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| Elder Moore and Elder Allen--Adopted Trainee |
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| Elder Huckvale and Elder Moore |
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| Elder Wright and Elder Moore-Trainee |
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| Selina from Beaufort |
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| Welch/Hatfield Family, Beaufort |
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| Horse in a trailer park |
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| Elder Allen and Elder Moore--Christmas in Pearson, GA 2013 |
Sunday, December 15, 2013
December 9, 2013 (Pictures)
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..
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
Sunday, December 8, 2013
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
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
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| Beaufort District |
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| Elder Bingham holding Fried Chicken and Cheddar Bay Biscuits that they made |
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| More Beaufort District |
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| Elder Moore and Elder McCullough on morning walk to the bridge |
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| Elder Moore with Brother Clark and Brother Mock |
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| Happy Birthday to Elder Moore, 11/20/13 |
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| With Elder Moyo |
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| The Easthams |
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| 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
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
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
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
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