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

PALERMO, WEEK 16: MAAAAIL!

Hola familia otra vez!

How is everybody doing? I hope that this letter finds everyone well. To start off, I have a question that you all need to think about and ponder (whoever may be reading this) and then respond. The question is of great importance and has made me think a lot on this subject since I preach and say this sentence almost every day. How has the gospel blessed your family? Don´t give me the surface answers. Think about specifics and about possible blessings (if it's good, it's a blessing, if it's bad and you learned a lesson, probably a consequence of a choice that the Lord helped you turn it into a blessing. So basically everything is a blessing.) 

This week went by REALLY fast! The work is going. We have 2 investigators that are progressing and both have a set baptismal date and are ready and prepared to get baptized. Please pray for them. We are really excited to have them. We set the goal (Elder N* and I) To have 2 baptisms in 2 weeks. We can definitely do it if we are working hand in hand with the Lord. 

We had some interesting experiences this past week but nothing worth writing about. Just meeting interesting people! 

Definitely hearing a lot about the World Cup coming up soon! I don´t know exactly when it starts but I am sure I will know. Sometimes we will be laying in bed and then we just hear the apartment near ours just ERRUPT in cheers and stuff. It frightened me on more than one occasion. Haha.

It was just a good week, nothing bad. Maybe I will have more for you all in the future! 

I love hearing about all the changes in everybody's lives. It sounds great. We are blessed! 

Love, 
Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 15: WELL, THAT WENT BY FAST

Hello Family and friends once again from Argentina! 

It was a good week that went by pretty darn fast! Nothing much happened. We found two more menos activos that we have been trying to meet and we got them! One of them is a return missionary; we talked a lot, he is really friendly, fed us too, and we shared a scripture which brought tears to his eyes so that was pretty cool. He wants to come back. 

We also have almost reactivated 2 other less active familes too. Its really cool to see them come on their own to church and the members all welcome them and everything. 

We had two investigators attend the church this past Sunday. It is really cool to see them progress. They both really liked it and we have a lesson with them today and tomorrow. We found R* one day when we were out with a priest. We knocked on a door where he was and we were talking to him and then the priest just laid it on him. It was awesome. We only had to confirm what he said, he invited him to church, talked about the Book of Mormon and everything. It was awesome. I love members. 

We went on divisions this past week. That was pretty cool. If I could get the computer to read my camera that would be awesome, but I can't. So you will have to wait.  Anyways. I went on divisions with a new Elder from Oregon, from Grants Pass! He has 2 weeks in the mission. It went pretty well. He didn´t really talk. Only bore his testimony a coulple of times. But I imagine that is what I was like too. 

It is amazing the progress I have made in just three months speaking Spanish. Sometimes I don´t understand but usually it's a vocabulary issue not a hearing correctly issue. Don´t get me wrong. I am nowhere NEAR a native speaker but I can definitely see a difference every day. I love it. 

I have been receiving compliments on my Spanish from my district leader and zone leaders. It's making me suspicious. The other day we recieved a text message during study time. Asking ´Hey Elders, just a question, how is the Spanish of Elder Moore?´ I made my companion respond because I didn´t want to say anything. But when we asked why they just gave us "ustedes son capos." Which means you are... Uh.. I don´t know what the translation is, just like, awesome I guess. But I remain suspicious. The president told me that there maybe changes in the future... Yikes! 

Oh. Something funny happened last night. My companion and I were talking and all of a sudden a bird (some sort of dove I think) flew in the window and I freaked out and so did Elder N*. It just caught us by surprise. I laughed so hard. But we took about 10 minutes trying to get it out of our bedroom and then we were late for bed. It was quite the rush. I still laugh and smile. I think it may have been a form of the Holy Ghost. Hahaha. Oh man. Still makes me laugh. 

Anyway. That is all I have for this week. 

Thank you for your support! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 14: TEMPLE DAY

I just got back to the temple. And we don´t have much time left over for P-day so I will have to be fast! The temple was AWESOME. As soon as I figure out what's wrong with these stupid computers I will send some pictures your way. I hope the problem isn´t my camera...Or worse, me... Anyway, the temple is absolutely beautiful here. A bit smaller than the Portland Temple, that's for sure but still picture perfect. I don´t know what it is, it just seems clean-cut and perfect placement of everything with regards to landscaping. I definitely could feel the Spirit really strong. It was awesome; a pain in the neck to get to and from there but nonetheless, alwaysthemore, it was good.

Ooo. Snow. That sounds heavenly. And 12 inches! The members here asked us if church was canceled during the winter. I said I didn´t know and I was going to ask you guys but looks like I already recieved my answer! 

A little fact of the week. The Argentine Peso devalued 40% in the month of January alone. That's all I can say. Because that's all I know.

I had interviews with the President on February 5. Which was the 3 month mark for me in Argentina. Sometimes it seems fast, other times it seems really slow. I miss you all a lot!

The Lord is definitely blessing us in Palermo right now. We are finding on average 8 new investigators every week. However, after the 2nd or 3rd lesson we stop teaching for some reason. It seems pretty harsh but the President and Presidents in the past have made it clear that we are not looking for 3 month, non-progressing investigators. Within 3 lessons we usually know how its going to be in the future, and we prayerfully make the decision to stop. But we are finding some good people. Here´s a little story.

One day, my trainer and I were walking. And I found a pair of keys on the ground next to a front door. Someone must have have dropped them entering or something. So we picked them up and rang the doorbell. Nobody answered. So we knocked. Nobody answered. So we went to the neighbors. Nobody answered. So after 5 minutes of knocking and ringing we finally hid it in this window flower bed next to the door. And we left. 3 weeks later, I was walking by with Elder N* and a member and two appointments had fallen through. Then, I stopped and  remembered that we had hid the keys! So I reached in the flower bed and they were still there! (Elder N* and the member were REALLY confused that I knew there were keys there). Without saying anything (but the words ¨"no puede ser" (it can´t be). I knocked on the door and a lady answered. I presented the keys (saying I found them on the ground, which is true, I just found them 3 weeks ago on the ground and then hid them so nobody would break in the house (I am a good guy okay?!)) Anyways, she was very grateful and then my companion and I decided to seize the opportunity and present her with a pamphlet about the family. She then asked questions, and with about 6 minutes, accepted a baptismal date and to get baptized ON that day too. She also told us that she is impressed that young men like us are out preaching the Gospel instead of doing other things with our lives right now. So that was pretty cool. 

I learned something valuable right there. Elder G* and I didn´t have an impression or a voice to tell us ¨Hide the Keys or Save the Keys till I tell you to¨ rather we were just trying to do what was right, and 3 weeks down the road, the Lord turned our effort to do what was right into a miracle. So I learned the lesson that if I do what I need to do by being obedient, and striving to do what's right then inspiration will come and happen. I connected it to the talk by David A Bednar when he gave it in the MTC years ago. It's called Recognizing the Spirit. He talks about the 20 mark note story. You should all listen to it when you can, and if you can find it. 

I am also learning the importance about obedience. Obedience brings necessary blessings. The other night, we sprinted 5 or 6 blocks to arrive on time to our apartment at night. My companion yelled while running "I am going to die!" and then I yelled back "Then you are going to die obedient!" and we kept running at a dead sprint. (We arrived at 9:29PM, 9:30 is the deadline.) That's how important it is to us. Haha.

Speaking of conference talks (well, the paragraph before). Elder N* and I listen to a conference every morning while exercising and eating. It's pretty nice. I love conference. There are a LOT of things that I missed before that apply to me right NOW. I love it. Prophets are so cool.

That's really all I have. Thanks for your support! Love the emails. Keep the letters coming!

Love,
Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 13: HOLA!

Hi family!

I hope everything is going well. First, I am going to open this email with this bit of news: WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE!!!! WOOHOOO. 10th of February. It is our P-day so I don´t know if I will be able to write that day or not but I am so excited! I can´t wait. I definitely miss the temple. I loved being there and I love the experience to see a new temple! It's going to be great.

My new companion, Elder N* is a WORKER! I love it. We are constantly talking and finding more people. We talk to anyone and everyone. We are looking for less actives right now and when we can't find them we talk to others that live near them! It is really cool. I also realized that my Spanish is actually not bad. I can definitely get by. Sometimes I don´t understand but most of the time I can converse with relative ease. I also received some compliments from other missionaries (gringo and non gringo) that for 3 months in Argentina my Spanish is pretty good. SO that is definitely a blessing beyond description. I feel satisfied every night because I am literally exhausted. The nights go by a lot faster now. Boom, it's morning...time to get up. I don´t mind though!

We had a family that is less active come to church this past Sunday. Two days before we brought a member with us that is a return missionary of 3 years and is married and has one kid. He was amazing! He befriended them in an instant and was very very firm with them and also loving. It was exactly what we needed. Two missionaries to teach the doctrine and as Authorized Representatives of Jesus Christ to promise the blessings (as if we were Him) and a member to bring them in and feel desired. The family is pretty big. Consists of a Grandma, two daughters and a son (all three are married so plus their spouses) and a handful of children. Two of which aren´t baptized and have the age of 8 and 9! We are definitely looking to complete the family and to give them the blessings of salvation forever together! I hope this second week they come. They have a lot of trials but they can do it.

I am gaining a stronger testimony of the power a member is. Members are literally the KEY to open up hearts and to bring people in the gospel. They are extremely helpful. When I told our Quorum President that the Less Actives were going to come, he asked me if they were going to walk (it was raining a little bit). I said they were going to take a colectivo (bus) and he said "nonsense (he speaks English)! I have a car. Let's organize a division with your companion and let's go pick them up." That is exactly what we did. He had to take 2 trips but we got them there, and they liked church. So that's a blessing. DO what you can to help the missionaries! In reality the missionaries are limited in what they can do without members. It is so much more POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE with a member in the lesson, to offer help, to give them the commitment or invitation. Help them!

Anyways, that's my email for this week. I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Moore

PALERMO, WEEK 12: TRAAAANSFERS

ANNNNNND. PALERMO! Todavia estoy en palermo, pero, tengo un nuevo compañero! Se llama Elder N*. El es de Logan, Utah. 

 

He is great already! Very kind. He has never been in Capital only in Provincia. So he isn't used to the city and the big buildings. It's pretty neat. He is a good Elder. We only have about 5 hours together as of now but it's cool. No, we don´t speak English. Only Spanish. It's great though to ask him what something means and he replies in English. Elder Garcia went to Provincia -- a place called Varelles. He was excited! It was weird to say goodbye to someone who trained me for 3 months. But it's cool to move on and grow some more too.

I finished my training. So now I am a full fledged missionary! No longer do I need training! Woohoo. That also means we leave an hour early to work because we don´t have something extra to study. 

The work is difficult. But good nonetheless. Our investigators aren't progressing. It's vacation time right now so there are a LOT of people gone. Plus we can´t get anybody to attend church! People commit. We make plans. They agree. Members are involved. And the morning of we pass by to bring them and they are nowhere to be found! Gah. It's frustrating. 

Sorry for no pictures. I tried to upload some just now but there was a problem. It couldn´t read the card or something. So I have to bring the cable to hook it up to the computer and access it that way but right now I don´t have it with me. I will send more pictures next week! 

I bought peanut butter! Wasn´t too expensive. I had money left over from the mission so I spent the 20 pesos. It isn´t peanut butter like Jiffy or ... The other.... I can't remember the other.... It's more natural. Different taste but whatever. It's peanut butter. I found this tropical mix cereal. Which is really really good. It's like Honey Bunches of Oats. Not as good but still good. 

Thank you all for your support! I am finding that I need it! 

Also, I am learning the way I learn is different, I can't seem to find a way of a study journal that clicks with the way I learn. So if you have any ideas about a study journal or organization of a study journal please tell me! I love ideas! That includes EVERYBODY! 

I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Moore