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