April 27, 2009

Helloooooooooo

Hey everyone! Que Pasa? Hope all is treating you well there! This week was alright.This morning we had the 3 mile run..... Oh wow. I am terrible. In all honesty, no beating around the bush on this one. I haven't run since November, and it REALLY shows. So there is another 5k the last Monday of the next transfer again and this time I am going to train. Elder Herrera is going to ride the bike next to me and we are going to do a few runs through downtown Omaha. BUT I did beat President Newman... So that was good! :) Haha. But it was just a slow race. And then we played basketball for a little of 2 hours. So I am just dying today. But it's ok.... it's P-day, it's a good day to be dying. I will definately be taking a nap before we head out tonight.

So this week as I said, was just alright. Our really cool family, la familia Vega was not at our appointment on Saturday, which was really weird. We called Sunday to see if we could come by, and he had been in a car accident. He was on the way to the doctor for an appointment and passed out and ran into a semi in a construction zone. He woke up in the hospital. He has a broken leg and some scrapes and bruises and is on a lot of medication. But he is home now. Which is good. We are going to go see him hopefully Wednesday.

Well might as well follow one hospital story up with another right?...This week we got a call from a woman named Concepcion, also a less active, but she really loves us and tries really hard with her family and getting them all to church. She is a very sweet lady. Well she called us crying and she told me that her son had fallen and broken his arm and had to have surgery. It turned out to be a lot worse, his bone came through the skin, he fell on the tramp. So we went over there to her house and called her. Outside of her house there was A LOT of blood....But we called her and she said she was at the hospital. While Elder Herrera was on the phone with her a woman from across the street came over and I went and talked to her. She was mean and she said "You shouldn't be bothering her, her son fell last night and she is very sad about it, you boys are probably the last people that she wants to talk to so leave her alone." Ha! So I looked at her for a second, then just looked around, ha then looked back at her, it was kinda funny, I was just laughing to myself, and just making the moment awkward for her, since I do that sometimes. :) And I said, "Ya know what.... She called us on the way to the hospital and asked us to pray for her son, we were the first people she called. We are exactly the people she wants to see right now." Then that woman, just looked at me, and apologized and left. It was good. :)Oh yeah, and Abuelita was in the hospital too this week. our 70 year old grandma. But she is out now and doing better.

Last night I had a cool experience, we went over to one of our less active member's house, Carlos, and gave his 3 nieces blessings and his mom a blessing. They were the daughters of Carlos's sister. And she was there too. After the blessings we had a really powerful and spirutual talk with her. She asked if we could come teach her and asked when our church was. We are looking forward to being able to teach her. And with Carlos as member support hopefully all will go well there.

We recieved a good referal this week too. It was given to us by the temple president. President Oaks. He is having some work done on his house and has a hispanic working there. He gave him a pass a long card and shared a little bit with him. We have a meeting with him Tuesday night. I am also really looking forward to teaching him as well. So this week we had 2 good looking new founds.

Haha, we had a few appointments fall through one day this week and decided to tract in a trailer park. We ran into a hispanic guy that acutally turned out to be a pastor of his church. That was FANTASTIC! He went off quoting the bible and telling us how wrong we are. I felt really bad.... so many naive people in this world.

Alister is still doing..... well it's Alister, ya never know. Him and his girlfriend Erica are so funny and crazy. One day they are like ok let's get married tomorrow! And the next day it's like.... Well we don't know - he doesn't want to marry me. And then Alister tells us... She doesn't want to marry me. I don't know.... But we always have good lessons with Alister and he is a really cool person to be with. We see him a lot and he is going to be good. Just needs a little more time. That's all.

Before coming on a mission I thought that marriage was something that you just do... ya know? Ha well being on a mission has made me a little unsure... It seems like the thing NOT to do! What are your thoughts on that? Is marriage a good thing or bad thing?...... OK just kidding! I know it's a great thing and something I definately look forward too. But geez, there are SO many people that just have kids and live together and have no interest in marriage. But anyways... with Gabriel, still doing well, he is now drinking a lot less. He used to drink like 10 cans of beer everyday. He is now down to 2. Still struggling breaking the habit. But we are definately seeing improvement. Georgina, geez what to say about her.... comes to church EVERY WEEK. Came to conference. She reads the Book of Mormon, lives with recent converts. We teach her every week. But she continues to tell us she wants to learn more. Which we can't push or force anyone into this convenant with God, so we respect that. But she is so ready! So that is thatI think for now with how things are going here and progressing. Oh YEAH!!!!

How did I forget the "Jerry Springer" like moment.So ok we were over at La Familia Valenzuela's house, Mom you talked to Cinthia on the phone... yeah it's her family. Well anyways..... Mauracio hadn't told his mom that he was a mormon since she is a strong catholic and this week she came to visit. So she is there and we show up for dinner just like every Saturday night, and she was a little confused. And we thought that Mauracio had told her that he was a mormon by this point....... BUT no he hadn't.So before we eat he stands up and says mom I have something to tell you.... and I was just like NO WAY!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!So he says Mom.... I am a mormon, I was baptized 5 months ago! Ah it was so cool but then again awkward, especially the silent pause that came after it..... But then she eventually said, we all worship the same God, it's ok. And then she asked us some questions and we had a little intervention, ate dinner, and then went to the trail center and watched The Testaments in spanish. It was pretty cool! But then the next day the Valenzuela family didn't come to church... Well I hope all is well... Haha.

So mom it's funny you brought up your lesson on prayer. This week I had to do a training on "The Prayer of Faith". And I realized something while studying for it. That Alma's father (the father of Alma the younger) It says in like Mosiah......27:14? Maybe..... but anways when the Angel comes and rebukes him and says...... Because of thy father's prayers and his faith.... ya know I have come. And look what happened from his father's prayers. Alma was re-converted and baptized 1000's and wrote a huge part of the Book of Mormon! Because of that prayer of his father. So we have begun leaving lists of the names of people with a baptismal date and also our progressing investigators with our member so that they can pray for them. And we have explained to them the Prayer of Faith and how each prayer helps these people progress to the goal of reaching the waters of baptism. So I know like you mentioned, that prayer has a very powerful effect on how things turn out, and not only do we strengthen the ones that we pray for, but also ourselves. I have learned so much about the power of prayer on my mission and I have seen the power it has in other's lives as well. It is one of our most powerful tools that we have!

Mom!!! In the 160's! That is so so so cool!! Yes please do send pictures I really want to see!!! I am going to pass you up it looks like! Haha :) But that is so amazing! I am so proud of you. Can't wait to see the pictures and I will be sending some too soon. :)

So our weather has been like yours I guess. Friday it was 95 degrees and very humid! Unlike Utah. And then Saturday it rained all day really hard. The streets were literally covered in like 2 inches of rain. It was kinda like a little flood. And on Sunday we had the loudest thunder storm I have heard in my life. It was pouring rain, and the thunder was really shaking things in our apartment. It was crazy!! but cool at the same time. :)

Well I am trying very hard to stay obedient and I am keeping my intentions and desires on the good side. But I am sad at how little success we have had. Since I have been out here in this area there has only been one baptism and I don't really feel like I am fulfilling my purpose the way I should be. Our purpose is to find, invite, teach, and baptize. We are doing pretty much plenty of the first 3 but the last one not so much. It is very hard to get a person you've just found, to baptism. Harder then I imagined before my mission. It takes so much work. And a lot of work on their part too. Hopefully things will start to take a turn for the better.... We do have some people looking pretty good, but you never know. It's a decision they make for themselves.And yes mom I totally agree!! We only get one life to live so we should take advantage of it!! We should be happy and try and live our life to the fullest! Life is a great gift that God has given us. so BE HAPPY! :)

Well I love you all very very much!!! Hope all is well over there! I can't believe it's been just about 5 months. It's so crazy! It's going fast. But I am loving it and enjoying it. Hope all is well with you as well. And way to go Justin for getting everyone together for family prayer every morning. That is so great and I am very happy you are doing that. I can't say it enough. There is so much power in prayer.

Well I love you and until next week..... :)Oh yeah and mom you are becoming a really "techno-geek." With your bluetooth and all your wireless stuff. Oh AND an i-pod? :) I love ya!Look forward to talking to you! Just 13 days! Hope you are excited! Well duh.... of course ya are. :)Is all the fam doin good? :)

Love always- - -Elder Moore