Busy, busy

July 26, 2010
Dear Mom and dad,

Well, this week was pretty freakin sweet.... now I just need to remember exactly what we did so I can let you know what's up haha. We've been working really hard.... and playing really hard haha. We had 9 member present lessons, 11 others, and only three hours of knocking haha. To make up for the normal 10 hours or so that we do, we were doing a whooole bunch of service. I mean really slave labor kind of service haha.

I'll start out with last Monday and work through the week. Monday.... yeah I don't even remember what we did for p-day haha so we'll skip that and maybe it'll come back to me. Tuesday, we had a good busy day teaching a bunch of lessons, and then that night we also taught a whole bunch of lessons, but also dropped some investigators because they're not doing jack. I feel bad, because the people really get hurt when we tell them we're not going to pass by to teach them anymore. I don't know... you get to become friends with these people, but they're not willing to get their butt in gear and start changing, so we have to drop them.... it's like getting out of a relationship though haha it's kinda weird. You say things like "it's not you, it's me" and "maybe we can try again in a little while" or "I just feel like we need to give you some space" haha. Anyways, it's just kinda hard to drop investigators I've found.

Aside from that though, we've got a sweet wedding lined up for Maria De Los Angeles something or other (who is a member) to her boyfriend Felipe Vazquez so that he can get baptized! Not only am I playing marriage counselor, but I'm also playing matchmaker! I love it haha. Juan Velazquez, the husband of Jeivi is also doing really well and is getting ready to get baptized so that he can baptize his daughter in a month or so... I love it! I can't really think of what else to say about our investigators... Oh! Iyali Cruz is going to be getting baptized in a month or so, which is sweet! Okay, I've gotta tell you the names of the daughters in this family so that you have a feel for how confusing it is to keep track... Ivelisse is the youngest, then Iyali, then Italivi, then Iyadani... dang Oaxacan dialect names haha. It's so dang confusing sometimes! That's one thing I never knew, was how many native dialects there are in Mexico... someone told me more than 80! Nuts!

Aside from that this week, my companion elder Rivera decided to be a starburst addict and popped off a crown along with the majority of his tooth... wonderful, right? Yeah I thought so too haha. Because of that, we shot our planning day in the butt and found a member dentist who hooked him up with free everything....SCHWING! He didn't have insurance, and the dentist said don't worry about a thing it's all covered... I was shocked, but man it's good to be a member! So like I said, that's what we did on Thursday. Friday, we taught lessons again, and that was about all.

Then there was Saturday... oh Saturday was a blastie. There was an activity for the four wards in Woodburn. In the morning, we had a service project in the local cemetery where we cleaned up gravestones that were pre-civil war it was nuts! It's the oldest cemetery in Oregon, so there were civil war vets up through people who are planting marble of their own... it was fun! Afterwards, we got roped into a move for an English member where we've been helping build her house for habitat for humanity, which shockingly enough only took like two hours! The one hitch is that after that, we got roped into another move for their neighbor whom we also helped to build her house, so yeah... that was fun. Afterwards, we were invited to a barbecue for the 24th with our favorite ex-marine brother Roberts! Oh my gosh he killed us with food again it was great! We had barbecued pork loins, and after three, I took a nice little food coma on the table haha. Afterwards, we went to an appointment, and then directly after got invited to the ward(s) party for our dinner hour... we didn't eat a thing, but decided to play baseball instead :-). Oh man I miss playing baseball! Ah it's like the best thing in the world! I really do miss playing it... maybe I'll get hooked into softball like Ryan when I get back.

Anyways, then Sunday we had seven lessons ka-ching ka-ching ka-ching! Holy crap we were trashed by like 930, so we went to bed. Then we woke up today and had a zone activity with both spanish zones... we were missing two out of the whole zone, and still had 24 of us! It was nuts! We had enough to play a full-blown soccer game on a nice turf field in Sherwood, and then went to Mickey D's afterwards, and oh my gosh I think we freaked people out... 24 sweaty 19-25 year old missionaries booking it for McDonalds in matching Corollas and Malibus haha. It was a good time though, and now I've got the best farmers tan ever. I would show you, but I think I'd get in trouble for sending that home haha.

Anyways, it sounds like you guys had a total blast this week for the 4th. I hope you guys know that I love you and I miss you. Say hi to Jorge for me when he gets there... gosh that's so sweet you guys get to visit with him and show him around a little bit. I told him to stay away from Katie Jo or I'll be coming off my mission to stab him to death with a spoon, so watch out haha. Anyways, have a great week and I'll talk to you guys later!

Love always,

Elder Kurt Mooney