Last Week in Ohio

Hello Parents! Well, here we are. My last full week in the GREAT Ohio Columbus mission. Wow has it been one for the books. Honestly, we were on training visits like the entire week so I have just decided to write some of the highlights with the people that we are teaching and then talk about some of the best things that I have learned from my time here in the great OCM! 

Wanda: Wanda is so so tender and she was having a rough week. Her baptism was the past week and she was excited but also very nervous. She was having problems sleeping and with nightmares and was not feeling the best because of the weather and that wasn't helping with her immune system. We had been praying for her so stinking hard because we knew that she had been having kind of a hard time. We told her that Satan likes to be especially mean and try and get to people the week and the days before their baptism because he doesn't want them to make this important and necessary decision. She said that she knew that and not to worry because even though she was nervous and a little scared, she was going to be baptized no matter what. We had a bunch of members call in with her this week and on the day we had the relief society president call in, we seriously all talked about ice cream for 15 minutes. Wanda is such a funny lady. We called her Saturday morning and we talked and asked how she was feeling and she said that she was feeling great despite the bad weather!! She was super excited about her baptism and nothing was going to stop her. We went over the list of things that she needed to bring again and she curled her hair for pictures and everything. We got to the church a few hours early to warm up the font and did some lessons while we waited. We realized, that the water was super duper hot though. I found this out the hard way. We wanted to make sure that it would be deep enough and I hiked up my dress to wade in and burnt the bottom half of my legs. We knew that Wanda's tender 71-year-old skin wouldn't be able to handle that, so, we ran to the store and picked up 44 pounds of ice to dump in there. We finished dumping the ice as soon as Wanda walked into the building. Perfect timing!! 

Wanda was so excited and everything went great! Her leg flew up the first time so that was unfortunate and she had to go down again but it was kinda funny when it was all said and done haha. The Elder that baptized her had never baptized someone before so it was so funny to see his leg bouncing so hard before the ordinance. Wanda said that she felt so good when she was coming out of the font and it was so cute!! When she was confirmed, you could feel the spirit like a brick in the room. I was just praying that Wanda would be able to feel it too. After her confirmation, she just sat there and said "whoa" and we had to help her to her seat because her strength had just left her. When we talked to her when the service was over we asked her how she was feeling and she said that when she was getting the Holy Ghost, that she had seen a man's face for just a second and that right after she was transported up into the clouds. It was crazy! We're convinced that Wanda seriously saw the face of either God or Jesus. That night, she slept better than she ever had before and didn't have any nightmares! Yay holy ghost! She also said that she had a dream about a lady that came into her room and told her to throw away all of her coffee stuff so it wouldn't even be a temptation! It was so cute. Wanda is seriously so in tune with the spirit. Also, I sang a musical number with the two Elders that came and Sister Johnston played the piano and it was scary.

When I told her that I had to go, she seriously cried. We went over to her house earlier today to have her sign her baptismal papers and she was so cute. She is part of the VFW (Verteran's association something) and she gave me two pins to give to dad (so cute I know) and she gave us cupcakes and she gave me a candle to say bye. It was seriously so sad. But, I told her that I would give her a call and not to worry about it because we would be friends for a long time. I love Wanda. I'm going to miss her! It was so special to see how much faith she has in her Savior and how once she knew something was true, she didn't give in to temptation. She is such a good example to me and I'm grateful that I got to meet her and to be a part of her journey. 

Eric and Emily: These two people are seriously my homies and I love them so much. Their baptismal date was for May 16th and they were looking good for it. We invited them to be done with Tobacco products by Sunday the 10th and they agreed! We were so happy for them. This entire time I was a little bummed because I knew that I would be back at the square, but I just knew it was in God's hands and I was just going to zoom in. Then, we called them at the normal time that we do on Friday and we said "wow only EIGHT DAYS until your baptism, how do you feel?!" and Eric was like "oh, we are actually going to do it on Tuesday so Sister Moran can be there!" and then I seriously cried. I had to leave the camera because I was just so touched. I have grown to love these people so much and it was just really special that they had actually grown to love me a little bit too and that they cared enough about me that they wanted to move their date so I could be there. 

Well, I was obviously so excited and we started making plans for Tuesday! They had their last day of Tobacco on Friday and we were squared away. We were going to fast for them on Sunday so that way they could stay strong and make it to their day. We called them Saturday and Eric was (in his own words) "jonesing'" (I don't know what that means) but we just focused on the strength that comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We also went over the interview which happened the next day. We were fasting for them and they said that they both "passed" their interviews and they were so excited!! We called them Sunday night and talked more and followed up on the WoW and Emily said that she was doing great, she didn't even mind it, but Eric had actually given in that day after his interview. We were really disappointed. We decided to tell him that and we then told him that he couldn't have any more or he couldn't get baptized. We were really worried about him honestly because his resolve was kinda crumbling. So, Monday morning we drove to the store and bought him cinnamon gum and grapefruit juice because apparently both of those things help and we dropped them off along with some ties that the Elders had given us for Eric. He was struggling, you could see it in his face, but he was so grateful. He is just a genuine dude. 

We talked to them again later and Eric was like "Sisters, the juice and the gum you gave me is working because I haven't had any cravings since I've been drinking and chewing the gum!" and I just threw my hands straight up in the air and said "wow God LIVES" and then they laughed at me. We just KNOW that it is because we have been praying and fasting for them and the Lord hears our prayers and He answers them. 

Tuesday baptism day!!! Also, my last day in Ohio. So strange. Anyways, their baptism was AMAZING. They were so excited and so nervous the whole day. Eric said that he couldn't sleep the night before because he was so nervous and had so many feelings of anticipation! How funny! They got to the church building super early so we ended up giving them a tour of the building. Then everyone else showed up and then the guy doing the zoom thing showed up super late so that is why it started late (sorry) but the service itself went super awesome. I could feel the spirit like a freight train. Eric's mom watched and they were both just so excited. Emily couldn't stop thanking us for everything that we had done for their family. During their confirmation, I could just see Eric and Emily leading their family to the temple and I can just see generations after them being so blessed because of this choice that they have made. Wow. It was such a special service. PLUS, also during their confirmation, I was super shooketh because I was sitting there and I was thinking about the temple and about how special and important it is there and I was just thinking about how I want to be in the temple all the time and at that moment all of my desires to sin ever went away and it was so cool. God can really change your heart. 

I really love Eric and Emily and their baptism was so special. Afterward, they were so happy and so grateful and just GLOWING it was super awesome. I am so proud of the decision that they made and I know without a shadow of a doubt that it was the right one. I am excited to keep in touch with them and help them from a distance. 

Okay, now I'm going to just tell you about three big things that I learned in Ohio. 

1) God is a God of miracles. Never have I ever seen more miracles in my entire LIFE. As we pray with faith, Heavenly Father will consecrate our efforts and He will make our goals and our aspirations a reality. I was able to see His hand more in Ohio than I have before in my mission. I think some of that had to do with just looking for miracles every day because we had to text it to the ward council. It was just so awesome to see how He blessed us every day with something extraordinary. HE IS NOT LIMITED TO QUARANTINE, HE IS LIMITLESS!!! 

2) I was able to learn how to listen to the spirit more fully. My whole life I have always struggled a little bit trying to discern when the spirit is talking to me and what I should do. In Ohio, it was like God just fine-tuned me and helped me learn how to listen to that still small voice and to know what it feels like to me personally. This is a tool and a gift that I will be able to use for the rest of my life so I am grateful for the experiences that I had in Ohio that helped me to more fully realize and utilize that amazing tool that Heavenly Father gave me. 

3) Last but certainly not least, I learned how to LOVE. Man oh man is charity something that I struggle with. I just feel like I am not the most charitable person. Being in Ohio taught me how to focus more on other people and how to put them first more fully. Don't get me wrong, I did that my entire mission, but especially my last transfer in Ohio everything that I did was about my companion, the sisters in our zone or the people that we were teaching and that was just so special. Don't get me wrong, I still have lots to work on love wise and I still need more charity and all that good stuff, but I feel like I learned that just a little bit more for the three transfers that I got to serve in Ohio. 

We drove down to Columbus after Eric and Emily's baptism and we got there right around midnight. I forgot that I lived three hours up north and the drive was just super long. But it was good! I loved getting to talk to Sister Johnston and to listen to music with her. I love her. Wow, I just had the best companions while I was out there. Anyways, the next morning I woke up at 6am and showered and then Sister Johnston dropped me off at the airport. Classic Sister Moran literally cried because I was so sad. President and Sister Stratford met us there and after realizing that we actually missed our flight (whoops) they helped us out and got us on one in the next few hours. We just had to sit for like three hours to make it to that one. We flew from Columbus to Atlanta to SLC and I was feeling really nervous and jittery the whole way. I didn't really cry though so I was really proud of myself for that. BUT it didn't feel like it was really happening. 

I got to Salt Lake and I made Sister Runquist (the other sister that went to Ohio with me) walk super slow through the airport because I was just terrified. Finally, we saw like 6 other sisters and then I just wanted to die. Then, I got in a minivan that took me to the square and I was equal parts terrified and excited but more terrified. I cried in the car. I got there and all I heard was screaming and crying and exclamations of joy. Oh, Temple Square how I have missed you. Then, everyone was talking about my hair and how good it looked so that was really nice of them! Then, I put my stuff in my room and my companion came and got me. Her name is Sister Cummard and she is from Mesa Arizona! She has been out for a year tomorrow and she is just super sweet and a really good missionary. She was supposed to go outbound to Lansing Michigan but they actually canceled all outbound assignments so she didn't go, which I feel bad that she couldn't go especially because I just came back from some of the most miraculous months of my mission but all is well! She is a super awesome sport. She played volleyball in high school and she is super nice. Also, it is her first time being a zone leader too so we are just going to figure this whole thing out together. It can't be too hard, right? 

Anyways, then I really just wanted to get to work because I was feeling sad because the Square is so different now. Sister Cummard was telling me about all of the changes and I almost cried right then. So, as you know, the buildings are closed. We pretty much do Teaching Center all day but that is good because the queue is super poppin. TONS of people to call which I love. There are maybe two or three assignments that are the same (west gate and guest services) and the rest are all different. 

We get two hours for personal study every day and we get two hours for lunch. Once a week we serve at welfare square and once a week we have an assignment to hike up Ensign Peak? I don't know how I feel about that one. We also have the assignment "Temple Square stroll" and that is basically just walking around the square for an hour for a change of scenery. President for a while was showing movies once a week (for example they watched Mulan,  the Lion King, etc.) but we don't know if that will continue or not. I'm hoping not. So yeah. Oh, and we can't approach people, we can only talk to them if they come up to us and talk to us. Basically, the entire mission is really super different and I know less than half of the sisters here now and I just feel really sad because this wonderful amazing place that I love just seems so broken and different from what I once knew. I know that it'll get better and that it's just hard now because it's new, but it just makes me really sad. Especially from coming from miracles on miracles and being super super busy to having what seems like non-missionary related things scheduled in. But it'll be okay, I'm just overreacting a little bit. 

Anyways, please pray for me, and please pray that we will be able to find some elect people to teach online this transfer that can be baptized!!! If there is one thing that I know for sure it is that God is preparing people and they are in those thousands of names that are coming on the computer every day, all I have to do is follow the spirit and find them. 

I love you both and I miss you both! I'll see you in right around six weeks. Weird. I want to extend. Okay, anyways I love you and talk to you soon!

Love 

Sister Moran

Warren, Ohio

Hey Parents!

Can you believe that I have a mere 53 days left to serve as a full-time representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Yeah, neither can I. Somehow no matter how hard I try, the time just keeps on ticking down to zero and it is terrifying. But enough of my pity party, here we go on to this super exciting week!

Monday: We decided that we were going to do so much to get Asia going again. In case you have forgotten, Asia was supposed to be baptized and married on May 2nd but she wasn't really talking to us. We just decided to stop by her house and catch her there and lo and behold she was home. She was acting super weird though. She was talking about how she always ghosts her friends and stuff like that and it was really just awkward. She then asked us to go get an application for this apartment across town because she doesn't have a car. So what do we do? Naturally, we drive over and get the application and we grumble about how she is just being so weird the whole time. When we get back with the application, Asia's baby daddy talks to us outside because she left to go with her grandma to get groceries and then that is the last we have heard from them. Asia is still in our prayers and she has a desire to be baptized but she just has no followthrough so that has been really hard for us. We can only do so much to drag them to the font before they need to start walking. Sister Johnston and I both talked about it and prayed about it and we just feel that she won't keep the covenants at this point even if we get her to baptism so we are going to step back and reassess her and her progress. Pray for Asia. So that was heartbreak number one. Plus, you already know that I wasn't really feeling too chipper, isolation was just starting to weigh me down. 

Tuesday: Honestly, this day we had a lot of things happen but we also had nothing happen. So, we have gotten a bunch of referrals lately so we went to just go deliver all of the things, even if they never answered our calls. We went to this one apartment complex and we brought a Book of Mormon for our good friend Ray. While we were there there was this family outside so we naturally talked to the dad about the plan of salvation, gave him a pamphlet and invited him to read, and set up a return appointment for the next day! His name was Tom. Tom was nice. We then knocked next door for Ray and we come to find out that Ray doesn't live there... but Mike does!! Mike is super baptist and loves God and Jesus and we were able to have a nice conversation with Him about His belief in Christ and how it has helped him when he goes through hard times. He doesn't have a phone so we just said that we would come back Sunday at 4pm and we went on our jolly good way. 

It was really a breath of fresh air to be out and talking with people again my oh my I didn't realize how much I missed it until I was able to do it! Then, we got in our car and we had a lesson via video call where we were able to teach the restoration to this lady named Tonya. She was taught about a year ago by Sister Johnston in her first area but stopped progressing when they doubled Elders in. We got to call her and the lesson actually went super well! She finally said that the apostasy clicked and now she understands why there are so many churches! Yay! Also, we talked about baptism and the covenants and the priesthood and why we are even baptized, that it is a commandment. She didn't seem to quite get that. So, we explained all of that and read some scriptures and she liked it! She said that she had some serious praying to do about baptism now and that was super exciting to hear! 

Right after this, we had interviews with President Stratford. My interview was actually super boring. He basically was just like "you two are a dream companionship and you are doing awesome and just keep it up" and I was like "aw thanks you are too kind" and then he said "can I do anything for you?" and I said "nope I'm chillin" and then we said bye. One thing that did stick was that he told me that for the time I had left in Ohio the Lord had big things for me in store. Things that I needed to help with and things that I needed to learn. So, I have been praying every day for God to use me and let me be a better instrument so I can learn what I need to and help where and who I need to. Kinda boring but it was good. It's so weird, I feel kinda detached from the Ohio Columbus Mission but also like I am so embedded in it that I can never leave. I have less than two weeks at this point to be here which is really scary and exciting and sad and happy all at once. Mostly it's just sad and exciting though. Temple Square is going to be so different from the beautiful home that I left and I just know that it is going to be hard but I'm just trying not to think about it at this point. 

Also on Tuesday, we drove up to Ashtabula with the Alliance Sisters to get some blessings. The Elders could have driven down to us but we really wanted to see Lake Erie before I left so we insisted on driving up there. It was so crazy because Elder Anderson blessed me to feel like I had felt before and to be able to feel the spirit as much as I had felt before. It wasn't until then that I realized that maybe I wasn't feeling the spirit as I had used to. At the beginning of the transfer I was really acutely aware that I could feel the spirit all the time and then this past week I couldn't really but I didn't realize that is what was bothering me until I was blessed to have it again. I am grateful for the priesthood and for my blessing because the rest of the week I could really feel the difference and I felt a lot happier. After our blessings, we stopped by Lake Erie which was SO COOL. We took a LOT of photos and then we drove the hour back down to Warren while the alliance sisters taught a lesson in the back seat. Oh online proselyting, how effective you are. 

Wednesday: Wednesday was such a good day I literally felt like it was the Sabbath. We had district council first thing in the morning and I got to give a training on studies and having effective studies and how that sets us up for success when teaching. Sister Johnston said that it was great and just what she needed so hopefully it helped some of the other members of the district too. 

We then went over to Wanda's house to drop off a care package with some church things in it. We have been trying to help her quit coffee and when we went over she was talking about how hard it was. We decided to address it in the lesson we had set up with a member later that day. When we called, she was just talking about how she was going to do it to get baptized but that it was going to be hard. She had already cut down from 2-3 cups a day to one and we are just so happy for her and so proud of her! 

We also called Eric and Emily and asked them how the word of wisdom was going. The day before we had dropped off a care package to them and Eric was just saying that he had no desire whatsoever to keep the word of wisdom. In fact, the night before he had been in the shower and he was just angry and he was saying that he could get baptized into any other church and not have to worry about giving up chew and coffee and smoking and things and basically he told God that if he was supposed to do that, that God needed to show him a sign. Well, God did exactly that. Because when we called him the next day (Wednesday), Eric was saying how first thing in the morning he had gotten a cup of coffee and then he felt so sick and tired and gross the rest of the day and even on the phone call with us. GOD DID IT TO HIM AND WE ARE SO HAPPY. Another thing is that we had told him to replace the coffee with hot chocolate but they didn't have any. Well, in the middle of that day they saw a bag on their living room floor that had not been there before and when they looked inside there was this giant thing of hot chocolate. Could we get a bigger sign? So now they are working hard and cutting down a lot on coffee and on chew and cigarettes!! Yay Eric and Emily! 

The word of wisdom and these three people was a source of big stress for us this past week and we have been praying for them in every single prayer to gain a testimony of it and now they all have. This just goes to show that as we pray in faith, God will always answer our prayers and our righteous desires. He will even give a miraculous sign if it is in His will. Wow. God is so nice to us and He just loves us and the people that we are teaching so much. 

Also on Wednesday, we got to call our friend Bill! Bill is married to a member in our ward and just won't get baptized but is basically a member of the church. We got him to commit to reading the Book of Mormon every day and now he texts us and tells us what he has been reading! We love Bill and we can see his heart being softened big time right now.

We also got to call Margie. We taught Margie the restoration last week and she loved it and is just a normal lady and super nice and super prepared. We called her with a member and taught her the plan of salvation. Man. The Plan of Salvation is kind of my least favorite thing to teach because I just always feel like I teach it so long and confusing and my head just hurts after. But, the lesson went well even though it was like almost an hour and a half. We talked about the whole plan and we reemphasized priesthood and following Jesus Christ and being baptized and she understood everything. We then asked if it was important to her to be baptized by someone who has the priesthood and she was like well yeah so then we invited her to do it and to get baptized by someone who has the authority and she was totally on board. Every time we text and call her she just talks about how she was led to this church and she believes that everything we teach her is true. Could there be a more elect person out there??!!? I don't think so. Margie is the definition of ELECT. I am so sad that I am leaving and I can't see her enter the waters of baptism. Thank goodness for technology though so I will just facetime in because I love her and she loves us too. Wow. Wednesday was honestly just a spectacular day. 

Thursday: I know that good stuff happened on Thursday but I can't really remember what. We were both not feeling too good, Sister Johnston especially just felt sick so we were just in our apartment all day. Not too different from any other day then honestly. We had a lesson with Eric and Emily and a member where we got to reteach them the restoration. They had learned it clear back in February so we just wanted to reemphasize the importance of it and especially the Book of Mormon. We found out that Emily reads two chapters of it every day out loud to Eric and then explains them because Eric doesn't pay enough attention and it was just so cool to see how they are really diving in! We asked Emily how she has seen a difference and she said that she has been able to feel happier and that she doesn't quite know how to describe it, but she feels light. Wow. I don't think that I could ever describe it better. This couple is just awesome. Plus, they didn't have any coffee that day and Emily only had half of a cigarette and Eric only some chew! During our lesson, we saw him pop in some gum to help with the cravings and that was super cute. 

We called Wanda too and taught her the restoration as well. She wants to be baptized and is solid for the ninth, but we just didn't really think that she understood the restoration and Joseph Smith and why it was all so important. oh my were we wrong about that. We taught her about it and she was like "sisters, I know, I read about lots of different churches being created in the Book of Mormon today and I watched the video about Joseph Smith that you gave me" when we shared the first vision she just said "wow. I believe that is true" and it was so tender. This restoration lesson with her really hit me hard. I think because I had just finished the Book of Mormon the day before and I was praying to know if it is true. Of course, I know that it's true but I was just doing the promise again and I felt nothing. In fact, every time that I have prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true I have always felt nothing. I just never really got an answer when praying about, I can just feel it as I read and as I learn new things and feel enlightened. I was always kind of bummed that I never got the confirmation when praying at the end but whatever. This restoration lesson was a powerful confirmation to me that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I was blubbering my way through it so that goodness it was just over the phone #thankscorona. Man, I just love this gospel. Plus, Wanda was doing so good and hadn't had any coffee and she was so excited to tell us about it! Yay for huge miracles happening in her life!

Friday: Today was the day I had been looking forward to. The day that self-isolation was lifted in Ohio! We had a zoom call with President Stratford and one other zone so he could explain to us what was going to happen moving forward. Turns out, the prophet still wants us to stay inside even though self-isolation is technically over for the state... so we are inside still! A couple of things have changed though. They are putting us on a more strict schedule. I mean Sister Johnston and I didn't understand why the schedule was such a big deal because we have been doing all of the things that we are supposed to anyways, but it came as a shock to some other companionships that maybe weren't being as effective with their time as they should have been. The only thing that changed there for us is that we are going to try and spend more time finding on areabook and facebook to build up our teaching pool, so that will be great! 

Another thing that changed is that we are now only allowed to call family once a week now. Also, we have been having nightly district devotionals and now we are only going to do that like once or twice a week. Basically, all of the fluff and the "perks" of isolation are being taken away. My oh my you should have seen how some of these missionaries reacted. Especially the new ones. These extra perks are all that they know and they are looking at this like "why are they taking everything away" when really it is just going back to the more strict missionary schedule. It was a smart move on President's part because can you imagine when we eventually get out of isolation how hard that will be for some of these missionaries that have only been inside their whole missions, so it'll be good to gently start weaning now. We were worried about the Youngstown sisters after the call so we called them just to see how they were feeling and they, in general, are doing okay! They are bummed about some things but the one sister that was training and having a really hard time seems to be just happier and more content in her circumstances which is awesome. 

Anyway, we had lessons this day with Eric and Emily and Wanda and such. They are all doing better on the word of wisdom!! Wanda at this point is just done with coffee. Eric and Emily's resolve, on the other hand, might be slipping a little... but I don't know that is to be determined today so just pray for them. But they are doing so good and so much better! 

Anyway, we also had some member work set up. As we were able to call this one old lady in the ward, we remembered that we needed to call a referral that she had given us so we quickly gave them a ring... and it was the wrong number. We got a "Mr. Walton" on the phone and we quickly started to talk to him about how we were missionaries and what we did and such and he liked it! He is a music minister at his church and has a super awesome belief in Christ. We tried to set up a return appt but he was like "wow I am just so busy" so then we just kept talking and we all shared some scriptures and then we asked again about five minutes later if we could call him back and he says "yeah I'm never really busy so call me whenever" and it was kinda funny because he lied so hard the first time but as we kept talking to him and helped him feel the spirit his heart was softened!! He gave us some teaching tips because we didn't use enough scriptures and then we parted ways and it was just kind of a funny experience. 

We also that day talked to this guy named Justin in our apartment complex. He is probably a few years older than us and is a major hippie. He had long hair and a crystal necklace and in our first conversation, he was talking about chakras. We also talked about the purpose of life though because he had moved to Los Angeles to try and find meaning and didn't find any and now he is just a spiritual universe person which is cool. We told him that God has a plan for us and greater happiness and purpose and direction awaited him if he would call us and he said sure. We ended up having a video call lesson with him on Sunday and we determined that he is a nice guy who is just kind of lost and is trying to fill his longing for spiritual things with weird hippie things that don't make sense. But in general, he enjoyed what we talked about and he even said he wanted to read the Bible and the Book of Mormon in the hopes that he can have a spiritual experience with them so that is cool! Oh, Justin. So weird. 

Saturday: Honestly Saturday was super crazy and busy and we taught a lot of lessons (10) and we found a lot of people (4) and it was just miraculous. I loved how this day we could really see the Lord consecrating our efforts. My favorite phrase lately is "really? but we didn't even do anything" and it's true!!! Sister Johnston and I aren't doing anything and these amazing miracles are happening every day! I mean we are doing lots of things don't get me wrong and we are working hard but we are doing anything to deserve this and it is obvious that our efforts aren't making these things happen, it is the Lord just blessing us a ton and it is just so nice of Him! 

One of our new friends is named Nelson and he is from Zimbabwe. We got to call him on Whatsapp and he loves Jesus!!! It was funny because at the end we went to pray but Sister Johnston was laughing so hard about something that she made me do it and then I couldn't stop laughing so the entire prayer with Nelson was us cracking up and he seemed a little confused but it was mostly just really funny on that one. Pray that all of us involved in these lessons can have the gift of tongues because we need it! 

Saturday night was honestly scary. So, we have been having sleepovers in the living room. Maybe sleepover is the wrong word.. we have just moved our mattresses to the living room and we have been sleeping there for the past week or so. Well, Friday night we started to hear this weird clicking from the tiny cut out wall near where our beds were in the living room. It was pretty quiet though so we didn't think anything of it. Friday night I had this super terrible gruesome nightmare that gives me PTSD just thinking about it and then Saturday morning I felt a little shakey because that is how scary it had been. Saturday night we start to get ready for bed around 10pm and we are in our beds right around 10:20. All of a sudden the clicking starts again when we are in our beds. Sister Johnston thinks that maybe it's just the air so I go and turn off the AC. The clicking continues and actually gets louder and then Sister Johnston gets scared. I got scared too a little but nothing too crazy. Then, we heard this giant bang inside the wall and that is when I got scared and worried. The clicking turned more into a louder noise and it wouldn't stop no matter what we did. So, we prayed and we called the Sisters that lived close by and asked if we could spend the night with them. 

Listen, parents, I am not a scaredy-cat but this was really scary. I couldn't see beyond the wall in the corner but I just had this really bad feeling in my stomach and I was just terrified and I knew that there was something behind that wall that I just couldn't see. Sister Johnston felt the same way. So, at 11:30pm we just hopped in our car and drove the 20 minutes to the Sister's apartment and we stayed with them in their safe apartment for the night. Sister Johnston was still so scared though so we had to sleep with the light on. Plus, the whole night I was just nervous so I was just waking up every thirty minutes so it was just a bad night for sleeping. It was a scary night for sleeping. It was weird because the house had never made those noises before and it only happened at night. More on this tomorrow. 

Also, today we got to call Margie! Our friend that we put on date this week! She is literally the cutest person ever. We talked about the plan and made sure that she didn't have any questions (because we went over so much when we taught her) but she said that she didn't and that we were great teachers (that made my whole life let me tell you). We then talked about how out of all the titles that God has, He prefers Father. We discussed that and read some verses from the Book of Mormon and suggested a chapter for her to read. She came to church the next day and she was just so tender and the whole time and after she was talking about how she loved it and how she believed everything that was shared. Seriously, it's almost freaky how elect this lady is. We have another lesson with her on Monday which will be good!

Sunday: We wake up in Youngstown and we do our studies there and then we make our way over to Warren to make sure all of our people get to church. We get to the apartment and I was a little nervous but not too much because it was during the day. We called the zone leaders and they came over later in the day to dedicate our apartment and they in-depth checked the wall and the corner. You could tell they kind of thought that it was just the wall creaking but I know that it was not. There is no way. So, they dedicated our apartment and that was nice. 

We had a lesson with Justin and we called some people and had a powerful lesson with Wanda about God and Jesus Christ's love in 3 Nephi 17. If you haven't read that in a second, I would invite you to do so because it is good. Also, I bore my testimony in church!!! Now I have done that every single fast and testimony meeting that I have been in Ohio. Kind of funny. We went over to the stake president's house again and they fed us dinner and we had a spiritual thought and we did the sacrament. We also got to watch the Young Adults broadcast there with Elder and Sister Gay and it was so good and I like it and learned a lot!! It made me think about how easy it is to be faithful and to put covenants and not convenience first on a mission. It really made me start thinking though about when I go home in seven weeks what my priorities are going to be. How am I going to put my covenants first, and what does that look like? How can I be a missionary in Provo when I feel like I will be surrounded by members? Just really all that good stuff. It was good to think about. 

We ended up getting home super late which was scary for us. We got into our apartment and stuck close together until Sister Johnston had to shower and then I was alone in our ding dang haunted place so I just sang lots of songs as I got ready for bed. Then, we got in our beds and Sister Johnston left the lights on because she was scared and asked me to sing to her as she fell asleep because she was really scared.. so I did. There were no more clicking noises or anything but that dark corner on the other side of the wall was just still sending us bad vibes but it didn't seem as if there was a person there like before. But for the past two nights, we have just felt watched. During the day everything is Gucci, it's just at night. 

Anyways, that was a dark note to end things on but long story short this week was great!! All of our friends are doing awesome. Please pray for Eric and Emily and Wanda and Margie that they will be able to make it to their respective dates. Please pray that President Fisher will be able to receive the correct revelation that he needs to for my last companion ever on the mission and that I will just be able to feel good about going back and jump right in and work my little butt off and work myself to the ground and just have the best six weeks of my mission. I keep thinking about it and it is scary how soon I come home because I SWEAR this was not a year and a half. This was in no way long enough. I'm terrified of literally everything right now. Going to the Square, going home, going to school, just all of it. Oh my goodness I am going to just ramble on in a circle so I'm going to stop now. 

By the way, I love Sister Johnston and we are having such a good time together! I just love to party with her!! 

Okay, love and miss you both! I'll talk to you soon!

Love

Sister Moran 

A Light That Can Never Be Darkened

Hey Parents! How was your week? I hope that it was super awesome!

This week was pretty wild I won't lie so I hope that this makes sense. 

Monday: Pday baby. The Alliance Sisters came and hung out with us and we went to Target! Thank you mom, for sending me some money to buy some clothes because I have been wearing the same outfit for like 15 weeks now and I just really appreciate it. We have been with Sisters every single day this week. Oh, the life of an STL where all of the sisters in your zone are falling apart. 

Tuesday: We had a training visit with Alliance! I went with Sister Atkinson, who was trained by Sister Johnston and was Sister Mahan's follow up trainer for two weeks before she went home. Sister Atkinson is seriously so awesome and I aspire to be her. She is a very obedient, positive, loving, and hardworking missionary. She just loves the work and she lifts everyone around her. We had a full day planned where we saw some awesome miracles. The first happened during daily contact. We called a bunch of people, a Bible referral that we had received a few days earlier included. His name is Mike. We called him and he talked to us for about 40 minutes about all of this family drama where he was basically bamboozled after his mother died. He asked us if we needed to forgive people in this life to be forgiven by God because that was his understanding of the Bible and we were like well yes dude and then we sent him this video and invited him to watch it. Seriously though he went on forever about his family drama and it just reminded me of every single Bible request phone call that I would ever make at the Square. Good times. Fun fact about this guy though, he drives taxis for the Amish people so that is kind of fun!

We also called this random lady named Margie that was just a dot in the area book that no one had talked to in months. We gave her call and told her it was the sisters and she was like "oh I haven't heard from you in so long how are you?!" and we explained that we were new in the area and we asked if we could call her in a few days and get to know her and talk with her more about God and she said that she would like that. More on her later and how that phone call went.

We went to the church after lunch to do the rest of our work there and it was kinda boring honestly. Most of our lessons didn't pick up. The only person that answered us was Adam (who is still not willing to drop the Catholic thing even though he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet) and the Dew's which is the nice older couple in our ward. The Dew's were supposed to sit in on Tyler's lesson but then Tyler didn't pick up. Tyler hasn't talked to us in nine days now, ever since that phone call when we asked for his address and he wouldn't give it. Kind of sad. We have a goal to somehow get in contact with him this week. We aren't blocked or anything, he just won't answer anytime that we call or text him. Sister Johnston called it and said that she thought he was going to ghost us, I was like "oh ye of little faith" but now I'm starting to think that she has a sixth spiritual sense. Basically, this day was good and we saw miracles but almost all of our lessons fell through so that was just a little bit sad, especially on a training visit I would want to be super productive and it was just a little harder this time around. oh well. 

Earlier in the week we got a call from the APs saying that President had asked them to give us blessings and we were both like "oh cool but we are doing okay but we would love blessings!" so they came to the church and we all had blessings. The main thing that I got out of my blessing was that God was proud of my service and my diligence and that I would be a special light to the sisters around me. That was nice to hear because most of the time I feel like I don't help the sisters with anything and I just wonder am I even helping them, but I guess God knows that I can help them and this blessing was a way for me to see that. It's always nice to get a blessing and it was especially nice for President to think of us and make sure that we specifically got blessings. I really appreciate it. 

Wednesday: This day was honestly a blur. The Alliance sisters had brought Sister Mahan's bike from their place and it was our responsibility to get it the APs so they could ship it back home to her. We went to the Youngstown church building after some work in the morning to drop it off with them and to use the computers in the family history library so we could do My Plan. I don't know if I have told you both, but My Plan is the program that they make missionaries do to set goals and make plans to continue to progress after we go home from our missions. Last week when we did it, I almost had a mental breakdown because it was having me have a vision for myself and to set goals and make plans for myself but I didn't like how it was all about me. It honestly felt wrong. I wanted to be planning and setting goals for other people and I felt guilty for thinking about me. Wow, how the mission has changed me. This week was still weird but not so much. I have so far set a lot of goals about studies and activity in the church and staying faithful and the kind of person that I am going to be. This coming week it is all about continuing discipleship so that will be fun to do! After that, it is dating and marriage... gross. I'm just trying to finish it now so that way I don't have to worry about it next transfer and I can just focus on the work.

After we did My Plan for a second, we went to the Youngstown Sisters apartment because they have been having a hard time lately. We went over and we had dinner and they had been painting some fun designs on Books of Mormon so we did that too! I made an Ohio one and I am going to mail it to Sister Mahan because I think that she would enjoy it. Then, life got dramatic. It was right around 11:30, we had finished talking and we were all on the brink of sleep when we hear Sister Poulsen say "hey does anyone else hear that?" and we are like "hear what?" and she says that it sounds like a scratching tapping kind of mouse noise and she has heard it for the past week or so every night. Sister Johnston heard it but I was like "don't worry sisters, there aren't any mice in this apartment" and resolved to go back to bed. Then, we hear this loud bang from the closet like something ran into something or something fell down, and naturally, we all began to scream and Sister Johnson jumped to my mattress pad to cuddle because she was scared. So, right around 11:30 we turned on all of the lights and we decided to open the closet to see what it was. I was the brave one and had the flashlight and was looking around because I didn't actually think that there was a mouse in there. We look around and didn't see anything immediate, but, there are three suitcases in the corner and Sister Hollenbeck insists that we move them and look behind and I was just thinking about how I was tired and how I didn't want to look because it was probably nothing but I did it because I was the STL and I had to help so I started to move the suitcases. I moved the one pushed up in the corner last and lo and behold there is like a black cord all bundled up there and in the cord, I see a brown tail and some beady eyes and then I start screaming and then everyone screams because THERE WAS A MOUSE LIVING IN THE CLOSET. 

We didn't know what to do so we called the Elders at 11:30 pm screaming and crying about the mouse in our closet and asked them desperately what do we do. They started giving us all of these ideas about traps and such when all of the sudden the mouse runs out from under the closet door and across the room and then out of the bedroom and we all screamed like little girls... with the Elders on the line. Sister Johnston had some sense to mute it after a second of us screaming to try and save our dignity, but we were really flippin. The Elders told us to leave it for the night and then to hunt it in the morning and to just shove a blanket under the door. I went to bed terrified you guys.

In the morning we found that the mouse had been pulling Sister Poulsen's Hershey kisses from her easter basket to the corner and eating them and we were all shook. There was poop everywhere. We went to Walmart and got some traps though so we could catch the little guy. We named him Mike. We really hate Mike and we would pray in every prayer that he would die. We were with the Youngstown Sisters until Saturday because they are really really struggling and us just being there is helpful for them. Every morning we would wake up and look at all of the traps and every morning they would all be set off and the food was gone but no mouse would be caught. Mike was smart and this tiny mouse was seriously bamboozling us. We left Saturday around noon and then on Sunday morning we got a call from the Sisters saying that they had deep cleaned the apartment so they could see where the mouse had been the next day and the same deal had happened: all of the traps set off, poop literally everywhere, and not a mouse to be seen. Then they opened the drawers in the dresser and found mouse poop all in the drawers and they then realized that it wasn't just Mike, but that Mike probably had a family. This was the tipping point for these Sisters. They were just like that's it we are gone we are moving out of this stinking apartment (because some other bad juju stuff had happened there before) and the mice were just their breaking point. So, they spend Sunday all packing up their things and moving it to an apartment on the other side of their area where Elders had used to live but had moved out. They came and stayed with us Sunday night because they just can't deal right now. We are happy to be with them though! 

Thursday: We were at Youngstown this day and dealing with the mouse. Honestly, I was scared to round every corner for fear of running right into Mike. It just gave me the heebie-jeebies. 

We had some awesome miracles though! First of all, we called that lady Margie back. She answered immediately and we talked about the restoration! Prayers together and all. We asked her what she thought of the first vision and how she felt when we shared it and she said that it felt good and that was awesome! She then told us this wild story about how she was led to our church with the like long lost Bible and how the other day right before we called her, she had opened up the Book of Mormon that she had gotten a while ago and went to start reading it but she just didn't feel like she even knew where to start and then we just called her! It was insane you guys. We texted her the list of the Book of Mormon "answers to the questions of the soul" and she read them all and said that she was going to go back and reread and highlight and learn more. It was seriously awesome and she is super prepared. And parents, she is super normal. Like, she isn't super struggling or weird or anything, she is just this nice normal lady. It was a miracle!!!

We also got to see our good friends Eric and Emily. Emily's dad had died earlier in the week so we dropped off cookies at their house as a "we love you" gesture and they really appreciated it. During this lesson, we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how He can help us and strengthen us and how because of Him, we can all be resurrected. We also taught about baptisms for the dead. Eric and Emily knew about sealings, but when we taught about baptisms, Emily was so excited because once she is baptized, she will be able to then be baptized for her stepdad and that is just so exciting. They are so excited about their baptism and we have this awesome plan to get them to move their date up a few days so I can hopefully see it! Pray for that! 

Thursday was just a really pretty day outside so we went to this really pretty park named Buhl Park. Sister Johnston served in Youngstown for six months and one of her recent converts fishes at the pond all day every day. His name is Dave. I have never met Dave, but I have heard so much about him that I feel like I know him. We got to talk to him and I even made him a dandelion flower crown that I put on his baseball cap. We then met this crazy guy named Lenny that I had a hard time having patience with because you could tell that he wasn't going to progress and I was just fed up with him and I wanted to go. So I did. I was like yeah nice to meet you and walked to our car. From our car though, we had an awesome miracle!!! 

So we have been teaching Wanda for a long time and she just never really understood why she needed to be baptized. We decided to teach about Temples because we didn't want to push baptism too hard. We had this recent convert of a year call in who happens to be her next-door neighbor. Her name is Sadie. We start talking about baptisms for the dead and Wanda goes "yeah I just keep trying to figure out if I need to be baptized again because you guys keep telling me I need to but I just can't figure it out" - Side note: Wanda reads the Book of Mormon and prays every single day to find an answer so she is doing what she needs to do- and then Sadie just says "yeah, it's just important that the person baptizing has been ordained to the right authority" and Wanda goes "oh that makes sense. Wait, that is the answer to my question I see why I would need to be baptized again" and Sister Johnston and I were just like "wait what?!?!!?" and her and Sadie were just having a convo about it and then we cut in and were like "hey Wanda will you be baptized by someone who has the proper priesthood authority" and she was like "yes of course" and then our minds exploded. We have been explaining the priesthood and the scriptures and everything a million times over and now look at her! All we needed was a member and now she is on for May 9th and she had Sadie were even talking about carpooling to the service. It was magical and we were just so joyful. God is so good and He really has answered Wanda's prayers and helped her to see that this is the truth! She was diligent in looking for an answer and God loves effort and He gave her an answer. We are just hoping and praying and working for this baptism to happen on the 9th.

Friday: This day we had to go pick up our car from the garage (it was broken for some reason but now it is better, don't worry!) and we had a bunch of awesome lessons set up but like nothing actually happened. It was actually kind of a bummer because no one picked up the phone and we were just dying out here. We did have a dope weekly planning though. We also went to go get ice cream and we went to this member who lives in a senior home and we knocked on her window because she hasn't been answering the Sisters calls. Unfortunately, she was not there. But we did try! Honestly, Friday was just a little bit of a long day for me. Keep in mind that the entire time we are in Youngstown there is a mouse on the loose and we are all terrified. 

Friday night, we get a call from the New Castle Sisters saying that someone had been banging on their door super loud and scary... as in both doors. And they were just scared and didn't feel safe at their apartment. So, they drove over at like 9:30pm to the Youngstown apartment so now we had six sister missionaries in one bedroom all sleeping. We only had two mattress pads (you know the ones that we brought with us) so we gave those to them and we slept on the floor. It was a long night. 

Saturday: Sister Johnston and I were starving and we ran out of food that we had brought so we drove to Panera, McDonalds, and Burger King to get some food and then we brought a sandwich back for the sister in Youngstown that is really struggling. We called her out to the car to eat with us and we gave her the option to have a midcycle transfer with her trainee because she was just having some major anxiety and she was just struggling. And she had her companion really love each other, but they are just super super different. She said that she would think about it so we shall see what happens. Basically though, the days that we were with Youngstown were just super long and by the end, I was just feeling emotinally drained big time because for the entire week I was with sisters every single day and I was dying because I just wanted to be with Sister Johnston. But that is okay, I love the Sisters and I know that God is the one giving me the emotional stamina to counsel and comfort and listen because I would have died four weeks ago if He wasn't. 

After some lunch, we went back to Warren. Sweet, sweet Warren. We had some lessons where we had to break some hard news to Eric & Emily and Wanda: the Word of Wisdom. 

Eric chews tobacco and drinks coffee and Emily doesn't do anything so she is chilling. Eric when we told him that we were going to talk about commandments he was SO EXCITED because he is just so pumped to get baptized.. but he was not super excited about this commandment, which I guess makes sense. He was just like "but I'm not ready yet to give up tobacco" and we just talked about how if we ask God He will strengthen us and Jesus Christ knows and we read some scriptures and we promised some blessings and we had a recent convert that they really like join in and bear testimony. It was so cool because, at the beginning, Eric was pretty dead set on "no I can't" and by the end, he said "well I love the Word of Wisdom" and yes, he did say it sarcastically but he is going to try to start living it. Emily was super supportive of him doing it and has been trying to get him to stop chewing for a while so she will be really good to hold him accountable.

Also in the lesson with them, we found out that they have been telling their families about what they learn from us! Emily told her mom about doing baptisms for her dad and her mom loved it. Eric has told his family what we share with them and they keep telling him that we are a cult... but ya know he still shares and he knows that it isn't true. We asked them why they wanted to be baptized and how they feel when we call and they were just like "we just feel so good and protected and safe and this is what we want to feel all the time" and we got to explain that holy ghost and that after their baptism they could feel that all the time and it was just awesome to hear that. We love Eric and Emily and we love their faith. They are amazing people! Please pray for Eric that he will accept the word of wisdom and that he will start to live it. 

We also taught Wanda the word of wisdom and she was pretty okay (I mean she was a little sad about no cold beer in the summer but she could live with it) and then we told her about tea and coffee and she was like flabbergasted and didn't even know what to say. We shared all of these scriptures and blessings and everything and we would ask her questions but she just was like "I don't even know what to say right now" and it was so sad. Wanda is 72 years old and we just love her and we knew that this would be hard for her but we didn't think that it would be this hard. So, we invited her to pray about it and to ask God if this really came from Him and she said that she definitely would because she needed to because this just really confused her. More on this subject tomorrow. 

Sunday: We had our church service over Zoom and one other one later that we invited our friends to and not as many came this week, but still an okay amount. We had the sacrament at President Connor's home again and it was just so special. The New Castle Sisters came with us there and then we went on our way and that was great. 

We had another phone call with Wanda and she told us that she had a long talk with God and she just wasn't sure about an answer yet. We just invited her to read the Book of Mormon with her question or concern in mind and we promised her that God would give her an answer. She was kinda in a bad mood because of the rain and she couldn't hear too well so we just left pretty quick but we just love her so much. Please pray that her heart will be softened and that she will understand the why behind this and that it comes from God. She shared with us that she just doesn't want people to tell her what to do because this is her life and she wants to live the way she wants to because she is 72 and she is done having people tell her how to live because she wants to live the way that she wants. She said it nicer than that but still. We shared the analogy of a scuba diving cage and how the cage was around the divers so and the divers thought it was to restrict them at first but really it was to protect them from the sharks.. but we don't know if she got that. So just pray for her, please. She reads from the Book of Mormon every single day and loves it and loves everything that we teach her, we are just hoping that she doesn't let this one thing that will be hard for her stop her from being baptized. 

Honestly, Sister Johnston and I yesterday just had a little bit of a hard day and it was mostly because of the people that we were teaching. We are just so worried and are praying constantly for Eric and Emily and Wanda and the Word of Wisdom. We are sad that Tyler is ignoring us and we are really trying to get in contact with him. And last but certainly not least: Asia. We have been trying really hard to get in contact with her but she hasn't answered the phone in eight days. She texted us a few times telling us that she loved us but that is about all. We have been calling the courthouse to get her marriage license and we just told them not to call her but to call us because she wouldn't pick up if they called her but we were her friends and would get the info to her. We have been calling her every single day and texting her every single day with basically no communication back. We have been praying and planning and literally doing everything. Finally, we called her yesterday (Sunday) like five times and sent her the link to three different church services and we told her that if she wanted to get baptized this week like we have been planning on and like she has been working toward, then she would have to come to church because she had to go for the third time. You know what we got back? Absolutely nothing. I won't lie to you, both of us were kind of upset because we have been working so hard with her and doing everything we can and all she had to do was click on a link. Just one link. Not even physically go to church! We had three that she could go to at different times and she just read our messages and didn't respond. We prayed about it last night and we both feel that she is just not ready right now. She has no followthrough and we just feel as though we are dragging her to the font and she is doing nothing to take steps to get there herself. Plus, if she can't keep the covenant after baptism at this point, it is wrong to get her in the water because she is just unprepared to continue. Man. We are just feeling heartbroken. 

Honestly, Sister Johnston and I are both hitting that point where we are just thinking "are we even doing anything?" and we know that those are coming from Satan because we are doing things, but it is just getting to the point where I think being in isolation and being alone is just getting in our brains a little bit. We just feel sad. I have been feeling a little irritable this week so I need to chill out. Just pray for me. And pray for Sister Johnston. But mostly just pray for Wanda, Eric, Emily, Tyler, and Asia because we just love them and some of them need some more help right now. Also, we have a plan to put Margie on date this week so pray that her heart will be soft and we will be able to do that!

Okay, I love you guys, thanks for reading through this, I know that it was long so I really appreciate it! I only have one more pday here in Ohio before they ship me back to the square. I actually had a nightmare about Temple Square last night!  I was just crying in my dream because I felt lost in the crowd and forgotten and like just another sister. I had a companion that was nice enough but we weren't really friends. It was just terrifying. It is so funny because last transfer when I knew I was going back I felt like my brain was prepared and was aware that I would be leaving, this transfer, I don't feel that way at all. I just feel like I will probably be here in Ohio forever but I know that I need to start preparing now because then when someone moves my cheese, I will be able to deal with it better. Just pray that President Fisher will be able to receive correct information and revelation regarding who my companion needs to be for my last transfer in the mission, and pray that God will send the right sister here to Warren to take care of the Sisters and the wonderful people that we are teaching here. I just love all of these people and I'm kinda dying emotionally but it's okay. 

Okay love you and miss you and talk to you soon!

Love

Sister Moran