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

10/27/14-Happy Halloween from Henryetta!

I can hardly believe it is almost November...what in the world?? They weren't kidding when they said once you hit your nine month mark everything just speeds up!!! SO! Once again we have had an amazing week!! Can I just say that I am so grateful for Heavenly Father blessing me and Sister Fleck with so much success? Seriously, he is amazing and I am so SO grateful to be a part of his work :) Ok so cool stories from this week! Sister Fleck and I were walking down the street on our way to our next appointment when we saw this guy working on his truck and he looked a lot like Kevin, ma. We stopped and were talking to him and pretty soon we're handing him tools and helping him add in another air horn to his truck haha! We start talking about the church and he's had a HARD life. Well, we give him a book of Mormon and set up another time to meet with him and now we're teaching him and his two daughters!! CRAZY! PLUS! We went to a little town we cover called Weleetka and we visited with a guy that the elders had taught a long time ago and he basically told us he wants to get baptized and he came to church last week! WHAT! AND We were running late to church yesterday and we rushed down the hall when I saw a kid sitting on the couches in jeans and I went up and talked to him and apparently he just was stopping in to see how we run church, he'd never been before so we introduced ourselves and brought him into sacrament! Talk about dropping him in our laps!!!! AND AND!!! We had one of our investigators, Lori come to church for the very first time this week and she came praying to know if she should be baptized...she said she really enjoyed church and that she'd let us know Wednesday if she wants to be baptized or not!!! We had 7 investigators at church on Sunday. I'm telling you, it's amazing to be in Henryetta right now. That's not to mention the fact that the Vendels came down to visit me for my BIRTHDAY!!! Brother Vendel brought me cake and we all went out to dinner with the Hardgraves. MAN! I just =think about if I hadn't come on a mission and I shudder because I would've missed out on all of these amazing experiences and mostly all of these amazing people. ALSO! For Halloween, we have to be in by 6 unless we're with members. SO! Sister Fleck and I will be hanging out with our recent convert Steven making knives...hahahaha yes. I don't know how that is much safer than tracting around questionable houses haha but it's gonna be a blast!! :) And! I have discovered the cutest puppies on the planet! They are called akitas!!! OH MA GOSH...THEY ARE THE MOST FLUFFIEST ADORABLE YOU CAN'T HELP BUT LAUGH UNCONTROLLABLY WHEN YOU'RE AROUND THEM CAUSE THEY'RE SO STINKIN ADORABLE PUPPIES ON THE PLANET!!!! Look them up. Your just start smiling and crying over their adorable fluffiness. :) Ok I think that's it except that I now hate my hair. Seriously, I'm never cutting it again. I'm done with the whole afro look...hahah curse you humidity!! :) OH! And we're taking Steven to the temple next week!!!! AND!! Sister Fleck and I got to paint pumpkins at a relief society party on Saturday and it made my life. I've missed being crafty and painting. I'll try to attach pictures! :) I love you all!! Oh! And ma, can you send me my Mariah Carey Christmas cd and the Christmas book (24 days thing) you can just make a copy of it cause I know it's yours tehe but that can wait till almost December I just had to get that out before I forgot! :) Also, thank you sooooooooooo much for my cute new coats!!!!! You guys are the BEST!!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno

 

PS I'm singing at zone conference……..the same zone conference that Elder Packer is going to be at!!! AND! My companion, sister fleck is getting interviewed by him for some reason!! Eek! She's freaking out haha I love her. :) And here's the great part....the music they gave me to practice (we're doing a quartet of Reverently quietly) was missing 3 pages....ya so! Here's where my site reading comes in handy! Pray for me!!

 

10/14/14

Holy miracles! Ok I am gonna make this one shorter than last week cause that was exhausting haha but I have SOOOO much to say yet again! I'm hopping in!

#1. We had transfers on Thursday and Sister Gregson is now in Berryville! Lucky dog :) And Sister Fleck is my new companion. She's been out just one transfer less than me. It's cool to have a companion that's pretty experienced and basically on the same page as me. This is the first time since sister Breaux that I haven't had a new bee! :) She loves Harry Potter and has a ton of clothes and shoes.so as you can see we will be just fine :)

#2. I will be reaching my 10 month mark this Friday! WHAT? I think they were right about once you hit your half way mark everything is downhill...at least in regards of time thus far.

#3. Meet the Mormons was SOOOOOOO good! If you have not seen it GO SEE IT! We want as many people as possible to see it and like it on facebook and request it in your area on meetthemormons.com It's an AWESOME missionary tool! We've been having our members here take their nonmember friends and it's going REALLY great! Take people to see it!

#4. OK these next few bullet points are the greatest things ever EVER!!!!!! First of all....BILL CRAIG. Yes, BILL CRAIG. Notice the last name as I hop into this miracle. Ok so! For the past 6 months the sisters here have been trying to meet with this man, Bill Craig. He's the husband of a less active lady and he's always busy. He has cancer and he's really been struggling so they've only met with him once. WELL! I saw his name and suggested to Sister Gregson that we try to go see him and just stop in. Well we show up to his house and his wife (whom they've never met) opened the door and welcomed us right in. She told us that she'd just gotten off the phone with her son who lives in Idaho. I was like "Oh! Where in Idaho" And she's like "It's a little town near Twin Falls. It's called JEROME......." ........:o WHAT. YES. I think you can see where this is going. I freaked out all over the place and apparently her son works at the fire station and then Bill comes into the room and I tell him where I'm from and he literally stares at me with his mouth wide open and starts to tear up "I was raised in Jerome" He said and that is the beginning of it all. The last time I saw him (this past week) He told me "Ya know my friends and family back in Jerome have been trying to get me to join the church my whole life. (His best friend is Arlen Crouch by the way...ya haha CRAZY! ) And I have been putting it off for years but now that God is sending missionaries from my home town, I think it might be a sign." "A sign of what?" I asked tehe "That I should get my act together! You know. You can tell me that you are here on your mission for this and that but there is no doubt in my mind why you're on your mission...it's for me."......:O Can you believe that????? I am BLOWN away. There is NO other way than through divine intervention that this has happened! I can't even put into words how I feel but boy oh boy let me tell you, that was a powerful realization that I'm not just here by chance. There are souls out there who need ME. WOW. Let that soak in a bit. We ALL have people like that in our lives. SO ya.

#5. Ok last but most certainly not least! The wedding/baptism for the Weavers was awesome! It was SOOOOOOOO good to see everyone and catch up and be with the Vendels! I love them soooooooooooooo much! They really are my other parents. :) But not only was the wedding and baptism awesome and getting to see the old ward (which remembered me haha I was scared they wouldn't but they all were so surprised and happy to see me...yay!) BUT! THE BEST PART OF ALL.....THE ABSOLUTE BEST PART OF ALLLLLLL.....WASSSSSSSS When I got inside the chapel and sat down I noticed a few faces and then I spotted a couple of ver dear people. Mom do you remember Melanie and Elizabeth??? The mom and daughter that sister breaux and I found and taught and invited to be baptized but then they moved???????......WELL! THEY MOVED BACK AND JUST GOT BAPTIZED LAST WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I literally just stared in shock and turned to the Vendels and they told me and I just broke out in tears! I couldn't help it I cried and they came over and gave me hugs and I cried and told them I was so shocked and happy and mad! I was so mad no one told me!!!!!!! BUT! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????? Not to mention there was 2 other people that I had taught BESIDES them and BESIDES the weavers that had also gotten baptized! I had in total 5 PEOPLE THAT I TAUGHT GET BAPTIZED!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was/am BLOWN away. Blown away. How can life get any better than that? My whole mission I feel like I've done a lot A LOT of prep work and I've never really seen any lasting results come from it...until now. :) WOW. God is great. I love Melanie and Elizabeth and lane and June and Brother and sister weaver with my WHOLE soul and now I get to rejoice in the fact that they're progressing on the path to eternal life and I was blessed enough to be a part of that. Amazing. The only thing that would've made it better would be if Sister Breaux could've been there. :)

Ok well I'm gonna try and attach some pictures but I just want to say thank you to all those who send me emails and letters. You have no idea how much those mean to me! :) I am so blessed to be here and I can't wait to share more stories next week. I love you all!

Love you forever,

Sister Moreno                            

 

Pics of the greatest weekend ever!!

Melanie and Elizabeth

the Weavers

The Vendels aka my other parents

Lane Hobbs is the kid I helped teach both.

 

 

June is the older lady in the blue.

 

 

 

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