"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"

Dearest family and friends,

This past week has been a complete emotional roller coaster. It has been a really good week though. On Wednesday we got to go to the temple for my last time!! It was such a beautiful session. I love the Redlands temple and it is beautiful on the inside. It was also a good day though because it was Hermana Buttars' birthday and my roommates and I schemed together and decorated out apartment, I made pancakes for breakfast, etc. after our session we got a doughnut and he. Went off to work! We had a wonderful evening and a lesson that I will explain in the following paragraph. It was just a really spiritual yet fun day!

So Wednesday evening we went to see a part member family. Have I mentioned Teysi, Fransisco, Johanna. Etc? It was them. We were in the lesson and Johanna asked a question about the picture of the first vision. We explained that it was Joseph smith seeing a Heavenly Father and Christ and then Maria and Johanna started arguing with us about how nobody has ever seen Heavenly Father and it turned into a huge argument. Hermana Buttars and I just sat there quietly listening to them. I had no idea what to say so we didn't say anything. At that moment I felt the spirit hit me so strongly telling me that I knew that these things are true and that I wouldn't even be phased by the argument and I would know by the spirit what to say. I sat there and then the argument went silent and the spirit told me to open my mouth and start speaking. That is scary because you don't know what to say but I did open my mouth and the Lord filled my mouth with the words that this family needed to hear and with the spirit. I told them that as missionaries we testify of what we know and then ask everyone to pray about the message so that they can know he truthfulness for themselves. The spirit was so strong and everyone was listening very hard to what I was saying. It was a beautiful moment. They agreed that they needed to pray about it and said that they would. Fransisco asked me what a family needs to go through so that they can be converted and I said that they need to pray, read the Book of Mormon, and go to church. He told me that he believed that and talked "figuratively"

about how sometimes people pray to ask God to guide them and then missionaries show up a month later. The spirit testified to us that happened to him and he recognized the answer to his prayer. It was amazing!!

On Friday we had our Ward Thanksgiving party and that was amazing as well, we had 20 non members from our area and 14 of them were investigators. It was a great party and the members were perfect and fellowshipping them. It was fun to watch them all dance and become friends.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Edith Marrufo. It was such a stressful experience!!! We had been talking about the  baptism for over a month and had planned everything and everyone agreed and said they would come. I kid you not, the baptism was at six and by five about 95% of the people had canceled. It was so frustrating! I had to play the piano and give a talk, Hermana Buttars had to lead and five a prayer, etc. after a whole lot of stress and rearranging Edith was baptized. It was a beautiful baptism and she said that she felt happier than she ever thought was possible. I was so happy for her! We found her by talking to her while she was riding her skateboard.

Yesterday she gave me a letter and in it was one of those finger skateboards. She is the best and going to be an amazing convert!

Yesterday was a busy and sad day. I spoke in sacrament meeting which was really good actually. I know that the gift of tongues is real even when they introduce you as Hermana Monroy. :) then, last night we had our departing devotional. It was such a good devotional. All 24 missionaries shares a 2 minute experience when we knew that the Lord was mindful of us on our mission. It was packed! Almost as packed as a stake conference. It made me less nervous knowing that 97% of the people couldn't understand me! It was amazing because 5 families from my first area came and Marisol and Melissa, and Fransisco, Johanna, and their family came as well. It was wonderful to see all of them and feel their love and support. After I sat down I felt the spirit tell me that I was finished and that I had done a good job. I felt so overwhelmed by the spirit.

I am so very grateful for this opportunity that I have had to be a missionary. Even thou I had hoped that the Lord had other plans for me I am eternally grateful that He let me learn and grow and serve him.

Everyone Says that the mission is the best 18 months or 2 years of their lives and now I know why. It isn't the funnest thing that I have ever done but it has been the thing of most worth that I have ever done. I have been changed by my mission. While before I knew what we believed know I understand and appreciate just how much God loves us.

He truly loves each and every one of us despite our shortcomings and weaknesses. I have never felt more inadequate than I have on my mission but now I can feel the strengthening hand of the Lord in my life. I am grateful for all of the amazing people that I have met on my mission. And for their love and support for me. My mission has never been easy. However, now I can say that with the strength of the Lord not only can I do hard things, but I can do all things.

Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

          Alma 26:12

I love this work and will always wear this name tag on my heart. If you ever wonder if you should go on a mission or not, pray about and go! If that is what the lord wants, go!! If you are willing to work hard and be obedient you will not regret your decision!

I love you all so very much!! I will see you very soon!

For the last time,

Hermana Clarissa Morey

8 Days Left

Buenos días mi familia!!

Como están? Ojalá que su semana estuvo muy bueno! This week has completely flown by for me. I have not had a full day of work this entire week! It has been one of the happiest weeks of my mission for several reasons but now I will explain all that happened.

To start out, Wednesday we had our departing temple trip! I can't believe that it already happened. Usually it is the last Wednesday of the transfer but they had to do it before all of the other temple trips were scheduled to happen. So, we went to the temple in the morning with President and Sister Van Cott and it was amazing to be in the temple again. The spirit was strong and it was really cool to be in the temple with a lot of other missionaries. After the temple we took pictures and then went to the mission office where we wrote letters to ourselves while eating Cafe Rio, needless to say I was a very happy missionary, and then we went in and had a 4 hour question and answer session to help us get ready for going home. It was really helpful.

On Thursday we had our Zone Conference. It was honestly the best conference that I have been to on my mission. We talked about how we can become missionaries on fire. It has fundamentally changed the way that we do missionary work and even though it is harder it has already made the work so much better. We are talking to everyone and realizing that we can't keep teaching the people who are not ready to listen to our message. We have seen many results are our working on finding the elect and fearing no man. It was also really nice because the other Hermanas in our Zone brought us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast because it was the last time that I would see them and Hermana Buttars' birthday is in Wednesday. Overall it was an amazing day.

I think the highlight of my week though was Saturday. In Saturday I got to go to the sealing of The Pineda Family. What a beautiful day that was!! I was a little nervous because the member driving me to the temple could only take me two hours before the session but I walked into the temple and saw them sitting in the waiting room I could feel my heart fill with joy. I cannot describe the happiness that I felt that night in the temple. As I was getting ready for the session to start members from my first area started coming in and it was a joyful reunion. The sealing was beautiful to watch Esmerelda and Israel get sealed and then to watch as their daughter got sealed to them. I will admit that I had tears in my eyes but I was so happy. There is something so incredibly amazing about seeing a family go from not nothing anything about the Gospel to watching them become an eternal family. Before I went into the session President and Sister Van Cott came into the temple for a different sealing and President Van Cott told me that I have the luckiest and best last week that any missionary could have. I could not agree more. I have been blessed in ways that I have never thought possible. I am eternally grateful for that experience. They looked beautiful

I can't believe there is only one week left!! We are going to be working very hard and we also get to go to the temple on Wednesday.

Also... Edith is getting baptized on Saturday! I will send pictures.

I am excited to see you all soon but I am going to finish strong! I love you all and know that this is the work of the Lord!

Love,

Hermana Morey

Faith

Dear Family and Friends!

This has been a long but good week! It almost feels like it has been two weeks because so many things have happened!

To start, we went on exchanges this past weekend and I got to go with Hermana Jaynes. I don't know if you remember but we went on exchanges last transfer as well. This time however, we went to her area. I think we were destined to be friends. For some reason whenever we are around each other we just can't stop laughing. Don't get me wrong, we got a lot of work done, but driving from appointment to appointment was really fun! She is a wonderful missionary and taught me a lot about working with leaders! Their bishop doesn't like missionaries so it makes it hard to work with them, however, they are working around that and still getting wonderful things done. 

Hermana Buttars went with Hermana West and she told me something that really helped me. Hermana West went to Indio right after I left. We literally just switched spots. She just recently got moved back to the Zone. However, she told me that when she went there almost none of the members would let them in. I was SHOCKED! They were so nice! Why weren't they letting them in?! Then she explained that almost every single one of them said "Well, you aren't Hermana Morey and we are busy." Wait.... what did you say?! She told me that ward loved me so much that they didn't want to meet the new missionary and since they didn't like my old companion.... they didn't see a reason. However, they did eventually start letting them in and listening to them. I felt terrible! But I also felt overwhelmed with love. I thought that area didn't like me very much but little did I know that whole ward knew who I was and appreciated the hard work that I was putting in. It reminding me of a part in my blessing that set me apart that said that others will be converted because they can feel the love of the Lord through You. 

Yesterday was also a marvelous Sunday. We had the Primary program at church and the little kids were adorable!!! The spirit was so strong and we had 7 investigators at church. A lot of people invited their non member families! It was wonderful! Then, that evening we held the baptism of Marisol Angulo. It was such an amazing baptism. The spirit was so extremely strong and she told us after that when she came out of the water she felt that she had just entered heaven. I am so happy for her and for her example. The first things that she said to me after the baptism was "Guess what!!! I am a Mormon!" We just laughed and told her that she was. I got to play the piano for the baptism and it was really nice to be able to add that little bit of testimony to the program.  

The thing that I would like to talk about right now is about the announcement that was made this past week. When we heard about it... we literally just said, that makes sense and moved on. I was shocked to hear that isn't how everyone else has been taking it. As Hermana Buttars and I talked about it this morning we realized the change that has happened while we have been missionaries. Before my mission this may have made me hesitant and confused. However, now, I understand a little bit more about what it means to follow the Lord. I also understand why returned missionaries offend people when we get home. It is because we have learned to be bold. Now, what I say comes with the deepest love for all who will read this. First, I feel like a lot of people who are angry and upset about this announcement don't understand two things. 1. The Restoration and 2. The Mercy and love of God. 

1. The Restoration. 

We believe that the church that Christ established while he was in the earth has been restored by a modern day prophet. We believe that the church is run by Jesus Christ through a living prophet and apostles. If we truly and honestly believe that then we know that this change did not come from the laws of Men but from God. God knows everything. We don't. We have to accept that and even if we don't understand why He makes this rules, we have to trust Him. He has the bigger picture! He loves us and knows what is best for us. Now we have to have faith to follow what HE says. 

2. God loves every one of his children more than we can understand. Now, we have to trust him! He has been so merciful that he is doing everything possible so that He is not condemning anyone. He gives every person a chance to keep His commandments. 

I know that this church is true. Even if I don't understand why God does what He does I will follow Him with every breath that I take. If you don't understand or you are now feeling lost or concerned about this change, just remember, is the Book of Mormon true? Do you believe that this church is run by God? Then go forward with faith and defend God. There are only two options. To sit back and murmur or to defend God. We each have to choose what side we will take. This morning I finished The Book of Mormon, not the whole book but the book my Mormon. I loved Mormon 9:25-27. Please go read it! 

I hope that you all had a wonderful week!!! Time is going far too quickly but I love this work and I am willing to defend this work and I am grateful to be given this opportunity! I love you all so much!

Love,

Hermana Morey

Not a Perfect Missionary

Hello family and Friends!

Oh my goodness. I never thought that I would actually survive until November! It seemed like one of those things that is so far in the future that it won't ever actually arrive. Guess what... now it is here. For some reason it finally hit me this week that I am coming home soon. For a long time it just felt like I would just stick around here forever however I realize now that it is coming. Also, 3 weeks seems a whole lot shorter than 4 weeks! I am sad about that. I am really excited to go home and see all of you but it makes me sad that this part of my life will be over. Even though the mission is hard, it has been a wonderful experience for me.

This past week was a little interesting... We went on exchanges with the Oleander Sisters and I got to go to their ward with Sister Pauslen who was my roommate last transfer. She has been having a very hard time. She has only been out for 5 months and is the Senior Companion in a new area that needs a ton of work! I was able to share some advice with her that Zack shared with me before Sterling went through the temple. It just talks about taking one day at a time! After I spent the day working with her I was amazed at everything that she has done for that area in just 3 short weeks. I could just feel that she has changed a lot of things and that the members, investigators, less-actives, etc, all trust her! They can tell that she is a good missionary and that she is there to work hard even when it is hard for her. It was a good experience to work and learn from her this week. I realize that I have so much to learn from all of these younger missionaries and it is a little hard because I feel like I should know these things by now. Shouldn't I be the perfect missionary?! Haha nope! I still have such a long way to go. 

This past weekend was a very sad weekend. On Saturday we went to visit with Aileen and she told us that she won't be getting baptized on the 14th anymore. It is so sad but she let the fear of her sister overcome her and she started to question everything that she knew. I was heartbroken. I have never heard of someone receiving as many answers and she had done and it broke my heart that she was using her agency to go against it. For one of the first times in my mission I was unfearingly bold with her. I told her that as missionaries we were there to help her. I also told her that at that moment we were there to warn her of the consequences of her decisions. She still decided no and the spirit left and there was nothing else we could do. It made of a sad Halloween. After that we had to go home and we got to have 3 hours to study, write in our journals, etc. I started and almost finished writing the invitations for the Departing Devotional which was good!

Sunday was also a bummer. Nobody came to church. Not a single investigator, or less active. We were so sad. How does that happen?! One week everyone had a ton of potential and we are all excited for them and the next week is just the opposite. We were really bummed but the rest of the day got a lot better. We had dinner with Aileen's mom and Aileen hid in her room. But we were able to help her mom a lot since she is a recent convert. Also, that night we went to visit a part member family that we are teaching and it turns out that it was Francisco's birthday! (In that family there is the mom Matilde, her daughter Johanna and her four kids, Johanna's husband Fransisco (a less active), and his sister Teysi.) They had decided to wait to cut the cake until we got there and since we had to leave to be home on time they have us a HUGE slice of cake to take home and share. It was the perfect ending to Sunday because the cake was delicious! It amazed us how this family that we met a couple weeks ago had so much love for us. I gave them their invitation to my Departing Devotional and they told me that they would do everything they can to be there. What a wonderful family!

I don't know if any of you remember that I got an ear infection. I have more news! So when I went to the doctor there was so much liquid in my ear that they couldn't see my eardrum. They gave me medicine and I went back this week and they were able to see that I had actually ruptured my eardrum! How fun! It was just a small hole but it makes sense why I can't hear very well. They were asking me if it hurt and I said yes and they were just surprised that I wasn't complaining more because it should hurt a lot. :) Yes! I finally have a high pain tolerance. Woot!!!

That is about everything for this week. Sorry it was little long! I hope that you all had a wonderful Halloween and got lots of candy that you are waiting to share with me when I get home. ;) Thank you so much for your love and support!!! It means the world to me. 

Love,

Hermana Morey

FYI....

Buenos dias mi familia!

Como estan? I hope that you had a great week! This week flew by so quickly I think that I may have gotten a little bit of whip-lash! I don't know where all of the time seems to be going. On Saturday I hit my 17 month mark. How crazy is that?! Hermana Buttars wanted to celebrate my last month mark on the mission so she made us all pancakes for breakfast and put the number 17 on mine. One of our roommates is new on the mission and is about to hit her one month mark so she was stunned that people actually make it that far. I feel the same way! I still feel like I have 9 months or so. It goes by so quickly! It doesn't help that we got our flight itinerary, invitations for our departing devotional etc. I am still the only Spanish missionary going home this transfer so that will be fun.

Nothing super exciting happened this week. Hermana Buttars and I were discussing what we would email home and there wasn't too much to say. We got to eat something new and exciting! On Friday we had Nepalis. I thought it was just soup with the giant chile in it but it ended up being cactus. Let me tell you, cactus is weird! It has a rubbery texture but it actually isn't gross. The soup that we had it in wasn't very good but now I can officially say that I have had Cactus! 

On Saturday we had dinner with a family in our ward and they gave us these amazing little tacos with carne asada and mozzarella cheese. The only bad part was that they gave us three so that was a lot of food. They were so good!!! However, after that we had another dinner with Aileen and her family because they were celebrating their birthdays and they fed us a ton as well. I was so extremely full. I decided that it is much more manageable to be hungry than super duper full. We practically had to roll home and Hermana  Buttars ended up throwing up. Poor thing. Good thing the  food was delicious!

The best part about this week was yesterday. After church we had Marisol have her baptismal interview! She was so nervous. Marisol is Melissa's sister, the girl who got baptized over conference weekend. She is getting baptized the 8th of November and we are excited for her! She passed her interview and is getting ready. We should also have Aileen's baptism the 14th. She finally told her mom yesterday so it is official! yay! This is going to be amazing. Also, the Pineda family will be getting sealed on the 14th as well so this next month is going to be the best month ever. 

I am so grateful to be here right now. I love you all so very much and your love and concern and support for me means the world. I could not have done this without all of you! If there is anything that I can do for you please let me know!

Love always,

Hermanita Morey. 

P.S. In our church building we have the Spanish ward and the Tongan ward. After Marisol's interview someone in the tongan ward came up and started talking to us. She was a little weird but she mentioned how she had a friend going to Texas on their mission speaking Mexican.... FYI don't ever call it Mexican they get really offended if you say that!!!! 

Loyal, Strong and True....

Buenos Dias!!

Uff. I am TIRED!! This has been a crazy busy week and then today the departing sister missionaries and companions went on a hike with Sister Van Cott. It was a hard hike but today was a wonderful day to do it because it is a little chilly! The hike was stunningly beautiful though. I didn't know Redlands could be so pretty! I had a blast though.

So, I understand you a lot more mom! My ear had been hurting a little bit for the last couple days and then on Saturday night I Felt like something was crawling out of my ear and then all of this liquid just started coming out. It made it completely impossible to hear from my left ear. It also hurt a lot! On Sunday during church it got so bad that I texted the mission nurse and she has me to go a members home in Redlands who are ear specialists. She was shocked because you couldn't even see my eardrum it was so full of liquid. Needless to say... I have an ear infection and I had to go get medicine. I am feeling better now but I still can't hear out of that ear. I most,y pretend like I understand what people are saying. It makes things difficult!

This week was really good though. First off.... Transfers. We were slightly frustrated because we didn't find out about transfers until Tuesday after studies. However, I get to stay here with Hermana Buttars!! We are so happy! Also, this transfer we have a temple trip, zone conferences, my departing temple trip, and interviews. It is going to be super busy because we are also having several baptisms! I am so happy. We have a ton of investigators right now. Last week we had 16 commit to come to church! Granted only two of them came... But those two people are amazing! The Ward was really friendly and they enjoyed it. There is just a ton of work to be done.

I am really happy. Even though some days are harder than others. We are seeing such amazing things happening here. So many people ready to hear the gospel and almost more work than we can handle! I would so much rather have this problem than not having anyone. I have always joked around with my companions saying that someday we will have too many investigators and we won't know what to do with them... I was right! It almost felt like all at once everyone started praying for the missionaries. We aren't the only ones seeing this success but our font is booked every weekend next month! The work of the Lord is rolling forward and "the labor is great and the laborers are few but if we're united we all things can do." I am so grateful to be a part of this work right now. I can't think of anything else better!

Thank you all for your support, love, and prayers. They mean the world to me! You are all amazing and I love you all with all of my heart!

Keep moving forward and trust In The Lord!

Love,

Hermana Morey

P.S. My ponderizing scripture of the week was 3 Nephi 21:29 "And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go in haste, never by flight, for I Will go before them, smith the father, and I will be their rearward."

Just in case you were wondering, guess who got accepted to BYU starting in January?!

And thus begins the last transfer...

Dearest Family and friends,

Hello! I can't believe that this month is already flying by. I think the weirdest thing that happened was that all of the people that I went to Bolivia with, went home. I have to admit that was really hard.

From the moment I met them I was excited to have the going home adventure with them! However, I am so grateful that I still have six weeks to work. Don't worry, I am really busy here.

So, today starts my final transfer. That is weird. The hard thing is that starting today we won't find out about transfers until tomorrow morning. So, I have no idea where I will be for the next six weeks.

Hermana Buttars and I are praying really hard to be able to stay companions here for my past transfer. We just work really well together and this area needs us. I guess I will let you know next week.

I am going to start with the creepy story of the week. Yesterday at 3pm we were trying to visit some investigators and they weren't home.

As we walked back to the car a man, about 50 years old, stops by our car and asks for a dollar. We are very poor missionaries who don't have money so we told him that but we offered him a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet, like very good Hermanas. He then asked if we were North Americans and when we answered yes he said "I want to marry you."

Umm... Eww. Hermana Buttars looked taken aback but I Just told him that as missionaries we teach people about Christ and tries to give him the pamphlet. He then turned to me and asked if I hadn't heard him and repeated himself. After that he interrupted my annoyed response by asking me if I liked his face while he ran his finger down his face like a tear. Now we were super creeped out and we could start to smell the drugs that he was on. I just said Nope! And we hoped in our car and drove away quickly. It was funny because Hermana Buttars got in the seat behind me since I was driving. We got away safely through!

Now, for the miracle. Last night we had a lesson with Aileen. She is the one who went to conference and her sister doesn't want her to get baptized. We spent an abnormally large amount of time at their house yesterday. We had dinner with her mom, she was asleep, then her moms twin stopped by, after Lupita, the mom left, the twin talked to us for an hour. That was a very long time! But she left and we were finally able to talk to Aileen alone. She asked if yesterday was fat Sunday, which it was, and was super sad that she had missed it. You would have through the she had missed a test! We asked why she hadn't gone and she had been planning on returning from an early morning home in time but they ended up getting back right as church ended. She was very sad at that point. We started to ask her what was going on. She has received so many answers to her prayers and we pointed out every single one. She hadn't realized that she had received to many huge answers. As we pointed them out she admitted that she knew this was all true but what should she do about her family who would hate her if she got baptized? This is the amazing part. I literally felt this glow come over me. It was honestly like I sat back and someone else took control of my body and spoke through me. The promised blessings were real and they were there. They were exactly what she needed to hear and the spirit was stronger than anything ask have ever felt in my life. You could almost feel the Angels on the room pleading with her to accept the promises.

She did. I can not even describe the feeling in the room. It was so powerful. I know that Aileen is going to change the lives of hundreds of people and that she just needs to be brave enough to take the first step. She picked a baptismal date for November 14th. We will be fasting and praying with her for the strength to keep moving forward.

I am so excited about that!!

Other than that we just had a really good week. Melissa got confirmed yesterday as well. Oh what joy this work brings!! It was Marisol's birthday on the 9th so we stopped by to give her a card and they gave us some homemade blueberry lemon cake. It was wonderful.

I have seen so many tender mercies of the lord this week. I can't even put them in one email. I just hope you understand how amazing this work is. I hope and pray that I will get to stay here for another transfer with Hermana Buttars. I will let you know!

I hope you have an amazing week!! I love you all so much!

Love,

Hermana Clarissa Morey

P.s. My ponderizing scripture from last week was D&C 10:5 what was yours!?