Fiebre, Fiambre and Food Food Food!

Wow, another week - another p day! :)  This week I was looking at the pictures I took and wow, they are ALL of food.  Welcome to my life. haha  Will you all still love me when they have to roll me off the plane in a year??  But really this week was all about food!  First off, to explain the title of this email since it is in Spanish... fiebre means fever! yay. yep.  So here is the story.  People fed us street food which is against the rules...  I learned this week WHY it is against the rules.  I spent the whole night puking. woooooo.  Good thing there was a bucket in the bathroom, that's all I have to say.  Grossed out yet?  Get used to it!  We in Guatemala people!   But one amazing thing was I got my package from you guys that day.  So I woke up after sleeping all day and there were brownies and gold fish and love from home!  I about died!  Thank you thank you thank you. I love you all too much! :)  And tell Natalie Jensen she is such a cutie!  I love her little letters! :)  But I was down for a day this week with fiebre and you know... all that comes from food sickness.  So I'm never eating chuchitos ever again, until Navidad. everyone tells me that all people will feed us during Christmas. great! 

(note from the editor:  I'm assuming chuchitos means street food?)

divisions with Hermana Maye in a house made of mold, now I'm sick.  I blame this house!
I spent Halloween at this house.

Next thing,  FIAMBRE.  Okay fiambre is bigger than Thanksgiving in the United States. these people LOVE their fiambre!  Fiambre is basically a meat salad.  Not joking.  There are 4 types of sausages, 4 types of lunch meat type things, chicken, steak, ground beef, you name it.  It's in fiambre!  Oh and hot dogs, don't forget those; but they put that in everything anyways! haha.  So it's all the meat, then with every type of vegetable that you would ever want to keep in a jar of vinegar.  So imagine a salad bar and the meat section of the supermarket got together and threw a party, that is fiambre.  

Anyways, EVERYONE raves about fiambre.  And lucky us, we had it twice this week!  It's a delicacy here, because its pretty expensive.  So we had it with the Guinacs and then with Hermana Baechli the next day.  

Most Gringos hate it but I actually liked it!  It wasn't my favorite thing in the world; but with tostadas, anything is possible!  I'll have to make it for you when I get home.  I think Dad would really like it.  I liked it all, except the black sausage... sausage just shouldn't be black?  Who knows.  And the second time we ate it we just smothered it in salsa dulce, or ketchup, and wow.... improvement! hahaha. I'm a ketchup person now, and a chile person.  I'm a huge spicy food fan.  You can't really not like spicy food and live here.  It's like a sin.  Almost as bad as not eating tortillas.  It's the santo tortilla! hahaha not kidding. :)

One more thing about food, I baked a lot this week!  We made cinnamon rolls for our district meeting and it felt like I was home again! ahhhhh. :)  

Also we made a cake for the baptism this weekend!  A lady in our ward wanted to teach us how to make carrot cake!  So we did!  This woman is passionate about baking, she doesn't need a spoon, she uses her arm to mix that thing up!  Inspirational!  I'll never use a mixer again! 

So this week, Nehemias got baptized!  

At least we think that is his name, he spelled it Nemias; but I am positive it has an h!  He is this awesome kid who two weeks ago came to his friend's baptism and after the service he was like, Hermanas... I have to get baptized!  So he did!  Sweetest kid!  He has such a desire!  And wow, the hombres jovenes basically did the whole service!  They gave the talks, the prayers and they were the majority of the people there!  We have some rockin youth!  In 3-4 years this ward is going to send out like 10 missionaries, and they are gonna change the world!  

The baptism was great, I have been so incredibly blessed this month with people who are just so ready.  It makes this work so much easier when we just find the people who are ready! :)  I feel like my faith has grown so much this month.  I cant wait to echar fuego in November!  We got some big goals and we are going to work HARD!  This month is going to rock :) 

(Editor's note again:  I discussed the two words "echar fuego" with my Hispanic coworkers and they had never heard that and thought it was a Guatemalan expression for working hard?)

Funny stories of this week: I taught a lesson fearing for my life the entire time... there was a turkey the size of Ollie, our old dog, strutting its stuff right next to me.  I thought he was going to kill me! Turkeys exist outside of zoos.  They actually exist in houses too!  Freakin turkey.  So ugly.

random picture of foot tan lines!

Also,  I'm feeling good about my after the mission marriage prospects!  A man named Francisco declared his everlasting love for me this week.  It was quite magical.  We only knew each other for 2 minutes before he boldly declared, "Estoy enamorado con usted"!  (I'm in love with you!)  I figure after the mission if nothing else works out, I can always come back for this 80 year old drunk man with one foot.  The future is bright! 

When we were cooking cake I was attempting to grate carrots, zesting lemons anyone?, and I cut myself. so I was like "Ow"!  Then Jerico goes, "Porque llora la Gringa así"?   Hahahahahahahahahaha This kid.  I love him!  Basically he was like, "Why is the white girl crying like that?"  He is 11.  He is so funny!  Love my baby boy! :)

making carrot cake with two of my favorite converts, Natividad and Jerico

Other news..... I'm losing my hair!  Woooo, yay for stress.  I'll come back fat and bald!  Like I said, the future is bright!

But really, I'm loving life right now.  It's just wonderful being on the Lord's errand.  Thanks for all the love and emails and packages and letters.- they get me through the hard days! :)

love love love,

Hermana Moore 

Families Are Forever

HOLAAAA!!!!!!! what a week!  I just feel like  say the same thing every week, that this week was amazing and it went by much too fast!  So biggest thing that happened this week...... MY FIRST FAMILY BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.  

And wow, it will not be my last if I have anything to do with it. Baptizing families is like having ice cream with 5 cherries on top; because the whole gospel is focused on families, so when you teach families, and then baptize them, its just so .... natural?  It just feels right.  That is how its been with the familia Giron. So this Saturday Luis se bautizò!  We also had the baptism of Marisol, she is the older sister on Jerico. :)  But back to the family. I ADORE this family. I seriously... I just can't even describe it.  They are like my best friends.  The baptism was beautiful.  These people are incredible!  The Giron familia invited some friends to the baptism, as in they gave us references and brought them!  The people they brought, a family!  Who doesn't go to a church!  It was like Christmas morning!  They brought them to church on Sunday too and now we are teaching them!  Oh my incredible member missionary work!  After the baptism we were all talking and Luis, the husband, was like only 11 more months until we can go to the temple together, I'm counting! WAIT WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS?  They are amazing!  We gave them a pic of the temple and they put it on their wall!  I'm getting them to the temple and  I'm going with them in one year!  I'm doing it!  It's funny when I was in the MTC I was like, okay I've got roughly 4 months to find a family, baptize them and then go to the temple with them before I have to leave Guatemala. And bam!  The Lord is a God of miracles.  When we are worthy and willing to work, He truly makes us His instruments.  How grateful am I for that!  Then Marisol se bautizò tambien!  

This girl and her two siblings are results of MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!  It's all about working together people, all about that!  She took a little longer than her siblings but it didn't matter, when I saw her face after she got baptized, wow. she was beaming.  That sweet girl!  She is one of my soul sisters.  I hope I can see her again later in life when she has a family and is serving in the church!  Today is her 16th birthday, we are bringing her a cake :)  I love her!  Oh my. I never quite imagined just how in love with these people I would be.  I just adore them.  Who knew I had so many soul siblings here in Guatemala!

So for the baptisms I made a cake, as usual, but since it was my first family I went above and beyond and made TWO cakes!  Hahaha really I just wanted to make a piña cake and then people asked for chocolate too!  So I tried pineapple upside down cake!  Yum!  

Welcome to the Jungle!

I´m here again, another week has passed!  This week was kind of long but it's just because there were LOTS of changes. Like this week, I ended my training... I´m a real deal missionary now! haha  Well I was before but now I know what I´m doing, or so they tell me? haha jokes. 

So another change this week, I got a new companion!  

My new comp is Hermana Fusi and she is Tongan! She is super awesome, she is really different from my last companion but so incredible too! We are really going to focus on bettering our ward relations this change. This ward has such great potential, it just needs a little boost!  But with that being said, I adore my ward. I never want to leave! ah! So yeah, new comp and it's gonna be an adventure! We are both so ready to work work work! :)

Can I just talk about the best thing in the world that happened this week? JOSÈ GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!  

People, you don't even understand how incredible this is. I have been working with Josè since my first day in the mission!!!! Like literally he was the first person I personally challenged to baptism... and 3 months later he finally made it!   It's been quite the rollercoaster with this kid but wow, it was just full of miracles. He is a stellar kid, he is 15 and after he got baptized he was like, Hermana Moore I am going on a mission in 3 years, I'm counting!  Ahhhhhh brings tears to my eyes!  

One thing I LOVE about the youth here is that they alllllll want to serve missions.  They realize how crucial this work is! ah!  So Josè got baptized and it was one of the happiest things ever. :)  This kid is going places. We got some pretty hilar pictures.  

This pic is my favorite.  We have a love/hate relationship!

Then after the baptism one of our investigators came up to talk to us. His name is Nehemias and he is a friend of Jose, Jose actually brought him to church for the first time! So anyways Nehemias was like Hermanas can I talk to you?  And we are like.... yeah!  So he was like,  Hermanas I want you to give me the baptism talks. I want to get baptized, next week!  I'm home all the time, you can literally come over WHENEVER.  I was just like wait..... deja vu???  This literal same exact thing happened last week with Jose!  The baptism bug is going around people!  So I like started crying and I'm like yeah we will teach you and come to church tomorrow! ah!  So look for his baptism in the next couple weeks :)  The spirit at the baptismal services is just indescribable.  It's my favorite thing to do on a Saturday night :)  Lucky us, or should I say blessed us, we have a baptism this Saturday too! MY FIRST FAMILY WILL BE BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY.  I can't even describe to you how happy I am.  The mission is just like a pot full of joy and gold and sprinkles and butterflies.  That is how I feel about my Saturday nights.  Before the baptisms I feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off, but its all so so worth it!  

Making cookies and cakes for the baptism

For all those reading, stop what you are doing right now and go call the missionaries.  Offer them your help!  Invite them over and then invite non members!  Help them out and then send them home with a chocolate cake, preferably the one from Costco.  Love them so much and show it by giving them references and then offering them to teach them, in your house!  I just have such a testimony of member missionary work.  It's the only way!  All of the baptisms I have had have been a result of that. INVITING PEOPLE TO CHURCH!  You have so much power my friends!  So much!

Okay I'll step off the soap box now. :)  So let's talk about the title of this email... Wanna know what I did this morning?  I went zip lining.  Through the jungle.  In Guatemala.  With all my friends.  

And now I get to go preach the gospel.  People, this is better than paradise... like is this even real life????  I don't know how or why but I feel like I am swimming in blessings right now.  And luckily Aunt Amy sent me the best package ever full of bug repellant and other bug bite related goodies, so I didn't get eaten alive in the jungle!  

Thank you Vercillos!!!!

But really, I went zip lining and it was so incredibly fun!  

At one point I was just like zipping through the jungle, there was a waterfall beneath me and the sun was shining.  

Yeah you could say I'm pretty content. especially because tonight we have a noche de hogar with all of our investigators and our ward mission leader!  Life is great!

After the baptism we had a bachelorette party, hahaha don't judge.  There is a girl in our ward that is getting married this weekend so it was a relief society activity!  We were in charge of games.  My comp is like the queen of games!  She rocks!  We had so much fun and then they did a game where you design her a dress out of newspaper.  These ladies are incredible!  

My abuelita (grandma) out in the mission field

I'll send a pic of the finished product! She had paper earrings, flowers, bracelet and shoes.  The whole shabang!  Then they send us home with food and cake.  I was pretty dang happy. :)

In our little house we have another new companion too, Hermana Lopez!  She goes home this next change.  We are all so happy we love being together so we took lots of pics!!!!! :)

People, life is good, the church is true, and I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!!!!!

Keep doing what you're doing and keep writing me to tell me about it! :)

love love love,

Hermana Màs, Amor o mi favorito Moore

Look! I made the family favorite: Macaroni and garbanzos!

Miracles Happen Once In a While.....

Hola hola!  Wow what an incredible week!  It was truly full of miracles!  So there is so much to talk about from this week!  It went so fast, but at the same time, so much happened that it feels like a whole month passed!  So first things first, we moved!  Our old house was basically a swamp hole. so humid and full of moldy walls, we HAD to move!  Monday night we packed up all our stuff in a pick up and drove down the street to our new beautiful, amazing house!  It's incredible.  It's off the main road but back a ways and up.  So it's super cool and there is always a breeze in our house.  It's actually kinda cold at night.  Maybe send me some hot coco mix! :)  But it is upstairs above a restaurant!  Get this, it's a crepe restaurant.  Yeah that's real!  They sell American food and crepes!  And its super cheap!  And the owners speak English!  And as if it couldn't get any better, they owner gives us free peach cobbler and calls me Peach!  Heaven is a place on earth and it's our new house.  Our neighbors rock!  They take down our laundry when it rains and they are so sweet!  It's a pretty big house so we were talking with some other sisters and they decided to move in with us!  It's basically the most fun thing ever!  It is me and my comp and then Hermana Cruz and Ostler!  I actually had lunch with Hermana Ostler at BYU one day before I came out to the mission so it's been super fun to be with her!  We basically all just eat a lot and laugh a ton! :)  The house is amazing and it has the best view!  I'll send pics but it's like a painting.  

The other day I woke up early because I couldn't sleep so i decided to do laundry.  Our pila is outside and it faces the most beauitful view!  I did laundry while watching the sun rise over a volcano and the jungle.  Is this real life!  Yes, it is!  Oh I just love it here.  

This week was so incredible!

so we had a successful activity this week! Ppeople, do you hear me, we had a successful activity!  Our ward is great, but activities are its weakness.  So we planned a breakfast for the relief society and wow. WOW! it was amazing!  The key we have found is to ask everyone to bring little things, like oh she's bringing just a pot of beans, and she's bringing a thing of tortillas. and so on.  We brought and made the fried platanos. HA!  We bought way too many, like 40 lbs worth.... and we burned the first batch.  Flat out black.  Then our beloved yoici came to our rescue and made the rest!  I would say I learned how to make fried platanos this week but....  I learned how to burn them! ha!  

But we had a whopping attendance of 16 sisters! now before you say oh that's not that many... understand that the Sunday attendance in relief society is around 15.... so we rock!  It was truly a miracle.  We got to eat great food and we had leftover platanos all week!  I've now eaten them fried, boiled, in smoothies, in hot chocolate, plain, frozen, you name it!  We had to get creative because they go bad fast!  But now that  I live with a Nicaraguan we have lots of new fun ideas to try! 

So more on food this week, I officially learned how to tortillar this week by hand instead of the machine!  We were teaching our recent converts family and she makes tortillas for a living!  So I decided to give it a try, let me just say, hand made tortillas taste a trillion times better than the machine ones.  I'm never going back to flour! ha!  

Another funny thing that happened in a lesson this week, we taught a basically deaf man, not completely.  I basically yelled the first vision!  And the prayer. that was hilar.  I started laughing at the end because here I am screaming and home-boy can't even hear me!  Missions are comical.

Okay I'm running out of time so time to talk about conference miracles! conference was incredible!  We got to watch all but one session in English! blessings!  On Saturday we were running around between sessions to get investigators to conference.  It was 1:55 and we were a good 5 miles from the stake center with 6 investigators, no car and 20 minutes from the nearest bus route.  I legitly started crying.  I can't miss conference!  Then a member pulled up with his car and took the investigators to conference! There wasn't room for us so we took off running.  Yeah running up this huge hill in our skirts!  2 minutes later the sweet hermana Baechli, the 87 year old from our ward, pulls up in her car and says get in, we are going to conference!  How she knew we were there, I'll never know!  More tears, as you can imagine!  We ended up getting there right as our investigators pulled up.  We sat them down just in time for the first talk! success! miracles! oh my.  

happy companions

That night after conference we were with our favorite little family that we are teaching, stay tuned for next week on that one!, and the husband wasn't there... so we were like, oh when will he get back because we wanted to teach you all together!  She was like, oh not for a while.... then we hear a knock knock knock on the door, it was him!!!!!!  Wow talk about perfect timing.  The Lord is in the details!

Sunday we experienced the greatest miracle, by far the greatest moment of my mission thus far.  We were bringing our sweet family to conference, we showed up at 9 am before conference and they are all sitting there ready to go.  But something is wrong!  They can't find the little one's shoe!  Which of course means none of them can go!  I'm like what no!  It's just a shoe!  I will carry her!  But nevertheless they were like no, we can't now!  So we start scouring the house for this shoe.  Then I get the thought, you need to pray with them.  I'm just like no it's a shoe they will think I'm silly.  So we keep looking and still nothing.  Then the thought comes back, stronger this time, PRAY!  So we sit down with the family and offer up a prayer.  I felt kind of silly but then I decided to have faith!  We started looking again and not even 10 seconds later Gabriela found the shoe!  She found it in the canopy and was like, I looked here already and it wasn't there!  Miracles people!  After that, we all walked to conference!  Us and a FAMILY! wow! WOW!  Sometimes we need to just allow the Lord to show His power in his way. We always need to heed promptings!  Like the other day I felt prompted to bring my flashlight out with us and I didn't.  Then we taught a lesson in the pitch black darkest day! The flash light would have helped a ton!  So basically, always heed promptings, no matter how small they are. the more you heed them, the mote you'll get!!!!!!!! :)

We are working with the most incredible investigators right now and I feel so incredibly blessed!  I wish I could tell you more about them but  I'm out of time! next week! 

I want to challenge all of you, ALL OF YOU reading, to pray for a missionary opportunity. just one missionary moment between now and Christmas!  This was a challenge in conference but I'm re-giving it to all of you!  Ask and you will receive!  Then tell me about it!  That's really ALL I want for Christmas, tell me about your missionary experiences. the world is ready for this Good Word!  You have it!  Share it with everyone you know! 

I loved the talks by M. Russell Ballard and S. Gifford Nielson!  So incredible!  Conference was the most amazing thing!  I feel honored to be a part of an 80,000 strong army.  It is a comfort and there is such power. 

We are officially in winter here, rains everyday from 3-8 now.  It's insane but I'm loving every minute. This work is so much more fun and amazing when we find the people who are truly ready to hear! I am so SO EXCITED for this coming week.  It's gonna be an incredible one.  Pray that everything goes as planned! 

well, I love all of you!

A wedding, some baptisms and a trip to the temple

OH MY GOODNESS. this week was the most difficult yet incredible week of my entire life! of my existence!  People, missionary work is the best job in the universe!!!!!!!!

So its funny, normally I love the week days and don't really like the weekends, they always seem to be harder... but this week it was the opposite!  It seemed like everyday this week we were out of the house at like 7:30 am and back by 8:30 pm, just running around all day long trying to get papers in order and setting up everything.  All week we were preparing for the wedding of the Giron family and their subsequent baptisms!  Yeah, Friday we had a wedding and 3 baptisms!  Man I thought one baptism stressed me out, I had no idea what to expect preparing for 3!  

Making cookies and cakes for the baptisms

All week we were running to government offices with our family taking out birth certificates, DPI´s, which is like a license here, and tons of other stuff.  I officially hate the Guatemalan papers legal system.  Hate it!  Turns out government offices are no fun in every country!  

Buuuuuuttttttt..... VALE LA PENA.  That means it's worth it!  Truly, truly, truly this week was hard, like  I've never worked harder in my life.  And it rained harder than ever. but nothing will ever compare to seeing their faces as Gabriela and her son and my sweet Natividad walk out of the waters of baptism. and when they got confirmed on Sunday, nothing will ever compare!  Gabriela´s now husband is next!  

The wedding license!

We are gonna get him baptized this week or next, and then they can start their journey to being an eternal family!  They are so excited to be able to go through the temple one day. and now that they are married, they are well on their way! I don't know what I have told you about the familia Giron, but I'll tell a little bit here. Gabriela and Luis are married and have 3 kids.  Nelson is 12 and Michelle and Leah are little tikes!  

Baby Leah

So we contacted them one night on the street and bam!  These people were so prepared.  This work is just so much easier and incredible when the people are prepared like that!  Before her baptismal interview Gabriela was telling us why she wanted to get baptized.  She told us how she attended a different church for a few years and they told her she had to get married and baptized too, but it just didn't feel right.  And she said from the first step she took in to the church building this has just felt so different.  Like she knew it was true all along! She and her son have just never doubted!  They have SO much faith!  Helping them in this journey has been just an incredible blessing!  

three baptisms!

My other sweet recent convert, Natividad, is 13 and is the older sister of my first convert Jerico!  She is the single sweetest little girl besides my sweet sister.  She reminds me so much of Jilly it's not even funny!  She also has never doubted.  She just has so much faith and was so willing to change!  She knew that baptism was the first step of the rest of her life!  And now that she is baptized, wow she is diving head first into the church!  She already started personal progress!  It's been incredible helping her too. :)

Nativdad in the white dress with her family

So basically, missionary work works. The Lord IS preparing people for us to find.  I know that now.  I have never been happier in my life! 

My first little convert, Jerico

Wanna hear about another miracle?  Alright I'll tell you!  So after the baptism I was standing with my comp and we were just beaming.  After baking all day and chasing down investigators and members to come to the baptism, we had like over 40 in attendance.....score!  We were pretty satisfied. then our old investigator Jose came past us and motioned for us to come over.  We started teaching him my first day here in Guate and he has been going to seminary but is just afraid of getting baptized for some reason. so we stopped teaching him a few weeks ago because he wasn't progressing.  But he came to the baptism with some of his friends who are all members.  So anyways he motioned for us to come over. We walk over and he just is looking around and looks all nervous and we are like what is going on? He goes, I was wondering if you had another one of those forms for my dad to sign for baptism because I lost the other one.  We are like.... yeah we have one..... and then he's like hermanas, I want to get baptized.  I'm ready now.  Can I get baptized tomorrow? OH MY GOSH.  I legitimately just started crying.  My jaw dropped and we were just floored.  This kid has had a change made in him and now he finally realizes it!  He has always been ready but now he has the desire!  So we couldn't get the baptism ready this weekend but he is getting baptized this Saturday, and he is telling everyone! he has invited so many people!  Miracles happen and they happen in the Lords time!  Sometimes we need to just learn patience!  He must have had a spiritual experience during the baptism because he was just so different! He just stood outside for a while and looked at the sky, just by himself.  The Lord works in mysterious ways. :)

Then after all that, the next morning at 6 am we went to Quetzaltenango with our ward!  

We asked the mission president if we could go to the temple with our ward because a sweet girl, Migdalia, who always accompanies us, is going through for the first time!  When he heard we had 3 baptisms he was like, heck yes!  So we got to go to the temple!  

People, this is unheard of here!  Like we are so blessed to be able to go!  So I got to know Xela!  Wow, what a beautiful town!  It is so much cooler there, everyone was in parkas but I was like, hey people this is a beach breeze! hahahahahah.  The temple is ridiculously beautiful.  

We got to have breakfast and lunch in the temple cafeteria and meet so many people!  We did a session and snuck into a sealing!  The whole time I thought about my sweet Giron family and how I am going to bring them here in one year!  Mark my words I will!!!!!!! :)  Then we got to go to the famous Xelapan, pronounced Shayla pan.  It's like the greatest panaderia ever. :) so it was like Christmas for me!  I bought so many good things!  Sweet Migdalia was my personal assistant telling me all the best things to get!  This girl is seriously one of my best friends!  She is going to be the greatest missionary Ecuador has ever seen!!!!!!

Our ward has definitely caught the missionary bug.  The family that first brought Jerico to church is now consistently bringing him and his two sisters to church and activities!  They have two baptisms and one of the way!   They keep giving us references and asking to go with us!!!!!  In sacrament meeting yesterday everyone bore testimony about the joy of missionary work.  I guess it was the 3 confirmations and the joven  (youth) in our ward who opened his mission call in sacrament meeting that got it all going!  Isn't that cool ?  They open their mission calls in front of everyone in sacrament meeting!  So cool! :)  I have seen such a change in this ward over the past 12 weeks.  I think it all really depends on our perspective and the amount of love we are willing to share.  I truly, truly love these people.  They have helped me grow so much and I truly feel like they are my family!

well, I think thats it.  Tons of pics this week so I hope you enjoy it!  Off to work work work!  Love you all so much and thanks for the prayers.  I felt them this week! :) 

love love love,

Hermana Amore. :)

Two weeks of a very wet Hermana Moore!

This week:

Hola hola!  What a week!  There is so much I need to write about I am kinda overwhelmed!  Alright ready set go!

So this week I went on divisions again and got to spend a few days with Hermana Barba!  She has 2 weeks in the mission and is from Arizona! we had so much fun together! we ate smoothies and went on a run in the morning to the very farthest part of our area up this huge hill where we chilled by the national tree of Guatemala and enjoyed this beautiful view!  Ah I love this country!  We had so much fun and saw some miracles as we taught!  She had some fun object lessons so that helped a ton!  I just love her! 

Hermana Barba and me

So while I was with Hermana Barba we taught this sweet old woman, and by old, I mean old.  She is 87!  She is pretty staunch Catolica; but she totally believes the church is true somehow! she told us once when we asked her if she would pray to know if its true, "You two walk doing exactly what Jesucristo did, how could I think its a lie?"  That made me really happy.  I wish people would realize that we are here because we love Jesus and we love them!  Even if we don't know them!  I just want everyone to find this joy that I feel living this gospel!  So we are going to keep teaching the sweet old woman,  I'll keep you updated! 

Another woman we are teaching, Gabriela, is just incredible.  While I was with Hermana Barba I had my first experience interpreting dreams!  I kid you not!  These people DREAM, like a lot.  And they all expect dreams as answers to prayers!  So when they get one they are like ecstatic!  So send me a dream interpretation book!  I need all the help I can get! ;)  So sweet Gabriela told us about her dream, which I understood a good 20 % of... not kidding.  Then she's like, what do you think it means?  So I'm just thinking dream dream dream.... Lehis dream!  Okay what else did I understand..... something about pan.... then the relief society president, who was with us, goes,  "bread like the bread of life which is jesus Christ"!  And I'm like, yeah!  That!  Cabal! (that means "exactly", it's Guat slang).  Then we started reading 1 Nefi 8 with her and she's like, yeah!  That's my dream!  And I was like, well you probably had this dream because you were thinking a lot about baptism before you went to bed.  This was my long shot try to get her talking about baptism... and she was like yeah I have been thinking about baptism a lot.  It's just that my husband doesn't want to get married!  And I'm just like wait... you want to get baptized!  Did I hear you right?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  People, this never happens!  She actually wants to!  Oh my gosh tears just came on the spot. I have been praying so hard for her husband to want to marry her.  Sorry they call their baby daddies their husbands even if they aren't married.  She wants to get baptized so badly!  Miracles happen once in a while, when you believe!  That's like my theme song here!  But her son is 12 and he really wants to get baptized too!  He came to church with us yesterday and LOVED it.  When we were walking home he was like, so I can get baptized on the 12th right? And I'm like YES YES YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Ah it is incredible to work with people that are truly prepared.  It just makes me so happy and it makes the work so much easier!  Do me a favor and pray for this little family! :)

I needed this sundae!

This week we also had a Yogi Monja show up to church..... ha! I guess we passed her on the street once and invited her.... she believes that there is no established house of worship except her own body. She renounced her dead husband and went about doing... yogi business?  Ha! idk but she is old and funny and started doing some sort of hail Mary in church.  I love her!  We invited her to all of our activities!  We are going to convert her! 

Ha it has been raining SO MUCH this week!  Like I got soaked to the bone twice this week.  Once we were helping this lady sell lunches as an activity and it started pouring.  We were under a tent so it was fine....until the water started rising!  By the time it hit our ankles we figured we would call it a day and head for shelter... then all the tables and chairs started floating away!!!  Then they turned the corner to go down the bishop's street, which is like a river and super steep.  We were all like AY NOOOOOO. So I ditch my backpack ad go running!  I turn the corner and see a chair heading straight for a car,  no this is bad news!  So I'm running and mind you the water is basically to my knees and its just coming down in sheets!  I'm running and catching debris and its just hilarious.  My comp laughed so hard!  We got it all luckily and then we got some free food for our hard work :)  Then we went back and changed, thank goodness!

WET!

Speaking of free food, are you surprised, let's talk about Sunday!  Sunday we went to go get Jerico for church, and his sisters because they want to get baptized now too!   His abuela makes tortillas and tamales for her business.  So in the morning we are waiting for Jerico to get ready and put on the little white shirt and tie we bought him and she starts serving us breakfast! and atol de tortillas, basically its maseca and water and sugar, sugary flour water.  She kept giving us more and that stuff fills you up so much!  So after our beans and tortilla and atol breakfast we rolled ourselves out of there.  We went back after church to teach Jerico and his sisters and she gave us a bag of tamales for dinner!  It just amazes me how kind these people are. They have nothing.  Like they own two shirts yet they insist on sending us out with food!  They are too kind and I love them too too much! 

So this week I have been thinking a lot about hope, I mean my area is named Esperanza, and sometimes I'm a little lacking in that area.  But I found some amazing scriptures that have helped me a lot.  D&C 31:3-5.  Sometimes I forget that I am here living my dream!  I mean I am on a mission!  How long have I wanted this! Ah!  I need to remember that excitement!  It makes everything so much better when I have ganas to do this work! (tener ganas is like to want to do something, but really want to! like you have GANAS to do this!)  The hour of my mission is now!  Live it up!  Share the Gospel with everyone!  Also Ether 12:4, it's just one of my favorite scriptures ever.  Hope for a better world. show faith that you are willing to work for this better world.  Do what Christ asks you to do!  Have hope and work your tail off!  Everyday I pass by this wall where it says,  "Dios es la unica esperanza".  It's so true.  He is the reason we are here, anywhere we are!  He is our hope!  You gain more hope by loving Him more.  Then we will want to do His will and we will have more hope!  I Know this!!!

Well, I think thats it.  Oh we are moving today!  The house is packed!  Finally!  Our house is gross. and our new one is awesome.  It has an amazing view and is above a restaurant.  Wanna know what this restaurant serves?  Crepes and chocolate cake and hamburgers and nachos and hot chocolate.  I kid you not!  It's an American and French restaurant.  Parents you should probably start putting more money in my account, because I have a feeling that the chocolate cake will be calling my name.... every night. ;) ha!

Well I love you all!  Go out and serve someone today!  Get excited for conference!  I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh.  If only I could watch it in English. ;)

love love love,

Hermana Moore

p.s. I'm off to eat Chinese food, oh the perks of living in the city! :) 

Last week:

Hello!  I'm alive!  Ahhh!  Well, I am sure you have noticed that it is actually Tuesday, not Monday. ha! Let's just talk about the past 48 hours of my life.  So Sunday morning we get a call from my DL that we need to be at the stake center at 4:00 because I'm going tio Guate!  yep!  I had to go to the capitol to sign some visa papers!  So Sunday we took a bus from Coatepeque to REU to stay there for the night before the long haul trip on Monday.  So I get to the mission office and SURPRISE, my entire group from the MTC is going to Guate too!  Wow talk about the happiest reunion of my life!!!!!!!!!  Ah there were definitely tears of joy! :)  So that was just so fun! 

reunited with my MTC comp!

 We got to stay at a hotel and have a bomb chapin dinner and then just catch up!  Everyone is doing great!  What a relief!  Then we went to bed, and later woke up at like 3 to go get on a bus and drive to the capitol!  So 4 hours later, there were 30 of us in this tiny bus and we were quite squished, we got there!  We had breakfast at McDonalds and I had a mcgriddle and a mcflurry!  Ha great example of America no?  It was divine!  Divine I tell you! Then we went to the church area office and waited for a bit with some other missionaries from other missions around here!  Then we went to immigration but the weren't ready for us, and it was lunch time, so back to McDonalds we went! ha!  I am not kidding, I ate lunch and ANOTHER mcflurry.  I mean yolo right?  No I really just wanted to try the one with m&ms too! hahahaha.  Yeah so I know now why Guatemalans all think that Americans only eat fast food!  But really, we don't have that opportunity like ever! ha!  

So then we went to immigration, signed something and waited forever. hahaha we finally left by like 3:30 to head back to Reu!  It was a really fun day though, we just told every story we have all had and it was just so good to hear from everyone!  Guate is beautiful!  It reminds me so much of LA!  Big hills covered in trees and houses!  And just a huge city!  It is way colder there, like I was cold!  It was a strange feeling!  Normally I'm like sweating a ton, it's hot!  So then back to Reu, but it was raining and there was traffic... so it took a while!  By the time we got back to the mission office it was like 8:30. so we stayed the night in REU with some other hermanas, Hermana Bontempo and her comp!  We made pancakes and giggled a lot. haha.  Then my comp and I woke up early and caught yet another bus back to Coatepeque this morning!  Just in time to turn around and go straight to district meeting!  The buses are hilar.  I was wedged in between two fat men BOTH times! hahahahahaha  It's comical the amount of people they shove on the old colorful school buses!  I swear Guatemala is where buses go to die!  But needless to say.... I'm tired. but it doesn't matter! I'm off to work here after this!!! :)

a sweet investigator who is also a carpenter 

So the rest of this week, last week rather, was just awesome!  I went on divisions quite a few times because my comp had a meeting in Reu and because my comp is an Hermana Lider which means she does divisions with other sisters to see how they are doing.  So she goes with one comp and I stay here with the other!  It's a cool opportunity to see how others teach!   Tuesday I was with two other sisters, one who came in with me from the ccm here in Guatemala and the other who got here 2 weeks ago! We ate lots of food and laughed a ton because we are all really tall!  Everyone was looking at us! Including the old man who called us his "angelita mamita linda gringitas mis amores"!  These people and their cat calls!  They just make me laugh!  Then my other divisions I was with an hermana from Honduras. We definitely have a different teaching style, but I learned a lot from her!  And she painted my toenails! hahaha. I def have blue shooting star glittery toenails...... good thing no one can see them! ha!  

We also went to a mission call opening this week of a girl who always helps the missionaries!  She is a recent convert and got called to  Mexico!  Wow it was incredible to see the excitement of a mission call opening again!  Helps you remember why you are here! :)

Really this past week FLEW!  It went by so fast!  I cant believe it's already Tuesday, it still feels like last week! probably because  I didn't have a p day... haha but  I will survive!  We don't really need to buy food for the week I guess, and I can do laundry at night?  Ha, no I'm kidding,  I'll work it out! }

So food this week, of course this has to be a weekly section. I had real homemade carrot cake this week!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and they served it with this stuff called morcaf, it's like coffee but not, obviously. its a coffee of grains, so it has no caffeine. but  I'm obsessed.  It's like hot coco but lighter and just delisioso. :) 

This week we had a sports night activity in the ward! so fun!  Our ward mission leader was so excited! We went and bought a basketball, we totally bargained for it!!!!!! ha I was like, listen hermano.... this ball is used.  I'm not paying 65 q for it!  And he was like no its just sun damaged, and I'm like eh that's the same thing!  I demand a price cut!  So he cut it 5 q.... ha! Just imagine the situation above but make 'it 30 times more awkward because lets face it, I hate confrontation, so bargaining is hard! hahahahaha! but the activity was so fun!  We wore our sports clothes and just played basketball and volleyball! my team won, much to my ward mission leaders displeasure... that man is competitive! hahahahahahahahaha. 

Another funny story, we were teaching a lesson to a guy and his girlfriend in his house when all of a sudden I hear someone yelling in the other room.  Turns out their pastor was there and he was attempting to cast us out!  Like I'm not joking at all, homeboy was praying that we would reaLIZE OUR SINS and leave!  I'm just like, are you kidding me... we are 2 20 year old white girls.  It made me laugh! but we aren't going back, don't worry.  I don't need any of that! 

This week we really just saw miracles.  We worked a ton with less actives and we just got results!  Our church attendance broke our record!  We received so many references, contacting actually seemed to work, after we met with less actives!  We had been praying about what to do with our area and we both just felt that we should focus on the less actives!  So we found a really old ward directory with addresses and we followed that revelation! and wow, the Lord has blessed us! bastante!  Ha and it's been fun trying to learn how to read directions here, they make no sense! :)

Well family, I gotta go! but I just love all of you so much!  I am so grateful for your prayers and love and emails!  I'm sorry I really have no time this week to respond,  I have to run to a lesson, but next week I will!  Love you all so much!

love love love

Hermana Moore!

First Earthquake, Food, Miracles and a Baptism!

Two weeks of fun times with Erica!!!  Two weeks ago:

Wow! hello again, here I am, another week has passed! this week was nuts! NUTS I tell you!  As you can see from the title of this email... I experienced my first earthquake this week!!!  Insanity!  It happened on...  Friday night.  We were at a member's house and just about to leave when all of a sudden... well the world started shaking!  I was just like what the what do I do!  So the family naturally freaked the heck out!  Everyone started yelling and they're like get out of the house corre corre corre! So my comp runs for the street and I'm making my way to the door pretty confused still and then they are like NO Hermana Morris come back!  The cables can fall and kill you!  So she runs back and then we just stand there.  I'm literally watching the road ripple!  Ripple!  Wow.  We just waited it out.  It was pretty strong and lasted for a good minute!  My legs were super wobbly afterwards so they made us sit and gave us some juice.  Then afterwards the family listened to the radio and the man was like terremoto terremoto!  Casas cayeron!  They thought it was a 7 on the richter scale but later we found out that it was a 6.5, but the epicenter was where I live!  So insane!  Basically that's all anyone talked about for the next 3 days!  Where were you during the temblor??  Afterward we were like well perfect everyone is at home with their families lets teach!  Good idea right??  Wrong!  No one let us in!  They were too busy watching the news and calling family.  We were about ready to stand on our soap box and scream,  "Repent ye people of coatepeque! arrepienta"!! HA!  Jokes of course.  Basically the best thing that came out of the earthquake was a reason for me to buy some pan dulce.  Hey if I was in shock or something I had to get something in my system!  Only looking out for mi cuerpo!  Ha! 

But really we have been having some cray weather here lately.  The rain is really steppin it up a notch! Crazy thunder and lightning like I've never even seen!  Ha this is especially fun when we are teaching lessons and its raining buckets on the metal roof!  Oh that's my favorite!  Ha, the other day we were teaching and we just couldn't hear anything it was so loud!  So I was praying and literally screaming my prayer!  Strange!  It's like I'm literally crying repentance to this people.... or screaming repentance? Same diff. 

Oh and another blessing from the rain, the humidity and what it does to my hair!  Curly hair is colocha here, and people just really are fascinated by my hair.  Everyone always touches it and someone even asked for a picture of it??  Ha its pretty hilarious, and huge, very much huge. 

So this week I had some... interesting food.  Caldo de pata pollo.  Yeah that's chicken foot soup.  

And wow, it is a chicken foot!  And you EAT it.  I wish I could say I loved it but... I hated it!  I felt like I was chewing on baby fingers the whole time!  Awful mental image I know, but imagine having to eat that with the whole family staring at you with that image in your mind.  Yeah def not my favorite!  I took some hilar pics.

proof I ate it!!!!

And now every time I see chicken here I look at their feet and try not to gag.  The bones fall apart in your mouth and you have to spit out their toe nails.  Yummmmm.  Be jealous of what  I'm eating.  Ha!

No I love all other food here.  I ate 10 tortillas with breakfast this morning!  Oh ha and Dad and Jill will love this, I eat ketchup on my eggs now!  But ketchup here has like 10x more sugar, its divine! haha im gonna buy like 20 bottles of it before i come home! :) 

So my district/ zone loves to play futbol, along with the rest of Guatemala. so I didn't play at first but I don't really have a choice so I've tried playing.  I'm horrible!  I tried a header and completely missed. Ha but since we play it 2 times a week,  I've decided to try.  Ha I haven't made a goal yet but they joked that they were going to buy a portable goal since I always shoot it like 3 feet to either side of the goal!  Eh I've got time to get better!

So we were in a lesson yesterday with one of our investigators.  His name is Rudy.  He rocks!!  I really have high hopes for him!  We brought a member and wow, we really can't do this work without them! We were teaching about the Book of Mormon and I asked the member lady, to give her testimony about the Book of Mormon!  Well turns out she was the first member in Coatepeque!  She has such a solid testimony and helped so much!  I felt the Spirit so strongly and I really think Rudy did too!  She reminded me of something that I have basically forgotten, these people are descendants of the Lamanites!  This book is written for THEM!  She testified of this and then he got really interested!  I really think he will read it!  I am so excited to meet with him  again! :)  Now we just gotta get him to church!

Miracle of the week, Sunday!  So Sunday we went around gathering investigators for church and it was just no after no after I don't want to after no.  And then we were going to the last house and her neighbor answered.  It's like an apartment complex.  We have taught her once and so we were like oh hey want to come to church!  And she was like yeah just give me some time to get ready.  Okaaaayyy? We will come back?  So we come back in a little and she is waiting there, ready, with her kid and sister in law!  My comp and I were like, wait I this a joke?  Are you coming to church with us???  She came!!!!!!!  Ahhhhhh!  It's crazy how the investigators that actually come to church are always the ones that we don't expect!  Maybe we should just not go get them, then they'd all come!  Ha! 

So this week I loved D&C 12:8.  It was in my mind all week!  We have to be humble to assist in this work!  And full of love!  

my town!

I really tried to focus on that this week and I'm really starting to notice the miracles that have come of it!  The Lord has entrusted La Esperanza, Coatepeque to my care.  I need to love them and help them find greater joy!  How great is my calling!  Wow!  I am so happy to be out here!  Don't get me wrong, it is HARD sometimes.  I often wonder why I'm here.   Then I remember, I'm here for them.  These beautiful people!  I'm here for my family, the greatest blessing of my life. And I'm here for my Savior Jesus Christ! I owe Him everything, the least I can do is dedicate this 18 months to Him! :)

I love you all!!!!

love,

hermana moore :)

Last Week:

Hola!!!!!!!  Ha! I don't even know where to start with this week, like what didn't happen this week????? AH!

So first things first, Saturday September 14th we had a baptism!!!!!!! MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I cannot even express to you the joy I felt that day! So let me tell you about the investigator!  His name is Eric!  

Eric's baptism day!

Well, when we filled out his registro bautismal we found out that his name is actually Jerico, and that he is 11 not 10!  People don't really keep track of their age really well here!  Ha! But anyways, how we found Eric.  One day a hermana in our ward just brought him to church!  His grandma makes tortillas, so he would bring a family in our ward tortillas everyday and I guess they invited him to church!  PEOPLE, invite your friends to church!  You never know what will happen!  So he came for two weeks before we even noticed him, we just thought he was a member of the primary!  So we started teaching him and eventually met his whole family!  We are teaching them too but Eric wanted to get baptized!  So he did!  Wow,  I will never be able to express the joy I felt in my heart when he walked, more like ran, into the waters of baptism!  He was so confident!  No fear, he knew exactly what he was doing and he didn't want to wait another moment! And on Sunday when he was confirmed, wow!  So reverent!  I meant you have to understand, he is 11! He has the attention span of a fly; but when it comes to spiritual things, he just knows!  I love this kid so much!  I can just see him getting the priesthood in a year and then eventually serving a mission and ah!!!!!!!!!  Missionary work is real people!  It works!!!! D&C 18:15-16!!!!!

Sweet boy!

So that was incredible, :).  The rest of the week was hard but it just doesn't matter, because Eric got baptized!  He lives way the heck down in this far area called Masa, and we trucked down there everyday this week!  Up and down these hills, goodness!  But don't worry, my body isn't wasting away, I'm actually pretty sure I'm gaining weight!  Ha!  That's what all this delicious food will do to you!  I found a scripture this week that I LOVED!  Go read, Proverbs 28:25... that's what's happening here.... I am putting my trust in the Lord so He is making me fat!!!  Haaaaa, nah it's really just the tortillas and pan.  Bah I love pan!!!!!!  Oh I also saw a cupcake this week, so I HAD to buy it of course. :)  Oh and I achieved 3 months in the mission this week, so I had to celebrate!  We were in Reu that day because my comp had to do divisions with some other sisters, and they have a place called American Doughnuts, so we ate there to celebrate!  I had real doughnuts and HOT CHOCOLATE! 

Oh my, if you know me you know how amazing this was! :)  So yeah, I'm definitely eating my fair share of.... everything!  Oh and one of the bishop's sons went to the capital this week and brought back gourmet cookies, like shortbread ones dad!,  And gave us some!  So I ate those too :)  What didn't I eat this week would be a better way to address this situation! ;)

Ha so this week when we were teaching Eric one day, his WHOLE family was there, including his cray uncle, I'm pretty sure he is a pastor!  Well he just went off on a Bible rage, wouldn't let us get a word in!  So my district leader passed me a note that said he was gonna go take Eric in another room to do his baptismal interview, and good luck with this crazy man!  So I was just like no!  What do I do! Then the thought came to my mind, sing.  So sing we did!  We sang hymns for like 35 minutes, nonstop!  I figured he wouldn't interrupt that right!  Ha!  We literally sang hymns back to back until I couldn't sing anymore!  Then luckily crazy tio left and we just talked about blessings until Eric came back! :)  The Spirit always speaks to us when we are ready to listen!  Sometimes, you'll be told to sing sing sing! :)

So I mentioned how we went to Reu this week!  We got on a bus and actually left Coatepeque!  I was pretty excited because I haven't left in 8 weeks!  Since I got here!  Exciting, right??  Well after leaving I realized something.... I LOVE MY AREA!!!!!  Oh my goodness.  When I came back I was like I'm going to live and die here,  I just love the people and the city and everything about it!  It's familiar, it's home! (home away from home mom, don't worry!) 

But while we were in the bus coming back from Reu I was contacting, of course we are missionaries!  I met this super cool guy and lets just say that being a gringa is a great conversation starter!  And being from LA is awesome, because EVERYONE has a brother that lives here!  Ha! they're always like, do you know Jose Gonzalez.... and I'm like eh maybe?  Ha!  LA is huge and I live in "China Ville"! ;)   But it always helps me get familiar with these people!  So I'm grateful for that!  So we were just chatting and then he complimented me on my Spanish!  Wow, way to become my best friend!  Turns out, he has this awesome family and wants to come to church and learn more about the Gospel!  I taught him a little bit about the restoration but then I found out, he lives out of my area! :(  But oh well, I passed along quite the reference to another area! They better teach him!!!!

So this week we were warned about some gran tormenta, big storm.  We had to get extra food and water in our house, enough for 72 hours!  Basically all it was was just June gloom like in LA all week. Just no sun and constant drizzle.  Everyone was like,  "estamos en alerta naranja"!  "We are in orange alert"!  And nothing happened!  Ha!  But I guess a hurricane is heading our way today so I'll just wait and see what these gran tormentas really have to offer! ;) 

Yesterday was Independence Day here in Guatemala!  All week it was just so fun to see the flags everywhere and the festivities!  There was food everywhere, more than normal and wow on the 15th you could just feel the emotion and excitement in the air!!! :)  But, the 15th was a Sunday, haha so we had to just walk by the parades and try to get people to come to church!  Jill would have loved it! Marching bands up this wazoo!  Just everywhere!  These Guatemalans know how to do parades! Hundreds upon hundreds in traditional costumes and with dances and bands and wow!  It was incredible!!!! 

So one last thing before I go, miracle of the week. It was Friday night and as usual, all our citas fell through!  So we started wandering trying to find a new area to contact but then I just thought no, let's pray!  I mean this is the Lord's time!  We need to ask Him what He wants us to do! So we sat on a curb and prayed!  And right after we finished the prayer, these two girls walked up to us!  May I repeat, THEY walked up to US!  This never happens!!!!  They wanted to practice English but then they were asking about the church!  So we told them about our English classes and invited them to church!  And now we are going to go teach them!!!!!  Ah!  Miracles exist.... they are so real!  The Lord will reward us when we follow His will! :)  Ha when we talked for a while they were like, what were you doing there sitting on the curb...... waiting for you!  Even though we didn't know it! :)

Oh and today we went to the giant Guatemalan style market called Meta!  We bought vegetables and fruit for cheap ad they are huge and look so fresh!  It was so fun!  Dad, it was like the farmer's market at the Grove but 30 times bigger, and a little dirtier. ha!  But wow, so fun!  We are going to go every week to buy food now!

Remember this : D&C 58:2-4.  This helped me a lot this week!  Let the Lord bless your life!  Just Let Him! :)

love love love,

Hermana Moore!