New Trainer!

June 29, 2010
Hey mom and dad!

Oh man, so I'm gonna start off by telling you the exciting things we didn this week: We went fishing on monday night with the english elders at the Doman's property (yes, they have a pond and live out in the boonies and they're also related to Pres. Doman in our stake), and caught nine little rainbow trout. Elder Rangel caught his first fish, and it was super sweet! Aside from fishing, we also got to explore their "barn" which is actually a workshop that they have to rebuild/put together sweet cars. When they showed me the cars they had, I about had a spaz attack! He has a Ford Javellin that he's turned into a racer for kicks and giggles, a Dodge dart convertible with 15,000 original miles on it, a '52 Chevy flatbed truck with the round windshield that is completely restored, and a near mint 1950something Porsche convertible that's worth about $150,000... oh my gosh it was amazing! They're also almost done restoring a sunbeam convertible, an MG midget, and a whole mess of other projects like a '42 coupe made by ford... ah so sweet.

Anyways, after drooling over the cars that night, it was off to the races to make sure we had everything prepped for the baptism of the Perez family on Saturday. I don't know why, but for some reason, this baptism was a lot more stressful than ones in the past. On friday I went on exchange with elder Roush here in Woodburn, and for lunch, we decided to hunt down this little diner in the middle of nowhere that supposedly has the best burgers in Oregon... After burning almost 50 miles and feeling a little lost in Oregon wine country, we found it! It's in a little town called Markum, if you can even call it that. it's the intersection of the Canby/Mollalla highway and the road that leads into Silverton clear in the freak out there. All I have to say, is that those burgers were FREAKING GOOD! Oh my gosh I thought I was going to die though haha I couldn't even finish it!

After that, we had the interviews and everything went really well... Saturday was the day of the baptism, and we made sure they were all prepped, got everything set up for them, and had the baptism. One thing that's funny about baptisms here, is the food! Oh my gosh the hermanas go over the top to make sure that you're getting spiritually fed and physically killed by how much food they make haha. President Pister baptized the parents and the daughter, and one of the members who is friends with Ivan baptized him, and it was super cool... they're gonna make great members.

After the baptism, we headed back to the apartment to take our studies which we couldn't do in the morning, and we got a phone call. It was for transfers. They told elder Rangel to pack his things and be at transfer meeting. Then I thought well that's a bummer, but ah well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Then, we got another call. Elder Larsen, one of the AP's called and asked to talk to me. We chit-chatted for a minute, and then he said, "so elder Mooney... how do you feel about training?" Oh my gosh I about fell out of my chair! I was super surprised because...well... I'm young in the mission and don't feel prepared, but I remembered a quote from Joseph Smith that says, "when the Lord commands, DO IT", so I accepted. I showed up to transfers sweating bullets, and received my new greenie, Elder Rivera, and it turns out that he's the MAN! He's a Puerto-Rican who moved to Utah about four years ago with his mom and siblings. I've only known him for a few days, but I can already tell that he's going to be a great missionary. I'm so stoked to teach him! He will become a great missionary in not too long. I've included a picture in the email so you can see what he's like. We're gonna tear it up here in Woodburn!

I don't have much time left, but I just wanna say thank you so much again for the thoughtful packages... they really meant a lot to me, and I'm not gonna lie, having new white shirts is kind of exciting as a missionary haha. Mom, I'll be writing you a real letter today, and Katie, you too, so I'll talk more to you in those okay?

I love you all so much,

-elder Kurt Mooney

PS: HOLY COW I'M 20 YEARS OLD!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!