Tuesday, May 26, 2009

May 26, 2009

Well hello there!! It's me!

Well I will warn you now.... this email isn't going to be too interesting. It was a week full of basically... nothing. Nothing real exciting or great happened this week. I did drop my pride and go back and see Alister for the first time in 10 days. He is doing good. I really like him and we are going to continue to work with him. Maybe he'll come around. Maybe not. I don't know.

We did stop by Gavino's house this week to make sure he was coming to church so that he could be baptized on the 6th. Carlos, another person who we are kind of teaching that lives With Gavino told us they were planning on coming and that they would see us there. They never showed up. Just another disappiontment. But it's ok.... after enough of them you learn to get used to it.Once again it's that lack of commitment. They have a testimony but no commitment.

So this week one of our investiagtors invited us to go play soccer with him. So we accepted. And showed up at the place and there was like 40 hispanics there! It was nuts! So we played in a tennis court and it was 5 on 5. So there was like 7 or 8 teams. And if you scored first you stayed and the other team left the court and a new team came on. I was the only white kid there. So I adopted the nickname Gamacho or Wedo, both slang for white kid. Haha. So that was cool. I scored 4 goals. It was sweet! Scoring on mexicans. :) Our team won 9 games in a row before finally losing. It was a lot of fun. But I was so dang tired! And they play pretty rough, shoving you into the fences and stuff. Ah it was great!

We went and saw Arturo Vega. One of my favorite people. He is so cool and so honest with us. We talked with him some and he is still content with his Baptist church. He says he has had some bad examples of members in his church with the people he works with. Ya never know who is watching you I guess and that is why it is important to always be a good example. But we are going to continue to teach him. I love that guy.

Bad news.... Alina, the woman with her family we have been teaching. The one we commited to baptism for June 13th. She is a great woman that was so interested in our church and loves what we teach! But she said she would talk to her husband about being baptized. He said that he doesn't want her to meet with us anymore and that she couldn't get baptized in our church. So that was sad.... Hopefully his heart will soften and all will be ok. But I don't know.... he is a strong catholic. So that was sad and a bummer. But oh well. We'll keep praying for her and hoping that one day she calls and says we can come back and see her. But as for now she has to be "dropped."


So yes we did get another car. We need a car! Our area is so huge and without one we would almost be useless. But yeah I am feeling better from the accident. Still little bruises and aches. But nothing too serious. But I did find out that if I do lose these 2 court cases I lose my driving privelages for the rest of my mission. Haha, oh well.... But yeah I would lose them for the next 18 months. Which actually I wouldn't mind. I don't like driving anymore anyways.

So yeah from the emails and letters I get it sounds like everyone has companionship issues for some reason. I don't know why. It's a bummer. But oh well... it happens. Elder Herrera goes home in 2 1/2 weeks and is getting more and more trunkier as time goes on. But oh well what can ya do about that. I do know that I will continue to stay in this area after he is gone though. Who knows for how long though. At least until this whole stupid car accident situation is over. So probably up through August. It's horrible. just like Jana said, You can't have bad feelings in your companionship because then the spirit isn't there to testify to those you teach. And the spirit is the most important tool we have. It's what really converts.

That quote you shared with me from Brigham Young is so true. Salvation is not a cheap experience. We have to experience things to earn living with Heavenly Father forever. He isn't going to just give it to us. He tests us to find out if we are really worthy of being in his presence for eternity. It was never the plan for this life to be easy. And as you said, sometimes I don't know either why it's called The Plan of Happiness. But sometimes we need to look back on our struggles to really enjoy those happy moments we have. And we do experience so much joy in this life, but sometimes it's overlooked because we focus on the bad that has happened. Sometimes we just need to stop and take a look at all we have been given. Because really we can find something that brings us joy every day. Not in every moment. But in every day. We have something that we are grateful for. Sometimes it's not always the most obvious thing. Sometimes we have to search really hard to find that one thing that brought us joy that day. But I do know that the Lord does bless us every day. Sometimes we just don't recognize it.

I love you all very much and miss you. Take care! Sorry this email didn't have a lot in it. But this week just didn't contain a whole lot for us. But this next week is looking pretty good. :)

Love you all!
Love, Elder Moore

Monday, May 18, 2009

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


Monday, May 11, 2009

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

Monday, May 4, 2009

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