Wow... this week has been CRAZY!! Missions are so up and down... all the time! You experience the highest highs and the lowest lows... I hated when people would tell me that before my mission because I never quite grasped what they were saying (and I always thought it was cheesy), but here I am, saying the exact same thing, and realizing how true it is!
So... I'll get through the rough part of my week first so we can end on a happy note. I was told this past Friday that my old neighbor/investigator in T passed away last week. I was so upset. I knew it was coming because she had been battling various cancers for the past three years. She was in her early 60's and quite the fireball! I loved Sha so much. She never wanted to hear our message about Christ, but we took every opportunity we could to serve her. She was our parking neighbor and we would carry her groceries for her up two flights of stairs to her apartment. The first time we met her she had locked her keys in her car and I offered to get them for her... with a bent hanger.... with the car window only cracked an inch!
She was the one who made me that blanket I sent home a while back. She was so sad when I left T and wanted me to have something to always remember her by. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. I know she's in a beautiful place, at rest from all the cancer that plagued her body. It is my prayer that she will accept the truths of the Gospel and realize "Them Mormon angel gals were right!" . I was her "Mormon angel gal" :)
It was a rough weekend, but I am happy to know that it's never the end with death. I may not be able to attend her funeral, but we'll see. I loved that woman!
On the brighter side of things... we had a special conference with Quinton L Cook on Friday! He's a lot shorter than I imagined, but so powerful! I am so grateful he was the one who came to our mission: I've always wanted to know this Apostle better. He and Bishop Stevenson and Elder Gonzalez of the Presidency of the 70 came and spoke to us! They weren't there for any particular reason but to just visit us. We all got to shake their hands and greet him! He's very friendly and when he spoke I just knew in my heart that he truly is an Apostle of the Lord. He gave a lot of advice and counsel on our lives, now and in the future. He gave apostolic blessings to us for serving our missions.. It felt so good to know that I really am in the right place at the right time in my life.
Saturday was so amazing.... MIE AND JE WERE SEALED!!! I don't think I told you about how it DIDN'T happen last week after all... So on November 30th Mie (convert) and Je were planning on going through the Temple to be sealed. Je was about 10 months pregnant and ready to pop! But they knew Jacob's due date wasn't until the first week of November. So the morning on the 30th we were on our way to meet them at the Temple! Lo and behold we get a phone call from the Temple sisters that the sealing was cancelled: Je was in labor! HAHAHA!! Heavenly Father has such a sense of humor!
On the brighter side of things... we had a special conference with Quinton L Cook on Friday! He's a lot shorter than I imagined, but so powerful! I am so grateful he was the one who came to our mission: I've always wanted to know this Apostle better. He and Bishop Stevenson and Elder Gonzalez of the Presidency of the 70 came and spoke to us! They weren't there for any particular reason but to just visit us. We all got to shake their hands and greet him! He's very friendly and when he spoke I just knew in my heart that he truly is an Apostle of the Lord. He gave a lot of advice and counsel on our lives, now and in the future. He gave apostolic blessings to us for serving our missions.. It felt so good to know that I really am in the right place at the right time in my life.
Saturday was so amazing.... MIE AND JE WERE SEALED!!! I don't think I told you about how it DIDN'T happen last week after all... So on November 30th Mie (convert) and Je were planning on going through the Temple to be sealed. Je was about 10 months pregnant and ready to pop! But they knew Jacob's due date wasn't until the first week of November. So the morning on the 30th we were on our way to meet them at the Temple! Lo and behold we get a phone call from the Temple sisters that the sealing was cancelled: Je was in labor! HAHAHA!! Heavenly Father has such a sense of humor!
Little Jacob wanted to make his grand debut and actually be seen at his own sealing to his parents! 8 days later, Mie, Je and Jacob were sealed together for time and all eternity as a family. I sat in the sealing room, full of the most energetic spirit of joy....THIS is what I live for as a missionary; to see families united for all eternity. What a sacred blessing it has been for me to see an entire journey for someone from the start! I remember Mie's baptism like it was yesterday! And now, a year later, he's a husband, a father of two beautiful children, and Priesthood leader in his home.
Jacob slept peacefully during the whole ceremony and when it was over Je walked over to me and went to place the baby in my arms! Darn mission rules.... I told her I couldn't hold him yet! But I will when we come back for Easter! As we all walked out of the Temple to take pictures Jacob kept making little smiles: his little spirit must know what just took place. I am so excited for when Ely (their 5 year old daughter) will be able to be sealed to them as well. Her biological father won't let Mie adopt her yet, though he hasn't been in her life since she was 18 months old. BUT I know it will happen eventually. And when it does she wants to be sealed in the "Princess Castle Temple" (Salt Lake)... a girl after my own heart! ;)
We are still looking for more people to teach in this area. We have a mom and daughter we met last Monday night who want to be baptized! Dia and her 10 year old daughter Asi! We met them on the street, she let us right in, we taught the Restoration and they both said yes to baptism! Their baptism will hopefully be sometime at the end of this month. I am thrilled! When we showed them a picture of the First Vision their faces both lit up and Asi said "I bet I know who THEY are!! Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus, didn't he?? I KNEW IT!!".
We are still looking for more people to teach in this area. We have a mom and daughter we met last Monday night who want to be baptized! Dia and her 10 year old daughter Asi! We met them on the street, she let us right in, we taught the Restoration and they both said yes to baptism! Their baptism will hopefully be sometime at the end of this month. I am thrilled! When we showed them a picture of the First Vision their faces both lit up and Asi said "I bet I know who THEY are!! Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus, didn't he?? I KNEW IT!!".
I love them!
I am so glad everything is going well back home. Stay true to the Gospel! Tell Grandma Moore I got her package, and that I'm waiting until Christmas to open her present! :) I will write her anyway, but let her know I got it so she won't worry. Tell her and Grandpa I love them!
In fact, tell EVERYONE I love them! Cuz I do!
Oh... I'll be mailing my bike home. There are members here who send missionary bikes home for free (they own a shipping business)...it's so sweet of them! So yes, I'll be shipping it home right before I leave... in a VERY long time! ;)
I am still trying to tell myself it's almost Christmas... the tree is up, we're going to the 99 cent store to buy more decorations today, the lights at the Temple are up (which we went to again last night!), but there's just still no snow! Every morning we walk outside to go to the gym I turn to my companion and say "Huh. I think it might snow today." (I don't think she finds me very funny) :D Although 55ish IS getting FREEZING at night! We ride our bikes a ton and when it hits 65* at night on my bike I'm in trouble: I've learned to bundle really well... My blood has been thinned to water at this point, so oh well! I'm grateful there's no snow that I have to bike through! :)
I love you all so much! Write me!
Love, Sister Moore
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I am so glad everything is going well back home. Stay true to the Gospel! Tell Grandma Moore I got her package, and that I'm waiting until Christmas to open her present! :) I will write her anyway, but let her know I got it so she won't worry. Tell her and Grandpa I love them!
In fact, tell EVERYONE I love them! Cuz I do!
Oh... I'll be mailing my bike home. There are members here who send missionary bikes home for free (they own a shipping business)...it's so sweet of them! So yes, I'll be shipping it home right before I leave... in a VERY long time! ;)
I am still trying to tell myself it's almost Christmas... the tree is up, we're going to the 99 cent store to buy more decorations today, the lights at the Temple are up (which we went to again last night!), but there's just still no snow! Every morning we walk outside to go to the gym I turn to my companion and say "Huh. I think it might snow today." (I don't think she finds me very funny) :D Although 55ish IS getting FREEZING at night! We ride our bikes a ton and when it hits 65* at night on my bike I'm in trouble: I've learned to bundle really well... My blood has been thinned to water at this point, so oh well! I'm grateful there's no snow that I have to bike through! :)
I love you all so much! Write me!
Love, Sister Moore
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