June 6, 2011

Dearest Mom, Dad, and graduate,

Holy Crap!!!!! My little sister is all grown up! I'm kind of at a loss for words on that one... I'm so proud of her though, that's awesome! I'll be writing her a letter this week on my handy dandy typewriter, so don't worry... I'm a little slow, but I'll get it done haha.

This week has been quite an eventful one for me as well, so I'll clue you in on the excitement:

Monday we had transfers (obviously because I already told you about them)

Tuesday turned out to be quite an eventful day. In the morning (around the butt-crack of dawn) we accompanied sister DeLong to seminary... at 6:00 a.m.! Gosh it was ridiculously early even for missionaries haha. They wanted her to come so that she could speak a little bit about the prophets and church leaders that she's known over the years, and man it was a hit with the kids! Instead of a class full of kids laying their heads on their desks half asleep and miserable, every single person was riveted on this sweet little old lady telling stories about how she played hop-scotch with president George Albert Smith as a kid and how Harold B. Lee was the person who sealed her and her husband for their marriage... she is truly an incredible woman.

Later that day, and actually as I was writing my last email, I was thinking a lot about how I could make some changes to find more success in this area, and as I said that I would be willing to change some things, in walked a man named Jon that I've talked about previously. He walked over to me and said that he wanted to meet with us.... plop! a little gift from heaven! haha. We set up an appointment right then and there for Wednesday and it went really well.

That night was what really rocked my world though. So remember how deciding to actually serve here in Oregon was a bit of a struggle at first because I wanted to know that it was the right place and that it wasn't a mistake? Remember how I went on that visit with the missionaries and what one of them told me gave me the spiritual slap in the face that made me realize this was the right mission for me? To make a long story extremely short, I met him. Post mission. Dating a member in Sherwood. That was a HUGE confirmation to me that this really is the place that The Lord picked for me to serve my mission... kinda crazy huh?

Wednesday we got super pumped about going knocking, so we did it, and it turned out to be pretty entertaining. We knocked in this complex close to old town Sherwood, thinking that we'd baptize the world and guess what... it was a complex for retirees over 55 haha. We set up about five return-appointments with some old ladies, so we'll see what happens this week with those haha... hopefully they're not just looking for someone to talk to for hours on end.

That night, we went to brother Demaris' place to start splits with the Cedar Creek ward, and found out that we were going to be helping this guy named Frank pack his stuff so that he could move out of his house because he was getting evicted. I soon found out why. We got to the house, and I about threw up... there was so much trash, garbage, and general filth that I was sure that I was gonna catch something just by being in the house! Yikes! I remember elder Wilde telling me a story about this dude and how he didn't wash dishes at his house for more than four months and how the dishes were MOLDY they'd been sitting there for so long... yeah, the rest of his house matched that pretty much. I never knew that a cola drink could grow mold on the top of it... turns out it can haha. There were mice droppings in the dirty laundry that had been left out, and geh.... it was just really gross. One nice thing, however, is that I got a free camera out of it that is WAY nicer than any that I could afford.. it's like a brand new Canon, and it was free! Sweet right? I found it buried in a basket that I was packing into a box. I asked when the last time it had been used was, and they told me that they liked using their phones better. I asked if I could trade them for my old camera, and they said just have it, so I took it :-)

Thursday we did our weekly planning and started a revolution: we're using the typewriter to do our weekly planning and to fill out teaching records... it works pretty dang well I have to say haha. It makes me feel more productive anyway. One thing that I was super bummed about was finding that the area books were in serious neglect... the last time a teaching record had been updated was in NOVEMBER! So, we decided that as part of our revolution, we're gonna make sure that the area book does not suck.

Other than that, we knocked doors and I bumped into the first Argentines that I'd ever met just knocking doors. Go figure that I'd have to go to English to finally meet one knocking doors haha.

Speaking of going English, I found out at zone leader council on Friday that I am an experiment to see if I can start a revolution amongst the English chuchos. To be honest, I think it's working because this last month as well as this first week of June, we're leading the mission. Revolution! We also found out that the mission might be trading in area books and such for ipads here pretty soon... nuts right? Well, not terribly soon, but within like three to five years or so.

Saturday wasn't too exciting.. we did service for the Steers family, finally finished sanding their deck, and had a bunch of failed appointments and knocked doors.

Sunday wasn't anything too bad either... we had a sweet dinner and lesson at the Steers with Scott Cunningham, and he's becoming our friend really quickly... I love sherwood :-)

All right, I'm tired of writing, but you asked if I'm taking pictures, and yes I am... I just sent my last memory card (after copying the pictures, so you should have a boatload either today or tomorrow. I love you guys a lot and congratulations to Katie Jo!

Love,

-Elder Mooney