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