Talihina-Week 4

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

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

 

Talihina-Week 3

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

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

12/1/14- Talihina week 2

12/1/14

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

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

11/24/14

TALIHINA Week 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

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

 

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

Our Appartment

Sis. Burrows

Previous Sister's food storage

Drinking water?

 

11/18/14

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

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

New Address:

Route 1 box 1347

1200 Church street #5

Talihina, OK 74571.

 

 

 

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

11/10/14

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

 

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno 

Happy Birthday to me!!!

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

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno