April 18th-April 24th, 2017

This week was quite the crazy week here in Murcia. This week was
"Semana de Primavera" (Week of Spring) and it was bigger than Semana
Santa! Murcia used to be all orchards and so people have a lot of
pride in their heritage. There were parades nearly every day which
made missionary work pretty hard to get done. So I don't have a ton to
talk about but here's a quick overview. I have a lot of pictures but
they're on my camera... I'll try to send them next week.

Tuesday was Dia de los Huertanos (Gardener's day) and the whole city
dressed up in traditional clothes and everyone drinks the whole day
long. We had several members warn us about how dangerous it was so we
went to a ward activity in the morning and went home at 4pm. We talked
to President Andersen and got permission to stay inside for the rest
of the day. It was really weird to have so much free time (there are
only so many phone calls to make...) but Hermana George and I relaxed
a lot. We also got a good view of the parade. The last floats handed
out vegetables and fruit and people swarmed to get them!

On Wednesday we had district meeting and had a pancake party
afterwards! 🥞 At night we taught Magdalena and her friend Karina.
Between the two of them they have six kids so it was a chaotic lesson.

Thursday was planning day and Hermana George and I planned for the
last week of the transfer! It was a good planning session and we
really analyzed the needs of the people we teach. Being a missionary
is so cool because you get to discern the needs of people and then out
plans into action to help them grow closer to Christ. The Mendez
family from our ward invited us to eat and afterwards we had a really
nice lesson about prayer. We invited them to really prepare themselves
for prayer and imagine approaching the throne of God. Prayers
shouldn't just be repetitive and mindless. God is our Father and wants
to hear from us!

We had quite a few failed lessons this week so not too much to tell
about lessons but we have had some really good ideas about how to
strengthen the ward. We are going to do a Book of Mormon reading
challenge and have prizes for those on track at our ward family home
evenings so people start coming. Then we've got some other plans to
get to know the ward better and have them know us as real people. I'm
usual just referred to as "the one who plays the piano". We have hope
for progress!

On Sunday we had met with Sonia (our miracle from Librilla!) and we
had a really nice lesson with her! She is excited to learn more and
excited to read in the Book of Mormon!

Well, I think that's about it. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love, Hermana Moore

Hermana George and I!
























The riverrr. 
















Hermana George, Hermana Díaz and I at the ward activity.






















I just want to take a minute to talk about the best, blondest trio to ever exist. And we're back together this transfer in the same district! Hermana Højholdt and Hermana Gibson are just the sweetest. :)

April 11th- April 17th, 2017

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! :) I am so grateful to
be a missionary here in Spain, especially during this Easter season!
This week involved a lot of parades, contacting and miracles. It has
been Semana Santa and Spaniards sure like to celebrate. There was a
procession almost every day. The parades consisted of tons of people
dressed in robes and pointy hats carrying big floats. Some people
handed out candy and others carried crosses or candles. We live right
by a Catholic church so we could hear and see the processions de our
balcony from noon until two in the morning! We kept working despite
the festivities and found some really prepared people.

With Raquel, our mini-missionary, we went on splits with members a
lot. Splits are when we take a member with us and split into two
companionships to work. On Tuesday we did splits and I went contacting
with Mensi. She was awesome at testifying and we found two new people
to teach! On Tuesday while Hermana George was off with a member,
Raquel and I knocked all the doors in a building and set up a few
appointments to go back. Summer is setting in here in Murcia and it
was in the high 70's and 80's this week! Eeksies!

This weekend we had interviews with President Andersen and zone
conference with all the missionaries from Murcia, Alicante and
Cartagena. I love being around other missionaries and I always learn
things I can improve on.

Before I end I have two big miracles I want to tell you about. :)

On Thursday I went on splits with Magda. We were contacting in a town
and there weren't a whole lot of people out. We found a park and
talked with a few people there. We didn't have too much success until
we found two 25 year olds sitting on a bench. Juan and Jesus. We
showed them the Prince of Peace video and we could tell that Juan was
really engaged and interested and Jesus didn't want anything to do
with us. We stood there and Magda and I taught them an overview of the
Restoration. Then we testified about how the gospel of Jesus Christ
can change their lives. It was cool to see that the words I spoke were
not my own. I testified about how the gospel changed my life and
helped me (and continues helping me) cope with the loss of my mom.
That's obviously not something I talk about a lot, especially with
people I just met. I distinctly remember the one other contact in my
whole mission that I've talked about Mom. The Spirit testified of
every word I said and once we had finished, we got Juan's phone number
and set up another day to talk more. Jesus didn't want anything but we
gave him a card with our number anyways. The next day, I got a phone
call and it was Jesus!! He was choked up and said that he had been up
all night thinking about what I had said about how the gospel changes
lives. He said that he wants to change his life and he wants to meet
with us! God softens people's hearts and He is rally in control of
missionary work!

On Saturday evening we had two lessons scheduled at 7 and both of them
fell through. We started walking away to go to our back of plans and
as we were crossing the street I pleaded in my mind for us to find
someone to teach. Jus then, I looked up and on the other side of the
crosswalk I saw ANTONIO! Hermana Encarnación and I were teaching him
but he completely disappeared and I hadn't seen him for a month. His
life has completely turned around and he is now living in his own
apartment instead of in a shelter. Also, we were working with him to
quit smoking but nothing was working. But guess what?! HE QUIT
SMOKING! HE HASN'T SMOKED SINCE MARCH 22nd!! He is reading in the Book
of Mormon and he's working on gaining his own testimony so he can be
baptized! Ahhhhh!!! God is so good! He is a completely different
person and he is just glowing with happiness. :)

This Gospel CHANGES lives. I have felt it and I have seen it! If you
aren't happy, make a change! Get closer to Christ. Christ suffered,
died and now He LIVES. And His church with the authority of God exists
on this earth. It is the pathway to happiness. :)

I love you all so much! Thank you for your emaiks, prayers and love.
Enjoy some pictures!

Love, Hermana Moore

Hermana George and I celebrating our 11 months at Starkbucks! (The
only one I've seen in Spain!)

























Milkshakes with Rodolfo and the trio.

















Raquel, Hermana George and I.
















The view from our balcony at 11 pm. 

















The sound of these drums is engraved in my mind...

April 4th-April 10th, 2017--Miracles, 11 months and a trio!

Hello! Happy almost- Easter! How are you all doing? Well, I'm great.
This past week went by so quickly but it's been a good one.

Every investigator I had with Hermana Encarnación has either dropped
us or disappeared. Busayo, our wonderful Nigerian friend with a
baptismal date is the one who disappeared. We stopped by her house and
talked to her land lord and they said that Busayo and her family
haven't been seen in two weeks and that their house is a mess. So
either they picked up and ran or something happened to them. :( We are
so, so sad! We are praying a lot so that they can be safe.

To make up for all of the lost investigators we've been contacting
like crazy and God has blessed us to find seven people who want to
know more!

Let me tell you about some of the people we're teaching:

Rachel and Sunny are from Pakistan and they are so ready for the
gospel in their lives! They are expecting and they got to Spain
recently. I'm really excited to teach them! They just love talking
about God and their English is the cutest.

Kamel is a guy from Algeria and the last lesson we had with him we
brought him a Book of Mormon in Arabic and he sat there and read 6
pages of it without stopping! He has real intent of seeing for himself
whether this is true or not!

On Wednesday we didn't have an set appointments so we decided to go to
Librilla! It's a super small town that's in our area that I've never
been to. The two anterior hermanas hadn't gone either so we figure
missionaries haven't even set foot in that town for at least two or
three years. We scheduled to be there for two hours and we were off!
It was a twenty minute train ride and when we got off, we were in THE
MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. There was one dirt trail leading to where there
were some houses. There was a church, a couple of stores and a lot of
deserted streets. We got to the edge of the town and prayed for God to
help us find the people that were prepared. When we said "amen"
Hermana George and I looked at each other and said "we're going to
knock EVERY door in this town." And then we pulled out our map and
started systematically knocking every single door. We soon found out
that the houses were either abandoned or lived in by very old people.
We gave out pictures of Christ and showed the PrinceofPeace video to
as many people as would allow it. We found a lady who told us to come
back another day. Then we found SONIA! We knocked on a door and a lady
came. We introduced ourselves and she was just so happy to meet us! We
showed her the video and then taught her the Restoration in 5 minutes
on her doorstep. She was just drinking it all in! We got her number
and will meet with her this week! As we were leaving we gave her a
pamphlet with a picture of a Book of Mormon on the back. She flipped
through it and then said "hey! What's this book! I want one!" So Sonia
is our wonderful new investigator from Librilla. She's the reason we
went there. The Lord has prepared her heart!

On Friday afternoon we picked up Raquel from the bus station! She is
our mini missionary from Málaga. She has the week off of high school
so she's here being a missionary with us! We have had a lot of time to
contact and we've been talking to everyone! We've been doing what we
like to call 3D contacting. We get on a busy street and all three of
us contact different people. Then we really get triple the work done!
It's been really neat to see that I can contact a person and teach
them all by myself (well with the Spirit. :) ). We've been really
successful and it's been really fun contacting!

Today Hermana George and I are celebrating our ELEVEN months as
missionaries here in Spain today!

I think that's all I have to tell you for now. Have a wonderful, happy
week! Share the gospel and be nice to everyone!

Love, Hermana Moore

Hermana George and I in Librilla! The place of miracles.
























Lunch time with Hermana George and Raquel!

















The trio. :)

















Read the book! Ohhh and look at the cool foldable water bottle I got. 






















Spain in its finest!

March 28th-April 3rd, 2017

Happy April! I hope your week was just fantastic!  This week I learned
a lot, got to do some service and learned that it's ALWAYS good to
smile.

On Tuesday we had an apartment check to make sure it was clean and
everything was working. The Gibson's, the senior couple, even brought
us cookies and root beer! So of course we had root beer floats that
night. :)

On Wednesday morning Elder Holowell calls and says, "Soooo
hermanas.... what are we going to eat today after district meeting?"
Hermana Encarnación, the district misses you and your Dominican
Republican food. 😊 Hermana George and I looked at each other and
agreed to make chicken Alfredo for everyone. So that was fun!

On Thursday after weekly panning we had time to make cinnamon rolls!
We put chocolate in them too and they were divine. On Thursday
afternoon I went on splits with Hermana Højholdt because she hurt her
foot. We stayed home while Hermana George and Hermana Prior went to a
few lessons. It was fun being back with my companion!

On Thursday night we set up an appointment with a person we found and
were sitting outside a park waiting for them. While we're waiting, a
guy crossed the street l his bike and came to talk to us. His name was
John Emanuel and he was from Nigeria. He said that he was watching us
from across the street and because I was smiling so much, he felt like
he needed to talk to us. "You looked so happy I figured you must be
missionaries of God!" He congratulated us for preaching the word of
God and told us that we are more important than presidents and kings.
In the curse of the twenty minute conversation, John rapped for us
about missionaries, we talked about the Restoration, he told us that
we are brothers and sisters in Christ 27 times. At one point he left
us with his bike and ran to a grocery store. He comes back with a bag
and two plastic gloves and gave us half of the onions he got from a
friend. Yes, onions. It's not every day that you can say that someone
gave you a bag of onions for smiling. We're not sure how interested he
is, but we got his number and we'll try to meet with him again. What a
contact. :)

On Friday we started contacting with the new Easter video the church
has put out! It is so cool and you have to see it if you haven't
already seen it on Facebook. The church media department is so cool.
Well, really this church is so cool. I love contacting with the video
because most people believe in Christ. I love testifying so simply of
my Savior! He really did die for our sins, but more importantly He was
resurrected. He is the Prince of Peace and we can find a balance in
our lives with the help of His gospel!

It was General Conference weekend where we had the opportunity to hear
the words of our prophet Thomas S. Monson and the apostles. My
questions were answered and I felt peace.

Oh! And Hermana George and I got a surprise call from President
Andersen telling us that on Friday we will receive a third companion!
Her name is Raquel and she is from Málaga. She'll be serving with us
for a week as a mini-missionary! So that'll be an adventure!

Have a happy week and don't forget to pray!

Love, Hermana Moore

Rolling out the cinnamon rolls



















A sunset in the country.






















Our bag of onions from John!























Hermana George. :)