2K15

Caroling

It is now officially 2015, CRAZY! The time is all going by way too fast! So much has happened in the last 6 months, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. This is where I am supposed to be and I don't want to leave.  I hope everything has been going well for all of you...I would probably know more if you sent me letters ;)

Cool news, I have a new cousin! Little Colton is the newest Moberly and he is adorable! Congratulations Kristal and Ryno :)

Just as expected, we worked hard this week and had more miracles! We had the Bishop and his wife come on exchanges with us on Monday night. We went to visit Pia, who is less active, and her boyfriend showed up so we taught a super powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon and Bishop testified and testified about all of the blessings he received from the gospel. Now Brandon is a lot more interested and willing to learn more :) After that we went to see Rolando, the golden one. He is super excited about his baptism and loves hearing the stories about how the members of the Little River ward have had their lives changed. Then afterwards Bishop told us that we were "buenisimas misioneras". When the bishop tells you that, it makes you feel really good :)

At district meeting I had to teach a little Spanish lesson for 5 minutes, so I talked about the words por and para, which both mean for or by or in order to. We have an Elder from Mexico and we asked what some common mistakes are and he just said we mess up a lot and we only get them right 3/4 times. Then he told us to avoid using them, haha. So my lesson helped us be a little better when we can't find any other way to say what we want to. Also in that meeting we talked a little about investigators, so we brought up Jilma, who hasn't been to church in 6 weeks, hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon very much, but knows a lot when we go over and ask her questions. We were getting the feeling that maybe we should drop her, but then we went to her house. We prayed really hard beforehand to know what more we could do or if we should drop her. It was the best lesson we have ever had with her! She is opening up more and more every time. She really is close, and we are certain she has received an answer but hasn't recognized it. We prayed with her then and there and asked how she felt--the answer of course was peaceful and calm. We explained that that was her answer and promised that she would feel it every time she read and prayed while she is in Guatemala. She said if that happens, she will be baptized when she comes back. She left today and will return on February 5 and I hope I will be here for that day.

Hna Pettit, Jilma, and me.

We spent 1 1/2 hours in the car one night in traffic trying to get to our dinner appointment, and when we got there she had to leave, so we got the food and took it to the church to eat with the other hermanas in the ward. It was an interesting experience, but pretty annoying that it took so much time out of proselyting.

New Year's Eve was pretty fun. It was hard to get doors open because of the holiday with everyone being with family. We spent some time with the Maldonados and then with the Toranzos. We aren't allowed to eat with the Elders in our ward, so for our dinner appointment we found out that they were waiting for us to leave, so we ate SUPER fast. I don't think I have ever eaten so fast in my life. And all of the members make fun of me because I eat so slow. But I beat Hermana Pettit! Haha, then we had a fiesta with our zone from 6-10. We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 (as expected, I cried) and played volleyball and speed until late and it was super fun!

I went to our Return and Report meeting for all of the trainers and trainees, which was very different, because the last time I was there was when I was the trainee :) It was amazing, President called us all to repentance and we learned a lot. We had pizza for lunch and finished off the meeting with a huge game of speed :) Then we got a little training on using family history, which is going to be really good. One of the 12 apostles (I can't remember which) said that some people's hearts will have to be turned to their ancestors before they will be changed. We will start doing that a lot more now!

As far as the news on Francisco, we think he is starting to change a little bit. We don't think that he will be ready to be baptized on January 24 because he still doesn't read the Book of Mormon and doesn't have a testimony about it. We have had a few lessons with him, in one we watched The Testaments, but we don't think it got into his heart or any of the testifying we did afterwards. We taught him a lesson yesterday and decided he needed a lot more than us asking nicely if he will read. We kind of got in his face and it was super intense, but the Spirit was so strong. We were getting upset that he hadn't read, so we were talking loud, like almost yelling. Now we can see something happening, so that was really what he needed. His wife talked to us later and said we need to go even harder for him to understand. So that is our challenge right now. We have to figure out how to teach in a way that will make him want to change and strong enough that he will know how important it is to us and how it will help his family. I don't have the words to explain how that moment felt, but we were feeling pretty good afterwards.

One lesson we learned this week is that lessons in restaurants are not the best. Thank goodness it was with Rolando, but we tried to teach the Plan of Salvation at Chick-fil-a! There were a lot of distractions and it’s hard to talk as you eat, and the Spirit wasn't as strong as it would have been somewhere else, so we aren't going to do that anymore.

It’s been a week full of lessons and miracles, I hope it has been for you as well. I find myself using the Atonement on a daily basis, which is something I really struggled to do before my mission. So start doing that now. There is an incredible difference. The Atonement isn't just for forgiveness, you can receive grace through it. Grace is divine help or strength from Christ and it feels amazing. 2 Nephi 25:23- It is by grace we are saved after all we can do. This also means that daily, as we do what we can, Christ's grace will kick in. I know that it is true and I want all of you to feel it, it’s incredible! Love You!

Love always,

Hermana Moberly

PS- Thanks for letters and email, I'm pretty sure I responded to every one :) I love hearing about everything going on with you and all you are learning as I am out here learning!

Christmas Eve

Nativity

New Years Eve

Go Kings Go!