I do not ask to see the distant scene- one step enough for me.

Our Three Beds!

This is the best picture of my life. This is Elder Grant. He is the one who makes fun of me all the time. When he showed up to our apartment with Hna LaGaisse's bed he was wearing that eye patch. Apparently he is having some problems with his eyes...I had to laugh. Karma! It will get you every time!

Here is my surprise for the week: I am in a trio now! We got a call from Presidente Thursday telling us that, Hna LaGaisse, now my second companion, was being emergency transferred to our area, and within a couple hours we got a third bed, Hna LaGaisse arrived, and we got to work! Trio life is pretty fun :) We are kind of like a parade everywhere we go! The mission really keeps you on your toes!
This week we had a world wide training

 from members of the twelve and from the mission department. Apparently they haven't done a world wide broadcast like this in 10 years. No big announcements were made. Basically they took points from Predicad Mi Evangelio like:

 Teaching With the Spirit

Teach People Not Lessons

 Teaching Repentance

Trainings on how to be more dedicated, effective missionaries

. It was awzome. I learned A BUNCH. I also learned what my greatest fear is..............as part of the training they had a group of missionaries do a training with Elder Bednar. So basically it was Elder Bednar asking these 12 missionaries what is means to be a good missionary! That would be so scary :) Elder Bednar is such a good teacher...I would be nervous to answer any of his questions! It was cool though to be unified with all the missionaries in the world. I love that we are on all different parts of the planet, speaking different languages, working with different cultures but we can come together and remember our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end! 

After the training 

we received a member referral to teach a family, so I was super excited to put into practice all that I had learned that day. We are teaching a family from Chile! The coolest thing was the member referral was just for the 12-year-old girl, but we got the mom to participate in the lesson and now the mom and the daughter are interested! Weehoo!

RANDOM THINGS

1. So lessons with members are super important. We had a member lesson all prepared, and we got a call that our member's car wouldn't start! We were waiting at the lesson when we got the call, so we hurried and left the lesson, jumped her car, and brought her to the lesson! The lesson ended up going really well! We had to jump her car one time more once the lesson was over. Thank you Dad for teaching me how to jump a car!

2. Hna V, G, and E came to church this past Sunday ! YAY! We are so close to getting the whole family to come!

3. I have to speak this Sunday...I am nervous! The goal is to get the barrio super pumped about mission work! Mission work is the best. I love it. Nothing has made me happier!
LOVE YOU!
   Hna Moo

Quote for the week: Lead kindly light amid th' encircling gloom. Lead thou me on! The night is dark and I am far from home. Lead thou me on! Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene- one step enough for me. 

"Look. Just look how beautiful it is! There has to be a God."

Yep this week we got A LOT of rain! Thankfully I have my raincoat. We had one Knock-out where the rain and wind was really bad, and everyone that opened their doors was like, "I can't believe you are out walking around in this rain!" But no one let us inside their house...that's ok :) The rain really is a blessing, but we just got a whole bunch too fast. No one is having problems with flooding in our area thankfully! Plus we have a car, so we cannot complain while the bike sisters are out biking in the rain!

My new shoes are great! I looooove them. Elder G..... (the one who dissed on my red dress at the mission christmas party) asked me how much I payed the garbage can for my shoes...Elders are the worst hahah

This week we met a man named Isaac. We were out knocking doors and we saw him out in the middle of his lawn just looking at the sky, so out of curiosity we went a talked to him. We walked over and asked, "What are you looking at?" He responded, "Look. Just look how beautiful it is! There has to be a God." We looked up and because of all the rain the sky was cloudy and grey but the setting sun was starting to break through the clouds. The clouds were a dark orange color and then off to the east there was a rainbow (or as I learned an 'arco iris' in spanish) I had spent a lot of time looking down at my feet that day. Tracting sometimes is not the funnest thing and it was pretty wet and cold, but thankfully Isaac was looking up! It reminds of that talk about Presidente Monson when he said, "It is always better to look up!" There is a lot of beauty around us. Witnesses of God are all around us! Look up!

This week we got the news that we are not having transfer meetings any more. Apparently it is a worldwide thing! I think the church sees it as a waste of time...it pretty much is, the only thing it is good for is switching up companions but then there is a meeting after we switch companions that lasts about an hour, so I can see why they want to get rid of it. We will see what other changes will be made! There is a world wide mission conference on Jan 20 and I think they are going to really encourage us to use our time wisely. Less driving around and meetings...more mission work!

Alright I hope you all have a splendid week! Love you! Les Queremos! 

Hermana Moo

   p.s. Sherlock looks awesome as usual!

"Tell me why God is allowing so many people and children to die and suffer in horrific ways?"

I am glad the ward is reading the BOM together. That is an awesome, unifying goal to have as a ward. The Book of Mormon can really answer the questions of the soul! There is a whole section about it in Preach My Gospel that you can study :) My goal is to finish the Book of Mormon in the next two tranfers. It takes me a little longer to read the BOM in spanish just because the scriptures use some weirdy words sometimes, but I realize that there is precious time I should be using to study the scriptures like during lunch hour or before we go to bed.

This week was VERY interesting. So my new companion is from Riverton, Utah and she has been on her mission for 1 year, but she has been in the spanish YSA for 6 months where very little spanish is spoken, so with her I do 90% of the talking with the members and contacting. As soon as I realized I would be doing most of the talking I realized I had to step up my "spanish game" So now I make sure I speak as much spanish as possible: around the apartment, in my journal, in the car, and with the few members who are bilingual. Those bilingual members will talk to us in English , but I make sure to always respond in Spanish! I think I have been scared and kind of embarrassed to speak in Spanish, plus I used my last companion, who was a native, as a crutch. If I didn't understand something or didn't know how to explain something, I would just look to her, but now I do not have that crutch! And I have been surprised by how well everything has been going hahaa. The Lord has been blessing us :) I have to do a lot more preparation and practice to be ready for each day, so this week has been very productive and satisfying!

Brennan's MOO chocolate yummmm

We had a couple of really cool Knock-Out experiences this week! One was with Steve. Steve asked us...

"Tell me why God is allowing so many people and children to die and suffer in horrific ways?"

"Why would a merciful God allow this?"

We testified to him that God has given us a beautiful gift called agency, and sadly many people use this ability to choose and act to harm others. We also testified that all that in unjust in this world will be made right through the atonement of Jesucristo. Christ can heal every wound. Erase every scare. Shine light in the darkest of nights if we only believe in Him and obey His commandments. Relief, Joy, and Peace will come...maybe not in this world, but in the life to come. Then he asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks,

"Do you just believe all this because it sounds better than dying and rotting in the ground?"

I had to think for second. 

Why do I believe? 

Do I believe out of fear, or do I believe out of faith?

 I thought of a quote I read recently that says,

 "We do not obey because we are blind. We obey because we can see!"

 I believe in a Savior because I have seen him shape and change my life. I believe in a resurrection because I have seen members of my family pass away. I looked at Grandpa's casket and knew that wasn't him. His spirit had moved on! I believe in the BOM because I have applied its teachings and I have seen how it has taught me to be more kind, patient, and humble and I am happier because of it. I testified to Steve that my testimony is not based in fear but in faith! Fear does not compel me to pray every night or read my scriptures...I do these things because I have seen how they have made me (and are making me) into the person I want to be which is like Jesucristo!

Here is a random quote that I like since we are starting a new year:

Live only for tomorrow and you will have a lot of


empty yesterdays today. I think that is from the Music Man? My goal is to live every moment of 2016! Set goals for the future, remember the past, but get to work today!

RANDOM THINGS

1. New Year's Eve we had to be inside by 7:30. I had zero desire to stay up until midnight haha. I was asleep by 10!

2. During knock-out this lady told us she was not interested in our message, and as she was about to shut the door I offered to take out her garbage. She was pretty old and on oxygen, so I thought I would offer, and she actually said yes! No one ever takes me up on that offer haha. She ended up talking with us for a while. She was super cute. As we were leaving she said, "Thanks again! Remember that Jesus is better than sex! Bye." Then she shut the door. Hahaha missions are the best.

LOVE YOU MAMA! Thanks for all the love and support. I loved that pic of you at Mountain River Ranch! Looks freezing! Stay warm,

Hermana Moo