Lupe-G goes to the temple!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Transfers and 8 points
August 9, 2010
Dearest Family,
Okay, so I'm feeling a little lazy right now, so bear with me if my writing reflects it. We got transfer calls this last Saturday, and I'm staying with elder Rivera for another transfer! Woot woot! I was seriously stressing about it thinking I was going to get hosed and not end up being able to stay in Woodburn for much longer, but we had a set of meetings this week where president Dyches got some counsel from good ol' Tommy Monson that missionaries should be staying in their areas for at least 6 months or more. It also turns out that L. Tom Perry said that they should stay for half their mission! I hope I'm here for six months more then haha.
Okay, on the subject of those meetings, they totally killed our work this week! We had leadership meeting for the new 8 points that they're focusing on to train missionaries to be better at helping people really be converted. It's a rad program, it's just annoying that we were in meetings Tuesday through Friday from 9 in the morning 'til 4 in the afternoon, not to mention the 45min-hour drive that we had to take to get there. This means that I was leaving my son (Rivera) with english elders all week, and our work totally went down the toilet for four days. We still did all right, but man I HATE feeling worthless! I'm going to try to remember what the eight new points are so you guys can know what I'm talking about. The first is the doctrine of Christ which centers around love. The second is understanding the role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. The third is revelation through prayer. The Fourth is revelation through reading the Book of Mormon. The fifth is revelation through church attendance. The sixth is making and keeping commitments. The seventh is something I can't remember, and the eighth is beginning to teach. Whew! That was a lot of training and practice with those eight!
Anyways, now we're trying to take a doctor's approach to these steps like they do in surgery, which is see one, do one, teach one haha. After seeing an example, we try it, then we are supposed to teach our companions so they can do it too... we'll see how it all goes I guess this coming week. Rivera seems to be catching on pretty well.
So aside from that, about the only excitement we have is that Felipe came to church for the first time, and he liked it... two more times and he's jumping in that font! Woohoo!
Other than that, I've felt a little bit bummed out this week because we've been freaking ineffective missionaries with so much time wasted in meetings, so I was feeling down in the dumps, but Sunday night, we went out to visit a few referrals, and none of them were home, so I was a little frustrated, and we decided to knock a few doors. The first door we knocked, we ran into a man named Onorato... I'm not sure if I spelled his name right, but he's sweet! He's super humble ,and he's a really really prepared guy... he's even best friends with one of the members we're prepping to enter the temple!.... PLOP! Sometimes when you're feeling bogged down, if you just keep hustling, the Lord will throw you a bone so you can be a little bit happier with what's going on. Hooray for missionary work!
Okay, I'm gonna get outta here cause I've got other stuff to do, but I hope you guys have a great week and that you know that I miss and love you.
Love,
Dearest Family,
Okay, so I'm feeling a little lazy right now, so bear with me if my writing reflects it. We got transfer calls this last Saturday, and I'm staying with elder Rivera for another transfer! Woot woot! I was seriously stressing about it thinking I was going to get hosed and not end up being able to stay in Woodburn for much longer, but we had a set of meetings this week where president Dyches got some counsel from good ol' Tommy Monson that missionaries should be staying in their areas for at least 6 months or more. It also turns out that L. Tom Perry said that they should stay for half their mission! I hope I'm here for six months more then haha.
Okay, on the subject of those meetings, they totally killed our work this week! We had leadership meeting for the new 8 points that they're focusing on to train missionaries to be better at helping people really be converted. It's a rad program, it's just annoying that we were in meetings Tuesday through Friday from 9 in the morning 'til 4 in the afternoon, not to mention the 45min-hour drive that we had to take to get there. This means that I was leaving my son (Rivera) with english elders all week, and our work totally went down the toilet for four days. We still did all right, but man I HATE feeling worthless! I'm going to try to remember what the eight new points are so you guys can know what I'm talking about. The first is the doctrine of Christ which centers around love. The second is understanding the role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. The third is revelation through prayer. The Fourth is revelation through reading the Book of Mormon. The fifth is revelation through church attendance. The sixth is making and keeping commitments. The seventh is something I can't remember, and the eighth is beginning to teach. Whew! That was a lot of training and practice with those eight!
Anyways, now we're trying to take a doctor's approach to these steps like they do in surgery, which is see one, do one, teach one haha. After seeing an example, we try it, then we are supposed to teach our companions so they can do it too... we'll see how it all goes I guess this coming week. Rivera seems to be catching on pretty well.
So aside from that, about the only excitement we have is that Felipe came to church for the first time, and he liked it... two more times and he's jumping in that font! Woohoo!
Other than that, I've felt a little bit bummed out this week because we've been freaking ineffective missionaries with so much time wasted in meetings, so I was feeling down in the dumps, but Sunday night, we went out to visit a few referrals, and none of them were home, so I was a little frustrated, and we decided to knock a few doors. The first door we knocked, we ran into a man named Onorato... I'm not sure if I spelled his name right, but he's sweet! He's super humble ,and he's a really really prepared guy... he's even best friends with one of the members we're prepping to enter the temple!.... PLOP! Sometimes when you're feeling bogged down, if you just keep hustling, the Lord will throw you a bone so you can be a little bit happier with what's going on. Hooray for missionary work!
Okay, I'm gonna get outta here cause I've got other stuff to do, but I hope you guys have a great week and that you know that I miss and love you.
Love,
Just say NO!
August 2, 2010
Dearest Fandamily,
Okay, so I've gotta clue you in on the exciting week we've had here in Woodburn. I already told you about the fun P-day we had last week with the soccer game and all for zone activity, so I'll leave that out of this email. What else happened this week though... Oh!
So this week we've been working hard with all the people we're teaching and to make a long story short, we now have three baptismal dates. One Juan Velasquez for the 19th of September, one Felipe Vazquez for the 22nd of August, and one Iyali Cruz for the 15th of August! Ah I'm so super stoked for them!!!! Especially because they all have members of their families that are already members. Juan's wife is a member, Felipe's wife is a member, and Iyali's parents are both members. I came to the realization out here that it's not about just trying to baptize the crap out of every person we see here, but the ultimate goal is to bring the family together so that they can be together forever... gosh I love this church.
OH! So i totally committed a transgression this week it was hilarious although I feel a little bit bad haha. I say transgression because I had no idea that I was sinning... you'll see what I mean I'll explain haha. So tuesday we had dinner with the Pacheco family, and so that you know, the hermana is just learning how to read... yeah it's a little different working with hispanic people. Anyways, she gave us this freaking tasty peach drink, and I basically ended up drinking the entire pitcher! After we finished, I asked her where she had got it from so that I could go buy some. Then she whipped out the canister and showed me it was from Walmart, which is good because it's cheap, but bad in that it was freaking iced tea! Dangit! haha oh well right? Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny.
The other exciting thing that happened on Tuesday morning was the fact that Jorge headed off for the MTC. Well... actually he headed off to our house first, and then over to the MTC. So you said he was a little overwhelmed? Good haha it'll help him grow up faster! He's a super sweet kid, and it'll be a good thing for him to be away from his mommy for a while... man you're right though mom... it's gonna be hard for him. One question... did he sleep in my room or the guest bedroom? Just curious haha.
That's funny he brought up the car and the phone. Yeah we're super spoiled in this mission and drive a 2009 Corrola and have a phone with a qwerty keyboard... it's the most idiotic thing ever that we have that phone... we can't text on it, and the number pad is dinky so you can barely push the right numbers... let alone with my fat fingers! Ah well we use what they give us haha. Oh! Speaking of fat, I'm losing weight! All this running is paying off! Today I got on the scale and I'm down below the 210 mark... booyeah! one more month and I'll drop below 200... I'm excited :-) I've learned the magic word when we're eating with members: no. I use it all the time now it's fabulous! "elder, quieres mas?" "nnnno." "Elder, mas tortillas?" "nnnno." "Quieres postre?" "NO!" Okay, I don't ever yell it, but since I took the advice of one of our zone leaders of two tortillas and one plate (along with exercise), I'm getting less fat haha woohoo!
One day where we epic failed with the eating thing was Thursday. We went to get Rivera's crown put in, and this dentist is sweet! After fixing his tooth for free, she came out and said here's $30 bucks, go have some fun there's a sweet chinese place just a block away, so go enjoy yourselves! I was flabbergasted! I don't think I've ever used that word before, but it describes exactly how I felt! What a sweet lady right!?
Okay aside from that, we also had a really cool lesson this week that kind of blew me away spiritually this week. We've started teaching a lady named Laticia and her sister Veronica. So we had a lesson with her on Wednesday with them, and it went really well, although she's going through a really rough time right now. Her son Christian (It makes me giggle because she's a JW) went into liver failure of an unknown cause about three months ago, so he had a liver transplant. He's only a year old. Not only that, but as they thought he was doing better, his body suddenly started rejecting the new liver, so the doctors weren't sure what they were going to do to keep him alive. Laticia was completely distraught when we came over, so we ended up teaching her about the importance of faith, why God allows bad things to happen, how to overcome it, etc. Ultimately we ended up talking to her about blessing of the sick, and we gave a blessing to her son. During the blessing I felt impressed to say that he would be healed according to the faith that her mother has. After giving that blessing, I begged and pleaded with her that she would pray. She said she didn't feel worthy to, so we taught her about prayer and how vital it is in not only creating a better relationship with the Lord, but also putting her faith in action. Long story short, her son is now on the mend and the doctors can't explain it.... I love this church!
The last thing I'm gonna tack on this email is the story of what happened on Friday... we had a WEDDING! Woohoo Felipe Vazquez is now legally and lawfully married to Maria his member wife! WOOT WOOT!! We're now going to keep teaching him and get him ready to be baptized. At the wedding, we passed by their table, and he said, so now when can I get baptized? We told him the 22nd of August, and he accepted it! He's the man! He's super stoked about it which is the best part.
Ok crap I forgot one more thing that happened that was sweet. Sunday, Hno. Perez and his son Ivan blessed the sacrament for the first time... both in white shirts and ties! AWESOME!!!! I really hope that Pres. Dyches just loses my picture on the transfer board and I can just stay in Woodburn for the rest of my mission haha.
I love you all and I hope you guys are having a blast in Maryland without me! Take lots of pictures!
Love,
Elder Kurt Mooney
Dearest Fandamily,
Okay, so I've gotta clue you in on the exciting week we've had here in Woodburn. I already told you about the fun P-day we had last week with the soccer game and all for zone activity, so I'll leave that out of this email. What else happened this week though... Oh!
So this week we've been working hard with all the people we're teaching and to make a long story short, we now have three baptismal dates. One Juan Velasquez for the 19th of September, one Felipe Vazquez for the 22nd of August, and one Iyali Cruz for the 15th of August! Ah I'm so super stoked for them!!!! Especially because they all have members of their families that are already members. Juan's wife is a member, Felipe's wife is a member, and Iyali's parents are both members. I came to the realization out here that it's not about just trying to baptize the crap out of every person we see here, but the ultimate goal is to bring the family together so that they can be together forever... gosh I love this church.
OH! So i totally committed a transgression this week it was hilarious although I feel a little bit bad haha. I say transgression because I had no idea that I was sinning... you'll see what I mean I'll explain haha. So tuesday we had dinner with the Pacheco family, and so that you know, the hermana is just learning how to read... yeah it's a little different working with hispanic people. Anyways, she gave us this freaking tasty peach drink, and I basically ended up drinking the entire pitcher! After we finished, I asked her where she had got it from so that I could go buy some. Then she whipped out the canister and showed me it was from Walmart, which is good because it's cheap, but bad in that it was freaking iced tea! Dangit! haha oh well right? Anyways, I thought it was pretty funny.
The other exciting thing that happened on Tuesday morning was the fact that Jorge headed off for the MTC. Well... actually he headed off to our house first, and then over to the MTC. So you said he was a little overwhelmed? Good haha it'll help him grow up faster! He's a super sweet kid, and it'll be a good thing for him to be away from his mommy for a while... man you're right though mom... it's gonna be hard for him. One question... did he sleep in my room or the guest bedroom? Just curious haha.
That's funny he brought up the car and the phone. Yeah we're super spoiled in this mission and drive a 2009 Corrola and have a phone with a qwerty keyboard... it's the most idiotic thing ever that we have that phone... we can't text on it, and the number pad is dinky so you can barely push the right numbers... let alone with my fat fingers! Ah well we use what they give us haha. Oh! Speaking of fat, I'm losing weight! All this running is paying off! Today I got on the scale and I'm down below the 210 mark... booyeah! one more month and I'll drop below 200... I'm excited :-) I've learned the magic word when we're eating with members: no. I use it all the time now it's fabulous! "elder, quieres mas?" "nnnno." "Elder, mas tortillas?" "nnnno." "Quieres postre?" "NO!" Okay, I don't ever yell it, but since I took the advice of one of our zone leaders of two tortillas and one plate (along with exercise), I'm getting less fat haha woohoo!
One day where we epic failed with the eating thing was Thursday. We went to get Rivera's crown put in, and this dentist is sweet! After fixing his tooth for free, she came out and said here's $30 bucks, go have some fun there's a sweet chinese place just a block away, so go enjoy yourselves! I was flabbergasted! I don't think I've ever used that word before, but it describes exactly how I felt! What a sweet lady right!?
Okay aside from that, we also had a really cool lesson this week that kind of blew me away spiritually this week. We've started teaching a lady named Laticia and her sister Veronica. So we had a lesson with her on Wednesday with them, and it went really well, although she's going through a really rough time right now. Her son Christian (It makes me giggle because she's a JW) went into liver failure of an unknown cause about three months ago, so he had a liver transplant. He's only a year old. Not only that, but as they thought he was doing better, his body suddenly started rejecting the new liver, so the doctors weren't sure what they were going to do to keep him alive. Laticia was completely distraught when we came over, so we ended up teaching her about the importance of faith, why God allows bad things to happen, how to overcome it, etc. Ultimately we ended up talking to her about blessing of the sick, and we gave a blessing to her son. During the blessing I felt impressed to say that he would be healed according to the faith that her mother has. After giving that blessing, I begged and pleaded with her that she would pray. She said she didn't feel worthy to, so we taught her about prayer and how vital it is in not only creating a better relationship with the Lord, but also putting her faith in action. Long story short, her son is now on the mend and the doctors can't explain it.... I love this church!
The last thing I'm gonna tack on this email is the story of what happened on Friday... we had a WEDDING! Woohoo Felipe Vazquez is now legally and lawfully married to Maria his member wife! WOOT WOOT!! We're now going to keep teaching him and get him ready to be baptized. At the wedding, we passed by their table, and he said, so now when can I get baptized? We told him the 22nd of August, and he accepted it! He's the man! He's super stoked about it which is the best part.
Ok crap I forgot one more thing that happened that was sweet. Sunday, Hno. Perez and his son Ivan blessed the sacrament for the first time... both in white shirts and ties! AWESOME!!!! I really hope that Pres. Dyches just loses my picture on the transfer board and I can just stay in Woodburn for the rest of my mission haha.
I love you all and I hope you guys are having a blast in Maryland without me! Take lots of pictures!
Love,
Elder Kurt Mooney
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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
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
Monday, July 19, 2010
Dear Family,
DANGIT!!! I can't believe that someone beat me to the punch on the "Steak Center" idea.... I'll have to meet whoever came up with it and kick their butt haha. Naw its not such a big deal... I'll just have to make money some other way....that's why there's med school :-)
Okay, so starting off with all the excitement of this week, first of all, after I got done with my email last p-day, we went and did some shopping, which included a trip to Zumiez for a little bit, because I'm now looking for a lighter bag that doesn't totally kill me during the summer.... to make a long story short, I made the biggest impulse buy ever, and got a pair of VonZipper sunglasses haha. I love them! I won't tell you how much they were, or you'll fly out here and back-hand me, but they were totally worth it haha. After that, we met up with the english elders and two elders from our spanish district to go golfing, and it was sweet! It's been funny, because with that little golf game you sent me, elder Rivera has been practicing up, and has dubbed himself "mini Tiger Woods!" Luckily, this golf trip was a good time for me to *ahem* humble him so that he can continue being a good missionary haha just kidding....kind of haha. Naw, but it was a total blast going golfing there with all those guys.
After our golfing adventure on monday, we set to work this week... holy crap we tore it up running around like chickens with our heads cut off haha. We found several families knocking which we are now teaching. One Martinez family, and another whose name escapes me, mainly because I dont' know how to spell or even say it haha. Dang Mayan dialect names haha. Aside from that, we're working with Juan who is set to get baptized on his birthday (the 22nd of September), and Flor who is set to get baptized on the 8th of August. It's super sweet because she's really feeling support from her dad and her sister through all of this. Aside from her, we're teaching Felipe and getting ready to get him married to his convert wife so they won't break the law of chastity haha. Their wedding will be on the 30th of this month. Oh! Speaking of weddings and baptisms, Miriam my cuban abuelita got baptized on saturday! I'll include a photo on this email so you can see what she's like. She's super awesome... ah I love her. Not only that, but her hubby is getting ready to get baptized too!
Okay, aside from them, we're teaching three recent convert families and getting them ready for the temple. No wait, four families haha because the Perez are now baptized. Oh! Speaking of the Perez, Ivan, their son, asked me to ordain him on sunday... that was really cool. He's gonna be a great kid as long as he stays in the church. But yeah all of those families are sweet and are progressing a ton.
Aside from that, and actually jumping back to the Perez, after teaching a lesson to them with the Ruybals, they had us over to lunch to get to know elder Rivera a little better, and guess what they made.... NAVAJO TACOS!!! Oh my gosh i was so freakin' excited! I'm not gonna lie, it made me kind of trunky for home haha because the only other person in the world who makes navajo tacos like that is you mommy :-). Ah it was so freakin' good. I've decided you guys have to meet them. Dad, next time you're up here and you go to Silverton, you've gotta visit them so you can meet them. Best people ever, I promise ya.
Other than that... I'm trying to remember what else was exciting from this week.... Oh yeah! Michelle sent me a sweet french cuff shirt to go along with my sweet cufflinks that I couldn't use until now haha. Not gonna lie... looks pretty legit. Haha and aside from that, we walked some monster dogs this week for an english member... OH MY GOSH! They're the biggest dogs I've ever seen! One of them, I kid you not, he looks like a friggin bear! His name is Balto. The other one is a rottweiler (sp?) mixed with a black lab, so he's just a big, fat, tank of a dog that will drag you for five miles if you're not careful with the leash haha.
Anyways, that's about the excitement here... I'm super jealous you guys got to go to fish lake! Man I'm excited for that trip! Anyways, I love you guys and I'm so grateful that you're there for me. Have a great week, okay?
Love,
Elder Kurt Mooney
DANGIT!!! I can't believe that someone beat me to the punch on the "Steak Center" idea.... I'll have to meet whoever came up with it and kick their butt haha. Naw its not such a big deal... I'll just have to make money some other way....that's why there's med school :-)
Okay, so starting off with all the excitement of this week, first of all, after I got done with my email last p-day, we went and did some shopping, which included a trip to Zumiez for a little bit, because I'm now looking for a lighter bag that doesn't totally kill me during the summer.... to make a long story short, I made the biggest impulse buy ever, and got a pair of VonZipper sunglasses haha. I love them! I won't tell you how much they were, or you'll fly out here and back-hand me, but they were totally worth it haha. After that, we met up with the english elders and two elders from our spanish district to go golfing, and it was sweet! It's been funny, because with that little golf game you sent me, elder Rivera has been practicing up, and has dubbed himself "mini Tiger Woods!" Luckily, this golf trip was a good time for me to *ahem* humble him so that he can continue being a good missionary haha just kidding....kind of haha. Naw, but it was a total blast going golfing there with all those guys.
After our golfing adventure on monday, we set to work this week... holy crap we tore it up running around like chickens with our heads cut off haha. We found several families knocking which we are now teaching. One Martinez family, and another whose name escapes me, mainly because I dont' know how to spell or even say it haha. Dang Mayan dialect names haha. Aside from that, we're working with Juan who is set to get baptized on his birthday (the 22nd of September), and Flor who is set to get baptized on the 8th of August. It's super sweet because she's really feeling support from her dad and her sister through all of this. Aside from her, we're teaching Felipe and getting ready to get him married to his convert wife so they won't break the law of chastity haha. Their wedding will be on the 30th of this month. Oh! Speaking of weddings and baptisms, Miriam my cuban abuelita got baptized on saturday! I'll include a photo on this email so you can see what she's like. She's super awesome... ah I love her. Not only that, but her hubby is getting ready to get baptized too!
Okay, aside from them, we're teaching three recent convert families and getting them ready for the temple. No wait, four families haha because the Perez are now baptized. Oh! Speaking of the Perez, Ivan, their son, asked me to ordain him on sunday... that was really cool. He's gonna be a great kid as long as he stays in the church. But yeah all of those families are sweet and are progressing a ton.
Aside from that, and actually jumping back to the Perez, after teaching a lesson to them with the Ruybals, they had us over to lunch to get to know elder Rivera a little better, and guess what they made.... NAVAJO TACOS!!! Oh my gosh i was so freakin' excited! I'm not gonna lie, it made me kind of trunky for home haha because the only other person in the world who makes navajo tacos like that is you mommy :-). Ah it was so freakin' good. I've decided you guys have to meet them. Dad, next time you're up here and you go to Silverton, you've gotta visit them so you can meet them. Best people ever, I promise ya.
Other than that... I'm trying to remember what else was exciting from this week.... Oh yeah! Michelle sent me a sweet french cuff shirt to go along with my sweet cufflinks that I couldn't use until now haha. Not gonna lie... looks pretty legit. Haha and aside from that, we walked some monster dogs this week for an english member... OH MY GOSH! They're the biggest dogs I've ever seen! One of them, I kid you not, he looks like a friggin bear! His name is Balto. The other one is a rottweiler (sp?) mixed with a black lab, so he's just a big, fat, tank of a dog that will drag you for five miles if you're not careful with the leash haha.
Anyways, that's about the excitement here... I'm super jealous you guys got to go to fish lake! Man I'm excited for that trip! Anyways, I love you guys and I'm so grateful that you're there for me. Have a great week, okay?
Love,
Elder Kurt Mooney
Monday, July 12, 2010
Dirtiest car and Dr. Feelgood
July 12, 2010
Hi everyone!
Okay, so this week has been kind of an adventure, so I'll try the best I can to explain all that went on during the week.
First off, after I got off the computer we took a sweet little district activity up to Silver Falls park and had a total blast! We first stopped in at a place in Mount Angel and ate at a place called burger time which was sweet, and then went and burned off all the calories running around the park looking at waterfalls and running into about 20 members from different parts of oregon haha. We actually ended up teaching a first lesson to a park ranger as well which was entertaining.
Aside from that, we've shot a lot of hours this week in the shop getting our car fixed, which sucks because I didn't even wreck the car or anything! Toyota is total hosing us right now... and Elder Olmstead haha. We first had to take the car in to get an estimate on a bumper that's coming loose where it joins with the rear left quarter-panel, and it took FOUR HOURS of sitting there before they could take a look at it, and then to buy the retaining bracket to fix it, it cost $70 bucks plus an hour of labor to put it in! The worst part: they didn't have the part, so we had to come back the next day (Wednesday) after zone conference to get it fixed! AAAAAH!!! Zone conference is sweet and everything, but we're there from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, so it's a total day-killer. Oh well though... it must be done I guess. I was a little miffed at this zone-conference though, because okay... let me explain a little about what we're doing now. They have an award for the two cleanest cars and the one car that is dirtiest. This zone conference, I got the dirtiest car award, which is crap! I Washed it, waxed it, vacuumed it, and totally organized everything about that stupid car, and elder Olmstead (the guy who is in charge of the cars) total threw me under the bus because a box of materials in the back wasn't organized.... at least I use my materials. That's why theyr'e like that. Oh well enough animosity haha. I secretly kind of want to rebel and just not clean the car the next time I go to zone conference though just to spite him haha. We'll see what happens though.
So aside from zone conference this week, something sweet happened... Kyle came to visit me for a little bit! It was super rad! We went and got some dinner and got to talk for a couple of hours it was sweet (all this was approved by pres. Dyches, don't worry haha) but yeah... we got to talk about life for a while... it was trippy to think I hadn't seen him for over a year... it seems like just a little while ago! The last time I saw him, I was opening my call at the house! Holy crap time goes fast!
Okay aside from time going fast, I still feel extremely young for the stuff I have to do out here... for example: Training a new missionary after only being here for 9 months. Another example: Playing marriage counselor for persons in the branch that are having problems.... YIKES! I won't go into detail on that just in case someone from the mission is reading my blog, but yeah I'm not old enough to do that... although I think I have a promising future in opening up a show like Maury but I'll just call it "Marriage Counseling Moondogg" or "Dr. Feelgood" or something like that... good grief but I don't wanna have to deal with it right now! haha.
Speaking of marriages and weddings, I don't know if you guys remember Miriam my Cuban grandma from Salem, but if you don't you can pretend. And guess what... she got married! Oh my gosh I about freaked out! Not only that, but she's getting baptized this saturday and I'll be there for it! Ah I'm so excited for her!!! On that day of the wedding though... oh my goodness I thought we were going to die. My greenie got to experience his first triple-dinner... it was nuts! We first went to the wedding at 1 and we ate there, although we knew we had dinner at four, so we tried to eat light, but then Miriam got mad and told us to eat more and have a piece of cake... AAAH! Then we had dinner with the Perez family, and they total poned us with food... we had like two heaping bowls of posole, so I was ready for a coma afterwards, but we had been invited to the birthday of a recent convert and his two daughters, one of which we're teaching right now (Flor). When we got there, we were anticipating just dropping off a gift and saying happy birthday....but OHMIGEASH! They destroyed us! Chicken, Rice, Beans, Tamales, Horchata... I don't know why I capitalized all of those, but oh well haha it was a TON of food. After that we were about ready to cry haha but it's all good.
Now I've gotta tell ya about sunday.. it was the world cup if you didn't know, and it was shocking because there were actually people in church! About 80% of the branch was there, and we got invited to have lunch with a family after church was over. We went over with the family Cruz, and they made us tostadas... when they told us tosdadas, I'm thinking little maybe 4 inch tostadas... no... these were HUUUGE! like a foot in diameter if not more! Covered in beans, lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes with salsa... oh man they were good haha.
Aside from that, today we're headed out to do some golfing with the english elders and our district, and I've gotta bail, so I'll talk to you guys next week! I love you guys so much!
love,
elder Mooney
PS: I'm super jealous you guys went to fish lake!!!
Hi everyone!
Okay, so this week has been kind of an adventure, so I'll try the best I can to explain all that went on during the week.
First off, after I got off the computer we took a sweet little district activity up to Silver Falls park and had a total blast! We first stopped in at a place in Mount Angel and ate at a place called burger time which was sweet, and then went and burned off all the calories running around the park looking at waterfalls and running into about 20 members from different parts of oregon haha. We actually ended up teaching a first lesson to a park ranger as well which was entertaining.
Aside from that, we've shot a lot of hours this week in the shop getting our car fixed, which sucks because I didn't even wreck the car or anything! Toyota is total hosing us right now... and Elder Olmstead haha. We first had to take the car in to get an estimate on a bumper that's coming loose where it joins with the rear left quarter-panel, and it took FOUR HOURS of sitting there before they could take a look at it, and then to buy the retaining bracket to fix it, it cost $70 bucks plus an hour of labor to put it in! The worst part: they didn't have the part, so we had to come back the next day (Wednesday) after zone conference to get it fixed! AAAAAH!!! Zone conference is sweet and everything, but we're there from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, so it's a total day-killer. Oh well though... it must be done I guess. I was a little miffed at this zone-conference though, because okay... let me explain a little about what we're doing now. They have an award for the two cleanest cars and the one car that is dirtiest. This zone conference, I got the dirtiest car award, which is crap! I Washed it, waxed it, vacuumed it, and totally organized everything about that stupid car, and elder Olmstead (the guy who is in charge of the cars) total threw me under the bus because a box of materials in the back wasn't organized.... at least I use my materials. That's why theyr'e like that. Oh well enough animosity haha. I secretly kind of want to rebel and just not clean the car the next time I go to zone conference though just to spite him haha. We'll see what happens though.
So aside from zone conference this week, something sweet happened... Kyle came to visit me for a little bit! It was super rad! We went and got some dinner and got to talk for a couple of hours it was sweet (all this was approved by pres. Dyches, don't worry haha) but yeah... we got to talk about life for a while... it was trippy to think I hadn't seen him for over a year... it seems like just a little while ago! The last time I saw him, I was opening my call at the house! Holy crap time goes fast!
Okay aside from time going fast, I still feel extremely young for the stuff I have to do out here... for example: Training a new missionary after only being here for 9 months. Another example: Playing marriage counselor for persons in the branch that are having problems.... YIKES! I won't go into detail on that just in case someone from the mission is reading my blog, but yeah I'm not old enough to do that... although I think I have a promising future in opening up a show like Maury but I'll just call it "Marriage Counseling Moondogg" or "Dr. Feelgood" or something like that... good grief but I don't wanna have to deal with it right now! haha.
Speaking of marriages and weddings, I don't know if you guys remember Miriam my Cuban grandma from Salem, but if you don't you can pretend. And guess what... she got married! Oh my gosh I about freaked out! Not only that, but she's getting baptized this saturday and I'll be there for it! Ah I'm so excited for her!!! On that day of the wedding though... oh my goodness I thought we were going to die. My greenie got to experience his first triple-dinner... it was nuts! We first went to the wedding at 1 and we ate there, although we knew we had dinner at four, so we tried to eat light, but then Miriam got mad and told us to eat more and have a piece of cake... AAAH! Then we had dinner with the Perez family, and they total poned us with food... we had like two heaping bowls of posole, so I was ready for a coma afterwards, but we had been invited to the birthday of a recent convert and his two daughters, one of which we're teaching right now (Flor). When we got there, we were anticipating just dropping off a gift and saying happy birthday....but OHMIGEASH! They destroyed us! Chicken, Rice, Beans, Tamales, Horchata... I don't know why I capitalized all of those, but oh well haha it was a TON of food. After that we were about ready to cry haha but it's all good.
Now I've gotta tell ya about sunday.. it was the world cup if you didn't know, and it was shocking because there were actually people in church! About 80% of the branch was there, and we got invited to have lunch with a family after church was over. We went over with the family Cruz, and they made us tostadas... when they told us tosdadas, I'm thinking little maybe 4 inch tostadas... no... these were HUUUGE! like a foot in diameter if not more! Covered in beans, lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes with salsa... oh man they were good haha.
Aside from that, today we're headed out to do some golfing with the english elders and our district, and I've gotta bail, so I'll talk to you guys next week! I love you guys so much!
love,
elder Mooney
PS: I'm super jealous you guys went to fish lake!!!
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