My dearest loved ones,

Woooaaaahhhh work is exploding here in Blackfoot.  New people, progressing investigators, baptism dates and more!  I am so excited for these people that are prepared to receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Lord prepares the hearts of his children, there is no doubt in my mind.  The only thing left after that is the use of their own agency.  Pray that the investigators here will use that agency to follow Jesus Christ!

I love Christmas!!! I love Christmas so much, and the season is here!! We have been spreading the message of "He is the Gift" everywhere and to everyone that we meet.  What a wonderful opportunity to get people in the Christmas spirit by turning their thoughts to the birth of the savior.  There is a wonderful Bible video on lds.org called "Glad Tidings of Great Joy" and it depicts beautifully the blessing and gift that the birth of Jesus Christ is.  I am really getting into the Christmas spirit and can't wait!  I just really hope it snows here on Christmas day because I've never had a white Christmas before.  

Speaking of weather, it's been unusually warm here.  Unusually warm for Idaho December, at least.  For the last few weeks, it's been 50 degrees or so, so it feels more like Texas December.  But then it finally snowed yesterday.  But now it's melting. Weird.

How much I have felt the spirit this week.  There is a new family that just moved in who had met with the Elders in town once before.  We went over to meet them this week, and it is amazing how prepared they are to receive the gospel! I am so impressed with this family.  They've had a lot of struggles in the past, but have been searching for a relationship with God lately, and as they've been seeking, they have felt more peace and happiness in their lives than they ever have before.  We promised them that this peace and happiness would continue to grow as they learn and accept the restored gospel.  I notice that it's with people like them that the spirit is felt the strongest in lessons---because they are both receptive to the spirit and contribute to it.  When we left their house, I was giddy with joy at their desire to find the truth.  

One of our investigators, Lindsay, has a baptismal date, and she is working hard to get there, she is fantastic! We took her to another convert baptism on Saturday just so she could see what it looks like and what goes on.  The guy getting baptized was a big guy, so he didn't get completely submerged the first time, so they had to re-do it.  Although Lindsay is more comfortable now that she has actually witnessed a baptism, now she's a bit nervous that she'll have to re-do it and be embarrassed.  Haha.  But we reassured her that she'd have plenty of time to practice before then. I'm just glad that that's her biggest worry right now :)

Well, Merwwy Chrwistmas  to you all! Love you all and hope that you are in the Christmas mood as much as I am! 

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

Talofa!

Got myself a new companion here in old Blackfoot!  Her name is Sister Leasi (Lay-AH-see) and she's from Samoa.  She's pretty awesome--already teaching me some Somoan, haha.  This week has been ridiculously crazy. I've been pretty stressed just with all the adjusting.  Sister Worrall and I went around for her last couple days seeing different people, getting pictures, etc.  I'll send you some. A lot of people were really sad to see her go.  But Sister Leasi is fitting in just fine.  She's a hoot, so people tend to love her pretty quickly. 

 

I've been pretty stressed the last week with making sure I have all the addresses I need, contacts, info, phone numbers, knowing where everybody lives, etc.  Leading out an area takes a lot of work, so I've been waking up pretty early to get caught up on some things I've gotten behind on.  Feels like being at school again.  Except no science.  I'm okay with that.  

 

One thing that really touched my heart this week was when we went over to teach the German student and the family of members he lives with.  When we got there, their 9-year-old daughter excitedly runs upstairs and brings down a sticky note.  She says that this week in school, one of her friends asked her about her religion.  She and another friend began to explain about The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith to her, and they bore their testimonies of the Church to this girl. "Then," she said, "I asked her if she wanted to see you guys to learn more, and I got her phone number for you!"  So she gave us the sticky note with the girl's name and phone number on it.  I was so excited that this 9-year-old girl was excited enough about what she believed to share it with a friend.  It made me feel like progress was really being made in the home of these members as well as the non-member that lives with them.  Warmed my heart :)

This week, I've learned the power of a positive attitude.  One morning this week, I had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed. In my discouragement, we hardly got anything done that day. Then the next day, we had a zone meeting that really made me see how much we could be improving in our work.  That night, even though we hadn't reached many of our goals, I said to our District Leader "we didn't reach this goal and this goal, but I have faith that if we pray for help to reach these goals, the Lord will bless us!"  So with that positive attitude in mind, the next day we went out to teach, and we ended up setting baptismal dates with 2 of our investigators in a single day! I was worried about these investigators not wanting to set dates to be baptized, but the spirit was present and their hearts were opened, so they accepted.  What power faith and a good attitude has to accomplishing goals! 

Sorry this week is kind of short.  Just know that I know that this gospel is true with every fiber of my being.  May I serve as a witness to my God that the things that I am teaching daily are true.  I love you all so much.

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

 

P.S. I can't remember whether or not I mentioned this last week or not, but if you haven't seen the "He is the Gift" video already, check it out! It's an awesome video about the true meaning of Christmas and it's very powerful.  It's really short so you can share it with your friends and family via facebook, twitter, or whatever other social media shenanigans you like to do. You can also use the pass-along cards from the December Ensign to give to friends and tell them what you enjoyed about the video. Share with the world about keeping Christ in Christmas and what an important gift to the world that he is!  http://www.mormon.org/christmas.  Merry Christmas, y'all!  

Enjoying the snow

      The elders thought they were funny by putting blocks of snow on the sisters' car

             First day of driving in the snow, and we had to get towed out of the ditch!

Dear loved ones,

Another adventurous week in the Idaho, Pocatello Mission.  Thanksgiving was awesome!  We went and did service by helping serve thanksgiving food at the Community Dinner Table.  We met so many great people and was a good experience to serve and get to know those who didn't have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving.  

That evening, we went to an investigator's house and had thanksgiving.  Although I'm not usually a fan of stuffing, I ate seconds of hers because is was delicious.  After being stuffed to the brim with food, we went to another investigator's house--intending to simply stop by--but instead they made a plate full of food for each of us despite our polite refusal.  We kinda picked around at our mashed potatoes and cranberries for an hour....haha,  Then they sent us home with pie. 

On Friday, we made lemon bars (thanks for the recipe, Momma!) with a sweet old less-active woman who has really been trying to come back to church.  We are planning on taking the treats to potential investigators and people that we don't get to see as often for Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, if you haven't seen it yet, "He is the Gift" is an awesome new Christmas video on http://www.mormon.org/christmas and you should watch it!  It is a great message to share with friends, family, and neighbors about the true meaning of Christmas.  #ShareTheGift  !   (<--haha I feel like such a dork using hashtags...as if I actually use technology.)

We had an AWESOME lesson with the Knocks family.  We haven't seen them in a while, but we finally saw them and their new foster son.  We talked about coming closer to God through prayer and the importance of the Book of Mormon.  We invited their foster son to be baptized when he came to know that the Book of Mormon was true, and he said that he would if he knew it was true.  The spirit is always so strong in every one of their lessons.  It makes me think that the Lord is trying to let us know that they are ready.  I am so excited for them.     

Tom. Tom is amazing.  We met with him for the 3rd time on Saturday.  Our third lesson.  And we asked him if he is still reading the Book of Mormon.  He's in Jacob.  It took him a week to read 2Nephi. A week! I started in 2Nephi a month ago, and I'm still on chapter 17 or something! So he's awesome at the reading, but he's still working on getting comfortable with praying.  but he's on his way!

We did Sharing Time in Primary yesterday!  It was fun :) .  I will send pictures.  

Soo.....on my first day of driving in the snow, I may or may not have gotten the car stuck....we had to get towed.  Haha. Here's a picture. 

The Lord absolutely answers prayers.  There is no doubt in my mind that the blessings I have seen so far on my mission come directly from Him.  He cares about the our needs and the needs of our investigators.  He cares about your needs.  He may not always answer us in the time that we think is necessary and in the way that we want Him to, but that's where patience and faith comes in.  I gave a talk on Sunday in one of our wards about receiving revelation.  One of the things I talked a lot about was patience.  Although nowadays we are so used to getting any question we have answered instantaneously by Google and other websites, God does not work like the internet.  We must be patient and recognize that His knowledge and His timing is best.  I love you so much and hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

Dearest Fam,

Well.  The bad news is I lost my planner.  Which is pretty much our brain here in the mission field.  So usually I use that to remember what I did this week because believe me, without it, I don't remember anything. Anything.  So now that it is lost, I will be trying to recount this week events by memory.  It will be difficult, but here it goes.

So last Monday, we went sledding! The bishop we live with has a steep slope outside the house, and covered in snow, it made great sledding ground.  He even had sleds for us to use, and we had a lot of fun.  I even tried to "snowboard" on the sleds, which did not go well, as the sled was disk-shaped, so it slipped out from underneath me and I landed flat on my back.  Haha fun in the snow!

Oh, man, what happened this week?  hmmm... well, we met a lot of new people.  Met a nice man who told us to either not talk about religion in his house or go away.  Also didn't want our contact info in case they needed any service.  That was pleasant. Right after that, we met a less-active family who really wants to start coming back to church, which was a real tender mercy from the Lord because it certainly lifted our spirits after that last meeting.  We also had dinner with a family of members that has a Swedish student living with them.  Good news--he loves the religious atmosphere here in Idaho and he wants to learn more!  Yayy, we are so excited to start meeting with him and the family! 

So for thanksgiving we have a p-day and are also eating dinner with one of our investigators.  We are helping her cook it, too, which will be really fun! So that also means that today, we don't have a normal P-day, just one hour of emailing (I am typing like the wind, here) and the rest of the day is a normal proselyting day. Mom, thank you so much for your letter. I love hearing from you throughout the week.  Sometimes, emails just can't compare to the excitement of getting a letter in the mail. It made my day, as it always does :)

It impresses me so much how--even in the midst of chaos and trial after trial--some of our investigators are just holding on with all of their might.  One family especially has just been having one piece of bad news after another.  Have they given up? Cursed God?  No.  Their faith is increasing more than even as they see that they are given strength to push through their trials--not deliverance from their trials--but the strength they need to work through them.  I wonder if I could do that if I were in their shoes.  I'm honestly not sure.  But I am working to get to the point where I know that I would!  God has a plan for each and every one of us and He will never abandon us if we do not want Him to. Something I've learned this week is how family is so extraordinarily important to strengthening faith in Him because you are in it together!  I will never take my family for granted.  Know that I love you so much and appreciate more than you know the love and support that you gave me growing up.  For the careful teachings and patient parenting--it has molded me into the missionary that I am now.  I love you so much and pray for you always.

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

Hello my wonderful beloveds!  (<--is that a word? I don't know.)

The snow is here!!! So white and beautiful and lovely.  I saw actual snow-flakes for the first time.  When they land on the car or the sidewalk, you can see the individual flakes and they are so cool looking.  The cold isn't as bad as I thought it would be---until the wind starts blowing.  When the air is still, it feels nice and cold and dry, but when the wind starts blowing, that's when it becomes pretty unbearable.  But I experienced negative temperatures for the first time this week! It was quite chilly.  

We met lots of new people this week, expanding our pool of investigators and people to go see!  Also, we have one investigator who said she would never go to an LDS church because of stuff that's happened in her past, and out of the blue she showed up at church this Sunday! Woah!  We had no idea she was coming, so we weren't even in that ward this week :( Apparently she was looking for us, so I felt bad we weren't there to see her.  

Speaking of yesterday, Sister Worrall and I sang in church again--in two different wards this time.  Did I mention that I have been doing the Soprano part? You might mention that to Sister Nguyen, she's been wanting me to try Soprano for a while. 

So apparently we have a knack for reactivating people into the Catholic church :/   There was this family that we met, and they are Catholic but haven't been going and we talked to them about the Book of Mormon, etc, and the Dad said that he feels like God sent us as a message--to tell him he needs to start going back to church--the Catholic church.  Well...not our original intention, but our purpose is to bring people closer to Christ, so I suppose any faith is better than none at all.  This is the second time this has happened, haha.

On Friday night, we came home at the end of the day and flipped the light switch, only to find that our power was out.  The members we live with were out of town that day, and as our house is big and dark and creepy without any lights, we went back into our car to decide what to do.  There had been a strange man that came to our house earlier that day, so we were a bit paranoid. (I was picturing "Criminal Minds"-type scenes of stalking and kidnap).  So the members we had just seen that day were nice enough to come over with big flashlights so we could go inside and pack bags to go stay at the Sister Training Leader's place for the night.  That was an exciting adventure.  All was well and the next day our members were home and the lights were back on.  

Man, I love this gospel so much.  There really is nothing on Earth more important.  The basic principles of the gospel are just so important.  There is so much out there about church history and deep doctrine and all that extra stuff, but that's exactly what it is--extra stuff. The essential things for salvation are right there in the basics.  It all boils down to faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end by striving to become as Christlike as we can.  I have really been trying hard to improve my prayers this week.  I want to take time specifically to kneel before the Lord and offer up my heart and soul to him.  You can only get closer to someone by talking to them, after all!  

I love you all so much! Write me anytime :) 

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

                                                Courtney's Missionary comic

Hola mi familia!

How is all?  I'm missing you so much and I want you to know how much I love and pray for you every day.

We ate at a member's home this week, and the wife made hot chocolate.  When I went to take a sip of mine, she said "Sister Moreland, you might recognize this hot chocolate!"  I took a sip and sure enough, it was Mama's Hot Chocolate!  I was so happy to have that delicious stuff in my tummy again.  Thanks Mom, it was a wonderful way to feel at home :)

I wish I remembered a lot about this week but the truth is I don't.  I didn't write in my journal at all so, as a result, my memory has been wiped clean of all that happened before Monday.

MONDAY. Monday we had a mission tour! It's where someone cool comes and speaks in the mission. And by "cool" I mean a general authority!! Elder Martino and his wife came and spoke to us and it was amaaaazing!  Oh and by the way, they are from Denton, Texas, and they know Grandma Jeanette and Papa Joe!  Apparently they've known her for 40-some odd-years. What a small world!  Anyway, it was SO inspiring and so encouraging.  I got so many ideas of how I can be doing better at missionary work.  For one, I've decided to commit to praying more.  Just more communication with my Heavenly Father throughout the day.  And better quality prayers, too.  Sometimes a prayer at 10:29 when you're about to pass out just doesn't cut it.  Good-quality communication is the key to any good relationship, right?  So it's gotta be the same way with God, too.  I'll let you know how that commitment goes and how it improves my relationship with Him. 

Also I've made a goal not to get fat.  But that's kind of hard when members are feeding you every stinkin' night. So we'll see where that goes as well.

I love you all so much!  Something I've learned this week--this sounds so cheesy--is to never give up.  Never give up on people, on the Lord, on His work for you, on your testimony.  Even when everything is crumbling down around you--you can't give up!  The Lord loves each one of us so much and will never give up on us, so we can't give up on Him!

God Bless,

Sister Moreland

My loved ones,

Wherever one door closes, another opens. And sometimes when one is opened, it is shut rather quickly.

This week was one of those roller-coaster weeks.  Lots of joy and lots of disappointments, all within a few days. Last Monday we went to the park and played football and soccer with some of the other missionaries.  It reminded me so much of Thanksgiving at Mimi and Papa's house, when we would play football with the cousins outside in the fallen leaves and the cool air.  My district leader tried to teach me how to catch the football behind my back.  That didn't go very well.   haha.  

We met the wife of a baptist preacher this week.  That was interesting. She was very nice, and told us why she didn't believe the Book of Mormon was true. We got to testify to her and clear up some misconceptions, so it was a good conversation all-in-all.  

On Halloween, we proselyted until 5:00, and for the rest of the night was a half p-day.  We have to be off the streets on Halloween night because a lot of people dress up as missionaries and go do mischievous things.  So we don't want to be accused of anything.  We got together with all the other missionaries in our zone and got to watch movies!  I miss movies.  So that was fun. 

So our joy this week came from being given a new investigator, a teenage girl who is dating a member in one of our wards. We had a lesson with her and it went well.  She's already been reading the Book of Mormon and says she's felt really good about it.  The Lord just leads us to those he has prepared! Such a blessing.  Then we had an awesome lesson/church tour with a highschooler we've been working with for a while. I've been worried because I wasn't sure whether he was just going with the lessons and going to church because his family was, or if he really wants to get baptized. (mostly because he answers all of our questions with one or two words.)  But after the lesson, he texted us and really express his desire to be baptized, he just needs more time, and thanked us for everything. I guess that's just a typical teenage boy, expresses himself more over text than in person :) . 

Sunday was rough. Remember the new family from New Mexico? The one that had all these questions and was coming to church and were really excited about it and all?  Well they are feeling a bit too overwhelmed about all this, so they didn't come to church.  That was a disappointment, but the good news is they are still willing to let us come over and see them.  Also, our baptism date that was trying to quite smoking was supposed to be smoke-free by Saturday so she can be baptized by the 15th, but she didn't make it.  That's okay though, because I have faith in her determination. I know she'll make it eventually, I'm just more worried about their family because they're really struggling.  It breaks my heart to see people who want the gospel so badly in their lives, but they are just so bombarded by outside stresses that it makes it tough.  Addiction, finances, family pressure, lack of support from family or friends....it's just heart-wrenching.  

But on Sunday night, we met a part-member family where the dad really wants to come back to church and his daughter has started asking a lot of questions about God and is really interested in us coming back.  Meeting them was a testimony to me that Heavenly Father really is looking out for us. He knows all of the disappointments that we face and is constantly putting his hand into our lives to guide us to those who are prepared for the gospel.  He also makes sure that we have little miracles in our lives every day to comfort us.  We all have little miracles in our daily lives, we just have to keep an eye out for them.

We've talked a lot about member missionary work this week, so I just want to make sure that I encourage everyone to pray for missionary opportunities and then ACT on them! Help those missionaries in your home ward out!  They are always looking for new people to teach and visit and talk to.  I love you so much. Stay strong in your struggles and always pray for the guidance of the spirit.  

God Bless,

Sister Moreland