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!

?

September 30, 2013

Dear Family,

It's harder than I could have ever imagined to watch that video of the Lefthand Creek flooded in the e-mail that Dad sent to me.  It's amazing how the water just crept right up on you and nobody else in all of Rainbow Ridge and Creekside, really...  It's wonderful to know that the damage done to our house is nothing too serious and that everybody seems to be ok and not trapped in Longmont.  I'll be praying for the people up in the mountains..  It seems like they would be the most safe honestly..  Wouldn't the water just run down to the bottom?  It's awesome to hear that the Elders and Sisters over there are helping out so much and you've had so many chances to share the gospel lately.  Things like this humble people a lot, I guess!  I'll be praying for your neighbors as well.  I wish I could be there to help you teach them and clean up the house and yard..  Maybe it doesn't seem like the most fun thing, but it sounds like more good has come from the situation than bad from what you've told me.  I'm sure it's hard, but keep your heads up :)  That was a great story by the way Dad about the dolls and the experience with the cloth dolls.  It sounded like something out of a book.  

Life's the same over here in South Carolina.  It's getting a lot colder really fast though, so it's going to be good wearing suits in a few weeks.  I didn't get a new suit because we haven't been over to Bluffton for a while, but hopefully I'll have one by next week.  I'll send you a picture of it :)  I have to convince one of the other Elders I'm living with though to buy one with me because they're buy one, get one free!  We'll see what happens, that's not the most important thing right now.  

We talked to Luis yesterday one on one to try to find out whether or not he really wants to be baptized and he said that he does sometime in the near future.  He says he wants to set things right with God, and we explained to him that's good and it's called repentance.  He says he'll be baptized when he feels more like he's doing what he's supposed to be doing.  We invited him again to read the Book of Mormon daily and to pray to know what day he should be baptized.  We only meet with him once a week because of school, but we're going to try calling him at least every other day to check up on his progression.  

Things at Parris Island are going extremely well as usual.  Recruit Ream was baptized yesterday in front of a whole congregation of Protestants.  I conducted the service and just included everyone present in the prayers and the ordinance itself.  The pastors just didn't want to clear out the room because there are probably over a hundred people that meet in there.  I wonder how many people are going to be coming from there to our service next week!  Hopefully it impacted someone :)  We set up two more recruits to be baptized on the 12th of October.  Crazy to think how fast time really is flying by.  

The Beaufort Ward itself has been more excited than ever about missionary work and we've been approached several times regarding how we can help them in finding more people to teach.  I wish every member could just do what you two are doing!  I hope you know how much more powerful it is when an investigator is friends with a member and that member is present for the lessons taught!  There aren't a whole lot of people that get baptized after meeting the missionaries by them knocking on the door.  We've been talking to several of the less active Spanish members in an effort to get them back, but we just haven't found the magic key or something yet.  

What would help me more than anything else in the world would be if you could send me more of those little inspirational quotes or things you find that would help me to teach better.  Like quotes or talks by general authorities or other people.  I really liked when you were doing that before :)  I've noticed you sharing my posts on your wall!  That's awesome, keep it up :)  

Love you so much,

Elder Moore