Gahanna Ohio

Hey Parents!!! 

How was your week? I hope better than last one, that is for sure. My week was great. I feel like they just go soooo fast. Really, pday was two seconds ago. 

Okay so first things first, an update on our people. Firstly, Adrina. She is kind of falling apart. She is a really quiet and shy person so we have to try really hard at church to get her to talk to people. She periodically breaks up with us. We always come back and she is like oh okay never mind and she is super PUMPED for baptism like she cried at this little boys baptismal service she felt the spirit so strong. Yesterday she said that she didn't want to go to church anymore and not to worry about her and we were kinda concerned but not too much because she has done this before but usually she backs down pretty quick but now not. She told us that she has been hurt by people in the past and she doesn't want to get hurt by the church and the people in the church. She agreed to keep meeting with us but she doesn't want to go to church. Our master plan is to have a member invite her over for dinner (one that drove her to another baptism) and then have the member invite her to church and talk with her about it so that way she knows that we NEED her at church. We are praying really hard for Adrina and if you could pray for her too that would be awesome.

We are also teaching this grandma and granddaughter named Reesie and Aaleah. Reesie absolutely loves everything that there is to do with the priesthood but she has a hard time committing to be baptized but we can't figure out why. Aaleah on the other hand was excited but a little not about the idea of baptism but after she came to a baptism she was totally on board. The problem is that neither of them will go to church with us and we can only meet with them once a week. We are thinking really hard about how to help them out because they absolutely love meeting with us and they love all of the lessons we have taught them and they actually read the Book of Mormon. They are almost done with First Nephi! I'm sure that the Lord will provide inspiration on how to help them continue to progress more. 

I'll tell you about one more because she is so awesome. Her name is Latisha and she is just the sweetest most kind person you will ever meet and she just LOVES GOD AND JESUS CHRIST. In our last lesson with her she just started yelling saying that she doesn't "understand how people couldn't love Jesus" Honestly just yes to all of that and amen sister. What a woman. Last week Sister Reese and I both felt so strongly that baptism was the next step for her and that she was finally ready. She has been taught the restoration and we have been teaching her one point from the Gospel of Jesus Christ while doing a Bible and Book of Mormon study with her. We have done this for two weeks now because we just haven't felt like she needed the Plan of Salvation. Now, after our last lesson (where we all cried btw) we think that the Plan is what she needs next and that baptism is what is next, even though that is scary because she really loves her church.  Every Thursday we are going to start having Yoga with the ladies in the ward and we are pumped for that fellowship because she has her own church family but hopefully this can help her have a church family at our church. She does Bible studies all day everyday and she has started reading the Book of Mormon with it and she loves loves loves it. We are hoping to help her keep progressing and teach her more about the plan of salvation this week because she had a question about that. 

This week we didn't have a lot of finding time. Honestly, I love to find and to tract and to knock on doors. It is the best. We had a solid hour the other day and it was raining and we just went and knocked on doors. This one guy named John let us into his home while we were tracting but he was not interested, he just wanted us to get out of the rain and be dry. He was so cute. Also, we met this guy named Odell riding his bike and we yelled for him to talk to us and he turned around and chatted with us. He lives outside of our area but we told him to give us a call so we could sent him missionaries in his area. What a cool dude. Also, he had glasses with mustaches on them and it made me think of Abby when we lived in Germany. Honestly, our hour and a half of finding time that we had the other day wasn't too successful. We didn't find too many promising people but it was okay still because it was so fun! I never feel more like a missionary than when we are walking through the hood in the rain and knocking on people's doors with everyone saying no thanks and literally flinching when we pulled out the Book of Mormon to share a scripture with her on their doorstep (true story). I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a missionary. Speaking of, I hit my 5 months from going home mark and yes, I did cry about it. 

We have a district activity today and I am soooo pumped. We are going to play basketball and do dew pong and karaoke. The Elders came up with it and we are just along for the ride. (When we talked with Emily last night she was still excited about this activity because she SCHOOLED the elders at basketball)

Sister Reese is AWESOME. Seriously she is great. She is just the kindest most perfect person and she has this super amazing love for every single person that we meet. I have learned a lot from her about loving the people. I have always loved the work but now that is shifting to having more love for the people than I knew than I could have. The one thing that I sometimes struggle with is that I feel that we sometimes waste our time. I don't know if we actually are (because I don't have anything to compare it to) but it is okay. The thing that makes me feel like we are wasting time is honestly just doing contacting because we just sit for an hour and text people and call people but there is only one sim card and I don't have it so I feel that it just is boring. So that isn't a waste of time for me just not very fun. Also, I feel that we spend too much time at member's homes sometimes so we set a goal to be diligent in that and to get to the point with members and to get in and get out in 30 minutes. We did a pretty good job at that yesterday so hopefully we can keep the trend going. Honestly, I just want to go out and knock doors but I also realize that members are key in missionary work but at the same time the members don't give us anything or anyone to teach so I don't know what to do about that. Also, why is there such a gap between the missionaries and the members?!?! They seriously have no idea what we do all day everyday which seems ridiculous to me because I feel like everyone should just get more on board with everything and everyone should be on the same page and there shouldn't be a gap. But there is. I know every missionary in a normal mission reads this and is like "wow it took this chick a year to figure out this problem" but it is just never something I had to think about on Temple Square so yeah. Good times. 

This week has basically just been a good one. I love my companion and I love the work and I love the people we are teaching and I love you both!!! I know, it is kind of a short one, I feel like lots happened but also that nothing happened. Next week I will email a fat one because we are going on exchanges with the Sister Training Leader's and there will be more excitement and drama with our people and we will see who keeps progressing because we have a lot who are low key dying and dropping us left and right. So please pray for them for their hearts to be softened, especially Adrina!!!! 

LOVE AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!! 

Love, 

Sister Moran 

The Great Ohio Columbus Mission

Hellooooooo Everyone! 

This week has been AMAZING as always. I mean it always is as a missionary. 

We met the BIGGEST miracle this week. Her name is Adrina. We met her while we were out knocking on doors in her apartment complex and she was the most nice and quiet and soft spoken person that I have ever met and she has a really big desire to come closer to God. She told us that she has been out of church for a long time and she wasn't even sure if she was still someone that God wanted and we just told her that YES! God loved her and that God had a plan for her and that she could feel greater peace in her life as she came closer to Him. She loved that and she came to church with us on Sunday and then even came to a baptisimal service with us that evening and was seriously crying and said that what she was feeling was overwhelming. It was so stinking cute and I love her and I am so excited for her to keep coming closer to Jesus Christ and feel even happier as she does so. 

Sister Reese and I have been seeing straight miracles dropped into our laps everyday. We met this lady named Michelle earlier this week in a neighborhood that we had never knocked in but that we had always thought that we should and it was straight God. Michelle had met with missionaries two years ago in a different part of Ohio and we were able to set up a time to come back and talk with her a litle bit. She was so sweet and we are so excited to talk with her more! God for sure is directing His work and He knows His children and is taking care of them. I am just so grateful that I get to see Him doing this and that I can be part of this. 

I hope you all have the best week ever!!

p.s. Sister Reese and I got matching beanies, yes, we know that we are super cute

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Hey there Parents!

This week has been really good and super fast. I have loved being a missionary over here in the great Ohio Columbus Mission and I really love my companion!

Honestly, the schedule here is a lot more relaxed than on Temple Square. We don't have specific assignments all the time and we don't have a set lunch time and time on the computers and everything like that. So crazy. So, it was actually kind of hard at first because I feel like we weren't setting as many goals and it didn't seem as structured. For example, at Temple Square we would set a goal and a specific thing for every hour of our day so we were being super focused and counting contacts and lessons and everything and here we have all these gaps in our schedule and Sister Reese is like "okay that looks good" and I am like "what?" and she says yeah we will just knock around that time and place that we are in and it just isn't as go go go but also it is. Interesting. But I love it. I like to drive and listen to music and have the freedom to say "let's stop here I am feeling this neighborhood" and just real quick pull over and knock. It is a good time! 

We have experienced a lot of miracles here in Gahanna though! Something that President Stratford says here is "just do your best and then watch the Lord drop miracles right into your lap" and I have for sure seen those miracles falling from every which way. From finding super prepared people and other things, it has just been awesome. One sad thing is that one day we accidentally left our area and felt like we should stop and knock and this road was SUPER PREPARED and we found SEVEN NEW PEOPLE but literally they aren't in our area and it wasn't until the next day that we realized that so we had to send seven referrals to the Sisters in the area next to us. Lame. But still, everything happens for a reason and I am pumped for the missionaries that get to go back and see these people hopefully progress. 

So all in all we had a huge miracle and found 14 people this week! Like I told you on the phone, the Elders in our district (which include our District Leaders and the Zone Leaders that we share the ward with) were kinda triggered and throwing shade that we found so many people and that we have seven on date and they were just kind of annoyed and we are just like why?? That is ridiculous you should be HAPPY for us that God is letting us find nice people that are prepared and everything but oh well I guess. The Elders we share the ward with are super awesome though, they are always available if we need them to give a priesthood blessing to someone that we are teaching or if we have a question about what the deal is about stuff and they are just great. 

I will just tell you the biggest miracle of yesterday. We met this sweet lady named Adrina the other day. We street contacted her while we were out and about just knocking on doors in the apartment complex. She was so quiet and soft spoken but her eyes were so big and we told her about the Book of Mormon and asked if we could come back and she said yes. We came back and honestly, I thought that her place would be a mess. Most of the houses and apartments that we go into in this area are filled with smoke and dirt and a million people in a tiny space and a ridiculous amount of stuff. Her place was the complete opposite. She had nothing on the walls and nothing anywhere. It was just a plain apartment. I think that honestly it was because she just didn't have anything to furnish the place to have more. She welcomed us in and we were able to teach her the plan of salvation. She has been out of church for a long time for one reason or another so she was telling us that she isn't sure if God knows her or if God even wants her at this point and we just told her that God does love her and that God does want her. That she is His daughter and that He has a plan for her. We taught her about everything and she just loved it a lot. She is super sweet and super quiet but you could tell that she was feeling it during the lesson. We then brought up baptism and invited her to prepare to be baptized on Feb 15 and she said the she would do it! Two days later she was at the church building bright and early and ready to participate. The members were being really good and talking with her and everything. After church we asked her what she thought and she said that she felt a lot of peace, even though she wasn't always sure what was going on all of the time. 

Then, she with two of the other people that we are teaching, Reesie and Aaleah, came to the baptism for a little boy in our ward and everyone loved it. Reesie is Aaleah's grandma and they super super loved it. We reexplained priesthood and Reesie just said that she loves the priesthood and that this way of baptism is what God wants and Aaleah who wanted to be baptized but felt a little scared about it, was really feeling more at ease after seeing a baptism. We are really thinking that Aaleah at the very least could be baptized because she is already on chapter 12 in the Book of Mormon and loves everything about it. Reesie has some kind of something holding her back. We are trying to get to the bottom of it because she LOVES the Book of Mormon and she LOVED the baptism and the entire time was like "oh praise Jesus amen hallelujah" and "wow the Holy Ghost is awesome I would love to have that with me all the time" etc. We will keep you updated about that though. Adrina was just loving it and after the baptism (which was super powerful btw) she had tears in her eyes and she said that she couldn't describe what she was feeling but that is was overwhelming and we were like THAT IS THE SPIRIT!!!!!! Good times. Also, Adrina has just been having a hard time lately and she literally got a priesthood blessing last night and she was just openly crying and said that she wants to keep coming to church. It has been so amazing to see how God has just put us in the right place and allowed us to meet this beautiful person and these people that are so willing to come closer to Jesus Christ. Just so special. 

We have a bunch of other people on date right now. We have this lady named AJ who has been being taught by missionaries since like May of last year. Her house is kind of a wreck and we sat on a crate to teach her about the restoration. Her problem is that she wants to be baptized but she also doesn't want to keep commitments. She has MS and uses that it seems as a crutch to why she can't go to church. But she wants to be baptized. When we tried to be bold (or when I tried to be bold and convince her to go) she was got mad at me a little bit so we backed down and we don't really know what to do about that. We shall see. There are these two ladies Lori and Nikki that want to be baptized. But they don't really understand priesthood authority we don't think and why that makes baptism really important. We are working on that. Plus they have like nine kids in their townhouse so it is always madness and it is hard to teach and talk because there is so much else going on. We explained to them that they had to hear a few lessons about what we believe and come to church three times so that way they could be prepared for their baptism and they were just kind of like yeah whatever and then said they would be at church and then didn't show up. But they crazy really want to be baptized! Any suggestions on how we can help them out? We also have this lady named Crystal that is super cool and wants to be baptized too but she hasn't been to church either and just always have family emergencies happening all the time so she can just never come. She is getting a priesthood blessing on Tuesday night so we are hoping that it can be a really spiritual experience for her and she will be more motivated to come to church despite the challenges. We can promise her some dope blessings too. We will let you know. I guess just pray for all of our people. Especially for Adrina and her kind sweet heart that she will keep wanting to progress and that she won't forget the way that she feels when she comes to church and when she got her blessing and everything. She just seems too good to be true so I am just scared that something crazy will happen but I don't want that to happen. 

Okay. I love being a missionary. Easily the best thing that I have ever done and will ever do minus being a mom. I just can't really imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't gone out on the mission. I don't think that I would be apostate but at the same time I would never know what my life could really be like or how I could be changed if I hadn't gone. I am just super grateful and humbled that I can do this. Thank you for paying for half of it! I don't think you can ever know how much I appreciate it. 

I'm so sorry that life is just so stressful for you right now. I'm sorry that it is sad and that it is hard. Just know that I am praying for you every day and I am praying for you super hard. I know that God will take care of everything. I trust His hands way more than I trust anyone else's hands and I know that He has a plan and He knows better than anyone else. If there is anything that I have learned while being out here it is to trust God and to stay close to Him. I know that you are already doing that. Something that just came to my mind that you could do is actually to read the Book of Mormon together as a couple! I mean maybe I'm just a stupid missionary and young but I think that would be a really good thing that you could do to bring strength and everything during this hard time. Let me know if it makes a difference if you study together. 

I love you both a super whole lot and I miss you guys! I'll talk to you soon and I'm praying for you everyday!!

Love 

Em 

My Apartment Smells Like Weed WoooHooo

Hello Everyone!  

I have made a little bit of a move and I am now in COLUMBUS OHIO and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! At first I was not wanting to leave Temple Square (because it was comfy there) but after two days being here I actually love it more than anything else. 

President Stratford (my new President here) announced to our whole group that I would be going "straight to the hood" to the Gahanna area! He was not wrong, we are indeed in the hood. We were talking to this local lady and she told us that we had to get out of the part of town that we were in because we were "two little white girls" and it was not safe for us there. It was kinda funny but when the locals tell you to leave you should go so we left pretty quick. 

I have loved getting to meet all of the people here! All of the people that I have gotten to meet are so sweet and everyone here just LOVES JESUS SO MUCH. I really didn't expect that because I am not in the south, but these people are just so awesome and tons of them are really just prepared to hear about the Gospel.  

I know that God is real and He is involved in the lives of the people here because I can feel it. I love everything about Ohio and this area, even if I smell like weed 24/7, it is all worth it:) 

-Sister Moran

p.s. my companion's name is Sister Reese and she is literally an angel and I love her so much already:) 

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Hello Parents! This is your daughter Emily who has as of this week POPPED THE BUBBLE WHICH IS TEMPLE SQUARE AND HAS GONE OUT INTO THE FOREIGN LAND WHICH IS COLUMBUS OHIO!!!!!!

So, I'll start off though with the end of Temple Square. It is dead there. But I was terrified to leave. I was honestly at the point where I was telling Sister Safuan as we were walking home "I really just can't believe that I have to go to Ohio tomorrow I would rather just stay here" and then we saw Elder Rasband on the sidewalk so I stopped complaining and said hey and then kept complaining after our paths crossed. I was so stressed about packing and the weight of everything and if I brought enough clothes (I think I did btw but I am going to wear the same things over and over again so if you want to send some that would be cool). When we were driving to the airport (after I said bye to my beautiful comp that I will love forever), I was just staring at the Temple as we drove away and I was so sad because I love that stinking place so much. Wow my heart has softened while I have been out. 

And then we were at the airport and getting on a flight to Dallas. I was blessed because it was me and another sister and no one in the seat between us so you already know that I slept so hard. Then, we got to Dallas and we split from the other six Temple Square Sisters that were travelling with us and we went to our Columbus boarding area and they went to their Tennessee and Arkansas boarding areas. Then it was just me and Sister Runquist. We got some pizza and then chilled out. We got to our gate and hour early so we decided to preach the gospel and we met this girl named Maddy. Oh she was so confused about everything in her life and didn't have a strong belief in God but she knew who He was but didn't necessarily believe in Him. We told her that God loved her and we gave her our info and she promised that she would email us!!! She was too cute and we literally talked with her for about an hour about everything under the moon. We have yet to receive an email even though she is super cool and seemed pretty solid to actually follow through so we are bummed about that. But oh well, God wills it. 

Then we touch down. We are in the Ohio now. A senior couple was there to pick us up because some how (which never happens) our transfer fell on the same day as their transfer so there was no awkward trio until the transfer, we could just be a regular companionship. We got to the mission home and there are about 10 missionaries that are fresh out of the MTC and they are learning about some of the standards for the mission and about the safeguards for using technology and about the booklet adjusting to missionary life and everything like that. I have read all of these things for a year. Good times. We have interviews. Mine goes something like this. President Stratford (PS): so, Sister Moran, you have been out for a year! Sister Moran (SM): yes sir I have PS: and are you excited to be here? SM: yes I think so but I am also really nervous PS: Well you will do great. You are going to have an awesome companion and blah blah. You are a well seasoned missionary and you know how to take things to the Lord and get an answer so if you are ever not sure about something, just take it to Him. God and Jesus Christ love you etc.... Do you have any questions SM:*has about five million questions* nope I think I'm good! PS: Perfect well let's get the next person in here! We then finished the training that the APs gave us (who are Elders btw, weird) and then went to bed there in the mission home. That was cool. 

Then we woke up the next day and ate breakfast and went on our way to Ohio State University where we got more training in the Institute building. It mostly focused on technology and cleaning our facebook so that way it was missionary appropriate (those were already done for us so we just kinda sat there and hung out). We then got to go out for 45 minutes ON THE CAMPUS AND CONTACT PEOPLE!!!!!  I went with this girl named Sister Cameron and she was weird. Picture Madison on weird steroids. She wasn't good at talking to people and contacting and I did everything. We walked two girls to class and chatted and then met this guy named Kevin that I think will get baptized some day. Then we went to a church building nearby and we all got more training (which I knew most of) and then I paid attention to the mission specific things that I wouldn't know. Then we all went to the chapel where they assigned us our "trainers" and that was funny and a little frustrating for me. President called my name and I stood up and he said "well Sister Moran has been out on her mission for a year and has been out at the Visitor's Center in SLC" and everyone was like "whoaaaa" and then he said "yes so she is ready to go out and get started" and then he said "and Sister Moran you will be going straight to the HOOD (and then everyone died laughing and cheering) her area will be Gahanna and she will be companion will be Sister Reese!!! 

The whole mission for sure treated us like we didn't know what we were doing what the safeguards were and Preach My Gospel was and what a lesson was and if we knew how to talk to people and teach. Classic. They gave us "trainers" and I was pretty triggered about that actually. Good news: my companion is super awesome. We had a "train the trainer meeting" right after we all got assigned to our new companions and they had us recite all 44 lesson points and I did it with them better than half of the people training and she looked at me and said "well shoot you don't need training" which I explained to her is half true. 

She is showing me how to work with members and knock doors (that only took two doors to figure out btw) but she doesn't really have to show me too much else because I know it. I feel kind of bad because she was supposed to be training and now she isn't really training a new missionary like she probably wanted to, but she is so sweet and so humble and I just love her already. I'm glad the isn't treating me like I don't know anything. I was looking at Sister Runquist's companion and she was making notes on what they need to study in preach my gospel and how Sister Runquist needs to memorize things and wow just rip I hope they get that figured out together. 

But yeah then we drove to my area and put my stuff in the apt and then we went out to the hoodiest hood for a teaching appointment. It was for sure interesting. The people were busy that we planned on going to which was a bummer and then we just decided to knock on the rest of the street. We found five new people between that street and the apartment complex nearby!!! This family even let us into their home and they were skeptical about the book of mormon but they let us come back so that is good! We then went to this apartment complex nearby and hung out there and did our thing knocking on doors. It was there that we found Nikki who was HIGH OUT OF HER MIND but she was cool. We were scared she wouldn't remember us when we went back but she did! She was busy but she said that she was really interested about our church and we could come back on Thursday. I will keep you updated on that. We also met this lady named Donja who seems super prepared and that was cool. She was going to come to church and to a zumba yoga activity the church was having but she didn't show up to either. We set up our time to come back and she was busy BUT she was willing to talk with us and responds to our texts so we like her. We also met this kid named Wesley and his parents weren't home so we just said okay we will come back later. We came back twice and him and this two younger brothers were there the next times and they are just dodging questions about their parents so we feel like there is maybe none. We asked their neighbors and they don't every see parents. We are going to ask President what to do about that one. Anyways, it took me a year to get here BUT I FINALLY GOT TO KNOCK ON A DOOR AND I LOVE IT!! Sister Reese then told me that we probably shouldn't go back to that area in the dark because it is actually super dangerous so whoops. 

The next day was pretty lowkey because we had wp so we spent a lot of time indoors doing that. BUT we were able to have my first sit down lesson in an apartment with a member and that was dope. Her name is Hollie. I am a little scared that she just wants the church for money but I guess we will see. Also, she used to be addicted to drugs but she is sober now!!! Isn't that awesome! She is just a cool lady. She was sick on Sunday and couldn't come to church but next week for sure! That made me realize a lot about the Bible request phone calls that I would make all the time at Temple Square. Hollie loves the Bible and everything about it and she praises Jesus all day long and she sounded exactly just like the ladies I call all the time about the Bible and they just eat it all up. It was so cool to be on the other side of these things and to see how they live and now I feel like I understand all of the people that I have been calling for so long so much better now. They live in tiny one room smoke filled apartments in sketch parts of town but they love God and that is just so cool to me. 

On Saturday we had a Zumba/Yoga activity and IT WAS AWESOME!!!! One of the people that we are teaching named Latisha directed the Yoga part of it and she even invited her daughter and she LOVED IT!!! Her daughter is named Daisie and she is 23 and so super cute. Daisie said that she would be at church and seemed super solid for it too. Then she went to Latisha's church instead but that is okay. But guys, it was so cool to see our two friends come to church and make friends with all of these relief society ladies and to all dance together and do yoga together and eat together. We made a sign-up and are trying to put together a weekly activity for this where people could come and bring friends and party and then more of our friends that wanted to come could actually make it. According to the sign up a bunch of people are interested but we shall see how that goes. It was just super cool for me to see how missionary work can be different and still work and how members can be such a support and help to all of these people. 

Yesterday night I met the two most AMAZING people in my entire life. Their names are Reesie and Aaleah. Aaleah is nine and Reesie is her grandma. They are the cutest people ever and THEY JUST LOVE JESUS AND SO DO I SO WE WERE VIBING! They have been taught the first two lessons so we decided to read the book of mormon with them and try and help them resolve some of their concerns about baptism (because they seemed a little concerned about it). We read in 1 Nephi 8 about Lehi's vision of the tree of life and we watched the book of mormon video that went along with it and guys, I cannot tell you how powerful the spirit was in that little apartment. It was so big I thought that I would explode. Sister Reese told me that it is like that every time. Reesie the entire time was just saying "I want some of that fruit it just looks so good" and we explained to them that that they can have that fruit as thy are baptized and receive the gift of the holy ghost and stay close to God and to Jesus Christ and we invited them to keep praying about baptism and what their next step should be. Then today i found the PERFECT scripture that we should have shared with them. It was Alma 5:42 and it said something to the effect as we are baptized and then have the spirit then we can partake of the fruit of the tree of life and I was like SISTER REESE I FOUND THE PERFECT SCRIPTURE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE USED and it was sad because the moment had passed. But we are going to text it to them, don't worry. We all took a selfie and they are just the cutest people. I told them that I wanted to send it to my mom and the lighting is rough but there you go haha. 

Oh, I forgot to add that on the first door I knocked, this guy named Chris TOTALLY hit on us and was like "oh hey baby how you doing" and then we were like hey we are missionaries and we want to share a message about Jesus Christ! Then, he was like "oh you ladies are Jesus ladies" and we were like "oh yeah we are, do you like Jesus" and he was like "oh yeah I love Jesus but you two ladies need to get far away from me because I only have devilish intentions. BUT we are going back another day because he lives in the same house as two people that we are teaching. So we told him to join in when we came back for our lesson in a few days haha. We will keep you updated on that too. 

Basically though parents, I went from not wanting to leave Temple Square to LOVING this kind of work out here in like 48 hours or less. I feel like a kid a candy shop with how much fun I am having doing all of these things and knocking on doors and smelling like weed 24/7. Shoot, even our APARTMENT reeks of weed and I don't even mind it too much! I love being a missionary and I'm grateful that I get to be out here for 12 weeks. I am already dreading going back to the Square but we are going to try to not think about that and just make the most of every single day that I have here. 

Love you both and I'll call you soon! 

Love 

Em 

The New Year

Hello Parents! Once again, mom, I love talking to you! But I am also sorry for literally talking to you all for about three hours. I guess because next week I don't get a pday I just needed a little extra haha. This email is mostly for dad because he didn't get to hear all of these things so enjoy!

NEW YEARS!!!!!!  Honestly, New Years as a missionary is nothing special. We went over at night to our Zone Leaders apartment and had Martinelli's and then we woke up when we heard the fireworks and peeked out our window shades to see and then went back to sleep. And boom, just like that, a new year. It is cool though because I feel like a lot of people on Temple Square were setting goals (as one does at this time of year) and it was cool to be able to invite them to make spiritual goals to come closer to their Savior. I feel like a lot of times when we think of new years resolutions it is easy to say "this year I am going to lose weight" or "I am going to be more organized" but at least for me, I have never thought much about spiritual goals until now. So, New Years was a great opportunity to invite people to make goals to come closer to their Savior and make Him a priority in this upcoming year because when we come closer to Him, every other aspect of our life improves. The goal that I set (because I am not the exception) is to learn more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I feel like my knowledge and testimony of His Atonement have already grown a lot while I have been here but I would like them to grow more. I am going to read Conference talks and scriptures about it and pray more to apply it in my life. Now I would invite you to do the same! Think about something spiritual to implement and stick to it! I can follow up too once a week so email me back and let me know what your goal is. Also, pick something challenging and not something that isn't too hard for you. I'm excited to see what you say!

Sister Safuan caught what I had this past week so we had to stay in one day. It was okay because we were actually pretty productive! Well at least I was, she slept haha. I read my scriptures and caught up on my journal and then when Sister Safuan woke up, we watched these missionary training videos called "The District". I think it prepared me more mentally for outbound and it also got me a little more excited even though I am still scared. That was our only day in because the next day was the last day for the lights being on and she really didn't want to miss it! I have honestly LOVED this time serving at Temple Square during Christmas. It is ridiculously beautiful and I even have grown to love the members. One cool experience I had on that last night of lights was up at the Christus. There is always a crazy long line there so it can be a little crazy with people and noise and everything but this night it was from 9-10 that we had our shift and it was pretty calm. I had just talked to a nonmember couple and told them about Christ but I think they were intoxicated (it was NYE after all) and I had met this lady from Canada too. She didn't necessarily believe in Jesus Christ or God but she knew that there was "something, some power" but she was staring at the Christus with wide eyes and I knew that she could feel something special. I just told her that I had come to know for myself that God was there and that He cared and His Son cared and that They or whatever it was up there, loved her. I gave her a copy of the Living Christ and invited her to read it and then she left before anything else could happen. I don't know what she will do but I personally think that she will get baptized one of these days! I also met this sweet member lady who was there on New Years' Eve all alone and she asked me to take a picture of her with the Christus. As I was taking her picture I could hear the Spirit clearly tell me to tell her that God loved her and that Christ loved her. And I thought "oh that sounds awkward" but then I was like hey this is the Spirit so just say it so I did and I said "I don't know if this will sound weird and I usually don't say this to people but I can just really feel right now how much God loves you and how much Jesus Christ loves you and I just thought I would let you know" and then she started to CRY. I was SHOOK and then I almost cried because the mission has turned me into a big softie. I know, lame. But it was a really sweet moment. Anyways, long story short, these moments and countless others like it have made Temple Square just the most special place to be during the Holiday season. Especially being with Sister Safuan. My oh my how I love that woman. 

The next morning we did studies at home and then came to Square and lo and behold saw Maddy and Carson at the East Gate going in and we yelled to them and then found out that he had JUST PROPOSED FIVE MINUTES EARLIER and I had MISSED IT by that much. I think it is good though that they could have that time to just be them and be excited before anyone else found out. Then, of course, those nerds didn't take a picture so I had to take it for them and they are exceedingly cute. We then took them to our assignment with us but we had people to talk to so we couldn't exactly chat. 

I had some cool contacts though after they left! The first was this Chinese family that lived in California. They had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. So I used the pictures at the front of the book (a great teaching resource btw) and explained it and then gave the parents a copy in Chinese and the kids a copy in English and they said that they would like to read it! I got their email to follow up. I also told them about the priesthood and about how we could be with our families forever because of the Temple and they seemed to like that so I invited them to go and see God's Plan for His Families in the North Visitor's Center (you know the same one as in DC that makes everyone cry) and I hope that they did! I also talked to the couple that was Catholic and from Lousiana. They were super cool! I explained the history of the Assembly Hall (that was the building that we were assigned to btw) and then just straight preached about prayer and stuff. The wife asked me what to do when you are praying and you don't seem to get an answer so I gave an analogy about how we think sometimes God answers prayers in a box and we think that maybe He isn't answering us because we are just looking in the box when in reality He is answering us outside of the box all the time and we just aren't aware! It was kind of funny because this older (50s probably) Catholic lady was asking me, 20-year-old me, about getting answers to prayers. It made me think about in Preach My Gospel as it talks about how as we share spiritual experiences and help people feel the spirit in our first interactions it helps them recognize us as servants of the Lord. And trust me I have taught a lot of old ladies and just people in general online on my mission about prayer and the Restoration and everything but that is always over the phone. It was different this time because I could see her in person and that was weird to me because now it wasn't just a voice of someone over the phone asking me the same thing. It was a neat experience for sure. I also got her email and I am sending her a video that talks about the same thing so I hope that she responds because she seems cool. Her name is Lisa and her husband is Gary. 

Also, yesterday marked a historic day in Temple Square history the day we started working at the Conference Center. There are about 20 companionships in the Conference Center at once and they can fall into two categories: fixed and mobile. Fixed means you have to stand in one place and mobile means that you can move around and leave to take peeps on tours. Yesterday we were there for four hours (because you are there for two-hour shifts) so from 5-9pm. It was pretty dead I won't lie to you. BUT we got to take our first tour of this member family and the kids were straight crazy and the parents were a little weird too. But, the dad started crying in the Book of Mormon painting gallery so I think that we had some impact there. It was weird and is still weird because we are all working with the hosts and we essentially have the same role which seems wrong to me because we are full-time missionaries set apart by the priesthood of God to teach the Gospel and now we have the same job as the hosts. Who are set apart yes but it isn't the same. The missionary department has given us a lot of training on this new thing in the Conference Center and they are always retraining us on online teaching and every time they come in to train us and to tell us new things, in the end, I just always feel like I'm not a real missionary. It is like they don't recognize the things we do and how seriously we take our calling and what we are capable of and what we WANT to do and what we SHOULD be doing as full-time missionaries. I know and I am fully aware that I just need to humble myself and maybe that would fix the problem but it is just so frustrating to me. Sister Safuan and I had zero meaningful contacts for the two hours that we were in the conference center this morning for example and it was just frustrating to no end because our assignment was to literally sit and use a clicker to count how many people came in. Even when they came in though we couldn't talk to them because there were other sisters that it was their job. Could we not have a host do that? Or nobody because it isn't really doing anything? It just seems like a waste, especially when literally one person came into the building from our area in two hours. What do you think? Also, the hosts are a little bossy, especially the ones that are floor leaders. And no worries, I am respecting my elders but man oh man this is going to be rough. I hope that by the time I get back from outbound I just fix myself and my attitude and all of the kinks will be worked out. After all, this was only the second day. And, when we were there last night we were able to take these Spanish nonmembers around the Book of Mormon gallery and we even got their contact so there are lots of good resources and lots of potential, it is just so new and things need to be worked out a little bit. 

Sister Moran and Sister Safuan feeling bored at the Conference Center

I won't even update you on the people that we are teaching because you already heard that over the phone. I think that is all that I have for this week! Thank you for sending me snowboots so I won't be cold and wet in Ohio (and you are included in that thank you dad;)! Thank you for praying for me and for supporting me while I am here! I love you both and I love being a missionary. I said this in my first email home and I'll say it again. This is easily the most worthwhile thing that I have ever done. Mom will tell you Dad, I cried again today because I only have six months left and that is just not enough months. Someday, I am going to convince someone to let me be a full-time missionary with my whole family and all of my kids would do it too! It would be like the Incredibles but saving souls. Plus, we would all have matching nametags so it would be super dope. I love you both and I'll talk to you whenever my next pday is! Wish me luck in Ohio!!! 

Love 

Em