December 20th-December 26th, 2016 Christmas and transfer calls!

Hello all you wonderful people!

I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas because I sure have!
I'll tell you a bit about the rest of my week and then I'll get to
Christmas.

On Tuesday we had district meeting and afterwards we had a white
elephant gift exchange where I ended up getting the same half-used
candle that I brought!

In Wednesday we had a really good lesson with Karen about the gospel
of Jesus Christ. This gospel is really so simple! Faith in Jesus leads
to the desire to repentance. Being clean of our sins through
repentance makes us worthy to be baptized. Once we are baptized we
receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost so that we can keep making
good decisions. We continue repenting and having faith in Christ and
we endure to the end! As we do these things, we are ensuring ourselves
a place in God's celestial kingdom. :)

On Thursday we had a zone conference in Málaga and got to see a lot of
other missionaries. We had a really fun talent show; I just watched.
And we got to hear from President and Hermana Andersen! We talked a
lot about goals and the upcoming year. We talked about:
1. What we learned this last year.
2. What we sacrificed for the Lord.
3. What we are going to give to the Lord this next year.
It was good to reflect and make new goals for improving. Hermana
Andersen got cute patterned socks and candy for each missionary.

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, we only worked for the morning and then we
had the afternoon free! The Villamizar family invited us over to eat.
They are a family from Venezuela and all of the older kids have served
missions. They are so fun and we've been doing a multiple present
secret santa gift exchange with them. The weeks leading up to
Christmas we have been giving gag gifts and on Saturday we gave real
presents. I had Elder Egbert and I got him a confetti cannon and a
dollar store pool game. I got a set of cool markers from Elder Köhler.
It was so fun being with the Villamizar family for Christmas Eve. :) A
few hours later we went to Nubia (the Relief Society president)'s
house and ate with her family too! We did another gift exchange there
too. I got a roll of toilet paper with hearts on it. Haha.

On the 25th President Andersen gave us a nice Christmas present and
said we could sleep in until 8 on Christmas instead of getting up at
7! So that was great! Hermana Twede and I got up and opened the
presents from under or little tree. I am so grateful for all of you
who sent me presents or cards and to all of you who sent love and
prayers my way. We had an hour of church and then went home to eat
lunch. We spent a couple of hours in the apartment just relaxing. I
ended up de-junkifying my suitcase because I don't know how to relax
anymore...

Christmas night we headed to the church again so we could skype home!
I got on and talked to my wonderful family and I just felt like I was
home again. Everything was normal and it was great to hear their
voices and chat with them. I had 40 minutes and it went by in a blink
of an eye! I have such a good family.

I thought I would be homesick around Christmastime but I really
haven't. I know I am here for a reason and I am happy to be here.
Christmas here hasn't been like it is at home. I haven't made
Christmas cookies or gone skating but I have been able to remind
people of why we celebrate Christmas. I've been talking about our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ and that is what I am supposed to be doing
this year. I'll be home next year to eat Dad's all blue snowmen sugar
cookie. :)

Today we have had a relaxed pday. We WENT GROCERY SHOPPING DAD. We
didn't skip shopping to play soccer with the elders. And we got a lot
of food for some yummy meals this week. We got home and I introduced
Hermana Twede to the magic of Chilean completos. :)

I almost forgot! Another Christmas present from President Andersen
were transfer calls on Christmas instead of today! Hermana Twede will
be leaving me and going to Elche! My old area!! I am so excited for
her to experience palm tree-y Elche and to fall in the people I fell
in love with. I am so sad Hermana Twede is leaving but we had two
really awesome transfers together. We saw miracles and we cried
together. We learned about having the humility to admit we were wrong
and to overcome problems. We learned how to trust in each other and to
love to serve each other. We have such an awesome relationship and I
am so excited to be friends with her forever. (I already have a lunch
date set up with her mom. :)) BUT I am also very excited for my next
companion! Hermana Gentry! I was in the MTC with her and so I know her
a bit and she is great. I am really excited to see how we work
together. Yay changes!

Merry Christmas! I love you all so much. Enjoy some pictures!

Nubia's Christmas party.


















Christmas morning!


















Our flowery mugs!
















Completos!
















Moose pajamas from Dad!

December 13th-December 19th, 2016

Hello everyone!

Well today I am writing you all from the luxury of a bus on the way
down from the Sierra Nevada (the mountain here!) Us six missionaries
are bundled up in all of socks, scarfs, and jackets we own and we just
had a whole bunch of fun in the snow. It's 1°C so about 34°F. Pictures
to come.

This week was a good week. I spoke in our district meeting about the
Spirit and afterwards Hermana Twede and I made pancakes, sausage,
bacon and eggs for the elders. Everything turned out so well! We left
running from that for the bus station. We went to Málaga for exchanges
with Hermana Burrell and Hermana Stephens. We had a good time with
those two hermanas and we learned a lot from them.

On Thursday we had weekly planning and we made some really good lentils too.

This week was such a good week with our two investigadores Karen and
Kathi. We had an awesome lesson about the Plan of Salvation with Karen
and invited her to be baptized!! But... she said she wasn't ready yet.
But she's well on her way and she's progressing really well. She and
Kathi both came to the dinner we had with the Bishop and his family on
Friday and to a baptismal service we had AND to the ward Christmas
dinner on Saturday! So we are working a lot to help them feel like
part of the ward!

On Saturday morning a counselor in the stake presidency invited us
over to eat churros and chocolate at his house and we all ate at least
3 feet of churros. Afterwards we had a ward missionary contacting
activity and that's where we found José! We went and sat by him and
showed him the #LighttheWorld video and started talking about
Christmas and family and Christ. He doesn't believe in God and so we
testified of how we have seen God's hand in our lives. We ended up
talking about the Book of Mormon and he wanted to take it! So we gave
him one and invited him to read it. We got his number so we're going
to meet up with him again and talk about it. Cool cool.

Well, it's almost Christmas! So I want you all to read in the New
Testsment in Luke 2. As a family we always read it as we put up our
nativity set and I had been sharing it with almost everyone we teach
to get them in the Christmas spirit. So go read that chapter, or at
least verses 1-20.

From what I hear, Christmas Eve is a bigger deal than Christmas Day
and Santa Clause isn't really a thing here. They know about him but
they don't put out stockings or cookies for Santa. So that's sad... On
January 6th it is Three Kings Day and that's a huge celebration. I'll
let you know in a few weeks!

Enjoy some pictures!

Love, Hermana Moore


We went and saw a light show in downtown Málaga. And hey! It's not
cold in Málaga! I just wore a cardigan and I was hot with it on!
Granada is just its own little slice of Michigan.




















We ate lunch on a snowbank.






















Hermana Twede and I! ❤️ 

Hermana Twede and I, Elders Egbert, Köhler, Kroff, Boston.  






















It was a lovely pday and it snowed for a few minutes while we were up there! And then we ended the day with hot chocolate in a cafe.

I hope you have a wonderful week leading up to Christmas!


Love, Hermana Moore

December 6th-December 12th, 2016

Well... I just typed out my whole email and then it got deleted and I
have 13 minutes left. sorry! I'll send out two weekly emails next
week!

Love, Hermana Moore

Hello friends!

We had some good lessons this week and Hermana Twede and I have been teaching well together. We have also done a lot of contacting too.

Monday was just wonderful because I got a package from my favorite German Carolin that had 24 presents inside so now I get to open a present every day until Christmas! So that just brightens my day every day. Carolin is the best. 

On Thursday we had a lesson with Mari Luz! (The miracle woman with two daughters we found knocking doors) she and her daughters are so cute and we had a basic this-is-what-missionaries-do lesson and then showed a video about Christ. The girls (6 and 11) were so excited about it. Her husband is in Bolivia until January but he has talked with the missionaries before and he reads from the Book of Mormon  sometimes! So there could be some big miracles coming soon! Mari Luz agreed to let us come back next week!

We had zone meeting and we talked a lot about goals and overcoming weaknesses with the Atonement. Goals are so important if you actually want to SEE improvement in your life. They need to be measurable and achievable to be useful.

We taught the Law of Chastity to Kathi and it was one of the coolest lessons I've ever taught. It was taught completely by the Spirit and we said everything plainly and directly like it needed to be said. A few months ago I would've been scared to lose an investigator by saying something too straightforwardly but I realize that it's how it has to be. We can't beat around the bush or hide the parts of our doctrine that are sometimes hard to understand. Anyways, the Spirit is the real teacher.

On Saturday I hit SEVEN months! Saturday night there was a Christmas concert in the church building. Every year the church holds the Granada band/orchestra and choirs for them to put on a concert. The church was packed and there were 600 people who came! And the coolest part of it all was that Elder Egbert (one of the missionaries serving here) had done choir all growing up and he sang a solo accompanied by the band! The conductor realized the day before that he didn't have. Soldier for it so a member recommended Elder Egbert. Well, he just so happens to have a killer voice so he blew everyone away!

Today (Monday the 12th) we finally went to the Alhambra! You'll have to go google it because we didn't get a guided tour so I still have no idea what the history of it is. Baha. But what I DO know is that I have 500 ish super cool pictures from our time there! So enjoy. :) Last week I tried to send too many pictures and my iPad freaked out and shut down do I guess I'll just send a few. ;)

Have a wonderful week! I've been reflecting a lot about the birth of Christ and how incredibly humble it was. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords but He was born in a stable. A stable! He then went on to live a perfect, humble life full of service! We have a lot of improving to do to acquire the attributes He has! Think about what YOU can improve on and DO IT! With Christ's help, we can be perfected. 

Lots of pretty colors and cool designs.

Aren't we so cute! I love Hermana Twede. ️ 

Love, Hermana Moore

November 29th-December 5th, 2016

Hola a todos!

Well the weeks are just flying by and we're already into December! On
December 1st of next year I'll be flying into a snowy Minneapolis
airport. My focus lately has been making sure I am loving every day as
a missionary and this week has just been wonderful and happy.

On Tuesday we had district meeting. Elder Kroff talked about goals and
he said something I really love. "if you truly understand the
Atonement of Christ, your desire to share the Gospel will grow." As we
understand what Christ and God have given us, we will have a burning
desire to share the happiness we have with others! After district
meeting we took some pictures together. I'm surrounded with a lot of
good people. :)

Wednesday was a lazy day. My sore throat of a couple days wasn't
getting better and we had a few busy days ahead of us so we took a lot
of the day for me to rest up. I took a few naps which totaled up to 7
hours. That night we got out and had a few lessons.

On Thursday we had weekly planning and in the afternoon we had an
awesome lesson with Karen. She is our new investigator and she is so
prepared! We talked about about The Restoration and she asked all the
right questions. Afterwards, we had some extra time and Hermana Twede
had the impression to stop by Taynara's house. She is a less active
we've never met who is Brazilian. We knocked on her door and her mom
answered. Taynara wasn't home but we had a really God talk with her
mom Maria. She spoke in a mix of Portuguese and Spanish and I didn't
have a problem understanding it! When we asked if there was anything
we could do for her, she just said that we needed to come back and
visit her. :) Will do.

On Friday we did some service in the morning and then had a lesson
with Kathi (investigator) later on. We always go there with one lesson
planned and end up teaching a completely different lesson following
the Spirit. We had a really good lesson about prayer and we are
working on helping her feel that God is listening. She has been
praying every day!! Progresssss.

Most of Saturday we were at a ward missionary activity and we went and
invited people to a Christmas concert the ward is hosting. It rained
most of the day but it was fun being with the few members that came.

On Sunday we had church and the ward choir (half of it is made up of
missionaries. We get dragged into everything ;) ) sang a few Christmas
songs. For lunch, and the awesome Villamizar family had all 6
missionaries over to eat for lunch. We are doing a secret Santa gift
exchange with them. So that'll be fun!

Today, Monday, we did some quick grocery shopping, ate lunch anddddd
DECORATED OUR CHRISTMAS TREE!! We are so excited for Christmas and I'm
so grateful Hermana Twede and I are companions.

An elder pyramid!



















They have something magical in Spain. In the winter they put a kerosine heater under the table and cover the table with a blanket. So when we sit down at people's houses, we pull up a chair to the table and put the blanket on our laps. I'm not sure how that isn't fire hazard, but I like it. I also like central heating like we have in the states... but you take what you can get.

















This is a video of Hermana Twede and I decorating our little Christmas tree. 

Have a lovely week!

Love, Hermana Moore