December + Christmas

The traditional picture by the tree.... since i wasn´t there to take one with the kids.

Our cute new Christmas clothes. 

ONE of my favorite people... LUCHI. She´s just the sweetest! 

Hermana Morales

December 9th

Key points:

Stake conference this weekend. I´ve never seen so many people jammed packed into a stake center. It was awesome! President even was surprised! And the theme was La Obra Misional! Sweet! 

- The other day Hermana Jacobs and I were buying some water. We walked into this little store thing.. and they didn´t have any. SOME guys here are just annoying.. and they love american.. so they said some remark.. and were trying to walk out.. when lo and behold.. H. Jacobs runs into the metal shade that was pulled half way down to block the sun. So much for a smooth getaway. I died. It was hilarious. I have a great companion.. that can just laugh about stuff like it. 

- Rosa. Sweet sweet Rosa. We had to dejar Rosa. Sadly. But it was needed. She can´t go to church.. and she just is a hard person to teach. I have´nt mentioned what she does with the songs.. When we´re done singing a song she likes to repeat back to us the last verse. It´s never ANYwhere close to the actual words. Haha and then she says.. MORALES. I´m really smart. I Just know the words! Kareoke? At Rosa´s. Pretty sweet. 

- Have I told you about Luchi? I LOVE Luchi.She´s this 83 and just the best person ever. She always sees us in the street and no joke she totally jumps up and down when she see´s us because she´s so excited! I love her. She´s one of the oldest members in this country I think.. ha. And shés just a reference machine. She can´t every go to church because her husband Jose is really sick. Which makes her real sad. So we visit her every week.. and she always has a little something for us. She always buys us coke. I´m going to get fat because of Luchi. I don´t care though.. i love her. 

- I love our investigators. It´s amazing how much you can love someone so fast. They always have the most sincere prays i´ve ever heard. They always pray for us. And the thing that gets me everytime.. is that they pray for our families. I love that part. 

- I told you about The Asenjo´s last week.. maybs. Well it´s this great family in our ward. He´s the second counselor.. and his wife is just the best lady. They invited us to their house for christmas.. I´m so excited. The 24th will be crazy. I´ll for sure gain 20 lbs that day yikes. They have a son who´s serving in the west mission.. we met him the other day. Just a great family. They have a son.. also named Andy. Who we´ve been trying to capacitate for lessons.. he´s kind of a punk. But he´s so nice! He´s just hilarious. Last night we were at their house.. and he just had some questions about the plan of salvation. With our nifty little chart.. we taught him. It was such a cool lesson. He had a lot of genuine questions. Last night at the christmas devotional. #ChristmasDevo... ha Hna Asenjo came up to us and just thanked us for spending time and teaching her son. He´s 19 and just i guess having hard time. She was so grateful for the time we spent with him. It was cool. 

- Chrismas devotional was fun. It was hard to hear due to the amount of children running around and yelling.. but the music was great. 

- People here say ¨Si Dios Quiere¨. I hate when they say that. They usually say it when we invite them to church or invite them to read the BOM. And I´m usually really blunt... and tell... ¨Hermana, DIOS SIEMPRE QUIERE QUE ASISTAS LA IGLESIA¨. I just hate when they say it.

 Enough about that...

This week was cool. We found out that the ward is willing to pay for Nelson and Karina to get married. WHOO. So if all goes the way it should..l we´ll have a wedding and a baptism!! Yes. Pray for Karina and Nelson!

We went to San Luis and met with some of the girls that come to church every week. Anabel, Anna, And Elaina. Cute girls. They just want to be baptised. 3 fechas.. i´ll take it. I just hope i´m here... It´s not until February.

ANYWAYS. My brain is goo and I can´t think of anything else that happened. Oh well. It was a good week.. We had Park de Este today. I loved seeing my hermana friends.

Until Next week amigos.

I love you all and miss you like crazy! 

Hermana Morales

December 2, 2013

Last transfer the zone made the goal for 15 baptisms within the month.. they were able to get 24. We made the goal 30 this time.. i´m excited to see on Thursday how everyone did. They call Hainamosa the Bautizona... I hope we live up to the name

I´ve sent a lot of the pictures

We have transfers tomorrow. I´ll be staying in the area with Hermana Jacobs.. and i´m still Sister Training leader. Good to know i´m not fired. 

This week was great! We got to go to the temple with the barrio and do baptisms with our new members! It was awesome! The baptistry is beautiful! And it was just a neat experience to be with them!

We had Dislenny and Pamela´s baptism on Saturday. It was a wonderful baptism!! All of the friends came to support. They were soo HAPPY! I´m so glad. They are finally members!! After all this time! They both got so emotional. It was so sweet. I love those girls. It´s crazy to me how much I get attached to people. You just grow such a love for the people that you teach! It´s so cool. 

The people in this ward are AWESOME! I´ve never met such faithful members! They are such great examples! There´s a new member family named the Lorenzos.. amazing family! They just got called to be the young men president and the primary president!! I Love them. And the Lantiguas. The dad got baptised a year ago while one of the daughters was on a mission in Mexico! And they finally get to be sealed this month! We are so happy for them!!
And the Asenjo´s! Another awesome family! The wife just is the nicest person you´ll ever meet. We got to meet the son that´s serving in the west mission at the CCM the other day. Just a neat family! 

I love this ward. I never want to leave.

I should watch what I say.

Some elders in our zone got invited my their recent member to do some presentation at her school. the school is in our area... so they invited us to come along. She was giving a presentation about religions.. and we went and taught about the restauration. One elder thought it was going to be with older kids.. it was with a bunch of 10-11 year olds. He was disappointed that they would´nt ask profundo questions.. we were surprised. They askes some gooood questions. And we got some references.. so we´ll take it. And the school looked like a jail from Locked up. just sayin´. :)

We aren´t very good at doing contacts every day. We´re just so busy with references and lessons. We finally were able to do all 15 contacts! Go us. And we found some great peeps.

Hermano Aquino is a golden member! he´s at everything and always willing to come out with us. His family are all menos activo. And we´ve been teaching his son and his wife who is´nt a member. Eddie and Alondra. You might get to meet them. If they let us use their computer for skype. We´ll see. Just a way cool fam. She really likes our church. they FINALLly came to church yesterday. It was a special moment. Aquino always sits alone. And we sat them towards the back. And we went and tapped Aquino on the shoulder.. and said.. ¨Go sit with your family¨. He was so happy. His smile was priceless. And he just shook our hand and said ¨Gracias, Hermanas¨ It was awesome. I´ve never seen him so happy.They brought their cute boy named ethan. Everyone loved him. And was willing to keep  him occupied. Which was their concern.. him running around. We need to get her baptised!! Pray for her! And Aquino´s wife. Reyna. The lady we´re afraid of. yikes.

I love my mission. I love working with part member families.. and menos activos. They are just so needed in the church! I´m grateful for be in a ward that is willing to help! What a blessing. When i get home i´ll be the best member ever. Find the missionaries and help them out! They need members! There´s a lady in our ward that asks for a list of our investigators.. and she prays for them. She got that from conference.Smart lady!

I love you all. Thanks for all you do. 23 more days and i get to talk to you all. So excited.

Hermana Morales

December 2, 2013

Last transfer the zone made the goal for 15 baptisms within the month.. they were able to get 24. We made the goal 30 this time.. i´m excited to see on Thursday how everyone did. They call Hainamosa the Bautizona... I hope we live up to the name

I´ve sent a lot of the pictures

We have transfers tomorrow. I´ll be staying in the area with Hermana Jacobs.. and i´m still Sister Training leader. Good to know i´m not fired. 

This week was great! We got to go to the temple with the barrio and do baptisms with our new members! It was awesome! The baptistry is beautiful! And it was just a neat experience to be with them!

We had Dislenny and Pamela´s baptism on Saturday. It was a wonderful baptism!! All of the friends came to support. They were soo HAPPY! I´m so glad. They are finally members!! After all this time! They both got so emotional. It was so sweet. I love those girls. It´s crazy to me how much I get attached to people. You just grow such a love for the people that you teach! It´s so cool. 

The people in this ward are AWESOME! I´ve never met such faithful members! They are such great examples! There´s a new member family named the Lorenzos.. amazing family! They just got called to be the young men president and the primary president!! I Love them. And the Lantiguas. The dad got baptised a year ago while one of the daughters was on a mission in Mexico! And they finally get to be sealed this month! We are so happy for them!!
And the Asenjo´s! Another awesome family! The wife just is the nicest person you´ll ever meet. We got to meet the son that´s serving in the west mission at the CCM the other day. Just a neat family! 

I love this ward. I never want to leave.

I should watch what I say.

Some elders in our zone got invited my their recent member to do some presentation at her school. the school is in our area... so they invited us to come along. She was giving a presentation about religions.. and we went and taught about the restauration. One elder thought it was going to be with older kids.. it was with a bunch of 10-11 year olds. He was disappointed that they would´nt ask profundo questions.. we were surprised. They askes some gooood questions. And we got some references.. so we´ll take it. And the school looked like a jail from Locked up. just sayin´. :)

We aren´t very good at doing contacts every day. We´re just so busy with references and lessons. We finally were able to do all 15 contacts! Go us. And we found some great peeps.

Hermano Aquino is a golden member! he´s at everything and always willing to come out with us. His family are all menos activo. And we´ve been teaching his son and his wife who is´nt a member. Eddie and Alondra. You might get to meet them. If they let us use their computer for skype. We´ll see. Just a way cool fam. She really likes our church. they FINALLly came to church yesterday. It was a special moment. Aquino always sits alone. And we sat them towards the back. And we went and tapped Aquino on the shoulder.. and said.. ¨Go sit with your family¨. He was so happy. His smile was priceless. And he just shook our hand and said ¨Gracias, Hermanas¨ It was awesome. I´ve never seen him so happy.They brought their cute boy named ethan. Everyone loved him. And was willing to keep  him occupied. Which was their concern.. him running around. We need to get her baptised!! Pray for her! And Aquino´s wife. Reyna. The lady we´re afraid of. yikes.

I love my mission. I love working with part member families.. and menos activos. They are just so needed in the church! I´m grateful for be in a ward that is willing to help! What a blessing. When i get home i´ll be the best member ever. Find the missionaries and help them out! They need members! There´s a lady in our ward that asks for a list of our investigators.. and she prays for them. She got that from conference.Smart lady!

I love you all. Thanks for all you do. 23 more days and i get to talk to you all. So excited.

Hermana Morales

Baptisms, Lizards, and Cake...oh my!

25 de Noviembre,

We had a baptism on Saturday!! INOEL got baptised! It was a great baptism. Done in true Dominican fashion. Without luz. Yes. It was in the dark... we light up the room with cellphones. It was great. It still was super spiritual and he had his best friend baptise him. It was wonderful. 

Another really special thing i just love about this place. Is the the fact that when the lights go out.. we get to teach with candle light. It's my favorite. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving on the wrong day last week. We made stuff for district meeting and everything. We even announced it and all. And we even went around the table during our feast and said what we were thankful for. Well. I guess we can do it again next week.  The good thing is.. latinos don't realy know when Thanksgiving really is. Ha. 

Dislenny and Pamela will be baptised next week. We're really excited for that. We just are praying that the parents will be nice to us. They are so hard to work with! 

I hate it Actually we know that dislenny be able to.. we got a call last night at like 11.. saying she had permission. We were freaking out.. we thought she was calling to say she wasn't able to get baptised... she can. yay. Pamela.. not sure yet if she can. her mom signed the paper... but apparently she doesn' t want it to happen. We found her crying the other day.. i chatted with her. And it just really made me know that she actually want's this. She's kinda a punk.. but i really do love her. I just want her to be baptised. she's so ready!! We had a good chat with Dislenny and Milenny's dad. He had a lot of questions. I was realy guided by the spirit when i was talking to him. It was really awesome. I felt like i handled that well. I feel like we have his respect now.. and he's on board!

We got to go see the temple today!! I had to go see the Doctors.. which took forever. But we got to see this pretty thing.. and eat at McDonalds. I've never loved something so much!

WE had a good week. I'm excited for a new one. We got news that we're able to start a branch in San luis. WE ARE THRILLED! We've been praying for an answer on how we can better work it and what we can do. And sure enough.. we get a branch! We're going to be focusing our week on san luis. I'm excited. it's sooo ready! we have so many people coming from there coming to church. We are so happy. 

We also found out that we can eat with a member on Christmas. Por Fin.

How's the Philipines doing??

I'm doing great though! I'm super happy for the work we have ahead of us. We'll be so busy the weeks to come. I love being busy!

We have transfers next week. i'm hoping and praying that i dont leave and that H. Jacobs can stay. i just love her. and i want to have her here for Christmas! In exactly one month I get to SKYPE. I'm so excited! 

I love you all. I'm sorry  is this email makes so sense. i'm in a hurry!

Pictures..

The temple. 

The baptism

The girls we're teaching. Dislenny is the taller one.. Milenny is the other one.. and Gismelle is the tiny one. 

And there was a sick huge lizard in our house  last night. It was soo gross!!

Well. I have you in mis oracions cada noche! Los quiero mucho! Espero que todo esta bien!

Con Amor!

Hermana Morales

fotos de Hermana Andi Morales

hermana morales at a service project

hermana morales & friends

hermana morales doing what she does best - cutting and styling hair!

p-day visit to the aquarium

sister LaTeeny

hermana kissing .... a jaw? haha

November 18th

Holla. 

Do people even read this email? I feel like I write it just to write it. 

Anyways... 

This week was cray. 

On Monday we have a NDH with a recent member named Rafael. He´s awesome. His entire family are members... and he finally took the plunge in September. His family is great. She always makes us food. She´s a great cook too.. So we eat it. Oops. If I go to hell for eating a people houses.. so be it. 

We have a baptism this weekend. Inoel passed his entrevista this Saturday and he was so happy! I´m so happy that he´ll be baptised! He´s a great kid! We had to go meet the mom to get her permission on Tuesday.. He made her sound like this mean lady. She´s actually the nicest haitian lady i´ve ever met. She taught her sobre la restauration. She´s allowing him to be baptised. Win. 

Have you talked about Rosa? Well i´ll do it now. Rosa is one of our investigators. She´s crazy. Really. We´ll be explaning something.. like Faith. And we´ll ask her a question on what she understood.. and the response is NO WHERE near when we just said. And then she says... ¨Hermana... I´m really smart. Like really smart... (Point at her head) It´s all up here... I´m just a really intelligent person¨ Really lady? So she wants to get baptised. Which. I have faith that the Lord can work miracles. So I feel like it could happen. We made a meta for 14th of Dec. I hope it happens. We just to teach her really slow. I also said the prayer the other day.. and she said that my prayer was really pretty and that she wants to memorize it.. and asked where she could find it in the BOM. What!!! OHHH and even funnier thing. She believes the book of mormon is true.. because she´s convinced that the catholics had it first.. yeah.. okay Rosa.

On Wednesday we had entrevistas with Presidente Hernandez. Which were great. And the shortest entrevista eva. But it was cool They gave us lunch. And Hermana Hernandez made us Pumpkin Pie. I´m not even a fan.. but it was the best thing i´ve ever eaten. Man, I miss normal food. 

We had District mtg at a different chapel on thursday. It´s usually at our church (the stake center) But nope.. it was in Narnia. We got lost. BUT we still managed to get there on time.. And they gave us the best ice cream i´ve ever had. 

On Friday we went to San Luis.. el campo... Literally. It´s a whole other world. You actually feel like your in the DR. It´s so green! 

On Saturday. We had Inoel´s entrevista.. and while we waited for him and our district lider.. we helped clean the chruch.. it took us an hour to sweep the chapel. it´s huge. 

Then while he had his interview.. we helped blow up balloons.. SO MANY BALLOONS. The stake was having a young women modesty fashion show that night.. whaterr. 

Some elders in our zone were going to have a baptism that night after the activity. We thought it would be an great opportunity to invite our investigators to attend. 

We helped them fill up the pila. And we had decided to make out next week district meeting a thanksgiving lunch thing. We asked the elders if they could bring someone... one´s from Columbia and the other from Honduras.. And he looked at me so serious.. and he said.. i can bring Pancakes. I loved that. Best thing i´ve ever heard. So we´ll have food.. and pancakes. Should be sweet. They hate us... dumb americans. 

We also had our first english class on Saturday... we´ll see how these continue to go. 

So we went to the Fashion show. one of our investigators was in it. Then after went to the baptism. Dislenny, Milenny and their dad went.. Milagro. And Inoel. It was sweet. 

After we all went to get empanadas. The best ones i´ve ever eaten. Have you told you that Dominicans love empanadas... well they do. 

So remember how we had 7 investigators last week.. yeah this week was 3. But it´s the 3 that have fechas.. that counts. 

This week was great though. We´ll have a baptism. And 3 entrevistas for a baptism the next week. And then the transfer ends. I´ll probs stay here. Then Christmas!! What. How does time go by so fast. 

I love you all. 

Peace and Blessings. 

Love. 

Hermana  Morales

October 21, 2013

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-adjusts-mission-organization-implement-mission-leadership-council

Hola Famila y Amigos!

I was an wreck last week so I failed to mention that we have transfers tomorrow!! We got the calls yesterday. Actually. I got the call on Saturday afternoon. I could´ve been my entire apoyo I wasn´t going to be transered. I was that sure of it. I didn´t think they would make me leave hermana mack with her Asthma issues. We finally got a routine down and I was better able to help her..Sure enough the call came. President informed me that i was being transfered to the Zone Hainamosa (google it) and I´ve been called to serve as the new sister training leader for the zone. (No worries i had to look it up... the link is attached). All i know is that ours called us every sunday :) I´m sure they do a lot more. 

This week was tough. A lot of challenges have presented themselves. Monday was just overall a hard day. We also ended the day in the emergency room My companion had another asthma attack. We we spent the week at the doctors office. And we just couldn´t make it out that much. She´s just been having a lot of problems and we´re just trying to figure out what´s best for her. We also almost made it to the emergency room on saturday night.. but the APs didn´t answer their phone... i just stayed up with her until 4 am until the pain went away.

Gotta love the mission. There´s a challenge everyday! It´s great. I´m learning a growing.. so I can´t complain. 

I´m sad to leave. I´m excited for the change and this new opportunity to serve in a different area. But i hate change. It´s hard to adapt. But i´ve dont it before I can do it again. People are finally going to church thought.. We have Pedro who has a date for November we´re just feeling it out for when he´s best prepared. Although we might give him to the elders.. because He says comments that make me feel uncomfortable. haha. But i´m leaving so that doesn´t matter. And Yayhjara (spelt so weird) I looove this family! The picture is on Yaira´s birthday. We bought her some muffin things and some ballons and gave her a cute card! then we talked about the wonderful plan of Salvation again.. yay. 

I just want to see her baptised. More than anything. They would be the best members! But We´ll just have to keep praying. I´m not looking forward to telling her I´m leaving tonight.. she doesn´t do to well when missionaries leave.

What else. My mind is jello I can´t think of anything else! 

OH! One more thing. We went to the CCM the other day to visit the doctor.. and I saw my companion from the CCM hermana Pierre! I was sooo happy to see her!! We saw eachother and just freaked out. I even got teary eyed... I dont know why. It was so nice to see her!! And I got to see all of my old CCM teachers which was sweet. 

I´m just rambling now. I´ll finish. Next week i´ll have all new adventures! How sweet. Wish me luck! 

Love you all!

Hermana Morales

October 21, 2013

Hola Famila y Amigos!

I was an wreck last week so I failed to mention that we have transfers tomorrow!! We got the calls yesterday. Actually. I got the call on Saturday afternoon. I could´ve been my entire apoyo I wasn´t going to be transered. I was that sure of it. I didn´t think they would make me leave hermana mack with her Asthma issues. We finally got a routine down and I was better able to help her..Sure enough the call came. President informed me that i was being transfered to the Zone Hainamosa (google it) and I´ve been called to serve as the new sister training leader for the zone. (No worries i had to look it up... the link is attached). All i know is that ours called us every sunday :) I´m sure they do a lot more. 

This week was tough. A lot of challenges have presented themselves. Monday was just overall a hard day. We also ended the day in the emergency room My companion had another asthma attack. We we spent the week at the doctors office. And we just couldn´t make it out that much. She´s just been having a lot of problems and we´re just trying to figure out what´s best for her. We also almost made it to the emergency room on saturday night.. but the APs didn´t answer their phone... i just stayed up with her until 4 am until the pain went away.

Gotta love the mission. There´s a challenge everyday! It´s great. I´m learning a growing.. so I can´t complain. 

I´m sad to leave. I´m excited for the change and this new opportunity to serve in a different area. But i hate change. It´s hard to adapt. But i´ve dont it before I can do it again. People are finally going to church thought.. We have Pedro who has a date for November we´re just feeling it out for when he´s best prepared. Although we might give him to the elders.. because He says comments that make me feel uncomfortable. haha. But i´m leaving so that doesn´t matter. And Yayhjara (spelt so weird) I looove this family! The picture is on Yaira´s birthday. We bought her some muffin things and some ballons and gave her a cute card! then we talked about the wonderful plan of Salvation again.. yay. 

I just want to see her baptised. More than anything. They would be the best members! But We´ll just have to keep praying. I´m not looking forward to telling her I´m leaving tonight.. she doesn´t do to well when missionaries leave.

What else. My mind is jello I can´t think of anything else! 

OH! One more thing. We went to the CCM the other day to visit the doctor.. and I saw my companion from the CCM hermana Pierre! I was sooo happy to see her!! We saw eachother and just freaked out. I even got teary eyed... I dont know why. It was so nice to see her!! And I got to see all of my old CCM teachers which was sweet. 

I´m just rambling now. I´ll finish. Next week i´ll have all new adventures! How sweet. Wish me luck! 

Love you all!

Hermana Morales