Our Zone

Dear Mom,

This week was actually a pretty good week. 

Our tags

We met with L and our lesson was about the word of wisdom. She pretty much agreed to it except the tea part since lots of Chinese people drink tea because it's a tradition of their culture. So we are still working on that. Yesterday we met with her again at church and talked about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong in the room when we told her that God Loves us and He never left us alone. He loves us so much that he gave us a book, the Book of Mormon. We testified to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how it changed our life and it will change her's. She took the book and said she will read it. I am so excited for her! 

Here is a funny story about Y. Last week we taught her and she asked hard questions. This week was very interesting. We met with her again and we started teaching her. Y is studying the Jehovah Witnesses and wouldn't listen to a word we say. Everything we said, she searched up to see what the Jehovah Witnesses believe in on her phone and gave us the phone to read it. So we try teaching her and she searches the Internet up and shows us. Honestly we don't think she knows anything about the Jehovah Witnesses. She just bible bashed us through the Internet on her phone. Sister Johnson and I couldn't feel the spirit so we decided to withdraw from it. We said "Y...." She yelled at us, "Bye! You can go!" Um, we were at the church haha. So we said the closing prayer and we left. It was so frustrating! Oh Y complained about how we shouldn't have birthdays, Christmas, and Halloween. She is so upset with Halloween because her daughter was going to be born on that day. She also thought our church was so evil! We asked her if she read the BOM and she said no. We said, "Then how can you know it's not true and is evil?" Then we had English class and we printed off a story from LDS.org for students to read and practice pronunciation. Y was in class. She kept snatching the papers out of our hand and diligently reading it. She loves the stories and asked where we get the stories from. We showed  her lds.org and mormon.org. The next time she came to English class we had another story and she liked that one too. On Friday, Y waited for us with a Book of Mormon in her hands after class. She had some really good questions for us and she actually listened to us. Her heart was softened and it was crazy to see that. She gave us a big hug which was weird. The elders are the ones that gave the BOM to her and said, "Want to know about our religion, then read it!" It was good teamwork. Please pray for her.

F is a super awesome investigator. We have been playing tennis with her. We asked if she has been praying and she said, "Everyday since we last met." Which has been since last week. She said she hasn't received an answer to her prayers. We asked her how she felt when praying, she said," Peace and lots of blessings." It's funny how people don't think those are answers to their prayers. So we are going to help her recognize God's love for her more. We will be playing tennis twice with her this week! 

LM is L's sister. We decided to FaceTime with her and oh boy she talks a lot! She really loves us and  she asked us to teach her again the next night. She has been struggling feeling God's love for her. We asked her if she has been praying. She said no. We asked her if she has prayed before, she said yes. We asked her how she felt. She said, "Peaceful." Again, she doesn't recognize it as an answer to her prayers. We told her that those were her answers. We told her that if she prays everyday for two weeks, she will notice the change in her life. We made plans with her to help her keep her commitment daily by texting her daily to remind her to pray. She is noticing the changes in her life. So I'm excited to see where the next week will take her.

J is a less active youth who loves the gospel so much. She is really shy but talks with us. She really wants to go on a mission. She is the only member of the church in her family. She is really close with her mom but her mom is out of state working. Her older brother is lazy and plays video games and her dad just works. She is in charge of cleaning and feeding. Her dad dislikes the church and has work off on Sundays which means she can't come to church. We are praying for her to find inspiration in how we can help her. She is 20 and we hope she can move out soon and come to church. She is so amazing!

YB is a less active we have been working with. We talked with her about the importance of prayer and scripture reading. She pulled out the BOM that was owned by her 6 year old son which was cute. She feels like God hasn't answer her prayers. Like the two people above, we asked if she feels peace. She said yes. We explained that it's a gift from God that he loves and care for you. We invited her to pray and read daily and she said she will try. We will be meeting with her this week and we are excited to help her come back to church.

We are going to be helping Wendy  go to the temple for her first time. It's kind of hard because the mission changed the rules about the temple. We can't take the people to the temple unless they have a family name. It's hard because Chinese people burned their records in China, so wish us  luck. There is another lady, Qiu Yun.... we are taking her for her endowment but again, she has to be more than two years past her baptism for us to go with her. If she has been baptized a year ago we can't go with her. So we are going to find out when she was baptized. So pray for us!

Sister Johnson and I wanted to find new people but didn't know how to talk with them on the street. I rarely have success talking with people. Secret: I am really bad at finding people but really good at teaching people that have already been found. Sister Johnson and I felt strongly to talk to people on street. Yesterday was our first day trying. 

On the other side of the bus station was a Spanish couple. So there is trash everywhere  on the ground in NY and there was  trash by a Spanish lady's feet that I thought she had dropped. I felt the spirit just try to push me to pick up that trash. It was like a scratch-off number jackpot thingy....can't remember what that is called. I told the lady," I think you dropped this." She yelled at me, "It's trash." I was like okay.... For some reason I put it in my pocket and had a mindset of throwing it away in the trash can. Then the husband said something to the wife and the wife came to me and yelled, "Where is that trash!?!" I pulled it out of my pocket. She said, "Throw it down!" I told her calmly that I will put it in the trash can. She furiously grabbed it out of my hands and threw it down on the ground. "There is trash men that come and sweep up the street!" She yelled. I told her that I was new here in Brooklyn. She looked at me and said, "Oh I'm sorry." She asked where I was from. Utah I answered. Her husband saw our name tags and said, "They're Mormons from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints." He explained to his wife about the church. The wife and I had a nice short conversation before the bus pulled up. She kissed her husband and waved bye to us with a smile on her face. We got onto the same bus with her husband. The husband and us had a great conversation. He was pretty much yelling his words and people watched our conversation about the gospel. There were like 30 people on the bus and they were smiling and agreeing to what we were teaching. We passed 6 stops to go with him to work and walked him to work. Then we gave the man our number and hopefully he will call us. We rode the bus back to where we were suppose to be and headed for a lesson. We talked to like 6 people that day. That has never happened with me since I am kind of scared to talk to random people on the street.

So here is a funny story!!!  So yesterday, one of the members invited us missionaries to go to this less active's beauty salon for free food. So we were going with the elders and with this member, our branch president and his family, the YW president, and another member! We arrived and there was more Chinese people and it turns out to be a commercial for her beauty salon. Whoops. The elders and I left so if you ever find us on YouTube well.......'sorry about that haha!  It was so weird and it was on a Sunday and it is against the missionary rules to be on tv. It was funny and we snuck out of the beauty salon without anyone noticing. 

Yesterday Sister Johnson and I had to give a five minute testimony. Sister Johnson did so amazing and then I went up there with no paper and just introduced myself and testified about the Atonement. Afterward members came up to me and complimented me on my Chinese so I am guessing the language is not so bad... thanks to the spirit. I am ready to come home and share my testimony of the Atonement. I want to write it down but it's not the same. I can't wait to share it with you.

This afternoon,  we went to get pizza.   On the way back to the church, Sister Johnson was walking fast but I felt prompted to walk slow and then there was this lady with a big baby stroller. She had to walk up steep stairs to get to her home. I told Sister Johnson that this lady needs help. We walked toward her and she asked us if we could help her and we carried the baby stroller up the stairs. We had the opportunity to talk with her and gave her our phone number and she is super excited to meet with us. 

This week Sister Johnson and I have decided to use a scripture that will help us with this transfer. We chose John 14:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." Looking at all the miracles was from us going forth and preaching the gospel. We allowed that love Heavenly Father has for His children to burn within us. I have never talked to this many people on the streets before on my entire mission. I have gotten to learn how to become a more bold but loving missionary. The love for the gospel cast out our  embarrassment and fear of sharing the gospel! It's incredible.

I have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon! I just finished reading it and it's such a powerful book. That book truly testifies of Jesus Christ's Atonement and that book got me through everything! I just want to share the truthfulness of the gospel to everyone! Everyone who reads that book cannot deny the love God has for them and that's why we are all here, to help them recognize God's love for each and everyone of His children! I am so grateful for the gospel. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have changed. My testimony has increased so much. I am so grateful for everything!

A letter I wrote to Mackenzie

I'm really excited to come home. I love my missionary work but my body is exhausted and is just ready to relax.  My brothers look amazing!!! I am proud of those two boys! I am the luckiest person in the world to have them in my life.

By the way I have five weddings to go to when I go home.

January- Justin and Emily

February- Sister Robertson (I served with her for about 5 transfers) she and her beau wanted me at their sealing. She talks to her beau about me all the time haha. 

March- I think my step sister's step-sister, Sister Peterson is getting married this month. She and I have gotten close on our mission

April- Danny and your sealing in the temple

May- Sister Lee wants me at her Wedding 

About the time change, I don't like it getting dark at 5pm either but hey, a missionary's dream is coming true.....an extra hour of sleep!!! Yay!  Also, I do not have a car. We are back in a walking mission. We are not allowed to leave our area anymore.  

Wow the Children's program sounds amazing especially with the Chinese! We are having the children's program in three weeks. They are doing ASL in some of the songs so I'm excited!

So we live next to the freeway and the subway so our apartment is really loud all day and all night so it's true that New York never sleeps!

I am excited to sit down with you and talk with you when I get home! I am super stoked!  Yes the weeks are flying by quickly and now I have two hands up to count them down. Don't worry, I am enjoying my mission and working hard.

I love you mom!  I love you sooooo much!

Love,

Sister Moore

A member gave us some soda but couldn't find any cups.  So we are drinking out of salt and pepper shakers.  Sister Johnson said they look like shot glasses!  Cheers!

Hey mama!

How are you doing this week? 

This is a view of the Statue of Liberty from our apartment at 6:30 this morning.

This week was full of miracles! The Lord has been so merciful to us. We tripled the lessons last week. The Lord is like, "Here is somebody, teach her my gospel." We have taught about 6 new investigators this week plus more lessons! Life is good.

The elders were frustrated with us at first but as soon as they saw how we are working hard, they started to trust us. They have been giving us people to teach and said, "You sisters can work better with this person." They can be funny sometimes. We have gotten so close. Hard work can change things.

We met F for the first time. She was so comfortable with us and was telling us everything about her life. She asked if we could play tennis with her. We played tennis with her and it was so much fun. She is pretty cool and one day she will accept the gospel. We just need to help her keep her commitment of praying. 

L is super awesome. Last week she was quiet but this week, she talked with us a lot and has gotten comfortable with us. She said, "When I am not with you two, I miss you." It shows the the spirit is testifying the love Heavenly Father has for us. We asked her if she prayed, she said sort of. We testified of prayer. We told her that the day we came to Brooklyn, we prayed to find someone new to teach the gospel with. The phone also hasn't been used for 3 months and we got a random phone call and it was her. She smiled and I sure hope that she knows how much she is loved especially by her Father in Heaven. I hope she will recognize the truth. She came to church yesterday with her son and her son's classmate was at church and it got her and the other mother involved in talking with each other. Fellowshipper!! She really liked church. We will be meeting with her again on Wednesday and help her progress.

AP came to church yesterday and we got to meet her for the first time. She had been taught by the elders previously. She wanted to get baptized. We told her that we can help her prepare for her baptism by teaching her all the lessons. We taught her and she is so pure in heart. She is ready to receive the ordinance. I am so excited to work with her along with Sister Johnson.

One day, we had to visit one of the members who I thought lived way out (30 minute walk) turns out she lives like 5 minutes away from the church.... Oops....We also hung out with the Jewish people. They were every where on that side of town. But that was okay.  On the way back to the church after a long walk, we saw LC, one of our English class students. We got a chance to talk with her. She asked where we were going. We told her that we were going to the church to teach someone. "English?" she asked. Perfect opportunity to tell her about our religion. So I told her about our religion and she said, "I am studying Jehovah Witness but can you teach me more about your religion tomorrow at 4?" I said yes. So we met with her. She had a lot of hard questions! We testified often! She was so tough in the lesson but I was calm because it was something new she was learning. So we will see what happens with her. Pray for her please.

We met with the members to introduce ourselves. We met C. We felt prompted to tell her about us and our story. She started to cry. She told us that she has so many weaknesses and she didn't know how to overcome it. We sat and listened to her. We told her about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We shared Ether 12:27. We tried to help her with the process of relying on the Savior through All things. She looked at us and said, "I'm so grateful that you two were sent here. To help me. I can feel a lot of peace." We hugged her and kneeled down to pray. The spirit was there. Then we had church yesterday. She spoke in relief society, she talked about us and how we are new missionaries. She shared about how much we really helped her. She extended the relief society to never be afraid to reach out to us. It was cool to see that.

Yesterday, Some people knew I was deaf so Nancy pulled me out of relief society class and brought me to the primary room. They had a song to perform. They signed in ASL, "I Know My Savior Loves Me." It was awesome! It was the cutest thing ever.

Sister Johnson is great.   I love her to death.  She has changed so much and is  progressing a lot from last week in being confident. I feel like Heavenly Father has blessed her with the gift of understanding Chinese over the phone. She has been setting up lessons over the phone and it's been great! When she doesn't understand, I understand it most of the time. She is now confident enough to pass out flyers. Last week she didn't want to and now she passes out a lot. She has a strong testimony! She is a happy person.

                                               These are some of the members from Terryville

                 

Hey! Can you send me some exercise ideas from the website? Since it's  getting colder here and we need to work out inside.  Thank you! We don't have  a lot of fruits and vegetables here. The grocery store has moldy fruit :/  We will check for some canned fruit and vegetables when we go shopping next week. 

Here are some pictures of our apartment:  

 

 

So we teach English class and it's the highest level. These students  are so smart and they complain things are too easy for them. Do you  have any ideas on how we can make it difficult but fun for them? We  are both struggling teaching them.

Hey, we might not write you next week. The rules just recently changed. When we have a temple trip, that is our preparation day. So we might be taking someone to the temple next Saturday and you will hear from us next Saturday. So just a heads up.  Love you!

I can't wait to see you!!! 80 days ;) Wow time flies!  But who's counting?!?!

Love,

Sister Moore 

My trainee, Sister Johnson

Hey Mom,

Sister Johnson arrived safely to New York on Monday. She is such a happy positive upbeat person. She told me all her stories all at once. She is a tough girl! She has such a sweet heart. Dyker Heights LOVES her so I think we will be fine here :)

Our apartment is about 20 minutes away from the church. It's nice and sort of old. I like it. We live next to the highway and subway so we hear loud sounds all day and all night. New York never sleeps! We have a nice view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty :)

As soon as we arrived in Dyker, a member, Ting Ting Wu was getting married. She knows me. We have met a few times before when I was in the Chinese program. She had asked us to help arrange and set up for her wedding at the church. So all of the missionaries and two others came together and helped. We were like Ting Ting Wu's assistants. She tells us what to do and then she leaves and then we do what she wants done. We did that everyday all day long.  It turned out so beautiful!

The wedding was a success. I was able to see three people from Flushing! It was so good to see them! We spoke full on Chinese and I understood what they mostly said. It's crazy to know that I haven't spoke or heard Chinese for a long time and then this happens and I could mostly understand. I feel like the spirit is definitely helping us so much. I am grateful for the opportunity to be back in the Chinese program and learn the language. Yes it's hard, but through Christ.... All things are possible!

Through the craziness of the wedding. Sister Johnson and I enjoyed our time teaching English Class and had a few lessons. Not bad for our first week. We have found 3 new investigators together and we are so excited to see where things go with them. One miracle happened.... Since there hasn't been any Chinese speaking sister missionaries in the area for awhile the phone number was shut off. We got the phone and one random lady called us and wanted to learn English. She showed up. As we were speaking English, we came to find out that she is struggling with finding her direction and her purpose. We merged in the gospel topic and taught her. She loved what we were teaching her. We taught her again a few days ago and taught her prayer. We know that she is ready to receive the gospel. We know that she will be able to find her identity and be able to feel God's love for her. She is pure in heart.

We also had 2 ladies who showed up to church yesterday for their first time. We taught 姐妹 with her friend who is a member of the church. She wanted to learn how to pray and was so open and willing. We taught her and she is willing to keep meeting with us. It was awesome!

I don't know if I told you about Lynne. She is a Member here but I met her before and she was learning sign language so I would teach her over Skype with Sister Lee. We are now teaching her sister about the gospel. She is warming up to us so it's going along pretty good.

Training in a new area is really hard. I am grateful the Lord has blessed me with the knowledge of the language and the guidance in the new area. I feel like I'm not scared and it's easy for me to get out of my comfort zone. So things will be hard but worth it in the end. It is kind of hard to train but it's fun too. I am praying to allow the spirit to help me teach and lead my trainee. She is in good hands and I am excited to serve with her for the next 12 weeks. It's gonna go by so fast!

I love you mom! You are so incredible!! Keep praying for us to find joy and miracles in the mission. 

Love, 

Sister Moore 

Hey mama,

So first off, I want to let you know that I was released from my calling as a trainer for Sister Hu who isn't coming. But then I was called to train a different missionary, Sister Johnson. Like Trainer like trainee. I am leaving today at 3 (1 your time) to pick her up. Sister Johnson is a Chinese speaking missionary. We will be staying at President's house tonight and Tuesday is our new start of a new journey in Dyker Height, Brooklyn.

On Monday we taught official lessons to  Chinese people  about prayer. It was so awesome and they said they will try praying. They live with one of the investigators the elders are working with, P J. P J came in the end of the lesson and we asked him if he could pray with us. He said a prayer and said he will help others say their prayers so I am excite to hear if they have been doing it or not.

General Conference was amazing! We chilled out at the Cutting's house for 3 sessions and Karisa's house for the last session. General Conference was a success because ALL of our investigators and recent converts had the opportunity to watch it! How cool is that? They all loved it! I don't have my notebook with me, I packed it up so the thing I got most out of it was Trust in the Lord and the Atonement. Sometimes I lose faith in things I don't understand or the uncertainty of my future and sometime I forget who I am. But I must trust in the Lord through all things because He knows me and He knows where I should be. Sometimes along the pathway with forgetting who I am or being confused.... I have come to find out for myself that I have so many personal weaknesses that I need to overcome. General Conference said that once we understand the Atonement, that is where the healing begins. That is when we learn how to make our weaknesses become strengths. Now looking back on my mission, I have learned so much. I have come to rely on my Savior for His strength. He has molded me and shaped me. He is still molding and shaping me. I am grateful for General conference and how they truly guide us in these latter days.

Well it's sad to leave everyone behind. It's hard giving them a hug and walking away without looking back. Many people cried and they just made me cry! I am gonna miss them and they are ready to have me back in May with my mom!

Sister Larsen and my companionship has been awesome! People, like investigators and members, kept on commenting on our companionship and how we are such powerful missionaries together and how we changed lives and had many miracles and success together. Sister Larsen  and I talked about our companionship. We both have had some hard times with our lives and we explained how much we helped each other rely on the Lord and healed each other. Sister Larsen and I have had so many great times and we worked hard. I am forever grateful for her and her example! I love her. We talked about hanging out lots in the future haha. She goes home in 7 weeks.

I love you mama! Pray for me this week! I'm gonna need it!

Love,

Sister Moore