Hello! Well if you read last week's email, you'll remember that I got sick on Sunday. So that sums up this whole past week! But really it turned into just a regular cold by Sunday night. It certainly wasn't going to stop the Lord's work or the adventures! On Monday we went with Elder Egbert and Elder Köhler and Jonathan (almost missionary!) and drove up the Sierra Nevada again and climbed a mountain. Pictures to come. :) The lovely Hermana Gentry has a nice camera and just so happens to love taking pictures! So that makes me a lucky girl with lots of pictures of me in pretty places. The snow just makes me feel like I'm back in Ironwood. Here's how the rest of the week went:
On Tuesday we had district meeting where we all talked for a few minutes about Christlike attributes. I talked about obedience and talked about the blessings that God has for us as we are obedient because it's something we WANT to do, not because it's something expected of us. Think about it: would you be happier if your child cleaned the whole house and made dinner for you because you sat there and made him or if he did it because he really loves you and wanted to help you? On Tuesday night most of our plans fell through and so we were doing some contacting. And that's when I had a humbling experience. We weren't finding much success and it was cold, dark and late. The medicine I had taken was wearing off and my throat was sore. I simply didn't want to talk to anyone. I was feeling sorry for myself and I knew that I needed to get over myself so I just tried to think about Christ. I stumbled through the hour and a half we contacted and finally made it to 8:30. We had a lesson with a family of less active members and it ended up being my saving grace. We showed them a video about Christ, one I had seen several times. The video finished and my body started to thaw and relax. I felt a love for Christ that filled my heart and my entire being. I testified that while Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane there was a moment where Heavenly Father had to let His Only Begotten Son to suffer completely alone. I talked about how hard it must have been for God to do this. To watch His son suffer and or reach out and give Him relief. But then how important and vital these moments were in Christ's Atonement. Because of these moments, Christ knows how to succor us. He knows how to give us relief when we feel abandoned in our sufferings. This might sound silly, but it was what I needed. :) I know that Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer. I testify that He is there in the darkest moments of our lives.
I woke up on Wednesday without a voice and so I drank an infusion and whispered all throughout studies. We realized pretty quickly that I wasn't getting it back before we'd have to leave for our lessons so we had to cancel all of them for the day... turns out you can't do much as a missionary without a voice! But we were still productive and did planning during the afternoon instead of Thursday morning. All that extra time at home left Hermana Gentry and I with a lot of BONDING time! So we talked a whole bunch, well she talked, I whispered. Haha. We're already such good friends. I've been extremely blessed with companions!
On Thursday we went with the elders and a few ward members and sang (luckily I was playing the piano) at a residency home for disabled people and then the members had us all over to eat. Also, the zone leaders just got back from Málaga and they brought me some surprises from the mission office! The Pease's Christmas card got to me and a letter from Addie in Brazil finally got to me! And a packet from the Duluth stake with cards. :) And a present from Abbey! So that made for a happy Hermana Moore! Thanks all of you!
Friday was the Día de Reyes (Day of Kings). It's a celebration that's the equivalent to how big Christmas is in the States. Basically they celebrate that the three wise men bring presents to everyone. So it's like Santa Claus, but there are three of them! The Reyes didn't bring us any presents though... We have been eating a lot of Roscón. Roscón is a typical Spanish cake that they eat for Día de Reyes. It's in the shape of a big donut and it has cream in the middle. Hidden in the cream is a plastic king figurine and a bird figurine. Whoever gets the king gets to wear a crown and whoever gets the bird is supposed to pay for the Roscón.
On Saturday morning we had a lesson with José, a man we met in the park a few weeks ago. We planned for a lesson 0 ad to talk about the Book of Mormon. It turned out to be a different lesson than we planned... He returned the Book of Mormon I had give him and said he wanted to learn just about the "culture" of the Mormons. He said he didn't want to learn about the religious side because he's an atheist. So that was interesting. That made me realize how big of a testimony I have of this gospel. We, as a church, act like we do BECAUSE of the gospel. We are good, charitable people because we want to be Christlike. We live in a manner different then they of the world because we are doing our best to follow God's commandments and His path for us. So we talked with him for awhile and found some middle ground with families but not too much more then that.
Sunday was such a good day! I had been fasting for us to find new investigators so we could know that we are working. Well, our investigator Karen is a reference from a family in our ward. On the way to church, the bus stopped at a stop and Karen and the family got on with a man named Jorge. He has recently arrived from Argentina and is open to talk about God and learn about different churches. We are going to teach him today! God is good. :)
Well, this is getting pretty lengthy but his week has really been filled with blessings even though I've been sick.
One more thing and then I'll get to pictures. Today Hermana Gentry and I went on a fun excursion up some Spanish side streets to overlookinh the Alhambra. Pictures from that next week hopefully. :)
In love you all! Have a wonderful week!
On the mountain. :)
Elders Köhler and Egbert and Hermana Gentry and I. Johnathan is taking the picture. 
Hermana Gentry is cute. :)
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