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

8/19/14

Aug 19

HAPPY 8 MONTHS TO ME!!!!! Today is my 8 month mark......hurrah hurrah for Israel! Tehe Thank you, thank you.... I am still forging ahead conquering all of my desires to listen to black lady soul music and I'm spreading the love of the lord with those I meet! Today Sister Booms and I spent basically our whole preparation day cleaning out the nooks and corners of our apartment where only elders could reach only to find things like underwear......kitty puzzles....a typewriter...and last but not least.....a 3 foot tree. Yes. Thank you for the excitement elders haha weirdos :) But this past week we got to help a lady move into her new home and she was really grateful. We also got to make some plans with our branch president for some courses of action with some part members in our branch. We're going to be having 2 family home evenings a week, a cross fit/lesson training, a Spanish cooking lesson(already in action and working beautifully! I'm a Mexican chef!), and more! It's so fun to spend time with these people on a personal level in addition to teaching them the gospel. I think Heavenly Father really knows how much I need those personal relationships. :) OOH! along The lines of Mexican food. Our fantastic Spanish teacher Carmen has taught us well and whenever we cook with her she never measures anything out. SHe just always knows how much to put in to make it perfect! Well...we attempted to do the same this week at home and .......it .......well..........   it was a disaster hahah. We did exactly what she did!! We just poured "some" salt in our avocado mix for our guacamole....it just happened to be enough to be counted as hazardous for your health haha. However! We made sopes on our own and they actually turned out pretty good! :) Also I am outta time but I love you all soooooo much and I will let you know next week if Im staying in Berryville....AND! sister bREAUX IS GOING HOME NEXT THURSDAY!!! :( I'M sooooooooo sadddddddd...but she's paid her time haha. She's the best person I've ever met.

Love you forever,

Sister MOreno