June 20-26, 2016

Well it's been a pretty uneventful week here in Elche. I'm getting to the point where I find myself asking, didn't we just do this? Didn't we just do weekly planning? Didn't we just go to church? And now I'm thinking didn't I just write my group email? I'm really getting into the routine now. Today starts my fifth week in Elche which means that
the transfer is almost over.

I'm coming home! Well I have my tentative departure date anyways. I'll be leaving Spain on November 30, 2017 so I should be home on December 1st 2017. That means I get to serve for 18 months and 20 days!!
Because I was on the native track I get to serve for 13 transfers instead of 12. :) (normally sisters serve for 12 transfers and spend 6 weeks in the MTC)

Last pday I spent 8 hours on a bus to go to Málaga to do some paperwork at the police office for my Spanish ID card. It was a quick trip and a long one. This time I got to go with Hermana DeBoard but I'll have to return in a few weeks and make the trip by myself.

I discovered this week that I really love focusing on individual people. I love nightly planning and getting to say okay, what does Rubén need to progress. What scripture with help him? I love how individual the Gospel. I feel like God does the same thing for each of us during His "nightly planning". He says, okay what does Christy need
to learn today as how does she need to learn it?

I also learned a lot about prayer this week. Prayer is such a cool thing we have. We can speak wth God and He listens to us! I pray a lot as a missionary but I've had a lot more meaningful prayers this week. God really cares about me and He is willing to comfort me and bless me if I just ask Him for help!

Elder Pesce and Elder Weenig had a baptism on Saturday and it was so fun to go see Mari get baptized. I don't know her too well, but she's an older lady who really loves the church and she is proud to be baptized. She was getting a lot of flack from her family and friends for "joining" the Church. The last lesson they had she insisted they give the lesson outside in her yard so everyone could see she was taking lessons for the Mormon missionaries. :) When I asked her how she felt after getting baptized she said she felt like she had passed
on to heaven. :)

Well that's pretty much all I have for this week. Here's some random pictures!

In English class we taught our class how to sing head shoulders knees and toes. It was fun. :)

Just a nice walk to church in sunny, palm tree-y Elche. 



















































































My lovely district.

This is Carolina, one of our members. She's the cutest and I love visiting with her.

Our completes from the other week. 


















The two Chileans here in ESPAÑAAAAAA. 

Oh. Chile is the winner so we are celebrating today with Chilean jerseys.

































I love you all lots! Have a great week and enjoy the Fourth of July!
Love, Hermana Moore

June 13-17...Additional

Hello friends! I'm learning so much on my mission and I just wanted to share some of the biggest things I've learned this week. I didn't include this in my weekly email in as much detail because I don't want to smother my non-member friends with spiritual talk. Hahaha. But I can smother you. :)

After 19 years in this wonderful Church I think I finally figured out this whole prayer thing. In the bible dictionary it reads that prayer is: "a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." Prayers have to be sincere-- the early-morning-I-just-rolled-out-of-bed prayers don't count. (I'm guilty) The form of work that is required happens when I humble myself before God. He is ready and willing to comfort me, strengthen me, lift me, and give me revelation. He can do anything! He cares about me and He really listens. Prayer can really yield endless blessings! I feel like prayer is a phone and I've been holding it upside down and
backwards until now. I say 10-15 prayers every day and Heavenly Father listens intently to each one. Yesterday I was feeling grumpy and so I kneeled down and prayed and it disappeared. God had time for ME! One of His countless little sister missionaries. I pray during lessons for investigators to understand. I pray for help. The other week I was explaining baptisms for the dead and our investigator was confused about how we know if our ancestors "accept" the baptism or not. I was at a loss for words, Spanish ones at least, and so I prayed and then
explained in simple terms. "Imagine I make a sandwich for my companion. I leave it on the table and tell her she can take it if she wants it. But if she doesn't want it to just leave it on the table." Our investigator laughed and then said now I get it! Prayer is so cool.

Have you ever read The Fourth Missionary by Elder Lawrence E Corbridge? Well I read it a few days ago and it is SUCH a good missionary talk!

It made me think about what kind of missionary I want to be and I've reflected a lot about why I'm here. There are so many reasons God wants me to be here. One of them is so He can shape me into a better person. He started this shaping process by allowing me to grow up with such wonderful loving parents and family. You've helped me to become a happy, loving smart person. Now the Lord is putting me through the refiner's fire. He wants me to be obedient and Christlike and rely on Him. The best way for me to develop these attributes is to have me here in Spain. I want to be the Fourth missionary. I want to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I want to have my goals and plans for life coincide with those of my Heavenly Father. I want to return home with honor, knowing that I gave the Lord every ounce of me.

Going back to prayer, the day I read this talk, I prayed to God and resigned myself to do His will. A tremendous feeling of peace and happiness washed over me and I felt how proud my Father is of me. I am trusting in Him because He can make me so much stronger than I could ever be. I found out a few days ago that I'll be leaving Spain around November 30th 2017. That means I get to serve for 18 months and 20 days!! Because I was on the native track I get to serve for 13 transfers instead of 12. :)

I love you all dearly and pray for you lots!

Love, Hermana Moore

June 13- June 17

Hola everyone!

Well my weeks here in Elche are just flying by. I'm starting my 4th week in Elche and my 6th on my mission!

It's been another week focused on finding more people to teach and we're down to one investigator. Our other ones have lost interest and stopped answering our calls. Rejection is fun, rejection is funnnn. Not a lot of exciting things to talk about this week.

Last pday Elder Weenig, Elder Pesce. Hermana DeBoard and I made cOmPLetOs! They turned out really well. :)

Last Tuesday I went to my first district meeting and it was really nice. We talked mostly about different ways to find people. After that Hermana DeBoard and I were off to Alicante (45 minutes by train) for exchanges with the sister training leaders. Exchanges are when we trade companions for a couple hours so the sister training leaders (they've just been out longer than us) can get to know us. Then they do a report and talk to president about how were progressing and what we need to improve on. The trainers are Hermana Swenson who goes home next transfer and Hermana Hauber who's halfway done. For Tuesday night I went with Hermana Swenson and she is just the sweetest. We walked around for 4 hours and contacted and knocked doors. We found a few people who were willing to listen. We also had an appointment with a less active member from their ward. It was such a spiritual lesson! The woman had schizophrenia so she doesn't leave her apartment barely ever but she had such a strong testimony. And that kind of showed me that everyone is different and that even if she doesn't make it to church very often, she has a better relationship with God than a lot of active members do.

After all that walking, I was exhausted and when we got back to the apartment we made brownies and between the four of us we ate the whole pan! (Hermanas DeBoard, Hauber, Swenson)

We slept the night there and that was the night I came to appreciate the AC we have in our apartment... It was so hot and I woke up sweating and then we exercised and I sweat even more! That morning after studies I left with Hermana Hauber. We had a lesson with a less active couple. Once again, I learned more from them than they learned from me. The husband has cancer and he's not doing well but they have such a strong faith I'm the Lord and His plan for them. They told us that they pray together a lot as husband and wife for him to die so he wouldn't have to suffer. How humble and trusting they are.

Hermana DeBoard and I got back to Elche at around 3 and later that night we had English class. After English class we went and picked up our scripture casesss! I'm much more excited than you probably understand/care. I just think this is going to be my favorite thing from Spain that I get for myself.

On Friday we had an eating cita with Fina and Jaime. We eat with them every week and Jaime also brings us tons of bottles of water every Thursday. The water isn't safe for drinking and I'm so grateful for him because That means we don't have to buy it. Anyways, we shared Alma 26:12 with them and then had them look at the map of our area and pick a street for us. Since then, we've been spending time everyday contacting and knocking doors on that street. They really loved the idea and are excited to be part of the finding process. They ask us every time they see us if we've found anyone yet on "their" street.

God really does open doors. Literally. There have been several times that we've been trying to get buzzed into an apartment building and I would pray that God would open the door and someone would walk out or accidentally buzz us in. We haven't found a lot of people yet, but God opens doors, and soon he'll prepare people behind those doors. Freaky bug story time! We were in a building and I pressed he door bell and glanced up and there was a 3 inch cockroach in the corner above the door. We try to ring every doorbell three times and so we gently rang it and hoped it wouldn't move. Then the sensor lights in the hallway went out and we almost screamed. We felt around for the light switch and then got out of that building! (Granted that was the last door we had to knock) I sure am grateful I don't see a lot of bugs here... I haven't seen a single one in our apartment yet.

Saturday was the day we machicar-ed everyone. Machicar is a verb unique to Spain and it's my favorite word and basically means "to show them who's boss". We had 5 lessons on Saturday and they were all killer. Each person needed us to explain something firmly to them and we did. We started out teaching Fatima about our roles as missionaries. We talked about how this year and a half isn't our time but it's the Lord's time! I was called as a missionary by a latter day prophet to preach the gospel. I have no time to waste because I'm on borrowed time. We helped her understand our purpose and that she needs to be following through on the commitments we give her. Then we taught Marina-- we only have a few lessons left with her! We're still hoping she can be baptized July 9th. Then we taught another less active who hasn't come to church in two years. We visit him every week and have been helping him establish a regular scripture reading schedule. We kind of lectured him about how he is living below his privileges. God has so many blessings just waiting for him if he would just go to church!

Saturday is the day my heart broke. We met with the teenager I wrote about last time. Like I said, he didn't get baptized for the right reasons and I had such a wish to help him. But he hasn't been progressing and has no wish to. We went in to give him a machicar lesson and we did. I promised him last time that I'd sing a song for him so I sang 'I stand all amazed' I'm Spanish and a verse in English. Then we talked about our roles as missionaries and how we're here to bring others to Christ. We're here to be missionaries first and friends after. Williams just wasn't getting that. He isn't willing to progress and he doesn't like talking about the gospel with us. He always just treats us like friends and we don't have time for that. So we had to walk away and tell him that if he ever wanted our help, we would be there. Walking away was so sad.

English class has been fun. On Friday we taught them the fruits and veggies. I'll have to take a picture with our class sometime soon. There's this one older guy in our class who is from our ward and he's the funniest. He's from Russia and ever since I introduced myself and told him I was from Michigan every time he sees me he always curtsies for some reason and then says hola! La chica de Michigannn! You are from Michigan! Then this past class we taught them how to say I like/ don't like apples. We were practicing making sentences in this structure and so my companion asked the class (in Spanish): "how do you say, She (meaning me) doesn't like oranges" he raised his hand and thought about it with squinty eyes and said, "She is very beautiful." After awkward laughter.... He continues and says "she doesn't like men from Michigan, she likes men from Spain!" Hahahaha. Oh how fun it is to be a missionary in a foreign country. 

Well, now we're on the bus on the way to Fuengirola and Málaga (8 hour bus) to finish my visa process. I'll get a Spain ID card! We'll stay the night and go home tomorrow.

Have a great week! This work is hard work but it's the Lord's work!

Weekly scripture:

Doctrine and Covenants 88:88

 "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

The Lord and His angels truly are with me wherever I go. I feel their love, care and protection for me. 

Love, Hermana Moore

June 7- June 12 A week of finding! Or so we hoped...

Hola Friends! This is going to be a long email since I have time, but I've had some really great experiences this week.

Disclaimer: missions are hard and what you'll read below are the best parts of my week. There's a lot of rejection, disappointment, tiredness, frustration, etc. that isn't pictured. ;)

Well this week has been a doozy! My district leader, Elder Weenig, challenged us to make last week a week of finding. The theory is that if we find investigators during the first week of the transfer, they can be ready for baptism by the end of the 6 weeks. So we're putting that to the test but madre mia is it hard. We have been working so hard but we're not getting anywhere. However, God is merciful and has given Hermana DeBoard and I several tender mercies amongst the rejection! This week has definitely been the week of tender mercies
and has taught me that God has a hand in my life.

Knocking on doors here is super hard! We don't even have doors to knock on because everyone lives in apartments so we press buzzers. I have decided that I hate buzzers. It is nearly impossible to have people let you into their homes when all they hear is imperfect Spanish over their speakers.

Tender mercy #1 of the week:
In the MTC the president always told us that every time we left our apartments to contact, we should pray to have God prepare the first person we see to listen to us. So we prayed for that very same thing to happen. And sure enough, God is good because we left our apartment, turned left, saw a lady smoking a cigarette (meanwhile I'm thinking, God are you sure?...) but we approached her and introduced ourselves and she listened to us and was super nice. She ended up not being too interested in the Gospel, but she was excited about the English classes we teach. So it worked! She listened to us and didn't flat out reject us!

After that we were hopeful for the next two hours of contacting but sadly she was the first and last to give us the time of day. The Spanish people are really closed off when it comes to religion and they put up a titanium wall after we get past the "hola, cómo está?" part of our conversations.

Last Wednesday we had 5 citas planned and all but one fell through. So that's about how our week has gone.

After another day of little luck contacting and knocking we got to a promising looking door and rang the bell of an old investigator and were about to talk to the lady who answered when a guy got out of the car he was about to pull away in and ran towards us yelling at us that no one in his entire building needed to hear about our lies. We asked him if he lived there and explained that we weren't even knocking at his door. He was pretty mad and yelled at us to leave. And of course that's when the lady on the other side of the buzzer started trying to talk to us. But the man gave us a glance that told us we'd better leave or else things weren't going to be good. So we left in frustration and tried not to be angry. As a representative of Christ I'm contact oh thinking of how He would react and what He would do. So Hermana DeBoard and I did our best to stay positive and God showed us another tender mercy! We knocked on another old investigator's door and he said he was busy but was nice enough to ask us to come back the following day.

It's spring here and by the temperatures we've been having I'm not sure I'll ever make it home alive! I am getting tan though! Also, I'm going to have some AWESOME sandals and watch tan lines by the end of my mission. It's been 85-95 degrees every day and humid. It's supposed to get up to 101 degrees today. Eeeksies. I walk about 6 miles on average (8 miles last Saturday!) and the combination of those two makes for a very tired Hermana Moore. Also any type of make up is a funny joke with how hot it is. I've stopped trying to use cover up and usually only put mascara on. From the second I dry my face, it's already sticky and sweaty. Hahaha. It's recommend that we drink a gallon of water everyday and although it's a ridiculous amount of
water, I do it easily! I wake up at 7:30 and get to bed at 11:30 or sometimes 12 or 12:30. It takes me approximately 27 seconds to fall asleep.

I forgot to say this in last week's email but I get to teach an English class here! It's a great way to contact people and to serve! Every Wednesday and Friday night from 8-9 pm Hermana DeBoard and I teach a beginner's English class. We've been teaching things like colors and weather and it's been pretty entertaining.

On Thursday we had an eating cita with the Morenos, an older wife and husband who are members. We had really good Spanish rice! And my portion was at last 5 times more than what they had. The Morenos are great and love missionary work. We barely knock doors in their neighborhood because Brother Moreno has already done it all (resulting in many close calls with the police).

On Friday the 10th I hit one month on my mission! Yay! 17 more to go!

Friday was also zone meeting in Alicante. Our zone has about 30 of the closest missionaries and meet every few weeks to talk and learn together. We left Friday morning and took a 45 minute train to Alicante where we ate breakfast and then had the meeting. We talked about planning and about how a goal without a plan is useless. We plan so much here and set so many goals. At the end of the meeting we sang the mission hymn! "O vos los llamados" I'll be sure to sing it lots when I come home. :) you can also find it on YouTube if you search Spain Malaga mission and the song title.

After the meeting we all went to Dominos for 7 euro all you can eat pizza. And it turns out I can eat 7 pieces of pizza. That turned out to be a mistake because we had to sprint 10 blocks to catch our train.

After we got back from Alicante at around 5 we had an incredible (yay tender mercies!) lesson with our number investigator Marina. She is a single parent with 3 kids and has been taking lessons for a while. She had a baptismal date for a while but was feeling pressured so other missionaries took it away. She only has two lessons left and I feel she's really ready for baptism. She loves coming to church and has really become part of the ward. People at church really care about her. We had planned to teach her the law of chastity lesson but when we got to her house we didn't feel it was right with her kids around.

We felt we just needed to answer her questions and calm her doubts. So we did. We just had her ask us questions. She started out asking questions like what do dreams mean and at that point I was a little
worried about who the rest of her questions would be. I knew that we wanted to talk about setting a new baptismal date so I prayed silently. I've never prayed so hard in a lesson before. I prayed that she would feel the Spirit and that she would ask a question about baptism. It was amazing! She opened her mouth to ask a question then closed it with a confused look on her face. Then she asked the question I had prayed for. She asked what a baptismal service was like so we explained a little about that and then we talked about preparing
to be baptized. She interrupted us and said, Hermanas. I know what you need to do for me so I can be baptized. We were happy to listen! She wants us to go over all the lessons briefly so she can make sure she
knows and believes everything. I assured her that she doesn't need to know everything and that she knows a lot more than she thinks she does. We talked about goals and she agreed to put July 9th as her baptismal date!

Last night we met with a less active member who dis-activated a week after getting baptized. Williams is 17 and kind of a punk. Hahaha. We talked to him for a long time and just got to know each other. He didn't get baptized for the right reasons and I really want to help him love this church as much as I do. I know it can help him a lot in his life.

Things I learned about Spain this week:
1. Spaniards love ROUND ABOUTS. They are everywhere and I don't think you could drive for 5 minutes without hitting one. The roads here are really narrow and most of them are one ways. Even though I have an
international license I vow to never drive a car in Spain. Drivers are crazy here-- even more so than Utah drivers.
2. Don't even THINK about knocking on doors during mediodia (Spain-wide nap time). People don't want to be bugged and cities turn into ghost towns. All the little shops close down from 2 until 5:30.
3. I should've appreciated carpeted houses more. Carpeting in houses just doesn't exist in Spain.

Favorite scripture of the week: Mosiah 26:20
"Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep."

This is the scripture that was an answer to my prayers about serving a mission. The Lord has promised me eternal life if I follow Him; the least I could do is help others come to have the joy that I have. So that's why I'm here in Spain!

I love you all, thanks for all the emails throughout the week and for your love and support.

This is hard work, but I know it's the Lord's work!

Love, Hermana Moore

A picture from last week eating at the pasta buffet place. This is one of my favorite pictures from my mission so far. I also love how accurately it portrays our relationship with Elders Pesce and Weenig.

We're really close and we love our time together but we still follow the mission rules to a T (note: the visible force field in between Elder Weenig and I). Hahaha. Also, we took this before we went outside and got all sweaty.

Week 2 in Elche!

Completossssss