Sledding Christmas Eve

                                            Friends (Andy and Brock) from BYU visiting in Pocatello

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

We saw some Christmas miracles this week! A few days prior to Christmas, we were trying to see a girl named Graciela that we had met outside of her apartment.  When we knocked on her door, her roommate answered instead. Her roommate's name is Kiki and it turns out that she's from China!  She was the only one home and she let us inside.  We showed her the Christmas videos, and although she has no religious background at all, her Grandma in China is Christian, so she's heard about God and Jesus Christ.  The girl that we took with us invited Kiki to the church Christmas program, and Kiki accepted! So yesterday she came to church, and we sat by her and explained some of the things that were happening (the sacrament,etc).  She seemed to really enjoy it!  She accepted to learn more, so we look forward to meeting with her again!

We also had another miracle this week.  This was just the day before Christmas Eve.  It was in the middle of the afternoon, and we stopped the car on the side of a residential street in order to look at our map and figure out who we would try and see next.  I glanced up from the map and saw somebody bundled up and walking in the snow alone.  I didn't even think-----I just said almost automatically, "we need to talk to that person."  I got out of the car, Sister Gilbert following behind me, and we approached the person walking on the other side of the street.  He was a young man named Eric.  Eric told us that he was from California---he had just moved to Idaho that day.  We gave him a pass-along card about Christmas, and he seemed pleased, "Oh! Christan! I just accepted Jesus 2 or 3 years ago."  We talked with him a bit about that, and he accepted our invitation to come teach him about the Restored Gospel!  We are really excited about both of these miracles.  Christmas really is a wonderful time of year!  

We ate with several families and made homemade donuts with President and Sister Hancock! That was super fun.  Went sledding a bit, watch a movie with the zone, and played a very intense version of capture the flag. 

With the upcoming New Years, make it a time to give Christ His "birthday present".  For your New Years Resolutions, you can give Christ a gift by resolving to pray more.  Maybe you can make a resolution to be kinder to your neighbors and friends.  Perhaps you want to make it a goal to go to church, or to focus on the sacrament more as you attend meetings. Your New Years Resolution could be to say "thank you" more often, or even to spend more quality time with family members.  Whatever it is, dedicate this year of 2016 to the God who loves you more than words can describe. I LOVE YOU ALL!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland 

Guess who came home to Pocatello for the holidays?? Andy and Brock!  

Me and Sister Gilbert after sledding!

 

You will only understand if you are a Monty Python fan!

                                                           New Companion, Sister Gilbert

                                                                         First attempt at queso

MERRRRRRRRRRYYY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

New Companion!!

I can usually tell from the first few days what a companionship is going to be like. And I can already tell that it is going to be a fantastic transfer!

My new companion is Sister Gilbert.  She is from Huntington, Utah and has been out for 7 months. She's a brand new STL, so we've got a new STL training a brand new STL. So this should be fun.

I am excited to work with Sister Gilbert.  We've been sharing a lot of the goals that we have for this transfer and it's looking like we're on the same page--we want to be bold, fearless missionaries who are diligent workers.  Ahhh I'm so excited, Sister Gilbert is great. I don't know if I mentioned this in my last email, but she served in McAmmon while I served in Inkom.  The two towns are really close to each other, so us Inkom sisters would get rides form McAmmon sisters all the time, and vice versa.  So we got pretty tight there.  

All the ISU students are going home for Christmas break, which means, in terms of young single adults, Pocatello will be a ghost town for the next couple of weeks.  Most of our investigators are going out of town to see their families for Christmas.  One of our Investigators, Ali, is going back to his home country for the break. Please pray for him. 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Yearrrrrr!! I can't wait to Skype y'all and see how you're doing.  Although I will miss hanging with the cousins, eating cottage cheese pie, making a gingerbread house, and going to the theater to see a movie on Christmas Day, I love Christmas in the mission field because of how exciting it is to 'announce' to everyone about the birth of the Savior.  It makes me feel like the angel announcing to the shepherds of the glorious news. Thing this year of what you can give Christ for His birthday.  I love you all so much!

Merry Christmas and God Bless,

Sister Moreland

we tried making homemade queso. Didn't really turn out, but it still tasted good. haha

Don't have a whole lot of time today!

Sister Green is entering the Mission Home today to go home!! So we've got to get a bunch of stuff ready, clean our apartment, which is destroyed right now, before my new companion comes.  Oh! My new companion! Her name is Sister Gilbert.  When I was serving in Inkom, she was in McAmmon, which is right next to Inkom so we saw each other on P-day every week, got rides from each other, etc.  She's from Utah and has been out for about 7 months. So I'm excited to get a companion that is right smack in the middle of her mission, I feel like that's when you're the most completely focused because you've been in the mission field for a while so you don't think about family or anything back home anymore, and you're not in that stage where you're starting to make preparations for coming home yet.  So I'm excited and ready to light the fire of missionary work!

Short and sweet one.  I love the Lord.  His Church is true! 

God Bless and Merry Christmas,

Sister Moreland

ps if you haven't seen the 2 min Xmas video yet, check it out here

It's commiiinnngggggggggggg!!!!!

Christmas.

It's coming.

Soon.

Get ready.

I'M SO EXCITED.

Alrighty here we go.  We had a Zone Conference.  It was full of slideshow goofy pictures, funny talent show shenanigans, and lots of Christmas excitement.  There, they introduced the website.  THE WEBSITE.  Christmas.mormon.org.  This website has a 2 minute video called "A Savior is Born" and it is absolutly wonderful.  I love the African kid.  That's probably my favorite part. He's just so passionate about it.  

So we got Christmas pass-along cards, like they give us every year, and we've been handing them out like candy.  Telling everybody about the good news!  Christmas!  A Savior is born! And not just any Savior, your Savior!  

To see what the world would be like without a Savior, check out this 2 minute video called Why We Need a Savior.

Yesterday we watched the Christmas Devotional Broadcast and that got me super excited about Christmas as well.  I love Christmas music.  It makes me so incredibly happy.

So last week, we went to contact a less active girl named Kate, and Kate didn't seem too excited to have us there.  Her roommate Alexis, however, is not a member of the church and seemed eager for us to return.  We went back yesterday and shared a brief message about the Book of Mormon.  She talked about how she was super open and willing to learn more.  We were doing cartwheels in our heads on the way out!  Miracle, my friends.  God lead us straight to Alexis, I'm sure of it. 

Once you watch the videos on Christmas.mormon.org, post it on facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, and any other social media you have! Spread this wonderful message of Christmas joy.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Sister Moreland

To my beloveds,

Happy Turkey Day!  So this week we taught a new investigator from Nigeria! I LOVE teaching all of these young adults from different countries and cultures.  We Americans can be so very stubborn sometimes haha.  But the people that I have taught so far that have been from foreign countries have been so meek, so open to God, and so willing to hear and act on this message.  This new investigator has a ton of questions, many of which are very thought-provoking.  We hope that he will turn to God to find the answers to his questions.  

It snooooooooooowwwweeeeddddddddd!!!  I forgot how much I love the snow.  It puts me in such a Christmasy mood.  Even though it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.  I am loving the snow!  And people like to let us in their house when it's cold outside :))) mehehehehe......

 

Well, for Thanksgiving, we served dinner at a senior center, which was way fun!  Then we went to a member of the stake presidency's house to have Thanksgiving dinner. (No, I didn't do any cooking.  Ain't nobody got time fo dat.)    Oh, man, I miss Thanksgiving in Texas.  They just don't do it up here like they do back home.  No creamed corn and no cottage cheese pie.  Man, I miss cottage cheese pie. In the evening, all of the missionaries in our zone got together and played a game called 'murder in the dark'. It was lots of fun.  

Well, sorry I don't have more info about the week.  But that's all I can think of for now.  Being a missionary is the best.  I love it here in Pocatello and I love teaching this age group. They are just searching for themselves, for their purpose in life, for a direction, and Jesus Christ provides it.  It's just the right time in their lives.  I love you all and hope to hear how things are going for you!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

I tried to take a picture of the snow in the dark.  Didn't really work. Plus I kind of blinked.

Caught the APs shoveling snow! Haha

Hellooooo everybody!

Haha to be perfectly honest I don't really remember much about what happened this week.  Kind of a blur.  So this is going to be kind of short because it was kind of uneventful.  

The highlight of my week was our lesson with Al yesterday.  He is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and says he prayed this week and "had a feeling---it was peaceful"  as he prayed.  As missionaries, when we hear that people are experiencing these kinds of things, on the outside, we're all calm and smiley but on the inside we are just shouting "WWOOO-HOOO!!!"  we came out of that lesson just giddy with glee.  He has a desire to continue and he is seriously considering baptism. 

We went to a fantastic meeting this week where a couple of brethren from the mission department came and gave us tons of training on what to do and what not to do when teaching. Great stuff! While we were there a sister that is currently serving in Blackfoot gave me a sticky note with a note from DawnRae on it! It made me so happy to hear from her!! I miss that family so much.   One of my favorite things is hearing from people from past areas.  So that made my day!

Also, I went on exchanges in Inkom this week!  It was kind of weird, it's like I never left.  haha.  It was great to see a few of the families that I taught and worked with while I was there.  Great exchange! 

 

For thanksgiving, we are going to a High Councilman's house for dinner. Like last year, it's a service day, so we'll probably find some kind of food kitchen to serve thanksgiving dinner at.  Unlike last year, however, this year we are getting together with the other missionaries in the evening and playing games and stuff.  So that will be fun.  

I'm trying to eat as well as I can before thanksgiving so that I can gain it all back at thanksgiving. ha.

 

Love you all, have a Happy Happy Thanksgiving, and may you see all the blessings of God in your life during this season! 

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

                                                      HALLOWEEN COSTUMES - PERFECT!

                                                         SHELLEY AND NATE SURPRISE VISIT

                                                                              MIRANDA BAPTISM

woah woah woah what a week

Idaho State University is awesome.  There are a few differences in teaching college students in young single adult ward that I've noticed before.  One bad thing about Idaho during the winter is that it gets dark around 5:30, so by the time it's 6:00, it's pitch black, so when you knock on a door at 6:00, people are already getting ready for bed and they are really irritated that you are there so "late".  But not in college world! Everyone is up past midnight anyway, so they are cool with you coming by even when it's dark outside.  So that is a relief.  

We had a baptism this Saturday! That's always a nice way to start off the week. Miranda is an amazing young woman and I can't wait to get to know her as we begin reviewing the discussions! 

We are teaching a student from Saudi Arabia (there are a lot here) named Ali.  He is currently reading the Book of Mormon in Arabic and has some great questions about it.  We had a lesson with him this week, and we explained how the spirit can feel (feelings of love, joy, peace, etc.)  We asked him if he's ever felt like that before.  In broken English, he said, "yes," that he had felt that way when he was at church the week before.  He said "It was...a feeling in my heart..it was beautiful."  I was so excited to hear that!  What a beautiful thing the spirit of the Lord is.  It changes lives, that's for sure!

I also had a wonderful surprise on Sunday.  Right after sacrament meeting we were talking with people in the chapel when two people walked into the chapel and I had to do a double take.  When I did, I saw Shelley!  I was so surprised, but I rushed over as fast as I could to embrace her.  After some tears were shed and we hugged a few more times, she introduced me to her fiace, Nate.  It was so good to see them!  I can't thank her enough for coming all this way to see me and to introduce me to Nate.  I am so happy for them!  What a beautiful couple :)

Love you all so much, hope you have a great week!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland