President Oaks is Gluten Free

Hello everyone! It has been an eventful two weeks! First of all, we met not one, but TWO general authorities this week. The first we actually met was President Oaks. We were dropping off a package of gluten free food from our mission president and wife early in the morning for him. They let us into the lobby of the administration building and from there his secretary was supposed to grab it. We were patiently waiting and then lo and behold the man himself that we were there for comes out of his office and shakes all of our hands and says hello before he headed off for the day... and he didn't even take his package, he just said to "give it to Marge." Pretty cool. The second was Elder Uchtdorf!!! That one was pretty neat because we were just going to eat food at the mall across the street and he was crossing the street at the same time and he shook our hands and we got to say hello. I even talked to him in German and he responded in German! That wasn't on my bucket list or anything but it probably should have been.  

This week we were super blessed to teach a lot of lessons online. Our online teaching center has been pretty dead lately so that has been a huge miracle to still be able to teach while we're there!  I don't know if I mentioned this before but we have a new person on baptismal date! His name is Apollo and we get to call him about once or twice a week and we coordinate with the local sisters and we take turns teaching. It has been pretty cool to see Apollo get happier the more we meet. His grandmother just passed away and as we were teaching him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how Christ felt everything that he did, he just said "I love that. He knows what I am going through so I don't have to go through it alone." Apollo for sure is a blessing in our lives and we are praying that he is able to be baptized! 

Things are getting all decked out for Christmas and the lights should turn on soon. I'm really excited to be able to celebrate here and see the lights, it will be my first time! 

I hope that you all have an amazing week! 

Sister Moran 

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Hi Parents! 

On Friday we were assigned to go to the Humanitarian Center. Sister Brinkmeier had served there for four transfers but I had never served there before and I knew zero of the facts. So, I studied the site guide and then took my very fist tour! We ended up giving three tours that day and I memorized most of the information so that I actually knew what was going on in the tour. Someone asked me a question and I said that I didn't know and that it was my first tour and they said "wow I would have never guessed you are doing awesome" and that made me feel good. So, if you want to know about how the Humanitarian Center works, I am now your girl. We even made some hair ties because they have sewing machines and spare fabric. I made one but I gave it to our roomie for her bday so I didn't get to keep any, but I will finish one that I started on a mission machine. They have a cafeteria at the Humanitarian Center and they feed the missionaries that serve there for free which is cool because I got a whole free lunch. The head cook there is super good friends with a bunch of the sisters and he came and ate lunch with us. His name is Brent. Brent is a cool dude, I can now say for myself and not just blindly agree when other sisters say it. Friday was a good day to say the least because "the Humanitarian Center is my happy place" according to Sister Brinkmeier. Friday, Cole also came and visited me and gave me a birthday present and it was the cutest. I don't know how to help him feel the spirit because he was in the MTC of all places and didn't feel it. weird. But it was nice of him to come all the way from Vegas (he came for a concert) and take the time to come see me at Temple Square. Plus, he waited for three hours because we were at the Humanitarian Center and not on square. What a homie. 

On Saturday, we MTC contacted, when a missionary who is in the MTC but will be going to a visitor's center mission comes to Temple Square for  a day to get some real-life experience. I was with this girl named Sister Wong and she was form Hawaii! She was super cute and she was going to the Oakland Visitor's Center. We ended up teaching two lessons on Square and one online which was super cool. It was funny too because we had some good contacts on Square and some really awkward ones. We walked up to this nonmember family and started talking and invited them to see the Christus and I told them that it was my fav spot on Temple Square and then the dad asked me why and I though "yes!!!!! perfect time to make it spiritual" and I told him that I felt peaceful up there etc. and I said I actually love this scripture that describes it perfectly, do you mind if I share it with you and then he said no. That was awkward. I explained what the scripture said and then they all just walked slowly away. I guess she (Sister Wong) could experience the good and the bad that comes with the Visitor's Center life. She was really nervous to talk to people on Square in person though. Online wasn't so bad because she couldn't see them but on Square was a different story. Every time we walked up to someone to say hey, she would mumble under her breath "20 seconds of insane courage" to hype herself up. It was kind of funny. We taught three lessons in Teaching Center which never happens so that was a huge miracle. One was with this lady named Rheu Rheu who we met on square and gave a tour to with her mom. We were kinda in contact with her over messenger for about a month and we finally had our first phone call with her and we talked about what she was hoping the Book of Mormon could do for her and basically she wants to see how it is different from the Bible and she wants to come closer to God when she reads it. We started her off with 3 Nephi 17 and told her what it was about and she seemed super pumped about it. She is really busy but we set up an appointment for the 21st and we are excited to see what she thinks about it. We taught another guy named Louie and we taught him how to pray. I honestly think that is my favorite thing to teach people. They really have no idea how to communicate with God and this is the way that they can talk with Him and they can come closer to Him. He was really receptive and said that he wanted to make this journey and meeting with us a priority and so we are excited to keep talking with him. We also talked to this lady named Joanne. We read with her in Alma 40 because the missionaries will be teaching her the plan of salvation soon but she had a hard time understanding the scriptural language. We kind of turned into a "if you read and ask God, He can help you understand" and she really liked that. Also, we read the scriptures with Apollo and then called him again earlier this day and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he is just the cutest thing ever and we are excited to him to get baptized (hopefully) so please pray for him.

Sunday, I gave the closing prayer in church! A lot of people thanked me for it which seemed surprising because it was really just a normal prayer. As I was coming off the stand, President asked me how I was doing as he shook my hand before I left and how Sister Brinkmeier was doing. He said that I just had to weather through it for two more weeks because I would for sure have a new comp next transfer. I don't know about everyone else, but three months is a long time to be with someone 24/7 so I am excited to see who I will be with! Especially because this next transfer it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas so I hope that I get a good one! I am a firm believer that anyone can be a companion if you put in the work. See, Sister Brinkmeier and I were there, then not, and now are pretty much there again. Yay for miracles! Keep praying for us though!!! 

Okay, I think that is about all that I have for you today. I turn 20 tomorrow which is cool and all. It feels weird and I am kind of homesick because I just want to be home with you guys for my bday and Christmas and Thanksgiving and Christmas and new years but I guess that won't be happening. Good times. I knew it would be hard and none of that stuff has even happened yet so that is super cool. 

I love you both and miss you both!!! I'll talk to you in a week!

Love 

Em