2 February 2014

2 February 2014  -  Here it is at 100 million miles/ hour:

Kia Ora!

Ok so today's email is going to be very, very short.... We decided to have a relief society presidency "girls day" and go shopping ALLLLLL morning at the second hand stores with our new convert.... I think she underestimated what we meant by "we will be doing a little shopping".  No one told her that 1 hour of shopping really means 5.... And that’s how we spent p-day.

So we had transfer and guessss whattttt???.... I'm still in Katikati!! :)  But now there are only two of us: Sister McCarthy and Me. Now I can say that having a companion learning English was so hard!  Imagine trying to teach a lesson while trying to help the people you teach to understand while also trying to help your companion understand what everyone is saying..... There were also a few cultural differences that proved to be a stumbling block for some of us as well. But all is well. We still love each other and she is now speaking her native language in a different area.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!! I was in a less than positive mood last week, which is why I spent last week seeking advice rather than emailing another lengthy letter about my views/thoughts/and perspectives about so many random things. But here are some bullet points of things I haven't yet shared:

·       People are so honest here... but only about things you don't want them to be honest about. This week I have been told that I am fat, have bushy hair (by a 2 year old!), my face is too oily and that my American accent is too harsh. lol sad eh?

·       My last companion (Sister Hutt) cut my hair because it wasn't even on the ends... Turns out she more or less didn't fix it as well as we would have hoped. So this week (3 weeks later) I had a less active woman "fix it" for me... (Great way to get her to talk to us!)... Even with her best attempts I am still too cheap to pay $30 to get my hair trimmed so I will proudly walk around with noticeably uneven hair.

·       SPORTS NIGHT! One of the best days of the week.... We play touch football every Wednesday and get as many investigators and less actives to come as we can.  Last week my Samoan companion decided to tackle me.... twice.  And once when I wasn't even near the ball! Everyone was concerned we weren't getting along after which was funny.  The 3 days of back pain after that wasn't so fun though.

·       ELANA!!!  I finally, finally, finally met someone that knew your Dad!  Her name is Katrina Driver and she said that your dad was one of the best teachers she has ever had!!!

·       Gas is $8/gallon here. Crazy eh?

·       Katikati-being interpreted is: Nibble, Nibble or "Nibbled by the Rats"

·       Maggie is a dear old lady who loves to give us an abundance of free avocados from work... It wasn't until after we ate them that she told us that she stole them. "Did you sisters enjoy the avocados? Yes? Good. I stole them."... I'm still not sure how to respond to that.

·       We are surrounded by so many fruit trees and gardens.  I ate a fresh passion fruit right out of someone's garden. (And no, I wasn’t stealing!)

·       Phylip shared an experience with us about his attempts to give up smoking and drugs... "I had a thought pop into my head that just said- 'Do not consume it'... What does consume mean??"   Precious.

·       When I teach I try to be like Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf.... and I think I scare some people when I speak but then they know its okay because they see how much I love them.

·       I feel like the most loved sister ever.  I love getting mail from all of you and having pictures to hang on to. Notts! Thank you for your letter and letting me know how SIs. Nott is doing!

·       It's getting harder to eat the food we are being served sometimes... My sweet, sweet companions will quickly put my food on their plates when people aren't looking or ask for more so that I will have more time to try to get the food down... I’m blessed with good companions

·       Elder Russell M. Nelson is coming to town in 2 weeks!!!!

·       I have been reading about Jacob quoting the story about the vineyards... ch#5.  What do you think the significance of your roots are?

·       We have had two fast this week and they get easier each time- because you are so desperate to get blessing sometimes. My companion told me that she always fasts once a week, no matter what because it is so important to get blessings for the work.

·       There has never been a prophet that has not "prayed with all energy of heart in behalf of the people." I have to pray ALL the time to learn to love people. I think I love them but there is so much more love to give. The only way to develop the real "pure" Love is to pray for it every day with ALL THE ENERGY YOU HAVE.

Now that I am a missionary I have a totally different view about feeding missionaries.

#1. Never dish up a plate for them. You don't know how much they will eat or what they really like vs. what they pretend to like... We had hamburgers at a member family's house and I hate hamburgers yet I decided to have one instead of going hungry. I picked the smallest of the bunch (clearly a left over piece of scrap meat so that I could say there was meat on my bun.)  The lady of the house grabbed the meat off my bun and told me to get a bigger one. I was so close.

#2. Always offer them water to drink. When you are talking with people all day you are pretty thirsty. Also, if offering them a drink don't say do you want a drink just say: Do you want water or juice/milo/milk I always say no, but options seem to make the decision to take a drink easier.

#3. If you chose to watch your missionaries while they eat, instead of eating with them (no one eats with us) be prepared to talk with them about missionary work- just know its coming.

#4. Dessert is so great, but right after a heaping plate of dinner food makes one feel like he/she is going to die a terrible death. We went to someone's house the other day and they served us each two pieces of cake and heaps of ice cream. They made me finish it all. "Eat Moore, Eat Moore." it was the hardest thing I had to do all week. So this week must have been pretty good :)

Our baptism was Amazinggg!

Gotta run. P-day is over. Love you all!

Sister Moore

Sorry if I didn't respond to your emails.... I haven't read them yet