Temple Trip With Rolando

March 16, 2015

We have had a bit of a rough week this week. We have been working so hard and doing all that we can to be effective missionaries. But by our numbers of lessons this week, you would never guess it. The frustrating part about it all is that there isn't much that we can change ourselves. We knock on so many doors and either no one answers or they aren't home. We taught a total of 8 lessons this entire week.

Temple with Rolando!

But on the bright side, I went to the temple on Wednesday with Rolando! We went to do baptisms and it was incredible! He wanted me to do his grandmother's name for him and it was so special. He was so happy! Also, I got to the Dezas, so it was a perfect day! We met in Fairfax at 2:00 and we didn't get home until just after 9:00, so it was a long day! 

Our zone training this week was incredible! We talked a lot about obedience and the reasons that we do what we do. Sometimes we are motivated by our external desires. For example we are obedient because we know that the blessings will come, or because we are scared of what will happen if we don't keep the commandments. But the greater and higher level of obedience comes from the internal motivations, o sea, our love! It is more powerful and we can do so much more when we are obedient because we love the Lord. It is the difference between fear and happiness! 

We visited a family this week and it was really dark when we walked into the house. The head of the house asked me where I was from, and when I said I was from California he was really surprised...he thought I was Hispanic! And then his wife said that If I died my hair black and put in dark contacts that I could pass for Hispanic :) I love some of the compliments that I get!

Another day when all of our plans fell through, we went through the phone and called a lot of people. There were a ton of numbers in there that we have no idea who they are. Every time I would call someone else I scared Hermana Peabody. She thought I was crazy! It was so funny! She was so terrified.

I never knew that I could be so happy to see more rain. I've always loved it, but I'm even more happy because it’s too warm for snow!! 

More news, we have new iPads now, so that means that I will not be online for a while, so no facebook or my other blog for a little bit. But now we can use duolingo, which I'm having a lot of fun with :) 

This week I'm going to learn how to make tortillas, Honduran style (aka the best)! 

Haidy scared us pretty bad this week! We talked to her on Tuesday and she told us she was super excited for our lesson on Thursday. We tried to call her Thursday morning and the phone line said, "This phone is not accepting calls at the moment." Then we knocked on her door and thought that maybe she blocked us and was ignoring us, but then we went by on Saturday. Turns out that she was having a really bad week and didn't want to talk to anyone and her phone got disconnected for a few days. But now all is well. We will be moving her baptismal date to the beginning of April because she won't be quite ready until then. But everything else is going well with her! Just keep praying for her :)

I'm sorry this is so short, but nothing really happened this week! But I know that the work will hasten and that it is all true. We see miracles when we exercise our faith and maybe this is just a trial of our faith. One of my favorite quotes from President Riggs is, "It won't always be like this." And it is so true. Thing were going well, but it’s not always like that. Things may not be going well right now, but it won't always be like this! I love the Lord and all that He does for each one of us. He loves us so much, so let’s do what He asks :)

Love,

 Hermana Moberly

DC Temple

The Elect

What a week! First things first, one of our investigators is going to be baptized at the end of this month!!! Thank you all who were praying for Haidy! She is so prepared and she is loving everything that she is learning. It has been an adventure with her! And it all started just because we did some service :) We have taught her all of the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and it just blows her mind! She is in love with everything and believes the Book of Mormon, that Joseph was a prophet, and that we have a prophet today. And she came to church yesterday and everything is going along just perfectly! We expect trials to come though, so please keep up the praying!

There is another family who have been prepared as well. The elders before had taught them and they hadn't been over in a while. We were going through the area book and found their name, but there wasn't much information. The little 12 year old boy wants to get baptized PRONTO, but he has to come to church first! He remembers everything that the Elders before had taught him, he even told us the Joseph Smith story and the First Vision. It was awesome and we are looking forward to getting that whole family in on the message :)

We had interviews with President this week on Tuesday and that was fun for me. He is an incredible man and we all just love him so much! I have never received so many compliments in my life than that day. The best one I have ever gotten was from President, "I feel as if I can trust you with any task and you can get it done responsibly and the best way that you can." Trust from him means a lot! And then the zone leaders were talking out me with Hermana Peabody. I had no idea that so many people knew me and think that I'm a good missionary! But it meant a lot and I loved it! 

On Wednesday all of the trainees had Expectations meeting, so I got to go back to Little River and work with Hermana Pettit for the day! We did a service project with almost all of the missionaries in Springfield, and we went to a Methodist church and made sandwiches for a few hours for homeless people. I surprised a lot of people from my old zone, but it was really fun. Then, because it was Little River, we had a lunch appointment! So I had a big lunch, and then when we went back to Sudley we had two dinner appointments. So it feels like I'm still in Little River :) Not missing out on the food at all. It was a little bit too easy for me...

Thursday was a snow day, and we most definitely couldn't use the car, so we got to walk all day! We measured it out and we walked over 4 miles in 8 inches of snow....that's not easy to do! But we got lots of work done and we found some new investigators! :) It was probably the worst storm I have ever seen. It just snowed and snowed and I was already sick from the last time we walked in the snow. But the blessings do come from our sacrifices, hard-work, and obedience!

One of the nights we knocked on a random door. They were just about to leave the house, but they invited us in anyways to talk to them for a little bit. We shared a VERY short version of the restoration, but they liked it and invited us to come back this week. So please pray for the Morales Valladerez family :)

This Sunday was a super rewarding day! We had 6 of our less active members that we are visiting at church! And on top of that Haidy was there! It was so fun sitting there and watching one after the other walk into the chapel for Sacrament Meeting. It is SO important that we continue to go every Sunday and if we don't, little by little the light we leave, and almost imperceptibly....just like it is almost imperceptible the growth that comes from doing the simple things like reading the scriptures and praying. 

Overall it was an awesome week and I can't wait to see what miracles we will see this week :)

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Moberly

The Field is White and Ready to Harvest

Hna Peabody and I Were Prepared for the Cold

The Apostasy and Restoration with Cups

Filling the Pool

Another week is beginning. Mondays come so fast! But we continue to see the work get better and better. We still don't know who many people are and the Elders that were here before didn't leave very much information. They left us a couple last names of members that we were supposed to visit, but there's always so many of them with the same last name, so we go see them all until we find the one we are supposed to talk to. We have found a few new investigators that way, so I won't complain! We are filling the teaching pool.

Hna Peabody and Me

Our district meeting went really well this week. Our district leader is from Argentina, so we now do everything in Spanish and I love it. I just feel kind of bad for the newer missionaries who don't understand that much. But it can only help them by being immersed in the language. Sometimes it’s just strange talking to the other missionaries in Spanish when we know that our English is so much better. But in the meeting we learned more about planning. Before the mission I never planned anything, so I forgot everything that I was supposed to do and I wasted a lot of time. Here in the mission it is the same thing. When we don't plan, we don't get a lot done and we spend time doing things that don't help hasten the work.

We have some super prepared people here in Manassas. We found a 17 year old girl who is so ready and excited about the gospel. When we told her that there was a living prophet, she didn't even question it, she just said, "Why do people not know about this?" So she is learning fast and wants to know the truth and she is going to be awesome. We are going to invite her to baptism this week, so please pray for her!

Fun isn't against the rules...;)

We have the couple that I mentioned last week and they are progressing. We are going to invite them to be baptized this week too! They weren't able to go to church yesterday because of the snow during the week. Their work got pushed to Sunday, but they really want to come. They are feeling the truth and want us to come over more and more. We are super excited about them! So please help us pray for them as well :)

We had a mission conference this week with a general authority and someone from the Missionary Department. We have already had iPads and apparently we were a pilot mission. This week we will get new iPads and become a test mission. Starting this week I will not be on facebook for a while, but we will be back eventually. I feel that the Lord trusts us so much to let us use the technology we have for our mission. It could be so dangerous from the things that are out in the world now. But we have the chance to use it and spread the gospel in so many more ways than just by our mouths. The words that were used were: "changing it into a weapon of righteousness"...I love that. The devil has so much control and power with the internet and we are going to fill the darkness with light. And darkness cannot exist where there is light.

My new Nationals jersey

We finally were able to go to church yesterday and meet more of the members! It was really good because yesterday it decided to rain ice and covered EVERYTHING in black ice. Streets, roads, sidewalks, handrails, bushes and trees, everything. So we weren't allowed to drive, but one of the Hermanas in the ward offered to take us to all of our appointments.

Overall an awesome week and lots of work accomplished, but even more to come. Love and miss you all! Take care this week :)

Love,

Hermana Moberly

7 Months!

What a crazy 2 weeks we have had! Sorry for the lame email last week, things were insane. Most important is that Rolando got baptized and he is so happy! On Monday it snowed a lot during the day, so after 5 we weren't allowed to drive. We were supposed to have a family home evening taught by us and the other Hermanas in the ward, but we couldn't get over there, so they ended up teaching alone. We stayed at the Maldonado's house for a few hours because they had family over, so we just taught them a lesson and watched some mormon messages. I got a call that night which made me so happy! I found out that I was going to train again!! Other exciting news, Hermana Pettit is training as well! So I'm a grandma :) Then we were confused because we knew one of us would have to leave and train....so Tuesday night we found out that I was leaving Little River. I already knew though. I finished all that I needed and I learned what I needed to learn, so it was time to leave. On Thursday we had transfer meeting and I got my new companion, Hermana Peabody from Park City Utah. All these people are from Utah!

Me and Hna Peabody

Now we are in a city called Manassas. Our ward is the Sudley ward. Before there were 3 sets of Elders and 1 set of Hermanas, but we took the place of 1 of them, so there are 2 and 2. We are both new to the area, so we don't really know that much and the first couple days were very interesting. We don't know the members, investigators, or where we are going, so we just talk to everyone that we can and figure out where all of the Spanish speakers live so that we can find them. On Saturday we had a snow day. It started at 9 and didn't stop until 5, so we weren't allowed to use our car. So we walked....and walked and walked. Let me tell you, walking in the snow is not easy. Especially when it’s up to your knees!

What is this foreign substance?

We are already seeing miracles! We have started looking through the area book and visiting some of the people that are in there. There is a family we visited last night and they are SO PREPARED. This man is so sensitive to the Spirit, he was going to get a tattoo but then he felt something inside of him telling him that it wasn't right, so he didn't do it. The family has searched for a long time for the right church and just haven't ever felt anything. So now they will feel the Spirit testify that this is the right church. We are so excited because the lesson went perfectly.

We have given out a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon and Hermana Peabody is so awesome. She isn't scared to talk and she wants to speak better Spanish so bad, but what she says people understand, even if it’s not 100% correct.

Yesterday they cancelled church and we were so excited to finally meet some members and it didn't end up working out. But we met the Bishop because he invited all the missionaries over for a mini Sacrament meeting. It was amazing and I love that the Spirit is the same no matter where you are. Even though we were in his house instead of in a chapel, we felt the same way we would have there. We are learning more and more everyday about what we can do, where we can go, and who we can visit and we just try our best. I know that the Lord is satisfied when we do what we can. I know that he helps us do even more than we could otherwise when we do try harder. We really can accomplish all that He wants us too when we put our trust in Him.

I'm sorry I don't have any more than that to say, but we do a lot of driving and a lot of knocking. Next week there will be more, don't worry! Love you all! Stay away from the snow!

Love,

Hermana Moberly

Me and Hermana Peabody

Llena la Pila

Another week has come and gone.....but this time we had a baptism!!!! That was really the only exciting thing that happened because we did a lot of finding and taught lot of little lessons. We picked up some new investigators and got dropped hard by one of them later on in the week. She told us that she was confused and wasn't happy and didn't want anything to do with us basically and didn't hear when we were telling her how much the gospel is perfect for her in that situation. It’s just hard when we know exactly what people need and how much it will bless their lives and they won't accept it.

We continue to stay in the places we go until we find the reason that we are there. We always end up talking to someone that needs a little bit of help and its perfect. We have gotten really good at talking to everyone, no matter how hard it is to talk to people in English. But we see little miracles everyday that will lead to lots of prepared people in the future!

Ok, so I just want to talk about Rolando for a little bit. I have learned so much from our experiences with him. I got to this area in September and we had 2 investigators to be baptized, one being Rolando. We knocked and knocked and called and called with nothing. 6 weeks later we knocked and he answered and it was a perfect lesson and he was on date to be baptized on November 16. And it happened again. We knocked and called and got nothing. Then on December 15, we were sitting in our car and we told the Lord that we had a plan to knock this one last time and if he didn't answer we would drop him. So we knocked and he answered. And he answered the next time, and the next time, and we have talked almost everyday since then. We have learned that it was partly the persistence that we had and the testimonies of the members we brought. The week of December 15 was the pivotal point for him and I just love that it was the time when were on the verge of dropping him. But all worked out in the end and he got baptized. It was a wonderful, crazy, spiritual high day. We loved it!!

Sorry this email is so short, the libraries are all closed so I'm just on my iPad. I know that God prepares people throughout their lives to accept the gospel. I know that when they find it, everyone is happy. I know that Rolando will be an amazing member and missionary for his family and friends. I know that I can try to be more like him. 

Love you all! Have an awesome week!!!! :)

Hermana Moberly

Rolando's Baptism!

Baptism Fun

More from the Baptism

Baptism!

More Miracles!

Mondays are starting to become miracle days. Hna Pettit always sits next to a Spanish speaker and we have gotten a few numbers, a new investigator and we gave out a Book of Mormon! So it’s kinda fun :) nothing yet today, but we have time.

I went to the Holocaust Museum today with my companion of course, but also with Rolando! It was so incredible and horrible at the same time. We talked a lot about his baptism which is on Sunday!! We are so excited and it’s going to be an amazing day! You'll get lots of pictures next week! :)

Seyda and Arturo are doing well. We have taught Seyda the first two lessons and now her husband is a lot more interested and wants to know more. They both have really good questions and that's how you can tell that they want to know. That and they look themselves for the answers by doing what we ask.

Comps :)

Tuesday was pretty great as well. We had district meeting and then Spanish Forum. We got a lot done and learned a bunch, and we had so much fun as we did it all. So many jokes and funny moments and even more spiritual ones. It was the perfect combination. Our district is so tight and united, there's a reason that by the end of February we will have had 5 baptisms!

The Three Amigos in DC

Good news, my full gringa accent is gone! Now I sound like a Gringa that knows what she's saying. Also, I picked up my trainer's accent, which I guess is pretty common. President and all 8 of the Little River ward missionaries ate tacos with Hermana Rodriguez. We gave the little girl Anel a nickname...vanilla, but she said she wanted to be called strawberry
because she doesn't like vanilla! Haha.

Turns out that Rolando isn't sick of us yet and wants the two of us to give the talks at his baptism....great. Haha, it'll be fun, but we tried to get him to pick members and it didn't work. That night we had him come with us to a lesson and he helped us teach. Also he brought one of our investigators to church for us yesterday.

It's For Fun

It was a perfect week for exchanges, so once again I went to Old Town to be in a trio with one of the Sister Training Leaders and her trainee. But then she went to the temple with one of her recent converts, so I stayed with Hermana Atkinson and she had her first experience in a duo. It was super fun and we saw miracles in their area. Miracles always happen on exchanges, it’s the best! We had to stay up a little later to wait for Hermana Debry to get back, so we did some facebook proselyting and I have been able to start talking to and teaching some of my friends from home. It’s incredible to see how now with my calling, the effect I have is bigger and the fear I once had is completely gone.

We have a new investigator who has dreams. That's fine. But he thinks that they are revelations and visions. He asked us if there was a leader of the church that would be willing to read his mind, discern his dreams and interpret and record them. Unfortunately we don't provide those services. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of a prophet who leads and guides the church and that he is the only person in the world that can receive revelation for all of God's children.

New Driver

Hermana Pettit and I have started to see even more miracles through our daily follow up. As we text and remind people to read in the Book of Mormon and to come to church they have seen the love that we have for them. There are many that we didn't have their complete or any part of their addresses, so it was all that we could do. We tried many times to ask for their addresses and they never came. But then this week we have received 2 addresses of less active members and it has been so great! We really do love them so much :) She is now driving...so apparently for the ticket that I got, my driving privileges have been suspended until the end of the transfer...so until February 19. Haha, oops.

Victor prayed out loud with us for the first time last night, so it’s sufficient to say that they are progressing. They have learned so much and have so many good questions and it makes it easy to talk to and teach them. I'm just loving all of the miracles that I have seen and will continue to see and I know there is so much more to come in my life as well as
all of yours. Keep moving forward!

Love and miss you!

Hermana Moberly

Weekly Planning = Weekly Pancakes

Febrero

And here we are again, another pday, another week, another month. Does time ever go its normal speed, or does it just go faster and faster? I can't believe it has been a week already!

This week has been a pretty different week than most, in good ways and not as good ways. We spent a lot of time tracting and every missionary knows that there is a better way to find people than just by knocking on their doors.

Last Monday it started snowing around 8:00 and didn't stop all night, so we woke up in the morning to a lot of it. None of the missionaries could use their cars except for our zone because we had Zone Conference at 10. It was an awesome conference, and I know I say it every time, but really President Riggs is so amazing! We talked a lot about the importance of invitations. Not many people will go to a birthday party that they aren't invited to and it’s the same with the gospel (except for my mom). We need to be out there inviting people to change and repent so that they can experience the blessings of the gospel and obtain eternal life! One thing about the meeting though, we are mixed Spanish and English, so now when we practice teach, I have to do it in Spanish. Let me tell you, I speak fluent Spanglish now! I never really experienced teaching in English except for in Mission Prep a year ago, so it was pretty funny.

I ate some pretty fun food this week. I ate cow tongue for the first time and it was pretty good! Very different, but really good. We got Chick-fil-a as always :) We were given food from an extremely dirty house. If you had seen the kitchen that it came from, no one would eat it. It was nasty, so when we got home we just threw it all away. But the next night, one of the members of our ward from the same country helped us clean it all! One night also, we went to pick up our food from a member's house. Her daughter gave her the food, but didn't explain it too well, so they gave the food to the Elders when they went over. So we got there and they looked surprised and offered to feed us, so when we asked if they had anything for us from their daughter they realized what had happened. We still got fed and the woman of the house was joking about how they were thieves. The couple was so happy that we went over and spent some time there with them, and if we were just picking up food we probably would have left right away. But the Lord knows how to do His work, even if it means the Elders get extra food! :)

We did a little training on Family History work and we used it when we were out tracting and saw some more success. Usually if the people say that they aren't interesting in the religion we can ask them if they do genealogy and are interested to learn more about their families. It seems to work out a little bit better.

We spent two hours Wednesday night, two hours Thursday, and 4 hours Saturday just looking for and knocking at the houses of Spanish speakers and it was cold. Funny though, one day we were on a street and ended up knocking on a member's door that we didn't know lived there. We went in and got warm again before heading back out.

We had to drop a few investigators this week, so that opened up the time for tracting. The ones that we dropped weren't actually interested in making any changes, they just liked us to come over and talk about "the word of God". And we got dropped by one of our other investigators, the one that was supposed to baptized in January. We went over to his house and we talked to his wife and kids because he hid in his bedroom. So that was an unfortunate thing that happened.

But Rolando is doing so well! He continues to progress! Less than two weeks and he will be baptized! We are so excited :) We had a baptism in the ward from some of the Elders and Rolando and Victor and another one of their investigators came. Afterwards, Victor and the other investigator were talking about how they are addicted to coffee and then Rolando started talking to them about the word of wisdom and the blessings and the doctrine. My favorite thing that he said was that he never knew he would be in a position where he was sharing what he knew to help others and using his testimony. He loved it, and the other investigators now have a greater desire to change their habits. Also, in the next two weeks he will be an official citizen of the United States :) YAY! We are so happy for him!

Victor continues to progress and read and do everything that we ask… He loves the one on one learning and every time he talks to us he seems surprised by how much he learns from reading in the Book of Mormon and listening to us. After the Gospel Principles lesson on Sunday, he started teaching his brother Rony about agency and how important it is and we loved it! He is just super awesome!

I feel like me and my companion just have the best investigators ever. They are the ones that know the members and are doing the things that we ask. They go to church and they want us to keep coming over. I just wish everyone would come to understand how incredible the gospel is!

We almost dropped two other investigators who weren't keeping commitments, but we brought a member with us to a lesson and she saved them. They changed their minds and decided to start doing things after this member shared her testimony! No one can contest what you know!

The blessings of sharing the gospel are incredible. I have seen quite a few members realize this when we ask them to come with us. A special spirit is in their eyes as they share their testimonies and desire more to share what they know. Share yours :) I promise that you will love it!

Love you all! Until next week, it'll come quicker than you think!

Hermana Moberly

Missionary Selfie with Hna Pettit

Washington DC South Mission 2014

We Practice Teach These Fish