Bella Vista

Sorry, this is going to be really short this week, we have had a super busy day, but mostly because we went and played tennis for a few hours and then completely rearranged our apartment.

So I have been transferred and I am in the Bella Vista ward in McLean Virginia. My new companion is Hermana Christensen and we are already best friends. We always knew that we would be companions at one point and it is finally here. We are the Sister Training Leaders for some of the other Spanish speaking missionaries in this area, which means we will be going on exchanges each week and going to lots of meetings and working really closely with President Riggs.

Thursday was a bittersweet day because I left the Sudley ward and Hermana Peabody, but I will be seeing her for exchanges in the near future.

This new companionship is going to be one of the best that I have had because she and I are on the same exact page. We are making a lot of changes from what the past missionaries did and we are working alongside the Bishop of the ward. I know that we are going to see so many miracles, and we already have seen some. I am so excited and happy that I am right here right now and there is no doubt in my mind that I need to be here.

Last transfer there were only 2 STLs, but this transfer we have 4. I was one of the new ones, but the other is Hermana Pettit, one of my past companions.

I know that this work is of God. He is in charge and I am where I am because He told my mission president that I need to be here. Each week I will be writing about the miracles that we see, so stay tuned. There just isn't enough time right now. I love you and miss you all!

Love always,

Hermana Moberly

Transfer and Sister Training Leader!

Hello Mommy and Papi :) 

I'm over here in Bella Vista as a Sister Training Leader with Hermana Christensen, just like I guessed ;) It's going to be a super fun transfer or two with her and I will be experiencing a lot of firsts! It's my first day of the mission without the twelve week program, with means one hour less in the house than usual. Along with lots of exchanges and meetings and training, but I'm so excited. This is my new address and companion! 

Love you, talk to you on Monday :)

Hermana Moberly

7310 Dartford Dr #9

McLean, VA 22102

Hermana's Christensen and Moberly

The Church Girls

May 11, 2015

           It’s been a pretty nice week :) I got to talk to my family yesterday and that was the best! It kind of feels like a dream, almost like it didn't even happen. That time went by way too fast.

Last week for Pday, we had a little district get together. We ate some sloppy joe's that Elder Randall made for us and then we played some soccer, basketball, and ultimate Frisbee. The basketball hoops were so low that I could almost dunk on them, so that was kind of fun :)

On Tuesday we had another mission conference. There is a story in the Bible that I heard of for the first time this week. It’s really the first 7 chapters of Nehemiah. He was an Israelite that was taken out of Jerusalem and served the King of Syria. He asked permission from the king to go back to Jerusalem to build the wall that had been destroyed. So he and a bunch of people went and worked on sections of the wall doing what they could. Despite all the threats they received and the fear that they had, they "had a great work to do so [they] cannot come down." This is the new mission phrase. We are building up the wall of the Washington DC South mission and no matter what happens around us, we will work on our section. Nehemiah and the men built the wall in 52 days, so on June 25th, 52 days after that conference (and a few days before President goes home) we will have another mission conference to see what we have done with that wall. It’s a little story hidden in the Old Testament, but there is so much that we can gain from it.

We are learning to be BOLD in all that we do. And we have already seen the miracles! I am not one who likes to go against the plans we have made the night before, but this week we did. There were a couple people that we had planned to see, but when I woke up that morning I was thing of 2 people specifically. So during the day, we went to go see them when usually we wouldn't find them. But on this day they were home and we finally had some good lessons with them. So that was me practicing being bold and going against the plans.

I have had a couple once in a lifetime experiences this week. The first one was on Thursday. We had just finished dinner with one of the members of the ward and we were walking out to the car. We were joking about getting some ice cream because the ice cream man was down the street. It was a little bit of a walk, but the truck pulls up next to us and the man asks if we spoke Spanish, of course we do. And he asked us if we could give him a copy of the book of Mormon. By this point we were super excited and started talking to him some more. Turns out he is a member of the church, not an investigator, but wanted a copy to read while he was working. So that was pretty weird, but really funny. Then on Saturday night we had a ward party for Mother's day. Of course they asked us, the missionaries, to sing. We don't know why they keep asking, because they don't like it that much, but they keep asking us! Anyways, after all Hispanic ward parties there is a dance, and there was a little 6 year old boy that came up to me and asked if I would go dance with him. It broke my heart that I had to say no to him! He was so adorable and brave and I just felt so bad. I have never wanted to dance so badly in my life until that night. The last one happened right after I Skyped with my family. We were walking out to the car and a two year old girl was running down the sidewalk to "her friend Rachel's house". We didn't see her family anywhere, so we just turned her around and started walking back to where she was coming from. She didn't remember her name or her parents’ names or anything so we just prayed as we walked. Soon enough a man came running towards us and was looking for his little girl. Apparently she escaped from the house, but he was so grateful for what we did. He wanted to pay us, but we wouldn't take it. He mentioned that his wife "used to be Mormon" and that the elders come over every once in a while. So I told him that the way he could pay us back is to listen to the elders the next time they came over. It’s just incredible to me how much our Father in Heaven loves every one of us. He put us there at that time to help this family and maybe this was what they need in order to come back to the church. His plan is perfect and I trust it. He knows what we need and when we need it.

Hna's Peabody, Moberly, and Pettit

I had a happy mothers day yesterday! I got a picture with both of my "daughters". We had a baptism in the ward and Hermana Pettit's companion taught her, so they came back for that. That's about all for this week, the rest I told my family. We have transfers this week, so I might be leaving Sudley on Thursday, but I will find out on Tuesday. If I do get transferred I will email my mom my new address and other information. I love you all and hope your week is as good or even better than mine will be! I know we are going to see so many miracles in the near future, so stay tuned :)

Love always,

 Hermana Moberly

Abby the Escapee

Peruvian Rice Pyramid

Just a 'small' piece of Tres Leches

May?

May 4, 2015

This week has been a fast one. I can't believe it’s already MAY! I don't know how that happened, it feels like it should still be March. 

We have had a few meetings this week. We have district meeting every week, so nothing new there, but we also had a Sisters meeting. All of the sisters in the Washington DC South mission all got together for some lunch and some training :) It was so fun! We brought out our patriarchal blessings and found all of the things we have been blessed with-I never knew how much it said! It was incredible :) So if you have one, go and list all the blessings it states, it’s so cool! Then we had some motivating talks on not having to be perfect and trying our best and being happy with it because the Lord is happy with it. You know, things that most girls need to hear. President Riggs is the best, not even kidding!

That night we went to talk with Martha, our most recent investigator preparing for baptism, but she wasn't there, so we played a little bit of soccer with her kids and taught the rest of the family :) 

The Torres family is doing so well! We met with them on Monday and Wednesday and it went really well! Orlando was asking us some questions about Native Americans and the Amish, so that was kind of weird and we didn't know any of the answers, but we read with them in The Book of Mormon and he loved it. Then on Wednesday he wasn't home, but we talked to his wife and the three little boys. We played the plan of salvation game that I made and they loved it :) They all want to get baptized, but especially the 7 year old, which is sad because he will have to wait until September. They are so cute! At the end when we were praying, one of them said, "I don't need anything from you because I'm happy with everything that I have right now in my life!" and then the youngest one said, "I want a little sister". We were dying because it was so adorable. I love that family so much!

More names to add to the praying list: Reyna and Jackie! They are two young girls (13 and 15) and we taught the entire first lesson about the Restoration. They liked it and committed to read the Book of Mormon and ask if it was true. Rather than most investigators who say they will do it, but you can see in their eyes that they won't, they were sincere and very interested. I am excited about them because they are motivated and want to know more :)

We had 3 investigators promise us that they would come to church this Sunday, but they didn't show up :( That's always really sad. They are progressing in so many ways, but when it comes to going to church they don't want to use that time. I wish that they would understand how important it is, but that testimony only comes when you try it. It’s pretty frustrating, but there isn't much we can do. We can teach them and provide the Spirit to testify to them, but if they don't let it in their heart, nothing comes from it.

We got a new investigator last night because the Salazar family invited a friend over for a Family Night and she should be coming to church this Sunday. The investigators that the members find for us are the ones that progress faster and get baptized. It is so much better than the ones we find on our own. I was listening to a conference talk and one of the apostles was saying that missionaries are called to teach, but often they are spending most of their time finding. The members have the calling to find people to teach so that the missionaries can teach more than they find. Just something to think about ;)

I love this calling that I have. I am so lucky to share the gospel with the people here in this part of the world. I literally cannot think of anything better that I could be doing. I am so lucky! Thank you for all of your prayers, I can feel the strength that they give me. You are all the best and I love and miss you! Please find people for the missionaries to teach :)

Love always,

 Hermana Moberly

Promises

Well, it’s only been 5 days since the last time I wrote, and honestly not much has happened. We have a couple new investigators with potential, but we will have lessons with them this week and we will find out if they are interested or prepared. The highlight of the week was definitely our Zone Conference on Friday! It was sad because it was President Riggs' last one :( He goes home in June, and it’s going to be really sad. But I wanted to share some of the things that I learned this week with you all :)

~Everything we learn and do goes back to our faith in Christ. He is the center of everything. When we aren't being obedient or when we are being obedient it depends on how strong our faith is in Him. When we know and understand more of the sacrifice He made for us, the more willing and able we are to do the right things. The more willing we are to make changes in our lives so that we can be happier and follow Christ even better. It is our faith unto repentance.

~There is a scripture in John 16:33. It says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." We have a promise that we will have trials in this life, but we will never have a trial too hard to overcome. Through Christ's atonement we can be better and have more strength.

~There are SO many promises in the scriptures, like the one listed above. One of my favorites is in Mosiah 29:20, "But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him." We all have our own kind of bondage, but God is the same. He will ALWAYS help us if we are humble, if we pray, and if we put our trust in Him.

~ The Atonement is like a gift card. Christ paid the price and gave one to each of us. We should use it as often as we can, since he already paid for us. The only difference is that gift cards have an end amount, but the card we get from Christ is unlimited.

~Christ didn't only give himself at the end of his life, but He continually gave himself everyday as he made decisions. He had to be perfect in order to help us, so he gave and gave in every moment so that we can be happy in the end.

~Moroni 6:8, "But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven." We will be forgiven for every sin when we have real intent. ONLY when we have real intent.

And then of course at the end of the training, President goes up and says, "You just learned how to be great parents!" 

This week has been pretty good! We keep working hard and studying and teaching as much as possible. I can feel your prayers for me, so thank you! I love you and miss you all!!!

Love always,

 Hermana Moberly

Adventures with El Guapo

          Funny how the week goes by super-fast until you move your P-day to a Wednesday. Sorry I'm late this week and forgot to tell most of you, but Happy Earth day! I got to celebrate it by going to the temple! :) That worked out pretty well.

DC Temple in April

          A lot has happened in the last week and a half! We have had 2 district meetings and we had exchanges. In our district meeting we are focused on finding people who are really interested and we learned some tricks to find that out. I used some of them later in the day and they worked so well!

          Because of the transfers we had there are only 2 Spanish sister training leaders, so ours speak English. On Tuesday we did exchanges and usually you get to leave your area, but since we cover the entire stake, I spent the day with Sister Savage in a more confined part of our area...and speaking English. I prayed in English about 5 times and every time it came out super awkward. It's been a while. On the bright side, because I can speak Spanish now we knocked on a door and the lady was from Mexico and I picked up a new investigator for me and Hermana Peabody! We also found 2 for the Gainesville ward. A pretty successful day! But that's not all, also there was a relief society activity and the theme was a "Fiesta", and I got Mexican for dinner and spoke some more Spanish with some of the members :)

         Orlando is doing well. The kids are still playing soccer every Sunday, which is pretty annoying because they can never come to church. But we taught about the Plan of Salvation and Orlando loved it!! He is an awesome guy and we are going to invite them to get baptized in May when we see them next. They love the Book of Mormon and all they are learning. It makes things easier for us!

DC Temple in April 2015

          This week we went to a less active member’s house and then she ended up giving us all this advice on life. We went in expecting to have to strengthen her, but in reality she just needed a ride to church and wanted to help us out :)

          As the weather continues to get better, the bugs are coming. There are nasty things over here and some of them are huge! It's pretty scary and my companion thinks it's hilarious sometimes. I guess that's what I get for having a dad that will take care of all of the bugs for me. :/

          I made up a new game this week. So, tomorrow is my halfway mark as a missionary, so we got a package from Hermana Peabody's mom with some Nerf guns which we have been enjoying. There are darts all over the apartment floor. But anyways, we were really distracted, so we had to say something in the room in Spanish and then we could shoot. I learned that there are a lot of little objects that I can't name. It's a work in progress!

          Cool miracle! There was a HUGE storm Monday night and a tornado warning, so we got a text from President telling us to stay where we were. So we were in a part member family home and we asked one of the ladies, Marta, why she wasn't baptized. She realized that she didn't have anything stopping her, so now she is preparing for the 9th of May. Please pray for her! She is so ready :)

          That's all for now, and I will have a P-day on Monday and I promise that a better letter will come. Love you!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Moberly

Our trip to the temple!

Hns's Moberly and Peabody

Hurrah for Israel!

Manassas VA

Embrace the Hispanity

DC Cherry Blossom Festival

             What a week! It has gone by SUPER fast! Good news, Hermana Peabody and I are still together here in Manassas, which means at least 5 more weeks together :)

This week we have had quite a few meetings and one of them was a Spanish Forum. So all of the Spanish speaking missionaries in the mission get together for a training. And guess who got to do that? That's right, me and Hermana Schultz :) We were asked to train them on talking to everyone, so we spent a lot of time talking about how to do that effectively. It was fun :) We were trained by President on the Gift of Tongues. We learned that the gift and charity go hand in hand. When we love the people like Christ would and when we are willing to do anything for them we are more sensitive to the Spirit and it comes so much quicker. We can understand better and we can help more when we really love people.

We have a couple new investigators this week, so that's good! We met a woman from Guatemala. We talked to some of the people in her house a couple times, but when she saw us she made them let us in, because she had a dream about us and was told to let us in. So she fed us and we talked about the gospel. Long story short, she is now listening to the lessons! Those Spanish suenos (dreams), they're real.

Blossoms!

Haidy is doing well. We are supposed to have a couple lessons with her each week, but we always end up with only one. So between each visit more doubts come up and then we fix them, and the next lesson is the same. I wish that she wasn't so busy so that she could experience the full joy that the gospel would bring into her life.

Orlando and family are also right on track! On Monday night we had a member at a lesson with us and they talked the whole time and so many doubts were helped. Then on Wednesday they ALL came to mutual, so the boys went with the young men and the parents and us had a lesson. After we started our ward mission leader came in and joined us, and then one by one the entire bishopric came in as well. So we had a super powerful lesson and they loved it. They are totally coming back every week for that :)

 I have talked to a few people in English and they know that missionaries come from all over the world. But I have been asked 4 times now where I'm from because of my "accent". It can't be from the Spanish, especially after only 9 months of non-constant Spanish. So I guess I have somewhat of an accent now, but I don't think I have changed at all!

Another new investigator is Erika. We met her outside her house talking to a neighbor in Spanish. We were checking on a potential, but we saw her instead. After we showed her Because He Lives she opened right up and told us she had depression. So we shared parts of the Book of Mormon with her and she loved it. We have seen her a few times and she loves when we come over. This week has been really good for finding new people.

WWII Memorial

This transfer we are working on using the Book of Mormon in all of the missionary work. We want to give away as many as we can and use scriptures specifically from the Book of Mormon in every lesson or contact we make. Also we have a goal to finish reading the Book by the end of the transfer :) Feel free to join us! We know that the Book of Mormon has so much power and helps every person that gives place for it in their lives. If you aren't reading it, start now!

Sorry I don't have much more, but I have a ton of Pictures, so don't worry! We went to DC again today for the cherry blossom festival and it was really pretty! Love you and miss you!

Love,

Hermana Moberly

Lincoln Memorial with Hna Peabody

Lincoln Memorial 2

Little Bit of Home

I Mustache You A Question...

Resting from A LOT of walking

SPANISH!

The Metro

The District