Transferred!

November 5, 2015

YES! I'M BACK IN LITTLE RIVER! I was transferred last week as expected and it was sad to say goodbye to so many people that I love and so many great investigators, but if I had to be transferred anywhere I'm glad that I'm back in Little River. There have been a few changes since the last time that I was here, the biggest one being that my companion and I are the only Hermanas in the ward because they closed the other side. So Hermana Villanueva and I are covering the entire ward! Its been pretty fun because we're living in Annandale and mainly working on this side, but  we get to go to the other side whenever we want! That means that I get to go see all of the people that I taught before that the other Hermanas stopped visiting :) And of course I'm with the Deza family and I get to find Rolando. So these next few transfers are going to be really fun! I feel so lucky that I got to start my mission in Little River and end it here too. By the time I go home, half of my mission will have been in Little River :)

Okay, so my companion is Hermana Villanueva and she is from Mexico. My first (and last) native companion. Its kind of weird because really this is the first companion I have had--other than my trainer--that speaks more Spanish than me, and its been a bit of an adjustment, but its been fun! We have seriously been so busy and I don't even know what to tell you all about. Last week we found 11 new investigators and we have a lot of investigators that are progressing and coming to church and all that stuff, so there is hardly any time to think! I've been so exhausted coming home every day and its the best.

Friday night there was a ward party for the kids and we got to go for a little bit to see some investigators and less actives, and that night I got to see all of the members again :) I mainly heard Welcome back and welcome home. I feel like being back here is preparing me to keep doing missionary work even when I come back to California.

On Saturday, since it was Halloween we went to a member's house (the same one as last year) and watched a movie. I don't know how popular it was, its called the Cokeville Miracle, produced by the church. It was really good, but since we are all really sensitive as missionaries it was a pretty scary movie. It was about a man who has a bomb in an elementary school and has them all hostage for $2 million each. But all of them survived except the bad guy and they talk about how each child saw angels and their parents figured out that they were their ancestors that helped them. It was really powerful and you should all watch it!

Tuesday we had a General Authority come, Elder Perkins, and we had a conference with him. It was amazing and I learned so much! The spirit was so strong the whole time and I got so many answers. I loved every minute!

So this is my first time on my mission as a normal missionary and I love it so much. I have always been either training a missionary or I was a Sister Training Leader. But now, I don't have to worry about anyone except my own investigators! And my current companion is going home in December, just one transfer before me, so she's good to go too. Its been really nice :) Also, I feel like I'm just repeating everything from last year, because I was here for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's and I will be again. Just this time I know what I'm doing and I can actually speak the language--somewhat. I thought my Spanish was good, but everyday I realize that I don't speak it very well. But its okay, because I'm improving and that's my goal.

Love you all! I hope you have a great week and that you continue to build your testimonies and help the missionaries :)

Love,

 Hermana Moberly

Transfer Week

October 26, 2015

It's here again! Remember last time how I was so sure that I was
leaving Bella Vista and then stayed? Yeah, I don't think that's going
to happen again, but you never know. God's plan can be really
different from our plan. Bella Vista has been a place where I have
grown and learned so much, but I'm not sure how much it has left to
teach me! Most likely I will be in a new area this week and finish out
my mission there. But crazier things have happened, I could even
finish here in Bella Vista!

What a week it has been! Just as crazy and busy and miraculous as ever
:). We went on two mini exchanges this week where we only switched for
a few hours and it was really fun and really effective. Hermana Craner
spent the day with me here in Bella Vista on Tuesday so that I could
follow up on how she's doing with everything. We also had one of the
strangest lessons ever. We started teaching this one lady but she said
she had to go to work and sent someone else in the house out to meet
us and so we got a new investigator. It was pretty cool :) Hermana
DeBry came to me on Thursday and we did some knocking and talked to a
guy named Norman who told us there were more Hispanics down the
street. So we knocked on the one he pointed to and a guy named Lee
opened the door. He's from Vietnam, and I didn't understand anything
he was saying. Haha, but it was pretty fun anyways!

At the beginning of the week my companion and I were talking about
finding methods and she said that she had never seen anything come
from white pages, so I determined that we were going to show her that
white pages bring miracles, because they do! We found a lady named
Lucy this week who met with missionaries a few years ago, but stopped
because she moved. She never got in contact with them and then we
knocked on her door! More white pages success, but I'll talk about
that when I explain our finding fest :)

We had Spanish Forum this week and it was another really good one. We
didn't have to present any training from our companionship, which is a
relief, because I couldn't remember what Spanish Forum was like
without being up there teaching. It was much more relaxed and
revelatory. The main focus was on our purpose and how we need to react
upon it. We are called by revelation and we have something that too
many people don't have. We need to be excited and work as hard as we
can to share it.

Saturday we had a finding fest. It started around 2:30, so between
then and 9 o'clock that night we found 5 new investigators! It was a
miracle. One of them is Andrea. The English elders met with her
before, but she prefers Spanish, so we got to go see her instead. She
is golden. She has studied with a lot of different churches, but still
hasn't found what she's looking for, so when we told her the story of
Joseph Smith she really related to it. That will be nice because she
will be more willing to study and pray like he did so she can get an
answer. We found 2 Joses. They are good friends and were sitting out
on their porch. They were super open and accepted some materials and
invited us to come back. The only bummer is that we will probably send
the elders because it'll be a lot easier for them. Then we had a zone
pizza dinner around 5 and went to work afterwards. Around 6:45 we were
going through our white pages in Falls church and felt inspired to go
to one street. We talked to a nice Indian man, but he was busy. So we
went down to the next street and the next place we went there were to
girls our age. We started talking about the gospel and they didn't
seem too interested and said they were busy painting. The bells go if
in a missionary brain and we offered to help them out. To our surprise
they actually let us help them. One of their friends was planning on
proposing to one of their sisters on Sunday, so they were helping him
out. They were painting some banners with the words: will you marry
me? Of course, because it was a wedding proposal. That was pretty
obvious, sorry, haha. But we helped them out with all of that and got
to know them pretty well. When we were finishing up they started
asking questions about the church and we got to teach the entire
restoration and they loved it and we are going back soon. It was a
pretty cool day and we were exhausted by the end of the night.

Sunday finished off the week with a bang, because we got some
investigators to a baptism and then we had a charla fogonera in
Sudley. I got to see a bunch of my Sudley family and my Little River
family too. It was a fantastic week and I know that there are prepared
people in the world and sometimes white pages helps you find them :)
love you all!!

Con Amor,
Hermana Moberly

Shield

October 19, 2015

It amazes me how much we can get done in such a short amount of time.
There's always so much to write even though I feel like I just wrote
home. Sorry if my letters drag on, I like to let everyone know what's
happening and share the miracles and funny moments :)

Let's start off with our zone. First of all we had a zone activity
today and it was super fun. We did some apple schmearing and ate some
donuts off of string and a costume party. This zone is a lot smaller
than any other zone that I've been in and also the most unified! We
had a pretty sweet zone training on Tuesday. So I mentioned a while
ago that we were all chosen or assigned a superhero of some sort in
the zone. Our zone leaders took it further than we ever imagined. As a
zone we are a part of S.H.I.E.L.D which stands for spiritual heeding
inspires everyone to labor diligently. And we got some sweet name
tags! I'll attach a picture of mine. At first it seemed kind of funny,
but there is so much with super heroes that we can relate to the
gospel. In the training we did we talked about receiving revelation
through prayer. We mentioned that ver super hero has a source that the
go to to figure out who they are, why they are that way, and what to
do. That's how prayer is for us. God is our source to strengthen our
abilities and find out what we can do, and then we have to teach
others as well.

Brenda is planning to get baptized on November 14th! We had a really
awesome lesson with her this last week and she opened up and told us a
lot of things. We were able to help calm her doubts and she attended a
baptism with us. After wards she said to me, "I'm going to be next!"
And it was adorable!

We had an amazing experience this week that has to do with spiritual
heeding. One of the first few weeks here, Hermana Christensen and I
were spirit driving and we found this lady visiting for 3 months from
Bolivia. This week we were looking for some new investigators and had
a plan of where we were going to go and what we were going to do.
After a while in one area we were just feeling like we needed to be
somewhere else. As we were driving to our next planned spot, I
remembered this lady and felt like we should go see her. I thought it
was ridiculous because I knew that she was going to be in Bolivia
again, and when the other people in the house got there it seemed like
they just wanted us to leave. But we went anyways and talked to Arlet.
She opened the door, saw us, and just invited us in. We had an amazing
first lesson with her and she invited us back. It was so cool to see
how 5 months ago when we went over she wasn't ready, but now she is
and she's changing. Incredible how the spirit whispers little things
and miracles happen when we listen.

Eder is doing well! He's back at home. For those who didn't see on
Facebook, he fell off a roof at work and dislocated his elbow and
fractured his pelvis. This happened on Friday afternoon, but after all
of the prayers that were said for him he has returned home and is
recovering. It's amazing how little his injuries are from something
that big. Thank you to those of you who prayed for him. It is so
powerful what prayers can do, and it's so simple to pray! I hope you
all have a great week and always remember to say your prayers, you
never know who it could help! Love you!

Con Amor,
Hermana Moberly

Alright! Today has gone by super fast on top of everything! It's been a pretty fun day! We went up to Great Falls Park with the sisters in our zone and went on a little hike. It was really pretty and we had a fun time!

The week has been just as amazing as the other weeks of my mission :) Sindi is flying through the Book of Mormon. We committed her to read 3 chapters a day. When we saw her on Monday she was in Mosiah 10 and on Thursday she was in Alma 5....that's way more than three a day for those of you who don't know! She's amazing and we love her. Her little sister Liz gets funnier and funnier every time we see her. I have a note that I have written down all of the funny things she says on. Our most recent favorite is when she asked what year we were born in and then asked if that was when Abe Lincoln was alive. Those lessons are always super fun!

We had interviews with President this last week, and we get 15 minutes with him. I seriously thought I was in there for 2 minutes when he said it was time to end. It’s crazy how fast time can go, and I feel like that is how the rest of my mission will feel. And that is a really scary thought.  That night we ate some delicious alfajores, which are a little Peruvian cookie sandwich things, as a member was telling us stories about her conversion and as we planned her son's baptism coming up really soon. After that we had a sweet lesson with Denis and Ingris and the girls. They are progressing little by little. We can see that they want to learn a lot more, but their foundation of their beliefs is a little shaky, so we have to establish that first. It's going to be a bit of a longer process than we thought, but worth it! They are amazing and I'm so happy they are finally opening up to us.

We had exchanges this week and I went to Sudley with Hermana Craner. We had so many miracles!!! First miracle of the night: one of the girls that got baptized in the ward when I was there had fallen off for a little bit and was struggling a lot. She got out of a hospital that day, so we got to go visit her and help her come back. I was so happy to see her after 6 months and it was great to know that she is getting better. Second miracle, we contacted a referral that they received from headquarters and it's a super prepared family! On top of everything I got to know Hermana Craner and she is amazing! I loved her within 5 minutes of being with her. She is super great and has an amazing story. I loved the entire exchange and I know that we both learned a lot :)

We visited one of our recent converts that is young and he was really struggling. He's 15, in high school, and has been struggling recently with his friends. They were friends that he had before becoming a member and they are horrible influences. He kinda stopped hanging out with them for a bit, but got back in with them a little more recently. He basically told us how he was feeling and how he didn't really want to come to church or activities any more, and I just begged him to rethink it. I asked him a bunch of questions about how different his life has been and he realized how much better his life is with the church and by the end he promised that he was going to come back, starting with seminary, church, mutual and other little things. It was a hard lesson, but it was amazing by the end. I know that the spirit was guiding us in the things we were saying and the questions we were asking. Then he went to mutual that night and we made s'mores :)

We had an "Endure to the End" meeting on Friday for all of the missionaries that are going home in the next 3 transfers and that morning it hit me a little harder how soon it really is and how much I still have left to do. It was perfect because it pumped us up to work as hard as we can and establish a culture for the new missionaries.

Sunday was an amazing day here in Bella Vista. We in total had 12 investigators at church! It was incredible! But I loved looking around and seeing all of the missionaries split up sitting with their multiple investigators that had come. And of course the time that we have all those investigators sacrament meeting went 20 minutes over! It was SO long! But the good thing is most of the investigators didn't know that that wasn't normal and weren't waiting for it to end :) haha

The work keeps moving over here and I just love all that is happening. People are coming unto Christ because us as missionaries and the members are getting better at working together and bringing them into the Bella Vista family so that they can't be lost again. God is in charge of this work and we just do what He wants us too. It always works out perfectly according to His plan, maybe not ours. Love you all! Have a great week :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Moberly

Great Falls Park 

Great Falls Park Panorama

On the Rocks Great Falls Park

The Sisters! Great Falls Park

More of the Sisters!

October Miracles

What a week!! It went by SO fast. It started off great with a lesson with Sindi and her little sister Liz. We read in the picture Book of Mormon with them and it's the cutest because Liz is learning how to read and she likes to guess the words just from the first couple of letters. They are learning a lot and we keep trying to think of ways to help Sindi's parents see that she is ready to be baptized! She already comes to church and mutual every week and reads 3 chapters in the Book of Mormon every day. She is super great! We went to Taco Bamba with Karen that night and talked a lot with her. We all have times in life where we get so many things thrown at us that we think God is saying, "Let’s have this happen and that too and have her figure out how to get through it all". But I think really he is thinking, "I'm going to let this and that happen to her so that she can become more like me and be really happy." Sometimes we don't always see the reasons behind things, but God's plan is perfect and all that happens will only help us in the end.

We had exchanges this week and Hermana Peabody came to me for a day! :) It was so great to be with her again :) I am amazed every time I am with her by how amazing she is and how much better she is becoming. Going through training is hard, and I think especially for those who are white washing. But this Hermana is so incredible and I love her! I think that sometimes I don't show people always how much I love them or how much I appreciate them. She has taught me so much, and even though I am the sister training leader, I always learn from these girls in my stewardship. I'm probably the luckiest missionary in the world to be serving around these amazing people!

On Thursday we had Mission Leadership Counsel, which was amazing as it always is. This time we were talking about how to unify the mission as a whole and what to emphasize as a mission. We decided that it comes down to finding new investigators. When we find new investigators it drives the rest of the process towards baptism. But the best way to get them to baptism is by finding the elect. In order to find those who are prepared we have to be good at finding and we have to have the faith that we will find them. Miracles happen according to the faith that we have. If we don't think we are going to find anyone prepared, we probably won't. But when we are willing to do whatever it takes and follow the spirit we can and will find the right people to teach and eventually baptize, with the main goal being eternal life and eternal families :)

Also, during MLC we were told that a hurricane might be coming and that we should prepare. Sister Huntsman was so cute, she kept saying that she wasn't worried about it, but we could see it in her eyes and just in how much she emphasized that we needed to be prepared. It didn't end up coming, which is good because then we might not have been able to work at all. And with power outages we might have missed some of General Conference.

Friday was a pretty fun day, I'll have to tell you the story at some point when we have some time. Long story short, this one guy REALLY wanted us to come teach him, even though he was 45 minutes late and we had another appointment. But the person we were supposed to see didn't end up being there, so we went back and another guy in the house tried to tell us that we worship the prophet. It amazes me that some people think crazy things and when they realize it isn't right they don't want to hear what we actually believe. It's crazy and pretty sad most of the time. But that was part of that night.

Saturday was Marisabel's baptism between conference sessions :) There were 12 missionaries there and about 5 or 6 returned missionaries that were skyped in. She cried the entire time and the spirit was so strong. We visited her on Sunday night and she told us that she realized she hasn't stopped smiling yet :) she is the best and this coming Sunday she will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!

I hope that you all enjoyed conference, I did for sure! I don't know if I have a favorite part or talk, but we have to rewatch Saturday again because we were running all over the building setting things up for the baptism and getting it all organized. But I learned a lot and I have a lot of changes that I want to make so I can be better :) love you all! Have a great week! And if you didn't watch conference, please do! ❤️

Con Amor,
Hermana Moberly

The Staches

Mission Leadership...Throwback to the Annandale Zone

Me and Marisabel

Hna McMillin, Marisabel and Me

MARISABEL IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

This has been one of the best weeks of my life! As you can see from the title, Marisabel is finally getting baptized!! She has been an investigator since she was 13, and today is her 16th birthday. So on Saturday morning we were in our weekly correlation meeting and our ward mission leader walks in and puts his phone on speaker, and this is what we here, "Hey guys, I have some good news!" And the longest pause of my life. My first thought was that she was going to have permission to be baptized and I started freaking out a little bit, but I thought more and decided that couldn't be it because her parents would never let her get baptized. And then she says, "I'm getting baptized!" And I lost it! I have never in my life been so happy for another human being. I came so close to tears. I don't know anyone else who deserves this more than Marisabel. She has been more active and involved in the church than most members. I wish I could share with you all that I have been feeling and experiencing the last few days, but there are no words. I don't think I've ever even been that happy and excited for even myself. She is an amazing young woman and she is finally going to experience a complete remission of her sins and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. She is so
incredible!

The rest of the things that have happened this week have been pretty miraculous as well. I love recognizing the modern miracles in everyday life. It's something that I didn't look for before, but now that I'm searching, I'm finding them everywhere! We found new solid investigators this week, Cindy, Ariel, Mayra, Valentina, Manuel, and Leticia. I think it's funny that when we plan to find new investigators we hardly ever find them, but when we just stop and talk to people between appointments or other things we find people who are sincerely interested.

We had a lot of members come out to work with us during the week and that helped a ton in the progress of our investigators. They get to see the gospel in action instead of just seeing two young girls that probably don't know what they're talking about, or that don't understand what these people are going through. Sometimes it's true that we don't understand what they are going through. That happened this week and I felt totally unqualified to be the person there to help this family. But I stopped and thought a little more about it. I am young. I don't have a lot of life experience. I have no idea what this person is feeling. I have no idea how to help, but I know someone who can. He has experienced it all and more. He knows how they feel. He knows how to help. All I have to do is help the people know who He is and access the help that He can give them. My job is not that hard, but it's hard to see when they don't accept the divine help that we can get through the atonement. The divine help that we can access completely through the ordinances of the gospel. I am so blessed to be this tool in God's hands to help them live happier and prepare to live happy forever.

I love Bella Vista and I never want to leave this place. The people I am meeting have such a special place in my heart and I've learned so much from them, and from working with them. This work is the best thing in my life. I've never experienced so many powerful emotions and I don't know if I ever will again. Reflecting on my mission is great because I can see how many things have changed and become better. It makes me sad thinking about how little time I have left here, but I'm ready to work as hard as I can for whatever remains. I'm so grateful for all of your prayers and support, remember that I pray for you as well. If you haven't had any missionary experiences either recently or ever, please try it! It's the best thing in the world! Love you all! Have a great week. Report back any cool experiences that you have :)

Con Amor,
Hermana Moberly

Me and Hna Tate

Karen, Hna Tate, and Me

Out on Pday for Hna Tate's Birthday

McLean Zone Supers

September 21, 2015

Transfer week. I didn't get transferred :) so I get another 6 weeks in the Bella Vista ward, which is super exciting and happy :) The only sad thing is that the other Hermanas in the ward were taken from us and we got another set of elders, so now we are the only Hermanas in the ward with three sets of elders. With transfers and everything else that has happened it blows my mind that I'm sitting down to email
again. It always surprises me, but then I think about everything that we have done this week and I'm amazed.

Monday was a pretty strange day. We went to Cafe Rio with Eder, which was awesome and delicious. He is amazing and every time I talk to him I forget that he was only just baptized in March, right before I got to this area. He's progressing so fast in his knowledge of the gospel and I love hearing more of his life's story when we see him. He's amazing! After that we had a FHE at a member's house. 3 of our investigators were supposed to come, but none of them showed up. We couldn't leave because it had already started and we just assumed that they were late, so that was pretty disappointing.

Tuesday we had the best Spanish Forum that I have ever been to. Me and my companion got to do a little bit of training on missionary work in general, so we talked mainly about key indicators and being a successful missionary. We also talked about how because our mission is close and all the missionaries are really close together, that we need to be focused on the work and the area, not the friends and missionaries. It went pretty well! The Zone leaders talked about obedience and the other sister training leaders talked about gossip. The difference during this Spanish Forum was that instead of just realizing the things that we were doing wrong or could do better, we were all really inspired to improve and that we could make those changes.

That night we found out all transfer information. We got a list of all the missionaries, where they are going, who their companions will be and everything. It was a great change. We found out that I was staying in Bella Vista another transfer so we celebrated with Marisabel and got some McDonald's French fries :)

Wednesday we learned how to make milanesa, which is absolutely delicious and probably my favorite Hispanic food. Our less active taught us and we got to know her a lot better that night. It was super fun! We also went to look for one of the youth and on accident taught one of the elder's investigators :) haha, oops!

Thursday was great because we had a really good dinner with Hermana Reynolds and then had a great lesson with the Maltez family (Sindi and her mom and sister). Hermana Salazar came with us and now she is Sindi's ride to most activities! And because Sindi's mom knows her it's even better! On our way out I saw the biggest spider that I have ever seen in my life on the stairs. It wasn't moving and I had to pass
it. Hermana Salazar was at the top of the steps telling me to run, so I did. When I looked back, there were two men laughing at me. We told them that there was a spider and as we were walking to the car we heard one of them gasp when they went to look at it, which made me feel a little bit better about myself :)

Friday was supposed to be weekly planning, but because we had transfers the day before our area book app was having issues. In the transfer process we were renamed Bella Vista C instead of B, so we got the wrong area book and all of the info that we needed was gone. That made things pretty difficult because we didn't have addresses,
scheduled appointments, names, numbers, or anything. It was finally fixed on Sunday morning, so now we are good!

Sunday we had a baptism in the ward and it was great because three of our investigators were able to attend and see it :) then we had a lesson with Angel's cousin which went really well. She has been praying about getting baptized and she is so close already. We made a goal this week to see 8 baptisms this transfer, so please pray for the
following names so they can get there soon: Cesar, Xiomara, Teresa, Dennis, Ingris, Marifer, Sindi, Norma, and Brenda. Love you all! Miracles happen through prayer! Have a great week :)

Con Amor,
Hermana Moberly