To my loved ones,

Well Sister Stephens has decided to go home.  She will be leaving at the end of this transfer, which is one week from today.  She's been a great companion, I will really miss her.  Having only been in this huge area for 6 weeks, I'm a little nervous about leading out the area.  I can't even remember where everything is...wish me luck!  Or if you'd like, a prayer for my mind to be expanded would be much appreciated! haha :)  

I LOVE THIS AREA. 

Okay, I've got to tell a little miracle story here.  About a week ago we got a phone call from a newlywed couple (both returned missionaries) that said they invited their non-member neighbors to dinner at their house and would like us to come!  We went yesterday.  The family consisted of the parents and 4 daughters.  They just moved from Oregon a few months ago, hence why they are all non-members.  They told us that they were Christian and attended a bible church in town.  After dinner, we shared a message with them about Christ and his restored church.  We asked if we could continue to meet with them to teach them more about the gospel.  I didn't think they would say yes, especially since they already have a church they've been going to (most people are pretty content with their own church if they have one they are going to consistently).  But the wife surprised me by saying "Sure!" I was elated.  We set up an appointment for this Wednesday to begin teaching them.  Sister Richins and I praised God the entire rest of the day for that wonderful miracle!

Love you all so much, hope everything is going well! I continue to keep you in my prayers!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

Dear Family and Friends,

What a week!

Sister Richins was sick for a few days this week, so I got a bit antsy for a few days.  But we had a FANTASTIC lesson this week with Lindsay and Don.  They are fairly new investigators, Lindsay just asked the Primary President out of the blue if she could come over to her house to ask her questions about our Church.  The Primary President said yes, of course, and asked Lindsay if she could invite the missionaries, too.  Lindsay agreed, but before we even got to meet with her in the home, she came to church during the primary program and loved it! So now we are teaching her and Don, and she shared the most incredible experience with us this week.

Lindsay had accepted our commitment last week to pray about baptism, so this week she asked God if it was the right thing for her to be baptized.  She told us that in that moment, she saw in her mind's eye herself in the middle of a wheat field. As she was looking across this wheat field, she saw right in the middle a light, just a light resting on the wheat.  She didn't really know what it meant, and she's not too familiar with the Bible or parables.  She told Don about it, and Don, who is well-read in the Bible, told her that the imagery of wheat is very common in the Bible, and that Jesus uses it as a symbol in many of its parables.  She felt good about baptism and felt that what she saw as she prayed was an answer that this was the right thing for her to do.  As Lindsay told us about this experience, the spirit filled the room.  I know that what she experienced was truly from God, as He has so many different ways of communicating with us and giving us answers and direction in life.  The spirit confirmed to me that day, as it has in many other days past, that this gospel is the true and only path to God.  It's moments and lessons like these that make everything in missionary work completely worth it.  

I love y'all so much! Thank you for all your love and support!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

We went to the sand dunes last Monday!

                                       You know your hair is getting too long when you step on it

                                                               With Sister Timothy before transfers

                                                                             Excited Missionaries!
To my dearest family,

I just got really happy because the family history center that I'm emailing at right now just started playing the theme song to Harry Potter.  I am now humming along happily as my companion rolls her eyes at me. Hahahaha.  Oh, my goodness, I miss Harry Potter.

Okay.  I've been super behind on journaling, so I'm having a really hard time remembering what we did this week.  We had a great time doing service at a food bank, we and the Elders got to take some of the leftovers, so we came home with a cardboard box full of croissants.  Oh, my deliciousness so good. 

We got a few new investigators this week, one we met outside of her apartment.  I am so glad we didn't simply rush past her to our appointment, but instead we took the time to talk to her and get to know her! She has only lived here for a few months and has never talked to missionaries! That never happens around here so we jumped on the opportunity and offered to come by and talk to her more about God in her life, and she accepted!  The other new investigator was found from a "potential investigator" contact in our phone, which we texted to know who it was, and they accepted to have us come over and teach them the gospel!  Um what? Miracles are real! 

Hope you all are having a wonderful week and seek to recognize the Holy Ghost every day.  He is there when you seek His guidance and he will speak as you are ready to listen.  

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

                                                                                    Shaylee's Baptism

                                                                             About time for a hair trim.

Helloooo everybodayy!

What a wonderful conference weekend!  

So this past week, I've been reflecting a lot on my own personal progress as a missionary.  At times I was a bit discourage because there are times where I feel that--even with everything that I've been doing and that I have gone through in the last year--I haven't really changed all that much.  That thought is quite disturbing to me, as I've been through so much in the past year and I feel as though I've grown a lot, but there are some days where I feel as though I'm going backwards.  The strength you gain as a missionary sometimes seems to take a step forward and then take a step back.  Sometimes you feel as though you have become a patient and loving person, only to fall to impatience and anger and think "Well. Back to square one."  Well this feeling got extremely frustrating this week, and so I was pondering a lot on what I needed to do to be the person that Christ wants and needs to be.  For General Conference, however, I had a question in mind that was more specific towards some of the people we are teaching, how we can help them, etc.  Although this question was met with some pointers and inspiration in Conference that could help my investigators, the overall message that I got from Conference was an answer to what had been bothering me for weeks.  I look forward to studying my notes from Conference all week this week and continuing to get new inspiration every day.  

I went through watching Conference thinking "Oh. This is my favorite talk."  but then as conference continued, I would think "Oh wait no, this talk is my favorite." Haha, too many good talks this year.  The first that really stood out to me was Larry R. Lawrence's on sacrificing and praying about what we can do to be stronger disciples of Christ.  We had just talked about sacrifice in our Zone Training the day before, so I thought it quite appropriate. I also saw a recurring theme on parenthood and raising children in righteousness.  Very uplifting, overall. 

Thank you for all of your love and support.  I love you all so much!

Sister Moreland