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