Leading the Area

Hello everyone!

Well, to start out... transfers were this week! With everything that was happening in our area we felt sure that we were both going to be staying here! However, after six weeks of praying that we would either stay together or that I would be the one to leave..... Hermana Tapia was transferred to Borrego Springs! I will be leading my area! Woot.... haha. With the Lord all things are possible right? My new companion will be Hermana Zamora. She was born in Peru but grew up in San Jose California. I am excited to be able to work with her! I am not sure... but I think she goes home in December so I might be her last companion.

This week was a really good week! We had a lesson with Jorge about what he felt like he needed in order to progress. We felt strongly to challenge him to live the Gospel 100% for one week and see how he felt. He started the week yesterday and first the first time in a while he not only came to church... but he stayed for 3 hours!!! I am so excited for him and for what he will experience this week.

Did I mention Angie before? She is 24 and cuts hair. She is a less-active and we are working with her to help her draw closer to Christ. Lately she has been reading her scriptures and praying every day! We have been so excited for her. This last Thursday she decided to fast. She started in the morning and when she prayed that evening she said that she prayed harder than she ever had before and felt the Spirit stronger than she had before. We were so extremely excited for her and for the wonderful things that she is doing in her life. It is times like this that make the mission so wonderful!

Lupe and her family are such amazing people. I can't even tell you how much I love that family!  We had such an amazing lesson with Isreal and Yayis and even though they didn't accept the date we gave them at the time, they said that they would pray about it and give us a date this week. Wow. When I first met them I didn't think that would EVER happen. It is amazing to see the Lord working on the hearts of the people. So, the family is a little complicated. However, they all live really close and are with each other all the time. So, Yayis' mom Linda and her dad live across the street. They came to a lesson that we had with them last night and we read Alma 32 with them and talked about how to have faith you need to nurture your "seed of faith." The spirit during that lesson was so strong! EVERYONE felt it!!! We asked Lupe again to be baptized and she might get baptized tomorrow night! Please pray for her! I love this family SO MUCH!!!!!

I have to tell you that I LOVE watching the trains pass by! It has become one of my favorite things about this area. Also, Women's conference was amazing! I love how they focused on our duty to be prepared for the temple. Also, I like how President Uchtdorf didn't just tell us that we are special and move on. He got down to the point and told us that we have work to do! I love that! We can always improve and it is nice to hear it in a nice way. I am so excited for conference this weekend!

You have all heard about Meet the Mormons by now I assume. As missionaries we got to have a special preview of the movie on Thursday Morning and I really liked it! It was different than what I thought it would be... but they did such a good job! If you have time you really should go see it!

I love you all so much!!! Wish me luck on leading my area! Know that I am always praying for you.

Love always,

Hermana Morey

This cob of corn has mayonnaise, Parmesan, and chile

Hermana Blue Eyes

Hola familia y amigos mios! Como estan?!

Yo estoy muy bien! El Viernes y Salbado fue muy fresca y no fue tan caliente! It was nice because the weather didn't get into the 90s! I know that is about to change though. Everyone says that with the weather so hot this late in the year that we are going to have a big earthquake. That would be crazy! I think it is going to be hotter again this week. I guess we will find out.

This week I went on exchanges to Fontana California. It is an area with a lot more money than the area I am in right now. The people that we talked to were extremely nice to me and it was such a great experience. I was with Hermana Deroche who is pretty much my twin just a year older. She is from West Jordan, she was a madrigal, she loves math, she went to Utah State, we lived in the Same building just on a different floor. She was a lot of fun to be around and I learned so much from her. She has a little over a year in the mission and her companion finishes next week. We talked to so many people. I learned how to talk without being super awkward about it! You all know how awkward I can be... 

This week we worked really hard on Lupe's sons. Her oldest son Israel is 21, married, and thinks that churches are just businesses that want money. However, we have seen such a huge change in him this past week! Apparently someone at his work has been doing witchcraft on him and someone else told him that if he wants it to stop they want $300. He was so stressed about that and so we had a member give him a blessing. He ended up coming to church on Sunday and really liked it. He said that he is  going to try and come every week from now on and progressively work up to going for the whole 3 hours. That whole family is doing so well! However, Lupe is in the middle of a divorce and her husband is making it really hard on her and her younger son. She is really stressed and we are trying to help her see that through Christ, all things are possible. It is hard to love the members so much because we can't do everything as missionaries. I wish I could do a lot more to help the people around us.

Have you guys heard about the whole Meet the Mormons video coming out? We get to go to Highland and watch it this Thursday with the mission president. It is so amazing what the church is doing! They really know what it means to let your light shine.

I am really excited for Women's conference this week! We are working hard to get all of our female investigators, members, less actives, and everyone there! I really love this time of the year. Conference is so amazing! I love getting ready for it and hope that you are doing the same as well.

I love you all so extremely much! Let me know what I can do for you!

Love always,

Hermana Morey/ Blue eyes. (Lupe calls me blue eyes and everyone loves the color of my eyes!)

P.S. for some reason NOBODY can remember my name... they always say.... "Hermana.... umm.... yeah you." haha oh dear. 

Gasping Like it Was the Second Coming

Hola familia mio! Como estan?!

This week certainly has been a lot different than I thought it would be! To start out, last Monday night we went to the ER because Hermana Tapia had all of the signs of an appendicitis. She was in so much pain. We got there at about 7:45 and started the fun waiting game of the ER. She would go back for tests every once in a while while I just waited and read my scriptures. She had to get a blood test, urine test, ultra-sound, and x-ray. FOUR hours later, we realized that it was a very small problem and that we could fix it at home. We didn't get home until after midnight but fortunately Sister Van Cott gave us permission to sleep in. To celebrate this adventure I got a very strong head cold that almost defeated me. Just yesterday Hermana Tapia picked it up. We have been really sick and it is not fun at all! However, we have done our very best to keep working and to try and take care of each other. 

Another funny story is that last night while I was writing in my journal a spider went charging across my desk. I had been really focused on writing and it freaked me out. According to Tapia I "gasped like it was the second coming." I went flying onto the couch laughing and demanded that she kill the spider. Fortunately we found it and just laughed for a very long time. I have never been so surprised by a spider before!

Okay, so about the work. I don't even know how it works but I already love the people in my very soul. we have families with a lot of problems and I love trying to show them how the gospel can make their lives so much easier. There is a family who is having a really hard time. The dad hates his family, is always outside drinking, the kids fight all the time and never go to church, and the mom works very hard at keeping her family together and trying to keep the gospel in the home. We visit them every week and she expressed to the Bishop that she is worried that we are going to get frustrated and stop coming. She said that we are her only hope during the week. That just about made me start crying. This mom is such an incredible example and she just needs help and love. I am so grateful that she has the gospel and knows that she isn't bearing her burden alone. I am also grateful that I can help bring her hope in a happier time. I pray for our investigators all the time because I know that they need the blessings more than I do. They work so hard in all that they do and they sacrifice so much to find peace in their lives.

Also, this week we decided to work with Lupe's family in groups. We teach Lupe one day, her son Santos another day, Yayis and Isreal another day, and Sandra with Lupe another day. It takes more work but we can tell that they are all progressing now. They were on different levels of understanding and now we can work on helping them grow closer to God in the way that they need it. Goodness, isn't the gospel amazing? I am so grateful to have this opportunity to help others feel God's love and peace in this life. I wouldn't change my experiences for the world!

Can you believe that conference is coming up? We had forgotten that the General Women's conference is coming up on the 27th!  I am trying to read all of the talks from last conference before they come up again. I challenge you to do the same as well. There are such amazing talks and it makes me so excited to work harder to be a better missionary and child of my Heavenly Father. 

I want you all to know that I know that this church is true and that Heavenly father loves us. I don't know where I would be without that knowledge. Please read your scriptures and pray! I know that God will please you!

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Hermana Morey

They took a selife with an elder's camera, and they got it back like this (NOTW means Not Of This World)

When It Rains, It Pours...Literally

Hello!!!

What a crazy week it has been. It has been full of ups and downs, heat, rain, and so many other things!

To start out... when it rains here... it pours. Yesterday morning we decided to walk to the house of one of our Less Actives before church. It wasn't as hot as it usually was and there was a cloud in the distance. We decided to walk so that we could talk to more people. It got really got and we just walked and walked. However, we made it to the house and it turns out nobody was going to church that day! We were frustrated but needed to get back to church. When we went outside that cloud in the distance was covering the whole sky. We knew it was going to rain at some point so we started to speed walk back to the church. We weren't even half way when it barely started to sprinkle. We thought we would have time to go ask a member for a ride when the whole sky opened up and let it POUR. We were soaked in 2 minutes. We ran to the members house and fortunately she had just been about to leave when we got there. The only problem with the rain is that is makes it extremely hot after. It only rained for 10 minutes and then the sun came out to make a Sunday of over 100 degrees and slightly humid. Wow. 

This week was a really hard week for preaching the Gospel. Almost all of our appointments fell through! We tried to contact but that didn't seem to be successful either. However, the lessons that we did have, went amazingly well. We ended the week with 16 lessons which is really low. We are praying and hoping that this week will be better. We are trying to plan activities for people to invite their friends so that we can hopefully find more people. 

Remember Lupe? She still hasn't figured out what is holder her back but we had an amazing lesson with her. Her friend's husband died 5 weeks ago and she invited her over for our lesson. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and Sandra just started crying. She wants to learn more! However, after the lesson, we didn't have to say anything. Lupe bore her testimony and explained everything. It was an amazing things to witness! I really want her to be baptized because she already is an amazing missionary but just needs baptism. Any suggestions on that? Hopefully she can feel ready soon. 

We visited our Mission Leaders house yesterday night and I learned that they have chickens! Mom they have chickens! I kept thinking about you. They have at least 60 chickens. Roosters, hens, chicks. Everything. Are you going to end up getting your chickens? 

I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and for your letters! Let me know what I can do for you! Have a wonderful week.

Love always,

Hermana Morey

Guided by the Spirit

Hello family and friends,

I can't believe it has already been a week since I emailed last! Time seems to be flying by. I am doing very well and am loving it here in California. Who knew that it would be 111 degrees here in the middle of August! That is one of the hardest things here. It just gets so hot and people don't have air conditioning. I sweat a lot but honestly am loving the work.

On Friday my companion and I decided to count how many times we were going to pray that day... the final count was... drum roll.... 37! We said 37 prayers in one day. That doesn't count any of the prayers that you say in your heart on a given day. I was amazed but at the same time it shows how much we need the Lord in the work that we are doing.

I am amazing at how the Spirit is always there to guide us. We are helping an 18 year old with mission prep and we were having a very hard time trying to help him. While we were talking I had a very strong feeling to ask what HE needed and not just teach him what we felt like he needed. It was amazing. He was able to open up to us about some problems he was having and now we know exactly how we can help teach him instead of just a lesson. Another story like that was we were visiting a less active girl named Angie. We had gone to visit some other investigators but they told us they weren't interested... (that was sad because they were my favorite.) and we had seen her outside. We went in and talked to her and my companion just said lets teach her about repentance. I was so confused. That seemed like weird for trying to get her back to church. However, the spirit was there and after we finished she said that she had been praying for help with that. Wow. Isn't that amazing how the Spirit guides us?!

We have another investigator named Lupe. She is about 40 years old and has two sons. She goes to church every week. She prays. She reads the Book of Mormon. She does EVERYTHING! She has a really strong testimony but says that she isn't ready to be baptized. We asked her why and she said she didn't know. She wants to be baptized but needs to wait a bit. I was frustrated at first but then I felt peace. I know that she will be baptized but just isn't ready quite yet. We are still visiting her and she is a wonderful investigator. 

As missionaries we love doing service. Usually though, people don't ask us for help! We have another investigator named Laura who got in a huge fight with her husband, or man she is living with... and had to move out that night with her 5 kids. We were able to go and help her pack up and move. Even if she isn't ready for the gospel yet we know that she trusts the church and the members. That is the best part. Hopefully some day she will be able to feel the love of Heavenly Father! Now we are just trying to help her find a new apartment.

Well, there is so much to say but so little time. I honestly am loving the work. I want you all to know that I know that the church is true. God loves each and every one of us and never leaves us. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a mission in His church.

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Morey