Talihina-Week 6

Oh boy. I can't believe this transfer is over already! Christmas and Thanksgiving really made it fly! It was SO fun to have a big project to work on. Sharing "He is the Gift" was one of the most effective and heartwarming things I've participated in thus far on my mission. The first presidency is so inspired. I'm really REALLY sad it's over, but we'll find something new to motivate us. I actually am thinking of creating a New Year’s message. I just need the Mormon messages DVDs...Would you mind purchasing and sending me those mom??? It would be SOOOO helpful! So many people around here don't have the internet...or a TV for that matter so if we bring dvds and our portable dvd player we can still show it! As for Christmas, it was fantastic! We had so much fun hanging out with The Cooks and the Ingles all Christmas eve, watching movies and eating too much haha. President Ingle tried to make peanut brittle...it kinda turned out to be peanut taffy haha I love him! He calls us his kids :) Every time we come over for dinner or something he calls to sister ingle: The kids are home! :) You HAVE to hear his accent haha I'll try to record him! Then Christmas morning we had breakfast with the Lujans whom I adore! They had like 10 cute little white fluffy dogs that attack us. The chubbiest one loves me, of course :) haha they're always the cutest. His name is Chip. Anyway we had TAMALES!!! They were delicious. I miss real Mexican food!!!!! SO MUCH! So that was nice. Then we spent the rest of the day at the Shaws! Aka my other family. :) I love them SO much! Gosh darn it! Why in the world does this happen??? I just grow to love these people SO much and then one day I'll have to leave them forever :( BUT! That's why we must live to be worthy to enter the celestial kingdom so that we can be with ALL of our loved ones again. :) Until them we soak up every minute we can with them. Well on Tuesday we had our Book of Mormon Zone conference and it was AMAZING. I can truly testify that I know that I know the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. I've never had a more spiritual experience than I did discussing the Book of Mormon that day. I have a goal of using it WAY more in my teachings and findings this coming year. One way is. We're going to start reading the Book of Mormon with ALL of our ACTIVE members in the branch. We've got some lined up already! I'm really REALLY excited! I know that by getting them in the scriptures and having spiritual experiences they will be strengthened and they will have a desire to share the gospel with the friends and family. Plus! We're also starting a month long youth missionary challenge. Sister burrows thought of it this week. We're having a youth fast this coming Sunday for missionary work and then for a month we'll be giving them challenges to complete every day of the week. For example week one will be to pray for missionary opportunities every day and week two will be to pass out one pass along card each day and then we're still brainstorming week 3 and 4 haha. But the last challenge will be to invite someone to a church tour in which we'll show: "Finding Faith in Christ" and HOPEFULLY we'll get some new investigators. PLUS! We have 3 boys from a part member family who will be getting baptized the 7th of January! Andrew, one of the boys said after his interview "that was easier than I thought it would be" haha! I guess we did our job :) They are all so great. They're names are Andrew (16), Everett (13), and Georgie (15). Their 8 yr old sister got baptized this week and asked me to speak at her baptism. That’s my 3rd talk at a baptism this transfer! Woot haha. I'm so looking forward to the 7th! I'll take pictures :) Anyway, I'll be staying here in Talihina and getting Sister Gee from Charleston!! What?! We're like sisters haha. She's just finishing her training so I'll have another new one and I am looking forward to her insights. She’s a hard worker I hear and so I can't wait for the miracles :) I LOVED talking to you guys on Thursday. I'm seriously SO blessed to have such great family and best friends. :) I love you all SO much! SEND ME IDEAS OF HOW TO FILL OPEN TIME AS YOU HAVE THEM!!! :) The 12 days of Christmas things were awesome mom! Thank you! :)

 

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

Talihina-Week 4

Happy Choctaw Day everyone!!! It's true! TODAY of all days is Choctaw day. GO OUT AND CELEBRATE! But by all means don't try to get any errands done or any prescriptions filled haha....found that out the hard way. When your whole town is Choctaw they will not be found anywhere but home or parties. But alas! This week has been great! One of my investigators in Henryetta, Brian, GOT BAPTIZED AND I WAS ABLE TO GO BACK!!!!!! :D It was SO awesome. He asked me earlier in the week if I'd speak at his baptism on ...baptism haha and then wonderful Brother Baxter (henryetta ward mission leader) and Terryn (his niece) drove an hour and 45 minutes to come get me just to turn around and drive back to Henryetta, then drive me home then drive back to Henryetta AGAIN...HE IS FANTASTIC AND I LOVE HIM A LOT! :) It was so good to see Sister Fleck and our apartment again haha...which it turns out I left a TON of stuff and they had a bag waiting for me :) I really gotta downsize. I'll attach pictures but I was able to see the Flowers again and Dalton Baptized Brian and then I got to see Sister Alward and Sister Hanson..SO fun! After that Sister Burrows and I went to a Christmas party at the Veteran's colony in which we had a "dirty santa" game...I don't know WHY they call it that...it's a white elephant game thing...super uncomfortable name for it haha ANYWAY! It was fun. Sister Burrows brought a big bag of rolos and I wrapped a "Finding faith in Christ" dvd and popcorn tehe...IT WAS TERRIFYING! All of these old guys are grumpy and set in their ways and have different views on religion but I couldn't pass up the opportunity and in fact...it would have been wrong if I had passed it up SO!....My gift was literally the LAST one to be opened...I was FREAKING out because there was a whole big hall full of people watching as the guy called opened up my present...when he opened it up he looked right over at us and sighed. He said "really?" AHHH! Terrifying! He held it up and everyone laughed because he is an ATHEIST and very open about it to EVERYONE haha I could have died. BUT! His wife is a lady we're trying to work with and He came up to me later and told me that he actually had a sister that would appreciate it so....who knows haha. Gosh, those moments that define us haha they don't come easily all the time. Anyway, we also got to go see a stake performance of The Messiah yesterday! The Shaws drove us... SO fun! Haha I love them. :) We sang the whole way and guess who I saw at the performance???LIKE ALL OF GREENWOOD WARD!!! It was AWESOME!!!! I was running around hugging everyone! :) It was literally like a family reunion. AND! Some of those people I saw were the Palmer boys! I LOVE the Palmers and I hadn't seen them in almost a YEAR! They tried to give me a hug haha and so did BROTHER VENDEL...and so did Brother Goldsmith (my old mission leader :))  haha I had to remind them I'm STILL a missionary :) It was a BLAST! And this coming week we're having our Christmas party/nativity! We've invited like the whole town so hopefully they show up! I'll be singing "oh little town of Bethlehem" and this kid named Grant will be accompanying me on the guitar! :) PLUS The shaws and sister burrows and I will be playing hand bells for away in a manger :) I'm going to have a family hand bell choir when I grow up haha. I'll try to attach pictures. But don't forget the reason we celebrate this holiday. It's such a special time of year and the Christmas spirit, which is Christ's spirit, really radiates and touches all hearts. It provides SO many opportunities to share what you know and share Christ. He IS the Gift. I'm so grateful for my relationship with Christ. I have truly come to know him as I've turned to him for guidance and as I've seen and felt his influence in the lives of those I teach. I'm grateful for the Christmas season and the special spirit that comes into my heart AND I know that we can have that spirit with us ALL year long as we strive to BECOME like the Savior. If our hearts are turned to him and our hearts become like his heart...of course we'll feel his presence. :) 

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

 

Talihina-Week 3

Oh boy what a week! It has been amazing!! We have permission to stay at some members home who live in Wilburton. SO FUN! They have a little barn that they've turned into a bunk house and it felt like we were at girls camp! :) They took us around to meet all of their friends and neighbors...aka best member missionaries ever! :) AND! We were invited back to like 3 people's house then today Sister Cook told us she got a call from one of the guys there asking if we were still around cause he wants to teach us how to leatherwork! :) YAY! Fun missionary work haha. THen! Today we were at the laundry mat and there was a man in there. We ran our laundry out to the car and then I turned to SIster burrows and we went back in to give him a "he is the gift" card and he told us that he was so glad we did! "I have a best friend in Colorado that is lds and I moved down here before I could finish the teachings they had. I've been looking for mormons all over but they're hard to find down here! I'm so glad you came back in!"...AMAZING. Once again I'm shown that if we give even just a little bit of effort, the Lord blesses us. It's so amazing! :) PLUS! On Thursday we were planning and we got this call from a lady we met randomly at the thrift store our first day here and we told her we help with family history. WELL! She called us to come help her and she told us she'd been looking for her great grandpa for 5 years and she wasn't sure if we could help but! We had prayed that we would be able to...not only did we find her great grandpa...but we found his wife and her parents....AMAZING. The miracles flood us as we turn to the Lord for help. What an incredible time of year. I love it with my whole heart because I'm reminded of the true gift of Christmas...our Savior. And for him I will be eternally grateful. I know that as I strive to BECOME like him, I will really learn what it means to use our Father's gift to us. I love this time of year and I hope and pray that you each use this season to give of yourselves and to take the time to bless those around you. Share THE GIFT, the Savior. :)

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

12/1/14- Talihina week 2

12/1/14

One full week in Talihina America, accomplished! That's what EVERYONE and their dog refers to Talihina as: "Well, here in Talihinamerica"..."Welcome to Talihinamerica"..."Here in our part of the world, Talihinamerica"...hahah it's hilarious!  It doesn't matter what state we're in "Merica! Huh!" :) Anyway, both Sister Burrows and I feel like we've been here for 3 years but alas! It's only been a week haha. :) But it's going pretty well. We're still trying to meet all of the members here and our area is the biggest in the WHOLE MISSION it's like 40 by 80 miles...ya it's HUGE. But our plan is to teach and strengthen the members and then they'll feel the spirit strengthen them to do missionary work and the investigators will come. Plus! We as a mission are being monitored or something like that with this new tool the church has put out. It's a Christmas video called “He is the Gift" Look it up on christmas.mormon.org and share it with your friends. There's pass-along cards in the December Ensign for it. I challenge all of you (mom, Cass, Kent, everyone else who reads this) to really pray about who you could give that card to and invite to watch a nice Christmas video that puts Christ right back in the center of the season and then give it to them. I PROMISE you that there's someone in each of your lives that needs that video and YOU have the privilege of helping them. Please do it and then tell me how it goes. I might forget to remind you or follow up just cause life is crazy so I'm puttin each of you personally responsible to report back how it goes. Mom, you remind the slackers ;) Love you all! So ya, the church will be collecting the number of referrals and new investigators we get from sharing this video. So! Everyone share it! There's this kid in our branch, Grant. He's like 11 years old and he took 10 cards to pass out to his friends at school and he gave us a referral to go see one of his friends. He's on FIRE! He's such a good example to me. I wish I had been more like that as a kid, but! NO time like the present! We're on borrowed time here :) Anyway, how was Thanksgiving and Christmas in the nighttime sky????!!! I was so sad to miss that this year but I guess one year out of like 15 isn't too much to ask for :) My Thanksgiving was great! We spent the WHOLE day with the awesome Shaw family. Seriously, they're the best. It was a non-proselyting day so we got to chill out and play board games and stuff. Me and Sister Burrows tried to teach them how to play spoons but when I shared a story of when we were playing ultimate spoons at Korry's house and broke the banister they weren't too excited haha so we sat around swappin missionary stories and it was AWESOME. I can't wait to be able to do that with my future family someday. Gather all my kids in and hear them talk about their missions and be able to talk about mine. :) It's gonna be great :) Also, I kinda got super sick to my stomach because yet again, I ate something I shouldn't have. We're pretty sure it's a combination of dairy and gluten intolerance....fun. I have been off of both since then and I'm definitely improving. I was down for a couple of days but all is well now.  I just miss ice cream haha! Anyhoo, as I sat in sacrament this Sunday I was remembering the scene from the movie "Finding Faith in Christ" (so good, everyone should watch it) where Christ is walking down the road and he helps an old man pick up his bread that he dropped. Then the old man gives him a piece of the dirty bread and the Savior just wipes it off continues on and eats the bread. That is how I want to be. I want to be SO aware and humble and grateful. I can tell you, my testimony and my faith in the Savior have grown DRAMATICALLY over these past 11 months. Every time I notice a tender mercy, every time I partake of the sacrament, and every time I take the time to see the Lord in my life, I am reminded of the Savior's absolute ability and desire to take us as we are right now and make us better by following him. I've always know that God was real and that He loves me. I am his daughter. However, my relationship with Christ, his son was severely lacking. Now as I've TRIED, just tried to do his will, he makes up for my weaknesses. HE can "do his own work". I’m just grateful he lets me be a part of it. It's a HUGE blessing. Also, this Saturday is the 1st presidency Christmas Devotional! Don’t forget to watch it and bring a friend!!!  I'm SO excited for Christmas. We're trying to plan a nativity play for the branch to put on for the community! It's should be really good! I LOVE this work and I hope I've done my job so far. Oh! AND! Brian (investigator in henryetta) should be getting baptized this Saturday!!!! Hopefully Sister Alward will come get me!!! There are so many amazing people down here. I am truly blessed to know them :) I love you all!! 

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

11/24/14

TALIHINA Week 1

"The struggle is real." "Where am I?" And "....what just happened?" Three phrases that have been used at least a TRILLION times since I got here. OH BOY haha Talihina is the weirdest, craziest place on earth. I'm just gonna hop right in. So Sister Burrows is my new companion she's from Reno, Nevada...kinda she's lived in a bunch of different places but she's just finished training and she is really nice. I think my bluntness might scare her a little but I'm working on it. :) We have had a couple of the most strange days of my life. I'm just gonna make a bullet list cause it's unreal haha:

1. We live on what the natives here call Blood alley.....a woman was murdered walking down the street for no reason and her blood left a stain on the road for a bit....yep.

2. We woke up to no water on Sunday and successfully "bathed" with a jug of distilled water the sisters had stored.

3. Our Branch mission leader is AWESOME! He just got home from his mission 2 months ago and he was an assistant...cool. He also called the place where our apartment is "The Sketch" haha ok.

4. Our car's battery was dead this morning and we had to call a non-member Native American guy who loved the past sisters a lot and he saved us :)

5. We met the guy that owns the subway down here and he told us to go to the subway and get free food whenever we wanted and when we went there today the workers also handed us a bag of produce cause we mentioned we didn't have any...:) What in the world? SO nice!

6. Our water came back on...it's solid brown. We found out the water plant or whatever is right next to the sewage place...yum.

7. The sisters before us were like the Favorites of the whole town...hard to follow that one but! The thing is they spent like all of their time with about 3 people and so we have HOURS of everyday that are wide open and no one new to teach...GAHHHHH that's the WORST! Give the sisters referrals and have the lessons in your home! Remember missionaries are in areas to help the MEMBERS with THEIR work...sigh. Be good to those in our ward.

Ok I think that's the main points, dulled down haha. Goodness. I don't know what in the world to think about it here. It's so hard but yet there are such great people here but yet they're super easily offended and stuck in their ways. I just hope AND PRAAAYYYYY that I'll do my job here and that I'll make some lifelong friends along the way. I'm just so afraid of wasting God's time or of missing out on people or things because I don't know where to find them, but we talked to Brother Shaw, our mission leader and he reminded us that it's their job as members to provide people for us to teach we just have to do our part and be prepared and keep talking to everyone we can. Yay OTM! :) Anyhoo, I think that's it. I'm excited for Thanksgiving. The Shaws, aka one of sister Vendel's friends haha are having us over and they'll have a bunch of non-member family over too so it'll be awesome! And! The branch president, President Ingle and his wife are literally some of the Vendel's bffs haha and I LOVE them already. They are SOOOOO sweet. President Ingle reminds me of Dennis Quaid...in an older version. He has the thickest accent ever haha he is adorable! :) He's the nicest man on the planet and when he talks about Talihina it comes out " Tall-uh-hin-uh" So cute! haha Anyway. I'll have to let you know how this week goes. If sister burrows and I survive our stay here, IT WILL BE A MIRACLE! :) Have a GREAT Thanksgiving! I'm so unbelievably thankful for ALL of my friends and family. I'm truly blessed to have all of you. My love for each of you and for our Savior has only grown in these past 11 months!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

PS Kascey is getting baptized this weekend in Henryetta! And Sister Alward (aka my other mother) Said she'd come get me all the way in Talihina for Brian's baptism on the 6th...:) I LOVE HER!!

 

PPS I said goodbye to my favorite cashier at walgreens in Okmulgee before I left Henryetta and she gave me a big old hug and teared up. Her name is Annetta :) I gave her a Book of Mormon too. She's the sweetest. DAHHHHH SO MANY GOOD PEOPLE OUT HERE!!! I'm so blessed

Our Appartment

Sis. Burrows

Previous Sister's food storage

Drinking water?

 

11/18/14

Ok, it's gonna be a quickie! I'm doing great! I am being transferred this Thursday to TALIHINA!!! Which is INSANE cause I've been on exchanges there so I know some people already! :) It's about the size of the tip of a pencil and I’m so excited to spend Christmas there. I am kinda really sad to be leaving Henryetta AND sister fleck cause it's super comfy here haha we have a bunch of awesome progressing investigators... including Kacey and Brian!!! He came to church Sunday and we're inviting him to be baptized on the 6th today! He already told us he wants to so! It's golden! I'm sad that once again I'll be missing the baptisms but Talihina is only like 3 or so hours away so maybe I can come back! I'm SOOOOOO grateful for the time I've had to serve here. I love it and I love the people. Sister Fleck has been one of the BEST companions ever and I'm really sad to be leaving her :( HOWEVER! We can still be companions again someday. She goes home one transfer after me. AND! I’m getting another new missionary, Sister Burrows. I've met her once and it'll be good. We're shot gunning into Talihina so I'm a little nervous but I've heard from 3 sisters that it has been there favorite area. They say the people there are the BEST! I can’t wait to see it! :)

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

New Address:

Route 1 box 1347

1200 Church street #5

Talihina, OK 74571.

 

 

 

It snowed on Sunday!!!!! Yay!!!!! :D Also, that's my new $15 coat :) Sister Fleck and I match haha LOVE YOU GUYS!

11/10/14

Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!  That song could not portray more perfectly this wonderful Oklahoma day :) It's like 78 outside right now and the fall leaves are GORGEOUS. Boy it's a great day, except that sister fleck feels super sick ...darn it. We were going to go to this awesome trampoline house with our old HILARIOUS district but we may not now cause she's puking... :/ BUT! GUESS WHAT??!!!! We have a baptismal date set for our investigator Kascey!!!!! :D They've been coming to church and her less active mom is getting a calling hopefully soon!!! :) Isn't that amazing? AND! Oh my goodness! Update on our AMAZING investigator named Brian, he is progressing SO well!! He told us he was so glad he met us because he was lacking friends and direction and now he doesn't feel that way because he's reading the book of Mormon!! ...What in the world. Who is this guy? Seriously he is such a tender mercy! :) He tried to come to church this week but couldn't find it and so he's gonna ride with the Flowers this coming Sunday. :) YAY FOR MEMBERS!! :) I also may have slightly drilled him on why the priesthood is so important haha...I am so awkward at teaching that point because it's the most important and I really want him to understand it haha "Brian, the priesthood is power and authority from god given to man to bring to pass the salvation of his children by performing things such as baptism. So Brian, What's the Priesthood?" Him: "Umm...God showing us he loves us and stuff?..." Me: "Good Brian...it is indeed power and authority from God given to men to perform saving ordinances such as Baptism!"...Hahaha oh goodness! :) He did have it by the end of our lesson though! :) Also, we went to the temple this week!!! We got to go to the temple with one of our recent converts, Steven and it was the BEST experience I've had taking a convert to the temple. He's about 24 and his mom passed away when he was a kid. Well, I was able to be baptized and confirmed for her and then he was able to be baptized and confirmed for one of sister fleck's ancestors and she had a name she got to do too! It was AMAZING! I looked up at him right before we did his mom's name and he had a HUGE smile on his face and he was so excited. After we finished we sat in the waiting room and talked about his experience and he bore his testimony then and yesterday at church telling us how he KNOWS this church is true and that Heavenly Father wants us all to come to the temple! It was powerful. What an incredible day for both him AND his mom. I truly felt her spirit surround me as they confirmed her a member :) It was powerful. :) I'm so grateful to be a part of this work. I don't know if I KNEW that I knew these things were true before I came out on a mission, but now I can say confidently that they are... I've never had a more powerful experience with a convert at the temple. He couldn't believe he'd waited so long to go and he bore his testimony in church about how he KNOWS this church is true and that god wants all of us to go to the temple....YES! These new members are priceless! I've been so blessed to work with so many of them on my mission. That made trip number 8 or 9 to the temple! :) I love Heavenly Father SOOOOOOOO much!!! :) Gosh, life is good here and I am really hoping I get to stay this next transfer because we're starting our 40 day fast the 16th and I just really need to get to know the members better, but transfer calls are this Saturday! Keep your fingers crossed! :) Well, have a great week!

 

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno 

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!! I AM 20 YEARS OLD!!!!! CRAZY!! :) Today has already been fantastic. Sister Fleck and I got up to exercise this morning and after we did I opened up my presents from you guys and Emily!!! They came in the mail yesterday but sister fleck made me wait :) She is so fantastic! She made me french toast and bacon for breakfast. She covered the fridge with birthday songs and wrote a big happy 20th birthday on the bathroom mirror and sticky noted my desk with birthday wishes haha :) It was very sweet :) PLUS!!! It's POURING outside right now haha which means I got to wear my new rain coat that I LOVE SOOOOO MUCH!! It's perfect! It keeps my skirt down and it has a hood so it's fantastic. ALSO! I'm wearing my new green cardigan today and I think it looks pretty good if I do say so myself! :) YES I did get Erma’s video!! It came on Halloween which worked out perfect cause we had to be in at 7 since our ward wasn't having a party...sad haha but it was awesome we got in our pjs and watched that video and then made a video that I'll send to you guys. We're also working on a special musical number that we'll send to you once our skills improve :) Man I am so grateful for all of you guys that sent me cards and gifts. :') I love you all!! Emily! I LOVE THE NAIL POLISH! You're so right it is the perfect periwinkle :) I was totally thinking to put the think one on top and then I read your card and thought "yes we are best friends :)" I will only be able to wear it on my toes but if you paint your toes that color then we will be matching hundreds of miles apart! And Erma, Grandpa, Nelson and Stevie THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for the video and the card!! You guys are the best. Although it was rude of you to eat ice cream cake right in front of me ;) But! Moving forward. We had this super cool experience this week. We were outside the OSU campus going to go have a lesson with one of our recent converts and his wife and there was this guy getting out of his truck right next to us...slightly attractive, but don't worry my heart is locked! :)Haha anyway. We got out and he started talking to me and it was kinda flirty I'm not gonna lie but when he asked me what my name was I told him "sister" and introduced us. We gave him a pass-along card with our number on it and told him to call us if he was interested in learning more. Well!!! HE called us back like a week later and we've taught him TWICE now! And it's PERFECT because he's really been looking for guidance and for friends and the Flowers (RC couple) live in the same building as him and we've had both lessons with them there. It's AMAZING! I'm just so excited to see where things go because he even asked them for a ride to church but it was stake conference and stuff so ya but it's gonna be great! Speaking of stake conference! SOOOOOO!!! We had some CRAZY things happen. As I told you Elder Alan Packer came down to the mission and we had a big zone conference with him which was AWESOME!! I learned so much from him and our musical number went pretty well!! We had one spot where we lost our parts but other than that it went well. :) But yes at stake conference, where he presided, a new stake was announced and formed! ACTUALLY THREE new stakes were formed in our mission this past week!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!! That means we are doing our job! The church is growing here in the Only True Mission :) Berryville is a part of the new Rogers stake and I'm SOOO excited! What was kinda crazy though was that all of our districts got swapped around. Sister Fleck and I were the only ones from our district that got moved. We're now a part of a whole new district half way through the transfer! Which...is kinda sad actually cause I really loved our district and I didn't get any pictures with them or anything and they're all hilarious. BUT! Elder Cresswell, our district leader is going home this transfer anyway; so I guess it makes the parting less painful haha He's hilarious. We're going to be best friends when he gets home :) Only he lives in South Carolina haha so ...ya. Facebook! :) Annnnd...goodness I had a whole list but I left it at home darn it! So I'll try to remember it all. We were mobbed by like 6 moms at stake conference taking our pictures and telling us about a missionary mommas page so join that mom I guess haha and hmm We had really good lesson with our investigator, Kascey. We taught her the plan of Salvation and told her to make a picture of the sun and hang it on her wall so that she can always remember what her goal is and what she needs to do to get there. We told her we'd make one too so we did and mine is awesome! Sister Fleck thinks it's weird but its folk art! She was all using a ruler and whatnot and I kept adding colors :) I think it's cool. But ya I think that's about it. We're working hard and I'm learning so much every day. We're having dinner with the Hardgraves tonight and they said they're making me a special cake to celebrate and then Dalton and Emily Flowers (my best friends) are making me something desserty AND so is a less active lady named Kim! SO! I'm very blessed to be surrounded by such great people and I will not be able to walk by the end of the day :) Y TAMBIEN! Mi hermana Cassandra Nicole Moreno tiene un fantastico cumpleanos esta Sabado!! Te quiero mucho! :)

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

10/27/14-Happy Halloween from Henryetta!

I can hardly believe it is almost November...what in the world?? They weren't kidding when they said once you hit your nine month mark everything just speeds up!!! SO! Once again we have had an amazing week!! Can I just say that I am so grateful for Heavenly Father blessing me and Sister Fleck with so much success? Seriously, he is amazing and I am so SO grateful to be a part of his work :) Ok so cool stories from this week! Sister Fleck and I were walking down the street on our way to our next appointment when we saw this guy working on his truck and he looked a lot like Kevin, ma. We stopped and were talking to him and pretty soon we're handing him tools and helping him add in another air horn to his truck haha! We start talking about the church and he's had a HARD life. Well, we give him a book of Mormon and set up another time to meet with him and now we're teaching him and his two daughters!! CRAZY! PLUS! We went to a little town we cover called Weleetka and we visited with a guy that the elders had taught a long time ago and he basically told us he wants to get baptized and he came to church last week! WHAT! AND We were running late to church yesterday and we rushed down the hall when I saw a kid sitting on the couches in jeans and I went up and talked to him and apparently he just was stopping in to see how we run church, he'd never been before so we introduced ourselves and brought him into sacrament! Talk about dropping him in our laps!!!! AND AND!!! We had one of our investigators, Lori come to church for the very first time this week and she came praying to know if she should be baptized...she said she really enjoyed church and that she'd let us know Wednesday if she wants to be baptized or not!!! We had 7 investigators at church on Sunday. I'm telling you, it's amazing to be in Henryetta right now. That's not to mention the fact that the Vendels came down to visit me for my BIRTHDAY!!! Brother Vendel brought me cake and we all went out to dinner with the Hardgraves. MAN! I just =think about if I hadn't come on a mission and I shudder because I would've missed out on all of these amazing experiences and mostly all of these amazing people. ALSO! For Halloween, we have to be in by 6 unless we're with members. SO! Sister Fleck and I will be hanging out with our recent convert Steven making knives...hahahaha yes. I don't know how that is much safer than tracting around questionable houses haha but it's gonna be a blast!! :) And! I have discovered the cutest puppies on the planet! They are called akitas!!! OH MA GOSH...THEY ARE THE MOST FLUFFIEST ADORABLE YOU CAN'T HELP BUT LAUGH UNCONTROLLABLY WHEN YOU'RE AROUND THEM CAUSE THEY'RE SO STINKIN ADORABLE PUPPIES ON THE PLANET!!!! Look them up. Your just start smiling and crying over their adorable fluffiness. :) Ok I think that's it except that I now hate my hair. Seriously, I'm never cutting it again. I'm done with the whole afro look...hahah curse you humidity!! :) OH! And we're taking Steven to the temple next week!!!! AND!! Sister Fleck and I got to paint pumpkins at a relief society party on Saturday and it made my life. I've missed being crafty and painting. I'll try to attach pictures! :) I love you all!! Oh! And ma, can you send me my Mariah Carey Christmas cd and the Christmas book (24 days thing) you can just make a copy of it cause I know it's yours tehe but that can wait till almost December I just had to get that out before I forgot! :) Also, thank you sooooooooooo much for my cute new coats!!!!! You guys are the BEST!!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

PS I'm singing at zone conference……..the same zone conference that Elder Packer is going to be at!!! AND! My companion, sister fleck is getting interviewed by him for some reason!! Eek! She's freaking out haha I love her. :) And here's the great part....the music they gave me to practice (we're doing a quartet of Reverently quietly) was missing 3 pages....ya so! Here's where my site reading comes in handy! Pray for me!!

 

10/14/14

Holy miracles! Ok I am gonna make this one shorter than last week cause that was exhausting haha but I have SOOOO much to say yet again! I'm hopping in!

#1. We had transfers on Thursday and Sister Gregson is now in Berryville! Lucky dog :) And Sister Fleck is my new companion. She's been out just one transfer less than me. It's cool to have a companion that's pretty experienced and basically on the same page as me. This is the first time since sister Breaux that I haven't had a new bee! :) She loves Harry Potter and has a ton of clothes and shoes.so as you can see we will be just fine :)

#2. I will be reaching my 10 month mark this Friday! WHAT? I think they were right about once you hit your half way mark everything is downhill...at least in regards of time thus far.

#3. Meet the Mormons was SOOOOOOO good! If you have not seen it GO SEE IT! We want as many people as possible to see it and like it on facebook and request it in your area on meetthemormons.com It's an AWESOME missionary tool! We've been having our members here take their nonmember friends and it's going REALLY great! Take people to see it!

#4. OK these next few bullet points are the greatest things ever EVER!!!!!! First of all....BILL CRAIG. Yes, BILL CRAIG. Notice the last name as I hop into this miracle. Ok so! For the past 6 months the sisters here have been trying to meet with this man, Bill Craig. He's the husband of a less active lady and he's always busy. He has cancer and he's really been struggling so they've only met with him once. WELL! I saw his name and suggested to Sister Gregson that we try to go see him and just stop in. Well we show up to his house and his wife (whom they've never met) opened the door and welcomed us right in. She told us that she'd just gotten off the phone with her son who lives in Idaho. I was like "Oh! Where in Idaho" And she's like "It's a little town near Twin Falls. It's called JEROME......." ........:o WHAT. YES. I think you can see where this is going. I freaked out all over the place and apparently her son works at the fire station and then Bill comes into the room and I tell him where I'm from and he literally stares at me with his mouth wide open and starts to tear up "I was raised in Jerome" He said and that is the beginning of it all. The last time I saw him (this past week) He told me "Ya know my friends and family back in Jerome have been trying to get me to join the church my whole life. (His best friend is Arlen Crouch by the way...ya haha CRAZY! ) And I have been putting it off for years but now that God is sending missionaries from my home town, I think it might be a sign." "A sign of what?" I asked tehe "That I should get my act together! You know. You can tell me that you are here on your mission for this and that but there is no doubt in my mind why you're on your mission...it's for me."......:O Can you believe that????? I am BLOWN away. There is NO other way than through divine intervention that this has happened! I can't even put into words how I feel but boy oh boy let me tell you, that was a powerful realization that I'm not just here by chance. There are souls out there who need ME. WOW. Let that soak in a bit. We ALL have people like that in our lives. SO ya.

#5. Ok last but most certainly not least! The wedding/baptism for the Weavers was awesome! It was SOOOOOOOO good to see everyone and catch up and be with the Vendels! I love them soooooooooooooo much! They really are my other parents. :) But not only was the wedding and baptism awesome and getting to see the old ward (which remembered me haha I was scared they wouldn't but they all were so surprised and happy to see me...yay!) BUT! THE BEST PART OF ALL.....THE ABSOLUTE BEST PART OF ALLLLLLL.....WASSSSSSSS When I got inside the chapel and sat down I noticed a few faces and then I spotted a couple of ver dear people. Mom do you remember Melanie and Elizabeth??? The mom and daughter that sister breaux and I found and taught and invited to be baptized but then they moved???????......WELL! THEY MOVED BACK AND JUST GOT BAPTIZED LAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I literally just stared in shock and turned to the Vendels and they told me and I just broke out in tears! I couldn't help it I cried and they came over and gave me hugs and I cried and told them I was so shocked and happy and mad! I was so mad no one told me!!!!!!! BUT! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????? Not to mention there was 2 other people that I had taught BESIDES them and BESIDES the weavers that had also gotten baptized! I had in total 5 PEOPLE THAT I TAUGHT GET BAPTIZED!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was/am BLOWN away. Blown away. How can life get any better than that? My whole mission I feel like I've done a lot A LOT of prep work and I've never really seen any lasting results come from it...until now. :) WOW. God is great. I love Melanie and Elizabeth and lane and June and Brother and sister weaver with my WHOLE soul and now I get to rejoice in the fact that they're progressing on the path to eternal life and I was blessed enough to be a part of that. Amazing. The only thing that would've made it better would be if Sister Breaux could've been there. :)

Ok well I'm gonna try and attach some pictures but I just want to say thank you to all those who send me emails and letters. You have no idea how much those mean to me! :) I am so blessed to be here and I can't wait to share more stories next week. I love you all!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno                            

 

Pics of the greatest weekend ever!!

Melanie and Elizabeth

the Weavers

The Vendels aka my other parents

Lane Hobbs is the kid I helped teach both.

 

 

June is the older lady in the blue.

 

 

 

10/6/14

Ok folks buckle up! I have way too much to tell you in such a short amount of time but I’m going to try anyway. Now these are not in order of importance haha it's ALL important! :) OK SO First of all transfers...I am staying in Henryetta and Sister Gregson is leaving!!! :( I'm going to miss her so much! Seriously, she is so stinking hilarious and she was the breath of fresh air I needed. I am going to miss her crazy hippie ways and her random tangents about food and the troubles of society haha. BUT! You'll never guess where she's going........BERRYVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??!!!!! My mind is BLOWN! :D I have been telling her this whole transfer about it and how I LOVE it and how Arkansas sunsets are better than Oklahoma sunsets haha and I kept telling her that I hoped she'd get to serve there eventually and BAM! She's headed there next! Wow! Haha I love how Heavenly Father works :) We basically trained and pumped each other up for each other’s areas and stayed together long enough to become best friends and now we must go on our merry ways haha. Gosh I wish I could keep her around but if there is anyone that I'd find acceptable enough to turn Berryville over to, it's her :) I love it! Also, Mom she's from Seattle so when we're done with our trip to Harry potter world we're gonna swing by Seattle because you know I love it and you love it too so now Cass just needs to love it haha! :) Anyway on to the next! Elder Allred, one of the Elders that I served with while I was in Charleston (he was in Greenwood and we shared the Greenwood ward) will be coming into my district this transfer!!!! I am SO excited!!! He's like a long lost brother and I've missed that kid! Not to mention he's hilarious :) SO excited! That just made my life when I heard that because sometimes it's a little awkward being in a district with all elders besides your companion but he'll clear that up right quick! Speaking of only sisters...we're losing our 3rd companionship of sisters from our zone thanks to transfers so there's only me and my companion (whom I don't know..The zone leaders forgot her name haha) and one other set of sisters in a zone of about 30 other elders...yay. Talk about minority haha. Now speaking of Greenwood.....holy cow do I have news for you guys. SO! I got a call from Sister Vendel yesterday night and as per usual I LOVE talking to her and I miss her sooooooo much. BUT! She had some news for me. When I was serving in Charleston there were some people we were teaching with the Elders, you may remember them the Eaton's/ weavers??? I wrote about them! Anyway! Before I left Charleston they had planned on getting married in March and they told me they'd come and get me so I could be there well...things happened and the wedding was pushed back. WELL! THE WEDDING AND BAPTISM ARE ON FOR THIS SATURDAY!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! AND! Sister Vendel has taken matters into her own hand haha and already talked to sister Hardgrave her bff that lives here and they'll be meeting half way and dropping me off to spend the night in Charleston to see the wedding and baptism!!!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????!!!! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT!!! I've missed Charleston sooooo much and then I get to go back and see my first people I taught get baptized ahhhhh! CRAZY! Man! I have been praying that Heavenly Father would send me things to make me happy and holy cow did he ever :) I just can't even believe it. And that's not even it! Sister Gregson and I had THE biggest miracle ever happen the other day. The other day we were sitting in the car and we were talking to our Sister Training leader and we were talking to her about how we were frustrated because we felt like we were surrounded by the prepared but that we couldn't seem to find them. We told her we weren't having any luck finding any new investigators and she told us to stop and pray and ask Heavenly Father to help us find someone new to teach. Well, as she's saying this a man walks up and sits on a bench in front of our car and we turn to each other and tell her "ok we thing we may have found someone". So we quickly said a prayer that Heavenly Father would help us find someone new to teach and if it was to be this man that things would go well. Then we get out of the car and HE starts talking to us! He asked what church we were from and who we were going to go teach. "Me? " he asked. And all we said was "Yep!" "Ok" he said. "You've got 10 minutes before I have to go back to work". So, we proceeded to tell him about the Book of Mormon and about how we have a living prophet on the earth today and how he was actually going to be speaking to the whole world and that we'd love for him to come and see what the prophet had to say. He asked us what time church started and said "Here's my name and number. I'll be there Sunday. And thanks for the book, I love reading. And they would you mind leaving me with a prayer before you leave". We just laugh and stare at each other like "Ummm ya hahah that would be ok" And we left! Isn't that amazing??? Seconds after, actually not even after. WHILE we were talking and hoping to find someone new and prepared to teach, Heavenly Father literally drops a man right in our path. WOW. That moment right there has changed me forever. Sometimes I forget that God WANTS us to find the prepared. He WANTS us to find success and he WANTS us to ask him for help. I have learned to trust in him and the promise he gives over 100 times in the scriptures "ask and ye shall receive". So, when life gets dark and dreary and you feel like you're never going to find anyone to teach, don't forget to pray. :) He is near and he hears our prayers. Holy miracle :) Now to wrap things up. General Conference. Oh. My. Goodness. Spiritual feast.  WOW! I am so blessed to be able to watch conference 3 times while I'm out here and I have to say I've never gotten more out of conference than I did this past weekend. It really hit me that we seriously are so unbelievably blessed to have a modern day prophet. Like RIGHT NOW. I have taken advantage of this fact my whole life and it took me until now, being stranded in little town in Oklahoma miles away from home and basically all civilization haha to realize this! We literally NEVER have to feel lost or confused about ANY topic of life or whatever! God speaks to us ALL the time through President Monson and the other authorities of the church. I have never felt more comforted and blessed to know that God speaks to us then now. There are so many times when I feel lost or confused and unsure of God's expectations of me, but now I know I just have to listen to the words of the prophets. I just have to follow their counsel and I'm golden! And as far as knowing how God feels towards me, the prophet talks about that too!  What a comfort it was to hear multiple people speak of God's love for his children. That as long as we're trying our best to do our best and keep the commandments, he is proud of us. There is NOTHING that can stop God from loving us. It's a fact. God WILL ALWAYS love us. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the resource of a modern day prophet. I invite everyone to read and watch and follow the counsel given by the prophets and apostles. The talks are all online at lds.org. Take advantage of it! You will experience a peace and a comfort that can't be found anywhere else. PHEW! I think that's all. :) Man! Can I just say I love this gospel! :)  I have never done anything more difficult or scary in my life than serving a mission BUT! I have never found more peace or happiness either. I know this is God's work that I'm blessed to be a part of and I hope I remember EVERYDAY, the love and the concern he has for each of his children so that I may share with them the message of his heart. That Christ lives and that through him we may return to our Father in Heaven to live in happiness forever if we just "come unto him".

Love you forever,

Sister Andrea Moreno

9/23/14

 

SO! What a week! I have made a list of things to cover so I don't forget anything haha :) Sister Gregson and I did get our hair cuts and we love them! I also was given a lawn mower blade as a gift from our recent convert, Steven. He's about our age (24) and he is super into survival stuff and I told him I wanted him to teach me his ways so that if I'm ever lost in the middle of somewhere I'd be able to survive haha WELL! The lawn mower blade is for me to make a knife out of!! YA! It's going to be awesome! Haha I don't know how I'll bring it back home but it'll be AWESOEM! I've already sketched out how I want it to look and I'll be attemtping to make my handle out of rock haha I thought it would be awesome but he's never done it so we'll try it out. :) AND! My knitting skills are improving although sister gregson cannot rememebr how to finish it so I have two wash cloths done but they're on the needles still haha. One of them is going to our relief society dinner/ broadcast watching. We're all getting together and ddoing a homeade gift exchange before the General Women's broadcast! I am looking forward to that SOOOO much! I can't believe it's already been 6 months since the last one! That last one was probably the most spiritual conference I've ever been apart of...wow. Everyone needs to watch it! It's this saturday at like 7 I think! Post a thing on facebook for it ma :) It'll be good! And we had an awesome lesson with our other recen tconvert who is only 11. We retaught ehr the plan of salvation and her cousins helped us each pick a piece of the plan, draw what we thought it will/did look like and then explain it. We all lined up afterwards and got a picture :) As for finding new people to teach, we are working our tails off in the ways that we feel prompted to go. Which is, mainly focusing on getting less actives back to church becuse there's about 400 members in our ward but about 50 come...ya. SO! We'll be teaching less actives which happen to have either a spouse or some kids or both that aren't memebrs! It's gonna be good. We have also searched out and are still searching out places where we can do service. Our sister training leader is coming down here on the 2nd and we're going to do a crazy exchange where all 4 sisteers (her and her companion and us) stay in henryetta, each one of us go out with a memebr and then we all go change the world! I'm looking forward to it! :) Ahh ok I'm outta time but I also have been reminded again that it's SO important to wear SATAN REPELLENT! He has really been sneaky with me lately and he is with all of us, but if we watch our thoughts especially, he can't get it. Surround yourself with the spirit! I love you!!!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

9/16/14

HAPPY HALF WAY TO ME! HAPPY HALF WAY TO ME! HAPPY HALF WAY TO ME (ON THURSDAY) HAPPY HALF WAY TO ME!!!!! :) Woohoo! 9 months out and still going strong! Who knew I'd make it this far? :) Just kidding! Boy oh boy life is good. Thank you so much for the pictures and packages!!!! I LOVE THEM SOOOOO MUCH! I have the best family ever :) Also, I am very sorry to Manda and Emily both for apparently taking forever and a day to respond back to your letters!! I lost Emily's and forgot to mail Manda's...so sorry! I love you both though and I promise they're on their way! And! Oh my goodness!!!!! DELI HAD HER FAREWELL!!!!?????? I just barely got her letter in the mail the other day cause it sent to my old address, same with Sue's and Nelson's so I'll try to mail everybody back as soon as possible but ma how long will Deli be home????Should I mail it to her house next week or will she be gone??? EEK!! I'm so excited for her!! She's going to be great! :) So, a few updates here in Henryetta! Sister Gregson is fantastic and has taught me how to knit...yes it's true and I LOVE IT! I'm kind of addicted to it and so I walk around looking like a 90 year old woman with knitting needles and yarn sticking out of my bag ‘cause we don't actually have like any time to jsut sit and knit haha except when we're driving so I let her drive and I knit away! :) Maybe I'll be so good at it I'll be able to knit yall some sweaters for Christmas hahaha probably not. Maybe some dish towels :) But ya it only took me like half an hour to get the hang of it and I'm half way through with my first project! I'll try to attach some pictures. Now in more important matters haha... oh wait! Yes this Thursday Sister Gregson and I will be symbolically chopping our hair off (well someone with skills will be I mean). I will be reaching my half way mark and thus my hair is being cut half way off and Sister Gregson will be reaching 1/8 of her mission so she will be chopping her hair 1/8 off  hahaha it'll be a party. Now! As for missionary work things are going really well. I've really felt myself grow spiritually these last few weeks. All of the hard HARD times I've had before have seemed to lead up to this moment. I used to be so scared that I was wasting God's time or that I wasn’t' being a good missionary but recently I've realized what REAL missionary work is. I've truly come to understand what my role is in this great and marvelous latter-day work. I'm to stand in place of the Savior in whatever way that means. Christ went about doing good and being good. He served, he taught, he comforted, he took the time to search out the one, and he performed everything his father sent him here to do. He was the ultimate example of what missionary work is. Sometimes we don't have a ton of people to teach, sometimes we don't have a bunch of people lined up to be baptized, but we ALWAYS have children of God looking for comfort and love and peace ALL around us. My job is to be there when they are searching for Christ. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has entrusted me with this call and that I have come to understand his infinite love more clearly as I've strived to complete the tasks God has here for me. I love this gospel and I'm so grateful to share the testimony and conversion I have gained thus far. Thank you for teaching me the ways that I must go and for teaching me who to turn to when I don't know exactly where that is. Here's to the next 9 months! May they be the best of my life thus far! :)
Love,
Sister Moreno

9/9/14

Ok so I realized that I have neglected to write a big email for a couple of weeks! I'm sorry! I'll try to catch you up. SO! I left Berryville and it was SOOOOO sweet. I seriously have become a member of the branch down there. THey threw a little going away dinner for me with the relief society and gave me a card and Carmen and sister Galicia gave me gifts. :') Not to mention everybody was swarming me and telling me to come back and live in Berryville. I got so many hugs and letters it's unbelievable. I have FOREVER been changed by the Berryville Branch members. Not to mention! Sister Booms and I got permission to go to the fair my very last night there so we went with the youth and the Grats and even got permission to ride some rides!! :) It was a BLAST! Seriously, it was like THE best ending ever. I felt so blessed. And now I still get emails from a bunch of them and I'm LOVING HENRYETTA!!! Sister Gregson is my new companion and holy cannoli! She is hilarious haha! We have so much fun and we're finding people who are prepared and we're hoping to have a couple of baptisms this transfer but we just gotta get through all the lessons with everybody! MAN! What a blessing. She also loves to cook and do crafts so we are planning on making our apartment adorable. We bought glitter, etc. today :) She is also a hippie chick which I love haha. She's into saving the earth and I'm learning a lot from her. Also! We're going to get hair cuts on the 18th which is my official half way mark! We're gonna switch part of our preparation day time so we can snip away! :) Speaking of which....I'm terrified cause I don't trust people easily with my hair and there's a less active lady that said she would do it but I dont' want her to do it and then I hate it cause that will cause awkward tension haha. Maybe I'll just make sister gregson go first :) I will let you know how it goes. I love you all and I'm so grateful to be serving here! The Lord is good!

She's been out 3 months. SHe just finished being trained. I'm senior companion. THe most awesome thing that has happened in henryetta...well actually there's been a lot of cool things happen. My first couple of days here we went to go contact a referral from a nonmember and when he opened the door he was like "hey I've been thinking of you guys" And proceeded to tell us that he wants us to teach him and he set oup the times and he was telling us that the only reason he hasn't been baptized is because he's smoked for 60 years, BUT he has slowed down and he knows God can help him quit. ...WHAT? Ya. It's was CRAZY. Then we were tracting in downtown Okmulgee where all the black people like haha and we knoocked on this down and a girl answered and let us in right away. SHe's about 22 and she let us talk to her about the book of mormon and then she's like "Oh my mom has that book in her room right now. I think she's reading it"...WHAT? Ya.  Wo! The only difficult thingis getting them to stick to their appointments. Sister Gregson and I fasted this past Sunday

9/9/14

PLUS!! I forgot to tell you!! We're taking TWO more recent converts to the temple this week! I'm pretty sure I've taken the most recent converts to the temple out of everyone in our mission. Everyone is always so surprised when I tell them how many. It'll now be 8! I have been really blessed.  And thank you for the hair pictures! The one on the medium page the very first top left blonie is the cut I got last time and I think I'm going for that one again!! I'm SO excited!!! Plus I'm going to go with the less active lady cause she's free haha so if I hate it...at least it was free :) THank you for being the best mom in the world! I lvoe you so much and all of my package stuff was so cute! You know I love Lisa frank haha SIster gregson's family is from Seattle so they sent her all these crazy Seattle chocolates so we are livin large...literally... I'm a fat cow but I've reached a point where I'm going to not eat seconds, only drink water and ...well actually I really like juice. Maybe I'll just try hard to be healthy and not get specific on what that means haha Also we volunteer at bountiful baskets here in town every other weekend so they give us a FREE basket! We have a TON of veggies and fruit! It's awesome! And the members here have signed up to feed us EVERY NIGHT but like 2 this months so we're doing alright. We do need to figure out what we can cook with 6 hatch chiles ...they're pretty big but I think I'm just going to use them in my Mexican dishes that I am now pretty good at :) ...which speaking of...I miss Mexicans haha really though. I am really glad to be surrounded by so much culture though. I love learning about different ethnicities and what not.

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

                                               Eating peach cobbler at the DeWitt's 9/8/14

 

 

 

8/28/14

I'm feeling all over the place. Henryetta is going well so far I suppose. Sister Breaux has now written me from home and sister coley (member I lived with in berryville) said she's gonna be in Tulsa this week and wants to come and take me and my companion to dinner! :) MAN! i AM SO BLESSED BUT I'm JSUT FEELING A LITTLE OVERWHELMED WITH ALL THESE CHANGES...sorry for the caps haha goodness!

 

Well here's my address: 1415 W. Gentry #4 Henryetta, OK 74437.  Henryetta is super small and that means lots of drugs and drag racing and there's also a TON of black people and native Americans! That part I love haha. :) It's just super different from Berryville and I'm trying to adjust to the changes. I feel a lot less stressed out over here though. I think that's the great thing about change.  Our apartment is actually pretty nice and we have our own washer and dryer so we don't have to waste money on the laundry mat! I bought a homey smelling candle so that has also improved it. MOM! I'm almost to my 9 month mark! Yay for September 18th! :) It's exciting!

8/25/14

Ok so I'm freaking out all over the place and mostly this email will be a little bit of a rant/spilling my thoughts session.

 

First of all, I'm sure you all heard about Sister Vea.....I can't even tell you how this whole experience has made me and my companion feel. Brother Carter was driving. I know all of those Greenwood people. That's my other home.   Sister Booms was her companion and she told me when she first got here that the only reason she was still out here was because of her friend and companion, Sister Vea. Sister Booms has had a very hard week and I had absolutely nothing to say to comfort her until I heard from SIster Vendel today (Love her so much!) And she explained to us how strong and faithful SIster Vea's parents are. They had complete and total confidence that her death was all part of God's plan and they don't doubt for one minute where she is or what she's doing. We all know that she's spreading the gospel on the other side of the veil and that she has a huge mission that is continuing beyond her time here with us. However, I do have to say that this was a HUGE smack in the face of the reality of life and God's plan. I don't think it's ever hit me so hard that we really do have such limited time here and that there's so much more beyond the grave. Ya know, we get a LOT of comments out here that are like "Well, if GOd loves us so much, why does he allow bad things to happen to good people?" "Why do children or innocent people have to hurt and suffer?" And I don't know the details of every situation but I DO know that if this life was the only time of existence and the only time to be loved, and learn and grow than all of these awful things we hear about around the world happening to innocent children and other would be DEVASTATING! There would be no point in believing in God or his prophets or his teachers. We wouldn't try so hard to enjoy life if we thought this was the end. BUT! Because I have the gospel in my life I KNOW this is not the end. This time on earth is literally just a second in our eternal progression and eternal existence. The hardships we face and the pain we experience hurt now but they won't forever. Through CHrist ALL things will be made right and ALL losses here and now will be made up for if we strive to do our best to follow God now and if we trust in the fact that the Savior truly did redeem EACH of us. It's been difficult for me to make his Atonement personal and I'm still working on it. I currently don't know how it works but I do know that somehow through Christ we can be freed from sin, pain, loneliness, and perhaps the most meaningful to me right now, fear. I'm so afraid of EVERYTHING! I have no idea if I'm capable of doing the things God has asked me to do and with transfer calls this past week I found out that I'll be leaving Berryville and heading to Henrietta, Oklahoma! I'm TERRIFIED! I've been in Berryville for 6 months! Half a year! I am stressing out about trying to pack all the things I've accumulated haha and it's NOT working! I sincerely wish you would have passed on your master packing techniques ma, because I have been working on it literally for 6 HOURS!!!! And I'm about to lose it. I asked SIster Booms if she'd pay to ship all of my crap to my new apartment and she said she doesn't love me enough and she suggested carrying a walmart bag of one change of clothes. Hahah I love that girl. :) I am proud to say that I have taught her a couple of things:  1. How to properly fold large pieces of paper into small envelopes 2. how to make spaghetti 3. how you can tell which side your gas tank is on inside your car 4.How to talk on the phone without being super awkward and 5. to kill bugs when they are annoying or disgusting instead of saving them and gently placing them outside.....hahaha I've created a monster. :) We have this feeling that we'll be companions again so who knows. Also, considering that I have LIVED in the Berryville branch for half a year now, my dear family was so sweet this Sunday when president Grat announced that I was leaving. I had everybody wanting to give me hugs and feed us and them telling me they want me to come back and live here...which I honestly will probably do at some point. I seriously LOVE Berryville branch. I have been SO blessed to serve here for so long. I've loved LOVED getting to know the members SO much!!! Mom, I had the sweetest moments with some of the people in the branch. Sister Galicia (you remember me talking about her) and I just mad e eye contact after relief society and she gave me the biggest Mom hug ever. SHe toldme how much she was going to miss me but that I have to be strong and keep sharing the gospel and keep working hard. I told her I was the other daughter she never had and she agreed :) I have adopted myself into their family. Then Sister Potempa..oh gosh. I love her with my WHOLE soul. SHe was the speaker on Sunday and I had left the chapel cause I was bawling my eyes out after SIster engel and I sang our musical number (sister booms played the piano) and apparently when she stood up she was like "I am so sorry to see SIster Moreno go. I've really come to love that girl. SHe's made a big impact in my life and her presence will be greatly missed." Then her non-member husband came up to me after sacrament and told me "You know I've known a lot of missionaries, but there's something special about you. We've really come to love you and you have inspired us. I told Tracy to get your address so we can keep in touch. But really we're going to miss you a lot." :"( I just wanted to bawl my eyes out some more, but then the youth swarmed me and they all made me promise that we'd come to mutual with them this week which is going to the fair so we used some of our preparation time today for proselyting so we can hang out with them on Wednesday. Not to mention! THey have arranged a going away breakfast for me this week during Seminary! :'( Gosh! I just don't know how I can ever go to another place that is better than Berryville. I don't think I will. They're my family. So ya. I'm having an overload of emotions and apparently my new companion came out with sister booms and she's CRAZY haha She's apparently really loud and blunt and she scared sister booms so I don’t' know haha Slightly terrified about that too but hey! Courage is being scared to death and doing it anyway. I think I can confidently say that I have courage. I just hope and pray that saying all of these good-byes this week will not be the death of me. I pray for extra strength and hope you guys will do that for me too :) Thank you. AND!!!! KALEN IS GOING INTO TO MTC THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!! That's CRAZY!!!! Oh man he's gonna LOVE it! THe MTC is the best! Tell him to soak up every moment! And that it's ok to be freaking out, but don't let that freaking out stop you from going inside… haha. I will write him next week on his myldsmail.net email! :) EEK! Gosh time flies. Also the pictures from his farewell look great! I'm so SOOOOOOOOO excited for him!!! I love you Kalen!!!!! And I'll keep you in my prayers. ALSO! What the heck are Cass's shoes doing in my rooma and you guys converted it into a little gym???? What the heck hahaha???? No girl should have that many pairs of tennis shoes! ...Just kidding...I have accumulated 3 more pairs of shoes while here in Berryville...WAHHHHHHH I am freaking out that I won't fit all of it! I think I'm going to send some stuff home mom, so look for that. Ok I gotta go but I LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!!!!! And I am grateful to be serving in the OTM the only true mission!!! :)

 

Love you forever,

Sister MOreno