July 4th-July 11th, 2016

Hello all! This past week was just wonderful. Things are looking up and God had been so merciful with His two daughters in Elche this week. We got transfer calls on Saturday and Hermana DeBoard and I are staying together for another transfer! So we're excited to work hard and really see a change in Elche.

Last Monday on the 4th we ate out with Juan, a member from Crevillente and then we helped Elder Weenig pick out a killer suit, shoes, belt and tie combo to go home in. He leaves Elche on Wednesday and we'll be super sad to see him go. Rebajas are nation-wide sales in July and January. We spent most of pday in the mall. I bought 4 more t-shirts. One mistake I made when I bought mission clothes was buying too many blouses and shirts that I need to wear something under. IT'S HOT HERE AND I'LL HAVE TWO SUMMERS HERE. Now I have enough tshirts to wear them all week. I also bought a cute little maroon side bag. The one I bought from Target started ripping on the bottom so I'm having a member fix it. I figure if I get a small one I won't be able to carry
around much stuff so my bag will be lighter.

On Tuesday we had a zone meeting and Hermana DeBoard and I gave a great taller (workshop) about teaching how Christ taught while He was on the earth. The missionaries going home this transfer bore their final testimonies and Elder Weenig couldn't stop saying, "Me encanta ser misionero" I love being a missionary. Elder Weenig is such a good, obedient missionary and he's been a really great example for me. I hope I'm always able to say that I love being a missionary.

The main reason this week has been so great is because we've been teaching Marina's daughter Nicol the lessons. Marina is our only investigators and she has three great kids. Nicol is 12 and wants to be baptized so we're teaching her the lessons. We've taught her three lessons and she is such a fast, observant learner. When we teach her she and Marina are both attentive and Johan (5 years old) sits at the table for most of the lesson. I just love how the Gospel is changing that family and how happy they're becoming. Here's a conversation I had with Johan one lesson right after we sat down and were just talking:

Johan: Hermanassssss are we ever going to start??

Me: well what do we have to do to start, Johan?

Johan: Uh, Hermana. Of course we have to pray. 

Me: Who should say it? Can you?

Johan (with a sheepish grin on his face): ahhhhhh. Fineeee.

He then said the sweetest prayer! He thanked God for sending us to their home and gave thanks for his family. And then he asked for us all to be happy. :) it was the cutest. 

We're starting to contact more and we'll see success soon! A common interaction is the following:

Us: Hola! ¿Cómo están?

Grumpy old people on street: ADIOS.

A few days ago it was 9:40 and we had until 10:15 to finish off the day. I suggested we go knock on Sergio's door even though he's been giving us the cold shoulder and not answering his phone or door. We rang he buzzer 5 times and sure enough, he "wasn't there". When we turned around to leave we saw Guillermo, a guy other hermanas used to teach English to. We hadn't seen him in a while because he's working like crazy. So we were able to share a scripture with him. This wouldn't have happened if we had just gone home early!

On Wednesday Elder Weenig and Pesce asked us to help them move all of their stuff over to their new apartment and being the nice hermanas that we are, we said yes. They brought a load of suitcases to their new place and took and hour and a half to unpack them. Meanwhile we were conveniently at their old apartment finishing the much needed deep cleaning that hadn't gotten done! When they came back we kept cleaning for another hour and a half and got a lot done. As I was cleaning out a cabinet where there were a million grocery shopping bags stored I asked Elder Weenig how long some gross rotting potatoes had been hidden beneath the bags and he responds with: "there are potatoes in there?!" So... At least 12 weeks?

A while ago we made cookies for Elder Weenig's birthday and while we were over there cleaning he gave us the container back with all the crumbs still in it! When I gave him grief about it he said Forgive me for my gender! Hahaha. We did find these cool bag water bottles we can clip on our bags in their kitchen drawers and we decided to take them. On our way out Elder Pesce says, "cool water bottles! Do they work well?" "We don't know yet because we just stole them from your kitchen!" I don't think elders use their kitchens much...

Elder Pesce found out he is training this transfer and we'll never hear the end of it. He slips it in everywhere and says, "yeah, Presidente called me and told me that out of all the great elders in the mission, I was chosen to be a trainer" and "I think we need to take this bus BECAUSE I'M TRAINING." In a prayer for the food in Sunday he even prayed that he would travel in safety to Málaga to pick up his trainee BECAUSE HE'S TRAINING. bahahaha. I hope I get to train while he's still in my district so I can do the same thing. We're all excited for him to train and to get to know a new elders fresh out of the MTC. I'm not the newest anymore! Speaking of training, since the training process is two transfers long (12 weeks) I'm halfway done with my training! I hit 2 months on the 10th.

Thanks for all of your emails and love and support. I love you all lots!

Love, Hermana Moore

I actually have pictures this week!

Cutting onions is sad. 

 But taco salads are happy!

 Have I mentioned that's it's hot? We bought some Mr. Freezie pops. 

We got desperate for lunch one day and made mac and cheese and the rice. Packing my suitcase mostly full of food was such a good idea. Thanks Dad!

There's this old investigator named Alejandro that always wants to take us out for chocolate milk. We obliged one day and he gave me this sweet fan. #beattheheat

Having an iPad is so nifty. Here are all of our pins we have of people to visit!

 We wrote Elder Pesce a to-do list for his trip to Málaga to pick up his trainee. To bring us pizzas and things like that. :)

We had an Alicante vs. Elche soccer match and we wonnnn!

Read me!

Hello everyone! This is the coolest spiritual experience I've had on my mission, and probably my life, so far. :) This happened on Friday 8th. 

I thought about Mom and Adeline a lot throughout the day and during my bedtime prayer I prayed and asked God why? for the millionth time. I know the answer. I know it's God's will and His plan and I know He's right. I'm grateful for the accident and for the person I've become from it and the family we've become from it. But I can't help but ask why it had to happen when it did and how it did. Up until I was around 10 or 11 I remember wishing and hoping that it was all just a dream and that I'd wake up and Mom would be there. I remember the day where I let that dream go, when I had to face the reality. I know God has a plan and I really do trust in it.

Anyways, on Friday, a little selfishly I petitioned God to let Mom visit me in a dream or something so I could feel her close. There have been times in my life that I've felt her so close. Like when I got my patriarchal blessing I knew that if I would've opened my eyes I would've seen her sitting right there beside me. Then a thought came into my mind. It was something so clear that I'd never experienced before. It was the tender voice of my Heavenly Father speaking directly to me. He said, "Haven't you been seeing her? She's been right there. She always has been." Then in my mind I saw Mom, dressed in a pristine temple dress. I imagined her right around the corner outside my bedroom and she looked so calm. She looked so comfortable and I immediately understand that she was always there. Then I saw myself earlier that day knocking doors with Hermana DeBoard. I saw it from a bird's eye view and as I saw it from that angle I saw Mom walking beside me. She's right beside me. She's there and she always has been.

It was such a sweet experience and I just wanted to share it with you all. I love you and am grateful we have this saving Gospel in our lives. Families ARE eternal and that day of resurrection will be so sweet! You'd all better be doing what you need to do to inherit the Celestial kingdom!

Love, Hermana Moore

June 27-July 3

Happy Fourth of July all you Americans! (Carolin and Vick, you're practically Americans ;)) I hope you're having a fun day celebrating!

Well I'm starting in on the last week of the transfer! It's been another tough week in terms of numbers of lessons given but once again the Lord has blessed me by teaching me what I need to lear!
Highlights of the week:

Every Tuesday we have a district meeting, which is attended and run by the closest 5 sets of missionaries. It's a two hour long meeting where we teach each other and strengthen our teaching skills. This week Hermana DeBoard and I were asked to teach for 20 minutes about the importance of the planning sessions we have. As a missionary, there are two types of planning. Weekly planning happens every Thursday and lasts 3 hours. We look at each one of our investigators and the people we think we need to visit and then figure out a general lesson plan of what they need to hear. We also set goals for the week in terms of how many lessons we want to teach, how many new investigators we want to find, as well as how we want to improve as missionaries during the following week. The other kind of planning, nightly planning, happens well... Every night from about 10:15-10:45. During this time we plan out the following  hour by hour and fill the day with people we are going to visit, which streets we are going to contact on, and what we are going to teach about. Planning is really important because it gives us a time to connect our plans with those God has. He knows which people are being prepared to accept our message and with planning, He can guide us to them.

After district meeting all 10 of us went out and ordered 5 gigantic pizzas and shared them.


So last Thursday Elder Pesce and Weenig got a call from their landlord and he told them they have to pack up and move out this coming Wednesday. Apparently the owners are getting divorced so the wife needs the apartment to live in. So the elders have been cleaning like crazy and looking at another apartment to rent. On Saturday we got special permission to go to the Elder's apartment to help them clean. Hermana DeBoard and I tackled the kitchen and boy did it need it. The elders are both really neat and clean people but elders have been living in that apartment for the last 5 years and so there was a lot to do. Because missionaries get transferred in and out a lot, a lot of food gets left behind and forgotten about. I cleared out her cupboards and fridge and filled three garbage bags full of expired food and old medicine that has just been sitting there. Then I took apart the inside of the fridge, scrubbed it and defrosted the freezer. It was actually pretty satisfying. While I was cleaning out the fridge I remembered cleaning out the fridge, which for the record is one thousand times nicer and cleaner, at home with Dad. :)

We had a few lessons here and there but it's been a pretty uneventful week. Our only investigator now is Marina and we just started teaching her 12 year old daughter the lessons on Sunday.

On Sunday I got asked to speak for 10 minutes about missionary work during Sacrament meeting (our main church worship meeting) on July 17th. So I'll start thinking about what I want to say. Speaking of getting assigned to speak, Hermana DeBoard and I have to teach/ lead a discussion tomorrow at our Zone meeting (the closest 40 missionaries). Eeeksies!

Hermana DeBoard hit her 9 month mark last week and we got ice cream to celebrate. Since she's at her halfway mark, she's been thinking about goals a lot and what she wants to set as goals to improve on in the time she has left. So that made ME think about my own goals and I thought of a few more good ones. Before my mission I don't feel like I ever really studied the scriptures, besides the Book of Mormon a little. So I set a goal to finish the New and Old Testament and the Pearl of Great Price all before I come home. Ill take them one at a time and I'll read 4 pages each day and I'll get through everything without a problem. I'm going to read them in English and then have my Spanish scriptures alongside. I also have a goal for the Book of Mormon! ** I'm reading it out loud in Spanish to work on pronunciation and read 6 pages every day. Doing this, I'll be able to finish it every 12 weeks (2 transfers). So I'll finish the Book of Mormon 6 times during my mission! I'm excited. :) AHHH the scriptures are so cool and they really do contain the word of God and the fullness of God's Gospel!

**For those of you who aren't members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Book of Mormon is a book similar to the Bible that tells of God's dealings with the people of the ancient Americas. 

So here's the biggest thing I learned this week: As hopefully all who know me know, I'm a happy person. But I also get serious when I'm focused on working on something. Since missionary work is always hard work, I've noticed myself this week getting too focused and finding myself get frustrated and getting grumpy with my companion. Hermana DeBoard is great and definitely doesn't deserve my grumpiness so I've been trying my best to have fun with whatever we're doing, even if it is knocking doors in 90 degree weather. It's still a work in progress but it's something I've been working on this last week in particular. I don't have the right to be selfish here. When I accepted the call to Spain, I accepted to work with all heart and mind and not worry about myself. This is the Lord's time and it doesn't matter if I'm tired or hungry--I'm still a servant of the Lord. I need to be humble and work and He will bless me.
I'm sorry I've been super lame with pictures this week it here's a picture of my door. So here's your cultural knowledge for the week. Doors are different in Spain.

Have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Moore

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