PALERMO, WEEK 8: 
I DREAMED OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS

I dreamed of a white Christmas. And that is exactly what I got! 

Not only did I get the chance to talk to my wonderful family. I also got the chance to partake in changing someone's life. 

His name is P*. He is anemic and is really fragile but everyday he is a little bit better. He was in the hospital about 4 weeks ago for 12 days. During this time, the Sisters visited him and started to teach. He then got discharged and didn´t have the opportunity to tell the Sisters that he was leaving and to wear. So starting about 2 weeks ago he prayed for the "The people teaching the same religion" to find him again. The next day we were visiting a building that had a lot of old investigators and we were having no success. We always asked for references though and three times three different people said, "the man on the first floor in the third habitation, has been praying for you I think." So we went there and he wasn´t there. We returned three more times and finally met him. 2 weeks later he was baptized. And confirmed. It is really amazing. He also found out that when skyping his family in Peru, they also were members of the same church just recently baptized! What a blessing it was! 

It was a great opportunity and a wonder insight to see the hand of the Lord preparing him and his family and also do be the Lord´s servant to bring him to the waters of baptism. 

CHRISTMAS CALL WITH KYLE

The best Christmas present this year was getting to see and hear Kyle over Skype. We had quite the setup! He called on a computer at a member's home to my dad's computer, which was hooked up to the flat screen tv. My sister then set up her laptop in reverse and opened up a Google Hangout with me in Washington and Taylor in California. So all of us were able to participate! I mostly listened because nobody could hear me well, but everyone else asked great questions about Kyle's area, about the food, about his daily life, his language abilities and much, much more. Elder Moore seemed happy and cheerful, although emotional when it was time to say goodbye when we hit our hour time limit. We are so proud of him and all his hard work!

PALERMO, WEEK 7: I am dreaming of a white and cold Christmas while Skyping my family

Yes its true! I am dreaming of a white and cold Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know. Where its pouring down rain and the wind chills you to the bone. Sounds like heaven. 

Good week so far. Today we have one hour to write and one hour to do compras. (shopping) because tomorrow [Christmas Eve Day] is our pday with the whole mission. I hope I get your letters and stuff tomorrow. I have been patiently waiting! 

Its hot. Hot hot hot. I shower at night so I can sleep a little bit better. The city definitely retains heat at night. I heard that its supposed to be a scorcher here in the next few days. Today is the officail first day of SUMMER! Silly me. I thought that all the sweating I have been doing the past two months WAS summer. Pssh. Nah. Its just beginning! Ah, speaking of two months, Christmas day is my 2 month mark in Argentina and 3 month mark of my mission. December went by really fast! I will see you all on Christmas!  

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 6: TRANSFERS!

Salutations! 

Yes, the title is true, we had transfers yesterday. This is why I am replying on a Tuesday instead of Monday. Today is our prep day. Every 6 weeks no matter what we have a Pday on Tuesday. (I just completed my first transfer in Argentina).

Yesterday was a normal day except that we waited for a call in the night to see if we, or one of us, was leaving. Annnnnnnd. Nada! Elder G*and I are still together in Abasto/Palermo. I am relieved and sad at the same time. Let me explain why. 

This past week was incredibly stressful and frustrating. Elder G*, my trainer, let me take the bull by the horns. I did all the planning, the calling, the contacting, the navigating, and talking. When our appointments fell through, and we had time, I would look to him and say "what do you think we should do now?" and he would just shrug his shoulders. It was incredibly frustrating and INCREDIBLY stressful, especially to talk to people on the phone and try to understand what they were saying. Somehow, I made it through. No doubt with the Lords help. The reason Elder G* did this was because he didn´t know if we were going to be together for another transfer or not. So he wanted me to be ready to be the Junior Companion That Leads. Meaning, I would've gotten an older, more experienced Elder to continue training me but who didn't know anything about the area. Again, the most stressed and frustrated I have been in a loooong time. But looking back on it I can see the benefits already. And now, I am pretty sure things are going to be more 50-50% on the weight load, because now I am no longer new and I can contribute. Definitely the way I have been learning my whole life, just go out and do it, hands on, and learn. So that is why the Lord put Elder G* and I together I am pretty sure. He knew that Elder G* would push me to be better, faster. So I am sincerely grateful for that and I told Elder G* that. It was kind of funny because he said that he knew exactly what I was feeling because his trainer did the exact same thing to him and he hated it too, but it helped him and he wanted me to have the same experience. And because of that, when I am blessed with the responsibility to train another Elder I am going to do the EXACT same thing. :) Can't wait. 

Before that whole fiasco and experience,  I went on splits AGAIN! With Elder G* (MTC companion). We have gone on splits every two weeks together; twice in my area, once in his. He is in the Villa. (Veesha) which is very poor. The people live there for free and stack houses on top of each other using concrete and terracotta pipe bricks. It's really cool – dangerous at night, but still cool. It's kind of like legos. The people are really nice.

Kyle couldn't bring his camera to the Villa. Picture obtained here.

Spending time with Elder G* is very relieving. We can talk in English when we are in the apartment (his apartment has air conditioning too) and our Spanish always improves about 10 fold when its only us. I asked some members in the Villa to guess how many months I had on the mission and they guessed 5 or 6 months. But in reality it was 5 weeks at that time. The Gift of Tongues is real! 

I will be getting all mail the 24th because there is a mission wide lunch that the President is hosting. That's about 280 missionaries. Yikes! I am excited to see my friends from the MTC. 

Also, our schedule changed here. We leave our apartments at 11 in the morning and have to be in our apartments  at 8pm. We now do language study from 8 to 9 then planning from 9 to 9:30. Not sure how that's gonna go in the heat but we shall see! All is well! 

That's all I have for now. 

Love you all!

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 5: IS IT TIME FOR...CHRISTMAS?

Hello once again from an Internet Cafe in Argentina! (Specifically Abasto/ONCE)!

I don´t have much time. I apologize for that, but that's because we are outside our area in a place called ONCE like the number. It's a place with street vendors and stuff really cheap. It's outside our area but when we called the president for permission he said "Of course! Knock yourself out, I wish I could go there right now." It's pretty cool. I want to take a picture but my companion recommended not because someone my try to steal it and it gives the impression that we are carrying valuable things so we will see. 

Thank you for your letters, I am trying to reply to them all. 

This week was hot! But still good. The work is really slow in Palermo now. We have one investigator and hardly anybody else to teach. We have had our first 0,0,0,0,0 day with nothing to do but walk and talk with people. I start the initial contact and explanation and when the people reply and say something that I don´t understand I tag team my companion and he jumps in the ring. Haha. We are doing great. He has an injury on his foot that sometimes he can't walk on because it hurts so bad. We don´t know what it is, we keep calling the doctor in the church building here but he never is in. The injury looks like three holes in his heel this size of the 0 on the keyboard. It's really weird like a puncture mark or something. 

I don´t know if I told you all this but I walked into a Libreria and said "tengo un boli" meaning I have a pen. And the guy was like "uhhh sí" and I could not understand for the life of me why he didn´t understand then my companion stepped in and siad stuff and we left. Haha I meant to say I need to buy a pen etc. But I started out with the wrong verb but didn´t realize it. Haha. I will never return to the Libreria again. 

The President put out a letter saying that tomorrow we have a mandatory time from 10-12 pm cleaning time, instead of studying, for our apartments. I can´t wait! I have been organizing and cleaning so our apartment is pretty clean but this is going to be some deep cleaning! Woohoo. He put tons of scriptures in it about cleanliness and organization and clarified doctrine and where the line is for cleanliness and messiness and also how we can better have the Spirit during our studies. It was well written.  I am excited. I like the feeling of a clean area. 

I had divisions with Elder Gallup again! It was awesome. Gift of tongues is real. 

Other than that all is well! I forgot my list with the things and stories I was going to tell you all so next week will be a little bit longer. 

Thank you all! 

I have pictures of some food and stuff for next week!

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO WEEK 4: SOPA DE OJOS

Another week! The days are sure long but the weeks are speeding by!

I hope everyone´s Thanksgiving was mighty fine. Truth be told, didn´t even cross my mind on Thursday until someone say Today is the dia de agradecido. Which I am not sure is the correct way to say it but eh. 

Alright, last time I neglected to explain why the title of the email had the Torta in it. Almost every day when we walk by a school, colegio, universidad, o secondaría there is someone who gets eggs thrown at and then flour dumped on. It is a TOTAL mess and the person is soaked. Apparently it's tradition for a birthday and/or a graduation. It was so weird because neither me or my companion knew what was happening but then we asked a member and their family. So there you go. The other part of the title is The Fall. Not really sure why I put that but I am sure it was a great story. 

Alright. The title of THIS email is sopa de ojos. Which means Soup of Eyes! Yum! It was so so so so so good! I am totally going to make it when I return for anybody who wants it. Now don´t get me wrong. I was not looking forward to it. But I was going to try it. So I did. The texture is kind of like the shell of an M&M. But cold. And once you break through that shell is really like... Jello.. .or something. It's cold. I don´t understand why. Oh and when you bite down to break the shell you HAVE to have your mouth closed because it's like popping a water balloon. It's so weird. But so delicious. I ate the whole thing. I was quite surprised. I got the recipe and I am going to make it for you guys. 

NAH I am totally kidding. It was actually a joke that my companion and the member family played on me. Throughout the last two weeks they have been saying ¨"are you ready for the sopa de ojos?" and stuff like that. I was mentally steeling my mind and stomach every day. No matter what I was going to at least try it. But when I got there they were making hamburgers and then they told me that it was a joke. Pssh. A little part of me died inside. I was so prepared! 

We made brownies the other day for a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) that we hosted at a member's house with investigators. They came out PERFECTLY from the stone brick oven in the chapel we used. PERFECTLY. Then my companion put them in the fridge for about 5 hours... No idea why. It changed the texture and entire BEING of the cake. He said it would be better this way, buuuuut it wasn´t. It was like play dough. However, the family said they like it. So I don´t really care. Haha, it was just funny. 

Speaking of food. How come the United States doesn´t have even a lick of Dulce de Leche?! Is it hiding from me or what? It is SOOO good. Especially with bread. OH and bread. Where the heck have baguettes been my whole life!? Three feet of bread. Come on. Who doesn´t want that for only an equivalent of one American dollar? I am going to buy a lot of bread today. It's always fresh here and cheap. 

The fruit here is really good too! All is normal, nothing different really. But it still is very good. We have TONS of Oranges. Like, 13 or 14 oranges that we don´t know what to do with. The members give them to us. So if you have any recipis and cool things to do with oranges, send them my way! Por favor, because my companion doesn´t like oranges plain and neither do I but I still try to eat them. Enough about food. 

Friday we had interviews with the President and his assistants. It was really great. There were 3 interviews about our area binder, agenda, and weekly reports. Then I had one with Sister Ayre (President's wife) about this new booklet the church came out with about adjusting to missionary stress  and stuff like that. It links every kind of stress to something doctrinal and profound and there are self-evaluations you do over time and relaxation ideas, and health ideas, sleep ideas, stretching ideas. It's like a total emotional, spiritual, language, mental, and physical health book but church oriented. It talks about the importance of leaning on the Lord and stuff like that. It's really cool. Especially the language part. Definitely an inspired book. It will be useful in times to come I am sure. 

LANGUAGE update: Bit by bit. I can form sentences a little better and faster now. But I still have a small vocabulary. I got tons of ideas from older missionaries that speak really fluent and well, and have started to implement them in my studies. So thank goodness for that. On and on it goes. 

This week we talked about our need for finding new investigators and especially references. They call it congregating Israel. We started doing that like crazy (or afül in spanish) and we got three new investigators that look promising. We continue to pray and ask for more. The members are definitely willing to help here. It's awesome. Members are literally the gateway. Without them there is literally nothing we could do. 

THINGS I AM LEARNING IN ARGENTINA: Things I think to myself and think are pretty funny and cool but different

¨There's a second toilet in the bathroom, I know what it is and I am not going to use it.¨

¨If you want hot water turn the knob a tiny bit, if you want cool water turn the knob like crazy and fast before it scalds you.¨

¨The sidewalk is for dogs to go to the bathroom¨

¨Yes there are crosswalk lines, traffic lights, bike lanes, car lanes and signs, they are sure beautiful decorations for a street.¨(they don´t mean a thing here)

¨If you want to get somewhere in Argentina buy a motorcycle, anything goes when you have that¨

¨No, that's PESOS not American Dollars, it's not that expensive¨

¨Alfajores are the powerbar of missionaries.¨

¨Hot outside? We will have hot soup for lunch!¨

¨Water doesn't exist here, it's only CocaCola, Fanta, Juice, and Sprite¨(which is really good)

 ¨On hot days about 2 a week, CocaCola hands out free glass cocacola bottles. It's a blessing.¨

"Ïf I ever have a limousine, I am going to hire a Argentinian bus driver because they can fit that giant bus anywhere, I literally feel like the Bus for Runaway Wizards in Harry Potter. Somehow by some type of magic the bus just gets skinny and fits between two other buses.¨

Anyways. I love you all! Have a great week.

Love, 

Elder Moore

P.S. Two other funny things: I hear Elvis Presley ALL the time. Right now I am in the Locutorio and it's playing above. Haha. 

Also. MULLETS. MULLETS EVERYWHERE. They are SO popular! I have no idea why. 

PALERMO, WEEK 3: THE SPLIT, THE TORTA, AND THE FALL

Well hello to every one! I hope everything is going swell in everything you do! This week has been a doozy! 

Well Tuesday was quite a shock but I guess the Lord thought us ready! I went on splits with my (also two weeks into his mission with me) friend Elder G*. We were both surprised that they did that. For those of who you don't know, a split is when the two minor companions go to an area (my area this time) for 24 hours and the two senior companions (also our trainers) go to the other for 24 hours. How crazy! Two minor, fresh off the press gringos. Teaching by themselves. I prayed so so so so hard. We had four lessons that day by ourselves....And... it went great!! The first 5 minutes of each lesson were the hardest but very quickly I found myself able to speak, limited in my vocabulary, but it flowed and some of the members that we brought along recognized that we spoke more and more like Spanish speakers as the lessons went on. It was amazing. After the lesson when we were walking to the next we were so grateful and many prayers of gratitude were given. I definitely have a testimony about the gift of tongues. It was a great day. It was also ironically a great break from Spanish when we got to the apartment. We could talk and discuss things without pauses, dictionary searches. and we never just gave up on our sentences. It was awesome. 

 

Kyle and his MTC companion reunited for "splits"

On the other side of the spectrum. Thursday we had weekly planning. Very hard and long stuff. All in Spanish. With my original companion. It was only my second time and he made me go through it and lead it as though I was the senior companion. It was rough. And I got frustrated with myself. Some of the goal setting and how numbers add up in the daily planner just didn't make sense to me. Especially since I came from 2 plus year background in accounting (which I thought would make it easy but no). Anyway It was a great opportunity and even though I didn´t really know what I was doing and it was hard I learned a lot. 

The language is difficult. I feel like outside of lessons I am learning nothing. I can definitely speak my part in the lessons, but if they ask questions or say anything back. FORGET IT. It's lost on me. Meetings we have every week are incredibly boring and difficult and frustrating because I have no idea what is going on. One time is district meeting. We were talking and then someone asked me. "What did you learn from Elder Holland's talk?" I totally spaced because the whole time I was thinking to myself that we are talking about scripture study and Nephi´s commitment to the Lord! I eventually uttered a somewhat intelligible sentence in Spanish and they all accepted it and moved on. I was so embarrassed. 

Moving on, the food is good. I eat an Alfajor a day. It's kind of like this mini candy bar thing that can be soft or hard. I am collecting the wrappers. And don't any of you say that I will get fat because I won´t. I walk so much and sweat so much that I am sure there is a deficit of calories every day.  I haven´t had much pasta. But I have had rice a lot. I LOVE IT. There is something different. I can eat the rice just plain, it is SO good. The meat is good too. Haven´t had much of it, but the parts we have had are good. Had pig yesterday. REALLY good. Don´t know what part of it but I don´t care. I figure if you don´t tell me what part of the animal it is, I will eat it. WHICH, brings me to my next little fiasco. On Saturday, I get the WONDERFUL opportunity to partake of the delicacy of sopa de ojos. FISH EYE SOUP. And these aren't little salmon trout eyes, these are massive, size of a 50 cent piece eyes. Yeah, my companion loves it but I don´t know. I will for sure try it. 

Today was dia del trabajador or something like that. It is basically Labor Day so everything was closed until later in the day.

Anyways, things are going good. The work is true! The harder it gets the closer I get to my Savior. 

Love you all, 

I pray for you all!

Elder Moore

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING. THANK THE LORD! PRAY A WEE BIT LONGER TO EXPRESS YOUR GRATITUDE EN SU LIFE!

PALERMO, WEEK 2

Wow, it has already been two weeks. This past week went by a LOT faster. But probably because I had a lot to do, especially in the mornings. 

MONDAY was pretty crazy with soccer. They play fierce! I LOVE it! And on concrete indoors. It's really awesome. 

TUESDAY

PAPERS!!! WOOOHOOO, Me and my companion had to travel to the local mission office on a bus then a train. (which is just a max, not really a train at all but they say it is) for about an hour and some minutes to pick up my passport and documents. I saw all of my MTC district there too so it was really good to reconnect with them and see how they were doing. We went to two different cities to go to two different buildings for my papers. I guess this means that I can stay for a year but I am not entirely sure. They just did their own background check and took my fingerprints and put them into the system. It was a lot like the DMV just for people not cars. We got back and ate a quick lunch with two other elders at the church because we had a meeting. Don´t ask me what it was about because I didn´t understand a thing. Only something about numbers, and preach my gospel, and our planners. That´s all I really know. Then we went out and taught some investigators that are doing REALLY well. I will take pictures today because I forgot this whole week. It has been pretty crazy. 

WEDNESDAY

Not really sure what happened on this day but just the regular. Except, I taught an English class for about 8 people. It went really well I think, some of them know a little bit, others don´t. It also really helped me to translate between ingles and spanish from what I say. Then they asked the dreaded question that I don´t even understand yet. They asked what does ¨got¨¨ and ¨get¨¨ mean. BOOM. That was soooo hard to explain. Because in spanish it doesn´t exist. Unless I am totally wrong and it actually does exist I am just missing that much desired and needed word/verb. Other than that it went well. 

Oh and a cool story. My companion and I went into a COTO (Target/Winco kind of store) to by some drinks and also go to the bathroom. We go to the restroom and as we are washing our hands a guy comes up to us and starts chatting and Elder Garcia was  chatting back but acting wierd, almost, stiff and cold. I had no idea why. Then the guy asked us if we had a Book of Mormon in our bags and Elder Garcia said NO! I was like, What the heck this is incredible of course we do! But I didn´t say anything. Then the guy got really close and then a guard walked into the room to go to the bathroom, and the guy backed off, told us to have a nice day and left. I was so confused. Then when we left Elder Garcia said, "Did you see the knife?" WHAT?! Haha, the knife was in his right sleeve hand and he was trying to hide it until he got close, but then the guard walked in. It made so much sense! The guy was acting really weird and animated with his left hand I guess trying to keep our attention away from his other. And when he asked for a book of Mormon he wanted to see what we had in our bags. But the Gaurd walked in. Coincidence? Of course not. Already I have realized there is no such thing. God looks out for his missionaries and this is but one example. So don´t worry about me. I am totally comfortable here already. 

THURSDAY. 

We had to go back and do PAPERS again because I failed the background check, which has never happened before in the mission so they had no idea what was wrong, and I don´t have a history so I was panicking thinking. "what if they send me back?!" I don´t know what to do. ETC ETC. But it ended up being that my fingerprints didn´t go through well. My companion says it's because I rock climb. But I think it's because they just went really fast through the fingerprints. 

FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY

Really slow days. Didn´t have many appointments. We had to go to the chapel to use the phone to call old investigators and stuff. Really boring and difficult. But necessary! Sunday we had 4 investigators come to church and love it with their family. I promise I will tell you more about it in the future. 

Our appointments are going well. In my 12 week programs I am probably already in week 4 or 5 because my companion and I both think that I don´t have to follow the book and I can definitely say a lot more than just the baptism question for my second week. So I am giving scriptures and testimony and questions. It's pretty fun but embarrassing because of my Spanish but slowly and surely its coming. 

The weather is nice-ish here. It is sunny and warm but it's very windy most of the time. December and January and February though are going to be really really hot not looking forward to that but the Savior´s ministry wasn´t easy, so it's a blessing that mine will be too. 

Oh…almost forgot! Elder Holland was here and talked to the Buenos Aires North, South and West Missions. ABOSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. I feel great just thinking about it. I am so blessed. In the MTC we got visited by Elder Oaks and now Elder Holland. When they walk in the room they literally chase darkness away. I could feel it. 

Anyways. That's it. Today we have soccer and I am going to teach an investigator family how to make brownies. I am really excited about it. Oh. I had the meat from the calf of a Cow. (HAHAHA funny pun) (I mean the leg part) TO DIE FOR. SO GOOOOOOOD. Oh my gosh. Succulent. 

I love you all!  Keep Praying! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 1

Hi everybody,

Oh boy! It has been a week! 

First off, We left the MTC (about 30 of us going to different missions in Argentina) at 4:00 AM and we got to Atlanta airport at about 5PM their time about an hour late, the left engine wouldn´t start so we pulled back in and the manually started it. I think everybody, regardless of religion, was praying the wing would not spontaneously explode, but there were missionaries on board so I wasn´t worried. No sleep on that flight. Then we got on to our flight to Argentina in Atlanta and then they had a problem with fueling the plane so we had to wait another 1.5 in the plane. It was miserable. I sat next to an Elder in my district, Elder M* and also a Hermana S* who is actually in my mission.

After 10 hours of sitting and standing we finally got to Argentina. My first thought, ¨Lots of trees!¨ Especially around the airport. Getting through security and customs was long but we made it through and I saw my President at around 12PM Tuesday. I slept about 2 hours on the plane. I was EXHUASTED. (Oh by the way, pardon my spelling. I don´t know what's right or wrong. Because I am on a Spanish keyboard the computer marks every English word I type wrong).  Anyway, on our way to the Mission Home (which is really nice) we stopped by the temple. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I would even venture to say more beautiful than the Portland Oregon Temple. It is LITERALLY PICTURE PERFECT. The grass. Lots of flowers. Oh man. The granite is different. It was amazing. Don´t worry. We all took pictures. Then we went to the mission home where we had empenadas and pizza. Both really good. Then paper work and interviews and then BOOM. We got pushed into this bajillion hour training session with the Assistants to the President. My whole group was falling asleep sitting. I felt so bad. Me too! I was exhausted. Then we got our companions! 

My companion is awesome. His name is Elder G*. He speaks Spanish. He has been here for about 3 months. It was a surprise that he got called as a trainer so soon, but God wanted it to be that way. And it's perfect. He is from Spain! So you know what that means. Not only do I have to decipher Castellano accents (shh jjjj sounds) I also have to decipher (thsthshsth) sounds. He has the Spain lisp. THAT'S what makes it even more difficult to learn the language. They speak really fast, they speak with different sounds, and my companion doesn't say the S´s and the C´s. Oh well. I will learn it. God will help me. Already is. 

I don´t have much more time. So I have to wrap this up. The food is really good. We get fed lunch every day and sometimes dinner too. It is a lot of chicken rice, and pasta. I had meat the other day that didn´t taste like regular meat. I don´t want to know what part it was. But it was okay. Had a slight fish taste. 

The people here are REALLY nice. Next week I will send pictures. They are really loving and very humble. Oh I am in a part called Palermo in Buenos Aires. Our apartment is humble. It's humid. But apparently it's going to be like death in December. The miembros said that they expect us to die. 

Oh! I teach English classes every Wednesday now. Hopefully it will go well.

That's all for now! 

It is totally awesome here! 

The Lord provides! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

KYLE HAS LANDED IN ARGENTINA!

Kyle left the Provo West MTC at 6am on Monday, November 4th. He flew to Atlanta, had a 3-hour layover, and then took a flight directly to Buenos Aires, leaving at 7pm Georgia time, and arriving at 7am Argentina time on the 5th (they are 5 hours ahead of the west coast). 

This afternoon my mom received the following email and picture. Glad to know Kyle has made it to Argentina safely!

Dear Family,

We are thrilled to report that your son, Elder Moore, has finally arrived safely in his mission this morning here in Buenos Aires. He was picked up at the airport, and after a brief tour of Buenos Aires was brought to the mission home for a luncheon, followed by an interview with the President.  You should expect to hear from your missionary on his next P-day which will be Monday, November 11^th. Thank you for your prayers and support.

President and Sister Ayre

IN THE AIRPORT

These pictures and their accompanying message were sent by a woman who was flying to Argentina to pick up her son from his mission. Some of them are a little blurry but you can see Kyle in all the ones below:

Dear Parents, Sisters & Elders,

I have attached pictures of the missionaries (elders and sisters) that we were fortunate to travel with from Atlanta to Buenos Aires on November 4th.  My husband and I along with our 17 year old son were heading to Rosario to pick up our son Elder Peter Welsh who was completing his mission on November 5th.  It was such a delight to travel with these enthusiastic missionaries as they made their way to Argentina.  I'm sure that you heard from your son/daughter that our plane was delayed for nearly 2 hours while we were all on board.  Those missionaries did not waste any time using their enthusiasm and language skills to share the gospel and their spirit with their neighboring passengers.  It was a beautiful site to see and a wonderful way for us to start our trip.  You should be very proud.

I am happy to have my son home, but I am going to miss his wonderful emails and the blessings that come from having a missionary serving.  Enjoy your next 16-22 months.  They are priceless.

K.W.
Bakersfield, CA

MTC WEEK 6

A really LONG WEEK! 

First off, it started normal but then Tuesday was a long day. We got transferred to West Campus. That was quite the experience, packing everything, moving everything, waiting for a bus that was 20 minutes late in the freezing cold and then getting over here to West Campus. The apartment rooms are nice. In our room there are 3 rooms, 2 beds each and a bathroom. There is a full sized kitchen with table and a little living room with couches, and brand new desks. There is nothing in the kitchen besides a fridge which is nice to have. We went to the creamery for drinks and ice cream and stuff. In the apartment there are only my companions (3) and also another companionship (2) Elders Mason and Jennings. We have spread out our suitcases so its a wee bit messy but we cant do much because we leave in 2 days anyways. I brought another mattress into one room so I could sleep in the same room with my companions even though we got permission to sleep in separate rooms with the doors open. We just decided we would be more comfortable following the rules as it has always been. 

Our district got split for class purposes only. SO there is only 5 in our class. The class rooms are just apartment rooms at RainTree. We did our laundry at RainTree here too because everybody went to WyView. We had the whole laundry room to ourselves. 

On wednesday night my companion got chosen to be the example missionaries for the group lesson new missionary night. The new missionaries come in and view missionaries (us) talking to an investigator and learn how to listen with love from a third person point of view. We don't do the whole conversation, the leader stops us about 5 minutes in and we leave and then the whole group takes over. It was really a great opportunity and the leader pulled us aside and said to us that our teachers nominated us to be there because in our investigators lessons we teach the people, not the lesson. And we listen with love. It was awesome to get feedback like that. Anyway, we nailed those discussions. It was very weird however, because it was supposed to be in English. It almost threw us off our game. The very first thing I said after our "investigator" opened up the door (keep in mind the new missionaries are watching) was "Hola, somos misioneros----. Then I stopped. Realizing my mistake and seeing the puzzled look on the lady who answered the door I started over again in English. "Hello! We are missionaries for..." and on. It was quite embarrassing but I take it as a good sign. We have only taught all our lessons in the past in Spanish and through out the whole english lesson, I kept translating things into Spanish, but had to stop myself and remember to talk in english. Weirdest experience ever. 

Nothing else is much different. I got my haircut. Its pretty short, but I wont have to worry about it for a while. 

Very sad day today. I said goodbye to Elder Gallup who went to Ecuador today. We said our goodbyes last night and then we woke up at 3 this morning to help take his luggage to the bus. 

He will be a great missionary though and we will see him in two years. 

That is all. By this time next week I will be in Argentina! I don't know when my Pday will be but doesn't matter! I will be in Country!

Thank you for all the letters. The mail won't work anymore here, all mail will most likely be returned now. 

With Love, 

Elder Moore

MTC WEEK 5

Well, HOWDY everybody! 

First off, the Lord answers our prayers and takes care of those you pray for. He is there, He cares, and He wants us to ask and progress through Him. 

A pretty good week this go around. 

Monday was cool because we got to Skype with someone from Mexico and share a message with them. They have some cool technology hear. I think it is in the old media referral rooms. Because they also have some serious cubicle set ups and headphone gear. It was a really cool opportunity and we get to do it again this coming Monday. 

Kyle's companions: Elder Gallup and Elder Lunt

After Skyping we got to host the Senior Missionaries coming in. That was a neat experience we helped them get their luggage up to their rooms (A LOT nicer than regular missionary dorms) Depending on their mission they either come here or to the Marriot. Some are going to Finland or to Florida. They are really nice people. And they were a great example to us missionaries. 

Tuesday we got up bright and early to play soccer on the field against our good friends the Japanese. It was really fun. Not too crowded. We always are competitive on the field with the Japanese but off the field we are all buds. Just last night they came down when we just got back to our residence. (they are on the floor above us.) And we all took information and pictures to keep in touch during the mission and when we return afterwards. They are really cool guys and there is a sense of mutual respect between us. We wish them the best. They leaver this Monday. 

Kyle's class with their teacher, Hermana Vawdrey, who went to Argentina on her mission and has a wonderful accent.

Wednesday and Thursday went by the same. Just blasting through class. Little bumps and bruises. But all is well. Our lessons are going pretty good with our Progressing Investigators. Our studies are increasing and we couldn't be happier. 

We move to West Campus this Tuesday and I am packing up today. That's all the details I have for you. 

A HUGE PEICE OF GOOD NEWS. 

I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS! Yes, it is for sure now. I will be going to Argentina, most likely on a travel visa for now but I am pretty confident that my regular visa will be coming through in the meantime. We prayed hard as a district, companionship and personally for this and our prayers were answered. I am so excited! 

That is pretty much my week! 

I will have more/different news next week with the Campus change.

Thank you ALL for your letters. They help out tremendously. 

Sincerely, 

Elder Moore