Halloween

Pictures:

384: One of my favorite little families out in Odessa. She's a convert of about 2 years. Her husband wasn't home sadly, but he's awesome too. They are probably some of the greatest people I have met out on my mission.

388: A Sister from Odessa that goes above and beyond. She's kind of crazy and her mind is everywhere at once, but she's solid. So funny. Love that woman!

389: Elder Messick, Elder Sanders, and Sister Moore. My zone leaders from out in Warrensburg. They are the best! We were trying to look cool. Not sure how successful we were.

391: Sister Nelson and Sister Moore. She's one of my favorites... shh, don't tell. She's serving as a VC Sister leader right now and will go home in December sadly.

394: Kind of washed out... Elder Nicholes, Sister Moore, and Sister Blackham. Elder Nicholes went home this last transfer, but he served as one of the Assistants. Awesome Elder. And Sister Blackham is my companion now! I love her! She's from California, graduated from BYU-Idaho, and reminds me perfectly of Trish.... same exact mannerisms and everything.. except a little quieter. :). It's kind of eerie. Needless to say, I'm having fun with her.

400: Missionary cars!! The Independence zone is so close that we gather together all the time. In fact, we all just played sports this morning.

 

I got lucky and got the Monday P-day here at the VC. And we aren't allowed to proselyte after 7 PM tonight because of Halloween. We might party at the VC... well actually, we have been asked to sing on Friday, my companion and me, so we'll work on that. I have a special calling here at teh VC this transfer... I'm apart of a 2-sister committee and we are in charge of finding musical talents among the sisters and organizing musical numbers for meetings, trainings, and firesides. I'm really excited!

 

But.... yes, transfers have come and gone and I have left my beloved little Odessa ward. Wednesday night there was a ward activity so I went around and said bye. I think almost everyone I spoke with either said, "what's your address; I'll write you!" or "Oh, we'll come visit you in the VC soon!". So much love... I sobbed when I got the transfer call.  I have been called to serve in the Independence 4th ward... so I'm back at the VC! I'll probably stay here for a while. This ward is fun. We have elders in this ward, too: the assistants. Elder Nicholes was one of them so a new one was called, so the ward has two new missionaries. We got a very warm welcome and I'm really excited to be here. I miss the War zone (Warrensburg....) but there are miracles awaiting me here... I can feel it.

 

But yes. My first Sunday we were supposed to teach Gospel Principles. It went very, very well. I'm hoping to make a good impression on the ward and get to know them as fast as I can so I can serve them better. I forgot how hard it is at the VC! There is NO time! And it's starting to slow down. I kind of go crazy on shift so I get into trouble... okay, not really. But get this: there's a new feature at the VC: Chat! On Mormon.org, there is a way to chat with representatives of the church to answer questions. Whenever someone desires to do that, we are the ones that get to talk with them. It's new at most of the visitor centers. We've gone through a few test runs and it's a blast. What an awesome way to spread the gospel.

 

With transfers, a couple missionaries got picked up by their parents. A couple came in and said they are so and so's parents, and I got to take them on a tour while they waited for their daughter. I kind of thought about what it would be like to go home. Talking to them, I got a better feel of how my parents would feel. Oh... it's going to be so hard. I don't want to come home. Can I be a missionary forever?

 

With that thought, I've thought a lot about what I'm doing here on my mission. On Sunday I was asked where I'm from, how long I've been out, etc. And as I answered those questions I realized that I will hit my 8 month mark on Wednesday, with my half way mark coming up within weeks. Not okay. I only have so much time and I still have so much to do! The theme at the VC for the transfer is "choose". I have to choose to become someone more. I have to choose to follow Jesus Christ. I have to choose how to spend my time. I have to choose how to treat those around me. I have to choose how to act as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have to choose to become more. And so, here it is. From here on out, no matter how little sleep I get, no matter what unkind words are thrown my way, no matter what sacrifices must come, I will serve the Lord and always choose Him. I will work until I drop. I will testify until my voice is gone. I will live the gospel until I die. This is real! This is what life is. We are to get lost in joyous things, love one another, love our Father in Heaven, and work to become more. I know that I am a daughter of God, and that with Him, I can accomplish anything.

 

I know this gospel is true, Brothers and Sisters. By living its precepts and learning day by day, I am becoming more. And I can't wait to go home to Heavenly Father. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

 

Have a happy and SAFE halloween!

 

Always,
Sister Moore

October 24, 2011

Hola!

I'm feeling a little anxious this morning so I may not write much here. Things are great though! Transfers are this week and I'm basically pleading the Lord and the mission president to stay in Odessa. I have fallen in love with the ward and with the missionaries I serve with. I have never really been a fan of "see you laters" anyway... I don't think I ever will.

We had exchanges on Tuesday and I went out to Overland Park, Kansas. That's an hour drive from Odessa... talk about extreme exchanges. I was with Sister Cleveland... whom I just love and adore! Imagine with me for a second... if you know me, you know I can be a little crazy at times. While riding shotgun, I was asked to make a phone call to a Sister in the ward. Her last name was Italian and very hard to pronounce so I was practicing before she answered the phone. During it all, there was a dead squirrel in the middle of the road so I pointed to it and casually said "watch out for the squirrel". Sister Cleveland swerved and unintentionally hit the squirrel.  *bump*. We look behind us and it had exploded. We both start screaming and laughing hysterically... and the sister on the phone answers. I couldn't catch my breath let alone remember her name. I had to explain and apologize later that day. Oh my goodness... I still crack up laughing whenever my mind wanders to exchanges. Too funny.

As far as the spiritual side of the work goes, I've learned a lot. With transfers this week I've been dwelling a lot on the fact that if I leave, it's going to be heartbreaking. I have fallen in love with the Odessa ward and the missionaries that I serve with here. I also thought about when I do leave this area, looking back on Odessa what would make it so special. The spirit then rested upon me and told me, "you are needed here". For the past three transfers, I have been needed here, and with that assurance, I know that I will be fulfilled if and when I leave Odessa.  My mission is so sacred to me. I hear about the world and the decaying facts of politics, earthquakes, and droughts. The Midwest is in a drought right now. It terrifies me to think of coming home and living in the world without the protection of being a servant of the Lord. There are down days like always, but the spiritual mantel that I've been on for almost 8 months is addicting. The spirit is addicting.

The stake had stake conference this past weekend. We were told that the Kansas City temple would be ready about the 2nd quarter of the year. So about 6 months or so. I'll still be here! We are supposed to prepare ourselves for the temple... and I couldn't be more excited. Seriously... why do people choose to live without the gospel? I don't understand it.

Anyway, we are headed down to Warrensburg today for Zone P-day. I asked the elders for another one this transfer and they granted my request. It'll be a great day. One Elder in our zone goes home on Friday.. and I'm so sad. But I know the Lord takes care of his missionaries and covenant people.

Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

Always,
Sister Moore

October 17, 2011

Ok, first off, I LOVE that fact that Sam is playing soccer. It's the best SPORT ever! See? it takes someone tough to play such an awesome sport. :) And Sam... I'm writing you today. Expect a letter later in the week. Thank you everyone who gives their constant support, I sure can feel it and I really couldn't do this without your love.

It's thundering here in Odessa today and the sky is dark. We walked here. Hmm. Things have been good. One of the branches in the district just had Elders put in at the beginning of the summer after having sisters for years. A lot of the ward members really miss the sisters... and so one of them we met at the General Relief Society Broadcast. The one that treated us like celebrities? She came out and went out with us all day. We meet some way cool people. At the end of the day I left my CD case in her car. I asked her to give it to the Elders since I was going to be seeing them the next day. When they gave me the case, I saw that it had sticky notes on every disc with a random highlight from our day together. SO FUNNY. I'm going to room with her when I get back to Rexburg. Love that girl!

We've been trying to contact this veterinarian for a while and we finally got to sit down with him last week. He's so cool! He told me a lot about his schooling and where that career stands today. it was fascinating. We also found out he's a Christian, family man and is very open to learning more. He has a 5 year old son who is just the cutest kid you've ever seen. I really look forward to teaching him and getting to know him.

I found this "30 day Book of Mormon Reading Chart" in our Area Book that sisters in the past made up. It had 30 questions about life or how/why to live the gospel and then a scripture reference to answer that question. A few of our investigators won't keep commitments to read from the Book of Mormon, so we're going to try this and see if this will be less intimidating for them.

We were studying one morning and Sister T read Moses 6:59 and asked a question about it. I immediately thought back to BYU-Idaho and my OT class. That scripture is awesome. Let me share with you what we've been talking about lately:

 Moses 6:59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the ^aspirit, which I have made, and so became of ^bdust a living soul, even so ye must be ^cborn again into the kingdom of heaven, of ^dwater, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and ^eenjoy the ^fwords of ^geternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal^hglory;

So, looking at this, we are born into this world by water, spirit, and blood; our fleshy tabernacles. To be born into the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to be born again. We also see this commandment in John 3:5. We have to be born of water, of the Spirit, and of blood again. That water is baptism, that spirit is the Holy Ghost, and that blood is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Cool, nothing new. Here's the cool part. There are some people that I've come into contact in my life where they have an issue with woman not being able to hold the Holy Priesthood of God. Churches have been formed so that woman can 'hold" the Priesthood. However, this is not of God. Has been created us individually and we all have a purpose. We see that in the Family Proclamation to where we were created as either male or female. This verse of scripture shows us that purpose again. Woman help us progress by bring our spirits into this world to be born of the blood and water. We made it from our first estate to our second estate, or from our pre-earth life to our mortal life. We progressed. In order to progress any further, we have to be born again. This is where the Priesthood comes into play, or the role of men in life. They perform these sacred ordinances by the Priesthood to give us the key to salvation and exaltation: baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and being cleansed from sin by the Atonement of Christ. We are all individuals, given talents, gifts, abilities, and responsibilities to help us all get home. We are literally all in this together, and without each other and the important eternal roles that we are to follow, we can't make it home.

I thought about this for a long time this past weekend. I'm here on earth for just a short time. I'm not home yet. This is my temporary home. It is my responsibility to fulfill my calling as a missionary and as a disciple of Christ by doing everything in my power to serve. We are all important.

One of our ward missionaries spoke in Sacrament yesterday. She talked about how we are sheep, and Christ is the good shepherd. With the parable of the 99 and 1 lost sheep, he opened my understanding to this: That one lost sheep is just that, a sheep. Not a lamb, not a child, but a sheep that has gone astray. Why do we need to pay attention to those sheep? Because they will lead the lambs away. Go after those who are less-active in the gospel and save both them and their children. Jesus Christ is coming. Prophesies are being fulfilled everyday. The signs of the times are here. We have to raise the bar, Brothers and Sisters. We need to do everything we can. We have been given 1440 minutes everyday. What are you doing to do with those minutes? They are a gift. How are you going to honor that gift?

I know that Jesus is the living Christ. I know his church has been restored through a modern day prophet. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I know that Book of Mormon is the true word of God. I know that the Priesthood is real, and that it is a blessing. We have been given a prophet, been given the scripture, been given the Priesthood, so that we can raise our families in a dying, terrifying world. Let us humble ourselves and turn to God. He loves us; what more do we need?

Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

Always,
Sister Moore

October 19, 2011

Hola,

It's been a good week! We up'd our numbers this week and I think I'm going to be exhausted for the rest of my mission. But that's okay.. I fall asleep easier that way. We found a little family who in the past had said no to missionaries because they were happy in their faith. We asked if they ever got a chance to read the Book of Mormon and they responded, "no, not really". I bore testimony of what the Book of Mormon is and what it means personally to me, and the next thing they say is, "Hmm... we'll have to pull that out and read it". So awesome! We're going back in a couple weeks as they are going out of town... but they are just so awesome! We have been getting some LA's into the Book of Mormon lately, too. Our testimonies are powerful, and not because we have been set apart as missionaries. Our Zone Leaders challenged us to come up with a personal goal for the companionship and then report back on it next week. We decided to focus our dinner appointments around the restoration of the gospel and preset for referrals. It's been amazing the Spirit that has been with us as we talk about the restored gospel and why we live it. The members are reliving their own conversion, whenever it was, and are finding that desire to share, just like Lehi and the Tree of Life (1 Ne. 8). Use your testimony, and the Lord will be right there with you. Believe that. Know that.

I started the Book of Mormon over in studies and I read 1 Nephi 17 this morning. I love that it was Nephi's faith that enabled him to build a boat, but what really stuck out to me was at the end of the chapter where he testified: "Behold, I am full of the Spirit of God, insomuch that my frame has no strength". My mind instantly went to an experience I had back in the VC. Sister Browning and I were taking a tour with a brother not of our faith. He kept going on and on about how he's seen Jesus and many other things that I don't remember, but there was no room for the spirit to be there. Next thing I knew, I opened my mouth. I don't remember what I said, but after I was done, it was silent. That brother had been humbled, and I almost fell to my knees. At the time I didn't know what happened, but with that knowledge that Nephi testified of being used as an instrument in the hands of the Lord so the Spirit could teach, not him, I was humbled as I was found worthy to experience something so sacred. Which brings me to the CD Kimberly sent to me (thank you!!!). It has "Called to Serve" on it and so of course it was wonderful. One line really stuck out: "Called to know the richness of His blessings". It just hit me. I was called as a missionary to understand, to know, just what Heavenly Father is capable of. I was called to know how much He loves each and every one of His children. I was called to know how rich His blessings truly are. And that goes for anything in the Kingdom: callings, service, anything. We serve to know, we are to understand. And what better blessing is there than to feel Godly love?

Last week we got a call from the Zone Leaders saying that President and Sister Keyes were coming to District Meeting and would be going out on team ups with us for a little bit that Friday. The ZL's are known for pulling pranks on us so I really didn't take them seriously. However, at the end of District Meeting they walk in the door, and take us out to lunch, and we went out with the mission president's wife for a couple hours. It was intimidating, but awesome! She's such a sweetheart. Our new district leader (last DL got a special assignment in the office for the last 3 weeks of his mission, so a new DL was called) got to go out with President. Oh... so funny. So awesome.

One morning we woke up to a slug on our ceiling in the kitchen. I still have no idea how it got in the house. I got a card reader (Thank you, Will!) and now can finally send you pictures! Yay! A couple go all the way back to the Fall Festival last month. I hope you all can view them. Eventually I get into more of a habit. Zone P-day last Monday was awesome. We went on our nature walk and it was beautiful! I sent a couple pictures of it. Along the hike we found a pond. One of the new Elders was just hanging out so I snapped a shot. You can see the vast beauty of the changing leaves reflecting off the water. I love Fall... it seriously is my favorite season.

Sister T has received quite a few letters! Thank you all SO much! She says she'll respond as soon as she can. :) I loved receiving notes from Mom, Dad, Henry, Will, Derek, Chelsie, and SAM!!! Oh Sam, how I've missed you. haha. Congratulations to Trish & Russell Dickerson on little baby Elliott! What a blessing he will be to you, and what great parents and missionaries you'll be to him. Family picture soon... yes? :)

Things are good. Still working and being safe, no worries. We might make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today... Thank you for everything you do. I'm so grateful for such a support system and such wonderful examples in my life. The gospel is true. The fulness of it has been restored just for us! Why not taste of the fruit?Jesus is the Christ, he lives, and he loves us. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

Always,
Sister Moore

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISH! And ELLIOTT!!!...?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISH! And ELLIOTT!!!...? Send me updates immediately. Please and thank you.

Oh my goodness, what a week! And then to see the inbox full of amazing news just made it better! Although, I'm not quite sure my parents joined a biker gang... all I know is the picture will go in my photo album.

I feel like it's the day after Christmas. General Conference is such a gift as a missionary; I had no idea. I was able to even stay awake through them all! ... and unlike back in April, I got to see all of them except Elder Uchtdorf's talk Saturday morning. A day before we got a call from a member that her aunt passed away and had this huge responsibility to be in charge of feeding 100-200 people after the service. She had no resources to do so. So she called us, and we called some people. The funeral was at a Baptist church... yep, I attended in a Baptist church, tag and all. We got the weirdest looks from people as we walked around and took part of the services. It was great. The Relief Society came to the rescue and relieved this sister and we put a great name out for the church. Randomly, our neighbor's girlfriend was there with her dad. Coincidence? I think not. So, we left conference early to get to that.

But conference was amazing. The Sunday sessions we watched with one of our eternigators. :) He really enjoyed the message and thought it was "interesting". So that's good. I don't have my notes in front of me but I was writing throughout the whole thing it seemed. The Lord opened my eyes and heart to so many new things. I saw a theme in the sessions, too. I saw a lot of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.... faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end, and the Atonement. And President Monson... oh I just love that man. "Hi!".... hahaha. I hear in Priesthood session he was pretty animated too. I'll have to go back and watch those sometime soon. I'll send back some notes next week. We have Zone P-day today so we are a little pressed for time in getting down to Warrensburg. We guilted (is that a word? the computer doesn't recognize it...) the Elders into doing something besides sports all day, and they found us a "nature walk". Haha, good Elders... doughnut. I'm excited.

I've learned a lot for myself this week about how to apply the Atonement into everyday life. Conference was a blessing. The prophet and apostles taught that the Atonement takes care of the rest of life that is unfair, not just sins. We preach that everyday. That's the whole reason we have a church and a gospel. To rid ourselves of those things that make us heavy. I'm realizing more and more that love is the center of it all. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have already done so much for us, but they still allow us to find that quarter on the side of the street in order to enjoy a piece of chicken. Their love is unconditional. And they have so much in store for us. I greatly anticipate the day to when I can see my Father in Heaven's face and know Godly love. That's why we share the gospel... that's why I share the gospel.

Think about what the restoration means to you. What if Joseph Smith never sought for truth? What if the pioneers never made it west? What if we didn't have faithful members of the church today? What if we never had the Book of Mormon (I loved that talk about the Book of Mormon... it is either good or evil. Go find our for yourself)? What if Christ never accomplished the Atonement? What if we didn't have the knowledge that we can be with our loved ones forever?

But the thing is... the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith gives us answers to questions we can't find anywhere else. Once you understand, your confidence in yourself and in the Lord expands greatly. Why not give the missionaries a chance to share it with you? Why not listen to your LDS neighbor for just a moment? Why not be open to so much more?

I know this gospel is true. I know it was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know we have a living prophet on the earth today. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know I am a daughter of God. And I know this work will never stop until Christ himself says, "well done".

Always,
Sister Moore