Prayers are answered...May 18, 2009

Every morning we gather (me, Justin and Brooklyn) and pray for the safety of Brandon...as I know many of you do. Well, it looks like this week especially our prayers were answered.


Hey there!

Well I will put it this way.... this week had some of the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows, As you will see from the pictures I have attached.Sunday was probably the worste day of my entire mission. We went to go see Alister to get him to come to church and Gabriel. We got there and found out they had gone to a party the night before and were both drunk and passed out. So we are done seeing Alister. Hopefully later on down the road someone will find him and teach him. But as for now.... I just don't know. But we need to be spending more time with people that have more of a desire and as of now he doesn't.

So we left Alister's house to go see Gavino and remind him of church.... well we never got there.We were driving down to his house and got to the intersection of 24th and Leavenworth and we got in a car acident and totalled our car. A Toyota FJ Cruiser ran the red light and smashed right into us. It was deffinately one of the scariest moments of my life. She dragged us across the intersection and we spun, our airbags went off, and she drove away. She didn't get far though before she stopped, proably 400 meters. The good news is that we weren't hurt to bad. My hand is bruised as well as my forearm from the airbag exploding, my ankle back and neck hurt too. Elder Herrera has a black eye from his airbag and his leg and back hurt as well. Cops and paramedics came. It was a big mess.We have witnesses that said we had the green and she was going about 45 and ran the red light. But the other woman also says she has witnesses, which how could she? She is down the road..... I don't know. But anyways we have a court date on the 23rd of June. This is just crap. I was so mad. And I don't know.... The mom of this girl showed up and saw we were Mormons and started giving us crap about that then started swearing at me. I just didn't say anything. The cop lady was there and told her to shut up and not to talk to me anymore. That was cool.But yeah.... that was Sunday morning.

Let me tell ya... the mission is anything but easy and full of surprises. But I am having a really hard time with it right now. Hopefully things start to turn around.

Well we had a sweet lesson with Alina Savalla and her family and asked her to be baptized on the 13th of June. She said she would have to talk to her husband who is a strong catholic. But she knows it's true and wants to be with her family forever and we have said that she can be. I have had some amazing lessons with her. We are going over there tonight to have family home evening with her and her family. I am very excited! She said she was going to talk to her husband too. We haven't had much of a chance to talk to him yet. But hopefully he will be there tonight.From what she told us, he is a strong catholic, but doesn't attend there church anymore because he had some questions that he didn't think the catholic church gave great answers too. I am very positive that we could give him the answers he is looking for. So I am looking forward to tonights appointment.

So yes I am still cutting my own hair. And it's getting a little better everytime. I just do a 3 on top and a 2 on the sides and taper with a 1. Haha. So I am pretty much pro. I just don't like how long it takes to do it yourself. But oh well, whatever I can do to save money right? Plus I am learning a new skill.

So I have a trip to the dentist tomorrow morning. I was flossing my teeth like a week ago, and found a black spot on my gums. Underneath one of my teeth. So I am going to get that checked out tomorrow. Yay. Everyone knows how much I love the dentist..... ok not really.

I want to let you all know that Satan does everything he can to get us down. To make us seem worthless. To make living just hard. I have felt him so much recently. Even to the point where I have just wanted to leave. Like yesterday after that horrible day. But also, the Lord fights for us as well. He is there every step of the way. There is sacrafice in living the gospel of Jesus Christ. It isn't easy, and that wasn't the plan for it to be easy. Christ sacfriced it all for us. We have been asked to sacrfice just a little bit. To take one step towards the Garden of Gethsamine. The love he has for us is infinite. I have felt it. I know that he is watching out for me as my older brother as well as my friend. I love sharing this gospel. Come what may I am going to take it, learn from it, and enjoy it. This has been very challenging. Especially with the accident. But I know that this is what I need to be doing. I know the Lord has a plan for me and this is part of it. I read my patriarchal blessing last night when I was just thinking about everything, and my mission is talked about so much in it. This is a big part of my life. Thank you all for your support.I love you all! Live the gospel, and be obedient and I know the Lord will bless you.

Take care.
Love always,
Elder Moore

Mother's Day Phone Call

It was wonderful to talk to Elder Moore on Mother's Day. He is doing so well. He loves his mission. We heard so many stories that this email is shorter than usual. It is so wonderful having a child on a mission. I was in heaven hearing his voice, listening to his Spanglish, and just enjoying the man he is becoming.

So, here is his post from today!

HEY!!! Yes, yesterday was a great treat being able to talk with you all. I really enjoyed it! Like really really enjoyed it. :) ha it was great hearing all your voices.

So first off, about the redbox videos. I returned 2 videos for one of our investigators named Juan. You are required here to swipe your card to start. So did it charge me? Or did it just say they were returned? As you know.... we have no tv's or anywhere to watch movies. So ha I definately didn't rent them. But if it did charge me, let me know. Thanks!!!

So I don't really know what to write since we talked about it all yesterday. Things are going alright here. Last night we went and saw Alister. As you know I was really upset with him for not coming to church yesterday after we had gone in the morning and talked to him and invited him. He now can't get baptized this Saturday. He is just being lazy. He says he wants to get baptized, but if he can't keep the commitments, that isn't going to happen. As you also know, yesterday I was ready to drop him as an investigators since he isn't progressing right now, but after seeing him last night I realized I couldn't. I just love that guy too much.
Really all he has to do is come to church. As I mentioned, he was married. One of the most awkward moments of my life. I just wanted to disappear. But obviously I couldn't. Haha.

(This is Sheri speaking for a moment. Yesterday when talking to Elder Moore on the phone he told us of Alister's wedding. He said ten minutes after they were pronounced husband and wife, his wife decided she didn't want to married. These were her issues:
1) They were married at their house. She decided she wanted a church wedding instead.
2) She wanted her family there. Alister reminded her that her family was in the basement and wouldn't come up for the wedding.
3) She wanted his family there. Alister reminded her he hadn't talked to his family in five years, so why would he invite them to the wedding.
4) She wanted a mariachi band. Alister reminded her they didn't have money for a mariachi band.
Brandon said the wife asked him to find the bishop and have him tear up the marriage license. Of course this was not an option. As uncomfortable as the situation was, Elder Moore said, "Well at least they aren't breaking the law of chastity anymore!")

We set a 68 year old man, Gavino for baptism on June 6th. He has some word of wisdom problems we have to work through, but he really wants to stop drinking for his family. So we are going to continue to work hard with him. He is a cool old guy.

Carmen, our baptism that was set for May 23rd, couldn't pay the rent and was kicked out of her little spot, and we can't find her. So that's sad.... Hopefully she'll pop up somewhere or give us a call. We were having good success with her.

Gabriel, still drinking. Didn't come to church. We have to move him back as well. I think the hardest thing to do in the mission is to get people to come to church. I don't know why.... but they just don't come.

Same with Mario, we called him Saturday night and he said he would be at church..... Didn't show up. And he is the one that looks most promising right now. Well we are going to see him tomorrow and find out what happened. And also, set him for baptism on the 6th. He believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. So we are excited for him.

I think every month I have been out here, one of my friends has come home early from their mission. That's so frustrating to hear. Of course it's not going to be easy. It's the hardest thing I have ever done. It makes me mad how people can just give up. Why do they go home? Sometimes it is because of a girlfriend. Girlfriends can be so lame! I got pretty lucky! :) Amber told me if I came home she'd leave me. haha. Good girl. It's awesome having her support. But I would never leave this. It's so great. I love it.

I can't believe I am about to hit 6 months. It's beginning to go by very fast. This is the best thing that I could be doing at this point in my life and I am growing so much and it is just making me a better person.

I am glad my spanish is getting good. I have been working my tail off for over 5 months to try and get it. It's coming a long.

So sorry this email isn't quite as long. We talked a bit yesterday so you know everything that is up with me. Have fun hanging out with Brooklyn and doing arts and crafts. :) Haha, sounds like a blast! Today we played football as a zone and had a bbq at a nice park with a sweet little pond-ish lake. It was cool.

Well I love you all very much!!! Thank you so much for your support and it was so great being able to talk to you yesterday! Mom, I hope you enjoyed Mothers Day. I know I did! I know this gospel is true and that we receive blessings when we LIVE it. And live it every day. Not just on Sundays. I love it! I know it has been a blessing in my life.

Take care!!!
Love always
Elder Moore

May 4, 2009

Hey there!How goes it all in Utah? Hopefully good!

Things are going really good out this way too.... for the most part. If there could be a really good day in the mission without a baptism, I would have to say that it came on Tuesday. Tuesday we taught a total of 8 lessons! 4 with a member, and 4 others. Plus that day we contacted Mario. He was a referral to us from President and Sister Oaks, he is the president of the Nebraska temple. We went and saw him and he agreed with everything we taught him. And he said it would make so much sense to have another testament of Jesus Christ a.k.a. The Book of Mormon. We are going to have dinner with the Oaks family tomorrow and they are going to teach with us. He speaks better spanish, but is really good at english as well. It is going to be a great lesson. Also Sister Oaks called and said because it is Cinco de Mayo tomorrow that she would be preparing a lot of mexican food and it would be like a fiesta. I am looking forward to it. We are going to set Mario for baptism tomorrow. He is so cool!! He called Saturday night and was begging for our forgiveness that he couldn't come to church Sunday because he volunteered to help someone and he forgot about it. But he is a really cool guy and I look forward to being able to work with him.

We set a women named Carmen for baptism for the 23rd this week as well. I think she is going to end up needing more time. She is having a hard life right now and this is what she needs. But she is not keeping her commitments. It's so hard getting people to come to church. Probably THE HARDEST THING!

We found a new family, la familia Cordova. So awesome!!! There is 6 people in this family. 4 of baptismal age. And her mom, who lives across the street was at the lesson too. Wow! It was such a good lesson! They asked us so many questions, and we answered them all and they loved it! Before we could even offer Ana a Book of Mormon, she asked for one. She said she loves to read and looks forward to reading it. She also asked when we could come back. So hopefully we will get to baptize the whole family tree. haha. Because her parents live across the street. Her brother lives about 5 blocks away with his family. And her sister is getting married in 2 months and lives right there too. She loves how much our gospel focuses on families and how we can be together with them FOREVER! She also said she loves how we pray to God and not the virgin Mary. I am looking forward to our next appointment with them on Wednesday.

Alister is still doing really good and so is Gabriel. Alister and Erika took us to Golden Corral Tuesday night for dinner. That was fun. I was studying one morning and just reading the conference Liahona from 2007 and in there James E Faust gave a talk called El Poder Para Cambiar, or The Power to Change. I read the article and it talked about overcoming addictions, and families and just a whole lot of great stuff I felt that Alister and especially Gabriel with his drinking problem needed. So we are going to go over there tonight and talk with them about the article. I left it there for both of them to read.

So last night me and my companion got in a huge fight. We had just come out of a really really good lesson, and he gets on the phone and started swearing with another missionary. And I told him not to do that. So without going into too much detail.... We yelled and argued with eachother for like 20 minutes, because he said he'll do whatever he wants. And I just hate how before we go into a lesson or when we come out of one he starts swearing and it just really takes away that spirit we need to teach. So yeah.... that went really well. Oh well, I only have like 46 more days with him. I can handle that. I have to say that my mission has really tested my patience and my tolerance. But I feel like I'm getting better. :)

So I am going to send a box to Amber tomorrow and in there will be some pictures for you. :) Ok? Alright!!! Sorry it's been so long since I sent pictures, but they are a-comin.

So on Mother's Day...Well Cinthia said we can hang out at their house and talk and use the phone! So we can talk for as long as you all want. :) Sound good? We don't have a time limit on how long we talk as long as we don't use our own cell phone. So I will call sometime after ya finish church. And I can call back if someone else wants to talk later, ya know.... whatever. :) But it should be a lot of fun.

So speaking of missionary moms. I am good friends with Elder Winter, he is writing Kelsey Ludwig. We went to high school together. And I play basketball with him every Monday. So I was with him this morning. He is a cool guy.

So yeah Skip is definately the man! He is the definition of a true home teacher and friend. I love that guy. He had a really big influence on me and I am glad he is helping Justin so much to focus on him mission. I wouldn't want Justin to miss this experience for the world. It is a lot of fun and I am having some really cool experiences.

So Justin has got to be happy, as am I, about the Lakers taking down the Jazz like they were nothin! That's how they do it! Now on to Houston! And they will blow right by them too. Kobe is the man!!!I am sorry to any Jazz fans who read this..... Maybe it's time to pick a new team.... Something to think about. :)

Well I look forward to talking to you soon! Woo Hoo, only six more days! I love you and and miss you!!! Take care!!!

Love Always,
Elder Moore

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

April 20, 2009

Hey Fammers! What's a crackin?

Mom, that's awesome that Cynthia called you! She is so cool. That is just a really cool family. I am going to send home pictures the first week of May, and I have one with that family so you can see them. But yeah at dinner, (by the way they are very poor but feed us so so so much! And they love life! They really love the missionaries. They are recent converts of 4 and 6 months, her and her husband). But anyways... at dinner I asked her if she had free long distance and she said yes and that we could use her phone all day if we want. We can't call from our phone home because we don't have long distance, so they ask us to use someone else's phone. So she told us we could. And as you said she was like "call your mom. Call her, she would love to hear from you." Ha but yes I told her I couldn't. I have to follow the rules. :) But she did ask if she could call you. And I am glad she did. :)But ha, she is much too nice. I am not fluent in the language. Far from! But I am glad she said that. And yes, my reading in Spanish has gotten a lot better. :) I am glad to hear she said all those nice things.

Yes, we did have dinner with Kelly and her husband yesterday. that was cool meeting them. They also showed me a picture of dad and Byron when they were like 12. They were very nice people! And offered to have us over again. We did talk a lot about missions because one of her sons didn't go. And the other is 19 and doesn't know if he wants to go anymore. He has a girlfriend and he is going to school. And just isn't sure. So we talked a lot about our missions and the experiences we've had and how they have made us stronger. And just things like that. It was good.

So that's a major bummer to go from Texas weather to snowy Utah weather! How is the weather here?... Mmm... It's good! Today it's like 70. Saturday morning was nuts. At 8:00 it was pooring rain and really foggy! By 12 it was 70 degrees. But it's really nice. We are getting 60's and 70's.

Haha that is so so cool and Dusty is in your Temple group! I miss that guy! How is he doing? Isn't he just the nicest guy. Say hi to him from me. I loved being his buddy at special needs. We had a good friendship. And he has the nicest parents too.

Ok so Mother's Day.... Coming up! I can't wait! So our church is from 9-12 also. I will probably end up calling around 5:30 our time. I think.... So like 4:30 there. I will ask Cynthia and Mauracio when we can come over. They wouldn't care if we stayed all day there and just talked. But yeah.... I don't know actually when I'll call. It may just be a surprise and just after church sometime. And yeah I can just talk as long as I want. :) So I hope your looking forward to it! I know I am!

Man I feel so sad for the Sohm family. They are such an amazing family and definately don't deserve everything that is happening to them. Let em know I love them.

So this week wasn't too bad. We went and saw Arturo Vega and his family again. They are a really cool family. We are going to be seeing him again on Saturday and will set him for baptism then. We had a great talk about the Priesthood with him. He really likes it. We told him that you get the Aaronic priesthood at 12 and the Mel....(don'tknow how to spell it.) at 18ish. And he was like, well I am 33, can I still recieve it. And we were like OF COURSE!! So we had a great lesson with him. And he has a sons that are 12, 10, and 5, and a daughter that is 11. So that would be so cool to baptize their family. Things are looking really good for that right now. And especially with his wife and parents being members.

I am excited for this Saturday.We have an appointment with Maria tonight at 6:30. I have had some of my most powerful lessons with her. I am looking forward to it!

So last Monday we had exchanges with the Assistants to the president. I went out with Elder Marchant. Just an amazing missionary! But I was so scared because he doesn't speak any spanish. And well I am still learning. But we went and saw Gabriel, he has a baptism date for the 25th, but we are going to have to push it back, he is still struggling with the Word of Wisdom. But wow, we had an awesome lesson with him. And the spirit was so strong. And I understood everything he said to me and translated for Elder Marchant so he could be a part of it too. And we had such a powerful lesson with him about drinking and he kept saying I can't stop, but I want too. So we talked about how he could get help and shared scriputures and talked about prayer and the Atonement. And it was really really cool. One of the best I have had.

Alister is still doing really good. He is by far our coolest investigator and just really wants to learn. I love him. He is a great guy. We are working really hard with him. I love how he asks questions too. He really wants to know and has so many good questions. He is just a nice guy. We go see him almost every day.

On Wednesday we went to the temple which was great!! But before that, we were out in the area of the temple and our appointment we had out there fell through...so we decided to go walk around a trailer park out there and we found 4 single guys that had just moved here. They are all living together and just looking for work and we gave them each a Book of Mormon and we are going to go see them Wednesday. I am excited to teach them. They seemed really interested and one of the guys just moved here from Salt Lake, so he knows a lot about the church already.

Veronica called us and invited us to go to the Trail Center with her. That's rare. An investigator inviting us there. But I am really excited, we are going to watch the Joseph Smith movie with her. And try and set her for baptism. She is a strong investigator!

Also we found another guy named Gavino. He is an awesome investigator with a drinking problem too. He really wants to stop as well. He was some really good potential. Oh and also tonight we got a referal from ANOTHER family that we are going to see. We have been finding quite a few families which I am way excited about!So that's about the jist of the week.

Wasatch Running sent me 2 shirts! Our 5 years running shirt which is way cool!!!! I will send a picture home of it to you. And another one of our cool Wasatch shirts that they all wrote stuff on. Good memories! Ha they are funny! I miss that group. They are some of the coolest people I know. So the race is next Monday. And I will be representing the store. :) But I don't know how good I'll be representing them. It's been a while since I have run. But I am sure I can get through 3 miles.

So I really liked that analogy Sister Dixon gave about Lazarus. That is a VERY COOL one. We had ward conference yesterday and President Bartlett, our stake president said something interesting too. He said, the Lord has made time for us, we need to make time for him. And he also said, "Be occupied doing so many good things, that there is no time to do those things that aren't pleasing to the Lord." I love that man. I also had my interview with President Newman this week. It went really really good! He said so many great things that I really needed to hear. He really is an inspired man.

Well I love you all very much!!! I miss you! Hope all is well! I am really enjoying my mission. It's hard being away from everyone. But I know I will see you all before you know it. I love serving the Lord. I love teaching people and meeting people. Take care!!

Love always,
Elder Moore

April 13, 2009

Hey hey hey!

Well ha, mom to answer one of your questions right of the bat, what did we have for easter dinner...... Well that is a great question. I had a bowl of Fruit Loops, and.... some of that Easter candy I got from you. It was great!

Well yesterday we had stake conference. Apparantly 6 states around here were having stake conference on the same day. Well guess who spoke to us?... Well Steven E. Snow, president of the 70, Also the woman who is the primary president, Dallin H. Oaks, and drumroll.....President Thomas S. Monson! It was a great conference. We watched it on the tv though, ya know they weren't actually there. But it was still good. We had a good turn out in the spanish room. It was packed. It was a good stake conference. They spoke about needing a spouse that supports you in what you do and your beliefs. And temple marriage. And things like that.

Well this week was... I guess a pretty good one. We found 13 new people to teach. Three families. It's very rare to teach families here. Most are here alone working, and their children are still in Mexico or any other country they are from. We were very fortunate this week to find 3!! I have been praying to find a family to teach and this week.... we got it! So we received a phone call from a guy that lives in California, he said that he was going to be out with his wife and wanted us to teach the gospel to his son and his family that lives here. So him and his wife came out from California and we went over there on Friday. So we came to find out, the guy we are teaching, his name is Arturo, his wife is a memeber but hasn't gone to church in 10 years. That's great, he will have really good member support! Also a co worker of his was there, she is a returned missionary, she has been back for a year and a half. So we had me and Elder Herrera, the 2 parents, the returned missionary, and his wife. Wow, lots of members at one lesson! It was great though! I think he is definately going to be baptized. We have a return appointment this week. And after our amazing lesson.... it was a good one! They fed us a huge spaghetti meal! It was great! They are a cool family. They have an autistic boy who is 5. He is way cool. They were like, say hi to Elder Moore and he said "Hi Elmer Moore" Ha it just made me laugh.And then as a I mentioned we found 2 other families that we will be teaching this week.

Alister is still moving along. He is such a cool guy! We really like him and enjoying teaching him. He is just funny and cool to be around. Gabriel, he is still having Word of Wisdom problems, but is progressing. He is better now than when we found him. So things are going good there. Slowly but surely. Georginia, we had a really good lesson with her on Saturday night about prayer and faith, and we read parts of Enos with her. She will be baptized in May. We spoke with her about this. And she says she feels really good about it, but wants to learn a little more.

Aren't the thunder and lighting storms just crazy! They are so different in the midwest then in Utah. They are so neat to watch!

So about what you said about how God prepares people and puts them in our paths. That is very true. It talks about that in section 100 of Doctrina and Convenios. It says that the Lord had people prepared for us where we are and that he will place them in our paths. It also says in Preach My Gospel, pray to recognize these people.

So by the way. Wow, I am out of shape. But this morning me and Elder Herrera played 30! games of tennis. Yeah we played for a while! It was a lot of fun. But I am sore. I don't know how I am going to run 3 miles at the end of this month.We saw a car stalled on a hill, it died. And a guy trying to push it up on his own. We parked our car and ran over to help them. Holiness! Pushing that car up that hill and to the nearest gas station wore me out. I felt like I had just run a race. That's when I realized I need to start running more and excersising more. We talked to the Bishop and he is going to let us use his weight room and his apartments. Hopefully that will help some. It looks like I have a double chin. Ha! Oh well! I am going to be sending home some pictures to ya the first week of May. Ok? ok!

Well I love you all very much! I love hearing from you. And in less then a month I'll be calling you! Woohoo! Hope your excited. I am! Take care of yourselves! I love you all!

Love always,
Elder Moore

April 6, 2009

Family and friends- - -This weekend was really amazing! I gained a new love for conference this week and for our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. When I saw him for the first time on the t.v. I was like WOW!!! He is who I am out telling the world about. It was so cool! I watched conference at the Stake Center, which is like 30 minutes away. And watched it all in Spanish with a few investigators. I caught most of it. But I am excited to get the ensign with all the talks in it so I can pick up on what I missed.L. Tom Perry threw it down! We really needed that talk. It's true, knocking doors is a complete waste of time. Most baptisms come from member referalls so we really needed that talk. I was so excited he addressed that. Every member a missionary! Just like David A. Bednar said.Henry B. Eyrings talk in the Saturday morning session was absolutely amazing! About the atonement and about Christ. Jeffrey R. Holland always gives great words of advice and the talks he gives are always incredible! He is definately one of my favorite speakers. Yes! Henry B. Eyring's talk about "Man Down" in priesthood was really good! They truly are inspired men of God. It was really neat to be able to hear them all speak. As if God himself was speaking. "As by my mouth, or the mouths of my servants it is the same." I totally saw that. It was like being taught from on high.I really enjoyed conference and hope you all did too. Probably the 2 most powerful words from Conference I thought were "CEASE NOW!"- Thomas S. Monson. Wow!I thought the genereal theme seemed to be focused so much around temples and strengthing families. As well as prayer. Just an amazing conference!

Well this week was... well another week. Elisa moved to California which was a bummer. She is going to be baptized out there. She left to go out there for her mom's surgery. So the missionaries out there are going to be baptizing her. I am just glad she is going to be baptized. We are all on the same team. Alister, well.... he found a job the day of his wedding and we weren't able to marry them. We showed up with the Bishop at the scheduled time and Erika said he had found a job that day. They will be married this week. And then we can finally baptize Alister. He is an awesome investigator.Georginia came to Conference yesterday. That was great. I was able to talk with her a little afterwards about what she felt and thought of the conference. She has been to church 10 times now. We are just waiting for her to receive an answer to her prayer. We are going to go over there tonight and talk with her. She is living with La Familia Ramirez, a recent convert family who is VERY strong in the church. So, I have high hopes for her and she has great member support.Veronica also came to Conference and really enjoyed it. I have a strong feeling that she is going to be baptized. I just wish she wasn't living with her brother who doesn't want us over there.Her Dad, Jose, he had a baptismal date when I got here. But stopped talking to the missionaries. We weren't able to talk to him for a little over a month. But one day this past week I felt the impression to go over there. So we did. He let us in and we talked for about 45 minutes. We are going to go to the trail center with him this week and watch either the Joseph Smith movie or the Testaments. We'll see. He just said, when he feels something he will be baptized. He just hasn't felt anything yet.We had another very powerful lesson with Maria. When we left Elder Herrera said that was one of the most powerful lessons he has ever been apart of. I agreed. My two most powerful lessons have been with Maria. She has had a very hard life and gets pretty emotional when we teach her. Her daughters are members and she has good member support from them and from Sister Bailey. She moved to Elkhorn though which is like 45 minutes away. So it's hard getting out to see her all the time. Especailly with the miles limitation on the car. I really don't like that much. We have people that need our help but we can't see them as much as they need. Oh well.... Things are going really good with her.It's been an alright week.

Conference was definately the highlight. Still having a hard time getting Elder Herrera motivated. But It's forcing me to speak a lot more since he won't talk to people on the streets. So that's good in a way. I do all the street contacts.

So the last Monday of the transfer. I believe it's the last Monday of this month. The trail center is hosting a 5k race. President Newman will be running in it. He heard I was a runner and called up and said if I beat him he will have us over for his wife's home cooking. Ha! Well I haven't run since the hot dog night with my Wasatch friends. So 4 1/2 months and 18 pounds later here I am. Haha. By the way my Wasatch friends, Glen, Darrell, Eager, Brad, and Madison, I ate 8 tostadas on Thursday. I think I can handle 6 hot dogs and a few orders of fries when I get back. :) I wish I would have brought a Wasatch shirt out with me to represent! But yeah I am going to go run it. And try not to die. Elder Herrera is anit-running. So I won't be able to get much training in. But I'll find ways to get in shape.LIke running in place at the apartment or somethin. Ha ok just kidding. But actually I have been working out every day. And I benched 155 lbs. 2 days ago! I've never done that much before. So I am not too out of shape.

So that's about the news from Nebraska. The Spanish still continues to creep along. I think by June I will be pretty good.

This week here we had some horrible thunder and lighting storms. Thunder and lighting storms in the midwest are nothing like anything I have experienced before. We had hail and rain, and a snow storm too! Crazy weather week! but it's supposed to be 70's this week.

That is so awesome that brooklyn is teaching a sign language class after school!! That girl never ceases to amaze me with all the things she is capable of! Maybe she can teach me a little when I get back. That way I could be trilingual. Ha kinda :) I loved the letter she sent me too. She is so cute! I miss that little girl. Tell her I'll be writing her back. And how was her April Fools Joke? With her bandages and everything? Ah I was laughing so hard! The things she comes up with. Did ya take a picture of it?

So Amber came over for a little while huh? That's great! She really does have some amazing goals in life and can do anything she sets her mind too. She definately is an amazing girl like you said and very special. Ha yeah Alejandra told me she requested to be my friend on Facebook. She is one of our less active members we are working with.


I have heard a little about the new mission president. But I do look forward to reading that article. President and Sister Newman are incredible people though! From everything I have heard and seen they have changed this mission so much. He has really up the standard on us too these next 3 weeks. He has set some high numbers. But he truly is an inspired man. So we've got some hard work in head of us the next three weeks. I am looking forward to it!

Sounds like the temple thing is going to be crazy awesome!!! You'll have to give me all the details on it!Once again we were very blessed to hear the words of our church leaders. Live by them. They are what protect us. I love this work and I have such a strong and growing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all. Take care.

Love Always,
Elder Moore