"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