With God All Things Are Possible

Hello everyone!! I hope your week has been amazing so far! I feel like it's so true that the days are long but the weeks are short because it feels like it was just P Day but also how has it been just a few days since all of this happened? 

Highlights:

️ Rainy week - It's monsoon season in Rio Rico right now so it's been miraculously cool and cloudy this week! It's actually been such a blessing because its one less thing to get used to in my first few weeks. 

️ Cookies - On Friday we made probably 50 cookies that we took to our neighbors, people we're teaching, and the other missionaries! Plus we had a few extra too  it was a fun and different way to spend a couple hours of our day! 

️ The best 2 hours of my life - a big part of missionary work is knocking doors, and last Wednesday we had the best knocking bout of my entire life (even though the bar is low). It was pretty toasty that day but as we were knocking, we knocked on the door of this house that had a barn next to it that had a poster on it that said "with God all things are possible". We told the guy at the door that we liked his sign and he had 2 extra ones that he GAVE us for free!! It was super awesome and he was so chill, and then later we looked at our tracking app and it said that he was had been kind of mean to missionaries in the past but he was so nice to us so it was such a blessing!.

️ Part 2 - literally 2 seconds after the cool poster guy, we thought we heard music for and ice cream truck but didn't see one anywhere so we were a bit sad because an ice cream truck would've been awesome. But a few minutes later, an ice cream truck actually turned onto the street we were on!! We ran up and bought ice cream from these super awesome ladies and we got to eat 

 ice cream while we were walking!! It was a great day.

️ Finding people - last week, we found a lot of people who were interested when we first talked to them, but less interested when we contacted them later. But this week we found 2 awesome people who are actually excited about learning about the gospel!! We had a lesson with this sweet lady Karina who is so excited to read the Book of Mormon and has lots of questions! We also talked to a mom who said that she's been thinking about going back to church because she wants to be closer to the word of God! Its so amazing seeing the people God has been preparing that we've been able to find and share God's love with. They are so ready to come closer to Christ!

️ Temple trip feat. Trader Joe's - this morning we got to go to the temple!! It's about an hour and a half away but it was so worth it because the peace that comes from the temple is just what I needed this week. And we stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home so we have some fun meals for this week AND gouda cheese!  

️ Member meal - we had dinner with the bishop and his wife and I tried cow intestine  mostly just so I could say I ate something crazy. Now that I have, I will not be doing that again. 

Spanish word of the week: relámpago  (lightning) this week because of the storms, there's also a bunch of lightning! We have a deck in our apartment, so we've just been going out at night and appreciating the awesomeness of nature! 

 Spiritual thought:  In our zone-wide meeting, we talked about our call as missionaries and how important it is to act with urgency and diligence. Our job as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ, and we're literally called to represent God himself! Our mission President said "your voice is His voice, your acts are His acts". What a responsibility! Its such a privilege to be representing my Heavenly Father, and while it is sometimes hard to get up in the morning, when I remember who I'm representing and what He would do in this situation, it's a lot easier to share this message with joy and boldness! I think as members of the church and as people who have the joy of Christ's message in our lives, our job is to do what He would do if He was here right now. When we work diligently, God will magnify our efforts and I've seen that so much already!

God loves you all so much!! I always love to hear from you guys! Also, if you have quick easy recipes that you love, I'd love to try them! You are all awesome! Love,

Hermana Morales 

Welcome to Radiator Springs!

¡Hola a todos! I made it to Arizona!! It was a trek but we're here now! This email will probably be a bit longer and organized differently but it's all good stuff! If you don't read anything else, read the spiritual thought! 

Travel 

On my last day of the CCM, I slept for about 2 hours and then had to wake up to get ready to go at 12:30. Hermana Ballard my diva queen woke up and helped me with my luggage even though it was so early and we said goodbye too  it was tragic but it's also awesome because we're all going to learn so much and help so many people! We got on a bus to the airport at 1 and it was smooth sailing from there! There were 7 of us headed to Arizona and our flights were chill, thank goodness. We made it and hopped in a van with the APs to head to the mission office! We got the most fire horchata and met all the other new missionaries! I love meeting all these awesome people from all over all here for the same reason I am. 

Companion #2! 

I met my trainer!!! My mission does this cute thing where we stand in a circle and the new missionary goes into the middle and their trainer is announced and everyone is so excited for everyone! My trainer is.... Hermana Black!! She's actually the GOAT and I'm so glad she's my first comp!! She's so good at sharing the joy of the gospel with everyone we talk to and getting other missionaries hyped for the work! She is seriously awesome and I'm learning so much from her every day. 

The Area! 

My first area is Rio Rico! To address the subject of my email, it looks a bit like Radiator Springs from Cars plus Camp Green Lake from Holes plus Tatooine. It's about 2 hours from the mission home and the temple, but it's also awesome because it's a small town and there's lots of nice people! And cows wandering around. Everyone said I should prepare to never see green again for 18 months, but it's been pretty beautiful and lots more green than I thought there would be! There are lots of mesquite trees, so lots of the same green, but also lots of people with awesome yards full of flowers and plants. Hallelujah for plants! Also, you can see the stars so well here and see for so far even though there are mountains! So there is beauty to be found in Arizona. 

The Work 

Basically as soon as we dropped our stuff off at the apartment, we got to work! We do a lot of knocking doors, which is awesome and crazy scary at the same time - I've been practicing this for so long and now it's actually happening! We also "flow", where we hang out in a parking lot (there's only one good one at a grocery store in this tiny town) and say hi to people and ask to share a scripture with them. It's actually crazy bc my natural instinct is not to inconvenience people, but this is an important message to share! And it's a lot more successful than knocking because people can't just hide from you in their homes. There are lots of awesome people here and we're not really teaching anyone right now, so we're doing a lot of finding and meeting people! We're also assigned to 2 wards (Spanish and English) and they're awesome! They have so many activities to invite friends to and they're all so supportive and loving to one another, which is epic. We helped a couple who just finished their senior mission move stuff to their house yesterday with this cool brother from the ward who is a bug expert, and he found a BLACK WIDOW SPIDER in one of the cabinets. He let us all see it before he killed it and it was actually crazy huge.  Lots of good work to be done here and we're grinding every day which is awesome! 

Spiritual Thought 

My mom (the most awesome and wise person I know) sent me a letter saying that while the CCM is nice, it's like Adam and Eve living in the Garden of Eden - really convenient and comfortable for a while, but after some time you realize there has to be more to life than green parrots and playing games in Spanish class every day. So we go out to the field! Where it's hot and dusty, there are black widow spiders, and people run to their cars to avoid talking to you. But you also grow your own testimony and share it with the people who are willing to listen! And it takes a lot of work and discomfort and sweat, but you can share the joy of Jesus Christ that you have in your life with other people, and it's much more fulfilling. So even though it's not the easiest thing to be doing, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to work hard to help other people more than myself for 18 months. 

2 Nephi 8:3 

For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

If you have advice on the first few weeks on the field and what helped you, I'd love to hear it! Or just reach out for fun - emails are the best part of my day! I love you all and Jesus does too! 

Hermana Morales :D

Officially in Arizona!

(All of the missionaries that arrived from the CCM with Leah. It turns out they were all in a beginning-Spanish district there together, but Leah was blessed to be with Hermana Ballard and all of her intermediate-Spanish besties. Her circle was just a bit wider from day one!)

Hermanas Morales y Black!

Leah's first district. It would appear that she and her comp bring the hype!

Roadrunner!

La biblioteca!

The view out her front door. 

15 minutes north of the U.S./Mexico border, in a beautiful but literal crack of the desert. 

Welcome to Arizona, finally!

Traveling to Arizona

 The second big travel day of Leah's mission happened while the rest of us were in Utah and in and out of service. We were delighted to connect with Leah when she was at the mission home in Arizona! This is the quick email that she sent us that night. Leah loves the temple and I am so happy she started her time in her mission there. 

Hello! I can actually write about what I want to say know because we're at one of the senior missionaries homes for the night! This bed is SO cushy and I know I'll sleep so good. Arizona is beautiful! We went to the temple and there were beautiful plants everywhere and the sunset was so pretty! Driving around reminds me of high school musical 2, radiator springs, tatooine, and holes all at the same time. Also a lot of the buildings have those red wavy tile roofs so it kind of just looks like West Des Moines sometimes. I'm excited to meet my companion tomorrow and actually start connecting with someone! It'll be awesome and I'm excited for a day where I'm not too pooped to notice anything. I'm so glad I got to call you guys today and I hope your time at Grammy Q's house is fun! Also we get to go to the temple every p day if we want! Anyways I love you all sooooo much!!! 

While Leah was en route to her first area, I recieved this email- it was a clerical error but I actually LOVED reading it. I needed the reminder that time will continue passing day by day until this mission is completed! 

Dear Parent(s),

Your daughter, Sister Leah Morales, will return home 16 Nov 2027, after successfully completing her service as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Arizona Tucson Mission. We know that Sister Morales has a testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Church and the Restored Gospel.  We pray that she may have many opportunities to serve in the Church to continue her eternal progression as a child of God.

We appreciate the service your daughter has given while on her mission. We love her and consider it a privilege to have served with her. She has served with love and devotion and has blessed many lives in the Arizona Tucson Mission. 

We thank you as her parents, for all you have done to raise her up unto the Lord, by helping her prepare to serve a full-time mission.

With Love and Appreciation,

President and Sister Loo
Arizona Tucson Mission
Mission Leaders

I love this sweet face. Day by day she is collecting the experiences that are shaping her testimony, her faith and her future!