April 30

I may start to sound like a broken record. Sister Dodd and I are
gearing up, along with the rest of the mission, for the cultural
celebration and the dedication of the Kansas City Missouri Temple!!!!
The Assistants and the mission President have been sending out a ton
of announcements to prepare for it. The plan is this: Elders wear
their dark suits, sisters wear dark colors. This will enable us to be
distinguished from the youth who will apparently be colorful. We are
to arrive at the Marriott hotel in Kansas City Saturday afternoon,
practice for an hour singing "We'll Bring the World his Truth" and
then leave to go to the event. Originally, they were going to have us
come back to our areas, including us in central Kansas, right after
the event which would leave us getting back into Wichita at midnight.
We discovered the other day that they are keeping all the missionaries
from the outskirts of Kansas in Kansas City for the night and will
watch the dedication from one of the stake centers there. We'll get
back to Hutch sometime Sunday evening.

I AM SO STOKED. The Open House ended on Saturday and while I don't
know the total statistics of everything, it was HUGE. So many went
through to see the temple and there are referrals for the missionaries
pouring out over the whole mission. A member from 4th ward sent me an
article about a episcopal female priest's experience going through the
temple, and many of leaders report that God does exist there. Wow. A
part member family from here in Hutch went and it softened the heart
of the mom so much, she finally came to church after fighting with her
returning husband for months, and not being religious since her
childhood. She actually came to church for the first 2 hours yesterday
and after the 2nd hour-- gospel principles which we taught--, she gets
up and tells us that she had been spending a lot of time with God. And
choking back tears, says she knows that this is where she needs to be.
We did nothing but love her. I love her SO much. She's an amazing
woman and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has answered the
prayers of her family and of the ward. She will hopefully be baptized
here shortly.

I keep imagining how 200+ strong of the Lord's Army singing for the
prophet will be a thrill of a lifetime. I already can't sing the song
without getting emotional... will I be able to sing at all up there!?
Lots of updates next week.

As missionaries in a full time car we get a limited amount of miles
that we can travel every month. This past month they gave us 400 extra
miles so we can get out to the rest of our area, since it covers
several small farming communities, not just Hutch. But we didn't know
about this until last week. So we traveled 518 miles this past week!!
I am tired of driving... haha. We still have to use 44 miles today
according to the zone leaders... we have no idea how we're going to do
that. Hopefully we'll get the same amount of miles next month so we
can space them out evenly. On our adventures outside of Hutch we met
several part member families. It's amazing the gold outside of Hutch.
We're slowly trying to get to know them and see how we can serve them.
This one couple are empty nesters and they own and manage a grain
elevator in a small town called Turon, KS. They were telling us all
about how that works and invited us back out when they start the
harvest the 1st week of June. Cool! If we're still here we'll be
going.

Earlier this week we found a new family that we are teaching. We had
tracted her street several weeks before and kept coming back. The way
we met her was her 9 year old daughter was watching us, so I told
Sister Dodd to give her a pamphlet. She did and told the girl to call
us if she and her mom wanted us to come back. Later we get a call from
that girl saying something along the lines of "thank you for the
book... it's a really good book. You're really good people. God
bless". We went back to try and see her mom. After several attempts we
get a return appointment and went this past Tuesday. It was a crazy
lesson because of our team-up, but the spirit was there. Our member
asked her why she decided to let us come back. She starts, "Well, all
my neighbors are family. So they kept saying things like 'who are
those girls?' or 'Oh, they got you!!' But when they knocked on my door
and saw them, I couldn't just not answer. it was like Jesus standing
at the door! And I like talking to them". It was amazing. She knows
she needs the Lord in her life and wants to hear what we have to say.
It's her, her 16 year old son, 9 year old daughter, and 5 year old
daughter. A neat family. I love them so much already! Heavenly Father
truly does prepare his elect. And those with hears to ear will be able
to embrace and understand the beauty of the gospel. I'm so grateful to
be a missionary!

All is well here. No tornadoes. We had some HOT days in the 90's. I'm
so not ready for another humid summer. haha. The work must go on
though! Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He lives. This is His
restored gospel in all it's glory, here to bless us as children of
God. I know families can be together forever through this gospel, and
that God loves us. Really... what else matters?

I love you all. Continue strong and keep moving forward. God blesses
us through the good and the bad.
Always,
Sister Moore