June 23, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we had 22 lessons!!!!  We worked so hard to have 22 lessons and we finally made our goal...last night.  We biked over 60 miles and walked 4 (Sister R got a flat tire so we had to walk while it was being fixed).  The wind was crazy last week; on Wednesday the gusts of wind got up to 65mph.  Try riding a bike in that.  I felt like I just kept pedaling, but got nowhere.  My calves of steel are starting to come in...I can feel it.

 Our investigators are doing well.  Jackie is planning to get baptized at the end of next month!!!!  We don't have a date yet, but the week her husband is in town she said she'll be baptized.  I'm so excited...it's getting closer.  Charlie is still trying to stop smoking, but he is coming to church and starting to understand more.  We hope he can stop smoking soon so he can get baptized.  Keep him in your prayers please.  Wendy, our Ward Mission Leader's girlfriend, is progressing too.  She is starting to ask some really good questions and is praying about the Book of Mormon.  We hope to be able to follow the Spirit next time we teach her and answer all her questions.  She is awesome.

Remember to always be grateful for the trials we have.  I have been frustrated with not having a car, but on Sunday someone said something that caught my attention.  They said, "The stars are always there, but we only notice them when it's dark".  How true is that?  I'm so blessed, but sometimes my world needs to get a little dark for me to realize how blessed I really am.  Overall I'm doing pretty good.  Biking is hard, but it's also good exercise.  Sister Rietz and I get along great and we talk while we ride our bikes so at least it's not super boring :)  We even biked up the Newhall Hill this week...the whole way!  Normally we walk up half of it so that was an accomplishment!

I hope everyone is having a great summer.  I love and miss you guys,

Sister Moon

Picture:

 So there are shopping carts everywhere!!!!  We decided to have a little fun instead of exercising.

June 16, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

 This week we had 18 lessons and biked 49 miles in 40mph winds.  It was crazyyyyy.  We are so sore and tired all the time, but we found a new investigator while we were riding this week so that was AWESOME!!  We stopped on our bikes and started talking to her.  We taught her the whole Restoration and she said she understood and wanted us to come back.  Her name is April...she's so sweet.

 

We also helped Wendy, one of our investigators, pull out a stump from her yard.  It seemed impossible at the beginning, but we kept doing the little things over and over and BAM the stump came out.  "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass"  :)  She was so grateful for our help.  Needless to say, we had fun doing it even if it was at 7:20 in the morning :)

 

We also helped Bonny learn how to ride a bike.  She is a slow learner and her grandmother (Sister Hansen-the one we help in the yard all the time) can't help her do certain things.  It was super awesome to see her learn and how excited she got when she actually did it! 

 Ok so this week we almost died.  Mom maybe you shouldn't read this.  We were just riding our bikes up the street when this car comes wayyyy over and almost hits up.  We were by a school and we were in the bus loading zone (and school was out so it was empty).  The car came way over like 10 feet out of his lane then quickly swerves out of the way.  We looked at the guy and he had his mouth wide open and he was passed out.  He was swerving all over the road.  We didn't know what to do.  Some truck came and asked if we were ok and then chased the guy down.  We biked about 2 minutes up the street and there was this lady outside totally freaking out.  Apparently this guy had ran over a "stop ahead" sign.  He totally plowed it into the ground.  We have no idea what happened to this guy, but we do know that the Lord keeps His missionaries safe. 

 

Have a great week everyone!  Love,

Sister Moon

 

Pictures:
"The Stump"
Crazy Wind
Bonny

 

 

June 9, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

I met my new companion this week!  Her name is Sister R and she's from Northern Idaho.  She plays tennis and she is one day older than me :)  We are getting along just fine.  Don't worry she DOES know how to ride a bike, which is great because we don't have a car anymore.  We met each other Wednesday afternoon and began proselyting Thursday.  We rode 38 miles so far.  We are looking forward to this next week :)

We taught 15 lessons this week, which isn't the best, but it's also not the worst so hopefully next week will be better.  We are still getting used to the whole "no car" thing.  This week we will focus on getting more members to come with us to our lessons!  That way we can help them increase their testimony of missionary work, and we can get rides :)  It's getting pretty hot here (Yesterday was 103 degrees)!

I also had the opportunity to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday!  I spoke on sacrifice and why we need to sacrifice ourselves in order to progress and succeed.  I focused it on the Doctrine of Christ and explained that we have to sacrifice things in order to have faith, repent, be baptized and keep those covenants, be worthy of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.  Once we do these things we can have eternal life, which is success.  One of my favorite quotes from True to the Faith is, "With an eternal perspective, you can see that giving up the things of the world is really no sacrifice at all.  The blessings you receive are greater than anything you ever give up".

We had a Relief Society lesson on the importance of scripture study.  "The scriptures are the key to your spiritual protection".  One of the apostles said, "There was a time we could've gotten away with no Family Home Evening or scripture study.  That time is OVER".  The world is getting harder and harder to live in, but we have the scriptures to help us through these times.  Life is an open book test.  Read the scriptures everyday and you will receive the answers to the questions you have.  I know this because I've received answers to my questions.  I hope everyone has a great week filled with scripture study! 

Love,

Sister Moon

 

Pictures:

Goodbye Sister S

Hello Sister R

June 2, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Sister S and I are no longer together, but I WILL BE TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!!!!  She gets here on Wednesday, so I have no idea who she is.  I am staying with a temporary companion (Sister H) until Wednesday.  I am staying in the A Ward, so I'm super happy about that.  They also took our car away so I hope my new companion can ride a bike :)  In a few months I will be super tan and have calves of steel :)  I am very excited, but also very nervous...

My ast week with Sister S was great!  We had 22 lessons!!!!  We also said goodbye to a ton of people.  Sister S had been in the ward for over 8 months so it was really hard to let go.  I hope I stay in the ward for a long time, just like Sister S.  I just hope I don't accumulate as much stuff as she did.  You know how we are supposed to have 2 suitcases?  Yeah well I packed the car for Sister S last night and this morning and I put 5 suitcases in the car, 1 giant box of papers, and 5 bags full of other random stuff.  We filled the whole trunk and back seats!  Plus she had a blanket, pillow, and bike :/.  It was hilarious!

This week we also went on exchanges...kinda.  Sister S and I hate exchanges so we told them we could only do it for 4 hours, so we did that.  And now Sister S is going to be a Sister Training Leader so she will go on exchanges like 2 times a week...that's going to be rough :)  I went with Sister P to Silver Lakes for a few hours and we had fun.  We didn't teach anyone so that was sad, but Sister P is pretty cool :)

Oh and do you remember Nelson?  He was one of our investigators, and we gave him to the Elders when we split the area.  Well, they said he wasn't progressing so they dropped him 2 weeks after they got here (LAME).  Before Sister S left we went to say goodbye and invited him to church!  He came to church yesterday and enjoyed it! Woot Woot!!  We took a picture with him, just in case he gets famous one day!

 

Well I go pick up my new companion on Wednesday so please be praying that I get one that is AWESOME!  Next week I'll let you know who it is.  Always remember that Satan keeps picking on our weak points until he wins, so let's all make our weak points strong through Christ (Ether 12:27).  Hope everyone has a great week! 

Love,

Sster Moon

 

Pictures:

Nelson at church!

 

Dinner at Bill's on Fast Sunday!

Half of Sister S's luggage :)

Goodbye Sister S :(