Hey Dad!
I hope Mom doesn't get mad, but I decided to send my email to you this week instead of her since she's off pachangiando (partying) back east, so hopefully this makes your day at least a little more bright!
So you miss me Dad? I'm not gonna lie, I miss you too! Gosh it seems like forever since I've seen you, I mean, I can remember distinctly what you looked like when I went into the MTC for the first day, but yeah at the same time it's tough... I know you got on me about a lot of crap before the mission, but being out here now, I know exactly why. It was such a good thing for me to have you there guiding me and keeping me from being a total idiot sometimes. I mean, you still let me make mistakes, but they were ones I could learn from... not ones that were going to totally destroy my life. I really do miss you though Dad. I miss being able to talk to you on a daily basis. I really look forward to when we can serve for that week at the end of my mission. I hope you're hitting Spanish hard as well as preach my gospel chapter 3 with the family... that way you can kick trash when you come out here, and so I can introduce you to my converts and the branch members here.
I've really developed a love for the people here. Don't get me wrong, you still have your (names inserted here that you know who I'm talking about)-type members that love to spread rumors and sometimes you just want to choke, but the majority of them are absolutely amazing. Gosh I love the people here in this branch! I really feel like they'd give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. They're so kind and thoughtful and really just all around good people. Even the investigators that we come in contact with are like that!
Shifting gears a little bit here, I went on my first greenie exchange. That's where two greenies spend a day together instead of a greenie with someone experienced i.e. my trainer.... needless to say it was interesting haha. I was up in Woodburn with an elder McBride for the day, and it actually didn't go too badly! We taught three lessons that day, knocked quite a bit, and yeah it went surprisingly well.... being a couple of greenies, we had to be super humble because neither of us are totally fluent in Spanish. Because of that, we ended up basically praying our guts out that we could have the spirit with us and be able to understand what people are saying... that and be able to speak back which is the harder part haha. The whole time though, he spoke probably ten words as we knocked and maybe five while we taught, so I felt like I had to step it up a little bit from what I would normally do with Smithee, and it went well. We taught a first lesson to a guy they had contacted a few days earlier, and it went really well. When we got to the first vision, he really got watery-eyed, and we committed him to go to church as well as read the book of Mormon and pray about it. KA-CHING!
Aside from that sweet exchange, we had transfers today.... I'm now sitting here writing my emails with my new companion: Elder Garcia! He's from Peru, but like Smithee, he moved to Utah when he was like five or something, so he's fluent like Smithee, but speaks perfect english like him too. Pretty freakin' sweet! I'm way excited that he's my companion, we should work great together out here. One interesting thing is that he was actually Smithee's companion in the MTC.
Okay I'm going on and on and on I'm afraid you're getting bored, sorry about all of this! I already asked you if you've been studying Studying, and I bet you have. How has it been going? Do you take that software with you on your trips? You've gotta study a lot so we can say funny stuff to eachother in Spanish!
That's sad what happened to sister Mitton... holy cow man... I'm praying for them for sure, as well as the Norris' and Jeff and his wife. Gosh what a mess! That's why staying close to the Lord is so important in our lives seriously.
I think it's summer here now, man, everything is in bloom and we've had FIVE sunny days in a row!!!!!! I'm a little worried though... it makes for a really hot summer.... guess we'll see what happens right?
Anyways, I've gotta get going Dad, but I love you so much and I pray for you every night. Keep working hard cause you know I will!
Love,
Elder Kurt Mooney
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
FIrst Baptism!
Dearest Mom and Dad,
HEY!!!! On an extremely exciting note, we had a baptism on Saturday!!!!!!! It was awesome! Silvia Duenas Quintera Martinez (good luck trying to say all of that when you're trying to baptize her) is now officially a member of the the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I was the one who got to baptize her!!!! I have never been so excited about the mission! Ah it was just such a sweet experience to see that happen after only having served for two and a half months in the mission field. The thing that makes it even sweeter is the fact that we have a few more lined up in March!
Unfortunately, I think elder Smithee is going to be leaving me this next transfer, so I'm a little worried about who my next companion is going to be.... hopefully it'll be someone who knows their crap... I'm kinda hoping it'll be someone who is a native Spanish speaker and English is their second language so that I can learn more Spanish... guess we'll see what happens.
Aside from Silvia's baptism, we've just been busy teaching as always. Not really any new investigators or anything, just teaching the same people we have been for a while, but it's good because they're progressing :-) Oh man one thing I've got to mention though, is that there was a Valentine's dance for the Spanish branch on Friday night... oh man I don't like ranchero music, and that's all that they played... THE WHOLE TIME! The food was sweet, the members are awesome, but gosh they need some musical enlightenment haha oh well they're cool people anyways.
All right that about wraps up the exciting news from this week for me, but what's new with you guys? Is the weather still kinda warm down there? It's been kinda wacky here trading off between sunny and cloudy about every other day... right now we have a marine layer fog that has rolled in, and yesterday it was sunny for part of the day... I don't understand Oregon weather, but at least it's not snowing I guess haha. How's work Dad? Still teaching a whole mess of kids Mom? Is Katie Jo staying away from boys, or am I gonna have to kick some butts when I get home? Say hi to Josh for me, okay?
HEY!!!! On an extremely exciting note, we had a baptism on Saturday!!!!!!! It was awesome! Silvia Duenas Quintera Martinez (good luck trying to say all of that when you're trying to baptize her) is now officially a member of the the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I was the one who got to baptize her!!!! I have never been so excited about the mission! Ah it was just such a sweet experience to see that happen after only having served for two and a half months in the mission field. The thing that makes it even sweeter is the fact that we have a few more lined up in March!
Unfortunately, I think elder Smithee is going to be leaving me this next transfer, so I'm a little worried about who my next companion is going to be.... hopefully it'll be someone who knows their crap... I'm kinda hoping it'll be someone who is a native Spanish speaker and English is their second language so that I can learn more Spanish... guess we'll see what happens.
Aside from Silvia's baptism, we've just been busy teaching as always. Not really any new investigators or anything, just teaching the same people we have been for a while, but it's good because they're progressing :-) Oh man one thing I've got to mention though, is that there was a Valentine's dance for the Spanish branch on Friday night... oh man I don't like ranchero music, and that's all that they played... THE WHOLE TIME! The food was sweet, the members are awesome, but gosh they need some musical enlightenment haha oh well they're cool people anyways.
All right that about wraps up the exciting news from this week for me, but what's new with you guys? Is the weather still kinda warm down there? It's been kinda wacky here trading off between sunny and cloudy about every other day... right now we have a marine layer fog that has rolled in, and yesterday it was sunny for part of the day... I don't understand Oregon weather, but at least it's not snowing I guess haha. How's work Dad? Still teaching a whole mess of kids Mom? Is Katie Jo staying away from boys, or am I gonna have to kick some butts when I get home? Say hi to Josh for me, okay?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Learn Spanish through music
February 8, 2010
Hey mom and Dad!
This has been a stressful week, but it's still been good here in Salem. We have 15 progressing investigators, which is sweet! There's Silvia who is going to get baptized this saturday (the 13th) at 4:00, Guadalupe her daughter wants a little more time, so she's going to get baptized in March sometime. Salvador the husband of Silvia is doing well and understands a TON of what we're teaching him... he just needs to come to church so that he can get baptized. There's a guy named Albaro whom I already talked about, and we have an appointment with him tonight to teach the plan of salvation. Also the family of three that Smithee taught when he was here as a greenie over a year ago whom are super awesome people and will probably get baptized in march if all goes well. Then we have Jesus and Yara, a couple that we've been teaching since we picked them up from the previous elders... they're an awesome couple, and are just waiting on papers so that they can get married so they can get baptized. We're still working with Dana and her grandma... I still wanna kick her butt haha. Then we have Pedro Vazquez... The husband of one of the members who is a super sweet guy, just needs to, well, for lack of better terms, sack up and get baptized. he already comes to church every sunday as well as the activities... i'm not sure what it's gonna take for him to do it, but it'll be sweet if he finally does.
So groundhog day was good for you guys? I was kinda sad, we didn't celebrate it at all and it just blew by as another day in the mission field! Well, I actually think that's how it is for almost all holidays maybe minus thanksgiving where they feed you so much food you want to cry haha. I can't complain though... Oh an interesting fun fact for the day speaking of eating WAY too much, This week we had so many appointments that we didn't have time for dinners, so I got to weigh myslef today... and i'm 12 pounds lighter!!! I weigh 201.0 which is two pounds lighter than when I started my mission haha! I'm sure that's mainly thanks to losing any and all muscle mass I once had, but I'm actually not getting very fat either. One of our members had an electronic ab thing that cost him like 300 bones, and he's been letting us use it, so I've almost got my 6-pack back... booyeahk'shaa. haha.
One other thing I did this week, and I hope you guys don't freak out when you hear this, I bought some CD's... haha not bad ones I promise you, but spanish CD's. Smithee has been helping me a lot with spanish, and there are a couple elders that are learning spanish faster than others, and I was curious what their strategy was. Turns out all of them study spanish music. Not that crappy rancho garbage that all the mexicans listen to with the trumpets and accordians, but real, good music. They listen to the songs, have the lyrics in front of them in spanish, and they translate them into english. The combination of listening, reading, and translating into english makes your brain work a lot harder and a lot faster it's sweet! I've been doing it for a couple weeks with Smithee's music, and i decided to get a little more so that i could keep absorbing information... you guys are gonna give me so much crap, but I LOVE Spanish music! Dad, you should look up an artist named Juanes, you would love him. It's a lot like classic rock, but spanish... just trust me... haha. I did buy them on the debit card though, and it was like $20 just so you know.
The only other exciting thing I can think that happened this week was the fact that we had zone conference... woohoo? It's not too bad, it just lasts for a long time. We start at about 9:00 in the morning and finish up around 5 in the evening... it's like a full work day I guess, but we just hear talks, do trainings, and eat a massive lunch which is sweet. We had it in Tualatin, and I never realized how nice of an area that is... holy crap maybe it's because I'm living in the ghetto of Salem, but the houses were saweet! haha. One other funny thing is that the Tualatin stake center is right next to a HUGE 7th day adventist church... I wonder if they like launch water balloons at each other on occasion haha. The LDS members could come on saturday and shoot waterballons at them, and the 7th day'ers could come shoot them at the LDS members on sundays haha.
Goodness what else what else... I'm about fresh out of what else happened out here this week aside from being a stressball for a bit of it, but it's all good. Gosh sorry if this email sounds a little giddy mom and dad, I just feel... AH I feel so good!! So liberated! Thank you both so much for all the words of encouragement this week and everything you guys do for me. I really am so grateful for having such amazing parents like you guys... I would never wish to have been raised by a different mom or dad. I love you guys so much! thank you thank you thank you thank you for being so amazing!!
Con carino y amor para mis padres y los demas,
-Elder Kurt Kay Mooney
Hey mom and Dad!
This has been a stressful week, but it's still been good here in Salem. We have 15 progressing investigators, which is sweet! There's Silvia who is going to get baptized this saturday (the 13th) at 4:00, Guadalupe her daughter wants a little more time, so she's going to get baptized in March sometime. Salvador the husband of Silvia is doing well and understands a TON of what we're teaching him... he just needs to come to church so that he can get baptized. There's a guy named Albaro whom I already talked about, and we have an appointment with him tonight to teach the plan of salvation. Also the family of three that Smithee taught when he was here as a greenie over a year ago whom are super awesome people and will probably get baptized in march if all goes well. Then we have Jesus and Yara, a couple that we've been teaching since we picked them up from the previous elders... they're an awesome couple, and are just waiting on papers so that they can get married so they can get baptized. We're still working with Dana and her grandma... I still wanna kick her butt haha. Then we have Pedro Vazquez... The husband of one of the members who is a super sweet guy, just needs to, well, for lack of better terms, sack up and get baptized. he already comes to church every sunday as well as the activities... i'm not sure what it's gonna take for him to do it, but it'll be sweet if he finally does.
So groundhog day was good for you guys? I was kinda sad, we didn't celebrate it at all and it just blew by as another day in the mission field! Well, I actually think that's how it is for almost all holidays maybe minus thanksgiving where they feed you so much food you want to cry haha. I can't complain though... Oh an interesting fun fact for the day speaking of eating WAY too much, This week we had so many appointments that we didn't have time for dinners, so I got to weigh myslef today... and i'm 12 pounds lighter!!! I weigh 201.0 which is two pounds lighter than when I started my mission haha! I'm sure that's mainly thanks to losing any and all muscle mass I once had, but I'm actually not getting very fat either. One of our members had an electronic ab thing that cost him like 300 bones, and he's been letting us use it, so I've almost got my 6-pack back... booyeahk'shaa. haha.
One other thing I did this week, and I hope you guys don't freak out when you hear this, I bought some CD's... haha not bad ones I promise you, but spanish CD's. Smithee has been helping me a lot with spanish, and there are a couple elders that are learning spanish faster than others, and I was curious what their strategy was. Turns out all of them study spanish music. Not that crappy rancho garbage that all the mexicans listen to with the trumpets and accordians, but real, good music. They listen to the songs, have the lyrics in front of them in spanish, and they translate them into english. The combination of listening, reading, and translating into english makes your brain work a lot harder and a lot faster it's sweet! I've been doing it for a couple weeks with Smithee's music, and i decided to get a little more so that i could keep absorbing information... you guys are gonna give me so much crap, but I LOVE Spanish music! Dad, you should look up an artist named Juanes, you would love him. It's a lot like classic rock, but spanish... just trust me... haha. I did buy them on the debit card though, and it was like $20 just so you know.
The only other exciting thing I can think that happened this week was the fact that we had zone conference... woohoo? It's not too bad, it just lasts for a long time. We start at about 9:00 in the morning and finish up around 5 in the evening... it's like a full work day I guess, but we just hear talks, do trainings, and eat a massive lunch which is sweet. We had it in Tualatin, and I never realized how nice of an area that is... holy crap maybe it's because I'm living in the ghetto of Salem, but the houses were saweet! haha. One other funny thing is that the Tualatin stake center is right next to a HUGE 7th day adventist church... I wonder if they like launch water balloons at each other on occasion haha. The LDS members could come on saturday and shoot waterballons at them, and the 7th day'ers could come shoot them at the LDS members on sundays haha.
Goodness what else what else... I'm about fresh out of what else happened out here this week aside from being a stressball for a bit of it, but it's all good. Gosh sorry if this email sounds a little giddy mom and dad, I just feel... AH I feel so good!! So liberated! Thank you both so much for all the words of encouragement this week and everything you guys do for me. I really am so grateful for having such amazing parents like you guys... I would never wish to have been raised by a different mom or dad. I love you guys so much! thank you thank you thank you thank you for being so amazing!!
Con carino y amor para mis padres y los demas,
-Elder Kurt Kay Mooney
Monday, February 1, 2010
Short and saweet!
Hey guys!
Okay, I apologize this is gonna be a short email, but we have a bunch of stuff we have to get done today. Ah the hectic life of a missionary.
It sounds like you guys had a blast with all the rest of the family over! That was so good to get the notes from Susan, Kelly, and Mike! Tell them all I love them, okay? Also, thank you mommy for all the hard work you put into writing me letters every week... even if you have to re-write it three times to get it to me :-P.
The baptisms we were supposed to have saturday have been pushed back yet again... dangit haha. Silvia is completely ready and is excited for the 13th of February as her baptismal date, but now her daughter Guadalupe isn't looking like she's going to be getting baptized in the near future. Honestly, I think it's because she has a problem with the word of wisdom.... That, and she doesn't read the Book of Mormon on a consistent basis. I can't really fault her any for that, I mean, I remember before starting the mission that reading for five minutes every day was like the end of the world haha. Now, however, I realize that it's not even a big deal! I mean, how often do we just sit on the couch, not even watching the tv for more than five minutes every day? Now if I could just convince people to do it! Five minutes! That's all I ask! Ah well, she still wants to get baptized, but wants a little more time, so that's fine.
As for other things going on here, we have five more scheduled baptisms, which is gonna be saweeet!!!! Three are from a family that Smithee taught here when he started his mission almost a year and a half ago, and the other is the boyfriend of a member (there's nothing wrong with flirting for converting, right?)
Anyways, that's the quick update for this week, just trabajando como burros. I love you guys and I pray for each one of you every day.
Con amor,
Elder Mooney
Okay, I apologize this is gonna be a short email, but we have a bunch of stuff we have to get done today. Ah the hectic life of a missionary.
It sounds like you guys had a blast with all the rest of the family over! That was so good to get the notes from Susan, Kelly, and Mike! Tell them all I love them, okay? Also, thank you mommy for all the hard work you put into writing me letters every week... even if you have to re-write it three times to get it to me :-P.
The baptisms we were supposed to have saturday have been pushed back yet again... dangit haha. Silvia is completely ready and is excited for the 13th of February as her baptismal date, but now her daughter Guadalupe isn't looking like she's going to be getting baptized in the near future. Honestly, I think it's because she has a problem with the word of wisdom.... That, and she doesn't read the Book of Mormon on a consistent basis. I can't really fault her any for that, I mean, I remember before starting the mission that reading for five minutes every day was like the end of the world haha. Now, however, I realize that it's not even a big deal! I mean, how often do we just sit on the couch, not even watching the tv for more than five minutes every day? Now if I could just convince people to do it! Five minutes! That's all I ask! Ah well, she still wants to get baptized, but wants a little more time, so that's fine.
As for other things going on here, we have five more scheduled baptisms, which is gonna be saweeet!!!! Three are from a family that Smithee taught here when he started his mission almost a year and a half ago, and the other is the boyfriend of a member (there's nothing wrong with flirting for converting, right?)
Anyways, that's the quick update for this week, just trabajando como burros. I love you guys and I pray for each one of you every day.
Con amor,
Elder Mooney
Monday, January 25, 2010
Parable of the sower
Buenos Tardes todos!
Oh man another week of crazy activity as a missionary here in Good ol' Salem, Oregon. I'm trying to think about all that happened this week... in all honesty, it was just a good hard week of work. Waking up, studying til 11, eating lunch, then baptizing the crap out of the world! haha jk but not really.
Oh! There were two sad things that happened this week.... as I wrote previously, we had three baptisms lined up for the 30th of this month: Silvia and Guadalupe Martinez (the ladies Smithee and I knocked into), and Dana Aguayo (a 14 year old girl from the previous missionaries). The sad thing is that the grandmother of Dana, who is her guardian as well as an inactive member of the church, doesn't want her to get baptized because she says that she isn't ready. When we asked why she thought so, she gave us such idiotic reasons that I wanted to beat her with a Book of Mormon! She says that Dana isn't ready because she doesn't pick up her clothes when she's supposed to, because she fights with her siblings sometimes, she has been disrespectful to her grandma, and because she kisses boys.... So from what I gather, this lady thinks that you have to NOT be HUMAN to get baptized. My question would be what kid at the age of 14 hasn't done ALL of the above? I don't really understand why she is acting so retarded. We explained to her as simply as possible that all you need to do is have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of any MAJOR sins you've commited in your past, and be willing to live the commandments. She kept coming back to the fact that Dana hasn't changed and yadda yadda AAAHAAHHAHAH!!!!!@!*#%!*@!_(@#*@(*$%@_#(*@ I hate stubborn old people. She told us that Dana needs to set a better example to her siblings before she gets baptized. I told her that as a member of the church, maybe she should set the example for Dana by living up to the covenants that she has already made and isn't keeping. ( yeah I almost got kicked out of the house for that comment haha). But hopefully with time, her grandma can soften that rock that she calls her heart and let Dana get baptized soon. If not, well then in four years when Dana turns 18 she can get baptized.
Okay enough ranting about that. Another sad note. We had to drop another investigator along with her two younger sisters. Her name is Gracie Baragan. This sweet 18 year old girl with a baby, who is the legal guardian along with her twin sister, of all her younger siblings because her parents got deported to Mexico. We picked her up from the last missionaries that were here, and had her scheduled for baptism the first week of February, but something happened. Her family found out she was going to be baptized, and basically destroyed her faith. It broke my heart because she knew it was true. She was loving and embracing everything we were teaching her, but then her family just trucked her, and then she stopped keeping commitments, wasn't praying, stopped coming to church, etc., and it was just sad! I was reading in Matthew 13 yesterday and I came across a passaged that describes it perfectly. It's just like the parable of the sower who sows seeds and some fall upon stony ground
20 But he that received the seed into astony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
In all seriousness, this is exactly what happened with her. She didn't have much depth in the gospel and as soon as her family jumped all over her, she just shut down on the gospel. Hopefully she'll see how it feels not to have the spirit striving with her and make a change of heart.
Aside from that, Silvia and Guadalupe are way excited for their baptisms and everything is rolling along according to plan.... *knock on wood*. Today is Smithee's 21's birthday, so we're gonna go party. Time seems to fly out here. I still feel like I just got here, and I've been out nearly four months! Gosh being on a mission is sweet.
Aside from that.... Gosh I can't think of anything else exciting that's been going on with us. We still have four elders in our apartment, I'm still getting my butt kicked by Spanish, and I love it here.
I love you guys, have a great week okay?
Con amor siempre para ustedes,
-Elder Moonshine
Oh man another week of crazy activity as a missionary here in Good ol' Salem, Oregon. I'm trying to think about all that happened this week... in all honesty, it was just a good hard week of work. Waking up, studying til 11, eating lunch, then baptizing the crap out of the world! haha jk but not really.
Oh! There were two sad things that happened this week.... as I wrote previously, we had three baptisms lined up for the 30th of this month: Silvia and Guadalupe Martinez (the ladies Smithee and I knocked into), and Dana Aguayo (a 14 year old girl from the previous missionaries). The sad thing is that the grandmother of Dana, who is her guardian as well as an inactive member of the church, doesn't want her to get baptized because she says that she isn't ready. When we asked why she thought so, she gave us such idiotic reasons that I wanted to beat her with a Book of Mormon! She says that Dana isn't ready because she doesn't pick up her clothes when she's supposed to, because she fights with her siblings sometimes, she has been disrespectful to her grandma, and because she kisses boys.... So from what I gather, this lady thinks that you have to NOT be HUMAN to get baptized. My question would be what kid at the age of 14 hasn't done ALL of the above? I don't really understand why she is acting so retarded. We explained to her as simply as possible that all you need to do is have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of any MAJOR sins you've commited in your past, and be willing to live the commandments. She kept coming back to the fact that Dana hasn't changed and yadda yadda AAAHAAHHAHAH!!!!!@!*#%!*@!_(@#*@(*$%@_#(*@ I hate stubborn old people. She told us that Dana needs to set a better example to her siblings before she gets baptized. I told her that as a member of the church, maybe she should set the example for Dana by living up to the covenants that she has already made and isn't keeping. ( yeah I almost got kicked out of the house for that comment haha). But hopefully with time, her grandma can soften that rock that she calls her heart and let Dana get baptized soon. If not, well then in four years when Dana turns 18 she can get baptized.
Okay enough ranting about that. Another sad note. We had to drop another investigator along with her two younger sisters. Her name is Gracie Baragan. This sweet 18 year old girl with a baby, who is the legal guardian along with her twin sister, of all her younger siblings because her parents got deported to Mexico. We picked her up from the last missionaries that were here, and had her scheduled for baptism the first week of February, but something happened. Her family found out she was going to be baptized, and basically destroyed her faith. It broke my heart because she knew it was true. She was loving and embracing everything we were teaching her, but then her family just trucked her, and then she stopped keeping commitments, wasn't praying, stopped coming to church, etc., and it was just sad! I was reading in Matthew 13 yesterday and I came across a passaged that describes it perfectly. It's just like the parable of the sower who sows seeds and some fall upon stony ground
20 But he that received the seed into astony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
In all seriousness, this is exactly what happened with her. She didn't have much depth in the gospel and as soon as her family jumped all over her, she just shut down on the gospel. Hopefully she'll see how it feels not to have the spirit striving with her and make a change of heart.
Aside from that, Silvia and Guadalupe are way excited for their baptisms and everything is rolling along according to plan.... *knock on wood*. Today is Smithee's 21's birthday, so we're gonna go party. Time seems to fly out here. I still feel like I just got here, and I've been out nearly four months! Gosh being on a mission is sweet.
Aside from that.... Gosh I can't think of anything else exciting that's been going on with us. We still have four elders in our apartment, I'm still getting my butt kicked by Spanish, and I love it here.
I love you guys, have a great week okay?
Con amor siempre para ustedes,
-Elder Moonshine
Monday, January 18, 2010
STUDY!!!
Hi again mommy! I'm sorry but that email/letter you sent me got corrupted, so I opened it up, and it looked kind of like this:
<>?"LL:"<>":>?<?>":P{P){{"@"@$""^"*""_"%^U?&*(>&#$&?:":#}{#$}@#:#"$@#${%
It went on for about three or four pages like that haha. Sorry I couldn't read it! Other than that, things have been great this week. The Keizer elders are still living in our apartment until probably wednesday. Like I said last week, holy mess, but it's still fun. As for our baptisms that we were scheduled for the ninth, we decided to move them to the 30th of this month so that they could be completely ready for it. I'm so stoked! Silvia and Guadalupe are going to be getting baptized along with a girl named Dana that the previous missionaries were teaching. I'm so stoked!!!!!
On a higher note, we taught some great lessons this week, and for the first time since I got here, we now have 15 progressing investigators, with two or three more that will probably have baptismal dates by the end of this week! Holy cow it's so nuts how things are going here it's absolutely awesome.
One thing that really kicked my but this morning is the fact that just when you have teaching figured out, God most definitely humbles you. I'm going to preface this with the two blitzes we went on with the english elders this week. Both times, I went knocking with them, and we absolutely killed it, it was sweet! I don't want to toot my own horn, but I had a better time getting into doors and teaching effectively than the elder I knocked with who had been out for 22 months! It's an ongoing tradition here with the Spanish elders that the English elders, or "filthy english elders" just aren't up to snuff with how we teach, so I'm trying to do my best to stick with tradition... even if I'm only a little greenie... thus comes my slice of humble pie.
We went over to the house of a recently baptized member to teach her and her cousin how to teach the first lesson simply and effectively. Smithee and I split up, so he taught with Rosa (recently converted), and I taught with Araceli (cousin). To make a long story just slightly shorter, I got destroyed. We were supposed to take like 30 seconds for each point in the first lesson, and keep it simple. I simply did a terrible job, and Rosa asked me questions that I didn't know how to answer. Note to self on this one: STUDY CHAPTER THREE OF PREACH MY GOSPEL!!!! Attention anyone who is a member of the church and reads this blog: please, study chapter three of preach my gospel. Read through it, look up the scriptures, be familiar with it. Every member should know the doctrine of the church, especially you guys in utah! Freak I realize now how lazy I was about it. When I started my mission, I thought that all I had to do was bear testimony about how the gospel makes me feel, that I feel good when I read the scriptures and all that yadda yadda. That's all well and good, but where does it say that we need prophets today? What about apostles? How do you know that Jehova is Jesus Christ? Where does it say that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages? How do you know that we receive revelation from God today? Why do we need the Book of Mormon? If you can't answer these questions with the scriptures, I suggest you start studying. Chapter three in preach my gospel is a good place to start, then your topical guide. Don't just 'read' your scriptures... STUDY!!!!
Okay, enough ranting. I freaking love the gospel, but AH!! there is so much stuff to learn about, it's ridiculous. What else what else.... I honestly can't think of anything else that's been going on... Just knocking, teaching, and learning. It's the best.
Well, I love you all very much, I'm sad my chargers lost... in the playoffs.... again... gosh dangit haha. But it's okay I don't care because I'm on a mission :-P I hope everything is going awesome back home and that you're all having a good time I'll talk to ya next week!
con amor,
-Elder Mooney
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It went on for about three or four pages like that haha. Sorry I couldn't read it! Other than that, things have been great this week. The Keizer elders are still living in our apartment until probably wednesday. Like I said last week, holy mess, but it's still fun. As for our baptisms that we were scheduled for the ninth, we decided to move them to the 30th of this month so that they could be completely ready for it. I'm so stoked! Silvia and Guadalupe are going to be getting baptized along with a girl named Dana that the previous missionaries were teaching. I'm so stoked!!!!!
On a higher note, we taught some great lessons this week, and for the first time since I got here, we now have 15 progressing investigators, with two or three more that will probably have baptismal dates by the end of this week! Holy cow it's so nuts how things are going here it's absolutely awesome.
One thing that really kicked my but this morning is the fact that just when you have teaching figured out, God most definitely humbles you. I'm going to preface this with the two blitzes we went on with the english elders this week. Both times, I went knocking with them, and we absolutely killed it, it was sweet! I don't want to toot my own horn, but I had a better time getting into doors and teaching effectively than the elder I knocked with who had been out for 22 months! It's an ongoing tradition here with the Spanish elders that the English elders, or "filthy english elders" just aren't up to snuff with how we teach, so I'm trying to do my best to stick with tradition... even if I'm only a little greenie... thus comes my slice of humble pie.
We went over to the house of a recently baptized member to teach her and her cousin how to teach the first lesson simply and effectively. Smithee and I split up, so he taught with Rosa (recently converted), and I taught with Araceli (cousin). To make a long story just slightly shorter, I got destroyed. We were supposed to take like 30 seconds for each point in the first lesson, and keep it simple. I simply did a terrible job, and Rosa asked me questions that I didn't know how to answer. Note to self on this one: STUDY CHAPTER THREE OF PREACH MY GOSPEL!!!! Attention anyone who is a member of the church and reads this blog: please, study chapter three of preach my gospel. Read through it, look up the scriptures, be familiar with it. Every member should know the doctrine of the church, especially you guys in utah! Freak I realize now how lazy I was about it. When I started my mission, I thought that all I had to do was bear testimony about how the gospel makes me feel, that I feel good when I read the scriptures and all that yadda yadda. That's all well and good, but where does it say that we need prophets today? What about apostles? How do you know that Jehova is Jesus Christ? Where does it say that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages? How do you know that we receive revelation from God today? Why do we need the Book of Mormon? If you can't answer these questions with the scriptures, I suggest you start studying. Chapter three in preach my gospel is a good place to start, then your topical guide. Don't just 'read' your scriptures... STUDY!!!!
Okay, enough ranting. I freaking love the gospel, but AH!! there is so much stuff to learn about, it's ridiculous. What else what else.... I honestly can't think of anything else that's been going on... Just knocking, teaching, and learning. It's the best.
Well, I love you all very much, I'm sad my chargers lost... in the playoffs.... again... gosh dangit haha. But it's okay I don't care because I'm on a mission :-P I hope everything is going awesome back home and that you're all having a good time I'll talk to ya next week!
con amor,
-Elder Mooney
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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