Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Congratulations, it's twins!




Dearest Mommy,
Well, your calculations are correct! We had transfers yesterday, and...... I'm staying in Woodburn for another transfer!!!! There's one hitch though... They gave me another greenie to train!!! What the heck!? I'm pretty sure this has NEVER happened in the OPM (Oregon Portland Mission) before, but oh well it's kind of interesting. His name is Elder Paige, from West Point, Utah. He's a nice kid... still getting to know him since we've only had him for about 24 hours now haha, but he really does seem pretty sweet. We're speaking in only spanish to try to help him to grab the language a little better... we had our first appointment this morning with Hno. Perez, and he got pretty lost haha. It's gonna take some time, but I bet with a little effort, he'll be a good elder. Oh I forgot to mention one fact: He's a foster child!!! He's not really an OPM missionary, he's supposed to be headed to Mexico City, Mexico West mission, but there was a hiccup with the visas for a couple missionaries, so we're holding on to him anywhere between 24 hours and 24 months... they said they'll know in the next transfer anyways. I'm pretty stoked to cover some new ground and have two greenies at the same time though haha.
It's interesting here in the mission... your "posterity" is kind of a big deal, and all of the terminology of a family is used. The kid you train is your "son", the elder you follow up train is your "step-son", the second elder trained by someone makes him "brothers" with the first, etc.. The other day I was poking fun at an english elder here in Woodburn because his companion right now is an elder that is supposed to be in Brasil, but is stuck here with visa problems as well. We were trying to find out what kind of terminology we could use for him, when I realized it's like a foster child! He can't be with his real daddy right now because of some legal stipulations, so we have to be the temporary parents haha. I thought it was funny until I got one myself. Not only that, but I have two at the same time, so they're telling me that I have "twins", but that they switched one of the babies in the hospital! haha oh goodness I love the culture of the mission.
So aside from that little excitement, Juan Velasquez got baptized this last sunday!!!! Ah man I was so stoked! Seriously, it was probably the most spiritual baptisms I have ever attended. Juan was baptized by his adoptive dad of the branch Hno. Ruybal, Pres. Pister's former president of the mission was the intermediate speaker and blew us away with his testimony, Jeive's whole family was there, both members and non-members, and both Juan and Jeive were so happy... gosh it was just such an amazing day.. I'll attach some photos on here so you can see them.
Aside from that, it's looking like Adan and Rab are fixing to get married here pretty soon, so they'll be locked and loaded for baptism in two weeks...sweet! Laura Gutierrez is reading and praying, and actually came to church as well this last sunday! She'll be getting a baptismal date this week or next depending on what the Spirit says. Turns out Felipe still wants us to teach him and help him get ready for baptism, so we're gonna see what we can do for him in the next couple of weeks... The Cruz family daughters are showing some good interest. Turns out the oldest daugter also wants to learn more about the church, so we taught her the Doctrine of Crist, and it went really really well. We're gonna see how things pan out in the next couple of weeks with her as well. More than that, we're trying to work with some of the other people from Lupe-G's family, as well as some other people that we've met.. nobody specifically is calling my attention right now, but we'll see how it goes in the next week here.

Thank you guys so much for the sweet package that you sent to me... it really means a lot to get things like that. The pictures are awesome, and a couple ladies got in an argument whether I look more like you or dad haha. I love you guys so much.. and I'm starting to get a sweet collection of postcards above my desk :-) Have a great week and I'll talk to you later.
Love always,
Elder Kurt Mooney


1 comment:

  1. Two greenies? That is crazy. I laughed when he was talking about the family thing. That's how I feel when I try and explain my family tree. I can't believe he has almost been out a year! Keep up the good work Kurt! We love you :)

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