Monday, March 29, 2010

March 29, 2010

Well as always... sounds like a busy week for you! No surprise there! But I'm glad it was a good one and that you got to go to the young women's broadcast. I'm sure that was a blast! I am very excited for conference this week.

This week should be pretty crazy! We have transfers on Thursday, so we'll find out who is going where on Wednesday. Transfers is always hectic. But I love it! And it's funny too, because everyone is always trying to predict transfers, and then it happens, and that same day, you start predicting for the next transfer in 6 weeks. It's a blast.

So we did go out to Crete on Tuesday and we looked at about 7 apartments and found 3 that we liked and 1 that we really really liked!! SO I hope that they pick that one. But it was a lot of fun pikcing out an apartment. I really do hope that they open Crete this week. We will find that out on Wednesday too.

So this week I accomplished my mission dream..... and I will warn you... it's a lame mission dream, but I did! So we have this van in the mission. It's a big 15 seat van, and we use that for transfers and stuff like that. I have always wanted to drive the transfer van! Always!!! I don't know why.... But only the assistants and the office elders get to drive it. Plus I don't have driving privilages, so no way am I driving the van right? Wrong! This week the office elders came out to Lincoln to move somebody and we met up with them in front of Best Buy to talk for a few minutes. And I asked if I could drive the van and they said yes!!! I was so stoked. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. SO I hopped in the van and drove it about 3 and a half parking spots and parked it. It was awesome!

So this week was another rough one. We are kind of in a dry spell right now. But we started to pull out of it towards the end of the week. It's funny... we've been trying harder and seeing less success. But that happens sometimes. And ya just got to go with it. We did find some sweet people this week.

AND funny story, well not so much funny as crazy, but it's a little bit of both. So Sister Quirk talked to this hispanic woman on the street and got all her info and called us to go over and visit her. Well we went over yesterday and guess who opens the door. A guy named Pablo! So what's crazy about this story? Well we were teaching Pablo and then he moved, and the person Sister Quirk talked to is Pablo's wife. So we found them again and he opened the door and I just said, iholi, and he said, iholi, then he said Come in!! So we talked with him and his wife for almost 2 hours yesterday. The wife is a lot more interested than the husband.... he just thinks that if you follow Christ you are good, no matter what church you are in, so a lot of the discussion revolved around that. But we'll see what happens eh.

We also had a pretty cool lesson with a woman named Maria Carrillo and her 3 sons this week. She is a recent convert and her 3 kids aren't baptized, they are 19, 17, and 13. So we have been working with all of them. Hector is the 17 year old and he is doing really well. I think that he should be baptized within the next month, we are hoping. But we went over there and talked alot about prayer and the espiritu santo. And the feelings that the holy ghost gives us as answers to our prayers. Then we each kneeled and each one of us said a prayer and asked God a question. And after we asked God a question, we waited for an answer before closing the prayer. So there was 6 prayers said and it was just a really really neat experience.

So how is everything going with the move? I've been talking with Elder Lee, he is hoping that a hot babe moves into our house, so he is cool with us moving. :) Haha that kid is hilarious. Ok, he isn't really ok with us moving, but he'll get over it when a girl does move in.

Well I love you all! Sorry that this email is so short again. As I mentioned.... things are slow... but we'll start picking up. It is supposed to be in the 60's this week. Love it!! I will get you pictures before you go to your scrapaway. Don't you worry mom. :)

So let me know how everything goes with Brooklyn's surgery. That is so neat that Justin gave her the blessing! That's very exciting. I remember giving my first one, I was terrified. And now out here, we give one if not more every week.
I gave one to Fidel this week because he fell back into temptation and drank. I was so sad and disappointed. We had had a decent day and we got home and I decided to call him, just to see how he was doing and I called and he was drunk. So I said Steve put your tie on, we gotta go see Fidel. So we went and talked with him for an hour and gave him a blessing. Some of the most amazing things are said in his blessings and he has so much potential but right now he is still weak. It's been hard for him. But he is dating a memeber in our group and she has been really good to him so he'll be alright.

It's ok that yo uaren't sending me anything for Easter. :) I'll survive. We should have a great meal though! Our member in charge of our meal calendar is a bum and has stopped showing up, so we don't have meals this week. So last Easter it was cereal for our easter dinner and this Easter, probably the same. But actually we'll have our money in by then, so maybe I'll treat my self to a nice t.v. dinner or something. :) It should be fun, we'll have a sweet dinner with some other missionaries. I have some way cool missionaries in my district. I love it! It's holidays like these that help you remember the mission. Like last Christmas was the best! Hanging out with Anderson and Eddington and Morrill. And we cooked a pheasant for dinner and ate rice with it. I love the mission! Well I hope you have a great week. I love and miss you!!!
Love,
Elder Moore

Monday, March 22, 2010

March 22, 2010

Wow!!! Sounds like an incredible week! I am so happy to hear that Justin was ordained to be an Elder! I am so proud of that kid and I wish I could have been there to support him. But it's ok.... I'm sure he did fine on his own, he is finally growing up. ;) Hehehe. But I am so happy for him! He is going to be an awesome missionary. The mission is one of the greatest experiences that any one person could possibly have. It really makes you a better person and shapes you into the type of person that God knows you can be.

Well this week was a pretty hard one too. We are running low on investigators so this last week and this week we haven't taught much lessons. We are in a bit of a dry spell right now. So I spent a few days studying on how to find people and listening to this CD by a guy in the 70 that talked about finding and I came up with a bunch of ideas. So I set up a dinner with the Bishop and discussed these ideas with him, and we also had the 4 english missionaries there too, and discuessed ways, outside of the box, that we could find more people. So April should be a lot of fun. We are giong to start a bible study class, we are also going to do a mutual activity with different workshops on how to give a way a Book of Mormon or bring up the gospel in any situation etc. with the youth and their parents. And then afterwards we are going to have a question/answer where they can ask us anything they want, or bring up any type of concern they have about sharing the gospel, or discuss the challenges they have in talking about it with friends and see if we can answer their questions. It should be way legit!! So I am looking forward to that.... assuming I am still here.

And here is the reason why I say that....So interviews were this week. And like ALWAYS my interview was like 25 minutes long. I swear I get the longest ones... and I don't know why... but anywho, me and President talked about opening Crete and he said he wasn't going to do it this transfer, but the next one. Which I was kind of bummed about that, but ah well. WELL.... the next day at like 9 in the morning I get a call from him. And he says... Elder Moore I got a big favor to ask of you... and I said, ok what can I do for ya?
And He says... well we got a new Spanish missionary coming in that I just found out about, so we are going to open Crete. I need you to go there and find an apartment, can ya do that for me? And I was just like HECK YEAH!! I was so excited! And then he says, yeah I knew you would like that assignment. So then I called Sister Morris and she gave me a 10 minute training on finding an apartment, so we went out there Saturday and found some numbers, so I gotta call those numbers now and set up times to go look at apartments out there. But I was so excited!! I'm gonna find us a good apartment! But it is hard too because they want me to try and keep it under 450 a month. Not easy I found out. But oh well. So pray that we find one so we can open up Crete at the first of April!

It will definately be hard, but I want that. I want to go out there and start at nothing. We were told yesterday by President Kearl, the first counseler in the mission presidency that we are in the most difficult ward. The Capitol Ward. He says a lot is expected of the missionaries in this ward. This ward has the highest baptismal goal in the mission. So if I get sent out to Crete, things definately won't be any easier. But I really hope I do go out there.

What else what else what else.....

I do want to say that the Spirit is bomb!! We were talking to Hector yesterday who should be getting baptized this Saturday we are hoping! So we went over to see him and he just said that he feels like he is in a maze. Just so confused and doesn't know what to do. So I asked him... how do you get out of the maze? And he said, I don't know... well I could cheat and just hop walls. Then something just hit me... open up to 2 nefi 31 17-18. So I did it, and it tells you how to cheat right there in those verses. So I drew Hector a maze on one half of the paper and a straight and narrow path on the other with that scripture next to it. And I handed it to him and said, so which to you prefer, which one is easier? And he said... well the straight one. And I said, ok then read those scriputres and he did. And he was like.... Alright, I know what I gotta do. Haha, it was way sweet!!! I love how much the Spirit can help you in any given situation.

Hector really has so much faith though, he has been praying so much, he and his brother went to go to a job interview and Hector said, hey lets pray first, and they walked in and had the interview and both got hired! Then his brother, Jairo, has been struggling lately and has really been struggling financially, with a girlfriend and a kid, so he prayed to God and asked him for help, and the next day he got a check in the mail. Just a random check. So he called us up and said, I want you all to start teaching me. So we have seen some miracles happen this past week.

So pretty much, I love my mission! It has changed me so much and really has strengthed my faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement. This has been an amazing experience. Although it definately has been difficult, I have loved it all. Lincoln was and is a whole new challenge than Omaha was. But if you have the Spirit with you, it doesn't really matter, it will lead you through any situation that you are put in. That is something I have really come to know since being on my mission. Doesn't matter if you don't know what to say, if you don't know how to deal with a suicidal alcoholic or a guy that is having marital problems, if you just stop and listen, the Spirit will always tell you what to say.

I love you all! I miss you. You are so right mom, it is going by so fast! But we are still going to have to wait a while to take the family portrait photo, cause J-Mo still has to go out and do his time. :) But he'll love it! I am really so excited for him! Him getting made an Elder is the best news I could have recieved today.

I love you!

Love,
Elder Moore

Monday, March 15, 2010

March 15, 2010

Wow, sounds like you all had a great week out there in Utah. Seems like I am missing some good basketball. Congratulations Brooklyn and Justin on winning your championships!! That is awesome!

I can't believe Cody Hatch is back. That is great. Say hi to him for me when you get the chance. Thanks! I think that it is a great idea to have the parent of a missionary speak once a month, since we have so many missionaries out now you'd probably only end up speaking once a year... maybe. ;) That's a good sign eh?

So this week was a really hard one. One of my best friends here in the mission got sent home. It's really sad. I loved that kid. I was his district leader back in Omaha so I was with him a lot. I hate when that happens. Just be strong against Satan and against his temptations. Satan is very real.

I really don't have a whole lot to say about this week. We had a zone conference which took ALL day. And then the next day I had to go out to Nebraska City and do 2 baptismal interviews, which Nebraska City is about 55 miles away. So that took up a good portion of that day. So this week was pretty slow.

I did experience something very interesting though this week. I'll just share a quick story with you. I was talking to a guy named Luis, he is one of our less active members, and Elder Stephenson was just hanging out there with Fidel and talking to him. And Luis was just talking about how rough things are at home with his wife and just talking about getting a divorce and asking me whether he should do it or not, or what he should do. And ha... I have no idea. I've never been placed in that situation before. So after he finished talking to me about everything that was going on, I honestly had NO idea what to say.
So I just sat there and looked at the floor for about a minute and a half, of just pure silence. He was just waiting for me to say something to him. And as I was sitting there I was just praying and praying and praying to know what to tell him. And it came to me. And I began to teach him and share scriptures with him about the situation he was in. So I have really gained a testimony of the power of the spirit and how involved God is in his work. I hate seeing all these strong good families fall apart. The gospel is supposed to bless families! I wish people would realize that and just live it! If we would live it, we wouldn't have these problems. It's funny how little God asks of us, and how much he gives to us, and we can't give back that little bit that he expects. I've learned a lot from my mission and from others mistakes. And I know that those things will help me in my life.

I do have a testimony of this church. I know it's true. And I'm glad that Jesus Christ did what he did for us. So that he could help us through whatever we go through.
I love you all!! Be strong. And yeah I know, Mothers Day isn't far off now. Just right around the corner. And I cannot believe it's already conference again! That was such a fast 6 months! I can't believe how fast it has gone!

Hahaha, mom, you are right! You got 3 awesome kids! And we got a great mom! I went to Omaha this week with Elder Winegar to take care of a few things, and I went and saw one of my favorite members there in Omaha, Sister Rivera. She is great! I am excited for you to meet her. She was just flippin out when I showed up at her house. We have a really good relationship. And she was asking me how things are going and I told her about the good and the bad and just made light of the bad and kept a smile on my face and she said..."Moore, that is what I love about you. You always have a good attitude about everything." And I think that is just how we are. We keep smiling, whether we are struggling or not. I do love our family. :)

I love you Mom!!!

Love,
Elder Moore

Monday, March 8, 2010

March 8, 2010

J Mo!!! happy 19th birthday man!!! I hope you had a great one. I can't believe that you are flippin 19 years old now! How is that treating you?

Yeah I'm at it early today because the sister missioinaries invited us to go play some tennis with them, and then we are going to play basketball afterwards, so it's a packed day.

Well this week was a very spirit packed one. It started off last Monday night. Elder Stephenson rolled his ankle so he has had a hard time moving around lately. So Monday night I took another missionary with me to our group Family Home Evening. Sister Kreber was in charge of it and she had asked Elder Stephenson and myself to do a role play. Well he wasn't there and she finished early. So she turned the time over to me with 30 minutes left and I had prepared absolutely nothing for this group of like...16 people. But needless to say.... it went really well. I shared a quote out of Preach My Gospel about how we obtain our personal exaltation only with the condition that we share the gospel with others. So then I talked about..... yup, missionary work. That is what the F.H.E. was on anyways.... so it worked out perfectly. So I taught them how easy it is to share the gospel with your friends. I seperated them into groups and had each of them practice giving away a Book of Mormon to a friend. It was a really fun time. And then I had a question/answer thing where I just let them ask me questions about the fears and challenges they come across when trying to share the gospel. I have found that the members really trust you with fears and concerns, because this is what we do as missionaries. We teach. It's when we are at our best...when we are teaching. All of them left that night with a Book of Mormon and 2 folletos to give away.

Then Wednesday, I spent the whole day in Omaha for a leadership training. I left with 4 other missionaries at 6:15 in the morning and we got back that night at 9:15. It was the most amazing meeting I have ever been too! President Kunz gave a great training on our purpose as missionaries. He talked about how our purpose is the same as Gods, Christs', and the Holy Ghost. (2 Nefi 31:11-12, 21). It was the best training he has ever given. And we also had 2 men there from church headquarters that trained us on what we need to do and should be doing when we teach. They taught us that we need to teach plain and simple. It was an amazing meeting! And then to top it all off, we got to go to the temple afterwards.

So yesterday as I was sitting in Sacrament meeting, I was thinking a lot about being a missionary. And how great it is to be able to share my testimony with others every single day. I bore my testimony yesterday in church and just about started crying thinking about how great this church really is. And what it takes to have a testimony of the church. We have to go through a lot of struggles and challenges to gain a testimonio. We have to study a lot and pray daily. But once we've gained that testimony, it's something that nobody can deny. That is one thing I will miss most about the mission, is being able to share my testimony daily. But yeah, I got really sad yesterday sitting there in sacrament meeting. As a missionary you spend the whole mission counting how many days you have left, talking about going home. And I myself am guilty of that sometimes. But sitting there yesterday I just felt really sad knowing that it will come to an end, and that I won't be able to go out and talk about the gospel everyday. So I gained a much greater appreciation for my mission yesterday.

Over the past few weeks we have been faced with quite a few challenges. They were really starting to take there tole on me, and I was just getting so frustrated. But as I was sitting in church yesterday I just felt so comfortable and so relieved. The thought occured to me that Jesus Christ took upon himself EVERYTHING, from EVERYONE that would EVER exist. He understands everyones needs and struggles, including mine. And I realized that I have been trying to do too much on my own and not relying on him as much as I should have been.

So my testimony is that Christ lives. That he loves us. And that he knows our individual struggles. That he took upon himself everything that we would feel so that he would be able to help us in our times of need. We just need to let him help us. He always allows us to repent. It's never too late. And he is always there with open arms waiting to receive us. I have gained such a greater testimony of the atonement of our Savior, and the love he has for each and every one of us.

I love you all!! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Moore

Monday, March 1, 2010

March 1, 2010

Wow..... I can't believe it.... you bought a house. Mom, that is crazy!!! That is great though! I'm very happy for you and this will be a very nice change. Change is difficult, change is constant, and change is good. So this change should be good for you all. But I still can't believe you bought a house.

Well this week I had a little surgery on my big toe. I had had an ingrown toe nail for about 7 months that I just hadn't taken care of and finally I decided to do it. Mostly because I hit my toe on the couch and it hurt. So I got an appointment with a doctor and he took it out. He stuck a needle into my toe which hurt pretty bad, but after that I didn't feel a thing. So I watched him cut my skin with some scissors and a knife and take out the toe nail that was in there. That thing was HUGE! The doctor asked me how long I had had it for and I told him for a while, and he said, ha yeah I can tell. So yeah.... So now I got my toe all wrapped up. It's great.

Also, we found a part member family this week. The mom was baptized in 1995 in Arizona and hasn't come to church since. She has 4 kids. We taught the 13 year old and 7 year old. The 13 year old, Joselyn is now set for baptism on the 20th of March. We are very excited for her!!! She is really cool. Her and her little brother are in Karate and were showing us all of their sweet moves. It was cool! And the mom is just a really really cool woman. First day I met her she was already giving me a hard time, plus she fed us. So I really am liking this family!

On Saturday, we were hanging out at Luis' store just talking with Luis and Fidel and one of their friends walked in. He was SO DRUNK! It was hilarious. And he offered to buy me a beer about 7 times and I told him no everytime. So here is the funny part, I was having a conversation with him in spanish. Then I walked away and started talking to Luis for a minute. Then this drunk fellow walked over to me and said something to me and I turned and answered in him spanish and he goes "WAIT WAIT WAIT, you speak spanish?!?!" And I looked at him and said, Man! I just had a conversation with you 2 minutes ago! Hahaha, I was laughing so hard. Drunk people can be....interesting.

So the work is still going really well. Edgar was confirmed yesterday and that was AWESOME! I love that guy. Hector and Julie came to church and they call us everynight telling us what they read in the Book of Mormon and The Strength of Youth, and Gospel Principles book. They are always reading and studying.

So how are my brother and sister doing? I haven't heard from them since Christmas so I hope they are doing good. I still can't believe you bought a house. That is very exciting and I can't wait to come see it. That is some pretty crazy news and definately not what I expected when I came to do emails today. I have a question though.... can I get released there in Sandy? And give my homecoming there come December?

Sorry this email is so short, not a whole lot happend this week.

I hope you all know that I love you! Keep me up to date on what is happening up there?

Love you, take care!

Love,
Elder Moore