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
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
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
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
Monday, April 13, 2009
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
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
Monday, April 6, 2009
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
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
Monday, March 30, 2009
March 30, 2009
Well Hello there!
This week was..... really bad. First off, Elder Herrera had the flu for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so we didn't go out at all. We just stayed in the apartment. Then he finally got better but.... He goes home in June and has no desire whatsoever to do missionary work. It is very hard. All he talks about is going home, and girls, and wanting to leave here. I hate it. It's hard to get him to do anything. We get along very well. I love him. But still, I have so much desire to go out and talk to people but he just wants to sit around. It's also hard because he doesn't speak a whole lot of spanish to me. So I have been doing A LOT of studying on my own.
Yes I do know Elder Quintana, he is a Spanish Elder in Denison, Iowa right now. I will be seeing him on Wednesday at Zone Conference. So why else was this week just bad?.... Well Alister did not pass his baptismal interview. Elder King, the one who conducted the interview asked him a question not on the interview that Alister didn't know. Ha...I think Elder King was expecting him to know everything.... but Alister obviously doesn't yet. I was disappointed. But We are going to work with Alister really hard this week and have him ready for Saturday. We are going to have the baptism and wedding in between conference sessions.
Elisa will be baptized this week also. Not sure which day right now. She is going to probably be leaving for California because her mom is having a surgery done. But she will be baptized this week. And she attended church for the fourth time. She really enjoys it. She is a lot happier since she quit her job. I like it.
Gabriel has a baptismal date for April 25th. Last time we were over there he was drunk. We talked to him for a long time. And he really has the desire to change. So we are going to be working with him extra hard. We are bringing Roberto, a recent convert with us on Thursday to teach Gabriel with us. Roberto went threw the same situation with drinking everyday. It'll be good to have him there with us. Other than that.... Not a whole lot happened this week.
Since receiving Elder Herrera as my companion the work has slowed down a little bit. And I really do hate it. We have so many people that have so much potential but we don't see them as much as we should. So I think I am going to sit down with him this week and just have a talk. Ha and be straight up. I am good at that.But I did receive some good advice from Amber's dad in a letter he sent me. He told me to try and find one thing positive out of each day. That has been hard this week. But it has helped me to realize sometimes we just remember the bad and forget the good. But when I have focused on the good it has helped to realize that no matter how bad the day was, we helped to change the life of someone. And those are the types of things I want to remember.
My spanish is continuing to improve. I can pretty much understand all of my church meetings now and teach all the lessons. That's good! But everyday conversation is hard. People use so many weird words I just don't know. But I am working on it. And using the little book Uncle John gave me everday. It is quickly feeling up with new words.
There is no greater feeling in missionary work than watching someone make that covenant with God and enter the waters of baptism. I have never felt the spirit as strong in my life as when I was there with Oscar. I can't wait to have that opportunity again with Alister and Elisa!
It is so sad to see missionaries not complete their missions. It is definitely very difficult and challenging, but it's not worth it to leave. I have never been tested so hard in my life as I have since I have been out here. But on the other hand I have never felt God's love as strong as this. It's definitely a lot of mixed emotions. But it's changing my life.
Oh yeah.... funny story. So we helped a member clean out her store since she was closing it down. And she bought us pizza. So I was eating pizza and one of the pizza's had mushrooms on it. I am not a huge fan of mushrooms, so I picked them off. Ha! So later that night on the same day we had dinner with la familia Ramirez. Ya want to know what we had? Mushroom soup. So I gladly ate it. I just can't win though. :)Dinner appointments are always interesting since ya never know what to expect.
I love you all very much! I miss you and hope that you are all taking care of yourselves. Since I am not there to keep you in line and all. :)I hope you are all looking forward to conference this week. It should be amazing. Being able to hear talks from God spoken through the mouths of his servants. I have learned that God has given us everything we have. We can't give back anything, except our will. We do that by making correct decisions and striving to develop the attributes of Christ. Continue to better yourselves. I love you Mom. Don't forget about the 1.
Love Always, Elder Moore
This week was..... really bad. First off, Elder Herrera had the flu for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so we didn't go out at all. We just stayed in the apartment. Then he finally got better but.... He goes home in June and has no desire whatsoever to do missionary work. It is very hard. All he talks about is going home, and girls, and wanting to leave here. I hate it. It's hard to get him to do anything. We get along very well. I love him. But still, I have so much desire to go out and talk to people but he just wants to sit around. It's also hard because he doesn't speak a whole lot of spanish to me. So I have been doing A LOT of studying on my own.
Yes I do know Elder Quintana, he is a Spanish Elder in Denison, Iowa right now. I will be seeing him on Wednesday at Zone Conference. So why else was this week just bad?.... Well Alister did not pass his baptismal interview. Elder King, the one who conducted the interview asked him a question not on the interview that Alister didn't know. Ha...I think Elder King was expecting him to know everything.... but Alister obviously doesn't yet. I was disappointed. But We are going to work with Alister really hard this week and have him ready for Saturday. We are going to have the baptism and wedding in between conference sessions.
Elisa will be baptized this week also. Not sure which day right now. She is going to probably be leaving for California because her mom is having a surgery done. But she will be baptized this week. And she attended church for the fourth time. She really enjoys it. She is a lot happier since she quit her job. I like it.
Gabriel has a baptismal date for April 25th. Last time we were over there he was drunk. We talked to him for a long time. And he really has the desire to change. So we are going to be working with him extra hard. We are bringing Roberto, a recent convert with us on Thursday to teach Gabriel with us. Roberto went threw the same situation with drinking everyday. It'll be good to have him there with us. Other than that.... Not a whole lot happened this week.
Since receiving Elder Herrera as my companion the work has slowed down a little bit. And I really do hate it. We have so many people that have so much potential but we don't see them as much as we should. So I think I am going to sit down with him this week and just have a talk. Ha and be straight up. I am good at that.But I did receive some good advice from Amber's dad in a letter he sent me. He told me to try and find one thing positive out of each day. That has been hard this week. But it has helped me to realize sometimes we just remember the bad and forget the good. But when I have focused on the good it has helped to realize that no matter how bad the day was, we helped to change the life of someone. And those are the types of things I want to remember.
My spanish is continuing to improve. I can pretty much understand all of my church meetings now and teach all the lessons. That's good! But everyday conversation is hard. People use so many weird words I just don't know. But I am working on it. And using the little book Uncle John gave me everday. It is quickly feeling up with new words.
There is no greater feeling in missionary work than watching someone make that covenant with God and enter the waters of baptism. I have never felt the spirit as strong in my life as when I was there with Oscar. I can't wait to have that opportunity again with Alister and Elisa!
It is so sad to see missionaries not complete their missions. It is definitely very difficult and challenging, but it's not worth it to leave. I have never been tested so hard in my life as I have since I have been out here. But on the other hand I have never felt God's love as strong as this. It's definitely a lot of mixed emotions. But it's changing my life.
Oh yeah.... funny story. So we helped a member clean out her store since she was closing it down. And she bought us pizza. So I was eating pizza and one of the pizza's had mushrooms on it. I am not a huge fan of mushrooms, so I picked them off. Ha! So later that night on the same day we had dinner with la familia Ramirez. Ya want to know what we had? Mushroom soup. So I gladly ate it. I just can't win though. :)Dinner appointments are always interesting since ya never know what to expect.
I love you all very much! I miss you and hope that you are all taking care of yourselves. Since I am not there to keep you in line and all. :)I hope you are all looking forward to conference this week. It should be amazing. Being able to hear talks from God spoken through the mouths of his servants. I have learned that God has given us everything we have. We can't give back anything, except our will. We do that by making correct decisions and striving to develop the attributes of Christ. Continue to better yourselves. I love you Mom. Don't forget about the 1.
Love Always, Elder Moore
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 23, 2009
Hellooooo!Hey there! It's me. Sorry this letter is coming a little later in the day then usual. We played basketball this morning for like 3 hours. I am so sore. I definately don't have what I used to have in me. But I am gaining weight. 150 now. We have been working out pretty hard core. :)So yes, Elder Shumway did get transferred to Grand Island. I am still here. Of course! With Elder Herrera. He was born in Mexico but is from Colorado. I really like him a lot. We get a long very well. He was the zone leader in my zone before transfers. So I knew him already. It's kinda hard being with him though because he goes home in June. So really that is all he talks about. I don't like it. It's hard to focus on the work with him just talking about that. But we are going to have some good success I think.I am going to be in the Spanish Omaha North for a long time. Because Elder Herrera goes home in 2 transfers. So I will at least be here 3. From what I have been told. I will be training the next new missionary that comes here in June. Ha! I have a lot to learn.So this week was a pretty good one.
Alister will be getting married to Erika on Saturday at one. And will be baptized at 2! Woohoo!! That is great news.We pushed back Elisa's baptismal date again. But this time for a good reason. She DID come to church this week again finally! She quit her job so that she could come to church. We will be baptizing her on April 4th. The reason it is going to be April 4th is so that we can baptize her and her mom on the same day! So we will be having 2 baptisms on the 4th.Georginia still has a baptismal date for the 28th and is progressing very well. She lives with members too and comes to church every week. Hopefully all goes well with that.So this Saturday and the next we should have a total of 4 baptisms. Hopefully all goes well. Please pray for them. Thank you! We helped Maria move on Friday. She has her own little apartment now with her daughter. That will be good for her. She was really having a hard time but seems to be doing better. We taught her again this week. And she told us she really felt some very strong impressions. That night at 11:15 we received a text from her that said we have made her think alot about things but really just wants to be sure before she commits to anything. She is going to be baptized. She is golden. Plus her daughters are all members and she has awesome member support from Sister Bailey. So all is going well there. We have an appointment with her Tuesday night. We plan on setting her for baptism then.
Speaking of moving we also helped the Bishop move. We are moving people left and right. This was a service filled weekend! We also found a new investigator.... Sophia. We taught her the first lesson and she was crying by the end. She told us she felt something too. we haven't been able to contact her since though. That's a bummer. But we will keep trying.
This week we had kind of a scary experience. I really need to follow the promptings of the Spirit. Well I do. But this time I didn't. We were walking down the road and a navajo indian guy told us to come in. I didn't feel entirely comfortable but we did anyways.... We got into his house and he started swearing at us. And saying that mormons are the worste people of all. That we killed his people to gain our land. And that we were devil worshippers. And then he swore at us a little more. Ha so I gave him a Book of Mormon, testified of it, and got the flip out of there. Yeah.... Crazy stuff.... There are some really crazy people out there!
My spanish is coming a long a lot better now. Still not great. But everyday it's getting a little better. I have really begun just talking and not thinking about what I say before I say it. My pronunciation is getting better, and my speed. You have to be able to talk fast here. It's nuts how fast some of them talk. And a lot mumble too. That makes it a little more difficult to understand but all is well.
I am the driver in our companionship. Elder Herrera had his driving privileges taken away. So I drive. I was so dang scared the first time! I hadn't driven in almost 4 months. yeah..... But I feel more comfortable now.
What else.........Oh yeah!!! I heard the temple dedication was awesome! From both you and Amber. And you both shared that the spirit was really there. I am so jealous you were all able to be a part of that. That is so cool!I am so sorry to hear about Papa. He is the sweetest guy!! How is he doing? Tell him I love him very much. And to make sure he keeps oxygen in that tank. Or ha.... whatever he has running threw there.
Oh something cool happened yesterday. We were teaching Veronica. And we hadn't seen her for 12 days. It had been awhile. We had to stop teaching her because she moved in with her brother and her brother doesn't like us. So she has our number, and she doesn't have a number so the only way we can get a hold of her is if she calls us. Well at the baptism of her step mom Pamela, we went and translated for her, this was 12 days ago. she said to us.... if this is something good I am going to get baptized. But I am going to continue to study. Well she showed up at church on Sunday! We didn't even invite her. We couldn't! And she was there! I was so happy!
Well Mom, I definately don't have all the solutions to our investigators crazy problems. But I am definately trying to help out. And the Lord plays a big role in it too. He does have all the answers. But sometimes we just aren't listening. He does answer prayers. And we just have to listen for the answer. I have a testimony of that. He is our Father, and he will speak to us. As long as we have faith that we will recieve an answer.I want you to know that through obedience we receive so many blessings! I have seen the blessings that come through obedience! The Lord really does bless us when we do what is right!
It has been a little more difficult with Elder Herrera in all honesty. He is great. But it is very hard to just do everything right with him. I am trying very hard though.I love this gospel. And I love serving the Lord. These 2 years are passing by fast. This is a great experience though. I am learning so much! I am growing and I am seeing the growth of people back home too. It is great!
Love always- - -Elder Moore
Alister will be getting married to Erika on Saturday at one. And will be baptized at 2! Woohoo!! That is great news.We pushed back Elisa's baptismal date again. But this time for a good reason. She DID come to church this week again finally! She quit her job so that she could come to church. We will be baptizing her on April 4th. The reason it is going to be April 4th is so that we can baptize her and her mom on the same day! So we will be having 2 baptisms on the 4th.Georginia still has a baptismal date for the 28th and is progressing very well. She lives with members too and comes to church every week. Hopefully all goes well with that.So this Saturday and the next we should have a total of 4 baptisms. Hopefully all goes well. Please pray for them. Thank you! We helped Maria move on Friday. She has her own little apartment now with her daughter. That will be good for her. She was really having a hard time but seems to be doing better. We taught her again this week. And she told us she really felt some very strong impressions. That night at 11:15 we received a text from her that said we have made her think alot about things but really just wants to be sure before she commits to anything. She is going to be baptized. She is golden. Plus her daughters are all members and she has awesome member support from Sister Bailey. So all is going well there. We have an appointment with her Tuesday night. We plan on setting her for baptism then.
Speaking of moving we also helped the Bishop move. We are moving people left and right. This was a service filled weekend! We also found a new investigator.... Sophia. We taught her the first lesson and she was crying by the end. She told us she felt something too. we haven't been able to contact her since though. That's a bummer. But we will keep trying.
This week we had kind of a scary experience. I really need to follow the promptings of the Spirit. Well I do. But this time I didn't. We were walking down the road and a navajo indian guy told us to come in. I didn't feel entirely comfortable but we did anyways.... We got into his house and he started swearing at us. And saying that mormons are the worste people of all. That we killed his people to gain our land. And that we were devil worshippers. And then he swore at us a little more. Ha so I gave him a Book of Mormon, testified of it, and got the flip out of there. Yeah.... Crazy stuff.... There are some really crazy people out there!
My spanish is coming a long a lot better now. Still not great. But everyday it's getting a little better. I have really begun just talking and not thinking about what I say before I say it. My pronunciation is getting better, and my speed. You have to be able to talk fast here. It's nuts how fast some of them talk. And a lot mumble too. That makes it a little more difficult to understand but all is well.
I am the driver in our companionship. Elder Herrera had his driving privileges taken away. So I drive. I was so dang scared the first time! I hadn't driven in almost 4 months. yeah..... But I feel more comfortable now.
What else.........Oh yeah!!! I heard the temple dedication was awesome! From both you and Amber. And you both shared that the spirit was really there. I am so jealous you were all able to be a part of that. That is so cool!I am so sorry to hear about Papa. He is the sweetest guy!! How is he doing? Tell him I love him very much. And to make sure he keeps oxygen in that tank. Or ha.... whatever he has running threw there.
Oh something cool happened yesterday. We were teaching Veronica. And we hadn't seen her for 12 days. It had been awhile. We had to stop teaching her because she moved in with her brother and her brother doesn't like us. So she has our number, and she doesn't have a number so the only way we can get a hold of her is if she calls us. Well at the baptism of her step mom Pamela, we went and translated for her, this was 12 days ago. she said to us.... if this is something good I am going to get baptized. But I am going to continue to study. Well she showed up at church on Sunday! We didn't even invite her. We couldn't! And she was there! I was so happy!
Well Mom, I definately don't have all the solutions to our investigators crazy problems. But I am definately trying to help out. And the Lord plays a big role in it too. He does have all the answers. But sometimes we just aren't listening. He does answer prayers. And we just have to listen for the answer. I have a testimony of that. He is our Father, and he will speak to us. As long as we have faith that we will recieve an answer.I want you to know that through obedience we receive so many blessings! I have seen the blessings that come through obedience! The Lord really does bless us when we do what is right!
It has been a little more difficult with Elder Herrera in all honesty. He is great. But it is very hard to just do everything right with him. I am trying very hard though.I love this gospel. And I love serving the Lord. These 2 years are passing by fast. This is a great experience though. I am learning so much! I am growing and I am seeing the growth of people back home too. It is great!
Love always- - -Elder Moore
Monday, March 16, 2009
March 16, 2009
Well Hello!!!Well this has been an interesting week, full of ups, downs, horizontals, and verticals. Missions are crazy. I can't say it enough. Well this is the last week of the first transfer. Yay! I made it through number one. There is a good chance that I will be getting a new companion. Elder Shumway has been in this area for 5 transfers, he is as good as gone. And the area will be mine, and probably, Elder Keentana, from Mexico. We are playing a guessing game right now. But that is what it is looking like.
Ok before anything I felt like I robbed you all a little bit.... I didn't really share how great of feeling I had after baptizing Oscar.So Oscar as you know was my first baptism. Holiness! It was so amazing, as I said the water was FREEZING but that didn't matter. I felt so much joy in my heart as I baptized him. Watching him change his life. And start new. I became addicted to baptizing. That was such a cool experience for me. I loved it. And I could just feel the spirit so strongly. It was just.... wow. I can't wait till the next and the next and etc. :) But now, there is no greater feeling in the world then being a part of that. Something crazy happened this week.... Well I started understanding spanish better. Ha yeah, nuts. I started teaching more, and speaking more, and understanding more. It doesn't feel like as much of a barrier as it used to be. Everyday it is getting a little better.
Ok so this story happened like 3 weeks ago but I keep forgetting to put it in here. So We were talking to a woman named Pastora. Ha she is crazy out of her mind. First off.... So I thought my spanish was getting better when we went and visited her. And she is a blabber. And she started telling a story about how one day she was on her porch and just lifted up on the ground and started flying. It wasn't a dream, this actually happened. And she said she was up in the clouds flying over Omaha, and then God set her back down on the porch. Mmmm.... I thought I must have understood that wrong. So when we left I asked Elder Shumway..... What did she say? And he told me, and I was like oh! I guess my Spanish isn't that bad after all. So I had heard right. She thought she could fly.
Ok so why did I title this e-mail.... I'm only 19. Well for this reason.
#1- My first baptism, Oscar Mendez. Well they have been married all of 11 days. And now seperated. He called us and told us to get over to his house. We did. His wife had kicked him out of the house, he was depressed, so started drinking again. And yeah.... We are trying to salvage it. And turn him around. So we spent a good amount of time over at there house talking with them. Funny thing though... she kicked him out. We called the Bishop and the Bishop took him to a shelter. Oscar had his Book of Mormon with him and started teaching people there at the shelfter. Oh yeah!!! He brought 2 other people with him to church. The guy is a missionary machine! Funny guy.
#2- Another investigator, named Maria. She is divorced, her husband and 3 kids are Mormons. We are teaching her in a member's house. Sister Bailey. She is really nice! And always has food for us when we come over.Well anyways.... Maria, lost her job, and left her dad's house where she was living because he is a drunk and beats on her. So she called us..... She didn't know what else to do, she didn't have a job or a place to stay and just said, "What should I do?" Well we called Sister Bailey and she stayed 2 nights with her and now a memeber in Sister Bailey's ward is renting her a place for cheap and she got a job at Applebees now. I think that she is going to be baptized. She has a lot of faith in us.
#3- Julio and Elmer, their apartment doesn't have light or gas. They called us..... #4- Veronica, her house doesn't have light, gas, or water. They called us....
Well at least people have a lot of faith in us that we can solve their problems. Haha. It is very hard seeing so many people suffering and not knowing what to do sometimes. It's like, ha everything we do is just winging it sometimes. But I love it! Elisa, once again didn't come to church. She told us she would be there and that she would skip work to be there because she wants to be baptized. We had a date for her for this Friday but she didn't come to church, she went to work, so we are going to have to RESET her yet again. Dang it. She was pretty sad when we told her last week that we had to move her baptism date to the 20th and not the 14th because she missed church. I wonder how she will react tonight when we go and see her. I liked her better unemployed. I am just being selfish now. But before her job we could meet with her whenever, now she is never home. I am glad she has work now.
This week during a lesson, a woman whipped out her breast and started feeding her child. HA! I just about fell out of my chair! Oh my gosh, I can't even write about it without being immature and laughing, so I won't say anything else about that.
Last week it was very foggy! Couldn't see much. This week it is like 65! So we aren't wearing suitcoats. Ah! It is so so nice!!So I have become hispanic. Well not really but I am working on it. I have hot sauce on everything I eat. And tortillas with every meal!!! In the fridge I think I have like 40 tortillas. And I do as the latinos to. I don't use a spatula to flip stuff. Just my hands. It burns sometimes, but they are getting stronger. :)So I have come to realize that spanish people are just too nice! They don't want to say no, so they lie to you instead. I wish they would just say no. Especially when they say thay are going to come to church, so we find them a ride and then they don't.By the way that is another hard thing. Finding rides. No one has cars here because they don't have jobs. And they don't have jobs because they don't have papers. No one does. But they all do have cool and sad stories about how they crossed the border to get here. It's neat stuff. but most of them haven't seen their kids in years or their wives or yeah.... I feel terrible just hearing there horrible stories.It's hard when people need this gospel. But they don't accept it. It's hard knowing the change that it can bring about in their lives and knowing that it WILL help them, but still, they don't accept it. They become content with the lives they live.
I love you all very much family!! I miss you like.... well I dont know. we will just say I miss you. :) The work is amazing!Every member of the church is a missionary and has the responsibility to share this gospel. Remember that. Many are searching for the truth but they know not where to find it. Share it. Because we have it. We know where to find it. This is an amazing work. The healing power it contains is undescrible. I know that this is true. I have given myself to the Lord for it. When we live it, we bring ourselves closer to our Savior. We can feel his love. Live it!I love you all!!!
Love always-Elder Moore
Ok before anything I felt like I robbed you all a little bit.... I didn't really share how great of feeling I had after baptizing Oscar.So Oscar as you know was my first baptism. Holiness! It was so amazing, as I said the water was FREEZING but that didn't matter. I felt so much joy in my heart as I baptized him. Watching him change his life. And start new. I became addicted to baptizing. That was such a cool experience for me. I loved it. And I could just feel the spirit so strongly. It was just.... wow. I can't wait till the next and the next and etc. :) But now, there is no greater feeling in the world then being a part of that. Something crazy happened this week.... Well I started understanding spanish better. Ha yeah, nuts. I started teaching more, and speaking more, and understanding more. It doesn't feel like as much of a barrier as it used to be. Everyday it is getting a little better.
Ok so this story happened like 3 weeks ago but I keep forgetting to put it in here. So We were talking to a woman named Pastora. Ha she is crazy out of her mind. First off.... So I thought my spanish was getting better when we went and visited her. And she is a blabber. And she started telling a story about how one day she was on her porch and just lifted up on the ground and started flying. It wasn't a dream, this actually happened. And she said she was up in the clouds flying over Omaha, and then God set her back down on the porch. Mmmm.... I thought I must have understood that wrong. So when we left I asked Elder Shumway..... What did she say? And he told me, and I was like oh! I guess my Spanish isn't that bad after all. So I had heard right. She thought she could fly.
Ok so why did I title this e-mail.... I'm only 19. Well for this reason.
#1- My first baptism, Oscar Mendez. Well they have been married all of 11 days. And now seperated. He called us and told us to get over to his house. We did. His wife had kicked him out of the house, he was depressed, so started drinking again. And yeah.... We are trying to salvage it. And turn him around. So we spent a good amount of time over at there house talking with them. Funny thing though... she kicked him out. We called the Bishop and the Bishop took him to a shelter. Oscar had his Book of Mormon with him and started teaching people there at the shelfter. Oh yeah!!! He brought 2 other people with him to church. The guy is a missionary machine! Funny guy.
#2- Another investigator, named Maria. She is divorced, her husband and 3 kids are Mormons. We are teaching her in a member's house. Sister Bailey. She is really nice! And always has food for us when we come over.Well anyways.... Maria, lost her job, and left her dad's house where she was living because he is a drunk and beats on her. So she called us..... She didn't know what else to do, she didn't have a job or a place to stay and just said, "What should I do?" Well we called Sister Bailey and she stayed 2 nights with her and now a memeber in Sister Bailey's ward is renting her a place for cheap and she got a job at Applebees now. I think that she is going to be baptized. She has a lot of faith in us.
#3- Julio and Elmer, their apartment doesn't have light or gas. They called us..... #4- Veronica, her house doesn't have light, gas, or water. They called us....
Well at least people have a lot of faith in us that we can solve their problems. Haha. It is very hard seeing so many people suffering and not knowing what to do sometimes. It's like, ha everything we do is just winging it sometimes. But I love it! Elisa, once again didn't come to church. She told us she would be there and that she would skip work to be there because she wants to be baptized. We had a date for her for this Friday but she didn't come to church, she went to work, so we are going to have to RESET her yet again. Dang it. She was pretty sad when we told her last week that we had to move her baptism date to the 20th and not the 14th because she missed church. I wonder how she will react tonight when we go and see her. I liked her better unemployed. I am just being selfish now. But before her job we could meet with her whenever, now she is never home. I am glad she has work now.
This week during a lesson, a woman whipped out her breast and started feeding her child. HA! I just about fell out of my chair! Oh my gosh, I can't even write about it without being immature and laughing, so I won't say anything else about that.
Last week it was very foggy! Couldn't see much. This week it is like 65! So we aren't wearing suitcoats. Ah! It is so so nice!!So I have become hispanic. Well not really but I am working on it. I have hot sauce on everything I eat. And tortillas with every meal!!! In the fridge I think I have like 40 tortillas. And I do as the latinos to. I don't use a spatula to flip stuff. Just my hands. It burns sometimes, but they are getting stronger. :)So I have come to realize that spanish people are just too nice! They don't want to say no, so they lie to you instead. I wish they would just say no. Especially when they say thay are going to come to church, so we find them a ride and then they don't.By the way that is another hard thing. Finding rides. No one has cars here because they don't have jobs. And they don't have jobs because they don't have papers. No one does. But they all do have cool and sad stories about how they crossed the border to get here. It's neat stuff. but most of them haven't seen their kids in years or their wives or yeah.... I feel terrible just hearing there horrible stories.It's hard when people need this gospel. But they don't accept it. It's hard knowing the change that it can bring about in their lives and knowing that it WILL help them, but still, they don't accept it. They become content with the lives they live.
I love you all very much family!! I miss you like.... well I dont know. we will just say I miss you. :) The work is amazing!Every member of the church is a missionary and has the responsibility to share this gospel. Remember that. Many are searching for the truth but they know not where to find it. Share it. Because we have it. We know where to find it. This is an amazing work. The healing power it contains is undescrible. I know that this is true. I have given myself to the Lord for it. When we live it, we bring ourselves closer to our Savior. We can feel his love. Live it!I love you all!!!
Love always-Elder Moore
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