New Companion and a Baptism

Hey Everybody! These past two weeks have been absolutely wild so I am going to try and think of the best things that happened and make it short so it isn't too boring for everyone. 

First, WE WENT TO KIRTLAND!!! Our Ward Mission Leader is a legend and he rented a 12 seater passenger van and we piled our whole district (which are a party and a half btw) and each companionship brought someone that they are teaching (we brought two people) and we drove for 2.5 hours up to Kirtland. Sister Reese, my companion last transfer, served at Kirtland so she gave the tour and it was awesome!! We had a great time and the spirit was felt. Kirtland is a really special place and I am grateful that we were able to go and that the people we were teaching could go!  

On Saturday ADRINA GOT BAPTIZZLED!!! Whoohoooo! It was so amazing to see the change from when we found her only six weeks ago until now. Her countenance has changed as she has learned more about her Savior and she literally has this new light in her eyes. We are so grateful for her decision to be baptized, it was a special service and a spiritual moment for everyone involved. Plus, the ward is just so good and are welcoming her in and it is so fun to see that. 

This week was also had transfers and I am training a brand new missionary! Her name is Sister Mahan and she is from Idaho. She is seriously the cutest person that I think I have ever met. She is so excited to work and I am so excited to spend the next six weeks with her before I head back to Temple Square. It is crazy to think that the time is coming... kind of scary but also exciting! I have loved being a missionary here in Ohio! 

Basically, being a missionary is the best. Also, I rode a bike for the first time in my whole mission this week and it was legendary... even though my butt still hurts from it lol. 

Sister Moran 

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Hey there parents! This week was the most stressful week of my mission, not gonna lie. Maybe that was an overstatement but I was pretty stressed. There is the booklet that we read as missionaries that helps us adjust to the lifestyle, it is called "Adjusting to Missionary Life" and at the beginning, it has this self-assessment thingy where it shows pictures of missionaries in the green (good) stress zone and then yellow, orange, and red. It is kind of a missionary joke about being in the red all the time but this was I think the second time in my mission that I have actually made it down to the red zone so that shows you how bad I really was. Don't worry, now I am at about a yellow so we are doing a lot better. 

So, Wednesday. After basketball at the church, we went to brother Poole's house and we watched the Cokeville Miracle and ate nachos and it was super sad because it was the last time that our legendary district would be together. BUT that is okay. They will live forever in my memory. Wednesday was kinda whack though because I found out that I was going to be in a car share and I would have to figure out the busses and I would be with a brand new missionary that knew nothing and that was stressful. More on that later. 

Thursday. Transfer day. We went to LaTisha's house in the morning and had another Bible and Book of Mormon study, but we had to cancel Zumba and yoga because of transfers and nobody would show up anyway. We read with her in 3 Nephi 11 about when Jesus came and baptism and she LOVED it. Then again she loves everything that we talk to her about. When we were leaving she yelled out the door about how she loved Sister Reese and me and that she would see me on Sunday!! She actually ran out of gas money though so she couldn't make it Sunday which made us so sad but that is okay because she is elect and we love her. ALSO that morning I was cleaning the apartment preparing it for my brand new companion straight from the MTC and literally I could feel the stress rolling off of me in waves. I was stress cleaning straight up. Literally, as I was sitting down to make a little note the whiteboard that said: "Welcome to Gahanna!" (I know, pretty cute) all of a sudden the vision in my left eye started wigging out and I knew that I had given myself a migraine. Can you believe that I stressed myself out SO MUCH that I gave myself not just a headache, but a migraine? What is life? I laid down after that and took a 30-minute nap but the work goes on so we were off to LaTisha with a massive brain attack. I was glad that my vision was at least normal at that point but dang. Kinda funny to think about that now. But yeah, after LaTisha we went to Zupas and got some lunch and that FATTEST tender mercy was that there was a member there and she literally bought our food. I swear I felt like I was back in Utah where that happens every other day. This kind of stuff never happens here and it was so kind and I seriously almost cried because God knew that I was flipping out and we sent this member to show us some love. After that, we went to the dreaded transfer building to say goodbye to the district and to Sister Reese. Oh man. I love that woman. She has been such an amazing companion and I am just so grateful that we got to spend six weeks together. I learned a lot from her and I am sad that we can't be together anymore, but I know that she is going to do great things in  Lancaster. 

So, I say hey to a couple of people and I see my BEAUTIFUL Sister Runquist (who came from the Square with me) and I seriously cried when I saw her because that is how much I love her. And she was training too so we went into the chapel together to get our new companions!! There were 21 new missionaries and 15 of them were sisters so it was hard to guess who I would get. Obviously, though, I got the best one. My new companion's name is Sister Mahan and she is the cutest and sweetest person that you will ever meet!! She is from Meridan, ID and the more time I spend with her, the more she reminds me of me when I first came out. She is super obedient and she wants to know everything right away and not knowing what she is doing or who our people are is stressing her out and her leg is always bouncing. So actually she is kinda like me in the present too. I have actually chilled out on obedience though. And I am still exactly obedient, I don't mean to say that I'm not, but I used to get really mad when I saw other being disobedient but now I just don't care because they can make their own choices, but she does get mad and that is honestly kinda cute. But yeah, she is awesome and a hard worker and loves being a missionary and is really good at it despite being in the field for maybe 3 days so she is awesome. 

We then (after having a meeting about what we needed to accomplish in the first 6 weeks of training) met up with the Spanish sisters that we are doing the car share with. As stressed as I am, they should be more stressed. They are opening a new area and one of them is in training and the nearest bus stop to them is 1.5 miles away from their apartment and ours is only .5 miles. So yeah. This whole sharing a car thing is crappy for everyone involved. But yeah, we meet up with them and the Zone Leaders who we share the area with because they were putting things into their car too because we had four people with all of their things and one chevy malibu and that didn't add up. Then, we find out that Sister Reese LITERALLY DROVE AWAY WITH THE KEYS TO THE CAR SO WE CAN'T GET HOME. Thank goodness it is unlocked though so we can put some stuff inside. It was wild though. So we called them and texted them and they didn't respond until they had driven an hour back to their area and then they had to turn back around and bring us the keys and that was ridiculous. So, we were waiting at the church for two hours with our Zone Leaders and our car share peeps waiting for the keys. It was a good bonding time though. We drove back and got the sister's things into their apartment and then they drove us to our apartment. We live 14 miles away from each other by the way so not even close at all to share a car. But yeah, they slept over because we had a meeting that we all had to be at the next morning. That was all on Thursday. What a weird day. 

Friday rolls around and this is where I was truly stressed. We had a meeting with the Stake President and all of the other missionaries in the Stake. We all drove together but we knew that only one of us was leaving with the car and nobody knew what to do because we have never been in a car share before. So, we end up letting the other sisters have it for the first 3 weeks of the transfer because they are opening a new area and, let's be real, they need it more than we do at this point. So, the Sister Training Leaders, (one of them is Sister Reese btw) drive us back to our apartment and we start looking for a bus pass. We go literally everywhere and nowhere has one. We went to Kroger's and they said that they were the only Kroger's in all of Ohio that didn't sell bus passes. So from there, we drove into downtown Columbus which is only about five minutes out of our area btw. The edge of our area goes right into the edge of the city, but not skyscrapers, but we were amongst a bunch of skyscrapers!! It was so cool and it made me Salt Lake sick. I LOVE the city, it is so beautiful. Sister Mahan was so cute because it was the biggest city that she had ever seen and she was so happy to be there. We ran around for a second looking for a place to buy a bus pass and then boom we found one and we had to pay 62 dollars for it. Ridiculous. I forgot to mention that I had cried like four times privately earlier that day because I was so stressed out. The Sister Training Leaders were a huge tender mercy because they just drove us around and got us a bus pass and did everything for us which was so amazing of them. Then, we parted ways and we did some weekly planning and crashed hard. So basically all day we were just trying to find a bus pass, who would've thought that we would seriously have to go to downtown Columbus to do it. 

The next day was comically legendary. Sister Mahan was itching to go out and to do some stuff, so, we rode our bikes out to a member's house! 3.2 miles baby. Yes, our butts are still sore two days later. We had a really good time with them and we all read some scriptures and that was great. We then were riding our bikes home and we found 4 new people along the way!! We never would have found those people if weren't for riding our bikes because we would've been in our car and not stopped. It was great and a huge miracle! We had called the Elders and asked them to bring us a bike lock and an Allen wrench to lower Sister Mahan's seat and they ended up waiting forever at our place because we were so busy findng people. It was honestly awesome. We also got home so late that we had to skip lunch and we got on the bus to go to a lesson. Very long story short: we got super lost and went out of our area. My bad. Our lesson actually canceled on us so then we had one hour before our next lesson so we decided to eat lunch... also outside of our area. We ended up meeting this cool guy named Evan though! He asked us what was different about our church and that he was open to listening! So, we sat and ate lunch with him. I started to go into the restoration and Sister Mahan was not getting that and she went off on a weird tangent. Ah, training. But it was good. We sent him this talk that we liked and he offered to drive us to our friend's house and we had to say thanks but no and we went on our way. Sister Mahan really loved getting to sit with him and talk with him about the gospel at lunch so I am super glad that God put that in our lost paths. Then, we got on a bus, rode parallel to the house we were going to, and got off and walked about 1.5 miles there. Good times. We were going to see Crystal and Crystal's grandma just passed away. We went over and helped her clean out her fridge and clean the baseboards and then we shared a scripture and prayed with her. Honestly, Crystal hasn't been progressing too much and when we were over there I had the thought that we might need to drop her because she doesn't keep commitments. But then, after we left she texted us like three times saying how much she appreciates us and what we did for her and that SHE WANTED TO COME TO CHURCH. Service people. It brings miracles. Then, we had the fattest tender mercy of being able to find a bus that took us all the way straight home (and now we know what number bus to take out that direction lol). Plus, we had 20 minutes to wait at the stop and we were able to find two more new people which adds up to 6 new people, 11 lessons, and 1 mmv (anyone know what an mmv is??) all in just one day. We were very blessed by the Lord for our effots. I am positive that bussing will get better the longer we work at it... I hope. 

Sunday was kind of a bummer because we had like seven people that were solid for church and only one person showed up. But that is okay. The person that came was Cynthia Poole, our Ward Mission Leaders sister so that was a huge miracle because she never comes. We went over and had lunch with them after and then we were able to draw the restoration for an object lesson and then teach Cynthia while we did so and recommit her to read the Book of Mormon. It was great. Then, Cynthia drove us to Cynthia Joseph's place. Cynthia Joseph is from Haiti/ Frace and she and her son have been living with these members in our ward. They come to church basically every week and we tried to start teaching them but Cynthia wasn't super for it... until this week! She invited us over to talk about that Bible and what it is about. We brought her a French copy so she could understand better what she read and taught her the restoration. There are certain points that we need to teach in the restoration for it to make sense. I started off with God is our loving Heavenly Father and the Gospel Blesses Individuals and Families and then I looked at Sister Mahan and she was supposed to go into dispensations and prophets and then we could talk about the Savior and His church and the priesthood and then the apostasy and then Joseph Smith and then the Book of Mormon and praying to know. But, when I looked at her she skipped everything to the Book of Mormon. So then when it was my turn again I tried to explain dispensations and that we have always had a prophet and priesthood and the apostasy and Jesus but it was a lot to try to explain and we were backtracking so I just set up the scene for Joseph Smith so Sister Mahan could share the first vision, FOR HER FIRST TIME EVER!! She did so great! Anyways, Cynthia said that she feels like Joseph Smith and that she also wants to know what church to join. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon with that question in mind and to pray and we promised her that God would give her an answer. It ended up being a good lesson and Sister Mahan was super pumped about it. I don't want to tell her that she skipped important information so I think that during companion study we are just going to roleplay it and memorize the lesson points. And that is not to say that we have to teach everything the same way and in order every time, but Cynthia was down to listen and open and we skipped some good stuff. Just a thought for the future. It has been so long since I trained that I forgot what it is like to be new lol. After that we walked a mile to a member's house and we talked about missionary work with them and they gave us a ride home and we did studies for the rest of the night and waited for Sister Richardson to get back from her Nepali work!

Update on how the trio is working: She comes home at night to us and is home from 8:30ish to bedtime. She will be with us in the mornings on some days (but not many) and then she is gone from about 11 until the night. So she wakes up and gets ready with us, but she doesn't plan because she doesn't have the same people and she doesn't teach anyone with us. She isn't a missionary in our ward, she is a missionary in the Nepali group. So it is honestly just super weird. Anyways, it is me and Sister Mahan during the day and then Sister Richardson when we are home, so not too bad of a deal. 

Even though this week has been hecka stressful, I am grateful for it. I have already learned a lot and I LOVE my companion. Seriously, Sister Mahan is the best and I am so glad that I got a hardworking and fun missionary to train. This is going to be an amazing transfer, I can feel it. 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!! I was going to send you a letter but I don't have your address so if you send me that I will send you a super late birthday card. I just love you so much and you are such a good example to me of following the Lord. You seriously are so in tune with the spirit and you are such a great example of being a faithful woman. I want to be JUST like you when I grow up. Love you so much (and you too dad but this is mom's moment). 

I love you and miss you both!!

Love, 

Em

Field Trip!

Hey Parents! First and foremost I know that this week was probably not your favorite week ever. Just know that I have been praying for you big big time and I know that this is what God wants for the family and I am so excited to see how much stronger everybody is after this whole hard period. 

I will probably keep this one shorter just because we have another pday this coming Monday. But I will say that is this week, and this weekend particularly, have been legendary and some of the most memorable of my mission for sure. 

I will start on Thursday. Sister Reese and I have started a weekly Zumba and Yoga activity. Our friend that we are teaching, LaTisha, leads the yoga and Sister Odei that is in our ward does the Zumba. It started off as just a one-time thing but it is super good for LaTisha to come to church and meet people and practice yoga so we decided to keep it going. This activity has been the bane of our existence, lemme tell ya. We texted every single lady in the ward and all of our friends and yet only around 4 people ever show up. So frustrating. But that is okay! This past week we had around 5 or 6 which was awesome!! Afterward, we do a lesson with LaTisha at the church. This time was no different. We had invited her to baptism the previous week and she has said that she would pray about it but we could tell that she had some hesitations. This week she had been taught everything so we were not super sure of what to teach but we decided to go with Temples. To show her more of the blessings that come after baptism and to explain the priesthood a little better. So, we watched the tour of the Rome Italy Temple and she loved it SO MUCH.  Seriously, after the video, she was just in awe and she wanted to go to the Temple so badly. We asked her about praying about baptism and she said that she had been but that she just doesn't understand how baptism into our church is different, but she wants to. Honestly, I then decided to speak. Up until this point I had been quieter and Sister Reese was mostly talking but I was constrained by the spirit to speak and idk what I even said at this point but it was something along the lines of the entire resto and how Joseph was a prophet and the priesthood and lastly the Book of Mormon. You could cut the feeling in the room with a knife. Sister Reese said that she had never witnessed a companion speak straight doctrine and scripture in a lesson before. It literally wasn't me though, it was ALL GOD so that was super cool to be able to experience Him using me in such a personal way. We then had her read Moroni 10:4-5 and she literally started to cry as she was reading the verses and we told her that that was her answer! That was the spirit testifying to her the truth of the Book of Mormon and the things that we were teaching her. We asked her if she believed that the Book of Mormon was the word of God and she said yes but that she wanted to know more of it because she was still kind of lost and she didn't exactly see how it related to the Bible. So, we gave her 3 Nephi 11 to the end when Jesus comes and we told her to read it with all of the cross-references to the Bible at the bottom and we promised her that she would find what she was looking for. Literally, everyone was crying and I LOVE LATISHA!!!! I wish that everyone could meet this lady, she is such a force for good! Plus, earlier in the week some elders in our district came to her home and dedicated it and it was just such an awesome experience and she is just the best person ever. 

Okay, now we are on to Friday which was LEGENDARY!!!! We got permission to go up to Kirtland with two of the people that we were teaching earlier in the transfer. We mentioned that to our ward mission leader and to our district during district council and they all were like "hey well we want to come to Kirtland" so they all found people that could go with us. The Elders that we share the ward with our zone leaders so they called president and asked for special permission for us all to go together and for Sister Reese to be able to give the tour and he said "this kind of stuff never happens but I will let you all go this one time" and it was LITTTTT. Our ward mission leader rented a 12 seater van and we all piled in with various people that we were teaching and made the 2.5-hour car ride up to the famous site. I won't lie to you, it made me Temple Square sick because I LOVE THE VC AND THE HISTORIC SITES but it was super cool to have Sister Reese take us around to all of the different places. We went to the school of the prophets and she had me sit up front with her because she didn't like to be there alone and it was just so special. We were able to bring Adrina and she has trouble remembering who Joseph Smith is so that was neat to be able to help her understand more and get out of the house. Our ward mission leader's sister, Cynthia, who we are also teaching came and she had such a fun time. Basically, just all of Friday was the best and most funnest day ever. We ended up getting home around 12 so that was kinda apostate and we were wrecked the next day big time but it was soooo fun and one special memory for me. 

SATURDAY ADRINA GOT BAPTIZZLEDDDDDD. She (if you remember) has broken up with us like 12 times since we met her at the beginning of the transfer and so I was big-time paranoid that she was going to not show up for her baptism and be too nervous and just end it. I was esp anxious about that because President and Sister Stratford were coming so the pressure was on big time. But yeah everything went super well. And she was SO HAPPY WHEN SHE CAME BACK UP IT WAS WILD!!!!! She just kept saying how she felt so much peace and so happy and all that good stuff. The next day she got the holy ghost and it was still awesome and she still felt so much peace!!! MIRACLES EVERYBODY! Monday her grandma passed away so we went over and we gave her a blanket and we helped her feel loved and we gave her cookies. We tried to find her a ride to FHE but we couldn't and she flipped and got super mad and then the next day she apologized but for a second there she almost apostatized but we are Gucci never fear. 

Okay, there is so much that happened but ya know I have another pday this Monday so I will just email you again with all of the transfer stuff on Monday. LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! 

Priesthood Power

Hey Everybody! 

These last few weeks here in Ohio have been awesome and as always I just really love being a missionary.   

First of all, we are teaching the best people known to man. I don't know if there is something in the water over here in Gahanna, but it is just insanity how amazing every single person we meet is. Side note: Adrina who we met at the beginning of this transfer is supposed to be baptized this Saturday! We would really appreciate prayers to help her stay strong for her special day:) 

I know that God is so aware of us. This week was really good but also a little bit hard. I was able to get a priesthood blessing from an Elder in my district and I know that it wasn't him talking, but it was my Father in Heaven talking through him. Also, Saturday Sister Reese and I just had a rough day. BUT we could see God's hand throughout the whole thing just giving us such tender mercies. 

I love being a missionary! I have never been able to feel the spirit guiding me so much then when I have been here in OH these past few weeks. It is crazy because that is something that I have always kind of struggled with - feeling like the spirit isn't talking to me and that I can't feel it and receive answers. Now I know for sure that I can!

I love you all and have an awesome week! 

Sister Moran 

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Helloooooo Parents!!!! 

I am going to try to make this week's email shorter so that way dad doesn't fall asleep whilst reading it this time haha. 

Okay, so Monday night I was knowing that I really needed a blessing. I was going to have one of the Elders in our ward do it, Elder Lambert to be precise. But then, we got to the church and starting balling and I felt bad to impose and ask everyone to stop because I needed a blessing. As we were leaving Elder Erickson (the other Elder in our ward) asked if I still wanted one and I said yes but that we could just do it during FHE later that night because they would be there. So, then we go to this member's house and make spoon rings and then get to FHE about 30 minutes early for the blessing and all that jazz. When we show up at Brother Poole's house (the ward mission leader), I see the other two Elders in our district. And I was like crap now all four of them are going to know that I am weak. So then, I knew that I needed to do it quickly before other people started to show up so I was like okay you can do this and I said to Elder Erickson (because he was by me) if we could do the blessing and he was like yeah for sure do you want me or Elder Lambert to do it and even though I was PLANNING on having Elder Lambert do it I was like you can and he literally kind of sighed in exasperation and said "I knew you were going to ask me because I was standing right here" and I was just thinking well geez it was already hard enough for me to ask this and now he doesn't even want to do it so then I was like "okay no biggie Elder Lambert can do it" and of course he was like nah nah I can. Then, the spirit slapped me in the face. I looked at Sister Reese and I said, "actually I think I want Elder Thomason to do it". Lemme tell you about him. He is 18 years old and is in his second transfer. He is homesick as heck and he has a girlfriend that he is obsessed with that had just written and said that they should be friends. He is literally the FUNNIEST guy that I have EVER met and easily the most genuine. He was standing about 10 feet away and not listening during all of this and goofing off with the other Elders by the couch and I just looked over and said "hey Elder Thomason, will you please give me a blessing" and he went from smiling and laughing and being stupid and spun around and was just so tender and left his conversation and immediately said "yeah yeah, I would love to, what kind of blessing? Comfort? What's going on?" So I just told him that there was a lot of stuff going on at home and that I just felt sad and weird and not like myself and that I had known that I needed a blessing two weeks but I didn't do anything about it and now I just knew I needed help. And let me tell you, HE TOOK IT SO SERIOUSLY. He grabbed his Book of Mormon and went into the other room to pray and to read and he came back out looking for the Doctrine and Covenants to read from that and to prepare himself to give me a blessing. Mom and Dad. I appreciated that so much. I know for a FACT that the other three Elders in that room would have just given me the blessing with no thought beforehand but this guy went out of his way to prepare himself spiritually so he could be in the right state of mind and it was amazing. We all went into the other room when he was ready and he kept wiping his hands on his pants and he was so nervous and he asked for the white handbook so he could read what he needed to say. So. Ridiculous. Tender. So after he got my first name he laid his hands just barely on my head, seriously so light and so shakey and he started and as soon as he said my name the spirit just entered into the room like a brick wall. It was so thick in the air that it was tangible. He gave me the most sweetest and most tender blessing after that and it seriously changed my whole life. Not that he said anything that was lifechanging (I mean the Lord gave me some good counsel and all that), but no 18-year-old boy could bring a feeling like that into a room. No 18-year-old lovesick homesick and goofy kid could ever give me advice and counsel. The priesthood is LITERALLY THE POWER OF GOD AND IT IS REAL AND I KNOW THAT WITHOUT A DOUBT. I mean I already knew that but it was for sure after this. That blessing I think changed my life. And now I will always have a ridiculous soft spot for that special special Elder Thomason:) 

The next day I was pretty emotional and I literally cried I kid you not 10 times about my blessing and/or about how tender Elder Thomason was. Tuesday, in general, was just a day of miracles. We went out finding and we found this super cool guy named Jeff! Jeff has had cancer for about a year now and has 11 rescue cats. When we met him he was sick and had lost his voice so he got our phone number and texted us on his doorstep lol. He had heard of our church before but his wife is "extremely hostile to LDS". BUT he wanted us to come back and we have been texting all week. He is so stinking cool. Also, we had tacos for lunch and our waitress "used to be Mormon" and we were like ?!?!?!? What?!??! Yeah, so she has our card and that was pretty wild. Also, idk if I mentioned this last week but we had these two girls Amerihanna (8) and Kamiah (10) come to church and Kamiah even got up and bore her testimony (I know, wild) come to church with us. Well, we went over on Tuesday night and they are right in Columbus. We were chatting with them and they asked their grandma/guardian Karon if they could get baptized!!! She said eventually but that she wanted them to know more about the church first. Karon told us though that the girls had so much fun at church and that they both couldn't stop talking about it and that she had bought them dresses so they would have more clothes for church in the coming weeks. SO CUTE I KNOW. They came again to church yesterday and they are just so cute and we love them. 

Wednesday we ended up dropping this family from Ghana that we had been teaching. It became very apparent to us in the lesson that while we love them and they are awesome that they weren't progressing and were not willing to keep commitments so we just had to do it. It was still sad though. We also dropped AJ who lives in quite a dangerous neighborhood. She was actually a referral from Temple Square from back in May! She hadn't been progressing with the Elders and we tried getting the Temple Square sisters involved to revive her but she just won't keep any commitments which is super sad. But at one point she had been on a baptismal date. Interesting how people will agree to be baptized but they won't even come to church. So yeah, but the end of Wednesday we were both kinda dead. The tender mercy was that we got to see Reesie and Aaleah and Aaleah agreed to be baptized!!! She is kinda nervous about it but excited too. Also, they won't come to church though so we are triggered about that. Pray for them and for us please. 

Thursday we had lunch with a member and Adrina! The member (Sister Weisenberger) taught us all how to make biscuits and gravy from scratch and then we all ate it together. It was awesome. Plus, Adrina is super duper shy but she was opening up and laughing and having a good time which was AWESOME and a huge miracle. Adrina came to church for her 4th week in a row yesterday and had her interview for baptism with our District Leader Elder Hill and wow we were so scared that she wouldn't pass but she did YAYAYAYAY and she is super pumped and solid for her baptism THIS SATURDAY. It is actually insanity that we found her this transfer and is already getting baptized. This kind of stuff never ever happens and it has been so cool to just see how going to church and learning more about Jesus has just helped her become a happier person. You can see a new light in her eyes that wasn't there before and it is just too cool. Keep praying for her that she will continue to stay strong and excited for this Saturday!! 

Also on Thursday was had a lesson with literally my favorite person ever. Latisha. I LOVE HER. We taught her about the plan of salvation and we stressed the gospel of Jesus Christ and Baptism and Priesthood to her a lot because it was time to invite her to baptism. Lemme tell you it was really scary because we are such good friends and we just love her a lot and we didn't want her to feel threatened or anything but we just invited her to pray about being baptized by someone with the priesthood and she said that she would! What a miracle!! We don't know what her answer is or anything but she still texts us back so that is good. She also doesn't come to church though. Sad. BUT she told us about that before we came she felt this really scary dark presence that she could basically see in her house in her kitchen and she was scared and she prayed that it would leave. She told us that she knew that the devil was trying to get her scared before meeting with us because we helped her to know more about Jesus Christ and she could feel the spirit. And MAN I was so mad that Satan would try and get to Latisha so straightforwardly like that that I told Sister Reese in the car that I wanted to throat punch him. Latisha is seriously on another level spiritually so it makes sense that the very presence of Satan would need to be so present and apparent in her life because she is just so awesome. But at the same time that is scary that Satan was in her home so we are having the elders come on Wednesday and dedicate her home so yeah. Again. Yay for the priesthood. 

Friday was pretty boring but also good! We got to teach Cynthia Poole (our Ward Mission Leaders sister) all about the Temple. We watched the tour of the Rome temple with Elders Bednar and Rasband and we invited her to come up to Kirtland and Sister Reese is going to give us all a tour! So this Friday we are going to go and I am PUMPED it is going to be a party. 

Saturday was honestly just rough, I will send you an 8-minute vlog that we took about it lol. You'll see. But also, it was cool because there were a million tender mercies throughout the day. God was aware that it would be a rougher and more frustrating day so He gave us lots of happy tiny moments because He loves us. I love Him. 

Basically, this week was great and I love being a missionary. We only have a week and a half left in the transfer which is CRAZY. My next pday will be Wednesday and then transfers are Thursday the 20th... it is not too likely that Sister Reese and I will stay in Gahanna together. Because she goes back to Kirtland April 1st and I go back to the square and then they would have to shotgun Gahanna and it wouldn't be the worst thing, but at the same time it is really popping over here so it wouldn't be the best thing either. I guess that we will see what God wants for us and for the area! So stay tuned for that:) 

I love you both and I miss you!!!! Thanks for reading my crazy long emails every week, I really appreciate it:) talk to you soon!! 

Love 

Em 

Longest Email Ever....

Hey Parents! This week has honestly been good but also a little bit rough. I'll tell you why though in a second. 

So, obviously on Monday was the ultimate District Activity that was RIDICULOUS FUN and now all of the Elders think that I am a legend because I killed them at basketball and then chugged soda so hard that it came out of my nose and also I kicked their butts at dew pong. BUT that day was so long and so fun that by the time we got home and had to go out at night ya girl was absolutely dead and so tired but that is okay because it was a fun day. 

Tuesday we met with Adrina and don't worry, she came back and was actually super solid all week until yesterday. It is crazy how fast she is progressing. We taught her about the commandments and we also retaught her the restoration because we knew that she probs didn't remember too much and we want her to understand be prepared for her baptismal interview which is coming up here pretty quick. We told her about the interview too so that way she knew why we were kind of quizzing her on all of these things and then she was SO CUTE and later that day she wrote down a bunch of answers to the questions because she wants to be prepared for her interview. We went back over on Saturday to teach her lesson five (about temples and family history and priesthood auxiliaries and stuff like that) and she showed us in her journal where she had been writing all of her answers and parents, it was just so tender. We love her. Also on Tuesday, we did some service and got some tacos. We have this elderly next-door neighbor named Brenda and she has a problem with her legs so she walks with a walker and even then she has a super hard time getting around. But she is a really good cook and baker! She periodically makes us food and baked goods and we take out her trash and walk her puppers. She periodically looks after her daughter's dogs but obviously can't walk so she does it for her. So Tuesday was our first day doing that and then we have done that ever since and we take out her trash as we go too. She isn't interested in the church though, in case you were wondering. Anyways, we did that and then we got two-dollar tacos from this place in downtown Gahanna and it was too fun. Also, we saw the Elders car so we put pass along cards in their windshield as a prank. We also visited this recent convert named Sally Turner and she is SO FUNNY. She lives in the middle of the hood and we went into her home and she is in the middle of redecorating and everything and didn't have too much time to chat but we talked to her about her conversion story. Basically, the missionaries stopped by three times and every time she yelled at them to leave and then eventually she let them in and they gave her a Book of Mormon and then her kids gave her a bunch of anti-Mormon literature and then she threw the Book of Mormon in the trash but when she did that the Book apparently literally started SCREAMING. Then she put it in the closet and it started banging against the door so then she read it and then got baptized two months later. Is that wild or what? She was cool. We are going to help her out with her house and then try to get her to the Temple because she needs to be active because she isn't the most active right now. 

After that we went to this grandma and grandson that we have been trying to teach for a minute and just have never been able to get in contact with. The grandma is a minister but she likes that we come and talk with her grandson about Jesus. Their names are Sherrie and Rohaun. Rohaun is literally the most tender person that I have ever met. He literally gave me a hug when I came in and wow he was cute and he LOVES Jesus. We taught them about the plan of salvation and we invited them (but Rohaun specifically) to read and to pray and he was super sincere and promised us that he will. Sherrie on the other hand basically told us that she likes the BIble and that that is the only word of God and she probs won't read the Book of Mormon. Well, we have our work cut out for us so I will keep you updated on what happens when we go back and how we can help them. 

On Wednesday we had interviews with President Stratford and I LOVE that guy. It is funny how different he and president Fisher are but in a good way. I like how President Stratford actually talks to me about what is going on at home. I feel like if I try to tell President Fisher he just brushes it off and tells me to forget about it (which is right) but President Stratford tells me that they are praying for Abby and that I'm just doing awesome and to keep on working. Isn't that so cute? And honestly, it isn't affecting me too much, at least on that day it wasn't, so I was like yup for sure. He also (President Stratford) in the middle of our interview said something quite concerning. He said "Sister Moran how would you feel if the Lord called you to train next transfer" and I was like "excuse me?" and he said that he hadn't prayed about it or anything but it had just come into his mind and he wanted to see if I would be overwhelmed by it or something and I was just like nah I would be fine but also please pray about it because ummmmm training. Yeah. I don't think I will honestly, but that was just something funny that came up in our interview. Also on Wednesday we had District Council and I gave a training and it went super well! We were talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I told them how I had a crap companionship with Sister Brinkmeier and I could feel the Atonement working and helping us fix things and our feelings and yeah it was just a good training and there was a lot of participation. We have a super good district. 

Thursday we started up our weekly Zumba and Yoga activity!!! We have a Sister from the ward do Zumba and we have Latisha who we are teaching  (the one that yelled that she loved Jesus) do the yoga because she is working on getting certified and this helps toward her certification hours. Honestly, we only had about five people there including me and Sister Reese so it wasn't the hugest turnout BUT we did have a lot of people say that they could come next week so hopefully, that works out better. We are hoping that we can get more people out so it becomes more worth their while. But it is really good for Latisha because she gets fellowship from the ladies at church and she can be in the church building and yeah it is just a fun time too. Also, I am not very good at yoga but that isn't too surprising to me honestly. After that, we drove the Lancaster which is about an hour away and it is where our STL's live. We then went on an exchange (but they call it a training visit here) until the next day around two which is when we got to their place. We had a couple of cool experiences. I was with Sister Burt and we went to this recent inactive convert and she is a single mom of three who works at McDonald's. Her life is less than ideal and that day she was having a really, really hard time. She told us that she almost canceled on us because she just didn't feel like having people over. For the first 20 minutes we were there she was yelling at her kids to get off of her and pushing them off of her and honestly it was just so sad to see a mom treat her kids and even her little not even two-year-old baby like that. But, as we stayed, something changed! Her countenance improved and she started being more okay with her kids and we shared scriptures and she was happier and everything got better. I could physically see how the spirit worked in her to help her be more kind and I loved it. We invited her to pray because she doesn't really talk to God. So we are just starting tiny with them. Next, we went to this recent converts house, she is 12 years old, and none of her family are members of the church. The 12-year-old didn't even come out of her room so we just started chatting with her family and tried to teach a lesson to them but they were SO WILD. But also so cute. She has two little brothers (well more than that but two in particular) that were adorable. Their names are Christian and Curtis. Christian was having a fever of right around four days and we offered a priesthood blessing and they accepted and the Elders came over! It was so cute because the Gahanna Elders were on exchanges with the Lancaster Elders and Elder Lambert (from Gahanna) was there and his first name was Christian too and it was just really sweet to see them interact with the family and the kids and give the blessing. Side note: my testimony of the priesthood has expanded by about 100,000,000 percent while I have been out here on the mission. Anyways, while we were waiting for the Elders to come, we pulled out their children's Book of Mormon and tried to read some stories with them but they were just so rowdy. Especially the one Curtis. He was just running around the whole time and going off topic, BUT he was also super spiritual. He just kept talking about God and how he loved God and Jesus and didn't like the devil and it was so tender. We told them about the boy missionaries and how they are called Elders and then later Curtis literally said "I want to be an Elder when I grow up" and he said it to them when they came by and it was SO CUTE!!! Also, after the blessing was over for Christian, Curtis flipped out and almost yelled "I just feel like my head and my heart are going to explode I feel SO GOOD" And we were like "that is the spirit!!!" and he said that he felt that way at church too. And then he said the closing prayer and it was so cute. Wow, what an adorable kid. He is 7 and said that when he is 8 he wants to be baptized. It actually blows me away being out here and working with so many kids and seeing how in tune they are with the spirit and how much they love God. I just think it is dope. 

The next day we finished up our training visit by finding three new people and me feeling like I should really get a priesthood blessing. I just have felt really sad the past couple of days/for two weeks. And normally I am fine, but it comes and goes in waves. I think a lot of it has to do with that I just brushed off everything at home and didn't think about it and now subconsciously it has just entered my brain and I need to get it off my mind because now I am getting sad about it. Plus, I have just been feeling weird about everything and man I just want to get rid of it. I have prayed and all of the sad weird feelings just keep coming back and I don't feel like myself so I have really been feeling like I need a blessing. The problem is, I don't like feeling weak and asking for help. BUT I am going to ask the Elders for one today anyways because I just need one. I'll let you know next week if it helps:) 

On Saturday it was actually a pretty busy but also a lowkey day. We saw Adrina again (like I said further up there) and she is super cute and super pumped for her baptism. We brought a member out teaching with us too! Her name is Rebekah Morgan and she is 21 years old and has major, major, anxiety but she loves going out with the missionaries and wants to go out with us more. So she came with us to Adrina and then we went finding with her. We got on this street to find and there was a garage open with people inside so naturally we immediately went over there. It was these two Mexican dudes making fajitas. They were super nice but didn't speak very good English and we didn't really speak Spanish. The guy that we were talking to (Juan) told us to go inside and sit on the couch and his daughter would be home in 10 minutes and she spoke English. Let me tell you, I felt instantly transported to Mexico. There was a Virgin Mary shrine and there was Spanish and there was this tiny little chihuahua that was chilling all over us and he turned on the tv for us in Spanish and we heard a Mexican lady yelling at the kids from the next room. Yup. It was AWESOME. We ended up waiting for about 30 minutes for his daughter to show up and that was cool and everything. They offered us water and coke and all that good stuff and we were like "Nah, we will just wait" and there we were, just three random white ladies sitting on their couch waiting. Then, the daughter shows up and she is super confused about who we are and what we are doing and where we are from so we explain that we are missionaries and she was like "oh we are Catholic" and we are like "oh we can tell but we just want to strengthen your faith in Christ!" So, we got her number and we are sending over the Spanish missionaries. It was quite the experience. Plus, I feel like I understand Sister Costilla's outbound experience way better now! She is in texas in a Spanish area so I am going to email her about it. 

Sunday we had a huge miracle and not one, not two, but SIX PEOPLE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! We had Adrina, Cynthia and Marvyn (they are from Haiti and are being hosted by a member family), Jillian (a recent converts girlfriend), and Amerihanna and Kamaiah(these two little girls that came literally out of the blue). It was fast and testimony meeting and Kamaiah wanted to go up but she wanted me to go first so she could see someone she knew do it and so I did (honestly I have no idea what I said) and then Sister Reese brought her up and then Sister Reese shared her testimony and it was super tender. Adrina loved the meeting and everyone was happy. Then, disaster struck with Adrina. Everyone else was good (I mean Cynthia doesn't want to be taught by us but we will still try) until Sunday School was over. Adrina is honestly kind of slow so she was feeling really overwhelmed after Sunday School and so many scriptures and she was just lost and she literally started crying and she insisted that we take her home and she said that church wasn't for her anymore and we just didn't know what to do. I was praying in the car on the way back that I could know how to help her. Then, I got the answer. Before we left Temple Square, they gave all of us a little silver star pendant so we could remember the square and come back soon and safely. I've had it in my bag but I felt like Adrina needed it more. I pulled it out and I told her how it was really hard for me to come out here from where I am usually a missionary and that it was so different but that looking at the star reminded me that it was okay to be scared and overwhelmed but that I knew that everything would be okay because God loved me and He was aware of me. I told her that she could think about that when she looked at the star and remember that it was okay that she didn't understand everything and that is how it should be right now, but she remembers the most important thing and that is God's love for her. She put it in her pocket right by her heart and then left and we decided to give her some space. So, we went about our day and ate lunch with our ward mission leader and his sister that we are teaching and had a lesson with her which ended with her running down the stairs to get him to ASK HIM FOR A BLESSING IT WAS SO CUTE because the people at work are so mean to her and she just wanted a blessing of comfort. It was so cute you guys really. And then we went to visit some members and I had a realization that members are important too (thank you God for correcting me) because once you come to their home and have spiritual moments with them, then they will ask you what they can do to help you out and give you people to work within the ward (like part member families and such) so that was cool to realize. Then, before we drove home, we missed a call from Adrina so we called her back. She said that she was trying to call her mom but she accidentally called us and then she said thanks for the star and that she had a long conversation with God when she got home and she just needed to cry for a second but that she was okay now! YAY!!!! I prayed for her I think 12 times throughout the day and God answers prayers. I know that for sure. He listens and He is real and He lives and He is there for us always and He will answer our prayers of faith. I'm so grateful for that. 

So yeah this week was AWESOME but also super emotionally draining because I just feel so bad all the time. So, I am getting a blessing today (even though I am scared) and I know that it will have what I need to feel better. I love you both! And dad I am SO PROUD OF YOU AND HAPPY FOR YOUR PROMOTION!!!!! YAYYYYYYY!  I pray for you all every single day and I love you and miss you all sooooo much. Talk to you soon:) 

Love 

Em