9 February 2014

9 Feb 2014

 g'day maties!

I am realizing more and more that I am not in America anymore... You would think that somewhere on the other side of the world would be vastly different and it is.... but subtly. 

I don't think I told you but I learned how to drive a car on the opposite side of the road and on the wrong side of the car!  ...And now my companion won't let me drive any more.  It's the strangest thing ever.  I'm not bad at it, I'm just not good.  And if you thought driving was hard TRY BACKING UP!!  Now that's something I never imagined doing before...  

So when I say things are different here it's more than just the cars... People move on a different schedule. It's like everyone moves in slow motion and talks with these long pauses that serve no purpose other than extreme uncomfortableness and emptiness for me.  Everyone wants to be seen as laid back and relaxed until they are suddenly in a hurry.  Maybe it's because I'm white, maybe it's because I'm American or maybe it's because I'm me but I am having a hard time of being relaxed and structured.  To one relaxed, it means putting our lesson on the backburner and as a last minute thought before we leave. To one structured, it means jumping right into the lesson with very little preliminary or idle chit chat.  ...GAH balance is key eh? 

Elder Russell M Nelson will be here this weekend!!!!!!! We got a special letter from our Mission President to prepare and he asked that we specifically clean and cut our nails, wash our hands and comb our hair so that we do not look like hobos… Very specific advice.  We have to wake up at 4am and catch a bus by 5:45am to get to the conference on time..... It's going to be harder than I thought to not look like a hobo.

We attended an Area Presidency Broadcast last night which was.... AAmmmaziinnnngggg!!! I thought it would be good and maybe even a little boring, but it was GREAT.  Kevin W. Pearson is a wonderfully powerful speaker (even though on the surface he looks rather stiff and boring).  He asked the members in our Stake to think of who was the last person you saved?  If you can't remember or can't think of one then you need to WAKE UP and do something.  We’ve all heard that there are people who MAKE things happen, those who WATCH things happen, and some who WONDER WHATS HAPPENING.

1.     We have faith to serve but we need EVEN MORE faith to succeed.

2.     We are involved in a spiritual work and spiritual work requires spiritual POWER:  We need to gain more spiritual power.  We can:

·       increase our faith in Jesus Christ by deepening our conversion in him!

·       re-commit ourselves to the Law of the Fast!

·       immerse ourselves in the Book of Mormon!

PEOPLE ARE FUNNY!   So we went to go find the house of some people who had told us to visit them sometime but we accidently went to the wrong house but decided to make the most of it and strike up a conversation. The man acted very casual and friendly but then would periodically turn his head and say "Leave me alone." or "Go away" and then he’d resume talking to us as if he had not spoken those words..... I say Good on him for getting the words out!.... It's hard to say what you really mean and pretend to be happy with those you are talking to.

My dear sweet Australian sister was talking to me about Washington and asked me what they call people who live in Washington but before I had a chance to open my mouth she answered her own question: "Washing-ding-dings."  Knowing better than to correct my companion I said, "Yep!" I then told her that we are in fact Washing-ding-dings but we had gotten it wrong and had been calling ourselves Washingtonians all these years... silly mistake on our part.

AHHHH THE Computers times us here.... 1 min left/

Love you all!  Kia kana

Be Strong!!

Sister Moore

QUICK QUESTION: How do you SHOW YOUR LOVE? It is through REMEMBERING and SHOWING and EXPRESSING GRATITUDE!