POMPEYA, WEEK 21: FROM THE EXCLAMATION MARK
(A family reference to the fact that mom had 3 kids and then one amazing exclamation point!)

Hello Family!

What a great week it is to prepare ourselves for counsel from the Lord through His servants! I am very excited to see what the Lord has in store for all of us and what He needs to say to me specifically. I anxiously await that Gem of Truth that will speak to my soul. You should all look for it too!  I know you will find an answer and that gem with your name on it.

It was a great week. We worked good and now we are ready for our P-day. We  got up and cleaned the apartment and now we are out and about to shop for the things for our apartment. We got the A-OK to buy what we need and they will reimburse it. So now we are going to buy a pot, a pan, some plates, and some utensils to cook and eat! (cereal with a fork is pretty frustrating). The Lord always provides!

We had a baptism this past week which I don't have a picture of because I didn't bring it with me for fear of losing it. But it was great! He is 9 years old and all his family are members but for some reason he didn't get baptized until he was 9. But it was great to complete that family! It was cool to see his Dad baptize him and then confirm him. What a blessing it is to have the front row seat to these ordinances!

We have two baptisms planned for this week too (boy 10 and girl 13). They live with their grandma who is also a member! They are progressing very well with the support of their family and their individual desire to keep the commitments we give them. I am excited for them!

The weather this past week was a little more hot than normal but it was still fine. The nights are cool so it's very beautiful. About every other morning we get up at 5:20 to go play soccer on a field of 5 which means 5 man teams. Its awesome. I also found a some gloves for really cheap that fit like a dream. The game we played last week on the field of 11 was awesome. The score was 7-4. We won. :) I was the goalie. The field was dirt so I didn't dive for the really far shots (that's where the 4 came from) but I definitely attacked when they came in close. I only lost a pint and a half of blood from cuts on my knees. Nah, just kidding. Just a couple scrapes here and there. But it was awesome!

I got the awesome opportunity to eat some porky the pig. The whole pig. I got the nose to eat! I had to try it. So I did. Sooooo, you know how they call a football the old pigskin. Now I LITERALLY know why. It was the covering of a football. The EXACT same texture. It was softer wasn't chewier and it wasn't tastier. It was the exact same. I couldn't eat it. It was just not a good mix of circumstances. It was that it was AWFUL. I just felt like I was eating the end of an american football. For everybody else that is not from the US, they had no idea what I was talking about. But I muscled it down and politely declined more. I had to try it though. Haven't turned down anything so far. 

Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Moore

POMPEYA, WEEK 20: YEEHAW!

Howdy family! 

I hope that everything is going good! 

This week has been busy! 

Something that I am really excited about is that in every mission we have Standards of Excellency that the president puts. They are numbers that should ultimately be our goal to reach. I am happy to announce that we broke 3 or 4 of the standards of excellency this week which inst bad for our second week in a new area. I am definitely blessed with the opportunity to work with my companion and the missionary to help open this part of the vineyard. 

Let's see. What happened this past week? 

Hmm. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Every other morning we wake up at 5:30 and play soccer with our district at a nearby chapel. Its a great way to wake up and get going. I love the soccer here. Its fast and its constant I have actually become a diecent arqero which is the Goalie! Its an awesome start to the day. 

Every morning I have a drink which is called Mate Cocido. Its basically an herbal tea thats part of the cultural and is natural too. We arent allowed to drink mate straight but I like the smell of it. Its basically hay drink. Anyway, its pretty chilly in the morning and its great to read the Book of Mormon with a nice warm cup of hot chocolate or mate cocido. 

The ward here is great they love the missionaries and are ready and willing to provide food for us whenever we need something. It's also very interesting as in the ward we can see the missionaries helping the members in their efforts to reach and rescue. Its a great opportunity. 

A cool story but short that happened is we were about to open the church song and everybody started singing without the piano. I was surprised since the church has about 250 memebers in the buidling and nobody could play. So while they were singing during the first verse I silently walked up to the piano, passing the bishop (i was already on the stand becasue the new missionary were going to give their testimonies.) and said "I can play the piano". I sat down just as the second verse started and from half memory half the music in front of me started to continue playing "we thank thee o god for a prophet" I surprised the lady that was directing the music. But it went well. But they were a little off key so they had to change according to the piano. But still it was a blessing to play for them. Then I went back to do the sacramental hymn which was a song that I have never played but before the song, I was reading the music and playing without the piano. Then I played it on the piano. with only minor mistakes. However, I could not play the 3rd song because I never had heard of it and it was too difficult to learn in the 20 minutes before the song. Then I found out that the song doesn't exist in the english hymnbook so its all okay. I said that in my testimony when I started. I said "Hello brothers and sisters, I am Elder Moore and I am part of Soldati4 in Monoblocks. I also have a confession. I have never heard of the third song before in my life so I will not be able to play it." they all got a kick out of that. Nobody knew I could play the piano so it was a surprise to them and my companion too. Blessings! 

Thanks Lindsey for teaching me the basics and beyond. Thanks Grandma for making me read the notes and count and thanks Mom for making me choose an instrument! It is a blessing that I can never repay. But I have a confession mom. You are going to like this. :) . Sometimes, when you came home from errands or something and asked me if I did my piano practice. I said I did, but I think you knew I didn't. I just moved all the piano books to make it look like I did. (it was a childish thing. I was a young kid I am better now)  Haha the consequence for those actions are not being able to play that third song by site reading but the blessings for the practices I DID do are being able to play  the first 2. I will learn the third though! Thanks Mom. :)

All of our investigators now are references with members that we contacted WITH the members themselves. They are all progressing and have dates for baptisms. It is TRUE what the apostles are telling us, MEMBERS ARE KEY. They help the work so much, yeah we can talk to people and maybe perhaps,probably not they are going to listen to us more than 20 seconds. Its frustrating, but when the members are with us BOOM. The door is magically opened. It's awesome. 

Well. Forgive me but it's time to go play some soccer on a bigger field. :) I am excited. I will score or save a goal for you all back home! 

I love you all! Write me! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

POMPEYA, WEEK 19: FAMILIA MIA

It's been a great week!

Our numbers were a little low but that's because we had only members to visit his week to get to know them. And we couldn't meet everyone on Sunday because we had Stake Conference! I have had 2 stake conferences in a row. How fun!

To specify my area a little bit more, we work in a place called Monoblocks. Or something like that. It's goverment-built buildings for the less fortunate. It's a gold mine. Lots of members, lots of families, and lots of people! I kind of like it. But that means I don't work in the Villa. They say our area is the most dangerous area but I don't think so because there is a military outpost thing right next to it. I feel comfortable in the area, but still. That doesn't give me an excuse to do stupid touristy things. I was taught better than that. There is a Space Needle looking thing right across the street or highway or something like that too. It's interesting. The view in the buildings is really pretty. I will have someone take a picture of it and give it to me to show you all.

I had this drink from the juice of a honeydew equivalent, its this blended mix of things. It was absolutely amazing. They call it Liqioa Melon. Or something like that. I can say it but I can't write it. It is really really good. I drank so much. I got the recipe to make it so don't worry!

One night there was a stoppage of all the buses city wide. So we didn't have a bus to take to Pompeya. So we had to walk all the way to the apartment. Took us about an hour. We didn't have enough money to take a taxi and we couldn't call a Remis (a long distance taxi basically) SO we walked. We walked really fast, but we arrived safely and without problems. Definitely a blessing! So have no fear people of my lineage!

Today we are going to go play soccer in Parque Visionaros or something like that. I'ts time to show these Chileans, Argentinians, and Mexicans how to play soccer! Bring it.

I will have more stories the next week I am sure!

I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

 The other is an awesome family in Palermo. Very friendly and always helped me out. There were the ones that played the Fish eye soup joke on me.

Here is one investigators that told me the night I left that he had decided to get baptized. So his baptism should have happened or it's this coming week! 

Some ¨Man Sized Meatballs¨ that we received from a member. They were pretty good. reminded myself about Swedish meatballs. 

Baptism we had in Palermo. 

POMPEYA, WEEK 18: TRANSFERRRRRS

Alright family. How are you all doing? I loved the emails and everything is looking great back in the states. I am glad that things are working out. me alegro mucho. Makes me very happy. 

So, I write to you from a little cyber store in Pompeya. Woohoo. I got transfered. I have a new companion too, his name is Elder L*. He is from right here in Buenos Aires. He is about an hour from his house! He is a visa waiter right now that is why. When he gets his visa he will go to Venezuela. He has about 7 months and yes, fluent Spanish speaker and doesn't speak English. Here is the twist about our change. We are in Soldati 4, which is a new area we are opening up. So we are the first elders to go to this area. A weird thing is we don't live in the zone, we live about 30 or 40 minutes away. So we have to take the bus every morning and night. For some reason they gave us a pension really far away. They said they will try to change that in the future. I hope! 

I am really excited to open this area. It will be tough but if I got assigned to it then I am assigned to it for a reason. It was weird leaving Palermo. I hope I left it better than I found it. When I sent a text to some people that I was leaving we received phone calls. And 2 of our investigators called us saying they decided to get baptized. That they were going to wait to tell us but they wanted me to know. So that is really cool. I hope it happens. Also a less active called us and told me how he appreciated me visiting and being direct with him...[We were visiting him the other day and I was prompted to ask him about a Word of Wisdom issue]. I bore my testimony about what he has to do. That he actually has to start working at it to get results. He can't just give us excuses. And in the end, it's he who has to change himself. Not us. We can only help him. The Spirit was really strong. It was awesome. Just got to be bold with people and then maybe they will understand!

Anyways. That's about it. The weather is a wee bit cooler now, definitely not a scorcher anymore but still hot. Winter is on its way! 

Have a great week everybody. Pictures next week I hope!

 

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 17: HOLA

Hello family. I hope everything is going marvelously well. Thank you for all your responses and emails. I love them! 

This past week was pretty good. We had a baptism! R* was baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. What a blessing! He is a cool kid. 18 years old. Humble and thinking about serving a mission. 

Kyle and his companion, Elder N*

This week has also been a time to think about my progress and my well-being as a missionary and human being. I have come to the realization that I am a perfectionist here. If my day isn't 100% perfect and then some, I feel dissapointed. It is definitely something that I need to work on with the Lord. It isn't fun. At all. But I will not be discouraged for I know in whom I have trusted. (reference anyone?) 

I don't have much to say.. R*'s family now is interested because they attended his baptism and confirmation so that is definitely a plus. We also found another family that recently moved here and they like the idea of blessings in the gospel and the priesthood. Our next investigator that has a date to be baptized is C*. He is about 27 or so, he is so ready, but we just have to teach him all the lessons. He works a lot so we don't have much time with him but he has already attend 5 weeks (2 of which he went to church by himself) and he keeps all the commitments and is eager to get baptized. However we have stake conference this week so we might have the chance to baptize him. 

We (the missionaries in the zone) are singing in conference. We are singing llamados a servir (Called to Serve -- of course!) and did you know there are 4 verses in Spanish rather than the 2 that are in English? Pretty cool huh? 

Kyle sent this goofy picture to Kelsey right before he signed off

I don't have much time because the bus on the way back from the stadium was really really slow. 

I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Elder Moore