) 

  

"YOU CAN GET WHAT YOU WANT, OR YOU CAN GET SOMETHING BETTER!"

This week’s happenings-

-Amber had baby Ellowyn!! I got a picture and she is DARLING!

- a less active had us "bodyguard" while he mowed a lawn in a sketchy area haha #strong

- we realized the branch roster was not up to date. We wanted to clean it all up so we've been calling all the less actives trying to figure out whose numbers still work and who has moved and all that jazz. So that's been a big chunk of the week. We made a report of everything we found and have been trying to gather info in hopes of being a bit more organized with the roster. Organized is good:) 

SALADANAS AND BENITEZ FAMILY

- Hermana Ponce and Hudson came and blitzed the area 

- Zone meeting. The next couple months we are focusing on Christlike attributes, teaching like Christ and the New Testament!

- The branch knows my favorite food is ice cream so I literally eat ice cream EVERY DAY. :) :/ 

- We were painting a less active’s fence and we start hearing a bunch of yelling and fighting and then gun shots start going off #memphis 

-Daniela and Jaime went through the temple on Saturday!!!! 

DANIELA AND JAMIE

I came to the mission field 2 days after their baptism. And it's a rule that President has set that if we weren't there for the baptism then we can't go to the temple with them. Because I worked with them for almost 10 months and since I barely missed their baptism I thought for sure I would get permission to go. But president didn't want to make an exception to the rule and told me I couldn't go. I definitely was super sad and disappointed. Saturday came and I wanted to ask president for permission to at least to see my Russellville family who would be at the temple just 25 minutes away from me! But I felt like I shouldn't and respect his decision. I was a little bitter. But holy moly obedience and sacrifice bring so many blessings because Saturday night and Sunday were AMAZING! #miraclesonmiraclesonmiracles

-We had an appointment with a less active Saturday night. He ended up not being home so we started talking to his neighbor who was outside and come to find out.. He is a member! And he was one on our list of less actives that we had no information for! He said he had been thinking about the church lately and that it was a miracle that we came by! 

-I also received a short encouraging email from president which definitely was a little tender mercy. 

COOKING WITH HERMANA BENITEZ

-We had brought a member to teach with us this week and found out that that member was hanging out with one of our investigators! #blessssedd

-So then on Sunday...we had 7 of our investigators to church!!! Sacrament meeting was amazing. It was testimony meeting and I felt just super happy and I was able to bare my testimony to the branch for the first time and I felt such a love for them and the happiness I felt is indescribable! HAPPIEST HOUR OF THE WEEK:) 

-4 of the investigators stayed for all 3 hours! 

-Elder Donald L Hallstrom from this last conference quoted Elder Holland and said "You can get what you want, or you can get something better" God’s way is always the better way. He knows us and he knows best. 

With that in mind anyone considering a mission....GO! This isn't the easiest thing I've ever done but it's easily the happiest. Follow the prophets counsel "May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong" 

I love my mission, I love my Savior. 

Tip- on your gospel library app. Go download the audio version of conference and listen to them as you drive or get ready for the day! 

Love y'all 

Les quiero

"WORK WITHOUT FAITH IS DEAD"

MEMPHIS SPANISH DISTRICT

How was Conference?? The best, right??

I'm going to be brief today. 

Sad news- Martinez family is gone. They got a better job offer back in Pennsylvania. So we are heartbroken. But luckily we got prime videos of Melanie before they left. Hopefully they will come through. We will miss them. It was a big shock. We were expecting Yuli’s baptism to be soon:( but the work is still good! God has opened other doors for us. Our motto is "work without faith is dead"  we are working our bums off and doing our part and leaving it to the Lord to make the miracles happen. 

We had 4 investigators watch conference this weekend. As our investigators listened I prayed and prayed that the speaker would say something about a specific topic that I knew our investigator needed and they totally did! I watched the first session in all Spanish! 

I felt at such peace this weekend. It was a spiritual feast, I hope y'all were able to watch! Elder Holland #killedit as always. Our sweet prophet’s guidance on our choices was so powerful. I can't wait to get the written copy of Elder Bednar’s talk and take notes all over again! I think the main message the spirit repeatedly gave me was "you are a child of God, you have a big family to serve." I know and understand who I am and what my purpose is. There is so much peace in that knowledge. It makes me want to be obedient and want to help everyone who doesn't have that knowledge. There were so many amazing things that were said and even more amazing whisperings of the Holy Ghost of things I can do better and answers to my questions. 

I know we have a living prophet today. I sustain him and all the leaders of the church. I know Jesus Christ is the head of this church. 

If you missed conference I would invite you......to repent ;). And then go back and watch them. 

Love y'all 

Les quiero. 

DINNER WITH ELIZABETH

DINNER WITH LOPEZ