2/24/14

2/24/14 at 4:09 PM

Dear Ma,

Oh goodness I am just wiped out right now. It has been an exhausting week! We had 3 exchanges! THREE.....That's a ton and a half haha. Sister Shumway was with us on one of those..ya that's not intimidating at all haha just kidding she's alright. She was there to watch Sister Breaux so there wasn't as much pressure on me hehe poor thing. BUT! That's sooooo cool about Lisa! Fun times! And congratulations! :) Thank you for including a picture of what the Silver Beaver looks like! It's cute! :)And OH MY GOODNESS MELISSA LEAVES WEDNESDAY?????? AWESOME!!! TELL HER I LOVE HER AND THAT I'LL WRITE HER!! AHHHH SO EXCITING! :D  And yay! You talked to Sister Vendel today? Haha cool beans! They really are so great to live with. They really take care of me and Sister Breaux. Sister Vendel calls in my prescriptions and Brother Vendel picks them up! They are FANTASTIC and I don't know how I got so lucky to live with them especially for two transfers!! I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thankful that I am though. I thank Heavenly Father every day. So, anyway thank you also for the letter and the pictures! I really loved them...except I am slightly confused about the one with Santa and Mrs. Clause???? Hahahaha I had no idea we had connections like that! :) And thank you for taking care of my pictures and putting them on a CD!! I love you! Also, the Valentine's day balloons were AWESOME! We took a video of us "inflating them" haha they were awesome! :) Ok I'm rambling. SO getting down to business! This week has been AMAZING. Amazing in that I feel like a completely different person. I feel like I've grown leaps and bounds! We have decided that we have to go about teaching the people in Charleston differently than those in our other towns(Lavaca, and Booneville). Ya see Charleston is a REALLY small town and everyone knows everyone and everyone's church and the only members in the town are the Vendel's, the Vendel's daughter, and the vet. :) Haha and we just really haven't found too many receptive people there but! When we were on exchanges with Sister Shumway she noticed the same thing and told us that we are Ammons! We have to serve those whom we hope to teach so that they begin to trust us. SO! We're gonna start volunteering at the Animal shelter, the nursing home, and we're gonna go meet the mayor at some point to talk about community service projects! I'm excited to start this because we were starting to feel a little stuck in Charleston. SO! YAY for a game plan. :) Our other towns are really doing well though! Brother Henry(the one we took to the temple) is doing GREAT! He's always so happy and excited now! Ever since we went to the temple he's a lot more open and chatty haha it's great! He had a really amazing experience there. When he went in to do confirmations he recognized the names. He was confirmed for TWO OF HIS HIGH SCHOOL BEST FRIENDS WHO WERE KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT........can you believe that?! It was incredible! He was so shocked but touched and I couldn't explain why or how that happened other than that Heavenly Father meant for him to be the one to do their confirmations and that it was most definitely not an accident. WOW. That was awesome. Also, We were tracting in Greenwood which is technically the elders area but we have church there and we didn't have enough miles to go to our area and be back for mutual haha so we tracted around there and OH MY GOODNESS. We had an AMAZING day Wednesday. We ended up meeting about 5 really great people 2 of which we had a lesson with and then I spotted a house that I thought we should go to and Sister Breaux spotted another one she thought we should go to. SO we headed towards mine and then we were gonna go hit hers. Well, she turns and is like we should go to mine first so I was like ok! And we headed over there and I'm soooo glad we did! We ended up running into a lady who just got home from work and she came up to us to talk to us. It turns out she knows some members from our ward and LOVES them. Their sons went to college together and she admired the fact that whenever her son was with their son they never had to worry about them getting drunk or doing other stupid stuff that the other guys would do. And we honestly just talked with her about Arkansas and about how she's a school councilor and we talked for about 20 minutes! She was so nice! Then! She starts asking US questions about the church. Specifically if we worshiped Joseph Smith and about the Book of MOrmon replacing the Bible. AWESOME! We were able to explain that we do NOT worship Joseph Smith, we worship Heavenly Father and Jesus CHrist and Joseph Smith played a central part in restoring CHRIST'S church on the Earth. And then we told her about the Book of Mormon and how it proves the Bible to be the word of GOd and that it most definitely doesn't replace it, it supports it and the fact that Christ is our Savior. She was really shocked to hear that cause she'd always been told otherwise so yay for truth! :) We then gave her a Book of Mormon and she told us that she's trying to get through the Bible in 90 days...brave soul haha and that she'd include studying the Book of Mormon after she read from the Bible everyday! AWESOME! Then after we met her we walked down to the house I wanted to see...well the car was pulling out of the drive way and we were awkwardly standing there but we waited for him to drive up to us and wow.....that's when we met Ronnie. :) I'm telling you. We were MEANT to be there at that time. He rolled down his window and we started talking to him. He told us that he was headed to go pick up his daughter and somehow he got to talking about how he's just been divorced for a couple of months and how he promised God that he would be a good father if he was able to stay near his daughter and other family and how he's been feeling like God is preparing him for something. YA. Crazy haha we're just slightly blown away and then we start talking about the things we believe in and we give him an Article of Faith card and we testified that Heavenly Father sent us to him for a reason and he said: "I know he did, because I don't usually do this. When my daughter calls I drop everything and go get her but something told me to stop and talk to you girls" :) We have a return appointment with him TONIGHT! Eek! Hopefully it goes well!!! We've been praying like crazy for him. Oh! And after he left we went next door to his brothers house and he was just as great! He was super friendly and he gave us $20 to go eat lunch! Haha we told him we couldn't take it and tried to stick it back in his house but he told us to take it right now or he'd call whoever's in charge and complain :) Haha he was AWESOME! So nice! They're both around their mid to late 50s. Haha gotta love stubborn southern Grandpas :) Really though, they're great :) And then! Ronnie drives back up to us after we've met with his brother and introduces us to his daughter! He came back just so she could meet us! The spirit really touched his heart and he started crying when we talked about God knowing him so it should be really good! Then! Later that night we went to dinner with Brother Goldsmith and the Elders and we saw one of the ladies we met but didn't have a lesson with and she said hi to us! She introduced us to her family and she told us she was sorrhy that she didn't let us in but that she's a wedding coordinator and she was meeting with a bride! AHHH!! That was so cool! She gave us her card and we told her to give us a call if she needed help setting up weddings. We're l;ike "Seriously though, give us a call we love weddings!" Haha yay for wedding coordinators wanting the gospel! And then! Oh man here's the icing on top of our Fabulous Wednesday cake! :) We went to the gas station cause I had to go to the bathroom and we have a potential investigator that works there and so we stopped. Well, it just so happens that one of our investigators, Jeremy, whom we've tried to set a baptismal date with 3 TIMES was walking in and the reason he won't get baptized is because he doesn't want to quit chewing tobacco. WELL! What do you think he was going into that gas station for? That's right! So we rush in and we're like this is not a coincidence! We see him talk to him, watch him like a hawk all the way to the cash register and he grabs a bag of Jolly Ranchers! ;) Aww ya haha. That's was perfect! Then I go to the bathroom and come out and Sister Breaux is talking to this construction worker guy who turns out to be the nephew of our potential who's husband and son happen to be standing outside smoking with a couple of their friends! WHAT?! hahaha it was awesome! We end up having a lesson with him inside then we go outside and join the smoking circle haha they're all pretty nice but a couple of them leave and we have a lesson with them, and then at the end we have this big ol prayer outside the gas station next to the ash tray garbage can thingy! It was so funny yet cool haha they're now meeting with the Elders! :) Life is good. Ya so Wednesday was a VERY good day! Ya know there's some days out here that are pretty darn hard because of different things and sometimes I really start to feeling like caca because Sister Breaux is so awesome and everyone loves her and she's super good at the scriptures and she's Sister Training Leader and I'm not very good at the scriptures at all and I don't have all the answers and a lot of people love me too, but a lot of people don't know me like they know her so it's kind frustrating sometimes and it feels like I'm kind of invisible every once in a while but then I remember Christ and how he was humble and he didn't stand out in a way that anyone would desire and yet he did great and marvelous things and he had the love of God to constantly surround him because he was doing what his Father asked him to. That's like me only super imperfect and selfish and not Christ haha but the same in that I'm just trying my best and trying to do what God has asked me to. It's not about being liked best or about being super well versed in the scriptures. It's about being willing and obedient. It's about giving it all you've got to bring others closer to Christ. And I've learned that there's nothing We can say and no deep insight that we've had about life that will help anyone more than the gospel of Jesus Christ will. That's why it's SO important to make sure we're teaching our classes and those we meet true doctrines, because CHRIST and his doctrine will bless people and will open the doors to eternal life with their families. Ya :) So it's ok not to be the best or the favorite or the one who stands out because God looks at our heart and our actions. His view of us is what really matters. Ok, I gotta start wrapping it up, but Sister Breaux and I will be singing this week at our Sister's only training meeting! The Elders asked President Shumway is they could have an Elders meeting and he said: "No way. I told you I love the sisters more than you." Hahaha it was awesome! Sucks for them but he really does love the Sisters so much! :) It's really sweet and it makes me feel good. We'll be singing at that on Wednesday and then we'll also be singing at Rusty Palmer's Homecoming. The Palmers live in our ward and they feed us almost every week! They're awesome and I love them so much. They don't have ANY video games in their house and their other son just won 4th place in state wrestling...as a Freshman! He was starting for the Varsity team! Ya they're so sweet too! I've seriously never met such awesome kids so become his friend! :) K that's all on that matter, I don't know that that's missionary appropriate haha. But ya we're singing at Rusty's homecoming we're singing "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" Oh my heavens. Look that song up mom, it will make you sob. It makes me cry and I don't know how we're going to get through it casue we're living the things he's finishing. Weird. But it's such a good song and it'll be great! Lastly, last Monday we got to go hang out with Brother Goldsmith and the Greenwood and Poteau Elders at some Viking ruins! It was so nice! We got to hike a bit and just enjoy being in jeans haha and the weather was awesome! Plus! Me and Sister Breaux got to hold his neighbors bunnies who run around the yard like dogs! SO CUTE! And then we got to go feed his cows and ride in the back of his truck! Haha it was seriously the best preparation day I've had yet. IT was nice to just enjoy being relaxed. IT felt like being at home so that was soooooo cool. And today we were with all of them again and Brother Goldsmith got another blessing for his hearing because it's been better but he still couldn't hear very well. Goodness, that man is amazing! He is soooooo smart and wise and he gives all the glory to CHrist and we just love being around him! He's about 60 ish. But he's so sweet to us he tells us he wishes we were his daughters but then he wouldn't want to take us from our families haha. And today after his blessing I asked him for a blessing because I've been feeling kind sick for the past few weeks and I can't shake it.Well, it was quite possibly the most perfect blessing I could've received right now. Not only did it tell me I'd be healed and have the strength and health I need to get the Lord's work done, but it also said that I'd be involved in miracles, that Heavenly Father will send angels to surround me and my companion as we go about his work to protect us, that my family would be strengthened and uplifted by my service out here and that Heavenly Father loves me and has put me in the Greenwood area now for a purpose. :) It was amazing. Especially, the part about you guys. I know that Heavenly Father watches out for me and all of you and I pray that the things I get to be apart of out here will bless you and bring you strength. I hope and pray that you guys are well and that you're ever mindful of the workings of the spirit. Listen to and pray for promptings of missionary work! You guys are great and you know so many who are ready to hear Heavely Father's gospel. Don't be afraid. REPLACE FEAR WITH FAITH!! I have to do that EVERY DAY. It's slightly ridiculous and I'm working on it haha but sometimes it's scary to share the gospel but with Christ all things are possible and Elder Ballard's last general conference talk explains it all. I love you all sooooo much!!! And thank yous to Deli, Kenya, and Cass for the letters!!! I'll call off the Arkansas mafia that I sent out to hunt you guys down ;) Love you. Be strong! And feel free to send me letters cause I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! :)

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

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2/17/14

Date: 02/17/2014 9:33 PM

 

Dahahahah you guys crack me up! Oh how I miss dear mom's cooking. The charred baked goods and the runny gravies hahaha just kidding mom I love you sooooo much! And quite honestly I could use "skip its" just about now. I feel like a cow and I'm pretty sure that when I come home you guys are gonna have to roll me off the plane....actually scratch that. I will be traveling via life flight due to artery failure. Yes....it's swell eating a ton and starving another day. Hahah I think that's the hardest part is that our meals are so unpredictable! Today we had cheese and jerky for lunch and the day before we didn't have dinner until 8 but then today's dinner was a delicious chicken pot pie which I ate 2 helpings of becuase you guys know I LOVE chicken pot pies! Gah! There's no way to win. Hahaha ok I have like 5 minutes! But I wanted to tell all of you guys thank you soooo much for the package! It was SO fun to come home to that! Sister Breaux and I had been praying our families would send us a little somethin somethin ;) Hahah we had an AWESOME Valentine's day. But it's one of my favorite days anyway so it wouldn't even matter but we got to see so many people being all cute and what not :0 LOVE IT! Goodness! My future husband is gonna be so cute I just know it! Hahah anyhoo. NEWS! Melanie and Elizabeth moved to Florida.....I'm not even kidding. THeir grandma called and said she needed them to help with the buisness so they packed up that night and moved. We went over to help them pack and we all just cried. IT STINKS!!! Big time. :( I sobbed in the car ride home and Sister Hobbs, my favorite recent convert ever, was so sweet cause we rode with her and she just was consoling me and telling me that Heavenly Father has big things in store for me and it's obvious by the way I love the people I teach and interact with... that made me feel really good. I jsut hope and pray that they keep on track and get baptized down there. We're reffering them to the missionaries. Anyway, we also got to go TO THE TEMPLE ON SATURDAY...AGAIN!!! Isn't that awesome???!!!!! ITwas last minute but another one of our recent converts got his recommend and a lady in our ward wanted us to see her get sealed to her parents and we can't go unless we go with a recent convert soooo we got to watch him do baptisms and see her get sealed!!! it was amazing. Dahhhhhh not enough time. I love you all!!! THank you sooooo much for the letters and cards! Manda, Grandma Kathy I promise I will write you next week. Thank you to everyone. I know that GOd knows you and loves you! THe Book of MOrmon is the word of GOd. Read it and you will be strengthened.

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

PS. SOOOOO glad Valentine's day went well mom. I love you and couldn't ask for a better mom!!! I miss you but I just think about everything that Heavenly Father has given me and I know that this is the least I can do for him....and he still blesses me even as I'm trying to repay him. :) He's great, just like you!!

 

Text Photo

Sent from the Member she is living with:  1st time in a mall since she 'a been on her mission. Clothes are from recent thrift store find!!! She says HI MOM!

February 10, 2014

Today at 12:34 PM

Oh my goodness!!! I just LOVE getting pictures and emails from you guys so stinkin much!!! :) Hahaha Mom I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad you're going out with the SIsters and feeding them!! It's so weird because I was gonna mention that you should try that out but look at you! Dang girl! Hahah that's soo awesome and I KNOW they appreciate it. That stinks that they have to walk everywhere......it's not fun. But! They will have toned legs :) We have families that feed us every Sunday, Monday, and Saturday. It's sooo nice and they've become like our family. It's good because when no one else signs up for the rest of the week we can count on those families to feed us those set days no matter what. Holy cow I have so much to tell you!!!! FIrst off though Congratulations to Kalen and his driving test!!!! HALLELUJIAH!! That means no more excuses for not dating haha. Live it up boy :) Thank you to Luis and Nelson for the cards!! I'm so glad to see that Luis is not dead;) And I'll try to get a letter out in the mail for you guys today but we're going thrift store shopping with Sister Vendel today so time is precious haha BUT! I love you guys! :) And Erma OH MY GOODNESS I LOVED THE PICTURES SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! You guys are so sweet and thoughtful. :) It seriously made my day. And Where did you guys go to take those pictures? There was like no snow on the ground. Anyhoo I LOVE YOU!!!! I seriously have the best family in the whole world. OK I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT ANYMORE !!!! GUESS WHAT..........................................................MELANIE AND ELIZABETH(the single mom and daughter) ARE GETTING BAPTIZED ON MARCH 8TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO STINKIN EXTATIC I CAN HARDLY EVEN STAND IT!!!!!!! :) I love them sooooooo much and I have been praying for them like no body's business and remember how they were supposed to move to FLorida???? Well! THey don't have to move until May!!! Holy cow we asked them yesterday and let me just tell you, I sobbed like a baby and it was the most spiritual lesson I have had yet! Holy cookie it was amazing. Mom I love them so much and Sister Hobbs (the lady who came to the lesson with us, and was just baptized 3 months ago...she's on fire! I love her to pieces!!) turned to Elizabeth (13 yr old daughter) and says: You know I could see you doing what these sisters are doing, going on a mission......Oh man. I lost it hahah that just touches my heart so much even now because I truly saw for the first time with myself in the situation how missionary work is eternal. Because of their decision to be baptized GENERATIONS will be blessed. wow I am so humbled at the thought and I'm gonna start crying again in the stinkin library haha! But wow what an amazing gift Heavenly Father gives us to be involved in miracles. Seriously, he WANTS us to experience miracles and help change people's lives. All we have to do is pray for opportunities to make a difference and then follow the promptings WHEN they come. Oh man my heart is gonna burst. Plus! The day we had ready for them to be baptized (the 8th) is Melanie's brother's birthday, and he died at the age of 12. His death was the reason her parents became so distant from religion. WOW. She started sbbing when we asked her if March 8th would be ok and then she said : Now I KNOW that God is involved in this and that my brother wants me to be baptized. He's always been my guardian angel......Holy cow. Do you see what I'm talking about???? Things like this don't just happen. We had NO IDEA that was her dead brother's birthday but GOd did and he knew it would be important to her. GOODNESS!! I just can't even tell you how happy I am hahaha. Plus, the 8th is the night we find out about transfers...we get our transfer calls that night haha oh gosh I don't know what that's gonna be like but I KNOW that I'm here for Melanie and Elizabeth and something Melanie told us last night was that she'd never let any of the other people from our church or other missionaries in her home before. She always slammed the door on them, but there was something different about SIster Breaux and I and she could tell we were so loving. WOW. And then I asked to take a picture with them last night and Melanie's like: WHY? Where you goin? HAHAH I was like I'm not going anywhere! SHe's like GOOD! Cause if they even think about taking you away their gonna have to think again and I'll march right down there to give them a piece of my mind! HAHA She is AWESOME! She's so funny and I have never met greater people in my life. And they were seriously like one of the very first houses I ever went to. I think we met them on my 3rd day? Ya. It's amazing. Sigh ok I'll move on haha but I'm so happy hahah. Ok! Next! So in Tahlequah on Monday SIster Davis and I got to go to the nursing home and guess what kind of service we did??? NAIL PAINTING!!! hahah It was AWESOME!! It was so much fun! The little old ladies refused to let me use the turquoise on their nails but one granny did let me choose a brighter pink for her nails hahah It was so much fun! :) And! We were able to have a lesson with them and the nurse at the same time! YAY!!! It was AWESOME! They had questions about the trinity and about whether we worshiped Joseph Smith so we got that cleared up and it was great! We get a lot of assumptions about what we believe so it's really neat when we get to clear things up! :)Oh! And VALENTINE'S DAY IS COMING UP!!! I love Valentine's day SOOOOOOO much! Hahah not that I have a Valentine or anything but a whole day of love is just fantastic! Speaking of which...if some certain chocolate Valentine candies happened to be sent to me in the mail I would probably have to rejoice and and eat them and completely flush out my prior request of no junk food...hahahah I love you mom! ;) But! What I had to tell you about that was one of those said families who always feeds us is the Eatons. Mom, she is amazing!! She is so nice and it's like having another mom out here. SHe and her family bought me a coat for Vlaentine's day!!!!!! Can you believe that???? It was THE nicest most caring things ever. Gosh, I'm telling you these people out here are INCREDIBLE. They don't have much to give and they struggle with their own expenses but what do they do? They put others first and they give of themselves freely. I am CONSTANTLY amazed at the Christlike goodness of these people. I HOPE and pray that their goodness will rub off on me and that I'll be able to raise my future family to have the same 'Southern hospitality' I am experiencing down here. Gosh! They're fantastic!! Also, something else that happened at church yesterday that was really cool was that this guy....from IDAHO......ya haha this guy from IDAHO WAS PASSING THROUGH Arkansas to visit some of his family in Mississippi and found out that he had some long lost relatives in Booneville (one of my towns we cover) and discovered that they don't have any church or anything and that they met with Elders at one point and the granddaughter got creeped out by them But they wouldn't mind meeting with sisters!!! What??? Ya! This guy had to come all the way from IDAHO to find a long lost relative in Booneville Arkansas to get her the gospel only to find out that the only people she'll accept in her house are Sisters who just so happen to cover that town.......Once again, God's hand is in EVERYTHING. It's amazing!! We're meeting with her next week hopefully! Also, Sister Breaux and I went on splits the other day so I went with a wonderful lady in our ward named Sister Goldsmith( our ward mission leaders wife, she's from Germany and is AMAZING). Well we were traveling through Lavaca and she decided to stop at a gas station. Well I ran into the bathroom and there's this mom in there with her little girl. I decided I was gonna talk to whoever was in the bathroom before I even went in so I was like YES! A mom and her daughter. Hahah anyway I start just chatting with her as we're washing our hands haha and I come to find out she lives in CHARLESTON.....I was like : Really?? Me too! (We're about 45 minutes away from Charleston in a dinky town) and I proceeded to explain to her who I was and I'm not kidding you...we had a lesson, including a prayer, in the bathroom and I got her number so we should be meeting with her this week! YA! You see I've learned that when you give the Lord even just a little bit of effort, Heavenly Father blesses you with miracles and with opportunities to meet some really amazing children of his. Oh! And we've been meeting with this less active lady who is AMAZING!! She has such a strong testimony and when she speaks she brings the spirit into the room and she really wants her children to get back into the church and she used to be Relief Society president for heaven's sake! Ya! They wrote in the snow ' We love sisters' It was cute! She's amazing and she told us that she lives the lds lifestyle, she just doesn't go to church. That concern has come up MULTIPLE times this week. People are like 'Why do I need to go to church when I can worship God in my own home?' And I really got to thinking about that myself. Like why is church so important and so I decided that I was gonna ask Heavenly Father at church and the answers flowed in haha it was awesome! Some of the reasons we go to church are:1 it's a break from the world. We get so caught up and exhausted from everyday life in the world that our bodies, minds, and especially our spirits needs that change of atmosphere and that boost of spiritual energy. 2 We receive reassurance that the things we're doing in our lives really are worth putting in the effort to accomplish. We're reminded through relating experiences with other members going through the same or similar situations that it's worth it to keep pushing forward because this truly is God's plan. And 3 We learn from the spirit new things to better our lives, to strengthen our families, to help others, and to draw closer to Christ. I've learned that if I start to get bored or distracted at church it's because I'm not listening with my spiritual ears and opening the wavelength to Heavenly Father's guidance. We have to pray to learn more but boy oh boy...there's a TON more to learn. I know absolutely nothing haha but I'm working on it :) Through interacting with her and other less active members I've truly seen how EASY it is to go inactive. And sister breaux and I were talking about how returned missionaries can go inactive and the truth of the matter is is that we spend 18 months to 2 years around people who don't believe in God, or don't believe the same and it can drag you down BUT! That's why it's sooooo important to study and pray continually so that when you come across people or situations that suck a little of the spirit out of you, you never get to a 'critical' level. ALWAYS refill yourself spiritually, everyday. And then you'll be golden! Hahah life is good. Ok I gotta go but I love you guys sooooooo SOOOOOOOOO MUCH! Thank you for always thinking of me and thank you for the pictures! We've actually got a TON of snow!!! We've gotten about 3 inches...which is absolutely unheard of. But! I love it! Except it's freezing and we're gonna have to start walking cause we're running out of miles haha. Oh well! We'll try to convince our fantastic members to help us out. They're so good so hopefully they'll be generous haha. Alright I LOVE YOU ALL and hey! A quick note to America! : One of our less active members started testifying about the greatmess and the goodness of ...Michael Jackson...hahha it was AWESOME! I KINDA CRACKED UP INTERNALLY AND THOUGHT OF YOU...Also, there's a package from your secret admirer on the way;) OH! And Emily: There was a quote made in sacrament meeting yesterday that reminded me of you it's 'Without Family History Work the whole Plan of Salvation would be Frustrated' ....pretty powerful. You go girl! :) Ok now I'm done! Love you Mom!!!! Love you Cass!! Love you Grandpa!!! Love you everyone!!! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

February 3, 2014

 

TIME!! THERE'S NEVER ENOUGH!!!! However, I have a whole list of things to cover so I'm gonna get going. First of all, THANK YOU FOR THE OATMEAL, MASCARA, STICKERS, INSURANCE CARD HAHAH AND EYELINER!!. I WAS GONNA EMAIL YOU TODAY TO NOT WORRY ABOUT SENDING THE OATMEAL CAUSE I ALREADY GOT YOUR ....I just realized I was in all caps no time to change. Thank you for sending all that stuff. :') You guys are the best and I love you all. Cass thank you for the stickers haha they crack me up " I'll be doing whatever snow does in summer!" :) Tehe I LOVE it! Also, thank you to the Lotts, Monica, America, Emily, Weylands, Sue, and Stevie/Erma/Grandpa!!! There's hopefully gonna be letters in the mail for you this week! So, this week has been CRAZY we ran out of miles and we had to walk thousands of miles in the FREEEZING cold but we also saw a bagillion miracles haha Life is good. I'm just gonna go through all of them. #1 We gotr dropped off at a members house way the heck outside of nowhwere and I had to pee. Well, they weren't home so we couldn't go in and our ride had already left....ya. I wanted to cry haha so we start walking and knowck on like 5 doors! All of them answered but wouldn't let us in! That had never happened to me before! People are usually super nice and whatnot, but I knew it was a trial I hade to face hahah to I'm super grumpy and want to cy cause I'm freezing and I have to pee and you know your bladder shrinks when it's cold hahah and I was reminded of our walk to the temple Mom when I had to go to the bathroom so bad and then we had to cross the bridge in which I'm terrified of to get to it! Ya, it was like that haha but we stood off the side of the road and prayed and then we walked ot yet another house and this man drives up and we start talking to him and he's SO nice. He's about 50 ish and his best friend is Mormon and so he was really nice and we had a lesson with hime in the cold because his wife wasn't home so we couldn't go inside...and the battle of the bladder continues. So we keep walking and we start making up lyrics to a song and it involves words like my hands have frost bite, that dog's gonna break the chain and kill us, and my bladder will steadily loose strength and will explode. Hahah it was funny! But as we're walking and singing, at this point we were just gonna try and get to our dinner appointment which was bout 3 miles away so we kept walking. Well this car bumping loud music pulls into a nearby house and we almost walk past when this girl about our age gets oout and hollers: Hey yall need a ride?" HALLELUJIAH!!! We just turn to each other like " WHat?" AND SAID : ya! Hahah well we end up going inside, telling her and her mom about our day, they let me use their bathroom, they have a lesson, we give them a Book of Mormon and they want to meet with us again! AHHHHH!! If we hadn't run out of miles and had to walk clear to tim-buck-two we never would've met them! Wow....it was awesome :) Also, we met another Mother and daughter yesterday. Church was cancelled because of the weather...which is insane. IT snowed, hailed, rained, snowed, froze, rain, etc....it was crazy. THe weather here is so weird and the cold is COLD.....really cold haha. Anyway church was cancelled so we spent some time organizing our ward directory and such and then we decided we were gonna go out and teach even though the rest of the world was shut it...which was also due to the Superbowl we later discovered haha. But anyway we make a plan and head out. Well, our first stop was gonna be to Aden, this investigator we have who reminds me a lot of Luis haha he's really nice. Well, we get there and there's a different car in his driveway..We're like oh probably for the game and so we knock on the door and there's this soul music playing and I'm like "Yes! I love black lady soul music haha" Well, when the door opens, this guy that looks like Aden answers but he's wearing a shirt with basically naked women pictures and alcohol all over it...he also has a gold tooth and an earing...like one meant for your ear...sticking out of his nose...We're like "Hey! Is Aden here?" And oh my goodness the next 5 minutes were... holy cow. He's like " Oh aden! My brother! Ya he's in here!" ANd we see he's on the couch but then he doesn't say hi or anything he just goes into the back room... and the brother is like "Come on in come on in! " And we're like "SOrry we don't come into houses unless there's a lady home" "Oh there's no lady home. But I need one. I need a good church woman. How bout you? You single aint you?" (Said to both of us) And we're like "Oh...NOPE! We're busy for the next 18 months" And he's like "It's ok...I'll wait. Where yall live? You two are mighty pretty. Why don't you come on in, life's too short. Haven't you heard the song 'tonight is the night"....YA! At this point we're like HOLY CRAP EVEACUATE THE AREA!!! We're like ok we gotta go. And he's like " Oh don't make me cry!" BLEH! He watched us walk away and was sizing us up and down......That was one of the most disgusting things I have ever been apart of. Yuck! We were soooo creeped out and we decided we're not ever going back there because it showed Aden's character as well. Man! But the rest of the day brought TONS of miracles. We met this lady who's best friend is LDS and her daughter went to prom with and LDS boy who is "just the sweetest thing" :) Well, the first time we knocked on her door she didn't let us in cause her daughter has the flu and she was in her pjs, so we walk across the street and meet this old lady who is super nice and we're meeting with her again, and the house next to her is this super nice catholic lady who we gave the Articles of Faith card to, and then we're about to leave the neighborhood and the lady with the sick daughter (I would use her name but I forgot it) holler back at us " Hey girls! You've got to be freezing! If you don't mind coming in here and maybe getting sick I'd love to make some hot cocoa for you!" Now...haha when things like this occur, they're not just random. :) We smile at each other and we're like " That would be aswesome!" SHe was SOOOOO Sweet! She made us hot cocoa and we told her and her daughter who's 18 and reminds me of Cass soooo much (tender mercy :) ) and she made her cover her face so we wouldn't get sick hahahah about the creepy guy and she was so sweet she told us if we ever needed anything or somewhere to go we could come over any time! Oh my goodness she was soooo nice. Heavenly Father just blessed us with so much kindness after that super creepy incidenece. We ended up teaching her about the Proclamation to the Family and she told us about how her dad died and she was so happy she saw him "be saved" cause he was a good man and she didn't want him to go to hell cause he hadn't been baptized yet. SHe was tearing up a bit and we're just like oh my goodness Heavenly Father! Hahah we gave her a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and talked about how families are eternal and our next lesson with her is going to be on the Plan of Salvation and how good people who aren't baptized but would have accepeted the gospel will have a second chance after we die. What a comfort the gospel is. Then we leave but as we're leaving her daughter hollers "Hey one more thing girls" SHe told us a house that we shouldn't go to cause the guy creeped her out haha SHe's like "I just want you girls to be safe so I was like Oh shoot I need to tell them about that guy" Hahah they are AWESOME! We are going to LOVE teaching them and the great thing about them is they're so accepting. They're Baptist, but they told us that they love it when people are out talking about God and they never judge anyone who's of a different faith because they're all trying to do what's right. Oh my goodness, they're wonderful, but honestly that's how most of Arkansas is :) I LOVE IT! Then we called these lass active members who haven't been to church in 10 years and they never let anyone visit and they were about to tell us no,but they mentioned how their lambs are about to have babies and we're like "OH! We're from Idaho we love animals!" Hahah it was CRAZY the change that happened just cause we said we're from IDAHO! WE HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THEM NEXT WEEK :) Goodness there are just soooo many miracles I see everyday, and I'm learning that GOd wants us to see them, all of us. All we have to do is trust in him, do what he wants, and look for the miracles. Pray that you'll see them and be apart of them, and they'll come. Oh! Also, the Modest is Hottest Fashion show was awesome! We rocked that runway in our knee length skirts haha Those girls are awesome! And! I've developed this cool thing called car sickness haha Ya. It's great! Remember how Idaho is really flat and straight for the most part...Well Arkansas road NEVER stop turning . And we live about 30 minutes away from each town we cover so it makes for some interesting rides haha but all is well :) I think that's all I had to tell you.....except the pecans hahahha I am AWEFUL!! I STILL HAVEN'T SENT THEM! I'm sorry, we went shopping at a thrift store called Veterans (where I got 3 new outfits, and 2 belts for $10!) and we lost track of time! But I'll mail them on Thursday...that's when we're finishing our preparation day. We're traveling to Tahlequah again today for sister breaux's training meeting (the place I got 9 lessons at!! ) Ok, I gotta go, but Ilvoe you all!! I'm so blessed and I keep all of you in my prayers. Be good! And love one another!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

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