December 30, 2013

Querida Familia,

I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone by!  Transfer calls will be on Saturday and I'll know by next week if I'll have a new companion or stay with Elder Allen.  I have a feeling that nothing's going to happen, but anything could!  I'm excited either way.  I always feel a ton of motivation toward the beginning of a new transfer.  It's been great being with Elder Allen though.  Lots of funny stories, probably shouldn't share them over e-mail though haha.  It was so good to see all of you and your bright shining faces!  You look awesome!  Mom, I would say that sending a son back out on his mission and sending your last child out on her mission were amazing things!  Also, I would say that all of the help in cleaning up were amazing!  You spoke at Myles' BAPTISM!  That's amazing..  You also took an amazing trip to Italy!  You probably went on more trips than any other year of your life, right??  That's AMAZING!  You seem like you've become an amazing missionary in 2013!  I just wanted to let you know that from my point of view, you did way more than one amazing thing this year!  

I don't really know what I'm going to commit to do this year yet for a new year's resolution.  Probably get in shape haha.  I want to find and help a family into the church before I leave the mission field.  Wherever I am, I'm confident that the Lord can help me to feel that I have had a very successful mission if I finish strong!  I still remember setting the goal that I was going to write in my journal every day of 2012, and I did it!  That was a great day and I've still been writing in my journal every day since.  

Adrian came to church again this week.  It's hard to tell if he's really serious about being a member or just being nice and liking coming a lot.  He told us that he's moving back to Mexico in September, but I figure there's probably a church somewhere near him out there.  We have been stopping by Sunday mornings to remind him to come to church.  We walked him home one day.  He's awesome though when it comes to wanting to live according to the standards of the church.  He hasn't had a problem or serious doubt yet.  He is scheduled to be baptized this week, so be praying that he has a mighty change of heart!  I'm still happy to be out here!  Not trunky.  The members down here are treating us well :)  We brought cookies to several families and they all loved them!  Thanks so much for all of the presents as well!!  I have enough candy to last what seems like a lifetime!  

Les amo mucho, ya'll!  

Elder Moore

December 23, 2013

 

 

That's some really depressing news, I'm crying too, but I'm glad you told us.  She's sitting on Jesus' lap, just like Hannah said.  I'm also with Hannah in wishing that I had been there during her last days.  I don't really even feel a connection with the pets that much anymore, but Molly had a really close place in my heart.  I don't know if I already told you, but I'm probably going to get a Westie as well.  Whenever I'm finally able to own my own dog, that is..  Speaking of pets though this morning I was cleaning the house and went outside and heard these little meows, so I meowed back until I could find where it was coming from and I looked up in a tree and there was a poor little kitten looking down from one of the highest branches.  I didn't want to climb the tree, so I got another Elder to do it and we rescued it!  We set it on the ground and then we were getting it some food but when we went back out front there was this big dog sitting in the yard, so I'm hoping it ran away.  Hopefully it wasn't eaten or ran back up the tree!  

So, anyway, onto relevant things!  We reset Adrian's baptismal date for the 4th of January.  I tried to convince him how cool it would be to be baptized on the 1st, but he wouldn't go earlier than the 4th because he works throughout the week.  We have been teaching him and on Saturday a bunch of his friends came over and we taught them all.  It was a lot of fun, a little bit overwhelming!  They like to talk!  We invited one man to pray at the end and mid prayer Adrian jumped in and finished it and then Adrian's brother wanted to say his own prayer, so it was just a cornucopia of prayers.  Adrian came to church the next day!

We taught Sergio and Elizabeth's family again this week and most of them have been having a hard time reading because the print is too small, but Sergio has been reading ever since we gave him the Book.  We taught them the Plan of Salvation with the Araujo family and we're just hoping and praying that the Lord will show them what they need to do!  

Pearson had a parade this week and the Ward had a Christmas Party.  Last night was pretty cool!  We got to attend a baptist church at the request of one of the members of the Pearson Ward and I played piano for one of the songs.  Ever since my ability to play piano has been discovered last week, I've been approached so many times asking to help out!  I guess you could say that's PRETTY COOL.  Did you get it?  I'm going to send you some pictures of us with Santa and maybe a few others!  I need your Skype name!  I don't remember it..  Something about Hans?  :)  Haha Hans Joy Moore...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  Thanks for sending those presents again and for the treats :)  We'll be caroling and delivering tomorrow night!!  I also made peppermint bark for us!  Delicious!  Thanks for teaching me to cook great things.  We also made fried chicken a couple of days ago.  Blessed South!  Love ya'll  :)  Les amo muchisisisissiisisisisisimo

Elder Moore

December 16, 2013

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

I'm thankful to have such wonderful people to write!  This week we had a Christmas Conference and Interviews and President Cottle asked me who I write on P Days to make sure that I'm still loved and I don't ever feel any amount of doubt about knowing that's the truth :)  I love you all so much!  It sounds like Hannah is doing amazing down in Brazil!  I'm so proud to have such a dedicated Sister and that she's not "that guy" that messes it up for everyone.  ha  That's the way she put it last week at least.  

I agree with you, Mom, about the gifts that we each have.  I think that you were exactly right.  Something I have been realizing is that I feel like I have that same thing that you were saying about Hannah especially though.  Believe it or not, I have a pretty active conscience.  The gift of tongues is the only explanation for being able to learn a language as fast as missionaries do.  It's inspiring.  

This week we worked a bit more with Adrian.  He told us that he'd start reading the Book of Mormon, but he has a hard time seeing the letters so we ordered him one of those GIANT triple combinations.  Haha hopefully the pages aren't too heavy to turn.  He didn't come to church this week, which was a little bit frustrating, but we think it was probably because the member that gave him a ride last week didn't come either.  We hope to see some more miracles with him this week.  

I don't remember if I told you about Elizabeth last week.  When we taught her, I was thinking that she was the head of the house, but we met her mom and dad this week and got to teach them all the restoration.  We've been teaching using pictures and pamphlets a lot lately at the request of President Cottle, and it's been cool to see how people are completely able to teach themselves the message of the restoration if we just ask the right questions.  They didn't receive the message as well as Elizabeth did, but we're going to get Elizabeth to be the pioneer in the family or something.  The mom told us that she would join another church if the Lord showed her where to go.  So there's a lot of hope there :)  

There aren't many people in Pearson, but the Lord has been providing us with things to do and people to teach.  It's been different than any other place I've served by a long shot.  It's always nice that no matter where I serve though, there are always loving members of the church.  This week we're having the Ward Christmas party and I'm going to be playing the piano.  We made up an arrangement of Silent Night that we sang as a district/part of the zone for the Zone Conference and the four Elders in Pearson will be performing it on Wednesday!  

I got the Christmas package you sent me and looked up a lot of the scriptures.  I think gummy worms are in one of them, but I couldn't tell with the others..  I put all the presents under our little tree :}  I'm even more excited for the day to come :)  I'll let you know next week, I guess, what time I'll be available to talk.  I don't really know whether I should make it close to 11:00 or a few hours later because of Hannah, but it'll work out.  Ha I wish I could just call you to set it up, but President Cottle told us that we could only call on Christmas Day.  Let me know what you want by next Monday and I'll make it work!  

I love you!!!  Have an awesome week :) 

El Hijo Mejor, 

Elder Moore

December 9, 2013 (Pictures)

Elder Moore and Elder Allen--Adopted Trainee

Elder Huckvale and Elder Moore

Elder Wright and Elder Moore-Trainee

Selina from Beaufort

Welch/Hatfield Family, Beaufort

Horse in a trailer park

Elder Allen and Elder Moore--Christmas in Pearson, GA 2013

November 4, 2013 (Out of order)

Dear Familia:

It was a great week!  I don't know if I've really told you a whole lot about them, but there is a family that was baptized about a year ago with two different last names - Hatfield and Welch.  I think Leah wanted to keep her name because the Hatfields are a really famous family because of something called the Hatfield and McCoy feud that happened a little while ago.  She tells us CRAZY stories about her grandpa and great grandpa..  But anyway!  Leah and her two kids were baptized last year and Nate, her husband is still investigating.  I've taught them several times and really get along with them, but because they're English-speaking only, we gave them to the Sisters but they gave them back so we've been teaching them a while.  Haha that was really long and boring I hope you understood though.  So, we've been teaching him lately and the lessons have been more powerful than ever.  We got him to say the other day that when he comes to know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God that he will be baptized.  We taught him a little bit more about the significance of the first vision and testified of it's truth and the spirit MUST have told him it was true.  He was impressed because we had just been talking about how the argument of whether the trinity is one or three could go on forever, but he understood that the first vision would clear that up as well if it really did happen.  We invited him to read the Book of Mormon every night to show the Lord his desire to know the truth and he said he'd do it.  I'm excited to see what will happen in the next few days!  Elder Wright and I both bore testimony about being in the sacred grove and feeling that special spirit there, where the first vision actually occurred.  Did I ever tell you that Elder Wright played Laman in the Hill Cumorah Pageant last year and that his dad is the one that choreographs the fight scenes?  I thought that was awesome!  He's from Orem though, not Palmyra..

We had a great fast and testimony meeting yesterday and Leah Hatfield actually invited Elder Wright and I to stand in the circle to bless her new baby.  It was tender!  It reminded me of when Sadie was blessed and there were like 50 hands under her haha.  Big families are a blessing!  A bunch of nonmembers got up to bear their testimonies at Parris Island and talked about the spirit they feel and everything they're learning.  It's always cool to hear that.  It never gets old.  I told President Cottle last week that I hope I serve here until the end of my mission!  He told me probably not!  Dang!  It'll be fun though to come back!  It might sound touristy, but I heard last night there's a 3500 pound great white shark at Hunting Island just waiting to attack.  Maybe we'll see it one day when we're running over the bridge!

Chris has been really sick for a while.  We haven't been able to see him as often as we'd like, but we're still praying and working with him.  They know most of the ward by now though.  We've taken a different couple over there every time we've taught.  We're still hoping they find their niche in the ward.  We're having troubles meeting regularly with Luis because he's been pretty busy in school and cross country, but he came to church this week.  What's really been helping more than anything is asking his friends for help to set things up.  It's been amazing to see the youth hard at work spreading the gospel!  I think I said that last week as well, but this week a family came to church because of the invitation of one of the youth!  It's cool to hear about that group of teenagers from Hannah.  It's getting even simpler to share the gospel because of things like Facebook and Mormon Channel.  Maybe that has something to do with it.

Well, that feels like a lot of writing!  I hope you had a good week, too!  I love you!!!

Love,

Elder Moore

December 9, 2013

Isn't it wonderful?  We were talking about how much we love Christmas and everybody keeps talking about how it's "coming soon," but isn't the best part just the spirit of the whole season?  Everybody seems happier and nicer and more thoughtful.  I've been thinking about ways that I can bless the Elders in our district a lot more because everyone else just seems to be more thoughtful probably because of this time of year.  Thanks so much for sending those things to give to our investigators!  We'll be making the cookies probably sometime next week and delivering them caroling.  It's so amazing how powerful that was the first time we did it.  Everyone loved the treats and singing!  Do you remember me telling you that it made one of the members cry it meant so much to her??  Whoever came up with that idea was a genius.  And I figured it wasn't you saying stuff about Texas in the letter :)

It was a great week!  We had a wonderful miracle happen on Friday.  A man named Adrian was walking by the library as we were coming up and HE APPROACHED US to tell us that he wanted to come to church, but the missionaries had never called him back, so we invited him and he came yesterday!  He told us all about how much he loved every minute of it and told a bunch of the members that he'll be coming back.  He's a cool guy though..  He works in a blueberry packaging company, but on top of that he's also a CLOWN!  (payaso)  So, you can only guess that he's pretty out there haha.

We made some snowflakes and set up a Christmas tree and lights and we even have Christmas scented candles.  Living in that house makes us all feel right at home.  It's been a lot of fun listening to Christmas music, too!  

I have been having a lot of awesome experiences lately while studying and also looking over my journals from past experiences I've had on my mission.  I'm so grateful for this.  It's hard, but so worth it!  It's good to hear that things are going good for Jordan so far!   

I love you!  Have a Merry Christmas season!  It's only the beginning of another great year though, right?  That Christmas devotional was awesome!  Elder Nelson's reaction to the video of the children singing I am a Child of God reminded me of Dad watching uplifting Youtube videos.  Ha he was SO happy and excited about it.  I'm jealous that you're over there in cold weather kind of.  It means you get to bundle up.  I was thinking though about how crazy it would be if you got the same amount of snow this year as you got rain!  Let's pray it's not that much though haha

Love,

Elder Moore

December 2, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!

 I'm down in Pearson, GA. It's at the very south end of the mission on the east side. It's 3 hours from Beaufort and actually seems like it's pretty close to Jacksonville. There's an area in the Jacksonville Mission called Waycross that's only 30 minutes from us. It's a lot smaller than Beaufort, but there are a LOT more Hispanics. There are probably around 1000 or 2000 people in the whole city and it seems like probably about half of them are Hispanic.

There are a couple of Spanish-speaking families that we got to meet this week and this guy named Jose that has just recently started coming back to church. We're teaching a family named the Ayalas and their daughter came to a volleyball activity we had in the church on Wednesday night. We got the whole family to kneel down and the dad prayed. It was really cool. We haven't been able to teach them since that day though because every time we go over they give us food and then we have to leave... Frustrating, right? Haha I'm not complaining about being fed though! We're also teaching a lady named Eufrecina. She understands everything that we read with her out of the Book of Mormon! She wanted to come to church but had to work and even told us that she wants to be baptized after she learns more. Her husband wasn't incredibly supportive, but we'll have him converted soon anyway :)

My companion's name is Elder Allen from Kaysville, UT. He's like the polar opposite of Elder Wright, but we still get along great! We found out that we have a lot of the same interests and I'm really doing everything I can to help him to feel hopeful and optimistic about the area. I honestly have never served in an area like this before, so it's going to be a lot different than any transfer ever, but I felt the same way about Beaufort when I got there and now it's one of my favorite places in the world!

 We have to be more creative down here about how to find because pretty much every Hispanic in the town of Pearson was at least talked to last transfer by the other Elders. It's Elder Allen's second transfer, so I'll be finishing up the 12 week training program with him, so he's like an adoptive son. Haha he's a lot of fun and always has something to say. Adjusting to new areas is always weird, but I'm sure I'll be used to this in a few weeks. The accent down here is THICK! Our address is: 336 Pearson St. Pearson, GA 31642

One more thing!! I'm so sad to say it and I'm going to try to get it out, but that shirt you sent me that fit so perfectly and was so beautiful and wonderful was ruined! I used my PEN to scratch my back, thinking it was closed, and it wasn't!!!! So I have big toddler pen marks all over the back of that shirt now. I could wear it as long as I have a suit jacket on. Or a sweater. Is there some way to get pen out of a white shirt? :(

 I love you a lot! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! That's awesome that Madison still has the missionary spirit and pass along cards :)

 Love you, Elder Moore

November 25, 2013

Beaufort District

Elder Bingham holding Fried Chicken and Cheddar Bay Biscuits that they made

More Beaufort District

Elder Moore and Elder McCullough on morning walk to the bridge

Elder Moore with Brother Clark and Brother Mock

Happy Birthday to Elder Moore, 11/20/13

With Elder Moyo

The Easthams

With the Assistants and Group Leader at Parris Island

 
Querida familia,

 MAN! I just found out last night that I'm going to be transferred and finish up another Elder's training. I'm not sure what his name is, but I'm speculating that I'll be down in Southern Georgia, kind of near Tallahassee. At least it's part of the Tifton, GA Zone. I'll let you know more about that next week when I'm away from Beaufort :(

It's been an amazing time spent here in Beaufort. I got to get up and bear my testimony in front of the ward yesterday and I realized that I feel completely at home in this ward. I feel like I know everybody in the ward and love them all so much! It's going to be hard leaving and going to a new area, but I'm completely sure that the Lord has prepared people wherever I am sent that need me at this part of my mission.

We are still working with Nate Welch and he's still reading the Book of Mormon. We set up a lesson with them tonight at 8:00 so that we can set him up for a date. He'll be baptized! I know it! I expect to see great things when we come back to visit from everything that's happened in these past months.

We have been working as a mission to contact at least 10 people a day, per missionary, so hearing from Hannah that she is contacting 60 a day is absolutely making me feel like we're not doing anything! We'd have all of Beaufort down in like a month if we were talking to that many people! Did you know that Elder Ballard promised all missionaries that if we would talk to at least 10 people a day that we would baptize twice as many people on our missions as we otherwise would have?

We have been having an awesome time contacting a lot more people than usual lately. We went to the Flea Market on Saturday and met a Salvadorian cowboy ha and also this lady that gives out cookies to homeless people. We were able to get a couple of phone numbers, but everyone forgot their home addresses haha. We also got free sodas at this place for contacting a bartender haha. I got to go on a trade-off with two different Elders this week. We talked to a lot of new people this week, but really didn't have a ton of success teaching lessons with people that we already know. Things usually pick back up though. No worries!
 I'm excited to hear how Elder Wright is with his next companion.

Thank you sooo much for the birthday package! I love the tie and the shirt especially. I wore them both today! Thanks for getting me that CD too. It really does bring back good memories :) Charlotte also sent me a care package and I got a card from her family as well!! That was awesome! I feel blessed and very loved. I'm happy that this week is Thanksgiving. Everyone, including President Cottle, has been focusing on gratitude! Best holiday ever :) I'm especially grateful to be serving a mission for the Lord and to have such a wonderful family! I love you so much and hope you have a great Thanksgiving!!

Oh yeah, and by the way this is the last day I'll be on Facebook. I'll be just a normal missionary again starting tomorrow when I'm put with my new companion.

Con mucho amor y besitos,
Elder Moore

Birthday Week! November 18, 2013

22! That's dang old! I'm the oldest fart in the field!

That's awesome to hear that Chelsey's going to be taught. I'm not going to be able to teach over Skype probably. I talked to one of the assistants the other day about that and he said maybe when more people are on Facebook and everything.. I'm not really sure when that will be, but probably not within the next month.

Nate has been doing amazing! We invited him to read the whole Book of Mormon starting from the beginning and in a week and a half or so he has read up to Jacob 6! I'm amazed what the spirit can do. People don't normally just decide to do something like that on their own. Leah, his wife, told us the last time we went over that they've all been very proud of how much he's been doing lately. It's honestly all in the hands of the Lord as to when he will be told it is true, but I wish that I knew what more we could do to help. Just have faith that he will discover something that changes his life. Like we tell everyone, it's difficult to describe what the Holy Ghost feels like, but when you do feel it, you know.

I was thinking a lot this week about how much the spirit teaches me when the Apostles talk. Wouldn't it be cool if every word we said or heard was by the power of the Holy Ghost? Man. That's probably what Jesus taught like. I told Nate that it might be my last week and he and the family were sad, but I'm praying this week is the one he decides to take the plunge :) We didn't get to teach Luis this week, but he came to church! We actually invited the whole family, but only he came. Next week we'll have 'em. Haha

That man that said estas se llaman tortillas has been giving us several referrals, I can't remember if I already told you that. We went over to teach one of them the other day and it was a pretty cool experience: So it started off with us looking for the house. It was back in the middle of nowhere in a neighborhood of trailers and a random giant house so we knocked a couple of the doors and ended up finding out that this man, Vicente, lived in this little house that looked like the shed to the giant house. We started walking up to the house and this big dog started walking toward us. He had already been barking, but we figured he would just stay put. It was easy to tell the dog was super old, but it was still big and its wheezing made it sound like it was snarling haha so we backed away slowly hoping it wouldn't charge and got into the car. It was probably so funny to watch. I think I've been more cautious around dogs since hearing about Charlotte being attacked and bitten last week! Nothing to worry about though if you didn't hear, she's fine. Hannah's too much of a dog charmer to be bitten too, so don't worry about that either :)

We called Vicente and he came out and the dog went away. We talked to him about the restoration. He had an interesting question. He wanted to know what God's name was according to our church. I didn't really know how to answer, but we'll write down a list of them or something for him when we go back over. It was so nice having him be so attentive and willing to listen. In the prayer he said for us, he prayed that we would continue to pass by and teach him more. It's kind of nice that he lives in that little house by himself because he loved having company. I'll let you know more about him in the future :)

We attended Parris Island graduation and I got to meet Recruit Costello's family! They were all so kind. They told us that the difference was huge between the letters before he started attending church and the letters after. I sent him the address to the church in his hometown over Facebook and obviously also added him. Facebook's the best for that! I don't think it's coincidence that I'm the last Facebook missionary and serving up here at Parris Island. It makes it easier to see if they're still going to church when they leave. It'd be cool if when people got baptized they just became part of my home ward :) It'd be so much more convenient that way, don't you think?

Thanks for sending that package :) I'm sure it will be wonderful! I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week!

Love, Elder Moore

The pictures are as follows:
Elder Moore and Elder Wright with Private Costello and his family at Parris Island Marine Base
Graduation
Parris Island Marine Base Graduation
Elder Moore and Elder Wright's Father-Son Pose
Eric on the Ingrams dock after they fixed him a low-country boil for his birthday dinner!

November 11, 2013

Dear Family,

It's weird getting an e-mail from you and not hearing about the thousands of missionary experiences you've been having with the neighbors! I hope that everything's just as good as always! How are things going with the people you were teaching a couple of weeks ago? Are you being persistent? :)

We had Veteran's Day yesterday and all of the libraries were closed, so we are using some time Tuesday to write you... Weird! But anyway, we had a couple of awesome things happen this week. I'll start off with Parris Island, there's always something great to say about that place! So, we have been teaching a recruit that was given a Book of Mormon on the plane ride to Parris Island. On the plane she also met someone else that was a member of the church on her way to Parris Island as well, so they figured they'd probably see each other around during their time here. She was dropped to FRP for an injury she had and then was put into something called STC (I think) which is basically just the waiting area for the few recruits that have to go home to recover or drop out of training... She's going home this week, but coming back to the main point of the story, she's been really receptive and reading the Book of Mormon for the past couple of weeks. We taught the restoration and after the first vision she asked us if she would be able to give the closing prayer for the her last time at service on Parris Island, so of course we let her and then we pulled her aside when everyone was cleaning up and getting ready to leave and invited her to be baptized. I've never seen anyone more enthusiastic or happy to be invited in my life!! She told us about how great she feels being in the church and how she can't wait to go outside of Parris Island. Remember, I said that she was going home, but guess where home is?? Savannah, GA!!!!! So I'll be going down on a trade off on the 20th (my birthday :)) to teach her with the Zone Leaders, the missionaries we'll be handing her off to! The work is moving forward! :) I'm so happy for her.

Recruit Costello is graduating this week and I told him that I would attend his graduation since it might be one of my last weeks here and I want to see him off! He is so solid! He gave his departing testimony in church and talked about how Parris Island is an amazing and spiritual place where he was baptized and received "his Aaronic Priesthood." I only put it in parentheses because that's the way he says it. I really hope that some of these people come out west. It'll be fun to see what it's like when I'm a normal person and can just talk to them whenever.

I hope you remember me telling you about Luis. He's been attending church for a very long time now and we were thinking he wasn't getting baptized with the permission of his parents at least until his birthday in November, but we just talked to his mom and found out that she's completely fine with whatever decision her children make as long as it teaches them to do good. So we got to set up an appointment to teach her and her daughter as well as Luis tonight with a family in the Ward, the Atwells. She also made tamales and told us to stop by to get some. They were WAY good. You know things are going good when people offer you food! I'll let you know how it turns out, but I'm excited to teach them and many others this week.

 Like I've told you before, the youth in the ward has been on fire missionary work-wise. We gave a tour of the church building to one of the member's friends, Anna and we'll be teaching her family as soon as we can get a time worked out with the Morgans. It's been so much more fun to have the youth involved and the families in the ward. I think that's the way missionary work is meant to be done. Most solid converts seem to stay solid when they have good friends in the church anyway, so it's a win-win working with the members :)

Sounds like you had fun in San Antonio! You better have energy for my kids!! Keep up the good work. I saw in the newsletter that there were only 28 baptisms in the whole stake last year.. Man! It's good to know one of them was Myles Ramos :) Keep helping the Elders out! You're being wonderful examples to every member of the church, myself included :)

One more story - we're teaching a Mexican man and his family and they also made some food and offered us some, so of course we accepted and he was explaining it to us like we had never seen food like it in our lives. "Estas se llaman TORTILLAS!" Haha (these are called tortillas) "MEXICAN FOOD!" Little, round discs you eat your meat and beans with... Who'd have thought?

I love you so much! Thanks for the updates and for writing such wonderful e-mails :)
 Elder Moore

October 28, 2013

This week was awesome!  It suddenly got a lot colder, so a lot of people are getting sick around here and are at home for us to teach!  I did get to play piano yesterday in church!!  My prayer was that it would touch at least some one person and that they would feel the spirit and a bunch of members came up to me and told me they loved it and I looked over and Sister Morgan was tearing up :)  Haha it would have been nice if I had time to practice a little bit more, but I've found that the Lord helps you out when you ask him.  Hannah - it was the arrangement of Praise to the Man that you gave to me and one of the youth asked me for a copy of it so that he can learn it!  You're the cause of a never ending chain of music!  I didn't play as well as you do, but I think that it still invited the spirit.  It was a little bit sad that none of our investigators made it to church this week, but we did get to go over to Luis' house and we met his mom at the trunk or treat on Thursday.  She is one of the nicest people!  I don't really know what I was expecting from what everyone was saying about her being WAY Catholic, but it really wasn't any different from what I could tell than any other person that has been raised Catholic...  She just raises her son as best as she can with the knowledge and light she has of who Jesus is and what he expects of us.  I hope that this week we'll be able to sit down with the whole family and explain the restoration!  They're an awesome family :)  She also told us that she's happy with Luis wherever he is as long as he's behaving.  It's so fun - we've been working a lot with the Youth lately because everyone is so excited to get out and serve missions.  There are a few missionaries out in the ward here right now and you can see the difference and desire in those families to share the gospel!  It's such a blessing!!  I hope that when I come back that spirit will stay with me and the family forever.  

It looks like you've been having a lot of fun on all of these vacations!  Are you ever going to be home again??  Haha it just seems like you've been away from home this whole time I've been out here.  I loved the pictures that dad sent from Italy and the ones of you on Facebook and the ones in the e-mail you sent. 

This week we have been talking a lot about the importance of receiving answers to our prayers and I have been very grateful and realized a lot more and more lately that serving a mission has helped me to recognize the hand of the Lord in my life.  Whenever I ask him for things that I NEED or that other people I know need, He answers!  It's been such a blessing to learn about this and also to teach Elder Wright about what I know to be true.  Elder Wright has had some amazing answers to prayer as well that have helped him to see why it's important to be a missionary.  We've both had dreams where we just wake up and are SO grateful to be serving missions right now!  I can't remember if I told you the details about the one that I had a couple of weeks ago..  If not I'm sure I'll remember to tell you someday :)  I can relate to that one person in the scriptures that talks about how he is led and comforted by the spirit in the day and visited in the night in his dreams...  Nephi??  I can't remember, but it's been like that.

I just want to share with you something that I read this week that really stuck with me.  It said something like: pray like everything depends on the Lord and work like everything depends on you.  Don't you love that?  And then, of course, the credit goes to the Lord!  

I have felt again lately the desire to stay here forever and be a missionary until the end of time!  I'm so happy to be here and hope that good things are ahead :)  Chris and Luis are both progressing toward baptism.  More than anything I think that what they need is to just sit down and sincerely pray to know if what we are teaching is the truth.  The second that the spirit enters their hearts they will recognize that it's what they want more than anything else to be a part of the restored gospel.  I know it's true because that is what happened to me!  It would probably also help if they would read the Book of Mormon every day.  We've been helping them to remember.  I love Beaufort and I love the members of the ward here!  It's paradise!  I'll send you some pictures over Facebook.  I haven't been taking many this transfer, but I'll try to remember to take more.  

Love,

Elder Moore

October 28, 2013

I love this song!  It's our mission song and Elder Wright and I sing it every single morning for companionship study (in Spanish).  

The time is far spent; there is little remaining

To publish glad tidings by sea and by land.

Then hasten, ye heralds; go forward proclaiming:

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven's at hand,

Shrink not from your duty, however unpleasant,

But follow the Savior, your pattern and friend.

Our little afflictions, tho painful at present,

Ere long, with the righteous, in glory will end,

What, tho, if the favor of Ahman possessing,

This world's bitter hate you are called to endure?

The angels are waiting to crown you with blessings!

Go forward, be faithful, the promise is sure.

Be fixed in your purpose, for Satan will try you;

The weight of your calling he perfectly knows.

Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you;

His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

I got a nice text today from somebody in Eric's ward on his mission. She said (about this picture which she sent), "Your sweet missionary son sharing his talents with us in Sacrament Meeting this morning. Thank you for sharing him for two years. He is a great blessing." Then she said, "He played a beautiful arrangement of 'Praise to the Man' and did a fabulous job." 

It makes me so happy to hear things like this!

October 21, 2013

Savannah Zone Conference

Dear Family,

I'm writing on Tuesday this week because yesterday we had Zone Conference in Macon with Elder Adukaitis of the Seventy and P day was moved to today.  That was an amazing experience.  The part that I keep going over in my mind is how he told us to be missionaries and not tourists.  He also told us that if we want to be a part of miracles that we are going to have to develop greater faith and that starts with greater desire to accomplish more!  He explained Ether 12:6

And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that ^afaith is things which are^bhoped for and ^cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no ^dwitness until after the ^etrial of your faith

I didn't really think about what disputing was until he pointed it out to us and it's been making me see that I could probably trust in the Lord a little bit better and not just assume that things are going to turn out any one way.  

This week we went over with several members to see Chris and Maria and we ended up setting Chris up to be baptized.  It's his birthday today, so we'll probably make those cookies that you sent and then run them over to them later tonight :)  Thanks for the care package!  We're having dinner with the Morgan family tonight and they're going to be making us a "Halloween dinner."  Hopefully it's brains and bones and eyeballs and cat litter like at home haha.  

We got to meet with Luis again this week.  He's been passing through some hard times, but he was happy to meet with us.  We took one of his best friends over to teach him and he did amazing.  All of the videos and everything on mormonchannel.org has been so helpful in teaching, especially younger people.  Those videos are inspiring and powerful!  There was a girl just a few weeks ago that started coming to church because she watched a bunch of them and got interested.  

I'll be praying for Aunt Nancy.  It's good to hear that things are going well considering the circumstance..  Tell everyone I love them for me :)  

Love,

Elder Moore

October 14, 2013

Familia mia,

We said goodbye yesterday to one of the best Elders I've ever known, Elder Lash.  He finished his mission and is probably sitting in the airport in Atlanta right now - Trunky!  It's been really hard saying goodbye to a lot of the people that I have come to know and love so much, but I've been thinking a lot about how things are fine.  We pass through these trials and changes to grow.  Every single other time I've allowed myself to just wait and pray, I have come out so much better and happier because of it.  I'm serving in Beaufort for at least another 6 weeks.  I'll find out right before the holidays and my birthday if I'm staying here forever!  

I don't know if I told you a lot about Chris and Maria last week.  Maria just moved here from Texas and Chris has been here for a while already working on Parris Island.  Maria's a member of the church and Chris is not, but he has been very interested in learning about the gospel.  We taught him the restoration on Friday with Brother Slade, a member of the ward.  Chris told us that he is going to be doing everything he can to learn everything about the church and continue to investigate and learn.  It's a little bit frustrating to me, just like Hannah says, that people don't just immediately recognize that this isn't just another place where people meet to talk about being better.  I wish that the restoration came together perfectly clear in everyone's head the first time around!  We're going over there tonight to watch the Restoration video at Maria's request.  It helped her to know that it's true, so we're hoping it will help Chris as well!  Pray for them both to receive the witness that it is and choose to be baptized and come to church until the end!  

We spent a lot of time finding on our own efforts this week and haven't found too many.  Elder Wright's powerful when he speaks and people listen to him.  I think it's a gift of his, and because of that Satan does all he can to keep him quiet, but we've been switching off every other person we talk to and he's been opening up a lot!  It's been great to see him grow so much this transfer.  

Dad - We haven't been working to use family history in our efforts.  I agree that it would be helpful, we just have a hard time knowing where to start because we don't have a family history center that is regularly open.  We'll continue to talk to people about their families and why they are important in God's plan, but let us know what you think we could do in this particular area to use it.  There are a million different ways to find people and get them interested in coming to church, it's just a matter of doing them. 

I have been thinking over the past few days about what makes someone really enjoy and love their mission and I think the key is to accept that you don't do what you want to do but what the Lord wants.  You receive blessings and are happy when you don't fill your mind with things that distract you from the work.  It's been one of the hardest things for me to do on my mission, but I really think it's the answer.  It's been a blessing to have Elder Lash living with us for that reason.  He loved his mission and really seems to have done all that he could to serve the Lord.  I want to be able to look back every week of my mission and honestly tell myself and the Lord that I did my best.  I did every thing I possibly could to serve Him and His children.  I want to look forward and say now, I'm going to do better.  I feel a lot of responsibility again with him gone in making sure that these Elders are trained right and that the district moves in the right direction.  I hope that the next Elder that comes in is a "Fourth Missionary."  

I love you!

Elder Moore

Elder Wright and Elder Moore

Elder's with the Morgan Family

Beaufort District; Elder's Lash, Huckvale, Moore, Wright

The Beaufort District

The Beaufort District

October 7, 2013

Mi querida familia,

It's been an amazing week!  I can't believe that General Conference has come and gone just like that!  I felt bad for not inviting other people back at home to watch it and have questions and do everything that blesses me so much during and after conference.  It amazes me so much that no matter what it is that is weighing on your mind, as you watch general conference, your questions are answered..  Well I'm not sure about yours I guess, but it's always been that way for me, so I don't know why it would be any different for anyone else!  It's hard to say which talk was my favorite because they were all so good!  I loved the talk that Elder Holland gave and his testimony of the restoration and also Elder Bednar's boldness in declaring repentance.  Haha I don't know why, that line just stood out to me more than any other.  For those of you that are not currently paying a full tithe, I invite you to repent.  Maybe it just made me think about the fact that it's not always what we're doing that's not right, rather what we're not doing.

Elder Holland's testimony of the love that God has for us no matter what meant a lot too.  Elder Uchtdorf's talks were both really good and same with Elder Oaks.  I think Elder Nelson's going to be the next prophet.  Everyone's always talking about how there's a reason he's so missionary-minded.  Probably the best part about conference though was the number of times I felt within me that this church really is true and that those men and women are inspired and called of God.  Hearing Myles' reaction to it all was priceless.  

We invited a lot of people and a couple that we talked to just the other night came.  Their names are Maria and Christian.  She's a member that was baptized 7 years ago and hasn't been to church in a while, but they just moved here from Texas, so we went over to see them and they were happy to come to conference.  They came in a little late and left a little bit early, so we didn't get to talk to them, but they met the Bishop and a few of the members.  We saw Carlos and Yovana this week and they're going through a rough time, but they were still happy to let us in and talk..  I don't really know what to do with them because it doesn't feel like they're really serious about moving forward right now..  We're just going to keep trying as long as they're still ok with us stopping by.  

Parris Island is probably the best place in the whole world to do missionary work.  We only get to see them two times a week, but what we say really sticks with them and they almost always fulfill their commitments because it's the only nice thing somebody says to them all week long.  They are all so awesome because they're forced to be humble, dependent, and live the word of wisdom and the law of chastity.  There is no denying that they come out better people not only because of their discipline physically, but also spiritually and mentally.  They come to church seeking strength and they discover the best thing they could ever imagine to help them.  I don't really know how I could explain it simpler, they just want the Atonement.  

Recruit Wolferz got up in fast and testimony meeting yesterday (we got to take the sacrament on conference weekend :)) and bore testimony that there are a lot of churches out there that can take the nail out, but this is the only one that can completely heal our spiritual wounds.  Who told him that?!?  Haha they're all just so amazing.  We've been emphasizing a LOT lately the importance of remembering what being in Boot Camp does to you because what is the point in changing for the better if you're just going to go back to exactly the same way you were before.  I was touched by the general authority that told us what we've done is not important.  It's what we are willing to do and where we are going that matters to the Lord.  "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and  looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

I'm so happy to be here in South Carolina!  It's the most beautiful place in the entire world.  Elder Wright and I are blessed to have the chance to set up the Spanish work here to move the work of the Lord forward.  One of the questions I asked before conference was, "How can I help in hastening the work and when will things pick up?"  I was answered directly that the time of the hastening of the work is NOW and in order to be a part of it requires humility, obedience and hearkening to the voice of the spirit.  

Keep up the good work in Colorado :)  I feel like the Lord put you in that neighborhood when he did because he knew you were ready to bless the lives of all of those people and introduce them to the restored gospel.  I continue to pray for you!  

Love,

Elder Moore

September 30, 2013

Here are some recent mission pictures from Beaufort, SC

Greenie, Elder Wright's Birthday

Baby's First Birthday!

One of Eric's favorite things to make, Arbaknockers

Ole!  Eating Yovana's authentic tacos!

Eric said he now knows how to make these and promises to make them when he gets home!  Yum!

The Beaufort Ward Elder's going to the "Low Country Boil"

Looks like a delicious party to me!

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