Week 6 #TheChurchIsSoTrue!!!

So after emailing Monday I came home and learned that Sister Foulke and I were going on exchanges with our STLs (Sister Training Leaders) and that I would be spending the night at a different place. I then baked   muffins to keep myself calm. The STLs arrived and I was packed up and off with Sister Wilde.

So *drum roll* Sister Wilde has legitimate gypsies in her area that she teaches!!! SERIOUS REAL LIFE GYPSIES!!!!!!! CAN LIFE GET MORE AWESOME THAN THIS????? It was so cool to talk to them because gypsies live a very different lifestyle than most people! Anywho, I was in nerd heaven talking to real-life gypsies, but the ones that we were talking to (their whole family, extended, all live in the same house) were super cool and it was so amazing to be able to testify that God is real and that he is our literal Father in heaven!

So after a few hours I finally managed to come off the nerd high from talking to gypsies. :P It was about eight at night and earlier when we were switching we had given our companions goals to work on while we were on exchanges, Sister Wilde was given the goal of talking to everyone she saw, even if they had already met them before and that if it was someone she had already talked to before she had to make it "funny" (Sister Souba's words). So it's eight at night, right? We're walking on this street and we see Mike (someone who Sister Wilde and Souba had already met) drinking beer sitting in his garage. So Sister Wilde stays true to her goal and goes up and talks to Mike..... And then gestures to me and says, "This is Sister Longo, she's British." Heavens above, I have never been so panicked in my life! I managed to feebly nod and he looks at me with a look of awe on his face and asks me if it was true... I couldn't say no to that awe-filled, drunk face. He looked at me with more skepticism and said that I didn't "look British". Is that even a thing??? No. Anywho I whipped out my best British accent and taught him about the Restoration. *sheepish grin* I'm sure that the only reason that Mike believed my horrendous British accent was because he was drunk. After we left and were in the car Sister Wilde busted up laughing until she cried. All I could do was shake my head with an embarrassed yet amused grin. Apparently, I am her "favorite" now xD.

----------------------

Tuesday Personal study was so cool again! Holy cow! I'm going through the Old Testament and it's crazy to see how even the tiniest of changes completely transforms the concept! I did that for the first half. Then I went through the first three lessons and linked scriptures and quotes I like to the lessons. I need to really study them again because they are SO good!

Companion study was weird with it being Sister Wilde instead of Sister Foulke. But it was still good. The rest of the day was long with no apparent success but Sister Wilde and I continued to work hard and keep up good spirits which I think is what was, truly, the success. :)

We went and we had lunch at a restaurant called "The Habit" which is a burger place and we ate for free because some organization that works in the area wanted to thank the missionaries for everything they do for the valley area! How cool is that?? It was SOOO good too... I got a BBQ Bacon Burger with avocado. And yes. It was as heavenly as it sounds.

Moriah and Sister Wilde at Sister Mauss's house for dinner

We then went out again and later had dinner with a member of Sister Wilde's area named Sister Mauss and her children. Sister Mauss has a daughter on her mission right now and she had us take a picture and make a video for her to send to our moms. I started crying because of how thoughtful that was. But she simply said that it was because that's what she wishes a member would do for her daughter.

We switched back and I was SO happy! Being with Sister Wilde was fun but I missed Sister Foulke. We went and we paused Marcus (basically told him that when he was ready to keep the commitments to call us). And then we went to talk to Cynthia... which was hard because we had to tell her that Brother Brandt died. Cynthia took it hard because Brother Brandt and his family were the family that really welcomed them into the Ward and Brother Brandt had given her some blessings and gave her and her family a "Proclamation to the World" framed beautifully as a gift which was very sweet. So yeah. 
And then we got a text from Tiana saying that she wanted to be baptized in a different Ward and that she wanted to be taught by the other Sisters. So Sister Foulke and I felt a bit hurt and very disappointed. But we were grateful that she's still getting baptized at least. That's what's really important.

I started crying in the car about it so, in a successful effort to cheer me up, Sister Foulke told me the only two jokes that she knows. XD

------------------

All the Missionaries At Our Zone Conference Council 

Wednesday was my first Zone Conference Council! That's where all the districts in the zone get together to train and learn from one another. One of the things that we talked a lot about was the rules. And not what the rules are, but what we can change so that we want to keep the rules. And the consensus was that in order to want to be exactly obedient, we have to want to follow the Savior with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. Because Christ was exactly obedient, if we want to follow him with everything we are, we will want to be exactly obedient.

Wethen talked about whether or not we are being sheep herders or whether we are being shepherds. That was super cool, here is a picture of the discussion board:

That's Sister Souba, one of our Sister Training Leaders

Then the Zone Leaders gave the last training of the council on "Become a Hopeful Servant of the Lord". In Preach My Gospel pg. 117, (the guide for missionary work) this is what it says about hope:
"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur."
We then talked about each of the four sub-attributes of hope and these are my notes:

Confidence
Definition: "The knowledge that one can rely on the Lord"
Application: Making goals shows our confidence in the Lord.

Optimism
Definition: "Hopefulness and confidence in the future/successful outcome"
Application: EXPECT MIRACLES.

Enthusiasm
Definition: "Religious fervor resulting directly from divine inspiration."
Synonyms: Dedication; Commitment; Consecration; Diligence; Obedience; Steadfastness

Candid shot of President Snow at Zone Conference

Patient Perseverance
Definition: "Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." Ephesians 6:18-19

I invite all of you to study this and see how you can become more "hopeful servants of the Lord" because this is what a prophet of God has said about the importance of hope:
“Hope is the anchor of our souls. …
“Hope is trust in God’s promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future. …
“The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death” (President James E. Faust “Hope, an Anchor of the Soul,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 59–60).


Later that night I got a bad migraine so Sister Foulke took me home and took care of me. I couldn't fall asleep because the pain was so bad and the pain medicine hadn't kicked in yet so she laid my head on her lap and played with my hair and told me stories until I fell asleep because I had told her that Mom would read to me to help me take my mind off the pain so I could fall asleep when I got migraines. It was so awesome of her. :)

-----------------------

Thursday was crazy cool! That morning we had a lesson with Amanda (LOVE HER) and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and the other questions and thoughts she had as she read the pamphlets and it was SO cool because we could see that her pamphlet was totally all marked up, underlined, highlighted, questions and comments written in the margins, it was so cool to see her genuine interest! So we were talking about the Pre-mortal life, about how we believe that before we came here on this earth we lived with Heavenly Father as His literal spirit sons and daughters. I was prompted to share that sometimes people seem so familiar, even though we have never met them in this life before, we have met them in the Spirit World. And I talked about how whenever one of us kids were born Mom felt like she had been missing us all her life but hadn't realized it. Amanda's eyes lit up! She started talking about how she knew that she had met people before this life because she had had similar experiences with her husband, Patrick, and her one-year-old, Phoebe. She was so excited that we weren't telling her that she was crazy, but that we believed her! We then talked about eternal families and she got super quiet and super focused and I asked her if that was something that she wished for her family and she stated that it was. AAAAAAAAAHHHHH SO COOL! We left her with a pamphlet about Families and Temples and we're going to talk to her about it next time! SO pumped!

Sister Foulke, Rachel, and Sister Longo at the temple

That evening we were able to go to the temple (Nevada Las Vegas Temple) to do baptisms for the dead which was awesome! (Baptisms for the dead are where we go to the temple and are baptized on the behalf of deceased ancestors so that they have the opportunity to accept [or reject] that saving ordinance in the next life) We were able to go because Rachel, a recent convert of 1 month, got her temporary temple recommend and wanted us to go with her for her first time at the temple! It was SO AWESOME! It was incredible to be with her as she experienced what it is like to be inside the temple for the first time! She's so awesome! :D

Ephraim Barlow (our YSA Ward mission leader) and his younger sister Ellen 

 Afterwards Sister Foulke and I were feeling a wee bit discouraged about investigators because this week we lost Tiana (to other Sisters but it was a blow to us personally) and we had to return Marcus to the Lord because he wasn't progressing and then another investigator dropped from the face of the earth. So we were understandably a bit sad about all of this and we prayed for investigators who really wanted their lives to be changed by Christ. It was eight o'clock (only one more hour to proselyting until we had to go home) and we got out of the car to check up on some potential investigators. And the Lord placed two new investigators in our path, Robert and Stella! It was amazing! We were even able to have a short lesson with Robert! It was awesome! :D The Lord works miracles, and if we are faithful we will recognize them as such.

----------------------

Missionaries that were together in the same MTC district.

Friday was pretty darn cool! :D Today was the New Missionary Temple Trip which meant that all the missionaries that came in this transfer (and their companions of course) were able to go and do a session in the temple! It was incredible! And it was gorgeous! It was wonderful to be in the temple twice in a row! The spirit that is in the temple always renews me and kind of reboots me in a way. :)

At the temple with her awesome companion!

Sister Foulke, Moriah and President Snow

Cute, happy missionaries!!

Afterwards we went to our lesson appointment with Alice but she was called into work and so she had to leave. But after we left and were going to see someone else we were able to street contact a woman named Vanessa who is super cool!

We then picked up Ellen Barlow (Ephraim's younger sister) and went to see the Hildenbrands. It was really good! Shanen and Carli agreed to read from the Book of Mormon and Shanen said that she would like to start coming to church again! So we'll see but we're hopeful! :)

So ever since the MTC I have had this thing with hard-boiled eggs. I LOVE eggs hard-boiled! So Sister Foulke has been teasing me because I have at least two hard-boiled eggs a day, for no other reason other than I like them. xD Anywho We had dinner at home tonight and I was so touched because a day or two ago I had off-handedly mentioned to Sister Foulke that I like it when we pray over meals together because it makes me feel more connected with her. And so we had dinner at home and Sister Foulke remembered that I like to pray together over food and she smiled and asked if she could say the prayer! :)

Afterwards we went over to visit a woman named Melinda who's mom is an inactive member and who had gone to church while growing up. We talked with her and she's a SUPER NERD TOO!!!!!! XD I'M SO HAPPY!  But as we were talking my heart broke and I became irate. Apparently she and her brother had been bullied by their Ward, and not just by other kids but the adults including the Bishop. I was ready to go find and kick some behind. It makes me SO angry that simply because people are different or struggling with something different or anything else that people feel the need to bully and make afraid. She can't come to church because the memories give her so much anxiety. My friends, PLEASE BE KIND. I love you all and you have to much more power than you realize. If you are ever rude or hurtful to someone, make sure that's the last time and sincerely apologize. Our actions (including what we say) have a far greater impact than we realize. PLEASE be careful with our brothers and sisters!

------------------------

Saturday we went to a lesson with Robert and is was AWESOME! Holy cow, his desire to learn is awesome! We taught him the first half of the Restoration lesson and committed (asked) him to pray. He said he would with his family because they are super religious. Kinda makes me a little worried because they might have heard untrue things about the church and tell him to stop meeting with us. I hope he doesn't because it could change his life in so many wonderful ways!

-----------------------

Sunday a miracle happened. We went to our YSA (Young Single Adult) Ward and Danielle, a member, came up to us and said that she had a coworker who came up to her out of the blue and asked if she was Mormon, when Danielle answered affirmatively the coworker asked if she could attend church with her today and take the lessons from the missionaries. Sister Foulke and I were astonished, our jaws literally dropped. The coworker came to church, her name is Alyssa and she's super sweet! Apparently, her boyfriend is a member and he just went back to Utah for college so she's investigating while he's away! We set up a time to meet with her but I'm really excited!

Church was really cool at the YSA today one person talked about the difference between knowing and learning, which I am still pondering on because he was saying that a lot of times we go "we know, we know!" But then we have to learn it. So I'm still thinking about that.

Then in Relief Society the teacher shared a quote about faith, "Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but knowing Who holds the future." Mind = Blown.

We then talked about what being a daughter of God means and these are some of the things that were mentioned: being a disciple of Christ; creates time for personal/family scripture study; patient; Nurturing; observant & attentive; teacher; selfless; full of charity

That night we met with Victor and talked to him about receiving answers from the Spirit and invited him to set aside his concerns for a moment and search for the good. Because he is only trying to find ways to disprove right now and so, of course, he won't get confirmation from the Spirit that it's true because his mind isn't opened to what is true about the gospel. So we'll see what happens.

-----------------------

I love you all!!!! I love the very few of you who actually write me the most though :P

Sister Longo

Week 5: #ILoveBeingAMissionary

Hello lovelies! A Lot happened today!

Something that's a lot of fun is that we only drive because of how much area we have to cover and, because Sister Foulke doesn't have a driver’s license, I get to drive all the time... Oh yeah B)

Tuesday was really cool! We went that morning to talk to Reggie and we set up an appointment! It was fun talking to him. However he hadn't read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. :( Then we went to visit Alice who is one of our investigators with a baptismal date who also lives in the Villas apartments that Reggie lives in. She was incredibly sweet. She is a single mom who is taking care of her ten year old daughter and her father who is a drunkard. So she is working two jobs to try and support all of them. She also has two dogs, one is a pit bull named Lexi (the sweetest thing!), and the other is a teeny dog (not a Chihuahua but something that actually looks like a dog) who is completely black and is named Egypt! I LOVE that name for a dog!!!! *squeals with the enthusiasm of an ancient Egypt nerd* Alice was so tired and I felt so bad for her because it's obvious that she's going through a lot right now. But we assigned her a scripture to read and set up an actual appointment to come teach her.

Afterwards it was lunch time and for daaaaaaays I had been craving a chocolate frosty from Wendy's! So we quickly scooped one up and a fry (because how can you eat a frosty without some fries? You can't.) And then we went home for me to bask in the glory that is a Frosty.

After lunch we went over to Ephraim's family's house to do service for his family (Ephraim is the YSA Ward Missionary Leader). The Barlow family is HUGE! The Barlow's have 15 kids! And 12 still live with their parents! So they need help with a lot of stuff. This week we were put to work doing folding laundry. Holy cow. When there are 14 people doing laundry, there are a LOT of socks! But it was super cool. As I was folding socks, I was talking to Ellen (near my age) and Daniel (return missionary) and Peter (12?) about Star Wars and how Star Wars can be a parable for the gospel! These are my kind of people! B) After discussing that at length we began to sing hymns. So we were singing and folding socks and I loved every second of it! It is incredible that when we serve we are filled with such love from God for the people we are serving. If I have learned anything so far it is that God loves each and every one of us!

Later in the day we had a pass-off lesson which means that another set of missionaries found this investigator but they weren't in that missionary’s area, so we are all meeting together so we (the missionaries who belong to the area that the investigator does) can begin teaching the investigator from then on. The investigator's name is Tiana, she's Hawaiian and in her early twenties. Her best friend Sierra has been a member for eight months and both of them are super cool! We were teaching about the Atonement and we got to the part where we talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and we really discussed it and her questions and comments were so sweet and so spiritual. The room was filled the presence of the Holy Ghost! We were nearing the end of the time that we had with her and I invited her to be baptized on the 20th and she looked at me a little nervously and she said she wasn't sure. We got to the bottom of why, and it was because she didn't feel prepared enough. When we explained that we would meet with her several times a week to help her become prepared and that we would be with her every step of the face her face lit up! She then quietly told us that she had been thinking about getting baptized before this lesson and she had been feeling like the 20th would be the day she needed to get baptized. Sister Foulke and I just looked at each other in astonishment. We know that it was through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that both we and Tiana knew that the 20th was when she needed to be baptized. So cool!!!

Friends and certain family members will be proud to know that for dinner that day I finally went to "Five Guys" for the first time in my life. :P It was pretty good.

That evening we had a lesson with Cynthia and she had a lot of questions for us regarding her kids. She was really worried because her three oldest are 14 and up. She was worried for them and ashamed of herself that she hadn't been able to raise them in the gospel. And all her worries made me count my many blessing and the wonderful opportunity I had to be raised in the gospel by two parents who love and cherish us and the gospel. As she asked us about some of her specific worries in regards to teaching her children about the gospel, several memories of my own sweet mama came to my mind and all of the wonderful examples she has given me throughout my life. I shared a few of these memories with Cynthia and I could see some of her anxiety melt away as she listened to examples of principles that my mama had shown me. I am so grateful for my wonderful parents and I am most thankful for our Perfect Father in Heaven! It is His love and His Son and His example that makes returning to live with both Father and Christ possible.

The lesson with Cynthia went a little late so we rushed to our appointment with Khrystal but when we knocked no one answered. I was worried that it was because we were late, but we were only five or so minutes late. I was disappointed because I had been looking forward to meeting with her again.

We then went to our appointment with Marcus. And he hadn't done what we had asked him to do because of basketball. Sister Foulke and I were so disappointed. But we helped him to understand that in order to gain true and lasting happiness he needs to put God first, before anything else. We helped him understand that one way we can do so is by setting and keeping schedules and goals. So we invited him to write a schedule for each day the night before (and include scripture reading and prayer and then whatever else that was good) and then to stick to it. He promised that he would and we were really hopeful.

Wednesday we saw many miracles! :D It was awesome!

That morning during my personal study I studied a talk given by Elder Maxwell title, "Willing to Submit". Holy bananas! It is SO cool! It talks about how, in order to truly change and follow God, we need to FULLY submit our will to His. One of my favorite lines from that talk is, "Yielding one’s heart to God signals the last stage in our spiritual development. Only then are we beginning to be fully useful to God! How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing?" Doesn't that make your mind blow up into a gazillion pieces??? How can we honestly say that we want to serve God when we are trying to tell Him what WE want or what WE think is best?? Goodness gracious. I read that talk and realized that I have some rethinking to do about the way I try to be an instrument of God.

That day we were on our way to our teaching appointment with Amanda (<3) and we were a little bummed because we really needed some new people to teach and that's what we had been praying for. As we were on our way, there was a gentleman putting some things into his car and we asked if we could help. We started chatting with him and then he told us that his name was Adrian Lopez. He then asked us what we do we told him we are missionaries. His eyes lit up and he pointed to his apartment and began to tell us about how his son (Chris, early twenties) was really lost and needed guidance in his life. We were stunned but then Adrian proceeded to give us his number and also his son's email and then told us that he was a limo driver and that if we ever needed a ride that we could contact him. He had to leave to go to work and we said goodbye before starting off to Amanda's. Sister Foulke and I just looked at each other in astonishment. It was such a cool experience!

We then had a lesson with Amanda. I LOVE her! Okay, now that's out of the way I can talk about the lesson. :D We talked about the Restoration and it was incredible! Amanda really connected to Joseph Smith because she has been asking questions all her life and no one answers them or they are angry with her for asking. We were able to honestly tell her that we love questions and that we wanted her to write down the questions that she had and if we couldn't answer them that we knew how to help her find answers for herself. And that really impacted Amanda. I'm really excited to meet with her again!
Later that day we had an appointment with a recent convert named Tefanie. It was a lot of fun because she is a huge nerd too! We took a little time to talk about nerdy things but then she tried to talk about politics and Sister Foulke and I told her that as missionaries we are not allowed to discuss our political opinions. She chuckled and said she could see why that was a rule (contention and all) and the rest of the time we discussed God's love and how we have been commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Then we had an appointment with another recent convert named Rachel who is a really sweet person. We talked about Mosiah 4 which talks a lot about how Salvation comes because of and through Christ. I love talking about the gospel! Which is good considering. :P

We then went to the appointment that we had set up with Reggie... And he wasn't home. I was SO disappointed! I was really looking forward to meeting with him and helping him to learn that he could be with his mom again! I was bummed out to say the least. But as we were walking away we ran into a man and we talked with him and he was super cool And really polite! His name is Malcolm and he said that he was really interested in what we had to say! We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and then set up an appointment with him!

Mini miracle time! :D Both Sister Folke and I had to use the restroom badly but we couldn't go anywhere because we had an appointment with Cynthia in fifteen minutes. We couldn't hold it for that long. But then out of one of the apartment building came a member! Her name is Mariah Jex and she's in our family Ward. She invited us in, let us use her restroom, gave us cold water and snacks before we had to go on our way to Cynthia's! It was SUCH a blessing. I know that no matter how small or insignificant our needs are that the Lord is always watching out for us and He sends us little miracles, or tender mercies, when we need them and are on the lookout for miracles in our path.

We then went to Cynthia's for our appointment. Her husband's grandmother (who raised him) had just passed away and he was grief stricken. They are really poor and so they didn't have money for a plane ticket to where the funeral will be. The only money they have has to go to the electric bill... But she hadn't paid tithing on the money yet. We talked to her about the law of tithing and that no matter what our circumstances we need to pay tithing before we use money for anything else, we have to put God before anything else. And that if she would, the Lord would provide a way for every other needful thing to happen. I have a firm testimony in the law of tithing. Even when I couldn't afford to buy a 75 cent donut my first year in college I have always paid my tithing before anything else. And I KNOW that blessings come from paying tithing, from putting God before any other concern.

That evening we went to the YSA Ward correlation which was where Sister Foulke and I had the opportunity to talk to the Ward missionaries and discuss the missionary work that was happening in the ward. That was really helpful.

We then went to institute where another miracle happened, Marcus came! It was wonderful!

Thursday was awesome! :D I finished transferring all of my notes in the Book of Mormon to my iPad. Alleluia!!! It will be SO helpful to have all of them written down and tagged so I can find them more easily. So for the rest of my personal study I moved onward to the Doctrine & Covenants so hopefully I can get through all of my scripture notes by the end of next week!

I LOVE companionship study with Sister Foulke! She always makes me feel like I've said something really deep and inspirational, and even though I'm sure that's true half the time :P it's just nice that she makes me feel so important to her! We talked about Helaman 10:4-5 and how we should all be starving to become a person that is so in tune with the Spirit and is Christlike enough for God to know that we would never ask for something contrary to his will! WOW! We also talked about how God is eternal, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so, if He wrought miracles in the past then, as an eternal being, He will be bringing miracles to pass today and forever! If we believe that God is not a God of miracles than we are not worshipping the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. We are worshipping a God of our own creation and not the one in reality (Mormon 9:7-11). I have seen SO many miracles here on the mission already and I have only been on it for a month! I feel ashamed that I haven't noticed the hand of God more in my life because I know that all my life there have been miracles, but I haven't been faithful enough to recognize them as such. But I will do better and life will be grand! :D

Today was my first District Council. A district is a group of 3 or 4 companionships that are nearest together, district council is where they come together to talk about the area that they, as a district, cover. It was.... interesting. I was mildly frustrated with everyone because they were being Johnny rain clouds and were only talking about how we had to improve. While that is certainly important, we should also focus on the progress we HAVE made, because progress and success inspires us where as the looooong road ahead is discouraging. There needs to be a balance, otherwise one group is optimistic and the other is pessimistic, and we need to be realistic.

Later in the day we had a lesson with Tiana again! Jjdhisdgjsdgkjs! She is SUCH a sweet spirit! She is incredible! We taught her the second half of the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome! I love her and her member friend, Sierra, to pieces!

We taught Marcus again today and it was…Good. He hadn't gone to bed that night, he pulled an all-nighter which wasn't a good idea so we had to remind him of his goals and what he needed to do. I admit that I was a little frustrated. But I didn't let it show! It's just hard because he knows, and we know that he knows, what he's supposed to be doing and he has a testimony that doing those things brings him happiness... He just doesn't remember to do them! This experience brought Helaman 5 to mind where Helaman is pleading with his sons to "remember" and he says "remember" fifty bajillion times in that chapter and before now I had thought that it was kinda excessive. But remembering is the first step in doing. And we need to remember.

We then met with another investigator named Victor Lopez (Which is different from Victor Ranga). I hadn't met him before, but Sister Foulke had been teaching him with her previous companion. We taught him the Gospel of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, & Enduring to the End) and it was wonderful because he really connected with what we were teaching and he had such wonderful insights! We were talking about repentance and how we erroneously associate repentance with something bad. And the thought came to me clear as day and I had never thought of this before.
Sin is like cancer of the soul. The more you don't treat it, the worse it gets and the more it spreads throughout your soul. Repentance is where Christ, the surgeon, tells us that there is 100% guarantee that He can remove all of the cancer tissue if we let Him operate. We should be OVERJOYED at the prospect of being completely healed and free of the cancer through this surgery! Yes, Christ will have to open us up and dig deep to remove all of the cancerous growth and yes, the recovery may take a while, but it is guaranteed that we will survive and overcome our cancer with this surgery! So many times people view repentance as something to be dreaded, and that's such a mistaken view! Christ's surgery is the only thing keeping our souls from dying! And yet so often we refuse to let Him operate! How ridiculously insane are we???

I know that analogy was not something I came up with. That was revelation that I needed. In the scriptures in Doctrine & Covenants 84:85, it says that if we simply have the courage to open our mouths that the Spirit will fill it with the words of God. God keeps His promises, I opened my mouth and He filled it through the Holy Ghost.

Today I had my first dinner at a member's house. It was so weird and yet it felt so natural at the same time! I felt so bad because we were late... And it made me think of all the times that I've been cranky at the missionaries being late and I am thoroughly chastened. xD We were late because of the lesson with Victor. I will never be too upset at the missionaries for being late to dinner. Now that I think back on it though, we should've texted saying we would be late. I'm mildly appalled by our lack of manners. *sheepish grin* It was a lot of fun though and the Miller family were so gracious! It was so weird to be the missionary at the dinner table instead of looking across to see them.

After dinner we went to see Cynthia. Poor thing, Satan is working really hard on her right now and she said as much. :/ We told her to read Mosiah 24 because that is one of our favorite chapters to read when we're having trials because it talks about how, if we turn to the Lord, He can make our burdens so light that we won't even feel them. He won't take them away, if you took away a child's chore they would never learn from it, but He does help us with them so we can be happy while doing the "chore". :) Isn't that a powerful blessing??? :D

After we met with Cynthia we met with Shawn and Luis again. Shawn hadn't read his scriptures so in order to help him develop a love for the scriptures we had all of us read the first 24 verses of Mosiah 2 and oh my goodness! I gained new insight into that chapter that I had never thought of before! We are supposed to learn from one another, that is an important reason as to why Christ established an organized church. So we could all benefit from one another's wisdom and insight! #TheChurchIsSOTrue!

Friday morning we went buy to see if Reggie was home, he was and he set up another appointment for Tuesday. So hopefully he will make it to that one. Then we went to our appointment with Alice. Poor thing, her back was in a lot of pain and so we talked to her about priesthood blessings and how the grace of Christ can get us through things as long as we ask for it and use it.

We then went over to see Carli Hildenbrand again, just to make sure she had been able to see her mom, Shanen, and if everything was okay. We knocked on the door and it was actually Shanen (who the missionaries have been trying to reactivate for the last month) who opened the door! We were relieved to see that she was doing well considering and she told us that the Relief Society president had taken Carli to see her mom! We set up an appointment to come over and help her with anything she needed. Carli was gone somewhere so we didn't get to see her that day.

We tried to contact a referral named Conner, but only his dad, Tom, was there. Tom was getting ready to go into a surgery on his back and so he kindly asked if we would remember him in our prayers, and we told him that of course we would.

Since it was Friday that meant that we were able to escape the heat of the day and do Weekly Planning. That was a wonderful blessing because it was really hot that day!

We then met with Cythia and that was awesome. Afterwards we went to find some potential investigators, one of them was named Greg. We had a member with us for this, his name was Matt. We walked to the apartment door and on the window screen, written in chalk, was a quote about kindness towards everyone by our prophet Thomas S. Monson. The three of us looked at each other and wondered if we were at the wrong apartment because who would have a quote by the prophet on their window screen if they weren't members. We knocked and Greg answered the door and he said that one of their neighbors is a "Mormon" and that the neighbor is so rude to them that they decided to put that quote up to show their neighbor that they weren't living their religion. I was so ashamed. And so embarrassed. I know that there are "Mormons" in name only. But it disgusted me that someone had covenanted to take upon themselves the name of Christ and then treat someone so atrociously! I'm still a bit irrate. We apologized for their appalling behavior and tried to remind him that there are butt-faces in every religion, and unfortunately ours wasn't an exception right now. But we also explained that the stupidity of some of our members did not negate the truthfulness of our message (I'm paraphrasing obviously). Greg seemed to relax a little and took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said that we could stop by again.

After we left Greg's place we street contacted a woman named Ty, she is a Jehovah's Witness. But we had a really wonderful discussion with her about the need for having faith in Christ and how He is the only way that we can be saved. It was really cool and she gave us her information so we could contact her again.

Saturday was SUPER COOL!

So in personal study I've been transferring all the markings and notes I have in my paper scriptures to my iPad scriptures and I finished all of the Doctrine and Covenants as well as the Pearl of Great Price and Joseph Smith History! On a role. I'm a little chagrined to admit that I've never had any sort of an appreciation for the Doctrine and Covenants as a whole... But as I was going through it I realized just how beautiful and how inspiring it is! It is especially inspiring for missionaries because it talks about missionary work SO much in it!

So what made Saturday so cool is that we got a little mini missionary with us today! So a stake here in Las Vegas does a really cool thing where they have what they call a "Preach My Gospel Camp". So all of the youth in the stake 16-18 were each paired with a missionary companionship for the day. They became a third companion essentially. ‘Twas super cool! Her name was Madi and it was really interesting to do missionary work with her. I was 16 only three years ago! And yet I felt so much older.
We had lunch at the Stake Center with the entire Preach My Gospel Camp and the secretary to the mission president spoke to us. He said one thing that really struck me. He said that we "have given up our names in order to serve God." It just hit me like a lightning bolt. I am now Sister Longo a representative of Christ. I gave up my name so that I can help others take upon themselves the name of Christ. That just blew my mind. And I was so awestruck by that understanding. I have given up my very identity to serve my God. And I love every minute of it! :D

That night we had a lesson with Marcus where he told us that he hadn't been doing any of the things that he had promised we would. Sister Foulke and I were really disappointed. But then we taught him about the Plan of Salvation again and said that where we end up is based on whether or not we choose to put God first or our own desires first. And he seemed to understand and he told us that he truly wanted to choose God more than anything. We invited him to stick to the plan that he had made and schedule his days so he could put God first.

Sunday was a looooooong day.

We had Ward council that morning before our family Ward so we had to get up at 6 to get ready to leave at 6:30 in order to make it to Ward council by 7. We were in church from 7 to 4 because of our two wards.

After Sacrament meeting at the YSA Ward we talked to Victor Ranga who did come! He has the girlfriend who is a member, Ashlynn. Then we saw Marcus who had been in Sacrament meeting (the first meeting) and we went to talk to him. He told us that he was leaving and not staying for the rest of church because he wanted to go play basketball. Sister Foulke and I reminded him that he had said that he wanted to put God first, and skipping church in order to play basketball was the opposite of that. He continue to talk about how he wanted to play basketball and that he didn't see the big deal and Sister Foulke and I were devastated. We knew that he knew that it was a big deal. He just didn't want to feel guilty about making the wrong choice. He asked us if we could meet with him that evening after basketball instead of going to class and we were stunned. We told him that we love him but that we had been called to teach those that have a desire to put God first like we do so we couldn't meet with him that night. But we said we would meet with him later this week. He left to go play basketball and Sister Foulke and I were heartbroken. Here is someone who has SO much potential but is choosing to throw it away for basketball instead.

We then had a lesson in Relief Society that really boosted my spirits and it was about our relationship with Christ and there was this amazing story!

"Two men died and went to be interviewed before being judged. The first man went into the room and the interviewer asked him, "Who is Christ?" The man confidently told the interviewer that Christ was the Son of God who was born to Mary in Bethlehem. The interviewer nodded and said, "That is true, but who is Christ." The man was puzzled but he shrugged and then said that Christ had called twelve apostles and that he preached the word of God and healed those who were afflicted. The interviewer nodded but replied, "That is true, but who is Christ?" The man was a little confused now and he continued to talk about how Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross so that mankind might have Eternal life. The interviewer nodded once again but replied, "This is all true, you may leave." The man left and was rather bewildered. The second man had heard this entire exchange and when he went into the room and looked upon the interviewer's face he fell to his knees and exclaimed joyfully, "My God and my King!""

How powerful! Do we truly know Christ? Or do we simply know OF Him? Would we recognize Christ if we met him like the second man? Or would we be blind like the first man? I hope and am striving to be like the second man who is a person that has a strong, unbreakable relationship with my Savior. I hope and pray that all of us are striving to be that kind of person. Only then will we be those who will sit on the right hand of Father in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I love you all, be the best you can be and ask Christ for His grace to help with that! 
*hugs!!!!*

Sister Longo

(MOM NOTE:  These are pictures Moriah sent of fun things she's seen around her mission)

Annie Oakley Drive (Moriah dressed up as Annie Oakley for Halloween when she was five.)

One of our favorite musicals is "Man of La Mancha"

This is a younger picture of her Mission President, President Snow.

Week 4: My first week in Vegas!

Hello darlings! :)

This week was crazy... CRAZY AWESOME!!! Holy Cow! Being out here in the field is wonderful! Who knew I liked harvesting so much? (Missionary joke xD https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng#3)

Wednesday was a load of ridiculous travel. But 'tis good! It got me here :D The rest of Wednesday consisted of training by the mission president, President Snow, and the APs (Assistants to the President) and the MSTLs (Mission Sister Training Leaders, the AP female counterpart) at the Mission Home which is just where President Snow and his family lives. Then at six we went to the Mission Office (a church building with a little extra section attached to handle missionary mail and so forth) to be assigned to our new companions who will be our trainers for the first part of our time in the field! The twenty of us new missionaries walked into the chapel and all of the trainer missionaries were already there. We walked past them and I saw this young woman with beautiful, thick brown hair and glasses and I got the strongest feeling that she was going to be my trainer. 15 minutes later I was right, I was assigned to serve with Sister Emma Foulke as my companion! :D SO crazy!

Afterwards she took me to our apartment to drop off our stuff and then we went right to work! :D We had some appointments that we needed to go to and then we dropped in on Institute to see if any of our investigators were there (they weren't :( ) and there we saw Lauren Grondel! *waves enthusiastically!* One of the wards that I am serving in is the YSA (Young Single Adult) ward that Lauren is in!!!! XD SO COOL!!!!! Such a miracle for me! The one friend I have already in this state and my first area includes her! Coincidence? I think Providence! :D

Thursday Sister Foulke and I were in training ALL day and that was when I got my iPad! It was being difficult with us which is why it took all day instead of most of the day. :P

Friday was a REALLY good day! A lot happened! It was my first REAL day as a missionary since Wednesday I was at the Mission Home and the Mission Office. And then yesterday we (Sister Foulke and I) were at a new missionary training ALL day because my stupid iPad wouldn't work the way it was supposed to. But that's okay! XD Anywho... FridaySister Foulke and I followed the schedule: exercise, breakfast, shower, dress/grooming, personal study, and then companion study. It was a lot of fun! :D I really like Sister Foulke, she's an AWESOME companion!

Since it was Friday we had Weekly Planning after companion study. We went to the nearest church building in order to finish up everything with my iPad (not bitter... Not bitter xP) and then did Weekly Planning. It took a loooong time. But it was really helpful for me because we were able to talk about all of the investigators individually so I was really able to start getting myself orientated with the area.

After lunch we hit the dusty trail. We went out and tried to contact some referrals, we didn't catch any of them. However while we were at one apartment complex we met two really interesting people! The first was Bobby, fifties with loooong black hair. While we were knocking on a door he got out of the complex swimming pool to ask us what we were soliciting for. We told him that we weren't soliciting but that we are Sister Missionaries and he started to talk about how he didn't believe in God and that we were brainwashed. But he was actually rather kind about it, I think he was genuinely concerned for us so that was sweet in a very strange sort of way. :) He was very polite and was just talking about how we needed to take care of ourselves.

The second person we met, as we were wandering through this apartment complex trying to find the building of a referral, was Tim Veazey Oh. My. Goodness. He was the sweetest man ever! He was in his sixties and a devout Christian. He isn't a member of any particular faith right now. But when he came across us and we said "hi" he started talking to us about his relationship with Christ and he was so inspiring! He's a musician (plays the piano and sings and writes his own songs) and he was telling us about how developing a relationship with Christ helped him over some a lot of his challenges. He then gave us cold water and three of his music CDs! How wonderful is that?! It was actually a tender mercy because I tried to use the SD card adapter thing with my iPad that Mom sent me and it didn't work. I was really disappointed and frustrated because I wanted to listen to music and we had already listened to the two CDs that Sister Foulke had about forty times in a row. So Tim and his music really brightened up my day! And his music! The lyrics and the tune were SO inspiring!!!

After that we had dinner with a YSA ward member named Ryan. He took us to a Mexican restaurant call "Chile Caliente" He was pretty cool, served his mission in San Francisco and is majoring in Construction Management at BYU where he met his girlfriend who's family is in Missouri. We talked a lot about missionary work and about how we need to be continually holding fast to the Iron Rod. It was a lot of fun. :)

When we finished dinner we went over to Cynthia's house to teach a lesson about the Holy Ghost. It was AWESOME! It was my first REAL missionary lesson! It was pretty cool! Cynthia is a convert as of two weeks ago and so we're teaching the rest of her family. We were able to meet with her and her two older boys Elijah and Aquarius as well as her nephew, Tyler. They were pretty dang cool! And so was teaching the lesson!
Afterwards we tried contacting more referrals but weren't able to . :( So at 8:30 we drove back home, getting back by 9. :)

Saturday was an AWESOME day! XD 'Twas super super cool! After our daily routine (exercise, breakfast, shower, dress/grooming) we then had personal study and companion study. So during personal study I started moving all of my scripture markings to my scriptures on my iPad because as we were teaching Cynthia's family on Friday I realized that ALL those scriptures that I had found for the lessons during my MTC stay were all in my paper copy and none of them were in my iPad copy. So I started to transfer all of them and it was a really neat experience as I did so because in the iPad version I can tag scriptures in genres, so I can go to my list of tags and click on Holy Ghost and all of my scriptures that I've tagged about the Holy Ghost are listed! And a single marking can be tagged with multiple things! So it's pretty darn cool. :) I managed to get through all of my markings in 1 Nephi so that was productive! While I was going through 1 Nephi and reading all of the things I had marked I began to truly realize how much the Book of Mormon and other scripture can really teach us about who Christ is and how we can more fully align ourselves to His character through faith in Him. It was really cool. :)

After personal we had companion study and that was fun, I LOVE Sister Foulke! XD She is the best companion EVER I am sure! And I love discussing the gospel with her because it is very apparent that we are teaching one another as we do so and that we both enjoy it! :D

We went to an apartment complex and it was AWESOME! We tried to get a hold of a referral but he wasn't at home, so we went to find the other referrals that we had planned as backups that were also in this apartment complex. As we were walking we met Juan, who was walking his dog, and talked with him and he accepted a pass-along card! Then as soon as he turned the corner we met Barbara! And she could only speak a little English but she accepted a Spanish pass-along card with the Spanish Missionaries' phone number! So hopefully that will go somewhere! *fingers crossed* We were then able to find a referral named Khrystal who was so sweet and so kind. She didn't have any time that day but we scheduled a return appointment with us this week so I'm excited to learn more about her!

We then walked to another potential investigator's apartment in this complex... They. Were. AWESOME!!! THEY ARE TOTAL AND COMPLETE NERDS LIKE ME! We talked about everything nerdy under the sun and it was amazing! We really bonded! I can't wait to help them become nerds about the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the best fandom in the history of the earth! :D

After lunch we dropped in to say hi to a recent convert name Patrick. He's had a really hard life even though he's only 24. :( It makes my heart sore to hear Sister Foulke tell me about the lives of our investigators. And I know that Christ could help them overcome everything if they would let it! But that is why I am out here, to bring hope to those who have none, to bring God's love to those who have known very little love in there lives. It is a privilege to be serving on the Lord's errand and being a receptacle of His love for very one around me. :)

Later we met with a girl named Carli, she's going to be a senior in high school this Fall. Her Mom is a member but she is not so we try to fellowship her and show her our love. So we stopped by and it was so sad! Her mom had been in the hospital for the past week and no one had taken her to see her mom! And on top of all of that, it was her birthday! All I wanted to do was roll up my sleeves and bake her a cake! What a terrible birthday she must have been having! But she was so sweet and so kind! We ended up talking to her for a little while which was really cool because by the end we were talking about how the scriptures can really give us comfort and how she had started reading the Book of Mormon a little bit on her own since her mom went to the hospital! Even if our trials are consequences of our actions or just a consequence of living in a fallen world, Heavenly Father still wants to help us! Isn't that incredible??? The God of the universe wants to help us through all of our trials!!! And one of the biggest ways He helps us is through the Spirit, and so if we're doing the things that invites the Spirit in our lives God can bless us a hundredfold! 

Okay, the Lord knows us individually! I have a FIRM testimony of that. So, every since getting into the MTC I have been craving Costa Vida and have not been able to fulfill that craving. But tonight for dinner, a member named John took us out for dinner at Cafe Rio! The ONLY restaurant like Costa Vida in the state! *cries tears of joy*
After dinner we went toon apartment complex called the "Villas" and we got to meet with a new investigator named Reggie. He is in his forties and is a burly African American, and a complete teddy bear! He is SO sweet! He recently had surgery on his knee and is recovering. We talked to him in the doorway since it was just the two of us and him. We were talking and we started talking about Moms. And his mom passed away a year or two ago and he was talking about how his mom had been his best friend and I started tearing up when he said that he didn't know what to do with himself now that her couldn't call her and talk to her three times a day. And I was SO grateful that I could tell him with all the certainty in my soul that we CAN see our loved ones again, that death is NOT the end of our cherished relationships, and that he could be her son for the rest of eternity! How powerful is it to promise someone that??? Powerful. And what a wonderful feeling it was to see his eyes light up a little at the thought of being able to see his mom, his best friend again! This is why I am out here! To promise those blessings to people who keep the commandments of God.

The rest of the evening was pretty cool! Sister Foulke is a multi-fandom nerd!!! Star Trek, Galaxy Quest, Jane Austen, Star Wars, sbiggosdghsdfhfnlsbdgkh!!!!! So as we were street contacting around this apartment complex we were talking about some of our favorite movies and books and adaptations! Mingled in there were gospel discussions and it was really cool! I really feel like she's one of my people! :D

Sunday was loooooooooong but good. :) Since Sister Foulke and I are over 2 wards we have to attend both. The first one, the family ward, starts at 9 am. And every other week we have to attend meetings beforehand that start at 7 so yeah... Then we have an hour break to eat lunch and then at 1 pm we go to the YSA ward. So it's basically 7 hours of church. Yahoo. The one redeeming factor is that Sister Foulke and I get to partake of the Sacrament twice! :) The Sacrament is such a wonderful blessing! The Sacrament is where we get to renew the covenants we make at Baptism. So each week it is like being baptized because through the sacrament and the renewing of those promises, our sins are washed away once more! What an incredible miracle to partake of every week! :D
It was really cool to sit behind Lauren Grondel during the YSA ward! XD I love seeing her beautiful face and hearing her beautiful soprano harmony that she always makes up during hymns! :D And then hugging her! It's fun to hug her when she's not hugging my organs out of me. :P

After dinner we went and we tried to find some referrals but none answered. We quickly went and checked in on Patrick because he wasn't at church.

We then went to the Bishop's house in order to have a lesson with Victor Ranga and his member girlfriend Ashlynn. Victor was born in Bulgaria and moved to the US with his parents when he was about eight. He's been a dedicated Baptist the last ten years of his life. But he's been dating Ashlynn (a member) for seven. So this has been a while in the progress. HOLY. COW. He is so knowledgable about the New Testament! And he asks really deep doctrinal questions concerning everything but tonight his questions were on the Godhead and priesthood and the fullness of the gospel. Holy cow. Some of the questions I really had to think about. Alright... Confession time. I was getting really annoyed with Bishop because he wouldn't stop talking and never gave us missionaries the opportunity to answer the questions! But it's okay, it's fine. :P I need to get over it, it's mostly my pride talking. :) But it was a really neat opportunity to talk to someone on, not only a spiritual level, but an intellectual level. It's something I've missed, I haven't had the opportunity to discuss the gospel on an intellectual level since I left home #scriptorianparents!

Today is Preparation Day which means that today is the day we clean the car, clean the house, do the laundry, go grocery shopping, and email friends and family. And that's what I've been doing all day. Preparation day from 6:30am to 6pm is to prepare for the coming week so we can focus completely on our purpose which is to invite others to come unto Christ more fully than they already have. :)

I know I'm a slacker since I haven't taken any pictures other than one of my companion. But I will repent! Next week there will be a plethora of pictures for you all! :D

I love you all SO much!
Sister Longo

(MOM NOTE:  Here are a few pictures that have been sent to me and one from Moriah of her companion.)

With her mission president and wife, President and Sister Snow on the day she arrived in Nevada.

After meetings on  Sunday 7-31-16
Yes, that is an ice cream sandwich!! :)

Sister Foulk (pronounced "folk")
Moriah's companion