October 26, 2009 - The Birthday Boy < :0)

I figured I would start off the letter this week with a Holyoak family shout out! Hey Holyoaks!!!!

Well this week was quite a good one! We set Rodalfo for baptism on the 7th of November! We are so excited for him. He has come to church twice in the last 2 weeks. It has been great. We had a lesson with him at the house of some great members, and the first thing he said to us was ..... "Tell me about baptism." Wow, yeah.... that was the first time ANYONE has ever said that!!! Ever!!So we had a great lesson with him about authority and baptism. And then we asked him to be baptized on the 7th of November and he said... "In the name of Jesus, yes!" It was so incredible! So he is very excited for his baptism!

Oh yea... so Saturday night! We had a lesson in the Rivera house with Rodalfo. And we said we had to go, but Sister Rivera said... WAIT! Not yet. She went to the kitchen and brought out a cake with a candle! It was so cool and so unexpected! They are great! Yeah people here are being good to me. I haven't told like anyone it's my bday. So it was nice of them and I don't know how they found out. But they are being good to me. ;)

This Saturday we will be having the baptisms of Alma and Eric and also their wedding. They announced their baptisms in Priesthood, the Gospel Principles class, and in Sacrament meeting. They couldn't be more excited for their date for baptism. I cannot wait until this Saturday!!! So now the next 2 Saturdays we will have BAPTISMS!!!! Woohoo!!!! Baptizing is so much fun and so is teaching! It is such an amazing experience setting people for baptism and how strong the spirit is when that happens.

So I have been getting boxes left and right. Full of candy. I am going to put on quite a few pounds. :) Elder Morrill's parents sent me a package. So I know they read this letter. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! They are awesome. Thank you so much for your gifts I really appreciate them so much!!! I haven't broken open the pinata yet. We will see what we do with that. ;) But thank you mom!! Also, tell Grandma and Papa thank you so much. I also got a sweet homemade comic book from my sweet cousin Hallie. :) Amber also sent me some beautiful pictures of her, OUR sweatshirt, a tape, and some way awesome stuff! I love that girl!! She is great! I got lucky with her! My wonderful Aunt Diane out in New York sent me an E-card over email. She is awesome! I can't wait to go out and see her.

Well mom, I am glad I was the only little white kid at the hospital where I was born. ;) That is why I got some black in me. And a little hispanic in me. And then... I am white. So I cannot believe that Justin is in Hawaii. That is so unbelievable. That lucky guy! So I have a birthday, and he goes to Hawaii. What is up with that?! Haha, he is going to have fun.

Brooklyn is awesome! I can't wait to see her in her outfit! That girl is so amazing! Haha, and that is funny that Shortcake was in the Haunted House. That little girl is full of so much love isn't she? I have the best family!!

Well the bday is going well. Thank you for everything. And yes... I am 20! Woohoo!The North Elders called me this morning and sang to me in Spanish. It was funny. Then the office sang to me. And I got a card from the Office and from President. Its been a good day. Once again thank you so much for the box you sent! Full of fun stuff.

Oh by the way... I am not quite sure what I am going to be for Halloween. We will have a baptism that morning, then go to the Thompsons for the day and the Sandovals for the night. I think that is our plan. We will see though. I don't know. I think on Halloween I am going to be me. :) Or a 3 hole punch version of Jim. From The Office. Yeah Amber you'll understand. :)

The work is going great here. We are loving the people we are serving. Actually one funny story. We got a referral from someone and they set us up an appointment for 6. So we went to the house and there were 2 guys outside. So we walked up to them and asked if Juan was home. And the guy says... "We don't know Juan. He doesn't live here." So I said, "Well what's your name?"... and he said... "My name is.......................Miguel?" Haha! So I said, "Well hey there Miguel!" I am sure that that was Juan. It was funny.

Well I believe that is all. I think.... If I think of anything more I will write you and let you know. This week was great. One more wonderful person set for baptism! One more person ready to make that commitment. He is so excited about it.I love you all!!! Thank you for all your love and support!I love you!!!!! I love you so much mom! I am so lucky that you are my mom! I love it! Say hi to everyone for me please!

Love,
Elder Moore

October 19, 2009

Hey Hey Hey!

Wow, sounds like you all had quite the week and that Justin is going to have an AMAZING week in Hawaii! That lucky guy. Should be a good time. Well as for how things went here. It wasn't such a bad week. We did have transfers this week, and me and Elder Morrill are still together. And so are Elder Curisinche and Elder Ward, so my district has stayed the same. But I do think this will be my last transfer here. We shall see though. They have closed a spanish area here and are opening another in Schyler. So that is pretty exciting. We'll see what happens!

I am very glad that I stayed here so that I can see Alma and Eric's wedding and baptism! Alma and Eric are still looking awesome for there baptismal date. Last night we talked about the Word of Wisdowm with them. That went really well. Alma said they had run out of coffee on Saturday and she wouldn't be buying anymore. So they were totally open to following it! We also gave them there conversion calendar to make sure that they are ready for their date and it is hanging up on the fridge. So they are very excited and are looking great for it!

We also did find a new investigator. Actually... he found us. He just moved here from Mexico. His name is Rodalfo. He came looking for the missionaries and wanted to go to the Trail Center. So we picked him up Wednesday morning and went and had a great tour. And then watched the Joseph Smith movie. He loved it! So Sister Rosa started the tour, and she gave an amzing tour in Spanish. And she asked him what he knew about baptism, and he said nothing. Then she asked what she knew about Joseph Smith, and he said nothing. So then she asked me, Elder Moore, what have you taught him? Haha. I told her nothing. We just met for the first time this morning. Since we usually always mention Joseph Smith and/or baptism in the first lesson. So she was wondering what we had been teaching him. :)But he came to church yesterday and asked a bunch of questions and wants to know more about baptism. The hard thing is is that we can't teach him in his home because he lives with people that are in disagreeance with the Mormons. So we have to teach him outside or in the homes of members.But yesterday he had a lot of questions about baptism and loved the service. And was saying Hi to anyone and everyone. Even those that didn't speak Spanish. Walking up saying hi, shaking their hand. He is so funny! So we are going to see him on Tuesday and set him for baptism!

So YES! I did get my bday box and the cake in a jar is so cool! I was wondering what the heck it was. There is actually a christmas tree in the apartment. So I pulled that out of the closet, put it in the "living room" and put the gifts under it. ;)

Man!!! That is so awesome that Adam got his mission call to BRAZIL!! That lucky guy. He is going to love it!!! I am so excited to hear about that. Dano and Adam are great!!! I am way excited for them and for the experiences they are going to have. The mission is fun and flies by.

Well that is it for the week. We are so excited for Alma and Eric. They are looking great for their date. They did tell us they would be moving to Mexico sometime in the near future which is a bummer. But they did say they would not be moving until they were baptized in the church. So Halloween is going to be a WHITE one!!

Well take care everyone! I love you very much!!

Love,Elder Moore

October 12, 2009 What's Up? Just shook an Apostle's hand this week!

HAHAHA!!! I am glad that you liked the video we made. Or didn't like it. Or... I don't know. But yeah it is pretty dang awesome. That was probably the best lunch break of my mission! It was Mark and Arianna's b-day and so we were thinking about buying them a card.... then I got the brilliant idea. Make them a movie!! And well... that is what came of it. :)


I do have a cool companion, we are both kind of similar ya know? We were talking last night, it was probably like 8:30 and we were walking down a street and I just said.... Man this is weird. And he said what? And I said, we are both 19, never knew each other before the mission, and here we are, having nightly sleepovers, always hanging out together, sharing an apartment. And I didn't even know anything about you 6 weeks ago. The Lord has us 2 goofy kids running the whole Spanish South of Omaha. Our area is HUGE!! It's amazing how much trust he has in us.




But yeah.... The Family Sandoval loved the DVD! Veronica was laughing so hard! And then we brought it over to the Thompsons and showed them and they were like.... Oh my gosh! Melanie said, Elder Moore you better not show that to your girlfriend, because you are a complete nerd. Yeah I knew that. And so does Amber, and my family. :) Well the Sandovals are still awesome. They invite us over to dinner like every day. We'll just be out and about and they will call us, hey come over for dinner.... Ok! We are going to turn that down. Alma and Eric are great. I am so excited for their baptism. This week is transfers and I am hoping I will still be here. I am pretty sure I will stay. I have only been a DL for one transfer. But unfortunately after the transfer I think I am gone. Probably out to Grand Island is what I am thinking. Because I have been in Omaha my whole mission now, and that is a little weird. I love it though and I hope I'll stay here through next year so I can spend Christmas with the people I know. But it's not what Elder Moore wants, it's what the Lord wants. :) So.... "I'll go where he wants me to go."

I am loving my mission, well for the most part. Three mornings ago I woke up to 3 inches of snow on the ground. It was so depressing. It almost made me not want to go out and do anything I was so sad. But then I got over it. And I through that snow TO THE GROUND!

So this week we had Stake conference. And Elder Cook from the 12 came! It was awesome. And I shook his hand! Our conference was mainly focused on Temples and the worth of souls. It was an amazing conference! I also translated one of the talks for our members. We had the headphones and everything. It's SO HARD! But it was good. It helped me a lot.




And today Brother Bernabe is coming over to look at the Thompsons house to give them an estimate on the paint job and building a deck. So I get to translate again!! I love it. It is awesome knowing a second language. It's so much fun.So speaking of Brother Bernabe he is a great guy. I love that guy. But he is very less active right now. But he also has great insights to share with us. And one of them I really realized how right he is. Our members don't help out at all. We have meetings every week to give certain groups assignments, and wow... they never do them. NEVER! It is so frustrating. They are so concerned with themselves and their own families to the point where no one else matters. In preach my gospel a prophet said, we will attain our exaltation by sharing the gospel with others. And I shared that in the talk I had to give. And they just don't get it. We can't get them to do ANYTHING. If you have any ideas on how we can motivate them please let me know.It is hard not getting much help. And right now we don't have a huge teaching pool. Me and Elder Morrill have talked and have decided this week to focus ourselves on knocking apartments, walking streets, and contacting old referalls so we can begin teaching more people. It's amazing how much the work has slowed since the baptism of the Sandovals. But we'll keep at it.

Thank you so much!I love you very much and I miss you!!!Take care.
Love,
Elder Moore

October 5, 2009

Hey there!!

Wow, yes conference was absolutely incredible this week! We watched 3 sessions with the Sandovals on the internet, went to Priesthood with Antonio and Mark Sandoval, and then watched the last session with the Thompsons. It was a lot of fun. I took like 11 pages of notes. I absolutely loved it.

Mmmm...ok my first favorite talk was the first one of the conference by Richard G. Scott on the Spirit. Wow, that was amazing. I learned so many more things I should and need to be doing to be able to ALWAYS have the spirit with me. I am on a mission but still make mistakes. So I need to strive to be completely obedient. It is hard. Even while being on a mission. So I am definitely going to work harder. I loved his talk. Jeffrey R. Holland is and will always be my favorite speaker. You can ALWAYS expect something amazing from him. And he didn't let down. Wow, my love for the Book of Mormon grew like 1000x's. And I can't wait to go out tonight and talk with people about the Book of Mormon and continue this throughout the rest of my mission. I am so glad I heard that talk now and that I have 14 months left to apply what I learned. The mission is passing fast. M. Russell Ballard gave a great talk in the Priesthood session. Definitely gave me good guidance in the future on how to be a great father and son. As well as Thomas S. Monson's talk on service. He is amazing. And I know he is a true prophet. Listening to him speak is so much different now then before the mission. This conference was truly a treat! And I cannot wait for the conference issue to come out next month so I can study it more. Oh and Henry B. Eyring gave an amazing talk in Priesthood also about being prepared. Conference is bomb!! Wow, I wish I could tell you how much conference helped my testimony!! It was truly an incredible experience. One I will always remember. I am regretting napping through all those sessions before my mission now too. My testimony has grown so much these past few weeks. And my love is growing for the Savior everyday.

Alma and Eric are still doing good and looking good for baptism. So we are excited for them. Fransisco is still doing good, but still doesn't feel ready for baptism. And I love the Sandoval family. They are incredible! She is already talking about maybe moving to Utah. She wants to come out and meet you all and everything. So that whole family is awesome! And they loved conference. Tony wasn't able to watch conference on Saturday becasue he was working so that he could come to the priesthood session at night. So he came that night and was completely into it. He didn't look away from it once. And a lot of what they talked about was directed directly at him. And Veronica even mentioned when one of the speakers was speaking...does he know my family? Oh and I can't remember his name, but Tad something of the 70, wow. I wish every non member could have heard his talk.So that is life in Omaha.

Yes, once October hit it dropped like 20-25 degrees. It has been sweater weather here. I love sweaters. All is well with me and my comp. We are getting along just great. we have both truly been humbled this week and the past week, having a member of the 70 here at zone conference to talk to us. And this week we are going to have Quinton L. Cook here to speak with us at stake conference!

So this past week I started to read Jesus the Christ. I have had a lot of time since I have been sick for the last 4 days with a bad cold. So we had to stay in one day. That is always a bummer. But that is an amazing book! I am learning so much in that book.I have been keeping very busy, trying to finish that book by the end of the year, and me and Amber are reading the Book of Mormon together and are working on finishing it before the end of the year too. The Book of Mormon I know I will get done especially since Amber sent me a list to keep us on track... but Jesus the Christ may take some time.

So me and Elder Morrill were talking about music. And we found out that we both went to the same concert once. I was talking about a Secondhand Serenade/ Making April concert I went to and he was like.... I WAS AT THAT ONE TOO! Wow, small world. We probably high fived and didn't even know it. Oh yeah... and this morning we played some basketball.... and we played full court on a half court. So it had 2 hoops but it was a small court. After 2 games I was dying. I am way out of it. But it is funny, I have no real desire to be in shape right now.

Spanish is pretty much awesome. I bought a book at Barnes and Noble this past week that is helping me out so much. I had to look through like 10 books to find the right one. Wanna know why? Because I already knew everything in the other books. But this book is awesome!! It helps you correct common mistakes and teaches you so much. So this week I have learned a lot more. I love Spanish, and I love talking to people. So the new Spanish Bible is AMAZING!!!! Elder Morrill ordered one. I am going to get one of those soon! They are only 26 dollars. And wow...... much better than the one I got at the MTC. Only problem is the one I have now is all marked. But that is ok. This bible is awesome! Have you seen it? Has Jaime seen it?

IF YOU DON'T READ MY WHOLE EMAIL, READ THIS PART:So I want to share with you one of the coolest experiences of my life. We are teaching two homeless guys. Yup we pretty much just teach them on the street once or twice a week. So we were talking with them, and one is named Martin. He was saying how the shelters won't let them stay there anymore and how they have no money and are starving. Well I had a bag of 6 ribs in my hand. And I handed him the bag and told him what was in it. He looked down for about 10 seconds, then looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said "Thank you." That is a moment I will never forget in my life. One of the most special moments of my mission. Well I hope all is well. I love you all very much! We are still working hard to find more people that are ready. And I have definitely recieved a boost from this past week.

I bet you I have one more transfer here at least. Especially with just being made District Leader. Wow, I love it. I had a conference call with President Kunz and all the other zone leaders and district leaders in the mission. It was sweet! It felt like I was a business man. But in that call I learned so many things. I am learning so much that is helping change my mission in so many ways. I love our mission President.

Mom thank you for everything you have done for me. You raised me well. :) I learned a lot in the Priesthood session on how to be a good father too. So I am working on that. And the mission is helping me a lot. I love you all. Take care! Say hi to the Wilcox's for me please. :)

Love Elder Moore