Dear Mom,

Yes I have no more dizzy spells anymore. I am still lightheaded and still have a headache and I think that comes from stress. I am glad you're feeling better!!

Wow Thanksgiving sounds amazing and then having a long break and before you know it your little girl, your best friend will be home!!! I am excited for you!!! I can't wait to meet Danny, it will be weird to see my hot mama with a man but I will get use to it pretty quickly!

Yes I heard about France.... So many people told me. I can't believe that happened? Why did it happened? Why would people do those things? I know there is a plan along the way. There was a Chinese couple that came into English class and we hit it off pretty fast. We got pretty close to each other. They told me about France. They cried and asked us to pray for them. I got the strong impression to ask them if they know how to pray. They said no. I told them that we will teach them the next time they come. They are excited and they are pure in heart!

Today is so warm for some reason. I am sweaty like a pig and don't need my jacket. I hopes its stay like this till I go home haha.

 

This week I struggled so much but I know that I can keep going.   "There is opposition in all things." The lessons I have learned this week was that sometimes we get put into a maze. Should I turn left or should I turn right? Should I go forward or should I go backward? Most of the time the answer is, "I don't know." Sometimes we keep going and find ourselves in the dead end or moving ourselves further away from the the destination. My question is, "Have you inquired of the Lord which way you should go?" The choices we make now will affect our future. I must admit that I did pray oft and did fast oft. These two are so powerful together. A few weeks ago we had a district meeting and we talked about how we can build that relationship and trust with church leaders. I decided to fast and pray this week and we called the relief society president and branch president and made appointments with them in their busy schedules. The young women president called us and we had lunch with her. It all happened on the same day I was fasting and it was incredible to see. We talked about their goals, plans, and visions. It will be hard work but I know with faith we can continue to improve the work in this branch. I am excited to see where the next 6 weeks takes us. I also pray and fast for a lot of things and it was awesome to see how the spirit can truly open my eyes to a new perspective. 

We did two maze activities with two people we have taught. First lets talk about Lucy. She was a less active we brought back to church. The elders told us that so many missionaries have tried to get her to come back. We said it is because we love her and remind her of the covenant she had made in her baptism. We did a maze activity which we set up all the chairs and the end destination is Christ. We blind folded her and she had to find her way to Christ. She kept bumping herself into the chairs and getting further away from the destination. I was having a hard time watching her, I jumped in and grabbed her hand and led her to Jesus Christ. We asked her how she felt being alone and she said she felt scared and didn't have anyone leading her. We asked her that when I jumped in how did she feel. She responded, "peace." We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it helped us receive eternal life. A member called and invited her to church and she came. She is slowly coming back! 

Then we did it with Lila. Before we started the Spanish missionaries were practicing singing for transfer, Lila wanted to hear them sing and she felt the spirit. We had her go through the maze on her own and she was going through different directions. Sister Johnson jumped in and started speaking to her the right direction and I jumped in as well as leading her the wrong direction and she was confused as to what voices to follow. We sat down and blended the lesson with how Heavenly Father has never left us alone. He has given us tools along the way. The lesson was so powerful and the Spanish missionaries music was in the background. We know that Lila felt the spirit so strong! We can see it in her eyes! She came to church and so many members welcomed her in and it was amazing to see. 

Zena, one of our investigators should be getting baptized this Sunday. We will see what happens with her husband, Zack. Her husband should be getting baptized with her. He might have to work so pray that everything will work. I am excited! They are so ready!!

I know the gospel is real! I know that God lives and loves us forever. I am so grateful for everything my Dear Heavenly Father has given me. I know whatever I am going through, with the Savior Jesus Christ by my side, I will endure it well. Let us all help God keep His promise by doing all things He asked us to do so we can return to live with Him again.

I love you,

Sister Moore

Trusting in The Lord's Plan for Me

This is my personal testimony of the Atonement. 





I was on my 5th transfer and I was sitting across the desk from President Calderwood. He asked how I felt if I were to leave the Chinese program. I told him that I will go and do the thing the Lord asked me to do. He smiled so big. Transfer came and I was leaving the Chinese program. Even though I did say that I will go and do the thing the Lord asked me to do, It was still hard because I couldn't understand why I was leaving. I was called to be a Chinese speaking missionary and why am I leaving. The work started to hasten and why now? Many questions appeared to my mind that started to discouraged me and frustrated me personally.





It was hard being out of the Chinese program. President Calderwood said, "Sister Moore you're only out of the Chinese program for 2 transfers." I worked with Sister Passey by my side in the ASL program. It was so fun serving with her. 2 transfers went by and I was asked to stay another transfer to be in a trio companionship. I got the call that I was training a Chinese speaking sister missionary in 5 weeks. After being in a trio for a week, the new mission president, President Reynolds called me and told me that I was moving to a different area that night. He simply explained that there was a sister missionary going home early on a medical release and that I was assigned to another sister in a different area that was English speaking. I packed up my stuff and left for Terryville. My companion was Sister Larsen. Yay!! Another area to serve! But it had never crossed my mind that this companion and this area would forever change my life.  Background information: My entire mission I have focused so much on my personal weaknesses and the things that I couldn't do. I was allowing them to be a great burden to me. 





Later I have come to find that I would not be training anymore and was staying another transfer with Sister Larsen. President Calderwood said two transfers and I have been out of the Chinese program for 4 transfers. I have come to accept the fact that this is what the Lord wanted me to do. Sister Larsen and I both have our personal struggles and spoke them out with each other because we relied on each other and we wanted to help each other so much. I have always heard the word Atonement and have never applied it into my life. I never truly understood the meaning. Everyone spoke of it and testified of it and I had a huge desire to understand it but never could. Sister Larsen and I realized that the Atonement is essential to real healing. We just didn't know how to apply it. The first step we both felt we needed to do was to  pray to our Father in Heaven and that was the start of recognizing the Atonement's enabling power. Because we talk about the atonement and submitting our will to our Heavenly Father through prayer we were able to understand the true meaning of it. David A. Bednar said, "As we come to better understand this sacred power, our gospel perspective will be greatly enlarged and enriched. Such a perspective will change us in remarkable ways." We started to work hard in the field. We had a huge desire to serve those around us. We started to open our eyes and started seeing that the members are struggling and that we are able to help them strengthen their faith and love them through their time of trials and difficulties. When members had committed a sin that was a burden to them or going through hard times, the first thing Sister Larsen and I did was hug them and love them, sometimes we even cried with them.  Whenever Sister Larsen and I struggled, we never pushed each other away. We never "preached" to each other. All we did is just hug each other and tell each other that we love each other. Toward the end of our companionship, Sister Larsen and I noticed the real meaning of the atonement . She and I have healed each other through recognizing the real divine power of  the Atonement. Sister Larsen and Terryville was the reason why I changed the most.



Now looking back to my whole mission especially the 5th transfer and meeting with President Calderwood. When President Calderwood told me that I was leaving the program, he didn't just think about the area and the people that I was to serve. He thought about me and what I was to become. President Calderwood smiled because he knew the Lord's plan for me. He knew that I would be able to find my testimony, my experience with the Atonement, and the changes I would make in my life. How could an originally Chinese speaking missionary get transferred to an area that has no Chinese people in the ASL program and then get pulled out of that area to an English program mid-transfer to be with Sister Larsen? Heavenly Father knew this plan was perfect for ME! He knew who I was to become! It is incredible how through all these changes and things didn't make sense..... I was able to find who I am. I was able to recognize how powerful the Atonement was. I felt like I was finally free from my weaknesses and burdens that I have carried with me. I recognize that it was okay to have weaknesses as long as I rely on my Father in Heaven. 





This lesson taught me this: How can I gain faith without experience? How can I have love without experience? How can I develop hope without experience? How can I have christlike attributes without experience? When going through hardships and trails, I would like to invite you to kneel and pray. Talk to Heavenly Father of your feelings. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are ultimately the only one that can truly understand us and help us.  Seek the Savior and submit your will to Him. Because the Love Heavenly Father has for us, He had sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. Toward the end of his death, Jesus Christ had to walk this lonely path so He can understand how we feel through our afflictions and through our pains. He didn't have a comforter to help Him. He did this, so we do not have to do this alone. The Savior loves us, died for us, and now it's the time to seek for Him and allow Him to strengthen us and uplift those around us. The Savior is my Redeemer! Thinking this brought me to a true reality of Heavenly Father's perfect plan for each one of us. The Gospel and The Savior's Atonement is the only way we can progress and live with our loving Heavenly Father again.





This is my testimony.

This week was a stressful week but I am glad I went through it to learn and to grow.  We have found so many new investigators, I just love how happy they were to listen to our message and were willing to meet with us and when we called them they dropped us before having a lessons with them. My heart breaks when they don't give us a chance to teach them. I just want to find people to teach and it's hard when we face rejection after rejection.

On top of that, we committed our first investigator, Lisa to baptism and she said YES! In the lesson, Sister Johnson and I shared our experience with the gospel and how much it blessed our lives. We taught her lessons and she has changed. She loves the church. I felt strongly to extend a baptismal invitation. I asked Lisa these  questions. "Lisa, do you know that this gospel can bless you and change you?" Yes. "Do you know what we are teaching you is true?" 100% Yes! "Lisa will you be baptized by someone holding that priesthood authority?" Yes! It was an incredible lesson. She came to church and more members became friends with Lisa and supported her. It was awesome to see.

We also have an investigator name Zena! She is so amazing! She knows everything and just recently had a daughter last month. She was taught by the other sister missionaries when they were here and then she had a baby and then now is back to church. She has a super solid testimony and I just love her! We have been working with her and she is now assigned to be baptized on November 22. I feel like I can understand her the most out of everyone. It was awesome!

We have been working with Frances and we mainly focused on her concern. She is struggling so much! We taught her the importance of us extending commitments to her will help her because she hasn't been keeping them. We taught her the lesson at the tennis court. There were cars driving by, teenager screaming, ball bouncing, wind blowing, and leaves moving around. We told her to pray and tell Heavenly Father everything the way she told us. We prayed and everything went dead silent. The noise around us quieted and the spirit of peace came in and Frances cried. She said she felt relief. She could feel the love Heavenly Father has for her. It was amazing and I hope she remembers this experience. 

Lucy finally came to church, here is what happened. We have been teaching her but she refused to come to church. We had a lesson with her on Saturday about going to church and why it's important. She still didn't want to come. We convinced her by saying we will walk with her to church. She say okay. Next day, we waited outside her house. We see Lucy walking toward the house with food. She was so surprised to see us. We asked if she was ready. And she said we can go to church and she'll come later. We told her that we promised her that we will walk together. She invited us in, ate her lunch, and off we went to church. Yup we are two persistent missionaries....Members welcomed her back so I am happy about that. Hopefully she will start to feel comfortable.

Chinese has improved so much! I am starting to understand again and communicate with them. So that's the work here :)

It's funny that you are having a vertigo.... Maybe I am having the same thing too. I start having dizzy and lightheaded problems since Thursday. It's has been getting worse. Last night I woke up 5 times due to feeling like I was getting thrown off the bed because of how bad the dizziness got. I struggled going back to bed because the room was spinning around and around and it's been getting worse. I don't know if it's related to stress. I have let the mission nurse know and she said she will call you. She feels it's related to my implants.  I told the nurse and doctor that it is not the cochlears but they still want to try and contact them and see if it causes problem. Yes I am eating good. Lots of fruit and vegetables! Proteins and carbohydrates. I got the food you sent me and love it! I eat healthy, I exercise (I haven't done it lately because of my dizziness, I keep hitting myself to the wall haha) and lots of water and enough sleep.  It's just weird. Maybe it's the season. My nose hasn't be running or anything. Remember how I had problem like that few years ago and it lasted for a few months?  I feel worse when I am lying down or sitting down. When I stand my brain gets tense and my eyes gets tense. It doesn't hurt but it's like the feeling when you hit your head hard and then you are there but you're not there at the same time.  

Thank you for telling me about the fireside! That's sound so inspirational and amazing! It touched my heart! I will keep Kendal Levine in my prayers! I am happy to hear that she is improving. I do remember that story. That's incredible!!!

I love you!

Sister Moore

The elders went out and came back soaking wet!  It wasn't raining when we went to get Subway and on the way back...pouring rain!  All I wanted was a sandwich!

Dear Mama,

First let me tell you about goals. Each week we set up weekly goals for the following week. I was trying to teach Sister Johnson how to set weekly goals. Her vision of setting goals is getting bigger numbers than the week before. She keeps setting high numbers but I am trying to teach her to be realistic as well. She wanted to have 18 lessons. I was taken aback because the mission has an average of 15 lessons per week per companionship. We never went beyond 15 yet. We also have four English classes per week to teach plus meetings, plus having a Halloween party on Saturday afternoon and have to be in at 6pm on Halloween. We were discussing the goals. Sister Johnson and I knelt in prayer and asked if this is what our Heavenly Father wants? The answer was yes. This week went by and we did accomplish our goals. Well we went beyond our goals and taught 19 lessons.

On Tuesday Sister Johnson and I were trying to figure out how we could help one of our investigators. We came up with a few member's names to call to help us. We felt inspired to call Linda.  I remember President Reynolds in my last interview telling me that I need to use my common sense more. Whatever Heavenly Father tells me to do, I must do it. Linda didn't answer the phone. One hour later, I got this strong impression that we needed to call Linda again. She picked up the phone. Again I got another impression that Linda shouldn't be a member present for our investigator, I felt that she was needed for a different lesson with another investigator. Linda said she would be happy to help us out. She showed up and we FaceTimed with our investigator. I cannot tell you how powerful the lesson went. It was incredible! LM was an amazing investigator but was not recognizing God's love for her. She was not recognizing God's answer. She felt a lot of stress about baptism and she doesn't know why she needs to get baptized. She never asked us questions. This time was different. Linda asked inspired questions, shared her experience and shared her testimony. For the first time, LM asked a question, "Why do I need to get baptized?" Linda explained and shared her testimony. We could tell that LM was feeling something. Linda said, "We want to invite you to kneel in prayer and ask God if you should get baptized." LM asked why we kneel. Linda once again explained. We testified often and then we asked if we could say the closing prayer. LM automatically wanted to say it and said it for the first time in front of us. We know she felt something in the lesson. We could tell that she is recognizing something so powerful that she had never recognized before. Members change everything! I am grateful Heavenly Father helped me recognize that spiritual prompting. We texted LM yesterday and she was so excited to talk to us. We are meeting with her tomorrow. 

We haven't met with Lisa this week because she just recently delivered her baby. We texted her over the phone that we prayed for her and we congratulated her as well. Lisa loves talking with us and the texts are getting longer and longer and she expressed her love and gratitude for us. To Sister Johnson and me, that never happened. Remember the first time we met with her and she hated us. Now she loves us and wants us to go to her house and visit her to teach her about the gospel. We are so excited! 

We have another new investigator, Helen. She had the elders' number and gave the elders a call saying she wants to learn more about the Bible. So the elders gave her number to us, we called her yesterday and asked if we could meet with her before church. She said yes. We waited for her at the church and she never showed up. But then in the middle of sacrament we saw a lady come in who was sitting by herself. We went over and sat by her. We came to find out that it was Helen. She asked us a few questions and we felt prompted to go into a quieter room. We talked with her and she talked about trying to find the right church to go to.  The lesson got led to the Restoration. She asked a question and I responded in Chinese and she was so surprised that I could speak Chinese. We taught her how to pray and invited her to pray and she said the prayer out loud.  She cried. She said it felt good to speak her burdens out. She opened up so much to us. She is a very intelligent woman. She is a professor for traveling at the college. She has great potential and I am excited to see where this path will take her.

Amy is super amazing. One struggle is that she works in PA and she comes to NY every three weeks. She only speaks Chinese and we FaceTime with her during the week. She knows the gospel is true and she wants to get baptized but the church situation is a bit difficult. We are going to work on finding a Chinese branch she can go to in PA. She is so pure in heart.

Lena is a bit of a struggle. She loves hearing our message of the gospel but won't keep any of the commitments. We decided to invite a member to the lesson and this member kept looking at us and talk and talk and talk and talk. She literally talked for 15 minutes straight and we cut in and then she interrupted and talked for another 15 minutes. Lena wasn't feeling comfortable that as soon as we finished the closing prayer she got up and left immediately. She didn't come to church yesterday which was sad. We couldn't get a hold of her and finally yesterday she said she can meet with us and we have a lesson with her on Wednesday. We are excited!

We met with a strong member, Carolyn on Saturday. When we met with her for the first time, she was struggling big time and we told her of how the atonement can help her and we told her to rely on the Savior's strength. We had a Halloween party on Saturday and she was there and pulled us aside and talked with us and she told us how much she has changed since the last time week we met. She said she relies on the Savior so much. She said that she had never told anyone of her struggles and that the Lord had prepared her for us so we can help her. Yesterday she shared her testimony in church of how we helped her so much. She is such a sweet person. I am grateful we have helped her progress. In the lesson with her,  she said, "I want you to know that you are making a difference here." That just hit me. I am grateful to be here at this time.

We have two people going to the temple tomorrow. Because of the mission rules changing only one set of a missionary companionship from branch/ward can go to the temple. So we are letting the elders go instead of us because they deserved it and we felt right that they should go. Wendy Lian is doing baptisms for the dead for the first time and Chen JM is getting her endowment too. We are so excited for them. They are really sad that we couldn't attend with them but we will be there in spirit!! This a great opportunity for them! We will be working with one family and another person to prepare them for the temple in the near future. It's a miracle that many of the members are attending the temple tomorrow. Many of the husbands weren't at church yesterday because they were working so they could get tomorrow off to go to the temple. We are so excited for this amazing miracle. The temple is such a powerful blessing.

So on Tuesday we had our President Interview. Mine was pretty quick because I have my departing interview in 8 weeks but the longer I think about the interview the more I started to see what president had meant. He listed a lot of inspirations for me to do. Mainly he wanted me to master on goal setting because it will affect my future. He also told me to learn how to have short powerful lessons and I have been keeping myself accountable for that and the lessons have been powerful and amazing. President also wants me to learn how to find more people to teach the gospel to by using my iPad or the pamphlet. I'm doing better at talking to strangers on the street now. I feel comfortable telling them about the gospel. We have talked to many people but found one investigator, Joleen except she lives in Manhattan so we will have to contact the NYNY North mission to contact her. It will be good for her. President Reynolds is such an amazing man! I love serving with him. I love his sweet wife too. I talked with her for an hour and she is so incredible!! 

Can you send me the lyrics to Homeward Bound?  It was Sister Larsen's favorite song. We listened to it all the time. It became my favorite song too. It became our companionship song but I never knew the words. Sister Larsen said, " Sister Moore when you hear this song, you will think of our companionship." Haha

Hey!!!! Happy Belated Halloween!!! The pictures looks fantastic! Where did you get the heads! That's creepy!!! I just freaking love you!  We had 2 lessons and then a Halloween party with the branch. We went home at 6 and just cleaned our house and wrote in our journals. Thanks for the package! We just loved it!!

     For Halloween we switched each other's clothes and tag. I was Sister Johnson and she was Sister Moore.  

            We had the Elder's dress up with things from the care package you sent me.

Even with the time change we still have to work from 12-9 everyday. President Reynolds has advised me to use my common sense and protect my companion when working. So we do have to work during the night.

That's exciting for Nathan to leave for his mission. It's a start of a life changing experience for him. He will be such an incredible person!!

Thank you for your strong testimony! I love you mom! I am so proud of you! You are such a light and example in my life.  

I honestly love training but it's hard. I want to be diligent and work hard and know I did enough.  I also have to learn patience and take a step back and let Sister Johnson learn and grow. Helping her progress will be an amazing thing for me. She is actually progressing a lot! I'm so proud of her!

This letter is getting too long. I am going to be bold here. This week I have noticed  how many less actives we have been working with. We noticed how many of them don't have friends in the branch or no support from the branch. We talked with members on helping but they are so busy with work, school, family, and etc. they are so caught up in their problems too. I just want to open their eyes and see that church is FAMILY. It should be a place of comfort, or love, of peace. It's a place of imperfect people. I noticed when we serve others, we are serving God. God knows what we are going through but if we truly forget ourselves and serve the Lord, then the Lord will help us and bless us even more! Our busyness in life will calm down, our problem will go away, and the Lord will take care of us with family and school and work. This lifetime is about hastening the work of the Lord. The time is now! Reach out your hand and help others! Do simple things by sitting someone who is by herself/himself in church. Or bring food to a family who is struggling, just love them and smile at them. What we do here on earth affects our eternity! I promise all of you and me that if we continue to serve others, we will receive the fullness of joy and peace.

I love you mom!

I am grateful to be here!

Sister Moore

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