An unlit candle frightens no monkeys

 Hello hello! This is going to be a bit of a hectic email because its been a crazy week! My email title is in reference to a crazy fortune cookie fortune because it's been a crazy week! We're up in Tucson for the day going to the temple and Trader Joe's  so much happened this week! 

️ Lil Jose got baptized!!!!! It was lowkey STRESSFUL because the night before we had problems with his records and form and everything but we got it figured out! And we went 3 hours early to fill the font which was interesting! But it went well and he was so excited! 

️ Zone conference! This is where all the missionaries in the south half of our mission area all come together and learn from our mission president! Hermana Black and I did our musical number and we had Sonoran hot dogs for lunch! We also talked about doing what the Lord wants you to do every day, not what you want to do. 

️ Exchanges! On Wednesday Hermana Boyer, one of our Sister Training Leaders came down to spend the day with me and Hna Woodbury went up to Tucson! It was really fun and we saw lots of miracles as we set goals and acted on them in faith! 

️ Patagonia day - yesterday we went to Patagonia (the edge of our area) because we had extra miles to spare! so we went all the way up to visit some people who used to be taught and check in... no one answered the door. BUT it was still worth it because we had a dinner with a nice old couple who lives up there! Except they took us to a restaurant back down in Nogales... so it felt like a bit of a waste of time but at least we got IHOP! 

 Spanish word of the week: ándale pues

This is like "onwards then" and can be used when you want to leave, hang up the phone, or basically in any sentence when you don't know what to say. People say it to us a lot when theyre too busy to hear a message and we say it a lot when our plans fall through! 

 Bug of the week: butterflies! There have been butterflies everywhere this week and theyre so cute! 

spiritual thought: we talked in district council this week about rededicating your call to Jesus Christ. And how when sometimes you feel stretched thin, it's actually because you've bound yourself to Christ with your covenants, but sometimes you pull away from him when you focus on the wrong things. So you feel stretched apart because He's still holding onto you, but your will isnt aligned with His. So when you realign your will with Jesus Christ's will, you can feel your burden's lightened and focus on what's most important!  We also talked about burying your weapons of war , like in Alma 24. Go read it and pick a "weapon of war" to bury thus week in order to be more centered in Christ! 

I love you all! 

 hermana Morales 

Google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1vpWDchCEHN3CsEk6

Spiritual Fingers 🙌

 ¡Hola hola! I hope everyone's week has been great! Its been an exciting and eventful week here in Nogales! Time has been flying - we're more than halfway through this transfer already, just 3 weeks left! This week I'm actually excited to write an email because awesome things have been happening! 

We have so many awesome friends!!!! Let me tell you about two awesome people and one referral miracle: 

️ Lil Jose - he is a cutie little 9-year-old that we've set a million baptism dates for and it just hasn't worked out. BUT we finally finished teaching him all the things he needs to know, and we finally were able to get in contact with both of his parents and coordinate an official date for him to be baptized!! So the Saturday is going to be a party because Lil Jose will be baptized!

️ Martha - she is the sweetest old lady who we met in my last transfer! She has such strong faith and kinda got in a car accident a couple weeks ago and all sorts of crazy stuff has happened - we thought a pastor came to her house but it was just a psychologist (??), we meet someone new every time we visit her, ect. but the Rio Rico hermanas have been nurturing her and she is now...... on date to be baptized!!!! So pray for her to continue to prepare! She is amazing.

️ Referral - Referrals come from people who have seen an ad on Facebookand clicked on a link and put in their information, whether to come to church or have a missionary visit or come to our English class. A lot of the time the people who fill them out claim to have never filled one out. Or don't answer our attempts to get in contact with them. BUT this week, we decided to drive up to this neighborhood that was far away from where we usually spend our time but we felt like we needed to go. Once we got there, we didn't feel like we should knock any of the doors (kinda creepy) but then - we got a referral!! And he lived just 5 MINUTES away from where we were!! We were in the right place at the right time! So we sent him a little text and stopped by - the sweetest old man I've ever met in my life! It was such a miracle! 

Other highlights: 

️ Hermana Black and I performed a musical number in one of our wards!

️  we were knocking one evening and it was sprinkling rain but then it started dumping rain and we got soaked! but a nice lady lent us her umbrella! 

️  met a cool guy and chatted about his landscaping projects 

️ Hermana Woodbury made some delicious bread this week and i taught her how to play the violin (see the video on my Google photos)  

️ Throwing away years worth of hermanas' stuff cluttered in our apartment - clean apartment = happy life! 

To explain my email title, I told our district about show choir, which is the big thing in Iowa, where they do spirit fingers instead of clapping. But we renamed it spiritual fingers, and we do it anytime anyone's dropping bars or sharing an awesome spiritual thought! 

Lowlights:

Stuck with two yapper grandmas for 45 minutes and all our plans for the evening were dashed  

The Case of the Lost Mac n Cheese™️ - my mom sent me 2 boxes of the good mac and cheese and I went to make one of them this week and I couldn't find it! It was gone. I looked everywhere and I swear on my life I did not eat it and forget, it's just gone. It was really tragic.  rip mac n cheese 

 Bug of the week: cricket... in flour form! That's right, there's a guy in our ward who knows how to make banana bread with Cricket flour, and we ate some - 8/10 would eat again!  

Spanish word of the week: "así es". Its kind of like "yup", this is what we say when someone is talking and we don't really know exactly what they said but we want to show that we were listening. We say it a lot when we're stuck with a yapper and trying to leave.

 Spiritual thought 

This week I've been thinking a lot about our life and journey on the covenant path - all the promises we make to God as we get closer to Him throughout our lives. We've had lots of opportunities to talk about baptism this week and we've been trying to help people understand that it's not the end of our journey. It's actually the beginning of a beautiful lifelong progression to become more like Jesus Christ! I'm still working on how to convey that to others but I feel like this talk really helped me understand how all of our covenants are connected. So give it a listen if you have a chance! 

Put Ye On the Lord Jesus Christ

By Sister J. Anette Dennis

Put Ye On the Lord Jesus Christ

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/14dennis?lang=eng

Sorry this was a bit long but to everyone starting school, good luck! To everyone at byu send me pictures when classes start!! And if you feel so inclined as to send me a letter here is my address  

797 W Mesa Verde Dr #9 Nogales AZ 

Google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1vpWDchCEHN3CsEk6

Jesus loves you! Go help someone else feel His love for them this week!  love, 

Hermana Morales 

Do it and you're cool!

 Hello everyone!! I was slacking on writing my email but then Hermana Black said "do it and youre cool" which is the win-all reason to do something in our district for some reason. So the email is being written!

 This week, we saw lots of blessings! We were fed dinner every day this week, a little 8-year-old girl we were helping prepare got baptized, there were beautiful sunsets, some people in our ward brought a soft-serve ice cream machine to church, Hna Woodbury and I bought giant matching shorts and cool t-shirts, we went on a district hike + yoga session, and had an awesome district council which always fills my cup! When the work felt tiring and hard, I would see little things that reminded me that God is aware of what we're up to down here in Arizona and that He has a plan for us! We've also been doing district prayers every morning, where we all call and pray together, and its been a great way to start the day off on the right foot. 

Also, our friends came to church for the first time in my mission!! Its two awesome teenage girls and the young women's group is doing SUCH a good job of helping them feel welcome and invited!! We appreciate them.  

Spanish word of the week:  bendiciones = blessings 

 Bug of the week: tarantula!! It had been a while since we saw a tarantuala but right as we left a members house there was one getting ready to knock on the door! He was fast and ran away real quick.  

Spiritual thought: this week in district council (where all 3 companionships of missionaries serving in the area meet together) we talked about receiving revelation and how when a thought comes into your mind to do something good, act on it!! It doesn't matter if you think its from your own thoughts or the Holy Ghost - act right away. We were invited to pray every day to be trusted with one spiritual promting and promise to act right away - not to push it away with logic or stall, but to do it even if it doesn't make sense. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways! And when we choose to do what He asks, He'll trust us with even MORE opportunities to take care of His children! How lucky! 

I always love getting emails - send me a little thought if you get a chance! God loves you!  love, 

Hermana Morales