1/8/14

Clarification:  This is how I ended the last letter to Andrea-

Everyone still has colds...they just won't go away. So there may just be a mass grave in the back yard when you get home. Please water us.

Love you,

Mom

 

DAHAHAHAHA Mother you crack me up! I will indeed water all of you. I will probably even plant some pecan trees next to you! :) Holy cow I have pecans coming out my eyeballs!!!! And I love it...kinda. So everybody and their dog has given us pecans and they're all from non members so OF COURSE we're gonna take them. Seriously these people are saints :) So we have two completely full grocery bags of pecans and that may not seem like much but let me tell you.....it took us 3 hours....3 HOURS to shell about 4 cups of pecans. My thumbs and fingers are raw. At first I was seriously loving it! I was like "Oh my goodness! Pecans are the coolest thing ever!" Because I think it's awesome that Heavenly Father sends down little packets of goodness tightly packed in an all natural suit case. It's awesome! Homeless people seriously aren't starving because they can just walk down every street basically and get something to eat! It's fantastic! I really honestly am so fascinated with them....or I was. That fascination died a little after I lost the first layer of skin on my fingers. However! Back to my story. The weather is CRAZY down here! We stayed inside like all day because we had freezing rain. THey shut down all the schools at 1ish and there were about 25 accidents in the 5 surrounding towns...ya. The streets are covered in ice....there's no traction whatsoever so that's really different. Anyhoo our idea was to make pecan pies for our less actives (a couple) but I was so sick and tired of pecans that that'll have to wait for another day. And I'll be mailing home some pecans to you and Grandpa and Erma.....I know like none of you like them! But! EVERYONE HAS THEM HERE SO NO ONE WANTS THEM!!!! And I want all of you to experience the joy I receive when I see a little meal packed into a cute compartment. :) I'll also send you the recipe that I would have made if I were patient and didn't want to waste my life away. Tell me how it goes! :) Ok moving on! So Oklahoma was good. Sis. Breaux had a leadership meeting in Tulsa so she and another sister training leader from Tahlequah rode up together and I stayed in Tahlequah, CHerokee Nation :) until Tuesday evening. It was a blast! I was actually with SIster Davis who was in my zone at the MTC so it was fun to catch up and we got 9 lessons in before 5 pm. NINE!!! Woot! We were on fire! We usually get about 5 for the day so that was awesome!! We kinda wanted to show that us newbees could do it and we did :) I taught her how to do a door lesson which I'm really starting to enjoy and she loved that. It felt good to kinda know what I was doing and not need sister breaux around. There was snow in OK!!! CRAZY! We didn't hit any on the road until we crossed the state line but it was kinda fun to see snow again. I haven't had to use my big coat until these past few days, but boy oh boy let me tell you I am SOOOO glad I have it! It was about 10 degrees here the other day and let me tell you, 10 degrees here feels like -10 degrees back home. IT's soooooo cold. I have used those lined tights like nobody's business. I'm so glad I bought those. Ya the kids in OK haven't had school the past few days cause of old snow haha. THey don't know how to deal with it. There was ice on the road and then it snowed. Well, the snow plows came by and scraped off all the snow...but there was still ice under it so they just took away all the traction haha. Goodness :) But we had just a few flecks of snow on Sunday here in Arkansas, not even any on the ground and half of the ward didn't show up cause of the "bad weather". It's just funny but honestly the roads were so bad today. And there is jsut ice EVERYWHERE now. Hopefully it clears up by this weekend because........WE'RE GOING TO THE OKLAHOMA CITY TEMPLE!!!!! Isn't that awesome?! :) We're taking a recent convert, Katie (whom we have taken out on a few lessons with us. We're training her to be a missionary :) ), and the elders also serving in our ward are taking a recent convert and we're all gonna car pool up there to do baptisms for the dead. It's so cool. President just started allowing us to do that, take recent converts to do baptisms like right before I got out here. Plus! We found out our ward is having a youth temple trip this Saturday so they'll get to experience it with family! AWEOME! Sister Breaux and I are so excited we can't even stand it. :) Hey speaking of the temple! Did you get Fannie Abbott sealed???????? I really REALLY hope so cause she's been waiting way too long. Thank you so much for being willing to do that! :) Oh goodness so this past Sunday since half of our ward was gone haha the primary recruited us to teach! Ya so we taught 8-11 year olds...oh boy. Hahaha they were fine but this whole past week the realization I had was that I am SOOOOOOOOOO not ready to be a mother haha. We visited this less active who had a kid when she was 18 and she's about our age now, maybe 22 and she has another daughter now but she seemed so young and yet she was a mom. Holy cannoli. I am not even close to responsible enough to be a mother yet haha. Ok that's all on that. I have a list of stuff I'm trying to cover so sorry if this is choppy:/ So no one here (except the people from the west) no how to pronounce or even say my name! Hahaha I now know how sister Nikita Hernandez feels. :) I've gotten sister Romero, sister Romano, Sister Moore, Sister Mohena......ya that one's outta left field haha. But! The Elders, and the family from Utah have it down. Plus! I trained that primary class how to say it and told them to tell their friends and family :). OH! So remember how I told you that everyone here is fantastic? Well I came to church on SUnday and this sweet old man comes up to me and he's like "Sister Moreenuh :) I got a surprise for ya in the kitchen. It's made from rotten oak! "....I was like Oh ....Gosh you didn't have to get me anything hahah I had no idea what to think! But! I went into the kitchen and HOLY COW! His name is brother Gaiche (Guy-key) and he's been less active but he's been coming back thanks to the previous sisters. Anywho, he works with wood and he made me a BEAUTIFUL little box! He carved my name on the bottom with my first day here on it and signed it. Mom, It's soooooo pretty. I'm gonna try and attach some pictures, ignore my face, I was getting ready for bed when I took them. I'll also attach today's pictures with my pecan adventure. But ya! It was so sweet. He's like "I try to make one for all the sisters. And it's original. It's not like anyone elses. It's unique and purty, just like you gals" :) SO sweet! Gosh we are spoiled here. Ok last things. This past week was sooo much better than the one before. I haven't had any crazy scary things happen and I'm sure it's because of prayers from home. THank you so much to everyone for their prayers. Lisa I really appreciate you putting our names in the temple. I truly have found that GOd watches over and protects us if we put our faith in him. Also, thank you to you and Neal for the wonderful greenie box! :) It was AWESOME! I love my cute little green bedazzled flashlight! It's on my bag, which ripped by the way mom. Ya by the strap. Even though Emily stitched it! Also, I apologize EMily for being kinda rude last email :) ....I got your letter the next day haha You're awesome and something is coming for you in the mail! Love you! Oh My goodness so I stopped typing for an hour to go teach a lesson (they gave us permission to use the Vendels computers due to the aweful weather. It's freezing rain and everything is sooooo slick. Oh! And the Vendels say to tell you hello and that they need to have you send my drug card. You can fax both sides or mail it. I did get my prescription but it was ordered under brother Vendels name so I need that card. Thank you for getting that figured out with them MOm!) and we thought we should go visit this lady who just got out of the hospital but she wasn't home and so we thought of this other lady but I was like no she has kids and it's pretty late so SIster breaux was like well what about Michelle? And I was like ya that could work and if she's not there didn't you say there was a potential up the street? SO we go to her house and she's not home so we go to her neighbor CHris. Well! Holy cow! Let me tell ya that was inspiration. They had only seen him a couple times before and I'd never met him. But when they met him the first time they gave him the Book of Mormon and the articles of faith card. Well we didn't realize all of this was inspiration until after we're about to leave his house and we're like... holy cow what just happened??? But sis breaux asks him "Well how's your reading of the Book of Mormon been" "Good I really like it" (slight shock that he's actually read it after just one visit) "Wow really? Well have you noticed a change since you've started reading it" (inspired question , we don't usually ask that) "Ya! Actually I have! Things seem to be going smoother and they seem a lot more clear and good since you guys have stopped by" (WHAT????) "Oh really? That's awesome! Have you been praying to know if it's true?" "Ya! Actually I have! And like I said my life just seems better, honestly" (WHAT????) ".....GREAT! So is there a time we can come back and teach you more?" "Well I'm really busy but I'll call you and I really want to read the whole book and pray about it first"...(WHO IS THIS GUY????) " ...(jaw drop) cough cough Well would it be ok to stop by every now and then and check in on you?" "Ya I'd really like that. Like I said I've felt a differene in my life and in my family since you have come around. And I've actually been busy lately so you've just inspired me to go pull it out again and get back to reading" "Ok! Well great...let's have a prayer" hahaha THAT WAS CRAZY!!!! We almost didn't even go to his house because of the weather and because there's other people we could have seen but we received promptings and we didn't even know it. Holy cow. I lead an inspired life haha And so can all of you! I learned something the other day. Sister Davis was sharing something from a talk with me and it said " in order to continue to grow in the gospel and in Christ, you must have a constant study of the gospel" Set aside time to study the scriptures and pray! It will make you a stronger, kinder, more inspired person. Something I was reading in Preach My Gospel this morning about the Holy Ghost was that if we listen to and follow the promptings of the holy ghost, he'll lead us to eternal life with our father in heaven. NOw, that seems really simple haha but it just hit me! We can have a sure way back to Heavenly Father if we just listen to and follow the Holy GHost. So put yourself in a state where you can hear those promptings and I will work on doing the same. :) I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for family. PLEASE be kind to one another. Satan's greatest tools are our weaknesses. Don't give him the satisfaction of our family being a tool to destroy the good that Heavenly Father has planned for each one of you. Also! We're giving a devotional at a Relief Society dinner thing tomorrow and singing a song from that awesome CD women of Destiny (the one I stole from you mom) :) It's called "Who you are". And another good song I've found is "Beautiful to him by Rachel Thibodeau. Cass look that up! It's soooooo good. Also, I hope you're gonna send me that letter at some point about you know who;)...I'll be waiting. And hey! When's Winter Ball again??? Kalen? Any news? :) Be brave and don't let any moment pass by this final year! Ok now I'm done. Oh wait! Mom you should really read over the conference talk "The Moral FOrce of Women". I was studying it for the RS thing but it helped me soooo much! It's awesome, just like you :) OK done! :) Love you all and hope you all have fantastic goals for the new year! Mine is to not eat seconds and only have one dessert a day haha. I ate Lasagna 4 times within the past 7 days. I told 1 member ONE that my favorite food was lasagna and it spread like wild fire hahaha they're so sweet! But ya....moderation :) Be good!
Love you all,
Sister Moreno
PS We saw these crazy weird birds out our window today! Their beaks are so long so I'll stick a picture of them on here :)