April 27, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was AMAZING!!!!  John got baptized and it was sooo special.  Karla's son came down from Utah and baptized him.  John is going to make the best member ever.  They are already planning to go to the Redlands Temple in a year!!!!  Can you say endure to the end?

Valerie and Isaac also came to church on Sunday for the first time.  We extended a baptismal date to Valerie for June 13th and she said she'd pray about that!  Keep her in your prayers.  She has come such a LONG way since I first met her.  She has a sincere desire to do what God wants her to do, no matter how hard it is.  Her faith is so strong!

We also participated in Mormon Helping Hands, now called Just Serve Helping Hands, and we shoveled mulch for 3 hours.  Let me tell you what the first thing I'm going to do is when I get home (besides listen to Taylor Swift)...get a massage!  My back and shoulders are sooo messed up. 

We also had Zone Conference last week.  I got to see the lovely Sister R.  Zone Conference was amazing and I learned a lot about the enabling power of the Atonement.  We have to put forth some effort and do what God asks us then Christ will make the difference.  Christ is like infinity.  Infinity plus anything is still infinity, but we still have to do our part.  What we do is nothing compared to what Christ has done, but we must still do!

Our car got fixed last week so we were on bike for 2 days!  It was the best.  I love being on bike!  Sister R and I have decided that we're going back to A to be on bike :)...hopefully President receives that revelation too.  Transfers ar coming up next week so we'll see what happens.  I've been here for quite some time...I wonder where I'll go?

I hope you all have a great week.  Talk to you later!  Love,

Sister Moon currently serving where it is 91 degrees outside :)

Pictures:

Posterity picture!  My daughter, my other daughter, and my granddaughter :)

John's Baptism!!

Well we went to eat at the Bishop's house and guess who opened the door??  They said, in unison, "Welcome to our humble abode"

April 13, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was so amazing!!  I was sick basically all last week, but the good definitely outweighed the bad.  We had 13 lessons...which is always great, but we also had so many miracles!!

I read this story called the Ricciardi letter and it totally changed my perspective as a missionary.  I covenanted with God that I would be more bold and not waste time, but that I'd go out and talk with everyone and find the elect.  I decided that if I was teaching someone and their heart wasn't open and they weren't keeping commitments then we'd drop them for a while until they are ready to progress.

Well, about an hour after I knelt down and made that covenant with God, we went to Linda's and began teaching her a lesson.  She started freaking out and telling us that she was almost as perfect as the Savior, and that we had a lot of repenting to do, but that's not something that she needs right now, along with other interesting things.  Well, I remembered the covenant I had made, and I boldly said, "Linda the Spirit is not here right now, so we need to leave".  Then we closed our scriptures and got up and left her house.  It felt good to leave instead of staying and arguing with her.  I know God's timing is perfect, and now I know I really can be bold.

Karla (returning less active) and John (Investigator) both got blessings last night to help them stop smoking.  The blessings were amazing, and John even said, "Now I have enough faith to stop smoking".  I know they can do it!  Prayers for them would be wonderful!!

Jerome (returning less active) bore his testimony yesterday in sacrament meeting, and I was crying my eyes out.  He said he was so grateful that Sister Martinez and I followed the Spirit and found him because he never knew he as missing anything until he found the gospel again.  He bore testimony that he knew that God loved each one of us and he talked about his kids and how much he loved them.  He is so perfect!  Then his sister got up and bore her testimony about how she had been praying that her brother would find the gospel again, and she's so grateful that he did.  I am SO grateful that he did too because his testimony strengthened my testimony so much I cannot even describe how I feel.  I know that God looks out for all of His children and He loves us.  He gave us His son, Jesus Christ, so we can use the Atonement to get through the difficult times. We can have His Spirit to be with us as long as we are worthy of it.  I am so grateful for this knowledge. 

I hope everyone is having a great day and continues to have a great week.  Love,

Sister Moon

Pictures:

Sister M and I at the mission office!

Someone backed into our car :(

This is by far the weirdest thing I've had to eat on my mission.  It's called a Brazillian hot dog.  Let me explain: It's a hot dog dipped in tomato sauce and grilled green peppers with peas, corn, parmesan cheese, raisins, and crunched up barbecue chips on top.  Oh yes, it was....interesting...

April 6, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was pretty amazing!  We had 13 lessons, which is always a good number!  John is still planning to get baptized on April 25th so we are so excited for that!  19 days away!! 

Other than normal missionary work last week was exciting because of CONFERENCE!!!!

We watched all the sessions and there was a TON of great stuff in there, so I'll share some of my favorite quotes:

"No failure needs to be final"- Dale G. Renlund

"If the emblems of the sacrament are being passed and you are texting, or whispering, or playing video games, or doing anything else to deny yourself essential spiritual food, you are severing your spiritual roots and moving yourself towards stony ground." - Dallin H. Oaks

"How we live our religion is far more important than what we may say about our religion." -Robert D. Hales

"Faith in God engenders a love for the Sabbath; faith in the Sabbath engenders a love for God." - Russell M. Nelson

"Godly fear dispels mortal fear". -David A. Bednar

"Are we all just hanging reaching for something to hold, something to grip?  Is our only purpose in life to see how high we can leap then fail, and fall forever?"  ETERNAL NO" -Jeffrey R. Holland

There were many many more great quotes, but that's all I have time for today.  If you haven't watched Conference then you should go watch it, and if you have watched Conference then you should watch it again.  I can't wait for the Ensign so I can study all the talks again. 

I hope everyone has a great week.  Love,

Sister Moon

Pictures:

Our Zone after watching Conference!!