2011 September 6

Dearest Mommy,

Okay, are you ready for an epic email? Cause I'm not! Gah!!
I love checking emails, but it's frustrating here at the end
because it's all about stuff like this: "what do you want
to do when you get back?", "can't wait to see you!",
"I'd write about ___, but I'll just tell you
when you get home!", "you only have ___ weeks left...can you believe
it!?", etc. Basically, I feel like emails are "let's check out and
think about home" time haha. Unfortunately, it's a necessary evil,
but the upside is that I only have to do it three more times and then
it's all OVER! Woo! No more trunky emails! Except that totally
sucks... because then the mission will be over and then it's back to
normal life...dangit!

Okay, I'll quit ranting and complaining about it and get on with
what's been exciting this week. First and foremost, you already heard
all about it from Dad... we bumped into each other by some crazy act
of God down there in Woodburn... ridiculous! That's the only word I
can say to describe it: ridiculous! Well, maybe that and awesome...
or sweet... or wonderful... or something of the like. It's funny
because at the Pisters yesterday (crap, spoiling my timeline already!)
they were poking fun at the uncanny likeness between Dad and I... it
is kinda weird... and it didn't really register just how much alike we
are until that fateful meeting. the funny thing is that it didn't
make me trunky at all! The only thing about it that it did was make
me want to work as hard as I can for these last couple weeks so we can
talk all about it once I get back... still, it's kinda funny that
we've been trying to avoid each other for the last 23 months, and then
out of the blue, we run into each other in WOODBURN of all places!

Okay, so aside from that, things have been pretty exciting here in
Mollala if you can believe that. So Tuesday, we had an absolutely
open day, so we decided to do some knocking out in Canby (where most
of our area's Hispanics/meth-heads are), and we had some good success!
We actually were able to find some good people just knocking around,
and it was such a joy to see that... especially after being in English
for so long! People that were willing to listen to us and set up
appointments for later! What a novel concept right?

Wednesday was the day of district meeting, and holy moses! We had an
hour drive to get there! We meet all the way in Newberg because our
district consists of Mcminnville, the zone leaders, and ourselves, so
Newberg and Wilsonville are the two "midway points" except not
really.. it's a long haul to get out there! It's all good though,
because this district rocks, and has an awesome district leader...oh
wait, that's me! Haha I'm just kidding about that part, so please
don't think I'm a super prideful sucker... it's funny though... I've
gone through my whole mission without being the District leader, and
now for my last transfer I get to do it... funny huh?
So that night, we had dinner with a family that was baptized about two
years ago, and they're pretty dang sweet. They were flabbergasted and
excited that I was able to come back to Spanish, and they asked about
the story of why, so I told them. It was funny because by the end of
it, the hermana asked if I had an apodo (nickname) and I told her that
I didn't really. She then said "well I have one for you then. we're
gonna call you 'el Protestante!'" So there it is folks. The new
nicname is "el Protestante"- or the protestor because she said with
all my protesting, it's gotten me places as a missionary haha. I
think maybe Quejon would be a more fitting name sometimes, although
it's almost the same :-)

Thursday we did some service for a lady that was a former
investigator... we actually ended up pulling out a stump for her,
which was not too terribly exciting. The nice part was that the roots
were already cut up, so all we had to do was get Catalino (an hermano
from the church) to come over with his truck, hook it up, and yank it
up and out of the four foot hole that it occupied :-P After that we
spent a good chunk of time filling in the hole with dirt and planing
it off so it would be smooth. It led us to setting a lesson with her
for Friday, so it all worked to our benefit :-)
One cool thing that caught my attention Thursday morning before
heading out was a quote that I found as I was cleaning up a few things
in the closet, and this is what it said:

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy
I awoke and saw that life was duty
I acted, and behold--
Duty was joy."
-Rabinath Tagore
I know it sounds kind of dumb, but it caught my attention simply
because in this process of change and seeing that there are some MAJOR
changes coming up soon, I feel like life won't be "joy" when they come
about, because there are going to be some "duties," but what I
realized is that as I act, do, and continue dreaming, it'll make it
possible to be able to feel of that joy.
The other one that caught my attention was a poem called "The
Fellowship of the Unashamed" and here it is:

"I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit
Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has
been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow
down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense,
and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight
walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions,
mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or
popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised,
regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by
patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my
way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted,
or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the
presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the
pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of
mediocrity.

I won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I've preached up, prayed
up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a
disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop,
preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My
colors will be clear for "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the
power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.." (Romans 1:16)"

-Bob Moorehead

Pretty cool, right? It makes you want to be a little bit more
committed to what ya do as a member of the church... that's for dang
sure!

Other than that, Friday we had some good lessons with a couple of
investigators... nothing too exciting to report there.

Saturday, we did some plainclothes tracting in between service
projects, and we were able to hook a new investigator because of it
haha.

Sunday, we had VERY few people show up for church... like only 15 or
so, but it was awesome... the spirit in that meeting was so awesome.
It was sad, because it's the last fast Sunday I'll have on the
mission, but the spirit was so strong, and the members were so
awesome. I found out that ALL of them are converts. Not most of
them, but every single one... and most of them for only ten years or
less... they bring such a special spirit to the branch every time we
get together as a group. Their testimonies aren't the cozy
comfortable flame you find in a living room fireplace, but the
consuming, light bringing warmth you'd find around a bonfire on a late
summer night... it's something totally different, and you can't help
but catch a little bit of the spirit of it while you're here with
them. Only spending this past week or so with them has already
brought me as close to them as in any other area--- including
Woodburn.

So Monday... well, it was Labor day, and that's why we didn't write
our emails haha. We instead took a trip with the zone down to Silver
falls to take a little bit of a hike. It's weird to think that a year
ago we took the same trip while I was serving in Woodburn... that
seems like it was only a few short months ago! A year! Holy crap! It
was super fun though, we took some good pictures, but I'll have to
steal them from elder Hernandez because they're on his camera.
After that though, we had lunch with Lupe G and the fam, then went to
the Pisters for yet ANOTHER meal! Bleh it was too much food in one
day, but it was delicious, and we had such a blast talking with
them... gosh I miss that place and love those people.

Anyway, yeah, I'm burned out on the email thing for now. I'll talk to
you all next week okay? I love ya!

-Elder Mooney