Warning: One of the longest emails in history!

The Chinese speaking missionaries in my mission

 Hey Mother!!

This past week has been a roller coaster up and down, up and down. I struggle with a lot of things. But sometimes we have to look past the struggles and find the beautiful things in the struggles. For example: I struggle a lot with the language.  I know, I know I'm not expected to be amazing in Chinese within a few weeks. But even though I was frustrated a few times understanding Chinese, the people around me are helping me. Some speak English and know what I'm trying to say so they can help me. Some don't know English but still do a charade. Some just smile and say, "You can do this!" It's amazing how much love they show me.

So we met a woman two weeks ago at street sweep and we taught her our first lesson on Wednesday. Both me and Sister Johnson were so happy because we've been cancelled on so many times this past week! This is actually the real first lesson I was able to participate in. We got to know her more, she is a very desirable willing person. She is 52, from China, and has been married for two years. She has two daughters, one is hers and the other one is her husbands. She unfortunately was in a bus accident a couple of years ago in China. 71 people died in that accident but Jenny survived. Her face, head, and arm were destroyed. The doctors used skin and bone from her leg to fix her up. She showed us her scars. But she is grateful she lived! We talked to her about the first lesson and talked about the Book of Mormon! She was so excited when Sister Johnson pulled out the BOM and gave it to her. She gave the closing prayer and it was a beautiful one. I'm proud of her. We also asked her if she was willing to be baptized and she said YES! The plan is November 23. She also is inviting her husband to join the discussion.

Street sweep was tough on Thursday!  The weather had gotten colder, it was raining, people were grouchy and mean, welcome to the bad side of New York but I'm not a wimp anymore hehe. While we were doing street sweep I got rejected so many times that I told Elder Johnson that I was "ugggghhh" he gave me a pump up talk and pushed me forward! Things got better from that point.  We always see missionaries walking on the street.  We walk a lot everyday and we use the subway like once a week. 

We went and visited another lady, a 3 mile walk from our place. She just got baptized and we were checking up on her. I looooove her. She's blind but super super smart! We were just chatting with her and the conversation went deeper and deeper, we asked why her and her mom don't stay for all three hours at church. They said they already know everything and don't trust the teachers and then the door knocked when the conversation was so deep. The other two sisters , Sister Wang and Sister Wang were at the door with a member Caroline. It was awkward with everyone in the room and the Wang sisters took over and taught the lesson and sister Johnson and I sat there awkwardly. Oops!

We stopped by Dunkin Donuts after visiting Maple so Sister Johnson can find our investigator's address. So I decided to buy a donut and Gatorade. I went to pay and a Mexican was so grouchy that he asked another guy to take the spot. So I paid with cash and they started yelling at me for no reason. They want the money in coins not cash or card and grabbed a bunch of coins from the donation bowl and put it toward my face and were yelling at me. I was so close to saying that I didn't want a donut.... Two kids came in after me and they yelled at them for coins too. They wouldn't buy a donut. Stupid workers.

We also visited another lady  on Thursday  We went clear across the other side of town. We walked 2 miles to the bus stop and rode a 10 minutes bus ride and then walked for 20 minutes to get to our investigator's house. She has a 4 year old daughter and a husband. She fed us lunch and continued to talk to us about why we go on a mission and what are the missionary rules. She was shocked about no electronics such as cell phones, tv, and so forth. We told her that it was a distraction and we wanted to focus more on the person we are talking to. Her husband was in the process of getting ready for work and kept overhearing our conversation and kept jumping in to interrupt and said a bunch of crazy things about the Mormon church. Whenever the husband jumped in, I looked at her and noticed that she was frustrated with him. When he left, she just burst out everything about her husband and that they are in the process of getting a divorce. She said that he wasn't being a good husband or father to their daughter and just wants to sleep and do nothing. I explained to her about how my parents got a divorce and we were struggling and we were all mad at God and why He let that all happen. I told her about the Book of Mormon and how The Book of Mormon helps us find peace, joy, and hope through hard times. She continued to ask questions, "how, how, why, why" she wants proof, a physical proof. She says she loves God and knows He exists but doesn't want to have a strong faith. She asked why a lot of people died in 9/11. Should someone with the Holy Ghost know about this and warn the people? God knows about it and why did he let those people die when they don't deserve to die. The questions goes on and on and on and we try to explain it to her. Sister Johnson tries to show her some videos but either she doesn't want to watch it or doesn't like it. She asked and asked and interrupted and asked and interrupted us. Questions are good but she is not giving herself time to think or listen to us. We went all over the place trying to teach her the lesson. She kept saying that we are so young and not experienced and that we don't know a lot and she doesn't know if what we were saying is true and on and on and on...... It was like a 3 hour discussion.  She has faith but needs to act on it.

Sorry it's a long email. Haha! We have five potential investigators. We are happy about that. General Conference was amazing, this whole time I felt like I was to be a wife and a mother and it was like preparing me to become the kind of person God wants me to be. It's was a really cool feeling, I don't know how to describe it. My favorite talks were Dallin H. Oaks and Prophet Thomas S. Monson's concluding talk. They both talked about loving everyone including your enemies. Helping and supporting others in need. Sometimes we often wonder this, "Will I make a change in that person's life?" They also talked about how there are many people struggling and we need to help strengthen the weak! 

There was an investigator that the Wang sisters were teaching. She follows me everywhere and feels comfortable only around me. She wanted me to be part of the discussion with the missionaries. She knows enough English to have a conversation. She is learning sign language from me and when people are talking to her in English she would look at me and I would try my best to translate in Chinese. She and I both attended a baptismal service yesterday and she freaked out when the little boy was dunked and sighed when he was out of the water. She just came in from China two weeks ago. I love her so much already. I wish she was my investigator!

I wanted to send you pictures of my apartment.  You can see our lovely kitchen, the living room where we study, our small bedroom and the view from the window.  I don't have a picture of the bathroom at the moment.  I don't like our bathroom because it's so filthy.  The bathtub and shower is terrible and kind of broken.  At least it gives warm water.  The toilet is broken and Sister Johnson knows how to flush it and I don't so my average time of being in the bathroom is ten minutes because I am trying to get the stupid thing to flush hahaha!

The future package sounds fun!!!!  Can you add another journal in there too???  I can't believe I forgot to tell you two awesome things.  We are going to the Manhattan temple this Thursday.  We are taking a lady in her 30s to the temple for the first time and do baptisms for the dead.  I'm excited for her.

Today for pday we are going to be eating sushi and chill at the church with our district and write our emails.  I forgot to tell you, I got the package, the zone leaders brought it to me and THANK YOU!!!  I love everything and everything fits.  The boots fit perfectly with the tights.  They are beautiful!  Your da bomb!!!

Since this mission has universal languages, we have to learn the Missionary Purpose in English, Chinese, Cantonese, Korean and they will be adding Spanish and ASL!  I'm excited to know the Missionary Purpose in all the languages!  

Mom, I wanted to thank you for everything! I'm so lucky to have you as my mom! On Saturday, I taught a mom and a daughter while Sister Johnson was teaching her son how to play the piano. Her son has a mental disability. She kept saying, "I love him but..... I love him but.... I love him but...." She has more negative things listed for her boy than positive. She has no hope and doesn't think he is capable of anything. I told her that I was deaf and how I was successful in life because I had an amazing mother who loves me and supports me and motivates me, and believes in me. She kept saying "how how how how, why why why why" I answered and answered and answered. She had me tell the story again and again but still doesn't believe in her son. I believe that her son was capable of something. I don't know if she doesn't realize that her son has a mental disability, she is trying to fix him and force him to be "Normal." It was hard for me to watch her treat her son badly and have no hope in him. Her son is already a joy to me by his simple smile. It helped me learn how to become more prepared to be a mother. I love the kids here!

I love the people here and the branch. I'm struggling but very happy.  You asked me for specifics on what you can pray for, maybe pray to help me hear better and speak Chinese better. Love you mom! You're amazing!!!

Love,

Sister Moore