Another week has gone by, maybe even faster than before. It blows my mind how time is flying when I look back at what I've done. So crazy. Can you believe it’s been 3 and 1/2 months already?
I have never worked so hard to wash a car before. We had a zone conference this last Friday and had to get our cars inspected, so we vacuumed and washed everything. And then we had to wax the car, so I felt a little bit like the karate kid. It wasn't as fun as you would think it would be, but the car looks nice :) haha
We have a member family, the Maldonados. They are amazing and we love them. We plan to go over to their house to stay for 20ish minutes, but it always ends up lasting for about an hour. They are so great and they feed us EVERY TIME. Hna Maldonado is a cook, so it’s delicious and they give us so much. Families like that are the reason that I am going to get fat out here. We had a Family Night with them and two less active young women in the ward and it went so well. They had fun and one of them came to church on Sunday :)
I finally learned how I am supposed to use Facebook as a missionary, so I'm on more now. I have actually taught quite a few lessons on there and it has worked out really well! You can add me if you want. I try to put all of my posts in Spanish and English, so everyone can understand.
We are trying to visit part member families more and teach those who are not members so that they have a built in support group and we don't have to rely on the members of the ward as much. I think our ward is amazing though, they are almost always willing to come with us to lessons, especially the young women and we love it. I wish I could have done that while I was in the youth program, but we only ever had elders.
I have had some crazy dreams recently! We have been working so hard that I sleep so deeply and dream about people that I met at school and people that I see here during the day. It’s always super funny when I remember what it was.
The days where we don't have very much success getting into doors seem like they last forever and unfortunately we have had a few of those today. We try to hand out as many copies of the Book of Mormon as we can. We tried to give it to one boy who was a Jehovah's Witness, but he backed away as if he was scared of it and it was really strange. Then he closed the door on us, so that wasn't too fun.
We went to visit Yajayra (pronounced juh-high-ruh) and her daughters, so I did the Frozen knock on the door. They responded by singing the song and it worked out really well :) We went a few times this week and got some real Mexican food and taught some real good lessons. The only thing is that Francisco, her husband hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon, and that is essential in the process of coming to know if all of this is true.
We had another investigator, Byron, on date for this last weekend, but he hasn't finished his divorce yet, so it didn't happen. We thought he was trying to avoid us for a little bit because he knew that he wasn't ready. So one night when we went to visit them they weren't home. But then one of their neighbors heard us and peeked her head out. Then she realized we were from the same church. She has just started coming back to the church after a long, long time, so she told us her life's story basically. I think she is a very lonely woman and needed someone to listen to, so that's what we did for her. Anyways, back to Byron, something we learned from President Riggs this week at Zone Conference was that we should be bold, but loving, like a Hispanic Mom. So that's what we did. We asked him very boldly, with a lot of love and with the Spirit to move out until the divorce is finalized and they get married. So we are going back this Wednesday to see what the decision is. Please pray...very, very hard.
We got an oil change earlier this week and we were told it would take 20-30 minutes, but ended up taking 3 hours. So that was good study time, but took a lot out of our schedule. Afterwards we went to visit Jilma (hill-ma). This lesson we had with her was a miracle. The Spirit was so strong. We have been focusing more and more on prayers and receiving answers to the. My Spanish came out of my mouth perfectly and I used words that I didn't even knew I knew. She is right now "on date" to receive an answer about baptism by this coming Saturday, so we are going to need a lot of prayers for her as well. But we basically told her that if she reads the Book of Mormon and prays every day and has faith that she will receive an answer, that it will come. Because it’s true. It works every time, even though we may not always like the answer.
As far as Maria and Francisco, we still haven't been able to contact them. We have tried everything, calling, texting and going to their house every day (and leaving notes) without any luck, so pray for them still (and us so we can be led to find them again). They are so sweet and we want them to have all of the blessings and happiness of the gospel, but we can't do that if we don't see them.
Zone Conference was amazing. We had it on Friday. We didn't watch movies like the other Hermana Moberly got to, but I was fine because it was incredible. I was supposed to give the opening prayer. I planned on saying it in English since President doesn't speak Spanish along with a few others, but when I got up there, it kind of just came out in Spanish and I felt awkward switching to English, so I just went with it, haha. Whoops! We learned so much about the Atonement and how we can be better teachers. We have been focusing more on the doctrine behind what we teach. As members we think more about the blessings that we receive from the things we do, but do we know why we do it? Why do you keep the commandments? Why do you pray? Why do you go to church? All of these questions come down to keeping the commandments because we love Christ. And the answers are found in the scriptures and also in Preach My Gospel. It was a great day and kind of scary because I found out that for sure, starting next Thursday, I will be training a new missionary. How crazy is that?! I finish my training on Wednesday and get to train someone else the very next day. It’s a bit intimidating, but I know it is possible. President wouldn't be impressed to have me do this if he didn't know that the Lord will help me with everything. Funny part of that day, we did a Musical number during the conference. Hna Moleli played her uke, Hna Haubner played her viola and Hna Brown and I sang. But the viola and uke started in 2 different keys and it sounded horrible at first...but then we fixed it and started over and it sounded much better. When we first started I couldn't stop laughing because it really sounded sooooo bad. I was just looking at the other missionaries faces and I wish I had gotten a picture. It was so funny.
Yesterday in sacrament the topic of the meeting was missionary work, so 3 missionaries gave talks and then we all sang El Ejercito de Helaman, which was much better than what happened at Zone Conference. Haha. Looking back on this week I can see all of the blessings that we received as a companionship and the lessons that we learned. It was far from perfect, but the things I am learning I wouldn't trade for anything. I am with the other Hermana Moberly and can say that the decision to serve a mission is the best one I have ever made. I don't even want to know where I would be at without these daily lessons, but I never want to go back to what I was before. Everything that has happened has changed me and helped me become better in a lot of ways. There's still a ton that I need to work on, but I know how to use the Atonement to become better. Don't forget that the Atonement is a way for us to receive forgiveness, but also, it is a way for us to find more strength and comfort to overcome the hard things in life. I love you and miss you all. Pray for me so I can be a good trainer and a good teacher for my investigators. But more importantly, please pray for them. :)
Love,
Hermana Moberly
PS. Quotes from President Riggs, "BYU, BYU, where the girls are girls and the boys are too!" "Be bold like a Hispanic mom." "Everyone is Expendable." "Good morning Sinners!"
I wish I could explain how funny he is...he also took a selfie with Elder Holland at a mission president's conference. But he is an amazing man and we love him so much! He also said, "Make this 18 months a fast from everything but God". I learn a ton from him, and even though he is funny, it’s not all jokes and games. He is truly incredible!
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