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| Fun in the Sun! |
This past week has been the most stressful week and I decided to separate the good letter and the other one with bad news. The good one has been a blessing to me.
This past week started with an Ear infection for three days. It was hard to talk, eat, open my mouth, it all hurt my ear. Now it's better.
We had so many lessons planned for Wednesday and all of the lessons were canceled on Wednesday and our Sorenson to talk with deaf people kept shutting down and we were so frustrated but I was so grateful for bad experiences because it helped me to learn, grow, and progress. I am thankful for the hardships and trials I have received in order to help me become more humble and allow The Lord to mold me into something beautiful. The Lord said, "Know thou, my (daughter) that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
On Thursday, we got the opportunity to do service for this man who lives next to the bishop with the youth. It was definitely a humble experience for me and for some of the people there. This man was coming to church and would always talk with the bishop and one day he disappeared. He came back home and the bishop was like, "Hey! What's up? We missed you!" He explained that his mother had a heart attack that he had to take care of her for couple months. I not sure what happened to his dad. So during the time he was gone the yard was destroyed with leaves and trash. The big pool was destroyed too with leaves and mud. So we cleaned up the yard and the pool. After the service, we pretty much smelled like poo. But this man was very grateful and had a smile on his face this whole time. I was happy to see him happy.
On Friday, our Less Active Sister Betancourt wanted to make us a Puerto Rico dinner and it was good. She made cod fish, rice with octopus, and vegetables. She loves to tease me. One time I went over to her place and she was telling me that I need to find way to look older. She begged me to have my hair up. So I had my hair up for dinner. She asked where were my glasses.... Oh brother... She was so proud of me having my hair up for dinner! So was I haha. She also teased me of my blonde moments during dinner. She said she likes to go fishing and I was like that is soooo cool! Then she responded, "yes I go to the ocean and say, "fish jump on my plate, the octopus jumped on my plate, the lobster jumped on my plate." I was like wow and after a minute, I realized she was teasing. She just laughed and laughed. She already made me promise that I have to keep in touch with her and visit her a lot in the near future. She is such an amazing woman with light. She has gone through so much and yet she is strong. Her son killed himself couple months before I showed up. Her daughter went less active. Her other son just recently ran away with the father's car on Monday and it's been hard for her. But she really wants to go to the temple for her first time and be able to feel her passed son's love and peace again and so we are working with her. She is my absolute favorite person to be with and you will know why when you meet her.
We talked with Pana and John on Sorenson in Tuesday and they were complaining to us about Tuesday and how they will never ever come back. We prayed for them and fasted for them and we prayed to know what to say and do to help them. I felt like the spirit was working within us that night and she calmed down a little. Then we met with Pana and John with Sister Rosario and it was actually a miracle. Pana and John were willing to come to church again and everything they were upset or frustrated about from last week was never spoken of, or brought up... It was like it was gone. Pana was able to develop a stronger relationship with Sister Rosario! They said they would come this Sunday and I am so excited!
We decided to visit with this potential name Livia. We left our house and it was pouring rain! We couldn't see out of our windshield and Sister Passey was like, "Do you want to go to the church and make phone calls instead?" But I had a strong feeling that we needed to visit Livia so I said that we had to visit her. The whole drive there, Sister Passey was feeling more calm and kept on driving and the rain stopped where she could see. We parked in front of her house, the rain started up again and we got to the door and we are just two poor sister missionaries outside getting soaked from head to toe. She saw how soaked we were and invited us in. As soon as she allowed us in, the rain stopped. She sat us down and asked questions about the church. We taught her the basics of the gospel and the spirit was definitely there and she was a super happy upbeat person. She has great potential in herself. When we walked out, the rain started up again and we were ready for another miracle. We thanked Heavenly Father for the rain!
We also felt prompted to see Michelle Jefferson and we showed up at an awkward moment. We showed up the same time she got home. We were nervous but we had to be the annoying normal missionaries haha. We yelled, " Hi!" Before she got into her house. We asked if she was Michelle and she said yes. We had a nice conversation and she asked us to come back next week so we are so excited!
We visited this less active Sister Hare. She has a calling in the relief society as a teacher. She only comes when she teaches. So she has been preparing her talk for 4 weeks and she was actually smiling and laughing with us when we were there. That is a big change from when I first met her. She was so excited to give her talk the next day. So the next day came along. She started teaching. We had a high councilor come in and just join. He gave few short great comments and then 15 minutes into her lesson and she was doing good, this high councilor gets up and told her to sit down and he just pretty much tough the whole lesson. I was like what the heck. Sister Hare never got to share her experiences or a video she had planned. She got up and left the room and two relief society members left with her and tried to comfort her. Afterward these ladies told this high councilor how he made her feel. He said, "I felt inspired to do that." Maybe he did feel inspired but I felt so bad for Sister Hare. All the things she had prepared for went down the trash. Especially when she is trying to come back to church and now she feels like she not good enough. I pray for understanding and peace. This high councilor felt bad about what happened. Hopefully everything will be ok.
I learned that each of us has Gifts from God. Our patriarchal blessing tells us what gift we have. Yesterday in Sunday school I just learned that I have so many gifts that I didn't know I had. It was so amazing to open my eyes and try to find ways to develop them. My favorite gift is the gift of faith. I have had so many blessing that come from trying to develop the gift of faith. I am really grateful and blessed that I have that gift. I want to challenge you to find that gift that God has given you and strive to develop it. I promise you that you will bless the kingdom of God more by developing the gift that you have within you.
I love you mama! Plus we will have Facebook back tomorrow!
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This is the bad news section that only you and family should know, maybe a few other people could know too. I wanted to thank you for all of your prayers. The Lord did protect and guide us.
We had members expressing their feelings and we would just be overwhelmed because we didn't know how to help them. I feel like I'm 40 and not 20 haha. I am tired and worn from this week so I am glad today is Monday so I can get some rest.
There were times where we almost got in the middle with the cops. We showed up to this deaf less active home and she was in the middle of calling the cops because her son's sort of friend stole their iPhone 6. Luckily we were able to teach her a little bit about the gospel and leave before the cops arrived. The next day, she called us and said that the cop and school wanted her to go to this person's house where the phone was located and wanted me to help interpret for her. We were like ummmm..... The spirit said no, the leader said no..... Because we knew it would include a terrible argument and not keep us safe so we said no in the nicest way possible.
This one is the worst news:
Last night.... Was a traumatizing experience for my companion and I. We had a feeling that we needed to visit this investigator. We brought her cookies and a bigger BOM so she can read it. She opened the door and started crying. She came to me and hugged me soooo hard and for a long time. She allowed us in and she started to tell us that she wanted to kill herself and so forth. My companion stood frozen, she couldn't speak or move. This lady was heading toward a knife and was planning to do so. I grabbed her and pulled her away from where the knife was and just held on to her. She just cried and cried and cried. She held on to my arms really tight, like all the pain she felt was transforming to my arm. Luckily it didn't leave a bruise. I let her go and then she started to hit her head against the wall and I had to hold on to her again. We were there for about 2 hours and didn't leave till 9:45 pm. I spoke to her and calmed her down. I went to the bathroom, knelt and prayed. During those three hours, I was calm. I knew exactly what I needed to do because the spirit was with me. I just held on to her, watched her, and told her how much I love her but most importantly Heavenly Father loves her. We left the place leaving her feeling hopeful for the future. I don't know what's going to happen. My companion is in shock and I pray for her to feel peaceful. I hit my reality moment and just realized that I had saved this women from grabbing the knife and pulled her back and actually talking to her. I felt like it was the spirit talking to her though me. Thank you for your prayers. We have been protected again.
Let me tell you about this lady. Her father passed away from cancer and he was her hero. Ten months later her divorced husband drowned and her son thought she had killed him and hated her. When her husband was alive he abused her causing her three different surgeries. One time he abused her pretty bad causing her to be in the hospital for two months. He was supposed to be in jail for twenty years but somehow the charges got dropped. She had a brain tumor and got two surgeries to get it out. About her son, after the abusive father died, he went crazy. He started to get sick mentally and started using drugs. He took this lady's money and used it to buy drugs. He has eplispey disease. Every night he would get angry at her and try to kill her. She has bruises from him. She never sleeps at night because she feels like he would come in and kill her. She has called the cops many times but not many changes. She cried when we left because she felt that her son will kill her as soon as we left. I didn't know how to help her with the situation. I am nervous for her. I really hope she is okay. Sister Passey and I are going to pray about her and see what we need to do. Help her by talking to the bishop and Relief Society president or just step back and not see her again? It's crazy because Sister Passey said, "I can see her as a relief society president." I felt good about her comment. We don't know what to do.
One thing that Sister Lee taught me was to smile and laugh through everything that has been going on. She has influenced me big time. I haven't cried since I arrived to South Shore. I smile and whenever something bad happens I can't cry. I don't know how. But inside of me is exhausting but I am pushing forward. I just want someone to hug me and tell me that everything will be fine and that I need to keep going.
Your china doll
Sister Moore
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