Hermana Kelly Moberly...Washington DC South: Casi Alli

Another great week in my life as Hermana Moberly! So spiritual and so fun! To start off, I wanted to talk about a story we were told by a teacher here at the CCM. He taught our class one day and told us one of his mission stories. He served in Chihuahua and one day he had a baptism. Then some people that were working with the cartel came into the church building to find someone who was running from them. He and his companion went out to stop them and the man hit him in the head with the barrel of the gun, but then he was able to stand up and command him in the name of Jesus Christ to leave the building because they were unworthy. I wish I had enough time to tell the whole story the way he did, but I can´t. It was so powerful and the Spirit was so strong in our classroom. His testimony was one of the strongest that I have ever heard. I can´t even explain the way I felt. And you know me, I cried through it :) It was amazing.

Normally we are supposed to have 20 minutes each day with our investigators, but I tend to talk a lot , even in Spanish (I get that from my parents). So me and my companion end up going over about 10 minutes each lesson and it came back around to us. Yesterday we only had 5 minutes to give our lesson and it ended up being a follow up appointment. I was kind of worried that we wouldn´t have enough time to bring the Spirit, but it was actually the opposite. It ended up being a short little testimony meeting. We had just taught our investigator about the Word of Wisdom and he has been reading the Book of Mormon. He said that this week he bought some coffee and was about to drink it, but then he thought about Nefi and how obedient he was. So he threw the coffee away because he wanted to be like Nefi. And then I started crying because I was so happy that he was able to take what he learned from the Book of Mormon and use it to be obedient. If I am crying over this, I can´t imagine how happy I will be when I can see the change in an investigator and see them be baptized.

One day during class this week, since we have an odd number of people in our district, Hna Silva asked me if I would help her go around listening to the other Elders and Hermanas teach each other. I felt super awkward because she said that I just needed to make sure they had the main ideas and were speaking proper Spanish. I had no idea my Spanish was good enough to do that, but I helped out. It’s amazing what the Lord can help you with when you work hard and are obedient. You will always be blessed for those things.

I gave my first talk in Spanish this Sunday! I was so nervous and I read about half of what I wrote down. We are only supposed to talk for 5 minutes, but again I went over that time. I really need to work on that. But I felt the Spirit very strong during that meeting and I am understanding more and more. And I got a lot of compliments on my talk, so I guess it was pretty good and easy to understand.

Today we were able to go to the Mexico City temple. The temple is actually closed, but we were able to finally get out of the CCM and go to the visitor´s center. We watched the video that is in all of the visitors centers that I have been to. It’s the one about families and the plan of happiness. It made me so grateful for my family and the knowledge that I have that we can be together forever. I know that that is true and I love the Lord and I know that he loves all of us.

Some messages I got from our devotionals this week:

Start with the end in mind. When you look at people, see them as how they can be. How happy and successful they can be in their lives if they have the gospel. And then try to help them achieve that goal.

Without the Spirit you can never be successful. The spirit is the teacher in all things. We cannot do anything without the Spirit. We have to find where their hearts are and allow the Spirit to work through us to teach what needs to be taught.

As I´ve been reading the Book of Mormon I am looking for the characteristics of the profetas and I´m, on Nephi now. He has a desire to know the things of God, he believes, he ponders, he lets the Spirit lead him, he speaks according to the truth, he is righteous, he is willing to do the will of God, he is diligent and humble. All of these things help him receive joy and great hope and happiness. These are all found in the first 16 chapters of 1 Nefi and I think it is awesome. I want to be able to do all of these things in my life. I find the great characteristics and then work on them myself. Nephi truly is amazing!

My one and only job for the next 17 months is to be a representative of Christ. I´m just going to do what he would have done and say what he would have said. It has been a rough adjustment and I am still working on it, but with God´s help I know it is possible.

The Holy Ghost is just as important as baptism because all the things we receive and learn come from having the Spirit.

Now for the funny stuff. I am on a roll this week with hitting people with things. I nailed Hna Snowden in the middle of her forehead with a ping pong ball yesterday. She got a red welt on her head. Then I hit a tennis ball with my racket and hit my companion super hard. Also I hit one of the elders in my district with an acorn like thing that falls off the palm trees here. Every time this happened I could not stop laughing and all of my strength left so I ended up on the ground. And I couldn´t say sorry because I couldn´t breathe I was laughing way too hard. So I apologized about 5 minutes after these things happened. And I cried a little bit more.

I met an Elder Durrant this week, and he is 6´8, so my basketball friends will enjoy that :)

Leg day is horrible and hurts really bad. We say all of our prayers here on our knees and it has been a struggle for me to get back up sometimes.

One day during gym, I was walking by the foosball table and one of the elders made a goal, so he steps back to celebrate and basically runs me over. It didn´t hurt and everything was fine, but later he brought me a milch bar (Mexican chocolate) because he felt so bad. It was so sweet!

I made a goal to run 6 miles this week with my companion. I´m crazy, I know. What happened to the Kelly you all knew?

Yesterday during service, the lady that was telling us what to do asked for a picture with us. Since I have the longest arms ever I got to take it, so my selfie game was on fire this week. And I held a cell phone for the first time in 5 weeks.

I think that is all for this week, I love you guys and I miss you, but I´m learning a lot and I´m doing well :)

Love,

Hermana Moberly