16 March 2014

Update: So my trainer got sent home on Tuesday and I spent a few days in the big city of Hamilton, on a bike with Sister Rogers (whose companion also got sent home)! It really made me miss my Katikati country even in just 2 days. You would think that people in the country would be a bit odd or different... which they are in some regards, but the people in the city seemed just a bit far gone. Gangs, drinking, and litter everywhere!  :( At one point we were talking to this man and this little girl in the background was cleaning a dog in the most peculiar places with just her hands, after 5 minutes she moved to the next dog. -----I have never been so distracted in all my life!!! just trying to carry on a conversation with the man in front of me was near impossible!----- Before we left we had a chance to ask the little girl what she was doing... and of course she said, "Catching flees!" EEeeeeeek! In every way EEeeek! 

Sister Holmes is my new companion and SHE IS THE BEST. She has come back to Katikati with me and we are doing great. I feel like I've taken off a heavy backpack after a long hike and I'm enjoying the lightness of it all. She's from Henderson, Nevada and has been out for about 10 months. I gotta admit, it is so much easier working with the Americans. Only because of the cultural similarities. It was hard before trying to fit in with the culture of NZ while also trying to fit in with the culture of my companion....speaking of which, some people are quite prejudiced against white people here. I've never felt bad or different about my ethnicity before, but this has been a good learning experience I've decided. 

We've been able to try some new foods lately and I have come to the conclusion that Fijian fish is not the most pleasant fish. But I have almost perfected the art of force feeding myself at member's homes. Fish, fish, fish... the people love fish!  The key is to drink water with every bite so that it goes down easier....which coincidentally also makes you full faster which then makes it harder to eat the rest of your food. I am thankful to have food. 

Sister Holmes has been teaching me some great lessons through her example. I'm learning how important it is to really listen to the people and love them and we love them by learning more about their culture. I think we want to pull a Matthew Cowley soon and totally immerse ourselves in the Maori language. That will mean in our spare time (aka meal time) we want to start learning more so that eventually we can bear our testimonies in Maori!

Everyone already loves Sister Holmes and so I feel like the work is going to start progressing here soon. Our set for baptism has stopped progressing so hopefully we can get him up and going again here really soon. 

 

_Kia Kaha and carry on!_

Sis. Moore

9 March 2014

This week we've seen some miracles. They are so small but so grand and if you aren't paying attention you might miss it. We decided to text a scripture to one of our investigators to read and she later told us that after reading that very scripture she now believes fully that the church is true!  It was a hard thing to hold back from saying, "I chose that scripture! I chose it. dang I'm good." But instead to step back and say, "Thank you." So what did i learn this week? We are all His tools. When we give our will to Heavenly Father He allows good things to happen through us for others. We need to learn to not get in the way of that. If we learn to be a little bit more selfless and helpful, Heavenly Father will allow us to watch miracles happen.:)

I'm still learning to become a better hugger.... So, you know how people greet each other differently all around the world? Some with a hug, a kiss, a handshake.  hehehe. I think I made up my own greeting by accident.  What you are really supposed to do "as seen through observation" is: Grab their shoulders, pull them in, kiss their cheek, and then hug... What I do: Hug. Press cheek to cheek. Push away.... I should ask someone if I hug wrong but I don't want to hear their answer. 

Companionship: Up, down, all turned around. But things are good! My companion is actually a very talented singer and I told her that she should sing a song about every thing she's been going through... She actually wrote a very powerful song based on a scripture that she sings to everyone. It's really good.... Talking about repentance and allowing Jesus Christ to come into your life to free you from despair. 

Thank you for the letters I got this week!  They were all so great :)  It's wonderful to hear from those of you who write. There are some Elders that get sad when I get letters and they don't so they have asked me to ask all of you if one of you might write them at least once.

·  Elder Anderson (from Utah....he is like a dog inside a man's body...funniest kid you will ever meet, but doesn't know it.)

·  Elder Oler (from Canada....uh he's tall and Canadian.  Zone Leader)

·  Elder Tekurio (from French Polynesia....Musically gifted, overly excited. Zone Leader)

So the Branch President here in Katikati is an ex-Catholic and apparently a surprisingly well-known author? He has a health book out, as well as a few other titles. One lady in the branch told us that if we read his article about women (somewhere free on the internet) we will be able to get any man we want.... Well I can't wait to read that, in a year! lol  His name is David Coory and his health book is actually very highly recommended. He taught us about an awesome drink: molasses in milk. It's amazing.  Apparently it's a detox & iron booster. I like to put a hint of almond extract in it, too. People also eat a lot of silver beet here (might have a different name in the states? They call cantaloupe rock melon here).  If you boil silver beet in water and drink the juice it's suppose to be the best detox ever....and it is.  I drank it and broke out big time afterwards because it was dejunkin' my sugary system. yayyy.  [note: silver beet is actually swiss chard!]

Eating with Tongans... Not an easy task. I love the Lutui family but they like to trick me.  One of their sons told me that during a meal if you are finished with your drink you have to flip it upside down or else someone will just fill it up for you. Not knowing any better, I do it, but every time I do everyone just laughs and laughs at me.  They have this drink that is watermelon chucks, pineapple, and milk and its a big chunky sugary mess.  It's good but a little goes a long way. I have found that Tongans do not believe in a glass half full.... ever.  It must be full or it must be empty.  And if it's empty it will soon be full.  Even though they were joking about the upside down cup I do it anyways because it works.

The Samoans tell us that "The more you eat, the more people will love you."  I hope that's not true because that would be a pretty short and bloated life.  At least with the Tongan family in our Branch I try to distract them from my not eating by learning their language. One of the young women whispered in my ear how to say "Thank you for the meal. It's good." in Tongan. ...When I said it to the mother she had the most disgusted and confused look on her face.... Terrified that I was lead astray decided to give my best Nacho Libre smile and look at the children who were encouraging me with confused eyes....... Her face eventually softened and she said, "You're welcome Sister Moore."....I think she was so taken back by my good accent that she was wondering if i secretly knew Tongan (hehe).... But really I wish I could read their exaggerated facials more clearly because more than half the time I have no idea what anyone is REALLY saying!!!

More Food Talk:

OK I can't believe I haven't told you this but the best chocolate you will ever, ever eat is called Black Forest. It's our number one go to hangry chocolate fix.  ….So we finally bought the "good" butter: Tell me, tell me, HOW ON EARTH do people get past that raw, non-pasteurized taste?...Also how weird is it that people eat BEETS with everything.  Beets on burgers, beet salad, beet drink, beets, beets, beets! Everything beets beets!  ...The cream is really good though. I like it because it masks the taste of the fish when we eat it.  ...They eat cakes with cream all the time.... not sure they put sugar in their whipped cream though :/ …The pies are really good too. They have nailed the pastry here, but the filling isn't the best... We like the $2 cheap pies over the bakery pies.    

Transfers are this week.... we shall see if this Katikati sister is going to the cityyy..... it's kiwi season starting which means lots and lots of free kiwis here soon! country 1pt. 

Until next week, 

Sis Moore

2 March 2014

Letters from a Pakia (White, non-Maori) Sister

Kia Kaha!

Dear friends & Family of mine, 

    Sometimes we go through life discovering we are on a mission we never knew we were on. But other times we choose that mission. This week I have learned oh so many things about the types of mission we are all on. My mission in life at this time is to help the people in New Zealand find happiness, true happiness which has been designed and orchestrated by God to come when we follow the steps that lead to happiness. What can be better than to find happiness through reading the scriptures and living the gospel every day and then sharing that joy and happiness with the rest of the world?? well here's the thing- nothing is ever easy and everything comes without a price. 
    We all have weaknesses. Our purpose on this earth is to learn how to turn those weakness into strengths. So when we have trials and tragedies Heavenly Father is giving us an opportunity to gain wisdom and knowledge which will strengthen our weaknesses. This being said, I have A LOT of weaknesses and sometimes I hate asking Heavenly Father to help me to have something because i always know that what follows is a situation that will require the use and uncomfortable development of that attribute. like when I pray for patience.... God allows me to have plenty of experience that allow me to practice my ability to have patience. well here's the thing... I've been praying for charity, patience, and discernment recently and all at the same time, so this week was pretty much AWFULLY ENLIGHTENING aka a "painfully beautiful experience" (hard but necessary).
    For some time now I have not been able to get along with my companion. This struggle shocked me because I decided before I ever came out that I would get along with everyone. So why couldn't I get along with her? I always felt like she was angry and things got to the point where she refused to talk in lessons and then to the point where we had to cancel our appointments and talk for 3 hours.... 2 of which were spent in silence as she was trying to find the words to say..... then things escalated to the point where we couldn't leave our apartment for 2 days and i was calling our sister training leader in uncontrollable tears (brief version of what happened). Wow, right?! Why couldn't we get along? why weren't we having fun? why was I not happy? Even though i was painfully unhappy i had this voice in the back of my head that never leaves (moms voice) telling me that the reason why i was so unhappy was because i was so focused on my own happiness. lets make this long story a short one now eh? No matter how hard I thought i was trying to get along I decided to try harder. I didn't realize but my mission at this time was to help my companion. I had been telling myself that i didn't sign up to help this girl- she has too many issues to be here. But as I continued to love her no matter what crazy crap she did (charity) she finally finally opened up. turns out she had been struggling with an internal battle for some time and she expressed it by punishing me in a desperate cry for help...but now we are all goods :) it took a long time, a lot of patience, a barrel and a pinch of charity and lots of talking and listening. and maybe we will continue to still have issues, but now i know the benefit of taking the concerns of myself out. I have realized though that even though we are looking outwardly for "the one" we wish to help or "save" sometimes the person needing the most help is the person right next to you, the least and most obvious, who may even seem the least deserving.

i have seen grown men cry, i've looked into the eyes of a stranger and saw them for good or bad and what i have come to find is that eyes never lie.  We can discern the heart of a man through his eyes. Maybe that’s wrong but it sounds good for now.

So funny story: we had the open house for our chapel last saturday and i was ushering people into the chapel so we could get the next tour started and in an exaggerated attempt to motion them into the chapel i swung up and hit a ladies' butt. All the elders saw but surprisingly she wasn't even phased.... guess that’s just how we roll in katikati. 

Sad realization: Apparently when I'm stressed out i eat and cut my bangs... so as my face is getting wider, my hair is getting shorter. (Sometimes we are stretched in ways that don't flatter us ;) ). 

SO I realize that I don't say much about what KatiKati is like or the people really.... They really are quite a hoot, all of em. i'll try to tell more stories of the people in the future, i've just been really focused on well, dang, me. and when i read over my last emails they all sound annoying so i'll also try to get some more entertaining stuff :)

Tid bits:

-Never thank an australian for doing the dishes.... maybe its just my companion but apparently its like thanking them for washing their hands and thats just weird for them... 

-Our relief society president is THE FUNNIEST/ most interesting person ever.... she is 80 years old and decided to get a hair cut and a quick hair dye before the open house tours.... she showed up with PURPLE hair.... it was suppose to be black but something went wrong apparently. 

-Every Elder i have ever met is like a lost puppy dog, they're so precious, scared and lost looking... especially around the sisters. But i love the elders in our district so much. Every time we have to do a training I make up acronyms for them and they eat it up like a duck sees bread in water.

Much Love!
-
Sis Moore

23 February 2014

Soooo, yeah it was the BEST of times, it was the WORST of times. So I learned some new things this week..... 

-  We are helping a 60-something year old man as he learns how to read and write again since his 3 strokes have taken away those precious skills. We read from the children's Book of Mormon storybook and have him write down every sentence after we've read it.  SO apparently when you say period, as in the punctuation mark to end a sentence, you are suppose to refer to that marking as a "full stop".... because a period has only one meaning here.  So when I said "period" pointing to his paper, I suppose I can understand his confusion and shocked expression.... or at least I didn't until my companion filled me in later that night. 

-  That family forgave us for burning their carpet. They were even asking us to come around because it had been too long since they last saw us. Many of you asked what the object lesson with the fire was about so here’s the explanation. It’s about repentance and you start off by having the kids write down their sins on a piece of paper, or just things they have done that weren't nice. Then on a different piece of paper you write down the same list with an erasable pen.  So you take a lighter and put it behind the list written with the regular pen and watch as the paper gets dark and brown (as its burning) but the ink still stays on the paper, even as it’s burning up you can still see the wrong doings..... However, when you put the lighter on the paper written with the erasable pen the ink magically disappears leaving the paper completely blank. I suppose my companion really wanted to hit on how dirty or dark we can become by not repenting... looks like it worked though! 

-  Teaching this young family of kids (fire family). We went to their house to invite them to church. The parents were sleeping but this young boy, about 5 y/o comes out of the house in a white collared shirt and jeans and says, "is this ok to wear to church?" so cute! His cousin decided he wanted to come in his pajamas but ran inside and wet his hair down to the side. We ended up taking the 3 children (all under 8) to church with the sleepy mum's permission.... Our poor branch may never forgive us for that Sunday.  We had the primary teacher in tears because all the kids were getting rowdy (especially her own) and I had to sit with them in primary to keep them from touching each other or leaving.... but they love church. So, we'll see how to improve things next week. 

-  Men here love to wear short shorts. Short jean shorts. I think there are just some things a person can (should) never get use to. 

-  Read an amazing talk: "the strength to endure." by Elder Richard J. Maynes which pretty much sums up everything i am in need of right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kme-6_eX0-s   Check it out. 

 

-  Life is hard as a missionary but we are all here to learn specific lessons for each of ourselves individually. That is why God wants to show us our weaknesses so that we can be aware of them and to make us stronger. I learned a lot of my weaknesses this week. But I’m trying to make turn them into my strengths.

Kia Kaha, 
Sister Moore

 

16 February 2014

The floods came down and the rains came up... No that's not right, the rains came down and the floods came up, right?  Well everything is backwards in New Zealand anyhow.

So, I think Hell broke loose this week, or maybe just my tear-ducts and/ or my mind.  So how do I say this in a positive way.....
Let's start with some positives because there were many:
-I SHOOK ELDER RUSSELL M. NELSON'S HAND!!  So yeah, he came to New Zealand and we had a big mission conference.  My companion and I decided to fast that day so that we could be spiritually fed and get everything we possibly could out of his visit. We were suppose to come seeking answers to a question because we were told there would be an opportunity to ask our questions directly to Elder Nelson. My question was: "How can we be patient with all things and in all things?"  Want to know the answer?? SO DO I!  Man, stinkin' nerves plus other Elders and Sisters stood up before me and burned up all the time..... I suppose in a way now I have to learn patience to figuring out the answer to patience... Tricky, tricky.  See what happened there?  Anyone else think God has a sense of humor?
Key points from the conference:
Sis. Hamula(sp):
• our decisions determine our destiny (check out Elder Nelson's talk on line)
• you are never too old to change and you are never too young to learn
• a pivotal spiritual strength is self mastery
Sis. Nelson:
• when you are really on the Lord's errand you will have access to His power and will not be lonely and unfulfilled (for all us single people out there)
• Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.
• the best way to be the best companion is to be companions first with the Holy Ghost
• pray to be lead to those people who's ancestors are desperate to have their ordinances done. then watch where you are lead to.
President Rudd's father:
• Fall in love with the people. when you learn to love the people, you will learn how to teach the people
PRESIDENT RUSSELL M. NELSON:
• pay close attention to HEARKEN in the scriptures. it is a verbal footnote (it means to listen with the intent to obey).
• just as a doctor should never prescribe a one cure for all medicine to his patients before understanding their concern, so should we never try to give people the solutions without knowing and listening to find out the problems.  Once we do listen we should apply the solution (the atonement) directly and specifically to relate back to the needs of the person.
• lose yourself in the work
• ...and for all of you, my family members, you have been blessed by Elder Nelson himself that you will have health and healing powers working among you... so think of that :)

So lessons are going great.  One of our investigators is just on fire.  She is keeping commitments and reading things over and over and over, coming to church, and even telling us that we forgot to set up a follow up appointment.  Little does she know, she will be baptized next month.  Well, hopefully :)  ....Meanwhile another lady we are teaching, Maggie. oohh Maggie. She gives us her stolen avocados  :)  Her garden is full of every possible lawn ornament you could possibly imagine and her love of animals can be smelled when you walk into her home. She is one of my most favoritiest people ever.  But she has a problem with high anxiety and a fear of praying out loud. Maggie is probably around 70 and the last time we were with her she was in the fetal position on the ground rocking back and forth because she was too scared to say a prayer.  But later she calmed down and talked about coming to church....  Only now we are having a hard time getting a hold of her or trying to get her to answer the door when she is home.  She'll come around.  She's pretty overwhelmed though because after we started teaching her several different religion representatives have popped up out of no where and are trying to teach her also... sneaky satan, sneaky.
Have I ever mentioned that we go to the old folks home every week!?  It's so great.  There is this one lady, who has dentures and every time she talks they come out and slide all about her mouth and she has to pause between every word to get them back into place.  I feel so sorry for her. She is so sweet. The people there are so happy to have visitors and we are so happy to have people appreciate us!  Sometimes I pick out a few songs on the piano (it's painfully hard to listen to and even worse to sing to) but every time I always get an applause from my "friends" Bill, Joy, Lavina, the whole gang!  Want to feel better about your skills?? Go to an old folks home.  They will love you.
Time for some not so great news....
*My companion lit someone's carpet on fire..... uh yep.  Last time we ever do THAT object lesson!  But let's just say we left that carpet burn as something for the family to remember our lesson forever. gahhh :/
*I've been to the doctor's twice this week for different things.  I've had a migraine headache since Saturday (today is Monday) and it feels like someone is smashing me in the face with a hammer.
*Had some good companion inventory the past several days (aka releasing of build up annoyances and frustrations) turns out I'm not crazy just perceptive. and lets just leave it at that :)
Thank you my home ward for the Valentines Day Cards and Christmas Cards!  I got both at the same time.... Apparently they accidentally sent the Christmas cards to Bermuda?  lol
Went to church this Sunday in the first ever chapel in Katikati.  A very monumental time. WE even took pictures (possibly for the paper?) I wish I had a camera cord to show you all the pictures i have been taking :(

p.s. Megan & Brita: on that USB drive, can you please see that there are some ukulele songs on there, too? :) :) :) 
That's all folks! (Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day..... no one bothers to celebrate it here.  It's good though.  They show their love all the time and they do not support the commercial way of lovin.)
LOVE,  Sis Moore

***HAPPPYYYY BIRTHDAY to all you February Birthdayyysssss::
MEGAN!
JEFF!
DAVID!
MAREN!
TIFFANNNNNYYY
AIVA!
STELLA!
(Hope I didn't forget anyone.... This month has a lot of birthdays!)  Hope you all have a day as wonderful and as special as you are ;)  Kisses-n-Hugs and a Bop upon the Head! 

--

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!

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